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Maroon Economy
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varieties in the 1960s), fifteen of banana, twenty of cassava, seven of yam, fifteen
of tania, four of maize, ten of hot pepper, six of watermelon, fifteen of
okra, twelve of sweet potato, and four of sugarcane.
The Maroons supplemented these food crops by gathering from the variety
of wild plants near their settlements, and fished and hunted for most of
their animal protein. Game and fish were abundant on the mainland but less
so on the islands, though Maroons engaged in coastal fishing. Price (1991,
114–117) gives a fairly long list of the fish and animals that the Saramakas
caught, and the techniques that they used to snare their prey. The animals
that they hunted included monkeys, armadillos, agouti, rabbits, lizards, opossums,
porcupines, deer, anteaters and peccaries (wild hogs). Some kept chickens
and occasionally cows, sheep and pigs. Grassy plains and freshwater and
saltwater resources provided the Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose
Maroons with a rich supply of deer, buffalo, wild cattle, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons,
turtles, wild fowls and a large variety of fish (Landers 2000a, 48). The
Tulate Maroons in Guatemala had sufficient iguanas and fish not only to
supply their needs but also to conduct a lucrative trade in those products with
far-off settlements (Lokken 2004b, 51). The Jamaican Maroons, with much
less abundant fauna, nevertheless hunted extensively for game and set traps
covering some twenty miles to snare wild hogs (Campbell 1990, 38–39). Some
communities that were located a good distance from White settlements kept
large quantities of livestock, including cattle, horses, hogs and chickens. 11
Cattle raids on the plantations by the communities close to them were common.
The Maroons also kept dogs, both for hunting and to alert them to the
approach of strangers. 12 On one occasion a runaway in the United States took
with him a pack of hunting dogs (Mullin 1992, 39). Because of the shortage
of gunpowder and bullets, the André Maroons used mainly dogs, bows and
arrows, and traps to hunt wild animals (Louis 1979, 316). The Jamaican
Maroons commonly used the junga or spear for such purposes, and it is still a
symbol of pride, associated with religious rituals, among their descendants
(Warner-Lewis 2003, 60–61).
People who went on military expeditions against Maroons often commented
on their provision fields and stores, almost as much as on their innovative
defence strategies. These comments may speak more eloquently than
any others to the Maroons’ determination to create a life of their own that
was not parasitic on the plantations. In 1685 Governor Ayres de Souza de
Castro suggested that all captured Palmarinos should be deported to