Yet, as our young ensign sailed up the Surinam River, the world of tropic beauty came upon him with enchantment11. Dark, moist verdure was close around him, rippling12 waters below; the tall trees of the jungle and the low mangroves beneath were all hung with long vines and lianas, a maze13 of cordage, like a fleet at anchor; lithe14 monkeys travelled ceaselessly up and down these airy paths, in armies, bearing their young, like knapsacks, on their backs; macaws and humming-birds, winged jewels, flew from tree to tree. As they neared Paramaribo, the river became a smooth canal among luxuriant plantations16; the air was perfumed music, redolent of orange-blossoms and echoing with the songs of birds and the sweet plash of oars17; gay barges18 came forth19 to meet them; "while groups of naked boys and girls were promiscuously20 playing and flouncing, like so many tritons and mermaids21, in the water." And when the troops disembarked,—five hundred fine young men, the oldest not thirty, all arrayed in new uniforms and bearing orange-flowers in their caps, a bridal wreath for beautiful Guiana,—it is no wonder that the Creole ladies were in ecstasy22; and the boyish recruits little foresaw the day, when, reduced to a few dozens, barefooted and ragged23 as filibusters24, their last survivors25 would gladly re-embark from a country beside which even Holland looked dry and even Scotland comfortable.
For over all that earthly paradise there brooded not alone its terrible malaria26, its days of fever and its nights of deadly chill, but the worse shadows of oppression and of sin, which neither day nor night could banish27. The first object which met Stedman's eye, as he stepped on shore, was the figure of a young girl stripped to receive two hundred lashes28, and chained to a hundred-pound weight. And the few first days gave a glimpse into a state of society worthy29 of this exhibition,—men without mercy, women without modesty30, the black man a slave to the white man's passions, and the white man a slave to his own. The later West-Indian society in its worst forms is probably a mere31 dilution32 of the utter profligacy33 of those early days. Greek or Roman decline produced nothing more debilitating34 or destructive than the ordinary life of a Surinam planter, and his one virtue35 of hospitality only led to more unbridled excesses and completed the work of vice36. No wonder that Stedman himself, who, with all his peculiarities37, was essentially39 simple and manly40, soon became disgusted, and made haste to get into the woods and cultivate the society of the Maroons.
The rebels against whom this expedition was sent were not the original Maroons of Surinam, but a later generation. The originals had long since established their independence, and their leaders were flourishing their honorary silver-mounted canes41 in the streets of Paramaribo. Fugitive42 negroes had begun to establish themselves in the woods from the time when the colony was finally ceded43 by the English to the Dutch, in 1674. The first open outbreak occurred in 1726, when the plantations on the Seramica River revolted; it was found impossible to subdue them, and the government very imprudently resolved to make an example of eleven captives, and thus terrify the rest of the rebels. They were tortured to death, eight of the eleven being women: this drove the others to madness, and plantation15 after plantation was visited with fire and sword. After a long conflict, their chief, Adoe, was induced to make a treaty, in 1749. The rebels promised to keep the peace, and in turn were promised freedom, money, tools, clothes, and, finally, arms and ammunition44.
But no permanent peace was ever made upon a barrel of gunpowder45 as a basis; and, of course, an explosion followed this one. The colonists46 naturally evaded47 the last item of the bargain; and the rebels, receiving the gifts, and remarking the omission48 of the part of Hamlet, asked contemptuously if the Europeans expected negroes to subsist49 on combs and looking-glasses? New hostilities50 at once began; a new body of slaves on the Ouca River revolted; the colonial government was changed in consequence, and fresh troops shipped from Holland; and after four different embassies had been sent into the woods, the rebels began to listen to reason. The black generals, Capt. Araby and Capt. Boston, agreed upon a truce51 for a year, during which the colonial government might decide for peace or war, the Maroons declaring themselves indifferent. Finally the government chose peace, delivered ammunition, and made a treaty, in 1761; the white and black plenipotentiaries exchanged English oaths and then negro oaths, each tasting a drop of the other's blood during the latter ceremony, amid a volley of remarkable52 incantations from the black gadoman or priest. After some final skirmishes, in which the rebels almost always triumphed, the treaty was at length accepted by all the various villages of Maroons. Had they known that at this very time five thousand slaves in Berbice were just rising against their masters, and were looking to them for assistance, the result might have been different; but this fact had not reached them, nor had the rumors53 of insurrection in Brazil among negro and Indian slaves. They consented, therefore, to the peace. "They write from Surinam," says the "Annual Register" for Jan. 23, 1761, "that the Dutch governor, finding himself unable to subdue the rebel negroes of that country by force, hath wisely followed the example of Gov. Trelawney at Jamaica, and concluded an amicable54 treaty with them; in consequence of which, all the negroes of the woods are acknowledged to be free, and all that is passed is buried in oblivion." So ended a war of thirty-six years; and in Stedman's day the original three thousand Ouca and Seramica Maroons had multiplied, almost incredibly, to fifteen thousand.
But for those slaves not sharing in this revolt it was not so easy to "bury the whole past in oblivion." The Maroons had told some very plain truths to the white ambassadors, and had frankly55 advised them, if they wished for peace, to mend their own manners and treat their chattels56 humanely57. But the planters learned nothing by experience,—and, indeed, the terrible narrations58 of Stedman were confirmed by those of Alexander, so lately as 1831. Of course, therefore, in a colony comprising eighty thousand blacks to four thousand whites, other revolts were stimulated59 by the success of this one. They reached their highest point in 1772, when an insurrection on the Cottica River, led by a negro named Baron60, almost gave the finishing blow to the colony; the only adequate protection being found in a body of slaves liberated61 expressly for that purpose,—a dangerous and humiliating precedent62. "We have been obliged to set three or four hundred of our stoutest63 negroes free to defend us," says an honest letter from Surinam, in the "Annual Register" for Sept. 5, 1772. Fortunately for the safety of the planters, Baron presumed too much upon his numbers, and injudiciously built a camp too near the seacoast, in a marshy64 fastness, from which he was finally ejected by twelve hundred Dutch troops, though the chief work was done, Stedman thinks, by the "black rangers65" or liberated slaves. Checked by this defeat, he again drew back into the forests, resuming his guerrilla warfare67 against the plantations. Nothing could dislodge him; blood-hounds were proposed, but the moisture of the country made them useless: and thus matters stood when Stedman came sailing, amid orange-blossoms and music, up the winding68 Surinam.
Our young officer went into the woods in the condition of Falstaff, "heinously69 unprovided." Coming from the unbounded luxury of the plantations, he found himself entering "the most horrid70 and impenetrable forests, where no kind of refreshment71 was to be had,"—he being provisioned only with salt pork and pease. After a wail72 of sorrow for this inhuman73 neglect, he bursts into a gush74 of gratitude75 for the private generosity76 which relieved his wants at the last moment by the following list of supplies: "24 bottles best claret, 12 ditto Madeira, 12 ditto porter, 12 ditto cider, 12 ditto rum, 2 large loaves white sugar, 2 gallons brandy, 6 bottles muscadel, 2 gallons lemon-juice, 2 gallons ground coffee, 2 large Westphalia hams, 2 salted bullocks' tongues, 1 bottle Durham mustard, 6 dozen spermaceti candles." The hams and tongues seem, indeed, rather a poor halfpennyworth to this intolerable deal of sack; but this instance of Surinam privation in those days may open some glimpse at the colonial standards of comfort. "From this specimen," moralizes our hero, "the reader will easily perceive, that, if some of the inhabitants of Surinam show themselves the disgrace of the creation by their cruelties and brutality77, others, by their social feelings, approve themselves an ornament78 to the human species. With this instance of virtue and generosity I therefore conclude this chapter."
But the troops soon had to undergo worse troubles than those of the commissariat. The rainy season had just set in. "As for the negroes," said Mr. Klynhaus, the last planter with whom they parted, "you may depend on never seeing a soul of them, unless they attack you off guard; but the climate, the climate, will murder you all." Bringing with them constitutions already impaired79 by the fevers and dissipation of Paramaribo, the poor boys began to perish long before they began to fight. Wading in water all day, hanging their hammocks over water at night, it seemed a moist existence, even compared with the climate of England and the soil of Holland. It was a case of "Invent a shovel80, and be a magistrate," even more than Andrew Marvell found it in the United Provinces. In fact, Raynal evidently thinks that nothing but Dutch experience in hydraulics could ever have cultivated Surinam.
The two gunboats which held one division of the expedition were merely old sugar-barges, roofed over with boards, and looking like coffins81. They were pleasantly named the "Charon" and the "Cerberus," but Stedman thought that the "Sudden Death" and the "Wilful82 Murder" would have been titles more appropriate. The chief duty of the troops consisted in lying at anchor at the intersections83 of wooded streams, waiting for rebels who never came. It was dismal84 work, and the raw recruits were full of the same imaginary terrors which have haunted other heroes less severely85 tested: the monkeys never rattled86 the cocoa-nuts against the trees, but they all heard the axes of Maroon10 wood-choppers; and when a sentinel declared, one night, that he had seen a negro go down the river in a canoe, with his pipe lighted, the whole force was called to arms—against a firefly. In fact, the insect race brought by far the most substantial dangers. The rebels eluded88 the military, but the chigres, locusts89, scorpions91, and bush-spiders were ever ready to come half-way to meet them; likewise serpents and alligators92 proffered93 them the freedom of the forests, and exhibited a hospitality almost excessive. Snakes twenty feet long hung their seductive length from the trees; jaguars volunteered their society through almost impenetrable marshes; vampire94 bats perched by night with lulling95 endearments96 upon the toes of the soldiers. When Stedman describes himself as killing97 thirty-eight mosquitoes at one stroke, we must perhaps pardon something to the spirit of martyrdom. But when we add to these the other woes98 of his catalogue,—prickly-heat, ringworm, putrid-fever, "the growling99 of Col. Fougeaud, dry sandy savannas100, unfordable marshes, burning hot days, cold and damp nights, heavy rains, and short allowance,"—we can hardly wonder that three captains died in a month, and that in two months his detachment of forty-two was reduced to a miserable101 seven.
Yet, through all this, Stedman himself kept his health. His theory of the matter almost recalls the time-honored prescription102 of "A light heart and a thin pair of breeches," for he attributes his good condition to his keeping up his spirits and kicking off his shoes. Daily bathing in the river had also something to do with it; and, indeed, hydropathy was first learned of the West-India Maroons,—who did their "packing" in wet clay,—and was carried by Dr. Wright to England. But his extraordinary personal qualities must have contributed most to his preservation103. Never did a "meagre, starved, black, burnt, and ragged tatterdemalion," as he calls himself, carry about him such a fund of sentiment, philosophy, poetry, and art. He had a great faculty104 for sketching105, as the engravings in his volumes, with all their odd peculiarities, show; his deepest woes he coined always into couplets, and fortified106 himself against hopeless despair with Ovid and Valerius Flaccus, Pope's Homer and Thomson's "Seasons." Above all reigned107 his passion for natural history, a ready balm for every ill. Here he was never wanting to the occasion; and, to do justice to Dutch Guiana, the occasion never was wanting to him. Were his men sickening, the peccaries were always healthy without the camp, and the cockroaches108 within; just escaping from a she-jaguar, he satisfies himself, ere he flees, that the print of her claws on the sand is precisely109 the size of a pewter dinner-plate; bitten by a scorpion90, he makes sure of a scientific description in case he should expire of the bite; is the water undrinkable, there is at least some rational interest in the number of legs possessed110 by the centipedes which pre-occupy it. This is the highest triumph of man over his accidents, when he thus turns his pains to gains, and becomes an entomologist in the tropics.
Meanwhile the rebels kept their own course in the forests, and occasionally descended111 upon plantations beside the very river on whose upper waters the useless troops were sickening and dying. Stedman himself made several campaigns, with long intervals112 of illness, before he came any nearer to the enemy than to burn a deserted113 village or destroy a rice-field. Sometimes they left the "Charon" and the "Cerberus" moored114 by grape-vines to the pine-trees, and made expeditions into the woods, single file. Our ensign, true to himself, gives the minutest schedule of the order of march, and the oddest little diagram of manikins with cocked hats, and blacker manikins bearing burdens. First, negroes with bill-hooks to clear the way; then the van-guard; then the main body, interspersed115 with negroes bearing boxes of ball-cartridges116; then the rear-guard, with many more negroes, bearing camp-equipage, provisions, and new rum, surnamed "kill-devil," and appropriately followed by a sort of palanquin for the disabled. Thus arrayed, they marched valorously forth into the woods, to some given point; then they turned, marched back to the boats, then rowed back to camp, and straightway went into the hospital. Immediately upon this, the coast being clear, Baron and his rebels marched out again, and proceeded to business.
In the course of years, these Maroons had acquired their own peculiar38 tactics. They built stockaded fortresses117 on marshy islands, accessible by fords which they alone could traverse. These they defended further by sharp wooden pins, or crows'-feet, concealed118 beneath the surface of the miry ground,—and, latterly, by the more substantial protection of cannon119, which they dragged into the woods, and learned to use. Their bush-fighting was unique. Having always more men than weapons, they arranged their warriors121 in threes,—one to use the musket122, another to take his place if wounded or slain123, and a third to drag away the body. They had Indian stealthiness and swiftness, with more than Indian discipline; discharged their fire with some approach to regularity124, in three successive lines, the signals being given by the captain's horn. They were full of ingenuity125: marked their movements for each other by scattered126 leaves and blazed trees; ran zigzag127, to dodge128 bullets; gave wooden guns to their unarmed men, to frighten the plantation negroes on their guerrilla expeditions; and borrowed the red caps of the black rangers whom they slew129, to bewilder the aim of the others. One of them, finding himself close to the muzzle130 of a ranger66's gun, threw up his hand hastily. "What!" he exclaimed, "will you fire on one of your own party?" "God forbid!" cried the ranger, dropping his piece, and was instantly shot through the body by the Maroon, who the next instant had disappeared in the woods.
These rebels were no saints: their worship was obi-worship; the women had not far outgrown131 the plantation standard of chastity, and the men drank "kill-devil" like their betters. Stedman was struck with the difference between the meaning of the word "good" in rebellious132 circles and in reputable. "It must, however, be observed, that what we Europeans call a good character was by the Africans looked upon as detestable, especially by those born in the woods, whose only crime consisted in avenging133 the wrongs done to their forefathers134." But if martial135 virtues136 be virtues, such were theirs. Not a rebel ever turned traitor137 or informer, ever flinched138 in battle or under torture, ever violated a treaty or even a private promise. But it was their power of endurance which was especially astounding139; Stedman is never weary of paying tribute to this, or of illustrating140 it in sickening detail; indeed, the records of the world show nothing to surpass it; "the lifted axe87, the agonizing141 wheel," proved powerless to subdue it; with every limb lopped, every bone broken, the victims yet defied their tormentors, laughed, sang, and died triumphant142.
Of course they repaid these atrocities143 in kind. If they had not, it would have demonstrated the absurd paradox144, that slavery educates higher virtues than freedom. It bewilders all the relations of human responsibility, if we expect the insurrectionary slave to commit no outrages145; if slavery has not depraved him, it has done him little harm. If it be the normal tendency of bondage146 to produce saints like Uncle Tom, let us all offer ourselves at auction147 immediately. It is Cassy and Dred who are the normal protest of human nature against systems which degrade it. Accordingly, these poor, ignorant Maroons, who had seen their brothers and sisters flogged, burned, mutilated, hanged on iron hooks, broken on the wheel, and had been all the while solemnly assured that this was paternal148 government, could only repay the paternalism in the same fashion, when they had the power. Stedman saw a negro chained to a red-hot distillery-furnace; he saw disobedient slaves, in repeated instances, punished by the amputation149 of a leg, and sent to boat-service for the rest of their lives; and of course the rebels borrowed these suggestions. They could bear to watch their captives expire under the lash6, for they had previously150 watched their parents. If the government rangers received twenty-five florins for every rebel right-hand which they brought in, of course they risked their own right hands in the pursuit. The difference was, that the one brutality was that of a mighty151 state, and the other was only the retaliation152 of the victims. And after all, Stedman never ventures to assert that the imitation equalled the original, or that the Maroons had inflicted153 nearly so much as they had suffered.
The leaders of the rebels, especially, were men who had each his own story of wrongs to tell. Baron, the most formidable, had been the slave of a Swedish gentleman, who had taught him to read and write, taken him to Europe, promised to manumit him on his return—and then, breaking his word, sold him to a Jew. Baron refused to work for his new master, was publicly flogged under the gallows154, fled to the woods next day, and became the terror of the colony. Joli Coeur, his first captain, was avenging the cruel wrongs of his mother. Bonny, another leader, was born in the woods, his mother having taken refuge there just previously, to escape from his father, who was also his master. Cojo, another, had defended his master against the insurgents155 until he was obliged by ill usage to take refuge among them; and he still bore upon his wrist, when Stedman saw him, a silver band, with the inscription,—"True to the Europeans." In dealing156 with wrongs like these, Mr. Carlyle would have found the despised negroes quite as ready as himself to take the total-abstinence pledge against rose-water.
In his first two-months' campaign, Stedman never saw the trace of a Maroon; in the second, he once came upon their trail; in the third, one captive was brought in, two surrendered themselves voluntarily, and a large party was found to have crossed a river within a mile of the camp, ferrying themselves on palm-trunks, according to their fashion. Deep swamps and scorching157 sands, toiling158 through briers all day, and sleeping at night in hammocks suspended over stagnant159 water, with weapons supported on sticks crossed beneath,—all this was endured for two years and a half, before Stedman personally came in sight of the enemy.
On Aug. 20, 1775, the troops found themselves at last in the midst of the rebel settlements. These villages and forts bore a variety of expressive160 names, such as "Hide me, O thou surrounding verdure," "I shall be taken," "The woods lament161 for me," "Disturb me, if you dare," "Take a tasting, if you like it," "Come, try me, if you be men," "God knows me, and none else," "I shall moulder162 before I shall be taken." Some were only plantation-grounds with a few huts, and were easily laid waste; but all were protected more or less by their mere situations. Quagmires163 surrounded them, covered by a thin crust of verdure, sometimes broken through by one man's weight, when the victim sank hopelessly into the black and bottomless depths below. In other directions there was a solid bottom, but inconveniently164 covered by three or four feet of water, through which the troops waded165 breast-deep, holding their muskets166 high in the air, unable to reload them when once discharged, and liable to be picked off by rebel scouts167, who ingeniously posted themselves in the tops of palm-trees.
Through this delectable168 region Col. Fougeaud and his followers169 slowly advanced, drawing near the fatal shore where Capt. Meyland's detachment had just been defeated, and where their mangled170 remains171 still polluted the beach. Passing this point of danger without attack, they suddenly met a small party of rebels, each bearing on his back a beautifully woven hamper172 of snow-white rice: these loads they threw down, and disappeared. Next appeared an armed body from the same direction, who fired upon them once, and swiftly retreated; and in a few moments the soldiers came upon a large field of standing173 rice, beyond which lay, like an amphitheatre, the rebel village. But between the village and the field had been piled successive defences of logs and branches, behind which simple redoubts the Maroons lay concealed. A fight ensued, lasting174 forty minutes, during which nearly every soldier and ranger was wounded; but, to their great amazement175, not one was killed. This was an enigma176 to them until after the skirmish, when the surgeon found that most of them had been struck, not by bullets, but by various substitutes, such as pebbles177, coat-buttons, and bits of silver coin, which had penetrated178 only skin deep. "We also observed that several of the poor rebel negroes, who had been shot, had only the shards179 of Spa-water cans instead of flints, which could seldom do execution; and it was certainly owing to these circumstances that we came off so well."
The rebels at length retreated, first setting fire to their village; a hundred or more lightly built houses, some of them two stories high, were soon in flames; and as this conflagration180 occupied the only neck of land between two impassable morasses181, the troops were unable to follow, and the Maroons had left nothing but rice-fields to be pillaged182. That night the military force was encamped in the woods; their ammunition was almost gone, so they were ordered to lie flat on the ground, even in case of attack; they could not so much as build a fire. Before midnight an attack was made on them, partly with bullets, and partly with words. The Maroons were all around them in the forest, but their object was a puzzle; they spent most of the night in bandying compliments with the black rangers, whom they alternately denounced, ridiculed183, and challenged to single combat. At last Fougeaud and Stedman joined in the conversation, and endeavored to make this midnight volley of talk the occasion for a treaty. This was received with inextinguishable laughter, which echoed through the woods like a concert of screech-owls, ending in a charivari of horns and hallooing. The colonel, persisting, offered them "life, liberty, victuals185, drink, and all they wanted;" in return, they ridiculed him unmercifully. He was a half-starved Frenchman, who had run away from his own country, and would soon run away from theirs; they profoundly pitied him and his soldiers; they would scorn to spend powder on such scarecrows; they would rather feed and clothe them, as being poor white slaves, hired to be shot at, and starved for fourpence a day. But as for the planters, overseers, and rangers, they should die, every one of them, and Bonny should be governor of the colony. "After this, they tinkled186 their bill-hooks, fired a volley, and gave three cheers; which, being answered by the rangers, the clamor ended, and the rebels dispersed187 with the rising sun."
Very aimless nonsense it certainly appeared. But the next day put a new aspect on it; for it was found, that, under cover of all this noise, the Maroons had been busily occupied all night, men, women, and children, in preparing and filling great hampers188 of the finest rice, yams, and cassava, from the adjacent provision-grounds, to be used for subsistence during their escape, leaving only chaff189 and refuse for the hungry soldiers. "This was certainly such a masterly trait of generalship in a savage190 people, whom we affected191 to despise, as would have done honor to any European commander."
From this time the Maroons fulfilled their threats. Shooting down without mercy every black ranger who came within their reach,—one of these rangers being, in Stedman's estimate, worth six white soldiers,—they left Col. Fougeaud and his regulars to die of starvation and fatigue192. The enraged193 colonel, "finding himself thus foiled by a naked negro, swore he would pursue Bonny to the world's end." But he never got any nearer than to Bonny's kitchen-gardens. He put the troops on half-allowance, sent back for provisions and ammunition,—and within ten days changed his mind, and retreated to the settlements in despair. Soon after, this very body of rebels, under Bonny's leadership, plundered195 two plantations in the vicinity, and nearly captured a powder-magazine, which was, however, successfully defended by some armed slaves.
For a year longer these expeditions continued. The troops never gained a victory, and they lost twenty men for every rebel killed; but they gradually checked the plunder194 of plantations, destroyed villages and planting-grounds, and drove the rebels, for the time at least, into the deeper recesses196 of the woods, or into the adjacent province of Cayenne. They had the slight satisfaction of burning Bonny's own house, a two-story wooden hut, built in the fashion of our frontier guardhouses. They often took single prisoners,—some child, born and bred in the woods, and frightened equally by the first sight of a white man and of a cow,—or some warrior120, who, on being threatened with torture, stretched forth both hands in disdain197, and said, with Indian eloquence198, "These hands have made tigers tremble." As for Stedman, he still went barefooted, still quarrelled with his colonel, still sketched199 the scenery and described the reptiles201, still reared greegree worms for his private kitchen, still quoted good poetry and wrote execrable, still pitied all the sufferers around him, black, white, and red, until finally he and his comrades were ordered back to Holland in 1776.
Among all that wasted regiment202 of weary and broken-down men, there was probably no one but Stedman who looked backward with longing203 as they sailed down the lovely Surinam. True, he bore all his precious collections with him,—parrots and butterflies, drawings on the backs of old letters, and journals kept on bones and cartridges. But he had left behind him a dearer treasure; for there runs through all his eccentric narrative204 a single thread of pure romance, in his love for his beautiful quadroon wife and his only son.
Within a month after his arrival in the colony, our susceptible205 ensign first saw Joanna, a slave-girl of fifteen, at the house of an intimate friend. Her extreme beauty and modesty first fascinated him, and then her piteous narrative,—for she was the daughter of a planter, who had just gone mad and died in despair from the discovery that he could not legally emancipate206 his own children from slavery. Soon after, Stedman was dangerously ill, was neglected and alone; fruits and cordials were anonymously207 sent to him, which proved at last to have come from Joanna; and she came herself, ere long, and nursed him, grateful for the visible sympathy he had shown to her. This completed the conquest; the passionate208 young Englishman, once recovered, loaded her with presents which she refused; talked of purchasing her, and educating her in Europe, which she also declined as burdening him too greatly; and finally, amid the ridicule184 of all good society in Paramaribo, surmounted209 all legal obstacles, and was united to the beautiful girl in honorable marriage. He provided a cottage for her, where he spent his furloughs, in perfect happiness, for four years.
The simple idyl of their loves was unbroken by any stain or disappointment, and yet always shadowed with the deepest anxiety for the future. Though treated with the utmost indulgence, she was legally a slave, and so was the boy of whom she became the mother. Cojo, her uncle, was a captain among the rebels against whom her husband fought. And up to the time when Stedman was ordered back to Holland, he was unable to purchase her freedom; nor could he, until the very last moment, procure210 the emancipation211 of his boy. His perfect delight at this last triumph, when obtained, elicited212 some satire213 from his white friends. "While the well-thinking few highly applauded my sensibility, many not only blamed but publicly derided214 me for my paternal affection, which was called a weakness, a whim215." "Nearly forty beautiful boys and girls were left to perpetual slavery by their parents of my acquaintance, and many of them without being so much as once inquired after at all."
But Stedman was a true-hearted fellow, if his sentiment did sometimes run to rodomontade; he left his Joanna only in the hope that a year or two in Europe would repair his ruined fortunes, and he could return to treat himself to the purchase of his own wedded217 wife. He describes, with unaffected pathos218, their parting scene,—though, indeed, there were several successive partings,—and closes the description in a characteristic manner: "My melancholy219 having surpassed all description, I at last determined220 to weather one or two painful years in her absence; and in the afternoon went to dissipate my mind at a Mr. Roux' cabinet of Indian curiosities; where, as my eye chanced to fall on a rattlesnake, I will, before I leave the colony, describe this dangerous reptile200."
It was impossible to write the history of the Maroons of Surinam except through the biography of our ensign (at last promoted captain), because nearly all we know of them is through his quaint216 and picturesque221 narrative, with its profuse222 illustrations by his own hand. It is not fair, therefore, to end without chronicling his safe arrival in Holland, on June 3, 1777. It is a remarkable fact, that, after his life in the woods, even the Dutch looked slovenly223 to his eyes. "The inhabitants, who crowded about us, appeared but a disgusting assemblage of ill-formed and ill-dressed rabble,—so much had my prejudices been changed by living among Indians and blacks: their eyes seemed to resemble those of a pig; their complexions224 were like the color of foul225 linen226; they seemed to have no teeth, and to be covered over with rags and dirt. This prejudice, however, was not against these people only, but against all Europeans in general, when compared to the sparkling eyes, ivory teeth, shining skin, and remarkable cleanliness of those I had left behind me." Yet, in spite of these superior attractions, he never recrossed the Atlantic; for his Joanna died soon after, and his promising227 son, being sent to the father, was educated in England, became a midshipman in the navy, and was lost at sea. With his elegy228, in which the last depths of bathos are sadly sounded by a mourning parent,—who is induced to print them only by "the effect they had on the sympathetic and ingenious Mrs. Cowley,"—the "Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition" closes.
The war, which had cost the government forty thousand pounds a year, was ended, and left both parties essentially as when it began. The Maroons gradually returned to their old abodes229, and, being unmolested themselves, left others unmolested thenceforward. Originally three thousand,—in Stedman's time, fifteen thousand,—they were estimated at seventy thousand by Capt. Alexander, who saw Guiana in 1831; and a later American scientific expedition, having visited them in their homes, reported them as still enjoying their wild freedom, and multiplying, while the Indians on the same soil decay. The beautiful forests of Surinam still make the morning gorgeous with their beauty, and the night deadly with their chill; the stately palm still rears, a hundred feet in air, its straight gray shaft230 and its head of verdure; the mora builds its solid, buttressed231 trunk, a pedestal for the eagle; the pine of the tropics holds out its myriad232 hands with water-cups for the rain and dews, where all the birds and the monkeys may drink their fill; the trees are garlanded with epiphytes and convolvuli, and anchored to the earth by a thousand vines. High among their branches, the red and yellow mocking-birds still build their hanging nests, uncouth233 storks234 and tree-porcupines cling above, and the spotted235 deer and the tapir drink from the sluggish236 stream below. The night is still made noisy with a thousand cries of bird and beast; and the stillness of the sultry noon is broken by the slow tolling237 of the campa?ero, or bell-bird, far in the deep, dark woods, like the chime of some lost convent. And as Nature is unchanged there, so apparently238 is man; the Maroons still retain their savage freedom, still shoot their wild game and trap their fish, still raise their rice and cassava, yams and plantains,—still make cups from the gourd-tree and hammocks from the silk-grass plant, wine from the palm-tree's sap, brooms from its leaves, fishing-lines from its fibres, and salt from its ashes. Their life does not yield, indeed, the very highest results of spiritual culture; its mental and moral results may not come up to the level of civilization, but they rise far above the level of slavery. In the changes of time, the Maroons may yet elevate themselves into the one, but they will never relapse into the other.
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1
abjuration
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| n.发誓弃绝 | |
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2
subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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jaguars
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| n.（中、南美洲的）美洲虎( jaguar的名词复数 ) | |
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hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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maroons
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| n.逃亡黑奴（maroon的复数形式）vt.把…放逐到孤岛（maroon的第三人称单数形式） | |
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maroon
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| v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的 | |
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11
enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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18
barges
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| 驳船( barge的名词复数 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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promiscuously
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| adv.杂乱地，混杂地 | |
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21
mermaids
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| n.（传说中的）美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 ) | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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23
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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24
filibusters
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| n.掠夺兵( filibuster的名词复数 )；暴兵；（用冗长的发言）阻挠议事的议员；会议妨碍行为v.阻碍或延宕国会或其他立法机构通过提案( filibuster的第三人称单数 )；掠夺 | |
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25
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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malaria
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| n.疟疾 | |
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banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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29
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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dilution
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| n.稀释，淡化 | |
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profligacy
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| n.放荡，不检点，肆意挥霍 | |
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debilitating
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| a.使衰弱的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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37
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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38
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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41
canes
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| n.（某些植物，如竹或甘蔗的）茎( cane的名词复数 )；（用于制作家具等的）竹竿；竹杖 | |
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42
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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43
ceded
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| v.让给，割让，放弃( cede的过去式 ) | |
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44
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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45
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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46
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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47
evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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48
omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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49
subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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50
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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51
truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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52
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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53
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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54
amicable
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| adj.和平的，友好的；友善的 | |
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55
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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56
chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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57
humanely
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| adv.仁慈地；人道地；富人情地；慈悲地 | |
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narrations
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| 叙述事情的经过，故事( narration的名词复数 ) | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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60
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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61
liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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62
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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63
stoutest
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| 粗壮的( stout的最高级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
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marshy
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| adj.沼泽的 | |
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65
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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66
ranger
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| n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员 | |
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67
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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68
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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69
heinously
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| adv.可憎地，极恶地 | |
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70
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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71
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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72
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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73
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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74
gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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75
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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76
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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77
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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78
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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79
impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80
shovel
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| n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出 | |
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81
coffins
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| n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物 | |
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82
wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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83
intersections
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| n.横断( intersection的名词复数 )；交叉；交叉点；交集 | |
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84
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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85
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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86
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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87
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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88
eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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89
locusts
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| n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 )；贪吃的人；破坏者；槐树 | |
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90
scorpion
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| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
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91
scorpions
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| n.蝎子( scorpion的名词复数 ) | |
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92
alligators
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| n.短吻鳄( alligator的名词复数 ) | |
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93
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vampire
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| n.吸血鬼 | |
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95
lulling
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的现在分词形式） | |
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endearments
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| n.表示爱慕的话语，亲热的表示( endearment的名词复数 ) | |
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97
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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98
woes
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| 困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉 | |
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99
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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100
savannas
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| n.（美国东南部的）无树平原( savanna的名词复数 )；（亚）热带的稀树大草原 | |
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101
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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102
prescription
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| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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103
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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104
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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105
sketching
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| n.草图 | |
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106
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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107
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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108
cockroaches
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| n.蟑螂( cockroach的名词复数 ) | |
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109
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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110
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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111
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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112
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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113
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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114
moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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115
interspersed
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| adj.[医]散开的；点缀的v.intersperse的过去式和过去分词 | |
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116
cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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117
fortresses
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| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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118
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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119
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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120
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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121
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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122
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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123
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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124
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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125
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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126
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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127
zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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128
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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129
slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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130
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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131
outgrown
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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132
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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133
avenging
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| adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复 | |
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134
forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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135
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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136
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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137
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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138
flinched
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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139
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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140
illustrating
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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141
agonizing
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| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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142
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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143
atrocities
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| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
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144
paradox
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| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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145
outrages
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| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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146
bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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147
auction
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| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
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148
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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149
amputation
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| n.截肢 | |
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150
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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151
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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152
retaliation
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| n.报复，反击 | |
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153
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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154
gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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155
insurgents
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| n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 ) | |
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156
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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157
scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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158
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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159
stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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160
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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161
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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162
moulder
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| v.腐朽，崩碎 | |
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163
quagmires
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| n.沼泽地，泥潭( quagmire的名词复数 ) | |
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164
inconveniently
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| ad.不方便地 | |
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165
waded
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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166
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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167
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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168
delectable
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| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
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169
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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170
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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171
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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172
hamper
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| vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子 | |
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173
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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174
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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175
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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176
enigma
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| n.谜，谜一样的人或事 | |
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177
pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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178
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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179
shards
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| n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 ) | |
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180
conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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181
morasses
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| n.缠作一团( morass的名词复数 )；困境；沼泽；陷阱 | |
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182
pillaged
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| v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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183
ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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184
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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185
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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186
tinkled
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| （使）发出丁当声，（使）发铃铃声( tinkle的过去式和过去分词 )； 叮当响着发出，铃铃响着报出 | |
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187
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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188
hampers
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的第三人称单数 ) | |
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189
chaff
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| v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳 | |
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190
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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191
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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192
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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193
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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194
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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195
plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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196
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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197
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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198
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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199
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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200
reptile
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| n.爬行动物；两栖动物 | |
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201
reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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202
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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203
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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204
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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205
susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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206
emancipate
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| v.解放，解除 | |
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207
anonymously
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| ad.用匿名的方式 | |
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208
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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209
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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210
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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211
emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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212
elicited
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| 引出，探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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213
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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214
derided
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| v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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215
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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216
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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217
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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218
pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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219
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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220
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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221
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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222
profuse
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| adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的 | |
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223
slovenly
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| adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的 | |
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224
complexions
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| 肤色( complexion的名词复数 )； 面色； 局面； 性质 | |
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225
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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226
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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227
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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228
elegy
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| n.哀歌，挽歌 | |
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229
abodes
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| 住所( abode的名词复数 )； 公寓； （在某地的）暂住； 逗留 | |
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230
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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231
buttressed
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| v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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232
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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233
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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234
storks
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| n.鹳( stork的名词复数 ) | |
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235
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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236
sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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237
tolling
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| [财]来料加工 | |
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238
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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