351 the Tank Complex at Bequia's Spring

The Tank Complex at Bequia’s Spring Plantation: Investigation of a Post-Sugar, Multi- Purpose, Mini-Factory Margaret Bradford Abstract: Investigations continue into plantation archaeology on Bequia in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Ruins of a tank complex on Spring Plantation may have been a unique, multi- purpose mini-factory for processing arrowroot, indigo and cassava in the period following the decline of sugar production on Bequia. Resumen: Las investigaciones continúan en arqueología de la plantación en Bequia en St. Vincent y las granadinas. Las ruinas de un complejo del tanque en la plantación del resorte pudieron haber sido una mini-fábrica para procesar el arrurruz, un añil y una mandioca únicos, multiusos en el período que sigue la declinación de la producción de azúcar en Bequia. Résumé: Les investigations continuent dans l'archéologie de plantation sur Bequia dans la rue Vincent et les grenadines. Les ruines d'un complexe de réservoir sur la plantation de ressort ont pu avoir été une mini-usine pour traiter la marante arundinacée, un indigo et un manioc uniques et universels dans la période suivant le déclin de la production de sucre sur Bequia. 351 Introduction An investigation was begun in February of 2008 to document and describe a group of historic-period tanks (basins) found on Spring Beach on Bequia. The island of Bequia is part of the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and is located nine miles south of St. Vincent. This project surveyed, photographed and mapped the tank complex in an attempt to determine its function and understand its place in the agricultural and industrial evolution of Spring Plantation in the nearly three hundred years since its establishment in the 18th century. Site Information The tank complex, a source of interest and curiosity among both local people and visitors, is located about 100 feet from the sea on the Windward side of Bequia on property presently owned by the Firefly Hotel (Figure 1). The complex consists of eleven tanks of varying size and shape, which are situated next to a well (Figure 2). Four round tanks, one half-round tank and six rectangular tanks are embedded in a stone structure measuring approximately twenty-six feet by sixteen feet by two feet in height (Figure 3). The round tanks are shaped in width and depth much like the historic “coppers” which were used to boil sugar during the years when Spring Plantation produced sugar. Coppers may have been used as moulds in building the round tanks. The diameter of the adjacent well is about four and a half feet, however, a paved trough surrounding the well brings the total diameter of the well and its trough to about 13 feet. The six rectangular tanks are bathtub-shaped and together with the round tanks form the makeup of the structure, which is surrounded by a paved walkway. Round holes formed in the top surface mortar of the tank structure may have supported poles holding up a roof or sunshade (Figure 4). The half-round tank may have functioned as a temporary repository for waste since its location at the side of the complex would have made it easy to off-load the contents onto a cart. With the lovely view of Spring Bay, shade, fresh water and constant breeze, the location would have provided a very pleasant place to work (Figure 5). Perhaps a clue to the usage of the tanks lies with the layout of the plumbing. Metal, threaded pipes interconnect the six rectangular tanks so that liquid can drain from the outer tanks into the center tanks (Figure 6). However, the circular tanks are not connected by pipe to the rectangular tanks or to the other circular tanks. Their only plumbing is simply a drainpipe from each tank, which empties onto the ground (Figure 7). This suggests that the circular and rectangular tanks may have had different purposes. Both the tanks and the well, which currently contains water, were constructed from similar types of stones and mortar suggesting they were built about the same time. In view of the fact that the well is only two and a half feet from the tanks, whatever was being processed in the tanks probably required access to quantities of fresh water (Figure 8). Colonial Settlement Colonial settlement on Bequia began with French people who came from Martinique to Bequia after the Carib Wars of 1719 and established small indigo and sugar plantations and lime works (Mitchell 1994:14; Price 1988:7). In 1763, when Bequia was designated British by the Treaty of Paris, Bequia was surveyed by Captain John Byres and within ten years, British 352 settlement of the island was underway. The 1776 Byres Map, found in the British Museum, shows about 600 acres of Spring Plantation were owned by Robert Henville who, according to the 1776 Report on the Crops of the Grenadines (Anon:1776), produced 64,200 pounds of sugar and some rum that year. Sugar production on Bequia continued to increase during the next fifty years; however, production records from 1827-9 (Shephard 1831: Appendix xxv) demonstrate that of the nine Bequia sugar plantations, only Spring was producing the 200,000 pounds of sugar per year necessary to remain economically viable (Adams 1976). Decline of the Sugar Industry After emancipation in 1838, ex-slaves began leaving the estates and with the lifting of preferential duties on West Indian sugar by the British government, Bequia sugar growers could no longer compete. By 1854, production had fallen to just 22% of the 1828 level (St. Vincent Bluebook). Around 1890, some of the smaller Bequia sugar estates such as Belmont, Mount Pleasant, Paget Farm and Diamond became divided by both sale and bequest (Price 1988:13). On the remaining large, intact estates such as Spring, Bequia people may have worked as sharecroppers or wage laborers but there is little documentary evidence of what they were growing. On St. Vincent, mounting financial problems also began affecting the planters and their sugar industry was close to collapse, as well. In response, the Vincentian government, in 1890, began selling five acre lots to peasants and by 1892, arrowroot had replaced sugar as the island’s main export (Grossman 1998). Perhaps arrowroot was also one of the cash crops that replaced or supplemented sugar on Bequia’s Spring Plantation. Arrowroot Arrowroot is a powder made from the ground root of an herbaceous perennial plant, marantha arundinacea, which has a long history in the New World archaeological record (Piperno and Holst 1998). It may have been introduced to the islands of the West Indies by prehistoric people migrating from the Orinoco River area (Newsom and Wing 2004:154). Arrowroot thrived on St. Vincent and historically, was grown on the margins of sugar cane estates by small-scale black cultivators (Grossman 1998:100). Their success and prosperity inspired several owners of large estates to begin cultivating it in the 1880’s (Richardson 1997:156-7). Today, it is still produced on St. Vincent and marketed as an infant feeding supplement and thickener for gravies and sauces. Although St. Vincent’s mainland valleys contain several remains of 19th century arrowroot factories, the Spring Plantation tanks provide the first hint of arrowroot production on Bequia. Arrowroot is a creeping rhizome, which grows for 6 – 12 months before the root is usually manually harvested. Deep, well-drained, slightly acidic soils and hot, humid climate such as found on both St. Vincent and Bequia provide the ideal growing conditions (Browne 2004). Since the tubers must be processed within 48 hours or they will rot, mills were situated near the arrowroot fields. To extract the starch, the rhizomes are peeled, washed, cut into small pieces, mashed to a pulp and stirred in clean water. The fibers are wrung out by hand, and the milky liquid sieved, allowed to settle, and then drained. Clean water is again added, mixed, and drained, after which the starch is dried on racks in the sun. The tanks on Spring Beach would have readily lent themselves to arrowroot processing. The round basins could have held the cut pieces as they were mashed with wooden mortars. 353 Water from the well could have been easily added to the basins and the fibers removed, wrung out and discarded. The round shape of the basins would have facilitated the settling of the starch liquid while the drains simplified the removal of the excess liquid. The drying operation probably took place on nearby wooden racks and was assisted by the brisk breeze on the beach. In theory, then, arrowroot processing could account for the use of the round tanks but what about the rectangular tanks? Indigo Since the Spring Tanks Complex is located between two other bays where ruins of Colonial indigo factories have been identified (Bradford 2008) (Figure 9), it is reasonable to suspect that indigo might have also been grown at Spring. Although the Spring tanks are smaller and configured somewhat differently from those on the adjacent plantations, all of the tanks are rectangular-shaped, located near a source of fresh water and about 100 feet back from a beach. Making indigo usually required about three tanks. Liquid was drained from the “steeping” tank into the “beating” tank and finally into the “settling” tank where the pricipitate settled. The water was then drawn off, the clay-like blue paste removed, strained through cloth and dried. The two sets of three tanks at Spring would have allowed for continuous processing, a benefit, given the need to quickly begin the 12 hour steeping of the cut indigo plants. Most of the 7100 pounds of indigo imported into England from St.

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