795 
time they would kill their children 
by dashing “them against rocks,* [- 
cannot but think an assertion with- 
eut proof. The murderer would 
have been brought to condign pu- 
nishment by the superintendant,.who, 
so far from thinking it prudent to 
keep his distance, would have in- 
stantly seized the wretch. I speak 
particularly of Trelawney Town, 
the superintendant of which had 
been long resident there, and whose 
charafier, we shall presently see, 
fully refutes the charge of dastardly 
prudence. 
Instances of revenge arising from 
‘jealousy seldom occurred among the 
Maroons. . Like their African pro- 
genitors, they parted with their wives 
for incontinency, without inflicting 
severer punishments. In Africa the 
man had the power of selling the 
adultress. ‘The younger females were 
not, generally, votresses of Diana. 
When a girl was of an age to be- 
come a wife, the parents killed a 
hog, and madea feast, to which the 
neighbours were invited. Plenty of 
good things were provided; nor was 
rum spared by the elders, while the 
younger people danced. Each of 
the party put a small piece of mo- 
ney in the girl’s mouth, generally a 
quarter of a dollar; but the parent’s 
piece was frequently gold. Although 
this feast was intended by the family 
as a signal to the young men. for 
making an offer, the girl herself 
usually preferred a state of celibacy 
for some years after it was known, 
that she had killed a hog. 
When gentlemen, through curio- 
sity, visited the town, which was 
very rarely the case, they were hos- 
* Edwards. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
pitably and respeétfully entertained. 
The visitors could not expeét to 
meet in the houses such convenient 
articles of furniture as they were 
accustomed to at home. Some of 
the principal men ‘furnished a table 
with a clean damask cloth, on which 
they placed the various dainties I 
have already mentioned. Several 
small articles of silver plate were 
used, Sometimes they produced malt 
liquor and wine, and always rum. 
While the company were at dinner, 
the captain, or whoever might be- 
the entertainer, appeared in his best 
cloaths: if a chief, he wore a kind 
of regimentals, perhaps some old 
military coat finely laced, which had 
been given to him by a gentleman, 
whose name he had assumed: + with 
this he wore a’ ruffled shirt, linen 
waistcoat and trowsers, and a laced 
hat. He did not presume to eat 
with his company, or to sit at the 
table with them, but took his seat 
at a respectful distance, and con- 
versed occasionally on being address- 
ed. The beds with which they pro- 
vided their guests were not of fea- 
thers, but of wholesome fine-picked 
corn trash, with clean sheets. ‘There 
was seldom occasion for musquito 
nets, the houses being very rarely 
infested with those venemous gnats, 
that prove such pests in, the low 
lands. ‘The Maroons produced can- 
dles for the use of their visitors, but, 
at other times, a large fire at the 
door sufficed them for light. They 
are accused of a practice of prosti- 
tuting their daughters,, by force, te 
their guests, but the faét is, that 
compulsion was not necessary ; and, 
if ever. it was used, would their more 
civilized 
+ The Maroon names would appear extraordinary to a reader ignorant of the 
Maroon custom 
versally. practised among them. 
of,adopting the names of the gentlemen of the island, It was une 
