MAROON. S97 
TiffiiCted with idiocy, madnefs, and epilepfy; and it is 
worth remarking, that poffeffion and epilepfy are denoted 
by the fame Arabic words, kabal and kabat. 
The court of Rome, in affiliating the Maronites, has 
granted them an hofpitium at Rome, to which they may 
/end feveral of their youth, to receive a gratuitous edu¬ 
cation. It fliould feem that this inftitution might intro¬ 
duce among them the ideas and arts of Europe ; but the 
pupils of this fchool, limited to an education purely mo- 
naftic, bring home nothing but the Italian language, which 
is of no ufe, and a flock of theological learning, from 
which as little advantage can be derived ; they accord¬ 
ingly foon affimilate with the reft. Nor has a greater 
change been operated by the three or four miffionarie9 
maintained by the French capuchins at Gazir, Tripoli, 
and Bairout. Their labours confift in preaching in their 
church, in inftruCling children in the Catechifm,Thomas 
a Kempis, and the Pfalms, and in teaching them to read 
and write. Formerly the Jefuits had two miffionaries at 
their houfe at Anloura, and the Lazarites have now fuc- 
ceeded them in their million. The mod valuable advan- 
tage that has refulted from thefe apoftolical labours is, 
that the art of writing has become more common among 
the Maronites, and rendered them, in this country, what 
the Copts are in Egypt; that is, they are in pofTeffion of 
all the polls of writers, intendants, and kiayas, among 
the Turks, and efpecially of thofe among their allies and 
neighbours, the Druzes. Volncy's Travels in Egypt and 
Syria, vol. ii. 
MAROO', a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of Rut- 
tunpours eighteen miles north-weft of Ruttunpour. 
MAROO'N. The Maroons were a part of the Spanilh 
negro-llaves, who, when Jamaica was conquered by the 
Englilh in 1655, remained in the fallnelfes of the ifiand, 
and from their retreats continually harafled the Britilh 
planters, and preferved their own freedom. They had 
often been reinforced by fugitive flaves; and in 1730 
were grown fo formidable, that it became expedient to 
ftrengthen the colony by two regiments of regular troops. 
Thele, with the militia, were divided into parties; one 
of which, under captain Stoddart, in 1734, attacked one 
of the Maroon towns called Nauny, fituated on one of the 
higheft mountains of the ifiand; and fo far deltroyed or 
dilperfed its inhabitants, that they were not afterward 
able to effeCt any enterprife of moment in that quarter. 
Another victory gained over them, by captain Edmonds, 
fo reduced their ftrength, and filled them with fo much 
terror, that they did not again appear in any confidera- 
ble body. Still, however, they continued to diftrefs the 
planters: fetting fire to the cane-fields, killing the cattle, 
carrying off the flaves. and barbaroufly murdering fuch 
whites as came in their way, and were unable to make 
refiftance. To prevent thefe horrid depredations, the af- 
Tembly ordered barracks, fortified with baftions, to be 
eredted in different parts of the ifiand, and as near as pof- 
lible to the enemy’s favourite haunts. Every barrack 
was furnifhed with a pack of dogs; “ it being forefeen 
that thefe animals would prove extremely ferviceable, not 
only in guarding againft furprifes in the night, but in 
tracking the enemy.” About the year 1737, the aflembly 
took into their pay two hundred Mofquito Indians, who 
were confiderably ferviceable, and the moll proper troops 
to be employed in a bufh-fighting warfare. In 1738, go¬ 
vernor Trelawney propofed to the Maroon chiefs over¬ 
tures of peace : the Maroons embraced the offer; articles 
of pacification were drawn up and ratified ; and 2500 
acres of land were afligned and fecured, by the legiflature, 
to them and their pofterity in perpetuity. 
The claufe in the treaty, by which thefe people were 
compelled to refide within certain boundaries in the inte¬ 
rior country, apart from all other negroes, was founded, 
probably, on the apprehenfion that, by fuffering them to 
intermix with the negroes in flavery, the example which 
t hey would thereby continually prefent of fuccefsful hof- 
tility, might prove contagious, and create in the minds 
Vol. XIV. No. 983. 
of the flaves an impatience of fubordinatior, and adifpo- 
fition for revolt: but time bass abundantly proved that it 
was an ill-judged and a fatal regulation. The Maroons, 
inftesd of being eftablifhed into feparate hordes or com¬ 
munities, in the flrongefl parts of the interior country, 
fhould have been encouraged by all poffible means to fre¬ 
quent the towns, and to intermix with the negroes at 
large. All diltinClion between the Maroons and the other 
free blacks would foon have been loft ; the greater num¬ 
ber would have prevailed over the lefs: whereas the po¬ 
licy of keeping them a diftinCl people, continually inured 
to arms, introduced among them what the French call an 
efprit de torps, or a community of fentiments and interefts : 
and, concealing from them the powers and refources of 
the whites, taught them to feel, and at the fame time 
highly to overvalue, their own relative ftrength and 
importance. And poffibly, as Bryan Edwards obftrves, 
“ their perfonal appearance contributed, in fome degree, 
to preferve rae delufion ; for, favage as they were in man¬ 
ners and difpofition, their mode of living and daily pur- 
fuits undoubtedly ftrengthened the frame, and ferved to 
exalt them to great bodily perfection. Such fine perfons 
are feldom beheld among any other clafs of African 01 
native blacks. Their demeanour is lofty, their walk firm, 
and their perfons ereCl. Every motion difplays a combi¬ 
nation of (Irenglh and agility. The mufcles.(neither hid¬ 
den nor deprefied by clothing) are very prominent, and 
ftrongly marked. Their fight withal is wonderfully acute, 
and their hearing remarkably quick.” 
In July 1795, two Maroons, having ftolen fome pigs, 
were apprehended, fent to Montego Bay, and tried for the 
offence. The jury found them guilty ; and the magiftrates 
ordered each of them to receive thirty lafhes on the bare 
back: which flagellation was performed by the black 
overfeer of the workhoufe-negroes. On the difeharge of 
thefe men, and on their arrival at Trelawney Town, the 
whole body of Maroons alfembled ; and, after having 
forced captain Crafkell, the fuperintendant, to quit the 
town, they fent a written defiance to the magiftrates of 
Montego Bay, and threatened to attack that town on the 
20th of the month. In confequence of this, general Pal¬ 
mer called out the militia; and eighty dragoons were, at 
his requeft, fent from Spanilh-town by lord Balcarras, the 
governor of Jamaica. The Maroons then demanded, and 
obtained, a conference. They complained not of the in- 
jultice nor of the feverity of the punifhment that had 
been inflicted on their two companions, but of the dif- 
graceful manner in which it had been executed. They 
demanded reparation for this indignity, an addition to 
their lands, the difmiffion of their fuperintendant captain 
Crafkell, and the re-appointment of their former fuper¬ 
intendant, James. It was promifed to them that their 
grievances fhould be laid before the commander in chief, 
and they were affured that the governor fliould be re- 
quefted to grant them the laft of their demands; with 
which they Teemed fatisfied. It foon appeared, however, 
that the Maroons, in defiring this conference, were 
afluated by, motives of treachery. They were apprifed 
that a flaet of 150 fliips was.to fail for Great Britain on 
the morning of the 26th ; and they knew that very few 
Britifh troops remained in the ifiand, except the eighty- 
third regiment, and that this very regiment was, at that 
jundure, under orders to embark for St. Domingo; they 
hoped, therefore, by the fpecious appearance of defil ing a 
conference, to quiet fufpicion, until the July fleet had 
failed, and the regulars fairly departed. Meanwhile, they 
pleafed themlelves with the hope of prevailing on the 
negro-flaves throughout the ifiand to join them ; and, by 
rifing in a mafs, to enable them to exterminate the whites 
at a blow. The very day the conference was held, they 
began tampering with the negroes on the numerous and 
extenfive plantations in the neighbourhood of Montego 
Bay. On fome of thefe plantations their emiflaries were 
cordially received and fecreted; on others, the flaves 
themfelves voluntarily apprifed their overfeers, that the 
5 I Maroons 
