Cambridge (14 page)

Towards midday we reached the capital, Baytown, the point where I began my residence in the West Indies. The town was much as I remembered it. I looked on with barely concealed excitement as a wave of people broke into view, busy, yet no less elegant for that, all occupied with their small colonial businesses. I noticed immediately that in this
city
the spirit of ostentation enjoyed full play in dress. Love of fine fashions appeared to be in vogue, and a solitary shop made much of its knowledge of
home
styles. Every quarter a new delivery of such
elegance,
either direct from London, or from Paris by way of Martinique, found its way into the establishment so that the half-dozen ladies of style might feel comfortably accommodated. Such exquisitely fashioned clothing must, in these climes, give cause to considerable discomfort. Arnold and I observed a cluster of men half melting under heavy, richly embroidered coats and waistcoats, and a solitary English belle dad in the thickest taffetas and satins, some embossed with gold and silver brocades. Even the military men, consisting mainly of Infantrymen and Carbineers, were duty-bound to labour in scarlet wool, which seemed a most unnecessary burden on an already over-worked body of men. Having displayed their courage and won their laurels in the field of Mars, they now seemed embattled and near defeat under the assault of the tropical climate.

Baytown itself boasts perhaps 3,000 to 4,000 persons and no more than 1,000 houses. The greater number of the presentable
white
houses are painted in cool shades and boast covered
galleries running along either the side or the front where their inhabitants might gather and enjoy sweet conversation, or simply observe the daily goings-on within their little colony. Many of these dwellings are shaded by abundant trees of all descriptions clustered together in small, but well-tended gardens. The shops are designed in three grades; firstly, a species of wooden room about six or eight feet square which allows the plying of various low trades, such as tanning and the like. Secondly, the stores of the retail provision dealers, which are on a larger scale and supplied amply with goods. Finally, the merchants' stores or warehouses, often annexed to workshops or lumberyards. The other buildings of note include: St George's Church and Churchyard, the Government House, the Arsenal, the Court-House, the
Ebeneezer Chapel,
which rightfully belongs to the members of the Methodist Society (where espionage is carried out to weaken the proper bond between master and slave), and the Gaol, where I am led to believe the men are separated from the women, and the debtors from the cruel felons. The only other meeting-places of note are the grog-shops which play host to crowds
of jetty
revellers, bawds of all shades, and the lower kind of white soldier or sailor. They gather together in these dark places, their eyes and teeth gleaming, and greedily quaff their noxious swill, which must, sooner or later, prey upon their constitutions. To those enervated by age or infirmity, drinking grog remains a last consolation, but by far the greater number of these wretches are in a state of tolerable health. Arnold stopped briefly by the lamp-lit entrance to one such satanic den, where my ears were assaulted by fearsome curses, idiotic laughter, discordant song, and all the stumbling incoherence that accompanies the advanced stages of intoxication.

The streets of Bay town are uncommonly broad and straight, and in places two carriages might comfortably pass without danger to either. On the subject of horse and carriage, Mr Brown was eager for me to observe the lamentable equipage
which in these parts is allowed to enter the ranks of the socially acceptable. Two sorry horses, one perhaps of fourteen hands and white in colour, the other a rough brown beast resembling a Shetland pony, are often to be observed shackled incongruously together, sometimes as different in temperament as they are in appearance. I was witness to a debate about the virtues of travelling to the east or to the west conducted by two such jades whose mouths were evidently the most obdurate that had ever tugged against bit and bridle. Their violent contention marooned their hapless driver squarely in the street, he being unable to entreat either beast to give way to the other. Some half-hour elapsed before the
traffic
was once more able to
flow.

A sight to which I found it difficult to reconcile myself was the number of apparently
free
blacks wandering the streets, shoes on their feet, their unstockinged legs shining like twin columns of jet. It seems that some of these blacks are indeed free, having earned their manumission by their master's generosity, by some good deed, or by thrift and self-purchase, but the majority of these African brethren remain slaves to townsmen, and are employed as servants, porters, and artisans. Black carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths and masons abound, and they are hired out by their owners to assist the other townsmen in their labours. Some are allowed freely to seek labour, but bound to pay their masters a specified sum per day or per week, depending upon the individual arrangement, but the dress, manner and gait of these relatively civilized town slaves marks them off as a wholly different breed from their brutish country cousins.

Owing to a slight misfortune to the heel of my right shoe, Mr Brown and I had reason briefly to present ourselves at the hovel of one of these free negro dandies, having learned that these days no white cobbler was keeping shop-hours in the capital. This black, himself unshod, was busily employed in fashioning, from the most unfragrant materials, a pair of high boots, no doubt destined for the legs of some black exquisite.
As he did so he sang a tune in a minor key which Mr Brown identified as negro music, but which to my ear seemed a corrupt version of an old Welsh air, the name of which I could not recollect. On observing us the black rolled up his eyes until only the whites were visible, and then, holding his little flannel cap in one hand, he prostrated himself before us in a gesture of base supplication. Upon this performance I beat a hasty retreat, determined if need be to hobble all day. Most of the sooty tribe have embraced dully a belief in their own degradation and inferiority, and clearly this is the greatest impediment to their making progress, for self-love can never be as towering a sin as wilful self-neglect. This desperate tendency to despise their own race and colour is one of the ugliest consequences of their miserable condition. However, truly I was unsure, in the case of this
sambo,
whether or not he was making sport of us, for I detected about his free person touches of wit which he appeared to be only partly concealing, but to what purpose I could not fathom. Mr Brown declined to comment.

While the ever-present question of negro civility was pressing upon my mind, Arnold suggested that I might wish to witness the proceedings of a slave-court that was currently in session. As I entered, the delightful cool air of the Court-House struck me sweetly about the brow and banished the heat-induced throbbing which was beginning to assault my person. The interior of this Court-House was fitted up in an elaborate style, and boasted a display of blue paint, intended, one presumes, to give it a commanding yet informal appearance, especially in the warm light of day. To mine own eyes the decor merely conveyed a lamentably shoddy impression more reminiscent of gaudy public Reading-Rooms, or the imagined labyrinths of a Gentleman's place of entertainment. The atmosphere of sobriety that one might properly associate with a place of legal judgement appeared to have played no part in the design of this
creole
palace.

The case before us involved a seventeen-year-old girl, of most
disgustingly dirty appearance, originating from the plantation below our own. Her name was Punch, a peculiar appellation which I assumed to be a fond name. Arnold seemed to have some understanding of the details of her case. It appears that she attempted to infuse some corrosive sublimate into the
sangaree
of her master, with the intention of dispatching him to another world. The master, having received warning that such treachery might be abroad, pretended to drink the lethal potion and men observed her reaction by the minute as he went unscathed about his daily duties. Eventually Punch broke down screaming, sure that either a miracle had taken place or her master had by stealth become
jumby.
The trial appeared to be conducted with reasonable propriety and justice. The jury consisted of three respectable local citizens, the bench of a magistrate presided over by a senior member, who appeared a most pompous coxcomb, no doubt standing mighty high in his own estimation.

In this case of Punch the poisoner there was no legal representation on either side, which circumvented the often laborious and time-wasting process of quiz and counter-quiz, and artful cross-examination punctuated by theatrical appeals to the passions. It is to be greatly lamented that the dangerous practice of perjury is commonplace among negroes. Arnold informed me that some have argued that the condition of ignorance to which the negro is deliberately reduced necessarily renders him unable fully to comprehend the serious obligations of an oath, but history apparently proves this claim false. The negro, whether house-slave or field, bond or free, is likely to fabricate a tale wherein every second sentence will contradict what has gone before. This accumulation of falsehoods is always compounded by his declaring a passionate desire to 'kiss the book', and reinforced with wild assertions of the purest innocence. Mercifully, this Punch appeared to have no defence and was summarily condemned to the, in two days time, by hanging. There was no appeal, and sentence was passed without the least
emotion on the part of the magistrates, although tears of pity were apparent enough upon the countenances of the sombre mass of black life that filled the public gallery, plainly aggrieved that the word of the worst scoundrel, were he the possessor of a white skin, would be given preference to their own testament. I asked Arnold whether any white person had been condemned to the for a crime such as killing a slave, but he made reply that were a black to be killed by a cruelly disposed master, in law such cases are considered trifles, for there is usually no reason for a man to deplete his stock without good and just cause. I did not think this is a shining example of rational argument to submit to those in whom one is trying to instill the rudiments of our morality, although Mr Rogers would no doubt vigorously contest the wisdom of making any effort to lead our black brethren and sisters out of their moral darkness. A formal system of law whereby any offender, irrespective of colour or quality, is meted out just punishment, seems not to have taken hold on this island.

At the end of this somewhat afflicting trial, Arnold and I decided not to wait until another negro's fate was sealed. We boarded our carriage and proceeded to the north-east, out of the capital, then turned inland and towards the cooler dime of the hills that nestled in the lee of the mountain. Our interior journey took us along a thin, wearisome track that was truly almost concealed by returning nature. At intervals our path was totally overgrown with tall grass, and in other places made dangerous by the deep ruts created by the seasonal journeys of the sugar carts. Such perils demanded the most skilful handling of our carriage. As we made our laborious progress, our eyes were assailed by an unpleasant sight. We happened upon a small cluster of houses, which, although they did not constitute a village, had a communal aspect about them. These rural dwellings were in general of mean construction, although some few were erected in neatly stacked native stone. One vainglorious hovel sported a well-stocked garden of negro
produce, such as eddoe, yam, arrowroot, etc., but even this
mansion
stood destitute of paint. I was startled and horrified to observe that the denizens of this hamlet were white people who had evidently declined financially and morally, having witnessed the estates they worked on sold to meet mortgage debts. Many had arrived in these parts as indentured servants, their period of servitude understood to be seven years, at the conclusion of which their master was to reward them with fifty shillings, four hundred pounds of sugar or tobacco, and a certificate of their manumission. Unable to marry a free person without the consent of their master, the fine for such an illicit connection being – absurdly in view of their extreme poverty – one hundred guineas, they existed in a pitiable state of bondage, and were as likely to be subject to a public whipping or imprisonment as the common negro.

Naturally these poor white
Creoles
form an entirely different class from those whites who have emigrated in search of financial gain, or whose government or domestic duties have torn them, albeit temporarily, from the bosom of the land of their birth. Although outnumbered by their superiors, mere are not a few of these pale-fleshed
niggers
enduring these lamentable conditions. But not all of these poor-whites came to the island as poverty-stricken indentured servants. Some had suffered from ill-fortune or improvidence, and fallen from the comparative wealth of slave ownership and a position of some standing in the white community, to the depths of poverty and depredation. According to Arnold the most destitute among them now rely upon the kindly benevolence of negroes. These black Samaritans feel pity for the white unfortunates and take a mess of stewed produce, with a proportion of garden-stuff from their own grounds made savoury by a little salt meat, to their old
misses
and
massa.
A few hundred yards beyond this wretched compound I was able to witness the truth of Arnold's claim that the negro sometimes displays a wondrous constancy to these old white attachments. We stopped an old leathery woman, her face lined
with a thousand wrinkles, who sucked on what must once have been designated a pipe. Time had bent her form and grizzled her woolly hair, yet her black eyes were never still. Upon her head she carried a basket, and protruding beneath her billowing skirt a monstrous pair of elephant legs completed the picture. As though foreseeing our concern, she entered unbidden into conversation with an aphorism: 'What on the head we no feel, but what on a hand hurt da shoulder.' Arnold smiled and then quizzed her about her destination. She pointed to the basket and spoke emphatically, as though anxious to impress upon us her status. 'I'm carry dem provisions to my old misses for she be very kind to me when I be her nigger; my mistress knowed better times, but bad times now misses, bad times – my misses had plenty nigger, and her husband, and fine pick-a-ninnies, but dem bad times come. Den massa the and misses sell nigger, one, two, three – all gone. Now bad times and so we just go now and den and see misses, and gie her some yam, or some plantain, or any little ting just to help her.' With this the dark benefactress smiled and pressed on with her mission of mercy, with the knowledge that starvation always conquers pride, and that even a dish of negro pottage can be a banquet to the impoverished whites.