Demarara, March 29.
I might have told you in my last letter that the eighth inst., the day
after our return from our river excursion, was the Stadtholder’s
birth-day, and consequently a day of festivity at Demarara. It was
commemorated, by the Dutch officers, in our service, giving a splendid
ball and supper at their barrack in the evening: all the best company of
the colony was assembled on the occasion. The ball-room was extremely
crowded; and although it was so intensely hot that it was matter of
astonishment how any person could support the fatigue of dancing in it,
still the ladies, feeble and languid as they commonly appear, so much
enjoyed their favorite amusement, as not to retire to the supper-room
until nearly two o’clock in the morning. The supper was elegant, and
very handsomely served. It consisted of nearly 150 dishes, and was
composed of the choice fruits and dainties of the colony. Unhappily the
harmony of the festival was interrupted by the perverse conduct of one
of the party, a _soi-disant patriot_, who, in the violence of his
politics, opposed himself to the general will of the company, and
refused to stand up to drink the health of the Stadtholder. The officers
were highly incensed, at meeting with such an act of rudeness and
insult, from one of their guests, and some of them proposed to toss the
“patriot and his chair” out at window.
We read with great satisfaction, the arrival of the ship Cotton-Planter
at Portsmouth, after a passage of _a hundred and eight_ days from
Demarara. Not having sooner heard of her, we had many anxious
conjectures regarding her safety. She is one of the heavy Dutch vessels
which fell into our possession on the capture of these colonies; and
being a large ship, commodious for conveying troops across the Atlantic,
we put a party of invalids, with ulcers, on board her, to be carried to
England, under the immediate care of Mr. Beane, one of the mates of the
general hospital; and subject to the command of the Hon. Captain De
Courcy of the 93d regiment. Both from her form and bulk, we had expected
that she might make a tedious passage; but, even with all the delays of
our late ill-fated expedition in remembrance, our anticipations had not
led us to imagine that, without some great disaster, the voyage could
have been protracted to a period of nearly sixteen weeks.
I have again been led to attend one of those humiliating scenes—a sale
of _human_ merchandise; where I saw, what is here termed, a _prime
cargo_ of three hundred _men_ and _women_, from the Gold Coast of
Africa, all beings of our own species, exposed to public _vendue_, even
as the herds of sheep and oxen in Smithfield market! But,
notwithstanding I had been more than a year in the West Indies, I found
that my European feelings were not so blunted, as to allow me to witness
such a scene without experiencing the painful sensations, which
naturally arise in the breast of an Englishman, upon seeing his
fellow-creatures so miserably degraded.
The poor blacks were not exposed to view upon a high stool, in order to
be first examined, and then knocked down at the hammer, as at the sale
at Berbische, but were divided into three great lots, according to their
value; and, the price being fixed, the purchasers were left to select
from whichever division they might prefer. Boys, from eleven to fourteen
years of age, sold for 600 or 700 guilders: the price of the women was
from 700 to 800; and of the men from 700 to 900; but a few of the
strongest were valued somewhat higher. The agent who conducted the sale
is a liberal man, possessed of humane sentiments, and a cultivated mind,
but it is, unfortunately, _his calling_ to deal in human flesh. He very
justly remarked to me, that, in following this occupation, it is
necessary to _give an opiate_ to the finer feelings of nature.
The coarse airs, and indecent vulgarity exhibited by a negress (who had
probably been herself exposed in a similar manner), and a mulatto woman,
her associate, towards some of these poor African girls, were equally
striking and disgusting. Each of these cloudy nymphs had wheedled her
lord to grant her the privilege of choosing a slave, to be the immediate
attendant of her person; and in making their selection they used as
little delicacy in touching, turning about, and trying their fellow
blacks, as a butcher would in examining a pen of any other sort of
cattle in an open market. Common decency was outraged in these
proceedings, which grossly aggravated a scene that is at best cruelly
humiliating.
Shocked at what I had witnessed, and led into painful reflections upon
the sadly chequered lot of our species, I made my retreat from this
market of human woe, where not only the laws of decorum are openly
invaded, and the rules of propriety set at defiance, but where all the
social ties of our nature are broken down and bartered for gold.
Amidst a scene, every way repugnant to humanity I was pleased to remark
that a general sympathy was excited towards one particular family, whose
appeals to the compassion of the multitude were not less powerful than
their claims. This family consisted of a mother, three daughters, and a
son. The parent, whose days of youth were past, was still a well-looking
woman; the children appeared to be from fourteen to twenty years of age:
they were very like the mother, and still more resembled each other,
being all of distinguished face and figure, and decidedly the handsomest
negroes of the cargo. Their distress, lest they should be separated, and
sold to different masters, was so strongly depicted upon their
countenances, and expressed in such lively, and impressive appeals, that
the whole crowd were, impulsively, led to commiserate their sufferings;
and, by universal consent, they were removed from the three great lots,
and placed in a corner by themselves, in order that they might all be
sold to the same master.
Observing their extreme agitation, I was led particularly to notice
their conduct, as influenced by the terror of being torn from each
other, when I may truly say, that I witnessed a just and faithful
representation of ... _the distressed mother_! and such as might bid
defiance even to the powers of a Siddons! for the fears of the parent,
lest she should be separated from her children, or these from each
other, were anxious and watchful beyond all that imagination could
paint, or the most vivid fancy portray. When any one approached their
little group, or chanced to look towards them with the attentive eye of
a purchaser, the children, in deep sobs, crouched nearer together, and
the tearful mother, in agonizing impulse, instantly fell down before the
spectator, bowed herself to the earth, and kissed his feet; then,
alternately clinging to his legs, and pressing her children to her
bosom, she fixed herself upon her knees, clasped her hands together,
and, in anguish, cast up a look of humble petition, which might have
found its way to the heart of a Caligula! Thus, in Nature’s truest
language, did the afflicted parent urge her strongest appeal to his
compassion, while she implored the purchaser, in dealing out to her the
hard lot of slavery, to spare her the additional pang of being torn from
her children—to forbear exposing her to the accumulated wretchedness
which would arise from forcing those asunder, whom the all-wise Disposer
of events had bound together by the most sacred ties of nature and
affection.
I mentioned in my former letter, when speaking of the phenomenon I had
seen, in the person of a twisted and broken mulatto at Garden-Eden, that
he was the property of Mr. Cuming, our very hospitable neighbour at the
plantation Kitty, near to Fort William Frederic; where, I may now tell
you that, since my return from “the falls,” I have had an opportunity of
seeing two other singular aberrations from the common characteristics of
our species, in the persons of a _white negro_, and a _piebald negress_.
These are very uncommon objects, more particularly the latter, and it is
remarkable that the three most striking examples of natural curiosity in
the colony, or perhaps in the West Indies, should happen all to be the
property of the same individual.
The _white negro_, as he is denominated, is a boy about twelve years of
age, who was born on board a ship, on the passage from Guinea, of
perfectly white skin, although both his father and mother were jet
black. He is even _whiter_, but I know not if I should say _fairer_,
than Europeans, for it is a dull chalk-white, without the agreeable
relief of the fine blue veins, and ruddy tints of an extra-tropical, or
more especially of a British skin. In form and feature he strictly
resembles other negroes, having the head and face long, with the hair
short and curling like wool, the mouth large, with thick lips, and the
nose broad and flat. His eyes are blue, the eyebrows and eyelashes
white, as is likewise the hair, which from being slightly tinged with
yellow, assumes, in a small degree, that particular hue, which is, more
commonly than correctly, termed red. On looking at a strong light, his
eyes are affected with a twinkling motion, such as is observed in the
Albinos or Nyctalops; and from the axes of the eyes not accurately
converging, a slight degree of squinting is perceptible. It would seem
therefore that it is a variation which stands much in the same relation
with respect to the negroes, as the Nyctalops with respect to ourselves.
His skin being more than usually irritable, is highly susceptible of
injury; it rises quickly into blisters, if he be exposed to the open
rays of the sun.
The case of the woman is even more singular than that of the boy; her
peculiarity being the effect of an extraordinary change, and not of
original conformation. She is about thirty years of age, and, until the
last six or seven years, was of completely sable skin, differing in no
respect from other negroes; nor do her form or features now offer any
thing remarkable, but, from the profoundest black, her surface is
growing perfectly white. She is of good figure, has been always regarded
as having a strong and healthy constitution, and, for many years, has
been employed as a washerwoman in Mr. Cuming’s family.
No probable cause is known, or even suggested, for the change, but about
five or six years ago, some white spots appeared upon her extremities,
and, from that time, she has been gradually losing the natural blackness
of her surface.
This uncommon change commenced in the parts most remote from the great
organ of circulation, and is slowly, though regularly, proceeding
towards the parts nearer to the heart. The feet, hands, legs, and arms,
have already lost their sable hue, and are even whiter than those of an
European. Her nose and ears are also white, and some patches are
spreading upon the face, neck, and bosom; but her body yet remains
entirely black; and although this extraordinary conversion seems to be
progressively advancing, if it proceed as slowly as it has hitherto
done, it may be still several years before the whole of the dark
colouring be removed. Her hair and eyes retain their original blackness,
and have not yet any appearance of participating in the change.
It is remarkable that the cuticle of the parts which have grown white,
like the pale skin of the boy just mentioned, is very subject to rise
into blisters upon being exposed to the sun, while no such effect is
produced upon the parts which continue dark.
The woman is still in good health, and appears to be quite free from
disease; as she was, at the time this peculiar change began; but she is
extremely low and dejected concerning this event, which she regards as
the severest evil that could have befallen her. She has a great dislike
to be seen, or to have questions asked her, more particularly by
strangers, When sent for, that I might look at her, she came to me with
reluctance, exhibited strong marks of agitation while she remained, and
went away in tears. She is the wife of one of Mr. Cuming’s slaves, and
has had several children, who differ in no respect from the offspring of
other negroes.