Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies

by Matthew Gregory Lewis

  Our captain is quite out of patience with the tortoise-Pace of our progress; for my part I care very little about it. Whether we have sailed slowly or rapidly, when a day is once over, I am just as much nearer advanced towards April, the time fixed for my return to England; and, what is of much more consequence, whether we have sailed slowly or rapidly, when a day is once over, I am just as much nearer advanced towards "that bourne," to reach which, peaceably and harmlessly, is the only business of life, and towards which the whole of our existence forms but one continued journey.

  DECEMBER 21.

  We succeeded in catching another dolphin to-day; but he had not a hat on ; however, I just asked him whether he happened to have seen mine, but to little purpose ; for I found that he could tell me nothing at all about it; so, instead of bothering the poor animal with any more questions, we ate him.

  DECEMBER 22.

  The Captain told me that about three years ago lie had the ill luck to be captured by a French frigate. As she had already made prizes of two other merchantmen, it was determined to sink his ship; which, after removing the crew and everything in her that was valuable, was effected by firing her own guns down the hatchways. It was near three hours before she filled, then down she went with a single plunge, head foremost, with all her sails set and colours flying.

  DECEMBER 24. (Sunday.)

  At length we have crawled into the Caribbean Sea, I was told that we were not to expect to see land to-day ; but on ship- board our not seeing a thing to-day by no means implies that we shall not see it before to-morrow; for the nautical day is supposed to conclude at noon, when the solar observation is taken; and, therefore, the making land to-day, or not, very often depends upon our making it before twelve o'clock, or after it. This was the case in the present instance ; for noon was scarcely passed when we saw Descada (a small island totally unprovided with water, and whose only produce consists in a little cotton), Guadaloupe, and Marie Galante, though the latter was at so great a distance as to be scarcely visible. At sunset Antigua was in sight.

  December 25.

  The sun rose upon Montserrat and Nevis, with the Rodondo rock between them, "apricis natio gratissima mergis,"-for it is perpetually covered with innumerable flocks of gulls, boobies, pelicans, and other sea-birds. Then came St. Christopher's and St. Eustatia; and in the course of the afternoon we passed over the Aves bank, a collection of sand, rock, and mud, extending about two hundred miles, and terminated at each end by a small island: one of them inhabited by a few fishermen, the other only by sea-birds. Of all the Atlantic isles the soil of St. Christopher's is by some supposed to be the richest, the land frequently producing three hogsheads an acre. I rather think that this was the first island discovered by Columbus, and that it took its name from his patron-saint. Montserrat is so rocky, and the roads so steep and difficult, that the sugar is obliged to be brought down in bags upon the backs of mules, and not put into tasks till its arrival on the sea-shore.

  The weather is now quite delicious; there is just wind enough to send us forward and keep the air cool : the sun is brilliant, without being overpowering: the swell of the waves is scarcely perceptible, and the ship moves along so steadily that the deck affords almost as firm footing as if we were walking on land. During the night we passed Santa Cruz,, an island which, from the perfection to which its cultivation has been carried, is called the Garden of the West Indies."

  DECEMBER 28.

  Having left Porto Rico behind us, at noon to-day we passed the insulated rock of Alcavella, lying about six miles from St. Domingo, which is now in sight, As this part of the Caribbean Sea is much infested by pirates from the Caraccas, all our muskets have been put in repair, and to-day the guns were loaded, of which we mount eight; but as one of them, during the last voyage, went overboard in a gale of wind, its place has been supplied by a Quaker, i. e. a sham gun of wood-so called, I suppose, because it would not fight if it were called upon. These pirate vessels are small schooners, armed with a single twenty- four pounder, which moves upon a swivel; and their crews are composed of negroes and outlaws of all nations, their numbers varying from one hundred to one hundred and fifty men. To- day we have been visited by several men-of-war birds and tropic birds; one is a species of gull, perfectly white, and distinguished by a single very long feather in its tail; its nautical name is the boatswain." As we sail along, the air is absolutely loaded with "Sabean odours from the spicy shores" of St. Domingo, which we were still coasting at sunset.

  DECEMBER 30.

  At day-break Jamaica was in sight, or rather it would have been in sight, only that we could not see it. The weather was gloomy, with much wind and rain. I remember my good friend, Walter Scott, asserts, that at the death of a poet the groans and tears of his heroes and heroines swell the blast and increase the river: perhaps something of the same kind takes. place at the arrival of a West India proprietor from Europe; and all this rain and wind proceed from the eyes and lungs of my agents and overseers, who, for the last twenty years, have been reigning in my dominions with despotic authority; but now

  "Whose groans in roaring winds complain,

  Whose tears of rage impel the rain;"

  because, on the approach of the sovereign himself, they must evacuate the place and resign the deputed sceptre. "Hinc illae lachrymae!" this is the cause of-,our being soaked to the skin this morning. However, about noon the weather cleared up, and allowed us to verify, with our own eyes, that we had reached the " Land of Springs," without having been invited by any Piccaroon vessel to "walk the plank" instead of the deck; which is a compliment very generally paid by those gentry, after they have taken the trouble of laying a plank over the side of a captured ship, in order that the passengers and the crew may walk overboard without any inconvenience. We arrived at the east end of the island, passed Pedro Point and Starvegut Bay, and arrived before Black River Bay (our destined harbour) soon after two o'clock ; but here we were obliged to come to a standstill: the channel is very dangerous, extremely narrow, and full of sunken rocks; so that it can only be entered by a vessel drawing so much water as ours with particular wind, and when there is not any apprehension of a sudden squall. We were, therefore, obliged to drop anchor, and are now riding within a couple of miles of the shore, but with as utter an incapability of reaching it as if we were still at Gravesend. The north side of the island is said to be extremely beautiful and romantic; but the south, which we coasted to-day, is low, barren, and without any recommendation whatever. As yet I can only look at Jamaica as one does on a man who comes to pay money, and whom we are extremely well pleased to see, however little the fellow's appearance may be in his favour.

  December 31.(Sunday.)

  We passed the whole of the day in vain endeavours to work ourselves into the bay. At one time, indeed, we got very near the shore, but the consequence was, that we were within an ace of striking upon a rock, and very much obliged to a sudden gust of wind, which, blowing right off shore, blew us out of the channel, and left us at night in a much more perilous situation than we had occupied the evening before, though even that had been by Do means secure. At three o'clock, the other passengers went on shore in the jolly-boat, and proceeded to their destination ; but as I was still more than thirty miles distant from my estate, I preferred waiting on board till the Captain should have moored his vessel in safety, and be at liberty to take me in his pinnace to Savannah la Mar, when I should find myself within a few miles of my own house.

  In the course of the afternoon, one of the sailors took up a fish of a very singular shape and most brilliant colours, as it -floated along upon the water. It seemed to be gasping, and lay with its belly upwards ; it was supposed to have eaten something poisonous, as whenever it was touched it appeared to be full of life, and squirted the water in our faces with great spirit and dexterity. But no sooner was he suffered to remain quiet in the tub , than be turned upon his back and again was gasping. He had a large round transparent globule, intersected with red veins, under the bel
ly, which some imagined to proceed from a rupture, and to be the occasion of his disease. But I could not discover any vestige of a wound ; and the globule was quite solid to the touch ; neither did the fish appear to be sensible when it was pressed upon. No one on board had ever seen this kind of fish till then ; its name is the "Doctor Fish."

  A black pilot came on board yesterday, in a canoe hollowed out of the cotton-tree ; and when it returned for him this morning it brought us a water-melon. I never met with a worse article in my life; the pulp is of a faint greenish yellow, stained here and there with spots of moist red, so that it looks exactly as if the servant in slicing it had cut his finger, and suffered it to bleed over the fruit. Then the seeds being of a dark purple, present the happiest imitation of drops of clotted gore; and altogether (prejudiced as I was by its appearance), when I had put a single bit into my mouth, it ho such a kind of Shylocky taste of raw flesh about it (not that I recollect having ever eaten a bit of raw flesh itself), that I sent away my plate, and was perfectly satisfied as to the merits of the fruit.

  1816.-- JANUARY 1.

  At length the ship has squeezed herself into this champagne bottle of a bay! Perhaps, the satisfaction attendant upon our having overcome the difficulty, added something to the illusion of its effect; but the beauty of the atmosphere, the dark purple mountains, the shores covered with mangroves of the liveliest green down to the very edge of the water, and the light-coloured houses with their lattices and piazzas completely embowered in trees, altogether made the scenery of the Bay wear a very picturesque appearance. And, to complete the charm, the sudden sounds of the drum and banjee called our attention to a procession of the John-Canoe, which was proceeding to celebrate the opening of the new year at the town of Black River. The John-Canoe is a Merry-Andrew dressed in a striped doublet, and bearing upon his head a kind of pasteboard house-boat filled with puppets, representing, some sailor-, others soldiers, others again slaves at work on a plantation, &-c. The negroes are allowed three days for holidays at Christmas, and also New-year's day, which being the last is always reckoned by them as the festival of the greatest importance. It is for this day that they reserve their finest dresses, and Jay their schemes for displaying their show and expense to the greatest advantage; and it is then that the John-Canoe is considered not merely as a person of material consequence, but one whose presence is absolutely indispensable. -Nothing could look more gay than the procession which we now saw with its train of attendants, all dressed in white, and marching two by two (except when the file was broken here and there by a single horseman), and its band of negro music, and its. scarlet flags fluttering about in the breeze, now disappearing be hind a projecting clump of mangrove-trees, and then again emerging into an open part of the road, as it wound along the shore towards the town of Black River. I had determined not to go on shore, till I should land for good and all at Savannah la Mar. But although I could resist the " magnus telluris amor," there was no resisting John-Canoe; so, in defiance of a broiling afternoon's sun, about four o'clock we left the vessel for the town.

  It was, as I understand, formerly one of some magnitude; but it now consists only of a few houses, owing to a spark from a tobacco-pipe or a candle having lodged upon a mosquito-net during dry weather; and although the conflagration took place at mid-day, the whole town was reduced to ashes The few streets (I believe there were not above two, but those were wide and regular, and the houses looked very neat) were now crowded with people, and it seemed to be allowed, upon all hands, that New-year's day had never been celebrated there with more expense and festivity.

  It seems that, many years ago, an Admiral of the Red was superseded on the Jamaica station by an Admiral of the Blue ad both of them gave balls at Kingston to the " Brown Girls;" for the fair sex elsewhere are called the "Brown Girls" in Jamaica. In- consequence of these balls, all Kingston was divided into parties: from thence the division spread into other districts; and- ever since, the whole island, at Christmas, is sepa- rated into the rival factions of the Blues and the Reds (the Red representing also the English, the Blue the Scotch), who contend for setting, forth their processions with the greatest taste and magnificence. This year, several gentlemen in the neigbbourhood of Black River had subscribed very largely towards the expenses of the show; and certainly it produced the gayest and most amusing scene that I ever witnessed, to which the mutual jealousy and pique of the two parties against each other contributed in no slight degree. The champions of the rival Roses, of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, none of them could exceed the scornful animosity and spirit of depreciation with which the Blues and the Reds of Black River examined the efforts at display of each other. The Blues had the advantage beyond a doubt ; this a Red girl told us that she could Dot deny ; but still, " though the Reds were beaten, she would not be a Blue girl for the whole universe!" On the other hand , Miss Edwards.(the mistress of the hotel from whose window we saw the show) was rank Blue to the very tips of her fingers, and bad, indeed, contributed one of her female slaves to sustain a very important character in the show; for when the Blue procession was ready to set forward, there was evidently a hitch, something was wanting; and there seemed to be no possibility of getting on without it-when suddenly we saw a tall woman dressed in mourning (being Miss Edwards herself) rush out of our hotel, dragging along by the hand a strange uncouth kind of a glittering tawdry figure, all feathers, and pitchfork, and painted pasteboard, who moved most reluctantly, and turned out to be no less a personage than Britannia herself, with a pasteboard shield covered with the arms of Great-Britain, a trident in her hand, and a helmet made of pale-blue silk and silver. The poor girl, it seems, was bashful at appearing in this conspicuous manner before so many spectators, and hung back when it came to the point. But her mistress had seized hold of her, and placed her by main force in her destined position. The music struck up; Miss Edwards gave the Goddess a great push forwards; the drumsticks and the elbows of the fiddlers attacked her in the rear; and on went Britannia willy-nilly!

  The Blue girls call themselves the Blue girls of Waterloo." Their motto was the more patriotic that of the Red was the more gallant:-" Britannia rules the day! " streamed upon the Blue flag, ; " Red girls forever! " floated upon the Red. But, in point of taste and invention, the former carried it hollow. First marched Britannia; then came a band of music; then the flag; then the Blue King and Queen-the Queen splendidly dressed in white and silver (in scorn of the opposite party, her train was borne by a little girl in red) ; his Majesty wore a full British Admiral's uniform, with a-white satin sash, and a huge cocked hat with a gilt paper crown upon the top of it. These were immediately followed by " Nelson's car," being a kind of canoe decorated with blue and silver drapery, and with " Trafalgar " written on the front of it; and the procession was closed by a Ion., train of Blue grandees (the women dressed in uniforms of white, with robes of blue muslin), all Princes and Princesses, Dukes and Duchesses, every mother's child of them.

  The Red girls were also dressed very gaily and prettily, but they had nothing in point of invention that could vie with Nelson's Car and Britannia; and when the Red throne made its appearance, language cannot express the contempt with which our landlady eyed it. " It was neither one thing nor t'other, " Miss Edwards was of opinion. "Nothing but a few yards, of calico stretched over planks-and look, look, only look at it behind ! you may see the bare boards! By way of a throne, indeed! Well, to be sure, Miss Edwards never saw a poorer thing in her life, that she must say! " And then she told me, that somebody had just snatched at a medal which Britannia wore round her neck, and had endeavoured to force it away. I asked her who had done so? " Oh, one of the Red party, of course ! " The Red party was evidently Miss Edwards's Mrs. Grundy. John-Canoe made no part of the procession; but he and his rival, John-Crayfish (a personage of whom I heard, but could not obtain a sight), seemed to apt upon quite an independent interest; and go about from house to house, tumbling and playing antics to pick up money for themselves. -