Journal of Voyages

CHAPTER V

Pearl Key Lagoon lies in latitude 12° 10' N., longitude 82° 54' W. The village is situated about four miles from the entrance of the Lagoon, or Lake, into the sea. The village contains thirteen houses; the inhabitants generally speak English, and are more civilized and hospitable than the neighboring tribes. This place is the centre of trade for the whole coast, and is often visited by English traders.

I was hospitably received by Edward Patterson, a native of Curracoa, who had resided here many years. He had three wives living with him, all enjoying peace and good will towards each other. Patterson gave me a hearty welcome to his house, and provided me a room in it to retail my goods. He furnished his table with the best food the country produced, cleanly cooked in English style. Two days after my arrival here my mate and the two seamen arrived from the wreck of the sloop. They informed me that a large number of Indians had encamped near the wreck and commenced plundering the vessel, and they considered it unsafe to remain there any longer. They repaired the sloop's boat, put their clothing and some light goods on board, and after a few days' hard rowing reached this place, with health and strength much exhausted. Two or three days after a small English schooner arrived here, and I gave the captain two hundred dollars to carry me to the wreck and bring back all the goods we could save from it. We sailed the next day, and arrived there two days after. We found the shore white with cotton, the Indians having cut open the bales and carried away the sacks, leaving the cotton loose on the beach, which the winds had scattered all along the shore for a great distance. They had emptied two pipes of Catalonia wine on the ground and carried away the casks; also emptied some cases of Holland gin and filled the bottles with rum, cut many holes in the vessel to get out the iron, and committed many other depredations. On inquiry I found that most of the goods had been carried to Governor Clemente's house, about thirty miles up the Waa-waa river. We employed some Indians to carry us in their canoes to the governor's residence, there being no roads for travelling by land in the country. When we arrived at his excellency's dwelling we found a collection of forty or fifty Indians assembled there, raving with intoxication; a hogshead of rum placed in the middle of the house, with the bung taken out and the Indians filling their calabashes by pouring it out of the bung-hole, wasting one-half in pouring it out. The governor's invitation to spend the night with him was readily accepted. He promised me he would restore all my goods that could be found about his premises. The next day I found one pipe of gin and one hogshead of rum unopened, which he consented to restore to me. Here a difficulty arose: the distance from his house to the landing place at the river was about one and a half miles, and no way of conveyance except rolling the casks. I requested the governor to furnish me men, and I would pay them liberally for their services in conveying the goods to the landing place. He said he could not compel them to assist me. My mate and two men I had brought with me succeeded in rolling the casks to the shore after a tedious job of one and a half days. I found sixteen barrels of salt belonging to me about the premises, which we undertook to roll to the landing, but the governor pursued us with his axe and broke the staves of the casks, when we abandoned them. I then picked up all the remaining goods I could find belonging to me, sent them on board the canoes, and putting my mate and seamen on board as sentries for the night, took lodgings at the governor's house. In the morning my attention was drawn towards the governor's nine wives, who were seated round a fire outside of the house, eating their breakfast in perfect harmony. From appearance their ages were from sixteen to sixty years. I afterwards learned that eight of the Indians had died from the effects of the liquor which they had stolen from the wreck.

The governor and his gang had destroyed and robbed me of about eighteen hundred dollars' worth of property, for which I could not obtain any redress. We embarked in our canoes and proceeded to the schooner, where we took the goods on board, and the next day landed them at the Lagoon. My property being all collected together, I fitted up my store and received calls from all parts of the country, having that load-stone Rum to attract them.

Among the visiters who came to console me in my unfortunate situation, was a Sookerman, named Hewlett, who brought me a present of two pine-apples, for which I offered him twelve and a half cents in payment, he refused it, saying, "I was a poor cast-away thing, and all Indians must help me." I placed a bottle of gin upon the table and invited him and his comrade to drink, which they readily accepted, remaining with me until near night, when they had emptied the bottle; then taking an empty bottle from his pocket, he had the modesty to ask me to fill it for him to carry home. I was selling gin at this time for fifty cents per bottle. Pine-apples are considered of little value in this country, being worth from one to two cents apiece.

A Sookerman practices as a physician in sickness, but always abandons his patient before the approach of death; he tells fortunes, can discover thieves, and when the hurricane months are near approaching, he resorts to some hill with his cutlass in his hand, which he waves in the air to prevent the gales from destroying their crops of vegetables. He collects an annual tax from all the inhabitants of his district, for his services in cutting the breeze as they call it. If they refuse to pay his tax the laws of the country allow him to seize upon any property he can find, not excepting a man's dinner-pot. If a gale of wind happens to sweep over the country and destroy their crops, he screens himself by saying, "Some rascals have neglected the payment of their tithes." He cannot see a woman in child-bed, or the woman or child under nine months after the birth of it. He is prohibited from seeing any dead corpse, as he imagines the sight of either of these would cause his immediate death. The Sookerman makes all his journies in canoes, accompanied by some of his friends. When they approach any village, he lays down in the bottom of his canoe, and a sail is covered over him to protect his eyes, while some of his comrades visit the houses of the villagers to ascertain whether there are any of those dread sights in their houses. When his wife shows signs of pregnancy she retires to a house built in the woods, where she must remain nine months after her accouchment, before she can return to her husband.

My landlord, Patterson, informed me that he knew a Sookerman who landed at a village in a canoe, without sending a messenger before him to discover the object of his danger; it being stormy weather he landed in great haste and ran to the nearest house for a shelter, and opening the door quickly, the first object he saw was a woman holding a child in her arms. The shock was so great that he fell down on the threshhold of the door and died the third day after.

Two miles from the village where I had located myself was another settlement called Bigman Bank, a village of some renown, being the residence of General Bigman and Admiral Walkin. Soon after I had my store arranged to receive company I was visited by a number of young ladies from Bigman's Bank who were considered the belles of the village. The Indians residing in villages on the sea-coast imagine themselves far superior to the inland tribes. They form the same opinion that a fopish city dandy does of a country farmer, supposing him to be destitute of common sense because he does not put all his earnings on his back and cheat the tailor and shoemaker out of more.

After the young ladies were all seated in the house, my friend Patterson introduced me to them, and requested me to fill some glasses with gin and pass them round, saying, "They had never drank any gin before, and did not know the strength of it, that we should soon see sport." After remaining some time and drinking freely, they attempted to depart, when one of them, named Betsey Young, a girl possessing a pleasant and beautiful countenance found herself unable to walk, and her comrades took her on their backs and departed apparently much mortified as I was myself. After they returned to their homes Betsey's mother gave her a severe reprimand for her intoxication. The next morning she bent the top of a small tree to the ground, tied a handkerchief to it and putting one end round her neck let the tree straighten up, which hung her in the air. Soon after her mother discovering her unfortunate situation cut her down and restored her to life. A few months after she became one of the king's wives.

I was visited by a respectable Frenchman, named Ellis, residing thirty miles up a river called Waa-waa-han, which empties into the Lagoon a few miles from this place. The Musquito king had given him a tract of land seven miles in length, bounded on the river, a well cultivated plantation, producing coffee, sugar-cane, corn, yams, sweet potatoes, all kinds of tropical fruits, and bread-stuffs in abundance. He owned twenty or thirty slaves, and cultivated a good garden. He informed me that he had fought for my country in the Revolution, under Count de Grass. His nearest neighbor, named Gough, resided twelve miles from him, who had a grant of land extending twelve miles along the river, and owned a few slaves, but paid little attention to cultivation. I found Mr. Ellis a very honest man, and a true friend to me. He kept a mulatto woman as his wife, whose name was Fanny. He sent many orders to me to bring out such articles as he wanted. He told me that one evening he was making out an order for goods and asked his wife if she wanted any thing added to the order. She answered by saying, "Tell Captain Dunham to fetch me out one man-goose and one woman-goose." Mr. Ellis often sent me garden vegetables, cucumbers, water-mellons, tropical fruits, &c.

CHAPTER VI

Among my new neighbors I found eight runaway negro slaves who had deserted from the Island of St. Andreas, in canoes, a distance of about two degrees, and took refuge here. To make the reader understand the tragic scenes that follow, I shall describe them by giving the names of the tribes they belonged to in their native country. Two of them being called Jim, I shall be obliged to attach to the name of each that of the tribe to which he belonged, to distinguish the parties.

The English traders from Jamaica, who have monopolized the trade of this country, frequently visit this place, stopping at St. Andreas and Corn Island on their passage. They are often commissioned to apprehend runaway slaves, return them to their masters, and receive their rewards. These negroes were well apprised of this custom, and took great precaution to arm and defend themselves if they were attacked. On the arrival of any English vessel in the harbor, they retreated to the woods and remained until the vessel left the port before they made their appearance among us again, when they returned to the house which they occupied when I first landed in the place, situated about fifty rods from my store. When they went upon any excursion they were each armed with a loaded musket and plenty of ammunition, determined never to be taken prisoners alive. In addition to their armament, they purchased from me five cutlasses, which they ground very sharp and carried with them daily. Scotland and Jim belonged to the Ebo tribe in Africa, their native country. Moody and the other Jim to the Mandingo tribe in the same country; another negro, named Prince, was a native of Jamaica. Scotland had a daughter with him, Moody and Mandingo Jim, both had their wives with them. There always appeared a national antipathy existing between the Ebo and Mandingo negroes, which caused many disputes between them. Prince always tried to remain neutral between the parties, often acting as umpire in the settlement of their difficulties. On the arrival of any vessel, or any dangerous report, they compromised all their private quarrels and united for the common defence.

The negroes soon discovered that I had no means to annoy them, and that the English traders were very jealous of me as a trespasser on their exclusive right to trade here, I being the first American who had attempted to open a trade with the Indians within the last fourteen years. These negroes soon commenced trading with me, having fifty or sixty dollars in money, and earnestly solicited my friendly aid, by informing them of any plot I should discover from the English traders, or the Mosquito king's officers to apprehend them, promising on their part to sell me all the tortoise-shell they could catch, and purchase all their goods from me. I readily ratified the treaty for my own safety. To use an old adage, "Those who live in glass houses must never throw stones."

My goods were poorly protected against robbers, my store being covered on the outside with thin slips of wood, resembling lath wove together like a basket and admitting light through the spaces sufficient to read or write without windows. A man could kick a hole through it in two minutes.

Soon after I purchased a mahogany canoe, made a sail to fit her, and took a number of excursions to the neighboring villages, purchasing shell, gum, &c. It frequently happened that I did not see a white man in two or three weeks. The negroes often got alarmed by hearing false reports about their apprehension, and finding that I sometimes did not reach home until after dark, they came to my store and requested me to wear a white chip hat when I went on any excursion, or appeared out after dark, that they might know me, as they had agreed to shoot any strange white man who should approach them in the night. I complied with their request for my own safety. I have frequently called at their house in the night to procure a light, always calling them by name before I approached their door, and always found them laying on their arms, ready to repel any attack.

Some weeks after, my landlord purchased from me a quantity of goods, and I advanced him about six hundred dollars in cash, which he agreed to pay me in tortoise-shell, at two dollars per pound, it being worth at that time seven dollars in New-York. He embarked in a large canoe on a trading voyage, along the southern coast of that country, a distance of about two degrees. Most of the able-bodied men of this and the neighboring villages fitted themselves out for a three months' voyage to the southward, to catch turtle. After they had all embarked I found there was no male inhabitant left except myself, my five negroes, two or three old infirm Indians, and a whole village of women and children. The negroes gave me the title of governor, and agreed to submit to such laws as I should prescribe for them. One of the laws I passed was to sell them only one bottle of rum per day, which they agreed to, and behaved themselves well for two or three weeks, caught some shell, and sold it to me. Ebo Jim I found to be a good marksman with a gun, and I furnished him often with powder and shot, with which he killed a great many wild parrots for me to eat, from which I had a number of good meals.

After a few weeks the negroes imagining there was a plot laid to entrap them, agreed to retire to a house they had found in the woods, where they thought themselves secure, and live in peace together. Scotland, Moody and the two Jims, took their leave of me and departed. Prince, the neutral negro, remained in the village. He was a coarse carpenter, and made some tables and sundry little articles for the Indians, and had many friends among them. Scotland and his party visited me two or three times after they had gone to their new habitation, and were supplied with their one bottle of rum per day, according to agreement, when they would depart peaceably to their new home. The fourth time they visited me they asked me for their bottle of rum, as usual, which was furnished them. They then left for a short time and returned with a request that I would fill the bottle again for them, which I refused to do, by telling them it was a breach of our agreement; but on their promising me faithfully if I would let them have another bottle they would not broach it until they got home, I filled it; they left, and as I supposed, had gone home. About one hour after, a number of women and children appeared at my door, where I had laid myself down in my hammock, reading, and making a most hideous noise, called on me to come out, as Scotland was killing Moody. I ran as fast as I could until I came near to the combatants, when I saw Scotland thrust his cutlass into the thick part of Moody's thigh, near the bone, the point running at least one foot through. Moody being vanquished, Mandingo Jim, his comrade, then rushed forward with cutlass in hand and struck at Scotland's head, who dodged the blow, at the same time returning a blow with his cutlass which struck Jim near the wrist, severing his hand from his arm, leaving it hanging by a small string of skin and flesh. Ebo Jim then ran into the battle with his gun cocked to shoot down his conquered adversaries, when I interfered, and by threats and persuasion prevented any further effusion of blood. The battle being ended, I proposed to cut off the wounded hand, but my opinion was overruled by the company, who decided, to use their own language, that "The hand could be mended up again." My landlord's oldest wife, whose name was Sally, and who was considered a great doctress among the inhabitants of this region of country, procured some splinters of wood, dressed the wound with wild honey and bound it up, Sally acting as head surgeon among the company. I furnished them with candles, which they made great use of as salve to dress the wounds. On the third morning after, Sally came to my store and told me that Jim's hand was all spoiled, that she had ground up her butcher knife to cut it off. She repaired to the room and requested Jim's wife to open the wound that she might dress it, which she complied with. Sally instantly drew her knife, which was concealed behind her, and cut the hand off, to the great surprise of all the spectators. She continued the application of honey and tallow for three or four weeks, when Jim so far recovered as to be able to shoot parrots for me again. After the battle, Scotland and Ebo Jim retired to their habitation in the woods, and in the course of three or four weeks Moody and Mandingo Jim removed to Bigman's Bank, about two miles from this place.