An Account of Jamaica, and Its InhabitantsLongman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1808 - 305 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
amusement animal assembly assize courts attended bird book-keeper Britain British called cane chiefly climate colour considerable considered Creole crop Cuba disease domestic pigeon doubloon doubtless duty effect enemy estates European favour female fever fifteen former governor Hispaniola honour horses humanity hundred India inhabitants interior island Jamaica Jamaica militia John Thomas Duckworth kind Kingston labour land latter Maroon war Maroons master ment militia Montego Bay mother country mountains mules native nature negroes never obeah observed occasion officer opulent overseer parish peculiarly perhaps plant plantain planter pounds currency pretty produce provisions regiment regular respectable ring-tailed pigeon savage season seldom sent shew situation slaves snake soil sometimes soon sort species sugar supply sweet tain taste terrible thing tion town trade trees Trelawney troops usually various West Indies wild wild hog woods wretched yellow yellow fever
Popular passages
Page 159 - In wandering over the barren plains of inhospitable Denmark, through honest Sweden...
Page 159 - I never addressed myself in the language of decency and friendship, without receiving a decent and friendly answer; with man it has often been otherwise.
Page 159 - Russia, and the wide-spread regions of the wandering Tartar, — if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick, woman has ever been friendly to me, and uniformly so ; and to add to this virtue, so worthy of the appellation of benevolence, these actions have been performed in so free and so kind a manner, that, if I was dry, I drank the sweet draught, and, if hungry, ate the coarse morsel, with a double relish.
Page 194 - The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, Had he thy Reason, would he skip and play? Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flow'ry food, And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.
Page 257 - ... may be swept off by its infatuation before the crime is detected ; for, strange as it may appear, so much do the negroes stand in awe of those obeah professors, so much do they dread their malice and their power, that, though knowing the havoc they have made, and are still making, they are afraid to discover them to the whites ; and others perhaps, are in league with them for sinister purposes of mischief and revenge. A negro under...
Page 257 - Like the witches' cauldron in Macbeth, it is a combination of all that is hateful and disgusting; a toad's foot, a lizard's tail, a snake's tooth, the plumage of the carrion crow, or vulture, a broken eggshell, a piece of wood fashioned into the shape of a coffin, with many other nameless ingredients, compose the fatal mixture. It will of course be conceived that the practice of Obeah can have little effect, without...
Page 251 - Previous to the interment of the corpse it is sometimes pretended that it is endowed with the gift of speech ; and the friends and relatives alternately place their ears to the lid of the coffin, to hear what the deceased has to say. This generally consists of complaints and upbraidings for various injuries, — treachery, ingratitude, injustice, slander, and, in particular, the non-payment of debts due to the deceased. This...
Page 159 - Not haughty, nor arrogant, nor supercilious, they are full of courtesy, and fond of society; more liable in general to err than man, but in general also more virtuous, and performing more good actions, than he. To a woman , whether civilized or savage, I never addressed myself, in the language of decency and friendship, without receiving a decent and friendly answer.
Page 158 - I have always remarked that women in all countries are civil, obliging, tender, and humane; that they are ever inclined to be gay and cheerful, timorous and modest; and that they do not hesitate, like men, to perform a generous action. Not haughty, not arrogant, not...
Page 266 - But this improvement of taste is in a great measure confined to those who are, or have been, domestics about the houses of the whites, and have in consequence imbibed a fondness for their amusements, and some skill in the performance. They affect, too, the language, manners, and conversation of the whites : those who have it in their power have at times their convivial parties, when they will endeavour to mimic their masters in their drinking, their songs, and their toasts ; and it is laughable to...