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On June 5, 1873, the sailing-ship Lalla Rookh arrived in Suriname with the first 399 immigrants from British India on board. There were 279 men, 70 women, 32 boys and 18 girls of under ten years of age. They were brought to the Coolie depot, which was especially fit up to receive the immigrants. This Coolie depot was situated on the corner of Sommelsdijksekreek and the Kleine Waterstraat, the extension of Kleine Combeweg. The medical examination and the registration took place here. The immigrants were assigned to the plantations, after which they departed to their final destinations. Striking was the great number of patients who had to be brought to the hospital immediately after their arrival to be nursed there. Perhaps a consequence of the poor selection in India? At registration, the weddings were recorded and all immigrants received a registration number. This number was determined as follows: one letter derived from the year of arrival. Immigrants of 1873 received letter B, those of 187 letter C, etc. Preceding this letter there was a figure that should indicate what number of immigrant for that year was involved. An immigrant registered as Boedhoe 357/H had Boedhoe as first name (the immigrants had no family names), arrived in 1879 and was the 357th immigrant of that year.
The death rate of the immigrants of 1873 and 1874 (2541 and 1413 respectively) was exceptionally high. |
