A depiction of jamaica in the early 1800s. Illustration for the family sepulchre: a tale of jamaica by mrs. Henry (theodora elizabeth) lynch (london: seelys, 1848). The drawing is by alfred w. Cooper (signature in the lower left corner). The illustration is for one of a series of stories intended for the religious instruction of the young. Here, a woman being carried to the grave, prelude to a near escape from premature burial: "i was clothed in the garments of the grave; the family sepulchre was opened for my reception, and, being carefully put in a hammock, my brother and friends accompanying me, i was hastily borne onward to the dwelling of the dead. My first consciousness of life was the sensation of intense suffocating thirst; and ere i had power to speak, i discovered the shroud in which i was wrapped. Pushing the covering from my face, i at once ascertained my real situation, namely, that they were bearing me to the grave! after a desperate effort, i exclaimed, 'water! my brother; water!' in an instant, he sprang from my horse, and was at my side; the terrified negro bearers put down their burden, flying off in all directions; and some minutes elapsed before my anxious brother could prevail on any of them to approach us with a cup of water from a mud-walled shed, which providentially happened to be at the road-side. ". Date: 1848.
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