Father Jean-Baptiste Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amerique

Martinique around 1700

Translated by John Garrigus

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It is a very old law that all who take shelter in the lands of the kings of France are free. This is why King Louis XIII, of glorious memory, as pious as he was wise, was so reluctant to agree to let the first inhabitants of the islands have slaves, and agreed only to the pressing demands that were made to him to grant them this permission because it was pointed out to him that it was an infallible means, and the only means, to inspire Africans to the worship of the true God, to remove them from idolatry, and to make them persevere until death in the Christian religion that they had been made to adopt.

The negro slaves that we have in the Islands came to us mostly from the two Companies of Africa and of Senegal, who alone are authorized by the King for this trade, [which is] restricted to any other. I said for the most part because during times of war, we often have slaves that are taken from enemy vessels that come from other parts of Africa, or that are taken in the raids on their islands and their plantations; and during the peace, we get quite a few more by secret trade with the English and Dutch and the Danish of Saint Thomas [Virgin Islands].

The Guinee and Senegal Companies are obliged by their agreement with the King to carry every year to the Islands a significant number of slaves, I believe two thousand, whose price is determined by age, sex, strength, beauty, appearance and the need of the planters.

But whether by ineffectiveness ["impuissance"] or by some other reason that I do not know, when I arrived in the Islands it had been already a long time that no one spoke of slaves from these Companies; all they did was use their charters to prevent private merchants from trading along the African coasts, unless they bought permission from them, like the Sieurs Maurelet [slave traders in Marseilles, France] had.

These Companies have counters and forts in the places that the King granted them by his letters; that of Senegal has its at the Senegal River, at Gambia and in that area; that of Guinea has it at Benin, Juda, Arada and other places on this coast.

In all these places, there are four kinds of persons that are sold to the Companies or to other merchants that come there to trade.

The first are criminals, and generally all those who deserve death or some other punishment. The second are prisoners of war that they take [in wars] against their neighbors, with whom they are in constant war which has no other goal than these raids or kidnappings of persons, which they do by surprise, without ever arriving at an open war or a major action, or some decision. The third are the personal slaves of the princes, or of those to whom the princes have given [slaves], who sell them according to their whim or need. The fourth, finally, who are most numerous, are those that are taken, by order, by princely consent, by certain thieves called merchants who steal all the men, women, children they can catch and lead them to a vessel or the counter of the merchants to whom they must be delivered, who brand them immediately with a hot iron and put them in irons to be sure [they don't escape].

This trade of "slave stealer" is very dangerous, because, beyond the fact that everyone has the right to defend themselves, and even to kill them, when those that they want to kidnap turn out to be stronger, they can sell them themselves, if they can hold them and thereby make them pay an eye for an eye.

I bought a young slave from whom I later learned that he had been taken in this way with one of his brothers.

The price of slaves in Africa is determined by the number that the princes or private [merchants] have to sell, the number of buyers and the needs of the vendors; they are paid for with iron bars, guns, powder, shot, fabric, paper, light cloth and other merchandise and especially in bouges, which are shells that are brought from the Maldive Islands, which serve as currency along the whole coast.

The slave trade is not the only commerce conducted on the African coast. Much gold, elephants' teeth, called morphy, wax, hides, gum, and la maiguette, a type of pepper, is shipped from there. Parrots, monkeys, clothes or grass skirts ["pagnes"] and other things are also brought from there ..... [story of a trader who mistakenly collected some 300 monkeys for a merchant house in Nantes]

The gold that is taken from Guinee is in powder or grains. The slaves who carry it on board the vessels or to the counters falsify it as much as possible by mixing copper filings and the big yellow pins that are brought to them from Europe. Several merchants, having been fooled by this, have complained to the kings of the country who were not able do them justice, them, either by impotence or unwillingness, the most having scarcely more honor than their subjects, each takes the law into his own hands. Therefore when a slave carries gold, it is weighed in his presence and put immediately in aqua fortis [a form of nitric acid]. If the gold is false, this is known right away by the green color of the aqua fortis, which comes from the copper that was mixed with the gold. The gold remaining in the aqua fortis is then weighed and if the same weight is not found, the merchant is put into irons; he is made a slave as punishment for his fraud, unless he can purchase himself, if he can do it before the vessels leave, which is usually not very easy.

The kings of the Guinee coast and of all that part of Africa, from Cape Verde to that of Good Hope, do not have large kingdoms. This multiplicity of different states produces such a great diversity of languages and manners that in forty or fifty leagues from the coast or from a country four or five different languages are often found.

The most widespread of all these languages, at least as far as I have been able to learn from many people who have visited these lands and by my own experience, is that which is spoken in the kingdom of Arada and of Juda.

It is very easy. The verbs have only three tenses: the present, the past, and the future. The nouns do not decline and only the article changes. It has many adverbs and though it seems barren, it is very expressive.

Since some of our slaves at Fonds Saint-Jacques [the Dominican plantation in Martinique] were Aradas, and it was important for me to know what happened among them, I had one of them teach me some rules of this language and in very little time I knew enough to understand all that they said and to explain my thoughts to them.

Nearly all the slaves are idolaters. There are only a few from around Cape Verde who are Moslem. When these are brought to the Islands, one must be careful not to take them because unless they adopt the Christian religion, they are still subject to the abominable sin that caused the four infamous cities to perish; and it is of the greatest consequence that this vice not be introduced among the slaves, not in the land.

Nearly all the adult slaves who leave their land are sorcerers, or at least they have some acquaintance with magic, sorcery and poison. Although what I am going to say will be surprising, it should not be doubted, since I have proof of it in my hands.

Monsieur the Comte de Gennes, commanding a squadron of Royal ships, having taken the fort at Goree in 1696, had two of these vessels loaded with the slaves that he found in the warehouses of the English and had them leave for the French islands. One of these vessels had several negresses quite skilled in these diabolical arts, who, to save themselves from this voyage stopped the ship so effectively that it took more than seven weeks to travel the distance one would ordinarily cover in two times 24 hours; the ship was as if nailed in the same spot several leagues from land, although there was a very favorable wind. Such an extraordinary event frightened the officers and crew, who, unable to discover the cause of this spell, could not undo it. Their supply of water and food began to dwindle, and death spread among the slaves; they were forced to throw some into the sea. Several of them, while dying, complained of a certain negresse who they said was the cause of their death because since she threatened to eat their hearts, they had withered away, feeling great pain. The ship's captain had several of these [dead] slaves opened up, and, in fact, their hearts and livers were as dry and as empty as a ball, although otherwise they seemed to be in their natural state.

After some thought, the captain had the accused negresse fastened to a cannon and whipped harshly to have from her mouth an admission of the crimes she was charged with. Since it appeared that she did not feel the blows the head surgeon of the ship believed that the official was not beating her with enough force; he took a piece of rope and gave her several strokes with all his might. The negresse made it even more obvious that she felt no pain and told the surgeon that since he mistreated her for no reason, and with no right, she would make him repent and would eat away his heart. At the end of two days the surgeon died in great pain. His body was opened and his major organs were as dry as parchment.

After this, the captain did not know where to turn. He could have had the said negresse strangled, or thrown into the sea; but he was afraid that she was not alone, and that those remaining from her group would take extreme measures; he decided to treat her gently and made extravagant promises to get her to stop her evil spells. They bargained and it was agreed to return her to land with two or three others of her choice, and she promised to allow the ship to leave; and to allow that officer to see a sample of what she was able to do, she asked him if he had any fruit or anything else that could be eaten. He told her that he had watermelons.

--Show me them, she said, and without touching or getting close to them, know that I will have eaten them within 24 hours.

He agreed and showed her, from a distance, several watermelons that he immediately locked in a trunk, putting the key in his pocket, unwilling to trust it to his men. The next morning the negresse asked him where the melons were, he opened the trunk where he had locked them and was elated when he saw them still whole; but his emotion was shortly transformed into a strange amazement when he had them taken out to show her [for] they were found empty, with only the skin remaining, stretched like a ball and dry as parchment. They were forced to return to land to take on water and supplies. This poor wretch with several others of her company was left there, after which the ship continued its voyage without incident.

The officers of the English fort and trading counter who were prisoners in this ship have signed an affidavit of this adventure; the original is in the hands of Mme la Comtesse de Gennes, who has given me a copy of it.

Some envious [competitors] of this French commerce have spread the rumor among the slaves that we bought them and took them to our colonies in order to eat them. This slander unworthy of people who call themselves Christians caused many slaves to despair during the voyage and try to throw themselves in the sea and drown rather than go to a land where they imagined they would be devoured, as they knew happened in several parts of Africa. I have sometimes seen ships loaded with slaves who, in spite of all that could be done during the voyage to remove this idea from their minds, were not reassured and only believed themselves saved from the slaughterhouse when they saw a large number of their fellows who assured them that they would not be eaten, but only made to work.

When they are purchased and brought to the plantation [in Martinique], it is extremely important to avoid the insatiable greed and horrible harshness of some planters who make them work the moment they arrive, almost without giving them the time to catch their breath. Such actions show no charity nor tact and a lack of understanding of one's own interests. These poor folk are tired from a long voyage during which they were constantly attached two by two with an ankle iron. They are exhausted from hunger and thirst, from which they always suffer greatly during the crossing, to say nothing of their displeasure ["deplaisie"] at being far from their country, with no hope of ever returning. Does it not increase, their pain and suffering to push them to work without giving them several days of rest and good food?

After they have arrived at the house, eaten and rested for several hours, it is necessary to have them bathed in the sea, to shave their heads and have their bodies rubbed with palm oil. This loosens their joints, making them more flexible and prevents scurvy, if they were likely to be attacked by it. For two or three days the flour or cassava [manioc, a starchy root native to the Americas] that is given them must be moistened with olive oil, they should eat sparingly and often, and bathe morning and night. This regime readies them for a little bleeding and a gentle purging [laxative] that is given to them.

This good treatment, together with the clothes they are given and whatever other gentleness is shown them, makes them affectionate and makes them forget their country and the unfortunate situation of their servitude.

After seven or eight days, they can be given some light work to accustom them to it. Most do not wait until one sends them out; they follow the others when the overseer calls.

In order to better train, instruct and integrate them into plantation life, it is good to start the new slaves off in the huts of older slaves. These will take them in willingly, whether they are from their country or not, they take pride that the slave given them is best cared for, best instructed and in better condition than that of their neighbor. They take all possible care of them and treat them as their child, but they have them eat separately and sleep in a different room from them; and when the newcomer notices this separation and asks why they tell him that since he is not Christian he is too beneath them to eat and sleep in their room.

These ways give the new slaves an exalted idea of the position of Christians; and since they are naturally prideful they endlessly beg their masters and priests to baptize them; so that to satisfy them, one takes whole days to teach them the doctrine and prayers.

Beyond the catechism, which is normally done morning and night in the best-ordered households, as are nearly all the plantations of the Lesser Antilles, a well instructed slave is ordinarily set aside to teach the doctrine individually to new slaves, beyond the fact that those with whom they are lodged take marvelous care to teach them, if only to be able to say to the priest or to their master that the slave entrusted to them is ready to be baptized. They usually stand as godparents.

All the slaves have a great respect for the old. They never call them by their names without adding "Father." Although they are not their parents, they obey them and comfort them in all things. They always count the house cook as one of their mothers, and however old she is, they call her mother.

If one treats them a little well, and does so in good humor, they love their master infinitely and will let no danger stop them from saving his life, even at the expense of their own.

They are naturally eloquent, and they use this talent well when they have something to ask of their masters, or to defend themselves against some accusation; to be loved, one must listen to them patiently. They know marvelously well how to skillfully present you their good qualities, their attentiveness to your service, their work, the number of their children and their good education; after that they will list for you all the good that you have done them, for which they will thank you very respectfully, and they finish with the request that they have for you. If the thing is feasible, as it usually is, it should be granted immediately and willingly; if it is not, they should be told the reason and sent away happy by giving them some trinket. It cannot be believed how this will win them over, and provoke their affection.

As a general rule they should never be threatened. They must be punished immediately if they deserve it, or pardoned if appropriate. The fear of punishment often leads them to flee into the woods and become maroon [run away]; and once they have tasted this libertine existence, it is enormously difficult to break them of this habit. [Translator's note: Escaped slaves were a major problem for planters in the Caribbean and parts of Latin America where the environment and the sheer number of slaves, compared to Europeans, made it possible for escapees to establish permanent towns in the wilderness. Just as troublesome to masters was some slaves' tendency to leave the plantation for short periods of time, then returning under the protection of a sympathetic priest or neighbor.]

Nothing will hold them and prevent them from escaping more than to take measures so that they have something they can profit by, like fowls, pigs, a garden of tobacco, cotton, pasture or something similar. If they leave and don't return within 24 hours by themselves or accompanied by some neighbor or some friend who asks pardon on their behalf, which should never be refused, one has only to confiscate whatever property they might have. For them this is a severe penalty and returns them to their senses far faster than ordinary punishments, no matter how severe. One such example of confiscation is enough to prevent all the slaves of a plantation from perhaps making a similar mistake.

They are very fond of one another and quite willingly help each other in their needs. It often happens that, if one of them makes a mistake, they will all come together to ask his forgiveness, or volunteer to take for him part of the punishment he deserves. They will sometimes go without food to have something to please or comfort those from their country that come to visit them, whom they know needs it.

They love games, dancing, wine, brandy, and their passionate temperament makes them very partial to women. This last fact makes it necessary to marry them early, in order to prevent them from lapsing into serious licentiousness. They are jealous and will take extreme measures when they feel offended on this point.

Dance is their favorite passion, there is no people in the world more attached to it than they are. When their master does not allow them to dance on the plantation, they will travel three or four leagues after leaving work at the sugar mill, Saturday at midnight, to be somewhere where they know there is a dance ....
[description of the calenda, a dance or dances whites regarded as African.)

Laws have been passed in the islands to prevent these calendas not only because of the indecent and lascivious postures of this dance, but also to avoid overly large congregations of slaves who, finding themselves so joyfully thrown together, usually under the influence of brandy, could stage a revolt, an uprising, or thieving raids. However, in spite of these laws and all the precautions that the masters can take, it is practically impossible to prevent them, because of all their entertainments this is the one that pleases them the most and to which they are most sensitive. In order to make them forget this infamous dance, they have been taught several French dances, like the minuet, the courante, the passe-pied and others, as well as branles and round dances, in order that they can dance several at once and jump as much as they want to. I have seen many who acquit themselves well at these exercises and whose ear is as fine and whose steps as measured as many folk who pride themselves on dancing well.

Several among them play the violin, fairly well and earn money playing at congregations and at marriage celebrations. Nearly all play a type of guitar made of half a gourd covered with a skin scraped down to the thickness of a parchment, with a fairly long neck.

Their music is not very pleasant and their chords not very steady. Nevertheless there are folks who enjoy this harmony as much as that of Spanish and Italians peasants, who all have guitars and play very badly. I do not know if they are right.

It is very appropriate to always have all one's slaves in one's home on holidays and Sundays, not only to prevent accidental fires that can be started in the canes, or for other reasons, but also to prevent them from running to the neighbors and causing some problem. I would rather permit ours to dance all sorts of dances, except the calenda than to let them go outside. I often paid a violin player and I had them given several jars of brandy to entertain each other all together. I firmly believe that in spite all my precautions they dance the calenda as hard as they can when they are not afraid of being discovered. Their passion for this dance is beyond imagining; it animates the old and the young right down to children who can barely stand up; it is as if they had danced it in their mother's belly.