The bite of many of the snakes of this country is so poisonous as to
cause death in a few hours. During my residence at the Lagoon I was
visited by an Indian admiral, named Drummer, who resided at Sandy Bay,
some forty miles north of the Lagoon; he related the following story,
which happened a few weeks before. "He sent an Indian slave to his
plantain walk, distant two or three miles, to cut some bread-stuffs; not
returning that night, he the next morning sent his son-in-law to look
after the slave. He not returning, the following morning a number of the
inhabitants proceeded to the plantain walk, where they found the dead
bodies of the two men, and the snake which had caused their death lying
near them."
Some hurricanes occasionally visit this coast, which destroy their crops
of bread-stuffs, and cause temporary famine in certain districts.
While cruising along the coast some months after the occurrence of one
of these tornadoes, I landed within a few miles of the residence of
Admiral Hammer, in company with a man named Benjamin Downs, who was well
acquainted with the admiral. We proceeded to his house and asked for
something to eat, when he told us his bread-stuffs had all been
destroyed by a gale of wind, and addressed Downs as follows: "Ben Downs,
don't you think the Almighty little bit too bad this time?" "Why, and
what do you mean?" asked Downs. The admiral replied, "He send too much
strong breeze and broke all the plantain walk."
The country is infested with numerous insects, &c. such as mosquittoes,
sand-flies, fire-ants, chigoes, centipedes, scorpions, cock-roaches, and
an immense number of alligators. The ground in many places is overrun
with large ants, called the travelling army, which destroy whole fields
of vegetation. It is also infested by insects called dog-fleas, which
are a great annoyance at night; and the sea-coast abounds with sharks of
a very large size.
To give the reader a short description of the country and inhabitants I
shall quote from a late writer. "The Musquittoes are a small nation of
Indians, never conquered by the Spaniards, the country being so situated
as to render any attempts against them impracticable; for they are
surrounded on all sides by land, by morasses or impassable mountains,
and by sea with shoals and rocks; besides, they have such an implacable
hatred to the Spaniards, for inhumanity and cruelty in destroying many
millions of their neighbors, that they would never have any
correspondence with them; for whenever they sent any missionaries or
other agents amongst them, they _hid them_, that is, put them to death.
The king has little more than the title, unless the nation is at war;
having no revenues, and few prerogatives; being obliged in time of peace
to fish and fowl for the support of himself and family. He hath indeed
some distinction shown him, and now and then presents made him by the
governor of Jamaica, and the English traders, who frequently touch and
trade there."
I occupied my time in selling goods and purchasing shell, skins, gums,
&c. and during my leisure hours partook of the sports of the Indians,
that I might pass away the time as agreeably as my situation would admit
of, not knowing how I could get away from the country, as the English
traders [the only people who visited the Musquittoes] had agreed never
to carry me to Jamaica, or take any letters that would assist me to get
to my family, fearing I should become a rival in the trade, and be the
means of introducing others into it.
About the first of November a Captain Humphreys, one of the Jamaica
traders, arrived in the harbor, and came on shore and took supper with
me. The Indian ladies got up a ball on the occasion. After dancing was
over, Captain H. and myself took a walk together. During which he said
to me, "Dunham, your case is a hard one, the old English traders on this
coast, myself among them, have agreed never to carry you to Jamaica, or
to assist you to get away from here, or take any letters from you to
Jamaica or elsewhere, notwithstanding we consider you a very clever
fellow; but if we assist you to get home, you will lead down twenty
Yankee traders and destroy our business with the Indians." Captain H.
appeared to possess the feelings that one seaman should have for
another, and continued, "Dunham, if you can get ready to go with me in
two days I will carry you to Jamaica; but I will not carry your shell,
or any other articles you have bought of the Indians." I expressed my
sincere thanks for his kind offer, but told him I did not wish to be
taken there for nothing; that I had money, and was willing to give him
one hundred dollars for my passage. I informed him that I had kept one
half barrel of pork and a case of gin hid away for some months,
intending to purchase a large canoe with them to carry me to the Bay of
Honduras, if no other conveyance offered. He refused to accept any
compensation whatever for my passage.
The next day I packed up my shell, amounting to five hundred and
seventy-two pounds, and the remnants of my goods, and sent them thirty
miles up the river Waa-waa-han to be left with my worthy old French
friend, Mr. Ellis. I then called on my landlord for his bill for the
rent of my store, and board for two or three months. He laughed at my
being so simple as to suppose he would charge anything for it, and
peremptorily refused; but as he was indebted to me for goods, I deducted
forty dollars from his account, which he reluctantly accepted. The
vessel being now ready for sea, the inhabitants of the village all
escorted me to the beach, bringing me many presents of fruits, and
shaking me by the hand, with downcast eyes bade me a hearty farewell.
Captain H. had to proceed to the coast of St. Blas to settle with his
traders, having left goods with three or four Indians, at different
settlements, to sell for him. This circuitous route made the distance to
Jamaica five or six hundred miles further, stopping at a number of
places on the Musquitto Shore, viz: St. John's River, Boco Toro and
Crekimala, where we took on board a quantity of sarsaparilla and sundry
other articles, and then proceeded to St. Blas. On our arrival there we
were visited by a large number of Indians in canoes, who commenced
trading with us. One of them acting as clerk took charge of the goods
and dealt them out to the others by fathoming them off with his arms,
this being their custom of measuring cloth. The goods being mostly
staple articles, the prices there seldom varied. Shell had a fixed price
of one dollar per pound. The captain paid little attention to the trade.
A small pump was left in a hogshead of rum, from which the clerk filled
the bottle and passed it round as often as it was called for, and every
few hours he would call the captain and give him a handful of money,
saying, "Here is so much," which he would put in his pocket, neither of
them counting it, nor would the captain ask anything about the trade.
Often the captain and myself took a canoe and went off fishing, leaving
fifty or sixty Indians on board dealing with the clerk, who had the sole
control of the trade. When we had finished trading at one place the
Indians piloted us to another harbor on the coast, where we proceeded in
the same manner. We sailed along the coast more than one hundred miles,
touching and trading at the different towns. Two of the natives took
passage with us for Jamaica, where we arrived about the first of
December. Here I tasted bread for the first time in eight months, having
lived on Indian bread-stuffs during that time, and seldom thinking of
any other, being well satisfied with that food. On our arrival at
Montego Bay the captain took me home to his house, and treated me very
politely.
Soon after my arrival in Jamaica I found a brig bound to Baltimore, and
took passage in her; I arrived there after a voyage of twenty-five days,
and sailed for New-York, where I had an interview with my owners, and
obtained a furlough from them for a few days, that I might visit my
family; after which I returned to New-York and proceeded back to the
Musquitto Shore.