I now, to fulfil my orders, once more ransacked Cofaay, with its adjoining plains, though with a sore heart, on account of the poor lonely old rebel. Here, having cut down several cotton and plantain-trees, okero or althea, pigeon-pease, maize, pine-apples, and some rice, most of which had spontaneously sprung up again since our last devastation, I could not help leaving, before a little shed, where was some fresh ashes and banana shells, a few rusk biscuits and a good piece of salt beef, as also a bottle of new rum, for the unfortunate solitary old man, this being his retreat; after which we once more encamped in the fields of Cofaay.
Having so frequently mentioned rice, it may be expected [[320]]that I should say something concerning its growth and cultivation. It rises to the height of four feet, with furrowed stalks, and in appearance is not unlike wheat, but the stalks are knotted by intervals, and stronger; the leaves are like those of reeds: the seeds are produced somewhat like barley, and grow on each side of the spikes or ears alternately. The oryza or rice is cultivated in a warm and marshy soil; the grains are oval, and if good ought to be white, hard, and transparent. As for the use of this commodity for food, it is so well known, that I shall only say, that without this grain our poor marines must long ago have all been starved, particularly in August 1775; when, for all allowance, they got per day one rusk biscuit, and three spikes of maize or Indian corn, for five men; rice alone supplying, as I have intimated, the rest of the allowance.
Having now fully compleated my commission, I, with my detachment, marched back for the Casseepore Creek, directing my course through the ruined fields of Gado-Saby, which were at present choked up to a perfect wilderness. Hence we kept first to the south-west, and then due south, after which we slung our hammocks near a former encampment. It is to be observed, that at this time all the marshes were nearly dry, on account of the hottest season I ever remember; while the fœtid smell occasioned by the quantities of dead warrapa fish, that had been deserted by the water, was an intolerable nuisance. From amongst these putrid fishes, our negro [[321]]slaves nevertheless selected the most tolerable, which, fried in the evening, served them for a delicate morsel.
The morning following we again marched south-west by west, when we slung our hammocks not above four miles from the Cassepore Creek; and on the 26th (keeping south-south-west) we arrived in the grand camp, much fatigued and emaciated, myself with a swelled face or erysipelas; when I gave in my journal to Lieutenant-Colonel de Borgnes, who commanded[1]: and I believe, upon my honour, that had we been ordered to remain twenty years on this expedition, with a possibility of saving our lives, the different diseases, plagues, and torments, would still have accumulated and varied without end.
A detachment of fifty men was next sent out to reconnoitre at Jerusalem, &c.; and on the 6th of December the long-expected relief, consisting of three hundred and fifty men, arrived in the river Surinam from Holland, after a voyage of nine weeks and three days, of which they spent a fortnight at Plymouth.
By these the unfortunate account was brought, that Captain Jochem Meyer (who had on board a considerable sum of money for our troops) was taken by the Moors, and carried with his crew to Morocco, where they were condemned to be slaves to the emperor[2]; and that the [[322]]ship Paramaribo, Captain Spruyt (being one of the vessels that carried over the sick in the beginning of August) was wrecked and entirely lost in the channel, on the rocks of Ushant; but that, by the exertions of some French fishing-boats, the crew and troops had all been saved, and carried into Brest, whence they had taken a fresh passage for the Texel; after which the Prince of Orange (who was ever distinguished for benevolence, and doing good and humane actions) ordered the officers and private men, above one hundred in number, to receive the following sums, by way of defraying their loss, viz. each marine received about four, the subalterns thirty, the captains forty, and Major Medlar, who commanded, fifty pounds sterling. However, by this shipwreck, I lost all my three chests of sweetmeats and pickles, besides parrots, butterflies, monkies, &c. intended as presents to my friends in Europe, which indiscriminately went to the bottom, to my no small mortification.
Having now for above a month been lodged in a paltry hut, beaten by the wind and showers of rain (which began to set in unexpectedly); and being informed, that notwithstanding the arrival of the relief, we were still to stay some time longer in the woods, which broke many hearts; I, on the 12th of December, earnestly set about building for myself a comfortable house, and which was finished, without either nail or hammer, in less than six days, though it had two rooms, a piazza with rails, and a [[323]]small kitchen, besides a garden, in which I sowed, in pepper-cresses, the names of Joanna and John; while my next-door neighbour, who was my friend Captain Bolts, made shift to keep a goat, and thus we lived not altogether uncomfortably. Others kept hens and ducks, but not a cock was to be seen in the camp; for these, having first had all their tongues cut out to prevent their crowing (though to no purpose) had been since condemned to lose their heads. In short, our gentlemen built a row of very curious houses indeed, all projecting from the beech; while, on the opposite side, above a hundred green huts being constructed to receive the new-come troops, the whole together formed no contemptible street, though it must be confessed its inhabitants were little better than scare-crows.
What was most remarkable in my own habitation, however, was its entry, which was not by the door, nor yet by the window, but only by the roof, where I crept in and out, allowing absolutely no other admittance; and by this contrivance alone I was effectually guarded from those frequent visitors who smelt my pancakes, and used to make too free with my eggs and bacon, besides interrupting me while I was drawing, writing, or reading. Upon the whole, I must acknowledge, that this encampment was agreeable enough (more so as being on elevated ground), had it not been for the pestilential damps and mephitic vapours that exhale constantly from the earth, and had already sent numbers to the other world. [[324]]
During this short space of tranquillity I constructed in miniature my cottage in which I lived at the Hope, on an oblong board of about eighteen inches by twelve, which being entirely made of the manicole-tree and branches, like the original, was esteemed a master-piece; and this I sent as a present to my friend Mr. de Graaff at Paramaribo, who since placed it in a cabinet of natural curiosities at Amsterdam. As I am upon this subject, I am tempted to present the reader with a view of two of my habitations, the one that at the Hope, where I spent such happy days; and the other temporary, such as in the woods we constructed to be sheltered from the weather:—the first may be considered as the emblem of domestic felicity; the second of rustick hardship and fatigue.
The troops of the Society of Surinam, who had been encamped at the Wana Creek (the rainy season prematurely setting in) now wisely broke up, and on the 26th passing by us, rowed down the river Cottica on their way to the plantations in the Pirica Creek; but as for us, we were as usual condemned to linger in the Cassipore camp, while Fourgeoud still kept snug at Paramaribo. With the above officers we received intelligence that a few more rebels had been taken at the Marawina; while we ourselves daily continued to send out patroles to the right and left, but met with nothing to capture.