Part 23

As soon as our surprise and indignation would permit, we informed this _man of equity_ that four of us had minutely examined this frightful cut of the elbow, and that, with all our eight eyes strained as wide as they could stare, we had not even been able to discover the wound; adding, for his further information, that the Dutchman had, himself, assured us that it was cut with a large chisel: but that, in fact, it had neither been cut with a chisel, nor with a nail in a stick, nor cut at all; being only a slight bruise which had probably happened in the struggle, when the Dutchman was pulling about the negro by the hair of his head. We also ventured to add that the whole tale of this mighty wound was a scandalous imposition; and the punishment which had been inflicted upon the negro a gross injustice. We then appealed to this arbitrary guardian of the laws, very earnestly demanding whether, in justice to the injured negro, to the public, and to himself, who had been thus imposed upon, he would not feel it incumbent upon him to institute an inquiry regarding the fact, and to have the cruel wretch, and his four perjured witnesses, severely punished! Of course we made no remark upon his having seen the sad cut in the elbow _with his own eyes_! Whether from feeling himself implicated, or from a reluctance arising out of any other cause, this great officer of _justice_ did not seem to be of accord with our sentiments upon the subject; but endeavoured to divert us from the question by expatiating upon the paramount necessity of holding slaves in subjection, and the great danger and impolicy of overlooking, in any instance, the crime of their lifting the hand against a white man. We readily conceded to him that, upon the present system, it was absolutely necessary to be tenacious of the privileges assumed, but we could never agree that it was either just or wise, to punish an unprotected man upon the false accusation of a set of perjured wretches, merely because Nature had covered him with a dark skin, and them with fair ones; nor that it was fit not to expose such wanton malice to public shame, whenever the falsehood and injustice of the testimony should be detected; therefore, pledging ourselves to appear in evidence, whenever called upon, we left the office obtaining a promise from this man of power, to institute an inquiry, and to have justice done to the poor injured slave!

Whether our endeavours in his behalf may be crowned with success, is extremely doubtful, but the unhappy history of our carpenter’s punishment will convey to you some idea of the kind of justice to be expected by slaves. The alleged offender is not heard in mitigation, nor are any of his colour admitted in evidence, although they might be able wholly to disprove the charge; hence, whenever a white man is base enough to perjure himself in accusation, the negro can have no hope of escaping from punishment.

LETTER XLV.

Berbische, May 31.

Expecting a passage of only a few hours to this colony, I left Demarara the day after writing to you my last letter, in a small vessel which I had not seen previous to embarking in her, and which offered no accommodation but that of being bound direct to the place of my destination. This, indeed, seemed to be all that was required, for I was assured both on shore, and when I arrived on board, that, in less than twenty-four hours, we should be at Berbische. But, in consequence of a multitude of adverse circumstances, this short passage became sadly tedious and extended; and in many respects, the most comfortless and disagreeable that I have known. Instead of a few hours only, we were four long days at sea. A minute detail of the progress of each successive day would be as tiresome to you as the voyage has been to me: yet, to say, merely, that we were four days going only a few leagues, would convey to you no idea of the extreme discomfort, and the multiplied annoyances to which I was exposed. Let me, therefore, give you some of the particulars.

At eight o’clock on the morning of the 26th inst. I embarked on board the above sloop to proceed from Fort William Frederic, at the mouth of the Demarara river, to Fort St. Andrew, at the entrance of the river Berbische. The vessel was employed by the Commissariat, to convey stores and provisions to the garrison. She was named Voltigeur.

Quite unexpectedly I met with five other passengers, to all of whom I was an entire stranger. I thought myself fortunate in having procured three small chickens, and a salted pig’s face, with some fruit and vegetables, as my share of stock for the voyage; and which, I was told by my friends on shore, who had often made the passage, was an ample supply, it being probable that I should not have to remain more than a single day on board. The other gentlemen, having more confidence, than myself, in the wind, the sea, and the Voltigeur, had embarked without provisions or stores of any kind.

The anchor was weighing when I reached the vessel: as usual, my head became sensible of the sea-motion before we had passed out of the river, and my stomach sympathizing, a violent sickness seized me, which compelled me to hasten to bed.

Till now I had taken no thought regarding either cabin or couch, the shortness of the voyage, and the warm and steady temperature of the climate had superseded all concern respecting a birth for the night. But I now discovered that to sit up was impossible, the severity of the retching being altogether insupportable, and, as the sloop offered no protecting shade, to lie down upon the deck, exposed to the full power of a burning sun, was to invite almost certain disease.

Under these circumstances I was driven to seek shelter in the cabin, such as it might chance to be: for this purpose, I was conducted to a kind of trap-door in the quarter-deck, called a hatchway; and, the hatch being lifted off, a dark hole below was pointed out to me as the cabin, and the only place where I could recline my aching head, or hope relief for my sickened stomach. Subdued by the depressing languor of nausea, I was too ill to hesitate: to lie down was my only care! and, unassisted by stairs or ladder, I dropped myself, by means of my trembling arms, through the opening, into this murky cell. My feet were quickly arrested by the old chests, and other lumber scattered about this filthy place, which was not of sufficient depth to admit of my standing upright, without being half out at the hatchway; neither was there room to sit down, nor a chair, or stool to rest upon; hence it only remained to me to crawl upon my hands and knees, feeling my way, over the loose chests and barrels to the farthest extent of the cabin, and there throw myself into a wooden birth fixed at the side; which I found too short to admit of the full extension of my person, and too near the planks of the deck above, to allow of my remaining in any but an extended posture.

At a moment when the sickness had a little subsided, a sailor with a light in his hand, dropped through the hatchway by which I had descended. It would be impossible to describe the sensations I experienced upon discovering the scene which now opened to me. The execrable nest in which I was lying was not simply crowded and confined, beyond all that the annoyances which I had felt had led me to suspect; it was a _tout ensemble_ of nastiness, that defies all description. Words can convey to you but a faint idea of the dirty and abominable place, in which, for four long days, sick and without food, I had to live.

This horrid cell, called a cabin, was only six feet long, seven wide, and four in depth; and was further contracted to less than half its dimensions, by the loose old chests, and worm-eaten coffers standing on the dock below; the thick sheets of cobwebs suspended from the deck above; and the crowd of filthy ornaments hanging on all sides. To sit or to stand up appeared impossible; scarcely, indeed, was there room to lie down, or to breathe. Not only was I shocked to see the noxious den I was in, but was puzzled to conjecture how I could have steered my passage to the birth, where I was lying. Both the entrance to the cabin, and the path by which I had travelled to my couch were such as I could only have passed during the insensibility of a severe fit of nausea. Descending from the hole above, I must have alighted upon a heap of unfixed trunks and coffers, at the risk of my legs being jammed between them; then I had to crawl, upon my hands and knees, over the old unsteady lumber, breaking my way through filth-thickened cobwebs, at the hazard of being entangled in the strong net-work of gigantic spiders, whose labours had known no interruption since the building of the sloop; and who, by constant toil, had manufactured sheets of cordage of almost sufficient strength to work it. But when compared to the many other offensive things which filled the place, these dirty hangings might be regarded as the rich tapestry of the apartment.

At each side of this dark abode was a fixed sleeping birth, which was narrow, short, and dirty. The centre was filled with barrels, tubs, old sea chests, greasy coffers, and other lumber. At one end stood a tub of stinking salt meat; at the other, one with rotten potatoes, and pots of rancid butter. The cabin was the general receptacle—the store-house, cellar, pantry, and larder of the vessel. Under the births, saluting the noses of those lying in them, were filthy worm-eaten chests, filled with long-worn apparel, and other high-essenced contents. One was set apart for dirty knives and forks, unwashed plates, basins, and dishes; another for the odorous remains of yesterday’s dinner. In one corner stood a bag of musty biscuit, in another hung an old grease-thickened lantern. Hand-spikes, marline-spikes, swabs, a shattered mouldy case with a compass, a worm-eaten ditto with a quadrant, two or three broken fishing lines, a battered speaking trumpet, and a variety of other implements, hung, or strewed about, added to the furniture of the apartment.

But worst of all were the poisonous long-used blankets of the sleeping births; and the myriads of insects and vermin crawling about, and making a public highway of my body. Rats and mice, cockroaches, musquitoes, fleas, and ants formed only a part of the catalogue.

You will believe that on discovering how I was placed, I lost no time in attempting my escape from this wretched place. But, on rising, a violent and enfeebling sickness again seized me, and, from the causes I have mentioned, it was impossible to remain upon deck; I therefore made the experiment of standing in the hatchway, with my head through the opening, so as to catch the passing breeze; but the intense heat from the perpendicular rays of the sun, and the death-like nausea and incessant retching, produced by the erect posture, soon chased me from this wholesome station, and left me only a choice of evils; either to extend myself upon deck, exposed to burning heat, and the risk of being rolled overboard into the sea; or, again, to throw myself into a deadly hole, threatened with a poisonous suffocation, and the danger of being devoured by vermin.

In this dilemma—viewing it as the lesser evil, I, at length, resolved to return to the manifold ills of the cabin; but remained at the hatchway, supporting a degree of sickness which almost inverted my stomach, while one of the sailors removed the blankets, and other offensive things, which were in the birth, and swept and scrubbed it out, in order to give me the bare boards as a resting-place.

I now drew on a pair of thick fustian pantaloons, reaching down to my feet; buckled them fast in my shoes; put on a pair of strong gloves; covered my head and great part of my face, with my night-cap; and changing my coat for a loose morning gown, rolled myself up so as to leave scarcely more than my nose accessible; and, thus protected, tumbled again into the birth I had quitted, bidding defiance to the insects, vermin, and every annoyance around me. Luckily my senses were not, at this moment, very acute, for I laboured under a severe catarrh, which deprived me of the faculties of smelling, and tasting, and almost robbed me of sight. Situated as I was, all this might be considered as fortunate, for I was compelled to continue throughout the remainder of the day, either violently retching, or loathingly viewing the hateful and disgusting scene around me.

Before evening poor old Mr. Serjeant, one of my fellow-passengers, was likewise seized with sickness, and compelled to seek relief by reclining his head in the opposite birth of the cabin. In painful sympathy we bewailed each other’s distress, looking with anxious hope to a less offensive birth upon the deck, when the sun should take his leave for the night.

But in this expectation we were grievously disappointed. The retreat of the sun was succeeded by heavy torrents of rain; and instead of our being able to return upon deck, all the other passengers were driven below, crowding both the cabin and hatchway, so as to threaten us with the pains of suffocation. Every old chest and trunk now cracked with the weight of some one hastening down to escape from the wet; and, quickly, no less than seven or eight persons were crowded into this contracted hole of spiders and vermin, committing depredations upon the net-work hangings, in which they had long rested undisturbed. The whole host was thus put to flight. All the living things of the cabin seemed to be let loose in alarm. Numerous flocks of old spiders, overgrown cockroaches, rats, ants, and other travellers, ran distractedly about the births, kicking up their heels in our faces, and scampering over every part of our persons.

In a state truly deplorable did we pass a long and wearisome night. My head throbbed with pain; the heat of the cabin was intolerable; and I was almost expiring from want of air. How anxiously did I wait, and how joyfully hail the returning dawn of day!

I now contemplated a speedy escape from all the perils and annoyances of the execrable Voltigeur: but the term of our sufferings was not thus soon to close. New vexations arose, and disappointment again presented its thorns. An old sailor, who had been employed to take his watch at the helm, during the night, had sacrificed to all-subduing Morpheus, and steered the vessel a wrong course; by which accident we had now the mortification to find ourselves more distant from Berbische, than we had been in the evening.

One of the passengers, who proved to be the owner of the vessel, observing my solicitude, offered me consolation, by remarking that we were not far distant from an estate of his, upon the coast, and assuring me that if the vessel should not be able to reach Berbische in the evening, rather than we should suffer such another night, he would take us all off in the boat to sleep at his house on shore. This was a comfort indeed, and I supported the sickness and other ills of the day, in the full confidence of being, one way or other, relieved from them at night.

Our sloop proceeded in dull movement, scarcely regaining, during the whole of the day, the distance she had lost in the night. Evening again approached, and our captain saw no prospect of reaching Berbische. Finding this, the passengers upon deck kindly sent a message down into the cabin, informing me, that we were within sight of the estate, at which we were to sleep.

But vexation and disappointment were again our lot; and no alleviating remission of our sufferings was allowed. It was discovered that we were too far from the shore to go off in the boat; moreover, that it was ebb tide, which rendered it impossible that we could traverse the deep bank of mud, which extended from the water’s edge to the land.

It was next debated whether we should avail ourselves of the return of the tide, and of our nearer approach to the shore, at a later hour; but, again, our hopes were defeated, by the unexpected decline of the breeze, which, most provokingly, fixed us in a dead calm. Presently the evening closed, and it growing suddenly dark, we were compelled to abandon the project, and to submit to the torture of passing another night on board.

As my next resource I resolved to avoid the poisonous stench and filth of the cabin, by pillowing my head upon the open deck until morning: but I found that my measure of vexation was not yet filled, for I was quickly chased from this well-aired couch, by the falling of heavy rain; and compelled to return to my nest of spiders. As the evil was without a remedy, I hastened below, and, keeping on my clothes and shoes, tumbled in again upon the bare boards.

The rain continued to fall, and from all the passengers crowding into the cabin, as before, we were close-stowed in confined and offensive heat, and passed another sadly wretched night; which to me was more distressing than the former, on account of my cold being somewhat relieved, and my olfactory powers in a slight degree restored. How anxiously did I wish to place an additional feather in the wing of time—how pray, ere the night had well commenced, that morning would again appear!

To prevent the accident of the preceding night, we had let go the anchor; and, without the risk of steering away from our course, remained near the shore until the sun protruded from the waters of the east to guide our path. It was now discovered that we had been lying near to the estate of our fellow-passenger, where it was intended we should have slept; it also appeared that we were only a few hours run from Berbische; and that, unless some new obstacle occurred, we could not fail to complete our voyage in the course of the day.

But, unhappily, the proprietor of the sloop wished to be set on shore, and we could not weigh anchor until the sailors, who went off with the boat, should return. At seven o’clock Mr. —— took his departure from the vessel, carrying with him the other passengers, and leaving me to make the remainder of the voyage alone.

It was observed, before, that these gentlemen brought no provisions on board; and as my scanty stock had only served the mess for a single dinner, we had already been reduced to the negro diet of plantains and water, for nearly two days. This had been, hitherto, no inconvenience to me, for my sickened stomach refused every kind of nourishment; but my greatest distress arose from the other passengers having devoured every morsel of my fruit, whilst I was lying sick and ill below, not leaving me a shaddock, or an orange, to moisten my lips, or cool my tongue.

On their leaving the sloop, I earnestly intreated them not to detain the boat a moment after they landed, lest we should be prevented from reaching Berbische by night. They assured me that it should not be delayed an instant beyond the time necessary for sending us “some fruit, and some provisions for the captain’s dinner.” But, instead of the boat coming back, directly, we were kept waiting the whole of the day, under an anxiety which it were more easy to conceive, than express.

The third night came on, and no boat appeared. Our situation was now tenfold more distressing than before. Without the men who went off with the boat, we had not hands enough to work the vessel. No remedy, therefore, remained, but to wait for them, however protracted their return.

The poor captain, grown even more impatient than myself, became quite outrageous, and from no satisfactory cause explaining to his mind the detention of the boat, he sought not to restrain his rage, but kicked and stamped upon the deck, pouring forth dreadful sea oaths, in the full coarseness of broad Barbadian dialect, and with all the emphasis of unbounded execration. His curses were really tremendous. They were unlike all that had before met my ear; and were rendered doubly odious by the drawling accent in which they were pronounced.

Notwithstanding my determination to meet the rough and the smooth of life as they shall chance to fall in my path, this I confess was a day of trial to my philosophy. Being without food and drink, without society, or any other _agrément_, I was not able to beguile the slothful hours, either by conversation or the pleasures of the table; and was even disappointed in the hope of diverting my mind, from the fatigue of unremitted suspense, by reading. Intending to make the trial, I begged of the stamping, raving captain to show me his library. Ay, exclaimed he, with a broad oath, that I can soon do! And, in truth, so he might; for it consisted only of a torn, mouldy copy of the sailor’s _Vade-mecum_, and the second volume of _The Tatler_, worm-eaten, and held together by a needleful of worsted! As I was not in humour with the sea, or any thing appertaining thereto, I threw aside the musty old guide, and sat down to tattle with Mr. Bickerstaff, hoping in his society to forget the cares of the moment; but still the boat—the _boat_ annoyed me at every page, and I found it impossible to abstract my thoughts from the painful apprehension of passing another night on board the abominable Voltigeur.

I remained, during the greater part of the day, upon deck; but as is common, at this season of the year, heavy rain again fell at night, and I was driven below to pass the hours of darkness amidst the filth and perils of my former retreat.

The poor enraged captain, bidding defiance to the showers, remained throughout the greater part of the night swearing and stamping upon deck; and, in his watchful look-out for the boat, kept himself awake by pouring bitter curses upon the heads of those who detained it.

After a sad and wearisome waiting the day again broke in at the opening of the cabin. Much rain had fallen during the night, but the sun smiled propitious through his morning robes, and seemed to offer cheerful greetings. With eager anxiety I sought tidings of our boat, but could obtain no intelligence regarding her. Neither was she arrived, nor in sight. The complete round of twenty-four hours had passed, since she left us, and we were wholly lost in conjecture what could possibly detain her.