TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



219 



aid of a bridge at any point, we arrive at the ancient 

 city of San Joseph. 



Here let us pause once more and finish our 

 sketch and ramblings for the day at least, by giving 

 an account of a mutiny which occurred in the garri- 

 son stationed there in 1837. In giving this account 

 we will again quote from Joseph's History of Trini- 

 dad ; it is rather long so we will curtail it. 



" Before closing my labours as an annalist of 

 Trinidad I have to record a remarkable event which 

 occurred on the night of the 17th June, 1837, viz. the 

 mutiny of some newly imported Africans enlisted in 

 the 1st West India Eegiment. The revolt was led by 

 a singular being called Daaga, otherwise baptised 

 and down on the roll of the regiment as Donald 

 Stewart. y} 



" Daaga was the adopted son of a Madarshee^ 

 the old and childless king of the African tribe called 

 Paupas, a race that inhabited a tract of country bor- 

 dering on the Yarabas. Daaga had been inveigled 

 on board a Portuguese ship, a slaver, and treacher- 

 ously seized and treated as a slave. This transaction 

 caused in the breast of the savage a deep hatred 

 against all white men, a hatred so intense that he fre- 

 quently during and subsequent to the mutiny de- 

 clared that he would eat the first white man he killed ; 

 yet this untutored savage cannibal was made to swear 

 allegiance to the King of England, was baptised and 

 then called a Christian and a British soldier. f i 



" This vessel on which Daaga had been kidnap- 

 ped was subsequently captured by the British, but in- 



