choice to accompany this party, but he refused the offer. On the 12th, the rebels attacked an estate and carried off all the black women, without committing any kind of cruelty. Upon this intelligence a party of rangers were sent in pursuit of them; and 700 negroes were employed to cut a path of circumvallation round the colony, which path was to be manned with military picquets to defend the estates from any farther invasion. As an instance of the insolence of savages,' says our narrator, when perfectly independent, I must relate a conversation which passed between one of this description and myself at Paramaribo, where the troops were allowed some time to refresh themselves before they again retook the field :---Dining one day at captain Mac Neyl's, who was now come to town from his estate, a captain of the Owca negroes, our supposed allies, came in to demand money from his lady; and being very importunate, I desired her in English to "give him a dram, and he would be gone;" which the fellow understanding, called me without the door, and lifting up his silverheaded cane, asked me, "If that house was my own? and if not, what business I had to interfere? I am," said he, in a thundering voice, "captain Fortune Dago-So, and, if I had you in my country at Owca, I would make the very earth drink up your blood." To which I replied, drawing my sword, "That my name was Stedman; and that if he dared to utter one insolent expression more, my weapon should find the shortest way through his body." Upon which he snapped his fingers, and marched off, leaving me much displeased, and blaming Fourgeoud for shewing so much indulgence to such a set of banditti. In the evening, as I returned from dinner, I met the same black fellow again, who, stepping short up to me, said, “Massera, you are a man, a very brave fellow; won't you now give some money to the Owca captain?" This I sternly refused; he then kissed my hand, and shewed his teeth (he said) in token of reconciliation, promising to send me a present of pistachio nuts, which never did arrive, nor indeed should I have tasted, even had they been sent. Barbarities still continued in a shocking degree in the metropolis; where my ears were deafened with the clang of the whip, and the shrieks of the negroes. Among the most eminent of these tyrants was a Miss Sp-n, who lived next door to Mr. de Graav, and who I saw with horror from my window give orders that a young black woman should be flogged principally across the breasts, at which she seemed to enjoy peculiar satisfaction. To dissipate the impression this scene had left on my mind, I got into a whiskey, and rode out; when the first thing I saw was a negro girl fall naked from a garret window on a heap of broken bottles: this was indeed an accident, but she was so mangled, though not dead, that she exhibited a spectacle nearly as wretched as the other.-Cursing my unlucky fate, I turned the horses, and drove to the beach, as the only place to avoid every scene of cruelty and misery; but here I had the mortification to see two Philadelphia sailors (while they were fighting on the forecastle of their vessel) both fall over the ship's bow into the stream, where they sunk, and were no more seen. On board another American brig, I discovered a little tar defending himself from the cross-trees with a hatchet, against a serjeant and four armed men, for a considerable time; till they threatening to shoot him out of the rigging, he at last surrendered, and being brought ashore, was dragged to fort Zelandia, in company with two others, by a file of musketeers, where, for having been drunk on duty, they received a fire-cant each, at the captain's request; that is, they were bastinadoed or beaten on the shoulders by two corporals with bamboo canes, till their backs were black, and swelled like a cushion. However arbitrary this mode of correction, the captain endeavoured to explain the necessity of it; the private American sailors being of a turbulent spirit when drunk, although when sober they may be fairly classed among the best seamen in the world. Early the next morning, while musing on all the different dangers and chastisements to which the lower class of people are exposed, I heard a crowd pass under my window. Curiosity made me start up, dress in a hurry, and follow them: when I discovered three negroes in chains, surrounded by a guard, going to be executed in the savannah. Their undaunted look, however averse I may be to the sight of cruelties, so attracted my attention, as to determine me to see the result, which was thus:---The sentence being read in Low Dutch (which they did not understand) one was condemned to be flogged below the gallows, and his accomplice to have his head struck off with an axe, for having shot a slave who had come to steal plantains on the estate of his mistress. The truth however was, that this had been done by that lady's absolute command; but the murder being discovered, she, in the hopes of saving her character, besides the expence of paying the penalties, gave up her valuable slave, and permitted the unhappy man to be thus sacrificed. He laid his head upon the block with great indifference, stretching out his neck; when, with one blow of the axe, it was severed from his body. The third negro, whose name was Neptune, was no slave, but his own master, and a carpenter by trade; he was young and handsome, but having killed the overseer of the estate Altona, in the Para creek, in consequence of some dispute, he justly forfeited his life. The particulars, however, are worth relating:-This man having stolen a sheep, to entertain a favourite young woman, the overseer, who burnt with jealousy, had determined to see him hanged; to prevent which, the negrp shot him dead among the sugar-canes; for these offences of course he was sentenced to be broken alive upon the rack, without the benefit of a coup-de-grace or mercy-stroke. Informed of the dreadful sentence, he composedly laid himself down on his back on a strong cross, on which, with arms and legs expanded, he was fastened by ropes: the executioner, also a black man, having now with a hatchet chopped off his left hand, next took up a heavy iron bar, with which, by repeated blows, he broke his bones to shivers, till the marrow, blood, and splinters flew about the field; but the prisoner never uttered a groan nor a sigh. The ropes being next unlashed, I imagined him dead, and felt happy; till the magis trates stirring to depart, he writhed himself from the cross, when he fell on the grass, and damned them all, as a set of barbarous rascals; at the same time removing his right-hand by the help of his teeth, he rested his head on part of the timber, and asked the by-standers for a pipe of tobacco, which was infamously answered by kicking and spitting on him; till I, with some American seamen, thought proper to prevent it. He then begged that his head might be chopped off; but to no purpose. At last, seeing no end to his misery, he declared, "that though he had deserved death, he had not expected to die so many deaths: however, (said he) you christians have missed your aim at last, and I now care not, were I to remain thus one month longer." After which he sung two extempore songs (with a clear voice) the subjects of which were, to bid adieu to his living friends, and to acquaint his deceased relations that in a very little time he should be with them, to enjoy their company for ever in a better place. This done, he calmly entered into conversation with some gentlemen concerning his trial; relating every particular with uncommon tranquillity" But," said he abruptly, "by the sun it must be eight o'clock; and by any longer discourse I should be sorry to be the cause of your losing your breakfast." Then, casting his eyes on a Jew, whose name was De Vries, "A-propos, sir," said he, "won't you please to pay me the 10 shillings you owe me?”__“ For what to do?"--" To buy meat and drink, to be sure--don't you perceive I am to be kept alive?" Which speech, on seeing the Jew stare like a fool, this mangled wretch accompanied with a loud and hearty laugh. Next, observing the soldier that stood sentinel over him biting occasionally on a piece of dry bread, he asked him "how it came to pass, that he a white man, should have no meat to eat along with it?"-" Because I am not so rich," answered the soldier." Then I will make you a present, sir," said the negro; "first, pick my hand that was chopped off clean to the bones, next begin to devour my body, till you are glutted; when you will have both bread and meat, as best becomes you;"--which piece of humour was followed by a second laugh; and thus he continued, until I left him, which was about three hours after the dreadful execution. < Wonderful it is indeed, that human nature should be able to endure so much torture, which assuredly could only be supported by a mixture of rage, contempt, pride, and the glory of braving his tormentors, from whom he was so soon to escape. 'I must now relate an accident, which, as it had a momentary effect on my imagination, might have had a lasting one on some who had not investigated the real cause of it, and which it gave me no small satisfaction to discover. About three in the afternoon, walking towards the place of execution, with my thoughts full of the the affecting scene, and the image of the sufferer fresh in my mind, the first object I saw was his head at some distance, placed on a stake, nodding to me backwards and forwards, as if he had really been alive. I instantly stopped short, and seeing no person in the savannah, nor a breath of wind sufficient to move a leaf or a feather, I acknowledge that I was rivetted to the ground, where I stood without having the resolution of advancing one step for some time; till reflecting that I must be weak indeed not to approach this dead skull, and find out the wonderful phænomenon, if possible, I boldly walked up, and instantly discovered the natural cause, by the return of a vulture to the gallows, who perched upon it, as if he meant to dispute with me for this feast of carrion; which bird, having already picked out one of the eyes, had fled at my first approach, and striking the skull with his talons, as he took his sudden flight, occasioned the motion already described. I shall now only add, that this poor wretch, after living near six hours, had been knocked on the head by the commiserating sentinel, the marks of whose musket were perfectly visible by a large open fracture in the skull. The 24th, being the prince of Orange's birth-day, the whole corps of officers were entertained with salt beef, salt pork, barley puddings, and hard pease, by colonel Fourgeoud. And this day (poor Joanna being inflexible in her resolutions) I ratified the agreement with the good Mrs. Godefroy, in presence of her mother and other relations, whereby the above lady bound herself "never to part with her, except to myself VOL. I. 3 B |