so that, after penetrating to the Rio Branco from the shores of the
Western Ocean, had anybody questioned me on this subject I should have
answered, I have seen nothing amongst these Indians which tells me that
they have existed here for a century; though, for aught I know to the
contrary, they may have been here before the Redemption, but their
total want of civilisation has assimilated them to the forests in which
they wander. Thus an aged tree falls and moulders into dust and you
cannot tell what was its appearance, its beauties, or its diseases
amongst the neighbouring trees; another has shot up in its place, and
after Nature has had her course it will make way for a successor in its
turn. So it is with the Indian of Guiana. He is now laid low in the
dust; he has left no record behind him, either on parchment or on a
stone or in earthenware to say what he has done. Perhaps the place
where his buried ruins lie was unhealthy, and the survivors have left
it long ago and gone far away into the wilds. All that you can say is,
the trees where I stand appear lower and smaller than the rest, and
from this I conjecture that some Indians may have had a settlement here
formerly. Were I by chance to meet the son of the father who moulders
here, he could tell me that his father was famous for slaying tigers
and serpents and caymen, and noted in the chase of the tapir and wild
boar, but that he remembers little or nothing of his grandfather.
They are very jealous of their liberty, and much attached to their own
mode of living. Though those in the neighbourhood of the European
settlements have constant communication with the whites, they have no
inclination to become civilised. Some Indians who have accompanied
white men to Europe, on returning to their own land have thrown off
their clothes and gone back into the forests.
In Georgetown, the capital of Demerara, there is a large shed, open on
all sides, built for them by order of Government. Hither the Indians
come with monkeys, parrots, bows and arrows, and pegalls. They sell
these to the white men for money, and too often purchase rum with it,
to which they are wonderfully addicted.
Government allows them annual presents in order to have their services
when the colony deems it necessary to scour the forests in quest of
runaway negroes. Formerly these expeditions were headed by Charles
Edmonstone, Esq., now of Cardross Park, near Dumbarton. This brave
colonist never returned from the woods without being victorious. Once,
in an attack upon the rebel-negroes' camp, he led the way and received
two balls in his body; at the same moment that he was wounded two of
his Indians fell dead by his side; he recovered, after his life was
despaired of, but the balls could never be extracted.
Since the above appeared in print I have had the account of this
engagement with the negroes in the forest from Mr. Edmonstone's own
mouth.
He received four slugs in his body, as will be seen in the sequel.
The plantations of Demerara and Essequibo are bounded by an almost
interminable extent of forest. Hither the runaway negroes repair, and
form settlements from whence they issue to annoy the colonists, as
occasion may offer.
In 1801 the runaway slaves had increased to an alarming extent. The
Governor gave orders that an expedition should be immediately organised
and proceed to the woods under the command of Charles Edmonstone, Esq.
General Hislop sent him a corporal, a sergeant and eleven men, and he
was joined by a part of the colonial militia and by sixty Indians. With
this force Mr. Edmonstone entered the forest and proceeded in a
direction towards Mahaica.
He marched for eight days through swamps and over places obstructed by
fallen trees and the bush-rope; tormented by myriads of mosquitos, and
ever in fear of treading on the poisonous snakes which can scarcely be
distinguished from the fallen leaves.
At last he reached a wooded sandhill, where the Maroons had entrenched
themselves in great force. Not expecting to come so soon upon them, Mr.
Edmonstone, his faithful man Coffee and two Indian chiefs found
themselves considerably ahead of their own party. As yet they were
unperceived by the enemy, but unfortunately one of the Indian chiefs
fired a random shot at a distant Maroon. Immediately the whole negro
camp turned out and formed themselves in a crescent in front of Mr.
Edmonstone. Their chief was an uncommonly fine negro, above six feet in
height; and his head-dress was that of an African warrior, ornamented
with a profusion of small shells. He advanced undauntedly with his gun
in his hand, and, in insulting language, called out to Mr. Edmonstone
to come on and fight him.
Mr. Edmonstone approached him slowly in order to give his own men time
to come up; but they were yet too far off for him to profit by this
manoeuvre. Coffee, who carried his master's gun, now stepped up behind
him, and put the gun into his hand, which Mr. Edmonstone received
without advancing it to his shoulder.
He was now within a few yards of the Maroon chief, who seemed to betray
some symptoms of uncertainty, for, instead of firing directly at Mr.
Edmonstone, he took a step sideways, and rested his gun against a tree;
no doubt with the intention of taking a surer aim. Mr. Edmonstone, on
perceiving this, immediately cocked his gun and fired it off, still
holding it in the position in which he had received it from Coffee. The
whole of the contents entered the negro's body, and he dropped dead on
his face.
The negroes, who had formed in a crescent, now in their turn fired a
volley, which brought Mr. Edmonstone and his two Indian chiefs to the
ground. The Maroons did not stand to reload, but, on Mr. Edmonstone's
party coming up, they fled precipitately into the surrounding forest.
Four slugs had entered Mr. Edmonstone's body. After coming to himself,
on looking around he saw one of the fallen Indian chiefs bleeding by
his side. He accosted him by name and said he hoped he was not much
hurt. The dying Indian had just strength enough to answer, "Oh
no,"--and then expired. The other chief was lying quite dead. He must
have received his mortal wound just as he was in the act of cocking his
gun to fire on the negroes; for it appeared that the ball which gave
him his death-wound had carried off the first joint of his thumb and
passed through his forehead. By this time his wife, who had accompanied
the expedition, came up. She was a fine young woman, and had her long
black hair fancifully braided in a knot on the top of her head,
fastened with a silver ornament. She unloosed it, and, falling on her
husband's body, covered it with her hair, bewailing his untimely end
with the most heart-rending cries.
The blood was now running out of Mr. Edmonstone's shoes. On being
raised up, he ordered his men to pursue the flying Maroons, requesting
at the same time that he might be left where he had fallen, as he felt
that he was mortally wounded. They gently placed him on the ground,
and, after the pursuit of the Maroons had ended, the corporal and
sergeant returned to their commander and formed their men. On his
asking what this meant, the sergeant replied, "I had the General's
orders, on setting out from town, not to leave you in the forest,
happen what might." By slow and careful marches, as much as the
obstructions in the woods would admit of, the party reached Plantation
Alliance, on the bank of the Demerara, and from thence it crossed the
river to Plantation Vredestein.
The news of the rencounter had been spread far and wide by the Indians,
and had already reached town. The General, Captains Macrai and
Johnstone and Doctor Dunkin proceeded to Vredestein. On examining Mr.
Edmonstone's wounds, four slugs were found to have entered the body:
one was extracted, the rest remained there till the year 1824, when
another was cut out by a professional gentleman of Port Glasgow. The
other two still remain in the body; and it is supposed that either one
or both have touched a nerve, as they cause almost continual pain. Mr.
Edmonstone has commanded fifteen different expeditions in the forest in
quest of the Maroons. The Colonial Government has requited his services
by freeing his property from all taxes and presenting him a handsome
sword and a silver urn, bearing the following inscription:
Presented to CHARLES EDMONSTONE, Esq., by the Governor
and Court of Policy of the Colony of Demerara, as a token of
their esteem and the deep sense they entertain of the very great
activity and spirit manifested by him, on various occasions, in
his successful exertions for the internal security of the Colony.
--_January 1st, 1809_.
I do not believe that there is a single Indian in _ci-devant_ Dutch
Guiana who can read or write, nor am I aware that any white man has
reduced their language to the rules of grammar; some may have made a
short manuscript vocabulary of the few necessary words, but that is
all. Here and there a white man, and some few people of colour, talk
the language well. The temper of the Indian of Guiana is mild and
gentle, and he is very fond of his children.
Some ignorant travellers and colonists call these Indians a lazy race.
Man in general will not be active without an object. Now when the
Indian has caught plenty of fish, and killed game enough to last him
for a week, what need has he to range the forest? He has no idea of
making pleasure-grounds. Money is of no use to him, for in these wilds
there are no markets for him to frequent, nor milliners' shops for his
wife and daughters; he has no taxes to pay, no highways to keep up, no
poor to maintain, nor army nor navy to supply; he lies in his hammock
both night and day (for he has no chair or bed, neither does he want
them), and in it he forms his bow and makes his arrows and repairs his
fishing-tackle. But as soon as he has consumed his provisions, he then
rouses himself and, like the lion, scours the forest in quest of food.
He plunges into the river after the deer and tapir, and swims across
it; passes through swamps and quagmires, and never fails to obtain a
sufficient supply of food. Should the approach of night stop his career
while he is hunting the wild boar, he stops for the night and continues
the chase the next morning. In my way through the wilds to the
Portuguese frontier I had a proof of this: we were eight in number, six
Indians, a negro and myself. About ten o'clock in the morning we
observed the feet-mark of the wild boars; we judged by the freshness of
the marks that they had passed that way early the same morning. As we
were not gifted, like the hound, with scent, and as we had no dog with
us, we followed their track by the eye. The Indian after game is as
sure with his eye as the dog is with his nose. We followed the herd
till three in the afternoon, then gave up the chase for the present,
made our fires close to a creek where there was plenty of fish, and
then arranged the hammocks. In an hour the Indians shot more fish with
their arrows than we could consume. The night was beautifully serene
and clear, and the moon shone as bright as day. Next morn we rose at
dawn, got breakfast, packed up, each took his burden, and then we put
ourselves on the track of the wild boars which we had been following
the day before. We supposed that they too would sleep that night in the
forest, as we had done; and thus the delay on our part would be no
disadvantage to us. This was just the case, for about nine o'clock
their feet-marks became fresher and fresher: we now doubled, our pace,
but did not give mouth like hounds. We pushed on in silence, and soon
came up with them: there were above one hundred of them. We killed six
and the rest took off in different directions. But to the point.
Amongst us the needy man works from light to dark for a maintenance.
Should this man chance to acquire a fortune, he soon changes his
habits. No longer under "strong necessity's supreme command," he
contrives to get out of bed betwixt nine and ten in the morning. His
servant helps him to dress, he walks on a soft carpet to his
breakfast-table, his wife pours out his tea, and his servant hands him
his toast. After breakfast the doctor advises a little gentle exercise
in the carriage for an hour or so. At dinner-time he sits down to a
table groaning beneath the weight of heterogeneous luxury: there he
rests upon a chair for three or four hours, eats, drinks and talks
(often unmeaningly) till tea is announced. He proceeds slowly to the
drawing-room, and there spends best part of his time in sitting, till
his wife tempts him with something warm for supper. After supper he
still remains on his chair at rest till he retires to rest for the
night. He mounts leisurely upstairs upon a carpet, and enters his
bedroom: there, one would hope that at least he mutters a prayer or
two, though perhaps not on bended knee. He then lets himself drop in to
a soft and downy bed, over which has just passed the comely Jenny's
warming-pan. Now, could the Indian in his turn see this, he would call
the white men a lazy, indolent set.
Perhaps, then, upon due reflection you would draw this conclusion: that
men will always be indolent where there is no object to rouse them.
As the Indian of Guiana has no idea whatever of communicating his
intentions by writing, he has fallen upon a plan of communication sure
and simple. When two or three families have determined to come down the
river and pay you a visit, they send an Indian beforehand with a string
of beads. You take one bead off every day, and on the day that the
string is beadless they arrive at your house.
In finding their way through these pathless wilds the sun is to them
what Ariadne's clue was to Theseus. When he is on the meridian they
generally sit down, and rove onwards again as soon as he has
sufficiently declined to the west; they require no other compass. When
in chase, they break a twig on the bushes as they pass by, every three
or four hundred paces, and this often prevents them from losing their
way on their return.
You will not be long in the forests of Guiana before you perceive how
very thinly they are inhabited. You may wander for a week together
without seeing a hut. The wild beasts, snakes, the swamps, the trees,
the uncurbed luxuriance of everything around you conspire to inform you
that man has no habitation here--man has seldom passed this way.
Let us now return to natural history. There was a person making
shingles with twenty or thirty negroes not far from Mibiri Hill. I had
offered a reward to any of them who would find a good-sized snake in
the forest and come and let me know where it was. Often had these
negroes looked for a large snake, and as often been disappointed.
One Sunday morning I met one of them in the forest, and asked him which
way he was going: he said he was going towards Waratilla Creek to hunt
an armadillo; and he had his little dog with him. On coming back, about
noon, the dog began to bark at the root of a large tree which had been
upset by the whirlwind and was lying there in a gradual state of decay.
The negro said he thought his dog was barking at an acouri which had
probably taken refuge under the tree, and he went up with an intention
to kill it; he there saw a snake, and hastened back to inform me of it.
The sun had just passed the meridian in a cloudless sky; there was
scarcely a bird to be seen, for the winged inhabitants of the forest,
as though overcome by heat, had retired to the thickest shade: all
would have been like midnight silence were it not for the shrill voice
of the pi-pi-yo, every now and then resounded from a distant tree. I
was sitting with a little Horace in my hand, on what had once been the
steps which formerly led up to the now mouldering and dismantled
building. The negro and his little dog came down the hill in haste, and
I was soon informed that a snake had been discovered; but it was a
young one, called the bush-master, a rare and poisonous snake.
I instantly rose up, and laying hold of the eight-foot lance which was
close by me, "Well, then, Daddy," said I, "we'll go and have a look at
the snake." I was barefoot, with an old hat, and check shirt, and
trousers on, and a pair of braces to keep them up. The negro had his
cutlass, and as we ascended the hill another negro, armed with a
cutlass, joined us, judging from our pace that there was something to
do. The little dog came along with us, and when we had got about half a
mile in the forest the negro stopped and pointed to the fallen tree:
all was still and silent. I told the negroes not to stir from the place
where they were, and keep the little dog in, and that I would go in and
reconnoitre.
I advanced up to the place slow and cautious. The snake was well
concealed, but at last I made him out; it was a coulacanara, not
poisonous, but large enough to have crushed any of us to death. On
measuring him afterwards he was something more than fourteen feet long.
This species of snake is very rare, and much thicker in proportion to
his length than any other snake in the forest. A coulacanara of
fourteen feet in length is as thick as a common boa of twenty-four.
After skinning this snake I could easily get my head into his mouth, as
the singular formation of the jaws admits of wonderful extension.
A Dutch friend of mine, by name Brouwer, killed a boa twenty-two feet
long with a pair of stag's horns in his mouth. He had swallowed the
stag, but could not get the horns down; so he had to wait in patience
with that uncomfortable mouthful till his stomach digested the body,
and then the horns would drop out. In this plight the Dutchman found
him as he was going in his canoe up the river, and sent a ball through
his head.
On ascertaining the size of the serpent which the negro had just found,
I retired slowly the way I came, and promised four dollars to the negro
who had shown it to me, and one to the other who had joined us. Aware
that the day was on the decline, and that the approach of night would
be detrimental to the dissection, a thought struck me that I could take
him alive. I imagined if I could strike him with the lance behind the
head, and pin him to the ground, I might succeed in capturing him. When
I told this to the negroes they begged and entreated me to let them go
for a gun and bring more force, as they were sure the snake would kill
some of us.
I had been at the siege of Troy for nine years, and it would not do now
to carry back to Greece "nil decimo nisi dedecus anno." I mean I had
been in search of a large serpent for years, and now having come up
with one it did not become me to turn soft. So, taking a cutlass from
one of the negroes, and then ranging both the sable slaves behind me, I
told them to follow me, and that I would cut them down if they offered
to fly. I smiled as I said this, but they shook their heads in silence
and seemed to have but a bad heart of it.
When we got up to the place the serpent had not stirred, but I could
see nothing of his head, and I judged by the folds of his body that it
must be at the farthest side of his den. A species of woodbine had
formed a complete mantle over the branches of the fallen tree, almost
impervious to the rain or the rays of the sun. Probably he had resorted
to this sequestered place for a length of time, as it bore marks of an
ancient settlement.
I now took my knife, determining to cut away the woodbine and break the
twigs in the gentlest manner possible, till I could get a view of his
head. One negro stood guard close behind me with the lance; and near
him the other with a cutlass. The cutlass which I had taken from the
first negro was on the ground close by me in case of need.
After working in dead silence for a quarter of an hour, with one knee
all the time on the ground, I had cleared away enough to see his head.
It appeared coming out betwixt the first and second coil of his body,
and was flat on the ground. This was the very position I wished it to
be in.
I rose in silence and retreated very slowly, making a sign to the
negroes to do the same. The dog was sitting at a distance in mute
observance. I could now read in the face of the negroes that they
considered this as a very unpleasant affair; and they made another
attempt to persuade me to let them go for a gun. I smiled in a
good-natured manner, and made a feint to cut them down with the weapon
I had in my hand. This was all the answer I made to their request, and
they looked very uneasy.
It must be observed we were now about twenty yards from the snake's
den. I now ranged the negroes behind me, and told him who stood next to
me to lay hold of the lance the moment I struck the snake, and that the
other must attend my movements. It now only remained to take their
cutlasses from them, for I was sure if I did not disarm them they would
be tempted to strike the snake in time of danger, and thus for ever
spoil his skin. On taking their cutlasses from them, if I might judge
from their physiognomy, they seemed to consider it as a most
intolerable act of tyranny in me. Probably nothing kept them from
bolting but the consolation that I was to be betwixt them and the
snake. Indeed, my own heart, in spite of all I could do, beat quicker
than usual; and I felt those sensations which one has on board a
merchant-vessel in war-time, when the captain orders all hands on deck
to prepare for action, while a strange vessel is coming down upon us
under suspicious colours.
We went slowly on in silence without moving our arms or heads, in order
to prevent all alarm as much as possible, lest the snake should glide
off or attack us in self-defence. I carried the lance perpendicularly
before me, with the point about a foot from the ground. The snake had
not moved; and on getting up to him I struck him with the lance on the
near-side, just behind the neck, and pinned him to the ground. That
moment the negro next to me seized the lance and held it firm in its
place, while I dashed head foremost into the den to grapple with the
snake and to get hold of his tail before he could do any mischief.
On pinning him to the ground with the lance he gave a tremendous loud
hiss, and the little dog ran away, howling as he went. We had a sharp
fray in the den, the rotten sticks flying on all sides, and each party
struggling for superiority. I called out to the second negro to throw
himself upon me, as I found I was not heavy enough. He did so, and the
additional weight was of great service. I had now got firm hold of his
tail; and after a violent struggle or two he gave in, finding himself
overpowered. This was the moment to secure him. So while the first
negro continued to hold the lance firm to the ground, and the other was
helping me, I contrived to unloose my braces and with them tied up the
snake's mouth.
The snake, now finding himself in an unpleasant situation, tried to
better himself, and set resolutely to work, but we overpowered him. We
contrived to make him twist himself round the shaft of the lance, and
then prepared to convey him out of the forest. I stood at his head and
held it firm under my arm, one negro supported the belly and the other
the tail. In this order we began to move slowly towards home, and
reached it after resting ten times: for the snake was too heavy for us
to support him without stopping to recruit our strength. As we
proceeded onwards with him he fought hard for freedom, but it was all
in vain. The day was now too far spent to think of dissecting him. Had
I killed him, a partial putrefaction would have taken place before
morning. I had brought with me up into the forest a strong bag large
enough to contain any animal that I should want to dissect. I
considered this the best mode of keeping live wild animals when I was
pressed for daylight; for the bag yielding in every direction to their
efforts, they would have nothing solid or fixed to work on, and thus
would be prevented from making a hole through it. I say fixed, for
after the mouth of the bag was closed the bag itself was not fastened
or tied to anything, but moved about wherever the animal inside caused
it to roll. After securing afresh the mouth of the coulacanara, so that
he could not open it, he was forced into this bag and left to his fate
till morning.
I cannot say he allowed me to have a quiet night. My hammock was in the
loft just above him, and the floor betwixt us half gone to decay, so
that in parts of it no boards intervened betwixt his lodging-room and
mine. He was very restless and fretful; and had Medusa been my wife,
there could not have been more continued and disagreeable hissing in
the bed-chamber that night. At daybreak I sent to borrow ten of the
negroes who were cutting wood at a distance; I could have done with
half that number, but judged it most prudent to have a good force, in
case he should try to escape from the house when we opened the bag.
However, nothing serious occurred.
We untied the mouth of the bag, kept him down by main force, and then I
cut his throat. He bled like an ox. By six o'clock the same evening he
was completely dissected. On examining his teeth I observed that they
were all bent like tenter-hooks, pointing down his throat, and not so
large or strong as I expected to have found them; but they are exactly
suited to what they are intended by Nature to perform. The snake does
not masticate his food, and thus the only service his teeth have to
perform is to seize his prey and hold it till he swallows it whole.