Who, for instance, would believe, that almost a whole detachment of eighty marines, one day marching through a thick wood, imagined to a man that they were stepping one after another over a large fallen tree, that obstructed their way; till at length it began to move, and proved to be no other than a full grown serpent of the aboma kind, measuring, according to Colonel Fourgeoud’s computation, between thirty and forty feet in length? yet this [[367]]is an indubitable truth. The above animal was neither killed nor hurt; the Colonel ordering the remaining party to form in a half circle and march around it, in order that they themselves at the same time might escape every danger from the monster’s matchless strength.
In this place I shall mention another extraordinary circumstance, which is, that one morning Colonel Fourgeoud resting in his hammock, with one hand carelessly leaning over the side, a large rattle-snake that lay coiled up among the long grass which was under it, was actually severed in two by the sentinel, during the very moment of action that it made a spring to bite him: of which the soldier, whose name was John Kiefhaber, had been apprised first by the sound of its rattle, and next by seeing the snake’s head erected, while it was brandishing its forked tongue.
As I am treating of these reptiles, I cannot resist the temptation of inserting a fact, which I learned from Mr. Francis Rowe of Philadelphia, a respectable old man; who informed me, that riding out one morning to visit a friend, his horse refused to go forward, being terrified at a large rattle-snake that lay across the road. Mr. Rowe having heard of its power of fascination, in which he was a believer, alighted to lead the animal round it; but during that time the snake, having coiled himself up, sounded its rattle, and stared him so full in the face, and with such fire in its eyes, that the cold sweat broke out upon him; thus, whilst he durst neither retreat or advance, [[368]]he imagined himself gradually rivetted to the spot. “However,” continued he, “my reason remained; and my resolution getting the better of my alarm, I suddenly approached him, and with one stroke of my cudgel knocked out his brains.”
On the 3d of March my friend de Graaf sailed for Holland, but first for St. Eustatia, where his brother was governor; and to my great satisfaction took with him Joanna’s youngest brother, Henry, for whom he has since obtained his freedom. I sailed with them down the river as far as Bram’s Point, and wished them a successful voyage. As I here went ashore in a fishing-boat, I was tempted to leap into the sea, and enjoy the cooling and healthy pleasure of swimming in the Atlantic ocean. The fisher-men having caught a quantity of large fish, I discovered one among them not yet mentioned in my narrative, this was the yellow-back, between two and three feet long, thus called from its colour, which almost resembles that of a lemon, but the belly is white: the head is very large, with two long barbs; but the body is small, and without scales, like the cod; it is, however, not near so good, being coarse and insipid eating. Two other small fishes I also saw in the boat, the one called here the weepee, resembling a whip-lash; the other waracoo, which is a delicate eating, but has nothing in its form or habits deserving a particular description.
The 8th of March, being the Prince of Orange’s birthday, [[369]]it was celebrated at the head quarters; where, after dinner, in the court ledge, hearing Captain Bolts in an undeserved manner censured by the colonel’s adjutant, for recommending one of the young volunteers of an excellent character, but who had no friends to support him[3], I broke through the ring that surrounded them in a passion, and not being able to restrain myself, publicly reproved the aggressor, even in Fourgeoud’s presence, when a furious altercation and very high words immediately ensued; the consequence of which was, that next morning at sun-rise we walked to the savannah without seconds, where, near the gallows, we drew our small swords, and after making a few passes at each other, Captain Van Geurick’s point met my shell, which having nearly pierced, his blade snapped in two pieces, and the fortune of war put him entirely in my power. Disdaining, however, to take a mean advantage, I instantly dropped my small sword, and desired him to step home and replace his own, in order to renew the battle: but this proposal he was pleased to call so generous, that taking me by the hand, he requested a renewal of friendship; thus acknowledging we had been too hasty on both sides, we went to visit poor Bolts, who knew nothing of our morning’s walk, and was (though not without difficulty) persuaded also to enter into the amicable treaty: by which a second rencounter was happily prevented, and a general reconciliation took place. [[370]]
On the 10th, having spent most of the day with the governor, I in the evening went on board the ships with Captain Bolts, to inspect the preparations for the voyage; where we found that the mice and rats had made such havock among our provision, with which we were now very well stocked, that I was under the necessity of procuring half a dozen cats to destroy them, which useful animals are in Surinam neither so plenty, nor so good, as in Europe, being lazy and indolent, on account of the climate. I observed they were also smaller and ranker, with remarkably long muzzles and sharp ears.
The following day I was shocked and surprised beyond the power of expression, at seeing a Miss Jettee de la Mare, daughter to the lately deceased gentleman of that name, a lovely mulatto girl, aged fourteen, who had been christened in 1775, and educated as a young lady, dragged to court in chains, with her mother and a few more of her relations, the whole surrounded by a military guard. I had almost attempted a rescue, when, having enquired the cause, she called out to me herself, weeping most bitterly; and informed me, that “she was going to be tried by Mr. Schouten, her mother’s master, for refusing to perform the work of a common slave, which she was utterly unable to perform, and could never have expected, from the footing upon which she had been educated till that unhappy moment.”
By the laws of the country, however, she was not only obliged to submit, but at his desire was condemned, for disobedience, together with her poor mother, and all her [[371]]relations, who had presumed to support her claim to liberty, to be privately whipped; and had it not been for the humanity of Mr. Wickers, who was at that time the fiscal or town clerk, and since was governor, this infamous sentence would most certainly have been put in execution. The unfortunate Miss Jettee de la Mare was, from this period, nevertheless forced to submit to the tyranny of her unmanly master, while pitied by all her acquaintance, and lamented by every stranger that was a witness to the inhuman transaction.
Such were the fatal consequences of not having been timely emancipated; and such were they indeed, that they made me tremble for my little boy. Happily my uneasiness was not of long duration; for, however improbable and unexpected, I was surprized on the very same day with a polite message from the governor and the court, acquainting me that, “having taken my former services into consideration, together with my humanity and gallantry, in offering my honour as bail to see my child, before I left him, made a free citizen of the world; they had unanimously decreed, without farther ceremony or expence, to compliment me with a letter, which was at the same time officially presented to me, containing HIS EMANCIPATION FROM THAT DAY, FOR EVER AFTER.”
No man could be more suddenly transported from woe to happiness than I was at this moment; while his poor mother shed tears for joy and gratitude; the more so, as we had lost all hopes, and the favour came perfectly unexpected, [[372]]and while near forty beautiful boys and girls were left to perpetual slavery by their parents of my acquaintance, and many of them without being so much as once enquired after at all.