London, Published Decr. 1st. 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.
On the 6th, the whole corps, without exception, received orders to leave Paramaribo, and to encamp at Magdenberg, a mountain near the Tempatee Creek, in the upper parts of the river Comewina, to which, as I have just mentioned, the reinforcement was already dispatched. Having, therefore, prepared myself to set out on my fourth campaign, and taken leave of my little family and friends, I repaired to the water side, to set out in the same barge with Colonel Seyburgh, but who, erroneously supposing that the troops which came with him from Holland were a distinct corps from those arrived with Fourgeoud in 1773, made the negroes shove off the boat in my presence, when I was not a stone’s cast from it, and left [[5]]me on the beach, to my utter surprize and mortification. I knew Fourgeoud had swore that he should “dance just as much to his pipes as the youngest ensign in the regiment;” and in that he was perfectly right: I therefore strenuously supported the chief against his antagonist, and setting off immediately with another boat, soon overtook him, to his astonishment, when we all went ashore at the plantation Vossenburgh, in the river Comewina. The next day we came to the estate Arentrust, having passed the heavy barges that departed from Paramaribo on the 5th; and on the 10th we made the Hope, where having spent so many months, I here present the reader with a view of that estate, and of the estate Clarenbeek, where still our hospital was kept. This day Colonel Fourgeoud also came up the river, and slept at Wajampibo.
On the 11th, we arrived at the plantation Crawassibo, where we passed the night. Here the overseer, a Mr. De Bruyn, was so very impertinent, that, as I already had no abundance of affection for the fraternity of overseers, I gave him such a sound beating that, with a bloody face, he suddenly decamped from the estate in a small canoe with one negro, and in this trim, at twelve o’clock at night, like Banquo the ghost, appeared before the amazed Fourgeoud; who thought proper to give him no other consolation than to dismiss him with a hearty curse.
On the 12th we arrived safe at Magdenberg, viz. [[6]]Fourgeoud, the officers, and the barges with the privates. From the Hope, the estates now began to appear thinner; and after passing Goet-Accord, about ten or twelve miles farther upwards, not a cultivated spot was to be seen, the plantations having been all laid in ashes by the rebels in 1757, as I have already mentioned, a small place excepted, just below Magdenberg, which is, I think, called the Jacob, and where a few negroes are kept to cut timber. The river above Goet-accord becomes very narrow, being lined on each side with impenetrable brush-wood, like the river Cottica, between Devil’s-Harwar and Patamaca; and the Tempatee Creek, which may be considered as the source of the whole river Comewina, becomes also much narrower. Magdenberg, which is about a hundred miles from Paramaribo, was formerly an estate, but has now not a vestige of cultivation left, a poor old orange-tree excepted, and is at present neither more or less than a barren desolate mountain.
Here we found the surface of the earth in some places covered with a kind of strata, that had the appearance of mother-of-pearl, and lay scattered in small scales, about the size of an English shilling. In many places of Surinam are found the marks of fossils and ores, as I have already hinted. Indeed, iron ore is common, and I have no doubt but gold and silver mines might be met with if the Dutch would be at the expence, and persevere in making the discovery. I have already mentioned the Marawina diamond, and white and red agate, which are [[7]]often seen in the upper parts of the river Surinam. On this mountain we also found the air cooler and more pure, and of course more healthy than in any other part of the colony.
On the 17th the news reached us, that the transport ship, the Maria Helena, with the remaining two divisions of one hundred and twenty men, commanded by Captain Hamel, had also arrived in the river Surinam on the 14th instant. Thus the reinforcements together consisted of two hundred and forty men, and, on the 5th day of March, they all arrived in heavy barges at Magdenberg, where I may now say that Colonel Fourgeoud’s whole forces were assembled. The same day one hundred negro slaves also arrived, to carry the loads when we should march. One of the new negroes being missed from on board a military barge, and marks of blood discovered in it, the commanding officer, a Mr. Chatteauview, and a sentinel, were both put under an arrest to be tried for murder. On the same eventful day also, two of our captains fought a duel, in which one of them received a wound in his forehead.
On the 13th, a barge with provisions, coming from Paramaribo (shocking to relate!) found the negro that was missed on the 5th at the water’s edge, lying in the brushwood, with his throat cut from ear to ear, but still alive, the knife having missed the wind-pipe. This miserable apparition of skin and bone they took on board, and [[8]]brought to Magdenberg, where, by a skilful surgeon, Mr. Knolaert, the wound was sewed up, and the man surprisingly recovered, having lain nine days in that dreadful condition without any subsistence or covering whatever, and weltering in his own blood, even without a bandage. The week after I had nearly lost my own life by an accident. Two negroes of the estate Goet-Accord being employed in hunting and fishing for Fourgeoud, one of them, named Philander, proposed to me to accompany them in the wood, where we might chance to meet with some pingoes, or powesa; but a heavy shower of rain coming on, when we had only walked two miles, we determined to relinquish the project, and repair to the small spot called the Jacob for shelter, to gain which we were obliged to pass through a deep marsh. Having waded till up to our arm-pits, Philander, who was the finest man without exception that I ever saw, began to swim, as did his companion, with one hand, holding their fowling pieces above the water with the other, and desired me to follow them. This I tried, having nothing on but my shirt and trowsers; when, after swimming two or three strokes, I sunk to the bottom like a stone, with the weight of my musquet; but relinquishing it, I immediately rose to the surface, and begged that Philander would dive for it; who having secured his own to a mangrove, brought it up without difficulty. At this moment a thundering voice called out through the thicket,[[9]]—“Who somma datty? and another sooto sooto da Bonny kiry da dago? Who is that? Who is there? Fire! shoot! it is Bonny, kill the dog!”—and looking up, we saw the muzzles of six musquets presented upon us at a very little distance indeed. I instantly dived, but Philander answering that we belonged to Magdenberg, we were permitted to come on shore one by one at the Jacob, and found that these trusty negro slaves, having heard a flouncing in the water, and seeing three armed men in the marsh, took it for granted that the rebels were coming, headed by Bonny himself, for whom they had mistaken me, being almost naked and so much sun-burnt; besides my hair, which was short and curly, I entirely resembled a mulatto. Being refreshed with some rum, and having dried ourselves by a good fire, we now returned back to the Magdenberg, where I congratulated myself on my escape.
On the 19th, Colonel Fourgeoud being now supplied with fresh troops, sent a whole ship load of invalids to Holland, who sailed this day; and on February the 26th, my dear friend Heneman also sailed for Holland, in an extremely debilitated state.
Among the troops which sailed at the same time with Heneman were several officers, not very sick, but justly disheartened and disgusted at Fourgeoud’s injustice, in having stopped their preferment, as I have intimated in the end of the tenth chapter; while they now saw themselves superseded by raw youths, who were at school [[10]]at the time they were serving the colony in 1772. With this vessel sailed also the officers whom he had put under an arrest, the 16th December, 1774. Never was an hospital ship so ill provided with refreshments.
