"Barbara Hambly - Benjamin January 4 - Sold Down the River" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hambly Barbara)

Benjamin January
Book 4
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Sold Down the River

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Barbara Hambly
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For Mom and Dad

Special thanks are owed to Paul Nevski, Bill Coble, Norman and Sand Marmillion, and the rest of
the staff of Le Monde Creole in New Orleans and Laura Plantation in St. John Parish, for
unbelievable help, inspiration, and friendship in putting together this book.
Thanks also to Pamela Arcineaux and the staff of the Historic New Orleans Collection for their
patience, friendship, and help; to Laurie Perry for her comments and help on early black music;
and to Kate Miciak of Bantam Books.
Thank you also to Jill and Charles, to Neil and Deb, to Michael, and, of course, to George.
я┐╝PARTIAL GLOSSARY
OF CREOLE AND AFRO-CREOLE WORDS

One of the problems with the terminology found in accounts of slavery-in Louisiana in particular-
is that words have often been transcribed phonetically, and spelling differs from account to
account. As usual, my research has spanned so many small sources that the spelling is completely
inconsistent. I apologize for this.

Arpent-192 linear feet. Plantations were usually measured in arpents of river-front, extending
sometimes twenty, sometimes forty arpents back from the river towards the swamps.
Baron Cemetery (also Baron Samedei, or Baron La Croix)-voodoo spirit of the dead.
Batture-the ground between the levee and the actual edge of the water. Frequently heavily
wooded, and piled with snags and debris washed up in high water.
Blankittes (or blanquittes)-disrespectfiil term for whites, used by slaves.
Bousillage-river mud mixed with moss, ground shells, straw, hair, or any other binding substance
to make a hard plaster. Also, the act or process of making walls out of this material.
Bozal (or bosal)-A slave newly arrived from Africa; in other words, a raw savage.
Brigitte of the Dry Arms-voodoo spirit of death, wife of Baron Cemetery.
Callas-fried rice-balls (frequently dusted with powdered sugar).
Cipriere-the swampy cypress forests that lay behind the cleared plantation lands along the river.
Also called simply the swamp by Americans, and the "desert" by French (meaning "a waste
place," not as the word is understood in English).
Congris-mixture of chickpeas and rice, or more broadly (in other parts of the Caribbean), any
kind of beans and rice.
Damballah-Wedo (or Damballa-Wedo) -voodoo snake-spirit of water and wisdom. Gar~onniere-
separate wing of a plantation or town house where the grown sons of the family lived. Sometimes
a separate building.
Griot-African word for the village storyteller, bard, and historian.
Loa-voodoo spirits or "gods." Loa can be great or not-so-great, powerful or minor, dangerous or
benign or even comical, though the line between "good" and "bad" spirits is often less sharp in
the African religions than in Western: spirits can be summoned to help with good causes or bad.
Osnabrig (or osnaberg)-short for Osnaberg cloth, a coarse heavy cotton manufactured in