The Cost of Sugar

by Cynthia McLeod

  The bush-negroes on the Cottica had succeeded in establishing a complete community. They called themselves the Aluku Tribe. They planned and laid out fields for growing food and created food stores, and put to good use their knowledge of carpentry and metalworking. Raids on plantations were carried out following a strategic plan. Also, the negroes didn’t simply kill all the whites, but targeted mainly those who had caused them suffering. They left children largely untouched. Boni was one of the great leaders from the Cottica area, and the other important leader was Baron.

  The government was doing everything possible to make hunting the escapees attractive. Soldiers were sent out. Slaves and indians were encouraged by means of prize money to organize patrols to catch escapees. The negroes were usually too clever for the soldiers. The soldiers would very often find a village, but no people. For they knew that the soldiers were coming and had gone into hiding.

  Once they had escaped from the plantations and had joined their fellows, they shook off all the submissiveness that had been forced upon them by the whites. They could again become the self-assured, proud folk that was their true nature. Their freedom and self-confidence were the main motives for maintaining the struggle against a group of whites who in principle held all the cards. They were outnumbered by the whites, who had weapons and gunpowder and enough to eat. Even so, the whites were usually on the losing side. Fair enough, they sometimes found the villages, which had names such as ‘Stay away from me’, ‘Hide me’, ‘Hold me’ or ‘God knows’139, but the negroes themselves were by then invisible.

  In 1768 the bush-negroes had carried out a well-planned raid on the ’s-Hagenbosch Plantation. As a result of this, a commando was sent out under the leadership of Captain Joo. He found two villages. The larger village comprised thirty-two houses, plots for food crops, fruit trees, from which it was evident that the village had existed for some considerable time, a complete blacksmith’s shop with a large amount of ironwork, and a poultry stock that included five hundred chickens. The inhabitants he did not find, however. What he did find was a written message to the effect that the whites need not dream that they would ever catch the negroes. If it pleased the negroes they would eliminate all the whites.

  As was the military’s practice in all such situations, they destroyed the village completely. Everything was set on fire; they burnt the crops and food stores once they had taken what they themselves needed. In this case they had first eaten one hundred and eighty chickens before setting the rest on fire.

  But still the Maroons succeeded in surviving and continuing the battle. They knew the bush much better than did the soldiers. Despite everything, they managed often enough even to raid a military post, take weapons and send the soldiers packing in total humiliation. The government became increasingly apprehensive. They were actually no match for the bush-negroes, who were no longer just escapees, but rather trained guerrillas who would have to be combated by all means available. They were in fact dealing with excellent, tough men and women, and Rutger thought he noticed a certain degree of admiration and even jealousy in the words of Sub-lieutenant Goedkoop.

  “It is almost unbelievable, but they really are capable warriors,” said Rutger.

  “Monsters, they are, devil’s children,” sighed Van Bemmelen. “There’s nothing to be done against them, because they’re working with black magic.”

  After Mr van Omhoog had discussed a few formal details of the loan with his client, the group departed. Mr van Omhoog went upstairs, and Rutger stood a while deep in thought near the window. Alex came in to clear away the used cups and heard Rutger talking to himself. “Boni, always Boni. Why don’t they make sure they get him first?”

  “They can never catch Boni, masra,” said Alex. “Never. He has an enormous tapu140. No bullet can touch him and no person can catch him.”

  “It would seem that you’re right,” said Rutger. “Who is this Boni, anyway? I’d very much like to know from which plantation he came.”

  “Boni does not come from a plantation, masra. He has never been a slave. He was born free in the bush,” said Alex. “I could tell you everything about Boni.”

  “How do you know all this?” asked Rutger. Alex smiled. “I listen, masra,” he said. “I listen when others speak. Would masra like to hear about it?”

  “Of course I’d like to hear it,” said Rutger. “Tell me, tell me everything about Boni.”

  Alex recounted.

  “Boni was not born into slavery. He is proud to be able to say that he is a genuine bush-negro. Boni’s mother was a slave on the plantation of a rich Jewish family in the time of Governor Mauricius. This family was very well known in Paramaribo. They belonged to the top of the Cabal141, the group of wealthy people who had given Governor Mauricius so much trouble. They owned various plantations on the Boven-Cottica. The wife was a cruel and merciless person. The husband was a lecherous type who often misused slave-girls. Now, it happened that his eye had fallen on a pretty young slave-girl, who would later be Boni’s mother.

  “When it later turned out that she was pregnant, the jealous and brutish wife began to scheme revenge. She bided her time until her husband was away on a journey for a few days, and then had the slave-girl come to her, remarking, “I see you are pregnant. Who is the father of your child?” When the girl answered that she had a man-friend and that he was the father of the child, she had the man in question sent for.

  She asked him, “Is this your woman; have you made her pregnant?”

  The man answered that this was indeed the case, and the mistress then said, “She is my slave-girl. Who gave you the right to use my property like this? I’ll teach you a lesson!”

  And with those words she took a razor-sharp knife and cut off the man’s genitals. To the woman she said, “You’re pregnant. Your breasts are so large and beautiful that one will certainly suffice to feed your child.”

  With the same knife she cut off one of the woman’s breasts. She then said to the heavily bleeding couple, “Now get out of my sight. I never want to see you again!”

  She was reckoning that they would not get very far with such injuries. When her husband came home two days later and at lunch lifted the lid from the plate that was set before him, he was confronted with the breast of a negro woman, and his wife said, with a mean laugh, “You obviously find negresses’ breasts so tasty: bon appetit!”

  “In the meantime, the two slaves had left and had fled into the bush, where the man died from his injuries. Helped by some other escapees, the woman ended up in the negro camp in the Cottica region. There she gave birth to twins: two boys.

  “The children realized soon enough that they were different from the other negroes. For a start they were not black, but brown, and they had red curly hair. They asked their mother why they were different and why she had only one breast. Time and time again their mother told her story, and time and time again the brothers swore revenge: for their mother and for the man who should have been their father. When one of the boys died at the age of twelve as a result of a shot from a soldier’s gun, this gave the survivor Boni all the more reason to seek revenge.”

  Alex fell silent. Rutger gazed into space, deep in thought.

  ELZA

  Paramaribo was buzzing with rumours. Governor Crommelin wanted to quit. He had been governor of the colony since 1748. Because he had taken the governor’s side in the struggle between Governor Mauricius and the Cabal, he was certainly not loved by many of the more prominent residents, and these people had made life difficult for him once he himself had taken over as governor. For a year now, Crommelin had been requesting the governors of the Society in the Netherlands to allow him to retire. He wanted to travel to the Netherlands and thereafter enjoy a well-earned rest. This would now be permitted, but the governor did not leave immediately, remaining for some time in Suriname as a private citizen, while Jean Nepveu was appointed interim governor.

  Mr van Omhoog, too, longed for peace and quiet and wanted to retire. He had
said this much in a letter to his patron, Rutger’s great-uncle.

  Uncle Frederik found it necessary, however, for Rutger first to travel to the Netherlands to acquaint himself with various matters before being appointed administrator. Uncle Frederik also realized, however, that his nephew would not wish to be separated from his wife and son for such a long time, and therefore suggested that Elza and little Gideon should also make the journey to the Netherlands. At least, if Elza dared to do this. For everyone knew that the journey to the Netherlands and back was not without danger. Apart from storms and hurricanes, there were also the pirates and, in times of war, enemy ships. Above all, the eight-week stay on board could not be described as pleasant. Cramped quarters, bad food and disease were the order of the day.

  Rutger received the letter with his uncle’s proposition in November 1768. Elza wasn’t afraid to make the journey with Rutger. It was not a good idea to arrive in Holland in the middle of winter, so the family would board in January so as to land around the end of March. They would then stay six months with Uncle Frederik, who lived in a fine mansion on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam.

  There was much to do in preparation for the journey. Alex, Maisa and Afanaisa would go along, for how on earth would Elza survive in Holland without her slaves around her, who always did everything for her. The other slaves would remain in the grounds and keep the house in good order until the family returned towards the end of the year.

  When they all departed, little Gideon was already one year old. He was about the house, walking, running and of course falling all over the place, playing on the back veranda and going into the grounds with Afanaisa’s guiding hand. He was a happy child, rarely cried, and had everyone laughing at his mischievous antics. On 28 January the family left Paramaribo, and on 29 May Pa Levi Fernandez, who was by chance in the town for a week, staying with the De Ledesmas, received the following letter.

  Amsterdam, 2 April 1769

  Dear Papa,

  Here is the first letter I’m writing to you from this cold land, for oh isn’t it cold and wet here. I could never have imagined anything like it. But wait: I’ll begin at the beginning. During the first weeks the voyage went well. The sea was calm, the wind was favourable, and so the voyage went quickly. Rutger, Gideon and I had good accommodation in the stern of the ship, where the officers also had their quarters. The slaves would be sleeping in the forecastle along with the sailors, but Maisa and Afanaisa were so unhappy there that even the first night we took them in with us and let them sleep in a corner of our cabin. After crossing the ocean, and after we had landed on Madeira, the sea became rougher and it began to get cold, too. The further north we sailed, the worse it became. We had to remain inside, and the portholes were nailed shut. So we got very little fresh air. It was stuffy and smelly. This made Gideon peevish and fidgety.

  Fortunately, it did not make him ill. The goat that we had brought on board gave us enough milk each day to be able to make his porridge, and the large store of oranges and lemons ensured that we did not get scurvy or diarrhoea. We could even give some to the crew. The chickens and eggs were also most useful. Maisa went to cook our meal every day in the galley. She found it so dirty that she dared not leave anything around, not even a fork. When she had finished she brought everything back to us in a large basket. We experienced a few heavy storms, and to tell the truth I was frightened to death, but everything turned out all right in the end, and after seven weeks, on 22 March, very early, we were able to sail up the IJ.142 And Papa: it snowed! Really: it snowed! I was woken by a frightened cry from Afanaisa. She stood at the door and called, “Misi, something like cotton is falling from the sky and it’s burning.”143 When we approached the town it was a wonderful sight, but oh so cold.

  How fortunate I was to be able to borrow Mrs Tallans’ winter clothing, for then I at least had warm shawls for myself and the slave-girls. We dressed Gideon in a lot of clothes, all of them far too large, for the Tallans’ youngest child is four. Gideon looked like a round barrel with all that stuff on, and he didn’t like it one bit. And then of course there was the problem of the shoes, for of course the slaves could not walk around in bare feet in all that cold. Now, Rutger explained that they would have to wear shoes. Since they were not in Suriname, the Suriname rules no longer applied. Maisa refused: she had no intention of putting those things on.

  “I’ll have no white person being angry with me,”144 she said, and no matter what we said, she didn’t want to know.

  Luckily, Rutger was able to get a pair of goat-hair socks from one of the officers, and these she did agree to wear. Afanaisa didn’t dare take a single step in shoes. She held onto the wall and swayed as if she were afraid to topple over at any moment. Alex, in contrast, put the boots on, turned on his heels, and walked away as if he’d been wearing boots all his life.

  Carriage and driver were waiting for us when we disembarked, and in the house Great-uncle Frederik was waiting for us along with niece Marie, who lives with her father. We saw the other three nieces the same evening, because I think everyone wanted to see what I looked like. I think they were rather disappointed that ‘the girl from the colony’ appeared to be such a normal girl, but they couldn’t take their eyes off the slaves and burst out laughing when they heard me talking with Maisa. Maisa is finding everything most frightening. She doesn’t set foot out of doors. On the other hand, there’s enough for her to do around the house. There is also a kitchen maid here, and a general maid, a house girl and a houseboy. Well, Papa, you could have knocked Alex, Maisa and Afanaisa over with a feather when they realized that white people actually work here! Afanaisa still gets the giggles about this. When she sees the maid with a mop and pail she has to turn her head so as not to laugh out loud.

  Maisa is most put out that the girls find it terrible that she baths Gideon every day, and will herself not go to bed until she has washed herself from top to toe. And she’s always complaining, “How is it that these whites are so filthy?”145

  The day before yesterday a huge family dinner was held in our honour. As well as Great-uncle Frederik’s daughters and their husbands, various other nieces and nephews had been invited. They all have the strangest ideas about our country.

  Some of them think that you have to feel under the bed each morning to check that there are no tigers or giant snakes there. Others believe that there are headless indians living in the bush. They have heard that the ground is so fertile that if you plant a stick today, in two weeks you’ll have a large tree full of ripe fruit. One asked me whether it was really true that paper would catch fire if the sun shone on it. And of course they had to see the slaves: we had to call them in. They were most surprised when it appeared that Alex spoke perfect Dutch. A great-aunt of mine asked me whether I wasn’t frightened at home, with all those negroes around. I answered that I would be frightened if there weren’t all those negroes around, and I could see that she didn’t understand this at all and in fact found me rather strange.

  It is still cold and it rains a lot: not a heavy shower like at home, but a really dreary rain. Everyone in the house is so happy when the sun shines. They say to us, “The sun is shining: wonderful, isn’t it!” and we look at each other and wonder what is so great about that. Their sun gives them hardly any warmth, but everyone is saying that spring is here. There are already small leaves appearing on the trees, and then it will be warm, too, they say. Let’s just hope so!

  Papa, could you send Sydni along to the Wagenwegstraat when you’re in town? I would really like our slaves to know that all is well with us, and Sydni can stress to them that they should go to Mr van Omhoog if they need anything. I’m worried about Amimba, who’s expecting her baby. She mustn’t try to do too much. Could you perhaps miss her mother at Hébron for a few weeks? Then she could be in the town when it’s time for the birth. Amimba would be much more at ease if her mother was with her. Especially now that Maisa is not there. So that was it for the moment. Despite all the care and being wrapped up so well
, Gideon has managed to catch a cold and is now coughing. Nothing serious, and he doesn’t have any fever, but of course Maisa is worried about him, especially because she can’t boil up any calabash syrup for him. Rutger sends his warmest greetings. Please accept these from me, too, for everyone, and especially Aunt Rachel, the sisters, David and his family and everyone at Hébron. Do look after yourself, and a big kiss on your forehead …

  from Elza

  SARITH

  Uncle Levi was really happy with Elza’s letter. He read it at table so that everyone could hear everything, and then he gave a detailed account to any friends or acquaintances who asked whether he had heard anything from his daughter. Sarith had not let anything slip while Uncle Levi was reading the letter after dinner. She sat playing with a knife rest, her eyes fixed on the table. Oh what she could have done to those two, Elza and Rutger!

  When she had heard that they were to go on their journey, she had imagined the ship sinking in a storm or being overrun by pirates. And now there came this letter for Uncle Levi from his dear Elza, who was now in Holland and was experiencing all kinds of new things. No ship sunk or captured by pirates. How unjust! It seemed that Elza was getting everything in this world that Sarith would have liked to have had. A husband, a child, loved by everyone, and now in Holland, where Rutger’s family would certainly be speaking of her as ‘that dear Elza’. And she, Sarith, what did she have? Oh yes, she was beautiful, very beautiful, but she would have gladly sacrificed some of her beauty to be in Elza’s place, now in Holland, instead of in this stupid colony where nothing special ever happened. What did she have here – a party now and then where it was in any case all just chatting and gossiping? Just like the past two weeks. She had gone to a party and then on three occasions to friends for an evening. And what was the talk about? Always the same things …