Notes on the Translation

Chapter 5 Notes on the Translation

For the first time, the Verslag van drie reizen naar de Bovenlandsche Indianen has been translated into English. This is Lodewijk Schmidt’s account of three expeditions conducted between October 1940 and April 1942, on and beyond the southern borders of Suriname. The original accounts were edited by Gerold Stahel, a Swiss botanist specialized in tropical plant diseases, who in 1919 had been appointed head of the agricultural experiment station in Suriname, De- partment of Agriculture. To start with, the original title provides some issues for the translator: how to translate the key words “reizen” and “Bovenlandsche Indianen”? Why did Stahel not use the term “expeditie” as this appears to have been an expedition? The concept Bovenlandsche Indianen, as explained in de- tail earlier, is a typical Surinamese concept to refer to the Indigenous Peoples of south Suriname, yet it implies a colonial notion of Indigenous Peoples with a lower level of “civilization”. While Schmidt frequently used the present or praesens historicum, it was decided to use the past tense for the present translation. The translations of Schmidt’s accounts of the three expeditions are kept in the first person singular. Schmidt was born and raised in Suriname, and also Stahel had resided several decades in Suriname, which resulted in the fact that many typical Suri- namese terms and concepts, such as soela, korjaal, and kwatta, remained un- translated in the running text of the 1942 publication. These terms and concepts, as well as the geographical names well-known to the residents of Suriname, have been kept in the running text of the present work, yet have been set in italics and annotated and explained in this Notes on the translation. Whereas the original 1942 publication has all the proper names of people, villages and rivers in italics, the translation does not present these proper names in italics, as italics are reserved for names and terms in foreign lan- guages. The proper names of people and Indigenous villages mentioned by Schmidt are kept in the original spelling, with the Dutch “oe” instead of “u”. The orthography of the geographic names of rivers, creeks, and mountain ranges is according to E.J.E. Wekker’s (1986) Ken uw Land ii. Frequently, the published report presents numbers in numerals (such as 4, 7, 8), which in this translation have been spelled out (four, seven, eight, respectively). Although Schmidt wrote his diary in the present tense, this translation systematically uses the past tense upon request of the book’s reviewers in order to facilitate the reading. In addition, in the original Dutch report, it is often stated “here” or

Notes on the Translation 41

“from here” which is systematically translated as “there” and “from there”. Let me briefly discuss and contextualize some of the terms and words used in the text:

1 A Short Note on Indigenous Peoples and African Diaspora Communities

tribe (in Dutch: stam). I translated the term stam with tribe, yet I would like to remark that because the Indigenous Peoples of Guiana had, and have, a so- cio-political organization with elements of regional integration, as demonstrat- ed by the presence of a three-tiered system including basja (or bastiaan), kapi- tein (village leader), and granman (chieftain), I would prefer to use the term Nation (in Dutch: volk) to describe these Indigenous communities. Moreover, the term Nation (capitalized) was already in use in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century to refer to these Indigenous Peoples of the Guianas. Maroons (in Dutch: Bosn.[…]. See note on pages 4 and 14 as to why I have elided part of the word). These are the descendants of the enslaved African peoples who had fled from the plantations and regrouped in the forest, hence in the historical sources are found the terms “wegloper” (runaway) and “bush n…”., which for obvious reasons has not been translated as such. The term Afri- can Diaspora Community gained popularity around the turn of the twenty- first century. Of these African Diaspora Communities in Suriname, the three largest are the Saramaka (also spelled as Saamaka and Saramacca), the Ndyuka or Aukan, and the Boni or Aluku. No consensus exists on the spelling of these ethnonyms, and in Dutch the “u” is written as “oe” and the “j” is used instead of “y”; thus Djoeka or Joeka instead of Ndyuka. Schmidt used both the terms “Djoeka” (Ndyuka) and “Aucaners” (Aukan). Lodewijk Schmidt, the author of the account, was himself a Saramaka from Gansee (also spelled as Ganzee, or Ganzë in modern Saamaka; pronounced as Ganzè). The Ndyuka controlled the river transportation on the Maroni (Ma- rowijne) and the Tapanahoni and Palumeu, as well as across the watershed into the river basins of the Jari and Paru. The Ndyuka guided Schmidt’s expedition, and Schmidt specifically named Mooiman and Pajé, Ndyuka from Drietabbetje, Tapanahoni. The latter was a Maroon trader and therefore knew well the rivers and had good working relations with the Trio and Wayana Indigenous Peoples. Schmidt did not mention the Boni or Aluku. The African Diaspora Commu- nity led by Boni (hence the ethnonym), after the fall of Fort Buku (also spelled as Boekoe) in September 1772, fled from the coastal plain of Suriname to the inland uplands – first regrouping at Aluku (hence the alternative ethnonym) – and