The Cost of Sugar

by Cynthia McLeod

  “Mini-mini stays here. She has to care for Jethro,” said Julius to his wife.

  Surprised, Sarith asked how she would manage in the town without Mini-mini. Julius said that she could take another slave with her – Kwasiba, for example, thinking along the lines that Kwasiba was Sarith’s own slave and therefore familiar to her.

  But Sarith did not want Kwasiba. She was afraid of Kwasiba’s sharp, all-seeing eyes. Kwasiba had cared for her since she was little and therefore felt that she had the right to grumble at her mistress if she saw something that, in her eyes, was not right. No, Sarith could most certainly do without someone looking over her shoulder all the time. She did not say this to Julius, but remarked that Kwasiba was getting old and was not all that good with stairs any more. Sarith’s room at Esther’s was on the top floor.

  No, she would take Nicolette. Nicolette was the cook’s daughter, a girl of sixteen. Most certainly not a sweet and shy type like Mini-mini, but rather a small, slender fighting hen who always did most of the talking in the slaves’ quarters and had her fists ready, too, if need be. You could always hear her talking and laughing above all the others. Mini-mini would have to teach Nicolette everything quickly: how to dress her mistress, make up her hair, and so forth.

  Sarith left on the tent boat, accompanied by Benny, who would have to deliver her safely in the town, and an excited Nicolette, who was happy that she was going at long last to the town that she’d heard so much about and would see all the marvellous things there.

  To Sarith’s surprise, Mini-mini had said that she had no problem at all with staying at Klein Paradijs. She had even claimed that she found the plantation better than the town. Sarith did not know that Mini-mini had no interest in male company after being let down by Hendrik, and in the town there were so many men, white and coloured, who were interested in her. When she walked along the street on some errand or other for her misi, she had to bear the brunt of so many comments, and there were always the types who found it necessary to walk along next to her.

  Sarith also saw that Julius was very pleased because Mini-mini cared for the child so well. Now, as far as Sarith was concerned, anything and everything was all right as long as she didn’t have to stay at Klein Paradijs all the time.

  And so Sarith was frequently in town. Sometimes she stayed for a whole three months on end because there were so many feasts and parties to attend and she couldn’t really refuse, now could she. Now and then Julius would come to the town and could get her to return with him to the plantation. But she never stayed more than a few restless weeks. When in September 1772 the festivities took place around the fall of Buku, Sarith was in town, and when the first warship moored in February 1773 she was there, too. She soon met various lieutenants and officers at feasts and parties.

  In December 1773 she was yet again in Paramaribo. After the Feast of Tabernacles at Joden-Savanna she had travelled back to Klein Paradijs with Julius to celebrate Jethro’s third birthday at the beginning of December. Her sister Esther had come for a few days for the birthday, accompanied by all five of her sons and Rebecca with her daughter and tiny son, and yet another group of ladies and gentlemen, for Sarith wanted to make a great feast of her son’s birthday. And that it was, too! All kinds of games were played with the children, lots of sweets, and there was much eating and drinking. Mini-mini, Kwasiba and all the other domestic slaves had their hands full. Fortunately, all the families and ladies had brought their own slaves with them. A week after the festivities everyone had departed, and Sarith, too, had left, in Esther’s tent boat, because after all there were always so many parties around this time, and Esther and Jacob traditionally held a really grand ball at New Year.

  It was at this ball that she first saw Lieutenant Reindert Andersma. He was new in the country, having arrived a few weeks previously. To his astonishment he was very quickly absorbed into a circle of people in which feast after feast was given. Everything in this land seemed so strange. All that bother with slaves everywhere around you. With a glass in his hand he stood by the window of the large front hall of the mansion in the Saramaccastraat. He had come to stand by the window especially because he simply found it too warm under the large crystal chandelier. He was looking out at the dark street and suddenly heard a merry voice next to him asking whether there were nicer things to see on the street than indoors. Reindert turned and found himself gazing into the laughing face of an exceptionally beautiful young woman.

  Sarith looked at the blond man with sky-blue eyes. She considered him an extremely handsome figure. She had noticed him as soon as he came in, a tall blond man with an oh so fine moustache. A conversation ensued. He knew that she was one of the hostess’ sisters. Upon arrival, the colleague with whom he had come had introduced him and had whispered in his ear, “A hot little filly,” and so indeed she appeared. She wanted to know everything about him, and told him about herself. She was Mrs Robles de Medina, but suggested immediately that they should use an informal mode of address. Sarith, she was called. Well, he was Rein to his friends, was only just in the colony, and found this land quite an experience, very different from what he had imagined, and especially – hot.

  All the time, Sarith’s precocious laugh rang out. She danced a lot and enjoyed herself immensely. After that Sarith saw a lot of Reindert. Every time she was at a party, Lieutenant Andersma was there, too. When he missed her on one occasion and then saw her again, she explained that she had been at her plantation.

  In the meantime it had become clear to the colonists that the Boni-negroes were anything but defeated. Plantations were raided, military posts overwhelmed and soldiers killed. Governor Nepveu and Colonel Fourgeoud bickered. Governor Nepveu had decided that a cordon of military defences must be established to act as defence against the Maroons. This would comprise a ten-metre-wide path through bush and swamp on which carriages could drive. Wooden bridges would be built over the creeks, and at approximately every five kilometres a military post would be established. This cordon path would stretch about a hundred kilometres from Joden-Savanna to Vredenburg on the Oranje Kreek.

  At a party at the Levens’ family home in April 1774 Rein Andersma told Sarith that he would be away from Paramaribo for a few weeks because he was in charge of the military posts that were to be established. Sarith and Rein had become good friends during the past months, and in fact it was already more than a friendship. Rein knew that he found this beautiful woman desirable and she made no secret of her being not indifferent to him. The way they looked at each other when they were together spoke volumes, and they had kissed several times when they thought no-one was looking.

  Now that Rein said this particular evening that he would be leaving Paramaribo in a few days’ time, she said what a pity that was. He said that he would like nothing better than to spend the remaining three days constantly in her company. Could she not come home with him after the party? Sarith knew she was playing with fire, but, oh, why not, no-one would need to know about it? They could simply pretend he was seeing her home. The lieutenant’s house was in the Kleine Combéweg. Next door to Fort Zeelandia there were several houses reserved especially for captains and lieutenants.

  Sarith rode along with him in the carriage, and once they had arrived in the house Rein dismissed his personal slave, who had been waiting for him on the rear veranda, telling him that he would not be needing him again that evening. As soon as they were in his room they were kissing each other passionately, and Rein slowly undressed this beautiful woman and undid her hair. When she stood before him like this, with her black hair falling over her breasts, his admiration for her boiled over in an amorous embrace which was completely mutual.

  Nicolette waited for her mistress. She lay on the floor in front of the door in the Saramaccastraat and woke with a shock when she heard the six o’clock gun fire. Had she slept the whole night and not heard the misi come home? She could not understand it, for if misi came home late, she always kicked the sleeping Nicolette, who was then naturall
y wide awake and ready to help the misi undress. Cautiously she opened the door of the room and peeped inside, but the misi was not in bed. Where was she, then? Nicolette went downstairs, washed herself and went and sat on the rear porch.

  When Sarith awoke in bed in a strange house, she suddenly wondered how on earth she could start the day without Nicolette. She woke Rein and said, “How can I get going without Nicolette?”

  “Who is Nicolette?” grunted Rein.

  “My slave-girl,” whispered Sarith. Rein did not understand what she was on about.

  “Do you have a slave-girl in the house?” she asked.

  No, Rein did not. He had only male slaves and even those he held at a safe distance, for he could not stand having those people around him all the time, always watching what he was doing.

  “But how can I get dressed, and what about my hair, how must I do my hair?” Sarith asked.

  “Now, just do it yourself, of course!” Rein was amazed.

  “But I can’t. I don’t know how to do it.” Sarith was almost in tears.

  Rein could not help himself and started laughing out loud. Just imagine, a grown-up woman, married and with a child, who didn’t know how to dress herself and do her hair! That’s a good joke. These colonial girls are quite something!

  “Stop that laughing,” cried Sarith, hitting him in the face with a cushion. A wild romp ensued, that ended again in love-making. “But really, I don’t know what to do,” said Sarith eventually.

  “Can’t I help you, then,” said Rein, teasingly. “Come on, I’ll be your slave-girl, just step in.” Laughing, he took an item of underwear from the chair.

  “No, stop it for heaven’s sake,” said Sarith. “Can’t you send your slave to fetch Nicolette?”

  “All right, that’s possible.”

  Rein put on trousers and a dressing gown and went downstairs to explain to Kwasi, his slave, how and where he should fetch a certain Nicolette. When, almost an hour later, Nicolette was brought in by Kwasi, she understood immediately from Sarith’s state and the presence of ‘that white soldier’171, what had been going on. She helped her mistress to wash, dressed her and did her hair up. Sarith then left for Esther’s house, thinking that it would not be such a good idea to be away for so long. But before they went, she warned Nicolette, “If you dare say one word, I’ll send you to get a good thrashing and I’ll sell you to the Suynigheid Plantation.”172

  “No misi, I’ll say nothing,”173 Nicolette was quick to respond. She would most certainly say nothing. Sarith had in fact named a particularly cruel form of beating, which Nicolette most definitely wanted to avoid, and this also applied to being sold to the Suynigheid Plantation, infamous for the bad treatment of its slaves. At the house in the Saramaccastraat Sarith told Esther that she had spent the night at the home of a girl-friend who had been taken ill at the party.

  The next day she said to Esther that she would spend the day with her girl-friend and would perhaps stay the night there. She told Nicolette to wait for her under a tree on the other side of the road from the lieutenant’s house, for she knew that Rein did not like the idea of having slave-girls in his home.

  However, at the gun that sounded for eight o’clock in the evening, all slaves had to be in their quarters. When evening began to fall and Nicolette had not yet seen her mistress emerging from the house, she began to get impatient. She paced up and down under the tree, and when the eight o’clock gun fired she went as quickly as possible to the Saramaccastraat because she was scared of being detained by a police officer. Early the next morning she returned to sit under the tree and waited until she saw Kwasi outside. When she helped her mistress, she asked Nicolette where she had spent the night.

  Nicolette told her that she had waited until the eight o’clock gun and had then gone to the Saramaccastraat for fear of being arrested by the police.

  “What did you say there?”174 asked Sarith.

  “Nothing, I said nothing.”175

  Now Sarith continued, “If you say anything, I’ll cut out your tongue and I’ll sell you.”176

  “No, misi, no.” Eyes wide with fear, Nicolette pressed her lips together with a thumb and index finger, to assure the misi that she really would not say anything, and Sarith nodded. When they arrived back at Esther’s house she gave the girl two pennies.

  The next day Rein left the town for several weeks and Sarith decided simply to return to Klein Paradijs.

  Julius was pleased when he saw his wife coming back just of her own accord. She said that she was happy to be with him again at home, and he thought how sweet she really was. After all, she was still young, and surely such a young woman needed some amusement. Well, as long as she remained his wife and always returned to him, he would certainly not deprive her of her feasts and parties.

  At Klein Paradijs, Sarith had the idea of giving a feast herself at the plantation and inviting a group of friends to stay there. Soldiers also had the right to some leave, and most probably Rein would be able to take some weeks off. Julius agreed to a party at their plantation. It was a nice idea, and would give Sarith something to do. Sarith busied herself with the preparations and had of course to return to Paramaribo to see whether all the guests she wanted to invite would be able to come and stay in the early weeks of September. In the meantime Rein had returned from his expedition and Sarith again spent several nights with him.

  According to Sarith, no-one knew anything about this, but of course all of Suriname already knew everything. And left, right and centre there was talk of that Sarith, who was carrying on with one of the lieutenants. Esther heard something of this, as well. She had suspected that there was something going on.

  When, all of a sudden, Sarith was away staying with her friend Bella Levens, as she would have it, for three days on end, Esther went to visit this Bella Levens one morning. During a short conversation, Bella asked how things were with Sarith, and Esther knew enough. When Sarith returned around lunchtime that day, Esther first tried to get something out of Nicolette, but she played dumb – no, she knew nothing. Misi had been staying at the house of another misi and masra, but she, Nicolette, didn’t know where. She hardly knew the town. Esther went to Sarith’s room and asked her where she had been staying. When Sarith replied, “At Bella Levens’,” Esther got angry and said, “Sarith, I was at Bella Levens’ this morning and she asked how you were. She hadn’t seen you in ages. Do you think I don’t know where you’ve been? Everyone is talking about it – aren’t you ashamed? What will your husband say if he hears about it?”

  Like a little hellcat Sarith sprang up from the bed on which she had just lain down. Esther must mind her own business. Was it so terrible that she was with someone else now and then? Did anyone bother to consider what kind of life she was leading, there on that boring plantation, with just an old man and a child? And was her husband interested in anything else? No, only the plantation counted and whether the harvest was successful, and she, she had nothing. Esther had a house in the town, her husband liked going out, she had expensive clothes, carriages, everything, but she, Sarith, had nothing. Her husband wouldn’t even grant her a house in town.

  Esther looked and listened in astonishment at this outburst. Did Sarith ever think of anyone but herself? And even if she did? Did she not realize that she was endangering herself, too, her position? “But Sarith, don’t you see that this simply cannot be, must not be. Consider for once what the consequences for you yourself might be. What will Julius say? How will he react if he gets to hear about this?”

  “He won’t get to hear about it, at least not so long as interfering busybody sisters just mind their own business.” Sarith said this with a sharp glance towards Esther, who, with tightly pursed lips, turned and left the room.

  There was simply no reasoning with this spoilt creature.

  ELZA

  It was the second week of October 1774. Elza was sitting on a rocking chair gazing out of the front hall window. The Gravenstraat was dry and dusty. It had not ra
ined for almost four weeks. It was hot, too, very hot. For her, of course, even worse now that she was heavily pregnant. The baby was due any time now. She hoped it would be soon: it seemed to be taking ages. She had her feet on a small bench. Those were Maisa’s orders, because her feet and ankles had swollen.

  Downstairs she heard the voices of Alex and Gideon. Now and then she heard Gideon laugh. She would really have to tell Alex that he and Gideon must be quieter downstairs. At the end of the day, the office was there, and so many people were coming and going. She knew what the two were doing there. They made up little stories, drew pictures and wrote under the pictures what they had thought up. It was totally Alex’s idea, and Rutger was delighted because it meant that Gideon was making such good progress with reading and writing. Alex was a born teacher.

  Elza’s thoughts went back to the Alex of bygone days. He had saved hard to buy his freedom and had been a free man for a year now. When he received the letter of manumission177, Rutger had said to him, “Now you’re a free person, Alex. What are you going to do now you’re free?” And Alex had answered that he would really like to continue working for the masra. He was now the receptionist for the office downstairs. He let the people in, kept a record of appointments and that kind of thing. He sat at a small table next to the front door, always smartly dressed, with well-polished shoes. For that is what Alex had bought with the first money he received: shoes. From the moment he was free, no-one had seen him without shoes. Gideon, who was now six and could already write a little, sat for hours on end on the other side of the table, and together the two of them wrote and drew.

  It was often busy there below. Many plantation owners came along for loans. Often, nothing could be done for them. According to Rutger, things were not going at all well with the colony. Quite apart from the crash on the Amsterdam stock exchange the year before, it was the war in the interior that had been costing the country so much money. Rutger never stopped saying that the government had no choice but to make peace with the Maroons, to stop hunting them down and to grant them an area of land in the Marowijne region where they could settle and live as free people. But the governor and especially Colonel Fourgeoud, and also the directors of the Society in the Netherlands, thought differently. That rabble in the jungle must be eradicated.