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The Cultural History of the Bermuda Palmetto

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The Cultural History of the Bermuda Palmetto OF FISHPOTS, BONNETS, AND WINE: THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDA PALMETTO by Anna Saskia Wolsak B.A., Naropa University, 2000 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2017 © Anna Saskia Wolsak, 2017 Abstract This thesis represents the first academic study of Bermuda’s historical ethnobotany. Settled by the English in the early 17th century, Bermuda soon gave rise to a set of interfused hybrid cultures formed by people from around the Atlantic Basin. While inhabitants were shunted into political categories according to social standing (slave, slave-owner, indentured servant, land-owner, etc.), in reality each group arrived with traditional ethnobotanical knowledge which they rapidly adapted to the new social, political, and ecological climate. Until the 20th century, Bermudians were dependent on the island’s two dominant, endemic forest species: Sabal bermudana L.H. Bailey (Bermuda palmetto) and Juniperus bermudiana L. (Bermuda cedar). While much is known and has been written about the cedar, this thesis focuses on the palmetto which played an equal, if not more fundamental, role in the island’s economy and daily life. The palmetto was an invaluable source of food, wine, and household goods to 17th century settlers; its leaves were central to the 18th century plaiting and hat-making industry; and, now an endangered species, it is pivotal to today’s conservation and ecological restoration efforts. By tracing the rise and fall of palmetto use in Bermuda, we gain a lens through which to consider Bermuda as a complex social-ecological system, one that, both socially and ecologically, has been in constant flux since its inception. Some of the driving forces explored in this thesis include the adaptation of knowledge from Bermuda’s constituent cultures, the implementation of British colonial values and law, migration, slavery, scarcity of natural resources, starvation, the industrial revolution, and economic globalization. While this multiplicity of factors has led to a sharp decline in plant knowledge in Bermuda in the last century, many Bermudians are keen to preserve their hard-won traditional knowledge, evidenced by the small but impassioned cultural-revitalization and conservation movements on the island. Appendix A, therefore, provides a catalogue of plants of historical and present-day value in Bermuda and serves as a record for present and future generations. This list is supported by herbarium specimens, housed at UBC, to ensure accurate identification. ii Lay Summary This thesis presents an historical ethnobotany of Bermuda in two parts. The first section traces the cultural history of Bermuda’s endemic palmetto since the island's settlement in the early 17th century. This research aims to offer a fresh perspective of Bermuda’s social, political, and ecological history, one that highlights the contribution and innovation of people from its many constituent cultures. The story of the palmetto sheds light on the many social and ecological forces that can affect a people’s relationship to plants, thereby fundamentally changing their culture, such as migration, slavery, ecological change, global trade, and technological innovation. Appendix A contains a catalogue of plants of historical and present-day value in Bermuda. It aims to document and preserve ‘hidden’, lost, or vanishing knowledge through highlighting plant uses from historical sources and recording knowledge shared by living knowledge-holders. iii Preface This research was designed, carried out, and analyzed by the author alone with the approval of the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board under certificate number H16-01817. iv Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ii Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................. iii Preface ......................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................v List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... xi Dedication .................................................................................................................................. xii Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Literature review ............................................................................................................. 7 1.2.1 History .................................................................................................................... 7 1.2.2 Ethnobotany.......................................................................................................... 10 1.2.3 Botany and conservation ....................................................................................... 12 1.3 Theoretical context ....................................................................................................... 12 1.3.1 Situated knowledge ............................................................................................... 13 1.3.2 Historical ethnobotany .......................................................................................... 15 1.3.3 Social-ecological systems and adaptation ............................................................. 17 1.3.4 Historical time-scales and social history ................................................................ 19 1.3.5 Agnotology: Noticing the silences ......................................................................... 20 Chapter 2: 1503-1684: Early Visitors, Settlement, Tobacco, and Slavery ................. 22 2.1 Early visitors .................................................................................................................. 24 v 2.1.1 1593: Henry May .................................................................................................. 25 2.2 1609: The Sea Venture ................................................................................................. 26 2.3 First settlers in a place so wondrous strange ................................................................. 30 2.3.1 Household uses: Material culture, food and medicine .......................................... 34 2.3.2 Thatching .............................................................................................................. 38 2.3.3 Rope ...................................................................................................................... 40 2.4 Early European perceptions of palmetto ...................................................................... 42 Chapter 3: 1630-1680: Palmetto Wine and Rorches: African Traditions Under Colonial Rule ............................................................................................................................. 45 3.1.1 Boring and grubbing up ........................................................................................ 47 3.1.2 Cultural significance of palm wine ........................................................................ 50 3.1.3 Legislation of palmetto wine ................................................................................. 52 3.1.4 Bibby today? ......................................................................................................... 58 3.2 Torches: Unseasonable night-walking .......................................................................... 59 Chapter 4: 1680-1750: Maritime Trade: Hats and Plaiting .......................................... 61 4.1 The origins of plait ........................................................................................................ 63 4.2 Mrs. Hayward, Queen Anne, and fishpots ................................................................... 65 4.2.1 The fishpot weave ................................................................................................. 67 4.3 Sybilla Masters and the patenting of adapted knowledge ............................................. 69 4.4 Social and ecological effects of the plait trade .............................................................. 74 4.5 Intermission: 1730s-1840: The Bermuda sloop ............................................................ 78 Chapter 5: 1840-1930: Agriculture, Tourism, and the Rise of Western Science ...... 81 5.1 Agriculture: Minding the onion seed ............................................................................ 81 vi 5.2 The natural historians ................................................................................................... 83 Chapter 6: 1930-Today: Tax Haven and Conservation .................................................. 90 6.1 Conservation and ecological restoration ......................................................................
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