Owing to the many delays on my route across the mountains, it was
twilight when I reached an ordinary looking house, situated on an
elevated piece of land surrounded on every side by fields of sugar cane.
The lands in the vicinity appeared low, and there were indications of
swamps at no great distance. About a mile off, in a northerly direction,
was the broad ocean. A mule, saddled and bridled, stood at the door.
My guide told me, with an air of triumph, that this was the Upper Pearl
estate.
As I alighted from my mule, a tall man, with a sad countenance, thin and
pallid cheeks, and a tottering frame, came out of the house leaning upon
the arm of another person. This sickly-looking gentleman, who proved
to be the manager, welcomed me to the plantation, and expressed
satisfaction at my arrival. He was on the point of leaving the estate
for a few days, he said, on a visit to a friend near the mountains. In
the mean time Mr. Murray, the gentleman by whom he was supported, was
to look after the plantation and attend to my comforts. This
spectral-looking object then, with difficulty, mounted his mule, and
accompanied by an able-bodied negro on foot, slowly rode away from the
estate.
Mr. Murray received me with cordiality, and tendered me the
hospitalities of the mansion. He was a man of pleasing address and
more than ordinary intelligence. I afterwards learned that he was the
secretary of Mr. Church, the attorney for the Pearl estates. After some
little conversation, he abruptly asked me what quarter of the world I
came from.
"I am an American," was my not very definite reply.
"O," he remarked, with a significant wink, which was evidently intended
as a good-natured hint, "you are from Canada, or Nova Scotia, I
suppose."
"No, sir," said I, emphatically, determined that my position should
be distinctly understood, "I was born in the town of Tyngsboro, in the
state of Massachusetts, and am a citizen of the United States."
Having a vague suspicion that the Pearl estate was not the paradise
described by Bohun, I inquired why the manager had left the estate so
abruptly.
"Because he is attacked with fever, and would not live forty-eight hours
if he remained here."
I was shocked at this announcement, and pursued my inquiries. "Is fever
a common occurrence on this plantation, or is this sickness of the
manager an extraordinary case?"
"Common enough, in all conscience," replied Murray, with a laugh. "Mr.
Orr is the second manager who has been driven off by sickness within the
last six months. Two overseers have died within a year, one after the
other, and until Mr. Church met with YOU, no one could be found to take
the place, which has been vacant several weeks."
This was interesting intelligence, but I continued my inquiries. "If the
estate is so unhealthy as you represent, why are YOU willing to remain
here?"
"O, my stay here will be only a few days, or weeks, at most. Besides, I
am well seasoned, having resided ten years in the island; and I make it
a rule to keep my system well fortified against fever by the liberal use
of generous liquors; and if you hope to LIVE here, you will do well to
follow my example."
"Mr. Bohun told me that the upper Pearl estate was one of the healthiest
on the island. How could he have been so grossly deceived?"
"Deceived? Not he; all humbug."
"But he surely does not know the estate is so unhealthy?"
"Not know it? Bohun not know it? Certainly he does. Every body knows
it. Every estate has its reputation, and the reputation of the Pearl
estates, both of them, is NOTORIOUSLY BAD. No man, unless his courage
or his fortune is desperate, will take a situation on either of these
plantations."
I was astonished, dumbfounded at this intelligence, which effectually
silenced further inquiries. After a short pause, Murray proceeded: "The
fact is, Mr. Church told me all about the matter yesterday afternoon.
Bohun found it difficult to procure you such a situation as you wanted,
and was anxious to get you off his hands. Meeting Mr. Church in town,
he asked him to take you. Mr. Church objected, telling him it would be
a pity to place you on the Pearl plantation, where you might drop off
in less than six weeks. But Bohun urged the matter; requested it as a
personal favor; and they being countrymen, you know and so and so you
see your business was done, and here you are."
I undoubtedly looked grave at the interesting information thus frankly
given; and Murray, remarking it, continued, in a consolatory tone:
"Never mind, my good fellow; keep up your spirits. I thought it best to
tell you the worst at once, and let you know what you have to expect.
You will have to go through a regular seasoning; and if you can stand
that on the Pearl estate, you may take your degree of M.D. as Doctor of
Malaria, and bid defiance to yellow fever forever after!"
I was not ambitious of such a distinction, and would gladly have
declined it, were it possible; but, on calmly surveying my position,
there appeared no alternative. Relying on the correctness of Bohun's
suggestions and the disinterestedness of his counsels, I had taken a
step which could not, for a time at least, be retraced. I therefore
determined to go forward and make the best of it; look on the bright
side of my situation, if it had any bright side, faithfully perform the
duties of my office, and trust to my constitution and regular habits, in
spite of the counsels of Murray, for the rest.
I felt hurt at the conduct of Bohun, which from Murray's version was not
such as I was prepared to expect, notwithstanding my experience in the
dark side of human nature. I still hoped that Murray's statements might
be exaggerated, and that Bohun was actuated in his conduct towards me by
feelings of grateful kindness.
On the following day Mr. Church visited the estate. He was a middle-aged
man, had held a captain's commission in one of those British West India
regiments which, after having been reduced to mere skeletons by battles
with the French and yellow fever, were unjustly and inhumanly disbanded,
at a long distance from "home," leaving the brave men, who were thus
rewarded for their services, to return to their native country as they
could, or struggle for a precarious existence in a tropical climate.
Mr. Church chose to remain in the island and engage in the planting
business. Possessing energy of character and rectitude of principle, and
having influential connections, he became in a few years the attorney
for the Pearl estates, married the daughter of a Scotch planter, and
resided very pleasantly and happily at a beautiful seat called Bel-Air,
situated a few miles from the Upper Pearl. He entered into conversation
with me, instructed me in my duties, regretted the absence of the
manager, which might unpleasantly affect my comforts, and gave me some
precautionary hints in relation to my health. I felt somewhat reassured
by my conversation with that gentleman, and erroneously believing it
would be in my power to leave the island if I should think proper, at no
distant period, indulged in no unavailing regrets, but philosophically
resolved to make myself as comfortable as circumstances would allow.
The treatment I met with among the planters, during my whole residence
in the island, was that of unvarying kindness; many of them were well
educated and cultivated a literary taste; had well-furnished libraries,
which were not kept for show; and the history and writings of Ramsay,
Ferguson, Burns, Beattie, Robertson, Blair, and other distinguished
Scottish authors, were as familiar with some of the planters in Grenada
"as household words." The early novels of the "Wizard of the North" were
then exciting much interest, which was shared by the inhabitants of the
English West India Islands.
The mildness of the climate seemed to have a tendency to melt away that
frigidity which is a characteristic of people of the north, and the
residents of the island were as frank, free, and hospitable as if
they had never been out of the tropics. I soon formed many pleasant
acquaintances and acquired many friends. And this, with the aid of
books in abundance, enabled me to pass my leisure hours agreeably.
Notwithstanding the heat of the climate, and the prevalence of the
erroneous idea that violent physical exercise in the tropics is
injurious to the health of strangers, I indulged often in recreations of
a kind which excited the surprise and called forth the remonstrances of
my friends.
From my earliest recollection, I was a devoted disciple of good old
Izaak Walton, and the rivers on the north side of the island, rushing
down from the mountains, with deep pools, and rocky channels, and
whirling eddies, being well stocked with finny inhabitants, furnished me
with fine opportunities to indulge in the exciting sport of angling.
My efforts were chiefly confined to the capture of the "mullet," a fish
resembling the brook trout in New England in size and habits, although
not in appearance. It is taken with the artificial fly or live
grasshopper for bait; and to capture it, as much skill, perseverance,
and athletic motion is required as to capture trout in the mountain
gorges of New Hampshire.
I also occasionally indulged my taste for rambling in the mountains.
In these excursions, which, although exceedingly interesting, were
solitary, for I never could persuade anyone to accompany me, I always
took a gun, making the ostensible object of my rambles the shooting
of RAMEES birds of the pigeon species, of beautiful plumage, nearly as
large as a barnyard fowl, and of delicate flavor. These birds inhabited
the deepest recesses of the woods, and, although seldom molested, were
exceedingly shy.
Few animals are found in the forests and mountains of Grenada. The
agouti, the armadillo, and the opossum, are sometimes, though rarely,
seen. The only quadruped I ever met with in my rambles was an opossum,
which I shot as it was climbing a tree. Of reptiles there are none in
the mountains. There are several kinds of snakes in the island, some
of which have never been described by naturalists. The species which
is most common is a black snake (constrictor) of large size, being
frequently eight or ten feet in length, and three or four inches
in diameter. These snakes are treated not only with forbearance but
kindness by the planters, and in return render important service on the
sugar plantations, being most persevering and successful RAT CATCHERS;
rats are abundant, and exceedingly destructive to the sugar cane, on
which they subsist during a considerable portion of the year. None
of the serpents in Grenada are poisonous, but in some of the islands,
particularly St. Lucia, there exists a snake which resembles the
rattlesnake in the ferocity of its attacks and the deadly venom of its
bite. Having no rattles, no warning of danger is given to the unwary
traveller until the snake darts from its ambush and inflicts a fatal
wound; hence the name given to this dangerous reptile is the LANCE DE
FER.
In penetrating those mountain gorges, and climbing those mountain
ridges, steep and thickly covered with forest trees and vines of many
kinds, and of luxuriant growth, I sometimes passed hours without meeting
any sign of life, except the flitting and hum of the humming-bird, and
the loud and musical coo of the ramee. That mountain wilderness seemed
the chosen home of the humming-bird. I there met with many varieties,
some of which were exceedingly beautiful. My appearance in those forests
caused them much surprise, and to gratify their curiosity they sometimes
flew towards me, and hovered within a few feet of my face, as if eager
to examine my appearance and learn what object led me to intrude on
their mountain haunts.
There were, however, other and less interesting inhabitants in that
region, as I one day discovered to my great consternation. I was passing
up the bed of a small stream, where the water, by attrition during many
ages, had worn a chasm or "flume" through the solid basaltic rock, the
walls of which rose at least a hundred feet nearly perpendicularly, when
I found an obstacle to my further progress in the shape of some large
rocks, which had fallen from above and blocked the passage. I was
unable to scale the CHEVAUX-DE-FRISE; but the whole body of water poured
through an aperture three or four feet above the bed of the stream; and
although it looked dark and dreary within, instead of retracing my steps
to find another route through the woods to the spot I wished to reach, I
determined to force my way into the gloomy cavern, with the expectation
of being able to emerge on the opposite side.
I listened for a moment at the mouth of the aperture, but heard only the
murmuring of the stream as it swept along through the uneven channel. I
then thrust in my head, when I heard a rushing noise as of the flapping
of a thousand wings, and the next moment I was sprawling on my back in
the water, having been summarily capsized, partly by force and partly by
an involuntary start of terror!
I raised my head and beheld a legion of BATS, some of them of uncommon
size, issuing in a stream from the mouth of the cave. These animals in
the tropics are numerous, and seclude themselves from the light of
day in caverns or other dark and lonely recesses, where they attach
themselves to the roof, and clinging to each other are suspended in
large pyramidal clusters or festoons. When disturbed, they take wing,
and hastily quit their abodes. By unthinkingly intruding on their
territories, which had probably never before been invaded, great alarm
was excited among the inmates; a terrible confusion ensued, and the
general rush to the aperture caused my unceremonious overthrow.
In one of my mountain excursions, I lost my way while enveloped in a
dense mist, and, after descending a steep ridge, came upon a platform
or terrace of several acres' extent, which at first view seemed to have
been formed by artificial means on the mountain side. This plain was
level, and thickly covered with coarse grass, which, finding a genial
soil and region, grew to a height of five or six feet. Near the centre
of the prairie stood the only tree which flourished on this fertile
spot. It was a silk cotton tree. I made my way through the grass with
difficulty to the tree, which by measurement I found to be twenty-five
feet in circumference larger than any other tree I ever saw in the
island. Immense branches shot out horizontally about twenty feet from
the ground, extending to a distance in every direction from the trunk
sixty or eighty feet. Indeed, the gigantic size of the tree, its rich
and luxuriant foliage, and its noble and majestic appearance, were
in perfect keeping with the place. I tarried some time beneath its
branches, and gazed with interest on the picturesque scene, regretting
that I had no companion to share my admiration, and thinking that as
doubtless no human being, unless some wild Carib in days of yore, had
ever previously visited that singular spot, so it was likely centuries
would pass away before any other individual would chance to behold and
admire that beautiful terrace on the mountain side. I then plunged among
the trees and vines growing upon the steep declivity on the further
side, and, after a precipitous retreat of two or three hundred feet,
heard the murmuring of a stream below, by following which I at length
reached a cultivated district.
The clouds on those mountain tops often collect with extraordinary
quickness, and, while the sun is shining brightly on the cultivated
lands, pour down the rain in deluging showers, which, rushing in
cataracts through the gorges, swell the rivers unexpectedly, sometimes
causing fatal disasters by sweeping away horsemen or teams when fording
the streams. The rise of a river from this cause is sometimes alarmingly
sudden; the water comes down in solid phalanx, six or eight feet
in perpendicular height, and extends from bank to bank; and with
irresistible force sweeps down rocks and trees, shaking the earth on the
banks, and making a loud and rumbling noise like distant thunder.
The vicinity of Grenada to the continent causes this island, as well as
Tobago and Trinidad, to be exempt from the hurricanes which have proved
a terrible scourge in several of the Windward Islands, and from time to
time have been terribly destructive to life and property. In Barbadoes,
on the 10th of October, 1780, nearly all the plantations were ruined by
a hurricane of inconceivable fury, and between four and five thousand
persons lost their lives. Grenada has only once been visited by a
hurricane since its first settlement by a French colony from Martinico,
in 1650. But this hurricane was the means of removing a far greater
evil, the circumstances attending which were of an extraordinary nature,
and which I shall relate as I learned them from the lips of many who
were witnesses of their occurrence.
It was about the commencement of the present century that this island
suffered much from a visitation, which threatened to bring famine and
desolation, and destroy, not only the present, but the future hopes of
the planter. There suddenly appeared, simultaneously in different parts
of the island, a great number of BLACK ANTS, of large size, being fully
an inch in length, and of a kind until then unknown in Grenada. They
probably belonged to the species known as "the large black ant of
Africa," remarkable for its boldness and voracity. Although the
inhabitants of that fruitful island were wont to treat strangers with
hospitality, they were inclined to depart from their usual habit so far
as related to these new and strange visitants, who seemed inclined to
be more troublesome than was consistent with the welfare of the old
residents.
In the course of a couple of years the number of these invaders
increased to an incredible amount; they attacked the fruit on the trees
and the vegetables in the gardens; and the fields of sugar cane, once so
green and flourishing, soon looked as if a fire from heaven, the scourge
of an offended deity, had passed over them. Not only the fields, but the
trees, the roads, and the dwelling houses, were covered with these ants;
and when all sustenance was destroyed in one quarter, they took up their
line of march in immense armies and proceeded elsewhere in search of
food. In these migratory excursions, if they came to a brook or small
river, their progress was not stayed. Those in front were impelled into
the stream by the pressure from behind; and, although myriads were swept
away and drowned in the rushing waters, many were borne to the other
side and continued their journey. In some cases, where the current
was not strong, a sort of living bridge was formed, over which immense
numbers of these pestiferous insects passed in safety and dry shod.
Nothing seemed to check their progress or reduce their numbers.
The inhabitants, both white and black, as may be conceived, were in
great consternation, and were about to make preparations to move to
some more favored soil, when a furious hurricane was experienced. The
destruction of property was great; dwelling houses and sugar works were
destroyed, and lives were lost. The inhabitants who survived the tempest
were in despair, believing their calamities would never cease. But they
soon found, to their great joy, that this hurricane was a blessing,
rather than a curse. THE BLACK ANTS WERE EXTERMINATED, and none have
since been seen in the island.