When the boat landed near the Platte Brug18, Rutger bade everyone a warm farewell and walked through the Molenstraat and the Kerkstraat to his lodgings, followed by his slave Alex. When Rutger had arrived in Suriname, to be greeted by administrator Van Omhoog on the waterside, Van Omhoog had the sixteen-year-old Alex there with him and had told his young assistant that Alex was his and that he would have to see to it that the boy attended to his slightest whim and accompanied him constantly. From that moment on, Alex literally followed him all the time, helped him with dressing and undressing, put his shoes on and took them off, stood ready with drinks, pipe and tobacco, and when Rutger was going out, had his hat and walking stick ready. Now, too, he walked behind Rutger, pushing the case with his master’s clothes on a hired wheelbarrow.
Mrs van Omhoog was pleased to see her lodger after an absence of almost a month. He had gone to visit two plantations along the Suriname River that fell under the office’s jurisdiction, and she had understood that, his being so close to Joden-Savanna, he would be a guest at the annual Feast of Tabernacles. The Van Omhoogs had no children of their own, and the lady of the house found it very pleasing to have this young gentleman in her home. She at least had someone to talk to, for Mr van Omhoog was a quite a taciturn individual. She also had plenty of time on her hands, for there were four slave-girls, three slave-boys and an errand boy around the house. Mr van Omhoog had been in the colony for fifteen years now as representative of an Amsterdam merchant banking firm, and in a few years’ time, as he had some time previously written to his director in Holland, he wanted very much to be able to retire and enjoy some well-earned rest. The director had sent his nephew to the colony as assistant to Mr van Omhoog with the intention that Rutger would take over from him when he stopped working at some time in the future.
There was certainly a lot to learn. Rutger had to go through the books of past years to get an overall impression of how things were. In the beginning it was especially difficult to get a grip on the prices of things, since everything had previously been expressed in pounds of sugar. A few years earlier, card money had been introduced to Suriname: a kind of bank note with an official stamp, coat-of-arms and seal, in denominations of 1 guilder, 2 guilders 50 cents, and 10 guilders. Remarkably, the card money was made in the form of playing cards bearing images of diamonds and clubs, kings and jacks. Upon seeing this money for the first time, Rutger had asked Van Omhoog the reason for these illustrations, and received the answer that the government had probably arranged for this as an aid for the many illiterates.
The day after Rutger’s return, he sat in his patron’s office, and Mr van Omhoog wanted to know all about his experiences. How were things on the plantations Mijn Geluk and De Goede Verwachting?19 Those were the plantations Rutger had had to visit. And what were his impressions of Joden-Savanna? Had there been many guests present? Of course, mainly Jews. And Rutger recounted how he had enjoyed the people’s hospitality and how he had already made many new friends. He had become especially friendly with Elza Fernandez and her father Levi Fernandez, owner of the Hébron Plantation. Mr van Omhoog naturally knew who Levi Fernandez was. Did Rutger realize, however, that it was better not to become too friendly with the Jews? They formed such a closed, individual circle, and in recent years there had arisen considerable ‘anti’ feelings among the Christians with respect to the Jewish community. Rutger did not really understand this. Had it not been the Jews who had been the founders of this colony and had set a good example with the plantations and so forth? Why, then, all the antagonism? Administrator Van Omhoog did not know this, either, but those feelings did exist, even to the extent that there was talk of housing the Jews in a separate part of the town. A kind of ghetto, so to speak. Rutger shrugged: “Small-minded colonial palaver! I’m man enough to choose my own friends and won’t let myself be misled by the prejudices of others.”
“Of course, the position of the Fernandez girl is somewhat different,” the administrator continued. “She herself isn’t a Jewess because her mother was Lutheran, but, well, she does have a Jewish name.”
Rutger remarked that, as far as he had observed, the Fernandez girl had very good judgement when it came to matters of Jew and gentile, Christian and non-Christian: really refreshing amongst all this small-mindedness. Mister van Omhoog could not help laughing at what Rutger was – somewhat curtly – saying, but he still found that it would be better to avoid being too intimate with the Fernandez family. As far as female company was concerned, if Rutger needed a woman, the administrator could provide a pretty mulatto girl. Almost all whites had a mulatto woman as mistress or concubine. This satisfied the needs of the man and carried absolutely no responsibility. For of course, no white man would ever be so stupid as to consider marrying one of these women. If such a woman had children by him, then a few guilders sufficed for their care and upbringing. He, Van Omhoog, himself had such a mistress. He had installed her in a small house on the road to the Oranje Cemetery on the edge of the town. She had had two children by him. There were even a few whites who gave such children their own family name, but he, Van Omhoog, certainly did not intend to do this. Many of these mulattos then began to get big ideas and started behaving as if they were white, but he would not be party to that.
Rutger listened in astonishment to his patron’s words. It was not the first time he had heard this kind of thing. What double standards: use a woman, conceive children by her, and then look down on your own children because they were coloured. Rutger thought, “God help me never to become like this.” When he heard the whites in Suriname going on like this about the negroes he wondered whether he really wanted to remain in this country, and he had often wondered whether he was the only one who thought this way. Of all the people he had met thus far, the sixteen-year-old Alex, his slave, was possibly the most intelligent. He had noticed that the predominant occupations of the colonists, as far as the men were concerned, were drinking, eating, playing cards and other games of chance, sleeping with various women, and indulging in so-called deep conversation, that always concerned money, the governor, attacks by the bush-negroes, and their own small circle. With the women it was no different: chatting, gossiping, complaining about the slaves’ laziness, about their husbands’ behaviour, endless nibbles, and yet more gossiping. And for the rest, all the showing off, partying, one-upmanship and displaying one’s wealth and magnificence.
When Rutger had accompanied mister and mistress Van Omhoog in their carriage to church the first Sunday of his stay (even though the church was no more than a five-minute walk away, just around the corner, in a large hall above the town hall on the church square), he could not understand why two slave-boys, two slave-girls and his own Alex had to walk alongside the conveyance. Only upon their arrival at the town hall on the square did it become apparent what this was all about. The Van Omhoog couple were decked out in all their richest finery and the slaves, too, had beautiful clothes on, but naturally no shoes, for it was strictly forbidden for slaves to wear shoes. When the company alighted from the carriage, Mr van Omhoog’s personal slave held a large parasol above his master’s head while another slave walked behind him with the prayer book. This pattern was repeated for Mrs van Omhoog: a slave-girl with parasol, another with the prayer book. Since Rutger had no parasol, it was Alex who walked behind him with the prayer book. All the colonists had come to church in this manner, with or without a carriage, but always with five or six slaves in attendance. Rutger could barely restrain himself from laughing out loud at this comedy act. What a farce, what a stupid, vain show. And when you looked at the churchgoers’ severe, deadpan faces, then you really wanted to burst out laughing. Just as all the feasts and parties: each wanted to outdo the other with rich attire and a superfluity of dishes.
And now such an invitation was delivered. It was from Governor Crommelin and his wife, to a spectacular ball that would be held in four weeks’ time. Mr van Omhoog had told Rutger that the whole of ‘high and white society’ in Suriname would be at
tending the ball. Rutger very much hoped that Elza would be in Paramaribo at that time. He could then meet her at the Governor’s Ball. Her family would also be invited.
What a hollow and vain existence it was in such a colony. Those who read and concerned themselves with things other than trivia were so few in number that it had come as a surprise to have met a girl such as Elza Fernandez. She lived on a plantation but knew a lot about books and had very definite views on particular matters. She was a marked exception to the women and girls he had met until then. Not once had she belittled a slave-girl, but to the contrary had said that, apart from her father, brother and stepsister, the two slave-women who had brought her up were the most important people in her life. He had noticed that she never spoke to a slave in a commanding tone of voice, but was always pleasant and friendly. He had thoroughly enjoyed her company. How they had talked about all kinds of things: books, slavery, the Maroons. And that stepsister, what an incorrigible flirt she was, a typical spoilt colonial girl who did just as she pleased. Rutger had to smile as he thought back on Elza’s worried looks when her stepsister was carrying on like that. And Sarith had acted as if she had not noticed in the slightest all the women’s hostile glances while she flirted with first the one, then the other man. Even so, Rutger wondered whether it had all been as innocent as it might have appeared.
ELZA
A few weeks later, the Fernandez family were indeed on their way by tent boat from the Hébron Plantation to Paramaribo. Father Levi, Aunt Rachel, Elza and Sarith would stay in the large house of Jacob de Ledesma, who was married to Aunt Rachel’s eldest daughter, Esther. That couple had three little sons, the three-year-old twins Samuel and Joshua and a baby of a few months, Ezau. Everyone called Samuel and Joshua Sammy and Jossy because that was the way the slaves pronounced the names. Jacob de Ledesma was a very well-to-do businessman who, in addition to his businesses in Paramaribo, owned three plantations. Everything pointed to the family’s good fortunes: a beautiful, large mansion on the Saramaccastraat blessed with vast grounds supporting lots of fruit trees, a vegetable garden and ten or more slave huts right at the back. In fact, thirty slaves worked in the house. The front hall and dining room were enhanced by superior furniture specially imported from Europe, silk curtains, expensive porcelain and silverware and large crystal chandeliers in which hundreds of candles could be lit to provide brilliant lighting at balls and feasts. This part of the house was normally forbidden territory for the two youngsters, who had the habit of terrorizing the whole household with their mischievous antics. Each had a slave-girl, a girl of fourteen or thereabouts, who did nothing all day but run after the little master to ensure he didn’t have an accident or to take an object out of his hands. In addition there was a small errand boy who was constantly picking up discarded toys.
Aunt Rachel loved her two grandsons, but a little of their company was quite sufficient, for they soon got on her nerves with all their running and shouting, and given half the chance they would climb on her and attack her meticulously coiffured wig with their grabbing little fingers. If Elza and Sarith were lodging in the town and heard the patter of tiny feet running up the stairs, they would hastily lock the door, for, “If those Philistines should get in …”
The lodgers had then installed themselves, and during the extensive meal put on for them, the feast at Joden-Savanna was recounted at length, whereafter the conversation turned to the supper ball that the governor would be holding in a few days’ time and to which they, too, were naturally invited.
Rutger was one of the first to see Elza when she entered the great ground-floor hall of the Governor’s palace. He went to her with outstretched hands, and it was clear that he was pleased to see her again. Elza was pleased, too. She had hoped to see him again and blushed when she saw that he appreciated her company so much. They were together the whole evening, talking, laughing, dancing. Sarith was the star of the evening. She looked lovely in a light-green gown, her black curls pinned up, her grey-green eyes sparkling with pleasure at all the male attention. All the men, young and old, wanted to dance with Sarith, and like a butterfly she was now here, now there, flirting and laughing. At a certain moment she was also near Elza and Rutger and said laughingly to Rutger that he surely must not spend the whole evening devoting his attention only to her sister; she was there, too. And smiling, she had led Rutger to the dance floor. Elza had watched how the two danced, one dance, and then another one, and she had also seen that there was just as much admiration at her beauty in Rutger’s eyes as in those of all the other men. Shortly thereafter it was time for supper. As was the custom, the tables for the Jewish guests were in the upper hall. That was always the case in the governmental palace. At their special tables the Jews were served dishes that were prepared for them in their own kosher manner. Sarith therefore went upstairs together with her father, Aunt Rachel, Jacob, Esther and all the other Jews. Elza was pleased that the supper began at that moment, for she had wondered whether Sarith and Rutger would carry on dancing with each other for much longer.
A few days after the ball, an invitation was delivered to Elza in the Saramaccastraat. Her company was requested for a meal at the Van Omhoogs’. There was also an accompanying note for Mr and Mrs Fernandez in which the Van Omhoogs requested their permission to invite Elza.
This was the subject of much discussion in the family. Aunt Rachel had her objections. Was this done? After all, Rutger moved in very different circles from the Fernandez family. Would it not be preferable for Elza to choose a man from her own sphere? For Pa Levi everything was all right as it was. Elza might be his daughter, but she was not a Jewess. She was not really accepted within the Jewish community, after all. Would a Jewish man ever want to marry her? No, it was in fact a good thing that this newcomer to the colony was showing so much interest in his daughter. Elza blushed when all this was being discussed so openly, especially when Sarith remarked that it all seemed to be becoming quite serious.
The invitation was accepted and Rutger was pleased. In fact, Rutger would have preferred not only Elza but the whole Fernandez family to have been invited, but he understood well enough that that was something the Van Omhoogs would not readily do. He did not know that it had already cost Mr van Omhoog all his powers of persuasion to bring his wife round to agreeing to invite just Elza. So it was that Elza went to eat at the Van Omhoogs’. In front of her walked a slave with a lantern; two steps behind her followed Maisa.
Mrs van Omhoog found her guest, despite everything, to be a dear girl, so sensible and unassuming. The dinner was a complete success. Afterwards Rutger accompanied her home. Alex led the way with the lantern and behind the couple walked Maisa, who had waited the whole evening, seated on the back doorstep of the house.
In the days that followed, Elza and Rutger often walked and talked, sometimes dropping in on Mrs van Omhoog for a cool drink. Alex always walked in front of the couple and Maisa behind. Rutger wondered whether he would ever get used to the idea of slaves being constantly in his company, literally with every step he took.
In bed, late evenings, Elza and Sarith often talked extensively about Rutger. Yes, Sarith was certain: Elza was in love. Elza denied this at first, but come now, in Sarith’s mind there could be no shadow of a doubt. Look how Elza could talk about nothing else but Rutger, and could think about nothing else. That was true love. When she had jokingly asked her stepsister whether Rutger had kissed her, Elza had responded indignantly, “Sarith, please!” – such things certainly never happened before you were married to someone. And Sarith had laughed at such naïvety. She was happy for Elza that she had this young man, of course. He was certainly most agreeable, but it would not be someone for her. She wanted a rich man with money and plantations.
The De Ledesmas threw a grand dinner on New Year’s Eve, followed by a ball. There were many guests, including Elza’s brother, David, who had come to Paramaribo for a week with his wife Suzanna and their two small boys from their plantation on the Para River. They were lo
dging with Suzanna’s sister on the Malebatrumstraat. Rutger was naturally one of the invitees. He and Elza danced a lot, but also spent a lot of time talking outside on the large, wide veranda, it being very hot inside.
When the Fernandez family returned to Hébron a few weeks later, it was taken for granted that Rutger would soon be paying a visit to the plantation. That he did, and during that visit he asked Pa Levi for Elza’s hand in marriage. Pa Levi was most impressed with this respectable young man. He wasn’t rich, but would undoubtedly be a good husband for Elza.
Ashana and Maisa were happy with Elza’s choice. Yes, Masra Rutger was a good person. And when Rutger was at the plantation he was spoilt outrageously. Ashana had to know what his favourite dishes were and Maisa was always seeing to it that his clothes were perfectly washed and ironed and that Alex could always bring him something to drink. A busy period now ensued for Aunt Rachel. Elza’s trousseau had to be prepared. Twenty-four sheets, twenty-four pillow-slips, hand-towels, bath-towels and so forth. As soon as they could be spared, Caro, Mini-mini and some other slave-girls were to be found in the sewing-room, hemming, sewing and embroidering.
The Cost of Sugar Page 4