"And these are slaves," thought I, "and this is West Indian bondage! Oh
that some of my well--meaning anti--slavery friends were here, to judge
from the evidence of their own senses!"
The following night there was to be a grand play or wake in the negro
houses, over the head cooper, who had died in the morning, and I
determined to be present at it, although the overseer tried to dissuade
me, saying that no white person ever broke in on these orgies, that the
negroes were very averse to their doing so, and that neither he, nor any
of the white people on the estate, had ever been present on such an
occasion. This very interdict excited my curiosity still more; so I rose
about midnight, and let myself gently down through the window, and shaped
my course in the direction of the negro houses, guided by a loud drumming,
which, as I came nearer, every now and then sunk into a low murmuring
roll, when a strong bass voice would burst forth into a wild recitative;
to which succeeded a loud piercing chorus of female voices, during which
the drums were beaten with great vehemence; this was succeeded by another
solo, and so on. There was no moon, and I had to thread my way along one
of the winding footpaths by starlight. When I arrived within a
stone--cast of the hut before which the play was being held, I left the
beaten track, and crept onwards, until I gained the shelter of the stem of
a wild cotton--tree, behind which I skulked unseen.
Pages:
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235