Print by F. Tony de B. Del., 1844

In L.T. Houat’s novel, a young marron meets a couple cast out of society because of their "mixed",  relationship who decide to escape and live peacefully in a cave with their infant child. Through this utopian tale, the author advocates "mixed" relationships as a solution to slavery. Caves were not the only places where marrons chose to live. According to archive documents, they also built camps of leaf huts (ajoupas) and shed-type structures, some fortified. They existed on a subsistence diet by hunting, fishing, gathering, the farming of maize, beans, sweet potatoes and taro, or by stealing food and equipment from remote farms.