Having thanked my disinterested friend with an affectionate shake by the hand, I immediately returned the [[85]]two hundred florins to Mrs. Godefroy, and all were happy. I must not omit, as a farther proof of Mrs. Godefroy’s humane character, that on hearing of the dejected situation of the sick at Magdenberg, she at this time sent them a present of a whole barge-load of fruit, vegetables, and refreshments of every kind that the colony could afford, for their relief.
On the 7th of April, matters being thus far settled, I wrote a letter to Mr. Lude, at Amsterdam, to give him intelligence, and to thank him for having parted with the most valuable property of his estate; and my ancle being now pretty well recovered, I also wrote to Colonel Fourgeoud, that I should have the honour to join him in a few days. This letter I directed to Barbacoeba, for there he still continued, while the intrepid and active militia captain, Stoeleman, was beating up the woods with a few rangers at another quarter, and who this day sent in four captive rebel negroes to Paramaribo[3].
On the 10th, finding myself sufficiently recovered, and ready once more to enter the forest, I bade farewell to my sweet family and friends, leaving the first still at Mr. de la Mare’s, at their request; and cheerfully set off with a tent-boat on my fifth campaign, in the hopes of accompanying Fourgeoud; who, having assembled all his remaining forces, and made the necessary arrangements to attack [[86]]the enemy, was now determined to march in a very few days.
On the 14th I arrived with a boat at Barbacoeba, in the upper part of the river Cottica, where formerly I was when I killed the aboma snake. I found here the old gentleman (who civilly welcomed me) ready to start the following day. I never saw the troops in such fine spirits, or so eager for service; which proceeded from different motives, as I had said before, some in the hopes of plunder, some from revenge on the rebels, and some from a wish to see the war at an end; while I believe in my soul, that others were tired of existence by continual illness and hard service; and heartily wished for a glorious end of all their miseries—as nothing can be more wretched than a soldier’s or a sailor’s life, perpetually soaking in the wet or scorching in the sun, surrounded by an unbounded forest, and in a tropical climate. [[87]]
[1] Without the consent of parents, brothers, and sisters, no respectable slaves are individually sold in Surinam. [↑]
[2] I have already mentioned that Joanna was by birth a gentleman’s daughter from Holland; and her mother’s family were most distinguished people on the coast of Africa. [↑]
[3] It is a maxim with the rangers to chop off the right hand of every rebel negro they kill, for which they receive twenty-five florins; and for every one they send in alive fifty florins; also for finding a town or village one thousand florins Hollands. [↑]