Bridgens' West India Scenery

Description

This West India Scenery Collection consists of illustrations of negro characters, the process of making sugar, etc . from sketches taken by R. Bridgens during a voyage to the island of Trinidad where he resided for seven years. Trinidad, having been titled “The Indian Paradise” for the charms of its scenery, affords a happy subject for illustrating the striking features of the regions of which it forms so interesting a portion. It is presumed that the following sketches afford a better idea than mere words can give of the various pursuits and objects which characterizes the situation in Trinidad circa the 1840s.

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Stocks for hands and feet with bed and hand stocks. (From approved models)
Illustrations of slaves in contraptions used for torture. At top: a man stands with both hands and feet placed between pieces of boards; below a woman sits on a bed with both her hands and feet between pieces of board.

Negro Superstition
A group of Africans who seem to be engaged in a ritual. There is a dead chicken on a table, fruits are hanging from a beam in the ceiling and one man seems to be choking another who is kneeling in front of him.

Sunday Morning in Town
Illustration of a man and woman, both with umbrellas in hand, standing by a wall. A servant stands beside them and is carrying a chair on his head with a bible on it.