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.a huge cut of venison, setting up excursions to publications (with frequent inclusion of r , a soundneighboring villages, and even taking cutlass in hand that does not exist in Saramaccan) are composed, withto clear a special place for them to bathe in private.few exceptions, of words in Sranan-tongo, the nativeThey were permitted to wander where they wanted, language of their city interpreter-guides and thewelcomed at various village events (from subsistence language that FSH had used for her 1928 work inactivities to funerals and possession dances), and Paramaribo.(Morton Kahn is explicit about howgenerally tolerated as they took rubbings of carvings Saramakas conducted themselves linguistically withand photographs of local scenes.Many of the diary whites: When the Bush Negroes converse withentries express real excitement, even on the most outsiders they employ the talkee-talkee languagestress-ridden days, at the things they were discovering.which white men and Paramaribo Town Negroes can 70 71understand.But they also have a tribal language was the amount of time and psychic energy that MJHcalled.Saramacca-tongo known only among them- devoted to managing the people he d hired, and theselves. ) The notion that the Herskovitses knew too intense irritation that it caused him.As he wrote nearmuch and had gone too deep to the point of the end of the second summer, I m fed up with theintruding so far into the most secret aspects of the general supervision that takes my time. culture that Saramakas might consider killing them Often the issue was money.It came up asis, to put it mildly, unpersuasive.It is not too much to early as the first week of the first summer when MJHspeak here of an ethnographically-rationalized para- heard through a mutual acquaintance that van Liernoia. wondered if he was to be paid for working with me. Herskovits reluctantly proffered ten guilders, and saidhe d get some more later: They re so damned roundabout, these people.And all Americans, of course, areThe Servant Problemmillionaires.Gr-r-r!! Numerous entries about hisartifact collecting leave no doubt that he was a tough As a result we ate cold food for supper. bargainer with Saramakas, haggling with determina-tion, struggling against what he saw as their cupidity,In late 2001, when we were reading the Surinameand congratulating himself when he managed to passdiaries and notes for the first time, the thing that mosttrinkets off for money.During some bargaining for asurprised us was the constant presence of the variouscarved stool, Djukas appeared with their favoritepeople the Herskovitses had hired and the extent tophrase, Gi me on their lips ; or I went out and gotwhich their fieldwork was mediated by them.one of Woolworth s best red necklaces out of myAlthough we had long been familiar with theirsack.My beads worked very well they make uppublished work on Suriname, and had thus seen thepart of the price and save me that much. Moneymentions in Rebel Destiny of our cook and our townproblems became even more irritating during theman, we had no way of knowing that MJH was virtu-second summer, especially in terms of paying theally never without either Rogalli, Bundel, Wolff, orboatmen, Wolff, Schloss, and Jacoba:Schmidt during the 1928 trip or that in 1929, asidefrom the moments when Fann went off with theLalani said that since Gama kode is above thewomen, they were accompanied in all village visits bySaramacca in the Pikien Rio, they should have extraeither Wolff, Schloss, or another paid guide.But whatpay four guilders a boat.It is really outrageous,struck us even more forcefully than the presence ofbut I stalled and said I d see, and when I told Fannthese buffers between the Herskovitses and Saramakasshe fumed!.about the extra fee.It is settled that I 72 73shall pay two guilders a boat extra.I consented onWolff s advice.But it made us angry.I hopewhen we come to the big fellow [the chief] it willbe the end, for those chaps are simply money-mad,and if Wolff weren t here I d be in a difficult situa-tion. Too much civilisation, I m afraid.The[boat]men have not been nice they ask and ask foreverything, and spread stories in villages about howmuch we have.Discovered the interesting factthat Wolff is staying several days at Abenastone togo into the bush for which I shall not pay.Sometimes the negotiations concerning paymentslasted for hours.In a meeting with the chief abouttheir return downstream,we started, and talked & talked 4 solid hours.Ioffered f3.50 a day per man, but the old fellowwanted a price, so I agreed to give f28.00 a boat ifthey made it in 3 days four day s pay.It took a lotof talk and I expected more, and we were allsurprised when it was settled.Then there was aquestion of boat-hire, but I m to give f3.00 per boatfor the use of it a hold-up if there ever were one.But there were also other bones of contentionbetween the Herskovitses and their hired help.In1928, for example, MJH complained about Rogalli asinterpreter because of his habit of diverting conversa-tions to his favorite subjects of wood and crops.Or, [Jacoba] has a tendency to quarrel & give orders, butsome straight talking on my part to everyone in ourparty should put things to right. Or, We won t haveThe Herskovitses guide Schloss (right) with a manwe believe to be Lalani (Lombé, 1929) 74 75many more days of travelling, fortunately, for it is very The next day, Fann is still getting on wellhard and trying, and the Lombé [boat]men are always with the women, collecting data on widowhood andmaking trouble. Or again, Schloss and Jacoba made religion, but feels that the old fellow, for politicalme furious with their inefficiency and I caught a good reasons, is keeping things from getting to us. Sheheadache. passes her concerns on to Wolff, who talked to theDuring the first four days in the chief s village, old man and MJH held on to his guarded optimism.incipient tensions between the Herskovitses and their Wolff has been marvellous.We re here for 9 or 10servants were quietly smoothed over by Wolff, an days on our own, and we hope for the best. Indeed,effective mediator and obviously very friendly with the next day (July 31) is a better day; an excellent[the chief]. But after Wolff left on July 30, things one, in fact. But on August 1 the diary begins with aquickly got out of hand.Jacoba, who in 1928 had Grrr! worked so well with FSH and even named her babyWhen we found Jacoba had been taking salt-meatafter Herskovits, became surly and uncooperative, andwhen she said she didn t eat it and that tobaccoSchloss, chosen by MJH as a guide because he hadsupplies were low, we both blew up
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