The Peace of Paris recognised the founding of the United States of America in 1783. Three years later, the English signed a Convention for the evacuation of La Mosquitia, which included the definitive withdrawal from these islands. The British crown has been treated as a thing of glory, an object of longing, ever since. Maybe that glory is only due to the fact that the crown acknowledged this place as strategically important, if ungovernable; as the source, at some point in history, of great dreams. In vacating the area, the British sent some colonists to Jamaica and others to found the island of New Providence, in the Bahamas. I picture families weary of moving around so much, families with land and crops. Those were the ones who petitioned the Spanish crown for permission to stay, pledging their loyalty. The proposal was rejected at first – I keep reading, following clues – but then Tomás O’Neille sailed in from Cartagena, a deputy on a mission to expel them all. It was O’Neille who eventually helped the colonists file a second request in 1789, including a promise that they’d convert to Catholicism and suspend all trade with Jamaica.

Three years later, they received a positive response from King Charles IV. Fascinated, I read his verdict, which stipulated the first period of a free port that the archipelago ever had. The Spanish gave New Westminster a new name, Santa Isabel, as the centre of Providencia is still known, shedding the prior relationship with the British government.

O’Neille was as mixed as the Caribbean people themselves. Irish by birth, like Jeremiah’s ancestors and my own, he was a Catholic and an islander, raised on the Canary Islands. I don’t remember ever learning anything about him, although his name rings a bell. The first governor of Providencia, he stayed in office until 1810 – a sort of benevolent dictator, says the British historian. O’Neille only suspended his post for a few years when he was summoned by the Captaincy of Guatemala.

Rapt, I read on.

When O’Neille was required by the Captaincy, he delegated his duties to… Don Torquato Bowie. Owner of properties on Southwest Bay, of several prosperous cotton plots on San Andrés, and keeper of many slaves, Don Torquato was among the most prominent inhabitants of Providencia.

I flush. There they are: the guests at the party, responding to Maa’s spell. I’m entrapped by these pages.

Well, many slaves meant sixteen. One Federico Lever had fifty, but he wasn’t responsible for the entire island. Each slave was then worth about 112 pesos; for comparison’s sake, a head of cattle was worth nearly nine. Years later, when Livingston appeared, I’m sure my forefather wouldn’t have loosed his hold on them so easily.