THE AFRICAN IN CANADA. 
 
 THE MAROONS W JAMAICA AND 
 NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 HAMILTON 
 
 
 
H / 
 
 [From the Procebdinos of the American Association fob the Advancement 
 
 OF SCIBNCE, Vol. XXXVIII, 1889.] 
 
 Thr African in Canada. By James Clkland Hamilton, LL.B., To- 
 ronto, Out., Can. 
 
 [ABSTRACT.] 
 
 TiiK Introduction referred to the various races found in Canada, but of 
 all these, whether native or immigrant, it W9,s claimed that when the his- 
 tory of the last fifty years is written, none will be found more interesting, 
 as a class and as parcel of the state, than the colored population. 
 
 Under this head were included all having African blood, pure or mixed, 
 in their veins. 
 
 In Canada the black refugee was surrounded by an active white popula- 
 tion, had seldom any capital but his strong right arm, and had to lay his 
 plans so as to rival the white man and " take his bread out of the stump." 
 It was shown that no such contest had, in any other place before Ameri- 
 can Emancipation, been undertaken by the African race. 
 
 The speai<er stated as his object, to present sucii an account of the course 
 of this people as from observation and documents, but especially from per- 
 sonal enquiry, he had been able to gather during a residence of some thirty 
 years in Toronto. 
 
 At the beginning of this period, in 1860, there were about. 40,000 colored 
 people in Upper Canada, few being found in the other provinces. 
 
 Reference was then made to proceedings at conventions of people of 
 color, in the United States, so far back as 1831, in which the prospects of 
 the west coast of Africa and the West Indies as places for their immigra- 
 tion were discussed, but these were overruled in favor of Canada West. 
 At this time several thousands of fugitives fi-om slavery had settled in our 
 province. Tlie Rev. Isaac J. Rice from Ohio and Rev. Hiram Wilson came 
 to work among them and were aided by Quakers and other philanthropic 
 Americans. After them the Rev. William King followed bringing from 
 Louisiana his slaves, fifteen in number, whom he freed and settled in the 
 township of Raleigh on Lalie Erie near the town of Chatham. An Associa- 
 tion styled in honor of the then governor of Canada, the '• Elgin settle- 
 ment" was formed August 10, 1850. A tract of land containing nine 
 thousand acres of good soil was procured. The place was called Buxton, 
 in honor of Sir" T. F. Buxton, and here began the work of colonizing and 
 making homes for the fugitives on an extensive scale. The land w^as leased 
 aud finally sold only to colored people and on such easy terms of payment 
 
 (364) 
 
365 SECTION H. 
 
 as made It practicable for them to purchase. Mr. King himself lived for 
 twenty-five years In the settlement as agent of the AHsuciation, missionary 
 and teacher, and has had the satisfaction of seeing the land all sold, cleared 
 and occupied by his people. He has, in late years, lived in Chatham, but 
 seems satisfied with the success of his self-denying eftbrts and in a couunu- 
 nlcation to the essayist stated " the Elgin settlement has accomplished 
 what we intended, which was to show by a practical demonstration that 
 the colored man when placed in favorable circumstances was able and 
 willing to support himself, and although the soil and climate were not the 
 same as those which they left, yet these people have done as well as any 
 white settlement in the province under the like circumstances." Some of 
 the young men educated at Buxton have been elected to civic offices in the 
 United States. One was James Rapier, a member of Congress from Mont- 
 gomery, Alabama, during General Grant's administration. '• Others are," 
 says Mr. King, "teachers, preachers, doctors and lawyers." " Most of 
 the educated colored people," he also states, " left Canada during the war 
 and very few are coming to it now."' The writer then gave instances of 
 Slaves and Slave Law in Canada and an account of Solicitor General Gray 
 and the Baker family as follows :— 
 
 " The propriety of importing African slaves as an economic measure was 
 considered in the Council of Quebec as early as 1688 when the Attorney 
 General visited Paris and urged upon the King the expediency of import- 
 ing negroes as a remedy for the scarcity and dearness of labor. The King 
 consented but advised caution owing to the severity of the climate. A 
 few slaves were brought in but the system never flourished." (Parkman's 
 Old Regime in Canada, p. 388.) 
 
 Slaves were made also of Pawnee Indian captives, but their dislike of 
 steady employment and propensity to escape to the woods impaired their 
 value, says the same authority. 
 
 Court records show traces of both negro and Pawnee slavery in the 
 Lower province till February 18, 1800, when the court of King's Bench at 
 Montreal discharged the negro iJoMn from custody, and this decision being 
 acquiesced in, practically ended the system there. This and the accident of 
 climate saved Quebec from future servile trouble. The province now 
 called Ontario was but sparsely Inhabited. Slavery did exist to a limited 
 extent in Upper Canada, till 1793, when an act was passed by the infant 
 parliament of that Province, at the town of Newark, now Niagara, prohib- 
 iting the importing of slaves, and declaring that no negro or other person 
 brought into Upper Canada should be thenceforth subject to the condition 
 of a slave. 
 
 It will be noticed that in this our Province had the honor to precede the 
 mother country, which passed the act emancipating slaves in all her col- 
 onies in 1833. It is but fair to note that Pennsylvania and Rhode Island 
 
 In 1863, Messrs. R. D. Owon, James McKay and S. G. Howe, members of the "Amer- 
 ican Freeiimen's Commission," visited Buxton, made careful inquiry and reported as 
 to tlie condition of the colored people there. Their report helped to add the 14th 
 amendment to the U. S. Constitution. 
 
ANTHROPOLOGT. 366 
 
 had shown us an example, emancipation havinp: been decreed in those 
 states In 1780. Onrs wasu rare little rarlliiinent tliat so honored Itself, sit- 
 ting sometimes in its chamber at Navy Hall and then as the day grew sul- 
 try, adjourning to the shade of a spreading tree, as Dr. Scadding describes 
 the scene. There were but a baker's dozen of them in aii, seven crown 
 appointed councilors and five commoners. Mr. McDonell of Glengary 
 was the speaker. 
 
 The act then passed also made provision for the gradual emancipation of 
 the three or four hundred slaves then in the Trovlnce. Down to the year 
 1833, when tlie imperial act referred to took efl'ect, some of these old slaves 
 were still to be seen In Canada, even as such were to be found within very 
 recent years round the old homesteads of New Jersey. 
 
 Dr. Scadding has collected in " Toronto of Old " several references to 
 slavery in this province as practised early in this century; among those 
 offering to deal in the human article being the governor, Peter Russell, 
 who In 180G advertised for sale a black woman Peggy, and her son Jupiter. 
 
 Slave advertisements were then common in the Quebec Gazette. In the 
 western part of this province the great Indian Chief Brant, or Thyenden- 
 aga, had African slaves, it is said, but I have been unable to verify this 
 historically. He was a contemporary of Governor Russell. Our Indians 
 were too nomadic to make African slavery profitable with them. It was, 
 in fact, of most rare occurrence In the northern tribes, while in the south 
 blacks tilled the soil of Cherokee and Choctaw farmers. 
 
 The amiable characteristics, forming the pleasant part of the history of 
 slavery on this continent, were so exhibited, in ihe life of the late Solicitor 
 General of Upper Canada, Mr. Robert Isaac Dey Gray, that I am tempted to 
 give some details of his career not generally known. 
 
 He was son of Colonel James Gray, who was a Highland Scotchman of 
 good family. Mr. Gray lived on the north side of Wellington Street in 
 Toronto, then Little York. As part of his family he had a colored slave 
 woman Dorln, or Dorinda, Baker and her children, among them her sons 
 John and Simon. A sad fate awaited him and Simon his gay young body 
 servant. A court was ordered for trial of an Indian murderer, at Presque 
 Isle in county of Northumberland, then Newcastle district. This being 
 before the use of steam. Judge Cochrane, the Solicitor General and his 
 servant, with the sheriff, embarked on the government schooner * Speedy,' 
 Captain Paxton, for the place of venue. A gale came on, all went down 
 and were lost on the night of 7th October, 1804. By his will, made Aug- 
 ust 27, 1803, Mr. Gray " maimniits and discharges from the state of slav- 
 ery in which she is now his faithful black woman servant Dorinda" and 
 gives her and all her children their freedom. To John and Simon he also 
 left two hundred acres of land, and directed that twelve hundred pounds 
 should be set apart and the interest applied to the maintenance of the 
 family. 
 
 I am indebted to Judge Prlngle of Cornwall, Ont., a relative of the Gray 
 family, for the extract of a letter written by Mr. Gray to his cousin Cath- 
 erine Valentine at Kingston, Feb. 16, 1804. After giving an account of his 
 
 timumtiti 
 
^y""^-"-^, — ■ 
 
 367 SECTION H. 
 
 endeavors to recover property abandoned by his father, who had been a ma- 
 jor In the first Battalion, King's Koyal rej^iincnt of New York, he states '' I 
 saw some of our old friends while in the States; none was I more happy 
 to meet than Lavlne, Dorln's mother. She was living in a tavern with a 
 woman by the name of Bromley. I immediately employed a friend to ne- 
 gotiate for the purchase of her. He did so stating that I wished to buy 
 her freedom, in consequence of wliich the man readily compiled with my 
 wisli and, although he declared she was worth to him £100, he gave her to 
 me for $50. When I saw her, she was overjoyed and appeared as happy as 
 any person could be, at the idea of seeing her child Dorln, and lier children 
 once more, with whom if Dorin wishes she will willingly spend the remain- 
 der of her days. I could not avoid doing this act. The opportunity had 
 been thrown in my way by Providence and I could not resist It. I saw 
 old Cato, Lavine's father, at Newark, while I was at Colonel Ogden's. He 
 is living with Mrs. Governeur, is well taken care of and, blind, poor old 
 fellow, came to feel me for he could not see me. He asked att'ectionately 
 after the family." 
 
 John Baker survived the others of his mother's family and died In Corn- 
 wall, 1871, at a patriarchal age. For the last nine years of his life he had a 
 pension from the English government for services in the war of 1812. On 
 August 11, 1868, I met John Baker and ^ot the story of his life, which Is 
 redolent of old times and customs and is that of one of the last Canadians 
 born in bond service. I give It as he told It. First let me picture hlra as a 
 very dark mulatto of amiable disposition and countenance, hobbling from 
 rheumatism and laying down bis wood-saw as I asked iiim to sit down on a 
 box In a grocery, and handed lilm a plug of his favorite weed. " I was born 
 at Quebec, brought up at Gray's Creek. My mother Dorluda, was from 
 Guinea, my father was a Dutchman, probably a Hessian soldier. Old Colonel 
 Gray, father of ' Solisary Gray,' was colonel of a Scotch regiment and wore 
 kilts and married in the United States. I came to Gray's Creek near Corn- 
 wall, when a boy, and Gray's son was then also a lad. I lived here with Mr. 
 Farrand who used to go on horseback and had his trunk strapped on my 
 back. He rode like a Tartar, and the trunk used to knock on my back. 
 Young Gray was the only child of the Colonel and went to Parliament thir- 
 teen years running. The Colonel was strict and sharp and put deerskin 
 shirts and jackets on me, and gave me a good many whippings. Simon was 
 older than me, and was ' Solisary' Gray's body servant. I lived two years 
 in Toronto, or Little York, in a large white house, north of the boat land- 
 ing. The people was proud and grand them days. Simon was dressed 
 finer tlian his master witli a beaver hat and gold watch. Governor Hun- 
 ter ordered the party to go to the trial In the ' Speedy.' He was a severe old 
 man and wore leather breeches. In one pocket he carried tobacco, in the 
 other snuff and when giving his orders he would take a handful of snuff, and 
 It would fall over his fine ruffled shirt,— fine, I tell you, no mistake, and 
 silver buckles to his shoes. Never saw him witli a boot on. Solisary Gray 
 when lie went off last, told me to look after the place and he would be 
 back In a day or two. They started between four and ilve in the evening 
 
ANTIIHOPOLOOY. 368 
 
 and wc heard of the loas next morning from the brig • Toronto.' There 
 were hi York about twenty houses then. 
 
 "After that I went to Judge Powell's. A recruiting agent came along, 
 and I listed. Judge Powell paid the smart for me seven times. I said, 
 'thank you, sir,' and I listed again. I served three years In New Brunswick. 
 Col. Drummond was then colonel and Col. Moody was lieutenant colonel. 
 Moodle who was shot on Yonge street and Drummond scaling ladders at 
 Fort Erie. I was at Waterloo in the 104th Regiment under Col. Ilalkett. 
 We chased Napoleon, who rode hard and jumped the ditches. We marched 
 over our shoes in blood. I saw Wellington, General Brock and many other 
 great men In my time. We came back to Canada and got our discharge. 
 I was a wild, foolish boy. The Lord will be with us all by and by, I 
 hope. Good-bye." 
 
 Mr. Hamilton next discussed the cause celfibre of John Anderson the 
 fugitive slave, ai rested in Toronto under the Ashburton Treaty In April, 
 18G0, for killing one Dlggs in Missouri, when escaping. He was released 
 by the court of common pleas on a technicality, after much legal argument 
 and public discussion and excitement. 
 
 Professor Aytoun's story of Haman S. Walker, as related In "Blackwood," 
 thirty years ago, and again in the novel " Norman Sinclair," was referred 
 to. Walker is represented as a villain who, pretending to be a suffering 
 abolitionist, came to Toronto, Ingratiated himself with the colored people, 
 married the daughter of a well-known livery-stable keeper, took her south, 
 secured a bill of sale of her father, from his former master, sold his wife, 
 and when the father came to Charleston to redeem his daughter, he found 
 himself the chattel of his worthy son-in-law, and had, as is represented, to 
 redeem both. This witty tale the essayist declared he had found to be en- 
 tirely untrue. The professor was the victim of a cruel hoax. The young 
 woman referred to married a colored man and removed to Milwaukee. 
 
 A rfisumfi of two interesting discussions in the Canadian parliament, 
 having reference to Imposing a capitation tax on colored immigrants, was 
 then given. Mr. Larwell was mover in the lower liouse, and Col. Prince 
 in the other. Both motions were negatived. During one of these an 
 amusing incident occurred. The gas went out. A member rose and sol- 
 emnly said, "Mr. Speaker, I move that light be given on this dark sub- 
 ject." An account was given of instances of loyalty of this race to their 
 adopted land, and of their refusal to accept inducements to go to Hayti, 
 Trinidad and elsewhere. Some personal references were then made to the 
 colored people in Toronto, Hamilton and elsewhere in the province. The 
 Nestor of Toronto is John Tinsley who came from Richmond, Va. , and 
 claims to have completed his one hundred and sixth year on last fourth of 
 July. He is a quadroon ; his father Captain Samuel Tinsley served in the 
 Revolutionary and Georgia Indian wars. He is an Interesting old man, 
 and has a store of knowledge of Old Virginia days. 
 
 The history of Josiaii Henson, commonly known as the original "Uncle 
 Tom," was given. He was a man of much natural ability, gathered his 
 people around him at Dresden, Ont., went to England and New England, 
 
"WSRPHBtgmpvi 
 
 369 SECTION n. 
 
 and lectured to great audiences who, as did Lord Sliaftsbury, Earl Russell, 
 ArcliblHliop Tiilt and others, aided him in his enterprise. The Queen aslied 
 him, "Have you any family?" "I have ten children, forty-four grandcldi- 
 dren and nine great grandchildren, your majesty," I answered. "Why," 
 she exclaimed, "you are a patriarch." Tlie archbishop asked him, "At 
 what university, sir, did you graduate?" "I graauated, your grace, at the 
 university of adversity." "The university of adversity," said he, looking 
 up in astonishment, "where Is that?" I saw his surprise and explained 
 my meaning. 
 
 The English papers made him famous as "Uncle Tom." Interesting 
 reminiscences of tlie life and labors of this remarkable man were thea 
 given. He was born a slave in Charles county, Virginia, June 15, 178!), 
 and died In Dresden, Ontario, on May 5, 1883. As a result of his labors 
 mainly, the WUberforce Institute for the education of colored youth was 
 founded at Chatham, where it Is still doing good work. The writer closed 
 as follows: — It has been variously estimated that of our colored citizens 
 those of pure blood were between one-fourth and one-third of the whole 
 number, the otiiers being mulattoes or of the other mixed classes. About 
 half of the adults were fugitives from the south, and these were esteemed 
 by Mr. King as the best class, as they possessed that activity and manli- 
 ness by which they secured freedom. Besides a difference in the shades 
 of color we should also remember that the negroes found in Canada are de- 
 scendants of various African tribes, some of which were intelligent, vig- 
 orous, and full of martial spirit, while others were of a lower calii)re, 
 some even signifying with a few almost inarticulate expressions. In their 
 native wlld^;, all the desires which their rude life called for, or gave rise 
 to. Some of those originating from the former African stock are esteemed 
 equal In natural Intelligence to whites of like station and opportunities, 
 while the latter could not be raised by any educational process to the same 
 level. 
 
 From this diversity of origin probably arise, to a great extent, contra- 
 dictory opinions regarding the capacities of the race. Some wlio draw 
 their conclusions from their experience among the Inferior, judge that all 
 the tribes, and their American descendants, are equally degraded while 
 others are as much led astray in an opposite direction, by regarding only 
 the superior classes. 
 
 The part of Ontario occupied by these people Is rich in soil and has a 
 climate similar to that of Michigan, yet the general opinion I found cur- 
 rent, both among themselves and others conversant with the subject. Is 
 that It Is not tlie country best adapted to their natural requirements. They 
 are specially liable to phthisical diseases. I should remark, however, that 
 doctors disagree on this point, and I speak with diffidence but think the 
 weight of authority will be found as just expressed. There are many per- 
 sons of advanced age among them. Many of the colored men, who were 
 found In our gaols, were not of the class of fugitive emigrants proper, but 
 of the criminal ranks, who evaded the penalty of crimes committed in the 
 states by escaping across the border. The statistics from penitentiaries 
 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 870 
 
 and prisons, especially during the period before emnnclpatlon, must be re- 
 gurdud with proper lUlowaiice for thcHe circuin.stances. A friend, wlio lias 
 bt;en for many years a county crown attorney, and iuis had much expe- 
 rience of this people, condensed his views thus: — "There was a reaction 
 after the enforced lal)or of slavery. The black folks regarded with suspi- 
 cion any effort to guide them politically or morally. They were not thrifty 
 and did not lay up much for the future, as a rule; but Improved in this, 
 as they learned necessity from experience. They were easily led astray 
 by designing men, among whom were many cunning half-white felio'vs. 
 The offences with which they were charged were generally the result of 
 weakness, rather than vicious disposition, 'm.nor crimes, seldom felo- 
 nies." 
 
 The wonderftd changes in the political and social aspect of the land, 
 whence tliey fled, again pointed these people to that as the land of prom- 
 ise for them and their children. As a summary of their views before these 
 changes, and Irrespective of them, allow me in conclusion to read a short 
 extract from a resolution passed at a colored convention held in Toronto 
 in September, 1851. 
 
 "We feel grateful as a people to her Britannic Majesty's just and pow- 
 erful government for the protection afforded us, and we are fully, per- 
 suaded, from the known fertility of the soil and salubrity of climate of the 
 milder regions of Canada West that this is by far the most desirable place 
 of resort for the colored population to be found on the American conti- 
 nent.'" 
 
 I have now given an imperfect, but I trust, an accurate view of the 
 career of this race in Canada. I claim for our Dominion, but especially 
 for this Ontario province, that she has in her schools and colleges, in her 
 legislatures and in her courts, in heart and in hand, been the good Samar- 
 itan to the sons of Ham in their days of trouble. But it is not in any 
 spirit of boasting, however moderate or patriotic, that I would close this 
 account of our colored fellow citizens and their career in Canada. 
 
 This race must have a great future on this continent, though It is ex- 
 pected that as Africa is opened up, many will return to the land of their 
 forefathers. The Indians become Metes, but the black man becomes 
 blacker, more distinct and more Afiican. He dally grows in numbers, in 
 knowledge and in power. The Canadian problem has worked out happily. 
 We have had no Pharaoh to distress our land of Goshen nor have plagues 
 disturbed us. The former involuntary exodus to the north has been suc- 
 ceeded by a voluntary interchange of people and products over the bridge 
 of peace and freedom which unites our countries. 
 
 The greater problem looms before you. We do not fear the result, if 
 knowledge and science do their part. 
 
 Whatever be our political future, we of the north must share, and bear, 
 with you of the south, one grave united interest, in the working out of 
 this great racial problem in the social destiny of the continent. We say 
 In the words of the pious ^neas : — 
 
 "Una salus ambobus erit." 
 
 SALEM PRESS PUBLISniNO AND FIUNTINO CO. 
 
 
:!I!!1U-I ■ 
 
'H- 
 
 [ JFajirac^ /ori/t Proceeiiings of Canadian Institute, 1890.\ 
 
 THE MAROONS OF JAMAICA AND NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 BY J. C. Hamilton, LL.B. 
 
 Negro slavery disappeared from the Province of Nova Scotia dur- 
 ing the latter part of last century, without legislative enactment, by 
 what Judge Haliburton, in his history of Nova Scotia, calls " latent 
 abandonment beneficial to the country." There remained a number 
 of emancipated provincial slaves and still more Africans who escaped 
 to Nova Scotia from the United States. These latter people were 
 called " Loyal Negroes." In 1821 a party of nearly one hundred of 
 them emigrated to Trinidad. But before this, on the founding of 
 Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa, about twelve hundred went 
 there, arri>dng in 1792. Four years after this, three ships entered 
 the harbour of Halifax, laden with the most extraordinary cargoes 
 that ever entered that port. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, then in 
 command at Halifax, boarded the Dover, was met by Colonel W. D. 
 Quarrell, Commissary- General of Jamaica, with whom Mr. Alexander 
 Ouchterlony was associated, and a detachment of the 96th Regiment 
 drawn up on board to receive him. Black men of good proportions 
 with many women and children, all in neat uniform attire, were 
 mustered in lines. Other transports, the Mary and Anne, were, his 
 Highness was infornjed, about to follow, and the main cargo was six 
 hundred Maroons exiled from Jamaica with soldiers to guard them 
 and meet any attacks from French vessels on the voyage. j 
 
 The Prince was struck with the tine appearance of the black men, 
 but the citizens had heard of how Jamaica had been harried by its 
 black banditti, and were unwilling at first to have them added to>- 
 their population. When the Spaniards first settled in the Antilles in 
 1509, it is estimated by Las Casas, Robertson, ami other historians 
 that the Indian inhabitants amounted to ten million souls, but by the 
 
a PROCBEDINOS OF THE. CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
 
 exercise of the utmost atrocities, these were melted away until none 
 remained to work as slaves in the mines or in the fields. 
 
 " Here," says Las Casas, '* the Spaniards exercised their accustomed 
 cruelties, killing, burning, and roasting men, and throwing them to the 
 dogs, as also by oppressing them with sundry and various torments in 
 the gold mines, as if they had come to rid the earth of these innocent 
 and harmless creatures. So lavish were the Spanish swords of the 
 blood of these poor souls, scarce 200 remaining, the I'est perished 
 without the least knowledge of God." 
 
 When conquering Cuba, Hatuey, a cacique, was captured and 
 fastened to the stake by these emissaries of a Christian King. A 
 Franciscan friar laboured to convert him and promised him immedi- 
 ate admittance into heaven if he would embrace the Christian faith. 
 " Are there any Spaniards " said he, " in that heaven which you des- 
 cribe ] " " Yes," replied the monk, " but only such as are worthy and 
 good." " The best of them," returned the indignant cacique, " have 
 neither worth nor goodness. I will not go to a place where I may 
 meet one of that accursed race." 
 
 As a military measure this cruel murdier was successful. All 
 Cuba submitted awed by the example made of poor Hatuey. When 
 Hispaniola was discovered, the number of its inhabitants was com- 
 puted, says Robertson on the authority of Herrara, to be at least a 
 million, certainly a large and probably excessive estimate. They 
 were I'educed to sixty thousand in fifteen years. Jamaica was not so 
 populous, but not a single descendant of the original inhabitants 
 existed on that island, says Dallas, author of the " History of the 
 Maroons," in 1655, when Venables and Penn, under commission 
 from Oliver Cromwell, landed there. Caves were found where human 
 bones, evidently belonging to the oppressed and harried natives, 
 covered the ground. Famine and cruelty desolated these lovely 
 islands. Then the Spaniards decoyed natives of the Lucayo islands 
 to Hispaniola (now Hayti) to the number of forty thousand, and these 
 shared the fate of the former inhabitants. 
 
 The scheme for importing Africans to take the place of the natives, 
 was then pushed on untler the guise at first of mistaken philanthropy, 
 
> THE MAROONS Of JAMAICA AND NOVA SCOTIA. 3 
 
 but supported by the high prices paid for the victims stolen from 
 Africa. 
 
 Genoese merchants were the first who began a regular commerce 
 in slaves between Africa and America, receiving a patent for this 
 purpose from Charles V., of Spain, in 1518. The traffic had begun 
 however in 1501, and King Ferdinand hfi.d publicly sanctioned it in 
 1511. Captain, afterwards Sir John Hawkins, led the English in the 
 slave trade in 1562. In 1567 he had for partner m such enterprize 
 Sir Francis Drake and secured a cargo of slaves off the Guinea coast. 
 Many charters, incorporating adventurers, with monopoly of ohe im- 
 portation of slaves from Africa, were granted by James I., Charles I., 
 Charles II.; and their successors down to George III. In the single 
 year 1792, twenty Acts of the Imperial Parliament could be enum- 
 erated whereby the trade was sanctioned and encouraged. 
 
 The number of Africans so introduced into Jamaica was soon in 
 excess of the white population, and thus continues to the present day. 
 Bryan Edwards in his " History of Jamaica," summing up the assets 
 of this island, put down 250,000 negroes at £50 stg. each, making 
 £12,500,000 in 1791. Let us remark the extraordinary ethnic revo- 
 lution that has taken place in the Antilles since European interference 
 therein began. As examples, take the two islands Hispaniola and 
 Jamaica. At the time of Columbus, Hispaniola, according to 
 Robertson, had one million souls. Before the year 1500, the aborigines 
 had been sw^pt away, and black and white races were taking their 
 places. Now the population of the two States into which this island 
 is divided, namely, Hayti and the Dominican Republic, jointly 
 amounts to about 900,000 souls. 
 
 The Indian race, to the number of half a million, as stated by old 
 historians, likewise disappeared from Jamaica. In 1881, its popula- 
 tion numbered about 581,000 of whom those of pure white blood 
 seem to have been less than 20,000, the remainder being Africans or 
 of mixed African and European Stocks. Thus it has taken nearly 
 four centuries, with the aid of forced African migration, to fill the 
 places of the aboriginal people. 
 
 But to rovnrt to the time when Spanish rule was brough*-. to an end 
 
 * "■ :■ 
 
4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
 
 in Jamaica, masters and slaves were uneducated, slothful and ])oor. 
 The exports consisted only of some cocoa, hogs, lard and hides. 
 
 When the officers of the great Protector conquered the island, in 
 May 1655, most of the old white settlers fled, or voluntarily removed 
 to other Spanish possessions. In many cases slaves were left on the 
 abandoned plantations. They still sympathized with their old masters 
 and communicated with them. They took to the woods and defiles 
 called "cockpits," with which parts of the island abound. They harassed 
 the English, decoyed away their slaves, destroyed outlying planta- 
 tions, and murdered those who ventured abroad without escort. Tiiis 
 mass of savages increased in numbers, both by natural causes, and by 
 the addition of run-away slaves, and were known as Maroons. They 
 lived on the game, fruits, and edible roots with which the country 
 abounded, and on the ilesh of the wild hog which roamed in the forest 
 and fed on the mast of trees and roots. No country could probably 
 be found more fitted to foster the wild and lawless life which this 
 I'ace passed for nearly two hundred years in Jamaica, with its varied 
 natural resources. 
 
 The name Maroon is generally derived from the word meaning 
 " hog hunters," but some take it from the Spanish " Simaron," mean- 
 ing ape. Either derivation is significant of this people and their 
 habits. In the year 1730, ti'ouble with the Maroons culminated in a 
 revolt, led by Cudjoe, a bold Coromantee negro. His brothers 
 Accompong and Johnny were subordinate leaders, Cuffee and Quaco 
 were his captains. Insurgent slaves, and other ill-disposed negroes 
 joined them. The island was harassed for many months by the bold 
 and skilful attacks of these daring men. It was impossible to take 
 them, as they hid in the glens and " cockpits " enclosed by rocks and 
 mountains. Loyal " Blackshot " negroes and Mosquito Indians from 
 the American coast were hired to aid the soldiery and militia. Peace 
 was at last secured by Colonel Guthrie and Captain Sadlier in March, 
 1738. It was arranged that Cudjoe and his people should settle in ^ 
 the parish called Trelawney, which is in the north-west {)art of 
 Jamaica, the place where the Maroons lived mainly for the next 
 forty yeai's. 
 
THK MAROONS OF JAMAICA AND NOVA SCOTIA. , ft 
 
 They still retained much of their African savagery, were illiterate, 
 and no attempt was made to Christianize them. Their language was 
 a conglomerate of African dialects and Spanish, with a sprinkling of 
 English and French. They had fetish and obeah rites and ceremon- 
 ies. Polygamy obtained, the husbands living in turn two days with 
 each wife. As to the poor wives, the labour imposed on them and 
 the miseries of their situation left them little leisure to quarrel with 
 each other. A white superintendent lived in each of the Maroon 
 towns as a magistrate and the means of communication with the 
 whites a"d the Government, and he with the chief men had judicial 
 power in ordinary cases. Cases of felony were reserved for the 
 regular magistrates and courts with white judges. 
 
 By 1795 the Trelawney Maroons numbered about 1,400 ; then the 
 secood war began. Lord Balcarres being Governor. Montague was 
 the leading Maroon chief ; the English Colonels Sandford and Galli- 
 more and many men were slain. Blackshot Indians were hired again 
 to aid the redcoats, of whom there were more than 1,000, and the 
 militia. Still the war lasted with much loss and expense to the 
 island. 
 
 Col. Quarrell had heard of the Chasseurs and their famous dogs 
 used in Cuba to track and secure marauders and runaways both white 
 and black. After much discussion the colonel was dispatched in a 
 vessel to Cuba, and secured 40 Chasseurs and 100 dogs, with which 
 he returned. The effect their arrival had on the Maroons was wonder- 
 ful. The dogs were not even let loose, but were paraded with the 
 soldiers. The terror they excited, added to weariness of the struggle, 
 led the insurgents to gradually come in and submit. All who had 
 not surrendered by a certain day, six hundred in number were, as 
 they came in, sent off to Montego Bay and Spanish Town under guard. 
 The war had cost the island $1,000,000. The Legislature voted 
 $100,000 more, and ordered the 600 to be banished from Jamaica. 
 Colonel Quarrell and Mr. Ouchterlony were put in command of the 
 three ships which carried them and their guard of redcoats, and so 
 they came to Halifax. Colonel Quarrell had recently travelled in 
 Upper Canada, in which Governor Simcoe was then extending a 
 system of self-government. The Colonel praised the Governor's 
 administration, and told the Jamaica people of the large cultivated 
 
6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
 
 districts and beautiful towns then rising in the forests north of Lake 
 Ontario. He desired to settle the Maroons in Upper Canada, as ♦ 
 he also thought the climate suitable to them. The Assembly, how- 
 ever, with the approval of the Home Goveri)ment, decided on Halifax. 
 It seems strange that tb^ Home Government had not learned from 
 the experience of the " Loyal negroes " to avoid the choice of a place 
 with climate so unsuited to the race. The vessels arrived and were 
 inspected as stated. The Maroon men were asked what they would 
 do, and expressed willingness to work for " Massa King " and *' Massa 
 King's son." The General and Admiral and Governor, Sir John 
 Wentworth, arranged terms with the people. The Maroons were 
 landed from the vessels — the Dover, Mary, and Ann — on which they 
 had come. Admiral Richery, with a threatening French squadron, 
 was off the coast, and it was desirable to get the fortifications com- 
 pleted. The Maroons worked on them. They laboured mainly 
 on earthworks since obliterated by more extensive and permanent 
 improvements to the great citadel and harbour made when the Duke 
 of Wellington was Prime Minister. Maroon hill near Halifax still 
 retains their name. Their chief men were Colonels Montague and 
 Johnston, Major Jarratt, and Captains Smith, Charles Shaw, David 
 Shaw, Dunbar, jind Harding. 
 
 For two years these people lived in Nova Scotia, but made little 
 progress in civilization or religion. Most of them were settled on 
 lands at Preston ; some families were removed to Boydville. A 
 schoolmaster was appointed and the religious training was entrusted 
 to an orthodox gentleman, the Rev. B. G. Gray, and a cui'ate with 
 glebe house and salary supplied. Sir John Wentworth asked for a 
 grant of £240 per annum, to be applied in religious instruction and 
 education. He hoped this course would " reclaim them to the Church 
 of England, and disseminate Christian piety, morality, and loyalty, 
 among them." He also sent an order to England for many things 
 required by tliem, among which were " 40 gross coat and 60 gross 
 ■white vest metal buttons, strong ; Device an Alligator holding 
 wheat ears and an olive branch. Inscription : Jamaica to the 
 Maroons, 1796" He described the people as " healthy, peaceful, 
 orderly, inoffensive, and highly deli^Jhted with the country." 
 
 The Commissioners, Messrs. Quarrell and Ouchterlony, with not less 
 
THE MAROONS OP JAMAICA ASli NOVA SCOTIA. 7 
 
 than three chief men of the Maroons, held court for the trial of 
 smaller offences, a custom introduced from Jamaica, In time both 
 the Commissioners resigned through disagreement with the Governor 
 and were succeeded by Captain Howe, 'ind he by Mr. Theophilus 
 Chamberlain. The two winters which ensued were unusually severe, 
 and the Maroons, unaccustomed to such weather, suffered and became 
 discojii raged. They became generally dissatisfied, refused to work 
 regularly, and were addicted to cockfighting, card playing, and the 
 like amusements. 
 
 The zeal of the worthy Governor who was a very sanguine philan- 
 thro|Mst, had been well intended, but " little effect was produced 
 from weekly sermons on doctrines of faith, delivered to old and 
 young promiscuously in a language not understood," says Edwards. 
 " Some smoked their pipes, and some slept during the services." The 
 old chief Montague, whom all the Maroons honored, was asked if he 
 had undestood the sermon, and wishing not to appear ignorant, 
 replied : " Massa parson say, no mus tief, no mus meddle with some- 
 body wife, no mus quarrel, mus set down softly." 
 
 The Governor assembled the men and urged them to adopt 
 Christian marriage customs, but after much discussion they would 
 say : " Dat white people fashion, dat no do for we poor Maroon." 
 They referred Sir John and his good friends to their wives, " If you 
 please, you may make the women take swear, we men can't do 
 so," meaning the marriage vow, to hold to one wife. The women 
 were called in but none would resign her right to her husband, or to 
 such divided interest as she held in him. They all objected to " take 
 swear," and went off, says Dallas, in an uproar clamouring at the men 
 for making such a proposal. Some of these colored ladies even 
 broke out in " insolent observations on the latitude in which some of 
 the greatest characters known to them had indulged." 
 
 On 21st April, 1797, Sir John Wentworth, in a letter to the Duke 
 of Clarence, said of the Maroons : " From my observation of them, 
 neither Jamaica or any other island would be long at peace, nor 
 secure from insurrection, were these people among them." . , . 
 I am convinced they will be a useful and faithful corps to oppose an 
 invading enemy. "They do not wish to live by industry, but prefer war 
 
8 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
 
 and hunting." It had proved impossible to change the "leopard's spots." 
 Two years under the regime of the amiable Grovernor with the most 
 approved appliances and surroundings of civilization had not worked 
 the expected miracle. The Halifax experiment had failed. It 
 appeared too that the Maroons were divided into three tribes jealous 
 cf each other. One captain complained that he had not a well furnished 
 house and cellar to exerci; e hospitality. Another longed for the yams, 
 bananas, and cocoa of Jamaica. A third wanted hogs to hunt. The 
 weekly sermons were unattended. Parents did not object to bring 
 their children to be baptized, but as to marriage adhered to their old 
 free customs with polygamy, and funerals were conducted with in- 
 herited Coromantee ceremonies. The Government still treated them 
 Avith kindness, but found watchfulness necessary. 
 
 In Apiil, 1799, two officers and fifty militia men were for a time 
 posted near the Preston settlement to guard against threatened dis- 
 order. Before this when Halifax was threatened by the French, who 
 had attacked Newfoundland, the Maroon men had been formed into 
 companies, and their chiefs had received military commissions which 
 flattered their vanity. 
 
 But they were not self-supporting and the cautious Haligonians 
 fought shy of all responsibility for their maintenance. Jamaica had 
 to foot their bills, adding to the original appropriation of $100,000, 
 further sums of $40,000 and $24,000, but now the Government of 
 that island intimated that it would no longer consider the Maroons as 
 their wards. The mother country did not forsake them, but took 
 their views on the situation, if so we may refer to the very limited 
 knowledge of these people. They had heard of Sierra Leone and 
 asked to be allowed to follow the twelve hundred "Loyal Negroes," 
 who had gone there seven years previously. 
 
 It is not probable that the Maroons knew then that these, their 
 predecessors, to that sultry and unhealthy peninsula on the West Coast 
 of Africa had not shown signs of improvement in civilization or 
 appreciation of the 'choice, now clearly mistaken, of this site as a 
 partly missionary, partly commercial establishment. 
 
 They probably had but limited knowledge of the tornadoes that 
 
THE MAKOONS OF JAMAICA ANU NOVA SCOTIA. 9 
 
 prevail in some seasonH, and of the fog and rain that wrap that land 
 in frequeut gloom. 
 
 Some of these facts were no doubt known to the Duke of Portland, 
 the Crown Minister, whose wisdom had directed them, against Colonel 
 Quarrell's advice, to Halifax with its winter snow and fog. His 
 Grace decided to remove them to equatorial heat and fog, and hoped 
 that their military spirit and training in Nova Scotia would be in- 
 strumental in keeping the surrounding savages in order, and useful 
 even as an example to the " Loyal Negroes," so called, who lacked 
 discipline and cliaracter. Governor Wentworth, now that his mis- 
 sionary zeal had cooled, and Admiral Richery with the French fleet 
 was no longer off the coast, seemed to be possessed of but one desire; 
 to see them depart from Nova Scotia without exception. On the 
 sixth day of August, 1800, Sir John Wentworth informed the Duke 
 that five hundred and fifty-one Maroons had embarked on the Asia 
 and set sail from Halifax. Four had deserted to avoid soins. 
 Many, Sir John stated, regretted to leave, and all expressed gratitude 
 to Nova Scotia. They arrived in Sierra Leone, in October, 1800. 
 As caged animals let loose, seek again their native wilds, so did these 
 brave people return to the land of their ancestors, holding fast to their 
 old inbred customs and superstitions. 
 
 The spirit of Saxon civilization passed lightly over them, but did 
 not penetrate their breasts. But a kindly feeling prevailed, and the 
 Maroon has not since raised his hand against the white man. The 
 children and grand children of the Maroons of TrelaWuey, may now 
 be found on the West Coast of Africa. 
 
 They are reported to have aided the Government in repressing 
 revolts of savage tribes, and in opening to the advance of freedom 
 and civilization the Dark Continenc, from which their ancestors were 
 torn by the cruel Saxon. Doubtless the brave deeds of their fore- 
 fathers, who defied the redcoats and held their own so long in the 
 defiles and cockpits of Jamaica, and the terrors of ice cold Nova 
 Scotia are still the theme of song and story in the cottages of Freetown 
 by the Sierra Leone rivers and Isles de Loss. Doubtless there 
 tired mothers still crying babes to rest with tales inherited from their 
 parents of the tt'rrible Chasseurs and their savage dogs of war. 
 
10 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
 
 Note. — Since the above abstract was put in i)rint I have received 
 an interesting communication from Hon. E J. Barclay, Secretary of 
 State of Liberia. He gives gratifying information as to the progress 
 made and position taken bv some of these people on tUo West Coast, 
 stating : " The only family that I have known to come direct from 
 the Dominion was Henry Rankin and wife, who came from a place 
 called Muskoka. They arrived in 1873 or '4. Mr. Rankin has 
 since died." . . As regards the " Loyal Negroes," yclept Nova 
 Scotians, on the coast, who were sent to Sierra Leone, and the 
 Maroons who followed, J have, through the kindness of Mr. Boyle, 
 Liberian Consul at Sierra Leone, heen furnished with a list of the 
 most prominent of these persons in the British West African 
 colonies : — 
 
 JVova Scotians. — John B. Elliott, J.P., J. W. Elliott, and John 
 Priddy, of Sierra Leone ; Rev, S. Trotter Williams and Mr. Porter, 
 government contractor, of Waterloo ; J. F. Eastman, M.D., Assistant 
 Colonial Surgeon, Gold Coast Colony. 
 
 Maroons. — Dr. T. Spilbury, Colonial Surgeon, Gambia ; J. Gabbi- 
 don. Commissariat clerk ; and Hon. Francis Smith, Assistant Judge, 
 Gold Coast Colony; Nash H. Williams, B.L., of Freetown; and 
 Mr. Samuels, Trelawnoy Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone. 
 
 There is a Maroon church at Freetown called St, John's, of which 
 the Rev. J. A. Cole — an able native African — is the ])astor. It will 
 be noticed that the old home in Jamaica is remembered in the name 
 of a Freetown street. 
 
 
J