Carlisle Bay, Feb.
From the details I gave you of our tedious voyage, you will learn, with
surprise, that we still continue to live on board ship. But to this we
have many inducements. It is much cooler in the harbour, than it is in
Bridge-town; we are far less annoyed with musquitoes; and, from our
belonging to the St. Domingo staff, and being in daily expectation of
receiving orders to proceed to that island, we are, at all moments,
ready to move, without the risk of leaving our baggage behind; moreover,
by living on board, whilst we are detained to windward, our sea-habits
are continued, and perhaps we may thereby avoid the tormenting sickness
of a second voyage.
We have a regular mess established. Every morning we go or send to
market for provisions; and our domestic arrangements are better
regulated, and in more of comfort than if we were on shore. Occasionally
we dine, and spend the whole, or part of a day at Bridge-town, but we
never fail to return on board to sleep.
We find that the accommodations of a West India tavern, are by no means
despicable: and you know that I am enough a traveller, rather to court
the varieties we meet, than to regard them as hardships, because they
are not, in every particular, the same as we are accustomed to in
England.
But you have desired to be told of these varieties as they occur, and I
have an early opportunity of trying your patience. Our first dinner on
shore was at a tavern in Bridge-town, kept by a mulatto woman, Mary
Bella Green. Plenty prevailed. The crowded table smoked with fish, a
piece of boiled beef, a pepper-pot, a turkey, some roasted veal, and a
quarter of mutton, with several different kinds of puddings, and quite
an assortment of vegetables, of eight or nine different species—European
and tropical. Our liquors were most excellent bottled porter, good
Madeira, tolerable claret, and very fine Noyeau. In the dessert we were
sadly disappointed, for, instead of the fine tropical fruits which we
had expected, three or four of the very common and inferior species were
set before us, unripe, and bad in quality: viz. goavas, bananas, and
sour-sops, with some tough, and bitter shaddocks; to all of which, the
commonest apples, or gooseberries of Europe would have been preferable.
But Barbadoes is not an island abounding in the finer fruits of the
climate, hence we do not judge of the delicious productions of the West
Indies by this ill-chosen sample.
Our party, for whom we had ordered dinner, consisted of nine persons,
but upon coming to table, we found covers for fifteen, and learned that,
instead of giving us a private dinner, as we had directed, they had put
us into a large public room, and served a kind of _table d’hote_. Not
being prepared for this arrangement, we remonstrated against it, and,
with some difficulty, prevailed in having the extra-covers removed; but
we soon perceived that we had gained little by thus interrupting the
customs of the house: for they, directly, spread another table in the
same room, and, setting down the six strangers close by us, divided the
dinner, between the two parties.
In making out their bill for payment, they do not detail the separate
articles of the dinner, the number of bottles of wine, the different
plates of fruit, &c. as in England, but put down the whole sum, under
the three general items of _dinner_, _wine_, and _fruit_; and, at any
house you are accustomed to use, if you call, occasionally, in a morning
to rest, or to take shelter from the sun, or rain, they give you a glass
of lemonade, or of coco-nut water, with a “_very welcome_,” and consider
themselves rewarded, by the payment you make when you take dinner at the
house. Nor is the demand for this at all extravagant, except, in so far
as regards the bad fruit. We paid a dollar each for dinner; the same for
the wine; and half a dollar for the dessert.
They make the wine and porter pleasantly cool, by putting the bottles in
wet cloth bags, and placing them in the open windows, for some time
before dinner; taking care to sprinkle them, occasionally, with water,
as they stand exposed to the breeze. A rapid evaporation is thus
produced, and, consequently, far more heat carried off, than by merely
setting the bottles in cold water. The porter is so highly improved by
the climate, and rendered so grateful, by this method of cooling, as to
be superior to any that is drank in England.
The attendants of the table are very numerous, black and yellow, male
and female; perhaps too numerous to serve you well; for they are badly
regulated, and the duty of one being that of all, it is not regarded as
the particular duty of either, and, consequently, is apt to be left
unheeded. Each, being idle and inactive, waits for another to step
before him, when any thing is called for; and, although you have a crowd
of servants present, it is difficult to obtain what you want.
The females are, mostly, of erect figure, and stately carriage, but they
move in all the languor of the climate. They appear without shoes and
stockings, in a short white jacket, and a thin short petticoat. They
wear a white turban on the head; but the neck and shoulders are left
bare. Silence is not esteemed a necessary qualification among them, for
they often join with great freedom, and a sad drawling accent, in the
conversation of the table. This will appear to you but little consistent
with the reserve and abject forbearance of slavery; but it is the
consequence of the public situation in which these women are placed, and
the familiarity that is commonly used towards them by strangers; to any,
or all of whom they are the very obliging, and _most obedient_ humble
servants.
On first making inquiry, respecting the accommodations of the house, we
were surprised to learn their extent, and the facility with which they
are attainable. A bed may be had for half a dollar per night, or three
dollars per week; and, for an additional sum well understood, the choice
of an attendant to draw the curtains.
The hostess of the tavern is, usually, a black, or mulatto woman who has
been the favored enamorata of some _backra_[2] man; from whom she has
obtained her freedom, and perhaps two or three slaves to assist her in
carrying on the business of the house; where she now indulges in the
good things of life, grows fat, and feels herself of importance in
society. To those who, in compliance with the Highgate privilege, seek
her services in preference to those of the persons employed by her, she
is supposed not to be impolite.
It is to her advantage that the female assistants in her family should
be as handsome as she can procure them. Being slaves, the only
recompense of their services, is the food they eat, the hard bed they
sleep on, and the few loose clothes which are hung upon them. One
privilege, indeed, is allowed them, which, you will be shocked to know,
is that of tenderly disposing of their persons. This offers the only
hope they have of procuring a sum of money, wherewith to purchase their
freedom: it is so common a resource among them, that neither shame nor
disgrace attaches to it; but, on the contrary, she who is most sought,
becomes an object of envy, and is proud of the distinction shown her.
One of our attendants at table, appeared, both from her conversation and
behaviour, to be very superior to her degraded station. She had nothing
of beauty, nor even prettiness of face, but she was of good figure, and
of respectable and interesting demeanor, and, in point of intellect, far
above her colleagues. Together with gentleness of manner, and an easy,
pleasant address, she possesses a degree of understanding and ability
which claims respect. In principle, and in sentiment, she appeared
virtuous; and, from the frankness of her replies, it was evident that
she knew no sense of wrong in her conduct. We could not but lament that
the imperious habits of the country did not allow of her being a more
respectable member of society.
This woman is the great support of the house—the bar-maid, and leading
manager of the family. Her mistress had refused to take a hundred
guineas for her; which, she assured us, had been offered by a gentleman
who would have purchased her. She has a very lively interesting little
daughter, a Mestee about four years old. Of this child she spake with
great tenderness, and seemed to bear it all the fond attachment of an
affectionate parent. Yet, as the infant was born in slavery, should the
mother, by any means, obtain her own freedom, she cannot claim her
child; but must leave it, still the disposable property of her mistress,
equally liable to be sold as any other piece of furniture in the house:
for, in Barbadoes, the offspring of a woman in slavery becomes the
absolute property of the owner to whom the mother belongs, whether it be
black, yellow, or white; as the law knows no period when the child of a
slave shall be born free, however removed from the African: nor can the
mother, under any circumstances of subsequent liberation, claim her
infant from its owner, even though it should be of fairer skin than the
fairest European. Thus are the natural ties of our species torn asunder;
and the dearest attachments, and purest affections of the heart cruelly
broken down! Babes are separated from their parents, and mothers robbed
of their children, by this unnatural appropriation of human substance!
The manners, and the circumstances attending the situation of this
mulatto were strongly interesting. Her whole deportment bespake a degree
of refinement, with a superiority of understanding; and indicated
talents capable of high improvement. Probably, if fortune had so placed
her in life, as to have offered her the acquirements of a chaste and
cultivated education, this woman, notwithstanding the colour of her
skin, would have made a faithful and virtuous wife; been an ornament to
her friends and society; and a blessing to the man who should have made
her the partner of his hours.
The taverns are commonly known by the names of the persons who keep
them. The most frequented, at Bridge-town, are those of Nancy Clarke,
and Mary Bella Green; the former a black—the latter a mulatto woman.
Mrs. Clarke, or Mrs. Green would scarcely be known! A party is said to
dine at Mary Bella Green’s, or at Nancy Clarke’s; or, more concisely, at
_Mary Bella_’s or at _Nancy_’s. The title _Mrs._ seems to be reserved,
solely, for the ladies from Europe, and the white creoles, and to form a
distinction between them and the women of colour of all descriptions;
none of whom, of whatever shade or degree, are dignified with this
appellation.
In the evening, after taking our first dinner on shore, Dr. Cleghorn and
myself made a walk to visit the hospitals and barracks at St. Anne’s
Hill; on our way back to Bridge-town, we were accosted by two negro
girls of respectable appearance, sitting upon the step of a gentleman’s
gateway, by the road side.
Being just arrived in a land of slavery, and feeling desirous to
converse with the Africans, and their descendants, in order to ascertain
whether any deficiency of intellect, or inferiority of natural capacity
was observable among them, we gladly passed a few minutes, in
conversation with these decent-looking young slaves. They were the
property of the gentleman, at whose gate they were sitting; and were
employed as house servants, or as they are here termed,
“_house-wenches_[3],” in his family.
Trifling as it is, I give you the conversation as it passed, divesting
it only of the broken accent, with which our language is spoken by the
negroes. It will serve to show you that the replies were not inapposite:
and perhaps not inferior to what might have been expected, from the
common order of people in Europe. One of the girls was about sixteen,
the other eighteen years of age. They conversed with ease and
affability, but were very respectful and unassuming; and their whole
conduct might have done credit to European servants, not of the lowest
class.
On our asking to whom they belonged, they replied, “We belong to Col.
B.’s lady.” Is this Col. B.’s house? “Yes; but the Col. is not at
home—he is gone to England.” How does it happen that you are sitting
here, instead of being in the house at work? “Our work, for to-day, is
finished, and we came to the gate to see the strangers, as they pass
by.” What strangers? “The strangers, who are come with the army, from
Old England.” Do you like to meet strangers? “Oh! yes, yes!” And to talk
with them? “Yes, if they talk with us.” Are the people, here, kind to
strangers? “Oh, yes! it is always our custom: every body should be more
kind to strangers than to their own people.” Why so?—should we not be
kind to every body? “Yes! we should be kind to every body, but we should
be more kind to strangers, because they come far from their own home,
and their friends; and because we may some time travel ourselves, and
want kindness from others.” Have you ever been far from your home? “No!
but, perhaps, we may some day.” How far have you ever travelled from
your master’s house? “Never more than five miles.” Did you ride or walk?
They both smiled, and hung down their heads. No reply could have been
more expressive, or better understood! “Ride! a slave ride! you are
strangers here indeed! No! we walked, bore our burden on our backs, and
journeyed on our naked feet!” We bade them good night, and walked on,
pleased with the rencontre.