Produced by Paul Flo Williams
ANTIGUA
AND THE ANTIGUANS:
A FULL ACCOUNT OF
THE COLONY AND ITS INHABITANTS
FROM THE TIME OF THE CARIBS
TO THE PRESENT DAY,
Interspersed with Anecdotes and Legends.
ALSO,
AN IMPARTIAL VIEW OF SLAVERY AND THE
FREE LABOUR SYSTEMS;
THE STATISTICS OF THE ISLAND,
AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE PRINCIPAL FAMILIES.
"Sworn to no party, of no sect am I."--Pope.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON
SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET.
1844.
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Caribs: Domestic state--Treatment of their women--Children--
Their early tuition--Superstitious cruelties--Hatred of the
Arrowawks--Female children--Occupation of the men--Canoes--Bows
and arrows--Cottages--Cooking utensils--Native cloth--Food--
Fishing--Decoy fish--Spirituous liquors--Personal appearance--
Amusements--The Carib house--Extermination of the Caribs from
Antigua--Remarks upon their history
CHAPTER XXX.
Negroes: Their introduction into the New World--Bartholomew Las
Casas--His intercessions in favour of the Indians--Cardinal
Ximenes--Origin of the slave trade--Its adoption by the English
government--Character of slavery--Mental degeneracy--Instances
of superior faculties among the Negro race--Juan Parega--
Phillis Wheatley--Ignatius Sancho--His letter to the Rev. L.
Sterne--Slavery in its early days--Punishment of the negroes in
1736
CHAPTER XXXI.
Negroes: Palliations, _but not excuses_, for former cruelties--
A harsh planter--Crimes of slaves--The little negroes'
dinner-hour--A character--Negroes' want of thought--Bartering
their weekly provisions--Pilfering--The Rock Dungeon--A
Tortolian slave-master--The murdered slave--Branding--Slave
cargo--Remarks upon slavery--A good slave-master--A kind
attorney--Negro gratitude
CHAPTER XXXII.
Negroes: The assertion that negroes are careless of all
domestic ties confuted by anecdotes--"Shadows" of negro
character--Excuses for them--Conversion to Christianity--Belief
of the Africans that after death they shall return to Africa--
Instance of it--Africans and Creoles--Superstitions--Obeah
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Negroes: Superstition--Trials by ordeal--Flower-fence--Bible
and key--A way to recover stolen property--Charm to prevent a
scolding tongue--Jumbies--A night's adventure--The soldier's
last jump--Jumbies calls--Betsey, the nurse--The haunted house
--A cure--The drowning boys--The murdered woman--The jumby's
revenge
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Seeming paradoxes explained--Negro suspicion--Instances of it--
Stealing--Its various characters--Leasing--The dead canaries--
Broken promises--Idleness--Negro wages--Their present lot--
Domestics
CHAPTER XXXV.
Negroes: "Shadows" continued--The crime of murder--Instances of
it--Hon. Sam. Martin--Giles Blizard--Adam Ogilvie
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Negroes: The crime of poisoning--Instance of it--Murder of Mr.
Brown--Love and jealousy--The end of unlawful love--Infanticide
--Incendiarism--A late instance of it--Polygamy--Disregard of
marriage vows
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Negroes: A little change for the better--"Shadows nursed by
night retire"--Respect to age--Filial affection--Generosity--
Their kindness to the poorer class of whites--Cleanliness--the
opposite vice--Behaviour at church--A black exhorter--Reading
and writing--An anecdote
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Negroes: Their amusements--Natural ear for music--Singing--
Dancing--Subscription routs--Christmas balls--The ball-room
decorations--Ball dresses--Gentlemen's appearance--Ladies'--
Politeness--Supper, and the supper-table--The morning after a
ball--Cards of invitation--The "good night."
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Negroes: Fondness for "Nancy stories"--Negro loquacity--Their
signification of the word "cursing"--Markets--Confusion of
tongues--Weddings--The drive to church--Wedding banquet--
Blushing brides--Funerals--"Wake nights"--Funeral procession--
Christening--High-sounding names
CHAPTER XL.
Negroes: Further sentences upon "dress"--Sunday transformations
--The black cook and his metamorphosis--Christmas waits--Negro
houses--The mode of building upon estates--Town negro houses--
Architecture--The mode of moving houses
CHAPTER XLI.
Negroes: Occupations--Agricultural labourers--Black sailors--
Their excessive gormandizing--The hungry captain's
disappointment--Black cooks--"Melted butter"--A receipt for a
cookery book--The obtrusive fish--Grooms and "house boys"--An
old planter's opinion--Concluding remarks
CHAPTER XLII.
Negroes: Employment of the women--Washing--A scene at the pond
--Conversations--The sea-side--"Water frolic"--Hucksters--
"Damaged flour"--Female porters--Masculine appearance of some
of the females--Indelicacy--Their mode of carrying burdens
CHAPTER XLIII.
Negroes: Exterior appearance--Difference of expression--White
negroes (Albinos)--Description of one--Black and white negroes
--Negroes' "bulls and blunders"--Exchange is no robbery, or the
lost specimens--Negro politeness--Negro tongue--Inebriation--
Concluding remarks
CHAPTER XLIV.
Remarks upon free system--State of affairs before emancipation
--Trials and casualties--Improved price of land--Sugar estate
during slavery--Benefits of emancipation in the moral state of
the colony--Benefits arising to the planter--Pretended illness
among the negroes--Propositions in their favour--Decrease of
crime--Hopes indulged--"The first of August."
CHAPTER XLV.
A chapter on colour--Gradual removes from the negroes--Middle
classes--Personal appearance--Devotions at their mirrors--Style
of dress--Chapel belles--Passion for dress--Home and home
scenes--The young men--Extreme officiousness--Higher classes of
colour--Coloured Hebes--The chapel tea-party--Gastronomy and
speeches--Wesleyan bazaar, and lunch-table--Gastronomic relics
CHAPTER XLVI.
Prejudice--Its former and present character--An act of
resentment--The "Prejudice Bell"--Exclusion of persons of
colour from offices of trust and polished society--The dawn of
better days--The assertions of some authors contradicted--
Domestic character of the coloured gentry--Hospitality--A day
at a coloured gentleman's country-house--Dwellings--Marriages--
Great suppression of illicit connexions within these last few
years--Funerals--A scene of riot in former days--Provincialisms
CHAPTER XLVII.
Grades among the _pure in blood_--Aristocrats--The tribe
_fungi_--An overseer's duty--Managers and attorneys--Pickings
and gleanings--Managers' wives and managing ladies--
Aristocratic shops--"My daughters"--Education--"Field days" of
the militia--The Antiguan aide-de-camp
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The pure in blood--Aristocrats of the higher order--Law,
physic, and divinity--Merchants and planters--Proprietors'
dwellings--A day at a country-seat--Gastronomy--Beef--"Mary
Swift"--Mutton--Pork--Turtle and City aldermen--Christmas
CHAPTER XLIX.
The pure in blood--Places of amusement--The theatre--"Romeo
Coates"--Jugglers and rope-dancers--Maroon parties--Shooting
season--The Creole beauties--Dress--"The lords of the creation"
--Fops and foppery--Business hours--Scene at the Antigua
post-office--Auction sales--Militia doings--The gallant dragoon
--Guard-nights
CHAPTER L.
Zoology--Rabbits--Rats--Horned cattle--Horses--Mules--Asses--
Sheep--Goats--Domestic animals--Whales--Thrasher--Grampus--
Porpoise--Shark--Anecdote of the Young Creole--Death of the
sailor-boy--Remora--Pilot fish--Dolphins--Jew fish--Stingray--
Corramou--Beautiful colours displayed in fish--Parrot fish
CHAPTER LI.
Zoology: Orb-fish--Echinus, known to the ancients--Hippocampus
--Trumpet-fish--Toad-fish--Sea-blubber, and galley-fish--
Sea-polypus--Cat-fish--Crabs, oysters, &c.--Turtle--Land-crab--
Soldier-crab--Lizards--Guana--Wood-slave--Scorpions--Centipede
--Snakes--Tarantula--Cockroach--Caterpillars and butterflies--
Ants--Bats--Aquatic birds--Land birds--Humming bird--Anecdote
CHAPTER LII.
Botany
CHAPTER LIII.
Government--Governor-in-Chief--Council--Assembly--Government
officers--Judicial officers--Ecclesiastical establishments--
Schools--Fortifications and military defences--Revenue--Exports
and imports--Population returns
Supplemental Chapter
APPENDIX.
No. 1.--Copy of the First Commission which was ever granted for
the Government of Barbados and the Leeward Islands
No. 2.--Genealogy Of the Warner Family
No. 3.--Memorial of the Winthorpe Family
No. 4.--Genealogy of the Byam Family
No. 5.--Copy of the Grant of Land to Col. Philip Warner, after
the Restoration of Antigua to the English Crown, in 1667
---- Copy of the Grant of Land to Col. Philip Warner, restored
to him after his acquittal upon the charge of murdering his
half-brother, the Indian Warner, in 1676
No. 6.--A Remonstrance of the inhabitants of the island of
Antigua why they soe very earnestly craved authority and
commission from his Excellency, William Stapleton, Captain
General and Governor in chief in and over all his Majesties
Leward Cariba Islands in America. To kill and destroy the
Indians inhabiting in ye Island of Dominica and likewise for ye
craveing ayde from the neighbouring Islands under his
Excellency's command which was promised us
No. 7.--Genealogy of the Williams Family
Nos. 8. and 9.--Genealogy of the Codrington Family
No. 10.--Genealogy of the Mathew Family
No. 11.--List of the Members of the House of Assembly at the
time of the death of Governor Parke, copied from the Original
Returns
No. 12.--Last Will and Testament of Governor Parke
No. 13.--Account of the Mackinnon Family
No. 14.--Papers relative to the Negro Insurrection of 1736
No. 15.--Genealogy of the Thomas Family
No. 16.--Genealogy of the Carlisles and Lavingtons
No. 17.--Genealogy of Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy
No. 18.--Genealogy of the Willoughby Family
No. 19.--Genealogy of the Martin Family, of Green Castle
No. 20.--Genealogy of the Freeman Family
ANTIGUA AND THE ANTIGUANS,
ETC.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Caribs: Domestic state--Treatment of their women--Children--
Their early tuition--Superstitious cruelties--Hatred of the
Arrowawks--Female children--Occupation of the men--Canoes--Bows
and arrows--Cottages--Cooking utensils--Native cloth--Food--
Fishing--Decoy fish--Spirituous liquors--Personal appearance--
Amusements--The Carib house--Extermination of the Caribs from
Antigua--Remarks upon their history.
From a view of the religion of the Caribs, which we have
endeavoured to give some account of in the last chapter, we will
proceed to notice their domestic ties. Alas! we have a very sad
picture here. The ineffable sympathies of the soul, the pure
friendship, the chaste pleasures of the connubial state, were
never known, or at least never appreciated by them. Proud of
excelling in strength and courage, the chief marks of priority
among this rude and savage people, the Caribs treated their women
in every respect as beings of a far inferior nature--to despise
and degrade them by every possible means was esteemed as a manly
virtue. Although given as a reward to successful combatants,
their wives were looked upon as no better than captives; every
species of drudgery fell to their share; while their husbands
passed the day in sleep, unless engaged in war, or in absolute
want of a new weapon. When the men engaged in fishing, the women
were obliged to attend to carry the tackle and bring home the
fruits of their sport; but after cooking it, they were not
allowed to partake of it with their husbands, or even to eat in
their presence. In the island of Cuba at this day this custom is
still extant, for a late traveller remarks, "In some of the first
houses the men sit down to dinner while their wives wait behind
their chairs." But to return to the Carib women. All their
services were received without gratitude or even complacency--no
cheering word or kind look (and how women appreciate those little
endearments none but a woman can tell) mitigated their incessant
toil or lightened their heavy burdens. They were not allowed to
approach their husbands but with the most abject homage, to look
up to them as exalted beings, to obey their every wish, and that
without uttering a word of complaint or giving a single look of
discontent--all this was expected of the Carib woman. Wearily
must their days have passed, without a hope in this world, and
scarcely one in the other--trouble and sorrow must indeed have
been their lot!
Having considered the Carib's appreciation of the nearest and
dearest tie in this world, we will proceed to take a view of his
behaviour to his offspring. Perhaps there is not a stronger
passion implanted by nature in the breast than that of parental
love; even in the brute creation, there is a wonderful degree of
instinct in the care of their young. The most stupid and
sluggish, the most fearful and timid animals, become active and
desperate in defence of their infant progeny, and will suffer any
cruelty rather than permit their precious charge to be hurt or
destroyed. If then this feeling exists so strongly in the breasts
of animals devoid of reason, how much more should this be the
case with man, raised as he is far above all terrestrial beings,
endowed with a rational and comprehensive mind, and capable of
enjoying the delights which flow from reciprocal affections! But
in many instances we have to blush for our fellow creatures, and
while we admire the instinct and parental feelings of brutes,
deplore the inferiority of our own race.
The passions of savages, while they last, are more violent and
enthusiastic than those of men who are placed in civilized
society, and consequently under some degree of restraint. Thus it
was with the Caribs during the infancy of their male children; no
duty, however irksome, or ceremony, however severe, which was
fondly hoped would tend to make them formidable warriors, was
regretted or postponed. The father freely lost his own blood to
sprinkle his male child as soon as it was born, in the hopes that
he might be endowed with a portion of his own courage.[1] As the
child grew, he was taught all the arts requisite for his savage
life--to draw the bow, wield the club, make and manage his canoe,
swim skilfully, catch fish, and prepare the poison to dip his
arrows in; he was also instructed in lessons of patience and
fortitude, inspired with courage to attack his foes by having the
deeds of his fathers related to him, and familiarized to look
upon death and danger with contempt.
So far the Carib performed the part of a good parent; but
superstition exerted her gloomy powers, and the cruelties
inflicted on the young Carib by the being from whom he derived
his existence, exhibits a mournful and sanguinary picture,
capable of harrowing up the deepest feelings of the soul. The
dawn of manhood was the hour in which these trials were to be
endured; and at this time the young warrior changed his infant
name for one of greater importance and more significant in
expression. With regard to their female children, but little
fatherly attention was paid them; their education devolved upon
their mothers, who taught them to cull the cotton and weave the
cloth, and, in a word, instructed them in all the duties
necessary to the comfort of their future lords and tyrants. If
very handsome, they were reserved to grace the triumph of some
successful warrior, while those of less beauty were allotted to
men of inferior worth.
The principal occupation of the Carib, the one, as before
remarked, which absorbed the greatest portion of his time and
attention, was war. The study of his life was to render himself
an adept in those arts which would enable him to capture a
greater number of his enemies, and spread desolation wherever he
went. When not thus engaged, his days were passed in listless
apathy. Enveloped in his mantle, and stretched upon his _hemack_
beneath the shade of some luxuriant tree, he enjoyed the breeze
of his native isle without alloy; and unless the calls of hunger
aroused him, or his weapon or canoe required repair, he seldom or
ever stirred. But when the war-cry arose, when an expedition
against the Arrowawks was intended, or when his countrymen
invited him "to seize his war-club," and avenge the death of some
friend, whose bones lay whitening on another shore, he started
from his repose, and grasped his spear; while the fire emanating
from his dark eyes, his black hair streaming in the blast, his
strong form vibrating from the intensity of his ardour, conspired
to render him what he wished to be--the formidable-looking
warrior.
But although the Carib was generally during peace fond of
indolence, yet when he chose to exert his powers, his arts and
manufactures displayed a degree of ingenuity surpassing what
could have been expected from his tools. His canoe was formed of
the trunk of large trees, principally that of the ceibar, or silk
cotton, as being more substantial, and of larger bulk. His bow
and arrows were fabricated with a degree of nicety almost
unequalled; some of them inlaid with pieces of tortoiseshell, or
the bones of fish finely polished. His cottage was also built
with some degree of taste, and neatly thatched with plaited
cocoa-nut leaves; and was situated in some of the loveliest
spots. They also possessed the art of fabricating vessels for
cookery, and other domestic uses, from the clay of the island,
which is still in use in Antigua, the negroes making pots for
boiling their victuals, _yubbas_, (or frying-pans,) water-jars,
and several other utensils. Of this clay it is said excellent
bricks might be made; and there are several waste spots of land
belonging to government, which might be turned into extensive
brickfields: the bricks used in the island are all imported.
But to return to our subject: while the men were thus employed,
the women were far from idle: they wove the cloth from the cotton
and bark of trees, and stained it of various colours. Of this
cloth, which was very substantial, they made their beds, which
were suspended from posts by the two ends, and obtained the name
of _hemacks_, from being made by the southern islanders of the
rind of a tree of that name. Columbus was so pleased with them,
that he took the pattern, and used them for the bedding of his
crew. They are still used at the present day under the
appellation of _hammocks_. Of the leaves of the cocoa-nut and
palmetto they also made baskets; while the fibres were twisted
into ropes. The negroes also follow them in this particular,
making rope, and also baskets, which they call "_catacous._"
The Caribs have often been likened to the ancient Jews in some of
their customs; but they did not follow that peculiar people in
abstaining from blood, as they frequently drank that of the
Arrowawks in their inhuman festivals. It is true, they refrained
from eating many kinds of flesh, which were generally reckoned
luxuries by others; but "if it was from religious motives, we are
nowhere sufficiently informed," as Goldsmith justly observes.
Their greatest treat, however, was human flesh, which they
devoured with avidity whenever they could procure it. The
Arrowawks, or inhabitants of Cuba, and the adjacent islands, as
before remarked, were their principal prey. Sometimes they ate
this horrible food raw; at other times they roasted or boiled it;
but the fat was all preserved for the use of their children, both
as food, and to anoint their bodies, in hopes of rendering them
hardy and valiant; and for this reason they were also frequently
immersed in a _bath of blood_.
Another of their viands, and indeed the principal part of their
food, was fish. These they caught in nets, composed of the
twisted fibres of the cocoa-nut; or else speared them at night as
they rose to the surface of the water to breathe. A similar
practice is still pursued in Scotland; and the dexterity consists
in throwing a spear at the salmon as it springs from the water. A
fuller account would be inconsistent with my present work; but I
refer my readers to Sir W. Scott's well known novel of "Guy
Mannering," where it is accurately and vividly described. To
resume our subject:--Columbus mentions seeing some fishermen
making use of very curious assistants in securing their finny
prey, namely, decoy fish. These were a species of small fish,
which abounded in these seas, called "reves." Fastening a string
round their tails, they were lowered into the water, and, made
cunning by the hand which fed them, these tiny ensnarers
encountered their brethren of the deep; and winding about them,
all were drawn up together.
In looking over the accounts of different countries, everyone
must be struck with the propensity man has of indulging in
spirituous liquors. While the inhabitants of fruitful and sunny
districts imbibe the luscious juice of the grape, the
Kamtschadale ranges his barren and inhospitable clime in search
of a species of grass, from which to obtain a supply of fermented
drink. The Tartar, in his wild state, roaming from pasture to
pasture, placing his whole wealth in his horses and cattle,
silently enjoys the intoxicating qualities of his brandy procured
from the milk of his mares, and sighs not for the richest cup
ever quaffed by the lip of mortals. So likewise the Carib was not
without his stimulants--his festive board was not without its
cup. From the bark of the palm and cocoa-nut tree, they procured
a liquor clear as crystal, which they allowed to ferment, and of
which they were very fond; but their principal drink was mobby,
made from the sweet potatoe, (a native of this island,) which
they also drank in a fermented state. But still drunkenness was
not one of their crimes; it was reserved for their conquerors to
teach them that vice. We are told of an old Carib addressing a
planter in the following manner--"Our people are become almost as
bad as yours. We are so much altered since you came among us,
that we hardly know ourselves; and we think it is owing to so
melancholy a change that the hurricanes are more frequent than
they were formerly. It is an evil spirit who has done all this;
who has taken our best lands from us, and given us up to the
dominion of the Christians." Alas! poor Caribs, it was an evil
spirit which had come among you--the evil spirit of lawless and
unchristian _men_. Why was your country invaded and your rights
trampled on? Why were your wives and children torn from you?--and
you yourselves condemned to death?--yea, worse than death--to
vile and endless slavery, till time, the end of all things,
consigned you to your silent graves?--are questions which will
arise, but whose answer can only be given in these words--"What
is, is best."
To resume our description of these ancient possessors of Antigua
--these warlike Caribs. Vanity is a passion which to a greater or
lesser degree pervades the breast of almost every mortal, and the
savage in his native wilds feels the force of it in the same
manner, although, perhaps, not to the same _extent_, as the giddy
fair who whirls round the vortex of dissipation within the
purlieus of May Fair. When first discovered by the Spaniards, the
Caribs were habited in different fashions; some appeared in
complete dresses of native cloth, stained of a dark red; others
had only a cotton girdle rolled round their loins; while others,
again, were arrayed in "Nature's garb." But although this plain
and scanty dress forbid much fancy or variety, they were far from
unadorned. Their hair was arranged in a thousand fantastic
shapes; some had it braided with small pieces of gold, shells or
shining stones; others decorated it with the teeth and bones of
their enemies; and some, again, placed large bunches of parrots'
feathers upon the top of the head. Nor were all their decorations
confined to their head-dresses; they stained their bodies with
various colours, and in a variety of figures, and, as before
alluded to, caused themselves much pain in thus ornamenting their
persons, by their great propensity for altering their natural
features. It does not appear if this was intended to heighten
their beauty, and render them captivating in the eyes of the
"nice-judging fair," or if to make them more hideous in the sight
of their enemies; but most probably it was for the latter
purpose, although it has been said "that women always like the
monsters!"
Their amusement, which has also been before observed, was war;
nothing else seemed to please or interest them, it was "their
gain, their glory, their delight!" They had their dances, but
they were rather a serious ceremony than indulged in as a
pastime. Their principal assemblies were held before starting
upon a warlike expedition, when a leader or chief was elected
with the barbarities before described; or upon the return of a
victorious warrior, when these ceremonies concluded with a dance.
In the foregoing review, the character of the red Caribs, the
aborigines of Antigua, has been described; but in different
islands were found different tribes. Guadaloupe was inhabited by
a race of Amazons, who, upon the first appearance of Columbus,
rushed out of a wood, armed with bows and arrows, and attacked
the crew with such determined fury, that he was obliged to open a
fire upon them before they would disperse; that they were also
cannibals was evident from the relics of their disgusting feasts
found in their huts. Some of the other islands were inhabited by
a similar race; but the people of Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and
Porto Rico were decidedly of a different family--mild, temperate,
and indolent, they were a certain prey to the ferocious
cannibals.
The Caribs of Antigua were first conquered by the Spaniards in
1521, and after trying to make them work as slaves without
effect, they were finally driven from off the island. As in the
other islands, fire and sword came among them, and the ancient
people of the soil are no more. Their manners and customs, their
hopes and fears, their enjoyments and distresses, are almost
buried in oblivion, only now and then, here and there, we find a
few traces of them in the wide page of history. There are,
however, vestiges of their dwellings still to be met with in
different parts of the island, one of which I had the curiosity
to enter. It appeared to have consisted of two distinct
buildings, the materials of which were composed of the stone
which is common in all parts of the island, cemented with a rough
kind of mortar. The one nearest the north is about fifty feet
long and twenty-five broad; in the middle is a circular hollow;
small square window-places are on all sides, and the door-place
fronts the west. I stood before that open door, and memory
carried me back to "by-gone" ages. The sun had set, but his
golden beams still lingered in the west, and tinged the clouds
with a thousand beautiful colours. Not a single living creature
was in sight, but one poor solitary ground-dove, who sat by the
ruined walls and uttered her plaintive notes. The negroes are of
an opinion that this bird is the harbinger of death; be that as
it may, her melancholy cry on such a spot called up many an
image. Who might not have stood upon the very place where I was
standing and watched that glorious sun while he set? The
formidable-looking Carib, his meek, degraded, uncomplaining wife;
his miserable, wretched victim, the unhappy Arrowawk! All might
have once stood there and gazed upon that very scene. And those
crumbling walls! what tales might not they have told! how many
scenes of bloodshed might not they have witnessed! how many
harsh, discordant notes of revelry, from the wild beings who once
inhabited them, might not they have echoed to! how many piercing
shrieks for mercy from those poor wretched creatures, immolated
upon that family altar for the darkling ceremonies of
superstition, or for the daily meal, might not they have heard!
The other adjoining building has the appearance of a square
tower, and must, in its day, have been a place of some strength;
it is considerably higher than the one before described. I felt
inclined to believe it was built by the buccaneers, who, many
years ago, made these islands their place of resort. In the
island of St. Thomas is still standing a kind of castle, built by
that renowned and formidable captain of pirates, "Blackbeard."[2]
However, all Antiguans agree in calling the building mentioned
the "Carib's House."
To a contemplative mind, how many emotions arise upon taking a
review of history. We see whole nations swept away from the
surface of the globe, and others springing up to form the
connecting link in the grand chain of nature. We see the
stupendous powers of the Omnipotent, at whose beck myriads start
into life--at whose frown they vanish away like chaff before the
wind. We are inclined to ask, Where now is mighty Rome, the
empress of the world? Lost in the abyss of her own power and
greatness. Greece, too, with all her brave sons--her
disinterested patriots--her wise and just lawgivers--where are
they? All, all are fled, their very existence almost forgotten;
and as a favourite traveller remarks, "Greece remembers her sons
no more." He whose reckless ambition sighed for worlds to
conquer, is himself conquered by the strong hand of death. The
prince and peasant, the rich and poor, the bond and free, alike
fall beneath those all-powerful shafts.
"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth ere gave.
Must wait alike the inevitable hour;
The paths of glory lead but to the grave."
While surveying these things, the mind is lost in the boundless
depths of imagination. We are led to reflect upon the transitory
state of existence we pass in this nether world; and the truth
flashes upon us, that however great we may be in our own
estimation--however great in our own conceit, we are but in
reality as the bubble on the water, the ephemera of a summer's
day. Reader! didst thou ever examine the interior of an ant-hill?
didst thou ever notice how its busy little inmates are hurrying
to and fro, intent upon their different occupations? Some are
occupied in excavating the ground to prepare store-houses for the
preservation of their grain in the winter--some in removing the
dirt from the streets that nothing may obstruct the progress of
their various business--some in plastering the earth with a kind
of clay, which they carefully prepare, that it may not fall in
and destroy their populous city, while others again are preparing
cells for the reception of their eggs.
Thus we see all is bustle, all is activity; like mortals, some
are laying up wealth they are fated never to enjoy, or planning
schemes of grandeur which will never come to pass. The
ploughshare passes over, and where are those busy troops? Eurus
blows his blast in the fierceness of his anger, and the whole
colony is scattered, the swarming multitude is no more. Thus it
is with man: placed by his Creator in so beautiful a world,
endowed, perhaps, with health, and riches, and honours,
surrounded by a circle of friends and flatterers, enjoying all
the pomps and luxuries of this life, he drinks deeply of the
intoxicating cup of Circe, and forgets that he is but a child of
clay, "a stranger and a sojourner as all his fathers were."
I have been led into these reflections from the fact, that the
people whose history I have been narrating are entirely
exterminated from Antigua and the adjoining islands; that of all
those swarming hosts who were gathered upon the beach to resist
the landing of the Spaniards, who first visited this island, not
one of their descendants is left. And now, in concluding this
chapter, all that remains for me to do is, to crave the pardon
and indulgence of my readers for so often leaving "Antigua and
the Antiguans," and wandering in another pathway; but according
to an old saying, "Our thoughts are not always under our own
control;" or, as it is said in more modern language, "Woman is an
Eolian harp, the strings of which are moved by every wind that
blows."
------
[1] This was done, by allowing one of his veins to be opened for
the purpose.
[2] The real name of this pirate was Edward Toutch, a native of
Spanish Town, in Jamaica. Of all pirates, this man was the most
ferocious; the deeds he committed being more like those of a
demon than a man. He was at length attacked by a lieutenant of an
English man-of-war, off the coast of Virginia, and taken
prisoner. He was afterwards executed, and his head stuck upon a
pole erected upon that coast, as a warning to other lawless
rovers.