Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/rideoverrockymouOOcoke THE H®M®S E HEMET J. C©KE„ .London-. IdioBardBeniley; T>To-wBwlin.|,to'rLStre/6t, 18 52. A RIDE OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS TO OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. WITH A GLANCE AT SOME OF THE TROPICAL ISLANDS, INCLUDING THE WEST INDIES AND THE SANDWICH ISLES. BY THE HON. HENRY J. COKE. ■ AUTHOR OF 11 VIENNA IN 1848 .” LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. Publisher in ©rtimarg to %tx IHajestg. 1852 , LONDON BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF LEICESTER. My dear Leicester, In dedicating to you this little volume, I avail myself of the opportunity it affords to apologise for sundry faults which the unlenient might not otherwise be inclined to overlook. The many trifling incidents which I have, perhaps too often, recorded, must, I am aware, be unin- teresting to the general reader ; yet, nevertheless, may claim the attention of a brother, and even contribute to his amusement. My j ournal, from beginning to end, was originally written exclusively for the perusal of my friends ; and while I remind readers not included in this category, that I am therefore obliged to crave their indulgence, I beg to caution them, at the same time, not to expect instruction where, at the most, they can only find amusement. In further extenuation of its numerous defects, I may add, that the keeping a journal at all was by no means one of the lightest labours connected with my travels, More than once, while crossing the plains — a portion of my journey occupying nearly five months — I have fallen asleep, from sheer exhaustion, the moment my day’s work was done, and have found in my hand, on waking the next morning, the untasted food which I had forgotten to eat, even after fasting the whole of the previous day. Under these circumstances, much that would have been interesting may have escaped my observation, and much that I did see never found its way into my note-book. Make then every allowance for the carelessness of the writing, remem- bering that most of the road we travelled over is fully as dull as that proverbially barren tract, — between Dan and Beersheba. Believe me to be Your affectionate brother, London*. December, 1851. THE AUTHOR, CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Difficulties of Starting. — Motives to ditto. — Christmas-Day at Madeira. — Barbadoes. — Caroline Lee. — Dignity Balls.- — Sugar Mills. — Ratooning. — Present Cultivation of the Cane. — St. Thomas. — Puerto Rico. — Spanish Breakfast. — San Domingo. — Jacmel Harbour. — Miserable Town. — Jacmel Pigs. — Imperial Army.— Uniform of the Troops. — General State of the Country. — Jamaica. — Niggers and Attorneys. — Work and Wages. — Past and Present Condition. — Shooting Alligators. — Spearing Fish. — Port Antonio. — Voyage up the River to Kingston. — Mr. Bacon’s Letter to “ Dear O’Shornosy.” — St. Jago de Cuba. — Trinidad de Cuba. — Juan Andre’s Chateau.. — Washing before Dinner . . . . . . . * . 1 CHAPTER II. Cuba. — Don Justo C. — Cock-fighting.— Political jealousy of the Cubans and its Causes. — Present Miserable Condition of the Country and its Prospects. — Causes which menace the Dominion of Spain. — Sunday in Cuba. — Dinner at the American Consul’s. — Ride to Arima. — A Night in the Hen-roost.— Batabano. — Ethnological Discussion between two American Gentlemen. — "All Britishers have an Accent, a Peculiar way of Speaking.” — Havannah by Rail- road. — Public Execution. — Garrotting. — A Hardened Sinner. — Carnival at the Havannah. — Passage from Havannah to Charles- town. — The Genus Snob as found in America . . . .58 b Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. PAGE Designation of onr Travelling Party. — Start from St. Louis. — Equip- ment. — Camp-stools and Carving knives. — Scenery of the Missouri. ■ — Fort Leavenworth. — Prairie. — Anticipation and Fruition. — Moral Character of Mules. — Village of Savannah. — The Prairie at Last ! — Ginger Beer and Chocolate on the Plains. — Mormons going to the Salt Lake.— Reach Council Bluffs. — Traders’ Point. — Major Barrow. — Horse-Racing on the Plains. — Leave the Major . . . .81 CHAPTER IV. Reach the Elk-Horn Ferry. — Pleasures of Raft-building. — Mosquitos. —Sickness in the Wilderness. — Doubtful how far we shall get. — Mouldy Biscuit-dust and Rancid Ham. — Nest of Skunks. — Antelope Venison washed down with muddy pond-water. — Battle with the Buffalos. — Dreams of Home. — Buffalo Beef and Sparkling Fountain- water. — Mode of Breaking-in young Mules, practised by the Mexican Indians. — Desperate Quarrel. — Awful Storm, and a Night in the Wilderness. — Speculations as to “ where we are.” — Rattlesnake capital eating.— Drooping Party, vicious Mules, grumbling Servants. — Cheered by the Sight of Chimney Rock. — Arrive at Ash-Point by swimming the Platte River. — Indian Lodges. — Mode of Preparing a Dog feast by Mother and Child. — Breakfast with party of Traders. —Arrival at Fort Larimie . . . . . . . .113 CHAPTER V, Dinner at the Quartermaster’s. — Intelligent Yankee Officers. — Exchange horses. — Terrific Storm. — Deserters from the Fort. — Badger Hunt. — Wolf steals the Kettle. — Disaster with the Mules. — Mormonite Encampment. — Deer Creek. — Poisonous Springs. — Herd of dead Oxen. — Sweetwater River. — Independence Rock. — Travelling Squabbles. — Antelopes. — Sage Hens. — More Squabbles. — We part Company. — Taming a Mule. — Travellers from California. — William rejoins us ........... 151 CHAPTER VI. South Pass. — Mules left to the Wolves. — Fall ill. — Travelling Mouse- trap. — Big Sandy River. — More dead Oxen. — Intense Heat. — Green River. — Become worse. — Brandreth’s Pills. — We lose the Mules. — Fall out with Rebecca. — Trout-fishing. — Trappers. — Express from Oregon. — Character of the Mule, moral, intellectual, CONTENTS. ix and social. — William’s Adventure with a “ grizzly Bar.” — Pine Forest. — Anglo-Saxon Reflections. — Soda Springs. — Lose the Spoon and the Fork. — Fort Hall. — Falstaff Redivivus. — Thievish Propen- sities of the Indians. — Snake River. — Basaltic Rocks. — Sand and Sage. — Emigrant Train . . .188 CHAPTER VII. William’s Story. — Salmon Spearing. — Snake River. — Disastrous Crossing. — Danger. — Death. — Marvellous Escape. — Pas Seul, with chorus of Wolves obligato. — Novel mode of wearing one’s Shirt. — Indian Village. — Extempore Canoe. — Recross Snake River. — Find Indians. — “ Seized of my Goods and Chattels.” — Resume Possession thereof. — “ A Trifling Mistake corrected.” — Loss of my last Pistol. — Hot Springs. — Boisee River. — Traffic. — Monetary Value of Per- cussion-caps. — Seductions of Broiled Salmon. — Arrival at Fort Boisee. — A Samaritan in the Desert. — Mr. Craigie . . . .235 CHAPTER VIII. Journey Resumed. — The Shothouc Tribe. — Malheur River, Night Thoughts. — Toby “gives out.” — Salmon Shooting. — Blessings of Sunday. — Provisions become scarce. — Another chorus of Wolves. — Aurora Borealis. — Grand Rond. — Different species of Fir — Lose our sole remaining Tobacco-pipe. — Kayux Vocabulary. — Another Emigrant Train. — London Fog. — The Columbia. — Proceed on Foot. — Henry Clarke joins us. — Norfolk Dumplings. The Quenelles. — Shadow “gives out.” — More Emigrants. — Indian Exquisite. — John Day’s River. — Narrow Escape. — Techuty River. — Sowete Soup. — Ford the Techuty.— The Dalles at last . . . . .274 CHAPTER IX. Leave the Dalles. — Magnificent Scenery. — -American Settler. — Old Gooseberry. — Yankee Patriots. — River Navigation. — Threatened Boat-wreck. — More Patriotism. — The Church Militant. — “ Cape Horn.” — Fort Vancouver. — Oregon City. — High price of Land and Houses. — Valley of Willamet. — English and American Emigration Policy contrasted. — Oregon Cathedral. — Embark for the Sandwich Islands. — Detained in Baker’s Bay. — Regret the Prairie. — Hurri- cane. — Fleas, Rats, and Cockroaches. — Land at Honolulu. — Female Equestrians. — TheMaro. — Cleanliness of the Natives. — Manufacture of Kava an exception. — Tamehameha III. — Presented at Court. — Awkward Accident. — “Royalty is Royalty.” — Loohou Feast. — Playful Flirtation. — Native Dancing. — Poe. — Flirtation resumed. — Romantic Adventure. — “ Me no bad.” — Departure for California . 316 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. PAGE ^ Farewell to the Tropics.— Arrival at San Francisco. — Reflections non extant. — Reclaimed Letter. — El Dorado Hotel. — Excellent Cuisine. — The Judge and the Major. — English Gentlemen and English Blackguards. — Trumps versus Fingers. — A Californian Hell. — Sacramento. — -Lynch-Law . — “ Jim was a Britisher.” — -Geographical Location of Botany Bay. — Captain Sutter. — -Reform and Revolution. —Yankee Smartness.” — The Coachman’s Story.— Voyage Home- wards. — Conclusion ......... 349 OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. CHAPTER I. Difficulties of Starting. — Motives to ditto. — Christmas-Day at Madeira. — - Barbadoes. — Caroline Lee. — Dignity Balls. — Sugar Mills. — Ratooning. — Present Cultivation of the Cane. — St. Thomas. — Puerto Rico. — Spanish Breakfast. — San Domingo. — Jacmel Harbour. — Miserable Town. — Jacmel Pigs. — Imperial Army. — Uniform of the Troops. — General State of the Country. — Jamaica. — Niggers and Attorneys. — Work and Wages. — Past and Present Condition.— Shooting Alligators. — Spearing Fish. — Port Antonio. — Voyage up the River to Kingston. — Mr. Bacon’s Letter to “ Dear O’Shornosy.” — St. Jago de Cuba. — Trinidad de Cuba. — Juan Andre’s Chateau. — Washing before Dinner. December 18 th, 1849.— What a serious thing is a beginning ! When a beginning is once made, it is very clear an ending must follow, sooner or later : whether we will or not, an end there will be. Don’t tell me that you knew as much before; so did I. I only make the remark here to remind me, for my own private consolation, that if I once get fairly started I may leave the end to take care for itself. To begin — 9 TEYIOT STEAMER. no matter what — is an event, a most important epoch in the existence of all existing things. It is the spark that fires the train, be it of half-a-dozen grains or as many barrels — the herald that clears the lists — the first word that solves the “ to be’' or “ not to be” of time as yet unflown. Not everything, but very much depends on a beginning — confidence, for instance, and consequently, perhaps, success. “ All’s well that ends well” is a tolerably true dictum. Yet, a good beginning is — what shall we say t — better than a bad one. How much pleasanter, now, it would be if I could say at the present moment — “ The weather is beautiful — always a pleasure to an Englishman — the water is smooth, the passengers are delightful, and everything is ‘all right,’ in short.” How much pleasanter this than to be obliged to confess the truth, and grumble because the “*Teviot” steamer is a slow boat, a dirty boat, a noisy boat, and is full of slow people, dirty people, and noisy people. Worse than this, we are making no progress whatever towards an end. A regular Channel gale is blowing dead in our teeth, and with a chain cable through our nose, we are pitching and tossing, tossing and pitching, opposite Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight. The Captain says — Heaven knows with what truth — 3 YARMOUTH, ISLE OF WIGHT, that such gaies at this time of year are apt to last a fortnight. Now, in moderation, I am as fond of the sight of my native land as any man, but having made up my mind to lose sight of it for a time, I conceive it is nothing more than natural to wish this grizzly, drizzly, sneezy, freezy, blowing, comfortless scene exchanged for the more genial climate of the tropics, the land of the cypress and myrtle, for example, where all save the spirit of man (clearly meaning nigger) is divine. In the meantime we are in a state which the “ great lexicographer” considered worse than imprison- ment, inasmuch as a man incurs an additional evil in the chance of being drowned. A pleasant reflection, and particularly cheering to an individual suffering under liabilities to the aforesaid contingency. Well, when we do get away it will be so much the more agreeable ; and to be sure it is a mighty fine thing to loose the apron-string for awhile, to change the squirrel's cage in which we run round and round after our own tails, for the girdle of mother earth, and make the grand tour round that. Even though we should shed a tear at parting, there is in the distance a merry laugh and a hearty shake of the hand, that bid the longed-for welcome on your return. Yes, 4 WAITING FOR A WIND. yes, in a few hours the waters of Biscay may reflect more than one sorry countenance, and its waves may waft to distant shores the outpourings of many a troubled spirit. But the heyday w T ill come again, and the past, let us hope, shall be the constant source of pleasure to the ever-coming future. This is some- what sanguine, rather sentimental, and decidedly discursive ; so let us to business. We have seventy-five passengers on board, too many foreigners by half do please me ; and what of my fellow-countrymen there be, they are not prepos- sessing specimens of Bull. Fortunately I have two companions with me, one G -, an old friend, the other A , a new one. The cabins are not very roomy, and the saloon less so ; it will be curious to watch how we shall shake into our places. It looks hopeless enough now ; we are stowed like pigs in a pound, and for four weeks we may make the best of one another, for together we are packed, for rough and for smooth, to sink or swim, as the case may be. Oh, for a fair wind, or I know what will happen to me ! December 20th . — After lying thirty hours at anchor we got away yesterday morning at seven, but wind and tide happening to be the wrong way, we did not VOYAGE TO MADEIRA. o go far. The motion of the vessel has confined most of us to our cabins. I have been stretched on my beam-ends, feeling as if my inside was tied in a knot, and not very certain that I was not engaged as Clown in a pantomime, at one moment throwing a somersault, with my heels where my head ought to be, and the next — oh dear ! such a sinking, everything-going- from-under-you-sort of sensation, that, on sober consideration, I no longer wonder the ancients made such slow progress in navigation, it is so very unpleasant unless you are used to it. To-day we are out of sight of land, and the next we see, if all go well, will be Madeira. At noon our latitude was 48° 51', being about the latitude of Brest. We were in hopes that we should have been in the Bay of Biscay; but it is fortunate that we were at anchor on the 17th and 18th, for we are passing vessels without their topmasts, and bearing other marks of the violence of the gale. The afternoon was fine, and the bull-board was brought on deck. This source of amusement does not seem likely to be of a lasting nature, so I resolved not to exhaust its charms too soon. 21st . — Our run has been a pretty good one, the wind being now in our favour, but the steamer is 6 PLEASURES AT SEA. deep, and we do not make more than eight knots an hour. I get up at seven o’clock, and find early rising suits me very well ; the fact is, I could not sleep much longer if I would, having two neighbours in the next cabin who turn out about the same time. One of them always wakes with a fit of yawning at daylight, and goes off with “ Oh ! oh ! Ah dear ! Oh ! oh !” till one fancies that he has dislocated his jaws. As the steward is called on all emergencies to remove all portable nuisances, I think of vociferating for him some morning to take away that big yawn ; then perhaps my friend will take a hint. As for the other man, he makes such strange noises when he cleans his teeth, hawking with such violence, that I have once or twice been on the point of rushing in to see whether he had not swallowed his tooth-brush. Upon the whole he is the worse of the two, for the other is good enough when asleep, but this fellow snores in so painful a manner that if I had not peeped at him one night through the panel I should have felt pretty sure that he had gone to bed with his nose in a pocket-vice. On the morning of the 25th the first object that met my eye on looking out of the port was land within a few miles, on the beam ; this was the island LAND. 7 of Porto Santo, and a most picturesque and refreshing sight it was : such bold outline, and such warmth of colour ! On the larboard bow was the Dezertes group, and about forty miles a-head Madeira loomed indistinctly, with the tops of its high hills crowned with heavy clouds. By the time I had dressed we were close to the shore, and almost every one on board was armed with a telescope, endeavouring to make out objects which every minute were growing more discernible. After sailing three or four miles abreast of the island we rounded a prominent point, and the town of Funchal suddenly presented itself to the view. Situated on the side of the hill, the uniformly white buildings rise one above the other, from the very edge of the bay to a considerable height above the sea. Natural and artificial terraces, covered with vines, or planted as gardens, the fresh verdure of the foliage, and the great variety of fruits and flowers, indicate the excessive mildness of the climate, and give great beauty to the scene. With this before us it was no wonder that, after a week's voyage, we were delighted to let go the anchor, jump into the first shore-boat, and be able to stand on terra firma without the bother of balancing, like a soldier practising the goose step, first upon one leg, 8 MADEIRA. then upon the other. The surf in the Bay of Funchal is notoriously had, and it was not till our boat had been apparently all but swamped, and the passengers thoroughly soaked, that we effected a landing. Our party had not been five minutes on shore before we were mounted on ponies of the most Rosin ante description, and were clattering at full speed through the stony streets of the town, the owners running behind, and holding on by the tails of their steeds. The road up to the Convent, a spot visited by every person who stays a day in Madeira, is exceedingly beautiful ; and the commanding view which opens upon you on reaching the first halting-place, half way up the hill, the sea, and the distant islands, are as pleasing to the eye of one who has been a week on board ship as the Bay of Naples is to the traveller in search of Italian beauty. The day was rather showery, but the light rain made the atmosphere pleasantly cool, and the moist- ened plants, such as only grow in hot houses in England, the creepers, geraniums, and heliotrope, gave forth delicious and freshened fragrance. At three o’clock we dined with Mr. Davis, a friend of one of our party. The dinner was every thing a MADEIRA. 9 Christmas dinner ought to be — excellent roast beef, plum-pudding, and mince pies. The wine was such as can only be tasted in Madeira, and as I have not the pleasure of knowing any one else in the island, I may say without offence, such as could only be tasted at Mr. Davis’s table. How many different sorts of Madeira were offered to tempt us I cannot pretend to guess ; at first one seemed decidedly more delicate in flavour than another, but by the time the snowy veil was drawn from the polished face of the mahogany, I am inclined to think that all sorts of wine were equally, and, to coin a word, indiscrimi- nably excellent. At nine p.m. we steamed off, and I left Madeira convinced that if a man was not virtually dead before he got there, of all places in the world this would be the most likely to revive him. Mind, I am no physician, nor do I pretend to have made accurate inquiries into the average mortality of invalids. I have not considered particular instances nor aggregate results, but merely observe, that in an amiable mood, incident perhaps to the Christmas dinner, I left Madeira with the impression that it would be quite an agreeable thing to be seized with a decline or some such chronic disease, for no other 10 BARBADOES. reason than to have the pleasure of recovering in that island. January 8th . — For five or six days after leaving Madeira, we thought ourselves unlucky in having an adverse wind ; but we have become more used to each other’s company. A monotonous routine makes the time pass quickly, and we manage to amuse ourselves pleasantly enough. The last night of the old year we had a grand carousal, and ushered in the new one with bell-ringing and champagne punch. Now, here we are on the other side of the Atlantic, lying at anchor, in Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes. I say we, I mean the steamer, for my companions and I remained on board no longer than compelled, but, being landed, proceeded directly to make the acquaint- ance of the renowned Caroline Lee, or Miss Car’line, as the niggers call her. If Captain Marryat had not immortalised her long ago, her exceeding amiability and monstrous starched bandana must infallibly have done so some time or other. At least, I know for one, that if I had never so much as heard of “ Peter Simple,” I should have been equally captivated with Miss Car’line. To admire the cotton superstructure on her head, and hear her talk good Ethiopian English, is one thing, A SUGAR MILL. 11 but to drink her sangaree (0 Jupiter ! what nectar !) is another. For three weeks, remember, I had imbibed nothing but mulled water, and was very hot and very thirsty ; the green limes and clear ice danced against one’s lips to a truly pleasant tune, while the nutmegged beverage gurgled down one’s throat, a sweet libation to the lovely Caroline. I had the good fortune to be the bearer of a parcel to one of the officers of the - — —th, and while I was meditating upon what might be the effects of indulging in another jorum of sangaree, a phaeton drove up, and the driver introduced himself as my unknown friend. With great good nature, he offered to take G and myself for a drive through the island. “ What should we go and see V “ There was nothing in the town worth seeing.” “ Did we care about the garrison V Not much. “ How about the Governor V’ Oh ! certainly not. “Well, a sugar mill?” We had never seen a sugar mill, so away we went in quest of a sugar mill, and in five minutes we were out of the main street, of which Bridge Town is composed. In the immediate vicinity of the town the environs are rather pretty. But as soon as you see beyond this, the country is flat for some miles, till it rises gradually into hills 12 CULTURE OF SUGAR CANE. on the north side of the island, which part — I suppose from its unlikeness to that country — is called Scotland. The mill we visited was one of the old- fashioned sort, that is, unfurnished with vacuum pans, &c. so that the process of crushing the cane, boiling the juice, and draining off the molasses, was comprehensible even to our unsugared minds. Throughout the island the motive power is wind, I believe there is no mill worked by steam, at least it would be unnecessary, since the sea breeze blows invariably in one direction, and always during the greater part of the day. The advantage of this is, of course, enormous, ten or twelve hands only being required in a mill which is making about three hogsheads of sugar a day. Labour is here remarkably cheap; the blacks seldom earn more than 3s. 6d. a week. But the soil is almost the poorest in the West Indies ; the amount of cultivation therefore requisite affords constant and ample employment. Owing to the smallness of the estates, the cane is cut about eleven months after it is planted. In most of the other islands, where the estates are larger, and they can afford the cane time to ripen, it is allowed to stand thirteen months, and instead of being fresh planted every year BARBADIAN NOTIONS. '"13 is ratooned, or left to grow from the old roots, for three, or as much as ten to fifteen years, in propor- tion to the fertility of the soil. It is doubtful how far the ratooning system succeeds when carried to an}^ extent, but it is evident that the cane does not attain its full maturity under thirteen months. The Barbadians hold their heads high, and talk contemptuously of the other islands : they no doubt possess many advantages, such as situation and cheapness of labour ; they are also free from yellow fever, though cholera and the small-pox are terrible substitutes for that epidemic, and certainly more fatal to the natives. Barbadoes suffers, too, severely from hurricanes, and, upon the whole, I see nothing in the country much calculated to invite expatriation, or to compensate for the possibility of having your house torn up by the roots by a tornado while taking your siesta, and deposited in the middle of the Atlantic. In tl\e evening we dined at Endmoor, the house of a fellow-passenger ; the party was both a large and a merry one. The dinner, particularly the turtle- soup, which would have defied the competition of a thousand Francatellis, or all the cooks of the “ Ship and Turtle,” was excellent. Meat in a hot climate is always tough, but the “ long bitters,” with which 14 “ ORIGINAL POLKA/' a West Indian fortifies his stomach, does wonders for the appetite, whatever it may do for the digestion. When the party broke up, we took leave of one of the best of hosts, and, jumping into some bug- gies that were waiting at the door, drove off in high spirits to that great desideratum of all fun-loving travellers, a “ dignity ball." On entering the ball room the first thing that strikes one may possibly be the band. Three niggers are playing a fiddle, a French horn, and tamborine. The sound is not unlike that of a large band tuning their instruments,- or amateur beginners practising each a different piece in the same apartment; or perhaps it might more justly be compared to an assembly of crow- keepers zealously striving, individually, to drown the noise made by all the rest : but discordant as are the sounds produced by these dark disciples of Orpheus, their effect is irresistibly exhilarating, and one cannot listen to them five minutes ere the sympathy is conveyed from the organs of hearing to those which are sometimes made to serve for dancing. The “ Original Polka," or what is meant for it, is the favourite tune. The darkest of the dark throws herself into your arms, and away you hop, round and round, and up and down the room, till there seems CROCKERY. 15 to be no chance of either polka or dancers ever coming to a stand-still. You offer to conduct your partner to a seat ; no, she never heard of such a thing ; on you go, and on you must go, till all the breath is fairly danced out of your body. But it is hot work, uncommonly hot work, and you fling yourself down by the window, hoping for a minute’s respite to cool yourself. Ridiculous idea ! a quadrille — -a quadrille ! the cry is unanimous ; your partner, your vis-a-vis, are frantic at your imbecility ; up you stagger, but it is too hot, you cannot stand it, your partner helps you off with your coat ; your lady-vis bounds across the room, volunteers to take charge of it, and at once puts it on over her white frock. The dress is not becoming, but it is an amusing one, they all laugh, and the excitement never flags ; with redoubled vigour all hands, or, less nautically speaking, all feet mark time with frightful energy, laughing, singing, stamping— when hark ! what sound is that ? a crash, a scream, a confusion, a halt. “ What de matter, Miss Penelope V “ Oh dear ! oh lar ! garamighty ! if de niggars habent ’tamp so hard, all de crockery and smeatmeat broke down ’tairs.” Unhappy climax ! Poor Miss Penelope ! the shaking of the upper floor had felled her jam pots and ginger 16 ST. THOMAS. jars to the ground. But the interruption is a short one ; the “ Bird of Paradise” restores the merriment of the party, and the shaking of the house threatens another crash, when daylight, that unceremonious dissipator of dissipations, suddenly appears ; some of the young ladies have washing to do for the steamer, so they must go, and we all go, hoping as we take leave that another steamer will soon come, that those who enjoy it may soon have another “ dignity ball.” On the 9th we left for St. Thomas, where we arrived on the 11th. The town is built on the faces of three hills, and the white houses, with red tiled roofs, look like so many Dutch toys. The harbour is sheltered in such a manner that not a ship nor a sign of the town is visible until the entrance is reached. This retired position made it in former days the favourite retreat of pirates and freebooters, who frequented these seas. Three or four dilapidated towers, situated above the town, yet stand as emble- matic monuments of the strength and decay of Messrs. Bluebeard and Blackbeard, their once dreaded lords. At the present day, thank goodness, the word pirate is almost a dead letter in the West Indies. Increase of commerce has provided an ST. THOMAS. 17 increased force for its protection, and the pretty little cruisers and men-of-war brigs bearing the English flag lie lazily at anchor in the forsaken nests of those hornets, the very pictures of peace and serenity. St. Thomas, they say, is not in so flourishing a condition as it has been ; its fate, however, is not so precarious as that of many of the other islands. The quantity of sugar it produces is comparatively incon- siderable, but it derives a vast importance from its central position ; and, second in size to no town but the Havannah, it may be called the metropolis of the West Indies. Strange enough, there are no springs in the island, and the inhabitants depend entirely on the rains for their supply of water. There is a good hotel — Labord’s ; our party dined here, and found the food bad and dear ; the excuse was the short notice we had given them to prepare it. Two of our fellow passengers left us at this place, intending to cross over to-night in a schooner to Santa Cruz, distant about forty miles. At eight p. m. we left St. Thomas, and reached Puerto Rico the next morning at seven. While the mails were being landed, we were allowed a couple of hours to stretch our legs on shore. Two or three of 18 PUERTO RICO. us breakfasted at a fonda in San Juan upon the regular Spanish fare, omelette, olives, and chocolate. The yellow-washed flat-roofed hpuses, with stone balconies and open court-yards, might have passed muster in a town of old Grenada. The soldiers are fine-looking men, and, unlike our own troops in hot countries, whose buttoned red coats are enough to give one yellow fever to look at, they wear white cotton jackets, and, off duty, straw hats. There seemed to be a good market ; we had only just time to run through it, load ourselves with green cocoa-nuts, and hurry off to the steamer. All day we kept the land close on the larboard side ; the scenerv was wild and striking, the outline uneven, and the whole country thickly wooded. Yesterday we sighted the high land of San Domingo. This morning, the 14th, we entered Jacmel harbour at daylight. The vessel lay-to off the White Horse Rocks, not being able to approach within two miles of the town on account of a coral reef which runs across the harbour. The passengers were not permitted to land, but I managed to slip into the mail agent’s boat, and by this means got ashore. Never was there such a miserable-looking place as the town of Jacmel. The streets empty, the houses deserted, JACMEL HARBOUR. 19 the inhabitants sordid and poverty-stricken ; and above all, the pigs are the most emaciated and race- horse-looking swine I ever beheld. With great difficulty we got a thimble -full of coffee, for which the exorbitant sum of a dollar was demanded, but for which we, with great generosity, considering it is IF the chief product of the island, paid sixpence. For another sixpence we purchased some avocado ( vulgo alligator ) pears, and three large pine-apples. Several of his imperial coloured Majesty’s troops kindly gave us an opportunity of seeing them. Their uniform, or rather multiform apparel, is quite in character with the general burlesque of their appearance. One rejoices in a helmet ; another in his own wool ; a third with a coat deprived of one tail, trousers with straps, but no boots or shoes ; indeed any odd mixture of regimental clothing they have been able to scrape together. It is a ludicrous sight, but one cannot help reflecting that, whatever satisfaction it may be to one nigger to march about in a red coat without a tail, and to another to bear the title of Marquis of Ginger- beer, and to another to wear a crown and be called Emperor Zuluk, yet it is a melancholy thing that to each and all, this satisfaction is purchased at the expense of increasing poverty, demoralisation and 20 JAMAICA. misery. The soil is no longer cultivated but to supply the immediate demands of nature. Commerce has ceased to confer its advantages, and when civilisation no longer advances, its movement is too often a retro- grade one. However, the experiment is worthy of the age. There is no reason why the black man should not be his own master ; if his head does happen to be half an inch thicker than those of the pale faces — what then 1 his shins I believe are considerably more tender-— and after all “ a man’s a man for a’ that.” 1 5th . — Jamaica is now within a few miles ; its shores are very fine. The blue mountains in the back- ground are magnificent. Visions of romantic rides — bird’s-eye views — groves of palm-trees — terrible cataracts — pellucid streams— monstrous reptiles — ring-tailed pigeons and long-tailed &c’s., fill the mind with majestic conceptions, which, while they eliminate the remembrance of maritime pollution, fail not to engender elysian prospects of terrestrial enjoyment ! I beg pardon for these altitudes, but one writes a journal under such a variety of circumstances that the style must sometimes depend on the humour. About twelve, opposite Kingston. Another hour carries us through the narrow passage at Port Royal, TAKING LEAVE. 21 past the palisades and alongside the coaling wharf in Kingston harbour. Well-brushed hats — unhoused umbrellas — clean shirts and shaven chins, all indicate that the old steamer is about to deposit a large portion of her live cargo. The gang-board is placed — violent shakings of hands are seen in every part of the vessel — hopes are expressed that we are only parting “ like the scissors, to meet again/’ The unpleasant word is said, and each goes “ about his business ” their voyage ended, and probably their acquaintance too. My friends G , D , and myself, possessed of as large an allowance of fidgets as generally accrue to persons just arrived at the end of a long voyage, had to lounge about for a couple of hours at the Date Tree Hall, an hotel, while our dinner was being got ready, that is, while some one went to the market for vege- tables, and the chickens were being killed and plucked at home. Over the way was a billiard table ; thither we went in search of amusement. But finding it inconvenient to play in the dark, we submitted to the entreaties of some fellow-passengers whom we met there, and joined them in doing the agreeable to some gracious scions of creolian feminality, who were, I believe, daughters or nieces of the landlord. We never questioned the right of our friends to introduce 22 DEPARTURE OP THE TEYIOT. us, but the family party seemed very happy to see us, and the young ladies, by way of a courteous reception, pianoed and squalled in French and Spanish, with an ardour equal to soothing the savagest of natures. One or two pas seuls were danced, and a vivacious and good-humoured Frenchman sang “ Mourir pour la Patrie/’ in which we all took part, together with the piano, and a flute quite as much out of tune as any other component sound of the discordant concert. In this way the evening passed merrily enough, and it was not till a late hour that we returned to our beds at the “ Date Tree.” The next day the “ Teviot " left Jamaica for the Havannah. It seemed strange to see her steam off without us. I felt as melancholy as if I had been parting from an old friend. The voyage across the Atlantic is a long one, and in six weeks one cannot help forming some attachments, if it be only for planks and funnels. On the 19th we hired two rickety vehicles, one for ourselves, the other for our servants, and left Kingston for Golden Grove, an estate belonging to one of my friends. The roads were execrable, and as only two could sit facing the horses, the third had a sad time of it on the back seat, not half a foot wide. GOLDEN GROVE. 23 By the time we got to Gallays, nineteen miles on our journey, we were so bruised that we determined to go no farther that day. The inn or public house, however, was pre-occupied with a dignity ball, and this obliged us to return a mile or two to a small tavern off the road. The accommodation was good, and the house clean. Close to this little tavern is a wonderful cotton tree, measuring more than seventy feet in circumference. The next morning, by half- past seven, we were again en route. In the middle of the day we stopped to lunch at Belvedere, and about an hour after dark reached Golden Grove. The latter part of the day it rained heavily, and the roads were almost impassable, so that we did not get our supper and a dry change before they were wanted. The report of our arrival was soon spread abroad. A had been expected for some time. He had never before visited his estate, and now that he was come there was to be a general rejoicing. A number of niggers assembled round the house, begging to see him ; but, as it was late, they were told to go away, and return in the morning. I never shall forget the welcome these poor creatures gave their employer when they saw him. Crowds collected about the 24 GOLDEN GROVE NEGROES. doors before daylight. When he came out, they scrambled and shouted, pushing each other out of the way to shake hands with or speak to him. “ Hooray ! ” they screamed ; “ Hooray ! Massa come to see him nigger.” Poor A- was quite overwhelmed. He could not shake hands with all at once. “ Shakey hand, Massa, shakey hand wid you people. We no African ; all Massa’s creoles born on de ’state ; shakey hand.” Gradually they grew more and more excited, working themselves into that frantic state peculiar to their race. One would seize hold of A — — ? s hand, and crying like a child, exhibit the most extravagant expressions of delight. “ Is dat you, Massa ? Dat you, sar % Me no believe me see me massa. Me no believe him. Eigh ! me too much pleased like devil. Eigh 1 what you want, nigger ? Me see my massa.” One old woman endeavoured to embrace him. This either his modesty or his good nature could not put up with. “ Eigh ! ” croaked the old lady, “ massa too muchay handsome — buckra bery fat and handsome — garamighty buckra bery fat.” It was quite affecting to witness such a cordial explosion of generous feeling. For many years a proprietor of Golden Grove had not been seen on his estate ; and, as on most other estates where the proprietors have been absent, the JAMAICA ATTORNEYS. 25 agents, or attorneys, as they are called, held an almost absolute sway. When this was the case, it frequently happened that the ignorant and unprin- cipled adventurers who had attained to the rank of attorney, exercised the most unjust severity, and abused, to a shameful extent, the power they pos- sessed over the negroes. Instances of this nature are far less common than they were some years ago ; yet the class of men employed to this day in Jamaica as attorneys, are deplorably wanting in those qualifications which conduce to the improve- ment of the labourer as well as that of the soil. It is not to be wondered at, then, that where some real, or, it may be, imaginary evil exists, in consequence of this system, the negroes should hope for redress by the presence of their rightful master. Golden Grove is considered one of the model estates of the island ; it covers about 2200 acres, and lies in the valley of Plantain Garden River. The house is in a low situation, and clumsily constructed. Utility, however, being the order of the day, its proximity to the works is esteemed a greater recom- mendation than comfort or a commanding prospect. Near the house is a village containing a considerable number of families, all employed on the estate. Just 26 NEGRO HABITATIONS. now it happens to be crop-time, i. e., harvest, which lasts in Jamaica from January to June, and the work and wages are nearly double what they are during the remainder of the year. In crop-time an able-bodied negro receives from twelvepence to eighteenpence a day, but his working hours are from three o’clock in the morning till nine at night, on every day of the week but Saturday. I have known them to continue working all through the night, thus undergoing fatigue that a European could not endure. On this estate the negro habitations are reckoned unusually good. For a cottage which holds a family of six, together with a small piece of ground, two shillings a week is charged for rent. This is easily paid where the family consists principally of males ; but where there are neither husbands nor sons, or where the men are too old or infirm to earn wages, this rent falls heavily, and the means of sub- sistence are hard to procure. In the days of slavery the owners were compelled to provide for every man, woman, and child that belonged to them, whether they were able to work or not. A hospital called “ the Hot-house,” furnished with every comfort, — medicine, wholesome food, nurses, and doctors, — was kept up upon every estate, and the sick or aged NEGRO WAGES. 27 removed thither were always properly cared for. In the present day there is no substitute for this system : the sickness of the negro is no longer a matter of importance to his employer ; his death is no longer so much money out of his owner's pocket ; let him sicken, let him die, he is his own property ; he is no loss to any but his own family. It does not cost 200/., but 8c?. a day, and that only when he works, to supply his place. He has no relief from poor’s-rates, nor alms-houses, but in the day of his destitution he is dependent on the grants of the Parliament, or on the spontaneous productions of a more liberal soil. Heaven forbid that I should be an advocate for slavery ; I merely wish to institute a comparison between the present and the former state of the negro. There can be no doubt that before the manumission of slaves, extreme violence, nay, outrageous acts of cruelty, were perpetrated by the unbridled passions of the overseers. It is unnecessary to adduce instances ; all who are interested in this subject are familiar with facts too disgusting for repetition. Education was unheard of ; religion, if not actually discountenanced, was certainly not inculcated by the innumerable false doctrines, nor by the reprobate examples afforded by the whites. 28 IMPROVED CONDITION. In short, the race was not only debased by an ignominious servitude, but was considered and treated as one of inferior animals — as beasts — created for servile purposes ; possessing only mental and physical faculties ; indifferent to any state, however degraded, in which it might please the white man to place it. Such, however, is far from being the case now. Since the emancipation took place, both the social and the moral condition of the negro has been gradually ameliorating. Justice is now meted to the black in as fair a proportion as to the white man. We all know what is the effect of education alone on the uncultivated mind of the savage. Artificial wants are established, and with them the necessity of sup- plying those wants by voluntary labour. Every parish has its school ; and let a stranger attend church on Sunday, I will answer for it he shall be struck with the numbers and the attention of the congregation ; and if he reflect on the normal con- dition of the African, or on his subsequent one as a slave, and now hears him raise his voice — loudly and heartily too — in the praises of his Maker, he will rejoice, if he be an Englishman, that his country has had the glorious privilege of making the black man free. PKOFIT AND LOSS. 29 2 6tli . — For the last three or four days we have been visiting the neighbouring estates of Holland, Amity Hall, Bachelor’s Pen, &c., initiating ourselves into the mysteries of sugar-making and rum- distilling. Notwithstanding that free trade has reduced the price of sugar some 61. or 8/. a hogshead, we still think that a good sugar estate is a profitable concern, whatever people may say to the contrary. Think of land that returns 15/., the present price of a hogs- head of sugar, per acre, with no more outlay (upon the land) than the expense of spreading the trash or leaves, and crushed parts of the cane, and the cutting and carrying it when grown ; for there is here no sowing of seed, the plants are ratoons of twenty years’ standing. Most of the mills, too, are worked by water-power, and where steam is used the crushed cane serves as the only fuel The agents, of course, cry out against free trade, and would like to see what they call an equalising duty of fourteen or fifteen shillings on slave-grown sugar ; for not till then, say they, will they be able to compete with their neighbours. 2 7th. — To-day I rode down, with my rifle, to Holland Bay, hoping to get a shot at an alligator. Near the sea-side is an enormous tract of land, which 80 HOLLAND BAY. was formerly a densely- wooded morass, but owing to an incursion of the sea every vestige of vegetation is now completely destroyed. Enormous trees, withered and blanched, stand like an army of skeletons, or rather like white-faced invalids with their feet in the dirty salt water. Immediately at the edge of high water-mark everything is green, so that the dead forest, surrounded by the live, looks like winter in the midst of summer. It is a fit resort for all the reptiles of the country. Having heard that alligators are very partial to sucking pigs, I had provided myself with one of these articles, and sat patiently in the branches of a mangrove tree at the brink of the pool, keeping a sharp look-out, with my rifle on my knees ; while a young nigger, whom I had hired expressly for the occasion, amused himself and “ summoned the spirits from the vasty deep/' by provoking continuous squeaks from the young pig. Grunt followed grunt, and squeak succeeded to squeak, till the porker grew hoarse with his exertions — still no visible effect was produced on the alligators. At length, when I was nearly in a fever from the stinging of all the mosquitoes in the swamp, the nigger, who had hitherto done nothing but laugh at the pig, suddenly stopped, and pointing to something ALLIGATORS. 31 in the water, said — Eigli ! alligator — shoot, massa.” For my part I could see nothing, but what I supposed to be a dead log, and would not be persuaded that the object on the surface of the pool, although within fifteen yards of me, was anything but a dead log. “ Eigh ! Garamighty shoot, massa, v the young nigger whispered ; but I had no intention of the kind. Soon, however, I observed that the log had slightly altered its position, and it was clearly moving, though almost imperceptibly. Half doubting that I was wasting a charge of powder, I took a steady aim and fired. At the instant of the flash, the monster sprang half out of the water, showed the white of his belly, and with a tremendous splash disappeared from our sight. The nigger assured me that he was dead, and ran off to some houses close at hand to fetch a canoe. When the canoe came we paddled about over the place where the shot was fired ; but though we could see to the bottom, we saw no alligator. The boy was as much disappointed as I, and could only exclaim, “ Eigh ! What dam big alligator — top two, tree day — him come up when him gall broke.” It was provoking not to have bagged my game, but I had no idea of stopping two or three days in the swamps till “ him gall broke ; ” so I rode back to 32 COONAH COONAH MOUNTAINS. Golden Grove, determined, if possible, to bag one of these big reptiles another day. 30 th . — The day being fine, we determined to make an expedition over the Coonah Coonah mountains, to visit Port Antonio, and the district called Portland. Getting on our horses, and taking three or four maroons with us to clear the path over the hills, we set out at half-past eight (it should have been half- past six), and reached Bath in less than an hour. Here we met Mr. S , who invited us to halt, and gave us a refreshing drink of sparkling hock and spring water. After this invigorator we proceeded a mile or so, and then commenced the ascent. We found the path very rough ; here and there a large tree had fallen across it, so that it was with great difficulty we managed to lead our horses round the roots, or by taking off the saddles enabled them to pass underneath the trunk. Some deep holes made by the rain obliged us to keep a look out where the horses put their feet, for in many places a false step would have given beast and rider a roll of several hundred feet. As we ascended, we observed a considerable change in the vegetation. Parasitical and orchidaceous plants grew in great luxuriance ; their rope-like roots dropped from the high branches to SCENERY OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. the ground, and were entwined with endless varieties of creepers, which again clomb upwards, gracefully concealing the unsightliness of their naturally formed ladders. These festoons, woven together in rank exuberance, fashioned themselves above into a verdant canopy, which effectually excluded the scorching rays of the sun. Among the most re- markable objects of this vegetable kingdom is the tree fern. Its stem is sometimes between forty and fifty feet high ; from the top it throws out delicate leafy branches, drooping downwards, and giving it all the appearance of a small and beautiful palm. But delightful as are these “ shadowy deserts,” there is a terrible absence of animal life. Hardly a bird or beast is to be seen. A few days since we rode into the woods above Bachelor’s Pen, and saw great numbers of parrots and humming-birds, but to-day we have seen nothing of the kind ; the only traces of any living thing being a patch of ground, where some wild pigs had been rooting with their noses, and a black snake, which one of our horses trod on in the path. When we got to the top of the pass just at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and about 3000 feet above the level of the sea, we dismounted, and walked nearly to the bottom of the hill, until 34 PIC-NIC. we came to a lovely spot, where two or three tributary streams empty themselves into the Rio Grande. At this point, a discussion arose as to where it would be advisable to lunch. A and I declared for picnicking by the river side ; G and Mr. Forbes, A— — ’s agent, on the other hand, demonstrated the impossibility of our horses feeding anywhere but in a stable. At last we decided that, as the sumpter mule was not in sight, we had better wait till the lunch caught us up, so we chose a shady mango by the water’s edge, and faute de mieux , busied ourselves, in rather a sulky humour, with making a fire, and looking on at some maroons, who came to catch fish for us. Unfortu- nately it was rather late in the day to have much sport, but it was amusing to see them dive and search, like others, under all the large stones, for their prey. When they find a fish, they pin it down with an iron-headed lance-wood spear, and bring it up in their hands. For nearly two hours we wore out our patience in this way, when the mule came up, and with a keen appetite we hastened to display the contents of the panniers. A silent and serious attack was for some minutes kept up on cold tongues and chickens, and MAROON CUTLASS PLAYING. 35 topping up with a wadding of hard-boiled eggs and cherry-brandy, we lighted our pipes, and consigned the fragments of the repast to the tender mercies of the maroons. Without much ceremony they went the best way to work to save themselves the trouble of repacking the hampers. One old man got posses- sion of the brandy bottle, and soon after, exhibited, upon the strength of its contents, some fantastical feats with a cutlass ; he ended by putting the point to his stomach, and falling down as if he intended to kill himself. It was, however, only done in joke, but he showed great dexterity in the use of his weapon and offered, if I would give him four dollars (about twice the price of a cutlass), to break it on his naked body at a single blow. I took him at his word, that is, I did not pay for my incredulity. He told us that all maroons were made to practise while young the use of the cutlass, and that none of them ever accept employment where any other implement is used. Leaving Altamont, the name of our luncheon ground, we rode past what had once been a tolerably large settlement, but was now reduced by the miserable effects of famine and poverty to a few huts, the property of a Scotchwoman and some five 36 A NIGHT-RIDE. or six half-grown children. All the other families had died from the effects of climate, proving, as has been done in many other instances, that the European cannot stand the labour necessary to his maintenance under a tropical sun. At dark we found ourselves in a flat swampy place, called Seaman's Valley, having ten miles to ride before we reached Antonio. Mr. Forbes, to make matters better, did not know the road, and it w r as some time before we were able to procure a guide. Following our leader, who was on foot, we jogged on at a slow pace, keeping one behind another in Indian file ; and, save the stars and myriads of fire-flies, all was as black as pitch. When, every now and then, we came to a thick wood where it was impossible to see your own hand if you held it up, the man in front would call out, “ take care, a very nasty place ; keep to the right," or, “ to the left." At last, the slowness of the pace and the heat of the night made me feel very sleepy, and, notwith- standing the constant caution received to “ look out," I found myself bowing every minute most politely to my horse’s head. The loud croak of an old bull-frog, or the stumbling of my animal, reminded me with a start that I had actually fallen fast asleep, and I was truly delighted to have my attention called to the SCENERY AND CURIOSITIES. 37 nightcapped heads, that poked out with a lighted candle from almost every window, to observe the unusual sight of so large a cavalcade entering Port Antonio. The inn was full, but Thomas, A~ — -s servant, had secured board and lodging in another house. G — , who was knocked up with the journey, took nothing but tea, and went to bed directly. 31^.— After breakfast we went to look at a cave close to the town, but, as the hero in “ Used Up ” might truly have remarked, there was “ nothing in it,” except thousands of bats and many ship-loads of guano. Besides this one, there are several large caves in the island, both on the coast and in the interior. Some of them have never been explored, and are, consequently, supposed to penetrate more than three miles underground. On a fine day Cuba is visible from the hills near Antonio ; to-day it was not so. As G— — was still unwell, he and A preferred travelling in a carriage, and Mr. Forbes took me in a gig. The view of the town from the further side of the bay is pretty, and makes a picturesque foreground to the fine range of Blue Mountains in the distance. Our journey was tame work after yesterday, the road winds along the coast near the sea, occa- sionally making a great bend to avoid the frequent 38 BARBARIAN HOSPITALITY. little coves and landlocked harbours which indent this end of the island. Most of the estates we passed through were out of cultivation, and overgrown with brushwood. The few that still bear cane are not more than sufficient to afford sugar for the con- sumption of the district. At river we stopped to bait ourselves and horses. Mr. S the proprietor, was very civil ; Mrs. S — , his wife, a bland, timid little woman, was rather put out I fear by our visit ; she was very anxious that things should “ go off ” well, and I suspect the luncheon must have been a severe trial to her. The servant, an antediluvian-looking nigger, would do everything wrong, and would not hear any of Mrs. S 's whispers to put him right. Conceive how provoking, that an old woolly-headed rascal should set a dish of potatoes at the head of the table, under a big cover, and a quarter of lamb in the middle of the table, crowned as it were with the cover of a vegetable dish ; and actually put the dessert on, when there was a whole pastry-cook's shop to be admired. Upon my word ! after a week's rehearsal, too, no doubt! Well, well, old servants will be old servants, though Mrs. S thinks — at least I should not wonder if she did — that it is very AN ODD MAN. 39 immoral to grow old and do such wicked things, as to wait at dinner in that sort of way. There happened to be a very odd man “ dropped in,” to call while we were there. He seemed quite taken aback at meeting us ; he was such a very mild man ; his voice, when he did speak, was so low that I could not help thinking it must have come out of the back of his neck. For the life of him he could not remember the names of places or people ; he called Forbes, Me Cornock ; and Golden Grove, Hector River, though the names are not the least similar or synonymous. Had we sat there long, A , who is the funniest little fellow in the world, would have made me laugh at this man I am sure ; but poor G— was beginning to show symptoms of fever, and we were obliged to be moving homewards. February 1st . — G is no better ; Thomas is taken ill ; Crabb, the other servant, and A , are both complaining, and neither of them looking pretty. The Doctor arrives from Bath. 5 th . — This is dull work for me. The whole party are in their beds with fever. G and Thomas seriously ill. Dr. Ferguson is sent for from Kingston. I generally amuse myself alligator hunting ; to-day I nearly rode over a very large one lying on the bank. 40 ALLIGATOR HUNTING. but he was in the river before I saw him. I hit him the first shot, and hardly had time to load before he rose again and swam straight at me ; I had two bullets in my rifle and put them both into his head ; this, I think, must have done for him, he did not appear again. Another one I found asleep, and secured for a stuffed specimen. 7th— As the invalids were all better, and the worst of them pronounced to be quite out of danger, I took leave of Golden Grove, wishing to make the best use of my time till the steamer sailed on the 16th. My heavy baggage (two portmanteaus) preceded me in a wain, drawn by eight oxen ! and Mr. Forbes drove me to Morant Bay. Here I borrowed a drogger, a boat of twenty tons, and set sail for Kingston. My crew consisted of a black captain, a white first -lieu- tenant, and two able-bodied nigger seamen. We had a good breeze out of the harbour, which lasted to Yallahs Point. Till twelve o’clock I took the helm, then piped to dinner, or, rather, to salt-fish and bis- cuit, soaked in the melted fat of salt pork. The sun was awfully hot, and I was sadly burnt. Towards evening the wind died away, and it was just sunset as we passed Port Royal. I began to think what I would have for supper at the Date, and how KINGSTON. 41 much I should enjoy my bed, when the captain, to my astonishment, offered me more salt pork, and observed, we should get in by good time in the morning. “ What ! you surely don't mean to anchor to-night'?" I asked. “ Yes, Massa, can't see 'em takes runs 'top to-night." This was a bore, but there was nothing left but to pick for a soft plank, and with a bag of peas for a pillow consign myself to slumber and the cock-roaches. After a moderate night I was awoke by the day-light gun from the flag-ship ; weighed anchor, and with a light breeze landed at Kingston at 1 0 a.m. The “ Teviot " was lying alongside the wharf wdien I arrived, and, meet- ing the mail-agent, I went to the office to see my old friend the captain. There was a party of Kingston gossips in the room. u Well," said one, “shocking thing isn’t it, poor Mr. G dying so soon." “I don't wonder," said another, before I had time to speak, “ How could he be so foolish as to expose himself as he has done, sitting whole days in a swamp watching for alligators." “ Oh, dear," said a third, “ that's not altogether the cause of his illness. The fact is, he is a bad subject ; such a stout gentleman as Mr. G., is a very bad subject." “ Stop, stop, you are mistaken," said I ; “ you are calumniating my friends by whole- 42 SPANISH TOWN. sale. Mr. G is as thin as a whipping-post, and never sat a day in a swamp in his whole life. Mr. A — — is stout enough if you like, and none the worse subject for that — but I advise you not to let him hear you say that his stoutness is likely to prove fatal; he would not like it, I assure you/' “Nor any one else/’ quoth the captain. The gossips looked at me as much as to say, who the deuce are you ? Leaving them to solve the problem, I joined the captain, and dined with him on board the steamer. By an early train on the 11th I left Kingston for Spanish Town, where I hired a gig from Mr. Grant, the horse-dealer. At breakfast, in the coffee-room, before starting, my attention was attracted by a cleanish-looking white gentleman swinging in a Yankee rocking-chair in the middle of the room, chewing his cud, and digesting his morning meal. “ Good morning, sir, good morning," he began, eyeing me from head to foot with a calculating glance; “from Hamerica, I presume ?" “ No, sir, no." “Lately harived in the country, sir?" “Yes, sir, quite lately." “ Ah, from Hingland, no doubt : native of London, sir?" “From England, sir, but not a native of London." “ Hin the harmy, I pre- sume ?" “ No, sir, not in the army." “ Business, MR. BACON. 43 perhaps ?” “No, sir, travelling merely for pleasure.” “Ah ! very pleasant, very pleasant. Not seen much of the hisland, yet, I presume?” “No, not much.” “ Been in the Heast, yet, sir ?” “Yes, sir, I have been in India.” “ Hindeed, sir, but I mean the hother hend of the hisland.” “ Oh ! I see — yes, I have just returned from St. Thomas.” “ From what part might I hask ? ” “ Golden Grove.” “ Staying with Mr. A , the proprietor?” “Yes.” “Then, sir, I presume you are Mr. G .” “No, sir, my name is Coke.” “Ah! hoh! hindeed? Ah, I thought so.” “Why didn't you say so then?” I thought, but did not speak it. We talked till my breakfast was over. He was going to the east end, and offered to take any letter or message for me to the “ hother gents.” I accepted his offer, and in return he gave me a letter to be delivered on my way to Falmouth. It was a choice composition, and very likely he was rather proud of it, for he gave it to me to read. It was addressed to one “ Dear O’Shornosy,” stating that “the bearer Mr. Cook being anxious to inspect all the curorsities of the ajasent country, he had men- tioned that delightful sight, the cave, to him, and in consequence of which he Mr. C was anxious to see the same, and if dear O’Shornosy could spare 44 EWARTON. time, he, O’S., would oblige him, J. B., to accompany the gent.” The letter concluded with “ a kiss for Miss Paddy O’Shornosy,” and was subscribed J. Bacon. — Mr. Bacon, as I have already stated, was proud of the letter, and I am quite certain if he ever sees it in print, he will be proud of that too. At least, he cannot be offended, for I herewith beg publicly to thank him for his kindness, and express my regret that the torrents of rain which descended on my head for several hours after we parted, washed away all possibility of seeing either of the “ curorsities ” — “ O’Shornosy,” or “ the cave.” Passing through the Bog Walk I put up my horses for a couple of hours at Ewarton. Without doors everything was wet and dull, and the only source of amusement was to smoke a cigar out of a window, opening into the farm-yard. Quick or dead, all its con- tents looked equally woe-begone. The dog shivered in his kennel. The turkeys’ tails were too heavy, or the birds had not pluck to keep them from draggling in the mud. The cocks and hens too were wretched, and after their wont on like occasions, stood comfort- lessly under shelter of an idle gig or cart, now and then balancing themselves on the tips of their toes, making spasmodic efforts to shake their feathers dry. CROSSING MONT DIAYOLO. 45 Even the monkey, usually a cheerful and sociable being, was lamenting with shrugged shoulders the gloom of the morning — not venturing to look abroad unless some restless-minded pigeon happened to flop heavily on the roof of his house, when, his instinct getting the better of his reason, he always wetted his jacket in an attempt to catch hold of the pigeon’s legs. In course of time the heavy rain settled into a heavy mist, and, on the principle of 4 anything for a change/ I made John, my nigger-coachman, put the horses to, and left for the Moneague. Happily the sun gra- dually dispersed the mist, giving me some noble views as I crossed Mont Diavolo, the only pass in the range of mountains that divide St. Anne’s from St. Thomas in the vale. Hereabouts the whole country is a sea of hills and dales, which recalled to my mind the scenery in Borneo and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, though far tamer, and with much less of variety in vegetation. The inn at the Moneague was much better than could be expected in so outlandish a spot. Things were dear, but one was glad to pay any sum for accommodation where it was so acceptable. The next morning I left the main road to St. Anne’s, and took what is called the 4 grand interior/ for Falmouth. Why 'grand interior’ I cannot 46 JAMAICA — GRAND INTERIOR. understand : — at hardly any point in it is there room for two vehicles to pass one another, and most part of the road is covered with grass — -not an indication of much traffic. Twenty-five miles from the Mon- eague we came to Browns Town. My reminiscences of this place, if they depend on my breakfast, are not likely to be agreeable. One egg and a stale piece of dry bread was all that could be got for a famished man. From Brown’s Town, which is at the foot of the mountains, the road is strikingly uninteresting, when compared with that of my yesterday’s journey. The only object that prevented my falling asleep was a poor little lamb I passed by the road-side, with six or eight infernal John -crows or Turkey-buzzards strutting round it, impatiently waiting till their victim had lost the little strength it yet was able to exert in its own defence. Sometimes these harpies would make a threatening hop to within a few inches of the lamb’s head, and weak as it was it seemed to be aware that the moment it ceased to move they would cease to wait, and turned upon them the most piteous looks, imploring them at least not to begin before their time. In the afternoon I reached Hyde Hall, a property HYDE HALL. 47 belonging to an old college acquaintance. We were delighted at meeting again, and had a most pleasant tete-a-tete after dinner on Cantab days and Cantab men. 13 th . — S rode with me round his estate. I was struck with its inferiority to those in the east end of the island. Nevertheless, it is considered one of the good properties of Trelawny, though it has been badly managed, and labours under disadvan- tages to which the district of St. Thomas is not subject. Wages are here much higher, and the crops, which vary with the seasons, are as often injured by drought as by an excess of rain. A large amount of manure is necessary for the cultivation of the cane, and the want of water-power compels them to exhaust all their trash in fuel. Many of the mills are worked by mules, and notwithstanding the expense of this method, an opinion prevails that small estates not producing over 100 or 200 hogs- heads of sugar cannot sustain the outlay of a steam- engine. S. tells me that it is not the custom for the negroes in this district to pay rent for their houses, and that if it were demanded, all of them would refuse to work. Many negroes live on their own bits of land, purchased at enormous prices from 48 DRY HARBOUR — THE MONEAGUE. the dissenting ministers, who have persuaded them that, as free men, they ought not to live upon the estates, or depend on the charity of their employers. 14^. — I took S in my gig, and sent John to meet me at Dry Harbour. We breakfasted at Captain D — — % a gentleman-like old bachelor, for- merly of a dragoon regiment, with a most courteous manner and an inexhaustible fund of anecdote. With great kindness he drove us seven or eight miles on the road, till I overtook my vehicle. We then parted, and stopping only a few minutes at St. Anne’s Bay to buy corn for my horses, I did not bait until I reached a house on the eight-mile hill, where I was detained nearly three hours. This delay gave me a long drive in the dark before I got to the Moneague. After demolishing for my supper the “ debris ” of a bread pudding, I turned into a pair of sheets out of which I could have wrung water. There were neither windows nor blinds to my bed-room, and upon the whole I felt as uncomfortable in body and mind as circumstances could well make me. After a wretched night, I got away before dawn. The morning was drizzly, and one’s light clothing being soon soaked through, I thought I was giving a fair trial to the cold-water system. While waiting at Linstead, SCENERY OF BOG WALK. 49 thirteen miles from Spanish Town, four men brought the corpse of a black woman to the inn. There was only a small cloth thrown over the body, and as she had died from some horrible disease the sight did not improve my appetite for breakfast. About ten o’clock the day cleared, and afforded me an excellent oppor- tunity of admiring the beautiful scenery of the Bog Walk. The rocky walls which overhang the road, the gigantic cotton trees, the stately palms, the orange trees laden with fruit and blossoms, the ferns, the creepers, the flowers, all were beautiful, and more beautiful than all, the graceful clumps of bamboos, like huge bunches of green ostrich plumes, growing at the very edge of the water, and seeming bound at their roots by the crystal stream which flowed in tortuous course through the gorge. Several empty sugar wains, drawn by fourteen oxen, passed us on the road. The driver of these carries a whip long enough to reach the farthest of them. He often cracks this wonderful machine, sending forth a report as loud as that of a pistol, thus giving warning of his approach, and time to others to get out of his way. John informed me that it was very dangerous to meet these waggons ; for when loaded they rattle down the steep hills at terrific speed, and if they come upon E 50 ST. JAGO DE CUBA. another carriage where the road is narrow they are unable to stop, and severe accidents occur. He said he had twice been nearly killed by them. Once they broke “ tree ’poke of de wheel and ’prained de ancle of em gentleam him was dribing,” and on another occasion he was only saved by turning over the bank and upsetting himself and his gig. Soon after I reached Kingston, G arrived from Golden Grove, having been, like myself, a day and a half coming from Morant Bay. He looks terribly pulled down, but is better. A is on his way by land, but will not be here before we leave. 1 7 th . — With some bother G and I got our passports yesterday from the Spanish Consul, and took our places in the royal mail steamer “ Tay.” We are now lying at anchor off St. Jago de Cuba. The entrance to the harbour is narrow, and com- manded by a fort, called, of course, the Morvo. Between this and the anchorage near the town are a number of bays and inlets perfectly landlocked, some of them large enough to hold half-a-dozen fleets. Tom Cringle describes the place, making it the scene of a “ cutting out” expedition. In the evening I accompanied a party of our officers to hear the band play on the Plaza. Crowds were walking CANEY INDIANS. 51 about ; the women smoking, sometimes without anything, sometimes with a mantilla on their heads. On the following day, G., Mr. Beatty, the acting consul, and I, rode to Caney, a couple of leagues from the town. Caney is the “ half-way house,” or halting place between St. Jago and the surrounding plantations. The muleteers stop here for their dram of aqua dilute ; and on Sunday “ the quality” of St. Jago make it a resort for hot rolls and chocolate. We quenched our thirst on some tolerable maraschino and cold water, smoked cigarettes, and returned. I should not forget to remark that Caney is one of the very few places in the Antilles where any trace of the Indians may still be seen. They have a village here, but by an occasional intermarriage with Spaniards, or negroes, are rapidly losing the idiosyn- cracies of their race. 19t/i . — Parted with G., who sailed soon after in the “ Tay” back to Jamaica. Poor fellow ! I wish he was well enough to go on with me. When the ' “ Tay” was gone, I paid a visit to the copper mines at Cobre. The mines are in the hands of two companies ; one English, the other Spanish. Captain Reynolds, a Cornish miner, who is the director of the works in the English mine, took me 52 COPPER MINES OE COBRE. “ in charge,” and pointed out, much to my amuse- ment, the superiority of the English company over the other, showing, which was an undeniable proof of it, that his mines produced ten times more metal than the Spanish. At Cobre there is a celebrated church whither people from all parts of the country flock, at stated periods, to perform a pilgrimage to the shrine of its patron saint — the Virgin. Amongst other decorations and effigies in this church, is a rude figure of the Virgin, ornamented with valuable jewels and richly attired. Her under garments are changed once a w r eek, and the office of washing them is consigned to the Padre’s sister. Numbers of pictures of the Holy Mother as she appeared to the favoured inhabitants of Cobre, and models of distorted limbs, to remind her of those cases most worthy her atten- tion, are also suspended from all parts of the walls. A special train was provided for my return. There were eight miles of tramway from the mines down to the coast, and as the decline was very rapid, our speed w T as equal to that of a “ Great Northern express,” with no other power to propel us than a loaded car to give impetus to our descent. On turning an angle in the road, a herd of goats happened to cross the line ; I thought we should GOATS OK RAILWAY. 53 certainly be upset, but our speed saved us; we ran over the goats, leaving them sprawling on the road, some of them cut fairly in half by the wheels. That afternoon, I left S in the “ Guadalquiver” steamer, for Trinidad de Cuba. Passengers from almost every nation were on board ; of my own countrymen, three beside myself. Some time ago I had made up my mind to perform this voyage in a coasting vessel ; finding a nice little steamer starting at the right moment, and getting a whole cabin to myself, was a piece of good luck I did not look for at present : the only objection- able part of it is the food ; the dinner, especially, is execrable ; everything stinking abominably of garlic, and cooked, I would swear, in the same oil that is used to grease the engine with. The sea is beginning to be rough, and none but the “ old stagers” are proof against these smells and the motion of the vessel. 1 9th . — Coasting the whole day with land very close at times. Found “ Pendennis” and Mr. Van- dervoost, an American, very agreeable company. Mr. B was a bore, because he thought every- body else a bore. B is evidently travelling to cure a nervous complaint. He might as well take 54 THE QUEERS GARDEN. water for the dropsy. He has conceived a dislike to another passenger, and whenever this man appears B disappears, either behind the funnel or headlong down the hatchway. His bugbear is a Yankee. He trembles lest he should be put out, extinguished, with tobacco juice, and the Yankee takes shots between the bars of his chair. B takes notes of everything, he is a walking statistic. He carries in his pocket a folio of memoranda as big as a volume of the British Encyclopaedia. He goes every live minutes to dis- cover how many rotations the wheel is making in one ; talks mysteriously of the signs of the times, and expresses infinite reverence for the public press. He execrates the whole herd of novel writers and novel readers — thinks there is no fun in Punch — feels seasick, and takes — a note. 20 th .- — We are amongst “ the Thousand Islands,” or the “ Queen’s Garden.” The water is like quick- silver, and there is not a cloud in the sky. On every side little green spots seem floating peacefully in an atmosphere of blue. The vessel disturbs a shoal of flying fish, and a flock of black ducks sail round us, astonished at the intrusion of the smoking monster. At sunset we dropped anchor not many miles from Santa Cruz. TRINIDAD AMERICAN CONSUL. 55 21 st. — At noon, we are in the harbour of Trinidad. It is Washington’s birth-day, and the American ships are decked from their trucks to the water with stars and stripes, and with the flags of all nations. Vandervoost introduces me to the American Consul, and I get a cast in his volante from Casilda, where we landed, to the house of a Spanish friend of mine, one Juan Andre. My friend was staying at his country-seat, two leagues from Trinidad. While waiting for a volante at the town-house, my patience and small talk had to undergo a severe ordeal in listening to the dull remarks of a person, who I believe was some connexion of my friend’s. A la West Indian, we sat and smoked, and smoked and sat. As a matter of course, nothing further was proposed. Amusement in the daytime is a thing unknown. Only now and then I was enlivened by the glimpse of some young senorita in her morning deshabille , as she rushed past the door, or peeped from behind the pannel at the “ Inglese” stranger. The room itself was, perhaps, the most interesting subject for contemplation. Like the women’s dresses, it was built for comfort and coolness, but with this difference between them — the Spanish women only wear furni- ture in the evening ; the room all the day. The 56 DIMER PARTY. floor was marble, the walls frescoed, the big folding- doors handsomely carved ; large mirrors were not wanting, nor chandeliers, nor pianofortes, nor China jars, nor Parisian clocks, nor alabaster statuettes, nor a variety of pretty nicknacks which would complete an inventory fit for the use and ornament of the house of any man of wealth and taste. My new acquaintance and I were both beginning to yawn when the volante was announced. I jumped in and was driven to Juan Andre’s chateau. The party assembled consisting of his brother, two cousins, the foreman of his sugar-works, and his gamekeeper, (the two latter in their shirt sleeves ;) were on the point of sitting down to dinner when I arrived. Preparatory to feeding, each person went through the ceremony of washing his hands. In truth, there was not much beyond ceremony in the matter, for these ablutions were performed consecutively in the same basin and in the same water. The table-cloth, evidently quite used to it, served as the towel, and the maxim of “ every one for himself” was soon put into practice. The whole business was novel to me, and therefore amusing. A more particular person, troubled with a delicate stomach, might not have appreciated the arrangement with the same degree of gusto. The CLEANLINESS. 57 dishes were necessarily all Spanish, and, excepting the indispensable ingredients, oil and garlic, it would have puzzled a chemist to determine what did or did not enter into the composition of these infernal messes. Every one helped himself or his friend with his own knife and fork ; and, as often as not, dispensed with even this formality, using fingers for all purposes. Between every dish — I might almost say between each mouthful, a “ golpe” of tobacco smoke was inhaled. Upon the top of all a layer of cheese and syrup, or cheese mixed with coffee, was deposited ; no doubt, as a species of police against disturbances or disagreement in the regions destined for the reception of this heterogeneous melee. When all had eaten enough, or too much, as the case might be, the horses were ordered, and a good shaking ride on pacing ponies was inflicted to the neighbouring plantations. CHAPTER II. Cuba. — Don Justo C. — Cock-fighting. — Political jealousy of the Cubans and its Causes. — Present Miserable Condition of the Country and its Prospects. — Causes which menace the Dominion of Spain. — Sunday in Cuba. — Dinner at the American Consul’s. — Ride to Arima. — A Night in the Hen-roost. — Batabano. — Ethnological Discussion between two American Gentlemen. — “All Britishers have an Accent, a Peculiar way of Speaking.” — Havannah by Railroad. — Public Execution. — Garrotting. — A Hardened Sinner. — Carnival at the Havannah. — Passage from Havannah to Charlestown.-— The Genus Snob as found in America. • February 22nd . — Early in the morning Juan Andre took me to a high point, whence I had a view of his property. It extended as far as the eye could reach, and was covered with cane. This, however, was not a tenth part of the property belonging to the family, or rather to their step-father, Don Justo C , one of the richest men in Cuba. Don Justo is the owner of six large estates, upon each of which is a complete establishment, including a residence house, and sugar works fitted with the latest improvements in ma- chinery. The aggregate number of slaves employed on these estates exceeds two thousand. CUBAN JEALOUSY. 59 Before breakfast we were entertained by Juan Andre with a cock-fight, and some cock-training; after breakfast we took horse to visit some of his step- father’s plantations. In this country it is esteemed a particular mark of favour to be permitted, as a foreigner, to penetrate a single mile into the interior of the island : so jealous are the Spaniards of the influence of extraneous principles, more especially of those likely to be entertained by English or Americans, as subjects of governments so widely differing from their own. Indeed it is not a matter of astonishment that a disinclination to criticism should exist, where any comparison with other countries must so painfully expose the prominent defects in their own. The pitiable state in which the Cubans now are, is only equalled by their prospects for the future. There is hardly a country which the Spanish powers do not regard with distrust and suspicion. Many of the wealthiest proprietors in the island are secretly inclined to invite their neighbours of the North, but doubt and fear restrain them. All, however, seem aware that the Spanish banner will not wave many years longer over the Queen of the Antilles; and few Cubans are there who will lament, or desire to avert 60 CUBAN POLITICS. the change. Compelled to raise resources for the mother-country, and to maintain those agents who exact the payment of them, they caress the rod that scourges them. Considered as a treasure presently to be lost, and of which the most must be made in the meantime, they have no feeling but hatred for the Spaniards of old Spain ; and in the event of a struggle, though Cuba may not gain, Spain must undoubtedly be a loser. On the four or five plantations I have seen here, the slaves are exceedingly well treated. They have good houses and good food, fresh meat every day, and, judging from appearances, are in a happier condition than are, at present, the free men in our colonies. 23rd, Sunday . — Took volante and drove to town, and, by way of spending the day profitably, sat five hours in a cockpit. Alas ! it is the fate of travellers sometimes to “ do at Rome as Romans do,” and as Trinidadians when in Trinidad : besides (for a lame excuse or two), there was no Protestant church in the place, and cock-fighting can’t be seen to perfection every day in the week ; and so — my friend being a man who fights his three or four cocks every day, and loses his twenty ounces as often as any body — I could not well do less than sit out the performances COCK FIGHTING. 61 from beginning to end, and tire myself, and be disgusted with a disgusting and cruel exhibition as it was. But to describe it The circus holds about two hundred people ; the instant the birds are brought in, every one of these two hundred commence backing their opinion as to the result of the combat, not alone with money, but with screams, yells, gesticulations, and every sort of means which the excitement of the moment can suggest, short of knocking each other down. Silence is restored by the first few “ cuts and guards ” of the wary belligerents, till one, generally the elder, makes a feint and succeeds in planting his spur in the eye of his adversary. Whereupon the whole two hundred again perform the scene of the commencement, with some slight variations in the odds and their feelings. A good chicken will finish his work in three minutes, but, if himself badly wounded, may peck and peck till the other, suddenly roused, makes one tremendous effort and drives his two spurs through the neck of the assailant. Again the multitude get up to scream and the odds come down. There is more noise, more smoke than ever. While the betting is going on, the “ bottle-holders ” pick up the now equally enfeebled combatants ; suck and lick their bleeding heads, as if they were putting 62 SLAVES WORK NIGHT AND DAY. barley-sugar into their mouths ; spirt water in their faces, shake them up, and once more set them in battle array. But they are both quite exhausted, and unless one is lucky enough to be killed soon, they go round and round till one dies by degrees, almost without the trouble of being killed by a blow. Such is cock-fighting ; and such is the only pastime, the only object, the study and recreation of the gentleman of this part of the world. Three days of every week is spent in the cockpit, they talk of nothing else, and think of nothing else the remaining four. 2 5th . — Drove out to call on Don Justo C before breakfast. He showed me over one of his sugar manufactories ; it was on a larger scale, and more perfect than any I have yet seen. They make no rum here, but the molasses undergoes an additional course of refinement. The sugar is purged with wet clay, and drains through small porous jars. It is of a much finer quality than that made in our islands, and is nearly white. On all these plantations the slaves work night and day during crop-time. They are divided into two bands. At evening, when “ the curfew tolls the knell, &c.,” the night band take their spell, and are relieved at the end of twelve hours by those who work in the day. Don Justo CUBAN BEAUTIES. 63 pressed me to stop for dinner ; I willingly did so, the more willingly because I recognised, among other members of the family, two of the peeping apparitions of the town house. One a tall young lady with an oval face and large black eyes ; the other a middle sized young lady, with what Haji Baba would have called a “ moon face,” and large blue eyes. The tall one was rather sentimental ; the short one particularly merry. You may call me “spooney” if you will, but I solemnly protest I never saw two such pretty faces before. Of course I mean two such pretty Spanish faces. No one who ever heard with what pathos I sometimes, in these remote corners of the earth, whistle the tune of “ the girls we left behind us,” or knew with what genuine sentiment we wanderers mix our first glass of grog on Saturday nights, to the never-forgotten toast of “ sweethearts and wives,” would ever think of accusing me of — well never mind. There are some people who need not be jealous of even Spanish beauties, and without any “ odious comparisons ” in the matter, I still persist in thinking, that, for a pair of sehoritas, these two have not their match all the way from Cadiz to Corunna, and back again. The only thing I could think of all dinner time was, “ How happy could I be with either, 64 THE LOYELY SISTERS. were t'other dear charmer away." I would defy a man to fall in love with one if the other was there too. Both were so pretty yet so unlike : if the short one had the sweetest little mouth and the prettiest little dimples at the side of it, ever seen, the tall one was a fourth grace, a swan with the relative measurement of legs and neck, improved upon ; and then, good gracious ! what a look ! not like that of the blue eyes, which were always cast down in case of contact, but such a look as would have stared a saucer out of countenance, and cost at least a week’s appetite to any man, though his heart had been as hard as fifteen nether millstones. Only conceive how horrified I must have been to hear that the eldest was engaged to be married in a month, and how astonished I was to learn that she was only twelve years old. Don’t be alarmed ye ladies of England, at the thoughts of this somewhat premature step ; to look at, I assure you, either of them might have been any age, — under eighteen. My volante at the door at length reminded me that the time was come to say that unpleasant word “ goodbye." So with a polite “ a sus pieds de usted to the lovely sisters, I turned my back upon the amiable family, I suppose for ever ! 2 Qth . — After a very pleasant dinner with Vander- TRINIDAD — AULD LANG SYNE. 65 voot, and two other Americans, we adjourned to drink our wine at Mr. Mac Something’s, the yankee consul, an excellent man who gloried in good Madeira and his Scotch descent. The unusual circumstance of five men sitting round a table all speaking the English language as their mother tongue, in a place like Trinidad, made the party a jolly one. The conver- sation took a friendly turn, we were bent upon complimenting each other on the merits of our native lands. It was a trite truism on my part to say that America was destined to be a great nation, at least, I was thereby hazarding no new idea. Their opinions of old England were equally flattering. The Madeira was unexceptionable, and gave a mellow tone to the consul’s voice that almost brought tears into (his own) eyes, as he sung one after another the most familiar of the Scotch songs. So pleasant we all got to be, we might have been at “ auld lang syne,” and drinking old Madeira till now, had not the party been broken up by a summons from Juan Andre, saying the horses were ready, and he was waiting for me. “ The best of friends must part,” and travel- lers are not permitted to indulge too often or too long in such pleasant diversions as these, which like mile-stones and land-marks on the journey, remain 66 TRIP TO ARIMAO. firm and fresh when all the disagreeable has “ faded and gone/' As might be supposed, I did not find it very con- venient to sit the fidgetty steed that was to have the honour of carrying me fifty miles in the dark ; and melancholy as was the parting in other respects, my friends laughed heartily when they saw me steadying myself in the saddle for a start. The party assembled to accompany me on my trip — I was going to Arimao — consisted of Don Andre, Don Miguel C , brother to Don Justo, La Plante an artist, the old fisherman or gamekeeper before mentioned, and two acquaint- ances of my friend. All except myself were heavily armed, and had we met with an adventure all would I believe have behaved like men. The night was fine, and a beautiful moon soon gave us plenty of light. La Plante who had a good voice, made the ride pleasant by singing operatic airs all the way. About nine leagues from Trinidad we pulled up for a cup of coffee and a smoke. At one in the morning we reached St. Juan, a lonely hut by the road side in the midst of a mountainous country. The accommodation was not strictly speaking, excellent — one little cabin and a loft made up the house. But we were tired and hungry, and glad to get rest. My companions PERCH m COCK-LOFT. 67 set to work at once by the help of a farthing rush- light, to overhaul the contents of some panniers we had brought with us. The result was I felt my appetite as much impaired by the sight of them as if I had eaten the quantity my companions afterwards eat. Leaving them to their supper I took the pre- caution to look out for a perch of some kind, before the increased demand for that article should leave me no chance in the matter. I scrambled by aid of a ladder through a trap-door into a loft, and after disturbing sundry domesticated old cocks and hens, and nearly breaking my head in the dark against the rafters, I managed to tumble “ all standing ” into what I found to be a very good grass hamack. Pulling off my spurs and rolling myself up in my plaid, I slept sound till the cock-crowing above and the bustle below informed me that it was time to turn out. The morning was cold, and it was not till we had ridden some fifteen or twenty miles that the fog broke away and the hot sun made its appear- ance. The scenery we passed through was not fine, but indeed I have seen nothing in the island to be compared for beauty to Jamaica. We reached Arimao in the middle of the day. It is a sort of stock farm surrounded by many thousand acres of grass, 68 ARIMAO. and looks unpleasantly wild and rural. In the evening about sunset, for the space of half-an-hour, hundreds of pigeons or doves flew over the house to the woods, up the country. Some of my companions amused themselves by shooting at them, but did not kill many as they flew so low and so fast. March ls£ — I find Arimao very dull — All the party but myself speak Spanish — All the party but myself are fond of shooting — All the party but myself like to get up before daylight and bathe in the middle of the day, eat big suppers and make a tremendous noise. This morning I was persuaded to go with them to a lagune after ducks. I never saw so many water-fowl together, but I could not shoot with their guns, (which have a good chance of bursting even if they were not loaded,) entirely by guess-work. My friends came home an hour or two after I did, bring- ing with them forty-three ducks and coots, a dozen parrots, a number of pigeons, some guinea-fowls, and a few quails. We made an excursion to fish in the evening, and I foolishly separating from the others, lost my way. The country is so devoid of striking objects, that when I got to the river I could not tell whether to go up or down it. After hunting a couple of hours in the dark for some sign to guide me, CIEN FUEGOS. 69 I was forced to give it up, and was looking out for a comfortable tree, when I spied at a great distance a light which I took for a rising star, fortunately it turned out to be from the house. A night in these prairies would not after all have been much worse than a night at the farm, for what with dirt, fleas, and cold, I am compelled to sleep every night with all my clothes on, even to my coat. Tomorrow, however, we go, and there will be an end to these grievances. As for my companions they are more than half savages, and had I not chanced to have with me “ Notre Dame de Paris,” and “ Mansfield Park,” I could hardly have survived the week. 2nd . — Arrived at Cien Fuegos, six leagues from Arimao. It is a flourishing little town, and threatens to monopolise the trade on this side the island. The houses are built in Grecian style, and the people are said to be very wealthy. The first object, as usual, was the pit, and, being at the mercy of my friends, I was obliged to pass the whole day in the intellec- tual pastime of cock-fighting. It was, however, some small consolation to see them lose a considerable number of doubloons. In the afternoon Juan Andre returned to Trinidad. At eight p.m. I sailed from Cien Fuegos, in the Tayaba steamer. In fifteen hours we 70 BATABANO. reached Batabano ; but, thanks either to the stupidity or connivance of the people, no trains leave for Havannah until to-morrow. This arrangement is carried out with every steamer that comes here ; and, though all abuse, none attempt to amend it. Certainly, Batabano stands in much need of custom and improvement; for a more wretched place to stop a day in cannot be imagined. At a billiard-table, or rather the billiard-table, I fell in with two Americans, whom I soon became acquainted with, — as they saved me the trouble of introducing myself, by a discussion that arose amongst them as to what country I belonged to. One thought I might be an Englishman — the other was sure I was a Yankee ; so it ended by the ques- tion being put to me, “ Whether I was a Britisher or not V’ When I gave them the information they required, both said “ it was very strange, for now they heard me talk they did not observe I had any English accent.” I said I thought it would be very much more strange if I had ; upon which they assured me “ all Britishers had an accent — a peculiar way of speaking English : they always cut their words so short.” Like all Americans I have met, they were agreeable enough if humoured a little, and FIRST VIEW OF THE HAVAXNAH. 71 perfectly civil if civilly treated. In the evening we congregated on board the steamer which was to take them to Cien Fuegos, and played four or five rubbers of whist until they sailed. 4 th . — Went by train to the Havannah. Carriages pretty fair, but slow ; three hours going thirty-seven miles. Road uninteresting ; country flat. Few cocoa-nut trees, thousands of palms — the same as in Jamaica are called Mountain Cabbages. The first view of Havannah, from the south side, is not unlike an Eastern city. The yellow walls and flat-roofed houses, the low and dusty-looking country, the sea, the hot sky, the strings of sumpter mules, the dark- complexioned natives — all aid the illusion. May a closer intimacy not destroy it ! Who can delight in the West after travelling in the East \ I have now been five weeks in the Havannah. What I have seen or done in that time convinces me that one or two is quite enough for all ordinary purposes of interest. In five weeks a person may learn to put up with much discomfort, to smoke much tobacco, to waste much time, and to speak a little and understand less of the worst-spoken Spanish. Besides the Opera, a band which plays every evening, and the Dominica Cafe, there are no 72 THE HABANEKOS. means of amusing oneself. For foreigners, at least, there is no society, and I believe hardly any amongst the Habaneros themselves. This, perhaps, is the less to be regretted, as no one who has seen a little of them can wish to see more. As a general rule, they are ignorant, profligate, and unprincipled ; full of arrogant pride, without any sense of honour; if in office, ever ready to defraud the Government, and, from the highest to the lowest, open to the most unblushing venality. They gamble till they lose their last coat, and then would sell their skin to keep a volante. Isolated from the rest of the world, Havannah is all and everything to them ; and you might as well talk metaphysics to a cow as attempt to persuade them that any capital in Europe may be named in the same day with their own. What, after all, have they to boast of'? Their buildings, say they, are the finest, their Opera the largest, their Passeo the longest, their equipages the best-appointed, their men the bravest, and their women the prettiest that ever were seen. In the first place let me tell them, if there be any truth in the above statements, it is wonderfully economised ; and next, if they have anything to be proud of, a bad time, so it appears, is in store for them, when they will have THE CAMPO DEL MARTE. 73 to leave off boasting, and take to getting their living in more creditable ways than they do at present. A day or two since I got permission to visit a criminal in the capilla of the town prison. He was to be garrotted the following day, for having robbed and murdered a boy. He looked a terrible ruffian, and made signs to me, as he was not allowed to speak, of stabbing and being strangled, shrugging his shoulders at the same time, and smiling with the most cold-blooded indifference. That “conscience makes cowards of us all ” was for once not true : the man had no conscience to make a coward of him. A priest was in the capilla, and two sentries guarded the door. The morning of the execution I was at the Campo del Marte before daylight. The crowd had already assembled, and the tops of the houses were thronged with people. The women, with their fans in their hands, occupied the front rows of chairs, in order to see better the horrors which were about to take place. By squeezing and pushing I managed to get within eight or nine yards of the machine, where I had not long been before the procession was seen moving up the Passeo. A few cavalry were in front to clear the road ; behind them came the host, 74 A PUBLIC EXECUTION. with a number of priests and the prisoner on foot, dressed in white ; a large guard brought up the rear. The soldiers formed an open square. The execu- tioner, the culprit, and one priest ascended the steps of the platform ; the prisoner quietly seated himself, but got up again to adjust the chair and make himself more comfortable ! The executioner then arranged the band round his neck, tied his legs and arms, and retired behind the post. At a word from the priest the wrench was turned. For a single instant the limbs of the culprit were convulsed. The head was kept perfectly erect by a sort of iron prong beneath the ears. The face, which remained uncovered, was horribly distorted ; the eyes were closed, but the lower jaw was pulled wide open, and the blood, which immediately blackened all the features, oozed from the mouth and fell in large drops upon the white shirt. No exclamation, no whisper of horror, escaped from the lookers-on. Such a scene was too familiar to their eyes to excite any feeling but curiosity; and had the execution taken place at the usual spot instead of in the town, few would have given themselves the trouble to witness it. The body remained in the machine till four in the afternoon, exposed in the greatest thoroughfare PASSION WEEK AT HAYANNAH. 75 of the town — a disgusting monument of this civilising process of the nineteenth century. The end of Passion Week is rather an interesting time to be in the Havannah. The three last days are kept with great ceremony. From Thursday till Saturday no quadrupeds are allowed within the walls of the city; and long processions, headed by the Captain- General and all the officials in full uniform, parade the streets, from church to church, several times each day. On Friday an effigy of the Saviour is carried about, accompanied by a regiment of troops with their arms reversed, a band playing a solemn march, and a train of priests bearing emblems of the Crucifixion. On Sunday a mock resurrection is acted. The figures are most grotesque; and, indeed, the whole ceremony is more to be regarded as a painful farce, than as an affecting remembrance of what it is meant to rejDresent. Last night a masqued ball was given at the town. Everybody was there, disporting themselves in motley, and rubbing off the whitewash of the holy week. The theatre was handsomely “got up,” though not to be compared to Drury Lane in the hands of Jullien. In the centre of the floor was a raised stage, upon which small companies of 76 MASKED BALLS. Catalonians, who manage the whole affair, perform in turns various divertissements, according to their taste. These companies are called Compasos. Each assumes some particular costume, and, with their own bands to play for them, dance, attitudinise, do the acrobat business, or play the fool, till the next party is ready to take their places. They then leave the stage with the applause or disapprobation of the spec- tators, and mix in the dances which are going on at the same time in other parts of the house. The opposition bands which play the contre-danses are of the worst possible description. They seem per- fectly indifferent to either time or tune, and for the most part the loudest instruments are played without music, and apparently after the caprice of the artist. They were one and all poor and shabby. Some of the more eccentric might be seen with smudged faces and unclean shirts. An original idea ! — sub- stituting dirt for a fancy dress. As to the women, there literally was not a pretty face in the room, i. e., there were none to be seen, and I take it for granted if there had been a beauty she would not have kept her mask on all the time. Two more of these balls are to be given : any moderate man would, I think, be satisfied with one. FROM HAVANNAH TO CHARLESTOWN. 77 In taking leave of the Havannah I should remark for the benefit of those who come after me, that of the hotels Woolcot’s is the best and Fulton’s perhaps the worst. Everything is enormously dear and the only luxury to be had without paying for is the sea baths at the Punta. On the eighth we took our places in the “ Isabel ” steamer for Charlestown. D. is now nearly recovered after a long and severe attack of fever. A. has joined us from Jamaica, and a great friend of mine who came here after travelling through the States is also of the party. — The last of these goes with us to New York. He and I talk of crossing the Pocky Mountains, and making our way to Cali- fornia. At present this is only a scheme, but it is one I have long wished to fulfil. How it will turn out I do not yet know. Two other Englishmen had taken their passage in the “Isabel,” but we have started without them. The third morning from the day of our departure we arrived at Charlestown, having per- formed a voyage of 760 miles in sixty-two hours. This is perhaps one of the quickest sea voyages that can be made. The boat happened to be very fast, and the gulf stream along the coast of Florida runs northward, at a rate of three or four knots an hour. From Charlestown we went by steamer to New York, 78 STRICTURES ON THE YANKEES. G- . not being strong enough to undertake the journey by land. We all find the change of climate disagreeable ; eight days ago we were in the tropics, and now we have ice in the streets. 2 5th . — It is settled that my friend Fred, as I shall in future call him, goes with me to the Prairies. So that since our arrival here, our time has been chiefly occupied in making preparations for the trip. Any observations I might be tempted to make on New York, or even I am inclined to think, on any of the civilised parts of the States, would probably be neither novel nor interesting. I am not ambitious of circulating more American notes, nor do I care to follow in the footsteps of Mrs. Trollope. Enough has been written to illustrate the singularities of second-rate American society. Good society is the same all over the world. General remarks I hold to be fair play. But to indulge in personalities is a poor- return for hospitality ; and those Americans who are most willing to be civil to foreigners, receive little enough encouragement to extend that civility, when, as is too often the case, those very foreigners after- wards attempt to amuse their friends on one side the Atlantic, at the expense of a breach of good faith to their friends on the other. Every one has his NEW YORK SNOBS. 79 prejudices : I freely confess I have mine. I like London better than New York, but it does not therefore follow that I dislike New York, or Americans either. I have a great respect for almost everything American — I do not mean to say that I have any affection for a thorough-bred Yankee, in our accepta- tion of the term ; far from it, I think him the most offensive of all bipeds in the known world. Yankee snobs too I hate— such as infest Broadway, for instance, genuine specimens of the genus, according to the highest authorities. The worst of New York is its superabundance of snobbism. The snob here is a snob “ sui generis” quite beyond the capacities of the old world. There is no mistaking him. He is cut out after the most approved pattern. If he differs from the original, who or whatever that might have been, it must be in a surpassing excellence of snobbism which does credit to the progressive order of things. Tuft-hunting is a sport he pursues with delight to himself, but without remorse or pity for his victim. It is necessary for the object of his persecutions to be constantly on the alert. He is frequently seen prowling about in white kid gloves, patent leather boots, and Parisian hat. Whenever this is the case he must be considered dangerous and bloody-minded, 80 SNOBS AND SNOBBISM. for in all probability be is meditating a call. Often he has been known to run his prey to ground in the Opera or other public places, and there to worry them within less than an inch of their good temper. Offensive as he is generally speaking, he sometimes acts on the defensive ; for, not very well convinced of his own infallibility, he is particularly susceptible of affronts, to which his assumed consequence not unfrequently makes him liable. Baits are often proffered by these swell-catchers to lure the unwary. Such as an introduction to the nymphs of the corps- de-ballet. The entire to all the theatres, private gambling-houses, &c. &c. But beware of such seductions. It is an expensive luxury to be toadied, and the profit to be derived therefrom is, truly, exceedingly small. Heigho ! there enters a most profound snob. I can't finish my page. He is proposing to dine with us at the restaurant. We shall not be rid of him for the rest of the evening. I did hope to enjoy my last dinner at New York in peace, and here is a fellow that will order half a dozen of champagne, and will abuse it and every thing else at the table ; in short will make himself as disagreeable as it is in his nature to be. CHAPTER III. Designation of our Travelling Party. — Start from St. Louis. — Equipment.— Camp-stools and Carving knives. — Scenery of the Missouri. — Fort Leaven- worth. — Prairie. — Anticipation and Fruition. — Moral Character of Mules. — Village of Savannah. — -The Prairie at Last ! — Ginger Beer and Chocolate on the Plains. — Mormons going to the Salt Lake. — Reach Council Bluffs. — Trader’s Point. — Major Barrow. — Horse-Racing on the Plains. — Leave the Major. May 2&th, 1850. — Thank goodness! we are off at last. I began to think we never should get away from St. Louis. Fresh obstacles to our departure seemed to arise every day. The emigrants are the cause of this. Horses, mules, grass, game, and the novelty of the trips are daily becoming scarce through them. For one of my horses I have paid 125 dollars, and for a mule 140. Three years ago I could have bought the two for less than half of what I have given for either. Men and guides were equally diffi- cult to procure ; and the inconceivable number of little necessaries would take a man ten days to think of or enumerate. Pope says : — “ Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long.” G 82 THE START FOR CALIFORNIA. How long we may want what we have got, I cannot really say. But I am inclined to think that had Mr. Pope ever made preparations for a trip across the Rocky Mountains, he would have made the proviso that this journey was by no means to be included in his conception of the ordinary seven stage journey of life. However, we are off at last, and I trust pretty well provided for the undertaking. We have nine mules, eight horses, and two wagons. The party consists of an old college friend of mine, whom I call Fred ; a British parson, whose strength and dimensions most justly entitle him to be called a pillar of the Church ; and the individual whom, to save explanation, I will designate as myself : four young Frenchmen of St. Louis ; Fils, a Canadian voyageur ; a little four-foot-nothing Yankee, and Fred’s valet-de- champs, familiarly called Jimmy, make up the complement of our jovial crew. The only part of our equipment likely to be de troy is some 1000 lb. weight of baggage ; we have in all little less than 4000 lb., and judging from the size of the wagons, I should think they are licensed to carry only three at the most. The outfitting expenses amounts to about 1000 ST. LOUIS. 83 dollars each, but this I hope will carry us through to California/'' Never was I more glad to leave a place than I am to-day ; a fortnight at St. Louis would sicken any one of Yankee towns, if he had no better object than to amuse himself as a stranger, or be bored to death with the arrangements for a trip over the plains. With only 500/. in the world, St. Louis might afford a fine field for speculation : self-defence would soon sharpen the wits of the most obtuse, and a little of the western ’cuteness, backed by a small capital, and a still smaller conscience, would soon work its way to pudding and prosperity. Every year this city is increasing in magnitude and import- ance. It appears to be the very heart of commerce, and its more sanguine burghers are anxiously awaiting the proud moment when the silks and the teas of the East will be deposited in their stores en route to Europe, via rail from California. For business if you please, but don’t try St. Louis for pleasure. Should you think of starting for this point, purchase nothing here that you can purchase else- m * In this instance, want of management, the purchase of useless luxuries, and the fact of money being no great object, combined naturally to make our expenses more than double the usual outlay of emigrants. 84 EQUIPMENTS. where. Embark in the first steamer that leaves, and trust to Providence for the rest. Probably I should have done something desperate of this kind ere now, but Fred was much too wise a companion to allow me to have my own way. So far from permitting us to start unprepared, he has insisted upon our taking camp-stools and carving- knives, just as if the most indifferent picnickers would not despise the idea of sitting upon anything but grass, and just as if we had not bowies enough to cut up every dead or living thing between this and China. For his own consumption Fred has taken white kids, and, I believe, patent leather boots, and although the parson and I hardly appreciate such delicacies, I doubt not they will have the desired effect upon the natives. The weather is beautiful, the “ St. Auge >5 is supposed to be a fast boat, the captain is accommodating, and our voyage up the Missouri promises to be an agreeable one. 29^.— -This is too provoking! After congratulating ourselves in the most sanguine state of mind that we were fairly started, and that nothing could stop us, the first discovery we make this morning throws us into the greatest perplexity. The guide Fils is nowhere to be found. The cowardly rascal has GUIDE DESERTS. 85 absconded, “ abiit, evasit, erupit,” but where, when, and how he accomplished his treacherous design is not easy to determine. The only place we stopped at in the night was St. Charles. We did not remain here more than five minutes, and it is positively asserted that no one left the vessel during that time. The whole affair is a mystery. The captain declares he must be drowned, but his rifle, or rather the one we lent him, is also gone, together with his baggage. This hardly has the appearance of accident, and unless he used them as sinkers for the purpose of committing felo de se , I firmly believe the whole business to be a premeditated contrivance for obtaining a cheap rifle and three months' pay. The only consolation we have is that it is better to be left by our guide here than hereafter. June 1st .- — The Missouri is decidedly a finer river, as far as scenery is concerned, than the Mississippi , The short bends and the wooded banks prevent one from seeing too far a-head, and the numerous little creeks and shaded coves, never visited but by the wild fowl, have an air of quiet wildness about them which, with the help of a few variegated lamps, suspended from the overhanging branches, might rival even the charms of Rosherville or Cremorne. There 86 FORT LEAVENWORTH. is, however, one drawback which necessarily impedes our progress a good deal. This is the immense number of snags, which, like a chevauw-de-frise , threaten annihilation at every turn. To avoid them we are constantly running aground ; and as it is always an easier process to get into difficulties than to get out of them, we generally prove the truth of the maxim by losing twelve hours in the twenty-four, leaving ourselves the remaining twelve to combat with a five-knot stream. Stopped four hours at Fort Leavenworth to dis- charge cargo. Walked up the hill, and had a fine view of the Prairie. This was formerly the starting point for the emigrants, but is now relinquished for the route from St. Joseph and the Bluffs. This morning the Pawnees descended en masse, and had a brush with the Potowatamies. Talking of Fort Leaven- worth and the Pawnees, six months ago they seemed terribly distant objects. I used to think,— “When I get to Fort Leavenworth I shall be within a mile or two of the Prairies ; just about to start with hunting Indians ; and with al] sorts of excitement before me. Ah ! I wish I was there now.” How often have I said or thought the same about a hundred other places before I had seen them. And how often have REFLECTIONS. 87 I experienced the same feeling as I do now. Not disappointment. For I knew that when I had accomplished my wish I should not be so happy as I nevertheless expected. This I knew from experience. But no amount of experience ever convinces us that when we have realised a desire indifference will be the result. Indifference is the last state we should have expected to find ourselves in ; yet how often m does it so happen ! The mind becomes gradually prepared to enjoy what it has been some time in obtaining, until, when the object is gained, the pleasure first looked for has been exhausted by anti- cipation, and the cause of the enjoyment that was to have been is contemplated with much the same feeling as that with which a man suffering from repletion regards the display of a sumptuous feast ; he has spoiled his appetite because he could not resist luncheon. Long-arranged plans hardly ever succeed when they are formed solely for pleasure. It is the sudden and unexpected cause of joy that affords the greatest felicity. The difference is like that which exists between the man who has been brought up as heir to a large fortune, and the adventurer who, without five shillings in his pocket, receives a summons to put himself in possession of five thousand a year. 88 ST. JOE. We are seldom thankful for what we gain ; yet complain at all we lose. 2 nd. — At St. Joseph by ten a.m. The long-wished for St. Joe , as the Yankees call it. Employed the whole day in landing our wagons and packing them with the provisions. Several useful articles are left behind, and we are all rather annoyed at being obliged to sleep another night on board the steamer. Possibly a month hence we might not consider this so great a calamity. Passed the evening with a German, who was to have started a week ago, but has had his team stolen. He has no money to buy more horses, and seems not to have the slightest intention of drawing his own wagon. He is ludicrously phlegmatic, and appa- rently has no other object in view but the death of Time, and most likely of himself, both of whom he is resolved to drown in an ocean of Seltzer water, which he has transported in stone bottles the whole distance from his Vaterland. 3rd . — After much bother about a guide, and loss of linch-pins, fitting of harness, kicking and jibbing of mules, &c., we left the Missouri, and camped five miles from the town. We pitched our tents in a beautiful spot, on the slope of a hill, surrounded by a GAME. 89 large wood. A muddy little stream ran at the bottom. To this (with sleeves turned up and braces off, trying, I suppose, to look as much like grooms or dragoons as we were able,) we each led our horses : no doubt we succeeded, for we felt perfectly satisfied with everything and everybody. The novelty put us all in excellent humour. The potatoes in the camp- kettle had a decided bivouacky appearance, and though the grass was wet, who, I should like to know, would have condescended to prefer a camp- stool ? As to the pistols, and tomahawks, and rifles, it was evident that they might possibly be wanted at a moment’s notice, that it would have been absolutely dangerous not to have them all in perfect readiness. Besides there was a chance of finding game in the wood. If the chance had been a hundred times as diminutive we were in duty bound to try it. Without any idea that a battue with rifles on such uneven ground was not, strictly speaking, conducive to whole skins, I for one tried a shot on the top of a tree, and was horrified by a shout from Fred, inform- ing me that the ball had but just missed his head. However I contrived to make game of one out of a litter of young pigs, but had some difficulty to per- suade my companions that it was a real wild boar. 90 THE MIDDLE WATCH. Previous to leaving St. Joseph we had been cautioned that so long as we were in the settlements we had as much to apprehend from the white thieves as we should afterwards have from the red. Accord- ingly watches for the night were organised after the most approved nautical method. The middle watch fell to my lot, and, as the unusual hardness of my bed and the noise of the rain on the tent prevented my getting even half a wink of sleep, I was not sorry to be told by the parson that it was my turn to relieve him in the responsible task of watching over the lives of our band, and in the duty, still more responsible, of keeping up the fire. As our vigilance was unrewarded by detection it would be super- erogatory to comment upon it ; but it is as well per- haps to remark that Nelson, my chief officer, and I went the rounds at least once in every ten minutes, confidently expecting to find a lurking foe in every bush. At half-past two I informed Fred that all was right, and left him to keep a sharp look out in the rain, while I, wet to the skin, took his place in the blankets. 4 th . — The morning was dull and dirty, and without detracting from the spirit of romance, I might say the general aspect of our camp was decidedly of a miserable cast. The new guide, whom we engaged HAIR CUTTING. 91 yesterday, has not yet joined us : until he does so we must remain where we are ; for, though all the roads leading northward terminate at Council Bluffs, we understand there are so many of them, that it will be a difficult matter to avoid the worst. In the course of the day one of the mules broke loose, and left the camp at full speed for St. J oseph. A black mare of Fred’s is also absent without leave. This predilection for a quiet life in the settlements is not uncommon amongst cattle, especially when they have such a foretaste of “roughing it,” as the heavy rains last night cannot fail to have given them. We dispatched the men in all directions to hunt up the lost animals, and amused ourselves by cutting each other s hair as short as possible. The object of this proceeding is cleanliness in the first place, and in the second a wish to distinguish ourselves from the Yankees, whose heads and shoulders have all the appearance of dusty haycocks in the month of July. At present we look very like runaway convicts, and we add to the ridiculousness of our condition by a running fire of sneezes, the natural consequence of becoming so suddenly bald. 5th . — The horse and mule are both recovered. Our guide is with us, having brought a Canadian friend, 92 WAGGONS STICK FAST. named Louis, a promising young man, whom we have settled to take as far as Fort Larimie. About ten we broke up our camp, put the mules into the wagons, and departed. Nothing could be more provoking than the behaviour of our teams ; each animal seemed to vie with its yoke-mate in making itself disagreeable. If they had any idea that it was necessary to pull together, they had no idea of attempting to do so, and all exertions on our parts were discouraged by the most vehement kicks and plunges on theirs. Fred and Julius Caesar (the parson) return to St. Joe to buy ropes, picket-pins, harness, straps, and a variety of articles we had not before thought of, so that I was left alone to superintend the management of our unpropitious start. The men were as incapable of driving as the mules were unwilling to be driven, and before we had travelled three miles the heaviest of our wagons was stuck fast, with the two wheels on one side buried to the axles in mud. Every means was adopted to extricate it but the right one. At length I gave the order to unload, and setting the example myself, lightened the cargo, so that we were enabled to lift the wheels on to the level ground. The roads improved as the country became less wooded and hilly, and towards evening we reached a SAVANNAH. 93 small village, called Savannah. Here we purchased a fresh supply of whips, in case of future obstinacy on the part of the mules, and a small barrel of grease for the wheels, that they might have no excuse on that score. A doubt here arose as to which road we had better take, and I clearly perceived that our guide was deplorably ignorant of his calling, since in the very outset he was undecided as to which route we should pursue. While asking advice at several houses, Fred and Julius came up. We went together to a saddler’s shop, where we were first weighed, and then “ liquored,” and, afterwards taking the road that our friend recommended, we descended from the town and camped in an open country, which reminded me a little of Salisbury Plain. Yesterday our home was in a wood ; to-day it is in a prairie. This change of scene is one of the most agreeable features of our roving life. Distance, eleven miles.'"' Qth . — Off at nine. Roads hilly and very bad. mules obstinate. The large wagon turns out to be twice the weight it ought to be, and gets fixed in consequence at the first steep hill. Send Jimmy, the clown, back to Savannah with 150 lbs. of flour, * I shall continue to give the distance, as near as I can guess it, at the end of each day. 94 THE OTTAWAY RIVER. and sell 100 lb. of lead and 100 lb. of sugar to a farmer we meet on the road. After this we manage a little better, but must eat literally a load of salt pork before the wagons are light enough to travel fast. Crossed the Ottawa River by ferry, and had some trouble to get the mules into the boat. At five we camped in much the same sort of country as yesterday, only that we have no wood for firing, and are a long distance from water. Fred and I took the black mule and all the India-rubber bags, which we filled from a well with a teacup, and packed back to the tent. Distance, thirteen miles. 7 th . — Started at seven. Roads worse than ever. Travelling all day through woods. Heavy wagon as usual sticks in a rut, and is nearly upset. Dis- charge cargo, and find it hard work to carry the heavy boxes up the hill. Foraged a hen, one of many domestic fowls which we discovered in the thicket, and practised at with our rifles. Stop at eleven to rest the animals. Fire at a target. Grease the wheels and start again at two. Come immediately into the Prairie. What a sight it is ! All the de- scriptions in the world fail to give one the slightest conception of its real magnificence. One might as well attempt to describe the sea to a person who had THE PRAIRIE. 95 never seen it, as to paint in language the calm grandeur, and boundless extent, of the rolling prairie. All hands were excited to enthusiasm by the glorious prospect. Even the mules doubled their speed when they found how easily the wagons rolled over the even sward, and the loose horses galloped through the long rich pasture with delighted friski- ness, causing us to chase and herd them in the most perfect good humour. In the evening get a fine view of the Missouri, its banks beautifully bordered by forest. Behind us is a broken line of curious bluffs : which, but for the immense flat between them, would seem to have been formerly the river’s banks. An auctioneer named Jacob, whom Julius agreed in St. Joseph to take as his servant, overtook us in a buggy. The agreement was, that Jacob should find his own horses and receive our protection as an equivalent for his labour. But it appears that Mister J acob, a thorough- bred Philadelphian Y ankee, has weathered the parson in this bargain, inasmuch as he has joined us without any horses, trusting to our good nature, not only not to send him back, but actually to mount him to boot. He declares that if we positively cannot afford him a horse, he will be most happy to walk to California ! 96 YORKSHIREMAN IN THE PRAIRIE. This being rather too absurd, we shall of course be obliged to furnish him with a steed. Fred and I are not much pleased with the imposition, and intend to give him all the work we can. The weather is beautiful, but rather hot in the middle of the day, and the sun has burnt my wrists severely. Get some milk from an emigrant family — a luxury we shall seldom indulge in. Distance, eighteen miles. 8 th . — Still in the Prairie. Pass through several settlements made by adventurous farmers in a fine agricultural country. Truly, the situations are lovely; but I should think the nearest market must be at least forty miles off. However, in an independent country there is some pleasure in being lord of all one surveys. Forage a goose. Hind-wheel of small wagon breaks to pieces ; luckily only three miles from a good camping ground. Under the shade of some venerable beech-trees, and “ by the side of a murmuring stream/'’ an old Yorkshireman, with his flocks and herds and family, was regaling himself on a rasher of bacon, after the fatigues of his journey. The moment he asked us to join his party, I recognised his native dialect in all its pristine purity. We were all equally rejoiced at meeting with an “ old-countryman and as our wagon wanted repairing, and we were MORMON PHILOSOPHY. 97 obliged to stop a day, he volunteered to keep us company till we were ready to start. He said he was a Mormon, on his way to the Valley of the Salt Lake ; that he had lived twenty years in the States, and had already been as far as the head-waters of the Platte, towards the present country of his perse- cuted people. He had returned to fetch his family, and was now on his way out for the second time. W e were surprised at his intelligence, and asked him why he had become a Mormon. He answered, from conviction, and begged of us to be baptised in the true faith, upon the spot. Our parson argued the point with him; but his astonishing memory and acquaintance with the Bible quite overwhelmed all our cooler suggestions ; and as there was no very material point in which our creeds were dissimilar, with the exception of the one on which he insisted, viz., total immersion in baptism, we yielded as he grew more impetuous. He entered into an extraor- dinary dissertation on the origin and meaning of the word Bible. He assured us the name was given to the holy book from the circumstance of its contents having passed some synod of prophets, as an Act of Parliament passes the House of Commons, by bill. In vain we explained its derivation from /3t/3A iov ; h 98 MENDING WHEELS. ficfiXiov was as clearly derived from by bill as our version of the word Bible. His bald and sunburnt head, whereon he never wore hat or cap ; his tawny chest and stalwart arms, were by no means so ridiculous as his dogmatical assertions, and we for- bore to laugh. He was pleased with our respectful demeanour, and by the time he had discovered some freemasons amongst us, he w r as in a humour to stuff us with any quantity of bacon, or do any other kind act that lay in his power. During the time occupied by his lecture on Mor- monism, Nelson, who is by profession a wagon- maker, had been cutting up stuff to make new spokes for the broken wheel. Old Blazard, the Yorkshire- man, now began to contemplate the workmanship of the wheelwright. At last, as if he could stand it no longer, he took both spoke and hatchet from the Frenchman, and with an honest grunt of indignation accomplished, with a master hand, in five minutes, a job that would have taken the other half an hour. Using nothing but a large axe, he quickly shaped the necessary number of spokes, and before dark had made a wheel far stronger than either of the remaining three. Distance, twelve miles. 9 th . — This being Sunday, and there still being MEAT AT LINDEN. 99 some jobs to be done about the wagons, we remain all day. Amuse ourselves by firing at a mark in the river. The parson makes the best shot. After all hands had bathed, some shoot squirrels in the wood. Fred takes a walk, and sees a deer, which excites our sporting propensities immensely. Jacob makes love to old Blazard's daughter, and gets the woman- kind to wash our shirts. My wrists are in a most painful state, and large blisters cover my arms, which are inflamed to the shoulder. Mrs. Blazard gives me some cream to rub upon them, which I find very soothing. 10th . — The Mormon wagons start first, ours follow. Fred and I go in search of the deer. See some fresh- looking beds, but no game. Return to cavalcade, and am told my black mare, Gipsy, has run away. Take Louis, the Canadian, and go after her. Find her tracks in a large wood, and hunt the whole day in every direction, but are at last obliged to give her up. On returning to the party, like M other Hubbard's dog, lo ! the black mare was found. Passed through Linden, a small village, where they never kill fresh meat, because there are not people enough to eat it ! Break another wheel. Camp again with Mormons, four or five miles from Linden. Distance, twenty miles. 100 CATTLE DRIVING. 11 th . — As there is no wood to mend our wagon with, we start directly after breakfast. Fred goes back to Linden to get the tent poles mended. Julius takes charge of the party, and I ride on to overtake the Mormon’s cattle and pretty daughter, who have gone five or six miles on the wrong road. I could not help smiling at my pastoral doings. Dressed in corduroys and highlows (we none of us wear coats or waistcoats), with a red flannel shirt tolerably open, my rifle in one hand, and a pailful of milk in the other, alternately employed in shouting to about forty head of cattle, and saying soft things for the benefit of the Yorkshire maiden. We had a walk of four or five miles before we joined the wagons on the main road. Just as I came up they were crossing a rotten bridge, over a deep and nasty ditch. The mules were rather frightened ; and the drivers, losing their presence of mind, they were within an inch of being pitched headlong into the hollow. By the greatest good fortune, a sudden spurring of the wheelers made them give a simultaneous spring, which saved the wagon, but proved fatal to two of the wheels. Near this place was a small farm-house ; its tenants wit- nessed our misfortunes, and lent us a large cart to HUNTING ON THE MISSOURI. 101 carry our things as far as a river, called Nitchney Botney, where we could find plenty of wood. After all we reached our camping ground before the old Mormon, one of whose wagons fairly capsized in coming down a hill. Distance, nine miles. 12th . — Blazard repairs our wheels. We three go out hunting in different directions. See the tracks and skin of a deer, also fresh tracks of wolves ; put up a wild turkey ; horse too frightened to allow me to fire at it ; killed a large snake, marked like a rattlesnake, and shoot a grey squirrel and two wild ducks, right and left, with my rifle. When we came home we made a bargain with Blazard, letting him have the small wagon for fifteen dollars, on condition that he took 300 lb. weight for us as far as the mouth of the Platte. We talk of parting with four of our men, and packing the mules when we get to Council Bluffs. 13th . — The parson and I, hunting all day in big woods, on bluffs above the Missouri bottom, are surprised at finding nothing but a turkey. Heavy storms all the forenoon. While I was taking shelter under a tree, I happened to look over my head, and saw a snake twisted round a branch, in a very menacing attitude, peering down upon us. I called SNAKE SHOOTING. 102 Julius’s attention, and, raising my rifle, put a ball exactly through the centre of its head. By degrees, coil after coil relaxed its hold, till the reptile fell writhing to the ground. It measured between six and seven feet ; and was similar in colour to the one I killed yesterday. I do not know whether they are venomous or not, and should be sorry to destroy any more unless they attacked me first. Passing a farm-house three big dogs rushed out and seized Coley, a beautiful black and tan retriever of the parson’s ; Coley was sadly bitten, but the parson made an example of the biggest of his enemies by giving him the contents of ray rifle. Probably if the dog’s master had seen us, he would have treated us in the same way ; that he might not have a chance, we galloped off at our best speed. Fred had camped in the prairie when we reached him ; of course another wheel was broken, one wheel a-day was but a moderate average of breakages. How other people manage, I do not know, but sooner than travel another week with wagons, I would forego even chocolate and ginger-beer, two of the many luxuries it was thought necessary for us to travel with. “ What was the use of making oneself uncom- fortable in an expedition of this sort ? There were DRAGGED ON BY OXEN. 103 privations enough, Heaven knew, without inventing unnecessary ones. If one liked ginger-beer on the plains, why not have it % ” Thus it was some wise- acres argued, and much profit we had derived from their wisdom. Distance, fifteen miles. lith . — Leave early. In the middle of the day come to a stream with a deep muddy bottom, and have a terrible job to cross it. Flog the loose horses over at last, and the others follow. The mules we have packed with the load of the small wagon ; all ran away through the thicket after the horses, and with the help of the trees, managed to throw the packs off and tear them to pieces. Have the greatest difficulty to catch the animals, and repack them, and by the time we have done so, the teams are too tired to go on. An ox- wagon passes, and we borrow the oxen to pull us up a bad hill ; slow as these brutes travel they always keep moving, and will drag a weight for miles, where the same number of horses or mules would not move it an inch. This was a slight help to us, but we were no further advanced by it, as we had a worse hill to encounter, and had increased our distance from a stopping place. Are obliged to unload and carry the things to the top of the hill. It is ten o’clock before we get the wagon 104 COUNCIL BLUFFS. up. The nearest water is four miles off. Have the misfortune to lose my Shakspeare ; this and a Bible are the only books I possessed. So tired, that I fall asleep where I lay down, and go without supper. Distance, seventeen miles. 15th . — Started with six mules in the team, and three packed. Halted a few miles from the ferry, at the mouth of the Platte, to look for Blazard and our provisions. About two hundred emigrant wagons were encamped here, but our friend was not to be found amongst them. Nearly all these people are Mormons, going to the Salt Lake. Most of the Californians are already a fortnight on the road. Left Jacob, the auctioneer, with directions to find Blazard, sell the salt pork and spirits, and follow us up to Council Bluffs as soon as possible. We doubt whether we shall ever see Jacob or the Mormon again. Camped in a bottom two miles from Cainsville, and about four from Traders' Point on the Missouri. The whole district is called Council Bluffs, from a meeting of many Indian tribes which took place here some years ago. Hitherto our troubles have been somewhat numerous ; we have broken down or met with some disaster every day. Nearly all of our men HOW TO GET ON ? 105 have turned out to be perfectly useless. The roads have been almost impassable, owing to the heavy rains ; and we have more than once taken the longest and worst by mistake : but the most serious grievance is, that our mules are beginning to be galled. Many people have turned back before they got thus far. I am sure we find it sufficiently unin- teresting and disagreeable to make us follow their example ; yet, nevertheless, we are determined if possible to go through, and are fully prepared to give up the wagon and all other luxuries rather than relinquish the trip. Fred and I are for parting with all the men, except Nelson and Louis ; but this plan is not easy to execute. In the first place Julius thinks his word will be compromised if he discharges Jacob ; then, the other men may refuse to leave us, on the plea that the same agreement was made with them ; besides, we have no money to pay their wages, or their expenses back to St. Louis. It is evident that to go on with all these useless men would be worse than folly. But how to manage ? We are even now three weeks behindhand. We must give up our intended route by Fort Pierre and the Yellow Stone, and if w r e go straight to Fort Larimie we shall have 106 trader's point. no time for hunting, and shall be pestered with emigrants the whole way. It really is very dis- tressing, and I do wish that people who write books, and inveigle one into this sort of tour, would speak the truth, and tell of the common-place disagreeables as well as of the amusements and hair-breadth escapes. Distance, twenty-three miles. 167^. — Rode to Traders’ Point with Fred and Louis. Crossed the Missouri, and called on Major Barrow, the Indian agent, for the purpose of asking him to cash a draft ; he kindly accepted our bills, and recommended us to take, as far as Fort Larimie, a half-breed whom he made known to us. He told us that the inhabitants on this side of the river are all Indians, and that the whites are not allowed to settle there. The night was unusually hot, and the musquitoes very troublesome. Xlth . — Spoke to the men about parting. They are willing to go, and get back how they best can, provided we pay their expenses and give them ten dollars each. Nelson remains with us, and Louis is engaged to go to Larimie for twenty-five dollars and a horse. The half-breed is hired, for twenty dollars and a horse, to go the same distance. Major Barrow paid us a visit and bought the wagon and the harness at an MYSTERIES OF