On the estate Vossenbergh, in Surinam, were born two white negroes,

whose parents were both perfectly black; the one was a female, sent to

Paris in 1734; the other a boy, born in March 1738. And in 1794, a

similar woman, Emelia Lewsam, was exhibited in England, whose children

(though she is married to an European) are all mulattoes. The skin of

these people is not of the European white, but more resembles chalk;

their hair the same; their eyes are often red [34], and they see very

little in the sun-shine, neither are they fit for any kind of labour;

while their mental faculties, I have been told, usually correspond with

the debility of their bodies.

With respect to the shape of the African negroes, it is from head to

foot certainly different from the European mould, though not, in my

opinion, in any degree inferior, prejudice being laid aside. Their

strong features, flat noses, thick lips, and high cheek bones, may

appear deformities to us, and yet amongst themselves may be esteemed

the reverse; their bright black eyes, and fine white teeth, we are

forced to admire; and one decided advantage in a black complexion is,

that all those languid pale sickly-looking countenances, so common in

Europe, are never exhibited among them, nor are the wrinkles and

ravages of age equally conspicuous; though I must confess that when a

negro is very ill, his black changes to a very disagreeable sallow

olive.

For exertion and activity, their shape is assuredly preferable to ours,

being generally strong and muscular near the trunk, and slender towards

the extremities; they have mostly a remarkable fine chest, but are

small about the hips; their buttocks are more prominent, and their

necks are thicker than ours; the thighs are strong, as also the arms

above the elbow, but the wrists and lower part of the legs are very

slender; and a good deal indeed of the Herculean make of the late

Broughton the pugilist may be traced in the form of a vigorous negro.

As to the crookedness of their limbs, it is to be accounted for by the

manner in which they are carried whilst infants upon the mother’s back,

their tender legs being tied close round each side of her waist, which

occasions that unnatural bent, with which they are not born: nor are

their children ever taught to walk, but left to creep amongst the sand

and grass, until they gradually acquire strength and inclination to

erect themselves, which they do very soon; by this custom, however, the

position of their feet is much neglected, yet by exercise, and daily

bathing, they acquire that strength and agility, for which they are so

remarkable.

Another custom which, in their opinion, conduces much to their health

and vigour is, that, during the two years in which the mothers suckle

their children, they frequently make them swallow large quantities of

water, after which they shake them twice a day, with much violence;

they are then taken by a leg or an arm, and tossed into the river, to

be well scoured outwardly; nor are the females exempt from this mode of

rearing youth, which renders them not inferior to the men, in size

alone excepted, while some in running, swimming, climbing, and dancing,

as well as wrestling, are even their superiors: thus, that it depends

on education to form a race of Amazonian females, is a proposition of

which I have very little doubt.

Nor are these hardy daughters of the Torrid Zone less remarkable for

propagation. I knew a female servant at Mr. de Graaf’s, called

Lesperanza, who actually bore nine children in the course of three

years, the first year four, the next two, and the third three. They

bring their offspring into the world without pain, and like the Indian

women resuming their domestic employments even the same day. During the

first week their infants are as fair as any Europeans, except that in

the males there is a little appearance of black in a certain part, and

the whole body becomes gradually of that colour. Their females arrive

early at the age of puberty; but, as in the fruits of this climate,

this early maturity is succeeded by a sudden decay. Many of the

negroes, however, live to a very considerable age: I have seen one or

two that were above one hundred; and the London. Chronicle for October

5, 1780, makes mention of a negro woman, called Louisa Truxo, at

Tucomea, in South America, still living, at the surprizing age of one

hundred and seventy-five years. In what tables of longevity is there

such an European to be found? though most probably this venerable

person spent her youth in hard labour, like other slaves; which, though

a negro can bear much better in a tropical climate than a native of

Europe, yet cannot be natural, either on the coast of Guinea or Guiana,

where, without toil, the necessaries of life are produced, and

vegetation flourishes spontaneously for ever.

In the constitution of the negroes I have still observed this

singularity, that while they bear the fatigue of labour in the hottest

days, they can also bear the cold and damp better than an European, at

least better than I could; sleeping all night on the wet grass,

perfectly naked, without any injury to their health, while I have been

glad, especially early in the morning, to have a fire lit under my

hammock, and while the marines for want of it lay in a shiver. They

also bear hunger and thirst, and pain or sickness, with the greatest

patience and resolution.

I have formerly mentioned the names of more than a dozen of negro

tribes: all these know each other by the different marks and incisions

made on their bodies—for instance, the Coromantyn negroes, who are most

esteemed, cut three or four long gashes on each of their cheeks, as

represented in the face of the armed free negro or ranger, in plate

VII.

The Loango negroes, who are reckoned the worst, distinguish themselves

by puncturing or marking the skin of their sides, arms, and thighs with

square elevated figures, something like dice. (See plate LXVIII.) These

also cut their fore-teeth to a sharp point, which gives them a

frightful appearance, resembling in some degree those of a shark: and

all their males are circumcised, after the manner of the Jews.

Among the strange productions of nature, a species of people known by

the name of Accorees, deserves to be particularly noticed.—The

Accorees, or Two-fingers, live amongst the Seramaca negroes, in the

very upper parts of the river of that name. This heterogeneous tribe

are so deformed in their hands and feet, that while some have three or

four fingers and toes on each hand and foot, others have only two,

which resemble the claws of a lobster, or rather limbs that have been

cured after mutilation by fire, or some other accident. This deformity

in one person would cause but small admiration; but that a whole

community should be afflicted with this singularity, is certainly a

most wonderful phænomenon. Having seen but two myself, and that at too

great a distance to take a drawing of them, I cannot pretend to vouch

for the truth of what I have only heard; but an engraving of one of

these figures was positively sent to the Society of Arts and Sciences

at Haerlem; while I beg leave to introduce, as a further voucher, the

following extract from an old book of surgery and anatomy, procured me

by the ingenious and learned Owen Cambridge, Esquire, of Twickenham.

“After Michaelmas term, in the year 1629, a body was brought from the

place of execution to the College of Physicians, to be cut up for an

anatomy; and by chance the officer of the college brought the body of a

cruel wretch, who had murdered the son of one Master Scot, a surgeon of

good note in this city. This wretch was of a very truculent countenance

and aspect; his hair was black and curled, not very long, but thick and

bushy; his forehead little above an inch high; his brows great and

prominent; his eyes set deep in their sockets; his nose crooked, with a

round knob or button at the end, which also somewhat turned upwards; on

his upper lip he had some quantity of black hair, on his chin very few,

straggling, black and stiff; and his nether lip was as big as three

lips. Such was his face: but the greatest deformity was his feet, and

that almost to admiration; for they were both cloven, but not alike.

One foot was equally divided between four and five inches deep into two

toes, jointed like other men’s toes, but as large each of them as half

the foot could make them, with nails proportionable. The left foot was

divided likewise in the middle, but the division was not above three

inches deep, or scarce so much; the one half, which was towards the

body, made one large toe, with a nail proportionable, like the inward

half of the right foot; but the outward half was compounded of two

toes, yet growing close and fast together. This monstrous shape of a

man I have thought good to give this relation of, from certain

knowledge, for there were a thousand witnesses of it present.”

With the languages of the African negroes I am but little acquainted;

as a specimen, however, I will insert a few sentences of that called

the Coromantyn, upon the credit of my boy Quaco, who belonged to that

nation, together with a translation in English; and only observe, that

they break off their words very short, in a kind of guttural manner,

which I cannot easily describe:—For instance—“Co fa ansyo, na baramon

bra, Go to the river, and bring me some water.”—“Mee yeree, nacomeda

mee, My wife, I want some food.”—So much for the Coromantyn language,

as spoken by the negroes on the coast of Guinea.

But as to that spoken by the black people in Surinam, I consider myself

a perfect master, it being a compound of Dutch, French, Spanish,

Portuguese, and English. The latter they like best, and consequently

use the most. It has been already observed, that the English were the

first Europeans who possessed this colony, hence probably the

predilection for that language, which they have still retained. In this

mixed dialect, for which I have seen a printed grammar, the words end

mostly with a vowel, like the Indian and Italian, and it is so sweet,

so sonorous and soft, that the genteelest Europeans in Surinam speak

little else; it is also wonderfully expressive and sentimental, such

as, “Good eating, sweety-muffo.”—“Gun-powder, man sanny.”—“I will love

you, with all my heart, so long as I live, Mee saloby you, langa alla

mee hatty, so langa me leeby.”—“A pleasing tale, ananassy tory.”—“I am

very angry, me hatty brun.”—“Live long, so long until your hair become

white as cotton, Lebee langa, tay, tay, ta-y you weeree weeree tan wity

likee catoo.”—“Small, peekeen.”—“Very small, peekeeneenee.”—“Farewel!

Good-bye! I am dying, and going to my God, Adioso, cerroboay, mee de go

dede, me de go na mee Gado.”—In this sample, many corrupt English words

are perceptible, which however begin to grow out of use near the

capital, but are still retained in the distant plantations; for

instance, at the estate Goet-Accoord, in Cottica, I have heard an old

negro woman say, “We lobee so lebee togeddere,” by which she meant, we

love to live together; and at Paramaribo to express the same sentence,

“Wee looko for tanna macandera.”

Their vocal music is like that of the birds, melodious, but without

time, and in other respects not unlike that of a clerk performing to

the congregation, one person constantly pronouncing a sentence

extempore, which he next hums or whistles, and then all the others

repeat the same in chorus; another sentence is then spoken, and the

chorus is a second time renewed, &c.

This kind of singing is much practised by the barge rowers or boat

negroes on the water, especially during the night in a clear moonshine;

it is to them peculiarly animating, and may, together with the sound of

their oars, be heard at a considerable distance.

As a specimen, I have tried to set the following words to music,

supposing a ranger going to battle, and thus taking leave of his girl:

Oan bus adiosi-o da so adiosso me de-go me loby so fighty me man o

One buss good-by o ’tis so good-by girl I must go I love for to

fight like a man o

Amimba me dego na boosy o da so adiosso me do go.

Amimba I go to the woods o ’tis so good-by girl, I must go.

Such is their vocal melody; and of their instrumental music, and

dancing, which is perfectly to time, I shall speak hereafter, having

already given a short account of that which is practised by the Loango

negroes. That these people are neither divested of a good ear, nor

poetical genius, has been frequently proved, when they have had the

advantages of a good education. Amongst others, Phillis Wheatley, who

was a slave at Boston in New England, learned the Latin language, and

wrote thirty-eight elegant pieces of poetry on different subjects,

which were published in 1773. As a specimen, I cannot refrain here

inserting the following extract from that entitled, “Thoughts on

Imagination.”

“Now here, now there, the roving fancy flies,

Till some lov’d object strikes her wand’ring eyes,

Whose silken fetters all the senses bind,

And soft captivity invades the mind.

“Imagination! who can sing thy force?

Or where describe the swiftness of thy course?

Soaring through air to find the bright abode,

Th’ imperial palace of the thundering God.

“We on thy pinions can surpass the wind,

And leave the rolling universe behind.

From star to star the mental optics rove,

Measure the skies, and range the realms above;

There in one view we grasp the mighty whole,

Or with new worlds amaze th’ unbounded soul.”

What can be more beautiful and sublime?——

Ignatius Sancho, a negro, many years servant to the Duke of Montagu,

whose sentimental letters, so generally known, would not disgrace the

pen of an European, may also be mentioned on this occasion; and with

regard to their powers of memory and calculation, I shall only notice

Thomas Fuller, a negro, the property of a Mrs. Cox in Maryland, North

America; and quote one singular anecdote, as it is related by Dr. Rush

of Philadelphia, in a letter to a gentleman at Manchester.

“Being travelling,” says the Doctor, “with some other gentlemen of this

city, through Maryland, and having heard of the astonishing powers of

memory in arithmetical calculation possessed by Thomas Fuller, a negro,

we sent for him; when one of the gentlemen in company asked him, how

many seconds a man of seventy years, some odd months, weeks and days,

had lived? He told the exact number in a minute and a half. When the

gentleman who had asked the question took his pen, and having

calculated the same by figures, told the negro he must be mistaken, as

the number he had mentioned was certainly too great. ‘Top, Massera,’

said the negro, ‘you have omitted the leap-years;’ when having

calculated the seconds contained in the number of leap-years, and added

them, the number was found exactly the same as that calculated by the

negro. This same man multiplied nine figures by nine, by memory, before

another company.” Another lately repeated the Alcoran from recollection

only.—What amazing mental faculties in African negroes, who could

neither read nor write! Yet that such things are, is well

authenticated.

To what I have already advanced, I may add, that all negroes firmly

believe the being of a God, upon whose goodness they rely, and whose

power they adore, while they have no fear of death, and never taste

food without offering a libation. In the rivers Gambia and Senegal they

are mostly Mahometans; but generally the worship and religious

ceremonies of the Africans vary, as do the numberless superstitious

practices of all savages, and indeed of too many Europeans. Perceiving

that it was their custom to bring their offerings to the wild

cotton-tree [35], I enquired of an old negro, why they paid such

particular reverence and veneration to this growing piece of timber.

“This proceeds (said he) massera, from the following cause: having no

churches nor places built for public worship (as you have) on the Coast

of Guinea, and this tree being the largest and most beautiful growing

there, our people, assembling under its branches when they are going to

be instructed, are defended by it from the heavy rains and scorching

sun. Under this tree our gadoman, or priest, delivers his lectures; and

for this reason our common people have so much veneration for it, that

they will not cut it down upon any account whatever.”

No people can be more superstitious than the generality of negroes; and

their Locomen, or pretended prophets, find their interest in

encouraging this superstition, by selling them obias or amulets, as I

have already mentioned, and as some hypocrites sell absolution in

Europe, for a comfortable living. These people have also amongst them a

kind of Sibyls, who deal in oracles; these sage matrons dancing and

whirling round in the middle of an assembly, with amazing rapidity,

until they foam at the mouth, and drop down as convulsed. Whatever the

prophetess orders to be done during this paroxism, is most sacredly

performed by the surrounding multitude; which renders these meetings

extremely dangerous, as she frequently enjoins them to murder their

masters, or desert to the woods; upon which account this scene of

excessive fanaticism is forbidden by law in the colony of Surinam, upon

pain of the most rigorous punishment: yet it is often practised in

private places, and is very common amongst the Owca and Seramica

negroes, where captains Fredericy and Van Geurick told me they had seen

it performed. It is here called the winty-play, or the dance of the

mermaid, and has existed from time immemorial; as even the classic

authors make frequent mention of this extraordinary practice. Virgil,

in his sixth book, makes Eneas visit the Sibyl of Cuma; and Ovid also

mentions the same subject, lib. 14. where Eneas wishes to visit the

ghost of his father.

But what is still more strange, these unaccountable women by their

voice know how to charm the ammodytes, [36] or papaw serpent, down from

the tree. This is an absolute fact; nor is this snake ever killed or

hurt by the negroes, who, on the contrary, esteem it as their friend

and guardian, and are happy to see it enter their huts. When these

sibyls have charmed or conjured down the ammodytes serpent from the

tree, it is common to see this reptile twine and wreathe about their

arms, neck and breast, as if the creature took delight in hearing her

voice, while the woman strokes and caresses it with her hand. The

sacred writers speak of the charming of adders and serpents in many

places, which I mention only to prove the antiquity of the practice

[37]; for nothing is more notorious, than that the Eastern Indians will

rid the houses of the most venomous snakes by charming them with the

sound of a flute, which calls them out of their holes. And it is not

many years since an Italian woman brought over three tame snakes, which

crawled about her neck and arms: they were four or five feet long, but

not venomous.

Another instance of superstition amongst the negroes I must relate;

there is a direct prohibition in every family, handed down from father

to son, against the eating of some one kind of animal food, which they

call treff; this may be either fowl, fish, or quadruped, but whatever

it is, no negro will touch it; though I have seen some good Catholics

eat roast-beef in Lent, and a religious Jew devouring a slice from a

fat flitch of bacon.

However ridiculous some of the above rites may appear, yet amongst the

African blacks they are certainly necessary, to keep the rabble in

subjection; and their gadomen or priests know this as well as the

infallible Pontiff of the Roman church. These illiterate mortals

differ, however, in this respect from the modern Europeans, that

whatever they believe, they do it firmly, and are never staggered by

the doubts of scepticism, nor troubled with the qualms of conscience;

but whether they are, upon this account, better or worse, I will not

pretend to determine.—I however think that they are a happy people, and

possess so much friendship for one another, that they need not be told

to “love their neighbour as themselves;” since the poorest negro,

having only an egg, scorns to eat it alone; but were a dozen present,

and every one a stranger, he would cut or break it into just as many

shares; or were there one single dram of rum, he would divide it among

the same number: this is not done, however, until a few drops are first

sprinkled on the ground, as an oblation to the gods.—Approach then

here, thou canting hypocrite, and take an example from thy illiterate

sable brother!—From what I sometimes throw out, however, let it not be

understood that I am an enemy to religious worship—God forbid! But I

ever will profess myself the greatest friend to those whose actions

best correspond with their doctrine; which, I am sorry to say, is too

seldom the case amongst those nations who pretend most to civilization.

If savage nations be commonly generous and faithful, they are not,

however, without their dark shades; and among these, the most

conspicuous is a proneness to anger and revenge. I never knew a negro

indeed forgive those who had wilfully offended him. The strength of

this passion can only be equalled by their gratitude; for, amongst

them, it may be truly said, that

“A generous friendship no cold medium knows,

But with one love, with one resentment glows.”

Their abominable cruelties also, like those of all barbarous nations,

are truly shocking. In the colony of Berbicè, during the late revolt,

they made no scruple of cutting up their mistresses with child, even in

their master’s presence, with many other savage devices too dreadful to

relate [38].—In the art of poisoning, not even the Accawaw Indians are

more expert; they can carry it under their nails, and by only dipping

their thumb into a tumbler of water, which they offer as a beverage to

the object of their revenge, they infuse a slow but certain death [39].

Whole estates, as well as private families, have become the victims of

their fury, and experienced their fatal vengeance, even putting to

death scores of their own friends and relations, with the double view

of depriving their proprietors of their most valuable possessions.

These monsters are distinguished by the name of Wissy-men, perhaps from

wise, or knowing, and by their fatal genius carry destruction to a most

dreadful length before they are detected.

All barbarous and uneducated people have indistinct notions of

property; nor can we wonder that slaves, who in their own persons

suffer the most flagrant violation of every right, should be disposed

to retaliate. The slaves on the plantations are therefore too commonly

thieves, plundering whatever they can lay their hands upon with

impunity; nor can any bounds be set to their intemperance, especially

in drinking. I have seen a negro girl empty a china-bowl at one

draught, containing two bottles of claret, which I had given her by way

of experiment, till she could no more stand.

I should not forget to mention that the Gango negroes are supposed to

be anthropophagi or cannibals, like the Caribbee Indians, instigated by

habitual and implacable revenge. Amongst the rebels of this tribe,

after the taking of Boucou, some pots were found on the fire with human

flesh; which one of the officers had the curiosity to taste, and

declared it was not inferior to some kinds of beef or pork.

I have been since assured by a Mr. Vangills, an American, that having

travelled for a great number of miles inland in Africa, he at length

came to a place where human legs, arms, and thighs hung upon wooden

shambles, and were exposed to sale, like butchers meat in Leadenhall

market. And Captain John Keene, formerly of the Dolphin cutter, but

late of the Naimbana schooner, in the Sierra Leona company’s service,

positively assured me, that when he, a few years since, was on the

coast of Africa, in the brig Fame, from Bristol, Mr. Samuel Biggs

owner, trading for wood, iron, and gold-dust, a Captain Dunnigen, with

his whole crew, belonging to the Nassau schooner, which was her tender,

were cut in pieces, salted, and eaten by the negroes of Great Drewin,

about thirty miles North of the River St. Andrew’s; who having torn the

copper off her bottom, burned the vessel.

But from these deformities of character I will now relieve the

attention of the reader, and proceed in justice to dispel the gloomy

cloud, by introducing the sun-shine of their virtues.

Their genius has been already treated of, so has their gratitude; which

last they carry to such a length, that they will even die for those who

have shewn them any particular favour. Nothing can exceed the fidelity

and attachment they have for those matters who use them well, which

proves that their affection is as strong as their hatred. Negroes are

generally good-natured, particularly the Coromantyn, and those of Nago.

They are also susceptible of the tender passion, and jealousy in their

breasts has produced the most dreadful effects. The delicacy of these

people deserves likewise to be noticed: I do not remember, amongst the

many thousands I have seen during several years residence among them,

ever to have observed even an offer to kiss a woman in public. Maternal

tenderness for their children is also natural to the females, for in

general, during the two years which they usually suckle them, they

never cohabit with their husbands; this they consider as unnatural, and

prejudicial to the infants: and the case of Lesperanza (who bore so

many children in a short time) is no exception, as her children died

almost as soon as they came into the world. The cleanliness of the

negro nation is peculiarly remarkable, as they bathe above three times

a day. The Congo tribe in particular are so fond of the water, that

they may, not improperly, be called amphibious animals.

The negroes are likewise spirited and brave, patient in adversity,

meeting death and torture with the most undaunted fortitude. Their

conduct, in the most trying situations, approaching even to heroism; no

negro sighs, groans, or complains, though expiring in the midst of

surrounding flames. Nor do I remember, upon any occasion whatever, to

have seen an African shed a tear, though they beg for mercy with the

greatest earnestness when ordered to be flogged for offences which they

are conscious deserve to be punished; but if they think their

punishment unmerited, immediate suicide is too often the fatal

consequence, especially amongst the Coromantyn negroes, who frequently,

during the act of flagellation, throw back their heads in the neck, and

swallow their tongue, which choaks them upon the spot, when they drop

dead in the presence of their masters. But when negroes are sensible of

having deserved correction, no people can be more humble, or bear their

unhappy fate with greater resignation. The swallowing of the tongue,

which they only practise during the moments of severe discipline, has

of late been prevented in Surinam by the humane method of holding a

fire-brand to the victim’s mouth, which answers the double purpose of

burning his face, and diverting his attention from the execution of his

fatal determination. Some have a practice of eating common earth, by

which the stomach is prevented from performing its ordinary functions,

and thus dispatch themselves without any immediate pain, but linger

perhaps for a twelvemonth in the most debilitated and shocking

condition. Against these ground-eaters the severest punishments are

decreed by the laws, but without much effect, as they are seldom

detected in this act of desperation.

After these general remarks upon the mental and bodily faculties of the

African negroes, we shall next proceed to view them in a state of

bondage, under all the oppression they are exposed to from the rod of

barbarous tyranny; then, rescuing them from this horrid scene, we will

next consider them as protected by impartial justice, and fostered by

the mild hand of tenderness and humanity.

The reader may remember that I have already introduced the slaves as

landing from on board the Guinea ships, and generally shocking

instances of debility and misery:—

“Their visage is blacker than a coal, they are not known in the

streets, their skin cleaveth to their bones, it is withered, it

is become like a stick.”

I have also observed, that under the care of some old negroes,

appointed for that purpose, they soon become fat and sleek, and learn

the language of the colony: they then are sent to work in the fields,

to which they chearfully submit; though I have seen some instances of

newly-imported negroes refusing to work, nor could promises, threats,

rewards, nor even blows prevail; but these had been princes or people

of the first rank in their native country, who by the casualties of war

had the misfortune to become slaves, and whose heroic sentiments still

preferred instant death to the baseness and miseries of servitude. Upon

these occasions I have seen the other slaves fall upon their knees, and

intreat the master to permit them to do the work required, in addition

to their own tasks; which being sometimes granted, they continued to

shew the same respect for the captive prince that he had been

accustomed to receive in his own country. I remember once to have had a

remarkable good-looking new negro to attend me, whose ancles and wrists

being much galled by chains, I enquired the cause. “My father,” said

he, “was a king, and treacherously murdered by the sons of a

neighbouring prince. To revenge his death, I daily went a hunting with

some men, in hopes of retaliating upon his assassins; but I had the

misfortune to be surprized, taken, and bound; hence these ignoble

scars. I was afterwards sold to your European countrymen on the coast

of Guiana—a punishment which was deemed greater than instant death.”

The history of Quaco, my black boy, was still more extraordinary:—“My

parents,” said he, “lived by hunting and fishing: I was stolen from

them very young, whilst playing on the sands with two little brothers;

I was put into a sack, and carried for several miles. I afterwards

became the slave of a king on the coast of Guinea, with several

hundreds more. When our master died, the principal part of his slaves

were beheaded and buried along with him; I, with some other children of

my age, were bestowed as presents to the different captains of his

army; and the master of a Dutch ship afterwards had me, in exchange for

a musket and some gun-powder.”—Each loves his country best, if mild its

laws, or rigid:

“The naked negro, panting at the line,

Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine;

Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave,

And thanks his gods for all the good they gave:—

Such is the patriot’s boast, where’er he roam,

His first best country ever is at home.”

No sooner do these wretched strangers begin to flag at their labour,

than whips, cow-skins, bamboos, ropes, fetters, and chains are

introduced, until they are ready to sink under accumulated oppression.

With some masters their tasks can never be performed, as they must toil

on, day and night, even Sundays not excepted. I recollect a strong

young negro, called Marquis, who had a wife he loved, with two fine

children; he laboured hard, and generally finished his task of digging

a trench of five hundred feet by four o’clock in the afternoon, that he

might have some time to cultivate his little garden, and go to fish or

fowl to support his beloved family: hard did Marquis strive to earn

this additional pittance, when his humane master, apprized of his

industry, for his encouragement informed him, that if he could delve

five hundred feet by four o’clock, he could certainly finish six

hundred before sun-set; and this task the unfortunate young man was

condemned from that day ever since to perform.

In Surinam the slaves are kept nearly naked, and their daily food

consists of little more than a few yams and plantains; perhaps twice a

year they may receive a scanty allowance of salt-fish, with a few

leaves of tobacco, which they call sweety-muffo, and this is all: but

what is peculiarly provoking to them is, that if a negro and his wife

have ever so great an attachment for each other, the woman, if

handsome, must yield to the loathsome embrace of an adulterous and

licentious manager, or see her husband cut to pieces for endeavouring

to prevent it. This, in frequent instances, has driven them to

distraction, and been the cause of many murders.

It is in consequence of these complicated evils, that so many also

destroy themselves by suicide, run away to the woods to join their

countrymen in rebellion, or if they stay, grow sad and spiritless, and

languish under diseases, the effects of bad usage; such as the lota,

which is a white scorbutic spot that externally covers the body. The

crassy-crassy, or itch, which with us comes from poorness of diet, is

of course very common with them. The yaws, a most disagreeable

disorder, by many compared to the venereal disease, which renders the

patient a shocking spectacle, all covered over with yellow ulcers. To

this last-mentioned loathsome malady most negroes are subject, yet but

only once in their lives, in which, and being very infectious, it

resembles the small-pox: indeed if a fly which has been feeding upon

the diseased (and they are generally covered with them) lights upon the

slightest scratch on a healthy person, it communicates this dreadful

disorder, which always confines him for several months. The most

general cure for the yaws in Surinam, is salivation and spare diet,

with continual exercise to promote perspiration; and, during this

process, the poor wretches absolutely look like decayed carcases.

Still more dreadful is the boassy, or leprosy, which is deemed

incurable: the face and limbs in this complaint swell, and the whole

body is covered with scales and ulcers; the breath stinks, the hair

falls off, the fingers and toes become putrid, and drop away joint

after joint. The worst of which is, that though the disease is

hopeless, the unhappy sufferer may linger sometimes for many years. The

lepers are naturally lascivious, and the disease being infectious, they

are of necessity separated from all society, and condemned to a

perpetual exile in some remote corner of the plantations.

The clabba-yaws, or tubboes, is also a very troublesome and tedious

disorder; it occasions painful sores about the feet, mostly in the

soles, between the skin and the flesh. The usual remedy in this case

is, to burn out the morbid part with a red-hot iron, or cut it out with

a lancet; and then the warm juice of roasted limes is introduced into

the wound, though with great pain yet with great success.

The African negroes are also subject to many species of worms, both

extraneous and internal, owing to the wading much in stagnated waters,

and to the crudity of their diet. Of the former species is the Guinea

or tape-worm, which breeds between the skin and the flesh, and is

sometimes two yards in length, of a shining silvery colour, and not

thicker than the second string of a bass-viol. It occasions dangerous

and painful swellings where-ever it inserts itself, which is mostly

about the legs. The method of cure, is to seize the head of the worm

when it appears above the skin, and extract it by winding it gently

round a stick or card; this operation cannot be performed with too much

caution, for if it breaks, the loss of the limb, or even of life

itself, is frequently the fatal consequence. Some are infested with

seven or eight of these worms at a time.

Besides these dreadful calamities, peculiar to themselves, the negroes

are subject to every complaint common to the Europeans; who, in their

turn, are not exempt in Guiana from the afflicting and dangerous

distempers I have just described.

It is therefore not to be wondered at if many of the plantations are

crouded with miserable objects, left under the care of the dressy negro

or black surgeon only, whose whole skill consists in administering a

dose of salts, or spreading a plaister. As to the numbers who are

excoriated from their neck to their heel, by constant whipping, they

may cure themselves, or do their work without a skin, if they think

proper.

Thus from accumulated miseries, some naturally succeeding from the

climate and their poor diet, but more from the inordinate cruelty of

managers, it must follow that numerous slaves become unfit for work,

many from weakness and depression of spirits, and others from extreme

labour becoming old before their time. But for all these evils, this

plantation despot finds an infallible remedy, which is no other than to

put them to death at once: the loss does not affect him but his master,

and he is proud of shewing only such negroes as are able to do their

task, assuring the owner that they mostly died by the venereal disease;

and the word of the human carcase-butcher is quite sufficient, as no

negro is allowed to give evidence in any case whatever.

“Dictio testimonii non est servo homini.”

Yet should some fair European by accident prove the murder, the

delinquent escapes, as I have observed, by paying a fine of £. 50 and

the value of the slave, if the owner requires it; and for this price of

blood he may slaughter the poor wretches whenever a temporary passion

or a habit of cruelty, which is too commonly generated in this

situation, prompts his rage.

They have moreover many stratagems to evade the penalty, should even

the magistrates be present. I have known it happen when one of these

scourges of the human race became tired of a negro, that he has taken

him out with him a shooting; and ordering him to discover the game, the

first bird that started he has shot the poor man dead upon the spot.

This was called an accident, and no farther enquiry was made concerning

it. Others have been dispatched by the following method:—A stake being

fastened in the middle of an open plain, the slave is chained to it,

and exposed to the burning sun, where one jill of water and a single

plantain is brought him daily, until he pines to death. But this is not

called starving, as his master declares that he neither wanted victuals

nor drink until he expired—thus he is honourably acquitted.

Another plan of murdering with impunity has often been put in practice.

The slave is fastened naked to a tree in the forest, with his arms and

legs extended, under pretence of stretching his limbs; but here he is

left, and regularly fed, until he is actually stung to death by the

musquitoes and other insects—a most infernal punishment, and such as

may be with truth ascribed to the instigation of the devil! Drowning

them, by kicking them overboard with a weight chained to their legs, is

called accidental death. It has been known that by the orders of a

woman, negro slaves have been privately burnt to death, miserably

chained in a surrounding pile of flaming faggots. As to the breaking

out of their teeth, merely for tasting the sugar-cane cultivated by

themselves, slitting up their noses, and cutting off their ears, from

private pique, these are accounted mere sport, and not worthy to be

mentioned.

By such inhuman usage this unhappy race of men are sometimes driven to

such a height of desperation, that to finish their days, and be

relieved from worse than Egyptian bondage, some even have leaped into

the caldrons of boiling sugar, thus at once depriving the tyrant of his

crop and of his servant.

From these sketches can it be a matter of surprize, that armies of

rebels are assembled in the forest, and at every opportunity thirsting

for revenge?

I shall now conclude this dreadful scene by one general remark, shewing

how far population is affected by this most infamous treatment.

In Surinam there are, upon an average, about 75,000 negro slaves, as I

have stated; from which if we subtract children, and superannuated men

and women, there will not be found above 50,000 really fit for labour.

There are from six to twelve Guinea ships, that import from 250 to 300

slaves each from Africa annually: we may therefore compute the yearly

importation at an average of 2,500, necessary to supply and keep

complete the above 50,000; so that the annual deaths exceed the births

by the number of 2,500, though each man negro has a wife or two if he

chuses, which is, upon the mass, just 5 per cent. and consequently

proves that the whole race of healthy slaves, consisting of 50,000, are

totally extinct once every twenty years.

Truth and justice however oblige me to declare, that the inhuman

barbarities I have been just describing are not universal.

Compassionate Heaven has ordained some exceptions, as I shall

impartially shew, by reversing the picture: not, like some writers who

have treated this subject, and carefully concealed the most pleasing

touches of goodness and humanity, whilst only the darkest shades have

been exposed to the public eye, but by candidly exhibiting both sides

with equal justice and precision; and it is indeed with pleasure I can

affirm, that the negro slaves on some estates are treated, in my

opinion, as men ought to be treated; and this mode of conduct might

still be more general, by amending the laws, which ought not corruptly

to invest human nature with what it is certain to abuse—an authority

completely despotic. No master surely ought to be entrusted with the

dangerous power of taking away the life of his slaves with impunity;

and it ought to be considered an equal crime in the eye of the law to

kill a negro or a white man, as it is equally murder in the sight of

God.

I shall now introduce to the reader’s acquaintance a negro family in

that state of tranquil happiness, which they always enjoy under a

humane and indulgent master. The figures in the plate are supposed to

be of the Loango nation, by the marks on the man’s body, while on his

breast may be seen J. G. S. in a cypher, by which his owner may

ascertain his property. He carries a basket with small fish, and a net

upon his head, with a large fish in his hand, caught by himself in the

river. His wife, who is pregnant, is employed in carrying different

kinds of fruit, spinning a thread of cotton upon her distaff, and

comfortably smoking her pipe of tobacco. Besides all this, she has a

boy upon her back, and another playing by her side. Thus, under a mild

master and an honest overseer, a negro’s labour is no more than a

healthy exercise, which ends at the setting-sun, and the remaining time

is his own, which he employs in hunting, fishing, cultivating his

garden, or making baskets and fish-nets for sale; with this money he

buys a hog or two, sometimes fowls or ducks, all which he fattens upon

the spontaneous growth of the soil, without expence, and very little

trouble, and, in the end, they afford him considerable profit. Thus

pleasantly situated, he is exempt from every anxiety, and pays no

taxes, but looks up to his master as the only protector of him and his

family. He adores him, not from fear, but from a conviction that he is

indebted to his goodness for all the comforts he enjoys. He breathes in

a luxurious warm climate, like his own, which renders clothes

unnecessary, and he finds himself more healthy, as well as more at his

ease, by going naked. His house he may build after his own fancy. The

forest affords him every necessary material for the cutting. His bed is

a hammock, or a mat called papaya. His pots he manufactures himself,

and his dishes are gourds, which grow in his garden. He never lives

with a wife he does not love, exchanging for another the moment either

he or she becomes tired, though this separation happens less frequently

here than divorces do in Europe. Besides the regular allowance given

him by his master weekly, his female friend has the art of making many

savoury dishes; such as braf, or a hodge-podge of plantains and yams

boiled with salt meat, barbacued fish, and Cayenne pepper. Tom-tom is a

very good pudding, composed of the flour of Indian corn, boiled with

flesh, fowl, fish, Cayenne pepper, and the young pods of the ocra or

althea plant. Pepper-pot is a dish of boiled fish and capsicum, eaten

with roasted plantains. Gangotay is made of dried, and asosoo of green

plantains. Acansa and doquenoo are composed of the flour of maize, and

the latter is eaten with molasses. His common drink is the limpid

stream, sometimes corrected by a little rum. If he is accidentally

wounded or indisposed, he is cured for nothing; but it is very seldom

he troubles the faculty, being tolerably skilled in herbs and simples,

besides scarifying and puckering the skin, which serves instead of

bleeding. The inconvenience of vermin he remedies without a comb, by

plaistering up his hair with clay, which being dried on the head, and

then washed with soap and water, makes him clean beyond conception; his

teeth are constantly kept as white as ivory; for this purpose he uses

nothing but a sprig of orange-tree, bitten at one end, until the fibres

resemble a small brush; and no negro, male or female, is to be seen

without this little instrument, which has besides the virtue of

sweetening the breath.

So much for his body; and with regard to his soul, it is seldom

troubled with any qualms of conscience, or fear of death, as I have

stated, being firm and unshaken in what he was taught to believe, which

is indeed little, but plain; and when he is no more, his companions or

relations carry him to some grove of orange-trees, where he is not

interred without expence, being generally put in a coffin of the very

best wood and workmanship, while the cries and lamentations of his

surviving friends, who sing a dirge, pierce the sky. The grave being

filled up, and a green turf neatly spread over it, a couple of large

gourds are put by the side, the one with water, the other with boiled

fowls, pork, cassava, &c. as a libation, not from a superstitious

notion, as some believe, that he will eat or drink it, but as a

testimony of that regard which they have for his memory and ashes;

while some even add the little furniture that he left behind, breaking

it in pieces over the grave. This done, every one takes his last

farewell, speaking to him as if alive, and testifying their sorrow at

his departure; adding, that they hope to see him, not in Guinea, as

some have written, but in that better place, where he now enjoys the

pleasant company of his parents, friends, and ancestors; when another

dismal yell ends the ceremony, and all return home. Next a fat hog

being killed, with fowls, ducks, &c. a general feast is given by his

friends to all the other negroes, which concludes not till the

following day. The nearest connections and relations of the deceased,

both male and female, now cut their hair [40] and shave their heads,

round which having tied a dark blue handkerchief, they wear this

mourning for a whole year; after which, once more visiting the grave,

they offer a last libation, and taking their final farewell, another

hog and fowls being killed, the funeral rites are quite ended by a

second feast, which finishes with a joyful dance, and songs in memory

and praise of their dear departed friend or relation.

No people can more esteem or have a greater friendship for one another

than the negro slaves; they appear to have unbounded enjoyment in each

other’s company, and are not destitute of social amusements, such as

the soesa, which consists in footing opposite to each other, and

clapping with their hands upon their sides to keep in time. So very

eager are they at this animating play, in which sometimes six or eight

couple are engaged at once, that the violent exercise having been known

to kill some of the negroes, it is forbidden by the magistrates at

Paramaribo. Awaree is an innocent amusement, consisting in pitching

with a large kind of marbles, in defect of which they use the awaree

nuts or large pebbles.

The men also cudgel and wrestle; yet at this I think them inferior to

either those of Cornwall or Devon. Most negroes are strong and active

[41]. But swimming is their favourite diversion, which they practise

every day at least twice or thrice, promiscuously, in groupes of boys

and girls, like the Indians, when both sexes exhibit astonishing feats

of courage, strength, and activity. I have not only seen a negro girl

beat a hardy youth in swimming across the River Comewina (while I was

one of the party) but on landing challenge him to run a two mile race,

and beat him again, naked as they were; while all ideas of shame on the

one side, and of insult on the other, are totally unknown.—I shall now

say something of their instrumental music and dancing. I have already

mentioned the singing and the dancing of the Loango tribe in

particular; and will now describe that practised by the other negro

nations in general.

Their instruments of music, which are not a little ingenious, are all

made by themselves, and consist of those represented in the annexed

plate; where

No 1, which is called qua-qua, is a hard sounding-board, elevated on

one side like a boot-jack, on which they beat time as on a drum, with

two pieces of iron, or two bones.

No 2, is the kiemba-toetoe, or hollow reed, which is blown through the

nostrils, like the nasal flute of Otaheite: it has but two holes, one

at each end, the one serving to sound it, the other to be touched by

the finger.

No 3, is the Ansokko-baina, which is a hard board, supported on both

sides like a low seat, on which are placed small blocks of different

sizes, which being struck with two small sticks like a dulcimer, give

different sounds, that are not at all disagreeable.

No 4, is the great Creole drum, being a hollow tree, open at one end,

and covered at the other with a sheep-skin, on which they sit astride,

and so beat time with the palms of their hands; answering the effect of

a bass-viol to the qua-qua board.

No 5, is the great Loango drum, being covered at both ends, and serves

the same purpose as a bass drum.

No 6, is the Papa drum, beaten as the others.

No 7, is the small Loango drum, beaten together with the great one.

No 8, the small Creole drum, for the same use.

No 9, is called coeroema; this is a wooden cup, ingeniously made,

covered also with a sheep-skin, and beaten with two small rods or

drum-sticks, after the manner of the qua-qua board.

No 10, is the Loango-bania. This I thought exceedingly curious, being a

dry board, on which are laced, and kept down by a transverse bar,

different sized elastic splinters of the palm-tree, like pieces of

whalebone, in such a manner that both ends are elevated by two other

bars that are fixed under them; and the above apparatus being placed on

No 11, which is a large empty callebash to promote the sound; the

extremities of the splinters are snapt by the fingers, something in the

manner of a piano-forte, when the music has a soft and very pleasing

effect.

No 12, is called by the negroes saka-saka, being a hollow gourd, with a

stick and handle fixed through it, and filled with small pebbles and

pease, not unlike the magic shell of the Indians. This they hold above

their heads, and while they dance rattle it to measure.

No 13, is a conch, or sea-shell, which by blowing they sound, for

pleasure, or to cause an alarm, &c. but is not used as an accompaniment

to dancing.

No 14, is called benta, being a branch bent like a bow by means of a

slip of dry reed or warimbo; which cord, when held to the teeth, is

beaten with a short stick, and by being shifted backwards and forwards

sounds not unlike a jew’s-harp.

No 15, is the Creole-bania, this is like a mandoline or guitar, being

made of a half gourd covered with a sheep-skin, to which is fixed a

very long neck or handle. This instrument has but four strings, three

long and one short, which is thick, and serves for a bass; it is played

by the fingers, and has a very agreeable sound, but more so when

accompanied by a song.

No 16, is the trumpet of war, to command advancing, retreating, &c. and

is called by the negroes the too-too.

No 17, is a horn used to supply the place of the other, or on the

plantations to call the slaves to work.

No 18, is the Loango too-too or flute, which they blow as the Europeans

do, after the common way. It has but four holes for the fingers, and

yet they make it produce a variety of sounds.—Such are the musical

instruments of our African brethren, to which they dance with more

spirit than we do to the best band in Europe.

To what I have stated, I will only add, that they always use full or

half measure, but never triple time, in their dancing music, which is

not unlike that of a baker’s bunt, when he separates the flour from the

bran, sounding tuckety-tuck and tuckety-tuck ad perpetuum. To this

noise they dance with uncommon pleasure, and most times foot it away

with great art and dexterity.

“Saltantes satiros imitabitur Alphisibœus.”

Every Saturday evening, the slaves who are well treated close the week

with an entertainment of this kind, and generally once a quarter are

indulged with a grand ball, to which the neighbouring slaves are

invited; the master often contributing to their happiness by his

presence, or at least by sending them a present of a few jugs of new

rum.

At these grand balls the slaves are remarkably neat, the women

appearing in their best chintz petticoats, and many of the men in fine

Holland trowsers. So indefatigable are they at this diversion, that I

have known the drums continue beating without intermission from six

o’clock on Saturday night till the sun made its appearance on the

Monday morning; thus had passed six-and-thirty hours in dancing,

cheering, hallooing, and clapping of hands. The negroes dance always in

couples, the men figuring and footing, while the women turn round like

a top, their petticoats expanding like an umbrella; and this they call

waey-cotto. During this, the by-standing youths fill about the liquor,

while the girls encourage the performance, and wipe the sweat from the

brows and sides of the unwearied musicians.

It is indeed upon the whole astonishing to see with what good-nature

and even good-manners these dancing societies are kept up, of which I

repeat it they are so fond, that I have known a newly-imported negro,

for want of a partner, figure and foot it for nearly the space of two

hours, to his shadow against the wall.

If to what I have stated relative to negro slaves, when under a candid

and humane master, we further add, their never being separated from

each other; parents seeing their children around them, sometimes till

the third and fourth generation, besides the confidence that they are

all provided for to the end of their lives;—then if we draw the

comparison between this class of people, and the numberless wretched

objects that disgrace the streets of Europe, we can assuredly not call

those Africans who fall under the above description—unhappy.

And now, to sum up all I have to say on the subject of slaves in the

fewest words, for the sake of the reader, and also for my own, lest I

should seem to contradict myself, by having so frequently animadverted

on the shocking cruelties of some masters, and occasionally done

justice to the humane and liberal dispositions of others, I beg leave

to say one word more on the projected abolition.—Could we persuade all

our commercial neighbours to join in that measure, the case would be

different: but since I have seen cruelties exercised so commonly in

Surinam, which I never heard of in the British islands, and from my

certain observation have declared the soil of that country to be so

much more rich and productive than our West Indies, shall we not drive

our planters from their worn-out lands, to settle on the more fertile

spot, under a government which will allow a free importation of

negroes, while our object (if we knew how to compass it) is to reduce

an unlimited infliction of punishment, which indeed our planters have

by their own laws most humanely restrained [42]?

Such is indeed the love and confidence of some planters for their

slaves, that they often entrust their infants to a negro wet-nurse, in

preference to an European, where both may be had; and such the

attachment of some slaves to their masters, that I have known many

refuse to accept of their emancipation, and even some, who had their

liberty, voluntarily return to dependence. No one is perfectly free in

this world, all mankind is depending upon one another—while I will beg

leave to conclude this laborious chapter, by this general remark, that

all sublunary happiness exists only in imagination, and may ever be

obtained, where health of body and peace of mind are not crushed by

despotic oppression.

CHAP. XXVII.

The Rape of the Sabines—Shocking Execution, and African

Fortitude—Description of an Indigo Plantation—The Spanso Bocko, a

Punishment—The Troops again re-enter the Woods—The Expedition draws

to a Conclusion.

Notwithstanding the successive defeats and repeated distresses of the

rebels, news was brought to Paramaribo, on the 12th of August, that

they had fallen upon the estate Bergendal, or the Blue Bergh, which is

also called Mount Parnassus, situated in the higher parts of the River

Surinam, and carried away all the black women, although a military post

was stationed near the above place, but without committing any kind of

cruelty, as too generally had been their custom. Upon this intelligence

a party of the rangers was instantly detached thither to assist in

pursuing them; and about this same time the long-projected cordon, or

path of circumvallation round the colony, was also began to be cut, by

seven hundred negro slaves; which path was henceforth to be manned with

military piquets at proper distances, to defend the estates against any

farther invasions from without, and to prevent desertion to the enemy

from within.

Mount Parnassus, which was the scene of the late rape of the Sabines,

is situated on the west side of the River Surinam, distant from

Paramaribo, if we include the windings of the river, above one hundred

miles; and as the situation is pleasant, I present the reader with a

view of it, in the plate annexed, as also of the village, called the

Jews Savannah, which is distant from town, in a straight line,

something more than forty, but by water above sixty English miles. Here

the Jews have a beautiful synagogue, and keep their solemn fasts and

festivals; here they also have their capital schools and seminaries,

for at this village reside some very respectable Jewish families. These

people possess particular rights and privileges in this colony, with

which they were endowed by King Charles the Second, when the settlement

of Surinam was English; and such are these privileges I never knew Jews

to possess in any other part of the world whatever.

From Paramaribo, or rather from the fortress New Amsterdam, the River

Surinam, like those of Cottica and Comawina, is beautifully bordered

with sugar and coffee plantations, as are also several creeks or small

rivers that communicate with it; such as the Pawlus, the Para, the

Cropina, and the Pararac creeks; but above Mount Parnassus not a single

estate, that may be so called, is to be found; neither is the river any

longer navigable, even for small craft, on account of the prodigious

rocks, and cascades or water-falls, with which it is obstructed as it

winds through excessively high mountains and an impenetrable forest.

While therefore they form an enchantingly romantic scene to the eye,

these natural bulwarks prevent the possessors of the colony from making

such discoveries as might perhaps reward their labour with very

considerable riches.

If, as I have just mentioned, cruelties were become less common in the

rivers by the rebels, barbarities still continued in a shocking degree

in the metropolis; where my ears were deafened with the clang of the

whip, and the shrieks of the negroes. Among the most eminent of these

tyrants was a Miss Sp—n, who lived next door to Mr. de Graav, and who I

saw with horror from my window give orders that a young black woman

should be flogged principally across the breasts, at which she seemed

to enjoy peculiar satisfaction. To dissipate the impression this scene

had left on my mind, I got into a whiskey, and rode out; when the first

thing I saw was a negro girl fall naked from a garret window on a heap

of broken bottles: this was indeed an accident, but she was so mangled,

though not dead, that she exhibited a spectacle nearly as wretched as

the other.—Cursing my unlucky fate, I turned the horses, and drove to

the beach, as the only place to avoid every scene of cruelty and

misery; but here I had the mortification to see two Philadelphia

sailors (while they were fighting on the forecastle of their vessel)

both fall over the ship’s bow into the stream, where they sunk, and

were no more seen. On board another American brig, I discovered a

little tar defending himself from the cross-trees with a hatchet,

against a serjeant and four armed men, for a considerable time; till

they threatening to shoot him out of the rigging, he at last

surrendered, and being brought ashore, was dragged to fort Zelandia, in

company with two others, by a file of musketeers, where, for having

been drunk on duty, they received a fire-cant each, at the captain’s

request; that is, they were bastinadoed or beaten on the shoulders by

two corporals with bamboo canes, till their backs were black, and

swelled like a cushion. However arbitrary this mode of correction, the

captain endeavoured to explain the necessity of it; the private

American sailors being of a turbulent spirit indeed when drunk,

although when sober they may be fairly classed among the best seamen in

the world.

Early the next morning, while musing on all the different dangers and

chastisements to which the lower class of people are exposed, I heard a

crowd pass under my window. Curiosity made me start up, dress in a

hurry, and follow them: when I discovered three negroes in chains,

surrounded by a guard, going to be executed in the savannah. Their

undaunted look, however averse I may be to the sight of cruelties, so

attracted my attention, as to determine me to see the result, which was

thus:—The sentence being read in Low Dutch (which they did not

understand) one was condemned to be flogged below the gallows, and his

accomplice to have his head struck off with an ax, for having shot a

slave who had come to steal plantains on the estate of his mistress.

The truth however was, that this had been done by that lady’s absolute

command; but the murder being discovered, she, in the hopes of saving

her character, besides the expence of paying the penalties, gave up her

valuable slave, and permitted the unhappy man to be thus sacrificed. He

laid his head upon the block with great indifference, stretching out

his neck; when, with one blow of the ax, it was severed from his body.

The third negro, whose name was Neptune, was no slave, but his own

master, and a carpenter by trade; he was young and handsome, but having

killed the overseer of the estate Altona, in the Para Creek, in

consequence of some dispute, he justly forfeited his life. The

particulars, however, are worth relating: This man having stolen a

sheep, to entertain a favourite young woman, the overseer, who burnt

with jealousy, had determined to see him hanged; to prevent which, the

negro shot him dead among the sugar-canes; for these offences of course

he was sentenced to be broken alive upon the rack, without the benefit

of the coup de grace or mercy-stroke. Informed of the dreadful

sentence, he composedly laid himself down on his back on a strong

cross, on which, with arms and legs expanded, he was fastened by ropes:

the executioner, also a black man, having now with a hatchet chopped

off his left hand, next took up a heavy iron bar, with which, by

repeated blows, he broke his bones to shivers, till the marrow, blood,

and splinters flew about the field; but the prisoner never uttered a

groan nor a sigh. The ropes being next unlashed, I imagined him dead,

and felt happy; till the magistrates stirring to depart, he writhed

himself from the cross, when he fell on the grass, and damned them all,

as a set of barbarous rascals; at the same time removing his right hand

by the help of his teeth, he rested his head on part of the timber, and

asked the by-standers for a pipe of tobacco, which was infamously

answered by kicking and spitting on him; till I, with some American

seamen, thought proper to prevent it. He then begged that his head

might be chopped off; but to no purpose. At last, seeing no end to his

misery, he declared, “that though he had deserved death, he had not

expected to die so many deaths: however, (said he) you christians have

missed your aim at last, and I now care not, were I to remain thus one

month longer.” After which he sung two extempore songs (with a clear

voice) the subjects of which were, to bid adieu to his living friends,

and to acquaint his deceased relations that in a very little time he

should be with them, to enjoy their company for ever in a better place.

This done, he calmly entered into conversation with some gentlemen

concerning his trial; relating every particular with uncommon

tranquillity—“But,” said he abruptly, “by the sun it must be eight

o’clock; and by any longer discourse I should be sorry to be the cause

of your losing your breakfast.” Then, casting his eyes on a Jew, whose

name was De Vries, “A-propos, sir,” said he, “won’t you please to pay

me the ten shillings you owe me?”—“For what to do?”—“To buy meat and

drink, to be sure—don’t you perceive I am to be kept alive?” Which

speech, on seeing the Jew stare like a fool, this mangled wretch

accompanied with a loud and hearty laugh. Next, observing the soldier

that stood sentinel over him biting occasionally on a piece of dry

bread, he asked him “how it came to pass, that he, a white man, should

have no meat to eat along with it?”—“Because I am not so rich,”

answered the soldier.—“Then I will make you a present, sir,” said the

negro; “first, pick my hand that was chopped off clean to the bones,

next begin to devour my body, till you are glutted; when you will have

both bread and meat, as best becomes you;”—which piece of humour was

followed by a second laugh; and thus he continued, until I left him,

which was about three hours after the dreadful execution.

Wonderful it is indeed, that human nature should be able to endure so

much torture, which assuredly could only be supported by a mixture of

rage, contempt, pride, and the glory of braving his tormentors, from

whom he was so soon to escape [43].

Though I never recal to my remembrance, without the most painful

sensation, this horrid scene, which must revolt the feelings of all who

have one spark of humanity, I cannot forbear exhibiting to the public

the dreadful spectacle in the annexed drawing. If the reader, however,

should be offended with this shocking exhibition, and my dwelling so

long on this unpleasant subject, let it be some relief to his

reflection, to consider this punishment not inflicted as a wanton and

unprovoked act of cruelty, but as the extreme severity of the Surinam

laws, on a desperate wretch, suffering as an example to others for

complicated crimes; while at the same time it cannot but give me, and I

hope many others, some consolation to reflect that the above barbarous

mode of punishment was hitherto never put in practice in the British

colonies.

I must now relate an incident, which, as it had a momentary effect on

my imagination, might have had a lasting one on some who had not

investigated the real cause of it, and which it gave me no small

satisfaction to discover. About three in the afternoon, walking towards

the place of execution, with my thoughts full of the affecting scene,

and the image of the sufferer fresh in my mind, the first object I saw

was his head at some distance, placed on a stake, nodding to me

backwards and forwards, as if he had really been alive. I instantly

stopped short, and seeing no person in the savannah, nor a breath of

wind sufficient to move a leaf or a feather, I acknowledge that I was

rivetted to the ground, where I stood without having the resolution of

advancing one step for some time; till reflecting that I must be weak

indeed not to approach this dead skull, and find out the wonderful

phenomenon, if possible, I boldly walked up, and instantly discovered

the natural cause, by the return of a vulture to the gallows, who

perched upon it, as if he meant to dispute with me for this feast of

carrion; which bird, having already picked out one of the eyes, had

fled at my first approach, and striking the skull with his talons, as

he took his sudden flight, occasioned the motion already described. I

shall now only add, that this poor wretch, after living near six hours,

had been knocked on the head by the commiserating sentinel, the marks

of whose musket were perfectly visible by a large open fracture in the

skull.

Vultures are compared by some to the eagle, though those of Surinam

possess very opposite qualities. They are indeed birds of prey, but

instead of feeding on what they kill, like the other noble animal,

their chief pursuit is carrion; wherefore they generally resort to

burial-grounds and places of execution, which they discover by their

very acute smell, so much so, that by the negroes they are called

tingee-fowlo, or the stinking bird. The Guiana vultures are the size of

a common turkey; they are of a dark-grey colour, with black wings and

tail; the bill is straight with a crooked point, and very strong; the

tongue is cloven, the neck without feathers, and the legs very short.

Besides carrion, these birds will often destroy and eat serpents, and

indeed every thing that comes in their way, until they are so much

gorged that they can hardly fly.

The bird called the king of the vultures is not very common in Surinam,

though sometimes the Indians bring one or two to Paramaribo for sale,

on account of its great beauty. This is larger than any turkey-cock,

with a naked head and neck, the skin of which is partly brown, yellow,

and scarlet: round its neck it has a dusky, long, feathered collar, in

which it can at pleasure withdraw, and so far hide its neck, that

nothing but part of the head is perceptible. This bird likewise feeds

on carrion, serpents, rats, toads, and even excrements.

Among the other birds of prey in the forest of Surinam, is found the

crested eagle. This is a very fierce bird, and also very strong; the

back is black, but yellowish at the base; the breast and belly white,

with black spots, as are its thighs, and even the feathers of its legs;

the rest of the body is entirely brown, and the claws perfectly yellow.

The head of this bird is flat, ornamented with four feathers, two long

and two short, which it can erect or depress at pleasure.

About this time the Hind, an English frigate, with her tender, were on

the coast, looking out for American prizes.

The 24th, being the Prince of Orange’s birth-day, the whole corps of

officers were entertained with salt beef, salt pork, barley puddings,

and hard pease, by Colonel Fourgeoud. And this day (poor Joanna being

inflexible in her resolutions) I ratified the agreement with the good

Mrs. Godefroy, in presence of her mother and other relations, whereby

the above lady bound herself “never to part with her, except to myself

alone, as long as she lived; and that upon her death, not only her full

liberty, but a spot of ground for cultivation, besides a neat house

built upon it, should be her portion for ever, to dispose of as she

pleased.” After this she returned my remaining bond of 900 florins, and

gave Joanna a purse with gold containing near twenty ducats, besides a

couple of pieces of East India chintz, advising me at the same time “to

give in a request to the court for little Johnny’s immediate

manumission; which,” she observed, “was a necessary form, whether I

should be able to obtain the bail usually required or not; and without

which formality, even if I had the bail ready to appear, nothing would

be done in the course of business.”

Having both of us thanked this most excellent woman, I went to sup with

the Governor, where being transported with joy, I gave him my request

in full form, which he coolly put in his pocket with one hand, while he

gave me a hearty squeeze with the other; and shaking his head, told me

frankly, “that he would lay it before the court; but at the same time

was perfectly convinced my boy must die a slave, unless I could find

the necessary bail, which he was at the same time well persuaded very

few people would wish to appear for.” Thus, after spending so much time

and labour, besides the expence of above a hundred guineas already

paid, I had still the inexpressible mortification to see this dear

little fellow, of whom I was both the father and the master, exposed to

perhaps eternal servitude; as for Joanna, she was now perfectly safe,

to my heartfelt satisfaction.

One consolation, however, in the midst of this disappointment, most

opportunely presented itself. The famous negro, Graman-Qwacy, formerly

mentioned, who was just returned from Holland, brought the news, that

partly by his interest a new law was there enacted, by which all slaves

were to be free six months after their landing at the Texel; which,

indeed, on application of their masters, might be extended to twelve,

but not a single day longer on any account whatsoever.—Thus being

persuaded that I should one day joyfully carry both him and his mother

over the Atlantic, my heart was greatly relieved.

Of this Graman-Qwacy I will beg leave to give a short account, before I

take farewell of the reader. Suffice it for the present to say, that

the Prince of Orange, besides paying his out and homeward passage, and

giving him several presents, sent him back to Surinam dressed in a suit

of blue and scarlet, trimmed over with broad gold lace: on his hat he

wore a white feather, and looked upon the whole not unlike one of the

Dutch generals; which goodness made this king of the negroes, however,

very proud, and even frequently very saucy.

On the 25th, the Governor of the colony gave a very sumptuous feast to

several of his friends at his indigo-plantation, which was situated but

a few miles at the back of his palace, where I had the honour to be

invited as one of the party, and had the pleasure of inspecting the

process of making indigo, a detail of which will probably be

acceptable.

In the first place, therefore, I shall present the curious with a

drawing of the indigo plant, which is a knotty shrub produced from

seed, which grows to about two feet from the ground, and comes to

perfection in the space of two months. This plant requires a very rich

soil, which besides ought to be kept perfectly clean from weeds. In the

plate, A is the colour of the sprig; B, the leaves above; C, the same

below; D, the seed inclosed in small brown pods; E, the size of the

leaf as it grows; F, a piece of indigo ready made for use. The above

sprig was designed from nature on the spot, but on a small scale: it

has something the appearance of the tamarind branch, principally in the

size of the leaf, which also grows in pairs, and is darker above than

below; but at the extremity of each shoot in this shrub, one leaf grows

single, which is not the case in the other. The young shoot in the

tamarind-trees also appears at the extremity of the branches; but in

this they spring forth, as may be seen, from the base.

The mode in which this plant is converted into indigo is as

follows:—When all the verdure is cut off, the whole crop is tied in

bunches, and put into a very large tub with water, covered over with

very heavy logs of wood by way of pressers: thus kept, it begins to

ferment; in less than eighteen hours the water seems to boil, and

becomes of a violet or garter blue colour, extracting all the grain or

colouring matter from the plant: in this situation the liquor is drawn

off into another tub, which is something less, when the remaining trash

is carefully picked up and thrown away; and the very noxious smell of

this refuse it is that occasions the peculiar unhealthiness which is

always incident to this business. Being now in the second tub, the mash

is agitated by paddles adapted for the purpose, till by a skilful

maceration all the grain separates from the water, the first sinking

like mud to the bottom, while the latter appears clear and transparent

on the surface: this water, being carefully removed till near the

coloured mass, the remaining liquor is drawn off into a third tub, to

let what indigo it may contain also settle in the bottom; after which,

the last drops of water here being also removed, the sediment or indigo

is put into proper vessels to dry, where being divested of its last

remaining moisture, and formed into small, round, and oblong square

pieces, it is become a beautiful dark blue, and fit for exportation.

The best indigo ought to be light, hard, and sparkling. In Surinam but

little of it is cultivated, for what reason I know not, since one pound

is sold for about four florins, which is about seven shillings in

sterling money.

It is said this article was first introduced by one Destrades, who

called himself a French officer, and must have brought it from the

island of St. Domingo very lately, since I myself was well acquainted

with this poor fellow, who since shot himself through the head with a

pistol at Demerary.—As the circumstances of his death were somewhat

remarkable, I cannot resist the temptation of relating them. Having

involved himself in debt, he turned to ready money his remaining

effects, and fled from Surinam: next setting up in the Spanish

contraband trade, his all was taken. Deprived of every thing, he now

applied for protection to a friend at Demerary, who humanely gave him

shelter: at this time an abscess gathering in his shoulder, every

assistance was offered, but in vain, Mr. Destrades refusing to let it

be even examined; his shoulder therefore grew worse, and even

dangerous, but he persisted in not permitting it to be uncovered; till

one day, having dressed himself in his best apparel, the family was

alarmed by the report of fire-arms, when they found him weltering in

his blood, with a pistol by his side; and then, to their surprize,

having stripped him, the mark of V. for voleur, or thief, was

discovered on the very shoulder he had attempted to conceal.—Thus ended

the life of this poor wretch, who had for years at Paramaribo supported

the character of a polite and well-bred gentleman, where he had indeed

been universally respected.

Dinner being over at the Governor’s indigo-plantation, I now departed

in his excellency’s coach to the waterside, where a tent-barge and

eight oars lay in waiting to row me down to the estate Catwyk, in the

River Comewina, whither I was invited by Mr. Goetzee, a Dutch naval

officer, who was the proprietor of this beautiful country-seat. In this

charming situation, no amusements were wanting. There were carriages,

saddle-horses, sail-boats, billiard-tables, &c. all ready for immediate

use. But what embittered the pleasure was, the inhuman disposition of

Mr. Goetzee’s lady, who flogged her negro slaves for every little

trifle. For instance, one of the foot-boys, called Jacky, not having

rinsed the glasses according to her mind, she ordered him to be whipped

the next morning; but the unfortunate youth soon put himself beyond the

reach of her resentment: for, having taken farewell of the other

negroes on the estate, he went up stairs, laid himself down upon his

master’s own bed, where, placing the muzzle of a loaded fowling-piece

in his mouth, by the help of his toe he drew the trigger, and put an

end to his existence. A couple of stout negroes were now sent up to see

what was the matter; who, finding the bed all over bespattered with

blood and brains, got orders to throw the body out of the window to the

dogs, while the master and mistress were so very much alarmed, that

they never got the better of it [44]; nor would any person consent to

lie in the same apartment, till I chose it in preference to any other,

being assuredly the most pleasant room, and the very best bed, in the

house. What added much to the alarm of the family, was the circumstance

of a favourite child lying fast asleep in the same apartment where this

shocking catastrophe happened. They were, however, relieved from their

alarms on this score, by being informed that it had not received the

smallest injury.

I had not been fourteen days on this plantation, when a female mulatto

slave, called Yettee, for having jocosely said “her mistress had some

debt as well as herself,” was stripped stark naked, and in a very

indecent as well as inhuman manner flogged by two stout negroes before

the dwelling-house door (while both her feet were locked to a heavy

iron bolt) until hardly any skin was left on her thighs or sides. Five

days after this I had the good fortune, however, to get her relieved

from the iron-bolt, which was locked across her shins: but a Mrs. Van

Eys, alledging she had affronted her also by her saucy looks, prevailed

on Mrs. Goetzee to renew the punishment the same week; when she was

actually so cruelly beaten, that I expected she could not have survived

it.

Disgusted with this barbarity, I left the estate Catwyk, determined

never more to return to it: but I still accompanying Mr. Goetzee to

visit some of his other plantations from curiosity, in Cottica and

Pirica Rivers, at one of these, called the Alia, a new-born female

infant was presented me by way of compliment, to give it a name, which

I called Charlotte. But the next morning, during breakfast, seven

negroes were here again tied up and flogged, some with a cow-skin,

which is very terrible.—Hence I made my retreat to the estate

Sgraven-Hague, and there, meeting a mulatto youth in chains, whose name

was Douglas, I with horror recollected his unhappy father, who had been

obliged to leave him a slave, and was now dead. Heartily tired of my

excursion, I was now glad to make haste back to Paramaribo; where, as

soon as I arrived, the first news I heard was that Colonel Fourgeoud’s

French valet-de-chambre, poor Monsieur Laurant, had actually been

buried before he was quite dead;—and that, for having been found drunk

in an ale-house, no less than thirteen of our men had most severely run

the gauntlet, and as many been terribly bastinadoed, the greatest

number of which no more saw Europe;—also, that a Quaderoon youth and a

Dutch sailor were found murdered on the beach.—I was now proceeding to

take a walk on the plain or esplanade, but here I was called in by Mr.

St—k—r, who conducting me three stories high: “From this window” (said

he) “a few days since, leaped one of my black boys, to escape a gentle

flogging; however, having only fainted in consequence of his fall, we

soon brought him to life again by a hearty scouring on the ribs, so he

did not escape; after which, for having risked himself, that is to say

his master’s property, and frightened my wife, she ordered him to be

sent to Fort Zelandia, where he received the interest, that is a most

confounded spanso-bocko.”

The punishment called spanso-bocko is extremely severe indeed, and is

executed in the following manner:—The prisoner’s hands being lashed

together, he is laid down on the ground on one side, with his knees

thrust between his arms, and these confined by a strong stake, which

separates them from his wrists, and is driven perpendicularly into the

ground, insomuch that he can no more stir than if he was dead. In this

locked position, trussed like a fowl, he is beaten on one side of his

breech by a strong negro, with a handful of knotty tamarind branches,

till the very flesh is cut away; he is then turned over on the other

side, where the same dreadful flagellation is inflicted, till not a bit

of skin is left, and the place of execution is dyed with blood: after

which the raw lacerated wound is immediately washed with lemon-juice

and gun-powder to prevent mortification, and then he is sent home to

recover as well as he can.

The above cruel and indecent punishment is sometimes repeated at every

street in the town of Paramaribo, to men and women indiscriminately,

which is a severity absolutely beyond conception; however, it is never

thus inflicted without a condemnation from the court. But a single

spanso-bocko, without regard to age or sex, as I have just mentioned,

may be ordered by any proprietor, either at home, or by sending the

victim to the fortress, with a note to the public executioner, to whom

some trifle in money is paid as a fee of office.

I next was addressed by a Monsieur Rochetaux, whose Coromantyn cook,

having spoiled his ragout, had just cut his own throat to prevent a

whipping; and Mr. Charles Reynsdorp’s lately did the same.

After these facts, can it be a matter of surprize, that the negro

slaves rise up in rebellion against masters who treat them with so very

much severity?

As I do not recollect that I have described in what manner these

insurgents generally attack the estates, I cannot introduce it on a

more proper occasion.

Having lain during the night lurking in the bushes that surround the

estate, they always appear a little before day-break, when unexpectedly

falling on and massacring the Europeans, they plunder the

dwelling-house, which they next set on fire, and then carry off the

negro women, whom they load with the spoil, and treat with the utmost

insolence should they make opposition [45].

And now farewell, I hope, ye wretched objects, who have not made the

least conspicuous figure in these bloody pages! for which I should be

more ready to apologize to the reader, had I not been induced to make

cruelty ashamed of itself, and humanity gain ground: that at last, in

some measure, my motive may be crowned with success, I most sincerely

wish, abhorring every act of barbarity from the very bottom of my soul.

“Why, Christians, rage thine insolence and scorn,

Why burst thy vengeance on the wretch forlorn?

The cheerless captive, to slow death consign’d,

Weigh’d down with chains, in prison glooms confin’d;

Of hope bereft, who, by thy minions curs’d,

With hunger famish’d, and consum’d with thirst,

Without one friend, when Death’s last horror stung,

Roll’d the wild eye, and gnaw’d the anguish’d tongue.”

I have already stated that on the 24th of August I gave in a hopeless

request to the Governor for my boy’s emancipation; and on the 8th of

October I saw with equal joy and surprize the following advertisement

posted up, “That if any one could give in a lawful objection why John

Stedman, a Quaderoon infant, the son of Captain Stedman, should not be

presented with the blessing of freedom, such person or persons to

appear before January 1st, 1777.”—I no sooner read it, than I ran with

the good news to my good friend, Mr. Palmer, who assured me, “that the

above was no more than a form, put in practice on the supposition of my

producing the bail required, which undoubtedly they expected, from my

having so boldly given in my request to the Governor of the

colony.”—Without being able to utter one syllable in reply, I retired

to the company of Joanna, who, with a smile, bid me “never to despair,

that Johnny certainly one day would be free;” nor did she ever fail in

giving me some consolation, whatever desperate were my expectations.

About this time we were informed, that in the Utrecht paper an

impertinent libel had appeared against the good Fourgeoud, ridiculing

him for his embassy to the Owca and Serameca negroes: which gentleman,

though he had no assistance from these allies to expect, and his troops

now melted down almost to nothing, nevertheless scorned to keep those

that could stand upon their feet inactive. Thus, having provided the

few remaining privates with new cloathes (the first they had received

since 1772); besides new sabres, bill-hooks, &c. he sent them all once

more up, accompanied only by the subalterns, to be encamped at the

mouth of the Cassipore Creek, in the upper parts of the Cottica river;

the staff officers and captains being ordered soon to follow: and on

the 7th we were treated by our commander, for the first time, with a

sirloin of good roast-beef, which, however, was sent him from

Amsterdam, prepared as I have already described. At the dessert was a

kind of fruit called in Surinam pomme de canelle, or cinnamon-apple: it

grows on a shrub in most gardens at Paramaribo, and has something the

appearance of a young artichoke, being covered with a kind of green

scales. The skin of this fruit is half an inch thick, and the pulp like

clotted cream mixed with brown sugar: it is very sweet, but not much

esteemed by many palates, being rather too luscious; the seeds, which

are black, hard, and large, are contained in the pulp or creamy

substance.

Having now prepared myself once more for actual service, and again

received a profusion of wine, spirits, and refreshments of every kind,

to carry with me to the woods, from different friends at Paramaribo; I

left my dear mulatto and her boy to the care of that excellent woman

Mrs. Godefroy, in order the following day to set out on my seventh

campaign, and help, if possible, to compleat that business we had so

long and so ardently undertaken, for the safety and welfare of this

valuable colony, and its lawful inhabitants of every denomination;

while happily my health and my spirits were at this time once more just

as vigorous and as strong, with all my limbs as perfectly sound, as the

very first day that I landed, with Colonel Fourgeoud and his regiment

of marines, in Terra Firma.

CHAP. XXVIII.

The Rebels fly for Protection to Cayenne—Third March to Gado-Saby—A

second Re-inforcement of Troops arrive from Holland—Shipwreck of

the Transport Paramaribo—March to Rio Comewina—Dismal Picture of

Distress and of Mortality—The Peace of the Colony restored.

On the 10th of November, in company with several other gentlemen, I now

once more set out in a tent barge for the encampment at the Casseepore

Creek; and this day the whole colony was full of smoke, the woods

having taken fire near the sea side by some unknown accident. On our

passage we met Colonel Texier, who came from the post Vredenburgh, at

the Marawina, with a detachment; and assured us, that since the blow we

gave to the rebels at Gado-Saby, they were mostly fled to the other

side of that great river, where they found refuge amongst the French,

who were settled in Cayenne; he had, however, taken a woman, and

lieutenant Keen took two men, and killed two more, while the two new

black volunteer companies supported the honour of their colours, which

they had received with so much ceremony from the governor, by

occasionally bringing in captives from the sea shore behind Paramaribo,

in which they were assisted by the Indians, who had voluntarily fought

and defeated the enemy there, more than once. Thus every thing promised

fair to crown our endeavours with success, and finally to re-establish

safety and tranquillity in the colony.

On our passage we stopped at the estate Saardam, the proprietor of

which (by a late marriage) was our Lieutenant Colonel Des Borgnes. I

found here an American sailor who came to load molasses, and having an

inclination to try the skill of the new planter (and his overseer) in

rum, I desired the tar to colour a couple of gallons of kill-devil made

at the very same plantation, and bring them ashore as rum brought from

Antigua. He did so, and they gave him in exchange for it a six gallon

keg of the very same spirits; declaring it was much better than their

own, and then drank the contents in punch, to my very great

entertainment. The sailor said he should colour the six gallons also,

and did not doubt of loading his boat to the water’s edge before he

reached Paramaribo.—Such, in all countries, is the force of prejudice.

Having been very well entertained at Saardam, we set forward, and

arrived safe in the encampment at the Casseepore Creek, in Cottica

River, on the 13th; where, in stepping ashore, being without shoes and

stockings, I narrowly escaped being bitten by a land-scorpion. This

insect is of the size of a small cray-fish, and has an oval body; its

colour is like that of soot, and it is jointed in moveable rings: it

has eight legs, divided by joints, and two jointed claws projecting

from the head, appearing like part of the body, with such small eyes

that they are hardly perceptible: the tail is formed by seven globular

divisions like beads, which terminate in a double sting; this it bends

over its back, to protect its young ones from the attacks of other

insects: for to the creature’s back the young resort, after being

hatched from eggs like pin-heads, in a small web spun by the female.

The sting of the land-scorpion is not accounted fatal, but occasions a

violent pain, and throws the patient into a fever: it is said they

change their skins, as crabs do their shells. The scorpions generally

frequent old trees and old furniture, and are often found amongst dry

rubbish and faded grass.

Almost the first accidents that I saw here was a poor fellow, a marine,

going to bathe in the river, who was instantly snapt away by a large

alligator. I no sooner beheld him sink and disappear, than having

stripped, I actually dived after the poor man, by the help of a long

oar, which a negro held perpendicular under water for the purpose,

constantly taking care to keep all my limbs in motion. However I found

him not, and tugging the oar as a signal to pull it up, the fellow, by

miscomprehension, pushed both it and myself down with such violence,

that we did not rise again to the surface till near the middle of the

stream, which carried down the oar, while I regained the shore by

swimming and very great exertion.

On the 20th, being now once more ordered to march on discovery to

Gado-Saby, I set out at six o’clock in the morning, with two subaltern

officers, three serjeants, seven corporals, and fifty privates, besides

a surgeon, and the noted free negro Gousary (whom we lost for three or

four hours) and encamped near the banks of the same creek, not having

been able to advance above six miles due west from its mouth.

On the 21st we marched north for about seven or eight miles, without

meeting with one drop of water to alleviate our burning thirst, it

being at this time in the very heart of the dry season, which this year

was more scorching than I ever remembered it before.

Having now changed my course to the north-east, and passed the

quagmire, about noon the following day we marched dry through the late

fatal marsh, and an hour after we kept due west; when, falling in with

a large field of yams, we demolished it; then proceeding forward, I

encamped in the old settlement Cofaay, almost choked for want of water,

not having met with any thing like it from the moment we sat out. Here,

however, the negro slaves found means to procure us some, which, though

stagnant and stinking like a kennel, we drank, straining it through our

shirt-sleeves.

During this march, I nevertheless took notice of the following trees,

not yet described, viz. the canavatepy, and the berklack, which are

extremely fit for domestic use. The first is beautifully striped, black

and brown, and has much the appearance of that usually called brazil,

while it diffuses a smell in working not inferior to that of a

carnation. The second is a pale red or pink colour, and is equally good

for almost every purpose. I was this day also presented with a singular

kind of fruit, called here the marmalade box, being about the size of a

large apple, rather oval, and all covered over with down. This fruit in

the beginning is green, and when ripe it turns to a brown colour: the

husk is hard, and by a certain motion opens in halves like a walnut,

when the pulp appears like that of a medlar, being a sweet brown

substance, and adhering to large kernels, which the inhabitants suck

off with avidity; and from this it derives the above name. As I took no

particular notice of the tree, I am sorry not to have it in my power to

give any account of it whatsoever.

The 23d I marched east from Cofaay, with a view of obtaining some fresh

accounts of the rebels; and proceeded by a path of communication

through cultivated fields, but fell in with nothing, some delightful

views, and a large herd of warree hogs, excepted, which from the

gnashing of their teeth and their stamping the ground before we saw

them, we had actually mistaken for a straggling party of the enemy, and

had consequently fresh-primed, and prepared to engage them.

About noon we returned to Gado-Saby, where, sitting down to rest from

our fatigue, a tall old rebel negro appeared suddenly in the very midst

of us, with a long white beard, a white cotton sheet tied about his

shoulders, and a broken cutlass in his hand. Seeing this venerable

apparition, I instantly started up, and forbidding my people to fire at

him, I civilly desired him to approach me, pledging myself that no

person under my command should dare to hurt him; but that he should

have every thing for his relief that I could afford.—He answered, “No,

no, massera!” with the utmost deliberation, and shaking his head in an

instant disappeared; while two of my men (contrary to my orders) fired

after him, at the distance of perhaps six paces only, yet both missed

their object, to my great satisfaction, he being a poor forsaken

creature, that had been left behind the rest, gleaning a precarious

subsistence from his own deserted fields which we had formerly

destroyed. What renders the negroes so difficult to hit with a ball is

this, that they never run straight forward, but zig-zag, like the

forked lightning in the elements.

I now, to fulfil my orders, once more ransacked Cofaay, with its

adjoining plains, though with a sore heart, on account of the poor

lonely old rebel. Here, having cut down several cotton and

plantain-trees, okero or althea, pigeon-pease, maize, pine-apples, and

some rice, most of which had spontaneously sprung up again since our

last devastation, I could not help leaving, before a little shed, where

was some fresh ashes and banana shells, a few rusk biscuits and a good

piece of salt beef, as also a bottle of new rum, for the unfortunate

solitary old man, this being his retreat; after which we once more

encamped in the fields of Cofaay.

Having so frequently mentioned rice, it may be expected that I should

say something concerning its growth and cultivation. It rises to the

height of four feet, with furrowed stalks, and in appearance is not

unlike wheat, but the stalks are knotted by intervals, and stronger;

the leaves are like those of reeds: the seeds are produced somewhat

like barley, and grow on each side of the spikes or ears alternately.

The oryza or rice is cultivated in a warm and marshy soil; the grains

are oval, and if good ought to be white, hard, and transparent. As for

the use of this commodity for food, it is so well known, that I shall

only say, that without this grain our poor marines must long ago have

all been starved, particularly in August 1775; when, for all allowance,

they got per day one rusk biscuit, and three spikes of maize or Indian

corn, for five men; rice alone supplying, as I have intimated, the rest

of the allowance.

Having now fully compleated my commission, I, with my detachment,

marched back for the Casseepore Creek, directing my course through the

ruined fields of Gado-Saby, which were at present choked up to a

perfect wilderness. Hence we kept first to the south-west, and then due

south, after which we slung our hammocks near a former encampment. It

is to be observed, that at this time all the marshes were nearly dry,

on account of the hottest season I ever remember; while the fœtid smell

occasioned by the quantities of dead warrapa fish, that had been

deserted by the water, was an intolerable nuisance. From amongst these

putrid fishes, our negro slaves nevertheless selected the most

tolerable, which, fried in the evening, served them for a delicate

morsel.

The morning following we again marched south-west by west, when we

slung our hammocks not above four miles from the Cassepore Creek; and

on the 26th (keeping south-south-west) we arrived in the grand camp,

much fatigued and emaciated, myself with a swelled face or erysipelas;

when I gave in my journal to Lieutenant-Colonel de Borgnes, who

commanded [46]: and I believe, upon my honour, that had we been ordered

to remain twenty years on this expedition, with a possibility of saving

our lives, the different diseases, plagues, and torments, would still

have accumulated and varied without end.

A detachment of fifty men was next sent out to reconnoitre at

Jerusalem, &c.; and on the 6th of December the long-expected relief,

consisting of three hundred and fifty men, arrived in the river Surinam

from Holland, after a voyage of nine weeks and three days, of which

they spent a fortnight at Plymouth.

By these the unfortunate account was brought, that Captain Jochem Meyer

(who had on board a considerable sum of money for our troops) was taken

by the Moors, and carried with his crew to Morocco, where they were

condemned to be slaves to the emperor [47]; and that the ship

Paramaribo, Captain Spruyt (being one of the vessels that carried over

the sick in the beginning of August) was wrecked and entirely lost in

the channel, on the rocks of Ushant; but that, by the exertions of some

French fishing-boats, the crew and troops had all been saved, and

carried into Brest, whence they had taken a fresh passage for the

Texel; after which the Prince of Orange (who was ever distinguished for

benevolence, and doing good and humane actions) ordered the officers

and private men, above one hundred in number, to receive the following

sums, by way of defraying their loss, viz. each marine received about

four, the subalterns thirty, the captains forty, and Major Medlar, who

commanded, fifty pounds sterling. However, by this shipwreck, I lost

all my three chests of sweetmeats and pickles, besides parrots,

butterflies, monkies, &c. intended as presents to my friends in Europe,

which indiscriminately went to the bottom, to my no small

mortification.

Having now for above a month been lodged in a paltry hut, beaten by the

wind and showers of rain (which began to set in unexpectedly); and

being informed, that notwithstanding the arrival of the relief, we were

still to stay some time longer in the woods, which broke many hearts;

I, on the 12th of December, earnestly set about building for myself a

comfortable house, and which was finished, without either nail or

hammer, in less than six days, though it had two rooms, a piazza with

rails, and a small kitchen, besides a garden, in which I sowed, in

pepper-cresses, the names of Joanna and John; while my next-door

neighbour, who was my friend Captain Bolts, made shift to keep a goat,

and thus we lived not altogether uncomfortably. Others kept hens and

ducks, but not a cock was to be seen in the camp; for these, having

first had all their tongues cut out to prevent their crowing (though to

no purpose) had been since condemned to lose their heads. In short, our

gentlemen built a row of very curious houses indeed, all projecting

from the beech; while, on the opposite side, above a hundred green huts

being constructed to receive the new-come troops, the whole together

formed no contemptible street, though it must be confessed its

inhabitants were little better than scare-crows.

What was most remarkable in my own habitation, however, was its entry,

which was not by the door, nor yet by the window, but only by the roof,

where I crept in and out, allowing absolutely no other admittance; and

by this contrivance alone I was effectually guarded from those frequent

visitors who smelt my pancakes, and used to make too free with my eggs

and bacon, besides interrupting me while I was drawing, writing, or

reading. Upon the whole, I must acknowledge, that this encampment was

agreeable enough (more so as being on elevated ground), had it not been

for the pestilential damps and mephitic vapours that exhale constantly

from the earth, and had already sent numbers to the other world.

During this short space of tranquillity I constructed in miniature my

cottage in which I lived at the Hope, on an oblong board of about

eighteen inches by twelve, which being entirely made of the

manicole-tree and branches, like the original, was esteemed a

master-piece; and this I sent as a present to my friend Mr. de Graaff

at Paramaribo, who since placed it in a cabinet of natural curiosities

at Amsterdam. As I am upon this subject, I am tempted to present the

reader with a view of two of my habitations, the one that at the Hope,

where I spent such happy days; and the other temporary, such as in the

woods we constructed to be sheltered from the weather:—the first may be

considered as the emblem of domestic felicity; the second of rustick

hardship and fatigue.

The troops of the Society of Surinam, who had been encamped at the Wana

Creek (the rainy season prematurely setting in) now wisely broke up,

and on the 26th passing by us, rowed down the river Cottica on their

way to the plantations in the Pirica Creek; but as for us, we were as

usual condemned to linger in the Cassipore camp, while Fourgeoud still

kept snug at Paramaribo. With the above officers we received

intelligence that a few more rebels had been taken at the Marawina;

while we ourselves daily continued to send out patroles to the right

and left, but met with nothing to capture.

At last, on the 29th, six barges came to an anchor before our

encampment, with part of the fresh troops that were arrived from

Holland for our relief; which I could not help viewing with compassion,

and not without a cause, many of them being already attacked with the

scurvy, and other loathsome diseases. We however sent for bricks, and

built an oven to bake fresh bread, &c. and did all that was in our

power to comfort them: having received also a supply of wine for my own

use, I gave a hearty welcome to all the officers, to cheer their

spirits; but this ill-fated liquor had an effect far different from

what I intended on one of our captains, P——t by name, who, from some

misunderstanding, challenged me to fight him instantly. Having retired

to some distance from the camp, and drawing our sabres, he burst out

into an immoderate fit of laughter, and throwing away his weapon,

desired me “to cut away; but that for his part he had such a real

regard for me, that he felt it was impossible for him to make any

resistance:” after which, catching me in both his arms, he gave me so

hearty an embrace, that he had nearly stifled me, and I could not

without the greatest difficulty get disentangled. Being recovered from

my surprize, I could not help smiling in my turn; and after a friendly

reprimand re-conducted my valiant opponent to the company, where we

closed the year with the greatest mirth and conviviality.

A confounded tumble through my hammock having ushered in the morning of

1777, we went to the commanding officer of the camp, to pay him the

compliments of the season; where I was shown the philander, or Mexican

oppossum, here called awaree, which had been just taken alive, and with

all its young.

I have already mentioned the murine oppossum; thus shall now only

describe such peculiarities as I was able to remark, and which were

indeed but few in number, the animal being in the bottom of an empty

hogshead when I saw it, its biting preventing me to take it in my

hand.—In the first place, it was much larger than the former, this

being the size of an over-grown Norway rat: the colour was a yellowish

grey all over, and the belly and limbs a dirty white; the muzzle was

more blunt than that of the murine oppossum, with long whiskers; its

eyes not black but transparent, with a black ring round the iris; the

tail extremely long, thick, and hairy, particularly near the root, and

its smell was very offensive. This oppossum had a pouch under its

belly, formed by the folding of the skin, which is hairy within as well

as without; from this pouch I saw the young ones (five or six in

number) several times run out, when the mother was not disturbed, and

as often run into it upon the smallest noise, or shaking the

hogshead.—As I pitied the poor creature, after its having been so long

tormented, I suddenly kicked up the hogshead, when the oppossum with

all its young escaped, and ran swiftly up a very high tree before

Colonel Seyburg’s cottage, and there it hung by the tail to one of the

branches; but as it is a dreadful destroyer of poultry, and the Colonel

apprehended that it would kill every one of his fowls, he ordered it,

to my sorrow, to be shot down, with all its young ones.—The Virginian

oppossum I never saw; and my only further remark on this shall be, that

its activity very much surprized me, as many writers have denied it

this quality. For further particulars, I refer the reader to the murine

or mouse oppossum above-mentioned, as in most circumstances these two

animals perfectly agree.

Among the destroyers of poultry, there is another animal in this

country, known by the name of quacy-quacy: some call it the racoon, but

which properly is the coatimondi, or Brasilian weasel; though many

people, with some degree of propriety, compare it to a fox, as it is

often able to carry away a goose or a turkey, and is also extremely

cunning. This creature is sometimes near two feet long, the body shaped

like that of a dog, and commonly black, or rather dark brown, though

many are of a bright bay colour: the tail is long, hairy, and annulated

with black, and a deep buff; the breast and belly are a dirty white;

the head is a light brown, with long jaws, and a black snout that

projects upwards for near two inches, and is moveable like that of the

tapira; the eyes are small, the ears are short and rounded, while on

each side a curved stripe connects them and the muzzle; the legs of the

coati are short, especially the foremost; the feet are very long, with

five toes on each, and long claws, while the animal, like the bear,

always walks on the heel, and stands on those behind. No quadrupeds

(the monkies not excepted) are better climbers on the trees, where

these creatures commit dreadful ravages amongst birds-nests, every

small animal which they can conquer becoming their prey. In the

poultry-yards in particular they commit great devastations, on which

account every contrivance that can be invented is put in practice to

destroy them.

As I am upon the subject of animals, before I leave the woods I must

describe another creature, which inhabits them, and which (though more

than twice the size of the last) lives chiefly on ants; this is the

great ant-eater, or ant-bear, called also the tamanoir, and by the

Spaniards the osa palmera. The body of this animal is covered over with

very long shaggy hair; on the back and belly it is black, and on the

neck and sides a grey or yellowish white; the head is extremely long

and slender, of a light bay colour, with very small eyes; the ears are

short and round, and the mouth (which has no teeth) just large enough

to admit its tongue; the tail is of an enormous size, with very long

black hair, something like that of a horse: with this extraordinary

tail, when asleep (which is generally in the day time, or during a hard

shower of rain) the animal covers itself like a squirrel; at other

times he trails it along, and sweeps the ground. The limbs are slender,

but covered with long hair; the hindmost legs being shortest and black,

with five claws; those before are of a dirty white, with but four

claws, the two middle claws being of an extraordinary length.

The great ant-eater is a very bad walker, resting always on the heel of

his awkward long feet, like the coati and bear; but he is a better

climber, and so good a fighter, that no dog will hunt him, since

whatever animal he catches between his fore claws (nay even the jaguar

or tiger) he will not release while he has life. His food, as I have

said, consists of ants, which he takes in the following manner:—when he

comes to an ant-hillock, he unfolds his slender tongue, which is about

twenty inches long, most exactly resembling a worm; this being covered

over with a clammy matter or saliva, the ants get upon it in great

numbers, and by drawing it into his mouth, he swallows thousands all

alive, and renews the operation, till no more are to be found, when he

marches in quest of another mountain, and in the same manner destroys

the unwary inhabitants. He also climbs in quest of wood-lice and wild

honey; but should he meet with little success in his devastations, he

is able to fast a considerable time without the smallest inconvenience.

It is said that the great ant-bear is tameable, and that then he will

pick crumbs of bread, and small pieces of flesh; also that when killed,

he affords good food to the Indians and negroes, the last of which I

have seen devour his flesh with pleasure. Some ant-bears measure, from

the snout to the tip of the tail, no less than eight feet.—See the two

last-described animals in the plate annexed.

A small species of ant-bear, called the tamandua, is also found in

Surinam, though not very common. This differs from the former in having

twenty toes, the head being thicker in proportion, and the tail

smaller, which is variegated with bands of black and yellowish white.—A

lesser species still is called the fourmillier, which, however, never

came within my observation.—But to proceed.

On the 3d, six more barges with troops came up from Paramaribo, which

compleated the number of three hundred and fifty men arrived from

Holland. Amongst these, being informed there was a Captain Charles

Small, come from the Scots Brigade, this gentleman having exchanged

with poor Ensign Macdonald (who was sent over sick) I instantly sculled

down the river alone in a canoe to meet him, and offer him my

assistance. I had no sooner got on board his barge, than I found him

suspended in a hammock with a burning fever. He, not knowing me on

account of my dress, which was no better than that of the most ragged

sailor, asked me what I wanted; but when he saw in me his poor friend

Stedman, changed from a stout sprightly young fellow, to a miserable

debilitated tatterdemallion, he grasped me by the hand, without

uttering a word, and burst into tears: which agitation, while it

increased his illness, shewed the goodness of his heart to me, more

than any thing he could have uttered on the subject.—“D—n your

blubbering, Charles!” said I; “turn out of this stinking cockle-shell:

I’ll presently cure thee;”—and getting him hoisted into my canoe, I

brought him on shore to my own habitation, but with the greatest

difficulty, being obliged to thrust him through a crevice made on

purpose, as the hole in the roof was not calculated even for any

healthy person’s admittance, myself excepted. Having here slung his

hammock near to my own, and boiled some water, I treated him with warm

grog and a toasted biscuit, and he became much better from that very

moment. He now acquainted me that one of his men was drowned on the

passage; and that Colonel Fourgeoud having entertained the officers

with a ball after their landing, at which one of his cooks, and a

couple of meagre marines, had been the fidlers, he concluded his

illness to be the consequence of too much dancing. A little after this,

Colonel Fourgeoud himself appearing in person in the camp amongst us,

he soon, however, entertained us with musick of a different kind; which

was no less than the discouraging news, that by the newly-arrived corps

of officers several of us had lost our rank (both in the regiment and

in the army) after parching above four years in a burning sun, toiling

ourselves almost to death, and subsisting upon stinking meat and black

rusk. To add to this grievance, while the above gentlemen usurped our

preferment, we were, instead of being relieved, ordered to continue in

the woods, in order to teach them their duty.

During the above unpleasing probation, the major’s duty again fell to

my share; which was at this time extremely disagreeable, being obliged

daily to chastise the men, many of whom pilfered the magazine to

alleviate hunger, having been without the article of bread for seven

days, the oven being dropped to pieces. Amongst others, one poor fellow

was nearly flogged to death for having borrowed one of the colonel’s

Bologna sausages; for, let it be remembered, that our commander in

chief, whatever might be the distress and hardships of the rest, never

forgot to support his own dignity, by at least half a dozen of stout

negroes loaded with bacon hams, Bologna sausages, bullocks tongues,

tea, coffee, sugar, Madeira wine, Holland’s gin, &c.—

Courage may prompt, but, ebbing out his strength,

Mere unsupported man must yield at length:

Shrunk with dry famine, and with toils declin’d,

The drooping body will desert the mind;

But built anew with health-conferring fare,

With limbs and soul untam’d, he tires a war.

At length, on the 8th, a barge arrived, not only with a supply of salt

beef and rusk, but a bullock and two hogs, as a present from Mr.

Felman, who, accompanied by his lady, &c. came actually on a visit to

Fourgeoud, in this very strange encampment. The above animals being

immediately killed, they were distributed among four hundred people; so

that it may well be conceived the shares, though sweet, were not very

large, after which the company walked about to view our different

habitations. Being arrived at my dwelling, Fourgeoud led them round and

round, but seeing no door to get in, he called out, “Nobody at home?”

When I instantly thrust my head through the thatch, with a pancake in

my hand, and offered to haul in the ladies; but this they civilly

declined. I never saw Fourgeoud laugh so much in my life. As soon,

however, as he was able to recover his gravity, he exclaimed, “Sacre

Dieu! Il faut être Stedman,—il faut être original comme lui;” and

re-conducted the company to his own apartment, where he gave me an

invitation to follow them. Indeed, when Captain Small and I went out,

we generally spent our time in a beautiful savannah, where we had

erected a green shed, to be free in conversation, and called it

Ranelagh; here we caroused and cracked a bottle in private, till we

could crack no longer, having lived so well that in a little time more

than a week my cheese and bacon hams quite disappeared, and not a drop

of wine or rum was left in the flasks.—After this he, as well as I,

were obliged to live on short allowance; while Small had the

satisfaction, however, to see his ship-mates do the same: who, not

being acquainted with the œconomy necessary in a forest, had made all

their flour into plum-pudding, and were already obliged to break their

teeth on a piece of rye rusk.

In short, so early as the 12th, one hundred and fifty of these

newly-arrived people were already ordered to march; when, by the way of

seasoning them, besides heavy accoutrements and a hammock, they had

orders each man to carry a stuffed knapsack on his back. Of this party,

my friend Small happened to be one, who being as corpulent as Sir John

Falstaff, and I having accoutred him in the above manner, the poor

fellow could hardly walk at all; till declaring to Fourgeoud that I

must roll him along like a hogshead, he got leave to be disengaged from

a part of his unweildy encumbrances.

Every thing being ready, this loaded detachment now faced to the right,

and set out, with Colonel Fourgeoud at their head, for the river

Marawina: and while I must here acknowledge that this chief was now

become to myself as civil as I could expect or desire, yet justice

compels me to add, that to all others he remained just as inflexible a

tyrant as ever I had known him; which character he unhappily seemed to

think incompatible with his rank.

During their absence, I crossed the water, and cut down a cabbage-tree

on the other side of the river Cottica, not only for the cabbage, but

for the sake of the groe-groe worms, with which I knew it would swarm

in about a fortnight.

Straying here through the woods with my black boy Quaco, I met with the

following trees, still left for description, viz. the cedar, the

brown-heart, and the bullet-tree. The first, though it bears that name,

is different from the cedars of Lebanon, which grow in a pyramidical

form. The Surinam cedar, however, grows also to a great height, but is

principally esteemed because the wood is never eaten by the worms or

other insects, on account of its great bitterness; it has also a most

agreeable smell, and is therefore used in preference to most others for

making chests, cupboards, lockers, and all sorts of joinery; besides

which, it is employed in making the tent-barges and other boats. The

colour of the timber is a pale orange: it is both hard and light, and

from the trunk exudes a gum (not unlike the gum Arabic) which is

transparent, and diffuses a most agreeable flavour.

The brown-heart is in hardness of the same consistency as the

purple-heart, and the green-heart already mentioned, and is shaped into

heavy timber for the same purposes, such as constructing sugar-mills,

&c.: the colour of this wood is a beautiful brown.—The other is the

bullet-tree; this tree grows sometimes to sixty feet, but is not so

thick in proportion as many others: the bark is grey and smooth, the

timber brown, variegated or powdered with white specks. No wood in the

forest is equal to this in weight, being heavier than sea-water, and so

very durable, that when exposed to the open air neither rain or sun

have any effect on it; for this reason, besides its other various uses,

it is split into shingles to roof the houses, instead of slates or

tiles, which, as I formerly mentioned, would be too heavy and too hot.

These shingles are sold for £. 4 sterling a thousand at Paramaribo, and

continue sometimes twenty-four years before they are renewed.

I ought to mention also a kind of mahogany, which is found in the woods

of Guiana, called the ducolla-bolla, and which is of a superior quality

to any which is imported here, being of a deeper red colour, and of a

finer, more equal, and compact grain; also of greater hardness and

weight, and thus capable of receiving a more elegant polish.

About this period the whole camp was infested with a kind of wood-lice,

so called in Surinam, but with more propriety they might be termed

white ants, resembling them almost in every particular, except that the

ants dwell in the ground, and these build their nests on the trunks of

trees: these nests, being black, round, and irregular, are not unlike

the woolly head of a negro, but sometimes as large as the half of a

hogshead, and composed of a rust-coloured incrustated earth, which is

extremely hard, and impenetrable to the weather. In this mass, which

internally consists of innumerable cross roads, each the size of a

goose-quill, they live together in myriads, whence they sally forth,

and commit their depredations, unequalled by any other infest in

Guiana, piercing through the hardest wood, leather, linen, or whatever

comes in their way. They also frequently get into the houses by an

incrusted covered road made against the wall, resembling the half of a

sliding pencil, which is with its windings sometimes several hundred

feet long: if this is not destroyed upon its first appearance (which

must be done by arsenick or the oil of turpentine) as they crumble

every thing to dust, whole dwellings will be entirely demolished, and

come down to the ground in rubbish. These insects (notwithstanding

their fetid abominable smell) are reckoned a very good food for

poultry, who are said to thrive on them even better than on Indian

corn. I ought not to forget their extreme industry in repairing their

habitation when injured, and their wonderful power of propagation,

which (let ever such numbers be destroyed) brings them in a very short

time to their former unaccountable multiplicity.