| Citation |
NYWJ.737.008
4 Apr 1737:11 (177)
Continuation of the report of the Committee at Antigoa,
concerning the Negro plot, begun in our last.
. . . [4 lines] This seems to be the master-piece of the
plot, and was to be done in open daylight, by a military
dance and shew, of which the whites, and even the slaves
(who were not Coromantees nor let into the secret) might be
spectators, and yet ignorant of the meaning; the language
and ceremonies used at it, being all Coromantee. The
evidences of witnesses and confession of many of the
criminal Coromantees make it appear to us, that it is the
custom in Africa, when a Coromantee King has resolved upon a
war with a neighbouring state, to give public notice among
his subjects, that the "Ikem Dance" will be performed at a
certain time and place; and there the Prince appears in
Royal habit, and under an umbrello or conopy of state,
preceeded by his officer called Braffoo, and his marshal,
attended by his Asseng (or chamberlain) and guards, and the
music of his country; with his generals and chiefs about
him. Then he places himself upon an advanced seat, his
generals sitting behind him upon a bench; his guards on each
side, his Braffoo and marshal clearing the circle, and his
Asseng with an elephant's tail keeping the flies from him,
his music playing, and the people forming a circle about
him; after some respite the Prince rises, distributes money
to the people, then the drums beating the Ikem-Beat, he with
an Ikem (i.e., a shield composed of wicker, skins, and two
or three small pieces of thin boards) upon his left arm, and
a lance in his right hand, begins the dance, representing
the defensive motions of the shield, those of throwing the
lance, and the several gestures by them used in battle.
When the Prince begins to be fatigued, the guard run in and
support him; he delivers the Ikem and lance to the person
who next dances; then is led supported to his chair, and is
seated again in state, and whenever he rises he is in like
manner supported: Then the same dance is performed by
several others, but without the ceremony of being supported.
Then the Prince steping into the area of the semicircle with
his chief general, and taking a cutlash in his hand, moves
with a whirling motion of his body round about, but dancing
and leaping up at the same time, from one horn or point of
the semicircle, quite to the other, so as distinctly to be
viewed by all; and then returning to the center of the
simicircle with his general, makes several flourishes with
the cutlass, gently touching with it the general's forehead,
and having at the same time, the Ikems (the number of which
is uncertain) held between his own and the others body, he
takes an oath highly reverenced by the Coromantees, which is
to the following purpose, he swears to the general, that
where he falls, he'll drop by his side, rather than forsake
or desert him in battle; and that he will behave as a brave
Prince ought: But in case he should fail in performing his
oath, he agrees with and desires his subjects present, to
take of his head; and makes a grant of his houses, lands and
all his substance. Then the ceremony of the dance is
concluded by Braffoo's cutting to pieces in the simicircle a
captive taken by surprize from the people the war is
intended against. Braffoo, through the whole ceremony,
having his face whitened over, to prevent it being known,
and drest with his cap full of feathers, and a bundle at his
back, representing a dead Negro child as the badge of his
office. This shew and dance the usurping traitor, "Court"
exhibited on Thursday, the 3d of October last, at about two
of the clock in the afternoon, in Mrs. Dunbar Parke's
pasture near the town, in the presence of some whites, whose
curiosity led them thither, and of a very great number of
Coromantee and Creole slaves; and he took the oath, and
observed all the ceremonies of it; only that there was no
umbrella, which Emanuel, a fathful slave of Mr. Gregory's,
guessing at Court's design, had refused to make; but the
place of that was supplied by two Ikems, and the culasses
and lances were intirely of wood, and a drum was cut to
pieces instead of a man, figuring by this last how they
would serve the whites when overcome.
. . . [22 lines] for to some who know it, the thing appeared
so audacious and terrible, that some of the Coromantees
endeavoured by means of jumping among the dancers and
spectators, and otherwise, to prevent its being performed;
apprehending the meaning of it might be discovered, and
being sensible nothing could be intended by it, less than a
declaration of war, and of necessity against the whites.
This dance without the oath is often used in the Coromantee
country, as an entertainment, and upon other innocent
occasions; . . . [9 lines] To be continued.
|