Forts and fortifications--Temporary ones--The present forts--
Fort James--Its situation and approach--Rat Island Battery, its
appellation, lunatic asylum, and flag-staff--Goat Hill--Steep
ascent--Schools in St. John's.
It might be imagined that where nature has done so much for her
favourite isle in the way of barricading it, by giving to Antigua
a bold rocky coast, _art_, in the shape of forts and batteries,
would be less called for. This, however, is not the case; the
island coaster meets with many an embattled point, and many a
sea-girt cliff supports the frowning walls of a battery.
The forts in Antigua are Fort James, Rat Island Battery, Goat
Hill or Fort Barrington, Old Fort, Johnston's Point Fort, Old
Road Fort, Falmouth Fort, Fort Black's Point, Fort Charlotte and
Fort Berkley at the entrance of English Harbour, Fort Christian,
Fort Isaac, Fort William, Fort Harman, Flat Point Fort, Old Fort,
and Fort Byam; Parham Harbour, Dickenson's Point Battery,
Corbison's Fort, and Fort Hamilton. Of these, the greater part
were merely temporary fortifications erected in those days of
warfare when the French and Caribs, in their shallops and
perrigoas, used to make such frequent attacks upon the island.
Still, dismantled as many of these forts became in after-years,
when peace spread her soft pinions over the lovely group of the
Antilles, they retained their _names_, and served as sinecures to
those persons who, from favouritism or superannuation, were
exempted from militia duty, prior to the abolition of that body
during the administration of Sir W. Colebrooke.[99]
The fortifications at present in use are, Fort James, Rat Island
Battery, Goat Hill, Fort George, Fort Johnston's Point, Old Road
Fort, Monk's Hill, and the forts at English Harbour.
Fort James was erected about the year 1704-5, on a spot of ground
known as St. John's Point, which was given to his majesty Charles
II., by Col. James Vaughan, in 1680. It is situated at the
entrance of St. John's Harbour, and commands at once a beautiful
and extensive view, while, from its frowning battlements, a
deadly and raking fire could be poured upon the adventurous enemy
who dared its anger. The rock upon which it is built appears to
overhang the sea; and the waves, from constantly fretting and
foaming around its base, have completely undermined it. If all
proper precautions be not taken, the fort and its accompaniments
will, some day, probably make a rapid descent into the yawning
gulf beneath, and its avenging weapons no longer vomit forth
their flaming breath upon the dauntless vessel who dares to pass
it, without tendering to its captain his expected dole.[100]
Fort James mounts but few guns, the rest are making themselves
beds deep in the earth. This is one of the happy results of
peace. Those murderous weapons repose in quietness, and that they
may ever do so is my fervent prayer. A gun, however, is fired at
sunrise and sunset; and her majesty's ships, as well as vessels
of war belonging to other nations, are complimented with a grand
discharge. The arrival and departure of the governor, members of
council, &c., also call for a similar mark of honour. Serious
accidents sometimes occur at such periods. A few months ago one
of the matrosses had his arm so severely shattered by overloading
the instrument when saluting a French man-of-war, that it became
necessary to amputate the limb immediately. He has now happily
regained his former health, and is employed upon the fort as a
schoolmaster.
The captain of Fort James receives 150l. sterling per annum, and
the residence is one that many would gladly inhabit. Under him
are stationed twelve matrosses, who receive very good pay. For
the use of these last-mentioned persons, a temporary chapel has
been established within these last few years, through the
instrumentality of the Rev. John Horsford, Wesleyan missionary,
son to the former governor of the fort, by which happy means they
are enabled to attend Divine service once on the Lord's day.
The road from the capital to Fort James, a distance of about four
miles, is not very noted for the interest it displays. As the
traveller nears the fort, an arm of the sea runs far inland,
twisting and twining its rippling waters amid the clumps of
aquatic shrubs in a most snake-like manner. Through this,
equestrians and pedestrians, the emblazoned carriage, and the
more humble gig, alike have to pass, while shoals of fairy-like
fish dart from their parent waters in all directions; and as the
sunbeams catch their silvery scales, almost blind the looker-on
with their dazzling coruscations.
Rat Island Battery is of itself a most picturesque object, as the
stranger approaches Antigua. It lies within the harbour of St.
John's, and takes its name from some fancied resemblance to that
most destructive little quadruped, a rat. I cannot say this
isapparent to my eyes, but the believers in such a similitude say
that the rock personates the body of the animal, while the
causeway which connects it to the main land plays the part of a
tail. I have already mentioned the lunatic asylum lately erected
upon this rock, whose whitened walls look cheerfully down upon
the waters beneath, and little tells the observer how many
darkened minds wander within them. The flag-staff upon Rat Island
is often gaily decorated with various flags, and with a beating
heart my eyes have often sought it, for there I learn the tidings
that another packet has arrived from my native land, and, as I
hope, brought me one of those little packages traced with "a grey
goose-quill," and telling that those who are so dear to me are
enjoying health and happiness in Old England.
Goat Hill crowns the summit of a lofty hill upon the opposite
side of the harbour to Fort James. When passing it by sea, our
surprise is excited when we consider how it is possible to
transport the heavy artillery and stores up the steep ascent; but
the road is winding, and the difficulty is much sooner overcome
than would be supposed. It was on the site of this fort that the
French landed, in that memorable attack upon, and reduction of,
the island in 1666. Near the base of Goat Hill, two peculiar
shaped and blackened rocks rear their bare heads above the sea,
around which the waves dash their lustrous foam with loud and
angry moanings. The remaining forts, with the salaries of their
several captains, and the means by which they are paid, will be
found in the statistical portion of this work.
From the forts, I proceed to mention the "Mico Charity" School at
St. John's, where instruction is given in various branches of
knowledge. Upon my visit to this school, I must say I was
surprised to find among the dirty ragged little negroes, which
comprised it generally, a herd of geographers, historians, and
grammarians. The head-master happened to be absent, but a
messenger was immediately despatched to call him; and, upon his
arrival, the examination commenced, which I left entirely to
themselves, wishing to see their own mode of tuition.
The room, or rather rooms, were hung round with various pictorial
embellishments, consisting of some very beautiful lithographed
designs, representing the most interesting and affecting scenes
in the Old and New Testament--birds and animals, fruits and
flowers, steam apparatuses, machinery of all descriptions, modes
of every branch of agriculture, and some excellent maps.
A stand was placed in the middle of the apartment, and a boy of
about twelve or thirteen took his station by the side of it, with
the "wand of office" in his hand. It was now announced by the
master--"Those boys who wish to ask questions, please hold up
their hands," when immediately about eight or ten, of the same
age as the one stationed in the middle of the room, replied by
the motion required, while an air of animation sprang to their
eyes, and lightened the dusky hue of their complexions. The first
question was proposed by a boy, black as the late member of
parliament's celebrated blacking, but whose scanty habiliments
bore many a mark from the finger of time, and many a stain upon
their once fair colour. "Who was Hannibal?" Answer, from the boy
near the stand--"A Carthaginian general, who defeated the Romans
in two engagements."
It was now his turn to propound--"How is the true situation of
any place upon the globe shewn?" Answer, from an
intelligent-looking little mongrel boy, who was in such haste to
reply, that it called for the aid of the master to render his
rapid utterance understood--"By the intersection of that
imaginary circle, which we call a parallel of latitude, with the
meridian of the place in question." Having replied to this query,
he asked the boy at the stand--"Who was the first Roman emperor
that visited England, then called Britain, and in what year?"
This was a puzzler. He could not answer to it; so he lost his
conspicuous station, which was occupied by the more fortunate
querist.
Various other questions were then proposed in history and
chronology; after which, an examination in the Old and New
Testaments commenced--the interrogatories being still propounded
by the boy: "Who was the man that climbed up into the tree, to
see Jesus pass?" "Zaccheus."--"Where did Moses die?" inquired a
pretty little girl. "On Mount Pisgah," was the answer. A tall,
rather grim-looking boy, started up, and, in a sepulchral-toned
voice, asked--"What is the difference between Pisgah and Nebo?"--
"Nebo appears to have been a point, or pinnacle, of Mount
Pisgah," replied a shrimpish boy by his side.
An excellent map of the world was then brought, and attached to
the stand in the middle of the apartment, so that the eyes of the
whole school could rest upon it. The greater and lesser circles
were then pointed out, the meaning of longitude and latitude
defined, the form and divisions of the earth mentioned and
descanted upon, and the sun's path through the ecliptic
described.
The question was then proposed to the school--"Would you like to
sing?"--"Yes," from every lip. "You must promise to sing very
soft and sweet," quoth the master. "Soft and sweet," reverberated
from the whole of the scholars, like the tongue of an echo. Then
came the "soft and sweet," as they termed it; and if the _burden_
of a song could give _melody_ to the lips, it would have been
more sweet than "the breath of the south wind upon a bed of
violets," as Avon's favoured bard once sang; for it was all about
our dear little Queen Victoria. To the tune of this loyal ditty
they marched round the room, each class divided by their several
teachers, carrying a pile of books, and then formed into
semicircles, to be exercised in reading, writing, arithmetic,
spelling, and grammar. Their spelling was very fair; many of them
wrote a good hand; they all appeared conversant with the four
first rules of arithmetic; and as for grammar, they talked about
present tenses, and perfect participles, nouns, adverbs, and
conjunctions, definites and indefinites, until I began to think
they must have been born with a "Lindley Murray" in their mouths.
I wish I could speak as well of their reading; but I suppose boys
who talk about Hannibal and Artaxerxes, ecliptics and globular
projections, and descant upon the merit of tenses, esteem it too
common-place to read correctly words of two or three syllables.
The average number of boys and girls attending this school is
from 140 to 160; although, from the prevalence of the measles
upon my visit, there were not more than half that number there.
Young men are also received in this establishment as candidates
for teachers; 100 of whom have, within these last four years,
been disseminated throughout the schools in Antigua, and some of
the other West India Islands, as fully qualified for instructing
the rising generation in all the necessary branches of education.
After experiencing the erudition of these advanced scholars, we
passed into another part of the establishment appropriated to the
use of the infant school. Here we found about sixty little
creatures, two or three, to eight or ten years of age, seated
upon their benches, raised one above the other--the elder ones
occupying the upper tier.
This apartment was also garnished with its pretty prints and
Brobdignagian alphabets, and possessed its coloured maps and
stands. The exercises were conducted in a similar manner as those
in the other part of the seminary: an intelligent-looking little
black boy taking his place by the centre stand, beside the map of
Palestine, and answering very fluently the various questions
proposed to him by the other children, at the same time pointing
out the places. "Where did Jesus turn water into wine?" asked one
of the little girls. "Cana, in Galilee."--"Who got his cedars
from Lebanon?"--"Solomon," &c. They then sang one of their pretty
little songs, to the tune of which they marched round the room,
and, formed into classes, read, from a selection of pieces, "Dr.
Franklin's Whistle." It was too difficult for them, and they
bungled sadly through it; for although, like the elder pupils,
they were geographers and historians, they had not made much
progress in the art of reading. Their lessons over, they sang an
anthem; and then, after a short prayer offered up by the master,
the school broke up, and away they started with whoop and song,
leaving me to ponder in my brain how far their manifold knowledge
would benefit their after progress through life.
Besides the Wesleyan and Mico schools, Antigua is further
supplied with "repositories of learning," belonging to the
established church and the Moravians. Our worthy rector, zealous
in every good work, has a pleasing little infant-school near the
rectory, besides schools in various other parts of the town and
country. The Moravians have large schools at their different
settlements; and a boys' and girls' school, with infant-school
attached, adjoining their chapel in St. John's. I visited this
last-mentioned school twice; but I am unable to speak of the
acquirements of the scholars--they having been dismissed soon
after my entrance, upon both occasions. They appear to cultivate
the art of singing; for I heard them join in Mrs. Hemans' "Better
Land," to the accompaniment of a small, but very sweet-toned
organ, played by their superintendent. If I may be allowed to
judge of the manners of the children, (which, I own, would not be
quite right,) by those of the female teacher, I should be
inclined to say, they were far behind any of the other schools I
have visited in the island; for she appeared totally deficient in
politeness or agreeable behaviour.
I have thus endeavoured to shew that Antigua abounds in schools--
the exact number of which will be found in the chapter on
statistics. I sincerely hope that the benefits arising from them
may be permanently felt by the lower classes, and that the
patrons of these schools may reap the reward of their
philanthropy. There are some sad examples: (sorry am I to be
compelled to say so!) where, instead of improving, education has
but tended to lead further into the paths of error; for the very
passages of Scripture that have been taught them--the doctrines
of salvation which have been inculcated, these unhappy creatures
pervert to raise their ungodly mirth. Oh, how do our ears become
shocked at every turn of the street, at every hour of the day, by
the language of this class of persons! while that great and holy
name, "at which every knee shall bow," is bandied about as a
common interjection.
There are some to be met with among the negroes whose display of
learning is very ludicrous. We have a servant now living with us
who often calls up from me an involuntary smile. I heard her
speaking the other evening to a fellow-servant, whose name is
Diana. "Diana, my goddess! come here. Let me see, Diana was the
goddess of _truth_, and Junus the goddess of _sleep_, and so you
must not tell me a story, or go to sleep!" Diana did not appear
to comprehend this burst of eloquence, and so her friend went on
to explain to her, that as "_Airy_ was the ram, and _Callus_ the
bull, Virgo was a lion, and Quaris was a water-pot;" she must bow
to her superior knowledge in everything. To this, Diana humbly
assented with "Ees, Miss Charlotte!" accompanied by a stare of
amazement. I don't wonder, however, at poor Diana's surprise at
her friend's knowledge; I am sure she often startles me. Another
evening, I saw her standing in the yard, with outstretched arms,
and upturned eyes, gazing upon a bright star, which twinkled
above, while in a very lackadaisical tone, she exclaimed, "Oh,
Mars! _invoke_ me by thy rays!"
I hope, however, what I have said in this last page will not
discountenance those worthy characters who are employed in
opening the book of knowledge to the eyes of the ignorant. In the
words of a much-admired writer, "the delightful hope may be
cherished by him who shall bring his mite for the promotion of
the Lancastrian system of instruction for giving knowledge to the
ignorant--the hope that he is providing for the display of a
genius in works of the highest utility, which might otherwise
have expended itself in a career of infamous contrivance, long
operating as a pest to society, terminating in the ignominious
destruction of the victim of the want of education. And when the
intimate connexion between _ignorance_ and vice is considered,
surely all who wish to lessen the sum of the latter will assist
the endeavours that are now making to plant the tree of knowledge
amid the desert and deformed waste;--to convert that which is now
cheerless and blank into a field of profuse beauty teeming with
the real wealth and strength of nations."
------
[99] Several of these forts were sold by the legislature, after
the conclusion of the war with America.
[100] It has been the custom, although the _law_ does not command
it, to pay to the captain of this fort 18s. currency, for every
vessel, no matter what her tonnage, passing from the harbour. As
there are many owners of small crafts in Antigua, whose pockets
are not so well provided with this world's wealth, as to enable
them to fling it abroad upon every occasion, they are glad to
take advantage of the absence of necessity, and retain for their
own use the two dollars, which custom or caprice has reserved for
the commandant, and pass the fort without paying the tribute.
This conduct is generally resented by despatching after the
offending vessel an angry message, in the shape of a cannon-shot.
It appears extraordinary, that such a monstrous and illegal
proceeding as firing upon the vessels should be permitted, or at
least tacitly sanctioned by the government.