A Voyage to Cacklogallinia | Page 6

and repose your self, Captain Cuffey will shew you his House.
I made an Answer full of Acknowledgments, and Cuffey carried me
home, where my Hurt, which was a Flesh Wound, was dress'd: He saw
me laid on a Matrass, and left me. About Eight, a Negro Wench
brought me some Kid very well drest, and leaving me, bid me good
Night. Notwithstanding my Hurt, I slept tolerably well, being heartily
fatigued with the Day's Walk.
Next Morning, Cuffey saw my Wound drest by a Negro sent for from
another Village, who had been Slave to a Surgeon several Years, and
was very expert in his Business. The Village where I was contained
about Two and Fifty Houses, made of wild Canes and Cabbage Trees;
it was the Residence of Captain Thomas. Here were all sorts of
Handicrafts, as, Joyners, Smiths, Gunsmiths, Taylors, _&c._ for in
Jamaica the Whites teach their Slaves the Arts they severally exercise.
The Houses were furnished with all Necessaries, which they had
plundered from the Plantations; and they had great Quantities of Corn
and Dunghill Fowl.
Captain Thomas sometimes sent for me, and endeavour'd, by his
Kindness, to make my Stay among 'em as little irksome as possible. He
often entertain'd me with the Cruelty of the English to their Slaves, and
the Injustice of depriving Men of that Liberty they were born to.
In about a Fortnight, my Wound was thoroughly cured, and I begg'd of
Captain Thomas to let me be directed to the next Plantation. He
promis'd I shou'd, as, soon as he could do it with Safety. I waited with
Patience, for I did not think it just he should, for my sake, hazard his
own, and the Lives of his Followers.
About a Week after this Promise, I reminded him of it, and he told me,
that a Party from a Neighbour Village being out, he could not send me
away: For shou'd those Men miscarry, he might be suspected of having,
by my Means, betray'd 'em to make his own Peace with the Whites; for
(said he) the Treachery our People have observed among those of your
Colour, has made 'em extreamly suspicious. I was obliged to seem
contented with his Reason, and waited the Return of this Party, which

in about ten Days after, came back, laden with Provisions, Kitchen
Furniture and Bedding; but the most acceptable part of their Booty, was
Two small Caggs of Powder, of Eight Pound Weight each, and near
Two Hundred of Lead. They also brought with 'em the Heads of the
Overseer, and the Distiller belonging to _Littleton_'s Plantation, both
white Men, whom they met separately in the Woods.
Captain Thomas now promis'd me, that the next Day I should be guided
to _Plantane-Garden-River-Plantation_, which was no small
Satisfaction to me. I left the Captain at Eleven o' Clock who gave
Orders for the entertaining the Party, and the spending the Day in
Merriment. About Three, when they were in the midst of their Jollity,
one of the Scouts brought Word, that he had discovered a Party of
white Men, who were coming up the Mountain. The Captain
immediately ordered all the Women and Children to a more remote
Village, and sent for the ablest Men from thence, while he prepared to
give the Enemy a warm Reception. Every Man took a Fusil, a Pistol,
and an Axe: Ambuscades were laid in all the Avenues to the Village; he
exhorted his Men to behave themselves bravely, there being no way to
save their Lives, but by exposing them for the common Safety. He told
'em, they had many Advantages; for the Whites did not so well, as they,
know all the Passages to the Mountain; and that they could not, at most,
march in the widest, above Two a-breast; that the Way was rugged,
troublesome to climb, and expos'd them to their Fire, while they lay hid
in their Ambuscades he had appointed 'em.
But (said he) were we to meet 'em upon even Terms, yet our
Circumstances ought to inspire Resolution in the most fearful: For,
were any among us of so poor a Spirit, to prefer Slavery to Death,
Experience shews us, all Hopes of Life, even on such vile Terms, are
entirely vain. It is then certainly more eligible to die bravely in Defence
of our Liberty, than to end our Lives in lingring and exquisite Torments
by the Hands of an Executioner. For my Part, I am resolved never to
fall alive into the Hands of the Whites, and I think every one in the
same Circumstances ought to take the same Resolution.
After this Exhortation, and the Departure of those laid in Ambush, he

order'd me to go with the Women, Children, and Cuffey, whom he had
sent to