Martinique, July.
We are waiting in daily and tiresome suspense the arrival of the packet,
or some other vessel by which we may proceed to St. Domingo. For a long
time past we have understood that our services have been urgently
required at the place of our destination, yet we are still detained in a
state of uncertainty, rendered doubly tedious by our being without any
regular employment.
In the failure of the expected packets, we had, lately, almost prevailed
upon ourselves to accept births on board a slave-ship, going down to
Jamaica, with a cargo of negroes from the coast of Guinea: but, upon
inspecting the accommodations of the vessel, we found that nothing short
of absolute necessity could induce us to submit our persons to a
situation so filthy and abhorrent. The best sleeping-birth that could
have been allotted to us, was upon the open deck, over the stench
arising from a crowd of blacks crammed into the cabin; and, during the
day, we must have herded in common with the slaves. This was not to be
endured: we accordingly returned on shore, to wait for a better
conveyance.
Busy rumour keeps pace with our eager expectations, and each morning
brings us tidings of the sailing of a packet from England; the packet’s
arrival; or of some vessel having spoken the packet at sea. We listen
anxiously to these reports; but, hitherto, they have uniformly
disappointed us.
In my letters from these regions, I have occasionally alluded to the sad
inaction of mind and disposition, which obtains among that numerous
class of people, the slaves: the leading trait of whose character may be
said to be indolence, engrafted upon an obdurate and inflexible
perverseness: perhaps the necessary consequence of inveterate ignorance
and insensibility, and the natural result of the degraded state in which
they are held.
An European, unaccustomed to the scenes, and unacquainted with the
effects of slavery, cannot have a just idea of the extreme carelessness
and obstinacy of the negroes: qualities which become highly vexatious
and tormenting to the whites, in their intercourse with them; and which
disturb, almost to madness, the irritability of those who are but
slightly removed from the Africans.
Only a few days ago I witnessed a strong instance of this, in a lofty
mulatto dame, who was provoked to a decree of almost frantic violence by
the insuperable heedlessness and apathy of her darker attendants: but I
should not have regarded a mere fit of rage, in a lady of a tawny, or a
fairer hue, a circumstance worth relating, if her fury had not been
succeeded by some calmer effusions, which strictly coincided with what
must have been observed by every one who has had the misfortune to be
much concerned with slaves.
I found this proud female, foaming in all the high tempest of wrath,
bitterly scolding, and loudly bewailing the stupidity of her sable gang,
vowing that (notwithstanding she was only a single remove from them
herself) she thought them “even more stupid than brutes,” insisting that
it was “absolutely impossible to govern them without the frequent aid of
the whip,” and declaring that, however often they might be required to
do the same thing, it was “invariably necessary still to repeat the
order every time!”
My own experience has so fully confirmed the latter part of the remark,
and I have so repeatedly felt the annoyance, arising from this source,
that I have actually learned to compassionate those whose lot it is to
be served by slaves, in nearly the same proportion as I pay these poor
degraded beings themselves.
Another leading feature in the character of the people of colour
manifests itself in their cruelty to each other; and as our
correspondence is not limited to the bare statement of general
circumstances, I proceed, according to my epistolary privilege, to lay
before you an example in point.
I have already given you specimens of this disposition, as exhibited in
the savage fightings of these people: but it betrays itself likewise in
their conduct towards their children and slaves, whose submissive
forbearance is often not less remarkable than the intemperate severity
of their parents and owners; and might be expected to disarm them of
their cruelty, if it were not that the gloomy ignorance of slavery
supplies neither rein nor curb to passion, but leaves it to expand
itself in unchecked ferocity upon the offender.
An old mulatto woman, and her daughter, of somewhat fairer skin than
herself, are living in the house opposite to my lodgings, and I
frequently find the quiet of my dwelling disturbed by the loud cries of
the one, and the boisterous stormings of the other. On a late occasion
of correcting her daughter, this unfeeling old beldam exhibited a degree
of inhumanity, which, I trust, is peculiar to the regions of slavery.
The daughter is a grown-up woman, and is tall and strong as the parent,
who, nevertheless, still exercises the full privilege of chastising her.
In consequence of her not submitting quite so patiently as was usual,
the old fury snatched up pieces of wood, iron, or any other coarse
weapon within her reach, and cut her upon the head until the blood
streamed down her face: but, not satisfied with this, she afterwards
pursued the punishment by tying her hands with a strong cord, and
flogging her with the cow-skin until she submitted without repining, and
most humbly implored her parent’s pardon. After receiving the hard blows
and lacerations upon her head, the poor girl stood, without offering the
slightest resistance, to have her hands fastened, and to endure the
lashing of the cow-skin, seeming to acknowledge it a right in the mother
to punish her, although she had lived to years of maturity, and had
strength enough to have tossed the old miscreant out at the window.
Upon inquiry I learned that this hardened wretch had bred up her
daughter in habits of idleness, and now treated her in this barbarous
manner because she was unacquainted with the toils of industry.
Among the novel circumstances, which have occurred to our observation, I
may mention the mode of feeding mules in this island. Taking a walk into
the country a few evenings ago with one of my comrades, we passed the
house of a planter, where we saw, in the yard before the negro-huts, a
herd of mules, waiting near two large iron sugar-boilers, filled with
water, and running from one to the other. These vessels seemed to have
been placed as reservoirs, purposely for their use. Both of them were
full, and the water appeared to be clear and pure, yet, notwithstanding
the mules betrayed strong marks of thirst, not one of them ventured to
drink. They put their noses to the liquid, then started from the vessel
that contained it, and ran to the other. After smelling of this in a
similar manner, they hurried back again to the first, and thus continued
going from one to the other, without tasting the water in either of
them! Singular as it may seem, the purity of the fluid was the cause of
their refusing to take it.
Seeing them reject the water, and yet run first to one vessel, and then
to the other in continued succession, as if eager to drink, we were
curious to observe how they were to be satisfied. Presently appeared two
slaves, bearing large jars of melasses, which they emptied into the
reservoirs. Still the mules only put their noses to them, and ran from
one to the other without tasting the contents of either. We continued
watching in order to discover what further was necessary to make the
drink palatable to them. At length came a negro boy with a long stick,
and stirred up the melasses, mixing it well with the water, upon which
all the mules instantly swallowed it with the greatest eagerness, biting
and kicking each other violently in their contest which should reach the
deepest draught.
We learned from the slaves, that these animals had been so accustomed to
have their drink sweetened, that they would not taste it until the
melasses was put into the vessels, and stirred from the bottom, so as to
be well mixed with the water. What was the real or fancied advantage of
this seemingly extravagant indulgence, these poor ignorant blacks were
unable to inform us.
Being a circumstance not familiar to Englishmen, I may tell you that it
is common to see frogs brought in baskets, and exposed for sale in the
public market at Martinique. One of large growth is usually suspended
over the stall by way of signal, implying that his croaking comrades may
there be purchased.
Among the peculiarities of Martinique, I may also notice its celebrated
noyeau, that delicious _liqueur_ for which the island is in such high
repute; and which is so exquisitely prepared at the house of Madame la
Grande-maison, whose cellars I have visited, in order to taste this
favorite composition in its original purity.
I have also had an opportunity of seeing the noyeau-tree, which, in its
wood, its leaf, and its growth, very much resembles a standard
peach-tree. Unfortunately, it is not at this season in blossom, or in
fruit, so that I could only observe the leaf, which in taste strongly
resembles the bitter almond, and might serve instead of the nut, the
part commonly used, to give that fine flavour for which this favorite
liquor is so much esteemed.
Among the customs which differ from those of Europe, I may mention that
of making a high compensation for medical attendance and remedies in
sickness. It is not common, here, for those of the healing art to be
employed exclusively as physicians. They more frequently engage in all
the different branches of the profession; and the whole body of them
being termed “Doctors,” they both receive the fee, and vend the
medicines: and so liberal is the remuneration, that if a colonial
practitioner can preserve his health, and obtain a tolerable share of
employment, he may rapidly accumulate a fortune.
In St. Pierre the medical attendant receives, from his patient, two or
three dollars for each visit, besides demanding the following rate of
charges for his remedies, which he, of course, supplies at his own
discretion:
viz. a draught, or a dose of salts 6s.
a mixture 14s. or 15s.
a pill 2s.
a quart bottle of bark infusion 25s. or 30s.
powders, boluses, and all other formulæ in proportion.
A medical man from the north of Tweed, who is now in busy employment
here, assures me that these are his lowest prices, even to common
sailors, who are brought sick on shore, or to whom he is called, on
board the vessels in the bay. I was equally surprised and distressed to
hear it; for it is evident that, in such cases, the patient must soon
die of the disease, or be ruined by the expense of his remedies!
From the fatiguing duties of his occupation, the life of a practitioner
in medicine, in these regions, is held upon a very precarious tenure. It
is fit, therefore, that he should be handsomely rewarded for his
services, in order to put him upon an equality with the opulent
inhabitants and successful traders around him; and to afford him a
similar chance of acquiring an early independency, that he may return to
Europe before his health be destroyed, or he fall a victim to the
arduous duties of his calling. But it would be consistent with justice
and humanity to discriminate; for it is avaricious and unbecoming to
exact the scanty earnings from a less successful adventurer, who, when
suffering upon the bed of sickness, appeals alike to the skill and
compassion of his professional attendant.
Let the planter, the agent, or the merchant, enriched by rapid gain,
contribute amply, and share his profits with the preserver of his
health; but let humanity dictate the acceptance of the more honorable
reward of a liberal profession from the less wealthy, who reaps not
himself the harvest of his perilous toil.