Notes on the West Indies: Written During the Expedition Under the Command of the Late General Sir Ralph Abercromby Volume 2 (Cambridge Library Collection - Slavery and Abolition) - Softcover

Pinckard, George

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108024262 ISBN 13: 9781108024266

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2010

Synopsis

George Pinckard (1768–1835) was an army surgeon who arrived in the West Indies in 1796. His letters to a friend were published as Notes on the West Indies in 1806; a second edition came out in 1816. Having been separated by bad weather from the fleet and arriving long before his regiment, he had plenty of time to explore Barbados, which he describes in detail in Volume 2. He is critical of the treatment of some slaves which he witnesses, but seldom questions slavery itself, and considers that, under a good owner, slaves were better off than they would have been in Africa; however, he found that elderly slaves who could no longer work were badly neglected. As a doctor, he is interested in illnesses suffered on the island, such as elephantiasis and yellow fever, and he also describes an expedition to Dutch Guiana.

About this title

Book Description

This detailed description of Dr Thomas Pinckard's voyage to, and residence in, the West Indies in 1796–1797 provides much information on the people of the area as seen through western eyes. Writing in the genre of informal letters to a friend, he comments at length on everything he saw.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108024262
• ISBN 13: 9781108024266
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 498