The Cost of Sugar(11)

In front of the building was a large, high veranda that ran the whole breadth of the house. You entered through a renaissance-style door with a highly polished copper door-knocker and came immediately into the large front hall, with its own particular style of furnishing, typical of the colony. Usually there stood on the one side a piano, above which hung a large mirror with a heavily gilded frame; in the middle a huge mahogany table with a sizeable chandelier hanging above it, to be lit by candles. Around the table four rocking chairs and often along the wall another set of mahogany chairs. Two sofas stood opposite each other, and in one of the four corners there would be a large mahogany wall unit, a chiffonier or tallboy, on which would be standing all kinds of objects in glass and earthenware and also crystal glasses, smaller glasses and carafes with wine, liqueur and Madeira. In its cupboards glittered the expensive porcelain and silver tableware. On the walls hung paintings, a pendulum clock and candlesticks with finely chamfered glass reflectors. The windows had Venetian blinds and were spanned with green gauze. Magnificent curtains of silk or cotton were tied with loops and bows along the sides of the windows.

At the Van Omhoogs’ there was, next to the front hall, a sitting room that served as an office. Behind that there was a second sitting room. The dining room was behind the front hall. At the back of the house there ran a wide gallery where tea or coffee was taken. At the end of the gallery the minor cooking quarters were to be found: a pantry and the inside kitchen itself. A large selection of plates stood in long rows along the walls, and under the open sink were the copper pans and baking dishes. The staircase leading to the upper floor also opened onto the rear gallery. On the upper floor there were four spacious rooms. In the bedrooms stood large, high mahogany bedsteads decorated with copper bands and globes. In the grounds of the house stood the kitchen in which the real cooking was done, the large wash-house and the building used for storage. Then, a little further away, stood the slaves’ dwellings, in two rows facing each other. In between there was the brick-lined well, and nearer the house there was also a large rainwater tank. Behind the slaves’ dwellings there was yet another garden with all kinds of fruit trees.





When the boat landed near the Platte Brug18, Rutger bade everyone a warm farewell and walked through the Molenstraat and the Kerkstraat to his lodgings, followed by his slave Alex. When Rutger had arrived in Suriname, to be greeted by administrator Van Omhoog on the waterside, Van Omhoog had the sixteen-year-old Alex there with him and had told his young assistant that Alex was his and that he would have to see to it that the boy attended to his slightest whim and accompanied him constantly. From that moment on, Alex literally followed him all the time, helped him with dressing and undressing, put his shoes on and took them off, stood ready with drinks, pipe and tobacco, and when Rutger was going out, had his hat and walking stick ready. Now, too, he walked behind Rutger, pushing the case with his master’s clothes on a hired wheelbarrow.

Mrs van Omhoog was pleased to see her lodger after an absence of almost a month. He had gone to visit two plantations along the Suriname River that fell under the office’s jurisdiction, and she had understood that, his being so close to Joden-Savanna, he would be a guest at the annual Feast of Tabernacles. The Van Omhoogs had no children of their own, and the lady of the house found it very pleasing to have this young gentleman in her home. She at least had someone to talk to, for Mr van Omhoog was a quite a taciturn individual. She also had plenty of time on her hands, for there were four slave-girls, three slave-boys and an errand boy around the house. Mr van Omhoog had been in the colony for fifteen years now as representative of an Amsterdam merchant banking firm, and in a few years’ time, as he had some time previously written to his director in Holland, he wanted very much to be able to retire and enjoy some well-earned rest. The director had sent his nephew to the colony as assistant to Mr van Omhoog with the intention that Rutger would take over from him when he stopped working at some time in the future.

There was certainly a lot to learn. Rutger had to go through the books of past years to get an overall impression of how things were. In the beginning it was especially difficult to get a grip on the prices of things, since everything had previously been expressed in pounds of sugar. A few years earlier, card money had been introduced to Suriname: a kind of bank note with an official stamp, coat-of-arms and seal, in denominations of 1 guilder, 2 guilders 50 cents, and 10 guilders. Remarkably, the card money was made in the form of playing cards bearing images of diamonds and clubs, kings and jacks. Upon seeing this money for the first time, Rutger had asked Van Omhoog the reason for these illustrations, and received the answer that the government had probably arranged for this as an aid for the many illiterates.