The Cost of Sugar(18)

When Elza, Rutger and David had withdrawn from the rest of the company, they encountered Sarith, who wanted to go along, too, for she had never witnessed anything like this, and asked whether her companion, the young teacher at the Yeshiva (Jewish school) who had been in the colony only three weeks, could also go.

The five, accompanied by Maisa and the old slave Felix, made their way silently to the open space in the rainforest where the slaves were holding their celebrations. The beating of the drums could be heard from far away. As they approached they saw all the dark, half-naked bodies, lit by the flames of the large fire that was burning in the middle of the clearing. They were not noticed, for at that moment a slave was busy dancing with a small bench between his legs. His feet moved ever faster to the beat of the drums, but not for one second did the bench drop. A woman now went into a trance. Her body began to shudder. She began to dance while the onlookers sang loudly. Rutger could not believe his eyes. The new Jewish teacher, too, looked at the sight with eyes wide open. Then another man who, while dancing, suddenly, before anyone realized what was happening, jumped into the fire and danced for at least two minutes on the red-hot embers before a woman pulled him out.

The drums beat out their ceaseless rhythm, and all the negroes around the fire were moving their bodies one way or another to the beat of the music. David looked sideways at Sarith. She had a strange look in her eyes and also began to move her body, slowly but surely towards the slaves. David caught Sarith by the arm. She had such a strange expression and heard nothing of David’s cry to her. The movements of her body became increasingly violent. The teacher and Rutger now also looked at Sarith. Without another word, David grabbed Sarith by the shoulder and said, “Rutger, help me: we’ve got to get her away.”

As David and Rutger walked away with Sarith between them, Maisa said to Elza, “It is better for misi herself to leave, too.”25

And so they all returned to the ball, where some guest or other who had partaken somewhat liberally of the drinks called another toast to the couple. He was, however, so drunk that he almost swallowed his tongue. Whatever the wish might have been that he expressed, no-one could understand it, especially since he had even forgotten the names of the newly-weds.





OCTOBER 1766


Elza and Rutger had lived for two months now in their house on the Wagenwegstraat. Maisa, Amimba and Ta Dani had accompanied them from Hébron. When Elza was still at home and it was being discussed which slaves should go with her, she had said straightaway at the beginning of the conversation, “Maisa is going,” and everyone had laughed out loud. Papa said teasingly, “Imagine if Maisa did not go with you, that would be the end for both of you,” referring to the fact that from the day Elza was born, Maisa had never left her side. Hesitatingly, Elza said, “And Ashana?”

But papa answered immediately, “No, my dearest. You know I’d like to grant you everything in the world, but Ashana isn’t leaving.” Elza had asked nothing more. She had tried her best, but she had known in advance that papa would never let Ashana go. Ashana was after all the only link he still kept with his late darling Elizabeth. Both he and Ashana had seen Elizabeth die and it was Ashana who looked after papa and did everything for him: keeping an eye on his food and his clothes, massaging his back when he returned weary from a long day in the tent boat or a journey on horseback. She knew precisely how he wanted his bath-water, how the pillows on his bed should be arranged. In short, Ashana cared for her masra as nobody else ever could.

No, Elza could take Amimba. She was in principle a slave-woman for the fields, but she was in fact too weak for that work, but still young. Under Maisa’s gentle instruction she could certainly become a good house-slave. Ta Dani was an elderly slave who worked in the timber store. He had come from Africa as a salt-water negro26 and was at Hébron even before Levi had married Elizabeth. He was now old and infirm and could not really be used for the plantation, but he could do minor repair work for Elza and keep an eye on the grounds.

Rutger’s Alex was there too, of course, and Rutger had furthermore bought a strong, young slave named Kwasi, a Karboeger-negro27, and when Rutger had said that he was still looking for a cook, Kwasi had asked his new boss to buy his wife, Lena, also a Karboeger, who could cook really well.

So now Elza was living in her new house with her husband and six slaves. Maisa slept in the house, in a small room behind the pantry, and the other five slaves slept in the accommodation in the grounds.

Since Rutger was away at the office during the day, Elza had naturally very little to do. Maisa ensured that the household ran smoothly. So Elza would go and visit former classmates from the French school, the majority of whom were now also married, some already having a child. Or she went to visit Mrs van Omhoog, or received visitors herself. But most of all she went to visit Esther de Ledesma. In that house, where she herself had lived for two years as a girl, she always felt at ease. Although – it was a very different household from when she and Sarith had lived there some years earlier. The twins, now four years old, terrorized everyone with their roguish antics, and their little brother, Ezau, now just one year old, tended to be almost forgotten amongst all the fuss surrounding Masra Sammy and Masra Jossy.