THE PICARD FAMILY, TORMENTED BY THE MUSQUITOES, THE SERPENTS, AND
TIGERS, DETERMINE TO REMOVE THEIR COTTAGE TO THE BANKS OF THE
RIVER--THE POULTRY IS DISCOVERED BY THE WILD BEASTS--MISERABLE
EXISTENCE OF THAT FAMILY--HUMILIATIONS WHICH IT SUFFERED--THEIR
COTTAGE IS OVERTURNED BY A TEMPEST--THE LABOURING NEGROES FORM A
SCHEME TO DESERT.
It was yet but about the beginning of June 1819, and already the humid
winds of the south announced the approach of the bad season, or winter.
The whirlwinds of the north no longer brought the hot sands of the
Desert; but instead of them came the south-east, bringing clouds of
locusts, musquitoes, and gnats. We could no longer spend our twilights
at the cottage, it was so filled with these insects. We fled every
morning to escape their stings, and did not return home till overcome
with sleep. One night, on entering the hut, after a long day's work at
the cotton-field, we perceived an animal stealing among the bushes at a
soft slow pace; but having heard us, it leaped a very high hedge, and
disappeared. From its agility, we discovered it to be a tiger-cat,
which had been prowling about our poultry-yard, in the hope of catching
some chickens, of which these animals are very fond. The same night, my
sister and myself were awoke with a hollow noise which we heard near our
bed. Our thoughts instantly returned to the tiger-cat; we believed that
it was it we heard, and, springing up, we awoke my father. Being all
three armed, we began by looking under my bed, as the noise seemed to
proceed from the bottom of a large hole, deep under ground. We were then
convinced it was caused by a serpent, but found it impossible to get at
it. The song of this reptile so frightened us that we could sleep no
longer; however, we soon became accustomed to its invisible music, for
at short intervals we heard it all the night. Some time after the
discovery of the den of this reptile songster, my sister, going to feed
five or six pigeons which she had in a little hut, perceived a large
serpent, who seemed to have a wing on each side of his mouth. She
instantly called my father, who quickly ran to her with his gun, but the
wings which the creature seemed to have, had already disappeared. As his
belly was prodigiously swelled, my father made the negroes open it, and,
to our great surprise, found four of the pigeons of our dove-cote. The
serpent was nearly nine feet in length, and about nine inches in
circumference in the middle. After it was skinned, we gave it to the
negroes, who regaled themselves upon it. This was not the one, however,
which we had heard during the night, for in the evening on which it was
killed, we heard the whistlings of its companions. We then resolved to
look for a more comfortable place to plant our cottage, and to abandon
the rising ground to the serpents, and the woods to the tigers. We chose
a spot on the south side of our island, pretty near to the banks of the
river.
When this new ground was prepared, my father surrounded it with a hurdle
of reeds, and then transported our cottage thither. This manner of
removing from one place to another is very expeditious; in less than
three days we were fairly seated in our new abode. However, as we had
not time to carry away our poultry, we left them upon the hill till the
place we had appropriated for them was completed. It was fenced on all
sides, and covered with a large net, to prevent the birds of prey taking
away our little chickens, and we had no fear in leaving them during the
night. On the evening of the next day, my sister, accompanied with the
children, went to feed the various inhabitants of the poultry-yard; but
on approaching it she saw the frame of reeds half fallen, the net rent,
and feathers scattered here and there upon the road. Having reached the
site of our former cottage, heaps of worried ducks and chickens were the
only objects which presented themselves. She instantly sent one of the
children to acquaint us with the disaster, and my father and myself
hastened to the scene of carnage, but it was too late to take any
precautions,--all our poultry were destroyed! Two hens and a duck only
had escaped the massacre, by having squatted in the bottom of an old
barrel. We counted the dead which were left in the yard, and found that
the ferocious beasts had eat the half; about two hundred eggs of ducks
and hens, nearly hatched, were destroyed at the same time.
This was a great loss to us, especially as we counted as much upon our
poultry-yard as upon our plantation. We were obliged to resign ourselves
to our fate; for to what purpose would sorrow serve? The evil was done,
and it only remained for us to guard against the recurrence of a like
misfortune. The poultry-yard was instantly transported to our new
habitation, and we took care to surround it with thorns, to keep off the
wolves, the foxes, and the tigers. Our two hens and the duck were placed
in it till we could purchase others.
Our new cottage was, as I have already said, situated on the banks of
the river. A small wood of mangrove trees and acacias grew to the left,
presenting a scene sufficiently agreeable. But the marshy wood sent
forth such clouds of musquitoes, that, from the first day, we were so
persecuted, as scarcely to be able to inhabit our cottage during the
night. We were forced to betake ourselves to our canoe, and sail up and
down the river; but we were not more sheltered from the stings of the
insects than upon land. Sometimes, after a long course, we would return
to the hut, where, in spite of the heat, we would envelop ourselves in
thick woollen blankets, to pass the night; then, after being half
suffocated, we would fill the house full of smoke, or go and plunge
ourselves in the river.
I am bold to say, we were the most miserable creatures that ever existed
on the face of the earth. The thought of passing all the bad season in
this state of torture, made us regret a hundred times we had not
perished in the shipwreck. How, thought I, how is it possible to endure
the want of sleep, the stings of myriads of insects, the putrid
exhalations of marshes, the heat of the climate, the smoke of our huts,
the chagrin which consumes us, and the want of the most necessary
articles of life, without being overcome! My father, however, to prevent
us seeing the melancholy which weighed upon him, assumed a serene air,
when his soul was a prey to the most horrible anguish; but through this
pretended placidity it was easy to see the various sentiments by which
his heart was affected. Often would that good man say to us, "My
children, I am not unhappy, but I suffer to see you buried in the
deserts. If I could gather a sufficient fund to convey you to France, I
would at least have the satisfaction of thinking you there enjoyed life,
and that your youth did not pass in these solitudes far from human
society."--"How, my father," replied I to him, "how can you think we
could be happy in France, when we knew you were in misery in Africa! O,
afflict us not. You know, and we have said so a hundred times, that our
sole desire is to remain near you, to assist you to bring up our young
brothers and sisters, and to endeavour by our care to make them worthy
of all your tenderness." The good man would then fold us in his arms;
and the tears which trickled down his cheeks, for a while soothed his
sufferings.
Often, to divert our thoughts from the misery we endured, would we read
some of the works of our best authors. My father was usually on these
occasions the reader, whilst Caroline and myself listened. Sometimes we
would amuse ourselves with shooting the bow, and chasing the wild ducks
and fowls which went about our house. In this manner we endeavoured to
dissipate in part our ennui during the day. As our cottage was situated
close to the banks of the river, we amused ourselves in fishing, whilst
the heat and the musquitoes would permit us. Caroline and our young
brothers were chiefly charged with fishing for crabs, and they always
caught sufficient to afford supper to all the family. But sometimes we
had to forego this evening's repast, for the musquitoes at that hour
were in such prodigious numbers, that it was impossible to remain more
than an instant in one place, unless we were enveloped in our coverings
of wool. But the children not having so much sense, would not allow
themselves to be thus suffocated; they could not rest in any place, and
every instant their doleful groans forced our tears of pity. O cruel
remembrance! thou makest me yet weep as I write these lines.
Towards the beginning of July, the rains showed us it was seed time. We
began by sowing the cotton, then the fields of millet, maize, and beans.
Early in the morning, the family went to work; some digged, others
sowed, till the fierceness of the sun forced us to retire to the
cottage, where we expected a plate of kouskous, of fish, and a little
rest. At three o'clock, we all returned to the fields, and did not leave
off working till the approach of night; then we all went home, and each
occupied himself in fishing or hunting. Whilst we were thus busied in
providing our supper, and provisions for the morrow, we sometimes would
receive a visit from the sportsmen who were returning to Senegal. Some
would feel for our misery, but many made us weep with their vulgar
affronts. On these occasions, Caroline and myself would fly from these
disgusting beings as from the wild beasts who prowled about us.
Sometimes, to make us forget the insults and mortifications we
experienced from the negro merchants who live at Senegal, and whom
curiosity brought to our island, my father would say to us, "Wherefore,
my dears, are you distressed with the impertinences of these beings?
Only think that, in spite of your wretchedness, you are a hundred times
better than them, who are nothing more than vile traffickers in human
flesh, sons of soldiers, without manners, rich sailors, or freebooters,
without education and without country."
One day, a French negro merchant, whom I will not name, having crossed
the Senegal to the station of Babaguey, and seeing our cottage in the
distance, inquired to whom it belonged. He was told it was the father of
a family whom misfortune had forced to seek a refuge in that island. I
wish I could see them, said the merchant, it will be very _drole_. In
fact, a short while after, we had a visit from this _curieux_, who,
after he had said all manner of impertinences to us, went to hunt in our
plantation, where he killed the only duck which we had left, and which
he had the audacity to carry away in spite of our entreaties.
Fortunately for the insolent thief, my father was absent, else he would
have avenged the death of the duck, which even the tigers had spared in
the massacre of our poultry-yard.
Since the commencement of winter, we had had but little rain, when one
night we were roused by a loud peal of thunder. A horrible tempest swept
over us, and the hurricane bent the trees of the fields. The lightning
tore up the ground, the sound of the thunder redoubled, and torrents of
water were precipitated upon our cottage. The winds roared with the
utmost fury, our roofs were swept away, our huts were blown down, and
all the waters of heaven rushed in upon us. A flood penetrated our
habitation; all our family drenched, confounded, sought refuge under the
wrecks of our walls of straw and reeds. All our effects were floating,
and hurried off by the floods which surrounded us. The whole heavens
were in a blaze; the thunderbolt burst, fell, and burned the main-mast
of the French brig Nantaise, which was anchored at a little distance
from our island. After this horrible detonation, calm was insensibly
restored, whilst the hissing of serpents and howlings of the wild beasts
were the only sounds heard around us. The insects and reptiles, creeping
out of the earth, dispersed themselves through all the places of our
cottage which water had not covered. Large beetles went buzzing on all
sides, and attached themselves to our clothes, whilst the millepedes,
lizards, and crabs of an immense size, crawled over the wrecks of our
huts. At last, about ten o'clock, nature resumed her tranquillity, the
thunder ceased to be heard, the winds instantly fell, and the air
remained calm and dull.
After the tempest had ceased, we endeavoured to mend our huts a little,
but we could not effect it; and were obliged to remain all day under the
wrecks of our cottage. Such, however, was the manner in which we spent
nearly all our days and nights. In reading this recital, the reader has
but a feeble idea of the privations, the sufferings, and the evils, to
which the unfortunate Picard family were exposed during their stay in
the island of Safal.
About this time, my father was obliged to go to Senegal. During his
absence, the children discovered that the negroes who remained with us
had formed a scheme of deserting during the night. Caroline and myself
were much embarrassed and undecided what course to pursue, to prevent
their escape; at last, having well considered the matter, we thought, as
Etienne would be in the plot, we had no other means of preventing their
escape but by each of us arming ourselves with a pistol, and thus
passing the night in watching them. We bound our canoe firmly with a
chain, and seated ourselves, the better to observe their motions. About
nine in the evening, the two negroes came to the banks of the river, but
having discovered us, they feigned to fish, really holding in their
hands a small line; but on coming nearer to them, I saw they had no
hooks. I desired them to go to bed, and return on the morrow to fish.
One of them came close to our canoe, and threw himself into it, thinking
he could instantly put off; but when he found it chained, he left it
quite ashamed, and went and lay down with his comrade. I set off to look
for Etienne, whom we suspected to have been in the plot, and told him of
the design of the two negroes, and prayed him to assist us in watching
them during the night. He instantly rose, and taking my father's gun,
bade us sleep in quiet, whilst he alone would be sufficient to overcome
them; however, they made no farther attempt that night, hoping,
doubtless, to be more fortunate another time. Next day I wrote to my
father, to return to Safal before night, for that we were on the eve of
losing the remainder of our negroes. He returned in the evening,
resolving never again to quit our cottage. He interrogated the negroes
concerning their design of desertion, and asked them what excuse they
had to plead. "We are comfortable here," replied one of them, "but we
are not in our native country; our parents and friends are far from us.
We have been deprived of our liberty, and we have made, and will make
still farther efforts, for its recovery." He added, addressing himself
to my father, "If thou, Picard, my master, wert arrested when
cultivating thy fields, and carried far, far from thy family, wouldst
thou not endeavour to rejoin them, and recover thy liberty?" My father
promptly replied, "I would!" "Very well," continued Nakamou, "I am in
the same situation as thyself, I am the father of a numerous family; I
have yet a mother, some uncles; I love my wife, my children; and dost
thou think it wonderful I should wish to rejoin them?" My unfortunate
father, melted to tears with this speech, resolved to send them to the
person from whom he had hired them, for fear he should lose them. If he
had thought like the colonists, he would have put them in irons, and
treated them like rebels; but he was too kind-hearted to resort to such
measures. Some days after, the person to whom the negroes were sent,
brought us two others; but they were so indolent, we found it impossible
to make them work.