Martinique, June 1797.
Many persons here are flattering themselves with the prospect of a
speedy peace. The rumour has probably arisen from the circumstance of
the commander in chief having given directions for a partial diminution
of some of the establishments which is perhaps only an economical
regulation, in consequence of the present tranquil state of the army,
and its reduced numbers. This arrangement being extended to the medical
department, the services of some of the supernumerary assistants, who
were engaged in the islands for a temporary purpose, during the severe
pressure of sickness, are now dispensed with. From the decrease of
disease, and the diminished number of troops, some of the other classes
of medical officers are likewise left without employment, and may,
consequently, return to England; but this, in no degree, authorizes the
expectation of an approaching cessation of hostilities.
I grieve to tell you that our much-valued commissary of accompts has not
experienced any benefit from his retirement at the delightful
mountain-cottage, which I mentioned in a former letter. He is now
returned to St. Pierre for the convenience of medical attendance. Père
Edouard, the venerable French physician, under whose care he was placed
in the early stage of his illness, considers him to be convalescent,
although in a feeble state; but his friends have many anxious
forebodings respecting the event of his case; and wish him safe in
England.
Mr. Dornford made me acquainted with Père Edouard, not only that I might
meet him in consultation on the subject of his own illness; but also
with the obliging intention of giving me an opportunity of hearing his
remarks regarding the fever of Martinique, and tropical diseases in
general.
The Père is a polite and accomplished man, very much of the old French
_regime_, and quite a methodical member of his profession. He was the
principal officer of the medical department at La Charité, before the
island was captured by the English. Desirous of acquiring information
from his experience, you will imagine that I listen with eagerness to
his observations, and that I am much gratified in finding him affable
and communicative. Educated in the continental schools, he has imbibed
their tenets, and, according to the doctrine of former days, he esteems
venæsection the great and leading remedy in all fevers, particularly at
their commencement. The only difference in his treatment of the yellow
fever, and the bilious remittent, of hot climates, consists in the
extent to which the bleeding is carried. In the latter it is seldom
repeated beyond a second, or a third time; recourse being then had to
the Peruvian bark, and other tonics: but in the former the
blood-letting, aided only by laxatives and diluents, is continued
throughout the whole course of the disease.
Père Edouard remarks, that the English physicians have a strange
abhorrence of a slow convalescence; and, from the dread of debilitating
the patient, they do not bleed him sufficiently to subdue the disorder:
but the French physicians, being less fearful, regarding a tedious
recovery, take away blood more freely, in order to overcome the
immediate danger from the disease, which he considers to be effected “by
decreasing, and altering the offending fluid” so considerably as to
prevent the recurrence of febrile action. With this view he holds it
necessary sometimes to repeat the venæsection as many as ten, twelve, or
(as in his own case) fourteen times.
As an elucidation of his practice, the Père maintains that it is not
sufficient to reduce an Englishman, who may be attacked with fever soon
after his arrival in the West Indies, down to the standard of an
Englishman in health; but that he should be bled down to the standard of
a French creole; and then supported through a slow convalescence upon a
diet of bread and water, ptisan, or thin sago. He feels no apprehension
from the excessive debility which must necessarily ensue; nor, on
account of any of the maladies which might result from the depleting
treatment being carried to an extreme degree.
On the fourth inst. we were enlivened by reviews of troops, hoisting of
flags, firing of salutes, and other marks of rejoicing, in honor of his
Majesty’s birth-day; and on the evening of the fifth the governor gave a
grand ball and supper at St. Pierre, on the occasion; when we had an
opportunity of witnessing a crowded assemblage of the beauty and fashion
of Martinique.
According to the custom of the West Indies the ladies danced a long time
without fatigue, in defiance of oppressive heat, and in a room so
thronged that it was almost suffocation, even to remain in it. Without
the exertion of dancing I felt the heat so distressing that I was
obliged to seek relief by walking frequently down a cool avenue of
grenadilloes and jasmine, which led from the door of the house, to a
pleasant garden.
Many genteel and graceful women were present at the ball, and there was
a greater display of handsome females than is common in the West Indies:
but there was no example of that lovely freshness of countenance which
so distinguishes the fair of our country. It has often occurred to me to
observe a striking difference between the foreign ladies, and those of
England, and particularly between the English and the French, which,
however difficult to describe in words, is, to the eye, very
perceptible. More acuteness, more of vivacity and brilliancy are
commonly displayed in the features of French females: but I never
witnessed, in the women of any other country, that sweetly appealing
softness—that modest gentleness—that tender and inviting loveliness of
face, which prevails among the genuine daughters of the British islands.
The smooth and flowing line of beauty is more correctly preserved in the
English countenance than in that of other nations. There is a blooming
delicacy—an expression of tenderness and retirement which, to our sex,
seems to say ... _Protect me!_ while the harder lines and more prominent
points, together with the quickness and animation of the French mien,
bespeak a confidence almost masculine, and appeal only to our ...
_participation_!
But I am wandering from the birth-day and the governor’s fête. Let me
return, and do justice to the ladies I left in the ball-room, by telling
you that the French excel, in dancing, equally in the West Indies, as in
Europe. Nor is this confined to the whites; for the French people of
colour are infinitely superior, in the agility and gracefulness of the
dance, to the dark-hued race of the Dutch and British colonies.
Card-tables were set in two smaller apartments, adjoining the ball-room;
but they were thinly attended, and did not seem to constitute one of the
favorite amusements of the evening.
At midnight a very elegant supper was served in a long saloon, which
opened into the garden, and nearly a hundred ladies sat down to enjoy
the refreshment of a cool room, and a liberal repast; but, instead of
being permitted to partake in comfort and quietness of the plentiful
collation before them, a rude freedom of manners (or an unbecoming
foreign habit) created a scene of scrambling and confusion, which, in
England, would have disgraced a market-day ordinary.
Perhaps it was polite for the gentlemen to place themselves behind the
ladies, professing to attend, and procure them what they wished
for—perhaps it was kind in the ladies to give a bone, or a tart to their
favorite partners; but the scene, thus introduced, was sadly vulgar and
indecorous. The gentlemen crowded about the ladies, pressing upon their
chairs in rows three or four deep, almost forcing them upon the viands;
when some of the fair (with more kindness than delicacy) handed over
their shoulders, to those near them, a leg of a duck or a chicken, a
slice of ham, or some other part of the repast. This seemed to be
regarded as the signal for a general scramble. Pies, tarts, pigeons,
ducks, chickens, ham, fruit, salad, or any thing the ladies could give,
or the men could reach, were now snatched off the table, and torn to
pieces, without knives or forks, or spoons or plates, and devoured, as
if by a den of ravenous wolves, who had been long deprived of their
prey. Here stood one gnawing a bone, there another swallowing fat ham;
the next was tearing asunder the joints of a duck, or a chicken; the
fourth gobbling up a pie or a tart. A tall officer, with his filthy
black whiskers reaching to the corners of his mouth, was cramming down a
bowl of salad with his fingers; another was devouring a plate of fruit,
and the next greedily consuming a dish of cakes and sweets: in short,
the whole group were voraciously gnawing, tearing, and swallowing
whatever provisions chanced to be nearest them, equally regardless of
cleanliness, decency, and good manners. Nor did the fluids of the feast
escape better than the solids: for wine, porter, noyeau, and all the
liquors of the table, were seized in the same lawless manner, and
numbers were seen standing with bottles between their knees, drinking
and serving out the contents to their friends with a spoon, a
tureen-ladle, a butter-boat, or any other unseemly utensil within their
grasp.
It was intended that all should eat, and the governor’s hospitality had
most amply spread the board; but, alas! when those who had waited,
without joining in the scramble, quietly took the seats from which the
ladies retired, they found scarcely any thing remaining upon the table,
for, in addition to the craving appetites with which the supper had been
devoured, it was remarked that some of the ladies, like certain animals,
had auxiliary pouches, which served as reservoirs, to administer to
their stomachs a future supply.
Having noticed the superior style of dancing which prevails among the
French people of colour, I may remark that I have had a recent
opportunity of witnessing it, upon the mirthful occasion of a
negro-wedding; when the slaves of the estate and their visitors were
indulged with a grand ball in order to celebrate the happy alliance.
They danced, in large groups, upon a spacious green, in front of their
owners’ dwelling; and never was a happier crowd assembled. Great agility
was displayed, and, compared with the rude motions and savage gestures
of the slaves in the Dutch and British settlements, their steps might be
considered as graceful.
Besides the happy party upon the green, the inferior orders of the gang
were seen at the negro-huts of the estate, footing it merrily, to the
simple sound of the banjar; nor even among these, did we observe those
disgusting attitudes and movements which constitute so great a part of
the common, hideous dance of the Africans.
When I mentioned, in a former letter, the many beauties, and the
pleasing variety of scenery of Martinique, it would probably occur to
you that they must have appeared peculiarly striking to us, from being
so strongly contrasted with the country we had lately left. That you may
better judge of this, I will now place before you a concise view of some
of the remarkable points of difference, between the coast of Guiana, and
the island of Martinique, such as they present themselves to our early
notice; cautioning you to regard them only as simple facts, given,
without favor or prejudice, merely as they meet the eye and the
observation of a stranger.