CHAP, fion; but on :one of which, called Sehovhortj I was the
J v- witnefs to a Tcene of barbarity which I cannot help re-'
. lating1.1 r
Thevi&im of this cruelty Was a fine old negro flave*
who having been as he thought ;undefervedly Sentenced'
to receive fome'hundred lafhes by the lacerating whips«'
of two negro,- drivers, im the ,midft o f the execution
‘ pulled out a knifej which* after having made aifrditlefs
thruft at his persecutor the overfeer, he plungedi.up; to
the h a f r itr his dwn.bdwels, repeating th e blow t\Il: he'
dropped down at the tyrant’s feet. • For this crime-he
was'i being firft recovered,- condemned to hd chained to'
the furnace which d i f t i l s t h e t h e r e tbi keep
in the intenfe heat of a perpetual fire night-Sand day,
being bliftered all over, till he fhould expire by infirmity
or old age, of the latter of which; however he had but
little chance. He ihewed1 me his Wounds with a fmile of
contempt, which I returned with a figh and a final! donation
: nor (hall I ever forget theymiferable man, Who|
like Cerberus, was loaded with irons, land 'Chained' t<J
everlafting torment. As'for every thing elfe I obferved
in this little tour, I muft acknowledge it to' be elegant
and fplendid, and my reception hofpitable beyond my
expectation: but thefe Elyfian fields could n o t’difiipate
* KiUrdev.il is a fpecies of rum which
is diftilled from the fcum and dregs of
fugar cauldrons. This is much; drunk in
this colony, and the only fpirits allowed
the negroes; many. Europeans. alfo, fpm
a point of oeconomy, make ufe of it, to
whom it proves no better than a flowbut
fatal poifon.
the
EXP W m ? 10 N T O S UR I NAM. 97
tfie glbbm which the infernal furnace had left upon my CH a p.
mind. • . ©1 f . V.
r btsfibbe^fesf^Sat- of MnSirps; called Limelhope,
Was-thb mbftimWghifieentj4 n9’;maysbe!d^emed With juftice
bhrof theffichdfi ifi the OoionyV We now once more, on
th% ®%th d f Apvih%etufne’d ^ f e to Paramaribo, where we
fbu'nd'tle-WefteiliUgWeff£ man;of -W^r, Captain Crafs^
which^had' days,
into which port he had put to flop a 'leak, having parted
companyWithnsVasalrcadymentio'ned,:ofFPortland,in the
bn-d of Oicepaher!:i772. i This day, 'dicingat the hpufeof
fifeb^ii'Mr. Xolk^s,.- torwhdm I had-been, as I have
faid,'re<bmmended hyAetters,* I wi'as an eye witnefs of the
Unpardonable contempt With which negro flaves are treated
-in This csplaey, rmoise/than- ten
a grey-headbd; black: Wbtnah, who by? %cident touched
his powdered hair^fe the wag ^ v in g ff^ a dhh of Xerry.
iicboM not:bKlp Xlamihg• his^%ther fpri<W£riooking the
action ;: who tDldMne, with a:fmile^::that the childihould
no, ;far Holland
ibrediication;; to Which I anfwered, that;I thought it
altidofft'toGTlateii: At the fame moment a failor pafling by,
broke, the head of ;a negro with, a blfidgeoo* for n ©t ^haying
fainted him with: Ms hat.-^Such is . the, ftate ©f fla-
veryi,' at .leaft in this Dutch Ifettfetaenti
: i ex-
Curfion, and now-departed with a barge, to explore the
O 'banks