As in commencing my chapter on colour, I deemed it necessary to mention the different grades and gradations among that olive-tinted race; so in writing upon the white population of Antigua, it will be first proper to remark, that there are two distinct classes to be found among them: the one born in the island, (but of course of European extraction,) and consequently termed Creoles;[[53]] the other, persons of both sexes, who have emigrated from England in search of wealth, or whose domestic ties, or government appointments, have caused them to leave the land of their birth, and made them, for a time at least, residents in this bonny little island.[[54]]
In these two classes, then, are to be found all the descendants of the fair-haired Saxons, from the president of the island, down to the low, ignorant, but proud, pauper—proud of his untarnished blood! who, in Antiguan vulgarism, is known by the appellation of “bottom-foot buckra.” Of this last-mentioned class much may be said. Many and various are their “traits” of character, and arduous their “trials” to enable them to “keep up appearances.” But perhaps it may appear more orthodox to scan over the peculiarities and “manners and customs” of the “tip-tops” first.
The head of Antiguan society is of course her majesty’s representative—“His Excellency the Governor.” Then comes the “President of the Island,” who, in absence of the commander-in-chief, exercises his duties, and takes his place in society. After the president, the members of the council and house of assembly rank next among the grandees, all of whom, no doubt, are—
“Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors.”
Then comes the “bench and the bar,”—the occupiers of pulpits, and the followers of Galen,—government officers, and the officers of her majesty’s customs,—a few gallant sons of Mars from some of England’s “wooden walls,” who in cruising about these seas, pay Antigua an occasional visit,—officers from the stationed regiments,—and a long line of merchants, attorneys, managers, and nondescripts—and there the line is drawn. “These several gentry,” with their wives and daughters, aunts, sisters, and cousins, constitute the first class among the white population, or more properly speaking, form the aristocracy of Antigua.
But it must be observed, these aristocrats, although forming one body, mixing in the same society, and equally looking upon themselves as exclusives, may yet be divided into two distinct classes—the one springing from a good old stock, the other comprehending the self-elected ones. I shall confine myself more particularly in this chapter to the latter class, as being better exemplifiers of the “ups and downs of life.”
Now although the tribe fungi, of which the mushroom is a member, luxuriates better in a damp climate, than in one so excessively hot; yet some species of them may be met with in all parts of the world. I have often seen their long slender stalks, and pallid-looking caps extending the limits of the vegetable world in Antigua; and therefore it does not surprise me to find so many of the mushroom family among the animal creation in that part of the globe, obtruding their tall heads, even in the aristocratic circles of the community. Like their brethren among the vegetables, some of them grow upon the ground, and “derive their nourishment from the soil,” while others “spring up on various substances, presented by nature or art.”
The first of these two varieties of mushrooms are to be met with among the descendants of those poor white persons, who in former years came to Antigua to act, in the literal sense of the word, as “servants of servants,” but whose offspring, by dint of petty traffickings and small gatherings, amassed a sufficient sum of money to make them forget their origin, and contemning their natural parents, look for some “Jupiter Ammon” to stand progenitor for them in their stead. The latter class are the wild branches of some sapless tree, who, with scarce a change of raiment in their wallets, or the clink of a coin in their purse, were shipped off to the West Indies to be killed or cured—reap dollars like thistles, or starve in the attempt.
By the “good luck,” as it is termed, which sometimes attends such needy adventurers upon their arrival in this country, they obtained, perhaps, employment as overseers upon the different estates, (I am now speaking of the manner in which such affairs were conducted some years before emancipation, when the proprietors were obliged, by law, to maintain so many white servants to so many slaves,) where they were quickly installed into their duty. This consisted in calling over the names of the negroes before daylight of a morning, seeing them properly whipped, when such chastisement was deemed necessary, or perhaps whipping them, as the case might be; inspecting the labours of the gang of negroes in the field, who were cutting canes or preparing the land for planting; flying from thence to the mill-door, where some awkward “boatswain” had let the mill-tackling get wrong, (for which crime he was coolly ordered a dozen or two,) or, perchance, if it were a “cattle-mill” instead of a “windmill,” a gang of mules had turned restive, or one unfortunate over-driven animal had dropped down dead, or else three or four of the wooden cogs of the mill were broken, and the cattle were obliged to be taken out until it should be mended. Then he had to visit the “rum-still,” and overlook the process of distillation, taking down, upon a dirty piece of paper, the number of gallons of “high-wines,” “rum,” and “low-wines.” From the “still” he marched to the “boiling-house,” to inspect the making of sugar; and from thence to the “curing-house,” to see the sugar “potted,” (that is, packed in hogsheads, tierces, or barrels.) Then there were staves to be given out to the coopers, and boards to the carpenter, besides dispensing medicines to the sick slaves, and cane-tops to the hungry mules. And then, when all these multitudinous occupations were performed, and the different store-houses well secured, he proceeded to the “great house,” and, after scrubbing his face with brown soap and a jack towel, smoothing, if possible, his straggling, sun-burnt locks, and exchanging his dirty white jacket for one of broad-cloth, or a coat whose cuffs and collar bore ample marks of time, he made his appearance in the dining-room or hall, where a high stool or an education chair was placed for him near his master, at whose old jokes and worn-out tales he felt obliged to laugh, while he indulged in such luxuries as fowls’ necks and odd ends of pudding, washed down by a single glass of wine.
His labours were now over for the night, unless it were the sugar harvest, and then he was expected to return to the boiling-house, where, amid clouds of densest steam, he remained until twelve or one in the morning, and then, as the last copper was cooled down, he marched off the tired negroes, and, having well locked the door, quitted the furnace-like heat of the building to wend his weary way home in the cold night air.