They were green, and their milk I thought the most refreshing and
delicious draught I had ever taken.
The vesper bells at Port Praya were now summoning the poor black
friars to their devotion; and a stir and bustle appeared among the
little black boys and girls, of whose presence I was till then
ignorant. They ran from the coverts, and assembled near the front of
the only cottage visible to my eye. A tall elderly negro man came out,
and took his seat on a mound of turf a few feet from the cottage; he
was followed by a lad, about twenty years of age, who bore in his
hand a formidable cowskin. For the information of my readers, I must
observe that a cowskin is a large whip, made like a riding whip, out
of the hide of the hippopotamus, or sea-cow, and is proverbial for
the severity of punishment it is capable of inflicting. After the
executioner came, with slow and measured steps, the poor little
culprits, five boys and three girls, who, with most rueful faces,
ranged themselves, rank and file, before the old man.
I soon perceived that the hands were turned up for punishment; but the
nature of the offence I had yet to learn: nor did I know whether any
order had been given to strip. With the boys this would have been
supererogatory, as they were quite naked. The female children had on
cotton chemises, which they slowly and reluctantly rolled up, until
they had gathered them close under their armpits.
The old man then ordered the eldest boy to begin his Pater Noster;
and simultaneously the whipper-in elevated his cowskin by way of
encouragement.
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