The Cost of Sugar(79)

Elza heard footsteps on the stairs and Jonathan, who was playing on the rear veranda with Afanaisa, shouted, “Mama, here is an aunt.”

Mia van Henegouwen came in. She was now Mrs Willemsen. Elza was pleased to see her. They were very good friends and had been right from the time that Elza and Sarith were attending the French School.

Mia said, “I thought you would already be lying in bed with a daughter next to you.”

Elza laughed, “I wish that were the case, but it won’t be long now and, yes, I am hoping for a daughter, with so many boys in the family. Esther has five of them, I myself two, my brother David three, Rebecca has two and Sarith one.”

In this way the talk turned to Sarith. Did Elza know what was being said about Sarith? She had recently had various guests at Klein Paradijs, including Lieutenant Andersma and three friends, and even there under her husband’s nose Sarith had managed to go with the lieutenant. Elza knew about it. Everyone was talking about it. She and Maisa had just been discussing it at length.

“Could you not talk to her, Elza?” asked Mia.

“Me, why me?” asked Elza, surprised.

“Oh, you were always such good friends and I always used to think that you had a good influence on her. You know, that time with Charles?”

Yes, Elza knew about that time with Charles. How Sarith was meeting him in secret, when everyone thought that the three girls were together, and how often she had asked Sarith not to do this. But that was all very long ago now.

“Oh no, not me,” said Elza. “Oh, we were indeed very good friends in the past, but now everyone has her own life to lead. In fact I have very little contact with Sarith. She has her own circle of friends, you see.”

Yes, Mia understood that. “Can it be that her husband really knows nothing about it?” she asked again.

Elza did not know. Everyone was indeed talking about it, but as these things always go, the husband is the last person to hear. And this was also the case here. All Suriname knew that Sarith was having an affair with Lieutenant Andersma. Everyone knew about it, except Julius.

171 Surdati Bakra.

172 “Efu yu prefuru fu taki wan sani, mi e seni yu fu wan pansboko en mi e seri yu go na pranasi Suynigheid.”

173 “Nono Misi, mi no e taki noti.”



174 “San yu taki depe?”

175 “Noti, mi no taki noti.”

176 “Efu yu taki wan sani, me e koti yu tongo en mi e seri yu.”



177 Declaration of freedom.





CHAPTER XI





FEBRUARY 1775: JAN


Eleven cannon shots resounded from Fort Zeelandia to greet the ship, and the ship responded likewise. Jan stood among the many soldiers on the ship and looked towards the white town that was coming closer and closer. So this was Paramaribo. It all looked so spick and span, but he would still have been pleased had it looked grey and filthy. Being confined in the small ship for sixty-one days amidst all these ruffians had been no picnic. They had left Amsterdam around the middle of December. They had first had their fill of rough weather. Waves as tall as houses had crashed continually over the ship. It had been cold and stuffy, because all the hatches had been battened down and heating was non-existent. Later the weather had become warmer and one could at least get some fresh air. The food had been terrible. No fresh meat, only salted peas. According to the captain, this was particularly good for the men, as they could get used to what they would be getting in the bush. But worst of all were the fights between the soldiers and the sailors. Time and time again this happened, and the punishments became increasingly severe.

One of the soldiers who had used a knife during a fight with a sailor was pinned to the main-mast with the knife. He had to remain there until he had freed himself. Both of them were then keelhauled and lost six months’ pay. Two sailors caught having sex with each other were simply thrown overboard. Jan had stayed as much as possible out of the way of all these rough men and he was thanking God that he had survived all the diseases such as scurvy and diarrhoea and would soon be on dry land again.

He had had such expectations for his journey to Suriname. Not in the first place to fight – he was really no soldier – but because of the gold he was planning to find here. And while Jan looked at the steadily approaching, friendly, white little town, he thought back yet again to all the things he had heard about this marvellous country, and what had led him to decide to become a soldier, to fight the bush-negroes.

In Holland he had been living with his parents in a small farming community near Amsterdam. Father was a farm labourer. They were poor, for Pa wasn’t a permanent farmhand, but was taken on only when there was a lot to do: in the summer, for instance, for the haymaking and at harvest-time. In the winter he was often unemployed and then carved spoons and bowls out of willow. Sometimes his mother did have work in the winter, helping the farmer’s wife with weaving or at the slaughter, working a whole day with nothing more than a pan of cooked peas or a side of bacon as payment.