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Title: A rebel Negro armed & on his guard
Description: Engraving was done after one of John Gabriel Stedman's own drawings. According to Stedman's account, the image depicts a rebel Surinamese negro. As he wrote, "This rebel negro is armed with a firelock and a hatchet; his hair, though woolly, may be observed to be plaited close to his head, by way of distinction from the rangers, or any other straggling negroes, who are not yet accepted amongst them; his beard is grown to a point, like that of all Africans, when they have no opportunity of shaving. The principal dress of this man consists of a cotton sheet, negligently tied across his shoulders, which protects him from the weather, and serves him also to rest on; while he always sleeps under cover in the most obscure places he can find, when detached from his companions. The rest of his dress is a camisa, tied around his loins like a handkerchief; his pouch, which is made of some animal's skin; a few cotton strings for ornament around his ancles [sic] and wrists; and a superstitious obia or amulet tied about his neck, in which he places all his confidence. The skull and ribs are supposed to be the bones of his enemies, scattered upon the sandy savannah." (vol. 2, p. 88-89), Plate in John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative, of a five year's expedition, against the revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America; from the year 1772 to 1777 (London: Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard, & J. Edwards, Pall Mall, 1796), vol. 2, p. 88., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
Creator: Bartolozzi, Francesco, 1727-1815, engraver
Date: Dec. 1, 1794
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1796 Sted 755.Q v 2 p 88, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2699

Title: Manner of bush-fighting by the African negroes; Gradation of shades between Europe & Africa
Description: As Stedman noted, he sketched the top diagram to better convey the African negroes' manner of bush fighting. The following explanation can be found in his text: "The two columns E and F are supposed to be first engaged, where No 1 in the column E commences the attack by firing at random in the opposite bushes; and instantly retires, by shifting his place to No 1 in the column C, where he re-loads; while No 2 in the column F, having fired at the flash of his pan, advances in the same manner, shifting his station to re-load at No 2 in the column D; and at the flash of whose pan No 3 fires in E, and receives the fire of No 4 in F, &c. &c. Thus continuing through both lines, til No 8 has fired in F, when the whole have shifted their stations; and the same manoeuvre is continued with the columns C and D, beginning again with the identical numbers 1, 2, 3, &c. at the top; while these lines, having shifted their places, still the firing is repeated by the lines A and B, and thus ad infinitum, until by sounding the horn one of the parties gives way in fight, and the battle is over." Below the diagram, a color scale shows some skin-tone gradations between black and white. Commenting on this, Stedman wrote: "Having frequently mentioned the different shades between a black and a white, the same plate represents them to the reader at one view. From the above two colours the mulatto is produced; from the mulatto and black, the sambo; from the mulatto and white, the quaderoon, & c. &c.", Plate LIV in John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative, of a five year's expedition, against the revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America; from the year 1772 to 1777 (London: Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard, & J. Edwards, Pall Mall, 1796), vol. 2, p. 98., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Resistance.
Date: Dec. 1, 1791
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1796 Sted 755.Q v 2 p 98, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2700

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