BOOK in. CII A p. III. 451- 



where the flame might be expelled to kindle afrefli. Thefc detach- 

 ments, by forced marches, foon made their appearance in St, Marv, 

 and damped at once all the idc;is of conqiicft, which at firft had ele- 

 vated the rebels. They kept in the woods, rambling from place to 

 place, ftldom continuing many hours on one fpot; and when they 

 perceived themfelves clofe befet on all fides, they refohed to fell their 

 lives as dear as poffible. The Marons of Scot's-Hall behaved ex- 

 tremely ill at this jnnclure; they were the firft party that came to the 

 rendezvous; and, under pretence that fome arrears were due to them, 

 and that they had not been regularly paid their head-money allowed 

 by law, for every run-away taken up, they refuted to proceed agsinft 

 the rebels, unlefs a colleftion was immediately made for them; feve- 

 ral gentlemen prefcnt fubmiited to comply with this extraordinary de- 

 mand, rather than delay the fervice; after which they marched, and 

 had one engagement with the rebels, in which they killed a few. A 

 party of the 74th regiment lay quartered at a houfe by the fea fide, at 

 a fmall diftance from the woods; in the night the rebels were fo bold, 

 that they crept very near the quarters, and, having fiiot the ccntinel 

 dead, retired again with the utmoft agility from purfuit. Not long- 

 after this accident the regulars, after a tedious march throuph the 

 woods, which the fl:eepnefs of the hills, and heat of the weather, con- 

 fpired to render extremely fatiguing, came up with the enemy, and an 

 engagement enfued, in which feveral of the rebels were killed, and 

 lieut. Bevil of the regulars wounded. The different parties continued 

 in chafe of the fugitives, and ikirmiflies happened everyday; but in 

 the mean while, the fpirit of rebellion was fliewing itfelf in various 

 other parts of the ifland, there being fcarcely a fingle pariOi, to which 

 this confpiracy of the Coromantiiis did not extend. In St. Mary's 

 parifh a check was fortunately given at one efiate, by furprizing a fa- 

 mous obeiah man or prieft, much refpefted among his countrymen. 

 He was an old Coromantin, who, with others of his profeffion, hi;d 

 been a chief in counfelin"' and inftisatinp; the credulous herd, to whom 

 thefe priefts adminiftered a powder, which, being rubbed on their bo- 

 dies, was to make them invulnerable: they perfuaded them into a be- 

 lief, that Tacky, their generaliflimo in the woods, could not poffibly 

 be hurt by the white men, for that he caught all the bullets fired at 

 him in his hand, and hurled them back with deftrudion to his foes. 



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