Part 3

After eating together, into the Woods and Savannahs we went, to gather such of the Materials as grew not on his Plantation, or that he had not by him; and returning to his Hutt, to making the Liquor he went.

I remark’d well, and set down the Names, Quantities, and his way of making and mixing the Composition; which being done, all the Bottles we emptied of Beer were fill’d with the Liquor; with which I return’d to Kingstown, being as well pleas’d with my Discovery, as the Negro was with my Presents.

Having thus obtain’d my most material Point, I could not yet forbear going every time I rode out, to see and discourse my Negro, and never went empty-handed, being desirous to try if I could discover any thing further from him or of him, and how he attain’d the great Knowledge I found he had in the medicinal Virtues of Roots, Plants, &c.

He inform’d me, that during about fifty Years that he was a Slave (in which time six of his Masters had died) he oft wish’d for Death, and sought no means to preserve Life, and was then so infirm, as to be thought by his seventh Master to be past labour; and having been a good and faithful Slave, his said Master gave him his Freedom, and the piece of Ground I found him upon, to live on.

That Liberty having render’d Life more agreeable to him, he then studied all means to preserve it, and having some knowledge of things proper to preserve as well as support him, he had ever since planted, &c. in his Plantation, things proper for Physick as well as Food.

And indeed his Ground might be called a Physick-Garden, rather than a Provision-Plantation; for of the latter he only raised enough to support himself, of the former to supply others as well as himself, and frequently made Medicines for his sick Acquaintance and others with success. This Account I had of him from many, as well as from himself; which made me entertain so good an opinion of his Skill and Fidelity, that I ventur’d to take a Medicine made by him, by the use of which I found great Benefit in the restoring me to the Use of my Limbs.

’Twas owing to his Skill that he had thus preserv’d himself to so great an Age; and ’tis my Opinion, he had attain’d to a greater knowledge of the physical Use of the Vegetables of that Country, than any illiterate Person ever had done before him.

Believing some of the Materials not to be had in Europe, I procured of him a quantity, and soon after returned to England.

On my arrival at London in August 1727, I made some Liquor to compare with his, (which I found exactly the same) whereupon I set about destroying of Buggs, and found to my Satisfaction, that wherever I apply’d it, it brought out and kill’d ’em all. At length I advertis’d, had great business, and pleased every body, then apprehending no return of the Vermin. But yet, to my surprize, tho’ I had kill’d all the old ones, young ones sometimes, in some places, would appear.

To my Liquor’s being then so strong and oleous, that I durst not venture to liquor the Furniture for fear of damaging it, I at first attributed the coming of those young Buggs.

Whereupon I studied to find an Allay for that Quality; which at length, after many Experiments, and with much difficulty, I found out, and to such a perfection, that I can and do with safety liquor the richest of Furniture, as well as the Wood-work of Beds; and tho’ the staining Quality be taken off, the valuable attractive and destructive parts of the Composition still retain their full Virtue.

Having gain’d this great Point, I then went on briskly, and destroyed Buggs and Nits in all Beds and Furniture wherever I came: But yet Young Ones from behind Wainscot and out of Walls would sometimes afterwards appear, get to the Beds for better quarters and food, and become troublesome.

This much perplex’d me; but these unforeseen and then unknown Difficulties, which might have discouraged a less enterprizing Genius, prompted me the more to find the Cause and Means to overcome them; which I conjectur’d might best be done, by finding their Nature and Method of Breeding, Feeding, &c.

In order to it, I enquir’d of many Booksellers, if any Book concerning them had ever been published; but finding none, I then made it my business to discourse as many learned, curious, and antient Men as I possibly could, concerning them; but all that ever I could gather from either, was the following Account, how and when they were first known to be brought and to breed in England.

Viz. “That soon after the Fire of London, in some of the new-built Houses they were observ’d to appear, and were never noted to have been seen in the old, tho’ they were then so few, as to be little taken notice of; yet as they were only seen in Firr-Timber, ’twas conjectur’d they were then first brought to England in them; of which most of the new Houses were partly built, instead of the good Oak destroy’d in the old.”

In the above Account of their first coming, Esquire Pitfield and Mr. White, a Chymist, Men of great Probity and Curiosity, agreed.

And as the Sap of Deal is one of their beloved Foods, this probably might be the first way they were brought. How they are still brought, I shall speak to more fully hereafter, in my Instructions to avoid them.

Finding no satisfactory Account of their Nature, Breeding, and Feeding, to be come at from others, I was resolved assiduously to set about and try all possible ways to attain it myself. My first Step was to purchase and try Microscopes, and all such Helps as could be got, and to devise such others as might contribute thereto; by which I am enabled to give you the following Descriptions of Buggs, &c. which the better to illustrate, is annexed from a Copper-Plate, curiously engraven by the famous Mr. Vandergucht, the different Species and Sizes of Buggs, as well as one correctly and finely magnified.

I was not so fond of my own Performance, as to think my Treatise merited so great an Ornament. But as the Learned and Judicious Sir HANS SLOANE had done me the Honour to peruse and approve of my Manuscript, and thought it worthy thereof, and also desired and directed the doing the said Plate by so good a Hand; I should have been wanting to myself, had I not, in deference and respect to his Opinion and Request, annex’d the same.

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A Bugg’s Body is shaped and shelled, and the Shell as transparent and finely striped as the most beautiful amphibious Turtle; has six Legs most exactly shaped, jointed and bristled as the Legs of a Crab. Its Neck and Head much resembles a Toad’s. On its Head are three Horns picqued and bristled; and at the end of their Nose they have a Sting sharper and much smaller than a Bee’s. The Use of their Horns is in Fight to assail their Enemies, or defend themselves. With the Sting they penetrate and wound our Skins, and then (tho’ the Wound is so small as to be almost imperceptible) they thence by Suction extract their most delicious Food, our Blood. This Sucking the Wound so given, is what we improperly call biting us.

By often nightly watching and daily observing them with the best of Helps, having discover’d Males from Females, I determin’d, and then did put up a Pair in a Glass, as believing that to keep them the Year round, would be the only and best way to find the Nature of their breeding, feeding, &c. and be a means to discover what had occasion’d the Difficulties I had met with in my Endeavours and Practice of destroying them.

As the Thought was à propos, and the Event having answer’d Expectation, I shall now inform you of my Observations and Discoveries thereby made.

As I put up the Pair aforesaid, so did I another Pair that day Fortnight, and so every Fortnight for eighteen Months, did I put up others, with various Foods.

The first, second, third, and fourth Pair lived, but did not presently breed, it not being then their Season of so doing: But in about ten Days after I put up the fifth Pair, they all spawn’d much about the time of each other; and in about three Weeks the Spawn came to life.

Of the Spawn and different Gradations of Buggs, I shall now give you an exact Account.

The Eggs or Nits are white, and having when spawn’d a clammy glutinous Substance, they flick to any thing spawn’d upon, and by Heat come to Maturity and Life. The Eggs are oval, and as small as the smallest Maw-feed.

Buggs of one day old, are white as Milk.