YOU may judge, gentlemen, how much all these circumstances excited my
curiosity and interest. I made every inquiry regarding the prisoner, and
some strange particulars came to my knowledge. I learned that all his
comrades displayed the greatest respect for the young negro. Slave as he
was, he had but to make a sign to be implicitly obeyed. He was not born
upon the estate, nor did any one know his father or mother: all that was
known of him was that some years ago, a slave ship had brought him to
St. Domingo. This circumstance rendered the influence which he exercised
over the slaves the more extraordinary, for, as a rule, the negroes born
upon the island profess the greatest contempt for the _Congos_, a term
which they apply to all slaves brought direct from Africa.
Although he seemed a prey to deep dejection, his enormous strength,
combined with his great skill, rendered him very valuable in the
plantation. He could turn more quickly, and for a longer period than a
horse, the wheels of the sugar-mills, and often in a single day
performed the work of ten of his companions to save them from the
punishment which their negligence or incapacity had rendered them
liable. For this reason he was adored by the slaves, but the respect
that they paid him was of an entirely different character from the
superstitious dread with which they looked upon Habibrah the Jester.
What was more strange was the modesty and gentleness with which he
treated his equals, in contrast to the pride and haughtiness which he
displayed to the negroes who acted as overseers. These privileged
slaves, the intermediary links in the chain of servitude, too often
exceed the little brief authority that is delegated to them, and find a
cruel pleasure in overwhelming those beneath them with work. Not one of
them, however, had ever dared to inflict any species of punishment on
him, for had they done so, twenty negroes would have stepped forward to
take his place, whilst he would have looked gravely on, as thought he
considered that they were merely performing a duty. The strange being
was known throughout the negro quarter as _Pierrot_.