With a becoming attention to the health and well-being of our new corps of Rangers, it has been deemed expedient to remove them from their encampment, and place them in barracks, in order to protect them from the rains of the short wet season which now prevails: but unluckily for the peace and quiet of our neighbourhood, a large building has been fitted up for their accommodation, close to the quarters of the medical officers, and we have all the noise, hurry, and confusion of the whole regiment constantly before us. The scene amidst which we are placed, by this arrangement, exceeds all conception, for it is of all degrees, and all varieties: but whether gay or serious, trivial or important, sombre or ludicrous, it is always noisy and turbulent. The activity and exertion which are required, to bring such recruits into habits of method and order, are almost beyond belief. Where the whole, from being bred up in ignorance and constant toil, are very much upon a parallel with oxen taken from the plough, you will imagine what the most stupid of them must be, who form that select body termed the “awkward squad.” Upon beholding them, when they first assemble, it might seem nearly as practicable to train a party of mules to carry arms.

The colonel, zealous for their improvement, and desirous to make soldiers of them as speedily as possible, is indefatigable in his attentions towards them; and their drills are so frequent as to keep them in almost perpetual motion.

Frequently the “awkward squad” is led to drill, with a proportion of non-commissioned officers nearly equal in number to the privates, each giving the word of command in the most authoritative manner, holding a short pipe in his mouth, scarcely extending to the point of his nose; and each busily marching his party to the right and left, backward and forward, and in every variety of direction, pushing, pulling, and cuffing them about, as if they were machines, totally devoid of sensibility.

Even the Indians, whose gravity seldom allows a smile to appear, have been diverted at the drilling of the black “awkward squad.” A party, from the woods, came in one day, at the time the regiment was under arms, and forgetting their usual reserve, expressed symptoms of amazement on seeing a body of negroes drawn up in a line, with firelocks in their hands, and clothed in uniform; but their attention was soon diverted from the great body of the battalion, by observing the awkward squad, whose blundering evolutions seemed to afford them more amusement than any other occurrence we had witnessed. Indeed it was the first time we had been able to mark the expression of surprise or curiosity upon the Indian countenance. The bucks pointed with their arrows to the unseemly group, making remarks to the buckeen, who, like the men, were so roused from their indifference as to smile, and seem diverted.

It happened lately that two of the British soldiers who were employed at the hospital, having been guilty of irregular conduct, were ordered into confinement; and, from its being near, they were taken to the guard-room of the rangers, where, upon recovering their sober senses, they felt extremely shocked at their degraded situation, being prisoners under the bayonets of negroes, whom they had perhaps buffeted as slaves, or mere beasts of burden; and were quite indignant on recollecting that the very men who were now put over them, even since their arrival in the colony, had toiled all day in the field, goaded as horses or oxen. The reflection may perhaps serve as an useful lesson to them, and teach them to avoid similar disgrace in future; but I wish that no unpleasant jealousies may arise among the different corps of soldiery. Possibly a strict discipline, and the good conduct of the officers, may divert any invidious feelings that may be excited, into a generous and laudable spirit of emulation, and make the varieties of colour and country subservient to useful and honorable purposes: but it will require no inconsiderable address to preserve a perfect harmony among blacks and whites, Dutch, English, and Africans! Still the discordance, alluded to, is not all that is to be apprehended from training the slaves to arms. It is a measure which unquestionably provides a strong defence for the present exigency; but it admits of a question whether it may not be employing a temporary convenience to establish what may hereafter become an extensive evil. May it not teach the slaves a fact which will not readily be forgotten: may they not learn that they are not only the most numerous, but, also, the strongest party: in short, may it not instruct them that they are men; and that a single step might ensure to them the rights of their common nature? Compared to slavery the restrictions of military discipline are as exquisite freedom; and the negro who has once tasted it cannot be expected to return quietly to the yoke, and again expose his back to the whip.

Should the slaves once feel sensible of their power, the effect of this assurance will not be retarded by any religious or moral consideration. As my pen is led to this remark, it may not be inappropriate to follow it by a word upon the total neglect of sacred ordinances which prevails in these colonies. Knowing that the established religion of the Dutch is Calvinism, you will be much surprised to learn that all the ceremonies of the Sabbath are utterly disregarded. No church or temple is to be found in the settlements; nor have the inhabitants even appropriated any house, or other building, for the performance of divine service. Neglecting their own duties to the Deity, they have used no means to inculcate a sense of religious awe, or of moral conviction, among the slaves, but have confided the government of these degraded beings solely to terror, and the whip. Sunday, it is true, has been set apart as a day of rest, but no solemn ceremony marks it as the Sabbath. Idleness and merriment alone distinguish it from the other days of the week. It is a holyday to the negroes, but no part of it is devoted to their moral or religious improvement: not one hour is appropriated to instruct them, in the duties we all owe to the Creator; or to teach them the principles which ought to govern the conduct of man towards man.

Since our arrival a laudable attempt has been made to remedy this unchristian-like neglect, but such is the force of habit that, hitherto, the prospect of success cannot be considered as very auspicious. A place has been appointed for the performance of the duties of the Sabbath, and, due notice being given, the military chaplain attended to enter upon the service; the governor likewise made his appearance; but after waiting for a considerable time, and finding that no further congregation assembled, they walked quietly home, postponing both prayers and sermon to a future occasion.

The diminution of sickness affording sufficient room for their accommodation, the sick soldiers of the Dutch corps in our service, and those also of the South American Rangers are now received as patients into the hospital, together with our own troops. This arrangement will afford us an opportunity of witnessing more precisely the effect of disease, not simply upon the subjects of different countries, but upon those who are recently arrived from a colder climate; those who from the residence of a few years are become in a certain degree acclimated; and those to whom the heat of this latitude is altogether congenial.

With each change of season our desperate foe seems to fight under an altered face, or, chameleon-like, to assume a new skin. Very seldom do we now see the fever attended with that remarkable yellowness by which it was so commonly distinguished in the months of August and September. During the late dry season it lost the continued, and took on a remitting or intermitting form, and the latter type still continues to be very frequent; but among the recent cases, we have more now that are rapidly fatal than we had in the finer season of October and the beginning of November: yet even these rarely exhibit that yellowness of surface, which has been held so peculiarly characteristic of this destructive malady.

Many of the sick now fall into a state of coma, and without betraying any other striking mark of illness—without uttering a complaint or a groan, sink very rapidly into the arms of death. The countenance becomes pale; the skin assumes a clay or lead coloured hue; a stupor supervenes; the patient lies in a state of tranquil insensibility; and, without yellowness, or the other common marks of the fever, in the course of only a few days he sleeps to wake no more! Sometimes a few hours complete the course of the disease, as in a late instance, where almost the only symptom was a profound coma, and the soldier died within the short space of twelve hours. If this were a solitary case I am aware how soon scepticism would convert it into a different disease; but without disputing for a name, I need only remark that it is far from a rare instance, for, alas! we have too many examples in proof of its being a very common mode in which the fever attacks. In others of the cases which prove fatal, we find hiccough the predominant, and most distressing symptom: it continues in opposition to every remedy, and, in a few days, the patient is exhausted, and dies!

Neither public nor extensive libraries were to be expected in these colonies; but if I had much time for reading, I might sadly lament this deficiency. After examining with great care and attention all the late authors that I could collect, I think myself fortunate in meeting with the publication of Père Labat, a Jesuit, who, so long since as in the year 1701, wrote a tour through the West India islands, in which he describes very correctly the epidemic fever of these regions, and gives an accurate account of his own sufferings under the disease; in the treatment of which he was twice blooded, venæsection being, at that time, used as a sovereign remedy.

Amidst our changes of season, I should be highly gratified if I could report favorably of the improvement in our surgical wards; but of wounds and ulcers I have still only gloomy tidings to offer: and it is remarkable that the distress occasioned by these is wholly confined to the Europeans; for, while the soldiers from England continue to suffer dreadfully from their sores, the wounds of the Africans, who are lying in the adjoining beds of the same wards, heal with surprising rapidity, and are completely cured. Indeed the recovery from sores and ulcers in this climate is as peculiarly successful among the blacks, as it is the reverse among the Europeans; the examples in proof of which are abundant: but not to tire you with tedious histories of cases, I need only mention one, which has been recently related to me by a most respectable medical practitioner now in Demarara^[1]; and by whom the treatment of the case was conducted. A negro, being detected in the act of robbing a plantain-walk, was taken into confinement by the watchmen, who, in the struggle to secure him, wounded him very desperately upon the head, neck, and shoulders with a cutlass: which, at one of the blows, passed through the bones of the scull and the membranes, into the substance of the brain. In the course of the cure, it happened that the dressings one day fell from this part, and, the flies gaining access to the sore, maggots were bred in great numbers within the brain. These were removed by the professional attendant, who, in picking them out, was employed for a considerable time, at each of three successive dressings: still the negro rapidly recovered, and is now alive and well.

I have lately been much diverted with hearing the detail of an intended publication, for which the writer assures me he is busily collecting materials. It is to be entitled the “History of Guiana,” and is to be composed by a person who has neither the advantage of education, nor of talents. You will judge of the merits of the work, when you learn that it is in the author’s plan to describe minutely the sources, and the junction of the rivers Oronoko and Amazons, without having travelled twenty miles from the sea-coast; and to give a full and accurate account of different races of people, not one of whom he has ever seen.

A fact has recently occurred to my knowledge, displaying a custom which I am sure you will regard with astonishment. It is usual, in these colonies, for a person to take a negro, or more frequently a mulatto, or mestee woman as housekeeper and companion; and, if he have children by her, and cannot afford, or does not choose to be at the expense of sending them to Europe to be educated, he derives no dishonor from breeding up the sons as mechanics, and giving out the daughters, in keeping, to his friends; and so commonly is this practice established, that no feelings of remorse seem to attach to it: on the contrary, it is deemed the best provision the parent can make for his daughter, to place her with a respectable man as his bonne amie; but it is necessary to understand that these are never whites, nor children born in wedlock: they are daughters of women of colour, who, like themselves, have felt honored in being chosen the companions of their lords; and who do not aspire to the dignified character of wife. Neither father nor daughter feels any sense of shame, in yielding to this general usage of the country; her ambition soars no higher, for she is bred up with no other expectation; and the indelible disgrace which would attach to marrying a woman of colour leaves the parent no hope of providing for his daughter, by placing her in the more honorable state of wedlock. Still the practice is so utterly repugnant to European sentiments, that it must require a long residence in this country to reconcile it to the father; for, whatever may be the distinction between wife and mistress, it cannot be supposed that the feelings of nature in the breast of the parent can be thereby diminished. The child is equally his offspring, and, from being less protected by the laws, is, even in a greater degree, the object of his care: it must therefore occasion him many severe pangs to submit to this insecure and perilous disposal of his daughter. If the protector die or leave the country, the protegée returns to her father, until another suitor offer her his home.

You will be surprised to know that, until very lately, I have not had an opportunity of purchasing a horse, but you would be much more surprised could you see what a miserable animal I have, at length, procured for the sum of nearly forty guineas. Horses are very scarce, and of high value upon this coast. No more are kept than are required for absolute use, and a spare one is rarely to be met with. They are mostly imported from North America, and, like ourselves, they are subject to a seasoning disease, which equally cuts off man and horse.

We are again looking forward to dry and fine weather, for notwithstanding the present wet season has only been set in a month, it is supposed, from the circumstance of most of the rain now falling in the night, that it may be already declining. I forget whether I before remarked to you, that we have not even in what is termed the rainy season, any thick and foggy days like those of an English November. The wet season is a rapid alternation of dark cloud, with a clear atmosphere, and bright sunshine. No misty damps succeed the rushing torrents: the black cloud, from which they fall, pours forth its streams, exhausts itself, and passes away, leaving the rays of the sun again free to reach the earth; and all is light and fair between the heavy peltings of the storm.