sooner got to the other side of it, than we were completely becalmed;
and even when we resumed our progress, it was at such a pace that a
careless observer might have been pardoned for mistaking our manner of
moving for a downright standing still. Day after day produced nothing
better for us than baffling winds, so light that we scarcely made two
miles an hour, and so variable that the sails could be scarcely set in
one direction before it became necessary to shift them to another;
while the monotony of our voyage was only broken by an occasional
thunderstorm, the catching a stray dolphin now and then, watching a
shoal of flying fish, or guessing at the complexion of the corsairs on
board some vessel in the offing: for the Caribbean Sea is now dabbed all
over like a painter’s pallette with corsairs of all colours,--black
from St. Domingo, brown from Carthagena, white from North America, and
pea-green from the Cape de Verd Islands. On the afternoon of the 4th,
one of them was at no very great distance from us; she hoisted English
colours on seeing ours; but there was little doubt, from her peculiar
construction and general appearance, that she was a privateer from
Carthagena. She set her head towards us, and seemed to be doing her best
to come to a nearer acquaintance; but the same calm which hindered us
from bravely running away from her, hindered her also from reaching us,
although at nightfall she seemed to have gained upon us. In the night
we had a violent thunder-storm, and the next morning she was not to be
seen. Still we continued to creep and to crawl, grumbling and growling,
till on Sunday, the 11th, the long-looked-for wind came at last. The
trade wind began to blow with all its might and main right in the
vessel’s poop, and sent us forward at the rate of 200 miles a day. We
passed between Deseada and Antigua in the night of the 15th; and, on the
16th, the rising sun showed us the island mountain of Montserrat; the
sight of which was scarcely less agreeable to our eyes from its
romantic beauty, than welcome from its giving us the assurance that our
long-winded voyage is at length drawing towards its termination.
JANUARY 19.
Yesterday morning a miniature shark chose to swallow the bait laid for
dolphins, and in consequence soon made his appearance upon deck. It was
a very young one, not above three feet long. I ordered a slice of him to
be broiled at dinner, but he was by no means so good as a dolphin; but
still there was nothing in the taste so unpalatable as to prevent the
flesh from being very acceptable in the absence of more delicate food.
In the evening, a bird, about the size of a large pigeon, flew on board,
and was knocked down by the mate with his hat. It was sulky, and would
not be persuaded to eat any thing that was offered, so he was suffered
to escape this morning. It was beautifully shaped, with a swallow-tail,
wings of an extraordinary spread in comparison with the smallness of
the body, a long sharp bill, black and polished like a piece of jet, and
eyes remarkably large and brilliant. The head, back, and outside of the
wings were of a brownish slate colour, and the rest of his feathers of
the most dazzling whiteness. It is called a crab-catcher.
JANUARY 24. (Saturday.)
Our favourable breeze lasted till Tuesday, the 20th; when, having
brought us half way between St. Domingo and Jamaica, it died away, and
we dragged on at the rate of two or three miles an hour till Thursday
afternoon, which placed us at the mouth of Black River. If we had
arrived one hour earlier, we could have immediately entered the
harbour; but, with our usual good fortune, we were just too late for the
daylight. We therefore did not drop anchor till two o’clock on Friday,
before the town of Black River; and on Saturday morning, at four
o’clock, I embarked in the ship’s cutter for Savannah la Mar. Every one
assured us that we could not fail to have a favourable seabreeze the
whole way, and that we should be on land by eight: instead of which,
what little wind there was veered round from one point of the compass to
the other with the most indefatigable caprice; and we were not on shore
till eleven. Here I found Mr. T. Hill, who luckily had his phaëton
ready, in which he immediately conveyed me once more to my own estate.
The accounts of the general behaviour of my negroes is reasonably good,
and they all express themselves satisfied with their situation and their
superintendents. Yet, among upwards of three hundred and thirty
negroes, and with a greater number of females than men, in spite of all
indulgences and inducements, not more than twelve or thirteen children
have been added annually to the list of the births. On the other hand,
this last season has been generally unhealthy all over the island, and
more particularly so in my parish; so that I have lost several negroes,
some of them young, strong, and valuable labourers in every respect; and
in consequence, my sum total is rather diminished than increased since
my last visit. I had been so positively assured that the custom of
plunging negro infants, immediately upon their being born, into a tub of
cold water, infallibly preserved them from the danger of tetanus, that,
on leaving Jamaica, I had ordered this practice to be adopted uniformly.
The negro mothers, however, took a prejudice against it into their
heads, and have been so obstinate in their opposition, that it was
thought unadvisable to attempt the enforcing this regulation. From this
and other causes I have lost several infants; but I am told, that on
other estates in the neighbourhood they have been still more unfortunate
in regard to their children; and one was named to me, on which sixteen
were carried off in the course of three days.
JANUARY 26. (Monday.)
The joy of the negroes on my return was quite sufficiently vociferous,
and they were allowed today for a holiday. They set themselves to
singing and dancing yesterday, in order to lose no time; and to show
their gratitude for the indulgence, not one of the five pen-keepers
chose to go to their watch last night; the consequence was that the
cattle made their escape, and got into one of my very best cane-pieces.
The alarm was given; my own servants and some of the head people had
grace enough to run down to the scene of action; but the greatest
part remained quietly in the negro-houses, beating the gumby-drum, and
singing their joy for my arrival with the whole strength of their lungs,
but without thinking it in the least necessary to move so much as a
finger-joint in my service. The cattle were at length replaced in their
pen, but not till the cane-piece had been ruined irretrievably. Such
is negro gratitude, and such my reward for all that I have suffered on
ship-board. To be sure, as yet there could not be a more ill-starred
expedition than my present one.
I only learned, yesterday, that before making the island of Madeira an
Algerine corsair was actually in sight, and near enough to discern the
turbans of the crew; but we lost each other through the violence of the
gale.
JANUARY 29.
There is a popular negro song, the burden of which is,--
Take him to the Gulley! Take him to the Gulley!
But bringee back the frock and board.”--
“Oh! massa, massa! me no deadee yet!”--
“Take him to the Gulley! Take him to the Gulley!”
“Carry him along!”
This alludes to a transaction which took place some thirty years ago,
on an estate in this neighbourhood, called Spring-Garden; the owner
of which (I think the name was Bedward) is quoted as the cruellest
proprietor that ever disgraced Jamaica. It was his constant practice,
whenever a sick negro was pronounced incurable, to order the poor wretch
to be carried to a solitary vale upon his estate, called the Gulley,
where he was thrown down, and abandoned to his fate; which fate was
generally to be half devoured by the john-crows, before death had put an
end to his sufferings. By this proceeding the avaricious owner avoided
the expence of maintaining the slave during his last illness; and in
order that he might be as little a loser as possible, he always enjoined
the negro bearers of the dying man to strip him naked before leaving the
Gulley, and not to forget to bring back his frock and the board on which
he had been carried down. One poor creature, while in the act of being
removed, screamed out most piteously “that he was not dead yet;” and
implored not to be left to perish in the Gulley in a manner so horrible.
His cries had no effect upon his master, but operated so forcibly on the
less marble hearts of his fellow-slaves, that in the night some of them
removed him back to the negro village privately, and nursed him there
with so much care, that he recovered, and left the estate unquestioned
and undiscovered. Unluckily, one day the master was passing through
Kingston, when, on turning the corner of a street suddenly, he found
himself face to face with the negro, whom he had supposed long ago
to have been picked to the bones in the Gulley of Spring-Garden. He
immediately seized him, claimed him as his slave, and ordered his
attendants to convey him to his house; but the fellow’s cries attracted
a crowd round them, before he could be dragged away. He related his
melancholy story, and the singular manner in which he had recovered his
life and liberty; and the public indignation was so forcibly excited by
the shocking tale, that Mr. Bedward was glad to save himself from
being torn to pieces by a precipitate retreat from Kingston, and never
ventured to advance his claim to the negro a second time.
JANUARY 30.
A man has been tried, at Kingston, for cruel treatment of a Sambo female
slave, called Amey. She had no friends to support her cause, nor any
other evidence to prove her assertions, than the apparent truth of
her statement, and the marks of having been branded in five different
places. The result was, that the master received a most severe reprimand
for his inhuman conduct, and was sentenced to close confinement for six
months, while the slave, in consequence of her sufferings, was restored
to the full enjoyment of her freedom.
It appears to me that nothing could afford so much relief to the
negroes, under the existing system of Jamaica, as the substituting the
labour of animals for that of slaves in agriculture, whereever such a
measure is practicable. On leaving the island, I impressed this wish of
mine upon the minds of my agents with all my power; but the only result
has been the creating a very considerable additional expense in the
purchase of ploughs, oxen, and farming implements; the awkwardness,
and still more the obstinacy, of the few negroes, whose services were
indispensable, was not to be overcome: they broke plough after plough,
and ruined beast after beast, till the attempt was abandoned in despair.
However, it was made without the most essential ingredient for success,
the superintendence of an English ploughman; and such of the ploughs as
were of cast-iron could not be repaired when once broken, and therefore
ought not to have been adopted; but I am told, that in several other
parts of the island the plough has been introduced, and completely
successful. Another of my farming speculations answered no better: this
was to improve the breed of cattle in the county, for which purpose
Lord Holland and myself sent over four of the finest bulls that could be
procured in England. One of them got a trifling hurt in its passage
from the vessel to land; but the remaining three were deposited in their
respective pens without the least apparent damage. They were taken all
possible care of, houses appropriated to shelter them from the sun and
rain, and, in short, no means of preserving their health was neglected.
Yet, shortly after their arrival in Jamaica, they evidently began to
decline; their blood was converted into urine; they paid no sort of
attention to the cows, who were confined in the same paddock; and at the
end of a fortnight not one was in existence, two having died upon
the same day. The injured one, having been bled the most copiously in
consequence of its hurt, was that which survived the longest.
JANUARY 31.
Some days ago, a negro woman, who has lost four children, and has always
been a most affectionate mother, brought the fifth, a remarkably fine
infant, into the hospital. She complained of its having caught cold, a
fever, and so on; but nothing administered was of use, and its manner of
breathing made the doctor enquire, whether the child had not had a fall?
The mother denied this most positively, and her fondness for the infant
admitted no doubt of her veracity. Still the child grew worse and
worse; still the question about the fall was repeated, and as constantly
denied; until luckily being made in the presence of a new-comer, the
latter immediately exclaimed, “that to her certain knowledge the infant
had really had a fall, for that the mother having fastened it behind her
back, the knot of the handkerchief had slipped, and the baby had fallen
upon the floor.”--“It is false,” answered the mother: “the child did not
fall; for when the knot slipped, I had time to catch it by the foot, and
so I saved it from falling, just as its head struck against the ground.”
Fear of being blamed as having occasioned the baby’s illness through
her own carelessness had induced her to adopt this equivocation, and its
life had nearly been the sacrifice of her duplicity. A proper mode of
treatment was now adopted without loss of time; their beneficial effect
was immediately visible, and the poor little negro is now recovering
rapidly. But certainly there is no folly and imprudence like unto negro
folly and imprudence. One of my best disposed and most sensible Eboes
has had a violent fever lately, but was so nearly well as to be put
upon a course of bark. On Wednesday morning a son of his died of
dirt-eating,--a practice which neither severity nor indulgence could
induce him to discontinue. The boy was buried that night according to
African customs, accompanied with dancing, singing, drinking, eating,
and riot of all kinds; and the father, although the kindest-hearted
negro on my estate, and remarkably fond of his children, danced and
drank to such an excess, that I found him on the following morning in a
raging fever, and worse than he was when he first entered the hospital.
I had warned him against the consequences of the funeral, reminded him
of the dangerous malady from which he was but just recovering, and he
had promised solemnly to be upon his guard; and such was the manner in
which he performed his promise.
FEBRUARY 1. (Sunday.)
During my former visit to Jamaica I had interceded in behalf of a
negro belonging to Greenwich estate, named Aberdeen, who had run away
repeatedly, but who attributed his misconduct to the decay of his
health, which rendered him unable to work as well as formerly, and to
the fear of consequent punishment for not having performed the tasks
assigned to him. The fellow while he spoke to me had tears running
down his cheeks, looked feeble and ill, and indeed seemed to be quite
heart-broken. On my speaking to the attorney, he readily promised to
enquire into the truth of the man’s statement, and to take care that he
should be only allotted such labour as his strength might be fully equal
to. This morning he came over to see me, and so altered, that I could
scarcely believe him to be the same man. He was cleanly dressed, walked
with his head erect, and his eyes sparkled, and his mouth grinned from
ear to ear, while he told me, that during my absence every thing had
gone well with him, nobody had “put upon him;” he had been tasked no
more than suited his strength; as much as he was able to do, he had
done willingly, and had never run away. Even his asthma was better in
consequence of the depression being removed from his spirits. So, he
said, as soon as he heard of my return, he thought it his duty to
come over and show himself to me, and tell me that he was well, and
contented, and behaving properly; for that “to be sure, if massa no
speak that good word for me to trustee, me no livee now; me good,
massa!” Gratitude made him absolutely eloquent: his whole manner, and
the strong expression of his countenance, put his sincerity out of
all doubt, and I never saw a man seem to feel more truly thankful.
All negroes, therefore, are not absolutely without some remembrance of
kindness shown them; and indeed I ought not in justice to my own people
to allow myself to forget, that when I sent a reward to those who had
roused themselves to drive the cattle out of my canes the other night,
there was considerable difficulty in persuading them to accept the
money: they sent me word, “that as they were all well treated on the
estate, it was their business to take care that no mischief was done to
it, and that they did not deserve to be rewarded for having merely done
their duty by me.” Nor was it till after they had received repeated
orders from me, that their delicacy could be overcome, and themselves
persuaded to pocket the affront and the _maccaroni_.
FEBRUARY 2.
One of the deadliest poisons used by the negroes (and a great variety is
perfectly well known to most of them) is prepared from the root of the
cassava.
Its juice being expressed and allowed to ferment, a small worm is
generated, the substance of which being received into the stomach is of
a nature the most pernicious. A small portion of this worm is concealed
under one of the thumb-nails, which are suffered to grow long for this
purpose; then when the negro has contrived to persuade his intended
victim to eat or drink with him, he takes an opportunity, while handing
to him a dish or cup, to let the worm fall, which never fails to destroy
the person who swallows it. Another means of destruction is to be found
(as I am assured) in almost every negro garden throughout the island:
it is the arsenic bean, neither useful for food nor ornamental in its
appearance; nor can the negroes, when questioned, give any reason for
affording it a place in their gardens; yet there it is always to be
seen. The alligator’s liver also possesses deleterious properties; and
the gall is said to be still more dangerous.
FEBRUARY 3.
On Friday I was made to observe, in the hospital, a remarkably fine
young negro, about twenty-two years of age, stout and strong, and whom
every one praised for his numerous good qualities, and particularly for
his affection for his mother, and the services which he rendered her. He
complained of a little fever, and a slight pain in his side. On Saturday
he left the hospital, and intended to go to his provision grounds, among
the mountains, on Sunday morning; but, as he complained of a pain in his
head, his mother prevented his going, and obliged him to return to the
hospital in the evening. On Monday he was seized with fainting fits,
lost his speech and power of motion, and this morning I was awaked by
the shrieks and lamentations of the poor mother, who, on coming to the
hospital to enquire for her son, found, that in spite of all possible
care and exertions on the part of his medical attendants, he had just
expired. Whether it be the climate not agreeing with their African
blood (genuine or inherited), or whether it be from some defect in their
general formation, certainly negroes seem to hold their lives upon a
very precarious tenure. Nicholas, John Fuller, and others of my best
and most favoured workmen, the very servants, too, in my own house, are
perpetually falling ill with little fevers, or colds, or pains in the
head or limbs. However, the season is universally allowed to have been
peculiarly unhealthy for negroes; and, indeed, even for white people,
the deaths on board the shipping having been unusually numerous this
year. As to the barracks, which are scarcely a couple of miles distant
from my estate, there the yellow fever has established itself, and, as
I hear, is committing terrible ravages, particularly among the wives
of the soldiers.--This morning several negro-mothers, belonging to
Friendship and Greenwich, came to complain to their attorney (who
happened to be at my house) that the overseer obliged them to wean their
children too soon. Some of these children were above twenty-two months
old, and none under eighteen; but, in order to retain the leisure and
other indulgences annexed to the condition of nursing-mothers, the
female negroes, by their own good-will, would never wean their offspring
at all. Of course their demands were rejected, and they went home in
high discontent; one of them, indeed, not scrupling to declare aloud,
and with a peculiar emphasis and manner, that if the child should be put
into the weaning-house against her will, the attorney would see it dead
in less than a week.
FEBRUARY 4.
The violent gale of wind which persecuted us with so much pertinacity on
our leaving the English Channel is supposed to have been the tail of a
tremendous hurricane, which has utterly laid waste Barbados and several
other islands. No less than sixteen of the ships which sailed at the
same time with us are reported to have perished upon the passage; so
that I ought to consider it at least as a negative piece of good luck to
have reached Jamaica myself, no bones broke, though sore peppered but
I am still trembling in uncertainty for the fate of the vessel which is
bringing out all my Irish supplies, and the non-arrival of which would
be a misfortune to me of serious magnitude.
The negroes are so obstinate and so wilful in their general character,
that if they do not receive the precise articles to which they have
been accustomed, and which they expect as their right, no compensation,
however ample, can satisfy them. Thus, at every Christmas it would go
near to create a rebellion if they did not receive a certain proportion
of salt fish; but if, in the intervening months, accident should prevent
their receiving their usual allowance of herrings, the giving them salt
fish to the amount of double the value would be considered by them as an
act of the grossest injustice.
FEBRUARY 5.
On Saturday, about eight in the evening, a large centipede dropped from
the ceiling upon my dinner-table, and was immediately cut in two exact
halves by one of the guests. As it is reported in Jamaica that these
reptiles, when thus divided, will re-unite again, or if separated will
reproduce their missing members, and continue to live as stoutly as
ever, I put both parts into a plate, under a glass cover. On Sunday they
continued to move about their prison with considerable agility, although
the tail was evidently much more lively and full of motion than the
head: perhaps the centipede was a female. On Monday the head was dead,
but the tail continued to run about, and evidently endeavoured to to
make its escape, although it appeared not to know very well how to set
about it, nor to be perfectly determined as to which way it wanted to
go: it only seemed to have Cymon’s reason for wishing to take a walk,
and “would rather go any where, than stay with any body.” On Wednesday,
at twelve o’clock, its vivacity was a little abated, but only a little;
the wound was skinned over, and I was waiting anxiously to know whether
it would subsist without its numskull till a good old age, or would put
forth an entirely spick and span new head and shoulders; when, on going
to look at the plate on Thursday morning, lo and behold! the dead head
and the living tail had disappeared together. I suppose some of the
negro servants had thrown them away through ignorance, but they deny,
one and all, having so much as touched the plate, most stoutly; and as
a paper case, pierced in several places, had been substituted for the
glass cover, some persons are of opinion that the tail made its escape
through one of these air-holes, and carried its head away with it in its
forceps. Be this as it may, gone they both are, and I am disappointed
beyond measure at being deprived of this opportunity of reading the
last volume of “The Life and Adventures of a Centipede’s Tail.” I have
proclaimed a reward for the bringing me another, but I am told that
these reptiles are only found by accident; and that, very possibly, one
may not be procured previous to my leaving the island.
FEBRUARY 6.
Mr. Lutford, the proprietor of a considerable estate in the parish
of Clarendon, had frequently accused a particular negro of purloining
coffee. About six months ago the slave was sent for, and charged with a
fresh offence of the same nature, when he confessed the having taken a
small quantity; upon which his master ordered him to fix his eyes on a
particular cotton tree, and then, without any further ceremony, shot him
through the head. His mistress was the coroner’s natural daughter,
and the coroner himself was similarly connected with the custos of
Clarendon. In consequence of this family compact, no inquest was held,
no enquiry was made; the whole business was allowed to be slurred
over, and the murder would have remained unpunished if accident had
not brought some rumours respecting it to the governor’s ear. An
investigation was ordered to take place without delay; but Mr. Lutford
received sufficient warning to get on shipboard, and escape to America;
and the displacing of the custos of Clarendon, for neglecting his
official duty, was the only means by which the governor could express
his abhorrence of the act.
FEBRUARY 8. (Sunday.)