NARRATIVE OF AN 



toryr-—^^ I am very angry, jue batty brun,^^ — " Live 



long, ib long until your hair become white as cotton, 

 " Lebee langUy tay^ tay^ ta-y you weeree weeree tan wity Iike&. 

 " catoo.^' — " Small, peekeenT — ^" Very fmall, peekeenee^ 

 " nee'' — Farewel ! Good-bye ! I am dying, and going to 



my God, Adiofo, cerroboay^ mee de go dede, me de go na 

 <^ mee GadoT — In this lampie, many corrupt Englifh words 

 are perceptible, which however begin to grow out of ufe 

 near the capital, but are ftill retained in the diftant plan- 

 tations ; for inftance, at the efiate Goet-^dccoord, in Cottica, 

 I have heard an old negro woman fay, " We lobee fa lebee 

 " togeddere,''' by which flie meant, we love to live toge- 

 ther ; and at Paramaribo to exprefs the fame fentence, 

 *^ Wee looko for tanna macandera,"" 



Their vocal mufic is like that of the birds, melodious, 

 but without time, and in other refpecfts not unlike that of 

 a clerk performing to the congregation, one perfon con- 

 ftantly pronouncing a fentence extempore, which he next 

 hums or whiffles, and then all the others repeat the fame 

 in chorus; another fentence is then fpoken, and the 

 chorus is a fecond time renewed, &c. 



This kind of linging is much pra6lifed by the barge- 

 rowers or boat negroes on the water, efpecially dur- 

 ing the night in a clear moonfhine ; it is to them pe- 

 culiarly animating, and may, together with the found of 

 their oars, be heard at a confiderable diftance. 



As a fpecimen, I have tried to fet the following words 



