CHAP. XXVIII.

[Contents]CHAP. XXVIII.The Rebels fly for Protection to Cayenne—Third March to Gado-Saby—A second Re-inforcement of Troops arrive from Holland—Shipwreck of the Transport Paramaribo—March to Rio Comewina—Dismal Picture of Distress and of Mortality—The Peace of the Colony restored.On the 10th of November, in company with several other gentlemen, I now once more set out in a tent barge for the encampment at theCasseeporeCreek; and this day the whole colony was full of smoke, the woods having taken fire near the sea side by some unknown accident. On our passage we met ColonelTexier, who came from the postVredenburgh, at the Marawina, with a detachment; and assured us, that since the blow we gave to the rebels atGado-Saby, they were mostly fled to the other side of that great river, where they found refuge amongst the French, who were settled inCayenne; he had, however, taken a woman, and lieutenantKeentook two men, and killed two more, while the two new black volunteer companies supported the honour of their colours, which they had received with so much ceremony from the governor, by occasionally bringing in captives from the sea shore behind Paramaribo, in which they were assisted by the Indians, who had voluntarily fought and defeated the enemy[315]there, more than once. Thus every thing promised fair to crown our endeavours with success, and finally to re-establish safety and tranquillity in the colony.On our passage we stopped at the estateSaardam, the proprietor of which (by a late marriage) was our Lieutenant ColonelDes Borgnes. I found here an American sailor who came to load molasses, and having an inclination to try the skill of the new planter (and his overseer) in rum, I desired the tar to colour a couple of gallons ofkill-devilmade at the very same plantation, and bring them ashore as rum brought fromAntigua. He did so, and they gave him in exchange for it a six gallon keg of the very same spirits; declaring it was much better than their own, and then drank the contents in punch, to my very great entertainment. The sailor said he should colour the six gallons also, and did not doubt of loading his boat to the water’s edge before he reached Paramaribo.—Such, in all countries, is the force of prejudice.Having been very well entertained atSaardam, we set forward, and arrived safe in the encampment at the Casseepore Creek, in Cottica River, on the 13th; where, in stepping ashore, being without shoes and stockings, I narrowly escaped being bitten by aland-scorpion. This insect is of the size of a small cray-fish, and has an oval body; its colour is like that of soot, and it is jointed in moveable rings: it has eight legs, divided by joints, and two jointed claws projecting from the head, appearing like part of the body, with such small eyes that they are[316]hardly perceptible: the tail is formed by seven globular divisions like beads, which terminate in a double sting; this it bends over its back, to protect its young ones from the attacks of other insects: for to the creature’s back the young resort, after being hatched from eggs like pin-heads, in a small web spun by the female. The sting of the land-scorpion is not accounted fatal, but occasions a violent pain, and throws the patient into a fever: it is said they change their skins, as crabs do their shells. The scorpions generally frequent old trees and old furniture, and are often found amongst dry rubbish and faded grass.Almost the first accidents that I saw here was a poor fellow, a marine, going to bathe in the river, who was instantly snapt away by a largealligator. I no sooner beheld him sink and disappear, than having stripped, I actually dived after the poor man, by the help of a long oar, which a negro held perpendicular under water for the purpose, constantly taking care to keep all my limbs in motion. However I found him not, and tugging the oar as a signal to pull it up, the fellow, by miscomprehension, pushed both it and myself down with such violence, that we did not rise again to the surface till near the middle of the stream, which carried down the oar, while I regained the shore by swimming and very great exertion.On the 20th, being now once more ordered to march on discovery toGado-Saby, I set out at six o’clock in the morning, with two subaltern officers, three serjeants,[317]seven corporals, and fifty privates, besides a surgeon, and the noted free negro Gousary (whom we lost for three or four hours) and encamped near the banks of the same creek, not having been able to advance above six miles due west from its mouth.On the 21st we marched north for about seven or eight miles, without meeting with one drop ofwaterto alleviate our burning thirst, it being at this time in the very heart of the dry season, which this year was more scorching than I ever remembered it before.Having now changed my course to the north-east, and passed the quagmire, about noon the following day we marcheddrythrough the late fatal marsh, and an hour after we kept due west; when, falling in with a large field of yams, we demolished it; then proceeding forward, I encamped in the old settlement Cofaay, almost choked for want of water, not having met with any thing like it from the moment we sat out. Here, however, the negro slaves found means to procure us some, which, though stagnant and stinking like a kennel, we drank, straining it through our shirt-sleeves.During this march, I nevertheless took notice of the following trees, not yet described,viz.thecanavatepy, and theberklack, which are extremely fit for domestic use. The first is beautifully striped, black and brown, and has much the appearance of that usually called brazil, while it diffuses a smell in working not inferior to that of a carnation. The second is a pale red or pink colour, and is[318]equally good for almost every purpose. I was this day also presented with a singular kind of fruit, called here themarmalade box, being about the size of a large apple, rather oval, and all covered over with down. This fruit in the beginning is green, and when ripe it turns to a brown colour: the husk is hard, and by a certain motion opens in halves like a walnut, when the pulp appears like that of a medlar, being a sweet brown substance, and adhering to large kernels, which the inhabitants suck off with avidity; and from this it derives the above name. As I took no particular notice of the tree, I am sorry not to have it in my power to give any account of it whatsoever.The 23d I marched east from Cofaay, with a view of obtaining some fresh accounts of the rebels; and proceeded by a path of communication through cultivated fields, but fell in with nothing, some delightful views, and a large herd ofwarreehogs, excepted, which from the gnashing of their teeth and their stamping the ground before we saw them, we had actually mistaken for a straggling party of the enemy, and had consequently fresh-primed, and prepared to engage them.About noon we returned toGado-Saby, where, sitting down to rest from our fatigue, a tallold rebel negroappeared suddenly in the very midst of us, with a long white beard, a white cotton sheet tied about his shoulders, and a broken cutlass in his hand. Seeing this venerable apparition, I instantly started up, and forbidding my[319]people to fire at him, I civilly desired him to approach me, pledging myself that no person under my command should dare to hurt him; but that he should have every thing for his relief that I could afford.—He answered, “No, no, massera!” with the utmost deliberation, and shaking his head in an instant disappeared; while two of my men (contrary to my orders) fired after him, at the distance of perhaps six paces only, yet both missed their object, to my great satisfaction, he being a poor forsaken creature, that had been left behind the rest, gleaning a precarious subsistence from his own deserted fields which we had formerly destroyed. What renders the negroes so difficult to hit with a ball is this, that they never run straight forward, butzig-zag, like the forked lightning in the elements.I now, to fulfil my orders, once more ransacked Cofaay, with its adjoining plains, though with a sore heart, on account of the poor lonely old rebel. Here, having cut down several cotton and plantain-trees,okeroor althea, pigeon-pease, maize, pine-apples, and some rice, most of which had spontaneously sprung up again since our last devastation, I could not help leaving, beforea little shed, where was some fresh ashes and banana shells, a few rusk biscuits and a good piece of salt beef, as also a bottle of new rum, for the unfortunate solitary old man, this being his retreat; after which we once more encamped in the fields of Cofaay.Having so frequently mentionedrice, it may be expected[320]that I should say something concerning its growth and cultivation. It rises to the height of four feet, with furrowed stalks, and in appearance is not unlike wheat, but the stalks are knotted by intervals, and stronger; the leaves are like those of reeds: the seeds are produced somewhat like barley, and grow on each side of the spikes or ears alternately. Theoryzaor rice is cultivated in a warm and marshy soil; the grains are oval, and if good ought to be white, hard, and transparent. As for the use of this commodity for food, it is so well known, that I shall only say, that without this grain our poor marines must long ago have all been starved, particularly in August 1775; when, for all allowance, they gotperdayonerusk biscuit, andthreespikes of maize or Indian corn, forfive men; rice alone supplying, as I have intimated, the rest of the allowance.Having now fully compleated my commission, I, with my detachment, marched back for the Casseepore Creek, directing my course through the ruined fields of Gado-Saby, which were at present choked up to a perfect wilderness. Hence we kept first to the south-west, and then due south, after which we slung our hammocks near a former encampment. It is to be observed, that at this time all the marshes were nearly dry, on account of the hottest season I ever remember; while the fœtid smell occasioned by the quantities of dead warrapa fish, that had been deserted by the water, was an intolerable nuisance. From amongst these putrid fishes, our negro[321]slaves nevertheless selected the most tolerable, which, fried in the evening, served them for a delicate morsel.The morning following we again marched south-west by west, when we slung our hammocks not above four miles from the Cassepore Creek; and on the 26th (keeping south-south-west) we arrived in thegrand camp, much fatigued and emaciated, myself with a swelled face or erysipelas; when I gave in my journal to Lieutenant-Colonel de Borgnes, who commanded1: and I believe, upon my honour, that had we been ordered to remain twenty years on this expedition, with a possibility of saving our lives, the different diseases, plagues, and torments, would still have accumulated and varied without end.A detachment of fifty men was next sent out to reconnoitre at Jerusalem, &c.; and on the 6th of December the long-expectedrelief, consisting of three hundred and fifty men, arrived in the river Surinam from Holland, after a voyage of nine weeks and three days, of which they spent a fortnight at Plymouth.By these the unfortunate account was brought, that CaptainJochem Meyer(who had on board a considerable sum of money for our troops) was taken by the Moors, and carried with his crew toMorocco, where they were condemned to be slaves to the emperor2; and that the[322]shipParamaribo, CaptainSpruyt(being one of the vessels that carried over the sick in the beginning of August) was wrecked and entirely lost in the channel, on the rocks ofUshant; but that, by the exertions of some French fishing-boats, the crew and troops had all been saved, and carried into Brest, whence they had taken a fresh passage for the Texel; after which the Prince of Orange (who was ever distinguished for benevolence, and doing good and humane actions) ordered the officers and private men, above one hundred in number, to receive the following sums, by way of defraying their loss,viz.each marine received about four, the subalterns thirty, the captains forty, and MajorMedlar, who commanded, fifty pounds sterling. However, by this shipwreck, I lost all my three chests of sweetmeats and pickles, besides parrots, butterflies, monkies, &c. intended as presents to my friends in Europe, which indiscriminately went to the bottom, tomyno small mortification.Having now for above a month been lodged in a paltry hut, beaten by the wind and showers of rain (which began to set in unexpectedly); and being informed, that notwithstanding the arrival of the relief, we were still to stay some time longer in the woods, which broke many hearts; I, on the 12th of December, earnestly set about building for myself a comfortable house, and which was finished, without either nail or hammer, in less than six days, though it had two rooms, a piazza with rails, and a[323]small kitchen, besides a garden, in which I sowed, in pepper-cresses, the names of Joanna and John; while my next-door neighbour, who was my friend CaptainBolts, made shift to keep a goat, and thus we lived not altogether uncomfortably. Others kept hens and ducks, but not acockwas to be seen in the camp; for these, having first had all their tongues cut out to prevent their crowing (though to no purpose) had been since condemned to lose their heads. In short, our gentlemen built a row of very curious houses indeed, all projecting from the beech; while, on the opposite side, above a hundred green huts being constructed to receive the new-come troops, the whole together formed no contemptible street, though it must be confessed its inhabitants were little better than scare-crows.What was most remarkable in my own habitation, however, was its entry, which was not by the door, nor yet by the window, but only by the roof, where I crept in and out, allowing absolutely no other admittance; and by this contrivance alone I was effectually guarded from those frequent visitors who smelt my pancakes, and used to make too free with my eggs and bacon, besides interrupting me while I was drawing, writing, or reading. Upon the whole, I must acknowledge, that this encampment was agreeable enough (more so as being on elevated ground), had it not been for the pestilential damps and mephitic vapours that exhale constantly from the earth, and had already sent numbers to the other world.[324]During this short space of tranquillity I constructed in miniature my cottage in which I lived at the Hope, on an oblong board of about eighteen inches by twelve, which being entirely made of the manicole-tree and branches, like the original, was esteemed a master-piece; and this I sent as a present to my friend Mr. de Graaff at Paramaribo, who since placed it in a cabinet of natural curiosities at Amsterdam. As I am upon this subject, I am tempted to present the reader with a view of two of my habitations, the one that at the Hope, where I spent such happy days; and the other temporary, such as in the woods we constructed to be sheltered from the weather:—the first may be considered as the emblem of domestic felicity; the second of rustick hardship and fatigue.The troops of theSocietyof Surinam, who had been encamped at the Wana Creek (the rainy season prematurely setting in) now wisely broke up, and on the 26th passing by us, rowed down the river Cottica on their way to the plantations in the Pirica Creek; but as for us, we were as usual condemned to linger in the Cassipore camp, while Fourgeoud still kept snug at Paramaribo. With the above officers we received intelligence that a few more rebels had been taken at the Marawina; while we ourselves daily continued to send out patroles to the right and left, but met with nothing to capture.Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.Rural Retreat—The Cottage—London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.At last, on the 29th, six barges came to an anchor before our encampment, with part of the fresh troops that were arrived from Holland for our relief; which I could not[325]help viewing with compassion, and not without a cause, many of them being already attacked with the scurvy, and other loathsome diseases. We however sent for bricks, and built an oven to bake fresh bread, &c. and did all that was in our power to comfort them: having received also a supply of wine for my own use, I gave a hearty welcome to all the officers, to cheer their spirits; but this ill-fated liquor had an effect far different from what I intended on one of our captains,P——tby name, who, from some misunderstanding, challenged me to fight him instantly. Having retired to some distance from the camp, and drawing our sabres, he burst out into an immoderate fit of laughter, and throwing away his weapon, desired me “to cut away; but that for his part he had such a real regard for me, that he felt it was impossible for him to make any resistance:” after which, catching me in both his arms, he gave me so hearty an embrace, that he had nearly stifled me, and I could not without the greatest difficulty get disentangled. Being recovered from my surprize, I could not help smiling in my turn; and after a friendly reprimand re-conducted my valiant opponent to the company, where we closed the year with the greatest mirth and conviviality.A confounded tumble through my hammock having ushered in the morning of 1777, we went to the commanding officer of the camp, to pay him the compliments of the season; where I was shown thephilander,[326]orMexican oppossum, here calledawaree, which had been just taken alive, and with all its young.I have already mentioned the murine oppossum; thus shall now only describe such peculiarities as I was able to remark, and which were indeed but few in number, the animal being in the bottom of an empty hogshead when I saw it, its biting preventing me to take it in my hand.—In the first place, it was much larger than the former, this being the size of an over-grown Norway rat: the colour was a yellowish grey all over, and the belly and limbs a dirty white; the muzzle was more blunt than that of the murine oppossum, with long whiskers; its eyes not black but transparent, with a black ring round the iris; the tail extremely long, thick, and hairy, particularly near the root, and its smell was very offensive. This oppossum had a pouch under its belly, formed by the folding of the skin, which is hairy within as well as without; from this pouch I saw the young ones (five or six in number) several times run out, when the mother was not disturbed, and as often run into it upon the smallest noise, or shaking the hogshead.—As I pitied the poor creature, after its having been so long tormented, I suddenly kicked up the hogshead, when the oppossum with all its young escaped, and ran swiftly up a very high tree before Colonel Seyburg’s cottage, and there it hung by the tail to one of the branches; but as it is a dreadful destroyer of poultry, and the Colonel apprehended that[327]it would kill every one of his fowls, he ordered it, to my sorrow, to be shot down, with all its young ones.—The Virginian oppossum I never saw; and my only further remark on this shall be, that its activity very much surprized me, as many writers have denied it this quality. For further particulars, I refer the reader to the murine or mouse oppossum above-mentioned, as in most circumstances these two animals perfectly agree.Among the destroyers of poultry, there is another animal in this country, known by the name ofquacy-quacy: some call it the racoon, but which properly is thecoatimondi, or Brasilian weasel; though many people, with some degree of propriety, compare it to a fox, as it is often able to carry away a goose or a turkey, and is also extremely cunning. This creature is sometimes near two feet long, the body shaped like that of a dog, and commonly black, or rather dark brown, though many are of a bright bay colour: the tail is long, hairy, and annulated with black, and a deep buff; the breast and belly are a dirty white; the head is a light brown, with long jaws, and a black snout that projects upwards for near two inches, and is moveable like that of the tapira; the eyes are small, the ears are short and rounded, while on each side a curved stripe connects them and the muzzle; the legs of the coati are short, especially the foremost; the feet are very long, with five toes on each, and long claws, while the animal, like the bear, always walks on the heel, and stands on those behind. No quadrupeds (the monkies[328]not excepted) are better climbers on the trees, where these creatures commit dreadful ravages amongst birds-nests, every small animal which they can conquer becoming their prey. In the poultry-yards in particular they commit great devastations, on which account every contrivance that can be invented is put in practice to destroy them.As I am upon the subject of animals, before I leave the woods I must describe another creature, which inhabits them, and which (though more than twice the size of the last) lives chiefly on ants; this is thegreat ant-eater, orant-bear, called also thetamanoir, and by the Spaniards theosa palmera. The body of this animal is covered over with very long shaggy hair; on the back and belly it is black, and on the neck and sides a grey or yellowish white; the head is extremely long and slender, of a light bay colour, with very small eyes; the ears are short and round, and the mouth (which has no teeth) just large enough to admit its tongue; the tail is of an enormous size, with very long black hair, something like that of a horse: with this extraordinary tail, when asleep (which is generally in the day time, or during a hard shower of rain) the animal covers itself like a squirrel; at other times he trails it along, and sweeps the ground. The limbs are slender, but covered with long hair; the hindmost legs being shortest and black, with five claws; those before are of a dirty white, with but four claws, the two middle claws being of an extraordinary length.[329]The Tamandua, & Coati-Mondi.Barlow sc.The Tamandua, & Coati-Mondi.London, Published Dec.r2nd, 1793, by J. Johnson, St. Pauls Church Yard.The great ant-eater is a very bad walker, resting always on the heel of his awkward long feet, like the coati and bear; but he is a better climber, and so good a fighter, that no dog will hunt him, since whatever animal he catches between his fore claws (nay even the jaguar or tiger) he will not release while he has life. His food, as I have said, consists of ants, which he takes in the following manner:—when he comes to an ant-hillock, he unfolds his slender tongue, which is about twenty inches long, most exactly resembling a worm; this being covered over with a clammy matter or saliva, the ants get upon it in great numbers, and by drawing it into his mouth, he swallows thousands all alive, and renews the operation, till no more are to be found, when he marches in quest of another mountain, and in the same manner destroys the unwary inhabitants. He also climbs in quest of wood-lice and wild honey; but should he meet with little success in his devastations, he is able to fast a considerable time without the smallest inconvenience. It is said that the great ant-bear is tameable, and that then he will pick crumbs of bread, and small pieces of flesh; also that when killed, he affords good food to the Indians and negroes, the last of which I have seen devour his flesh with pleasure. Some ant-bears measure, from the snout to the tip of the tail, no less than eight feet.—See the two last-described animals in the plate annexed.A small species of ant-bear, called thetamandua, is also found in Surinam, though not very common. This[330]differs from the former in having twenty toes, the head being thicker in proportion, and the tail smaller, which is variegated with bands of black and yellowish white.—A lesser species still is called thefourmillier, which, however, never came within my observation.—But to proceed.On the 3d, six more barges with troops came up from Paramaribo, which compleated the number of three hundred and fifty men arrived from Holland. Amongst these, being informed there was a CaptainCharles Small, come from the Scots Brigade, this gentleman having exchanged with poor Ensign Macdonald (who was sent over sick) I instantly sculled down the river alone in a canoe to meet him, and offer him my assistance. I had no sooner got on board his barge, than I found him suspended in a hammock with a burning fever. He, not knowing me on account of my dress, which was no better than that of the most ragged sailor, asked me what I wanted; but when he saw in me his poor friendStedman, changed from a stout sprightly young fellow, to a miserable debilitated tatterdemallion, he grasped me by the hand, without uttering a word, and burst into tears: which agitation, while it increased his illness, shewed the goodness of his heart to me, more than any thing he could have uttered on the subject.—“D—n your blubbering, Charles!” said I; “turn out of this stinking cockle-shell: I’ll presently cure thee;”—and getting him hoisted into my canoe, I brought him on shore to my own habitation, but with[331]the greatest difficulty, being obliged to thrust him through a crevice made on purpose, as the hole in the roof was not calculated even for any healthy person’s admittance, myself excepted. Having here slung his hammock near to my own, and boiled some water, I treated him with warm grog and a toasted biscuit, and he became much better from that very moment. He now acquainted me that one of his men was drowned on the passage; and that Colonel Fourgeoud having entertained the officers with a ball after their landing, at which one of his cooks, and a couple of meagre marines, had been the fidlers, he concluded his illness to be the consequence of too much dancing. A little after this, Colonel Fourgeoud himself appearing in person in the camp amongst us, he soon, however, entertained us with musick of a different kind; which was no less than the discouraging news, that by the newly-arrived corps of officers several of us had lost our rank (both in the regiment and in the army) after parching above four years in a burning sun, toiling ourselves almost to death, and subsisting upon stinking meat and black rusk. To add to this grievance, while the above gentlemen usurped our preferment, we were, instead of being relieved, ordered to continue in the woods, in order to teach them their duty.During the above unpleasing probation, the major’s duty again fell to my share; which was at this time extremely disagreeable, being obliged daily to chastise the men, many of whom pilfered the magazine to alleviate[332]hunger, having been without the article of bread forsevendays, the oven being dropped to pieces. Amongst others, one poor fellow was nearly flogged to death for havingborrowedone of the colonel’s Bologna sausages; for, let it be remembered, that our commander in chief, whatever might be the distress and hardships of the rest, never forgot to supporthis owndignity, by at least half a dozen of stout negroes loaded with bacon hams, Bologna sausages, bullocks tongues, tea, coffee, sugar, Madeira wine, Holland’s gin, &c.—Courage may prompt, but, ebbing out his strength,Mere unsupported man must yield at length:Shrunk with dry famine, and with toils declin’d,The drooping body will desert the mind;But built anew with health-conferring fare,With limbs and soul untam’d,hetires a war.At length, on the 8th, a barge arrived, not only with a supply of salt beef and rusk, but a bullock and two hogs, as a present from Mr.Felman, who, accompanied by his lady, &c. came actually on a visit to Fourgeoud, in this very strange encampment. The above animals being immediately killed, they were distributed among four hundred people; so that it may well be conceived the shares, though sweet, were not very large, after which the company walked about to view our different habitations. Being arrived at my dwelling, Fourgeoud led them round and round, but seeing no door to get in, he called out, “Nobody at home?” When[333]I instantly thrust my head through the thatch, with a pancake in my hand, and offered to haul in the ladies; but this they civilly declined. I never saw Fourgeoud laugh so much in my life. As soon, however, as he was able to recover his gravity, he exclaimed, “Sacre Dieu! Il faut être Stedman,—il faut être original comme lui;” and re-conducted the company to his own apartment, where he gave me an invitation to follow them. Indeed, when Captain Small and I went out, we generally spent our time in a beautiful savannah, where we had erected a green shed, to be free in conversation, and called itRanelagh; here we caroused and cracked a bottle in private, till we could crack no longer, having lived so well that in a little time more than a week my cheese and bacon hams quite disappeared, and not a drop of wine or rum was left in the flasks.—After this he, as well as I, were obliged to live on short allowance; while Small had the satisfaction, however, to see his ship-mates do the same: who, not being acquainted with the œconomy necessary in a forest, had made all their flour into plum-pudding, and were already obliged to break their teeth on a piece of rye rusk.In short, so early as the 12th, one hundred and fifty of these newly-arrived people were already ordered to march; when, by the way of seasoning them, besides heavy accoutrements and a hammock, they had orders each man to carry a stuffed knapsack on his back. Of this party, my friend Small happened to be one, who being as corpulent asSir John Falstaff, and I having accoutred him in the above[334]manner, the poor fellow could hardly walk at all; till declaring to Fourgeoud that I must roll him along like a hogshead, he got leave to be disengaged from a part of his unweildy encumbrances.Every thing being ready, this loaded detachment now faced to the right, and set out, with Colonel Fourgeoud at their head, for the river Marawina: and while I must here acknowledge that this chief was now become to myself as civil as I could expect or desire, yet justice compels me to add, that to all others he remained just as inflexible a tyrant as ever I had known him; which character he unhappily seemed to think incompatible with his rank.During their absence, I crossed the water, and cut down a cabbage-tree on the other side of the river Cottica, not only for the cabbage, but for the sake of thegroe-groeworms, with which I knew it would swarm in about a fortnight.Straying here through the woods with my black boy Quaco, I met with the following trees, still left for description,viz.thecedar, thebrown-heart, and thebullet-tree. The first, though it bears that name, is different from the cedars of Lebanon, which grow in a pyramidical form. The Surinam cedar, however, grows also to a great height, but is principally esteemed because the wood is never eaten by the worms or other insects, on account of its great bitterness; it has also a most agreeable smell, and is therefore used in preference to most others for making chests, cupboards, lockers, and all sorts[335]of joinery; besides which, it is employed in making the tent-barges and other boats. The colour of the timber is a pale orange: it is both hard and light, and from the trunk exudes a gum (not unlike the gum Arabic) which is transparent, and diffuses a most agreeable flavour.Thebrown-heartis in hardness of the same consistency as the purple-heart, and the green-heart already mentioned, and is shaped into heavy timber for the same purposes, such as constructing sugar-mills, &c.: the colour of this wood is a beautiful brown.—The other is thebullet-tree; this tree grows sometimes to sixty feet, but is not so thick in proportion as many others: the bark is grey and smooth, the timber brown, variegated or powdered with white specks. No wood in the forest is equal to this in weight, being heavier than sea-water, and so very durable, that when exposed to the open air neither rain or sun have any effect on it; for this reason, besides its other various uses, it is split into shingles to roof the houses, instead of slates or tiles, which, as I formerly mentioned, would be too heavy and too hot. Theseshinglesare sold for £. 4 sterling a thousand at Paramaribo, and continue sometimes twenty-four years before they are renewed.I ought to mention also a kind of mahogany, which is found in the woods of Guiana, called theducolla-bolla, and which is of a superior quality to any which is imported here, being of a deeper red colour, and of a finer, more equal, and compact grain; also of greater hardness[336]and weight, and thus capable of receiving a more elegant polish.About this period the whole camp was infested with a kind ofwood-lice, so called in Surinam, but with more propriety they might be termed white ants, resembling them almost in every particular, except that the ants dwell in the ground, and these build their nests on the trunks of trees: these nests, being black, round, and irregular, are not unlike the woolly head of a negro, but sometimes as large as the half of a hogshead, and composed of a rust-coloured incrustated earth, which is extremely hard, and impenetrable to the weather. In this mass, which internally consists of innumerable cross roads, each the size of a goose-quill, they live together in myriads, whence they sally forth, and commit their depredations, unequalled by any other infest in Guiana, piercing through the hardest wood, leather, linen, or whatever comes in their way. They also frequently get into the houses by an incrusted covered road made against the wall, resembling the half of a sliding pencil, which is with its windings sometimes several hundred feet long: if this is not destroyed upon its first appearance (which must be done by arsenick or the oil of turpentine) as they crumble every thing to dust, whole dwellings will be entirely demolished, and come down to the ground in rubbish. These insects (notwithstanding their fetid abominable smell) are reckoned a very good food for poultry, who are said to thrive on them even better than on Indian[337]corn. I ought not to forget their extreme industry in repairing their habitation when injured, and their wonderful power of propagation, which (let ever such numbers be destroyed) brings them in a very short time to their former unaccountable multiplicity.To another pest we were also frequently subjected in this camp, and this was no less than clouds offlying lice, which covered our clothes sometimes so thick, that they absolutely gave them the appearance of grey cloth. This was owing to the shedding of their wings, which, being four in number; they generally left behind them after they alighted, and being thus without the means of flying off again, they remained on our jackets; except however thus covering us all over, they caused us no other inconvenience. It is the opinion of some naturalists, that these flying lice are no other than the above-mentioned wood-lice, which when they become old get wings, leave their nests, and fly about, like some other ants, both in Europe and in America.About this time the discipline was peculiarly strict in the camp, so that whoever made the very least noise was most severely punished, nay, threatened to be shot; and even the sentinels were ordered to challenge rounds and patrols by no other sound thanwhistling, which was answered in the same manner.On the 18th, one of these being condemned to be flogged for speaking loud, I however found means (Fourgeoud not being yet returned) to get him pardoned, after[338]he was already stripped. The following day, nevertheless, evinced that I could punish when things were carried too far; for seeing a large piece of boiled pork (about two pounds weight) flying past me with great velocity, and finding it was thrown by one marine to another, while they had got a quarrel, I instantly ordered them to pick it up, and (having cut it in two) I stood over them myself till they swallowed every morsel of it in my presence, sand and all, without either bread or drink: which they since declared was such a punishment as surpassed my conception, and they should remember it to the end of their lives.On the 23d, I received from town a well-timed supply of wine and fresh provisions; and the same day Colonel Fourgeoud, with his detachment, arrived from the Marawina. During this trip, our active commander had again discovered and destroyed fifty-nine houses, besides three fields of provisions. This certainly gave the finishing blow to the rebel negroes, since, having no further supply on this side the water, they entirely abandoned it, and went to settle in the French colonyCayenne. In this hard though necessary service the men had suffered prodigiously, especially those newly arrived; numbers of whom were carried in hammocks on poles, while near thirty were left sick at the Marawina, and my friend Small was at least one stone lighter.At this time, in the camp hospital, above one hundred were also dangerously ill. Nothing was heard but sighs[339]and the shrieking of thestrixor Guiana owl, which for ever kept them company during the dismal nights. Cramps, so common in Surinam, also infested those that were able to do duty; and there reigned a general melancholy all around.————“The circling sky,The wide enlivening air, is full of fate;And, struck by turns, in solitary pangsThey fall, untended and unmourn’d.”Here one man was to be seen covered over with bloody boils from head to foot; there another led along by two of his comrades in a deep lethargy, who, in spite of pinching and pricking, dosed into eternity; a third, swelled by the dropsy, and imploring the surgeon in vain to tap off the water (who generally answered that it was too late) was left to expire by suffocation. In the hospital some were observed clasping their hands, and praying aloud to God to be relieved; while others lay at their side in a frenzy fever, tearing their hair, blaspheming Providence, and cursing the day that they were born.—In short, all was dreadful beyond description, by the pen of aMiltonexcepted.————“Sad noisome dark,A lazar-house it seem’d, wherein were laidNumbers of all, diseas’d: all maladiesOf ghastly spasm or racking torture; qualmsOf heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,[340]Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs;Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,And moon-struck madness; pining atrophy,Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums:Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; despairTended the sick, busiest from couch to couch.And over them triumphant Death his dartShook, but delay’d to strike, though oft invok’dWith vows, as their chief good and final hope.”From day to day mortality now gained ground, while by some accident, to compleat the distress, part of the camp got on fire; but this was fortunately extinguished without any material ill consequences, by the activity and exertions of the poor negroes.On the 26thmymisery, however, drew towards an end, when, to my astonishment, and without my asking it, Colonel Fourgeoud gave me a leave of absence, if I chose it, to accompany him, and stay henceforth at Paramaribo; which, without hesitation, I most joyfully accepted. Thus, having made my friend Captain Small a present of myhouse, myRanelagh, and all myfresh provisions, besides entertained him and some other officers on a dish of mountain-cabbage, and mygroe-groeworms, which were just come to perfection, besides a hearty glass of wine, I took my last adieu from them all; and at midnight, with Colonel Fourgeoud, rowed down the River Cottica in an elegant barge with ten oars, in company with two more of his officers.—And now farewell once more, ye shady[341]woods, thou pleasing gloomy forest, pregnant with so many wonders, and so many plagues, and which, in the opinion of so many sufferers, even surpassed theten plagues of Egypt!3————“I have sent among you the pestilence after themanner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword—I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto yournostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.”The boat being shoved off, Colonel Fourgeoud now declared to us, that having ransacked the forest in every direction, and driven the rebels over the Marawina inCayenne, he was determined no more to return to the woods, but in a few weeks to draw the long and painful expedition to a conclusion.Now, reader, it remains with you to acknowledge that I have not led youabout the bush, butthrough it, with indefatigable perseverance: the more so, when it is to be considered that in the middle of the above hurry and distress, under which so many have sunk, I have often been deprived ofpen,ink, andpaperto make proper annotations; which last defect I have even more than once supplied by writing with a pencil on my cartridges, or on a bleachedbone: had this not been unavoidably the case, more accuracy and many more remarks might with[342]justice have been expected, which one need never be at a loss to make in a country so replete with different objects for speculation.Having rowed all night, and breakfasted at the new cordon (which was begun to be cut not far from our former post Devil’s Harwar) on a dram and a biscuit, we came about noon to the estateLapaix, where we dined with the planter, MonsieurRivieres; after which Fourgeoud, with his adjutant, proceeded on their voyage to town, while I with another officer went to the sea-side at the back of the plantation to shoot snipes and curlews.On our march thither and back again, passing two posts of the Society, the flag was hoisted, refreshments offered us, and every other civility shewn us that was in the power of the commanding officers. In shooting, however, we had very little sport, except that of killing somesnipes, which flew in such clouds that they almost darkened the sky; so that by only firing from time to time above our heads at random, we brought down scores at every shot, but they were of such a diminutive species, that they were scarcely worth the picking up. We might have here killed birds of greater size, such asspoon-bills,cranes,red curlews, andwild ducksof many kinds, had we not unluckily been cut off from the banks on which they were scattered, by the sea overflowing the quicksands betwixt us and them. They afforded us, nevertheless, a most delightful view, the beech appearing at a distance like a sheet of scarlet and purple, embroidered with every other colour.[343]The Spoon Bill or Shoveler.The Spoon Bill or Shoveler.The Jabiru, or Crane of Guiana.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.Theshoveleror spoon-bill (which has some affinity to the cranes) is about the size of a goose: the legs are not very long, and it is web-footed but for a little way between the toes: the feathers are a beautiful rose-colour, though they are white when young; but the bill is truly remarkable in this bird, being flat, much broader before than at any other part, and circular, in some degree resembling a spoon, from which it takes its name. They are said to feed on frogs, rats, and lizards, yet fish is evidently their principal nourishment, from their frequenting the sea-side, and having a fishy taste when they are killed.Thecraneorjabiruof Surinam, I can best compare to a stork, of which it has much the appearance, but is larger. The body of this bird is milk white, but the prime feathers of the wings and tail are black: the limbs and toes are excessively long; but I observed one peculiarity which distinguishes it from all other birds,viz.that it frequently sits upon the heel: the neck and bill are of an uncommon length, the latter being strong, and a little hooked at the point. The head of the crane or jabiru is perfectly black, on account of which, among the Dutch, it obtained the appellation of anegro-cop. It frequents the coast, like the others above mentioned, and lives entirely on fish: this bird is easily tamed. I have seen a couple of them in the poultry-yard belonging to Colonel Fourgeoud.—(See both these species of sea-fowls in theplate annexed, where the last is represented sitting in the posture I have described.)[344]To delineate the different species of wild ducks that are in Surinam with any degree of accuracy, is a talk which I acknowledge to be far beyond my reach. Suffice it therefore to say, that in general they are not very large, but adorned with the most splendid tints and most beautiful plumage that can be imagined, particularly those they call thecawereerkee, thesookooroorkee, and theannakee, which last are the smallest. No water-fowl of any kind, without exception, can be more delicate eating than all those I have just mentioned; while some of them are tameable, and frequently seen amongst the poultry on the plantations.Having the following day the opportunity of a boat, I prosecuted my voyage down the Cottica River till I came to Paramaribo, where in fine spirits and perfect health (however strange) I arrived that very same evening, and where I was most heartily welcomed by my many friends with the warmest congratulations on my still existing, after having escaped so many dangers, and been so long deprived of every comfort—torn by thorns, stung by insects—starved, tormented, emaciated, and wounded—often without clothes, health, rest, money, refreshments, medicines, or friends;—and after having lost so many of my brave companions, who lay buried in the dust.——Thus ended my seventh andlastcampaign in the forest of Guiana.[345]1See the above route, and all the others toGado-Saby, in Plate LVI. where they are by different lines distinctly marked.↑2The above captain and his crew were since set at liberty, having been ransomed by the Dutch.↑3Should it be remarked that during this expedition some unchristian-like expressions have escaped, let it be at the same time recollected, that while surgeons and even cooks, though both of little use, had been provided, nothing like aparsonwas ever seen amongst us, from the day we sailed from the Texel.↑

[Contents]CHAP. XXVIII.The Rebels fly for Protection to Cayenne—Third March to Gado-Saby—A second Re-inforcement of Troops arrive from Holland—Shipwreck of the Transport Paramaribo—March to Rio Comewina—Dismal Picture of Distress and of Mortality—The Peace of the Colony restored.On the 10th of November, in company with several other gentlemen, I now once more set out in a tent barge for the encampment at theCasseeporeCreek; and this day the whole colony was full of smoke, the woods having taken fire near the sea side by some unknown accident. On our passage we met ColonelTexier, who came from the postVredenburgh, at the Marawina, with a detachment; and assured us, that since the blow we gave to the rebels atGado-Saby, they were mostly fled to the other side of that great river, where they found refuge amongst the French, who were settled inCayenne; he had, however, taken a woman, and lieutenantKeentook two men, and killed two more, while the two new black volunteer companies supported the honour of their colours, which they had received with so much ceremony from the governor, by occasionally bringing in captives from the sea shore behind Paramaribo, in which they were assisted by the Indians, who had voluntarily fought and defeated the enemy[315]there, more than once. Thus every thing promised fair to crown our endeavours with success, and finally to re-establish safety and tranquillity in the colony.On our passage we stopped at the estateSaardam, the proprietor of which (by a late marriage) was our Lieutenant ColonelDes Borgnes. I found here an American sailor who came to load molasses, and having an inclination to try the skill of the new planter (and his overseer) in rum, I desired the tar to colour a couple of gallons ofkill-devilmade at the very same plantation, and bring them ashore as rum brought fromAntigua. He did so, and they gave him in exchange for it a six gallon keg of the very same spirits; declaring it was much better than their own, and then drank the contents in punch, to my very great entertainment. The sailor said he should colour the six gallons also, and did not doubt of loading his boat to the water’s edge before he reached Paramaribo.—Such, in all countries, is the force of prejudice.Having been very well entertained atSaardam, we set forward, and arrived safe in the encampment at the Casseepore Creek, in Cottica River, on the 13th; where, in stepping ashore, being without shoes and stockings, I narrowly escaped being bitten by aland-scorpion. This insect is of the size of a small cray-fish, and has an oval body; its colour is like that of soot, and it is jointed in moveable rings: it has eight legs, divided by joints, and two jointed claws projecting from the head, appearing like part of the body, with such small eyes that they are[316]hardly perceptible: the tail is formed by seven globular divisions like beads, which terminate in a double sting; this it bends over its back, to protect its young ones from the attacks of other insects: for to the creature’s back the young resort, after being hatched from eggs like pin-heads, in a small web spun by the female. The sting of the land-scorpion is not accounted fatal, but occasions a violent pain, and throws the patient into a fever: it is said they change their skins, as crabs do their shells. The scorpions generally frequent old trees and old furniture, and are often found amongst dry rubbish and faded grass.Almost the first accidents that I saw here was a poor fellow, a marine, going to bathe in the river, who was instantly snapt away by a largealligator. I no sooner beheld him sink and disappear, than having stripped, I actually dived after the poor man, by the help of a long oar, which a negro held perpendicular under water for the purpose, constantly taking care to keep all my limbs in motion. However I found him not, and tugging the oar as a signal to pull it up, the fellow, by miscomprehension, pushed both it and myself down with such violence, that we did not rise again to the surface till near the middle of the stream, which carried down the oar, while I regained the shore by swimming and very great exertion.On the 20th, being now once more ordered to march on discovery toGado-Saby, I set out at six o’clock in the morning, with two subaltern officers, three serjeants,[317]seven corporals, and fifty privates, besides a surgeon, and the noted free negro Gousary (whom we lost for three or four hours) and encamped near the banks of the same creek, not having been able to advance above six miles due west from its mouth.On the 21st we marched north for about seven or eight miles, without meeting with one drop ofwaterto alleviate our burning thirst, it being at this time in the very heart of the dry season, which this year was more scorching than I ever remembered it before.Having now changed my course to the north-east, and passed the quagmire, about noon the following day we marcheddrythrough the late fatal marsh, and an hour after we kept due west; when, falling in with a large field of yams, we demolished it; then proceeding forward, I encamped in the old settlement Cofaay, almost choked for want of water, not having met with any thing like it from the moment we sat out. Here, however, the negro slaves found means to procure us some, which, though stagnant and stinking like a kennel, we drank, straining it through our shirt-sleeves.During this march, I nevertheless took notice of the following trees, not yet described,viz.thecanavatepy, and theberklack, which are extremely fit for domestic use. The first is beautifully striped, black and brown, and has much the appearance of that usually called brazil, while it diffuses a smell in working not inferior to that of a carnation. The second is a pale red or pink colour, and is[318]equally good for almost every purpose. I was this day also presented with a singular kind of fruit, called here themarmalade box, being about the size of a large apple, rather oval, and all covered over with down. This fruit in the beginning is green, and when ripe it turns to a brown colour: the husk is hard, and by a certain motion opens in halves like a walnut, when the pulp appears like that of a medlar, being a sweet brown substance, and adhering to large kernels, which the inhabitants suck off with avidity; and from this it derives the above name. As I took no particular notice of the tree, I am sorry not to have it in my power to give any account of it whatsoever.The 23d I marched east from Cofaay, with a view of obtaining some fresh accounts of the rebels; and proceeded by a path of communication through cultivated fields, but fell in with nothing, some delightful views, and a large herd ofwarreehogs, excepted, which from the gnashing of their teeth and their stamping the ground before we saw them, we had actually mistaken for a straggling party of the enemy, and had consequently fresh-primed, and prepared to engage them.About noon we returned toGado-Saby, where, sitting down to rest from our fatigue, a tallold rebel negroappeared suddenly in the very midst of us, with a long white beard, a white cotton sheet tied about his shoulders, and a broken cutlass in his hand. Seeing this venerable apparition, I instantly started up, and forbidding my[319]people to fire at him, I civilly desired him to approach me, pledging myself that no person under my command should dare to hurt him; but that he should have every thing for his relief that I could afford.—He answered, “No, no, massera!” with the utmost deliberation, and shaking his head in an instant disappeared; while two of my men (contrary to my orders) fired after him, at the distance of perhaps six paces only, yet both missed their object, to my great satisfaction, he being a poor forsaken creature, that had been left behind the rest, gleaning a precarious subsistence from his own deserted fields which we had formerly destroyed. What renders the negroes so difficult to hit with a ball is this, that they never run straight forward, butzig-zag, like the forked lightning in the elements.I now, to fulfil my orders, once more ransacked Cofaay, with its adjoining plains, though with a sore heart, on account of the poor lonely old rebel. Here, having cut down several cotton and plantain-trees,okeroor althea, pigeon-pease, maize, pine-apples, and some rice, most of which had spontaneously sprung up again since our last devastation, I could not help leaving, beforea little shed, where was some fresh ashes and banana shells, a few rusk biscuits and a good piece of salt beef, as also a bottle of new rum, for the unfortunate solitary old man, this being his retreat; after which we once more encamped in the fields of Cofaay.Having so frequently mentionedrice, it may be expected[320]that I should say something concerning its growth and cultivation. It rises to the height of four feet, with furrowed stalks, and in appearance is not unlike wheat, but the stalks are knotted by intervals, and stronger; the leaves are like those of reeds: the seeds are produced somewhat like barley, and grow on each side of the spikes or ears alternately. Theoryzaor rice is cultivated in a warm and marshy soil; the grains are oval, and if good ought to be white, hard, and transparent. As for the use of this commodity for food, it is so well known, that I shall only say, that without this grain our poor marines must long ago have all been starved, particularly in August 1775; when, for all allowance, they gotperdayonerusk biscuit, andthreespikes of maize or Indian corn, forfive men; rice alone supplying, as I have intimated, the rest of the allowance.Having now fully compleated my commission, I, with my detachment, marched back for the Casseepore Creek, directing my course through the ruined fields of Gado-Saby, which were at present choked up to a perfect wilderness. Hence we kept first to the south-west, and then due south, after which we slung our hammocks near a former encampment. It is to be observed, that at this time all the marshes were nearly dry, on account of the hottest season I ever remember; while the fœtid smell occasioned by the quantities of dead warrapa fish, that had been deserted by the water, was an intolerable nuisance. From amongst these putrid fishes, our negro[321]slaves nevertheless selected the most tolerable, which, fried in the evening, served them for a delicate morsel.The morning following we again marched south-west by west, when we slung our hammocks not above four miles from the Cassepore Creek; and on the 26th (keeping south-south-west) we arrived in thegrand camp, much fatigued and emaciated, myself with a swelled face or erysipelas; when I gave in my journal to Lieutenant-Colonel de Borgnes, who commanded1: and I believe, upon my honour, that had we been ordered to remain twenty years on this expedition, with a possibility of saving our lives, the different diseases, plagues, and torments, would still have accumulated and varied without end.A detachment of fifty men was next sent out to reconnoitre at Jerusalem, &c.; and on the 6th of December the long-expectedrelief, consisting of three hundred and fifty men, arrived in the river Surinam from Holland, after a voyage of nine weeks and three days, of which they spent a fortnight at Plymouth.By these the unfortunate account was brought, that CaptainJochem Meyer(who had on board a considerable sum of money for our troops) was taken by the Moors, and carried with his crew toMorocco, where they were condemned to be slaves to the emperor2; and that the[322]shipParamaribo, CaptainSpruyt(being one of the vessels that carried over the sick in the beginning of August) was wrecked and entirely lost in the channel, on the rocks ofUshant; but that, by the exertions of some French fishing-boats, the crew and troops had all been saved, and carried into Brest, whence they had taken a fresh passage for the Texel; after which the Prince of Orange (who was ever distinguished for benevolence, and doing good and humane actions) ordered the officers and private men, above one hundred in number, to receive the following sums, by way of defraying their loss,viz.each marine received about four, the subalterns thirty, the captains forty, and MajorMedlar, who commanded, fifty pounds sterling. However, by this shipwreck, I lost all my three chests of sweetmeats and pickles, besides parrots, butterflies, monkies, &c. intended as presents to my friends in Europe, which indiscriminately went to the bottom, tomyno small mortification.Having now for above a month been lodged in a paltry hut, beaten by the wind and showers of rain (which began to set in unexpectedly); and being informed, that notwithstanding the arrival of the relief, we were still to stay some time longer in the woods, which broke many hearts; I, on the 12th of December, earnestly set about building for myself a comfortable house, and which was finished, without either nail or hammer, in less than six days, though it had two rooms, a piazza with rails, and a[323]small kitchen, besides a garden, in which I sowed, in pepper-cresses, the names of Joanna and John; while my next-door neighbour, who was my friend CaptainBolts, made shift to keep a goat, and thus we lived not altogether uncomfortably. Others kept hens and ducks, but not acockwas to be seen in the camp; for these, having first had all their tongues cut out to prevent their crowing (though to no purpose) had been since condemned to lose their heads. In short, our gentlemen built a row of very curious houses indeed, all projecting from the beech; while, on the opposite side, above a hundred green huts being constructed to receive the new-come troops, the whole together formed no contemptible street, though it must be confessed its inhabitants were little better than scare-crows.What was most remarkable in my own habitation, however, was its entry, which was not by the door, nor yet by the window, but only by the roof, where I crept in and out, allowing absolutely no other admittance; and by this contrivance alone I was effectually guarded from those frequent visitors who smelt my pancakes, and used to make too free with my eggs and bacon, besides interrupting me while I was drawing, writing, or reading. Upon the whole, I must acknowledge, that this encampment was agreeable enough (more so as being on elevated ground), had it not been for the pestilential damps and mephitic vapours that exhale constantly from the earth, and had already sent numbers to the other world.[324]During this short space of tranquillity I constructed in miniature my cottage in which I lived at the Hope, on an oblong board of about eighteen inches by twelve, which being entirely made of the manicole-tree and branches, like the original, was esteemed a master-piece; and this I sent as a present to my friend Mr. de Graaff at Paramaribo, who since placed it in a cabinet of natural curiosities at Amsterdam. As I am upon this subject, I am tempted to present the reader with a view of two of my habitations, the one that at the Hope, where I spent such happy days; and the other temporary, such as in the woods we constructed to be sheltered from the weather:—the first may be considered as the emblem of domestic felicity; the second of rustick hardship and fatigue.The troops of theSocietyof Surinam, who had been encamped at the Wana Creek (the rainy season prematurely setting in) now wisely broke up, and on the 26th passing by us, rowed down the river Cottica on their way to the plantations in the Pirica Creek; but as for us, we were as usual condemned to linger in the Cassipore camp, while Fourgeoud still kept snug at Paramaribo. With the above officers we received intelligence that a few more rebels had been taken at the Marawina; while we ourselves daily continued to send out patroles to the right and left, but met with nothing to capture.Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.Rural Retreat—The Cottage—London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.At last, on the 29th, six barges came to an anchor before our encampment, with part of the fresh troops that were arrived from Holland for our relief; which I could not[325]help viewing with compassion, and not without a cause, many of them being already attacked with the scurvy, and other loathsome diseases. We however sent for bricks, and built an oven to bake fresh bread, &c. and did all that was in our power to comfort them: having received also a supply of wine for my own use, I gave a hearty welcome to all the officers, to cheer their spirits; but this ill-fated liquor had an effect far different from what I intended on one of our captains,P——tby name, who, from some misunderstanding, challenged me to fight him instantly. Having retired to some distance from the camp, and drawing our sabres, he burst out into an immoderate fit of laughter, and throwing away his weapon, desired me “to cut away; but that for his part he had such a real regard for me, that he felt it was impossible for him to make any resistance:” after which, catching me in both his arms, he gave me so hearty an embrace, that he had nearly stifled me, and I could not without the greatest difficulty get disentangled. Being recovered from my surprize, I could not help smiling in my turn; and after a friendly reprimand re-conducted my valiant opponent to the company, where we closed the year with the greatest mirth and conviviality.A confounded tumble through my hammock having ushered in the morning of 1777, we went to the commanding officer of the camp, to pay him the compliments of the season; where I was shown thephilander,[326]orMexican oppossum, here calledawaree, which had been just taken alive, and with all its young.I have already mentioned the murine oppossum; thus shall now only describe such peculiarities as I was able to remark, and which were indeed but few in number, the animal being in the bottom of an empty hogshead when I saw it, its biting preventing me to take it in my hand.—In the first place, it was much larger than the former, this being the size of an over-grown Norway rat: the colour was a yellowish grey all over, and the belly and limbs a dirty white; the muzzle was more blunt than that of the murine oppossum, with long whiskers; its eyes not black but transparent, with a black ring round the iris; the tail extremely long, thick, and hairy, particularly near the root, and its smell was very offensive. This oppossum had a pouch under its belly, formed by the folding of the skin, which is hairy within as well as without; from this pouch I saw the young ones (five or six in number) several times run out, when the mother was not disturbed, and as often run into it upon the smallest noise, or shaking the hogshead.—As I pitied the poor creature, after its having been so long tormented, I suddenly kicked up the hogshead, when the oppossum with all its young escaped, and ran swiftly up a very high tree before Colonel Seyburg’s cottage, and there it hung by the tail to one of the branches; but as it is a dreadful destroyer of poultry, and the Colonel apprehended that[327]it would kill every one of his fowls, he ordered it, to my sorrow, to be shot down, with all its young ones.—The Virginian oppossum I never saw; and my only further remark on this shall be, that its activity very much surprized me, as many writers have denied it this quality. For further particulars, I refer the reader to the murine or mouse oppossum above-mentioned, as in most circumstances these two animals perfectly agree.Among the destroyers of poultry, there is another animal in this country, known by the name ofquacy-quacy: some call it the racoon, but which properly is thecoatimondi, or Brasilian weasel; though many people, with some degree of propriety, compare it to a fox, as it is often able to carry away a goose or a turkey, and is also extremely cunning. This creature is sometimes near two feet long, the body shaped like that of a dog, and commonly black, or rather dark brown, though many are of a bright bay colour: the tail is long, hairy, and annulated with black, and a deep buff; the breast and belly are a dirty white; the head is a light brown, with long jaws, and a black snout that projects upwards for near two inches, and is moveable like that of the tapira; the eyes are small, the ears are short and rounded, while on each side a curved stripe connects them and the muzzle; the legs of the coati are short, especially the foremost; the feet are very long, with five toes on each, and long claws, while the animal, like the bear, always walks on the heel, and stands on those behind. No quadrupeds (the monkies[328]not excepted) are better climbers on the trees, where these creatures commit dreadful ravages amongst birds-nests, every small animal which they can conquer becoming their prey. In the poultry-yards in particular they commit great devastations, on which account every contrivance that can be invented is put in practice to destroy them.As I am upon the subject of animals, before I leave the woods I must describe another creature, which inhabits them, and which (though more than twice the size of the last) lives chiefly on ants; this is thegreat ant-eater, orant-bear, called also thetamanoir, and by the Spaniards theosa palmera. The body of this animal is covered over with very long shaggy hair; on the back and belly it is black, and on the neck and sides a grey or yellowish white; the head is extremely long and slender, of a light bay colour, with very small eyes; the ears are short and round, and the mouth (which has no teeth) just large enough to admit its tongue; the tail is of an enormous size, with very long black hair, something like that of a horse: with this extraordinary tail, when asleep (which is generally in the day time, or during a hard shower of rain) the animal covers itself like a squirrel; at other times he trails it along, and sweeps the ground. The limbs are slender, but covered with long hair; the hindmost legs being shortest and black, with five claws; those before are of a dirty white, with but four claws, the two middle claws being of an extraordinary length.[329]The Tamandua, & Coati-Mondi.Barlow sc.The Tamandua, & Coati-Mondi.London, Published Dec.r2nd, 1793, by J. Johnson, St. Pauls Church Yard.The great ant-eater is a very bad walker, resting always on the heel of his awkward long feet, like the coati and bear; but he is a better climber, and so good a fighter, that no dog will hunt him, since whatever animal he catches between his fore claws (nay even the jaguar or tiger) he will not release while he has life. His food, as I have said, consists of ants, which he takes in the following manner:—when he comes to an ant-hillock, he unfolds his slender tongue, which is about twenty inches long, most exactly resembling a worm; this being covered over with a clammy matter or saliva, the ants get upon it in great numbers, and by drawing it into his mouth, he swallows thousands all alive, and renews the operation, till no more are to be found, when he marches in quest of another mountain, and in the same manner destroys the unwary inhabitants. He also climbs in quest of wood-lice and wild honey; but should he meet with little success in his devastations, he is able to fast a considerable time without the smallest inconvenience. It is said that the great ant-bear is tameable, and that then he will pick crumbs of bread, and small pieces of flesh; also that when killed, he affords good food to the Indians and negroes, the last of which I have seen devour his flesh with pleasure. Some ant-bears measure, from the snout to the tip of the tail, no less than eight feet.—See the two last-described animals in the plate annexed.A small species of ant-bear, called thetamandua, is also found in Surinam, though not very common. This[330]differs from the former in having twenty toes, the head being thicker in proportion, and the tail smaller, which is variegated with bands of black and yellowish white.—A lesser species still is called thefourmillier, which, however, never came within my observation.—But to proceed.On the 3d, six more barges with troops came up from Paramaribo, which compleated the number of three hundred and fifty men arrived from Holland. Amongst these, being informed there was a CaptainCharles Small, come from the Scots Brigade, this gentleman having exchanged with poor Ensign Macdonald (who was sent over sick) I instantly sculled down the river alone in a canoe to meet him, and offer him my assistance. I had no sooner got on board his barge, than I found him suspended in a hammock with a burning fever. He, not knowing me on account of my dress, which was no better than that of the most ragged sailor, asked me what I wanted; but when he saw in me his poor friendStedman, changed from a stout sprightly young fellow, to a miserable debilitated tatterdemallion, he grasped me by the hand, without uttering a word, and burst into tears: which agitation, while it increased his illness, shewed the goodness of his heart to me, more than any thing he could have uttered on the subject.—“D—n your blubbering, Charles!” said I; “turn out of this stinking cockle-shell: I’ll presently cure thee;”—and getting him hoisted into my canoe, I brought him on shore to my own habitation, but with[331]the greatest difficulty, being obliged to thrust him through a crevice made on purpose, as the hole in the roof was not calculated even for any healthy person’s admittance, myself excepted. Having here slung his hammock near to my own, and boiled some water, I treated him with warm grog and a toasted biscuit, and he became much better from that very moment. He now acquainted me that one of his men was drowned on the passage; and that Colonel Fourgeoud having entertained the officers with a ball after their landing, at which one of his cooks, and a couple of meagre marines, had been the fidlers, he concluded his illness to be the consequence of too much dancing. A little after this, Colonel Fourgeoud himself appearing in person in the camp amongst us, he soon, however, entertained us with musick of a different kind; which was no less than the discouraging news, that by the newly-arrived corps of officers several of us had lost our rank (both in the regiment and in the army) after parching above four years in a burning sun, toiling ourselves almost to death, and subsisting upon stinking meat and black rusk. To add to this grievance, while the above gentlemen usurped our preferment, we were, instead of being relieved, ordered to continue in the woods, in order to teach them their duty.During the above unpleasing probation, the major’s duty again fell to my share; which was at this time extremely disagreeable, being obliged daily to chastise the men, many of whom pilfered the magazine to alleviate[332]hunger, having been without the article of bread forsevendays, the oven being dropped to pieces. Amongst others, one poor fellow was nearly flogged to death for havingborrowedone of the colonel’s Bologna sausages; for, let it be remembered, that our commander in chief, whatever might be the distress and hardships of the rest, never forgot to supporthis owndignity, by at least half a dozen of stout negroes loaded with bacon hams, Bologna sausages, bullocks tongues, tea, coffee, sugar, Madeira wine, Holland’s gin, &c.—Courage may prompt, but, ebbing out his strength,Mere unsupported man must yield at length:Shrunk with dry famine, and with toils declin’d,The drooping body will desert the mind;But built anew with health-conferring fare,With limbs and soul untam’d,hetires a war.At length, on the 8th, a barge arrived, not only with a supply of salt beef and rusk, but a bullock and two hogs, as a present from Mr.Felman, who, accompanied by his lady, &c. came actually on a visit to Fourgeoud, in this very strange encampment. The above animals being immediately killed, they were distributed among four hundred people; so that it may well be conceived the shares, though sweet, were not very large, after which the company walked about to view our different habitations. Being arrived at my dwelling, Fourgeoud led them round and round, but seeing no door to get in, he called out, “Nobody at home?” When[333]I instantly thrust my head through the thatch, with a pancake in my hand, and offered to haul in the ladies; but this they civilly declined. I never saw Fourgeoud laugh so much in my life. As soon, however, as he was able to recover his gravity, he exclaimed, “Sacre Dieu! Il faut être Stedman,—il faut être original comme lui;” and re-conducted the company to his own apartment, where he gave me an invitation to follow them. Indeed, when Captain Small and I went out, we generally spent our time in a beautiful savannah, where we had erected a green shed, to be free in conversation, and called itRanelagh; here we caroused and cracked a bottle in private, till we could crack no longer, having lived so well that in a little time more than a week my cheese and bacon hams quite disappeared, and not a drop of wine or rum was left in the flasks.—After this he, as well as I, were obliged to live on short allowance; while Small had the satisfaction, however, to see his ship-mates do the same: who, not being acquainted with the œconomy necessary in a forest, had made all their flour into plum-pudding, and were already obliged to break their teeth on a piece of rye rusk.In short, so early as the 12th, one hundred and fifty of these newly-arrived people were already ordered to march; when, by the way of seasoning them, besides heavy accoutrements and a hammock, they had orders each man to carry a stuffed knapsack on his back. Of this party, my friend Small happened to be one, who being as corpulent asSir John Falstaff, and I having accoutred him in the above[334]manner, the poor fellow could hardly walk at all; till declaring to Fourgeoud that I must roll him along like a hogshead, he got leave to be disengaged from a part of his unweildy encumbrances.Every thing being ready, this loaded detachment now faced to the right, and set out, with Colonel Fourgeoud at their head, for the river Marawina: and while I must here acknowledge that this chief was now become to myself as civil as I could expect or desire, yet justice compels me to add, that to all others he remained just as inflexible a tyrant as ever I had known him; which character he unhappily seemed to think incompatible with his rank.During their absence, I crossed the water, and cut down a cabbage-tree on the other side of the river Cottica, not only for the cabbage, but for the sake of thegroe-groeworms, with which I knew it would swarm in about a fortnight.Straying here through the woods with my black boy Quaco, I met with the following trees, still left for description,viz.thecedar, thebrown-heart, and thebullet-tree. The first, though it bears that name, is different from the cedars of Lebanon, which grow in a pyramidical form. The Surinam cedar, however, grows also to a great height, but is principally esteemed because the wood is never eaten by the worms or other insects, on account of its great bitterness; it has also a most agreeable smell, and is therefore used in preference to most others for making chests, cupboards, lockers, and all sorts[335]of joinery; besides which, it is employed in making the tent-barges and other boats. The colour of the timber is a pale orange: it is both hard and light, and from the trunk exudes a gum (not unlike the gum Arabic) which is transparent, and diffuses a most agreeable flavour.Thebrown-heartis in hardness of the same consistency as the purple-heart, and the green-heart already mentioned, and is shaped into heavy timber for the same purposes, such as constructing sugar-mills, &c.: the colour of this wood is a beautiful brown.—The other is thebullet-tree; this tree grows sometimes to sixty feet, but is not so thick in proportion as many others: the bark is grey and smooth, the timber brown, variegated or powdered with white specks. No wood in the forest is equal to this in weight, being heavier than sea-water, and so very durable, that when exposed to the open air neither rain or sun have any effect on it; for this reason, besides its other various uses, it is split into shingles to roof the houses, instead of slates or tiles, which, as I formerly mentioned, would be too heavy and too hot. Theseshinglesare sold for £. 4 sterling a thousand at Paramaribo, and continue sometimes twenty-four years before they are renewed.I ought to mention also a kind of mahogany, which is found in the woods of Guiana, called theducolla-bolla, and which is of a superior quality to any which is imported here, being of a deeper red colour, and of a finer, more equal, and compact grain; also of greater hardness[336]and weight, and thus capable of receiving a more elegant polish.About this period the whole camp was infested with a kind ofwood-lice, so called in Surinam, but with more propriety they might be termed white ants, resembling them almost in every particular, except that the ants dwell in the ground, and these build their nests on the trunks of trees: these nests, being black, round, and irregular, are not unlike the woolly head of a negro, but sometimes as large as the half of a hogshead, and composed of a rust-coloured incrustated earth, which is extremely hard, and impenetrable to the weather. In this mass, which internally consists of innumerable cross roads, each the size of a goose-quill, they live together in myriads, whence they sally forth, and commit their depredations, unequalled by any other infest in Guiana, piercing through the hardest wood, leather, linen, or whatever comes in their way. They also frequently get into the houses by an incrusted covered road made against the wall, resembling the half of a sliding pencil, which is with its windings sometimes several hundred feet long: if this is not destroyed upon its first appearance (which must be done by arsenick or the oil of turpentine) as they crumble every thing to dust, whole dwellings will be entirely demolished, and come down to the ground in rubbish. These insects (notwithstanding their fetid abominable smell) are reckoned a very good food for poultry, who are said to thrive on them even better than on Indian[337]corn. I ought not to forget their extreme industry in repairing their habitation when injured, and their wonderful power of propagation, which (let ever such numbers be destroyed) brings them in a very short time to their former unaccountable multiplicity.To another pest we were also frequently subjected in this camp, and this was no less than clouds offlying lice, which covered our clothes sometimes so thick, that they absolutely gave them the appearance of grey cloth. This was owing to the shedding of their wings, which, being four in number; they generally left behind them after they alighted, and being thus without the means of flying off again, they remained on our jackets; except however thus covering us all over, they caused us no other inconvenience. It is the opinion of some naturalists, that these flying lice are no other than the above-mentioned wood-lice, which when they become old get wings, leave their nests, and fly about, like some other ants, both in Europe and in America.About this time the discipline was peculiarly strict in the camp, so that whoever made the very least noise was most severely punished, nay, threatened to be shot; and even the sentinels were ordered to challenge rounds and patrols by no other sound thanwhistling, which was answered in the same manner.On the 18th, one of these being condemned to be flogged for speaking loud, I however found means (Fourgeoud not being yet returned) to get him pardoned, after[338]he was already stripped. The following day, nevertheless, evinced that I could punish when things were carried too far; for seeing a large piece of boiled pork (about two pounds weight) flying past me with great velocity, and finding it was thrown by one marine to another, while they had got a quarrel, I instantly ordered them to pick it up, and (having cut it in two) I stood over them myself till they swallowed every morsel of it in my presence, sand and all, without either bread or drink: which they since declared was such a punishment as surpassed my conception, and they should remember it to the end of their lives.On the 23d, I received from town a well-timed supply of wine and fresh provisions; and the same day Colonel Fourgeoud, with his detachment, arrived from the Marawina. During this trip, our active commander had again discovered and destroyed fifty-nine houses, besides three fields of provisions. This certainly gave the finishing blow to the rebel negroes, since, having no further supply on this side the water, they entirely abandoned it, and went to settle in the French colonyCayenne. In this hard though necessary service the men had suffered prodigiously, especially those newly arrived; numbers of whom were carried in hammocks on poles, while near thirty were left sick at the Marawina, and my friend Small was at least one stone lighter.At this time, in the camp hospital, above one hundred were also dangerously ill. Nothing was heard but sighs[339]and the shrieking of thestrixor Guiana owl, which for ever kept them company during the dismal nights. Cramps, so common in Surinam, also infested those that were able to do duty; and there reigned a general melancholy all around.————“The circling sky,The wide enlivening air, is full of fate;And, struck by turns, in solitary pangsThey fall, untended and unmourn’d.”Here one man was to be seen covered over with bloody boils from head to foot; there another led along by two of his comrades in a deep lethargy, who, in spite of pinching and pricking, dosed into eternity; a third, swelled by the dropsy, and imploring the surgeon in vain to tap off the water (who generally answered that it was too late) was left to expire by suffocation. In the hospital some were observed clasping their hands, and praying aloud to God to be relieved; while others lay at their side in a frenzy fever, tearing their hair, blaspheming Providence, and cursing the day that they were born.—In short, all was dreadful beyond description, by the pen of aMiltonexcepted.————“Sad noisome dark,A lazar-house it seem’d, wherein were laidNumbers of all, diseas’d: all maladiesOf ghastly spasm or racking torture; qualmsOf heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,[340]Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs;Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,And moon-struck madness; pining atrophy,Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums:Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; despairTended the sick, busiest from couch to couch.And over them triumphant Death his dartShook, but delay’d to strike, though oft invok’dWith vows, as their chief good and final hope.”From day to day mortality now gained ground, while by some accident, to compleat the distress, part of the camp got on fire; but this was fortunately extinguished without any material ill consequences, by the activity and exertions of the poor negroes.On the 26thmymisery, however, drew towards an end, when, to my astonishment, and without my asking it, Colonel Fourgeoud gave me a leave of absence, if I chose it, to accompany him, and stay henceforth at Paramaribo; which, without hesitation, I most joyfully accepted. Thus, having made my friend Captain Small a present of myhouse, myRanelagh, and all myfresh provisions, besides entertained him and some other officers on a dish of mountain-cabbage, and mygroe-groeworms, which were just come to perfection, besides a hearty glass of wine, I took my last adieu from them all; and at midnight, with Colonel Fourgeoud, rowed down the River Cottica in an elegant barge with ten oars, in company with two more of his officers.—And now farewell once more, ye shady[341]woods, thou pleasing gloomy forest, pregnant with so many wonders, and so many plagues, and which, in the opinion of so many sufferers, even surpassed theten plagues of Egypt!3————“I have sent among you the pestilence after themanner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword—I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto yournostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.”The boat being shoved off, Colonel Fourgeoud now declared to us, that having ransacked the forest in every direction, and driven the rebels over the Marawina inCayenne, he was determined no more to return to the woods, but in a few weeks to draw the long and painful expedition to a conclusion.Now, reader, it remains with you to acknowledge that I have not led youabout the bush, butthrough it, with indefatigable perseverance: the more so, when it is to be considered that in the middle of the above hurry and distress, under which so many have sunk, I have often been deprived ofpen,ink, andpaperto make proper annotations; which last defect I have even more than once supplied by writing with a pencil on my cartridges, or on a bleachedbone: had this not been unavoidably the case, more accuracy and many more remarks might with[342]justice have been expected, which one need never be at a loss to make in a country so replete with different objects for speculation.Having rowed all night, and breakfasted at the new cordon (which was begun to be cut not far from our former post Devil’s Harwar) on a dram and a biscuit, we came about noon to the estateLapaix, where we dined with the planter, MonsieurRivieres; after which Fourgeoud, with his adjutant, proceeded on their voyage to town, while I with another officer went to the sea-side at the back of the plantation to shoot snipes and curlews.On our march thither and back again, passing two posts of the Society, the flag was hoisted, refreshments offered us, and every other civility shewn us that was in the power of the commanding officers. In shooting, however, we had very little sport, except that of killing somesnipes, which flew in such clouds that they almost darkened the sky; so that by only firing from time to time above our heads at random, we brought down scores at every shot, but they were of such a diminutive species, that they were scarcely worth the picking up. We might have here killed birds of greater size, such asspoon-bills,cranes,red curlews, andwild ducksof many kinds, had we not unluckily been cut off from the banks on which they were scattered, by the sea overflowing the quicksands betwixt us and them. They afforded us, nevertheless, a most delightful view, the beech appearing at a distance like a sheet of scarlet and purple, embroidered with every other colour.[343]The Spoon Bill or Shoveler.The Spoon Bill or Shoveler.The Jabiru, or Crane of Guiana.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.Theshoveleror spoon-bill (which has some affinity to the cranes) is about the size of a goose: the legs are not very long, and it is web-footed but for a little way between the toes: the feathers are a beautiful rose-colour, though they are white when young; but the bill is truly remarkable in this bird, being flat, much broader before than at any other part, and circular, in some degree resembling a spoon, from which it takes its name. They are said to feed on frogs, rats, and lizards, yet fish is evidently their principal nourishment, from their frequenting the sea-side, and having a fishy taste when they are killed.Thecraneorjabiruof Surinam, I can best compare to a stork, of which it has much the appearance, but is larger. The body of this bird is milk white, but the prime feathers of the wings and tail are black: the limbs and toes are excessively long; but I observed one peculiarity which distinguishes it from all other birds,viz.that it frequently sits upon the heel: the neck and bill are of an uncommon length, the latter being strong, and a little hooked at the point. The head of the crane or jabiru is perfectly black, on account of which, among the Dutch, it obtained the appellation of anegro-cop. It frequents the coast, like the others above mentioned, and lives entirely on fish: this bird is easily tamed. I have seen a couple of them in the poultry-yard belonging to Colonel Fourgeoud.—(See both these species of sea-fowls in theplate annexed, where the last is represented sitting in the posture I have described.)[344]To delineate the different species of wild ducks that are in Surinam with any degree of accuracy, is a talk which I acknowledge to be far beyond my reach. Suffice it therefore to say, that in general they are not very large, but adorned with the most splendid tints and most beautiful plumage that can be imagined, particularly those they call thecawereerkee, thesookooroorkee, and theannakee, which last are the smallest. No water-fowl of any kind, without exception, can be more delicate eating than all those I have just mentioned; while some of them are tameable, and frequently seen amongst the poultry on the plantations.Having the following day the opportunity of a boat, I prosecuted my voyage down the Cottica River till I came to Paramaribo, where in fine spirits and perfect health (however strange) I arrived that very same evening, and where I was most heartily welcomed by my many friends with the warmest congratulations on my still existing, after having escaped so many dangers, and been so long deprived of every comfort—torn by thorns, stung by insects—starved, tormented, emaciated, and wounded—often without clothes, health, rest, money, refreshments, medicines, or friends;—and after having lost so many of my brave companions, who lay buried in the dust.——Thus ended my seventh andlastcampaign in the forest of Guiana.[345]1See the above route, and all the others toGado-Saby, in Plate LVI. where they are by different lines distinctly marked.↑2The above captain and his crew were since set at liberty, having been ransomed by the Dutch.↑3Should it be remarked that during this expedition some unchristian-like expressions have escaped, let it be at the same time recollected, that while surgeons and even cooks, though both of little use, had been provided, nothing like aparsonwas ever seen amongst us, from the day we sailed from the Texel.↑

CHAP. XXVIII.The Rebels fly for Protection to Cayenne—Third March to Gado-Saby—A second Re-inforcement of Troops arrive from Holland—Shipwreck of the Transport Paramaribo—March to Rio Comewina—Dismal Picture of Distress and of Mortality—The Peace of the Colony restored.

The Rebels fly for Protection to Cayenne—Third March to Gado-Saby—A second Re-inforcement of Troops arrive from Holland—Shipwreck of the Transport Paramaribo—March to Rio Comewina—Dismal Picture of Distress and of Mortality—The Peace of the Colony restored.

The Rebels fly for Protection to Cayenne—Third March to Gado-Saby—A second Re-inforcement of Troops arrive from Holland—Shipwreck of the Transport Paramaribo—March to Rio Comewina—Dismal Picture of Distress and of Mortality—The Peace of the Colony restored.

On the 10th of November, in company with several other gentlemen, I now once more set out in a tent barge for the encampment at theCasseeporeCreek; and this day the whole colony was full of smoke, the woods having taken fire near the sea side by some unknown accident. On our passage we met ColonelTexier, who came from the postVredenburgh, at the Marawina, with a detachment; and assured us, that since the blow we gave to the rebels atGado-Saby, they were mostly fled to the other side of that great river, where they found refuge amongst the French, who were settled inCayenne; he had, however, taken a woman, and lieutenantKeentook two men, and killed two more, while the two new black volunteer companies supported the honour of their colours, which they had received with so much ceremony from the governor, by occasionally bringing in captives from the sea shore behind Paramaribo, in which they were assisted by the Indians, who had voluntarily fought and defeated the enemy[315]there, more than once. Thus every thing promised fair to crown our endeavours with success, and finally to re-establish safety and tranquillity in the colony.On our passage we stopped at the estateSaardam, the proprietor of which (by a late marriage) was our Lieutenant ColonelDes Borgnes. I found here an American sailor who came to load molasses, and having an inclination to try the skill of the new planter (and his overseer) in rum, I desired the tar to colour a couple of gallons ofkill-devilmade at the very same plantation, and bring them ashore as rum brought fromAntigua. He did so, and they gave him in exchange for it a six gallon keg of the very same spirits; declaring it was much better than their own, and then drank the contents in punch, to my very great entertainment. The sailor said he should colour the six gallons also, and did not doubt of loading his boat to the water’s edge before he reached Paramaribo.—Such, in all countries, is the force of prejudice.Having been very well entertained atSaardam, we set forward, and arrived safe in the encampment at the Casseepore Creek, in Cottica River, on the 13th; where, in stepping ashore, being without shoes and stockings, I narrowly escaped being bitten by aland-scorpion. This insect is of the size of a small cray-fish, and has an oval body; its colour is like that of soot, and it is jointed in moveable rings: it has eight legs, divided by joints, and two jointed claws projecting from the head, appearing like part of the body, with such small eyes that they are[316]hardly perceptible: the tail is formed by seven globular divisions like beads, which terminate in a double sting; this it bends over its back, to protect its young ones from the attacks of other insects: for to the creature’s back the young resort, after being hatched from eggs like pin-heads, in a small web spun by the female. The sting of the land-scorpion is not accounted fatal, but occasions a violent pain, and throws the patient into a fever: it is said they change their skins, as crabs do their shells. The scorpions generally frequent old trees and old furniture, and are often found amongst dry rubbish and faded grass.Almost the first accidents that I saw here was a poor fellow, a marine, going to bathe in the river, who was instantly snapt away by a largealligator. I no sooner beheld him sink and disappear, than having stripped, I actually dived after the poor man, by the help of a long oar, which a negro held perpendicular under water for the purpose, constantly taking care to keep all my limbs in motion. However I found him not, and tugging the oar as a signal to pull it up, the fellow, by miscomprehension, pushed both it and myself down with such violence, that we did not rise again to the surface till near the middle of the stream, which carried down the oar, while I regained the shore by swimming and very great exertion.On the 20th, being now once more ordered to march on discovery toGado-Saby, I set out at six o’clock in the morning, with two subaltern officers, three serjeants,[317]seven corporals, and fifty privates, besides a surgeon, and the noted free negro Gousary (whom we lost for three or four hours) and encamped near the banks of the same creek, not having been able to advance above six miles due west from its mouth.On the 21st we marched north for about seven or eight miles, without meeting with one drop ofwaterto alleviate our burning thirst, it being at this time in the very heart of the dry season, which this year was more scorching than I ever remembered it before.Having now changed my course to the north-east, and passed the quagmire, about noon the following day we marcheddrythrough the late fatal marsh, and an hour after we kept due west; when, falling in with a large field of yams, we demolished it; then proceeding forward, I encamped in the old settlement Cofaay, almost choked for want of water, not having met with any thing like it from the moment we sat out. Here, however, the negro slaves found means to procure us some, which, though stagnant and stinking like a kennel, we drank, straining it through our shirt-sleeves.During this march, I nevertheless took notice of the following trees, not yet described,viz.thecanavatepy, and theberklack, which are extremely fit for domestic use. The first is beautifully striped, black and brown, and has much the appearance of that usually called brazil, while it diffuses a smell in working not inferior to that of a carnation. The second is a pale red or pink colour, and is[318]equally good for almost every purpose. I was this day also presented with a singular kind of fruit, called here themarmalade box, being about the size of a large apple, rather oval, and all covered over with down. This fruit in the beginning is green, and when ripe it turns to a brown colour: the husk is hard, and by a certain motion opens in halves like a walnut, when the pulp appears like that of a medlar, being a sweet brown substance, and adhering to large kernels, which the inhabitants suck off with avidity; and from this it derives the above name. As I took no particular notice of the tree, I am sorry not to have it in my power to give any account of it whatsoever.The 23d I marched east from Cofaay, with a view of obtaining some fresh accounts of the rebels; and proceeded by a path of communication through cultivated fields, but fell in with nothing, some delightful views, and a large herd ofwarreehogs, excepted, which from the gnashing of their teeth and their stamping the ground before we saw them, we had actually mistaken for a straggling party of the enemy, and had consequently fresh-primed, and prepared to engage them.About noon we returned toGado-Saby, where, sitting down to rest from our fatigue, a tallold rebel negroappeared suddenly in the very midst of us, with a long white beard, a white cotton sheet tied about his shoulders, and a broken cutlass in his hand. Seeing this venerable apparition, I instantly started up, and forbidding my[319]people to fire at him, I civilly desired him to approach me, pledging myself that no person under my command should dare to hurt him; but that he should have every thing for his relief that I could afford.—He answered, “No, no, massera!” with the utmost deliberation, and shaking his head in an instant disappeared; while two of my men (contrary to my orders) fired after him, at the distance of perhaps six paces only, yet both missed their object, to my great satisfaction, he being a poor forsaken creature, that had been left behind the rest, gleaning a precarious subsistence from his own deserted fields which we had formerly destroyed. What renders the negroes so difficult to hit with a ball is this, that they never run straight forward, butzig-zag, like the forked lightning in the elements.I now, to fulfil my orders, once more ransacked Cofaay, with its adjoining plains, though with a sore heart, on account of the poor lonely old rebel. Here, having cut down several cotton and plantain-trees,okeroor althea, pigeon-pease, maize, pine-apples, and some rice, most of which had spontaneously sprung up again since our last devastation, I could not help leaving, beforea little shed, where was some fresh ashes and banana shells, a few rusk biscuits and a good piece of salt beef, as also a bottle of new rum, for the unfortunate solitary old man, this being his retreat; after which we once more encamped in the fields of Cofaay.Having so frequently mentionedrice, it may be expected[320]that I should say something concerning its growth and cultivation. It rises to the height of four feet, with furrowed stalks, and in appearance is not unlike wheat, but the stalks are knotted by intervals, and stronger; the leaves are like those of reeds: the seeds are produced somewhat like barley, and grow on each side of the spikes or ears alternately. Theoryzaor rice is cultivated in a warm and marshy soil; the grains are oval, and if good ought to be white, hard, and transparent. As for the use of this commodity for food, it is so well known, that I shall only say, that without this grain our poor marines must long ago have all been starved, particularly in August 1775; when, for all allowance, they gotperdayonerusk biscuit, andthreespikes of maize or Indian corn, forfive men; rice alone supplying, as I have intimated, the rest of the allowance.Having now fully compleated my commission, I, with my detachment, marched back for the Casseepore Creek, directing my course through the ruined fields of Gado-Saby, which were at present choked up to a perfect wilderness. Hence we kept first to the south-west, and then due south, after which we slung our hammocks near a former encampment. It is to be observed, that at this time all the marshes were nearly dry, on account of the hottest season I ever remember; while the fœtid smell occasioned by the quantities of dead warrapa fish, that had been deserted by the water, was an intolerable nuisance. From amongst these putrid fishes, our negro[321]slaves nevertheless selected the most tolerable, which, fried in the evening, served them for a delicate morsel.The morning following we again marched south-west by west, when we slung our hammocks not above four miles from the Cassepore Creek; and on the 26th (keeping south-south-west) we arrived in thegrand camp, much fatigued and emaciated, myself with a swelled face or erysipelas; when I gave in my journal to Lieutenant-Colonel de Borgnes, who commanded1: and I believe, upon my honour, that had we been ordered to remain twenty years on this expedition, with a possibility of saving our lives, the different diseases, plagues, and torments, would still have accumulated and varied without end.A detachment of fifty men was next sent out to reconnoitre at Jerusalem, &c.; and on the 6th of December the long-expectedrelief, consisting of three hundred and fifty men, arrived in the river Surinam from Holland, after a voyage of nine weeks and three days, of which they spent a fortnight at Plymouth.By these the unfortunate account was brought, that CaptainJochem Meyer(who had on board a considerable sum of money for our troops) was taken by the Moors, and carried with his crew toMorocco, where they were condemned to be slaves to the emperor2; and that the[322]shipParamaribo, CaptainSpruyt(being one of the vessels that carried over the sick in the beginning of August) was wrecked and entirely lost in the channel, on the rocks ofUshant; but that, by the exertions of some French fishing-boats, the crew and troops had all been saved, and carried into Brest, whence they had taken a fresh passage for the Texel; after which the Prince of Orange (who was ever distinguished for benevolence, and doing good and humane actions) ordered the officers and private men, above one hundred in number, to receive the following sums, by way of defraying their loss,viz.each marine received about four, the subalterns thirty, the captains forty, and MajorMedlar, who commanded, fifty pounds sterling. However, by this shipwreck, I lost all my three chests of sweetmeats and pickles, besides parrots, butterflies, monkies, &c. intended as presents to my friends in Europe, which indiscriminately went to the bottom, tomyno small mortification.Having now for above a month been lodged in a paltry hut, beaten by the wind and showers of rain (which began to set in unexpectedly); and being informed, that notwithstanding the arrival of the relief, we were still to stay some time longer in the woods, which broke many hearts; I, on the 12th of December, earnestly set about building for myself a comfortable house, and which was finished, without either nail or hammer, in less than six days, though it had two rooms, a piazza with rails, and a[323]small kitchen, besides a garden, in which I sowed, in pepper-cresses, the names of Joanna and John; while my next-door neighbour, who was my friend CaptainBolts, made shift to keep a goat, and thus we lived not altogether uncomfortably. Others kept hens and ducks, but not acockwas to be seen in the camp; for these, having first had all their tongues cut out to prevent their crowing (though to no purpose) had been since condemned to lose their heads. In short, our gentlemen built a row of very curious houses indeed, all projecting from the beech; while, on the opposite side, above a hundred green huts being constructed to receive the new-come troops, the whole together formed no contemptible street, though it must be confessed its inhabitants were little better than scare-crows.What was most remarkable in my own habitation, however, was its entry, which was not by the door, nor yet by the window, but only by the roof, where I crept in and out, allowing absolutely no other admittance; and by this contrivance alone I was effectually guarded from those frequent visitors who smelt my pancakes, and used to make too free with my eggs and bacon, besides interrupting me while I was drawing, writing, or reading. Upon the whole, I must acknowledge, that this encampment was agreeable enough (more so as being on elevated ground), had it not been for the pestilential damps and mephitic vapours that exhale constantly from the earth, and had already sent numbers to the other world.[324]During this short space of tranquillity I constructed in miniature my cottage in which I lived at the Hope, on an oblong board of about eighteen inches by twelve, which being entirely made of the manicole-tree and branches, like the original, was esteemed a master-piece; and this I sent as a present to my friend Mr. de Graaff at Paramaribo, who since placed it in a cabinet of natural curiosities at Amsterdam. As I am upon this subject, I am tempted to present the reader with a view of two of my habitations, the one that at the Hope, where I spent such happy days; and the other temporary, such as in the woods we constructed to be sheltered from the weather:—the first may be considered as the emblem of domestic felicity; the second of rustick hardship and fatigue.The troops of theSocietyof Surinam, who had been encamped at the Wana Creek (the rainy season prematurely setting in) now wisely broke up, and on the 26th passing by us, rowed down the river Cottica on their way to the plantations in the Pirica Creek; but as for us, we were as usual condemned to linger in the Cassipore camp, while Fourgeoud still kept snug at Paramaribo. With the above officers we received intelligence that a few more rebels had been taken at the Marawina; while we ourselves daily continued to send out patroles to the right and left, but met with nothing to capture.Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.Rural Retreat—The Cottage—London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.At last, on the 29th, six barges came to an anchor before our encampment, with part of the fresh troops that were arrived from Holland for our relief; which I could not[325]help viewing with compassion, and not without a cause, many of them being already attacked with the scurvy, and other loathsome diseases. We however sent for bricks, and built an oven to bake fresh bread, &c. and did all that was in our power to comfort them: having received also a supply of wine for my own use, I gave a hearty welcome to all the officers, to cheer their spirits; but this ill-fated liquor had an effect far different from what I intended on one of our captains,P——tby name, who, from some misunderstanding, challenged me to fight him instantly. Having retired to some distance from the camp, and drawing our sabres, he burst out into an immoderate fit of laughter, and throwing away his weapon, desired me “to cut away; but that for his part he had such a real regard for me, that he felt it was impossible for him to make any resistance:” after which, catching me in both his arms, he gave me so hearty an embrace, that he had nearly stifled me, and I could not without the greatest difficulty get disentangled. Being recovered from my surprize, I could not help smiling in my turn; and after a friendly reprimand re-conducted my valiant opponent to the company, where we closed the year with the greatest mirth and conviviality.A confounded tumble through my hammock having ushered in the morning of 1777, we went to the commanding officer of the camp, to pay him the compliments of the season; where I was shown thephilander,[326]orMexican oppossum, here calledawaree, which had been just taken alive, and with all its young.I have already mentioned the murine oppossum; thus shall now only describe such peculiarities as I was able to remark, and which were indeed but few in number, the animal being in the bottom of an empty hogshead when I saw it, its biting preventing me to take it in my hand.—In the first place, it was much larger than the former, this being the size of an over-grown Norway rat: the colour was a yellowish grey all over, and the belly and limbs a dirty white; the muzzle was more blunt than that of the murine oppossum, with long whiskers; its eyes not black but transparent, with a black ring round the iris; the tail extremely long, thick, and hairy, particularly near the root, and its smell was very offensive. This oppossum had a pouch under its belly, formed by the folding of the skin, which is hairy within as well as without; from this pouch I saw the young ones (five or six in number) several times run out, when the mother was not disturbed, and as often run into it upon the smallest noise, or shaking the hogshead.—As I pitied the poor creature, after its having been so long tormented, I suddenly kicked up the hogshead, when the oppossum with all its young escaped, and ran swiftly up a very high tree before Colonel Seyburg’s cottage, and there it hung by the tail to one of the branches; but as it is a dreadful destroyer of poultry, and the Colonel apprehended that[327]it would kill every one of his fowls, he ordered it, to my sorrow, to be shot down, with all its young ones.—The Virginian oppossum I never saw; and my only further remark on this shall be, that its activity very much surprized me, as many writers have denied it this quality. For further particulars, I refer the reader to the murine or mouse oppossum above-mentioned, as in most circumstances these two animals perfectly agree.Among the destroyers of poultry, there is another animal in this country, known by the name ofquacy-quacy: some call it the racoon, but which properly is thecoatimondi, or Brasilian weasel; though many people, with some degree of propriety, compare it to a fox, as it is often able to carry away a goose or a turkey, and is also extremely cunning. This creature is sometimes near two feet long, the body shaped like that of a dog, and commonly black, or rather dark brown, though many are of a bright bay colour: the tail is long, hairy, and annulated with black, and a deep buff; the breast and belly are a dirty white; the head is a light brown, with long jaws, and a black snout that projects upwards for near two inches, and is moveable like that of the tapira; the eyes are small, the ears are short and rounded, while on each side a curved stripe connects them and the muzzle; the legs of the coati are short, especially the foremost; the feet are very long, with five toes on each, and long claws, while the animal, like the bear, always walks on the heel, and stands on those behind. No quadrupeds (the monkies[328]not excepted) are better climbers on the trees, where these creatures commit dreadful ravages amongst birds-nests, every small animal which they can conquer becoming their prey. In the poultry-yards in particular they commit great devastations, on which account every contrivance that can be invented is put in practice to destroy them.As I am upon the subject of animals, before I leave the woods I must describe another creature, which inhabits them, and which (though more than twice the size of the last) lives chiefly on ants; this is thegreat ant-eater, orant-bear, called also thetamanoir, and by the Spaniards theosa palmera. The body of this animal is covered over with very long shaggy hair; on the back and belly it is black, and on the neck and sides a grey or yellowish white; the head is extremely long and slender, of a light bay colour, with very small eyes; the ears are short and round, and the mouth (which has no teeth) just large enough to admit its tongue; the tail is of an enormous size, with very long black hair, something like that of a horse: with this extraordinary tail, when asleep (which is generally in the day time, or during a hard shower of rain) the animal covers itself like a squirrel; at other times he trails it along, and sweeps the ground. The limbs are slender, but covered with long hair; the hindmost legs being shortest and black, with five claws; those before are of a dirty white, with but four claws, the two middle claws being of an extraordinary length.[329]The Tamandua, & Coati-Mondi.Barlow sc.The Tamandua, & Coati-Mondi.London, Published Dec.r2nd, 1793, by J. Johnson, St. Pauls Church Yard.The great ant-eater is a very bad walker, resting always on the heel of his awkward long feet, like the coati and bear; but he is a better climber, and so good a fighter, that no dog will hunt him, since whatever animal he catches between his fore claws (nay even the jaguar or tiger) he will not release while he has life. His food, as I have said, consists of ants, which he takes in the following manner:—when he comes to an ant-hillock, he unfolds his slender tongue, which is about twenty inches long, most exactly resembling a worm; this being covered over with a clammy matter or saliva, the ants get upon it in great numbers, and by drawing it into his mouth, he swallows thousands all alive, and renews the operation, till no more are to be found, when he marches in quest of another mountain, and in the same manner destroys the unwary inhabitants. He also climbs in quest of wood-lice and wild honey; but should he meet with little success in his devastations, he is able to fast a considerable time without the smallest inconvenience. It is said that the great ant-bear is tameable, and that then he will pick crumbs of bread, and small pieces of flesh; also that when killed, he affords good food to the Indians and negroes, the last of which I have seen devour his flesh with pleasure. Some ant-bears measure, from the snout to the tip of the tail, no less than eight feet.—See the two last-described animals in the plate annexed.A small species of ant-bear, called thetamandua, is also found in Surinam, though not very common. This[330]differs from the former in having twenty toes, the head being thicker in proportion, and the tail smaller, which is variegated with bands of black and yellowish white.—A lesser species still is called thefourmillier, which, however, never came within my observation.—But to proceed.On the 3d, six more barges with troops came up from Paramaribo, which compleated the number of three hundred and fifty men arrived from Holland. Amongst these, being informed there was a CaptainCharles Small, come from the Scots Brigade, this gentleman having exchanged with poor Ensign Macdonald (who was sent over sick) I instantly sculled down the river alone in a canoe to meet him, and offer him my assistance. I had no sooner got on board his barge, than I found him suspended in a hammock with a burning fever. He, not knowing me on account of my dress, which was no better than that of the most ragged sailor, asked me what I wanted; but when he saw in me his poor friendStedman, changed from a stout sprightly young fellow, to a miserable debilitated tatterdemallion, he grasped me by the hand, without uttering a word, and burst into tears: which agitation, while it increased his illness, shewed the goodness of his heart to me, more than any thing he could have uttered on the subject.—“D—n your blubbering, Charles!” said I; “turn out of this stinking cockle-shell: I’ll presently cure thee;”—and getting him hoisted into my canoe, I brought him on shore to my own habitation, but with[331]the greatest difficulty, being obliged to thrust him through a crevice made on purpose, as the hole in the roof was not calculated even for any healthy person’s admittance, myself excepted. Having here slung his hammock near to my own, and boiled some water, I treated him with warm grog and a toasted biscuit, and he became much better from that very moment. He now acquainted me that one of his men was drowned on the passage; and that Colonel Fourgeoud having entertained the officers with a ball after their landing, at which one of his cooks, and a couple of meagre marines, had been the fidlers, he concluded his illness to be the consequence of too much dancing. A little after this, Colonel Fourgeoud himself appearing in person in the camp amongst us, he soon, however, entertained us with musick of a different kind; which was no less than the discouraging news, that by the newly-arrived corps of officers several of us had lost our rank (both in the regiment and in the army) after parching above four years in a burning sun, toiling ourselves almost to death, and subsisting upon stinking meat and black rusk. To add to this grievance, while the above gentlemen usurped our preferment, we were, instead of being relieved, ordered to continue in the woods, in order to teach them their duty.During the above unpleasing probation, the major’s duty again fell to my share; which was at this time extremely disagreeable, being obliged daily to chastise the men, many of whom pilfered the magazine to alleviate[332]hunger, having been without the article of bread forsevendays, the oven being dropped to pieces. Amongst others, one poor fellow was nearly flogged to death for havingborrowedone of the colonel’s Bologna sausages; for, let it be remembered, that our commander in chief, whatever might be the distress and hardships of the rest, never forgot to supporthis owndignity, by at least half a dozen of stout negroes loaded with bacon hams, Bologna sausages, bullocks tongues, tea, coffee, sugar, Madeira wine, Holland’s gin, &c.—Courage may prompt, but, ebbing out his strength,Mere unsupported man must yield at length:Shrunk with dry famine, and with toils declin’d,The drooping body will desert the mind;But built anew with health-conferring fare,With limbs and soul untam’d,hetires a war.At length, on the 8th, a barge arrived, not only with a supply of salt beef and rusk, but a bullock and two hogs, as a present from Mr.Felman, who, accompanied by his lady, &c. came actually on a visit to Fourgeoud, in this very strange encampment. The above animals being immediately killed, they were distributed among four hundred people; so that it may well be conceived the shares, though sweet, were not very large, after which the company walked about to view our different habitations. Being arrived at my dwelling, Fourgeoud led them round and round, but seeing no door to get in, he called out, “Nobody at home?” When[333]I instantly thrust my head through the thatch, with a pancake in my hand, and offered to haul in the ladies; but this they civilly declined. I never saw Fourgeoud laugh so much in my life. As soon, however, as he was able to recover his gravity, he exclaimed, “Sacre Dieu! Il faut être Stedman,—il faut être original comme lui;” and re-conducted the company to his own apartment, where he gave me an invitation to follow them. Indeed, when Captain Small and I went out, we generally spent our time in a beautiful savannah, where we had erected a green shed, to be free in conversation, and called itRanelagh; here we caroused and cracked a bottle in private, till we could crack no longer, having lived so well that in a little time more than a week my cheese and bacon hams quite disappeared, and not a drop of wine or rum was left in the flasks.—After this he, as well as I, were obliged to live on short allowance; while Small had the satisfaction, however, to see his ship-mates do the same: who, not being acquainted with the œconomy necessary in a forest, had made all their flour into plum-pudding, and were already obliged to break their teeth on a piece of rye rusk.In short, so early as the 12th, one hundred and fifty of these newly-arrived people were already ordered to march; when, by the way of seasoning them, besides heavy accoutrements and a hammock, they had orders each man to carry a stuffed knapsack on his back. Of this party, my friend Small happened to be one, who being as corpulent asSir John Falstaff, and I having accoutred him in the above[334]manner, the poor fellow could hardly walk at all; till declaring to Fourgeoud that I must roll him along like a hogshead, he got leave to be disengaged from a part of his unweildy encumbrances.Every thing being ready, this loaded detachment now faced to the right, and set out, with Colonel Fourgeoud at their head, for the river Marawina: and while I must here acknowledge that this chief was now become to myself as civil as I could expect or desire, yet justice compels me to add, that to all others he remained just as inflexible a tyrant as ever I had known him; which character he unhappily seemed to think incompatible with his rank.During their absence, I crossed the water, and cut down a cabbage-tree on the other side of the river Cottica, not only for the cabbage, but for the sake of thegroe-groeworms, with which I knew it would swarm in about a fortnight.Straying here through the woods with my black boy Quaco, I met with the following trees, still left for description,viz.thecedar, thebrown-heart, and thebullet-tree. The first, though it bears that name, is different from the cedars of Lebanon, which grow in a pyramidical form. The Surinam cedar, however, grows also to a great height, but is principally esteemed because the wood is never eaten by the worms or other insects, on account of its great bitterness; it has also a most agreeable smell, and is therefore used in preference to most others for making chests, cupboards, lockers, and all sorts[335]of joinery; besides which, it is employed in making the tent-barges and other boats. The colour of the timber is a pale orange: it is both hard and light, and from the trunk exudes a gum (not unlike the gum Arabic) which is transparent, and diffuses a most agreeable flavour.Thebrown-heartis in hardness of the same consistency as the purple-heart, and the green-heart already mentioned, and is shaped into heavy timber for the same purposes, such as constructing sugar-mills, &c.: the colour of this wood is a beautiful brown.—The other is thebullet-tree; this tree grows sometimes to sixty feet, but is not so thick in proportion as many others: the bark is grey and smooth, the timber brown, variegated or powdered with white specks. No wood in the forest is equal to this in weight, being heavier than sea-water, and so very durable, that when exposed to the open air neither rain or sun have any effect on it; for this reason, besides its other various uses, it is split into shingles to roof the houses, instead of slates or tiles, which, as I formerly mentioned, would be too heavy and too hot. Theseshinglesare sold for £. 4 sterling a thousand at Paramaribo, and continue sometimes twenty-four years before they are renewed.I ought to mention also a kind of mahogany, which is found in the woods of Guiana, called theducolla-bolla, and which is of a superior quality to any which is imported here, being of a deeper red colour, and of a finer, more equal, and compact grain; also of greater hardness[336]and weight, and thus capable of receiving a more elegant polish.About this period the whole camp was infested with a kind ofwood-lice, so called in Surinam, but with more propriety they might be termed white ants, resembling them almost in every particular, except that the ants dwell in the ground, and these build their nests on the trunks of trees: these nests, being black, round, and irregular, are not unlike the woolly head of a negro, but sometimes as large as the half of a hogshead, and composed of a rust-coloured incrustated earth, which is extremely hard, and impenetrable to the weather. In this mass, which internally consists of innumerable cross roads, each the size of a goose-quill, they live together in myriads, whence they sally forth, and commit their depredations, unequalled by any other infest in Guiana, piercing through the hardest wood, leather, linen, or whatever comes in their way. They also frequently get into the houses by an incrusted covered road made against the wall, resembling the half of a sliding pencil, which is with its windings sometimes several hundred feet long: if this is not destroyed upon its first appearance (which must be done by arsenick or the oil of turpentine) as they crumble every thing to dust, whole dwellings will be entirely demolished, and come down to the ground in rubbish. These insects (notwithstanding their fetid abominable smell) are reckoned a very good food for poultry, who are said to thrive on them even better than on Indian[337]corn. I ought not to forget their extreme industry in repairing their habitation when injured, and their wonderful power of propagation, which (let ever such numbers be destroyed) brings them in a very short time to their former unaccountable multiplicity.To another pest we were also frequently subjected in this camp, and this was no less than clouds offlying lice, which covered our clothes sometimes so thick, that they absolutely gave them the appearance of grey cloth. This was owing to the shedding of their wings, which, being four in number; they generally left behind them after they alighted, and being thus without the means of flying off again, they remained on our jackets; except however thus covering us all over, they caused us no other inconvenience. It is the opinion of some naturalists, that these flying lice are no other than the above-mentioned wood-lice, which when they become old get wings, leave their nests, and fly about, like some other ants, both in Europe and in America.About this time the discipline was peculiarly strict in the camp, so that whoever made the very least noise was most severely punished, nay, threatened to be shot; and even the sentinels were ordered to challenge rounds and patrols by no other sound thanwhistling, which was answered in the same manner.On the 18th, one of these being condemned to be flogged for speaking loud, I however found means (Fourgeoud not being yet returned) to get him pardoned, after[338]he was already stripped. The following day, nevertheless, evinced that I could punish when things were carried too far; for seeing a large piece of boiled pork (about two pounds weight) flying past me with great velocity, and finding it was thrown by one marine to another, while they had got a quarrel, I instantly ordered them to pick it up, and (having cut it in two) I stood over them myself till they swallowed every morsel of it in my presence, sand and all, without either bread or drink: which they since declared was such a punishment as surpassed my conception, and they should remember it to the end of their lives.On the 23d, I received from town a well-timed supply of wine and fresh provisions; and the same day Colonel Fourgeoud, with his detachment, arrived from the Marawina. During this trip, our active commander had again discovered and destroyed fifty-nine houses, besides three fields of provisions. This certainly gave the finishing blow to the rebel negroes, since, having no further supply on this side the water, they entirely abandoned it, and went to settle in the French colonyCayenne. In this hard though necessary service the men had suffered prodigiously, especially those newly arrived; numbers of whom were carried in hammocks on poles, while near thirty were left sick at the Marawina, and my friend Small was at least one stone lighter.At this time, in the camp hospital, above one hundred were also dangerously ill. Nothing was heard but sighs[339]and the shrieking of thestrixor Guiana owl, which for ever kept them company during the dismal nights. Cramps, so common in Surinam, also infested those that were able to do duty; and there reigned a general melancholy all around.————“The circling sky,The wide enlivening air, is full of fate;And, struck by turns, in solitary pangsThey fall, untended and unmourn’d.”Here one man was to be seen covered over with bloody boils from head to foot; there another led along by two of his comrades in a deep lethargy, who, in spite of pinching and pricking, dosed into eternity; a third, swelled by the dropsy, and imploring the surgeon in vain to tap off the water (who generally answered that it was too late) was left to expire by suffocation. In the hospital some were observed clasping their hands, and praying aloud to God to be relieved; while others lay at their side in a frenzy fever, tearing their hair, blaspheming Providence, and cursing the day that they were born.—In short, all was dreadful beyond description, by the pen of aMiltonexcepted.————“Sad noisome dark,A lazar-house it seem’d, wherein were laidNumbers of all, diseas’d: all maladiesOf ghastly spasm or racking torture; qualmsOf heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,[340]Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs;Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,And moon-struck madness; pining atrophy,Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums:Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; despairTended the sick, busiest from couch to couch.And over them triumphant Death his dartShook, but delay’d to strike, though oft invok’dWith vows, as their chief good and final hope.”From day to day mortality now gained ground, while by some accident, to compleat the distress, part of the camp got on fire; but this was fortunately extinguished without any material ill consequences, by the activity and exertions of the poor negroes.On the 26thmymisery, however, drew towards an end, when, to my astonishment, and without my asking it, Colonel Fourgeoud gave me a leave of absence, if I chose it, to accompany him, and stay henceforth at Paramaribo; which, without hesitation, I most joyfully accepted. Thus, having made my friend Captain Small a present of myhouse, myRanelagh, and all myfresh provisions, besides entertained him and some other officers on a dish of mountain-cabbage, and mygroe-groeworms, which were just come to perfection, besides a hearty glass of wine, I took my last adieu from them all; and at midnight, with Colonel Fourgeoud, rowed down the River Cottica in an elegant barge with ten oars, in company with two more of his officers.—And now farewell once more, ye shady[341]woods, thou pleasing gloomy forest, pregnant with so many wonders, and so many plagues, and which, in the opinion of so many sufferers, even surpassed theten plagues of Egypt!3————“I have sent among you the pestilence after themanner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword—I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto yournostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.”The boat being shoved off, Colonel Fourgeoud now declared to us, that having ransacked the forest in every direction, and driven the rebels over the Marawina inCayenne, he was determined no more to return to the woods, but in a few weeks to draw the long and painful expedition to a conclusion.Now, reader, it remains with you to acknowledge that I have not led youabout the bush, butthrough it, with indefatigable perseverance: the more so, when it is to be considered that in the middle of the above hurry and distress, under which so many have sunk, I have often been deprived ofpen,ink, andpaperto make proper annotations; which last defect I have even more than once supplied by writing with a pencil on my cartridges, or on a bleachedbone: had this not been unavoidably the case, more accuracy and many more remarks might with[342]justice have been expected, which one need never be at a loss to make in a country so replete with different objects for speculation.Having rowed all night, and breakfasted at the new cordon (which was begun to be cut not far from our former post Devil’s Harwar) on a dram and a biscuit, we came about noon to the estateLapaix, where we dined with the planter, MonsieurRivieres; after which Fourgeoud, with his adjutant, proceeded on their voyage to town, while I with another officer went to the sea-side at the back of the plantation to shoot snipes and curlews.On our march thither and back again, passing two posts of the Society, the flag was hoisted, refreshments offered us, and every other civility shewn us that was in the power of the commanding officers. In shooting, however, we had very little sport, except that of killing somesnipes, which flew in such clouds that they almost darkened the sky; so that by only firing from time to time above our heads at random, we brought down scores at every shot, but they were of such a diminutive species, that they were scarcely worth the picking up. We might have here killed birds of greater size, such asspoon-bills,cranes,red curlews, andwild ducksof many kinds, had we not unluckily been cut off from the banks on which they were scattered, by the sea overflowing the quicksands betwixt us and them. They afforded us, nevertheless, a most delightful view, the beech appearing at a distance like a sheet of scarlet and purple, embroidered with every other colour.[343]The Spoon Bill or Shoveler.The Spoon Bill or Shoveler.The Jabiru, or Crane of Guiana.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.Theshoveleror spoon-bill (which has some affinity to the cranes) is about the size of a goose: the legs are not very long, and it is web-footed but for a little way between the toes: the feathers are a beautiful rose-colour, though they are white when young; but the bill is truly remarkable in this bird, being flat, much broader before than at any other part, and circular, in some degree resembling a spoon, from which it takes its name. They are said to feed on frogs, rats, and lizards, yet fish is evidently their principal nourishment, from their frequenting the sea-side, and having a fishy taste when they are killed.Thecraneorjabiruof Surinam, I can best compare to a stork, of which it has much the appearance, but is larger. The body of this bird is milk white, but the prime feathers of the wings and tail are black: the limbs and toes are excessively long; but I observed one peculiarity which distinguishes it from all other birds,viz.that it frequently sits upon the heel: the neck and bill are of an uncommon length, the latter being strong, and a little hooked at the point. The head of the crane or jabiru is perfectly black, on account of which, among the Dutch, it obtained the appellation of anegro-cop. It frequents the coast, like the others above mentioned, and lives entirely on fish: this bird is easily tamed. I have seen a couple of them in the poultry-yard belonging to Colonel Fourgeoud.—(See both these species of sea-fowls in theplate annexed, where the last is represented sitting in the posture I have described.)[344]To delineate the different species of wild ducks that are in Surinam with any degree of accuracy, is a talk which I acknowledge to be far beyond my reach. Suffice it therefore to say, that in general they are not very large, but adorned with the most splendid tints and most beautiful plumage that can be imagined, particularly those they call thecawereerkee, thesookooroorkee, and theannakee, which last are the smallest. No water-fowl of any kind, without exception, can be more delicate eating than all those I have just mentioned; while some of them are tameable, and frequently seen amongst the poultry on the plantations.Having the following day the opportunity of a boat, I prosecuted my voyage down the Cottica River till I came to Paramaribo, where in fine spirits and perfect health (however strange) I arrived that very same evening, and where I was most heartily welcomed by my many friends with the warmest congratulations on my still existing, after having escaped so many dangers, and been so long deprived of every comfort—torn by thorns, stung by insects—starved, tormented, emaciated, and wounded—often without clothes, health, rest, money, refreshments, medicines, or friends;—and after having lost so many of my brave companions, who lay buried in the dust.——Thus ended my seventh andlastcampaign in the forest of Guiana.[345]

On the 10th of November, in company with several other gentlemen, I now once more set out in a tent barge for the encampment at theCasseeporeCreek; and this day the whole colony was full of smoke, the woods having taken fire near the sea side by some unknown accident. On our passage we met ColonelTexier, who came from the postVredenburgh, at the Marawina, with a detachment; and assured us, that since the blow we gave to the rebels atGado-Saby, they were mostly fled to the other side of that great river, where they found refuge amongst the French, who were settled inCayenne; he had, however, taken a woman, and lieutenantKeentook two men, and killed two more, while the two new black volunteer companies supported the honour of their colours, which they had received with so much ceremony from the governor, by occasionally bringing in captives from the sea shore behind Paramaribo, in which they were assisted by the Indians, who had voluntarily fought and defeated the enemy[315]there, more than once. Thus every thing promised fair to crown our endeavours with success, and finally to re-establish safety and tranquillity in the colony.

On our passage we stopped at the estateSaardam, the proprietor of which (by a late marriage) was our Lieutenant ColonelDes Borgnes. I found here an American sailor who came to load molasses, and having an inclination to try the skill of the new planter (and his overseer) in rum, I desired the tar to colour a couple of gallons ofkill-devilmade at the very same plantation, and bring them ashore as rum brought fromAntigua. He did so, and they gave him in exchange for it a six gallon keg of the very same spirits; declaring it was much better than their own, and then drank the contents in punch, to my very great entertainment. The sailor said he should colour the six gallons also, and did not doubt of loading his boat to the water’s edge before he reached Paramaribo.—Such, in all countries, is the force of prejudice.

Having been very well entertained atSaardam, we set forward, and arrived safe in the encampment at the Casseepore Creek, in Cottica River, on the 13th; where, in stepping ashore, being without shoes and stockings, I narrowly escaped being bitten by aland-scorpion. This insect is of the size of a small cray-fish, and has an oval body; its colour is like that of soot, and it is jointed in moveable rings: it has eight legs, divided by joints, and two jointed claws projecting from the head, appearing like part of the body, with such small eyes that they are[316]hardly perceptible: the tail is formed by seven globular divisions like beads, which terminate in a double sting; this it bends over its back, to protect its young ones from the attacks of other insects: for to the creature’s back the young resort, after being hatched from eggs like pin-heads, in a small web spun by the female. The sting of the land-scorpion is not accounted fatal, but occasions a violent pain, and throws the patient into a fever: it is said they change their skins, as crabs do their shells. The scorpions generally frequent old trees and old furniture, and are often found amongst dry rubbish and faded grass.

Almost the first accidents that I saw here was a poor fellow, a marine, going to bathe in the river, who was instantly snapt away by a largealligator. I no sooner beheld him sink and disappear, than having stripped, I actually dived after the poor man, by the help of a long oar, which a negro held perpendicular under water for the purpose, constantly taking care to keep all my limbs in motion. However I found him not, and tugging the oar as a signal to pull it up, the fellow, by miscomprehension, pushed both it and myself down with such violence, that we did not rise again to the surface till near the middle of the stream, which carried down the oar, while I regained the shore by swimming and very great exertion.

On the 20th, being now once more ordered to march on discovery toGado-Saby, I set out at six o’clock in the morning, with two subaltern officers, three serjeants,[317]seven corporals, and fifty privates, besides a surgeon, and the noted free negro Gousary (whom we lost for three or four hours) and encamped near the banks of the same creek, not having been able to advance above six miles due west from its mouth.

On the 21st we marched north for about seven or eight miles, without meeting with one drop ofwaterto alleviate our burning thirst, it being at this time in the very heart of the dry season, which this year was more scorching than I ever remembered it before.

Having now changed my course to the north-east, and passed the quagmire, about noon the following day we marcheddrythrough the late fatal marsh, and an hour after we kept due west; when, falling in with a large field of yams, we demolished it; then proceeding forward, I encamped in the old settlement Cofaay, almost choked for want of water, not having met with any thing like it from the moment we sat out. Here, however, the negro slaves found means to procure us some, which, though stagnant and stinking like a kennel, we drank, straining it through our shirt-sleeves.

During this march, I nevertheless took notice of the following trees, not yet described,viz.thecanavatepy, and theberklack, which are extremely fit for domestic use. The first is beautifully striped, black and brown, and has much the appearance of that usually called brazil, while it diffuses a smell in working not inferior to that of a carnation. The second is a pale red or pink colour, and is[318]equally good for almost every purpose. I was this day also presented with a singular kind of fruit, called here themarmalade box, being about the size of a large apple, rather oval, and all covered over with down. This fruit in the beginning is green, and when ripe it turns to a brown colour: the husk is hard, and by a certain motion opens in halves like a walnut, when the pulp appears like that of a medlar, being a sweet brown substance, and adhering to large kernels, which the inhabitants suck off with avidity; and from this it derives the above name. As I took no particular notice of the tree, I am sorry not to have it in my power to give any account of it whatsoever.

The 23d I marched east from Cofaay, with a view of obtaining some fresh accounts of the rebels; and proceeded by a path of communication through cultivated fields, but fell in with nothing, some delightful views, and a large herd ofwarreehogs, excepted, which from the gnashing of their teeth and their stamping the ground before we saw them, we had actually mistaken for a straggling party of the enemy, and had consequently fresh-primed, and prepared to engage them.

About noon we returned toGado-Saby, where, sitting down to rest from our fatigue, a tallold rebel negroappeared suddenly in the very midst of us, with a long white beard, a white cotton sheet tied about his shoulders, and a broken cutlass in his hand. Seeing this venerable apparition, I instantly started up, and forbidding my[319]people to fire at him, I civilly desired him to approach me, pledging myself that no person under my command should dare to hurt him; but that he should have every thing for his relief that I could afford.—He answered, “No, no, massera!” with the utmost deliberation, and shaking his head in an instant disappeared; while two of my men (contrary to my orders) fired after him, at the distance of perhaps six paces only, yet both missed their object, to my great satisfaction, he being a poor forsaken creature, that had been left behind the rest, gleaning a precarious subsistence from his own deserted fields which we had formerly destroyed. What renders the negroes so difficult to hit with a ball is this, that they never run straight forward, butzig-zag, like the forked lightning in the elements.

I now, to fulfil my orders, once more ransacked Cofaay, with its adjoining plains, though with a sore heart, on account of the poor lonely old rebel. Here, having cut down several cotton and plantain-trees,okeroor althea, pigeon-pease, maize, pine-apples, and some rice, most of which had spontaneously sprung up again since our last devastation, I could not help leaving, beforea little shed, where was some fresh ashes and banana shells, a few rusk biscuits and a good piece of salt beef, as also a bottle of new rum, for the unfortunate solitary old man, this being his retreat; after which we once more encamped in the fields of Cofaay.

Having so frequently mentionedrice, it may be expected[320]that I should say something concerning its growth and cultivation. It rises to the height of four feet, with furrowed stalks, and in appearance is not unlike wheat, but the stalks are knotted by intervals, and stronger; the leaves are like those of reeds: the seeds are produced somewhat like barley, and grow on each side of the spikes or ears alternately. Theoryzaor rice is cultivated in a warm and marshy soil; the grains are oval, and if good ought to be white, hard, and transparent. As for the use of this commodity for food, it is so well known, that I shall only say, that without this grain our poor marines must long ago have all been starved, particularly in August 1775; when, for all allowance, they gotperdayonerusk biscuit, andthreespikes of maize or Indian corn, forfive men; rice alone supplying, as I have intimated, the rest of the allowance.

Having now fully compleated my commission, I, with my detachment, marched back for the Casseepore Creek, directing my course through the ruined fields of Gado-Saby, which were at present choked up to a perfect wilderness. Hence we kept first to the south-west, and then due south, after which we slung our hammocks near a former encampment. It is to be observed, that at this time all the marshes were nearly dry, on account of the hottest season I ever remember; while the fœtid smell occasioned by the quantities of dead warrapa fish, that had been deserted by the water, was an intolerable nuisance. From amongst these putrid fishes, our negro[321]slaves nevertheless selected the most tolerable, which, fried in the evening, served them for a delicate morsel.

The morning following we again marched south-west by west, when we slung our hammocks not above four miles from the Cassepore Creek; and on the 26th (keeping south-south-west) we arrived in thegrand camp, much fatigued and emaciated, myself with a swelled face or erysipelas; when I gave in my journal to Lieutenant-Colonel de Borgnes, who commanded1: and I believe, upon my honour, that had we been ordered to remain twenty years on this expedition, with a possibility of saving our lives, the different diseases, plagues, and torments, would still have accumulated and varied without end.

A detachment of fifty men was next sent out to reconnoitre at Jerusalem, &c.; and on the 6th of December the long-expectedrelief, consisting of three hundred and fifty men, arrived in the river Surinam from Holland, after a voyage of nine weeks and three days, of which they spent a fortnight at Plymouth.

By these the unfortunate account was brought, that CaptainJochem Meyer(who had on board a considerable sum of money for our troops) was taken by the Moors, and carried with his crew toMorocco, where they were condemned to be slaves to the emperor2; and that the[322]shipParamaribo, CaptainSpruyt(being one of the vessels that carried over the sick in the beginning of August) was wrecked and entirely lost in the channel, on the rocks ofUshant; but that, by the exertions of some French fishing-boats, the crew and troops had all been saved, and carried into Brest, whence they had taken a fresh passage for the Texel; after which the Prince of Orange (who was ever distinguished for benevolence, and doing good and humane actions) ordered the officers and private men, above one hundred in number, to receive the following sums, by way of defraying their loss,viz.each marine received about four, the subalterns thirty, the captains forty, and MajorMedlar, who commanded, fifty pounds sterling. However, by this shipwreck, I lost all my three chests of sweetmeats and pickles, besides parrots, butterflies, monkies, &c. intended as presents to my friends in Europe, which indiscriminately went to the bottom, tomyno small mortification.

Having now for above a month been lodged in a paltry hut, beaten by the wind and showers of rain (which began to set in unexpectedly); and being informed, that notwithstanding the arrival of the relief, we were still to stay some time longer in the woods, which broke many hearts; I, on the 12th of December, earnestly set about building for myself a comfortable house, and which was finished, without either nail or hammer, in less than six days, though it had two rooms, a piazza with rails, and a[323]small kitchen, besides a garden, in which I sowed, in pepper-cresses, the names of Joanna and John; while my next-door neighbour, who was my friend CaptainBolts, made shift to keep a goat, and thus we lived not altogether uncomfortably. Others kept hens and ducks, but not acockwas to be seen in the camp; for these, having first had all their tongues cut out to prevent their crowing (though to no purpose) had been since condemned to lose their heads. In short, our gentlemen built a row of very curious houses indeed, all projecting from the beech; while, on the opposite side, above a hundred green huts being constructed to receive the new-come troops, the whole together formed no contemptible street, though it must be confessed its inhabitants were little better than scare-crows.

What was most remarkable in my own habitation, however, was its entry, which was not by the door, nor yet by the window, but only by the roof, where I crept in and out, allowing absolutely no other admittance; and by this contrivance alone I was effectually guarded from those frequent visitors who smelt my pancakes, and used to make too free with my eggs and bacon, besides interrupting me while I was drawing, writing, or reading. Upon the whole, I must acknowledge, that this encampment was agreeable enough (more so as being on elevated ground), had it not been for the pestilential damps and mephitic vapours that exhale constantly from the earth, and had already sent numbers to the other world.[324]

During this short space of tranquillity I constructed in miniature my cottage in which I lived at the Hope, on an oblong board of about eighteen inches by twelve, which being entirely made of the manicole-tree and branches, like the original, was esteemed a master-piece; and this I sent as a present to my friend Mr. de Graaff at Paramaribo, who since placed it in a cabinet of natural curiosities at Amsterdam. As I am upon this subject, I am tempted to present the reader with a view of two of my habitations, the one that at the Hope, where I spent such happy days; and the other temporary, such as in the woods we constructed to be sheltered from the weather:—the first may be considered as the emblem of domestic felicity; the second of rustick hardship and fatigue.

The troops of theSocietyof Surinam, who had been encamped at the Wana Creek (the rainy season prematurely setting in) now wisely broke up, and on the 26th passing by us, rowed down the river Cottica on their way to the plantations in the Pirica Creek; but as for us, we were as usual condemned to linger in the Cassipore camp, while Fourgeoud still kept snug at Paramaribo. With the above officers we received intelligence that a few more rebels had been taken at the Marawina; while we ourselves daily continued to send out patroles to the right and left, but met with nothing to capture.

Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.Rural Retreat—The Cottage—London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.

Rural Retreat—The Cottage—

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

At last, on the 29th, six barges came to an anchor before our encampment, with part of the fresh troops that were arrived from Holland for our relief; which I could not[325]help viewing with compassion, and not without a cause, many of them being already attacked with the scurvy, and other loathsome diseases. We however sent for bricks, and built an oven to bake fresh bread, &c. and did all that was in our power to comfort them: having received also a supply of wine for my own use, I gave a hearty welcome to all the officers, to cheer their spirits; but this ill-fated liquor had an effect far different from what I intended on one of our captains,P——tby name, who, from some misunderstanding, challenged me to fight him instantly. Having retired to some distance from the camp, and drawing our sabres, he burst out into an immoderate fit of laughter, and throwing away his weapon, desired me “to cut away; but that for his part he had such a real regard for me, that he felt it was impossible for him to make any resistance:” after which, catching me in both his arms, he gave me so hearty an embrace, that he had nearly stifled me, and I could not without the greatest difficulty get disentangled. Being recovered from my surprize, I could not help smiling in my turn; and after a friendly reprimand re-conducted my valiant opponent to the company, where we closed the year with the greatest mirth and conviviality.

A confounded tumble through my hammock having ushered in the morning of 1777, we went to the commanding officer of the camp, to pay him the compliments of the season; where I was shown thephilander,[326]orMexican oppossum, here calledawaree, which had been just taken alive, and with all its young.

I have already mentioned the murine oppossum; thus shall now only describe such peculiarities as I was able to remark, and which were indeed but few in number, the animal being in the bottom of an empty hogshead when I saw it, its biting preventing me to take it in my hand.—In the first place, it was much larger than the former, this being the size of an over-grown Norway rat: the colour was a yellowish grey all over, and the belly and limbs a dirty white; the muzzle was more blunt than that of the murine oppossum, with long whiskers; its eyes not black but transparent, with a black ring round the iris; the tail extremely long, thick, and hairy, particularly near the root, and its smell was very offensive. This oppossum had a pouch under its belly, formed by the folding of the skin, which is hairy within as well as without; from this pouch I saw the young ones (five or six in number) several times run out, when the mother was not disturbed, and as often run into it upon the smallest noise, or shaking the hogshead.—As I pitied the poor creature, after its having been so long tormented, I suddenly kicked up the hogshead, when the oppossum with all its young escaped, and ran swiftly up a very high tree before Colonel Seyburg’s cottage, and there it hung by the tail to one of the branches; but as it is a dreadful destroyer of poultry, and the Colonel apprehended that[327]it would kill every one of his fowls, he ordered it, to my sorrow, to be shot down, with all its young ones.—The Virginian oppossum I never saw; and my only further remark on this shall be, that its activity very much surprized me, as many writers have denied it this quality. For further particulars, I refer the reader to the murine or mouse oppossum above-mentioned, as in most circumstances these two animals perfectly agree.

Among the destroyers of poultry, there is another animal in this country, known by the name ofquacy-quacy: some call it the racoon, but which properly is thecoatimondi, or Brasilian weasel; though many people, with some degree of propriety, compare it to a fox, as it is often able to carry away a goose or a turkey, and is also extremely cunning. This creature is sometimes near two feet long, the body shaped like that of a dog, and commonly black, or rather dark brown, though many are of a bright bay colour: the tail is long, hairy, and annulated with black, and a deep buff; the breast and belly are a dirty white; the head is a light brown, with long jaws, and a black snout that projects upwards for near two inches, and is moveable like that of the tapira; the eyes are small, the ears are short and rounded, while on each side a curved stripe connects them and the muzzle; the legs of the coati are short, especially the foremost; the feet are very long, with five toes on each, and long claws, while the animal, like the bear, always walks on the heel, and stands on those behind. No quadrupeds (the monkies[328]not excepted) are better climbers on the trees, where these creatures commit dreadful ravages amongst birds-nests, every small animal which they can conquer becoming their prey. In the poultry-yards in particular they commit great devastations, on which account every contrivance that can be invented is put in practice to destroy them.

As I am upon the subject of animals, before I leave the woods I must describe another creature, which inhabits them, and which (though more than twice the size of the last) lives chiefly on ants; this is thegreat ant-eater, orant-bear, called also thetamanoir, and by the Spaniards theosa palmera. The body of this animal is covered over with very long shaggy hair; on the back and belly it is black, and on the neck and sides a grey or yellowish white; the head is extremely long and slender, of a light bay colour, with very small eyes; the ears are short and round, and the mouth (which has no teeth) just large enough to admit its tongue; the tail is of an enormous size, with very long black hair, something like that of a horse: with this extraordinary tail, when asleep (which is generally in the day time, or during a hard shower of rain) the animal covers itself like a squirrel; at other times he trails it along, and sweeps the ground. The limbs are slender, but covered with long hair; the hindmost legs being shortest and black, with five claws; those before are of a dirty white, with but four claws, the two middle claws being of an extraordinary length.[329]

The Tamandua, & Coati-Mondi.Barlow sc.The Tamandua, & Coati-Mondi.London, Published Dec.r2nd, 1793, by J. Johnson, St. Pauls Church Yard.

Barlow sc.

The Tamandua, & Coati-Mondi.

London, Published Dec.r2nd, 1793, by J. Johnson, St. Pauls Church Yard.

The great ant-eater is a very bad walker, resting always on the heel of his awkward long feet, like the coati and bear; but he is a better climber, and so good a fighter, that no dog will hunt him, since whatever animal he catches between his fore claws (nay even the jaguar or tiger) he will not release while he has life. His food, as I have said, consists of ants, which he takes in the following manner:—when he comes to an ant-hillock, he unfolds his slender tongue, which is about twenty inches long, most exactly resembling a worm; this being covered over with a clammy matter or saliva, the ants get upon it in great numbers, and by drawing it into his mouth, he swallows thousands all alive, and renews the operation, till no more are to be found, when he marches in quest of another mountain, and in the same manner destroys the unwary inhabitants. He also climbs in quest of wood-lice and wild honey; but should he meet with little success in his devastations, he is able to fast a considerable time without the smallest inconvenience. It is said that the great ant-bear is tameable, and that then he will pick crumbs of bread, and small pieces of flesh; also that when killed, he affords good food to the Indians and negroes, the last of which I have seen devour his flesh with pleasure. Some ant-bears measure, from the snout to the tip of the tail, no less than eight feet.—See the two last-described animals in the plate annexed.

A small species of ant-bear, called thetamandua, is also found in Surinam, though not very common. This[330]differs from the former in having twenty toes, the head being thicker in proportion, and the tail smaller, which is variegated with bands of black and yellowish white.—A lesser species still is called thefourmillier, which, however, never came within my observation.—But to proceed.

On the 3d, six more barges with troops came up from Paramaribo, which compleated the number of three hundred and fifty men arrived from Holland. Amongst these, being informed there was a CaptainCharles Small, come from the Scots Brigade, this gentleman having exchanged with poor Ensign Macdonald (who was sent over sick) I instantly sculled down the river alone in a canoe to meet him, and offer him my assistance. I had no sooner got on board his barge, than I found him suspended in a hammock with a burning fever. He, not knowing me on account of my dress, which was no better than that of the most ragged sailor, asked me what I wanted; but when he saw in me his poor friendStedman, changed from a stout sprightly young fellow, to a miserable debilitated tatterdemallion, he grasped me by the hand, without uttering a word, and burst into tears: which agitation, while it increased his illness, shewed the goodness of his heart to me, more than any thing he could have uttered on the subject.—“D—n your blubbering, Charles!” said I; “turn out of this stinking cockle-shell: I’ll presently cure thee;”—and getting him hoisted into my canoe, I brought him on shore to my own habitation, but with[331]the greatest difficulty, being obliged to thrust him through a crevice made on purpose, as the hole in the roof was not calculated even for any healthy person’s admittance, myself excepted. Having here slung his hammock near to my own, and boiled some water, I treated him with warm grog and a toasted biscuit, and he became much better from that very moment. He now acquainted me that one of his men was drowned on the passage; and that Colonel Fourgeoud having entertained the officers with a ball after their landing, at which one of his cooks, and a couple of meagre marines, had been the fidlers, he concluded his illness to be the consequence of too much dancing. A little after this, Colonel Fourgeoud himself appearing in person in the camp amongst us, he soon, however, entertained us with musick of a different kind; which was no less than the discouraging news, that by the newly-arrived corps of officers several of us had lost our rank (both in the regiment and in the army) after parching above four years in a burning sun, toiling ourselves almost to death, and subsisting upon stinking meat and black rusk. To add to this grievance, while the above gentlemen usurped our preferment, we were, instead of being relieved, ordered to continue in the woods, in order to teach them their duty.

During the above unpleasing probation, the major’s duty again fell to my share; which was at this time extremely disagreeable, being obliged daily to chastise the men, many of whom pilfered the magazine to alleviate[332]hunger, having been without the article of bread forsevendays, the oven being dropped to pieces. Amongst others, one poor fellow was nearly flogged to death for havingborrowedone of the colonel’s Bologna sausages; for, let it be remembered, that our commander in chief, whatever might be the distress and hardships of the rest, never forgot to supporthis owndignity, by at least half a dozen of stout negroes loaded with bacon hams, Bologna sausages, bullocks tongues, tea, coffee, sugar, Madeira wine, Holland’s gin, &c.—

Courage may prompt, but, ebbing out his strength,Mere unsupported man must yield at length:Shrunk with dry famine, and with toils declin’d,The drooping body will desert the mind;But built anew with health-conferring fare,With limbs and soul untam’d,hetires a war.

Courage may prompt, but, ebbing out his strength,

Mere unsupported man must yield at length:

Shrunk with dry famine, and with toils declin’d,

The drooping body will desert the mind;

But built anew with health-conferring fare,

With limbs and soul untam’d,hetires a war.

At length, on the 8th, a barge arrived, not only with a supply of salt beef and rusk, but a bullock and two hogs, as a present from Mr.Felman, who, accompanied by his lady, &c. came actually on a visit to Fourgeoud, in this very strange encampment. The above animals being immediately killed, they were distributed among four hundred people; so that it may well be conceived the shares, though sweet, were not very large, after which the company walked about to view our different habitations. Being arrived at my dwelling, Fourgeoud led them round and round, but seeing no door to get in, he called out, “Nobody at home?” When[333]I instantly thrust my head through the thatch, with a pancake in my hand, and offered to haul in the ladies; but this they civilly declined. I never saw Fourgeoud laugh so much in my life. As soon, however, as he was able to recover his gravity, he exclaimed, “Sacre Dieu! Il faut être Stedman,—il faut être original comme lui;” and re-conducted the company to his own apartment, where he gave me an invitation to follow them. Indeed, when Captain Small and I went out, we generally spent our time in a beautiful savannah, where we had erected a green shed, to be free in conversation, and called itRanelagh; here we caroused and cracked a bottle in private, till we could crack no longer, having lived so well that in a little time more than a week my cheese and bacon hams quite disappeared, and not a drop of wine or rum was left in the flasks.—After this he, as well as I, were obliged to live on short allowance; while Small had the satisfaction, however, to see his ship-mates do the same: who, not being acquainted with the œconomy necessary in a forest, had made all their flour into plum-pudding, and were already obliged to break their teeth on a piece of rye rusk.

In short, so early as the 12th, one hundred and fifty of these newly-arrived people were already ordered to march; when, by the way of seasoning them, besides heavy accoutrements and a hammock, they had orders each man to carry a stuffed knapsack on his back. Of this party, my friend Small happened to be one, who being as corpulent asSir John Falstaff, and I having accoutred him in the above[334]manner, the poor fellow could hardly walk at all; till declaring to Fourgeoud that I must roll him along like a hogshead, he got leave to be disengaged from a part of his unweildy encumbrances.

Every thing being ready, this loaded detachment now faced to the right, and set out, with Colonel Fourgeoud at their head, for the river Marawina: and while I must here acknowledge that this chief was now become to myself as civil as I could expect or desire, yet justice compels me to add, that to all others he remained just as inflexible a tyrant as ever I had known him; which character he unhappily seemed to think incompatible with his rank.

During their absence, I crossed the water, and cut down a cabbage-tree on the other side of the river Cottica, not only for the cabbage, but for the sake of thegroe-groeworms, with which I knew it would swarm in about a fortnight.

Straying here through the woods with my black boy Quaco, I met with the following trees, still left for description,viz.thecedar, thebrown-heart, and thebullet-tree. The first, though it bears that name, is different from the cedars of Lebanon, which grow in a pyramidical form. The Surinam cedar, however, grows also to a great height, but is principally esteemed because the wood is never eaten by the worms or other insects, on account of its great bitterness; it has also a most agreeable smell, and is therefore used in preference to most others for making chests, cupboards, lockers, and all sorts[335]of joinery; besides which, it is employed in making the tent-barges and other boats. The colour of the timber is a pale orange: it is both hard and light, and from the trunk exudes a gum (not unlike the gum Arabic) which is transparent, and diffuses a most agreeable flavour.

Thebrown-heartis in hardness of the same consistency as the purple-heart, and the green-heart already mentioned, and is shaped into heavy timber for the same purposes, such as constructing sugar-mills, &c.: the colour of this wood is a beautiful brown.—The other is thebullet-tree; this tree grows sometimes to sixty feet, but is not so thick in proportion as many others: the bark is grey and smooth, the timber brown, variegated or powdered with white specks. No wood in the forest is equal to this in weight, being heavier than sea-water, and so very durable, that when exposed to the open air neither rain or sun have any effect on it; for this reason, besides its other various uses, it is split into shingles to roof the houses, instead of slates or tiles, which, as I formerly mentioned, would be too heavy and too hot. Theseshinglesare sold for £. 4 sterling a thousand at Paramaribo, and continue sometimes twenty-four years before they are renewed.

I ought to mention also a kind of mahogany, which is found in the woods of Guiana, called theducolla-bolla, and which is of a superior quality to any which is imported here, being of a deeper red colour, and of a finer, more equal, and compact grain; also of greater hardness[336]and weight, and thus capable of receiving a more elegant polish.

About this period the whole camp was infested with a kind ofwood-lice, so called in Surinam, but with more propriety they might be termed white ants, resembling them almost in every particular, except that the ants dwell in the ground, and these build their nests on the trunks of trees: these nests, being black, round, and irregular, are not unlike the woolly head of a negro, but sometimes as large as the half of a hogshead, and composed of a rust-coloured incrustated earth, which is extremely hard, and impenetrable to the weather. In this mass, which internally consists of innumerable cross roads, each the size of a goose-quill, they live together in myriads, whence they sally forth, and commit their depredations, unequalled by any other infest in Guiana, piercing through the hardest wood, leather, linen, or whatever comes in their way. They also frequently get into the houses by an incrusted covered road made against the wall, resembling the half of a sliding pencil, which is with its windings sometimes several hundred feet long: if this is not destroyed upon its first appearance (which must be done by arsenick or the oil of turpentine) as they crumble every thing to dust, whole dwellings will be entirely demolished, and come down to the ground in rubbish. These insects (notwithstanding their fetid abominable smell) are reckoned a very good food for poultry, who are said to thrive on them even better than on Indian[337]corn. I ought not to forget their extreme industry in repairing their habitation when injured, and their wonderful power of propagation, which (let ever such numbers be destroyed) brings them in a very short time to their former unaccountable multiplicity.

To another pest we were also frequently subjected in this camp, and this was no less than clouds offlying lice, which covered our clothes sometimes so thick, that they absolutely gave them the appearance of grey cloth. This was owing to the shedding of their wings, which, being four in number; they generally left behind them after they alighted, and being thus without the means of flying off again, they remained on our jackets; except however thus covering us all over, they caused us no other inconvenience. It is the opinion of some naturalists, that these flying lice are no other than the above-mentioned wood-lice, which when they become old get wings, leave their nests, and fly about, like some other ants, both in Europe and in America.

About this time the discipline was peculiarly strict in the camp, so that whoever made the very least noise was most severely punished, nay, threatened to be shot; and even the sentinels were ordered to challenge rounds and patrols by no other sound thanwhistling, which was answered in the same manner.

On the 18th, one of these being condemned to be flogged for speaking loud, I however found means (Fourgeoud not being yet returned) to get him pardoned, after[338]he was already stripped. The following day, nevertheless, evinced that I could punish when things were carried too far; for seeing a large piece of boiled pork (about two pounds weight) flying past me with great velocity, and finding it was thrown by one marine to another, while they had got a quarrel, I instantly ordered them to pick it up, and (having cut it in two) I stood over them myself till they swallowed every morsel of it in my presence, sand and all, without either bread or drink: which they since declared was such a punishment as surpassed my conception, and they should remember it to the end of their lives.

On the 23d, I received from town a well-timed supply of wine and fresh provisions; and the same day Colonel Fourgeoud, with his detachment, arrived from the Marawina. During this trip, our active commander had again discovered and destroyed fifty-nine houses, besides three fields of provisions. This certainly gave the finishing blow to the rebel negroes, since, having no further supply on this side the water, they entirely abandoned it, and went to settle in the French colonyCayenne. In this hard though necessary service the men had suffered prodigiously, especially those newly arrived; numbers of whom were carried in hammocks on poles, while near thirty were left sick at the Marawina, and my friend Small was at least one stone lighter.

At this time, in the camp hospital, above one hundred were also dangerously ill. Nothing was heard but sighs[339]and the shrieking of thestrixor Guiana owl, which for ever kept them company during the dismal nights. Cramps, so common in Surinam, also infested those that were able to do duty; and there reigned a general melancholy all around.

————“The circling sky,The wide enlivening air, is full of fate;And, struck by turns, in solitary pangsThey fall, untended and unmourn’d.”

————“The circling sky,

The wide enlivening air, is full of fate;

And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs

They fall, untended and unmourn’d.”

Here one man was to be seen covered over with bloody boils from head to foot; there another led along by two of his comrades in a deep lethargy, who, in spite of pinching and pricking, dosed into eternity; a third, swelled by the dropsy, and imploring the surgeon in vain to tap off the water (who generally answered that it was too late) was left to expire by suffocation. In the hospital some were observed clasping their hands, and praying aloud to God to be relieved; while others lay at their side in a frenzy fever, tearing their hair, blaspheming Providence, and cursing the day that they were born.—In short, all was dreadful beyond description, by the pen of aMiltonexcepted.

————“Sad noisome dark,A lazar-house it seem’d, wherein were laidNumbers of all, diseas’d: all maladiesOf ghastly spasm or racking torture; qualmsOf heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,[340]Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs;Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,And moon-struck madness; pining atrophy,Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums:Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; despairTended the sick, busiest from couch to couch.And over them triumphant Death his dartShook, but delay’d to strike, though oft invok’dWith vows, as their chief good and final hope.”

————“Sad noisome dark,

A lazar-house it seem’d, wherein were laid

Numbers of all, diseas’d: all maladies

Of ghastly spasm or racking torture; qualms

Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,[340]

Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs;

Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,

And moon-struck madness; pining atrophy,

Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums:

Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; despair

Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch.

And over them triumphant Death his dart

Shook, but delay’d to strike, though oft invok’d

With vows, as their chief good and final hope.”

From day to day mortality now gained ground, while by some accident, to compleat the distress, part of the camp got on fire; but this was fortunately extinguished without any material ill consequences, by the activity and exertions of the poor negroes.

On the 26thmymisery, however, drew towards an end, when, to my astonishment, and without my asking it, Colonel Fourgeoud gave me a leave of absence, if I chose it, to accompany him, and stay henceforth at Paramaribo; which, without hesitation, I most joyfully accepted. Thus, having made my friend Captain Small a present of myhouse, myRanelagh, and all myfresh provisions, besides entertained him and some other officers on a dish of mountain-cabbage, and mygroe-groeworms, which were just come to perfection, besides a hearty glass of wine, I took my last adieu from them all; and at midnight, with Colonel Fourgeoud, rowed down the River Cottica in an elegant barge with ten oars, in company with two more of his officers.—And now farewell once more, ye shady[341]woods, thou pleasing gloomy forest, pregnant with so many wonders, and so many plagues, and which, in the opinion of so many sufferers, even surpassed theten plagues of Egypt!3

————“I have sent among you the pestilence after themanner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword—I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto yournostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.”

————“I have sent among you the pestilence after the

manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword—

I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your

nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.”

The boat being shoved off, Colonel Fourgeoud now declared to us, that having ransacked the forest in every direction, and driven the rebels over the Marawina inCayenne, he was determined no more to return to the woods, but in a few weeks to draw the long and painful expedition to a conclusion.

Now, reader, it remains with you to acknowledge that I have not led youabout the bush, butthrough it, with indefatigable perseverance: the more so, when it is to be considered that in the middle of the above hurry and distress, under which so many have sunk, I have often been deprived ofpen,ink, andpaperto make proper annotations; which last defect I have even more than once supplied by writing with a pencil on my cartridges, or on a bleachedbone: had this not been unavoidably the case, more accuracy and many more remarks might with[342]justice have been expected, which one need never be at a loss to make in a country so replete with different objects for speculation.

Having rowed all night, and breakfasted at the new cordon (which was begun to be cut not far from our former post Devil’s Harwar) on a dram and a biscuit, we came about noon to the estateLapaix, where we dined with the planter, MonsieurRivieres; after which Fourgeoud, with his adjutant, proceeded on their voyage to town, while I with another officer went to the sea-side at the back of the plantation to shoot snipes and curlews.

On our march thither and back again, passing two posts of the Society, the flag was hoisted, refreshments offered us, and every other civility shewn us that was in the power of the commanding officers. In shooting, however, we had very little sport, except that of killing somesnipes, which flew in such clouds that they almost darkened the sky; so that by only firing from time to time above our heads at random, we brought down scores at every shot, but they were of such a diminutive species, that they were scarcely worth the picking up. We might have here killed birds of greater size, such asspoon-bills,cranes,red curlews, andwild ducksof many kinds, had we not unluckily been cut off from the banks on which they were scattered, by the sea overflowing the quicksands betwixt us and them. They afforded us, nevertheless, a most delightful view, the beech appearing at a distance like a sheet of scarlet and purple, embroidered with every other colour.[343]

The Spoon Bill or Shoveler.The Spoon Bill or Shoveler.The Jabiru, or Crane of Guiana.London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.

The Spoon Bill or Shoveler.

The Jabiru, or Crane of Guiana.

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

Theshoveleror spoon-bill (which has some affinity to the cranes) is about the size of a goose: the legs are not very long, and it is web-footed but for a little way between the toes: the feathers are a beautiful rose-colour, though they are white when young; but the bill is truly remarkable in this bird, being flat, much broader before than at any other part, and circular, in some degree resembling a spoon, from which it takes its name. They are said to feed on frogs, rats, and lizards, yet fish is evidently their principal nourishment, from their frequenting the sea-side, and having a fishy taste when they are killed.

Thecraneorjabiruof Surinam, I can best compare to a stork, of which it has much the appearance, but is larger. The body of this bird is milk white, but the prime feathers of the wings and tail are black: the limbs and toes are excessively long; but I observed one peculiarity which distinguishes it from all other birds,viz.that it frequently sits upon the heel: the neck and bill are of an uncommon length, the latter being strong, and a little hooked at the point. The head of the crane or jabiru is perfectly black, on account of which, among the Dutch, it obtained the appellation of anegro-cop. It frequents the coast, like the others above mentioned, and lives entirely on fish: this bird is easily tamed. I have seen a couple of them in the poultry-yard belonging to Colonel Fourgeoud.—(See both these species of sea-fowls in theplate annexed, where the last is represented sitting in the posture I have described.)[344]

To delineate the different species of wild ducks that are in Surinam with any degree of accuracy, is a talk which I acknowledge to be far beyond my reach. Suffice it therefore to say, that in general they are not very large, but adorned with the most splendid tints and most beautiful plumage that can be imagined, particularly those they call thecawereerkee, thesookooroorkee, and theannakee, which last are the smallest. No water-fowl of any kind, without exception, can be more delicate eating than all those I have just mentioned; while some of them are tameable, and frequently seen amongst the poultry on the plantations.

Having the following day the opportunity of a boat, I prosecuted my voyage down the Cottica River till I came to Paramaribo, where in fine spirits and perfect health (however strange) I arrived that very same evening, and where I was most heartily welcomed by my many friends with the warmest congratulations on my still existing, after having escaped so many dangers, and been so long deprived of every comfort—torn by thorns, stung by insects—starved, tormented, emaciated, and wounded—often without clothes, health, rest, money, refreshments, medicines, or friends;—and after having lost so many of my brave companions, who lay buried in the dust.——Thus ended my seventh andlastcampaign in the forest of Guiana.[345]

1See the above route, and all the others toGado-Saby, in Plate LVI. where they are by different lines distinctly marked.↑2The above captain and his crew were since set at liberty, having been ransomed by the Dutch.↑3Should it be remarked that during this expedition some unchristian-like expressions have escaped, let it be at the same time recollected, that while surgeons and even cooks, though both of little use, had been provided, nothing like aparsonwas ever seen amongst us, from the day we sailed from the Texel.↑

1See the above route, and all the others toGado-Saby, in Plate LVI. where they are by different lines distinctly marked.↑2The above captain and his crew were since set at liberty, having been ransomed by the Dutch.↑3Should it be remarked that during this expedition some unchristian-like expressions have escaped, let it be at the same time recollected, that while surgeons and even cooks, though both of little use, had been provided, nothing like aparsonwas ever seen amongst us, from the day we sailed from the Texel.↑

1See the above route, and all the others toGado-Saby, in Plate LVI. where they are by different lines distinctly marked.↑

1See the above route, and all the others toGado-Saby, in Plate LVI. where they are by different lines distinctly marked.↑

2The above captain and his crew were since set at liberty, having been ransomed by the Dutch.↑

2The above captain and his crew were since set at liberty, having been ransomed by the Dutch.↑

3Should it be remarked that during this expedition some unchristian-like expressions have escaped, let it be at the same time recollected, that while surgeons and even cooks, though both of little use, had been provided, nothing like aparsonwas ever seen amongst us, from the day we sailed from the Texel.↑

3Should it be remarked that during this expedition some unchristian-like expressions have escaped, let it be at the same time recollected, that while surgeons and even cooks, though both of little use, had been provided, nothing like aparsonwas ever seen amongst us, from the day we sailed from the Texel.↑

Back to IndexNext