La Bourgade, Dec. 20, 1796.
With a becoming attention to the health and well-being of our new corps
of Rangers, it has been deemed expedient to remove them from their
encampment, and place them in barracks, in order to protect them from
the rains of the short wet season which now prevails: but unluckily for
the peace and quiet of our neighbourhood, a large building has been
fitted up for their accommodation, close to the quarters of the medical
officers, and we have all the noise, hurry, and confusion of the whole
regiment constantly before us. The scene amidst which we are placed, by
this arrangement, exceeds all conception, for it is of all degrees, and
all varieties: but whether gay or serious, trivial or important, sombre
or ludicrous, it is always noisy and turbulent. The activity and
exertion which are required, to bring such recruits into habits of
method and order, are almost beyond belief. Where the whole, from being
bred up in ignorance and constant toil, are very much upon a parallel
with oxen taken from the plough, you will imagine what the most stupid
of them must be, who form that select body termed the “awkward squad.”
Upon beholding them, when they first assemble, it might seem nearly as
practicable to train a party of mules to carry arms.
The colonel, zealous for their improvement, and desirous to make
soldiers of them as speedily as possible, is indefatigable in his
attentions towards them; and their drills are so frequent as to keep
them in almost perpetual motion.
Frequently the “awkward squad” is led to drill, with a proportion of
non-commissioned officers nearly equal in number to the privates, each
giving the word of command in the most authoritative manner, holding a
short pipe in his mouth, scarcely extending to the point of his nose;
and each busily marching his party to the right and left, backward and
forward, and in every variety of direction, pushing, pulling, and
cuffing them about, as if they were machines, totally devoid of
sensibility.
Even the Indians, whose gravity seldom allows a smile to appear, have
been diverted at the drilling of the black “awkward squad.” A party,
from the woods, came in one day, at the time the regiment was under
arms, and forgetting their usual reserve, expressed symptoms of
amazement on seeing a body of negroes drawn up in a line, with firelocks
in their hands, and clothed in uniform; but their attention was soon
diverted from the great body of the battalion, by observing the _awkward
squad_, whose blundering evolutions seemed to afford them more amusement
than any other occurrence we had witnessed. Indeed it was the first time
we had been able to mark the expression of surprise or curiosity upon
the Indian countenance. The bucks pointed with their arrows to the
unseemly group, making remarks to the buckeen, who, like the men, were
so roused from their indifference as to smile, and seem diverted.
It happened lately that two of the British soldiers who were employed at
the hospital, having been guilty of irregular conduct, were ordered into
confinement; and, from its being near, they were taken to the guard-room
of the rangers, where, upon recovering their sober senses, they felt
extremely shocked at their degraded situation, being prisoners under the
bayonets of negroes, whom they had perhaps buffeted as slaves, or mere
beasts of burden; and were quite indignant on recollecting that the very
men who were now put over them, even since their arrival in the colony,
had toiled all day in the field, goaded as horses or oxen. The
reflection may perhaps serve as an useful lesson to them, and teach them
to avoid similar disgrace in future; but I wish that no unpleasant
jealousies may arise among the different corps of soldiery. Possibly a
strict discipline, and the good conduct of the officers, may divert any
invidious feelings that may be excited, into a generous and laudable
spirit of emulation, and make the varieties of colour and country
subservient to useful and honorable purposes: but it will require no
inconsiderable address to preserve a perfect harmony among blacks and
whites, Dutch, English, and Africans! Still the discordance, alluded to,
is not all that is to be apprehended from training the slaves to arms.
It is a measure which unquestionably provides a strong defence for the
present exigency; but it admits of a question whether it may not be
employing a temporary convenience to establish what may hereafter become
an extensive evil. May it not teach the slaves a fact which will not
readily be forgotten: may they not learn that they are not only the most
numerous, but, also, the strongest party: in short, may it not instruct
them that they are men; and that a single step might ensure to them the
rights of their common nature? Compared to slavery the restrictions of
military discipline are as exquisite freedom; and the negro who has once
tasted it cannot be expected to return quietly to the yoke, and again
expose his back to the whip.
Should the slaves once feel sensible of their power, the effect of this
assurance will not be retarded by any religious or moral consideration.
As my pen is led to this remark, it may not be inappropriate to follow
it by a word upon the total neglect of sacred ordinances which prevails
in these colonies. Knowing that the established religion of the Dutch is
Calvinism, you will be much surprised to learn that all the ceremonies
of the Sabbath are utterly disregarded. No church or temple is to be
found in the settlements; nor have the inhabitants even appropriated any
house, or other building, for the performance of divine service.
Neglecting their own duties to the Deity, they have used no means to
inculcate a sense of religious awe, or of moral conviction, among the
slaves, but have confided the government of these degraded beings solely
to terror, and the whip. Sunday, it is true, has been set apart as a day
of rest, but no solemn ceremony marks it as the Sabbath. Idleness and
merriment alone distinguish it from the other days of the week. It is a
holyday to the negroes, but no part of it is devoted to their moral or
religious improvement: not one hour is appropriated to instruct them, in
the duties we all owe to the Creator; or to teach them the principles
which ought to govern the conduct of man towards man.
Since our arrival a laudable attempt has been made to remedy this
unchristian-like neglect, but such is the force of habit that, hitherto,
the prospect of success cannot be considered as very auspicious. A place
has been appointed for the performance of the duties of the Sabbath,
and, due notice being given, the military chaplain attended to enter
upon the service; the governor likewise made his appearance; but after
waiting for a considerable time, and finding that no further
congregation assembled, they walked quietly home, postponing both
prayers and sermon to a future occasion.
The diminution of sickness affording sufficient room for their
accommodation, the sick soldiers of the Dutch corps in our service, and
those also of the South American Rangers are now received as patients
into the hospital, together with our own troops. This arrangement will
afford us an opportunity of witnessing more precisely the effect of
disease, not simply upon the subjects of different countries, but upon
those who are recently arrived from a colder climate; those who from the
residence of a few years are become in a certain degree acclimated; and
those to whom the heat of this latitude is altogether congenial.
With each change of season our desperate foe seems to fight under an
altered face, or, chameleon-like, to assume a new skin. Very seldom do
we now see the fever attended with that remarkable yellowness by which
it was so commonly distinguished in the months of August and September.
During the late dry season it lost the continued, and took on a
remitting or intermitting form, and the latter type still continues to
be very frequent; but among the recent cases, we have more now that are
rapidly fatal than we had in the finer season of October and the
beginning of November: yet even these rarely exhibit that yellowness of
surface, which has been held so peculiarly characteristic of this
destructive malady.
Many of the sick now fall into a state of coma, and without betraying
any other striking mark of illness—without uttering a complaint or a
groan, sink very rapidly into the arms of death. The countenance becomes
pale; the skin assumes a clay or lead coloured hue; a stupor supervenes;
the patient lies in a state of tranquil insensibility; and, without
yellowness, or the other common marks of the fever, in the course of
only a few days he sleeps to wake no more! Sometimes a few hours
complete the course of the disease, as in a late instance, where almost
the only symptom was a profound coma, and the soldier died within the
short space of twelve hours. If this were a solitary case I am aware how
soon scepticism would convert it into a different disease; but without
disputing for a name, I need only remark that it is far from a rare
instance, for, alas! we have too many examples in proof of its being a
very common mode in which the fever attacks. In others of the cases
which prove fatal, we find hiccough the predominant, and most
distressing symptom: it continues in opposition to every remedy, and, in
a few days, the patient is exhausted, and dies!
Neither public nor extensive libraries were to be expected in these
colonies; but if I had much time for reading, I might sadly lament this
deficiency. After examining with great care and attention all the late
authors that I could collect, I think myself fortunate in meeting with
the publication of Père Labat, a Jesuit, who, so long since as in the
year 1701, wrote a tour through the West India islands, in which he
describes very correctly the epidemic fever of these regions, and gives
an accurate account of his own sufferings under the disease; in the
treatment of which he was twice blooded, venæsection being, at that
time, used as a sovereign remedy.
Amidst our changes of season, I should be highly gratified if I could
report favorably of the improvement in our surgical wards; but of wounds
and ulcers I have still only gloomy tidings to offer: and it is
remarkable that the distress occasioned by these is wholly confined to
the Europeans; for, while the soldiers from England continue to suffer
dreadfully from their sores, the wounds of the Africans, who are lying
in the adjoining beds of the same wards, heal with surprising rapidity,
and are completely cured. Indeed the recovery from sores and ulcers in
this climate is as peculiarly successful among the blacks, as it is the
reverse among the Europeans; the examples in proof of which are
abundant: but not to tire you with tedious histories of cases, I need
only mention one, which has been recently related to me by a most
respectable medical practitioner now in Demarara[1]; and by whom the
treatment of the case was conducted. A negro, being detected in the act
of robbing a plantain-walk, was taken into confinement by the watchmen,
who, in the struggle to secure him, wounded him very desperately upon
the head, neck, and shoulders with a cutlass: which, at one of the
blows, passed through the bones of the scull and the membranes, into the
substance of the brain. In the course of the cure, it happened that the
dressings one day fell from this part, and, the flies gaining access to
the sore, maggots were bred in great numbers within the brain. These
were removed by the professional attendant, who, in picking them out,
was employed for a considerable time, at each of three successive
dressings: still the negro rapidly recovered, and is now alive and well.
I have lately been much diverted with hearing the detail of an intended
publication, for which the writer assures me he is busily collecting
materials. It is to be entitled the “History of Guiana,” and is to be
composed by a person who has neither the advantage of education, nor of
talents. You will judge of the merits of the work, when you learn that
it is in the author’s plan to describe _minutely_ the sources, and the
junction of the rivers Oronoko and Amazons, without having travelled
twenty miles from the sea-coast; and to give a full and _accurate_
account of different races of people, not one of whom he has ever seen.
A fact has recently occurred to my knowledge, displaying a custom which
I am sure you will regard with astonishment. It is usual, in these
colonies, for a person to take a negro, or more frequently a mulatto, or
_mestee_ woman as housekeeper and companion; and, if he have children by
her, and cannot afford, or does not choose to be at the expense of
sending them to Europe to be educated, he derives no dishonor from
breeding up the sons as mechanics, and giving out the daughters, in
keeping, to his friends; and so commonly is this practice established,
that no feelings of remorse seem to attach to it: on the contrary, it is
deemed the best provision the parent can make for his daughter, to place
her with a respectable man as his _bonne amie_; but it is necessary to
understand that these are never whites, nor children born in wedlock:
they are daughters of women of colour, who, like themselves, have felt
honored in being chosen the companions of their lords; and who do not
aspire to the dignified character of wife. Neither father nor daughter
feels any sense of shame, in yielding to this general usage of the
country; _her_ ambition soars no higher, for she is bred up with no
other expectation; and the indelible disgrace which would attach to
marrying a woman of colour leaves the parent no hope of providing for
his daughter, by placing her in the more honorable state of wedlock.
Still the practice is so utterly repugnant to European sentiments, that
it must require a long residence in this country to reconcile it to the
father; for, whatever may be the distinction between wife and mistress,
it cannot be supposed that the feelings of nature in the breast of the
parent can be thereby diminished. The child is equally his offspring,
and, from being less protected by the laws, is, even in a greater
degree, the object of his care: it must therefore occasion him many
severe pangs to submit to this insecure and perilous disposal of his
daughter. If the protector die or leave the country, the protegée
returns to her father, until another suitor offer her his home.
You will be surprised to know that, until very lately, I have not had an
opportunity of purchasing a horse, but you would be much more surprised
could you see what a miserable animal I have, at length, procured for
the sum of nearly forty guineas. Horses are very scarce, and of high
value upon this coast. No more are kept than are required for absolute
use, and a spare one is rarely to be met with. They are mostly imported
from North America, and, like ourselves, they are subject to a seasoning
disease, which equally cuts off man and horse.
We are again looking forward to dry and fine weather, for
notwithstanding the present wet season has only been set in a month, it
is supposed, from the circumstance of most of the rain now falling in
the night, that it may be already declining. I forget whether I before
remarked to you, that we have not even in what is termed the rainy
season, any thick and foggy days like those of an English November. The
wet season is a rapid alternation of dark cloud, with a clear
atmosphere, and bright sunshine. No misty damps succeed the rushing
torrents: the black cloud, from which they fall, pours forth its
streams, exhausts itself, and passes away, leaving the rays of the sun
again free to reach the earth; and all is light and fair between the
heavy peltings of the storm.