The Ships weigh Anchor, and put to Sea—Review of the Troops—Account
of the Voyage—The Arrival in the Texel—Description of the Pampus
near Amsterdam—Final Debarkation in the Town of Bois-le-Duc—The
Death of Colonel Fourgeoud—End of the Expedition—Short History of
the late Scotch Brigade—Conclusion.
NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION TO SURINAM.
CHAP. XVI.
A Reinforcement of fresh Troops arrives from Holland—Encampment on
Mount Magdenberg, in Tempatee Creek—Remarkable Instance of Lunacy
in a Negro—Mountains—Beautiful Views—The Sick sent to Europe.
I now once more return to the principal object of my Journal, viz.
Fourgeoud’s military operations. I have before mentioned, that a supply
of fresh troops was expected to reinforce our decayed little army; and,
on the 30th of January, 1775, the news came to Paramaribo that the
transport ship Maastroom, Captain Eeg, was arrived in the river
Surinam, and come to an anchor before the fortress Amsterdam, with
Colonel Seyburgh and two divisions, consisting together of one hundred
and twenty men, under his command, two more divisions being expected.
The following day I went down with a row-boat to welcome them; and
having dined on board together, the ship weighed anchor, and I sailed
up with them till before the fortress Zelandia, where they moored, and
were saluted by a few guns. Among the officers, I with pleasure
recollected my old ship-mate, poor Ensign Hesseling, whom we had left
behind us on the Helder, according to every appearance dying of the
small-pox, when we sailed from the Texel, the 24th of December, 1772.
This young man, who now joined us with rank of second lieutenant, had
been peculiarly unfortunate since his recovery; for, soon after taking
a passage on board another ship for Surinam, the vessel encountered a
gale in the Bay of Biscay; when off Cape Finisterre, her
quarter-gallery and rudder were beat away; besides which she lost her
fore-mast and main-top-mast. In this dangerous condition, having the
wind against her for Lisbon, the vessel run with difficulty into
Plymouth. From this place Mr. Hesseling took a passage for France, on
board a small sloop loaded with coals, with which he had no better
success; for she ran, through the inadvertence of the master, on the
Caskets, which rocks went through her bottom, and she foundered
immediately. Before the vessel sunk, however, he had time to break open
his chest, and take out some linen and other necessaries, with which he
arrived in a crazy yaul at Brest. He now took shipping again for
Amsterdam, on board a Dutchman; but the master ran the ship a-ground,
and he had nearly been once more wrecked. Nevertheless he arrived safe
at the Texel, whence he had twice in vain attempted to set out for
South America; and on this last passage it blew so violently hard, that
all the boats, the sheep, the pigs, and the poultry, were washed
overboard. Till this date I had been the oldest officer in the corps,
excepting only Colonel Fourgeoud.
On the arrival of the troops, our commander invited them to a dinner,
which consisted of salt beef, pork, barley, and hard pease, of which I
had the honour to partake, to my no small amusement, when I observed
the significant looks which were directed by these newcomers on their
commander and his entertainment. In the evening we conducted them to
the play-house, where the death of Cæsar, and Crispin Doctor, were
performed, the one exactly as laughable as the other. I must however
confess, that I was better entertained the next day, when the governor
gave to all a superb dinner and supper, where the strangers seemed to
be as much surprised with the magnificence of the feast, as they had
been the day before amazed with Colonel Fourgeoud’s frugality.
Having met at this table with some excellent preserved fruits, among
which was the guava, I will embrace an opportunity which is barren of
incident to say something of it. The guaba, or guava-tree, grows to
about twenty-four feet high, with leaves like those of a plum-tree. It
is light-coloured, and the wood of little consequence; but the fruit,
which is yellow, oval, and about the size of a gold pippin, incloses a
reddish pulp, full of small seeds; the pulp is very sweet, and may be
eaten raw, or made into marmalade or jelly, and then it is delicious.
There are two species of guava; that which is the sweetest has the
smallest quantity of seeds.
On the 5th of February, the troops that were so lately landed were sent
to the upper parts of the river Comewina to be encamped. I speak of the
privates, for most of the officers remained to partake of a feast at
the house of a Mr. Mercellus; by whose command (to crown the banquet)
half a dozen negroes continued blowing the trumpet and French horn in
the room where we dined, till the company were absolutely deafened by
discordancy and noise.
On the 6th, the whole corps, without exception, received orders to
leave Paramaribo, and to encamp at Magdenberg, a mountain near the
Tempatee Creek, in the upper parts of the river Comewina, to which, as
I have just mentioned, the reinforcement was already dispatched.
Having, therefore, prepared myself to set out on my fourth campaign,
and taken leave of my little family and friends, I repaired to the
water side, to set out in the same barge with Colonel Seyburgh, but
who, erroneously supposing that the troops which came with him from
Holland were a distinct corps from those arrived with Fourgeoud in
1773, made the negroes shove off the boat in my presence, when I was
not a stone’s cast from it, and left me on the beach, to my utter
surprize and mortification. I knew Fourgeoud had swore that he should
“dance just as much to his pipes as the youngest ensign in the
regiment;” and in that he was perfectly right: I therefore strenuously
supported the chief against his antagonist, and setting off immediately
with another boat, soon overtook him, to his astonishment, when we all
went ashore at the plantation Vossenburgh, in the river Comewina. The
next day we came to the estate Arentrust, having passed the heavy
barges that departed from Paramaribo on the 5th; and on the 10th we
made the Hope, where having spent so many months, I here present the
reader with a view of that estate, and of the estate Clarenbeek, where
still our hospital was kept. This day Colonel Fourgeoud also came up
the river, and slept at Wajampibo.
On the 11th, we arrived at the plantation Crawassibo, where we passed
the night. Here the overseer, a Mr. De Bruyn, was so very impertinent,
that, as I already had no abundance of affection for the fraternity of
overseers, I gave him such a sound beating that, with a bloody face, he
suddenly decamped from the estate in a small canoe with one negro, and
in this trim, at twelve o’clock at night, like Banquo the ghost,
appeared before the amazed Fourgeoud; who thought proper to give him no
other consolation than to dismiss him with a hearty curse.
On the 12th we arrived safe at Magdenberg, viz. Fourgeoud, the
officers, and the barges with the privates. From the Hope, the estates
now began to appear thinner; and after passing Goet-Accord, about ten
or twelve miles farther upwards, not a cultivated spot was to be seen,
the plantations having been all laid in ashes by the rebels in 1757, as
I have already mentioned, a small place excepted, just below
Magdenberg, which is, I think, called the Jacob, and where a few
negroes are kept to cut timber. The river above Goet-accord becomes
very narrow, being lined on each side with impenetrable brush-wood,
like the river Cottica, between Devil’s-Harwar and Patamaca; and the
Tempatee Creek, which may be considered as the source of the whole
river Comewina, becomes also much narrower. Magdenberg, which is about
a hundred miles from Paramaribo, was formerly an estate, but has now
not a vestige of cultivation left, a poor old orange-tree excepted, and
is at present neither more or less than a barren desolate mountain.
Here we found the surface of the earth in some places covered with a
kind of strata, that had the appearance of mother-of-pearl, and lay
scattered in small scales, about the size of an English shilling. In
many places of Surinam are found the marks of fossils and ores, as I
have already hinted. Indeed, iron ore is common, and I have no doubt
but gold and silver mines might be met with if the Dutch would be at
the expence, and persevere in making the discovery. I have already
mentioned the Marawina diamond, and white and red agate, which are
often seen in the upper parts of the river Surinam. On this mountain we
also found the air cooler and more pure, and of course more healthy
than in any other part of the colony.
On the 17th the news reached us, that the transport ship, the Maria
Helena, with the remaining two divisions of one hundred and twenty men,
commanded by Captain Hamel, had also arrived in the river Surinam on
the 14th instant. Thus the reinforcements together consisted of two
hundred and forty men, and, on the 5th day of March, they all arrived
in heavy barges at Magdenberg, where I may now say that Colonel
Fourgeoud’s whole forces were assembled. The same day one hundred negro
slaves also arrived, to carry the loads when we should march. One of
the new negroes being missed from on board a military barge, and marks
of blood discovered in it, the commanding officer, a Mr. Chatteauview,
and a sentinel, were both put under an arrest to be tried for murder.
On the same eventful day also, two of our captains fought a duel, in
which one of them received a wound in his forehead.
On the 13th, a barge with provisions, coming from Paramaribo (shocking
to relate!) found the negro that was missed on the 5th at the water’s
edge, lying in the brushwood, with his throat cut from ear to ear, but
still alive, the knife having missed the wind-pipe. This miserable
apparition of skin and bone they took on board, and brought to
Magdenberg, where, by a skilful surgeon, Mr. Knolaert, the wound was
sewed up, and the man surprisingly recovered, having lain nine days in
that dreadful condition without any subsistence or covering whatever,
and weltering in his own blood, even without a bandage. The week after
I had nearly lost my own life by an accident. Two negroes of the estate
Goet-Accord being employed in hunting and fishing for Fourgeoud, one of
them, named Philander, proposed to me to accompany them in the wood,
where we might chance to meet with some pingoes, or powesa; but a heavy
shower of rain coming on, when we had only walked two miles, we
determined to relinquish the project, and repair to the small spot
called the Jacob for shelter, to gain which we were obliged to pass
through a deep marsh. Having waded till up to our arm-pits, Philander,
who was the finest man without exception that I ever saw, began to
swim, as did his companion, with one hand, holding their fowling pieces
above the water with the other, and desired me to follow them. This I
tried, having nothing on but my shirt and trowsers; when, after
swimming two or three strokes, I sunk to the bottom like a stone, with
the weight of my musquet; but relinquishing it, I immediately rose to
the surface, and begged that Philander would dive for it; who having
secured his own to a mangrove, brought it up without difficulty. At
this moment a thundering voice called out through the thicket,—“Who
somma datty? and another sooto sooto da Bonny kiry da dago? Who is
that? Who is there? Fire! shoot! it is Bonny, kill the dog!”—and
looking up, we saw the muzzles of six musquets presented upon us at a
very little distance indeed. I instantly dived, but Philander answering
that we belonged to Magdenberg, we were permitted to come on shore one
by one at the Jacob, and found that these trusty negro slaves, having
heard a flouncing in the water, and seeing three armed men in the
marsh, took it for granted that the rebels were coming, headed by Bonny
himself, for whom they had mistaken me, being almost naked and so much
sun-burnt; besides my hair, which was short and curly, I entirely
resembled a mulatto. Being refreshed with some rum, and having dried
ourselves by a good fire, we now returned back to the Magdenberg, where
I congratulated myself on my escape.
On the 19th, Colonel Fourgeoud being now supplied with fresh troops,
sent a whole ship load of invalids to Holland, who sailed this day; and
on February the 26th, my dear friend Heneman also sailed for Holland,
in an extremely debilitated state.
Among the troops which sailed at the same time with Heneman were
several officers, not very sick, but justly disheartened and disgusted
at Fourgeoud’s injustice, in having stopped their preferment, as I have
intimated in the end of the tenth chapter; while they now saw
themselves superseded by raw youths, who were at school at the time
they were serving the colony in 1772. With this vessel sailed also the
officers whom he had put under an arrest, the 16th December, 1774.
Never was an hospital ship so ill provided with refreshments.
On the 21st, Fourgeoud reviewed with pleasure his recruited little
army, where I was sorry the rangers did not appear. He now dispatched
one hundred men as a patrole to reconnoitre the skirts of his new
encampment, of which number I had the honour to be one. During this
time nothing remarkable happened, except meeting with a large company
of quatas, which being one of the most remarkable species of monkies in
the world, from their affinity to the human race, I cannot tacitly pass
over. One evening walking with my black boy Quaco without the camp,
they came down so low to look at us, and threw small sticks and
excrements at us, that we stopped, and I had an opportunity thoroughly
to examine them. The quata, or quato, is very large, with an enormous
tail: their arms and legs being covered over with long black hair, they
make a very hideous appearance indeed; the more so, as the creature’s
face is quite naked and red, with deep sunk eyes, which gives it much
the appearance of an old Indian woman. It has short ears, and only four
fingers without a thumb on its hands or fore feet, but it has five toes
on the hinder feet, all of which have black nails. The extremity of its
tail has a spiral turn inwardly; it is naked and callous, by its
frequently hanging to the branches of the trees; for when so employed,
it serves the animal as a fifth limb. Most wonderful is the agility of
these monkies in swinging from one tree to another, but I never saw
them leap. Their throwing short sticks and excrements seems to be no
more than a mimicking of the human actions without any purpose, as they
neither have strength to throw far, nor dexterity to hit their objects,
and if they befoul them it is by accident only. But what appears
peculiarly remarkable is, that when one is hurt by a musket or arrow,
the poor animal instantly claps its hand on the wound, looks at the
blood, and with the most piteous lamentations ascends to the very top
of the tree, in which he is assisted by his companions; where, hanging
by the tail, he continues to bewail his fate, till by the loss of blood
he grows totally faint, and drops down dead at the feet of his
adversaries.
It is not so extraordinary that one of this species, when wounded,
should be assisted by his companions in climbing; but that they should
have so much knowledge in botany, as to procure vulnerary herbs, and
chew and apply them to the wound, is what I cannot credit, though it is
so confidently asserted by a late traveller: and as to the assistance
they give in passing a river, by holding each other’s tails, and
swinging till the lowermost is thrown up to the branch of a high tree,
though I have a great opinion of Ulloa, who relates it, and has given a
print of it in a vignette; since he does not say he saw it himself, I
must take the liberty to doubt this fact [1], and even what he says he
witnessed.
I must here mention another monkey that I saw at Colonel Fourgeoud’s
house, which is in Surinam called the wanacoe, and is covered over with
long black hair, like the quato; but its limbs are shorter and more
hairy, and its face is a kind of dirty white. This monkey is the only
one of the species that is not sociable, being constantly found alone;
and so despicable is this solitary animal, that he is continually
beaten and robbed of his food by all the others, from whom he is too
lazy to escape, though too cowardly to fight.
Of the long-haired monkies, the saccawinkee is the smallest; indeed, I
may say of all the monkies in Guiana, if not in the world, being not
much larger than a Norway rat.
This is a beautiful little animal, with blackish grey frizzled hair, a
white face, and very bright shining eyes; its ears are large and naked,
yet they are not very perceptible, being covered by the very long and
white whiskers that grow round the whole visage of this little
creature: its feet are not unlike those of a squirrel, and its tail is
bushy and annulated. So very delicate is the saccawinkee, and so
sensible of the cold, that scarcely one of them is brought to Europe
alive, and if they are they very soon pine and die. The Dutch call them
the shagarintee, from their being chagrined at the smallest trifle. In
the annexed plate, I have delineated both those monkies, the large
quato, and the small saccawinkee, thus endeavouring to correct with my
pencil the deficiency of my pen.
On my return to the Magdenberg, I narrowly escaped being crushed to
death by an enormous tree, which dropped by age just at my feet. These
accidents frequently happen in the forest; this, however, only slightly
wounded two or three of our marines. During this trip we had much rain,
and were obliged to cross over a small creek. We cut down one of the
palm-trees on the water’s edge, which falling across the river formed a
temporary bridge.
I now paid a visit to the miserable negro who had been found with his
throat cut, and who was so well as to be able to converse; when he
declared to me, that he committed this violent action with his own
hand. The suspected officer and sentinel were, therefore, instantly
acquitted. I asked him by what reason he had been incited to suicide?
and he answered—“None.”
“I have,” said he, “as good a master and mistress as I could wish, and
a family of my own that I much love: I had slept sound during the whole
night till about four o’clock in the morning, when awaking I took my
knife to pick my teeth with it, and instantaneously cut my throat
without knowing why; but the moment after repented of what I had done.
I then rose from my hammock and got into the canoe to wash myself, and
try to bind up the wound, but stooping over the side and bleeding very
fast, I turned faint and fell into the river. I was now no more able to
get on board, or to cry for assistance. However, by struggling, I made
shift to get on shore, where I fell down and lay helpless, till I was
picked up by a boat going to Magdenberg; during all which time of nine
days I had my perfect senses, and saw a tamanoir or ant-bear come to
smell the putrid blood about my neck, who, on seeing me move, retired
into the forest.”
I gave the poor man some Boston biscuits which I had got from
Paramaribo, a large calibash with barley to make him some soup, and
also some wine. This negro appeared to be about sixty years of age.
I now to my sorrow received a letter from Mr. Kennedy, who was
preparing to visit Holland, requesting that my boy Quaco might be
returned to his estate. I accordingly sent him down with a letter,
offering to buy him of his master as soon as it should be in my power
to pay him.
On the 2d of April, Colonel Fourgeoud ordered all the sick remaining in
the colony to Magdenberg, where he had erected an hospital and a large
victualling magazine. Thus all the invalids from Clarenbeck arrived
here, with surgeons, apothecaries, attendants, &c.: and here, in fact,
as I said, the air was more healthy. At this period the old gentleman
was particularly ill-natured, and abused both friend and foe without
distinction; swearing, that not a soul should be exempt from duty,
provided they could but stand on their legs. About this time a strong
detachment was sent to the estate Bruyinsburgh in Comewina, where an
insurrection was expected, the slaves refusing to work upon a Sunday;
to which, however, they were driven by the lash of the whip.
It was now in the midst of the rainy season, that Fourgeoud declared
his intention of scouring the woods; and, in consequence, gave orders
for two strong columns to march the next day. The reason for chusing
this season was, that if he could now dislodge the rebels they must
starve for want, which would not be the case in the dry months, for
then the forest abounds with fruits and roots of many kinds. This was,
however, in my opinion, a false piece of generalship; if it be
considered on the other hand, the dreadful havock which the wet weather
must produce among his troops, of which he killed, I suppose, at the
rate of twenty to one rebel negro.
Fourgeoud was himself of a very strong constitution, having been used
to hunting and shooting the whole of his life-time: to which he added
temperance, and the daily use of his beloved ptisan.
His dress consisted of nothing but a waistcoat, through one of the
button-holes of which he wore his sword: on his head he wore a cotton
night-cap, with a white beaver hat above it, and in his hand a cane;
but he seldom carried his musket or his pistols. I have seen him all in
rags and bare-footed, like the meanest soldier.
On the morning of the 3d of April, at six o’clock, the two columns set
out upon their march, the one commanded by Colonel Seyburg, the other
by Fourgeoud; to which last I had the honour to belong. Our poor men
were now loaded like asses. They were ordered to put their fire-locks
in their knapsacks, of course the muzzles excepted: this was to keep
them from the rain, which absolutely poured in torrents. Our course was
south by east, up among the banks of the Tempatee Creek, where we soon
came to swamps, and were marching in the water above our knees.
During the first day’s march we met some very pretty squirrels, which
are of several kinds in this country. Those that we saw were brown,
with the belly white, the tail not so bushy; nor were they, upon the
whole, so large as those of Europe. There are also white squirrels in
this country with red eyes, and flying squirrels. These, it is well
known, have no wings, but a membrane between the fore and hinder leg,
being a part of their skin, which, when they leap, expands like the
wing of a bat, and by this, like a parachute, they rest upon the air,
and in their flights are carried to a considerable distance.
On the 4th of April we marched again, our course south by east, till
two o’clock, when we changed our course to south-south-west.
This day we passed by piles of fine timber, that were left there to rot
since 1757, when the estates were demolished by the negro slaves who
were in rebellion. Among these were the purple-heart-tree, the
iron-wood-tree, and the bourracourra, known in England by the name of
Brazil.
The purple-heart-tree grows sometimes to the height of fourscore feet,
and thick in proportion, with a smooth dark brown bark; the wood is of
a beautiful purple colour and an agreeable smell, and is much esteemed
on account of its weight and durability.
The iron-wood-tree, so called from the gravity and permanent quality of
its timber, grows to about sixty feet in height, with a light-coloured
bark. It is much valued by the natives as well as the Europeans, on
account of its hardness in particular (resisting even the hatchet), and
for taking a most beautiful bright polish. This wood sinks in water.
The bourracourra, or brazil, grows to between thirty and forty feet
high, but not very thick, with a reddish bark. The heart only of this
tree is valuable, after the white pithy part is cut away, though then
it is much diminished. This wood is as truly beautiful as it is useful,
the colour being a fine crimson, variegated with irregular and
fantastical black spots, from which, by the French, it is called bois
de lettres. It is heavy, hard, and durable, though rather brittle, and
is capable of taking the brightest polish; this last is scarce in
Guiana, but the others are more plentiful, growing on the highest
grounds; where also is found ebony. The heavy trees, being shaped into
timbers for sugar-mills, are chiefly sent to the English West India
islands, and often sold for the price of fifty guineas each piece.
The word of command being again given on the 5th, we unslung our
hammocks, then marched south-south-east, and south by east, through
deep and dangerous marshes up to our breasts in water, and in very
heavy rains; in which helpless situation we were suddenly alarmed, not
by a party of rebels, but by a company of large monkies, which we
discovered in the tops of the trees, knocking a kind of nuts against
the branches to break them for their contents, with the greatest
regularity, as it were keeping time alternately at every stroke, while
some of them threw down their burthens; and a nut falling from a
considerable height, broke the head of one of our marines. The sound of
breaking these nuts, we had mistaken for the rebel negroes cutting wood
with an axe.
In the evening we encamped near the Tempatee Creek; where we made large
fires, and built comfortable huts; thus this night we slept protected
from the wet. Here we found the best water I ever tasted: and in the
camp I saw two remarkable lizards, the one called the devil of the
woods, and the other agama, in this country. The first is an ugly small
lizard of a deep brown or blackish colour, which runs with amazing
swiftness up and down the trees; it has no scales, a large head, and it
is said to bite, which is supposed to be an uncommon property in a
lizard. The other is called the Mexican cameleon, which is remarkably
splendid; and, like others of the kind, is endued with the property of
changing its colour; but of its nature and qualities I can say little
more, having never had the opportunity of a close examination. In
Surinam there is also a species of lizard, known by the name of
salamander, which also I never saw.
On the 6th we marched again, keeping due west till twelve o’clock,
through very heavy rain and deep water; when we changed our course to
the north, and passed over very high mountains, by many supposed to be
pregnant with treasure.
“Rocks rich with gems, and mountains bright with mines,
That on the high equator ridgy rise;
Where many a bursting stream auriferous plays:
Majestic woods of every vigorous green,
Stage above stage high waving o’er the hills.”
Thomson.
The two highest mountains in South America, are that peak of the Andes
called Chimborazo, which measures 20,460 geometrical feet above the
surface of the South Sea; having, though under the line, 4000 feet of
its summit continually covered with snow. The other is that, on the
slope of which is built the city of Quito, at the height of 9,370 feet,
and is thought to be the highest inhabited land in South America, if
not in the world.
We still continued marching north, on the 7th, over mountains, from
which, at intervals, we had undoubtedly the most enchanting prospects,
as well from the wildness of the country, as the beautiful variegated
verdure displayed in so many different shades through this amazing
forest. Here I saw a bird which is called a woodcock, which appears to
have much of the colour of those in Europe, but which flew very
heavily; I was however informed, that it can run with incredible
swiftness. But the objects which most attracted my attention were the
arnotta-trees, a few of which we met with: of these I have copied one
of the twigs with great exactness. This tree, which is also called the
rowcow, or the orlean-tree, and by the Indians cossowee, may rather be
stiled a shrub, as it does not grow above twelve feet in height. The
leaves are greener on one side than the other, and are divided by
fibres of a reddish brown colour, as is also the stem; the pods, which
are as large as a small hen’s egg, are bristled like the outer husk of
a chesnut. At first they are a beautiful rose colour, which, as they
ripen, changes to a dark brown, when they burst open and display a rich
crimson pulp, in which are contained seeds that are black, like those
of a grape. The use of this pulp I have already described, when
speaking of the Aborigines or Indians; and now I present the reader
with a view of it, though from necessity on a small scale:—A is the
leaf above; B the same below; C the pod before it is yet ripe; D the
same ripe, and exposing the crimson pulp; E the black seed covered over
with part of the pulp. Here again I must take the liberty to observe,
that the rowcow plant, exhibited by the celebrated Madam Merian, is
very unlike the original that I saw; and to my great surprize she says
it grows on a large tree.
Having crossed an arm of the Mapanee Creek in the evening, we once more
returned to our camp at Magdenberg; Mr. Noot, one of our officers, and
several others, were so ill, that they were carried in their hammocks
upon poles by the negro slaves, and a great number were so very weak
that they could scarcely support the weight of their emaciated bodies;
but to complain of sickness was to mutiny, till they dropped down
almost ready to expire. During this expedition, in which we still
perceived nothing of the enemy, I was remarkably fortunate, having
neither suffered by fatigue, nor been persecuted by extraordinary bad
usage. The succeeding day Colonel Seyburg’s column arrived, having,
like us, seen no appearance of the rebels.
On the 9th, my boy Quaco returned from Paramaribo; his master, Mr.
Walter Kennedy, having, to my great joy, sold him to me for the sum of
five hundred Dutch florins, amounting with the expences to near fifty
pounds, for which Colonel Fourgeoud very civilly gave me a bill on his
agent. The payment of this faithful servant’s ransom, of course revived
my impatience for the long-wished moment of emancipation of my poor
Joanna and her boy; from whose new master I had not yet received any
answer.
While we continued here, a negro brought me a beautiful butterfly,
which I copied with all the correctness I was master of; and which I
saw since in Madam Merian’s collection, where it is coloured very ill.
This fly was a dark blue tinged with green, and variegated with spots
like a peacock’s feather, and on each wing it had a spot of pale
yellow; the under part of the wings were a charming crimson and purple;
the body a pale red.—The caterpillar is green and yellow; it is crowned
with eight horns on the head, and has two on the tail. About the same
time Captain Fredericy returned also from traversing the woods. He had
a corporal drowned by slipping off a tree in crossing over a creek;
which accident frequently happened, but the men were generally picked
up, except this poor fellow, who sunk to the bottom instantly with all
his accoutrements.
Another negro also brought me a regale of groe-groe, or cabbage-tree
worms, as they are called in Surinam.
This reptile is produced in a tree called the mountain-cabbage-tree,
which is one of the palm species. The worm grows to the size and
thickness of a man’s thumb, is produced from the spawn of a black
beetle, and is extremely fat. However disgusting to appearance, these
worms are a delicious treat to many people, and they are regularly sold
at Paramaribo. The manner of dressing them, is by frying them in a pan
with a very little butter and salt, or spitting them on a wooden
skewer. In taste they partake of all the spices of India, as mace,
cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, &c. Several species of these worms are
produced in all the palm-trees when beginning to rot, but some are
larger than others. They are all of a pale yellow colour, with black
heads. In the plate annexed are represented the above-mentioned fine
butterfly, and the cabbage-tree-worm, both of the natural size, taken
from the life. By the Indians and negroes they are called toecoema.
On the 13th, a detachment departed for La Rochelle in Patamaca, and the
following day a captain was sent with a few men back to the Hope, in
Comewina, to protect the estates in that river.
On the same day, the miserable old negro who had cut his throat on the
5th day of March, but had since recovered, was seen by some slaves to
enter the wood with a knife, from which he no more returned, being soon
after found stabbed to death. We were afterwards informed by his
master, that for some time before he had attempted to do the same
almost regularly from month to month.
On the 17th, the detachment returned from La Rochelle, where the troops
of the Society were all sick.
Colonel Fourgeoud now treated me with the greatest politeness. And at
his earnest request I presented him, on the 20th, with various
drawings, representing himself and his troops struggling with the
hardships annexed to the service they were sent on; and which drawings
he told me were intended to shew the Prince of Orange and the States a
specimen of what he and his marines did undergo in the forests of
Guiana.
He now gave me leave, for fourteen days, to go to town to wish Mr.
Kennedy a prosperous voyage to Europe. Availing myself therefore of his
good humour, I left Magdenberg within one hour, and made such dispatch
that I came to Paramaribo on the 22d, where I found my friends and
little family all well, at the house of Mr. de la Mare, to which they
were immediately sent from that of Mr. Lolkens, who had, during my last
absence, entertained them, and treated them with the greatest attention
and hospitality.
CHAP. XVII.
New Instances of unprecedented Barbarity—Occurrences on Mount
Magdenberg—Prices of Provisions at Paramaribo—Description of a new
Animal—Great Mortality amongst the Troops in Tempatee and Comewina
River.
The first visit I now made was to Mr. Kennedy, to bid him farewel; I
then paid five hundred florins for the black boy, for which he gave me
a receipt, and Quaco was mine. About this time I fell ill with a fever,
which however lasted but a few days. Walking out on the 1st of May, I
observed a croud of people along the water-side, before the house of
Mr. S—lk—r, where appeared the dreadful spectacle of a beautiful young
mulatto girl, floating on her back, with her hands tied behind, her
throat most shockingly cut, and stabbed in the breast with a knife in
more than eight or ten different places. This was reported to have been
the work of that infernal fiend, Mrs. S—lk—r, from a motive of
jealousy, suspecting that her husband might fall in love with this poor
unfortunate female. This monster of a woman had before drowned a negro
infant merely for crying, as I have said; nay, she was accused of still
greater barbarity, were greater barbarity possible. Arriving one day at
her estate to view some negroes newly purchased, her eye chanced to
fall on a fine negro girl about fifteen years of age, who could not
even speak the language of the country. Observing her to be a
remarkably fine figure, with a sweet engaging countenance, her
diabolical jealousy instantly prompted her to burn the girl’s cheeks,
mouth, and forehead with a red-hot iron; she also cut the tendon
Achilles of one of her legs, thus rendering her a monster of deformity,
and a miserable object as long as she lived: the poor victim not
knowing what she had done to deserve so severe a punishment.
Some of the negroes now representing to this lady the many cruelties
she daily inflicted, and supplicating her to be of a milder
disposition; it was reported that she instantly knocked out the brains
of a Quaderoon child, and caused the heads of two young negroes, its
relations, to be chopped off, for having endeavoured to prevent her;
these heads, when she had left the estate, were tied in silk
handkerchiefs, and carried by the surviving relations to Paramaribo,
where they were laid at the feet of the governor, with the following
speech:
“This, your Excellency, is the head of my son, and this is the head of
my brother, struck off by our mistress’s command, for endeavouring to
prevent her murders. We know our evidence is nothing in a state of
slavery; but, if these bloody heads be a sufficient proof of what we
say, we only beg that such pernicious acts may be prevented in time to
come; in acknowledgment of which we will all chearfully shed our blood
for the preservation and prosperity of our master, our mistress, and
the colony.”
To this humble and pathetic remonstrance the answer was, that they were
all liars, and should, as such, be flogged round the streets of
Paramaribo; and this most iniquitous sentence was executed with the
greatest severity.
Such is the consequence of the law of the colony, that the testimony of
a negro is never to be taken. Had any one white person been present at
the above carnage, the evidence would have been good, but even then
this fury would have escaped by paying a fine of fifty pounds for each
murder.—But enough—my soul sinks within me while I dwell so long upon
the subject.
On the 2d of May, being again perfectly recovered, I took leave of
Joanna and her Johnny, for thus he was named after myself, though the
ceremony of baptism could not yet be performed; they now continued at
my friend De la Mare’s house, whilst I set out once more for Magdenberg
in a tent-boat with six oars.
On the 3d, I called at Egmond, on my French friend Monsieur Cachelieu,
and next day stopt at Oranjebo or Ornamibo, where I was heartily
entertained by my old adversary Captain Meyland, with whom I had fought
at the Wana Creek. But now this gentleman declared, that he loved me
better than any man in the colony. He was just returned from a twelve
days cruize through the woods.
Among his men I recollected one Cordus, a gentleman’s son from
Hamburgh, in which character I had known him, and who had been
trepanned into the West India Company’s service by the crimps or
silver-coopers as a common soldier. This corps, as I have already said,
is composed of all nations, Christians, Gentiles, and even Jews; the
latter, I must observe, devoured pork and bacon, without scruple or
hesitation, as often as they could find it.
On this spot, which had formerly been a plantation, but was now choked
with weeds, I met with some herbs which again I cannot pass unnoticed,
though I have no other names for them than those given me by the
negroes, one only excepted, which is commonly known by the name of the
Siliqua hirsulæ, cow-edge, or cow-itch, and called by the black people
crassy-weeree-weeree. I can only describe this as a kind of pea, or
rather flattish small purple bean, growing in a pod from a slender
creeping vine; these pods are covered with a kind of fine elastic
spicula, which, when touched, cause an intolerable itching. This hairy
coat scraped from the pod, and taken in a tea-spoon with jelly, &c. has
been strongly recommended as a vermifuge. A sort of wood was also shewn
me here by one of the slaves, which he called crassy-wood; this had the
same itching effect when touched, but with respect to its general
qualities I can say nothing further. The other shrubs that we found
were what they called consaca-weeree-weeree; these grow with large
green leaves, which the negroes use for the cure of a disorder in the
feet called consaca, when they can procure no limes or lemons, as I
have already mentioned: this plant also makes an excellent sallad. The
dea-weeree-weeree is a fine wholesome herb, and very much esteemed; but
the cutty-weeree-weeree is amongst the most serious pests in the
colony, being a kind of strong edged grass, which is in some places
very plentiful; and when a man walks through it will cut his legs like
a razor. Herbs in general are in this country known by the name of
weeree-weeree by the negroes.
On the 5th, I arrived at Magdenberg. Here Colonel Seyburg, and what he
called his officers, seemed to form a distinct corps from those of
Fourgeoud. They appeared totally destitute of politeness, and treated
each other with the greatest rudeness, while their colonel was most
cordially hated by the commander in chief. This state of things
contributed to render our situation still more disagreeable: I however
had at this time little reason to complain, being for the present, at
least, in the good graces of Fourgeoud, which, by a trifling accident,
I had nearly again forfeited. Colonel Fourgeoud having purchased of
some Indians a couple of most beautiful parrots, called here cocatoos,
which were in a cage ready to be shipped off as a present to her royal
highness the princess of Orange, I persuaded Monsieur Laurant, his
valet-de-chambre, to take one of them out, that I might the better
examine it, but the cage-door was no sooner opened, than it gave a
shriek, and disappeared in an instant, flying over the Tempatee Creek.
The poor valet stood perfectly petrified, and could only pronounce
“Voyez-vous?” whilst I took to my heels to avoid the approaching storm,
but stopped near enough to observe Fourgeoud’s motions through the
underwood. He was no sooner informed of the dreadful accident, than he
began to storm, swear, and dance like a man totally deprived of reason;
he next, by kicking it, killed a poor waddling duck belonging to one of
our officers; and at last actually trampled his very wig under his
feet, while I stood trembling, and the rest of the spectators were
laughing aloud. In about half an hour his passion began gradually to
cool, and then he had recourse to a stratagem which actually brought
the parrot back into his possession. He placed the remaining captive on
the top of its cage, tied by a small cord round its claw; this he set
in the open air, putting a ripe banana inside, and leaving the door
open, so that any other bird except the prisoner might come at it; the
poor captive at last becoming very hungry, made such a noise and
shrieking as to be heard by his mate, who returning entered the cage in
quest of food, and was once more deprived of his freedom. I now
ventured from my concealment, and was acquitted after a gentle reproof;
though poor Laurant, as may well be imagined, did not escape without a
thundering lecture.
The cocatoos are less than the parrots, and of a green colour, except
the head and a few feathers in the tail, which are of a pale red. This
bird is crowned with a panashe or bunch of feathers, and which
generally lie backward, but which it erects at pleasure, when it is
irritated or afraid.
I have also seen in Surinam a parrot of a deep slate blue colour,
though not like those that come from the coast of Guinea, which are
rather of a lead-grey. This parrot is said to be very scarce, and only
inhabits the deepest recesses of the forest, whence it is brought to
Paramaribo by the Indians: this bird is less than the common parrot,
but appears very strong and lively. The most common parrots in Guiana
are those which Marcgrave calls ajurucura. These birds are not so large
as those that come from Africa; they are green, with the breast and
belly a pale yellow; on the top of the head they have a blue spot, and
the feet are grey, with four toes like the rest of the genus, two
before and two behind; in the wings they have some feathers of a bright
blue, and some a deep crimson; they are more a nuisance than a pleasure
in Surinam, where, in prodigious flocks, they perch amongst the coffee,
maize, rice, &c. and commit great devastations; and what makes them a
still greater nuisance, their shrieking noise is almost insupportable.
They always fly in pairs, and very swift, towards the east, as I have
observed, meeting the sun in the morning, and toward the west they
follow it in the evening: they generally breed in remote places and lay
two eggs. I brought down two of these parrots at a shot when I was at
Sporksgift estate; these animals not being quite dead, scratched me
most terribly with their sharp claws, as they are very strong and
tenacious of life. We had them dressed, and they made no bad soup; they
may also do in a pye as rooks in England, but dressed in any other way
they are tough and disagreeable. These green parrots may be taught to
speak, laugh, cry, bark, whistle, or mew, but not near so well as those
which come from Africa. It is said, they are often intoxicated by the
seeds of the cotton plant. These parrots are also subject to fits,
perhaps from their choleric disposition, yet longevity is peculiarly
ascribed to them by the Indians: they have strong hooked bills, which
assist them in climbing and cracking very hard nuts, and they sometimes
bite very severely; they delight in swinging and balancing, hanging
from the branches of trees, and in their wild as well as domestic state
use one of their claws as a hand to take their food.
In Surinam there are also some beautiful paroquets, which are a species
of parrots, but smaller though not less common; the finest of these is
of the size of a very small pigeon; they are of a lively green on the
back and tail, but the head and neck are auburn, the feathers on the
last being edged with a gold colour, which gives them the appearance of
rich scollops or scales: the breast is of a leaden hue, the belly
lilac, the wings tipped with orange and azure, and the bill of a very
dark blue; the eyes are the colour of fire, and the feet quite black.
The other species are perfectly green, with a white bill, and a crimson
spot on the head; these make an agreeable chattering, but are not so
easily domesticated as the former.
I was presented this evening by a soldier with a bird of a quite
different kind, which he had actually caught with his hands. This was
no other than the annamoe, or Surinam partridge, and a finer creature I
never saw: it was of the size of a large duck, extremely fat, and of a
dark brown colour on the back and wings, and on the top of the head,
the under part of which, the breast, the belly, and the thighs, were of
a fine cream-colour, intermixed with orange feathers and very small
transverse black bars. The body was exactly the shape of an egg, it had
no tail, the neck was long, the bill short, but very sharp-pointed, and
a little curved; the eyes were bright, and as black as jet; the legs
short, of the colour of vermilion, with three small toes on each foot.
This bird, it is said, runs with amazing swiftness, hiding itself
amongst the grass and weeds, but flies very heavily on account of its
plumpness, which was the cause of its being thus overtaken by the
marine. We had it roasted, and indeed nothing could be more delicious.
As I took a correct drawing of it, I refer the reader to the annexed
plate; where he may also see the parrot of South America, as described
above, besides a few curious nests, of which I have given an account in
Vol. I. p. 375, but where I had no opportunity of placing them; and
which, besides their curiosity, may serve to shew how much the public
are imposed upon; when, in Goldsmith’s Animated Nature, Vol. V. p. 253,
that author asserts, that they are built on the banana and plantain
trees, where he also describes the monkies, and numbers of large
serpents as assembling. All this I here think it my duty to pronounce
erroneous, as I consider it would be unpardonable in me to let such
absurdities pass by unnoticed.
On the 9th, an accident had nearly befallen me, which must have caused
me much poignant and lasting sorrow. My black boy, washing my cotton
hammock in the Tempatee Creek, was suddenly carried to the bottom by
the rapidity of the stream, and entangled in its lashings, so that both
the one and the other disappeared; the boy, however, luckily extricated
himself, though with great difficulty, and to my great joy, though more
than half drowned, appeared once more on terra firma; when he had the
presence of mind instantly to sink a large fish-hook, with a lead tied
to a strong line, some yards below the spot, with which he actually
brought up the hammock, to our astonishment, the stream running so
swift that it rolled over the ground, and was liable to shift its
station every moment.
The following day, as Captain Hamel was angling, his tackle got fast at
the bottom of the creek, when, in diving to clear it, I struck my ancle
with such violence against a rock, that it was several months before it
was perfectly recovered.
These accidents appeared greatly to entertain Colonel Seyburg, while in
return I could not help feeling a degree of indignation at what I
considered as unhandsome behaviour; but the most extraordinary
circumstance was, that this disgust between Seyburg and myself seemed
to gain me the favour of old Fourgeoud, almost as much as if I had
destroyed half the rebel negroes in the colony.—During all this time
strong patroles cruized between Magdenberg, La Rochelle, and the Jew
Savannah; and on the 17th, the commander in chief marched to Patamaca
with nearly the half of his troops, leaving me the command of those
that remained on the mountain, for I was not able to accompany him,
having by this time a dangerous mortification in my ancle.
As I had now the prospect of remaining some time at Magdenberg, I
dispatched Quaco to Paramaribo for provisions, and orders to buy me a
live goat.
Whatever may be thought of Fourgeoud’s manœuvres, in not being able to
bring the rebels to a pitched battle, it is very certain that he
exerted himself and his troops to the utmost; and that by his
constantly traversing the upper parts of the rivers, and scouring the
skirts of the colony, he prevented many depredations on the estates,
which was undoubtedly a very essential service to the inhabitants,
though at a dreadful expence of blood and money.
Being now the commander in chief at this post, the two negroes I have
formerly mentioned hunting and fishing for me, brought me almost every
day one or two pingos, which are the wild boars formerly mentioned,
besides a fish called newmara, some of which are as large as cod, and
which I shall afterwards describe. With these dainties I regaled all
the officers without exception, while I gave to the hospital all the
plantains, bananas, oranges, and lemons, that were occasionally sent me
as presents from the Jacob and the plantations in Upper Comewina; and
never was a deputy-governor more universally beloved. Patroles were
also daily sent out to every quarter; and the environs of Magdenberg
were so completely scoured, that no invasion from the rebels could be
practicable. These precautions were the more necessary, as they had
formerly surprised and taken by storm different military posts for the
sake of ammunition and fire-arms, which are to them of the utmost
value, and their seizure of the most pernicious consequence to the
colony. Indeed some posts had not only been attacked and plundered of
their stores and ammunition, but were actually massacred to a man.
Mortified that it was not in my power to take a more active part at
present, I availed myself of this leisure, by taking drawings of every
animal, reptile, or shrub, that I thought could illustrate my little
collection of natural curiosities, which I now began to form some idea
of exhibiting to the public, if it should be my fate ever more to
return to Europe.
One of my negroes, on the 24th of this month, brought me two curious
insects; which, though I had no opportunity of drawing, I will
endeavour to describe:—The one (which seemed to have some small
affinity to the grasshopper kind) was what is here generally called
spaanse-juffer, and is without exception the most singular animal I saw
in the colony. The body of this surprising creature, though not thicker
than a quill, was no less than seven inches and a half in length,
including the tail; it had no wings, and was mounted like a spider on
six legs that were near six inches long; it had four antennæ projecting
from its head, two being nearly five inches, and two much shorter; the
head was small, the eyes large, black, and prominent, and the tail
articulated like that of most insects: its colour was a brownish green,
and, upon the whole, it seemed a monster. This creature is found near
the marshy places, where its long legs appear designed to enable it to
wade through the water, but not to swim (according to Mr. Farmine’s
opinion) for which its feet are not calculated, as they terminate in
two small claws like those of some beetles. The other was a large fly,
which Madam Merian, who gives a drawing of it, calls the vielleur, but
which I have generally heard called the scare-sleep by the Dutch. These
words being extremely applicable, from the noise it makes towards the
evening, which nearly resembles the sound of a cymbal, or that of a
razor-grinder when at his work. This remarkable fly, whose grinding
noise always begins at sun-set or six o’clock, is also called the
porte-lanterne or lantern-bearer, from the light it diffuses after that
time, and which is much stronger than that of any of the fire-fly
species, affording sufficient light for almost any purpose: these flies
are above three inches long, and very thick, the body green, with four
transparent wings variegated with little marks of all colours,
particularly the under wings, on which are two large roundish spots not
unlike those on the tail feathers of a peacock. Beneath the head of
this insect is seen an inverted straight trump or tube like a needle,
with which it is said to suck its food from the flowers. With the same
instrument it is here supposed to produce that disagreeable, loud, and
grinding noise, which I have already noticed. But, for my own part, I
should rather ascribe the noise to the fluttering of its transparent
wings, as is supposed to be the case with some flies in England: a
large proboscis or snout striped red and yellow, and shaped like the
first joint of a man’s finger, projects from the head, and makes
one-third of the whole animal; this protuberance is vulgarly called its
lantern, and emits that surprising light whence it takes its second
name. I shall only add, that it is a very slow creeper, but flies with
amazing velocity.
On the 26th, my boy Quaco arrived from Paramaribo with the following
list of provisions, which he had purchased for me. In order to give the
curious a just idea of the prices in Surinam when things are cheapest,
I will here insert some articles as charged to my account, with the
prices in English money, calculating at the rate of eleven florins to
one pound sterling.
These articles were as follow:
2 bacon hams, 31 lbs. at 15d. per lb.
1 small cag of butter, 10 lbs. at 1s. 10d. per lb.
1 small ditto of flour, 100 lbs. at 4d. per lb.
1 Dutch cheese, 11 lbs. at 10d. per lb.
2 quart bottles of vinegar, at 1s. 10d. per quart.
4 lbs. spermaceti candles, at 3s. 8d. per lb.
2 lbs. dried sausages, at 2s. 9d. per lb.
The prices of wine and spirits I have already mentioned in the twelfth
chapter.
He also brought me a goat with its kid to supply me with milk, for
which I paid twenty florins, or near two pounds sterling: these prices
are at least double, and some treble, to what they used to be in
England.
Goats are very common in all Guiana; they are not large, but very
beautiful creatures, with small horns, and very short smooth hair,
mostly of a dun-colour; they are as nimble as stags, and are kept on
all the estates, where they breed fast and give much milk; they are
also delicious eating when killed young.
I had now the disagreeable news, that all my letters for Europe were
sunk on board Captain Visser, who was wrecked in the Texel roads among
the ice. I was also sincerely grieved to hear that my good friend Mr.
Kennedy, with his lady and family, had taken their final farewel of the
colony, and sailed for Holland. This gentleman, Mr. Gordon, and a Mr.
Gourluy, were the only Scotch; a Mr. Buckland, a Mr. Townsend, and Mr.
Halfhide, the only English; and Captain Macneal, the only native of
Ireland, residing in this colony.
On the 28th, Colonel Fourgeoud returned with his command from Patamaca,
much emaciated himself, and his men nearly exhausted by fatigue. He had
left a great number behind him in the hospital at La Rochelle, but
heard no account whatever of the rebels, although he varied his route
every time. It was therefore pretty evident that they were routed, if
latterly there had been any settled at all: but where to find them in
this unbounded forest was the question. He however never despaired, and
seemed as eager to discover the haunts of the rebels as he had been
formerly in springing a covey of partridges, or discovering a nest of
black badgers.
On the 29th, Mr. Matthew, one of our officers who had been out
shooting, presented me with the Taibo, an animal that is here called
the wood-rat. This creature was the size of a young hare, and of a
reddish brown colour, being remarkably thin, with long limbs, a
roundish head, and a tail not unlike that of a sucking-pig; the claws
were exactly like those of a common rat, but larger in proportion, and
so was the head, mouth, teeth, and whiskers; the ears were short and
naked, the eyes black and prominent, with a white iris; it is said to
run very fast: we had it dressed, and ate it, having been told that it
was very good, and so we found it, sweet, tender, and even fat,
notwithstanding its lank appearance. This creature, on account of its
size, reminds me of another animal, known in this country by the name
of crabbo-dago, or the crabbed dog, for its matchless ferocity, as it
kills and devours every thing that comes in its way, without exception,
whether quadrupeds, fowls, or reptiles; and never seeming to be glutted
with blood, it murders, even without being hungry, all it can vanquish,
which, on account of its courage, activity, and strength, are not a
few, though it be not larger than a common cat. From what I have said,
I should apprehend it much resembles the ichneumon, but still more that
animal mentioned by Mr. Allemand, in the Count de Buffon; (see Vol. IV.
p. 266.) which he there calls the grison or grey-weazel, though this
that I mention was rather larger; and he says, that notwithstanding its
being a native of Surinam, none of the people coming from that country
could give any account of it. If this be the same animal, (as I doubt
not, and have therefore given it the name of the crabbo-dago or grison)
I am happy to have had it in my power to give the reader some account
of it. I shall now literally quote the Count’s own words, as extracted
from Mr. Allemand, which will afford the best proof of its being the
same animal, when compared with the annexed plate, where both the
wood-rat, and the crabbo-dago or grison, are represented; and had I
seen this account during the Count’s life, I would have most assuredly
taken the liberty of informing him by a letter, of what I now, though
in this unconnected method, relate to the public.
“I received,” says Mr. Allemand, “the small animal represented in the
plate [2]. In the catalogue it was called the grey-weazel, from which
circumstance I derived the name grison, because I knew not how it is
denominated in the country where it is found. The whole upper part of
its body is covered with deep brown hair, having white points, which
gives it a greyish brown colour: under the head and neck is a bright
grey, because the hairs are very short, and the white part is of equal
length with the brown. The muzzle, the under part of the body, and
legs, are black, which singularly contrasts with the grey colour on the
head and neck.
“The head of this animal is very large in proportion to its body, its
ears almost form a semicircle, its eyes are large, and its mouth is
armed with strong grinders and sharp tusks: it has six cutting teeth in
each jaw, four of them hardly rising above the gums. Both the fore and
hind feet have five toes, with yellowish claws; the tail is pretty
long, and terminates in a point.
“The grison has a greater resemblance to the weazel, than to any other
animal, but it belongs not to the weazel tribe; for its body is not
long enough, and its legs are too long. It is not mentioned by any
author or traveller. I shewed it to several persons who had lived long
in Surinam, but none of them knew it; hence it either must be a rare
animal, even in its native country, or it must live in deserts and
unfrequented places: the length of its body is about seven inches; I
have not been able to learn any thing of its history.”
To this I shall only add my surprize.—It is true that this animal is
very rare in Surinam, but it probably owes its not being described by
naturalists to its extreme ferocity, which is without example, it being
a very uncommon circumstance to take a crabbo-dago or grison alive.
Our old commander and I were now inseparable friends, to whose board
being daily invited, he requested me to paint his portrait at full
length in his bush equipage, which was to be engraved at the expence of
the town of Amsterdam, and where he thought himself now as great a man
as the Duke of Cumberland was in England after the battle of Culloden.
Having provided a large sheet of paper, and some China ink, I began to
delineate this wonderful character in his own hut. While I was now
looking full in his face, to examine the features of this first of
despots, and laughing aloud, to think how he and I now sat staring at
one another, the whole mountain was suddenly shook by a tremendous clap
of thunder, while the lightning actually scorched the Colonel’s
forehead; and, what is very curious, broke all the eggs under a hen
that was sitting in a corner of the room where we were engaged. The
hero’s features being re-composed, I proceeded, and the picture was
completed in a short time after, to his great satisfaction.
About this time the captive rebel, September, who was taken in the year
1773, died of a dropsy. Ever since his capture, when his companion was
shot, this poor fellow was obliged to follow Fourgeoud like a dog
through all his expeditions; the colonel always expecting that this
negro would, one day or other, conduct him to different haunts of the
rebels—but he was mistaken. The other negro slaves, suspecting that he
had actually given some information, attributed his dreadful death to a
punishment from God, for his want of fidelity to his countrymen, to
whom they supposed he had sworn to be true.
The reader may remember, that I have stated it in the third Chapter, as
an invariable article of belief among the African negroes, that whoever
breaks his oath shall die miserably in this world, and be punished for
ever in that which is to come.
By the 2d of June, the Hope in Comewina was become so very unwholesome
for want of cleanliness, and being kept free from inundations (as it
was much neglected by the newly-arrived troops which were now stationed
there), that the commanding officer and most of his men were rendered
unfit for duty by sickness, and many of them already buried. To this
place Colonel Fourgeoud ordered down Captain Brant to take the command,
with a fresh supply of men, and orders to send, not to town but to
Magdenberg, all the invalids he should relieve. These orders he gave to
the above officer in such a brutal manner, and dispatched him so
suddenly, that he had not even time to pack up his cloaths; while
Colonel Seyburg deprived him of his only servant, whom he took for
himself. This usage so much affected Captain Brant, that he burst into
tears, and declared he did not wish longer to survive such galling
treatment: he then departed to the Hope, truly with a broken heart.
Upon his arrival he was informed that Captain Brough, the late
commanding officer, was dead. This poor man had been on hard service in
the woods, and being very corpulent, could no longer support the
fatigues and excessive heat; he melted down very fast, and a putrid
fever at last occasioned his dissolution. Captain Brant was soon
followed by Colonel Seyburg to the Hope, with orders to inspect the
sick.—In this interval of inaction, I shall describe two fishes, which,
though very different in size and colour, equally merit particular
attention.
The first, and indeed the only one of the kind I ever saw, was caught
by an angler. It was about the size of a large anchovy, and, the dorado
excepted, was certainly the most beautiful coloured fish I ever saw.
Its back and sides were divided in longitudinal bars of fine yellow and
a deep blueish black, the belly was silver, the eyes were black and
gold, and the fins a glowing transparent vermilion; its shape was not
unlike that of a trout, and the whole was covered with small scales; it
had one dorsal fin on the middle of its back, with only the vestige of
another near the tail, which was forked: under its belly were five
fins, two pectoral, two ventral, and one behind the anus; the under jaw
projected before the upper jaw, and made its mouth appear reversed; the
gills were small. Having enquired concerning this little fish, the only
information I could obtain was from a black man, who called it
dago-fisee.
The other is that fine large fish called by the English rock-cod, by
the Indians baro-ketta, and new-mara by the negroes, which I have
several times mentioned, but not described; they are taken plentifully
in all the upper parts of the rivers. This fish is the size of a large
cod, but covered with scales, and by some compared to a salmon; the
back is a brown olive colour, the belly is white, the head is strong,
with small eyes, of which the pupil is black and the iris grey; the
mouth is very large, and beset with one row of sharp teeth like those
of a pike, and, like it, this creature is extremely voracious; the tail
is obtuse and dark olive; as also the fins, six in number, one dorsal,
two pectoral, two ventral, and one abdominal. This fish is extremely
delicious eating, and particularly esteemed by the white inhabitants at
Paramaribo, where it is very scarce, though in the upper parts of the
rivers they are taken in great abundance. I painted these two fishes
very correctly, the dago-fish as large as life, and the new-mara
considerably less. The drawings were honoured in Surinam with the
epithets of masterly performances.
Several officers who kept poultry and hogs at this period lost all the
latter in the space of two days, being poisoned probably by eating
duncane, or some other fatal weed that was unknown to us. And yet it
has been a general observation, as I have said before, that all animals
know by instinct to distinguish their food from their poison.
Mr. Seyburg now returned from the Hope in triumph, with Lieutenant
Dederlin (one of Colonel Fourgeoud’s officers) guarded by a serjeant
and six marines with fixed bayonets, for having been wanting in
respect, as that gentleman pleased to call it.
On the 7th, the sick officers and soldiers also arrived from the Hope
in barges; some of the latter, being too ill to bear removing, died on
the passage without medicines, and without assistance. One of our
surgeons died also this day in camp, and a number of the privates died
daily. This was the consequence of having marched so much in the wet
season, which was judged however by our chief to be the only season in
which he was likely to root the rebels from the forest of Guiana.
CHAP. XVIII.
A Tyger taken in the Camp—Fatal Rencounter of a Party with the
Rebels, who killed several of the Troops, and forced the rest
back—Description of a Planter of Surinam—Contagious
Distempers—Suicide—Scene of primitive Nature.
I have just mentioned that several officers kept poultry, numbers of
which were now taken away every night by some unknown marauder; when a
Captain Bolts (suspecting the coati-mondi, or crabbo-dago) made a trap
of an empty wine-chest, only by supporting the lid with a stick fixed
to a long cord, into which (having first secured all the other poultry)
he put a couple of live fowls, the whole guarded by two negroes at some
distance. They had not been many hours on their post, when hearing the
fowls shriek, one negro pulled the rope, and the other ran to secure
the invader by sitting on the lid: when this proved to be actually a
young tyger, who would yet have cleared his way by beating against the
box, but that it was immediately secured by strong ropes, and drawn
along, with the prisoner in it, to the river; where, being held under
water, he was drowned, under the most vigorous efforts, by beating
against the chest to effect his escape. Captain Bolts ordered the skin
to be taken off, which he kept in remembrance of so very strange a
circumstance.
The Count de Buffon asserts, that there are no tygers in America, but
animals much resembling them, which go by that name. I shall however
describe them, from actual observation, as I found them, and leave the
reader to determine whether they are tygers or not.
The first and largest is that called the jaguar of Guiana. This animal,
which has by some been represented as a despiseable little creature,
not larger than a greyhound, is, on the contrary, very fierce, strong,
and dangerous; some of them measuring, from the nose to the root of the
tail, not less than six feet: and let us not forget the print of that
enormous tyger’s foot, seen by myself in the sand, near Patamaca;
though it may be allowed, that creature was of an extraordinary size,
and the sand very loose.—The jaguar is of a tawny orange colour, and
the belly white; on the back it is spotted with longitudinal black
bars; on the sides with irregular rings, light-coloured in the center;
and all over the rest of the body, and the tail, the spots are smaller,
and perfectly black: its shape is in every sense like that of the
African tyger, and being all of the cat kind, they need no particular
description; but their size and strength being so much greater than
that little domestic animal, they devour a sheep, or a goat, with the
same facility as a cat would kill a mouse or a rat; nay, cows and
horses are not protected from their attacks, for these they frequently
kill on the plantations; and though they cannot carry them off into the
forest on account of their weight, they tear and mangle them in a
dreadful manner, only for the sake of the blood, with which this
ferocious animal is never glutted. It has even happened that the jaguar
has carried off young negro women at work in the field, and too
frequently their children. This contemptible animal, as it is called
and misrepresented by some authors, will beat down a wild boar with a
single stroke of its paw, and even seize by the throat the strongest
stallion that ever was mounted in Guiana; while its savage nature, and
thirst after blood, is such that it cannot be tamed: it will, on the
contrary, bite the very hand that feeds it, and very often devours its
own offspring; still this creature is not a match for the aboma-snake,
which, when it comes within its reach, has the power of crushing it to
a jelly in but few moments.
The next is the couguar, called in Surinam the red tyger.—This indeed
may, with more propriety, be compared to a greyhound, for its shape,
though not for its size; being much larger than the dog which it
resembles in make, but it is not in general so large and heavy as the
jaguar. The colour of this animal is a reddish brown; the breast and
belly are a dirty white, with long hair, and not spotted; the tail an
earthy colour, the extremity black; the head is small, the body thin,
the limbs long, with tremendous whitish claws; the teeth are also very
large, the eyes prominent, and sparkling like stars. This creature is
equally ferocious with the former.
Another of the same species is the tyger-cat, which is extremely
beautiful. This animal is not much larger than I have seen some cats in
England: it is of a yellow colour, with small annotated black spots,
which are white within; the belly is a light colour; the ears are
black, with a white spot on each; the hair is smooth, and the skin is
very much esteemed: the shape like that of the tyger. The tyger-cat is
a very lively animal, with its eyes emitting flashes like lightning;
but ferocious, mischievous, and untameable, like the rest of the kind.
In Guiana is still another of this species, called the Jaguaretta, of a
blackish colour, with still blacker spots; but of this last I can say
very little, having never seen one; and, indeed, the others but very
seldom. Of the jaguar however, and the tyger-cat, I present the reader
with a drawing. All these animals have long whiskers, like common cats;
they sometimes climb trees, but generally lie in ambush under the
verdure, whence they bound with uncommon agility on their helpless
prey; which having murdered, they drink the blood warm, and never cease
to tear and devour it till they are gorged; but when no longer animated
by hunger they are cowardly, and may be put to flight by a common
spaniel. Of fire also they are exceedingly afraid, which is the best
guard to keep them at a distance, and as such, made use of every night
by the Indians in Guiana. More than once it has been observed, that
tygers had entered our camps for want of these precautions, but
fortunately without committing any depredations.
As I now seemed to be on a friendly intercourse with Colonel Fourgeoud,
I one day presented the old gentleman with a plan and bird’s-eye view
of all the encampment of Magdenberg, which pleased him so much that he
sent this (as he had done the first) to the Prince of Orange and the
Duke of Brunswick, as a specimen of his military manœuvres, &c. This
present had the desired effect; for I not only became one of his
favourites, but, declaring his highest esteem for the Scots and
English, he even promised to recommend me in particular at court. I was
so satisfied with this change in his behaviour, that I now took the
blame of all former animosity on myself. His attention, however, was
suddenly attracted by affairs of more consequence; since, on the 14th
of June, the news arrived that some rebel huts were discovered near the
sea-side; that Captain Mayland had marched in quest of the enemy, with
one hundred and forty men of the Society troops, and had actually
discovered them; but in wading through a deep marsh, had been first
attacked by the negroes, who had killed several of his people (among
whom his nephew, a young volunteer), wounded more, and beaten back the
whole detachment, after they had already passed the marsh, and were
mounting fast on the opposite beach to storm the village. From this
news it was evident, that our sable foes were not to be trifled with;
and since they were thus discovered, orders were immediately issued for
all the troops that were able to march to keep in readiness, viz.
Fourgeoud’s marines, the Society regiment, and my favourite rangers,
who wanted no spur, and now could hardly be restrained till the others
were prepared. These troops were to be assembled at a certain place of
rendezvous, while also a detachment marched to La Rochelle to give
information. In consequence of these orders all was activity and vigour
in the camp, in hopes that this decisive stroke would end the war, and
their misery together; and this, therefore, was the time to lead them
on to a spirited attack; but, for reasons best known to himself, our
commander delayed his movement till the 20th of August, which was above
two months.
In the mean time the disagreeable news arrived, that Captain Brant was
almost dead with a violent illness at the Hope, which was at present
the place where a number of the troops were quartered, though no better
than a pest-house, by the inundations; and for the command at this
place (as being one of his favourites) Fourgeoud now singled me out:
declaring, that I might thank my sound constitution for bestowing on me
this honour. From this conduct, I plainly discovered that all his
friendship was entirely interested; and I felt my resentment
involuntarily rekindled against him, for thus sending me to an
inglorious death, when he had so fair an opportunity of employing me
honourably on actual service.
On my arrival at the Hope, my orders were to send poor Captain Brant
not down to Paramaribo, but to Magdenberg. This young man, however,
frustrated the tyrannical command; for, justly suspecting it, he had
set out with a tent-barge to town a few hours before I came, where he
was no sooner carried to his lodgings than he expired, from the effects
of a burning fever, and a broken heart. No man could be more regretted
than Captain Brant; nor did Fourgeoud ever lose a better officer, or I
a sincerer friend.
This being the second commander dead in so short a time, I quietly took
for my motto—
Hodie tibi cras mihi.
But I was happily mistaken, and continued still as well as ever I was
in my life, following the advice of old Caramaca, and bathing twice a
day in the river; while I despised shoes and stockings, as useless and
unnecessary lumber.
On the 20th of June, a few days after my arrival, I had the honour to
receive a visit from the governor, Mr. Nepveu, on his return from his
estate Appecappe to Paramaribo, with whom I condoled on the loss of his
lady, who had died very lately; I also received daily visits from
several planters, who complimented me with refreshments from their
plantations: and here I had an excellent opportunity of acquainting
myself with the customs and manner of living of these West-India
nabobs.
A planter in Surinam, when he lives on his estate, (which is but
seldom, as they mostly prefer the society of Paramaribo) gets out of
his hammock with the rising sun, viz. about six o’clock in the morning,
when he makes his appearance under the piazza of his house; where his
coffee is ready waiting for him, which he generally takes with his
pipe, instead of toast and butter; and there he is attended by half a
dozen of the finest young slaves, both male and female, of the
plantation, to serve him; at this sanctum-sanctorum he is next accosted
by his overseer, who regularly every morning attends at his levee, and
having made his bows at several yards distance, with the most profound
respect informs his Greatness what work was done the day before; what
negroes deserted, died, fell sick, recovered, were bought or born; and,
above all things, which of them neglected their work, affected
sickness, or had been drunk or absent, &c.; the prisoners are generally
present, being secured by the negro-drivers, and instantly tied up to
the beams of the piazza, or a tree, without so much as being heard in
their own defence; when the flogging begins, with men, women, or
children, without exception. The instruments of torture on these
occasions are long hempen whips, that cut round at every lash, and
crack like pistol-shot; during which they alternately repeat, “Dankee,
massera,” (Thank you, master). In the mean time he stalks up and down
with his overseer, affecting not so much as to hear their cries, till
they are sufficiently mangled, when they are untied, and ordered to
return to their work, without so much as a dressing.
This ceremony being over, the dressy negro (a black surgeon) comes to
make his report; who being dismissed with a hearty curse, for allowing
any slaves to be sick, next makes her appearance a superannuated
matron, with all the young negro children of the estate, over whom she
is governess; these, being clean washed in the river, clap their hands,
and cheer in chorus, when they are sent away to breakfast on a large
platter of rice and plantains; and the levee ends with a low bow from
the overseer, as it begun.
His worship now saunters out in his morning dress, which consists of a
pair of the finest Holland trowsers, white silk stockings, and red or
yellow Morocco slippers; the neck of his shirt open, and nothing over
it, a loose flowing night-gown of the finest India chintz excepted. On
his head is a cotton night-cap, as thin as a cobweb, and over that an
enormous beaver hat, that protects his meagre visage from the sun,
which is already the colour of mahogany, while his whole carcase seldom
weighs above eight or ten stone, being generally exhausted by the
climate and dissipation. To give a more complete idea of this fine
gentleman, I in the annexed plate present him to the reader with a pipe
in his mouth, which almost every where accompanies him, and receiving a
glass of Madeira wine and water, from a female quaderoon slave, to
refresh him during his walk.
Having loitered about his estate, or sometimes ridden on horseback to
his fields, to view his increasing stores, he returns about eight
o’clock, when, if he goes abroad, he dresses, but if not, remains just
as he is. Should the first take place, having only exchanged his
trowsers for a pair of thin linen or silk breeches, he sits down, and
holding out one foot after the other, like a horse going to be shod, a
negro boy puts on his stockings and shoes, which he also buckles, while
another dresses his hair, his wig, or shaves his chin, and a third is
fanning him to keep off the musquitoes. Having now shifted, he puts on
a thin coat and waistcoat, all white; when, under an umbrella, carried
by a black boy, he is conducted to his barge, which is in waiting for
him with six or eight oars, well provided with fruit, wine, water, and
tobacco, by his overseer, who no sooner has seen him depart, than he
resumes the command with all the usual insolence of office. But should
this prince not mean to stir from his estate, he goes to breakfast
about ten o’clock, for which a table is spread in the large hall,
provided with a bacon ham, hung-beef, fowls, or pigeons broiled;
plantains and sweet cassavas roasted; bread, butter, cheese, &c. with
which he drinks strong beer, and a glass of Madeira, Rhenish, or Mozell
wine, while the cringing overseer sits at the farther end, keeping his
proper distance, both being served by the most beautiful slaves that
can be selected;—and this is called breaking the poor gentleman’s fast.
After this he takes a book, plays at chess or billiards, entertains
himself with music, &c. till the heat of the day forces him to return
into his cotton hammock to enjoy his meridian nap, which he could no
more dispense with than a Spaniard with his siesta, and in which he
rocks to and fro, like a performer on the slack-rope, till he falls
asleep, without either bed or covering; and during which time he is
fanned by a couple of his black attendants, to keep him cool, &c.
About three o’clock he awakes by natural instinct, when having washed
and perfumed himself, he sits down to dinner, attended as at breakfast
by his deputy governor and sable pages, where nothing is wanting that
the world can afford in a western climate, of meat, fowls, venison,
fish, vegetables, fruits, &c. and the most exquisite wines are often
squandered in profusion; after this a cup of strong coffee and a
liqueur finish the repast. At six o’clock he is again waited on by his
overseer, attended as in the morning by negro-drivers and prisoners,
when the flogging once more having continued for some time, and the
necessary orders being given for the next day’s work, the assembly is
dismissed, and the evening spent with weak punch, sangaree, cards and
tobacco.—His worship generally begins to yawn about ten or eleven
o’clock, when he withdraws, and is undressed by his sooty pages. He
then retires to rest, where he passes the night in the arms of one or
other of his sable sultanas (for he always keeps a seraglio) till about
six in the morning, when he again repairs to his piazza walk, where his
pipe and coffee are waiting for him; and where, with the rising sun, he
begins his round of dissipation, like a petty monarch, as capricious as
he is despotic and despiseable.
Such absolute power indeed, cannot fail to be peculiarly delightful to
a man, who, in all probability, was in his own country, Europe,
a—nothing.
But, in this colony, this is too frequently the case, where plantations
are sold upon credit, and left (by the absent proprietor) to the
appraisers, who, by selling cheap, have generally an understanding with
the buyer.
These are the planters who are the pest of the colony; such as the fine
gentleman just described, who, while he lives at the above rate, pays
nobody, under pretence of bad crops, mortality amongst the slaves, &c.
but like an upstart rascal massacres the negroes by double labour,
ruins and pillages the estate of all its productions, which he
clandestinely sells for ready money, makes a purse, and runs away.
Exceptions, however, take place in every circumstance of life; and I
have known many planters in Surinam as good men as I ever would desire
to be acquainted with, which I have already mentioned.
As for the ladies, they indulge themselves just as much, by giving way
to their unbounded passions, and especially to the most relentless
barbarity. But while I can bear witness to the exalted virtues of such
a woman as Mrs. Elizabeth Danforth, now Mrs. Godefroy, and a few more
whose characters shine with treble lustre, I shall draw a veil over all
the imperfections, too common to their sex in this climate. Before I
drop this subject, however, I must attest, that hospitality is in no
country practised with greater cordiality or with less ceremony, a
stranger being every where at home, and finding his table and his bed
at whatever estate necessity or choice may occasion him to visit. This
is the more to be regarded, as no inns are to be met with in the
neighbourhood of any of the Surinam rivers.
To vary the subject a little, I will now describe three kinds of fish,
with which I occasionally entertained my friends. The sun-fish, the
snake-fish, and the spotted-cat. The first frequents both the salt and
fresh water, like the salmon: it is about eighteen or twenty inches
long, shaped not unlike a kite; and being covered over with scales of a
golden colour, when it swims in clear water darts forth very bright
beams, from which it has derived its name of the sun-fish. The
snake-fish takes its name from its resemblance to that reptile: this is
a black eel with a white belly, it is not large, and is very common in
all the rivers. The spotted-cat is called so from its tabby colour, and
long whiskers: this fish is formed not unlike a pike, with very sharp
teeth; it has no scales, it is extremely fat, weighing sometimes above
seventy pounds, but its flesh is yellow, and not esteemed the most
delicate food: however, here excellent fish is seldom wanting, such as
the new-mara, passessee, warappa, jackee, and many others already
noticed. The Hope, with all this, was now truly a most shocking place
of residence: here I much regretted my former cottage, and sweet
companion, the one in ruins, the other at Paramaribo; while, at
present, not a man was to be seen without an ague or fever, or some
other wasting complaint. The dysentery also began to make its
appearance; and to add to our distress, we had neither surgeon,
medicines, nor so much as a light, and very little bread left. I was
moved with the situation of the troops, and again distributed all my
biscuits, lemons, oranges, sugar, wine, ducks and fowls, amongst the
unhappy sufferers, with a few spermaceti candles.
On the 23d I sent up to the hospital at Magdenberg two sick officers,
Orleigh and Francen, with all the privates that could bear to be
transported; and, at the same time, I repeated my humble entreaties to
be soon relieved from so very disagreeable a situation (for the
confinement to which there was not the least necessity), and requested
to be one of the party to march against the rebels, but to no purpose;
while the accounts came from below that a fresh nest of negroes were
discovered, even close to Paramaribo, and the news came from above that
the troops there were daily dying away; amongst others, on the 22d,
expired a Captain Seyburg, brother to the Colonel. This was actually
the third captain who died within the space of one month.
On the 26th two fine young officers arrived, unfit for service by
ruptures, occasioned by the slippery state of the ground in the rainy
season.
This evening one of our marines named Spanknevel, was missing, and was
not found till the 29th, when he was discovered suspended by a nebee to
the branch of a tree. Not one of his comrades would cut him down, he
having hanged himself; alledging, that to touch him, according to their
prejudices, (being Germans) would render them as infamous as himself.
Wherefore, by my orders, he was taken down, and interred by the
negroes.
An order at last came for my relief, and I immediately set out for
Goed-Accoord, in company with Captain Bolts; where the planter, Mr. de
Lange, and his lady, received us with great hospitality. This sugar
estate being the farthest that is cultivated in Rio Comewina, and
consequently exposed to the neighbourhood of the rebel negroes, makes
the slaves liable to their seductions; they are therefore treated with
peculiar kindness and indulgence, to prevent their concurring in any
insurrection, or being persuaded to leave their present situation.
Here we saw a great novelty indeed, the young negro women waiting at
the table all stark naked, as they came into the world. I was at first
startled at the unusual appearance; and asking the cause, was modestly
answered by the lady of the house, that it was ordered so by their
mothers and matrons, to prevent (by such means of detection, said they)
their too early intercourse with the males, and child-bearing, which
would spoil their shapes, weaken their strength, and cramp their
growth. Indeed finer made figures I never beheld than were both the men
(witness Philander) and the women on this plantation, whose beautiful
shapes, liveliness, strength, and activity, were inferior to no
Europeans.
Next day we departed for Magdenburg an hour before sun-set, against the
advice of Mr. and Mrs. de Lange, in a small barge, covered only with a
loose awning. We had not rowed above two miles when not only night came
on, but we were overtaken by such a shower of rain, as had nearly sunk
us, the boat’s gunwale not being more than two inches above the water:
however, by the help of our hats and calibashes, we kept her afloat,
while a negro sat upon the bow, holding out a boat-hook straight before
him to prevent us from being overset, by inadvertently running, in
pitch darkness, against the roots of mangroves, &c. which thickly lined
both the banks of the river all the way upwards.
In this state of wet and obscurity, at ten o’clock at night, we came to
the Jacob, being just afloat and no more; for Bolts and I had no sooner
leaped on the beach, than the boat sunk with all that was in her, the
slaves luckily swimming ashore. Alas! amongst the wreck, was my poor
box, with my journal, and all my paintings, which had cost me above two
long years so much labour, care, and attention. I was truly distressed
at this loss, when a skilful negro dived several times to the bottom,
and at last brought up my little treasure, which, though thoroughly
soaked, I was very happy to have again in my hands. Thus ended our
shipwreck, when having drank some warm grog and slung our hammocks, we
all fell asleep round a good fire, by which I made shift to dry myself,
and, what was of more consequence, my papers.
The following morning we again set out, and rowed for Magdenberg, but
about half-way our voyage was once more obstructed by an enormous tree
which had accidentally fallen across the Creek, so that we could
neither drag the boat over nor under it. Thus we were again obliged to
return to the Jacob, whence we now proceeded to Magdenberg on foot,
through thorns, roots, brambles, and briars, and where we finally
arrived wet and bloody; and my ancle, which had been nearly well, fresh
wounded to the bone, the skin and flesh being quite torn away by the
numberless obstructions to our steps.
Here we were acquainted that Mr. Orleigh, one of the two officers that
I had sent up to Magdenberg from the Hope on the 23d, was no more. Thus
died almost all our gentlemen, who had been during the last month upon
the hopeless Hope, from which now scarcely one single private returned
in health; and this, I am firmly of opinion, was greatly owing to the
dry and burning month of June, when the sun suddenly scorched them,
after marching and even sleeping in cold watery swamps, and constant
heavy showers during the rainy season. However, I hitherto escaped by
the strength of my constitution and good spirits, which I determined by
every possible means to keep from depression, by laughing, whistling,
singing, and (God forgive me!) sometimes swearing, while all the rest
were sighing, bewailing, and dying around me.
CHAP. XIX.
The Troops march to Barbacoeba, in the River Cottica—Frenzy
Fever—Gratitude in an English Sailor—Description of the Government
of Surinam—Some Account of the Emigrant Americans during the late
War—Scene of unprecedented Generosity.
The rainy season being again approaching, Colonel Fourgeoud, having
selected all the remaining healthy people, who now amounted to but one
hundred and eighty in number, on the 3d of July, 1775, proceeded on his
march for Barbacoeba, in the river Cottica; which spot he appointed for
the general rendezvous, previous to the grand attack on the rebels. Of
this party I had the honour to be one: but on the surgeon’s declaring
that I should run the hazard of losing my foot if I marched in the
woods, I was ordered to remain at Magdenberg, with liberty, if I soon
recovered, to join Fourgeoud, and make the best of my way to
Barbacoeba. My limb, indeed, was now so swelled, and my wound so black
with the mortification, that an amputation was dreaded by Mr.
Knollaert, Fourgeoud’s surgeon, and I could not even stand without
excruciating pain.—I shall bear the mark of it as long as I live.
During this confinement I received daily presents from Philander and
the other negroes, as I was always kind to them. Among these was a dish
of mountain-cabbage. This is the most esteemed of all the various sorts
which grow, as I have mentioned formerly, on the different species of
palm-trees; this tree grows sometimes near fifty feet high, the trunk
of a brown colour, hard, ligneous, divided into short joints, and pithy
within, like the elder: it is thick in proportion, streight and
tapering like the mast of a ship; near the top the tree assumes a
fluted form and a green colour, occasioned by the husky tegument that
forms the branches; which, near the summit, diverge in a horizontal
direction, like the crown of a pine-apple or ananas. These branches are
covered over on both sides with strong pinnated leaves about three feet
long, of a deep green colour, and sharp pointed, but folded and
confusedly intermixed, not gracefully drooping like those of the
manicole or cocoa-nut trees. The seed is inclosed in a brownish kind of
spatha, that arises from the center of the branches, and hanging
downwards consists of small roundish nuts, not unlike a bunch of dried
grapes, but much longer in proportion to their circumference. If the
cabbage is wanted, the whole tree must be cut down, when it is divested
first of its branches, and next of that fluted green husky tegument
that forms them; after this the heart or cabbage is taken out, white,
and about two or three feet long: it is as thick as a man’s arm, and
round like a polished ivory cylinder; it is composed of a kind of
tender longitudinal white flakes, like silk ribbands, ready to form the
succeeding green tegument, but so close that they form a crisp solid
body. This, when eaten raw, is in taste something like the kernel of an
almond, but is more tender and more delicious; when cut in pieces and
boiled, it eats like cauliflower: it may be also peeled in the
above-mentioned long thin flakes, and then it makes an excellent
sallad; but too much of it, whether eaten raw or dressed, is
unwholesome, as it is apt to occasion a diarrhœa. It is in the cavity,
after the cabbage is removed from it, that a black beetle deposits its
spawn, from which the palm-tree worms are produced, which feed on the
remaining tender substance when it begins to rot, till they acquire the
size already mentioned; though those in the manicole tree, and other
trees of the palm species, grow not so large, are less sweet, and are
also differently shaped.
The maureecee tree, by the French called latanie, is certainly the
tallest of all the palm-tree species; or, indeed, of any species in the
forest of Guiana. And I can aver, that I have seen some of these trees
whose lofty summits appeared to rise no less than a hundred feet from
the surface of the earth, while the circumference of their trunks was
about ten or twelve feet where thickest; the trunk of this tree is
largest at about one-fourth of its height from the root, whence it
tapers not only upwards but downwards also: this singularity has
perhaps escaped all other writers. It is of a light brown or grey
colour, and divided in joints all the way upwards to its branches, when
(but at a great height, and near the top) it diverges in long green
arched branches, naked till near their extremity, when these again
diverge or digitate in long broad leaves of a pale green colour, and
disposed in an orbicular manner with great regularity, not unlike
sun-beams, or a lady’s fan expanded. As the young branches spring up
from the centre at the summit, the old ones fade at the bottom and hang
downwards, shrivelled and dangling in the wind. From the heart of the
green leaves the Indians draw out long white fibres or threads, as they
do from the silk-grass plant: these, being equally strong, serve as
cords when twisted to firing their bows, to make nets, or to be used as
threads; from the middle of the branches appears the seed, hanging down
also in the form of a large rope of onions. I have seen many prints
representing palm-trees, but I must take the liberty to say that most
of them are impositions on the public, having either been executed from
fancy, or from a very bad description; but I can assure my readers,
that all those which I represent were taken from nature, and on the
spot: I speak of the cocoa-nut tree, the manicola, the
mountain-cabbage, and the maureecee trees, whose branches and leaves
are all extremely different from each other; and I have not confounded
the species, as they are in too many publications. The two first the
reader has already seen; and the two others I now offer to his view,
where A is the trunk of the mountain-cabbage-tree; B one of its
branches, separated from the rest, and C the seed or husky spatha
inclosing it; D is the trunk of the maureecee-tree, and E one of its
branches dropping down. F is the beetle that produces the maureecee
worms, G, which are not so large nor so delicious as those produced by
the mountain-cabbage. Having had no opportunity of shewing in what
manner the Indians and Africans ascend trees, by figure H I have
represented a negro climbing a young maureecee-tree, to which they do
not cling with their arms and legs, but taking the trunk between their
hands, they place the soles of their feet against it, and thus walk up
in a most astonishing manner; by this method they save their skin from
the bark, but it must certainly require very great strength, activity,
and practice.
Having thus far dwelt on the palm-tree species, I must once more return
to domestic occurrences.
I have said that all the officers and most of the privates who had
lately been stationed at the Hope, had died, or were sent up
dangerously ill, while I had escaped the contagion. But, alas! now it
became my turn, having only had a reprieve, and no more: for on the 9th
I was seized with the same burning fever that had carried off the rest;
and even my black boy Quaco was very ill.
On the 14th, necessity forced me to give up the command to another
officer, and depart from this inhospitable spot on my way to
Paramaribo: I could however reach, no farther than Goet Accoord, and
there, on the 15th, all expected my death; when an old negro woman
found means to make me partake of some butter-milk boiled with some
barley and melasses, which was the first food I had tasted since I was
taken ill. This certainly did me infinite service; and the day
following I was again able to be transported: the black boy also was
much better.
The evening of the 15th I reached Fauconberg, where I was met by a
packet of six or eight letters from different friends, accompanied with
presents of hung-beef, bullocks tongues, Madeira, porter, rum, and two
gallons of excellent shrub, besides a fine bacon ham, and a beautiful
pointer; both the last from the identical Charles Macdonald, the
English sailor, which he had brought me from Virginia, in return for
the little civility I had formerly shewn him so unexpectedly at the
Hope. This mark of the poor fellow’s gratitude and generosity, the true
characteristics of a British tar, gave me greater pleasure than all the
things I received put together. But still I must except two letters,
the one from Mr. Lude at Amsterdam, and the other from Mr. de Graav,
his administrator at Paramaribo, acquainting me finally, and to my
heartfelt satisfaction, that the amiable Joanna and the little boy were
at my disposal, but at no less a price than two thousand florins,
amounting, with other expences, to near two hundred pounds sterling, a
sum which I was totally unable to raise. I already owed the sum of
fifty pounds, that I had borrowed for the black boy Quaco’s redemption;
but Joanna was to me invaluable, and though appraised at one-twentieth
part of the whole estate, which had been sold for forty thousand
florins, no price could be too dear for a young woman, possessing so
much excellence, provided I could pay it.
Solomon well observes, “that as cold water is to a thirsty soul, so are
good tidings from a distant country;” and this news, on its first
arrival, had indeed the most reviving effect on me: but when reflection
taught me how impossible it was for me to obtain such a sum of money,
and while I was employed in giving all the presents I had received
(except the ham and the dog) to Joanna’s relations at Fauconberg, who
loaded me with adorations and caresses, I exclaimed, with a bitter
sigh, “Oh! that I could have but found a sum sufficient to purchase
every one of their freedoms!” I now found myself, though exceedingly
weak, however so much better, that on the next day I went down so far
as the estate Bergshove, whence the administrator, a Mr. Gourlay,
humanely caused me to be transported to Paramaribo in a decent
tent-barge with six oars; but relapsing, I arrived just alive on the
evening of the 19th, having past the preceding night on the estate
called the Jalosee, apparently dead.
I cannot leave the river Comewina without presenting the reader with a
view of Magdenberg, from the Tempatee; and a peep at Calais, from the
Hope, at the mouth of the Cosaweenica Creek.
Being now in a comfortable lodging at Mr. de la Mare’s, and attended by
so good a creature as Joanna, I recovered apace; and on the 25th was so
well, that I was able to walk out for the first time, when I dined with
Mrs. Godefroy, Mr. de Graav not being in town to concert matters
relative to the emancipation of Joanna, who had now once more literally
saved my life. At this table there was never wanting all the wholesome
and refreshing nourishment that I stood in need of, with the best of
fruits and wines. Among the articles conducive to the restoration of
health, are reckoned in this country all the different kinds of pepper
which it affords, and the no less efficacious acid of limes. Among the
first are the cica pepper, the lattacaca, and the dago-peepee, as they
are called in Surinam; for the negroes name each thing from the
resemblance it bears to another: but these are known in Europe by the
names of Cayenne, Pimento, and Capsicum. The first is properly called
Cayenne from the French settlement of that name in Guiana; but the name
cica or chica is derived from its round shape and size, resembling the
insect called chiga or chigoe, already described; the next resembles
rats excrements, &c. All the above species, besides some others, grow
on low green shrubs, they all equally excoriate the mouth, have all the
same fiery qualities, and when ripe are of a scarlet or rather a blood
colour. The Europeans seldom eat any thing without it; but the blacks,
and especially the Indians, swallow it I might say by handfuls, not
only as a relish, but as a remedy in almost every disease.
The limes grow on beautiful trees like lemons, but the leaf and the
fruit are much smaller; they are rather a brighter yellow than the
lemons, have a fine thin shell, and are extremely full of the richest
acid that I know, which has a particularly fine flavour, and is a great
blessing to the sick soldiers and sailors in this colony, who have them
for the trouble of gathering; so that it is not uncommon to see the
tars employing their leisure time in picking and carrying large hampers
full to their vessels. In Surinam there are whole hedges of lime-trees,
and all round Paramaribo they grow wild. It is much to be lamented
that, among other articles of luxury, this fruit cannot be transported
to Europe; but whole casks of this juice are frequently sent over, and
they are also pickled and preserved in large jars by the inhabitants.
At the dessert, among many other excellent fruits, I observed one which
is here called the mammee apple: it grows on a tree about the size of
an orange-tree, with a grey-coloured bark; the wood is whitish, and
coarse; the leaf very thick, polished, and of a triangular form,
without fibres. This fruit is nearly round, and is about five or six
inches in diameter, covered with a rusty coarse skin: the pulp has the
colour and consistency of a carrot, enclosing two large stones with
bitter kernels, but the fruit is of a delicious taste, sweet mixed with
acid, and a smell superior in fragrance to almost any other fruit in
the colony. There were also nuts of two species, usually called
pistachios, and by the negroes pinda; one kind of them resembles small
chesnuts, and these grow in bunches on a tree. The others are produced
by a shrub, and grow under ground; both have sweet oily kernels: of the
last there are two in one pod; they are agreeable eating raw, but still
better when roasted in hot ashes. To illustrate the above descriptions,
I present the reader with the plate annexed, where A is a sprig of
limes in full ripeness; B, the Cayenne or cica pepper; C, the pimento
pepper or lattacaca; D, the capsicum called dago-peepee; E, the mammee
apple when it is fully ripe; F, the leaf above, of a beautiful green;
G, the leaf below, of a yellowish green; H, the pistachio nut in the
husk; I, the ground pistachio in its dried state; K, one of the kernels
belonging to the latter.
The whole of the above were taken from nature, though upon a small
scale; yet I flatter myself they will be found more perfect copies of
the originals than some of Mad. Merian’s, with all their boasted
reputation.—I cannot dismiss this subject without a few other remarks
on the incorrectness of this lady’s drawings. For instance, her leaf of
the lime-tree is evidently too round; and if by her palisade branch, in
plate XI. she means the manicole-tree, I must declare I never
discovered such a leaf among the many thousands I have helped to cut
down. Her cotton twig, and especially the pod containing the cotton,
are also no true representation of those which are produced in Surinam.
In another place she declares, that grapes are common in Guiana—which I
also must contradict; for it is well known, that no thin-skinned fruit
can ever come to perfection in a tropical climate, such as grapes,
cherries, currants, strawberries, plums, apricots, and peaches, nor
even common apples or pears.
From the above observations, I take the liberty to say, that allowing
Mad. Merian due praise for her beautiful and valuable performance upon
the whole, she has still fallen into very notable mistakes. To correct
them is a duty incumbent on future observers; nor does it by any means
imply a general censure on the elegant work in question, nor can it
appear extraordinary that it should contain some errors, when we
consider that it is above an hundred years ago since she presented her
discoveries to the world. In the course of so many years therefore
mankind, by long experience and continued investigation, have become
more enlightened, and are more accurately informed.
Being now once more at Paramaribo, it may not be improper to divert our
attention for a while from the animal and vegetable productions to the
government of this fine colony; a topic which, I am persuaded, some of
my readers have long since expected; but not having had a previous
opportunity of gratifying their curiosity, I will no longer delay the
necessary information, though to some the detail may appear dry and
unentertaining.
I have already mentioned the nature of the charter, and stated, that at
present two-thirds of Surinam belong to the town of Amsterdam, and
one-third to the West India Company: also, that the judicial power is
exercised by several different courts of judicature.—I shall now
proceed to describe them in their proper order, as delivered to me by
the governor Mr. Nepveu. The court of policy and criminal justice
claims the first rank in the order of precedence—this consists of
thirteen members, chosen by the votes of the inhabitants, and each
member continues for life. Of this court the governor is president, and
the commandant or deputy governor first counsellor. The acting officers
are therefore
The governor.
The commandant.
The fiscal.
The town clerk; and
Nine counsellors.
To this court belongs the decision of all criminal matters, the
governor exercising the power of reprieve from death, and even
pardoning any convict by his own authority.
The court of civil justice consists also of thirteen members, but these
are chosen by the above court only, and are renewed every four years.
The governor is also president here, and the officers of this court are
The governor.
The fiscal.
The town-clerk; and
Ten counsellors.
By this court are decided not only the most important law-suits, but
also petty offences.
The next is the subaltern college, consisting of eleven members, chosen
also by the governor and court of policy; and, like the other, renewed
every four years, the town-clerk excepted, who sits for life. The
members are selected from the late counsellors of justice, and are
The deputy president.
The town-clerk; and
Nine counsellors.
The above court superintends the public buildings, streets,
orange-trees, canals, &c. and decides all pecuniary disputes that are
under twenty-five guineas; any sum above which must be referred to the
court of justice.
Besides these, there is an orphan and insolvent debtors college,
consisting of
The commissaries.
The town-clerk.
The book-keeper.
The treasurer; and
A sworn secretary.
The public revenue offices are:
The office of importation and exportation duties.
The office of excise and small imposts.
The office for head-money, or poll-tax.
The office for public sales and vendues.
The office for re-taking negro deserters, &c.
But these I shall more amply explain when I speak of the general
revenue of this colony, and for the present shall only consider its
government. I have formerly mentioned that the governor is at the head
not only of the civil but military departments; the other public
employments are chiefly
The secretary to his excellency the governor.
The commissaries of the victualling-offices.
Four inspectors of the exportation of sugars.
One inspector of the melasses hogsheads.
One supervisor of all the North American vessels.
Two public auctioneers.
Two serjeants or messengers of the court.
Two sworn land-surveyors.
Three measurers of the squared timber.
One inspector of the black cattle, &c.
One sworn overseer of weights and measures.
Three Low-Dutch clergymen.
One French clergyman.
One Lutheran clergyman.
Three public schoolmasters, &c.
The militia consists of eleven companies, with one captain, one
lieutenant, one second lieutenant, one ensign, one secretary, and one
cashier each. The captains are generally the sworn appraisers of the
estates for sale on the different rivers, where they chance to have
their department.
These are the principal functionaries in the government of Surinam;
which is not originally upon a bad establishment, were it not depraved
by sordid avarice, to the great detriment of this beautiful settlement
in general, and to that of its inhabitants in particular. The colony,
by proper management, might be made a garden of Eden, not only for the
European settlers, but also for their African domestics. It would not
indeed be difficult to suggest improvements, nor even to carry them
into effect. What has occurred to me upon the subject, I will candidly
state on another occasion; and I have no doubt but a little attention
even to one single point would be productive of the happiest
consequences. Thus, if I cannot on the spot, like the good Samaritan,
pour the balm into the wound of any one sufferer, at least I can leave
the prescription, which, if properly applied, would, I am persuaded,
afford relief to the complaints of thousands.
I have undertaken the unpleasing task of shewing how, by the desperate
means of blood, the colony was frequently saved from total
annihilation. How much more glorious would it be for those who have it
in their power not only to save the colony of Surinam, but many other
valuable West India settlements, by the help of a WELL-PLANNED
INSTITUTION OF GENERAL AND IMPARTIAL JUSTICE, and the laudable example
of humanity and benevolence!
Thus much for the political government of Surinam; which I will not
leave without transcribing its motto, so very contrary to what they
profess, being “Justitia—pietas—fides.” The arms are tripartite, which
I apprehend to be some of those of the house of Somelsdyke, the West
India company, and the town of Amsterdam, crowned and supported by two
lions rampant, and with these are stamped all their card money,
&c.——But to proceed with my journal.
On the 30th I met the poor sailor, Charles Macdonald, and having just
bought thirty gallons of Grenada rum, I gave him a handsome return for
his bacon ham and his dog, besides a fine cork-screw (mother-of-pearl
set in silver) as a keep-sake, he being to sail the day following for
Virginia, on board the Peggy, Captain Lewis, who, at my recommendation,
promised to make him his mate. As I am speaking of dogs, I must make
two general remarks on these animals in Guiana, viz. that in this
quarter of the world they lose the faculty, or at least the habit, of
barking; and it is a known fact, that the native dogs never bark at
all. In this country, it is observed also, that dogs are never seized
with the hydrophobia, at least I never remember to have seen or heard
of a mad dog in Surinam: and this is the more singular, as that
dreadful distemper is generally attributed in other countries to the
intense heat of the Caniculares or dog-days, as that appellation
sufficiently indicates. The Indians or natives of Guiana all keep dogs,
which they use in hunting; they are of a dirty white colour, meagre,
and small, with short hair, a sharp muzzle, and erect ears: all these
are very dexterous in finding game; but they possess all the
mischievous qualities of the terrier. I ought not to forget that if the
American dogs do not bark, their howl is very loud; on this account my
Virginian dog was so troublesome, that he got his brains knocked out by
the neighbours within a fortnight after he was in my possession.
About this period several American families arrived at Paramaribo, on
account of the war which broke out between the mother country and her
colonies. For many of these I felt very much; and must ever declare,
that no people could have a better heart or greater friendship for a
British individual than they had for me, which they shewed on many
different occasions.
On the 3d of August, Mr. de Graav being arrived in town, having finally
settled affairs with Mr. Lolkens, the late administrator of Fauconberg,
I now thought proper to take the first opportunity of settling matters
with him, by proposing him to give me credit till I should have it in
my power to pay the money for which Joanna and my Johnny had been sold
to me, and which I was determined to save out of my pay, if I should
exist on bread, salt, and water: though even then this debt could not
be discharged in less time than two or three years. Providence however
interfered, and at this moment sent that excellent woman, Mrs.
Godefroy, to my assistance: for no sooner was she acquainted with my
difficult and anxious situation, than she sent for me to dine with her,
when she addressed me in the following terms:
“I know, good Stedman, the present feelings of your heart, and the
incapacity of an officer, from his income only, to accomplish such a
purpose as the completion of your wishes. But know, that even in
Surinam virtue will meet with friends. Your manly sensibility for that
deserving young woman and her child must claim the esteem of all
rational persons, in spite of malice and folly: and so much has this
action recommended you to my attention in particular, that I should
think myself culpable in not patronizing your laudable intentions.
Permit me then to participate in your happiness, and in the future
prospect of the virtuous Joanna and her little boy, by requesting your
acceptance of the sum of two thousand florins, or any sum you stand in
need of; with which money go immediately, Stedman, go and redeem
innocence, good sense, and beauty from the jaws of tyranny, oppression,
and insult.”
Seeing me thunder-struck, and gazing upon her in a state of
stupefaction, without the power of speaking, she continued, with a
divine benignity:
“Let not your delicacy, my friend, take the alarm, and interfere in
this business: soldiers and sailors ought ever to be the men of fewest
compliments; and all I expect from you is, that you say not one word
more on the subject.”—As soon as I recovered I replied, “that I was at
a loss how to express my admiration of such benevolence.” I said, “that
Joanna, who had so frequently preserved my life, had certainly merited
my eternal affection; but that my gratitude could not be less to one
who had so generously put me in the way of redeeming that invaluable
woman from slavery;” and concluded with observing, “that I could not
now touch a shilling of the money, but should have the honour to call
upon her the next day; and immediately retired.”
I was no sooner returned home, than I acquainted Joanna with all that
had happened; who, bursting into tears, called out, “Gado sa bresse da
woma!”—“God will bless this woman!” and insisted that she herself
should be mortgaged to Mrs. Godefroy till every farthing should be
paid: she indeed was very anxious to see the emancipation of her boy,
but till that was done, she absolutely refused to accept of her own
freedom. I shall not here endeavour to paint the contest which I
sustained between affection and duty, but bluntly say that I yielded to
the wish of this so charming creature, and whose sentiments endeared
her to me still more. Thus I instantly drew up a paper, declaring my
Joanna, according to her desire, from this day to be the property of
Mrs. Godefroy, till the last farthing of the money she lent me should
be repaid; and, on the following day, with the consent of her relations
[3], I conducted her to Mrs. Godefroy’s house, where, throwing herself
at the feet of that incomparable woman, Joanna herself put the paper
into her hands; but this lady having raised her up, no sooner had read
the contents, than she exclaimed, “Must it be so? Then come here, my
Joanna, I have a spirit to accept of you not as my slave, but more as
my companion: you shall have a house built in my orange-garden, with my
own slaves to attend you, till Providence shall call me away, when you
shall be perfectly free, as indeed you now are the moment you wish to
possess your manumission; and this you claim both by your extraction
and your conduct [4].” On these terms, and on no other, I accepted of
the money on the 5th, and carrying it in my hat to Mr. de Graav’s, I
laid it on his table, demanding a receipt in full; and Joanna was
transferred from the wretched estate Fauconberg, to the protection of
the first woman perhaps in all the Dutch West-Indies, if not in the
world; and for which she thanked me with a look that could only be
expressed by the COUNTENANCE OF AN ANGEL.