Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 – https://tidsskrift.dk/sss 
THE SUSPICION CONFIRMED: 
J.P.B. DE JOSSELIN DE JONG’S 1923 LINGUISTIC 
FIELDWORK IN ST. THOMAS AND ST. JOHN ON 
VIRGIN ISLANDS DUTCH CREOLE 
Cefas van Rossem 
Meertens Institute, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences 
cefas.van.rossem@meertens.knaw.nl  
Abstract 
The Danish-Dutch archaeological expedition to the US Virgin Islands in 1922 to 
1923 included the Dutch anthropologist J.P.B. de Josselin de Jong. In addition to 
his archaeological work, he pursued a secondary aim: confirming the survival of 
Virgin Islands Dutch Creole (VIDC), a contact language spoken when the islands 
were a colony of Denmark, known as the Danish West Indies. De Josselin de 
Jong identified several native speakers. He recorded their narratives, later 
published in his 1926 volume Het Huidige Negerhollandsch. This collection 
provided a rare vernacular source, supplementing the predominantly missionary 
literature available at the time. In 2023, marking the centenary of the expedition, 
De Josselin de Jong’s daily diary entries were published in Dutch on 
www.diecreoltaal.com. The present article examines the diary as an egodocument 
and its metalinguistic insights, exploring how the notes enhance our 
understanding of the conditions and authenticity of the 1926 VIDC collection. 
Through examples of the fieldwork process and interactions with informants, this 
study reveals the diary’s value in affirming the reliability of De Josselin de Jong’s 
documentation of VIDC, and it offers a closer view of the language as spoken in 
the early twentieth century. 
Keywords: Virgin Islands Dutch Creole; US Virgin Islands; Danish West Indies; 
J.P.B. de Josselin de Jong; linguistic fieldwork; Creole languages; metalinguistic 
comments 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 17 
1. Introduction* 
In 1922–1923, a Danish-Dutch archaeological expedition visited the US 
Virgin Islands to study the artefacts and traces of the original Amerindian 
inhabitants of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. The Dutch anthropologist 
J.P.B. de Josselin de Jong, who is considered to be the founding father of 
modern anthropology in the Netherlands, had a second agenda. Inspired by 
the 1905 publication Het Negerhollands der Deense Antillen by his Leiden 
colleague D.C. Hesseling, he had a suspicion that the Dutch-related Creole 
language of the former Danish West Indies had not yet become extinct, but 
was in fact still spoken.1 Ultimately, the suspicion was confirmed: during 
a few months De Josselin de Jong was able to interview several of the (pre-
sumed) last native speakers of the language. The collection of stories was 
published in 1926 as Het Huidige Negerhollandsch (De Josselin de Jong 
1926). Since most of the available sources of Dutch Creole up to that mo-
ment in time consisted of missionary material, this collection eventually 
became an important and reliable source of Dutch Creole vernacular. De 
Josselin de Jong (1926) is a key source of VIDC as spoken in the early 
twentieth century. 
One hundred years after the expedition, I published De Josselin de 
Jong’s diary that he kept during the expedition on www.diecreoltaal.com, 
which is devoted to Virgin Islands Dutch Creole (VIDC). The text was pre-
sented in Dutch, day by day from November 19, 2022, to August 23, 2023. 
The present article provides an overview of the fieldwork activities, contact 
with informants and examples of collected material traceable to the specific 
moments and locations of the interviews. This study focuses on an ego-
document and the metalinguistic aspects of De Josselin de Jong’s field-
work, exploring the following question: How does the information in De 
Josselin de Jong’s diary of the Danish-Dutch archaeological expedition 
contribute to a better understanding of the conditions and authenticity of 
his 1926 VIDC collection? In what follows, this article demonstrates that 
analyzing the metalinguistic information found in the diary indeed supple-
ments De Josselin de Jong’s collection of VIDC texts. In this way, it brings 
 
* I gratefully thank Peter Bakker, Kristoffer Friis Bøegh, Gylchris Sprauve and the two 
anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments and advice on earlier versions of 
this article. 
1 The name “Negerhollands” was used to refer to Virgin Islands Dutch Creole since 
1840. Today, the language is more commonly called Virgin Islands Dutch Creole. 
 
 
 
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 18 
us closer to the fieldwork context and supports the authenticity of the texts 
he collected. 
 
2. Brief overview of early studies of native speakers 
VIDC is known for the existence of early sources in the language, com-
pared to other Caribbean Creole languages. Most of the early VIDC texts 
are missionary translations from German or Danish into the Creole by the 
Moravian Brethren and Danish Lutheran missionaries, respectively. Al-
ready in 1742, two letters by enslaved people were published (Zinzendorf 
1742), from 1749/53 a manuscript of translated hymns was used (Isles & 
Weber 1749/1753) and from 1765 onwards, several hymnbooks and ABC-
booklets were published (see Appel et al., this issue). From about 1780 un-
til 1833, several large translations of missionary texts were prepared in 
manuscript and in print.2 
In 1770 a grammar of the language was published in Copenhagen 
(Magens 1770). Since it was the first printed grammar of a creole language, 
it gave a broad, European, audience an opportunity to become acquainted 
with this language. A few years later, Oldendorp published a language de-
scription which was included in his Geschichte der Mission der evange-
lischen Brueder (…) (Oldendorp 1777, Oldendorp 2000–2002: 681–715). 
These works gave interested readers outside the Caribbean the opportunity 
to study Dutch Creole (see also Stein, this issue). 
The translations into VIDC by the missionaries of both the Danish 
Lutheran mission and the mission of the Moravian Brethren were often, if 
not always, made by non-native speakers of VIDC. Metalinguistic com-
ments in these translations show the considerations of the translators about 
how to best connect with the new members of the speech communities, the 
enslaved speakers of the Creole language (Van Rossem 2017). Hardly any 
of the texts show a reflection of the day-to-day lives of the native speakers 
of VIDC. Although feedback on language use was given by the addressees 
of the translators, only few texts were written by native speakers; for some 
examples, see for instance the anonymous rebel or farewell song E-Samja 
(Van Rossem & Van der Voort 1996: 224–226) and the (slave) adds pub-
lished in local newspapers (Bøegh et al. 2022). 
 
2 The regularly updated Comprehensive bibliography of texts in or about Virgin Islands 
Dutch Creole can be found on www.diecreoltaal.com (last accessed November 2, 2024). 
 
 
 
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 19 
In the second half of the 19th century, several scholars became inter-
ested in VIDC. At this point, the language was thought to be extinct or at 
least it appeared to be losing its position as the main language in the Danish 
West Indies, as speakers were and had been shifting to Virgin Islands Eng-
lish Creole (Bøegh 2021, Wied 1842–1847). 
In 1871 the American philologist Addison Van Name published the 
first comparative study of Creole languages, a study in which he included 
VIDC. He did not only rely on historical sources, but also on the help of 
one Frederico Antonio Camps (Van Name 1871: 127), who seems to have 
been a near-native speaker, as he had lived on St. Thomas since he was six 
years old. His contributions are, compared to what was available in the 
written sources, unfortunately not very extensive. A few years later, the 
Danish physician Erik Pontoppidan not only published fragments of mis-
sionary texts (Pontoppidan 1881, 1887), but also proverbs and other exam-
ples of Dutch Creole vernacular. 
In his search for text examples to study Caribbean Creole languages, 
the Austrian linguist Hugo Schuchardt got in contact with the physician 
Anthon Magens (1821–1898) on St. Thomas. In his letter from 1883, Ma-
gens presents an extensive description in VIDC of daily life for which he 
consulted his maid who was a native speaker, and he describes in VIDC a 
situation, a “pistarckle”3, which he encountered in Charlotte Amalie about 
a girl whose belly ache turned out to be the announcement of the birth of 
her child (Schuchardt 1914: 130–133). This letter was thought to be the 
only text in VIDC vernacular at the time of its publication. It was written 
in a spelling which was chosen by Anthon Magens to represent the spoken 
language as well as possible. 
As a professor of Modern Greek, D.C. Hesseling was particularly in-
terested in language change and creolization. His earliest publications in 
this field dealt with the development of Afrikaans from Dutch. At the be-
ginning of the twentieth century, he got interested in VIDC, and while 
working on his 1905 book, an anthology of earlier texts and a language 
description, he also tried to learn whether VIDC was still spoken. Bishop 
Greider from St. Thomas was pessimistic and could only present three sen-
tences and some metalinguistic comments. Hesseling’s 1905 work is there-
fore, like most earlier work, mainly based on the missionary texts and not 
 
3 This word, derived from Dutch and/or Danish spektakel, existed both in Virgin Islands 
Dutch Creole and local English Creole (see Bøegh & Bakker 2021: 27). 
 
 
 
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 20 
on contemporary spoken VIDC. After all, the above-mentioned Magens 
letter was not published until 1914. 
Although it is not confirmed by De Josselin de Jong in any of his 
publications, nor in his diary of his fieldwork on St. Thomas and St. John 
in 1922–1923, it may well be that his interest was caught by Hesseling’s 
published work or through personal contact with his Leiden colleague. In 
fact, from various comments in the diary we know that a copy of Hes-
seling’s Het Negerhollands der Deense Antillen (1905) was in his luggage, 
which shows that De Josselin de Jong at least wanted to try to find out 
whether he could still locate speakers (see section 4.1). After all, we must 
keep in mind that the lack of recent printed sources does not mean that the 
language had already become extinct. 
In several, if not all, of the above-mentioned publications, back-
ground information appears to be of great interest. Metalinguistic remarks 
point to the authenticity and reliabiliy of the recorded material and the re-
liability of the informants. For instance, knowing that Anthon Magens con-
sulted his maid for his authentic VIDC text (Schuchardt 1914: 127) shows 
us that he relied on someone from a lower class when preparing his letter 
to Schuchardt. 
Section 4 will explore the efforts De Josselin de Jong made to get in 
contact with speakers of VIDC and to record the texts which were eventu-
ally published in De Josselin de Jong (1926). Before that, section 3 will 
provide a sketch of the Danish-Dutch expedition. 
 
3. Sketch of the expedition 
Jan Petrus Benjamin de Josselin de Jong (1886–1964) originally studied 
Dutch Language and Literature. Through his contact with Dutch linguist 
and anthropologist C.C. Uhlenbeck, he entered the field of North American 
anthropology, traditionally combining cultural anthropology, physical an-
thropology, archaeology and linguistics. In the introduction of his study of 
De Josselin de Jong as an archaeologist, Effert (1992: 1–9) presents a good 
overview of De Josselin de Jong’s study and inspiration. To begin to con-
textualize his fieldwork, it is important to mention the four-field approach 
of early twentieth-century anthropology. This approach was developed by 
Franz Boas, and can be recognized in De Josselin de Jong’s publications. 
 
 
 
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 21 
Effert (1992: 5) shows for instance that he published in the fields of eth-
nology, linguistics and archaeology, related to several parts of the world, 
including North, Middle and South America, Africa and East Asia. 
In 1921, the Danish archaeologist Gudmund Hatt and J.P.B. de 
Josselin de Jong planned the Danish-Dutch archaeological expedition to 
the Caribbean (Effert 1992: 28–35). They aimed to find artefacts of the first 
inhabitants of the Caribbean islands, and they visited these islands together 
or separately: St. Thomas (Hatt and De Josselin de Jong) and St. John (Hatt 
and De Josselin de Jong), and later on also St. Croix (Hatt), Santo Domingo 
(Hatt), St. Maarten (De Josselin de Jong), Saba (De Josselin de Jong), St. 
Eustatius (De Josselin de Jong) and Aruba (De Josselin de Jong).  
On November 14, 1922, De Josselin de Jong left for Copenhagen 
where he joined Gudmund Hatt and his wife Emilie Demant Hatt. On No-
vember 21, they travelled from Copenhagen to New York. During the first 
part of the expedition, Hatt and De Josselin de Jong visited New York to 
get in contact with important anthropologists like Charles W. Mead, Pliny 
Earle Goddard, Clark Wissler, Nels Nelson and Franz Boas, and to gather 
information about what to search for during their excavations. 
On St. Thomas, the archaeological activities were focused on Magens 
Bay (December 19, 1922 – February 3, 1923) and Crum Bay (February 5, 
1923 – February 16, 1923). On St. John, several sites (for instance Bor-
deaux, Old Oven, Annaberg and Mary’s Point) were visited between Feb-
ruary 21 and March 22, 1923. In this article, I won’t get into further detail 
about the archaeological activities. Effert (1992: 36–61) presents a com-
plete overview and he is also able to refer to correspondence about the ex-
pedition, which is archived in Copenhagen. 
The diary of this expedition is archived in the library of Leiden Uni-
versity in the Netherlands.4 The diary is written in Dutch. Effert’s (1997) 
biography is in English, and it is thus accessible to an international audi-
ence interested in this expedition. An English translation of the entire diary 
is not available yet. Such an edition would present extra insights into the 
day-to-day archaeological activities related to the first inhabitants of St. 
Thomas and St. John. In the present article my focus is on the linguistic 
fieldwork, and only the parts of the diary that relate to that topic, have been 
translated into English. Figure 1 shows De Josselin de Jong during field-
work in the US Virgin Islands. 
 
4 Library University Leiden: Collection KITLV, signature: OR 385 (5–6). 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
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 22 
 
Figure 1. J.P.B. de Josselin de Jong in the US Virgin Islands. Photo: Gudmund Hatt. Re-
production: John Lee, National Museum of Denmark (gratefully acknowledged). Source: 
https://samlinger.natmus.dk/dnt/asset/120757 (accessed November 7, 2024). 
 
4. The linguistic fieldwork on St. Thomas and St. John 
Already in his first lectures and publications after returning home from the 
archaeological expedition, De Josselin de Jong mentioned that he had met 
several native speakers of VIDC. However, only after reading his diary are 
we able to see a clear timeline in which we can track his search for infor-
mation about the language, his endeavors to actually meet native speakers 
and to find written texts in VIDC. As I will show in section 4.1, some notes 
even inform us that he took the most recent publications about VIDC (Hes-
seling 1905 and Schuchardt 1914) along with him as reference works. 
In sections 4.2 and 4.3, I will present the day-to-day interactions with 
native speakers of VIDC from St. Thomas and St. John. Presenting the in-
formation in this way allows readers to follow the actual steps of De 
Josselin de Jong’s linguistic fieldwork. A brief overview, without extensive 
examples, is available in Van Rossem (2017: 321–326). 
During the final part of his visit, De Josselin de Jong had the oppor-
tunity to copy a missionary manuscript of Isaiah from the Old Testament. 
In section 4.4, I will examine what we know about this manuscript, includ-
ing De Josselin de Jong’s efforts to copy the entire text, and the significance 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
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 23 
of this eighteenth-century manuscript for studying the early stages of 
VIDC. 
 
4.1 Contemporary reference works 
On the basis of the diary, we know that De Josselin de Jong brought along 
with him two publications about VIDC: Hesseling (1905) and Schuchardt 
(1914). He mentions D.C. Hesseling’s 1905 work Het Negerhollands der 
Deense Antillen three times in his diary: 
 
January, 1, Monday: I had hoped to be able to study some of Hesseling’s book on 
Negerhollands today, but the “dairy room”, in which our suitcases were kept, 
turned out to be inaccessible. There is something wrong with the lock and it cannot 
be repaired until tomorrow.5, 6 
 
January, 7, Sunday: The day was used for writing letters and reading Hesseling’s 
book about Negerhollands.7 
 
January, 14, Sunday: The afternoon was spent writing letters and reading Hes-
seling’s book about Negerhollands.8 
 
Not only is Hesseling (1905) of interest for the description of the language, 
the book also contains the most recent information about the use of the 
Creole. In his letter to Hesseling of January 31, 1940, Bishop Greider on 
St. Thomas had written: 
 
The language in its purity is now spoken by a very few old people, principally those 
living in the country districts. The younger generation speaks a mixed dialect that 
is called Creole, but it contains very many English words … Our people (…) speak 
 
5 De Josselin de Jong’s diary and his 1924 and 1926 publications are in Dutch. All trans-
lations into English and quotations in bold are by me, unless other translators are men-
tioned. De Josselin de Jong’s views and language use are from the early twentieth cen-
tury, and some words used by him may be viewed as offensive today; I have taken them 
as literally as possible from the diary, contemporary interpretations notwithstanding. 
6 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 43): “Ik had gehoopt vandaag wat in Hesselings boek 
over het negerhollandsch te kunnen studeeren, maar de ‘melkkamer’ waarin onze kof-
fers, bleek ontoegankelijk. Er hapert iets aan het slot en dat kan pas morgen gerepareerd 
worden”. 
7 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 49): “Den dag gebruikt voor brieven schrijven en le-
zen in Hesselings boek over het Negerhollandsch”. 
8 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 54): “Den namiddag besteed aan brieven schrijven en 
wat in Hesseling’s boek over het Negerhollandsch lezen”. 
 
 
 
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a comparatively pure English and there is no patois like in the French or Dutch 
islands. In fact, if anyone wished to study the language as it now is spoken, it would 
be best to do it immediately. (Hesseling 1905: 33–34) 
 
It is evident that De Josselin de Jong wanted to get in contact with Greider. 
On January 30, 1923, he succeeded in meeting with Greider and, as we will 
read in a following section, this later resulted in him meeting native speak-
ers of VIDC as well.  
The second work on VIDC which De Josselin de Jong had taken 
along on the expedition was Hugo Schuchardt’s 1914 article, in which the 
so-called Magens letter (Van Rossem & Van der Voort 1996: 238) was 
included. On Tuesday, February 6, De Josselin de Jong writes as follows 
in his diary (my emphasis), in connection with a meeting with a reverend: 
 
February 6, Tuesday: He [Reverend Romig, CvR] knew a few old Negroes who 
knew “Creole”, the brothers Prince at Mosquito Bay. After waiting there for some 
time until the two old gentlemen had enjoyed their breakfast (which they take after 
working in the fields for a while), we had an interview with them. One of them can 
read and appeared to completely understand the letter published by Schuchardt in 
Negerhollands (…).9 
 
Since this letter was only published in Schuchardt (1914), De Josselin de 
Jong must have taken this separate article along with him, perhaps to ensure 
he had a good example of genuine vernacular VIDC available. 
 
4.2 Virgin Islands Dutch Creole on St. Thomas 
De Josselin de Jong’s curiosity about the possibility of a Dutch Creole still 
being spoken, was being rewarded step by step. Already a day after his 
arrival in St. Thomas, he writes the following in his diary: 
 
December 14, Thursday: We also met Mr. and Mrs. Holst there, also very interested 
in archaeological research. Mr. Holst himself collected folklore among the blacks 
and published it in a popular manner in Danish. His wife informed me that there 
 
9 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 68–69): “Hij wist een paar oude negers die “Creole” 
kenden, de gebrs. Prince aan Mosquito bay. Na aldaar eenigen tijd gewacht te hebben tot 
de twee oude heeren hun ontbijt genoten hadden (dat nemen ze na eerst een poos op ’t 
veld gewerkt te hebben), hadden we een onderhoud met hen. Een van hen kan lezen en 
bleek den door Schuchardt gepubliceerde brief in negerhollandsch volkomen te begrij-
pen”. 
 
 
 
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are probably still Negroes on St. Thomas who know [-Negro]10 Negerhollands, but 
I think that is a kind of lingua franca of later origin. (…).11 
 
Only a few days later, De Josselin de Jong received additional information 
from another source: 
 
December 17, Sunday: Mr. Thiele (also a Dane), whom we met at the Holst family, 
informed me that the so-called “Creole” which is still spoken by some blacks on 
St. Thomas, is, in his opinion, indeed Dutch. According to him, there are still many 
people on St. John who speak it.12 
 
At the end of January 1923, his wish to get in contact with native speakers 
of VIDC was almost fulfilled: 
 
January, 30, Tuesday: I successively visited the consul Van Eps, who this time had 
no letters for me, Bishop Greider, who informed me that there are still several old 
people at the [-West] east end of the island who speak Negerhollands and gave me 
some addresses (…).13 
 
January, 31, Wednesday: Mrs. Holst informed me that there are still people in the 
town who speak Negerhollands. She knows several.14 
 
At last, with the help of Mrs. Holst, De Josselin de Jong got in contact with 
a native speaker of VIDC: 
 
10 The diplomatic code “[- ]” indicates that this text was erased by the author. 
11 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 22): “We ontmoetten daar ook Mr. en Mrs. Holst, 
ook zeer geïnteresseerd in het arch. onderzoek. Mr. Holst heeft zelf folklore verzameld 
onder de negers en op populaire manier in het Deensch gepubliceerd. Zijn vrouw deelde 
mij mee dat er vermoedelijk ook op St. Thomas nog wel negers zijn die [-neger] neger-
hollandsch kennen, maar ik denk dat dat een soort lingua franca is van lateren oor-
sprong”. 
12 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 29): “De heer Thiele (eveneens Deen) dien we bij de 
Holsten ontmoetten deelde mij mede, dat het zoogenaamde “Creoolsch” dat door som-
mige negers ook op St. Thomas nog gesproken wordt, naar zijn meening inderdaad Ne-
gerhollandsch is. Op St. Jan zijn volgens hem nog heel wat menschen te vinden die het 
spreken”. 
13 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 63–64): “Ik bezocht achtereenvolgens de consul v. 
Eps, die ditmaal geen brieven voor me had, bisschop Greider, die mij meedeelde dat er 
bij het [-Weste] oosteinde van het eiland nog verscheiden oude menschen te vinden zijn 
die negerhollandsch spreken en mij eenige adressen gaf (…)” 
14 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 65): “Mevr. Holst deelde me mee, dat er in de stad 
nog menschen te vinden zijn die negerhollandsch spreken. Zij kent er verscheidene”. 
 
 
 
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 26 
February, 3, Saturday: At 11.15 we left for the town, to the Holst family, as Mrs. 
Holst had promised to introduce me to an old lady who knows Negerhollands. I 
met the Holsts at lunch and gratefully accepted the invitation to participate. After 
lunch, Mrs. Holst took me to Miss Benedetti,15 a 73-year-old, not entirely white 
lady, who was willing to assist me with her knowledge. However, it will not be of 
much use to me, because she has forgotten a lot and cannot talk in Dutch. She 
managed to name me a black person, also living in town, who could probably relate 
more. He is even older than her and had served as a slave. To find out his address 
I must consult Greider; I don’t have more time for that this afternoon.16 
 
February 6, Tuesday: (…) He [reverend Romig, CvR] knew a few old Negroes 
who knew “Creole”, the brothers Prince17 at Mosquito Bay. After waiting there for 
some time until the two old gentlemen had enjoyed their breakfast (which they take 
after working in the fields for a while), we had an interview with them. One of 
them can read and appeared to completely understand the letter published by Schu-
chardt in Negerhollands. They are probably useful, although they no longer have 
their former vocabulary available. We agreed that I would come back tomorrow at 
10 AM and see what I could do with them. I hope I can get them to tell stories. 
However, they have little time: they don’t think they can spare more than two hours 
a day. But if the work goes smoothly and they like it, they will probably have more 
time. Perhaps the presence of their parson today was not beneficial. (…).18 
 
15 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 8): “I owe information of various kinds to Aristea Bene-
detti (St. Thomas; born 1850) (…)”. 
16 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 66): “Om 11.15 naar de stad vertrokken, naar de fa-
milie Holst, daar Mevr. Holst me beloofd had mij te zullen introduceeren bij een oude 
juffrouw die Negerhollandsch kent. Ik trof de Holsten aan de lunch en aanvaardde dank-
baar de uitnoodiging om mee te doen. Na de lunch bracht Mevr. H. mij naar Miss Bene-
detti, een 73-jarige, niet geheel blanke juffrouw, die gaerne bereid was mij met haar ken-
nis bij te staan. Ik zal echter niet heel veel aan haar hebben, want ze is veel vergeten en 
kan niet in ‘t negerhollandsch vertellen. Ze wist me een neger te noemen, ook in de stad 
wonend, die waarschijnlijk wel zal kunnen vertellen. Die is nog ouder dan zij en heeft 
nog als slaaf gediend. Om zijn adres te weten te komen moet ik Greider raadplegen; van-
middag heb ik daar geen tijd meer voor”. 
17 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7) mentions only one of the Prince brothers: “XIV–XVI by 
Prince (Nisky, St. Thomas)”. 
18 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 68–69): “Hij wist een paar oude negers die “Creole” 
kenden, de gebrs. Prince aan Mosquito bay. Na aldaar eenigen tijd gewacht te hebben to 
de twee oude heeren hun ontbijt genoten hadden (dat nemen ze na eerst een poos op ’t 
veld gewerkt te hebben), hadden we een onderhoud met hen. Een van hen kan lezen en 
bleek den door Schuchardt gepubliceerde brief in negerhollandsch volkomen te begrij-
pen. Zij zijn waarschijnlijk wel bruikbaar, al hebben ze hun vroegeren woordenschat niet 
meer paraat. We spraken af dat ik morgen om 10 uur terug zou komen en dan zou zien 
wat ik met hen kon doen. Ik hoop ze aan ’t vertellen te kunnen krijgen. Ze hebben echter 
 
 
 
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 27 
February 7, Wednesday: From 10 to 12, I spent with the old Prince, with whom I 
partly worked through Magens’ letter to Schuchardt, asking him all kinds of infor-
mation. I hope to get him to narrate; he is starting to show more and more interest. 
It will continue tomorrow.19  
 
February 8, Thursday: (…) and from 10–12 with the old Prince. He has now given 
me some text, still no folklore though. I asked him if he couldn’t get us a worker; 
he will do his best.20 
 
Prince would present three, quite personal stories, later published in De 
Josselin de Jong (1926):21 
- XIV: A personal remembrance of informant Prince. He tells how, as 
a boy, he got a thrashing because his father had to wait for him. 
- XV: Prince’s father was manager of an estate. His master allowed 
him to keep some of the sheep for himself. 
- XVI: Prince’s father catches one of the slaves in the act of stealing a 
turkey. The culprit prefers a thrashing to being sent to the ‘fort’. 
 
The following is text XV from De Josselin de Jong (1926: 111): 
 
Mi popā́ wēs ēn meskene nabono də plantái. So də blaŋku a kā ’low am for hou 
som skap for am self. Elkēn niw mān am ha for lo ’n kapún almāl di juŋ bokn senr. 
Də mēstər fan di plantái šini steki fan di skap sin hō fo merək di dā wa hotu fan 
am, sodat wenə sendu kom fo faŋ fo frufruko, di mēstər nu sa faŋ wa hotə fan mi 
popā́.22 
 
weinig tijd: meer dan 2 uur per dag meenen ze niet te kunnen missen. Maar als ’t werk 
vlot en hun bevalt zullen ze vermoedelijk wel meer tijd hebben. Misschien werkte de 
aanwezigheid van hun parson vandaag niet gunstig”. 
19 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 70): “Van 10–12 bracht ik bij den ouden Prince 
door, met wie ik Magens’ brief aan Schuchardt gedeeltelijk doorwerkte hem daarbij al-
lerlei inlichtingen vragend. Ik hoop hem aan ’t vertellen te krijgen; hij begint steeds 
meer belangstelling te toonen. Morgen wordt het voortgezet”. 
20 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 70): “(…) van 10–12 bij den ouden Prince. Hij heeft 
me nu wat tekst gegeven, nog een folklore evenwel. Ik heb hem gevraagd of hij ons geen 
arbeider kan bezorgen; hij zal zijn best doen”. 
21 All Roman numerals in this article refer to the stories which are numbered this way in 
De Josselin de Jong (1926). 
22 The phonetic orthography is that employed in De Josselin de Jong (1926). A macron 
indicates a long vowel (for instance: ā is pronounced /aa/). An acute accent shows 
whether a syllable is stressed (for instance: in plantái the final syllable is stressed). A 
 
 
 
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Translation: ‘My father was a manager on the plantation. So the whites had allowed 
him to keep some sheep for himself. Every new month, he had to castrate all the 
young bucks. The master of the plantation cut a piece of the sheep’s ear to mark it 
which belongs to him, so when they come to catch for (the) market, the master will 
not catch what belongs to my father’. 
 
The question posed to Prince about hiring a worker for the archaeological 
work is of interest, as this person would later become a new informant: 
 
Februay, 9, Friday: At 10 o’clock I was back and went to Prince. (…) I received 
some text from Prince again, but no folklore. However, in the morning he had sent 
us another elderly man who stated that he could narrate in the language. Prince’s 
intention was that he would work for us (digging), but anyway I decided to check 
his use of Negerhollands. At 1 o’clock he appeared again and I worked with him 
until 5 o’clock. His advantage over Prince is that he cannot read or write and that 
he wants to and is able to tell stories. It promises to be so interesting that I will 
devote all my time to it for the time being, which is easy since the excavations 
provide not much to do.23 
 
February 10, Saturday: Worked from 8–12 and from 1–4 with the old Negro. He 
knows the language well, although he has also forgotten some words. Sometimes 
these come back to him while he is telling the story, but from an ethnological point 
of view his stories are not worth much, even though he cannot read or write. These 
Negroes have been in contact with civilization for too long. The “old-time story” 
he didn’t have from a book (another one had been read to him at the time), he told 
me about the Bremen town musicians.24 
 
word which is printed in italics in De Josselin de Jong (1926) originates from English 
(Creole) and not from Dutch Creole. 
23 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 71): “Om 10 uur was ik terug en ging ik naar Prince. 
(…) Van Prince kreeg ik weer wat tekst, maar geen folklore. Hij had echter ’S morgens 
een anderen bejaarden man naar ons toegezonden die verklaarde in de taal te kunnen 
vertellen. Prince’s bedoeling bleek weliswaar dat hij voor ons zou werken (graven), 
maar ik besloot in ieder geval den man op negerholl. te onderzoeken. Om 1 uur ver-
scheen hij weer en tot 5 uur heb ik met hem gewerkt. Hij heeft boven Prince van dat hij 
niet kan lezen of schrijven en dat hij wil en kan vertellen. Het belooft zoo interessant te 
worden, dat ik voorloopig al mijn tijd eraan zal geven, wat te gemakkelijker kan daar de 
opgravingen zoo weinig te doen geven”. 
24 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 71–72): “Van 8–12 en van 1–4 gewerkt met den ou-
den neger. Hij kent de taal goed, hoewel ook hij wel enkele woorden vergeten is. Soms 
komen ze weer bij hem op onder het vertellen. Maar van een ethnol. standpunt be-
schouwd zijn zijn verhalen niet veel waard al kan hij niet lezen of schrijven. Deze negers 
zijn al te lang met de beschaving in aanraking geweest. Als een ‘old-time story’ die hij 
 
 
 
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The name of this informant is not previously mentioned in the diary, but 
since this story is published in De Josselin de Jong (1926: 16, story VI), we 
know that the old man who was introduced on February 9, is William An-
thony Joshua.25  
In 1985, US Virgin Islands linguist Gilbert Sprauve interviewed Mrs. 
Alice Stevens, the last native speaker of VIDC. During these conversations, 
which took place in lectures at the University of the Virgin Islands, Sprauve 
read her this story by Joshua in English and asked her to translate it into 
VIDC. Although the story was unknown to her, there appeared to be hardly 
any difference between Joshua’s texts and Stevens’s translations (see Van 
Rossem 2017: 253–255). 
Joshua is the source of texts I–XIII, which are all lengthy folktales 
and stories resembling fairy tales, without personal notes; they consist of 
fifteen pages in print, while Prince’s stories fill only one page. De Josselin 
de Jong writes: 
 
February 12, Monday: From 8–12 we worked again with old Joshua (...) In the 
afternoon Emil Francis, 26 an elderly Negro from Smiths Bay, East End, appeared, 
who had been summoned by reverend Romig because he also knows Negerhol-
lands well. It turned out that he could indeed still speak the language quite well and 
was very interested in it, but he could not tell anything. I could probably get him 
started after two or three interviews, but as he lives on the East End, that’s not 
possible. In the meantime, it is useful to get information from different people. 
Very little is noticeable about individual differences in pronunciation. So far, 
Joshua is the best object, although his English is virtually unintelligible. This af-
ternoon I could also have worked with a very old Negro woman, but since Francis 
had driven especially from the East End to be interviewed by me, I had to postpone 
the interview with the old woman until tomorrow. Francis was neatly dressed in a 
black jacket, white piqué shirt and stiff double collar, without a tie, and white and 
blue striped trousers – a Panama hat with a huge brim on his head.27 
 
niet uit een boek had (een andere was hem indertijd voorgelezen) vertelde hij me de Bre-
mer stadsmuzikanten”. 
25 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7): “I–XIII are dictated to me by William Anthony Joshua 
(Nisky, St. Thomas; born 1858)”. De Josselin de Jong mentions his name in his diary on 
February 12, 1923. 
26 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7): “XVII by Emil Francis (Smiths Bay, East End, St. Tho-
mas; born 1854)”. 
27 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 73): “Van 8–12 weer gewerkt met den ouden Joshua, 
terwijl Hatt met 2 man aan de 2e opgraving werkte (Georges en Jeremiah hadden een 
nieuwen arbeider meegebracht, Frederic genaamd) en Mevr. Hatt toezicht hield op één 
arbeider in de eerste opgraving. Morgen wordt de bemanning aanmerkelijk versterkt 
 
 
 
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Emil Francis contributed only one text, XVII (De Josselin de Jong 1926: 
25–26), which is, it would appear accidentally, attributed to Prince in the 
summary: “Prince remembers an earthquake and a cholera epidemic about 
1871” (De Josselin de Jong 1926: 112). This text is later also included in 
Hesseling’s comparison between Papiamentu and VIDC (Hesseling 1933: 
281–282). The text reads as follows: 
 
Dǝ dómnē wa a dōp mi si nām a Mr. Wit, domni fa Hernhut. Mi a lo lo a skōl a di 
jā 1871. Di skōlhus a kā fal. So ons a ha fo hou skōl a di kérǝk. And da di ótkwēk 
a fin ons an ons a ha fu kurí abít it fa di kérǝk. An mi mā lo drā melǝk a Kwati an 
mi di ótkwēk am a kri di stibn. Astǝ di gale di selǝf jā di a ha kálara. Muši fulǝk 
wa mi wēt a dōt. Ons na kan lo we it fa Kwati. Dǝ dómnē na listā́ ons lo ēntēn pat 
abiti it fa di plantai. 
Translation: ‘The parson who baptized me, his name is Mr. Wit, parson from Herrn-
hut. I went to school in the year 1871. The schoolhouse had fallen apart. So we had 
to have school in the church. And there the earthquake found us and we had to run 
outside, away from the church. And my mother was going to take milk to Kwati 
and because of (= as a result of) the earthquake she had the convulsions. After the 
storm in the same year there was cholera. Many people that I knew died. We cannot 
run away from Kwati. The parson won’t allow us to go any way out of the planta-
tion’. 
 
The next day, the interviews continued: 
 
February 13, Tuesday: This morning from 8–10 I did Negerhollands with old 
Joshua, from 10–12 with the 79-year-old black woman28 who, however, could not 
 
daar de oude Joshua 2 man mee zal brengen. ’S middags verscheen Emil Francis, een 
bejaarde neger van Smiths bay, East End, die door reverend Romyn op ontboden was 
omdat hij eveneens nog goed Negerhollandsch kent. Hij bleek ook inderdaad de taal nog 
behoorlijk te kunnen spreken en er veel belang in te stellen, maar hij wist niets te vertel-
len. Waarschijnlijk zou ik hem na 2 of 3 interviews wel aan den gang kunnen krijgen, 
maar daar hij aan East End woont kan daar niet van komen. Het is intusschen wel nuttig 
van verschillende personen informatie te krijgen. Van individueele verschillen in uit-
spraak is heel weinig merkbaar. Totnogtoe is Joshua het beste object, al is zijn Engelsch 
vrijwel onverstaanbaar. Vanmiddag had ik ook kunnen werken met een heel oude nege-
rin, maar daar Francis expresselijk van East End was komen rijden om zich door mij te 
laten uitvragen moest ik het onderhoud met de oude vrouw tot morgen uitstellen. Francis 
was netjes aangedaan met een zwarte jas, wit piqué overhemd en stijf dubbelboord, zon-
der das evenwel, en een wit en blauw gestreepte broek. Een Panemahoed met enormen 
rand op zijn hoofd”. 
28 Her name is not mentioned in this diary, however it is quite possible this is Helena 
Mitchell (St. Thomas; born 1844) (De Josselin de Jong 1926: 8).  
 
 
 
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Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 31 
or did not want to narrate. She also speaks softly and has difficulty understanding 
what it is about when I ask for further explanation. Joshua is really much better. 
He is not ashamed to tell stories and he understands very well what it is about. He 
told me today – and most likely he is right – that the old Negro stories became 
extinct because the clergy forbade them to be told to children.29 
 
February 16, Friday: Worked with Joshua on Negerhollands the entire day.30 
 
February, 20 Tuesday: At 11 o’clock I paid a farewell visit to old Prince, to whom 
I gave 2 dollars for his instruction in Negerhollands.31 
 
On the 21st of February 1923, De Josselin de Jong left St. Thomas for St. 
John. The three informants discussed thus far, that is, Prince, Joshua (both 
from Nisky, east of Charlotte Amalie) and Francis (Smith Bay, East End), 
contributed only seventeen of the 103 total texts (33% of the informants, 
16% of the texts, however about 26% of the entire corpus, based on the 
length of the texts). The 1883 letter by Anthon Magens (Schuchardt 1914) 
was at that time considered to be the most recent sample of VIDC vernac-
ular. It is therefore interesting to read that De Josselin de Jong used this 
text in his conversations with the newly found native speakers. 
 
4.3 Native speakers of Dutch Creole on St. John 
From February 21 until March 2, while on St. John, De Josselin de Jong 
and Hatt continued their archaeological expedition, exploring several sites 
where artifacts were found. However, on March 3 it appears that De 
Josselin de Jong also must have asked his host, Reverend Penn, to look for 
speakers of Dutch Creole. As we have mentioned before, according to 
Thiele, there would still be many people on St. John who could speak 
 
29 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 73–74): “Van Ochtend van 8–10 negerhollandsch 
gedaan met den ouden Joshua, van 10–12 met de 79-jarige negerin 28 die echter niet kon 
of wou vertellen. Ook spreekt ze zacht en begrijpt slecht waar ’t om gaat als ik om na-
dere uitlegging vraag. Joshua is werkelijk veel beter. Hij geneert zich niet om verhalen te 
doen en begrijpt heel goed waar ’t om gaat. Hij vertelde me vandaag – en hoogstwaar-
schijnlijk heeft hij gelijk – dat de oude negerverhalen uitgestorven waren omdat de gees-
telijken verboden ze de kinderen te vertellen”. 
30 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 75–76): “De heelen dag met Joshua Negerholl. ge-
werkt”. 
31 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 77–78): “Om 11 uur bracht ik een afscheidsbezoek 
aan den ouden Prince, wien ik 2 dollar gaf voor zijns onderricht in negerhollandsch”. 
 
 
 
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Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 32 
VIDC. Figure 2 shows Reverend Penn and a group of locals, some of whom 
may have known VIDC. 
 
 
Figure 2. Photo from St. John of workers grating manioc roots. The man in the white shirt 
to the right is Reverend Penn, De Josselin de Jong’s host in St. John. Photo: Gudmund 
Hatt. Reproduction: John Lee, National Museum of Denmark (gratefully acknowledged). 
Source: https://samlinger.natmus.dk/dnt/asset/120752 (accessed November 14, 2024). 
 
On the same day, Hatt went to explore Browns Bay, but he did not find 
anything worth exploring further. This gave De Josselin de Jong the possi-
bility to get back to his linguistic fieldwork: 
 
March, 3, Saturday: (…) I stayed at home to record some Negerhollands. The old 
man whom Penn had recommended to me turned out to know the language well 
but he had forgotten many of the old stories. He will now refresh his memory with 
 
 
 
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Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 33 
someone else who knows the stories but not the language and then tell me every-
thing next week.32, 33 
 
Although his name is not mentioned on this day, the chronological order 
which De Josselin de Jong seems to stick to in his 1926 publication, points 
to Testamark as the source of the first texts recorded on St. John: 
 
March, 5, Monday: In the morning I did Negerhollands with Testamark.34 Then he 
couldn’t tell me anything anymore. In the afternoon, on the advice of Mrs. Penn I 
tried it with another old black person: Robert George35 but he couldn’t tell me much 
either. Like Joshua on St. Thomas, he told me that the missionaries had previously 
forbidden those stories to be told to the children, which is why no one knows many 
of them now. Tomorrow I’m going to try my luck with an old woman.36 
 
Robert George contributed only two texts. The first one, XXVIII, is an An-
ansi story. The second one, XXIX (De Josselin de Jong 1926: 32), is a fable 
which is directly related to the period of slavery: 
 
 
32 In De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7) the name of the informant is missing from stories 
XXIII–XXVII. Since no informants are mentioned between Testamark and George, I 
think number ‘V’ is missing in ‘XXII’ and should be read as ‘XXVII’. These stories 
should be attributed to Testamark. On the other hand, since De Josselin de Jong men-
tions three male informants with last name Testamark, a few of the stories may be by 
Edwin Testamark. From the text of the diary on March 8, it is not likely George contrib-
uted anything. (Which is in contrast to a claim in Van Rossem 2017: 330, 338.) 
33 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 83): “(…) ben ik thuis gebleven om wat negerhol-
landsch op te nemen. De oude man dien Pen me daarvoor had aanbevolen bleek de taal 
goed te kennen maar van de oude verhalen veel vergeten te zijn. Hij zal nu bij een ander 
die wel de verhalen maar niet de taal kent zijn geheugen gaan opfrischen en me dan de 
volgende week alles vertellen”. 
34 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7): “XVIII–XXII by John Abraham Testamark (St. John; 
born 1859, passed away in the hurricane of Sept. 1923)”. This comment shows that De 
Josselin de Jong also had contact with people on the Virgin Islands who knew the infor-
mants, or at least Testamark, after his visit to the Caribbean. 
35 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7): “XXVIII–XXIX by Robert George (St. John; born 
1845)”. 
36 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 84): “Ik heb ’s morgens met Testemark negerhol-
landsch gedaan. Toen wist hij niets meer te vertellen. ’S middags heb ik op raad v. Mrs. 
Penn ’t met een andere ouden neger geprobeerd: Robert George, maar ook die wist me 
niet veel te vertellen. Evenals Joshua op St. Thomas vertelde hij me dat de zendelingen 
vroeger verboden hadden die verhalen aan de kinderen te vertellen, vandaar dat nu nie-
mand er veel kent. Morgen ga ik mijn geluk bij een oude vrouw beproeven”. 
 
 
 
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 34 
Di hon a nē ši fripampi. Am a stokúi di abini ēn gat. Di roto a nēm di it. Am a sker 
di. Di hon a blamḗ di puši fo di pampi wa kā sker. Di puši sē, dat di roto a du di, 
na am. So dǝ hon a flig astǝ dǝ puši en dǝ puši a flig astǝ dǝ roto. So fan di dag dā 
dǝ puši a lō astǝ dǝ roto en dǝ hon astǝ dǝ puši. 
Translation: ‘The dog took his manumission certificate. He hid it in a hole. The rat 
took it out. He tore it up. The dog blamed the cat for the certificate being torn. The 
cat said the rat did it, not him. So the dog flew after the cat and the cat flew after 
the rat. That’s why from that day, the cat chased the rat and the dog chased the cat.’ 
 
The next days, De Josselin de Jong writes as follows in his diary: 
 
March, 6, Tuesday: This morning I first visited Mrs. Anna Testamark, 82 years 
old, an entertaining elderly lady, who of course speaks fluent Negerhollands and 
who is probably full of folklore. However, I couldn’t get her to tell me stories.37 
She told me that Ludwig Joseph, a 65-year-old acquaintance of hers, could tell me 
all kinds of stories. After I saw L.J., I agreed with him that he would come to me 
at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. He also came and was willing to tell what he knew, 
but it turned out he didn’t know any stories.38 He will now get the old woman to 
come and tell me tomorrow for $1 a day.39 
 
March, 7, Wednesday: This morning old Anna Testamark appeared. However, it 
turned out that she could say next to nothing. I think she’s a bit weak-headed. I 
bought a stone from her, perhaps an ordinary cobblestone, for ½ dollar to put her 
in a good mood, but it did me no good. At half past nine I sent her away and went 
myself to Roofers Daniel,40 whose mother, according to A. Testamark, knows a lot 
of the old stories. R. confirmed this and I will have to visit the old woman. She 
lives on Mary’s Point. In the afternoon Ludwig Joseph appeared again, whom I had 
ordered just to be sure. He gave me a little bit of text and other than that, I mainly 
 
37 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7): “XXX–XXXI by Anna Catharina Testamark (St. John; 
born 1841)”. 
38 He related quite a number of stories to Ludwig Joseph (St. John; born 1858). See De 
Josselin de Jong (1926: 7): “XXXII–XXXVII, LXXXIII–LXXXVIII”. 
39 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 84–85): “Vanochtend heb ik eerste een bezoek ge-
bracht aan Mrs. Anna Testamark, 82 jaar oud, een vermakelijk oudje, dat natuurlijk 
vloeiend negerhollandsch spreekt en vermoedelijk vol folklore zit. Ik kon haar echter 
niet aan ’t vertellen krijgen. Ze zei me dat Ludwig Joseph een 65-jarige kennis van haar 
me alle mogelijke verhalen zou kunnen vertellen. Nadat ik L.J. had opgespoord sprak ik 
met dezen af dat hij ’s middags om 1 uur bij me zou komen. Hij kwam ook en was be-
reid te vertellen wat hij wist, maar verhalen bleek hij niet te kennen. Hij zal nu van de 
oude vrouw gedaan zien te krijgen dat ze me morgen komt vertellen voor 1 dollar per 
dag”. 
40 Not mentioned in De Josselin de Jong (1926). 
 
 
 
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Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 35 
recorded vocabulary. He advised me to try my luck with Albert Christian,41 who 
lives in Palestine (near Emmaus). After 5, I visited Christian. He indeed said he 
could tell me something and we agreed that he would come to me tomorrow at 8 
o’clock.42 
 
Anna Testamark presented only two short Anansi stories. According to De 
Josselin de Jong, Ludwig Joseph did not know any stories, however he con-
tributes five short Anansi stories, a number of sentence-length stories and 
a memory of the hurricane of 1916, which looks somewhat like Emil Fran-
cis’s story about the earthquake. Interesting is story LXXXVIII.43 It is a 
part of the nursery rhyme “Three blind mice”, which was also recorded in 
1936 by Frank G. Nelson (Van Rossem 2014, 2017: 291, 295), which ena-
bles comparison with a time depth of about 13 years. The name of Nelson’s 
informant was Henrietta Francis. The two versions of the nursery rhyme 
follow here: 
 
Ludwig Joseph (St. John, 1923, De Josselin de Jong 1926: 63): 
Dri blin muši. Ki hoso sini kurí. Sini lo kurí fan dǝ farmer’s wif. Widi šini en stet 
mi ēn kambusmes? Mi noit kā ki ēngut leiki dida abini mi lif. Jen ki wa sport! 
Translation: ‘Three blind mice. Look how they run. They are running from the 
farmer’s wife. Who cut a tail with a kitchen knife? I have never seen something 
like this in my life. You see what sport!’ 
 
 
41 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7): “XXXVIII–XXXXIV by Albert Christian (St. John, 
born 1850)”. 
42 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 85): “Vanmorgen verscheen de oude Anna 
Testamark. Ze bleek echter zoo goed als niets te kunnen vertellen. Ik geloof dat ze wat 
zwakhoofdig is. Ik kocht een steen van haar, misschien een gewone keisteen, voor ½ 
dollar om haar in een goed humeur te brengen, maar dat baatte me niet. Om half tien 
stuurde ik haar weg en ging zelf naar Roofers Daniel wiens moeder volgens A. 
Testamark een hoop van de oude verhalen kent. R. bevestigde dit en ik zal de oude 
vrouw dus moeten opzoeken. Ze woont op Mary’s Point. ’S middags verscheen Ludwig 
Joseph weer, dien ik voor alle zekerheid besteld had. Van hem kreeg ik een klein beetje 
tekst en verder nam ik hoofdzakelijk vocabulair op. Hij raadde me aan m’n geluk eens te 
beproeven bij Albert Christian, die te Palestina (vlak bij Emmaus) woont. Na 5 bezocht 
ik Christian. Die zei inderdaad wel wat te kunnen vertellen en we spraken af dat hij mor-
gen om 8 uur bij me zal komen”. 
43 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7) contributes this text in the first place to Ludwig Joseph, 
but later on also to Henry Roberts. Since text LXXXIX is about the phallic dance (see 
below) where De Josselin de Jong met Roberts for the first time, LXXXVIII must have 
been told by Ludwig Joseph. 
 
 
 
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 36 
Henrietta Francis (Frederiksted, St. Croix, 1936, recorded by Frank G. Nelson,44 
Van Rossem 2017: 295): 
Tri blain mĭshi. Ki hose sen kurre. Sen kurri awé wit də fāma che wĭf. Sens sne af 
sens stet wit a gebrāta mĕs. Me noit mo ka ki so en got a me lif lĕke dri blain mishi. 
Translation: ‘Three blind mice! See how they run! They ran away with the farmer’s 
wife. She cut off their tails with a carving knife. I never had seen such a thing in 
my life as three blind mice’. (Translation by Henrietta Francis, 1936) 
 
This week in 1923 already appeared to be a fruitful one by Wednesday, 
March 7. The most interesting day, however, was yet to come: 
 
March 8, Thursday: This morning I worked until 11 o’clock with Albert Christian, 
who dictated some stories to me – all the ones he could come up with. His Neg-
erhollands is not always correct and because he has insufficient command of the 
language, his narrative style is also clumsy. At 11 o’clock we went together to 
Edwin Testamark45 who lives nearby. He remembered something, which I wrote 
down. If he hears or remembers more stories, he will let me know. At 1 o’clock, I 
left for Henry Roberts46 who lives at Bordeaux – on horseback. At the top of the 
hill lives Georges Testamark, who was also mentioned to me by Christian as some-
one who could tell me something. However, this turned out not to be the case. The 
old man was weaving baskets and appeared to be quite drowsy. His wife told me 
that he was out of his wits. She was clear headed, but she only knew Negerhollands 
moderately and claimed not to know any old stories. She went to call Roberts for 
me and in the meantime, I chatted with her mother in Negerhollands. By the time 
Roberts showed up, news of my presence had apparently reached other neighbors. 
At least it didn’t take long before a crowd of both sexes and various ages gathered 
around us. Roberts, together with an old woman, started performing one of the old 
“jokes”, which involved a lot of singing and ended in a phallic dance – much to the 
amusement of the audience. After I agreed with Roberts that he would come and 
work with me tomorrow, I left. It was impossible to write anything in the noise and 
a few old women were quite a nuisance. They begged for money and made an 
unpleasant commotion. The young men looked embarrassed and ashamed during 
the performance. A young girl – particularly pretty – enjoyed herself immensely. 
A most interesting afternoon.47 
 
44 The transcription is by Frank G. Nelson, 1936. 
45 Not mentioned in De Josselin de Jong (1926). 
46 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7): “XXXXV–LXXXII, LXXXVIII–C, CII–CIII by Wil-
liam Henry Roberts (St. John; born 1863)”. 
47 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 86–87): “Van ochtend heb ik eerst tot 11 uur ge-
werkt met Albert Christian die me eenige verhalen dicteerde – alle die hij kon verzinnen. 
Zijn Negerhollandsch is niet altijd even correct en doordat hij de taal onvoldoende be-
heerscht is zijn verhaaltrant ook onbeholpen. Om 11 uur gingen we samen naar Edwin 
Testamark die in de buurt woont. Die herinnerde zich nog iets, wat ik opschreef. Als hij 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
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The song related to the phallic dance was recorded as text LXXXIX, which 
includes several footnotes (De Josselin de Jong 1926: 63):  
 
Henry Roberts (St. John, 1923, LXXXIX, De Josselin de Jong’s footnotes are 
placed between brackets): 
Maria! (The woman is calling her maid servant.) Ali (Hello) frou! Di kā (Read: ju 
kan. The narrator must have been mistaken here.) gi di hou man dǝ servet, ta am 
fix (Intended: to wash.) ši futu. Nu sē di hou man, am kan ko bo di estǝ trap, bot 
pasó am ko mē fê. 
Ju bóroma bóroma zepo mi a la ē! (This is what the man sings. According to the 
narrator, these words do not have any sense. ‘Boro’ is, however, a word for 
‘vulva’.) Haridíŋ haridíŋ, Diŋ diŋ diŋ! (With these words the dancing couple per-
formed the music. The man: haridíŋ; the woman (joining in): diŋ.) 
Maria! Ali frou! Ju kan sē di hou man, am kan ko kan di bere, bot pasó am take 
enestǝ gut!  
Maria! Ali frou! Ju kan sē di hou man, am kan ko bo di bere, bot paso am take mi 
bil! 
Maria! Ali frou! Sē di hou man, am kan risóp mi saja, bot pasé am take mi bil! 
Maria! Ali frou! Sē di hou man, am kan du mi di! (She means: her body.) O, ju du 
mi di, a fa ju di bi (Older: da fan ju di bin ‘it’s yours).’ 
(After this, the actual dance started, where the man was ever approaching the 
woman with expressive body movements and holding a stick as a phallus before 
him, only to touch the woman in the end.) 
Translation: ‘Maria! Hello madam! You can give the old man the napkin, let him 
wash his feet. Now tell the old man, he can come up the first stairs, but watch out 
 
meer verhalen hoort of zich herinnert zal hij ’t me laten weten. Om 1 uur vertrok ik naar 
Henry Roberts die op Bourdeaux woont – te paard. Op den top v.d. heuvel woont Geor-
ges Testamark die me eveneens door Christian genoemd was als iemand die me wel wat 
zou kunnen vertellen. Dit bleek evenwel niet ’t geval te zijn. De oude man zat manden te 
vlechten en bleek tamelijk suffig. Zijn vrouw zei me dat hij niet erg bij de pinken meer 
was. Zij was dat wel, maar zij kende maar matig Negerholl. en beweerde geen oude ver-
halen te kennen. Zij ging Roberts voor me roepen en intusschen converseerde ik met 
haar moeder wat in negerholl. Toen Roberts verscheen was het nieuws van mijn aanwe-
zigheid blijkbaar ook tot andere buren doorgedrongen. Het duurde tenminste niet lang 
voor er een heele schare van beiderlei geslacht en diverse leeftijden om ons heen zat. 
Roberts begon samen met een oude vrouw een van de oude “jokes” ten beste te geven, 
waarbij veel gezongen werd en die eindigde in een phallischen dans – tot enorme hilari-
teit van het publiek. Nadat ik met Roberts had afgesproken dat hij morgen met me zal 
komen werken vertrok ik. Het was onmogelijk onder het lawaai iets op te schrijven en 
een paar oude vrouwen waren tamelijk hinderlijk. Ze bedelden om centen en maakten 
onaangenaam veel leven. De jonge mannen keken onder de voorstelling verlegen en be-
schaamd. Een jong meisje bijzonder knap – genoot buitengewoon. Een hoogst interes-
sante middag”. 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 38 
if he comes too far. / Ju boroma boroma zepo mi a la ee, hariding, hariding, ding 
ding ding / Maria! Hello madam! You can tell the old man, he can come next to 
the bed, but watch out, if he touches (lit., “takes”) something! / Maria! Hello 
madam! You can tell the old man, he can come on the bed, but watch out he touches 
my buttock! / Maria! Hello madam! Tell the old man he can pull up my dress, but 
watch out if he touches my buttock! / Maria! Hello madam! Tell the old man he 
can do it to me! O, you do it to me, it is yours!48 
 
De Josselin de Jong’s description of the collected stories is quite extensive; 
see De Josselin de Jong (1926: 5–7) in which he describes the different 
genres like old-time stories and stories from books (European fairy tales, 
the Anansi spider stories). He also recognizes the use of several stories as 
part of ceremonial meetings. The meeting which he attended on March 8, 
1923, is mentioned among the descriptions and with regard to these disap-
pearing traditional ceremonies, the following texts of Henry Roberts, 
LXL–C, all so-called “story-house” songs, are therefore of considerable 
interest, and should be studied more closely in relation to Virgin Islands 
cultural history. 
From March 8 onwards, for about the next two weeks De Josselin de 
Jong would work with his most productive informant, Henry Roberts.49 He 
writes as follows in his diary: 
 
March, 9, Friday: I worked all day with Roberts, who turned out to be a rich source 
of folklore. He’ll come again tomorrow.50 
 
March, 10, Saturday: Worked with Roberts all day. Tiring work, because R. is a 
poor storyteller and is unable to give explanations.51 
 
 
48 Unfortunately there is no translation by De Josselin de Jong himself: the last story of 
which a translation or summary is available is LXXXI. 
49 In Van Rossem (2017), William Henry Roberts is consistently called William Roberts. 
From De Josselin de Jong’s diary it is clear, however, that Henry was his first name. 
50 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 87): “Den heelen dag heb ik met Roberts gewerkt, 
die een rijke bron v. folklore bleek te zijn. Morgen komt hij weer”. 
51 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 87): “Den heelen dag met Roberts gewerkt. Ver-
moeiend werk, doordat R. een slecht verteller is en niet in staat uitlegging te geven”. 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
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 39 
March, 12, Monday: I will continue to record folklore here and will leave for St. 
Martin before the end of the month (if possible). Today I worked with Roberts all 
day again.52 
 
March, 13, Tuesday: Worked until 4 o’clock with Roberts.53 
 
March, 15, Thursday: Today was the last time I worked with Roberts, who stated 
this afternoon that he now knows nothing anymore. Moreover, he must plant in 
view of the upcoming new moon.54 
 
March, 17, Saturday: I spent this day working through some of my texts. I need 
further information about several places, including the various plants used for med-
icine. (…) Roberts let his daughter inform me that he will be visiting me again on 
Monday. And Ludwig Joseph, whom I met on the way, said he would come on 
Tuesday.55 
 
March 18, Sunday: Today I wrote letters, went to church and studied my texts.56 
 
March 19, Monday: I worked with Roberts all day. Some of the stories he told me, 
he had apparently cobbled together himself, but they were interesting because of 
the words. After the third one I told him I had enough of this kind now. His supplies 
are now exhausted again, but if he can remember anything, he will come tomorrow 
and let Joseph know that he should not come. If he doesn’t come tomorrow, he 
might come on Thursday.57 
 
52 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 88): “Ik blijf hier folklore opnemen en vertrek voor 
het eind van de maand (zoo mogelijk) naar St. Martin Vandaag weer den heelen dag met 
Roberts gewerkt”. 
53 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 88): “Tot 4 uur gewerkt met Roberts”. 
54 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 88–89): “Vandaag voor ’t laatst met Roberts gewerkt 
die vanmiddag verklaarde nu niets meer te weten. Bovendien moet hij planten met het 
oog op de aanstaande nieuwe maan”. 
55 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 90): “Ik heb dezen dag aan het doorwerken van een 
deel van mijn teksten besteed. Over verschillende plaatsen moet ik nader informatie heb-
ben, ook over de diverse planten die voor medicijn gebruikt worden. ’s Middags weer 
gebaad in de baai. Roberts liet me door zijn dochtertje meedeelen dat hij Maandag weer 
bij me komt. En Ludwig Joseph die ik onderweg ontmoette zei Dinsdag te zullen ko-
men”. 
56 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 91): “Vandaag brieven geschreven, naar de kerk ge-
weest en in mijn teksten gestudeerd”. 
57 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 91): “Ik heb den heelen dag met Roberts gewerkt. 
Eenige verhalen die hij me deed had hij blijkbaar zelf in elkaar geflanst maar ze waren 
interessant om de woorden. Na het 3e heb ik hem gezegd dat ik nu genoeg van dit soort 
had. Zijn voorraad is nu weer uitgeput, maar als hij zich nog wat te binnen kan brengen 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 40 
In two places, De Josselin de Jong presents a glimpse into his fieldwork 
practices. In the excerpt of text LXXIV (De Josselin de Jong 1926: 122), 
he writes, about Henry Roberts: “A product of the narrator’s personal fan-
tasy, which he keenly enjoyed himself”. 
The following excerpt, LXXV, contains the following remark by De 
Josselin de Jong: “A tale of the same type as the previous one: interesting, 
not only from a psychological point of view, but also on account of the 
rather detailed description in the vernacular of the sugar-making process”. 
This is yet another clear example of the anthropological view highlighting 
an important aspect of the history of labor on St. John (see also Van Rossem 
2017: 338). 
De Josselin de Jong writes as follows in his diary about the next days: 
 
March, 20, Tuesday: Neither Roberts nor Joseph showed up this morning, so I 
spent the day further working on my texts.58 
 
March, 21, Wednesday: Since I had no one to work with, I spent the day working 
on my texts again.59 
 
March, 22, Thursday: In the morning I worked with Roberts. He brought me some 
spiders, among others Anānši; He had not been able to find Tekoma. At 11 o’clock 
I had asked him everything I still had to ask him, but with not much success, as he 
is actually unable to explain anything. Testamark and Joseph are much more intel-
ligent. So this day was not a success for my work. It’s about time for me to leave.60 
 
On March 23, De Josselin de Jong returned to St. Thomas. On St. John, De 
Josselin de Jong had interviewed six informants. They had presented him 
 
zal hij morgen komen en dan Joseph laten weten dat die niet moet komen. Als hij mor-
gen niet komt, komt hij misschien Donderdag”. 
58 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 92): “Noch Roberts noch Joseph zijn vanochtend 
verschenen, zoodat ik den dag heb doorgebracht met ’t verder doorwerken van mijn tek-
sten”. 
59 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 92): “Daar ik niemand had om mee te werken heb ik 
deze dag weer besteed aan ’t doorwerken van mijn teksten”. 
60 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 93): “‘s Morgens heb ik met Roberts gewerkt. Hij 
bracht eenige spinnen voor me mee o.a. Anānši; Tekoma had hij niet kunnen vinden. 
Om 11 uur had ik hem alles gevraagd wat ik hem nog te vragen had, met niet heel veel 
succes evenwel daar hij feitelijk niet in staat is iets uit te leggen. Testamark en Joseph 
zijn veel intelligenter. Zoo is deze dag voor mijn werk geen succes geweest. Het is hoog 
tijd dat ik wegga”. 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 41 
a total of 86 of the 103 texts (67% of the informants, 84% of the texts, 
however about 74% of the entire corpus, based on the length of the texts). 
In chronological order these informants are Abraham Testamark, Robert 
George, Anna Testamark, Ludwig Joseph, Albert Christian and Henry 
Roberts. Edwin Testamark and Georges Testamark were also consulted, 
but they did not contribute any texts. Among the large number of texts, 
several were mentioned by De Josselin de Jong (1926) as presented twice 
(Van Rossem 2017: 337–338): 
- XXIII (Abraham Testamark, St. John) – LXII (Henry Roberts, St. 
John)  
- XXXX (Albert Christian, St. John) – XXXXVII (Henry Roberts, St. 
John, other actor in story)  
- XXXXI (Albert Christian, St. John) – LXVII (Henry Roberts, St. 
John)  
- XXXXII (Albert Christian, St. John) – XXXXV (Henry Roberts, St. 
John) 
- XXXXIV (Albert Christian, St. John) – LXVI (Henry Roberts, St. 
John) 
 
In addition, text XXXIII appeared three times in De Josselin de Jong 
(1926). To show differences and resemblances between the three contribu-
tors, I will present some sentences from XXXIII (Ludwig Joseph, St. John, 
4 lines, p. 33), XXXXI (Albert Christian, St. John, 24 lines, p. 35) and 
LXVII (Henry Roberts, St. John, 33 lines, p. 52–53):61  
 
(1) 
XXXIII: Bru Anā́nsi am a lō jit di pot skon. (Brother Anansi he went to eat 
the pot clean.) 
XXXXI: Anā́nshi a kā kōk dǝ frokós. (Anansi had cooked the breakfast.) 
 
(2) 
XXXIII: Wani sini a rup am, am a se: hêêêê! (When they called him, he 
said: hé!) 
 
 
 
61 Since every informant has his own version of this story, the number of lines differs 
and not all sentences exist in three versions. 
 
 
 
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Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 42 
(3) 
XXXIII: sini a rup mi fo dōp kin. (The called me to baptize (the) child.) 
 
(4) 
XXXIII: Huso di kin nam? (What is the child’s name?) 
XXXXI: Anā́nshi a frā am, wa di nām fa di kin. (Anansi asked him, wat is 
the name of the child.) 
LXVII: (…) Tekoma a frāg am: hoso di kin nām? (Tekoma asked him: 
what is the child’s name?) 
 
(5) 
XXXIII: Ēstu begín. (First begin.) 
XXXXI: Anā́nshi a sē: di nām fa di kin ‘Mi-džis-kā-bigín’. (Anansi said: 
the name of the child is ‘I have just begun’.) 
LXVII: Am sē, dǝ kin nām ‘Ēstubigín’. (He says, the child’s name is ‘First 
begin’.) 
 
(6) 
XXXIII: Hêêêê! 
XXXXI: Am a bli werá, am a skrēw it werá: hêêêê! (He stayed again, he 
yelled it again: hé!) 
 
(7) 
XXXIII: Wa ju lō rup mi fo? (What are you calling me for?) 
XXXXI: Anā́nshi a sē: wa skot ju? (Anansi said: what do you want?) 
 
(8) 
XXXIII: Fo lō dōp kin werán? (To go baptize child again?) 
XXXXI: Sini lō rup mi werán fo kō dōp di kin. (They are calling me again 
to come baptize the child.) 
 
(9) 
XXXIII: Bru, wa di kin nām? (Brother, what is the child’s name?) 
XXXXI: Anā́nshi a frā am werán, wa dǝ nām fa di kin. (Anansi asked him 
again, what is the name of the child.) 
LXVII: Tekoma a frāg am: Bju, hoso di kin nām? (Tekoma asked him: 
brother, what is the child’s name?) 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
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 43 
(10) 
XXXIII: Dǝ kin nām Halǝf. (The child’s name is Half.) 
XXXXI: ‘Džis-in-di-midi’. (‘Just in the middle’.) 
LXVII: Am a sē a Tekoma: hin, Bju, di kin ši nām ‘Midlwe’. (He said to 
Tekoma: hey, brother, the child his name is ‘Halfway’.) 
LXVII: (…) Ham a sē a Tekoma: di kin nām ‘Halǝf mi halǝf’. (He said to 
Tekoma: the child’s name ‘Half with half’.) 
 
(11) 
XXXIII: Hêêêê! 
XXXXI: Am a skrēw it werán. (He yelled out again.) 
 
(12) 
XXXIII: Wa sa lō rup mi fo? (What are you calling me for?) 
XXXXI: Am a sē: bru, wa skot ju? (He said: brother, what do you want?) 
 
(13) 
XXXIII: Huso di kin nām? (What is the child’s name?) 
XXXXI: So weni am a drāi, am a frāg am, wa di nām fa di kin. (So when 
he turned, he asked him, what is the name of the child.) 
LXVII: Nu weni am kā klim abobo fo lo fin Tekoma a werǝk, Tekoma a 
frāg am: Bju, hoso di kin nām? (So when he climbed up to find Tekoma 
working, Tekoma asked him: brother, what is the child’s name?) 
 
(14) 
XXXIII: Mi kā kabā́. (I have finished.) 
XXXXI: ‘Ka kabā́’. (‘Have finished’.) 
LXVII: Am a ānturt, am sē: hm, Bju, di kin nām ‘Finish’. (He answered, 
he said, hmm, brother, the child’s name is ‘Finish’.) 
 
This comparison of the vernacular varieties presented by different inform-
ants is only an example of a possibility for a follow-up study. Unfortu-
nately, there are no comparable texts from St. Thomas and St. John with 
the same content. 
In the diary, De Josselin de Jong does not refer to his linguistic field-
work after leaving St. John. Some years later, De Josselin de Jong explicitly 
mentioned the ones who helped him to study this dying language: 
 
 
 
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Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 44 
Although none of my dark-skinned friends and teachers will read these pages, I do 
not wish to omit to mention their names, and to indicate as accurately as possible 
each one’s contribution to these texts. (De Josselin de Jong 1926: 7–8)62 
 
5. The Isaiah manuscript 
In a letter of June 15, 1773, the German missionary Johann Böhner writes 
how he enjoys translating biblical texts: 
 
For me the Bible is a holy and invaluable book, and I have my satisfaction in trans-
lating from it into Creole. [I] have also brought the New Testament into more than 
one copy, the four Evangelists in Harmony, the Acts of the Apostles and so on. The 
first book of Moses, the Psalms from the prophet Isaiah (…) (Böhner, June 15, 
1773, cited in Van Rossem 2017: 98, my emphasis) 
 
In 1777, Oldendorp mentions this manuscript in his history of the Moravian 
mission in the Danish West Indies:  
 
Böhner had to struggle with many difficulties in the course of his translation, some 
of which were caused by the poverty of the Creole language and others by the 
conceptual limitations of the Negroes. The latter, for example, have no idea of the 
nature and color of snow. Thus, in order to bring them to understand the text, Böh-
ner had to translate the expression white as snow in Isaiah 1:18 in a different man-
ner, but rendering the same concept. He used the following: Your sins shall be as 
white as linen. (Oldendorp 1987: 540,63 Van Rossem 2017: 103) 
 
Since connecting with an audience of people who were not familiar with 
biblical jargon, nor with some European concepts as a whole, was a prior-
ity, adaptation was an important task for the translator: he had to use a 
meaningful comparison. See Van Rossem (2020: 384) about the possible 
concepts, in this case snow, that could be compared to the color white. 
Oldendorp knew the manuscript and was even able to quote from it. 
The above-mentioned translation of Isaiah, however, has remained un-
known to today’s researchers, since it is not present in the Unitäts Archiv 
 
62 De Josselin de Jong (1926: 7–8): “Ofschoon geen mijner donkere vrienden en leerme-
esters deze bladzijden zal lezen, wil ik toch niet nalaten, hunne namen te vermelden en 
ieders bijdrage tot deze teksten zoo nauwkeurig mogelijk aan te geven”. 
63 Unfortunately, I only know this information from about 1762 from the 1987 English 
translation. Oldendorp (2000, 2002) which is the edition of Oldendorp’s manuscript of 
his mission, does not include the years 1761–1766. I did not have the opportunity to con-
sult Oldendorp (1777) for the present study. 
 
 
 
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Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 45 
in Herrnhut, Germany.64 De Josselin de Jong does mention this translation 
in his diary on February 6, 1923, as one of three texts (my emphasis): 
 
After the interview [with the Prince brothers, CvR], I went with R[omig, CvR] to 
his house – on the way we looked at the school and attended the lesson for a while 
– where he showed me three books in Dutch: a psalm book, a New Testament and 
an Isaiah in ms.65 
 
Reverend Romig lived in Nisky, St. Thomas. From February 21 until 
March 23, 1923, De Josselin de Jong was on St. John. A day after his return 
to St. Thomas, on March 24, he visited Romig: 
 
After dinner I went to Romig who immediately allowed me to copy the Isaiah man-
uscript in Negerhollands that the Moravian mission possesses. I can take it to my 
room or come and write at his place. I’ve been writing all afternoon.66 
 
De Josselin de Jong described the process of copying the text as follows: 
 
March 25, Sunday: Copied from 10–1 and in the afternoon until 4 o’clock.67 
March 27, Tuesday: I don’t think I’ll finish the manuscript before I leave; but in 
that case I can take it with me.68 
 
March 28, Wednesday: I spent the whole day at Romig’s today doing some copy-
ing.69 
 
 
64 In the anonymous hymnbooks which were published by the Moravian Brethren in 
1774 and 1784, the following verses from Isaiah were included: Anonymous (1774): 
Isaiah 11:10 and 11, 18: 2 and 7, 52, 10–12 and 15, 60: 3 and 5; Anonymous (1784): 
Isaiah 11:10–11, 52:15, 60: 3. 
65 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 69): “Na het interview ging ik met R. mee naar zijn 
huis – onderweg bekeken we de school en woonden de les een poosje bij – waar hij mij 
3 boeken in negerhollandsch toonde: een psalmboek, een nieuw test. en een Jesaja in 
ms”. 
66 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 94): “Na het eten ging ik naar Romig die me dade-
lijk toestond het Jesaia-manuscript in Negerhollandsch dat de Moravische missie bezit, 
te copieeren. Ik kan het meenemen naar mijn kamer of bij hem komen schrijven. De hee-
len middag heb ik zitten pennen”. 
67 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 94): “Van 10–1 en ’S middags tot 4 uur gecopieerd”. 
68 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 95): “Ik denk niet dat ik met het manuscript klaar 
kom vóór mijn vertrek; maar in dat geval mag ik het meenemen”. 
69 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 95): “Ik heb vandaag den heelen dag bij Romig 
doorgebracht om te copieeren”. 
 
 
 
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March, 29, Thursday: Copied this morning.70 
 
April, 1, Sunday: Spent the rest of the day (after breakfast) reading, copying and 
writing letters.71 
 
April 2, Monday: Spent the morning and part of the afternoon copying.72 
 
April 3, Tuesday: First copied in the afternoon and then went back to town; visited 
the Holst family at 5 o’clock. I was unable to meet Thiele, who seems to own a 
Negerhollands book.73 
 
April, 4, Wednesday: After breakfast first visited Romig. Then to the city, where, 
in Thiele’s office, I finally got my hands on the Creole psalm book, which is cur-
rently in Thiele’s possession. Too bad it doesn’t belong to him, so he couldn’t give 
it to me.74 
 
April, 5, Thursday: I copied in the morning.75 
 
On Friday April, 6, De Josselin de Jong left St. Thomas for St. Maarten. 
On April 20 he travelled from St. Maarten to Saba, and on May 7 he trav-
elled from Saba to St. Eustatius. In his notes we see he is still working on 
his copy of the original manuscript: 
 
April, 22, Sunday: In the afternoon, letters written and copied.76 
 
May, 6, Sunday: Used all day for writing letters and ms. copy.77 
 
70 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 95): “Vanochtend gecopieerd”. 
71 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 98): “De rest van den dag (na ‘breakfast’) doorge-
bracht met lezen, copieëren en brieven schrijven”. 
72 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 98): “Den ochtend en een deel van den middag door-
gebracht met copieeren”. 
73 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 99): “’S middags eerst gecopieerd en daarna weer 
naar de stad gegaan; om 5 uur de familie Holst bezocht. Ben er niet in geslaagd Thiele te 
treffen, die een Negerholl. boek heet te bezitten”. 
74 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 99): “Na het ontbijt eerst Romig bezocht. Daarna 
naar de stad, waar ik, in Thiele’s kantoor, eindelijk het Creoolsche psalmboek in handen 
kreeg, dat op ‘t oogenblik in Thiele’s bezit is. Jammer dat ’t hem niet toebehoort, zoodat 
hij ‘t mij niet kon geven”. 
75 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 100): “’S morgens heb ik gecopieerd”. 
76 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 110): “’S middags brieven geschreven en gecopi-
eerd”. 
77 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 118): “Den heelen dag gebruikt voor brieven schrij-
ven en hs. copieëren”. 
 
 
 
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 47 
May, 13, Sunday: Stayed at home all day; letters written and ms. copied.78 
 
May, 20, Sunday: Letters written and copied until 4.30.79 
 
May, 26, Saturday: All day long, that is, until 5 o’clock in the afternoon, copied. If 
I can stay here for a few more days, I’ll be done with it.80 
 
May, 27, Sunday: Copied all day long. 23 more pages.81 
 
May, 28, Monday: Copied in the morning (I was done at 12 o’clock) and wrote and 
read some letters in the afternoon.82 
 
The next day, May 29, De Josselin de Jong left St. Eustatius for St. Thomas 
via St. Maarten. He arrived at St. Thomas on June 1st. Unfortunately, in his 
diary he does not mention returning the Isaiah manuscript to Romig. Per-
haps even more unfortunate is that De Josselin de Jong never mentions his 
own copy of the manuscript again, despite the significant effort he made to 
complete his transcript on time. 
I am unaware of the whereabouts of these manuscripts, if indeed still 
extant, and where they are located today. It seems most likely to me that 
the original Böhner manuscript of Isaiah is archived by the Moravian 
Brethren in St. Thomas. De Josselin de Jong’s copy is not available in the 
library of Leiden University in the Netherlands. I had expected to find it 
there, since other material by De Josselin de Jong, originally archived by 
the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, is archived here. 
 
6. Aftermath and use in subsequent research 
The first one to mention the linguistic findings of the archaeological expe-
dition in writing is De Josselin de Jong himself. In his report about the 
archaeological expedition for the Maatschappij ter bevordering van het 
 
78 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 122): “Den heelen dag thuis gebleven; brieven ge-
schreven en hs. gecopieerd”. 
79 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 125): “Brieven geschreven en gecopieerd tot 4.30”. 
80 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 128): “Den heelen dag. d.w.z. tot ’s middags 5 uur, 
gecopieerd. Als ik nog een paar dagen hier kan blijven kom ik ermee klaar”. 
81 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 128): “Den heelen dag gekopieerd. Nog 23 pa-
gina’s”. 
82 De Josselin de Jong (1922–1923: 128): “’S morgens gecopieerd (om 12 uur was ik 
klaar) en ’S middags wat brieven geschreven en gelezen”. 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 48 
Natuurkundig Onderzoek der Nederlansche Koloniën (Society for the Pro-
motion of Natural Science Research of the Dutch Colonies), he writes: 
 
I used the last days of our stay on the island to investigate Negerhollands, which 
turned out to be still spoken by several older black persons. (De Josselin de Jong 
1923: 5) 
 
I myself stayed a few more days on St. John to complete the writing of a series of 
Negerhollands stories, and then also left for St. Thomas, where I only had the op-
portunity to go across to St. Martin a week later. This week, however, did not pass 
unused, as I had the opportunity to copy an unpublished Negerhollands manuscript 
in the possession of the Moravian mission on St. Thomas. (De Josselin de Jong 
1923: 6) 
 
In 1924 and 1926, respectively, De Josselin de Jong published his linguistic 
findings in an article and a book entirely devoted to this subject. It was not 
until more than twenty years after the expedition that his description of the 
archaeological findings appeared (De Josselin de Jong 1947). 
In Algemeen Handelsblad (May 6, 1933), Hesseling writes in an an-
nouncement for a presentation that De Josselin de Jong was able to record 
texts that were narrated to him by the old people themselves: “Thanks to 
this work by an eminently qualified linguist, it is now possible to view 
Negerhollands historically, which is very rarely the case with Creole lan-
guages”. 
Hesseling (1933) published a comparison of Papiamentu and VIDC, 
in which he regularly refers to De Josselin de Jong’s contribution; for in-
stance: 
 
If we had, since the end of the seventeenth century, documents as excellently ob-
served and recorded as the texts collected by Josselin de Jong, we would be better 
able to explain the change of vowels and fricatives; Now we have to confine our-
selves to assuming, often to guessing. (Hesseling 1933: 276) 
 
Moreover, Hesseling even added an addendum to his 1933 article, in which 
he discussed findings and additions based on new insights from De Josselin 
de Jong’s linguistic fieldwork and Schuchardt’s article (Hesseling 1933: 
286–288).  
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 49 
In the international field of contact linguistics, it wasn’t until 1937 
that John E. Reinecke, in his groundbreaking dissertation Marginal Lan-
guages, referred to De Josselin de Jong. In his chapter ‘The Negro Dutch 
of the Danish Antilles’ (Reinecke 1937: 394–425), he writes as follows: 
 
This work [Hesseling 1905, CvR] suffers from one important defect: its author had 
not himself heard the creole Dutch spoken. But the texts recorded a few years later 
by J.P.B. de Josselin de Jong excellently furnish the necessary supplementation. 
This section rests chiefly upon the work of these two writers. (Reinecke 1937: 394) 
 
From this publication onwards, De Josselin de Jong (1924, 1926) are es-
sential publications for the study of VIDC as it was spoken by its native 
speakers in the early twentieth century. 
When US Virgin Islands linguist Gilbert Sprauve in 1969 was pre-
sented in a US Virgin Islands newspaper as a scholar who was studying the 
French-related Creole language of St. Lucia and Dominica, he was ap-
proached by a lady in the street speaking in a language which appeared to 
be Dutch Creole. It turned out to be Mrs. Alice Stevens, who eventually 
became the last native speaker of VIDC. This was a starting point for the 
study of the last stage of this Creole language (Adams 1977, Sabino 2012). 
Until that time, the only texts available in VIDC vernacular were the texts 
collected by De Josselin de Jong (1926). Sprauve therefore used these sto-
ries and the wordlist for his interviews with Stevens. A beautiful recording 
is the previously mentioned comparison of “The Town Musicians of Bre-
men”, of which Sprauve presents an English translation, which was then 
translated into Dutch Creole by Mrs. Stevens (Sprauve 1985, Van Rossem 
2017: 253–255). 
In 1986 the German linguist Thomas Stolz studied De Josselin de 
Jong’s material quite thoroughly in order to compare the twentieth-century 
variety with the one which was used in earlier texts, from the eighteenth 
century, for his diachronic approach to the study of VIDC.83 
The last one to learn VIDC from Alice Stevens was the American 
linguist Robin Sabino (Auburn University), who studied VIDC thoroughly. 
 
83 The eighteenth-century VIDC texts consisted of, for instance, the language descrip-
tions of Magens (1770) and Oldendorp (1777), but also included the slave letters from 
the Unitätsarchiv Herrnhut which were discovered and transcribed by Peter Stein, to be 
published in the near future.  
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 50 
In her comprehensive glossary of VIDC (Sabino 2012: 233–292), she in-
cludes De Josselin de Jong’s (1926) material, which is indeed closely re-
lated to her own fieldwork data from her interviews with Mrs. Stevens 60 
years later. It is, however, unknown to me whether Sabino used De Josselin 
de Jong’s texts for comparison during the interviews. 
For his 2017 PhD thesis, Robbert van Sluijs digitized all texts from 
De Josselin de Jong (1926), as well as adding linguistic glosses, word for 
word translations and free translations, in order to convert these texts into 
a format appropriate for modern corpus-based linguistic research. Van 
Sluijs extensively studied the use of tense, mood and aspect-markers, not 
only within the sentences, but also as these were used in running texts. 
These texts are at the moment in Clarin-format digitally available in The 
Language Archive, Negerhollands, which is hosted by Max Planck Insti-
tute in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. 
In Van Rossem’s (2017) philological study on the authenticity of 
VIDC texts, De Josselin de Jong’s work is also included. Since De Josselin 
De Jong’s transcriptions are in a phonetic alphabet, for the first time, the 
spoken language is represented in a trustworthy manner, accompanied by 
a concise wordlist, with English translations and summaries. However, Van 
Sluijs (p.c.) has pointed to the fact that De Josselin de Jong was an anthro-
pologist, focused on the stories, and not on creating a concise language 
description. 
At the moment, information about VIDC vernacular documented by 
De Josselin de Jong’s informants and through the speakers working with 
Adams, Sabino and Sprauve is being used in a project to create new con-
versations to be used in a textbook to revitalize this Creole language 
(Sprauve et al., in progress). 
7. Further study
Using the diary to learn more about De Josselin de Jong’s 1926 collection
provides interesting insights into the fieldwork, the informants and their
stories. It contains a wealth of metalinguistic information. We can read
about his attempts to find native speakers, expectations regarding their lan-
guage competence, where to meet them, their ages, etc. De Josselin de Jong
describes the circumstances under which the conversations took place, the
length of the interviews, and since the collected texts are available, it is
possible to determine how intensive the interviews were.
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 51 
On the basis of the information about the speakers of VIDC, it ap-
pears that the stories in De Josselin de Jong (1926) are presented in chron-
ological order of their collection. The diary also reveals that not all persons 
who were introduced to De Josselin de Jong as speakers of VIDC actually 
made linguistic contributions. De Josselin de Jong also mentions positive 
or negative qualities of his informants, which can ultimately be used in as-
sessing the reliability of the texts. In addition, a closer study of the contents 
of the stories may show a thematical order within the collections of each 
informant. 
From his diary it appears that De Josselin de Jong re-read his notes 
of the fieldwork, and I assume he may have added comments and/or 
changes and improvements. These may help to provide extra information 
about the conversations and interviews with his informants. Since these 
fieldnotes are not part of the diary, nor in his publications of the texts, there 
might be a possibility they were archived elsewhere. Unfortunately, these 
are not present among the other material of De Josselin de Jong in the li-
brary of Leiden University. 
As I mentioned above, there is likely more to be discovered. For ex-
ample, we do not know the whereabouts of both the original eighteenth-
century Isaiah manuscript and its twentieth-century copy by De Josselin de 
Jong. The Old Testament features rich language that challenged the trans-
lators’ adaptability. We now know that the translator of this text, Johann 
Böhner, made efforts to connect with his audience linguistically (Van 
Rossem 2017). Therefore, I believe that locating the Isaiah text will provide 
insights beyond just its content. 
In Rigsarkivet (the Danish National Archives) in Copenhagen, letters 
between De Josselin de Jong and Hatt are archived. Effert (1992) refers to 
these letters. Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to consult them. I won-
der whether De Josselin de Jong ever discussed his linguistic fieldwork 
with Hatt, since information about this does not appear in the diary. 
I cannot imagine that De Josselin de Jong did not discuss his linguis-
tic discoveries during his fieldwork, for instance with D.C. Hesseling. Un-
fortunately, I have never seen letters or other egodocuments related to this, 
for instance in the library of Leiden University, where other egodocuments 
of these scholars are archived. 
De Josselin de Jong’s (1926) book contains an extensive glossary; 
however, there seems to be a difference between the words mentioned in 
 
 
 
Cefas van Rossem 
Scandinavian Studies in Language, 15(2), 2024 (16–55) 
 52 
the glossary and the words used in the texts, as they do not always match. 
A closer study of the texts will enrich the glossary. 
Since most of the VIDC texts seem to have been recorded and ar-
chived, new information about this language will not only be found in the 
texts themselves, but also in metalinguistic information from, for instance, 
egodocuments like letters and diaries. As Jacobs & Parkvall (2020, 2023) 
have shown with their recent discoveries of nineteenth-century Skepi 
Dutch Creole texts, a closer look into egodocuments may yield more than 
we had expected thus far. 
 
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