CHAP. IX. Some Diseases peculiar to the Climate—Group of Negroes newly imported going to be sold—Reflections on the Slave Trade—The Voyage from Africa—Manner of selling them in the Colony—Description of a Cotton Plantation.
*SEPTEMBER 15th, I found myself in an ele|gant and well-furnished apartment, encouraged by the hopes given by the physician, caressed by my friends, and supported by the care and attention of my incompa|rable Mulatto.
A Captain Brant having at this time the command in Colonel Fourgeoud's absence, he sent, the morning after my arrival, my trunks and baggage, which had been sealed up; but on looking into them, I found I had ene|mies at home as well as abroad; since most of my shirts, books, &c. were gnawed to dust by the blatta or cock|roach, called cakreluce in Surinam: nay, even my shoes were destroyed, of which I had brought with me twelve pairs new from Europe, as they were extremely dear and bad in this country.
This insect, which is of the beetle kind, is here one inch and sometimes two inches long, oval, flat, and of a dark reddish colour. By getting through the locks of chests or boxes, it not only deposits its eggs there, but commits its ravages on linen, cloth, silk, or any thing that Page 195 comes in its way; by getting also into the victuals and drink of every kind, it renders them extremely loathsome, for it leaves the most nauseous smell, worse indeed than that of a bug. As most West-India vessels (especially those loaded with sugar) bring them home in great quan|tities, I shall say nothing more concerning them, only that they are seldom seen to fly, but creep very fast; and that the best, and I think the only way to keep the boxes free from them is, to place them on four empty wine bottles kept free from dust, which, by their smoothness, prevent the insects ascending to get through the key-holes, or even the smallest openings in the bottoms; but this precaution had been neglected by my good friend Colonel Fourgeoud. I found, however, linen sufficient for present use, and by the industry of Joanna I was soon provided with a new stock. None can conceive the comfort I felt in being properly dressed and shifted; my mental faculties were recruiting apace, and I felt with gratitude the blessing of a strong constitution; but poor Macdonald was still ill at Mr. Kennedy's, who had hu|manely afforded him an asylum on his return from Devil's Harwar.
Having now time, I inquired concerning Fowler's con|duct; when, to my infinite surprize, I was informed that he had indeed got drunk, as was reported to me, by which he had fallen amongst the bottles and cut his face, but that he never had attempted the smallest rudeness: so much indeed was his conduct the reverse of what Page 196 had been reported, that his inebriety had proceeded from his resentment at seeing both me and Joanna ill treated, and my property transported away against his inclina|tion. I was now extremely chagrined at my past con|duct, and was gently reproved by the cause of it, to whom I promised to be Fowler's friend for ever after— and I kept my word. My fever was now much abated, but I was infested with another disorder peculiar to this climate, and which I am afraid I shall but indifferently describe: it is called in Surinam the ring-worm, and consists of long scarlet irregular spots, particularly on the under parts of the body, which increase in magnitude from day to day, unless prevented by timely applica|tion. Those spots are surrounded with a kind of hard callous border, and are as troublesome by their itching as the prickly heat, or the sting of the musquitoes; and so very infectious is this complaint, that if any person seats himself by chance on a chair immediately after an|other who has the disorder, he is almost certain to be infected with it: it is, I believe, very difficult to get rid of; but the best cure is to rub the spots with a composi|tion of refined salt-petre, benzoin, flower of brimstone, and white mercury, mixed with fresh butter or hog's|lard. The numerous inconveniencies to which the inha|bitants of this climate are exposed, are almost incon|ceivable.
On the 26th I had a relapse, and was twice bled in one day. I was also this morning visited by poor Mr. Hena|man, Page 197 a young volunteer I have not before mentioned, who looked like a ghost, and was left sick at Paramaribo to manage for himself.
On the 2d of October I was a little better, and was ex|alted from living like a savage, to the temporary command of a few troops left at Paramaribo, Captain Brant being ordered to join Fourgeoud in Rio Comewina; when the colours, regiment's cash, &c. were transmitted to my own lodging, and a sentinel placed before my door.
The first exercise I made of my power was to discharge the sour wine, which had been bought for the sick offi|cers as well as the men, whom I supplied, from the mo|ney now in my possession, with good wholesome claret; but I was sorry not to be able also to exchange the salt beef, pork, and pease, that were left at the hospital, for fresh provisions. This step was however particularly forbidden by the commander; while the butter, cheese, and tobacco were taken away, for which they got one quart of oil amongst ten, and their bread reduced to two pounds each man for a whole week. As to the officers, they were left to shift for themselves, or submit to the same allowance, notwithstanding they kept on paying their quota to a regimental mess, which now no longer existed.
On the 3d, I took the air for the first time on horse|back, in company with Mr. Henaman, though we could not ride above three English miles distance out of town, on a species of gravel that leads to the Wanica Path, which I have already mentioned as communicating with Page 198 the river Seramica, and as the only passable road in the colony. During this little ride, which (on account of the dry season being commenced) we took at six o'clock in the morning, we observed a great number of those large and elegant birds, known by the name of macaws, but in Surinam called ravens, from their proportion to the parrots, which may be looked upon as a kind of tropical crows.
The macaws are divided into different species, of which I shall only describe two, wishing to say nothing for which I have not competent authority, as I am sorry to observe too many authors have done, among whom are men of genius and learning: some indeed may have erred from ignorance or wrong information, but num|bers for the gratification of vanity have, I fear, been guilty of imposing on the too credulous public.
The blue and yellow macaw is as large as a barn-door fowl, with short legs and a crooked bill, like that of the common parrot; the former dark coloured, with four black claws, two before and two behind; the latter also black, the upper mandible alone moveable. Its tail is like a wedge, and consists of a few very long and strait feathers. The back of this bird, from the head (the top of which is a sea-green) to the extremity of the tail, is a most beautiful azure blue, and, underneath, its whole body is of a pale orange colour; round its eyes it is per|fectly white, interspersed with black rings, composed of very small feathers.
The other is called in Surinam the Amazon macaw.Page [unnumbered]
This evening arrived sick, from the head-quarters at the estate Crawasibo in Comewina, Colonel Texier, the commanding officer of the Society troops. This gentle|man had intended to have marched conjunctly with Colonel Fourgeoud through the woods, in quest of the rebels; but his constitution, already weak, not being able to support the regimen of the commander in chief, and to live only on salt provisions, had begun to flag from the beginning, till he was sent home to Paramaribo, in this drooping condition.
On the sixth of October the fever had left me, and the ring-worms began to abate; but the misery and hard|ships Page 200 which I had so lately undergone still had an effect upon my constitution, and enormous boils broke out on my left thigh, which entirely prevented me from walk|ing. My physician, however, ordering me daily to take the air, I had an opportunity this day of waiting on his excellency the Governor of the colony, by the help of my friend Kennedy's chaise; and as I returned homeward, I stopped the carriage at the water-side, to behold a group of human beings, who had strongly attracted my attention. This group I shall circumstantially endea|vour to describe. They were a drove of newly-im|ported negroes, men and women, with a few children, who were just landed from on board a Guinea ship that lay at anchor in the roads, to be sold for slaves. The whole party was such a set of scarcely animated automa|tons, such a resurrection of skin and bones, as forcibly reminded me of the last trumpet. These objects ap|peared that moment to be risen from the grave, or escaped from Surgeon's Hall; and I confess I can give no better description of them, than by comparing them to walk|ing skeletons covered over with a piece of tanned leather.
"And the Lord caused me to pass by them round about, and behold there were many in the open val|ley, and lo they were very dry.
"And he said unto me, Son of Man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God thou knowest."—
;Ezekiel, xxxvii. ver. 2, 3.
Page 201Before these wretches, which might be in all about sixty in number, walked a sailor, and another followed behind with a bamboo-rattan; the one serving as a shep|herd to lead them along, and the other as his dog to worry them occasionally, should any one lag behind, or wander away from the flock. At the same time, how|ever, equity demands the acknowledgment, that instead of all those horrid and dejected countenances which are described in pamphlets and news-papers, I perceived not one single downcast look amongst them all; and I must add, that the punishment of the bamboo was inflicted with the utmost moderation by the sailor who brought up the rear.
Having viewed this sad assemblage of my fellow-crea|tures with amazement, I drove home to my lodgings in a state of perfect humiliation; where I noted down, as I could learn it from the best authority, both white and black, what is really the fate of these people, from the last moment of their liberty in Africa, to the present pe|riod of their slavery in America: and this I shall en|deavour to relate, preceded by a few of my own unbiassed sentiments upon the Slave Trade, which has lately been the object of both public and private investigation; and this, I trust, I shall do with that candour and impartiality which not only every gentleman, but every man, should think it necessary to be possessed of.
It has been said, Will you, for the sake of drinking rum, Page 202 and sweetening your coffee with sugar, persevere in the most unjust and execrable barbarity?—To this it is an|swered, Take care, lest, under the enthusiasm of hu|manity, you do not, at the expence of your neighbour, and perhaps of your country, inconsiderately give up your advantages, without the least chance of benefiting or improving the condition of those, whom I most heartily join with you in calling our brethren.
After so many volumes which, within a few years, have been written on this subject, it may appear great pre|sumption in me to offer my poor opinion: but I have made it a rule, among the various subjects I have mentioned, to dwell on those only to which I have been an eye-wit|ness; and which I am convinced there are few others in this country that have seen and so accurately observed. I have seen the most cruel tortures inflicted, for submit|ting to the desire of a husband, or for refusing the same to a libidinous master, and more frequently a rascally over|seer: nay, even on the most innocent, from the false ac|cusations of a lustful woman, prompted alone by jealousy. I have seen in other places, negro slaves as well treated as the most favoured servants in England; and as I have seen some sailors, soldiers, and apprentices, most tyran|nically treated when under the command of ill-tempered despots, I must pronounce the condition of such not to be envied even by negroes. If, therefore, so much depends on the disposition or humour of those who are exercising a Page 203 permanent or a temporary power, we must duly con|sider, before we hastily judge the whole from partial in|formation.
Cruelty is too often exercised in our plantations; but if not so shockingly to human nature as in other coun|tries, what are we doing by a sudden emancipation, but turning the poor creatures over to more cruel masters? The quantum of sugar, &c. will be had, and must be pro|vided by negroes, natives of Africa, who alone are born to endure labour under a vertical sun.
The national character of these people, as I have re|marked it, where they are as free to act by their own will and disposition as in Africa, is perfectly savage; the twenty thousand Ouca and Seramica free negroes have lived se|parated, and under no controul of Europeans, for a num|ber of years, and yet I have never seen any marks of civilization, order, or government among them, but, on the contrary, many examples of ungovernable passion, debauchery, and indolence.
I love the African negroes, and have shewn how sin|cerely I have felt for them on many occasions; and what|ever wrong construction may be put on what I have said on this subject, I wish, from the bottom of my heart, that my words could be submitted to the consideration of that respectable body the British parliament; and so far be regarded, as to prevent the fatal decision of a total abolition of slavery till 1800, or the beginning of next Page 204 century. For if such a measure should be rashly en|forced, I take the liberty to prophesy, that thousands and thousands, both white and black, may repent, and more be ruined by it, when the evil can no more be redressed.
From what I have learned by inquiry, from persons well informed on the subject, it clearly appears, that numbers of the negroes offered for sale have been taken in battles, and made prisoners of war; while many others have been scandalously kidnapped, and some others transported for offences, &c.; of all which I shall produce a few examples in future.
These groups of people are marched from every in|land part, to the factories erected by different nations upon the coast, where they are sold, or more properly speaking, bartered, like the other productions of their country, viz. gold, elephants teeth, &c. to the Europeans, for bars of iron, fire-arms, carpenters tools, chests, linens, hats, knives, glasses, tobacco, spirits, &c. Next they are embarked for exportation, during which time they, without contradiction, feel all the pangs that mental or corporeal misery can inflict. Being torn from their coun|try and dearest connections, stowed hundreds together in a dark stinking hold, the sexes being separated; while the men are kept in chains to prevent an insurrection. In this manner are they floated over turbulent seas, not cer|tain what is to be their destiny, and generally fed during Page 205 the passage with horse-beans and oil for their whole subsist|ence. But these sufferings are often alleviated with better food by the more humane: so far, that none or few of the cargo die during the passage, and the whole crew ar|rive healthy in the West Indies. I even remember one instance, where the captain, mate, and most of the sailors, having expired at sea, so that the remaining few could not work the ship without the negroes assist|ance, yet these last having been well treated, helped at last to run the vessel on shore, by which means they not only saved many lives, but tamely and even chear|fully allowed themselves to be fetched and sold to any person who would please to buy them.—Having made these reflections, I shall now briefly proceed with the manner in which the slaves are disposed of.
No sooner is a Guinea-ship arrived, than all the slaves are led upon deck, where they are refreshed with pure air, plantains, bananas, oranges, &c. and being properly cleaned, washed, and their hair shaved in different figures of stars, half-moons, &c. which they generally do the one to the other, (having no razors) by the help of a broken bottle and without soap. After this operation, one part of them is sent ashore for sale, decorated with pieces of cotton to serve as fig-leaves, arm-bands, beads, &c. being all the captain's property; while the others spend the day in dancing, hallooing, and clapping hands on board the vessel.
Page 206Having sufficiently described their figures after land|ing, we now may suppose them walking along the water-side, and through the streets, where every planter picks out that number which he stands in need of, to supply those lost by death or desertion, and begins to make a bargain with the captain. Good negroes are ge|nerally valued at from fifty to a hundred pounds each. Amongst these, should a woman chance to be pregnant, her price is augmented accordingly, for which reason I have known the captain of a Dutch Guinea vessel, who acknowledged himself to be the father, take advantage, with a brutality scarcely credited in the story of Inkle and Yarico, of doubling the value, by selling his own off|spring to the best bidder; for which however he was highly censured by his companions.
The next circumstance that takes place before the bar|gain is struck, is to cause the negroes for sale, one after another, to mount on a hogshead or a table, where they are visited by a surgeon, who obliges them to make all the different gestures, with arms and legs, of a Merry-Andrew upon the stage, to prove their soundness or un|soundness; after which they are adopted by the buyer, or rejected, as he finds them fit for his purpose, or other|wise. If he keeps them, the money is paid down; and the new-bought negroes are immediately branded on the breast or the thick part of the shoulder, by a stamp made of silver, with the initial letters of the new master's name, Page 207 as we mark furniture or any thing else to authenticate them properly. These hot letters, which are about the size of a six-pence, occasion not that pain which may be imagined, and the blisters being rubbed directly with a little fresh butter, are perfectly well in the space of two or three days. No sooner is this ceremony over, and a new name given to the newly-bought slave, than he or she is delivered to an old one of the same sex, and sent to the estate, where each is properly kept clean by his guar|dian, instructed and well fed, without working, for the space of six weeks; during which period, from living skeletons, they become plump and fat, with a beautiful clean skin, till it is disfigured by the inhuman flogging of some rascally proprietor, or rather his overseer.
Here I must leave them for some time, and continue my narrative, after observing that the negroes are com|posed of different nations or casts, such as the
- Abo,
- Conia,
- Blitay,
- Coromantin,
- Congo,
- Gango,
- Konare,
- Riemba,
- Loango,
- N. Zoko,
- Nago,
- Papa,
- Pombo,
- Wanway,
- &c. &c.
On the 10th, the surgeon having lanced my thigh, I scrambled out once more, to witness the selling of slaves Page 208 to the best bidder. After what has been related, the reader may form some judgment of my surprize and con|fusion, when I found among them my inestimable Joanna; the sugar-estate Fauconberg, with its whole stock, being this day sold by an execution, for the benefit of the creditors of its late possessor, Mr. D. B. who had fled.
I now felt all the horrors of the damn'd. I bewailed again and again my unlucky fortune, that did not enable me to become her proprietor myself, and in my mind I continually painted her ensuing dreadful situation. I fancied I saw her tortured, insulted, and bowing under the weight of her chains, calling aloud, but in vain, for my assistance. I was miserable, and indeed nearly deprived of all my faculties, till restored by the assurances of my friend, Mr. Lolkens, who providentially was appointed to continue administrator of the estate during the absence of its new possessors, Messrs. Passelege and son, at Am|sterdam, who bought it and its dependants for only four thousand pounds.
No sooner was he confirmed in his appointment, than this disinterested and steady friend brought Joanna to my presence; and pledged himself, that in every ser|vice which he could render to myself or her, and which he had now more in his power than ever, no efforts on his side should be wanting. This promise I desired him to keep in remembrance, and accordingly he ever since most nobly persevered.
Page 209Being informed that Colonel Fourgeoud had left Craw|assibo estate, and entered the woods just above the plan|tation Clarenbeck, on his way to the Wana Creek, to try if he could fall in with the rebels, I requested, by a let|ter, that I might join him there as soon as I should be recovered, and having shipped off for the last-men|tioned estate medicines and such surgeons of ours as had been left at Paramaribo, I employed Mr. Greber, the surgeon of the Society, on my own authority, and at the regiment's expence, to attend the sick officers and sol|diers, who were left in town, destitute of cash, and now without assistance. At the same time I also ordered to be purchased two more ankers of the best claret for their support. Thus was I determined properly to avail myself of my command, which at best could but last a few days longer.
This evening my friend De La Mara took his depar|ture, with his twenty-five free mulattoes, for the river Surinam; he being a captain of the militia, and they be|ing infinitely preferable to the European scarecrows.
I was so far recovered as to be able to ride out every morning, when the following ludicrous adventure hap|pened to me on the road that leads to Wanica. In this place a Mr. Van de Velde, boasting how fast his horse could gallop, proposed to me to run a race; to which I agreed, allowing him the start at twenty paces distance. The start indeed he had, but did not long retain his ad|vantage, Page 210 for my English horse passing him with the ra|pidity of a cannon-shot, his galloway sprung, rider and all, through a hedge of thick limes, and left poor Mr. Van de Velde, not like Doctor Slop, in the dirt, but like Absalom, hanging among the branches.
The horses in Surinam are little better or larger than asses (except those which are brought from North Ame|rica or Holland, the latter of which are generally em|ployed for carriages) yet they are useful in the sugar-mills, where a number of mules are also employed. These last are brought over from Barbary, and sometimes sold as high as fifty guineas. None of these animals are indigenous to Guiana; but, as many other animals have been imported, and become the inhabitants of the cli|mate, to save unnecessary repetition I here give the fol|lowing list of such quadrupeds as are not natives of the new continent:
- The Elephant,
- Hipopotamus,
- The Rhinoceros,
- Cameleopard,
- Camel,
- Dromedary,
- Lion,
- Tiger,
- Panther,
- Sheep,
- Hog,
- Goat,
- Dog,
- Badger,
- Sable,
- Stoat or Ermine,
- Hyaena,
- Jackall,
- Wild Goat,
- Rabbit,
- Small Guinea Stag,
- Ferret,
- Rat,
- Mouse,
- Fat Squirrel,
- Garden Squirrel,
- Marmot,
- Page 211Horse,
- Ass,
- Zebra,
- Ox,
- Buffalo,
- Genett,
- Civet,
- Cat,
- Antelope,
- Chamois Goat,
- Ichneumon,
- Jerboa,
- Maki; and several kinds of Monkies.
On the 18th arrived sick from Devil's Harwar Ensign Mathew, one of the officers by whom I had been re|lieved; and the same day he was followed by his com|mander and friend, Colonel Westerloo, supported by two soldiers. They had ridiculed me for complaining, after a confinement of so many weeks on board the barges; while these gentlemen had been out but a few days and always on shore, the latter of them having attempted to accompany the old Colonel Fourgeoud to Wana (whom he had joined at La Rochelle in Patamaca) but was com|pletely unfitted for proceeding by his very first entry into the woods. I was at dinner with a Mr. Day, when I saw him pass by a miserable spectacle, and chusing to forget what had passed at Devil's Harwar, and in reality having a regard for this gentleman, I started up imme|diately, and got him a coach, in which I accompanied him to his lodgings, where, having placed a centinel be|fore his chamber-door to keep out the rabble, I sent for Page 212 a Doctor Van Dam, as well as a Doctor Rissam, an Ame|rican, to attend him, forbidding all other communication, that of an old negro woman, his man servant, and a black boy excepted, and by these means I apparently preserved his life.
On the 20th, Lieutenant Count de Randwyk came down also indisposed with Ensign Coene, and at last my poor old shipmate Lieutenant Hamer, who had been kept at Devil's Harwar near four months, till, overcome by disease, he obtained leave to be transported to Parama|ribo.
On the 22d, the governor sent me a cotton twig, which I copied; and as I cannot have a better opportunity, I will now proceed to a description of that useful plant, which has only been cultivated in Surinam from about the year 1735, but not with advantage till about the years 1750 or 1752. There are several species of the cotton-tree, but I shall confine myself to that which is the most common and the most useful in this colony. This species of cotton, which grows upon a tree about six or eight feet high, bears before it is a year old, and pro|duces two crops annually, each of about twenty ounces in weight; the leaves are something like those of the vine, of a bright green, and the fibres of a cinnamon colour. The cotton-balls, some of which are as large as a small hen's egg, and divided in three parts, grow on a very long stalk, and in a triangular pod, which is first Page 213 produced by a yellow flower, and when ripe opens of itself, and discloses the globular contents as white as flakes of snow; in the middle of these are contained small black seeds, formed not unlike those that are usually found in grapes. The cotton will prosper in any of the tropical soils, and produces a good profit if the crops are not spoiled by a too long rainy season, being cultivated with very little trouble and expence: all indeed that is required is, to plant the seeds at a little distance from each other, when each seed, as I have said, produces the first year it is put in the ground. The separation of the seeds from the pulp, is the work of one man only, by the help of a machine made for the purpose; after which the cot|ton has undergone all the necessary process, and is put in bales of between three and four hundred pounds weight each for transportation, which bales ought to be well moistened at the time of stowing it, to prevent the cotton from sticking to the canvas. In the year before my ar|rival in Surinam, near three thousand bales of cotton were exported from this colony to Amsterdam and Rot|terdam alone, which produced about forty thousand pounds sterling. The best estates make twenty-five thousand pounds weight. The average prices have been from eight pence to twenty-two pence per pound. The raw material is spun in the West Indies by a rock and spindle, and extremely fine, when by the negro girls it is knit into stockings, &c. one pair of which are Page 214 sometimes sold for the price of a Portuguese joe, or some|times for two guineas. The Indians or natives of Gui|ana make very good hammocks of cotton, which they barter with the inhabitants at Paramaribo for other com|modities.—In the annexed plate A is the twig itself, B the pod, C the cotton-ball, and D the seed, but on a smaller scale than nature. I should here also describe the coffee, cacao, sugar, and indigo plantations, but must reserve them till another occasion, having made it a rule to speak of things only as they occur, which is more pleasant to myself, and better adapted to diversify my narrative.
Being now perfectly recovered, I resolved to join Colonel Fourgeoud at the Wana Creek, without waiting his or|ders, and to accompany him on his excursions through the forest: in consequence of which, having first cropt my hair, as being more convenient in the woods as well as more cleanly, and provided myself with the necessary bush-equipage, such as jackets, trowsers, &c.; I waited on the governor to ask his commands; he entertained me in a most polite manner, and told me, that what I was now going to suffer would surpass what I had already undergone. I nevertheless persisted in wishing to go without waiting an order from the chief, and accordingly applied to the magistrates for a boat, and the necessary negroes to transport me; which being promised for the succeeding day, I transferred the colours and regiment's cash, with the command of the remaining sick troops, to Page [unnumbered]
Indeed the colours, the cash, and the sick soldiers were nearly of equal use in Surinam, the first never having been displayed except at our landing, the second invisible to all except to Colonel Fourgeoud, and the third dying away one after another.
