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Acknowledgements
Praise to Michael S. Harper (1938–2016), who first introduced me to Earl Lovelace’s works, and to Paget Henry, both of Brown University, who first encouraged my work on Dâaga.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 A “biographical note” on Joseph by Lise Winer appears in Joseph ([Citation1838] Citation2001, xix–xxv).
2 For Trinidad as an English sugar colony, see Williams (Citation1964, 73–74).
3 For inter-European hostilities, see Candlin (Citation2012, 60–62, 79–80).
4 For an argument that Joseph was the first creole novelist who saw a Caribbeancentric future (as opposed to one on European margins), see Ward (Citation2017, 112–139).
5 See Joseph (Citation1838, 44–45) for a “negro child” killing a parroquet that Joseph was observing as well as Joseph’s convictions that Black people “have a great aversion to parrots” and that “that species [never] … be left to the care of these people.”
6 Hill (Citation1837a) estimated 60–100 mutineers. Hill (Citation1837b) stated that most Black recruits understood their duties and served the Crown willingly. British authorities in Trinidad had obvious reason to downplay disaffection in the West India Regiment.
7 The 1838 Amerindian population of Arima was reported as 229. Wood (Citation1968, 43). See Joseph (Citation1838, 102) for Arima containing “the largest assemblage of the remnant of the aboriginal Indians any where to be found in the island.”
8 A fictionalized version appears in Lovelace ([Citation1996] Citation1997, 183–184), with brief allusions on 180, 209.
9 For pre-1795 origins, see Ellis (Citation1885, 25); Buckley (Citation1979, 4–16); Buckley (Citation1998, 116–121).
10 For nineteenth-century usage, see Ellis (Citation1885, 9): “slaves from the tribes inhabiting the Slave Coast, that is to say, Awoonahs, Agbosomehs, Flohows, Popos, Dahomans, Egbas, and Yorubas, were all termed Papaws.”
11 Both Fraser (Citation1896, 2:344) and (August Citation1991, 76) posit that Dâaga was taken by the British first to Sierra Leone, then to Trinidad. If true, though no independent sources confirm it, this would provide more evidence for my argument that Dâaga was aware of distances involved in transatlantic travel.
12 For Calvinist Baptist religion in Trinidad, see Hackshaw (Citation1992, 1–23).
13 See Wood (Citation1968, 21–24), for the difficulty of traveling through Arima in the rainy season.
14 See Joseph (Citation1838, 64–65 for turtles, 98 for Huevos Island, known for turtle eggs). See Padrón (Citation2012, 158) for Frenchmen raiding Trinidadian beaches and coastal waters for turtles.
15 See Equiano (Citation1789, 2:50 (for Equiano as a slave trader in the Caribbean eating turtle), 189 (for Miskitos eating turtle), 203 (for Equiano hunting turtles with Miskitos)). See Parsons (Citation1962, 30–31) for Miskito and English cooperation in turtling.
16 For “turtle … in great demand as a slave food in the West Indian colonies,” see Parsons (Citation1962, 11–12).
17 By the 1830s, Pitch Lake was attracting imperially minded travelers interested in extraction of the tar. See Carmichael (Citation1833, 2:89–98).
18 See Morgan (Citation2007, 171) for survival of Yoruba songs in Trinidad.
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John Saillant
John Saillant earned his AB, AM, and PhD in American Civilization (now American Studies) from Brown University. His research interests include the African Atlantic, especially migration and religion.