Jacob Dunham

“ A horse was brought for each man; our leader mounted, taking his ten gallon keg up before him; each was supplied with a bunch of plantain leaves for a saddle. The night being dark, and the rain falling in torrents, we groped our way through thick woods, my horse acting as my guide. I kept my hand extended before my face to protect my eyes from the limbs of the trees for some distance, when we arrived at a small creek; we dismounted and crossed over in a canoe, the Indians swimming their horses across. ”

“ His body is silent and still in 'the narrow house of all living.' He reposes, with others of his valiant compeers, to await 'the sound of the archangel and the trump of God.' But it is the consolation of surviving friends to reflect, that, though he sleeps, and they shall behold him no more, he has fallen in the arms of victory, and in the common cause of his country and of mankind. ”

“ It becomes our painful duty to record the death of Lieutenant William Howard Allen, of the United States Navy. He commanded the United States Schooner Alligator, and on the 11th of November last, while leading his brave tars in the Alligator's boats to attack a nest of pirates near Matanzas, was shot by them in the head and breast, and survived but four hours. Undaunted, even in death, he cheered his men, and had the consolation of witnessing the surrender of one of the piratical vessels, and the re-capture of five merchantmen before he expired. ”

“ On the day a woman is delivered of a child she goes to the sea-side, wades into the water knee depth, washes herself and infant, and the next day slings the child on her back, gets into a canoe and paddles two or three miles to visit her friends. ”

“ Blas has no king, but is a kind of Patriarchal government, being ruled by the old men and the sookerman of the Island, whose laws are obeyed in the strictest manner. The sookerman acts as physician, and also foretells future events. Theft or adultery is seldom known in that country. The civilized world talk of liberty, but these savages alone truly enjoy it. They pay no tithes or taxes, require no locks to protect themselves from thieves, have neither taverns nor boarding houses, every traveller being made welcome at whatever house he may happen to stop. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the morning, while we were preparing to return to the schooner, Campbell called me out to a small store house, where he took up the hind quarter of a baboon or large monkey, well smoked, and presented it to me to eat on our passage back to the schooner. I did not like to wound his feelings by refusing his present. On looking into his store room I observed a number of large smoked birds about the size of a common turkey, which I told him suited my taste much better than monkey, which he readily exchanged, [Pg 222] as the natives consider a fat monkey the best meat that the country produces. ”

“ This compels any person selling a cargo there to lay the returns out in some of the produce of the Island, which is consequently the cause of heavy losses to the shippers. The inhabitants are a mixed race of black and white, varying in color from the blackness of charcoal to almost the whiteness of a snow-ball, and hundreds of them have to take hard oaths to satisfy the authorities that they have some black blood running through their veins, which entitles them to the rights of citizenship in the Island. I have seen many red-whiskered fair complexioned men pass themselves off for men of color. ”

“ Having loaded my little sloop, (about the size of a clam boat,) I soon shipped a crew, which consisted of a North River captain, who had never been out of the sight of land, to act as my mate; and two old broken-down sailors, one acting as seaman and the other as cook. We sailed about the first of February, with a fair wind, and made our passage in twenty-two days to the Island of Old Providence, where we hoisted our flag for a pilot. I soon discovered a fishing canoe, having one white man and three or four negroes on board, who volunteered to pilot us into the harbor. ”

“ I never heard of but one woman of that tribe who had issue by a white man. The father of the child was a captain of a Jamaica trading vessel. When the Indians discovered her situation, she was separated from the tribe, placed in a house built for her in the woods, entirely deprived of all kind of intercourse with them; being considered as an outcast. When the child was three or four years of age it was put on board of a Jamaica vessel and banished from the country. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Having lost all my property except a small homestead, by the many captures I had experienced, the perils of the sea, and the fluctuations of prices in the West India produce, and being now out of employment, and looking upon every man as slothful who remained idle when he could earn a competence by working for less wages then he formerly received, I agreed with a young inexperienced captain to perform [Pg 237] a voyage with him in a small schooner of seventy tons, called the Horizon, from New-York to the Island of Teneriffe. ”

“ If the winds or weather detained us on the passage we could go on shore, haul up our canoe, build a fire, cook our provision and then lay down on the ground and get a comfortable sleep, by keeping a kind of watch amongst ourselves to prevent the fire from going out, that being our only protection from tigers, panthers, and other wild beasts, who will never approach a fire. They are very numerous on this coast. ”

“ The whole furniture of each Indian family would not cost ten dollars.
We stopped at Corn Island, collected all the return we could obtain, and sailed for New-York, where we arrived about the first of January, 1820, without any particular incident worth notice, discharged the cargo, settled with my owners, and returned to Catskill, where I found my family in the enjoyment of their usual health. I now determined to remain at home during the winter, and enjoy some repose from the toils of the sea, having spent but five or six weeks with my family during the last five years. ”

“ During my residence at the Lagoon I have been an invited guest to drink-abouts. Pine-apples are raised in abundance in this country, which the inhabitants of a number of settlements [Pg 68] from time to time collect in large quantities, and assemble at some central place, where they convert them into a kind of pulp and then press out the juice, put it into some old cask and let it remain a few days, when it becomes the most palatable liquor I ever drank, and produces intoxication when taken in large quantities.
Some months after, I learned the deception these Indians had practised upon me. ”

“ 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. ”

“ After a reference had been made to the frequent instances in which, for a few years past, the inhabitants of Hudson have been suddenly and unexpectedly deprived of some of their most respected and valued fellow citizens, it was observed, that, in addition to all the previous calamities of the nature which we had experienced, we have recently been called upon by the righteous Providence of Him whose 'path is in the great deep, and whose footsteps are not known,' to contemplate another, which, in some of its features, perhaps, is the heaviest of all. ”

“ I fitted up my canoe, hired three Indians, put our dinner-pot, gun, fishing spears and some provisions on board, and launched out into the broad ocean again. After we had proceeded about fifteen miles the wind increased, which caused the sea to run so high that we were obliged to run our canoe on shore, and hauling her up we built a fire, a precaution necessary in travelling in this country to avoid being attacked by wild beasts, and after cooking a scanty meal took lodging on the ground. ”

“ I obtained employment in a little schooner, which ran between New Orleans and Covington, through the old canal, crossing the lake and ascending a small river called Chepunkee, navigable some twenty-two miles. We sailed into the mouth of it about three miles, and then took in our sails and towed her the remaining distance to the little village called Covington. The river is so narrow in many places that vessels have scant room to pass by each other; a slight current sets down the river the whole time. ”

“ Soon after sunset I went on shore, where I found a motley group of English, Spanish, and Curracoa natives of all colors. I was introduced to a young white lady as a partner, who had been educated in Jamaica, and understood the rules of country dances. According to the custom of the place, the person giving a ball is expected to lead the figure during the whole night. ”

“ The president being a military chieftain, exercises great power over his subjects, who have only the shadow of a Senate and Assembly, as they are subservient to his will. The soil of the Island is very fertile, producing sugar-cane, coffee, cocoa, and three crops of corn in one year; also, beans, cabbages, water-mellons, and most kinds of garden vegetables: plantains, yams, and every variety of tropical fruits in abundance. ”

“ In the large canoe I put my chest, charts, quadrant, clothing, nine hundred dollars in specie, and a ten gallon keg of rum, knowing it would stimulate them to perform the voyage with despatch, by giving them a drink on arriving at certain places we could see ahead. The cook had boiled me a piece of salt beef to carry with me, and put up two or three pounds of sea-bread. I took a jug of rum in addition to the ten gallon keg, on board of the canoe in which I embarked, and put a tea-cup in my pocket to serve as a tumbler. ”

“ When one old man has ended his story another commences without any interruption. I laid down to sleep at eleven o'clock and slept till five in the morning, when I awoke and found them talking. [Pg 136] Some time after, I called one of the Indians aft who spoke English, and asked him why this talk had continued all night: he answered me by saying, "The old men had told Campbell and Billy that they would be the first of their tribe whoever visited my country; that they must keep sober and honest, and conduct themselves like gentlemen." ”

“ The easterly trade-winds constantly prevail here, except the westerly land breezes, which blow during the night, and extend out a few miles from the shore. My canoe was fitted in Indian style, having a number of small holes bored in her sides near the top, and small cords attached to them, to which we tied our dinner-pot, gun, or any other articles we wished to carry with us, which I found a safe plan for preserving the necessaries we carry on board. ”

“ Blas Indians have a peculiar custom about talking: when an old man is speaking, all the company are silent, not one lisp is heard from any other person, except at the end of every sentence, when each listener says, "Ah!" ”

“ They had employed an agent whom they had supplied with the necessary articles of trade, and told the inhabitants that if they traded with that Yankee captain they would withdraw from them; and also told them that the Yankee captain might sell them some articles a little cheaper at first, but that he was a worthless fellow, and could not continue the trade long, when they would be left destitute, as no Englishman would supply them. The English traders urged the Indians to put myself and crew to death, and burn our vessel. ”

“ The license to retail liquors in the city is sold annually at auction, to the highest bidder; one person purchasing the license for the whole town, gives security, and then divides it as he pleases. The soil of this Island is rich, producing sugar-cane and cocoa in abundance. Coffee, and all kinds of tropical provisions and fruits are raised here in large quantities. The Island abounds with snakes of an enormous size. I visited an American gentleman, residing in the country about twelve miles from Port Spain, who had a snake-skin stuffed which was twenty-three feet long ”