I have frequently had occafion to mehtion our proVi-
lions, v iz, fait beef, pork, rufki: tófcuit; .and water, for
our allowance, which were dealt out regularly every five
or fix day§1 :the ;two former, having, perhaps made the
tour of the world, after leaving Irdandi and were. eVCn
fo green, fo flimy, fo ftinking, and fometimes fo full of
worms, that at other times they would not have re-
mained upon my ftomach; but I have mot (feforibed opr
furniture. This, however, will not Occupy much time,
as it confifted only of a fquare box or chefh for each officer,
to carry his.linen, frefh provifions, andifpirits, when
he. had either. Tbefe boxes- ferved hot eonly-asi.cupboards,
but as chairs and tables in the camp.! On .a march
they were carried on the head of a negro s<I rauft obferve,
moreover, that we had no light’ after fix oHock; in the
evening, that of.the moonexcepted,whenaihwasfotemn
and melancholy beyond defeription; |
I had not fo much as a trenchetybafon, ’fpoony-or’
fork: for the firft and fecond I made amegrb.% oalibafiT
ferve me ; a fork I wanted not, and a fpaon burfeldom p
inllead of that article, therefore, I ufed anfoMed leaf,
agreeably to the practice of the flaves ; and as for a knife,
each perfon carried one in his pocket. 1-. a t'< laft ?xdn-
trived to make a lamp jjj by breaking. a bottle \ in? which
having melted fome pork, it .produced a quantity'of oil,
and a flip of my fiiirt ferved for a wick. Neceffity is
proverbially ingenious, and in. fuch a fituation - every
nicety is forgotten. Indeed, could 1 now have had what
» formerly
E X P E D I T I O N TO SU R IN AM. *73
formerly I left upon my . plate, I fhould have ardently
•thanked God for it.
When fpeaking of ingenuity?, I ought not to forget
a number of pretty bafkets which were made by the
negroes in the camp, and which» they having taught me
to eonftrujSk, I alfo made to amufe myfelf, and fent them
as prefentstodeveral friends at Paramaribo. Thefe bafkets
were compofed of a. kind of ftrong ligneous cord that is
found- in the bark of the cabbage,-tree, and, as Dr. Bancroft
expreffes it, confifts of a web-like plexus, which is
divided crofs- wife in long, hard, polifhed threads, brown
and as tough as whalebone., . Tbefe threads are drawn
from it, and /the filaments or fibres are made ufe of as
withies are ufed in England. For holding fifli at ombre
or quadrille, nothing can be better or more beautiful;
but thofe that are large for holding fruit, vegetables, &c.
are quite different, and made of a kind of bulrufh, called
warimbo, which-is firft fplit and deprived of its pithy
fubftance: the thin, nebees make alfo no bad bafkets.
The negroes here befides made curious nets, and even
hammocks, of the filk grafs plant.
This is a fpeeies of wild aloe that grows in the woods:
the leaves are indented and prickly, and contain longitudinally
very ftrong and fmall white fibres, which are
bruifed and beaten to. hemp. With this we made
ropes ftronger than any in Europe. Tbefe would anfwer
perfectly for the rigging o f fiiips and other purpofes, had
it not been difeovered that they are fooner liable to rot
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