Sarith continued her life just as in the past. She went out to feasts, to parties. Her child was fed by the wet nurse and further cared for by Mini-mini. But Esther, too, felt that Sarith’s behaviour was not as it should be. She noted with some consternation how her sister was going from the one party to the next and seemed to have forgotten completely that she was now a married woman. When she remarked on this, Sarith thought that it was certainly better being in town than at Klein Paradijs, but having your sister’s eye on you was not ideal, in fact. No, she would have to get her own house in Paramaribo. Julius would have to arrange this for her. A house of her own, with furniture and slaves. Then she would not have to rely on the hospitality of others and would be free to stay in town as long as she wanted. She would now have to be really sweet to Julius, and around a month later, when he visited the town again, she immediately agreed to return with him to Klein Paradijs.
138 The Licensed Society of Suriname (Geoctroyeerde Sociëteit van Suriname) was established in 1683 by the Dutch West India Company, the City of Amsterdam and Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck to manage the new colony, which had been exchanged for Nieuw Amsterdam (later New York) through the Treaty of Breda, 1667. The society was disbanded in 1795 and a colonial government was instituted.
139 ‘No meri mi’, ‘Kibri mi’, ‘Holi mi’, ‘Gado Sabi’.
140 Protection through magical forces.
141 In Suriname, Cabale.
142 The river running past Amsterdam and into the North Sea. It served as Amsterdam’s harbour.
143 “Misi, misi wan sani leki katun a fadon komopo na loktu, ai bron!”
144 “No wan bakra mus kon mandi nanga mi.”
145 “Fa den bakra disi morsu so dan?”
146 “No kon taigi mi dati bakra sabi wroko nanga den anu.”
147 “Mi? No no misi, mi no wani.”
148 In English this would refer to a common or village green.
149 “Kande a mise e frigiti tamara.”
150 “Y’e suku yu mati no? A gowe yere.”
151 “Dan suma y’e suku so dan?”
152 “Na di dyonsro de gowe, a gowe nanga en uma.”
153 “Nanga en uma? Kande misi mene en m’ma?”
154 “No, no, e m’ma no de, ma Hendrik habi wan uma now, misi Meta, wan mooi malata uma, den gowe so sei.”
155 “San de fu du Mini-mini, y’e siki no? We go sribi pikinso.”
156 “Ké ba, ké poti.”
157 “Meki mi si en, ma.”
158 “Misi, yu habi bere no?”
159 “A moi no, Mini-mini?”
160 “A moi ya misi, a moi baya.”
CHAPTER IX
RUTGER
An invitation to a party at the Lust en Rust Plantation had just been delivered. Rutger sat in his office with the card in his hand. Yet another party. He didn’t feel at all like it, for it meant another five days away from the office. And all these parties were so much of a muchness. They were all held for the sole purpose of flaunting one’s wealth. The swagger of expensive clothing and jewellery, the houses with their finest furnishings, most extravagant crystal, silver and porcelain, an excess of food and drink. The planter was doing well! What prosperity; how things were flourishing!
All this wealth and splendour, all this extravagance, were, however, more fiction than fact, thought Rutger to himself. The City of Amsterdam had bought the Van Sommelsdijck family’s shares in April 1770. This meant that two-thirds of the colony was now the property of Amsterdam, and one-third that of the West Indische Compagnie. Even in Governor Mauricius’ time, many Amsterdam banks and merchant houses had been of the opinion that the plantations in the west represented the best investments. In the 1760’s, sugar, coffee and cocoa commanded high prices. Most of the produce was transported to Amsterdam.
The annual turnover of these commodities could be counted in millions. Especially in Amsterdam huge profits were made, and it was no illusion that many of the wonderful mansions along the famous Amsterdam canals were built as a result of the era of slavery in Suriname and through the blood, sweat and toil of thousands of slaves.
In any event, the Amsterdam merchant houses were all too ready to pour money into the Suriname plantations. They sent agents who had the authority to arrange mortgages for the planters. If this was successful, then the agent would receive a percentage as commission. The colonists were completely dazzled by all this projected fortune. Everyone suddenly wanted to become a plantation owner: people who could hardly distinguish a cocoa plant from a coffee plant and who thought that crystals of sugar fell from the pressed sugarcane. Almost everyone, whether formerly a cobbler, a butcher or simply a good-for-nothing, everyone had to become a planter and saw himself as a rich plantation owner sitting in his easy chair on the veranda.