SL

."
:
GEORGEA HOUGH
1


Neel Carrol
THE
ADVENTURES
OF

OWEN EVANS, ESQ.,
SURGEON'S MATE,
LEFT ASHORE IN
1739
ON A DESOLATE ISLAND:
NARRATED BY HIMSELF;
EDITED BY
REV. W. H. ANDERDON, M.A.

DUBLIN:
JOHN F. FOWLER, 3 CROW STREET.
LONDON: BURNS AND LAMBERT, PORTMAN STREET.
1863.
Hubbared

Imag, Vay,
T46-1550GH
g.a. Houghe
6-4-59
дви
OWEN EVANS' MAZE,

(NAPA)
SUPPLEMENT.

B
VERSION OF A LATIN MS.
PICKED UP AT SEA BY H.M.S. RAMILLIES,
COMMANDER GEORGE DUTTON,
MAY 14TH, 1773, IN W. LONG. 43°; s. LAT. 24° 5′.
PRECEDED BY
CAPTAIN DUTTON'S REPORT TO THE
ADMIRALTY.
19
:
H. M. S. Ramillies, off Spithead,
June 8th, 1773.
ΤΟ
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF SANDWICH,
FIRST LORD OF HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY'S ADMIRALTY,
K.G., P.C., &c., &c.
MY LORD,
I have the honour of forwarding to your Lordship, toge-
ther with the Ramillies' log, the accompanying manuscript,
picked up (as your Lordship will observe by the entry in the
log itself,) the fourteenth of last month, on our homeward
voyage. It is curious, from the materials that compose it;
being written on the leaves of the palmetto, or some other
broad-leaved tree; and from the manner in which we found it
secured. It was attached to an unpainted buoy of light wood,
rudely shaped by a hatchet or some other iron instrument;
but the whole thing was so covered (at least the under part)
with barnacles and other shell-fish, and so eaten with sea-
worms throughout, that it had evidently been a considerable
time in the water. I should say, from the condition of old
ships, that not a vessel in his Majesty's service (and I have
been in some dangerous ones) would be allowed afloat after
so long an immersion, without careening.
This buoy was furnished with a kind of outriggers, made
of rude boards of the same sort of wood, ingeniously attached
to it by cords of twisted, or rather plaited, cocoa-fibres, much
decayed by the water; though they appeared to have been
292
SUPPLEMENT :
steeped in oil to prevent it. On the top was a small flag staff,
still carrying, pinned into it by wooden pegs, a shred of some
woollen stuff, almost gone, which we judged to have been
once a seaman's jacket, fastened there in order to make the
buoy more visible at sea.
Observing the buoy, I slackened sail, and sent a boat to
bring it on board. When we hoisted it on deck, we found
lashed to it a case or covering of laths, neatly spliced, some-
what in the form of a small keg, bound tightly with the same
kind of fibre, and payed* all over with a coating of Indian
gum, which lay on it, in some places, three-quarters of an
inch thick. So careful had the writer, or his friends, been to
preserve the MS. from injury. Notwithstanding, in one place
the gum, or Indian rubber, had slightly given, perhaps from
the case getting foul of the buoy in some shifting of the cur-
rents, floating exposed, and cracking in the sun. From this,
as your Lordship will perceive, the writing on a few of the
outert leaves is damaged past recovery. I forward it, however,
in the condition in which we found it on opening the case.
This case itself, together with the buoy and its appurtenances,
I intend to have the honour of presenting to the Admiralty
* A seaman's expression, meaning to 'daub or anoint the surface of
any body, in order to preserve it from the injuries of the water and
weather, etc.-ED.
† Captain Dutton does not explain how the earlier instead of the
later portion of the M.S. came to receive injury from the water, which
got at the outer leaves. It must be remembered, however, that the
palm-leaves on which it was written were not folded together like so
many sheets of paper in a packet, where the commencement of the
M.S. would be the portion best defended from external injury. They
would be, on the contrary, laid together without folding, in the order
in which they were written; and probably bound round with other
leaves, or cocoa-nut fibre, so as to form a solid mass. In this case, it
would depend on the accident of the Indian gum cracking on one side
or the other of the outer covering of laths, whether the portion of the
M.S. rendered illegible would be the commencement or the end. The
collection of Sir Hans Sloane is well known to have formed the nucleus
of the present British Museum: and perhaps the courtesy of the at-
tendants in that great public institution, or in the other collections of
which Captain Dutton speaks, may enable the curious reader, if not to
discover the original M.S., at least to elucidate the subject by a com-
parison with other writings of a similar nature.—ED.
CAPTAIN DUTTON'S REPORT.
293
Museum, or to the collection belonging to the Royal Society,
or that of Sir Hans Sloane, at your Lordship's discretion; as
a specimen of work which I take to be that of savages, assisted
by some one more acquainted with the arts of civilization.
As to the contents of the leaves, having forgotten what-
ever little acquaintance I once had with the language they
are written in, and our chaplain unfortunately having been
set ashore at Falmouth, besides that they are written close,
in a foreign hand, and the ink (of whatever sort originally)
now extremely faded by time, I think it best to forward them
to your Lordship without further comment. When they were
picked up, we were at least twenty leagues from any land
laid down on the ship's charts; whatever colony or mission
of discovery they refer to, was perhaps ten times the distance
from us at that moment; and must have prospered or decayed.
beyond need or possibility of help, when the papers were
committed to chance of winds and waves.
All this con-
sidered, I stood on my course, without any vain attempt to
trace the fate of the writer.
As soon as some remaining duties may permit, I shall come
from Portsmouth within the next two days, and present my-
self to your Lordship and the Board of Admiralty: awaiting
which honour
I
am, my Lord,
Your Lordship's most faithful,
obedient servant,
GEORGE DUTTON,
Commander.
P.8.-Mr. Symes, your Lordship's cousin, desires me to add
his respectful duty. I shall have the pleasure to report well
of his conduct in detail, together with that of my other
officers: but I cannot forbear particular mention of Lieut.
Pilkington, of whose deserts and claims on your Lordship's
favour for promotion, I shall take occasion to speak more at
large.-G.D.


on Bannel's
Barrative.
→
H
ERE followeth the t]rue rel[ati]on of[me, Manuel
*] ex-pr[ovincial, conce]rning the st[ate of thir]-
teen companions, with my]self, on an unk[nown
island, beling, so well a[s we c]an gu[ess some]where to the
so[uth of...
*]
I beseech you, bro[ther, w]hoso[ever you be, who by]
the Divi[ne permission may] find these writ[ings, to trans]-
mit the [same, or] a copy of them, so soon as it shall be
po]ssible for [you, to my m]ost Re[verend Lord and Fa]ther
in God, Don Ped[ro..
*, bishop of Barc[elona,
or to m]y Very R[everend and bel]oved Fa[ther, the
provincial for the t]ime b[eing, of the O]rder [of...
or] at the least, to] deliver them to the] B[ish]op or
Governor of any] city in old [Spain, or in the Spanish
colloni[es, w]hereat [ye shall touch: and may the] merc[iful
Lord therefore rew[ard you.]
These are to mak[e known to the glor]y of God, and to
ob[tain help for the strengthening of this mission, that
we] have been one ye[ar and . . . .] months in [this heathen
and salvage place, [without pros]pect of being vi[sited or
relieved by any European shi[p. Hi]ther we ca[me,
impelled by [the desire of] anno[uncing to the Indians the
saving truths of eter]nal life: and [came by a series of
wonderful prov]idences, mark[ed with the hand of God;
ha[ving been first des]erted on one i[sland, (suffici]ently
distant from] this) by [ . . . . ...] made the instr[uments
in His] hand who bri[ngs good from] evi[l in His own ti]me
and way, [first, of sa]ving a peri[shing crew] on that place,
subjects of his Catholic maj]esty; and now, farther
* It is, of course, impossible to supply for these blanks in the MS.
with any approach to certainty, or even probability.-ED.
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
295
(which] is the grea[ter wor]k) of brin[ging the gospel to a
po[pulous hea]then land.
We we[re recei]ved at fir[st with s]ome mis[trust, because
of our landing] with ar[ms in our] han[ds; yet, to] have
gone thi[ther defen]celess [would have been thro[wing
needlessly our [lives away. The] inhabitants crowded
dow[n upon the] shore, filled with wo]nder, rat[ther than
animated by enm]ity or fear. They [had never be]fore
seen the whi[te faces of] the children of Eu[rope. But, as]
we had taken with us [two of their o]wn nation (thrown [by
Provi]dence on the island when]ce we came, and by gr[ace
converted and baptized) our communication with them
was soo[n established. For the moment, w[e arranged] a
barter with th[em for] food, by means [of some trifles we
had brought with [us; mere nails and bits of glass, [or
scraps] of iron, which [to them] were worth hogs, goats,
ve[getables, fruits, fresh water in glourds, and any oth[er
pro]duction of their country.
*
:
were
Two [swift mess]engers started up into the [interior] to
announce our arri[val to their] king, cr cacique, who lives
in [a village] half a day's journey up [the coun]try in the
meantime, they [assigned] to us for a tempor[ary ab]ode a
narrow strip [of land] on the shore, almost sur[rounded by
water. Though [they er]ected a strong and high pa[lisade
of] pointed stakes across the neck [of this la]nd to prevent
our [passing be]yond it, and also made [us pro]mise that we
would not use [our boa]ts (of which we had two) [to pass] to
any other point of their country; yet, on [the oth]er hand,
they showed great friendliness; and crowds
con[stantly] coming and going with in[satiabl]e curiosity to
look [at us, and] speak with us through the bars of the
palisade. It was chiefly [with our] two Indians and myself
that they [conversed ;] for I had gained (through these two)
a sufficient knowl]edge of their language to speak [it with
ea]se. They had numberless questions to [ask about our
nation, king, laws, cus[toms, reli]gion, wars, dress, barter,
productions, down [to the mo]st minute details of our lives:
and they [would scar]cely allow us time to sleep, nor me,
unworthy prie]st, leisure to read my breviary, so eager
* Don Manuel is probably incorrect in giving to the King of Toonati-
nooka a name which he must have borrowed from his knowledge of
the native chiefs of Chili, Peru, and the other Spanish settlements of
South America.-ED.
296
SUPPLEMENT :
were they, [day and] night, to listen to everything we coul[d
tell] them.
I was glad to be able thus to comm[ence.m]y mission
among them; and announced to them, with caution an]d
not ex professo, some of the first tru[ths of religion, the unity
of God, the punishments of sin, eto. [But the work became
so fatiguing (the crowds increasing contin[ually, as] the re-
port of our arrival flew abroad), I was truly gl[ad when a]
cry arose, from those who were furthest [from the palisade,
Tooma, tooma!" which is th[eir word] for king, or principal
lord; by which I concl[uded the kin]g himself had come
down to see us.
He came, surrou[nded by his g]uards, who could scarcely
keep off the crowds, even [by bea]ting them severely with
the staves of their s[pears. All those] who could approach
him performed the usual ce[remony in to]ken of submission,
which is, licking the king's feet. He [bade the t]wo Indians
and myself come forth to [him, to the] other side the pali-
sade. This we were not prepared for, be[ing quite u]ncer-
tain of his relation towards us: at first I designed to [make
the king and his chief men (for he was surrounded by many
whom it was] easy to remark as persons in authority,) take
an [oath, in the sollemn manner of their country, that our
persons should be sa]fe among them. On second thoughts,
[however, I remembered that such oath was likely to [con-
sist in] some idolatrous rite, and the invocation of [one of
the many demons worshipped among them; and I re-
[solved rather] to trust myself in the merciful hands of God
than counten[ance such] an act.
I answered, however, [with an] air of authority, that we
were messengers [from a gr]eat king, who had sent us hither
on a negoci[ation of the] utmost importance to Toonati-
nooka; that my King had [done me the ho]nour to admit
me near His person, and had laid on me an office that
usually kept me employed about His throne; that we came
as ambassadors, not] as supplicants, and for the benefit of
himself [and his pe]ople, not for any necessity or advantage
[of our own]. I went on to say, though we were few in num-
ber, comp[ared to] those who surrounded us, yet the weapons
in [our han]ds (for each of our men carried two muskets, and
had three or four pistols] in his belt) were of so tre-
mendous a kind as made us capable of slay[ing num]bers, if
we were so disposed, though we came on an embassy of
peace. Th[erefore, if] we were to treat, it must be on equal
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
297
terms that I, as ambassador, would present my [self before]
the king, if his guards (all but two only), would lay aside.
their spears for the present, and the rest of his [subject]s
keep to a distance of three spears' lengths around us: also, if
two hostages of their chief [men, u]narmed, would pass in-
side the palisade, for every one of us who went beyond it.
These terms, together with the to[ne I assumed, asto-
nished the king; and he called his chiefs around him to de-
liberate on what I had said. After [a while, he] sent to us
one of the oldest among them, a sensible man, who told me
these were new and unheard-of things for a stranger to pro-
[pose; that] our coming was unlooked for, and our appearance
unusual: in a word, that the king desired some proof of the
power we brought with us, such [as should not harm his
people, whilst they convinced himself and his chiefs.
*
Upon this, I turned to one of my companions, who was
reckoned the best marks [man amo]ng us with his gun; and,
pointing to a sea-eagle wheeling above us at no great height,
I bade him take steady aim, and shoot in the name of God and
Sa[int.... May our] good Lord forgive me if I was guilty
of any presumption in this; but I trusted, not alone to my
faith and poor prayer, [but to the man]'s known skill with
his weapon. Also, I was sure that, did he hit or did he
miss, the effect on the savages would only differ in degree,
and that [the drea]dful noise and sudden surprise of the ex-
plosion would not fail to impress them with reverence for us,
and dread of our weapons.
As I supposed, so it turned out. No sooner had the
sai[lor discharged his piece, than such a yell arose from the
multitude, as if an earthquake or other terrific thing hap-
pened. The greater part of them [fell to the] earth, hiding
their faces; some ran like scared creatures into the woods:
others called on their gods to save them. But what was their
astonishment when the ea[gle, trans]fixed with the ball,
fluttered down, bleeding and dying, and fell in the very
midst of the assembly. From that time we had no need to
assert our equality with them; for they acknowledged us [at
once as su]perior beings. So great was their dread of us
now, it was not easy to find, among all their bravest warriors,
six who would come within the palisade as hostages. We
on our [part, made all signs of friendship; and told them,
this dreadful thunder and lightning (so they called our
* Probably Saint James, the patron saint of Spain.-ED.
298
SUPPLEMENT :
weapons) was only used against our enemies; that we had
it so completely under our con[trol, it would only explode.
when we pleased: and we solemnly assured them, by the
great King who sent us, if they attempted not to harm us,
it should never [explode against] them.
On this, they took heart again, and six chiefs (who were
afterwards rewarded by the king with a string of shells
a-piece for this act of daring) came in among our men, while
our two In[dians and m]yself were received outside by the
king, his guards having laid aside their arms as I had re-
quired.
His first demand was, to see one of these wonderful wea-
pons nearer; but that [it should no]t make the noise, nor
shoot forth the fire, again. I called back to the man who
fired, to pass his musket to me through the palisade; and
holding it, I [addressed the] king, telling him, he should
judge by what I was now about to do, whether I had spoken
truly that these weapons would fire or not, as we willed. I
made him remark, I w[as going to do] what the man had
done before: pledging my truth as an ambassador, it should
make no more noise than the king himself would, by snapping
his fingers. There w[as to be] no fire, I said, but one spark
only: and if it thundered forth as before, or anything like it,
he might disbelieve my message, and send [us away] as im-
postors.
T
HE king and all the assembly were half afraid of the
thing being done over again; but I solemnly assured
them, I would rest the whole credit of my mission [on
the res]ult: then, amid a breathless silence in the vast con-
course, I pointed the gun upward, as though I took aim at
some other bird, and so pulled the trigger. When the king
[heard the snap, and saw the spark from the flint, and
nothing furthermore, he threw his arms into the air, and
shouted out, that we were, since we had absolute control
over these dreadful creatures, ra[ther gods th]an men. Then,
in spite of our agreement, his chiefs pressed round us, and,
do what I would to prevent it, they all licked my feet, after
the custom of the country. [I seized] the opportunity to
proclaim the true God, asking the king to judge if we, who
DON MANUEL's narrative.
299
1
were but the poor servants of Him in whose name we came,
could do such mighty wonders, what must be His [own power
a]nd majesty! And thus we already disposed both him and
his nation to receive the faith.
Then he asked me, on what terms was he to treat with this
great King? What did He require?
What did He require? I an[swered, my]
King required nothing but what was to make the king of
Toonati-nooka and his subjects happy that for this very
purpose had I been sent; that my K[ing, being more]
powerful than all others, and more abounding in possession
of wealth and happiness, needed nothing as being necessary
to Him: being as good and merciful as He was rich [and
power]ful. His delight was to make all other kings and
their subjects happy: and again, that being as wise as He
was powerful, rich, and happy in Himself, He sent His am-
bassadors in[to every] quarter of the earth, to proclaim the
laws and ordinances by which alone men could be happy
while they lived, and happy after they were dead. Lastly, I
repeated, it was for this and no other object that I was come
and had brought hither my companions.
[I told him] I sought not the gold or wealth of his king-
dom; that my King willed that he should still occupy his
throne and be obeyed by his subjects; that the best security
for his person and kingdom w[ould be, to] submit himself,
and cause them also to submit, to my King's wise and bene-
volent laws, which teach men to be obedient to lawful autho-
rity, and not do only what they must needs, but what is right
because it is right. Other things of the like kind I added;
and though he see[med inc]apable of understanding what I
said about right and justice, yet, seeing him listen attentively,
I resolved not to lose the occasion.
The king pondered grea[tly on w]hat I said, and sat silent
for some space; then, calling to him the grave, venerable
chiefs who were his counsellors, he deliberated with them:
and they declared it was good, though new. This th[ey
repleated several times, as though surprised at its being new
and unheard-of, yet approving it as good. And I heard them
repeating this often to themselves, to one another, and to the
king: new[, but go]od; new, but good.
Then the king went on to ask me many questions about
the laws and ordinances I had come to proclaim; and whether
any of them would be against the laws established in his
kingdom by those who had been before him. This ques-
[tion, as] being difficult to answer, I evaded for the time:
800
SUPPLEMENT:
for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ must needs be
in opposition to the idolatrous and wicked customs of the
heathen; as said the apostle: "What fellowship hath light
with darkness? And what [concord h]ath Christ with Belial?
Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?" There-
fore I answered him, that as yet I was not acquainted with
the customs of his kingdom, and could not speak as to parti-
culars; but sure I was, the laws of a king so wise, so just, so
benevolent [as mine] needs be the best and happiest possible;
and that, did it chance any of those in Toonati-nooka differed
from them, it would be for his happiness to conform to my
king's laws without delay.
He seemed to think all this was reasonable, as did his coun-
sellors too: they sat silent again, pondering on all I had ad-
vanced; now one, n[ow ano]ther, nodding with his head, and
saying it was good. At length the king rose up, and taking
off his head-dress of feathers, placed it on me, as a mark of
special favour and inviolable hospitality. He also chewed
one half of a betel-nut, and invited me to chew the other.
Then he bade me to a feast, which had been preparing u[nder
a gr]ove of trees, while we were in conference. He promised
at the same time, to send abundance of provisions to our men,
which he amply fulfilled: and allowed me to send back the
younger of my two Indians to the enclosure, to serve as in-
terpreter, and carry messages to and fro,
Our feast was as ceremonious as a state banquet ever was;
indeed, many ceremonies were es[pecially o]bserved in my
honour, and I was glad to find, they were not accompanied
by any superstitious observances, which I could not have
joined in. But before it concluded, there came in a number
of slave dancers, to dance before the king and his guests,
whose performance was heathenish to a degree, and wound-
ing to Christian eyes. On this, I told the king, my Master
forbade His servants to] be present at such exhibitions; and
begged him to let the dancers retire. He answered, laugh-
ing: "O honourable ambassador! what matters it for the
time, inasmuch as your king sees you not ?"
To which I replied by asking him respectfully, would he
consider any of his subjects faithful, who only obeyed his
laws while his eye was upon them? He considered awhile,
then said, with a fro]wning countenance: "No, indeed; if I
knew of any one transgressing my laws at a distance, I would
send to him this my servant". On which, he beckoned the
public executioner (who always attends him), a tall, athletic
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
801
man of ferocious aspect, with a large sword, made of a wood
almost as hard as iron, and quite as heavy. "This is the mes-
senger”, says he, "I send to all my subjects who forget their
duty. Tell me, O slave", he [continu]ed, addressing the
executioner, “how many notches hast thou on thy sword ?"
"O king", answered he, "they are six, fifty, and two hundred",
(so they always reckon backwards in this country). "Good!"
cries the king, laughing; then turned to me and explained,
the custom was for the executioner to make a notch on his
weapon for every malefactor's head he cut off.
"And thy
father before thee", continued the king; "how [many n]otches
did he make in his time?" "O king!" answered the execu-
tioner, "my father had two swords, given him by the king
your father; and they were so full of notches, there was not
room to make one notch more".
(6
“You see, now, O ambassador", says the king to me, we
know how to punish those who transgress our laws”.
"And
my Master, O King", answered I, "has not one ambassador
only, nor [one ex]ecutioner, nor one army, but more than I
can count, all ranged round His throne. The swords of His
executioners are of fire, and pestilence, famine, and death.
One of them, once sent out by my King, slew seventy
thousand men in three days: another went forth alone against
the King's enemies, and in one night slew five thousand, and
eighty thousand, and an hundred thousand".*
On this, the king's nephew, who had [just com]e in from a
hunting party, and had heard nothing of what had passed be-
fore, burst out laughing, and showed signs of incredulity as
to what I asserted. But the king reproved him with an
angry countenance, and related to him at large the firing of
the gun; asking if such were the dreadful creatures carried
by an embassy of peace, what might not be expected of the
war implements and executioners' swords of so great a King?
"But I do not understand, O ambassador", continued he,
"how your King secures your obedience to His laws when
you are out of His sight? My subjects" (he went on whisper-
ing in my ear) "observe my laws carefully, because they know
I have spies in every part of my kingdom who would report
them on their disobedience. But if I sent them on a distant
*The reference here is evidently to the three days' pestilence re-
corded in II. Kings, xxiv. 18, and to the destruction of the host of
Sennacherib, IV. Kings, xix. 35. It would appear to be the idiom in
Toonati-nooka, as among the ancient Greeks, in stating a high number,
to proceed from the lesser numerals to the greater. ED.
302
SUPPLEMENT:
embassy, like yours, I believe they would think little of dis-
obeying every law my forefathers enacted".
To which I answered, though my King was indeed out of
my sight, yet I was not out of His; that His eyes pierced into
every place; that He had servants and [messe]ngers innu-
merable, who could fly with the speed of light to give Him.
notice of all that passed over the whole earth; yet that He
needed them not, though He was pleased frequently to employ
their services, which they rendered most willingly, with a
great love of their King: finally, that (by some of His
courtiers) He kept a great book, in which were written down
all the actions of every one of His subjects, even to the
meanest and poorest person, even the smallest action, or the
least whisper of a word; and according to these entries in the
book, the King rewarded or punished His subjects without
fail, sooner or later, as His wisdom decreed.
On this he pondered a little at the first; then laughed, and
said, it must needs be a large book, indeed, and a great deal
of trouble to keep it: and asked how many scribes were em-
ployed on this, and what kind of writing they used. To this
I returned an evasive answer, not wishing to give him more
to think of at that time; and turning the discourse, I said to
the king, though he had been pleased to comply with my re-
quest, and send away his dancers, yet my King did by no
means forbid any amusement that was harmless; and if he
would condescend to witness a war dance of my countrymen
(so I called their exercising with their weapons), he would
see how regularly they could perform it.
The king seemed highly delighted with this proposal; only
he made me promise, these javelins of lightning (so he called.
our guns) should not be shot forth again without his express
permission. I did this; and moreover, on my sacred charac-
ter as ambassador to the Great King, the men were to return.
to their palisade when the dance was over, at least for that
night, until the king had determined how he would receive
us into the country.
HIS being concluded, I called out to the men in Spanish,
that eight of them (five of whom had been marines in
our wrecked ship, and the other three veteran invalided
troops of the line) should march out in order, shouldering their
arms, and should give a great example of discipline. Accord-
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
303
ingly, they came forth with fixed bayonets, marching in step,
and filing in front of the king, suddenly wheeled round, and
presented themselves in a line before him, grounding their
arms, which made a great clash on the ground. But this
startled both him and his chiefs, who expected nothing less
than that all the muskets would explode together.
He rose
up in consternation, throwing a thick shield of bull's hide
before him, and crouching down behind it: several of his
chiefs betrayed their fear by running behind the trees, and
of the multitude, a great number fell on their faces again, and
set up loud cries. On this, I came before him again, smiling,
and with outstretched hands asked him whether he had for-
gotten that I had pledged my word, the javelins should not
explode? This brought him and the chiefs to themselves
again; some of them seemed rather ashamed of the fear they
had shown; and the king told me he wished the war-dance
to proceed.
On which, strictly charging the men not so much as to
level their guns in any direction where spectators were as-
sembled (who, indeed, surrounded us on all sides), I bade
them go through some of their common exercises. They did
so with great precision, under the command of one of the
veterans, who was a sergeant, and had seen much service.
The exercise, or war dance, so delighted the king, that before
it was half concluded, he leaped from the ground where he
was seated, laughed, shouted, clapped his hands; then, calling
for his spear and shield, rushed with a wild yell into the midst,
with violent gesticulations; brandishing his weapons. He
then began to shout a tremendous war-song at the top of his
voice. This example so excited his chiefs to warlike fury,
that they followed him to the very letter. They seized their
spears, and formed a circle round him, joining him in the
war-song; moving round at first more slowly, then quicker
and quicker, as the excitement or passion of battle increased:
at times they struck their spears into the earth as though they
were slaying an enemy; and the song became louder con-
tinually, till they seemed to lose all command of themselves,
and rushed round and round, their eyes inflamed and coun-
tenances distorted with phrensy, shrieking out their battle-cry
like so many furies.
The converted Indians now drew near to me, and said with
alarm, that we were in much danger from them; that when
this excitement seized them, they became unable to dis-
tinguish friends from foes; and, moreover, when the king
304
SUPPLEMENT:
thus joined in a war-dance with his chiefs, it seldom ended
without their striking their lances through several of the
spectators. On this news, I drew our men together in line,
bidding them present their bayonets in self-defence towards
these furious savages, in case they showed any further sign of
hostilities: then with my two Indians, I commenced, at the full
pitch of our united voices, a simple hymn which I had com-
posed for them in their native language. At the first strains,
I could perceive the fury of those war-dancers somewhat
abate; and we had not sung half a dozen times, before they
subsided into something of their former tranquillity. We
continued steadily looking on them with unmoved coun-
tenances; and before the hymn ended, they stood listening,
having cast aside their weapons, fixed with curiosity, and a
kind of rude reverence, or fear.
We finished our hymn as we walked back quietly to the
place where the king had now re-seated himself; and by this,
all danger and disturbance had ceased. He expressed his ap-
proval, nodding his head several times; then asked us, what
what was the meaning of what we had sung. Was it a war
song, or a lament over those who had fallen, or a song to one
of the gods of our country, or the history of some famous
warrior? To this, I answered, it was one of our modes of
addressing my King. Were those words, then, asked he, ad-
dressed to the King who sent you? I signified, yes. But,
pursued the king, we never sing any song of so solemn a
nature, unless to lament over the dead, or to address our
gods. "Stand forth, Ta-kaeeuga", continued he, turning to his
chief bard, or priest, "and sing us my ancestor's song to Ha-
vaoeekee".
On this, I could scarcely restrain my converted Indians
from giving expression to their disgust at hearing the name of
the idol they had once worshipped. I, for my part, was equally
determined the idolatrous hymn should not be sung in our
presence; therefore, turning to the king with a resolute
countenance, I told him, my King was much more powerful
than Havaoeekee, or any of the gods of the island: that to
sing a hymn in his praise, while we were by, would be
reckoned an insult to my King, of which I felt sure the king
of Toonati-nooka would not be guilty, were it only out of hos-
pitality, but which my King could punish on the spot, if it
were persisted in: and a good deal more to the same purpose.
He listened with the greatest wonder and astonishment, as
did also his chiefs. When I had done speaking, he conferred
17
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.

CHAPTER V.
IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WORSE.

you
have seen any one on whom a sudden,
great misfortune has fallen, in the first trans-
ports of his grief and raging despair, trample
the ground, tear his hair wildly, fling his
clenched hands abroad, seek for some one on
whom to revenge himself, and by a thousand
violent actions give vent to the extremity of
his passionate sorrow, you may have some picture of the con-
duct of these men and myself, when this most woeful sight
burst on us. We ran about, up and down the rocks, stamp-
ing, yelling like madmen out of Bedlam: we glared at each
other like wild beasts; and I know not why some of us did
not fling ourselves down the sides of the mountain, in bitter
grief, to die in the gullies below.
Then, at times again we would pause, and look eagerly
towards the ship, as fain to persuade ourselves that all was
but a rude sailor's jest, intended merely to fright us. We said
to one another, fiercely, with vehemence, trying to believe
what we said, that we should see the long-boat with her sail
set, tacking back for us against the breeze, which now blew
2
18
THE ADVENTURES OF
off shore. But truly, we might have waited long for such a
chance; and all this dreadful suspense was ended when we
saw the ship fill her sails, and stand steadily off on her former
course. At the moment she veered we saw a puff of smoke;
and then came the report of one of her guns, fired wantonly
by way of heaping insult on our wretchedness; which gave us
to understand, all hope was over for us. At the sight of
such a token of savage cruelty on the part of the crew, the
men broke out anew into such curses, ravings, and passionate
laments, as were more fit for those transported beside them-
selves, than for reasonable creatures, who should gather their
spirits and courage to make the best of a bad case.
But indeed reason was, at that time, the last thing to be
found among us; and we did but add to each other's grief:
for when one, exhausted by his violence, would be silent for
a while, another would take it up, as though he had never
lamented before; and thus set all off again by the contagion
of his voice and looks. So that I believe there has seldom
been shown a more lively image of the rage and despairing
lamentations of those who are lost for ever, than in us five
who then found ourselves left on the island.
I say, us five; for we had no thought of the priest all this
while, nor leisure so much as to observe how he bore himself
in the common misfortune that involved us. We knew what
we had lost, and were fully occupied with that: as for him,
we knew not, and cared not, either what he had lost, or what
he possessed. He had been our companion in our ramble,
and pleasant enough we had found him; but when anything
more than a mere pastime engaged us, we turned inward on
ourselves, or looked on each other only, thinking no more
about him than if he inhabited another world, or (to come
closer), another island of desolation.
At length, wearied out with our long march, and ex-
hausted by all this raving, partly too by want of food, we
sank into a kind of stupid and settled despair, casting our-
selves down on the place where we had stood. There would
one seaman lie, burying his face in his hands, and weeping
even like a child. Another would sit, clasping his knees, and
turning his face towards heaven, but without uttering a
prayer. A third man, with his teeth set, and his features
awry, more like a savage or a maniac, would watch the sails
of the ship, as they came between us and the
then shake his clenched hand at her while she
muttering somewhat most dreadful to listen to.
setting sun;
glided away,
As for
As for me, I
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
19
cannot indeed boast that my angry passions were more under
command than theirs, or much more, to signify; yet reason
sooner came to the rescue with me, and I saw the need of
not giving way, but thinking for the rest. While I sat, and
rested my head on my hand, I began to cast about with
myself what was best to advise under our unhappy con-
dition. After a while, chancing to turn my eyes aside, I
noticed Don Manuel, some thirty paces from us, kneeling
on the rock, with his hands clasped; and he was plainly deep
in prayer.
I watched him for some minutes; but he did not stir, nor
indeed did he see me at all. Then I rose, and went softly to
him, touching him on the shoulder. As he looked up, I
could perceive the traces of tears on his cheeks; this, I now
confess, was what first disposed me more kindly towards him,
to see him grieve in our common misfortune, though he had
taken it to heart in so different a way from the rest.
"Sir", said I, with as much calmness as I could, "it be-
hoves us, in these unhappy affairs, to consult as well for our-
selves as for those who are nearly beside their wits with
grief, or rage, which you will: and, as night will soon come
upon us, no time is to be lost in preparing (since needs we
must) to bivouack upon this island".
He rose at once, looked at me in a friendly way; then,
with the manner of a prince, yet quite simple and humble too,
he motioned me to a seat beside him on the rock, and taking
my hand with much kindness, said:
66
66
we
Señor, we have all suffered a great misfortune together;
or rather let me say", and he crossed himself devoutly,
have been the objects of a great deliverance. Nothing of
this has taken me entirely by surprise; for I have, this while
past, seen somewhat to be wrong with the crew, and that
they would soon be rid of some they had on board. So we
will give thanks to God, and bear our lot with equal mind.
We are, indeed, ill provided even with things necessary to
continue our lives on this place; but, though I much desired
to give you a hint before leaving the ship, I could neither do
that without being suspected by the captain, nor myself take
anything away with me. True, I have little in this world
but my cloak and a few books, for which, I confess, I grieve;
yet I grieve more for you. But Providence has shielded us
hitherto, and will shield us still".
"Courage", then said he, rising, and still holding my hand;
"let us go to these poor men; let us try to console them, and
make our preparations all together".
20
THE ADVENTURES OF
So, stepping to the rest, he addressed them in a few
simple words. He was sure (he said), as brave seamen, they
would bear up against their misfortune: that when a sailor
leaves port, he commits himself to wind and weather, and a
thousand chances; he is never certain how he will live, nor
how die, nor where he will be buried. But we had reason, he
said, to be thankful to God that our lot was not a worse one.
We might have been boarded by pirates, massacred, or sold
as slaves, or kidnapped for the plantations; the ship might have
been burnt at sea, and we swamped in the boats, or perish-
ing of hunger. We might all have foundered together in deep
water, or suffered shipwreck, and been cast by the fury of
the waves on some inhospitable coast with nothing in our
hands, and perhaps a defenceless prey to cannibal savages.
It was the part of brave men therefore not to be cast down
so long as a hope remained of repairing their fortunes; that
the preservation of our lives was an instinct implanted in us
by the Author of our being; and finally, that our business for
the moment was, to establish ourselves in safety for the night
upon this island, and leave all further deliberation for the
morrow.
In short, though I do not pretend that he expressed himself
in these terms with great readiness, seeing he was forced to
translate his thoughts into our language; yet he made us so
moving a little discourse, and so persuasive, partly from the
words themselves, partly from his manner of delivering them,
that it was plain to see the poor men were strengthened and
encouraged by it to a great degree. And having so far
succeeded, he directed them to search in the thickets for the
driest and fittest brushwood to kindle a fire. With the help
of my hanger and the seamen's clasp-knives, it was soon done
as he advised; and a space found on the rock, that seemed like
a natural hearth, hollowed by no hand of man into a kind of
shallow basin. This we cleared of its earth and moss, and
disposed our brushwood there for our bonfire. We laid aside
another large heap of brush, and a quantity of dry turf,
which we pulled up in large clods from the soil, enough
altogether to feed our fire through the few hours of dark.
Then, by Don Manuel's advice, each one looked carefully to
the priming of his piece, and freshened it, lest the powder
might take injury by the night dews, and so render us defence-
less against any attack. For the same reason, they were
rcminded to keep the locks of their fowling-pieces carefully
covered while they lay down to sleep. But Tom Harvey
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
21
volunteered to keep watch over us all, and not to lie down
through the night. I offered to share this duty with him,
turn and turn about, in the manner of dog-watches on board
ship: but he said cheerfully, it should be my turn the next
night, if I would; that he would rather stay awake one night
and have full rest another, than have broken rest for two in
succession; which indeed is the hardest part of all sea-
service.
For beds we were at no loss: there was moss all about, and
dry leaves in abundance, very fragrant, as was the wood also
which we burned on the fire. Don Manuel stepped a little
aside to finish his prayers, as I could well perceive by the fire-
light; for now, the sun being down, the darkness of the
tropics was upon us at once. But we, without any prayers at
all, like ungrateful heathen wretches that we were, cast our-
selves on these couches of leaves, with our feet to the fire,
and so all was still.

CHAPTER VI.
NIGHT AND MORNING.

OW the others got through that first night of
our exile, I scarce knew at the time; only
that all was quiet, and Harvey with his gun
going to and fro, near to our fire, feeding the
blaze from time to time with fresh armfuls of
the dry brushwood that he had drawn toge-
ther in a heap. This, I felt sure, would keep
off any wild animals that might be prowling in our neigh-
bourhood; it being well known by all hunters, and such as
have occasion to camp in the woods, that even the fiercest
tigers of the Indian jungles, unless they are pressed by great
hunger, will not so much as approach a fire by night.
Being made easy then on that point, and indeed on that
only, I fell to considering our unhappy deserted lot, which
did little improve for being thought upon. For though,
't is true, no one of us was cast ashore alone and solitary, as
22
THE ADVENTURES OF
Selkirk* and some others have been, yet the benefit of mutual
society by no means outweighed the destitute state we were
in, unprovided with anything but our fire-arms only. "How",
I reflected, "shall we build, or plant here? how even burrow
out dwellings for ourselves in the earth or the rocks, like some
savage tribes? How shall we so much as cut down a tree,
or smooth a plank, or snare the birds and animals of the
island, to tame them? By what means can we supply ourselves
with clothes, or defend our lives against the violent monsoons
and rainy seasons of the tropics? And when our small stock
of ammunition is once spent in coming at our daily necessary
food, with what contrivances are we to purvey to ourselves
any living from that time onward ?”
To these questions I found no comfortable answer in my
thoughts; and, as if I had turned Job's comforter against
myself, I went on further to consider thus: "You are”, said
I, addressing myself inwardly, "surrounded indeed by com-
panions in misfortune, who have all one common interest with
your own; to wit, mutual assistance and kindliness in better-
ing their sad condition. But who shall warrant that they
will view it thus? For men, in the very blindness of a selfish
desire to have their way, are prone to run counter every
day to their true interest and that of others with them.
if things begin well, yet with such rude materials as you have
about you, how long will they continue so? And what
authority can you establish among them, for the benefit
of each and all?"
Or,
In short, after tormenting my thoughts, as many another
has done, with the prospect of future ills, and inventing
* Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish seaman, owing to some disagree-
ment with his captain, was left ashore in 1704 on the island of Juan
Fernandez, off the coast of Chili. He had nothing with him but his
clothes, bedding, a gun, and a small quantity of powder and ball; a
hatchet, knife, and kettle; his books, and mathematical and nautical
instruments. In this solitude he remained four years and four months;
employing his time in chasing and taming the wild goats of the island.
He constantly kept a guard of tame cats about him, to defend him from
the rats, with which the place was infested. He was at length taken
off by a vessel from Bristol, and arrived in England by a circuitous
route in 1711. The enemies of Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe,
accused that writer of having pirated many of the details of Selkirk's
life from papers left by the latter in his hands. It is undeniable that
Defoe, like Shakspeare, founded his wonderful fiction upon facts, which
already stood recorded. Yet a perusal of the narrative of Captain Rogers,
who took Selkirk off the island, brief and comparatively meagre as it is,
forms the best proof how little Defoe was indebted to any actual occur-
rence for the charm, or more than the first idea, of his story.—ED.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
23
a multitude of possible and imaginary ones, as, attacks from
cannibal savages and wild beasts, poison from venomous
reptiles or unknown, noxious herbs, and I know not what
other forebodings of harm, I gave way to exhaustion like
the rest, and fell asleep till morning. One thing I did not
forget; and that was, to wind up my watch, as I well knew
mine to be the only time-piece in our whole colony. "Yet what
matters time to us", I asked myself, with much sadness, "now
that we are commencing the life of savages here? 'T will be
enough for us to see the sun rise and set, to know another
day is added to our misery. And for the seasons, we shall
feel when it is warm and cold, wet and dry, until we feel
nothing further". Thinking in this way, I did indeed know
nothing more, till I was awoke by the sun through the trees,
and the screaming of the parrots over my head.
'T was a wonder I had not awoke before this; for two guns
had been fired, and with some success, to procure us our
first breakfast on the island. One of these was Harvey's piece,
and the other Gill's. When I shook off my sleep, and came
to where they were seated round the fire, I found they had
brought in some game: for Tom had shot (at least wounded,
and then secured by some hard running) a peccary, such as
we had seen the day before; and Harry Gill had brought
down a bird like a bustard, that he had sprung in a piece of
marshy ground, about a quarter of a mile from our encamp-
ment.
Though I considered it imprudent in a high degree to let
off fire-arms when, as yet, we knew so little of the island, still,
the thing being now done, and so much remaining to be
settled when breakfast was over, I said nothing, but bade
them good morning as cheerfully as I could, and set to work
to help in the cooking of our meat. Here was indeed a diffi-
culty for us; for though several of our number (like most
practised seamen) were tolerable cooks, as far as a plain boil
or stew on board ship went, yet what will the best cook do,
when he has nothing but his meat and his fire to work with?
Here were we, with no sign of a kettle, or pan, not so much
as a dripping ladle to prevent our meat burning at the fire;
plenty of material, but no way of making it useful to us.
And though the proverb says, too many cooks spoil the broth,
I believe there have been seldom collected so many cooks to-
gether, with so little chance of having any broth at all among
them.
There was abundant proof of the difference in men's cha-
24
THE ADVENTURES OF
racters as we all stood around the fire, and looked at the game
we could find no means to dress. Some grumbled and swore,
some laughed at their own perplexity, some set about devising
first one thing, then another. Prodgers was chief among the
surly ones, as Tom Harvey among the jokers. As to Hilton,
being (as I said) one of those who take their cue too much
from others, he now swore with Prodgers, and then laughed
with honest. Tom. However, for want of anything better,
we cut us some sharp straight reeds from a thicket, of a kind
of bamboo, to serve for spits; we skinned the animal and
plucked our bustard, then spitted them, and prepared to
roast.
But who should come to our help, and show us a better
way? The last person, except a wild Indian, we could ever
guess at.
Don Manuel had been, up to this, walking slowly
at a little distance from us, reading his book, as usual. He
now closed it, and drew near; and in his cheerful, courteous
way: "A fair morning to you", says he, "Señores and
brothers in misfortune: let me try and contribute my small
efforts for our common good". And then he explained, that
he had heard of some natives of such islands as abound in hogs
and goats, who had an ingenious way of cooking, or baking
their meat. They make, says he, a hole in the earth, line it
with stones red-hot from the fire, to serve as a kind of rude
oven; then put in the meat, covering it carefully with several
layers of broad leaves, and overlay the whole with earth and
if you will",
will", continued he, we will take
a hint from the savages, until we find out some better method
for ourselves".
stones.
“So now,
66
We thanked him heartily, and with some surprise, at
discovering that he knew anything about such matters. But
he said, with a smile, a priest who left his own country upon
foreign missions was obliged to be
Soldier or sailor,
Joiner or tailor,
Gentleman, apothecary,
Whitesmith, and all!
Where he had picked up those odd lines I cannot guess;
but I know that his cheerful, friendly manner did more to
comfort us under our hard lot, and put us in good humour
with ourselves and each other, than anything else at that
moment could have done. Every one began to feel a sort of
confidence in following his directions; and the prospect of a
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
25
So, having un-
good breakfast quickened our motions.
derstood his plan, we bustled about merrily to follow it.
Some went in search of stones of the proper size and shape to
heat in the fire; and these were put into the hottest of the
flame. Others got a heap of dry brushwood to freshen the
fire itself, which soon blazed out more fiercely than we could
well stand to. One went in search of leaves to lay upon the
meat when the hot stones were ready to put round it; and a
fourth cut a sharp stake or two from the thicket, to make
shift for spades. With these we turned up enough of earth
to bank over our oven. All being now ready, we waited a
short time till Don Manuel (from whom we took every
direction without questioning) told us the fire had heated the
earth and stones to the right pitch, and that we might clear
away the embers to build our oven on the rock.

CHAPTER VII.
THE FIRST MEAL, AND THE FIRST PARLIAMENT.

ND see, gentlemen", said the priest, pointing
with his hand to a tree that grew perhaps
fifty yards from our fire; "see if a merciful
Providence hath not sent us bread as well
as meat! Truly we should be doubly un-
grateful not to thank Him with all our
hearts". The men looked at him with won-
der, doubting what he spoke of. Only, sure were they, from
his manner, that he was not jesting now. "I am much
mistaken", added Don Manuel, turning to me, “if yonder be
not one of the bread-fruit trees we have read of; and the
first", added he in his cheerful way, "who brings us some of
the fruit, will be a herald of good news to our colony".
No sooner said than done: for Harvey started off, and
Hilton with him, after this new bread; while we stood laugh-
ing at their race, cheering them with our voices, and clapping
of hands. They reached the tree nearly together, and began
26
THE ADVENTURES OF
shaking it, one on either side, to make the fruit fall into their
hands. But the trunk was too stout for that, so that they did
but lose their labour; and the fruit itself, which grew in a
kind of large apple, or gourd, the size of a good penny loaf,
was so high out of their reach that, do what they would,
there was no getting at it, no, not by jumping their best. "I
see", said Don Manuel, "I must be baker's man as well as
cook"; and he moved towards them with his long staff. But
Harry Gill was now beforehand with him; for, seizing the
marlinspike, he made off at the top of his speed, and before
the other two could pick off a single apple with stones, he
had brought half a dozen of them to the ground.
Don Manuel met them half way. "It is indeed the bread-fruit
tree!" exclaimed he, when he had examined the fruit. "Give
thanks, my friends, for a great boon from heaven; as I doubt
not you have given thanks for your deliverance out of the
ship. If this be not a solitary tree, which is very unlikely,
and if it be the kind that will grow from slips or cuttings, we
shall have enough of excellent bread, and to spare. So, let
us first pay our tribute to the great Giver".
Seeing that none of us stirred or assented (I am ashamed
to record it against ourselves), he then solemnly took off his
hat, laid it at his feet, and holding one of the fruits in either
hand, uttered, with a loud, clear voice, something in Latin,
which, though I was not used to his mode of pronouncing the
language, I took to be a short form of praise. Having spoken
this with his eyes raised to heaven, he kissed the fruit, as
though he had received it straight from thence: then, turning
to us, said; “And now, Señores, it is high time to look after
our breakfast".
I know not by what magic this man seemed at once to
have gained such an ascendant over our minds. Every one of
us went hither and thither, and just did this or that, because
he so recommended it; yet there was nothing of authority in
his words, which indeed would at that time have revolted
our wills against him: but all was quiet and gentle, in the
extreme. But I greatly believe this influence he exercised
upon us arose from our clearly perceiving him to have no
ends of his own to serve in what he proposed to be done;
also because he was ever willing cheerfully to bear his part
in every fatigue and inconvenience that affected us: in which
disposition no one came up to him, except only Tom Harvey,
and this we felt the more, as time went on and we were
better acquainted.
*
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
27
But now, to return to our breakfast, or the preparations for
it; Don Manuel, to our great satisfaction, promised us some
excellent toasted bread with our pork: and though the men
scarce knew how this was to be purveyed, for they had never
seen or heard of the bread-fruit before, they put such trust
in what he promised as to believe it would, somehow, be as
he said. So, by his directions, the hollow slab of rock where
we had kindled our fire over-night, was now swept clear of
the burning wood; and the stones, which by this were red-
hot, ranged around by the help of our gun-barrels and sticks,
so that an open space was left, large enough to hold the
game we had killed. When we had placed our peccary
and bustard on this heated rock, and surrounded them with
the stones, whereon we likewise placed our bread-fruits to
bake, by and bye such a savoury smell arose, as almost
tempted us to fall-to without waiting for any further cookery.
Prodgers, in particular, who was the most self-willed, or
the hungriest among us, or both, began to insist on having his
portion at once. But he was out-voted by the rest; and we
covered the meat quickly with the palms and plantain leaves
we had gathered: over these, again, we laid other stones, and
made all tight by strewing on the top a layer or two of earth
and rocky sand.
"A short half-hour, gentlemen", then said Don Manuel,
"will complete our arrangements: and I propose that in the
meantime, we make an expedition to the rocks on shore, to
see after a few dishes and spoons".
We looked again at one another, doubtful what he could
mean; but he soon explained himself, saying that as we came
along the rocks the day before, at that part of our island where
we first landed, he had observed a bed of largish oysters that
lay within reach of any active cliffs-man among us. The shells
of these, he said, or, however, the larger ones, would supply
our table (our rock, rather) with a rude kind of crockery-ware,
till we had learned to furnish ourselves better in some other
way. "And so, my friends", added he, "the fish and the dish,
you see, are sent to us together; and both from One source":
then he looked upward and smiled cheerfully. This priest
seemed to have his thoughts continually on God; on whom
our thoughts were, I may say, never. But it was out of the
abundance of his heart that he was speaking in this manner;
for nothing was further from him than any attempt to preach
to us, to whom, 't is true, he seemed to look for some corre-
spondence with his grateful feelings, and not finding it, he
28
THE ADVENTURES of
went on all the same, to himself, as it were, in his expressions
of thankfulness and trust.
With all our hardness of heart, at least we felt cheered
about the oyster beds he spoke of; to find, on our first settle-
ment, that these new possessions of ours were likely to be so
well stocked as to place us beyond immediate want. But
before we started that way, or sent any of our party on the
errand, we reckoned that, take what short cut we might to the
place, we should only get back to find our meat and bread-fruits
burned to a cinder. So we gave up that enterprise for the
present; and prepared to take our breakfast with sticks, as
the Chinaman will pick up the smallest grain of rice with two
chop-sticks instead of a fork or spoon. Well, we took the lid
off our oven, and found everything done passably well, for a
party of famished sailors who were not over-nice. But Don
Manuel, after saying grace, which he never omitted at any
meal we ever partook of with him, told us pleasantly, had we
been less hungry or more patient, our feast on taking posses-
sion of the country would have been worthier the occasion.
This whole time, I was turning in my thoughts how I should
address our party on some things very needful to be said. If
some order and rules were not established amongst us from
the first, then, I saw clearly, we should lie exposed to the un-
restrained violence of several wills here present, that boded
us no good. By this, I had seen enough of Don Manuel to
feel a confidence in consulting him; but I lacked opportunity,
for the thing had to be done at once, and before our first
joint act was undertaken, whatever that might be. Hastily
gathering my thoughts into the best shape I could, while we
were all employed in cutting up our game with hanger and
knives, and helping ourselves to the slices with bamboo-sticks,
I ran over in my mind the characters of those I had to deal
with, and what I would have them lend a hearing to. When
our meal was ended (and they, poor fellows, were in no hurry
about it), feeling that if ever they would be disposed to
listen, it was likely to be now, I begged their attention for a
few minutes only.
So, getting upon a little ledge of rock which offered a
natural platform to speak from, I delivered myself as follows:
"Gentlemen", said I, "as we are so strangely cast into
society with each other, and that for such a time as we
cannot foresee its end, you have to consider, in the first place,
whether you will still remain in community, or separate in
different quarters of the place where we are, and live alone
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
29
and independent. For my part, I am ready to adopt which-
ever plan may seem good to the greater number of us; and I
call upon you to decide”.
Here they interrupted me at once, and cried out, each for
himself, that to disperse over the island was a thing not to be
thought of. We shall be devoured, said they, by wild beasts,
if any are here: we shall fall, singly and defenceless, into the
hands of savages who may inhabit the place, or visit it. Then,
to live alone, they declared, was a savage, unnatural state of
existence; and they would become barbarians, little better
than the wild animals themselves, who still, for the most
part, go in herd. In short, never was anything so concluded
as that, come what would, we must still consort together.
"Very well, my friends", I continued, "and that is my
own wish, too. I felt I should put both before you, and
think you have decided right. But then, see what follows
upon this.
If we live together, we must have some kind
of government established among us".
When I had made that announcement, which I did with a
resolute manner and voice, I observed some change in the
countenances of a part of our small number. They had no
idea, it seems, of living by any law but their own wills; and
they seemed to think that to talk of government was to intro-
duce tyranny into our little society, even in its infant days.
Richard Prodgers at once showed himself displeased by a
surly look; and swaying to and fro with a dissatisfied air, was
going to interrupt me, when I went on:
“Nay”, said I, giving the thing a jesting turn, to persuade
them the more heartily, "do not suppose that any one is
going to set up for a king here. We will have no standing
army to drain our pockets: for we are all, indeed, the militia
volunteers of the place, ready to turn out at a moment's
notice, and fight our enemies without pay. We will have no
taxes levied throughout the whole island: and if the tax-
gatherer do but dare show his face, we 'll warn him off the
premises in a twinkling. Our friend, Don Manuel here”, and
I made the priest a little side bow as I spoke, “will collect no
tithes, but with our own free will. And I hope even, we
shall do without any police, or summonses, or quarter-sessions;
no lawyers, no big-wigs, no juries, no prisoners at the bar, no
treadmill; not a yellow-jacket to be seen amongst us, nor
a workhouse, nor anything in that way to annoy us".
At this, they could not avoid laughing, do what they would:
even Prodgers was forced to it with the rest. And having
30
THE ADVENTURES OF
secured their good-will, I explained, that the kind of govern-
ment I spoke of, was only that each should bind himself (to
conform to some plain, simple regulations for his own good
and that of all: and that one should be appointed by general
vote, to see them carried out. When they heard this, they
were well content; and after a little discussing among them-
selves, they begged me to tell them how such rules should be
framed.
66
“First, then”, I continued,
we may look upon ourselves
as the lords and masters of this whole place, for everything
that appears to the contrary. If it prove so, we must portion
out to each man a certain measure of land, to be chosen by
lot; and every one must engage to help his neighbours to
build something of a hut, or however you may please to call
our habitations, and afterwards dwell at peace with them,
in mutual service and good will. But, before all things else,
we must needs discover whether there be any other inhabi-
tants in this little kingdom of ours: wherefore let us bind our-
selves to stand by one another to the last, and unite in an
exploring party to search the island”.
This proposal was very much to their mind, and they
would have set about the thing at once.
But I was desirous,
while they were in so favourable humour, to impress on them
some points to us all needful; so, begging them to wait yet
a moment, I then laid before them the necessity of attending
to the following particulars:
1. That we had no real government as yet; and hoped to
do without so much as naming the word punishment, which
would be no less than the ruin of our small society, and set
every man's hand against his brother: and it was therefore of
exceeding need that each one should keep strict guard over him
self, his temper and his words, to avoid all occasion of offence.
2. That whatever we possessed, which after all was little
enough, should be looked upon from the first as common
property; to be distributed, or used by each for the good of our
society as well as his own: namely, the three fowling-pieces we
had brought with us from the ship, together with the ammu-
nition; our clasp-knives, the jars for water, and all our small
store of rope-twine. To give an example, I threw my rifle
and hanger into the common stock. Later, I said, when we
had gained some experience of what turn things would take,
we could portion out different offices according to each one's
capacity. But in the mean time, as every man was to be
moderate in his demands,,so no one was to be refused any
reasonable use of this our common property.
1
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
31
At any other time, I could have smiled at making so much of
a common seaman's clasp-knife, and an earthen pitcher. But
the circumstances we are placed in, quite alter our value of
things and we were now in a state of life much like that of
the savages, who will give away their gold dust, their ostrich-
feathers, and pearls, or whatever has most price in the Euro-
pean markets, for a knife, and even an old hoop of iron, or a
few nails.
They all agreed readily to these proposals: and indeed, the
thing was reasonable, and to the advantage of all let them
be as self-willed as they might, they could scarce do other-
wise. I was satisfied with this beginning; though I foresaw
what difficulties would arise if I set about to control and keep
together such rude spirits, who were only in order under the
captain's eye, and with the fear of the lash before them; and
who on shore were accustomed to do just as they pleased.
"Well”, said I in my own mind, though with not much spirit of
religion about me, "the morrow shall take care for the things
of itself; and we will live for the day”.
NOTE.
We are met by considerable difficulties in determining the probable
situation of Evans' island. Had he not mentioned Newhaven as the
port whence the Enterprise was to sail for her rendezvous in the tropics,
we might have been disposed to consider the place of his exile as
among, or not far from, those islands of volcanic and coralline for-
mation which group themselves in the South Pacific. The terms, how-
ever, of the narrative seem too explicit to admit such a theory: and
it becomes further probable that he speaks of Newhaven in the State of
Connecticut, if we consider that the crew of Hopkins' vessel numbered
Newfoundlanders among the rest. Against this conclusion, however,
it may be urged, that Malays and Portuguese are also mentioned as
forming part of the crew. But the force of such an objection is much
weakened again by considering that seamen from Malacca, whose
character as roving pirates (at the date of the narrative) is well known,
might be found at any frequented port, ready to engage in such an
adventure; and might be joined by characters equally unsettled from
among the extensive Portuguese colonies.
The difficulty is increased by a statement towards the close of Chap-
ter I., that the vessel was "well within the tropics"; and from its being
said, in the opening of Chapter III., that, coming from a colder lati-
tude, the crew had not touched land before. These expressions clearly
imply that the northern tropic, or tropic of Cancer, is referred to.
But how are we to suppose that this island should have remained
undiscovered till 1739, and not laid down on the ship's charts, if it lay
anywhere within an ocean continually traversed by vessels from such
32
THE ADVENTURES OF
maritime states as England, Holland, Spain, and Portugal? Two con-
siderations will afford a partial answer to the objection.
(1) We may overrate the then extent of such discoveries, by re-
garding them from a point of view adapted to the nineteenth century,
and to the focus of our own geographical knowledge. Certain it is that
in England, and probably the remark may apply to Holland and the
Peninsula, the discovery of America rather gave an impulse to the
colonization of that vast continent itself than to enterprises of inter-
mediate research. The date of Evans' narrative is nearly thirty years
before the first voyage of Captain Cook, the primary object of which
was astronomical: and though previously, in the reign of George II.,
two important voyages had been made, they were for the definite
purpose of discovering the north-west passage. The expedition of
Anson, the very year after that in which our author and his companions
were left ashore, was a naval enterprise against the Spaniards in the
South Seas, though it resulted, incidentally, in important discoveries.
In short, it may be said that new continents, or new ways to old ones,
rather than researches among islands and archipelagoes, formed the
chief objects of such expeditions as had preceded the date of this
narrative.
(2) The discovery of islands in a wide ocean has been very much the
result of capricious circumstance, often of mere accident. Thus, the
island of Madeira, notwithstanding the great height of its volcanic
peak, rising out of the sea, and its favourable position for discovery,
remained unknown (should we except one account which reads like
fiction), till a vessel, driven, if I remember, out of her course, approached
nearer than usual to the fog-bank in which it had lain perpetually con-
cealed. Then, for the first time, it was discovered that this curtain of
mist was enshrouding a wooded island, the moisture of whose trees
partly formed, partly retained, these hangings of its airy veil. Some-
thing of the same kind, though on a sinaller scale, appears to have been
the case with the discovery in question. If then, we suppose Evans'
Island to lie on some less direct route from Europe to the New World;
say at any given point between the Cape de Verd islands and Guiana
or the Brazils, there is, perhaps, no great improbability in its remaining
undiscovered till 1739. And this is surely a more plausible theory than
to suppose a Newhaven on the west coast of North America, with all the
difficulty of the "Newfoundlanders" in the way.
Upon the whole, it might be wished that the author had been more
explicit as to the whereabouts of his remarkable exile. Probably, like
other unpractised writers, he fell into the error of imagining that what
was very clear in his own remembrance would be equally so to the per-
ception of his readers, if. readers he designed to have. But the extreme
carelessness of his style, and his defiance of all the recognized con-
ditions of good writing (for one who, by his profession, must be sup-
posed to have received a liberal education), would lead us to imagine
this account of his misfortunes to have been jotted down merely for his
own recollection, lest anything should fade from it which concerned so
eventful a period of his life.-ED.
33
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.

CHAPTER VIII.
A DISAPPOINTMENT AND A DANGER.

PUR expedition being now formed, we pro-
ceeded much in the same order we had
observed before; and began to round the
shoulder of the mountain by degrees, still
ascending higher as we went: so that our
course took the shape of a spiral curve,
bending upwards, to the north-east of the
island. This we did to gain a bird's-eye view of the other
side, both over land and sea; to mark what was the nature of
the place itself, for soil and produce, and whether inhabited,
as I partly feared, or desert. Also, our purpose was to certify
ourselves what hopes we might entertain of deliverance from
that easterly quarter of our prison, by a chain of communi-
cation with some land further off. For I nourished within
myself a lurking hope, that perchance this same growth of
coral rock that increased our difficulty in landing, would
serve to help us off again on the further side. Could we but
make shift to put together a raft of branches, no matter how
rude, if only not too hazardous, then we might, I considered,
provision ourselves for a short voyage, and drift from island
to island, or from rock to rock (the currents being supposed
favourable, or some contrivance made to stand in place of a
sail), till————but here I stayed in my thoughts, not finding
a way to conclude this plan with any satisfaction. And
certainly, I would not breathe it to my companions, fearing
I might raise hopes only to have them dashed again by the
event.
3
34
TIIE ADVENTURES OF
As for the side of the island we were leaving, we had suf-
fered so much misery there as quite made us mislike the
very look of it. For outward things, we know, take their
colour from the hue and disposition of our minds, so as
to appear bright or gloomy according to the mood in which
we view them. And now, this part of the island, which in
truth was fair enough in itself, for its variety of landscape,
appeared so odious to us that we seemed to breathe all the
freer as we quitted it. Every step we took led us away to a
new scene; and as the life of a seaman is a changeful one,
and little secure from disaster day by day, so these men now
seemed almost to forget their past misfortunes, being as much
taken up with our exploring as though it had, indeed, been
the party of pleasure on which we came from the ship the
day before.
When we got higher on the mountain, a beautiful sight did
truly unfold itself to us; for then the extent of the island
appeared by degrees, until we could see it spread out before
us plainly, as a coloured chart might be on canvas. So far
as could be measured by the eye, we judged it about two
leagues in length, reckoning from the mountain southward;
and in breadth, where that was greatest, something over a
full league. The sides ran pretty even one with the other,
only tapering towards a point as they drew near to the
southern end. But I must not omit, that the shore on either
side was much broken by reefs of the coral rocks, which we
had already gained some experience of on the western side,
and which now we saw prevailed yet more to the east; so
that the whole of that coast was broken up into shoals, sur-
rounding that part of the island with fringes of rock, over
which the surf beat with so great violence, that I was sure no
boat that man ever built could live through it.
Here, then, I saw the downfall of my cherished plan of
deliverance, unless the north-east part of our mountain should
give a more encouraging prospect when we got thither. But
at the same time, these walls of rocks were the best safe-
guard we could desire against the landing of savages on our
island; for they formed such a natural rampart, and so for
midable, that not the boldest, though they might be skilful in
managing their canoes, would attempt it. And thus, as often
is to be found in this chequered life, disappointment and
comfort met us hand in hand.
We had now travelled round three sides of the mountain,
or thereabout; yet no sign appeared of any other island or
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
35
continent neighbouring our own. And this view was made
complete when we rounded so far as to see to the east-north-
east; further than that we needed not to go, for the rest we
had already viewed from the ship. All appeared open sea,
with only here and there a table-land of rocks, some not ten
yards across, lying outside the fringe of our protecting reefs:
at least, this was as much as the haze or sea-vapour drawn
up by the heat (the sun being now very powerful) allowed
us to discover.
The heat was by this time become so intolerable over head,
and indeed under our feet besides, by reason of the sun
striking on the bare rock, for we were now got above the
region of trees, quite to the upper portion of our mountain:
the heat, I say, now forced us to seek shelter for ourselves;
so that with one accord we plunged down the descent into the
woods, not following the course by which we came up, but
in a straight line, making towards the length of the island,
as though we were bent on reaching that point to the south
which we had viewed from the height above.
Added to this inconvenience of the heat, was another which
we had not foreseen; for we found these parched rocks
swarming with reptiles, particularly scorpions, and a large
kind of centipede, or what they call in the West Indies the
forty legs; some of these last we saw, grown to be seven or
eight inches long, and running about the loose stones; so that
we feared to sit anywhere to rest ourselves, knowing them
to be well-nigh as venomous as the scorpions. Some serpents
also we heard, hissing at us as we approached, though we
did not discover them: and altogether, we hastened to get
out of so unwelcome a neighbourhood; though in truth we
knew not what might meet us of that kind where we were
going.
But as we went down, an accident befel us that had near
enough taken off one of our number by a sudden death. This
happened as follows:-when we had left the upper, bare
part of that mountain of ours, and came once more among
the trees, we noticed the leaves and stems of some of them
tinged with a yellowish dust, having the smell and taste
of brimstone. Any one in his senses surely would have been
made cautious by this unwholesome appearance: but I know
not how it was, Don Manuel and I, who had most knowledge
on such matters, were occupied, I suppose, each with his own
sad thoughts: and mine (I well remember) were running on
the disappointment I had received from our look-out, at find-
36
THE ADVENTURES OF
ing no way of escape, nor opening to devise any. So when
Harry Gill, who had got ahead of us, called out that he had
found a cave in the woods, we thought not of bidding him
beware how he ventured his head into the lion's den, as (in
one way) it proved to be.
This cave of his was no great things for size; but rather a
kind of crack or fissure in the rocks, and overhung by several
sorts of wild plants, all powdered with this brimstone dust.
These hung down so low over its mouth, that he was obliged
to creep on all fours to get even a little way in: and it was
well for him he did not go in further.
When I caught sight of what he was about, and that
Hilton was preparing to follow him so soon as he should
be fairly within the cavern, I called to them both to beware
of some wild beast that might be lurking in this den; “and
be sure", added I, "you keep your guns before you, ready
for action". But almost before I had said it, and while Gill
was about half crept in, we noticed him drop on his face, like
one who is taken on a sudden with the falling sickness, or an
apoplexy. Then we rushed forward, and pulled him out
with main force by the heels, not without scraping his face
and hands somewhat roughly against the rocky bed of his
new-discovered cave.
No sooner had we got him fairly out, than I at once perceived
he had been poisoned by some noisome vapour exhaling
from the earth: for his face was of a leaden colour, his eyes
stark staring open, and he foaming at the mouth, but quite
insensible. There being no water at hand to dash into his
face, which would have brought him round more readily, we
did the best by waving our hats before him, to give him air;
and I took out my lancets (from which I parted no more than
our priest from his Breviary) to breathe a vein. But this he
soon needed not: for as we were all busied about him, some
unloosing his neck-kerchief, some fanning him, some clapping
the palms of his cold hands, or striking the soles of his feet
as if he were undergoing the bastinado, we had the satisfac-
tion to see him slowly recover his senses.
Soon after, he was able to sit up: and Prodgers, having (as
we then found for the first time) smuggled a small bottle of
rum from the ship, now relaxed so far from the selfishness of
his nature as to offer poor Gill a dram of it. But when the
rest saw this unlooked-for bottle, they all cried out,
prize! a prize!" and began to insist it should be equally
divided among them, agreeably to the understanding we came
66 А
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
37
to before starting on this our expedition. Prodgers, on his
part, was not the man to yield up anything that belonged to
him just because others wished it; and, between half jest on
their part, and whole earnest on his, words soon began to
run high amongst them.
I saw the danger in our society of any quarrel on what had
afforded the pretext for many such since the flood; I mean
drink. So, stepping at once between them, and parting them
by force, wherein I was helped, though with greater modera-
tion, by Don Manuel, I cried out with some heat:
What, my friends? and will you wrangle for a vile pint
of liquor over the half dead body of your comrade ?”
This seemed to bring them a little to themselves; and
Harry Gill being now pretty well recovered from his fit, or
swoon, they were eager to ask him how it had taken him, and
what he thought it was owing to. As for me, I saw at once that
the low cave he had thrust his head into, had oppressed him
with some heavy, creeping vapour, that from its weight could
not rise high; like that grotto near the city of Naples, which
suffocates a dog when it goes into the cavern, while a man
standing at his natural height escapes the choke of the
noxious gas. And this was confirmed by the account which
Harry himself gave us of his misadventure.
"I wanted to discover", said he, "where this hole in the
ground led to; partly for a mere freak, and also methought I
might be the first to invent something of a fortress or habi-
tation for ourselves. So without any other concern, I began
to creep in; though there came such a whiff of brimstone hot
smoke into my nose and mouth as well-nigh stifled me on the
instant. I resolved to go on, thinking I should soon be past
the crack from which it was coming up; but I had not
crawled three paces when I found my head swim round on a
sudden; and then I remember nothing more till I found my-
self lying thus with all of you round me, and Richard here,
(hearty thanks to him,) washing down the brimstone with a
mouthful of grog”.
Well, we thought ourselves happily rid of the business as
it turned out; and, forasmuch as we poor mortals (this is a re-
flection I borrowed from Don Manuel, who made it in his
own quiet and natural way when the danger was over) never
know what value to put on our advantages, until they are
like to be taken from us, so was it now. For if Gill had
died there in that sulphurous hole, as he surely would by
running on before us further, and our not missing him till too
38
THE ADVENTURES OF
late, our party had been weakened both for mutual assistance
and defence. I had a thought in my mind (but checked it)
that another of our number might have been better spared.
And yet poor Richard had shown signs of something better
than usual and altogether, I reflected, there are few per-
sons who possess not a better side to their character as well
as a worse, if only we will cultivate them as we would stub-
born ground, and bring out those good qualities to ripeness.
:

CHAPTER IX.
DINNER, AND A BATTLE After it.

HE whole of this put me on considering
further the nature of the island we were upon:
and I concluded with Don Manuel, as after-
experience more fully showed, that the entire
island had been thrown up from the sea by
fires from beneath; except what might have
been added by the industrious coral insects
in the course of ages. Not the mountain alone, I felt sure,
but the plain country, was composed of lava rock, only covered
by the depths of its rich soil. "T was not in the way of spe-
culation that I followed out this; but for a practical end, and
one that touched on our own security. For, as all coun-
tries that were first formed by volcanoes, are ever liable to
eruptions of fire, earthquakes, devastations of hot springs,
effluvia of fatal gases, and other such causes of disturbance,
it was well we should prepare ourselves for what we were to
expect in that way, and what to avoid.
So this accident to poor Harry, when the effects of it were
over (and he soon plucked up spirits again to join us as if
nothing had chanced,) might be looked on as a wholesome
warning, that we were in a place where nothing was to be
ventured hap-hazard, or beyond what we understood.
As we continued our march, "See, my dear friends", said
the priest, "how near we are to peril, and sometimes to death,
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
39
when we least think of it. Here was our friend Geile (so he
pronounced it, and made us all smile, and some of the men
laugh outright, at his way of talking English,) was a strong
sailor a quarter of an hour ago; and now, see—”
"He's as weak as a cat", replied poor Harry; and indeed,
so he looked.
At this, we "shortened sail for him", as Ned Hilton ex-
pressed it and, what with one thing and another, we all
came to a conclusion that we had earned a halt under the
shade of the trees which now branched thick over our heads.
The heat was indeed excessive, and we were glad of a breathing
time. For though on board ship, the thermometer had stood
at nearly the same point (and I reckoned we were at least 90°
in the shade), yet the breeze that played over the sea, on and
off, hindered the actual heat from oppressing the spirits as it
did in the thickness of these our island coverts.
For, putting all things together, the priest and I con-
cluded, though we had not an instrument for taking an ob-
servation, nor could so much as determine the points of the
compass further than in general; yet, by what had dropped
from the captain and mate for a day or two before they so
barbarously left us here, and from some things the men said
at times in their careless way, we concluded, I repeat, that the
place of our sad captivity lay somewhere between ten and
twelve degrees of latitude north of the line, and in about
the same degree of heat with the South Caribbean Sea. This
taught us we might expect to meet with both the goods and
ills of such a latitude, so long as we remained here; or,
indeed, till our deaths, if we were at last to find our graves
on this lonely place.
We then began to ask, for what aim we were hurrying in
our exploring party through the island? We should but reach
the end of our tether the sooner; and there was a bitter feel-
ing (I well knew) awaiting us, when we should arrive at the
southern point of our prison-yard, as we were already
acqainted with the northern. No sign of an inhabitant had
been seen by any of us; and, for aught that appeared, we
were the lords and possessors of all we surveyed; which was
poor comfort enough. So, this being considered, we sat down
under the shade of a large tree of the pimento kind: and the
men, in spite of the hearty breakfast they had made in the
morning, now voted it to be dinner-time. I forgot to say, we
had packed up the remainder of our meat and bread-fruit,
which Harvey volunteered to carry on his shoulders, wrapped
40
THE ADVENTURES OF
in palm-leaves. This was now spread for us on the grass, and
we fell to, some more, some less, according to the character
and appetite of each.
Sailors mostly live for the day; and are so used to chances
and changes, that it little matters to them where they make
their shake-down when the day is over. I could not discover,
from any chance remark that fell from these men, they had
any plan of living settled in their minds under these strange
circumstances in which we were placed. They seemed to
leave every arrangement to Don Manuel and me; though
they would have shown themselves jealous indeed, and rebel-
lious too, had we assumed to dictate to them. It came to be
the same in the end; for we had to consult, and suggest, for
the whole party, at every turn.
Don Manuel, on his part,
seldom expressed his opinion, except when there was a ques-
tion of right and wrong; or when he thought he could guide
our minds to the better things whereon his own was con-
stantly fixed.
On those occasions he spoke; and always
with the same even, cheerful temper which had gained him
our hearts, or some part of them, from the first.
But I grow wearisome with these details: only, that the
few first events of our establishment on the island were of
such importance in fixing our condition there for years after-
wards, that it may be pardonable to dwell on them at greater
length.
Well, we sat or lay down, to our rest, and our early
dinner, and I took the occasion to speak again.
"Let us now consider", said I, "what sort of habitations
we shall fix on, and how we shall best seek to support our
lives here. No more caves for us, if you please, unless we
can find one that has no sulphur fumes coming from it. Tell
us, Harry, how say you?"
"No, indeed”, answered he, making a wry face, and with
an oath that did not add anything, but profaneness, to his
discourse. And this Don Manuel gently reminded him of.
"Well, I was wrong", added Gill, taking the reproof better
than I expected from him: "but I have n't got the taste of
the brimstone out of my mouth yet, and that, I suppose,
made me to swear. Give us another slice of cold pork,
Harvey: and a crumb of our outlandish loaf, there, and no
more about it”.
"Now”, said I, continuing, "the first thing, as appears to
me, is to devise some method for supplying ourselves with
food, not for to-day or to-morrow, but for as long as we may
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
41
have to stay here. This cannot be by shooting down our
game from day to day: for we have not powder and shot
among us for more than perhaps forty or fifty rounds; and what
becomes of us when these are expended? So I propose that
we select, in the first place, some spot for a preserve, in which
to keep such animals as we may snare, or wound by shooting;
and that we husband our ammunition as much as possible for
future need".
No one raised a voice against my proposal; so I regarded
it as passed, and went on.
"Next", I said, "let each of us name some of the things
we are most in want of: and let us see how we are to procure
or make them; and what we must needs do without".
At this, all fell to considering what they should name as
most important to us in our distress.
"Come, Prodgers", I went on, with a little motion aside
to Don Manuel, that I gave the surly old fellow this prece-
dence in order to make him more favourable: "what do
you propose we should make for ourselves first ?"
This set Richard Prodgers a-thinking; and he began
searching his wits in the way most sailors do: that is to say,
he fumbled in his pockets, twirled his hat round once or
twice, turned a quid of tobacco in his cheek, and finished by
refreshing his memory from his bottle of rum. At that last
act of his, the rest fell to laughing at him, and insisted he
should mention what was uppermost in his mind.
"I think”, said Prodgers slowly, with a very thoughtful
look, "the first thing we should provide is, a fresh supply of
hog for our dinner to-morrow".
"And grog, I suppose", added Harvey, seeing that the
bottle peeped from Richard's pocket.
Prodgers looked angrily; but I took up the discourse, to
prevent any further jars amongst us; and said, none could
doubt that our food must be looked to without delay, as I had
already expressed. "And what say you, Ned Hilton ?" I
continued, turning to where he had sat a moment before.
But Hilton had strolled away while we were speaking; and
was eyeing one of the trees overhead, which was a cocoa-nut
tree.
"It is !" cried he, with great glee.
"Hallo! messmates: a
real live monkey! Look, there is another; and a third
again !"
Up they all were at once, and not another thought about
our future plans, so eagerly did they enter into this monkey-
42
THE ADVENTURES OF
chase. Indeed, I must own, it was a diverting thing to see
the monkeys, great troops of which we now discovered in the
trees, where they had been watching our movements, scamper
off in all directions with much swiftness, until they seemed
to think the distance among the higher branches made them
secure; then they looked down at us with such grimaces and
chatterings as I believe would have made an owl laugh.
There was no chance of catching any of them by climbing
the trees, though some of our men could climb like monkeys
themselves for the trees grew so thick together that their
branches interlaced, and the nimble creatures could easily
have fled from one end of the wood to the other without once
touching the ground. It seemed also to make no matter to
them whether they used their hands, or feet, or tails; for
their tails, as we afterwards found, measured nearly two feet
in length, and were longer indeed than themselves; they
being of a smaller kind of monkey, though exceeding active
and mischievous.
It is scarce to be believed how they would hang themselves
by the very end of these strong and flexible tails of theirs,
only just clasping a small branch with them, as we might`
hook up a rasher of bacon on a nail by a small hook, just
enough to keep it from falling off; then, suspended in this
way, they would swing in any direction they chose, till they
swung themselves near enough to another branch to catch it,
or leap on to it, and so be as much at home as they were
before. They would throw themselves about with such
astonishing precision and certainty of lighting in safety, as
almost equalled a bird upon the wing. In short, they being
among the trees in their own natural element, as I may say,
and we beneath them on the earth, which was ours, they
had us at a considerable disadvantage in this game: and this
they seemed to be aware of; for leaping and shaking the
branches till all the trees above us were in a commotion, by
their strange grimaces and chattering noises they appeared as
though they were laughing at us, and bidding us come up
and do our best to catch them.
Such a conduct irritated the men to that degree, that they
ran for their fire-arms to shoot and bring some of the mon-
keys down but I entreated them to be still for a while
longer, promising them some cocoa-nuts for their forbear-
ance; for an idea had just come into my head, and methought
I had hit upon a means of getting some of these nuts with-
out the pains of climbing for them. So I bade my comrades
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
43
to pick up some stones and clods of earth, with which we
sent a volley into the trees, that we might provoke the mon-
keys to return our compliment. And so, indeed, they did;
for after sending down upon us all they could readily lay
hands on, as leaves, and a few dead boughs, or the like, this
not satisfying their vengeance, they leaped with one accord
into the cocoa-nut trees, of which a good number grew here-
about, and began plucking and tugging with all their might
(at least some of the oldest or the strongest among them) at
the nuts, to get them off to cast at us; and they held fast to
the stem of the tree all the while with their tails, to keep
themselves from falling. So great was the rage of these
creatures, that they put forth all their strength upon it; and
if one could not pull off a cocoa-nut (for the nut was wrapped
up in its coarse outer rind, and stuck fast to the tree, just
under the leaves), then another would come and help him,
till they had pulled it off with much effort between them.
It was well for our heads that these monkeys were more
expert in getting off the nuts than in taking good aim with
them, or some of us might have come off the field of battle
with cracked crowns for our pains. But the nuts were so
large, in their outer cases, as well nigh overbalanced the
monkeys that threw them, so that they could not send them
at us very exactly. Only, that some few of the more cunning
of their number (for it seems, among monkeys as among men,
there are those who take the lead, by reason of their superior
intelligence, or their greater watchfulness and cunning), first
taking a firm hold of the tree with their tails, swung them-
selves towards us, and delivered the cocoa-nuts straight at
us, as a cricketer would deliver the ball at a wicket; by
which it happened that, though we kept our eyes about us,
as indeed we had need, and jumped aside as nimbly as we
might to avoid these cannon-balls, we were hit once or twice,
and that smartly; for I must tell you, a full ripe cocoa-nut,
thrown by an angry monkey from a high tree, is no joke
upon your head or arm.

44
THE ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER X.
WE DISCOVER WHAT A PRIEST IS.

HE enemy having so far gained a success,
and we having by this a plentiful supply of
cocoa-nuts, I thought it time to put an end to
the fight by the superior force of our fire-
arms: the more so, that the cries of those of
our assailants, already engaged against us,
had drawn others of their tribe to the spot,
so that their numbers increased continually, and the wood
seemed alive with them. For this reason, I gave the word
for the three fowling-pieces, which formed the main stock of
our artillery, to be discharged into the trees; which the men
did with a hearty good will. As the pieces were loaded with
a kind of swan-shot, equally fitted for bringing down small
animals and the larger sort of birds, we should have done
great execution among the monkeys; but that, by a kind
of sagacity or instinct, such as I cannot account for (see-
ing they had certainly never been fired at before in all their
lives), no sooner did they mark our preparations, than,
slipping behind the stems of their native trees, they placed
themselves in shelter, so that we could scarce touch them,
Then they would look out cautiously, and grin again at us,
daring us to do our worst. The end was, that besides wound-
ing a few, which increased the noise, we did but kill one
outright, and that was a poor monkey with her two cubs;
one of them she carried under her arm, while the other
clasped its hands round her neck. She was so encumbered
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
45
I
with these, as not to get nimbly enough out of the way.
say, we killed this one; but it could not be said, we brought
it down; for the poor creature took firm hold of the tree
with her long tail, and hung there, like a malefactor in
chains, only head downwards, and the cubs still clinging, and
crying, like little infants, with the fright, and strain of hang-
ing on. I called out to Harvey that they would soon drop,
one after the other; and so they did, while he held his hat to
receive them, having lined it with his handkerchief to break
their fall.
This was the result of our battle; one killed, and two
prisoners, or adopted subjects, which you will. For the rest,
they scampered away at the report of the fire-arms as though
they could not get far enough from the scene of action, and
we saw them no more that day. As to the dead monkey, we
left it in the tree, as not being worth climbing for; and
thinking the sight of it hanging there would drive away the
rest from the spot, if we made our plans to return thither;
and this indeed it did, in some degree.
So now, as we went along on our tour of discovery, we
took up our debate again, as to the kind of dwellings we
should furnish ourselves with. Of natives, we had not seen
a trace; yet we did not on that account feel quite secure :
the nature of savages being, to lie hid so close in the bush as
scarce to be discovered till (I may almost say) you walk over
them, like a hare in her form; then, rising up, to take you
unawares, or wait for a night attack, when they may burn
and massacre all before them. And, if any were here on our
island (or rather theirs), they had certainly had notice
enough of our coming, what with firing of guns from the
ship, and our own fowling pieces, together with our heedless
shoutings; and so had been enabled to put out their fires,
and hide their canoes in some of the many small creeks on
this eastern side.
Yet, on the other hand, the island being so small as we
had now made it out to be, it could not support more than a
few of such people as lived altogether by chase, and knew
little of tilling the ground: and the game we had already
seen was so plentiful, it was plain it had not been much
thinned out by hunting. Also, I considered, if our enemies
should appear, and not in great force, we had a vast advan-
tage in our fire-arms; which, beside the deadly execution
they do among defenceless savages, are always known to
astonish more than they kill: being looked on as dreadful
46
THE ADVENTURES OF
thunder and lightning from heaven, by such as know only
bows and arrows, or darting spears, armed with fishes' teeth,
for weapons of offence.
By this time, we were within about three quarters of a
league of that southern point whereto we were travelling:
when, seeing to our left hand a little eminence rising up
somewhat clearer of trees than the thick woodland, we made
for that, in order to take an observation. It rose, as far as
we judged, seventy feet, if not more, above the sea-level;
when we gained the top, we could see pretty well around us,
though some lofty groves of cocoa-nut and other tropical
growths here and there partly shut out the view. But the
open sea was clearly enough to be distinguished on both
sides, and to the south also; and more particularly we noticed
that the eastern coast was clearer of the lava rock, but more
occupied by reefs of coral. These ran out into such fantastic
promontories, with capes and headlands, creeks and bays,
though all in miniature, as not only made up a beautiful
prospect, with dwarf cocoa and palms growing thickly upon
them, dipping their broad leaves down to the very edge;
but promised us some quiet nooks of deep water where we
might get good fishing for our support. And so it proved
afterwards.
We stayed some time on this spot, which everything made
delightful, but for the heat of the sun and want of water;
and finding the situation so favourable, we gazed on all sides,
each taking my telescope in turn, and looking out sharp
enough (you may be sure) for any sign of an inhabitant
beside ourselves. But we became assured by degrees, to our
satisfaction in one way, that we were indeed the only human
beings on the island. Don Manuel gave a little sigh when he
heard us express this to one another.
66 Why, sir", said I, turning to him with some surprise,
"you would not wish to find savages on this place? and
should we not be thankful to have a clear field before us,
and no enemies to drive out of it, or shoot down in our
defence ?"
66
True, Señor", answered he, "I am not saying anything
against that; we ought surely to be thankful for every mercy
and deliverance, and resigned under every trial".
"But why, then", I began again; but stopped myself, for
there was a something, I know not what, about the priest,
that made it difficult to question him, all meek and cheerful
as he was.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
47
The men listened attentively, and I saw they wished, like
myself, to get at the priest's mind about all this. So I made.
another attempt.
"You expressed a hope, sir", said I, "yesterday, when we
first landed, that we might meet with none, man or beast, to
eat us up".
"Indeed, I did, my dear friend", answered the priest, with
his frank, cheerful smile, "and I do so still; for I should not
like to be devoured just yet: unless", he added, "it were
His most holy will". And he lifted his hat, as was usual
with him, when he spoke in that way.
There was that about his manner, though I cannot tell
exactly why, nor wherein it lay, which stopped me as if I had
intruded into his thoughts; I was going to let the subject
drop, feeling half inclined even to beg his pardon for what I
had seemed to ask. But after a few moments, seeing us all
silent and still looking at him, he laughed in his quiet gentle
way, and said to us:
66
Well, comrades, don't let me be making mysteries out of
a very simple thing. As you take a little sigh so much to
heart, I will explain it in a few words, and then have done
about myself. Or, you shall help me to do it. Tell me,
then, what is a priest?"
This was, I must own, a difficult question for us to an-
swer out of hand; and I felt at once that, in a courteous
way, our friend had turned the tables upon us. As he stood
there, leaning on his staff, with his cloak dropped about him,
his broad hat, and he looking at us with his friendly smile,
expecting our answer, I thought within myself, whatever other
priests might be (and I had heard, from my boyhood upward,
talk enough against them in many ways,) there was
whom I could respect as a being superior to myself, or indeed
to any one I had ever fallen in with.
66
one
Well", repeated Don Manuel after a while, still looking
round at us, and I know we felt awkward all over, as we
stood before him; "well, my good friends, and what is a
priest ?"
Ned Hilton seemed to think it concerned the honour of the
party that our Spaniard should get some answer. So, clear-
ing his throat, and making the best of himself, he began:
A priest, sir, I suppose, is a man who"- and here he
stopped, twitching the collar of his sailor's jacket, and shuffling
a little with his feet, as not knowing how to go on.
"Who what, friend?" asked the Don.
48
THE ADVENTURES OF
"Why, of course, you know, is,-without any doubt-why,
a priest, I suppose".
At this explanation, no one could help laughing: and Don
Manuel, having enjoyed it a little, then said, more gravely:
"A priest, my dear friends, is, or ought to be, one devoted
to the service of his Master, who has called him. He ought
never to be so happy as when speaking to Him, or working
for Him. Every opportunity of labour or suffering for His
sake, ought to be welcome. Each one to whom the priest
may do good, he should consider as a brother, a friend, a
spiritual child. I confess I have been nursing a hope within
me, that as I am disabled by this great misfortune of ours
from proceeding to those among whom my superiors had sent
me to labour, I might at least find some poor heathens in this
place whom I might win to God. It is not to be so: and now
you know the meaning of that sigh which escaped from my
heart. May His holy will be ever done, and by us all. I
remain at least your servant. And now, shall we not be
moving onward ?"
There came over each one among us, I believe, such a feel-
ing while he spoke, as we had never known before. On we
moved, as if he had ordered it so, and none spoke, for each
was wondering at what he had just heard. But I forgot to
mention that we agreed, before this, to give to the place
the name of Prospect Hill; and it was the first spot on our
island that we had named at all.

OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
49

茶​素
​CHAPTER XI.
THE BEST AND WORST SHOT.

JEEPING down this hill again, and still with a
southerly bearing, we came on a spring of
water gushing from the hill-side at about
half-way down, as clear and fresh as that we
had met on landing. We were glad enough
to discover it; for all of us were now athirst
with our long, hot march: and, having our
time on our hands to do as we would with it, sitting down by
the spring, we fell into talk again about the mode of living
that was before us.
The most natural thing to determine was, how to build us
some huts to dwell in. Here we were, without any tools, or
prospect of finding or making any. One chance we might
have, if we could meet with that greenish stone of great hard-
ness, which savage nations contrive to fashion into hatchet-
heads and chisels. But, then, our island might furnish none
of these; or, when we found them, we had no means to grind
them into shape, or give them an edge, without great labour
and expense of time. Time, indeed, appeared to be the com-
modity in which we were now most rich: yet I considered
again that we were drawing near the rainy season, which was
4
50
THE ADVENTURES OF
like to set fairly in ere a month or six weeks were come and
gone, it being now the last week in August. We all knew by
report the violence of these rains when once they set in; and
Harvey and Prodgers had both cruised in these latitudes
before, and had got many a wet jacket in the autumnal
equinox and after. So we had need to do something in the
way of house-building out of hand, if only temporary, to last.
us over till next spring.
one or
A thought suddenly came upon me, as I looked at the guns
that lay by our sides. "We must sacrifice", said I, ((
more of these, to make us some tools". They all looked at
me, surprised at what I said; and, plainly, their first thought
was to refuse. But I went on to show that it was needful to
the good of all; that unless we had a way to cut down trees,
we could neither build, no, not the rudest hut, nor clear any
plot of ground for plantations; that our ammunition, with
the greatest husbandry and care, would soon be spent, and
then what was the use of the fowling-pieces to us? To all
this Prodgers, who took on him the office of objector-general,
said, in his surly way, what could I make out of a gun?
But I had my answer ready, and told him smartly I could
make a gun into a gouge. I believe, what moved the others
to come into my plan was, in part, that all enjoyed seeing
old Prodgers put down so readily: then, too, it was plain that,
in our unhappy case, nothing better could be devised.
"And which gun is to go, then ?" asked Richard, jealous
about his own. Now, it so happened that he was the worst
shot in the whole party; so that, if any one of them had to
surrender his piece, it should be this man: thus much every
one felt, except Prodgers himself; and he (it was just like
him) would not hear of it.
But I had ere now been going to propose a shooting match
among them, to decide which should carry the fowling-pieces
on our expeditions; and this seemed a fitting occasion for
doing so. In short, no sooner did I mention it, than the three
men, Harvey, Gill, and Hilton, agreed at once; so Prodgers
was outvoted, which he took in no good part. I was ap-
pointed umpire for this trial of skill; before we made it, I pro-
mised, to salve over any sore feeling, that the third and fourth
man (for only two could then carry fowling-pieces, if we
sacrificed the barrel of the third) should have an equal use
between them of the rifle, and that I would only claim a shot
now and then.
This being laid down, I bade them take notice of a fruit of
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
51
the orange kind, and much of the same size, which by reason
of its bright colour was a good mark for the eye; it grew on
a low-sized tree of its kind, within fair range for a fowling-
piece from where we stood. There were others on the tree,
but not so large or golden, and partly hidden with leaves.
"Now", said I, "he who plants most shot in the rind of this
fruit shall be first marksman among us, and wear a feather in
his cap; and so of the next". So saying, I went towards the
tree; and finding, a little on one side, another of the wild fig-
tree kind, with a stem broad enough to give me safe shelter, I
stepped behind it, and called out to Prodgers, as the eldest, to fire.
So indeed he did; but hit neither orange nor orange-tree,
as I could plainly know by the shot pattering into another
bush that grew near. However, I own that poor Dick made us
bounden to him, to thank him; for he brought us our supper
when he and we least thought of it. For in the very bush he
fired into so clumsily, there sat a largish monkey of the same
kind that we had put to flight before; he had sat there, I
suppose, watching our motions from a distance, till he knew
too much of us, poor fellow, as some of his companions had.
But of this by and bye: at the present, we discovered not
the execution Prodgers had done; for the monkey was killed
stone dead, and we found him afterwards, by accident, as I
shall relate in a moment.
It was now Hilton's turn to fire: and, to make all this
short, be it said, he and Gill were so near one another in
their shots, as each to plant some grains of swan-shot in the
orange; and both of them distanced Tom Harvey, who only
peppered into the branches. I adjudged the fowling-pieces
to these two men, and gave preference to Gill for first choice.
It was easy to discover which of the three guns was oldest
and worst; and this we condemned at once to be broken up,
stock and lock, barrel and trigger, to make such rude instru-
ments as we needed for our carpenter's work. So we took it
with us, till we could break it up at our leisure.
Moving onwards again, we came to the bush into which
Prodgers had scattered the contents of his blunderbuss; and
here we found the dead monkey lying at the roots, We took
him up, and looked at as ugly a caricature of our poor human
nature as ever was drawn by a malicious pen. I could not
but wonder as he lay there before us, like a hideous hump-
backed creature as he was, grinning in death, how any one in
a civilized country could go and see those monkeys in their
cages: unless it were a philosopher to speculate on what
degraded human nature might grow like, if left to itself;
52
THE ADVENTURES OF
as I have heard of an ancient nation where parents would
force their slaves to get drunk in presence of their children,
to show them, by example, what a debasing thing was drunk-
enness. I mentioned this thought to the priest, and asked
him how he viewed it.
"I think both of them wrong", answered Don Manuel;
"both the Spartans of old, and such parents and elders now,
as take their children, or allow them to go, to such exhibi-
tions. For the sight of a drunken slave, or of a monkey that
with the shape has not the conscience or soul that belongs to
us, brings no lesson that cannot be learned in better ways,
and is in itself vile and disgusting".
On second thoughts, after all this, we decided upon taking
the monkey with us, and cooking him for supper when we
should halt for the night. Only, we could not bear either to
take him or cook him as he was; for the creature looked so
human as well as hideous, that our men, though no way
squeamish, declared they would not touch a bit of him unless
he was cut up and baked or broiled piecemeal. So Prodgers,
as he had the best right to him, undertook the office of
butcher preparing for the cook; and indeed, he was helped
by most of the rest. I contented myself with cutting off the
monkey's long tail and putting it into the hat of Harry Gill,
instead of the feather I had promised him, as best man in the
shooting-match: and Don Manuel turned for awhile to his
prayer-book, as he generally did when there was a leisure
moment.
However, we did not neglect to pluck some of the
oranges off the tree, besides the one that Harry Gill had
riddled with his shot, and which he gathered as a trophy,
carving a ridiculous face in it by making a mouth and eyes
with his knife in the rind, and trying to make it look like a
portrait of old Prodgers; which he partly did, so that Hilton
could not contain himself for laughing when he looked at it.
But very soon Harry began to grin with pain instead; for the
milky juice that oozed out of the rind as he cut it, was of such
a burning quality as blistered his fingers at once. And well
for him, and for us all, that we were so warned before we
began to eat of the fruit: or, I believe, no one of us had
escaped death from inflammation by this poisonous juice.
When Gill cried out in his pain, and let Prodgers' head (in
the orange, I mean,) drop on the ground, we all gathered
round him to see what was the matter. But no sooner did
the priest observe the fruit, and the tree on which it grew,
than he exclaimed:
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
53
""T is the manchineel tree! Take care, friends; do not
stand too near it, or you may feel its effects in your eyes".
And he explained to the men, that from the juice of this tree
the savage nations inhabiting countries where it grows, extract
the poison in which they dip their arrows. So virulent is the
burning of the juice, says he, that when the tree is to be cut
down for making into furniture, for which it is much esteemed,
the workmen kindle a fire around it, to dry out the sap first,
and so save their eyes.
We took warning from Harry Gill's mishap, and retreated
to a respectful distance from the tree, of which we afterwards
found our island to furnish a good many specimens. But I
now applied myself to heal his blistered hands as well as
might be, without medical remedies; and, casting about for
something to assuage the pain, lighted on a large broad leaf
that grew not many paces from the manchineel. This leaf
was thick and pulpy, containing a cool juice in its fibres, that
allayed the inflammation caused by the other. Thus as in
England they say the nettle and dock are found growing in
the same hedge, so here were the evil and the remedy side by
side. I gathered half a dozen of the leaves, wrapping them
round Gill's hands, and tying them up with our handker-
chiefs; so that he walked about in a pair of large green gloves,
that made his companions call him the dandy of their society.
But by these means his blisters were so reduced, that he soon
felt them scarce at all.
I may as well here finish the history of the two little
monkeys that fell into our hands out of the cocoa-nut tree.
Harvey did all in his power to keep them alive, putting one
into each of his jacket-pockets to huddle them up warm, and
trying to feed them with cocoa-nut milk: for, I forgot to say,
we brought the cocoa-nuts also with us, and very refreshing
we found both the milk and pulp of them in these great heats.
But for the monkeys, both of them died before the second
day was out; and Harvey, who was much concerned at this,
buried them under two tall palm trees, not far from Prospect
Hill. Going that way some time after, I found he had placed
a large flat stone over them, and had found means to scratch,
rudely enough, this epitaph with the point of his knife-
"Here lyes y bodys of two little apes,
Short was their lives, ugly their shapes;
One would 'a been Pug, and t' other Joko,
But, alas, I couldn't rear 'em on cocoa.
T. H. 1739.
54
THE ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XII.
HOW MUCH GOODNESS GOES TO FORGIVENESS.

PUR trial of skill being thus over, we resumed
our march, and soon reached the shore on the
S.S.E. of our prison. As to the point due
south, it ran up into rather a high cliff, and
would have cost us a difficult climb to gain
it. We now found ourselves in a little cove,
wherein the water lay very still under this
cliff: the bottom being of a fine white coral sand, shelving
out by degrees; not getting to a great depth, as we judged,
till it was some twelve or fifteen yards from the shore. After
that, indeed, we could see, by the dark line below the water,
that it went sheer down into deep sea. Also we noticed, that
in a part of the cliff beyond this deep water line, appeared
the mouth of a very low cave, scarcely showing two feet above
the sea level. So that at first we doubted its being a cave at
all, and took it for some dent in the rock, which, at that part,
overhung it as steep as the wall of a house. But shortly we
made it out to be indeed an inlet into the cliff, from the hollow
sound of the water inside as it came and went, though the cove
was so still, as I have said.
66
Come, boys!" cried I; "here is an adventure for us:
who will be first to swim into yonder cave's mouth?" Hilton
and Tom Harvey were forward at once: as for Harry Gill,
he shook his head, and declared he had known enough
of caves for one day. But second thoughts bade me re-
mind them, that it was best one should go alone, if indeed
it were worth the while to do it at all: and the rest stand
on the watch to see no harm happened to him. I did
not say what had come into my mind: but I own I felt
uneasy, after I had proposed the swim, lest there should be
any sharks, with which these seas are known to abound,
cruising about in our neighbourhood. For so great is the
swiftness and voracious hunger of this dreadful fish, as no
swimmer, be he never so active, can escape him: and the
number and sharpness of his double rows of teeth is such,
55
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
that it needs but one bite from him to take off a limb as
clean as any surgeon could do it. There was a degree of safety,
't is true, in the coral reefs which seemed, by the surf dashing
high over them, to surround this part of the island at from
fifty to a hundred yards off shore. Nevertheless, I feared
some inlet between them into our cove, through which these
gentlemen, the sharks (sea-lawyers, so the men called them),
might find their way, though a boat would be stove without
remedy in the passage, by the violence of the outer sea.
In short, it was a relief to me when Don Manuel took up.
the discourse, saying in his quiet way: "I thought, my
friends" (he had left off calling us Señores, at least mostly,
since we had known each other so much better); "I thought",
says he, "we agreed to look without delay for something of
a dwelling to house ourselves in. Now this cave”, he added,
smiling, "whatever wonders it may contain, could hardly
afford this to us; and".
66
Begging your pardon", says old rough Prodgers, “I do'nt
see that at all: for I've some thoughts of living in it myself”.
At this, the three men set up a shout of laughter, and
began to banter him, as if he were never to hear the end of
it. One called him the hermit of the cave, another the old
man of the sea. Harvey said, he would grow into Neptune,
or become finned, or at least web-footed, or a Triton; Hilton
declared the fishes would come and ask him to reign over
them: "and then", says Gill, "we shall see his majesty drive
out for an airing in a turtle's shell for a coach, drawn by
six sword-fish". "With a body-guard of monkeys", added
Hilton again. "Armed with fowling-pieces that kill tre-
mendously, and all by chance", concluded Gill.
This last stroke was too much for old Richard, who started
to his feet, and challenged Harry to fight him on the spot.
The other was no ways backward; so off went their jackets,
and they began in earnest, before Don Manuel and I could
interfere. "Good humour, ahoy!" shouted Tom Harvey,
holding back Prodgers, while the priest and I tried to reason
with Gill. In short, we restored them to peace with some
difficulty; and only by Harvey and myself, with Hilton (who
joined the better side, this time), telling them in a determined
way, if they offered to strike another blow, we would knock
them both down and tie their hands behind them.
•
When they were calmed down, though there was some
grumbling still on either side, we made them shake hands,
and no more ado about it. Don Manuel indeed whispered to
56
THE ADVENTURES OF
me, that it were prudent to look after their knives, lest they
might bear one another a grudge, and so take worse revenge.
But I answered him in a like whisper, that 't was the nature
of a jack tar to knock his man down in the first blush of a
quarrel, and then help him up again; that when once they
had shaken hands after a fight, where even they might have
gone within an inch of murthering one another, they would be
the best of friends and messmates the next moment, each
ready to risk his life to save the other's; that, as to grudge
borne for a fair blow, 't was a thing unknown among them,
as little thought on as to fire into an enemy's ship after she
had struck her flag and you had taken her in tow.
All this seemed to surprise him at the time; and he plainly
thought it over, as I could judge by his manner: but there
was no leisure then to pursue it. Only, next afternoon, as
we walked together at a little distance from the rest, he took
up the discourse again, as I will here relate.
He said then to me: "Señor Owen, a strange thing was
that you told me yesterday about anger and fighting. In my
country, it gives the priests no small work to try and persuade
people to forgive injuries, as these two men now seem to have
forgiven and forgotten too. In Spain, I am sorry to say,
owing to our hot Spanish blood, when a man thinks he has
received an affront from another, his first impulse is to vow
revenge, and too often he begins planning how to compass it.
If he abandons himself to this evil passion, and neglects the
warnings of conscience, he will keep this settled purpose in
his heart, aye, sometimes for years, till he meets or makes the
opportunity; and then will wreak his vengeance to the full.
Now, how different is the conduct of these seamen! They
seem as good friends again as ever, after the hard knocks
they gave each other”.
"That they are", I answered; "and believe me, if either
Prodgers or Gill were to fall into any danger, the other would
pull him out of it, if he could, at the risk of life or limb”.
"God forgive me, then, for a harsh judgment”, said the
priest, striking his breast a little; "I find they are much
better Christians than I took them to be".
I could scarce help smiling at the notion of these men being
good Christians; but I answered him respectfully (indeed I
respected him as much for his humbly accusing himself, as for
the other qualities I had marked in him), and said, shaking
my head:
"I fear, sir, that the most of the Christianity among us is
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
57
wrapped within your reverence's cloak: though we never
have professed anything else, to be sure. Yet I know not
how much we have practised it; and I know, in many ways
we have practised the clean contrary".
"But how do you tell me", answers he quickly, for I could
see he now took the character of the men warmly to heart;
"how do you tell me, Señor Owen, that they are not good
Christians, since they have performed one of the most
bounden duties of a Christian, and what is sometimes one
of the hardest, forgiving injuries, as they did but yesterday?"
"Well, sir", said I, and felt rather puzzled how to answer
him: "I am no great divine, that is certain. You asked us
yesterday what a priest is: now, let me ask, what do you
mean by a Christian ?"
"A brief question, friend", replied the priest, "and a long
answer, if answered fully. I want to know, for my part,
why these brave men are not to be reckoned good Christians,
inasmuch as they forgive?"
"Because", answered I, readily, "it costs them nothing to
do it"
"Ah", says he, drawing a long breath, "costs them nothing,
you say?”
"Nothing whatsoever, sir. 'Tis part of their rough-and-
tumble life to knock down and be knocked down in turn; and
when they jump up again, all is forgotten in the tuning of a
fiddle".
The priest seemed not quite to understand my expressions;
so I explained my meaning in other words, and then con-
tinued:
"Now virtue, I believe, sir, is doing good, or keeping from
evil, in spite of the difficulty we feel in acting thus. Am I
right ?"
"Certainly", answered the priest.
"So, if I do a thing that is good in itself, without finding
it difficult, but do it merely in an off-hand way, as I would
hand my neighbour a portion at dinner, when I had enough
and to spare; there would not be much goodness in that?”
"There may be a natural goodness", says Don Manuel, as
if he thought much while he said the words; that cannot be
called supernatural”.
"What do you mean, sir", said I, surprised in my turn,
"by supernatural goodness? I thought miracles had ceased;
and a miracle is something supernatural"
"I will tell you another time", says he, smiling again.
58
THE ADVENTURES OF

O
CHAPTER XIII.
A LESSON OUT OF A SHARK'S MOUTH.
¡LL this I have set down here; though, to go
by the order of time, it should be related
after. But now, taking up the thread of our
adventures, as we ranged about our cove,
Tom Harvey, who had got out on a ledge of
rock that divided it from another inlet to the
north-east, called to us, he had found a
skeleton lying in shallow water. We started at this sudden
news; our minds running back on the old apprehensions of
some savage inhabitants of our island; and we thought here
might be one of their dead, drowned by accident or killed in
war. However, when we got to where Harvey stood, looking
down into the water beneath us, which here was about four
feet in depth, we saw the skeleton of a large fish, partly
fallen in pieces, and the tail part disjointed, lying here and
there on the white sand. The flesh (or fish, rather) was
as completely gone as though it had been picked clean by
smaller fishes, which indeed was the case in all likelihood.
But the head-bones and jaws were entire, pointing inland;
and as the body of the fish was turned on its side, I judged
it had pushed so far into the cove in pursuit of some prey,
and had stuck fast on the sand while seizing it, or been left
by the ebb of a high tide after gorging it: the mouth of the
shark (and a large shark this plainly was), being so formed,
and so far under the snout, that it cannot seize nor swallow
its prey but when lying on its back or side.
Don Manuel, when I made him observe this, remarked
how the providence of God, by so ordering it, prevented this
tremendous fish from thinning out all other inhabitants of
the ocean; setting bounds to his power of devouring, when
there were no bounds to his appetite and cruelty. But I,
meantime, full of other thoughts, saw a valuable prize in this
discovery. "Here, boys!" cried I, "here is what will turn
to our account when the powder and shot are gone”.
"How so?" asked they all; looking down into the water.

59
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
"See those teeth", continued I; "and tell me if they will
not make the best of arrow-points for such bamboo arrows as
we ate our dinners with to-day".
"Hurrah for the bows and arrows!" cried Hilton; and
with that he jumped down into the water, only throwing off
his jacket, and was followed by Harvey and Gill. They
were determined, it seems, to have the shark piecemeal on
land. And no light job they had of it; as well from the
depth in which it lay, of four foot water, as by reason of the
size of the fish itself: the parts that hung together being no
less than ten feet in length; and the tail that was broken up
would have made the monster from fifteen to eighteen feet in
the whole. Well, having to dip their heads quite under
water each time they pulled at a piece of the skeleton, and
not being used to such diving, though all of them good swim-
mers, they were exhausted to that degree, they were forced
to give over, without getting more than two or three joints
of the back-bone, which they threw up to us on the rock.
The reason was, that the greater part of this sea monster,
that is, the ribs and spine, were firmly bedded in the sand,
whereby we concluded he had lain there some time, having
settled down into the sand by degrees. Seeing, they could
not succeed better for this turn, I called to them to leave the
body of the fish, and try for his head: so, after much
effort, pushing with the hand-spike, and hacking with their
knives (all being under water, and hard to manage), they got
the head free, with no little trouble, from the neck joint, and
dragged it out with them to land.
It might have made any one's hair stand on end to view
the monstrous jaws of this fish's skull, armed each of them
with two rows of teeth as sharp as knives, and whiter and
more polished than the knife-handle, aye, at any nobleman's
table. When we felt the edges of these teeth, and cut a
piece of twine readily, by sawing it across them, it was easy
to credit all the accounts of what a shark can do; which I
(for one) had put down among other unlikely sailor's tales.
We closed the jaws, and opened them again, marking how
the rows of teeth shut upon one another, the outer on the
outer, and the inner on the inner, so that what was not clean
cut asunder in these cruel jaws would be mangled and torn,
as by a double machinery of pointed knives.
"A pretty fellow", at length, said Hilton; a pretty cus-
tomer, this, to meet with on our swim into the sea-cave!
We should soon be past praying for, if he got a snap at us".
60
THE ADVENTURES OF
"Past praying for?" asked Don Manuel, not understanding
his way of speaking. "How, friend, can any one be that,
who is not certainly in heaven, nor certainly in hell?".
"I mean", says Hilton, a little surly at being taken up,
though it was so gently; "I mean we should surely go down
at once to Davy Jones's locker”.*
"Whither?" asks the priest again; and it was plain he
wanted to understand what the man meant.
"Why, of course", broke in Prodgers in his own way, "any
of us who got into such a brute's jaws as that, would be soon.
dead, and something worse that's what he means, I take it".
Don Manuel looked graver than was common with him; and
turning upon old Prodgers, mildly, and quite calm, he says:
"Comrade, there is indeed one thing worse, after such a
death: and there are jaws more cruel to fall into than those
of a shark. If you meant to allude to those solemn, whole-
some truths, we thank you for putting us in mind of them".
Every one felt what he would say, and there was a silence
amongst us. Prodgers had no answer; even he was subdued,
this time, by the priest's manner of speaking his few words. But
it was Don Manuel's way to make us grave and gay by turns:
though 't was often a puzzle to me to account to myself what
there was about him that drew us so to follow his leadings.
Now, after a little pause, (for he seemed to wish us to think
on what he had just said), he added, more cheerfully:
"Well, my friends, acknowledge that the Catholic Church
is a gentle and compassionate mother: for she never reckons
any to be past praying for, as long as she can have a hope
they have died in grace”.

* An expression among sailors for the bottom of the sea.-ED.
61
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.

CHAPTER XIV.
WE DO SOMETHING UNCOMMON.

CUT for the moment", continued Don Manuel,
"what we have never settled is: where shall
we pitch our tents? For, like the patriarchs,
we have the land all before us, to choose
what spot we will. Now you, friend Owen,
opened the parliament this morning with a
neat little speech; but we did not finish the
debate at that time. "T is an important question for us, how
and where to lodge ourselves; so I vote we continue it now.
And who will give us any ideas on the subject?"
CHEN
Having thus put it before us, he seemed waiting for us to
speak.
"Eldest go first", says Ned Hilton, nodding at Prodgers.
"Well, then", answered old Richard, gruffly, "I mean to
take to a sea-faring life, and build myself a boat to fish in,
and steer round the island".
No objection was made to this; for I believe most of us felt
it would be, as the old saying goes, a good riddance of bad
rubbish”, if Prodgers were to take himself off thus. When I
say most, there was one who (I am sure) did not feel this; but
it was not myself.
"So you'll make the cave your boat-house ?" asked Tom
Harvey: "the difficulty will be, how to get in, or out again".
"That's my plan", Prodgers went on, not minding him;
"and while I'm building my boat, I shall lodge somewhere
about the rocks in this cove".
"Now, Harry", said I, "we listen to your plan".
"Well", answers he, "I think I shall go across country,
and see how I like the part we came to on our first landing.
There you have shade, and clear water, as well as our water-
jars, and all with a westerly aspect. Besides", added Gill,
and looked very earnest as he said it, "that might be our
best chance of seeing a ship, and making signals to be taken
off this place".
I confess, this idea of Gill's had more than once occurred
:
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THE ADVENTURES OF
to me; in my mind I had debated which side of our island
had the better prospect of some stray vessel touching there,
or sighting it from a distance. It was plain that what Gill
now said had a great effect on the men, who listened eagerly,
and remained silent when he had done.
"And you, Hilton ?" said I, at length.
Ned Hilton was one of those who seldom thought for him-
self; so he just answered, he would go for the present with
Harry Gill, and look about him.
66
Now, friends", says the priest, taking up our debate,
“will you let me give you a word of counsel ?”
We listened to him; so he went on.
"Let us keep together, then", says he, "as we first deci-
ded; yet not so as to dwell under the same roof. Tastes
differ, my dear friends, and dispositions too: we may best
avoid little rubs and jars by having each our own hut, meet-
ing together every day for dinner, and for another thing,
which we have not thought of much, as yet".
“And what's that?" enquired Gill.
"Prayer", says Don Manuel, laying a great stress on the
word; "
prayer, my companions, which we owe to that
bountiful Lord who created us, and has now kept us from so
many dangers. I do not think we have said one prayer
together since we have been on this island-shall we not
begin? Shall we not so much as thank Him, nor ask Him to
preserve us still?" And he looked round on us as he spoke.
Any one of those he addressed, I believe, would not have
refused to kneel down with the good priest, had he been alone
with him. But there is a kind of shame, of which the devil
is the author, that holds men back from manfully professing
that they feel the presence of God. And we were all so
hardened in wickedness, and knew each other to be so, as
made none of us willing to be the first in this new occupation.
Prayer was what we had not practised, I may say, for a length
of time; and we were as awkward at beginning as a school
boy who is called up to repeat his task. We felt (to judge
them by myself) it would be a kind of hypocrisy to pray, and
then go back and forget Him to whom we prayed, as completely
as ever. And could we pledge ourselves to be good and de-
vout, and unlearn our bad habits, and begin to serve God?
In a word, the enemy, as he often does, held us back from
the first right step, by representing it to us as insur-
mountable from the difficulty of it.
Thus we were all ashamed of each other as regards prayer,
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
63
when we had not been so in our cursing and sin. But I
resolved to shake this off, and set something of an example.
So placing myself on my knees, and joining my hands (and
I verily think the last time that had been done was by my
mother on her death-bed, five years before), I bowed to the
priest, and said:
. Well, sir; then let us pray".
Tom Harvey, as I looked at him, shuffled a little; then,
as if he were doing a strange thing, he blushed deep, like a
child that is caught stealing sugar, and went down on his
knees beside me.
As I guessed, so it turned out. Ned Hilton made the
third, though with a good deal of hesitation. But Gill and
Prodgers stood where they were, with their hands in their
pockets, looking straight before them, and whistling, as
sailors are used to whistle for a wind; though Prodgers was
the more dogged in this, and Harry rather less so.
"O my God!" exclaimed the priest on his knees, his hands
clasped, and looking up to heaven, "let there be none of us
resisting a good inspiration: no mere spectators in this our
first united prayer!”
Still the two men did not budge.
"Señor Gill", pleaded he, with such a manner as I think
few could withstand, "do you remember how lately you
were all but gone into the other world, if that good Pro-
vidence, to whom you now refuse to bend the knee, had not
guided our steps after you in time to find you lying senseless
in the cave?"
This shook Harry Gill, as I could see; but his pride was
not yet broken.
Just then, Tom Harvey, who was kneeling beside me,
caught hold on my arm, pointing towards the cove. I
followed his hand with my eyes, and plainly saw the back-fin
of a large shark steering about over the surface. He was
right between that point of rock whence Harvey and the rest
had jumped into the water, and the low-mouthed cave in
the opposite cliff, to which they had well-nigh set out to
swim.
eyes;
Lord be
"God of mercy!" cried Harvey, with the tears in his
"and we might have been by this time in his jaws.
praised for His goodness to us poor fellows".
'T was
"Amen", said Hilton, as earnest as the other.
plain that Gill too, and even Prodgers, felt moved at this
sight; which did indeed seem like a reprieve to a criminal
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THE ADVENTURES OF
when the rope is round his neck, and he just going to be
turned off the ladder.
"Now, O Lord!" cried out Don Manuel from the depth of
his heart: "let Thy grace at length triumph!"
So indeed it was. Harry Gill fairly gave way now, and
dropped on his knees, his face to the cove, as though he would
keep the shark before his eyes to animate his thankfulness.
The fish was steering about, up and down, as partly to seek.
his food, partly to play and bask in the sun; now he would
break the water into ripples with slight strokes of his powerful
tail, then he would float lazily again, but kept so near the
surface of the water that the high back-fin was seen above.
He was plainly of the white shark kind, like his brother
whose skull was in our keeping: and this kind is the fiercest
and most devouring of all the tribe.
He seemed to me in the water, what a savage bull is in a
field; that paces up and down, tearing up the earth and sods
with his hoofs, lashing his sides with his tail, and seeking
some one on whom to vent his rage. As I looked at that
cruel fish (and he gave us opportunities to observe him at
leisure), I felt more real gratitude in my heart, than for many
a long year, to our Father who is in heaven, and rules all
things above and below, for preserving us from such a mon-
ster when we were just about to rush into his jaws.
And
We now waited only for Prodgers: as to the rest of us,
we were anxious, some more and some less, the priest should
teach us how to pray. I had well-nigh said, the shark taught
us with as great effect; for he kept moving about full in
view, as though he were a living witness, before our very
eyes, of the good providence of God to us sinners.
this worked in Richard's mind, till he, too, could resist no
longer. He rubbed his eye with the back of his hard hand,
and slowly went down on one knee, as if he would have
helped it if he could, but was pressed down by some angel's
hand upon his shoulder. Only, I must remark, as the priest's
prayer continued, Richard went down on both knees, like the
rest of us.
65
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.

DUDLEY
30
CHAPTER XV.
PRAYER HINDERS NO WORK.

ON Manuel knew human nature too well to
make this first prayer of ours a long one.
But he poured out such fervent gratitude
for the mercies we had received, and so
humbly begged pardon for our want of
thankfnlness; he made for us such protesta-
tions of amendment, he put our good resolu-
tions into such simple, glowing language, that our very hearts
went along with every word: and at last there was no mis-
taking the men, that they were subdued and softened to a
degree. All these rough sea-faring men wept like very chil-
dren before the priest concluded; and I believe every one of
us now felt a pure pleasure in acknowledging our sins and the
divine mercies, that we had been strangers to for years, if
indeed we had ever felt it before. I only know I was in a
manner transported out of myself: a new world was opening
itself to me; from my inmost heart there rose the desire,
"Oh! that this may continue!" Then I turned it into a
prayer: "Good Lord, let not all this pass away again!"
But the voice of the priest ceased; and there was silence
5
66
THE ADVENTURES OF
among us: so deep that we could hear (though we heeded it
not) the ripple of the water that was flowing into the cave
where some of us had so nigh found a cruel death. Every
one staid on his knees, as though he were afraid to break
that newly-found holy calm. And, as I stole a glance round
on them, surprised at this, I saw most of the number with
their eyes closed, as men who pray to themselves, or pondered
on what they had heard.
It may be as surprising to others as (I own) it was to me,
to find a change like this wrought upon such rude hearts,
and in so brief a space. But they that will put all things
together; as, our double escape, first from the ship, then from
this monster of the deep, together with the plenty and com-
fortable prospects (by comparison) we had found on this
island, our security from savages, as also the influence Don
Manuel had gained over us all, and our solitude itself, the
nurse of devotion and calm thoughts:-I say, let any one
sum up the total of this, and he will, in some measure, cease
to wonder at what I have now recorded.
Be that as it may, before we wearied of our new employ-
ment, the priest stood up from his knees again; and, turning
to Prodgers, who chanced to be next him; "My dear brother”,
says he, "
we have given thanks, and confessed our sins, to
our common Creator and Lord: and now let me beg your
pardon also, and through you to the rest, for any want of
good example I may have given you since we have known
each other. You have heard", added he, with a little smile,
"and heard often, I dare say, of people confessing to the
priest; well, as you do not do this, here is the priest confess-
ing to the people". So saying, he laid his hands on Prodgers'
shoulders, and embraced him in the Spanish fashion.
66 Oh, sir", faltered out Prodgers, and was scarcely able to
speak, for his voice betrayed his emotion, whether he would
or not: we've never seen anything in you, I'm sure, but
what was good". And a murmur went round the rest, echo-
ing the same.
(6
((
Nay", says Don Manuel, in his cheerful way, we will
not carry this on, friends, any further. But at least shake
hands all round; and, as you promised to stand by one an-
other as companions in misfortune, do so now all the more as
companions in consolation and prayer”.
Never, I believe, or seldom, was there such a shaking of
hands in Europe or out of it. The men all joined in a ring,
and grasped each other's hands hard, while the tears stood in
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
67
At last Hilton, to
their eyes, and they looked upward.
express himself, or get rid of what weighed on his heart,
quavered out part of a hymn he had once heard (I suppose)
in some church or other:
"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him, all creatures".
but he could get no further: for his voice shook, and there
was a silence again.
"Now, friends", cried Don Manuel in a sprightly tone,
"having done this, for which I humbly thank God from my
heart, let us think of our good friend, the shark yonder.
"T is time to look after him, for he has been very patient to
wait for us all this while".
We caught up our guns, eager for the sport: and were
marching down to the shore, when all at once I bethought
me. “Halt!” cried I; "though I do not take this gentleman
to be one of your timorous kind among fishes, like a shy
trout in a pool, that hides himself among weeds and stones,
yet there may be such a thing as frightening even a shark,
after all. So let us observe some generalship, lest we lose
him. Our best chance of killing is, to hit him in the head;
for otherwise, the monster has as many lives as a cat, and
will swim off easily with all our bullets in him, and laugh at
us as he goes". "I think, though", observed Harvey, "it
were well if one of us aimed at the heart or so, to have a
double chance with him". "But how will you get at his
heart?" asked Harry Gill; "for he 's a sturdy sort of fellow,
mind; and I don't think", he added, letting his carelessness
get the better of him again, "you'll be likely to soften him
as we were, by asking him"-Don Manuel laid his hand,
quite friendly, on his shoulder, and Gill stopped at once,
reddened, and looked down.
("
"The only way", said the priest, without a pause, saving
Harry from this little confusion being noticed, "the only way
to hit him in the body, while he keeps under water, is to fire
into the water, a little on this side of him”. Why so?" asks
Prodgers, questioning everything again, though not in his
former rough way. "Because", answered the Don, "by
that means you make the water convey your bullet at an
angle to the mark you would hit, which it does almost as free
and forcibly as the air itself”.
"Like the gun that could shoot round a corner", says
Hilton, laughing. "And so it could", replied the priest,
68
THE ADVENTURES OF
good humouredly, "if there was a wall, or tree, at the corner,
for the ball to glance from. Did you never hear how William
Rufus met his death ?"
"I never heard of him at all", says Hilton.

Tự
CHAPTER XVI.
WE FIRE INTO THE ENEMY'S CAMP, AND RETREAT TO OUR OWN.

HE shark, all this time, showed himself no
ways disposed to get out of our reach. On the
contrary, I think he had caught a sight of us,
and was waiting to see what chance he had of
making a supper off some of our number:
this I judged from his lifting his head ever
and again over the water, turning his eye in
our direction; for it must be observed, the shark can turn his
eye every way, like a human creature, which gives him that
cruel look he has, as though he meant mischief. We thanked
him for his good intentions, but resolved to be even with him,
if we could any way compass it. So we formed our plan of
attack as follows:
Harry Gill was to get out on the ledge of the rock from
which Harvey had seen the skeleton in the shallow; only he
was to go further out from the cove, to be ready to cut off the
enemy's retreat, should we only succeed in wounding him;
and to give his worship a parting salute, to finish him off.
This being agreed on, Harry started, to take up his post, and
be in readiness: but we called out to him to beware of his
footing, and keep away from the edge (the sea-weed being as
slippery hereabouts as on the other side of the island); lest a
false step should bring him more than a ducking, and cast him
into the jaws of this monster, who kept his eye on him all the
while as he drew nearer, and swam nearer himself also, edging
towards the low reef of rocks on which Gill was picking his way.
However, we needed not to caution him; for the danger was
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
69
full in view, and he went on steadily, till he judged he had
got far enough out from the strand of our cove. Then he
stood still, and looked back to us, waving his hand.
As for the rest, we drew up in a line, ready to give our
shark a volley on the first sign of his sheering off. But, while
we waited for the moment to fire, Don Manuel came in again
with a word of counsel.
"Throw him, friends", says he, "a piece of the monkey;
and then fire at his heart, as he turns to seize it”.
So said, so done: Prodgers, who had the best right to
claim the beast he had shot, took up a leg, and pitched it into
the water with a good splash, and the bait fell in, about half-
way between the fish and the strand; but no sooner had it
touched the water, than our friend the shark darted at it like
a cat after a mouse, lashing the sea into foam as he swam to
it. "Now, be ready!" cries Don Manuel; and we levelled
our pieces at once. We had not to wait an instant; for the
shark, after trying to gorge the bait as he darted at it, turned
on his side to take it into his jaws; and then the under side of
this huge fish was a fair mark for our bullets.
"Fire!" shouted I, and pulled my trigger. So did the
rest, with great steadiness; and thus the two fowling pieces
and my rifle (for we had loaded the old condemned piece for
this turn) were all discharged at once; and all took effect, as
we found afterwards.
It was getting so dark, the sun being now sunk on the
other side of the island, as we judged by the loss of light, that
we could just see the whiteness of the creature's side as he
turned to gorge his prey, and the flashing of the water as we
hit him. But we could hear, plain enough, the kind of snort
he gave, from pain and rage, as he shot off towards the open
sea on receiving our charge. It was plain, also, as we saw
from the motion of the back-fin above the water level, that he
swam feebly; indeed, spite of the great strength and power
of life possessed by this monster, he must have been badly
wounded, what with my rifle ball, and the large shot from the
other pieces.
•
"Now, Gill! now, Harry!" cried out every one, as the
enemy sheared off from us: "don't let him go, man! Why
won't you fire? Like a land-lubber, as you are", added Prod-
gers, in a heat.
But Gill took steady aim, kneeling on one knee, and
propped his gun securely: then, as the fish went by him, he
delivered his fire like a true marksman, aiming at his head.
70
THE ADVENTURES OF
There came another kind of bubbling snort, louder than the
first; and the shark dived, or sank, under water, we could not
tell which.
""T is all over for to-night", observed Hilton: and so
indeed it was, for we could now scarce see the length of the
muzzle as we pointed our guns; and there being no moon at
this time, the sooner we prepared to encamp again the better
for us. So we followed our plan of last night; gathering our
brushwood, though we found it not in such plenty on this
part of the island, nor of such good stuff to burn readily.
When this was lit, we unpacked our supper, and spread it on
the ground. Then, what with the monkey, which we ate (I
must say) with our eyes shut, and wry faces, what with the
remains of our peccary and bread-fruit, helped also by the
cocoa nuts, we made out our meal pretty well. But all our
talk was of the sea-monster, and what chance we had of
finding him in the morning. Gill made sure of having hit
him in the head; and indeed I hoped so too, from the noise
he made, and his going down at once on getting the shot.
"That”, said Hilton, "with what he had got before from the
rest of us, would be enough to settle him quietly". Tom
Harvey thought he had managed to get out to sea; and so,
though he might be dead as a door-nail, we should be none
the better of him. "Well", said I, taking up the matter,
"if we get him after all, he will be no small prize in many
ways". "What will he serve for", asked Prodgers, (6
than to rid us of one enemy, while there may be more of his
tribe cruising on the same tack ?”
more
On this I told them, if we could capture our fish to-morrow,
he would serve many useful ends at once. First, his teeth
would furnish us with more arrow-heads; and added to the
stock we had, would fill our quivers, had we been so many
Tartars. Then, the liver is known to yield an abundance of
oil; sometimes to several gallons. "If only we were Russians,
instead of Tartars", says Gill, "that would do well enough”.
"Besides", continued I, "if we can anyhow contrive to skin
him, his rough skin will make shagreen for us, that will come
in useful for more things than I can tell at this moment. And
his bones will turn into several tools we can hardly do without:
as, gimlets, files, pincers, and I know not what".
In a word, like many housewives, more eager than expe-
rienced, reckoning their chickens before they are hatched, we
disposed of our shark, all to his bones, while as yet we knew
not if we should ever see him again. And, having thus cut
him up and finished him, we finished our supper likewise.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
71
"Now, my dear friends", says Don Manuel; "we have
proclaimed ourselves this day to be Christians, with a sense of
gratitude in our hearts: and we shall go to rest as Christians,
I am sure of it”.
This time, 't was no new idea to us to fall to our prayers.
Our good priest knelt down, making the sign of the cross on
his forehead and breast; wherein, I observed, Hilton tried to
do like him, though awkwardly enough. Then Don Manuel,
adoring the presence of God, and thanking Him anew for His
protection of us, proceeded to examine his conscience aloud,
while we listened on our knees, wondering; this being a
thing stranger to us even than prayer. He asked himself how
he had spent that day; did he give his first thoughts to God?
—how often had he recalled the divine presence?—what had
been his thoughts, his words, his actions?-had he carefully
kept himself from sin, whether of anger or any other kind?
(here old Prodgers gave a gruff sort of "hem!" that nearly
set Hilton off laughing :) had he considered others with cha-
rity, or provoked them to offend God? (and at this, Harry
Gill got rather red): and so on through a few other questions,
which were almost as strange to us as though he were speak-
ing a foreign tongue. Then lastly, the priest asked himself,
what were his resolutions for the time to come, if his life was
spared through the night?-did he detest his sins because
they were displeasing to the good God? and, breaking forth
with fervour, he then said:
"O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee;
and I detest my sins most sincerely, because they are dis-
pleasing to Thee, my God! who art so deserving of all my
love for Thy infinite goodness and most amiable perfections :
and I firmly purpose, by the help of Thy grace, never more to
offend Thee, and carefully to avoid all occasions of sin”.
With our souls thus refreshed by prayer, we settled down
to refresh our bodies with sleep; and to begin, stirred our
fire, though we now felt more secure against wild beasts;
yet, on these few first nights of our dwelling in this strange
place, we used it as a precaution, though more than was
needful, and that we might go to rest without an anxious
thought or care. Then, gathering round it as we had the
night before, we lay down in full confidence, and most of us
were sound asleep in a short space: only that Don Manuel
stepped aside to finish his prayers by himself.
72
THE ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XVII.
FIRE-SIDE TALK.

HAVE noted these particulars of our two first
days in this place of our banishment, for ast
much as they remained fresh in the memory
of us all for a long time after: but no one
will expect (should this record of the misery
of six poor men ever chance to fall into other
hands), that I am to go on recording the
Much of our
after part of our exile with a like fulness.
time henceforward went by, one day so like another, that it
were tedious to put down at any length what befel us as it
happened. Indeed, one of my chief cares, which I imparted
to my kind counsellor, the priest (for our two heads, I must
say, had to think for the rest), was, how to employ the men,
and how to keep them amused. 'Tis true, we had (one would
think) enough to occupy our time; for we had to build, to
plant, to snare and tame animals for our support; to fish,
whether angling, or with such rude nets as we might make
shift to contrive; to practise shooting with arrows and javelins
when our powder was out; lastly, we had to invent some
method of weaving, however miserable stuffs, to supply us
with clothes. By these needful employments the time would
not hang heavy, could we but persuade the men to keep up
to their work, and in peace with one another. This last
thought was, indeed, the one most on my mind, how to pre-
serve harmony amongst us. For a short time had shown how
ready the inen were each to indulge his humours at the ex-
pense of his fellows; and how soon, with their uncurbed
passions, provided with fire-arms as they were, some deadly
feud might spring up to plunge our small society into war,
and give our island its first taste of blood.
As I sat by the watch-fire, I mused in this fashion till I was
weary of thinking alone; and felt glad when Don Manuel
stepped again into the circle of the fire-light, and spread his
cloak for his night's rest. I asked him if he was too inclined
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
73
for sleep to talk with me a while; then stated to him all that
was in my thoughts.
"Well, friend", says he, cheerfully, as was his wont; for
of all men I ever knew, he was, I think, the cheerfulest:
seldom laughing out loud, as the rest would when the fit took
them, but as seldom (after our first great trial) looking any
ways downcast, and never sour or stern; "well", says he, "for
quarrels, you see we have been able to build up something
of a wall against them”.
I could not for the life of me make out what he meant by
a wall; and looking at him to explain himself: "why, to be
sure", says he, "by beginning to pray, and pray together".
"I must confess, sir", answered 1, "these two turns that
we have knelt down all in a body took me by surprise, like a
new thing, and gave me another notion altogether of what
praying means".
66
"Why so?" asks he, turning his face upon me quickly:
you have prayed, of course, my friend, ever since you were
a child ?"
I felt overcome with shame to be thought of so much bet-
ter than I deserved; and to have it taken for granted I had
done what I knew myself to have been far enough from doing.
But Don Manuel went on, without taking notice of my silence;
and as if he spoke part to himself, part to me:
"Prayer”, he said, "is the elevation or lifting of the soul
to God. Now, the higher the soul is lifted, the nearer it
draws to Him; and the nearer it draws, the more like Him
does it grow: then, you see, as God is the eternal tranquillity
and peace, so man, when he begins to pray, begins to know
peace; and knowing peace in himself, loves to be at peace with
others. He gets one degree, say, of this blessed love of peace
when he prays once; and is likely to get another degree of it
the next time he prays, and so on: just as a mason or brick-
layer lays one course of stones or bricks for his wall, then
another again, resting on that. At last, the soul gains a con-
firmed habit of peace, and feels a great pain at being out of
peace with any one, or witnessing any breach of peace or
charity and this is, as it were, like topping the whole with a
coping-stone. So, now, that is what I call building the wall.
Is it not good masonry, my dear friend; and is it not worth
while to raise such a wall against hatred, violence, misery?"
I could not answer him, I fairly own; for my heart filled
again, and well nigh overflowed. I sat looking into the fire;
I felt the truth of all this good man had been saying. Yet
74
THE ADVENTURES OF
his talk was as simple as a child's, as to the manner of it: only
he seemed to speak with much knowledge from having prac-
tised his doctrine, which I make no doubt he had done for
years. After a while, I turned to him, and pursued our
discourse:
"And there are some people, sir", said I, "who are not
content to be at peace, but strive to make all others be so
too".
He seemed a little confused, as if I had said what he did
not know how to answer, and did not like to hear addressed
to him.
"Yesterday", continued he, as if to turn it off, "when we
were going up that mountain, we got into clearer air the
higher we went, and could see further on every side of us. If
any one asked you why, you would answer: of course, because
we were higher up. And so it is with our souls likewise.
When we struggle against the power of things present that
would draw us away from God, be they in the way of plea-
sure, or anger, or what you will, we are climbing up the
mountain; sometimes with difficulty and pain, in spite of
many weights that would drag us down again. When we
pray, we are climbing. When we give up to others for peace
—when we are obliged to stand against others for principle-
when we do good to others for charity we are climbing.
The oftener we do these things, the higher we climb, and the
stronger. The higher we climb, the more pleasant is the
exertion, and the more delightful the prospect. I will give
you some lines, written by a poor heathen as much as two
thousand five hundred years ago; and then reflect, if even he
could see all this so clearly, what ought we Christians to think
about it?"
Then he repeated, with his strong foreign accent:
"Baseness is easy, chosen by the throng,
Nor rough the way, nor far to seek, nor long:
Severer toil th' immortal gods have given
To fence the narrow way that leads to heaven,
All strait and steep, until the height be won;
Then with a gentler toil it leads the traveller on".*
"You see", continued Don Manuel, when he had concluded
his lines, " a poor man who had so little idea of the One true
God that he calls his idols 'the immortal gods', still knew
* These lines appear to be a translation of the Τὴν μὲν γὰρ κακότητα
καὶ ἔιλαδόν ἐστιν ἔλεσθαι of Hesiod-ED.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
75
something, at least, of the truth we speak of. Reason carried
him a certain way; though by virtue he only meant a proud
conformity of the life to the natural conscience; and knew
nothing of that charity which is the true fulfilling of the law".
"Nothing of charity ?" asked I.
"Certainly not", answered the priest, "for charity is a
Christian virtue, and follows upon faith".
"Faith ?" pursued I, as if I were determined to make objec-
tions: "but then you, sir, as a Catholic, would say that we
who are not so, cannot have faith ?"
"You cannot, indeed, my dear friend", answered he, looking
at me with much concern in his face; "and the greater pity for
you. But you may have several things like it, or leading the
way to it, or producing some of its effects”.
I looked at him as if I did not understand him, which
indeed I did not.
"We are both too tired now", said he, giving a little yawn,
"to follow this much further. But you may have the begin-
nings of faith, or what is a preparation for it, or what is
borrowed from its teachings to its own disciples; and so may
do the same things (to some extent) as if you had faith, by
a kind of imitation".

CHAPTER XVIII.
A FEW LITTLE DEBTS.

PF course I was not satisfied; and he saw it.
"If, now", pursued he, looking upward,
.66 we had a moon at this time, which we
have not, and it were shining over our heads:
it would be very bright, would it not, and
very beautiful, and would influence the tides
this way or that, and light the traveller on
his road, and serve to read by, to some degree ?"
I nodded to this, but could not see his drift at all.
76
THE ADVENTURES OF
Well, after all: would it be the sun?"
I smiled, and waited to hear further.
"No", pursued Don Manuel, speaking now with so much
energy that he half roused some of the sleepers; and Prod-
gers began to mutter an oath or two in his sleep: "No! take
that bright moon at her full, when she is most cloudless and
most powerful; and all her light is borrowed: it is a mere
reflection from the sun. She is herself a dark, dull body;
only capable of giving back and (as I may say) reporting the
light she receives from the sun, the fountain of all light.
Take away the sun, and the moon would be absolutely dark,
as she is in a total eclipse. But do I tire you with this ?”
"By no means, sir", said I: "I do not at all see whither
you are going; but I am anxious to follow you to the end”.
"I am only going to this point", replied he, smiling; "that
the Catholic Church, to whom alone the mission of teaching
the nations is given, besides fully enlightening her children,
also enlightens partly those who reject her. She enlightens
them, so that they still hold, as religious opinions, some por-
tions of her teaching, though not by faith, or in the right
way. They get light from her, as the moon from the sun, by
reflection. The faintest glimmer of twilight, or a meteor that
shoots and expires, is better than total gloom; and a re-
flected light, though imperfect, is light as far as it goes. So
the Church has lower and lesser benefits for those who will
not accept her best gifts; and at every turn makes many her
true debtors who least acknowledge the debt. But come it
is time to snatch a few hours' sleep".
"Stay one moment, sir, I beg you", cried I again, as he
was settling himself to rest. "What you say moves me very
much, I can tell you. I do not half understand it, though.
Will you give me an instance of what you mean?
have we borrowed from your Catholic Church ?”
Don Manuel reckoned up on his fingers.
What
"First", says he, the "sacred Scriptures themselves; for
without the authority of the Church you would not know
which of the various writings were inspired, even of those
you acknowledge".
"Do not interrupt me now", added he, with a good-
natured look, "if you wish me to go through my list; for
't is getting too late to do more than just read it through. Let
me go on. Secondly, you owe to us the change from the
seventh day to the first day of the week, as a day to be kept
holy; and if it were not for that, you would be grievously
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
77
breaking one of the commandments every Saturday, and
practising a vain observance every Sunday”.
This staggered me, I confess; for, little as I had observed
the Sunday for many years, except to idle it away, I did not
forget the words of the commandment: "Remember thou
keep holy the Sabbath day the seventh day thou shalt
do no manner of work".
•
"Thirdly", he went on, "but indeed, I should have put it
first, you owe to us, as far as you really hold them, the true
doctrines of the most Holy Trinity, and the Incarnation”.
"Nay, now, sir," cried I, breaking in with some vexation,
and feeling angry with him for the first time since our ac-
quaintance; "how can you say we owe this to you? Why,
't is a part of our teaching too, I've always heard".
"Remind me as early to-morrow as you like”, answered
the priest, gently, "of the two names, Sabellius and Nesto-
rius; and I will explain my meaning. Would you like me
to finish my catalogue?"
I made a sign, not a very gracious one; for I was much
put out by what he had said.
"Fourthly, then", continued he, "though I fear to vex
you again by mentioning it, you owe to us the rest of all that
is found in the Creeds, the Apostles' and the Nicene, as well
as the Athanasian”. ·
"Fifthly, 't is only by authority of the Catholic. Church
that you have ventured to-day to taste of the peccary and the
bustard, or the monkey, without fear of sin”.
By this, I quite thought he was laughing at me: no sooner
did he see it in my countenance, than he came nearer, and
laid his hand on my shoulder as I sat, saying:
"You do not suppose I would jest in that way? I was
never more serious. It would take some time to explain what
I mean: only remember, in a word, there was a divine com-
mand against eating flesh with the blood in it, issued before
the law of Moses, and continued after it by the Apostles.*
Now, unless the Church can pronounce that the command
was not always to bind, you are bound by it at this moment.
The Council of Jerusalem enforced it on the disciples, who
were freed from the Mosaic law. But if you are bound by
it, you have been guilty of a grievous sin this day, and most
days of your life, as I have stated. That is what I mean;
and thus, your release from that law of not eating blood with
the meat makes your fifth obligation to the Catholic Church”.
* See Gen., iv. 4; Acts, xv. 20, 29.-Ed.
78
1
THE ADVENTURES OF
I could not have kept anger in my heart against him, so
simple and frank was he; even had he intended a jest upon
me: but this I now felt sure he did not. So I at once begged
him to go on, and all my old trust in him revived.
"I've come to the little finger of my left hand", says he,
smiling, "and give you warning, friend, I will not go beyond
the middle finger of the other. Three more points, and then
I go to sleep.
"In the sixth place: do you not owe to the Catholic Church
whatever benefit you think you have had from confirmation,
if you have been confirmed? for she pronounces it a sacra-
ment, and they who say otherwise, have kept it as a form”.
"Seventhly; as you (or your teachers) think you have
among you a Christian ministry, banded down from the
Apostles though I could not honestly say you have, yet if
you had, you could only have it from us, as your learned
writers acknowledge, nay, maintain tooth and nail, as their
best chance.
"Eighthly—and last: if it is not from the Catholics,
whence do you get your solemn cathedrals, that you make so
little use of; your beautiful parish churches, each with the
title of a Catholic saint; your stately colleges and halls of
learning, whose very names, as Corpus Christi, St. Mary's,
All Souls', Peterhouse, prove they come from us; your ancient
almshouses, where even now, a dole is given daily (I am
told*) to the wayfarer and the mendicant, as was once done.
at every convent gate; your fasts and festivals, neither of
which you keep; your ruined abbeys, which you visit on parties
of pleasure; your healing springs, that cure even those who
believe them to be nothing but chalybeate or medicinal
waters; and so on, down to the market-crosses in your pro-
vincial towns, which afford a pedestal for the town clock,
and a shelter for the town crier with his bell on rainy days?
"That is enough for to-night", added he, yawning a little
again: “so I omit Magna Charta, Habeas Corpus, and the
other great bulwarks of the British Constitution, together
with the whole banking system, that would keep us up till mid-
night. So now, wholesome slumbers and the blessing of God".
The priest wrapped himself in his cloak; and, making again
the sign of the cross, nodded to me with a kind look, and
was soon quietly asleep.
*This is at least the case at the ancient hospital, or monastery, of
Holy Cross, near Winchester, at the gate of which (by antient deed,) a
piece of bread and cup of beer may be daily claimed by every wayfarer.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
79

SR St St
DR St St SR SR IR SA SA SA IR IR IR SR
sk st
武汉​状
​CHAPTER XIX.
WE GAIN OUR PRIZE.
QUT as for me, I sat there by the fire, thinking
on what the priest had said; and found much
in it was very new to me, and some things
I wished to find an answer to, and could
not until I dropped off in my turn.
We were woke in the morning by a shout-
ing that caused us all to spring on our feet;
we caught up our guns, and looked at once to the priming,
to be ready against surprise. Our first thought was of
savages, who might have landed in the night; but looking
round, seeing Hilton was not among us, we listened again,
and presently knew it was his voice that shouted to us from
the cave.
So we ran down to him, eager to get some news
of the shark; for that, we judged, was the meaning of the
noise he made.
So soon as we got clear of the trees where we had encamped
the night before, we saw the shark indeed, floating quite
dead (as it seemed), about a quarter of a mile off shore, and
Ned Hilton almost beside himself with joy; he danced on the
sand with extravagant gestures; he sang snatches of a sea-
song; then he shouted, now to us to come quick, now to the
shark, inviting him to land: in short, I thought he had taken
leave of his wits, so like a senseless creature did he behave
himself. But it is to be considered, the interest we take in
the objects round us is measured by the employment we
have for our thoughts; and I have read of a poor prisoner,
chained for many years in a dark dungeon, who by great
patience had tamed a spider in his cell, so that the creature
would come to him, when he whistled to it, out of a crack in
the wall; and how fond he grew of it, and made it a com-
panion how the brutal gaoler, finding what delight the poor
man took in this reptile, shook it on the ground one day
when he came in and crushed it with his foot; also how the
man took it to heart, and was like to pine for the loss of his.
friend the spider. So that our poor Ned was to be excused
for the excess of spirits he showed when the shark came

80
THE ADVENTURES OF
floating back to us again: indeed, I believe he was as over-
joyed at this discovery as ever a needy man who found in his
garden a pot full of guineas to pay his debts with.
But our concern was now, to possess ourselves of this
monster, and bring him to land. First, we could not be sure
he was truly dead: for these creatures keep their life in them
so long, and against all appearance, that I judged it fool-
hardy for any one to swim out to him and fasten a twine
around him, which was what Hilton proposed, but I would
by no means consent to. After awhile, we had the satisfac-
tion to see the tide was now setting in for the cove; and we
had only to wait till the carcass should drift in nearer. But
I proposed to try with the rifle (as the only piece among us
that would touch him at that distance), if he were dead beyond
a doubt and I complimented Harry Gill by offering him
first shot at our enemy. So Gill began by marking the
bullet, to know it again when we had gained our prize :
then, taking good aim, fired and hit him again (as we judged)
under the side-fin; but he stirred not, nor gave sign of life;
whereby we knew him for dead, and gave a cheer for Harry
Gill, whose shot had killed him yesternight.
:
As
I raised no objection now to any of our number swimming
off to take the shark in tow. Only I begged, whoever went
would have a care, and keep clear both of the jaws and tail
of the fish; it being known that a stroke from the tail of a
shark would kill a man, though the fish be but in a dying
convulsion. But they all seemed content to wait till the tide
should bring him in, which it did nearer at every beat of the
waves; a little wind blowing at the time up the cove.
he lay broadside on, he came drifting in heavily, till we could
measure him with our eyes: then we discovered he was
indeed a monstrous fish, and a good deal bigger than the
skeleton that lay in the shallow. We judged him well nigh
thirty feet in length, as it afterwards proved when he came
to land. And, to be short, the tide soon brought him so
near, that the four men waded into the water with the hand-
spike, and Don Manuel's walking staff, together with some
branches they tore from the trees and stripped with their
knives. By help of these, they managed to turn the shark's
head in-shore, and so waited till the tide should ground him,
which it did about half an hour after our shot.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
81

1..
CHAPTER XX.
BLOWN INTO HARBOur.

E were favoured by the wind, which kept still
blowing up the cove, and indeed freshened
as the morning advanced: for, had it not, I
believe we had never got our prize high
enough on shore to be of much use to us.
And, to be short, the wind increased so
much upon us within half an hour after the
shark touched land, as made us look out for a squall: but
truly, when it came, 't was no squall, but a hurricane instead.
The sky grew blacker in the offing than ever I saw it in my
country on a dark day in November; on every side the sea-
birds flew screaming in, and swept close by us, so that, had we
had nothing else on hands, we could have knocked them over
with our staves: and the power of the wind was such as bent
some palm-trees near the shore, as though they had been so
many saplings, or whips of osier.
Our only safety now was to throw ourselves flat on our
faces; which we all did at once, but not before the wind had
twirled away Prodgers' hat, and sent it high in the air, so that
we found it not for near a seʼennight after, in a banana tree
some half mile (I am sure) from the place we were in. But
now was no moment for grumbling, or thinking on hats: for
6
82
THE ADVENTURES OF
the storm waxed to an awful pitch, as it does in the tropics
when it bursts in earnest.
What with the rending of the branches of trees, and roar
of the waves, that now came driving up our cove, as fleet as
a race-horse, and raging like a tiger, tossing their foam high
as the very trees, and drenching us with the spray; and what
with the thunder of the surf that broke on the coral reef out-
side our little harbour, the scene was beyond anything I can
put down on paper. The tide washed up so near the place
where we had anchored ourselves at full length, we were no
longer safe in staying there: I began to think a third wave
(as they say the third wave is ever the highest) would suck
us back into the wild sea. So, choosing a moment when
there seemed a lull, or at least the wind not being so raging
as before, we were up and scudding before the storm;
till we
reached some underwood that lay perhaps two hundred yards
in-shore: yet not under the higher trees, for that we dreaded,
lest they should be torn up, or their branches rent off, and
fall on us, and so crush us out of life.
As to our prize, that we had been so anxious to secure one
short hour before this tempest broke upon our heads, we
thought of it so little, I believe all the sharks that ever swam
might have floated out to seaward, without our bestowing a
thought on their loss to us. So important do things appear
to us poor mortals, till something more weighty comes in, to
wipe them clean out of our minds!
But this was not all: for the rain, or water-spout rather,
began now to pour down upon us in a deluge; so that we were
forced from our brushwood, would we or no, and driven to
seek some shelter, though already we had not a dry stitch on
us: a thing woeful enough, seeing we had no change of gar-
ments awaiting us in this wide world. We dragged our way,
so well as we might, the force of the wind not abating, into
the wood; holding on by the bushes, till we were sheltered
by the trees, cocoa and banana, with others, that grew pretty
thick hereabouts, and plenty. We ran which way soever
the wind would take us, not thinking of aught, but to get
free of this deluge of rain: however, we guessed at the time,
we were making for the ridge, or back-bone of rock that
formed the south end of this island.
'T was not long before we saw the upper parts of it tower-
ing above our heads; and the trees that crowned it, bending
and swaying every way under the tornado of wind: then,
working our way somewhat further, we got under this wall of
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
83
rock, which rose sheer up, much like to the side of a house.
But what comforted us most, was to see, about twenty steps
as you turned to the left, a mass or crag of rock, that had
fallen (I suppose) from the height, or been split off from the
main part of the cliff by some earthquake. This bent over to
the cliff it had been torn from, at an angle, so that the upper
part I guessed to be within eight feet of it, while the base
was at least as many yards distant from the cliff: it looked
dangerous, as though it would fall upon us if we got under it:
till we considered again, it must have hung in that way for
many ages, forasmuch as trees of a large growth had
sprung
up between the two portions of rock; besides, the fallen
mass was covered with shrubs that grew upright on it, fea-
thering to its very top.
"Here", says Don Manuel, looking about him, "is our
shelter till the hurricane be past: and I see not but it may be
so for many a day to come: for where will you find", conti-
nued he, " a better shelter than this rock over head? see,
no drop of the pelting rain hath reached us: then, the trees
round about will be both shade and defence, and we could so
plant ourselves out from the world, that neither savage nor
wild beast could find out our hiding-place”.
<
"Aye, but", persisted Gill, going back to his first idea,
we have no view here of the sea: a ship might touch at the
island, and send ashore, and we be none the wiser, and so
lose our chance".
"I see a way out of that", says Tom Harvey; "for 't is easy
to climb this rock, and so to the cliff overhead; then we shall
have a clear look-out on both sides of us".
"You've hit it, messmate", cries Hilton, clapping him on
the shoulder, 66
so here goes for a scramble"; with that, he
sprang up the rock, by help of the roots of the brushwood
that grew on it, as he would up the shrouds of a ship. Harvey
was after him; and we all followed; for by this time the
worst of the hurricane was over, though the wind moaned
and the waves were lashing in fury, as high as ever. But we
were so wet, we feared neither rain or spray.
From the top of our rock on to the cliff was an easy leap;
for, as I said, the distance at top was not more than seven
or eight feet; and there was a little dent, or landing-place in
the cliff opposite, worn by rain, or a torrent, or sawn out by
the branches; it gave us sure footing, so we sprang across
without a second thought. Then a smart climb brought us to
the rocky look-out, from which we could sweep the horizon
84
THE ADVENTURES OF
round, stopped only by our volcano (so I called it always) to
the north of the island. We gave a glance out to westward
of our little kingdom; but all was quiet there, at least by
comparison for this gale had come upon us from east-by-
south, or from that to due east. Harvey begged for the loan
of my glass; then laid himself down flat, pulled his hat over
his brows, and looked out in the wind's eye.

00000000<>00 <>00
CHAPTER XXI.
A NEW ARRIVAL.

N a minute or two I heard him say softly, to
himself: "There's something out there in the
offing I cannot make out. Is it another big
shark, or what?" Then, after looking, long
and steady, he jumped up, and shouted out:
"Boat, ahoy!"
I do believe, had a dead man spoken, we
could scarce have been more taken aback than by this cry of
Tom Harvey's. All were on the alert, and Prodgers and Gill
scuffled for the glass between them; but Tom gave it back
to me, while I lay down flat to take an observation of the
unlooked-for stranger. It was indeed a boat, I well saw, but
of what kind I could not so well distinguish; only, from the
prow of it running up (so far as I could judge while it sported
like a feather on the angry waves) into a high peak, like the
Indian canoes of the South seas, I set it down for no boat
built in Europe or the colonies. It came driving in; and
first through the glass, then with the naked eye, we could
see men in it: they seemed to be three or four, but could not
manage the boat, as was plain from the way she tossed and
drove before the wind. So they came on for the coral reef,
and we expected every moment to see her go to pieces.
"Lord, have mercy on their poor souls!" cried the priest,
dropping on his knees. We all answered, Amen; for the
danger was so great, we gave them up for lost, and kept
looking on, and wondered to see the boat hold out still.
Only Don Manuel remained kneeling, and prayed on without
moving. By this the boat was within a wave or two of the
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
85
reef; and in a few moments more, a huge roller lifted her up,
stern foremost, right over into our cove, with all on board:
she was capsized as she came, and the crew flung into the
boiling sea.
At this, with a common impulse, we ran down again at our
best speed towards the shore; making for that ledge of rock
on which Harvey had stood, as I said, when he found the
dead shark that had so nigh decoyed us into the jaws of the
live one. For this point we made straight; judging in our
minds, as we ran, 't would give us our best chance to deliver
this ill-fated crew, who must also perish before our eyes in
the water. The boat had been flung clean over the coral
reef, as you might cast a stone or weed over a garden wall;
nor did she appear so much broken as might be thought: for
as we came nearer, we could observe she floated, only keel
upwards; for she had a rude kind of jury-keel fastened on
her, though now partly torn away. At least, she did not
fill, or go down, as she would if the wave that sent her into
the cove had been less full-bodied or powerful; for then she
must have knocked about, on and off the reef, till she had
either gone down, or fairly gone to pieces.
But the condition of the poor souls that had manned her
was scarce less desperate than if they had been left outside
the reef. The surf was still boiling so high and wild, we could
not well see how matters stood with these poor fellows: but
soon we saw, to our sorrow, one of them was dead already;
for he floated, or rather was rolled over and over again by the
furious waves, and made no motion to swim. For the rest, they
made a struggle indeed, as well as they might; but a weak
one it was, against the fury of the rollers that drove over
them: two of these savages struck out for land, swimming
manfully, though every other moment they were under water
again. One (he seemed but a lad) clung fast to the canoe;
this one, we thought, had the best chance, if only he could
hold out a while longer: for he had managed to scramble on
to the keel, and held on with the gripe of despair, while the
boat came higher up the cove with each stroke of the waves.
Yet he was not the first to reach shore, neither: for by this
we had made a shift to reeve our twine (the best cable we
had) into a noose, and Harvey had found a branch of a tree,
of a biggish thickness, but short, to answer the purpose of a
life-buoy, though rudely enough.
Having secured this log or billet (when we had stripped it
hastily of some lesser branches and leaves) in the noose of
86
THE ADVENTURES OF
our twine, we all stood as near as we dared to the margin of
our cove; and with one heave hove it into the sea, towards
the nearest of them that were struggling towards us. The
Indian, as we had already seen them all to be, made for it
with his remaining strength, and after catching it once and
losing it, he caught it again, and held it fast. Indeed it held
held him fast, too: for in the confusion of the waves that
boiled around him, twisting him about like a straw in a mill-
dam, he got the twine round his arm, and it cut him like a
knife, almost to the bone. But this he regarded not: for what
will not a man disregard when life itself is at stake? besides,
he was by this time so spent, I question if at the moment he
much felt it. After all, he ran a chance of being strangled
in the water for very weakness: had not Hilton and Tom
Harvey now ventured in, and pulled him by main force to
land.
Dead enough this Indian seemed to be, as the priest and I
carried him from the surf, and laid him on the sand: but by
chafing him some time, with holding his head so as to disgorge
the seawater he had swallowed, we had the comfort to bring
him to himself. Then I left him, to see after the other two,
that were still struggling in the waves; but Don Manuel
stayed with the first one, lest he should faint again. His
fellow-swimmer, as we watched him, had a harder escape:
we judged him older than the first, he swam so feebly; and
while he still had some little way to make, we saw him cease
to strike out altogether, and presently he sank slowly.
At this, the poor lad who still clung to the canoe, set up
the most dismal howl you ever heard: more like the cry of
a wild beast at night, than any sound from human lips.
We knew not then, this old man was the lad's own father;
but his cry, and the sight of the sinking Indian, put us all
to our wits' ends to save him; but without success, had it not
been for Tom Harvey again.
"Life is sweet, boys!" cried he; "though it be but the
life of a savage Indian. Join hands all in a line, and I'm
foremost man at him!" Don Manuel came running down
to take his share in the action, and dashed into the water,
next to Harvey. Next was Gill, forward for anything, and
so the others, holding hands firmly: so that Harvey, part
swimming, part wading, after he had been beaten back once
or twice, and the chain of hands all but broken by the waves
(though by this they were subsiding apace), came up to the
savage, whose head was now above water again, driving on
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
87
for shore, though at the last gasp; and seizing him by his
long hair, called to the rest to haul them ashore.
But we soon found our brave Tom had risked his life in
more than one way to save this fellow-creature's; for the
sinking man, feeling something to grapple with, clung round
Harvey with such a grasp as was more than Tom could do
to shake off. In another minute, they had both surely sunk
together: when Harry Gill, without more ado, caught Don
Manuel's staff out of his hand before he was aware, and
dealt the Indian such a blow with it on the head as sent him
under water again. There came another wild cry from the
lad, who was drifting in upon his canoe; and he sprung off
it into the waves, to try and save his father.
It seemed a cruel act at the time; and doubtless admitted
no defence, were it not a balance between losing two lives
without remedy, and risking one only. Add to this, Harvey
was a Christian born, and so a more valuable life than the
savage's; he was our comrade, and the other a stranger cast
upon our shore; he had risked a life, too, that was in no
danger, and that was his own to keep, for a life that was all
but gone; and that life we had a chance of saving, after we
had rescued Tom's. I know not what our priest would have
said in this case; for after the thing was over, it never
chanced that we discussed it among ourselves. But putting
all together, though my first impulse was of indignation
against Gill, yet, thinking on it after, I knew not how to
blame him so much for what he had done on the spur of the
moment. Be that as it will, our first concern was to fish
up the poor old Indian; which we managed at length, with
no small pains: and brought him to the surface, and so to
land, dead as a door-nail, so far as we could see.
In truth, we all were in sad case enough, when this was
over: wet and wearied, and chilled to the bone; Tom Harvey`
half choked with his struggle, and the sea-water he had
swallowed; Don Manuel not much better: and, for our
captives, or guests, call them as you may, one seemingly
dead, notwithstanding all our chafing of his limbs, for it
failed to bring him to; the other scarce able to sit up and
moan; and the young savage howling and tearing his hair
like a mad thing over the body of his father. To look at
us there on the shore, one would have thought a slave-ship
had been wrecked in that hurricane, and we, part of the crew,
with a few of the slaves, escaped with our lives from the
boiling sea.
88
THE ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XXII.
DOCTORING AND PURVEYING.

for the second Indian, with all our skill and
attention, he came round slowly: we were
busied around him, Don Manuel and I, in
the mode of regular practice, and the young
savage in a ruder way, for he crumpled up
his father's fingers, and pulled his ears,
enough (one would think) to make a very
statue cry out. But it was done out of love, to bring him to:
for I never saw more concern expressed than in this poor
creature at what he supposed his father's death. Now he
would kneel beside him on the sand, using the rude remedies
I speak of: now he would fling himself on the body, weep-
ing and howling: then he sprang up, stretching his clenched
hands towards the sky, as pleading to the gods he was taught
to worship, to give him back the life of his father. At last,
espying a sharp shell on the sand, he seized it in an access of
fury, and began to inflict such wounds on his own head and
cheeks, that he soon ran down with blood.
The men had looked on, up to now, with much concern on
their faces, to see the wild grief of this untaught nature: but
when he thus began to scarify himself, Harvey and Prodgers.
seized each a hand, and stayed him. The young savage
struggled from them with all his might; when they took the
shell out of his clenched fist, he turned upon them with
threatening gestures, still pointing upward. This action we
did not understand at the time, until we had learned to com-
municate with these savages in a mixed language, part Eng-
lish and part Indian: then, indeed, we made out from the
lad that he had offered his blood as a sacrifice for the life of
his father.
But Richard Prodgers having begun to practise charity,
seemed inspired with another happy idea; and pulling his
flask of brandy out of his pocket, handed it to me, saying:
"Try the poor old fellow with a drop of this; and 't is a
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
89
wonder I had n't thought on 't before". Indeed, it was dull of
myself, too, not to have thought of the brandy as a remedy
for drowning. However, now we applied it in right earnest,
and gave the dead man (as he seemed) his first taste of that
"fire water" which has been so fatal to many another, savage
or civilized.
Whether it was, the brandy took more effect on one who
had never tasted it, or that all we had done for him began to
revive him without giving a symptom; certain it is, when we
had poured some of this down his throat, he began to choke
violently, then sneezed once or twice, and opened his eyes.
We now lifted him up; though he could not stand, we
propped him up for a few minutes, then began to walk him
about slowly, till he gained some use of his limbs.
But you should have seen the joy of the son when he saw
his father revive again. Nothing was too extravagant for
him to make known his feelings by: he gambolled and
capered on before him, shouting, talking to him in his own
language, which had the strangest discordant sound, formed,
as it seemed, down in the throat: and so he went on, till the
old man, growing faint, pointed with his finger to his mouth,
to make known to us he wanted food.
Want of food seemed now the prevailing disease amongst
us: every man felt by this time he had earned his breakfast,
but when we set about preparing for it, we found little enough
left in the larder. The shark had devoured the last of our
monkey; and of the remaining provender, all but a few
scraps was gone, so wasteful had we been. So, setting Don
Manuel, with Prodgers and Harvey, to have an eye to our
Indian friends, lest they might give us the slip, and get into
the woods, to be a trouble to us after (though the poor fel-
lows were too weak and dispirited to have any thoughts of it
at that time), I took my rifle, and ranged with Hilton and
Gill into the thicket, to cater for the party. We took the
young savage with us, motioning him by signs to keep close
at our heels, and not get before us; as well that he might be
out of danger from our shot, as to prevent him from escaping.
But he, for his part, had nothing of the kind in his head:
being occupied with observing us, which he did with all
admiration and astonishment; he regarded us (so we judged
from his looks) as beings of some superior order in human
shape, and much, I suppose, as we should regard an angel
that were to appear to us; but indeed, anything less like
angels, in appearance or spirit, seldom has been seen on this
90
THE ADVENTURES OF
earth. However, the Indian lad followed us obediently; and,
seeing from our actions what we were about, he took up a
smooth stone or two that lay in his path, making signs to us
that he would knock down any animal that came in his way,
and kill it, and bring it to us to eat. All this we made out
readily from his dumb show, which was so expressive, we
could not mistake it, and so ridiculous, we could not choose
but laugh at it heartily. We answered him likewise by signs,
bidding him come along, and drop the stones again; which
he did with submission, and followed us like a very slave,
crossing his hands on his breast.
We had not gone far, before we roused some animal out of
the thicket, such as we had not seen before: neither did we
often meet with such in our residence on the island; nor
could I well account for our meeting this one at the present.
Something it was of the hog kind, though not in all things.
like our peccary, neither: however, anything in the shape of
food was acceptable to us in our hunger, so I knocked it over
with my rifle without more delay, and Harvey picked it up
stone dead, or drew it along, rather.
But we, that were so used to the sound and effect of fire-
arms, did not reckon on what they would produce upon the
spirits of one that never yet had heard them. We were sur-
prised to see our young savage fall to the earth on the sound
of my piece's discharge: he lay like a dead thing, on his face;
and when we came to him and stirred him, bidding him get
on his feet again, he only rose to his knees, supplicating us
with the most moving gestures, and pointing to the rifle I
held in my hand: then speaking to it, as though it were a
live thing, and beseeching it not to kill him.
This made us merry again; till the distress of the savage
moved us to some compassion: I came to him, and took him
by the hand, holding my gun behind me, to assure him I
meant him no harm, and so raised him to his feet. When he
had gained some courage, he looked anxiously about for the
piece that had been fired: but when I brought it forward,
all his fears revived, and I believe he would have fled away,
but that by my voice I half commanded and half encouraged
him to stand still. Then I presented to him the stock of my
rifle, and moved it towards him he trembled from head to
foot as he eyed it; at length, falling on his knees again, he
placed the butt of the piece on his head, and clasped his
hands over it, by which I saw he meant to worship it.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
91
"

CHAPTER XXIII.
WE ARE TAKEN TO BE GODS.

ITTLE religion as there was amongst us, ex-
cept what our priest had taught us lately, we
were struck with horror (at least I speak for
myself) to behold this ignorant savage bow-
ing himself down thus to the stock of a tree.
I took the rifle from him angrily, pointing
upwards to the sky; to make him understand
that life and death came from thence alone. He seemed
partly to understand me, and nodding his head and smiling,
pointed upwards too, and then to the gun; by which I made
out that he thought the god whom he had worshipped (in his
blind way) had sent down this piece upon earth, or had come
to dwell in it, and so had worked the wonderful effects he
had seen it produce. But when I handled the rifle again,
and began to sponge it with my ramrod, and load it with
powder and ball, then he changed his opinion, and began to
think, as I was master of this terrible engine, and could do
with it as I would, I must needs myself be a god.
He crept to me, with all possible signs of reverence and
fear; touching the ground several times with his forehead as
he came; then, drawing nearer, he took my foot with tremb-
ling, and placed it on his head as he lay in the dust. This I
refused with a frowning countenance; and raised my hand
again to heaven, forbidding him to worship a creature such
as I but all was of no use.
:
The poor Indian could not get
it out of his thoughts that we were masters of the thunder
and lightning, and could do what we would with life or death.
So I gave it over for the time; resolving to speak to Don
Manuel, and see what could be done to enlighten this dark
soul, and teach him to know something of God. Meanwhile,
I motioned to him to take this animal (the one, I mean, that
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THE ADVENTURES OF
we had killed) on his shoulders, and run before us to the
rest; which he did willingly, and arrived before us, in spite
of its weight.
At sight of this food, the savages were not to be restrained:
indeed, taking into account their long fast (for we made out
afterwards, that they had not tasted bit nor sup for the best
part of two days) we thought it best to let them have their
way; so, cutting off a leg and shoulder for our own use, we
abandoned the rest to their heathenish gluttony. And short
work, truly, did they make of it, without so much as a thought
about cookery of any kind. But I must record here, on the
other hand, the tender filial attentions paid by the poor lad
to his father: for, seeing the old man still so weak as scarce
to be able to raise hand to mouth, this young savage (though
less a savage indeed than many a son more civilized) occupied
his whole care about feeding his father with the choicest
morsels he could tear off with his fingers; putting them
lovingly into his mouth, and talking to him all the while with
that strange kind of jabbering he had used at first. This
talk, or some part of it, I made out to be about the firing of
the rifle, and wonderful killing of the animal, without arrow,
javelin, club, or even stone: for first he pointed to it (or as
much as was left after their meal), then ran along swiftly on
his hands and feet, to imitate the creature's running, which
he did in the most laughable way you ever saw. Then he
stood upright to take me off, too: but that he did not, till he
had first inclined towards me with great reverence, crossing
his hands on his breast again, and uttering some words, or
sounds rather, that were meant to show respect for the per-
son he spoke of. Then, stretching out his left arm straight,
and at full length, pointing his finger by way of muzzle to a
gun, he snapped his other fingers smartly for the click of the
lock, and made a booming sound, or kind of rude bellowing,
to express the report of the piece. Then again, he turned
himself into the animal I had shot, and went tumbling and
rolling over and over; then lay still, as though he were dead,
and so got up again, and came back to the rest.
All this pantomime amused our men heartily: as for Ned
Hilton, he turned to Harvey, and bade him cheer up, and not
take on for the loss of his monkeys, if they should not live
(the two young monkeys, as I said before, were sickening at
this time, and died very soon after): "For here, messmate”,
says he, "you have a young monkey in this nigger, as full
of tricks as any; and you may teach him to fetch and
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
93
carry: see, he's not afraid of speaking and being put to
work".*
As for the Indians, they seemed to think there was nothing
laughable in what their young countryman told them: no
sooner had he finished his account, than they rose up, and
coming towards us with the same gestures of submission he
had used before, bent down before our feet; then lifted our
feet gently, and were for placing them on their heads, in sign
of servitude, or adoration, I scarce know which. I noticed
the only one of our number who seemed proud of this being
done was Prodgers: as for the rest, Hilton and careless
Harry laughed at it with a will; Tom Harvey, too, was
amused at the odd gestures of these poor savage men. Don
Manuel did what I had done before, only in a better way, for
it came more natural to him. He took the hand of the
Indian who had offered him the homage; and that was the
old man whom he had fetched back from death with so much
difficulty, who seemed to single out Don Manuel as the one
that had best title to reverence. This old Indian came creep-
ing to him as though he were more than human: the priest
put this by, with some marks of displeasure, though kindly;
then, taking his hand, raised it with his own towards heaven,
to make him understand, 't was God had saved him, and that
he must adore God alone.
Thus, our first communication with these savages was, so
far, on the side of Christianity; a thing I am glad to think
on now, reviewing all that befel us. "Too often", said Don
Manuel to me when we talked it over, they who ought to
have carried to the heathen the light of the Gospel, have
only stirred for them the fire of hell".
* The negroes in the West Indies had a notion that the monkey was
human, and could speak if he would; but that he kept silence to avoid
being employed as a slave.--Ed.

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CHAPTER XXIV.
A LESSON IN INDIAN.

UR next thought was, how to establish a
kind of language to converse with these
new and strange friends of ours. After
some consultation, withdrawing ourselves
a little apart, the men asked me to make
the savages a speech in dumb show, to gain
their confidence, but their submission too.
Don Manuel joined this request; and though I asked him to
try it himself, he still motioned me forward. So I drew
near to them, where they were sitting huddled together with
much anxiety, their chins resting on the palms of their hands,
and eyeing every movement of ours with their great rolling
eyes. But when they saw me approach with my rifle, they
all sprang up in terror again, and prostrated their faces in
the dust, making no doubt I had determined to kill them.
Nay, perhaps they thought we were going to eat them too,
or at least one among them: for the men were even now
preparing a fire to cook some portions of the hog for our
meal, and they supposed, it seems, I was come to fetch them
to increase our good cheer.
Finding this, I laid aside my rifle, placing it carefully on
the sand; then still advanced a few steps, and held out my
empty hand to them, to show them I had no such intention
as they feared. I could see they watched all this very
closely; and it gave them much joy, you may be sure: so,
seating themselves in a row, and with gestures of submission,
they listened, without interrupting me again. I say, listened;
for I found I could not get on with my dumb show only,
but must accompany it with words: and though it may
appear strange to any one who reads this, yet I believe he
will find, by placing himself in my circumstances, he would
help out his actions by words, even as one who speaks on
what interests him much, is sure to help out his words by
action.
My address ran thus, or somewhat as follows:
OWEN EVANS, ESQ,
95
"Friends", said I, in a mild voice, smiling on them all the
while, "
we have rescued you from those waves"; and here I
pointed with my hand over to the sea, which was now grow-
ing calm again. This action they understood very well; and
bowed their heads to say, 't was true, and they were very
grateful to us for saving them. "We are glad of it", con-
tinued I; "and thankful, as you ought to be, to that great
God who has preserved you from death" (raising my hand,
and pointing upwards, though I must say, my heart rebuked
me for preaching gratitude when I had put it so little in
practice. But if we measured our instruction by our own
practice, which of us would say a word to his neighbour
for his good?) Well, this second action of mine was plain
enough to them too: only, while I pointed straight up to
heaven, they all pointed with both arms stretched out to the
sun, to make me know that was the god they thought had
saved them from the sea. This made me feel angry again;
yet not so much as I determined to make show of feeling, to
wean them from that horrid idolatry of theirs. So, putting
on a frowning countenance, I closed my fist, and shook it at
them, to threaten them: at which they dropped their hands
again, and bowed their heads, as saying, it should be just as
I would. I supposed at the time, and made out from them
after, what was their notion about us; viz., that my God
must needs be much greater than their god, since I was
myself so superior to them; also, that it was my God who
had saved them, and not their own, inasmuch as the tempest
had obscured the sun. However, I now went on, part by
words which they could not understand, part by signs, which
they did I made them sensible we would be good masters to
them if they would behave themselves orderly and well:
that we would not beat or ill use them (this I explained by
taking one of the handspikes, and making as though I were
beating some one severely, together with kicking, shaking,
and beating with my fists: then threw the pike from me with
every mark of abhorrence, as though all this were what I
detested, and should be sorry to be forced to do).
"T was indeed strange to see, how quickly these poor
savages took up my meaning. They nodded at me with
many outlandish grimaces, crossed their hands on their
breasts, then placed them on their heads, in token, they
devoted their lives to our service. Then I, on my part, made
them great promises, pointing to some cocoa-nuts that grew
at a little distance, pretending to fetch them the fruit to eat:
J
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then to some portions of the hog that lay about, as though I
were offering them all good things they needed. At this, they
clapped their hands, and broke out into a kind of song, rock-
ing themselves to and fro as they sat, with gestures of much
satisfaction.
What they sang sounded much as I here set it down:
Ooama atahai, oora. oora,
Tangata makoee, kaoo, toroo;
Eree-ma, warû!
But it was not till some time later that I chanced to ask the
middle-aged Indian, one day when he was hoeing in our plan-
tation, what was the meaning of this song; and in particular,
of the last words, which they repeated again and again,
drawing out the notes to a great length, and raising their
voices to a higher pitch. He told me, in the broken English
we had taught him to speak, 't was a song of gratitude for
the promises I made them: and this is how he put it into
English; Brown man happy, very good, very good: he work,
he laugh, morning, evening: kind to him white lords!
After all, I thought it best to show them, as there was a
smooth side, there might be a rough one, in our dealings with
each other. So, in the best way I could, I began acting
another little pantomime, expressing first a disobedient,
froward servant, dishonest to his master; this I did by
catching up a cocoa-nut, and running a little distance with it
as though I had stolen it: then came back, and pointed to
them, to make them see I meant themselves by this; so,
pointing to myself, I moved towards my rifle, catching it up
and presenting it at them, as though I would fire. But this
renewed all the poor fellows' mortal fright, as indeed I meant
it to do, for a wholesome lesson to them: they cast them-
selves once more down before me, stretching forth their
hands; and all at once cried out with the utmost vehemence,
Udan, udan! which means in their language, no, no!
Whether they meant only to beseecb me this most dreadful
thing might not happen to them, or to assure me they would
not deserve it, I cannot say, but 't was like enough they
meant both.
►
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.,
97

CHAPTER XXV.
FREEDOM OR SLAVERY?

UR party being thus increased of a sudden, it
perplexed me to know how to secure these
new subjects of our little kingdom, or employ
them and after our meal, which we cooked
and ate in our accustomed fashion, I walked
a little apart with Don Manuel to consult
on the point, placing the savages in charge.
of Tom Harvey. This I did, both for their safe custody,
also to prevent any of the other men playing off their sailor's
tricks on them, or ill-treating them with any tyrannical usage;
a thing I apprehended, not wholly without reason. For, though
our men were indeed improved by our common misfortune
and Don Manuel's influence, yet 't was plain they regarded.
these Indians as beings of a lower grade, who might be
employed as their slaves, or treated according to the humour
of the moment. Indeed, this was the question I proposed to
the priest, how far our savages were to be looked on as slaves
whom we had bought with our money, or prisoners taken in
war.
He answered me very gravely, and with an earnest coun-
tenance, saying, we had no right whatsoever to regard them
so: for, putting aside, says he, the whole question of slavery,
which you and I need not now enter on, these poor men are
cast by misfortune on our coast; and we owe to them a share
of those rights which man has with his brother man.. "If
we should deprive them", he went on, speaking more and
more strongly, "of their liberty, in what are we better than
those inhuman wreckers who come down from their cliffs
like so many sea-robbers, or vultures, to seize the property
7
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THE ADVENTURES OF
of the luckless mariners that are cast on their inhospitable
shore ?"
To this I saw no answer, indeed: yet, thinking awhile;
"These creatures", said I, "are savages, who have no law of
property, nor understand any right between man and man,
except what the strong arm gives over the weak”.
"But every man", answers the priest, quick, "by the law
of nature, has the right to possess himself".
"I doubt not", pursued I, for I wanted to look at this from
all sides, "had we been cast away on their coast, instead of
they on ours, they had robbed and killed us by this time,
aye, and eaten us besides".
"Even granting it", Don Manuel replied; "that would
have been forasmuch as they are savages and heathens. Shall
we measure our conduct by their standard?"
"Has, then, the heathen savage", I objected, "the same
rights with the Christian and civilized white man?" But as
I spoke, I felt a twinge of conscience, to think what sort of
civilization we owned, and above all, what sort of Christians
we had proved ourselves to be; though Don Manuel let it
pass without notice.
"We must not confound two things together", says he,
smiling. "By the law of nature, the white man and his
darker brother have the same title to life and liberty: though
by the law of society they may not have the same privileges
in other ways".
"After all", said I, "the one is savage, the other civilized".
"That is what I mean", insisted he, though quite mildly,
as was his way. "The great difference between them makes
it impossible to put equal power into their hands; because the
savage knows not how to use it rightly. You cannot trust
him, as you cannot trust a mere child. When the child is
grown in years, in knowledge, in experience, he passes out of
the state of a pupil, and becomes a citizen. You must
educate him for his future position; then give it to him. So,
you must train the savage, who in many ways is a child;
and, when he has served his apprenticeship to liberty, he
must be free, absolutely free!" He spoke this with some
warmth, raising his voice as we walked on.
"Then you think 't is our duty to educate these Indians,
and treat them as equals?" asked I.
"Think, my dear friend?" answered the priest, turning
short upon me; "I do not think about it, for I am sure.
Educate them first, and you thereby make them equals.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
99
Let us take care", he added, "we do not find them some day
our superiors".
"Just what I apprehended", said I, taking him up wrongly:
"what if some day they should find the means to over-
master us?"
"Build my wall round about them", said he, looking
cheerful: "for to be encompassed with that wall is the truest
freedom".
I knew well what the priest meant: and, after I had
thought for a few minutes; "Yes, sir", said I, "that wall
has stood us in good stead, and I see not but it might do
much for these poor fellows, to teach them to pray, too".
"And not to bow to the sun", added he, sighing deeply,
as he thought on it. "We must clear away all that, and a
great deal more, before we can lay the foundations of our
wall".
"Then it is our duty to make them Christians, too?"
"Who can doubt it?" answered he. "Duty! is it not a
privilege? Are they not sent to us for that very thing?"
He looked at me, in wonder that I did not answer; which
I was indeed slow to do, for the idea which filled his mind
was new to mine. Except for what he had said when he
asked us, the day before, what a priest was, I must own the
thought had never crossed me, of converting such savages as
we might fall in with.
"Yes", said the priest, speaking to himself; "therefore
are they come even therefore are they come !"
He had scarce uttered the words, when our thoughts were
diverted by a cry that rose among the men we had left: soon
we saw Hilton coming towards us in haste, beckoning us to
come back. My mind misgave me, something was going
amiss with the Indians; I ran back at once, up a little slope
of ground that had hidden us from view, and Don Manuel
followed me close. We had fetched a compass in our walk
of perhaps two hundred yards: but now, taking a short cut
through the trees, I was soon upon them, before they were
aware; and saw at once what I was sorry enough, and angry
enough too, to see going on.

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CHAPTER XXVI.
THE WHITE MAN NO HERO.

QEING left to themselves, and this new game
afoot, the men (or some of them) forgot all
they had gone through, in the pleasure of
tormenting the unhappy Indian savages:
seeming to regard them as their absolute
property, or as so many head of mere cattle
without souls. No sooner were our backs
turned (this we made out later from Harvey, and from the
Indians later still), than Prodgers and Gill, always our most
untoward members of society, began such pranks as a school-
boy might have felt himself above practising; as, plucking
the hair of these poor ignorant creatures, blackening their
faces with a burnt stick: in short, whatever tricks are played
off on passengers in a ship on first crossing the line, were
devised, and executed too, by those scapegraces, spite of all
Tom Harvey's efforts against it. He reasoned with them, and
defended the Indians to the utmost of his power; he endeḍ
by threatening them outright, he would knock them down,
did they attempt it further. And 't was just at this stage of
proceedings we came upon them.
I ran up at once, and spoke out my mind; laying hands,
roughly enough, on Prodgers' collar: bidding him desist, or
we would come to blows. The rest joined in this; reasoning
now with him, now with Harry, to persuade them how absurd
as well as cruel they had been: above all (for that was the
thought came chiefly into my mind), how we should destroy
our influence with these savages by showing them, they whom
they had so lately taken for gods were subject to all the
caprices and fooleries of mere men, after all said and done.
This had some little effect, for both of them now became
somewhat ashamed of the part they had played. But pride
next came in, to bolster up what could not be maintained by
reason and Richard Prodgers, turning thoroughly sulky
again, seemed resolute to have his own way, or leave us
altogether; for so he declared himself.
"Hark ye", says he, "I give you all notice, I, for one,
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
101
do n't understand this submitting here and submitting there,
nor do n't mean to practise the same. I mean to do as I
please, for one: so, good bye t' ye all, if that 's all, and no
more about it”.
With that, he catches up his gun, and was for making off.
But I saw at once, to let him go with his weapon in that style
would never do; for Prodgers armed, and in dudgeon, might
prove an awkward customer to the rest of us, if he meant
mischief. So, thinking to coax him back to good humour, I
was beginning in a hail-fellow-well-met sort of way; but
Don Manuel laid his hand on my arm, as though to say, such
would be of no use for the present. Nor indeed, knowing
the man concerned, do I think it would have been.
"At least”, said I, "you do not carry away the gun; for
we have already voted that into the common stock: and he
who withdraws from our commonwealth has no claim to
private property".
The men closed in here, and cried out I was in the right of
it: but Richard Prodgers was not the man to yield that point,
you may be sure: and a struggle followed for the piece, in
the midst of which, I know not by what means, it became
cocked, just as Don Manuel, who stepped in on one side (while
I, on my part, pulled Richard away), struck up the muzzle
with his hand. And, so doing, he saved the life of Ned
Hilton; for, the next moment, the piece went off, and some
of the shot grazed Hilton on his cheek: but for what the
priest had done with a calm presence of mind, it had without
all doubt shot him through the body. But Hilton, chafed at
this, angry and bleeding as he was, with one blow of his fist
felled Prodgers to the ground.
This put an end to the contest; each one being too much
concerned in preventing further mischief not to make common
cause so Richard was held down, till he promised good
behaviour if we let him rise. But good behaviour meant,
thrusting his hands in his pockets, and turning away from us,
while we consulted apart what was best to be done with him.
He saved us much further trouble on that head; for turn-
ing to us again with a determined air, "I wish all here a
good morning", says he, "and shall take myself off".
So take himself off he did, till we lost sight of him among
the trees that bounded our cove to northward: but after-
wards it appeared, from what followed, he struck down again
towards the rocks on the shore beyond.
I believe, none of us felt sorry at the time to be rid of
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THE ADVENTURES OF
Prodgers so easily; only we knew well he must soon come
back to us and beg for food: inasmuch as, except his knife,
that would not serve to kill wild game, he was unprovided
with anything whereby to support life for so much as a day.
"He may comfort himself with the rest of the brandy
bottle", said Gill, and then we thought no more of him, being
occupied with our savages, to see what use we could make of
them.
But first, Don Manuel took up that discourse, representing
to the men, as strongly as he had to me (but not in a like
way of discussing the question), that we must not think of
making slaves of these Indians. We might call them appren-
tices, he said, and hold them as such, if they chose to stay
with us. Only, we must give them their choice, whether
they would stay at all, or take chance of the sea again in
their canoe. They were free to go, or remain; and, remain-
ing, had a right to good treatment, as man should treat his
fellow-man.
I could plainly see, this discourse was not well relished by
some that heard it; and there was silence among us for a
little while, the men looking first on each other, then on the
ground. For indeed, to oppose the priest, who had become
our benefactor in many ways, was a thing no one was forward
to do: yet, on the other hand, Gill, and Hilton too, who had
settled in their minds they might lord it over these savages,
and so lead easy lives on the island while the slaves worked
for them, now saw their property, as it were, snatched from
their grasp.
66
Come, friends", said the priest, after a pause: "do justice
to your better thoughts, and let me be spokesman for you to
these poor souls, who are created, like yourselves, to the
image of God".
With that, he stepped to them; speaking in his native
Spanish to give effect to his signs, he asked them (for I had
some acquaintance with that tongue), whether they would
stay on the island with us: and here he struck down his staff
on the earth, then pointed to us with his hand. Or, says he,
will you get into that canoe again (for the canoe had by this
come near the shore, but had not righted, and was floating
keel upwards), and go back again over the wide sea?
which he made clear to them by the signs accompanying his
words.
All
Our Indians did not debate which to choose; but all fall-
ing on their knees, they took up handfuls of the earth, and
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
103
first kissed it, then put it on their heads, after swallowing a
little of it, and throwing some into the air: devoting them-
selves, as we understood, to live and die on the place. Then
they pointed to the boat, and made signs of disgust, turning
away their heads, and shaking their hands against it: to
make us know, they had no wish to embark again, but the
clean contrary. At this, Don Manuel gave tokens of satis-
faction, and renewed for us the promises of good treatment
I had made them before.
While we were occupied in this way, we heard the voice
of Richard Prodgers cry out, as if in terror or pain, from the
rocks beyond out of sight. In an instant after, he shouted
for help: we caught up our guns, and dashed after him,
motioning to the savages to follow us. So indeed they did,
and outran us too, having armed themselves with some stones
that they caught up most dexterously as they ran. As to
their running, they distanced us fairly; for such fleet crea-
tures I never saw in human shape; all except the old man,
who could very hardly keep up with us. I thought it
dangerous to let the other two go on, lest they should escape
us altogether; so I called out to them to come back, which
they did with great submissiveness; and thus it chanced we
all came upon the scene of action together.

SR ST SR SK SK SA SR SA
SR SR SR
枣​枣
​SR SR SR SA
CHAPTER XXVII.
PRODGERS LEARNS HIS LESSON.

sooner had we got clear of the trees, than
't was plain poor old Richard was not crying
for help without a cause: we found him
kneeling on the rocks, and he holding them
with all his might, struggling against some-
what that pulled him to itself, with a force
greater than his own, while he cried out
in the extremity of his terror. We ran up to him at full
speed, and horrible it was to see him in the grasp of a large
cuttle fish, that almost had gotten him within its jaws. This
monster had a body of the bigness of a biggish gourd, and
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THE ADVENTURES OF
each one of its eight arms (or legs, call them as you will) was
no less than four feet, I am sure, in the length; with suckers
at the end, such as I have seen boys make in leather, and
pull up stones by them at the end of a string. It had fixed
one of these suckers on Richard's face, leaving him scarce
mouth enough to roar with; and by this, and three or four of
its other arms, it was pulling him towards its beak, hooked
like a parrot or hawk's beak, that was open to devour him;
whilst its large fishy eyes were fixed upon him, and the
rest of the legs clasped the rocks with the grasp of a black-
smith's vice.
We were afraid to fire, lest we should miss the monster,
and hit our comrade instead; besides, a bullet or two might
have gone through the cuttle-fish, without doing it much
hurt, and would not lessen the dreadful power of its arms,
that were still drawing, and drawing, till Prodgers' face was
within a foot or so of the cruel beak that would have gored
it in a moment more.
of
Let me live as long as I may, I never can forget the look
agony Richard cast, nor his shrieks, as the monster closed
on him. But just then I ran up, and laying the edge of my
drawn hanger on the arm of the fish, drew it swiftly across,
and severed the limb at a stroke. Then the rest of the men
fell-to with their knives, and we made short work of him:
for indeed we could find no bones but the back-bone, and
all the fish's strength lay in the contracting power of his
muscles, which pull with a strain like a ship's cable.
Our attention for the moment was all on our poor old
messmate; he had fallen into a deadly swoon from the fear
of what we were just in the nick of time to save him from.
We had some ado to recover him, which we did by the aid
of a few drops from his own flask, with dashing some salt
water in his face. At last he opened his eyes, and nodded
thanks to us for our care, sitting on the knee of Harry Gill,
who thus repaid him for his good offices of two days ago,
when he got the brimstone choke in the cave. But in another
minute or so we saw Richard Prodgers slide down on his
knees, still holding by Harry's shoulder: I thought at first
he was going off again into a swoon, but soon I heard
him say, only faint and low: "My God, I thank Thee for
saving me; I am sorry for all my sins against Thee! Help
me: I intend to do better !"
On this, Don Manuel wept aloud for joy; and he that had
been so calm up to now, and calming the passions of other
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
105
{
men, surprised us no less by his passionate emotion than
Richard by his prayer. However, the priest took no notice
of us or our wondering; he cast himself down on his knees
beside Prodgers, and throwing his arm over the old sinner's
shoulder, he looked up to heaven, and cried:
"It is fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this
our brother was dead, and is come to life again; he was lost,
and is found!"
I know not by what blessed contagion 't was, but we all
cast ourselves on our knees together, and could not help it;
then, for the third time since our banishment in this place,
Don Manuel prayed for our whole company, and guided our
prayer. He thanked the divine mercies for Richard's deli-
verance; he invoked a blessing on his head for his good reso-
lutions, and prayed that he might persevere in them; pleading
for this by what I shuddered to think we had seldom heard
mentioned on board ship but in cursing and blasphemy-
the Blood and Wounds of Him who hung on the cross to save
us all.
This time, too, he ended before we had wearied of our prayer;
then stood up, and we followed his example. All of us, I think,
guessed by a sort of instinct what was coming next, as he took
Richard by the hand, and led him towards Ned Hilton. Ned
was still stanching his wounded cheek with his neck-kerchief.
Prodgers put out his hand, and did not hesitate.
"Forgive
and forget", said he, "mess-mate; 't was a mischance after
all". Ned seemed to debate with himself for a moment, then
grasped his hand in return, and all was well between them.
from that time.
"Into hospital, gentlemen!” cried the priest, gaily; "these
little accidents have laid us up, and we must recover before
we think of aught else, if you please".
No sooner said than done: we placed the wounded men
sitting on the rocks, and I began to examine Hilton's face,
that was grazed by the shot, but not more than that. Now
was the first time the savages proved of use to us; for no
sooner did they remark what was going on, than the middle-
aged Indian (so I still call him, but we made out afterwards
his name was Rer-mimebolamba, which means Pounder of the
enemies' heads), coming towards us with signs of great reve-
rence, pointed first to Hilton's wounds, then stretched his hand
towards the woods in the interior of the island: making as
though he would gather something there, and apply it to the
cheek.
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THE ADVENTURES OF
I was inclined to let him have his way, knowing how skilful
savages are in healing wounds by herbs and simples, though
unpractised in other branches of the healing art; and, surgeon
as I was, I did not disdain to take a lesson from the savage
the more so, as I had with me no instruments or any other
remedies, these having been left behind in the ship. So I
bade Harvey take one of the guns, and go with the
Indian into the wood, giving him strict charge to prevent
his escaping, and rather to shoot him down than lose him in
that way.
"Stay", said Don Manuel, with much concern when he
heard me say that; "did not we agree, a while ago, these
men had a right to life and liberty? So no shooting, Señor
Tomaso, for that would be downright murder”.
"But if he escape", says I, "he will be dangerous to us
all: he may lie in wait for us in the woods, and we shall
never be secure of our lives for a moment: then, he may
signal to any canoe he chances to espy, and bring other
savages on us".
"You have no right to his life", replied the priest, "unless
it be absolutely needed to preserve your own".. And he spoke
this with more authority than was his wont: for he had at
times the air of a prince; and when he showed this, I felt
awkward and shy before him, do what I would.
"Put him in leading strings, if you think it necessary to
your safety”, said he after a pause, and smiling: "provided
he consent, for he has a free choice. You have some string
about you, I think I saw: well, let me ask him to become
our prisoner as well as our apprentice".
I handed him the ball of twine; for indeed, by this time
he did with us pretty well as he would: he took it, and came
to the Indian, making signs to him to tie his own hand, and
pointed to the woods, to make him know, he might go thither
on his good errand when he had done this. John Pounder
(for so we called this savage after a while, when he knew the
meaning of his Indian name) nodded and laughed at what
the priest signalled to him; then took the end of the twine:
with his right hand and his teeth he tied a knot round his
left wrist as cleverly as ever I saw a sailor knot a rope: then
gave back the ball into the hands of the priest, and pointed
to the woods, as impatient to set off.
"You see, friends", said Don Manuel, turning to us, “he
has done himself, by dint of a little gentleness, what no one
had a right to compel him to".
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
107
"Give a man rope enough, and he'll hang himself”, says
Gill.
"Not in this case", answered the Don: "but I will cap
your proverb with another we have in Spain; it may be put
into English thus:
'Up the Sierra Morena
A green bough 'tices a restive mule'.*
Have you any like that, friends, among the sayings of your
country ?"
"I take it”, said I, "'t is much what I have heard said, that
you may draw folks round the world, when you can't drive
them a yard".
"Ah, just so, just so”, said he, again and again, looking
much pleased: "kindness is the real load-stone that draws
everything. But now, off with you to the woods, or our
friend Hilton's wounds will grow cold”.
I must say, though, the Indian did not seem so content to
go with Tom Harvey; for Harvey had the formidable gun in
his hand that was to him so supernatural and dreadful à
thing: the poor savage looked beseechingly to the priest, and
stretched out his hands, as begging him to take him rather.
But Don Manuel smiled upon him again, stroking his head;
then laid his hand upon his own heart, to make him see he
pledged himself for his safety. This seemed to content the
other; so he crossed his arms on his breast, and they set out
at a round trot, and soon were in the woods out of sight.
•
Now I turned to Prodgers, who by this had pretty well got
back his strength: only his face too had need to be doctored,
what with the violent drawing of the monster's paws, or
suckers, grasping it; what with a kind of poison that must
have exuded from them: for his face was becoming bloated,
and covered with a redness, or rather a purple colour in spots,
that alarmed me for him. He seemed to feel some fears
himself: for he said to me, in a subdued way, quite unlike
his former:
"Do you think, sir, I am in danger of dying?"
* It seems a pity that the author has not given us the original of
this Spanish proverb, the meaning of which, however, is obvious
enough. The Sierra Morena is a rugged chain of mountains running
between Cordova and Estremadura; the ascent of which was, in
earlier days at least, toilsome and difficult, demanding some enticement
to the sumpter mules and other beasts of burden employed in trans-
porting merchandize across the height.-ED.
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"Oh! I hope not, old fellow", answered I, wishing to cheer
him up; knowing that to lose spirits in such cases only makes
the danger greater: "why should you entertain such dark
thoughts ?"
66
Why, death", says he again, slowly, "is an awful thing,
when you come to think on it; I never felt so much about it
before. I fell over board once, 't is now a good eleven years
ago; all the while I was struggling in the water, I had not so
much fear of death as now that I am sitting on this rock.
To pass out of life, what is that? "T is to have one's soul
taken out of one's body, I know; well, that must be a shrewd
wrench; and where does the soul go to then ?"
God forgive me, but I gave some light turn to this, to keep
up his spirits, as I thought: when Don Manuel, who had
taken his prayer-book, overheard us, and shut it again as he
drew near.
66
'Whither", said he, "do you ask? Why, you know, my
dear friend, as well as I, the soul is no sooner sundered from
the body, but it stands before its Creator, to be judged".
At this, I pressed the priest's arm, to make him sensible I
desired to keep all such thoughts from the mind of my patient:
but he went on more earnestly, and said a few simple things
about death and judgment that seemed to go straight into
Prodgers' very soul, so awe-struck and humble did he look:
and Gill too, with Hilton, listened in silence to every word
he spoke. But that moment we saw our Indian running to
us at full speed from the wood; for Harvey had released him
when he had got clear of the thicket on his way back. His
hands were full of herbs, which he brandished aloft, laughing
and gibbering, as he flew to us with the speed of a mad thing.
And, to be short, when he came up, we let him have his way,
which was, to chew those herbs into a pulp, and lay them as
a plaster on the men's faces, making signs to us to tie them
up with their kerchiefs. There being no other remedy at
hand, Hilton submitted to this with a tolerable grace: as to
Prodgers, he was tamed to that degree, he submitted like a
child. And, such was the healing virtue of these herbs, they
soothed the wounds and inflamed faces of our patients so as
no apothecary's drugs could excel them: and soon the two
men laid them down under the shadow of the rocks, to snatch
a sleep; and Harry Gill followed their example.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
100

CHAPTER XXVIII.
WE DESIGN A SAFE RETREAT.

us,
{URNING in my mind all that had befallen
I felt yet more anxious how to secure our-
selves against attacks from without. For
't was plain, though we had found no trace
of savages inhabiting our island, we were.
somewhere within reach of their canoes from
a distance. And if a small boat (I reasoned)
setting forth, maybe, on a mere fishing expedition, or to cross
from one island or one shore of a creck to another, could be
driven upon us in this way, what might we not expect from
a larger war-canoe, or, for matter of that, an entire fleet of
them, fitted out for discovery, or missing their course, and so
espying our mountain, as we had done from the ship? For,
did they once land, I felt sure their Indian cunning would
light on some token of the island being inhabited; and then
(I knew well) they would never give over their search till
they had found us out; and we should beyond all doubt fall
a sacrifice to their cruelty.
In short, this gloomy apprehension having once taken hold
on my spirits, I could not well shake it off again, do what I
would: but must impart it to the priest, for I would not at
that time give a hint of it to any of the rest.
Don Manuel,
I found, was prepared for what I said.
"The same thought", says he, "is present. with me ever
since we pulled these poor creatures out of the water: but I
delayed to speak to you of it, till I could propose some plan
for safety". Then he went on to say, that in his country was
an old deserted palace, belonging once to the Spanish king;
and in the pleasure-grounds of it a labyrinth, or maze, formed
of close-cut hedges laid out in such-wise, and with so much
art, that among a number of turns to right and left, there
was only one, and that one difficult to hit, that would lead
to a summer-house in the centre. "The king", says he, “in
former days, when kings had little else to do, would amuse
himself at his palace-window, watching his servants, or others,
:
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not masters of the secret of the place, how they would turn
and wind, and run this way or that: for the most part wrong,
and forced to double back again, or sit down wearied till
some one who knew the secret came to show them out. Now
I think, with the help of our apprentices", and he smiled on
me as he used the word, "we might plant such a maze as
this: for I have seen some of the prickly pear, and other
close-growing shrubs, fit to form the hedges of it, in several
parts of our island as we came along. It will take time,
indeed; for we shall not be secure till our hedges have taken
root and grown thick: but we will pray that we may not be
attacked before then. God helps those who help themselves".
"Or what do you think, sir", said I, "of going back to
the cliff where we took shelter, and looking out for some
cleft or natural cave that we might enlarge, and so burrow
deeper till we had made us a house in the rock ?”
"That is good, too", observed he, thinking: "but why
may we not do both? An archer has two strings for his bow;
and many of the birds and animals provide their summer
quarters, and winter quarters, by the wonderful instinct that
is theirs. At all events, I will try and draw the plan of my
maze: come, here is a scrap of paper for
you; do you the
like, and we will compare notes over our fire to-night".
I liked the idea well enough, and I set to work, first to
devise a maze that should be difficult for those who had not
the clue, but easy to those who had. Then I tried to draw
it out on the paper with one of Don Manuel's pens, but a
blotted work I made of it after all: what with correcting here
and there, and opening passages where I had first closed
them, the thing was so smeared as that I was half ashamed
to show it when it was done. The priest got on better with
his; whether he was more used to drawing, or more patient
in trying to do each thing well that he undertook, certain it
is, a neater performance he made when he finished it.
"And now for your other plan", said he, rising and putting
by the paper, with mine too, in his portfolio: "for, having
got on the track of a habitation, we must lose no time.
Remember the rainy season that will soon be on us".
By this, we had come back to our company, from whom we
strayed in our talk: Don Manuel, seeing the three savages
eyed the monstrous cuttle-fish with longing eyes, as though
they would have fallen to, and devoured it outright, proposed
to give them leave; "for none of us", says he, "will have
much taste for him, I suppose; and, to be sure, not our poor
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
111
Ricardo, that hath suffered so much from him already". But
first, he desired to secure a bag of inky fluid, or sepia, as
painters name it, this strange fish is always furnished with;
whereby he can darken the waters around him, and thus
escape from his enemies, whether fishermen or brother-fishes.
So, borrowing Tom Harvey's knife, he cut out this ink-bag
very dexterously from the dead fish, and filled his ink-bottle
from it; then took one of the cocoa-nut shells, and poured the
rest into it, stopping the whole with clay; to be able, he said,
to record the rest of our adventures in this place of exile.
But we made up our minds to secure some portion of our
big fish for our own supper, too; for I had read, 't was a
delicacy in former times as well as our own: so, slicing off as
much as we thought to make a broil of (there being enough
of the monster for us all, and to spare), we wrapped this in
some cocoa-nut leaves, and let the savages have the rest;
after I had secured the back-bone to make some polishing
powder, and the parrot-beak of his mouth, for a trophy.
We left the two sick men asleep where they were, but not
without devising a live telegraph between us and them. We
made signs to the old Indian to climb up a tree, one of the
highest in the wood that lay between the rocks and that cove
of ours, which we henceforth called always Shark Bay. This
tree overlooked both sides, and we could see the Indian
watching in it, too, as he sat there among the branches.
As we went along, taking the other two savages with us,
I told Harvey and Gill that, as we had practised various
trades in this our new and strange life, we were now to turn
masons and stone-cutters also, to make us a cave wherein we
might lie snug during the rainy season. They agreed to this
readily, expressing themselves willing to labour, as indeed
they proved to be. So, going as straight through the second
wood as the tangled trees would let us, we tried to hit that
same cliff we had climbed up in the morning. We judged
that to be a convenient spot, by reason of the separated mass
of rock that leaned towards it; for the crag both hid the place
where we meant to burrow into the cliff, and gave us an easy
ascent to it: some of us afterwards called it our hall door,
and some, our grand staircase, or companion ladder.
"T was some little time, indeed, before we found our cliff
again; in part, from the thickness of the wood, but we rejoiced
at that, as giving security to our hiding-place; also, because
we now came upon it from a different side. But by keeping
our right shoulders as near the ridge of rock as the thick
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THE ADVENTURES OF
woods allowed, we knew we should surely come on it at
last; and soon we did, to our joy.
When we placed ourselves between this leaning rock and
the cliff it had fallen from, we discovered 't was just the place
that suited our needs; for about the part where these rocks
leaned nighest together, there was indeed a kind of hole in
the native cliff, not much bigger than I have seen a moun-
tain fox's burrow; but it gave us hope, we should find the
rock not too hard or stubborn to work. This hole lay
perhaps ten feet below the brow of the cliff, and 't was difficult
to come at it: but that fitted it the more for our purpose,
if only we could make contrivance to enter it from above, or
from the leaning rock over against it. For the time, we de-
termined on the first way, as less dangerous; so we set about
contriving a rope to lower one of us after another, in turn, to
work at this hole, and enlarge it into a cavern.
But where in this wide world should we provide us a rope?
Nothing in that shape had we, but the twine, and my fishing-
lines, both much too slight to bear our weight, put them all
together. Think as much as I could, I could devise nothing
to the purpose; when Don Manuel said, laughing:
"Now you shall see sop's fable put in practice in an
island he never dreamed of! so true is it, wisdom is the pro-
perty of the human family everywhere".
I did not not understand him, I own: but by this I had
got used to think over what he said, and find it true.
"Look at those strong creepers", said he again, "how they
climb about the trees, and lace in and out: well, no one of
them would bear us by itself; but put a dozen or so together,
and bind them round with our twine, and you shall see, we
shall soon have rope enough”-
"To hang us all", broke in Harry Gill, who never could
keep back a joke that came into his head.
"Or to hang the captain and first mate, not to say those
gentleinen who landed us here so civilly the day before
yesterday", added Tom Harvey.
Don Manuel smiled at Gill's remark, but did not look
pleased at the other; however, he went on about his rope.
"Union is strength", said he; "and what is beyond the
power of one, can be done with ease when more than one are
combined. You all remember the fable of the old man and
his sons, and the bundle of sticks, I dare say ?”
46 No indeed", answered I: "pray tell us, sir".
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
113

A M

CHAPTER XXIX.
WHAT IS TRUTH?

UST then, the old Indian, our watchman,
shouted from the tree where we had left him
on the look-out: we all started, and caught
up our arms again; but there was no occa-
sion, for we found he was calling to the men
we had left asleep, to show them where we
were. Soon, Prodgers and Harry came to
us through the wood; then the Indian clambered down from
his perch, and joined us too.
Now we began to reap advantage from having more pairs
of hands than we had landed with: for we no sooner showed
our Indians what we were after, and that we would have
them collect these creepers for us to make a rope, but they
sprang up the trees (at least the two younger) with the nim-
bleness of cats, and soon tore down enough for us to begin
upon. I scarce think our trade of rope-making had come to
much, but for these savages; who showed themselves inge-
nious to a degree, in binding together the green withs by
others of a like kind, round and round, at every three feet or
so: till, after a good two hours' work, we saw ourselves pos-
sessed of a passably strong and pliable rope, fit to bear a good
weight, and eighteen or twenty feet long at the least. We
were all proud of our new cable, and began bending and
straining it every way, to try it: but it did not part nor
untwist, so well had our poor 'prentices worked it.
8
114
THE ADVENTURES OF
Our next concern was, to find something of a cross-bar
to reeve into our rope, that our mason might sit on, while we
let him down to work at the entrance door. Harvey and Ned
Hilton went searching through the woods for some fallen
branch; but I drew Don Manuel aside, to impart to him what
had come into my mind: for, as we had to break up the con-
demned gun to make chisels and other tools, I thought it best
this should be done apart from the savages, lest they might
lose their great dread of those guns whereby they were kept
in such awe. So we agreed to take it deeper into the wood;
and beckoned Harry Gill to come along with us, leaving
Prodgers to look after the Indians, who were still hard at
work, finishing the rope. And this we did now, with no ap-
prehension of their being hardly dealt with: so changed a
man was Richard Prodgers become, and from a lion, or a bear
rather, had grown more like to a lamb.
By dint of much hammering with stones, and bending the
barrel back and forward, till it broke at last, we got two
long chisels, or augers, out of our old gun: they were rude
enough, to be sure, but proved serviceable.
One of them,
and that was the shorter, we kept still fastened on to the
stock, to have more purchase on it in working. Don Manuel
carried these back, wrapped in his cloak, till we could con-
ceal them better from the savages. But Gill went on before,
and left us together.
I had gained that confidence in the priest, 't would have
made me uneasy to hide from him my thoughts when they
chanced to turn on what was the right or wrong of any case:
and just then, a thought came into my mind as we came back
together out of the wood.
"I know, sir", said I, "what some people in my country
would say to what we are doing".
"What would they say, friend?" answered he, and looked
me straight in the face, walking on quietly.
"Why, to be plain, that 't is deceiving these savages, to
break up the gun by stealth, that they may still think the
guns to be something more than they are".
"Eh, Señor”, returned he, "how long is it ago, that you
thought we might perhaps even enslave them ?”
"Well, sir, what I say is because it came into my head,
and I wanted to discuss it".
"True, my dear friend", quoth he, in his own mild way ;
"and 't is my duty and pleasure alike to answer such ques-
tions to the utmost. Let us see; you think we ought to tell
them outright, gun is a gun?"
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
115
"I would not like them to think", answered I,
an idol, or a god".
66
a gun wa
"Nor I neither", replied he, grave enough; "but are we
making them think so, by any act of ours?"
"We break up the gun in the wood, out of sight", persisted
I; "lest they should lose their fear of our other guns".
"I will answer you in this way”, Don Manuel said, after a
moment, smiling. "When I was a boy, I went to a school in
my native town, kept by one Lopez Tuero d' Alava; he was
rather a stern man, and very stately in his ways. We boys
looked up to him as the greatest man alive: and he took care
to keep us impressed with that belief. One day, the governor
of the province, his Excellency Don Pedro Guzman da
Cuença, came suddenly to pay a visit to the school, and
entered at the head of all his train. The school-room was
filled with guards, chamberlains, attendants of all kinds,
in waiting on the great man. When our first surprise was
over, we all looked anxiously to see what Lopez Tuero would
do. Had he taken off his hat, or made any sign of sub-
mission to the governor, perhaps his authority in his school
would never again have been what it had been; for we should
have learned, there was a greater man in existence than he.
This he knew quite as well as we did. So, rising from his
desk in his most stately manner, he moved down the school
with the air of a king receiving an ambassador, or any other
great man treating with his equal; wearing his hat as if it had
been nailed to his head. High courtesies passed between the
two, till the governor took his leave: and it was not till after
I had entered the University of Salamanca, that I learned,
Lopez went the next day to the governor's palace, cast himself
on his knees before him, and humbly begged pardon for
having acted in a way he had felt was best for those he had
under his charge.
"Now", pursued Don Manuel, " was that a wrong deceit ?"
"I was more than I could answer out of hand: yet, think-
ing a moment, "I suppose", said I, "he felt it necessary".
"But was it wrong?" insisted he again; "because what is
wrong never can be necessary".
"May not a lie sometimes be necessary?" asked I.
"Never!" exclaimed the priest, and seemed to put his
whole soul into the word as he spoke it.
"And is a lie always wrong; under all circumstances ?"
"Always! always!" repeated he, still in the same way.
Now, indeed, I felt somewhat puzzled; for 't was the point
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THE ADVENTURES OF
I had in my mind as to the breaking up of our gun in secret.
Don Manuel saw this; for he had, I am sure, a great quick-
ness in reading men's thoughts by their faces: he smiled, and
saved my putting it in words, which I was loth to do.
((
66
'I know what you are thinking", said he, as though
you said it; and I will say it for you. Catholics, you have
always heard, think little of truth; are careless about it:
and a priest is likely to teach it to be a matter of small
importance. Is that it ?"
I was startled, I own, at the way he put his finger on
that; for it was just what ran in my thoughts.
"Well, listen then", he went on. "The teaching of the
Church is, that a lie is in its own nature evil; that it is a sin;
that, being a sin, 't is a greater evil than anything imaginable,
which is not an equal or a greater sin : 't is a greater evil than
any mere misfortune, or series of misfortunes; greater than
pain, sickness, poverty, bereavement, death: greater than
famines, pestilences, earthquakes, or the destruction of the
globe itself. For, these calamities, dreadful though they be,
affect the creature: but a lie, as being a sin, is aimed against
the Creator. So, if by telling a lie I could save your life, my
dear friend, and the lives of all our companions; if I could
by one little lie work out the conversion of our poor savages,
and secure the salvation of us all; nay, of all England, all
Spain, all other nations and countries together: if by telling
a lie that would harm nobody, that would only be a little
venial sin, I could empty Purgatory (which you don't believe
in) of all the suffering souls it contains; and block up the
mouth of Hell (which I suppose you do believe in) that no
soul should ever be cast into it more: I should be doing the
greater evil to obtain the lesser good. And after this, what
do
you think of a lie ?"
I remember these words, as I here set them down, because
they were so impressed on me at the time by his manner as
he spoke them. Then he went on to say, 't was one thing
to deceive a person by word or deed, to state falsehood to
him, or act falsehood before him; and quite another, to allow
him to draw his own conclusions from what he observed,
when you did nothing to lead him that way, and when you
had a just cause for letting him have his opinion, at least for
a time.
"If", pursued he, "we showed them, a gun might be
broken by working at it with a stone, they might try the ex-
periment while we slept; and then what becomes of our lives?
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
117
Another boat-load of savages might land on the island; or
these very men, with the craft and cunning they have learned
at their mother's knee, might take a fancy to sacrifice us to
the sun or moon, to secure a good voyage home again. Then
we are murdered, and they remain heathens. Is it not for
their good, as well as ours, that we should not disarm our-
selves by taking away their wholesome fear of our fire-arms?'
After a little while, neither of us speaking, the priest added :
"I gave you a sort of parable just now; well, let me give
you another. Suppose a furious murderer, with a drawn
sword, rushed suddenly upon a child, and threatened to kill
it unless the child told him by what road its father had left
the house, that he might go after him, and take his life.
What would you advise the child in that case ?”
"I think there is no doubt at all", said I, readily.
"But what?" insisted he.
"Of course, the child might tell the murderer the wrong
road; nay, ought to do so, to save its father's life, or indeed
any other person's life".
"Then the child might tell a lie ?"
"Could it not point down the wrong road?" I asked.
"That would be a lie in act", insisted he; "and as truly a
lie as one in words".
(6 Well, then, the child might tell the lie, or act the lie,
either way, for such an object as to save a life”.
"You are right wrong, my friend", returned he, laughing:
"for no one ought to do any such thing".
At this, I looked at him in some surprise.
"Did I not say", he went on, "that a lie is always a sin;
and that a sin is a greater evil than any mere misfortune?
Now, 't would be a great misfortune, doubtless, for the father
to lose his life, and the child to lose its father: but no child,
no any one, has a right to make even a venial sin avert even
a great misfortune".
What he said turned out so clean against my expectation,
and he proved so much more severe about truth than I had
supposed him, I had nothing to say.
"You remind me, now", pursued he, gaily, "of a bad
horseman, who, when you put him up on the horse at one
side, falls over on t'other. A while ago, you stumbled at
what was lawful; and now, nothing will content you, but that
falsehood must be lawful in an urgent case.
Extremes! my
dear friend, extremes! And you see, extremes meet some-
times".
118
THE ADVENTURES OF
"Aye”, he added, thinking, and slowly,
we must always
go from side to side of the road, like an unsteady driver,
unless we have a sure guide and a sure track".
"And who or what is that guide ?" asked I, for I felt
anxious for his answer.
"Aye, indeed”, said he, very slowly, looking me in the
face; and said nothing more.

**
S
餐
​CHAPTER XXX.
THE SERPENTS' HOLE.

QY this, we had come back to the rest; and
set about our operations of mining into the
rock: but first we had to decide which of us
should take the lead in being lowered to ex-
plore that hole. I thought of casting lots
for it, as 't was a post of honour and of danger
alike; for we knew not what we might en-
counter down there, whether some wild cat-o'-the-mountain,
or, more likely, a brood of serpents in their nest. But Don
Manuel insisted on being first to explore, in a way I knew
not well how to answer. "If anything befall me, friends",
said he, "you will be little the worse of it; but you could ill
spare the help of one another in your exile". I would still
persuade him not to venture; but he finished all by saying,
cheerfully:
""T is on the banks of the Ganges, I have heard, children
are used to eat their parents because they are old and useless:
and you may as well let the wild animals have a chance with
me for the same reason".
"You have quoted a heathenish example for us, sir",
answered I: "but I suppose it must be as you will: and we
will stand watching you above, be sure, to help to our utmost
in case of need”.
So, having knelt down to a brief prayer apart, and made
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
119
the sign of the cross over himself, he threw off his long cas-
sock; and bidding the men knot our new rope fast round the
roots of a cocoa-palm that grew near the edge, and keep a
good hold, as he said smiling, "for the honour of the British
flag", he slid from the cliff, and swarmed (as our sea-phrase
is) down the rope, till he soon had his feet resting on the edge
of the hole: he carefully bent himself down, and looked in.
Before we could count ten, we heard him cry out, "Pull
up, pull up quick!" We did it with a will, yet so as not to
scrape his hands and face against the cliff; and soon we
caught him in our hands, and had him safe again on the top.
Then he told us, we were right in our conjecture, for that the
place was swarming with serpents.
On that news, we determined to smoke them out of their
hole, or smother them in it; and making my wish known to
the savages by signs, they soon collected for us some brush-
wood and other branches, pretty dry, in places sheltered from
the storm. But we would not as yet trust them out of sight,
and made them know it by our threatening gestures; though
I believe the poor simple creatures had now become so at-
tached to us, as well as looking on us to be some superior
beings whom they could not oppose, we might have trusted
them all over the island. However, they soon gathered us a
good heap, enough to have smothered whole families of ser-
pents; and did more than that, too; for John Pounder,
crying out, "Kukui, kukui!" pointed to a kind of dwarf-tree
with grayish leaves, that looked like an olive at a distance,
though we had not noticed it before: making signs, 't was
good for our purpose.
I let him have his way; so off he darts to the tree, and
comes back with some biggish nuts in his hand, motioning to
me to cut a slender stick sharp at one end with my knife. I
did this to humour him; so he plants the stick upright in the
earth, the sharp end uppermost; and sticks three or four of
the nuts on it, one over the other. I signed to the rest to be
still, so Pounder had it all his own way: and his next per-
formance was to get a light after his country fashion, which
I had heard of, but never seen done before. For he begged
so beseechingly for the use of my knife, I could not deny him;
but threatened him again to make no bad use of it. He
searched about a while, till he found a short thickish branch,
of the bigness of my wrist; he quickly brought the end of
this to a point with the knife; then, coming to a stump of a
tree that had been broken off by some former storm, quite
120
THE ADVENTURES OF
dry, and half touch-wood, he held the point of the stick on it,
and began twirling it about with the palms of his two hands
as swiftly as ever you saw a machine bore a hole into a
board with an auger. He had not done this for five or six
minutes, when first there rose a little smoke, then the tree
smoked pretty thick, and all at once there burst forth a flame
of fire under his hands.
Our men expected this so little, for they had laughed at
Master Pounder's contrivances, that now they greeted his suc-
cess with a hearty cheer: and the other savages showed, in
their own fashion, they were glad he had pleased us, though
noways surprised at what he had done; for it seems, this
method of kindling a fire is their common way. But now,
gathering up a handful of dry leaves, he kindles them, and
comes to the nuts strung upon the stick; and they took flame
readily, by reason of an oil they are filled with. Then
Pounder, while the nuts burned slowly down, like a candle,
prostrated himself before us again, till we bid him rise.
To find candles thus ready made, and growing on a tree,
pleased us greatly then, and more afterwards, when we came
to use them in the winter evenings. But for the time we had,
as the saying is, other fish to fry; for we were to dislodge the
serpents in the hole by fire and smoke; and take possession
of their lodging. And the way we set about it was this:
We tied up our dry brushwood, with the leaves inside,
into bundles, or faggots, as many as seven or eight of them,
ranging these in order on the top of the cliff: but first, we
sent Pounder for some more candle-nuts, and thrust a few of
them into each bundle, as I have seen housewives in Wales
bind up a pitched stick in a faggot, to light their fire the
better. When all was ready, and nothing wanted but to
descend to the hole, and so set fire to the first bundle, and
push it in, with others after it, to give our gentlemen there a
warm entertainment, we questioned, which of our number to
send on this adventure. For now we knew the fulness of the
danger; we felt sure, unless the man who went down were
quick and steady, to stop the mouth of the hole with the very
first bundle, one of the serpents, or more, would spring out on
him; and we guessed that to be certain death.
All of us
stood looking, one on the other; and at length, we well-
nigh thought to give up the enterprise, and seek some other
place. But then, again, this place was so commodious, or
might be made so, for its dryness and security, we took up
our resolution to make the venture.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
121
But this was put an end to by the old Indian; I may as
well call him Mark, for that was the name we gave to him
when he was baptized somewhat later. He now drew near to
us, with as much reverence as before, holding John Pounder
by the hand. He made us a long speech in his own tongue,
of which we understood not one word; but he went on, partly
speaking, and part by signs, to offer Pounder for this ven-
turesome feat; who, for his part, offered himself too, with
great eagerness; expressing, by many odd gestures, his con-
tempt for the serpents: (for the savages had made out from
our signs, 't was serpents that inhabited the hole).
The men had gained that degree of good feeling, as that
none of them were willing to risk our poor 'prentices in this
service of danger. But, to our surprise, Don Manuel now
urged that Pounder should be allowed to go down.
""T is not here", said he, "a question of life against life,
nor of equal danger to one or to another; in that case I would
say, let none of us go. But I believe these savages are so
used to deal with serpents, and disarm them of their fangs,
or can so easily find a simple remedy in the woods if they
receive a bite, that 't is little risk to them by comparison. I
could tell you a story (only it would take us too long now) to
show this; but I have heard many such, from trustworthy
persons".
Pounder seemed to understand his meaning, in great part;
he nodded his head with many grimaces, then, taking up one
of the green withs we had bound about our rope, he twisted
it every way, to represent a serpent; wound it on his arm,
shook it about, laughing all the time, and finished by strip-
ping off the end of it with his teeth, to show us, that was how
he would bite off the snake's head for him. Then he pointed
to my knife, and the hanger by my side, as begging me to
grant him the use of them: so armed with these, he went to
the rope, as though he would slip down it at once.

122
THE ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XXXI.
NOTICE TO QUIT.

AST", cried Tom Harvey;
66 were it not
best we should load a brace of the guns with
small shot, and fire into the hole, to bid them
look out for us?"
We all agreed to this; only, we thought
one of the guns enough, not to waste powder
and shot: we put in a full charge, and gave
the piece to Gill; for since his victory over the shark, he
was our captain of marksmen. But this proceeding was
very much against the grain for our savage friends; who,
I truly think, would sooner have faced a wood full of ser-
pents than one discharge of our terrible guns. They cast
themselves on their faces, and remained there, trembling,
while Harry Gill leaped back across the gulf with his gun,
and clambered leisurely down the hanging rock; and this was
a work of danger, too, for he had to go down the under face
of it, as it leaned over him. However, he kept his footing,
with the gun slung over his shoulder; and went down with
hands and feet two or three yards, till he came all but op-
posite the hole. Then he leaned against some twisted roots
springing out of the rock; unslung his piece, with a good aim,
and so fired into the hole. The piece made a terrible report,
indeed, being discharged in so close a place; the echo went
back and again from cliff to crag, and from crag to cliff; and
the poor Indians were half dead with fear. Out of the hole
there came sounds of hissing, by which we knew, however
much execution the shot might have done, yet Gill had not
killed all the brood. But, what was worse, at that moment,
whether from the shock or his weight, or both, the roots that
poor Harry had leaned against, now gave way under him. He
had but just time to catch at some saplings as he fell; but he
managed that, like a nimble seaman as he was: and there he
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
123
hung by his hands, I am sure full three fathoms above his
mother earth.
We, who watched all this from the cliff, were so distracted
at the sight, that what to do we knew not: for, did we pursue
our advantage over the serpents, we must leave our comrade
hanging there, and then drop he must soon, to the peril of
his neck or bones: or, did we go over to help him, we feared
our enemies might escape from their hole, and glide down,
and so get at him if he should fall before we came to the
rescue.
Amid the confusion of our thoughts, as we looked this way
and that, the priest called out, with all the decision of a
general leading his men to the charge, and a voice like a
trumpet:
"You, friend Owen, take my cloak; away with you, and
Tom, and Hilton! Hold it under him! Break his fall !
Ricardo and I will do the rest here!"
I seized on the
The other two
Quick as thought, we obeyed the words:
cloak, and cleared the gulf at a bound.
were after me; and how we found ourselves on firm ground
below with our necks unbroken, we never stayed to inquire.
But we spread out the cloak under our messmate, and held
on hard, keeping it taut, perhaps five feet off the ground.
Then we hailed him, and bid him drop himself soft and
steady. So indeed he did; but withal his weight broke away
the cloak out of our hands, pulling us all down together in a
heap. Though his fall was greatly broken by the cloak, he
did not altogether escape, neither; and coming down length-
ways, bruised and stunned his head a little, but hurt his
shoulder more.
No sooner did Don Manuel see him safe (though somewhat
the worse of his fall), but he beckoned Pounder to go down
the rope; at the same time, he slung down a bundle of our
combustibles to the hole's mouth, having kindled it from our
stickful of nuts, that was burning still. The Indian went
down quick, as readily as if there were no serpents within a
mile of the place; and with Don Manuel's staff, pushed the
burning faggot right into the hole, which it quite stopped up;
then with my knife he cut the twine, and the priest hauled
up the end to tie another faggot, and let it down to him. So
they went on, faggot after faggot, Master Pounder doing his
work well; though I believe he would sooner have shown
his skill in wringing the serpents' necks than smothering them
thus by blockade.
124
THE ADVENTURES OF
us; a
We made out by the loud angry hissings that came from
the hole, our enemies had no other way of escape from
thing we had rather feared, for in that case our fire would
have driven them out and dispersed them in the woods, to
make the whole place unsafe for us. But one, and 't was
a smaller one, found means to glide out through some unper-
ceived cranny, and wriggled himself with great speed down.
the face of the cliff: but we had an eye to him, and just
before he alighted, I scotched him with a stone.
When the last faggot had blazed out, John Pounder,
swinging by the rope, made no difficulty of thrusting his
head and one arm into the hole, though the smoke was like
to blind or choke him: then, in a few moments, drawing back
again, he shouts out "Oora, oora!" which in their language, it
seems, means very good; laughing now to us, now to Don
Manuel above; and in his hand was a serpent, dead and half
roasted, that he kept swinging about, and then flung it down
to us. So, by degrees, with the end of the staff and his hands,
he rakes out nine more of them, great and small, one after
the other, and flings them down. When he had finished this,
"Well", cried I up to him, "well, John, are there any yet to
come out?" He understood what I would ask, and shook his
head, laughing, and cried out again: "Oora, oorɑ”, with a
wild whoop, that made the rocks ring about our ears. Then,
shutting his hand tight (for he held on to the rope by the other,
together with his feet), he stretched forth, first one finger,
then another, counting all the time, till he came to five; then
shut his hand again, and so did the same over a second time:
then one finger alone, and so pointed to the ground, where
the serpents were lying all about: to make us know, there
were but eleven in all, and they dead or dying there below.
This was joyful news, you may be sure; we now looked on
the place as our own, and were impatient to take possession
and begin our mason's work at it. But by this, the light
warned us, no more was to be done at that time; and we
must think of supper, and our night quarters. We told
Pounder, by signs (for, what with fire-lighting, and his other
services, we began to look on him as our special footman) we
would have our fire kindled: this he soon did, with the help
of the other two, who gathered the brushwood fast enough,
while we sat at our ease, and talked over the day's adventures.
Then we supped, as we could, on cuttle-fish; though we found
it coarse and strong-tasted, not the delicacy 't was said to be:
but this fish was a largish one, which might be the cause
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
125
though indeed not so large, by far (if all tales be true) as
they are found in the Indian seas.* Only Richard could not be
prevailed on to taste a bit: so we gave him all the cocoa-nut
we could spare, which was not much; and he eked it out
with a little sup from his bottle. As to the Indians, they
made a horrid meal on the roasted serpents; in which we
cared not to disturb them. But when we had done, and
Don Manuel had said grace for us, we called the savages
to us again, not to lose sight of them in the dark.

দ
SR SR SA IR sk sk st SA SA SA SR SK DR
粥​粥
​R SR SR s st sk sk IR IR SR
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE MOTHER
TONGUE.

EATED round our fire, we whiled away the
time in teaching our savages a little English.
They surprised us, truly, by their quickness
in learning our words, with some short sen-
tences we taught them by degrees; and I
may here say, that in four or five days or so
(for Don Manuel and I worked at it with
them a little every day) we contrived to hold talk with them
pretty well about common things. Only, we got out of our
depth, for want of expressions, when we would come at their
notions of religion, or the nature of the earth, the sky, the
seas, and so on; all which the priest laboured at with great
* “Mr. Pennant, in the fourth volume of his British Zoology, speaking
of the eight-armed cuttle, tells us, he has been assured from persons
worthy of credit, that in the Indian seas this species has been found of
such a size as to measure two fathoms in breadth across the central
part, while each arm has measured nine fathoms in length; and that
the natives of the Indian isles, when sailing in their canoes, always
take care to be provided with hatchets, in order to cut off immediately
the arms of such of those animals as happen to fling them over the sides
of the canoe, lest they should pull it under water and sink it. This has
been considered as a piece of credulity in Mr. Pennant, unworthy of a
sober naturalist. It is certain, however, that a great variety of appa-
rently authentic evidences seem to confirm the reality of this account.
The ancients, it is evident, acknowledged the existence of animals of
the cuttle-fish tribe of a most enormous size; witness the account given
126
THE ADVENTURES OF
patience, as I shall set down in order. We were curious to
know their names for some things, as well as impart to them
ours; and we went about it thus:
I would point to the fire, then look at them, nod to them,
opening my mouth, moving my lips as though I would speak,
but indeed not speaking at all; then I would put my hand to
my ear as though I listened for somewhat they were to say:
thus I made them understand, I desired to hear their name
for the thing I pointed to. This went on well enough; for
when they once made out my dumb show, they answered
very readily. Then, listening to what they said, I would shake
my head, and look a little displeased, as though that were
not the true name, and I misliked the sound of it; then I
would give the English, and repeat it three or four times, till
they caught the sound; and I would do so louder and louder,
as insisting they should repeat it after me, which they did
willingly, and seemed delighted with the new name; for they
kept on repeating it till they had it perfect.
by Pliny and others of the large polypus, as he terms it, which used to
rob the repositories of salt fish on the coasts of Carteria; and which,
according to his description, had a head the size of a cask that would
hold fifteen amphora; arms measuring thirty feet in length, of such
a diameter, that a man could hardly clasp one of them, and beset with
suckers or fasteners of the size of large basins, that would hold four or
five gallons apiece. The existence, in short, of some enormously large
species of the cuttle-fish tribe, in the Indian and northern seas, can
hardly be doubted; and though some accounts have been exaggerated,
yet there is sufficient cause for believing that such species very far sur-
pass all that are generally observable about the European seas. A mo-
dern naturalist chooses to distinguish this tremendous species by the
title of the colossal cuttle-fish, and seems amply disposed to believe all
that has been related of its ravages. A northern navigator of the name
of Dens, is said some years ago to have lost three of his men in the
African seas, by a monster of this kind, which unexpectedly made its
appearance while these men were employed, during a calm, in raking
the sides of the vessel. The colossal cuttle-fish seized these men in its
arms, and drew them under water, in spite of every effort to preserve
them; the thickness of one of the arms, which was cut off in the con-
test, was that of a mizen-mast, and the acetabula, or suckers, of the
size of large pot-lids.
"But what shall we say to the idea of a modern French naturalist,
who is inclined to suppose that the destruction of the great French ship,
the Ville de Paris, taken by the English during the American war,
together with nine other ships, which came to her assistance on seeing
her fire signals of distress, was owing, not to the storm which accom-
panied the disaster, but to a group of colossal cuttle-fishes which hap-
pened at that very time to be prowling about the ocean beneath these
unfortunate vessels ?"-Polehampton's Gallery of Nature and Art, vol. 5,
pp. 361-2.-Ed.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
127.
In this way we learned some of their Indian, too. I sup-
pose the language will die out, if white men come to penetrate
into those native countries of the savages; or, at least, 't will
become mixed and changed. So I here set down some of the
words they gave us, till they had got our English so well, we
ceased to ask them further.
First, I will set down the name of their country, which we
made out after some pains; for 't was a hard question for
them to comprehend: at last they did, and gave the name of
it, Toonati-nooka. They described it by signs, that 't was an
island, with another island lying near it, smaller, and either
not fruitful, or disagreeable from some cause, or, maybe, at
war with the inhabitants of the first: for when they named
it, John Pounder shook his head with a look of disgust, and
pushed out his hands, as though he would push the island
from him this second island they called Hai-vavaoo.
:
The young savage, whom I will call by the name he gave him-
self, Poula-faihe (but later we christened him Samuel), drew
a plan of these two islands very neatly with the end of a stick
in the sand, as we sat: and while we let him work on, he
finished such an excellent raised map of the two islands, as I
never saw exhibited in a museum. Ile hollowed out the
sand, and smoothed it, to represent the sea-level; then got
some sharp stones and shells to stand for the cliffs and head-
lands of their island; he also stuck-in a few leaves and sprigs
for the groves of trees; then he raised up some little moun-
tains in miniature (as the saying is, "making a mountain out
of a mole-hill" ;) in a word, he worked at his map with that
diligence, that soon he had it completed in the rough. So,
standing up, he looked on it with much satisfaction; clapping
his hands together, he danced round it, he leaped across it
back and forward, pointing now to one island, now to the
other, singing out all the time: "Toonati-nooka!" then
Hai-vavaoo!" But Pounder, stopping in his talk with us
to examine this map, misliked some parts of it, and began to
alter them he pulled up one of the groves, knocked down
a cliff or two, or changed them to other places; carried away
a mountain here, set it down there, and made such changes
as pleased him, but displeased Samuel in turn; in the end
they appealed to the old man as umpire in their dispute.
And the old Indian's decision had all respect from the other
two; for no sooner had he spoken, and made some alterations
of his own, than all questions were set at rest.
:
I must not forget to note down their names for such com
128
THE ADVENTURES OF
mon things as we pointed to: some of them we learned that
evening, and others later on.
Oopa-taata. To kill.
Há-warre.
Taina.
English.
Toonati-nookish.
English
Toonati-nookish.
Fire.
Teta-hai.
To weep.
Hánoaa.
Wood (plural).
Oopanee.
To shout.
Eraboa.
Branch of a tree.
Maneea.
To dance.
Green wood.
Oopa-poore. To fight.
Dry wood.
Oomarra.
Eharoo.
Ewhaee.
Wet.
Rain.
Oowhya-da,
Eeree.
To heal.
A wound.
Thunder.
The sea.
A rock.
Pateere.
A scar.
Eraeea.
Anonohao.
One.
Oteo.
Epoote.
Two.
Enara.
A cocoa-nut.
Efarre.
Three.
Paape.
A monkey.
Tohyto.
Four.
Fheeo.
A shark (or any
Five.
Honoo.
large fish).
Kerelaia.
Six.
Paya.
A canoe.
Looamao.
Seven.
Teire.
The head.
The eyes.
The nose.
The mouth.
The tongue.
The teeth.
Emaa.
Eight.
Myde.
Ete-rahai.
Nine.
Paeena.
Páraou.
Ten.
Tarooa.
T'aeea.
Twenty.
Ry-poaeo.
Thirty.
Enceheeo.
Forty.
The hands.
Tootahai.
An hundred.
The feet.
Amarchaa.
Taroo-'nara.
Taroo-paa.
Taroo-ehî.
Taroo-ta-
roone.
To walk.
Otooetee.
A great many.
Eaha-noue.
Horoee, or
A few.
Poheea.
None.
Te-moönea.
All.
To run.
To laugh.
Maya-fa.
Makoia.
Moönaee.
"Tis likely, they who may chance to read these adventures,
will by this have had enough of the language of Toonati-
nooka. But I must observe, if the words seem not so harsh,
written down on paper, as I described them to be in the
sound, this is because I cannot express, by any writing or
accents, the strange way they had of forming them down in
their throats, with a kind of gurgling noise. And on their
part, they told us after awhile, our English sounded to them
the most chirrupping thing; and when they came to know us
better, they called it a language of birds.
1
OWEN EVANS, ESQ,
129

CHAPTER XXXIII.
VARIOUS DISCOVERIES.

OUNDER told us, too (in his way,) this larger
island took two months to go round it in a
canoe; pointing to the moon (for a young
moon had begun to appear), then holding up
two fingers, and sweeping his hand round
Poula-faihe's map of the island; then mo-
tioning with his hands as though he were
paddling one of their canoes. It was very fertile, he said, and
well wooded (so he expressed by pointing to the trees round
us, then to the leaves and sprigs the other had stuck in the
map, making signs of pleasure and admiration :) and that it
had a great many inhabitants; for so he told us by pointing to
himself and the other two Indians, opening and shutting his
hands several times, and calling out Eaha-noue each time he
did it.. And this was all we learned from him that night:
for Don Manuel called us to prayers: and soon after, we were
all asleep, having wrapped our guns carefully in our jackets,
and laid them under our heads, together with the broken one.
But we had before agreed, Ned Hilton should watch for us
to-night, till he saw the savages asleep: indeed he had not
long to watch for it.
9
130
THE ADVENTURES OF
Our hard day (so it had been to us all) made us sleep so
sound, we woke later next morning than our wont; when
we found a clear sky, and the wind quite gone down, as if no
hurricane had blown at all; for indeed by this time it had
blown itself out. A flight of parrots came screaming and
whistling over our heads, with troops of monkeys, too, chat-
tering after their way, in the trees; so there was noise enough,
as Gill said, to pipe all hands from the hammocks. Up we
rose, and shook ourselves free from sleep; then, by a common
feeling, all looked for Don Manuel, as our chaplain. He was
a few paces off, reading his prayer-book to himself; but so
soon as he saw us risen, he put it by, and came to us.
"You have stopped your own prayers for ours, this morning,
Señor", said I, coming to meet him; and I pointed to the
men, who were waiting ready.
"I am happy to do so, my dear friend", answered he;
"and 't will give me another reason to say a Gloria Patri
when I begin them again".
So, without more delay, he shook hands heartily with the
men, all round; then we all knelt down together, and the
three Indians, seeing this, followed our example, out of sub-
mission, I suppose. The priest led our devotions, praying
with us, and for us; and he put in some little petitions,
suited to the change in our state from the arrival of the
savages: as, that we might be kept from the sins of tyranny,
oppression, and injustice to our inferiors; that they, too,
might remain submissive and peaceable, and at length have
grace to become Christians. This, with beseeching the Divine
majesty we might be kept from sin through the day, and
from all evil accidents or sudden death, and might advance
His glory and our salvation, made up the priest's short and
fervent prayer. Nor need I mention after this, he had got
us all so into the way of praying, as that we fell to it regu-
larly thenceforward: and soon the men would as little have
thought of going without morning or evening prayer as
losing their breakfast or supper.
Breakfast, indeed, now engaged us all; though we had but
some scanty slices of our enemy, the cuttle-fish, with a little
pulp and milk that remained of our cocoa-nuts. We broiled
the fish and pulp together, to make out a meal; for I was in
haste, and they too, to get down to the shore and see after
our shark: or, indeed, our sharks, for we now hoped to find
the hurricane had lifted the skeleton one too, handier to us.
Prodgers, though, could not be got to taste of the cuttle-fish ;-
OWEN EVANS, EEQ.
131
being persuaded, say all we could against it, there was some
poisonous quality in the meat of the fish as well as in the
suckers of its limbs, that made his face all of a smart even
now. As we had dressed our whole larder already, poor
Richard had a chance of going without his breakfast; when
Samuel, our young Indian, seeing this, stood up, and bowing
down before us, made a little speech, pointing to an open
space beyond the wood.
We could not well make out what he meant; only that he
promised Prodgers something to eat, out of the earth: for he
made as though he were digging, or tearing up some vege.
table with his hands. We had gained confidence now in our
poor savages, that they would not desert us, nor do us harm :
so I waved my hand to him to be off on his errand, and he
darted away like an antelope, striking up for the middle of
the island, as though he would make for Prospect Hill. When
he had been gone a few minutes, I doubted my wisdom in
letting him go at all; and hallooed after him to come back to
us: but presently he came back through the woods at another
point, and appeared laden with some large vegetables on his
shoulders, though he still ran very fast under the weight,
When he came panting up to us, and threw them on the
ground, those of us who had been in the West Indies (and
that was the greater number) knew them to be yams.
This was a precious discovery to us; more so, by far, than
if we had found a mine of rubies or diamonds on our walk.
We might now look on our kitchen-garden as indifferently
well stocked (what with bread-fruits, cocoa-nuts, and now
yams beside), let us remain on the island as long as we might.
Don Manuel did now just what he had done when we disco-
vered the bread-fruit: he held a yam in each hand, having
first laid his hat on the ground; he raised the yams as a thank-
offering to heaven, and said his Gloria Patri. But the dif-
ference now was, he was joined by us all in this, as a matter
of course: so much can misfortune and good example soften
the hearts of the rudest.
Then, raking together the ashes of our fire, we peeled one
or two of the yams, and sliced them; these, with some oil
from our candle-nuts, make out Richard's breakfast pretty
well.
But the water hereabouts was brackish; for I suppose
the sea-water somehow filtered in through the soil. And this,
we saw, might prevail against our making our abode here-
abouts, except we could discover some other spring, or find
means to convey pure water hither from a distance.
132
THE ADVENTURES OF
The badness of the water was Richard's excuse for taking
a little pull at his bottle: after that, he surrendered it to me
with a good grace, saying he would have it reckoned into the
common stock, and kept for a case of sickness, or other need.
So we all took our way down to Shark Cove.
We were sorry enough to discover, so soon as we got clear
of the trees, not the shark only (though he was there, too) but
the dead body of that fourth Indian, whom we had seen
drowned as their canoe capsized over the reef; the body had
been flung by the force of the tempest, high and dry, and lay
stretched on the sand. The savages set up a loud wail on
seeing this; they ran to the body, and began to lament over
it, after their fashion. But I believe 't was more out of custom
than much regard: for we made out from them, he was not of
their kinsmen, though of the same tribe; and had gone a-fish-
ing with them when the hurricane caught them all, and drove
them on the island. However, the first thing we had to do
was, to give the poor savage decent, if not Christian burial:
we set to work on a little rising ground, safe from the reach
of any tempest; for nothing but another deluge (we thought)
could touch it, though we lived to find our mistake.

SR SR SR IR K
粥​休
​sk sk st s m sk s SR SR SK
CHAPTER XXXIV.
A FUNERAL, AND A LESSON FOR THE LIVING.
HE grave was long in digging, to make it
deep enough though we had nothing to dig
with but a kind of flat sharp stones, like
slates, that we found near the spot, yet, as
we had leisure for the work, we thought to
do it thoroughly; and putting our hands.
together we made the grave, I am sure, near
five feet in depth. Then the old Indian, who had asked by
signs, to go into the wood, came back with a load of leaves of
the cocoa, palm, banana, and other broad leaved trees, together
with a quantity of the same creepers we had made our rope
out of. In these they lapped the body of the dead Indian
from head to foot, and bound it about; then, at our bidding,

OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
133
they lowered him carefully into the grave. When we came to
know them and their ways better, we found they did this out
of submission to our will, thinking the white man's way must
be best in all things. For their own custom in disposing of
their dead is, to place them on a ledge constructed of poles, in
some place apart, till with the sun, and weather, and process
of time, they are wholly consumed.
But now Don Manuel, standing bare-headed over the grave,
lifted his voice, and said aloud; "May the Lord be merciful
to all whom He knoweth to be His!" With that, we shovelled
in the earth, and made the grave secure with such large stones
as we could find about; some, indeed, so large, we were
forced to roll them, two and three of us together, to the spot.
This we did, to secure it against being disturbed by any wild
animals of prey that might haunt the island; though as yet
we had seen none such. Then we named the place Indian's
Rest, and so left it behind us.
Our next concern was the shark, which had been thrown
somewhat further up the shore; for he was the sport of the
hurricane at its first burst, but the Indian only came to land
when it began to abate. A big, ugly monster did this fish
look, truly, as he lay along there; and called forth from us
again some natural expressions of thankfulness for having
been kept out of his cruel jaws. After consulting, we re-
solved to skin him first, and then cut him up: neither of them
pleasant things to do, but useful to us in our need. "He is
a mine of wealth to us, friends”, said I, as I told you. We
shall get shagreen from his rough skin, and then oil from the
liver, knives and arrow heads from the teeth, and all kinds of
instruments out of the bones". "And pickled pork", added
Hilton, merrily, "from the flesh, could we but salt it well, for
many a long day to come”.
((
"From his jaws, too", said the priest, "which we will set
on a pole, we shall have a memento to calm us into content
again, if we are tempted to repine at our present lot”.
66
1
Aye, indeed”, chimed in Prodgers and Harvey together.
"I warrant", says Harry Gill, "our 'prentices"—he looked
at the priest, and laughed a little, but 't was now in a civil
sort of way,
"have skinned a shark for their own use before
now. What if we bid 'em do it, and leave the job so ?”
This seemed fair enough; so putting our knives into the
Indians' hands, we made them know, we would have the mon-
ster skinned, and that his skin should be carefully dealt with,
to preserve it. They set to work cheerfully, and with skill,
134
THE ADVENTURES OF
too: when I saw from their first slices, they would do justice
to our wish, I proposed to the rest to go back and work at
our habitation in the rock. We left Richard, with his gun,
for a captain over the savages: and now Don Manuel said he
would take his turn at watching from the tree, as the old In-
dian had watched before. "I have some of my prayer-book
to read", says he, "and can do that as well in the tree as on
terra firma".
"I believe indeed, sir", answered I, as we all went along,
"you could pray anywhere".
"My dear", he answered with great affection, and his hand
on my shoulder, "in all parts of our lives, and everything
we do, 't is not so much where we are, as what we are".
"That's true, indeed", says Hilton: "I little thought, when
an old uncle of mine took me, I may say dragged me, by the
ears, to church in our village, the Sunday before I ran away
to sea, the next time I prayed (except once when I prayed in
a storm) would be on a savage island in some unknown lati-
tude, no one knows where”.
“In No Man's Land, eh, Señor ?" asked Don Manuel, looking
on him.archly.
Ah", says Tom Harvey, laughing, "that was what old
Dick said when we first landed, and he grumbled at having
the place called Manuel's Island”.
"I don't think”, said I, "Dick would make that kind of
speech now. From the rough old tar he once was, 't is won-
derful to see him 'fined down into another being".
"Many people", the priest said, taking up his former vein,
"think they would be better Christians, and more able to
save their souls, were they in different circumstances, sur-
rounded by other people, engaged in other duties, and I know
not what else. Now, 't is true, each man has a vocation to be
this or that, would he take pains to discover it. But 't is like-
wise true, all depends on the interior will, whether a man
shall be good or bad; whether, too, he shall be slothful or
fervent in good. He may be good in a camp of soldiers, or
bad in a choir of monks: for God gives him liberty, and suffi-
cient grace, which he may use, or sin away, at will”.
"And could he be good in a ship like the old Spitfire ?"
asked Ned Hilton, more grave than was his wont. I had for-
gotten to say, that was the vessel we had all embarked in.
"If any one", answered Don Manuel, "should find himself
where he could not be good, from the flood of wickedness all
around him, he would be bounden to depart out of that place
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
135
as soon as he might. For he has to save his soul in the first
place, and to fulfil other duties of life in the second. That is
what we Catholics are used to call, avoiding the occasions of
sin. But come, here is my tree; which gives me the occa-
sion of serving you. So we will each fulfil what is expected.
of us; you to work beyond, and I to watch up here”.
"Watch and pray, sir", broke in Harry Gill,
as the
par-
son used to say in North Budenham, where I was brought up".
"And if the parson had never said anything worse than
that", answered the priest, rather gravely, "I should have
had some respect for him. Let us not make a jest, friend, of
sacred words".
(6
So saying, he clambered into the high tree, and left us on
our way to the cave.

வ
CHAPTER XXXV.
OUTWITTED,

P the rock we were, and sprang across the
chasm, eager to begin working at our hole.
It soon appeared, yesterday's attack on the
serpents was a triumph; for we saw nothing,
nor heard either, of any more of that family.
We were glad, too, that the fire having burnt
so freely showed the place to be free from
noxious vapours within: for these would have quenched any
fire as well as quenched human life. So we now cast lots
among us which should begin our mason's work, each man
wishing to be first: but no two could work together till the
opening was made bigger. The lot fell on Ned Hilton: so
down the rope he went, merrily; and lashing himself fast to
it by aid of the twine, twisted with four or five strands toge-
ther, he made himself snug, and began chiselling away.
He soon found, to our satisfaction, the rock was very pro-
per for our purpose; being composed of a dark sand, or sand-
stone, such as I have read is found in plenty about the city of
Rome, made up (as is thought) of sand once thrown out of
burning mountains, hardened and compacted by time. It
worked freely under the stroke of Ned Hilton's chisel, though
136
THE ADVENTURES or
that was a rude mason's tool enough: but we, who watched
from above, thought he was making the entrance too wide; so
we called to him, to leave that as small as that a man could
creep in on hands and knees (lest the place should be dis-
covered easily), and work more to the inside.
In forty
minutes, about, of hard hewing, he fairly made his way within;
then, unlashing himself, he called for another to come down.
Harvey now begged for his share of the work, too; so I
sent him down, while I stood watching; and, to be short,
between them they worked a passage of nine feet, or so,
into the living sandstone rock, wide enough for the two to
work abreast, though not high enough to stand upright: for
they crept along and chiselled on their knees. It seems, they
wanted to discover if the whole cliff were made up of the same
rock; which they found it to be, with this in their favour,
that it grew softer the further they got in: at length they
worked it easy enough, and threw out the loose sand with
their feet. But crack or hollow they found none, as they
hoped, to make their labour easier; so 't was plain, we must
make good every inch of the way, by sheer labour. For my
part, I was glad of this news; I thought any chasm in the
rock would be filled (more than likely) with such poisonous
vapours as had nearly been the end of Harry Gill on our way
down from the volcano.
When I found, by their voices, they were well into the
heart of the rock, I must needs go down too, and take my part
in the business. So, without bestowing a thought on secur-
ing the rope, I slid down to the hole and crept in as I could,
for the rubbish hindered me greatly. But the rope had now
got so loosened from the roots of the tree we bound it to, by
the weight of three men straining upon it, one after the other,
that 't was a mercy I had not broke my neck with my want
of heed: and it gave occasion for some enemies of ours to
play a trick on us that might have cost us dear enough, as I
will now tell.
No sooner was I got within the hole, than I heard a noise
of chattering above, and swinging of branches, such as I
could not well account for. But it made me somewhat
anxious, as I well knew (by report, at least) the cunning of
savages, who might have lain concealed in ambush all this
while, waiting for their moment to take us unawares. And,
truly, a more favourable moment for them scarce could have
been; for with their arrows and javelins they might have
killed us all three defenceless in the cave there, before we
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
137
had brought our arms to bear on them; or have over-
whelmed us at that disadvantage by numbers, in spite of our
shot. I looked up, and unslung my rifle, ready to do what
I could; but before I had time to fire, what was my vexation
to see a dozen monkeys' faces that peered and grinned at me
from the cliff; and the shaking of the rope plainly proved
they were tugging at it to loosen it from the tree.
In short,
whether 't was from mere imitation of what they had seen us
do in tying it, as they watched us unnoticed from the trees
around; or whether some instinct of mischief more than
common is possessed by these strange caricatures of ourselves,
I know not: but within a minute, at the juncture when I
had got ready my rifle, to discharge it upward, with no hope.
of killing, but every hope of frighting them from their
mischief: at that very moment, I say, the rope came tumb-
ling about my ears; and, but that I caught one end, would
have fallen to the ground below.
Let me be as vexed as I would at this mishap, I could not
forbear laughing, neither, at the cunning of our enemies, and
their success. But there was no help for it, but only to go on
with our work, and wait till the rest came to us, and so with
their help make fast the rope again. I would not throw it down
out of my hand, though; lest some unforeseen chance might
cause us to need it to let ourselves down; though nothing
less than a mere necessity could persuade us to that; for the
rope did not reach the ground, I am sure, by fourteen feet or
so, and he might have likely met a shrewd fall who should
attempt it, beside leaving his last comrade (if not two) im-
prisoned still in the hole.
So we worked on, in quietness if not content, for three hours
more, or thereabout, one resting always, and two working,
each by turns; by which time we had got a prodigious way
into the living rock, considering our number of hands. I say,
one resting; but I mean, one was not handling an instru-
ment; but he had work, all the same, though of a lighter
kind, in shovelling the loose sand with his feet towards the
entrance, then shovelling it over the edge, to get rid of it.
We meant to work straight inwards, to discover what we
might; but, having with us no level, nor instrument to gage
our work by, and keep us straight, we found on looking back,
it was bad irregular work, indeed for here it rose, and there
it fell again, and here the height was greater, and there
it was less. Only, we had not turned much to the right or
left; at least, nothing to speak of: for in that matter we
had guided ourselves by the light behind us,
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THE ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XXXVI.
WE AIM AT A PROVISION STORE.

E were pretty tired now with our morning's
work, and thought it high time we were
released out of this hole: the air, too, had
become hot and stifling, and our limbs felt
cramped to a degree by the straitness of
the place. "T was no good wishing to be
out, however; so, as a first effort, we joined
our voices in as loud a halloo as we could raise all together;
then waited and listened. But whether the depths we had
reached stifled our voices (for we could not be at the mouth
all at once, and were all much in each other's way), or
whether the sound was beaten back by the rock opposite, we
got no answer to our hail. Again we tried it, and a third
time; but heard nothing from Don Manuel: we then began
to think we should have to stay there till the others had
finished their work with the shark, and came to look after us
for dinner, or supper, rather.
"Once more, comrades", said I; "with a long pull, and a
strong pull; as if we were cast adrift on the open sea, and
were hailing a ship as our last chance!"
So, putting our hands to our mouths, and our whole hearts
into it, we gave such a hail as (I think) three men had seldom
given before; so that Hilton fell back exhausted after it.
But we had now the satisfaction to hear Don Manuel shouting
to us in return. from his tree: though the sounds came to us
very faint. Nor could we hear him at all when he turned
the other way (as he afterwards told us), and shouted to
Prodgers and the Indians to come to us quick, not knowing
what might have mischanced.
The savages were quick enough in coming; for indeed,
they were the swiftest creatures I ever beheld a-foot: all but
old Mark, and he, too, distanced Prodgers in the race, by a
good deal. No sooner did they see our plight, than catching
at the rope's end, Samuel (who ran in first) was up the rock
in a twinkling, and over the gulf in another, with Pounder
after him; and knotting the rope firmly again to the tree, he
slipped down, and darted into the hole, to give us help. By
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
139
coming on us thus of a sudden, it is true, he perceived our
broken gun plain enough: but 't was all one to him; he
thought (I suppose) we could do as we would with those terri-
ble engines, so great was the power of white men. Nay, when
we bade him take up the piece of gun, and go on with our
work, he did so with great obedience, handling it with some
fear, indeed, but more curiosity: and Pounder creeping in
just after (for by this time old Mark was on guard at the
rope above) we fairly set them both to work, and gladly
swarmed up the rope, to get a breathing of the fresh air.
We then went down, as before, by the hanging rock, and
met first Don Manuel, and next Prodgers, who arrived soon,
somewhat the worse for his race. Yet he found breath to tell
us how the Indians had not only skinned, but cut up the
shark too, in good style; so that, had we but tubs and brine,
all was ready for pickling the monster, or some quantities of
him. Brine, truly, was there in plenty, in the great salt sea
on all sides of us; but where should we get pickling-tubs,
for love or money? However, talking it over, we were so
possessed with this notion of pickled shark, as put us on con-
triving some way, if even rude and imperfect. Could we
make shift to dig salt-pans in the earth, and line or smear
them inside with somewhat that might serve us for mortar,
to keep the pickle from soaking away into the ground, and
so slice up our shark, and lay him in the brine, and cover him
over air-tight; could we, I say, have contrived all this, our
task had been done. But that was, to my thinking, as
reasonable as if I should exhort my companions to build us
a ship out of the trees of the island, and so sail away from
our place of exile; or to do anything else that was out of our
power altogether.
I gave them my thoughts, however, as we went along;
and finding them to catch at this; "Well, sirs": said I, "let
any one propose a method to make a lining for our salt-pan".
"Caulk it", says Harry Gill, who was ready always with
the first word, as you would caulk the sides of a ship".
"And where's your oakum, then, and your caulking-irons,
and your rosin, and your boiling-pitch ?" asked Prodgers,
grumbling a bit, in something of his ancient fashion.
"Boiling pitch!" says Don Manuel, thinking; "ah, that
gives me an idea: I should not be surprised if on this island
of ours, which was plainly once a burning mountain, we found
such a pitch-spring as is met with in other like places, where
the pitch comes hot out of the ground, at boiling point".
140
THE ADVENTURES OF
"Or, could we find some such clay", Tom Harvey said.
"as might be proper for the purpose".
"Nay", answered I, "if we light on any clay, we have
found pots and stew-pans in plenty, with a little care and
labour; and we must needs come to something of that, if we
are not to live like savages to the end".
But meanwhile, we agreed to prepare some slices of our
shark for dinner, in the way we had taken for our first
dinner on the island; and this we did with our own hands,
for we could not, as yet, trust the savages, who might (we
thought) find means to poison our food.
We dug an oven in the ground, we gathered wood, or our
servants did it for us, rather; for having them at hand, we
now grew lazy at that kind of work: then Pounder kindled
our fire, as he did before, and we heated our oven with
stones, then filled it with as many slices of the shark as 't
would hold, with the remainder of our yams. So, banking
it over with earth, we left it in charge of Prodgers, who was
the least active among us on a march; and Don Manuel
stayed with him too.
We took the savages with us, all but old Mark; for he,
with the priest and Prodgers, was to do something in the way
of digging holes in the sand, to stow away the rest of our
shark in, for the chance of preserving him. The six of us
started on a party to explore the island for a league or so
northward, along the east shore; and particularly to look out
for any potter's clay, or such natural pitch as Don Manuel had
spoken of. But, for this time, we found nothing of the kind,
nor came to aught particular in other ways; only that in a
piece of marshy ground we lit on a self-sown plantation of
bamboo canes. We hailed these with joy, foreseeing they
would prove useful articles to us, as they afterwards did, for
several uses. Some of the middle-sized we tore up by the roots;
though that was a hard task (so deep were they bedded in
the mud), yet easier than to cut them with our knives.
Having loaded ourselves and Samuel (for I sent back
Pounder to help in the great larder business, before we had
reached half a mile); having, I say, got our load of bamboos,
perhaps three or four dozen in all, greater and smaller, we
found ourselves pretty well knocked up with our wading, knee
deep or more, through the slush and mud that had lain in our
way. For several streams, running down from the neigh-
bourhood of Prospect Hill, discharged themselves into the sea
on this side the island; and some, being blocked up with
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
141
coral reefs and banks of sand when they came to the shore,
rose on their channels, and formed marshes and quagmires
that made our travelling difficult enough.
So we turned our faces homewards (if we could call it home)
slow and weary; and glad enough we were to cast down our
burdens of bamboos at length where the skeleton of our shark
was lying; for the rest of our number had so completely dis-
posed of him, that I might call him a skeleton almost as much
as the one we dragged out of the water. They had buried
portions (as much as would last us for months, if only pickled)
in six or seven small pits they had contrived to dig; and the
two Indians were cleaning away at the bones with great dili-
gence. To be brief, we lit our evening fire under a spreading
tree, a little distance from the shore; our supper of shark we
found palatable enough to men who had hunger for their
sauce; then we spent the dark hours talking over our day's
adventures, till 't was time for prayer, and so to bed.

CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE FIRST CATECHISM.

WOULD fill a book, and a good one, to re-
late the talk that went on between Don
Manuel and the Indians, by our watch-fire.
o' nights. I will give one of these discourses,
so well as I can recall it: only, as I do not
undertake to put the savages' broken English
into fitter language (as I cannot pretend,
neither, to very choice English myself*), it must be by jotting
down just what they said, as far as memory will serve.
"John", said the priest to Pounder, who was busy fixing
some shark's teeth into a handle, to serve for a saw; "let me
* The state of education in Wales during Owen's younger days must
be taken into account in criticising his entire production. Supposing
him to write fifteen years, or so, after the events he records, and to
have spent a part of that time in civilized society, we have still to
account for the total want of polish, and even accuracy of expression,
which marks his narrative. It has been thought, however, that it
would prove more satisfactory to the general reader to have Evans'
plain unvarnished tale presented to him, in the dress in which the author
clothed it. And it must be remembered, that the "Welsh school-
master" of that day stood as the very type of much that was rude and
uncultured; as the very reverse of the "schoolmaster abroad"-ED.
142
THE ADVENTURES OF
see if
you remember what I said to you yesterday. Attend,
now, for our talk must be serious. How many gods are there ?"
White Sa", answered Pounder (so they called us, trying
to say, Sir), "he say, none but one".
·
Don M. "But do you not see, yourself, there can only be
One ?"
Pounder. "White Sa, he say yes. Me s'pose; me no
know. Rer-mimebolamba know small". He meant to say,
he was ignorant, and understood but little.
Don M. "But Rer-mimebolamba can think. If there
were two Gods, or many, would they be equal, one as great
as the rest, one as powerful as the rest? or would one be.
greater, more powerful ?"
On this, poor Pounder mused for some time; then he said,
meekly: "Me no know; me say as White Sa he say.
ting all right".
Ebery-
Don M. (smiling). "Yes, but that will not do. You must
know and believe for yourself, my dear. Listen to me again :
What is God?"
With much reverence he said this, and raised his hat as he
spoke, bowing his head. Pounder bowed his too, but said
nothing. Mark, the old man (his Indian name was Toefa-
oloo), took it up here.
Mark. "White Sa, Paowanga, he our god. Erronana-
toona, he our god. Tamaete-solloo, he our god. Havaco-
eekee, he our god. Eaha-noue, eaha-noué (great many,
great many), he all our god" (he could not express the plural,
they, in his English).
66
At this, Pounder and Samuel nodded, and kept on saying,
oora, oora”.
Samuel. "And Kongadoowaia" (pointing to the moon),
"he our god".
Mark. "Oora, oora, Poula-faihe": as much as to tell the
young Indian, he had well spoken.
Don M.
greatest ?"
"But which of all these gods, think you, is the
Samuel. "Me s'pose, Kongadoowaia, he most most".
Pounder. "Udan, Udan (no, no): Erronanatoona, he most
most".
Mark. "Udan, Rer-mimebolamba: me s'pose, Paowanga,
he most most: me s'pose Havaeoeekee, he most most". (He
meant by this, he could not decide in his mind, which of the
two he named, was the greatest.)
Don M. 66
'So, it seems you are not able to balance among
:
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
143
them all.
one God.
those you
Mark.
Don M.
Mark.
he say".
But I say to you, now, there cannot be more than
To say, many gods, is to say, no God. None of
tell me of, is God at all".
"Me s'pose, none of 'em god at all”.
"Well, then, is there no God?”
"Me s'pose, no god. Eberyting all right, White Sa
Don M. "Ah, poor creature! hast thou lived all these long
years, and grown old, in this dark state of soul? Good Lord,
assist me to do somewhat, and enlighten this soul which Thou
hast created! Now, Toefa-oloo, tell me: where does God live?"
Mark. "Me s'pose, Erronanatoona, he live here (pointing
to one quarter of the heavens): Tamaete-solloo, he live here
(pointing to another quarter): Paowanga, he live Toonati-
nooka (the name of the island they came from): Havaeoeekee,
he live in eloeeo: Eaha-noue, eaha-noué (he meant, all the
rest of his many gods) he all live here, here, here, here, here"
(pointing about on all sides, up and down).
Don M. "And what is oloeco?"
Old Mark seemed not well able to explain what he meant.
by this: he sat for awhile, and looked into the fire, shaking
his head. Presently, Don Manuel tried Pounder, to make
him explain it better.
Don M.
is oloeeo ?"
Pounder.
"Well, Rer-mimebolamba, do you tell us, what
"White Sa, oloeeo all same as place where
Havaeoeekee he live, he sleep, he stay".
Don M. "Is it up there, then ?" (pointing to the heavens).
Pounder, shaking his head. "Udan, udan".
Don M. "Where is it, then ?"
Pounder. "Rer-mime (so he called himself, for shortness),
leave it Rer-mime's house, six suns back". He would have
said, six days before.
Don M. "Left it in your house? is it so small?"
Pounder. "Rer-mime hold it so, so" (doubling up his hand).
This caused a silence again: we could none of us make out
what he meant by this oloeeo. At length Don Manuel began
to question him once more:
"What is it like?" says he, "what is it made of ?"
Pounder held up the shark's teeth he was working at, and
the handle he was fitting them into; and said:
"Oloeeo this way".
* In an account of the island of Madagascar, of about the same date
>as this narrative, mention is made of an owley (probably the English
144
THE ADVENTURES OF
Don M. "And do you think, one of your gods lives in a
thing like that ?”
Mark interrupted here, but with great respect: "White
Sa, Havaeoeekee he live in oloeeo this day, he no live in
oloeeo that day", meaning, not always.
"He live in oloeeo,
if no Paowanga he drive him out some time”..
In short, the deeper we went into their miserable, dark
misbelief, the fuller did we find it of absurdities, each gain-
saying the other. Nor did they seem to have so much as the
first rude notions of the true God, nor capable of receiving
them from us as yet: though they submitted to all the White
Sirs chose to say on that, or any other matter. But such
discourses had a good effect on our men, though seeming
lost on the savages: for after a while, Harry Gill broke out
with saying:
""Tis a great treasure, Sir (as I find), we have had all
along; though, I fear me, I have little thought on it. We
have always known there was One true God; and that is.
something these poor niggers, it seems, do not".
"Indeed, 't is something", answered the priest, "and much,
as the foundation of all beside. Then, also, you have known,
that the true God has spoken to you".
Harry Gill. "Spoken to me, Sir? As how? I don't un-
derstand that".
Don M. "Has He never spoken, my friend, to your un-
derstanding, or to your conscience, or to your heart? And
did He never speak to those that went before you, from whom
you have derived, at least, a part of His message ?"
Gill seemed puzzled to know how to interpret this: he re-
mained for a little while thinking; then said, in a low tone:
"I never heard God's voice, Sir".
if
Don M. "Well, we have talked enough for to-night: but,
you would desire to know what I mean, I will tell you to-
morrow night, if we live. God give us rest now, and eternal
rest in heaven".
version of some native word), as being an amulet in frequent use in that
country. It is supposed to be the residence of one of the local de-
mons, and, like the Fetish of the African tribes, appears to be regarded
at once as a charm, or talisman, and an object of quasi-adoration. These
owleys are described as small and portable, "made of a peculiar wood,
in small pieces, neatly joined, and making almost the form of an half-
moon, with the horns downwards, between which are placed two alliga-
tors' teeth; this is adorned with various kinds of beads", etc. It is not
difficult to suppose the narrative referred to, and this passage of Owen's
adventures, to present us with something in common.-ED.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
145

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
WORTH THINKING ON.

OMETHING in what the priest had said gave
me a sleepless night, I well remember: and
't was chiefly on account of these words of his;
If we live. I had somehow taken it as a thing
of course, in spite of dangers and chances
that had befallen me, I should live to a ripe
old age, after all. True it was, I had heard
of others dying on a sudden, when they and their friends
least thought on it: I had seen even younger men die, who
were shortly before in the vigour of youth: also, in my
studies and practice of surgeon, I had stood by many a death-
bed, unable to stay that cold hand of death from grasping the
heart-strings of others: all this had scarce taught me, my
own time was coming too. If I ever figured to my mind my
own death, 't was as an old man, dying many years after:
the real truth is, I scarce ever imagined it at all.
But now, whether 't was something had shocked me in the
horrid heathenism of our new acquaintances, who were living
"without God in this world", or that those few words spoken
by Don Manuel in his simple way, as of a thought familiar to
himself, impressed me in a manner the same thing never had
hitherto done: I lay before the fire turning them over in my
mind; they now possessed a strange power with me, such as
I could not shake off. It was in vain to compose myself to
10
146
THE ADVENTURES OF
sleep still there came, as if it were a small voice, that
whispered in mine ear; If you should live; then, If you should
die! Those two came, one after another, ringing through my
brain, as it were, in turn; like the solemn ding-dong of the
two old bells I have heard, times out of number, chiming to
church in my native hamlet of Llanddwy -Cwmyoy.* If you
should live! If you should die! If you should live! If you
should die! I almost thought I was dreaming, at one time.
But no; there I was, broad awake; and I did not so much
think as listen to the words which some one else seemed to
repeat and repeat again to me.
I felt my pulse, and found it somewhat heated and fever-
ish: this, I began to think, might explain the whole: yet, on
the other hand, the voice (as I must call it) sounded so quiet
and gentle, like the voice of a friend anxious for my good,
and loving me; and there were no disturbed visions before
my sight, as would appear if a fever were setting in.
I now gave up all thoughts of sleep; I rested my aching
head on my two hands, my hands on my knees, and set to
work thinking in right earnest. If I should die! What then?
I began to ponder. After all said and done, I was not so ill
taught in some truths of religion, but I knew "after death
comes judgment". But then, Judgment, I had been used to
think, was like to bear hard upon such villains as thieves,
murderers, traitors, pirates, spoilers of widows and orphans,
robbers of churches, utterers of base coin, forgers, and such
like; of which I was none, nor ever had been.
That was a comfort, so far as it might go; but it somehow
grew lesser, by a good deal, as I thought it over. For then
I began to consider how many good gifts I had had given me,
and that I must be judged for them all; what illuminations
* Probably some obscure village in Glamorganshire, which seems
to have been Owen's native county, from his mention of Cardiff and
Llantrisant, both situated within its confines. I am unable to assign
an exact meaning to the addition, Cwmyoy; but the former part of the
name signifies the Church of St. David. This is a name of frequent
occurrence in Wales; many churches having been dedicated there in
honour of the great Archbishop of Minevia, the patron of the entire
principality, whose name was given, after his death, to the present
Catheral and diocese of St. David's. Thus, we have Llan-ddewibrevy
(ie. the Church of David on or near the river Brevy), in Cardigan-
shire, the spot where the great British Synod was held early in the
sixth century against Pelagius, at which St. David assisted. There is
also Llan-ddewi-Abergwesin, in Brecknockshire, Llanddewi-Skirrid and
Llanddwy-Rytherch, in Monmouthshire, and doubtless many others in
Wales proper; to which may perhaps be added Llandewednack at the
Tizard Point, in the kindred Celtic district of Cornwall. ED.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
147
in my spirit, what a knowledge of the better path I had still
not pursued; how many examples from others, warnings and
encouragements both in books, and in actual life; lessons at
every turn and I, like a perverse, ungrateful creature, had
closed my eyes and ears and heart, against all! Now, as I
thought on them, they seemed to multiply before me; just
as multitudes of stars come forth at night when the man at
the helm, or on the watch, keeps gazing into the sky; now
here one, now there another, and another again, till the
heavens appear full of them.
So then, I began to see, every rational creature is account-
able for his gifts to God, who gave them, if even he never
hath offended against the laws of his fellow-creatures: and a
man, 't is possible, may be respectable and upright (though I
was unwilling enough to acknowledge it), and yet be con-
demned, too, for offences against the divine law.
What (said I to myself), if the great Judgment shall take a
like course with that providence which bestows talents and
powers unequally on mankind? I have heard men say,
human justice is a copy and image of the divine: and what is
the known rule in all human courts ? Criminals are recom-
mended to mercy, or receive a lighter sentence, if ignorance
can be fairly pleaded for them: on the other hand, they are
heavily punished in the degree of their knowledge or advan-
tages. Then I remembered what happened in my boyhood,
when once being taken to the Cardiff assizes, and I little more
than a stripling, I heard the trial of two men, one William
Lloyd, and one Jones Pen Rice, for forgery; who were tried
before Sir Peregrine Tullock and Baron Brainerd, when they
went the Welsh circuit that year. Lloyd was a poor simple
man, who could write but ill, and from journey-man baker had
become master-baker in a small way, and from that rose to
be an exciseman; but Pen Rice was a practised schoolmaster
all his days, and for smartness of scholarship worth two of
the other. It came out on the trial, the schoolmaster had
overpersuaded his poor neighbour, Lloyd, to counterfeit the
sign-manual of the junior partner in a linen-draper's firm,
while he himself had forged the name of the senior, to some
quittance or other. But the upshot was, the exciseman being
no such adept as the schoolmaster, his clumsiness betrayed
them both so that every one that heard the trial wondered
how so shrewd a man should employ so poor an instrument
when his neck was the forfeit. Nevertheless, all things taken
into the account, Lloyd got off with seven years in the hulks;
:
148
THE ADVENTURES OF
but Pen Rice was cast to be hanged, and hanged he was
accordingly. To make a long story short, I well remembered
the sentence of Justice Brainerd in addressing the prisoners,
(his brother judge, Sir Peregrine, being taken with a touch of
gout, and not able to sit that day, for the trial lasted two
days and a-half, so subtle a defence did Pen Rice make for
himself and his accomplice).
"For you, Jones Pen Rice", says the judge, putting on his
black cap, "I can hold out no prospect of mercy from the
Crown. Your education, your intelligence, the sacred duty
entrusted to you, of guarding the morals and forming the
character of youth, the influence which, by superior endow-
ments, you acquired over your unhappy accomplice, and
which you employed to so base an end, all combine to stamp
your crime as one unpardonable in the eyes of man. That you
may find mercy at a higher tribunal is my hope and prayer
for you: to that end, I exhort you to spend the short time
remaining to you on earth, in fervent supplications to obtain
forgiveness of your crimes from your offended Maker. The
sentence of the court is, that you be taken hence to the place
from which you came, and that on the fifth morning after the
present day you be drawn on a hurdle from thence to the
gallows erected on the place called Piper's Heath, and there
hanged by the neck till you be dead, dead, dead! and may
the Lord have mercy upon your soul!"
On which, I also remembered (for by this I was all but nod-
ding off to sleep; and our snatches of dreams, we know, bring
strange fragments of recollection, with oddly assorted words
and things, little thought on during the interval), I remem-
ber plainly, I say, that when the judge had solemnly pro-
nounced those words with a deep voice and shake of his head,
and the crowded court was hushed, except the poor wife and
daughter of the condemned man in the gallery, shrieking, and
in hysterics, the head-waiter of the King's Arms elbowing-in
near the judge, leaned forward, and said in a loud whisper:
"So please your lordship, my lord, my master bid me say,
the haunch of venison will be ruinated and burnt to a cinder".
On which the court breaking up in haste, adjourned to the
duty of dining at the King's Arms, to drink his majesty's
health, and the rest of the royal family.
Just before I dropped to sleep, I heard Don Manuel, speak-
ing to himself: "Toonati-nooka!" Methought he was prac-
tising the name of the savages' island; but, looking at him,
I perceived he was sound asleep: then I guessed, his dreams
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
149
were taking him to that heathen place, and he was bent on
something for their good. Presently, he became more rest-
less, and began to murmur things that I could not catch so
well all at once, he started, broad awake, crying:
"Save
them! Save them, or they perish!" then, seeing me, gave a
little quiet laugh, as though at himself, and turned from the
light of the fire; so I heard no more.

utte
CHAPTER XXXIX.
A POSITIVE PRECEPT.

QUT has my truant pen run away with me?
When I began this narrative of our mis-
fortunes, I meant no more than to note the
heads of what befell us; to guide my memory
more than for any other's sake beside: and
already I have blotted many sheets with the
history of a few days of our exile in that
place. Yet our situation on the island was so strange as few,
I think, could match by their experience; and, had I but the
fresh remembrance, as I have now the leisure, such uncommon
things as befell us there demand as full an account, day by
day, as I have given of them up to this.
I know not whether to record the bare heads of the journal
I began to keep, after our first week or so, on some of Don
Manuel's folio paper, and with the cuttle-fish ink; or to go
on drawing out at full what I then put down in brief: for,
indeed, as I read those notes over, the whole time and place,
and almost every word then spoken, seems to start up before
me, though now some years agone, as fresh as anything I did
a month since. As I write now, in my little parlour-room,
looking over the harbour, with the pier-head and shipping
right in front, my wife beside me, and my children round me,
I seem almost to hear with mine ears, and to see with mine
eyes, that past and half-savage life come round again. But
there is a portrait that hangs against my wall, the portrait of
my dear, most dear Don Manuel-God rest his soul, if he can
need such a prayer-that looks down on me, seeming to bid
150.
THE ADVENTURES OF
me go on, and record all and each, to the best of my memory.
How mild he shows there, and how humble: how grave, yet
how gay, both strangely mingled! My Yarmouth painter,
that I tried to describe him to, has done his best to produce
him on the canvas; but the man has not caught that look,
neither, and small blame to him. For that portrait's sake,
I will go on as before: leastways, till I have completed the
history of a week; then we will see.
Above all, could I but read, in turn, the thoughts of my
readers (if any there should be), to discover the interest they
take in what interests me in the remembrance, I should know
better how to guide my pen. For a man may be the hero of
his own adventures, and to his entire satisfaction alone: as
our old schoolmaster at Llantrisant was used to describe some
conceited persons as sui amantes, sine rivali. But, rather than
be counted among those self-satisfied prosers, who satisfy no
one beside, I would cast what I have here written behind
the fire, and turn to use my spare time somehow else.
When we woke the next morning, our first thought (after
our prayers), was that pickling trade we had resolved to em-
bark in and it seems, we had all been thinking, or dreaming
of it, for each one had his plan. Some were for digging a pit,
or salt-pan, lining it, too, as best we might, with such earth or
clay as came to hand; baking it hard with heated stones and
burning wood, as we were now used to bake our dinner.
Some were for hanging up the slices of shark's meat to dry in
the sun, basting them with salt and water, or rubbing them
with handfuls of salt, which we might find in holes of the
rocks; so to pickle or salt them dry. At last Hilton cried out:
"What about the jars we left in the stream, that day we
were betrayed, on 't other side the island? We have not
bestowed a thought on them; yet they would serve us to ad-
miration!"
We all answered with one voice, that, indeed, 't was the
best plan we had hit on: though a second thought told us,
how unlikely it was, the villains who had betrayed us would
leave us anything so good or useful as the jars; yet we deter-
mined to make an expedition, and hark back to that side of
the island without delay.
"Besides”, said Harvey, "we shall have some chance of
knocking over another peccary, or so, among the woods on
our way".
"Or what will be better", added Don Manuel, "of getting
some of those oysters I saw on the rocks thereabouts".
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
151
"Under favour, though, Sir", returned Harvey, "I see not
how oysters are better than peccary for us".
"Better for us to-day", said the priest.
"To-day ?" asked I, taking it up here, and looking at him,
surprised.
"Yes", replied he, smiling, "for the week is running round,
friends, and this is Friday morning, you remember".
"Ah", said I, after thinking a little, "Catholics are used to
take no meat on a Friday, I now remember".
"Catholics, my good friend?" asked he: "certainly. But
I have been told by those who know your prayer-book (for
a fellow-student of mine at Salamanca was preparing to be
sent as chaplain to our ambassador at St. James', and he had
the curiosity to enquire;) it seems, I say, your own book en-
joins you to abstain from meat on all Fridays in the year".
"I fear me", said I, surprised at this, "the Spanish chap-
lain knew more of our English prayer-book than I: all I
know is, I never heard of this custom being enjoined, nor
knew of it practised, by any protestant, in my life."
"Now I think on 't", says Tom Harvey, "there was an old
aunt of my cousin's wife, that never would touch meat on a
Friday, nor through the Lent, till she fell sick; but then she
had been brought up half a Catholic, by her grandmother;
and she again had this handed down to her by a priest, who
came to that side of the country from foreign parts, and was
hanged soon after at Worcester".
"And why was he hanged?" enquired Don Manuel, and
Hilton, both in a breath.
"Indeed", said Harvey, "I cannot say; but he was looked
on as a kind of rebel, as I've heard tell; and would not take
some oaths or other, I never rightly knew what".
So that discourse dropped for the present.
I cannot pretend, what the priest had said on the point in
hand came home with that force to us, that we readily con-
formed. For (as I now see) the precepts of natural religion,
planted in man's heart as man, apart from revelation or
Christianity, can appeal even to the half-awakened conscience,
telling us such-like things as to assist one another in need, to
deal justly and fairly, forgive injuries, ask forgiveness, abstain
from offence, search our own conduct, come before our Maker
in prayer, and so on. Whereas, here was a precept of posi-
tive law declared to us, beyond anything laid down in the
law of reason written in my mind; and the authority whereof
I could not at once bow to. For my reason (if that were
152
THE ADVENTURES OF
all) would still teach me, the animals I had a dominion over
were as much given for my use on Fridays, as on Thursdays,
Mondays, or any day whatsoever. From this arose my
doubts, whether I, or the rest, could be held bound by such
a law; to which we had never subscribed, either formally or
by any other act, I thought, that implied it; in which none,
whether minister or layman, had instructed us by word or
writing; which our elders and betters had not observed;
which we had not heard of, read of, dreamed of, till that mo-
ment when Don Manuel brought it up on a sudden.
'T was, indeed, a small matter enough in itself; nor any
denial, to speak of, for men who were used to fare hard, and
reckoned a piece of salt junk, with a biscuit half full of weevils,
and a horn of weak grog, little better than bilge-water, to be
feast for an admiral. But then, again, it came with an air of
authority though I would have done the thing ten times
over, and heartily, to oblige a mess-mate, or relieve a poor
disabled seaman; my will (I own) kicked against it, when it
claimed to bind us by an obligation.
:
In this way I turned the question over for a while but for
breakfast, was no controversy, for nothing but shark was to
be had; and shark was fish, all the world over: so to it we set,
and broiled some pieces, with yams and bread-fruit, having
freshened our stock of these from the neighbouring woods, by
help of the savages. But savages I must call them no longer;
for, if they began by submissiveness, they were now devoted
to our service: indeed, they told us after (when they had
gained language enough) nothing could equal their joy to find
by degrees, we were neither going to eat them, nor sacrifice
them to our gods: this being their custom, it seems, with all
who are wrecked or cast on their shores, or taken prisoners in
war.
After our fish-breakfast, we bore away north-north-east, at
a smartish pace; we all desired to see whether these jars re-
mained to us or no: yet each, I believe, felt unwilling (some
more, some less) to revisit that part of the island where our
great misfortune first had burst on us. But after all, during
the five days, or so, we had spent in this strange unlooked for
way, our minds had been so raised to better things, our hearts,
too, so calmed and softened, by the society and example (more
even than his words) of the companion we had all learned to
love heartily, that we were prepared, if not willing, to look
again on a spot where we had cursed, and raved, and ground
our teeth, so shortly before.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
153

CHAPTER XL.
RAMBLING IN WALK AND TALK.

ROM near the top of the mountain, where
we stood three days ago, viewing the ex-
tent of the island, we had made out its
length to be some three British leagues :
that is, two full leagues south from the
mountain top (as the crow flies), and about
half as much to the northward, on a rough
guess. Coming, as we did now, from the extreme south-
east, or nearly so, with an intention to leave the slopes of
the mountain well on our right, we reckoned there lay before
us a march of a couple of leagues, or thereabout. But the
greater part of our way took us through the thick woods,
with high trees arching over; so we did not fear the heat.
We felt, though, our want of a compass on this march; the
more so when we left the shore, plunging into the thick
growth of trees, that might entangle and mislead us, to the
loss of our time. If any chance reader should smile to think
of our reckoning the value of time, seeing we had nought in
this wide world to do with it, but to keep from sin and save
our souls, as best we might; let him consider again (as we
did) that the rainy season was at hand, and we must needs
house ourselves in the cave before it came on us. Indeed,
we were so anxious about this (I mean, the priest and I, for
't was our two heads alone that seemed to forecast anything,
if I make some exception for Harvey), I felt regret we should
lose a day upon our expedition; I think, had I not been
ashamed to abandon it now, I had more than likely proposed
to turn back to our mason's work.
However, what we had to do was, to note the position of
the sun, and so guide ourselves by guess-work towards that
channel, or inlet, of our first unhappy landing. Could we
have used the sagacity of our Indians here, I doubt not they
had struck out the path for us; but they knew not whither
we were going, and trudged at our heels, like as many faithful
hounds. We kept all together, to guard against surprise; and
marched in this order: first came I, with my rifle ready for
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THE ADVENTURES OF
action; next, Don Manuel with his piked staff; then the
three Indians, each with a bamboo, which he had pointed at
the end, and burnt the end hard with fire, so making it into
a formidable kind of javelin, enough; then Ned Hilton and
Gill, whose office 't was to keep a sharp eye to the savages,
with their guns ready against the least sign of treachery;
next Prodgers, last, Tom Harvey, brought up the rear, each
armed with a bamboo-pike too.
Before we had got on very far, we were stopped by a
marsh, that spread out so wide as made it impassable: for we
knew not how deep it might be in the middle. All we could
do was to strike up to the right, keeping to firm ground; we
could see this quagmire was narrower to that side than to-
wards the left, and so we judged it to be formed by some
stream that came down from northward. Soon we found our-
selves right in supposing thus much; for the soft ground grew
less and less, until we traced the opening of a small stream
that ran into it.
Here we came upon another discovery; and 't was due to
Hilton, whose foot slipping on a sudden, nearly brought Ned
down upon his nose. As he looked to see what he had slipped
on, he cried out: "Clay, as I'm alive!" We crowded round
the place, for this was joyful news to us all; and found in-
deed, he was not mistaken: for the east bank of this small
stream was made up of a greyish marl, or clay, very fit for
moulding into pots and dishes, if only we had skill to bring
to our material. We traced the clay (some of us searching
up the stream, and some down) for sixty or seventy yards;
then we gave over, for we found we were rich enough to em-
ploy a score of hands, or more, in the pottery trade, had we
been so numerous.
" for
We rejoiced at finding this, and rendered thanks to God;
but would not delay on it for the present. Our only concern
was, how to mark the place, that we might come hither again
when our house was built (I mean, when our cave was hol-
lowed wide enough), and employ our new-found treasure.
"And let that be soon, friends", said Don Manuel :
next to a lodging, a good householder looks to his furniture.
In Holland, where I once was, the houses of the better sort,
indeed of all, from the burgo-master down to below the
middle rank, are ornamented chiefly with such glazed delft-
ware and tiles as they have a great art in making; and they
have such a wealth of this pottery-ware as descends from
father to son, and is valued even beyond its worth. Though
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
155
we cannot rival their native manufacture, on our first essay,
we may contrive, with care and pains, some vessel that will
stand the fire, and cook a hash".
"Or make a fish-soup on Fridays", says Harry Gill; and
with that he made a little wry face, but the priest did not
see him. And indeed, though Harry had rather taken the
place of being scape-grace amongst us, which Prodgers had
left vacant, there was no great malice in him, neither; only
he did harm, so far as it went, to Ned Hilton. For Hilton
(as Don Manuel once said of him) was like the animal they
call a chameleon, that takes the colour of everything 't is
next to, and is green among the leaves, but gray on the bare
ground.
To mark this spot, and find our clay-quarry again, we bade
Samuel climb a high tree of the fir kind, just over against it,
with the saw that Pounder had made of the shark's teeth; and
notch the rind with such a mark as could be seen from below.
When the young Indian made out our wish, up he went, as
spruce as any monkey: and before five minutes he had cut
a cross deep into the bark of the tree, on the side looking
towards Shark's Cove. Then he came down again as nimbly,
and we went on our way.
I could not but remark to the priest, 'twas strange how the
young savage, who had not so much as heard of Christianity,
should choose the sign of the cross to cut into the tree. But
he smiled when I said it, and answered me:
"Nature, friend Owen, and Grace, both come from the
same Lord: is it any wonder, then, that even nature some-
times witnesses to the things of Grace? The Arabs, as I
have heard, in the sandy desert, mark their camels with the
same precious sign, either to know them among others, or as
a sort of charm. Not that they believe in the Cross (poor
souls!) or in Him who died on it: but, I suppose, because 'tis
the most natural sign, and comes first to hand, as you may
see yourself, if you try. Children in their games, when one
has to make a sign against the other, choose a cross and a
round o, because these are the easiest made. Some of the
most beautiful flowers are cruciform: and they say, no plant
whose flower takes this shape is ever poisonous. So it is, that
our loving Lord speaks to those who will listen to Him, and
prepares (in some degree) the minds of those He has never
spoken to. But this would lead us too far, to follow it up”.
"Not too far for me, Sir", said I; for this man's lightest
sayings seemed to wake up unusual thoughts in my mind:
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THE ADVENTURES OF
"(
pray go on, if it doth not weary you. You are so used, and
I so little used, to ponder these things, it must seem to you
like teaching a school-boy his A, B, C”.
66
Well, then", pursued he, "many of our early Church
writers, or Fathers, while she was persecuted in her infancy,
as well as after, remark as follows: that in the natural forms
of things, you often may see the sign of the cross where
there is struggle, contention, motion, et cætera; not so much
in things that denote peace. In the square-yard of a ship
placed cross-ways against the mast; the outspread wings of
a bird beating against the air; the arms of one who is vio-
lently running or struggling; the cross-hilt of a sword; a
cross-bow, and the like. Mind, I do not affirm how much
there may be in this remark, but 't is, at least, a beautiful
idea: and one that would come home to them, who were
called on to bear the cross from day to day, and sometimes
crucified, to the very letter, even as their Lord".
So he went on, with more than I can recall, about virtue
lying in the carrying the cross, in continual strife and resist-
ance against enemies, within and without; that we all pro-
fess to be soldiers of the cross, and must not desert from our
standard; that if the cross were thus impressed on mere na-
ture (as Poula-faihe had just shown, when he least thought
on it) 't was, far more, the very foundation of all things in
Grace; the sign of that redemption without which we had all
of us remained hopeless slaves of the devil, and the heirs of
hell: again, how reasonably the Catholic Church taught her
children often to make the sign of the cross, to keep these
things (one and all) ever before their eyes and hearts. Then,
as I asked him to do, he showed me the way Catholics had of
making this sign, and repeated to me, in Latin, the words
wherewith they accompanied it: in nothing of which I could
perceive the least departure from what was lawful and rea-
sonable.
Such discourse was broken in upon by our discovering,
when we had traced the stream a little way up, this was the
very same that flowed from the southern declivity of Prospect
Hill. For there was the hill itself (as I may say) leaning on
our right shoulders; but we chose to give it the name of
River-head now instead, and drank of the fresh water again,
to the success of our expedition. "And who knows," quoth
Hilton, "but River-head may one day become a famous
place in history?" "I warrant", says Don Manuel, “'t will
have more harmless fame than many a celebrated spot, where
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
157
men have cut their brothers' throats by wholesale, betrayed
a town, or proved themselves villains on a large scale".
some.
Going still forward, we had scarce got two miles on,
when Pounder called out, pointing to something that grew in
another swampy piece of ground to our left. From the look
of the plant, though the pods were not yet burst, I knew it
for the cotton-plant, and bade the Indian go and gather us
He brought us a good handful, which Don Manuel
and I examined; but we were not so greatly rejoiced at this
as at our former pieces of good-luck, seeing the difficulty of
weaving this cotton into any cloth for ourselves. At last I
said: “”T is true, we cannot weave, for we have no means to
come by a loom, nor skill to make one: but we can learn to
knit, I suppose, and that will answer us as well".
At this, the men all burst into laughter; they asked, when
were we to begin this old-wife's trade, and sit at our doors
knitting, with spectacles on our noses? Then Gill, like a
luckless Harry as he was, turned round on old Prodgers, and
tells him, he would make a famous grandmother at that sort
of work. I know not what Richard might have said or done;
nor how far his new-found gentleness had stood proof against
this sudden thrust of the reckless fellow: but Don Manuel
at that moment laid his arm gently over Prodgers' shoulder,
and called out good-humourdly: "I mean to begin at it! see,
if I don't take out a patent for the first pair of stockings !"
There's many a true word spoken in jest, says the proverb:
so, thinking it over, I made my mind up to see if we could
turn our spare time to account in this way of cotton-knitting:
in truth, our clothes even now were not of the best; and if
our exile was prolonged (as there looked every prospect of it)
that trade might become, not a comfort, but sheer necessity.
But now we journeyed on; though partly mistaking our
way, we bore up somewhat too much to northward; yet,
when we felt ourselves getting on the slope of the volcano, we
struck west again, and after a while came upon the head of
that little glen through which the stream came down that we
had placed our jars in. We were overcome with eagerness to
see whether these were left to us, among our small posses-
sions; so we made a headlong rush for it, and one or two of
us fell into the brook over the slippery roots of trees: till we
got into that mossy lane we had travelled up before; and
found (as indeed I more than suspected), the fellows who
landed us had no more charity than we gave them credit for
for one of the jars was clean gone, and the other lying beside
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THE ADVENTURES OF
the bed of the stream, broken into pieces; but whether out of
sheer malice, or by some accident, is more than I can say.
We uttered some exclamations of disappointment, 'tis not
to be doubted; but I heard not a single curse among all our
number. Should this appear to any as a small matter, or not
one to lay great stress on, to me, on the other hand, who
knew the way of seamen, and how glibly an oath slips from
the lips of men that have given themselves to uttering them,
it seemed next door to a miracle, to find how much had been
done in the line of good within five short days.
"True", says the priest; for I seldom had a thought now
without imparting it to him; "it only shows that every one
can keep from sin, with the help of God, where he is resolute
to watch over himself. I will tell you what chanced once
in Spain, on this subject of swearing, to prove what I say".

M
CHAPTER XLI.
THE SWEARER'S BUTTON.

Y story", says he, "is this: in the town of
Espinosa, in the province of Toledo, there
was an officer, quartered with his regiment;
he was a good sort of man, and in the main,
possessed with the fear of God. But, from
living in camps, with bad example around
him, having also to deal with men under his
command on whom soft words seemed utterly wasted, he had
contracted a vile habit of profane swearing; and this came
out on every occasion that roused him to impatience, or anger.
That much, with the remainder of the story, I heard him re-
late afterwards at the table of the bishop of Cuidad Real. It
seems he made some efforts to overcome this evil habit of his;
but all to no purpose. At length, the beginning of one Lent,
he applied to a Jeronymite monk, of the convent in Espinosa,
to explain his case. The father asked him, was he in earnest?
did he truly wish to unlearn his swearing habits? The cap-
tain professed himself, that he did indeed desire it. Then,
says the other, will you punctually follow the advice I am
about to give you? The captain says, again, there was noth-
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
159
ing he would not do to correct himself; and so gave his pro-
mise as a man of honour. 'Well, then', says the good monk,
smiling, 'I will hold you to it, hijo mio: and what you shall do
is this: The very next time an oath slips from your lips (re-
member, you have promised me) draw your sword, and cut
off the top button from your uniform coat: and so on, a button
for every oath after that'.
"A bargain is a bargain, among men of honour: as this
officer had promised, he held himself bound to perform. But
he felt much confused, even beforehand, at the bare thought
of appearing in his uniform with a button less; and determined
by all means to avoid the disgrace. Well, he left the monas-
tery, and went back to his quarters, full of good intentions;
scarcely had he set his foot within the barrack-gates, when
something went wrong, and one of his men gave him cause of
offence. Out came a thundering big oath, according to custom;
and, when he be thought himself, there was the old evil done
again. How should he act now? Being a man of his word,
cost him what it might, he draws his sword, and cuts off the top
button, just under his chin. Though, I dare say, none of his
fellow-officers noticed it, yet he thought every eye was on the
place where the button should have been; and went about all
day in a sheepish kind of way, feeling something was amiss.
with him altogether".
"Now," continued the priest, turning to me, "how many
buttons, think you, did he lose, owing to that promise of his?"
"Truly," said I, “'t is to be feared, he was left at length
without so many as would hold his coat together”.
"On the contrary," says he again, smiling, "he never had
to cut off a second; and the careful guard he kept on himself,
lest he should lose the next button, grew into a habit, that
cured him of his swearing".
I was much struck with that story, I own; and needed not
that the priest should enforce its moral on me: he, for his
part, did not add another word.
Nor do I find any particular thing to record in the after
part of this day, nor indeed in the next, which was Saturday.
Don Manuel led us to the place where he had observed the
oysters; which we found in abundance, and of a prodigious
size: whether I am to call them oysters, or cockles rather,
they furnished us with more food than we desired.* As if,
*For the size to which shell-fish grow in the tropics, see Cook's
Voyage round the World: "At four o'clock in the afternoon the boats
returned with two hundred and forty pounds of the meat of shell-fish,
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THE ADVENTURES OF
too, we were to be rewarded for our obedience to the precept,
now first announced to us, of eating no meat on this day,
I must note that, even as the people of Israel, turning
from the flesh-pots of Egypt, were sustained in the wilderness
by manna from Heaven, so now, besides our oysters, that were
(as our priest had said before) both "fish and dish", we dis-
covered, in another creek somewhat to the south of these
rocks, such a colony of fine cray-fish, as made us have no-
thing more to say to shark on Fridays.
Indeed, as far as fish went, I concluded we had settled on
the worser side of this island. But we had taken a fancy, or
whim (whichever I may call it), in favour of our cave, and
determined to stick to it: as men have stuck to things less
reasonable, just because they willed, and only so. Stewing
our cockles and cray-fish in their own shells, and dining ex-
cellently well, we then loaded the Indians with some of each
sort, to establish a fish-pond, or preserve, in Shark Cove; and
set our faces homewards. Having but ill secured the claws
of the cray-fish, one of the larger of them getting loose, gave
Samuel a shrewd nip on the shoulder, as he was carrying him.
The poor fellow started off like a fury, yelling louder than
any madman with the pain: he rushed through the wood, and
the rest after him; shaking himself in vain, to be free of his
tormentor, then rolled on the ground, and roared till the
echoes rung again. Pounder now proved his title to the name
he bore, and finished the enemy by hammering at him with
stones. But Samuel was under my hands for three days after,
for the creature's bite was no joking matter, believe me.
Saturday was a day of hard work at our cave, with nothing
more to chronicle. We took turn-and-turn about, and made
progress; working on a regular plan: and for dinner we had
a young peccary that we had met (to his grief) in the woods
the day before; for we killed him, at least, on Friday, with-
out remorse or scruple.
chiefly of cockles, some of which were as much as two men could move,
and contained twenty pounds of good meat". Friday, 17th August,
1770.
As to the "sea cra-fish", or lobsters, Anson (or his biographer) as-
sures us that on the island of Juan Fernandez, "they generally weighed
eight or nine pounds apiece, were of a most excellent taste, and lay in
such abundance near the water's edge, that the boat-hooks often struck
into them, in putting the boat to and from the shore"-Anson's Voyage
Round the World, p. 177, ed. 1748. ED.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
161

CHAPTER XLII.
A GERM OF THE FUTURE.
(EXT day was Sunday, thirtieth of August,
1739, being the first Sunday we had spent.
in this exile; and so Don Manuel reminded
us, while we sat to breakfast under a spread-
ing tree.
"And we may see, friends" (says he), "how
wise, how loving, is the commandment to
keep one day in seven as a day of holy rest: not only to re-
fresh our wearied bodies from toil, but to raise our minds to
that heaven where we hope to be one day, and for ever; re-
membering, we are on earth but for a short while, at most".
""T will seem a long while, though", says Gill, rather
down-cast, "if this kind of life goes on, upon a desolate island.
I don't know, but, for my part, I'd as lief be in a tight, well-
trimmed craft, with a smart crew, and sixty guns, or so, upon
a cruise after some of them Spanish galleons, under favour,
Sir", says he, touching his hat to Don Manuel, "with a sharp
look out after my share of prize-money, than"-

11
162
THE ADVENTURES OF
"Than in heaven, do you mean ?" asked the Don, quietly.
"Well", pursued Harry, shaking his head, "I suppose I
ought to say no such a thing; but I can't help feeling, all the
same, that heaven, d' ye see, is a place I've no acquaintance
with; whereas, a sea-faring life, with its ways of going on,
in ship's companies, calms and breezes, dog-watches and idle
times, and ups and downs, like, is what I have used, and so
understand 'em."
At this, the priest smiled a little, but not much, seeming as
if he only would not look too grave at what Gill said. Ned
Hilton chimed in with much the same: he declared, for his
part, sometimes he had as soon be in the Old Bailey, or any
other jail, as on this island.
"Nay, mess-mate", cried Harvey, breaking in here, "'t is
not for me, of all men, to turn preacher: but we should be
unthankful dogs, not to compare our state with what it might
have been: had we been clapped under hatches by old Hop-
kins, now, how had that suited us, I wonder?”
"Or left to the tender mercies of the first mate?" Prodgers
added.
"And", said the priest, "when you speak of prisons, never
forget, there are prisons more dreadful, more hopeless, than
mortal eye hath ever seen. You tell me, dear friends (or
some of you) you had rather be on earth than in heaven:
what think ye, then, of hell?”
With that, he settled the question; leastways, no one
seemed disposed to answer: and now, having an idle day
before us, we began to straggle about under the trees; and
the men, from sheer want of something to do, were for throw-
ing stones at a mark, or jumping height and distance, getting
up a wrestling match, or anything else, to kill time. I fore-
saw, some untoward thing might come of this idleness; for our
quarrelsome passions were, as yet, only like the candle that
is newly blown out, smoking still, and easy to be kindled
again. I whispered this to Don Manuel, who whispered back
to me, he had his own fears about it, and something must be
invented to occupy them. At the same time, he asked to
borrow my clasp-knife, to show them, he said, a game played
by the country folks in Spain, with four sticks laid across.
When he took the knife, I saw him look curiously at it,
as being in make and fashion different from what are used in
Spain: suddenly, he cries out with joy and wonder, so that
we were startled, in a literal sense, and came crowding round
him. He remained, without noticing us, looking earnestly on
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
163
the knife, which he had not opened; he spoke a little to him-
self, then grew silent, as if he pondered something deeply, but
never takes his eyes off the knife, the whole time. All of us
were amazed; as we looked at him, we grew afraid: for I be-
lieve, the rest thought as I did, he might be losing his head.
Perhaps, said I to myself, with much alarm for him, this
injustice we have suffered together, that roused our angry
passions for a time, has gone deeper into this man's soul,
being of a graver and a more reflective turn; it hath lain
working there unseen, till it comes out at last in this strange,
unheard-of way.
Soon he recovered himself; shook his head once or twice,
then fetched a deep sigh, and thinking aloud, he says, "I fear
me, 't is not possible". With that, he opens the clasp-knife
carefully, and shakes something out of it into the palm of his
hand: then reaching his hand to me, showed me what lay on
it, and said, with gravity, and a touch of sorrow :
66 Look, here
is a grain of wheat".
I found it was so, on examining it: one single grain, and a
good sound one, that had stuck in the knife, between the hasp
and the blade: and now I remembered I had thrust a hand-
ful of it into my pocket from the corn-bin on board ship, like
an idler as I was; and thought I had ate it all. No occasion
had made me open my knife since we came ashore; for 't was
too good a one to employ on the shark or the oysters: and the
bamboos would have broken it outright. So, by a strange
providence, indeed, this one grain, that might lay the founda-
tion of an entire harvest, and feed our whole population,
turned up at this odd moment, and was the best discovery we
had made hitherto, by far.
But I could not account, neither, for the sadness which Don
Manuel showed, after being the instrument of this good to
us. Indeed, putting all together, there was something so out
of the way in his conduct, we were not yet assured he was
right in his mind. He had before told us what made him
sorry to find no savages on our arrival whom he might con-
vert: but we quite feared to ask him anything about the pre-
sent case, dreading to confirm our dark thoughts of his under-
standing being gone. For by this time, though not of the
same religion, we had learned to think and feel about him as
a father, a guide, and a friend.
He soon relieved us, however; for, fetching another sigh
from the very depth of his bosom: "Friends", says he, with a
sad smile, shaking his head; "I have been dreaming of other
164
THE ADVENTURES OF
times and employments; this little grain of wheat has made
me do it".
We looked at him, and looked at one another; still the
same idea running in our minds. Then I ventured to say,
watching his countenance narrowly ;
"Dreaming of what, Sir, may I ask?"
"Of Mass", answered he, and looked up again to heaven.
"Yes", he went on, after a little, "I was thinking whether
it would be possible to celebrate that august sacrifice which
we have in the Catholic religion, even here, on this desolate
island. Most of the essential things, I have felt all along,
were lacking and could not be had; when suddenly I come
upon one of them, and that is wheaten corn. Still, where are
the others ?" and again he shook his head, and became silent.
"And what are they, Sir ?" asked Tom Harvey.
66
Several, friend", answered he, "but chiefly, the fruit of
the vine, and a consecrated altar-stone. Come, come", he
added more cheerfully again, like himself, "if we cannot have
the reality of that great blessing, why not unite ourselves in
spirit with those who have? Listen to what I mean".

CHAPTER XLIII.
(6 NIMBLE THOUGHT CAN LEAP BOTH SEA AND LAND”.

n&m
drew his cloak round him, and became so
earnest in voice and look, there was no need
now to bid us attend. "This very day",
says he, "many millions of Christians, spread
over the face of the globe, of every clime,
colour, language, race, are kneeling before
such an altar as I vainly wish for, hearing
Mass said by one of God's anointed priests. They come, be-
cause the Church, inviting them at other times, commands
them to come on Sundays and some days beside. But the
more earnest among them come also because they love that
thrice-holy Sacrifice, and feel they need its benefits, and have
special intentions to bring to it. I say, this day; but I say
not, at this hour alone: for all day long, from early dawn to
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
165
night, Mass is somewhere being said: when 't is early in one
part of the Church, 't is late in another; and she is truly that
world-wide empire on which the sun never sets. That voice
of prayer, and still more, that act of Sacrifice, girdles the
earth round; since the habitable globe itself is the appointed
dwelling of the universal family, "the household of faith":
and the dawn, as it runs swiftly westward, awakens freshly
that consent of hearts, that union of intentions, that one,
great, Catholic act of obedience and love. So is fulfilled,
Sunday by Sunday, day by day, a prophecy of Malachias, the
last of the prophets, in which holy Mass was foretold, as
clearly as if the seer had beheld the priest at the altar with
his bodily eyes; yet four hundred years before our Lord first
celebrated it in Jerusalem the night He was betrayed. I
will try to put the words into my poor English, and they
would run somewhat as this: "From the sunrise to the
sunset, My name is great among the nations: and sacrifice is
going on in every place, and a pure oblation is offered in My
name: for great is My name among the nations, saith the
Lord of hosts".*
"Now, dear friends", added he, after a while, "shall we not
join them? shall we refuse to unite our intentions to theirs ?"
"How can we join them", asks Prodgers, objecting still,
but not like the Prodgers of a week since; rather puzzled than
objecting, after all: "how can we do that, Sir, when we don't
see 'em, and perchance are a thousand miles away from 'em ?"
"We can join them in intention", says the priest, "though
not seeing them".
"Does not your perspective", and he turned to me, "bring
close to you, as it were, things that are clean out of sight of
your unaided eye? Or the captain's speaking trumpet, does n't
it make the sailors in the main-top hear him above the howl of
a tempest, quite beyond his natural pitch? And will not faith
carry our souls one degree further than the perspective carries
the sight, or the trumpet carries the sound? We walk by
faith', religion teaches us, 'not by sight'. If a dear friend of
mine were in the next room to me, and a thin partition between
us; while I heard his voice, would my regard for him be cooled
or lessened because I did not actually see him? Or, if I ceased
to hear his voice, yet if I knew he was there, should I regard
him the less for neither seeing nor hearing him? If I heard
* Malach., i. 11. Don Manuel quotes the prophet with tolerable accu-
racy from the Vulgate, and even renders sacrificatur, perhaps, more
literally than the Douay version.-ED.
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THE ADVENTURES OF
him praying in his room, would not my heart unite itself with
his prayer? If I could not hear him pray, but knew he prayed
at that moment, might I not join my prayers, my intention,
with his? If I were blind, and in the same room with him,
could I not pray with him just as well? What is there in the
mere want of sight to hinder all this ?"
He stopped, looking round on us: I am sure, he read in
our faces, we listened; yet no one spoke.
"If, now", he went on, "from our Cape-Look-Out" (so we
had named the promontory over our cave), "or from your
volcano, Señor Owen, we saw a vessel in distress, though
leagues away on the wild sea; would not you, with your sea-
men's eyes, know at a glance what was doing, and what was
amiss; would not you, with your hearts of men used to dan-
ger, have a fellow-feeling with the sufferings of the crew?
Say that the vessel, amid all that peril, sheers out of sight;
you would not cease to think of them, nor cease (now that
you have learned to pray) to pray with them, because you saw
them hot? Well, then, we may assist at Mass, with intelli-
gence, and offer a reasonable service', in some vast cathe-
dral, too far from the priest to catch an accent of his voice:
and we may join, with true devotion, in the intentions of a
Mass that is celebrated a thousand leagues from the spot
where we kneel".
6
As he paused again, there was something so new to me in
all this, I found neither words to answer, nor objections to
propose to him. But I said:
CC
Once, Sir, in Buenos Ayres, as I strolled about the town
on some holiday or other, I turned in idly to see the cathe-
dral, following a whole posse of people who were flocking in
from every side. Mass was going on, I believe; at least
something at the altar, which I could not see nor understand,
being such a distance off. At first, I own I thought it all
mummery; the priests (there were three of them, and some
attendants), none of them took any notice of the people; and
there was bowing and burning incense, with movements from
side to side. I never saw anything half so strange; there was
nothing of common prayer about it, like a minister getting
into a desk to say, 'Dearly beloved, the Scripture moveth us',
or whatever 't is they say. But I must own, as it went on, a
something came over me, like nothing else I ever felt:
whether the behaviour of the people (at least some of them, for
others were careless, looking about them, almost as we did in
Wales), whether 't was their devotion impressed me, or what,
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
167
:
I cannot say but when a little bell rang, and there was a
hush all through the place, so that you might hear a pin drop,
and the most careless and fidgetty went down on their knees,
bowing their heads, and beat their breasts, at that moment,
I knew not why, nor know to this day-the words came rush-
ing into my mind (and where they came from, I know not
well), "Put off thy shoes from thy feet; for the place where-
on thou standest is holy ground" and I found myself on my
knees with the rest, calling on God earnestly, as they did,
mine eyes wet with tears. Yet there was no moving music,
nor fine discourse, at the moment: nothing but silence, dead
silence, broken by a little bell. What was it spoke to me
thus, I wonder?"
""T was the presence of God", said the priest, with reve-
rence: "God was really present on that altar, yet you saw
Him not; as truly as He was, even then, enthroned in the
heaven of heavens; and from that altar He addressed you, yet
you heard not His voice. He who created you, spoke to your
understanding. He bade you reason and think, a Christian
assembly, some of them with no small degree of education and
intelligence, representing a greater multitude then alive all
over the globe, and more again, extended through seventeen
hundred years, were not likely to have met, Sunday by Sunday,
to witness a mere act of mummery, and listen to a little bell.
He bade you suppose, there must be something beyond all
this; something you could not see, nor that multitude either;
but which they knew and believed, while you did not. More
than this: He who redeemed you with His precious blood
appealed to you from that altar; He whispered to your
heart, that He was there Himself. And you responded; not
by faith, for that had been a miracle, and your conversion
sudden, like Saul's on the road to Damascus-but by an
emotion of the soul that prepared the way for faith, and
signified its first dim awakening. And when was all this,
Señor Owen ?"
"Nay, sir", said I, "'t is three years since, at the least".
The priest lifted up his eyes, and said words (in Latin)
which I now know to mean :
"As yet, the vision is far off; and it shall appear at the
end, and shall not lie: if it make any delay, wait for it: for
it shall surely come, and it shall not be slack".*
“But what”, I pursued, and the others seemed to ask the
same by their looks and manner, "what, after all, is Mass,
that I was present at then?"
*Habacuc, ii. 3. ED.
168
THE ADVENTURES OF
(6
"I promise you all, friends", says he, looking round on us
kindly, to answer that question in full, the next time you
ask it. For the present we have spoken enough, and I fear
to weary you. "T is now almost time to think of preparing a
dinner for our oven: then we can leave it baking, and talk
again; and I propose a quiet walk, after. But, as 't is Sun-
day, and our minds are turned on such important subjects as
we spoke of a while ago, are you disposed to listen, if I can
scrape English enough together to give you a little Sunday
sermon ?"
The men all voted 't would be a treat for them; so much
had they began to respect and love him already, that every
word he spoke was winged the deeper into their hearts by
what they saw his conduct to be. So, after some quiet
amusement, followed by dinner, he took us aside to where
there was a shady bank of turf to sit on, and a little platform
of rock: and getting on it, he said a few prayers with us,
wherein we joined heartily; then delivered himself much as
follows:

CHAPTER
XLIV.
DON MANUEL'S SERMON.

KNOW not", he began, "dear friends and
brothers, how the words of my text run in
any English version; so I must give them to
you from our Latin Bible: and they are
thus: Quæ videntur, temporalia sunt: quæ
`autem non videntur, æterna sunt.* That means,
plainly, that all we now see round us, above
*["The things which are seen, are temporal: but the things which
are not seen, are eternal"--II. Cor., iv. 18.-ED.]
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
169
us, below us, all our eyes rest on, near or far off, will only
last for a time: these things have their day, though it be a
long one. Then they will have their end; they will pass
away. But there are other things, that we do not see yet:
we shall see them soon; we shall find ourselves amidst
them; and they will never pass away; never! they have no
day, but the endless day of eternity. So, the things that
are seen, are for a time: but those which are not seen, are for
ever'.
"Yes", he went on, "time is to-day, and the things of
time; the trials, and the griefs, the temptations, duties, op-
portunities, and graces, of time. They are all with us to-day.
To-morrow comes eternity, and the things of eternity; the re-
wards, aye, or the punishments of eternity. Time! Eternity!
the Now, and the Then! the passing, the enduring! the
shadow, the substance! the labour, the reward! or the sin,
and the punishment!
"There are only three points, dear brothers, I would have
you fix your thoughts on; and I will be as short upon them
as I can. Listen; they are these:
"We are placed in time, to prepare for eternity:
"We are only placed in time once, once for all:
"Our eternity depends on our use of time.
"First: We are placed here, to gain a happy eternity by
our conduct here. Here, I mean in life; though I might also
say, here in this island: for why, think you, friends, do we find
ourselves here in solitude and quiet, removed from many dan-
gerous temptations, with abundant leisure to cultivate our
souls? Why, but because our loving Father, who knows our
weakness, hath placed us here, that He may the sooner and
the surer take us to Himself? But, whether here or else-
where, we, and all other men, even our poor savage friends
that have been sent to us, are all in life, that we may thereby
inherit life eternal. How, do you ask? By obeying the
commands of God, keeping from sin, corresponding with
grace, increasing it, and so growing like to Himself. And
by what power? Surely, by no strength of our own, but
by His grace. And what grace? Ah! that is a subject for
another time; one on which I should have much to say, and
you have something still to learn.
"Well, then, if life is the time given us to prepare for eter-
nity, is it an important time? Nay; who shall tell how im-
portant, how valuable? Ask a man of covetous soul, whose
affections are centred on scraping money together, what he
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THE ADVENTURES OF
would do, if one hour, just one hour, were given him to spend
in a rich gold mine. If he is honest in his answer, he will
tell you plainly, he would spend that hour with diligence,
anxiously, to the very last minute, husbanding every scrap
of time, to get as much gold out of the mine as he could.
He would work while his time lasted; he would do the
utmost he was able; and he would be sorry when the last
moment was come.
"But all this very feebly sets forth the value of our time;
very, very feebly indeed. No gold or precious metals, nor
anything that bears the highest price on earth, can be weighed
in the same balance with time, that can gain for us a brighter
crown, a nearer place to God's throne, and so a fuller measure
of bliss, for ever and ever.
66
6
6
'No, I assert it, my friends, you must be able to measure
the distance from earth to heaven, you must weigh that which
comes to an end against what endures for ever, the things
that are seen, and temporal', against the things that are not
seen, and eternal', before you can prize at its true worth, any
hour of any day of that time in which we are placed, to pre-
pare for eternity.
Eternity! but eternity has no measure, except only itself.
Eternity is not a number of hundreds of thousands of years,
nor any possible number of them multiplied into itself; nor
the ages of millions of worlds multiplied into themselves. In
this way of calculation, you may get to conceive a sum so
vast, that your mind cannot really grasp it; no, not for a
moment. But that is not eternity. That is time, though a
vast sum of time; only time, after all. If an insect crept
one inch in fifty thousand years, till it travelled from here to
the sun; that is not eternity; 't is only time. Eternity is like
nothing but only itself. For ever! that has nothing to do
with time. Yes: but time has one thing to do with it; 't is
given us to prepare for it.
"Then, secondly: all this would be true, had we several lives
to live, one after another; could we come back again from
death, to repair the error of a mis-spent life. Even then, how
valuable would each life be, as it was given in turn! For it
would be an opportunity of making up lost time and lost ground,
and saving the soul in one life, that had not been saved in a
former. But no such opportunity is given. Once, and once
only, and once for all, we are placed in time. Once, only
once, once for all, we can prepare for eternity. Once, only
171
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
once, once for all, I say again, we are able to save our souls.
When this one life is once over, no second time of trial, no
day of
grace, comes after. As we die, so we are judged; when
we die, then we are judged. If we die in grace, in the favour
of God, we are safe, and safe for ever: if we die out of His
grace, we are lost, and lost for ever. In the one case, we are
safe, without fear of being lost; in the other we are lost, with-
out hope of being saved. The sacred Scriptures express this
truth in a striking way: 'If the tree fall to the south, or to the
north, in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be'.*
1
Thus, dear brothers, had we been murdered on board ship,
we had been taken away by the hand of death: rather, con-
ducted by the hands of our guardian angels, placed at once
before our Judge. No more time for us then: none of those
prayers, good thoughts, lessons of God's love and providence,
acts of repentance, we have experienced since. We should
then have known the worth of our souls, and of the time we
had to save them in; but we might have known all this too
late. Had we died then, what state were our souls in? how
far prepared to meet our God, and be judged? But why do
say then only? No; look back over your whole lives; view
them at a glance, as you will view them when the last mo-
ment is indeed come. At any moment of any day, you might
have died a sudden death, as others have died before you, as
others will after you. That very moment you would have
been judged; sentenced for eternity: for there is a particular
judgment awaiting each man at his death, as well as a general
judgment for all mankind together. Once sentenced, there is
no reversing, no mitigating, no recommendation to mercy, no
appeal to another court, or to a fresh trial. As we die, so we
remain; for ever! for ever and ever! for evermore, without
end! We are placed in time once; and once for all. Are
these things true, my dear brothers? Am I making them out
too strong, or drawing from fancy? Nay, you know I am not.
If they are true, what conclusion must we come to from them?
How ought they to affect us? What rules shall we lay down
for ourselves because they are true?
"In the third place, our eternity depends on our use of
time; that is, we have the power (by divine grace) to deter-
mine whether the eternal state we are hastening into, shall
be happy or miserable; an eternity of pleasure, or an eternity
of pain. But what happiness and pleasure? Or what misery
* Eccl., xi. 3. ED.
172
THE ADVENTURES OF
and pain? The greatest, either way, we can imagine or con-
ceive. Is that all? No! far greater than we can imagine;
far greater than we can conceive: such as 'eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man
to conceive'. And the choice lies with us: with us! we are
bidden to choose; we cannot help choosing; we choose every
day, every hour we live: for every day, every hour, we take
a step one way or the other. We step towards heaven, or we
step towards hell; one degree nearer to one or the other, every
action we perform, every word we say, every thought we de-
liberately think. O my brothers! 't is an awful thing to
step towards hell; to take one step, by one foot-breadth, by
one hair-breadth, away from God, towards the edge of the
pit! Can you dare to do it?
"Even if you were sure how many steps, exactly, you could
take that way, without falling down the sides of the pit; yet
what rebellion, what ingratitude, to take one step, one little
step! But you cannot measure this; you cannot tell which
step will be the last, the irrevocable one; nor how many steps
off it is from you now, nor how sudden the slip may be. 'He
that despiseth little things, shall fall by little and little'. He
who places himself, by his own act and deed, on the down-
ward slope that leads to the pit of hell, has only himself to
thank, if he slip on a sudden, and never regain his footing.
"But there is not only a hell to be avoided; there is a heaven
to be gained! Hell! Heaven! Eternity in hell! Or eternity
in heaven! O my brothers!
O my brothers! 't would be impossible for any
soul to sin against God, that had once looked down into hell,
once looked up into heaven. Souls fall into hell, and lose
heaven, because they know nothing really of hell or of hea-
ven; nothing of eternity. Strictly speaking, they do not dis-
believe those things; they only live as if they had never heard
of them. They live on, day by day, as if time were all, eter-
nity nothing: then they come to die, some one day or other,
and find (find too late!) time was nothing, eternity all!
"Ah, bring me back, if you can, one soul that has fallen
down into the pit of hell; the soul that died yesterday; the
bad Catholic who died in Spain, the poor dark misbeliever
who died in England! Bring back the soul that was con-
demned yesterday to an eternity of torment-to everlasting
fire! condemned by a God, all-merciful, all-loving, but all-
just, to that lake burning with sulphur, to that prison-house
of pain, to that gnawing worm, to those chains of darkness,
to that company of devils, to their merciless torments and
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
173
insults; above all, to that banishment from God, that shame
and everlasting reproach, that despair, that self-accusation,
that hatred of God, of goodness, of self, of all! Bring back
that soul, that we may question it: ask it what it thinks now
of time, of eternity. What would it give now-now, when
too late, too late for ever-how much would it give, at what
price would it redeem, one little month, one week, one day,
one hour, only to repent? What for a chance, what for a
loop-hole, aye, but one ray of faintest hope? How would it
despise wealth, honour, pleasure! how would it make nothing
of pains, mortifications, penances! Anything, anything! but
to set one foot out of hell! All the wealth of the Indies, all
the crowns and diadems of earth, all the priceless gems,
mountains of gold heaped one on the other, any price you
may name or think of, would be absolute nothing, for one
little drop of water to cool that hell-parched tongue, that fire-
pierced tongue!-that God-blaspheming tongue!
"Or, could I call down but one of those happy souls who
have entered into the eternal bliss, who bask already in the
countenance of God: the very least, the lowest, in the kingdom
of heaven; that one just withinside the golden gate! Ask
that soul now, what is the value it places on time past? Does
it regret one good action, done with denial of its own will,
done with difficulty, toil, and pain? is it sorry for time spent
in fervent prayers? for having overcome temptations, and
been watchful over itself, and against the demons, its cruel
foes? Ah, no: it now blesses Almighty God continually for
having placed it amid so many opportunities to gain merit for
eternity. Each of those pains endured, those temptations
overcome, is now a jewel in its bright unfading crown.
"But, ask it again: What would you do, were you decreed
to return for awhile to earth? if you still had five, ten,
twenty years to spend in this state of trial?
Oh! I seem to
hear the answer quite plain. "If I were sent back to earth",
says that blessed soul; "if I were still on my trial, and could
still gain merit, I would labour, without pause, to reap-in the
largest harvest, to go before my God at the end of my time
with my hands fullest. I would reckon myself to have done
nothing, while I could yet do more. Even if I knew my sal-
vation secure, I would labour, I would delight in it, to let each
moment and each act have its merit. I would be as the bee
in the garden when 't was near sunset, laborious on one thing
alone, to be able to fly home, laden with honey back to the
hive!"
174
THE ADVENTURES OF
"And you, filii hominum, O sons of men, whose salvation is
not secure, and who know it: usquequo gravi corde? how long
mean you to be so dull, so heavy and slow, so indolent, so
heedless, in the great affair of salvation? Ut quid diligitis
vanitatem? Why are ye so in love with all that is empty and
unsatisfying, while you miss the true, the solid good? Et
quæritis mendacium? And wherefore make you as though ye
sought to persuade yourselves to a falsehood?
1
"For time, my friends, is a mere show and falsehood, when
it comes under any aspect but as a preparation, a training,
for eternity. What is your life?' asks the holy Apostle.
'It is a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and after-
wards shall vanish away'. What is your life? asks again St.
Bernard: 'Momentum, unde pendet æternitas'. A moment, he
answers; but a moment on which eternity depends. Yes, I say
again; time, eternity! time is nothing: eternity is all. Quod
æternum non est, nihil est. That which is not eternal, and has
no influence on our eternity, is nothing. But our eternity
depends on our use of this moment of time. Depends! do we
understand that? According to our use of minutes, which
make up days, which make up years, you and I will be in
heaven or in hell, when days and years and ages are no more;
when there is nothing but one long, changeless eternity,
without division of time, or end, or death, or nothingness;
only eternity, and yet again eternity, and eternity, and eter-
nity; in the fulness of bliss or the extremity of torture and
despair, as long as truth is truth, and goodness is goodness,
and evil is evil, and the soul is the soul, and God is God!
Usquequo gravi corde? Let us awake, dear brothers; let
us begin really to use our knowledge of these great and tre-
mendous truths; let us live, and not dream life away. We
are here on a desolate island; but we have duties even here:
duties to God, to one another, and to ourselves.
Let us
work, watch, pray, repent, cultivate all the virtues within
our reach, and ask for more! Live as those who may die any
moment; who must die some moment; who know not when.
Live as they who are daily preparing to be judged for the
whole of their time. Then I promise you (all other things
supposed, of which I will speak hereafter), I promise in the
name of my Master, a holy life and a happy one, a blessed
death, a favourable judgment, and heavenly joys for ever".
66
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
175

ALL
ช
US US U
She She Sh. Sie, she sh she sh ske ste ska sk ski sk ski sa sh she sta sk. she ski si sh
FOOT BOOK DOOR
CHAPTER XLV.
THE ARCHERY CLUB.

HAVE thus (within a little) concluded the
history of our first week on the island; and,
because 't were tedious to my readers more
than to myself, to go through with like de-
tails, I shall be content with a summary of
what befell us thenceforward. We began to
portion out our time like a company of phi-
losophers, or statesmen; so much to work, so much to amuse-
ment, so much, again, to ranging the island, which partook of
both: 't was work in the way of providing us food, and
brought us acquainted with every lurking nook of our do-
main; but 't was recreation, too, for the variety of objects
and places we came across, with a number of little adven-
tures, and dangers now and then, on a small scale.
A serious thought, however, began to engage us; I mean,
the wasting of our powder and shot, of which we had no
more than perhaps twenty rounds left in all. 'T was a dismal
prospect for us, who had only been a week on the island and
what to do when that small stock was spent, or how to hinder
the spending of it, I knew not; unless we found means to
snare the wild creatures for our food, or betook ourselves
to bows and arrows, in which we had no skill.
In this, another consideration perplexed me; for what, said
I to myself, if you teach the Indians the use of this archery?
or, if they know such weapons already (as 't is likely), what if
you put them into their hands? how can you be secure they
will not turn them against yourselves? Now came back the
old fears of these savages escaping into the woods, to run wild
there, and lie in ambush for us, to harass us, and so hunt us
down at last.
When I stated these thoughts to my companions, 't was
agreed not to allow the Indians any use of bows or arrows for
the time; and to keep a close watch on them, to hinder their
contriving that or any other weapon of offence. Not, I must
say, that we had seen in them so much as a sign of indepen-
dence or conspiracy, since they were thrown among us; but
176
THE ADVENTURES OF
he that is on the safe side is secure, as Prodgers remarked,
when we debated on it.
However, not to deprive them of all means to knock over
some food for our common use, I made a trial of what they
could do with mere stone-throwing and calling them to me
on the shore, at a place where the reef was parted by an inlet,
and so the breach of the sea had freer access to wear the peb-
bles smooth, I set up a bread-fruit for them by way of mark,
on the point of a rock, perhaps seventy yards from where
they stood: telling them by signs and words alike (for they
now understood us better), I desired to see who could knock
it over first. To it they went, with a good will; and proved
themselves skilful marksmen, too, considering the distance.
Only, the old man was least expert of the three, his hand not
being so steady nor vigorous, nor his eye as true, as I warrant it
had been in his best days. So Pounder and Samuel had the
match between them: after making the rock ring again with
their pebbles, so close to the fruit, 't was a wonder the stone
did not hit it outright, going within such a hair's breadth; at
last, I say, on the sixth shot, John Pounder voted with a
plumper, and sent the bread-fruit skimming into the water
beyond.
This was enough for me, and the rest who looked on; for
we found the savages would be a full match for us at that
work, should they grow ill-disposed: and 't would be little
odds to a dying man to be sent out of the world by an arrow,
or a dart, or by the blow of a stone. So we bade them de-
sist, somewhat sternly, and this trial made us a little jealous.
of them again.
For ourselves, we set about to purvey us some archery
weapons; first, the bamboo canes we had pulled out of the
marsh proved quite serviceable for bows, being more springy
than English yew, and as much to the purpose as the hiccory
wood of the American forests, which the natives make use of
for their bows. As regards bow-strings, too, we found means
to dress some sinews we had met in cutting up our shark;
which proved tough and springy to a degree, sending off the
arrow with a twang like the sound of a Welsh harp on my
ear. Only, our stock of arrows was scanty; we found no-
thing fitter for the purpose than the younger and slenderer of
the bamboos we had brought home; and out of the whole
bundle we contrived no more than seven arrows in all, cut-
ting them to the proper lengths: measuring that from the
clenched fist of our left hand, stretched at full length, to the
tip of our right ear.
177
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.

It cost us some labour to smooth these canes for our arrow-
making: I mean, to take off the knots they were encumbered
with, of which each several arrow had three or four at the
least: but in this work the Indians were our journeymen,
with help of the shark's teeth and our knives; and in two
or three hours we managed to have them as smooth as a
tobacco-pipe, or a gun-barrel turned out complete by a Brom-
wicham gun-smith.
Thus, we formed ourselves into an archery club; I mean,
Gill, Harvey, myself, and Ned Hilton, who were like to be
most expert at the practice; as for Prodgers, he volunteered, to
our surprise, to stand near the butt (which was the stump of
a tree) and fling back our arrows that missed the mark: also
to keep our score. Nor did I see in anything more than in
this, the change that had come over our old comrade: for he
that a while ago had struggled for the gun with so obstinate
a temper as had like to end in manslaughter, now stood in
the best of humour while we shot, and gave us back our
arrows without a thought of rivalry or discontent.
We were careful, though, to send the Indians out of the way
during our first practisings, lest they might see (and in this t
was easy) we were inferior to them in anything. Don Manuel
engaged to lead them back the first day to the bamboo-marsh,
to fetch us a fresh supply of canes. Telling Samuel of this, he
made him guide of the party, and they went off at a pace.
They were away about three hours in all; when they came
to us again, 't was with a good load of bambous, mostly of
the smaller sort: but three or four, too, of the oldest and
biggest they could meet with; and these were Don Manuel's
choice, he told us, to make trial of a plan that came into his
head while they were cutting them.
For he wanted to see if he could make these large hollow
12
178
THE ADVENTURES OF
canes any how serve as a conduit to convey to our cave some
of the fresh water from River-head, or elsewhere. This was
a first necessity, indeed; the water near our castle (so we
began to call that hole in the rock) being saltish in taste, and
unwholesome, which was the chief drawback, we began to see,
in our choice of the place. We now applied ourselves to this
work; we lit a strong fire, and thrust the longest piece of gun-
barrel into it, having fitted a smaller bamboo to this, by way
of a long handle. When 't was red hot, drawing it forth, we
thrust it into the end of the large cane, till we burnt quite
through the knot that stopped the passage: at least, part
burning and part boring, we got through it somehow. Then
we did the same again and again (there being no fewer than
fourteen knots within a length of three yards or so) till, burn-
ing through them, now at this end, now at the other, at last
the hot barrel bored the length of pipe clear through.
But then, we reckoned how much time it might take, and
how many bamboos employ, to lay a conduit from point to
point; that is, from the fountain to our cave, which we now
found to be farther off than it seemed before. This, with
cutting the bamboos, and dragging them to the spot, we
reckoned would be a work of months, and hard work too.
To save ourselves needless labour, we made some expeditions
into the woods on every side, in parties of two or three at a
time, and all our aim was to search for water.
But finding
none to compare to the spring at River-head, and being de-
termined, on the other hand, not to abandon our castle, we
e'en made up our minds perforce to go on with the conduit:
and appointed gangs, or working parties, to carry on that
trade, together with the mason's work we had in hand.
:
For it is time I should now inform the reader how we dis-
tributed ourselves to these employments. It must be noted
that we had three great trades to carry on; house-building,
or mining; making our conduit; and purveying food and
nine workmen to employ in them. I say, nine workmen, for
the priest would not hold himself released from the burden,
neither; and when I told him we were well content if he
would but pray for us, or take such light employments as
might turn up, he reminded me, Saint Paul was a tent-
maker, and Saint Peter and the other apostles, fishermen :
as though", says he, "to teach us, 't is not alone eyes and
brain, heart and tongue, but hands and feet, thews and
sinews, are to be used in the service of our Master".
66
Thus we divided our working gangs :-Harry Gill and I
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
179
were charged to provide our daily meal from the woods, turn
and turn about; we charged ourselves, too, above all things,
to be very sparing of the ammunition, and never waste a shot.
But in no long time, as I have just said, we learned to spare
our guns altogether, and brought down everything by archery.
Prodgers and old Mark were set to bore the bamboos with a
hot gun-barrel, and keep up the fire; Pounder had to make
some mason's tools out of shark's teeth, and flints hammered
to an edge (he fitted them into handles of a hard wood, which
we called iron-wood, and bound them in tight with the shark's
sinews); Samuel, who was supposed to be more or less under
the eye of the priest, was always going back and forward to
the marsh to fetch bamboos; which he did very actively, and
by little and little brought in a middling-sized heap. The
other men, Tom Harvey and Hilton (with Gill or myself,
whichever had not the shooting turn that day), worked steadily
at our cave, of which more hereafter.
Among these employments I know not under what head to
class our archery practice, which we persevered in daily,
always having the Indians at a distance, employed on some
hand-labour, with Prodgers or Don Manuel to watch them.
But as a prince has his standing army under continual discip-
line, with great field days, and skilful manœuvering, no less
than his finance or victualling department, and board of works,
so we, in our small kingdom, reckoned our archery among
such military operations as are always, I hope, the profession
of a gentleman.

OFOE DOOF O
CHAPTER XLVI.
ARCHERY AND POTTERY.

E now agreed to lay aside our guns altogether,
and husband our powder to the utmost; so,
depending on our archery, as though we had
no guns at all, 't is incredible what a skill we
attained within a few weeks of practice (for
we practised at the least an hour and a half
daily), till at length we made nothing of hit-
ting a bread-fruit without fail at eighty or ninety yards. I
said the priest and Dick Prodgers made none of our party at
180
THE ADVENTURES OF
this; but 't is only true to say so at the first: for, hearing of
our skill, they begged for their share in the practice too.
They came, indeed, at a disadvantage, being late in the field;
yet, by extra diligence they made up for lost time: till, at
length, I scarce could tell which bore away the palm. But I
am sure, the worst of us would have been hailed a first-class
shot at any archery in England; and I question if Robin Hood
had many to beat us in his Sherwood band. Yet on a com-
parison, though some days one and some another, again, would
shoot surprisingly well, and then fall back into the ranks, we
ranged much in the order I here set down :-
Harry Gill, captain, by consent of all;
Myself, fairish, and pretty equal;
Ned Hilton, unsteady, better and worse;
Tom Harvey, diligent, never making a great miss;
Don Manuel, the same, only with want of practice;
Richard Prodgers, worst, but good humoured about it.
At this stage, we could show ourselves as archers before
the Indians, without fear of being looked down on; so one
day, taking them with us on an expedition, our guns slung
over our shoulders, but our bows in our hands, in the
course of our ramble we knocked over, each of us, and
quite with a natural ease, a something to prove our skill:
one a bird, another a fruit, a third fixed his arrow in the
knot of a tree: in a word, we shot so well that now we gave
(or lent, rather) each of the Indians a bow and arrow like our
own, and elected them members of the club: having provided
a plenty of bamboos, both great and small, in two or three
journeys we made to the swamp.
Let any one explain it as he may, but these savages, by
some natural instinct, gained ground quickly upon us in the
use of their weapons; so that soon we ceased to have trials
of skill, lest we might be worsted, and confined ourselves to
what archers call ranging, aiming at any chance thing that
met us on our walks, instead of a butt or target.
So, to enlarge my list, I have put down the Indians in the
order wherein we reckoned them (among ourselves), though
we did not let them know it. Thus we stood;
John Pounder, captain (without knowing it).
Harry Gill, as before, but, stirred up to rivalry by Poun-
der's shooting, improved daily;
Samuel, came very nigh to Harry, and beat him soon ;
Myself (though I say it that should not say it) not much
behind Samuel;
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
181
Ned Hilton, mended his shooting as he mended his cha-
racter for steadiness;
Tom Harvey, got on by degrees;
Don Manuel, ditto, but with a better eye than Harvey,
though his hand not so strong;
Old Mark, rather past his shooting, but managed to hit
fairly well;
R. Prodgers still brought up the rear.
While this was going on, we made some attempts to mould
the clay we had found by that stream I have spoken of, into
pottery ware: but our attempts were awkward, and the things
we produced, clumsy to a degree. Our Indians brought us
five or six heavy loads of the clay, and did what they could to
help us in the work; but here they were novices, as much as
ourselves. For (it seems) they had never hit on any of the
like manufacture among those savage tribes; but were con-
tent with such calabashes and other vessels to hold water as
they could fashion from gourds and such-like rinds, dried and
baked in the sun: as to boiling or stewing, they had not a
notion of it, further than to put some pieces of flesh into a
calabash with water, and throw in hot stones as a make-
believe to boil, and nothing more. All this we made out
from old Mark, who wondered, with his brother Indians, at
what we were after. The truth is, we were tired of seeing
nothing before us but baked meat at table, (getting fanciful,
as 't is human nature to do, amid our abundance), so, resolved
to persevere at this making of pots and pans, till we had pro-
duced a kettle, and so a boil or stew of some sort.
They say, man can compass, by perseverance, whatever is
possible in itself; and succeed we did, at last, at least enough
for our needs: though 't were a curious catalogue to present
the reader with, did I number up all the larger boiling kettles
and stew-pans, some deeper, some shallower, (for we tried all
ways, and all shapes and sizes,) together with such smaller
attempts, as butter-boats, drinking mugs, oil-flasks, and what
not, that we cracked in the oven, trying to bake them hard.
We made a vast collection of dry wood for this purpose; and
spent many hours experimenting, now with a fierce fire, now
with a slack one; now we made the clay so wet it was mere
mud, and would scarce stand upright; now again we worked
it so dry, 't was hard to work it at all. Each time we moulded
one, and heaped wood round it, setting it on fire, we stood
round to watch, and hoped it was going to be the first
success. Never, I believe, did a chemist in his laboratory
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THE ADVENTURES OF
so eagerly watch some great experiment going on under his
eyes, as we did, when we raked away the ashes with great
care from round our clay-vessels, and drew them forth with
bamboos; but cracked and useless, like the former.
At last―'t was on a Saturday, the eleventh of September,
just before the rains set in, and a great day in the history of
our colony-whether we had tempered the clay better, or
got it from a finer vein, or whether the fire had been kindled
more evenly all round the clay at once, or kept up steadier
to the right pitch (for both these we discovered to be very
material points in the business), at length, I say, to our
inexpressible joy, having slackened our fire for the third time
that very day, preparing our minds for a fresh disappoint-
ment-to which we had become used, as the eels are to being
skinned-this one blessed time we drew forth, with shouting,
a large, ugly, mis-shapen thing, but sound as a bell, and
burnt red as a brick-bat, that would hold, I am sure, from
four to five gallons of water. I say, shouting, but I might add,
dancing too for we began to caper, like so many madmen,
round the work of our hands; and you might have supposed
us all (I mean all but Don Manuel, who stood by and laughed
aloud while he shared our joy) to be a party of wild In-
dians, performing a war-dance round some captive they had
triumphed over, before they fell to eating him. At length,
when our extravagance had subsided somewhat, we returned
to the fire again, and found with fresh joy one large flat dish,
three mugs, and a plate, all equally good, beside a few that
were part spoiled, but could be made to do till better offered.
And from that time we burned some every day, with much
success, till the rain drove us into covert in our cave.
:
DOCK
Ꮕ
CHAPTER XLVII.
THE CASTLE WITH ITS OUTWorks.
(T may surprise my readers that all this time
we had not looked after the canoe that was
thrown ashore; considering how anxious we
were, all along, to devise some means of es-
cape from this prison of ours. But the truth
was, Prodgers in an idle moment had strolled
down to that part of the beach, and found

OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
183
the thing lying keel upwards, half buried in the sand, and
so broken-backed as to be no longer sea-worthy for the
calmest sea. When he reported this to us, we gave up all
thoughts of refitting her, having no tools proper for the pur-
pose; for knives and gun-barrels never yet built a ship, nor
repaired one: though, to be sure, our Indians might have
done something in that way, had we so employed them.
But we hasted, as I said, to house ourselves before we were
caught by the rains, which we now expected to come upon us
almost daily so that working at our cave, together with
purveying our food, became our chief employments. Nor
can I write the annals of our little colony, though briefly,
and not give a word to each of these works of ours.
First, Our Cave. By dint of steady mining in gangs or
relays, as I have explained, we had now got some way in,
without finding crack or vein in the rock, nor aught to give
us help, nor hindrance either: for all seemed of one material,
only it got softer, the deeper we went. So that at last we
worked nearly as much with a large bamboo cut sharp (some-
what like a pen, about three feet long, and pointed with a
large flint), as with our chisels, which we spared as well as
we could. In this way we had gone in, I am sure, near
thirty feet before we began to enlarge our cave in height or
breadth but we were soon forced to set about that work
too, from the heat and closeness of the air, which scarce per-
mitted us to breathe freely, and hindered our working long at
a spell. Beginning with height, we now worked over our
heads, till we were able to stand upright at the inner end,
which was a great relief to us: for up to that, we had gone
on nearly bent double, or upon our knees. So now, having
an inch or two to spare overhead, we set our faces (I mean
the two that worked together, one hewing to his right, the
other to his left), towards the entrance, and worked steadily
back on our steps: till, nearing the entrance itself, we left
that pretty much as we found it, small and rude, like the
burrow of some wild animal, for our greater security and
hiding. But, for the rest of our cave, it grew more spacious
every day: until, little over a fortnight from our beginning
to work, we found ourselves possessed of a comfortable house
(though very dark), thirty feet long, with a height rang-
ing from six to seven feet, and about the same in breadth.
Together with these dimensions, our house or castle was much
drier than many old houses I have known in civilized parts;
there being but one place where we discovered the least drip
184
THE ADVENTURES OF
of water. As we found this water, on tasting it, very cold and
pure, free from so much as a taint of sulphur, or any other, we
reckoned it no small advantage to our cave, and agreed we
would enlarge it into a well or reservoir when we had more
leisure on hand.
So far, we were prepared for the rains, come when they
would. Only, the easier we worked, and the further we
went in, the larger grew the heap of rubbish we were forced
to throw out of our cave; till at last it reached more than
half way up from the ground outside, to the mouth itself,
like a pyramid of loose sand, leaning against the cliff. We
feared to leave it where it was, knowing 't would easily be-
tray our whereabouts to the cunning of any savages who
might visit the island; and the first thing to do now was to
clear it away, or (better still) make it a part of our defences.
So, quitting our inside work altogether for a time, we con-
sidered how to dispose of this great heap of soil. For let
any one reckon a mining-work of the measurements I have
stated, and add to it this also, that the rock which was com-
pact in its native quarry, made up a larger bulk when 't was
thrown out as loose soil; and he will have some guess of
the mountain of work that now lay before us.
But the worst was, we had no tools whatever, such as
shovels, to set to work with; nor prospect of any but the
elumsiest make-believes to stand in their place. All we could
devise was this; to fit some such slaty stones as we had dug
the Indian's grave with, into bamboo handles: this we managed
passably well, but spent upon it the remainder of our twine;
yet, after all this contrivance, the slates were for ever break-
ing in the work, or coming unbound from the handles. How-
ever, for want of anything better, to it we went; supplying
for the badness of our tools by the number of workmen (for
we now called all hands to this, and Don Manuel, too, took his
day's work like any journeyman), and by an extra stock of
good will and good humour.
Our plan was, to block up with this sand the whole pas-
sage between the cliff and leaning rock, on the side by which
we first entered our hiding-place; for on that side the trees
were scantier, and 't would be more easy to find us out. Then,
when the rainy season should be over, and the earth left
moist and easy to be worked, we resolved to plant all outside
of this bank of soil, and the bank itself, with young trees, or
shocts, such as we might discover to grow quickest, and bear
transplanting; so as both to bank and plant ourselves out
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
185
from the world altogether. But this was a mighty labour in-
deed, for nine pairs of hands and nine awkward spades; and
I question if they who built the pyramids of Egypt had more
work before them, considering the number of workmen, than
we with our bank of sand. We did the best we could; though
't was a bungling piece of business, after all; and bonded our
work together with such large stones as lay in the neighbour-
hood, heaving them to the spot with levers of bamboo: then
using them as masons use the larger stones to bond a wall.
Upon the whole, this was even harder work than mining
into the cliff, and without the interest of discovery to animate
us: for our Royal Sappers and Miners (so we called the two
workmen) were always expecting, every stroke they made,
to break into some cave already formed in the heart of the
rock, and so end their labours at once. In short, our sand-
banking became so irksome and laborious, we had no small
ado to keep the men at it, during the time (which was four
full hours) we had agreed to devote to it every day. The
weather, too, was sultry, which added to our labour, and
increased the discontent of those who were disposed to
grumble so that every now and again, one would throw
down his tool, and protest, for his part, he was no galley-
slave, nor any slave, black or white, to keep on at this work
any longer.
I had to behave like the captain of a ship when signs of
mutiny begin to appear on board; now I humoured them,
now reasoned, now joked with them: sometimes I went the
length of a threat, if they would not make common cause
in our labour, they should be banished from our common-
wealth, and sent away to the further side of the island:
though I must say, matters seldom went that length. But
what persuaded them to endure, more than all words, was
the example of our patient, cheerful Spanish friend; who
worked harder, in proportion, than any of the rest, with a
smile and a word for all; nor ever rested, but to take up his
breviary awhile: though you could see, he felt this hard
labour more, by far, than the rough tars working side by
side with him; and his very hands bore witness he had
been used as little to handle a spade, as a rope or an oar.
As to the further entrance, I mean that other side of the
passage between the cliff and our grand stair-case, opposite
to that one we were banking up; we had less care for that,
seeing 't was more thickly set with trees, and turned away
more from any practicable landing-place: therefore we would
186
THE ADVENTURES OF
not bank up that, but kept it for our own approach to our
castle below. Only, we contrived a winding path through
the trees, narrow, and difficult to hit; clearing away some
bushes here, and matting them together there besides.
getting rid of a tree or two that stood right in the path,
by burning it all round, a little above the roots, with our
gun-barrels heated red-hot, and sawing it through after-
wards with Master Pounder's shark's teeth saws. In this
winding path we also contrived several traps and blind
alleys, to mislead an enemy who had not the secret of the
place; though not with so much art as Don Manuel and
I had drawn our mazes on paper with, yet enough to puzzle
a stranger, or several together, till we should get ready, and
give them a warmer reception. Moreover, we dug two or
three narrow pitfalls here and there, as deep as the height
of a man, and as narrow as saw-pits; covering them with
small weak branches laced across, and a thin layer of earth
over all. Cunning places they were, truly, into one of which
old Prodgers fell, not long after, by taking a wrong turn in
a hurry; and proved (against his will) the excellence of the
trap, not being able to free himself till we pulled him out
with a rope.
All this happened some time after; but I
set it down here to show how we made our defences com-
plete to the utmost we were able.

CHAPTER XLVIII.
OUR LARDER AND FARM-YARD.

ECONDLY, Our Food. Harry Gill and my-
self (I have said), being better shots than
the rest, were mostly purveyors to our so-
ciety; and after, when we laid aside our
guns, taking to the bows and arrows, and
went ranging through the island for prac-
tice, still 't was to us they chiefly looked for
securing the daily meal. Our island furnished game in
plenty, as we were thankful to find, more and more; so
we had no lack of it. We went on adding, too, to our stock
of arrows; and, with our growing skill in archery, we became
lords and masters of all the live stock in the place, four-
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
187
footed or winged: I might say, web-footed too; for as time
went on, we found amazing numbers of sea-fowl that har-
boured in the rocks on the s.w. quarter of the island, at least
during several months in the year.
But these we rather looked on as distant allies, or wander-
ing tribes on the frontier, than as regular subjects of our
kingdom; and spared them all the more, fearing to lose
our arrows by aiming at them: nor did we ever attempt it
but when the tide was setting strongly in-shore. 'T was no
loss to us to let them alone; for one or two that we pierced
from time to time, when they floated in, proved to have an
indifferent, fishy taste, not fit for the table of gentlemen who
had the stock of an island to pick and choose from. All
things, indeed, are by comparison; for I have heard of some
poor fellows turned adrift in a boat on the open sea, to
whom a booby or a penguin, when they could knock them
over, have been delicious fare in their hunger; and we
should have been ungrateful wretches not to acknowledge
our better plight.
But one of our great endeavours in the article of food was
to take some wild animals alive, so as to preserve or tame
them, and make a farm-yard around us by degrees. 'T was
some time before we succeeded at all in this; at last, one day,
Harry Gill and I being out together, we came on a sudden
upon a herd of peccaries, old and young. Or, I should say,
they came upon us, rather; for we were in their way in the
middle of a path they had worn for themselves by constant
traffic through the woods, to get at fresh water that flowed
between the volcano and the w.s.w. of the island. Now
the peccary, like many human creatures, is a much bolder
and fiercer gentleman when he has got numbers to back him,
than when you take him alone; yet even alone he is apt to
be savage, and turn short on you with his tusks, if you slightly
wound him and despatch him not outright. This we knew
well; having at times been forced to dodge among the trees,
to get away from a wounded one, till we could settle him by
a second shot. So now, finding ourselves face to face with so
many together, we gave them the wall (as I might say) with
great respect: slipping quietly aside into the jungle or bush,
Harry Gill on one side, and I on the other, to leave their path
clear.
On they came, at a kind of shuffling trot, grunting and
squealing like a herd of wild pigs, as indeed they were first
came some of the older and stronger of the herd, with formi-
188
THE ADVENTURES OF
dable tusks truly, like pioneers to clear the way; and, 't is
my belief, had they charged against a regiment in a line, they
had put many a veteran soldier to the rout. Next cantered
on several scores of others, led by these brave captains, and
the little young pigs enclosed among them for shelter and pro-
tection. But 't was just one or two of these youngsters we
had fixed our minds on: so, making a sign to Harry Gill to
get into a tree on his side the path, I did the same on mine;
when, being both well settled in our perches, "Now!” cried
I, "aim at the young pigs, Harry; and try to disable them,
not to kill!”
At the sound of my voice, the leaders of the herd stopped
short; for by this, they had all but come up to our ambush,
and began snuffing the air, grunting with rage to know an
enemy was nigh, yet not able to see him. After a little,
when they had poked about among the bushes, they seemed
not to like the chances, and determined on a retreat; so,
giving a deep grunt or two, as word of command, they all
wheeled about, and were for trotting back the way they
came.
That was not the welcome we meant to give them, by a
great deal; so, bidding Gill take good aim, and have a
second arrow in readiness, we both let fly, and winged each
our pig; then, fitting at once another arrow to the string, we
gave it them again, before they had recovered the first sur-
prise and confusion: on which there rose such a grunting
and squealing of the herd as would have sent a musician out
of his wits: however, the end was, off they all scampered,
leaving their wounded to fare as they might. When we saw
the coast was clear, and heard them hurry pell-mell through
the woods, we came down from our trees to secure our booty:
and I must take credit for our archery, seeing but one out
of the four we had shot was dead, the rest only wounded, as
we designed, and one so slightly, it cost us no little trouble
to secure him.
•
On this, we blew our horns; which calls for a word of
explanation here. I should have related, before now, we
had found a kind of conch, or large winding shell, among
the rocks, on our first Friday's expedition to the further side
of the island; we soon found means to fashion these into a
kind of trumpet; and they served us as well, as if we had
been so many Tritons, giving forth a deep sound, like the
bellowing of a bull, that might be heard a good way off.
These horns soon brought to us two of the Indians, Pounder
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
189
and Samuel, who, from their swiftness, were the light skir-
mishers of our party. Amongst us all, we managed not only
to secure the three piglings, but to bring them home, to-
gether with the dead one. But these young peccaries were
fiercer than their size or age warranted: and we had some
ado to escape being torn by their tusks, though small; in-
deed, we did not come off unscratched from the fight.
When we got them home, we were at a loss how to be-
stow them; for first, we had to heal their wounds, and next,
to keep them safe: we feared they would die and be useless
to us, or live and run away to the woods again. By degrees
they grew tamer; and we cultivated their friendship on the
same terms as the slave who, fleeing from his master, took
refuge in the lion's cave, became friends with the lion he
found there with a thorn that festered in his paw: that is
to say, we first extracted our arrows with more tenderness
than we had shot them; then, by aid of the Indians, found
some of those same leaves they had plastered Prodgers' face
with, and applied them to the wounded peccaries.
length, the poor little beasts began to look on us as their
benefactors; and we, on our side, grew more liberal in giving
them such food as they liked: for at first we kept them on
short commons, to tame them by hunger.
At
All this while, we had them tied by the leg to three trees,
just outside our encampment, where we could see them from
the cave's mouth: resolving, if ever we observed a sign of
savages visiting the island, to turn them loose into the woods,
lest their squealing might betray us.
To make a long story
short, within a reasonable time they grew so tame, I be-
lieve we might safely have cut the ropes, and they had
stayed with us: but, having come by them hardly, we
would run no risk of parting with them lightly so, fetching
a compass with them till we found means to mount them up
on a part of Cape Look-Out, we wattled off a small piece of
table-land there for a farm-yard, weaving branches of trees
in and out, till we made a ring-fence large enough for them
to range in. We strengthened this here and there on the
outside, driving in some live stakes of a tree of the nature
of a willow but it took root faster and firmer, and sent
out strong shoots the very next spring; so that we lived
to see our stakes form a circle of flourishing young trees.
This is the history of our farm-yard in its infancy; and this
was the last out-door work we engaged in before the rains
came to shut us up.
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THE ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XLIX.
WE CARVE OUT A KITCHEN.

OON after this, as I said, the rainy season
came, and came in earnest; those of us who
had not yet known the tropics during the
autumnal equinox, had to learn (as they now
did) what rain can do. T was not a shower,
nor a tempest, and then over; but it rather
came down in sheets of water than in the
way of rain; and that too, both day and night continually, as
though it were poured out of some mighty reservoir in the
heavens above. Don Manuel, on our remarking this, spoke
to us of the great deluge that was once sent upon the earth
for the wickedness of man: when "the flood-gates of heaven
were opened, and the rain fell upon the earth forty days and
forty nights", till all the human race was destroyed but eight
persons alone. This, he said, might stand as one testimony
of the extreme provocation of sin against the Lord who com-
manded His creatures' obedience; so going on, from one dis-
course to another, while we were busied at work in our cave,
and turning all into good, like the old king in the fable,
whose touch turned all into gold.
Being now close prisoners (for we could not stir out without
being drenched), we set to work on completing our cave ar-
chitecture; we determined to make it a regular habitation,
and commodious enough to hold ourselves and our stores to-
gether. Our first care was to provide a kitchen; which I
hope the reader will not take amiss, as though we were grown
too fond of the good cheer which the island afforded, but
will remember (as the saying of some wise man is reported),
though we did not live to eat, we must eat to live. Well,
this kitchen of ours was the part of our mansion that gave
us most trouble, by far; and that, because of the chimney it
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
191
needed, which at first was beyond all our engineering. We
tried, once or twice, to cook our meals in the great vestibule,
or cave itself, that we had hollowed; but we were fairly put
to flight, and driven out into the rain, by the stifling smoke
that rose from our wood fire. So, making a virtue of neces-
sity, we set about smoking what meat we had provided, (as
several flitches and hams of peccary, together with some
large wild-fowl we had brought down with our arrows,) and
so laying it up in store to consume by degrees. Here we
employed our Indians, who were not so much afraid of a
wetting as we ourselves; making them understand what we
would have done, we had the satisfaction to see them, under
our own eyes (for one of us always stood to mount guard at
the cave's mouth), set up a small booth, or curing-house, of
four trees thatched with leaves, to smoke the bacon in. They
built this booth within the embankment I have spoken of,
which we always called our fortification, or outworks, leaning
one side up against the cliff.
The benefit of this plan was, it needed not that we should
gather dry wood for the business; but on the contrary, green
wood smoked the meat more throughly, and we saved our
dry fuel to warm us by, or for a little slow fire of very dry
sticks, almost like charcoal, whenever we would boil our
vegetables, or make soup of a piece of flesh, with yams and
bread-fruit, in one of our clumsy vessels of pottery. Yet,
after all, a kitchen and a chimney we must needs have, and
that for three purposes at once; namely, first, to warm our-
selves by, and dispel the damp of our cave, if we found the
rain to penetrate; but that it never did, except in the one
place, where it formed our well, so our fears were groundless
on that score: then, secondly, to cook our daily meal, for
we could not endure the smoke that arose even from our
little fire for boiling; and, thirdly, for our oven; inasmuch
as we were now grown too dainty to be content with bread-
fruit, but must have real bread beside. So we set about
our kitchen as follows:
We resolved, as the smoke from our chimney must find
some vent to the upper air, this should be turned as far as
possible from that part of the island our Indians had been
driven upon : fearing it might invite a visit from some others
of the fraternity, not so easily tamed as these. Little did I
think, indeed, at the time, what benefit a smoke from the
island was to bring to us hereafter. But I must not outrun
my narrative.
192
THE ADVENTURES OF
For this purpose, we went to the furthest end of our cave,
being, as I said, full thirty feet from the entrance: then
turning left ways (for we would not have our fire in a line
with the cave's mouth, lest its light should ever betray us),
we cut a passage nearly five feet wide into the living rock,
working two at a time, in gangs, or relays, as before. When
we had got from fifteen to eighteen feet in, the two workmen
then separated, each his own way, facing away from one
another, and began hewing round again in a half circle;
that is, the right hand man bore continually over towards
his right shoulder, and the left hand man towards his left;
till at length, after incredible labour (I am describing.in, a
few lines what took up several weeks to accomplish), each
man completing his half round, they came out again, nearly
opposite one another, into the passage they began by cutting,
as I said, leading out of the main cave.
To be sure, this did not look much like a kitchen; for
't was nothing but a circular burrow, about the height of a
man, with a straight passage, broader, running through it, so
as to divide it into two halves: as my reader will see, if he
hath attended to my rude account of it. Nevertheless, this
was our kitchen in outline: and now, setting about to com-
plete it, we resolved in the first place, we would leave enough
of the rock on either side, (I mean, of the solid rock round
which we had mined this burrow of ours,) to stand as a na-
tural pillar, and prop up the roof. For we feared to leave so
large a stretch of roof without support; lest our cave might,
some day, on a sudden, prove our sepulchre too. Thus we
went on, making the passages wider, and reducing the two
masses of standing rock: now the whole of our party could
work at it at once, and it went on much quicker. Only, our
tools were so imperfect, for ever breaking and getting out of
use, it made the work slower, and tried our patience more;
the gun-barrels were by now much worn down with constant
hewing, and we began to debate on sacrificing one of the other
pieces to break up into mining tools. Indeed, our bows and
arrows had taken the place of these weapons, nor had we burnt
a single grain of powder since we so improved in archery. On
second thoughts, prudence bade us keep all our fire-arms in
readiness, in case of any attack from savages; for we reckoned,
one discharge of our guns would be of more service in terrify-
ing them, than whole quivers full of arrows, which are their
own familiar weapons, and inspire them with no dread.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
193

K
F
A
K
D
B
H
E
G
L
L
K
Ground Plan of the Cave.
A. Hanging rock concealing the entrance.
B. Entrance; the serpents' hole enlarged.
C. Store-room, with lockers pierced in the walls.
D. Small room for gunpowder.
E. Well, supplied by a drip from above.
F. Work-room, and sleeping place.
G. Chapel, with altar in the alcove.
H. Kitchen, with pillars and chimney: also used for the Indians'
sleeping-place.
KK K. Face of cliff.
L L. Further passages into the rock, afterwards abandoned.
But Pounder one day suddenly gave us more help in the
way of tools than any one could, short of an ironmonger: for,
being sent forth on a Friday morning to help Ned Hilton
bring in some cray-fish and oysters from the other side the
island (the rain having then somewhat slackened), he brought,
besides, one or two pieces of a very hard stone, transparent
like glass, and splitting off to a sharp edge; such (I believe) as
learned people call quartz, and simple folks call glimmer. He
had found these in a crack or vein, between two rocks, down
which ran a little rapid stream, that had loosened these pieces
from the rocks; and he said there was a good quantity more of'
the same to be found in that spot. By this time we were better
skilled in binding our stone hammers, or axe-heads, into the
bamboo-handles, whereby we got on the faster at our work.
13
194
THE ADVENTURES OF
At last we had so cut away the rock, we left nothing standing
on either side the kitchen but two pillars of a biggish thick-
ness and the apartment itself was an irregular oval of about
fifteen feet across, the longest way; by twelve, the shortest.
We would not then stay to shape it more to our fancy, nor
to carve out a seat, or transom, round the walls, as was after-
wards done; our immediate concern was to pierce a vent,
or chimney, up through the solid rock, over that part where
we designed to make our fire, slanting to westward of the
ridge of our look-out.
This was the hardest task, by far, we had on hands; nor do
I think, except for the lucky discovery of the glimmer-stones
(that cut sharper and easier than others), we had ever accom-
plished it. But, by help of a strong, determined will, and
often changing the workmen, we overcame all obstacles: so,
hauling up two young cocoa-palms into the cave, we made
them into a rude ladder; lacing them across with those
same tough tendrils we had made our rope of, which the
men called supple-jack. Thus we made a something between
a ladder and the shrouds of a ship, by help of which we
mounted to the rocky roof of our kitchen, and began to
pierce it at a slant; so, still hewing on with perseverance,
we made us an opening about three feet across, for conve-
nience of working: and by degrees cut our way upward into
rude steps that supported one man at a time; but, from the
cramped position he was forced to maintain, and heat of the
place, no one could work at this more than a quarter of
an hour at one spell; and we were stiff and weary enough
when we came down.
After a full week's work at the chimney alone, one morn-
ing, when Tom Harvey had taken his turn at the work, as he
was boring upward with the gun-barrel (for that we did first,
to pioneer, and then cut away the sides with the glimmer), all
at once he thrust the barrel forward freely to his arm's length;
at the same moment some fresh wet earth fell into his eyes
and mouth, and the cool air blew down upon his face. Harvey
was blinded and half choked; and down he came, floundering
among us in the kitchen, as we hewed at the pillars: nor
could he answer our questions but by sputtering with his
mouth full of earth. But Hilton, going to the hole, shouted
out, the thing was done! and, sure enough, when we ran to
look, we saw the light of day, like a pale star, at the top.
The rest was easy; for Harvey having left his tool sticking
out at the top, when he was thus saluted by mother Earth
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
195
to his discomfiture, we had but to send one of our party on
to the promontory, and enlarge our chimney-pot from above.
But we charged him ('t was Pounder that went) only to
make it wide enough to allow vent for the smoke, and be
careful to build it round with bushes and sticks laid across;
as well to conceal it from human eyes, as to prevent any
wild animals paying us the unwelcome honour of a visit
down the chimney.

ક
&
CHAPTER L.
ROCK ARCHITECTURE.

HILE this troublesome work was on hands,
they who were not up the chimney were at
other employments; this being one among
the things we had learned on the island, that
man is destined to labour, even in solitude
and amid plenty, if he would keep mind or
body in health. So, importing another cargo
of glimmer, with some fresh bamboos, into our cave, we fell
to making a good stock of mining instruments. This done,
then, under our priest's directions (who seemed to understand
such things more than might be thought), we marked out the
entrances to several other rooms leading off from our main
cave, and hewed them out, as we had hewn the kitchen.
To go to work on a regular plan, we made a list of the
rooms we designed to have, which stood thus:
A chapel, to serve for our morning and night prayers, and
for our private devotions. For, I must say, we had begun
the habit of praying by ourselves a little, ere now; and some-
times I would come on a sudden in our woods and walks
upon one of our comrades on his knees, and I would strike
into another path to avoid disturbing him; this sort of thing
grew up, as 't were, by itself, and was getting quite common,
no one noticing it as strange. This little chapel, too, was to
be for our instruction on Sundays; for Don Manuel preached
to us now every Sunday, and some other days, too; holy
196
THE ADVENTURES OF
days, as he said, called so for one reason or another, which he
told us as they came round. Lastly, on these days and Sun-
days our chapel served another chief purpose, as I will tell.
Then, we needed a store-room, as well for our dried meats
as to lay up fruits and vegetables: we determined to make it
with recesses in the wall, like cup-boards without doors, all
round, to keep the several stores apart from one another: be-
sides, we thought to dig a kind of shallow well, or vault, in the
floor of this store-room, at the further end, and cover it with
palm and other leaves, to keep such stores as would spoil un-
less they were kept cool, as cocoa-nut milk, and such-like.
For all which reasons, we meant to have this room as far as
could be contrived from the kitchen fire.
Item, one recess apart in the driest and safest corner of the
cave, to stow away securely our small stock of powder: 't
was but a mere handful, indeed, yet might prove the safety
of us all in case of attack, or be our destruction if we were
heedless enough to let any spark get to it.
Besides, we needed a work-room, for such employments as
would litter or lumber our great cave (so we called it), too
much to carry on there. "T would be, indeed, a luxury more
than necessity to us: nevertheless, as it was to be bought by
labour, and lawful to enjoy, we determined to have it, in its
turn: though it came lower down on our list. Further, a
sleeping-place or two for ourselves, and another for the
Indians. At one time, we thought of contriving a kind of
stable, or out-houses (if they can be called so, that were in-
side the rock), for our live stock, to protect them from wild
creatures of their own kinds, or beasts of prey. But our
other works in the cave took up such a time, we were forced
to give over this last plan, at least for a while. Nor was it of
so much importance as the rest, after all; for our peccaries
throve well enough in the ring-fence above our heads, and
were never molested, at least, nothing to speak of: though
once or twice a sea-eagle made a swoop on our farm-yard,
and carried off a young pig.
I say, a young one; for, what with two or three litters
bred in the farm, and some beside, that we captured and
brought in from time to time, we were soon very thriving
farmers of live stock; in short, we had so many, we were
rather concerned to thin them out, than add to them.
from thenceforward we never shot down peccaries for our
larder; for that were like carrying coals to Newcastle: but
when we took our bows (and we took them every day again,
And
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
197
when the rains were over) 't was more to keep our hands
in practice, and to fetch in a dainty, in the shape of a wild
turkey, or brace of parrots, or what not. And at last, we
took to shooting fish, too, with some success.
But to return to the cave; I believe nine men (unless
galley-slaves, or exiles in the Siberian mines) seldom worked
harder underground than we did, all through the rainy sea-
son: for it must be observed, we were miners on our own
account, and worked for no task-master; who, the moment
his eye was off, had no more work done for him.* Nor
were we ever reduced to drive a bargain, or haggle about
charging by the piece, or by the time. All was straight be-
fore us, and all was our own; our hands strong, our hearts
cheery; and being bound together by one common interest,
each was forward to help the others, well knowing he would
be helped in turn. Don Manuel gave us the plan, indeed,
for our caves; but was far from being like some who insist
on doing good in their own way, or not at all. He adopted
on the spot some changes we wished made; and took his turn
so cheerfully in hewing the other rooms, we were eager to help
him with the chapel.
I will have done with all this, after a few words about that
chapel of ours. "T was very neatly coved, or vaulted over, as
high as we could well reach, standing mostly on a log and
some large stones. Having time on hands, we took a pride
in smoothing the roof fair and even; as to the walls, we de-
termined not only to smoothe them, but plaster them too, as
we afterwards did with well-kneaded clay, tempered and
stiffened with a gluey kind of sap that we found oozing out
from some gum trees up and down the island. This with
small holes drilled here and there in the walls, as a kind of
hold-fasts, made the clay stick well enough, and we were not
a little proud of our plastered chapel. But the chief of our
care we spent on the altar-end; for there we hollowed out an
alcove in the rock, vaulting the roof of it in a half circle.
In
* If Don Manuel had heard (as perhaps he did) this remark of
Owen's, he would probably have reminded his friend, that we are bid-
den, in our service to our Divine Master, not to resemble those servants
who are only faithful as long as they are under their employer's eye.
"Servants", says the Apostle, "be obedient to them that are your lords
according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of
your hearts, as to Christ: not serving to the eye, as it were pleasing
men, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart; with a good will serving, as to the Lord, and not to men”
Ephes., vi. 6. So also Coloss., iii. 22, 24.-ED.
198
THE ADVENTURES OF
the midst of this, we left the altar standing, being a block of
the native stone, which we shaped by degrees, according to
Don Manuel's directions.
Then, nothing would content us, but we must paint this
end, as well as plaster it: so, while the clay was still moist,
we contrived some red colour from the juice of a wild berry;
the Indians fetched these to us, when they understood what we
would be at. They also brought in some earth of a brownish
yellow, like ochre, and this gave us two colours; being lighter
in the natural unburnt state, and turning to a tawney red
when calcined in our wood fire. Some black loam, or peat, of
decayed leaves or fibres, made up our list of colours: with
these four, we set to work; first mixing them up with our gum,
till they were near as stiff as japan painting on a screen or
tea chest. Then we drew patterns within the alcove, on the
yellow-white of our clay plastering; marking it all over with
regular lines, now in one colour, now with another, sometimes
with several together, side by side, and here and there with
an imitation of trees, plants, and birds. "T was all under our
friend's guidance; for he showed himself, indeed, no mean
artist here: at. length, our rock chapel was a wonder for its
decorations, and, when lighted up with candles, 't was really a
sight to look at.
This bird and tree-painting (except only grinding and mixing
the colours) we pursued mostly on Sundays, after our morning
devotions, and before evening prayers, or just before or after
the sermon: for all these things we had every Sunday,
and two of them, i.e. prayers, twice, with no sermon, every
day. It surprised me a little that Don Manuel, who was so
exact in many things where we had seen no harm, should
even encourage us to do this on the Sabbath day; but he ex-
plained to us, 't was not servile work, which alone is forbidden
to Christians on Sundays: artist-paintings like these, espe
cially when done only for pastime, not for gain, being a liberal
occupation, and what rich men do (if they have skill in it)
merely to entertain their minds, who would scorn to receive
payment for it. From which he took occasion to remark, how
needful it was to have a surer guide on such points, as to what
was right and what unlawful, than men's own wayward fancies;
and repeated again what he said to me once before (and vexed
me with him at the time) about our eating meat with the
blood in it, simply because the Church said we might.
"We must always honour", says he, a man for following
his conscience; unless 't is so plainly astray that he ought to see
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
199
't is misleadiug him. All this great exactness about keeping
the Sabbath comes, perhaps, from a good principle; but a good
principle may run mad, as it has done in this point. It aimed
at keeping the commandment; and so far well. But the
human mind, left to its own guidance, fails to see where the
commandment begins and ends; what observance is retained,
and what is lawfully modified. If you obey the command-
ment to the letter, you ought to keep Saturday holy, not
Sunday at all. Except for the Catholic Church, I say again,
you commit a sin every Saturday of your lives, and deserve
to be stoned, as the man was stoned in the wilderness, for
gathering sticks on the Sabbath.* The Church, by the au-
thority she derives from her Lord, has changed the day itself,
and the mode of its observance. Your teachers, dear friends,
have kept the Christian day, but not with Christian observ-
ance. Accordingly, in England, I am told, Sunday is a very
gloomy affair, while other evils are rife, which are too lightly
thought of. And in your colony of New England, the special
plantation of Puritan colonists, they make it criminal for a
citizen to smoke his pipe on Sunday, or have a hot dinner, or
take a quiet walk for recreation. Ah, poor souls, poor souls!"
continued he, with a look of pity: "well for them, if that
were all ! But they that in vain observe vanities, forsake
their own mercy".

CHAPTER LI.
WHAT WE OUGHT TO HAVE KNOWN BEFORE.
PUR evenings were spent, as they had been out
of doors, round our fire; but not idle time,
neither: we scarce knew what it was to sit
with our hands before us, as some do who
have what they call "time on their hands”,
and find it weigh heavy there: we always
worked at somewhat, by the light of our
candle-nuts, or lamps of shark's oil, or tallow of the peccaries
kept heated, and a cotton wick. For in these three ways we

* Numbers, xv. 32, 36.--Ed.
200
THE ADVENTURES OF
had contrived for ourselves lamps, or candles, howsoever you
please to name them; and having good store, both of these
and dry wood for fuel, and no poor in our community, for
whom we could spare anything, and deny it to ourselves, we
kept up a rousing fire, with plenty of light; so that our cave,
on winter nights, was a cheerful place indeed.
If our hands were busy, so were our tongues: for whether
we filed arrow-heads, or fitted them to bamboo shafts, new-
strung our bows, or plaited cocoa-fibre, or spun off our cotton,
or sharpened knives and hatchets of glimmer, yet talk we did,
all the while, with that freedom that comes from confidence
and brotherly charity.
Don Manuel took a principal part in this; and 't was not
in the nature of man to be dull when he was by: at one time
he could entertain us with stories of what had chanced to
himself in Spain, or since he left it; at another, with some
strange adventure he knew to have befallen others. Several
evenings together, at our request, he related some passages of
his own life and did it in such a simple, unaffected way, we
never tired of listening to him, and would sometimes ask him
to go over and over again our favourite stories. "T was plain,
indeed, he had experienced many chances and dangers; and
the men, who had encountered such themselves, from a rest-
less spirit that made them scapegraces at home, or from neces-
sity to earn their bread at sea, wondered at a man like this,
a gentleman born (for so he could not but imply, though he
never said it), a scholar, and one of studious habits and re-
fined taste, braving the wildest adventures for the love of God
and souls. All this was even more than a sermon to us,
though given under the guise of pastime: so that even now,
having got so far in this poor record of our own adventures,
methinks a life of Don Manuel had been of more interest to
the reader, had I earlier attempted it. That, however, is too
late, or must be thought of at a future day.
Well, such discourse tended to good, whether by its own
nature, or the turn he gave to it: so that, begin at what point
we would, in most cases we found ourselves end with a talk
about religion. And 't was Don Manuel's way so to order
things, that what he said was suited both to the Indians and
ourselves: or now a bit for us, then again something for them.
Besides, we practised their language by this discourse, and
they ours; our talk being made up of a jargon betwixt Eng-
lish and Toonati-nookish, half and half. Indeed, I found
this mode of speaking so hard to shake off, after the years we
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
201
spent at it, that when I came back to England (a thing I never
thought to do at the time I now write of), I was for ever
coming out with Indian words unawares: so that friends
my
would jest with me, saying, I was but a half-reclaimed savage,
after all. In particular, that exclamation of theirs, Oora,
oora, at anything that pleased them much, would stick by me;
together with tabanna, to express, thank you: and ebelo, a
word signifying dislike or pain of any sort. But all this is
by the way.
We had begun in such ignorance of whatever religion we
were thought to profess, as made a great part of Don Manuel's
discourse to the savages useful to us also. At first, indeed, my
in-bred dislike against priests and Popery, with all those old
wives' fables I had been brought up in (though softened by
my knowledge of the man), made me watch his discourse
narrowly, to discover the point, as I supposed, where true
Christianity ended, and papistry began. For though I ac-
knowledged in my heart, the priest was a good man indeed,
and a model for any, yet (said I to myself), the East Indian
faquirs also lead austere lives, and Quakers are harmless,
charitable people: also, I knew an old man living near Caer-
philly, that believed in no rising again after death; leaving it
in his will, he should be buried under a rose bush at the end
of his garden, with his favourite dog and magpie; yet gave
large sums to the poor at Christmas, and put out to 'prentice
no less than five orphan children, besides other good deeds.
Yet they were all wrong in their opinions, of a surety; and
so, said I to myself, may our friend here be, too, with all his
good Christian life.
However, one evening, when he was speaking on a point
that gave rise to such thoughts in me, so that I ventured,
with respect, to remind him we were protestants, after all;
he turns round to me with surprise, and (speaking only in
Spanish now, with some little Latin intermingled, that the
Indians might not perceive there was a difference betwixt us):
Why, friend", says he, "do not you believe that, as well
66
as I ?"
"how
“You know”, he added, in a more affectionate way,
sorry I should be to give you pain: but let me say, plainly,
no one who does not believe what I was then saying, can be
called"-And here he stopped, seeming not to know how to
go on.
"A Catholic, I suppose ?" said I to him.
"Well", he answered, "let us leave it so, for a time”.
202
THE ADVENTURES OF
"A Roman Catholic then ?" I pursued, for I wanted to see
what he meant by this.
"That was not what I had on the tip of my tongue", says
he, smiling, "nor is there any such distinction to be made
between the terms: but shall I offend you, my friend, or shall
I pain you, if I say what I really was thinking? Would it not
be better to follow this out another time:-say, next time we
walk together?"
"Do not fear, Señor", I replied, "for you could not offend
me, unless you became other than I have known you up to
this. I will only ask for the one word you did not say. The
man who does not believe the Virgin Mary is to be venerated
as the Mother of God, is not—what is he not?”
"Did you never", he asked, looking at me kindly, "begin a
sentence, and then wish you had not to finish it ?"
"Sometimes", I said, waxing somewhat impatient (for we
Welshmen are apt to get a little hot in our tempers when we
are crossed), "but that is not the question just now. Pray
tell me, Sir; he is not-what?"
"Well, then", says he, speaking slow, in a thoughtful way,
"it may be the defect of his bringing up, and the false tradi-
tion of his fathers; or there may be excuses found for him,
some of which I can see, and others I cannot see; he may be
better in practice than his opinions would lead to; prepared
to receive the truth whenever 't is really put before him: all
those are favourable points in his case”.
"Well, well; granted: but he is not-what, if you please,
sir ?"
"He cannot", says the priest, "in any true sense, be called
a Christian; that is, a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ".
He spoke it as if it gave him real pain to say the word;
which now (looking back on this) I am sure it did. But
at the moment, I only considered the words themselves; and
felt staggered, almost like one who has received a sudden
blow. Don Manuel saw this; and only added, as tenderly
as a woman, like;
"Listen, now; let us see what our Indian friends have to
say about it. They have no early prejudices to overcome;
having never heard of Christianity but through a Catholic
priest; observe how these truths affect a simple mind, that
lately was like a blank sheet of paper on the first ideas of the
Christian faith: then weigh and balance, for yourself, what
you have been taught against their convictions; and see if two
and two do not make four".
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
203
So he took my hand with more than his wonted kindness:
for we sat next one another at the fire, the other men and the
Indians making up the circle, though they had understood
scarce a word. Then, turning again to John Pounder, he
went on.

G
CHAPTER LII.
XXXX
ANOTHER LEAF OUT OF THE CATECHISM.

QUT first, it seemed to strike him, the rest
might be tired of speaking on such grave
things for that time. "So I put it to the
vote", says he, cheerfully.
"Would you
like, friends, to strike into some other dis-
course, or shall I now continue? We have
about a quarter of an hour, I suppose, before
't is time for night prayers, and then to rest, after a hard
day's work".
"Sir”, says Dick Prodgers, “I being the oldest here, least-
ways of us white men, and so, 't is likely, nigher to my dying
hour, would prefer, if agreeable, to hear some more about all
this: for I remember", says the old tar, in a way that brought
the very tears into Don Manuel's eyes, "being told, not long
ago, the things we shall soon find ourselves in the midst of,
being eternal, are of greatest moment”.
So said the other men, more or less; I mean, cach in his
way; and Ned Hilton, being half asleep, gave a little sort of
grunt, to vote with the rest.
"Well", Don Manuel continued: "then I will go on
awhile; and to-morrow we will go to something else I have
in my mind”.
"Now, my dear children", says he to the three Indians,
"do you know your names? We are going to make you
Christians, and give you Christian ones, in place of what you
have been called by. Toefa-oloo" (this was the old man),
what does your name signify in Toonati-nooka ?"
I must explain, in what I here put down, Don Manuel had
by this become so good a scholar in their language, he
204
THE ADVENTURES OF
understood most things they said, and spoke it passably well,
as indeed he deserved to do; having taken all occasions to
converse with these poor creatures, for their good.
Toefa-oloo. "Tadoone" (it means, in their language, father,
for by this name the priest had signified to us all he had
rather be called; so that we dropped the Don pretty much
from that onward)-"Tadoone", says he, "Toefa-oloo all
same as Big Monkey".
At this, the men set up a laugh, and the Indians joined in it;
though I would be bound, 't was out of compliment to us only.
Don M. (smiling). "Well, we will find a better name for
you, my dear. What did I tell you you would be, when the
holy water of life was poured over you?"
Toefa-oloo. "Den I be Mark, Tadoone".
Don M. "Yes, that will be your name, I know. And
why shall I give you that name?"
Toefa-oloo. "Cause of one great much holy man; he
make black strokes so, so (making with his hand as though
he were writing), in great holy book”.
Don M. "And what was the book about ?"
Toefa-oloo. "He put down in book much what great,
great, great holy God He say, He do, He hooroo-hooroo” (Mark
could not express suffer in English, so he used here the word
in his language).
Don M. "What did He hooroo-hooroo ?”
Toefa. "Much great, much great: bad bad mans take,
bind, beat, beat, den (the rest he expressed in Toonati-nook-
ish, not finding words for it in English, which made me sorry
the others of us did not understand him, for they had taken
no pains to learn any but the commonest Indian words); bad,
bad men", he went on, "took Him to a mountain, laid two
trees on the ground, one across the other, laid Him on the
trees, beat great nails, longer than shark's teeth, quite
through His tender hands and feet, into the trees; then set
up the biggest tree, and the smaller to it, and Him on, till
He died from pain”.
Don M. (still in English).
fered, indeed, and much more.
Who was He, all the time?”
Toefa. (bowing his head).
holy God".
Don M.
"Yes, that was what He suf-
But why was it He suffered?
"Great, great, great much
"And what is His name"?
Toefa. (bowing again, with the sign of the cross on his fore-
head and breast). "Otooma-Tehe, Jesus Christus”.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
اگل
205
I must explain here that Otooma-Tehe was the word Toefa
had coined (for he had to coin it) to express the Christian
idea of God, in distinction from their word for an idol, which
was henatanoo. Now, Otooma-Tehe is made up of the three
words, Oteo (one), Tooma (lord or chief), and Etehe (spirit);
and the poor Indian was not a little fond of his new word: as
I could discover by his singing it to himself in a low voice
while he was at work, as though he delighted to have found
one true God in place of the multitude of his false ones. But
to return.
Don M. "Tell me now, could not Otooma-Tehe do all
things that He would ?”
Toefa. "O yes, O yes! all, Tadoone".
Don M.
aeoeekee ?"
"What, more than Paowanga? more than Hav-
The poor old man looked up into the father's face, sur-
prised, to discover what he meant by asking this. But seeing
the priest smiled, he laughed outright, clapping his hands;
then he spat twice into the fire, to express his contempt for
his former idols: each time he did so, he said, "Udan, Pao-
wanga he no good! Udan, Havacoeekee he no good”.
On this, the other two Indians began to spit likewise into
the fire; crying at the top of their voices, "Eaha-noué, he
he he no good; Eaha-noué, he he he no good!" till the cave
rang again.
Our thoughtless Hilton, being waked by this out of his
sleep, and learning what was going on, burst into an up-
roarious laugh, and was joined in it by the rest: so, what
with their merriment, and what with the poor Indians making
their act of detesting their idols (which they did again and
again), there was noise enough. When it had ceased a little,
though every now and then one would burst forth again, so
greatly did this proceeding take the men's fancies, Don
Manuel (the father, I had better say) went on quietly.
The Father. "True, my dear: our good Lord and God is
Almighty; He can do everything He wills to do. Then, why
did He let those bad men take, and put Him to pain and
death ?"
Toefa. "Tadoone, He give His own life up to dat".
The Father. "And why?"
Toefa. "O, oh! give His self to make Toefa-oloo be happy,
happy; and Rer-mimebolamba happy, and Poula-faihe happy,
and Eaha-noue in Toonati-nooka happy, all happy, all much
happy, for long time, long, O, long!"
206
THE ADVENTURES OF
The Father. "And White Sas happy too?"
Old Mark (so we mostly called him) seemed puzzled to know
what to answer; looking upon us, after all, as superior crea-
tures; and, I believe, something as we look on the angels,
beings that have never been redeemed, because they have
never fallen. On the other hand, he was quite sure, if the
brown man was to be made happy, the white man was (some-
how) to be happier. So he was there, I may say, in a cleft
stick, and knew not which side to take: but sat, shaking his
head, looking first at one then at another of us.
"Well, old mess-mate", cried Harry Gill, at last, "do you
not wish us to be happy too?"
"O, oh!" he answered: "me 'spose white Sas much happy,
much; me 'spose, white Sas happy one place, brown mans
happy one place"; he meant, each would be happy, but sepa-
rate. "Brown here", says he, stretching out his left hand,
"White here", and stretched out his right.
"No, my dear brother", cries the priest, and leaned for-
ward to embrace him; "there is one heaven, as there is one
Otooma-Tehe: and may we all be happy there together!"
Then the other Indians, too, began repeating, Oord, oora!
nodding their heads again and again.
At this moment, I whispered to him, he had not made the
Indian prove to me, none but a Catholic could be a true
disciple.
"Aye, indeed", says he, thinking; then turned to Toefa-
oloo again.
Don M. "But tell me this; when did our Lord Jesus
Christus speak to moönace-etoeea (all mankind) ?”
Toefa. "Otooma-Tehe first dead, dead; then-
Don M. 66
Stay awhile; how could He die, if IIe is God,
and Almighty ?"
:
Toefa. "Tadoone, you me tell, Otooma-Tehe He no die,
no die but etoee (that is their word for man), yes, he much
die: Otooma-Tehe He make His own self be etooe, so He,
etooe, all one: so He die".
Don M. "True; God became man, that He might die
for us all; and He is both God and man in One Person.
But how did Otooma-Tehe become man ?"
Toefa. "O, Oh! Otooma-Tehe He make, He choose, one
much, much holy young maiden (he expressed this partly in
his own language), He make her love all what Otooma-Tehe
He love; He place great much strong matan-geeva (shield)
over:" (I now see though I did not understand him at the
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
207
6
time, he meant to repeat something the father had taught him
of the Blessed Virgin being preserved from all sin, and the
fiery darts of the most wicked one'): "den IIe come, He make
His own self be her child".
Don M.
"And what is this maiden's name ?"
Toefa. (bowing again) "Maria Deotokos"."
Don M.
"Quite right; and that means, Mary the Mother
of God. Why do we call her that?"
Old Mark did not seem to see what Tadoone could mean
by the question: and looked up again in his face, surprised.
"You see", said the priest to me in Spanish, "the question
in itself is such a simple one, he thinks there must be some-
thing more in my asking it than he sees; and so he does not
answer".
"Please to make him answer, though, sir", said I to him
again, in the same language.
Don M. (in English). "Well, Tocfa, who is Maria the
mother of ?"
Toefa. "Maria she O much mother Otooma-Tehe, oora,
oora, Tadoone".
"There you have it, friend", says the priest again to me, in
his Spanish, "what want you more? Mary is the mother of
our Lord. He is but One Person, God and man: all that
takes place in His human nature, being one of His two natures,
takes place in the Person of God; she bears Him in her pure
bosom, therefore she bears her God: quem genuit, adoravit:
she is His mother, and so she is most truly the mother of God.
Not to believe this, would be disbelieving that He is truly both
God and man; but that is the essence of the Christian faith:
hence, to deny Mary to be Mother of God, is to deny the
Christian faith".
He saw me look unsatisfied still: "Well", says he, gaily,
"I will put it to him more closely for a moment; and then,
no more. John Pounder and Samuel, go; light the candles in
the chapel, we will come in a minute: Now, Toefa, listen.
(He here began to speak Indian again.) What is that you
used to put over your face (you told me) when you went into
battle, to make yourself look terrible to your enemies ?"
Toefa, "A mask of red bird's feathers, father".
Don M. "It hid your face, and you were behind it ?"
Toefa. "Yes, indeed”.
Properly, Theotokos, the title solemnly given to the Blessed Virgin
at the Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431, against Nestorius, who asserted
the existence of two distinct persons in our Lord.—ED.
208
THE ADVENTURES OF
Don M.
"But 't was not yourself, all the while?"
Toefa (laughing) "Oh, no, no".
Don M. Attend, now. Was it in that way that God
became man? Did He merely conceal Himself behind the
nature or appearance of man ?”
Toefa. "No, my father; you have taught me, He became
really, truly man for us”.
Don M. "As truly man as you and I ?"
Toefa. "Yes, praise and thanks: but all holy, pure".
Don M. "Was He less God than before, for doing so?"
"Perfect God, perfect man, in one Person".
"Then, whom did the Blessed Mary bear ?"
Toefa. Ah, father! are you punishing me for some fault?
why, God, to be sure".
Toefa.
Don M.
((
Don M. "That will do. Blow the horn, and wake up the
sleepers. We are going to prayers".
So we went to our prayers: and afterwards we heard (for
the first time) the Indians singing in their part of the cave,
by way of practice, a morning hymn which Tadoone had com-
posed for them; for they were to sing it, it seems, the first
thing next morning, which was a festival day. It went to one
of their wild Indian airs: and had a strange kind of pleasing
solemn sound about it which took the men greatly; so that we
soon caught it, and made it part of our morning devotions.
Thus it ran :
Goole majeela a bo tahapai,
Kowya reea teëgaro chee;
Taharo elan eroo mata hai,
Mâte ka waia tohooda tahe.
Shaïngalā tiri laine moaffa,
Jesus aüne ta ha lenehoo;
Teema Tadoon' Etehēti nar' affa,
Faida Maria pakulle ta moo.
The meaning of it is, in English :
On the tops of our cocoa-palms when first a light shines,
Let us arise to adore Him that sustained us (in life);
Most pure, most merciful, pleased with obedient children,
Who on the two-trees (ie., the Cross) showed us His great love.
He, the Redeemer, speaking (pleading, appealing), claims our hearts;
His thrice-holy name is Jesus, born and dying:
Let us love Him, with the Father and Holy Spirit,
Next to them also Mary our Mother.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
209

www
www.
CHAPTER LIII.
SPRING-TIDE LABOURS.

HUS employed, we got through the rainy
season: indeed, the return of fair weather
surprised us, so much had we to do inside
the cave, and so well used did we become to
close confinement, with cheerful labour. At
length we issued from our retreat on a fresh
spring morning, as Noe and his family might
have stepped out of their ark on to the green earth, bathed
in the waters of the flood: we smelled the flowers and the
trees, and plucked the fresh shoots and blossoms in our abun-
dance, with the birds singing round on every side; and nature
seemed to burst forth at once with the vigour of a tropical
spring. "And if nature can give such a new sense of life
and joy", says Tadoone, "by the mere return of spring to the
land of our exile, strewing such flowers on our pilgrimage
path, what will it be to range the Paradise of God with the
Saints, where the pure, bright atmosphere is charity, when
sorrow and sin shall have fled for ever?”
Among the first things we had to do, was to look to our
farm; for the violent rains had damaged the fences, so that
if we had not sent out the Indians from time to time to repair
some gaps in them, our tame peccaries would doubtless have
escaped to the woods. We now made our ring-fence stronger,
by driving in stakes here and there, of a kind of supple osier,
which quickly took root, and shot out a strong, tough branch
or tendril on all sides: so that, in the four years and a-quar-
ter we spent in that exile, by lacing and weaving them, in
and in, every spring as they shot forth again, we formed a
hedge that, for strength and thickness, would have puzzled a
whole herd of peccaries to break through.
14
210
THE ADVENTURES or
Next, we added to the plantation I spoke of before, to con-
ceal the approach to our cave; we added to the number of
winding passages, and the decoys, or wrong turns, that led
each to its pit-fall, or else to a blind alley so narrow that the
enemy, did he get in, would scarce have room to turn in it;
but, pushing on deeper, would find himself trapped much in
the way they take to snare wild elephants in India. We
contrived these with some skill, for we had even too great a
stock of time, and we laid down a rule for ourselves, to work
a certain while every day, which was four hours in the cool
weather (more or less, for we tied not ourselves exactly to
it), and in the heats from two to two and a-half, early and
late. Such, I say, was our engineering craft in the con-
trivance of this maze, that we made the pit-falls be just in a
point that was overlooked from a thicket right above the
mouth of our cave: so that one or several of us, concealed
in the thicket, could have poured our arrows upon the enemy
in his perplexity, and remain unseen all the while.
Later on, too, in our exile (for I may as well finish about
this, once for all), that is, in the third rainy season we spent
on the island, having then, as I shall presently relate, more
hands sent to us, whom we never invited nor expected, we
made our cave still bigger: for then we hewed out two more
sleeping places, besides cutting shelves and cupboards in
several of the passages, up and down. At length, the whim
seized us, we would make us another entrance to our cave
altogether, to serve us for an approach from the western side,
or (as the rabbit makes two holes to its burrow) give us an
escape in case of our citadel being stormed by the grand
stair-case. We made a survey how the ground lay above,
treading up and down the table-land over the cave, or from
that to westward, to see where the rock dipped nighest the
level of the cave, so to have least trouble in cutting the pas-
sage. At last we found the spot where (by our closest
reckoning) we had best begin: so then, dividing ourselves
into gangs, as before, (but now with more than double the
number in each gang, as the reader will see in its place), we
worked steadily every day for the best part of two weeks, I
am sure; and got down a prodigious way into the rock: fur-
ther than we thought we should have to go at all, till we
began to fear we were out in our reckoning of the depth, or
had cut at a wrong angle for the slope. All at once, we
broke indeed into our cave; but, whereas we hoped to light
on a passage we had (before this time) partly worked beyond
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
211
3
the kitchen,* we found, instead, we had broken through the
roof of our chapel, by its western corner, furthest from the
altar and we knew at once where we had got to, by hearing
the plaster fall inward on the floor. Well, the thing being
done, there was no help for it: we made us another ladder
of trees, with rounds of wood bound tight with flax and
supple-jack, to reach up from the chapel floor to our new
passage, and so used it from time to time; but not so much
as we first thought of doing, and chiefly to bring down heavy
weights, that we could not sling up by the other door.
To go back now from this to our first rainy season: of all
our manufactures, some fishing nets (we judged) would be
most useful; as indeed afterwards they proved to be. We
set about them so soon as we had mined ourselves fairly
into the rock; working at them at odd times in the day, and
by our fire-light every evening. Here, too, the Indians sur-
passed us in their ingenious twisting of the fibres to make the
nets' meshes; so that by degrees we left the work in their
hands, and particularly in old Mark's, who was less able for
the hard work of hewing the rock. He told us, they were
well used in Toonati-nooka to make a sort of draw-net, or
seine; with these they took large quantities of fish in the
gulfs and inlets of their island, but mostly in the spring-tide
of the year. Sometimes they would venture out into the
deep sea, but then always went in armed canoes, to defend
themselves from the fishers of Hai-vavaoo, who were for ever
coming out against them in strong parties, to dispute the
fishery; and would now and then run in like so many pirates,
into the bays of Toonati, and, after a fierce struggle, carry off
nets and fish together.
It seemed, these fisheries were the cause, or pretence, of
that war that was almost for ever being waged between the
savages of the two islands: though Toefa-uloo told us, several
treaties of peace had been made (within his own memory)
between them, in the most solemn way they knew how.
Namely, they assemble (said he) the chiefs of both sides, and
the priests of that side on whose shore the treaty is to be
made: or they take the priests out in a canoe, if 't is made
at sea. Then invoking Paowanga, who is reckoned to be the
god of war among them (but the men of Hai-vavaoo have
another idol named Komo-arrao, corresponding to him in
character, whom they invoke on their part), they cut the
* Probably at the point marked L in the margin of the ground plan,
p. 193.-ED.
212
THE ADVENTURES OF
throat of an animal, mostly of a goat, and each party drinks
a portion of the blood, with various other ceremonies. Such
a treaty they profess to hold very sacred, at least till interest
or enmity concur to break it again.

冰
​CHAPTER LIV.
SEA AND LAND.

QUT to return to our own nets: we made them
carefully, of twisted cocoa-nut fibres and our
supple-jack, dried by the fire and beaten out
like hemp, with thread also spun from the
cotton-plants, of which we found a planta-
tion self-sown, as I have related; and of
these we found others later, scattered here
and there in the swampy parts of the island, towards the
centre of it, or from that to s.w. The Indians told us, in
their country they made the nets stronger and more supple
with hairs from their enemies' heads, whom they slew in
battle, or took prisoners; for they never spared those whom
they took, but offered them all in sacrifice to Paowanga, first
shaving off their hair, or pulling it away with the scalp, then
dashing out their brains with a club. The poor fellows here-
upon offered to part with the very hair of their heads to make
our fish-nets; for they wear it long, never suffering knife or
razor to touch it after they come of age, but twisting it up on
the crown of the head with a bone pin. However, we would not
suffer them so to despoil themselves; only, hearing them
speak of these pins, we asked what bones they were made of;
and when Tadoone heard, they were the arm-bones of their
enemies, he made them untwist these trophies from their
heads, and buried them with his own hand in the wood near
our cave, speaking much to Mark and the others about that
savage custom of theirs, and how repugnant it was to the
feeling we should have for the living and the dead.
I could see, they parted with their ornaments with a bad
grace, and only because Tadoone asked it: for it seems in
their country 't is reckoned a thing disgraceful for any one
who has been in war, to be seen without an arm-bone twisted
into his hair; as being a sign that he was a coward, and slew
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
213
no enemies in battle. I made up the loss to them, as well as
I could, by dividing a kerchief of gaudy colours I wore round
my neck, half to one, and half to the other: for as to young
Samuel, he had never been in battle, so had no right to a
bone. But Mark and Pounder were much delighted with
their new head-dress, and wore it till the sun and rain so
bleached the colours, you could scarce distinguish them.
Before the rainy season was over, we had made us three
good fish-nets, of a fairish size: and when the spring had set
in, we were visited, about Shark's Cove and the neighbouring
shores, by such shoals of fish, some of them old acquaintances
(as herrings and mackrel), others of a strange kind, in-
habitants of these seas, as put us beyond all fear of falling
short of Fridays' fare. We were forced to devise methods of
smoking and curing on the beach, the numbers we drew to
shore with our long net, or seine, and another which we threw
in the manner of a cast-net. In this we succeeded passably
well, after some experiments and failures: our Indians proving
useful here too, by pointing out one or two kinds of fish that
were poisonous, or, at the best, unwholesome.
At one time, we thought of making a weir, or preserve for
our fish, as we had made a farm-yard for our four-footed
stock on land; we might have done it well enough, by driving
stakes across a part of our inlet, in Shark's Cove, at low-water,
keeping them high enough above high-water mark to hinder
the fish floating back with the tide; and weaving bamboos or
cordage in and out, to form a wattle under water, free enough
for the tide to ebb through, but not the fish.
We gave up
that idea, however, partly because, in the fresh water conduit,
and other works then engaging us, we had (as the saying is)
"other fish to fry"; but mostly because the abundance of
these shoals was such as supplied us for a long time together.
The smaller fry were followed into the cove by large fish that
came to prey on them; as bonitos, manchorans, albicores,
dog-fish, and a kind of dolphin, besides some of our old
enemies, the sharks, such of them as were able to thread their
way through the inlet in the reef. We managed to spear
several, or shoot them with arrows (all but the sharks, whose
hide is too strong for such spears as we had, and we would
not waste powder on them): then, waiting till the tide ebbed,
or throwing round them a coil of our native rope, we got
them ashore for their oil and bones, as well as meat.
Others we pierced with arrows, but especially with spears,
having a biggish piece of bark or light wood attached to them
214
THE ADVENTURES OF
by a strong twine, to act as a buoy, and prevent the fish get-
ting away by all these arts we captured no less than nine
or ten large fish that were tolerable eating, and might have
had as many dozens for the taking, only we grew lazy from
their very abundance; besides that we had no means to salt
down such a quantity, and did not care to keep them dried
and tough, as they would have been.
But I have left out one employment in which Don Manuel
especially engaged, and kept to himself; 't was not much in
the way of labour, but more by its importance to us. I mean,
the sowing of our two or three chance grains of wheat in a
little nook of earth lying open to the south, which Tadoone
carefully dug, and manured with some of the refuse of our
fish, together with leaves and burnt sea-weed. To speak
exactly, there were but three grains in all; one that stuck in
my knife, as I have said, and two more I found later in my
pocket. He claimed these as his portion of our goods; pro-
mising us in return, if all went well, he would give us a good
quartern loaf in a couple of years' time, besides supplying
himself with what he needed for the altar, if altar he ever
came by. We could not but smile at the promise of a loaf
two years to come; but freely yielded up the grains to him :
what he did with them was this:
Having prepared the ground with care, then, making a
little hole in the soil with a stick, he dropped one of the
grains into it: then again, perhaps six inches from this, a
second hole, and dropped another grain; and the third, at a
like distance. This, he explained to us, he had read in some
old Latin book of agriculture, was the surest way of having
an abundant corn-crop; as well, because the grains, thus
planted apart, are not in each other's way for drawing mois-
ture and fatness from the soil, as because this careful mode of
putting them into the ground saves the waste of grain that
takes place in throwing them broad-cast into furrows.
True enough, the experiment prospered in his hands: for
the blade shot up, tall and strong, bearing such ears as I have
seldom seen in wheat, before or since. Then he chose out of
these the largest grains, and such as were most likely-look-
ing, for his next year's crop, and sowed them in the same
manner, some inches apart from one another; by which
means, his second harvest came up stronger, with a larger
yield than the first, even. After that, indeed, as I shall show
at another stroke of my pen, a wonderful turn of events made
him a less regular farmer than before, and changed the whole
current of our life in banishment.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
215

CHAPTER LV.
PREPARING FOR A CHANGE.

AVING no mind to trouble the reader with
why and wherefore I determined finally
to embrace the Catholic faith, I will say
little more than this, (to vindicate myself
and the friend that became the instrument
to me of so great a good,) I did nothing in
haste, nor rashly. For, to make so vital a
change without due reflection, said Don Manuel, a change to
be made once for all, and involving an eternity, would be
wrong and perilous to the last degree; and, he added, 't were
an insult to the majesty of truth not to give it calm and deep
reflection. No man, said he, as gifted with the faculty of
reason, would undertake a much less concern without pon-
dering it as well in its motives as consequences; or would
have himself to thank for failure and disappointment.
I resolved, then, to try every step, and keep the lead-line
going, as the master of a vessel is bound to do in an unknown
sea: nor can I now be grateful enough for this, inasmuch as
it made my way secure, and hath delivered me from all doubt-
fulness ever since.
The priest (undying thanks to him for it) put the matter
before me in so plain a light as, while it appealed to my
reason, demanded my faith beside. For he bade me remark,
the very notion of religion was a message from God to man,
revealing His nature and will; that it must be received (when
made plain), not discussed, as being that whereof we are to
be disciples, not judges nor critics. This revelation, he said,
because 't is the message of the Infinite Being to us poor
narrow souls, must contain mysterious truths, whose depths
we cannot fathom, though we are enabled to accept them by
faith. That 't is enough for us, and ample, if we are assured
(by any authority on earth that can show itself to be His ap-
pointment and creation), such and such articles of teaching
are His message; then our duty is, cordially to believe them;
to fail in which, is failing in the first duty of the creature,
and so brings the erring soul into a state of perdition.
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THE ADVENTURES OF
God, he said, is essentially the God of truth as well as of
holiness; wherefore, He demands from us belief in His truth,
and all of it, no less than obedience to every part of His holy
law. That, if we must distinguish between these two (though
they were, indeed, as man and wife, whom God hath united),
there was a precedence and prior claim to be noted; that faith
came before obedience, as its motive, for "without faith it is
impossible to please God"; though obedience must follow
faith, as its result, because "faith without works is dead”.
Then he went on to show that Almighty God, who was
pleased at first to proclaim the truth of His gospel by many
miracles, wrought by Himself and His apostles, was pleased,
before He visibly left the earth, to set up in it a great stand-
ing sign or miracle, which He made perpetual, and promised
should be so: and that sign was to be ever fresh and ever at
hand, while most other miracles were shown but from time
to time; and 't was to be in every quarter of the world at
once, while others were local and limited; and 't was not
only to stand ever for proof of the gospel, but to instruct and
console them that believed already; to cleanse and restore
them if they unhappily sinned; to strengthen and feed them
while they were in grace; to keep them in union with God,
and be the means of conducting them to heaven.
And this great sign, says he, is "the Church of the living
God, the pillar and ground of the truth"; "a city set on a
hill", visible to such as do not wilfully close their eyes against
it; a "straight way", whereon the simplest, if only they follow
it trustfully, cannot go wrong, nor stumble. He proceeded to
say, that the true Church is known from all others that pre-
tend to her title, by four great marks, that are recited as such
even by many who do not belong to her, when they say their
creed; that she is One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic: that a
plain observation of facts assigns these four marks to the
Church in union with the See of St. Peter, and to her alone :
that all this was matter of promise at the first, when our
Lord said: "Thou art Peter, and on this rock (Peter) I will
build my Church"; and has been fulfilled in the history of
seventeen hundred years, and will be, to the end of time.
This being so plain, says he, every man is inexcusable who,
having the truth sufficiently set before him, does not embrace
it to behave thus is a grave offence against God, who reveals
His truth, commanding it to be received; and will be punished
with an eternal doom: but they who accept it, obtain there-
with abundant graces to their souls, through sacraments, the
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
217
channels made by Himself, enabling them to obey the rest of
the Divine will; whereby they can merit an increase of it,
from degree to degree, till they gain everlasting glory.
This is a sketch of our conversations together.
What chiefly surprised me in them all, was the stress the
priest laid on my making the utmost use of my reason in this
inquiry, until I received the gift of faith. For I supposed, he
would have required me to surrender my reason, and believe
all I might be told, whether unreasonable or no: having a
heap of things put down my throat, and bidden to swallow
them without inquiry. Whereas, here was a priest, and (as
I found by degrees) a monk too, bidding me inquire, reason,
and test what he said, until grace was given me to believe.
On my telling him my surprise to find this, he only smiled,
and asked me, was it possible that faith and reason could be
opposed? I answered, it seemed so, inasmuch as a vast
number of men, who professed to go by reason, were thereby
led away from faith. To which he said again, they neither
knew what was meant by sound reason, nor by true faith.
For, says he, as both come from God, who is "not the God of
dissention", one of His gifts can never go against another.
}
"How is it, then, sir" (I urged) "so many things are taught
in your Church, as miracles, transubstantiation, and the rest,
which contradict the evidence of our senses?" "Contradict,
66
my dear friend?" says he, looking pleasantly at me; "there
can be no contradiction between two things, when one simply
goes beyond the other”. 'Why, sir”, said I again, “do you
tell me there is no contradiction in saying that bread and wine
are so much more than bread and wine as the Catholic Church
bids her members believe ?" "Certainly", answers he very
gravely, "it would be a contradiction to say anything is what
it is not, or more than it is. But tell me can the senses
judge of anything that lies beyond themselves? Or can one
sense judge of what is only subject to another sense? Did
you ever hear a colour or see a smell?"
:
I could not but smile at his questions; which, when he saw :
"Well", pursued he, " as to that great mystery you have
touched on, your senses can be no judges of the change of sub-
stance into substance, because they can only report as to the
outward appearances, which remain as they were before: you
might just as well expect the sentinel who stands outside the
king's palace to know what transactions are going on in the
audience-chamber or cabinet, where the king himself is within,
removed from sight. But observe; as the eye is created, to
218
THE ADVENTURES OF
tell the soul many things great and glorious which the ear
cannot perceive, so faith is given to tell the soul glorious
mysteries which 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
hath it entered into the heart of man"".
So he went on.

〇〇〇
​DS DS DS
ste ste ste s st ste da ste sti SE NE DE
DS US DI
ste se ske ste ska sk ske
CHAPTER LVI.
OTHER REASONS.

UT two chief reasons determined me beside:
one, the consistent Christian example of this
my good friend, whose conduct I had hourly
opportunities to mark, nor ever found a thing
in it that did not tally with his own teaching.
So that it became impossible to me to think
so true a disciple and good liver, one so
cheerfully holy, humble, prayerful, selfdenying, charitable,
and the rest, practising virtue from day to day, could be
much in the wrong. The second reason was, I felt my soul
to need such confession of sins as I knew to be practised in his
Church.
Removed as we were from the world, spending much time
alone, 't would not have been in mortal man to prevent his
thoughts turning inward on himself and backward on his life.
Our consciences became first awakened, then tender: so that
we recalled our past sins, which we had utterly forgotten,
and gone on as unheeding as if we were guiltless of them;
I say, recalling these, they appeared to us quite in another
light than before, as heinous offences against the Divine law,
though perchance not crimes in the eyes of our fellow-men.
Strange, indeed, how old sins of many years past would start
out before me, from some hidden nook in my memory; so that
at last, numbering how oft I had sinned against my own con-
science, dark as it was, and how little I had cultivated grace
by prayer, to preserve me from my evil self, I began to see
my life had been almost one continued sin.
Nor could I find comfort in this distress of mind from general
promises of pardon made to man on his true repentance: feel-
ing somewhat to be needed beside, to apply those generals to
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
219
(6
my particular case. I would fain hear a voice say to me,
myself, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more”.
Thy sins are forgiven thee; depart in peace". Propounding
this difficulty to my friend, he then showed me, the God of
mercy had vouchsafed to meet this my need; founding a suc-
cession of priests for the express end (among others) of assur-
ing His pardon to the penitent.
"But 't is impossible", says he, "without an evident miracle,
the priest should be able to pronounce pardon where he knows
not the offence, nor the dispositions of the offender. Nor
can he apply the remedies best suited to each several case,
nor give advice to serve the soul of his penitent, unless the
state of that soul, its deeds, habits, failings, weak points,
temptations, and so forth, be submitted to him. The priest
who hears a man's confession is a judge commissioned to that
office by the Supreme Judge of all: now, when any one is
brought before a judge, there is evidence produced and sifted
narrowly, and the cause determined on it, lest the guilty
escape, or the innocent be cast. Again, the priest is a physi-
cian for the soul; and what physician in his right senses ever
prescribed for his patient without first hearing from him the
symptoms of his disorder?”
So he went on, with much more of the same kind; which,
if I could recall precisely, 't would be useful to set it down.
But at the time, what it did for me was, it persuaded me
(after much reflection) to close with such a merciful offer.
Whence it came to pass, about three weeks after he and I had
talked this over, I then first received from him a conditional
baptism, on a supposition of my never having been baptized
before: "for baptism with you", says he, "is given (I fear)
with so little of the care that befits a sacrament needful to sal-
vation, as to make it more than doubtful whether 't is given
at all". Then, this being secured, I made to our charitable
and patient Tadoone a full, exact confession of my life, so
far as I could recall anything that looked like a sin. And it
is not for me to set down on paper the peace that took
possession of my heart when I knew myself reconciled to God
whom my sins had offended. Nor can I describe how truly
I purposed to serve Him for the remainder of my days.
But what is good for one is good for another, in what con-
cerns all so the men, partly taking example by me, seeing 't
was not so strange a thing to become a Catholic, after all;
partly by the simple goodness of our poor Indians, whom
Tadoone had made Catholics already; and partly also by the
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THE ADVENTURES OF
reasons he showed them for it, determined one and all to do
likewise. Not that all did it together, but in the following
order:
First (strange enough it seemed to me), came Richard
Prodgers, and was made into a good Catholic, and a happy
one, in less than a week after myself. Then Ned Hilton;
and after him, Gill; whose parents, it seems, inherited the
farm they occupied in Kent, from the days of the Common-
wealth, and traced up their ancestors to some of Cromwell's
followers, whom he had enriched with that freehold: so that
Harry, careless sailor as he was, derived a smack of the puri-
tan, leastwise, in the respect of prejudice, that made him hard
to convince of the Catholic doctrine. However, he came in at
last, though 't was a good month or so after Ned, and Ned was
some short time after me. But Don Manuel was not the
man to hurry any one; and never showed more patience than
when he reasoned with Gill, and won him by slow degrees.
It may seem strange that Tom Harvey, who was the best
conditioned of them all at first, was the very last to enter the
Church: but such was the fact, let any one explain it as he
may. I once asked Tadoone whether 't was a secret pride
that still kept Tom from submitting: but he would not hear
of such a reason, which (he said) had too little charity about
it; that God's ways are not our ways, nor His times ours;
that Harvey's turn would come yet:—and so it did.

مع كلم
CHAPTER LVII.
SPIRITUAL MASS.

SAID, a while ago, our chapel served us for
another end besides daily prayers and weekly
sermons. Having said that much, 't would
be leaving my reader in the dark not to
explain it; at least, if I should get any
readers at all: though that is the very thing
I am growing doubtful of. For a friend of
mine, a bookseller in Paternoster Row, on my carrying these
OWEN EVANS, Esq.
221
papers to him, when I had written out about a third of my
rough notes, discouraged me all he could from going on:
telling me, the public would never be caught with such chaff,
nor take up with a dull matter of fact like this; and I stood a
better chance with some cut-throat tale, full of murder and
gunpowder, hair-breadth 'scapes, or the burning of one or two
people alive. But I told him then, what I now put down.
I was as little fitted to be a romancer as a stage-player, or
any other kind of mountebank: and if folks who read books
were not content with what befel a plain man and his com-
panions, in an out of the way place and a strange exile of more
than four years, they might e'en let it be, and no harm was
done, except the printer's bills to be charged on my exe-
cutors.
Indeed, I might (no doubt) have touched up my story, or
dashed in some strong colours, like scene-painters, who will
daub for effect at a distance: but where then would have been
the sober truth of my narrative? Or, (had I the wit to do it,
which happily I lack) I might have given a freer rein to my
thoughts, in some such pieces as an acquaintance of mine
was bringing out in London before I quitted England, who,
after wasting his talents on such trifles, went over to Lisbon
in shattered health, and has gone further even than Lisbon to
give in an account of all his writings. But I, that can admire
genius at a distance, would not change places in the next
world, no, nor in this, with him who ever wrote one deli-
berate word that might lead a fellow mortal to a sin, be it
of thought only.
Here I am straying again 'from my own paddock through
the first gap in the hedge: so I come back from my friend
the bookseller in Paternoster Row, to our chapel in Assump-
tion Isle. I have all along forgotten to say, we called the place
of our exile so, from the great festival that had just passed
when we discovered it and long after, we had our joke
against old Prodgers, who had put aside any Christian name
for it, preferring to call it No Man's Land.
Well, 't was spiritual Mass we used our little chapel for,
every morning, as a thing of course. And Don Manuel
explained what we were going to do, the first time he pro-
posed it, much after this fashion :
"You remember, dear friends and children of mine", says
he, "how you thought me mad, or next door to it, for being
so affected when we found a grain of wheat and I told you,
at the time, 't was because the sight of that little grain
:
222
THE ADVENTURES OF
seemed to bring me one step nearer to my great desire, the
celebrating of holy Mass. That desire we cannot realize in
act, from want of other things absolutely needed for it; but
we may still cherish it as a desire, and turn that desire into
devotion. You know, even in man's dealings with his fellow-
man, the will is often accepted for the deed. Many is the time
we testify, that we would do this or that act of kindness or
service, if we could: and our neighbour holds himself equally
obliged to us, as if we had done it. Much more does the
Searcher of hearts look into the hidden desires of our souls,
and accepts or rejects us by what He sees there. Even as to
baptism, a sacrament absolutely necessary for any one to be
saved, the earnest desire of it is accepted, where the sacra-
ment is impossible. So, as I cannot have the comfort of
celebrating Mass, we will do all we can in the way of desire,
and may hope for many blessings in answer".
He went on to speak of some revelation granted to a Saint
(I cannot recall the name), that her spiritual communions
were to her sacramental communions as silver to gold; and
exhorted us to assist at our spiritual Mass with such fervour
as to supply (to our best) for the want of the divine reality.
"Holy Mass", says he, "is celebrated by the priest, and
attended by the faithful, for several ends, as:
"To adore Almighty God for what He is in Himself, all His
own infinite perfections, joining with the blessed angels round
His Throne, who are ever crying aloud to Him, 'Holy,
Holy, Holy'! And, if we consider that He is the One infinite
and supreme, 't will appear our first duty to accompany the
adorable Sacrifice of Himself, which He hath ordained, by
such an act of devout homage.
"To give Him praise and thanks for all His blessings to
us, for body and soul, which are numberless; also, for His
benefits to others, especially those who will not praise or
thank him for themselves. Also, under this head of praise, to
adore Him for the graces He has bestowed on His saints, from
the creation to the present hour; and to congratulate the
blessed Saints themselves on all they have received.
"To commemorate the sufferings and death of our Lord
Jesus Christ, whereof Mass is so lively a representation, as well
as a continuance and daily application of the same Sacrifice.
"To avert His anger from ourselves and all other sinners,
by a humble acknowledgment of our offences, and deep un-
worthiness.
"To beseech Him to pour upon ourselves, and all for
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
223
whom we are bound to pray, all the blessings needful for us:
this large intention including both supplication and inter-
cession; as to ourselves, it included all we could need, for
body and soul, for time and eternity: as to others, it embraced
Catholics on earth and in purgatory, as well as heretics,
sinners, sufferers, the heathen, in a word, all God's rational
creatures who were not in heaven nor in hell: prayer for the
first being needless, and for the latter, of no avail".

Methinks I have now given as large an account as need be
(and perhaps too lengthy) of that spell of twenty months, or
thereabout, of our life on the island, while we lived by our-
selves, without the increase to our society which I am just
going to record. Our farm-yard throve, and our crops
flourished passably well during this time; but afterwards, the
great heat of our second summer, that was like a fierce oven,
burnt up some of our young plantains and bananas, so that
they withered and came to nought. 'T was, indeed, through
our unskilfulness in the choice of a place for them; the spot
being too exposed to the sun for tender plants: but we reme-
died this the following season, choosing a small savannah,
partly shaded by the same ridge of sandy cliff that rose up
into the bluff, or headland, where we dug our cave; and partly
by a grove of cocoa-palms on the other side. This lay a quar-
ter of a mile from the sun-burnt spot where we failed before,
and was washed by the stream that came from Riverhead, so
that we could water our new nursery-ground by hand.
As for our peccaries, too, a kind of murrain seized on
them, so that we lost half our stock within ten days, and
the rest were saved chiefly by the care of Ned Hilton, whose
father, it seems, was a small farmer in the county of Hunting-
don, where Ned had become learned in pigs. But Don
Manuel's wheat crop seemed to have some particular blessing
showered on it from the first; or else from his choosing a spot
sheltered and moistened by a little ledge of rock from the
great heats, it throve better than our essays in farming. I
am ready to think, 't was both of those causes together: for
on one hand, he was a kind of man that undertook nothing, but
first he looked far onward, and weighed all he was to do;
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THE ADVENTURES OF
on the other, I am sure he sowed this crop in tears of deep
desire, and trusted to reap it in spiritual joy.
With regard to our souls, that he had been the means of
saving, 't is not for me to turn trumpeter to our little com-
pany: only I will say, if our regular habit of confessing may
be taken as an index, we scarce ever missed going to Tadoone
once in the week; generally on Fridays, to honour the Sacred
Passion we had formerly so neglected to think on, and done
so much to dishonour. The effect of this, too, was clearly
seen in the men's temper and dispositions: as for myself, I
say little, only that I ought to have advanced more in good-
ness, as my sense of what it meant was perhaps clearer.
But amongst us now, such outbreaks of passion as the men
had given way to on our first landing, came to be a something
unheard of: and, just as the last and most unlikely in a race
will sometimes get ahead of the rest, so the greatest change
seemed to be wrought in old Dick Prodgers. He had been
'fining down by degrees, after our first week on the island:
but when he had made his confession, and been baptized
under condition, he did indeed put on the new man, and
surprised us by his meekness and quiet spirit of prayer. I
may say much the same of the rest, some more, some less.
But all this made us desire greatly to be able to assist at
Mass, and more particularly, to receive the Holy Communion,
in the nature and effects of which Don Manuel instructed us.
He bade us pray that our "hunger and thirst after justice”
might be increased yet more, and then satisfied: and he ex-
horted us to make our spiritual communions with such fer-
vour, as might in some degree supply for our great depri-
vation in not being able to receive the Most Holy. We
learned from him to unite our intentions with those of every
priest offering Mass, and all the faithful attending it, on what
spot soever of earth assembled.
Thus time slipped by, leaving us content in spite of our
cruel banishment, and in many ways we might be called
happy; lords of all we saw round us, our dominions only
bounded by the ocean, at peace among ourselves, and little
fearing enemies from without, though prepared to receive
them. All this, I say, till a strange thing befell us on the
seventeenth of April, the year of Redemption 1741.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
225
71

CHAPTER LVIII.
THE SPANISH ARMADA.

E were startled, of a sudden, on the day I have
just named, by the firing of a gun far out at
sea; the sound seemed to come to us from
s.s.w., or thereaway: but so dull and faint,.
we hardly thought it a gun, till we heard the
second; and listening with eager ears, taken
aback by the surprise, within a few minutes
there came a third report. Then we knew it for a vessel firing
guns of distress; but what help to bring her we saw not, only
we thought to inform her crew, there were some at hand,
though not able, yet willing, to help them. So we clambered
to the top of our rock, and thence to Look-out Point, in great
agitation of spirits: we had, by this, well-nigh resigned our-
selves to live and die on the island; and so sudden a prospect
of some European ship brought a conflict of emotions to us,
part of hope, part of apprehension. For we knew not if we
were about to encounter friends or foes; nor of what nation
she might prove, nor of what disposition toward us. One
thing we determined on; to reconnoitre with great prudence
before we made any sign in return for their guns.
My perspective glass served us well here; by which I made
out the hull of a large vessel, some three leagues away in the
wind's eye: she seemed to carry little sail, which surprised
us, till the tide, or current, favoured her helm, and brought
her in nearer; for 't was plain she saw our island, and was
making for it. But when she neared (which was very
slowly), we saw clearly enough what made her so short of
sail: for her main-mast was gone by the board; also her
foremast had but a mean kind of jury top-mast rigged, and
the mizen (for she was a three-master, though seemingly not
15
226
THE ADVENTURES OF
a first-rate) was reduced to a stump, and carried a mere rag
of a sail. Also, by her hull being so low down in the water,
as well as the slowness of her sailing (though she was well
in the current which, I have said, set in towards the island
from south by south-west); from all these signs we plainly
made out, she was water-logged to that degree, she could
scarce hope to reach land at last.
This was confirmed when we saw her boats lowered, and the
crew stowing themselves into them: they had three, a long
boat, pinnace, and shallop, but 't was some time before they
put off from the ship: for what cause we could not at first
discover, but judged they were landing provisions, or per-
haps merchandise; for they lowered into the boats what
seemed (at that distance) to be eight or nine large bales, or
packages, and laid them lengthways. But as they drew
nearer, we made out these to be sick men in their hammocks,
lying in the bottom of the boats, and so much in the way of
the oarsmen, as added to their difficulties very much.
Indeed, the whole look of this crew, when we could dis-
tinguish their features, was as if a hospital had shipped itself
on board of a ship; for a more meagre, starved-looking set
I never set eyes on: and they had scarce strength left among
them to pull in the boats towards land. So that 't was
chiefly through favour of the current (which ran swifter
when it came to near Cape Look-out, and turned with an
eddy, or in-draught, into Shark Cove), chiefly by this they
managed to make any way at all; for they had no more to
do, but by their oars and helm to keep the boats' heads fair
with the stream, and catch what little wind was abaft.
This stream, though, took a swift turn when it came within
a quarter of a mile of the point (our cape, I mean); and shot
up to N.N.E., so bearing them towards the cove: when they
found this, fearing (I believe) they might be carried off land
again, not liking to trust the stream, or else wearied with
rowing, they made all efforts to shoot out of the ripple of the
current into smooth water, under lee of the shore, and so
land in another little cove, that was almost land-locked, N.E.
of Cape Look-out. Though the stream carried them some
way beyond that point, they got out of the strength of it;
and doubling back, rowed in, but feebly enough, till they lay
on their oars within arrow-shot of the shore, debating how
they were to proceed.
Now was our time: for we did not mean them to come
nearer without holding them to parley; the more so, as we
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
227
now saw they had arms with them. So, retreating from our
ambush, we came back to our castle with all speed, then went
down by our grand stair-case (as we called the rope) and
made our way straight towards the cove. Then, still am-
bushed in the trees, we sent Don Manuel forward as our
spokesman, or ambassador, with full powers to treat with
them. We crept as near as we could, without showing our-
selves, to witness what passed, and support him on the instant,
in case of need: for we had brought all our weapons with
us, and mustered all our troops.
The priest went forward, till he came down near to the
water's edge; then stood still, and waved his hand, as about
to speak. But it would have touched any heart to witness
the joy of the poor famished creatures when they saw the
form of a civilized man approach near to them. Some of the
crew stood up in the boats, waving their hats; some clapped
their hands; others fell on their knees, raising their clasped
hands to heaven; all cried out, some one thing, some another,
with such confused sounds of prayer, and surprise, and
joyfulness, we could not at first inake out what language 't
was they spoke in. But Don Manuel, having a quicker ear
for his native tongue, knew it from the first for Spanish.
One would have thought this was like to give him great
satisfaction; but he told us afterwards, the doubt came at
once into his mind, they might be a crew of buccaneers,* and
their ship a pirate vessel, fitted out for such, or run away
with in a mutiny. 'Tis true, their action of rendering thanks
to God seemed to stamp them as honest men; though, indeed,
I have heard that the very buccaneers, with a kind of impious
piety strange to think on, would invoke the divine protection
on their marauding expeditions, and render solemn thanks on
every success.
Being still doubtful of these new acquaintances, Don
Manuel calls out to them in his own language, bidding them
come in no nearer, but tell him truly what nation they were
of, and whether honest men. On which they all cried, as
*This seems a strange inaccuracy, considering that the buccaneers,
strictly so-called, were scarcely heard of after the taking of Carthagena,
some forty years before this date. Moreover, as that remarkable
society of pirates was chiefly composed of French and English ad-
venturers, whose operations were directed against the Spanish colonies,
they would scarcely have spoken Spanish on a sudden emotion, in pre-
ference to their native tongue. Perhaps the word buccaneer is here
used for a pirate in general; or it may be a mistake of Owen's for priva-
teer.-ED.
228
THE ADVENTURES OF
with one voice, Españoles, Españoles and asked him, was he
indeed a Catholic priest? He, on his part, assented; then
they protested vehemently, they were good Catholics too, and
subjects of his most Catholic majesty (so, it seems, the king
of Spain is always entitled); and that 't was but three short
days since they committed to the deep their chaplain and
. confessor, who died on board of famine, or fever, or both, like
the rest of the crew, except only themselves.
On this, he asked them, would they solemnly swear, as good
Catholics, to submit themselves to the authorities on the
island? Would they engage to lay aside their arms, or de-
liver them into safe keeping, during their stay? And, if they
were compelled to stay indeed (as the condition of the ship
rendered likely), would they enter into such fair conditions
as should be laid down for them by those who had possession
of the place? To all this, with one voice, the poor fellows
professed they were ready to swear on the spot. Then Don
Manuel opened his breviary and held it up before them,
pointing, as he explained to them, to the words of the holy
gospel in it, and bade them swear to every tittle of what he
had said.
They rose up, or all that were able to stand, uncovered
their heads, and with much gravity and reverent demeanour,
stretched forth their hands towards the book he held up to
them. Even the sick men in the hammocks, when they
heard what was going forward, did what they could to raise
their hands with the rest. Having all sworn to observe these
articles, Don Manuel then pledged his word as a priest, on
behalf of himself and his friends, who, he told them, had
possession of the place, they should meet all fair and honour-
able usage, and be received on their parole of good conduct, as
well as have their sick tended with care. "But first", says he,
"for a pledge you mean as you say, deliver up to me the flints
out of your muskets". On which, they set to work without
a question, and hammered out all the flints from their pieces,
and also from the pistols, of which each man had two or
three. They wrapped these in a parcel of sail cloth, and held
them up to him, in token they were now unarmed 1; for
indeed, all they had left to them were a few boat-hooks, and
two or three hatchets, with their cutlasses, and these too they
delivered up on landing.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
229
U
CHAPTER LIX.
HARBOUR AND HOSPITAL.

66
AVING thus drawn (as the old fable says)
the lion's teeth and claws, Don Manuel went
on: "I will now show you, friends”, says
he, we had the power to enforce sub-
mission, had we chosen to use it"; and with
that, he looks back to us in the wood, and
waves his hand. Out we marched at the
signal (for we had already agreed on it), with our guns
shouldered, our bows, and quivers filled with arrows, at our
backs; or those that had no guns, with bows and long
javelins ranging ourselves in a half-moon along the strand
of the cove, four of us on either side of our ambassador.
What with our wild shaggy looks, dressed as we were, or
disguised, rather, in our untanned hog-skins and palm-leaf
helmets or hats, with formidable broad swords and wooden
clubs set with sharks' teeth, untrimmed hair and beards, thus
fully armed, and attended by our Indians as wild as our-
selves; notwithstanding the fewness of our number, these
poor fellows in the boats, reduced to the last stage of weak-
ness, were struck with amazement on so sudden a spectacle.
But Don Manuel assured them once more, by words and
signs, telling them, the bargain was struck; if they would be
true to their part, so would we to ours: and to this he
pledged again his word as a priest.
It being thus arranged, we made them motions of friend-
ship; and I, who was the only one except our priest that
spoke their language, (or anything to signify,) called out to
them, we would truly befriend them in their need, if only
their conduct justified it; and bade them pull in-shore. This
they did at once; and when the boat grounded, the poor
fellows made shift to get out of her, but feebly and slow;
and 't was with still more pains they got the sick on shore.
Harry Gill and I stood to our arms; and Pounder, with
Samuel, kept their bows ready: as to the rest, they went
230
THE ADVENTURES OF
cheerfully to help at the landing, piling their arms under
cover of our guns.
The first thing we insisted on was, that all the crews'
weapons, whether muskets, pistols, cutlasses, hatchets, and
even to the boat-hooks, should be handed to us out of the
boats; which was done accordingly, before a man of them
put his foot on dry ground. For, though we would not mis-
trust them, nor judge them hardly, we did not forget either,
the better part of valour is discretion: and, let them be as
weak as they might singly, yet they so greatly outnumbered
us, as might tempt them, at some favourable moment, to over-
power us also. Being now quite unarmed, against a set of
men armed to the very teeth (for we put the flints into
their guns and pistols again, and stuck their hatchets and
cutlasses into our belts, as hostages for their conduct), it
would have been stark madness in them to move a finger
against us. Indeed, I was surprised from the first, to see
the unshaken trust these poor men showed in our honesty;
till a second thought told me, they took our character on
the word of the priest, who (they knew) would not deceive
them. On our part, we were slower to be convinced of
theirs; and stood jealously on our guard, till all suspicion of
them wore off by degrees.
But the next thing to do, was to land the sick men that lay
in the boats; who were nine in all, and some of them so far
gone as to be already more dead than alive. One, indeed,
seemed so spent, we thought he would yield up the ghost
before we could heave him ashore: and Don Manuel, who
had waded into the water to visit them (not waiting for the
boats to be thrust nigher the beach), finding this poor man
in such extremity, called to Samuel to run for a shaddock, to
refresh him withal. I could see, from his sitting on the
boat's thwart close by the hammock where the poor fellow
lay, and putting his ear close to him, he had begun to hear
the dying man's confession. Soon the young Indian came
running back with a fresh fruit or two, a bag of our bread,
and a crock of water. He plunged into the sea to get at the
boat, and between them they tried to make the Spaniard
swallow a bit, though never so small; but 't was all too late.
What with scurvy and famine, and pining every way, he was
now too far gone on his last journey, and could hardly
swallow some drops of the water only. In short, after a few
faint whispers with the priest, he died under his hands,
blessing the divine mercies with his last breath (so we learnt
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
231
afterwards from the others that lay round) for sending to
him thus the comforts of his religion in his dying hour, be-
yond all human hope.
:
So, leaving the dead man for awhile, to wait on the ex-
treme needs of the living, we handed the hammocks out care-
fully, one by one, and laid these suffering creatures in a
row, eight of them, under the shade of some cocoa palms,
about a stone's cast from the beach. Indeed, several of the
number seemed as near death's door as the one that was gone
already the priest and I attended them as best we might,
each in our way; though my choicest remedies were only
cocoa-nut milk, with sliced shaddock and yams, yet we
brought them round enough for Don Manuel to wish to be
left alone with them for their confessions; and, to be short,
the second of them died within two hours after his landing,
and the third that same night. As for the rest, those other
two of the five worst, recovered; one wholly, and lived to be
a strong, serviceable member of our little government; the
other lived for some time after, and then went off in a
dropsy. The four who were not so far spent with weakness
at the first, got round quicker, one after the other, when
they began to taste our fresh meat and vegetables; but by
nothing more than by the cocoa-nut milk, of which we gave
them two or three draughts daily.
To return to their first landing: we found, besides these
nine in the hammocks, there were thirty-two able-bodied
seamen, for we counted them as they sat, for very weakness,
on the shore. To call them able-bodied, must be understood
by comparison; they were just able, indeed, to lay their hand
on an oar; but I doubt whether their whole force united
eould have given a turn to the capstan, or pulled in a cable;
and 't is not to be doubted, had their voyage lasted a few
days longer, or had they met rough weather on nearing our
island, not one of them would have landed alive. They were
reduced to that extremity, two or three swooned outright, and
lay for dead: I remarked many of them weep like very chil-
dren, whether in thankfulness for escaping with their lives, or
from feeling a degree of weakness that is so strange a thing
to any man reduced to it on a sudden from the vigour of
health; while others dropped on their knees, and begged us,
per l'amor di Dios, to give them some food.
Indeed, we should have thought of this ere now; but
we were distracted by all we had to attend to: what with
mounting guard over the living, tending the sick and dying,
232
THE ADVENTURES OF
helping the weakest to land, keeping the boats in-shore, etc.
But by this, I had gone through the wards of my hospital,
and done what I could for the patients; so, leaving Don
Manuel still engaged in his proper work for their benefit, I
came forward to the crew, my rifle on my shoulder, and the
rest of us behind me, fully armed.
66
"My friends, and gentlemen", said I, in my best Spanish,
which indeed, would not carry me very far in the dialogue:
you shall have food, without doubt, for you are our guests,
and we bid you welcome. But”,
welcome. But", I went on, 66 we must under-
stand one another from the first: we keep your arms safe
for you, till we are better acquainted; and you make no at-
tempt to move from the place we mark out for you to stay
in. Otherwise, gentlemen", for I had learned that much of
courtesy from our Spanish friend, "otherwise”—and I tapped
my rifle with my forefinger, to make them fully know my
resolution.
Comprehend they did, without doubt; and made signs of
assent to all this. But one among them, who seemed in
authority (we found a little later he was fourth lieutenant,
and the only officer who had lived through the starvation, and
taken command on the death of the others) came a little be-
fore the rest, and answered me in the purest Spanish: "Your
gentleness”,* says he, "may rest assured, we will be faithful
to the word we have already sworn to our countryman, the
priest yonder. We are men of honour", laying his hand on
his breast, "and subjects of his most Catholic majesty: you
are our benefactors; we are bound to you in honour and
gratitude, both at once. 'T is true, Señores Ingleses, our
countries are now at war with one another; but we trust you
will not prosecute that war in such remote regions as these.
'T is a quarrel that is none of ours, and surely we may well
let it lie. You have taken us at disadvantage, in the weak
state we are in: but, as on our part we have pledged to you
our sacred word, we trust to find men of honour and cabal-
leros in return. We have delivered up to you our arms, and
claim your hospitality, and the safety of our lives, liberty,
with the vessel and cargo, or whatever we can save from her".
This was the substance of his speech; but he delivered it
with such a straightforward, manly kind of grace as took us
* Owen seems to be translating literally the Spanish expression of
courtesy, Usted, which is said to be a contraction of the words, Vuestra
Mercid; your mercifulness, or your gentleness, in the same sense in
which we use the word gentleman, and the Greeks, πɩɩкnç.-ED.

OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
233
extremely, and secured my confidence in him from that time
onward. Parts of it, 't is true, I did not well understand;
above all, where he spoke of our two countries being then at
war with each other. When we were last in port, 't is true,
what with our ships pushing their contraband trade in Cam-
peachy Bay, and other parts of the Mexican coast; with the
reprisals also of the Spanish guarda-costas, there were abundant
causes of rupture between the governments of Spain and
England. Yet, it appeared, we had put to sea a little before
the news could reach us, that Admiral Vernon had sailed with
a fleet against the Spanish West Indies, and that open war
had been declared. But this, together with events following,
as the bombarding of Carthagena, the taking of Porto Bello,
and the expedition of Commodore Anson (in which, it seemed
our friends were nearly interested), we learned from the lieu-
tenant more at leisure.

Z Z Z Z Z J
多
​牌
​CHAPTER LX.
A TREATY MADE AND RATIFIED.
Y this, Don Manuel had joined us, and took
a chief part in the conference with his Spanish
countrymen. To be brief, we drew up certain
articles for both sides to abide by: indeed,
the dictating of terms was clearly on our
side, by force of arms. And they were as
follows:
1. Neither party was to regard the other in the light of
enemies; but both to act as though war had not been pro-
claimed between our respective nations.
2. A line was to be drawn, to portion off for the Spaniards
a part of the island, enough to dwell in for the present; with
permission to cut down wood to make themselves habitations,
and for firing.
3. Water, if not readily found within their allotment, to
be supplied by us, and brought to the spot, free of charge.
4. We engaged to supply them also in fish and flesh,
together with bread, vegetable, and fruit, at a moderate

234
THE ADVENTURES OF
charge in money, tools, or other useful articles, if they could.
rescue any such from the wreck: otherwise on credit, under
note of hand from the lieutenant to the governor or com-
mander of some of the Spanish colonies.
5. Two persons named on their side, three on ours, and
they alone, to have the privilege of passing the boundary
line.
6. Any other but these two of theirs, caught on our side
of the line, to suffer the penalties of such as transgress martial
law, at our pleasure.
7. The wreck itself to remain Spanish property: we en-
gaging to help to our utmost to bring it in-shore, or land
such valuables from it as could be saved. In doing which
things alone, the boundary line of separation did not hold
good, and might be broken.
8. In consideration of these good services, and in the event
(which seemed unlikely enough) of their getting her off, or
being rescued by some of their countrymen, we should be
allowed a reasonable choice of any of the vessel's goods for
our own use.
9. Should the wreck be refitted, or any Spanish vessel or
other vessel friendly to Spain touch at the island, we were to
have a free passage to any port she might afterwards touch
at, at our choice.
10. Likewise, should any British vessel, or one from our
colonies, touch at the place, the Spaniards to be allowed a
passage on board of her at a fair average rate of passage-
money, to any port that lay on their voyage, or which they
might be driven into.
11. In the meantime, their fire-arms, weapons, and pow-
der, whether now landed, or still in the wreck, to remain in
our safe keeping, till we decided otherwise; their supplies of
food being secured to them, as above.
12. All fair and friendly treatment to be assured to either
party at the hands of any force on the opposite side, should
they heave in sight.

These articles being once concluded, and solemnly ratified
on both sides by oath, we proceeded at once to supply the poor
famished men with food; though for the present we did not
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
235
eat with them (according to articles 2, 5, and 6 of our agree-
ment), we took care they should want for nothing we could
furnish. Therefore we sent the Indians in all haste to our
store-house, to fetch what might be at hand; as, smoked
peccary and cod-fish, with the cakes of yam and bread-fruits,
made into a pulp, then strained and baked, such as we had
learned by this time to make into palatable and wholesome
loaves enough. But anything, no matter how coarse and
ordinary, was a dainty at that moment to men who had been
for weeks and months on short commons, as these our guests
had been and latterly almost without food at all.
Our care
was less to supply them with victuals enough (of which was
no lack), but to hinder their making too free use of it. On
my representing this to the lieutenant, and the danger of
sickness, aye, and death itself, to men who should indulge
to their hearts' content after so long a fast, he entered at
once into my views. Accordingly, we established a strict dis-
cipline among the crew in the order of getting their messes,
and the quantity served to them.
The sick came first; for, where the disease was little else
but scurvy and famine, or the exhaustion after fever, then
Dr. Diet (as Tom Harvey said), was the best doctor to call in.
Accordingly, we divided the food into small portions, giving
them more of bread than flesh-meat, and this moistened with
water into a panada, or bread-sop. It seemed a cruel thing,
to be sure, to deny so many famishing wretches as now came
crowding towards us: but 't was done out of sheer kindness,
to prevent the ill effects of giving them too much at once.
As they observed the conditions laid down, and would not,
even pressed with hunger as they were, overstep the boundary
line we had by this time drawn between us, we passed down
on our side the line, and fed them in order. We kept our
three Indians running at their full speed up to our castle,
and back to us, bringing more meat and bread, till we
had given the hungry Spaniards as much as I judged well
for the time. But, as we promised them another meal soon,
though many longing eyes from their meagre faces were cast
at the remaining food, they were fain to submit; and first
with a thanksgiving to God, then to us, retired a little from
the boundary. Some lay down for very weariness, more of
them sat silent; some talking together in broken sentences,
some with us across the line; and a few retired with them-
selves to converse with God, and going upon their knees,
continued their thanksgiving more at large. I am now sure,
236
THE ADVENTURES OF
from what I knew of them on better acquaintance, there
would have been more outward acts of devotion among them,
but for the weariness that oppressed their famished bodies
and weighed down their souls.
The lieutenant (or captain, as we must call him --for death,
that took others from over his head, promoted him to com-
mand all that remained of a large crew, and the wreck of a
large vessel),—this officer, I say, seemed most attentive to do
all that lay in his power for the comfort of his men. He
neglected his own needs, or took a morsel only now and
again, till he had given what help he could in ranging them
to receive their portions of food, and aiding the sick; who,
to be sure, were more easily fed in due order, being unable
to stir from their hammocks.
When the lieutenant had seen to this, and swallowed a few
hasty morsels (so much as we judged safe to allow him, which
he ate ravenously, like his men), his next care was to try and
save the ship, which we expected to go down every moment,
so water-logged was she. The tide had shifted her in nearer,
and saved her from being carried off by the current I spoke
of; in which case she had beyond a doubt been lost to us,
and carried away to the east of our island, into open sea, or
else wrecked on the reefs, and broken up. Our only hope
for her was, she might drift into shoal water; this she seemed
likely to do, as we all stood watching her from the cove where
these Spaniards had landed at the first. But it seems, the
leak had gained too fast on her for this: being now deserted
by her crew, who had made still some feeble efforts at the
pumps, all the while they remained on board.
'T was by a Providence the tide was now at its rise, not
at ebb; though the weather was so calm, with just a light
breeze stirring, yet there was a sort of spring-tide on, and the
water higher than common; for, had it been neap-tide, we
had either lost her altogether, or at the least, all would have
been spoiled in the water, as you shall hear. For, as we de-
bated with the lieutenant, whether we had now strength to
man the boats, to board her, and contrive to pass a hawser
round the foremast and so haul her somewhat in-shore, we
found to our great concern she was beginning to settle down,
and sink on her larboard quarter.
Now there was no help for it, but to wait on, and see the
end; for 't would be madness, indeed, to venture on board a
sinking ship. But the lieutenant was in extreme grief at the
sight, being in charge of the vessel; having also (as we after-
OWEN, EVANS, ESQ.
237
wards learned) a considerable interest in some of her stores.
He gave utterance to this by passionate exclamations, walking
up and down the beach, and throwing his hands abroad; till
we reasoned with him, begging him to be calm, and take the
dispositions of Providence like a man and a Christian. This,
indeed, he did, after a while; but at first, passion had its
way with him,

25
k mk sk s SR SA SA DR SR SR sh sa sk sk IR SA
CHAPTER LXI.
THE LIEUTENANT'S STORY.

E rejoiced to see, after that one great heel
she gave to larboard, she settled down no
lower for the time; however, when nearly
another half hour was gone by, her lar-
board bows dipped too, nigh upon a level
with the quarter, and so she remained fast,
never stirring after at all. We thought it
might have happened thus, owing to the position of the leak;
next day, however, showed us our mistake here. But now,
we began to entertain great hopes of recovering at least a good
part of the cargo, if not getting off the ship herself, when we
had lightened her: besides this, we hoped to be able to do
somewhat towards stopping the leak, and to make her sea-
worthy again. In short, wild schemes came into our heads
fast, at the sight of this vessel lying so close to us; we began
to reason (in whispers among ourselves) as one good turn
deserved another, and we had done the crew this great service,
to give them hospitality in their famished condition, and save
their very lives, 't was the least they could do in turn, to refit
the ship with us, and take us on board on equal terms, and
land us where we might choose.
Don Manuel not being with us (for he was busied with his
sick men), we kept this to ourselves for the time. But of all
persons, he that desponded most was the poor lieutenant; for
knowing the condition of his ship, he assured us, her timbers
were so strained, and the entire hull so rotten, he verily be-
lieved she never would float again.
By this time, night being upon us, we blew a loud concert
238
THE ADVENTURES OF
on our horns, to give notice, 't was time for all to retire to
quarters. We furnished our guests with good store of fuel,
whereof they made a cheerful fire; then toeing a line (as they
say at sea) we handed them across the boundary a hot mess
of stewed pork and potatoes, which the Indians had prepared
for them, in more plenty and comfort than their former
meal. When they had finished this, (and 't was soon done,
with hungry men as they were still, both then and for several
days after) we assembled all together, each party on their
own side, while Don Manuel said night prayers for us: for we
said them to-night before our own supper, to let our weary
guests have their rest without delay.
'T was a sight to make any one feel, who owned a heart,
when these poor men, so lately rescued from death, knelt
there by the fire-light, in the close neighbourhood of their
dead and dying comrades, and made their thanksgiving aloud
after the good priest. A brief prayer he made, but a hearty
one; then gave them his blessing, and dismissed them to
rest. But we invited the lieutenant to be our guest at
supper; leaving Pounder with his bow and quiver as a
sentinel, or picket, half way between the camps. After our
meal, we begged for some account of the ship's adventures;
which the Spanish officer gave us, almost word for word as I
here set it down.
""T is no news to you, Señores", began the lieutenant,
addressing us in Spanish as we sat round our fire, "that the
name of our ill-fated vessel is the Hermiona, of Valencia;
for you have seen that name painted on her boats, as you
will see it again when you are so good as to help us in
boarding the wreck. Then, too, you will see her fifty-four
guns, with whatever equipments may remain; but alas!
of the crew, five hundred strong, besides our complement
of soldiers, you may behold all that survive, in the few
starved wretches whom, under divine Providence", he crossed
himself devoutly, "you have saved from destruction". With
that, the poor man paused a little, being overcome by his
feelings, and not well able to proceed.
After a while, having received from us all tokens of sym-
pathy, he recovered himself, and went on:
"We formed part", says he, "of a squadron of six vessels
fitted out by his most Catholic majesty, to watch the motions
and cross the designs of an English admiral (Don Georgio
Anson by name) who had sailed, on the first breaking out of
the war between his country and ours, with a counter-
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
239
squadron of five men of war, a sloop, and two victualling
ships, to attack our colonies in Manilla and the parts adjacent.
Upon the first news of this expedition being afloat, we were
ordered to put to sea; which we did in such haste, as caused
the greater part of our disasters after. For we had not with
us, on leaving the Spanish coast, more than four months'
provision at the utmost, and even that, reckoned at short
allowance only; so that our best chance was to get round
Cape Horn before the English admiral could arrive thither,
and victual our ships at leisure, either at Juan Fernandez or
some point on the western coast of South America. But
first, we made an attempt to procure us some provisions at
Buenos Ayres, where we reckoned on a supply; and so
steered for the Rio de la Plata from the leeward of the Ma-
deiras, leaving our station near that island early in the No-
vember of last year.*
*
"'T was whilst we were lying off Madeira, to westward of
the island, in the latter end of the previous month (October),
we received intelligence from some trusty friends we had
there, (but most secretly, without knowledge of the governor)}
that a squadron of ships had arrived in Madeira Road, that is,
to the east, or windward, supposed to be the equipment
under Commodore Anson, against which we were particularly
sent out. But as several weighty reasons made us prefer to
encounter him in the South Seas, rather than near home, we
determined to leave him a clear passage, instead of stand-
ing out to meet him on that side of the island. So, after
sending in the patache that waited on us, to reconnoitre every
day close in-land, and having occupied that station but a
short week in all, we made sail, as I have said, for the Rio
de la Plata, in the very beginning of November; and, steering
direct, arrived there early in January of this year.
"I now see our great error, as, doubtless, does our gallant
admiral, Don José Pizarro, if he be still in life (if not, may
God receive his soul; for a brave seaman he was, and careful
of his men,) our error, I repeat, in not cruising round the
island, to give battle to the commodore where he lay: in
which case, we had either (through our superior force, for we
numbered more guns and greater weight of metal,) captured
or dispersed his squadron; or at the least, we had greatly
disabled and delayed this expedition against our colonies:
besides causing him much loss of provision-stores. For we
* That is, the year 1740. ED.
240
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
knew he had victualled and watered at the island of Madeira ;
so he would have been forced to throw over board vast
quantities of what he had just taken, to clear his ships for
but the chance of an engagement: and whether victor or no,
would have thereby suffered both loss and delay.
"However, our course was now for Rio, to outmatch him in
sailing, and get first round the Horn; to which end, parting
company with two ships bound for the West Indies, we staid
not till we dropped anchor in the bay of Maldonado, at the
mouth of Rio itself. But, before we could receive our stores
from Buenos Ayres, another sure but secret intelligence
reached us, our enemy was now at Santa Catarina, preparing
to put to sea again with the utmost expedition. Thus we
found ourselves in the hard choice of going without the pro-
visions we so greatly needed, with imminent risk of falling
short indeed; or being beaten in our race across the ocean,
to find the English squadron in the South Seas before us.
“We chose the first evil, as the least; yet it turned out to
be the greater, as you, Señores, are now witnesses. So, having
stayed seventeen days only at Maldonado, thus narrowly
missing all our provisions, which came down into the bay
from Buenos Ayres within a day or two after we sailed, we
now got under weigh, and put to sea before the enemy: but
so close to him in point of time and nearness of sailing, that
one of his ships (as we always believed, though from the dis-
tance we could only conjecture, for our admiral had given
orders to the squadron to sail wide), mistaking our vessels for
her own consorts, got within gun-shot of our admiral's ship,
the Asia; and we, who watched the affair from our tops with
our perspective glasses, had great hopes she would have been
made a prize of. But she discovered her error so as to put
about, barely in time, and so get clear away".

OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
241

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"When we set sail from Maldonado”, he went on, "'t was
the third week of this present year: our voyage, too, was the
longest and most perilous the greater part of our crew had yet
made; and we dreaded the very name of Cape Horn, so for-
midable for the storms to be encountered in doubling it.
Our men now became very discontented: for the weather had
been brewing up for a succession of gales, which came on us;
till, with every attempt to keep discipline aboard, signs of
mutiny began to show among the crew: and these increased
so much, we had to clap half a dozen of the ringleaders
in irons. At length we were forced to double the sentries
of marines, and keep a score of men under hatches, lest they
might spread the mutiny among the rest.
"Matters were kept quiet for a time by an order from the
admiral, that our seamen were to have part of their pay ad-
vanced to them in specie, that is, a portion was to be assigned
to each man, of the various goods for barter and traffic we
had brought with us from Spain: that they might dispose of
them in the South Seas, and so be in the way of making their
fortunes. For instances were currently reported, both at
home and in the fleet, of some who had brought back from
our colonies a wealth in the precious metals, and even gems
of much value, in barter for mere trumpery wares in calicoes,
or inferior silks, such as a Valencia tradesman's wife would
not wear on a holiday or even what was less than these, as
beads, nails, knives, bits of looking-glass, old iron hoops,
glass, or glittering baubles of any kind. The hope of such a
gainful traffic buoyed our men up for a while above their
16
242
THE ADVENTURES OF
present miseries: for we Spaniards have always been seeking
an El Dorado; and there was not a common seaman, nor down
to the cook's boy, who did not picture to himself his return
home, with a triumph like Columbus, a wonder of riches and
glory. This, with a strict watchfulness, and some examples
made of the most disorderly by our captain, kept down the
mutinous spirit that was still ever rising to a head.
"The time was near the end of February; by this, we had
run down the coast of South America, and, by our reckoning,
were in more than fifty-five degrees of south latitude, to give
us a fair sweep to double the Cape: which we prepared to do,
by standing to windward, in the very last night of that month.
But (whether 't was by the uncertain currents, both of wind
and sea, that conflict with each other round that great pro-
montory, or by what other cause we never have discovered),
too certain it is, our ship, with two more of the squadron, the
Guipuscoa and the Esperanza, lost all sight of the admiral
and the rest. We were now greatly at the mercy of the
current; making much lee-way towards the eastward, or by
that to south-east, do all we could by luffing up into the
wind's eye: at length, after beating about within sight of the
Falkland Islands for several days, our ship, together with the
Esperanza, was able to pass the straits between Tierra del
Fuego and Staaten Island on the sixth of March; but had
here the discomfort of losing sight of the Guipuscoa, which
we saw no more, nor know to this day, whether she has
gone down, or doubled the Horn".
66
CHAPTER LXII.
THE SAME CONTINUED.
EXT day", continued the Spaniard, "though
I fear to weary you, gentlemen, by pro-
longing the sad story of our misfortunes,
we were encountered by a furious tempest
from the north-west, or thereaway; for
't was difficult to account with any pre-
cision for the wind's quarter, where all was
a confused jumble of tempest, head-winds, and conflicting
currents. All I know is, we found it vain to contend with
Y


OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
243
the fury of the elements; had we attempted to do anything
but just put our helm about, and scud before the wind, I
verily believe we had ere now all been food for fishes.
Neither can I say whether our plight was worse than what
befell the rest of the squadron, of whom indeed we scarce
caught a glimpse now and then, nor any at all, after the
second day of this furious tempest. Once or twice, when
lifted from the trough of the sea on the back of a rolling
mountain of water, we thought we could just catch sight of
one of the squadron, running for it, close reefed, or partly
dismasted (I could not know which), far out to the south-by-
east. This we thought to be the consort that had stayed
longest by us, the Esperanza, of fifty guns, with four hundred
and fifty men aboard, not counting her portion of an old
regiment of foot, many of them broken down and invalided,
but now carried out to strengthen our garrisons on the coast
of Chili. Alas! where are all those brave souls now? have
they found a grave beneath the waters, or are they cast away
like ourselves, their unhappy companions?" And here the
poor man stopped again for a little, and wept outright.
We were urgent with him to take some rest now, and let
the remainder of his sorrowful story stand over till next day :
but it seemed a relief to his pent-up feelings to give us the
tale of his misfortunes at once; so, after a little remonstrat-
ing, we let him go on.
66 'These, one would think, Señores", says he, 66 were cala-
mities enough; but greater were in store for us, as your
gentleness shall hear. The evening of that same second day,
while we were doing our best to guide the ship, but with ill
success, and drove almost helplessly before the wind, came a
huge roller, indeed a monster of a wave, that threatened to
swallow us at a mouthful; struck us with full force amid-
ships; and, but the Hermiona is a well-timbered sea boat (in-
deed, she is, alas! I must rather say was, a charming sailer
on a light wind), it had then and there made an end of us.
But it gave us a shrewd wrench, and one we never got over:
the good ship staggered and trembled like a living creature
under a heavy blow; and when we righted again (all but
three poor fellows that were washed overboard, and went
into eternity), we found to our grief, almost to our despair,
the binnacle,* with compass and all, had been washed at once
into the sea. We were so ill-provided with the most neces-
sary things for our expedition, owing to the haste of our
i.e., the box which contains the compass for steering a ship.-ED.
244
THE ADVENTURES OF
sailing from Spain, you would scarce believe, Señores, this
was the only compass we had on board: nor can I cease to
wonder now at our improvidence; but so it was, as we
know to our cost.
"Being thus left forlorn indeed on the open sea, and by the
blackness of a continued tempest shut out from observation
of the stars to guide us, we let ourselves drive whithersoever
the elements would take the vessel; feeling it as likely we
might be steering away from some friendly haven as making
for it; and we. used the helm from that time, only to steady
the ship: commending ourselves fervently to the good Provi-
dence of God to take us into harbour by His own secret
guidance, whose way is in the sea, and His paths in many
waters'. To this we were tenderly exhorted by our good
chaplain, Don Diego Rodez"-
66
(
66
Diego Rodez !" exclaimed Don Manuel, not able to con-
tain himself for astonishment and sorrow, was Diego, then,
with you in yonder vessel?"
66
Aye, truly, father", says the lieutenant, surprised; "he
was our chaplain, and sailed with us from Valencia, sharing
all our hardships; and continued ever to be the main-stay
and comfort of the crew, till he was stricken down with fever:
then edified us all by his holy death".
66
"Ah, Diego, Diego!" cried the priest, in the first burst of
his sorrow:
my early companion and friend! Ah, thou
saintly one, whose example I ought to have followed more
faithfully! and thou art gone-gone hence before me":-he
could say no more; but sat with his face buried in his hands.
We were all silent for a while; till Don Manuel, still
covering his face, said, in a broken voice, in Latin, and I re-
peated in English: "May the souls of the faithful, through
the mercy of God, rest in peace!" All answered, Amen;
I
after which the lieutanant went on to us, in a lower tone.
should rather say to me; for, as to the rest, they did not
understand much of his Spanish, and one after another soon
dropped off to sleep round the fire.
66
66
Well, Sir", says he, we found the same sea that had
washed away our binnacle, had also sprung our main-mast to
that degree, that not only was it useless to carry sail, but we
feared, at every lurch the ship gave, the top-hamper would
bring the mast down, and kill some of our men on deck. We
were therefore compelled to cut it away by the board, though
't was like signing our death-warrants to do so: and, before
we had got half through it, the ship gave another great heel,
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
245
and saved us all trouble for the rest, throwing the mast sheer
over her starboard quarter. We cut ourselves free from the
tackle, and sailed on as well as we could; but our steerage
was now so damaged by the huge waves that had taken us
abaft, the ship would scarce answer her helm: and two days
after, with the continual rolling, our mizen shared the fate of
the main-mast, only that it did not go quite by the board.
The Hermiona was now little more than a log on the water;
all we could do was, to keep her head pretty fair with any
ocean-stream we might meet, and redouble our prayers.
"So far for our sailing disasters; but the worst remains to
be told. Our provisions, always scanty, had fallen so fright-
fully short, nothing but death by starvation now stared us in
the face. It was afflicting to the utmost degree to see brave
men, who had set forth from their native country full of hope
and vigour, now doomed to die on the wide sea, like so many
caged birds, or mice, a death so horrible, and by inches. I
believe, never did an impatient sufferer, groaning under some
lingering disease, call more fervently on death to release him,
than our poor fellows yearned and prayed for the English
squadron to heave in sight, that they might at least die at
their guns, for their king and country. But all no avail!
"We had for some time been reduced to half our daily
allowance; then this again was made less, till we came down
to nigh a quarter; then to the quarter itself.
We now
began to lose our men very fast; a fever broke out together
with the famine, or following on it: and we had to throw
many overboard every day. Still, the provisions declined
almost in the same degree; so that the number of starving
mouths remaining on board made us scarcely to feel the
relief afforded by those who had ceased to eat. At this
period of our sufferings, we took to anything that offered, no
matter how distasteful to any one in plenty: the rats in the
ship became valuable prizes, and were disposed of by any
who was lucky enough to catch one, as his hunger or avarice
dictated. I have known a rat to fetch four or five dollars;
and when they had all disappeared, more than double that
price would have been given for them. Some of the men
stole the ship's lanthorns, cut the horn of them into strips,
and kept themselves alive by chewing it in secret. Any
old piece of untanned leather was most greedily seized; the
soldiers esteemed it an advantage to have their gloves to
eat; and seal-skin shoes were quarrelled and fought for: then
later on, tanned or untanned, all came to us alike.
246
THE ADVENTURES OF
"At length-I tremble to think of it-one dreadful alter-
native began to force itself on our thoughts. No one spoke
of it at first; then, by degrees, it began to be whispered
about, but 't was never known who first gave utterance to it
-that, if this extremity continued, rather than that all
should perish, one, or some, must be sacrificed"-
Here he stopped again, overcome: we shuddered with
horror, too, to think what he meant, and that 't was possible
for Christian men, reduced to such straits of hunger, to turn
into very cannibals, and devour one another. "And how
were you saved from this horrible thing?" asked Don
Manuel, at length: "for saved from it you were, I trust in
God !"
66 'By him who is gone to his reward", answered the lieu-
tenant, crossing himself again: "our good chaplain, I mean.
When the gunner came to him, lying as he was, exhausted
with famine and sickness, and whispered to him, such things
were beginning to be breathed among us, he dragged himself
up the companion-ladder, more dead than alive, and stood
suddenly on deck. We shrank away from him, so death-
like he looked; some of us doubted whether it were not his
ghost: but gathering the last of his strength, he exhorted us
so pathetically, for the love of God, and by faith in His pro-
vidence, to abstain from this hideous resource, that we all
went down upon our knees on the deck around him, kissing
the hem of his garment, and swore a solemn oath, we would
hold out three full days longer. It was the last service he
rendered to his Lord; for he swooned, and lay for dead,
almost before the words were out of our lips; in truth, he
died that very night. But, though we were reduced to the
extremity of tearing up rotten planks from the deck, and
gnawing the softer parts of the wood, yet we kept our word
with him, though with great difficulty; and before the three
days were quite out, we discovered your island from the fore-
top, and fired our guns, which (I doubt not) you heard. You
know the rest, Señores: and to you, after God, be the thanks
of the perishing given".
Having thus ended his narrative, the poor man knelt to
Don Manuel, to ask his blessing; then saluted us with all the
courtesy of his nation, though by this he could scarce speak
for weariness, and retired to his side of the boundary, to
forget his sorrows in sleep.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
247

CHAPTER LXIII.
LAWFUL WRECKING.

T day break, next morning, the horns sum-
moned us to spring up, and begin an impor-
tant day for us all. First came morning
prayer and spiritual mass, which we never
omitted; and here I must pass by the astonish..
ment and joy of the poor Spaniards, on find-
ing that we were Catholics like themselves.
They had taken it for granted that, because we were English-
men we must needs also be heretics; and were slow to believe
but that there was some delusion here, and something would
turn up afterwards to show we were such as they supposed.
But when they were fully convinced of the truth, I could
plainly see they not only were well satisfied about ourselves,
but regarded Don Manuel with great reverence, as having
been the instrument to us of such a favour.
Our after concern was to snatch a hasty breakfast, which
was made as plentiful as time permitted, having hard work to
do after it. Pounder and the lieutenant, in the meantime, went
down to the cove to look after the wreck: when they came
back, each reported, in his own fashion, she had not sunk
lower, but on the contrary, seemed to have been pushed by
the advance of the tide further up on the reef, whereon she
had grounded. For this, we made out, was the reason why
she heeled so much to larboard; namely, her starboard bow
had been shoved by the tide upon one of those coral reefs
that made up our defences and the peril of our visitors; so
the ship's balance was overset.
We ran down to the cove, eager to save what could still be
got from the wreck: and we found, as the lieuteuant said,
she had changed her place indeed, but whether better or worse
for our purpose was hard to determine. For the whole of her
forecastle and greater part of her starboard bow appeared
now high and dry; but then, to balance that, her larboard
quarter was deeper in the water, and half the quarter-deck,
too, was drowned. So we had little hope of being able to
save any of her more valuable cargo; nor, what was of much
248
THE ADVENTURES OF
more value to us, her store of powder, that lay too deep in
the hold; nor whatever specie she might carry. But that
last, the Spaniard assured us, was little enough, and only
what would settle the ship's dues for provisions in port: for
they rather hoped to carry back silver to Old Spain than
were equipped to carry out any; and partly were designed
to relieve the galleon that sailed every year from Valparaiso,
from making her voyage that year; which, by reason of the
war that had broken out, and Commodore Anson's expedi-
tion, would have been hazardous in the extreme.
However, by dint of hard labour, with breaking up a part
of the main-deck (though the greater part lay a foot or two
under water) with help of crow-bars, and other instruments
we rummaged out on board, we made our way down to the
officers' berths; but found little to repay our labour, except
some fine clothes and linen, that were welcome enough to us.
There was, indeed, some small store of money, too, and other
valuables; but these were so little to our purpose, we had
almost pitched them into the sea, for sheer vexation at find-
ing nothing beside. "I was with great difficulty we got at
an arm-chest; when we had found it, there was no getting
it up whole, for the weight, and depth of water: for half our
work was to dive, or scramble rather, under the water, with
a rope tied round us, to be hauled up if there was danger of
our being smothered. But, not being used to diving, we could
not stay under for more than three or four minutes at most;
't was blind work, too, after all, to feel about for such heavy
things in the dark, and dangerous to venture more than a
few steps from the hole in the deck by which we entered.
So, after some hours' labour, each relieving the other, we got
little enough for our pains, though Gill stayed under so long
at one time, trying at the arm-chest, to break it open, that
when he came up the blood gushed from his nose and
ears, and 't was some little time before he got his breath
again.
Our Indians did us the best service here; for it seems, in
Toonati-nooka they are all expert divers, and trained to it
from their very infancy, going down several fathoms deep
after pearl-oysters and other shell-fish, or coral for their orna-
ments; and even the children take to the water almost before
they can run alone. Pounder and Samuel were now delighted
to render us this good turn: while we relieved them in
mounting guard (for we harboured no unkind suspicions of
our new friends, yet would not lay ourselves open to be taken
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
249
at unawares), they kept plunging in, turn-and-turn-about, and
stayed under an amazing time indeed, by comparison. At
last, between them the arm-chest was broken into; and they
came up in triumph, bringing now a musket, now a cutlass,
or brace of pistols, now some heads of boarding-pikes: in
short, during two or three days (for I must go on faster in
my account) working at this employment only, we got out no
less than twenty-nine muskets, with seventeen large pistols,
of the kind they call a petronel, or large horse-pistol, besides
six of a smaller sort: and even we made contrivance to unship
and get into the boat a small brass mortar or short carronade,
mounted on a swivel, such as would do wholesale execution
if it were crammed with bullets, or even with nails, odds and
ends of iron, nay, with stones and pebbles from the beach,
provided only we found powder to charge it with.
Of powder, we only found three large horns in the officers'
cabins; one of these was touched by the water, so that great
part was useless and spoiled. However, we brought it all
ashore; and later, by drying the damaged part of this powder
in the sun, we made it serve passably well, as we did also
the rest of the wetted powder we got up afterwards from the
powder-room in casks: only, it would miss fire by times, and
we were never sure of it. But we had learned, by this time,
not to rely on our guns at all; so, husbanding all our powder
to garrison our fortress, we laid it up in the dry magazine in
our rock, to serve us in any bout we might yet have with
savages, or other encounters.
And I may as well mention here, we began to make bows
and arrows for our Spanish friends, too, and taught them how
to use them: we went on with our regular practice from day
to day; at least, after we had got everything from the wreck
we could lay hands on. So that we might be reckoned well
found in weapons of offence: having now powder enough to
blow ourselves and our enemies into the air, besides such a
skill in archery that we thought it no rare feat to pick off a
small bird from the top of the highest cocoa-palm in the
island. Our Indians made themselves javelins as well as
bows out of the bamboo-canes, and shod and pointed them
with shark's teeth or glimmer: also, they hollowed out other
bamboos, smoothing the inside with great care; then fitted a
light arrow into them, and blew it forth with their breath
with great force and an amazing good aim to a distance. So
that, altogether, we were now a formidable body of archers,
six-and-forty strong; and with our castle and powder-maga-
250
THE ADVENTURES of
zine, might have given battle or stood a siege against more
than twice our number.

CHAPTER LXIV.
RUMOURS AND SECRETS.

OW began a new life on our island, and at
first a strange one; for if our being left
here was beyond all expectation, six poor
forlorn men, to shift for ourselves; I may
say, 't was yet more so to find our colony
increased by a second unlooked-for adven-
ture like this. But truth, I have heard said,
is stranger than fiction; and certain it is, should any one
take into his head to invent such a tale, on the side of the
Spaniards or our own, and put it on paper, he would be
set down as a romancer, unworthy of belief.
When I returned to England, indeed, some years after (for
I may as well outrun my story here a little), the war being
then over, the commodore* raised to be a peer, and endowed
with great wealth—all which he well deserved, not more for
bravery and signal services, than for humane and honourable
conduct throughout the war-I heard, among other rumours
which I well knew to be false, that the Hermiona was
thought to have foundered at sea, when the Spanish fleet
was driven back from Cape Horn by that tempest the lieu-
tenant told us of.
Nay, this was even believed in Spain, as I learned from a
merchant of that nation whom I met at a coffee-house in
London, not so very long since.
Anson, who returned to England with his only remaining ship, the
Centurion, after the capture of a rich Spanish galleon, and nearly four
years after he had set sail from Spithead, in command of five ships and
a sloop. He came back with the twofold glory of as much naval success
as the vexatious delays of the government permitted him to reap, and
of being ranked among the circumnavigators of the globe: arriving at
Spithead in June, 1744. His great success off Cape Finisterre after-
wards crowned his reputation as a brave and skilful commander. He
was thereupon created baron Soberton; and having risen, through every
successive rank in the service, to be admiral and commander-in-chief
of his majesty's fleet, died in 1762.—ED.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
251
His story ran as follows: That, with all the efforts of Pizarro,
the Spanish admiral, and the commanders of the several
vessels under him, to prosecute the enterprise that squadron
had set forth upon, finding the tempest too much for them,
in the disabled condition of their ships and crews (the one
shattered and dismasted, growing leakier every day; the
other worn out with fever, scurvy, and famine alike, dispi-
rited with adverse fortune, not to speak of the exhausting
labour of constantly working the ships' pumps in that state
of weakness), they had all been forced to run for it before
the wind;
That nothing was then left to them but to bear away for
the Rio de la Plata, which place the admiral, in his own ship
(the Asia), happily succeeded in making, but not till near the
middle of May in that year;
That two other ships of the squadron, first the Esperanza,
of fifty guns, with four hundred and fifty men (or what re-
mained of them), then the San Estevan of forty guns, that
had taken from Spain a crew of three hundred and fifty, fol-
lowed the Asia, and made Rio a few days later than the
admiral;
That the Guipuscoa, the largest ship of the squadron, a
seventy-four, carrying an equal complement of men with the
admiral's, that is to say, seven hundred strong, grounded and
sank somewhere off the Brazils; but her crew, I mean always
the poor remnant that famine had not devoured, nor fever
wasted, saved their lives in the boats, and some found their
way back to Spain, but others settled in the Spanish planta-
tions;
That the Hermiona had without any doubt foundered at
sea, since none of her crew were heard of after.
As to these items, with other details of the straits the five
ships' companies were reduced to for want of provisions, and
the horrors of famine aboard ship (all which agreed very
well with the Spanish lieutenant's narrative), I could readily
believe each and every one, except the last article. Indeed,
as to the rest, with this included, I had read it before then
in the account of Lord Anson's voyage, by his chaplain,
printed for John and Paul Knapton in Ludgate Street.
If the reader should now ask, why I have kept this
fact so close, without giving (for I never have given) the
least hint of it, whether to the Spanish or English govern-
ments, nor even in conversation with my friends, I would
beg in return, that he would please to consider the circum-
252
THE ADVENTURES OF
stances under which these men, being at war with my own
country, were cast on that island of which I might be
reckoned (in some sort) viceroy, or governor: how we were
all there together, in an out-of-the-way corner of the world
how men, in circumstances so strange, in the utmost distress,
needing each other's aid for very life, almost cease to belong
to this or that nation, and merge into the great family of
mankind. Let him reflect how barbarous and inhuman a
thing it were in me, on touching my native shores, to turn
informer on the whereabouts of brave men who had been the
sport of such disasters; that, war or no war, they were my
brothers in misfortune, fellow-colonists in the island while
they stayed there, or colonists on their own account, if they
returned; that, whether on our island, or in Toonati-nooka
(if they ever reached that place), they had the same right to
liberty:-but while I revise these sheets, three years after
they were written, and arrive at that word liberty, I feel
with sorrow, these are not days in which freedom from in-
injustice is the portion of a seaman,* of whatever merit.
In fine, I have decided it in my mind, that not they only,
but their descendants for two, aye, and for three generations,
(in case they have settled in that country, without going
back to Spain) shall remain undisturbed from any quarter,
so far as I can provide for it; unless the restless spirit of
discovery and enterprise now awakened among us, shall pro-
duce another South Sea Bubble, or another voyage round the
globe. My friend the Honble. John Byront is perhaps the
* This allusion seems to point clearly to the death, in 1757, of the
unfortunate Admiral Byng, who was shot in that year for an alleged
neglect of duty, but apparently to save the credit of an unpopular
and incapable ministry. Owen Evans expresses, in his more homely
way, very much the sentiment recorded in the Admiral's epitaph,
placed by his family over his remains: "To the perpetual disgrace
of public justice, the Honourable John Byng, Vice-Admiral of the
Blue, fell a martyr to political persecution, on March the 14th, in
the year 1757, when bravery and loyalty were insufficient securities
for the life and honour of a naval officer".
The reader will observe, that reckoning three years after fifteen from
Owen's misfortune in 1739, brings us precisely to 1757.-Ed.
+ Commodore Byron, second son to William, fourth Lord Byron, and
grandfather to the unhappily celebrated poet, was born at Newstead in
1723, and went as midshipman in one of Anson's ships (the Wager), in
1740. This vessel was wrecked on the coast of Patagonia; whence,
after enduring extreme hardships, he reached Chiloe, was made prisoner
by the Spaniards, taken to St. Jago in Chili, and did not return to
England for more than five years after his departure, i.e., from 1740 to
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
253
most likely man I know of, to ferret these my other friends
out in their retreat, should he hoist his flag again for those
parts where he hath already suffered so great hardship. And
the knowledge of there being such active spirits among us,
together with other motives it were tedious to trouble the
reader with, have determined me to leave these sheets in
trust with a discreet friend of mine, and with his son and
grandson after him, their hereditaments and assigns; never
to see the light till one hundred years, or thereabout, shall
have come and gone, after I have passed out of this life into
the world to come; when, sweet Jesu, have mercy on my
soul! Amen.

CHAPTER LXV.
THE BEST DISCOVERY OF ALL.

ROWING assured of the honest purpose of
these new-comers, we went all lengths (by
degrees) in trusting them: till at last we
repealed some of those strict laws we had
made on their arrival, forming thenceforth
but one commonwealth, and having interests
and property in common. "We will have
nothing more to do", says Don Manuel," with those cold
words, mine and thine"; and went on to say, in the first days
of Christianity, the multitude of the believers threw all into
a common stock, none saying that aught of the things which
he possessed was his own. "But what shall be done", I
asked, "if any prove himself a worthless member of the
community, and begin to disturb or injure the rest?"
"Let
him who discovers it take that man aside", answered the
priest, "and reason with him in meekness and charity".
"Well but", I went on (he and I were talking alone at this
time), “and if he still persist ?" "Then let two or three of
the elder and more moderate enforce on him what the first
has said". "And if he be obstinate after that?"
"Then
1746. Eighteen years after this again he took command of an expe-
dition of discovery to the South Seas; and having gone round the world,
returned in safety two years afterwards. He commanded on the West
Indian Station during the American war, and died in 1768.-Ed.
254
THE ADVENTURES OF
bring him to me", says he, smiling; "and I will persuade
him by those higher motives he possesses in virtue of being
a Catholic". "And lastly, Tadoone, if he remain deaf, even
to you?" "Then we will banish him", he answered, in a
decided way, "to the further side of the island, till solitude
or hunger bring him back to his senses and to us".
This being understood, we pursued our lives all together:
and making no distinction of race, language, or date of coming,
we admitted the Spaniards to share our crops, farm, larder,
cave, and all the natural advantages or after contrivances of
our banishment. They, for their part, shared with us the
stores we got from the wreck day by day; always with the
proviso we would account for the value of these, or at least
give in an estimate of our use and consumption of them, to
any authorities of our several countries, should a kind Provi-
dence one day take us off this place of exile.
Having arranged matters thus, as the only thing to be done
under the strange circumstances we were thrown in, we made
it a part of our daily life to go off to the wreck, and fetch
away all we could lay hands on. We were well content to
find her settle down no further in the water: indeed, upon the
coral reef she had struck on, that was out of the question; thus
we were encouraged to wait for some extraordinary low water,
at the neap tide, when, the sea being calm, we might come at
some of the stores below our usual diving. Meantime, we
got out of her whatever we could reach, by tearing away parts
of the upper deck (to which end we made a sacrifice of three
or four more gun barrels), and diving to the orlop deck:
though we found that dangerous, by reason of the entangle-
ments of the place itself, and the broken bulk-heads and
woodwork that floated to and fro.
Indeed, one of our Spaniards, José Martinez by name, had
a narrow escape with his life; being jammed in under water
by a beam of wood, so heavy he could not free himself. Only
by the strength and courage of our noble Tom Harvey he was
saved at all; being quite senseless when Tom brought him up
with infinite difficulty, and himself almost spent. As to poor
José, we could not bring him round for some time, with rub-
bing, clapping the palms of his hands, blowing into his nostrils,
and what not: so that I truly believe, had there been a swell
on, though never so little, they had been both lost without
remedy. But José never forgot the gratitude he owed his
preserver: so that a close friendship sprung up between these
two, and they made a compact together, they would specially
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
255
sons.
serve and befriend one another on all occasions. When this
came to Tadoone's ears, he was not well pleased at it; and
sending for them, he reminded them both, they were already
under such a compact, not to each other alone, but to all the
rest, and need not make it afresh as between particular per-
For being men, says he, and being Christians besides,
we are bound to help, aye, and love one another. As men,
we owe our fellow-men an obligation of mutual aid and good
will: and as Catholic Christians, we are bound up together in
the mystical body of our Lord, and so are "members one of
another". I can have nothing (he added) to say against a
true friendship between two men, that is based on their having
a like character and tastes, or being companions in misfortune
or success; so that general charity suffereth not thereby. And
thus ended his little discourse to José and Tom.
'T were tedious to give a list of all we got out of the wreck,
by dint of hard working; but every day saw our stores in-
creasing in things very useful to us in our present condition.
We carried away all that was portable, and made attempts
at many things that were not: in particular, we became rich
in damaged powder, and old iron, what with hoops, bars,
nails, and clamps; some of them served our needs in the
shape we got them in, others we contrived to forge into rude
spades, chisels, javelins, arrow-heads, and what not, by heat-
ing them in the hottest wood fire we could make, and ham-
mering them into shape between two stones. 'T is true, we
were young in the smith's craft, as in many other trades: but
necessity, they say, is the mother of invention; and, as we
had only ourselves to please, we managed well enough. Also,
the planks and beams we got from her, that came away by
degrees as the irons were loosened, proved handy to us in
many ways, chiefly for putting up divisions in our cave, and
for firewood.
By these instruments, too, we so enlarged our cave itself,
as made it more like a catacomb, with passages running one
into the other at right angles: and, growing bolder now, from
our increased numbers, with no sign of savages coming to
molest us, we resolved to make an entrance from below as
well as above. So, going to work within our entrenchments,
we hewed a low arch into the base of our cliff, till we were
seven or eight feet in: then cut upwards, and made a sloping
passage with steps notched in the rock, aiming (as near as we
could guess) at the centre of our cave above. We were not
so far out in our reckoning, neither; for when we had worked
256
THE ADVENTURES OF
for the best part of a week, we found ourselves coming up
through the rocky floor of that short passage that led out of
our main passage into the kitchen. This, to be sure, was an
awkward place enough to find ourselves planted in, with our
new stair-case: but the thing, being done, was not to be un-
done; and the best remedy we could devise was to cut us out
another passage round about, avoiding the hole we had made
in the floor: then we blocked the former entrance to the
kitchen with some trunks of trees, laid lengthways, one over
the other; and began to use our new stair-case with much
satisfaction.
To come back to the wreck; among our most valuable dis-
coveries was the finding of the chaplain's vestments and
chalice (Don Diego Rodez, I mean, that had died on board).
The Spaniards told us they were to be found somewhere; and
true enough, we lit on them at last, stowed away in a chest
with a few other things, almost worthless, that had belonged
to the poor good priest, and seemed to make up the whole of
his worldly wealth. As, a very old cassock, pair of shoes much
worn, a shirt or two, none of the best, a crucifix and small
case of relics, his breviary, two little books of devout prayers
and meditations, a larger volume, which Tadoone said was a
treatise on theology, and some Latin papers, with the seal of
the bishop of Valencia. These were all much spoiled by the
salt water, and the leaves of the books so glued together, we
made sure no man would ever read them again. But Don
Manuel, to whom (I could well see) these books were a great
prize, by patient drying of them in the sun, so far restored
them, that a good part of their contents became readable
again: and he took much delight in making out these parts,
giving us little choice bits of spiritual maxims and words of
comfort, proper to our condition.
The priest's vestments had suffered from the sea-water as
much, almost, as the books: yet by dint of care they came
out pretty well at last. As for the little altar-stone and linens
to suit it, they were no ways damaged. With these, and the
sacred vessels (with a case of very pure Spanish wine that we
found in the captain's cabin), and a pound or two of virgin.
wax to make tapers of, we had every prospect of having that
Holy Sacrifice among us, that we had learned so much to
desire, and were so much hoping to profit by.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
257

شمر
In brief, Don Manuel, with much joy, applied himself
to the bags (our Indians had woven them of plantain leaves),
wherein he kept his store of wheaten corn, in hopes of such
an occasion as this: grinding out now a portion between two
flat stones, he kneaded up the paste, and made, with much
ado, some thin sheets of unleavened bread, whereof (after
baking) he cut out round wafers, half as large again as a rix-
dollar. Having made some dozens of these, he laid them up
in one of the driest shelves, or cup-boards, in our cave: then
announced to us, all things were ready to celebrate holy Mass
the morning after.
This was joyful news to us, you may believe our spiritual
mass and communions having prepared us, by a great degree
of longing, to welcome this chiefest of blessings whenever it
should come indeed. We spent the afternoon in getting ready
for the happiest day of our lives, all of us going to make our
confession: which occupied no long time, inasmuch as we
(most of us) did that every week, and lived at peace with our
neighbours, except a little breeze (or so) now and again; and
were happily removed out of the way of temptation.
Next morning came, and with it came the blessing of holy
Mass and Communion. I am a bad one to describe such
things as these; so must leave to my reader to suppose for
himself what we felt as we knelt round the altar which
Tadoone had arranged in a little arbour we had built for our
summer chapel, or part woven and part built, lacing the sides
in and out with tendrils of osiers and supple-jack.
One of our Spaniards, Bartolomé Ramirez, served the
priest's Mass, having been used to do so (he told us) in the
Church of the Augustinians at Valencia; and so, all went on
17
258
THE ADVENTURES OF
orderly and devoutly: nor were we distracted by the new-
ness of it, having had every part, and every ceremony, ex-
plained to us by our good Tadoone. But in truth, as I recall
that morning to my thoughts, my eyes fill with tears I am not
ashamed of: only, I had sooner drop my pen, and go on my
knees to thank God, than write any more about it.

Q
CHAPTER LXVI.
SIGNS OF ANOTHER MOVE.
NE thing only seemed now to disturb our tran-
quil way of life; that was, the disturbance
we noticed in our friend and guide: for,
strange to say, he that had upheld us often
in wayward desponding moods, and disgust
at our lot, now seemed to be unhinged by
some troublous thoughts of his own. He
said nothing to us on the matter; but kept it to himself,
whatsoever it might be; trying to seem as cheerful as had
been his wont. Only, I noticed him to be now more retired
by himself: not, as before, when he was engaged at his de-
votions only, but at odd times too, unless he could help us
by labour, of which he was never shy, or advice on any point
we needed. I came on him once and again, seated with his
head resting on his hand, gazing out on the sea to that
quarter whence the canoe had been driven to us by the
hurricane, some two years before. When he observed me, he
would rise, and pass it off with a remark on the weather or
such common things; but I could well see, he was thinking
on something further off.
What opinion the others had on all this, I know not; for
I would not share my thoughts with any upon it. They
looked at him, 't is true, with some uneasiness; for he had
become a necessary portion of our well-being, and the idea
of his being taken from us by death, or in any other way,
was such as we could not endure: so much had his gentle
manners and example softened down those rude natures to
>

OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
259
the temper and affections of good Christians. But no one
spoke about this change in him, except in whispers one to the
other: I, for my part, was at no loss for a shrewd guess what
it meant. I had not forgotten the night when his own words
showed he was dreaming about Toonati-nooka, and convert-
ing the savages there; I made no doubt, therefore, 't was on
that project his mind was fixed, and that he never would be
content nor happy again, till he had contrived to go over, and
visit them.
66
One afternoon, that I found him again in this musing way,
I made free to approach him on the subject: I told him, in a
half-jesting tone, methought I could read a little, too, in the
book he was studying so deeply. He looked at me, as some-
what surprised, not seeing what I meant; for he knew not I
had discovered his thoughts. Then, presuming on our friend-
ship, I went on in the like strain: I told him, I could put the
title of the book in one word. He then asked me to give him
the word. "Nay, father", said I, "what is the book
the book you have
nearest to your heart?" On this, he pulls out his constant
companion, his prayer-book, and shows it to me, with a smile.
"You see, friend Owen, there are two words on the title;
read them-Breviarium Romanum: so you are mistaken in
your guess". "Well", I pursued; "may I put my question.
in another way?" Any way you wish
"What
, says he.
is the book, then", I asked, "that is nearest to your heart, and
furthest from your eyes? What is it, you think on daily, and
gaze after, and the name of which is oft on your lips in
prayers? Describe it to me by the name of a place". "Truly,
my dear child", says he,
66 as you are turned catechist on a
sudden, I hope, perhaps, 't is heaven".-"But short of
heaven?"—"Why, short of heaven, I desire to find myself
safe in purgatory". "But short of purgatory", I insisted,
"and a longer word, if not two?" "Ah", says he, smiling still,
but shaking his head now: yes, you have read my thoughts
truly, and my book, I see: 't is, indeed, Toonati-nooka!"
With that, rising, he stretches forth his hand towards the
sea, that divided him from the object of his yearning; and
says to me with the tears in his eyes: "See, friend; below
that horizon are multitudes of precious souls, bought, equally
with you and me, at the price of the same Divine Blood", and
he lifted his hat with great reverence. "Ah, how greatly
were they beloved by that Heart that agonized for us all on
the cross: yet, how far are they from Him! how far from
the knowledge of Him, or power to love Him!"
((
your
260
THE ADVENTURES OF
He stopped a little, overcome by what he felt: then laid his
hand on my arm, and said; "Remember out of what depth of
hideous wicked heathenism our three Indians were rescued :
well, even in those dark depths are countless souls now lying
there!" he repeated, thrusting his arm again over the sea;
"there, there!"
((
"I see them", he went on, as clearly as with these bodily
eyes; shedding one another's blood, dancing round monstrous
idols, sacrificing their prisoners, perhaps their very children,
to demons, dropping, two, three, ten at a time, dropping into
hell”: his voice sunk to a whisper, and he covered his eyes.
Soon he raised his looks and hands to heaven, and said in
a pleading voice, "Regina apostolorum, ora pro illis !"
His lips moved still in prayer, his hands clasped together,
the very sweat standing on his brow from the extremity of
his anguish.
After a while, he returned, as it were, to himself, and
looked round. Observing me again, as I stood staring on
him, doubtful what to say or do, he addressed me nearly in his
usual manner.
"My dear child", says he, as he calmed down again, “you
have never seen this before: that is because I have withdrawn
myself, that none should observe it. You know now, what it
is that possesses my whole soul. "T is my vision by day, and
dream by night. A voice is ever sounding in mine ears: it
says, 'Come over to Toonati-nooka, and help us'.* Do not
think", he went on, smiling at me, for I stared upon him all
the while, at a loss what to think ; "do not suppose I am be-
side myself. I never was more in my right wits; and that
you shall see, when we return to the rest. I shall be calmer
now, for having told you what is in my heart: hencefor-
ward, we can discuss it together, and see what is to be done".
"Ánd you would leave us!" cried I, transported beyond
myself with grief at the thought: "O father! just when we
are learning, through you, to love God; when you have
brought us some steps forward on the good way, you will
leave the plants you have planted and watered! leave the
sheep you have brought into the fold!"
"You may well believe", answered he, struggling with
himself, "I should not leave you all without pain; but there
* See Acts, xvi. 9, to which apparently the priest refers. He might
also have had in his mind "the voices of the Irish", which Saint
Patrick heard by some supernatural communication, urging him to
come and teach them the truth..
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
261
is one great sentence, the constant motto and motive of a great
saint, which expresses the rule we should follow in all such
matters".
"And what is that?" asked I, fearing, I hardly knew what.
"ALL TO THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD", said he. Then he
added, with vigour; "Why should we not all go together?
Or if that would overload the boats, shall we draw lots to
see who goes and who stays on the first voyage of discovery;
and they who go, promise to bring back the boats within a
reasonable time ?"
In short, soon after we came again to the rest, the priest
proposed to them, that a certain number, with himself, should
take two of the boats, and set forth on a voyage of discovery
to Toonati-nooka. It might, he said, have several advan-
tages; for savages, living in the state our Indians had
described to us, would be likely to welcome civilized white
men, with whom they were not at war, nor had any cause of
quarrel, and who could teach them the useful arts of life.
Should they find the country enriched with veins of silver or
gold (as was more than likely), then, he said, they might
receive a benefit no less than confer one: only, in that case,
he insisted that they must deal fairly with the inhabitants;
not exact from them more than was just, nor attempt by
crooked means to get the upper hand, like some discoverers
who have dishonoured the Christian name by their treatment
of the heathen to whom they went. For himself, he had one
object in going; and 't would be his care to choose among
them those who were not likely to thwart it: he professed,
he gave them all credit for upright intentions, but even
among the good, some might be bettermost, etc.
After this address, for which he assembled us all before
night prayers that evening, Don Manuel said he would wish
none to give an answer till our devotions were concluded the
following morning, that we might both pray on it, and sleep
on it; inasmuch as "he who goeth slowly, goeth securely".
Accordingly, the men, whispering together by their watch-
fire, came to different conclusions, according to their several
temperaments, or experience in chances and hardships. Some
were for going, to seek fresh adventures; others would sooner
stay quiet where they found themselves: but these were
chiefly the veterans, who were so beaten with the storms of
life, they had learned to set a value on repose and comfort.
Nor, indeed, could I blame them; seeing that (to human
reckoning) 't was a wild-goose chase that was now preparing.
262
THE ADVENTURES OF
The priest had his own motives, we all knew, and went simply
to save souls; as for the rest, what they went for, but a
spirit of roving adventure, remained locked in their own
bosoms; and so, whether 't were folly or wisdom, I pre-
tended not to judge.
But the end of it was, next morning, fourteen of the ship's
company, with two of our Englishmen, that is, Gill and
Hilton, volunteered to go.

CHAPTER LXVII.
PREPARATIONS
THERETO.

EREUPON, we spent many days in making
provision for their departure. First we gave
them the long boat and shallop to carry them :
or I should rather say, we lent these to the
expedition; for in truth they belonged still
to the wreck, and so to the Spanish govern-
ment, by the articles of our treaty. However,
Don Manuel, who I am sure was something more in consi-
deration, or office, than he seemed, told us we need be
under no concern on that score; that should any of our party
arrive in Europe, or another Spanish ship touch here, we
had but to mention the name by which we knew him, and
that he was our fellow passenger in the Enterprise for part of
the passage, and we should find it all right.
66
This being arranged, he would only take ten of those who
had volunteered, putting back four, though gently, on the
score of their weaker health: "for we shall have to rough it,
friends", says he, on the open sea, with chances of weather,
and even if we arrive, it may be in sorry plight". He added,
that in case of their provisions running short, 't was a main
matter to have as few mouths to feed on the great wide
ocean, as might be. Above all, he bade us remember, there
were three amongst us who had best right of all to take their
choice, whether they would go or stay: namely, the Indians,
to whom the opportunity was now given, to get back to their
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
263
own native land. So, turning to them, he put the choice
before them, one by one, beginning with the old man, Poula-
faihe.
"T was a touching thing to behold the struggles in these
poor Indians, when they heard Tadoone was going to seek the
home whence they came. On the one hand, they had become
truly attached to us, and were the most faithful, simple crea-
tures I ever knew of; with no thought but to please us, to
whom they owed their lives, and the priest, to whom they
owed their faith. On the other hand, the ties of blood were
strong: we had never asked them questions about Toonati-
nooka without seeing how they clung to the memory of those
they had left there, and the hope of seeing them again.
Pounder, as it appeared, had been left friendless in this
world: his father, elder brother, two uncles, and a cousin, had
all been killed in a battle with the warriors of another tribe,
and indeed another island or country, who came, be told
us, in eight war canoes, about twenty-seven moons (so he
reckoned) before he was thrown on our island. These savages
made a descent on that part of the coast where John Pounder
(who was then Rer-mimebolamba) lived with his family and
near neighbours in a small village: here, paddling quietly
along that coast, in a dark night, they surprised the inhabi-
tants in their sleep. But I must not run from one story into
another; only to say, that the warriors of the village, taken
thus at unawares, made a fruitless resistance, though a despe-
rate one: the greater part of them were killed outright, some
few (when they saw all was lost) escaped into the woods,
carrying off some of their children, with their wives; and so,
striking up by difficult paths known to themselves, got so far
into the country, the conquerors dared not follow them. But
these were a very few out of the number; our friend John being
one, though with a wound on his neck, of which he showed us
the deep scar.
The greater part of the men were killed, (you might say)
over and over again, being savagely mangled as they lay,
and the women and children carried off as slaves. Only
Rere-mime's wife (as the poor fellow told us, the tears stand-
ing in his eyes) refusing to leave her hut, clung so fast round
the pole of it, they could not get her away: so dragging her
by the hair of her head, but to no purpose, at last, they
pierced her with their spears. This was John Pounder's
history in brief; which explained why he was most willing
of the three to stay with us, and finally chose it.
264
THE ADVENTURES OF
As for the other two Indians, 't was both a happiness to
themselves to go, and a benefit to the expedition: for they
would serve as interpreters, not for the language alone,
whereof Tadoone also had made himself master, but (still
more) for manners and customs, to report what would make
him acceptable in his mission, or might arm their country-
men's minds against him. But all three, with the rest, be-
gan with equal zeal to help in the preparations: which con-
sisted chiefly in a stock of such dried provisions as we could
store the boats with, as well as refitting the boats themselves,
to get them into condition with sail, oars, and rudder.
All this took some time; for though we were now rein-
forced with hands enough, we had no carpenter: the carpenter
on board the Spanish ship, and carpenter's mate, both having
died early in their distresses. Had they been saved alive, I
truly think we had made an attempt to build a large boat
out of the fragments of the wreck, all rotten though she was,
and fitted out an expedition of our whole colony; so greatly
did it go against us to part company with any of our com-
rades. Besides this, we had a natural curiosity to see the
country they were going to: of which old Mark and the rest
gave us great accounts in many ways. However, 't was
no use to talk or wish, for the boats would not hold more
than the number told off for them; at least to be safe for a
boat voyage on the open sea.
For victualling the expedition, 't was clear no provisions
were to be looked for from the wreck, in which was not one
crumb of biscuit to be found, nor a single morsel of pork,
nor anything else in the way of food. But we got on shore
a small mill-stone set with a rude handle; though clumsily
enough, yet it would work: and we made it do service to
grind our corn, and bruise a quantity of yams and bread-
fruit to a pulp. We mixed this with our wheat-flour, and
kneaded it up well, worked it pretty dry, then rolled it out
in sheets, cut them into lengths, baked them by a slow fire,
and presented the expedition with a store of wholesome, well
tasted biscuit, such as many a ship's company would be glad
enough to come by on a voyage. Beside this, we smoked
and salted a quantity of our native pork, together with some
wild geese and other large sea-birds; we stowed all this in
three barrels, among those the Hermiona had carried her
salted stores in, and got two into the large boat, and one into
the small; also, four tubs of fresh water, well caulked and
secured. I gave them my fishing lines, doubling them for
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
265
the deep-sea fishery; together with the rod, which I judged
might be useful when they landed, though not at sea. On
second thoughts, it ended by our giving them one of our best
fishing nets besides; for thus we put them beyond any
chance of falling short of provender.
Next came the ordnance department, to furnish them with
weapons of defence: and here, knowing how great advantage
the use of gunpowder gives to the civilized man over the
strongest savage, we resolved to be liberal in our grants to
them. Indeed, 't was only bestowing on them what was
already (in one sense) their own. So we rolled down to the
boats one barrel of gunpowder, whole and untouched, besides
more than half of another, which the water had got at, and
spoiled, as we thought at the time: but spreading it on a
sail-cloth to the sun, then rubbing it betwixt our fingers, we
found, by several trials in our muskets, the grain was quite
dried, and took fire as well as what was untouched by the
sea. Then, for fire-arms, we gave them a musket a-piece,
with two or three to spare: two pistols and a cutlass to cach
man; nine pikes (what with our own bamboos, and some
that were saved from the ship), and four boarding-axes to
serve as wood-hatchets as well as weapons.
Their greatest want now was a compass; but that we saw
no way to supply them with, there being none known of on
board, after the accident of the ship's compass being washed
away. At last, by great good luck, or a providence rather,
we discovered a small pocket-compass at the bottom of a case
of instruments, such as burning-glasses, and one or two im-
plements of surgery and optics, that had belonged to one Don
Garcia Nunez, doctor of medicine and man of science, to whom
the Spanish Government had given a passage, for the sake of
some observations he was to make on his way to Santiago;
but he took to his berth and died, while the Hermiona was
beating through the Straits Le Maire. This whole case of
instruments we put on board for them; all but a scalpel or so,
and some lint and bandages, which I kept back to serve our
needs.
In a word, we gave them whatever might turn to use, whe-
ther to defend themselves from savages, or cultivate their
friendship, and astonish them with the civilized inventions of
Europe. Each man, too, had a double set of clothing complete,
to fence him from the cold; moreover, as we found means to
get at some of the officers' chests, we rigged five or six of
them out in uniform laced coats, and all the bravery we could
266
THE ADVENTURES OF
invent, of hats and feathers, shoulder-knots and brocade:
knowing such things to impress ignorant minds with the im-
portance of the wearers.

CHAPTER LXVIII.
DEPARTURE.

WAS a disappointment to us, and a certain
loss to the expedition, that we could not come
at some of the bales stowed away in the
Hermiona's hold; for she carried (as the
lieutenant had told us) some Spanish fa-
brics, and English stuffs besides, for barter
with the Indians of Chili, or other parts of
the South American coast. Some few of these, 't is true, we
managed to get up, by dint of hard diving; but in general
they were so carefully stowed, and so deep in the hold, they
were beyond our utmost efforts. What we got were only some
inferior stuffs, as we should reckon them in Europe; though,
to be sure, they were prizes to us in our need: we looked on
ourselves as very self-denying, to yield up the bales to be
stowed in the boats for barter with the savages.
We still, to be sure, had the ship with us, as a mine from
which to draw more of that kind of wealth after the expe-
dition was gone.
But what was more to the purpose, we set
about to provide them ammunition; though here we had dif-
ficulty enough, the magazine and powder-room both lying so
deep under water (being in the hold itself) as made us all but
hopeless to secure them any powder. At last, by much toil,
taking turn and turn about with the Spaniards in diving
(wherein some of them were expert), we secured, as I partly
said before, two barrels and five bags of powder, but all
spoiled (so we thought) by the sea; or wetted at least. But by
spreading it out in the sun, as thin as we could spread it on a
sail-cloth, with turning and sifting it several times in the day,
then bruising or grinding it with much caution, in the small
hand-mill we found on board, we contrived to save more of it
than we thought at first.* Only, we were careful to grind it
* There is some repetition here, as well as a discrepancy with what
was said about the gunpowder towards the end of the last chapter.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
267
by very little at a time, lest any should take fire in the mill,
and blow us to atoms: but the parcels were so small, though
they took fire once or twice, 't was like a flash in the pan, and
did us no harm. And thus we were able to save at least four-
fifths of serviceable powder out of all we got from the wreck.
As to what lay deeper in the hold, we gave up all hope of
coming at that; nor in truth did we much need it.
Everything was now got ready for their departure: and,
since 't was determined on, and the weather favouring, with
a fair breeze from w.N.W. (such as we made out by the In-
dians, and our own observations, would be almost abaft for
their voyage), no reason appeared why they should not cast
off the rope, and get out to sea. Yet we kept them, and they
lingered a couple of days after this, under one pretence or
other; now adding some stores, now stowing them away
reater in the boats, freshening the water and vegetables, caulk-
ing also the boats themselves (though quite sea-worthy): in
short, anything to persuade our own minds and theirs, they
were not delaying without reason. For in this peaceful
exile of ours, sweetened by religion and our kind, cheerful
Tadoone, we had come to have no other thought, and scarce
another wish than to lay our bones together in the island
when our time should come.
But Don Manuel's zeal, with all his patience, would bear
no delay beyond those two days, nor scarcely that: so on the
third morning early, having said the last Mass he ever said
(to our knowledge) on Assumption Isle, and strengthened us
all by Holy Communion (for part of our two days' prepara-
tion had been spent by all our small community going to
confession for this purpose), we made him a farewell feast by
way of breakfast, which had been a dismal meal enough, but
that he strove to cheer us.
"I am not going to preach to you, my dearest children",
says he, "for the time is now come to act; we must fall back
on all those lessons of resignation and courage we have
striven to practise here together. Have we not proved to
ourselves, in many ways, the only blessed thing is, to do the
will of God, and resign ourselves to what He appoints or
permits? Now, there can be no question, that Holy Will is
taking us away, and bidding you remain. What will come
But the former may be accounted for by the great importance of this
article to Owen and his companions; the latter, by the general care-
lessness of his writing.-- ED.
268
THE ADVENTURES OF
'
of it all, is more than I can see; but we walk by faith, not
by sight'. As we are bidden to pray, each day, for our daily
bread, so it is always enough, on our pilgrimage, to see the
one next step. This I now see, thanks to His providence, that
makes it possible. Did I not fully hope to come back to you
within a short time, I would not leave you at all: we would
stay, or go together. But go you cannot; nor would you all
be willing. Go I must, for I never cease to hear myself
called. What remains, then, but that we should go, and you
should stay, as they who are seeking the happiness of doing
the will of our great and good Master ?" "I am no prophet",
he presently added (smiling through his tears, for he was
much overcome), "yet something tells me, though I know
not how, you will not be left long without a priest and with-
out a Sacrifice".
We listened to him, wild-looking and grisly savages as we
had grown (in outward appearance), with the tears running
down our rough cheeks and beards. T was of no use to re-
strain, or attempt to hide them; we were subdued to the ten-
derest grief at thus losing our spiritual father, and our
brethren besides. When he had finished speaking, Tadoone
rose up; we crowded round him, some on our knees, and
caught hold on his garments, his hands; we kissed his very
hat and breviary in the passionateness of our grief. He em-
braced us all with that fatherly tenderness he had ever shown
us; then pointing to the sun, reminded us 't was full time to
depart. He gave us his solemn blessing with a voice choked
by emotion; and without another word, gently freed himself
from us all, and led the way down to the boats.
The rest of the men tore themselves away from their bre-
thren, as best they might, Indian from Indian, Spaniard from
Spaniard, with great evidence of feeling at the separation. As
for Hilton and Gill, they were moved, too, but in a soberer
way, after the manner of our nation, that doth not (it may be)
feel the less deeply because 't is slower to manifest it. In
fine, they now jumped into the boats briskly, to get rid of sad
thoughts; then hoisting sails, they began to sing the Litany
our good priest had taught us, and steered out into the off-
ing. For though, as belonging to different nations, and those
at war with one another, they could not sing any such national
sea-song as most seafaring countries possess of their own (since
what was loyal in one part might be construed into an offence
to the other), yet, being Catholics together, they could freely.
use what belonged to them in common, as members of the
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
269
great family of the Church, and spoke not of the interests of
time, but of eternity.
We, who remained, kneeled on the shore till they had
pulled so far away (the wind also setting off shore) as that
all sound of their voices was lost to us; then we stood up,
straining our eyes to catch the latest glimpse of them. One
of the last things we saw was, Don Manuel stood up in the
stern of the long-boat, and stretched forth his arms towards
heaven, to invoke upon us a farewell blessing. At this, we
dropped on our knees again, and wept like children, to think
he was gone for a time so long and uncertain, leaving us
orphans behind him. And so, when the boats looked like
mere specks on the sea, and then disappeared altogether, for
the wind continued fair, and afterwards blew a breeze, we
left the shore in much sorrow, and loitered about the rest of
that day, not settling down to anything. We ate a cheerless
supper; then I said night prayers (for I acted from that time
as a sort of lay chaplain), and we went to rest early, to sleep
away as much of our grief as we might.
'T was a strange thing indeed for us to wake next morning,
and find no Tadoone, no meditation, nor Mass. But, that
being our condition for many a long day after, I need not
dwell on what we became used to by degrees: only to record,
that all things went on with us, orderly enough; though we
felt dull in our spirits, and could not be reconciled to our
great loss.
Neither did our tempers improve under the
change; and Dick Prodgers, though he never returned to be
what he was before the Faith was given him, yet now and
then showed (as I may say most of us did, some more,
some less) how weak a poor creature is man, when he is
not supported above himself by sacramental grace.
indeed, Tadoone had warned us of, beseeching us with tears,
to keep ourselves in the good dispositions he left us in. Nor,
truly, was it the disposition that failed us, so much as the
execution of what we had resolved on; for the "spirit was
willing, but the flesh was weak”.
This,
We came round again soon, after these little outbreaks,
which never grew to any real breach of the peace: only they
gave us discomfort, making us out of sorts with ourselves,
even while we forgave one another. So that, with all our
outward security and prosperous condition, we would often
range up and down the shore, and like very children, stretch
our arms over the sea, and yearn for Tadoone to come back
to us again.
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THE ADVENTURES OF

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CHAPTER LXIX.
THE ERUPTION.

QUT these moods were broken in upon, and our
life on the island took a new direction (or
was cut short, rather), by something of the
most unlooked-for kind, that chanced within
ten days after. I say, 't was unlooked-for,
truly; for though we might reasonably ex-
pect savages, or another ship to touch at our
prison-house and take us off again, or pirates to attack us, we
never forecast the strange event I am now to relate.
The mountain that lay to northward of our cave (though I
knew it to have been once on a time burning, indeed we al-
ways called it the volcano), had looked to us as still and
motionless as any other part of the place. If ever I thought
on the scene of devastation it had been formerly, 't was much
as we think of ancient history, the wars of Cæsar, or the
Danes. I little thought, at least, the same convulsions were
to spring out from it anew in our times; still less could I
prophesy what good that would minister to us.
All this is putting (as they say) the cart before the horse;
and, to begin this part of my narrative, I must record that, for
some days, the air had felt sultry beyond the common, and the
water in the spring that supplied our conduit from Riverhead
had grown less and less. We knew not why; for 't was the
first time this happened during our exile; winter and summer,
't was always flowing. Besides, the water that now came was
not only scant, but troubled, and had a bad sulphurous taste
and smell, that made it unpalatable, and (we thought) un-
wholesome. At last, one day it ceased altogether: we took
this for a stoppage in the pipe; but, going to the spring to
discover the cause, we found it as dry as the very mountain
itself.
This disturbed us much, not only for the want of water
(though that was a want indeed), but from apprehension of
what it might portend; for I had read, and one of the
Spaniards confirmed it from his experience of the South
American coast, that before such burning mountains as we
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.·'
271
know of, for example, Vesuvius, and others, break into an
eruption, the wells in the district are used to run dry. I
suppose, by some alteration in the earth's veins, the water
finds its way downward in place of upward; and, turning to
hot vapour, adds to the force of the volcano; or, by the
increased heat of the mountain when 't is about to discharge
its fiery streams, the neighbouring springs become sucked and
dried up, as water is, if poured into the heated grate of a
chimney.
Anyhow (for I write of it more coolly than I witnessed it
at the time) our mountain began meanwhile to groan in a way
most dreadful to hearken to; rumbling beneath us, much as I
have known a heavily loaded waggon to shake the houses on
either side of a narrow street. For the very earth shook, as
we thought; notwithstanding we were fain to persuade our-
selves 't was our fears suggested it. The air, too, turned to
an oppressive dryness and heat, that well nigh took away our
breathing; and all was so heavy and so still, the very birds
seemed to feel it as we did; for though at first they flew round
and round, screaming and bewildered, yet soon they betook
them to the trees, and there perched in silence, as not know-
ing what was to come. We noticed some animals, too, roam-
ing about quite restless, and heard them cry out, each after
its fashion, as if in distress and fear.
For ourselves, we stood all together on the open shore,
clear of rocks and trees, to give our lives the best chance, if
indeed this should prove an earthquake, as we had foreboded.
We knew not what else to do at the moment, to save our-
selves; fearing to go towards our cave, or storehouse, lest we
might be smothered in it by the roof falling in: fearing also
to make for the boat, which lay tossing at her moorings; for
by this time the sea had risen, with a strange, irregular tide,
as though it were convulsed from beneath; and we expected
every moment to see our boat stove on the rocks. And thus
we stood, in such an agony of doubt and apprehension, as, I
think, oppresses most men, when they can do nothing towards
their own deliverance, but must wait and look on at a great
danger, and let it take its course, even if that be over their
mangled bodies.
I say, we stood thus; but I should add that first one, then
another, dropped on their knees, and began to pray fervently
to heaven for help. At last, there was not one that joined
not in this act; though there was, indeed, no unity in the
words of our prayer, for some prayed one thing, some an-
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THE ADVENTURES OF
other here one would make an act of hearty contrition, and
cry out to heaven for a priest; there, another would resign
himself into the hands of God, to live or die: on this side
was a man who vowed what he would do, did he but escape
with life on that side was his comrade, struck dumb, and
able to do nothing but quake for very fear,
But there was unity enough in the intention, for we all
prayed with our hearts for deliverance out of this great dan-
ger, so sudden and awful. For my part, though I write
calmly of it now, looking back on it through years of other
adventures I afterwards went through, I bring to mind (as if
it were yesterday) the overmastering sense that seized on me
of the awfulness of God's judgments when His hand launches
the arrows of vengeance, or when He speaks in the thunders
of His majesty; also, the comfort it was then to me, though
trembling as a sinner before Him, to reflect, I had used the
grace given me to repent, while there was time.
For now,
while we all seemed on the brink of such a grave, had the
great work of salvation been to commence, I had been tempted
or driven to despair. But now I recalled my past confes-
sions: I besought mercy for any hidden things that might
be unconfessed, because, after all search, unremembered; I
renewed my contrition; I thanked my God for His graces
bestowed on me, resigned my life and my soul into His
fatherly hands, and then did my best to awaken such
thoughts and pour this comfort into the souls of my com-
rades likewise.
While we thus did what we could for ourselves and one
another, on a sudden, there came the most fearful trembling
and upheaving of the ground beneath us, that ever (I be-
lieve) was experienced by mortal man. It seemed as if the
whole island were being wrenched from its base, and some
power below were going to fling it on one side. All that
part of the coast rocked to and fro; the sea at the same
time ran high, and boiled over, like a cauldron, washing up
so near us, as made it seem an even chance whether we
were to be swallowed by earth or ocean. We reeled and
staggered, like so many drunken men, catching hold on each
other for support: but this had not lasted as long as I have
taken to describe it, when a more violent heave flung us on
our faces, with a strange, whirling motion that partly spun
us round: so that, old seamen as most of us were, used to
short, chopping seas and counter-currents, this made us feel
as sea-sick as a landsman in his first gale of wind.
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
273

Before we recovered our legs (which we scarce attempted,
as not knowing whither to flee, thinking it best to lie there)
we heard the crashing of the rocks about our cave, by which
we judged the cave itself to have fallen in: as afterwards
we found to be too true. At the same time, some large pieces
of rock, that were loosened from the top of our cliff, came
rolling towards us, and threatened to crush us at every
bound. But even this was not so great a danger as the
noisome, sulphurous vapour that rose out of a deep cleft in
the ground, not many yards from where we lay, confused
and giddy; it volleyed forth upon us, like the smoke from
the broadside of a ship when all her guns are discharged at
once, but with so insupportable a stench of brimstone as had
taken away our very lives, did we remain there a moment
longer. I called on my companions, half-stifled as I was, to
rise and run for their lives: indeed, our only chance was to
rise to our full height, and let this heavy, creeping vapour
spread out along the ground, while we ran before it.
some of our number were, by this time so stunned and
amazed by all these new and awful things coming upon us
in a heap, we had much ado to pull them up and put them
in motion. Whether the fumes of this vapour had mounted
But
18
274
THE ADVENTURES OF
to their brain, stupifying them, or whether the fear alone
had quelled their animal spirits, some of them begged us to
let them lie there, and die in peace. And as for one of the
men, named Ruy Perez, he was so far gone in this fatal
drowsiness, I thought we should never have gotten him up,
nor yet brought him round.

CHAPTER LXX.
DEATH IN MORE SHAPES THAN ONE.
E made the best of our way out of this roll-
ing vapour, till at last we got clear of it, on
to a little jutting promontory that made us
safe from the lash of the sea; for it boiled
with exceeding violence, though there was
next to no wind stirring. When we all got
safe on to this point, we seemed to have been
conducted hither by some purpose of Providence, to make us
beholders of the most awful, stupendous sight the eye of man
could well behold, short of the last Judgment. There came
another rumbling from beneath, but not so directly under
our feet as the first, with a sound like the falling of one
heavy bar of metal on another; and this sound came repeated
four or five times. Then, on a sudden, an explosion like the
roar of artillery (only far louder, and enough to crack the
drums of our ears, as seamen have been deafened in a battle)
came from the mountain itself, and the whole island seemed
to tremble again: even the point of land whereon we were,
rocked and heaved, till we thought it would have fallen into
the sea, with us upon it. I could not have counted ten after
this explosion, when a pillar of smoke rose up direct from a
great cleft riven in the side of the mountain, nearer the top
than base, and towered into the air, more like a tall palm-
tree* than anything I can liken it to beside. It was followed
* A curious coincidence of expression with the younger Pliny's ac-
count of the eruption of Vesuvius which overwhelmed Herculaneum
and Pompeii, a.d. 79. "On the 23rd of August", he says, writing to
Tacitus, "about one in the afternoon, my mother desired him" (the
elder Pliny, who was commanding the fleet at Misenum, in the bay of
Naples,) "to observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and
shape. . He immediately arose, and went out upon an eminence, from

OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
275
by a shower of red-hot stones that went up like so many
rockets, the smaller ones in great numbers, shooting into the
pillar of smoke, then falling far into the sea, as well as nearer;
the larger went a little way into the air, then fell, and rolled
down the mountain, chiefly towards where we stood.
Ours was now a post of no little danger: and, besides the
stones falling all round, there rained down upon us such a
fine sand, or ashes, out of the cloud (that was, indeed, com-
posed of it) as nearly took away our breath again, together
with the suffocating heat of the air itself.
But what was
our grief, when the greater number of the stones fell (though
they were shot out afterwards, too, from time to time), to see
one of the poor Spaniards, Gutierre Vasquez by name, stricken
down at our side, by a stone that took him on the head, so
that he never spoke after; and another, Melchor Baeza, an
oldish marine, hit so sharply with a stone that rebounded
from the rock he stood on, as toppled him into the deep sea
beneath our feet, and strangled him in the water, though the
force of the blow alone was enough to despatch him.
At another time, we should have mourned at leisure for
these untimely deaths among our comrades; but at that very
hour, the same fate seemed hanging momently over our own
heads; and 't was strange how much a matter of course the
death of others appeared to us, when we might any instant
expect our own. By this, we were wrapped round in the dark,
sulphurous cloud, so thick and intolerable with the smell and
taste of brimstone, we had all been smothered on the spot,
had we not crammed our hats or neckerchiefs into our faces
to escape its deadly choke. All at once, out of this darkness
there flashed a brilliant light: then (the mountain all the
while thundering and groaning like a live creature in direful
pain) a sheet of liquid rock, or lava, appeared mounting over
the brim of the crater, like glue or pitch boiling over; and
began to descend in a broad fiery stream to where we stood.
which he might more distinctly view this very uncommon appearance.
At that distance, it was not discernible from what mountain this cloud
issued; but it was afterwards found to ascend from Mount Vesuvius.
I cannot give you a more exact description of its figure, than by re-
sembling it to that of a pine-tree; for it shot up a great height in the
form of a trunk, which extended itself at the top into a sort of branches;
occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it,
the force of which decreased as it advanced upwards; or the cloud itself
being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in this manner.
It appeared sometimes bright, and sometimes dark and spotted, as it
was more or less impregnated with earth and cinders"-Plin. Epist.,
lib. vi. 16.
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THE ADVENTURES OF
In its course, it swallowed up or surmounted every obstacle:
it swelled over the rocks, and poured down them again; set
the groves and bushes that lay on our path in a blaze; and,
what with the roar of the conflagration, the crackling and
hissing of this flood of fire, the groans and thunders of the
mountain beyond, and the howl of the wind and sea, that
had now both risen high, I could almost think the last Day
itself had truly come.
We stood rooted to the spot, without power to fly, as if we
were spell-bound by the terror of this awful scene: till (too
late) we found we were quite encompassed, part by the fire,
that ran swiftly among the dry trees and underwood, part
by the advance of this molten flood of lava, that came on at
such a pace as an active man could walk, and spread itself
out broader, as it reached the level space between mountain
and sea. It were madness now to attempt to flee either way;
for northward of our rock was the red-hot lava, much like a
sea of iron running fresh out of a furnace, bearing on its
surface biggish stones and pieces of rock, well nigh as red-hot
as itself: and if we turned our eyes to south, we were met
by the sight of a thick belt of wood, all a-blaze, whereinto
had we rushed, we had been as so many suicides leaping on
their funeral pile.
氰
​Which way could we now turn, to escape so frightful a
death? Two choices were before us: the rock, or the sea.
Should we stay through the frying heat, or swim for it? Ast
I proposed the question to my remaining comrades (poor
Melchor and Gutierre being gone already), on looking down
into the water beneath our feet, we found a ready answer to
the question, that filled us with horror, and drove us all but
to despair. For though the sea (as I have said) was now risen,
and began to boil up from below, we could plainly discover
the fins of two or three large sharks (the reef being more open
hereabout, easier to steer through) plying up and down.
These monsters were drawn hither (no doubt) by the blaze,
and seemed to enjoy the warmth of the sea: but they kept
eyeing us all the while, too, as if they saw a double advantage
in keeping so near; and we could not doubt they had already
made a half supper on our companion, Baeza. T was plain,
from that moment, our only chance was to keep on the rock,
and endure the suffocating heat as best we might. This now
waxed so intense, as I doubt if any iron-forger was ever called
on to face a much greater; and for us, who were unused to
anything of the kind, it seemed out of the question to stand
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
277
it out longer, but we must brave the sharks, and cast us down,
from sheer necessity of cooling our over-scorched selves, into
the sea.
I forgot to say, by this time 't was night; and, had
we been at a safe distance, nothing could have been now
grander than to witness this great spectacle; for the light
from the mountain shot far up into the darkness overhead;
the wreaths of red smoke curling along the sky to leeward,
with large stones ever and again shot out, like hot shells out
of a battery of bombs: and fresh lava, at a white heat (so it
seemed to us) pouring out still from the lip of that rent in the
mountain, and all the trees of the island, so far as the eye
could reach, in one great blaze. It is not for my pen to de-
scribe it; nor do I see how any one can imagine it that hath
not seen the like. However, at that time, though the majesty
and terror of the sight struck into our hearts, we were taken
up only by the thought, how we could live through such a
furnace as was round us.
At length, two of our number, Domingo Gonzalez and
Fadrique Correa by name, poor fellows! both having been
used to the Barbadoes trade, and to see how the negroes there
will encounter the sharks that infest their coast, with only a
knife, to plunge into the fish when he turns on his side to
seize them; they determined on making a like trial of their
skill. Do what we would to persuade them of the madness
of their adventure, they were not to be turned from it. No
man, they said, could die more than once; and for their part,
they had rather run the chance of being strangled in the water,
or drowned outright, than wait to be smothered by the into-
lerable heat and noisome vapours where we were. Then I
bade them remember, no man had a right to throw away his
life, which was not his own property to dispose of, but a mere
loan, or talent, lent him for an appointed time; and this, I
saw, had some effect on them, as Catholics, who had a clear
view of an hereafter: till they answered me again, they be
lieved it to be the best chance for them after all: that if they
could run the blockade, and clear these fish, or encounter them
with advantage (for they had their seaman's clasp-knives
strung round their necks), then were they in better case than
we who stayed on the rock: and more to the same purpose.
Seeing them not to be deterred from this mad scheme, it
only remained to pray for their safety, in which I bade the
rest unite with me; and the two poor men joined in it them-
selves with great fervour. Then, making over their brows
and hearts, the sign of the cross, and commending themselves
278
THE ADVENTURES OF
to God, calling also on the Blessed Virgin and St. Iago of
Compostella, they drew their knives, and plunged feet fore-
most into the sea, crossing their feet, to cleave the water
better, and rise again upright. But alas! we saw too clearly,
the moment after, what was the sad fate they had courted.
For no sooner did we hear the splash of their fall, than we
also saw these monstrous sharks plunge after them, and they
never rose to the surface again: no, not so much as a limb,
nor a shred of their garments, but all became the instant prey
of those voracious bloodhounds. The sea, too, was boiling so
wildly, I question if some under-current would not have
carried the poor fellows away, or rolled them over and so
drowned them, had no sharks been on the look out for them
at all.
This dreadful end of our rash comrades filled us with
horror; and would have done so the more, but for our own
fate before onr eyes, which seemed to come nigher at every
step, in the shape of fire. For all this while, the mountain
continued to groan and bellow like some enraged wild beast,
and poured out lava, fresh and fresh, so that now it ran
down the sides swifter than before. Only, we were com-
forted to see, this time it took a course more to the due
south; if I may call that comfort which threatened to destroy
all our plantations that might have escaped hitherto, as well
as block up the entrance to our cave itself. But the peril in
which we were so swallowed up all other thoughts, we had
no leisure now to care for our possessions, except only our
dear lives. A moment after, there came a second shock of
earthquake, under our very feet, so that the point of cliff
whereon we stood, rocked and heaved beneath us, to and
fro. I thought we should have been all thrown into the sea
together; for several of us lost our footing, and we had to
pluck one man back from falling straight over the edge.
But see, how the mercy of God ordereth events powerfully
and sweetly; how all things work together for good in the
ways of His providence! For this new danger, which did
us no harm beyond the fright of it, was the means of deliver-
ing us from the fiery flood that advanced upon us with open
jaws, to swallow us. When our rock ceased to tremble,
looking forth again, as well as we might, through the heavy
sulphur-smoke, we saw the earthquake had made a great
opening, or dyke, between us and the stream of lava; and in
a few minutes more, we heard it pouring heavily over the
brink, down to the gulph in the earth below. At the same
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
279
time the breeze, freshening, blew away partly this cloud of
hot vapour that wrapped us round, and gave us a clear
glimpse out to sea.
Never may I forget (like an unthankful wretch, as I should
be), what I felt when Prodgers, after shading his eyes with.
his hand, cried out, "Sail ho! to windward": and all of us,
eagerly turning our eyes thereaway, saw the red light of the
volcano reflected on the sails of a ship!

སྐད
CHAPTER LXX I.
OUR DELIVERANCE.

HE was steering right in for the island, and
soon hove-to, seeming fearful of venturing
in nearer. We doubted not but they who
commanded her were using their perspec-
tives to view the eruption of our mountain.
The hope of our near deliverance now anima-
ting us, we all rose to our full height, and
waving our arms abroad, joined in one shout, as long and
loud as we could make it. We learned from them after-
wards, that being to windward they did not hear our shout-
ing at all: but saw ourselves, which was more to the pur-
pose; for our forms were clearly traced to them against the
light of the fire. They lowered their long-boat at once, and
the crew pulled cheerily towards us: their steerage being
marked out for them by the glow from the mountain and
the burning woods; though they, and we who waited for
them with the utmost impatience, narrowly escaped death
from the hot stones that volleyed forth at times from the
crater. Indeed, one or two on both sides were hit, though not
seriously, at least not to kill: at length they came up with us,
and lying-to under lee of our rock of refuge, they threw up
a rope to us. By help of this, we lowered ourselves one by
one into the boat; and in good time truly, for the heat was
become so intolerable now, I question if any of us had lived
another half hour. We went to work carefully; for a slip
might have handed us over to the tender mercies of our
280
THE ADVENTURES OF
friends the sharks, who were prowling about, up and down,
expecting another morsel from among us.
Our men, twenty-nine in number, got down safely into the
boat: I was the last; for having (from one cause or other)
some authority among them, I thought it behoved me to be
last, as the captain always is, on leaving a wreck. I did my
best to secure the rope round a point of the rock, and
weighted it with stones: notwithstanding it loosened as I
went down, and I got a shrewd tumble on the boat's thwarts,
that had like to have broke my neck, and did lay me up for a
week after; though 't was happy I fell into the boat, not
among the sharks into the sea.
We got safe on board ship, though I had to be hauled up
the side in a whip, being not able to stir hand nor foot. She
proved to be the Glorieux, of thirty-six guns, commanded by
Captain Dumontier, chartered from Brest, cruising in these
latitudes with sealed orders, and not friendly to our flag.
But, on the relation of our calamitous history, the captain,
with the spirit of a brave, generous man, waived all distinc-
tion of race or flag, and took us on board in quality of pas-
sengers, to be set ashore at any point most convenient to us
to make our way homewards. "To-morrow", says this gal-
lant seaman to us, 66 we will speak, Messieurs, of your future
plans: to-night, do me the honour to be my guests". So after
a hearty and hospitable supper, which the fatigues and great
anxieties of the day made necessary to us, through exhaus-
tion of our animal spirits, we turned into our hammocks with
thankful hearts and very short prayers. Meanwhile, the
captain put the helm about, and stood off to a safe distance
from the island, the wind now setting fresher in-shore.
We were up again at day-break, to watch the progress
made in this destruction of our island; for such, indeed, it
proved, and nothing less, at least as regards the E. and s.
sides of it. The lava had flowed on, while we slept, as some
of the crew told us; for, beside the watch, nearly all the
ship's company had staid out of their hammocks, best part of
the night, watching that great spectacle. As for ourselves,
we were so clean exhausted with all we had gone through, I
verily believe we could have slept through a salvo of artillery,
or a general engagement. And truly, the noise from the
mountain, at times, was not much less than that.
But now, in the morning light, 't was a desolate spectacle
indeed: for the conflagration of our woods, having well nigh
burnt itself out, presented such a view of bare and blackened
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
281
trunks of trees, or stumps, with rocks split by the violent
heat; our stream, too, either dried up, or forced from its bed
down some of the great rents or cracks in the ground, sending
out its hot vapours, together with the sulphur, as it boiled
below: altogether (I say) the prospect was in miniature what
I suppose the great globe itself will be when "the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat, and the earth, and the works on it
shall be burnt up".
And here we saw an end to all our labours for four years
past, at a stroke: not that we considered that so much at the
time, but were occupied wholly by the great deliverance
granted to us, against hope, both from the fiery mountain,
and the banishment itself we had spent on our island. On
this part of our adventure the French captain, when he heard
our story from me (in my bad Spanish, for he spoke Spanish
himself passably well), wished us heartily joy of our libera-
tion; only, he said, he must perforce carry us partly on his
own course, which was to Tobago: but promised, again,
he would set us ashore, under a flag of truce, at any English
plantation in the West Indian islands, which the chance of
war made him able to touch at. But first he asked us, from
our knowledge of the island, the likeliest place to find fresh
water for his ship: on our telling him of that stream to west-
ward where we had first so unhappily landed, he then wore
the ship round, and gave the island a wide berth, for fear of
the reefs we told him of: then, sending a man to the mast-
head to help our piloting, the sea being very clear, it could
plainly be seen from that height how the reefs ran under
water. Thus in four tacks, and no more, we came in the
afternoon off the mouth of that self-same channel into which
the traitor Hopkins had sent the long boat with us, poor
victims of his treachery. When I remarked this to the cap-
tain (for we easily made out the opening in the rocks, by help
of our perspective glasses), he made to us his compliments
again, on the mercies that had shielded us then from a violent
death, and preserved us ever since. This was said too, more
in particular, by the chaplain he had on board; being a
French priest and a seminarist, of whom I might have much
to say, but that these up and down memoirs have spun out
too long a yarn already. In fine, the priest was a good man,
and a kind one; though, to be sure, we never felt towards
him as to our father that brought us into the fold, 't was a
comfort to find ourselves again within reach of the ministries
282
THE ADVENTURES OF
of the Church; and we began to experience, from this very
change of hands, the Catholic is always at home when he can
have the privileges of that universal family he belongs to.
It seems, this Captain Dumontier was known as a good
Christian man, as he was also a first-rate seaman; and,
having some influence with the government of his country,
had petitioned for a chaplain to sail with him on his voyage,
when some of his craft were likelier to petition against any-
thing so irksome to a wilful sinner as the presence of a priest :
by which it came to pass, we had the blessing of Mass on
board when the weather was fair; nay (the priest being a
good sailor, even in rough weather), having a bit of a sea on
did not hinder his being lashed to a bulk-head in the captain's
cabin, by a rope that was long enough to let him both kneel
and stand at a small altar there: so (like some of the early
martyrs) he celebrated the Holy Sacrifice in bonds. Nor can
I forget the first time I attended at Mass on board the Glorieux,
how that prophecy, or hope, of our dear Don Manuel came
into my mind, we should not be long without a priest and
without a Sacrifice.
I had well-nigh forgot that when we doubled the point that
shut in Shark's Cove to the south, and came within sight of
the Spanish wreck, we found that by some upheaving of the
reef from below, the wreck had been thrown almost high and
dry, and almost her own length (so we judged) nigher to land.
Though this delayed us not on the watering expedition (two
of the ship's boats being sent forward with the water-casks),
yet the captain judged it worth while to board her, and over-
haul her stores. We could now indeed, get down below the
orlop-deck without hindrance, and so into the hold (with some
little pumping of the bilge-water); but we found little that
was worth the carrying away. 'Tis true, she had more stuffs
and other merchandize on board than was usual for a ship of
war, as the Spanish lieutenant had explained, together with
the reason why. But then, having been hastily packed, the
bales of this merchandize of stuffs (as silks, cottons, and other
wares) had loosened, so that the water had got at and spoiled
a great part: and, though we got them out of the hold indeed,
we found them so rotten as that they came in shreds when
we handled them never so lightly. The same account may
be given of the iron-ware and knick-knacks on board for bar-
ter with the Americans; for they were eaten with rust to that
degree, we flung the greater part of them into the sea again.
However, we saved some that had lain deeper, or been
283
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
packed more tightly; and we got out five or six bales in
fairly good condition. These the captain took on board, as
payment for the good turn he was doing us; for though the
brave man himself would gladly have done that, and more,
without fee or reward (being the kind of frank, open-hearted
creature who I had been foolishly taught could not be found
in that nation, and more like a British tar than a Mounseer,
as Harvey said), yet he had others to consider beside himself:
and in brief, we begged him to do it.
But, to make a long story short, as 't is time (though, while
years creep on, that make men more talkative, I could turn
scribbler, to the weariness of my readers) the captain, who
was not the man to burn daylight, sent his boats in at once,
and Pounder with them, to show the way: then, having com-
pleted his watering from what remained of that former
abundant stream (for the greater part had been dried up by
the volcano, too, or found some other channel amid the earth-
quake), and shipping on board what cocoa-nuts and other
fruits were at hand, without long search, he stood off on his
former course, making for the Carribean Islands; so that at
sunset, on that eleventh day of November, 1743, we took our
last look of Assumption Isle from the main-yards of the
Glorieux; first, we gave three cheers that we were well away,
then we said a thanksgiving with the good chaplain, for our
merciful deliverance from such a hopeless exile.
But truly, whether we improved our condition by thus
going back into a world of danger, is more than I can pro-
nounce on a review of our strange adventures; or whether, in
the light of eternity, it had not proved best for us to live and
die in that secure retirement. However, since matters were
so ordered, that our priest was taken from us first, and (with
him) our best consolation, we had no fancy, any of us, to stay
there lonely and deserted: had not this ship, the harbinger
of a kind Providence, touched at the place, we had found no
other resource than looking out and praying for Don Manuel's
return.
As to him, whether he ever did return, and the men with
him, must now (I suppose) remain hid from us till the day
when all things shall be made known. Sure I am, if ever he
came back, it was for our sakes alone: wherefore I the rather
hope that success in his mission detained him; though I will
believe, no success, not even the conversion of all Toonati-
nooka, could make him false to his promise, or careless of us,
his children in the faith. He would have come, or leastways
286
THE ADVENTURES OF
bago with a flowing sheet and a spanking breeze), when the
French officers boarded us, to overhaul our papers, and give
us a clean bill of health from the yellow fever, that was
raging in some of the adjacent islands, what should they do,
but seize on our poor John Pounder for a runaway negro
slave! Do all I could to claim him for a British subject,
they would not hear of it, and bade me remember (with inso-
lence enough) the freedom that had been guaranteed to Tom
Harvey and myself by the French captain, ought to suffice us.
Plainly intimating, that (had they got their way) the parole
which this good captain had given us, that our liberty should
not be molested, had gone for little or nothing.
However, as to Pounder, in the teeth of all our remon-
strating, and that of the captain beside, who threatened them
with I know not what, on his return to France, the end was,
our poor Indian was marched off between two files of soldiers
to the residence of the governor, who was for claiming him at
once as a slave. This was a man consequential, to a degree,
yet so ignorant as not to see the differences of skin and fea-
ture that mark off the African black from the Indian of
Toonati-nooka, which are clear enough to a close observer.
And this my candid reader will allow, if he looks on the por-
trait of poor Pounder that was taken of him two years after,
or more, in Nova Scotia; which I have left in my will to be
copied and prefixed to these adventures of mine: nay, even
more so than I think are there portrayed. But 't was of no
purpose to insist on this to the governor; and things were
going hard with Rer-mime, till at last I bethought me of an
experiment in the way of language to decide the question.
So, calling in a negro who had purchased his freedom, and
then lived in the island as a sort of overseer, or slave-driver,
to one of the planters, I asked the captain to prevail on the
governor to have this man put on his oath to tell "the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth". And that much,
with some ado, the governor consented to at last.
This old negro was one, most of whose life had been spent
in slavery; he was brought away from his native coast, near
Sierra Leone, when he was not yet sixteen years of age: but
he had kept the perfect use of his mother-tongue, by con-
versing with his fellow-slaves, together with a smattering of
bad French he had learned on the island. When he was had
into court, I confronted him with Pounder; then, in the
presence of some of the chief men of the island, for learning
and understanding (who chanced to be in town for a kind of
OWEN EVANS, ESQ.
287
assizes then being held, and were drawn to the court-house by
the novelty of this proceeding, no less than by the other causes
going forward there), I asked him on a sudden to repeat to me
the Ten Commandments in his native tongue: begging the
audience to give close attention. This he did, glibly enough;
for I must say, the negroes of those French islands are well
taught in their religion, when the priests are not thwarted in
their efforts by some selfish, grasping planter, more intent on
scraping money together than on the welfare of his slaves.
While the old man was speaking, I took down on a paper
some sentences he uttered; then, asking the court to take
notice that Pounder was ignorant of the French tongue, and
knew not what the other had been required to repeat, I bade
the Indian repeat the Commandments in the language of
Toonati. This he did at once, and without a fault, thanks to
Don Manuel's careful teaching: and their two languages were
hereby shown to be so unlike each other, that the court went
no further, but quashed proceedings, and decreed the Indian
to be given back to us out of hand. Several members of it
even expressed themselves to me in a way I will not repeat,
on what they were pleased to term my ingenuity in mani-
festing the truth before them all. They insisted, moreover, on
giving us an entertainment before we tripped our anchor; at
which sentiments were uttered, full of good feeling toward
us. Tom Harvey made them a speech, of which they under-
stood not a word; as he, for his part, could make out none of
their lingo: and I followed in his wake, with not much better
success. Our good-will, though, was accepted instead of
language; so that at parting they declared, we were such
good fellows, 't was a thousand pities we were not born
Frenchmen.
-
From this point I met with some other adventures; none
of them (I think) worth troubling the reader with, nor any
that surpassed the common run of sea-faring haps and mis-
haps. I was shipwrecked, 't is true, some eighteen months
after, in the Racehorse packet, that went to pieces on the
rocks in the Bay of Fundy; when all hands, except eighteen
seamen and three passengers, were lost. Pounder had the
good fortune to be saved with me and the rest in the long
boat, and we made our way, after some hardships, to Halifax.
Here I set up in my profession, and had some practice for
five or six years, with Pounder as half companion, half
servant; and a faithful fellow and good Christian he proved.
After that, my sight, that had been threatening me, so far
288
THE ADVENTURES, ETC.
failed as to disqualify me for practice; so, gathering together
what little I had contrived to save, I bade farewell at once to
my profession and to foreign parts; but not before I had
married in Halifax a French wife, of about my own age and
station, whose family came from Montmagny, nigh to Que-
bec: a good Catholic she was and is, and keeps me up to
my religion.
After various chances in London, where being a Catholic
stood in my way at every turn, and kept me low in the
world, at length, through the kindness of Captain Byron, who
was above such narrow prejudice, though he had no taste for
my religion, I was appointed deputy harbour-master in the
place from which I now write: viz., Great Yarmouth, in
Norfolk, under a worthy man, Mr. Thomas Williamson, well
known to the elder brethren of the Trinity House, and who
carries an honourable wound (indeed, 't is the loss of three
fingers, beside a severe splinter-scar) from the action off Cape
Finisterre.
And here I bring to a close this record of some years out
of a life, that hath nothing in it so remarkable as a course of
providences exerted for one most unworthy, who can but
make some feeble efforts to be not wholly ungrateful.
NOTE.
If it should appear strange that the irregular and in some respects
confused account, now presented to the reader, should not have been
written till eleven years had elapsed from Evans' leaving the island, a
parallel case (at least) may be furnished by Commodore Byron, referred
to at p. 252, whose account of his early sufferings on the coast of Chili
in 1740, were "written by himself, and now first published", in 1768.
In his preface he says: "As the greatest pain I feel in committing the
following sheets to the press, arises from an apprehension that many of
my readers will accuse me of egotism, I will not incur that charge in
my preface, by detaining them with the reasons which have induced
me, at this time, to yield to the desire of my friends. It is equally
indifferent to the public to be told how it happened, that nothing should
have got the better of my indolence and reluctance to comply with the
same requests, for the space of twenty years".-Ed.
f
DON MANUEL'S MAZE.

SUPPLEMENT.

VERSION OF A LATIN MS.
PICKED UP
UP
AT
AT SEA BY H.M.S. RAMILLIES,
COMMANDER GEORGE DUTTON,
MAY 14TH, 1773, IN W. LONG. 43°; s. LAT. 24° 5′.
PRECEDED BY
CAPTAIN DUTTON'S REPORT TO THE
ADMIRALTY.
19
H. M. S. Ramillies, off Spithead,
June 8th, 1773.
TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF SANDWICH,
FIRST LORD OF HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY'S ADMIRALTY,
K.G., P.C., &c., &c.
MY LORD,
I have the honour of forwarding to your Lordship, toge-
ther with the Ramillies' log, the accompanying manuscript,
picked up (as your Lordship will observe by the entry in the
log itself,) the fourteenth of last month, on our homeward
voyage. It is curious, from the materials that compose it;
being written on the leaves of the palmetto, or some other
broad-leaved tree; and from the manner in which we found it
secured. It was attached to an unpainted buoy of light wood,
rudely shaped by a hatchet or some other iron instrument;
but the whole thing was so covered (at least the under part)
with barnacles and other shell-fish, and so eaten with sea-
worms throughout, that it had evidently been a considerable
time in the water. I should say, from the condition of old
ships, that not a vessel in his Majesty's service (and I have
been in some dangerous ones) would be allowed afloat after
so long an immersion, without careening.
This buoy was furnished with a kind of outriggers, made
of rude boards of the same sort of wood, ingeniously attached
to it by cords of twisted, or rather plaited, cocoa-fibres, much
decayed by the water; though they appeared to have been
292
SUPPLEMENT:
steeped in oil to prevent it. On the top was a small flag staff,
still carrying, pinned into it by wooden pegs, a shred of some
woollen stuff, almost gone, which we judged to have been
once a seaman's jacket, fastened there in order to make the
buoy more visible at sea.
Observing the buoy, I slackened sail, and sent a boat to
bring it on board. When we hoisted it on deck, we found
lashed to it a case or covering of laths, neatly spliced, some-
what in the form of a small keg, bound tightly with the same
kind of fibre, and payed* all over with a coating of Indian
gum, which lay on it, in some places, three-quarters of an
inch thick. So careful had the writer, or his friends, been to
preserve the MS. from injury. Notwithstanding, in one place
the gum, or Indian rubber, had slightly given, perhaps from
the case getting foul of the buoy in some shifting of the cur-
rents, floating exposed, and cracking in the sun. From this,
as your Lordship will perceive, the writing on a few of the
outerf leaves is damaged past recovery. I forward it, however,
in the condition in which we found it on opening the case.
This case itself, together with the buoy and its appurtenances,
I intend to have the honour of presenting to the Admiralty
* A seaman's expression, meaning to 'daub or anoint the surface of
any body, in order to preserve it from the injuries of the water and
weather, etc.-ED.
+ Captain Dutton does not explain how the earlier instead of the
later portion of the M.S. came to receive injury from the water, which
got at the outer leaves. It must be remembered, however, that the
palm-leaves on which it was written were not folded together like so
many sheets of paper in a packet, where the commencement of the
M.S. would be the portion best defended from external injury. They
would be, on the contrary, laid together without folding, in the order
in which they were written; and probably bound round with other
leaves, or cocoa-nut fibre, so as to form a solid mass.
In this case, it
would depend on the accident of the Indian gum cracking on one side
or the other of the outer covering of laths, whether the portion of the
M.S. rendered illegible would be the commencement or the end. The
collection of Sir Hans Sloane is well known to have formed the nucleus
of the present British Museum: and perhaps the courtesy of the at-
tendants in that great public institution, or in the other collections of
which Captain Dutton speaks, may enable the curious reader, if not to
discover the original M.S., at least to elucidate the subject by a com-
parison with other writings of a similar nature.-ED.
CAPTAIN DUTTON'S REPORT.
293
Museum, or to the collection belonging to the Royal Society,
or that of Sir Hans Sloane, at your Lordship's discretion; as
a specimen of work which I take to be that of savages, assisted
by some one more acquainted with the arts of civilization.
As to the contents of the leaves, having forgotten what-
ever little acquaintance I once had with the language they
are written in, and our chaplain unfortunately having been
set ashore at Falmouth, besides that they are written close,
in a foreign hand, and the ink (of whatever sort originally)
now extremely faded by time, I think it best to forward them
to your Lordship without further comment. When they were
picked up, we were at least twenty leagues from any land
laid down on the ship's charts; whatever colony or mission
of discovery they refer to, was perhaps ten times the distance
from us at that moment; and must have prospered or decayed
beyond need or possibility of help, when the papers were
committed to chance of winds and waves.
All this con-
sidered, I stood on my course, without any vain attempt to
trace the fate of the writer.
As soon as some remaining duties may permit, I shall come
from Portsmouth within the next two days, and present my-
self to your Lordship and the Board of Admiralty: awaiting
which honour
I am, my Lord,
Your Lordship's most faithful,
obedient servant,
GEORGE DUTTON,
Commander.
P.S.-Mr. Symes, your Lordship's cousin, desires me to add
his respectful duty. I shall have the pleasure to report well
of his conduct in detail, together with that of my other
officers: but I cannot forbear particular mention of Lieut.
Pilkington, of whose deserts and claims on your Lordship's
favour for promotion, I shall take occasion to speak more at
large.-G.D.
ott
Manuel's
Narrative.

[PERE followeth the true rel[ati]on of[me, Manuel
*] ex-provincial, conce]rning the st[ate of thir]-
teen companions, with my]self, on an unk[nown
island, beling, so well a[s we c]an gu[ess some]where to the
so[uth of.
*]
ྃ་
I beseech you, bro[ther, w]hoso[ever you be, who by]
the Divine permission may] find these writings, to trans]-
mit the [same, or] a copy of them, so soon as it shall be
possible for [you, to my m]ost Re[verend Lord and Fa]ther
in God, Don Ped[ro .
bishop of Barc[elona,
or to my Very R[everend and beloved Fasther, the
provincial for the t]ime b[eing, of the O]rder [of . .
g
•
or] at the least, to] deliver them to the] B[ish]op or
Governor of any] city in old [Spain, or in the Spanish
colloni[es, w]hereat [ye shall touch: and may the] merc[iful
Lord therefore rew[ard you.]
:
These are to mak[e known to the glory of God, and to
ob[tain help for the stren]gthening of this mission, that
we] have been one ye[ar and . . . .] months in [this heathen
and salvage place, [without pros]pect of being vi[sited or
relieved by any Euro]pean shi[p. Hi]ther we ca[me,
imp]elled by [the desire of] anno[uncing to the In]dians the
saving truths of eter]nal life and [came by a series of
wonderful prov]idences, mark[ed with the hand of God;
ha[ving been first des]erted on one i[sland, (sufficiently
dis[tant from] this) by [ . . . .] made the instruments
in His] hand who brings good from] evil in His own tilme
and way, [first, of sa]ving a peri[shing crew] on that place,
subjects of his Catholic maj]esty; and now, far[ther
* It is, of course, impossible to supply for these blanks in the MS.
with any approach to certainty, or even probability.-ED.
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
295
(which] is the grea[ter wor]k) of brin[ging the gos]pel to a
po[pulous hea]then land.
We we[re recei] ved at fir[st with s]ome mis[trust, because
of our landing] with ar[ms in our] han[ds; yet, to] have
gone thi[ther defen]celess [would have be]en thro[wing
need]lessly our [lives away. The] inhabitants crowded
dow[n upon the] shore, filled with wo]nder, rat[ther than
an]imated by enm]ity or fear. They [had never be]fore
seen the white faces of] the children of Eu[rope. But, as]
we had taken with us [two of their o]wn nation (thrown [by
Providence on the island when]ce we came, and by gr[ace
converted and baptized) our com[munication with them
was soo[n established. For the moment, w[e arranged] a
barter with th[em for] food, by means [of some tr]ifles we
had brought with [us; mere nails and bits of glass, [or
scraps] of iron, which [to them] were worth hogs, goats,
ve[getables, fruits, fresh wa[ter in g]ourds, and any oth[er
pro]duction of their country.
Two [swift mess]engers started up into the [interior] to
announce our arri[val to their] king, cr cacique,* who lives
in [a village] half a day's journey up [the coun]try in the
meantime, they [assigned] to us for a tempor[ary ab]ode a
narrow strip [of land] on the shore, almost surrounded by
water. Though [they er]ected a strong and high palisade
of] pointed stakes across the neck [of this la]nd to prevent.
our [passing be]yond it, and also made [us pro]mise that we
would not use [our boa]ts (of which we had two) [to pass] to
any other point of their country; yet, on [the oth]er hand,
they showed great friendliness; and crowds. were
con[stantly] coming and going with in[satiabl]e curiosity to
look [at us, and] speak with us through the bars of the
palisade. It was chiefly [with our] two Indians and myself
that they [conversed ;] for I had gained (through these two)
a sufficient knowledge of their language to speak [it with
ea]se. They had numberless questions to [ask about our
nation, king, laws, cus[toms, religion, wars, dress, barter,
productions, down [to the mo]st minute details of our lives:
and they [would scar]cely allow us time to sleep, nor me,
unworthy prie]st, leisure to read my breviary, so eager
* Don Manuel is probably incorrect in giving to the King of Toonati-
nooka a name which he must have borrowed from his knowledge of
the native chiefs of Chili, Peru, and the other Spanish settlements of
South America.-ED.
296
SUPPLEMENT:
were they, [day and] night, to listen to everything we coul[d
tell] them.
I was glad to be able thus to comm[ence my mission
among them; and announced to them, with caution an]d
not ex professo, some of the first tru[ths of religion, the unity
of God, the punishments of sin, etc. [But the wo]rk became
so fatiguing (the crowds increasing contin[ually, as] the re-
port of our arrival flew abroad), I was truly gl[ad when a]
cry arose, from those who were furthest [from the p]alisade,
“Tooma, tooma!" which is th[eir word] for king, or principal
lord; by which I concl[uded the king himself had come
down to see us.
He came, surrou[nded by his g]uards, who could scarcely
keep off the crowds, even [by bea]ting them severely with
the staves of their s[pears. All those] who could approach
him performed the usual ce[remony in to]ken of submission,
which is, licking the king's feet. He [bade the t]wo Indians
and myself come forth to [him, to the] other side the pali-
sade. This we were not prepared for, be[ing quite u]ncer-
tain of his relation towards us: at first I designed to [make
the ki]ng and his chief men (for he was surrounded by many
whom it was] easy to remark as persons in authority,) take
an [oath, in the sollemn manner of their country, that our
persons should [be sa]fe among them. On second thoughts,
[however, I] remembered that such oath was likely to [con-
sist in some idolatrous rite, and the invocation of [one of
th]e many demons worshipped among them; and I re-
[solved rather] to trust myself in the merciful hands of God
than countenance such] an act.
I answered, however, [with an] air of authority, that we
were messengers [from a great king, who had sent us hither
on a negoci[ation of the] utmost importance to Toonati-
nooka; that my King had [done me the ho]nour to admit
me near His person, and had laid on me an office that
usually kept me employed about His throne; that we came
as ambassadors, not] as supplicants, and for the benefit of
himself [and his pe]ople, not for any necessity or advantage
[of our own]. I went on to say, though we were few in num-
ber, compared to] those who surrounded us, yet the weapons
in [our han]ds (for each of our men carried two muskets, and
had three or four pistols] in his belt) were of so tre-
mendous a kind as made us capable of slay[ing num]bers, if
we were so disposed, though we came on an embassy of
peace. Therefore, if] we were to treat, it must be on equal
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
297
terms: that I, as ambassador, would present my[self before]
the king, if his guards (all but two only), would lay aside
their spears for the present, and the rest of his [subject]s
keep to a distance of three spears' lengths around us: also, if
two hostages of their chief [men, u]narmed, would pass in-
side the palisade, for every one of us who went beyond it.
These terms, together with the to[ne I ass]umed, asto-
nished the king; and he called his chiefs around him to de-
liberate on what I had said. After [a while, he] sent to us
one of the oldest among them, a sensible man, who told me
these were new and unheard-of things for a stranger to pro-
[pose; that] our coming was unlooked for, and our appearance
unusual: in a word, that the king desired some proof of the
power we brought with us, such [as should not harm his
people, whilst they convinced himself and his chiefs.
*
Upon this, I turned to one of my companions, who was
reckoned the best marks [man amo]ng us with his gun; and,
pointing to a sea-eagle wheeling above us at no great height,
I bade him take steady aim, and shoot in the name of God and
Sa[int . . . May our] good Lord forgive me if I was guilty
of any presumption in this; but I trusted, not alone to my
faith and poor prayer, [but to the man]'s known skill with
his weapon. Also, I was sure that, did he hit or did he
miss, the effect on the savages would only differ in degree,
and that [the drea]dful noise and sudden surprise of the ex-
plosion would not fail to impress them with reverence for us,
and dread of our weapons.
As I supposed, so it turned out. No sooner had the
sailor discharged his piece, than such a yell arose from the
multitude, as if an earthquake or other terrific thing hap-
pened. The greater part of them [fell to the] earth, hiding
their faces; some ran like scared creatures into the woods:
others called on their gods to save them. But what was their
astonishment when the ea[gle, trans]fixed with the ball,
fluttered down, bleeding and dying, and fell in the very
midst of the assembly. From that time we had no need to
assert our equality with them; for they acknowledged us [at
once as superior beings. So great was their dread of us
now, it was not easy to find, among all their bravest warriors,
six who would come within the palisade as hostages. We
on our [part, made all si]gns of friendship; and told them,
this dreadful thunder and lightning (so they called our
*
Probably Saint James, the patron saint of Spain.-ED..
298
SUPPLEMENT :
weapons) was only used against our enemies; that we had
it so completely under our con[trol, it would only explode
when we pleased: and we solemnly assured them, by the
great King who sent us, if they attempted not to harm us,
it should never [explode against] them.
On this, they took heart again, and six chiefs (who were
afterwards rewarded by the king with a string of shells
a-piece for this act of daring) came in among our men, while
our two In[dians and m]yself were received outside by the
king, his guards having laid aside their arms as I had re-
quired.
His first demand was, to see one of these wonderful wea-
pons nearer; but that [it should no]t make the noise, nor
shoot forth the fire, again. I called back to the man who
fired, to pass his musket to me through the palisade; and
holding it, I [addressed the] king, telling him, he should
judge by what I was now about to do, whether I had spoken
truly that these weapons would fire or not, as we willed. I
made him remark, I w[as going to do] what the man had
done before pledging my truth as an ambassador, it should
make no more noise than the king himself would, by snapping
his fingers. There was to be] no fire, I said, but one spark
only and if it thundered forth as before, or anything like it,
he might disbelieve my message, and send [us away] as im-
postors.
:
T
HE king and all the assembly were half afraid of the
thing being done over again; but I solemnly assured
them, I would rest the whole credit of my mission [on
the result: then, amid a breathless silence in the vast con-
course, I pointed the gun upward, as though I took aim at
some other bird, and so pulled the trigger. When the king
[heard the snap, and saw the spark from the flint, and
nothing furthermore, he threw his arms into the air, and
shouted out, that we were, since we had absolute control
over these dreadful creatures, ra[ther gods th]an men. Then,
in spite of our agreement, his chiefs pressed round us, and,
do what I would to prevent it, they all licked my feet, after
the custom of the country. [I seized] the opportunity to
proclaim the true God, asking the king to judge if we, who
DON MANUEL's narrative.
299
were but the poor servants of Him in whose name we came,
could do such mighty wonders, what must be His [own power
and majesty! And thus we already disposed both him and
his nation to receive the faith.
:
Then he asked me, on what terms was he to treat with this
great King? What did He require? I an[swered, my]
King required nothing but what was to make the king of
Toonati-nooka and his subjects happy that for this very
purpose had I been sent; that my K[ing, being more]
powerful than all others, and more abounding in possession
of wealth and happiness, needed nothing as being necessary
to Him: being as good and merciful as He was rich [and
power]ful. His delight was to make all other kings and
their subjects happy: and again, that being as wise as He
was powerful, rich, and happy in Himself, He sent His am-
bassadors in[to every] quarter of the earth, to proclaim the
laws and ordinances by which alone men could be happy
while they lived, and happy after they were dead. Lastly, I
repeated, it was for this and no other object that I was come
and had brought hither my companions.
[I told him] I sought not the gold or wealth of his king-
dom; that my King willed that he should still occupy his
throne and be obeyed by his subjects; that the best security
for his person and kingdom w[ould be, to] submit himself,
and cause them also to submit, to my King's wise and bene-
volent laws, which teach men to be obedient to lawful autho-
rity, and not do only what they must needs, but what is right
because it is right. Other things of the like kind I added
and though he see[med inc]apable of understanding what I
said about right and justice, yet, seeing him listen attentively,
I resolved not to lose the occasion.
The king pondered grea[tly on w]hat I said, and sat silent
for some space; then, calling to him the grave, venerable
chiefs who were his counsellors, he deliberated with them:
and they declared it was good, though new. This th[ey
repleated several times, as though surprised at its being new
and unheard-of, yet approving it as good. And I heard them
repeating this often to themselves, to one another, and to the
king: new[, but go]od; new, but good.
Then the king went on to ask me many questions about
the laws and ordinances I had come to proclaim; and whether
any of them would be against the laws established in his
kingdom by those who had been before him. This ques-
[tion, as] being difficult to answer, I evaded for the time:
300
SUPPLEMENT :
for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ must needs be
in opposition to the idolatrous and wicked customs of the
heathen; as said the apostle: "What fellowship hath light
with darkness? And what [concord h]ath Christ with Belial?
Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?" There-
fore I answered him, that as yet I was not acquainted with
the customs of his kingdom, and could not speak as to parti-
culars; but sure I was, the laws of a king so wise, so just, so
benevolent [as mine] needs be the best and happiest possible;
and that, did it chance any of those in Toonati-nooka differed
from them, it would be for his happiness to conform to my
king's laws without delay.
He seemed to think all this was reasonable, as did his coun-
sellors too: they sat silent again, pondering on all I had ad-
vanced; now one, n[ow ano]ther, nodding with his head, and
saying it was good. At length the king rose up, and taking
off his head-dress of feathers, placed it on me, as a mark of
special favour and inviolable hospitality. He also chewed
one half of a betel-nut, and invited me to chew the other.
Then he bade me to a feast, which had been preparing u[nder
a gr]ove of trees, while we were in conference. He promised
at the same time, to send abundance of provisions to our men,
which he amply fulfilled: and allowed me to send back the
younger of my two Indians to the enclosure, to serve as in-
terpreter, and carry messages to and fro.
Our feast was as ceremonious as a state banquet ever was;
indeed, many ceremonies were es[pecially o]bserved in my
honour, and I was glad to find, they were not accompanied
by any superstitious observances, which I could not have
joined in. But before it concluded, there came in a number
of slave dancers, to dance before the king and his guests,,
whose performance was heathenish to a degree, and wound-
ing to Christian eyes. On this, I told the king, my Master
forbade His ser[vants to] be present at such exhibitions; and
begged him to let the dancers retire. He answered, laugh-
ing: "O honourable ambassador! what matters it for the
time, inasmuch as your king sees you not?"
To which I replied by asking him respectfully, would he
consider any of his subjects faithful, who only obeyed his
laws while his eye was upon them? He considered awhile,
then said, wi[th a fro]wning countenance: "No, indeed; if I
knew of any one transgressing my laws at a distance, I would
send to him this my servant". On which, he beckoned the
public executioner (who always attends him), a tall, athletic
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
301
man of ferocious aspect, with a large sword, made of a wood
almost as hard as iron, and quite as heavy. "This is the mes-
senger", says he, "I send to all my subjects who forget their
duty. Tell me, O slave", he [continu]ed, addressing the
executioner, "how many notches hast thou on thy sword ?"
"O king", answered he, "they are six, fifty, and two hundred",
(so they always reckon backwards in this country).
"Good!"
cries the king, laughing; then turned to me and explained,
the custom was for the executioner to make a notch on his
weapon for every malefactor's head he cut off.
"And thy
father before thee", continued the king; "how [many n]otches
did he make in his time ?" "O king!" answered the execu-
tioner, "my father had two swords, given him by the king
your father; and they were so full of notches, there was not
room to make one notch more".
"You see, now, O ambassador", says the king to me, we
know how to punish those who transgress our laws”.
"And
my Master, O King", answered I, "has not one ambassador
only, nor [one ex]ecutioner, nor one army, but more than I
can count, all ranged round His throne. The swords of His
executioners are of fire, and pestilence, famine, and death.
One of them, once sent out by my King, slew seventy
thousand men in three days: another went forth alone against
the King's enemies, and in one night slew five thousand, and
eighty thousand, and an hundred thousand".*
On this, the king's nephew, who had [just com]e in from a
hunting party, and had heard nothing of what had passed be-
fore, burst out laughing, and showed signs of incredulity as
to what I asserted. But the king reproved him with an
angry countenance, and related to him at large the firing of
the gun; asking if such were the dreadful creatures carried
by an embassy of peace, what might not be expected of the
war implements and executioners' swords of so great a King?
"But I do not understand, O ambassador", continued he,
"how your King secures your obedience to His laws when
you are out of His sight? My subjects" (he went on whisper-
ing in my ear) "observe my laws carefully, because they know
I have spies in every part of my kingdom who would report
them on their disobedience. But if I sent them on a distant
The reference here is evidently to the three days' pestilence re-
corded in II. Kings, xxiv. 18, and to the destruction of the host of
Sennacherib, IV. Kings, xix. 35. It would appear to be the idiom in
Toonati-nooka, as among the ancient Greeks, in stating a high number,
to proceed from the lesser numerals to the greater. ED.
302
SUPPLEMENT :
embassy, like yours, I believe they would think little of dis-
obeying every law my forefathers enacted".
To which I answered, though my King was indeed out of
my sight, yet I was not out of His; that His eyes pierced into
every place; that He had servants and [messe]ngers innu-
merable, who could fly with the speed of light to give Him
notice of all that passed over the whole earth; yet that He
needed them not, though He was pleased frequently to employ
their services, which they rendered most willingly, with a
great love of their King: finally, that (by some of His
courtiers) He kept a great book, in which were written down
all the actions of every one of His subjects, even to the
meanest and poorest person, even the smallest action, or the
least whisper of a word; and according to these entries in the
book, the King rewarded or punished His subjects without
fail, sooner or later, as His wisdom decreed.
On this he pondered a little at the first; then laughed, and
said, it must needs be a large book, indeed, and a great deal
of trouble to keep it: and asked how many scribes were em-
ployed on this, and what kind of writing they used. To this
I returned an evasive answer, not wishing to give him more
to think of at that time; and turning the discourse, I said to
the king, though he had been pleased to comply with my re-
quest, and send away his dancers, yet. my King did by no
means forbid any amusement that was harmless; and if he
would condescend to witness a war dance of my countrymen
(so I called their exercising with their weapons), he would
see how regularly they could perform it.
The king seemed highly delighted with this proposal; only
he made me promise, these javelins of lightning (so he called
our guns) should not be shot forth again without his express
permission. I did this; and moreover, on my sacred charac-
ter as ambassador to the Great King, the men were to return
to their palisade when the dance was over, at least for that
night, until the king had determined how he would receive
us into the country.
T
HIS being concluded, I called out to the men in Spanish,
that eight of them (five of whom had been marines in
our wrecked ship, and the other three veteran invalided
troops of the line) should march out in order, shouldering their
arms, and should give a great example of discipline. Accord-
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE,
303
ingly, they came forth with fixed bayonets, marching in step,
and filing in front of the king, suddenly wheeled round, and
presented themselves in a line before him, grounding their
arms, which made a great clash on the ground. But this
startled both him and his chiefs, who expected nothing less
than that all the muskets would explode together. He rose
up in consternation, throwing a thick shield of bull's hide
before him, and crouching down behind it: several of his
chiefs betrayed their fear by running behind the trees, and
of the multitude, a great number fell on their faces again, and
set up
loud cries. On this, I came before him again, smiling,
and with outstretched hands asked him whether he had for-
gotten that I had pledged my word, the javelins should not
explode? This brought him and the chiefs to themselves
again; some of them seemed rather ashamed of the fear they
had shown; and the king told me he wished the war-dance
to proceed.
On which, strictly charging the men not so much as to
level their guns in any direction where spectators were as-
sembled (who, indeed, surrounded us on all sides), I bade
them go through some of their common exercises. They did
so with great precision, under the command of one of the
veterans, who was a sergeant, and had seen much service.
The exercise, or war dance, so delighted the king, that before
it was half concluded, he leaped from the ground where he
was seated, laughed, shouted, clapped his hands; then, calling
for his spear and shield, rushed with a wild yell into the midst,
with violent gesticulations; brandishing his weapons. He
then began to shout a tremendous war-song at the top of his
voice. This example so excited his chiefs to warlike fury,
that they followed him to the very letter. They seized their
spears, and formed a circle round him, joining him in the
war-song; moving round at first more slowly, then quicker
and quicker, as the excitement or passion of battle increased:
at times they struck their spears into the earth as though they
were slaying an enemy; and the song became louder con-
tinually, till they seemed to lose all command of themselves,
and rushed round and round, their eyes inflamed and coun-
tenances distorted with phrensy, shrieking out their battle-cry
like so many furies.
The converted Indians now drew near to me, and said with
alarm, that we were in much danger from them; that when
this excitement seized them, they became unable to dis
tinguish friends from foes; and, moreover, when the king
304
SUPPLEMENT :
thus joined in a war-dance with his chiefs, it seldom ended
without their striking their lances through several of the
spectators. On this news, I drew our men together in line,
bidding them present their bayonets in self-defence towards
these furious savages, in case they showed any further sign of
hostilities: then with my two Indians, I commenced, at the full
pitch of our united voices, a simple hymn which I had com-
posed for them in their native language. At the first strains,
I could perceive the fury of those war-dancers somewhat
abate; and we had not sung half a dozen times, before they
subsided into something of their former tranquillity. We
continued steadily looking on them with unmoved coun-
tenances; and before the hymn ended, they stood listening,
having cast aside their weapons, fixed with curiosity, and a
kind of rude reverence, or fear.
We finished our hymn as we walked back quietly to the
place where the king had now re-seated himself; and by this,
all danger and disturbance had ceased. He expressed his ap-
proval, nodding his head several times; then asked us, what
what was the meaning of what we had sung. Was it a war
song, or a lament over those who had fallen, or a song to one
of the gods of our country, or the history of some famous
warrior? To this, I answered, it was one of our modes of
addressing my King. Were those words, then, asked he, ad-
dressed to the King who sent you? I signified, yes. But,
pursued the king, we never sing any song of so solemn a
nature, unless to lament over the dead, or to address our
gods. "Stand forth, Ta-kaeeuga", continued he, turning to his
chief bard, or priest, "and sing us my ancestor's song to Ha-
vaoeekee".
On this, I could scarcely restrain my converted Indians
from giving expression to their disgust at hearing the name of
the idol they had once worshipped. I, for my part, was equally
determined the idolatrous hymn should not be sung in our
presence; therefore, turning to the king with a resolute
countenance, I told him, my King was much more powerful
than Havaoeekee, or any of the gods of the island: that to
sing a hymn in his praise, while we were by, would be
reckoned an insult to my King, of which I felt sure the king
of Toonati-nooka would not be guilty, were it only out of hos-
pitality, but which my King could punish on the spot, if it
were persisted in: and a good deal more to the same purpose.
He listened with the greatest wonder and astonishment, as
did also his chiefs. When I had done speaking, he conferred
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
305
1
some time with them, then beckoned me again to come to him
alone, where he was seated. Here he caused a mat of honour
to be spread for me beside his own: a distinction to which
none of his chiefs pretended, and generally reserved for his
nephew alone, who was to succeed him in the kingdom.
Then, taking my hand, and looking me very seriously in the
face: "Tell me, O ambassador of the great King!" says he;
"is your King truly, truly, greater than Havaeoeekee; greater
than Paowanga; greater than all the rest we worship?"
"O king!" answered I, "it is true indeed; as true as that
you have honoured me, His ambassador and servant, and
placed me by your side. Let us only rest to-night after our
weary voyage; to-morrow, if you have courage, I will show
you a proof of the power of my King".
He laughed at the idea of his not having courage, or not
so much courage as I, who was a man of peace; till, his
eye
resting again on our muskets, he checked himself, remem-
bering the fears he had felt at them before.
By this time, the evening began to close in; but as there
was light enough still for a farewell shot, I thought it best to
wind up all I had said, by repeating this evidence of our
powers. I therefore reminded him, we had faithfully kept to
our promise of not exploding the fire-javelins hitherto; but
asked him, would he now desire to see how much stronger
they were than any lance or bow in his country? I promised
that, to prove this, they should only explode once, as
before.
He hesitated awhile at this proposal; then consulted again
with his chiefs, amongst whom also there was a difference of
opinion. Some appeared to think, once was quite enough for
such an experiment; but others had arrived on the spot since
our conference began, and were eager to witness what they
had heard so much talk of; till the rest, I suppose, were
ashamed to show how great was their dread. At length, the
king gave a sort of unwilling consent: on which, I asked for
the strongest shield among his warriors to be brought before
me. It was of hard wood, clumsily fashioned into a rude
board of some thickness, which was strengthened with a
double covering of untanned goat's hide. This was indeed
the king's own second shield, borne after him in battle by his
shield-bearer, in case of the first being pierced or broken. I
caused the shield to be placed upright, supported by two
spears, at about half musket shot from where we sat. Then,
calling aloud, I said, "O warriors of Toonati-nooka! strong
20
306
SUPPLEMENT:
are your arms; swift and sharp are your spears! Do your
worst on yonder shield; then stand aside, to see what the
servants of my King can do!"
At the king's command, three of the strongest chiefs now
stepped out; and, after choosing their sharpest-pointed jave-
lins, one after another hurled them against the shield. It
was considered much above the average, in the way of dar-
ting, that their weapons should, at that distance, pierce
through the two goat's hides, and remain quivering in the
wood of the shield. When they had each delivered their
spears, with the utmost force, the king turned to me with an
air of triumph, asking me what more I could do. I answered
him, "O king! this is indeed well done; and I believe the
arm of the strongest man could hardly do more.
But my
King has allowed us to possess weapons that put the weak on
a level with the strong. To prove this, I will call on one of
our warriors who was nearly dying a short time since, and
has not yet recovered his strength": and here I beckoned to
one of the veteran invalids, whose pale, sickly looks confirmed
what I had said of him. He was a very steady shot, how-
ever; and I committed the proof to him with confidence.
When he stood forth, the musket in his hands, there was
the greatest consternation among those who had heard the
last gun fired, and the greatest curiosity among those who
had not, I think, by this time all the population of that
part of the country must have been assembled on the spot.
There could not have been less than fifteen thousand men
immediately about us; and the surrounding hills were covered
with women and children. It was a sea of dark faces and
eager eyes, all fixed upon our marksman. Indeed, when I
considered the importance of the stake on which I had now
set everything, I almost wished I had not risked it. I be-
took myself inwardly to prayer, that all might go well.
We made the king understand, a lane or avenue must be
cleared behind the shield, to avoid all danger to his people :
to which he showed himself very indifferent, in comparison
with his curiosity. So dense was the crowd, it was with
difficulty, and not without many blows, this was effected.
When all was ready, I again commended the matter to God,
and bade the soldier fire.
The report of his gun produced even greater effects than the
former. There rose a shriek from the multitude, and from
the hill, such as I never heard before, nor ever wish to hear
again. The whole assembly fell upon their faces, thinking
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
307
they were wounded by the flash; and only by degrees, first
one and then another rose again, feeling their heads and arms
to see whether they were whole. Then the chiefs ran to the
shield; and were astonished to find the two bullets (for the
piece was double-loaded) had gone through hides, wood, and
all, and lay on the ground beyond. These they brought to
the king, together with the shield itself.
•
But when he had seen with his own eyes the passage cut
by the bullet, and examined the ball itself, he was the more
confirmed in his belief, that it was the veritable thunder we
carried in our guns. For it seems that meteor-stones had
been known to fall in Toonati-nooka, in the midst of great
thunder-storms: and he was fully persuaded, the bullets
(which were beaten out of shape in their passage through the
shield) were some such stones, only under our command, to
launch or keep back as we pleased. This circumstance
crowned our reputation; the king ordered a robe of honour
(a red and yellow cloak of birch-bark and bird's feathers) to
be brought, and thrown over my shoulders: also, he rewarded
the marksman with a string of berries which he took from his
neck, and two hogs; which were sent to the palisade.
W
E were now surrounded by the chiefs, who said a
great many things in our honour. But I bade them
only pay honour to the King who had sent me;
that we were but His servants, and all the power we pos-
sessed came from Him; that He had commanded me to show
other wonders beside these, and to tell all the people of
Toonati-nooka some very good news, which we reserved till
the following day: but that now we craved leave to retire.
They crowded so closely round us, showing such anxiety to
ask a multitude of questions, that we had great difficulty in
making our way back to the boats. Our men, however,
needed rest; therefore, after taking our leave of the king
(who would scarcely let us go), we were making our way back,
when the chief bard, whose office was, to chronicle the valiant
deeds of the king and his warriors, stepped before me and
chanted, to a kind of rude lute with five strings, the following
verses:
"Great is the King who sent His ambassador,
Bearing in canes the thunder and lightning!
Strong are the warriors of Toonati-nooka,
Stronger the pale men beyond the salt water".
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SUPPLEMENT:
This song was taken up by the multitude and the chiefs;
nay, the king himself did not think it beneath his dignity to
join in it and it swelled into a deafening shout, as they
formed a procession to accompany us to the palisade. Indeed,
every one was now anxious we should come from this separa-
tion, and be with them: but I foresaw, it would be quieter
and more secure for us to stay there, at least for the time. So
they accompanied us to our quarters; then, with many greet-
ings, we dismissed the six chiefs who had been kept as host-
ages: they were wild to know all that had taken place. The
multitude remained a great part of the night outside the pali-
sade, lighting up large fires, and chanting the same song, and
others which they made in our praise: so that it was difficult to
get any rest for the noise.
At day-break the next morning, the king sent (in respect-
ful terms) to beg we would come to him. As I was engaged
in reciting my breviary, I sent back word, that I was then
employed in the service of my King, but would come to him
as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the crowd collected in such
numbers outside, and kept up such a continual talking with
our two Indians, as greatly disturbed me, and them also. At
length, seeing no other help for it, I called them, with the
other men, to morning prayers, telling the savages we were
going to speak to our King, and they must remain silent. So,
indeed, they did, with the utmost respect, not once interrupt-
ing us. When this was finished, I opened my breviary again,
and bade the Indians precede me, singing one of the hymns I
had composed for them in their own language. So we all
walked out very slowly, while I managed to recite my office.
The multitude crowded round us, leaving us just room to
walk; and they supposed this was some solemn procession
we were engaged in. Nor did they offer to disturb us; but
now and then they would break out, singing the verse their
bard had made the night before: some who were nearest,
and could catch the words that our two Indians sang, joined
in them as well as they could: whence it came to pass, that
they pronounced the sweet names of Jesus and Mary before
they knew the meaning of the words.
We found the king surrounded by his priests, preparing to
offer a sacrifice to the idol of the place, Paowanga. He
greeted me joyfully, with respect, and threw another string.
of berries round my neck, inviting me to take part with him
in the ceremony. But I answered, I was then engaged in
communicating with my King, who was much greater than
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
309
Paowanga, as I had told him last night. On this, the priests
became very angry; and, pointing to where the idol stood,
asked me, was my King more powerful than this great lord of
Toonati-nooka? I looked, and saw at a little distance, a
monstrous and hideous idol, rudely carved out of the stump
of a large tree. This idol was of a terrible countenance,
having an enormous mouth armed with shark's teeth: into
which, it seems, the poor deluded people used to put their
offerings, such as hogs, goats, etc. (for the idol's mouth would
easily contain one of those animals), together with yams, po-
tatoes, bread-fruit, or whatever offering they brought. Some-
times, I believe, they did the same with human sacrifices.
They supposed that Paowanga devoured all these things; but
the priests, who had their dwelling in a sort of college behind
a palisade close to the image, had contrived a trap-door in
the back of his head, and came to take out by night what the
poor worshippers had put in by day; and so lived very com-
fortably, in great indolence.
Then
Part of this I had learned through our Indians; but the par
ticular fraud of the trap-door was discovered after what I am
going to relate. For the present I answered the priests (who
had already, as I could see, become our enemies), that, if the
king permitted, when I had done speaking to my King, we
would see which was greatest, my King, or Paowanga.
I walked quietly on, reading my book, my two Indians with
me, still singing their hymns. As to the people, they seemed
divided, whether they should follow us, or attend the sacrifice :
but by far the greater part came with us, and I believe Pao-
wanga never had so thin an attendance; for this was a solemn
sacrifice, which took place "twice every moon”, as they ex-
pressed it.
I went some little distance, out of sight: but could not get
beyond the sound of their heathenish shoutings round the
idol, nor the noise of the great instruments like drums, they
beat in his honour, and which I afterwards found to be made
of the skins of their enemies slain or taken in battle.
I knelt down, and prayed for some time with all the fer-
vour I could command, that our good Lord would inspire me
with wisdom and courage for what was to follow. I also
asked the two Indians, in a whisper, whether they were pre-
pared to share the danger I resolved to incur for the glory of
God, to open the eyes of those idolaters at one bold stroke.
They answered me, that they were prepared: for they
were, in truth, so deeply imbued with our holy faith, I believe
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they would have felt no greater joy than to embrace martyr-
dom on the spot. Seeing the danger was so near, they asked
for a little time for their confessions, which allowed me to
finish great part of my office. After this, I heard them, first
the elder, then the younger; motioning the savages to keep a
little distance. They looked on with a respectful silence, as
on something mysterious, which they understood not.
When this was concluded, returning as leisurely as we
came, we found the heathen sacrifice just over, and all around
the king, waiting for us.
"Now, O king", said I, "if you will permit me to return
to my companions, I will fetch a proof that Paowanga is no
god at all and if I fail to prove it", added I, turning to the
priests, "I will give you leave to put me straight into his
mouth". At this, the king laughed greatly; but I noticed
the idolatrous priests to look at me, full of malice, and whis-
per to one another. "Go", then said the king, "O ambas-
sador! but how long will you be away?" "Before the sun",
said I, "has travelled over the little space between yonder
tree-tops, I will come again".
On this, I took one of the two Indians with me; but the
other was kept back by the king, who wished to entertain
himself by asking him a thousand questions about us and our
ways and customs. When I got to the boats, I asked the
gunner's mate of the wrecked vessel (who was one of our
party) to make me up quickly a strong packet of powder,
containing about three-quarters of a pound, with a slow bur-
ning match, a few inches in length. While he was doing this,
I selected from a case of philosophical instruments which we
had saved from the wreck, a strong burning-glass, or magni-
fier; for I had already formed my plan. When the packet of
gunpowder was ready, I went back with it in my hand, and
arrived within the time I had promised.
Presenting myself before the king, I spoke as follows:
"O king!" I said, "when two chiefs contend in battle, or
wrestle in a trial of strength, if one is able to lift the other
off his feet, and throw him to the ground, is he not the
strongest ?" "Yes, indeed”, cried out the king and the chiefs;
and all the multitude repeated it after them.
"But",
I con-
tinued, "if the chief sends one of his mere servants, with no
weapon in his hand; and the servant is able to throw down
that other; what will you say of the strength of the chief
who sent him?" "0, 0, 0", cried they all, in great surprise;
and listened for what I should say next. "Now tell me", I
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
311
went on: " Paowanga a mighty god?" "Oh, mighty,
is
mighty!" cried out all the priests in chorus; and the king,
with some of his chiefs, said it too; but, I perceived, not with
so much vigour: for they had begun to disbelieve in him
since they had spoken with me. "But how can you show
me", said I, "he is so mighty?" "Oh”, said one of the
principal among the priests, pointing to the idol, "see how
much he can eat!" In truth, one of the hind legs of a
goat was even then sticking out of the huge mouth; the rest
having disappeared into the cavity of the trunk. And, it
seems, among these savages, it is reckoned one of the great
qualities of a chief to be able to devour enormous quantities
of food.
"Well", said I, laughing, "I am going to give him some-
thing to eat, too; and if it does not prove too much for him,
I shall think him very strong indeed”.
So saying, I moved towards the idol with my packet of
gunpowder.
Here the priests, suspecting some harm to their favourite,
began to urge the king not to allow me to proceed. But he,
with his chiefs, overcome by curiosity, seemed anxious for
nothing but to see the end. I promised, on my part, having
once put something into Paowanga's mouth for him to eat, I
would not approach him again. "I have no wish”, said I,
"to be near him, since he is an enemy and rival to my King".
They scarce knew how to interpret all this; but there was the
greatest silence and wonder among chiefs and people alike :
except only the priests, who kept murmuring and scowling
at me.
I walked up to the idol, inwardly praying to God to direct
me; then mounting the rude blocks, piled up like so many
steps, by which worshippers came to make their offering to
his mouth, I cried aloud, so that all might hear: "O Pao-
wanga! it is not to honour or praise you, not to do you
homage, that I now put this into your mouth: but, on the
contrary, to show this king and all his people, that my King
who has sent me hither is alone to be honoured or worshipped
as God". With that, I thrust the gunpowder into the idol's
mouth, taking care to expose the slow match to the sun : then,
swiftly pulling out my burning-glass, I brought the sun's
rays to bear on the end of the match, which instantly lighted.
Then I put the glass again into my pocket, came down the
steps, and walked quietly back to the king.
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LL the people were standing at a respectful distance
from the idol, and I was not much afraid of their
being hurt by the explosion. Notwithstanding, I
begged the king to command them to remove farther off,
which he did, and they reluctantly obeyed. I motioned with
my hand, that no one should stir; but there was no need to
command silence; all being in anxious expectation of some-
thing, they knew not what. Their eyes went continually
back and forward, first to the idol, then to me; and I could
see, they began to feel some contempt for him, for his not
having avenged, by some great judgment, the public affront
I had offered him.
But in two or three minutes, the match having now burnt
to the powder, all on a sudden, there came a more terrifie
explosion than any thunder-clap they had heard in their
lives before. The image was rent from the top to the bot-
tom; his monstrous head cleft in twain, the shark's teeth
scattered into the air: and the whole trunk, loosened from
the earth, tottered for a moment, then fell forward on its face,
down the steps. It is impossible to describe the astonish-
ment, the dread, that seized on the whole assembly. They
fell down, as before, stopping their eyes and ears; no one
ventured to breathe or look up until I ran and stood forth
in the midst, having taken the king's spear into my hand.
"So-falls Paowanga", I cried with a loud voice: "he falls by
the hand of the meanest servant of the great King! So,
soon or late, must fall every enemy of my King and my
Lord". With that, I struck the spear deep into the pros-
trate trunk.
The people all answered with a shout, again and again
repeated, in honour of my King above all other kings, and
of my God above all gods. Then they commenced yelling
forth frantically the verse they had learned; and the sound,
from so many thousands of throats, was like the roar of a
cataract, and was taken up from the hills by the shriller
voices of the women and children;
"Great is the King, who sent His ambassador,`
Bearing in canes the thunder and lightning":
only now, they altered the third line, to suit the occasion,
and sang,
"Strong was our god Paowanga but yesterday :
Stronger the pale man beyond the salt water!"
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
313
As to Paowanga's priests, they knew not which way to
turn, and would fain have made their escape; but the people
hemmed and pressed them in. They were afraid for their
lives, and began to supplicate for mercy: on all sides they
were met by indignation and contempt. All at once, the
king was seized with a fury of hatred against his former
instructors: he caught up his second spear, and shouting out
the battle cry of his nation, hurled it amongst them, and
struck down one of the highest in rank, who died instantly
from the wound. This was the signal for the chiefs and the
people, who rushed upon them, and commenced an instant
massacre. I was horror-struck at the sight, and flew after
the king, entreating, imploring, in the name of my King, who
desired not (I exclaimed) the death of His enemies, but that
they should turn to be His friends.
It was all in vain; the movement had been too sudden, and
my voice was drowned in the uproar of shrieks and yells that
rose from the midst of the massacre. I could save the lives
only of three, by staying the arms of the chiefs as they were
hurling their spears; and succeeded at last in making my
voice heard. But, to my grief, when the tumult subsided,
there were no less than nineteen dead bodies lying on the
ground.
Richly as these idolatrous priests had deserved their death,
for the impositions they had practised on the people, I was
afflicted beyond measure at their tragical end; having pro-
mised myself (it may be, presumptuously) the gratification
of presenting to my Lord this whole nation, converted to
Him without the shedding of one drop of blood. I cast
myself on my knees beside the mangled corpses, endeavour-
ing to staunch their wounds, or to find so much as a token
of life among them. Some, it is true, yet breathed; but one
after another they died under my hands, so sure and forcibly
had the spear been hurled.
It was a fresh cause of astonishment to the king, to see me
thus engaged: he could not forbear to ask me the reason of
it. "Have I not said, O king!" I replied, "that my King is
all goodness and love? He has no enemies, but those who
make themselves so; and even those, He wins back by His
patience and benefits”.
"Then why", answered the king, "did he not try and win
back Paowanga?"
"I will tell you, O king!" said I, amid tears and sighs,
"when my mind is more calm: at present, I grieve for those
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SUPPLEMENT:
unhappy souls, who have been sent out of the world, enemies.
of my King".
us.
But it was time to follow up the advantage God had given
Wherefore, placing the few priests who remained alive,
together with the families of them all, in charge of the elder
of my two Indians, I solemnly appealed to my King (raising
my hand to heaven) to witness, that they were thencefor-
ward under His own protection, and no man's hand must be
raised against them. This I said in the presence of the king
and his chiefs, with a resolute countenance; by which they
seemed in a manner over-awed, and at length promised it
should be so. I then led him to the idol, on which the mul-
titude were by this time heaping all kind of insults, hacking
and hewing it to pieces. I showed the king the trap-door
that was made in the back of Paowanga's neck, by which
the offerings placed in his mouth were appropriated to the use
of the priests and their families. This roused his indignation
again, and that of the people; forasmuch as these ministers
of an idolatrous worship were supported, besides, by a liberal
contribution made throughout the district every new moon.
But I reminded him of his promise; sooner than a hair of their
heads was touched, I demanded from him that the priests and
their families should be given to my King, as His special ser-
vants. This he readily granted; and from that time I was
looked on as their special protector; the people (for my sake)
being so afraid of injuring them, they would not even go near
them though it was plain, they still regarded them with
much hatred and contempt.
It needed now but a short time to cleave the idol in pieces,
and set him on fire. While this was preparing, the king de-
sired to see my breviary, in which he had seen me read from
time to time; and asked me whether it was my olocco. This
is a word whereby they express a sort of charm, or amulet,
in which they believe another of their false gods, named
Havaeoeekee, resides.* I had heard of these amulets before,
from our Indians; and this appeared a favourable occasion of
finishing the work we had begun.
*
"No, O king!" answered I; "this is no oloeeo; nor does
my King permit His servants to keep, or to believe in, any
such thing. Oloeeo, and Havaeoeckee, who (you say) lives in
it, are watee, watee (naught, naught), even as Paowanga".
On this, the king and his chiefs all cried out again. Per-
* See above, p. 143.—En.
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
315
haps it was destroying their gods a little faster for them than
prudence might warrant; yet I seemed to myself only to
employ the occasion that now presented.
How?" said the king at length, “do
derful man! that Havaeoeekee is no more than Paowanga,
whom you have destroyed?"
you
tell us,
O won-
" If
"I will leave you to judge, O king!" answered I.
Paowanga were indeed a god, would he not have avenged on
me the insult I offered him ?"
66
we ex-
"True", cried the king, and his chiefs assented;
pected every minute to see you struck dead for that”.
"And what do you think of Paowanga now?" I asked
smiling.
Upon which, the king and all around him made a gesture
of the utmost contempt.
"Well", I continued "Havaeoeckee will do me no more
harm than the other: and, if you will collect for me all the
oloeeos you can find, I will burn them in the same fire with
Paowanga".
66
"O! O!" cried they, aloud; for it seems they were in
Never-
greater dread of these charms than of the idol itself.
theless, as I persisted in it, and assured them, if there were
any vengeance, it would fall on me alone, the king gave the
word, and six or seven of these amulets called oloecos were
collected from the neighbouring huts. Then, seeing that the
people had by this time made a mighty heap of fuel, and
placed on it the prostrate stump, and all other pieces of the
idol they could gather after the explosion, I stood in the
midst, my two hands full of oloecos, and cried aloud :
"O Havaeveekee! if indeed thou art a demon inhabiting
these things, and not a vain imagination of this deluded peo-
ple, then thou knowest, O foul spirit, thou hast no power
against my King: of which I now give proof, by burning thy
house over thy head!" On which, I cast the oloeeos on the
top of the pile, and bade the by-standers set fire to it. Then,
while it blazed up, fanned by the wind into a mighty confla-
gration, the two Indians and I tock up our hymn again and
sang it slowly, till the multitude caught it from us; and there
arose from that vast assembly the words of a Christian hymn
of praise to God, in regular cadence, louder than the roaring
of the fire.
When the blaze died down (and the whole thing was over
in a short time, the people fanning the fire continually with
mats, fly-fans, or anything they could lay hold on), the mul-
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titude rushed over the embers, treading them out and stamp-
ing them into dust with their feet; as though they could not
show contempt enough for the idol by which (and his minis-
ters) they had been so long deluded.
T
O celebrate this great event, the king now proclaimed
a festival to be held by all his subjects; of whom the
numbers that flocked around us were ever increasing.
Presents from these poor simple savages were offered to us
without measure; so that, had our purpose been to enrich our-
selves, we should have been able to do so on the spot. For
they laid at my feet many silver ornaments, and even some of
gold; whereby I knew they had in their mountains some veins,
at least, of these precious metals, were they but skilled in
working them. But I put these presents all aside, remem-
bering that the Apostle was able to say to his converts, as a
model for all pastors: Argentum et aurum, aut vestem nullius
concupivi, sicut ipsi scitis:* and I explained to them, the purpose
for which my King had sent me was to do good to them, not
to grow rich upon them. I do believe, this answer surprised
them almost as much as the blowing up of Paowanga himself:
they had been so used to the extortion and tyranny of their
petty chiefs, even up to the king, that anything like disinter-
ested charity came to them as a novelty and a wonder. I
seized the occasion to preach to them something (in a guarded
way) of the power and attributes, especially the gratuitous
love, of the One True God; to which they listened with eager
ears, especially those of the poorer sort. Truly, the gospel
has ever been the emancipator of the oppressed.
However, I did not feel justified in withholding from the
brave seamen who had come to share my perils, any advantage
they might derive from the good-will of the Toonati-nookans.
I no sooner made this known, than the natives pressed upon
them the acceptance of those presents I had refused. But,
consulting for their interest, and wishing to obtain for them
something more permanent than the heap of presents that lay
before us, I conferred with them apart to know what were
their views regarding their future lot. For myself, I said, I
was bound by engagement to return, after a certain time, to
the island whence we had come; nor could I think (apart
"I have not coveted any man's silver, gold, or apparel, as you
yourselves know"-Acts, xx: 33. ED.
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
317
from my promise) of remaining absent from our friends
there, more than from eight to ten months, at most. I de-
clared, however great this work of converting the heathen
might prove (as it promised fair, hitherto), I must not abandon
those children of the faith whom our Heavenly Father had
thrown by such a providence within reach of the Sacraments.
What I chiefly hoped (I said), was to be able to establish some
regular communication between that island and Toonati-
nooka; and so either fetch off our friends thence, if they
were disposed to come and join us, or send some of our
savages thither (after making good Christians of them) to
help to plant and settle the place as a colony. That, in that
case, having two flocks in different islands, I should think
time and labour well spent in making passages in the long-
boat, from one to the other, to attend to their spiritual needs
so long as God might spare me.
They deliberated not long upon this; but all with one
voice exclaimed, they desired nothing better than to stay on
this island, where they had plenty for their needs, and the
good will of the inhabitants; to say nothing of the consola-
tions of their religion, which they possessed so long as I re-
mained with them. To all these reasons I assented, only
bidding them remark, they were now doubly bound to show
a good Christian example to the savages among whom they
were; that all eyes would be on them, from day to day, and
every action scanned: and I implored them, for the love of
all they held sacred, not (like too many who call themselves
Christians) to throw any scandal in the way of the heathen
that might hinder their conversion to the faith. This they
seriously promised, one and all: and to prove their sincerity,
they bound themselves on the spot to approach the sacrament
of penance once a fortnight, or in three weeks at the furthest.
Indeed, as it turned out, I am thankful to record, the greater
part of them exceeded this measure; and not more than two
fell off from it, of whose retributive and miserable end (if
time permit), I shall have to speak in sorrow: if not in this
writing, yet to those who may come hither in my life-time.
For it affords a striking example of the just judgment of God
on such as sin against light, and with scandal.
Having their determination made known to me, I came
back from where we had spoken together, to the king and
his chiefs (who, I found, were called tayakee, a word signi-
fying at once a brave warrior and a man of rank), and then
the feast proceeded: but, to my great satisfaction, I had not
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to petition the king this time to send away his dancers. He
had given express orders they should not appear, since it
displeased the white ambassador (so he called me): though I
learned afterwards, it was an invariable custom for the king
to be thus entertained at his banquets. He made me sit
next to him, and on his left hand; which with them is the
place of honour, because it gives more facility to the enter-
tainer, whether king or chief, to put morsels of food with his
own hand into the mouth of his guest. This was a distinc-
tion with which I would gladly have dispensed, had it been
possible; since the royal hands might have been much im-
proved by some ablution. His nephew, who usually occupied
the left hand, being his heir and successor in the kingdom,
was for this time placed on the right. His discontent at what
he considered a slight put on him by his uncle, began even
then to work in his jealous mind, and soon caused us troubles
which, even as I write, seem likely instruments of the enemy
of souls against the reaping-in of the abundant harvest we
might else have hoped for.
The king, both then and afterwards, plied me with num-
berless questions about my country, my King, the number of
His subjects, where He chiefly resided, what was the form of
His palace, how far was His capital from Toonati-nooka, how
he should send an embassy to return the favour my King had
conferred upon him by sending us hither, and more enquiries.
than I can here put down.
I now found it necessary to answer him, that the great
King by whose will I had come, was indeed the King of kings
and Lord of lords; that His dwelling was in heaven, and His
dominion over heaven, earth, and all things: that under Him,
only by His permission, other kings reigned, but quite in a
different way; some over islands, some over continents: that
they were mere men, like the king of Toonati himself, and me,
but with a lawful authority which their subjects must obey,
so long as they commanded nothing against the Great King
in heaven.
Here he interrupted me, asking with great_eagerness,
whether I was indeed only a man like himself? I answered
him, I was so in truth, and nothing more; born like himself,
and, like himself, soon to die. "But where", said he, "will
you go, O white prince, when you die ?" To this I replied,
if I was found faithful to my King when the great book was
opened I had told him of before, I should be taken up into
the palace of my King, and be with him for ever.
“ Oh”,
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
319
said he again, "Oh! you are faithful, faithful! you will
go to
Him, be sure you will go". "Nay", said I, "my King reads all
the thoughts of my heart, always, and He sees many faults.
which no man can see. I cannot be sure of going to Him;
for He has lent me many things to use for Him, and will
reckon with me for them all".
,
He asked me,
"What things?" then, pointing to the guns,
which were piled up together, with one of the mariners
mounting guard, to prevent the savages from touching them:
"Were those dreadful lightning-tubes", he asked, "the
things my King had lent me ?" To this I answered, by re-
minding him, I had said there were many kings reigning on
earth, men like ourselves; that one of them, the king of Spain,
was my earthly master, and the lightning-tubes belonged to
him. Then", asked he, "which king sent you here to us,
the king of Spain, or the great King above?" I replied, that
being in attendance on the great King, I had received no
direct orders from the king of Spain on this subject; that I
was bound to obey the latter in all things lawful and tempo-
ral, but the great King at all times, in all things and places.
This I tried to make as plain to him as I could; but it was
difficult to put such things in a language ill-fitted to express
them: nor did he seem to apprehend my meaning clearly.
But one thing, I could see, gave him satisfaction; for he per-
ceived we had come on no mission from the king of Spain to
disturb his temporal authority, nor sought to dethrone him,
nor lower him in the eyes of his subjects.
The king then returned to his questions, and asked, if the
guns belonged to the king of Spain, and we were his subjects,
but not sent by him, how did we become possessed of them?
Had we taken them from the king without his leave? In
reply, I gave a brief account of my being first left, with a
few others, on the island from which we came; then of a
Spanish wreck that was drifted in thither: all which is too
long to detail here, and belongs not to the purpose of my
writing. Then he asked again, how long ago had the great
King bidden me to come? I told him, for some time I had
been having it made known to me, more and more; but had
not at first been able to leave others to whom my King had
sent me. On this he asked, with what voice the great King
spoke to His servants to make known His commands ?
deavoured to explain something about the revelation made
by God to His creatures, first through His prophets, then
through His Church: distinguishing it from the interior in-
I en-
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66
spirations whereby He speaks to our individual hearts. I
told him, it was in this latter way that I knew my King's
will in this case, being out of reach of those who could tell it
me by an exterior voice, and with authority from Himself.
"Ah, then", said he, "you have priests among you also,
as we have?" I replied, that I myself was a priest of this
great God; but that others, again, were over me, and nearer
to my King and I was bound to consult them when it was
possible, and take my commands from them in all things that
concerned my duty. "But, O white prince!" pursued he,
bowing towards me, "if even you are an inferior priest, what
greater powers have they who are nearer the King? Have
they more lightning-tubes (so he continued to call our guns)
at their command than you have?" I could not forbear
smiling at the idea of Church authority being measured by
an armament of musketry; and I answered, that was not the
kind of power I meant; that these lightning-tubes were the
property of the kings of the earth, and were employed by
them in their wars, one against the other, even as he em-
ployed javelins and clubs against the King of Hai-vavaoo.
He then asked, what the superior priests could do, that I
could not? This made me enter upon the distinction of
orders in the Church, the powers of the episcopacy, the suc-
cession of priests maintained by the Sacrament of Order, the
supremacy of one Bishop of bishops in the centre of Christen-
dom, and similar topics. I scarcely touched, however, on the
sacraments at all; fearing to open at once to him the mystery
of the Incarnation, with its stupendous consequences and I
resolved to keep this for a later conference. But it was diffi-
cult to evade his questions, so prompt and eager were they.
His tayakees, or chiefs, sat round us, drinking in every word
with the most fixed attention: and at times, when any point
of the discourse pleased them, saying Oora, oora! or else they
turned to one another to express their satisfaction in a low
tone.
I`
B
N short, I felt the providence of God had (so far) placed
the conversion of these precious souls in my hands, all
unworthy as I was of such a favour and lifted my heart
sincerely to Him, to beseech that no sin of mine, nor want of
prudence in speech or act, might mar the working out of this
great purpose. But for the present, I intimated to the king,
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
321
with much respect, we had spoken enough. He seemed dis-
appointed; but I had resolved rather to give him less to think
on, than to weary him with too much of these matters.
After this, turning to another subject, he asked how long
we purposed to stay with him; at the same time saying, he
should esteem it a happiness to himself and his kingdom, to
keep us so long as we choose to remain. To which I answered,
for my own part, I had come to deliver to him the message of
my King, and had no wish but to remain as long as the ob-
ject of my embassy required; that when I departed, it would
only be for a time, to confer with some whom I had left be-
hind on the island I had spoken of; that, with the king's
leave, I would give them the choice, to remain in that place,
or come back with me, and settle in Toonati-nooka. Or, if
he preferred, I would carry over with me some of his subjects
to colonize that small island, and so ply backwards and for-
wards, extending his dominions there, while I proclaimed my
King's message here. This was the substance of my discourse,
to which all listened eagerly; and the tayalees began to whis-
per to one another, but so rapidly, and in such a low tone,
I could not catch their meaning.
All that I said appeared to please the king; who at once
offered my followers as much land a-piece as one of their rude
ploughs, drawn by two men (for they have neither oxen nor
horses in the island) could mark out within the space of an
hour. But, after thanking him for the offer, I preferred for
them, and for myself, a visit to his capital, and a journey
through the island: after which, I said, we would determine
whether to disperse ourselves through his dominions, or locate
our party in one spot, and form a colony of white men. He
agreed readily to give us our choice; and so the affair ended
for that time.
The king soon after signified his intention of carrying us
with him to his capital the following day, at day-break. To
this I agreed, only stipulating for an hour's delay, that I
might offer a solemn sacrifice to my King. He seemed de-
lighted at this proposal, and said, the best of the hogs and
goats in that part of the island should be at my service.
But I smiled, and told him, my King was not pleased with
such offerings as these; but had prepared a Victim, the only
one worthy of being offered to Himself: and had committed
this sacred function to my hands. On his inquiring, with
great eagerness, what this victim was, I excused myself for
the time from further explanation; but I said, during my
21
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residence with him I should have much to say on this subject;
and even thus, I could scarce free myself from his urgent
curiosity on the subject.
I had brought with me all things needful for the celebra-
tion of the holy Sacrifice; and I determined to offer it on the
very spot whence we had thrown down Paowanga: making
the steps that once led to that hideous idol's devouring
mouth, become the steps of a true Christian altar. Accord-
ingly, no sooner did I see the first dawn of light, than I
pre-
pared and blessed a quantity of holy water, wherewith I
sprinkled the whole place round about; the steps also them-
selves, and some blocks of trees the natives brought at my
request, which I disposed as a rude altar, and laid on them
the small altar-stone I had brought, and some clean linen
cloths.
The heathens, all this while, stood round us in vast multi-
tudes, and breathless silence, watching everything I did.
When they saw the devotion with which my companions re-
ceived the aspersion of holy water, they came pressing round
by one impulse, and begged for their share. I imparted it to
them willingly, hoping it might be a prelude to their future.
baptism. But I soon had reason to repent of my rashness;
for the crowds who were behind, eager to receive the asper-
sion, pressed so much on the front rank, as to throw them
into confusion; and, forcing them in upon me and my com-
panions, we were all but suffocated by the mere pressure of
the crowd. I cried out to them, in their own language, to
keep some order; happily my voice reached one or two of the
chiefs, who came running to the spot with their spears, and
laying about them vigorously with the butt-ends, preserved
our lives; or I truly believe we should have been trodden
underfoot by the unreasoning zeal of these poor savages. This
made me feel yet more, how large a field was opened to me
for missionary labour, if only I could occupy it. Yet, while
I was thankful for being sent to so promising a harvest, I
could not but deplore finding myself alone, where ten times
the number would hardly suffice for the work before me.
But His strength is perfected in weakness; nor ever is His
hand more visible, than where no human forces appear to
account for a great result.
Putting such thoughts aside, except to direct my intention
in offering the holy Sacrifice, I now prepared to say the first
mass that was said in Toonati-nooka since the world began.
I had brought with me all things needful for the celebration;
DON MANUEL's narrative.
323
having received them (I may say) by the ministry of the
winds and waves, when the wreck had drifted upon the island
whence I came. When all was ready, with a great illumina-
tion of candle-nuts on the altar, beside my waxen tapers, I
vested, with the usual prayers. I could not repress an abun-
dance of tears at the thought of that solemn moment, the sanc-
tification of another spot on God's earth to His true worship
and by His sacramental presence. Then, standing on the altar
steps, I turned to the many thousands watching me with eager
eyes; and raising my voice, spoke to them much in this way:
"O men of Toonati-nooka !" I exclaimed, "many new and
wonderful things have you seen since we came among you;
and we have given you tokens of the powers we bring with
us, for your good, not your destruction. But what I am now
to do is far more wonderful than anything I have hitherto
done in this island! Though you will see nothing, and hear
nothing, yet I pledge my truth as an ambassador of the great
King" (here I lifted my hand to heaven), "that He is Himself
about to come down, and be present among you, enthroned
on this altar".
When I had said that, the multitude was thrown into great
agitation; and began to cry out, as with one voice, beseech-
ing me that the great King might not come so near to them:
for, it seems, they made sure they should be consumed by
fire, or struck dead with the thunder, at the awful presence
of my King. The king of Toonati-nooka himself, with his
chiefs, showed signs of much uneasiness at hearing what was
to take place: he sent one of his principal chiefs personally
to me, where I stood, beseeching me to intercede with my
King, not to come personally among them: that he would send
Him any tribute from the island, and acknowledge himself
and all the inhabitants as His vassals, if only He would spare
them that dread visit. But, in order to quiet their fears, I
continued, with a smiling countenance:
"Do not imagine, O king and people of this island, the
great King is coming to you in any way but extreme kind-
ness and condescension. No; He is so filled with good-will
to you all, and so greatly wishes to manifest it, and to benefit
you, that while He comes because He loves you, He comes
concealed, lest He terrify you. You could not, it is true,
endure the unveiled majesty of His presence; for He is ten
thousand times brighter and more glorious than this sun now
rising over the mountains. His voice causes the great powers
of His court to tremble, while they bow before Him. His
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frown is unendurable in terror. But now, even as a prince
may walk among his subjects under disguise, in poor raiment,
so the great King is coming down among you; yet you will
not see Him, you will not hear Him. I, His ambassador,
promise you
this. You will hear nothing even so loud as my
voice is at this moment that I address you. He is coming by
reason of His love for you, to teach you to be happy in loving
Him. I only ask you to believe me, that He will be in the
midst of you unseen. When you hear this little shell sound,
(here I showed them a small bell we had made for Mass out
of a sea-shell), then throw yourselves on your knees; pray
the great King to make you able to know Him and to love
Him. I too, will ask of Him the same favour for you all".
This discourse struck them with the greatest astonishment.
Of course, they could not comprehend my meaning, nor so
much as guess at it: but they were over-awed, and in sus-
pense, at what was about to take place. Having thus pre-
pared them, I proceeded with holy Mass, my companions
kneeling around, and the younger of the two Indians (for this,
I thought, would impress them more) serving at the adorable
Sacrifice. The most profound silence reigned through the
vast multitude, though it was the silence of intense expecta-
tion, not the reverence of faith. At length, when young
Samuel sounded the little shell, I heard a rush behind me,
around me, of thousands falling on their knees at the same
moment. It was like the sound of a mighty cataract; it
almost overcame me with emotion, but served to direct my
intention more earnestly for the conversion of these poor
heathens, for whom I was offering the Spotless Lamb to the
Eternal Father. Through the remainder of the holy Sacri-
fice there was no sound, nor interruption from them: they
remained kneeling, and looked on with the same intense cu-
riosity, till they saw it was over, and I began to take off my
vestments again. Then the king approached me, and bade
me to the morning meal: but I excused myself, till I had
spoken a little farther to my King; to which he consented,
and left me for a while.
W
HEN I joined the king at table shortly after, he
plied me with questions as to what I had just been
doing. I answered with much reserve; telling
him, these things were not yet lawful for me to speak to him
don manuel's NARRATIVE.
325
about: that he could not know what they meant till the holy
water of life had been poured over him. They were (I said)
such hidden mysteries as he could not so much as conceive
of: but they formed the highest mode of communication
with my King, one that He had especially appointed, and
by means of which He became most truly present to His
subjects.
I could see that he wondered all the more at my speaking
so: but, turning the conversation, I asked him, to what part
of his dominions he was now about to carry us. He answered,
that all the island was open to us, to visit or settle in as we
chose; but said, he wished first to take us to his capital, and
show us to the queen, as well as to his mother and the rest of
his family also, that many things had come into his mind
in which he was sure I and my companions could improve the
condition of his people: a favour he begged me earnestly to
grant. I answered, all the servants of my King were bound
to assist those who were in want, either by imparting know-
ledge, or in any other needful way of help. It was true (I
said) that in our own country we had a better method of
building than was shown in the rude huts around us; also,
of cultivating the ground, so far as I observed. In this lat-
ter respect; however, my King had been very good to him
and his subjects; giving them a favourable climate and a fer-
tile soil, that needed little care, and produced of itself the
fruits and vegetables they needed. I then described to him
a winter in Europe; having in the course of my life been
both in the Netherlands and Poland, I told him, I had seen
the ground, the hills, the rivers, and the very roofs of the
houses, all muffled in a covering of white, colder than the
coldest rivers in Toonati-nooka, that lay in some places se-
veral feet thick, for weeks, nay, months, together. The
rivers and lakes, I said, became as hard as a stone, and so
smooth, that the inhabitants fastened pieces of iron or bone
to their feet, by means of which they ran for miles upon the
surface of the water, much faster and easier than they could
run on the ground, more like to birds flying through the air:
and even little children could become skilful in this.
Nothing could exceed the astonishment with which I was
listened to by the whole assembly. They interrupted me
several times, and shouted with wonder, after their manner;
then imitating the actions of skating and sliding, as I de-
scribed them, they besought me to give them this power, or
obtain it for them. The king urgently asked the same: add-
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ing a request that (if it were possible) he and some of his
chief warriors might be furnished with eagle's wings, that
they might soar above the men of Hai-vavaoo in battle, and
pounce down on their villages. To all this I replied, that my
King gave different gifts and powers to His servants, as it
pleased Him in His great wisdom: that Toonati-nooka had
been placed by Him so near the sun which He made to warm
the earth, that this white covering would never come on the
ground, nor the water harden. But if he could not hope to
see that wonderful sight, I assured him, he and his people
were preserved from much suffering which the men of those
countries had to endure; then I told him, the cold there was
sometimes so great as caused the fingers and toes, nay, the
very noses of the inhabitants to drop off, and even took away
their lives, by casting them into a deep sleep. Then I de-
scribed the sagacity of the dogs of Mount Saint Bernard, in
finding travellers over that mountain, who were perishing in
the snow; but first (I found) I had to give some description
of a dog, of which they have no notion, there being none in
the whole island, nor in Hai-vavaoo.
To his second request I made answer, that my King (whom
I now began to call by the name which came nearest to ex-
press the True God, Utumatahee*) had not granted wings to
human creatures; though He had countless servants and
messengers who could fly with the speed of light: that for us,
here below, there was a hope held out of one day being as
swift and glorious as they; but this great privilege was to
be gained by obedience to the King until the moment of our
death. "But will you, O white ambassador", asked the king,
66 one day shine as bright as the sun above us?" I answered
that he himself, with every one of his subjects, if they would
acknowledge my King for the true God, and have the water
of life poured over them in His name, and if they thencefor-
ward lived according to His laws, might attain even to such a
glory.
This, again, was something quite new to them: for it seems,
their highest notions of future happiness were, to be trans-
ported after death to a large island beyond the setting sun,
* The reader will observe, on referring to Owen Evans' narrative, at
pp. 205, a slight discrepancy in the names of their idols, as given here
by Don Manuel; though not more, perhaps, than may be accounted for
by the difference of the same foreign word when pronounced by two
persons, especially when their own native languages also differ from
each other. ED.
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE,
327
where the good (that is, the brave, for courage was their
chief standard of goodness) would spend an existence between
hunting immortal buffaloes and other wild animals, and in-
tervals of a drunken sort of repose. To secure their friends'
enjoyment of this heathenish heaven, they had a custom of
burying with them two javelins, as well as their bow and
arrows, and a drinking cup of cocoa-nut shell, the best they
could procure; this, they imagined, would be filled with some
intoxicating beverage, better than the best palm wine: one
draught of which would make them forget all the sorrows
and pains of this life, and the agony of death itself.
Coming back to the other point on which I thought to im-
prove the temporal condition of the men of Toonati-nooka, I
mean their buildings, I explained to the king how we built
stone houses in Europe; that we joined the stones by a
cement, or mortar, made of burnt lime and sand, and roofed
them with a kind of flat stone, more durable than leaves :
how many rooms we made in them, how high we raised them,
how strong they were to resist winds and weather, etc. He
listened with the utmost interest, and then asked me to tell
him truly, how high were our highest houses. I feared to
compromise my character for truth, even when I was answer-
ing him most truly. But knowing that simplicity is almost
always the truest wisdom, I measured with my eye some tall
cocoa-palms that grew near the scene of our banquet, then
recalled to my mind the tower of the cathedral of Seville;
and I answered the king, we did not reckon a building ex-
traordinary high that was three times the height of those
palm-trees. This caused another shout of wonder; till I
showed them in miniature our mode of building; piling up
some small stones, while I bade them remark how to make
the stones rest one on the other, like a pyramid, or strengthen
each other like an arch. But this instruction came to little
in the end; for I learned that the island was subject to
shocks of earthquake; though not very frequent nor (in
general) so violent as in other volcanic countries, yet enough
to make them prefer light huts of reeds or slight timber, of
one story high.
*1
All being now ready for our departure to the interior, I
bade my companions draw together in marching order, and
keep in strict discipline: for we were surrounded by such
crowds as might (with all their dread of our guns) have over-
whelmed or trodden us down at any moment. But the king
commanded his own body-guard to keep close to us, and
328
SUPPLEMENT :
fence off the multitude: so that my men suffered little incon-
venience. For myself, the king insisted on my being carried
in a covered litter or palanquin, next to his own, and with
precedence over his own nephew. Urge what I might, he
would not be overruled in this: at length, after several
denials, I was forced to yield, though I not only disliked the
honour, but foresaw how it would embitter the mind of this
savage (whose name was Toohaeca) still more against us.
Before leaving the boats, I placed one of our men in each,
with the young Indian to serve as interpreter: not satisfied
with this, I begged the king to command his subjects to leave
them untouched. He did this sternly enough; and besides,
he proposed to me to declare the men, the boats, and all the
stores they contained, emoé,* or holy, and not to be touched
by any one for two moons, on pain of death. But, in spite
of the advantage to be secured from this proposal, I could not
bring myself to accept it; feeling it was probably an obser-
vance in some way connected with their idolatry. I there-
fore preferred to trust to our good God for the safety of the
men and boats: and I charged them to stand off shore and
keep on their guard, never sleeping all at one time, day or
night. I promised that, if all turned out well with me, I
would come or send for them within four days; and I left
with them five muskets and two brace of pistols among them,
strictly charging them not to fire for mere amusement, but
endeavour in every way to keep the natives friendly, at the
same time keeping them at a safe distance.
I then left them, with my blessing; and returning to the
king and those around him, found everything ready for our
departure. The king had only waited for me; and imme-
diately stepped into his palanquin, which was lying on the
ground, inviting me, by waving his hand, to do the same with
mine. Then Toohaeca, the nephew, likewise entered his pa-
lanquin, with a scowl of rage at my precedence, which the
king still insisted on. These palanquins are made of a frame-
work of light bamboo, very easy and springy, lined with soft
grass or moss; they are borne on the shoulders of four men
a-piece, who, in consideration of such service, have many pri-
vileges, and are exempted even from war, except in case of
invasion. They carried us swiftly, at a round trot; and the
* Something, it may be supposed, like the mysterious taboo existing
in the islands of Polynesia, which appears to be some religious restric-
tion affecting persons, places, and even things; but the nature of which
has never been fully ascertained. ED.
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
329
swinging of the palanquin was so easy, that after the excite-
ment and fatigue I had gone through, it lulled me into a deep
sleep, so that I lost the opportunity of observing much of the
country we passed through, on our way to the capital.
T
HIS capital, indeed, when at length we reached it, was
a wretched collection of bamboo huts, built without
order or plan: each hut was little more than a
number of bamboo poles, stuck into the ground in a rude
circle, made to meet at the top, and bound loosely together
with the tough tendrils of a creeping plant, leaving a vent
for the smoke of the cooking fire to escape. The huts of the
tayakees, or chiefs, it is true, were built with somewhat more
care, and were larger than those of the common sort; but
even these were ill-built, comfortless places: and all the skill
of the natives seemed to have been spent on the royal hut,
which occupied the north side of a square, or cleared space,
measuring about fifty yards* every way. This hut, or series
of huts, differed from the rest in having upright posts of
larger trees driven into the ground for the walls or supports.
These were woven in and out with oziers and young bamboos,
laid horizontally, and the interstices stuffed with moss, bark
of trees, and long grass from the savannahs or meadow
lands. The roof was formed of bamboo poles placed slopingly
on the uprights, to shoot off the wet in the rainy season; and
was thatched with the leaves of the cocoa-palm, and another
large and tough leaf from some tree which I had never yet
seen.
Around the king's own hut, just under the eaves, I ob-
served a horrid barbarous ornament indeed; being a row of
human heads, some of them dried in the sun, till the skin
looked like tanned leather; some wasted away, till little more
than the skull-bones remained. Four other heads were stuck
on poles before the entrance, two on either side: besides these,
I saw a number of the larger human bones grouped in fanci-
ful patterns over the door and by the door-posts. I after-
wards learned that the heads under the house-eaves had been
those of some of the bravest of the king's enemies, either
killed in battle, or reserved (according to their dreadful cus-
tom) to be sacrificed and eaten on their return home after a
victory; but the heads on poles were those of noted rebels,
* Six hundred palms. ED.
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who had attempted to usurp the kingdom, once in the reign
of the king's father, Matai-tehepa, and still further back, in
that of his great-uncle, Eyca-Sousaeoo.
By this time, our palanquin had been set down before the
entrance; and the king, observing my eyes fixed on those hi-
deous proofs of their barbarous customs, exclaimed several
times, in great delight, "Hai-vavaoo!" to make me know
these trophies had come from that hostile island; at the same
time brandishing his spear. Then, seeing from my looks what
I thought of the whole scene, he took my hand, in order to
divert my attention, and led me into the hut.
Here we found the queen, surrounded by her attendants,
prepared to receive and welcome us: for the news of our ar-
rival, and of all the wonders we had worked at the sea-coast,
had come before us on a thousand tongues. It was all I
could do to prevent the queen from falling at my feet, by
telling her I was nothing in myself but a poor mortal, like
those who surrounded me: that I claimed all honours for
King, none for myself; and that the truest way to pay Him
the reverence due to Him, was to listen to His message.
my
She answered with much humility, that, by all accounts, I
had given proofs enough of my embassy from a great King;
that, in spite of my disclaimers, every one in Toonati-nooka,
from the king downwards, felt prepared to acknowledge us as
a race of demi-gods, rather than men; that, for her part, she
was only desirous to learn what was the will of that mighty
King from whom I came, to fulfil it in all things not contrary
to the customs of her nation and the will of her royal hus-
band with much more to the same effect.
All this was delivered with a natural and simple grace,
that augured well for her candour and good dispositions to
receive the truth. The king also showed his approval: then,
thinking I must be weary, he led me into a separate hut that
had been prepared for me; and, telling me a feast would be
held in an hour's time to celebrate my coming to his capital,
advised me to sleep till then. I inquired after my compa-
nions, and what preparations had been made for them. He
assured me they had been well taken care of; that some of
the principal people in Ehoto-böe, his capital, had vied with
each other for the privilege of entertaining them; and that
most of them were lodged in the chiefs' huts: all which I
found to be true. However, I felt anxious to warn the men
again, and put them on their guard as to their behaviour
with the savages; so, begging the king for some escort who
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
331
would show me their lodging, he gave me one of the chiefs
who always attended him, and a youth who was of the blood-
royal (though not in a direct line of succession) to go with
me.
We made the round of the principal huts in the place,
where I found the men treated with great honour and dis-
tinction, after the rude fashion of their entertainers. But, as
they had made little or no progress in the language of Too-
nati-nooka, their conversation was carried on chiefly by signs,
with a few words of each language, which had been picked up
by either party, and were now repeated amid shouts of merri-
ment by these new allies. I warned my companions one by
one, how necessary it was to remain at peace with the natives,
giving no cause of offence, but keeping on the watch, espe-
cially with regard to our guns, in which lay our superiority
against their overwhelming numbers. But they assured me,
the natives had still so great a dread of these weapons, they
had shown uneasiness till they had been safely put away :
accordingly, they showed me their guns, which every man
had put in the corner of the hut, keeping still his pistols in
his belt. As the natives had never seen any of the pistols
fired, they had more curiosity about them than dread; and
even when their use was explained to them, seemed rather
amused at them than otherwise. They supposed them to be
worn for ornament, and called them by a phrase which may
be translated, pigmy thunder-cases.
In-
This duty performed, I returned to my hut, still accompa-
nied by my two guides, who seemed to think it a part of the
obedience they owed to the king to keep close to me.
deed, they helped me in ways I could have dispensed with;
for, on our walk, did we but come to a broken path, a little
brook, or any impediment which in their eyes justified the
proceeding, they fairly lifted me in their arms, and carried
me over.
By this time the feast was prepared; we were summoned
to it by three stout trumpeters, who blew such a blast on
hollow goats' horns as rather sounded like a charge to battle.
The banquet was as abundant as goats' flesh, sea and other
birds, and the vegetables of the island, could make it but I
observed that no kind of corn was produced, though the na-
tives make a sort of bread, or thin cake, as a great delicacy,
from the roots of a certain tree, grated, dried, and baked.
was pleased to think I should be the instrument of giving
them so great a blessing as that of wheaten corn, of which I
I
332
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had brought a bag with me. This I explained to the king,
who seemed impatient, from my description, to possess so
great a treasure; and said, they need no longer make their
bread out of a poisonous root,* but from the white man's
wholesome grass, this being the only word in their language
by which I could express corn.
He asked me various ques-
tions about our mode of growing, grinding, and the other
arts of the farmer and the baker; but nothing astonished him
so much as the description I gave of ship-biscuit, and the me-
thod employed in our dock-yards, of rolling it out and cutting
it up.
Neither the queen nor her attendants took any part in this
banquet, it being against the laws of their forefathers for the
women to eat with the men. Indeed, in this, as in all other
heathen countries, these poor creatures seemed to be looked
on as inferior beings, and were condemned to hoe in the
fields, bear heavy burdens, and in a word, to slave throughout
the day, almost as if they were captives taken in war; while
their lords and masters took their ease in smoking and con-
versing, when they were not absent at war or in the chase.
The king asked me how all this was arranged with us; but I
answered him with caution, fearing to make him despise our
holy religion by telling him anything so strange as that the
Gospel had raised to a spiritual equality with men those be-
ings whom heathenism oppressed and degraded.
The feast was scarcely over, when we saw two men running
with the utmost swiftness from the direction of the coast
whence we had journeyed. No sooner were they perceived,
than the whole assembly cried out, something must be amiss;
and my mind instantly misgave me about the boats, and the
men I had left in them. Some of the tayakees darted off at
full speed to meet these messengers, and learn their tidings:
they, however, persisted in coming on to the king, though so
much exhausted by running, that when they reached the
mat where he was seated, they fell down before him panting,
and were unable to utter a word. But by degrees, in broken
sentences they made it known, our men had been surprised
in the boats by some of the natives, and been deprived of
their arms; and that the boats themselves had been dragged
ashore, broken up, and burnt.
Instantly the king broke into the most terrific rage I ever
Probably the manioc, from which the cassava bread of the West
Indies is baked, after carefully grating the root and pressing it with
heavy weights, to extract the poisonous juice. ED.
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
333
beheld in mortal man. Forgetting his late contempt for his
idols, he called for the vengeance of Paowanga, Havaeoeekee,
and the rest, on these violators of our rights; assured me
they should receive the punishment they deserved: then,
turning to his executioner, bade him depart at once for the
coast village, and bring him the heads of all who had been
concerned in this, with those of their wives and children.
At the same time he beckoned out two or three chiefs to go
and assist to carry out this decree of blood.
B
UT I threw myself before them, entreating them to
pause; then appealed to the king, that as the offence
was committed against me, so I might judge the
case myself, with the prisoners brought safely before me. It
was with much difficulty I prevailed in this; so greatly was
his rage excited against the criminals in this lawless deed.
He felt, indeed, his authority over his subjects, and his
honour towards myself, both equally touched by what had
been done.
At length, when I represented that my King was always
angered when vengeance took the place of justice in the
hands of human kings, and when they made the innocent
suffer for the guilty, he gave way, and signified that I should
have my will. It was now arranged that the young Indian
should go with three chiefs, bearing the king's wand of peace
(which, truly, was sent by him much less often than the
sword of execution), in token that no blood was to be shed on
the spot. They took with them some forty or fifty armed
men, and were to arrest all against whom there was probable
evidence that they were parties to this outrage; but none
others: they were to bring these to us, bound, without tor-
ture or ill-usage. Least of all were they to harm the fami-
lies or relations of the accused. All this charge I delivered
to my young Indian: whose discreet behaviour on receiving
it, together with the mildness of the injunction, produced a
great effect on the bystanders. Their sense of justice (so far
as they had it) taught them to compare this line of conduct
with the outbursts of ferocious vengeance they had been so
long used to. All agreed, there must be something very
happy in living under the laws of that great King I served,
whose service I desired to teach them. Thus, all tended to
good under the Hand of Providence: this very event, disas-
trous in itself, became a vehicle for the gospel.
334
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}
I was now surrounded for hours by eager crowds, listen-
ing to all I had to say about the justice which man owed to
his brother man, and the charity which linked each true
Christian soul to his fellow Christian. Then I described the
unity and perfection of God; the impossibility of there being
more than One; that idolatry was invented by a bad spirit,
the enemy of mankind, to lead men away from God, and
make them miserable with himself here, and after death, etc.
When I had wound them up to a great pitch by saying this,
I started up on a sudden, crying out: "Down with all idols!
There is no God but One!" The whole multitude caught up
the cry and pulling me by the skirts of my cassock towards
a huge idol near the king's palace, besought me to put thun-
der into his mouth, as I had done to Paowanga.
:
But this time, I resolved it should be their own act and
deed. So I reasoned with them, saying, my King would be
more pleased with them for using their own hands than mine
to destroy His enemies: that I had blown up Paowanga and
burnt the oloeeos, while they still believed in them; but now,
they having confessed my King for the true God, I gladly
committed the work to them. Upon which, they assented
with much joy, and I gained time to recite my office while
the work of destruction went on. So many were the hands
employed, and so great the zeal, that before the sun went on,
almost all the oloeeos in Ehoto-böe (except a few remaining in
the houses of some obstinate old idolaters, whom I had to
protect from the public indignation) were consumed in one
blazing pile, together with the fragments of the three great
idols worshipped in the capital, viz., Tamâta-Sollû,* who in
their system represents the sun, Chondadûeea, or the moon,
and our former acquaintance, Paowanga, who was, indeed, be-
fore these two eventful days, the established idol of all
Toonati-nooka. In short, I had to interfere several times to
settle disputes among these poor savages, who in their new-
born zeal were anxious to have each his morsel or chip of the
idol, to carry to the flames.
On a review of all this, I could not but wonder at the
rapid progress of Truth in the minds of these idolaters, who
now first heard it. Yet, knowing the subtlety of the enemy
of mankind, and taking into account the inconstancy of most
*Here again, on a comparison with Evan's narrative, p. 142, will be
found that degree of discrepancy between two Indian words, which
would result from their being caught by the ears, and repeated by the
lips, of Europeans belonging to different nations. ED.
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
335
savage dispositions, I prepared myself for any check or reverse
that might occur. Seldom has the Gospel been sown, but in
the blood of those who carried forth the precious seed. On
this reflection, I offered my life anew to my Lord; beseeching
Him that, whether by my labour, or suffering, or both, His
truth might be sown abundantly in the hearts of those around
me; and that in the end "coming I might come with joy,
bearing my sheaves".
But the thing which above all afflicted me, was, that this
great task of converting a large island to the faith, was com-
mitted to one feeble pair of hands; seeing it might well
exercise the zeal of a whole college of priests and catechists.
I also ardently longed for the presence and gentle humanizing
influence of some consecrated sisters of religion, to speak to
the poor heathen women, who were sunk in a state of dark-
ness and degradation equal to that of their savage lords. I
could do no better than send up sighs from my inmost heart
to heaven, that our merciful Lord would deign to fit me to
gather in some handfuls, at least, of this wide harvest.
The last thing we did that evening was, to build up an
altar for my Mass of the morrow; for I had brought all
requisites with me from the sea-coast, and thus the most pre-
cious of our possessions had been saved from the robbery. I
no sooner made known my wishes to prepare this altar, than
the crowds around all began to supplicate for a share in the
work. They urged, with the simple earnestness of children, that
as they had a hand in destroying the idols, I should allow them
to take part in erecting an altar to my King. As, however, the
confusion caused by so many would have hindered instead of
helping the work, I selected twelve strong men who stood
nearest to me, and eight others by lot; directing them how
to proceed, and to bring large stones to the centre of the
space cleared for the royal palace, or hut: arranging these
stones in a square form, and to a convenient height.
While I was thus employed, raising my eyes, I beheld the
enemies' skulls that decorated the palace-door and eaves,
grinning on me hideously; and I observed also the bones and
other trophies of war. These, I determined, should be re-
moved before the sacrifice of the Spotless Lamb was celebrated
in that place. At the same time, knowing that I was now
about to lay the axe to the very root (or one great root) of
the poison-tree of their heathenism, and was likely to offend
their warlike pride, I resolved to proceed with caution.
Wherefore, going to the king (who had bidden his attendants
336
SUPPLEMENT:
admit me at all times to his hut), I represented, that among
the titles my King most delighted in was, Prince of Peace; that
war, indeed, might be undertaken on a just cause, but then
must be conducted with as much mercy as the success of it
made possible; that to insult a vanquished foe by hanging up
his mortal remains was a thing contrary to the spirit of my
King, and to right reason. This was the way I put it; since
to speak to savages of the duty of avoiding barbarous and
savage acts, would be a foreign language to them indeed.
There was a difference, I acknowledged, between the case of
enemies and malefactors; by which I excused his keeping in
some place the heads of those traitors on poles, to warn others
against following their evil deeds. But I pleaded, that as I
was about to offer a solemn sacrifice to the King of Peace, all
such mementos of crime and blood should be removed from
this particular spot: otherwise, said I, myself will remove,
and complete this holy solemnity in some place apart.
On this, the king cried out, he desired above all things
the same sacrifice he had seen performed in the coast-village,
Maheine-taho, should be repeated in the court before his own
dwelling; and though, he acknowledged, I had asked a hard
thing, and what was unheard of before, seeing these trophies
were reckoned so many proofs of the valour of himself and his
tayakees, yet, sooner than appear to slight my King's will, he
would order them to be removed. This was accordingly
done, much to the wonder of the multitude, who could not
comprehend the reason of it, and for the first time showed
some symptoms of murmuring. However, the skulls, poles
and all, were taken into the king's hut, and set up over the
place where he was used to dine, and also to receive audiences
and administer justice: at least such justice as was known in
Toonati-nooka; of which I was soon to have a specimen. As
to the other heads, bones, scalps, and the rest of those bar-
barous trophies, I persuaded him at length, though with much
difficulty, to let them all be buried in one pit beyond the pre-
cincts of the court-yard.
I promised, on my part, if he would consent to this, I would
write an inscription over the spot, both in his native language
and my own, setting forth the valour and triumphs of Para-
marama and his brave tayakees. This idea pleased them all
exceedingly: and the king himself became so impatient to
have it done at once, that he seemed to have forgotten what
he was so eager about a few moments before, the sacrifice to
my King. I was content, however, with directing the pit to
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
337
be dug under a spreading tree with a soft, white wood, like a
plane-tree, into which I cut the inscription next day, accor-
ding to my promise. Having had the bones deposited in it,
I now went on with preparations for holy Mass; which were
continued until the sun set, and the sudden darkness of
the tropics came on us.
N
EXT morning early, we were awakened by confused
outcries, partly of angry shouts, partly of supplica-
tion and wailing. These made me know that the
chiefs and warriors had returned with their prisoners from
Maheine-taho. Indeed, it appeared, in their zeal to bring
them before us, they had hurried them on through the night;
so that the poor wretches were half dead with fatigue as well
as terror; covered with mud, from being dragged through
swampy ways; and bleeding from the cuts and wounds they
had received from rocks and the prickly shrubs of the island.
On questioning Samuel, the young Indian Christian, he assured
me he had done all in his power to prevent this rough treat-
ment being used; but he found, the utmost his wand of peace
would do was, to preserve their lives: had it not been for
that, the natives would have brought back, not the offenders
themselves, but their heads only.
I
I now requested of the king, as I was to judge the accused,
so I might dispose of them before the trial; which I proposed
should take place after the sacrifice I was about to offer. He
readily consented to this; supposing I meant to keep them
without food, blindfolded, and pinioned above the elbow, ac-
cording to their custom. But he was much surprised when
gave directions to have them taken into my own hut, and
tended by the Christian Indians, who fed them and washed
their wounds. All this was above his comprehension; but I
could see by their looks that many among the multitude ap-
proved of it, though they dared not say anything. It gave
me an opportunity of repeating, that my King loved both jus-
tice and mercy; and I said, it was neither merciful nor just
to treat men before their trial as though they had been found
guilty. I was on the point of saying, too, that my King had
once come down on earth, and when there, had washed the
feet of His own followers; but I forbore, feeling it was only
by degrees that anything so supernatural as the sacred
22
338
SUPPLEMENT:
mysteries of the Incarnation could be imparted to these
barbarous minds.
"But", said the king, turning to me, "how will you per-
form the trial, since you have burnt all the oloccos ?" I ought
to have said, that among the superstitious uses those objects
were put to, they were usually brought forth, with solemn
incantations and many ceremonies, and used in some way to
decide all accusations and disputes; being first smeared with
blood drawn from the arms of both the contending parties.
But in offences committed (or supposed to be so) against the
king himself, I found he was in the habit of simply sending
his executioner to bring him the head of the accused person,
without further inquiry by oloeeo or any other.
For the present, I only smiled at his question, and told
Para-marama he should see something of the way in which we
administered justice in my country. Then, finding from the
Indians that the accused had eaten, and were refreshed, I
placed a guard at the door of the hut in which they were
kept, and forbade, on pain of my severe displeasure, that any
one should enter. This had its effect; and I proceeded to
vest for Mass.
This time, I had no need to exhort the multitudes to silence
and reverence: for those who had come with us from Ma-
heine taho (or had run on wildly before us), had already, as
I afterwards found, translated to the people of Ehoto-boë,
nearly word for word, the short address I had made before
celebrating holy Mass there. The same intense curiosity now
prevailed, mingled with awe and I observed that the queen
and her attendants were kneeling within the door of the royal
hut. I thought it best, however, to give the multitude an
exhortation, as I had done at the coast-village: and this time
I drew somewhat nearer to the great mystery of the Incarna-
tion; telling them, my good Lord and King was so filled with
love for all mankind, that He came from time to time to visit
them, and remained on earth among them, now in one way,
now in another: I enlarged on those words, deliciæ meæ esse
cum filiis hominum:* I promised that hereafter I would ex-
plain to them the great way He had taken to dwell thus among
men for thirty-three years. That, I said, was a long, long
time ago, before the reign of Matai-tehepa, before Eyca-
sousaao, before the kings their predecessors, for thousands
upon thousands of moons.
When I mentioned so long a time back, as they were little
* "My delights are to be with the sons of men”—Prov., viii. 31. Ed.
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
339
used to any long reckoning of time, what I said to them struck
them with wonder: they broke into murmurs of surprise,
saying, "Too pooe, too-pooe!" which means, strange, or, won-
derful. I resumed my discourse, saying, they must not be
surprised at this; for I had much greater wonders to tell
them as to the length of time (they had no word in their lan-
guage, till I afterwards made one, to express eternity) that my
King had reigned, and shown His love to His subjects. But,
to come back (I said) to His more especial residence among
them, when the thirty-three years were expired, the period
He had determined to remain, and when He was to go up to
His Throne in heaven, He decreed another wonderful method
by which He should still be with His subjects below.
"So" (continued I,) "the great King is upon earth by one
method, and in heaven by another. Besides, His power is so
great, that He can be in many places on earth at one and the
same time: and, in truth, He is so. Furthermore, there are
places which He comes thus to visit, from time to time, as He
is now coming (for the first time in this particular way) to
Ehoto-boë. You cannot understand these things, O men of
Toonati-nooka! but they are true, and most true. Believe
me when I tell you; for this is part of the message of the
great King to you, and for your good". Then I added much
the same exhortation as at Maheine-taho; beseeching them
to make an act of belief in the Presence of the great King,
and to adore Him on the altar when they heard the little
shell sound. I bade them ask Him, as a great gift, to make
them able to believe in His Presence, and do IIis will.
Then I proceeded with holy Mass. As regards the beha-
viour of the vast multitudes now collected on the spot (and
I believe we had there the great majority of the inhabitants
of this island), it was a repetition of what had taken place the
day before on the coast, only on a larger scale. A more
strange and solemn spectacle, I think, was seldom witnessed
since the days of the Apostles, than this crowd of simple sa-
vages, thirsting for the waters of life, prepared to believe, and
only desirous to be instructed. Thus, for the second time
within two days, the Adorable Victim offered Himself by my
unworthy hands for their salvation.
While I made my act of thanksgiving after Mass, my com-
panions who had been left in the boats, arrived; having
travelled hither more at leisure than the accused men had
been dragged along. The new comers shared in all the
honours of the feast that was now prepared for myself and
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the rest the king showing no small anxiety to wipe from
our remembrance the insult offered to us at Maheine-taho.
The banquet over, I proceeded at once to the trial. For
this, I told the king that, as I was not come to deprive him of
his lawful authority, I requested him to preside over the
whole proceeding, and to confirm the judgment I should pro-
nounce. He consented to this: only, as such a ceremony
was totally new to him, he stipulated that he should be called
on to do no more than sit upon a seat elevated above mine,
while I conducted the trial. I was therefore placed on a mat,
on the king's left, but raised enough to enable the crowd to
see and hear me; while the king sat on a rude throne of logs,
four or five feet higher. When the accused Indians (who
were but eleven in all, some of the rest having escaped up
the country) were brought before us, I perceived, from their
looks of terror, they expected nothing but instant death, or
perhaps lingering tortures.
I therefore spoke to them mildly; saying, the crime they
were charged with was (no doubt) a grave one: that all
nations held the ambassador from a great king to be a kind
of sacred person, and this they knew, from the respect
wherewith the envoys between Toonati and Hai-vavaoo were
treated on both sides. But I assured them, not only should
they have a patient hearing, but the evidence brought
against them should be carefully sifted, and every doubtful
point allowed in their favour. Whatever could be urged
as a fair or pardonable motive for their act, should be
taken in the best sense, and weigh on their side. In short,
I tried my best to state, in this savage place, the prin-
ciples of equity that guide (or ought to guide) our Christian
courts of justice in Europe. It was plain to see, all this was
new to them; once or twice, the king and his tayakees showed
signs of displeasure and impatience at what they heard. But
the poor oppressed people drank in all I said with eager ears;
and as far as they dared in the presence of those who had
acted so differently to them, testified their assent and joy.
After this (having taken care that the witnesses should be
kept separate, without opportunity of conferring together), I
entered upon the trial, by summoning them, one after an-
other, to give evidence. The rest, meanwhile, were placed under
guard, by my orders, out of ear-shot: and each witness, after
saying what he had to say, and being cross-examined by the
accused, (in which they exhibited great shrewdness and inge-
nuity) was marched off under custody of one of the king's
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
341
guards, to a rising ground beyond, where he could not hear
what was going on. This I provided, in case they might be
summoned back on some point of evidence: but it was the
least popular part of my proceedings; both witnesses and
guards being so intensely curious to hear everything of this
new process, that the utmost vigilance was needed to prevent
their stealing back to the spot. At last, I put them all in
charge of the old Indian, and gave him six of the men with
their muskets to over-awe them, and keep them aloof.
T needed no small patience to thread the maze of such
counter-evidence, mutual accusations, noise, rage, wail-
I
ing, entreaties, protestations, denials, as now arose. The
accused being eleven in number, and the witnesses, altogether,
as many as thirty-six, the process was long and intricate. But
I soon found, many of these pretended witnesses had seen
nothing; so that their evidence was worthless. They had
trumped up a story in concert, which broke down at every
turn. This they had done, partly from motives of private
revenge towards certain of the accused, partly to curry fa-
vour with the king and myself: thinking we should be
pleased with the punishment of some, at least, guilty or not,
to satisfy us for the outrage committed.
I thought it well to make an example of these false wit-
nesses; so, after three cases of such deliberate lying had
been proved, I interrupted the trial to give them a summary
punishment.
First, I explained to the by-standers, and the offenders.
themselves, how heinous a crime they had been guilty of.
I told them, though they did not as yet know all the laws of
my King, they had a law written in their own hearts, bidding
them act justly and speak truth. This law, I said, bound at
all times, and even in trivial things; how much more, then,
when the life of a fellow-creature was at stake? What crime
could well be more hateful, than to swear away another
man's life by a false oath? Proceeding in this way, I then
said, it was a very lenient sentence I was about to inflict,
that each false witness should receive a dozen strokes with a
bamboo cane, one half on the soles of his feet, the other half
on his shoulders.
The multitude greatly applauded this sentence, which was
executed without delay; and the cries of the sufferers
342
SUPPLEMENT:
formed a sort of proclamation, more relished perhaps by the
people than by the king and his tayakees, that upright justice.
was thenceforward to be the rule in Toonati-nooka.
Having cleared away this mass of false evidence, I found
there was only proof remaining against five or six, at the
most, as being implicated in the attack on the boats: and,
though many appeared to have been more or less abettors or
sympathizers, I kept strictly to such evidence as went against
the actual transgressors. These few, moreover, were proved
to be among the men of Ehoto-boë who had been most for-
ward to welcome us on our arrival. They had expressed
themselves delighted at our coming, and had persuaded some
of their kinsmen and others, not so well disposed, to treat us
with hospitality. Several witnesses also appeared to speak
for their general character. On the whole, it became evi-
dent that the attack had been made in no hostile spirit, but
was dictated by an irresistible desire to keep us amongst
them, and prevent all chance of our sailing from Toonati-
nooka again.
All this was confirmed by evidence of our two white men,
and the Indian, left in the boats. They declared, the attack-
ing party, though resolute for the destruction of the boats,
had treated themselves with as much gentleness as they
could, under the circumstances. They had, indeed, disarmed
our men by force, coming on them suddenly while they were
overcome by sleep in the heat of the day. And so far, our
men frankly acknowledged the fault was in great measure
their own: for, had they observed my strict charge, and
kept one always on the watch, this great disaster, which has
perhaps determined our fate for the rest of our days, never
had happened. But, beyond securing the boats, to destroy
them, the Indians gave our men, and their own countryman,
all possible good usage: even carrying them ashore on their
backs, so that not a thread of their clothes was wetted.
They also entreated them, on their knees, not to be offended
at what they had done: they assured the two Europeans
(through the Indian interpreter) it had been only to secure
the happiness of having the "white lords" reside among
them, for the good of themselves, their families, and the
whole island and nation. Finally, they had besought them to
intercede with the king, and myself, to screen them from the
punishment which they (reasonably) feared was hanging over
their heads.
All this considered, I felt bound to make every distinction
DON MANUEL'S NARRATIVE.
343
between the degree of fault on the part of the aggressors, and
the amount of misfortune we suffered thereby. True, this
destruction of the boats has probably made our leaving
Toonati-nooka for ever hopeless, by destroying our indepen-
dence of action. For I scarcely think we shall be able to
persuade the king to grant us a war canoe to return to As-
sumption Isle, whence we came. And, the more valuable
and important we become to him, as I trust we may, by the
conversion of himself and his subjects to faith and civilization,
the less likely will he be to consent. Yet, on the other hand,
this very obstacle may turn to a benefit, if it settles the
minds of our white men to become colonists in the place: and
for myself, it has solved (in a way I little thought of) a pain-
ful doubt that vexed me: being under promise to return to
my little flock in Assumption Isle, yet seeing so wide a field
of labour for souls opening on me here.
The end of the trials was, the culprits were let off with a
slight punishment; much slighter than that inflicted on the
false witnesses: and this difference made between the two
classes of offenders was another instruction to the minds of
the savages on the nature of truth, of justice, and the rights
of man.
I have little more to add, but that since our first landing,
the grace of God and the power of the evil one have been
contending for the possession of these poor heathens' souls.
They listen to me, indeed, with great eagerness, and ac-
knowledge the goodness of my Master's laws. They are most
grateful, too, for my interference with the king and his tayakees
on their behalf, and for the temporal improvements I have
effected, and the arts of life I have taught them. On the
other hand, the power of corruption is strong: they shrink from
the holiness of the Christian laws; and I foresee, one great
obstacle to its being received will be the absolute necessity of
their renouncing some of their heathenish customs, and poly-
gamy.
The enmity of Toohaeca, the king's nephew, is likely to
prove another source of trouble to us, or even danger. I am
credibly told, he has vowed vengeance against us; and, though
hated by the generality for his cruel and overbearing disposi-
tion, he has a small party of the tayakees with him: men of
like mind, who have taken him for their leader. They would
side with him more openly, were it not for their dread of the
king, who favours us in so signal a way. How long that
favour may last, or how soon the enemy of souls may succeed
344
SUPPLEMENT: DON MANUEL'S narrative.
in troubling our peace, is known to God alone. Upon His
loving providence we repose securely. And, with a prayer
that the wild elements may be overruled to waft this my
narrative to hands capable of sending us help, I commit it to
the waves, on this, the thirteenth anniversary of my religious
profession, and of our residence in Toonati the seventh month
of the second year.

JOHN F. FOWLER, Printer, 3 Crow Street, Dame Street, Dublin.
Hubbard
Imag. Voy.
PR
4007
.A48
C4

ARTES
1837
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
EL PLURIBUS UNUL
TUEROR
SI-QUÆRIS PENINSULAM-AMŒNAM).
CIRCUMSPICE
GIFT OF
REGENT LL HUBBARD