[These contemporary accounts of people of color are excerpted from popular historical and social commentaries. In tone, the prejudice in Moreton’s flippant, chatty anecdotes describing his interactions and sexual escapades with Creole and ‘Mongrel’ women of color even exceeds the vitriol present in Long’s discussions of Jamaican people of color. Of the three observers, Edwards offers the most balanced, sympathetic consideration of these people, probably because his committee work on behalf of the Jamaican Assembly (see Appendix Gl) brought him firsthand knowledge of the injustices they faced. Altogether, these ‘histories’ embody most if not all of the bilious stereotypes that long prose fictions like “The Creole” and The Woman of Colour are clearly written in opposition to.]
1. From Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies Abridged from the History written by Bryan Edwards esq. (London: Mundell & Son, Edinburgh, & J.
Mundell, Glasgow, 1799) Book IV, Chap. 1, 130-35
Of the people of mixed complexion, who are called people of colour, there are various degrees. A sambo is the offspring of a black woman by a mulatto man, or of a mulatto woman by a black man. The mulatto is the offspring of a black woman by a white man; the quadroon is the child of a mulatto woman by a white man, and the mustee of a quadroon woman by a white man. The Spaniards introduced nicer distinctions, which it is needless here to enumerate.
I believe, over all our sugar islands, the descendants of negroes by whites, whom the law entitles to the full privileges of freedom, are such as are three degrees removed from the negro venter . 1 All below this go by the general term of Mulatto.
In Jamaica there was anciently a distinction between .^hose born of freed mothers and such as had been immediately released by the will of their owners. This arose from a maxim of law which
originated from the mother country, and was established over the colonies, that the property of what is born accrues to the possessor of the mother. Until the year 1748, persons born under the latter circumstances, that is, whose mothers had been manumitted by their masters after their birth, were denied the trial by jury, and held unworthy of giving judicial evidence. These hardships have been in part mitigated; but much yet remains to be done. In most of the British islands, their evidence is only received in those cases where no particular act is passed in favour of the white person accused. The negro has a master to protect him from gross abuse; but the mulatto, by this partial institution, has no security against hardship and oppression. They are likewise debarred from being appointed to the lowest offices of public trust: They cannot hold the King’s commission even in a black corps; nor can they vote for representatives at elections.
It is to be acknowledged, that their degraded situation is in some degree mitigated by the generosity which the members of West Indian assemblies are ready to grant to people of colour, whose education and baptism entitles them to respect even in contradiction to express statutes on the subject.
Still, however, partial instances of generosity do not justify the humiliating state of subjection to which this unfortunate people are reduced. The lowest and most worthless white will behave with insolence to the best educated free man of colour; and as contempt always degrades a character, they are unprofitable members of the community.
Whatever may be said upon the propriety or impropriety of equalizing these people with those of a different complexion, can it be denied that wisdom and humanity demand the immediate redress of one intolerable grievance? The injury I allude to is their incapability to appear as witnesses, even in cases where they complain of personal injustice. What attachment to his soil; what gratitude to the protection of laws; what motive to benefit the society to which he belongs; or, in fine, what dignity or independence of mind can that man possess, who is conscious that every miscreant of a paler complexion may insult him with impunity?
Not only from the sphere above him has the free mulatto reason to expect ill usage: Situated, as he is, in an insulated and intermediate state between the black and the white, he is despised by the one, and enviously hated by the other. The black may consider his subjection to a white man as in some measure tolerable, but the idea of being the slave of a slave he utterly abhors.
In their behaviour to whites the mulattoes are modest and
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implicit. They are accused, however, (I am afraid with justice) of abusing their power over the blacks. Indeed, a different line of conduct cannot be possibly expected. The slave who is made a master is ever the most unfeeling tyrant, as the meanest parasite of prosperity is the most insolent insulter of misfortune.
There is one charge brought against the mulattoes, which, though it cannot be denied, confederation of circumstances will enable us to palliate: I mean the incontinency of their women. These are over all the West India islands maintained as kept mistresses to white men. But if we examine the situation of these unfortunate women, we shall find much more reason to blame the cruelty of their keepers, in inviting them to this disgraceful life, than of their imprudence in accepting the offer. Uninstructed in maxims of morality, untaught even in the simplest parts of education, unable to procure husbands either from among the whites or the young men of their own complexion, (the former regarding such an union as base and degrading, the latter, too degraded themselves to form such a settled connection); under such circumstances, they have a strong apology to plead for their conduct.
Besides, this connection between the keeper and the mistress, if not in the light of wedlock, is considered at least as equally innocent. They call their keeper by the endearing appellation of husband; they are faithful and affectionate to his interests; and to the rest of mankind they behave with decency and distance. Few, very few indeed, abandon themselves to that infamous species of prostitution which is openly avowed in the populous cities of Europe.
The injustice of retaining so many beautiful, and in all respects amiable women, in the disgraceful state of concubinage, demands immediate redress. But by whom shall the example be set? By the victims of this injustice it cannot, and by the seducers I am afraid it will not, be effected. To the humane dispositions of these people of colour, the most agreeable testimony is given by a respectable author, Don Antonio de Ulloa, when speaking of the forlorn and friendless circumstances to which many poor Europeans are reduced (who, emigrating to the Spanish West Indies in hopes of better fortune, can find no means of subsistence). Many of these (says the Spaniard) traverse the streets till' they have nothing left to purchase food or lodgings. Wearied with going in quest of employment, affected by the disappointment of their hopes, and the unfavourable change of climate, they retire, sick and melancholy, to lie down in the squares of churches and
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porticoes. The people of colour here display their generosity, when the rich and selfish merchant refuses his mite to relieve their miseries. The mulatto and the negro pitying their afflictions, carry them home to their houses; they nourish comfort, and restore the poor sufferer, and if they die, say prayers for their souls. Such is the pleasing account of the generosity of the mulattoes of Carthagena, and any one acquainted with those of the other West Indies will not hesitate to ascribe the same character to them which we have here aligned to the former.
In treating of the Creoles or natives of the West Indies, and of the mulattoes or those of mixed blood, we have confined ourselves to those who are either partially or entirely white. We should now treat of the free blacks in a distinct chapter, were there any striking dissimilarity between these and the blacks in a state of slavery. Our next chapter, therefore, is appropriated to the confederation of the negro character in general.
2. From Edward Long, The History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of That Island: with Reflections on its Situation, Settlements, Inhabitant, Climate, Products, Commerce,
Laws and Government. In Three Volumes, vol. II (London: T. Lowndes, 1774) Chap. XIII, Sec. Ill, 32836
... of all the vices reigning here; none are so flagrant as this of concubinage with white women, or cohabiting with Negresses and Mulattas, free or slaves. In consequence of this practice we have not only more spinsters in comparison to the number of women among the natives (whose brothers or male relations possess the greatest part of their father’s patrimony) in this small community, than in most other parts of his majesty’s dominions, proportionably inhabited; but also, a vast addition of spurious offsprings of different complexions: in a place where, by custom, so little restraint is laid on the passions, the Europeans, who at home have always been used to greater purity and strictness of manners, are too easily led aside to give a loose to every kind of sensual delight: on this account some black or yellow quasheba is 'Sought for, by whom a tawney breed is produced. Many are the men, of every rank, quality, and degree here, who would much rather riot in these goatish embraces, than share the pure and lawful bliss derived from matrimonial, mutual love. Modesty, in this respect, has but very little footing here. He who should
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presume to shew any displeasure against such a thing as simple fornication, would for his pains be accounted a simple blockhead; since not one in twenty can be persuaded that there is either sin or shame in cohabiting with his slave. Of these men, by far the greatest part never marry after they have acquired a fortune; but usher into the world a tarnished train of beings, among whom, at their decease, they generally divide their substance. It is not a little curious, to consider the strange manner in which some of them are educated. Instead of being taught any mechanic art, whereby they might become useful to the island, and enabled to support themselves; young Fuscus, in whom the father fondly imagines he sees the reflected dawn of paternal genius, and Miss Fulvia, who mamma protests has a most delicate ear for music and French, are both of them sent early to England, to cultivate and improve the valuable talents which nature is supported to have so wantonly bestowed, and the parents, blind with folly, think they have discovered. To accomplish this end, no expence nor pains are spared; the indulgent father, big with expectation of the future eclat of his hopeful progeny,
“disdains
The vulgar tutor, and the runic school,
To which the dull cit’ sends his low-born fool.
By our wise fire to London are they brought.
To learn those arts that high-bred youths are taught; Attended, drest, and train’d, with cost and care,
Just like some wealthy duke’s apparent-heir.”
Master is sent to Westminster, or Eton, to be instructed in the elements of learning, among students of the first rank that wealth and family can give: whilst Miss is placed at Chelsea, 1 or some other famed seminary; where she learns music, dancing, French, and the whole circle of female bon ton , proper for the accom
plishment of fine women. After much time and money bestowed on their education, and great encomiums, year after year, transmitted (by those whose interest it is to make them) on their very uncommon genius and proficiency, at length they return to visit their relations. From this period, much of their future misery may be dated. Miss faints at the sight of her relations, especially when papa tells her that black Quasheba is her own mother. The young gentleman too, after his introduction, begins to discover that the knowledge he has gained has only contributed to make him more susceptible of keen reflections, arising from his unfortunate birth. He is soon, perhaps, left to herd among his black kindred, and converse with Quashe and Mingo , instead of his school-fellows, Sir George, or My Lord.-, while mademoiselle, instead of modish French, must learn to prattle gibberish with her cousins Mimba and Chloe : for, however well this yellow brood may be received in England, yet here so great is the distinction kept up between white and mixed complexions, that very seldom are they seen together in a familiar way, though every advantage of dress or fortune should centre with the latter. Under this distinction, it is impossible but that a well-educated Mulatta must lead a very unpleasant kind of a life here; and justly may apply to her reputed father what Iphicrates said of his, “After all your pains, you have made me no better than a slave; on the other hand, my mother did every thing in her power to render me free.” On first arriving here, a civilized European may be apt to think it impudent and shameful, that even bachelors should publickly avow their keeping Negroe or Mulatto mistresses; but they are still more shocked at seeing a group of white legitimate, and Mulatto illegitimate, children, all claimed by the same married father, and all bred up together under the same roof ... Habit, however, and the prevailing fashion, reconcile such scenes, and lessen the abhorrence excited by their first impression.
To allure men from these illicit connexions, we ought to remove the principal obstacles which deter them from marriage. This will be chiefly effected by rendering women of their own complexion more agreeable companions, more frugal, trusty, and faithful friends, than can be met with among the African ladies. Of some probable measures to effect this desireable purpose, and make the fair natives of this island more amiable in the eyes of the ' men, and more eligible partners in the nuptial state, I have already ventured my sentiments. A proper education is the first great point. A modest demeanour, a mind divested of false pride, a very moderate zeal for expensive pleasures, a skill in oeconomy,
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and a conduct which indicates plain tokens of good humour, fidelity, and discretion, can never fail of making converts. Much, indeed, depends on the ladies themselves to rescue this truly honourable union from that fashionable detestation in which it seems to be held; and one would suppose it no very arduous task to make themselves more companionable, useful, and esteemable, as wives, than the Negresses and Mulattas are as mistresses: they might, I am well persuaded, prove much honester friends. It is true, that, if it should be a man’s misfortune to be coupled with a very profligate and extravagant wife, the difference, in respect to his fortune, is not great, whether plundered by a black or by a white woman. But such examples, I may hope, are unfrequent without the husband’s concurrence; yet, whenever they do happen, the mischief they occasion is very extensive, from the apprehensions with which they strike multitudes of single men, the viler part of whom endeavour to increase the number of unhappy marriages by every base art of seduction; while others rejoice to find any such, because they seem to justify their preference of celibacy, or concubinage. In regard to the African mistress, I shall exhibit the following, as no unsuitable portrait. All her kindred, and most commonly her very paramours, are fastened upon her keeper like so many leeches; while she, the chief leech, conspires to bleed him usque ad deliquium} In well-dissembled affection, in her tricks, cajolements, and infidelities, she is far more perfectly versed, than any adept of the hundreds of Drury. She rarely wants cunning to dupe the fool that confides in her; for who “shall teach the wily African deceit?” 1 2 The quintessence of her dexterity consists in persuading the man she detests to believe she is most violently smitten with the beauty of his person; in short, over head and ears in love with him. To establish this opinion, which vanity seldom fails to embrace, she now and then affects to be jealous, laments his ungrateful return for so sincere a passion; and, by this stratagem, she is better able to hide her private intrigues with her real favourites. I have seen a dear companion of this stamp deploring the loss of her deceased cul l with all the seeming fervency of an honest affection, or rather of
outrageous sorrow; beating her head; stamping with her feet; tears pouring down in torrents; her exclamations as wild, and gestures as emphatic, as those of an antient Roman orator in all the phrensy of a publick harangue. Unluckily, it soon appeared, that, at this very time, she had rummaged his pockets and escrutoire; and concealed his watch, ring, and money, in the featherbed upon which the poor wretch had just breathed his last. And such is the mirror of almost all these conjunctions of white and black two tinctures which nature has dissociated, like oil and vinegar. But, as if some good was generally to arise out of evil, so we find, that these connexions have been applauded upon a principle of policy; as if, by forming such alliances with the slaves, they might become more attached to the white people. Perhaps, the fruit of these unions may, by their consanguinity with a certain number of the Blacks, support some degree of influence, so far as that line of kindred extends: yet one would scarcely suppose it to have any remote effect; because they, for their own parts, despise the Blacks, and aspire to mend their complexion still more by intermixture with the Whites. The children of a White and Quateron are called English, and consider themselves as free from all taint of the Negroe race. To call them by a degree inferior to what they really are, would be the highest affront. This pride of amended blood is universal, and becomes the more confirmed, if they have received any smattering of education; for then they look down with the more supercilious contempt upon those who have had none. Such, whose mind has been a little purged from the grossest ignorance, may wish and endeavour to improve it still more; but no freed or unfreed Mulatto ever wished to relapse into the Negro. The fact is, that the opulent among them withdraw to England; where their influence, if they ever possessed any, ceases to be of any use. The middle class are not much liked by the Negroes, because the latter abhor the idea of being slaves to the descendants of slaves. And as for the lower rank, the issue of casual fruition, they, for the most part, remain in the same slavish condition as their mother; they are fellow-labourers with the Blacks and are not regarded in the least as their superiors. As for the first mentioned, it would probably be no disservice to the island, to regain all those who have abandoned it. But, to state the comparison fairly, if their fathers had married, the difference would have been this: their white offspring might have remained in the colony, to strengthen and enrich it: the Mulatto offspring desert and impoverish it. The lower class of these mixtures, who remain in the island, are a hardy race, capable of
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undergoing equal fatigue with the Black, above whom (in point of due policy) they ought to hold some degree of distinction. They would then form the centre of connexion between the two extremes, producing a regular establishment of three ranks of men, dependent on each other, and rising in a proper climax of subordination, in which the Whites would hold the highest place. I can foresee no mischief that can arise from the enfranchisement of every Mulatto child. If it be objected, that such a plan may tend to encourage the illicit commerce of which I have been complaining; I reply, that it will be more likely to repress it, because, although the planters are at present very indifferent about the birth of such children upon their estates, knowing that they will either labour for them like their other slaves, or produce a good price, if their fathers should incline to purchase them; yet they will discountenance such intercourses as much as lies in their power (when it shall no longer be for their interest to connive at them), and use their endeavours to multiply the unmixed breed of their Blacks. Besides, to expect that men will wholly abstain from this commerce, if it was even liable to the severest penalties of law, would be absurd; for, so long as some men have passions to gratify, they will seek the indulgence of them by means the most agreeable, and least inconvenient, to themselves. It will be of some advantage, as things are circumstanced, to turn unavoidable evils to the benefit of society, as the best reparation that can be made for this breach of its moral and political institutions. A wise physician will strive to change an acute distemper into one less malignant; and his patient compounds for a slight chronic indisposition, so he may get relief from a violent and mortal one. I do not judge so lightly of the present state of fornication in the island, as to suppose that it can ever be more flourishing, or that the emancipation of every Mulatto child will prove a means of augmenting the annual number. The retrieving them from profound ignorance, affording them instruction in Christian morals, and obliging them to serve a regular apprenticeship to artificers and tradesmen would make them orderly subjects, and faithful defenders of the country...
In general only I may suppose, that for every such child, on its attaining the age of three years, a reasonable allowance be pflid to the owner: from that period it becomes the care of the public, and might be provided for, at a cheap rate, until of an age fit for school; then be instructed in religion; and at the age of twelve apprenticed for the term of four years; after this, be regimented in his respective district, perhaps settled near a township; and,
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when on militia or other public duty, paid the same subsistence per day, or week, that is now allowed to the Marons. The expediency must be seen of having (as in the French islands) such a corps of active men, ready to scour the woods upon all occasions; a service, in which the regulars are by no means equal to them. They would likewise form a proper counter-balance to the Maron Negroes; whose insolence during formidable insurrections, has been most insufferable. The best way of securing the allegiance of these irregular people must be by preserving the treaty with them inviolate: and, at the same time, awing them into the conservation of it on their part by such a powerful equipoise, composed of men dissimilar from them in complexion and manners but equal in hardiness and vigour.
The Mulattos are, in general, well shaped, and the women well-featured. They seem to partake more of the white than the black. Their hair has a natural curl; in some it resembles the Negroe fleece; but, in general, it is of a tolerable length. The girls arrive very early at the age of puberty; and from the time of their being about twenty-five, they decline very fast, till at length they grow horribly ugly. They are lascivious; yet, considering their want of instruction, their behaviour in public is remarkably decent; and they affect a modesty that they do not feel. They are lively and sensible, and pay religious attention to the cleanliness of their persons: at the same time, they are ridiculously vain, haughty and irascible. They possess, for the most part, a tenderness of disposition, which leads them to do many charitable actions, especially to poor white persons, and makes them excellent nurses to the sick. They are fond of finery, and lavish all the money they get in ornaments, and the most expensive sorts of linen. Some few of them have intermarried here with those of their own complexion; but such matches have generally been defective and barren. They seem in this respect to be actually of the mule-kind, and not so capable of producing from one another as from a commerce with a distinct White or Black. Monsieur Buffon 1 observes that it is nothing strange that two individuals should not be able to propagate their species, because nothing more is required than some slight opposition in their temperaments, or some accidental fault in the genital organs of either of these two individuals, of different species, should produce other
individuals, which, being unlike either of their progenitors bear no resemblance to anything fixed, and consequently cannot produce anything resembling themselves, because all that is requisite in this production is a certain degree of conformity between the form of the body and the genital organ of these different animals. Yet it seems extraordinary that two Mulattoes, having intercourse together, should be unable to continue their species, the woman either proving barren, or their offspring, if they have any, not attaining to maturity; when the same man and woman, having commerce with a White of Black, would generate a numerous issue. Some examples may possibly have occurred, where, upon the intermarriage of two Mulattos, the woman has borne children; which children have grown to maturity: but I never heard of such an instance; and may we not suspect the lady, in those cases, to have privately intrigued with another man, a White perhaps? The suspicion is not unwarrantable, if we consider how little their passions are under the restraint of morality; and that is the major part, nay almost the whole number, with very few exceptions, have been filles de joye 1 before they became wives. As for those in Jamaica, whom I have particularly alluded to, they married young, had received some sort of education, and lived with great repute for their chaste and orderly conduct; and with them the experiment is tried with a great degree of certainty: they produce no offspring, though in appearance under no natural incapacity of so doing with a different connexion.
3. From J.B. Moreton, West India Customs and Manners: Containing the Strictures on the Soil, Cultivation, Produce, Trade Officers, and Inhabitants; with the method of establishing and conducting a sugar plantation. To which is added the practice of training new slaves (London: J Parson, 1793), 108-27
Young ladies who have been confined to the narrow limits of Jamaica from their infancy, are soft, innocent, ambitious, flirting play-things and in a more particular manner, those who are retired in the country; when they dress, they decorate themselves elegantly: abroad they appear as neat as if they came out of bandboxes, lovely and engaging—at home, diametrically the reverse. If you surprise them, as I have often done, you will be convinced of the truth of this assertion, that Ovid, with all his metamor
phoses, 1 could not match such transformations: instead of the well-shaped, mild, angelic looking creature you beheld abroad, you will find, perhaps, a clumsy, greasy tomboy, or a paper-faced skeleton, romping, or stretching and lolling, from sofa to sofa, in a dirty confused hail, or piazza, with a parcel of black wenches, learning and singing obscene and filthy songs, and dancing to the tunes.
“Creole misses, when scarcely ten,
Cock their eyes and long for men.”
But still as they arrive to riper age, they delight more and more in the tender passions: when they take a liking to men, though entire strangers to them, they seldom fail to shake off all manner of modesty and shame to gratify their extravagant desires:— though guarded and cooped up in their chambers by their parents, or friends, they will find ways and means to get to men,—their eyes, their looks, and fondling actions, all betray wantonness and love: their little hearts are a sort of tinder, that catch fire from every spark who flatters their vanity, and whispers them soft nonsense:—they are pliable as wax, and melt like butter; and though naturally delicate in their texture, they are fondest of strong, stout-backed men...
Notwithstanding the little foibles of Creole women, they have many good qualifications, and are vastly better than the men, and much cleanlier in some respects than British or Irish women. It is often the case for the little innocent country misses to make love to men, though strangers, by billetdoux or messages: I have been sometimes honoured with importunities of this kind, and did not reject their offers; as much as I could learn, the summit of their wishes was only to “please their inclinations,” (as they say in their songs). Their ideas of marriage and the solemn engagement of the connubial tye, are rather superficial: and that may be well accounted for from what I have already said, as they seldom or never go to church; and though taught a smattering of reading and writing, are obligated to negroe and mungrel wenches for the principal part of their education, amongst whom they see nothing from their infancy but
jilting, intrigues, and scenes of obscenity. Says the little wanton miss with Rochester,
“Marriage! O hell and furies, name it not.” 1 Or, with Pope,
“Not Caesar’s empress would I deign to prove.
No—make me mistress of the man I love.” 2
A man who enters into the marriage bond with a Creole lady who has poor relations or friends, though he gets some property with her, will repent his bargain, and will find himself disagreeably circumstanced in various respects; for it will not be his wife and little progeny alone he will have to provide for, but all the poor brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, cousins and halfcousins of his good-natured spouse; nor can he without offending her prevent their hanging on; nor will they endeavour to provide for themselves, or descend to honest industry, whilst they are supported by him in idleness:—his better half tells him, “My dear, if you love me, you should love my relations and friends also; my dear, if you wish to support me and my little ones, you should support them also:” hence it would be, “As you married me, you should marry them also;” the equations are all equal— fine Algebra!
When a little miss makes a slip, it is soon over-looked by her indulgent parents or fond friends; she will love a man dearly for making her a mother, till which time she is a maid; and the dear little pledge of their stolen bliss will be tenderly nursed; but it commonly happens when they wish to conceal their tricks, that they are sent to Europe for their education; one of them seldom remains any time in England, till fame sounds “a rich West Indian heiress.” She soon gets a number of admirers, and at last some English sharper, Irish fortune-hunter, or Scotch gentleman worth nothing, makes her an honest woman.
After Creole masters and misses have been some years in England, and introduced into all the fashionable pleasures and -*
1 John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647-80) “A Satyr Against Marriage” (1680) (21).
2 Alexander Pope (1688-1744) “Eloisa to Abelard”: “Not Caesar’s Empress would I deign to prove; / No, make me mistress to the man I love;” (87-88).
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vices of London, Bath, Bristol, &c, and return to their native regions, everything seems flat and insipid to them: they cannot bear to live peaceably and quiet on their plantations—no, they must have superb houses and grand retinues in town, far beyond their abilities; and there again their restless passions are at war: Miss Jenny Gauva, nor master Billy Pompion, cannot endure the sultry heat of the climate, nor the vulgar insipid conversation and disagreeable company of Miss Marice Firefly, Miss Kitty Barebones, Tommy Caliloo, or Jacky Salamander, their once favourite companions; no, dear London for ever. Ranelagh, Vauxhall, Sadler’s Wells, 1 and the theatres, are their themes; nay, even their poor faithful slaves though once their youthful companions, whose calibashes they often assisted to drain when full of highseasoned pepperpot, are become filthy brutes or hottentots to them:—no, dear England’s white-headed, white-legged, swingingly polite and obliging footmen and waiters for ever. But this great and affected nicety soon wears off, till they return to their original creolism.
“Send a goose to Dover,
And a goose it will come over.” 2
...I once lived contiguous to a few families of these soft authors of delight, and spent many, happy vacant hours among them: their rural habitations were to me terrestrial paradises—but one was an elysium: when the scorching toils of the day were over, I often escorted them along lime or cane intervals, and sometimes through thickets of Guinea grass six or seven feet high, to pluck star apples, neeseberries, oranges, &c. &c. at the neighbouring
gardens and orangeries; and when the starry mantled night over spread her sable canopy, and luna only guided our steps, we frequently went to a river, where we all bathed naked together, without restraint or formality.
“In murmuring Mina oft and oft again.
We brac’d our limbs and gambol’d in the stream.” 1
I was well acquainted with a widow lady and her two daughters, who lived in a lonely retired part of the country surrounded by hills and woods, where they had a plantation and about one hundred and forty slaves; the old lady, well knowing from her own youthful experience how brittle female ware was, anxiously wished to dispose of her daughters to advantage, and was remarkably attentive to every gentleman who frequented her house; at a certain time she invited a number of gentlemen to a dinner, in hopes that some of them would be smitten; for five or six days preceding this great and grand entertainment, every thing was hurry, bustle, and confusion: the house was washed inside and outside, the floors and piazzas of fine cedar were rubbed with wax, and shone like polished mahogany; the young ladies chamber was cleared of all nasty trumpery, and exposed to view. At last the day appointed came ... At length the gentlemen crouded, and the tables were quickly overspread with an amazing number of dishes, five times more than ever I have seen at an Irish wedding.
Presently Miss Louisa and Miss Laura (as I shall call them) made their appearance; they were gaudy and elegantly dressed, and extremely tight laced; their cheeks had been artfully scorched with red peppers, which gave them beautiful blushes: they seemed all lovely, all divine; nor did their female sable attendants, which were dressed in white, as emblems of innocence, cut a despicable figure.
During dinner the gentlemen were as polite as possible to the young ladies, each endeavouring with all his might to insinuate himself into their good graces, by the eloquence of his eyes and tongue. “Pray, Miss Louisa, will you permit me to help you to a
bit of the turkey; it is very fine!” “Tank you, sir, wid all my haut.”
Pray miss, what part do you like best?” “Sir, Ise don’t love turkey rump Ise love turkey bubby.” Miss Laura was taken notice of for having no appetite; though she was pressed by the different gentlemen, she could eat nothing—at length a military gentleman who sat next to her, asked her if she was indisposed, what could it be that affected her, that it made him very unhappy: Little miss replied, “O sir, Ise can’t tell.” Her mother then peremptorily demanded to know what was the matter with her?— and Laura replied, “Me quite sorry mamma, Ise went in a bush today to do my —, and Yellow Legs come, and he knaum my—, and him puke; O I’m quite sorry for poor Yellow Legs!” At which uncouth expression some of the company smiled, and I was in pain for poor Laura, for she was my favourite. The fact appeared to be this: she had been that forenoon, as usual, in the cookroom, where she ate a calabash full of substantial pepperpot; it had a purgative effect on her, she had a necessary call backwards, and her favourite lap dog, Yellow Legs, followed her; you may guess the rest...
After the gentlemen were all departed, miss Louisa and miss Laura took off their stays, and put on their romping frocks, and asked me to take a walk with them, as usual; during the excursion through a spacious and delightful garden, imbowered with shaddock, cushue, cocoa-nut, orange, and other fruit trees, we at length seated ourselves in a lonely and lovely arbour of grape and granadillo vines, where delicious fruit were pendant all round, whilst the mocking birds were warbling their melodious strains; miss Louisa and miss Laura sung most charming catches, which inspired me with ideas different from what I before entertained; on our return through a plantain walk, we went intentionally astray...
From what I have said you will, I suppose, conclude that I have been a vile profligate, and that it is ungenerous in me to expose the foibles in young ladies, by whom I was so much favoured. In answer thereto, I only write to you as a friend; and was you now in Jamaica, you might never find out the families I allude to, for I have concealed their names and places of abode: and I still regard the young ladies, though I abhor their manners and customs; I think it is to be lamented that in such a flourishing island as Jamaica, there are not proper seminaries for the instruction of both sexes, of those whose parents cannot afford them an European education; those seminaries should be well supplied with English masters and mistresses whose abilities and morals
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would bear strict scrutiny; also, with men and maid servants from England. The children should be put to school at an early age; nor should they have any intercourse, if possible, with any of the black or tawny race, to corrupt their dialect and morals.
I think it is very necessary that every man should study the nature and dispositions of different women, as well as of men; and he cannot get a proper knowledge of the former without some sinful experience, disease and expence: I would recommend it, even to my son, to get introduced into a bawdy house at times, but to be particular in his choice of the company who introduced him, as to their friendship and integrity; and if he got a few comfortable kickings, with two or three smart touches of a fashionable disease, so that he got properly cured again, to make a long and lasting impression on his mind, and after trying the tempers and dispositions of other women, their strength and weakness, &c. he would be cool as ice to the ogling incitations of jilting coquets, and the vile allurements of distempered harlots, who with fictitious smiles and aching hearts procure their existances: he would shun their dens of infamy, and detest their horrid keepers, wicked hags of hell; and if his constitution was not too far impaired, he might make a prudent loving husband, a good father, and a good master; he would know the value of a truly virtuous woman better than the bashful youth who never went astray. “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies .” 1
Do not imagine from what I have said, that every Creole lady is so soft and ignorant as Miss Louisa and Miss Laura. I have mentioned before, that those who are educated properly from their infancy are as chaste and well bred women as any in the world; I only point particularly at those who receive their education amongst negroe wenches, and imbibe great part of their dialect, principles, manners and customs ...
Having thus far endeavoured to give you some idea of Creole men and women, I shall next treat of Mongrels; a Mongrel is any thing that is engendered or begotten between different kinds, and resembles neither in nothing but form; such as a mule that is begot between an ass and a mare; or in the human species, a Sambo, that is begot by a Mulatto and a black: a Mulatto, tftat is begot by a white and a black: a Mestee, that is begot between a white and a Mulatto: a Quadroon, that is begot between a white
and a Mestee, &c. &c. A Sambo is of a sooty dark brown colour, with hair or coarse wool, like that of a negroe, but rather longer; a Mulatto is of a yellow sickly colour, without the least tincture of rosy bloom; a Mestee is much fairer than a Mulatto, but of a sickly hue; a Quadroon is as fair as some whites, but rather delicate and sickly inclined. When Mongrels of different kinds copulate together, they beget Mongrels differing from themselves, of which there may be innumerable gradations; for in my opinion, Mongrels, though thirty generations distant from blacks blood, cannot be real whites.
All Mongrels, male and female, have a vast share of pride and vanity, baseness and ingratitude in their compositions: their delicacy and ignorance being such, that they despise and degrade their parents and relations inclining to the sable race; the men, if born to estates or properties (as many are), are much of the same nature of the illiterate white Creole men; not much inferior, but of course more negrofied; and when they are not kept at a proper distance and under due subjection, are often very insolent and impudent. When those spurious cubs, having no trades, squander what their infatuated parents bequeathed them, they turn out the most thieving pilfering vagrants; for never having practised any industry, but beggared themselves by their profligacy and dissipation, Creole fashion, they are quite ignorant ever after of the ways and means to earn their livelihoods industriously and honestly. If a gentleman wished his Mongrel son to do well, he should do nothing more for him than to give him a smattering of reading, writing and arithmetic, to procure his freedom, and bind him at an early age to a trade, during which time to stint him in both money and cloaths, and to convince him that he might never expect any other favours; in such case, he might labour for a livelihood, and come to some good. I knew a Mulatto man in Spanish-Town, whose father did little more for him than to procure his manumission, and bind him to a millwright; and this very man in the year 1784, when I was in Jamaica, was attorney for thirty or forty plantations, and supposed to be worth 4 or 500/. sterling.
As for Mongrel women, though the daughters of rich men, and though possessed of slaves and estates they never think of marriage; their delicacy is such, for they are extremely proud, vain and ignorant, that they despise men of their own colour; and though they have their amorous desires abundantly gratified by them and black men secretly, they will not avow these connections. It would be considered an indeniable stain in the character
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of a white man to enter into a matrimonial bondage with one of them; he would be despised in the community, and excluded from all society on that account.
“All men shou’d wed with their similitude;
Like shou’d with like in love and years engage,”
When one of them gets a child as brown or browner than herself, it is considered a very great blemish in her character; on the contrary, if it chances to be fairer, it is her greatest pride and glory: her friends and relations rejoice—the bantling is handled and dandled—the father is flattered and praised—“a man, for true”—the mother is caressed—a joyful mother! On which account females use every art to set themselves off to the best advantage, to make themselves pleasing and engaging companions for white men; and when one of them is disbanded by the man who had her in keeping, (or as they say, she had in keeping) she plumps up her breasts like an innocent virgin, or wanton bashful bride, visits balls and plays, and stroles about until she is picked up by somebody else. They are very artful, and dispose of their ware to the greatest advantage; maidenheads are very inticing; and though their arms have been as common as the chairs of barbers for years, they will impose themselves for maids; for in these cases they are more knowing than whites. I have often met many fine looking Mongrel girls, young and innocent to appearance, as deceptious as any Covent Garden country miss.
Some men are so weak and silly as to think that black girls will not suit their purposes, and bargain with the parents of Mongrels to hire their daughters for the use of prostitution. Nay, even Creole ladies, as I have said before, will hire their negroe wenches to white men for that use. If you wish to get a fine young Mongrel, you must solicit the favour of the mistress, or give five pounds to the black mother as well as to the tawny daughter.— They say in their song,
“Come, carry me in a room;
Come, carry me in a room;
And give them five pound piece.
Come, carry me in a room;
Come, carry me in a room;
And lay me on the bed.”
250 APPENDIX D
The black women use every means to draw young men to their rookeries, in order to prostitute their daughters; I have been often compelled by the mother to spend a whole night with her gingerbread daughter. Those gypsies have a wonderful ascendancy over men, and have injured many, both powerful and subordinate, the poor slaves on a plantation are obliged to pay them as much adoration as the Portuguese do the Hostess or Virgin Mary; 1 for the government of the cow-skin depends in a great measure on their smiles or frowns; therefore I beg, whatever department of life may be your lot, that you will keep your employer’s bosom-gipsy modestly at a distance; that is, not to be free or familiar with her, and not to be respectful or impudent to her, whereby you will loose your consequence, and she will insult you; and do not quarrel with her if possible.
Never strive to seduce your friend or employer’s kept-mistress, for it is mean, and will injure you with batchelors in general; but if she haunts you, so that you cannot well avoid her, do not be a Joseph: I was once plagued by a letcherous tawny whore, who followed me in every private room, singing bawdy catches, with wanton gestures, and luring and lascivious invitations; and because that I acted through principle, and had nothing to do with her, the deceitful Mrs. Potipher, 2 the vile incendiary, the damnable daemon of iniquity, artfully insinuated all the base stratagems which her malicious heart could devise against me; by which means my employer treated me so ill, that I was obliged to discharge myself.