CHAP.XXIV.

[Contents]CHAP.XXIV.Two Volunteer Companies raised of free Mulattoes and Negroes—Description of the Arrowouka Indian Nation—Colonel Fourgeoud’s Regiment receives orders to sail for Europe—Countermanded—Re-enter the Woods—Trade of the Colony—Description of a Cacao Estate—Sample of Sable Heroism.To what good star I was obliged, in the midst of all our confusion and distress, I know not, but certain it is, that Colonel Seyburg having sent for me on the first day of the new year, not only solicited my future friendship, but declared he was sorry for all the ill-treatment he had ever occasioned me, for which he principally blamed Mr.Gibhart, his adjutant and spy; then taking me by the hand, as a proof of his real regard, permitted me from that moment to go to Paramaribo, or wherever I pleased, to refresh and refit until further orders; which had such an effect on me, that having instantly converted every drop of my rum into grog, we sat down, together with two other officers, and drowned all former animosity in oblivion, till we could hardly see each other. In this condition I took my leave that very evening of mynewfriend and the camp at Java Creek, and rowed down in the best spirits for Paramaribo.[186]Next morning, having slept during most of the passage, I breakfasted at Devil’s Harwar, where I found that the unfortunate Gibhart had just set sail for theotherworld. In the evening we arrived at the estateBeekvlied, as my negroes had made extraordinary dispatch,summing wattra1all the time to encourage each other.On the 3d I arrived at the fortress Amsterdam, where I was entertained with an excellent fish dinner, and where I must again intreat the reader’s patience, while I attempt to describe the different species,viz.thepassessy,prare-prare,provost, andcurema. The passary is above two feet long, and weighs sometimes twenty pounds: the head is broad and flat; it has two long barbs, and no scales, and is very delicate eating. The prare-prare is about the same size, and equally good. The provost is large, often five feet, and of a yellowish colour; the flesh of this is less agreeable, but the oil it produces comes to good account. As for the curema, this is a species of mullet, sometimes above two feet in length, with large silvery eyes, and the under jaw longer than the upper. Near this place are also found a kind ofsea-snails, of which Madam Merian makes mention; and the fore-part of which exactly resembles those of a shrimp.In the evening at six o’clock I arrived once more at Paramaribo, and found Joanna with her little boy perfectly[187]well, after having both been blind for above three weeks; with whom being now invited to lodge, at the house of my friend Mr. De Graaf, I was completely happy.The following day I dined with Colonel Fourgeoud, who now also was as sound as ever, and who gave me a very indifferent meal of salt provisions2, but anuncommonlyhearty welcome. He acquainted me that two new companies of free mulattoes, and two of free negroes, all volunteers, had just been raised; that the Serameca and Owca negroes encouraged and favoured the rebels, and were deceitful rascals; that a few rebels had been killed in the Cassiwinica Creek; and that he was in hopes of rooting outFissy Hollo; thatBonny, with his people, were almost starving in the forest, notwithstanding their late depredations, which could not last much longer; and that he was fully determined, if he should lose his last man, to makethisrebel surrender, or harass him till he and his gang, through hunger and distress, should be obliged to quit the colony. I learned further from him, that a Frenchman had just escaped hanging for betraying the state of the fortifications, &c. to the governor of Cayenne; that he had pardoned Captain Tulling for his clandestine marriage; and that Lieutenant Colonel de Borgnes was just entered into matrimony with a rich widow, a Mrs. Crawford.[188]The Colonel, in a word, was now quite the reverse of what he had been before, and upon the whole so very agreeable in his manners, that I would never wish to spend my time in better company; but how I should become at once the favourite of both these rival commanders, was a secret I could never yet discover, unless it might proceed from a desire of gaining me from each other, as they still continued mutual enemies: be that as it may, I resolved to preserve the most inflexible neutrality, as I also did between them and the governor, where I was invited next day, and dined not on salt-beef, but found as usual a truly magnificent entertainment.Thus I continued daily visiting my friends,viz.Mrs. Godefroy, the Demellys, the Gordons, the Mac Neyls, &c. I also spent a very agreeable day with the black Mrs. Sampson, or Zubly, who was now a widow.I was present too at a mulatto ball, composed however not of slaves, but of free independant settlers. Here the music, the lights, the country dances, the supper, and, above all, the dresses were so superb, and their behaviour so decent and genteel, that the whole might serve as a model for decorum and etiquette to some of the fairer and more polished inhabitants.On the 20th, observing a number of Indians and black people of both sexes swimming at the back of Fort Zelandia, young Donald Mac Neyl and myself compleated the groupe, by stripping and getting in among them; and I must confess I never beheld more surprising feats[189]of activity in the water, than were performed by the negroes, who fought asham battle, by plunging or rather tumbling like porpoises, when they struck each other with their legs, as they never used their hands; while the Indians, who were of theArrowoukanation, swam and dived like amphibious animals.Being sufficiently refreshed, we sat down upon the beach, near the twenty-one gun battery, where I had an opportunity of examining the features and figure of one of their young females, as she approached us, like Venus rising out of the sea. These people being very different from all the other Indian nations that I have already described, I shall embrace the opportunity of fulfilling my promise, and giving a particular account of them.—In the first place, the skin of the young woman who was now emerging clean from the river, and divested of arnotta-paint, appeared much fairer than the copper-colour of the other Indians; neither were her limbs deformed by those strait-laced bracelets or cotton-bands so much in use with the rest; nor did her hair hang down, but was neatly plaited close round the crown of her head, and fastened in the centre with a broad silver plate3. Her only dress consisted, both during the time she bathed and after, of a small square apron made of beads, as I have mentioned before: in every other respect she was perfectly naked: nor could a finer figure be imagined—[190]erect, vigorous, active, young, and healthy, which convinced me that when the body is exposed, as it certainly was ordained by nature, the face is but little noticed.“——Such as Arcadian songTransmits from ancient uncorrupted Time;When tyrant Custom had not shackled Man,But free to followNaturewas the mode.”In her features was displayed that beautiful simplicity, that native unsuspecting innocence, which cannot be put on where there is the slightest consciousness of guilt. Nor is the olive-colour incompatible with beauty, it is certainly the standard complexion of the human race, while the black and white are supposed to be only gradations, produced probably by the extremes of heat and cold. As this Indian girl was perfectly handsome, so she seemed to be perfectly happy.—“Happiness,” as the Abbe Reynal wisely observes, “is more frequently found in a pure state of nature, than in that of the most refined civilization.” To be sure an European woman would blush to her fingers ends at the very idea of appearing publicly stark naked; but education and prejudice are every thing, since it is an axiom, that where there is no feeling of self-reproach, there can assuredly be no shame.Indian Female of the Arrowauka Nation.Benedetti Sculpt.Indian Female of the Arrowauka Nation.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1792, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.I remember to have seen an Indian youth, whose name wasWeekee, at Bergen-op-Zoom, where he was brought over from the colony Berbicè with GeneralDesalve, who cloathed and partly civilized him: amongst other things,[191]he learned cookery, and to be something of a taylor, at his own request, that he might be enabled to provide both for his back and his belly. After some time however, expressing a desire to return to the colony, he no sooner touched American ground, than stripping himself of his lumber, he launched naked into his native woods, where he ended his days as he had begun them, amongst his beloved countrymen and companions; like the Hottentot mentioned by Rousseau, in his celebratedDiscours sur l’Inegalité & Conditions, &c.——But to return to the girl:—She had with her a live parrot, which she had stunned with a blunt arrow from her bow, and for which I gave her a double-bladed knife4. So wonderfully expert are the Arrowouka Indians at this exercise, that they frequently bring down a macaw in full flight, or even a pigeon.I cannot conclude these remarks without adding a few words concerning the unspotted moral character of these people, who not only live in peace with most of the other Indian nations, but are peculiarly attached to the Europeans, while these in return profess for them the strongest esteem.[192]As a proof of their gratitude, I will only relate one instance:—Some years ago an Indian woman being at Paramaribo, and far advanced in a state of pregnancy, a Mr.Van der Meyhumanely ordered his servants to conduct her and her husband into his house, where, giving them a private apartment, and every other conveniency, he wished them good-night. Before the next morning the woman was delivered; but when the servants went in to renew their offers of friendship, neither man, wife, nor child were to be found, as they had before day-break quietly marched into the forest5. Various were at this time the conjectures concerning the boastedintegrityof theArrowoukaIndians, until, no less than eighteen months after, the same Indian returned to Mr. Van der Mey, with a charming captive boy of theAccawaunation, that he had taken in battle6; and whom presenting to his benefactor, he only said, “That’s yours,” and without waiting for any answer disappeared.—For this slave the above gentleman was offered £. 200, which he refused, and treated him as well as if he had been free.The education these people receive in their infancy being according to the dictates only of simple nature, their minds or their bodies are very seldom deformed, while a too nice attention to either is possibly as detrimental as a total neglect. The ingenious Dr. Bancroft is[193]of the same opinion, which he supports (I think needlessly) by a quotation from Quintilian.Though the Arrowouka Indians live in perfect friendship and harmony with us, and indeed with most of their neighbours, they yet sometimes go to war when provoked, as I have just observed; in these combats they use bows and arrows, and the club calledabowtow7; but they do not eat their prisoners like the Caribbee Indians, who even devoured the negroes whom they killed at the insurrection in Berbicè. Notwithstanding these people live at a greater distance from the sea than theWarrows, &c. yet they have canoes, sometimes fourscore feet in length, in which they paddle down the rivers.The Arrowouka Indians particularly are great herbalists, and for all external accidents have recourse to simples, with which the woods of all Terra Firma abound.——But to proceed:On the 25th I was seized with a fever, and blooded in the foot, in which the orifice beingstrucktoo deep, for struck it was as they bleed the horses, I again became lame; during which time Colonel Seyburg arrived from the Java Creek to recover, he being at last also taken very ill.In the mean time Colonel Fourgeoud, while he was just ready to renew his operations, having already sent a small detachment to the Jew Savannah for intelligence, received letters from the Hague, with express orders to[194]abandon the expedition immediately, and with his few remaining troops to sail for Holland without delay.In consequence of these commands on the 27th, the transport ships were put in commission, and all the officers and privates received their clearance, which made them very happy; and indeed all at Paramaribo were alive with joy, except some of the inhabitants and myself.On the 14th of February, ill as I was with a bad foot, a sore arm, the prickly heat, and all my teeth loose with the scurvy, I found means to scramble out on crutches, with a thousand florins in my pocket, which having divided between Fourgeoud and Mrs. Godefroy for the redemption of the black boyQuaco, and mymulatto, I returned home without a shilling in my purse; yet for this small sum of 500 florins, so inadequate to 1800 which I owed that lady, she was induced generously to renew her persuasions of carrying Joanna and the boy with me to Holland. This, however, Joanna as nobly as firmly refused, declaring, “that, independant of all other considerations, she could never think of sacrificing one benefactor to the interest of another; and that her own happiness or even mine, which was dearer to her than life, should never have any weight, till the debt of her liberty was paid by me, or by her own industry, to the utmost fraction, and which she did not despair to see one day compleated.” She added, “our separation should only be for a time, and that the greatest proof I could ever shew her of my real esteem, was now to undergo this little trial of fortune like a man, without[195]so much as heaving a sigh in her presence;” which last she spoke with a smile, next embraced her infant, then turned suddenly round, and wept most bitterly.—At this moment I was called to Mr.de la Mare’s, who was just dead, where my melancholy having surpassed all description, I at last determined to weather one or two painful years in her absence; and in the afternoon went to dissipate my mind at a Mr.Roux’s cabinet of Indian curiosities; where, as my eye chanced to fall on a rattle-snake, I will before I leave the colony describe this dangerous reptile.Therattle-snakeof Surinam is sometimes eight or nine feet long, and very thick about the middle, tapering towards the neck and tail. The head is dreadfully deformed, being flat and broad, with two large nostrils near the snout, and a large scale or knob like the alligator above his eyes, which are jet-black and sparkling; at the extremity of the tail are several thin horny shells joined together, which are very dry, and which, when irritated, the animal shakes, sounding much like arattle, from which it derives its name. These shells augment,it is said, in the proportion of one every year, by which it is supposed its age may be ascertained. This whole snake is covered over with scales, which on the ridge of the back it erects. The colour is a dirty orange mixed with dark-brown and black spots, which last are also on its head, appearing like velvet, and marked in a very conspicuous manner; the belly is ash-coloured, with transverse[196]scales like most other serpents. When this animal is intent on mischief, it lies coiled like a rope, with the tail a little in motion, which having rattled, it launches forth upon its prey, making no farther reach than its own length; this done, it coils a second time, and again projects itself. The bite of the rattle-snake is accounted fatal, at least is thought very dangerous over all America; but with regard to the fascinating qualities of its eyes, such as the story of its causing mice, squirrels, and birds to run into its mouth, I reject them as fables; the supposed charm consisting in nothing more than this, that the poor animals, finding themselves surprized by the impending danger, are seized with such a trepidation and fear, that even the use of their limbs forsakes them, and they are rivetted to the place till they die, or in the act of leaping they are seized by their enemy8.The Green Butterfly of South America.The Green Butterfly of South America.The Rattle Snake & Dypsas of Guiana.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.In this cabinet I also saw theblue dipsasof Surinam, which had almost the colour of ultramarine on the back; its sides were lighter, and the belly nearly white. I did not learn that the bite of this reptile was fatal, but that it occasions immoderate thirst in the patient, from which it took its name; the worddipsasignifying thirst in the Greek language. Another snake I also observed here, about three feet long, being annulated with different colours, and calledamphisbœna, from the supposition of its having two heads; but the truth is, that from its cylindrical[197]form the head and tail so much resemble each other, that the error is almost pardonable; besides which, the eyes are nearly imperceptible. This is the snake which, being supposed blind, and vulgarly said to be fed by the large ants already described, is in this country honoured with the name of King of the Emmets9.Amongst Mr. Roux’s numerous collection of fine butterflies, one of a middle size I thought peculiarly beautiful; all its wings, both above and below, being elegantly streaked with transverse bars of velvet, black, and a variegated bright green. The amazing height to which they ascend, and the great velocity with which these insects fly, make them so rare, being, for these reasons, but very seldom caught. The caterpillar is a sea-green, and all covered over with hard feelers, not unlike feathers.—For a better idea of the above snakes, and this fly, see the plate annexed, where the last was improved from Madam Merian’s collection.I have just said that we were ordered to leave the colony, and that all were overjoyed with the news, myself excepted. But on the 15th, by letters from Holland to our chief, ourreturnwas again countermanded for six months. My companions were therefore suddenly cast down with disappointment, while I was as suddenly revived, and now determined to save all my pay until Joanna’s redemption should be fully accomplished: but what[198]grieved me very much was the other news from Europe,viz.that theScots Brigadehad been invited to England by his Britannic Majesty, while I was lamenting that I could not possibly be one of the number10. I at the same time had the offer of an American company under General Washington, but this I refused without any hesitation, as may be supposed.In short, on the 18th of February, the poor dispirited men were again sent up to Magdenburg, a large party still remaining at the Java Creek; whilst the temper of the officers was now so ruffled, that a Mr.Fisherof our corps fought no less thantwoduels in two succeeding days, dangerously wounding both his antagonists, who were both officers of the Society regiment.As I was not yet recovered, I staid some time longer at Paramaribo, where at the house of a Mr. Reynsdorp, I saw a PortugueseJewteaching his children theChristianreligion, while the pious mother of the charity-house kept flogging the poor slaves daily, because they were, as she said, unbelievers. To one black woman, in particular, she wantonly gave four hundred lashes, who bore them without a complaint.But to change the disagreeable subject;—while I have the leisure and the opportunity, I feel the inclination to state to the public a short account of the trade and intrinsic value of this blood-spilling colony; which still[199]might be richer, did they not follow the example of the woman in the fable with her golden eggs.In the first place, in Surinam are computed to be about six or eight hundred plantations, producing sugar, coffee, cacao, and cotton, besides some indigo, and valuable timbers, &c.—The exportation of which four first articles only, and their value, may be seen at one view in the following table for four successive years.The Years.Barrels ofSUGAR.lbs. ofCOFFEE.lbs. ofCACAO.lbs. ofCOTTON.177119,49411,135,132416,821203,945177219,26012,267,134354,93590,035177315,74115,427,298332,229135,047177415,11111,016,518506,610105,126Total69,60649,846,0821,610,595534,15369,606 barrels of sugar, at 60 florinsperbarrel, makeƒ.4,176,360——49,846,082 lbs. of coffee, at 8½d.perlb. make21,184,58417—1,610,595 lbs. of cacao, at 6½d.perlb. make523,44378534,153 lbs. of cotton, at 8d.perlb. make212,6614—Sum totalƒ.26,097,04988Which makes in one year exactlyƒ.6,524,26272But this average produce was shipped off for the town of Amsterdam only.[200]If I now add what goes to Rotterdam and to Zealand, besides the home consumption, and the return of the rum and molasses, the indigo at 4 ƒ.perlb. and the timber from 5d.to five florinspercubic foot, it will amount to as much more6,524,26272Thus altogetherƒ.13,048,524144Which, supposing it was but 11,000,000 ƒ. makes a yearly income ofone millionneat in sterling money.How the above sum is divided between the republic of Holland and this colony, shall be my business to state in the second place.The town of Amsterdam affords about fifty ships, at an average of 400 tons burthen each, which receive, for importation freight of various commodities, the sum ofƒ.6,000For exportation freight of the above productions, which grow in the colony1132,000Thus each vessel gets for freightƒ.38,000Which, multiplied by the Noof vessels50Makes exactlyƒ.1,900,000——For Rotterdam and Zealand I calculate together about 30 vessels more of different burdens: thus1,200,000——[201]And for the brick that serves for ballast, passengers, &c.80,000——Each Guinea ship, importing yearly from 250 to 300 negroes, lowest value, atƒ.120,000Thus supposing the number of vessels126Amounts to720,000——To all these I shall add the merchandize imported from Holland, such as wine, spirits, beer, salt-beef, pork, and flour, silk, cotton, and linen-manufactures; cloaths, hats, shoes; gold, silver, and steel ornaments; arms and ammunition; even masons and carpenters tools, &c. &c. at an average of about 50per cent.profit. Besides correspondents charges, insurance, duty, store-house expences, porters fees, wharfage, and package, which last articles cost the inhabitants tenper cent.more.Thus altogether1,100,000——Which makes already the sum ofƒ.5,000,000——Still let me mention the interest of 6per cent.for the national debt of five millions sterling, due by the colony, and what they are defrauded of by usurers in Holland, where prodigious other charges are brought in; and where those who have made their fortunes go to spend it; and the amount will be found to produce at least1,000,000——The whole of which items added together, produce no less a sum yearly thanƒ.6,000,000——[202]Which is clear profit to the republic,viz.principally for Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Zealand. Thus the inhabitants of Surinam get, for their share of the above treasure, only5,000,000——Which make together, as I said, one million sterling, orƒ.11,000,000——In the third place, I shall now show in what manner the internal expence of the society of Surinam is defrayed by taxes; which amount to no trifle, as shall be seen.Having already mentioned, when speaking of the government, that the public revenue officers were five in number, I will now point out how they collect the cash respectively each, for the support of the above expences.The first of these is that of Importation and Exportation Duties.To this is paid,viz.By all Dutch vessels, 3 ƒ.perton}thus for tonnage,ƒ.90,000By Americans, &c. 6 ƒ.pertonBy Americans, &c. for all imports and exports, 5per cent.60,000Sugar pays 1 ƒ.perthousand or barrel}in 1771 paid260,000Coffee 15d.per100 lb. weightCacao 1 ƒ. 15d.per100 lb. DoCotton————ƒ.410,000——Thus receives yearly about the sum ofƒ.410,000——[203]The second is the office of excise and small duties.To this is paid,viz.For a barrel of beerƒ.3——A Doof claret12——A pipe of madeira2310—All wines,perquart bottle——1The tax on publicans, is600——Doon small retailers300——And which amounts to a yearly produce of at least100,000——Then follows thirdly the office for taxation on heads; which receives for all inhabitants, black and white, without exception,viz.For or men and women ƒ. 2 10{this produces yearly150,000——For boys and girls under 12, ƒ. 1 5Next comes the office for sales and slaves, which gets,viz.For selling dead stock, including estates, &c. 5per cent.}thus,130,000——For selling newly-arrived or imported negro slaves, 2½per cent.And finally, the office for re-taking negro deserters, which was then erected, the other taxes not being sufficient; which produces yearly,viz.By an additional tax on heads, black and white, at 1 ƒ. is80,000By 4per cent.of every profit got during the year upon oath, is400,000Which makes exactly480,000——[204]Still let me not forget what is yearly paid for what is called the support of the common or grass fields,viz.For a house, according to its size.For a coach20——For a whiskey10——For a saddle-horse10——Which add to the above impositions again12,000——And these, if summed together, make a yearly revenue of no less thanƒ.1,282,000——Having now clearly demonstrated, partly by the assistance of Dr. Fermyn’sTableau de la Colonie de Surinam, and partly by my own experience, that the intrinsic value of this settlement is worth yearly aboveone millionof sterling money, which, by proper management, might be still increased; also that the greater part of it goes to the republic, while the people are thus burthened on their estates by almost insupportable taxation, which induces many to be rogues, who would perhaps otherwise be honest; I shall, by way of appendix, give some short account of the trade carried on in this colony by theNorth Americans:—These people arrive with small brigs, sloops, and schooners from Virginia, Rhode Island, New York, Boston, Jamaica, Grenada, Antigua, Barbadoes, &c. from which places they export flour, beef, pork, herrings, salt, mackarel, and leaf-tobacco for the negroes; also fir-boards, English rum, and other spirits; loaf-sugar13,[205]spermaceti-candles, onions, &c. Besides each vessel is bound to bring in one horse14, which they often supply by a head only; affirming, that they put on board a horse, but that he died on the passage. For the above commodities the American traders export all the melasses of this colony to distil into rum at home, and frequently ship-loads of other productions and merchandize, though this is done in a clandestine manner, by which both the seller and buyer are considerable gainers, being ready cash for the one, and a cheap bargain for the other. From the Leeward Islands these vessels also import private mulatto and quaderoon slaves, which being generally young and handsome, whatever may be their moral character, sell for considerable prices.Having thus shewn, according to the best information I was able to acquire, in what the commerce and intrinsic wealth of this fine colony consist; I will now take my leave of the subject, and continue my narrative.On the 21st of February, Mr.Reynsdorp, the son-in-law of Mrs. Godefroy, took me in his sail barge for change of air toNuten-Schadelyk, one of his own coffee estates; where I saw a white man who had lately lost both his eyes in one night by the bats or vampires, as they are called; and the following day, sailing up Comewina River, we proceeded to the delightfulCacaoplantation[206]Alkmaar, the property of the above lady; where the negro slaves are treated like children by the mistress, to whom they all look up as to their common parent.—Here were no groans to be heard, no fetters to be met with, nor any marks of severity to be seen—but all was harmony and content. The superb house and other offices of this charming estate, where pleasure and hospitality ever reign, I have already represented in plate NoX.; while the fields and gardens, nay, even the negro houses, bore all the marks of perfect peace and plenty.Thecacao-treesare supplied from nurseries for the purpose, like orchards in England, and planted very regularly at ten or twelve feet distance from each other, where they grow to the height of our English cherry-trees. But these plantations must be well sheltered, both from the hard winds and scorching sun, when young; the roots not entering deep into the ground to succour them, nor can they at that time bear extraordinary heat; on which account the groves are filled up with cassava-shrubs or plantain-trees for their shelter, and which at the same time answer the purpose of killing the weeds, which grow so luxuriantly in all the tropical climates;—by these attentions the trees will bear fruit before they are three years old, when they afford two crops annually, but they are in the highest perfection at the age of twelve or fourteen. The leaf of the cacao-tree is above eight inches long, and nearly three broad, thick-pointed, ribbed like the laurel-time, and of a bright green-colour.[207]The fruit is about the same size, and when young resembles a cucumber; but when ripe it becomes yellow like a large lemon, with ribs like the melon, and tubercles which enclose the seed or nuts, near thirty in number: they lie longitudinally in the fruit, and when fit for use are of the size of olives, and purple-coloured. The trees are supposed to bear at each crop from thirty to three hundred pods, each containing about thirty nuts, weighing one pound, from which a calculation may be made how much will be the produce of each harvest. After a few days the nuts are extracted from the pods, and dried in the shade; during which time they undergo a very strong perspiration, when they are put into barrels and fit for transportation, to be converted into that well-known and agreeable beverage called Chocolate.It is said the cacao-trees are natives of Guiana, and grow wild in large quantities near the river Amazon: be that as it may, GovernorChatillon’s son planted the first tree in Surinam in 1684, and the first crop was exported to Holland in 1733. A great advantage in cultivating cacao-trees is, that fewer slaves are required than in any other branch of the planting business. How considerable are the profits will appear by the accounts of the year 1774, when 506,610 lbs. were exported to Amsterdam alone, which produced 202,614 ƒ. Dutch money, being equal to £. 18,419 sterling. The prices have been fluctuating from 4d.to 9d.perlb. the average being[208]about 6½d.The best estates, of whichAlkmaaris one, produce yearly above 80,000 lbs. weight.In the plate annexed,Ais the leaf above,Bbelow15;C, the wood;D, the flower;E, the young pulp;F, the same in perfection; andG, the seeds or nuts to make the chocolate.On the 27th we returned to town, where the day before a Society soldier was shot for mutiny; and the day following a ship was burnt in the roads. At this time the celebrated free negro Qwasi, who was the prophet, priest, and king of the rangers, &c. went to Holland on a visit to the Prince of Orange, with letters of recommendation from Fourgeoud, whose praises he was to resound, as well as to complain of the Governor for not treating him with due respect. This being the period for the sessions, another negro’s leg was cut off for sculking from a task to which he was unequal; while two more were condemned to be hanged for running away altogether. The heroic behaviour of one of these men before the court deserves particularly to be noticed:—He begged only to be heard for a few moments; which being granted, he proceeded thus:Sprig of the Cocao, or Chocolate Tree.Sprig of the Cocao, or Chocolate Tree.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.“I was born in Africa, where, defending my prince during an engagement, I was made a captive, and sold for a slave on the coast of Guinea bymy owncountrymen.[209]—One of your countrymen, who is now to be one of my judges, became my purchaser, in whose service I was treated so cruelly by hisoverseer, that I deserted, and joined the rebels in the woods.—Here again I was condemned to be a slave toBonny, their chief, who treated me with even more severity than I had experienced from the Europeans, till I was once more forced to elope, determined to shun mankind for ever, and inoffensively to end my days by myself in the forest. Two years had I persevered in this manner quite alone, undergoing the greatest hardships and anxiety of mind, preserving life only for the possibility of once more seeing my dear family, who were perhaps starving on my account, in my own country; I say two miserable years had just elapsed, when I was discovered by the rangers, taken, and brought before this tribunal, who are now acquainted with the history of my wretched life, and from whom the only favour I have to ask is, that I may be executednext Saturday, or as soon as it may possibly be convenient.”This speech was uttered with the utmost moderation, by one of the finest-looking negroes that was perhaps ever seen; to which his former master, who, as he observed, was now one of the judges, made the following laconic reply—“Rascal! that is not what we want to know; but thetorturethis moment shall make you confess crimes as black as yourself, as well as those of your hateful accomplices.” To which the negro, who[210]now swelled in every vein with indignation and ineffable contempt: “Massera, the tigers have trembled for these hands,” holding them up; “and dare you think to threaten me with your wretched instrument? No, I despise the utmost tortures you can now invent, as much as I do the pitiful wretch who is going to inflict them.” Saying which, he threw himself down on the rack, where amidst the most excruciating torments he remained with a smile, without uttering a syllable; nor did he ever speak again, until he ended his unhappy days at the gallows.What good man can “reflect the tear-stain’d eye,When blood attests even slaves for freedom die?On cruel gibbets, high disclos’d they rest,And scarce one groan escapes one bloated breast.Here sableCæsars16feel the Christian rod,There AfricPlatos, tortur’d hope a God,While jettyBrutusfor his country sighs,And sootyCatowith his freedom dies!”Having dined with Colonel Fourgeoud on the 8th of March, when we celebrated the Prince of Orange’s birthday, while Mr. Reyndorp gave a treat to all the soldiers, he acquainted me that the rangers were now alone encamped at the Wana Creek; that the pestilential spotDevil’s Harwarwas at last entirely forsaken; and that the two lately[211]raised companies of sable volunteers had taken a few prisoners, and killed others on theWanica path, behind Paramaribo. I was at this time a good deal better, but still, not being quite recovered, he who had formerly treated me so severely, now even insisted on my staying some longer time at Paramaribo: nay, gave me an offer to return to Europe, which I absolutely refused; in short, about the middle of the month, I was as well as ever I was in my life. At this time Colonel Fourgeoud and myself were daily visitors of the ladies, in whose company no man could behave better, while I could often not avoid disgust; indeed so languid were many in their looks, and so unrestrained were some in their conversation, that a Mrs.N—— even asked me,sans ceremonie, to supply the place of her husband; while she might as well have asked me to drink, for a relish, a tumbler of salts.On the 17th, however, my eyes were better feasted, when, going to dine with Colonel Texier of the Society troops, I first took a walk in the orange grove and the governor’s gardens; here, peeping through the foliage, I soon discovered two most elegant female figures after bathing, the one a fine youngSamboo, the other ablooming Quaderoon, which last was so very fair complexioned, that she might have passed for a native of Greece, while the roses that glowed in her cheek were equal to those that blossomed in the shrubbery17. They were walking[212]hand in hand, and conversing with smiles near a flowery bank that adorned the side of a crystal brook, in which they plunged the instant they heard me rustling amongst the verdure, like twomermaids:“Then to the flood they rush’d; the parted floodIts lovely guests with closing waves receiv’d,And every beauty soft’ning, every graceFlushing anew, a mellow lustre shed.”Leaving them to enjoy their innocent amusement of bathing, I spent the remaining hour before dinner amongst the shady fruit-trees, blooming bowers, and serpentine gravel walks; where indeed I saw greater variety of European plants than I imagined were produced in a tropical climate, such as mint, fennel, sage, rosemary, golden-rod and jessamine, the sensitive plant, pomegranates, roses, figs, and even some grapes.—Of the pomegranate flowers, a specimen may be seen in plate, NoXXIX. The figs are both within and without of a beautiful crimson colour; but the roses are rather pale. Here were some beautiful pine-apples and melons, which, though they are so generally known, I will nevertheless give some account of. The imperial fruit, calledAnanaor pine-apple grows in the centre of an elegant sea-green plant, on a stalk of the same hue, about eight inches in length, its leaves diverging near the surface of the earth, which are smooth, long, strong, pointed, and dentulated with hard prickles. The shape of this fruit is nearly oval, the size of a sugar-loaf, all over chequered, and of[213]a most beautiful orange or golden colour, being crowned with a sea-green tuft, of the same leaves as the mother plant, and which when put in the ground produces another pine-apple in the space of about eighteen months. The delicious taste and flavour of this fruit has in the space of half a century become so well known, that I have introduced it merely to notice itsplentyin the country I write of; for so spontaneously indeed do the former grow in this climate, and of such different kinds, without any cultivation, that on many estates they serve as a common food for hogs.Themuskandwater melonsgrow also plentifully in this country; the first is of a globular form, large, like the crown of a small hat, ribbed, buff colour, orange and green. The pulp is yellow, firm, sweet, and succulent; still it is eaten with sugar, but more frequently with black pepper and salt—the smell of this fruit is excellent.The water-melon is of an oval or cylindrical shape, its colour is a bright polished green, and partly a very pale buff; the pulp of this fruit is a pink colour, and of a mellow watery substance; its taste is sweet, exceedingly cooling, and of a most agreeable flavour.Both the above melons are of the cucumber kind, growing on rough stalks, with large leaves, that creep along the ground. It is remarkable that the water-melon, which may be freely eaten in all distempers without the least pernicious consequence, thrives best in very dry and sandy[214]places.—In the annexed plate may be seen theAnanaor pine-apple, with the musk and water-melon, besides the seed from which this last is produced.I sent about this period, to a Mr. Reygersman in Holland, a most elegant collection of Surinambutterflies, which are here caught in great abundance and variety, and by which alone some people make no small profit; but the very idea of pinning them alive to a sheet of paper, was sufficient to prevent me from becoming a fly-catcher:“Lo! the poor beetle that we tread upon——Feels a like pang, as when a giant falls.”Now Captains Van Geurick and Fredericy, with Serjeant Fowler, were sent on an embassy to theOwcaandSaramecafree negroes, if possible to procure their assistance against the rebels, which they always continued topromise(while Colonel Fourgeoud gave them presents) but never yetperformed. A few of the other officers still stayed with usgallantingat Paramaribo, amongst whom were Major Medler and CaptainHamell18, who had both been with General Desalve’s regiment, in the colonyBerbicè, and previous to that the first was in the Prussian service. It was no small change of appearance[215]for us, who had so little a time before appeared like wild men, now to strut through Paramaribo, dressed like so many Frenchmarquees.The Musk-Melon, Water-Melon & Pine-Apple.A. Smith Sculpt.The Musk-Melon, Water-Melon & Pine-Apple.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.Being a particular favourite of Governor Nepveu, I one day was induced to ask him for a piece ofuncultivatedforest ground; when he readily granted me 400 acres: but when I inconsiderately asked it of him, I had not calculated how large a capital it required to clear away woods, purchase negroes, and provide other necessaries for such an undertaking; and when a little reflection convinced me how difficult it would be to find a partner of abilities to assist me, I declined accepting this mark of the governor’s regard.Having on the 26th once more saved a poor black girl from receiving some hundred lashes, by replacing a dozen of china, which she had broken by accident; while another was stabbed by a Frenchman, who immediately cut his own throat from remorse, and his companion, an overseer, hanged himself; and having visited the poor negro whose leg had lately been cut offby law, I packed my boxes to set out next morning on my sixth campaign; and once more take the command of the River Comewina: at which moment arrived at my lodgings six loaded negro slaves with presents from my hospitable friends, of every kind that Guiana could produce, and the colony of Surinam could afford me.[216]1That is, one of the rowers beating the water with his oar at every stroke, in such a manner that it sounds different from the rest, to which the others sing a chorus.↑2This he absolutely held as the best regimen for health, notwithstanding he had brought three cooks from Europe.↑3This, at other times, they supply by a shell, a fish-bone, or the tooth of a tiger, &c.↑4The general traffick carried on between all the Indian nations and the Europeans consists in balsam-capivi, arroco-cerra, oil of carrabba, arnotta, and bees-wax, besides pieces of Brazil and ebony; the roots hiaree and varnillas, canoes, hammocks, slaves, monkies, parrots, and paroquets; for which they receive fire-arms, knives, hatchets, fish-hooks, combs, coral and glass beads, blue cotton, looking-glasses, &c.↑5I have mentioned before that the Indians are exempt from pain in labour.↑6This is however extremely uncommon, as a more peaceable people does not exist in the universe.↑7The New Zealanders call their clubspato-patoo; which affinity is remarkable, on account of their very great distance.↑8See a letter to the editors of the New Universal Magazine for October 1787.↑9How Madam Merian should call this reptile anoviparous viper, surpasses my comprehension.↑10The King’s demand was negatived by the States of Holland.↑11Sugar pays about 3l.perbarrel, and coffee about as muchperthousand; other commodities in proportion.—N.B.This I insert unauthenticated, thus errors excepted.↑12There are some years but four, and some ten, &c.↑13I have said they can make no rum here; neither do they refine sugar.↑14Mr. Hartzink mentions four horses, but this is a mistake.↑15Drs. Bancroft and Brooke say, the leaf is light above and dark below, which in my original drawing is quite the reverse.↑16The above names, with such asNero,Pluto,Charon,Cerberus,Proserpine,Medusa, &c. are usually given to negro slaves, in exchange forQuacco,Quacy,Quamy,Quamina,Quasiba,Adjuba, &c.↑17It is to be remarked, that though Europeans look pale under the torrid zone, the native inhabitants have often a freshness peculiarly engaging, particularly mulattoes and quaderoons.↑18The latter gentleman, in the year 1783, sailed from the Texel to the Molucca islands; where, as commander in chief, he killed the king of Pongue, with his three sons, and 600 men; and dethroned also the king ofSalangoo, whose land he captured for the Dutch East-India Company, besides taking 127 pieces of cannon, &c.↑

[Contents]CHAP.XXIV.Two Volunteer Companies raised of free Mulattoes and Negroes—Description of the Arrowouka Indian Nation—Colonel Fourgeoud’s Regiment receives orders to sail for Europe—Countermanded—Re-enter the Woods—Trade of the Colony—Description of a Cacao Estate—Sample of Sable Heroism.To what good star I was obliged, in the midst of all our confusion and distress, I know not, but certain it is, that Colonel Seyburg having sent for me on the first day of the new year, not only solicited my future friendship, but declared he was sorry for all the ill-treatment he had ever occasioned me, for which he principally blamed Mr.Gibhart, his adjutant and spy; then taking me by the hand, as a proof of his real regard, permitted me from that moment to go to Paramaribo, or wherever I pleased, to refresh and refit until further orders; which had such an effect on me, that having instantly converted every drop of my rum into grog, we sat down, together with two other officers, and drowned all former animosity in oblivion, till we could hardly see each other. In this condition I took my leave that very evening of mynewfriend and the camp at Java Creek, and rowed down in the best spirits for Paramaribo.[186]Next morning, having slept during most of the passage, I breakfasted at Devil’s Harwar, where I found that the unfortunate Gibhart had just set sail for theotherworld. In the evening we arrived at the estateBeekvlied, as my negroes had made extraordinary dispatch,summing wattra1all the time to encourage each other.On the 3d I arrived at the fortress Amsterdam, where I was entertained with an excellent fish dinner, and where I must again intreat the reader’s patience, while I attempt to describe the different species,viz.thepassessy,prare-prare,provost, andcurema. The passary is above two feet long, and weighs sometimes twenty pounds: the head is broad and flat; it has two long barbs, and no scales, and is very delicate eating. The prare-prare is about the same size, and equally good. The provost is large, often five feet, and of a yellowish colour; the flesh of this is less agreeable, but the oil it produces comes to good account. As for the curema, this is a species of mullet, sometimes above two feet in length, with large silvery eyes, and the under jaw longer than the upper. Near this place are also found a kind ofsea-snails, of which Madam Merian makes mention; and the fore-part of which exactly resembles those of a shrimp.In the evening at six o’clock I arrived once more at Paramaribo, and found Joanna with her little boy perfectly[187]well, after having both been blind for above three weeks; with whom being now invited to lodge, at the house of my friend Mr. De Graaf, I was completely happy.The following day I dined with Colonel Fourgeoud, who now also was as sound as ever, and who gave me a very indifferent meal of salt provisions2, but anuncommonlyhearty welcome. He acquainted me that two new companies of free mulattoes, and two of free negroes, all volunteers, had just been raised; that the Serameca and Owca negroes encouraged and favoured the rebels, and were deceitful rascals; that a few rebels had been killed in the Cassiwinica Creek; and that he was in hopes of rooting outFissy Hollo; thatBonny, with his people, were almost starving in the forest, notwithstanding their late depredations, which could not last much longer; and that he was fully determined, if he should lose his last man, to makethisrebel surrender, or harass him till he and his gang, through hunger and distress, should be obliged to quit the colony. I learned further from him, that a Frenchman had just escaped hanging for betraying the state of the fortifications, &c. to the governor of Cayenne; that he had pardoned Captain Tulling for his clandestine marriage; and that Lieutenant Colonel de Borgnes was just entered into matrimony with a rich widow, a Mrs. Crawford.[188]The Colonel, in a word, was now quite the reverse of what he had been before, and upon the whole so very agreeable in his manners, that I would never wish to spend my time in better company; but how I should become at once the favourite of both these rival commanders, was a secret I could never yet discover, unless it might proceed from a desire of gaining me from each other, as they still continued mutual enemies: be that as it may, I resolved to preserve the most inflexible neutrality, as I also did between them and the governor, where I was invited next day, and dined not on salt-beef, but found as usual a truly magnificent entertainment.Thus I continued daily visiting my friends,viz.Mrs. Godefroy, the Demellys, the Gordons, the Mac Neyls, &c. I also spent a very agreeable day with the black Mrs. Sampson, or Zubly, who was now a widow.I was present too at a mulatto ball, composed however not of slaves, but of free independant settlers. Here the music, the lights, the country dances, the supper, and, above all, the dresses were so superb, and their behaviour so decent and genteel, that the whole might serve as a model for decorum and etiquette to some of the fairer and more polished inhabitants.On the 20th, observing a number of Indians and black people of both sexes swimming at the back of Fort Zelandia, young Donald Mac Neyl and myself compleated the groupe, by stripping and getting in among them; and I must confess I never beheld more surprising feats[189]of activity in the water, than were performed by the negroes, who fought asham battle, by plunging or rather tumbling like porpoises, when they struck each other with their legs, as they never used their hands; while the Indians, who were of theArrowoukanation, swam and dived like amphibious animals.Being sufficiently refreshed, we sat down upon the beach, near the twenty-one gun battery, where I had an opportunity of examining the features and figure of one of their young females, as she approached us, like Venus rising out of the sea. These people being very different from all the other Indian nations that I have already described, I shall embrace the opportunity of fulfilling my promise, and giving a particular account of them.—In the first place, the skin of the young woman who was now emerging clean from the river, and divested of arnotta-paint, appeared much fairer than the copper-colour of the other Indians; neither were her limbs deformed by those strait-laced bracelets or cotton-bands so much in use with the rest; nor did her hair hang down, but was neatly plaited close round the crown of her head, and fastened in the centre with a broad silver plate3. Her only dress consisted, both during the time she bathed and after, of a small square apron made of beads, as I have mentioned before: in every other respect she was perfectly naked: nor could a finer figure be imagined—[190]erect, vigorous, active, young, and healthy, which convinced me that when the body is exposed, as it certainly was ordained by nature, the face is but little noticed.“——Such as Arcadian songTransmits from ancient uncorrupted Time;When tyrant Custom had not shackled Man,But free to followNaturewas the mode.”In her features was displayed that beautiful simplicity, that native unsuspecting innocence, which cannot be put on where there is the slightest consciousness of guilt. Nor is the olive-colour incompatible with beauty, it is certainly the standard complexion of the human race, while the black and white are supposed to be only gradations, produced probably by the extremes of heat and cold. As this Indian girl was perfectly handsome, so she seemed to be perfectly happy.—“Happiness,” as the Abbe Reynal wisely observes, “is more frequently found in a pure state of nature, than in that of the most refined civilization.” To be sure an European woman would blush to her fingers ends at the very idea of appearing publicly stark naked; but education and prejudice are every thing, since it is an axiom, that where there is no feeling of self-reproach, there can assuredly be no shame.Indian Female of the Arrowauka Nation.Benedetti Sculpt.Indian Female of the Arrowauka Nation.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1792, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.I remember to have seen an Indian youth, whose name wasWeekee, at Bergen-op-Zoom, where he was brought over from the colony Berbicè with GeneralDesalve, who cloathed and partly civilized him: amongst other things,[191]he learned cookery, and to be something of a taylor, at his own request, that he might be enabled to provide both for his back and his belly. After some time however, expressing a desire to return to the colony, he no sooner touched American ground, than stripping himself of his lumber, he launched naked into his native woods, where he ended his days as he had begun them, amongst his beloved countrymen and companions; like the Hottentot mentioned by Rousseau, in his celebratedDiscours sur l’Inegalité & Conditions, &c.——But to return to the girl:—She had with her a live parrot, which she had stunned with a blunt arrow from her bow, and for which I gave her a double-bladed knife4. So wonderfully expert are the Arrowouka Indians at this exercise, that they frequently bring down a macaw in full flight, or even a pigeon.I cannot conclude these remarks without adding a few words concerning the unspotted moral character of these people, who not only live in peace with most of the other Indian nations, but are peculiarly attached to the Europeans, while these in return profess for them the strongest esteem.[192]As a proof of their gratitude, I will only relate one instance:—Some years ago an Indian woman being at Paramaribo, and far advanced in a state of pregnancy, a Mr.Van der Meyhumanely ordered his servants to conduct her and her husband into his house, where, giving them a private apartment, and every other conveniency, he wished them good-night. Before the next morning the woman was delivered; but when the servants went in to renew their offers of friendship, neither man, wife, nor child were to be found, as they had before day-break quietly marched into the forest5. Various were at this time the conjectures concerning the boastedintegrityof theArrowoukaIndians, until, no less than eighteen months after, the same Indian returned to Mr. Van der Mey, with a charming captive boy of theAccawaunation, that he had taken in battle6; and whom presenting to his benefactor, he only said, “That’s yours,” and without waiting for any answer disappeared.—For this slave the above gentleman was offered £. 200, which he refused, and treated him as well as if he had been free.The education these people receive in their infancy being according to the dictates only of simple nature, their minds or their bodies are very seldom deformed, while a too nice attention to either is possibly as detrimental as a total neglect. The ingenious Dr. Bancroft is[193]of the same opinion, which he supports (I think needlessly) by a quotation from Quintilian.Though the Arrowouka Indians live in perfect friendship and harmony with us, and indeed with most of their neighbours, they yet sometimes go to war when provoked, as I have just observed; in these combats they use bows and arrows, and the club calledabowtow7; but they do not eat their prisoners like the Caribbee Indians, who even devoured the negroes whom they killed at the insurrection in Berbicè. Notwithstanding these people live at a greater distance from the sea than theWarrows, &c. yet they have canoes, sometimes fourscore feet in length, in which they paddle down the rivers.The Arrowouka Indians particularly are great herbalists, and for all external accidents have recourse to simples, with which the woods of all Terra Firma abound.——But to proceed:On the 25th I was seized with a fever, and blooded in the foot, in which the orifice beingstrucktoo deep, for struck it was as they bleed the horses, I again became lame; during which time Colonel Seyburg arrived from the Java Creek to recover, he being at last also taken very ill.In the mean time Colonel Fourgeoud, while he was just ready to renew his operations, having already sent a small detachment to the Jew Savannah for intelligence, received letters from the Hague, with express orders to[194]abandon the expedition immediately, and with his few remaining troops to sail for Holland without delay.In consequence of these commands on the 27th, the transport ships were put in commission, and all the officers and privates received their clearance, which made them very happy; and indeed all at Paramaribo were alive with joy, except some of the inhabitants and myself.On the 14th of February, ill as I was with a bad foot, a sore arm, the prickly heat, and all my teeth loose with the scurvy, I found means to scramble out on crutches, with a thousand florins in my pocket, which having divided between Fourgeoud and Mrs. Godefroy for the redemption of the black boyQuaco, and mymulatto, I returned home without a shilling in my purse; yet for this small sum of 500 florins, so inadequate to 1800 which I owed that lady, she was induced generously to renew her persuasions of carrying Joanna and the boy with me to Holland. This, however, Joanna as nobly as firmly refused, declaring, “that, independant of all other considerations, she could never think of sacrificing one benefactor to the interest of another; and that her own happiness or even mine, which was dearer to her than life, should never have any weight, till the debt of her liberty was paid by me, or by her own industry, to the utmost fraction, and which she did not despair to see one day compleated.” She added, “our separation should only be for a time, and that the greatest proof I could ever shew her of my real esteem, was now to undergo this little trial of fortune like a man, without[195]so much as heaving a sigh in her presence;” which last she spoke with a smile, next embraced her infant, then turned suddenly round, and wept most bitterly.—At this moment I was called to Mr.de la Mare’s, who was just dead, where my melancholy having surpassed all description, I at last determined to weather one or two painful years in her absence; and in the afternoon went to dissipate my mind at a Mr.Roux’s cabinet of Indian curiosities; where, as my eye chanced to fall on a rattle-snake, I will before I leave the colony describe this dangerous reptile.Therattle-snakeof Surinam is sometimes eight or nine feet long, and very thick about the middle, tapering towards the neck and tail. The head is dreadfully deformed, being flat and broad, with two large nostrils near the snout, and a large scale or knob like the alligator above his eyes, which are jet-black and sparkling; at the extremity of the tail are several thin horny shells joined together, which are very dry, and which, when irritated, the animal shakes, sounding much like arattle, from which it derives its name. These shells augment,it is said, in the proportion of one every year, by which it is supposed its age may be ascertained. This whole snake is covered over with scales, which on the ridge of the back it erects. The colour is a dirty orange mixed with dark-brown and black spots, which last are also on its head, appearing like velvet, and marked in a very conspicuous manner; the belly is ash-coloured, with transverse[196]scales like most other serpents. When this animal is intent on mischief, it lies coiled like a rope, with the tail a little in motion, which having rattled, it launches forth upon its prey, making no farther reach than its own length; this done, it coils a second time, and again projects itself. The bite of the rattle-snake is accounted fatal, at least is thought very dangerous over all America; but with regard to the fascinating qualities of its eyes, such as the story of its causing mice, squirrels, and birds to run into its mouth, I reject them as fables; the supposed charm consisting in nothing more than this, that the poor animals, finding themselves surprized by the impending danger, are seized with such a trepidation and fear, that even the use of their limbs forsakes them, and they are rivetted to the place till they die, or in the act of leaping they are seized by their enemy8.The Green Butterfly of South America.The Green Butterfly of South America.The Rattle Snake & Dypsas of Guiana.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.In this cabinet I also saw theblue dipsasof Surinam, which had almost the colour of ultramarine on the back; its sides were lighter, and the belly nearly white. I did not learn that the bite of this reptile was fatal, but that it occasions immoderate thirst in the patient, from which it took its name; the worddipsasignifying thirst in the Greek language. Another snake I also observed here, about three feet long, being annulated with different colours, and calledamphisbœna, from the supposition of its having two heads; but the truth is, that from its cylindrical[197]form the head and tail so much resemble each other, that the error is almost pardonable; besides which, the eyes are nearly imperceptible. This is the snake which, being supposed blind, and vulgarly said to be fed by the large ants already described, is in this country honoured with the name of King of the Emmets9.Amongst Mr. Roux’s numerous collection of fine butterflies, one of a middle size I thought peculiarly beautiful; all its wings, both above and below, being elegantly streaked with transverse bars of velvet, black, and a variegated bright green. The amazing height to which they ascend, and the great velocity with which these insects fly, make them so rare, being, for these reasons, but very seldom caught. The caterpillar is a sea-green, and all covered over with hard feelers, not unlike feathers.—For a better idea of the above snakes, and this fly, see the plate annexed, where the last was improved from Madam Merian’s collection.I have just said that we were ordered to leave the colony, and that all were overjoyed with the news, myself excepted. But on the 15th, by letters from Holland to our chief, ourreturnwas again countermanded for six months. My companions were therefore suddenly cast down with disappointment, while I was as suddenly revived, and now determined to save all my pay until Joanna’s redemption should be fully accomplished: but what[198]grieved me very much was the other news from Europe,viz.that theScots Brigadehad been invited to England by his Britannic Majesty, while I was lamenting that I could not possibly be one of the number10. I at the same time had the offer of an American company under General Washington, but this I refused without any hesitation, as may be supposed.In short, on the 18th of February, the poor dispirited men were again sent up to Magdenburg, a large party still remaining at the Java Creek; whilst the temper of the officers was now so ruffled, that a Mr.Fisherof our corps fought no less thantwoduels in two succeeding days, dangerously wounding both his antagonists, who were both officers of the Society regiment.As I was not yet recovered, I staid some time longer at Paramaribo, where at the house of a Mr. Reynsdorp, I saw a PortugueseJewteaching his children theChristianreligion, while the pious mother of the charity-house kept flogging the poor slaves daily, because they were, as she said, unbelievers. To one black woman, in particular, she wantonly gave four hundred lashes, who bore them without a complaint.But to change the disagreeable subject;—while I have the leisure and the opportunity, I feel the inclination to state to the public a short account of the trade and intrinsic value of this blood-spilling colony; which still[199]might be richer, did they not follow the example of the woman in the fable with her golden eggs.In the first place, in Surinam are computed to be about six or eight hundred plantations, producing sugar, coffee, cacao, and cotton, besides some indigo, and valuable timbers, &c.—The exportation of which four first articles only, and their value, may be seen at one view in the following table for four successive years.The Years.Barrels ofSUGAR.lbs. ofCOFFEE.lbs. ofCACAO.lbs. ofCOTTON.177119,49411,135,132416,821203,945177219,26012,267,134354,93590,035177315,74115,427,298332,229135,047177415,11111,016,518506,610105,126Total69,60649,846,0821,610,595534,15369,606 barrels of sugar, at 60 florinsperbarrel, makeƒ.4,176,360——49,846,082 lbs. of coffee, at 8½d.perlb. make21,184,58417—1,610,595 lbs. of cacao, at 6½d.perlb. make523,44378534,153 lbs. of cotton, at 8d.perlb. make212,6614—Sum totalƒ.26,097,04988Which makes in one year exactlyƒ.6,524,26272But this average produce was shipped off for the town of Amsterdam only.[200]If I now add what goes to Rotterdam and to Zealand, besides the home consumption, and the return of the rum and molasses, the indigo at 4 ƒ.perlb. and the timber from 5d.to five florinspercubic foot, it will amount to as much more6,524,26272Thus altogetherƒ.13,048,524144Which, supposing it was but 11,000,000 ƒ. makes a yearly income ofone millionneat in sterling money.How the above sum is divided between the republic of Holland and this colony, shall be my business to state in the second place.The town of Amsterdam affords about fifty ships, at an average of 400 tons burthen each, which receive, for importation freight of various commodities, the sum ofƒ.6,000For exportation freight of the above productions, which grow in the colony1132,000Thus each vessel gets for freightƒ.38,000Which, multiplied by the Noof vessels50Makes exactlyƒ.1,900,000——For Rotterdam and Zealand I calculate together about 30 vessels more of different burdens: thus1,200,000——[201]And for the brick that serves for ballast, passengers, &c.80,000——Each Guinea ship, importing yearly from 250 to 300 negroes, lowest value, atƒ.120,000Thus supposing the number of vessels126Amounts to720,000——To all these I shall add the merchandize imported from Holland, such as wine, spirits, beer, salt-beef, pork, and flour, silk, cotton, and linen-manufactures; cloaths, hats, shoes; gold, silver, and steel ornaments; arms and ammunition; even masons and carpenters tools, &c. &c. at an average of about 50per cent.profit. Besides correspondents charges, insurance, duty, store-house expences, porters fees, wharfage, and package, which last articles cost the inhabitants tenper cent.more.Thus altogether1,100,000——Which makes already the sum ofƒ.5,000,000——Still let me mention the interest of 6per cent.for the national debt of five millions sterling, due by the colony, and what they are defrauded of by usurers in Holland, where prodigious other charges are brought in; and where those who have made their fortunes go to spend it; and the amount will be found to produce at least1,000,000——The whole of which items added together, produce no less a sum yearly thanƒ.6,000,000——[202]Which is clear profit to the republic,viz.principally for Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Zealand. Thus the inhabitants of Surinam get, for their share of the above treasure, only5,000,000——Which make together, as I said, one million sterling, orƒ.11,000,000——In the third place, I shall now show in what manner the internal expence of the society of Surinam is defrayed by taxes; which amount to no trifle, as shall be seen.Having already mentioned, when speaking of the government, that the public revenue officers were five in number, I will now point out how they collect the cash respectively each, for the support of the above expences.The first of these is that of Importation and Exportation Duties.To this is paid,viz.By all Dutch vessels, 3 ƒ.perton}thus for tonnage,ƒ.90,000By Americans, &c. 6 ƒ.pertonBy Americans, &c. for all imports and exports, 5per cent.60,000Sugar pays 1 ƒ.perthousand or barrel}in 1771 paid260,000Coffee 15d.per100 lb. weightCacao 1 ƒ. 15d.per100 lb. DoCotton————ƒ.410,000——Thus receives yearly about the sum ofƒ.410,000——[203]The second is the office of excise and small duties.To this is paid,viz.For a barrel of beerƒ.3——A Doof claret12——A pipe of madeira2310—All wines,perquart bottle——1The tax on publicans, is600——Doon small retailers300——And which amounts to a yearly produce of at least100,000——Then follows thirdly the office for taxation on heads; which receives for all inhabitants, black and white, without exception,viz.For or men and women ƒ. 2 10{this produces yearly150,000——For boys and girls under 12, ƒ. 1 5Next comes the office for sales and slaves, which gets,viz.For selling dead stock, including estates, &c. 5per cent.}thus,130,000——For selling newly-arrived or imported negro slaves, 2½per cent.And finally, the office for re-taking negro deserters, which was then erected, the other taxes not being sufficient; which produces yearly,viz.By an additional tax on heads, black and white, at 1 ƒ. is80,000By 4per cent.of every profit got during the year upon oath, is400,000Which makes exactly480,000——[204]Still let me not forget what is yearly paid for what is called the support of the common or grass fields,viz.For a house, according to its size.For a coach20——For a whiskey10——For a saddle-horse10——Which add to the above impositions again12,000——And these, if summed together, make a yearly revenue of no less thanƒ.1,282,000——Having now clearly demonstrated, partly by the assistance of Dr. Fermyn’sTableau de la Colonie de Surinam, and partly by my own experience, that the intrinsic value of this settlement is worth yearly aboveone millionof sterling money, which, by proper management, might be still increased; also that the greater part of it goes to the republic, while the people are thus burthened on their estates by almost insupportable taxation, which induces many to be rogues, who would perhaps otherwise be honest; I shall, by way of appendix, give some short account of the trade carried on in this colony by theNorth Americans:—These people arrive with small brigs, sloops, and schooners from Virginia, Rhode Island, New York, Boston, Jamaica, Grenada, Antigua, Barbadoes, &c. from which places they export flour, beef, pork, herrings, salt, mackarel, and leaf-tobacco for the negroes; also fir-boards, English rum, and other spirits; loaf-sugar13,[205]spermaceti-candles, onions, &c. Besides each vessel is bound to bring in one horse14, which they often supply by a head only; affirming, that they put on board a horse, but that he died on the passage. For the above commodities the American traders export all the melasses of this colony to distil into rum at home, and frequently ship-loads of other productions and merchandize, though this is done in a clandestine manner, by which both the seller and buyer are considerable gainers, being ready cash for the one, and a cheap bargain for the other. From the Leeward Islands these vessels also import private mulatto and quaderoon slaves, which being generally young and handsome, whatever may be their moral character, sell for considerable prices.Having thus shewn, according to the best information I was able to acquire, in what the commerce and intrinsic wealth of this fine colony consist; I will now take my leave of the subject, and continue my narrative.On the 21st of February, Mr.Reynsdorp, the son-in-law of Mrs. Godefroy, took me in his sail barge for change of air toNuten-Schadelyk, one of his own coffee estates; where I saw a white man who had lately lost both his eyes in one night by the bats or vampires, as they are called; and the following day, sailing up Comewina River, we proceeded to the delightfulCacaoplantation[206]Alkmaar, the property of the above lady; where the negro slaves are treated like children by the mistress, to whom they all look up as to their common parent.—Here were no groans to be heard, no fetters to be met with, nor any marks of severity to be seen—but all was harmony and content. The superb house and other offices of this charming estate, where pleasure and hospitality ever reign, I have already represented in plate NoX.; while the fields and gardens, nay, even the negro houses, bore all the marks of perfect peace and plenty.Thecacao-treesare supplied from nurseries for the purpose, like orchards in England, and planted very regularly at ten or twelve feet distance from each other, where they grow to the height of our English cherry-trees. But these plantations must be well sheltered, both from the hard winds and scorching sun, when young; the roots not entering deep into the ground to succour them, nor can they at that time bear extraordinary heat; on which account the groves are filled up with cassava-shrubs or plantain-trees for their shelter, and which at the same time answer the purpose of killing the weeds, which grow so luxuriantly in all the tropical climates;—by these attentions the trees will bear fruit before they are three years old, when they afford two crops annually, but they are in the highest perfection at the age of twelve or fourteen. The leaf of the cacao-tree is above eight inches long, and nearly three broad, thick-pointed, ribbed like the laurel-time, and of a bright green-colour.[207]The fruit is about the same size, and when young resembles a cucumber; but when ripe it becomes yellow like a large lemon, with ribs like the melon, and tubercles which enclose the seed or nuts, near thirty in number: they lie longitudinally in the fruit, and when fit for use are of the size of olives, and purple-coloured. The trees are supposed to bear at each crop from thirty to three hundred pods, each containing about thirty nuts, weighing one pound, from which a calculation may be made how much will be the produce of each harvest. After a few days the nuts are extracted from the pods, and dried in the shade; during which time they undergo a very strong perspiration, when they are put into barrels and fit for transportation, to be converted into that well-known and agreeable beverage called Chocolate.It is said the cacao-trees are natives of Guiana, and grow wild in large quantities near the river Amazon: be that as it may, GovernorChatillon’s son planted the first tree in Surinam in 1684, and the first crop was exported to Holland in 1733. A great advantage in cultivating cacao-trees is, that fewer slaves are required than in any other branch of the planting business. How considerable are the profits will appear by the accounts of the year 1774, when 506,610 lbs. were exported to Amsterdam alone, which produced 202,614 ƒ. Dutch money, being equal to £. 18,419 sterling. The prices have been fluctuating from 4d.to 9d.perlb. the average being[208]about 6½d.The best estates, of whichAlkmaaris one, produce yearly above 80,000 lbs. weight.In the plate annexed,Ais the leaf above,Bbelow15;C, the wood;D, the flower;E, the young pulp;F, the same in perfection; andG, the seeds or nuts to make the chocolate.On the 27th we returned to town, where the day before a Society soldier was shot for mutiny; and the day following a ship was burnt in the roads. At this time the celebrated free negro Qwasi, who was the prophet, priest, and king of the rangers, &c. went to Holland on a visit to the Prince of Orange, with letters of recommendation from Fourgeoud, whose praises he was to resound, as well as to complain of the Governor for not treating him with due respect. This being the period for the sessions, another negro’s leg was cut off for sculking from a task to which he was unequal; while two more were condemned to be hanged for running away altogether. The heroic behaviour of one of these men before the court deserves particularly to be noticed:—He begged only to be heard for a few moments; which being granted, he proceeded thus:Sprig of the Cocao, or Chocolate Tree.Sprig of the Cocao, or Chocolate Tree.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.“I was born in Africa, where, defending my prince during an engagement, I was made a captive, and sold for a slave on the coast of Guinea bymy owncountrymen.[209]—One of your countrymen, who is now to be one of my judges, became my purchaser, in whose service I was treated so cruelly by hisoverseer, that I deserted, and joined the rebels in the woods.—Here again I was condemned to be a slave toBonny, their chief, who treated me with even more severity than I had experienced from the Europeans, till I was once more forced to elope, determined to shun mankind for ever, and inoffensively to end my days by myself in the forest. Two years had I persevered in this manner quite alone, undergoing the greatest hardships and anxiety of mind, preserving life only for the possibility of once more seeing my dear family, who were perhaps starving on my account, in my own country; I say two miserable years had just elapsed, when I was discovered by the rangers, taken, and brought before this tribunal, who are now acquainted with the history of my wretched life, and from whom the only favour I have to ask is, that I may be executednext Saturday, or as soon as it may possibly be convenient.”This speech was uttered with the utmost moderation, by one of the finest-looking negroes that was perhaps ever seen; to which his former master, who, as he observed, was now one of the judges, made the following laconic reply—“Rascal! that is not what we want to know; but thetorturethis moment shall make you confess crimes as black as yourself, as well as those of your hateful accomplices.” To which the negro, who[210]now swelled in every vein with indignation and ineffable contempt: “Massera, the tigers have trembled for these hands,” holding them up; “and dare you think to threaten me with your wretched instrument? No, I despise the utmost tortures you can now invent, as much as I do the pitiful wretch who is going to inflict them.” Saying which, he threw himself down on the rack, where amidst the most excruciating torments he remained with a smile, without uttering a syllable; nor did he ever speak again, until he ended his unhappy days at the gallows.What good man can “reflect the tear-stain’d eye,When blood attests even slaves for freedom die?On cruel gibbets, high disclos’d they rest,And scarce one groan escapes one bloated breast.Here sableCæsars16feel the Christian rod,There AfricPlatos, tortur’d hope a God,While jettyBrutusfor his country sighs,And sootyCatowith his freedom dies!”Having dined with Colonel Fourgeoud on the 8th of March, when we celebrated the Prince of Orange’s birthday, while Mr. Reyndorp gave a treat to all the soldiers, he acquainted me that the rangers were now alone encamped at the Wana Creek; that the pestilential spotDevil’s Harwarwas at last entirely forsaken; and that the two lately[211]raised companies of sable volunteers had taken a few prisoners, and killed others on theWanica path, behind Paramaribo. I was at this time a good deal better, but still, not being quite recovered, he who had formerly treated me so severely, now even insisted on my staying some longer time at Paramaribo: nay, gave me an offer to return to Europe, which I absolutely refused; in short, about the middle of the month, I was as well as ever I was in my life. At this time Colonel Fourgeoud and myself were daily visitors of the ladies, in whose company no man could behave better, while I could often not avoid disgust; indeed so languid were many in their looks, and so unrestrained were some in their conversation, that a Mrs.N—— even asked me,sans ceremonie, to supply the place of her husband; while she might as well have asked me to drink, for a relish, a tumbler of salts.On the 17th, however, my eyes were better feasted, when, going to dine with Colonel Texier of the Society troops, I first took a walk in the orange grove and the governor’s gardens; here, peeping through the foliage, I soon discovered two most elegant female figures after bathing, the one a fine youngSamboo, the other ablooming Quaderoon, which last was so very fair complexioned, that she might have passed for a native of Greece, while the roses that glowed in her cheek were equal to those that blossomed in the shrubbery17. They were walking[212]hand in hand, and conversing with smiles near a flowery bank that adorned the side of a crystal brook, in which they plunged the instant they heard me rustling amongst the verdure, like twomermaids:“Then to the flood they rush’d; the parted floodIts lovely guests with closing waves receiv’d,And every beauty soft’ning, every graceFlushing anew, a mellow lustre shed.”Leaving them to enjoy their innocent amusement of bathing, I spent the remaining hour before dinner amongst the shady fruit-trees, blooming bowers, and serpentine gravel walks; where indeed I saw greater variety of European plants than I imagined were produced in a tropical climate, such as mint, fennel, sage, rosemary, golden-rod and jessamine, the sensitive plant, pomegranates, roses, figs, and even some grapes.—Of the pomegranate flowers, a specimen may be seen in plate, NoXXIX. The figs are both within and without of a beautiful crimson colour; but the roses are rather pale. Here were some beautiful pine-apples and melons, which, though they are so generally known, I will nevertheless give some account of. The imperial fruit, calledAnanaor pine-apple grows in the centre of an elegant sea-green plant, on a stalk of the same hue, about eight inches in length, its leaves diverging near the surface of the earth, which are smooth, long, strong, pointed, and dentulated with hard prickles. The shape of this fruit is nearly oval, the size of a sugar-loaf, all over chequered, and of[213]a most beautiful orange or golden colour, being crowned with a sea-green tuft, of the same leaves as the mother plant, and which when put in the ground produces another pine-apple in the space of about eighteen months. The delicious taste and flavour of this fruit has in the space of half a century become so well known, that I have introduced it merely to notice itsplentyin the country I write of; for so spontaneously indeed do the former grow in this climate, and of such different kinds, without any cultivation, that on many estates they serve as a common food for hogs.Themuskandwater melonsgrow also plentifully in this country; the first is of a globular form, large, like the crown of a small hat, ribbed, buff colour, orange and green. The pulp is yellow, firm, sweet, and succulent; still it is eaten with sugar, but more frequently with black pepper and salt—the smell of this fruit is excellent.The water-melon is of an oval or cylindrical shape, its colour is a bright polished green, and partly a very pale buff; the pulp of this fruit is a pink colour, and of a mellow watery substance; its taste is sweet, exceedingly cooling, and of a most agreeable flavour.Both the above melons are of the cucumber kind, growing on rough stalks, with large leaves, that creep along the ground. It is remarkable that the water-melon, which may be freely eaten in all distempers without the least pernicious consequence, thrives best in very dry and sandy[214]places.—In the annexed plate may be seen theAnanaor pine-apple, with the musk and water-melon, besides the seed from which this last is produced.I sent about this period, to a Mr. Reygersman in Holland, a most elegant collection of Surinambutterflies, which are here caught in great abundance and variety, and by which alone some people make no small profit; but the very idea of pinning them alive to a sheet of paper, was sufficient to prevent me from becoming a fly-catcher:“Lo! the poor beetle that we tread upon——Feels a like pang, as when a giant falls.”Now Captains Van Geurick and Fredericy, with Serjeant Fowler, were sent on an embassy to theOwcaandSaramecafree negroes, if possible to procure their assistance against the rebels, which they always continued topromise(while Colonel Fourgeoud gave them presents) but never yetperformed. A few of the other officers still stayed with usgallantingat Paramaribo, amongst whom were Major Medler and CaptainHamell18, who had both been with General Desalve’s regiment, in the colonyBerbicè, and previous to that the first was in the Prussian service. It was no small change of appearance[215]for us, who had so little a time before appeared like wild men, now to strut through Paramaribo, dressed like so many Frenchmarquees.The Musk-Melon, Water-Melon & Pine-Apple.A. Smith Sculpt.The Musk-Melon, Water-Melon & Pine-Apple.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.Being a particular favourite of Governor Nepveu, I one day was induced to ask him for a piece ofuncultivatedforest ground; when he readily granted me 400 acres: but when I inconsiderately asked it of him, I had not calculated how large a capital it required to clear away woods, purchase negroes, and provide other necessaries for such an undertaking; and when a little reflection convinced me how difficult it would be to find a partner of abilities to assist me, I declined accepting this mark of the governor’s regard.Having on the 26th once more saved a poor black girl from receiving some hundred lashes, by replacing a dozen of china, which she had broken by accident; while another was stabbed by a Frenchman, who immediately cut his own throat from remorse, and his companion, an overseer, hanged himself; and having visited the poor negro whose leg had lately been cut offby law, I packed my boxes to set out next morning on my sixth campaign; and once more take the command of the River Comewina: at which moment arrived at my lodgings six loaded negro slaves with presents from my hospitable friends, of every kind that Guiana could produce, and the colony of Surinam could afford me.[216]1That is, one of the rowers beating the water with his oar at every stroke, in such a manner that it sounds different from the rest, to which the others sing a chorus.↑2This he absolutely held as the best regimen for health, notwithstanding he had brought three cooks from Europe.↑3This, at other times, they supply by a shell, a fish-bone, or the tooth of a tiger, &c.↑4The general traffick carried on between all the Indian nations and the Europeans consists in balsam-capivi, arroco-cerra, oil of carrabba, arnotta, and bees-wax, besides pieces of Brazil and ebony; the roots hiaree and varnillas, canoes, hammocks, slaves, monkies, parrots, and paroquets; for which they receive fire-arms, knives, hatchets, fish-hooks, combs, coral and glass beads, blue cotton, looking-glasses, &c.↑5I have mentioned before that the Indians are exempt from pain in labour.↑6This is however extremely uncommon, as a more peaceable people does not exist in the universe.↑7The New Zealanders call their clubspato-patoo; which affinity is remarkable, on account of their very great distance.↑8See a letter to the editors of the New Universal Magazine for October 1787.↑9How Madam Merian should call this reptile anoviparous viper, surpasses my comprehension.↑10The King’s demand was negatived by the States of Holland.↑11Sugar pays about 3l.perbarrel, and coffee about as muchperthousand; other commodities in proportion.—N.B.This I insert unauthenticated, thus errors excepted.↑12There are some years but four, and some ten, &c.↑13I have said they can make no rum here; neither do they refine sugar.↑14Mr. Hartzink mentions four horses, but this is a mistake.↑15Drs. Bancroft and Brooke say, the leaf is light above and dark below, which in my original drawing is quite the reverse.↑16The above names, with such asNero,Pluto,Charon,Cerberus,Proserpine,Medusa, &c. are usually given to negro slaves, in exchange forQuacco,Quacy,Quamy,Quamina,Quasiba,Adjuba, &c.↑17It is to be remarked, that though Europeans look pale under the torrid zone, the native inhabitants have often a freshness peculiarly engaging, particularly mulattoes and quaderoons.↑18The latter gentleman, in the year 1783, sailed from the Texel to the Molucca islands; where, as commander in chief, he killed the king of Pongue, with his three sons, and 600 men; and dethroned also the king ofSalangoo, whose land he captured for the Dutch East-India Company, besides taking 127 pieces of cannon, &c.↑

CHAP.XXIV.Two Volunteer Companies raised of free Mulattoes and Negroes—Description of the Arrowouka Indian Nation—Colonel Fourgeoud’s Regiment receives orders to sail for Europe—Countermanded—Re-enter the Woods—Trade of the Colony—Description of a Cacao Estate—Sample of Sable Heroism.

Two Volunteer Companies raised of free Mulattoes and Negroes—Description of the Arrowouka Indian Nation—Colonel Fourgeoud’s Regiment receives orders to sail for Europe—Countermanded—Re-enter the Woods—Trade of the Colony—Description of a Cacao Estate—Sample of Sable Heroism.

Two Volunteer Companies raised of free Mulattoes and Negroes—Description of the Arrowouka Indian Nation—Colonel Fourgeoud’s Regiment receives orders to sail for Europe—Countermanded—Re-enter the Woods—Trade of the Colony—Description of a Cacao Estate—Sample of Sable Heroism.

To what good star I was obliged, in the midst of all our confusion and distress, I know not, but certain it is, that Colonel Seyburg having sent for me on the first day of the new year, not only solicited my future friendship, but declared he was sorry for all the ill-treatment he had ever occasioned me, for which he principally blamed Mr.Gibhart, his adjutant and spy; then taking me by the hand, as a proof of his real regard, permitted me from that moment to go to Paramaribo, or wherever I pleased, to refresh and refit until further orders; which had such an effect on me, that having instantly converted every drop of my rum into grog, we sat down, together with two other officers, and drowned all former animosity in oblivion, till we could hardly see each other. In this condition I took my leave that very evening of mynewfriend and the camp at Java Creek, and rowed down in the best spirits for Paramaribo.[186]Next morning, having slept during most of the passage, I breakfasted at Devil’s Harwar, where I found that the unfortunate Gibhart had just set sail for theotherworld. In the evening we arrived at the estateBeekvlied, as my negroes had made extraordinary dispatch,summing wattra1all the time to encourage each other.On the 3d I arrived at the fortress Amsterdam, where I was entertained with an excellent fish dinner, and where I must again intreat the reader’s patience, while I attempt to describe the different species,viz.thepassessy,prare-prare,provost, andcurema. The passary is above two feet long, and weighs sometimes twenty pounds: the head is broad and flat; it has two long barbs, and no scales, and is very delicate eating. The prare-prare is about the same size, and equally good. The provost is large, often five feet, and of a yellowish colour; the flesh of this is less agreeable, but the oil it produces comes to good account. As for the curema, this is a species of mullet, sometimes above two feet in length, with large silvery eyes, and the under jaw longer than the upper. Near this place are also found a kind ofsea-snails, of which Madam Merian makes mention; and the fore-part of which exactly resembles those of a shrimp.In the evening at six o’clock I arrived once more at Paramaribo, and found Joanna with her little boy perfectly[187]well, after having both been blind for above three weeks; with whom being now invited to lodge, at the house of my friend Mr. De Graaf, I was completely happy.The following day I dined with Colonel Fourgeoud, who now also was as sound as ever, and who gave me a very indifferent meal of salt provisions2, but anuncommonlyhearty welcome. He acquainted me that two new companies of free mulattoes, and two of free negroes, all volunteers, had just been raised; that the Serameca and Owca negroes encouraged and favoured the rebels, and were deceitful rascals; that a few rebels had been killed in the Cassiwinica Creek; and that he was in hopes of rooting outFissy Hollo; thatBonny, with his people, were almost starving in the forest, notwithstanding their late depredations, which could not last much longer; and that he was fully determined, if he should lose his last man, to makethisrebel surrender, or harass him till he and his gang, through hunger and distress, should be obliged to quit the colony. I learned further from him, that a Frenchman had just escaped hanging for betraying the state of the fortifications, &c. to the governor of Cayenne; that he had pardoned Captain Tulling for his clandestine marriage; and that Lieutenant Colonel de Borgnes was just entered into matrimony with a rich widow, a Mrs. Crawford.[188]The Colonel, in a word, was now quite the reverse of what he had been before, and upon the whole so very agreeable in his manners, that I would never wish to spend my time in better company; but how I should become at once the favourite of both these rival commanders, was a secret I could never yet discover, unless it might proceed from a desire of gaining me from each other, as they still continued mutual enemies: be that as it may, I resolved to preserve the most inflexible neutrality, as I also did between them and the governor, where I was invited next day, and dined not on salt-beef, but found as usual a truly magnificent entertainment.Thus I continued daily visiting my friends,viz.Mrs. Godefroy, the Demellys, the Gordons, the Mac Neyls, &c. I also spent a very agreeable day with the black Mrs. Sampson, or Zubly, who was now a widow.I was present too at a mulatto ball, composed however not of slaves, but of free independant settlers. Here the music, the lights, the country dances, the supper, and, above all, the dresses were so superb, and their behaviour so decent and genteel, that the whole might serve as a model for decorum and etiquette to some of the fairer and more polished inhabitants.On the 20th, observing a number of Indians and black people of both sexes swimming at the back of Fort Zelandia, young Donald Mac Neyl and myself compleated the groupe, by stripping and getting in among them; and I must confess I never beheld more surprising feats[189]of activity in the water, than were performed by the negroes, who fought asham battle, by plunging or rather tumbling like porpoises, when they struck each other with their legs, as they never used their hands; while the Indians, who were of theArrowoukanation, swam and dived like amphibious animals.Being sufficiently refreshed, we sat down upon the beach, near the twenty-one gun battery, where I had an opportunity of examining the features and figure of one of their young females, as she approached us, like Venus rising out of the sea. These people being very different from all the other Indian nations that I have already described, I shall embrace the opportunity of fulfilling my promise, and giving a particular account of them.—In the first place, the skin of the young woman who was now emerging clean from the river, and divested of arnotta-paint, appeared much fairer than the copper-colour of the other Indians; neither were her limbs deformed by those strait-laced bracelets or cotton-bands so much in use with the rest; nor did her hair hang down, but was neatly plaited close round the crown of her head, and fastened in the centre with a broad silver plate3. Her only dress consisted, both during the time she bathed and after, of a small square apron made of beads, as I have mentioned before: in every other respect she was perfectly naked: nor could a finer figure be imagined—[190]erect, vigorous, active, young, and healthy, which convinced me that when the body is exposed, as it certainly was ordained by nature, the face is but little noticed.“——Such as Arcadian songTransmits from ancient uncorrupted Time;When tyrant Custom had not shackled Man,But free to followNaturewas the mode.”In her features was displayed that beautiful simplicity, that native unsuspecting innocence, which cannot be put on where there is the slightest consciousness of guilt. Nor is the olive-colour incompatible with beauty, it is certainly the standard complexion of the human race, while the black and white are supposed to be only gradations, produced probably by the extremes of heat and cold. As this Indian girl was perfectly handsome, so she seemed to be perfectly happy.—“Happiness,” as the Abbe Reynal wisely observes, “is more frequently found in a pure state of nature, than in that of the most refined civilization.” To be sure an European woman would blush to her fingers ends at the very idea of appearing publicly stark naked; but education and prejudice are every thing, since it is an axiom, that where there is no feeling of self-reproach, there can assuredly be no shame.Indian Female of the Arrowauka Nation.Benedetti Sculpt.Indian Female of the Arrowauka Nation.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1792, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.I remember to have seen an Indian youth, whose name wasWeekee, at Bergen-op-Zoom, where he was brought over from the colony Berbicè with GeneralDesalve, who cloathed and partly civilized him: amongst other things,[191]he learned cookery, and to be something of a taylor, at his own request, that he might be enabled to provide both for his back and his belly. After some time however, expressing a desire to return to the colony, he no sooner touched American ground, than stripping himself of his lumber, he launched naked into his native woods, where he ended his days as he had begun them, amongst his beloved countrymen and companions; like the Hottentot mentioned by Rousseau, in his celebratedDiscours sur l’Inegalité & Conditions, &c.——But to return to the girl:—She had with her a live parrot, which she had stunned with a blunt arrow from her bow, and for which I gave her a double-bladed knife4. So wonderfully expert are the Arrowouka Indians at this exercise, that they frequently bring down a macaw in full flight, or even a pigeon.I cannot conclude these remarks without adding a few words concerning the unspotted moral character of these people, who not only live in peace with most of the other Indian nations, but are peculiarly attached to the Europeans, while these in return profess for them the strongest esteem.[192]As a proof of their gratitude, I will only relate one instance:—Some years ago an Indian woman being at Paramaribo, and far advanced in a state of pregnancy, a Mr.Van der Meyhumanely ordered his servants to conduct her and her husband into his house, where, giving them a private apartment, and every other conveniency, he wished them good-night. Before the next morning the woman was delivered; but when the servants went in to renew their offers of friendship, neither man, wife, nor child were to be found, as they had before day-break quietly marched into the forest5. Various were at this time the conjectures concerning the boastedintegrityof theArrowoukaIndians, until, no less than eighteen months after, the same Indian returned to Mr. Van der Mey, with a charming captive boy of theAccawaunation, that he had taken in battle6; and whom presenting to his benefactor, he only said, “That’s yours,” and without waiting for any answer disappeared.—For this slave the above gentleman was offered £. 200, which he refused, and treated him as well as if he had been free.The education these people receive in their infancy being according to the dictates only of simple nature, their minds or their bodies are very seldom deformed, while a too nice attention to either is possibly as detrimental as a total neglect. The ingenious Dr. Bancroft is[193]of the same opinion, which he supports (I think needlessly) by a quotation from Quintilian.Though the Arrowouka Indians live in perfect friendship and harmony with us, and indeed with most of their neighbours, they yet sometimes go to war when provoked, as I have just observed; in these combats they use bows and arrows, and the club calledabowtow7; but they do not eat their prisoners like the Caribbee Indians, who even devoured the negroes whom they killed at the insurrection in Berbicè. Notwithstanding these people live at a greater distance from the sea than theWarrows, &c. yet they have canoes, sometimes fourscore feet in length, in which they paddle down the rivers.The Arrowouka Indians particularly are great herbalists, and for all external accidents have recourse to simples, with which the woods of all Terra Firma abound.——But to proceed:On the 25th I was seized with a fever, and blooded in the foot, in which the orifice beingstrucktoo deep, for struck it was as they bleed the horses, I again became lame; during which time Colonel Seyburg arrived from the Java Creek to recover, he being at last also taken very ill.In the mean time Colonel Fourgeoud, while he was just ready to renew his operations, having already sent a small detachment to the Jew Savannah for intelligence, received letters from the Hague, with express orders to[194]abandon the expedition immediately, and with his few remaining troops to sail for Holland without delay.In consequence of these commands on the 27th, the transport ships were put in commission, and all the officers and privates received their clearance, which made them very happy; and indeed all at Paramaribo were alive with joy, except some of the inhabitants and myself.On the 14th of February, ill as I was with a bad foot, a sore arm, the prickly heat, and all my teeth loose with the scurvy, I found means to scramble out on crutches, with a thousand florins in my pocket, which having divided between Fourgeoud and Mrs. Godefroy for the redemption of the black boyQuaco, and mymulatto, I returned home without a shilling in my purse; yet for this small sum of 500 florins, so inadequate to 1800 which I owed that lady, she was induced generously to renew her persuasions of carrying Joanna and the boy with me to Holland. This, however, Joanna as nobly as firmly refused, declaring, “that, independant of all other considerations, she could never think of sacrificing one benefactor to the interest of another; and that her own happiness or even mine, which was dearer to her than life, should never have any weight, till the debt of her liberty was paid by me, or by her own industry, to the utmost fraction, and which she did not despair to see one day compleated.” She added, “our separation should only be for a time, and that the greatest proof I could ever shew her of my real esteem, was now to undergo this little trial of fortune like a man, without[195]so much as heaving a sigh in her presence;” which last she spoke with a smile, next embraced her infant, then turned suddenly round, and wept most bitterly.—At this moment I was called to Mr.de la Mare’s, who was just dead, where my melancholy having surpassed all description, I at last determined to weather one or two painful years in her absence; and in the afternoon went to dissipate my mind at a Mr.Roux’s cabinet of Indian curiosities; where, as my eye chanced to fall on a rattle-snake, I will before I leave the colony describe this dangerous reptile.Therattle-snakeof Surinam is sometimes eight or nine feet long, and very thick about the middle, tapering towards the neck and tail. The head is dreadfully deformed, being flat and broad, with two large nostrils near the snout, and a large scale or knob like the alligator above his eyes, which are jet-black and sparkling; at the extremity of the tail are several thin horny shells joined together, which are very dry, and which, when irritated, the animal shakes, sounding much like arattle, from which it derives its name. These shells augment,it is said, in the proportion of one every year, by which it is supposed its age may be ascertained. This whole snake is covered over with scales, which on the ridge of the back it erects. The colour is a dirty orange mixed with dark-brown and black spots, which last are also on its head, appearing like velvet, and marked in a very conspicuous manner; the belly is ash-coloured, with transverse[196]scales like most other serpents. When this animal is intent on mischief, it lies coiled like a rope, with the tail a little in motion, which having rattled, it launches forth upon its prey, making no farther reach than its own length; this done, it coils a second time, and again projects itself. The bite of the rattle-snake is accounted fatal, at least is thought very dangerous over all America; but with regard to the fascinating qualities of its eyes, such as the story of its causing mice, squirrels, and birds to run into its mouth, I reject them as fables; the supposed charm consisting in nothing more than this, that the poor animals, finding themselves surprized by the impending danger, are seized with such a trepidation and fear, that even the use of their limbs forsakes them, and they are rivetted to the place till they die, or in the act of leaping they are seized by their enemy8.The Green Butterfly of South America.The Green Butterfly of South America.The Rattle Snake & Dypsas of Guiana.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.In this cabinet I also saw theblue dipsasof Surinam, which had almost the colour of ultramarine on the back; its sides were lighter, and the belly nearly white. I did not learn that the bite of this reptile was fatal, but that it occasions immoderate thirst in the patient, from which it took its name; the worddipsasignifying thirst in the Greek language. Another snake I also observed here, about three feet long, being annulated with different colours, and calledamphisbœna, from the supposition of its having two heads; but the truth is, that from its cylindrical[197]form the head and tail so much resemble each other, that the error is almost pardonable; besides which, the eyes are nearly imperceptible. This is the snake which, being supposed blind, and vulgarly said to be fed by the large ants already described, is in this country honoured with the name of King of the Emmets9.Amongst Mr. Roux’s numerous collection of fine butterflies, one of a middle size I thought peculiarly beautiful; all its wings, both above and below, being elegantly streaked with transverse bars of velvet, black, and a variegated bright green. The amazing height to which they ascend, and the great velocity with which these insects fly, make them so rare, being, for these reasons, but very seldom caught. The caterpillar is a sea-green, and all covered over with hard feelers, not unlike feathers.—For a better idea of the above snakes, and this fly, see the plate annexed, where the last was improved from Madam Merian’s collection.I have just said that we were ordered to leave the colony, and that all were overjoyed with the news, myself excepted. But on the 15th, by letters from Holland to our chief, ourreturnwas again countermanded for six months. My companions were therefore suddenly cast down with disappointment, while I was as suddenly revived, and now determined to save all my pay until Joanna’s redemption should be fully accomplished: but what[198]grieved me very much was the other news from Europe,viz.that theScots Brigadehad been invited to England by his Britannic Majesty, while I was lamenting that I could not possibly be one of the number10. I at the same time had the offer of an American company under General Washington, but this I refused without any hesitation, as may be supposed.In short, on the 18th of February, the poor dispirited men were again sent up to Magdenburg, a large party still remaining at the Java Creek; whilst the temper of the officers was now so ruffled, that a Mr.Fisherof our corps fought no less thantwoduels in two succeeding days, dangerously wounding both his antagonists, who were both officers of the Society regiment.As I was not yet recovered, I staid some time longer at Paramaribo, where at the house of a Mr. Reynsdorp, I saw a PortugueseJewteaching his children theChristianreligion, while the pious mother of the charity-house kept flogging the poor slaves daily, because they were, as she said, unbelievers. To one black woman, in particular, she wantonly gave four hundred lashes, who bore them without a complaint.But to change the disagreeable subject;—while I have the leisure and the opportunity, I feel the inclination to state to the public a short account of the trade and intrinsic value of this blood-spilling colony; which still[199]might be richer, did they not follow the example of the woman in the fable with her golden eggs.In the first place, in Surinam are computed to be about six or eight hundred plantations, producing sugar, coffee, cacao, and cotton, besides some indigo, and valuable timbers, &c.—The exportation of which four first articles only, and their value, may be seen at one view in the following table for four successive years.The Years.Barrels ofSUGAR.lbs. ofCOFFEE.lbs. ofCACAO.lbs. ofCOTTON.177119,49411,135,132416,821203,945177219,26012,267,134354,93590,035177315,74115,427,298332,229135,047177415,11111,016,518506,610105,126Total69,60649,846,0821,610,595534,15369,606 barrels of sugar, at 60 florinsperbarrel, makeƒ.4,176,360——49,846,082 lbs. of coffee, at 8½d.perlb. make21,184,58417—1,610,595 lbs. of cacao, at 6½d.perlb. make523,44378534,153 lbs. of cotton, at 8d.perlb. make212,6614—Sum totalƒ.26,097,04988Which makes in one year exactlyƒ.6,524,26272But this average produce was shipped off for the town of Amsterdam only.[200]If I now add what goes to Rotterdam and to Zealand, besides the home consumption, and the return of the rum and molasses, the indigo at 4 ƒ.perlb. and the timber from 5d.to five florinspercubic foot, it will amount to as much more6,524,26272Thus altogetherƒ.13,048,524144Which, supposing it was but 11,000,000 ƒ. makes a yearly income ofone millionneat in sterling money.How the above sum is divided between the republic of Holland and this colony, shall be my business to state in the second place.The town of Amsterdam affords about fifty ships, at an average of 400 tons burthen each, which receive, for importation freight of various commodities, the sum ofƒ.6,000For exportation freight of the above productions, which grow in the colony1132,000Thus each vessel gets for freightƒ.38,000Which, multiplied by the Noof vessels50Makes exactlyƒ.1,900,000——For Rotterdam and Zealand I calculate together about 30 vessels more of different burdens: thus1,200,000——[201]And for the brick that serves for ballast, passengers, &c.80,000——Each Guinea ship, importing yearly from 250 to 300 negroes, lowest value, atƒ.120,000Thus supposing the number of vessels126Amounts to720,000——To all these I shall add the merchandize imported from Holland, such as wine, spirits, beer, salt-beef, pork, and flour, silk, cotton, and linen-manufactures; cloaths, hats, shoes; gold, silver, and steel ornaments; arms and ammunition; even masons and carpenters tools, &c. &c. at an average of about 50per cent.profit. Besides correspondents charges, insurance, duty, store-house expences, porters fees, wharfage, and package, which last articles cost the inhabitants tenper cent.more.Thus altogether1,100,000——Which makes already the sum ofƒ.5,000,000——Still let me mention the interest of 6per cent.for the national debt of five millions sterling, due by the colony, and what they are defrauded of by usurers in Holland, where prodigious other charges are brought in; and where those who have made their fortunes go to spend it; and the amount will be found to produce at least1,000,000——The whole of which items added together, produce no less a sum yearly thanƒ.6,000,000——[202]Which is clear profit to the republic,viz.principally for Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Zealand. Thus the inhabitants of Surinam get, for their share of the above treasure, only5,000,000——Which make together, as I said, one million sterling, orƒ.11,000,000——In the third place, I shall now show in what manner the internal expence of the society of Surinam is defrayed by taxes; which amount to no trifle, as shall be seen.Having already mentioned, when speaking of the government, that the public revenue officers were five in number, I will now point out how they collect the cash respectively each, for the support of the above expences.The first of these is that of Importation and Exportation Duties.To this is paid,viz.By all Dutch vessels, 3 ƒ.perton}thus for tonnage,ƒ.90,000By Americans, &c. 6 ƒ.pertonBy Americans, &c. for all imports and exports, 5per cent.60,000Sugar pays 1 ƒ.perthousand or barrel}in 1771 paid260,000Coffee 15d.per100 lb. weightCacao 1 ƒ. 15d.per100 lb. DoCotton————ƒ.410,000——Thus receives yearly about the sum ofƒ.410,000——[203]The second is the office of excise and small duties.To this is paid,viz.For a barrel of beerƒ.3——A Doof claret12——A pipe of madeira2310—All wines,perquart bottle——1The tax on publicans, is600——Doon small retailers300——And which amounts to a yearly produce of at least100,000——Then follows thirdly the office for taxation on heads; which receives for all inhabitants, black and white, without exception,viz.For or men and women ƒ. 2 10{this produces yearly150,000——For boys and girls under 12, ƒ. 1 5Next comes the office for sales and slaves, which gets,viz.For selling dead stock, including estates, &c. 5per cent.}thus,130,000——For selling newly-arrived or imported negro slaves, 2½per cent.And finally, the office for re-taking negro deserters, which was then erected, the other taxes not being sufficient; which produces yearly,viz.By an additional tax on heads, black and white, at 1 ƒ. is80,000By 4per cent.of every profit got during the year upon oath, is400,000Which makes exactly480,000——[204]Still let me not forget what is yearly paid for what is called the support of the common or grass fields,viz.For a house, according to its size.For a coach20——For a whiskey10——For a saddle-horse10——Which add to the above impositions again12,000——And these, if summed together, make a yearly revenue of no less thanƒ.1,282,000——Having now clearly demonstrated, partly by the assistance of Dr. Fermyn’sTableau de la Colonie de Surinam, and partly by my own experience, that the intrinsic value of this settlement is worth yearly aboveone millionof sterling money, which, by proper management, might be still increased; also that the greater part of it goes to the republic, while the people are thus burthened on their estates by almost insupportable taxation, which induces many to be rogues, who would perhaps otherwise be honest; I shall, by way of appendix, give some short account of the trade carried on in this colony by theNorth Americans:—These people arrive with small brigs, sloops, and schooners from Virginia, Rhode Island, New York, Boston, Jamaica, Grenada, Antigua, Barbadoes, &c. from which places they export flour, beef, pork, herrings, salt, mackarel, and leaf-tobacco for the negroes; also fir-boards, English rum, and other spirits; loaf-sugar13,[205]spermaceti-candles, onions, &c. Besides each vessel is bound to bring in one horse14, which they often supply by a head only; affirming, that they put on board a horse, but that he died on the passage. For the above commodities the American traders export all the melasses of this colony to distil into rum at home, and frequently ship-loads of other productions and merchandize, though this is done in a clandestine manner, by which both the seller and buyer are considerable gainers, being ready cash for the one, and a cheap bargain for the other. From the Leeward Islands these vessels also import private mulatto and quaderoon slaves, which being generally young and handsome, whatever may be their moral character, sell for considerable prices.Having thus shewn, according to the best information I was able to acquire, in what the commerce and intrinsic wealth of this fine colony consist; I will now take my leave of the subject, and continue my narrative.On the 21st of February, Mr.Reynsdorp, the son-in-law of Mrs. Godefroy, took me in his sail barge for change of air toNuten-Schadelyk, one of his own coffee estates; where I saw a white man who had lately lost both his eyes in one night by the bats or vampires, as they are called; and the following day, sailing up Comewina River, we proceeded to the delightfulCacaoplantation[206]Alkmaar, the property of the above lady; where the negro slaves are treated like children by the mistress, to whom they all look up as to their common parent.—Here were no groans to be heard, no fetters to be met with, nor any marks of severity to be seen—but all was harmony and content. The superb house and other offices of this charming estate, where pleasure and hospitality ever reign, I have already represented in plate NoX.; while the fields and gardens, nay, even the negro houses, bore all the marks of perfect peace and plenty.Thecacao-treesare supplied from nurseries for the purpose, like orchards in England, and planted very regularly at ten or twelve feet distance from each other, where they grow to the height of our English cherry-trees. But these plantations must be well sheltered, both from the hard winds and scorching sun, when young; the roots not entering deep into the ground to succour them, nor can they at that time bear extraordinary heat; on which account the groves are filled up with cassava-shrubs or plantain-trees for their shelter, and which at the same time answer the purpose of killing the weeds, which grow so luxuriantly in all the tropical climates;—by these attentions the trees will bear fruit before they are three years old, when they afford two crops annually, but they are in the highest perfection at the age of twelve or fourteen. The leaf of the cacao-tree is above eight inches long, and nearly three broad, thick-pointed, ribbed like the laurel-time, and of a bright green-colour.[207]The fruit is about the same size, and when young resembles a cucumber; but when ripe it becomes yellow like a large lemon, with ribs like the melon, and tubercles which enclose the seed or nuts, near thirty in number: they lie longitudinally in the fruit, and when fit for use are of the size of olives, and purple-coloured. The trees are supposed to bear at each crop from thirty to three hundred pods, each containing about thirty nuts, weighing one pound, from which a calculation may be made how much will be the produce of each harvest. After a few days the nuts are extracted from the pods, and dried in the shade; during which time they undergo a very strong perspiration, when they are put into barrels and fit for transportation, to be converted into that well-known and agreeable beverage called Chocolate.It is said the cacao-trees are natives of Guiana, and grow wild in large quantities near the river Amazon: be that as it may, GovernorChatillon’s son planted the first tree in Surinam in 1684, and the first crop was exported to Holland in 1733. A great advantage in cultivating cacao-trees is, that fewer slaves are required than in any other branch of the planting business. How considerable are the profits will appear by the accounts of the year 1774, when 506,610 lbs. were exported to Amsterdam alone, which produced 202,614 ƒ. Dutch money, being equal to £. 18,419 sterling. The prices have been fluctuating from 4d.to 9d.perlb. the average being[208]about 6½d.The best estates, of whichAlkmaaris one, produce yearly above 80,000 lbs. weight.In the plate annexed,Ais the leaf above,Bbelow15;C, the wood;D, the flower;E, the young pulp;F, the same in perfection; andG, the seeds or nuts to make the chocolate.On the 27th we returned to town, where the day before a Society soldier was shot for mutiny; and the day following a ship was burnt in the roads. At this time the celebrated free negro Qwasi, who was the prophet, priest, and king of the rangers, &c. went to Holland on a visit to the Prince of Orange, with letters of recommendation from Fourgeoud, whose praises he was to resound, as well as to complain of the Governor for not treating him with due respect. This being the period for the sessions, another negro’s leg was cut off for sculking from a task to which he was unequal; while two more were condemned to be hanged for running away altogether. The heroic behaviour of one of these men before the court deserves particularly to be noticed:—He begged only to be heard for a few moments; which being granted, he proceeded thus:Sprig of the Cocao, or Chocolate Tree.Sprig of the Cocao, or Chocolate Tree.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.“I was born in Africa, where, defending my prince during an engagement, I was made a captive, and sold for a slave on the coast of Guinea bymy owncountrymen.[209]—One of your countrymen, who is now to be one of my judges, became my purchaser, in whose service I was treated so cruelly by hisoverseer, that I deserted, and joined the rebels in the woods.—Here again I was condemned to be a slave toBonny, their chief, who treated me with even more severity than I had experienced from the Europeans, till I was once more forced to elope, determined to shun mankind for ever, and inoffensively to end my days by myself in the forest. Two years had I persevered in this manner quite alone, undergoing the greatest hardships and anxiety of mind, preserving life only for the possibility of once more seeing my dear family, who were perhaps starving on my account, in my own country; I say two miserable years had just elapsed, when I was discovered by the rangers, taken, and brought before this tribunal, who are now acquainted with the history of my wretched life, and from whom the only favour I have to ask is, that I may be executednext Saturday, or as soon as it may possibly be convenient.”This speech was uttered with the utmost moderation, by one of the finest-looking negroes that was perhaps ever seen; to which his former master, who, as he observed, was now one of the judges, made the following laconic reply—“Rascal! that is not what we want to know; but thetorturethis moment shall make you confess crimes as black as yourself, as well as those of your hateful accomplices.” To which the negro, who[210]now swelled in every vein with indignation and ineffable contempt: “Massera, the tigers have trembled for these hands,” holding them up; “and dare you think to threaten me with your wretched instrument? No, I despise the utmost tortures you can now invent, as much as I do the pitiful wretch who is going to inflict them.” Saying which, he threw himself down on the rack, where amidst the most excruciating torments he remained with a smile, without uttering a syllable; nor did he ever speak again, until he ended his unhappy days at the gallows.What good man can “reflect the tear-stain’d eye,When blood attests even slaves for freedom die?On cruel gibbets, high disclos’d they rest,And scarce one groan escapes one bloated breast.Here sableCæsars16feel the Christian rod,There AfricPlatos, tortur’d hope a God,While jettyBrutusfor his country sighs,And sootyCatowith his freedom dies!”Having dined with Colonel Fourgeoud on the 8th of March, when we celebrated the Prince of Orange’s birthday, while Mr. Reyndorp gave a treat to all the soldiers, he acquainted me that the rangers were now alone encamped at the Wana Creek; that the pestilential spotDevil’s Harwarwas at last entirely forsaken; and that the two lately[211]raised companies of sable volunteers had taken a few prisoners, and killed others on theWanica path, behind Paramaribo. I was at this time a good deal better, but still, not being quite recovered, he who had formerly treated me so severely, now even insisted on my staying some longer time at Paramaribo: nay, gave me an offer to return to Europe, which I absolutely refused; in short, about the middle of the month, I was as well as ever I was in my life. At this time Colonel Fourgeoud and myself were daily visitors of the ladies, in whose company no man could behave better, while I could often not avoid disgust; indeed so languid were many in their looks, and so unrestrained were some in their conversation, that a Mrs.N—— even asked me,sans ceremonie, to supply the place of her husband; while she might as well have asked me to drink, for a relish, a tumbler of salts.On the 17th, however, my eyes were better feasted, when, going to dine with Colonel Texier of the Society troops, I first took a walk in the orange grove and the governor’s gardens; here, peeping through the foliage, I soon discovered two most elegant female figures after bathing, the one a fine youngSamboo, the other ablooming Quaderoon, which last was so very fair complexioned, that she might have passed for a native of Greece, while the roses that glowed in her cheek were equal to those that blossomed in the shrubbery17. They were walking[212]hand in hand, and conversing with smiles near a flowery bank that adorned the side of a crystal brook, in which they plunged the instant they heard me rustling amongst the verdure, like twomermaids:“Then to the flood they rush’d; the parted floodIts lovely guests with closing waves receiv’d,And every beauty soft’ning, every graceFlushing anew, a mellow lustre shed.”Leaving them to enjoy their innocent amusement of bathing, I spent the remaining hour before dinner amongst the shady fruit-trees, blooming bowers, and serpentine gravel walks; where indeed I saw greater variety of European plants than I imagined were produced in a tropical climate, such as mint, fennel, sage, rosemary, golden-rod and jessamine, the sensitive plant, pomegranates, roses, figs, and even some grapes.—Of the pomegranate flowers, a specimen may be seen in plate, NoXXIX. The figs are both within and without of a beautiful crimson colour; but the roses are rather pale. Here were some beautiful pine-apples and melons, which, though they are so generally known, I will nevertheless give some account of. The imperial fruit, calledAnanaor pine-apple grows in the centre of an elegant sea-green plant, on a stalk of the same hue, about eight inches in length, its leaves diverging near the surface of the earth, which are smooth, long, strong, pointed, and dentulated with hard prickles. The shape of this fruit is nearly oval, the size of a sugar-loaf, all over chequered, and of[213]a most beautiful orange or golden colour, being crowned with a sea-green tuft, of the same leaves as the mother plant, and which when put in the ground produces another pine-apple in the space of about eighteen months. The delicious taste and flavour of this fruit has in the space of half a century become so well known, that I have introduced it merely to notice itsplentyin the country I write of; for so spontaneously indeed do the former grow in this climate, and of such different kinds, without any cultivation, that on many estates they serve as a common food for hogs.Themuskandwater melonsgrow also plentifully in this country; the first is of a globular form, large, like the crown of a small hat, ribbed, buff colour, orange and green. The pulp is yellow, firm, sweet, and succulent; still it is eaten with sugar, but more frequently with black pepper and salt—the smell of this fruit is excellent.The water-melon is of an oval or cylindrical shape, its colour is a bright polished green, and partly a very pale buff; the pulp of this fruit is a pink colour, and of a mellow watery substance; its taste is sweet, exceedingly cooling, and of a most agreeable flavour.Both the above melons are of the cucumber kind, growing on rough stalks, with large leaves, that creep along the ground. It is remarkable that the water-melon, which may be freely eaten in all distempers without the least pernicious consequence, thrives best in very dry and sandy[214]places.—In the annexed plate may be seen theAnanaor pine-apple, with the musk and water-melon, besides the seed from which this last is produced.I sent about this period, to a Mr. Reygersman in Holland, a most elegant collection of Surinambutterflies, which are here caught in great abundance and variety, and by which alone some people make no small profit; but the very idea of pinning them alive to a sheet of paper, was sufficient to prevent me from becoming a fly-catcher:“Lo! the poor beetle that we tread upon——Feels a like pang, as when a giant falls.”Now Captains Van Geurick and Fredericy, with Serjeant Fowler, were sent on an embassy to theOwcaandSaramecafree negroes, if possible to procure their assistance against the rebels, which they always continued topromise(while Colonel Fourgeoud gave them presents) but never yetperformed. A few of the other officers still stayed with usgallantingat Paramaribo, amongst whom were Major Medler and CaptainHamell18, who had both been with General Desalve’s regiment, in the colonyBerbicè, and previous to that the first was in the Prussian service. It was no small change of appearance[215]for us, who had so little a time before appeared like wild men, now to strut through Paramaribo, dressed like so many Frenchmarquees.The Musk-Melon, Water-Melon & Pine-Apple.A. Smith Sculpt.The Musk-Melon, Water-Melon & Pine-Apple.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.Being a particular favourite of Governor Nepveu, I one day was induced to ask him for a piece ofuncultivatedforest ground; when he readily granted me 400 acres: but when I inconsiderately asked it of him, I had not calculated how large a capital it required to clear away woods, purchase negroes, and provide other necessaries for such an undertaking; and when a little reflection convinced me how difficult it would be to find a partner of abilities to assist me, I declined accepting this mark of the governor’s regard.Having on the 26th once more saved a poor black girl from receiving some hundred lashes, by replacing a dozen of china, which she had broken by accident; while another was stabbed by a Frenchman, who immediately cut his own throat from remorse, and his companion, an overseer, hanged himself; and having visited the poor negro whose leg had lately been cut offby law, I packed my boxes to set out next morning on my sixth campaign; and once more take the command of the River Comewina: at which moment arrived at my lodgings six loaded negro slaves with presents from my hospitable friends, of every kind that Guiana could produce, and the colony of Surinam could afford me.[216]

To what good star I was obliged, in the midst of all our confusion and distress, I know not, but certain it is, that Colonel Seyburg having sent for me on the first day of the new year, not only solicited my future friendship, but declared he was sorry for all the ill-treatment he had ever occasioned me, for which he principally blamed Mr.Gibhart, his adjutant and spy; then taking me by the hand, as a proof of his real regard, permitted me from that moment to go to Paramaribo, or wherever I pleased, to refresh and refit until further orders; which had such an effect on me, that having instantly converted every drop of my rum into grog, we sat down, together with two other officers, and drowned all former animosity in oblivion, till we could hardly see each other. In this condition I took my leave that very evening of mynewfriend and the camp at Java Creek, and rowed down in the best spirits for Paramaribo.[186]

Next morning, having slept during most of the passage, I breakfasted at Devil’s Harwar, where I found that the unfortunate Gibhart had just set sail for theotherworld. In the evening we arrived at the estateBeekvlied, as my negroes had made extraordinary dispatch,summing wattra1all the time to encourage each other.

On the 3d I arrived at the fortress Amsterdam, where I was entertained with an excellent fish dinner, and where I must again intreat the reader’s patience, while I attempt to describe the different species,viz.thepassessy,prare-prare,provost, andcurema. The passary is above two feet long, and weighs sometimes twenty pounds: the head is broad and flat; it has two long barbs, and no scales, and is very delicate eating. The prare-prare is about the same size, and equally good. The provost is large, often five feet, and of a yellowish colour; the flesh of this is less agreeable, but the oil it produces comes to good account. As for the curema, this is a species of mullet, sometimes above two feet in length, with large silvery eyes, and the under jaw longer than the upper. Near this place are also found a kind ofsea-snails, of which Madam Merian makes mention; and the fore-part of which exactly resembles those of a shrimp.

In the evening at six o’clock I arrived once more at Paramaribo, and found Joanna with her little boy perfectly[187]well, after having both been blind for above three weeks; with whom being now invited to lodge, at the house of my friend Mr. De Graaf, I was completely happy.

The following day I dined with Colonel Fourgeoud, who now also was as sound as ever, and who gave me a very indifferent meal of salt provisions2, but anuncommonlyhearty welcome. He acquainted me that two new companies of free mulattoes, and two of free negroes, all volunteers, had just been raised; that the Serameca and Owca negroes encouraged and favoured the rebels, and were deceitful rascals; that a few rebels had been killed in the Cassiwinica Creek; and that he was in hopes of rooting outFissy Hollo; thatBonny, with his people, were almost starving in the forest, notwithstanding their late depredations, which could not last much longer; and that he was fully determined, if he should lose his last man, to makethisrebel surrender, or harass him till he and his gang, through hunger and distress, should be obliged to quit the colony. I learned further from him, that a Frenchman had just escaped hanging for betraying the state of the fortifications, &c. to the governor of Cayenne; that he had pardoned Captain Tulling for his clandestine marriage; and that Lieutenant Colonel de Borgnes was just entered into matrimony with a rich widow, a Mrs. Crawford.[188]

The Colonel, in a word, was now quite the reverse of what he had been before, and upon the whole so very agreeable in his manners, that I would never wish to spend my time in better company; but how I should become at once the favourite of both these rival commanders, was a secret I could never yet discover, unless it might proceed from a desire of gaining me from each other, as they still continued mutual enemies: be that as it may, I resolved to preserve the most inflexible neutrality, as I also did between them and the governor, where I was invited next day, and dined not on salt-beef, but found as usual a truly magnificent entertainment.

Thus I continued daily visiting my friends,viz.Mrs. Godefroy, the Demellys, the Gordons, the Mac Neyls, &c. I also spent a very agreeable day with the black Mrs. Sampson, or Zubly, who was now a widow.

I was present too at a mulatto ball, composed however not of slaves, but of free independant settlers. Here the music, the lights, the country dances, the supper, and, above all, the dresses were so superb, and their behaviour so decent and genteel, that the whole might serve as a model for decorum and etiquette to some of the fairer and more polished inhabitants.

On the 20th, observing a number of Indians and black people of both sexes swimming at the back of Fort Zelandia, young Donald Mac Neyl and myself compleated the groupe, by stripping and getting in among them; and I must confess I never beheld more surprising feats[189]of activity in the water, than were performed by the negroes, who fought asham battle, by plunging or rather tumbling like porpoises, when they struck each other with their legs, as they never used their hands; while the Indians, who were of theArrowoukanation, swam and dived like amphibious animals.

Being sufficiently refreshed, we sat down upon the beach, near the twenty-one gun battery, where I had an opportunity of examining the features and figure of one of their young females, as she approached us, like Venus rising out of the sea. These people being very different from all the other Indian nations that I have already described, I shall embrace the opportunity of fulfilling my promise, and giving a particular account of them.—In the first place, the skin of the young woman who was now emerging clean from the river, and divested of arnotta-paint, appeared much fairer than the copper-colour of the other Indians; neither were her limbs deformed by those strait-laced bracelets or cotton-bands so much in use with the rest; nor did her hair hang down, but was neatly plaited close round the crown of her head, and fastened in the centre with a broad silver plate3. Her only dress consisted, both during the time she bathed and after, of a small square apron made of beads, as I have mentioned before: in every other respect she was perfectly naked: nor could a finer figure be imagined—[190]erect, vigorous, active, young, and healthy, which convinced me that when the body is exposed, as it certainly was ordained by nature, the face is but little noticed.

“——Such as Arcadian songTransmits from ancient uncorrupted Time;When tyrant Custom had not shackled Man,But free to followNaturewas the mode.”

“——Such as Arcadian song

Transmits from ancient uncorrupted Time;

When tyrant Custom had not shackled Man,

But free to followNaturewas the mode.”

In her features was displayed that beautiful simplicity, that native unsuspecting innocence, which cannot be put on where there is the slightest consciousness of guilt. Nor is the olive-colour incompatible with beauty, it is certainly the standard complexion of the human race, while the black and white are supposed to be only gradations, produced probably by the extremes of heat and cold. As this Indian girl was perfectly handsome, so she seemed to be perfectly happy.—“Happiness,” as the Abbe Reynal wisely observes, “is more frequently found in a pure state of nature, than in that of the most refined civilization.” To be sure an European woman would blush to her fingers ends at the very idea of appearing publicly stark naked; but education and prejudice are every thing, since it is an axiom, that where there is no feeling of self-reproach, there can assuredly be no shame.

Indian Female of the Arrowauka Nation.Benedetti Sculpt.Indian Female of the Arrowauka Nation.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1792, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

Benedetti Sculpt.

Indian Female of the Arrowauka Nation.

London, Published Decr. 1st, 1792, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

I remember to have seen an Indian youth, whose name wasWeekee, at Bergen-op-Zoom, where he was brought over from the colony Berbicè with GeneralDesalve, who cloathed and partly civilized him: amongst other things,[191]he learned cookery, and to be something of a taylor, at his own request, that he might be enabled to provide both for his back and his belly. After some time however, expressing a desire to return to the colony, he no sooner touched American ground, than stripping himself of his lumber, he launched naked into his native woods, where he ended his days as he had begun them, amongst his beloved countrymen and companions; like the Hottentot mentioned by Rousseau, in his celebratedDiscours sur l’Inegalité & Conditions, &c.——But to return to the girl:—She had with her a live parrot, which she had stunned with a blunt arrow from her bow, and for which I gave her a double-bladed knife4. So wonderfully expert are the Arrowouka Indians at this exercise, that they frequently bring down a macaw in full flight, or even a pigeon.

I cannot conclude these remarks without adding a few words concerning the unspotted moral character of these people, who not only live in peace with most of the other Indian nations, but are peculiarly attached to the Europeans, while these in return profess for them the strongest esteem.[192]

As a proof of their gratitude, I will only relate one instance:—Some years ago an Indian woman being at Paramaribo, and far advanced in a state of pregnancy, a Mr.Van der Meyhumanely ordered his servants to conduct her and her husband into his house, where, giving them a private apartment, and every other conveniency, he wished them good-night. Before the next morning the woman was delivered; but when the servants went in to renew their offers of friendship, neither man, wife, nor child were to be found, as they had before day-break quietly marched into the forest5. Various were at this time the conjectures concerning the boastedintegrityof theArrowoukaIndians, until, no less than eighteen months after, the same Indian returned to Mr. Van der Mey, with a charming captive boy of theAccawaunation, that he had taken in battle6; and whom presenting to his benefactor, he only said, “That’s yours,” and without waiting for any answer disappeared.—For this slave the above gentleman was offered £. 200, which he refused, and treated him as well as if he had been free.

The education these people receive in their infancy being according to the dictates only of simple nature, their minds or their bodies are very seldom deformed, while a too nice attention to either is possibly as detrimental as a total neglect. The ingenious Dr. Bancroft is[193]of the same opinion, which he supports (I think needlessly) by a quotation from Quintilian.

Though the Arrowouka Indians live in perfect friendship and harmony with us, and indeed with most of their neighbours, they yet sometimes go to war when provoked, as I have just observed; in these combats they use bows and arrows, and the club calledabowtow7; but they do not eat their prisoners like the Caribbee Indians, who even devoured the negroes whom they killed at the insurrection in Berbicè. Notwithstanding these people live at a greater distance from the sea than theWarrows, &c. yet they have canoes, sometimes fourscore feet in length, in which they paddle down the rivers.The Arrowouka Indians particularly are great herbalists, and for all external accidents have recourse to simples, with which the woods of all Terra Firma abound.——But to proceed:

On the 25th I was seized with a fever, and blooded in the foot, in which the orifice beingstrucktoo deep, for struck it was as they bleed the horses, I again became lame; during which time Colonel Seyburg arrived from the Java Creek to recover, he being at last also taken very ill.

In the mean time Colonel Fourgeoud, while he was just ready to renew his operations, having already sent a small detachment to the Jew Savannah for intelligence, received letters from the Hague, with express orders to[194]abandon the expedition immediately, and with his few remaining troops to sail for Holland without delay.

In consequence of these commands on the 27th, the transport ships were put in commission, and all the officers and privates received their clearance, which made them very happy; and indeed all at Paramaribo were alive with joy, except some of the inhabitants and myself.

On the 14th of February, ill as I was with a bad foot, a sore arm, the prickly heat, and all my teeth loose with the scurvy, I found means to scramble out on crutches, with a thousand florins in my pocket, which having divided between Fourgeoud and Mrs. Godefroy for the redemption of the black boyQuaco, and mymulatto, I returned home without a shilling in my purse; yet for this small sum of 500 florins, so inadequate to 1800 which I owed that lady, she was induced generously to renew her persuasions of carrying Joanna and the boy with me to Holland. This, however, Joanna as nobly as firmly refused, declaring, “that, independant of all other considerations, she could never think of sacrificing one benefactor to the interest of another; and that her own happiness or even mine, which was dearer to her than life, should never have any weight, till the debt of her liberty was paid by me, or by her own industry, to the utmost fraction, and which she did not despair to see one day compleated.” She added, “our separation should only be for a time, and that the greatest proof I could ever shew her of my real esteem, was now to undergo this little trial of fortune like a man, without[195]so much as heaving a sigh in her presence;” which last she spoke with a smile, next embraced her infant, then turned suddenly round, and wept most bitterly.—At this moment I was called to Mr.de la Mare’s, who was just dead, where my melancholy having surpassed all description, I at last determined to weather one or two painful years in her absence; and in the afternoon went to dissipate my mind at a Mr.Roux’s cabinet of Indian curiosities; where, as my eye chanced to fall on a rattle-snake, I will before I leave the colony describe this dangerous reptile.

Therattle-snakeof Surinam is sometimes eight or nine feet long, and very thick about the middle, tapering towards the neck and tail. The head is dreadfully deformed, being flat and broad, with two large nostrils near the snout, and a large scale or knob like the alligator above his eyes, which are jet-black and sparkling; at the extremity of the tail are several thin horny shells joined together, which are very dry, and which, when irritated, the animal shakes, sounding much like arattle, from which it derives its name. These shells augment,it is said, in the proportion of one every year, by which it is supposed its age may be ascertained. This whole snake is covered over with scales, which on the ridge of the back it erects. The colour is a dirty orange mixed with dark-brown and black spots, which last are also on its head, appearing like velvet, and marked in a very conspicuous manner; the belly is ash-coloured, with transverse[196]scales like most other serpents. When this animal is intent on mischief, it lies coiled like a rope, with the tail a little in motion, which having rattled, it launches forth upon its prey, making no farther reach than its own length; this done, it coils a second time, and again projects itself. The bite of the rattle-snake is accounted fatal, at least is thought very dangerous over all America; but with regard to the fascinating qualities of its eyes, such as the story of its causing mice, squirrels, and birds to run into its mouth, I reject them as fables; the supposed charm consisting in nothing more than this, that the poor animals, finding themselves surprized by the impending danger, are seized with such a trepidation and fear, that even the use of their limbs forsakes them, and they are rivetted to the place till they die, or in the act of leaping they are seized by their enemy8.

The Green Butterfly of South America.The Green Butterfly of South America.The Rattle Snake & Dypsas of Guiana.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

The Green Butterfly of South America.

The Rattle Snake & Dypsas of Guiana.

London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

In this cabinet I also saw theblue dipsasof Surinam, which had almost the colour of ultramarine on the back; its sides were lighter, and the belly nearly white. I did not learn that the bite of this reptile was fatal, but that it occasions immoderate thirst in the patient, from which it took its name; the worddipsasignifying thirst in the Greek language. Another snake I also observed here, about three feet long, being annulated with different colours, and calledamphisbœna, from the supposition of its having two heads; but the truth is, that from its cylindrical[197]form the head and tail so much resemble each other, that the error is almost pardonable; besides which, the eyes are nearly imperceptible. This is the snake which, being supposed blind, and vulgarly said to be fed by the large ants already described, is in this country honoured with the name of King of the Emmets9.

Amongst Mr. Roux’s numerous collection of fine butterflies, one of a middle size I thought peculiarly beautiful; all its wings, both above and below, being elegantly streaked with transverse bars of velvet, black, and a variegated bright green. The amazing height to which they ascend, and the great velocity with which these insects fly, make them so rare, being, for these reasons, but very seldom caught. The caterpillar is a sea-green, and all covered over with hard feelers, not unlike feathers.—For a better idea of the above snakes, and this fly, see the plate annexed, where the last was improved from Madam Merian’s collection.

I have just said that we were ordered to leave the colony, and that all were overjoyed with the news, myself excepted. But on the 15th, by letters from Holland to our chief, ourreturnwas again countermanded for six months. My companions were therefore suddenly cast down with disappointment, while I was as suddenly revived, and now determined to save all my pay until Joanna’s redemption should be fully accomplished: but what[198]grieved me very much was the other news from Europe,viz.that theScots Brigadehad been invited to England by his Britannic Majesty, while I was lamenting that I could not possibly be one of the number10. I at the same time had the offer of an American company under General Washington, but this I refused without any hesitation, as may be supposed.

In short, on the 18th of February, the poor dispirited men were again sent up to Magdenburg, a large party still remaining at the Java Creek; whilst the temper of the officers was now so ruffled, that a Mr.Fisherof our corps fought no less thantwoduels in two succeeding days, dangerously wounding both his antagonists, who were both officers of the Society regiment.

As I was not yet recovered, I staid some time longer at Paramaribo, where at the house of a Mr. Reynsdorp, I saw a PortugueseJewteaching his children theChristianreligion, while the pious mother of the charity-house kept flogging the poor slaves daily, because they were, as she said, unbelievers. To one black woman, in particular, she wantonly gave four hundred lashes, who bore them without a complaint.

But to change the disagreeable subject;—while I have the leisure and the opportunity, I feel the inclination to state to the public a short account of the trade and intrinsic value of this blood-spilling colony; which still[199]might be richer, did they not follow the example of the woman in the fable with her golden eggs.

In the first place, in Surinam are computed to be about six or eight hundred plantations, producing sugar, coffee, cacao, and cotton, besides some indigo, and valuable timbers, &c.—The exportation of which four first articles only, and their value, may be seen at one view in the following table for four successive years.

The Years.Barrels ofSUGAR.lbs. ofCOFFEE.lbs. ofCACAO.lbs. ofCOTTON.177119,49411,135,132416,821203,945177219,26012,267,134354,93590,035177315,74115,427,298332,229135,047177415,11111,016,518506,610105,126Total69,60649,846,0821,610,595534,153

69,606 barrels of sugar, at 60 florinsperbarrel, makeƒ.4,176,360——49,846,082 lbs. of coffee, at 8½d.perlb. make21,184,58417—1,610,595 lbs. of cacao, at 6½d.perlb. make523,44378534,153 lbs. of cotton, at 8d.perlb. make212,6614—Sum totalƒ.26,097,04988Which makes in one year exactlyƒ.6,524,26272But this average produce was shipped off for the town of Amsterdam only.[200]If I now add what goes to Rotterdam and to Zealand, besides the home consumption, and the return of the rum and molasses, the indigo at 4 ƒ.perlb. and the timber from 5d.to five florinspercubic foot, it will amount to as much more6,524,26272Thus altogetherƒ.13,048,524144

Which, supposing it was but 11,000,000 ƒ. makes a yearly income ofone millionneat in sterling money.

How the above sum is divided between the republic of Holland and this colony, shall be my business to state in the second place.

The town of Amsterdam affords about fifty ships, at an average of 400 tons burthen each, which receive, for importation freight of various commodities, the sum ofƒ.6,000For exportation freight of the above productions, which grow in the colony1132,000Thus each vessel gets for freightƒ.38,000Which, multiplied by the Noof vessels50Makes exactlyƒ.1,900,000——For Rotterdam and Zealand I calculate together about 30 vessels more of different burdens: thus1,200,000——[201]And for the brick that serves for ballast, passengers, &c.80,000——Each Guinea ship, importing yearly from 250 to 300 negroes, lowest value, atƒ.120,000Thus supposing the number of vessels126Amounts to720,000——To all these I shall add the merchandize imported from Holland, such as wine, spirits, beer, salt-beef, pork, and flour, silk, cotton, and linen-manufactures; cloaths, hats, shoes; gold, silver, and steel ornaments; arms and ammunition; even masons and carpenters tools, &c. &c. at an average of about 50per cent.profit. Besides correspondents charges, insurance, duty, store-house expences, porters fees, wharfage, and package, which last articles cost the inhabitants tenper cent.more.Thus altogether1,100,000——Which makes already the sum ofƒ.5,000,000——Still let me mention the interest of 6per cent.for the national debt of five millions sterling, due by the colony, and what they are defrauded of by usurers in Holland, where prodigious other charges are brought in; and where those who have made their fortunes go to spend it; and the amount will be found to produce at least1,000,000——The whole of which items added together, produce no less a sum yearly thanƒ.6,000,000——[202]Which is clear profit to the republic,viz.principally for Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Zealand. Thus the inhabitants of Surinam get, for their share of the above treasure, only5,000,000——Which make together, as I said, one million sterling, orƒ.11,000,000——

In the third place, I shall now show in what manner the internal expence of the society of Surinam is defrayed by taxes; which amount to no trifle, as shall be seen.

Having already mentioned, when speaking of the government, that the public revenue officers were five in number, I will now point out how they collect the cash respectively each, for the support of the above expences.

The first of these is that of Importation and Exportation Duties.

To this is paid,viz.By all Dutch vessels, 3 ƒ.perton}thus for tonnage,ƒ.90,000By Americans, &c. 6 ƒ.pertonBy Americans, &c. for all imports and exports, 5per cent.60,000Sugar pays 1 ƒ.perthousand or barrel}in 1771 paid260,000Coffee 15d.per100 lb. weightCacao 1 ƒ. 15d.per100 lb. DoCotton————ƒ.410,000——Thus receives yearly about the sum ofƒ.410,000——[203]The second is the office of excise and small duties.To this is paid,viz.For a barrel of beerƒ.3——A Doof claret12——A pipe of madeira2310—All wines,perquart bottle——1The tax on publicans, is600——Doon small retailers300——And which amounts to a yearly produce of at least100,000——Then follows thirdly the office for taxation on heads; which receives for all inhabitants, black and white, without exception,viz.For or men and women ƒ. 2 10{this produces yearly150,000——For boys and girls under 12, ƒ. 1 5Next comes the office for sales and slaves, which gets,viz.For selling dead stock, including estates, &c. 5per cent.}thus,130,000——For selling newly-arrived or imported negro slaves, 2½per cent.And finally, the office for re-taking negro deserters, which was then erected, the other taxes not being sufficient; which produces yearly,viz.By an additional tax on heads, black and white, at 1 ƒ. is80,000By 4per cent.of every profit got during the year upon oath, is400,000Which makes exactly480,000——[204]Still let me not forget what is yearly paid for what is called the support of the common or grass fields,viz.For a house, according to its size.For a coach20——For a whiskey10——For a saddle-horse10——Which add to the above impositions again12,000——And these, if summed together, make a yearly revenue of no less thanƒ.1,282,000——

Having now clearly demonstrated, partly by the assistance of Dr. Fermyn’sTableau de la Colonie de Surinam, and partly by my own experience, that the intrinsic value of this settlement is worth yearly aboveone millionof sterling money, which, by proper management, might be still increased; also that the greater part of it goes to the republic, while the people are thus burthened on their estates by almost insupportable taxation, which induces many to be rogues, who would perhaps otherwise be honest; I shall, by way of appendix, give some short account of the trade carried on in this colony by theNorth Americans:—These people arrive with small brigs, sloops, and schooners from Virginia, Rhode Island, New York, Boston, Jamaica, Grenada, Antigua, Barbadoes, &c. from which places they export flour, beef, pork, herrings, salt, mackarel, and leaf-tobacco for the negroes; also fir-boards, English rum, and other spirits; loaf-sugar13,[205]spermaceti-candles, onions, &c. Besides each vessel is bound to bring in one horse14, which they often supply by a head only; affirming, that they put on board a horse, but that he died on the passage. For the above commodities the American traders export all the melasses of this colony to distil into rum at home, and frequently ship-loads of other productions and merchandize, though this is done in a clandestine manner, by which both the seller and buyer are considerable gainers, being ready cash for the one, and a cheap bargain for the other. From the Leeward Islands these vessels also import private mulatto and quaderoon slaves, which being generally young and handsome, whatever may be their moral character, sell for considerable prices.

Having thus shewn, according to the best information I was able to acquire, in what the commerce and intrinsic wealth of this fine colony consist; I will now take my leave of the subject, and continue my narrative.

On the 21st of February, Mr.Reynsdorp, the son-in-law of Mrs. Godefroy, took me in his sail barge for change of air toNuten-Schadelyk, one of his own coffee estates; where I saw a white man who had lately lost both his eyes in one night by the bats or vampires, as they are called; and the following day, sailing up Comewina River, we proceeded to the delightfulCacaoplantation[206]Alkmaar, the property of the above lady; where the negro slaves are treated like children by the mistress, to whom they all look up as to their common parent.—Here were no groans to be heard, no fetters to be met with, nor any marks of severity to be seen—but all was harmony and content. The superb house and other offices of this charming estate, where pleasure and hospitality ever reign, I have already represented in plate NoX.; while the fields and gardens, nay, even the negro houses, bore all the marks of perfect peace and plenty.

Thecacao-treesare supplied from nurseries for the purpose, like orchards in England, and planted very regularly at ten or twelve feet distance from each other, where they grow to the height of our English cherry-trees. But these plantations must be well sheltered, both from the hard winds and scorching sun, when young; the roots not entering deep into the ground to succour them, nor can they at that time bear extraordinary heat; on which account the groves are filled up with cassava-shrubs or plantain-trees for their shelter, and which at the same time answer the purpose of killing the weeds, which grow so luxuriantly in all the tropical climates;—by these attentions the trees will bear fruit before they are three years old, when they afford two crops annually, but they are in the highest perfection at the age of twelve or fourteen. The leaf of the cacao-tree is above eight inches long, and nearly three broad, thick-pointed, ribbed like the laurel-time, and of a bright green-colour.[207]The fruit is about the same size, and when young resembles a cucumber; but when ripe it becomes yellow like a large lemon, with ribs like the melon, and tubercles which enclose the seed or nuts, near thirty in number: they lie longitudinally in the fruit, and when fit for use are of the size of olives, and purple-coloured. The trees are supposed to bear at each crop from thirty to three hundred pods, each containing about thirty nuts, weighing one pound, from which a calculation may be made how much will be the produce of each harvest. After a few days the nuts are extracted from the pods, and dried in the shade; during which time they undergo a very strong perspiration, when they are put into barrels and fit for transportation, to be converted into that well-known and agreeable beverage called Chocolate.

It is said the cacao-trees are natives of Guiana, and grow wild in large quantities near the river Amazon: be that as it may, GovernorChatillon’s son planted the first tree in Surinam in 1684, and the first crop was exported to Holland in 1733. A great advantage in cultivating cacao-trees is, that fewer slaves are required than in any other branch of the planting business. How considerable are the profits will appear by the accounts of the year 1774, when 506,610 lbs. were exported to Amsterdam alone, which produced 202,614 ƒ. Dutch money, being equal to £. 18,419 sterling. The prices have been fluctuating from 4d.to 9d.perlb. the average being[208]about 6½d.The best estates, of whichAlkmaaris one, produce yearly above 80,000 lbs. weight.

In the plate annexed,Ais the leaf above,Bbelow15;C, the wood;D, the flower;E, the young pulp;F, the same in perfection; andG, the seeds or nuts to make the chocolate.

On the 27th we returned to town, where the day before a Society soldier was shot for mutiny; and the day following a ship was burnt in the roads. At this time the celebrated free negro Qwasi, who was the prophet, priest, and king of the rangers, &c. went to Holland on a visit to the Prince of Orange, with letters of recommendation from Fourgeoud, whose praises he was to resound, as well as to complain of the Governor for not treating him with due respect. This being the period for the sessions, another negro’s leg was cut off for sculking from a task to which he was unequal; while two more were condemned to be hanged for running away altogether. The heroic behaviour of one of these men before the court deserves particularly to be noticed:—He begged only to be heard for a few moments; which being granted, he proceeded thus:

Sprig of the Cocao, or Chocolate Tree.Sprig of the Cocao, or Chocolate Tree.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

Sprig of the Cocao, or Chocolate Tree.

London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

“I was born in Africa, where, defending my prince during an engagement, I was made a captive, and sold for a slave on the coast of Guinea bymy owncountrymen.[209]—One of your countrymen, who is now to be one of my judges, became my purchaser, in whose service I was treated so cruelly by hisoverseer, that I deserted, and joined the rebels in the woods.—Here again I was condemned to be a slave toBonny, their chief, who treated me with even more severity than I had experienced from the Europeans, till I was once more forced to elope, determined to shun mankind for ever, and inoffensively to end my days by myself in the forest. Two years had I persevered in this manner quite alone, undergoing the greatest hardships and anxiety of mind, preserving life only for the possibility of once more seeing my dear family, who were perhaps starving on my account, in my own country; I say two miserable years had just elapsed, when I was discovered by the rangers, taken, and brought before this tribunal, who are now acquainted with the history of my wretched life, and from whom the only favour I have to ask is, that I may be executednext Saturday, or as soon as it may possibly be convenient.”

This speech was uttered with the utmost moderation, by one of the finest-looking negroes that was perhaps ever seen; to which his former master, who, as he observed, was now one of the judges, made the following laconic reply—“Rascal! that is not what we want to know; but thetorturethis moment shall make you confess crimes as black as yourself, as well as those of your hateful accomplices.” To which the negro, who[210]now swelled in every vein with indignation and ineffable contempt: “Massera, the tigers have trembled for these hands,” holding them up; “and dare you think to threaten me with your wretched instrument? No, I despise the utmost tortures you can now invent, as much as I do the pitiful wretch who is going to inflict them.” Saying which, he threw himself down on the rack, where amidst the most excruciating torments he remained with a smile, without uttering a syllable; nor did he ever speak again, until he ended his unhappy days at the gallows.

What good man can “reflect the tear-stain’d eye,When blood attests even slaves for freedom die?On cruel gibbets, high disclos’d they rest,And scarce one groan escapes one bloated breast.Here sableCæsars16feel the Christian rod,There AfricPlatos, tortur’d hope a God,While jettyBrutusfor his country sighs,And sootyCatowith his freedom dies!”

What good man can “reflect the tear-stain’d eye,

When blood attests even slaves for freedom die?

On cruel gibbets, high disclos’d they rest,

And scarce one groan escapes one bloated breast.

Here sableCæsars16feel the Christian rod,

There AfricPlatos, tortur’d hope a God,

While jettyBrutusfor his country sighs,

And sootyCatowith his freedom dies!”

Having dined with Colonel Fourgeoud on the 8th of March, when we celebrated the Prince of Orange’s birthday, while Mr. Reyndorp gave a treat to all the soldiers, he acquainted me that the rangers were now alone encamped at the Wana Creek; that the pestilential spotDevil’s Harwarwas at last entirely forsaken; and that the two lately[211]raised companies of sable volunteers had taken a few prisoners, and killed others on theWanica path, behind Paramaribo. I was at this time a good deal better, but still, not being quite recovered, he who had formerly treated me so severely, now even insisted on my staying some longer time at Paramaribo: nay, gave me an offer to return to Europe, which I absolutely refused; in short, about the middle of the month, I was as well as ever I was in my life. At this time Colonel Fourgeoud and myself were daily visitors of the ladies, in whose company no man could behave better, while I could often not avoid disgust; indeed so languid were many in their looks, and so unrestrained were some in their conversation, that a Mrs.N—— even asked me,sans ceremonie, to supply the place of her husband; while she might as well have asked me to drink, for a relish, a tumbler of salts.

On the 17th, however, my eyes were better feasted, when, going to dine with Colonel Texier of the Society troops, I first took a walk in the orange grove and the governor’s gardens; here, peeping through the foliage, I soon discovered two most elegant female figures after bathing, the one a fine youngSamboo, the other ablooming Quaderoon, which last was so very fair complexioned, that she might have passed for a native of Greece, while the roses that glowed in her cheek were equal to those that blossomed in the shrubbery17. They were walking[212]hand in hand, and conversing with smiles near a flowery bank that adorned the side of a crystal brook, in which they plunged the instant they heard me rustling amongst the verdure, like twomermaids:

“Then to the flood they rush’d; the parted floodIts lovely guests with closing waves receiv’d,And every beauty soft’ning, every graceFlushing anew, a mellow lustre shed.”

“Then to the flood they rush’d; the parted flood

Its lovely guests with closing waves receiv’d,

And every beauty soft’ning, every grace

Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed.”

Leaving them to enjoy their innocent amusement of bathing, I spent the remaining hour before dinner amongst the shady fruit-trees, blooming bowers, and serpentine gravel walks; where indeed I saw greater variety of European plants than I imagined were produced in a tropical climate, such as mint, fennel, sage, rosemary, golden-rod and jessamine, the sensitive plant, pomegranates, roses, figs, and even some grapes.—Of the pomegranate flowers, a specimen may be seen in plate, NoXXIX. The figs are both within and without of a beautiful crimson colour; but the roses are rather pale. Here were some beautiful pine-apples and melons, which, though they are so generally known, I will nevertheless give some account of. The imperial fruit, calledAnanaor pine-apple grows in the centre of an elegant sea-green plant, on a stalk of the same hue, about eight inches in length, its leaves diverging near the surface of the earth, which are smooth, long, strong, pointed, and dentulated with hard prickles. The shape of this fruit is nearly oval, the size of a sugar-loaf, all over chequered, and of[213]a most beautiful orange or golden colour, being crowned with a sea-green tuft, of the same leaves as the mother plant, and which when put in the ground produces another pine-apple in the space of about eighteen months. The delicious taste and flavour of this fruit has in the space of half a century become so well known, that I have introduced it merely to notice itsplentyin the country I write of; for so spontaneously indeed do the former grow in this climate, and of such different kinds, without any cultivation, that on many estates they serve as a common food for hogs.

Themuskandwater melonsgrow also plentifully in this country; the first is of a globular form, large, like the crown of a small hat, ribbed, buff colour, orange and green. The pulp is yellow, firm, sweet, and succulent; still it is eaten with sugar, but more frequently with black pepper and salt—the smell of this fruit is excellent.

The water-melon is of an oval or cylindrical shape, its colour is a bright polished green, and partly a very pale buff; the pulp of this fruit is a pink colour, and of a mellow watery substance; its taste is sweet, exceedingly cooling, and of a most agreeable flavour.

Both the above melons are of the cucumber kind, growing on rough stalks, with large leaves, that creep along the ground. It is remarkable that the water-melon, which may be freely eaten in all distempers without the least pernicious consequence, thrives best in very dry and sandy[214]places.—In the annexed plate may be seen theAnanaor pine-apple, with the musk and water-melon, besides the seed from which this last is produced.

I sent about this period, to a Mr. Reygersman in Holland, a most elegant collection of Surinambutterflies, which are here caught in great abundance and variety, and by which alone some people make no small profit; but the very idea of pinning them alive to a sheet of paper, was sufficient to prevent me from becoming a fly-catcher:

“Lo! the poor beetle that we tread upon——Feels a like pang, as when a giant falls.”

“Lo! the poor beetle that we tread upon——

Feels a like pang, as when a giant falls.”

Now Captains Van Geurick and Fredericy, with Serjeant Fowler, were sent on an embassy to theOwcaandSaramecafree negroes, if possible to procure their assistance against the rebels, which they always continued topromise(while Colonel Fourgeoud gave them presents) but never yetperformed. A few of the other officers still stayed with usgallantingat Paramaribo, amongst whom were Major Medler and CaptainHamell18, who had both been with General Desalve’s regiment, in the colonyBerbicè, and previous to that the first was in the Prussian service. It was no small change of appearance[215]for us, who had so little a time before appeared like wild men, now to strut through Paramaribo, dressed like so many Frenchmarquees.

The Musk-Melon, Water-Melon & Pine-Apple.A. Smith Sculpt.The Musk-Melon, Water-Melon & Pine-Apple.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

A. Smith Sculpt.

The Musk-Melon, Water-Melon & Pine-Apple.

London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

Being a particular favourite of Governor Nepveu, I one day was induced to ask him for a piece ofuncultivatedforest ground; when he readily granted me 400 acres: but when I inconsiderately asked it of him, I had not calculated how large a capital it required to clear away woods, purchase negroes, and provide other necessaries for such an undertaking; and when a little reflection convinced me how difficult it would be to find a partner of abilities to assist me, I declined accepting this mark of the governor’s regard.

Having on the 26th once more saved a poor black girl from receiving some hundred lashes, by replacing a dozen of china, which she had broken by accident; while another was stabbed by a Frenchman, who immediately cut his own throat from remorse, and his companion, an overseer, hanged himself; and having visited the poor negro whose leg had lately been cut offby law, I packed my boxes to set out next morning on my sixth campaign; and once more take the command of the River Comewina: at which moment arrived at my lodgings six loaded negro slaves with presents from my hospitable friends, of every kind that Guiana could produce, and the colony of Surinam could afford me.[216]

1That is, one of the rowers beating the water with his oar at every stroke, in such a manner that it sounds different from the rest, to which the others sing a chorus.↑2This he absolutely held as the best regimen for health, notwithstanding he had brought three cooks from Europe.↑3This, at other times, they supply by a shell, a fish-bone, or the tooth of a tiger, &c.↑4The general traffick carried on between all the Indian nations and the Europeans consists in balsam-capivi, arroco-cerra, oil of carrabba, arnotta, and bees-wax, besides pieces of Brazil and ebony; the roots hiaree and varnillas, canoes, hammocks, slaves, monkies, parrots, and paroquets; for which they receive fire-arms, knives, hatchets, fish-hooks, combs, coral and glass beads, blue cotton, looking-glasses, &c.↑5I have mentioned before that the Indians are exempt from pain in labour.↑6This is however extremely uncommon, as a more peaceable people does not exist in the universe.↑7The New Zealanders call their clubspato-patoo; which affinity is remarkable, on account of their very great distance.↑8See a letter to the editors of the New Universal Magazine for October 1787.↑9How Madam Merian should call this reptile anoviparous viper, surpasses my comprehension.↑10The King’s demand was negatived by the States of Holland.↑11Sugar pays about 3l.perbarrel, and coffee about as muchperthousand; other commodities in proportion.—N.B.This I insert unauthenticated, thus errors excepted.↑12There are some years but four, and some ten, &c.↑13I have said they can make no rum here; neither do they refine sugar.↑14Mr. Hartzink mentions four horses, but this is a mistake.↑15Drs. Bancroft and Brooke say, the leaf is light above and dark below, which in my original drawing is quite the reverse.↑16The above names, with such asNero,Pluto,Charon,Cerberus,Proserpine,Medusa, &c. are usually given to negro slaves, in exchange forQuacco,Quacy,Quamy,Quamina,Quasiba,Adjuba, &c.↑17It is to be remarked, that though Europeans look pale under the torrid zone, the native inhabitants have often a freshness peculiarly engaging, particularly mulattoes and quaderoons.↑18The latter gentleman, in the year 1783, sailed from the Texel to the Molucca islands; where, as commander in chief, he killed the king of Pongue, with his three sons, and 600 men; and dethroned also the king ofSalangoo, whose land he captured for the Dutch East-India Company, besides taking 127 pieces of cannon, &c.↑

1That is, one of the rowers beating the water with his oar at every stroke, in such a manner that it sounds different from the rest, to which the others sing a chorus.↑2This he absolutely held as the best regimen for health, notwithstanding he had brought three cooks from Europe.↑3This, at other times, they supply by a shell, a fish-bone, or the tooth of a tiger, &c.↑4The general traffick carried on between all the Indian nations and the Europeans consists in balsam-capivi, arroco-cerra, oil of carrabba, arnotta, and bees-wax, besides pieces of Brazil and ebony; the roots hiaree and varnillas, canoes, hammocks, slaves, monkies, parrots, and paroquets; for which they receive fire-arms, knives, hatchets, fish-hooks, combs, coral and glass beads, blue cotton, looking-glasses, &c.↑5I have mentioned before that the Indians are exempt from pain in labour.↑6This is however extremely uncommon, as a more peaceable people does not exist in the universe.↑7The New Zealanders call their clubspato-patoo; which affinity is remarkable, on account of their very great distance.↑8See a letter to the editors of the New Universal Magazine for October 1787.↑9How Madam Merian should call this reptile anoviparous viper, surpasses my comprehension.↑10The King’s demand was negatived by the States of Holland.↑11Sugar pays about 3l.perbarrel, and coffee about as muchperthousand; other commodities in proportion.—N.B.This I insert unauthenticated, thus errors excepted.↑12There are some years but four, and some ten, &c.↑13I have said they can make no rum here; neither do they refine sugar.↑14Mr. Hartzink mentions four horses, but this is a mistake.↑15Drs. Bancroft and Brooke say, the leaf is light above and dark below, which in my original drawing is quite the reverse.↑16The above names, with such asNero,Pluto,Charon,Cerberus,Proserpine,Medusa, &c. are usually given to negro slaves, in exchange forQuacco,Quacy,Quamy,Quamina,Quasiba,Adjuba, &c.↑17It is to be remarked, that though Europeans look pale under the torrid zone, the native inhabitants have often a freshness peculiarly engaging, particularly mulattoes and quaderoons.↑18The latter gentleman, in the year 1783, sailed from the Texel to the Molucca islands; where, as commander in chief, he killed the king of Pongue, with his three sons, and 600 men; and dethroned also the king ofSalangoo, whose land he captured for the Dutch East-India Company, besides taking 127 pieces of cannon, &c.↑

1That is, one of the rowers beating the water with his oar at every stroke, in such a manner that it sounds different from the rest, to which the others sing a chorus.↑

1That is, one of the rowers beating the water with his oar at every stroke, in such a manner that it sounds different from the rest, to which the others sing a chorus.↑

2This he absolutely held as the best regimen for health, notwithstanding he had brought three cooks from Europe.↑

2This he absolutely held as the best regimen for health, notwithstanding he had brought three cooks from Europe.↑

3This, at other times, they supply by a shell, a fish-bone, or the tooth of a tiger, &c.↑

3This, at other times, they supply by a shell, a fish-bone, or the tooth of a tiger, &c.↑

4The general traffick carried on between all the Indian nations and the Europeans consists in balsam-capivi, arroco-cerra, oil of carrabba, arnotta, and bees-wax, besides pieces of Brazil and ebony; the roots hiaree and varnillas, canoes, hammocks, slaves, monkies, parrots, and paroquets; for which they receive fire-arms, knives, hatchets, fish-hooks, combs, coral and glass beads, blue cotton, looking-glasses, &c.↑

4The general traffick carried on between all the Indian nations and the Europeans consists in balsam-capivi, arroco-cerra, oil of carrabba, arnotta, and bees-wax, besides pieces of Brazil and ebony; the roots hiaree and varnillas, canoes, hammocks, slaves, monkies, parrots, and paroquets; for which they receive fire-arms, knives, hatchets, fish-hooks, combs, coral and glass beads, blue cotton, looking-glasses, &c.↑

5I have mentioned before that the Indians are exempt from pain in labour.↑

5I have mentioned before that the Indians are exempt from pain in labour.↑

6This is however extremely uncommon, as a more peaceable people does not exist in the universe.↑

6This is however extremely uncommon, as a more peaceable people does not exist in the universe.↑

7The New Zealanders call their clubspato-patoo; which affinity is remarkable, on account of their very great distance.↑

7The New Zealanders call their clubspato-patoo; which affinity is remarkable, on account of their very great distance.↑

8See a letter to the editors of the New Universal Magazine for October 1787.↑

8See a letter to the editors of the New Universal Magazine for October 1787.↑

9How Madam Merian should call this reptile anoviparous viper, surpasses my comprehension.↑

9How Madam Merian should call this reptile anoviparous viper, surpasses my comprehension.↑

10The King’s demand was negatived by the States of Holland.↑

10The King’s demand was negatived by the States of Holland.↑

11Sugar pays about 3l.perbarrel, and coffee about as muchperthousand; other commodities in proportion.—N.B.This I insert unauthenticated, thus errors excepted.↑

11Sugar pays about 3l.perbarrel, and coffee about as muchperthousand; other commodities in proportion.—N.B.This I insert unauthenticated, thus errors excepted.↑

12There are some years but four, and some ten, &c.↑

12There are some years but four, and some ten, &c.↑

13I have said they can make no rum here; neither do they refine sugar.↑

13I have said they can make no rum here; neither do they refine sugar.↑

14Mr. Hartzink mentions four horses, but this is a mistake.↑

14Mr. Hartzink mentions four horses, but this is a mistake.↑

15Drs. Bancroft and Brooke say, the leaf is light above and dark below, which in my original drawing is quite the reverse.↑

15Drs. Bancroft and Brooke say, the leaf is light above and dark below, which in my original drawing is quite the reverse.↑

16The above names, with such asNero,Pluto,Charon,Cerberus,Proserpine,Medusa, &c. are usually given to negro slaves, in exchange forQuacco,Quacy,Quamy,Quamina,Quasiba,Adjuba, &c.↑

16The above names, with such asNero,Pluto,Charon,Cerberus,Proserpine,Medusa, &c. are usually given to negro slaves, in exchange forQuacco,Quacy,Quamy,Quamina,Quasiba,Adjuba, &c.↑

17It is to be remarked, that though Europeans look pale under the torrid zone, the native inhabitants have often a freshness peculiarly engaging, particularly mulattoes and quaderoons.↑

17It is to be remarked, that though Europeans look pale under the torrid zone, the native inhabitants have often a freshness peculiarly engaging, particularly mulattoes and quaderoons.↑

18The latter gentleman, in the year 1783, sailed from the Texel to the Molucca islands; where, as commander in chief, he killed the king of Pongue, with his three sons, and 600 men; and dethroned also the king ofSalangoo, whose land he captured for the Dutch East-India Company, besides taking 127 pieces of cannon, &c.↑

18The latter gentleman, in the year 1783, sailed from the Texel to the Molucca islands; where, as commander in chief, he killed the king of Pongue, with his three sons, and 600 men; and dethroned also the king ofSalangoo, whose land he captured for the Dutch East-India Company, besides taking 127 pieces of cannon, &c.↑

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