Maroons

“ Often they slept in old huts built by the Indians "when they travelled through these woods," but more frequently the Maroons built them new ones, having a strange skill in that craft. Then they would light little fires of wood inside the huts, giving a clear red glow, with just sufficient smoke to keep away mosquitoes. ”

“ Quaco in Ambush.
The Maroon captain, before leaving the Duppy’s Hole, had given official orders to his lieutenant about the capture of Chakra. There could no longer be any question of the absence of the myal-man from his haunt. The Maroons had continued their search after the discovery in the cave, still thinking that he might be concealed somewhere in the wood. The bushes were well beaten—the trees, where it was possible for a man to have climbed, were all scrutinised; and the search had ended without their finding any other trace of the Coromantee than what had been already discovered. ”

“ Shells were a visitation not dreamed of in Maroon philosophy, and their quaint compliments to their new opponent remain on record. "Damn dat little buckra!" they said; "he cunning more dan dem toder. Dis here da new fashion for fight: him fire big ball arter you, and when big ball 'top, de damn sunting (something) fire arter you again." With which Parthian arrows of rhetoric the mountaineers retreated.
But this did not last long. The Maroons soon learned to keep out of the way of the shells, and the island relapsed into terror again. ”

“ By artful devices,—a few fires left burning, with old women to watch them,—a few provision-grounds exposed by clearing away the bushes,—they lured the troops far up among the mountains, and then surprised them by an ambush. The militia all fled, and the regulars took refuge under a large cliff in a stream, where they remained four hours up to their waists in water, until finally they forded the river, under full fire, with terrible loss. Three months after this, however, the Maroons consented to an amicable interview, exchanging hostages first. ”

“ Are there any persons now in favour of marooning?"
"I am--and I--and I!" was the universal response. "When shall it be? Where shall it be?"
"You are too fast," said the Doctor. "I have one of two propositions to make. We must for a few days give up the house to the workmen. Now the question to be decided is, Shall we return to Fort Brooke, and spend our time among the guns and cannons; or shall we go to Riley's Island at the mouth of the bay, and spend it among the deer and turkeys, the fish and oysters, of which we have heard so much? There are advantages and disadvantages on both sides ”

“ I know your English heart, master—still uncorrupted by vile prejudices of caste and colour. Long may it remain so; and whether Captain Cubina may ever see you again, remember! that up yonder in the Blue Mountain,”—the Maroon pointed as he spoke to the purple outline of a mountain ridge, just visible over the tops of the trees—“up yonder dwells a man—a coloured man, it is true, but one whose heart beats with gratitude perhaps as truly as that of the whitest; and should you ever feel the fancy to honour that man with a visit, under his humble roof you will find both a friend and a welcome.” ”

“ Maroon, ma-rōōn′, n. a fugitive slave living on the mountains, in the West Indies.—v.t. to put on shore on a desolate island.—ns. Maroon′er; Maroon′ing. [Fr. marron—Sp. cimarron, wild—cima, a mountain-summit—L. cyma—Gr. kyma.]
Maroquin, mar′o-kwin, n. leather prepared from goatskin: morocco leather. [Fr.]
Marplot, mär′plot, n. one who mars or defeats a plot or design by interference where he has no right. ”

“ Seven wild men were brought from that island (which is called the New Land) to Rouen with their canoe, clothing, and weapons. They are of a sooty color, with thick lips, and bearing marks on the face drawn like blue veins along the cheek-bones from the ear to the middle of the chin; with black hair and coarse like a horse’s mane; having no beard throughout the whole life; no hair on any part of the body, except on the head and eyebrows. They wear a girdle to cover their nakedness, in which girdle is a sort of pouch; they form a dialect with their lips; religion they have none. ”

“ The count sent out scouts to clamber every height and explore every defile. From the summit of a hill they beheld the Moors encamped in a valley which was covered with the flocks and herds swept from the neighboring country. The camp of the marauders was formidable as to numbers, with various standards floating in the breeze; for in this foray were engaged the Moorish chiefs of Saragossa, Denia, and Seville, together with many valiant Moslems who had crossed the straits from Africa to share in what they considered a holy enterprise. ”

“ In the full moon, once in the year, bring hither two wise Maoris and let their ears hear my song. Then shall they go to their brothers and speak the truth. If your people listen, one island shall be preserved for them and the black men shall not all die.’”
“Returning to the shore, I found the moa standing by the bunch of ferns and following it for two days I was once more in sight of the pah. There I told the story of the mysterious lake and the pool to the wise men and when the full moon came the next year three Maoris went forth in quest of the lake. ”

“ The greater part of the Moors believe that we live upon the sea, and that we have only a few little islands like St. Louis: under this impression they imagine that we wish to possess ourselves of their country, which they consider as the finest in the world. ”

“ The day I went up, when we had gone as far as we could within a mile and a half of the old Maroon Town, the people came crowding round, and they looked much like the dark folks who lived lower down in the mountains. ”

“ Below the greater waterfall a narrow stone bridge, without balustrades or railing, leads across a deep ravine, through which the stream rushes foaming, to the opposite shore. After having once crossed, we enter upon a more inhabited tract of country, and travel on between rows of houses and gardens. But many of the houses stood empty, the inhabitants having fled into the fields, and there erected huts of branches of trees, to escape the plague. The Maronites, the real inhabitants of these mountains, are strong people, gifted with a determined will ”

“ A moment in the British camp— A moment—and away Back to the pathless forest, Before the peep of day. Grave men there are by broad Santee, Grave men with hoary hairs, Their hearts are all with Marion, For Marion are their prayers. And lovely ladies greet our band With kindliest welcoming, With smiles like those of summer, And tears like those of spring. For them we wear these trusty arms, And lay them down no more Till we have driven the Briton, Forever, from our shore. ”

“ After waiting a long time, their scouts brought word that the Moors had taken another road, and were nearly at the foot of the hill on which stood the castle. “Cavaliers,” cried the master, “it is not too late; let us first use our spurs and then our weapons, and if our steeds prove good, the day will yet be ours.” So saying, he put spurs to his horse, and the rest following his example, they soon came in sight of the Moors. ”

“ Notwithstanding the Moors possess this inestimable treasure near one of their most opulent and populous cities, yet, owing to fabulous tales, handed down by tradition from one generation to another, these superstitious people will never drink or disturb the water ”

“ On my first visit to Maroon Town in the cock-pit country, he was selected as the leading Maroon story-teller to recite stories for me in the church vestry, where half the town gathered as audience. Others he gave me at Harmony Hall. The music he dictated to Miss Roberts at a later visit. He was one of my best informants, though an adroit padder with an eye to compensation.
See 5c, 66, 67, 68, 78a, 80, 82a, 83, 87a (note) , 93, 96. 60. Williams, Alfred, his friend. He was the Maroon song-leader and, with White, led the games and sports. A good singer, but an indifferent story-teller. ”

“ A FLIGHT OF QUAILS. It is one of the wonders and delights of the moorland that here alone Nature pays the first call, instead of demurely waiting to be called upon. Near great towns she is coy; and even in the fields that abut on villages, she shows but a few familiar aspects; while aloof on the open heath she reveals herself unreservedly, like a beautiful woman to her chosen lover. She exhibits all her moods and bares all her secrets. ”

“ The launch rolls and umbrellas drip, and we have hundreds of yards along splashing wet pier, G. balancing on timbers and wire cables to keep a little out of the mud—one umbrella for the two. Then a jog up the town in a funny little victoria with yellow oiled canvas curtains, past little gardens with great red flowers on one tree, and trumpet-shaped white flowers hanging on the next, past soldiers in khaki, and turbaned Moors huddled in their draperies. The Moors look so out of place in Europe; they seem to have aimed at being picturesque and have failed, and know it and stick to it. ”

“ Their course was stayed by a troop of Fairies in rainbow robes, and silver wands tipped with gold. In face and form they were far more beautiful than anything Marion had yet seen.
"Here we must pause," said the queen; "this boundary you cannot yet pass."
"Why not?" asked the impatient Marion. [198]
"Because those must be very pure who pass the rainbow Fairies," replied the queen.
"Am I not very pure?" said the maiden; "all the folks in the castle tell me how good I have grown." ”

“ The Maronites owe their name to J. Maron, their founder; the Druses to Durzi, who led them out of Egypt into Syria. The patriarch of the Maronites resides at Kanobin; the hakem of the Druses at Deir-el-kamar. The Maronites, or “Catholics of Lebanon,” differ from the Roman Catholics in several points, and have a pope or patriarch of their own. In 1860 the Druses made on them a horrible onslaught, which called forth the intervention of Europe.
Marotte (2 syl.) , a footman of Gorgibus; a plain bourgeois, who hates affectation. ”

“ Shorn of much of its beauty by the disastrous burning of 1908, the great moor has still the charm of space, of long lines of distance only hemmed in by the blue hills above the Needles, and of an infinite play of colour. The average lover of the picturesque fancies a moor is brown all over alike. ”

“ Their road now lay nearly at the foot of those steep and rugged mountains which have for many ages been inhabited by the Maronites, several of whose convents they discerned perched like eagles’ nests on the bare summit of the crags. A road cut for a considerable distance through the solid rock, and a track still more rude and wild, worn by the footsteps of travellers in the side of the mountain, at length brought them to the river Lycus, or Canis, the Nahr-el-Kelb, or “Dog’s River,” of the Turks and Arabs. ”

“ Slowly, reverently, they move up through the broad lane, flanked by eager faces; the choristers are followed by the brilliant party of ushers,—soldier and civilian,—the [Pg 434] gray-haired father and his handsome wife; then come the fair bridesmaids, two and two, all in fleecy silk, and bearing dainty bouquets of daisies tied with the cavalry colors, while between the last two, sister and cousin, and as though led by them, veiled, and with downcast eyes, a matchless picture of sweet womanly grace and beauty, is Marion. ”

“ Before the Moors traded with India, this island was well inhabited by the native idolaters, having many goodly buildings, and especially some fine pagodas. But when the Moors resorted to this coast from the Red Sea, they used to take in their wood and water at this place, and abused the inhabitants so intolerably that they abandoned the place, and pulled down most of their pagodas and all their other buildings. ”

“ But it will so happen that sometimes an enchanted Moor, with more cunning than [18] honesty, will get through one of the windows on the birth of a child, and will brand the infant with the crescent on his shoulder or arm, in which case it is well known that the child, on certain nights, will be changed into a wolf.
The enchanted Moors have their castles and palaces under the ground or beneath the rivers, and they wander about the earth, seeing but not seen; for they died unbaptized, and have, therefore, no rest in the grave. ”

“ I found the Members of the Club to be all Persons of a discreet Age, and of a practical Turn of Mind; among them being several Spinsters. We had no sooner seated ourselves at Table but there entered a Gentleman of Colour, whom I at once recognised for a Moor; for, I would have my Reader to know, for his Instruction, that all Men that are not white are Moors; for, as there are Moors in Central Africa and in the Islands of the Southern Seas, no less are the People Moors that inhabit Japan, the East and West Indies, South America, and Malaya. ”

“ But as we wander ever through the bazaars, meeting everywhere the same impassive, uncurious expressions on the uncovered faces of the men, we are inclined to believe that to the Moor, Morocco is the world,—that for him, outside its borders, geographically or intellectually, there is nothing worthy his consideration. ”

“ Though the preparations for this cavalcade had occupied but little time, yet the rumour of its approach had already spread through the city, and the people, who were as curious to behold the beautiful Moor as to know what could be her business at the palace, were collected in crowds in the streets through which she must of necessity pass. She was dressed in a most magnificent Moorish habit, and had neglected nothing that could add to her beauty on so important an occasion. ”