On the 17th we continued our march N. and N. E. in hopes of more discoveries, but without success. We this day passed some ant-hillocks above six feet high, and, without exaggeration, above one hundred feet in circumference. We also saw great quantities of valuable timber, and, among the rest, the black-cabbage tree, the wood of which is of a deep brown, and is in high estimation among carpenters and joiners. The sand-booker tree was like-wise shewn me, which receives its name from the fruit, which being divested of its seed, is used as a sand-box by writers. It is of the shape of a large onion, with small holes in the surface; the seed is both laxative and emetic, but the juice of the pulp is a fatal poison. More than this I cannot say, having had neither the time nor the power of examining it with the accuracy of a professed botanist.
On the 18th we continued the same course for a few hours longer, when we found a beaten path, which, though circuitous, seemed to be a communication between Gado-Saby and Boossy-Cry. We followed this path, which led us due W. for a few hours, when a poor [[165]]rebel negro was found by me covered with branches of the manicole-tree, and indeed barely alive, being in appearance nothing but skin and bone, with one of his eyes almost beaten out of the socket. I put my bottle to his mouth, he swallowed a few drops of rum and water, and said with a faint voice, which we could scarcely hear, “Dank ye, me Massera!” but could articulate nothing more. Fourgeoud ordered this man to be carried with us in a hammock; and we soon afterwards encamped near a biree-biree swamp or quagmire. I ought not to forget that this day we saw some very fine locust-trees, being eighty or a hundred feet high, and prodigiously thick; the trunk is grey and very straight, with no branches till near the top, on which the leaves are disposed two to each stem: this is justly called the king of the forest, for a finer tree cannot be found. The timber is of a beautiful cinnamon-colour, and possesses every desirable quality of gravity, polish, grain, and durability.—But what particularly attracted our notice was its seed, like beans, three or four in number, enclosed in a broad light-brown pod, that lay flattered in quantities at the root of the tree, upon the ground, and tasted like some kinds of gingerbread. From the root of this tree a gum exudes, which, properly prepared, affords a varnish hitherto unequalled for transparency and effect.
Innumerable indeed are the various fine trees that this country produces, and which may be had for the cutting; yet, when we consider the distance they usually grow from navigable rivers, the great labour in felling and [[166]]working them, the vast number of slaves required to drag them through the forest, where no horses can be employed, besides the danger and loss of time, we may easily account for the enormous price generally paid for the best timber in Guiana.
This march undoubtedly afforded us the most enchanting prospects that can be imagined, in a luxuriant and ever-green forest, while the dry season contributed greatly to beautify the scene; and simple nature by far outshone the most strenuous endeavours of art. Here we met with immense savannas of the most lovely verdure, interspersed with meandring brooks of water, cool and clear as rock crystal; their borders adorned with flowers of every lively hue and fragrance. In some places we observed small clumps of elegant shrubs, or perhaps a single tree, whose beauty would almost induce one to think they had been designedly left growing to enrich the scene. The whole surrounded by a vast wood of lofty palm-trees, waving their sea-green foliage above the variegated copse of never-fading verdure, blossom, and fruit, as if to invite the panting wanderer under its cooling shade, till in the later hours he might enjoy the bracing pleasures of the limpid flood, and contemplate nature’s beauties undisturbed.—When universal silence reigned every where around, how often have I thought on my dear friend, and wished with her to glide through life in these Elysian fields!—But I must wave the pleasing recollection.
On the 19th we again marched, and fell in with our [[167]]old path, which we followed, leading directly to the fields of Gado-Saby, where quantities of rice once more appeared in full bloom, which we cut down and burned to ashes. Here, perceiving the poor rebel negro hopeless of recovery, not absolutely to bury him alive, he was overspread with moss, leaves, and green boughs; after which we slung our hammocks, being almost choaked with smoke.
In these fields I saw a lizard above two feet long, which the negro slaves killed and ate: they called it sapagala, it was of a brownish green colour, but did not resemble the iguana. Among the ruins of the consumed town we discovered some scolopendras, or centipedes, no less than eight or ten inches in length; this odious reptile is of a yellowish-brown colour, walks very fast backwards or forwards, and bites so severely, that the venom it infuses, though not deemed fatal, generally produces a fever. Some writers assign this reptile twenty pair of legs, others forty; I never reckoned them, and can only observe, that they appeared to me exactly to resemble the centipedes in Europe. Some of our gentlemen formed large collections of these curiosities, which were very valuable, whilst I contented myself with the drawings and descriptions only of those I thought most uncommon.
On the 20th, we marched to visit Cofaay, when I perceiving the unhappy negro captive still alive; after removing the branches, he was, at my earnest intercession, once more carried along with us; but the slaves, being [[168]]discontented with such a load, took every opportunity, in my absence, of torturing him, by knocking him against roots and stones, and dragging him through mud and water as they went along. Different patroles were now ordered out to reconnoitre the grounds, while the remainder of the troops encamped in the west part of Cofaay; and these patroles discovered no less than four beautiful fields in one chain, situated due west from Cofaay, well stocked with cassava, yams, plantains, pistachio nuts, with maize and pigeon peas: also were seen several human carcases, the relicts of our late engagements in August. We found here a species of medlars of a crimson colour, and of a taste very much like that of strawberries. This fruit grows on a large green shrub, and is cultivated in many gardens at Paramaribo. We also met with a kind of wild plum-tree called monpe: the fruit is yellow, oblong, and small; the stone is large, the pulp thin, and though of a sharp acid has an agreeable flavour.
On the morning of the 21st, all these and every useful vegetable were cut down, and again destroyed by fire; after which, returning to our last night’s camp, we found it also in flames, and were obliged to sling our hammocks in the east skirts of the woods. Here, recollecting that the poor disabled rebel was left alone, I ran back west to the burning camp to afford him assistance; but after seeking him in vain through clouds of smoke and darkness, I was forced to consult my own safety, by hastily returning [[169]]to my companions; some blaming me much for my temerity, others damning the skeleton, whether dead or alive.
The devastation being now compleated, we marched back to Jerusalem, where on the 24th we arrived perfectly exhausted, and Fourgeoud at last so ill with a phrenzy fever, that he was confined to his hammock, with small hopes of surviving the night. But he however still continued to command, and the next morning ordered a marine to be bastonaded, for asking shoes, although he was bare-footed, and his feet tore to pieces; while another was flogged for coughing, who had a severe cold; a captain was dismissed from actual service, and confined in Fort Zealandia, for having dared to marry without his consent.—Sickness and death now raged through the camp, and every thing was in the utmost confusion.
To compleat the whole, on the 1st of November, twenty-five more negro slaves ran away; and on the 3d we received intelligence that no less than fifty armed rebels had been seen swimming across the River Cottica, about a musket-shot above Barbacoeba.