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.
After mentioning the recreations, dress, and general habits of
the negroes, it may be necessary to give some account of their
principal occupations. By far the greater part of the black
population, as will be seen in the statistical portion of this
work, are employed in the cultivation of the sugar-cane, which,
although very laborious, pays them better than any other work.
When engaged in this pursuit, the hours of labour are as follows:
--the bell rings at six o'clock in the morning, and the negroes
proceed to the field, and remain there until nine, when the bell
again rings, and they go to their breakfast; an hour being
allowed for that purpose, they enter the field at ten, and remain
until twelve, when they leave for their dinners; at two they
resume their labours, which continue until six, when their daily
work is finished. It must be remarked, that during the short
days, they scarcely reach the field until near eight; and just as
the sun begins to sink, they confidently assert it is after six,
and refuse to work any longer, let the hour be what it may.
During the time of slavery, such women as were nursing did not
commence working until seven o'clock; but in these days of
freedom, they do not resume the hoe until their children are nine
or ten months old. Some of the negroes gain a very plentiful
subsistence, by buying a horse and cart, and carting manure to
the different estates; others again will agree with a planter to
do a certain portion of work; they procure other labourers, and
when the work is finished, they divide the profits; but let them
do whatever they will, they contrive to make such bargains, that
they never fail in obtaining a _good supply_ of that necessary
evil--money.
Besides agricultural labourers, there are a great many artisans,
fishermen, and sailors. With regard to these last, I cannot say
whether they are very _firm_ in times of _danger_; but from
ocular demonstration, I can assert, that when the sky and sea
looks fair, they are very careless, although, from July to
October, the West Indian seas are very liable to sudden squalls.
These black sailors generally confine themselves to the
navigation of the Caribbean Sea, making voyages in small vessels
to the different islands. Very few of them know all the points of
the compass, some of them not any--their manner of steering being
more after the manner of the ancients. They see the sun when he
rises, and they know that is the east; they observe him when he
sets, and that, they are aware, is the west. Their mode of
proceeding when upon these voyages is, to keep within sight of
land as much as they can; and in most parts, the channels between
the different islands are so narrow, that this is not difficult;
but to make a bold stretch across, so as to lose all landmarks,
they seldom or never think of. The greatest peculiarity among
these black sailors is their extreme voracity--never were there
greater eaters. In my frequent voyages in these small vessels to
the other islands, I have had numberless opportunities of
observing this; for from the confinement of the cabins, and the
great heat of the climate, the deck is the only supportable part
of the vessel, and there it is the sailors partake of their
dinners. Such piggins of _fungy_, with accompaniments of rice or
potatoes, salt fish, or beef, as I have then seen consumed, and
in such a short period, is really marvellous! Even when at the
helm, they are occupied in eating biscuit, of which they
generally manage to have their pockets full.
Upon one occasion, I was coming from St. Kitts to Antigua, on
board one of these small craft. The second day from our leaving,
the sailors caught a very large sucking-fish, (_remora_,) which
was scarcely pulled upon the deck, before they commenced the
operation of cooking it. The "captain," as he termed himself, was
that day unfortunately tormented by a violent headache; and after
seeing their prize safely deposited in a huge kettle of water,
laid himself down to sleep, in hopes of getting rid of his
unwelcome visitant. "Soft slumber" sealed his eye for many an
hour; but when at length he awoke, his first demand was for some
of the tempting dish, whose early stage of cookery he had so ably
inspected. "All eat," was the consoling reply to a hungry man. It
was certainly provoking, and so he seemed to think; for he put
himself into a violent passion immediately. "War for you eat aw
dat fish for, eh? fish big so to. War for you go do so? You aw
too much greedy--you aw reg'lar nagers." And with much growling
and grumbling, he was obliged to solace his unappeasable appetite
with a hard biscuit, instead of his favourite fare.
This _penchant_ for eating among the negro sailors is universally
known. I have heard it remarked, by a gentleman of Antigua, (in
answer to some query upon the subject,)--"Oh! have nothing to do
with small vessels; or, if you _have_, on no account provision
them, but rather pay them so much a week to find themselves; for
those black sailors are never satisfied--they will be eating
eleven hours in the day, and on the twelfth they are, or rather
_pretend_ to be, hungry. This, I am sure, is the fault of their
mothers during infancy; for their common cry to them is--'Eat, me
pic'nee, eat; fill youself, an den go sleep;' so that the custom
grows upon them to that degree, that when they become men, they
cannot break themselves of it." So much for the remark; those who
are acquainted with the subject will, I think, readily assent to
the truth of it.
In times of slavery, it was customary, among some owners or
managers of slaves, to allow such negroes as were not employed in
the cane-field the privilege of hiring themselves out to
strangers, providing they regularly paid to their masters a
certain sum weekly from the wages they received. Many of them
acquired a good sum by this permission; while others, again,
although they earned high wages, had to pay so large a proportion
to their proprietors, that they were not so well off in pecuniary
matters as those negroes who remained upon the property. Still,
they were comparatively more their own masters; and so dear to
every breast is freedom, that they preferred doing so, and
gaining less.
Another large body of negroes are to be met with as domestic
servants. That there are some good servants among them none can
deny; but I am sorry to say, they are seldom met with. In
general, the men make better domestics than the females. Some of
those who hire themselves as cooks are very clever in their
profession, and will dress turtle in various delectable forms,
equal, if not superior, to the vaunted cooks at "Cornhill," or
the celebrated "M. de Barre" (late cook to Louis XVIII.) himself.
This is to be the more wondered at, as they have not half the
conveniences in the culinary departments as their brother cooks
on the other side of the water; on the contrary, many an
invention has to issue from their teeming brain, before they can
arrange these matters to their satisfaction. But one precaution
must be carefully observed, in order to insure success: in
cookery, they must be left entirely to their own discretion--no
improvement proposed; for either they are obstinately bent on
following their own plan, and will not adopt any other, or else
they do not fully understand their instructions; and what was
intended as an improvement will result in failure.
It is the practice in Antiguan cookery, when "melted butter" is
used, merely to oil it, and send it to table in that state, which
to many strangers proves disagreeable. Soon after my arrival in
this country, I begged the cook to adopt some other plan,
explaining at the same time, to the best of my abilities, how it
was commonly done in England. The next day, at dinner, there was
something "in such a" _very_ "questionable shape" upon the table,
that I was fain to summon Mr. Cook from his tenement, to ask what
it might be. "Melted butter, missis," quoth the knight of pots
and kettles. "_Melted butter!_--impossible! it has more the
appearance of pudding, boiled like the French cook's, without a
cloth." "Eh, eh, missis, war for you go call him pudding? you no
tell me put flower in de butter--it _dat_ make him 'top so!" I
was confounded. After my learned dissertation upon melted butter
the day before, (which, by-the-bye, I borrowed from the worthy
Dr. Kitchener himself,) to be served in this manner was too bad;
however, it taught me never for the future to interfere with his
department.
They have some peculiarities in dressing different meats in
Antigua which I have never heard of being practised in other
countries, although it must be owned my knowledge in such matters
is very limited, not having devoted much of my time to studying
the "Cook's Oracle;" indeed, (the truth must be spoken,) I am
better pleased to form an acquaintance with ragouts, or any other
dainties, when they are upon the table, than I am to inspect
their various formations, or become versed in their different
modes of cookery. But as some of my readers may, with Peter
Pindar, be fond of peeping into pots and pans, I will, for their
benefit, try to elucidate kitchen mysteries for once in my life,
and expound to them the method of _doving_ meat, as the Antiguan
cooks term such process. The first point to be achieved is, of
course, to procure the meat, and then to see that the "igneous
element," as Mr. Dryden learnedly calls fire, has attained a
sufficient degree of heat. These preliminary matters being
adjusted, an iron pot is made thoroughly hot, the meat placed in
it without the aid of water, and the utensil carefully covered
over. In this fiery durance it is allowed to remain until one
side becomes of an approved brown; it is then turned to another,
until at length it arrives at that state of superexcellence,
that, like "Sancho Panza's cow's heel," it has only to cry "Come
eat me, come eat me!"
The greatest fault to be found with these kitchen gentry, these
black cooks of Antigua, is, that while from various meats and
spices they are compounding ambrosial food for their masters,
they forget the rules of equity, and, like the lordly lion of the
forest, keep the largest share for themselves. This is done with
impunity by all the class; they dread not even the "strong arm of
the law," nor exempt the lawyers themselves from this exaction,
if report speaks true. When discovered in these petty thefts,
they use the greatest art to make you believe it is a mistake, a
slip of (not the tongue, but) the fingers, and, consequently, not
their fault; or else, that "_somebody_" did the deed, and laid
the blame at their door.
A gentleman proprietor of this island had a servant living with
him who was famed for practising this particular species of
depredation, quite an adept in the art, and who at the same time
possessed a tongue well versed in the doctrine of excuses. Many
and oft have been the occasions when this sable offender has
appropriated to his own share the eatables which ought to have
graced his master's table, and yet escaped without reproof. But
one day, (for so the Fates had willed it,) being pressed for
time, "Lemon" was obliged to transfer to his _pocket_, instead of
a place of more approved security, a fish he had adroitly managed
to purloin, and hurry into the dining-room, (in his double
capacity of cook and footman,) with the remainder properly dished
up. "Truth," says the old proverb, "will pop out its head;" and
although the stubborn fish did not exactly do that, it made
amends by popping out its _tail_, and proved to the master's eye
the undeniable fact of his servant's deviation. Unconscious that
his silent but no less true accuser had betrayed him, the faulty
cook kept his stand, until, at length, his master, pointing at
the same time to the purloined luxury, inquired, "Lemon, what is
that you have in your pocket?" His blushes, if he knew how to
blush, were effectually concealed by the blackness of his skin,
while, with the counterfeit surprise of innocence, he replied to
this question by asking another: "Pocket, massa? war pocket?" And
then, turning his eye to that particular part of his garment, and
perceiving in a moment that the presence of the obtruding fish
could not be denied, with ready cunning, he continued, "You see
dat, massa? you see dat, missis? you eber see how 'de ebil'
(witchcraft) follow me! Ebil come quite in me pocket, come put
fish dere, so make you aw tink me go tief it!" Oh, worthy Lemon!
oh, noble son of Ham! hadst thou lived in the days when Jupiter
and his train peopled bright Olympus, undoubtedly thou wouldst
have been turned into a constellation as a reward for thy
ingenuity!
Among the grooms and "house-boys" (as the Antiguans call their
domestic men-servants) there are also some to be met with who
have a fair character for general good behaviour, but they are
rare instances--seldom found. The greater part of the grooms are
too fond of galloping their masters' horses, (a practice common
with most negroes, who will ride almost as soon as they can
walk;) and with respect to the latter-mentioned class, indolence
and prevarication form (as we have already seen) too often the
predominant traits in their character.
Another peculiarity among this tribe is the freedom with which
they address their employers. This has even increased, if
anything, since emancipation; for now they are free, they appear
to think themselves upon an equality with the highest in the
land. They condescend, it is true, to take your money, but at the
same time seem to think it a degradation to do your work. If it
is necessary to find fault with any part of their conduct, they
generally return a saucy answer, or else make this rejoinder--
"Bery well, as we can't agree, we best part; me no care to hire
meself out again;" and immediately collecting their different
articles together, (including, perhaps, some belonging to their
master or mistress, of course by mistake!) away they go, and the
only plan you can adopt is, to procure another domestic in their
place, who, perhaps, acts even worse.
I would not wish to be thought unreasonably prepossessed in
favour of my own country-people, but, conscientiously speaking, I
have never met with one black domestic who acts with the same
degree of propriety as most of the English servants do. If you
keep them at their proper distance, they become dissatisfied, and
complain of your being harsh to them; if, on the contrary, you
shew them any degree of attention, and try to make their
situation as comfortable as possible, they then assume too much,
and entirely forget the difference of rank. Try to serve them,
and it is ten chances to one you make them your enemy; do them
ninety-nine favours, and refuse the hundredth, and you are
reviled and blamed as if you had injured them.
An old English gentleman, who had spent the greater part of his
life in Antigua, and who has several hundreds of these people
under his control, used to say, that "the worse you behave to a
negro, the better he behaves to you." This is a doctrine,
however, which I do not admit, let the negro character be as
defective as it may.
Oh! slavery, slavery! when will all the train of evils thou hast
originated cease? when will thy pestilential influence be
abolished in these beautiful, but (I must add it) crime-stained
islands? Another and another generation will have to pass away
ere prejudice is no more--ere suspicion is lulled to sleep,
before the servant will learn to look up to his master as his
protector, and the master view without distrust the services of
his domestic, and find in him an humble friend.