At last: a Christmas in the West Indies

Abstract

the wont of West India roads, are as good as they would he in Eiighand, hut on account of the quaint travellers along it, and the quaint sights whicli are to he seen over every hedge.You pass all the races of the island going to and from town or field work, or washing clothes in some clear brook, beside which a solemn Chinaman sits catching for his dinner strange fishes, known to my learned friend, Dr. Giinther, and perhaps to one or two other men in Europe : but certainly not to me.Always somebody or something new and strange is to be seen, for eight most pleasant miles.The road runs at first along a low^cliff foot, with an ugl>' Mangrove swamp, looking just like an alder-bed at home, between you and the sea; a swamp which it would be worth while to drain by a steam-pump, and then plant \\\i\\ coco- nuts or bamboos ; for its miasma makes the southern corner of Port of Spain utterly pestilential You cross a railroad, the only one in the island, which goes to a limestone quarry, and so out alono; a wide straight road, with Neg'ro cottao'es ri^^ht and left, embowered in fruit and flowers.They grow fewer and finer as you ride on ; and soon you are in open country, principally of large paddocks.These paddocks, like all West Indian ones, are apt to be ragged with weeds and scrub.But the coarse broad-leaved grasses seem to keep the mules in good condition enough, at least in the rainy season.Most of these paddocks have, 1 believe, been under cane cultivation VEGAS.3 at some time or other ; and have been thrown into grass during the period of depression dating from 1845.It has not been worth while, as jet, to break them up again,thoughthe profits of sugar-farming are now, or at least ought to be, very large.But the soil along this line is originally poor and sandy; and it is far more profitable to break up the rich vegas, or low alluvial lands, even at the trouble of clearing them of forest.So these paddocks are left, often with noble trees standing about in them, putting one in mind if it were not for the Palmistes and Bamboos and the crowd of black vultures over an occasional dead animal of English parks.But few English parks have such backgrounds.To the right, the vast southern flat, with its smoking engine-house chimneys and bright green cane-pieces, and, beyond all, the black wall of the primaeval forest ; and to the left, some half mile off, the steep slopes of the green northern mountains blazing in the sun, and sending down, every two or three miles, out of some charming glen, a clear pebblybrook, each w^inding through its narrow strip of vega.The vega is usually a highly cultivated cane-piece, where great lizards sit in the mouths of their burrows, and watch the passer- by wdth intense interest.Coolies and jSTegros are at work in it : but only a few ; for the strength of the hands is away at the engine-house, making sugar day and night.There is a piece of cane in act of being cut.The B 2 SAN JOSEF.men are licwiiig duwn llie giant grass with cutlasses; tlie women stripping off the leaves, and then piling the cane in carts drawn by mules, the leaders of which draw by rope traces two or three times as long as themselves.You wonder why such a seeming waste of power is allowed, till you see one of the carts stick fast in a mud-hole, and discover that even in the West Indies there is a good reason for every- thiuii', and that the Creoles j^now their own business best.For the wheelers, being in the slough with the cart, are power- less : but the leaders, who have scrambled through, are safe on dry land at the end of their long traces, and haul out tlieir brethren, cart and all, amid the yells, and, I am sorry to say blows, of the black gentlemen in attendance.But cane-cutting is altogether a busy, happy scene.The heat is awful, and all limbs rain perspiration : yet no one seems to mind the heat; all look fat and jolly; and they have cause to do so, for all, at every spare moment, are sucking- sugar-cane.You pull up, and take off your hat to the j)arty.The Negros shout, " Marnin', sa !"The Coolies salaam gracefully, hand to forehead.You return the salaam, hand to heart, which is considered the correct thing on the part of a superior in rank ; whereat the Coolies look exceedingly pleased ; and then the whole party, Avithout visible reason, burst into shouts of laughter.SAX JOSEF.5 The manager rides up, probably under an umbrella, as you are, and a pleasant and instructive cliat follows, wound up, usually, if the house be not far off, by an invitation to come in and Inive a li^ht drink ; an invitation which, considering the state of the thermometer, you will be tempted to accept, especially as you know that the claret and water will be excellent.And so you daw^dle on, looking at this and that new and odd si^ht, but most of all feastincr your eves on the beauty of the northern mountains, till you reach the gentle rise on which stands, eight miles from Port of Spain, the little city of San Josef AVe should call it, here in England, a village : still, it is not every village in England which has fought the Dutch, and earned its right to be called a city, by beatino-some of the bravest sailors of the seventeenth centur}'.SAN JOSEF.seems to be a kind of imitation of the growl of wild beasts, and has a most thrill inoj effect." Fire now was set to a quantity of huts built for tlie accommodation of African soldiers to the northward of the barracks, as well as to the house of a poor black woman called Dalrymple.These burnt briskly, throwing a dismal glare over the barracks and picturesque town of San Josef, and overpowering the light of the full moon, which illu- mined a cloudless sky.The mutineers made a rush at the barrack-room, and seized on the muskets and fusees in the racks.Their leader, Daaga, and a daring Yarraba named Ogston, instantly charged their pieces ; the former of these had a quantity of ball-cartridges, loose powder, and ounce and pistol-balls, in a kind of grey worsted caj:).He must have provided himself with these before the mutiny.How he became possessed of them, especially the pistol-balls, I never could learn.; probably he was supplied by his un- military countrymen : pistol-balls are never given to in- fantry.Previous to this Daaga and three others made a rush at the regimental store-room, in wdiich was dej^osited a quantity of powder.An old African soldier, named Charles Dixon, interfered to stop them, on which Maurice Ogston, the Yarraba chief, who had armed himself with a sergeant's sword, cut down the faithful African.When do\\Ti Daaga said, in English, ' Ah, you old soldier, you knock down.' Dixon /S-l-V JO^EF.tlie biitt-eiid to rest against tlieir shoulders, or any part of their hodies.This fact accounts for the comparatively little mischief tliey did in proportion to the quantity of ammunition thrown away." The officers and sergeant-major escaped at the back of the building, wliile Colonel Bush and Adjutant Bentley came down a little hill.The colonel commanded the mntineers to lay down their arms, and was answered by an irregular dis- charge of balls, Avhich rattled amongst the leaves of a tree under which he and the adjutant were standing.On this Colonel Bush desired Mr. Bentley to make the best of his way to St. James's Barracks for all the disposable force of the 89th Ptegiment.The officers made good their retreat, and the adjutant got into tlie stable where his horse was.He saddled and bridled the animal while the shots were comino; into the stable, without either man or beast getting injured.The officer mounted, but had to make his way tln^ough the mutineers before he could get into San Josef, the barracks standing on an eminence above the little town.On seeing the adjutant mounted, the mutineers set up a thrilling howl, and com- menced firing at him.He discerned the gioantic fio-ure of Daaga (alias Donald Stewart), with his musket at the trail : he spurred his horse through the midst of them ; they were grouped, but not in line.On looking back he saw Daaga aiming at him ; he stooped his head beside his horse's neck.mutineers, and, it is said, w^ounded a third.Such is the difference between a man acquainted with the use of fire- arms and those who handle them as mops are held." In the meantime Colonel Bush got to a police-station above the barracks, and got muskets and a few cartridges from a discharged African soldier who was in the police establish- ment.Being joined by the policemen.Corporal Craven ^and Ensign Pogson, they concealed themselves on an eminence above, and as the mutineers (about 100 in number) ap- proached, the fire of muskets opened on them from the little ^This man, who was a friend of Daaga's, owed his life to a solitary act of humanity on the part of the chief of this wild tragedy.A musket was levelled at him^w hen Daaga jmshed it aside, and said, "N"ot this man."VOL.II.C 18 SAN JOSEF.ambush.The little party fired separately, loading as fast as they discharged their pieces ; they succeeded in making the mutineers change their route." It is wonderful what little courage the savages in general showed against the Colonel and his little party; who absolutely beat them, although but a twenty-fifth of their number, and at their own tactics, i.e. bush fighting." A body of the mutineers now made towards the road to Maraccas, when the colonel and his three assistants contrived to get behind a silk-cotton tree, and recommenced firing on them.The Africans hesitated and set forward, when the little party continued to fire on them ; they set up a yell, and retreated down the hill."A part of the mutineers now concealed themselves in the bushes about San Josef barracks.These men, after the affair was over, joined Colonel Bush, and with a mix- ture of cunning and effrontery smiled as though nothing had happened, and as though they were glad to see him ; although, in general, they each had several shirts and pairs of trousers on preparatory for a start to Guinea, by way of Band de I'Es

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