The Cost of Sugar(71)

The bush itself held enough dangers for them. To begin with there were the mosquitoes, ants, mites and so forth. Because their presence must not be detected, no ‘smoke’ pot (or smudge pot) could be made. Sleeping in a hammock was almost impossible. Many soldiers simply slept on the ground with their heads in a hollow, covered by a hammock. If they came across a creek, it was crossed on felled tree trunks. A swamp was more difficult. Since its extent was unknown, they simply went through it. They were up to their waists in water in which boa constrictors or crocodiles would be lurking. The most dangerous were the biri-biris – swamps covered with a thick crust on which grass and reeds were growing. You could therefore not see that there was such a swamp until you were actually on it. Then the crust would break and you or your companions would disappear into the deep.

During the previous five years the bush-negroes or Alukus had raided more than thirty plantations and had been involved in heavy fighting with the colonial army on at least twenty-five occasions. There was not the slightest question of the troops actually knowing what they were doing. They would go on an expedition lasting several weeks to the Alukus’ area in the hope of killing or catching a few. That must be possible. Such dumb creatures as the negroes: no problem at all. The men who were recounting all this had to laugh. One of them said, “Whites think that the negroes are stupid. Well, we let them see who’s stupid.”167

Caesar, Alex and all the others laughed, too, and answered, “Yes, we let them see who’s stupid.”168

It was long after midnight when Alex crept back home. In his small room in the grounds in the Gravenstraat he lay awake a long time, thinking back over everything he had heard that evening. What would Caesar do, he wondered. What would he do if he were in Caesar’s position? He didn’t know …





ALEX


The following evenings Alex went time and time again to the Zwarte Jagers’ camp. The men sat talking for hours on end, usually in a whisper so that the white soldiers on duty would not hear them. Caesar himself said little, and Alex hardly spoke, either, but he listened intently to all the stories. Especially the porters, who sometimes secretly joined the Boninegroes, had much to tell, and in this way Alex could form a good impression of what was happening there in the bush.

In April an extensive commando force had been sent out under the command of Captain Oorsinga and Lieutenant Keller. That was common knowledge. The order was to take the escapees’ fort. At the beginning of May, Oorsinga had let it be known that they had reached the fort. It had then seemed that taking the fort would be just a question of days. It was now the end of June and the soldiers had still not succeeded. What had happened was that the seriously wounded Captain Oorsinga had been replaced by Captain Halthaus.

Then suddenly the news swept through Paramaribo that the group was returning, mission unaccomplished. Only half their original number, the others having succumbed to wounds or disease, they dribbled back to the town, starving and exhausted. They had had to abandon the siege. With the bush-negroes’ howls of derision and calls of, “Shall we just come and lie in your arms?” ringing in their ears, they had undertaken the ignominious journey back to base. The slaves could not help laughing their heads off when they heard this story and saw the bedraggled troop of soldiers plodding along the streets. Ha, those bakras (whites) were getting their comeuppance. What had they expected?

The desperate government now decided to grant a general pardon to everyone who lay down his weapons and gave himself up to the whites. How Baron, Boni and Joli-Coeur and all their men and women laughed at this! Surrender, now it was so clear that they were on the winning hand? Never! They wanted no general pardon. They wanted real peace, on both sides, with demands from their side. If that were impossible, they would fight on until the whole country was freed from these wretched bakras.

In the camp Alex heard what had happened. This was narrated by some porters who had been on the expedition. Suppressed laughter, for the bakras must not notice anything. One of the men recounted …

The soldiers had almost reached Buku but had been unable to get through the swamp that lay in front of the village. If they fired, then the Bonis returned the fire. Captain Oorsinga was hit in the neck by a bullet very early on. While the troops were stationed at the fort, the Alukus took the opportunity to carry out further raids on plantations. The Rozenbeek Plantation was raided, the whites were murdered and the slaves were freed. At the end of June it was the turn of the Poelwijk Plantation. All the ammunition and gunpowder were taken from Poelwijk, and Baron, who had been the leader of that attack, let it be known that all plantations in the Cottica and Boven-Commewijne area would disappear.