University of Virginia Library

FEBRUARY 8.

The road soon brought us down to the very brink of the sea, which we continued to skirt during the whole of the stage; and then to St. Anne's Bay, where we found an excellent breakfast at an inn, quite in the English fashion, for the landlady had been long resident in Great Britain. Everything was clean and comfortable, and the windows looked full upon the sea. Our road still lay by the sea-side till we began to ascend the mountain of Rio Bueno; from which we at length perceived the river itself running into the sea. It was at Porto Bueno that Columbus is said to have made his first landing on the island. Rio Bueno is a small town, with a fort, situated close to the sea. Here also we found a very good inn, kept by a Scotchman.

The landlady was a pretty brown girl, by name Eliza Thompson. She told me that she was only residing with her parents during her husband's absence; for she was (it seems) the soidisant wife of an English merchant in Kingston, and had a house on Tachy's Bridge. This kind of establishment is the highest object of the brown females in Jamaica ; they seldom marry men of their own colour, but lay themselves out to captivate some white person, who takes them for mistresses, under the appellation of housekeepers.

Soon afterwards after my arrival at Cornwall, I asked my attorney whether a clever-looking brown woman, who seemed to have great authority in the house, belonged to me? — No ; she was a free woman. Was she in my service, then?—No ; she was not in my service. I began to grow impatient.—" But what does she do at Cornwall? of what use is she in the house?"—"Why, sir, as to use..... of no great use , sir:" and then after a pause, he added in a lower voice, "It is custom, sir, in this country for unmarried men to have housekeepers, and Nancy is mine." But he was unjust in saying that Nancy is of no use on the estate ; for she is perpetually in the hospital, nurses the children, can bleed and mix medicines, and (as I am assured) is of more service to the sick than all the doctors. These brown housekeepers generally attach themselves sincerely to the interests of their protectors, and make themselves so useful, that they commonly retain their situation ; and their children (if slaves) are always honoured by their fellows with the title Miss. My mulatto housemaid is always called "Miss Polly" by her fellow-servant Phillis. This kind of connexion os considered by a brown girl in the same light as marriage. She will tell you, with an air of vanity, "I am Mr. Such-a-one's Love !" and always speaks of him as being her husband : and I am told that, except on these terms, it is extremely difficult to obtain the favours of a woman of colour.