At the end of this somewhat afflicting trial, Arnold and I decided not to wait until another negro's fate was sealed. We boarded our carriage and proceeded to the north-east, out of the capital, then turned inland and towards the cooler dime of the hills that nestled in the lee of the mountain. Our interior journey took us along a thin, wearisome track that was truly almost concealed by returning nature. At intervals our path was totally overgrown with tall grass, and in other places made dangerous by the deep ruts created by the seasonal journeys of the sugar carts. Such perils demanded the most skilful handling of our carriage. As we made our laborious progress, our eyes were assailed by an unpleasant sight. We happened upon a small cluster of houses, which, although they did not constitute a village, had a communal aspect about them. These rural dwellings were in general of mean construction, although some few were erected in neatly stacked native stone. One vainglorious hovel sported a well-stocked garden of negro produce, such as eddoe, yam, arrowroot, etc., but even this mansion stood destitute of paint. I was startled and horrified to observe that the denizens of this hamlet were white people who had evidently declined financially and morally, having witnessed the estates they worked on sold to meet mortgage debts. Many had arrived in these parts as indentured servants, their period of servitude understood to be seven years, at the conclusion of which their master was to reward them with fifty shillings, four hundred pounds of sugar or tobacco, and a certificate of their manumission. Unable to marry a free person without the consent of their master, the fine for such an illicit connection being — absurdly in view of their extreme poverty — one hundred guineas, they existed in a pitiable state of bondage, and were as likely to be subject to a public whipping or imprisonment as the common negro.
Naturally these poor white Creoles form an entirely different class from those whites who have emigrated in search of financial gain, or whose government or domestic duties have torn them, albeit temporarily, from the bosom of the land of their birth. Although outnumbered by their superiors, mere are not a few of these pale-fleshed niggers enduring these lamentable conditions. But not all of these poor-whites came to the island as poverty-stricken indentured servants. Some had suffered from ill-fortune or improvidence, and fallen from the comparative wealth of slave ownership and a position of some standing in the white community, to the depths of poverty and depredation. According to Arnold the most destitute among them now rely upon the kindly benevolence of negroes. These black Samaritans feel pity for the white unfortunates and take a mess of stewed produce, with a proportion of garden-stuff from their own grounds made savoury by a little salt meat, to their old misses and massa. A few hundred yards beyond this wretched compound I was able to witness the truth of Arnold's claim that the negro sometimes displays a wondrous constancy to these old white attachments. We stopped an old leathery woman, her face lined with a thousand wrinkles, who sucked on what must once have been designated a pipe. Time had bent her form and grizzled her woolly hair, yet her black eyes were never still. Upon her head she carried a basket, and protruding beneath her billowing skirt a monstrous pair of elephant legs completed the picture. As though foreseeing our concern, she entered unbidden into conversation with an aphorism: 'What on the head we no feel, but what on a hand hurt da shoulder.' Arnold smiled and then quizzed her about her destination. She pointed to the basket and spoke emphatically, as though anxious to impress upon us her status. 'I'm carry dem provisions to my old misses for she be very kind to me when I be her nigger; my mistress knowed better times, but bad times now misses, bad times — my misses had plenty nigger, and her husband, and fine pick-a-ninnies, but dem bad times come. Den massa the and misses sell nigger, one, two, three — all gone. Now bad times and so we just go now and den and see misses, and gie her some yam, or some plantain, or any little ting just to help her.' With this the dark benefactress smiled and pressed on with her mission of mercy, with the knowledge that starvation always conquers pride, and that even a dish of negro pottage can be a banquet to the impoverished whites.
Arnold and I continued our skyward journey in silence, which gave me the opportunity to survey the beauty of the abundant flora all around. The hill was shaded with trees, the master of which was the carnation. On account of its not growing above ten feet high, this tree can be numbered among those aromatic shrubs which exhale the most agreeable fragrances. Its dark crimson flowers were observed to be often spotted with white, its leaves a cool and inviting dark green. Among the other species were the passion flowers, which grew in every hedge and twined around every tree. The passion fruit is a speciality of the tropical table, and everywhere I observed both fruit and flower jointly ornamenting the bush.
Presently we arrived at a grassy clearing where Arnold instructed two negro servants, Glasgow and Bo, who had travelled independently to rendezvous with us here. They unpacked in silence and began to prepare our luncheon. Arnold and I wandered some twenty yards to the west and discovered a picturesque, shaded, though now deserted cottage, which had the great advantage of a magnificent prospect over the ocean. Hawthorn Cottage, explained Arnold, formerly belonged to a French family who in the earlier days of settlement, when it was imperative for those who suffered religious persecution to find some part of the earth where they might feel safe, happened upon this tropical haven. In recent years the cottage has lain abandoned in this perfect wilderness, allowing tall grasses and climbing weeds unchallenged domain. Yet, despite the bat and the lizard, and other less pleasant creatures who have made it their own, Hawthorn Cottage has remained popular as a picnic site, although rarely do such al fresco groups intrude upon one another in this well-concealed location. Arnold suggested that while our black pair completed their task we might stroll through its deserted shell. Like the greater number of West Indian houses, the cottage was built with open rafters and unglazed windows, to allow maximum circulation of air and penetration of light. The wooden shutters (some of which hung sadly) would be raised during the day by means of a long stick, and at night the stick would be withdrawn and the shutter attached to the window-ledge by means of a hook to an eye. The earthen floor was much in need of repair, and it was evident that the chimney would probably deny passage to any smoke, although in this climate it was unlikely that fires would often be lit. But this aside, the cottage appeared functional and somewhat inviting. I lingered awhile until we were disturbed by the ail-too familiar bray of negro voices.
In order that we might guard against the intrusion of disagreeable flying pests, as was customary, we employed both our blacks to stand over us while we took luncheon, bearing large pendant branches of the coconut. These they took in their broad negro paws, and waved this foliage backwards and forwards creating a pleasing fragrance while at the same time raising a gentle breeze. I ate quickly, and with the happy appetite of one exhausted by adventurous labour. Arnold turned the conversation back beyond the unpleasantness of the poor white negroes, to the nature of the slave-court, and shared with me his views on the punishment of negroes. 'Judicious firmness' might be a summary of his feelings on this issue, but on one point he was adamant. And this was that only he, among the white men of our plantation, should presume to strike a negro with the omnipotent lash, no matter how great the offence. In addition, no abusive language, as distinct from physical punishment, should be used against them. Clearly Arnold took it upon himself to be the sole authority when it came to justice for the negro. He informed me that he had already discharged one book-keeper on this account, for in a dispute with an African named Israel, the book-keeper had not only kicked the unfortunate negro but had the insolence to assault him with the name, 'dirty nigger'. Apparently the black, Israel, came the next day to see Arnold and made an earnest petition. Four eye-witnesses were summoned, examined separately, and the truth of Israel's ill-usage proved. The villifier of the negro remained steadfast in his denial of the assault, but he was discharged after being told that his possession of a white skin was no ground for belief in his word over the negro's. According to Arnold the negroes celebrated this decision for several days.