1726 Scipio van de Cust
This testimony by Scipio van de Cust1 is part of the voluminous records of the trial of a group of slaves who had escaped from their owners and hid out in the Blaauwberg, Tygerberg and Koeberg areas, from where they raided several farms over a period of six months, and other slaves who had aided them in the process.2 It vividly describes their night attack on the widow Ten Damme’s farmhouse and the responses of the slaves and the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ who lived there. Scipio felt no affinity with the slave runaways, whom he describes as ‘bad men’.3 The chief target of the slave attackers was the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ Adam van Dijk who, to their frustration, escaped into the night.4
Footnotes
-
‘Van de Cust’ referred to the east coast of India, or the Coromandel region (Bradlow & Cairns 1978: 126). ↩
-
The gang had been active in the area for several months, and alarmed the authorities so much that a massive commando of ninety men was sent out to capture them (Penn 1999: 85-6). Nineteen slaves were charged with criminal activities, which included theft, cattle theft, conspiracy to murder, housebreaking, violent robbery, public disorder and maintenance of slave runaways. The eijscheijschLiterally ‘claim’ or ‘demand.’ This is strictly speaking the eijsch ende conclusie without the final part about sentencing, but the term is often used as a shorthand for the whole document. covers eighty pages, and the documentation includes a sententie, CJ 785, ff. 12-55, and the testimonies of the accused, as well as a number of witnesses, CJ 330, ff. 475-982. One slave died in prison during the proceedings, three were hanged, and the remaining fifteen were whipped and branded, and then returned to their owners with the stipulation that they work in chains for four years (for eight of them) or three years (for the remaining seven), CJ 9, ff. 47-8 [1726]. ↩
-
Biewenga (1999: 110) cites this as an example of slave loyalty to their owners. Certainly everyone inside the farmstead, including the slaves, were under attack, and Scipio refused to join the runaways, although it may be, considering this was a statement to the judicial authorities, that he was particularly keen to emphasise his opposition to those facing serious criminal charges. ↩
-
This may have been because he was in a position of chief authority on the widow’s farm and was defending the house with his gun, but the runaways’ concern to capture him might suggest a deeper motive. Aaron van Bengalen, one of the attackers, was owned by Ten Damme and worked on her cattle outpost, so is likely to have come under Adam van Dijk’s command. As overseers, knechtenknechtenLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ were often the focus of slave resentment (see 1761 Johan Spring in ’t Veld, n. 1). Aaron had proposed to his fellow runaways that they should break into the house, tie up the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ and murder him before stealing its contents, but while some agreed, others responded that they only needed to tie him up, not to kill him, CJ 785, ff. 33-4. Clearly Aaron bore Adam van Dijk a particular grudge, as is borne out by the testimony of Schipper van de Cust Coromandel, who claims that Aaron van Bengalen told his fellow runaways when they wanted to take some of the plates in the house: ‘mijn juffrouws goed moeten wij niet meede neemen, maar de knegts goed wel, die heeft mijn bloed gesoogen, ik sal het zijne ook weder zuijgen’ (we must not take my juffrouwjuffrouwStrictly speaking this contraction of jonkvrouw was the form of address for a noble lady (as with jonker, the contraction of jonkheer, ‘lord’), but at the Cape it was more generally used by settlers for women with some social status. Moreover, in the eighteenth century this was also the term slaves used to address their female owners, alongside nonje.’s stuff, but those of the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’, he has sucked my blood, and I will suck his again), CJ 330, f. 952. Although Aaron was a ringleader, he was not among those convicted, and seems to have avoided capture. ↩
CJ 330 Criminele Process Stukken, 1726, ff. 939-44.
Statement, given on the request of the honourable independent fiscal, Adriaan van Kervel, by the slave Scipio van de Cust, belonging to Juffrouw Helena Gulix, widow of the late Willem ten Damme, who had been chief surgeon here, the contents being as follows:
That the testifier is stationed on the farm of his mistress, named the Brakke Fontain, and when, on a certain Saturday evening at ten o’clock, at his guess, he – as also the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’, named Adam van Dijk, and the slaves Schipper and Floris – had gone to sleep in the house there, there was soft knocking on the back door of the house. That the testifier, who was still half drowsy, heard that there was even louder banging on the door, whereupon he asked who was knocking on the door, that from the outside a certain Aaron van Bengalen, belonging to his owner and being stationed at the post at Coeberg, said to him: “Come on, open the door”, without the testifier opening the door at that time, though he did hear a person standing at the outside saying: “You damned fool, why do you not break open the door?” That thereupon the door was broken open, without being able to say whether this was done with an axe or a hatchet, though he did see in the morning that something sharp had been used to hack at and into the door; and because of this noise the aforementioned knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ Adam van Dijk came from his bedroom to the testifier and the slave Schipper in the kitchen and said to them: “Who the hell is banging on the door like that?”, and intended, without having a gun with him, to go outside the door to see who was there, [but] was kept back by the testifier, who said to him: “They are not good people, you must not go outside”. That the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ thereupon went back to his bedroom, telling the testifier to make some light, which he did by lighting both a candle in the room as well as a lamp in the kitchen. The knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ Adam van Dijk loaded two muskets and a pair of pistols with shot, giving one of the first-mentioned to the slave named Schipper, with the order to watch carefully that nobody entered the house or fired at them.
That a certain slave Floris, also belonging to Juffrouw Ten Damme, who slept in a lean-to room,1 woke up from the aforesaid noise and, (according to his own story) being surprised, tried to run away, to which end he opened a window in the aforesaid lean-to room, and when he noticed that there were two persons armed with muskets and who were taking aim at the window with the muzzles of the same, he jumped back and informed the aforementioned knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ of this.
The testifier declares that when the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ had been told this by Floris, he saw this knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ shooting open a window of that lean-to room with a pistol, after having first warned the persons standing outside that they should give themselves up as prisoners. That thereupon the said knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ went to the hacked door, and that, when a shot was fired from the outside around the window, this knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ also fired a shot with the pistol at the broken door. That thereupon the aforenamed knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ said to the slaves in the house: “Jongens, I must flee, let them take what they want”, whereupon this knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’, wearing only a blue nightshirt, fled through this broken door past several slaves, who were standing in front of it, and who were fugitives, being immediately followed by all these slaves calling: “Pege, pege” or, in other words: “Seize him, seize him”.
That all these jongensjongensLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour. shortly afterwards again came to the house, except for the aforementioned Aaron van Bengalen, who returned about half an hour after this, being covered in mud, and who dried himself there in the house by the fire.
That while he and the slaves of his mistress were standing in the kitchen, the fugitives – amongst whom he knows by name: the aforementioned Aaron van Bengalen, Benjamin of Jan Mostert, as well as Hercules of the same, and Jacob of Thobias Mostert – went into the room of the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’, [where] one of the same slaves broke or hacked open the chest of the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’, without him knowing who it was; nevertheless, that a big jongenjongenLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour., whom he also cannot name, threatened them with a musket that if they show any resistance, they would be massacred. Further, that they stole with the others from this room: half a mudmudA measurement for dry goods, usually wheat or flour, the equivalent of about one hectolitre. of flour, one schepelschepelOne mud (one hectolitre) contained four schepels. of rice, six loaves of bread, two muskets, two pistols, four pewter table plates, and that they then stole from the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ Adam van Dijk the or, in fact, all of his goods, which were gathered into a bundle by the fugitives and carried through the door, without him being able to say of what it consisted, but he does know that the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ had owned shirt and jacket buttons of gold and silver.
That with the return of the fugitives, after they had pursued the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’, the slave Schipper wanted to shoot at them, yet that the testifier had dissuaded him from doing this, since he was afraid that the same might murder them, testifying also, apart from this, that when Aaron van Bengalen came to the farm, he had at least twice said: “It grieves me not having got the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’”. That Jacob of Tobias Mostert had urged him, the testifier, as well as his fellow slaves, to also run away, yet that this was refused and declined by them.
All of which testified above, is declared by the deponent to be the whole truth, asserting to be convinced of its accuracy as given in the text, while offering to subsequently confirm all of the above, if necessary.
Thus done and testified at the Cape of Good Hope on 27 May 1726, in the presence of the assistants Martinus Heems and Johannes Henricus Blanckenberg, requested hereto as witnesses of faith.
This X mark was made by the testifier, Scipio van de Cust.
As witnesses, [signed] Ms. Heems, Js. Hs. Blanckenberg.
With my cognisance, [signed] Dl. Thibault, secretary.
Footnotes
-
This is refers to a room tacked on behind the existing structure, entered through an internal door from the house and with a window facing out into the yard. Such rooms were relatively common in inventories of the period and often had guns and other possessions housed in them. We are grateful to Antonia Malan for this information. ↩
Relaas gegeven ter requisitie van den heer Independent Fiscaal Adriaan van Kervel, door den slaaf Scipio van de Cust, toebehoorende juffrrouw Helena Gulix, weduwe wijlen den alhier geweest zijnde opperchirurgijn Willem ten Damme, in sig behelsende als volgt:
Dat hij relateur beschijden weesende op zijn meesteresses plaats genaamt de Brakke Fontain, wanneer hij relateur op seekeren Zaturdag avond, beneevens den knegt, Adam van Dijk genaamt, en de slaven Schipper en Floris, aldaar ten huijse te slapen begeeven hadden, omtrent, naar zijn gissing, de clokke thien uuren, aan de agter deur van ’t huijs sagtjes aangeklopt is geworden. Dat hij relateur, nog half in sluijmering zijnde, gehoord heeft dat er nog harder op die deur geslagen wierd, waarop hij relateur gevraagd heeft wie ’r aan de deur klopte, dat hem van buijten daarop door eenen Aaron van Bengalen, zijner lijfvrouw toebehoorende en op de post aan de Coeberg beschijden weesende, gesegt is geworden: Doet de deur maar open, sonder dat hij relateur alsdoen de deur opengemaakt heeft, maar wel gehoord te hebben dat door een buijten staande persoon gezegt is geworden: Jouw donders kind, waarom sla’ je de deur niet oopen? Dat daarop de deur open geslagen is geworden, sonder te kunnen seggen of het met een bijl of capmes geschied is, maar des morgens wel gesien te hebben datter in en op de deur met scherp gekapt was, door welkers gerugt den voornoemde knegt Adam van Dijk uijt desselfs slaapcamer in de combuijs bij hem relateur en den slaaf Schipper gekomen zijnde, teegens haarlieden heeft gezegt: Wie donder klopt ’er soo op de deur?; dewelke, sonder eenig geweer bij sig te hebben, van meening zijnde buijten de deur te gaan omme te sien wie ’r was, door hem relateur is terug gehouden, seggende: ’t Is geen goet volk, jij moet niet buijten gaan. Dat die knegt daarop weder in zijn slaapcamer gaande, teegen hem relateur heeft gezegt dat hij ligt soude opsteeken, ’tgeen door hem relateur, soowel caars in de camer als lamp in de combuijs, gedaan zijnde, de knegt Adam van Dijk twee snaphaanen en een paar pistoolen, met hagel geladen heeft, geevende van de eerstgenoemde eene aan de aldaar zijnde mede slaaf, Schipper genaamt, met ordre omme wel gade te slaan dat niemand in huijs quam, ofte daarop los te branden.
Dat seekere slaaf Floris, toebehoorende insgelijx juffrouw Ten Damme, dewelke in een afdak sliep, op ’t voortzeijde gerugt ontwaakt zijnde, (volgens desselfs eijge verhaal) verbaast zijnde, getragt heeft weg te loopen, ende ten dien einde in ’t voorszeijde afdak een vengster hadde open gemaakt, en wanneer hij ontwaarde dat ’er twee persoonen waaren die met snaphaanen gewapent, met de trompen derselve in de vengster aanlaagen, terug is gesprongen en daarvan kennisse aan de knegt, meergemelt, hadde gegeeven.
Betuijgende den relateur dat wanneer den knegt hetselve door Floris bekent gemaakt was, hij gesien heeft dat dien knegt met een pistool een vengster van dat afdak heeft open geschooten, naar dat alvoorens die buijtenstaande persoonen gewaarschouwt hadde sig gevangen te geeven. Dat daarop den gezegde knegt naar de gekapte deur gegaan weesende, en dat van buijten een schoot omtrent de vengster gedaan zijnde, die knegt ook een schoot met den pistool op de gebrookene deur heeft gedaan. Dat daarop de knegt, meergenoemt, teegens de slaven daar ten huise gezegt heeft: Jongens, ik moet vlugten, laat zij neemen wat zij willen, en waarop die knegt, enkel een blauw hembd aanhebbende, uijt de gebrookene deur door etlijke slaven, die voor die deur stonden en fugativen waren, de vlugt heeft genoomen, werdende immediaat vervolgt door alle die slaven onder het geroep van: Pege, pege1, ofte wel anders: Vat hem, vat hem.
Dat alle de jongens kort naar dato daar weder ten huijse zijn gekomen, exepto Aaron van Bengalen, voornoemt, dewelke omtrent een half uur naar dato, seer bemodderd zijnde, ook weder is gereverteerd, en die sig daar ten huijse bij ’t vuur heeft gedroogt.
Dat hij en zijne meesteresses slaven in de combuijs staande, de fugativen, waaronder hij met name kent: Aaron van Bengalen, voornoemt, Benjamin van Jan Mostert, alsmede Hercules van ditto, en Jacob van Thobias Mostert, in de camer van de knegt zijn gegaan, door eene derselve slaven de kist van de knegt is opengebrooken of gekapt, sonder te weeten door wien, dog dat een groote jongen, dien hij mede niet weet te noemen, met de snaphaan haar gedrijgd heeft, ingevalle zij eenig tegenstand deeden, haar te sullen massacreeren. Dat zij voorts uijt die camer met den anderen gestoolen hebben: een half mudde meel, een scheepel rijst, ses brooden, twee snaphaanen, twee pistoolen, vier tinne tafelborden, en dat vervolgens van de knegt Adam van Dijk de meeste, ofte wel alle de, goederen zijn ontstoolen, dewelke in een bondel gewonden zijnde door de fugativen ten deure uijtgedragen zijn, sonder dat hij comparant2 weet te zeggen waar [onleesbaar] de selve hebben bestaan, maar wel te weeten dat de knegt goude en zilveren hembd en hembrok knoopjes heeft gehad.
Dat den slaaf Schipper op de wederkomst van de fugativen, wanneer de knegt vervolgt hadden, wel op haar heeft willen schieten, dog dat hij relateur hem sulxs heeft afgeraden, nademaal bedugt was dat dezelve haarlieden selfs mogten om den hals brengen, betuijgende daarneevens nog dat wanneer Aaron van Bengalen op de plaats gekomen is, tot twee maalen toe gezegt heeft: Het is mij leet dat ik de knegt niet gekreegen heb. Dat Jacob van Tobias Mostert hem relateur, soo wel als zijn mede slaven, heeft aangesprooken om ook weg te loopen, dog dat door haar sulxs is gewijgert en afgeslagen geworden.
Alle ’tgeene voorszeijde staat verclaard en relateert den comparant te zijn de suijvere waarheid, geevende voor reedenen van wetenschap als in den text, met presentatie alle ’t voorenstaande, desnoods, nader te willen affirmeeren.
Aldus gedaan en gerelateert aan Cabo de Goede Hoop, den 27e Maij 1726, ten overstaan van de assistenten Martinus Heems en Johannes Henricus Blanckenberg, als getuijgen van geloove hiertoe verzogt.
Dit X merk is door den relateur, Scipio van de Cust, gestelt.
Als getuijgen, [get.] Ms. Heems, Js. Hs. Blanckenberg.
In kennisse van mij, [get.] Dl. Thibault, secretaris.
Footnotes
-
Portuguese, the imperative form of pegar, ‘to seize, nab [a thief]’. All but one of the nineteen slaves who testified in this case came from South or Southeast Asia, and although four of them testified in Malay, it is likely that they communicated with one another in Portuguese (Franken 1953: 51-2). On the use of Portuguese and Malay as contact languages at the Cape, see the discussion in 1763 Christina Strang and 1775 Moses van de Caab. ↩
-
Sic. Scipio van de Cust is the relatant or relateur here, not a comparant. ↩