Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies

by Matthew Gregory Lewis

  DECEMBER 31. (Wednesday.)

  We are now in the latitudes commonly known by the name of " the Horse Latitudes." During the union of America and Great Britain, great numbers of' horses used to be exported to the cQjonies, and the winds in these latitudes are so capricious, squally, and troublesome-now a gale and then a dead calm, now a fair wind and the next moment a foul one-that more horses used to die in this portion of the passage than during all the remainder of it. These horse-killing latitudes extend from, 29O to 25 O or 241/2 O.

  JANUARY 17. (Saturday.)

  On Saturday, the 3rd, we managed to crawl over the line, and had no sooner got to the other side of it, than we were completely becalmed ; and even when we were able to resume our progress, it was at such a pace that a careless observer might have been pardoned foe mistaking our manner of moving for a downright standstill. Day after day produced nothing better for us than baffling winds, so light that we scarcely made tow miles and hour, and so variable that the sails could be scarcely set in one direction before it became necessay to shift them to another; while the monotony of our voyage was only broken by an occasional thunder-storm, the catching of stray dolphin now and then, watching a shoal of flying-fish, or guessing at the complexion of the corsairs on board some vessel in the offing : for the Caribbean Sea is now dabbed all over like apainter's pallette with corsairs of all colours,--black from St. Domingo, brown from Carthagena, white from North America, and peagreen from the Cape de Verd Islands. On the afternoon of the 4th, one of them was no very great distance from us ; she hoisted English colours on seeing ours ; but there was little doubt, from her peculiar appearance, that she was aprivateer from Carthagena. She set her head towards us, and seemed to be doing her best to come to a nearer aquaintance ; but the same calm which hindered us from bravely running away from her, hindered her also from reaching us, although at nightfall she seemed to have gained upon us. In the night we had a violent thunder-storm, and the next morning she was not to be seen. Still we continued to creep and to crawl, grumbling and growling, till on Sunday, the 11th, the long-looked-for breeze came at last. The trade-wind began to blow with all its might and main right in the vessel's poop, and sent us forward at a rate of 200 miles a -day. We passed between Deseada and Antigua in the night of the 15th ; and, on the 16th, the rising sun showed us the island-mountain of Montserrat ; the sight of which was scarcley less agreeable to our eyes from its romantic beauty, than welcome from its giving us the assurance that out longwinded voyage is at length drawing towards its termination.

  JANUARY 19.

  Yesterday morning a miniature shark chose to swallow the bait laid for dolphins, and in consequence soon made his appearance upon deck. It was a very young one, not above three feet long. I ordered a slice of him to be broiled at dinner, but he was ny no means so good as a dolphin ; still there was nothing in the taste so palatable as to prevent the flesh from being very acceptable in the absence of more delicate food. In the evening, a bird about the size of a large pigeon, flew on board, and was knocked down by the mate with his hat. It was sulky, and would not be persuaded to eat anything that was offered, so he was suffered to escape this morning. It was beautifully shaped, with a swallow-tail, wings of an extraordinary spread in comparison with the smallness of the body, a long sharp bill, black and polished like a piece of jet, and eyes remarkably large and brilliant. The head, back, and outside of the wings were of a brownish slate-colour, and the rest of his feathers of the most dazzling whiteness. It is called a crab-catcher.

  JANUARY 24. (Saturday.)

  Our favourable breeze lasted till Tuesday, the 20th; when, having brought us balf-way between St. Domingo and Jamaica it died away, and we dragged on at the rate of two or three miles an hour till Thursday afternoon, which placed us at the mouth of Black River. If we had arrived one hour earlier, we could have immediately entered the harbour; but, with our usual good fortune, we were just too late for the daylight. We therefore did not drop anchor till two o'clock on Friday, before the town of Black River; and on Saturday morning, at four o'clock, I embarked in the ship's cutter for Savannah la Mar. Every one assured us that we could not fail to have a favourable sea-breeze the whole way, and that we should be on land by eight: instead of which what little wind there was veered round from one point of the compass to the other with the most indefatigable caprice; and we were not on shore till eleven. Here I found Mr. T. Hill, who luckily had his phaeton ready, in which he conveyed me once more to Cornwall. The accounts of the general behaviour of my negroes are tolerably good, and they all express themselves satisfied with their situation and their superintendents. Yet, among upwards of three hundred and thirty negroes, and with a greater number of females than men, in spite of all indulgences and inducements, not more than twelve or thirteen children have been added annually to the list of the births. On the other hand, this last season has been generally unhealthy all over the island, and more particularly so in my parish; so that I have lost several negroes, some of them young, strong, and valuable labourers in every respect; and in consequence, my muster-roll is rather diminished than increased since my last visit. I had been so positively assured that the custom of plunging negro-infants, immediately upon their being born, into a tub of cold wate, infallibly preserved them from the danger of tetanus, that on leaving Jaiaca, I had ordered this practice to be adopted uniformly. The negro mothers, however, took a prejudice against it, and have been so obstinate in their opposition, that it was thought unadviseable to attempt the enforcing this regulation. from this and other causes I have lost several infants ; but I am told, that on other estates in the neighbourhood they have been still more unfortunate in regard to their children ; and one was named to me, on which sixteen were carried off in the ocurse of three days.

  JANUARY 26. (Monday.)

  The joy of the negroes on my return was quite sufficiently voiciferous, and they were allowed to-day for a holiday. They set themselves to singing and dancing yesterday, in order to lose no time; and to show their gratitude for the indulgence, not one of the five pen-keepers chose to go to their watch last night ; the consequence was, that the cattle made their escape, and got into one of my very best cane-pieces. The alarm was given; my own servants and some of the head people had grace enough to run down to the scene of action ; but the greatest part remained quietly in the negro-houses, beating the gumby-drum, and sing- ing their joy for my arrival with the whole strength of their lungs, but without thinking it in the least necessary to move so much as a finger-joint in my service.

  The cattle were at length replaced in their pen, but not till the cane-piece had been ruined irretrievably.

  Such is negro gratitude, and such my reward for all that I have suffered on ship-board.

  To be sure, as yet there could not be a more ill-starred expedition than my present one.

  JANUARY 29.

  There is a popular negro song, the burden of which is-

  "Take him to the Gulley! Take him to the Gulley!

  But bringee back the frock and board."

  Oh! massa, massa! me no deadee yet!

  "Take him to the Gulley! Take biui to the Gulley!"

  "Carry him along !"

  This alludes to a transaction which took place some thirty years ago, on an estate in this neighbourhood, called Spring Garden; the owner of which (I think the name was Bedward) is quoted as the cruellest proprietor that ever disgraced Jamaica. It was his constant practice, whenever a sick negro was pro- nounced incurable, to order the poor wretch to be carried to a solitary vale upon his estate, called the Gulley, where he was thrown down and abandoned to his fate--which fate was generally to be half-devoured by the John-crows before death had put an end to his sufferings. By this proceeding the avaricious owner avoided the expense of maintaining the slave during his last illness ; and, in order that he might be as little a loser as possible, be always enjoined the negro bearers of the dying man to strip him naked before leaving the Gulley, and not to forget to bring back his frock and the boar
d on which he had been carried down. One poor creature, while in the act of being removed, screamed out most piteously "that he was not dead yet;" and implored not to be left to perish in the Gulley in a manner so horrible. His cries had no effect upon his master, but operated so forcibly on the less marble hearts of his fellowslaves, that in the night some of them removed him back to the negro-village privately, and nursed him there with so much care that he recovered, and left the estate unquestioned and undiscovered. Unluckily, one day the master was passing through Kingston, when, on turning the corner of a street suddenly, he found himself face to face with the negro whom he had supposed long ago to have been picked to the bones in the Gulley. He immediately seized him, claimed him as his slave, and ordered his attendants to convey him to his house ; but the fellow's cries attracted a crowd round them before he could be dragged away : be related his melancholy story, and the singular manner in which he had recovered his life and liberty; and the public indignation was so forcibly excited by the shocking tale, that Mr. Bedward was glad to save himself from being torn to pieces by a precipitate retreat from Kingston, and never ventured to advance his claim to the negro a second time.

  JANUARY 30.

  A man has been tried at Kingston for cruel treatment of a Sambo female slave, called Amey. She dad no friends to support her cause, nor any other evidence tp prove her assertions than the apparent truth of her statement, and the marks of having been branded in five different places. The result was, that the master received a most severe reprimand for his inhuman conduct, and wassentenced to close confinement for six months ; while the slave, in consequence of her suffereings, was restored to the full enjoyment of her freedom.

  It appears to me that nothing could afford so much relief to the negroes, under the existing system, as the substituting the labour of animals for that of slaves in agriculture, wherever such a measure is practicable. On leaving the island I impressed this wish of mine upon the minds of my agents with all my power ; but the result has been the creating of a very considerable additional expense in the purchase of ploughs, oxen, and farming implements : the awkwardness, and still more the obstinancy, of the few negroes whose services were indispensible, was not to be overcome ; they broke plough after plough, and ruined beast after beast, till the attempy was abandoned in despair. However, it was made without the most essential ingrediaent for success--the superintendence of an English ploughman : and such of the ploughs as were cast-iron could not be repaired when once broken, and therefore ought not to have been adopted ; but I am told that in several other parts of the island the plough has been introduced, and completely successful.

  Another of my farming speculations answered no better : this was to improve the breed of cattle in the country, for which purpose Lord Holland and myself sent over four of the finest bulls that could be procurredin England. One of them got a trifling hurt in his passage from the vessel to the land ; but the remaining three were deposited in their respective pens without the least apparent damage. They were taken all possible care of--houses approriated to shelter them from sun and rain-- and, in short, no means of preserving their health was neglected. Yet, shortly after their arrival in Jamaica, they evidently began to decline; they paid no sort of attention to the cows who were confined in the same paddock ; and at the end of a fortnight they were all dead. The injured one, having been bled the most copiously in consequence of his hurt, was that which survived the longest.

  FEBRUARY 1. (Sunday.)

  During my former visit to Jamaica I had interceded in behalf of a negro belonging to Greenwich estate, named Aberdeen, who had run away repeatedly, but who attributed his misconduct to the decay of his health, which rendered him unable to work as well as formerly, and to the fear of consequent punishment for not having performed the tasks assigned to him. The fellow while be spoke to me had tears running down his abeeks, looked feeble and ill, and indeed seemed to be quite heart-broken. On my speaking to the attorney, he readily promised to inquire into the truth of the man's statement, and to take care that he should be only allotted such labour as his strength might be fully equal to. This morning he came over to see me, and so altered that I could scarcely believe him to be the same man. He was cleanly dressed, walked with his head erect, and his eyes sparkled, and his mouth grinned from ear to ear, while he told me that during my absence everything had gone well with him, nobody had " put upon him;" he had been tasked no more than suited his strength ; as much as he was able to do, he had done willingly, and had never run away. Even his asthma was better in consequence of the depression being rdmoved from his spirits. So, he said, as soon as he heard of my return, be thought it his duty to come over and show himself to me, and tell me that he was well, and contented, and behaving properly ; for that " to be sure, if massa no speak that good word for me to trustee, me no livee now; me good massa ! " Gratitude made him absolutely eloquent: his whole manner, and the strong expression of his countenance, put his sincerity out of all doubt, and I never saw a man seem to feel more truly thankful. All negroes, therefore, are not absolutely without some remembrance of kindness shown them; and indeed I ought not, in justice to my own people, to allow myself to forget that, when I sent a reward to those who had roused themselves to drive the cattle out of the canes the other night, there was considerable difficulty in persuading them to accept the money: they sent me word, " that as they were all well treated on the estate, it was their business to take care that no mischief was done to it, and that they did not deserve to be rewarded for having merely done their duty by me."

  FEBRUARY 2.

  One of the deadliest poisons used by the negroes (and a great variety is perfectly well known to most of them) is prepared from the root of the cassava. Its juice being expressed and allowed to ferment, a small worm is generated, the substance of which being received into the stomach is of a nature the most pernicious. A small portion of this worm is concealed under one of the thumb-nails, which are suffered to grow long for this purpose ; then, when the negro has contrived to persuade his intended victim to eat or drink with him, he takes an opportunity, while handing to him a dish or cup, to let the worm fall, which never fails to destroy the person who swallows it. Another means of destruction is to be found (as I am assured) in almost every negro-garden throughout the island: it is the arsenic-bean, neither useful for food nor ornamental in its appearance ; nor can the negroes, when questioned, give any reason for affording it a place in their gardens ; yet there it is always to be seen. The alligator's liver also possesses deleterious properties; and the gall is said to be still more dangerous.

  FEBRUARY 3.

  Whether it be the climate not agreeing with their African blood (genuine or inherited), or whether it be from some defect in their general formation, certainly negroes seem to hold their lives upon a very precarious tenure. Some of my strongest workmen, the very servants too in my own house, are perpetually falling ill with little fevers, or colds, or pains in the head or limbs. However, the season is universally allowed to have been peculiarly unhealthy for negroes; and, indeed, even for white people, the deaths on board the shipping having been unusually numerous this year; and in the barracks, which are scarcely a couple of miles distant front my estate, the yellow fever has established itself, and, as I hear, is committing terrible ravages, particularly among the wives of the soldiers. This morning several negro mothers, belonging to Friendship and Greenwich, came to complain to their attorney (who happened to be at my house) that the overseer obliged them to wean their children too soon. Some-of these children were above twenty-two months old, and none under eighteen ; but, in order to retain the leisure and other indulgences annexed to the condition of nursingmothers, the female negroes, by their own good-will, would never wean their offspring at all. Of course their demanas were rejected, and they went home in high discontent; one of them, indeed, Dot scrupling to declare aloud, and with a peculiar emphasis and manner, that if the child should be put into the weaning-house against her will, the attorney would see
it dead in less than a week.