Pearl Key Lagoon lies in latitude 12 deg. 10' N., longitude 82 deg. 54' W. The
village is situated about four miles from the entrance of the Lagoon, or
_Lake_, into the sea. The village contains thirteen houses; the
inhabitants generally speak English, and are more civilized and
hospitable than the neighboring tribes. This place is the centre of
trade for the whole coast, and is often visited by English traders.
I was hospitably received by Edward Patterson, a native of Curracoa, who
had resided here many years. He had three wives living with him, all
enjoying peace and good will towards each other. Patterson gave me a
hearty welcome to his house, and provided me a room in it to retail my
goods. He furnished his table with the best food the country produced,
cleanly cooked in English style. Two days after my arrival here my mate
and the two seamen arrived from the wreck of the sloop. They informed me
that a large number of Indians had encamped near the wreck and commenced
plundering the vessel, and they considered it unsafe to remain there any
longer. They repaired the sloop's boat, put their clothing and some
light goods on board, and after a few days' hard rowing reached this
place, with health and strength much exhausted. Two or three days after
a small English schooner arrived here, and I gave the captain two
hundred dollars to carry me to the wreck and bring back all the goods we
could save from it. We sailed the next day, and arrived there two days
after. We found the shore white with cotton, the Indians having cut open
the bales and carried away the sacks, leaving the cotton loose on the
beach, which the winds had scattered all along the shore for a great
distance. They had emptied two pipes of Catalonia wine on the ground and
carried away the casks; also emptied some cases of Holland gin and
filled the bottles with rum, cut many holes in the vessel to get out the
iron, and committed many other depredations. On inquiry I found that
most of the goods had been carried to Governor Clemente's house, about
thirty miles up the Waa-waa river. We employed some Indians to carry us
in their canoes to the governor's residence, there being no roads for
travelling by land in the country. When we arrived at his excellency's
dwelling we found a collection of forty or fifty Indians assembled
there, raving with intoxication; a hogshead of rum placed in the middle
of the house, with the bung taken out and the Indians filling their
calabashes by pouring it out of the bung-hole, wasting one-half in
pouring it out. The governor's invitation to spend the night with him
was readily accepted. He promised me he would restore all my goods that
could be found about his premises. The next day I found one pipe of gin
and one hogshead of rum unopened, which he consented to restore to me.
Here a difficulty arose: the distance from his house to the landing
place at the river was about one and a half miles, and no way of
conveyance except rolling the casks. I requested the governor to furnish
me men, and I would pay them liberally for their services in conveying
the goods to the landing place. He said he could not compel them to
assist me. My mate and two men I had brought with me succeeded in
rolling the casks to the shore after a tedious job of one and a half
days. I found sixteen barrels of salt belonging to me about the
premises, which we undertook to roll to the landing, but the governor
pursued us with his axe and broke the staves of the casks, when we
abandoned them. I then picked up all the remaining goods I could find
belonging to me, sent them on board the canoes, and putting my mate and
seamen on board as sentries for the night, took lodgings at the
governor's house. In the morning my attention was drawn towards the
governor's nine wives, who were seated round a fire outside of the
house, eating their breakfast in perfect harmony. From appearance their
ages were from sixteen to sixty years. I afterwards learned that eight
of the Indians had died from the effects of the liquor which they had
stolen from the wreck.
The governor and his gang had destroyed and robbed me of about eighteen
hundred dollars' worth of property, for which I could not obtain any
redress. We embarked in our canoes and proceeded to the schooner, where
we took the goods on board, and the next day landed them at the Lagoon.
My property being all collected together, I fitted up my store and
received calls from all parts of the country, having that load-stone
_Rum_ to attract them.
Among the visiters who came to console me in my unfortunate situation,
was a Sookerman, named Hewlett, who brought me a present of two
pine-apples, for which I offered him twelve and a half cents in payment,
he refused it, saying, "I was a poor cast-away thing, and all Indians
must help me." I placed a bottle of gin upon the table and invited him
and his comrade to drink, which they readily accepted, remaining with me
until near night, when they had emptied the bottle; then taking an empty
bottle from his pocket, he had the modesty to ask me to fill it for him
to carry home. I was selling gin at this time for fifty cents per
bottle. Pine-apples are considered of little value in this country,
being worth from one to two cents apiece.
A Sookerman practices as a physician in sickness, but always abandons
his patient before the approach of death; he tells fortunes, can
discover thieves, and when the hurricane months are near approaching, he
resorts to some hill with his cutlass in his hand, which he waves in the
air to prevent the gales from destroying their crops of vegetables. He
collects an annual tax from all the inhabitants of his district, for his
services in cutting the breeze as they call it. If they refuse to pay
his tax the laws of the country allow him to seize upon any property he
can find, not excepting a man's dinner-pot. If a gale of wind happens to
sweep over the country and destroy their crops, he screens himself by
saying, "Some rascals have neglected the payment of their tithes." He
cannot see a woman in child-bed, or the woman or child under nine months
after the birth of it. He is prohibited from seeing any dead corpse, as
he imagines the sight of either of these would cause his immediate
death. The Sookerman makes all his journies in canoes, accompanied by
some of his friends. When they approach any village, he lays down in the
bottom of his canoe, and a sail is covered over him to protect his eyes,
while some of his comrades visit the houses of the villagers to
ascertain whether there are any of those dread sights in their houses.
When his wife shows signs of pregnancy she retires to a house built in
the woods, where she must remain nine months after her accouchment,
before she can return to her husband.
My landlord, Patterson, informed me that he knew a Sookerman who landed
at a village in a canoe, without sending a messenger before him to
discover the object of his danger; it being stormy weather he landed in
great haste and ran to the nearest house for a shelter, and opening the
door quickly, the first object he saw was a woman holding a child in her
arms. The shock was so great that he fell down on the threshhold of the
door and died the third day after.
Two miles from the village where I had located myself was another
settlement called Bigman Bank, a village of some renown, being the
residence of General Bigman and Admiral Walkin. Soon after I had my
store arranged to receive company I was visited by a number of young
ladies from Bigman's Bank who were considered the belles of the village.
The Indians residing in villages on the sea-coast imagine themselves far
superior to the inland tribes. They form the same opinion that a fopish
city dandy does of a country farmer, supposing him to be destitute of
common sense because he does not put all his earnings on his back and
cheat the tailor and shoemaker out of more.
After the young ladies were all seated in the house, my friend Patterson
introduced me to them, and requested me to fill some glasses with gin
and pass them round, saying, "They had never drank any gin before, and
did not know the strength of it, that we should soon see sport." After
remaining some time and drinking freely, they attempted to depart, when
one of them, named Betsey Young, a girl possessing a pleasant and
beautiful countenance found herself unable to walk, and her comrades
took her on their backs and departed apparently much mortified as I was
myself. After they returned to their homes Betsey's mother gave her a
severe reprimand for her intoxication. The next morning she bent the top
of a small tree to the ground, tied a handkerchief to it and putting one
end round her neck let the tree straighten up, which hung her in the
air. Soon after her mother discovering her unfortunate situation cut
her down and restored her to life. A few months after she became one of
the king's wives.
I was visited by a respectable Frenchman, named Ellis, residing thirty
miles up a river called Waa-waa-han, which empties into the Lagoon a few
miles from this place. The Musquito king had given him a tract of land
seven miles in length, bounded on the river, a well cultivated
plantation, producing coffee, sugar-cane, corn, yams, sweet potatoes,
all kinds of tropical fruits, and bread-stuffs in abundance. He owned
twenty or thirty slaves, and cultivated a good garden. He informed me
that he had fought for my country in the Revolution, under Count de
Grass. His nearest neighbor, named Gough, resided twelve miles from him,
who had a grant of land extending twelve miles along the river, and
owned a few slaves, but paid little attention to cultivation. I found
Mr. Ellis a very honest man, and a true friend to me. He kept a mulatto
woman as his wife, whose name was Fanny. He sent many orders to me to
bring out such articles as he wanted. He told me that one evening he was
making out an order for goods and asked his wife if she wanted any thing
added to the order. She answered by saying, "Tell Captain Dunham to
fetch me out one man-goose and one woman-goose." Mr. Ellis often sent me
garden vegetables, cucumbers, water-mellons, tropical fruits, &c.