Narrative of a Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana on the Wild Coast of South America from

Pp. 480 + Illustrations throughout, very good condition. Original cloth gilt. No dust jacket. Stedman left the Dutch Republic on 24 December 1772 after responding to a call for volunteers to serve in the West Indies. He was given the rank of Captain by way of a brevet, a temporary authorization for an officer to hold a higher rank. His corps comprised 800 volunteers to be sent to Surinam aboard the frigate Zeelust to assist local troops fighting against marauding bands of escaped slaves, known as Maroons, in the eastern region of the colony. The corps, which was trained for the battlefields of Europe, was unprepared for battle against the unfamiliar guerrilla tactics of its opponents.. Stedman vividly describes the landscapes of Surinam, paying great attention to detail. His observations of life in the colony encompass the different cultures that comprise the melting pot that developed there: Dutch, Scottish, native, African, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Though the colony and the surrounding forests were filled with treachery and violence, in his Narrative Stedman takes time to describe the ordinary life and the happiness of certain situations in the colony.