EIGHT YEARS IN BRITISH. GUIANA. *
Tars book professes to be the journal of a planter in Guiana, kept during eight years succeeding Emancipation ; the object of the work being to show the inevitable ruin to which the colony was doomed by the acts of the British Government and Parliament. Mr. Barton Premium paints himself as an English gentleman, without prejudices, possessing fore- sight, and with available means over and above his West Indian property; but finding his income falling off, he determines to quit England, reside on his own plantation with his family, and attend to its management. A little colonial observation and experience convinces him of the up-hill if not hopeless task that is before him, and be resolves to keep a journal for the information of his descendants, and as a kind of justification of himself for the loss of their patrimony which he sees impending. This journal was not designed for print, but it accidentally fell into the hands of a friend, and he urges the publication.
This rather operoae framework is not a bad indication of the character of the book. The matter and spirit bear no proportion to the form and words. The mind of the writer is not sufficiently comprehensive for fiction ; and his facts fail of producing their full effect, because their form is general whilst their true nature is singular. They are also encumbered with other things, which are quite proper to the picture of a planter's life, but do not prove the argument of the book. The great drawback, how- ever, as regards attraction, is that the writer is in a measure dealing with matters that are past, or he proposes a plan which stands no chance of being carried—the purchase of slaves in Africa for manumission in the West Indies. Had Mr. Premium possessed a Defoe-like power, this fault would not have affected the interest of his book ; for life, cha- racter, and manners, would have been dominant, and the reader have swallowed the political economy in the guise of fiction. As it is, we have the purpose of a pamphlet thrown into the form of a novel ; the economical questions that are the real object of the author being con- tinually lost sight of, in those topics which are appropriate to a picture of daily life in Guiana. It may also be said that Mr. Premium, like the Protectionists at home, is somewhat addicted to make out too strong a case ; ascribing to par- ticular events an influence that singly they could not have, and exhibiting the sugar interest in such a plight that if all he says incidentally were true, nothing could have saved it. For purposes of sentimental grati- fication, this country has interfered with the labbar of the planters ; and to that extent this country is bound to grant compensation, but no fur- ther. Parliament is not bound to protect men against the exhaustion or inferiority of soil, or against the consequences of improvident specu- lations. Mr. Premium says that there are not twenty plantations in British Guiana whose soils are not inferior or exhausted. He describes the mode of planting in the olden times as one certain to end in difficulties, if not rain, on the first cheek. A man with 5,0001. undertook a task that required 20,000/. ; embarking in business with three-fourths of his capi- * Eight Years in British Guiana; being the Journal of a Residence in that Province, front 1840 to 1848, inclusive. With Anecdotes and Incidents illustrating the Social Condition of its Inhabitants ; and the Opinions of the Writer on the State and Pros- pects of our Sugar Colonies generally. By Barton Premium, a Planter of the Province. Edited by his Friend. Published by Longman and Co. tal borrowed, besides the business entanglements that followed his debts. As long as rivalry was forbidden, the soil unexhausted, and labour at command, such a proceeding might so far answer that the interest could be paid ; but the first misfortune must throw the borrower on his back. Such a course of action could only succeed with a very parsimonious borrower, who annually paid off a portion of his debt out of his high pro- fits : but theory requires those high profits to continue, and practice shows that so extensive a trading on borrowed capital rarely succeeds even with the most thrifty.
We do not allege these things as any excuse for the breach of faith towards the West Indians on the part of Ministers, Parliament, and peo- ple; but as an example of the angry and illogical mind of Mr. Premium. The true case of the West Indians is quite strong enough without resort- ing to topics that prove nothing. But this disposition to exaggerate seems a type of the Protectionist mind all the world over.
The plan of the book, had it been put before the reader with more breadth and animation, is well enough designed. Descriptions of the estate and its management, the domestic life of the planters, the charac- ters of the Negroes, and some incidents of a class appropriate to fiction, vary the political economy. The author also has a practical knowledge of Guiana and its cultivation : but the incongruities we have spoken of—the mixture of pamphlet and novel without the powers of a novelist—mili- tate against the purpose of the author and somewhat flatten the effect of his book.
One point which Mr. Premium works rather successfully, is an answer to the charge that the planters have made no experiments and not en- deavoured to introduce substitutes for manual labour. This is his ac- count of the plough : but it should be borne in mind that the cultivation of Guiana is peculiar, owing to the manner in which the low lands are in- tersected by streams and the dikes necessary for drainage.
"The greatest efforts have been making since the year 1833 to find substitutes for manual labour. The plough, above all other means, has been tried most per- severingly, I may say on nearly every plantation; but in no one instance has it been found to suit so well as to supersede the shovel and hoe. Our soil being a stiff clay causes the operation to be exceedingly severe on cattle; and the small drains, which are at a distance of only thirty-seven feet from each other and two feet deep by two wide, impede the proceedings very materially. It is surprising how many horses, mules, and oxen, have been sacrificed in the endeavour to esta- blish this mode of tillage permanently. One of my neighbours lost sixteen oxen in ploughing about twenty acres; and after all, some hands were obliged to go over it with the shovel. In order to get through their work, those who used the plough were under the necessity of giving the cattle enormous quantities of oats, in itself an extremely expensive contingent, and to spell (or relieve) them in the middle of the day; so that one set, varying from three to six, was employed no more than four hours at a time. This, rendering so many indispensable, made the general expense as high as that of manual labour, taking the mortality into consideration, and it was not nearly do effectual. "In fact, cane culture is more like garden cultivation than any other. The drills or cane-holes run across the beds or space between every two drains. They are from two to two-and-a-half feet wide, and from one to two feet deep, accord- ing to the soil. The earth taken out of them by the shovel is deposited on a bank of the same width as the hole, (the space between every two holes being so called,) and is used in weeding, to earth up the young plants after the weeds are re- moved; the bank on one aide being taken for that purpose, and on the other as a place on which to deposit the weeds. In these holes the cane-tops are planted either in a double or single row, very much in the same way as potatoes are planted in England; and in about a fortnight the sprouts appear. In six weeks they require a first weeding and earthing or moulding; and in general they need one more moulding and weeding, and two weedings without the moulding, before they are considered to be beyond the planter's care. In the last weeding, the pro- cess of stripping or trashing is gone through; which consists in detaching the dead leaves from the canes, to allow a free circulation of air. From this brief sketch it is evident that the greatest care is necessary in performing every opera- tion connected with the culture of this plant. If the drains are obstructed in any way, or if they are not cleaned or dug out regularly, the canes will not grow. If the latter are not properly planted, and if the weeding and moulding be not care- fully performed, the crop will be very indifferent. Again, if the stripping be done by reckless persons, they will break down canes, and he as destructive as so many cows turned into the field. Indeed, one has only to comprehend the nature of the'work that is essential to the proper growth of the cane, to understand how much the planters suffer by the existing disorganization of their labouring popu- lation."
Of the improved morals of the Negroes Mr. Premium speaks more than doubtfully ; and thus explains the statistical returns of marriages, on which much laudation has been built.
"More than twenty years ago, the Evangelical party in England, scandalized beyond measure at the state of concubinage which prevailed among our Black population, inculcated in every way the necessity for marrying them without de- lay, and the different clergymen were spurred on to bring about this desirable event as often and as speedily as possible. These worthy men, finding that they might subject themselves to the charge of remissness in the discharge of their du- ties, and some of them actuated, it may be, by the same ideas in regard to the moral effect of matrimony, proceeded to exhort their flocks to enter into the state, both privately and from the pulpit ; and the Negroes, observing that they were likely to be looked on more favourably by their pastors, and that the ceremony was sufficiently short and easily gone through, were soon induced to be married in considerable numbers. It is said that several applications were made to cler- gymen to undo the knot soon after it was tied ; and that the parties, finding this to be impracticable, speedily disseminated the extraordinary information among the rest, which led to some fallingoff in the monthly lists of marriages. "Many of them declared at this period that 'Marry no for Nigga 't all, da Buckra fashion'; and seemed to have a rooted aversion to it. The custom of the Whites, however, and the example which their increasing self-esteem since the sera of Emancipation has led them to adopt, have gradually established a mar- riage on the same i footing as among ourselves; an institution which all think they should experience once in their lives. They go through the ceremony; but, I grieve to say, that in too many cases it is an idle form, in every sense of the word. They have generally been on the most intimate footing before—perhaps living to- gether; and it happens too often that they disagree, and, without requiring the sanction of the law, separate, and take new mates, according to the old African habit. My wife has just been shocked by such a case in our own household. The housemaid and butler, both young, were married eighteen months ago: we gave them a marriage-dinner and some presents. They continued in our service, occupying rooms in the offices which were built for our servants; but in the course ofsix months they began to fight, and the noise and tumult in their quar- ter became so frequent, that after repeated admonitions, I warned them off, and finally they went away, he to town to live with another woman, and she to re- side with a settler in the new village here. " Unhappily, this is not the only instance that has occurred among our domes,. tics within the short space of four years. Our cook, a woman of about forty, ME months ago, without any violent quarrel, deserted her husband, a man with only one leg, and went to live with the engineer of the estate—the Black one, I mean, a youth of twenty; while his lawful wife, a girl of his own age, by whom he had two children, went to a neighbouring estato to reside with a mere lad of about sixteen, who had been working a short time here. The cook and her helpmate had been joined together for at least a dozen years. From these occurrences, in the limited sphere of my establishment, an idea may be formed of the extent to which such enormities prevail over the province. There is little doubt that when the tie becomes in the slightest degree irksome, no sense of impropriety, or feeling of religious awe for the commands of the Most High, will prevent them from se- parating. In many cases I have heard of, the separation has been made with cor- dial good-humour on both sides. In general, the children, if there are any, go with the mother; in fact, she usually bears the chief burden of their maintenance when the pair live together: and I am of opinion that the wife is the more meri- torious of the two in nine cases out of ten; the husband being commonly a tyrant, and forcing the wife, more mojorum, to be his slave in the house. He contributes just what he chooses to the funds required for supporting his family, while she must supply whatever is deficient, or brave his wrath, which is vented usually in blows; and he squanders his gains among companions or other women, in drink- ing and debauchery."
If the writer's style were less literal, the more novel-like parts of the book would have greater interest than the exposition of the losses of the planters, misdoings of the negroes, and the diatribes against all parties at home. The following passage from a description of the snakes of the colonies may be taken as an example of Mr. Premium's natural history.
" Depredations are frequently committed among the ducks of the estates by a variety of the boa peculiar to this part of America, called the camoeny ; a snake that takes his prey generally in the water, under which he lurks, with his head up, so as to observe without being observed; and when any aquatic fowl is dis- covered he steals upon and seizes it. They are of immense size, it is said, in some localities. The largest I have seen was twenty feet long: it had just swal- lowed a Muscovy duck, which it seized in the middle of a numerous flock, raising such a noise as brought one to the spot who saw the snake and gave the alarm. He was shot by repeated fusillades, but not before he had gotten the duck into his gullet. The Negroes are not afraid of them, and they eat them with great gusto. one was no sooner floating on the water, without much motion, than the man who owned the prey jumped in and attacked him with a knife, ripping up his throat and stomach; where he found his property, only half-way down, and whence he speedily extracted it. In fact, the protuberance caused by the bird was visible from the bank of the trench. Notwithstanding its great length, this reptile was not thicker than a stout man's leg at the calf. They are darker than the boas of the East, but beautifully marked also with a variety of colours; black, white and brown predominating. Indeed, I would say from what I have seen, that ?he venomous snakes are the most revolting in appearance. The blood snake is understood to be of this description; and it resembles strongly an enormous earth-worm, being just of that colour, and usually from four to six feet long. There is another sort, of a deep grass green hue, and of similar length ; while the coral snake, from eighteen inches to, three feet, glides along among the flowers and shrubs near a house, in the gay colours of scarlet, black, and white, which characterize the substance from which it takes its name. The whip snake is the most familiar with man, being generally found near houses. It is so named from the resemblance it bears to the thong of a whip, and is perfectly innocuous. " Some years ago, when in the colony, and visiting a bachelor friend who lived in a retired situation, I was one day reclining on a sofa and reading, the house being perfectly still, and no person nearer than the kitchen, when a snake of this variety moved so silently into the room that be was in the middle of it before I was aware of his presence. He seemed to look for some things, as if he knew they should be there; insects probably, for I observed him to pick up a spider. At last he espied me, and, raising his head, in an instant was coiled up instinct- ively for defence; but immediately afterwards, when I got on my feet, he retreated with great expedition below the sideboard, and contrived to ensconce himself so between it and the wall that it was only after detaching it the servants were able to dislodge him. I would not permit them to kill him; and they were both sulky and surprised when he glided rapidly down the outer steps and on to the lawn without being assailed by every sort of offensive weapon that might come to hand:,
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