^k3*,«^ '/^

YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

TALES OF OLD TRAVEL.

"Sv

TALES 0/ OLD TRAVEL.

RE-NARRA TED

HENRY KINGSLEY, F.R.G.S.

The bodies and the hones of those
That strove i7t other days to pass.
Are -withered in the thorJty close.
Or scattered blanching 071 the grass.
He gazes on the silent dead:
" They perished in their daring deeds. "
This proverb flashes through his head,
" The many fail', tlie one succeeds"

Joniou ma iffaj fork :
MACMILLAN & CO.
1869.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
MARCO POLO  I
THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART  40
THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF ANDREW BATTEL . 56
THE WANDERINGS OF A CAPUCHIN  78
PETER CARDER  II3
THE PRESERVATION OF THE "TERRA NOVA " . . .122
SPITZBERGEN  I42
d'eRMENONVILLE'S ACCLIMATIZATION ADVENTURE . . 161
THE OLD SLAVE TRADE  186
MILES PHILIPS  210
THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD  237
JOHN FOX  264
ALVARO NUNEZ  273
THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE  308

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
To face
page
PELSART PREVENTED FROM REACHING THE ISLAND . 44
FATHER DENIS AND HIS NEGRO GUIDE  89
D'ERMENONVILLE sees the RIO GRANDE  1 75
THE OLD SLAVE TRADE  203
THE MEETING OF MILES PHILIPS AND THE GREY
FRIAR .  233
THE DESERTION OF ROBERT EVERARD  243
EFFECTS OF A CYCLONE  274
THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE  338

TALES OF OLD TRAVEL.

^ MARCO POLO.
In the thirteenth century the wonderfully rapid
aggregation of innumerable small Tartar tribes into
one vast swarm, guided in its ceaseless work of
destruction by a succession of absolute and pitiless
hands, those of Ghengis Khan and his generals, and
grandsons, the sons of Tuli ; filled all Europe with
alarm. That. alarm grew into terror after the fall of
Cracow in 1240, when Baatu Khan, with half a million
of flat-faced and short-legged warriors, routed the
chivalry of Europe under the Count Palatine of
Saxony, and desolated Eastern Europe in all direc
tions. The wildest notions prevailed about the savageness
of these conquering Tartars. Yui of Narbonne, in
his letter to the Bishop of Bordeaux, quoted by
Matthew Paris, narrates as having occurred under his
own eye at the siege of Neustadt, in Carniola, horrors
far too hideous for repetition here. This same siege
of Neustadt having being relieved by the Duke of
B

MARCO POLO.

Austria, eight Tartar prisoners were taken, one of
whom was discovered by the Duke of Dalmatia to be
an English renegade ; a man who had desperately
diced away his fortune and his self-respect in that
awfully abominable city Acre ; wandering from land to
land, making uncouth noises as though he were dumb,
clothed in a sack, and looking such a sorry dog that
the meanest thief passed him with contempt, and the
charity of the good was excited towards one whom it
had pleased God to thrust down so low. He rambled
on, thus prolonging life for a season. " Albeit every
day by rashness of speeche and inconstancie of heart
he endangered himself to the deuil" (poor fellow,
that seems likely enough), until falling sick in Chaldea
he bethought himself of learning one of the Tartar
tongues, and subsequently many others. He was
entertained by the Tartars, and afterwards employed
as interpreter-envoy to threaten the King of Hungary,
and try to make him yield to the Tartar chief that
kingdom which they afterwards overran.
This man first gave the Europeans some distinct
though slight notion of the Tartars, or Mongols,
as they were among themselves. His account was
possibly not worth very much, seeing that his care
was to please his captors by representing the Tartars
as the fiends which they believed them to be ; and,
moreover, only had his life spared having "made
such oathes and protestations as (I think) the deuil
himselfe would haue been trusted for." The most
remarkable part of his testimony was as to the won
derful absence of quarrelling and brawling among the
Tartars. For the rest he seems truthful but adverse,

MARCO POLO.

as he was bound to be. His testimony is of little
value to us, as he was followed by others abler and
certainly more respectable than himself ; but to omit
mention of him in a book of adventure would be a
great fault, seeing that a well-written account of his
adventures, could one get such a thing, would form
probably a stranger story than any told in this book.
About 1245 matters became still more complicated
with these Tartars. The Carizmians (shepherds of
the Caspian) rolled headlong on Syria, and the union
of the Franks with the Sultans of Aleppo, Hems,
and Damascus was insufficient to stem the violence
of the torrent. They pillaged the Holy City, almost
destroyed the military orders, and profaned the
Sepulchre, and generally undid the work of Frederic
II., the fervour of the fifth Crusade now burning very
low. The worst of it was that the Tartars them
selves, under Baatu Khan, were in hot pursuit.
Immediate action on the part of his Holiness became
necessary. The fiends of Tartars must instantly be
converted to the Roman Catholic faith, lest a worse
thing befall us. His Holiness (Innocent IV.) " took
action" immediately, pitched the Saracen alliance
overboard, and sent four very foolish Franciscan
monks, Ascelin and others, by no means Xaviers, to
convert these sons of Tartarus.
It would be humiliating to dwell on the hopeless
folly of the whole expedition. They found the
Tartar " horda," or tent, the quarters of the expelled
Carizmians, and came barefooted in their miserable
garments before the mighty general, who could then
have overrun Europe, demanding the submission of
B 2

MARCO POLO.

his, master the great Khan to the Pope, of whom
these barbarians had never heard. Baatu, on the
other hand, -had never heard of the Pope. These
worthy friars seemed to him impudent inadmen : they
told him that the Popfe was lord of heaven and earth,
and that the Khan must send his submission to him,
or, &c. &c. The Tartar asked about the Pope's
armies, victories, and so forth, to which they had
nothing to answer in any degree satisfactory ; and, to
bring a somewhat painful matter to an end, he treated
them badly, and dismissed them with a bit of Parthian
contfempt. The Pope having sent for him to give
in allegiance, he thought he could not do better
than send for the Pope. The Pope (so the mighty
savage expressed himself) was a dog ; and moreover,
if that pope did not come to him and do homage,
there was an, &c. &c. behind that pope which he
would do well to think about. There is little doubt
that the Tartar general would have carried his threat
into execution had he thought the Pope of sufficient
importance, which luckily he did not. The whole
adventure of- these four good men, whose courage
we must not for a moment forget was simply magni
ficent, and who would have been proud of martyrdom^
was in the end ridiculous and humiliating. Conceive.;
the exasperation which a well-trained Jesuit would
have felt towards these four simple cloister babies.
John de Piano Carpini, the Minorite friar, though
he was profoundly ignorant (like the rest of the
world) of the geography of those parts, and although
he was credulous* to the extent of beheving in a
' As a good instance of this, "Ad 'Parossitas' venerunt, quiparuos

nation of men without joints to their legs, who, if they
fell down, could not get up again without help, yet has
left behind him a very interesting and very sensible
account of the Tartars. He went this same year,
1246, out from Europe, and by a more northerly
route; actually getting within half a day's journey
of the capital city of Karakorum, a distance of
3,500 miles from Kiew, his place of departure.
Carpini behaved much more wisely than the poor
Praedicants, and was treated much better. He
merely told Baatu, and Ajuk, his cousin, that the
Pope had seen with surprise and grief the unfor
tunate habit the Tartars had of murdering his
subjects, and recommended them to become Chris
tians. He had no very great reason to complain of
his treatment, except that it was contemptuous, and
that the whole thing was an utter failure. He had
the singular good fortune to see the installation of
Ajuk Khan, son of the Ogadai, grandson of Ghengis,
the first cousin of Baatu, conqueror of Russia and
Hungary. It was a magnificent spectacle, held a few
miles out of Karakorum. The wealth exhibited was
gigantic, and the good friars themselves seemed to
have attracted some sort of contemptuous wonder by
the mere meanness and poverty of their appearance.
The first day the Tartars were all clad in white, the
second in scarlet, the third in blue, the fourth in
baldakin : which circumstance will explain to us the
habentes stomachos et os panium, non manducant, sed carnes de-
coquunt, quibus decoctis, se super ollam ponunt ; et fumum recipiunt,
et de hoc solo reficiuntur." The Tartars were so far advanced in
civilization, as to make fun by cramming a traveller.

MARCO POLO,

curious theatrical behaviour of the Poli in Venice,
at their celebrated return supper, years later. Carpini
after this ceremony was forgotten, and nearly starved,
but at last dismissed with a letter to the Pope. The
Khan offered him an ambassador, but he declined ;
and the reasons he gives for his refusal show him to
have been a very shrewd man, and, what is more,
a gentleman. "These ambassadors," he argued,
"would be mere spies, and seeing the disturbed state
of Europe, would be the more encouraged to make
war on us, seeing how we are divided against our
selves. The hatred of the Europeans to the Tartars
is so great, that they would be assuredly slain ;
' Gentes enim nostrse arrogantes sunt et superbae ; '
and the Tartars never rest till they have avenged the
death of an ambassador ; " and altogether thought
they would do their 3,500 miles back again, in the
dead of winter, without the ambassador, and sO
started. The Empress-mother, widow of Ogadai> had
the woman's pity for those in distress, and possibly
also the woman's reverence for the priest, let him be
of what denomination he chose : for she gave " each
of us a gown of fox-skins, with the fur on the
outside, and a piec^ of purple." But "our Tartars
stole a yard out of every one of them, and out of
that which was given to our servant, they stole the
better half." The thieves ! of course they did ; was
it not their profession .' The good and bravfe Carpini
returned to Kiew after incredible hardships, with
apparently slight results. But I think that no one
who has ever read hisi quaint, simple, honest story,
can avoid admiring him. He was not a mere

MARCO POLO.

fanatical ignorant baby, like Ascelin; but he was a
mere monk, and a mere monk was not the thing
wanted : a Jesuit was required. And Jesuits were
not at that time invented.
Rubruquis, the last friar who attempted the con
version of the Tartars in this century, was the
cleverest, and we must be brief with him. He was
sent by Louis the Saint in 1253, in reality to attempt
to bring about an alliance between the Crusaders and
the Tartars against the Saracens, but ostensibly to
inquire into the truth of reports, most likely spread
by the Nestorians, that the Tartar princes were
Christians. The first prince he came to was Sartuck,
whom he met on the Volga. Sartuck's people looked
on the report as to their Christianity as an offensive
imputation, which was not to be repeated. Being
evidently puzzled, however, and believing their mis
sion to be too important for him to decide, he sent
Rubruquis, Friar Bartholomew of Cremona, Goset,
" the man of God," Turgemannu.s, " and Nicolas, my
servant, whom I bought at Constantinople, with some
part of the alms bestowed on me, (!) " to Baatu,
of whom we have heard before. Baatu sent them
on to Mangu, and Mangu sent them home again.
The whole expedition was without results. He tells
us of Prester John, in whom he has small faith. He
says, what is perfectly true as far as it goes, that
Prester John was Ung Khan, a Mongolian prince of
the Nestorian persuasion, who was killed in the wars
with Turgis Khan in 1203. Though Rubruquis
travelled through his so-called dominions, half a
century after his death only a few Nestorians had

MARCO POLO.

ever heard of him : he was scarcely worth their
notice. The other few circumstances which seem to
float to the surface after reading Rubruquis, are that
the Nestorian priests beat a board instead of ringing
a bell, which reminds us of one of Mr. Curzon's
admirable sketches, made six hundred years later,
in a book* which is a strange contrast to Rubru
quis. Another thing one remembers, is that the gipsy
queen Cotata was a Christian, though her husband
Mangu was not Rubruquis's book is, like Carpini's,
most excellent and interesting reading.f
This was the third and last attempt in this century,
of the cloister upon the faith of the barbarians. The
monks, from the silly Ascelin, to the shrewd Rubru
quis, had done their best most nobly, but the time
was not ripe. The great opportunity was to come.
When it came, a merchant, and not a priest, was the
man who had the chance of seizing it. But the
cowardly priests deserted the merchant, and the thing
was never done, and perhaps never will be.
With an apology for this tedious, but I hope
correct introduction, I will at once begin on my main
theme. It was in the year 1250, that two noble Venetian-
gentlemen, Nicolo and Maffeo Paolo, or, as we will
say in future. Polo, left Venice, on an adventurous
trading journey among these very Tartars, of whom
we have been saying so much.
* Monasteries of the Levant.
f Rabbi Benjamin, of Tudela, was before them all (ll6o), but he
is only the Arthur Young of the Tartar revolution, and is beside as
credulous as his equally noble brother Jew, Joseph Wolff.

It is certain that they had heard of the adventures
of the Minorites and Praedicants with Carpini, among
these people, though Rubruquis was not yet started.
The communication between Venice and the East
in those times must have been very frequent The
enormous wealth, spoken of by Carpini, must have
excited their curiosity and their trading instincts to a
great degree. They started accordingly, taking with
them a great store of jewels.
They travelled slowly, and arrived in due time at
Constantinople, where Baldwin II. was at that time
emperor, and here they stayed for some time. They
then crossed the Black Sea to the port of Soldavia
(Sinope .¦' Sukum Kali .¦* or was it Trebizond .') from
whence they proceeded to the court of Barkah, one of
the Baatu branch of the descendants of Ghengis, to
whom they presented all their jewels, receiving still
more beautiful presents in return, a kind of gentle
manly traffic at once courteous and remunerative.
Signer Nicolo, the elder of the two brothers (who
at this time, if it is true that he married and had a son
after his ultimate return to Venice, must have been
under thirty years old), had, when he quitted home, left
his good lady big with a child whose name is a house
hold word throughout Europe and civilized America
to this day. He now, aft'^r some two years, felt a
natural longing to see his signora and the unknown
baby, and to find out if all had gone right with them,
and so they essayed to turn homewards. Alas ! the
good signora had slept for some years peacefully in
her grave among the lagunes, and the unseen baby
had grown into a gallant and beautiful young man

lo • MARCO POLO.

before the wearied eyes of the brothers Polo were
permitted to rest upon the " stones of Venice."
Their host Barkah fell out and went to war with
his dear uncle, the mighty general Hulagu Khan,
and of course was signally defeated, and the Poli
had to fly. The way to the sea was closed to them,
and so they made south to the city of " Guthacam,"
on the Tigris, a town which I am not able to identify.
They now struck to the eastward, across the great
salt desert of Persia, a distance of nearly 1,300 miles ,
in a straight line, though they probably made much
more of it, for they seem to have kept to the desert
on purpose, making no mention of having halted any
where, not even at Teheran, which was directly in
their way, until they arrived at Bokhara, beyond the
limits of Persia. There is nothing very surprising in
this, for it is perfectly evident that these Tartar
prince cousins were allowed, so long as they obeyed
the head Khan at Karakorum, to make war on one
another ad libitum, and indeed upon the death of
Kublai they scorned submission to the central autho
rity altogether. This is the more remarkable because
private quarrelling among the people was strictly for
bidden. Barach, Khan of Bokhara in those days, seems to
have been a far superior person to Joseph Wolff's
friend of our own times : he gave them a good recep
tion, and they stayed with him for three years.
Meanwhile Mangu Khan had died very soon after
the visit of Rubruquis, and Kublai Khan, 'his brother,
younger son of Tuli, the mighty general, son of Ghen
gis Khan, had succeeded him. He belonged to the

MARCO POLO.

military branch of the family : his brothers Baatu
and Hulagu are well known to the readers of history,
Baatu as conqueror of Eastern Europe, the victor
of Lignitz ; Hulagu as the conqueror of Persia, the
destroyer of the Assassins, and the Old Man of the
Mountain. Kublai was more of a politician than
a warrior. The change of habits which had begun
with his uncle Octal had been further developed by
his brother Mangu. The Tartars no longer lived
in tents, but in houses ; and Karakorum, at first a
mere dep6t for plunder, had developed into the hand
some town compared by Rubruquis to the town of
St. Denys, and was still developing into the still
grander town seen by the Poli. Already had a Paris
goldsmith found his way to the very centre of the
Great Steppe, and was beating the holy vessels of the
Hungarian and Polish churches, plundered by the
great Baatu, into epergnes and centre pieces exceed
ing in magnificence and equalling in taste those of
the most admired European civilization.
At the end of three years, an ambassador going
from Prince Hulagu to Kublai Khan found these
two charming Venetian gentlemen at the court of
Bokhara, speaking the Tartar language fluently. The
ambassador urged them strongly to go with him and
see the mightiest prince on the earth, and after a
little hesitation and consultation they consented, and
turning their backs upon Venice once more,- and their
faces to the East, thus added nearly three thousand
more miles to the already hopeless distance which
lay between them and home.
After a year's weary and dangerous travelling, they

12 MARCO POLO.

arrived at Tai Guen, on the Houng-ho, and stood in
the. presence of the great Khan himself, who seems
to have been a right royal person. He received them
with great courtesy, and questioned them about many
things, but the conversation from the first seemed to
turn on the Pope and Western development of the
Christian religion. They had many audiences of him,
and he grew more and more delighted with them, and
at length he determined to send them as ambassadors
to the Pope.
The request to the Pope was that he should send
himx a hundred men learned in the Christian religion,
who' should instruct him and his people in the truths
of Christianity. He declared that he had a profound
devotion for our Lord, believing Him to be the only
true God ; and he charged Nicolo and Maffeo to bring
him back some of the oil which burns before the Holy
Sepulchre at Jerusalem. He then dismissed them on
their most important errand.
Ascelin, Carpini, Rubruquis, had all been treated ;
with contempt by these Tartar khans. But Kublai,
the first prince of his race who had been brought up
in all the refinements of a Chinese education, was
also the first to desire a close and earnest acquaint
ance with such Christianity as he could get. Why
was this i* Probably for many reasons. The court
lady party was certainly Nestorian. He was in want
of a religion, and at last, says careful Gibbon, left
the pure and simple religion of his great ancestor
(seventy boiling cauldrons, and seventy enemies
thrown into them, good Mr. Gibbon, out of your
own mouth) to sacrifice to the idol Fo. The correct

>3

Mosheim also says, " We learn from the best accounts
and the most respectable authorities that — " (the
Nestorians flourished through these times) — "that
several kings and grandees of these nations had either
been instructed in the Gospel by their ancestors, or
were converted to Christianity by the exhortations of
the Nestorians." Which of the grandees besides a
man with an unspellable name, by all authority, one
of the Khans of the Kercutes, whose skull was set
in silver pour encourager les atctres chrMens we know
not. It was evident that Nestorianism, with its
miserable unm.eaning superstitions, would not satisfy
the soul of the Chinese-bred gentlemen, who after
wards sacrificed to Fo under fail of anything better.
But he had heard of (I think not seen) men of
gentle demeanour, of simple and pure life, and of
very humble aspect and appearance, who had come
thousands of miles, patient through every form of
discomfort and danger, to his brother and his uncle :
not carrying and bringing presents, but bringing
defiant messages, such as it was death to bring:
calm, dignified, and self-possessed, amidst all the
brutal contempt which had been heaped upon them.
Men who expected death for the faith's sake, if with
fear, yet with unutterable longing for the crown of
martyrdom it would bring — men who, with all their
silly superstition, represented very fairly the first and
purest age of Christianity. Who dares laugh at
these noble monks } And now there came to this
perfectly-finished Chinese gentleman, two gentlemen,
Nicolo and Maffeo Polo, who were the most perfect
and charming gentlemen ever seen ; who professed

14 MARCO POLO.

the same faith as these ragged monks, and would
kneel to them to receive their blessing ; -kneel to those
monks who had refused to kneel to his terrible head
long brother, not from pride, but— lest the others who
knelt should be invoking the devil.
There is no chapter in the history of human stu
pidity so sad as the story of these noble monks.'
Had there been a Xavier to the fore at this time, the
Roman Catholic form of religion would have counted
one hundred million more adherents than it has now,
"sans com-pter le petit Mortara."
This Kublai Khan was grandson of Ghengis Khan,
of whom one can read in chapter Ixiv. of Gibbon's
" Decline and Fall," and elsewhere. I seem to make
out from very various sources, that he was born either
in 12 1 5, or I2i8; that he succeeded to the throne, after
the very short reign of his elder brother Mangu ; that
he was a little under forty years of age when Nicolo
and Maffeo Polo came to him ; and that, after a reign
of some thirty-eight years, he died at about the
age of seventy years. The Tartars put his death in
1292 ; the Chinese in 1295. The former are evidently
right, for they are confirmed by the Poli. Evidently'
a gentleman, although the stupidity of the church
of those times would not allow him to become a
Christian. Kublai Khan dismissed his beloved Venetians. He
sent with them one of his great men called Cho-
gatul, who was not only to see them safe through his
kingdom, but also to go on to the Pope himself. But
he also gave them something more important than
the safe-conduct of a nobleman ; namely, an engraven

MARCO POLO. 15

plate of gold, signed with his name ; by the presen
tation of which, throughout their journey, they were
furnished with every travelling necessity, and had the
country entirely at their service. Poor Chogatul fell
sick after three weeks travelling, and they were forced
to leave him behind and go on their way alone. Yet
this wonderful talisman of a gold plate acted like
magic. The arm of Kublai Khan was a long one,
for he played Frederick the Great over more thou
sands of miles than did the Prussian king over
hundreds. They were everywhere courteously as
sisted through their long journey by the subjects of
the Khan; most discourteously received by nature,
who spread such stumbling blocks in their path in
the way of weather and floods, that they were three
years in reaching the Armenian port on the Black
Sea, which Ramusio calls Giagga.
From hence they sailed to Constantinople, passed
the Archipelago, and then held across the Mediter
ranean sea to Acre. The reason of this retrograde
movement eastward is probably this : that at the
Armenian port they could only find a ship bound
to that port, and from that port they were perfectly
sure of a passage westward. For we must remember
that in the year 1268 the seventh Crusade was
getting on hand. St. Louis was preparing for his
fatal expedition to Carthage ; Antioch was lost, and
our Henry III. had obtained a grant of one tenth
of the Church revenues for three years. In April
1269, when they arrived. Prince Edward (Edward I.)
with his glorious thousand of Nazareth, and his
more glorious Queen Eleanor .the Wound Sucker, were

i6 MARCO POLO.

nearly due. Commercial intelligence might not have
travelled fast in those days, yet it is not wildly im
possible that some shrewd Armenian merchant may
have got an inkling that there would be a plethora
of half a milHon (about the sum raised by Henry III.)
of British gold at Acre that year ; or at all events a
vast congregation of dandy and extravagant Crusaders;
and may have chartered a ship with the necessaries of
life to that starving, immoral hell upon earth. Acre ;
for a description of which town in this very year, you
must consult indispensable Gibbon again. However,
the two Paolos reached here in A.D. 1269. And the
compiler's brother assisted, on board the Pique frigate,
in blowing it up, for the last time at present, in
A.D. 1840.
The Churchmen were pretty busy in Acre this year.
The brothers Paolo, with their mission to the Pope,
a mission which seemed so very promising with re
gard to the spread of Christianity in the East, found
here a very eminent Churchman indeed ; a legate of
the Apostolic See, "Tibaldo Visconti di Piacenza,"
by one -account : " Theobald, a native of Placentia,
Archbishop of Liege," in Teutonic protestant eyes ;
no less a person than Pope Gregory X. afterwards :
about whose efforts for the junction of the Greek
and Latin Church one may read in one's Mosheim
and elsewhere. This good man, who was doing his
duty in that horrible Acre, told them of the death
of Clement IV. and advised them to wait till a new
Pope was elected before they went back to the Khan.
So the two gentlemen started for Venice, 1269.
Nicolo's wife was dead, but the boy baby whom he

MARCO POLO. 17

had never seen, had grown into a glorious young
creature of nineteen, handsome, clever, witty, and
accomplished. Men remember this youth even now
and they call him Marco Polo.
Was it that Venice was dull, now that one dear face
was gone, and one dear voice only heard in dreams
for twenty years now silent } Was it that many
friends were dead, and those who were left could
scarcely have known them, or even, they say, their
speech ? Was not the Khan, too, waiting their
return, and all kinds of unknown honours and wild
adventures attending them at the court of the
mightiest monarch of the time .-" Beyond all, were
they not in the prime of life, and the travel fever/

strong on them 1

/'

" I cannot rest from travel ; I will drink
Life to the lees : all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, and suifered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone ; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea : I am become a name,
For always roaming with a hungry heart."
It is difficult indeed to guess the motives of men
who have been dead for five hundred years, and have
left no sign behind them ; but there seems to have
been no shadow of a purpose with them of staying at
home : and so there departed with them, this time per
suaded, easily enough I do not doubt, their splendid
young son and nephew : to accompany them in an
expedition, the progress of which seems almost like
the dream of a madman. These three started to
gether to walk and ride, principally over land, from
IQ c

i8 MARCO POLO.

Venice to Pekin. And what is more, they did it,
and went further afield still before all was over.
No pope was elected for above two years, and
getting anxious lest the Khan should think they had
broken faith with him, they left Venice and returned
to Acre, where Theobald of Placentia still was.
Having been to Jerusalem and procured the holy oil
for the Khan, they unwillingly set out from Giazza,
unwillingly because they had missed getting a com
mission from the Pope. The legate however gave
them a letter, and they went. Hardly were they
gone, when the decision of the cardinals arrived
at Acre. Theobald of Placentia was elected Pope,
and took the title of Gregory X. He at once sent
swift messengers after our three travellers with fresh
letters in his new name, and also added to their
company two preaching friars of great learning and
piety, brothers Nicolo and Gulielmo. To these friars
he gave letters and privileges, authority to ordain
priests and bishops, and power of absolution in all
cases ; they also carried presents and the papal. bene
diction to the Khan. The Master of the Temple
accompanied them as far as Giazza.
However great was the piety and learning of these
two monks, we cannot rank their courage high. On
arriving in Armenia, they found the country at war
with the Sultan of Babylon, and were instantly
terrified into giving their letters to the three Polo's,
and returning with the Master of the Temple. The
three Poli went on, one fancies, laughing at the
cowardice of the foolish monks.
They went, I think, to Trebizond, or another sea-

MARCO POLO. 19
 *  <t — in.

port in Armenia, for I cannot verify "Giazza." Thence
to Erzeroum,. Ishera Meshid, Balkh, this time leaving
Bokhara to the north. Then by Badakshan in the
Hindoo Koosh, where young Marco fell sick, but
as usual lost no time in acquiring knowledge (the
indefatigable young man — what a senior wrangler or
double first he would have been : one hopes he was
not a prig, though one knows he was a dandy). This
illness detained them at Badakshan for a year, after
which they went on to Khotan, and passed over the
southern end of the Great Steppe of Cobi, near the
bases of the Kuen Lung mountains, which bound
Thibet on the north ; the rivers all flowing north
ward, and losing themselves in small swampy lakes,
which disposed of their waters by evaporation. They
came then to Kunchow, the most north-westerly town
in the present Chinese dominions, where they stayed
some time, having made a journey of nearly 4,000
miles eastward from the Black Sea.
At this point Kublai Khan, now at his residence of
Tai Guen, some 200 miles south-west of Pekin, heard
of their coming, and sent to meet them. He soon had
his old friends brought before him, and for the first
time saw young Marco. "And who may that be.'"
he asked the Russian autocrat who had received the
Chinese education, with slightly sardonic politeness.
" My son and your majesty's servant," answered the
Venetian neatly enough'; after which one may imagine
a general Kootoo, ending in a thorough good under
standing. The Pope's letters and presents, and the holy oil,
which they had fetched from Jerusalem during their
C2

20 , MARCO POLO.

detention at Acre, were duly presented. Young Marco
was a success, and was taught to write among the
other young noblemen, during which instruction he
contrived to learn four languages — Mongol, Turkish,;
Manchu, and Chinese. He was a great success. So
began their twenty years' residence at the court of
Kublai Khan.
This is the place to mention my belief with regard
to Marco Polo's geography, and to say this : that
the more it is examined, the better it will stand;
examination. His geography was, of course, to some
extent hearsay geography, as was that of Speke, for
instance. But Speke's hearsay-geography has been
most wonderfully verified by Baker, and Marco Polo's
geography is shown to be more true in proportion as
human knowledge increases. Mr. Cooley, in his " Mari
time and Inland Discovery," gives a most excellent
resume of Marco Polo's travels, which is admirable
for the verification of proper names. His object
however was merely scientific, mine is romantic;
but I can assure my reader that I will stick to the
texts as closely and as inexorably as he. The simple
story in this case is so much more wonderful than
anything one could invent, that there is no temptation '
to decorate it.
The dreadful " Old Man of the Mountain, chief of
the tribe of Arsacides," now corrupted into "Assas
sins," had been with all his beautiful and terrible '
surroundings destroyed by Prince Hulagu in 1262,
before the arrival of Marco. But Marco heard a
great deal about him. The sect of which he was the
last Imam, or head-priest, had existed in the moun-

MARCO POLO. 21

tains south of the Caspian, near Teheran, for above
i6o years, and had a colony, the terror of Crusaders,
established at Mount Lebanon. Moadin had imitated
as well as he could the Mahomedan heaven. Between
two mountains, in a valley similar to that in "Ras-
selas," accessible only by one fortified wicket, he had
made a paradise or park of surprising beauty, in
which were means for the perfect gratification of
every sense and every passion. He found youths of
fierce and dauntless aspect, between the ages of twelve
and twenty, and to them discoursed of the joys of
Paradise, and of his power to take those there who
would implicitly obey his behests. The youths were
shortly afterwards drugged, and carried, in a state of
insensibility, to the garden among the mountains, and
on awaking found themselves in the enjoyment of
every sensual pleasure known to man. After a few
days of this, they were again secretly drugged and
carried back to the outer world, firmly believing in
the supernatural power of their chief, and ready to
commit any number of fearful crimes in his service,
in the hopes of once more realizing that delicious
dream from which they seemed to have awakened.
The daggers of these fanatics were felt alike by
Crusader and Mahomedan, and the original organi
zation must have expanded into a vast secret society ;
for in 1 280 we find that no less than 40,000 of them
were attacked and destroyed in Syria by the Mame
lukes. The original nest of them in the north of
Persia was attacked by the irresistible Prince Hulagu.
After three years' siege the entrance was forced, and
thousands of short-legged, broad-shouldered Tartars

22 - MARCO POLO.

rushed yelling into the beautiful garden. It is diffi
cult to imagine the peculiar horrors of the scene
which must have followed ; the instantaneous ruin of
what was probably one of the most beautiful places
in the world ; the wailing of the miserable women,
and amidst all, the Assassins fighting desperately like
hunted cats among their trampled flowers.
The experiences of the Poli, during their twenty
years' residence in China, are of course very interest
ing, and prove the truthfulness of their narrator by the
critical examination. For one instance : — They told
him that an incombustible cloth was made from the
salamander, a serpent which could exist in fire. He
examines the matter for himself, and denies the exist
ence of the salamander, proving that the cloths in
question were made from a fibrous mineral, so well
known to us now as asbestos ; and, what is more, gives
the details of its manufacture, even describing the
way in which the gritty particles are separated from
the asbestos by comminution. He was no gobe-mouche.
traveller. We, however, have to do with incident.
Mangu and Kublai, the two most intelligent princes
of the race of Ghengis, were as eager to subsidize
foreign talent as was Frederick the Great, or as are
the Russian Government of the present day. Rub
ruquis had already seen a Parisian goldsmith at
Karakorum, under Mangu, forging the chalices from
Hungarian churches into epergnes to decorate the
riotous dinner-table of the Mongolian conqueror.
Such talent as that of the Poli was not to be held
cheap. Marco, apparently the most brilliant of the
three, was entrusted almost at once with the most

MARCO POLO. 23

dehcate missions, but his father and his uncle had
the luck and dexterity to render at the first such
important service as must almost, for a time, have
eclipsed the popularity of the younger Polo.
Previous to 1269, the year of the Poll's return to
Venice, the Tartars had conquered that small part
of China which lies north of the Hoang-ho, known to
them and to our poets as Cathay : not only holding
possession of that part of the city of Pekin which is
to this day called the Chinese Quarter, but having
erected on the other side of the Hoang-ho a new city,
even now known as the Tartar Quarter, outside which
stands, as I understand it, the very Summer Palace
which was sacked the other day by the French and
English. South of the Hoang-ho, however, they had
not penetrated, and all China proper was governed
by an amiable and philanthropic prince called Fanfur,
a prince devoted entirely to the exercise of humanity
and to the care of his people, save in one point — he
neglected his defences ; and Kublai Khan, having no
earthly cause of quarrel with him, only a " manifest
destiny" to act with, acted on his manifest destiny,
invaded him without the slightest pretext with an
overwhelming army, drove him from his dominions,
and annexed China ; rather a large stroke of business
in our degenerate eyes, but nothing in those days.
He treated Fanfur's wife, who fell into his hands,
like a gentleman ; and no doubt the Chinese inhabi
tants were treated as well as they could expect to be
by a victorious army of Tartars. But there was one
hitch in the proceedings. The city of Say-gan-fu
(Siang Yang .'') remained in the rear, refusing to be

24 MARCO POLO.

taken on any terms ; not threatening communication
with the base of operations (because such feeble
minded subtleties wfere unknown among the Tartars,
whose base of operations, like that of all the invading
tribes of barbarians, of whom they were the last, was
the last town they had plundered ; who not only
made the war support the war, but pay for the next
one), but merely holding out through a kind of pig
headed loyalty — a very Basing-house of a place.
They were surrounded with water on three sides, and
were too difficult a nut to be cracked by bows and
arrows. At this exasperating point the two elder
Poli came forward, and with the help of some
Nestorian artificers, constructed catapults, and took
the city triumphantly. Does the reader see the great
historical importance of this siege } It is this : it
destroys in one moment the old schoolboy fiction,
believed in by nine hundred and ninety-nine people
out of a thousand to this day — that the Chinese
knew the use of gunpowder before the Western
nations. The Poli make no mention of gunpowder ;
and if the besieged had used it, there would have
been small chance of the Poli taking the city with
catapults. Gibbon's shrewd eye detected this fact at
once, and it has been on record some eighty years ;
yet open any common book of information and you
find the old fiction repeated, that the Chinese had
known the use of gunpowder 3,000 (30,000, if you
like) years before the western nations.
It may be, to a certain extent, interesting to men
tion that Marco found not a Prester John, but a
Prester George, grandson probably of the man

MARCO POLO. 25

whose name, heaven only knows why, is in our
mouths to this day. Prester George was a mere
nobody ; smaller even than his grandfather Ung, who
probably has gained a more lasting reputation on
smaller grounds than any man who ever lived. Ung
was posthumous father-in-law to Ghengis Khan, and
a Nestorian. Ghengis asked his daughter in marriage,
and he returned an insulting answer, Ghengis' affairs
being at that time low. Ghengis invaded him, cut
off his head, married his daughter, and had his skull
set in silver. How his wife liked this treatment of
her father I cannot learn. One never would have
heard of the man, had it not been that the Catholics
determined that there should be an orthodox Church
in Northern Asia, and not finding one, in a sort of
way, canonized this man. Honest Rubruquis pricked
the bubble, but it has not burst even yet.*
In person Kublai Khan was of the middle stature,
a comely handsome man, of very fresh complexion,
bright black eyes, well- fashioned nose, and a finely-
formed body. He was a man of great physical
courage, and before, his accession to the throne had
shown himself a successful general on more than one
oqcasion, though apparently not such a soldier as his
brothers Baatu and Hulagu ; but since his accession
* Another Prester John, or "Pretre Janni," was afterwards made,
on much the same grounds, out of the Negus of Abyssinia. Francesco
Alvarez went as ambassador to him. Another result of that strange
view of Catholicity, which has been more rudely shaken than ever by
' the reply of the Greek bishops to Rome last month. From Cai'pini
one sees that the idea of "one God, one faith, one baptism," was not
enough for Rome. She must have one ceremonialism, or all was
naught. And she has got her answer.

26 MARCO POLO.

he had only been once into the field, in 1280, to sup
press the rebellion of Naram, his uncle, and Caydq,
his nephew. On this occasion Kublai handled a force
of 460,000 men, and by swift and careful marches fell
upon Naram, at the head of 400,000 men, before Caydu
could effect a junction with him, routed his army, and
captured him. It is noticeable that of Kublai's army
360,000 were cavalry, and only 100,000 foot; these
last being principally composed of his own falconers
and huntsmen. After this victory he once more
retired to his favourite pursuits of statesmanship
and sporting.
His favourite sports were falconry and cheetah
hunting. He had also wolves trained like the chee
tahs. He flew his hawks and " eagles " at large
four-footed game as well as fowls. Some of his
larger hawks could actually disable a wolf. After the
gout came on him, he took to hunting from a castle
carried by two elephants. There were regular officers
to signal the game, and when the signal reached the
imperial elephant, the roof of the castle was taken
off, and Kublai sat up. His ordinary retinue of
falconers was 10,000. When encamped with his
courtiers for hunting purposes, their tents had the
appearance of a noble city. As a good instance of
barbaric ostentation, the Khan's great hunting-tent
was lined with sable and ermine. The size of the
tent is not given, but although the estimate of it is
greatly exaggerated, yet it was evidently a very large
pavilion ; so much larger than any other, that our
good Marco's imagination seems to have run riot a
little. I make a rough calculation that it would cost

MARCO POLO. 27

about 1,200/. to line a tent seven feet square and
high with second quality sable ; if lined with imperial
sable the cost would be one-third more, say 1,600/.
Ermine is a somewhat dearer skin, taking into account
that it is smaller ; so even on these insufficient and
understated data the Khan's pavilion must have cost
an inconceivable sum. Skins, particularly sable, seem
to have been dearer then than now: 16/. is, I
believe, the full price for imperial sable, even in
Russia (the fur is never seen here) ; for black fox
about 50/. the skin. Here we read that 2,000 sul-
tanines of gold were often given for so much sable as
would make a pair of "tests." The Tartars called
sable the " queen of furs," as, indeed, it is to this day,
excepting only the black fox, with which, of course,
they could not be acquainted, as it comes from
Arctic America.
The ostentation of this wonderful Khan was only
equalled by his wealth. Although there must have
been an accumulation of the precious metals, almost
rivalling, one may guess, any which the world has
seen before or since — or certainly enormous — no
bullion whatever was circulated in the form of coin
age : it was all kept for purposes of luxury and dis
play. The only medium of commerce throughout the
empire were imperial assignats, of mulberry paper :
of course valueless any distance beyond the limits of
a revolutionary empire like that of the Tartars.
Within the limits of that empire, however, or at all
events about the principal seats of government, they
seem to have retained their full value. Merchants
from foreign parts, who brought precious stones and

28 MARCO POLO

other articles de luxe to the imperial court and to the
palaces of the satraps, were paid in this paper.
They converted it before their departure into solid
articles of merchandise, and apparently went away
perfectly satisfied, for they came again. Whether'
this was a perfectly healthy financial system, it is not
for me to decide. It had, however, the merit of
" working well." ,
The value at which human life was held at this
time in this empire was decidedly low, but not lower
than one could expect. With one exception, there
seem to have been no fierce and sanguinary customs ;
and human life seems only to have been recklessly,
yet, as things still go, fairly enough sacrificed in
maintaining ofder and in prosecuting war. The
exception to which I allude was the " custom," at the
burial of any of the divine royal race of Ghengis
Khan. It was customary, while taking the royal
corpse to be buried in the Altai, for the escort to kill
every one they met on the line of march, and send
them to Hades to be slaves of the dead Khan. Of
course it may be said that the remedy lay with the
people themselves, who had only to keep out of the
way ; but whether through ignorance of the custom,
or through recklessness, the people sometimes- met
with a terrible disaster through this silly custom. At
the funeral of Mangu, elder brother of Kublai, no
less than 10,000 peasants were killed in this way,
very possibly by coming to stare at the cavalcade.
Again, human life was not always respected in
such a trivial matter as that of observing curfew.
After curfew had rung from the great bell of Pekin,

MARCO POLO. 29

no man was allowed to stir abroad from his house,
except in cases of extreme necessity — such as that of a
woman in labour, and then he could move only with
a light, as lately at Warsaw. For any infringement
of this rule he was arrested and taken to the police-
court, where he was beaten with cudgels, and very
often died under the beating. In such rough police
as this, the military government of the rude and
powerful Kublai shows poorly beside the benign
and gentle rule of the humane Fanfur whom he
conquered. Such briefly was the court at which the three
Venetian gentlemen lived for some twenty years,
and at which they obtained the highest honours and
distinctions ; and during which residence the southern
part of China was conquered, and Japan attacked ;
the brave Japanese being too strong for the Tartars.
Marco, the youngest of the three, and evidently the
favourite, was actually governor of the conquered town
of Yang-cheu-feu for the usual space of three years.
They were getting also enormously rich, and they
had quite taken to the Tartar language and manners.
They were princes in China. They had, as one says,
nothing to wish for in this life. Only they got home
sick, and nothing would do for them but they must
see Venice before they died.
Who was the first to suggest the homeward journey
we do not know. It may have been Marco, now forty
years old, sick of vulgar barbaric ostentation, and
pining for civilization and art, of which he had only
had a glimpse as a lad, and which he remembered
only in day-dreams. It may have been Nicolo,

30 MARCO POLO.

longing to lie beside the wife of his early manhood
in the graveyard in the Lagune. It may have been
the good bachelor uncle Maffeo, longing to tell his
wondrous story on the Place of St. Mark, to such
gossips as remained after forty years, or to their sons
or grandsons. It may be that all three desired the
offices of that religion which they still professed.
Who can tell .' But the idea once started by some one
of the three, was adopted by the others. What worth
was life, what worth was wealth without Venice .'
The Khan would not hear of it. Did they want
riches .' They should have three times as much as
they had. Why would they leave him 1 Out of pure
affection he would not allow them to depart.
A very short time afterwards. Argon, or Arghun, a
Mongolian prince of Persia, lost his wife Bolgana,
who, on her deathbed, prayed him that he would
marry no other wife than one of her own family,
which was of Cathay. Upon this, Arghun sent three
ambassadors, Ullatai, Apusea, and Coza, to Kublai
Khan, to beg a princess of the required family.
Kublai granted their request, and a very beautiful
young lady of seventeen, by name Cogalin, was
selected for the ^noble destiny of Queen of Persia ;
and the three ambassadors started westward with
their precious charge. The poor young lady was
destined to be most unfortunate in this journey.
The dismemberment of the empire of Ghengis Khan,
which was in reality consummated a year or two
afterwards, at the death of Kublai Khan, had
already begun. The wars among the different Tar
tar princes were already so bloodthirsty, that the ,

MARCO POLO. 31

very authority of the old Khan was insufficient to
frank even an Imperial party through what were still
nominally his dominions. After eight months' in
effectual attempts to proceed, they returned baffled.
It was at this time that Marco had returned from
one of his innumerable adventures, having been
sailing some ships of the Khan in the Indian seas.
He described these seas as being so very pleasant,
that the three ambassadors at once went to Kublai
and begged that they might proceed round India by
sea to the Persian Gulf, and that the three Poli, as
men skilled in navigation, should accompany them.
After a little anger at the ambassadors for making
such a disagreeable request, he granted it, and dis
missed his beloved Poli with every show of affection,
a splendid present of rubies, and their expenses for
two years, making them promise to return.
They started with fourteen ships of four masts
each, some of which contained nearly three hundred
sailors. They made Java in three months, preferring
the straits of Sunda to the straits of Malacca. After
this they made a long voyage of it, and sickness
visited them, carrying off six hundred of the sailors,
and two of the ambassadors, leaving only Coza alive.
It could not, however, have been altogether an un
happy voyage. There were the two elder Poli, sedate,
polite, well informed. There was the gallant, ele
gantly-dressed Marco, now close on forty, a dangerous
man to have the fetching home of a bride who had
never seen her lover, though she were to be Queen of
Persia. There was Coza, a man whom I (I cannot
tell why) have set down for a man like Polonius ; and

32 MARCO POLO.

lastly, there was the beautiful princess herself; that
was the group. Depend upon .it, there were pleasant
evenings on the quarter-deck ; some evenings under
the tropic stars, when the sea was calm., and the subr.
dued hum of some great Indian city was borne upon
the warm night wind, to mingle with the lazy flapping
of the sails, and the lap of the water around the ship's
side: Princess Cogalin, in after-days, in the whirl of a
great revolution, must have remembered this voyage,
one would think, as the happiest time in (I guess) her
not very happy existence. Forgive my trying, by the
help of strong probabilities, to rescue one piece of
real life out of the great dark past.
They were eighteen months reaching the Persian,'
Gulf; and when they got to Ormuz, Arghun was
dead, and there had been something like a revolution.
One Chiciato governed the kingdom for Arghun's
son Chagani a youth under age, who was at Arbor'
Secco, on the confines of Persia, with sixty thousand i
persons, for the guard of certain passages against the
enemy ; a matter which there is neither time noif
inclination to edit. Chiciato ordered the ambassador^
to take the princess to Chagan, and marry her to
him, which was duly done by the three Poli. Let us
hope that our friend the pretty princess found hel-- -
self more suitably matched with the youthful Chagan
than she could have been with the more elderly
Arghun ; and in leaving her, thank her for h^r .
company so far.
Chiciato gave them fresh passports of travel, in the
name, be it remembered, of the still mighty Kublai ,
Khan, which passports decreed that any who opposed;;

MARCO POLO. 153

them, or who refused to assist them, should be put to
death. With these powers they started for Trebizond,
but on their way thither, they heard news which
shut out their old Chinese haunts from them, and
relieved them from the promise they had given to re
turn. They must seek their kind old friend and patron
elsewhere than at the Summer Palace at Pekin, if
they would see him again. Kublai Khan was dead.
He was about seventy-seven, and had reigned
thirty-eight years, having made but one failure
during his reign — the unsuccessful attack on Japan.
Among the four more eminent brothers, sons of " Tuli
the General," Mangu, Baatu, Hulagu, and Kublai —
Kublai was certainly the greatest, as well as the
gentlest and most civilized. His civilization and
his gentleness he, in part, no doubt derived from his
Cathayan education. He could be extravagantly
generous — so can most people who have the plunder
of half the world in their coffers ; but he could be
chivalrous to women, witness his treatment of the
Queen of Fanfur, who defended Southern China
against him with considerable success, after her
craven and effeminate husband, the philanthropist,
had fled. He could love those who were worth
loving, and be just to them, witness his behaviour on
the departure of the Poli. He was a very great
statesman, a man of great personal courage, and a
general who could handle his three hundred thousand
men in a stricken field with eminent rapidity and
success. He would have been a Christian (and made
his subjects so also, which is more to the purpose), if
they had given him a fair chance. But he was dead,
D

34 MARCO POLO.

and the Poli, in spite of their -regrets for him, must
have been glad to find themselves free to remain in
their still-loved Venice.
It must have taken a considerable time, in the dis
turbed state of the Tartar empire, for the news of
the death of the Khan to reach them, and they
travelled slowly, for they touched at Constantinople
and at Negropont, arriving in Venice in the year 1295.
This confirms the Tartar date given for the death of
Kublai Khan, against the Chinese : the former make
him to die in 1292, which is plainly correct ; the latter
in 1295, which is impossible if the Poli received the
news of his death between Ormuz and Trebizond.
The two brothers and the uncle, however, beyond all
dispute, arrived at their house in St. John Chrysostom
Street, in Venice, in the year 1295.
Now that they had touched Western civilization
once more after an absence of twenty-six years ; now
that they had a chance of comparing themselves to
other people, they found that they had turned into
Tartars, in dress, in manner, and in speech. No one
knew them, and but few believed in them. It was
actually necessary for them to prove their own
identity ; and, while proving this, they determined to
take the popularity of Venetian dandyism by storm
at the same time. For this purpose they resolved
on a supper party, the like of which has seldom been
seen, and which must be considered one of the great
supper parties of history.
They assembled what the gentlemen who write the
evening and dinner-party business in our newspapers
would call the "rank and fashion" of Venice ; who no

MARCO POLO.

doubt came willingly enough, were it only for the
sake of talking over these three finely-dressed people
afterwards. They found themselves received by the
three Poli, bowing in gorgeous dresses of crimson,
rich even for those days, when a dandy put half his
estate on his back and legs. Never were seen such
clothes ; but they were not good enough for the Poli
to sit down to supper in. Begging to be excused,
they changed them for suits of crimson damask, still
more exasperating to the Venetian dandies, and gave
the priceless crimson satin suits to the servants.
These, however, were not good enough to wear while
drinking with their guests; so before dessert they
threw these also to the servants, and came forth
flaming in crimson velvet. This trick, as I before
noticed, they had got from the Tartars.
But they reserved their great surprise until the
servants were sent away, and they were over their
wine. Then they produced their Tartar coats, their
belts, and other travelling gear, and ripped them open
before the astounded guests. One after another the
great jewels fell clashing on the table, and lay blazing
in little heaps in the light of the lamps. One would
like to have been at that supper party had it only
been to see the collection of rubies which the Khan
gave them as a parting gift. Taking every sort of
probability into account, it is extremely doubtful if
such a collection of jewels has been seen together.
When we consider that they had been trading advan
tageously for twenty-six years among the ravagers
of the East and West, and had converted everything
they could into jewels, it must have been a great
D 2

36 MARCO POLO.

collection. Among them, they say, were some old
family jewels well known to some of the guests, which
led to the acknowledgment of their identity. This
seems to me the most improbable part of the story.
However, the popularity of the Poli was assured.
Life was now over for the two uncles. Uncle
Maffeo became a worthy magistrate, and lived appa
rently until his nephew returned from captivity ; for
he not only confirmed his nephew's account of their
adventures everywhere in society, but on his death
bed to his confessor affirmed every word of them to
be true. It is said also that Marco's father, Nicolo, in
despair of his son's return from Genoa, married and
had three children. This is not the sort of thing
which would be idly invented, one would say, unless
one considers that we are told by the closest and
most unimpeachable critics that about one-third the
things known as historical facts must have been in
vented in simple idleness. Pettigrew's pamphlet on
Amy Robsart is a good illustration of the way these
inventions may be exposed. Were it in any way
worth speaking of, I should doubt this second mar
riage of Signor Nicolo's. He had been forty years
travelling, and even if he were only twenty-five when
he began he would now be seventy. The probability
is that he was, considering that he was the elder
brother, at least seventy-five. If one puts on to this
the time of Marco's captivity, long enough to make
him despair of ever seeing him again, one at least
gets him up to eighty. This exceeds by six years,
unless I am mistaken, the dates of a case well known
to lawyers. As if it was of the least importance.

MARCO POLO. 37

It was God's will, however, that Marco Polo should
not rest from his labours as yet. A very short time
after their return, Lampa Doria, the Genoese admiral,
came to the island of Curzola (the long island E.S.E.
from Lissa, off the coast of Dalmatia, in this last year
become so famous, and distant some twenty-five miles)
threatening Venice. The Venetians sent out, under
command of Andrea Dandolo (I think he was grand
son of Enrico Dandolo, conqueror of Zara, and grand
father of Andrea the historian, friend of Petrarch.
I am not sure, doubtless there are many who are), a
large number of ships to oppose them. Marco Polo
commanded a galley in this great fleet, which was
superior in numbers to the Genoese. In the very
same water, close to the very same island, where we
saw the other day Tegethoff and Persano ramming
and pounding at one another, did Doria and Dandolo
pound and ram at one another in the year of grace
1296. The bones of the Venetians and Genoese of
the thirteenth century lie lowest ; upon them are the
bones- of the Austrians and Italians of the nineteenth.
A little off, the men of Hoste and his English lie
quietly in the ouze of the Adriatic. Not a very re
markable instance ; for if you examine Europe from
end to end it is only one great grave of bones, thicker
in strategical points than elsewhere — useless bones
buried just too deep for the plough to turn them
up and utilize them. The world is better for the
expenditure ; but has it not been done with some
mismanagement and extravagance.? The Venetians
were totally defeated, and Marco Polo, fighting in
front, was wounded, taken prisoner, and carried to

38 MARCO POLO.

Genoa. It was in his captivity here that he wrote
his travels.
He found that he had to repeat them so often,
that it would be better to write them down, and so,
sending to Venice for his notes, he, with the assist
ance of one Rustigielo of Pisa, wrote down his
travels in Latin, somewhere about 1298. From this
a translation was made into Italian, and the Latin
MS. became rare — so rare, indeed, that the Italian
was taken to be the original, and was translated back
into Latin by one Francis Pepin, or Pepuri, a monk,
who abridged it by the order of his superiors. It is
a copy of this MS. which is in the library of the King
of Prussia, and was printed at Basle by Reinecius.
About 1550, however, Giovanni Bamusio, the col
lector of travels. Secretary to the Ten at Venice, had
lent him by Signor Chisi the rare original Latin MS.
of 1298 ; from this, and with an enthusiastic admi
ration for his fellow-townsman, he composed his
account of Marco Polo's travels, which must be taken
as the most authentic form of them. Hakluyt has,
it appears, copied from the monk Pepin's abridgement,
which makes Purchas very angry : perhaps the good
Secretary to Archbishop Abbot was not sorry to prick
a hole in the coat of his great contemporary.
Marco continued four years in captivity at Genoa
before he was released. On his return home, at the
age of fifty, he married and had two daughters,
Moretta and Fantina, but no sons. These two young
ladies must have therefore had between them all the
enormous wealth of the family (for I do not believe in
Nicolo's marriage), and most probably married some

MARCO POLO.

39

very eminent men. It would be interesting, were it
possible, to know which of the noble Venetian fami
lies had, or have. Polo blood in their veins.
He died as he had lived, admired, beloved, and
respected as much among the Venetians as among
the Mongols, having served the State of Venice as
faithfully as he had served the Khan. It is on
record of him that he was a very humble man.
Where he is buried is, for some reason, uncertain.
Sansorino, however, the Venetian printer, distinctly
says, " under the passage to the Church of S. Lorenso
on the islet Gemelle." Requiescat. I like what I
know of him so much that I am sorry to bring the
pleasant labour of writing a short account of him
and his friend the Khan to a close.*
* Pedigree of Kublai Khan.
The following is a little scheme of the Tartar dynasty which I made
out from various sources for my use three years ago. As it does not
differ from the narrative of Gibbon, it may be presumed to be nearly
correct, although the spelling is different. For instance, one of the
monks calls Ajuk " Gayuk ;" another, " Cuyne" (Khan).
Genghis Khan (had 500 wives).

ToUSHI
(Huntsman).

Zagatai (Judge).

I
OCTAI
(Minister).
 ^1

Ajuk
(seen crowned by Carpini, 1246).

Tuli
(General).

Kublai Sherbani
(conqueror (conqueror
of China). of Siberia).

Mangu Baatu Hulagu
irii. Cotata, a (Tartar Napoleon, (conqueror
Christian ). conqueror of Eastern of Persia).
Europe).
As far as my knowledge goes, the most powerful and most able family
which has ever been known on our globe, the ablest of them all, Kublai,
asking for Christianity, which the Papacy supplied ; as we see.

THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART.
In these days, when the Columbian runs 14,000
miles in 55 days, and the Argo actually goes round
the world in 125 (four months), we can hardly under
stand hov/ the sailors of older times endured their
wonderfully arduous voyages without going nielan-
choly mad. That they were more often on shore is
true, but nevertheless, the long periods of confine
ment at sea, combined with the — in those days — ever-
present scurvy, must in many cases have made the
worst of them very reckless and very desperate.
The cause of these few sentences was my remark
ing, that the ship Batavia, commanded by Francis
Pelsart, which sailed from the Texel in October,
1628, had been nine weary months at sea, when the
accident happened about which we are going to hear.
It may in some way account for the conduct of some
on board.
In those days of imperfect chronometers, or no
chronometers at all, longitude was a very great diffi
culty, even as it is now among small and ill-found
craft like the fruit brigs when they venture into the
ocean ; they being almost entirely dependent for their
longitude on the bigger ships, which are better found

THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART. 41
with instruments ; as any one who has sailed in the
Bay of Biscay will testify. It is no wonder then, that
the captain of the Batavia, having been separated
from the rest of the Dutch fleet, for a time not speci
fied, by a storm, found himself utterly at a loss as to
his whereabouts as to longitude, though perfectly
correct as to latitude.
Any schoolboy going in for a competitive examina
tion in geography could give him his longitude in
these days, with, most likely, a feeling of contempt
towards the hard-headed Dutch sailor, and a feeling
of complacency at his own superior wisdom, as if he
had found it all out himself His longitude was
about 115°, and his latitude was about 30°. He had
got himself driven into one of the queerest and most
out-of-the-way corners on the face of the globe ; a
place which is nearly as queer and nearly as little
frequented now as it was then : near the place called
Houtman's Abrolhos ; but at that time it had not
even such an outlandish name as that. Houtman's
Abrolhos is on the east coast of Australia.
You must trust a second hand to edit Pelsart truth
fully. It is not difficult, for his narrative is very clear,
and many are more familiar now with those latitudes
than he was. It was a night in June, in the depth
of winter, you will remember, and there was a fair
cold wind from the pole, for the ship's course was
N.E. and by N. The moon was full and high, and,
although Pelsart does not mention it, the sky was of
a deep splendid purple, and the Southern Cross was
hanging in the air like a boy's kite ready to topple
and fall. Pelsart was ill and in his cabin, and the

42 THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART.
officer who was in charge only saw, as he thought, the
moonbeams reflected on the glorious purple sea. But
he was mistaken. That brighter light on the wander
ing waves which were following the wind towards that
meeting which never takes place and never will, was
not the effect of moonlight. If he had kept a sharper
look out he would have seen it That frosted silver
meant "breakers," and before he had done thinking
about his sweetheart among the tulips at Rotterdam,
the ship had struck, with that dull, ripping, riving noise
which no man out of Bedlam wishes to hear twice.
Pelsart was on deck in a minute. Of course, the
first thing he did was to turn out the master and
blame him severely for what had happened, and to
ask in what part of the world he was. The master
excused himself by stating that they were in a part
of the world where no man had ever been before,
which was true.
Finding that there was more water before than
behind them, they threw the cannon overboard, in
hopes that she would, when lightened, drift free.
Such was not the case, however : she continued
striking heavily ; and while they were still employed
a furious storm of wind and rain came travelling up
on the wind and burst over them. They now cut
away their mainmast ; but it was of little good, for it
would not go overboard, but lay hampering the deck.
They could make out two small islands close to them,
and a larger one eight or nine miles off. On these
islands Pelsart, having thought it over, determined to
land the women, children, and sick people, who were
out of their wits with fear.

THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART. 43
Day dawned at last upon this horrid night. The
master returned from examining the islands about
nine o'clock, and an hour after they began to take
off the women and children, using the more diligence
as the ship apparently began to break. About 160
people were moved during the day, — 120 to the large
island, and 40 to the smaller one. They also worked
at getting up their bread, but unluckily gave less
thought to the water. And some of the crew getting
brutally drunk, they only landed twenty barrels of
bread and very little water. The captain stuck by
his ship, doing all he could amongst the drunkenness
and destruction, until the master came off to him from
one of the islands to say that it was no use sending
any more provisions on shore, for that the people
were wasting those they had. Pelsart immediately
went on shore to see after these matters, and found
them almost without water. He made an effort to
get back to the ship and to get them some more
water, but the weather was too heavy. The carpenter
swam from the ship to the boat to tell Captain
Pelsart what sad condition they were in on board the
ship. Pelsart got him to swim back and tell them to
make rafts and float ashore on them ; but the weather
getting worse, he had, to his great grief, to return and
leave his lieutenant and seventy men on the point of
perishing. The people on the islands were in a sad plight
also. There was on the small island^ where there
were but forty people, only forty gallons of water.
On the larger island, where there were 120, there was
still less. Under these circumstances, the people of

44 THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART.
the small island urged the captain, with murmurs, to
go and seek water on the neighbouring islands. His
answer was perfectly manly and fair. He would go
if those on the big island would consent; but that
sooner than leave his ship's company without the
consent of the whole party, he would return to the
ship and perish with his lieutenant. He therefore
turned his boat's head towards the large island, to get
the consent of the people there. He now found that
his crew were in a state of respectful mutiny, of
which his coxswain was ringleader. They positively
refused to allow him to land on the island, and, on his
endeavouring to leap overboard, used force to restrain
him, only permitting him to write a few lines in his
table-book, saying that he was gone for water, and to
throw it ashore. Whether they were determined, at
all hazards, to retain possession of the captain's
person, as being the only one who could navigate
them home, or whether they were affectionately "
anxious for his safety, and for that reason would not
let him land among the large islanders, it is hard to
determine now. They had their will, however, and in
the end the matter was settled thus : — The captain
got a paper from all his men, saying that it was their
wish that he should depart in search of water ; and
so, having spent a day or so in reconnoitring, he put
a deck to his long-boat, and on the 9th, five days
after the wreck, he was off the coast of Australia,
with a smaller boat either in tow, or in company.
At that time the nearest point of human civiliza
tion was at Batavia, in the island of Java, a good
fifteen hundred miles away. The whole of the great

Pelsart prevefitcd from reaching t/ie Islafid.

THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART. 45
land east and south of him was then, of course, a
lonely desert, whose silence was only now and then
broken by the yells of the sparse and miserable
savages, when they fell out about their filthy, stupid
women, or their horrible food. But I met a gentle
man at a great dinner-party the other day who lives
not forty miles from this place. This gentleman had
taken a house in Belgravia during his sojourn in
England on business, but was going back to his great
copper works there directly. To readers not con
versant with Australian geography, it may be
interesting to mention that this place where Pelsart
was looking for water, and where the Geraldine
Copper Mines are now, is no part of Australia of
which he has probably ever heard, but lies some
two thousand miles west of Melbourne. I only men
tion this to make Captain Pelsart's account of the
coast more interesting. People will begin to believe
in Australia some day.
Although the most interesting part of this story
will be found in the mishaps which befel the ship
wrecked people left on the two islands, yet, as we
must follow Captain Pelsart, it will be better to do so
at once ; and to come back to the others, and to the
d^ouement, later.
" Pelsart's Group " of islands are nearly the most
southerly of that little archipelago now called Hout
man's Abrolhos, and which stretches some fifty miles
north and south. He seems very much to have
miscalculated the distance between the islands and
the continent, which he makes sixteen miles, but
which Stanford makes far more. It is no great

46 THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART.
matter. There is little doubt that he, in his boat,'
with his mutinous, but' respectful crew, was the first
discoverer of this wonderful new copper-bearing
country, which is now helping to enrich the .already
rich Swansea ; that he approached it on the 9th of
June, 1629 ; and that it remained undiscovered, or, to
be more correct, utterly unsettled and unutilized for
two hundred years or more. We have got it now, of
course, as we have got most of the good things,
though we are said to want ideas. The country is not
good, but better than Westmoreland or Perthshire,
leaving alone its copper or gold.
Pelsart made the coast, as far as we can tell, about
Gerald.stown or Port Grey. Geraldstown is, I believe,
to Port Grey what Melbourne is to Williamstown.
They saw a cove, and tried to make it, but the surf
on the bar was too much for them, and they went
northward, having missed, one supposes, the mouth
of the "Irving" river. Had they made this, there
would have been a very different story to tell. He
describes the coast as similar to that about Dover;
but it is familiar enough to many people now.
They made no land now, until they were in 24°,
where some of the men swam ashore through the
ocean rollers. This must have been Cape Cuvier.
The men found naked savages, who ran away from
them, but no water. They then sailed for ten days,
when they landed again in 22°, and got some rain
water. This was probably on the great cape which
defends Exmouth Gulf from the seaward ; nay, one
may say almost certainly so.
Here there comes a singular proof of the perfect

THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART. 47
correctness of Pelsart's narrative — " strong enough to
hang a man " — even if there was the slightest doubt
of his story, of which there can be none. His dis
tances and his dates (one fears through able editors)
are sadly at fault, to a cursory reader. They are so
obviously at fault, that they are without doubt mere
clerical errors ; you get from the twenty-fifth back to
the sixteenth in a way which surprises you, till you
see that the printer has printed " 16 " instead of
" 26." Again, when at the north-west cape, where we
have just left him, he is looking for the river of Jacob
Remescens (what river was that .'' what old story of
Dutch discovery, lost for ever, does that suggest to
us .') he gives us his latitude, and proves not only the
truth of his story, but his own excellent navigation.
The most westerly point of Australia was passed
days before, at Dirk Hartog's Island in 26° ; since
then the coast had been bending slightly eastward,
slightly out of his course, but he had held to it in
hopes of finding water. At this point, the exact
latitude of which he gives, it bends suddenly, almost
at a right angle, to the eastward, and it became
necessary for him to make across the ocean for
Batavia. The editor makes this only one hundred
miles from the scene of his shipwreck, whereas it was
as he had come, at least four. Reading that he had
only come one hundred miles, and that at this point
he determined to push for Batavia instead of going
back, one would accuse him of cowardice ; but when
one comes to see that he had come four hundred
miles before a strong south wind, at an average rate
of sixty nautical miles a day, one must hand him back

48 THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART.
his certificate, and declare that he did for the best in
pushing for Java.
Of course he saw no more of Australia after this ;
his course was N.E. across the ocean. He reached
Batavia on July the second, twenty-four days out,
distance, as he made it (it is impossible, as any sailor
will tell you, to be particular), fifteen or sixteen
hundred miles. The only great ocean boat voyages
which compare to this, are Bligh's, after the mutiny of
the Bounty, twelve hundred miles ; the voyage of
the Mystery to Melbourne in 1854 (the distance, as
she made it, say some ten thousand miles) ; Bass's
whale-boat voyage ; and the voyage of a Portuguese
from Goa to Lisbon, round the Cape, in a canoe.
One finds it difficult to give the palm ; but it certainly
remains between Pelsart and Bligh ; as usual, in
nautical adventures, between the Englishman and the
Dutchman. I suspect that Pelsart's boat was bigger
than Bligh's, because he put a deck to it before he
started. The Mystery was a twelve-ton boat, with a
cabin. About the Portuguese canoe I am in want of
information, and of belief
It is evident, however, that Pelsart's expedition
is worth recalling. But what went on in the two
little islands, opposite my friend S  's house, in the
year 1629, is stranger and more interesting than the
mere fact of a man getting himself blown from
Geraldstown to Batavia. We return to the ship
wrecked folks on the sandy islands, " among whom,"
says our able editor, in his old style, " there hap
pened such transactions, as in their condition, the
reader would little expect, and perhaps will hardly

THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART. 49
credit. In order to their being thoroughly under
stood, it is necessary to observe that they had for
supercargo one Jerom Cornells, who had been
formerly an apothecary at Harlem."
Jerom Cornells was about the last man who suc
ceeded in getting from the wreck ; in fact, he spent
ten days on her before he got to land on one of the
yards.' In the absence of Captain Pelsart he had to
take the command.
He now suddenly came out in his true colours, as
one of the most treacherous and bloodthirsty ruffians
one reads of in the history of piracy. He determined
to surprise the captain when he returned, and with a
few faithful followers to turn pirate. For this purpose
it became necessary to butcher all the honest men of
the party, which were, we may suppose, a very large
majority. His first action was to separate the honest men,
and take them in detail. For this purpose he
despatched Mr. Weybhays and the chaplain with
forty men to another island to look for water. Wey
bhays found water and made the signal agreed on, he
lit three fires ; but they were unnoticed, for the
massacre on the larger island had begun.
Between thirty and forty were killed on the occa
sion, and his fiendish plan had so far prospered ;
only a few poor fellows had cast themselves into the
sea, and gained Weybhays, with their horrid tale of
treachery and murder. But two other great obstacles
remained, — Weybhays and his party of forty-five on
the island where they had newly landed, and the
party of forty which had originally landed on a
E ,

so THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART.
smaller island, as will be remembered; either of these,
parties might, from these islands, give the captain
warning, and must be removed.
Weybhays's was the strongest party. So Cornells
begun with the others first. They made but little
resistance, and were all mercilessly butchered, with
the exception of five women and seven children. Of
the five women, two, one has reason to fear, were the
chaplain's daughters : one of these Cornells took to
himself, and the other he gave to his favourite. We
can go no further with this part of the story.
He now broke out into the most frantic profligacy
and folly. The merchants' chests were broken open,
and from the rare and rich stuffs which were being
carried to the Indies, he and his followers had made ¦
fantastic uniforms, covered with gold and silver lace,
and so swaggered about the desolate sandy islands
among the laughing sea-gulls. He drew up his code;';}
this wretched assassin, and had his troOp of guards '>
clothed in his livery of scarlet. The temptation of
the piratical mind, of the rapid, treacherous, infi
nitely cruel and wicked tiger-like mind, seems to be
towards a tiger-like gaudiness, and babyish display.
I think the reader will find that this passion for absurd
dandyism is general among pirates. Any how, the
image of this man, elbow deep in blood, strutting up
and down in what was then the most desolate and
lonely island in the world, bedizend in silks and satins,
is a very strange one, and one not easily forgotten.
But the new "Captain-General," as he called himself, /;
had to make war, and began to make it. The sturdy,
honest Weybhays, with his five-and-forty equally

THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART. 51

honest comrades, and the chaplain, had to be exter
minated. After a few days of miserable folly and
profligacy, he embarked twenty-two men in two
shallops, to exterminate them. They were well armed,
but there was evidently no gunpowder on either side,
as that would have finished the question quickly.
These twenty-two pirates returned to the large island,
well beaten. Another expedition of thirty-seven
men was then sent out, but they came back more
severely worsted than the others. The noble Wey
bhays and his men were only armed with staves
having nails driven into their heads ; with such poor
arms, they boldly dashed into the water, and beat the
murderers back.
It became necessary for the pirate to negotiate.
Pelsart, ava^ avhp&v, might return any hour, and
then .'' what chance was there for the red-handed rebel
against the sturdy Weybhays, plus the terrible Pelsart }
He knew well enough how the cowardly rascals in his
train would sneak away from him and submit, before
the inexorable clear eye of the master, who had the
awful and mysterious science of navigation at his
fingers' ends ; who could sail for a month at sea with
out seeing land, and could say, to-morrow, at noon,
we shall see land, and there will be palm-trees on the
shore. The master, who could do this miracle, and
who in storm or battle had been the foremost and the
most cool, appointing each man to his place in the
midst of the most terrible confusion, might arrive to
morrow, and, with Weybhays and his fifty men at his
back, quietly and calmly ask for an explanation of
what had been going on in his absence. The idea
E 2

52 THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART.
was terrible. Nothing for if but negotiation and
treachery. _ , . /
Negotiations were opened. Peace was agreed' on
on the following grounds : Weybhays and his party
were to remain undisturbed, but were to give back a
little boat in which a honest sailor had escaped to
Weybhays and his party (this was evidently to pre
vent Weybhays from communicating with the dread
ful Pelsart). Weybhays, on the other hand, was tq
have some of the stuffs they had plundered from the^
merchants' chests to make clothes withall, for the
honest men were sadly in want of them. Such "were
Cornells' negotiations, and the truce was agreed on.
His safety, however, lay, not in negotiation, but in
treachery. Among the party of Weybhays were certain French -
soldiers, and, through these men, Cornells, with his
fox-like intellect, saw, or thought he saw,' that he
could get the better of Weybhays. There had been
a great deal of going and coming between the two
islands during the negotiations, which were principally
carried on by the good chaplain ; and the night
before the ratification of the treaty (or apparently
the night before) he managed to get some letters
conveyed to these French soldiers, offering them.
six thousand livres , {£2/ip) a-piece if they would i
betray Weybhays. ,
I suppose French soldiers have always been the,
same. I suppose that on the receipt of these letters,
they compared them one with another, put their
legs very, wide apart, and began walking up and dowii|
in front of one another, looking savage, and twitching

THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART. 53
their heads ; and that at last one of them said
sharply " Non," at the back of his nose ; and that
all the others said "Non," also, each looking at the
other, as if the insult had come from his comrade,
and he was prepared to fight him, or his own brother,
and on the slighest notice.
-However this is imaginary, the fact is, that these
noble Frenchmen carried their letters to Weybhays,
and laid them before him.
When Jerom Comelis came the next morning,
Weybhays was perfectly ready for him. Cornells
came across with the clothes he had promised Wey
bhays, followed by only three or four men. Weybhays
attacked them, killed three or four, but, better than
this, captured Cornells in his tom-fool's dress, and
bound him tight.
One Wonterloss made his escape and got back
to the other island, to rouse his fellow-conspirators.
Things were so desperate now with them, that they
made an immediate effort to rescue their head-centre,
by attacking Weybhays. They were badly beaten,
and almost before the strife had calmed down, and
they had got back to their island, Pelsart was among
them. Not a beaten, thirsty fugitive in the ship's pinnace :
far otherwise. One of the solemn and terrible Dutch
frigates of those times, the Sardam (she could not
have been at Chatham) was seen slowly sailing towards
the wreck ; and Pelsart was on board of her.
There flashes instantly before one's mind's eye, a
picture which, although the subject is 200 years
old, must be faithful. Three bright yellow islands.

54 THE SHIPWREC/C OF PELSART.
crowned with myrtle-like shrubs, which, rise out of
the fuming sand; around them a brilliant blue sea
under a deep blue sky. On the beaches of these
islands, groups of men are moving about towards orie
point. Beyond the islands, in the ocean, is a wreck
holding up its gaunt ribs above the little braid of
silver surf which surrounds it. And, slowly sailing
towards this wreck, comes one of Vandervelde's own,
solemn, majestic frigates : but not as one would see
her in one of his pictures, cloudy and dim, in a driving
Dutch mist, but made so bright and brilliant by the
crystalline Australian atmosphere, that each rope
stood out like a wire, each block like a bead, each
reef-point on her snOwy sails like a silken thread
upon white satin. Such must have been the picture
which Jerom Cornells, bound without hope of rescue,
must have seen and cursed that spring morning.
Pelsart, to his great joy, saw a great cloud of smoke
rising from one of the islands, and knew that his
people were not all dead. He had put some wine
and provisions in a boat, and was advancing towards
the island when he was met by the faithful Weybhays '
in his boat, who begged him to hurry back to his
ship, as the mutineers intended to surprise her ; and
at the same time told the horrid story of the murder.
While he was doing so, two boats appeared, and the-
captain rowed back for his life, just gaining the deck
of the Sardam in time.
To his great astonishment, for Weybhays could
hardly have had time to tell him more than the mere
fact of the murder, Pelsart saw two boats come along
side, filled with men in scarlet uniforms laced with

THE SHIPWRECK OF PELSART. ' 55
gold and silver, and armed. He demanded what they
meant by coming alongside armed. They replied
they would let him know when they got on board. He
ordered them to throw their arms overboard, or he
would sink them alongside. Resistance was utterly
useless, and they surrendered, and were put in irons.
John Bremen, the first of them who was examined,
owned to having murdered twenty-seven. That night
Jerom Cornells was brought on board heavily ironed.
It now remained to seize the rest of the conspira
tors, and they prepared to attack them the following
morning. But, when they had landed, the rebels
made no resistance ; they were utterly cowed, threw
down their arms, and submitted.
The Sardam stayed about the wreck until she had
weighed some chests of silver. The jewels distributed
by Cornells among his followers were all recovered ;
and then a counail of war was called as to whether
they should try the prisoners there, or take them to
Batavia. Considering the great quantity of silver on
board the ship, they determined to judge them on the
scene of their crimes, in preference to incurring the
danger of carrying them to Java. They were accord
ingly tried and executed; and Pelsart sailed away,
leaving the lonely islands to their original solitude and
desolation.

THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF ,
ANDREW BATTEL.
The captivity of Andrew Battel among the Por
tuguese, and his hair-breadth escapes in Equatorial%
Africa, where he lived for eighteen years, are well'
worth relating as an example of the style of life,
often led by the happy-go-lucky English sailor in
Elizabeth's time ; perfectly ready to go anywhere, or do
anything which came to his hand. To find a thorough
Andrew Battel now-a-days, you must, I think, go to
Portugal ; they wander more and are found in stranger,';
seas than the sailors of most other nations.
He was an Englishman, a sailor, of Leigh on the
South Essex coast (last station before Southend),
and in the year 1589 joined the expeditidn of one
Abraham Cooke of Limehouse, who had fitted out
two little craft for an adventure to the river Plate,
an enormous distance for such exceedingly small
vessels, whose names were the May Morning and
the Dolphin. In what capacity, or in which ship'
Andrew went, he does' hot say, and indeed he has
a somewhat involved^ way of telling his story, all
along ; although it is evidently meant to be perfectly
true, and undoubtedly is so, with very few exceptions.;
which will be perfectly obvious to the reader.

THE ADVENTURES OF ANDREW BA TTEL. 57
They started in May, and getting, after a few rebuffs,
a fair wind, sailed down Spain and Portugal, and
soon found themselves becalmed under the Grain
Coast, just below Sierra Leone, with the men sickening
so fast with the scurvy, that by the time they had
slipped along about 300 miles to Cape Palmas,
scarcely one was sound. Here, however, they got
some " refreshing," and recovered. How very strange
it was that these men, who, like all sailors, knew
that with plenty of lemon-juice you could avoid
that hideous disease, the scurvy, did not think of
carrying some of this precious juice along with them.
It was 250 years longer before any one thought of
carrying lime-juice to sea.
Feeling better, they bore down on the little Por
tuguese island of St. Thomas, which lies just on
the equator. On another island near the south end
they found a village full of sick negro slaves, sent
there to recruit. Having refreshed themselves with
the fruit of the island, the piratical rascals returned
thanks to Heaven by burning the hospital village,
and running up the side of the island, came to the
town of St. Thomas, "but durst not come near, for
the castle shot at us." One can hardly help wishing
that it had hit them.
They then took a short cruise out of sight of the
island, in this part of the Gulf of Guinea, apparently
with a view of deceiving the lynx-eyed Portuguese
governor as to their whereabouts, but without success,
for on returning to the other side of the island for
water, they found that he had "ambosked" a hundred
men in the wood by the watering-place, who thrashed

58 THE: ADVENTURES OF
them handsomely, killing one man and wounding
several. , It became ' evident that there were more
kicks than halfpence going on this side of the At
lantic, and so Abraham Cooke, commander of these
two little tubs, determined to set sail to the other
side of it, which he did, making the coast of Brazil
in thirty days, at " Ilha Grande " (mouth of the
Rio Grande, below Cape St. Roque .') probably a
point between Natal and Pernambuco. This was
a distance of 2,000 miles or more in thirty days, that
is to say, some 70 miles a day on the average, not
bad sailing for two little craft of fifty tons ! This
fact seems to one worth remembering.
At this island, which I cannot find, they stopped ;
twelve days and refitted ; what else they did there
I cannot quite make out ; we must remember that,
in all probability, Andrew's reminiscences were dic
tated to the clerk of Southend over rum and water ;
either the clerk at this point began to get disguised
in liquor, or Andrew, finding himself in a Christian
country, got cautious and respectable ; or else they
were both tipsy together. I cannot say how it was, but
the narrative here is hazy. They sent the Dolphin home
for one thing. They did something else here which
I cannot understand. An unlucky little Portuguese
pinnace "happened in" there, "and they presently
went aboard" and took the merchant out of her.
Whether the merchant was a consenting party or
no, Andrew does not say, he only tells us more hazily
than before, that the merchant took them to a part
of the island where there was a banished man who
grew plantains ; and then this merchant, finding,

ANDREW £A TTEL. 59
himself in the hands of the Philistines, laid them
on to a good thing about some " caravels," from the
town of Buenos Ayres. He told them that with
this fruit (the plantains of the banished man), they
would get easily to the river Plate; in short, evidently
wanted them to go there, or further, as long as they
left him alone. That is all I can make out about this
part of the adventure. Either through caution or
through drink, Andrew Battel is as indefinite in his
explanations as a good Secretary of the Admiralty.
His very vagueness is, to me, a proof of his
truth. You must not ask a sailor too many questions.
Only the other day, a retired collector of her Majesty's
Revenue (who had been in his time ^a privateer's
man), a very old friend, was describing to me the
masterly way in which he had dodged a French
corvette, in the last war, on to shallow water off
one of the banks on the coast of Holland. The
French corvette could not follow his schooner across
the bank ; he was running over it, with the shot drop
ping further and further astern each moment, as the
Frenchman found her water shoaling : he had escaped,
when the night lifted a little, and showed him the
dreadful spectacle of a BRITISH frigate right on
his course. He jammed down his helm and held
northward over the bank, trusting in his desperation
that there might be water enough. " But why
didn't you run on for the British frigate V I asked ;
"and get under guns." I was silenced with a lofty
look of contempt. I asked no more questions. You
must not ask a sailor too many.

6o - THE ADVENTURES OF
It is perfectly legitimate to tell this very little story
here. This is a book of adventures.
Abraham Cooke, of Limehouse hole, commander of
this queer little expedition, egged on by the Portu
guese merchant, evidently anxious to get rid of him,
still thought well of the expedition to the river Plate,
and having victualled his ship with the "banished
man's" plantains, sailed south, and came to the island
of Lobos Marinos* at the mouth of the river Plata, •
which was covered with seals and sea-morses in im
mense quantities, upon which they lived thirty days. ;
They made one attempt to run up to Buenos Ayres,
and cut out a small vessel, but failed, and getting into
terrible straits for want of provisions, gave up the ,
voyage and came northward to the island of San
Sebastian, a short distance to the south of Rio Janeiro.
There they went ashore to fish, and some of them
being famished, went up into the woods to gather
fruit. A canoe full of Indians had arrived at the
other side of the island, and, creeping up, surprised
five of them, of whom was Andrew, and carried them ,
off to Rio Janeiro as prisoners. Upon this loss of
five of his men, Abraham Cooke of Limehouse ^
sailed away in the May"^ Morning, and never was
heard of again.
Andrew was not detained long at Rio. He and
one Torner were sent to Angola, in Africa, to the
town of St. Paul, and put in prison ; but not for long : ' ¦•
the Portuguese seeming to have made great use of
their prisoners of war, and he was sent "up the river i
* Isla de Lobos, some sixty mUes from Monte Video, on the same
side of the river.

ANDREW BATTEL. 6i
Quanza to a garrison town 120 miles up." Now
I wish to call attention to this slight proof of his
accuracy. The river which comes on at St. Paul is
called Coanza to this day, and just 120 miles up it
stands the town of Aco. He had forgotten the name
of the town, but not the distance to it ; and it is
further worthy of notice that his latitude and longi
tude, are wonderfully correct.
He was now appointed pilot to the governor, Hur-
tado de Mendoza; but immediately afterwards fell
ill, and lay eight months so at St. Paul. Here, he
says, he was much hated as an Englishman, and
remembering the burning of the negro village at St.
Thomas's not so long before, one can scarcely wonder
at it. His first voyage for the Governor was to
Tarza, at the mouth of the Congo, for elephants'
teeth, wheat, and palm-oil, in which he was successful.
Theh he went up as high as Loango, making such
excellent bargains as 120 lbs. of ivory for a yard of
cloth, and dealing in " Irish rugs," whatever they are ;
he gave Mendoza great satisfaction, and had his
liberty for two years and a half
He now made an attempt to escape. A Dutch
ship coming in to the port, offered to take him off.
He was already secreted . on board, when he, the
hated Englishman, was betrayed by some Portuguese,
and taken out of the ship by the sergeants of the city.
He expected that the Governor would put him to
death, but he did not, merely banishing him for life
to the fort of Massagano, to help in the conquest of
those parts.
After remaining here for six years, he made another

62 THE ADVENTURES OF
effort to escape. , Massagano stands on the river
Coanza, which falls into the Atlantic at St. Paul, and
his plan was to seize a canoe, and drop down the
river for a certain distance, then striking northward;
to enter the territory of Congo. He opened his plan
to four Egyptians and seven Portuguese, who con
sented to join him, and the whole twelve, havipg
secured a canoe, and taking with them twelve mus
kets with ammunition, dropped down the river Coanza
as far as a place called Mani Cabech, and there,
carefully sinking their canoe, they struck northward 'J
into the bush.
They were scarcely eight degrees from the line, and
their sufferings were very great from heat and drought' i
They struggled on, however, most courageously in a
north-western direction, fording one river infested with
crocodiles. They had to pass within twelve miles' of
the town of St. Paul, and the negroes were evidently
anxious for. their capture. They refused them water,
and Andrew and his companions were obliged to
extort it by threats of using their fire-arms. At last
there was a collision with the negroes, and four of the
latter were killed. By this time, of course, the news
of their escape had spread. On the morning of the
seventh day they found themselves pursued by the
Captain of St. Paul's and a host of negroes.
The Portuguese at once^hid themselves, but Andrew
and his four Egyptian comrades still kept their courage,
and made efforts to escape. They were useless. The
fugitives were brought to bay in a little wood, and
dispersed by a volley of musketry. Andrew, now
finding himself alone, came out with his musket

ANDREW BATTEL. 63
loaded, and coolly announced that, unless he got a
promise of life, he would " die there among them" —
a grim sort of threat, with so much meaning in it that
the Captain immediately gave his word of honour as
a soldier, and Andrew submitted.
He was now cast into prison, with an iron collar
round his neck and heavy bolts on his legs, and only
released when condemned to banishment for life. He
now was forced to join in the half war half slave-hunt'
which the Portuguese were carrying on in the south.
They went on plundering, burning, and carrying away
captive for two years, annexing the dominions of one
petty prince after another, and apparently enlisting
his army ; for at the end of this time the Portuguese
army amounted to fifteen thousand men. At this time
Andrew Battel was wounded, and, I suppose in con
sequence of his services, was allowed to go to the city
to be cured. This gave a new turn to his mode of life.
A frigate was sent south to the Bahia de Vaccas
below Novo Redondo, and among the sixty soldiers
on board of her went Andrew. Their principal object
was to supply the city of St. Paul with meat, and so,
having made up a cargo of cattle, with some copper,
a sweet wood called cacongo, wheat, and beans, the
captain took the frigate north, and left the fifty
soldiers to collect cows. They built a fort, and got
together some five hundred head against the return
of. the frigate ; but on her second voyage back their
attention was diverted from the cattle-trade in another
and more profitable branch — the slave-trade. This
produced a remarkable new series of ramblings for
Andrew.

64 THE AD VENTURES OF
Sailing along the coast of Benguela, close to the
highlands of San Felipe, they saw upon a promon- .
tory, a large concourse of men ; and knowing that in
the then state of society in Africa, no great crowd of
men could get together unless for purposes of war,
and would, therefore, have slaves for sale, they antici
pated some fine trade, and found their anticipations
realized beyond their hopes.
These newly-seen people seem to have been a most
remarkable nation. They were a nomadic cannibal
tribe, who, says Andrew Battel, came first, some fifty,
years before, from Sierra Leone, and had fought their
way in that time down here to Benguela (a distance of
say 3,000 miles). Considering the distance Andrew
travelled with them in his long sojourn amongst them, I
do not see any reason whatever to doubt this. How-' J
ever, here they were, intensely eager for trade, and,
intensely easy to deal with. They sold the Portuguese
slaves for the value of one real a-piece, which a day's
sail off, at St. Paul, were worth twelve mille reys.*
Such wonderful customers deserved encouragement
The chief of the Gagas was in a little difficulty. He
wanted to cross the river Corea, and cut the throats of
the people on the other side, a perfectly inoffensive^
tribe : would the Portuguese lend them boats .¦" The
villains did so, with the greatest of pleasure, puttingCj
them over eighty at a time, and firing on those who, *
opposed them with their muskets. Surely one of
the very foulest deeds ever done. At twelve o'clock,
the cannibal fiends had, with the assistance of their j
Christian brethren, formed line of battle, and rushed '\
* Pigafetta tells us much about them.

ANDRE W BA TTEL. 65
howling on the unfortunate Benguelans, who were
quickly overcome. A horrible slaughter ensued,
one hundred chiefs having fallen, whose bodies were
eaten by the Gagas. The rest of the nation, men,
women and children, were either eaten or sold to the
Portuguese, who, after committing this abominable
piece of wickedness, began a smart trade with the
Gagas, making three voyages to and from St. Paul in
five months, evidently doing such a piece of slave-
trading as has seldom been equalled.
At the end of five months, however, the Gagas had
moved, one of their necessities, palm-wine, not being
procurable in Benguela. Such customers were not to
be lost sight of, fifty men were told off to go after
them up the country, and the ship waited at San
Felipe. These horrible friends were as easily traced as a
swarm of locusts, or a column of the migratory ants
spoken of by M. du Chaillu. After two days' march,
they came upon a town which had been burnt and
plundered by them. To the unhappy chieftain of this
town, Mofarigosat, according to Andrew Battel, they
sent a negro they had bought of the Gagas, with the
lie that he had been sent to bring them (the Portu
guese) to the Gagas' camp. This made him welcome
them through terror of the Gagas ; but he soon began
to see what wonderful allies they would be for him in
his wars. They were the first white men he had
ever seen with their muskets, and he used every
means to induce them to stay with him, persuasion
first, no doubt ; but he afterwards seems to have
threatened force, for they became alarmed. They
F

66 THE ADVENTURES OF
promised him that if he would let them go, they
would return in two months, and to this Mofarigosat
reluctantly consented, only on condition that a white
man should remain as hostage. They agreed to the
terms ; some were for casting lots as to who should
remain, some were opposed to it. What need } was
there not an Englishman } Let the heretical English
dog stay. And so they marched off : I suppose back
to the ship, having had enough of following their
cannibal friends ; and the hostage left was, of course,
Andrew Battel.
At the end of two months, no Portuguese appearing,
Mofarigosat began to treat him with great rigour.
Most of the chieftains were for putting him to death ;
but the chief would not have it, still hoping for the
Portuguese. After a time he was set at liberty, still
retaining his musket and powder. He lived an uneasy,
vagabond life among them for a short time, and at
last determined to run away to his cannibal friends
the Gagas.
Walking all night, he came to a beautiful town in a
wood, the streets of which were so shaded with Ali-
condo cedar and palm, that they were darkened by
them. He calls the town Cashil, and funnily enough
calls the chief of it Lord Cashil. Here, by good
luck, he found some of the Gagas, and went away
with them.
Of his wanderings for the next sixteen months with
these people, it will be as well to say that, geographi
cally speaking, they seem to have been confined to
the sierras behind the Portuguese settlements, from
the latitude of the present St. Felipe to that of St

.ANDRE W BA TTEL. 67
Paul, or a little higher. We should also say some
thing of this wonderful tribe of nomadic cannibals with
whom he consorted, in preference to the Portuguese.
Their numbers of fighting men appeared to be about
sixteen thousand. Their great necessities seemed to
be human flesh and palm-wine, and they seldom seem
to move forward as long as a supply of the latter
lasts, which was not very long, as they cut down the
trees to obtain, it. On the march they never passed
a single night without making a stockade and placing
a guard. They spent considerable time in some
regions : always invading on this plan. They went
in and erected a fort ; the inhabitants were sooner or
later sure to attack them behind their works, giving
them a vast advantage. Letting the inhabitants
exhaust themselves by these efforts, they watched
their opportunity, and finished them. On this plan
they claimed to have worked their way through the
country from Sierra Leone in fifty years.
But what was most astonishing about these people
was their system of policy, which I should think, as
far as I have read, was without parallel in the history
of the world. In its fiendish wisdom and its intense
wickedness it may seem almost incredible ; but it
would be a vastly more incredible thing to believe
that it was all invented by the sailor brain of Andrew
Battel. The man who had imagination enough to
dream of such an ineffable horror might have written
" Frankenstein" or the " Arabian Nights."
These Gagas, these conquering cannibals, had wives
who bore them plenty of children, but these children
were all buried alive as soon as born. The tribe was
F 2

68 THE ADVENTURES OF
recruited in this way. When they sacked a negro
town, the conquered men and women were eaten or
sold, but the girls and boys were kept, the women for
wives, the boys for warriors. The boys were trained
to the use of arms, but wore a collar round their necks
until they brought an enemy's head to the chieftain.
Then, and then only, they got their privileges as men.
Cowards of any age were put to death and eaten.
Just look what the results of this policy must
have been ; how the means were so wonderfully
adapted to the end. To what end .' To the training
of a race of cannibal savages, practised to valour
from their youth, without any ties of country or
family. What wonder that they walked through
Africa, desolating like locusts, from their home (not
such a great distance from Dahomey, of which we
have heard lately), and in fifty years had gone three
thousand miles. And look at another nightmare view
of the case. These Gagas were not a nation or a
race; they were a sect. When Battel met them
swarming on the cape near the modern town of Novo
Redondo,, not a single individual of the original pro
pagandists, or a single one of their progeny, remained
alive. They were a mixed body of all the tribes on
the African coast, between 12° S. and io° N. Yet
their devilish faith held them together in a body so
compact that no more innocent tribe dared face them.
What constitutes a nation — tradition or race .''
As to the credibility of Andrew Battel's account
of them, it would be a less effort for me to believe
in table-rapping and all that sort of thing, than to
believe that a Southend sailor would have had genius

ANDREW BATTEL. 69
enough to invent such an extraordinary system of
policy. Besides, Father Merolla, the Capuchin Jesuit,
eighty years later confirms him about these people,
supposing that his Giaghi were these Gagas, of which
there is no doubt to a very great extent. He men
tions their cannibalism, their overrunning the kingdom
of Congo before his time, and their witchcraft, which
was his life-long trouble, and in which he believed far
more devoutly than did the English sailor. We have
no room here for Father Merolla and his quaint super
stitions, but they are very quaint. His entire belief
in an omnipresent Devil who was not to be trifled
with ; his belief that these poor wretches of negro
charlatans were in personal communication with that
Devil ; the way he had them put to death, or worse,
carried slaves to Brazil ; his story of the negro Lord
down South, who pretended he could bring rain, and
of his partner cursing the air in that part of the
country, so that there was no rain for seventeen years ;
his credulity and shrewdness in matters of natural
history ; his great kind-heartedness ; and his amazing
fanatical cruelty in matters of religion: all these
things are very wonderful to those who have never
examined the self-history of such a mind before.
One ends by loving the man, but his book is very
wearisome. St. Dunstan and tongs is very funny, but
it palls on one at last. The man was well educated,
and knew his Latin poets to some extent. There \?,
not a wilful lie in the book, but a great number
of mis-statements. It is idle work reading such books
as Van Helmont and Merolla.
All this leads us into a long train of thought, which

70 THE ADVENTURES OF

every man must follow for himself Who invents
these ghostly superstitions of savages .? " The Devil,"
says good and shrewd Father Merolla the Franciscan,
" Bouche va toujours" says the political economist
They are both right. One believes in the Devil and
in political economy also, not to mention certain other
things ; but if the Devil and natural necessity formed
the policy and religion of savage tribes, who was
the person or cause which shaped it 1 Who invented
their ceremonies for them ? Who taught Eyre's Aus
tralian natives to do one astounding thing, and Captain
Baker's African natives to do another equally idiotic .''
Were these ceremonies sent down from the Tuileries,
or did the Speaker leave the chair, and were they
invented by the collective wisdom of a Committee
of the whole House .? Are they the remnants of a
superior state of civilization, or are they the first blind
efforts of a people trying to rise to higher things?
Probably as much one as the other. No Austrahan
native could, after endless cycles of civil engineering,
invent the boomerang, any more than a European
can make a good one. Probably nowhere on the face
of the globe is there either a race or a man with
sufficient initial vitality to invent a creed so inexorably
devilish and so well suited to the end aimed at as
that of these Gagas. And again : ceremonies, as
we learn from the most ceremonial of Churches — that
of Rome — are no more than human speech, arbitrary.
Brompton will explain to benighted folks the mean
ing of ceremonies which to them appear astounding.
Has not a man lately in Protestant Prussia been fined
for speaking flippantly of the holy coat of Treves.'

ANDREW BATTEL.

71

Of course it served him right But all ceremonies
had some meaning in them before they got them
selves developed, these African ceremonies among
the number. We know who developed them, but we
do not know who had the wit to originate them. They
meant something originally ; but there is no African
Stonyhurst, and so the key to them is lost
Andrew Battel's stay among these strange savages
must have been more than two years. Getting tired of
them and their fighting, he rejoined the Portuguese at
Massagano, 100 miles up the Coanza from St. Paul de
Loanda. There he found a new governor, Senor Juan
Continho, who had orders from the King to get pos
session of the mountains of Cambambe higher up,
where there were mines. He was allowed seven years'
rent of all the goods and slaves carried thence, and
had to build three castles — one at Demba, one at
Cambambe, and one at Bahia de Vaccas. This Senor
Continho evidently had his fortune before him, and
was so wonderfully liberal that mulattoes and negroes
came in numbers to serve him. One of his first
expeditions was one which it is very difficult, if worth
while, to understand ; for Andrew Battel is most con
fused, or all the maps I can find are wrong. How
ever he sent back to Massagano for some of the
best soldiers, and Andrew Battel was despatched
among them. There was a great battle at the end of
the campaign, in which he calculates the opposing
.forces at sixty thousand, which is of course like every
account of every battle ever written — an enormous
over-statement with regard to numbers. They made
great slaughter among the men, and took all the

72 THE ADVENTURES OF
women and children captive. In the midst of his
glorious triumph, however, the just and generous
Senor Juan de Continho died, and went to render an
account of his deeds.
The new captain was a cruel man, and the volunteers
began rapidly to desert. At this time important news
arrived for Andrew. Some Jesuits came up and brought
the news that Queen Elizabeth was dead, and that
James had made peace with Spain (1604) ; he must
now have been from home fourteen years. He now
petitioned the Government for his release, and his
petition was granted certainly, but immediately re
called by the cruel Governor, as he wished him to go
on an expedition. Now this Governor had served his
three years, and another was expected immediately,
on whose arrival there would be proclaimed, as was
usual in such cases, a general amnesty to all deserters.
Andrew accordingly determined to take to the woods
till he should come.
That night he left the city secretly with two negro
boys ; carrying five pounds of powder and a hundred
bullets. From Massagano, which is on the Coanza,
he crossed to the river Bengo (which falls into the
sea close to the north of St. Paul of Loanda in Bengo
Bay), and after some days went on to the river Dande,
the next one northward. Here he determined to stay
while his negroes went to gather information. They
came back with very serious news indeed. The new
Governor would not arrive for another year. He was
now in a sad strait. He must either keep the woods
for that time, or return to the city to be hung, for
haying run away twice : it had come to that now. He

A NDRE W BA TTEL. 7 3
decided naturally enough on the former course, and
moved up to the Lake of Caganza, a lake about eight
miles across, some six and thirty miles up the river
Bengo from the mouth.
Here he seems to have had somewhat good quarters
for six months ; at all events, snug ones. The Bengo,
not being like the Coanza, navigable for 120 miles,
has no towns on it, while the latter has many ; there
fore, although near enough to the city, he was in a
country where few whites were at all likely to come.
His food was venison of different kinds, and fish out
of the lake, with sometimes a little Guinea corn
which his two negroes exchanged for dried fish. He,
however, got tired of this, and determined to try the
Atlantic !
There grew on the lake, he saj'S, trees, " membre,"
as light and as soft as cork ; with these he fashioned
a half raft, half boat, formed a sail from a blanket,
and made three oars. He railed his boat round to
prevent the sea washing him out, and with his two
negroes, ventured boldly across the lake and into the
river Bengo. In six and thirty miles they were in
the dangerous bar at the mouth, which they managed
to get over in safety, finding themselves now in the
open ocean. They hoisted their sail before a fair
wind, and pointed their boat's head northward for
Loango. That night he passed at sea in his curious raft, and
the next day he saw a pinnace coming after them,
full sail, over those pleasant seas. He does not say
what his thoughts were when he 'saw her, but he must
have been rather anxious, for the rope was, so to

74 THE ADVENTURES OF
speak, round his neck, and to avoid her was of course
impossible. His joy, however, must have been very
great, when he found that she was commanded by an
old friend and messmate of his, who was bound for
St. Thomas (where we burnt that negro hospital
sixteen years ago), and that he gladly gave him a
passage to Loango. What became of his wonderful
boat or his two faithful negroes he does not say.
The boat, we will suppose, was cast adrift. Let us
hope that he did not sell his two friends : but it is
sadly likely. ,
He now spent three years with the King of Loango,
His geography and distances again seem perfectly
good according to such maps as are at my command.
I will, therefore, say no more about it, but go on with
what is more our business, his personal experiences.
For during his residence here he either penetrated
into the gorilla country himself, or at all events heard
a great deal about it, apparently from very good
authority. He gives us a sketch of the geography,
pretty correct, up to the River Mayamba, in the third
parallel, and he speaks as from personal experience
of Cape Lopez, which is not a hundred miles from
the Gaboon ; altogether his description of the gorilla
country is perfectly rational, and it agrees with Du
Chaillu's account of the same region in a most
wonderful manner. Perhaps it will not be very
interesting to give his account, since every one is
interested in and knows those regions just now.
The province of Mayamba is so overgrown with
wood that you can travel thirty days in the shade.
The wood.s, Andrew tells us, are so infested with

ANDREW BATTEL. 75
baboons, monkeys, apes, and parrots, that it is
dangerous to venture among them. Of these, the
pongo is more dangerous than the engeco. The
pongo is in all his proportions like a man, except
the legs (which have no calves), but is of a gigantic
size. When it walks on the ground, it is upright. It
sleeps in trees and makes a covering over its head
to shelter it from the rain.
One sees that in the main he corresponds with M.
du Chaillu, though it is very likely he never saw a
gorilla. I think, on the whole, that M. du Chaillu
scarcely is fair to him, when he says that his accounts of
the gorilla are mere travellers' tales. Andrew Battel, as
a common sailor naturally would, confused the habits
of the gorilla with those of the nshiego mbouv^ (pongo
and engeco, as he calls them), making the former the
builder of the shelter-shed in the trees, instead of the
latter, though I doubt if he confuses either with the
chimpanzee. He also says that they walk upright,
and that they go in bodies (which are very harmless
errors, for they attacked M. du Chaillu on foot), and
that they beat away the elephants. With the excep
tion of these errors, Andrew's account of the gorillas
agrees exactly with M. du Chaillu's : as, for instance,
" The young pongo hang upon their mother's belly
with their arms clasped around them." This and
other circumstances about them, though written two
centuries before he was born, confirm his statements
in the most remarkable manner, and should, we think
have met with a little more acknowledgment.
There are two other circumstances in which Andrew
Battel confirms M, du Chaillu most remarkably.

76 THE ADVENTURES OF
Battel tells his story about the trial by the poison
imbunde , and its effects — effects which we cannot give
in a book of this kind. At p. 288 M. du Chaillu gives
an account of the action of the mboundu poison, which ,
would read like a copy of Andrew Battel, were it
not that M. du Chaillu brought a leaf of it home, and
that it was identified by an American botanist as a
new species of strychnos : evidence in favour of M. du
Chaillu, which it would be more than ungenerous to
question. Merolla, eighty years later, mentions a
similar trial by poison, but a little more south than
Battel's northernmost, and Du Chaillu's southernmost :
he calls it bolango, but it is all told in a miserably,
superstitious manner, after which the straightforward,
common-sense of the English sailor is infinitely
refreshing. Again, the following passage reads rather startling |
after M. du Chaillu's discovery of the little gipsies,
which he announced last autumn.
" To the north of Mani Kesock (King Kesock) are
a kind of little people called Matambas, who are no
bigger than boys twelve years old, but very thick;
they live only upon flesh which they kill in the woods
with their bows and darts — they bring in elephants'
teeth and tails. If any strangers pass their dwelling
they immediately remove. They kill the pongos with J
poisoned arrows.
Here we have Du Chaillu's dwarf gipsies much
about where they should be, dealing in elephants'
teeth and tails. The tails of Andrew Battel puzzled
roe till I turned to Du Chaillu, and found that ele
phants' tails were a great fetish. And so, being on

ANDREW BATTEL. 77
dangerous grounds, I leave the reader to decide for or
against them both.
After following Andrew so long, one would have
been glad to know how he got home again, and how
soon he dictated his travels; but of this one finds
nothing. They were, I should guess almost certainly,
dictated to Purchas himself, or to one of his agents,
to form part of his second great bbok, "The Pil
grims." The distance between St. Martin's Ludgate,
and the sailors' haunts about the Pool being very
small.

THE WANDERINGS OF A CAPUCHIN.
The good Capuchin Friar, Merolla, who followed our
present hero to the same parts of Congo fifteen
years afterwards, gives a far more elaborate account
of the strange missionary life in Congo than does
Denis de Carli of Piacenza. But as Merolla is
undoubtedly dull to read unless he gets into some
frantic fight with the native sorcerers (where he is
more than amusing, sometimes absolutely absurd), we
have thought it better, in this attempt to bring old
Catholic missionary life in Africa before the reader,
to use Father Denis in preference to Father Merolla ;
always, however, illustrating the former by the latter.
Father Denis seems to have been a very noble person,
and we hope that his most curious wanderings will
interest the reader as much in this necessarily
abridged account of them, as they did the compiler
when read by him at large.
In 1666, the "Annus Mirabilis," in the popedom of
Alexander the Seventh, fifteen Capuchin missionaries
were despatched " by the Cardinals de propaganda
fide," with patents of the following privileges, which
are surely worth the idlest reader's attention for a
minute : — " To dispense with any irregularity except

THE WANDERINGS OF A CAPUCHIN. 79

incurred by bigamy or wilful murder. To dispense
and commute simple vows, even to that of chastity,
but not that of religion. To dispense with marriages
within the second and third degrees, and for pagans
converted to keep one of their wives. To absolve in
cases reserved to the Pope. To bless church, church
stuffs, and chalices. To give leave to eat flesh and
white meats, and to say two masses a day in case of
necessity. To grant plenary indulgences. To de
liver a soul out of purgatory, according to the
intention of the priest, in a mass for the dead said on
Monday and Tuesday. To wear secular clothes in
case of necessity. To say the Rosary for want of a
breviary or any other impediment. To read forbidden
books, except Machiavel."
The above italics are ours. The particular prohibi
tion against Machiavelli, then dead 140 years, seems
to an ignorant man like forbidding a " Pass '' country
curate to yield to the lively and seductive style of
Hallam's " Middle Ages,'' and not to debauch his
ideas of right and wrong by getting up the defini
tion of an " appanage." However, people and popes
are generally found to understand their own interests ;
and with this curious commission Denis de Carli set
out on his wild and curious journey. One Michael
Angelo, of Reggio, was to be his companion in this
great journey. Father Denis went to his native town
of Piacenza to meet him, and having met, set .out
for Genoa together, where the other missionaries w-fere
to embark. And so they were carried to LisBon, to
take ship for the Brazils ; their ultimate destination
being Congo.

8o THE WANDERINGS OF
The old round of the Portuguese merchantmen in
those days seems to have been this : it was certainly
" composite " sailing, to use Maury's term ; but it was
no composition between the shape of the earth and
prevailing winds, but a composition between prevailing
winds and the filthy lucre of gain. A man who
wished to reach the west coast of Africa set his
head steadily for the north-west coast of South
America; the rounding of Cape Verde was not to be
done against the N.E. trades without steam. The
N.E. trades would carry him nearly to the line, and
in some cases over it. He could then proceed away
on his S.E. trades till he got to Bahia or Pernaihbuco
(Fernambuco they call it.) Getting to Pernambuco,
or Bahia, he would discharge his cargo, and, loading
with dye-woods and cotton, cross to the coast of Africa
on the S.E. trade-wind, and then, filling up with ivory
and gold, go home almost free on the S.E. trades for
his first 600 miles, unless, indeed, he had crossed light
and empty, and had got a cargo of slaves, in which
case he would go nearly close-hauled back to the
Brazils again.
These high-minded young men (for they could not
number sixty years between three of them), sailed
accordingly from Lisbon, and were three months in
reaching Pernambuco ; glad to arrive in safety, for
there had just occurred a great sea disaster which had
made every one a little nervous, and as a strange old
piece of sea-experience may be worth mentioning.;
The ship Catarinetta, with 400 souls on board, coming
round very richly laden from Goa, passed the Brazils
in safety, but under the line got some sickness on

A CAPUCHIN. 8x

board, which carried off the master and all the best
hands. The captain (a military man, like Monk of
Albemarle, for instance, who was afloat himself this
very year, and not making a very first-rate business
of it either) was, of course, quite unable to navigate
his ship, and she drifted about the line for seven
months, until, after consuming all their provisions,
including cats, dogs, rats, and shoes, they were reduced
from 400 souls to five, among whom was the captain.
They determining to cast lots as to which of them
was to be eaten, the four sailors insisted on exempting
the captain from the horrid lot, while he insisted on
undergoing it, only anxious to keep some one of the
party alive to clear his own honour, as it would be
undoubtedly said of him in Portugal that he had
carried off the inestimable cargo, which was even
then beneath his feet, for his own ends. The lot fell
on the captain, but they would not kill him, preferring
to die, like good Catholics, and were rewarded by
sighting land almost immediately. Only the captain
and one sailor were ultimately saved. This story is
evidently true, though the good Father has played
Russian scandal with it a little. For instance, they
could scarcely have had on board seven months'
water. The good man gives us another story of the founda
tion of the church of our Lady of Nazareth near
Pernambuco, and a very pretty one too ; but our
business is not to print foolish popish legends, however
well invented or well told. He, however, tells his
stories simply and well.
. Though not so intelligent or so much of a man of
G

THE WANDERINGS 01

the world as Merolla, he tells us one or two things
about the Brazils which are noticeable, and omitted
by the other. According to him, the slave-trade
between the west coast of Africa and Pernambuco
amounted, in 1666, to 10,000 head annually. Of the
losses in the middle passage he will tell us presently.
They were employed on sugar, tobacco, cotton,
cutting dye-woods, and working cocoa and ivory.
Here, if one may be allowed to notice such a
trivial circumstance, both Fathers Denis and Angelo,
and, after twelve years' interval. Father Merolla, first
made the acquaintance of chegoes, or "jiggers ;" and
both, strangely enough, are more than half inclined
to believe that they were one of the ten plagues of
Egypt;* an effort to fight back for the Mosaic
cosmogony which is very ecclesiastic. The late
Mr. Waterton, one remembers, kept a tame one
on his toe, and tried to bring it over to England,
with a view to acclimatization, but failed. Captain
Thomas Cringle, R.N., also liked them at first ; but
Father Denis, and afterwards Father Merolla, did
not as Cringle's nigger puts it, "like tickle." They
are very loud in their denunciation of these parasites.
Father Denis is somewhat inclined to go to the
length of denouncing them as " Pharaoh's lice," but
as he says again, "they are smaller than lice."
Now no gentleman, unless he has been in the
Crimea, is supposed to know what a louse is like.
But one cannot help thinking that Father Denis
* Merolla alludes here to one of our present heroes. "Father
Michael Angelo de Gualtini hints as much in a letter to his father
from Fernambuco."

A CAPUCHIN. 83

was something of a gentleman. The reader must
judge for himself
The Ceremonialists of the present day, even at
Rome itself, would hardly get up such a spectacle
as was seen by Father Denis at Pernambuco, in
1666, on the Feast of the Rosary in the church of
Corpo Santo: 10,000 ells of fine coloured silk
(draped, we suppose, from the clerestory gallery);
a lofty tabernacle, covered with silk embroidered
with flames of gold ; a silver galloon over it ;
ravishing music, and — 10,000 slaves landed per
annum. Some may say, " Their life here among
Christians must have been an improvement on their
old African heathenism." We say nothing, but only
quote good Father Merolla twelve years later, and so
leave the reader to palter with slavery and popery
as he chooses.
"To uphold the sugar-works a vast number of
slaves are required : some there are who have no
less than 500 slaves for this purpose, and whose
labour is so hard and sustenance small, that they are
reckojied to live long if they hold out seven years"
So much, for the civilization of' the negroes in
those times. Fathers Denis and Michael Angelo had
to go on across the Atlantic, and see the negroes
before they were civilized. I cannot help thinking
that if these good monks, and others like them, had
been properly backed up, a vast deal more might
have been done for the West African negro. It
would be always impossible, from the deadliness of
the climate, to keep any large staff of priests of
any denomination there. But I must break off,
G 2

84 THE WANDERINGS OF
getting on dangerous ground, only saying that the
negroes of those times were evidently intensely eager
to embrace the Romish form of the Christian
religion ; apparently preferring it to the higher and
more intellectual forms of Christianity which have
since been offered to them. None of them, of course,
so early as that time questioned the legality of slavery,
though on occasions they protested against slaves
being acquired by mere violence and without due
bargain. It was late in the year 1667, when they at last set
sail for Congo, and the S.E. trade being almost
exactly foul for them, did not fetch the coast of
Africa under 29° south (Pernambuco being 8° south),
below the Orange River. They then coasted up to
Benguela, getting into Portuguese and Christian
territory at Cape Frio, in latitude 16° 10'.* The
captain had great alarms here, mostly fearing that
the native x magicians would sink his ship for him
by their enchantments. The good Fathers were
neutral on this point, declining to express an opinion
on the subject, only giving us the results. One result
and that the most remarkable, which acted in a
most singular way on the captain's internal organi
zation, we are unable to give. The Philistines
wouldn't stand it at all, and so human knowledge
must suffer.
The Father Superior and he went ashore, and he

* Possibly this is as good a place as any other for acknowledging
my obligation to Mr. Stanford, of Charing Cross, with regard to his
loan of the as yet unpublished map of Africa. It is the finest map I
have ever had the luck to see.

A CAPUCHIN. 8s

preached in Portuguese ; and his account of Benguela
reads like a description of a hell upon earth. Drink
ing the water of the country was death. The whites
who lived there " looked as if they had been dug out
of their graves. Their voices are broken, and they
hold their breath, in a manner, between their teeth "
(low fever and ague. one would suppose). Socially,
again. " The courts at Lisbon, as a punishment for
some heinous crime, banish men to Angola and Ben
guela, as the most wretched and infectious countries
under their government. Therefore the whites are
the most deceitful and wickedest of men." Heaven
help the poor blacks !
Arriving at St. Paul de Loanda on Twelfth Day,
they met with a most enthusiastic greeting. The
town they describe as a handsome one, with 3,000
white inhabitants and an immense black population.
There seems to have been no free negroes at all ; the
whole of the black population being held in slavery
by the whites : some individuals among whom held as
many as 3,000. They were a great source of wealth,
as they were hired out and brought the proceeds of
their labours to their masters.
They found the Jesuits to be the most important,
the wealthiest, and busiest Church people here, doing
(in their way) wonders. In addition to a consider
able grant (nearly ;^300 a year) from the King of
Portugal, they had the rent of many houses, and no
less than twelve thousand slaves ! many of whom
being skilled artisans, were sources of enormous
profit to the good Fathers — bringing in a crusado (two
shillings or thereabouts) a day for their labours.

86 THE WANDERINGS OF
There were also some Carmelites here, and some
Franciscans. The account of the circulating medium in this
place, and at this time, is quaint and strange enough
to be written down ; and, what is more, to be remem
bered. " Zimbi " (or, I think, cowries), were useful in
dealing with up-country tribes, who adored the sea,
and who put a fetish value on them as coming from
the sea. The coast-folk dealt in other " coins :"
maccutes, biramese, and " Indian pieces," which latter
were otherwise called " muleches." Maccutes are
pieces of straw cloth, a yard long, worth ten " reys''
apiece. Birames are pieces of coarse cotton cloth,
five ells long, worth 200 reys the piece. Now, what
are muleches, or " Indian pieces," the highest coin of
that realm } You would never guess. Young blacks
about twenty years of age, worth about twenty mil
reys apiece.* If they are younger, they are valued
by competent folks, and had cheaper. Young women
the same price as young men, and no dearer ; thanks,
I suspect, to the Jesuits, who have done their work,
and gone to their place.
The mission of these two monks was to Bamba
(which is 120 miles north of St Paul de Loanda, two-
thirds of the way between that town and the mouth
of the Congo). I find, now, that space is short, and
that it would be a perfect waste of labour to inflict on
the reader the miserable squabbles and politics of the
* Taking -.>. mil rey as the tenth of a pound sterling, or two
shillings, this would make the worth of a human body about tv,-o
pounds. Birdofredum Sawin might have qualified himself for President
without any subscription, had niggers been so cheap in his time.

A CAPUCHIN. 87

black dukes, most of them subsidized by the Portu
guese Government ; such, for instance, as the gallant
resistance to Portuguese arms by the Prince of Songo
(Sogno in Merolla). Human intellect and human
memory are too small for such things. Carlyle him
self would hand them over to Dryasdust ; and if one
went into them, one little book would swell into fifty.
I have taken all the pains I could. We must now
follow these two monks : the only people we came
across worth following.
They went on board, and were two days getting
north, thirty miles, to Dante (Dunde), just north of
the Bengo Bay of Andrew Battel. Their letters to
the governor of the fort procured them thirty blacks
to carry them in nets or hammocks, as Grant is de
picted coming from Rumanikas. Barefooted friars
could not walk in those parts : and so they went on
northward from " Libbate " to "Abbatee," as they call
the straw-built villages, being courteously received by
the " Maco Conte," or native governor.
Their principal work was baptizing. They, the
Capuchins, had had this mission now for thirty years,
and the Jesuits seem to have respected their vested
interests, for most of the younger children had to be
baptized. The " surplice " fee was either two palm-
tree handkerchiefs, or else 3,500 little shells ; or else
a pullet. But pullets were scarce, the dovecotes
having been terribly harried by the wars. If no
surplice-fee was forthcoming, the children were
"christened for God's sake." At the end of the
first day's journey up the country Fathers Michael
Angelo and Denis christened thirty — fifteen apiece.

THE WANDERINGS OF

Next day they got put up a church of boughs, on an
eminence, and had mass, having the necessary things
with them in a box. Father Michael Angelo performed
mass, after which they baptized ten more children
Then they catechized through an interpreter; one car
only hope satisfactorily : and then the blacks, having
had enough of it, fell a-playing upon several instruments
a-dancing, and a-shouting, so that they might be heard
a league off. Few of us, nowadays, thanks to the
great influx of American thought, are unacquainted
with African music ; but on this particular occasion it
seems to have been of somewhat special quality.
These two defenceless friars went on with theii
journey, utterly unarmed ; they were pleased with the
monkeys, but much terrified \^ ith other animals ; so
much so, that they at one time regretted they had
not brought a gun, though I very much doubt if eithei
of them knew how to fire it off. Animals which they
took to be lions frightened them at night ; a boa-
constrictor and an elephant in the daytime (the lattei
could not have been what our Indian brothers call a
" rogue," or he would have exterminated the whole
party). The way began to be very long, and at last
Father Michael Angelo agreed to push on and send
back assistance to Father Denis.
So Denis remained behind alone, attended only b>
a young negro, the son of a marquis, and with nothing
at all to eat but kidney beans. He had no money oi
goods, of course, and there were no children to b<
baptized here, and therefore no fees. He got sc
weak as not to be able to stand. In this pass he, to ;
certain extent broke through the rules of his order

A CAPUCHIN. 89

at least he apologizes for his conduct. He sat in
front of his straw hut, and began threading a few
beads he had, which soon attracted the attention of
the natives, and they begged some of him. He pro
mised to give them some if they would give him a
chicken, which they did, " being little acquainted with
giving of alms for God's sake," mourns the good
Father. At length, foot-sore and worn with fever, he heard
through the tropical forest the sound of the convent
bell ringing for mass : and soon after rejoined his
beloved Michael Angelo. It was but a poor place,
this convent, and now threatening ruin ; only four
cells of mud thatched with straw for dwelling-places ;
but the garden delighted and astonished him from the
beauty and abundance of the fruit Now they set to
work arranging their monastery, and selecting their
servants from among the negroes : gardeners, cook,
sacristan, water-carrier, treasurer; the old monastic
machine, every part of it carefully fitted by centuries
of experience in Europe, was soon set running again
in the wilds of Africa.
Going on a visit to a brother Capuchin at Panba,
a cell about fifty miles off, he had an opportunity of
seeing the King of Congo. He was a young black
about twenty, clothed in a scarlet cloak and gold
buttons. He commonly wore white buskins upon
carnation silk stockings, and was said to have had new
clothes every day. He was surrounded by young
dukes and marquises, all in long blue cloth cloaks.
His umbrella was of fine coloured silk and gold : his
chair; also borne before him, was of carnation velvet

90 THE WANDERINGS OF
with gold nails. He was exceedingly kind to Father
Denis, thanking him for entering his kingdom, and
desiring him to attach himself to his person at San
Salvador, which Father Denis humbly declined, urging
the necessity of the work at Bamba. He was a
Christian and very pious ; and, although handsomely
dressed and rich, evidently inferior in wealth and
m.agnificence to his predecessor, Alphonso HI., who,
in 1646, received the Capuchins, sitting on a throne
under a canopy of crimson velvet, having a splendid
crown of diamonds and other stones upon his head.
Their life continued peaceful for some time, though
they were nearly starved. They baptized from eight
to twenty children a day, a great many of which
were brought from a long distance ; and so, after a
consultation, it was thought better that one of them
should save these poor negroes the pain of coming to
the monastery, by going to them. Father Michael
Angelo volunteered first to go a journey into the
bush for the purpose of baptizing, and Father Denis
was left behind, to await his turn at the same work,
in the meantime spending his-, time at the convent
"in administering baptism and keeping school."
Among his pupils were two young black noblemen,
sons of a religious negro duchess of those parts,
These young fellows were, according to our good
Father Denis, perfect gentlemen, "with a genius
suited to their rank ; " which was in reality very high,
and was practically acknowledged by these Italians
as being as great as that of people with the same
titles in Europe. We must remember that the black,
quh black, Was by no means a down-trodden '

A CAPUCHIN. 91

person at that time. The theory of the moral
and intellectual inferiority of the negro as a negro
was not known to these simple Churchmen at all
events. This simple monk. Father Denis, was now left
alone, and began to feel the effects of hard Church
work with utterly insufficient food. He was well in
health, he tells us, but had much to do to stand on
his legs, being so spent with living upon that food
(kidney beans) with which he was forced to be
satisfied in those parts. " So I commended myself
to God, that' it might please him to preserve my
health, for the sake of these poor blacks; not so
much, to say the truth, because I found myself
incapable of undergoing very long the fatigue of our
continual employment, as because of the little likeli
hood there was of seeing any other missionary come
into that country to succeed us, and to ease me of
that employment which I found above my strength."
I do not envy the man who cannot revere and love this
blinded young papist We Protestants have done
great work ; but where will be the balance when the
books are made up, supposing they were to be
made up to-morrow .' For the future I dare not
speak. Michael Angelo came back to him at the appointed
time. He seems to have been a gentle and kindly
youth, with a courage not of this world. Coming
back, a doomed young man, to their little convent,
he set himself to work at the garden, and made all
the poetry that was in him, not a little I suspect,
flower out in that way. He had been baptizing the

92 THE WANDERINGS OF
people about an iron mine, and had taken his surplice-
fees out in iron tools. He set to work with these
tools to make the desert flower like a garden, and
his noble young friend. Father Denis, went his round
into that wilderness, on his errand of baptizing and
catechizing, leaving Michael Angelo, weary, weak,
drawing day by day nearer to the newer knowledge
and the clearer light, trenching in the foul African
forest land, among his oranges and his grapes.
Then Father Denis set out in his turn ; sometimes
baptizing as many as a hundred in a day, " taking
from such as could give, and bestowing my charity
for God's sake on those who had nothing." He took
presents of the Macolontes. What presents, think
you } " Beans, and kidney beans, to maintain those
who went with me, who were satisfied to attend us,
provided we maintained them." This greedy Church
man was also much plagued with sorcerers and
enchanters,* as was Merolla twelve years afterwards.
But I let go any fun which might be made out of
that circumstance, for the sake of the honest respect
which I have for Father Denis. He went his round
among those •pestilential west-coast African woods,
and cam,e back again to their poor little convent
at Bamba, and saw his brother and friend of his
heart Brother Michael Angelo, wasted lean and
wan, trenching their precious garden, or showing
the negroes how to do it.
Brother Michael Angelo was getting very weak.
The clock was running down. So young, so bold, so
devoted, so noble. There was the soul of a soldier—
* " As there are heretics in Europe,'' says the good Friar.

A CAPUCHIN. 93

of a soldier among a hundred thousand — there, but
the physique was wanting. An Italian gentleman
and scholar, with an ambition which reached beyond
the grave, longing to live, yet longing to die, was
there in that garden, digging among his negroes,
when Denis came back from his expedition. It is
true, sir! think of it.
Fra Michael Angelo told Fra Denis one day that
he was much spent, and then fell into a fever. At
this time their superior, Fra Philip, happened to
come to Bamba, which was a great relief, because
he knew the way of treating sick persons in that
country. But Fra Michael Angelo told Fra Denis
that the disease would be fatal to him, for that it
prevailed against him. Fra Denis comforted him in
this manner ; that his disease, being but a double
tertian, he might hope to recover ; at the same time
advising him to leave all to God. But simple,
double, or treble tertian. Father Michael Angelo died,
and his young companion Denis was left alone
among the ghastly cold green African woods, wring
ing his hands for his lost friend, even as Jonathan
would have wrung his hands for David.
Fra Philip stayed by him a little while, for Father
Denis himself lay dying now, and Fra Philip thought
that he might as well stay and bury him. But the
Father lingered longer than he expected, though now
reduced to a heap of bones, and it was for the good
of the mission that Philip should depart He con
fessed Father Denis, gave him the Viaticum, and
left the dying monk among his negroes, believing
that he should see his face no more.

94 THE WANDERINGS OF
I suppose that the original idea of a book of
adventures would be one which should describe
men in situations from which there should seem no
escape. If that is what is meant by an adventure;
Father Denis certainly claims a foremost place
among adventurers. He had brought his affairs to
such a pass, that the odds were a hundred to one
against him. When Father Philip left him, he had
only just strength left to bend his body, and to ask
that Father Michael de Orvietto might be sent to
him (who never came). Then he was left to the
mercy of the blacks, who stole what they could (little
enough from him, I doubt), and, when they thought of
it, brought him a porringer of broth.
Like a little ray of sunshine on the twilight of the
fast dying Capuchin — a twilight fast gathering into
night — came one day a brisk, lively, dexterous Portu
guese Jesuit, as vivacious and cosmopolitan as any of
his countrymen : as worldly-wise as any of his order.
Can the human mind, knowing of Portugnese some
what, and of Jesuits somewhat, conceive of a combi
nation of nation and faith which will give one a
greater amount of highly-educated cunning than a
Portuguese Jesuit .' Your Greek } No. Your Greek
is only a very dexterous rogue. Your Portuguese
Jesuit is not necessarily a rogue at all : if he is, he
is a rogue with a difference.
The Portuguese Jesuit was not unprovided with the
goods of this world, and he gave the simpler Capu
chin some fowls. They confessed to one another,
"he," the Jesuit, "declaring that it was a satisfaction .
to him to be thus provided," in consequence of the

A CAPUCHIN. 95

danger of wild beasts. Then he left Father Denis and
went his way, and Father Denis saw him no more.
Dying always, he did not die at last Being held
up in bed by his blacks — one of them holding the
book, another the basin — he baptized ten or a dozen
children a day ; receiving what alms they gave him.
He also married some of the chief people ; but mar
riage by the Church was not a popular business.
Marriage was one of the predicates of monogamy,
whereas polygamy was the fashionable failing. How
ever, one of the young couples gave him, as surplice-
fee, a she-goat, and the milk of it did him good.
He mended so far as to lose the immediate dread
of death ; but, with his new hope of life, petty vexa
tions — lost in the dread of that great shifting of skin,
with which we are all familiar, and yet which we all
dread — began to grow once more into actual evils.
The rats ran over him in his helplessness, and the
negroes stunk. He felt himself forced to keep his
blacks sleeping close around him, for there were
scandalous tongues to be met even then, and there,
even about a man in as hard a case as was he. The
rats cared nothing for the smell of the negroes, and
ran over their prostrate bodies to nibble and bite the
holy Father's toes, as Madame Tallien (by courtesy)
said that they did hers.
In an extreme difficulty of this kind, in the present
day, one would hardly think of writing to a Duke for
a remedy ; one would sooner write to the Times.
Father Denis, however, now somewhat convalescent,
sent his hard case about the stink of the negroes and
the ravages of the rats to a Duke (black) who lived

96 THE WANDERINGS OF
near ; and that Duke, a good Christian, at once pro
vided a remedy, and, with a most comical apology
for having forgotten such a trifle hitherto, he sent him
a little tame monkey, who stunk so much worse than
the negroes, that the lesser result was lost in the infi
nite greatness of the larger. The good Father is
careful to let you know that the little monkey is flot
to be confounded with the civet cat. However, he
smelt so very musky, that the "buck nigger" smell
was lost ; he also frightened the rats by blowing at
them whenever they appeared ; and, furthermore,
combed the good Father's beard better than any of
the blacks could be taught to do it.
One night, as he lay between life and death, his
little monkey leaped in terror on his head, and the
negroes began crying, " Out ! out ! Father ! the
ants are upon us, and there is no time to be lost"
As he was utterly unable to move, he made them
carry him into the garden ; and they were only just
in time, as the ants were already on his body. After
some time, by burning piles of straw, they got the
upper hand of them ; but the stench left was so
horrible that Father Denis had to hold his monkey
close to his nose, and retreat again into the open air.
These are, I suppose, the same ants described by
M. du Chaillu. There is little doubt that they would
have devoured Father Denis. He says it is not un
common for cattle to be destroyed by them, and their
bones found picked quite clean. Why the cows did not
run away is one of the things we shall never know.
He, after a time, finding his circumstances despe
rate should he stay where he was, determined to get

A CAPUCHIN. 97

himself carried to Loanda, and applied to the Duke
for bearers. The Duke sent him all that he had, but
they were not enough to carry all his luggage, and so
he abandoned some, and started in a hammock on
his almost hopeless journey.
He was so ill as to be unable to speak in the heat
of the day, and the blacks often stopped to see if he
was still alive. But he had such confidence in St.
Anthony of Padua, whom he saw visibly before his
hammock, that he never feared reaching his journey's
end. Once the clumsy bearers let the poor young
fellow down by the run, and the pole of the hammock
broke his head ; but he bound .it up quite silently,
fearing that if he complained of being badly hurt,
they would desert him and seek safety for themselves
in flight.
At length he reached the first Portuguese settle
ment, and saw white faces once more. His appearance
was that of a corpse, and they wondered that a man
with that face was actually alive. They crowded
weeping around him, expecting his immediate death;
but by their affectionate care he rallied a little, and
ultimately got back to Loanda, where he lay unable
to leave his hammock for six months more : when on
the arrival of the Superior he was sent to a pleasant
house a little way up the river Coanza to try and
recover his health.
The priests were dying in all directions. Highly-
trained ecclesiastics from Italy, brought with great
pains from that country, men who being lost were
not easy to be replaced, were being lost almost before
they had had time to put their hands to the plough.
H

98 THE WANDERINGS OF
At last a ship was loading for the Brazils, whose
captain would be honoured by receiving on board a
man of such proved piety as Father Denis for chap
lain.* The cargo consisted of ivory, and no less than
680 slaves, men, women, and children.
It was pitiful to see how these poor Wretches were
bestowed. The men were standing in the hold, fastened
to one another with stakes ; the women were between
decks, those in the family way in the great cabin ; the
children packed in the steerage like herrings in a
barrel — causing an intolerable heat and stench — all
going over to be " civilized" in the Brazils in the way
we saw above.
The time generally allowed for this middle passage
from St. Paul de Loanda to Bahia was from thirty
days to thirty-five. On this occasion they were fifty,
and having passed the Island of Assumption, and
having neglected to get fresh provisions there, found
themselves toward the end of that time becalmed
under the line, without provisions, and with 600 help
less blacks on board.
The captain's remedy was to set up the image of
St. Anthony against the mast and tell him that he
should stand there until he sent them a fair wind,
reminding one very much of the black sergeant!s:
treatment of his fetish in the cruise of the Midge.
He still had an eye to consequences however. There
was a penal statute against the introduction of un-

* Merolla tells us that the law about ships' chaplains at this time was : —
Capuchins are to have only their table free, whereas a priest or other
religious person was to have not only his diet, but a stipend of so much,
a month, and three calmos a day, and a house while on shore.

A CAPUCHIN.

99

baptized blacks into the Brazils, and so the captain
got Father Denis to baptize those who had last
come on board ; which he did, " instructing them in
the doctrines of the Christian religion." Had the
good man no sense of humour .-• How strangely
puzzled the poor negroes must have been at their
new religion !
The captain came again to Father Denis, and told
him that they were all dead men. Father Denis was
lying in one of his worst attacks of illness, with a
basin before him of blood from which he had just
' parted. He quite agreed with the captain, but told
him to look in the stern lockers, where he would find
some provisions which" had been put on board for his
(the Father's) use, to which he was welcome. With
these he advised the captain to keep the whites
alive : as for the blacks, he (the captain !) " must
have patience." There was still water on board : he
told him to give them plenty of that. The Friar
seems to have had the best head on board the
ship after all.
Meanwhile the dreadful news got abroad among
the six hundred and odd miserable slaves who were
festering in all the unutterable filth and horror of the
between-decks of a slave-ship. They could have had
little to live for one would imagine ; but life is very
dear in very desperate circumstances. The confusion
and uproar which ensued cannot be imagined. The
children began the wail, it was taken up by the
women, who were afterwards joined by the men.
There arose " A cry that shivered to the tingling stars,''
H 2

loo THE WANDERINGS OF
the death-cry of 680 unhappy savages, brought out
here to die cooped up, so far on the desolate sea,
under the burning sun of the equator.
The monk was equal to the occasion. He got
them quieted by the hymns to the Virgin and the
saying of eighty masses — forty for the souls in purga
tory, and forty for St. Anthony: then he made the
captain give them water ; but they began whimpering
for their food ; so that Father Denis, having nothing
for them, in sheer sickness of heart went back to his
miserable bed again; abstaining from eating such
fare as he had, lest it should annoy the poor wretches-
to see him eat
He was aroused from it by hearing some of the
crew talk of eating man's flesh; and he came forth,
and severely reproved them : but so' far yielded to the
dreadful necessity, as to tell them that, if the worst
came to the worst, and a victim should be necessary,
that he. Father Denis, was to be that victim and no
other. No such victim was necessary. They had been
three days without food, the water was spent, blacks
were beginning to drop, when they made Bahia. The
people there, when they heard that they had been
fifty days at sea, concluded that all the blacks were
dead, and were agreeably surprised to. find that the
death-roll was only thirty-tkree : it often happening
that half of them died in that passage. Father Denis
got himself carried in a hammock to the Franciscan
convent, which, though not of his order, received him
courteously, and gave him rest.
After a short time, apparently improved in health.

A CAPUCHIN. loi

he took passage with a Genoese captain, a friend of
his, whom he had met here at Bahia, on his arrival,
and set sail for Lisbon. She was a large ship, carry
ing fifty guns, a good fighting merchant-ship, and
was consequently ordered by the Governor, in the
King's name, to convoy the other merchantmen. She
was, says Father Denis, like a Noah's ark : and,
indeed, one could agree with Father Denis about the
likeness, had Noah's ark been freighted and com
missioned by Avarice and Cruelty, and commanded
and sailed by Cowardice and Superstition. Let us
look for a moment on this queer Portuguese India-
man ; she seems to me a ship worth recovering from
the dim past.
She was so crowded with passengers that one
could scarcely hear oneself speak. Her lading was :
a thousand chests of sugar, three thousand rolls of
tobacco, dye-wood, veneer-wood, and ivory ; steward's
stores for the passengers — wood, coal (charcoal),
water, wine, brandy, sheep, hogs, and turkeys. For
other live stock, ventures of the home-going passengers,
monkeys of several sorts, apes, baboons, parrots,
and the birds of Brazil which they call Arracas. For
the passengers, they were as motley a lot as the live
stock — Italians, Portuguese, English, Dutch, Spaniards,
and Indians, slaves who followed their masters. One
Amaro (a man who in his treatment of Father Denis
belied his name) had given a thousand crowns for
the great stern-cabin, and had laid in two thousand
crowns' worth of provisions (of the "medical comfort"
sort doubtless) for the voyage. This Amaro and his
wife being religious people, shared their cabin with

THE WANDERINGS OF

Father Denis ; though the good monk was so
repandu that he had to bargain that he should only
breakfast with them sometimes after morning mass,
the rest of his time being promised to the captain.
Father Denis was not ship's chaplain on this
voyage, but captain's friend. He said mass every
day in the great cabin ; the ship's chaplain on deck.
One would guess that there must have been fearful
accidents at sea among these Portuguese ships — acci
dents which, if ever reported, are now lost to us;
for, to judge by the silly cowardice and foolish super
stition of these Portuguese sea-captains, no ship's
company was safe with them. This present ship
bumped on a sandbank, not, according to Father
Denis, six miles from the anchorage at Bahia ; and
the whole of the intricate arrangement of this won
derful fighting-ship of forty guns was thrown out
of gear at once. The officers and pilots got out the
boats and jumped into them (they were still con
fessedly in harbour), and the sailors and passengers
began to cry aloud, " We are all dead ! we are all
dead ! " They began to pitch the sugar overboard
to lighten the ship, and the captain "sat still like
a statue, without being able to speak or to stir, though
he had fought six Turks in this same ship." The
animals, hearing the noise, began to add theirs to
the general confusion : a fine clanjamfry of parrots
and monkeys. Father Denis had now got out of
bed to see to things, and whites and blacks began
to throw themselves at his feet, crying for confession
and absolution (they were close to the shore, in
harbour, and in calm weather). Father Denis made

A CAPUCHIN. 103

them give the sign of contrition,* and gave them all
absolution generally, wanting time to hear them
singly. Father Denis then met the chaplain of the
ship in his shirt, looking ghastly, though, "as he
had often made it appear," one of the bravest men
aboard, having fought the Turks on several occasions.
The poor wretch had lost all nerve, and increased
the confusion. Father Denis, who really believed
that there was danger, gave him confession and
absolution, but leaves behind no word of the scorn
which he, the brave Italian gentleman, arriving from
more fearful dangers, must have felt for him. One
might claim the position of a gentleman for Father
Denis for that, if for that only, as I would claim
it for Mr. Draper, the Dissenting minister who went
down in the London ; though it is quite possible
that neither of them had a coat-of-arms to show.
But we are telling of adventures, of human courage,
brought to its mettle in hopeless circumstances ; not
of exhibitions of human cowardice. There was
nothing on earth the matter here ; and I would not
have told this episode, had it not been to show the
unutterable cowardice of the Portuguese, and to show
also that this wandering Italian Capuchin kept his

* The sign of confession is holding up the hand. Merolla once, in
a gale of wind, gave absolution to a sailor who had fallen overboard,
and whom it was impossible to save, but who had not yet drifted so far
to leeward but what he could see and understand the movements of the
monk on the poop. We must remember that there are 120,000,000
of rational human beings on the earth who agree with them for
coming in this way between the creature and the Creator at the last
moment, and whose exit from the world is rendered easy and happy by
the motion of a priest's hand.

I04 THE WANDERINGS OF
head and his judgment after that of every one else
was gone. The ship got fairly off this bank and
sailed away for Pernambuco, and from that place
to Lisbon.
The internal economy of this great ship is worthy
of notice. Awful pack of stupid cowards as they
were; terrified into abject, fright and superstition
by the first cold, cruel look of Old Mother Nature
in her frosty and inexorable mood ; distrusting the
beneficence of the first cause, her Master, as they
did ; trying to propitiate the Being who hurled
Saturn and Jupiter into space, by offerings un
worthy of an old African fetish ; nevertheless these
fellows showed considerable power in their indus
trial organization. Every tradesman worked at his
trade as though he had been in his shop. "When
the weather permitted, other vessels bore up to us
and gave us a concert of drums and trumpets, and
the captain exercised his men in firing volleys." It
seems lucky, considering the quality of the courage
of his crew, that these volleys were only fired blank.
Everything went on smoothly save for an internal dis
sension, caused, I regret to say, by " my countrymen."
Our good Father Denis is wilder than M. Assolant
in his account of the Englishman. He, it seems, was
put into the bilboes, and also another who had made
himself drunk with two bottles of brandy, and was
not sober again for three days. He was so strong
that they said he had cleft a man with a cutlass. A
somewhat strange old picture, these blonde great
Englishmen, the men of Blake, going Berserk among
the brown little Portuguese.

A CAPUCHIN. 105

Landing at last at Lisbon, he bade farewell to
the companions of this part of his adventures. His
face was now set eastwards, and he soon found a
ship which wanted a chaplain. He accepted the
post; but so many Benedictines, Dominicans, and
other religious men came on board also — idle people,
one doubts, wanting a free passage — that one sailor was
heard to murmur, "We were afraid we should want a
chaplain ; here are enough for a choir." They were all
of them landsmen and cowards, however, and never
once showed after the vessel got to sea, admiring the
contempt which Father Denis, although ill, felt for
the sea. During this voyage Father Denis succeeded
in converting a heretic Irishman.
After a frantic chase after a salt-fish ship from
Nantes, which they mistook for a Turk, they came to
Cadiz. He was highly delighted at the noble show
of ships in that port ; galleys, barks, caravels, tartans,
&c. Landing here with some Spanish gentlemen,
he saw a strange disturbance which had a strange
ending. There was a dispute with the Custom-house
officers which ended in swords being drawn. The
dispute heated itself: Father Denis considers that
there were a hundred blades out : but the singular
part of it was that, in spite of flying dust, furious
oaths, and clashing rapiers, no one was in the least
damaged. They kept the points of their swords up,
striking one another with the pummels. At last,
{teste the Italian priest a bystander,) four drunken
English sailors found this clanjamfry between them
and their ship, and it growing to be a nuisance to
them, being probably pressed for time, sent the whole

io6 THE WANDERINGS OF
business right and left, " every man thinking him
self happy that his legs were sound enough to run
away.'' Before setting his face steadily for his beloved
Italy, he visited several places, going from convent to
convent, among others the church of St. James of
Compostella. Hearing there was a ship at Finisterre
which would be likely to take him on his way, he
went thither, and by that means met with a new
and splendid adventure.
Here, for the first time, he met with an English
gentleman. This ship was an English seventy-four,
going after our fleet of frigates, which was beating
up the Turks' quarters, with stores of ammunition
and so on. It was a great chance for Father Denis ;
and so, just as the English captain was going into
his galley, the simple monk in his simple habit
stepped up to him, and " knowing him to be a
heretic," asked him for his passage to Cadiz, "for
God's sake." The captain, not understanding Spa
nish, motioned him into the boat, and told him
in Portuguese that he was welcome.
They were well out at sea, when Father Denis
observed the English captain examine two distant •
sail with his telescope. The next symptom he
observed was a council of all the officers in the cabin ;
the next the drums beating to quarters ; then studding-
sails set, and the ship flying through the water like
a shark. The good Father was going to look on war
face to face.
In an hour they had overhauled the chase, and
fired a gun to bring them to. They were, as was

A CAPUCHIN. 107

guessed now and known afterwards, a Christian
ship in the hands of a Turk. The Turk evidently
considered himself by far the stronger party, and
to his Majesty's summons replied by a shotted gun :
in another moment the English broadside came
ripping and tearing into his sides, deafening poor
Father Denis and terrifying his companion : and so
the terrible game began.
The Turks fought like furies : our captain had
the weather of them, and so they fought blinded
with his smoke and their own ; yet he had done little
with them in an hour and a half, and seeing that
the death grapple must come, he gave the order to
board ; and as the blue-jackets went swarming over
the bulwarks, the quiet monk, soothing the terrors
of his companion, could hear for the first time, in
the comparative silence, the cries of the wounded
who were now lying thick around on the deck.
The assault was furious and the resistance ferocious.
Few experienced officers, I believe, deny even to the
"Turks" of the present day the quality of an almost
savage courage ; our fathers used to speak of fighting
like a Turk, and the expression is almost alive now.
These Turks (probably Arabs would be a more
correct name for them) were utterly outnumbered
on this occasion, when it came to hand-to-hand work.
Their force was divided between the two vessels —
between the man-of-war which had captured the
prize and the prize herself Our English captain
having boarded and taken the man-of-war, and the
captured Christians assisting him, had an easier task
with the prize, whose crew tried to make off with

to8 THE WANDERINGS OF
her. The captured rover, followed by the English
man-of-war, soon overhauled her, being deeply
laden, and the sea-fight was over by the submission;'
of the Turks.
The Christian captain of the prize, " a lusty man,
half stripped," told our English captain how his
mischance had occurred, and the Christians knelt and
thanked his Majesty's officer.. The recovered ship
was of Malaga, laden with wine, and was off Cape
St. Vincent when attacked by the rover. She resisted,
but was overpowered, by what one may suppose
was a Sallee rover. The English captain put the
Christians (among whom there were Spaniards,
Neapolitans, Milanese, and Flemings) in possession of
their ship again, and gave them convoy to Cadiz.
Father Denis seems to have been perfectly cool
during this rather hot little affair with the " Turks,"
but was a little uneasy in the white squall which
happened soon after, the next experience which
Providence offered to his calmly expectant and
unwondering soul. It was a very heavy and sudden
squall undoubtedly, but to the credit of our sailors,;
sudden as it was, the captain had time to make
all snug, for Father Denis makes no mention of lost
canvas. The words of command, roared by Teutonic
and Celtic lungs, from post to post, heard above the
strange scream of the wind in the rigging, which
some of us have heard, gave the good Father an
idea that death was impending. —
" Hark the boatswain hoarsely bawling.''
But the English captain found time, amidst the
anxieties of a lee: shore, to tell the two friars,

A CAPUCHIN. 109

penniless papists as they were, not to be frightened,
for that he would bring them through; whereby I
came to the conclusion that the captain of that
ship was a gentleman. The monk who was with our
good Father Denis was evidently in a miserable state
of fright. His miserable little conscience began
to trouble him ; he told good cosmopolitan Father
Denis, " that we had done ill in going aboard of these
heretics, who are always under excommunication."
Father Denis, who seems, as far as I dare generalize,
to have possessed all the makings of a first-rate
Jesuit, except the dishonesty, replied that " those
who travel about the world must make a virtue of
necessity." The two monks (I suppose, there is no
mention of the fact, but they always did so) confessed
to one another and gave absolution. After which
they found themselves in fine weather off the coast of
Barbary, in that part now called Algeria ; and the
English captain finding himself dangerously near
that whilome Turkish, now French, wasp's nest,
called Algeria, bore up immediately for Oran, then in
the hands of the Spaniards.
Father Denis was much impressed by Oran. The
civilities which were carried on between the English
captain and the Spanish governor were, to say the
least of it, excessive. Our captain received the
thanks of his most Catholic Majesty by deputy ; his
Catholic Majesty probably never hearing a word of
the matter. Father Denis says that Oran was the
only place held by Christians at that time on the
Barbary coast to which Christian ships might run.
His kind captain carried him to Cadiz, and after-

THE WANDERINGS OF

wards insisted on his taking passage with him in a
bark he had hired iip the Guadalquivir to Seville,"
Here this quaintly-assorted pair parted from one
another, the monk thanking the English captain for
the many favours he had received from him, and the
captain giving the monk to understand that the
Capuchins were well ripandus among the English ji;
whether out of complaisance or not I cannot say. '*
Father Denis now, his wandering licence as a
"Missioner" still holding good, wandered on from
monastery to monastery of his order. He gives one
quaint and shrewd notices of the places he saw,.
which it would be almost useless to produce here, as
far as my judgment goes, at any length. The "Dome"
at Seville would be equal to that at Milan, he thinks,
were it only of marble (the detailed work of the
pinnacles can be hardly so fine one would guess).
The canons of the city are very rich, and go in
coaches drawn by four mules. From hence he
started on foot to Cordova, through a wretched
country without house or tree, nor so much as water,
which made him provide a bottle of wine which a
gentleman bought for him, " there being no hopes of
having it given to me for God's sake by the inn
keeper " (too many professional religious persons there
evidently, even in the year 1667). Being in a town
where there was no convent, he begged some bread
but the baker stood in amaze, and Father Denis left'
him so, praying of God soon to remove him from a
country where there was so little charity. But one
would really think, considering what Spain has suffered
by ecclesiastical persons, first and last that it was

A CAPUCHIN.

hardly a place for a penniless monk, and he a
foreigner, to get much private charity.
From Cordova he went to Alcala la Real, where
some Spaniards told him that Andalusia was the
"Garden of Spain," whereupon he said to himself,
" God keep me from the rest of Spain if this be the
garden. I had better return to sea." Next he went
south-east to Granada, and saw the Alhambra ; south
west to Anteguera ; and then south to Malaga ;
having made the tour of south-western Andalusia
cheaper probably than it was ever done before or
since, by any educated man (having done it indeed for
exactly nothing at all), leaving behind him as good
an account of what he saw and heard as another
in his time was likely to do.
At Malaga he was set on his legs by an English
physician, and then got taken on board a fleet of
galleys by a Spanish nobleman, as chaplain to the fleet
and confessor to his Excellency. He did riot like
these galleys at all, having been used to more com
modious ships. They were to him as our ironclads
are to our more old-fashioned sailors. One could
have wished that he had given us some sketch of the
internal economy of one of these floating hells, as he
did of the slave-ship ; but he is, unfortunately, dumb.
They overhauled an English ship, " like a mountain
upon the waters," and with their newly-reviving im
pudence, "Annus Mirabilis" being over and finished,
and certain unfortunate things of which it is unneces
sary to speak having happened since, " gave her a gun."
But it all ended in civilities, and Father Denis, with
a compliment to the English for cruising against the

112 THE WANDERINGS OF A CAPUCHIN.
Turks, and as much of a sneer against other Christian
princes as his good heart was capable of giving, was
carried on to Carthagena, " now the most wretched
place in Spain ; for after the inhabitants had stoned
their Bishop," (what had he been doing i") " they had
no rain for seven years. But it seems that God took
conipassion on them after that, for it now rains twice '
or thrice in the year." Here he landed and went on
"the tramp again, through Murcia, Alicant, Valencia, ;
Castile, Tarragona, to Barcelona in Catalonia,'' and
so from town to town, on and on through the south '
of France, by Monaco, to the beloved old monastery
at Piacenza, and to rest at last.
" Be it all," he says, "for the glory of God, whose,
judgments are incomprehensible, and the means he
uses for our salvation — ^various and wonderful in all
respects — that we may all meet together in our desired'
port in the kingdom of heaven. Amen."

PETER CARDER.
In Drake's voyage to the Pacific, by the Straits of
Magellan, in 157^, a singular and astonishing acci
dent happened to one Peter Carder, of St, Verians,
seven miles from Falmouth, of which there .seems
but little doubt. It holds well together, and appa
rently was taken down from the man's mouth. One
part of it seems incredible in my narrative. The
reason for this is, that some of the details in the
original are too horrible for publication.
Sir Francis Drake ordered Carder, Burrush, Cottle,
Arthur, a Dutch trumpeter, Gidie of Saltash, Pitcher
of London, and one other, to get into the pinnace,
which was only five tons' burthen, and stay about the
-ship. They lost her one wild night, and never saw
her again.
They were now loose on the wildest sea in the
world, between the Straits of Magellan and Cape
Horn ; they had but one day's provisions on board,
and no compass. In two days, however, they made
the coast of Terra del Fuego, and found oysters,
mussels, crabs, and roots. They landed here in two
places, and in a fortnight had got north of the Straits,
and were on the mainland of Patagonia.
I

114 PETER CARDER.
' * >'-¦-
Here, as before, they got shell-fish and watei:,' and
saw some savages, who however ran away. They
then made for Penguin Island in the Straits, and
having caught and salted, many penguins, they pro
ceeded very prosperously to Fort St. Julian —
where Drake had just previously beheaded Captain
Doutie — feeding on this miserable food.
Not that they thought it so. The sailors of those ;.
days would eat anything. In Sir Richard Hawkins'
voyage of 1593, he describes these islands, and gives
full directions for preparing this food. Nay, that-;
gallant gentleman. Sir Richard, also tells us how
he caught albatrosses, and what dainty food theyj'"^'
were. Nothing particular happened to our adven
turers until they had passed the great mouth of the
river Plate ; here they put into a small river on the
north side of the estuary, and began to look, for
food. They were probably close to the town now -called v?
Maldonado, in the Banda Oriental, when the Indians ;
of the country, whom he calls Japines, suddenly
attacked those who were in the woods with bows,';
and arrows. Four were at once taken or slain,;;?
the others fled to their boat, and after a hard fight, ,;
in which they were all wounded, the four remaining
ones got to sea, and made a little island a few ;
leagues off, probably Isla de Lobos.
Two of the others soon died here of their wounds,
and the survivors, Peter Carder and William Pitcher,']
were so exhausted, that they were unable to manage J
the boat and so she got broken to pieces in the surf,
and these two men were left alone on the little island,

PETER CARDER. 115
only three miles long, nine miles from shore, with
absolutely nothing whatever, not even water.
There were however some small fruit, crabs, and
sand-eels, and on these they lived for two months, in
the most horrible shifts for water, until a large piece
of timber floating out of the river landed on the
island, with which, and some other pieces, they made
a raft and in three days and two nights they reached
it, and found a delicious stream of fresh water.
Poor Bill Pitcher, "mine onely comfort and com
panion," would not be restrained from this water.
In spite of his more experienced comrade's expostu
lations, he drank and drank, until in half an hour he
died, leaving poor Peter Carder all alone, bewailing
him upon the lonely shore.
This Peter Carder must have been no ordinary
man, not one whit brutalized by the hideous and in
describable sufferings which he had undergone ; when
time was precious, and a hundred howling savages
might be on him at any moment in spite of all, he
would not leave the body of his faithful friend to
bleach upon the wild, strange coast unburied. He
laboured until he had laid him decently to rest, and
then shouldering his target with his good sword upon
his thigh, he strode off across the sands, between the
Pampas and the ocean, towards Brazil. An Eng
lishman against the world.
One day only had passed, when there came across
his path dark, dancing savages, with tabrets and
rattles, which they played before him as he went
keeping a musket-shot from him. But at last they
ceased their dancing, and hung up a white cloth—
I 2

1x6 , PETER CARDER.
going away from it. He having approached it
taken it down, and hung it up again, they approached-;
him and led him away, dancing round him, until they^
came to the place by the river where their hammocks
hung, and fed him with the best they had.
These Indians of the Banda Oriental, among whom
he lived so long, appear from his own account which,';
as they were kind to hiih, may be considered as
favourable as he could make it, to have been but. a
poor, tipsy, cruel, cannibal lot of vagabonds as ever
disgraced the earth. Sentiment is thrown away on
' such people. A great question must be heard at the
Judgment Seat some day, between the blacks and
the whites, between the Indian and the European:';
Yet who can doubt that it is not better for the world
that such people as these, if they refuse civilization,
should cease to exist .'
Their employment was war and plunder. The
chief of the village had nine wives, every other man
only two — one to mind the children, the other to
follow the husband to war. The captives taken were
put to death, broiled on the coals, and eaten. And
this not in a country where cannibalism could be ex
cused by want of animal food, but in a country where it
was plentiful. Nothing w:ill ever induce me to believe;
in that old excuse for cannibalism, put forth by the
apologists for the Maories. The cause of it is lust
of good living, lust of the belly, and something more ;
read Eyre's account of the Australian cannibalisrn, and
you will see what that something is : it is a demoniac
possession, whatever that may be. A police magis
trate in London has to deal with it once a day; the

PETER CARDER. 117
sort of devilishness in the face of which the old Ber
serk madness becomes tame and calm. We hang,
guillotine, garotte men now for crimes not half so
horrible as these gentle Indians committed 'every
day ; it may become necessary, sometimes, to execute
a race. The Americans, with all their gentle and just
dealings with this race, have been nearly driven to
it, and will ultimately be driven to " put it through."
In spite of all our gentle petting of the Maories,
they must go or submit. No savage race ever had
more gentle treatment from a conquering one than
the Indians have had from the Americans, or the
Maories from the British. About the Australians I
say nothing, knowing too much. The end will be just
the same, but it will come more slowly, and by the
hands of English, not by Spaniards, the nation who
even now are revelling in the sight of mutilated cab
horses, while their brothers and cousins are fighting
for what might be liberty in another nation. Of
Bart. Las Casas, that noble monk, and his glorious
protest against his countrymen's cruelties, I will speak
again. Peter Carder invented targets of bark for these
people, assisting them greatly in their wars, learning
their language, and noting their manners. Once, it is
said, that in a competitive examination the question
was put, " Describe the manners and customs of the
Africans." The answer given was, " They have no
manners, and their customs are beastly." An old
story which may do duty again here. It must serve,
because now one-half of the world not only does not

uS PETER CARDER.

know how the other half lives, but furiously abuses
anybody, who tries to tell them.
Among these innocent Indians, who had no religion
save the observance of the full moon, and whose "men
and women do drink at their feasts till they be as
drunke as Apes," Peter Carder stayed some time,
helping them in their wars ; but at last some Portu-J,'
guese and negroes advancing from the north to see if
the report was true that some of that Devil Drake's
men had been cast ashore, got into an ambush of
these Indians ; two Portuguese and " certayne negroes ",
(the number of that kind of cattle not particular)
were taken, and on confession of their purpose were
brained with clubs, broiled and eaten.
Peter Carder had a tough stomach, but this turned?
it He demanded of the Cacique that he should be
sent to some river of the Brazils, not settled by the,
Portuguese ; and the Cacique consenting, he started:'
with an escort of four Indians, who had orders to pro
vide him with provisions. With these four companions
he started on a walk of about five hundred miles.
I honestly confess that when I came to this part
of his adventure, I was very much inclined to throw
my manuscript into the fire, and to treat this story,
as I have treated others on examination, as a sailor'^;-*
lie. But no ; this story holds water. If the man had
been lying, he would have made the Indians bring
him to Rio. On the contrary they brought him to
Bahia, four hundred miles north, having passed- in
the rear of Rio de Janeiro.
He says distinctly Bahia de Todos los Santos. He
means evidently St. Salvador, called now by our

PETER CARDER. 119

sailors Bahia, or as they say, Bayhee ; and our
Englishmen call the Bahia of St. Salvador "All
Saints' Bay." There is nothing astonishing about this
walk, unless the fact that his accompanying Indians
passed unquestioned through so many tribes. But
this fact should be taken as 2. fact, establishing that
the South American tribes would allow the passage
of some members of another tribe under certain cir
cumstances, — such, say, as the possession of a white
man. This is surely no special pleading, and with
regard to the length of the walk there is nothing
astonishing. He walked through nearly the richest
country in the world, for, say, six hundred miles, with
four attendant Indians. Eyre walked for seven
hundred miles, without water, save such as he could
scrape from the sand, through land apparently given
over to the devil, with murder waiting on him at every
footstep. 'When one comes to think of it, there is
nothing incredible in his avoiding Rio and coming
out at Bahia. This present compiler, who cer
tainly does not pretend to be a traveller, walked
two hundred miles between Monday morning and
evening church on the next. Sunday evening. The
late Edward Irving walked sixty miles in the day and
preached in the evening, holding his Bible stretched
out in his left hand, and that same Bible was put
into the present compiler's hands one evening after
prayers, and he could not hold it up for three
minutes. There is no improbability in this part of
Carder's narrative if you compare it with others.
He was within four miles of the town of Bahia,
when, meeting a Portuguese, he surrendered himself

PETER CARDER.

to him at once, and inquired if there were any
Englishmen iri' the town. It appeared that there were
-.not, but that one Antonio de Pavia spoke English
and was a lover of that nation ; to him Peter Carder
jepaired, and found himself once more in'civilizatioii>«i
What became of his Indian guides he does not say. ' '
But the mere fact of being in Portuguese dominions
was a crime punishable by imprisonment, deportation
to Portugal, and services in the galleys for life. The
Governor was very sorry, allowed that it was a sad
accident, and that he was perfectly blameless, but
nevertheless sent him to prison.
Being brought to trial, it was determined that he.
should be sent to the house of Antonio de Pavia untilS
the King of Portugal's pleasure should be known;'
this took a year, and then the only reply was that
they would send further instructions. Meanwhile ,
Peter spent a not unpleasant or unprofitable life, his '';
friend Antonio having made him overseer of his
plantations, tilled by both negro and Indian slaves. ¦
Here they grew cotton, white and red pepper, sugar,
cut down Brazil wood, and planted ginger, which last;?
he says, "is a forbidden trade to be transported- out
for the hindering of other places ; " a piece of politicaftl
economy which, even taking " trade " in its West- ¦'
country acceptation of " stuff,"* puzzles me entirely. '-%
Antonio also, finding he had been brought up to
the sea, made him skipper of a little coaster, in which
* Thus, to a Devonshire ear the line,
' " Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade,"
means really —
"Hangs one that gathers samphire, horrid stuff. "

PETER CARDER.

he made pleasant voyages even as far as Rio Janeiro ;
but this was not to last On returning from one of j
his voyages, his good friend Antonio advertised him,'
of his doom ; he was to go to Portugal next shipl
and he could save him no longer, but would give hin»i
the means to escape. He gave him a boat of his and
five negroes, and with these Peter coasted to Pernam
buco, and dismissing the negroes secretly remained
behind himself.
Here he found a Portuguese ship, in which were
some Englishmen, bound for England, and gladl)'
shipped himself All went well until they were off
Teneriffe, when they were overhauled by two English
ships, commanded by Raymond and George Drake
of Exeter ; and now learned for the first time that the
long bickering squabble between England and Spain
had broke into open war, soon to end in one of the
most deadly conflicts of all time. One of these ships
landed him safely at Chichester a few months after
wards, in the end of Noven;iber 1586. His troubles
had lasted nine years and thirteen days.
Lord Howard, our admiral, introduced him to the
Queen, who saw him at Whitehall, and listened more
than an hour to his adventures, more particularly to
the execution of Captain Doutie, having possibly
only heard the other side of the question before.
After she had satisfied her curiosity about the latter
Strange matter, of which he provokingly tells tis not
one word — one would have liked to hear his account
of it — she gave him twenty-two angels, and many
gracious words. And so he departed, thanking
God.

THE PRESERVATION OF THE " TERRA-
NOVA."
It is an ascertained fact that the very last form of
shipbuilding is almost, if not quite, the most dan
gerous which the world has ever seen. The cari
cature of the "clipper" ship, which is now coming
into vogue, sacrifices everything for mere useless!
speed : stowage, comfort, safety. The extremely long
and narrow ship is, to begin with, very wet ; she goes
through the water and not over it, consequently the
misery of her decks is terrible, in some latitudes they;
are rarely dry ; next, in going before the wind she
rolls in a fearful manner, particularly when, as is
nearly always the case, she is over-sparred. - Another|
fault is that it is extremely dangerous to lay her head
to the wind in severe weather ; and another, that she
will miss stays time after time. I heard a pilot say to '
a captain once, on board the Gauntlet, which either|
won or nearly won the race from China afterwai-dsj,;
" / can't get your ship about ; if you can't do it your- ,
self, she will be ashore in ten minutes." The skipper
took charge again 2X\.&.just managed it, with about as
ugly a surf bursting half a mile to leeward as any one
would wish to see.

PRESERVATION OF THE " TERRA NOVA." 123

Every resource of modern shipbuilding science was
supposed to be wasted on the London by Messrs.
Money Wigram : the result was a coffin as dangerous
as an old ten-gun brig ; she was simply unable to float
in a gale which the tiniest of her boats weathered ;
she sank from the water which slopped on board of
her. Neither must we forget that the very ship which
was to defy nature and nearly annihilate danger, the
Great Eastern, fearfully misconducted herself on one
occasion. I remember once being in one of those
horrible weltering sixty-foot seas, which one, I believe,
only gets in the Southern Ocean, when I saw a tiny
cockle-shell of a brig, about 200 tons, faring on her
way, at one time as high up over our heads (or so it
seemed) as our mainyard, in about another minute
after sinking slowly, slowly down in the hideous grey
valley beneath our feet : yet she was floating comfort
ably Hke a cork — making, as the mate said, much
better weather of it than we were. Once when she
was below, as I held hard by the rigging and looked
down on her, there were two men at her wheel and a
man in blue, I suppose the captain, standing comfort
ably by them, and a little dog, who ran to and fro and
seemed to bark at us, though if he had barked within
three feet of your ear the sound would have been lost
in the wild rushing and raging of the winds and the
waters around. No dog could have run about much
on our desolate storm-washed deck. We must have
been a splendid spectacle to them, hurling our mag
nificent length at every conceivable angle, and in at
least one-half of all possible positions before and
through the following sea ; yet I doubt they did not

1 24 THE PRESER VA TION OF
envy us. For "spectacle," however, an enormous;
American steamship, with roaring steam-pipes, tearing;
her way furiously and defiantly through a Cape Horn
gale and a Cape Horn sea, is a sight so awful and so
majestic that it lingers on the eye for ever.
The sea is as wicked and as cruel in its anger now
when the English and Americans love it, as it was
when the old Greeks hated it All things have changed
but that — earth, man and his works, even the seasons
to some extent, and even, sailors have told me, the
trade-winds, but the sea is the same. The ways which
man has invented of doing battle with this all-devour
ing monster have changed almost more than anything,
particularly within the last 300 years. Let us take a
tale of nearly 200 years ago, and see how our fore
fathers acted, and how they fared, when it came upon '
them in wrath and fury.
Of all the ships about which I have ever read, the
two which appear to me to have been in almost the
worst case, and to have survived, with an authentie'';*
account of their state, are the Mary Ann, of Wilmingg|
ton, about which you may read in Reid's " Law of
Storms," and the Terra Nova, Peter Daniel, com-
mander, homeward bound from Virginia, in 1688.
You must at once dismiss from your mind all the
.ships you have ever seen, and imagine a small, threei-|
masted ship, of only 180 tons burthen, with a very high"
square poop, and a rather low and round bow, what
would be called now a very clumsy-looking ship, yet
one which, in a dumb ox-like way, would fight it out
to the leist with her enemies the winds and the waves. .
She carried, like all ships then, a goodly number of

THE " TERRA NOVA ^' 125
somewhat small guns ; a ship not much altered from
those of Blake, still less from those of Monk and
Rupert. She had three masts, I think all square-
rigged, and an ensign-staff on her taffrail, so large that
it afterwards made a mast. She was evidently, to
begin with, most dangerously " tophampered."
In the year 1688, this ship, the Terra Nova, arrived
homeward bound at Port Royal, in Jamaica, and
while she was loading there, the Duke of Albemarle,*
then Governor of the island, fell sick and died, and
the Duchess determined to go home at once. The
Terra Nova was requested by her to take fifteen of
her men-servants, who, with two brothers they had
before, made seventeen passengers. She sailed on'
Christmas day, well loaded with sugar, logwood,
Jamaica pepper, hides, indigo, and sarsaparilla, besides
other freight of a very different sort, viz. my Lord
Duke's costly furniture, rich hangings, curious chairs,
and large looking-glass. There was also a large chest
so heavy that six men could scarcely drag it along the
deck, " full of pigs of silver, bags of pieces of eight,
and some gold," which might give good reason for a
cynical man to say that Duke Christopher had inherited
the family virtue of his sainted father, Duke George —
that of looking after his own interests ; for a man
does not carry pigs of silver to Jamaica, whatever he
may fetch away.
The wealth of their freight was not unknown to
some gentlemen of the Bob Singleton school in those
* My younger readers will forgive my remmding them that this must
have.been Christopher, second duke, son of the great George Monk, by
the ex-milliner ex-blacksmith's daughter.

126 THE PRESERVATION OF
parts, for on the very night of their sailing a ship hailed
them, and proposed to them the very stale old trick-
of asking them to send a boat on board. This being
declined, the strange ship made the rather cool pro
posal to lay them aboard on the larboard quarter.
The skipper, however, by dint of " threatening them^
hard," in what language we do not hear, caused them;
ultimately to sheer off, and givfe up their tempting
enterprise as a hopeless business. And so the Terra
Nova sailed away past the Caymans, to encounter the
wrath of nature, instead of the fury of man.
Sailing on the 24th of December, by the 8th of
February they had passed the Azores, not a very bad'J
passage for a tiny sailing ship even in these days. In
fact, the rapidity of sailing passages are only increased
by two improvements, the superior speed of the ships
and the system of great circle, or to be more correct
" composite " sailing. Will the younger readers wait
while I rudely explain this ">.
If you will take a terrestrial globe, lay any two
places on the meridian, and then draw a pencil line
from one to the other, you will come to some very,
startling results. You perceive that by doing this you
arrive at the direct line, the shortest way between any
two places ; so far much is gained, but not all.
I was not a pupil of the great American Maury,,
— only a pupil, and but a poor one, of a pupil ; but
I believe when those lectures of his were given, and
those splendid " sailing orders " distributed, his most
familiar illustration of great circle sailing was the
route from London to Melbourne. The straight line,
the great circle, carries you, if my memory serves me,

THE " TERRA NO VA." 1 2 7

through the Brazils and part of Patagonia, so close to
the Antartic pole, three thousand miles south of Ker-
guelen's Land, and then up to Melbourne This
short route is obviously unavailable, until you can
get a ship which will sail over land.
To make a good passage, however, you must ap
proximate to it as closely as you can ; you must
follow this line nearly. A sailing captain who could
get fair winds on this route would take his ship clean
across the Atlantic to Pernambuco or Bahia, run
close down the coast, and then go down, down, down
into the southern ice. This, however feasible for a
steamer, is not quite agreeable for a sailing ship, for
the winds, both regular and irregular, have as far as
possible to be studied ; therefore, grand circle sailing
in its perfection is only to be accomplished by a
steamship. Maury, following Reid, saw that God had thought
it good to reveal certain laws about the winds of
heaven to those who chose to look for them. Fitzroy
followed, and thought that he could read the whole of
the business like a book, but he could not quite, though
he did much good. Maury, adding his wonderful
researches on wind currents to the strangely simple
discovery of the great circle principle, produced the
theory of composite sailing, and made him one of the
greatest benefactors of the human race.*
A ship, nowadays swift, large, and strong, with
the last results of human knowledge to guide her,
* In the last American revolutionary war, he was on the losing side.
One would be inclined to hope that when matters are quite quiet again,
the nation which produced him will not be ashamed to be proud of him.

128 THE PRESERVATION OF
may manage to make a very bad passage. She may,
be becalmed on the outside edge of her expected
winds,'on the line, and elsewhere. So in old times a ship ,
may have, and sometimes did make, a smart passage;; ;
this one promised far from badly. They were in 48' '
N. early in February, well north of the Azores, when '
their troubles began.
They had had a gale, throu gh which they had got
charmingly. They had been forced to send down
their top-masts, — I read nothing of to^-gallant-ia&sts,
-—and had made everything snug. The weather how
ever moderated, and they were enabled to " sway up "
their top-masts again, and set their topsails. However,/
one day at noon the weather began to look extremely
foul, and they had to send down their top-masts again;'
and reefing sail after sail, hauled the foresail, and sent
the yard close down " a-portlings ; " then reefed the ;
main-sail, and lowered the main-yard "snug, close
down a-portlings." The expressions of old seaman--
ship which I have put in inverted commas, are those-;!
which are beyond my knowledge.
After this they lay her to : that is to say, put a
sail on her which had the effect of keeping her head
to the wind. I believe that this is generally done
now by spreading a fore-and-aft sail on the mizeU'
mast, and putting the helm a-port, — so making a
weather-cock of the ship, — making it perfectly certain
that she will lie with her bow in the wind's eye;
under which circumstances nothing can hurt her,
unless she goes ashore. I must be careful, however,
as a landsman, not to make some very foolish mis
take. I have heard a sailor describe a very safe ship

THE " TERRA NOVA." 129
by saying that you could lay her to, by putting the
captain's cocked hat in the weather rigging. The
Tei-ra iVova was lain to by a "main bonnet;" and
what that is, I am not sailor enough to say.
In this way, head to wind, offering no obstacle to the
wind, a ship may lie comfortably in the most furious
weather. It is said, I know not how truly, that a clipper-
built ship will lie to better than another ; but that if
she ever does, by accident, broach to, present her
broadside to the weather, and get into the trough of
the sea, the disaster is only greater than it would be
in the case of a short tub of a ship like the Terra
Nova. I have never had the luck, or ill-luck, to be in
a ship which has got into the trough of the sea whilst
lying to ; but twice, singularly enough, I have been
in disasters in ships which have got into the trough of
the sea while trying to make passages, by scudding
before great gales of wind. On the last occasion we
ran 1,000 miles in 92 hours, under a close-reefed main
topsail and a rag of a foresail. During the full rage and
fury of the storm, while the pressure of the wind on
the sails was sufficient to keep her before the ever-
accumulating and ever-following seas, all went merry
as a marriage bell ; but when the weather slightly
moderated, when the seas began to grow in strength,
when it got impossible to get the vast length of the
ship round and lay her to — then, I think, that the cap
tain, although noted for his suavity of manner, began
to get short, sharp, and peremptory with those pas
sengers who seemed inclined to amuse themselves by
staggering about the deck, falling into the lee-scuppers,
and getting handed over to the doctor with severe
K

130 THE PRESERVATION OF .
scalp bruises, and a -very puzzled expression of coun
tenance. At this time I thought I noticed that the
captain looked old ; and, moreover, he had to stand
behind the two men at the wheel, with his arms in
cleats ; he had two hundred souls to answer for, this
captain, with the pay of a ten-year Home Office
clerk, and his wife and children on board, beside.
The last time I saw the thing itself, a similar thing '
to that which ruined the London and that great man
Bowen Martin together, I saw the senseless fury of
the wall of green water which leaped on our deck.
Those who have once been on board a ship when
struck and damaged by a heavy sea, are not likely to
forget it. If going before the wind she rolls deeper
and deeper (the sailors say three times), the last roll
goes down deeper, deeper yet, till you think she is
actually upset, and then recovers herself with a
sickening jerk ; at which time it happens. Before
she is fairly level, or just after, there is a concussion-
accompanied by a bursting sound. Then many
sounds of innumerable kinds of ruin, from the
crashing of crockery to the thundering fallings and
thumpings of heavy and dangerous things on deck;
then a heavy leaden feeling in the ship, so different!
from her late mercurial boundings and divings'j.!
mixed with a swashing and pouring down of waters,'
the water making another miniature sea inside the
bulwarks, which, fighting to get free, hurls every
loose matter on deck to and fro to the danger of life
and limb : above all, you can always hear the hoarse
roar of the officer in command, fighting the brutal;;
'inorganic savagery around. The next time you go

THE "TERRA NOVA." 131

on deck you find boats gone, bulwarks burst out by
driving spars, or far worse mischief according to the
extent of the disaster.
The Terra Nova, being comfortably laid to, for
what reason is scarcely apparent (most likely having
broached to by some shift in the wind, for her sprit-
sail was blown away at the same time), took a
tremendous sea on board, which carried away a boat.
This was immediately followed by another, which
washed an anchor overboard, and did a deal of small
damage which would be almost tedious to follow in
May's sea language : after which disasters were in
some sort put right, all hands having worked like
horses from six till night. May and the captain went
to get some breakfast, and found the Duke of
Albemarle's sixteen gentlemen most comfortably in
bed, apparently not aware that anything was wrong.
They, however, had such breakfast as there was,
apparently in bed.
Our friend May the mate having had his breakfast,
stood looking out at the steerage door, which I think
corresponds to the door which opens from the grand
cabin into the waist of most modern ships,* when
the great disaster happened. A great sea burst over
the ship, and, laying on her beam ends, set them all
swimming for their lives, not knowing whether they
were in the ship or out of her. This sea sent every
moveable thing flying to leeward, broke away the
starboard (stroke side) gallery, arid staving in the
* The term " steerage " and ' ' steerage passengers " seems to have
got into its second intention. "Steerage" passengers are generally
berthed forwards.
K 2

132 THE PRESERVATION OF
cabin windows, and filling it with water, hurled a
quantity of moveables (May says a chest of drawers,;
the cabin table, and a quantity of chairs. My dear
sir !) on to the captain, who was all the time under
water ; the passengers fared but little better, being
likely to be drowned in their beds ; they, however,
all got out, as did also the captain, in spite of May's
chest of drawers, which I must persist in thinking
unnecessary. The ship now lay on her beam ends, with the
water up to the loaming of her main hatchwayt-1
That is to say, for the use of any reader not
acquainted with the sea, she was so far upset that
a man might walk upon her side. If you will think
of the last steamer you were on board, and conceive
her lying over so far that the base of her funnel was,
in the water, and the funnel itself lying over so much
that it was nearly parallel with the level of the sea,
you will appreciate the position of the Terra Nova.
If a ship lies like this for long, she is nearly certain
to founder from the water she takes in through, her
deck. Such was not the fate of the Terra Nova ; a short
cork-like ship, she in the hurly-burly hoisted com
pletely round, so that the sea got under her larboardj/,;
(bow-side) bow and knocked her upright again, the
water poured off her deck (as well it might seeing
that her starboard bulwarks were gone), and they -
began to examine the extent of the disaster. They
had got their ship ; but they had got little else.
The starboard side, on which the sea had struck
them, was gone as clean as if it had been sawed off

THE "TERRA NC)VA." 133
close to the deck, so that the sea had leave to wander
about the deck as it would, and it was a matter of
great personal danger to get from one p^rt of the
ship to another.
Next, the ship had performed that curious feat
which I have heard some sailors call " whipping the
sticks out of her ! " That is to say, that in her
sudden jerking recovery from her position on her
beam ends, her masts had been broken nearly short
off to the deck, as you may break a reed by wav
ing it to and fro, and then jerking your wrist. In
addition, seven powder-chests washed overboard ; the
longboat staved to pieces in the bits, with all the live
stock in her, hogs, sheep, goats, — all the live-stock
went utterly ; two " minions," two " falconers," and
a " paterero," none of them guns of any size however,
sent overboard ; and lastly, " thirteen turkeys sitting
on the guns in the forecastle were drowned." An
unlucky number of a very foolish bird !
The captain cleared himself from the lumber, and
gave orders to clap the helm a-weather, but the tiller
had fallen into the gun-room, and May dashed in
after it being up to his knees in water ; he was
instantly covered all over his body with the drowning
rats ; making his escape from here, he made for the
rudder, and had just time to see it break from its
remaining gudgeon, and float away. The ship lay in
the trough of the sea perfectly helpless. The sea kept
pouring into her hold through the broken bulwarks,
and the wreck of the masts was driving and thumping
her sides on to leeward. It seemed as if nothing could
save her.

134 THE PRESERVATION OF ^
But now began a fierce hand-to-hand desperate
fight between the captain, the mate, and the boat
swain on .the one side, and all the fury and ferocity
of the sea on the other ; and the three men beat the
great sea, and brought their ship into Plymouth
harbour, and beached her by the Barbican.
One thing must be done, and done instantly : it
was a matter almost of minutes. The sea must be
prevented from breaking freely over the deck and
pouring into the hold. There was no vestige of bul
wark between the forecastle and the poop on the
weather side, and they expected the other bulwark
to go every' moment from the inside, by the water ,
which poured over the breach, and fell on it to lee
ward. It was necessary at once that a weather|
bulwark should be made, with the ship rolling,'
furiously for want of anything to steady her. It
reads like one of the most awful passages in the
" Travailleurs de la Mer.''
They got a stout rope stretched from end to end, :
of the breach, and then the mate. May, and the
boatswain, with ropes round their waists, crept
onwards through the water, at their dangerous task
of stretching a bolt of sail-cloth on the rope, and
nailing it down to the deck : this was done, as I
understand it, by hanging it on the rope as one
hangs a towel on a horse, double. The ropes which
were round their waists were attended to by two'-
men, while the captain served out the iron hoop'
with which they fastened down the canvas. In two
hours this wonderful piece of sailors' dexterity was
completed, and the mate and boatswain, blinded by

THE "TERRA NOVA." 135
the long exposure to the beating sea, had time
to rest.
Meanwhile the captain had kept his sailmaker
busy ; two long canvas hose were by this time ready
to carry the water overboard, and the pumps were
got ready. If those pumps had been carried away
by the fall of the masts, it would have gone ill with
them yet, but they were there, and in working order.
The captain now said a few words to the men,
exhorting them to stick by him and by one another,
and then sitting himself down with the half-hour
glass between his knees to relieve the men, they went
to work to pump the ship dry. After eighteen hours'
steady work at it the ship was nearly dry, and men
looked at one another with brighter eyes.
Next to lighten the ship. Out went my Lord
Duke's curious chairs, rich hangings, and unopened
cases, probably of priceless bric-a-brac, to float or
sink upon the weltering sea. Conceive a part of the
sea on one of the great highways dry : heavens, what ¦
should we see there ! Then went hogsheads of pepper,
sugar, and indigo, which last fell about the deck, and
spoilt all their clothes.' When this was done, it
became necessary to see after their provisions.
All the live-stock, as we have seen, were drowned,
and, besides, half their bread was spoilt by salt water :
it therefore became absolutely necessary to retrench
in the way of provisions. For two days they lived
on. the drowned cocks and hens; but this dainty fare
did not last long: they had to begin on the spoilt
bread, which they made the cook heat after which
they ate it with sugar and some good bread which

136 THE PRESERVATION OF
they had found. This lasted for twelve days, after
, which they were reduced to still harder allowances ;-
for the wet bread having mildewed, they cast it over
board, and had recourse to very small quantities of
the food. May had hitherto kept the key of the
bread-room, but observing that some men grumbled,
believing that he helped himself, he at once gave it
up to the captain, who ultimately arranged the allow
ance at two pounds a week for every man and boy in
the ship, including himself They now also began to
live on the fodder (Indian corn) which was put on
board for the live stock, but which was " damnified"
by the salt water, sometimes boiling it and sometimes
beating it up with sugar. They had of course stock
fish and the usual salt provisions, though even these
were served out in small quantities, but boiled in salt.
water. It was perhaps as well that there was not too
much salt provision, for the allowance of water was
now reduced to half a pint (one tumblerful) a day.
The carpenter and the mate had a thirteen-gallon
cask of lime-juice, which they secretly broached, and
drank privately with sugar, lest any one should see
them, for if any one was ever seen eating or drinking
others would beg so hard for some of it that it was
not pleasant
May, the mate, had opportunities which others
had not, and in the madness of hunger took advan
tage of them. He was sent to assist the steward in
stowing the dry provisions, and he found peas, spoilt
with salt water, in the scuppers, which he secreted,
and greedily ate in private. Also he used to assist
at scuttling the casks of beef, and had an opportunity-?

THE "TERRA NOVA."

137

of slipping any loose pieces he could find into his
pocket, which he afterwards ate raw in bed. He also
deluded the steward into putting his head into holes
and bulkheads in the bread-room, and while he was
so engaged May would, I regret to say, slip some
bread into his boots. However, his friend the steward
found out these malpractices, and, although he said
nothing, took care that they should not occur again.
The Duke of Albemarle's footmen had many
parrots on board, which they would sell to the sailors
foi a biscuit a-piece. Some of the sailors bought
them, and actually brought them home. May had
given five dollars for a bird in the West Indies, and
actually (with filched peas, I doubt) brought it home.
He says that that bird cost him more trouble to keep
than he has since found a wife and two children.
They mended their poop cabin with ox-hides, and
so for just three weeks they lay in the trough of the
sea, drifting utterly helpless, the weather scarcely
improving. On the twenty-first day they sighted
and spoke a Portuguese ship, to their short-lived
satisfaction. The mate and the captain boarded the Portuguese,
and begged of him to give them any spar to make a
jurymast, and to lend them a compass. They saw
spare spars which would have been their salvation
lashed under her bulwarks, but he -would give them
neither spars nor compass. Captain Daniel offered
to pay for them, but the answer was no. All that
the Portuguese would do was to offer to take the
T^rra Nova's company, provided' they would leave the
ship and bring their own provisions. Now Captain

r38 THE PRESERVATION OF
Daniel and Mr. May had resolved to stick by their
ship, and declined, whereupon the Portuguese sent
them on board again in his boat, without asking thfem,..
either to eat or drink.
Getting on board. Captain Daniel had together all
hands, and told them of the Portuguese offer, pointed
out to them that the boat was still there, and that as
many might go as chose, and be soon safe on shore.-;
The answer, in spite of their desperate condition, was
a singularly unanimous No — very pleasant to hear.
The Duke's chief gentleman, speaking in the name
of his brother servants, informed him that they would •>
stay and share his fortune ; and the crew made exactly
the same resolution, and all hands saw the Portuguese
sail away with equanimity. One gets from this
passage a dim suspicion that Captain Daniel was one
good fellow, and that the Duke's first gentleman was
another. But now came for the first time fair weather and a
smooth sea. The rudder had, as we know, been torn
away, and the rudder bands had given so much that
they made a very serious leak. May and a black
man were now lowered over the ship's side with ham
mers and spikes to see if they could make these tight.
They drove in thirty-two spikes, although the band
was a foot and a half under water ; and so tightened
it up that the ship became perfectly tight and the
men were entirely relieved from the pumps. The
black who assisted in this work was evidently a first-
rate man. Having dropped a piece of very neces-.
sary wood overboard, he immediately leaped over
board after it and got it.

THE "TERRA NOVA." 139
Now to get her head before the wind and get her
to sail. It would be tedious to tell of the shifts they
went to before they got up a mainmast seventeen feet
high, with a topmast of a piece of the old crossjack
yard, and a mainyard of two tillers spliced ; but they
hammered away till they got up such a mast with
three sails on it ; and then they set to work on their
foremast. The carpenter was found to be utterly
inefficient, and the whole direction of the work was
by the captain.
May noticed in the gun-room a beam which was
neither bolted nor kneed, that is, formed no real part
of the ship's frame ; and mentioning this to Captain
Daniel, he had it cut down and brought on deck, and
having done many mysterious things with it, for an
explanation of which one would have to consult
Admiral Smythe,* they made a foremast of it ;
they made a small bowsprit also ; and lastly a mizen-
mast of the ensign staff — a rather considerable spar
according to old pictures, now only to be seen on
Monitors and pleasure-boats. And having done all
this, they found they could make about one knot and
a half an hour, and that the ship would not steer ;
sometimes turning suddenly round with her head to
the wind, and taking all hands three hours to get her
round again. They first tried to steer her by her
headsails, but this was useless ; then by towing a
grapnel overboard with a buoy to prevent it -sinking,
* May writes " Sidnet " for " Sinnet," which brings us much nearer
the root of the word; invariably "boltsprit," "gunnel," "bittacles"
for binnacle : and many other variations from the spelling cf the
present day.

I40 THE PRESERVATION OF
and hauling hard upon it for sometimes three hours
before she would come round ; and, alas ! six minutes
after would be round again. At' length Captain,
Daniel hit on a plan of his own, which I have
tried to understand, and make out to be this. A
flat cross was towed overboard about sixteen fathoms;'
from the ship, offering resistance to the water (and
lessening her very small speed, although it rendered;^
her manageable) : to each end of this cross were
ropes, which, being hauled upon, produced exactly
the same effect as a rudder. This is all I can gather
out of the deluge of practical seamanship which May
pours over one in explaining it.
Provisions got shorter and shorter : they tried eat
ing boiled hides, but it was no good at all — " a mere
thong." A storm burst upon them, carrying away
their main topmast ; but the wind was fair, and
although laid-to,* she made some way to leeward in
the right direction. The storm was followed by a
brisk fair gale, before which they stood, going from a
mile and a half to two miles an hour — six to eight
miles in four hours, but homeward. A great dog
they had now went out of his mind for hunger, and
tried to attack the men, so they cast him overboard.
They now considered that they must be coming
near soundings, and getting out the deep-sea lead
struck ground in a hundred fathoms, only six hundred ;;
feet from the earth after so much wandering in sound
less waters ! The captain instantly made a powder-,S
barrel half full of punch, and gave to each man a""
cocoa-nut shell-full. * "Laid a try:" May.

THE "TERRA NOVA:' 141
The next night steering E.N.E. they came by an
adventure. As morning broke one of the passengers
descried rocks ahead of them. The captain came up,
and declared that they were the Bishop and Clerk
rocks of Scilly, and that they were lost after all. He
had a violent altercation with May, whom he accused
of having been to sleep ; but fuller morning light
showed the truth. These were no rocks, but the
British war fleet of sixteen men-of-war with their
tenders, bound for Bantry Bay, under the command
of Lord Torrington. From these they heard the
news of the revolution. They begged assistance, lest
the wind should turn easterly, and drive them to sea
again. It so happened that a son of Lord Bath,
whom they had carried the year before from Smyrna
to Constantinople, was commanding one of the ships,
the Advice. He, hearing that the wrecked ship was
commanded by none other than his old acquaintance
Daniel, begged leave to tow them into Plymouth,
which, being granted, he did. And on April nth,
after two months of almost unequalled suffering, she
was run aground under the Barbican at Plymouth,
an Object of wonder to the thousands who crowded
to see the shattered bulwarks and fantastic rigging of
what they called " the wreck ship."

SPITZBERGEN.
The island of Spitzbergen may not unfairly claim
the title of the Arctic Italy. Although the highest
land yet reached by man, lying between the 78° and-
82" parallels, yet the mean winter temperature is
only 20° of Fahrenheit, or twelve degrees of frost;
while at Winter Harbour, in Melville Island, some
four or five degrees further south, the winter tern- ;
perature is 0°, or thirty-two degrees. Nova Zembla,-'
again, lying much to the south, is a miserable desert,
producing no kind of herbage, while in Spitzbergen
grow wild celery, scurvy grass, endive, watercresses,
and some flowers, ranunculus, saxifrage, mouse-ear
chickweed (cerastium), and a few others ; and at the
same time there is sufficient grass and moss to sup
port numerous herds of reindeer.
The reason of this is very plain. The furthest:*;
point of the Gulf Stream just washes the east side of
Spitzbergen, and this tongue of warm Florida watgr
is sufficient to raise the mean temperature some ten
degrees. Millions of sea-fowl, auks, grebes, gulls, ,
terns, and the eider-duck, naturally select such a
favourable spot, situated in the midst of a teeming
polar sea, for their breeding grounds ; but strangely ;

SPITZBERGEN. 143

one of our own land-birds has actually been tempted
so far into the land of night. The Great Brainbling
hops innocently about among the moss hags and
limestone boulders before the feet of the wandering
sailor, who is astonished and gladdened to see so
. homelike a bird among those melancholy Arctic
mountains. Although the climate of the east side of the island
is probably in some degree the milder, yet it is utterly
unfrequented. The west and north coast, washed by
the Arctic current, is far more popular with whalers.
On this coast the whales in winter used, as late as
1780, to approach so near to the shore that the
Russian garrison told • Rackstrom that they fre
quently killed them from shore with a gun. This
west or cold side of the island is a perfect em
porium of Arctic wealth. Whale-blubber, whale
bone, white bear skins, white fox skins, eider down,
unicorns' tusks, ivory, and smoked tongues were
the cargo which the above-mentioned keen-eyed
surgeon found the Russians preparing for shipment
to Archangel.
Lord Mulgrave, who saw as much of the island
(or rather islands) as most men, describes it as
a country abounding in black mountains, the glens
between which were filled by glaciers, such as once
filled Glen Roy. These glaciers end in an abrupt
w^ll, over which cascades pour in summer-time from
a great height. Masses are detached from the edge
of them with a sound like thunder, and float away.
One mountain which he measured, close to the
Black Point, was 4,500 feet in height Rackstrom

144 " SPITZBERGEN.
the surgeon, one of the sharpest observers, and one
of the neatest narrators I have met with, seems to
have been impressed very much with two things — the
vivid light and the awful unbroken silence.
Very early in the seventeenth century commercial
people began to be aware of the importance of the
island, and to perceive the advantage which would be
gained, were it possible for a party to winter there;
that to collect the treasures of the northern sea during
the later autumn and the earlier spring, when ice pre
vented the approach of ships, and so gain eight
months on the inexorable Arctic winter, was most
desirable. The first attempt, so far as I am aware,,
was made by the Dutch Greenland Company. The
attempt appears to have been partially successful at
first : how many times before 1633 I am unable to
say. But the events in Spitzbergen that year are
certainly worthy of a place in this little collection
of adventures.
Andrew Johnson (Jansen.'), of Middleburg; Cor
nelius Thysse, of Rotterdam; Jerome Carcoens, of
Delf; Tiebke Jelles, of Friesland ; Nicholas Florison,
of Hoom ; Adrian Johnson, of Delf ; and Feltje Olters,'
of Friesland, volunteered to pass the winter here, evi
dently succeeding another party who had done so
.successfully. The account of the matter in Churchill's
collection gives us no idea on which part of the
islands they were left ; but Lord Mulgrave puts it at
Smeerenburg Harbour on the north-west coast Both
he and our cleartongued friend Rackstrom — the first
in 1773, the second in 1780 — mention the ruins of the
Dutch boiling-down establishments near Huckluyts

SPITZBERGEN. 145
headland. Rackstrom saw open coffins at this place,
the crosses on which bore dates corresponding to the
time of which we are speaking.*
These seven men, as one is forced to conclude, had
been terrified by the accounts of their predecessors.
The fellow-countrymen of Ruyter and De Witt, the
men whose younger brothers and sons burnt Chat
ham, were no cowards, yet the clockwork order and
punctuality to which they had been used among the
tulip gardens of the United Provinces, was hardly the
best preparation for spending a four months' night in
a hideous solitary country, so dreadfully far from
home and from order. What was done so easily by
the irrepressible and younger Russian race, accus
tomed to fight winter from their childhood ; what was
done easily enough by your headlong, happy-go-lucky
British sailor-boy of the seas, was not so easily done
by these sons of whitewash and order. From the
very first we find them in a state of melancholy:
melancholy in those latitudes produces scurvy, and
scurvy death.
There is one circumstance about these seven Dutch
sailors which it would be worse than wicked to omit.
They were men of deep and tried piety. When the
wild Arctic night closed in on them amidst whirling
snowstorms, it seems as though there were eight of
them instead of seven, and the eighth like unto the
form of the Son of Man. I say no more for fear of
offence. One could have wished that they had been
• Surely I have seen a picture of the very place in the Illustrated
London News. The author of the "Birds of Spitzbergen" -Vfill per
ceive that I have not used his book, valuable as it is.
L

146 SPITZBERGEN.
less melancholy — nay, sometimes one could wish that
they had sung and danced, told stories, and sung
songs, as a British sailor would have done. But then,
again, when one is in a certain kind of mood, dancing
Jack of Wapping Old Stairs seems but a poor brute
beside these melancholy, pious, square-headed Dutch
men. It requires Trafalgar to cure one of such sen
timentality. The whole business was an utter failure. In
September, after the ship had left them, they saw
plenty of whales close to the shore, but could not
manage to take one. The Dutch are not good
in these adventures — you want a Briton or an
American for them. They now began hunting, but
made no hand of it, not even finding scurvy grass.
On the 2 1st of October the sun left them, and the
hunting after fresh meat and green herbs grew more
hopeless. In less than a month the scurvy made
its appearance, as a matter of course ; and then —
Heaven help them ! — they began doctoring them
selves, and talking about their symptoms. They
mark the 2'd of December (of all days in the year),
in this manner: "Nicholas Florison took a dose of
scorbutic medicine, after which they went out and set
traps to catch foxes ;" who, however, declined to be
caught — neither Cavaignac, Changarnier, Lamorici^re,
¦Bedeau, or any of the rest of them.
" They went often in quest of some refreshment but
found none, and so recommended themselves to God's
providence." On the I2th Cornelius Thysse did like
wise take a medicinal potion against the scurvy. It is
hard to go on ; when folks in difficult situations begin

SPITZBERGEN. 147
thinking about their health and talking about their
insides, it is all up with them. The United States
were not founded, India was not conquered, nor
Austraha settled, by such men as these. The Dutch
had the chance of doing all these three great works,
and have done neither. They were before us every
where : see how far they are behind us now, through
wanting the one quality of recklessness.
The quality which is wanting in the Dutch, and
which has prevented them to some extent from being
the most successful colonists on the earth, is that
adaptability to new circumstances which is found in
the highest degree in the Scotchman, next in the
Irishman, next in the American, and lastly in the
Englishman. No other nations seem to have it in
any appreciable degree. The Frenchman must carry
France with him ; and the only thing which has
prevented Holland from being the outlet of the
swarming Teutonic nations of the Continent, is that
the Dutchman is dazed and lost as soon as he has
left his Dutch respectability. The world swarms
with O'Donnels, Macdonnels, MacMahons, and
McClellans ; but almost all the Dutch names written
in geographical history are those which tell us that
the Dutch nation could discover and could fight, but
could not hold. No better place could be found
to make these remarks than the present ; that is my
apology for making them. This is a story of Dutch
failure and of Russian success.
So we return to our poor Dutchmen, locked up in
their hut in the bleak Arctic winter. Any one who
knows Dutchmen, knows their sweet imperturbable
L 2

148 SPITZBERGEN.
temper. These men had two hundred years ago the
same temper which makes Dutchmen so loveable
now. Men coming from fiercer races would have
perhaps quarrelled, at least have grown petulant
with one another. Not so with these gentle Dutch
men. That they must have been wretched company
cannot be denied, but they tended one another with
the greatest care and patience.
On the 14th of January Adrian Johnson died, the
others being now in a deplorable condition, suffering
horrible agony. The next day Feltje Olters fol
lowed him ; and the day but one after, Cornelius
Thysse, "being the man of all the rest in whom
they had most put their hopes, went to God." The
others could hardly stand ; yet they contrived to make
coffins for these, and laid their bodies in them ; soon
after which they took entirely to the hut. Jerome
•Carcoens was still somewhat better than the rest and
was able to get about and get them some food and
some fuel. The others were beyond helping them
selves. On the 24th of February, the sun rose once more
upon their misery, and on the 26th they wrote thus
in their log : " The four of us that are still alive lie
flat upon the ground in our huts. We believe we
could still feed were there but one among us who
could stir out of the hut to get us some fuel, but
no one is able to stir for pain. We spend our time
in constant prayers, to implore God's mercy to deliver
us out of this misery, being ready whenever He
pleases to call us. We are certainly not in a con
dition to live thus long without food or fire, and

SPITZBERGEN. ,49

cannot assist one another in our mutual afflictions ;
but every one must bear his own burdens."
When the ships arrived in June, one Middleburg, a
baker, ran swifter than the others, and got to the hut
first No smoke rose from the chimney, and on
opening the door there was a silence as of death.
The frightened man ran over the house, but at first
only found the carcases of the two dogs. At last
opening the door of the front room, he fell in the
dark over the body which lay nearest to the door ;
and light being procured, they found all of them
dead together in the same room.
Adrian Johnson, Olters, and Thysse were in their
coffins ; Nicholas Florison in a bunk, Andrew John
son, Jelles, and lastly Carcoens were, one in a bedplace,
and the other two on some old sails on the floor, with
their knees drawn up to their chins. The time must
have come when they could no longer move about,
but lay down to die. They would talk and pray
together till voice after voice became silent. Some
times one of them would say, "Brother, are you
asleep ?" and no answer would come ; and last of
all, Jerome Carcoens would find himself alone in a
solitude and a silence too terrible to be contem
plated. Let us leave this subject : God save us
from such a death as that !
"These were the last," says the writer in the
Churchill collection, "who pretended to spend the
winter in Spitzbergen." But he was wrong. The
fathers of the men of Eylau and Inkerman accom
plished the adventure without difficulty under the
most unfavourable circumstances.

I50 SPITZBERGEN.
In 1743, Jeremias * Ollamkoff, of Meisen near
Archangel, sent out a vessel with fourteen hands to
the west side of Spitzbergen to fish for whale
and morse. When within two miles of land they
became enclosed in ice, and seemed in such a
hopeless condition that they sent four men across
the ice to the shore to look for a hut which
some of their fellow-townsmen had built there on a
previous occasion.
These men's names were : Alexis Himloff, boat
swain, and three sailors, Ivan Himkoff, Stephen
Sharapoff, and Feodor Weregin. These men took
with them a musket, a powder-horn with twelvp
charges of powder, a quantity of lead, an axe, a
small kettle, a stove, a piece of touchwood, a knife,
a tin box full of tobacco, and each one his pipe.
Heavily laden with these, they managed to cross the
ice ; and by means of these things, and these only,
they contrived to exist for the astonishing period of
six years, during which time they received no ex
ternal assistance whatever, and never set face upon
their fellow-men. Borodino !
They very soon found the hut, a most spacious
and comfortable one, and passed the night in it It
blew all night, and in the morning, ice, ship, and all
were gone, a clear sea was sparkling everywhere in
the sunshine, and they were left alone on this desolate
shore -without provisions.
Their grief and dismay were beyond bounds ; they
well knew the extreme improbability of a ship's
passing that side of the island, and knew also the
rigour of the winter which was approaching. They

SPITZBERGEN. 151
looked in vain for the ship in every direction, but
they never saw her again. She never reached Meisen,
and undoubtedly foundered at sea. After the next
winter, the folks at home gave them up as lost, and
Himloff's wife put on her widow's weeds, and sub
mitted to her situation, often wandering, however,
about the quays and bridges with the other sailors'
wives, full of sad thoughts about her poor lost Alexis.
Meanwhile he and his three companions were left
standing utterly at a loss what to do next. The
very first thing, naturally, was shelter and warmth.
The hut was in tolerable order, and with their axe
they very soon mended the hut, and stopped the
crevices with moss, of which there was great abun
dance in that part The fireplace was a square
elevation in the middle of the principal room, from
which the smoke ascended to the roof, and lay there
in a dense strata. The advantage of this form of fire
place seems to be that the hot air is not drawn up a
chimney and wasted, but is diffused around. The
cold air is supplied by a line of little windows the
length of a man's hand, which, in cases of extreme
cold, can be closed. The air is always perfectly clear
of smoke below these windows. From first to last
they never wanted for fuel. They found a wreck
close by, which lasted them nearly a year, and besides
this there was plenty of driftwood. Another traveller
mentions in one of the north isles of Spitzbergen a
beach almost composed of it ; sometimes trees marked
into lengths by the axe are cast ashore in considerable
quantities. It is hard to say whence they come;
looking at the set of the Gulf Stream, one would guess

152 SPITZBERGEN.
from the east coast of Iceland, though possibly from
the Hebrides, or even from Norway.
Next came the all-important question of food.
Their twelve charges of powder procured them twelve
reindeer ; when these were gone, and their muskets
only so much old iron, they would have been not only
without food, but also entirely without protection
against the Polar bears ; but while they had been
living on these reindeer they had been working with
a degree of skill and pluck which fills one with the
very profoundest astonishment, and by the time the
powder was exhausted, they were fully armed against
all-comers. The first thing to get -was a hammer, and this was"
the worst of all ; for every hammer requires another
hammer to make it ; so there must have been a
succession of hammers from the time of Tubal Cain.
But they had broken through the succession, and
found it necessary to make a Nag's Head hammer as
quickly as possible. They found a large hook on a
piece of wreck heavy enough for the purpose, and
in this hook there was a little hole. By heating this
hook, and patiently and slowly enlarging the hole
with a big nail, they at last made the aperture large
enough to receive a handle, and their hammer was
made. If any of my readers have ever done a turn
of blacksmith work, they will the more readily appre
ciate the ingenuity and patience required to do this
without either tongs or a hammer. And we must
remember, moreover, that it was a match against time
with them : they had but twelve charges of powder,
and an Arctic winter settling slowly down on them :

SPITZBERGEN. 153

everything depended on this hammer, and the hammer
was done in time ; if it had not been, we should never
have heard of them. Professor Le Roy saw all their
wonderful manufactures after their return, but pro
vokingly makes no mention of the all -important
Thor's hammer of theirs.
The hammer being made, matters grew better with
them. A stone, moved by a hand-barrow made of
reindeers' horns, was their anvil ; and, yielding to
their greatest necessity, the first things they forged
were spears with which to kill the Arctic bears. Le
Roy says that a bear may be killed by a pike or
halbert by a man possessing " resolution." It requires
a good deal of " resolution," however. An old friend
of mine who lived eleven years in Russia, a perfect
prince among sportsmen, has often told me that even
the brown bear is exceedingly dangerous, and that it
is considered a great sporting feat to kill one single-
handed with a well-tempered spear, with a cross on
it to prevent the bear hitting you with his paw ; the
butt of the spear being of highly seasoned wood, and
held firmly against a tree till the bear is dead. " If
you waver for a moment," R. D. has told me, " you
are a dead man." These four sailors habitually
attacked and killed the Polar bear, a much more
terrible animal, with spears of their own manufacture ;
the shafts made of brittle deal.
They lashed on the heads of these spears with the
fibres of the reindeer, and with two of them attacked
and killed their first bear. They ate his flesh, and
thought it better than reindeer venison. Lord Mul
grave, who, as a British peer, may be supposed to

154 SPITZBERGEN.
know a haunch from a neck or humbles, don't agree
v/ith them at all. However, they ate their bear,
praising God, and, in doing so, made a most impor
tant discovery. They found that his fibres would
divide into cords of any degree of fineness or coarse
ness, and of vast strength and toughness. A large
and tough fir-bough, strung with a cord of these
fibres, made a bow of fearful power ; they had wood
and feathers, and they forged some arrow-heads,
binding them on their shafts with bear sinews ; and
thus they' had arrows of a large size, fit for any game
In the six years of their exile they killed no fewer
than two hundred and fifty reindeer with them.
The white bears were their greatest enemies ; they
frequently attacked our sailors in their hut, sometimes
they would be driven away by the shouts which our
sailors made during their preparation for attack, but
often would bring matters to a bloody issue, in which
they -were, of course, worsted : ten of them were
killed in this manner.
From the cordage of an old wreck they made wicks,
and they had an abundance of reindeer fat, but their
great difficulty was with their lamp. They could not
at first make one of clay, which was not too porous
to hold the fat when melted. They, however, remedied
this in a most ingenious way by dipping their jar, after
it had been baked in the fire, into a paste made out
of some of the little bag of flour they had brought
ashore. From this time they had continual light.
One great necessity remained, the supplying their
clothes as they wore out. They had skins, they had
deer and bear fibres, and, lastly, they made a needle

SPITZBERGEN. 155
piercing the eye with the sharpened point of their only
precious knife ; some skins they regularly dressed,
soaking them in cold water, others they wore green :
breeches, waistcoats, pelisses with hoods, were all made
in this way. One has only to remember seeing a
sailor at sea making a pair of canvas trousers, or
fashioning some elaborate piece of inutility with his
knife with the greatest diligence, to see how deeply
busy these sailors were over a work of such utility
and importance. One can see them trying on their
pelisses, and talking about the set of them with all
the eagerness of a young lady at Madame Elise's.
The poor Dutchmen, left with every luxury, died in
six months of idleness and ennui; these busy Rus
sians, left with only a week between them and star
vation, lived for six years. The cold was practically as
great on their side of the island as the other. They
had no antiscorbutic potions, except energy, hope
fulness, and the fresh blood of reindeer, which last
seems but a doubtful remedy. They were just as
pious as the Dutchmen, keeping their fasts and fes
tivals carefully. This one element of "pluck" — I
know no better word — was the only thing which the
Dutchmen lacked, and which brought our noble
Russians out of their trouble triumphantly, with one
exception, to be noticed presently.
They were all bachelors, with the exception of
Alexis Himloff, the pilot He had a wife to whom he
was very deeply attached, as was she to him. This
is the woman I have spoken of before as frequenting
the bridges and quays, with other sailors' wives, in
her widow's dress, and talking of her poor lost

156 SPITZBERGEN.
husband. Alexis used to get very low about this
wife of his sometimes in the five long winter nights
of four months each. If these Russians were as
good-natured and gentle as those few I have made
acquaintance with, it is not difficult to believe that
they cheered him and condoled with him over their
busy sewing : no doubt they did ; for we find their
good-nature and patience exhibiting itself towards one
who needed it more than poor Alexis Himloff.
Feodor Weregin was a big and loutish man, of a
plaintive and despondent nature — somewhat lazy,
withal ; his inside, like that of many heavy men, was
weak, and he could not stomach the deer blood : it
may have been this, or it may have been his habit
of staying almost always in the hut and brooding,
but the result was the same — he very soon fell ill of
scurvy. He had to be nursed like an infant, but they nursed
him tenderly ; and when he died, nearly at the end of
the sixth year, they missed him and mourned for him,
and looked at his vacant place at their narrow and
dismal hearth with regret This is in no way sur
prising to any one who has seen the wonderful, almost
feminine tenderness which the better class of sailor
always shows towards a sick messmate ; one only
mentions this and similar circumstances, which may
by some be considered sentimental, to show that
the sailors of Archangel, in the middle of the last
century, were, some of them at all events, a very high
class of men indeed.
Feodor's death had a very depressing effect on
them. They now began each one to brood on the two

SPITZBERGEN. 157
questions : Who would be next ? and on the still more
terrible one. Which of them would be left last .? To
which one would fall the lot of staggering out into
the darkness and the whirling snow to lay his last com
rade beside those who had gone before.'' Which of
them would have to return some night to the empty
hut and the desolate hearth, only to sit down and
brood and sicken, until death came to him all alone
under the blackened rafters, beside the expiring fire .''
But while they brooded, help was coming to them
from that East to which they had always turned in
their prayers.
One Vemisobre, "director of the offices of pitch
merchants," was about to send a ship to Nova
Zembla, but for some reason persuaded his captain to
go to Spitzbergen. He had great objections, to which
objections Le Roy gives no clue, but ultimately was
persuaded to do as his masters wished. He not only
was so obliging as to do this, but made the island
exactly at the point where our friends were. When
they signalled him, and were taken on board, it was
found that they, -with their axe and knife, had done
something more than live. They carried on board with
them two thousand pounds' weight of reindeer fat, a
large number of deer and fox skins,* ten bear skins,
and agreed to pay eighty roubles for their passage.
* They must have been white and blue fox-skins, worth, I believe, at
present prices, some ten shillings. The invaluable black fox is not found
in Spitzbergen ; their skins are worth fifty guineas apiece. There used to
be a story in St. Petersburg of the late Emperor Nicholas. He, so the
story goes, took a common droschky in that city once, and ordered the
man to drive to the back-door of the palace. When he got there, he
had no money, and told the driver that he would send some one out to

158 ' SPITZBERGEN.
And so they came back to Archangel, after all :
"We drifted o'er the harbour bar,
While I with sobs did pray,
Oh let me be awake, my God,
Or let me sleep alway."
Mistress Himloff, the boatswain's wife-widow, whom
we have mentioned two or three times before, was
standing on the bridge at Archangel, along with other
sailor women and fishwives — let us suppose with her
two hands under her apron, or else with her arms
akimbo, scratching her elbows (sailors' ladies generally
do stand like that when a ship is being warped in) — on
the bridge at Archangel, watching a whaler coming
up to the wharf, when she saw her husband, our old
friend Alexis, who had pined for her and his little
ones these six years, standing on the deck. In the
madness of her unutterable joy she forgot everything.
" The man she loved was on the deck." She forgot
where she was, and the terrible drop between the
bridge and the ship, and, before the other sailors'
women could stop her, had leaped headlong over to
get into his arms. By God's mercy she missed the
pay him. The driver, who had not recognised the Emperor, rephed,
that many people went into that place who forgot to pay him, and
insisted on a pledge for good faith. The Emperor good-humouredly
threw his schubc across the droschky, and went in. His back was scarcely
.turned when the driver pulled the coat open to see with what fur it was
lined, and so judge of the quality of his fare, and his chance of his
copecks or roubles, or whatever his due might have been. He saw at
a glance that it was lined with black fox, and gave himself up for lost.
He made a wild dash at the gate, and was in time to throw himself .it
the great man's feet. The Emperor declared himself, praised him for an
honest man, and gave him a handsome donation. The story was told
me by a man who had been a tenant of the Emperor Nicholas at
Alexandroski for eleven years. He believed it.

SPITZBERGEN. 159
ship, fell into the water, and was rescued. It seems to
me a pretty incident and worth relating ; leading also
up to this conclusion, that there were, judging from
internal evidence, in Archangel, about the year 1749,
certain people whom one would uncommonly liked to
have known.
These sailors were dependants (serfs, I suppose, in
some degree) of Schuvaloff, to whom the Empress
had given a charter for whaling. Le Roy, a member
of the Petersburg Academy, wrote the account of
their adventures in German. He got Count Schu
valoff to send them over to him from Archangel, and
he closely examined the implements . which they so
ingeniously made to carry on their fight against the
Arctic winter. When he saw them, soon after their
return, we may, from M. Klingstross' account, place
their ages thus : — Alexis Himloff, fifty years; Stephen
Sharapoff, forty-two ; and Ivan Himkoff (Himloff 1),
thirty-five. They had only lost their reckoning, in these six
years of Arctic winter, with four months' night, by two
days. Alexis Himloff was very indignant at the
accusation, "What sort of a pilot should I be to
make such a mistake ? " he asked. But he un
doubtedly had. Until the matter was referred to the
Wessen Schaften, or club of the wise men of Gotham,
he was inexorable. But at last it struck one of the
wise men that they had been at Spitzbergen six years,
or two leap years, and that Alexis had forgotten them
both. At which explanation Alexis had nothing to
do but to scratch his head, and leave the room in
silence.

i6o SPITZBERGEN.
One more circumstance seems worth mentioning,
as exhibiting their wonderful diligence and ingenuity.
They had made a box to hold their needle, and made
it with such sailor-like perfection, that when Le Roy
showed it to a number of savantss they all insisted
that it was spurious, and had been turned. One
Homann, a great turner, accidentally came in, and Le
Roy reversed the question between them ; he main
taining that the box had been turned. Homann's
sense of truth was stronger than his sense of polite
ness to his host, Le Roy. He said, " Sir, this box has
never been turned : it is a piece of bone scraped round
with a knife."
Let us conclude with a piece of Russian self-
glorification on this affair ; which, however justifiable
will, I think, make us laugh — at least, all except the
last sentence.
" The English have a fabulous history of Robinson
Crusoe " (they knew that wondrous book even theh
and there, and took it au grand s/rieux). " This his
tory '' (the Russian) " is certainly true " (doubts about
the veracity of Robinson). " The first is represented
in a warm climate ; but our sailors were in TJ" of
latitude. The Englishman was enabled to make a
kind of punch with the raisins which grew on the
island " (is not this a new fact about our dear friend i') ;
" but our hardy and sturdy Russians were under the
necessity of contenting themselves with water. Robin
son lost almost all knowledge of Christianity ; but our
adventurers, at all times as I am assured, preserved;
their faith, and unceasingly placed their confidence in
God."

D'ERMENONVILLE'S ACCLIMATIZATION
ADVENTURE.

The French are not great travellers ; it is possible
that they, like the rest of the world, find their own
country too pleasant to leave. Yet, when you get
a highly educated French traveller with a distinct
object before him, he equals the best of the nations in
zeal and in enthusiasm ; in reckless audacity, in rapidity
of motion, in untiring good-humour, he surpasses
them : in his power of imitating foreign customs he
is nearly equal to the Irishman, though they both,
like some Jews, overdo the business. The power of
becoming foreign, and really understanding and feel
ing with foreign nations, seems to be limited to
Scots, Jews, and one class of Americans. The
Irish have not this faculty, at least in the first gene
ration. They act too much : look, for example, at
the ridiculous caricature which the whitewashed Irish
make of the real Americans.
I think that I am justified in saying that his intel
ligence, good-humour, dlan, and splendid courage,
make him as good a traveller as any other, when he
is once started. Unless he is a very highly cultivated
man indeed, he is very apt, more apt perhaps than
any one except the Irishman, to deduce results from
M

i62 D'ERMENONVILLE'S
an insufficient number of facts ; M. Assolant, for one
instance, among many. Moreover, he is very apt to
be taken ill on the road-side with an id^e ; but if you
will only let him — well — bring it up, let us say — ^he will
go on as fresh as a lark the next minute. He soon
gets better again ; and besides, there are some nearer
home than France who habitually say the first thing
which comes into their heads, and call it thought.
D'Ermenonville has his ideas and his sentimenta
lities — is even obliged to take the world into his con
fidence in a scene in which he resisted temptation and
enacted the character of Joseph ; is obliged by his
muse to tell you that when Justice and Peace, tired of
living among mortals, ascended, on the authority of
Fame, to heaven, that Fame as usual lied ; that
Justice took refuge at the village of Dommguello, at
the junction of the Rio Grande and Vueltas in Mexico,
because the alguazil of that village had prevented his
being cheated out of three dollars. There is but little
of this nonsense, however, and his adventure is worthy
to rank with the best in this book. If there were
such a thing as a Cobden medal for those who have
faced personal difficulty and danger for commercial
objects, he should have one. I do not compare his
expedition to that of Clement Markham's, because
Markham's expedition, in its objects, was immeasur
ably higher ; nay, when the books are all summed
up, it is perfectly possible that Markham, by his
acclimatization of quinine, may be found to have
done as much towards the alleviation of human
misery as any president or emperor of the lot
I only allude to his expedition beside that of

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE. 163
D'Ermenonville, because they were both botanical,
and attended with great difficulties. Markham went
for a drug, D'Ermenonville for a dye. " There
is a river in Macedon, and a river in Monmouth,
and there are salmon in both."
M. D'Ermenonville, who was botanist to King Louis
XVI., in 1777, made the determination to attempt the
introduction of cochineal from the Spanish colony
of Mexico to the French one of St Domingo ; an
enterprise fraught with enormous difficulty, and with
no little danger, but of very great commercial impor
tance. When I mention that the duty was paid in
England on no less a quantity than 489,988 pounds in
the year 1839, the reader will perceive that it was as
important for the Spaniards jealously to guard their
monopoly of it, as it was for the French to try and de
stroy that monopoly by introducing it into the French
colonies. Since the year 1839 I regret that I have no
statistics, but that is sufficient for our purpose. The
retail price of cochineal is about 24J-. per lb. which
would give the value of the quantity imported as
(very roughly) 586,000/.
In my translation of D'Ermenonville, he speaks of an
appendix, in which he gives an account of these be
loved cochineal insects of his, which must be deeply
interesting. I have not got it, however, and am forced
to more recent sources ; for it seems to me that some
little account of the insect will render the following
story not only more intelligible, but more interesting.
The Spaniards first discovered it in their invasion
of Mexico under Cortez, at which time they found the
natives using it for staining ornaments and patterns
M 2

i64 D'ERMENONVILLE'S
on their houses. Such assertions about it as that it
was the dye of Hiram, King of Tyre, or of the
Imperial purple (and such are made), are of course
only made by good people who never heard of the
Murex. It is, however, a most important article still,
and the habituis of water-colour exhibitions would miss
it were anything to happen to the crop. An absent
friend of mine once told me that there would be no
more Madeira, for that the vines had got the potato
disease ; he might also say that if the cochineal
insect were to get the rinderpest, there would be no
more lake or carmine, and what would become of
 and  1 But we must not be personal.
In addition to its use in these very important pig
ments, it has many others of which one can read in
Ure and in Pereira. The dregs of it after the paints
have been made, are used by the paper-stainers.
Medical qualities have been attributed to it which
are treated, however, with utter scorn by the best in
formed of the faculty, with Pereira at their head.
The thing is a dye, and nothing but a dye. It is
used for colouring pickled cabbage and apple jelly ;
mixed with levigated French chalk, it makes rouge.
Theatrical readers may be glad to know that they get
theirs very cheap and very much adulterated, the
price being los. an ounce, while the real article would
be between 3/. and 4/. the ounce. Gentlewomen of
the haute noblesse might like to know that "Lady
Dungannon's mixture is composed of carmine, with
a little ammonia and water." This scandalous,
Pereira ! * * Pereira's Materia Medica, p. 2217.

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE. 1 65
The insect which makes this wonderful dye is the
apterous female of a very beautiful fly. She fastens
on the leaves of a large arborescent cactus, the nopal,
or, scientifically, the Opuntia cochinelifera, where
she is visited ; she dies before the young ones are
born, her empty body serving for a cocoon. The best
cochineal of the shops is composed of the dried body
of the young females, just fecundated, which are
carefully brushed off with a squirrel's tail, killed in
warm water, and dried. I have one in my hand now,
like a small grey sweet-pea of irregular shape. I put
it on the white mantel-piece with a little water, crush
it with a glass rod, and forth comes a stain like the
blood of a murdered Montezuma or Maximilian. Such
is this wonderful Mexican insect.
The principal, nay, the only place where the best
sort was produced, was at Oaxaca, a district and
city lying about 200 miles S.W. from Vera Cruz.
D'Ermenonville's voyage to the last-named place, vi&
Port au Prince and the Havana, has but little to do
with us ; we will begin with him at Vera Cruz.
He was to have had 6,000 francs, but Necker, the
new broom, " financed " him out of 3,000, on the very
probable grounds that there really was not the money
in hand. With this and his books he landed at Vera
Cruz in the character of a French physician and
botanist He soon became very popular and famous. In one
of his very earliest walks out of the town he saw
growing the Convolvulus jalapa;* he dug up some
of the roots, and taking it to the druggist's in the town,
* Ipomaa jalapa it is called now.

i66 D'ERMENONVILLE'S
got it verified for true jalap, and then showed the
astonished governor enough of it to freight a ship
growing under his own nose. In their idleness and
ignorance they believed that it was only to be got at
Jalapa, six-and-thirty miles away, and were actually
giving three reals, or eighteenpence a pound for what
was all around them like a weed. He now heard that
vanilla was also grown by the Indians at Oaxaca,
and determined to smuggle some of that also.
His scheme now was to get a passport either for
Mexico or for Orizava, and use it for Oaxaca. M.
Fersen, his friend (son, I think, of Count Fersen of
the Varrennes business), actually got him one ; but
the Governor,* whose suspicions were thoroughly
aroused as to D'Ermenonville's object with regard to
cochineal, sent his secretary the next day and took it
away from him. His walks were now confined within
the district of Vera Cruz : this thunderbolt was hurled
at his head by the Viceroy of Mexico, and was followed
by another ordering him to leave the country.
We will spare the reader his frantic appeals to
himself, to his father, to destiny, his friends, to the
king, to everything short of the Nine Muses, as soon
as he found himself alone. He was a Frendhman in
a state of distraction, generally an absurd object to
an Englishman. Wait a little before you laugh ; there
are various ways of doing things ; we are quite as
absurd to the French in their caricatures as the
French are to us in ours.
* This gentleman's title was, " El Excelentissimo Senor, y Beato
Fraile, Don Antonio Bukarelly y Ursua, Jemente General de los
Reinos de Nueba Espatia,"

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE. 1 67
He passed the morning in tormenting reflections,
swallowing three quarts of lemonade, but without the
least appetite for food ; and having thus " blown off
his steam," he began to reflect.
1st He was still at Vera Cruz.
2d. There was no ship to sail for three weeks, so
they could not turn him out before then.
3d. His father and his friends had made him
advances for this adventure (to supplement Necker's
deficit, I suppose), and he wanted to pay them back.
4th. He was not going to be made ridiculous by a
failure before Frenchmen by any Spaniards under
the sun.
5th. He meant to do it.
How .'
Why, just to step out of the town some dark night
without any luggage, and walk to Oaxaca, three
hundred miles by road, with a liability to be stopped
and impugned at every mile, and a perfect certainty
of being fetched back in irons at either of the four
cities on his route. He began to put his difficulties
together. He had no passport.
He was not dressed as a Spaniard.
His colloquial Spanish was miserable.
He was so utterly ignorant of the road that he did
not even know by which gate he had to leave the
town. He would have to go with merely the clothes he
stood in, without even change of linen ; and the
distance was three hundred miles.
He had his money, and would pay his way. He

i6S D'ERMENONVILLE'S
would avoid the highroads, and sleep with the Indians
as much as possible ; he would be dressed neatly, and
wear all his trinkets, and look thoroughly respectable ;
finally, to account for his bad Spanish, he would be a
doctor from Catalan, in some -parts of which more
French is spoken than Spanish — a shaky " platform,"
but the best under the circumstances.
He fixed upon a Friday night for his plucky but
almost ridiculous venture, "after setting aside about.
300 gourds in quadruples." What does this mean .' I
believe that a " gourd " was the slang word for a
small Mexican coin, say the sixth of a real, or a
penny ; but why set them aside in quadruples .' I
cannot help thinking that it means mesmer-caliogstro
hanky-panky, the more so as our friend was not
satisfied with Christianity, but was decidedly ency
clopaedist. If so, the spirits had rapped wrong;
for after stepping out over the low walls of Vera
Cruz, and blundering about all night among the
sand-dunes surrounding that city, he was glad to
knock up an Indian, and, climbing the walls again,
go home.
The next night at three o'clock he made a fresh
and permanent start and guiding himself by the con
stellation Virgo, held steadily westward, parallel with
the road, but a little distance from it, so as to avoid
being seen ; and having made some cautious inquiries
of a muleteer, found himself in the afternoon nine
leagues on his road, crossing a wide plain, with the
glorious white peak of Orizava, behind which lay the
object of his hopes, straight in his path, thrusting up
its sharp straight peak into the summer air, snow-

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE 1 69
white, awful, with a little cloud of smoke crowning the
topmost crater.
The plain was long and wild, not a house or habita
tion to be seen, and the sun burning him into a fierce
thirst, yet there was no water. He managed to get
along by picking and eating the common prickly pear,
which grew wild ; but peeling them in a hurry, he got
those agonizing little spines into his tongue, and was
.rather worse off than before. Few pains are more
exasperating than this. Stay-at-home travellers may
produce a slight imitation of it by eating the seeds of
the wild rose without taking out the stones.
At length, when nearly spent, he came upon a
shepherd's hut, and cast himself upon their hos
pitality, which was promptly accorded. After having
drunk a quart of water, two quarts of milk, and,
regardless of colic, topping up with two quarts of
lemonade, he ate some roast turkey, paid four reals
{2s.), and felt a man again. This host asked him
whether he was not a European Spaniard, for that
he took such long strides in his walk, as the Creoles
are not used to do. Ermenonville, to account for his
bad Spanish, said that he came from Catalonia.
Slipping away in the darkness of the morning
without awakening his host, he came to the river
Jamupa, about 260 yards broad ; he was just
stripping to swim, when he caught sight of a canoe
with no one near it, and getting m, ferried himself
over triumphantly. When he got to the other side,
he saw a negro, of whom he facetiously demanded
a real for doing his work. He gave the poor negro
his fare, however, and went on his way.

I70 D'ERMENONVILLE'S
He found afterwards that he had escaped a great
danger. The real passage was lower down, where
there was a picquet of soldiers ; without passport,
with nothing but his walking-stick, he would certainly
have been arrested, sent back, and ruined. He had
fortunately taken the wrong road.
For the next six leagues he did not see a single
human being, only many wild turkeys and rabbits;
but at the end of this distance he came to a rancho,
where there was no one but a very old negress,
who was impudent to him, and would give him
nothing but bad beans ; so, leaving this aged witch,
he passed on over torrent-bed after torrent-bed,
holding no water, but delighting him with their
botanical treasures. Yuccas sixty feet high were
on them, and a gigantic arum of great beauty. This
night he reached the rancho of Calabuca.
He passed that night with a suspicious host
drenched to the skin by a shower which came sweep
ing from the hill like a water-spout; but the
morrow was bright, Orizava loomed higher and
higher across his path, and he went hopefully on
across the desolate, torrent-furrowed plain, and came
to the end of it. The first range of mountains, covered
by hanging woods, was before him, and in front of
it rushed a very swift torrent. Crossing this and
another river by bridges, he met with but very
few adventures until he arrived at San Lorenzo;
and having refreshed himself, started on^ at once
for Cordova, having succeeded in hiring a horse, and
having passed a guard-house unobserved in the rain.
After one night more upon the road, he reached

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE.

the city of Cordova. It was a noble city, principally
of stone, with large places in it some as big as the
Place Vend6me, surrounded by Moorish arcades, and
with magnificent fountains. Here he was not noticed
at all, and spending one night pushed on to Orizava,
a similar city to Cordova, which he was also allowed
to enter unmolested.
Orizava must be one of the most beautiful places
in the whole world. It is a handsome town of some
5,000 inhabitants, of exquisite temperature, and
- deluged everywhere with crystal springs and foun
tains. The vegetation is so luxuriant that it bursts
up everywhere in the streets ; the scenery also is
amazingly fine, the town being Surrounded by a
palisade of jagged, wooded mountains. But there
is one thing at Orizava which overpowers and crushes
everything else in the place : there is a perpetual
presence and awful thing there which keeps in a
stranger's thoughts before anything, — its mountain ;
15,000 feet above the house-tops towers the great
crystal peak of Orizava, a nearly perfect cone. One
thing struck and intensely delighted D'Ermenonville ;
while the town was still buried in darkness and sleep,
aloft the topmost peak of the mountain was blazing
in saffron-coloured morning before the coming sun.
After deep thought our worthy doctor pursued
the following course of action : going to a convent
of Carmelites, he obtained audience of the sub-prior,
and told him confidentially his tale. He was a
physician and a botanist, who had been travelling
now for three years, and one day, during a storm,
had made a vow to go on foot to the shrine of

172 DERMENONVILLE'S
Nostra Senora de la Solidad at Oaxaca. Now he
would be deeply indebted to the good father if he
would advise him whether or no he could not, by
charitable deeds, get a dispensation from foot tra
velling for the rest of the journey.
All this was by way of bringing on a discussion
about the distance and the route. After a learned
discussion, the good monk gave- it as his opinion
that the doctor might certainly acquit himself to
our Lady by alms, whereupon the doctor pulled
out 7/. los. and offered it to him. He would have
none of it, however, saying that it was three times
too much, and so extinguished all the doctor's
hopes of bribing him. The sub-prior introduced
him to some of the other monks, and they showed
him their garden, the doctor greatly delighting them
by pointing out the names and uses of their plants.
They were about parting, the doctor having gained
nothing, when, as a last resource, he asked if there
were not a convent of Carmelites at Oaxaca, and
expressed a wish to visit it. The sub-prior's tongue
was loosened at once, and he unsuspectingly gave
the enraptured doctor a full and careful account of
the route to the place of his hopes.
He left the door of the convent and walked away
instantly towards the mountain. Crossing the river
which bathes the town, he was stopped by the Custom
house officers at the tite dupont, and asked where he
was going. Seeing only a well-dressed gentlemanly
man, with a walking-stick, they were perfectly
unsuspicious; and finding he was a doctor, got
him to doctor their chief, after which he walked

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE. 1 7 3
away, and soon left the beautiful town of Orizava
behind him.
According to his description, the Mexican Indian
of the Spanish times must have been one of the
most simple and affectionate beings in the world.
He stayed the next night in one of their huts, and
they treated him with great kindness ; but what
struck him as most noteworthy, was the extraor
dinary amount of domestic affection which they
exhibited towards one another. The host was a
half-starved Indian, who came home dog-tired with
work, yet the affectionate welcome which he received,
and his gentle demeanour towards his wife and
children, seem to have impressed the kind-hearted
Frenchman profoundly.
By two o'clock in the morning, in an intensely cold
mist, he was passing along the scarped and terraced
road which leads over the shoulder of Orizava into
Tecuacan. Although the mountain was so near, it
was quite hidden, and at last topping the shoulder
he found himself among oaks, and in a new country,
the temperate country of Mexico ; — geraniums,
heliotropes, mistletoes, fuchsias, tradas cantias {? Tra-
descantia errata), all blooming around him, while
the road was covered with beautiful turf; and at
seven o'clock in the morning he arrived in safety
at a village called Clapulco, famous for the manu
facture of a drink (Pulque) from the Agave Ameri
cana. They cut off the crown of the aloe, and having
scooped out a hollow in the lower part of the
stump, put it on again ; into this the sap from the
crown drops. When the plant is exhausted, it dies ;

174 D'ERMENONVILLE'S
fresh plantations are kept always in bearing by
propagation. Crossing now the splendid plain of Tecuacan, with
six cities, and innumerable villages and farms, bear
ing every kind of grain known in Europe, and
irrigated like Lombardy, D'Ermenonville came to the
city of Tecuacan, but did not go in. Having stripped
to cross the river and avoid the town, he no sooner
got into the water than an innumerable number of
small turtles, which he had not observed, jumped
in also, frightening him terribly. He touched at
one of the suburbs and bought some bread, and
struck out once more for St. Francisco, and meeting
with no noticeable adventure slept there, and by six
o'clock in the morning was at St. Antonio, where
he expected to get horses.
Here he was very much impressed by the high
altar in the cathedral. The two larger candlesticks
on each side of it are real growing plantains, thirty
feet high ; he describes the effect as superb.
Here he got a mule, and riding pleasantly along,
passing many bignonias, passion flowers, and Cerie
(a large cactacean, in English torch-thistle), thirty
to forty feet high and fifty feet in diameter, the fall
of one of whose gigantic leaves would be fatal, he
came to St. Sebastian, where, getting horses, he
pursued the valley of the Tecuacan to Los Ceres.
He was now comfortably mounted, and began to
get over the ground ; reaching Aquiotepec by the
valley of the Rio Grande de Tecuacan, which had
now narrowed itself into a gorge.
At length even the gorge came to an end, and

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE. 175
he had to ascend the barrier by a path two feet
broad, and extremely insecure, with the roar of the
Rio Grande in his ears. He could not bear to sit
on his horse, but getting giddy, and finding himself
trembling in every limb, he dismounted and led it.
The precipice below them he calculates at 1,800
feet, and in some places the zigzag was so sharp
that the horse could barely turn himself; at some
of the most slippery and awful places there was
nothing but the branch of a tree to save them from
destruction. It was, however, the highway of the
country, and the only route to Oaxaca. After five
hours of terror and danger he reached the summit.
With the still tortuous Rio Grande on his right,
stupendous mountains all around, and a peak only
eighteen miles from Oaxaca straight before him, he
continued his route.
He now got to Truccallan, an old and beautiful
town, planted thickly with fine trees, and bubbling
with cool fountains and rills brought from the moun
tains, in which the population bathed continually. The
church was a fine one ; and in the evening at the
inn he made the acquaintance of a very jolly friar,
who agreed to go on with him next day if he
would only wait till he had said mass.
It was a source of consolation to the good monk
that he waited to perform his devotions, for the
passage of the Rio Grande next day was a very
uncomfortable business. It was 400 yards in breadth,
and breast deep. A naked Indian led their horses,
while they lay on their backs, the poor brutes
trembling and feeling their way, and the doctor

176 D'ERMENONVILLE- S
giddy with the swift rushing current. They now
left the Rio Grande of Tecuacan, and entered the
deep gorge or canon through which comes the tri
butary river, the Las Vueltas. In some places it is
lOO yards broad, in others not a dozen ; and before
they were through it at Asletlanca, they had crossed
the river seventy times. There was, however,
another route over the mountains, for they had
seen a Government courier, who told them that he
was going over the mountain, and should be in
Oaxaca early the next morning ; passing still along
the Las Vueltas (" the river of turns "), he came, on
one of the most memorable days in his life, to
Galiatitlan, where to his boundless delight he saw
the cochineal feeding upon the nopal which sup
ported it.
Topping now the last mountain, that of La Costa,
by an ascent almost as bad as that of Aquiotepec,
he looked upon his promised land, the great plain
of Oaxaca. It begun at his feet and stretched away
in boundless beauty towards Guatemala. Fifty
villages were in sight, built with dazzling white
stone, and roofed with red tiles as in Lorraine;
the extent of the plain he puts at about 120 miles.
But what took his attention almost beyond any
thing else was a glorious lily, the lily of St Jago,
the Amaryllis formossimus, which covered the hill
with splendid blood-red blossoms. Neglecting his
more useful botany in a devout contemplation of
this superb flower, he descended on the end of his
journey, St Juan del R^.
The first sight almost that his eyes rested on was

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE. 177
a plantation of nopals, and his good luck was in the
ascendant The negroes in these Spanish times,
although allowed to fill municipal offices, were
treated socially with the greatest contempt. Now
this plantation belonged to the Alcalde of the
town, who was what Strewel Peter would call a
Kohlpeck Rabenschwartzemohr — an intensely black
man, with an intensely black wife ; to them enter an
elegant French gentleman, bowing and kootooing,
hat in hand, apologizing and flattering, and you
may conceive the result. The unsuspecting and
delighted negro laid his whole secret bare before
the Frenchman, and in the openness of his heart
took him into his garden and explained everything
. to him.
Starting from here after his dinner, on a wretchedly
bad horse, with a terror of certain banditti before
him, he came, in the mysterious twilight, on a reli
gious procession ; passing into Attetla with them,
he made his way to the rectory there, and kissing
the sleeve of the rector, got directed to the Casas
Reale, or post-house. What Attetla is like since the
Revolution I have no idea, but the main square of
it dominated by an enormous Dominican convent,
must have been extremely fine and curious. The
buildings, he tells us, were a mixture of Roman
and Arabesque.
Starting on once more in the morning, his mare,
heavy in foal, gave out, and he discharged her and
his "topith" (post-boy), once more proceeding on
foot The country road through hedge-twined con-
volvuli was charming beyond measure; and as he
N

173 D'ERMENONVILLE'S
approached Oaxaca the plantations of nopal got
more thick and frequent. At length, with the air of
a man who had been out for a walk, he sauntered into
the city, and up to an inn close to the convent of
Nostra Senora del Solidad ; his journey half over,
but nothing whatever done.
This splendid city, of about 6,ooo inhabitants, is
3,200 yards long, and 2,000 broad. The beauty of
the buildings, of the domes, pinnacles, and arcades,
was veiy great ; the streets wide and well paved ;
the suburbs planted with nopal and many kinds of
productive shrubs. The slope below the town is bathed
by a beautiful river, and the town is deluged with
fine water by aqueducts. The temperature was 68°
above freezing (Fahrenheit) in the morning, and 81°
at noon, giving it the climate of perpetual spring:
" an actual paradise," he says, "were it possessed by
any other race."
The morals of Oaxaca were not to our good
Frenchman's taste, the more particularly that his
whole soul was taken up with the importance of his
enterprise. He could scarcely believe in his good
fortune on being allowed to go unmolested so far,
and determined to profit by the occasion. He needed
repairs to his watch, and going to the watchmaker's,
after a slender flirtation with his wife, made acquaint
ance with him, and through him got directed to a
trunkmaker's. Here he bought eight trunks, two feet long and
fourteen inches wide, for four shillings a-piece ; they
were well and strongly made, and he says that he
could not have got better in Paris. He took the

A CCLIMA TIZA TION A D VENTURE. 1 79
keys of them, and walked out into the city as though
in a dream.
Wandering into the suburbs, he came to a very
beautiful market-garden, in which were rows of
nopals running east and west, four feet high, and
other beautiful productions. He stepped in and
asked to buy flowers. While his flowers were getting
ready, he feasted his eyes on the "grana," the
cochineal ; looking at one plant, he considers that you
could not have broken off a leaf without crushing
hundreds of insects.
Leaving the garden he went to visit an apothecary,
a Don Antonio Piba, who had a garden. While he
was here, he was annoyed by a great Spanish lady
sweeping into the garden, in a black mantle with gold
fringe, and looking at him. She had come to set
eyes on a Frenchman out of curiosity. However
much D'Ermenonville might have been annoyed, we
thank him for telling us this trivial incident. For a
veiled Spanish lady, in a black mantilla with gold
fringe, standing still in a bright, hot sunny garden,
among a dazzle of flowers, makes a picture worthy of
the brush of Mr. Walker.
He found an inn kept by a Frenchman, and
enjoyed himself much, going to bed early, for on the
morrow he had determined on the great venture.
Before daylight he was up, and taking two Indian
servants of the inn, he went quickly to the market-
garden where the day before he had bought the
flowers. The negro proprietor, whom he had not seen
the day before, was barely awake, and D'Ermenonville
represented himself as a physician wishing to buy
N 2

i8o D'ERMENONVILLE'S
some nopal leaves with the cochineal on them as a
plaster for the gout. The case was urgent, he said,
and they would not quarrel about price. The negro
instantly gave him as much as he wanted for two
reals, and D'Ermenonville, throwing him a dollar,
wrapped his treasure gently in towels, and posted
homewards, meeting not a soul in the street He
says that he would have sung with joy, but was
afraid of being overheard. It was not long before he
had packed the cactus leaves in the boxes.
Wonderfully stimulated by his success, and hearing
that vanilla was to be procured close to the town, he
determined to attempt the smuggling of that also,
and so, disguised as a Spaniard, he went at noon
on horseback, with one attendant, and after a ride
of twenty-four miles, succeeded in bringing back a
fagot of stems of the vanilla plant, rolled up in
arum leaves and linen, without having excited the
suspicions of a soul.*
Quietly also, and without consulting his French
host, he got five post-horses to be ready for him early
the next morning, and having broken his sudden
departure to his surprised landlord, he spent half
the night packing the cochineal and vanilla in his
boxes ; and, at daybreak, mounted on one of his
horses, with the others led before him, he was rapidly
pacing on his way to St Juan del Re.
He was there by eleven o'clock, and went at once
* The vanilla which he got must have been the kind known
now among druggists as Vera Cruz vanilla. It is a pod of the
Vanilla satroa. The scent and flavour are well known to the eaters
of chocolate.

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE. 1 8 1

to his friend the negro Alcalde, with a view to buying
some more cochineal. He was away, but his wife was
in, who at the mere sight of a dollar let him have as
much as he would, and he continued his rapid journey.
The mountain of La Costa was passed, and he had
looked "on Oaxaca for the last time, and slept that
night at Galiatitlan. Here he opened his boxes for
air, and took a moonlight ramble in the church, where,
after digging up some Amaryllises from the grave of
a dead Spaniard, he says that he felt forcibly re
minded of that beautiful passage in Young's " Night
Thoughts : "
" Let us, while through the vale we speed.
Cull every floweret by the way."
Which is interesting in two ways : first, as showing
that this book was read in France in those days ; and
secondly, as showing that the habit of quoting
twaddle because it is written in a foreign language is
not confined to the English nation.
Here he secured some more nopal, and singularly
enough this supplementary quantity was the only
part which he preserved during the exasperating
delays which followed. From the Indian gardener
here also he gained information about the culture of
the cochineal, almost as valuable as the cochineal
itself All went well ; the good-humoured Frenchman
won his way rapidly back, and indeed met with the
kindest of treatment from the Indians. The three
races, Spaniards, negroes, and Indians, seem (when
free) to have been on an absolute political equality ;
indeed the Alcaldes of the villages seem more often

1 82 D'ERMENONVILLE'S
to have been Indian or negro than Spaniard. They
were most just in their decisions, and he got on ad
mirably with them ; but at Tecuacan he came across
his first Custom-house. He had been able to pass
round it on his inward journey, but now, loaded with
baggage, he was forced to pass through.
The town seemed nearly deserted, and he was
nearly through it, when he was brought up by a
mounted Custom-house officer, who ordered him to
come back to the Custom-house. His heart was in
his mouth, but he put a bold face on it and swaggered
in ; he was most courteously received, and on his
saying that he was merely a French botanist, was
politely told that he could proceed. One of the
officers seeming still suspicious, however, he opened
his boxes and showed them the vanilla. They did
not know what it was ! But on his opening the box
with the cochineal they at once exclaimed, "Acqui
sta grana " (There is cochineal). They were quite
satisfied at being told that it was wanted as an
unguent for the gout, and laughed heartily at seeing
a collection of the plants and seeds of the commonest
weeds in the country.
Going to the Alcalde for horses he saw a mirror,
and was horrified at his personal appearance, wonder
ing greatly at the politeness shown by the courteous,
high-bred, Spanish gentlemen to such a tatterde
malion as himself Matters were still prosperous, and
at Clapulco he was delighted and refreshed with the
cool snows of Orizava, and without mishap arrived at
the gate of that fine city.
The guard-house was shut up, and in the darkness

A CCLIMA TIZA TION A D VENTURE. 1 83
he hoped to slip by. Suddenly, however, his bridle
was seized, and he began his usual peroration,
" Gentlemen, I am a travelling French physician,
collecting  " He was interrupted by a cry, " Ah !
great heaven, Sefior, where have you been so long .'
you are he who snatched from death the superinten
dent of the other guard-house ; for the love of God
come and see my wife." So saying, the unhappy
young man clasped him in his arms and persuaded
him. The Frenchman went of course, but he had to
tell the husband that his wife's days were numbered.
They did not talk of searching his boxes now ;
he went away to walk about the city of the great
mountain. At Cordova was his next danger ; but the lazy
Spaniards examined his boxes so very lightly that,
little dreaming what they were doing, they let the
smuggler pass. This took place no less than three
times between here and La Punta, one fellow recog
nising the grana, and calling our friend fool for going
so far to get what he could get abundance of at
Vera Cruz. D'Ermenonville left this pretentious
gentleman quite in the dark.
No other interruption, except countless squabbles
about horses, took place until he came sneaking up to
the walls of Vera Cruz, like a truant schoolboy
whose father has beheved him at school. What if
the Governor should discover that he had been beyond
the limits of his jurisdiction .? And the Custom-house
also .' And suppose the two ships for which he was
hastening should have sailed .'
It was before daybreak that he found himself before

1 84 D'ERMENONVILLE'S
the Orizava gate, and thinking that his appearance
would attract attention, scaled the walls in a quiet
place, and running home changed his clothes, coming
up to the inside of the gate when he had done so.
What was his horror to find his horses and his
treasure gone ! They had only, however, been sent
round to the Mexico gate for examination, and by
running he got to them before the officers had got
hold of them. The guards wished to send them to
the main Custom-house, and he rallied them. " Did
they not remember the French physician .' " he asked ;
" and were they not men enough to examine his
trunks themselves ?" The sleepy soldiers did so, and
after a few objections bade him depart in God's name,
which he was not slow in doing. Scarcely a soul was
about in the streets, and he was soon, after his three
weeks' anxiety, safely locked up in his bedroom,
planting his nopals.
He soon sallied out to find out how the land lay.
He was perfectly unsuspected ; every one believed
that he had been at the baths of Madilina. Don
Antonio Uloa, the most inquisitive of his friends, was
at Mexico. M. de Fersen, his fellow-countryman,
was sly about his not having been all this time at
Madilina, and D'Ermenonville confessed to him that
he had been a little trip as far as Orizava, at which
M. de Fersen professed profound astonishment
thinking he could not have got so far in the time.
He also informed him that the ship of M. de Haris-
son, in which he meant to sail, did not go for another
month. He was so far safe.
How were the nopals to be preserved on board

A CCLIMA TIZA TION AD VENTURE. 185
ship, and got through the Custom-house, as he
expresses it, " in the sight of all Israel .? " Two
terrible problems.
While going about the streets and seeing after the
necessary boxes, he heard to his great delight that a
ship was to sail that very week for Cape St Frangois,
the captain of which he had known, but unluckily
had cut and quarrelled on this account : Captain
D  had the habit of coming into his room and
talking in such a free and easy way about politics
and religion, as made D'Ermenonville laugh at first,
but after his persistence in it made him suspect the
captain of being a political spy. The botanist of the
eldest son of the Church here got into buckram
directly, and drily and officially informed him " that
it by no means suited his station to meddle with
affairs which naturally belonged to the civil and
ecclesiastical powers, to whose imperative decisions
and superior intelligence it were better that he should
submit" That was all very well and very discreet at the
time, but it was rather unfortunate now.
But it all came to a good end. His friend had
forgotten and forgiven, and the cochineal was
triumphantly carried away to the French islands, and
acclimatized.

THE OLD SLAVE TRADE.
I HAVE heard it stoutly maintained that the horrors
of the Middle Passage were increased very much by
the efforts of our cruisers to put down the Slave-trade.
Of this I do not believe one word, and for these
reasons. We made the negro more valuable, and
therefore it was worth while to treat him better ; and
he could not have been treated much worse and live.
Besides, it is an abomination so iniquitous that it can
only vary slightly in degree,
I once got a great deal of information on the in
terior economy of a slaver from a man in my employ
ment. The details, however, were so inconceivably
detestable that I am unable to reproduce them. The
man was a rambling young Portuguese sailor, who
had now been to sea so long that all countries and all
peoples were alike to him, and would as soon have
chucked his kit aboard Captain Kydd's ship or Cap
tain Avery's ship, and sailed under the skull and
cross-bones, as he would under the Union Jack or the
stars and stripes. He was captured on board a
slaver and condemned to two years in the road-gang
at Sierra Leone, which he took with a sailor's philo
sophy — as one of the things which occur like gales of

THE OLD SLAVE TRADE. 187
wind or short commons ; but of the life on board the
slaver he talked with no philosophy at all. He spat
when he spoke of it. ¦
Let us see how it was in the year 1693 by a man
who seems to have been a tolerably good fellow, and
who claims for himself an exceptional degree of
humanity. One Capt.-iin Phillips, while doing his business on
the great waters, had the misfortune to come across
three French men-of-war, who seized his ship and
carried him into Brest a prisoner. How long he was
detained he does not say, but after a time he got back
to England, exceedingly out at elbows, and for some
time, like Major Pawkins, rather loafed away his time
than otherwise.
There existed at this time a company called the
African Company, which traded to Guinea for gold,
ivory, and negroes, carrying, of course, the negroes to
America, and fetching the gold and ivory home. A
certain worthy, "John Jeffreys, Esquire," was at this
time sub-governor, and his elder brother. Sir Jeffrey
Jeffreys, was the beloved friend and patron of the
needy, but not for those times unscrupulous Captain
Phillips. Things seemed to suit very well. Here was this
agreeable young Captain Phillips to be provided for
and kept out of mischief. What could Sir Jeffrey do
better than use him in a slaving adventure .' He had
been at it before, and it would almost certainly bring
money. Sir Jeffrey put his hand in his pocket and
bought him the Hannibal, of 450 tons, giving her to
Captain Phillips, and inducing his brother and several

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.

other merchants to go shares in the cargo, and to
allow him to sail for the African Company.
He was now fairly on his legs again. He got
everything in order and sailed away, making one of a
goodly squadron enough. The East India Merchant,
Shurley, 30 guns, was the leading ship — Shurley
having seen a good deal more of this rather dirty
work than any one else. Then came the Hannibal
(our ship), Phillips, 30 guns ; Mediterranean, Daniel
(probably he of the Terra Nova), 24 ; Jeffrey, Simes,
12 ; Fortune, Captain Hereford, 12 ; and lastly the
Eagle packet. Perry.
Off the South Foreland in a fog the India Merchant
got ashore, and as Sir Jeffrey Jeffreys had a large
share in, her also, Phillips dashed to her assistance in
a boat with his best men, carrying an anchor to warp
her off with. He found Captain Shurley in a state
of distraction, his men refusing to obey him, which
leads Phillips into a discussion about the treatment a
captain should give his men, in which he strongly
hints that Captain Shurley had a temper. He,
Phillips, always treated his men well, he says, and
pointedly declines to make any accusation against
Captain Shurley to the contrary. But he gives us
two or three instances of old ship life which are in
teresting, as are all events showing how pirates were
manufactured. One captain used to wear out his
cables by keeping his men passing it through the
hawse-holes and coiling it away, merely to prevent
them having a moment's relaxation, or, as he said, to
plague the dogs. Another man he knew would
throw a chip overboard and make a crew lower a boat

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE. 189
to pick it up ; he would then make sail and keep them
rowing for six or seven hours after him, in pure
"spleen." Things might be mended now, without
keeping our men in cotton wool, but things were
infinitely worse then. My brother's buccaneer
sings : —
" Likewise the merchant captains, with hearts as hard as stone,
Who flog men, and keel-haul them, and starve them to the bone."
The only result worth getting from the first part
of his voyage is this ; he consulted his officers on the
subject of bearing up for Plymouth, after an accident,
showing that the captain of those times did not always
consider himself utterly and entirely an irresponsible
person. He would not listen to a word they had got
to say, but he certainly consulted them.
SaiHng on the 5th of October, by the 21st of
November he came in sight of the Peak of Teneriffe,
computing it to be seventy-five miles distance. All
he saw of it above the horizon was the last peak of
the crater with its broken lip to the left ; about as far
as I can make out one-fifth of the whole peak, or
some 2,400 feet, leaving over 9,000 feet buried beneath
the horizon at seventy-five miles distance. An in
telligent reader may compare the results of the
calculations of this rough sailor with those of the
great Humboldt about the same peak. I think that
he gives the extreme distance from which it is visible
as 180 miles : by allowing a little for refraction, this
would make our captain about right.
Here Captain Phillips went near to making another
unwiUing journey to France. Sailing to the east of

I90 . THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.
Teneriffe, he became aware of two ships under the
land, one of which, the largest, instantly made for
him. He tacked at once to the north, not to fly, but
to get ready. He did what was usual in such cases,
things which must be read with respect by a lands
man, grotesque as the language may appear. An
idle person may laugh at hearing Captain tell us ho-w
he " clapped on our stoppers, our puddings, our plat-
tings under our parrels," but the idle person must
remember that had it not been for such men as
Phillips, calculating chances, he, the idle person,
would never have been born. And also to consider,
that by twelve o'clock this very valiant Welshman
was ready for anything which might happen, and
perfectly ready to give an account of any one who
dared to stop him on his Majesty's highway. He lay
by for the ship which was so earnest to speak with
him. We are obliged to quote Shakespeare :

' ' And though it seemeth somewhat out of fashion,
There is much care and valour in this Welchman.''

It was above twenty-four hours before the mysterious
stranger, in consequence of light airs, could manage
to get within gunshot of our valiant WeLshman, who
all this while, as he says, jogged quietly along under
his fighting sails, rather wondering what the stranger
was, but " ready, aye ready."
She came up quietly with the English ensign flying,
and only one tier of guns visible. What was she ?
for she was now within pistol shot. What is that?
She is hauling down the English ensign.

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.

igi

Down went the red flag suddenly, and in its place
there leaped up a round white ball, which, expanding
in 'the breeze, showed itself to be the broad snowy
banner of France ; a lower tier of guns was run out,
and Captain Phillips found himself suddenly and un
expectedly in the presence of a splendid French frigate.
It was four o'clock in the afternoon when the dance
of death began, and they fought confusedly and
furiously until ten at night. At that time the French
man's fore topmast came by the board, and he hauled
off, being towed by his boats. So the havoc slackened
and the glorious British pendant was left to droop
in victorious peace above the half-ruined ship.
When they had time to draw breath they found
that, they had had a really great and terrible fight,
and that they had won it by the English tactics of
pounding steadily and rapidly into the enemy's hull,
and for the main part leaving his rigging to take care
of itself The Frenchman, on the other hand, had
cut the rigging of our ship to pieces, but had only
killed five men and wounded thirty. Shortly after
his return to England, Phillips was intensely interested
by meeting a skipper who had been captured by this
very French ship which he had beaten off, very shortly
before the engagement, and who was actually on
board the Frenchman during the fight. She was the
Louis, of St. Malo, of 52 guns, and the Hannibal,
of 36 guns, had beaten her off, killing seventy men.
This accounts for Phillips noticing that when they
hauled off "there was such dreadful howling and
screeching on board of him as I never heard."
The night was a terribly anxious one. "Would he

192 THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.
have any more of it or had he got. enough 1" If he
came again he would very likely get the better of
them, and then farewell to all poor Phillips' high-
flown hopes. His brother was wounded, some of his
best men killed, his whole crew dog-tired, and in such
a state of reaction, after six hours of concentrated
fury, that, even with as much punch as they could
drink, they would scarcely knot the rigging. Hom
ing was dearly welcome, and, thank God ! the French
man had got enough, and was standing away to the
northward, three leagues off.
The canary merchants at Orotava had watched the
fight with the deepest interest, and had Phillips put
into that roadstead they meant to have given the
gallant fellow a present ; but he sailed away, glad to
have escaped, the poor ship looking miserable, as full
of chips as a carpenter's yard, four shot-holes under
water, chain pumps going, nothing to eat but bread
and cheese — for poor cookey's coppers were knocked
to pieces, and the armourer was tinkering them up —
a whole suit of sails utterly ruined, surgeon, carpenter,
and sailmaker all as busy as bees.
He now stood for St. Jago, doing such things as
" woolding three large crows to his foremast," and in
the midst of it had another alarm from a large ship.
If all human experience did not point to the direct
contrary, one would have thought that his men had
had enough fighting for the present ; but no ! the men
were more eager for the affray than ever, and the
deck cleared in a shorter time than before. It is
certain that the love of fighting grows on those
who have once tasted it.

THE OLD SLAVE TRADE. 193
A few days' prosperous sailing in the pleasant north
east trades, over the joyous, sparkling sea, under
the bright, gently-moving clouds, brought him to
the snug harbour of Praya, in St. Jago, the most
southerly of the Cape Verds, where he intended to
refit his shattered ship.
They were a little surprised at their reception,
for gun after gun -was fired to make them come in
shore, and at last a shotted one, after which Phillips
thought he would go on shore and save their powder
and shot A few miserable-looking soldiers, armed
with lances and swords, more like skeletons than
men, received him and led him to their commandant,
who seemed to Phillips to be much too gentlemanly
for a Portuguese. Indeed he was not, but an old
" Flanderkin," deluded here by Portuguese promises,
and desirous of getting away again. He told them
that seeing so many shot-holes in their sails, he had
.i>i thought them pirates, who often came here under
,,/!, English colours, which was the reason he had fired
at them. Phillips, like a real sailor, the instant that
he found the old gentleman wanted to " run" offered
to smuggle him away, but the old man said wearily,
that it was no use, he was too much watched. The
deputy-governor, a mere boy, galloping up soon after,
was supercilious to Phillips, who paid him in his own
coin, and treated him with extreme contempt Sailor
as he' was, he had hung about Sir John Jeffrey's
house long enough to know how snobs were treated.
Sunday was spent at the town of St. Jago, some
" seven miles away, with the governor of the island,
a fantastic little Portuguese of fifty, with a black
O

I I I I

194 ' THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.

wig down to his waist All tha:t Phillips got out
of him was some Madeira, so hot and muddy that
it nearly made him sick ; but out of, Phillips this
dexterous governor got a good clouded cane with
a silver handle. To make things pleasant, and get
some provisions out of the little man, Phillips asked
him to dinner on board. The little fellow frankly
Stated that his people would never permit it. It
was, as it appeared, the custom for English pirates-.
to seduce governors on board their ships and keep:
them there until they were supplied with provisions,:
for which they paid in bills payable in London,
but drawn on John A. Nokes, the " Hookey Walker"
of those times ; nay, the much too celebrated Captain ;
Avery, whose very improving biography I hope soon
to write, had even gotten goods out of the deluded
governor of the island of St. Thomas and paid him
with 210. order on Aldgate pump. The governor would
deal for nothing but cash.
Next day, however, the market got brisker, the
sailors buying all manner of fruit, poultry, and of
course monkeys, for old shirts and drawers. He
began laying in a fine store of fresh provisions and
water ; careened his ship and stopped the shot-holes,
and began mending her rigging. His account of the
island is not uninteresting; and he gives us the
history of it. At this time its principal trade was
salt, the Newfoundlanders going there , to load, salt
for the curing of their fish. This bay contains the
most enormous quantity of fish, much of which the
sailors salted and carried away ; you could catch ;
them as fast as you could haul them in.

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE. 195

In six days he had refitted and sailed away past
Fogo, whicli was in eruption then as it is now, towards
the coast of Guinea, which he made in a fortnight
at Cape Mount ; and coming in fourteen leagues to
Cape Monserrado (Mesurada,* close to Monrovia in
Liberia) he, to his great astonishment and pleasure,
just as he was clearing for action, found his old friend.
Captain Shurley of the East India Merchant, in
a mess as usual, praying for help, just as he was
when they got him off in the Downs ; he had got
struck by lightning now, and had his foremast and
fore-yard broken to pieces with it
Here they stayed over Christmas, wooding, water
ing, and buying provisions. Here they found a
loose Scotchman among the natives, who said that
he had been shipwrecked and was the only survivor,
offering to ship himself with Phillips. Our captain,
however, did not at all like the looks of him,
thinking him only a pirate; and when from other
sources he found out the real tale, he had good
reason to congratulate himself on his refusal. One
would have liked to hear this gentleman's account
of the matter from his own mouth, it is so entirely
horrid. He had belonged to a small pirate brigan-
tine commanded by one Herbert, and while on this
coast the crew had quarrelled, and had fought until
there was no one unwounded left to manage the
ship except this man, who drove her ashore at the
* Both, one would think, mere corruptions of Montserrat, or Monte
Serrato, a name which is like its near relation Montague. But I think
that Campbell (Fairfield) is a more frequently recurring family name
than even Montague.
O 2

196 THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.
end of the bay and escaped, leaving all the others
to die of their wounds. The imagination can picture
to itself few things more unutterably horrible. Under
the scorching African sun the internecine fight be
tween men who had utterly forgotten God and had
abandoned themselves to their own lusts took place;
think of their frightful language ; think of the pauses
in the strife, more horrible than the strife itself; think
of the dread uncertainty about the time of its re
newal, of hell's breaking loose once more ; of the final
cessation, when no one could fight longer, and there
were only the wounded wretches crying out in the
burning heat, like Dives, for a drop of water to cool
their parched tongues ; until there was only one
man left, who moaned feebly and intermittently —
and then silence. Think of what those men's lives
had been, and what their deaths must have been
like, and say whether a more ghastly crew was ever
steered by human hand, than this steered by the
solitary Scotchman towards the mangrove swamp
of Monserrado.
Of course that man Shurley was not ready again,
— enough to tire the patience of a saint keeping us
waiting here with all our stores on board in the burn
ing sun ; however, we wrote our letters and sent them
by other ships — among others, one to our agent on
the gold coast, telling him to get as many negroes
together as he could, for that we were coming. Even
when we did get to sea, this left-handed Shurley was
instantly taken violently ill of a fever and ague. A
most tiresome fellow.
At Satos, 100 miles from Monserrado, they made

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE. 197

another haft, but not for long. Sailing on they came
to Sangreni, which makes in a heap of high trees,
and which is the beginning of the grain coast.* At
Sino, which is known by a tree making like a ship
with the topsail loose, he bought, for a bar of iron,
1,000 pounds' weight of pepper to mix in the messes
of his negroes, and keep them from the flux, as well
as from the dry belly-ache ; for the inside plenish
ing of these cattle must be studied if you are to make
them pay, and have a comfortable pew at Limehouse
church in your old age. He did not buy Malagetta
pepper enough, this good Phillips, or the niggers were
perverse, like Mrs. Prig's patients, who went off dead,
and kept her waiting for her tea ; or the stars in their
courses fought against him : one way or another, not
to keep a secret from my readers longer than is
necessary, this voyage was not successful, and our
captain had to worship at his native Brecknock,
instead of the aristocratic Limehouse.
We were not very particular, even according to the
lights of those times, but we loved our brother dearly.
Our brother had fought well by our side in that action
with the French frigate, and had got wounded, and
now our brother died, like the brother of any negro
whom we were going to catch. We, Phillips, wereverysad
and miserable. He was only sixteen years old, and we
were very fond of the pretty plucky lad. We rowed
* The " Grain Coast " (roughly speaking, conterminous with the
"Liberia" of which we have heard so much), was first called so, I
believe, from the fact of the Malagetta pepper being the main article of
commerce there. It lies at the lower point of the great shoulder of
West Africa.

198 THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.
the corpse a mile to seaward, and the prayers of the
church having been read, we committed his body to
the deep in twenty-five fathoms of water, not without
tears. The Hannibal fired sixteen guns at quarter
minute's time, the number of years which our bonny
boy " had lived in this uncertain world ; " and that
blundering ass Shurley fired ten. He was buried off
Growa, this boy, bearing N.W., and ten leagues'
east of Cape Palmas, near which the land is high and
hummocky. After this we sailed sadly away to get
our niggers.
Coming now to the ivory coast, he found the negroes
very shy ; as he thinks, from some tricks which " Long
Ben " (Avery) had been playing on them. They
even jumped overboard when the ship's dog barked,
but they would do but little business at all. Trade
was very slack all along the ivory, coast, but a little
more brisk along the gold coast. The gold brought
to him was mainly in the form of wrought fetishes or
charms. As they drifted deeper eastward into the Gulf of
Guinea, the weather grew less brisk and healthy, and
a steaming fog enveloped them, the wind dying quite
away, and making them extremely anxious abou,t the
health of the crew (Captain Shurley fell very ill at
once, of course) ; and at last came to Axem, the Dutch
fort on the slave coast.
The colonial policy of the Dutch seems to have-
failed by its very severity. The monopoly which they
had conceded to their own Guinea Company was
inconceivably exclusive. All Dutch ships not belongTi
ing to the Company trading in these waters were

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE. 199
treated not merely as enemies, but as actual pirates ;
the ship and goods were confiscated, the men sent to
the mines, and the officers put to death ; the powers
of life and death being vested in the governors of
forts, without appeal to Europe, without any appeal
home — probably the most ferocious commercial code
which the world had ever seen. _ It was inoperative,
however, for interlopers abounded, and both men and
officers fought with such terrible resolution that the
Government ships were loth to meddle with their own
countrymen driven to desperation.
The factors of the Dutch Guinea Company were
also used to cheat their own masters by dealing with
the interlopers ; and so the chief fiscal was always
rowing about the coast to take them unawares. Should
any goods not supplied by them be found in the fort,
the unhappy governor was instantly sent to the mine
' either to be imprisoned, or made to act as a common
soldier in that dreadful climate. The Governor of
Axem was getting drunk with Phillips and Shurley
on board their ship, when he was suddenly stricken
,-, speechless with horror at the sight of a large canoe
with many men in it. Captain Phillips, in his capacity
as host, offered to blow it in pieces if it gave any
annoyance to his guest ; and, indeed, had run out a
gun with that intention, when his guest begged him to
desist and, leaping into a little canoe, hurriedly went
on shore, lying on the pit of his stomach. He thought
it was the fiscal, and that he was a ruined man : it,
however, was not
Coming to the English fort of Succandy, they found
the unhappy factor raving mad, and cursing in his

200 THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.
bed, and his second, a young Christ's Hospital lad, in
command, who told them the pitiable story of his
chief. He had, it seemed, brought up a beautiful
young mulatto giri, and had fallen in love with her
Just as they were on the eve of being married, her
mother, bribed by the commander of the Dutch fort
at the mine, spirited her away. The poor man went
mad, and his Dutch rival, not contented with that,
iticited the negroes against him after this ; who, taking
advantage of his, unhappy condition, plundered, his
fort and cut him in pieces.
Passing the chief Dutch settlement of " the Mine,"
tney came to their own castle of Cabo Corce, or Cape
Coast Castle, the English capital of those parts,*
which he describes, with its great tank and its orange
gardens, where they sat drinking pleasantly with the
factors, firing eleven of the ship's guns at every health.'
Here they landed thirty soldiers in as good health as
ever they were ; but in the two months they stayed
one half were dead, and the other half hardly strong
enough to bury their dead comrades. A duel here
betwepn one of his trumpeters and a sergeant of the
force leads Captain Phillips into a digression oh the
former, in which he gives a slight sketch of that
gentleman's life, which had been so outrageously and
consistently disreputable, as to be actually laughable.
Passing on from fort to fort, and ever drawing
nearer to that evil corner, the bight of Benin, they
began to fall sick, Phillips being unable to sleep,
and Shurley getting worse. At last, at Acra, poor
Shurley made his last mistake — and died, to Phillips'
* Miss Landon died here.

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.

great grief Of course he had refused to make any
will. They were now fairly off the slave coast which
is backed by the kingdom of Dahomey, of evil
repu,tation, and very soon began to hear of the
chattels they had come after. A canoe came out
with three women and four children to sell ; but
they were mere skeletons and unable to stand —
damaged articles, which so old a hand as Phillips
would not look at, particularly at the money.
Moreover he was off the Alampa coast where the
negroes are esteemed the worst and most washy of
any that are brought to the West Indies. Those
most in demand, he tells us, were gold coast, or
Cpromantine,* which he had passed, and which are
worth 3/. or 4/. more than the Whydah or Papa
negroes ; these again are preferred before the
Angola (10° S.); and, as we said before, these Alampas
were worst of all : so he arrived at Whydah.
This wicked place is the most beautiful on the
Guinea coast : beautiful champaigns and small ascend
ing hills are diversified with ever lovely groves of
wild orange and other trees, among which wander
fair rivers filled with fine fish. Swift death lurks in
the swamps by the sea, however, and in the hills
behind it are enacted the abominations of Dahomey.
Our factory at this time lay in a swamp, so that
scarce any white man sent down to it from the
higher lands lived to tell the tale. Had fever not
* Is it not Marryat who gives us the wonderful negro refrain, be
ginning, " Father was a Coromantee,
Mother was a Mingo " ?

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.

been sufficient, the musquitoes would have, in time,
killed any one for want of sleep : " the cursed
spight of this little ,flie" was enough to make a
strong man ill. A few mud huts and a trunk for
slaves completed the building, and close by was
the enclosure for burying the dead whites, horribly
called "the hog yard." To this place, garrisoned
by brave and faithful gold coast negroes, one of
whom could have beaten ten Whydans, the slaves
were collected from the upper country, and sent in
boats to the ship, as the weather served, some
times a hundred at a time.
The next movement in this creditable business
was to be carried, some eight or ten of them, in
hammocks up to the king's town inland,- and bar
gain with that filthy old -vagabond. They found
him drinking brandy, most ready to trade, and had
a dinner with him, which I will spare the reader;
greed will swallow anything, and Phillips says that
he was not a squeamish man (and indeed I think
he speaks truth), but this dinner was nearly too
much for him. The king asked for poor Shurley,
and on being told he was dead, broke into loud
lamentations, declaring that he had promised to bring
him mortar guns, silks, and I know not what Mr.
Clay, the new captain of the British Merchant, told
him that there were no such things on board; but
he insisted that Mr. Clay was keeping them for him- '^
self At last the old thief was pacified by large
promises, and the following iniquitous bargain was
struck. '
They were to have warehouses and lodgings assigned

I \^^\v i -#>;/- ^> ;]\j;

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE. 203
to them; a man was to be sent out with a bell
to summon all men who had slaves to bring them
to the trunk for sale, and Captain Phillips was to
buy one day, and Captain Clay the other. The
price for a good man slave was about 100 -pounds
of small cowry shells, or 3/. 15^. They were not
alw?iys paid for in shells, however; many other
goods were taken, especially brass basins to cut up
into ornaments.
So the trade began. There follow here details
impossible to give, unutterable, abominable, yet
exactly tallying with those given to me 150 years
after by -my Portuguese servant. Four hours a day
of it was enough to reduce Phillips, who was no
girl, to a fearful state of ill-health. Verily, they
that make haste to be rich, compass themselves
about with many sorrows.
The king's slaves, ever the worst and dearest
were always forced upon him first, after which he
could buy what he would. Each one was most
strictly examined by the surgeon, one very particular
matter being to examine their teeth, there being no
other way of guessing the negroes' age but by their
decay, as the people who sold them cunningly shaved
their heads and beards, so that the buyer could not
detect any grey hairs. As soon as a slave — man,
woman, or child — was passed by the surgeon, it was
branded with a hot iron with the ship's letters in
order that it might be known when finally handed
over. A few days after the goods agreed upon were
paid, and the slaves sent to the trunk.
When about fifty or sixty were collected, they

204 THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.
were marched down to the shore, and got through
the surf into the longboat, and so to the ship. On
their arriving on board the men were at once put
in irons, two and two together, to prevent mutiny,
swimming ashore, or even more desperate and certain
efforts for liberty. " For," says Phillips, " the negroes
are So 'wilful' and loth to leave their own country,
that they will leap out of the ship and stay under
water till they are drowned sooner than go to Bar-
badoes, ' which they dread worse than we do hell.' "
Twelve committed suicide in this way, while others,
with still greater resolution, starved themselves to
death, " believing that> after their death they would-'
return to their old homes."
It was the custom, it seems, with some com
manders to cut off the legs or arms of the most
wilful to terrify the rest, as they believe that if they
have not lost a member they will return home.
His officers urged him strongly to pursue the same
course ; but he strenuously refused, having, one would-
suppose, quite enough upon his soul already.
These slaves are all prisoners of the wars, which are
made expressly to obtain them, which wars are often
most bloody — resistance being, of course, desperate.
Phillips had seen nine or ten bags of men, women,
and children's heads brought to the king's town
at one time, which they would contemptuously
kick about. There is, however, another source of
supply, a very singular one, and only resorted to
when others are very scarce. The old king had
no less than three thousand wives up and down
the country, and when slaves ran short he would

THE OLD SLAVE TRADE. 205
make nothing of selling three or four hundred of
these. The whole complement of slaves being now made
up, the shark-surrounded ship sailed upon her ill-
omened voyage. The Hannibal (450 tons) had on
board 700 blacks, — 480 men and 220 women, —
besides her crew of at least 80, probably more.
Now a splendidly-found ship of 1,300 tons, in a
state of perfect purity and ventilation, carrying 200
highly civilized beings, will be found quite full
enough under the line, in a calm, as I can testify ;
and here were 750 creatures, nearly all savages, in
a ship of 450 tons, — say very little bigger than the
Prince Imperial or the Samphire, the Dover mail-
boats. To make the matter still more startling,
the Warrior, the largest frigate in the world, of six
^thousand tons, carries six hundred men ; the Hannibal,
of four hundred and fifty tons, carried seven hundred
and fifty.
/.. The sailing also was very slow: drifting along
iinder the blazing line, he had only gone 750
miles (as I roughly compute it in a straight line)
in eleven days. On the morning of the eleventh
: the long white sand, "the grote white Pleken of
the Dutch waggoner" which marks the mouth of
the melancholy Gaboon, the river of the gorillas,
was under his lee ; his negroes were dying very
fast and the confidence of the sharks in following
his ship was amply repaid.
To reach Cape Lopus (Cape Lopez, at the mouth
of the Ogawai), where he wished to wood and water,
was hopeless with these winds; so he turned his

2o6 . , THE OLD SLA VE TRADE.
ship's 'head along the line towards the island of
St Thomas, 120 miles distant, which he reached in
three days, sailing along the equator at the rate of
40 miles a day, with this mass of festering humanity,
on board.
The deadly beauty and wealth of St. Thomas
must be very great. It lies under the equator,* and
is crowned by high mountains wrapped in perpetual
mist. Here are wood, water, and every kind of
provisions in the greatest abundance, but the climate
is rapid death to a European constitution, though
healthy for the negro. There were but two hundred
whites on the island, and they looked like ghosts : ,
" And if his fellow spake.
His voice was thin, as voices from the grave. "
No Portuguese would come here voluntarily. These
were men who had histories, who had been forced
to fly their country, and whom their Government
left alone, as being sufficiently punished. None ever
reach the age of fifty years. Here Phillips fell sick,
and three or four of his slaves died every day. After
a fortnight's delay, he sailed away once more across
the ocean to Barbadoes.
He got down upon the south-east trades, and ran
upon them, and after six weeks of mostly burning
heat and slow sailing found himself not two-thirds
* They showed Phillips a rivulet with a bridge over it, and told him ,
that you crossed the line by crossing the bridge. He does not endorse
this story himself, and he is right. ' The stream they showed him must
have been at Sta. Anna de Chaves, on the north-east of the island,
whereas the equator runs directly over a small rock, the Isle dasRoUas,
near the shore at the extreme south point of the island.

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE. 207

of his distance ; and it became necessary to put his
men on short allowance and two quarts of water
a day. This was the 4th of October, 1694.
They were kept baffling about in search of the
north-east trades for a long time, and meanwhile
they took on board a passenger they would have
been glad to part with — cholera, in its most frightful
form. There were scarcely any recoveries. When a man
was seized, they gave him up for dead ; and they
were right, for he died. At the same time the small
pox was busy ; but it was cholera which was king
and lord over that floating charnel-house. For two
months and eleven days the plague was not stayed,
and on their arrival at Barbadoes the tale of death
was made up — 14 of the crew and 320 negroes. The
sharks of Whydah were wise sharks.
It was a ruinous speculation ; the dead loss was
£6,500 sterling to the company and the owners.
Those left alive ¦ (bought for about £2^ 15J.) were
sold for about £\% no very large profit even if all
had lived, considering the cost of their keep during
such a very long passage. Nevertheless, with short
and healthy passages, there is no doubt that large
fortunes were made at it. When one considers the
build of these ships, and their very slow rate of
sailing, and contrasts them with the slaver of the
day, the swiftest and most beautiful craft in the
world, one must come to the conclusion that a
larger proportion are brought to their destination.
Looking once more ai the fact that the price of
slaves, such few as are sold now, is nearer ,£'90 than

2o8 THE OLD SLAVE TRADE.
£ig, one can see how vastly profitable the modern
slave trade must be, and cease to wonder that there
are still found desperadoes to embark in it
The way in which Phillips gets pious and senti
mental over his (Phillips') dreadful bad fortune at
the negroes dying of cholera is something too won
derful to be thought out It is Defoe's "Bob
Singleton" entirely. Of course, there is a degree
of moral obtuseness and depravity about it deeply
shocking to every well-regulated mind ; but, at the
same time, like all othei- utterly incongruous things,
the effect of it is laughter. We will shortly take
leave of our good Phillips and see how he fared.
Barbadoes was at this time most fearfully afflicted
by the plague. Captain Sherman, of the Queen's
ship Tiger, had buried six hundred men, his comple
ment being only two hundred, he having impressed
every merchantman he could lay his hands on as
they arrived in different ships, to fill up his vacancies,
until he had reached this horrible amount. This
plague, among many other victims, carried off Mr.
Gordon, Captain Phillips's surgeon, to his great grief
Gordon had been a faithful friend to him ; not only
had he, stoutly gone through the loathsome details
of the slave trade, but he had also given the most
careful attention to the physical well-being of Phillips
himself, doctoring him, after the manner of those
times, with so many drastics, setons, blood-lettings,
blisters, and other remedies, of which he gives us a
rather particular account, that Phillips got to be ¦
very fond of him, and quite unable to get on
without him.

THE OLD SLA VE TRADE. 209
He had had but little luck on this voyage, and
all that httle deserted him now. He fell dreadfully
ill on the voyage home, and attributes his last cata
strophe to the absence of his favourite doctor. Fever
set in, foUo-wed by convulsions, which ended in his
being stone deaf, and utterly unable to navigate his
ship, which ended in his having to hand it over to
" my old drunken beast of a mate Robson." Things
went well enough with the ship, though ill enough with
poor Phillips, until they came into the Channel ; when,
off Beechy Head, Robson, in sheer brutal drunken
obstinacy, ran her into another ship coming down
Channel, and poor Phillips, crawling from his bed
to the cuddy door, saw his faithful old ship with her
bows stove in and her decks a. tangled ruin of spars
and ropes.
It was the last ounce which broke the camel's
back. The great loss he had brought upon her
owners by the failure of the slave venture was bad,
his deafness was worse, this was the last. He held
up his head no more. He got his ship into Ports
mouth, and giving up the command of her, this right
valiant Welshman, who only acted according to the
light of his time, after all, wandered away, deaf,
broken down, and ruined, to end his days among
his native hills, and his place knew him no more.

MILES PHILIPS.

"A DISCOURSE written by one Miles Philips, Eng
lishman, one of the company put on shoare north
of Panuco in the West Indies, by Mr. John Hawkins,
in 1568, containing many special things of that
countery and of the Spanish Gouernment, but specially
of the cruelties used- to our Englishmen, and among
the rest to himselfe, for the space of fifteen or sixteen
yeeres together, vntil by good and happy meanes
he was deliuered fro their bloody hands, and returned
into his own countery. An. 1582."
The squabble bet-ween the Spaniard and the Eng
lishman, between Protestantism and Popery, was
now getting towards red heat. It is almost an
impertinence to notice that the last date quoted,
the date of my " Breeches" Bible, is just six years
before the affair of the Spanish Armada. It is
within the bounds of possibility that Miles Philips,
in his clumsy, straightforward narrative, may be able
to explain to us the fury, amounting to ferocity, with
which the Spaniard was met in the Channel.
It was a terrible fight, and it was very much thrown '
on the hands of the English. The other Protestant
nations of Europe could do but little to help us.

MILES PHILIPS. 211

The land of Luther had no fleet ; Motley tells us
how Holland was tied ; France was not in earnest
either way ; and the duel between the Papacy and
mankind had to be fought out on the sea by Spain
and England.
England won, and the world is free. England is
at this present moment the most potentially powerful
state on the face of the earth, not even excepting
our wonderful sister America. Where is Spain with
her priests now ?
The English language, the language of Shakespeare,
is now spoken by very nearly 90,000,000 people, and
will soon be spoken by 200,000,000.
The story which follows is confirmed in every
important particular by one Job Hartop, who was
in the same scrape, and who was, as he pathetically
says, like his great scriptural namesake, born unto
trouble : and indeed this may fairly be predicated of
a man who was, off and on, in the Inquisition in
a hot country for three and twenty years. But I
have preferred the narrative of Miles Philips, because
Job Hartop sometimes draws on his fine imagination ;
" monstrous, venomous wormes " with two heads, who
turned the Captain's sword " as blacke as ynk," not
to mention mermen who rose out of the sea, off
Bermuda, "with the complexion of a Mulatto or
tawny Indian," savour much too strongly of our
good friend Sir John Mandeville for reproduction
in a modest Httle book like this. Yet his narrative
is still more spirited than that of Miles Philips ; and
in the case of the battle, of Vera Cruz I shall use
it without troubling the reader to distinguish it
P 2

MILES PHILIPS.

On Monday the 2d of October, 1567, Captain
John Ha-wkins, of famous memory, hoisted his
pennant on board of the ship Jesus, with Robert
Barret for sailing-rriaster : with him went five other
ships — the Minion, Captain Hampton ; the William
and John, Captain Bolton; the Angel, the Swallow,
Captains' names forgotten in sixteen years' misery;
and last, not least by any means, the Judith, Captain
Francis Drake.
They were to go the round then so common, to
the west coast of Africa, and so across on the north
east trades to America. The object of Captain
Hawkins was first and principally negroes.
Accordingly, having rendezvoused at the Canaries,
they crossed to Cape Verd, . and tried their hands
on the Gambian negroes, with great ill-success. The
savages beat them off with hea-vy loss, hurting many
of their men with poisoned arrows, who died with
every symptom of lock-jaw, so that they had to put
sticks in their mouths to keep them open. In another
account I read that Sir John Hawkins himself was
wounded, but was taught by a negro to draw the
poison out of his hand with a clove of garlic : quite
incredible. Then they departed for the coast of
Guinea to see how they would fare there.
They were here much more fortunate ; the negroes'
were, as usual, at war among one another, and Sir
John Hawkins assisted one side, and, after a little
sharp practice on the part of one of the negro kings,
got as many as 500 slaves, with which he sailed away.
With very slow sailing,* but prosperous for those
* One does not wonder at any amount of scm-vy -H'hen one examines

MILES PHILIPS. 213
times, they made St Domingo, and were sailing
and trading about till May, meeting with considerable
opposition from the Spaniards, who looked on them
as interlopers, but were evidently afraid of them,
but with no open violence until they came to Rio
de la Hacha, where the governor positively refused
to have anything to do with them. As it was ab
solutely necessary that they should have provisions,
they assaulted that governor and took his town, with
a loss of two men ; after which a peaceable trade
was made up, and they sold 200 of their negroes
(which unhappy wretches must by this time have
been festering under hatches for four months). After
which, sailing northward, tfaiey encountered a gale
of wind off Florida which made them take refuge
at Vera Cruz in an evil hour.
The moment of their arrival, the principal Spaniards
taking them for the Spanish fleet came on board,
and so put themselves entirely in Sir John Hawkins'
power. He, however, courteously entreated them,
and only kept two hostages, men of substance, Ulloa
and Riviera, and did not do what he certainly might
have' done without getting into any terrible trouble
at home — sack and plunder the plate-ships in the
harbour, which had just then above 200,000/. worth
these voyages : salt diet and small beer, and a rate of sailing, even in
the trade winds, extremely slow. In the log of a ship before me now,
a hundred years later, extending over two months and a half, the
greatest day's work is 140 miles, and this with a gale of wind on her
beam. The White Squall, or the Red Jacket, would in all proba
bility have hurled themselves over or through some 300 miles of water
under such circumstances. In Maury's sailing orders 401 miles is, I
think (I quote from memory), claimed for the Flying Cloud.

214 MILES PHILIPS.
on board. He also sent a messenger to the Viceroy
at Mexico to say, " that as our Queene, his Soveraigne,
was the King of Spaine his loving sister and friend,
he would allow him to buy victuals and refit his
fleet" In the middle of these negotiations in came
the Spanish fleet itself, thirteen sail of great ships
to our five, with 1,800,000/. on board, and Martin
Henriguez, the new Viceroy.
Nothing but mischief could come. Sir John Haw
kins could perfectly well have kept them out but
was afraid of how the Queen would take it after
all, when it came to the point, and so he let them
in and they made a very pleasant treaty, the first
two articles of which were about victualling and being
excessively fond of one another ; the third regarding
some ordnance on an island which Sir John Hawkins
had taken possession of;* and the fourth was that
twelve gentlemen should be delivered as hostages
on either side.
The Spaniards, after their manner, dressed up
twelve utterly worthless persons in the finest clothes,
and sent them on board our ship. The English kept
faith, and sent twelve real gentlemen, whom we shall
see once more. And by degrees other symptoms of
the Spaniards' treachery began to show themselves
but too surely.
It was evident that they were setting guns so as
* This little island was but a few feet above water, and made the
port, no ship being able to anchor at all unless her anchors were on shore
here. Sir John Hawkins dreaded what would happen from the very
first ; for the harbour is so small that the ships were actually aboard of
one another (see Hawkins's third voyage), which, as far as it goes, with
them, confirms Philips and Hartop entirely.

MILES PHILIPS. 2IS
to command the men who were landed on the little
island ; and they also brought a large hulk of six
hundred tons and laid her close to the Minion. It
grew more suspicious still when they began to cut
ports in her; and suspicion was raised to certainty
when the Spaniards were seen swarming into their
ships and batteries. Still negotiations were tried.
Robert Barret, Sir John Hawkins's sailing-master,
was sent on board the Spanish admiral, but was at
once put in irons.
The catastrophe came suddenly upon all. One
Augustine de Villanova, who was actually the guest
of our admiral, was in the plot ; and his share of it
was no other than the assassination of Sir John
Hawkins. They were actually at dinner together,
and the false Spaniard had the dagger in his sleeve,
when the signal was given by a small cornet. Some
movement on the part of Villanova attracted the
attention of one John Chamberlayne, and he seized
and disarmed him. Sir John Hawkins rose hurriedly
from table, and ordered him into confinement ; and
at that very minute the signal for onset was given
by the Spanish trumpets, and the peaceful harbour
was suddenly converted into a raging volcano, for
a time as dangerous and as horrible as the neigh
bouring Popocatapetl.
Three hundred of the Spaniards in the great hulk
were on board the Minion with a sudden dash;
and Sir John Hawkins, shouting in "a loud, fierce
voyce," " God and St. George upon these traitourous
villains ! " headed his men into the melie, while the
men of the Jesus leaped into the Minion to the

2i6 MILES PHILIPS.
assistance of their brother sailors, and very rapidly
beat the Spaniards back into their own ship.
Meanwhile the Spaniards on the mainland had
dashed over to the little island where the English
artillery was placed, and had beaten the English
off it, a few of whom swam to their ships, but the
rest were killed, and the ordnance directed against
the ships. In the dreadful hurly-burly the enemy's
admiral's ship blew up, hurling three hundred
Spaniards to destruction.
The odds were bitterly cruel against the English ;
but there were two among those English at the
sound of whose names the ears of old sailors tingle
even now — Sir. Francis Drake and Sir John Haw
kins. We have here an anecdote of the latter. In
the middle of the fight he, probably hoarse with
shouting orders, called his page Samuel for a cup
of beer ; and, setting down the silver flagon, a deml-
culverin shot struck it away. " God," said he, " who
has preserved me from this shot, will preserve us
from these traitors and villains."
The fight went fiercely on from ten in the morning
till dark, doubtless watched by Indians from the
shore, wondering if the strange Lutherans would
win, and if their tyranny was overpast But it
was not so. As the swift night came down, Drake
and Hawkins managed to draw away with their
only remaining ships, — the Minion and the Judith, —
carrying as many of the crews of the other ships as
they could, in their dire necessity, cram on bpard-^
Drake, one may be allowed to fancy, thinking of
vengeance. " Acapulco, beware !"

MILES PHILIPS. 217

They got to sea on the morning of the 25th of
September, and were at once caught by a gale of
wind from the north, in which the over burdened
Minion got separated from the Judith. Affairs
began to look more and more serious, so that many
were inclined to give themselves up as prisoners to
the Spaniards to avoid perishing of hunger. The
ship had nearly three crews in her (250 men), and
had been driven to sea suddenly and without pre
paration ; food failed, and in their agony they ate
hides, cats, dogs, mice, rats, parrots, and monkeys.
This went on for ten days, till on the loth of
October, finding themselves near Panuco, at the
bottom of the bay, and cut off from all hope, can-
nibahsm staring them in the face, a large number
begged Sir John Hawkins to put them ashore, pre
ferring the tender mercies of Spaniard or Indian to
certain starvation.
One half of the company were landed, not without
disaster, for the surf was heavy, and some were
drowned, having been inhumanly forced to leap into
the sea by Captain Hampton a mile from shore. And
so, bidding farewell to the ship,* they turned their
weary faces to the desolate bush, and started on one
* The voyage of Sir John Hawkins home was one of the most dis
astrous on record. Scarcely any of them ever reached England. As Sir
John himself says : " If all the miseries and troublesome affaires of this
sorowful voyage should be perfectly and toroughly written, there
should neede a paineful man -with his pen, and as great a time as be had
that wrote the lives and deathes of the Martyrs." The few miserable
shadows who just managed to bring their ship to the coast of Spain
-were threatened by the Spaniards, and only saved by some English ships
at Vigo.

218 ' MILES PHILIPS.
of those miserable shore-walks which are among the
most melancholy things in the history of adventure. :
They found fresh water, of which some. drank to such
excess that they were got along with great difficulty.
The rain was cruel and the jungle difficult ; and next
day they were suddenly set on by the Chichimichi
Indians, who on their first onslaught, without parley
or resistance, killed eight of them. Finding, how
ever, that they were quite submissive and unarmed
save for one caliver, they merely stripped those who
had coloured clothes on quite naked, and directed the
company to Tampico.
The unfortunate men now divided. Part, among
whom was Miles Philips, went westward under one
Antony Goddard (quoted to be still living at Ply
mouth fourteen years after) ; part went northward,
under one John Hooper. These divided' again ; and
it is singular that, although only two or three were
killed, ho less than twenty-three remained to be
accounted for. They had proba'oly become quietly
naturalized. Meanwhile poor Philips and his mates, under com
mand of Goddard, went westward towards Panuco.
They were perfectly naked, and the weather was
burning, the thorns tore their flesh, and the musquitoes
stung them until they were frantic. They had to beat
their way through the thorny jungles with cudgels,
and the happiest seemed to be those who were laid
at. rest suddenly and for ever by the unerring Indian ¦
arrow. For twelve days they toiled on thus, until,
as one would have conceived, life was scarcely worth
having on any terms. Yet life was ' precious, too.

MILES PHILIPS. ' 219

even with certain slavery, and possible ill-treatment
Bare, torn, and bleeding as they were, the sound
of a gun on the twelfth day was pleasant to them,
and the crowing of a cock immediately after " was
no small ioy vnto vs." They had arrived at the
river Panuco.
Sitting down and drinking greedily of this river
(a bow-shot in breadth), they saw that the other side
was crowded with Spaniards riding up and down.
At first the Spaniards took them for their Indian
enemies, the Chichimichi ; but at last one of them
came across in a canoe rowed by two Indians, and
surveyed them. Crossing again and giving his report
of them, twenty Spanish horsemen (armed) at once
crossed in canoes, towing their horses behind them.
Arrived at the side of the river where the poor
English stood, they set their lances in rest and
charged them.
Submission being made to the Spaniards, they
were brought up to the town guarded by tame
Indians, the boys and the more feeble being carried
on their conquerors' horses. The governor was very
furious with them, and demanded their money ; but
the Indians and Spaniards had been pretty well
before him here. Still Antony Goddard had a gold
chain, which he gave him, and some of the others,
who had some clothes left, made up a very small sum.
This got, however, did little to soften his anger. H!e
put the whole of them into a black-hole, calling them
Lutherans and English dogs ; fed them with sodden
maize like hogs ; and when they asked for a surgeon
for their wounded, offered them the hangman. And

MILES PHILIPS.

SO for three days they "waited to be bereaved of
their lives."
And, indeed, when on the fourth day there came
a large number of Spaniards and Indians armed,
bringing halters, they gave themselves up for gone,
and began calling to God for mercy and forgiveness
of sins. But the Spaniards' instructions were not so
bad. They merely bound them two and two, and
marched them away towards Mexico, distant about
270 miles, guarded by two Spaniards and many
Indians. The friars on their road were very kind to them.
On the second evening, coming to Santa Maria, some
white friars gave them hot meat, broth, and fruit a^nd
clothed them with white baize : and here, too, one
Thomas Baker, poor fellow, wounded before by the
Indians, marched no further in this weary world, but
lay down and died, to see England no more. The
black friars at Meititlan also were exceedingly kind
to them, giving them shirts, and acting like Christians
in every way. The Inquisition had not yet been
established in Mexico.
The treatment they received from their two Spanish
guards was singularly unequal. One, a very good old
man, was most gentle and kind to them,- going before
to provide everything he could for them ; but their
other guide, a young man, was " a very cruell cative,"
who carried a javelin in his hand, and when our men
could scarcely crawl had a horrible trick of smiting
them violently on the back of the neck and knocking
them down, crying, "March, English dog, Lutheran,
enemy of God." All the way to Mexico this con-

MILES PHILIPS. 221

tinned, the old man making them halt and rest the
young one urging them on. It was with joy, after
their dreadful march, that they heard that they were
within fifteen miles oi Mexico, for they had little
pleasure of life left, and would prefer liberty to the
present state of things, even though it came through
death. He describes the shrine of one lady of Guadaloupe
as being life-size, of silver and gilt ; and while the
wonder of it was still on their mind they were met by
a great number of horsemen who had ridden out from
Mexico to meet them and stare at them, and by whom
they were escorted into the Mexico of 1568 through
the gate of St. Catharine, and were thence marched on
to the Placa del Marquese, close by the market-place.
The Spaniards of the city loaded them with kind
ness. Provisions, five times more than they could
eat, hats, and money were given to them ; and after a
little time they were taken along the lake in two
canoes to a hospital, where were many other English ;
indeed that and another hospital, that of Our Lady,
were full of English. No sooner did they come into
hospital than the men began to die ; and in the next
fortnight there were so many gone, that there was
plenty of room in the ladies' hospital, whither Miles
Philips was removed.
Here six months passed away with courteous treat
ment and every sort of kindness. Virtuous gentlemen
and ladies from the city visited them continually,
bringing every kind of present, including succats and
marmalade. But with restored health came fresh
troubles ; orders came from the Viceroy that they

MILES PHILIPS.

were to be sent south to the prisons of Tescuco, the
entrepdt of all the rascals in Mexico, of all colours,
from whence they were generally sold into slavery.
Evil times began again. Although set to no work, they
were kept straitly in prison, and so nearly starved,
in spite of one Robert Sweeting, a renegade, whose
father had married a Spaniard, and who helped them,
that in desperation they determined to break out, and
by that means incur death or gain freedom.
They were a hundred strong still, and seemed to
have no difficulty at all in getting away ; but the night
was dark, it rained terribly, and they had no guide,'
and wandered they knew not whither — but, unluckily,
quite in the wrong direction, for at daybreak they
found themselves close to Mexico, and were at once
recaptured. They were threatened with death, but it was not
inflicted ; they were ordered to the garden of the
Viceroy, and great must have been their surprise
when they met there the gentlemen who had been
given as hostages by Sir John Hawkins and Captain
Barret, the master of the Jesus. Here they worked
for four months, with only two sheep among the
hundred of them, and two halfpenny loaves for each
man. At the end of this time the gentlemen hostages
and Captain Barret were removed into prison ; and it
was announced that any Spanish gentleman who
desired to have an Englishman might do so on the
mere condition of having him forthcoming at one
month's notice. The Spanish gentlemen flocked into
the garden, and carried them off with the greatest
rapidity.

MILES PHILIPS. 2 2 3

The fate of the unfortunate gentlemen hostages was
very miserable. Long kept in prison, they were sent
to Spain in the fleet, and many of them died from the
cruel handling of the Inquisition. Of Captain Barret
we hear that he was kept another year in Mexico,
and that going into Spain, he was seized by the
Inquisition, and after some persecution was con
demned to be burnt with another Englishman, John
Gilbert. The common sailors fared much better how^ever.
They were taken as footmen and valets to the
Spaniards, and were ordained to follow them when
they walked abroad, at which their Spanish masters
were very proud, as no Spaniard in this country would
serve another, and the only available followers were
Indians. By degrees too, as their worth was found,
they became employed as factors in the silver mines
at good wages, sixty pounds a year; and moreovei-,
without cheating their masters, by getting the Indians
by kindness to work a little for them on Saturday
afternoon, they were able to make four or five pounds
a week, which will give one some idea of what the
masters' profits must have been. Many of our
Englishmen became in this way, after three or four
years, worth their six or seven hundred pounds.
But now came the detested Inquisition, for the first
time established in Mexico. Six years after their
first captivity, in the year 1574, came Don Pedro
Moya de Contreres, as chief inquisitor, John de
Bouilla, his assistant and Pedro de los Rios for
secretary, and established themselves in a fair house
near the white friars, and then began looking round

224 MILES PHILIPS.
for a job in their line. One was ready to their hands,
with which to make an " entrance and beginning."
These Englishmen, who seemed thriving, must be
inquired into for their souls' health and comfort
The preliminaries were soon arranged. Their goods
were confiscated, and they were cast into dark
dungeons in the city of Mexico.
They were never more than two together, and so
did not know "what had become of each other : thus
in the darkness they remained one year and a half
During this time they were frequently called before
the inquisitors alone, and there severely examined of
their faith, commanded to say the Creed, Ave Maria,
and Pater noster in Latin, which a great many were
unable to do otherwise than in English. But here the
half-breed Robert Sweeting, nobly and at the risk of
his life, assisted them ; for, being interpreter, he told
the inquisitors that they could say them perfectly in
English. The next demand made upon them was
this ; On their oaths did they believe that any bread
or wine remained on the paten or in the chalice after
consecration.' and whether or not the host of bread,"
which the priest held up, and the wine in the chalice, ^
were not actually the very perfect body and blood of
our Lord } To answer no to this was to die.
Next they were asked to reveal how they had been
taught and what they had believed when they were in
England ; to which they, for the mere safety of their
lives, would answer that they had never believed or
been taught otherwise than as they had said before.
The inquisitors would now warn therii that they must
give a more satisfactory answer than that on the pain

MILES PHILIPS. 225
of the rack, and would dismiss them to consider. When
they were next brought up, it was demanded again
what they had been taught and what they believed,
and they were also tempted by promises of pardon
to betray any of their fellows, being told that they
should be set at liberty if they would tell the truth.
They however, although separately examined, stuck
pretty nearly to the same answer, — that as for their
sins and offences in England against God and our
Lady, or any of His blessed saints, they were heartily
sorry for the same, and did cry God mercy ; and
besought the inquisitors, for God's sake, considering
that they had come into that country by force of
weather and against their wills, and had never in, all
their lives done or spoken anything against their laws,
to have mercy upon them.
But they had none ; and about three months before
the final judgment given against them they were all
racked, and some tortured into uttering things against
themselves which afterwards cost them their lives.
And now having got enough out of their own mouths
to condemn them, they erected a great scaffold
against the large church in the main square, and
from it proclaimed with sound of trumpet and drum,
that whoever would come there in a fortnight should
hear the judgments of the Holy Inquisition against the
English heretics, Lutherans, and also see the same
put in execution.
There was no rest for them on the dreadful night
before the judgments ; for officers of the Inquisition
came to them, bringing their San Benitos, which
garments were of yellow cotton with red crosses upon
Q

226 MILES PHILIPS.
them, and kept them up all night, drilling them in a
yard, and showing them in what order they were to
go to the scaffold. When the miserable morning
dawned, they had for breakfast a cup of wine and a
piece of bread fried in honey, and afterwards started
in single file, in their yellow garments, with halters
round their necks, and a green candle unlighted in their
hands, each one guarded by two Spaniards. There
was a vast crowd, so dense that room had to be made
to pass. And, having come through it, our poor
Englishmen mounted a flight of stairs, and then were
seated in chairs to receive judgment. Soon after their
arrival the Viceroy and the inquisitors ascended the
scaffold by another flight of steps. Next 300 friars,
white, black, and grey, were placed in the places
appointed for them, and the judgment began.'
Roger was chief armourer of the Jesus. He was
condemned to 300 lashes on horseback, and to serve
in the galleys for ten years.
John Gray, John Brown, John Rider, John Moon,
James Collier, and Thomas Brown, 200 lashes and
eight years in the galleys.
John Keyes, loo lashes and six years in the galleys.
Fifty-three more men, names forgotten, probably
in the agony of sitting there hour after hour awaiting
one's own, were condemned to various numbers of
lashes and terms of years in the galleys. At last our
fate was read, and one may imagine the gust of relief
when it was all over.
"And then was I, Miles Philips, called, and was
adjudged to serve in a monastery five years, wearing
a San Benito all the time."

MILES PHILIPS. 227
So that was over, and he could look around now,
and remember names. He had been nearly the last,
and his agony had endured long ; for after six more
had been sentenced to servitude in monasteries, without
stripes, it was nearly night — time for the great closing
entertainment of the wicked day's work.
George Rively, Peter Momfrie, and Cornelius, the
Irishman, were had up for judgment. Sentenced to
be burned to ashes. It was done at once in the
market-place, near the scaffold, and was soon over.
After this good day's work the inquisitors and the
others retired, and the English were taken back to
prison. The next day was Good Friday, and on this day, of
all days in the year, these unutterable scoundrels put
their iniquitous sentence into practice. A horse was
provided for each of the sixty Englishmen, and they
were mounted on them, naked from the waist upwards.
They were then led through the principal streets, and
before them went a couple of criers, crying, " Behold
these English dogs, Lutherans, enemies to God."
And as they went there were some of the inquisitors
themselves, and some of the "familiars of that rake-
hell order," encouraging the executioners to strike and
lay on to those English heretics. The instruments of
torture were whips, and the spectacle most horrible ;
and at last when it was over, our poor, gory fellow-
countrymen were led back to the inquisitor's house,
where they were dismounted and carried to prison, to
abide their passage to Spain to the galleys, to undergo
the rest of their martyrdom.
Miles Philips speaks in terms of great kindness for
'¦'•' * Q2

'228 MILES PHILIPS.
his treatment by the good friars, to whom he, and one
William Lowe, were appointed ; they were well lodged,
fed, and clothed. Philips was appointed to oversee
Indians in building a church, Lowe was sent into the
kitchen. They had agreeable chambers, clean bed
ding, and plenty of hearty sympathy for their mis
fortunes ; for these honest friars (though by their
dress they seem to have been Dominicans*) hated the
Inquisition with a deep hatred, „which they confided to
the Englishmen as far as they might, being for the
most part so watched that they were afraid to let
their right hand know what their left did.
The four years having expired, they were once more
brought before the chief inquisitor, their fools' coats
pulled off and hung up in the great church, and
underneath written, "A Lutheran heretic recon
ciled." Likewise here were hung the coats of those
who had gone to Spain to the galleys with the same
inscription ; but under the coats of the three who
had suffered by fire was written, " A Lutheran heretic
burnt." They were now free to go up and down the
country and do as they liked, but continually watched
both in word and deed — escape being nearly impossible.
* Here, as elsewhere, it is almost impossible to distinguish between
the innumerable orders of monks, infinitely multiplied as they were in
this century. ' ' Franciscans," by the mere adoption of a stricter regime
and a hood, become " Capuchins. " Again they branch into " Recollects"
in France, " Reformed Franciscans " in Italy, and " Barefooted Fran
ciscans " in Spain. Vows of poverty are alternately adopted and
abandoned. Even the dUigent Mosheim says that it would be an
endless and unprofitable labour to enumerate them. It is worthy of
note, however, that ,all these fresh divisions were made with the object
of returning to original purity of manners, one of the strongest proofs of
the necessity of the Reformation.

MILES PHILIPS. 229
Most of them having given up their religion, and
being hopeless of escape, gave up everything, and
taking wives, in some cases rich ones, settled down
comfortably as citizens of Spain. These were but
little watched or annoyed, their wives and their wealth
being considered as sufficient hostages for their not
running away. Miles Philips, however, who could not
make up his mind to marry knd settle, but still looked
forward, however distantly, to escape from the idolatry
and hypocrisy to which he was condemned, was
treated very differently. He might have gone to the
mines and got rich again ; but he knew that the
moment he was well-to-do, that " diuelish " Inqui
sition would be on him again, and strip him of every
farthing. He therefore made it his choice to learn to
weave gograms and taffeties ; and so apprenticed
himself to a weaver for three years, paying him 150
dollars, hoping to live quietly and without suspicion.
However, the familiars would not let him alone.
They constantly charged him with intentions to run
away to England, and become once more a Lutheran
heretic. He pointed out to them how impossible it
was that he should do so ; but that was useless.
They had him once more before the inquisitor, who
demanded of him why he did not marry } He
answered that he had bound himself to an occupa
tion. The inquisitor answered that he knew he
meant to run away, and therefore ordered him, under
pain of being burnt as a relapsed heretic, not to leave
the city or to go near St John de Ulloa (Vera Cruz),
or any other port
The night was very long and dark ; but at this time

230 MILES PHILIPS.
there came a flash of lightning which illuminated
it for one instant, and made the old blood tingle
again. Drake had dashed at Acapulco.
The panic and hurly-burly were awful. The Viceroy
made a levy ^% masse of the Spaniards in Mexico; and
of unmarried men there were three thousand full-
blooded Spaniards, and twenty thousand half-breeds.
They expected an advance of the English, and the
sack of the city of Mexico ; the richer Spaniards
began to get out of the way and secure themselves ;
and the Viceroy sent for Miles Philips and Paul
Hersewell to see what they could tell him about
this terrible fiery Drake.
Question : — Did they know one Francis Drake,
brother to Captain Hawkins.' Answer: — (very
blandly, no doubt) That Captain Hawkins had only
one brother ; that he was sixty years old, and at this
time Governor of Plymouth. Question: — Did they
know Francis Drake at all.' Answer: — No. (Oh,
Miles Philips! Miles Philips!)
Before anything could be done, news had come that
Drake was gone ; nevertheless troops were despatched
in all directions, and to Acapulco itself Captain
Rovas de Corte, with two hundred men, was sent
accompanied by Miles Philips as an interpreter,
licence being given by the inquisitors. Coming to
Acapulco, Captain Rovas found that Drake had been
gone a month, and plucked heart to embark in three
small barks, the largest sixty tons, with 200 men, and
go after him, taking Philips as interpreter, to his great
joy, for he was sure enough that if the terrible Drake
once got hold of them, he would account for them

MILES PHILIPS. 231
with the greatest ease. For twenty days did they
CTeep down the land towards Panama without finding
Drake, or anything like him ; but hearing he was
clean gone again, they went back to Acapulco ; and it
was with a bitterly sick heart that poor Miles came
ashore again at Acapulco, and recommenced his
journey towards the miserable priest-watched Mexico.
The Viceroy was so certain that Drake would be
driven on shore somewhere on the coast by hunger, that
he kept everything in readiness ; and above all things
kept Miles Philips under more strict surveillance night
and day, lest at any moment he should be wanted for an
interpreter. Things thus became utterly unendurable
to him, and he determined to attempt an escape,
which nearly succeeded, bold and open as it was.
The fleet was to sail in three days for Spain ; he was
now as good a Spaniard by tongue as any of them ;
he determined to ride coolly down to the port and
enlist on some ship for a soldier.
He had not been half an hour in Vera Cruz before
he was arrested on a false suspicion. He was mis
taken for a gentleman's son, of Mexico, who had
bolted from his father, and intended for Spain. Denial
was useless, and there happened to be no friends of
the runaway youth at hand who could tell them that
this was not their man, while, unfortunately, there
happened to be one who recognised him ; and as he
was being taken to prison, out of mere kindness
came forward and told them that this was one of
Captain Hawkins' men, and that he had known him
in a San Benito for three or four years. His kind
ness was ill-timed. Poor Miles was instantly put in

MILES PHILIPS.

prison with bolts on his legs. Surely nothing would
save him this time.
The criminals, with whom he lay for three weeks,
had some of them known him, and would pinch them
selves of their victuals to give some out of kindness and
compassion, to him. One of them was more than
friendly, for, having a friend who came often to the
grate, he caused him to get Miles wine, and to buy
him a knife for two dollars, with a file in the back
of it; "And a happy man was I," says he, "when
I slipped it into my boot." However, in four days
he was taken out from the prison, and being fitted with
a set of new leg- irons, made "with a bar between the
shackles," and his hands also being manacled together,
was cast into a waggon, one of a train of sixty, for
transportation to Mexico.
He found, to his great surprise and delight, that he
could slip his handcuffs on and off as he chose. So
whenever the men were most busy, and the waggon
made most noise, he had his hands free, and was
working away with his file at the irons, which by
degrees he worked through, and lay free in his waggon
waiting his opportunity.
It came in this way : his waggon, which was the
first of all, broke a wheel at the bottom of a very
steep hill, where it was the custom to (as they would
call it in California) double-bank the waggons ; that
is to say, put the animals of three or four waggons on
to one, and having dragged that up, return for the
others. While night was falling, and his driver entertain
ing himself in a public-house, and most of the waggoners
gone away, he slipped away into the bush, carrying ;

MILES PHILIPS. 233
his fetters in his hand, and found himself free, but for
a great collar around his neck. His broken irons he
put into a bush and covered with moss, and fled away
south through the dark forest.
When morning arose, and he could see where he
was, he saw high mountains to the north, with great
fires on them, and very soon came upon some
Indians, who were hunting deer. Having told them
the tale of his escape, they sympathised profoundly
with him, assisted him to file off the ring round his
neck, and willingly guided him to Jalapa, at that time
an Indian town, and safe : here he stayed three days,
in consequence of sickness.
With some of the gold which was quilted in his
doublet he bought a horse for six dollars, and still
held south as he was directed. He had not gone six
miles before he overtook a grey friar, a man whom
he knew very well as a thorough hater of the Inqui
sition, to whom he told his tale, and of whom he
begged direction. The worthy friar not only gave
him that but his company for three days, during
which he took him to Indian houses only. As he
went on among these Indians, he collected from
among them in three days no less than twenty
dollars in alms, or for masses, one would suppose,
which would seem to bring us to the astounding
result that a travelling friar could make his pound
a day in those times. All this money he freely gave
to Miles PhiHps, who, bidding him farewell, turned
his horse's head southward towards Guatemala, on
the Pacific.
He gives us no details of this very long journey,

234 MILES PHILIPS.
and leaves us to find for ourselves the object of it
which, however, is not difficult. He followed an
unfrequented route, leading him chiefly, if not entirely,
among Indians, to a point where Central America
narrows suddenly to a width of only two hundred
miles, and where, by one bold push, you might cross
the isthmus from Pacific to Atlantic in a few days,
through an utterly desert country. He is in error
about his distance; it is barely two hundred miles.
Accordingly, having provided himself with provisions
and guides, he started, and in twelve days reached
Porto Caballos, in the Gulf of Mexico, and dismissing
his Indian guides, went down to the haven, where
there were ships discharging Canary wine.
Going on board one of them, he had some difficulty
in getting the captain to take him, because he had
no passport, in spite of his representing himself a
Granada man, a countryman of the captain's. The
captain was afraid that he might have killed some
one, or be indebted, and flying ; but in the end Miles'
word was taken, and the bargain was struck for sixty
dollars to Spain. Our old friend joyfully laid in his
provisions, the usual " hennes and bread " of those
times, and in two days was skimming over the glad
blue waters of the Gulf, and Mexico, with all its
hideous apparatus of priest and idol, prison and
Inquisition, its weary forests and its darksome dun
geons, only a faint blue cloud, upon the summer sea ;
a thing past and gone, only to return in fearful
dreams in moonless midnight.
Fortune had not done threatening him yet how
ever. Coming to Havana, he was hired at once as a

MILES PHIUPS. 235
soldier in the King of Spain's fleet : here he saw those
great armaments for strengthening that and other
ports, and some of our own cannon out of the Jesus.
The fleet was of thirty-seven sail, and of enormous
value, but not one fit to fight except the admiral's,
being all very deeply laden and badly appointed.
They kept away very far north-east to avoid the
French fleet at the Azores ; and, after a very bad
passage, made St. Lucaz, at the mouth of the
Guadalquivir. It was by the merest accident, or, to speak more
correctly, by the merciful goodness of God, that he
did not end his miserable days in the Inquisition
after all. His being an Englishman had been dis
covered, though he knew it not ; and he heard one of
the crew tell the master so. He pretended not to
hear it, but continued jocund and merry, until the
time came for leave to go ashore. When he pressed
to be gone, he wras answered by the master, " No,
you must come to Seville with me by water ;" i.e. up
the river. He knew what that meant well enough,
and, in spite of the sickness at his heart, he put a
bold face on it, continuing to be merry, and making
the master fancy that he had a safe victim wherewith
to please the God of mercy, and stand well with the
Inquisition. However, he had a desperate man to
deal with ; Miles watched till he was asleep, and then,
slipping down by the chains into a little boat, hauled
himself ashore by the cable, and casting the boat
adrift, set off for Seville by land.
Right in the very heart of Seville, under the very
bars of the Inquisition cage itself, perched this very

236 MILES PHILIPS.

wary old bird, knowing that it would be the very last
place in which he would be looked for. He took
instant service with a weaver, and plied his old trade
in the most diligent fashion, never stirring abroad.
Part of the gossip of the shop was about a certain
Englishman who had come home in the fleet, and had
escaped, and the search there was for him. " Ha ! "
cried Miles Philips, casting his shuttle the while, one
may fancy, with a vicious and emphatic orthodoxy,
" the Lutheran dog I I would I might know him ;
surely I would present him to the Holy House." So
for three months he wove, and having now got his
wages, he bought an entire suit of new clothes, and
went to St. Lucaz, where he had heard of an English
ship. He asked the captain for a passage, confiding to
him that he was one of Sir John Hawkins' men, but
the captain dared not take him. He begged him to
go back again. And so poor Philips, having heard his
mother-tongue again after so long, went weeping
over the side, back into captivity ; and, in hopes
of some change apparently, enlisted in the king's
galleys. It was a happy thing to have done, for ^t brought
deliverance after all. Being at Minorca the very next
Christmas, he found an English ship ; and warned by
previous experience, deceived the captain by telling
him that he had been in Spaip two years to learn the
language. The captain gave him a passage, and after
sixteen years' absence he saw the cliffs of Swanage
and the brown rolling hills of Hampshire and Dorset
entering Poole Harbour February 1582.

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT
EVERARD.
Robert Everard, when a youth, was bound by
his father, Mr. William Everard, as apprentice to
Captain Crib, of the ship Baudin, ostensibly for
a slave-hunting expedition, but in reality for almost
anything which might turn up in any way of busi
ness, clean or dirty. He sailed from London in
August 1686.
Passing Madeira, they made the islands of St
Jago and May, two of the Cape de Verds lying
close together (visited and described by Phillips
seven years after). Here they were chased by a
pirate larger than themselves into St. Jago (probably
the harbour of Praya*), and saved for the time by
the land breeze coming off suddenly and strongly
and baffling the enemy. At last, however, they
were forced to go out and fight, which they did with
* There is also a very beautiful description of this harbour in the
" Naturalist's Voyage round the World" of Darwin. Those of my readers
who have not read this book have a very great pleasure still untasted
before them. Some parents might be inclined to hesitate before putting
the book into the hands of their household, in consequence of some of
the later and bolder speculations of its author. They need not be at
all afraid. It is as orthodox as Bishop Colenso's Algebra.

238 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
some success, beating off their enemy, though con
siderably shattered themselves.
They now went on to the east coast of Africa,
apparently without adventure by the way, arriving
ultimately at Delagoa Bay, where they began their
ivory trade. The trade was slack, the merchant
or supercargo only being able to collect about two
tons. The usual remedy was applied ; six or seven
chiefs were seduced on board by fair words ajid
immediately " clapped into the bilboes," or, in other
words, put in irons, until more ivory should be
produced. This treatment having been successful
they sailed on to Talleer ; where they bought sixteen
or seventeen blacks, a great many cattle to salt
up, four or five tons of rice, besides tamarinds,
oranges, and other things. In these days a slaver
of the same tonnage would have carried between
two and three hundred negroes. 1
Hence they went to the island of Johanna, of
which we have heard a great deal lately, and so
held boldly across the Arabian Sea to Bombay.
A circumstance occurred at Bombay which is
worth writing down, as illustrating, old ship life.
The first mate, Mr. Baker, went ashore with the
merchant at Vosvar, about eighteen miles from Bom
bay, and got slightly drunk. On coming on board
again some words, passed between the mate and
the merchant whereupon the merchant not only
put the mate into irons, but the carpenter i\.^o,fot
consorting with him. He had them carried to
Bombay, put in prison, and tried by a court-martial
on board the Ruby ship. They were flogged through

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 239
the fleet, receiving ten lashes at each ship, and twenty
at their own, and under the walls of the fort A
man could scarcely speak and live in those days
at sea.
No wonder then, with this example before his
eyes, Robert Everard, finding the master to whom
he was bound dead, made but very feeble applications
for the freedom which was undoubtedly his. The
ship was ordered to Madagascar, and he must go
with her. So she sailed south to Goa, and to Carwas,
and so across through the Laccadive Islands towards
Madagascar, which they sighted in ten days ; " it
being the Lord's Day, when we were at prayers."
After a few unsuccessful efforts to meet the in
habitants, they succeeded in getting a message from
the king, who told them that if they would move
their ship to another place which he indicated he
would trade with them. They did so, and were met
by a native who spoke both Portuguese and Arabic,
as did also their coxswain : trading relations were
now established on an apparently friendly footing.
The king promised negroes and rice ; the supercargo
went on shore with beads, looking-glasses, and the
usual trumpery, and received in exchange plantains,
chickens, and bananas. The king drank toke, a sort
of native beer, which Robert Everard tells us naively
made the natives drunk, but not our people. The
supercargo introduced the king to rack, and the king
took to it so kindly that Robert Everard was sent
on board for another bottle. Some of their negroes
had run away, and the king promised to catch them
for them, and indeed did get one, which however

240 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
he would not give up, under the somewhat lame
excuse that it would be better to wait until they
were all "caught. All seemed to be going smooth,
save that the promised negro trade seemed uncon^
scionably deferred.
This pleasant state of things was not, however,
to last. One day the captain landed an armed boat's
crew and surrounded the king's palace, terrifying
the town. There was no rupture, but the captain
went in to the king, asking of him when the negro
trade should begin. The king said that in a month's
time he should have plenty; and this satisfying
the captain he departed.
On the Sunday following the captain went ashore
to haul the seine, taking all the ship's company,
leaving only little Everard, two men, and two black
boys on board — a dangerously small complement
Some natives came out bringing a kid as a present to
the captain, and no doubt saw the defenceless state
of the ship. Quickly after the captain and crew
returned on board, possibly much to the natives'
disappointment. Very soon, however, a canoe came alongside, with
the object of tempting the captain on shore; they
told him that they had some negroes for sale.
Whether because the captain had conscientious
scruples about buying negroes on the Sabbath, or
whether he was idle, one cannot say, but even this
tempting bait was ineffectual, and he refused to go
(Un shore, sending, notwithstanding, a boat's crew,
consisting of the supercargo, the coxswain, five
men. and Robert Everard, on-shore, with, in addition

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 241
to the usual trading trumpery, guns, pistols, powder,
shot, and knives, to exchange for the negroes.
They landed and carried up their goods to a house
for trade, and the natives brought them food, and
they sat for some little time, unsuspicious of their
terrible fate. Suddenly, on hearing a noise, they
thought it was the king coming, but in another
moment were surrounded by an infuriated mob of
natives, armed with lances. Five of the crew were
instantaneously murdered, one of whom in his fall
fortunately knocked down Robert Everard. The
supercargo made a desperate dash at the door to
get to the king, but was at once thrust through
the belly and killed. The man left in charge of
the boat was also killed, and Everard was alone
amongst them.
Meanwhile a fearful tragedy was being played
out on board the ship. The men in the canoe, which
had come to tempt the captain on shore, were, as
it turned out secretly armed with short lances under
their clothes : they had remained on board, and gone
up on to the quarter-deck, where were the captain,
the mate, the doctor, the purser, the carpenter, and
several forecastle men. The captain was dining,
and asked them to eat, but they refused, and he
began his last meal. The natives suddenly dashed
on the unarmed whites, cut the captain's throat from
ear to ear, and murdered the mate and the purser.
The doctor was more dexterous, or more fortunate ;
he leaped off the quarter-deck, ran into the gun
room, and barred the door behind him — a piece of
presence of mind which saved the rest. Some of
R

242 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
the men ran into the shrouds, while others ran into
the steerage, from whence they got to the doctor
in the gun-room, through the scuttles, and to their
arms, while one man leaped overboard and swam
to the gun-room port, at which he was taken in.
By degrees, after a loss of nine or ten men, and the
partial plunder of the ship, they regained her.
We return to the poor boy on shore. They did
not, when they saw he was alive, kill the lad in
cold blood, but carried him to the king's house,
which was next door to the house in which his ship
mates had been massacred. The king treated him
kindly, and bade his women give him food; "but
his condition filled his stomach so, that he could
not eat." It is to the credit of this savage chief
that he treated this sailor lad kindly, under great
injuries. It appeared, -when Robert Everard had
time to inquire, that an English ship had been there
before them, who had "played the rogue" with the
king, killing several of his men ; and he had avenged
himself in this way. I fear that our forefathers were
but a rough-handed set of fellows, in spite of their
piety. The ship had been recovered, as we have seen,
by the doctor, but had got on the rocks, the natives
having cleverly cut her cables. The doctor and the
ship's company spent th? night in bombarding the
town, making apparently tolerable practice, for one
shot went clean through the palace, without how
ever hurting any one; while the king kept his
army on the alert making them drunk with toke.
In the morning she was off again and sailed away;

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 243

Everard being taken down by some of the king's
men to see her sail. He saw that a disaster had
happened, by meeting some of the natives carrying
part of the bulkhead of the great cabin ; four gallon
bottles of Madeira wine, which he, in his capacity
of cabin boy, had filled with his own hands the
morning before ; the captain's sword ; the compasses
from the binnacle ; and great pieces of the ensign,
which they had tied about their middles. From
the negroes which had run from the ship he learnt
the tale of the disaster. And then the ship sailed
away, and he was left all alone.
The king now started on a tour, partly of inspection
and partly of triumph, carrying the sailor boy with
him as an exhibition of the power of his arms, but
treating him very kindly. He travelled by boat from
town to town along the coast, his men blowing a
large shell whenever they neared a town, to give
notice of his coming. Upon hearing this, the women
turned out, dancing and waving cows'-tails tied on
sticks ; after which he landed, ate and drank, and
then reviewed the contingent of his troops in those
parts. Robert Everard had but little to complain of ;
the women, when they saw him, " would squeak, and
run away as if affrighted ;" but he seems to have had
plenty to eat and drink at this time, and it must have
been a pleasant change for him after being kicked
into the lee-scuppers by the exceedingly energetic and
godly captain, lately deceased. " The king bade his
wife give me some, and she gave me some upon a
plantain leaf." Fine times for a ship's apprentice!
The king finished his grand tour of triumph and
R 2

244 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
inspection, and returned to his capital, with Robert
Everard figuratively at his chariot wheels.
Although this ungrateful youth had nothing par
ticularly to complain of, yet, with the restlessness of
a sailor, he desired his freedom.
In one of the very best sailor books ever written
("Typee") one notices that the sailor, though living
in the sailor's paradise, with everything to eat nothing
to do, and with a beautiful mistress, still risks his
life to get back to his old hardships ; risks his life to
get out of a South Sea island Eden, back to brutalities,
the knuckle-dustings, the salt pork, of an American
whale-ship. What looks so beautiful from amidst the
tar and limejuice of a forecastle, becomes, when
realized for a short time, absolutely intolerable to a
restless British or American sailor. They must have
change at all costs. " Rio is the finest port for a
sailor in the world," says Jack ; but after a fortnight
at Rio he begins to ask if you were ever at Sydney.
After three weeks, in and about Pitt Street he begins
to be pathetic over the old times at Singapore, which
place he probably cursed heartily on leaving. Then
it is Manilla -with him ; then Calcutta, which- he tells
you is the finest city in the world, as Sir Rummagee
Bumaggee (which is his pronunciation of the late
Parsee nobleman's name) is the first gentleman in the
world. Then there is no place like New York, or, for
a change, London. In short, your true English or
American sailor always wants to be somewhere else.
It has had its results : for one, among many, the
language of Shakespeare bids fair to become the
language of the world in time, and for a time.

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 245
This boy Everard was fully possessed with the
restlessness of a sailor. He was sick of being fed
by queens and petted by kings. There came, soon
after the king's return to the capital, an Arabian ship
to trade. He got speech with them, and prayed
them to take him away, whither, he could have
neither known or cared. They refused, alleging that
it would involve a quarrel with the king, and that
they would lose their trade with him. Robert
offered to swim out to their ship in the dark to save
them from responsibility, but they still refused ; and
having bought eight or ten negroes, sailed away and
left him alone again.
I had forgotten to mention that, of those who
landed on that disastrous Sabbath, there was one left
alive besides Everard the cabin boy. The other
member of the ship's company who survived the
massacre was, in actual rating and rank, below the
apprentice ; in personal consideration and esteem, far
higher. I allude to the ship's dog. Young Everard
was not all alonq then after all.
About six weeks after the ship had sailed, there
arose a war, and the king crossed to fight his enemies,
"carrying with him me and the dog." The march
lasted six weeks, and the king picked up a large
number of recruits at every town ; but the dog was
a very important personage apparently, at all events
in Everard's eyes. " When he saw any hogs he would
run and bark at them, till the negroes came and killed
them with their lances ; and sometimes he would fetch
a young pig and bring it to me'.'
It is a strange picture, the one which I see here.

246 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
A vast mob of tawny warriors armed with spears,
restless, active. Among them all an English sailor
lad, almost unclothed, barefooted, bareheaded, save
for his tangled curling hair falling over his bronzed
face ; curiously puzzled and stupid with the whole
business ; and with him the only connecting link
between the world he seemed to have left for ever
and the hideous savagery always present — the ship's
dog. To me this picture is something ; to others
it may be nothing at all.
The king's war lasted about two months, after
which he returned home in triumph, with about one
hundred slaves. Everard now had sunstroke on the
march, and got his bare back burnt raw by the sun :
this was only the beginning of his troubles.
The king now demanded of him if he could make
powder, and he was forced to answer no, but said
that he could make shot, and was accordingly set to
work. He made his moulds of clay, and cast them
of lead with tolerable success, making about four
hundred. This pleased the king, and he treated him
well ; and then asked if he knew flint stones when he
saw them. Everard answering yes, he was sent on an
expedition to find some ; but unfortunately for him,
after a long search, he was unable to find any at all.
The king now got tired of him, and turned him out
of the house to live or die.
He was now absolutely naked, and continued in
this state for two years and nine months, living the
life of a hunted pariah dog, without one human being
to show him pity or mercy. As he lay bare under a
tree, the natives would come and throw dirt upon him

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 247
in contemptuous sport, but no man offered to help
him. In the rainy seasons, when it hardly held up
for three months together, he would lie with a fire on
each side of him to warm him ; but at times, when
the rain had fairly beaten through the leaves of his
sheltering tree and was pouring on his body, the
unhappy boy would creep under the eaves of their
cottages for shelter in the dark, slinking back to his
own misery before daydawn, lest they should find
him and do him harm.
Few English youths have ever found themselves in
worse circumstances than did Robert Everard for this
weary two years and nine months. His case seems
to have been worse than either that of Alexander
Selkirk, or of the Musquito Indian who preceded him
in his solitary occupation of Juan Fernandez. One
almost wonders that he did not die ; yet it is difficult
to die at fifteen, when all the faculties of nature are
waxing instead of waning, when life is so new and
so devoid of experience, that hope, and the almost
certain expectation of better things in a larger future,
overbear any amount of present misery. A man
would have died under this ; the boy lived. Let us
see as a matter of curiosity how he did live out
this time, hunted about, naked, and alone among
savages. Apparently nature in Madagascar is in her kindest
mood, or he would certainly have died. I could
scarcely lay my hand on any other spot on the map
where a naked lad could have suffered so much and
have lived ; but then he was an English lad, and lads
of that race are hard to kill. " Too stupid to die,"

248 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.

says Arminius. Very likely ; still, India was not con
quered by the Prussians.
His first requisite was fire. This he got by the .old
savage trick of working a hard piece of wood against
a rotten piece ; a trick which I have seen often tried
without the slightest result except anger. Sir Samuel
Baker confirms this matter. The getting of fire from
two sticks seems to be a faculty possessed only by
the most barbarous tribes ; I have never seen a
white man who could do it However, Robert Everard
could, and kept his fires burning, he lying, without
any clothes whatever, between them.
For food : he had not so much as a knife ; yet he
did not fare badly. He got a piece of sharp stone,
with which he dug out of the earth yams and potatoes
(Mr. Ellis could tell us what these roots were, most
probably) ; and these he roasted in the fire. Then he
got plantains, bananas, oranges, and pine-apples,
which wanted no roasting. Still his principal larder
was the sea-shore.
He made himself a spear out of a stick, between
five and six feet long, sharpened it as well as he
could, and hardening i-t in the fire, with this he went
down to the shore, and almost lived in the sea.
Sometimes he had the luck to spear a fish with his
stick among the rocks. At other times, at high water,
he made a dam (probably with sea-weed) among the
channels of the rocks, strong enough to detain the
fish when the tide went down. At another time he
would wade into the water and watch for the large
crabs which are common on that coast. When he
saw one he would put down an elastic stick which he

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 249

had between the claws, and bending it over, would
hold the crab tight ; then he would put his arm in
the water and break off the claws, and so secure
the crab without fear of being bitten. In the rainy
weather he would go down to the shore to watch for
turtle. Sometimes he would see one, and sometimes
two, coming ashore. If they were small, he would
kill them ; if big, let them go, as being too large for
removal : he also got many of their eggs, " which
were very good meat."
"When I killed my turtles," he says, "I took a
sharp rock stone, for want of a knife, and with it
punched it round the belly, and so broke it open,
and by such hard shifts I got out the meat ; then I
took as much as I could eat and laid it upon coals,
which I kindled for that purpose, and the rest I hung
up in some tree for another time. The callowpatch
and callowpea'* were my dishes to eat out of; and I
used to keep yams and potatoes by me to serve me
five or six days, and when they were all gone, then
I went again to get more yams and potatoes ; and I
was to dig as deep as my arm's length for the yams,
and about ten inches deep for the potatoes; and
when my fish and turtle were gone, then I was to
look out for some more, and I always kept good
store by me."
Water, however, was almost his worst difficulty.
" I had nothing to bring me a little water to set by
* I am so grossly ignorant that I thought these two words referred to
the green and the yellow fat of the turtle, so much in request among our
podagrophilists. Here they e-vidently refer to the upper and under
shell of the turtle.

250 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
me when I was a-dry, but was always obliged to go
so far (a mile) for more as I wanted it. It was also
necessary for me to see that there were no blacks
near the water, lest they should do me a mischief;
and when I did drink at the. well, I was forced to lie
down upon my belly to drink." One would think
that even an educated Englishman or German, the
most unkillable of modern mortals, would have suc
cumbed under such a stress of misfortune ; but this
sailor lad bore up and weathered worse things than
these. He was now, after two years, in addition to his
other troubles, attacked by very serious illness. His
body got all over sores, and he had no remedies
except bathing in the salt water, which stung him to
madness, and caused the fleas to torment him in a
manner it is difficult to imagine. At last, however,
he was so lucky as to find a wild bees' nest in a rock,
and getting possession of the shard of a castaway
earthen pot, he melted it down, wax, honey, and all,
to use it for ointment.
This brought on delirium, but it lasted only a short
space at a time, so that he was able to get about at
intervals and get food. His deliverance was now,
after three years of absolute nakedness and solitude,
very near.
There came to the island a small Arabian vessel to
buy negroes : to the captain of this vessel Robert
Everard addressed himself, praying him to smuggle
him away. But this the captain declined to do, as if
he should in any way offend the king it would injure
his negro trade. He however promised to do what

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 251
he could for him, and while he stayed there told the
boy to come to his house every day, and so fed him
with the same victuals as he ate himself, sometimes
adding a handful of candied dates ; he also gave him
a blue stone (probably sulphate of copper) to cure
his sores.
So things went on for six weeks, until one day the
Arab sent for Everard. When he arrived he was
made to sit down, and a new palampere was given
him to wrap himself in. The kind Arab now informed
him of the good news that he had bought him of the
king for twenty dollars, and that the king would
never have let him go had he not believed that he
would have died by the way.
He was now delivered and most kindly treated,
being furnished with goods to trade with the blacks,
his former persecutors, for anything he liked. Boy
like he spent it all in plantains, bananas, pine-apples,
and sugar-canes : boy-like, also, he exasperated his
old enemies. They, seeing him made a kind of
gentleman of, were always pestering him for beads,
which he, seeing that their hearts were set on them,
had great pleasure in refusing them. They then used
mutually to abuse one another, Everard telling them
that he cared nothing for them now.
Everard must have been pretty safe under the
Arab's protection, for the king seems to have had a
wholesome dread of him. On one occasion some
natives got drunk, and accidentally sent a bullet
through the Arabian quarters. Immediately the
whole crew were landed and armed, and marching to
the palace they demanded instant explanations. The

252 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
king was glad to give this handful of men two slaves
to make it up with them for what was a mere accident.
His long captivity was drawing towards an end,
although he was still a slave. The vessel in which he
sailed away was an open one with only one mast
containing, besides the crew, 120 negroes, placed in
rows on open spars, among which Robert Everard had
his place. It was impossible to move for the whole
voyage (which lasted a month) ; where they sat all day,
there they slept all night, so that when landed at
Commoro (an island in the mouth of the Mozambique
Channel) they were quite unable to stand. It is im
possible to go into the horrible details of the arrange
ments of a slaver ; but dreadful as those arrangements
were, they were nevertheless, as described by Everard,
far superior to those which are made in a modern
slaver. The consequences of fresh air alone seem to
have been to reduce the death-rate to a minimum, for
he does not mention a single death.
Here the slaves were landed, while they mended
their ship and bought about a dozen more. Everard
was well supplied with everything, and kindly treated ;
indeed the Arabs seem to have been in general good
to their slaves. Here they stayed twelve days, and
then set sail for Patta ("Bad in Ajan".'), an Arab
settlement, which they reached after a stormy voyage,
in this clumsy, slow-sailing slave craft, of six weeks.
Here they were all, bond and free, hospitably enter
tained by the governor's wife with boiled rice and
mutton ; while the governor himself gave him a fine
red turban to wear and a pair of shoes ; also caused
to be made for him a coat and breeches. He had the

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 253
toothache also ; and so the Arabs got a piece of paper,
wrote on it, and put it into his tooth, which, says the
boy in all simplicity, stopped it aching for two years.
While here a Portuguese slaver accidentally ran
ashore. The Arabs at once attacked her, and after a
fight of two hours succeeded in taking her, with 300
slaves. They were now afraid lest they should not be
able to keep power over such a very large body of
prisoners, so that every man in the settlement was
armed to the teeth. The country people came down
with bows and arrows to their assistance and to trade
with them. Everard describes them as tawny men
with long black hair.
He was now put on board a small open vessel,
containing 100 slaves, and ivory, bound for Muscat,
where he was told there were Englishmen. They had
a terrible passage of above a month, the sea breaking
over their deckless craft, and rendering it impossible
for them to light their fires and boil their rice, which
they ate raw ; one of their water tanks leaked out,
and they were put on half-a-pint a day.
At length they landed at Muscat Among the
Arabs and Banians looking on, there was a Banian
boy, who ran up to the house where the Englishmen
lived to tell them that there was a little English boy
come ashore with the blacks. Three Englishmen
came down at once and got hold of him. The over
seer of the slaves allowed him to go home with them,
and they carried him off in triumph.
He had forgotten his native tongue, and could only
talk in Madagascar, but made shift to let them know
that he had belonged to the Baudin. They boiled

254 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
mutton and porridge full of onions for their precious
young prize ; then they took him into the market
and bought him a fine cap ; then they, I regret to
say, took him upon the housetop and made him
tipsy with punch ; and at last Robert Everard found
himself once more, to his great astonishment, in a real
bed, " with a very good coat, sheets, and quilt."
The governor having given his sanction to his re
maining with these Englishmen, he took up his abode
with them, although still a slave. After about seven
daj's living with them, his English began to come to
him sufficiently well to understand who they were.
One of them (Mr. King), his chief entertainer, was
a ship's surgeon, and the other two apparently able
seamen. Singularly enough these three had belonged
to the Baudin themselves, and only deserted her three
weeks before, and now sailed with the Arabs — the
able seamen with rank of gunner, and the doctor
apparently as surgeon-general to the Port of Muscat.
With these generous roving sailors he stayed a fortnight,
getting himself petted and spoilt like a ship's monkey ;
they bought him silk and chintz for his neckties, and
alligar (.?) for his shirts, and at length went to the
man who had imported him, and after a little bar
gaining offered twenty dollars for him, his prime cost
as will be remembered, and which strikes one as being
a generous and kindly action on their part.
This, however, was refused by the governor, for
reasons which I am unable to understand. He in
sisted on sending the boy to the English at Surat,
very possibly considering that he would be held in ,;
some sort answerable for him if he gave him over

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EiVERARU: 255
to three such very loose fish as the three Englishmen
who had been so kind to him : this, however, is merely
conjecture on my part. Another Englishman now
arrived, and was kind to the boy; but the answer was
the same to him as to the others, that the boy must
be handed over to the English at Surat. This English
man however, wherefore I do not understand, wrote
to our Persian agent, who immediately sent a Dutch
Banian with his purchase-money, and twenty dollars
more for the English sailors and doctor who had
been so kind to him. He bidding them farewell went
on board the little open ship in which he was to coast
up the Persian Gulf The reasons of the boy's going
to Persia, and his hearsay geography, are both a little
obscure, but to my judgment there is an air of simple
truth about all he says, which in a narrative of mere
personal adventure like this is all we want. We do
not want so much startling situations, as to see life
in every one of its ramifications in the long past ; and
to me I confess it is more interesting to know what
one, dead so long, thought, ate, and clothed himself
withal, than any mere fact such as his having been
nearly eaten by a tiger or a crocodile. Every one
acquainted with sailors knows, that they will sometimes
"yarn," or invent, with regard to mere adventures to
a great extent.
Robert Everard was started on his, to me, somewhat
incomprehensible voyage by his kind countrymen,
with store of bread, cheese, rice, salt beef, and two
gallons of liquor almost as strong as brandy (which
one hopes he did not drink himself). Besides this
they bought him a good rug and pillow, and two

2S6 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
earthen pots to boil his victuals in. They likewise
gave him some sugar, and a dollar and a half in
money to spend at the places where they should
touch, like the old tip one used to get when one went
to school ; and so splendidly provided for the boy,
not we hope without thankfulness at his extraordi
nary good fortune, went aboard and stayed aboard
till she sailed — coming ashore however every day to
spend a part of his dollar and a half, " to buy me some
fresh victuals, and cucumbers, and other green trade;"
from v/hich last expression I make a guess that he
hailed from the counties of Devon or Cornwall.
To such of my readers as are not used to sailors
and the sea I may be allowed to point out, that at
every point in this singular narrative one comes across
little points, small in themselves, which force one to
believe the whole. This last is one among a hundred
others. If you say that this story was invented, you
invest at once this sailor Robert Everard with the
genius of a Shakespeare for details. It is to me abso
lutely incredible that it is not true ; in reading it
carefully you come across little personal matters,
which no man, save Shakespeare, could have invented.
If Robert Everard invented this story, he had suf
ficient genius to have written the little-cared-for dia
logue of mad Tom in Lear — in some respects Shake
speare's highest effort : as for Defoe, he could have
beaten him on his own ground. I have said more
than once elsewhere that I believed that Defoe got
the first idea of his wondrous " Bob Singleton " from
Robert Everard, and I see no reason to alter my
opinion, save from the reflection, " How could Defoe

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 257
ever have heard of Everard's adventures.'" Then
again one asks," How could Defoe have ever heard of
the Victoria Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza .'" yet he
was famihar with them. Not to be too discursive
however, and to return to Robert Everard. In the
whole of his narrative there is not one single fact
mentioned which is out of the most ordinary human
experience; and there are internal evidences innu
merable, principally of eating and drinking, which
make it certain to me that it is absolutely true.
I make these remarks because I find that even now
there are two sorts of travellers: the one your Pal-
graves, Spekes, Burtons, Bakers, Livingstones, who
tell plainly what they saw, representing the Jesuits*
and sailors of old times ; and another more imagi
native class, who tell you what they think they
ought to have seen, representing the Minorites and
Franciscans. In result, I merely claim that Robert
Everard's narrative will hold water, in fact is one of
the most reliable narratives across which I have come.
He vaguely states that he came to Persia, to what
town there he does not mention. Whether he merely
followed Mr. Palgrave's homeward route from Ormuz
to Muscat, or whether he passed Ormuz and came on
to Linga, is not very clear. He mentions passing be
tween an island and the mainland ; and this may be the
* Singularly enough I find, since this was -written, that Mr. Darwin
confirms me about the credibility of the eld Jesuit travellers more
than once. It is very pleasing to an unscientific person to find himself
confirmed by one of the greatest scientific -writers of the day. The
reason is not difficult to find. The Jesuits of those times were probably
the most devoted, and certainly the most highly educated, body of men
in Christendom, S

258 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
larger island of Dgism, or the smaller one of Ormuz.
However, here was an English agent who treated him
most kindly, and promised at his request to send him
home in the first ship.
Soon after there came in an English ship called
the Diana,-\)Owa.'di up the Persian Gulf, and the master,
of which was very sick ; and coming to stay at the
agent's, in an open boat in a heavy surf, got wetted
and died. The mate, who succeeded him, persuaded
the boy to come with him to Bassorah, at the head
of the Gulf The Diana, with some goods out of
a king's ship, the Kemthorn, which had put in leaky,
and was besides too large to go up the Euphrates,
went up the Gulf, apparently feeling her way
very carefully, and disliking very much the sight
of any strange sail; extremely anxious when they
were near her in a calm, and devoutly thankful
when there was breeze enough for her to give them
the go-by. She got a pilot to take her into the
Euphrates, which Captain Hamilton, who followed
Robert Everard in a very few years, describes as
being about a mile broad, and keeping the same
breadth for the whole of the ninety miles up to
Bassorah, or, as Mr. Palgrave, who should know if
any man does, writes it, Basrah.*
He gives a ship-boy's account of some fighting '
which was going on here while he stayed, between
the Turks and the wild Arabs. He only slightly
alludes to it in mentioning that the Armenian mer
chants were begged by the Pasha not to bring their
goods ashore, as the town was not safe ; and a^gain,
• "Botzra, on the river Tigris." — Rabbi Benjamin, anno 1160.

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 259

the captain of the Diana was asked by the Pasha
to draw his ship up the river a little way and
bombard these Arabs, which he immediately did,
giving his men five dollars apiece all round imme
diately after the engagement. This is about all
Everard says concerning this struggle, and is about
as much as a sailor-boy would be likely to know
or care, but it singularly confirms his veracity.
Considering him to have started from home in
1686, and to have returned in 1693, it must now have
been in or about the year 1692. What was happening
at Bassorah that year .' A rather remarkable thing.
Captain Alexander Hamilton, who came trading
to these parts but a very few years after Robert
Everard had left, and who may possibly have been
there before Robert Everard, points out these facts
while lamenting the extraordinary difference between
the warlike, jealous Turks, the then possessors of
Bassorah, and their more cosmopolitan and mer
cantile predecessors, the Persians. He was evidently
au fait with the trade of Bassorah, and he tells us
this story. In 1691 the plague got into the town,
80,000 Persians died and the rest fled the city,
which was first of all taken possession of by the
innumerable beasts of prey, which, according to every
writer, abound in the neighbouring deserts, and
secondly by the Arabs, who held it for neariy
twelve months. The Arabs in their turn were
turned out by the Turks. It was the last flying
bands of the beaten Arabs, making their last furious
attempt on which the Diana, with Robert Everard
on board, fired at the request of the Pasha. I am
S 2

26o THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
pleased to find in the course of reading such an
undeniable proof of the veracity of my little friend.
He had happened to arrive at Bassorah at the very
time when that town was passing out of the Persian
hands for ever.
Not for ever out oi Arab hands nevertheless: one
finds in reading Franklin's voyage from Bengal to
Persia (1787) that ninety-six years afterwards a
certain sheik, Twing, having been on a raid against
a brother sheik, was met rather dangerously near
to the desert by the Governor of Bassorah, who came
out, as a kind of picnic, to congratulate the sheik,
his friend, on his successful plundering expedition.
Instigated by the devil no doubt, the sheik took
it into his head to take the governor prisoner, to
send him to the rear, and to claim the town of
Bassorah as his own in right of his ancestor (doubtless
the sheik who had held it for twelve months in 1691,
and in whose bombardment little Robert Everard
had assisted). This very clever sheik made a splendid
coup d'etat of it. He sent in fifteen hundred Arabs
to take possession of the palace ; they seem to have
been unopposed, the inhabitants probably thinking
that they could not be worse off, and might be
better. After finding that they did not make their
experimentum on the vile bodies of his fifteen
hundred. Sheik Twing trusted his own sacred person
in, seized the shipping, inhabited the palace, and
gave the most polite assurances to the inhabitants.
The next thing he did was to send a note, in a
tone of injured innocence, to Constantinople, lament
ing that he should have been kept out of his just

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 261
rights (which he had just invented) so long; pro
mising his allegiance to the Porte on condition of
having given him the Pashalic of Bassorah and "
Bagdad! (quite a new idea, developed as rapidly
as the original one). After this glorious piece of
coolness, he had collected all the Jew and Armenian
merchants, and had got a loan of six thousand
tomauns from them. A forced loan .' Oh, dear, no ;
only you would find it on the whole best to make
it. The security .' Why, the carefully worded bond
of the sheik himself; who, however, as soon as he
had got it, thought it just as well to get out of the
mud-walled fortifications of Bassorah, and have the
safe desert clear behind him.
As the news from Constantinople might be rather
unfavourable, as the Grand Seigneur might not
exactly like such a degree of coolness as he had
exhibited, he marched up the Euphrates towards
Bagdad, just to anticipate the messenger with the
firman. If it was favourable, good : if unfavourable,
none could be the worse except the messenger.
Now a big brother of his, who had been set aside
in the succession to the sheikdom by their father,
had been waiting all his life to give his younger
brother what is called in low life " a hoist." When
this wicked younger brother of his had so shame
lessly invaded the territories of the head of the holy
Mahommedan religion, had captured his governor,
had marched into Bassorah, the righteous soul of
the dispossessed elder brother burned with ire. His
own flesh and blood was one thing, but this insult
to the Sublime Porte was another. He fled into

262 THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD.
the arms of the Pasha of Bagdad, and raised such
a wasp's-nest about his dear younger brother's ears,
that I should fancy more than once that Sheik Twing
wished that their father had left his elder brother
in quiet possession of the sheikdom.
The Porte never answered his letter ; they merely
wrote to the Pasha of Bagdad ordering his head.
The pasha made friends with a neighbouring tribe
of Arabs, the Bandi, whom Twing had scorned in
his prosperity, and together they attacked the au
dacious sheik. He very nearly won, but the allies
were too strong for him. His army was as much
beaten as an Arab army ever is, and he went
home (with the six thousand tomauns), and up to the
latest intelligence (Dec. 1787) remained there on his
native desert in peace. It may be considered as
highly probable that his elder brother did not follow
him to the paternal tents.
As for the Jew and Armenian merchants who
had most audaciously presumed to save their throats-
from being cut from one ear to another, by giving
this sheik the money he demanded, you may be
sure that they met with the deserts of their crime
as soon as the Turks got back into Bassorah. They
had to pay through the nose. Sheik Twing had
plagued them with whips-; the new Governor of
Bassorah (one does not read what Sheik Twing
did with the old one) plagued them with scorpions.
The Grand Seigneur appointed Ahmed, the traitor
ous elder brother, as sheik in room of his brother
Twing. One cannot help wondering if he ever went
and took possession.

THE SUFFERINGS OF ROBERT EVERARD. 263
With this Eastern episode, which seemed to me
so thoroughly Eastern as to be worth disinterring,
and so exceedingly amusing that I was forced to
tell it in my own language (for which I hope the
reader will forgive me), I take leave of my little
friend Robert Everard. His adventures, after Bas
sorah, are scarcely worth mentioning ; he went to
Bombay, round the Cape to the West Indies, and
so home, meeting his father at Blackwall after seven
years' absence, "to the great joy of us both.''

JOHN FOX.
The escape of John Fox, an English gunner, from
the captivity of the Turks in the Port of Alexandria,
in the year 1577, after fourteen years, is certainly
one of the most magnificent pieces of audacity
known ; it was evidently thought so at the time,
for he received compliments, not only frorn the
Queen's Council, but also from the Pope of Rome
and the King of Spain.
During the twenty years from 1560 to 1580 the
trade to the Levant £md to all parts of the Turkish
empire fell completely into abeyance, although there
was peace between the two countries — nay, more or
less of a good understanding. Bodenham* made a
successful voyage in 1550; in 1553 the Grand Turk
gave ample privileges to Mr. Antony Jenkinson ; yet
until the correspondence between Queen Eliaabeth
* Bodenham's voyage to the Levant is very interesting ; the more so,
as we find that one of his shipmates was no other than Richard Chan
cellor, who went -with Sir Hugh 'Willonghby on the Northern Expedition
in 1553. In that expedition Chancellor got on in his ship, the Bon-
adventure, saw the Emperor of Muscovy, and earned the title of
" Discoverer of Russia.'' Sir Hugh Willoughby, in the Bona Esperanm,
wa-s, as is well known, frozen to death with all his crew on the coast of
Lapland.

JOHN FOX. 265

and Sultan Murad Khan, two years after the date of
the following adventure, there was actually no Levant
trade whatever.
The reason for this is not difficult to seek. There
were certainly - commercial treaties between the
Venetians, the French, and the Poles on the one
hand, and the Turks on the other ; but none with the
English. In special cases, as in the case of Jenkinson,
special free passes were given, but these were only a
special, and the Turks treated every English vessel
without one as fair spoil, and carried off their crews
into hopeless captivity as a matter of course. In her
Majesty's letter of 1579, we only find the proudest
woman in Europe " entreating and using mediation "
to the Sultan, in a way which would make Lord Strat
ford de Redcliffe open his eyes, for such of her subjects
as were detained in his galleys, and praying that the
safe-conduct granted to Sir Edward Osborne and Mr.
Staper might be extended to all her subjects. Again,
later, in 1 581, one Peter Baker, of Ratcliffe, having mis
conducted himself inconceivably in the Levant, robbed
certain Grecians among other matters, the Queen
writes most deferentially to the Sultan, apologizing
and promising restitution, giving him also to understand
that if she should have the luck to catch this same Peter
Baker she would make a most remarkable example
of him ; so it is to be hoped, for his own sake, that
Peter Baker did not show on the stones of Ratcliffe
Highway till her Grace's wrath had cooled.
These little matters seem to prove that the right of
the Turks to attack English ships was acknowledged,
and that to do so was no casus belli; moreover, the right

266 JOHN FOX.

was by no means conceded to English ships, who had
the great privilege only of taking care of themselves
as well as they could. No wonder that with lifelong
hopeless slavery before them they fought like fiends
against the Turks, preferring death to surrender.
In the year 1563, a ship called the Three Half
Moons, Grove master, with thirty-eight men on board,
sailed from Portsmouth for Seville. All went well
until they were near the Straits, when they found
themselves surrounded by eight Turkish galleys, who
showed their intentions towards them very plainly.
The owner of the ship now made them a speech,
exhorting them to bravery and to trust in God ; after
which they engaged in prayer for a time, and then
prepared for battle.
Then up stood Grove the master, a comely man,
with his sword and target, holding them in defiance
against his enemies ; up then stood the owner, the
master's mate, the boatswain, and the purser, and gave
defiance likewise ; then with the sound of rattling
drums, blaring trumpets, and screaming fifes Grove
took his gallant little ship into action against these
hopeless overwhelming odds.
John Fox had charge of the guns, and plied them
wonderfully fast ; but it very soon came to close
quarters, as the Turks found to their cost, for our
fellows sent arrows hailing in on them with such
rapidity that the havoc among them was very great ;
but the ship, receiving the concentrated fire of so
many, soon began to show signs of damage, which
the Turks perceiving, ran into her and dashed aboard.
Their reception was terrible ; the desperate and

JOHN FOX. 267

furious Englishmen had now taken to their halberts
and brown bills, which did fearful execution upon the
lighter-armed Easterns. Chief among them all, how
ever, was the boatswain, who astonished friend and foe
alike by his splendid valour, raging among the Turks
"like a wood (mad) lion," so that none dare face him ;
but at last a random shot from the Turks smote him
on the breast where his whistle hung, and he sank
down on the deck a dying man, and bidding them all
farewell used his latest breath to fight on to the last.
They meant to do as their dead leader had urged
them, but men cannot perform impossibilities. The
Turks were so numerous that they actually crowded
on them until their long weapons were useless, and
they were taken in detail ; and at last it was all over
and the brave old flag was down.
The Turks treated them with the greatest cruelty
and brutality, taking no heed of their gallant defence
except to use them the worse for it. Their clothes
were stripped off, and they were set at once to the
oar, under their masters' whips, some of them never to
leave it again.
It was not very long before the owner and the
master were ransomed by friends in England, and
went home ; but the rest, all those whose friends were
too poor, were left in their misery. Ill-usage, over
work, and starvation soon told their tale upon them ;
one by one these gallant sailors died off, till at the
end of fourteen years only one was left, John Fox, the
gunner. He was a man of great constitution, and of
vast courage, and resource. He was a good barber,
and by exercising this trade had been able to improve

268 JOHN FOX.

his rations a little, and keep body and soul together
when the others died. He also, after many years, by a
small fee to the jailor, was allowed to w^alk in and out
of the prison with irons on his legs, as were six others.
After fourteen years he devised a scheme for escape.
It was the winter season. The galleys were all drawn
up, their masts, sails, and oars put in store, and the
captains and crews were away on furlough, and there
remained 268 Christian captives in the prison, consist
ing of sixteen different nations, of whom but three
were Englishmen, John Fox, of Woodbridge, in
Suffolk, William Wickney, of Portsmouth, and Robert
Moore, of Harwich.
Not far from the prison there was a little kind of
public-house, kept by a prisoner who earned enough
to pay the jailor's fees for the indulgence. This man's
name was Unticaro ; he was a Spaniard who had been
thirty years a prisoner, and had kept himself so quiet
that he was not in the least suspected. John Fox,
coming frequently to his house, opened at last
what lay on his mind, and found a willing abettor in
Unticaro. By degrees all the other six prisoners who had
their partial liberty were taken into the plot,- and at
last, at the end of December 1576, everything was
ready. Fox distributed to them files, which had
been procured by Peter Unticaro, and they were
ordered to be rid of their irons by eight o'clock the
next night.
The next night the conspirators assembled at
Unticaro's, and to all appearance made very merry to
distract suspicion ; and after a little Unticaro rose and

JOHN FOX. 269

went to the governor of the prison, and begged him to
step round to his house, as a friend awaited him there.
(He named one of the masters of the city.) The un
suspecting Turk came with him at once, telling his
people not to lock up, for he should soon be home.
In the meantime the others had armed. John Fox
had a rusty swordblade, the others had such spits
and glaives as they could find in the house ; and
having put out the lights they awaited the coming of
their oppressor.
When the wretched man approached the little
bothy and saw it all dark, he suspected at once, and
turned, but only to find John Fox in his way with his
rusty sword. He pleaded to him : " Fox," he said,
"what have I deserved of thee that thou shouldst
seek my death .'" They were his last words. " Blood
sucker of Christians !" cried John Fox ; and then with
the suppressed fury of fourteen miserable years con
centrated into one blow he struck him down dead at
his feet.
They now marched towards the prison, which had
been left unlocked by the orders of the dead man, and
entered it softly. The warders, of whom there were
six, cried out to know who they were, but answering
" All friends " Fox and his fellow-conspirators fell upon
them and killed them, after which they shut the by-
gate and put a cannon against it.
They now entered the dead governor's lodge, where
they found the keys of the fortress at his bed's head,
and also a very large treasure in ducats, which Fox
did not touch, but with which Unticaro and two others
loaded themselves, stuffing the gold inside their

270 JOHN FOX.

shirts. Here also were plenty of arms, with which
they furnished themselves.
The next thing to be done was to open the prison
doors with the keys : this was soon done, and the
prisoners set busily, some to barricade the gate, others
to fit out, as rapidly as was possible, a splendid galley,
the best in Alexandria, which happened to be handy,
with oars, sails, and cordage. With the experience
of this kind of work gained in many a year, and with
the certainty that rapidity was their only hope, the
liberated Christians worked with a will -which may be
imagined. Fox and the head conspirators meanwhile
had rougher work in hand.
Eight Turks had retreated before them, from floor
to floor, until they stood at bay on the roof in their
desperation. The lives of these men were necessary
to the success of the enterprise, and the Christians, by
getting up a ladder, came face to face with them, when
a most fell and bloody fight ensued. The Christians
were victorious ; but Fox himself was shot twice
through his clothes, and old Peter Unticaro, with the
other two who had overburdened themselves with the
gold, fought so clumsily, that they were killed.
One of the Turks, driven over the side of the roof,
fell to the ground still alive, and by his moans and
cries roused a few of the inhabitants of the scattered
suburb, who in their turn aroused all Alexandria at
midnight with the news that the Christian prisoners
had risen and were murdering their jailors.
Alexandria was up like a swarm of bees at the
news, and the two castles which crossed fire at the
mouth of the harbour were manned and on the alert

JOHN FOX. 271

The desperate Christians, maddened with some feeling
between terror and hope, worked as men have seldom
worked; some carrying on a furious battle with the
Turks, who were by this time attacking the prison on
the land side ; others putting in oars, masts, and pro
visions. It was a terrible fight with time, and the
Christians won.
At last they were all on board; They hoisted sail
before a fair wind, and stood straight towards the two
grim silent castles which stood between them and
freedom. No man blenched as they swiftly approached
them ; and until the fortresses opened on their defence
less galley like a furious volcano
" There was silence, deep as death,
And the boldest held his breath
For a time."
There was nothing to be done. The full-sailed
galley sped on before the south wind, with the shots
whistling and hurtling around her, the furious popu
lation swarming on the shore like bees. With the
forty-eight shots which she received in her few minutes'
purgatory not one cf them harmed anybody. The
forts passed they were on the free blue Mediterranean.
Their first act, when called together by John Fox,
was to offer up thanksgiving for their wonderful de
livery. They then set to work at the oars, and
laboured with a will, for it was very certain that
the Turks would soon be in pursuit of them.
But the wind was foul, and provisions ran out. For
twenty-eight' weary days they toiled on, and began to
lose heart, and eight died of starvation ; but when
hope was nearly dead they sighted Crete.

272 JOHN FOX.

The monks received them most kindly and joyfully.
They begged of Fox his rusty sword, and hung it up
as a precious relic. From hence they went to Tarento,
where they sold their galley, and having divided the
proceeds among one another, started on foot for
Naples. The Turks scoured the seas for them in eveiy
direction but the right one. On one occasion, how
ever, they had a narrow escape ; a ship which followed
them told them six Turkish galleys were only one day
after them.
When they separated, John Fox went to Rome,
where he was kindly received by the Pope, Gregory
XIV., who rewarded him for his valour, and wrote a
very kind and complimentary letter for him, in which
he says : " We in his behalf do, in the bowels of Christ,
desire you that, taking compassion of his former
captivity and present penury, you doe not only suffer
him to pass freely through all your cities and towns,
but also succore him with your charitable alms ; whom
with tender affection of pitie we commend unto you.
Rome, April, 1577."
It is very pleasant to contemplate the hearty kind
ness of the Pope towards the native of a country he tried
so hard to ruin. Our other great foe also, the King
of Spain, was almost equally kind to him ; gave him
a place as gunner at Valentia, with eight ducats a
month (2/ loj.). In two years he returned to England,
where he was pensioned by the Court for his services.
He came from Woodbridge in Suffolk. That is on
the tideway of the river Deben, between Ipswich and
Saxmundham.

ALVARO NUNEZ.
Alvaro Nunez, called also Capo de Vava,* was
treasurer to the expedition sent under Navaez, the
would-be superseder of Cortez, to conquer and take
possession of all the country between the River of
Palms and the Cape Sable. It sailed in the year
1527, consisting of five ships and 600 men, and
it reached Dominica in safety, where it left 140
men ; after which it proceeded to St. lago de
Cuba. Here Navaez, looking about for men, victuals, and
horses, met with one Parcalle, who promised him
a good adventure if he would come with him as
far as Trinidad, about 300 miles along the coast.
Navaez sailed at once, but staying behind with
four ships at Vera Cruz (the cape at the end
of the Cobra mountain) he sent on one Captain
Pantoxa with one ship to get the goods, and
sent our hero, Alvaro Nunez, as treasurer, to see
after him : which was the cause of Alvaro Nunez
being close to the centre of the greatest cyclone
which had been met with since the discovery of
America, as is proved by the certificates got from
-* Or Cabeza de Vaca.
T

27.4 ALVARO NUNEZ.
him by the inhabitants, and shown to the King of
Spain. Alvaro Nunez happened to be on shore when it
came on to blow, and was unable to get on board
his ship. The wind grew worse and worse all
Sunday, and on Sunday night attained its greatest
horror. There was no shelter, for both houses and
churches had fallen before the blast, and the frag
ments were flying into the forest ; seven or eight men
would go staggering about aimlessly in the darkness,
dreading instant death, and holding on by one an
other to steady themselves against the wind. In
the darkness of that wild Sunday night they heard
noises, as of devils in the storm — bells, flutes, drums,
and other instruments ; but the longest night has
its day, and on the Monday morning they went
down to the harbour.
Nullum in conspectu naveni! Only some of their
furniture in the water, whereby they knew that they
were cast away. They walked along the coast, but
there was nothing to be found ; and so they turned
from the ruined shore to the ruined forest, and about
three-quarters of a mile from the surf found a boat
on some trees, which gave them a hint of what had
happened. But walking some thirty miles along
the shore Alvaro found two men of his ship, under
the debris of some houses, but so changed by
bruising that he could not identify them; also he
found a friar's habit, and a torn coverlid. For the
rest nothing whatever. Sixty men had been on
boaird the two ships, and for them mother, sweet
heart, and wife must wait until the judgment day.

r fferts of n Cyclont'.

p. 274.

ALVARO NUNEZ. 275

The thirty men who had come on shore with Nunez
and Pantoxa were all saved, but they had to live
in the miserable and wasted country, as best they
might until the Admiral arrived with four other
ships. After some time he came, and they were
relieved. The hurricane, however, had such an effect on the
minds of the crews of the four surviving ships, that
they earnestly prayed the Admiral Henrignez not
to put to sea during that winter. He attended to
their prejudices, and sent Alvaro Nunez to winter
at Sagna (Bahia de Xagna), twelve leagues further.
Here they stayed from the 5th of November to the
20th of February.
They were now joined by the Admiral Henrignez,
and set sail, 400 men and eighty horses, in four ships
and a brigantine. Their pilot Mirvelo ran the fleet
on the sandbar in coming out, and only got off after
five days, at spring tide. There is nothing to notice
about them until they crossed to the south point
of Florida and came into an open roadstead, which
I am inclined to consider to be the sound between
Great Island and the main of Florida.
Here Henrignez landed on an island and made
advances to the Indians, who brought him fish
and venison. He took possession of the country in
the name of the Emperor, and landed his men and
forty horses, all the rest being dead. Such was
another conquest of Florida.
Landing at night they found the huts of the
Indians empty, they being all out fishing. One
house or congeries of huts was sufficiently large to
T 2

2/6 ALVARO NUNEZ.
contain three hundred people, and in it they found
nets, and, alas ! to one of the nets they found hung
a golden bell.
The pilot Mirvelo now declared himself to be
entirely out of reckonings, not knowing where he
was : the brigantine was therefore despatched on a
roving commission to find a harbour, which he said
he knew, or to return to Cuba. Meanwhile those
that were left began to see more of the Indians, who
were not without the knowledge of white men, for
they had many Spanish merchants' chests, in each
of which was a corpse, embalmed in painted deer
skins. "The commissary thought it was a kind of
idolatry, and so he burned the chests with the
bodies." This was in the year 1527. Bartholomew de las
Casas, the Dominican monk, who sent his furious
protest against the cruelties of the Spaniards towards
the Indians, wrote in 1542. It is doubtful whether
that magnificent book can be epitomized in a book of
adventure. Still let us glance at it, for it will light
our path in some degree in this adventure which
we have in hand. No intelligent reader will blame
me for pausing here, and giving a slight sketch of
what Las Casas did, and of what he said. He is
familiar to every educated man through Prescott
Let us see him and hear him speak for himself
In reading Prescott's glorious prose, you see his
name often ; let me humbly introduce him to you
in a more familiar way than a great historian could
do. One's object is to be familiar without being
vulgar.

ALVARO NUNEZ. 277

I for my part rank Bart, de las Casas,* the
Dominican friar, afterwards Bishop of Chiapa,
among the most noble and most fearless men
who ever walked the earth. He is one of those
men who takes your soul to his, and warms it by
his honest warmth. Listen to him in what, I dare
say, is a sufficiently clumsy English translation ;
listen and say if you do not love. This is his plea
for the slaughtered Indians, -\vritten to Don Philip
of Spain, the man whom our people know, the cruel
king whom we shall hate till time be dead. Mind
it is no well-backed Radical or well-backed Tory
speaking in a free country ; only a solitary Dominican
friar, speaking to the man who was practically lord
of the earth. Who dares speak so now .' Is not this
the purest constitutional radicalism .'
"Most High and Mighty Lord, as God by His
providence hath, for the guiding and commoditie of
mankind in this world, .in realmes and provinces,
appointed Kings to be fathers, and so consequently
the most noble and principall members of common-
weales : so can we not justly doubt, by reason of
the good wills that Kings and Princes have to minis
ter justice, but if there be anythings amisse, either
by violence or injuries committed, the only cause
that they are not redressed is, that Princes have
no notice of the same. For certainely if they knew
them, they would employ all diligence and endeavour
in the remedie thereof For it is sufficient to be
' Since writing what follows, I perceive that Mr. Helps has written
his life. The life of such a man, by such a hand, should be a very
beautiful one.

278 ALVARO NUNEZ.
presupposed, even of the kindly and natural vertue
of a King, that the only notice that he taketh of
any mischief tormenting his kingdom, is sufficient
to procure him, if it be possible to root out the
same as being a thing which he cannot tolerate
even one only moment of time."
The Indians, as Las Casas goes on to tell us,
were very gentle, very tender, of an easy complexion,
which can sustain no travel, and die easily of any
disease. He gives them the best character which
any man could give to a nation, and then he says
how they were treated by the Spaniards.
After forty-nine years, he gives this as the result
of Spanish rule. In St Domingo, out of the three
million souls there remained two hundred. Cuba
and Jamaica, with sixty other islands once as fertile
as " the King's garden at Seville," were now all waste.
As the inhabitants of the island of St Domingo
were used up in working in the mines, the Indians
of the smaller islands were captured and set to labour
also, so that these islands were left without one single
inhabitant, after having sustained a population of
500,000. What Mr. Helps Jias written about this glorious
man, Bart, de las Casas, I have not yet read. I only
hope that his estimate of him is the same as mine,
that he is worthy of a place in a triptich with
Savonarola and Wycliffe, as one of the three great
Catholic protesters. Whether he agrees with me
or not his books are always beautiful and good, so
I would recommend my younger readers to make
Mr. Helps one of their "friends in council" about

ALVARO NUNEZ.

279

Bart, de las Casas, and every other matter on which
he speaks, in preference to me, as a man more able,
but I hope not more diligent.
We must go on a little further with this Bart de
las Casas, before we get to Alvaro Nunez once more.
We are on possibly the strangest journey ever taken
by mortal man ; we must illustrate it as we can.
Las Casas tells us that between 15 10 and 1542
there were no less than four attacks on this country
of Florida, all of which were utterly disastrous : that
of Juan Ponce de Leon, with 80 men ; that of
Vasco D'Aylon with 220; that of Pamphilo de
Navaez, with 400 (the present expedition) ; and
lastly, the one of which every one has heard, that
of Ferdinand de Soto. Of the first three, including
the one we have in hand. Las Casas says, "They
are dead 'of an evil death; and as for the houses
they built in times past with the blood of mankind,
their memory is abolished off the face of the earth,
as if they had never been in the world."
His testimony about De Soto is still more quaint
and strange. "The fourth tyrant, that came last
in the yeere 1538, cunningly advized, and being
fully furnished, there is, three years since (he writes
in 1542), no tidings concerning him. Surely he is
one of the notoriousest and best experimented in
those that have done the most hurts, mischieves,
and destructions in any realmes with their consorts.
Wherefore I believe that God has given him like
end with the others."
Strangely enough, God, who often makes vain
the prophecies of men, made this friar's furiously

28o ALVARO NUNEZ.
indignant words come true, almost at the very
moment they were being uttered, little as he knew
it. Turn to the account of the expedition of De
Soto, written by a Portuguese of the company.
Broken-hearted and fever-sticken, on the 20th of
May, 1542 (just when Las Casas was writing), the
Claverhouse of the Indians lay a-dying by the banks
of the swift Mississippi.
"On the next day departed out of this life the
valourous, virtuous, and valiant captain, Don Fer
nando de Soto, Governor of Cuba, and Adelantado
of Florida, whom fortune advanced, as it useth to do
others, that he might have the greater fall."
Strange prophecy and strange fulfilment. His
followers kept his death secret from the Indians,
as his personal prestige was so great among them
that they dreaded being attacked if thfe Indians
discovered De Soto's death. They buried him, first
on shore, but afterwards secretly, in the dead of
night, took him out in a canoe and sank him in
the middle of the stream. The old legend about
him, which we used to sing when we were much
younger, is not correct.
" Oh wrap me up in a banner proud,
In the banner of old Castile,
And let the war-drum round me roll.
The trumpets o'er me peal.
And bury me at the noon of night.
When gone is the sultry beam,
At noon of night, by torches light.
In Mississippi's stream."
The red-handed captain had no such gaudy funeral.
A solitary canoe held still on the hissing eddies

ALVARO NUNEZ. 281
of the Mississippi at midnight by two steadfast
Indians ; four faithful friends, who loved him, as
one may read ; a scared priest hurrying through
his offices in the trembling boat ; the solemn forests
around walling the headlong river rushing on
to the eternity of ocean ; above the calm stars,
which had looked down upon so many of the dead
man's deeds. A splash in the water, and the last
was seen on earth of Ferdinand de Soto, whose
name will be remembered for ever, were it only
for the cry which was sent up to heaven against
him from the mouth of one solitary monk.
Forgive the digression — we are speaking of a
time six years previously ; we will now follow Alvaro
Nunez, the real discoverer of the Mississippi.
Attracted by the gold they found in the hands
of the Indians, they asked them where they had
got it and the Indians replied, From Appalachen,
to the north. One can only go into probabilities
here, and the probability is, that the natives round
the present town of Appalachicola got gold from
the natives of the southern spurs of the Apalachian
mountains. A local antiquarian of Milledgeville
might write us a pleasant paper on the subject It
is certain that the expedition began crawling up
the, swampy peninsula of Florida after the metal
for which they lusted.
No one who has not done a little of the " ex-
fodiuntur opes'' can understand exactly what the
gold fever is like. We know estimable and wise
men who will creep and crawl through a summer's
day after a stag, regardless alike of scenery, dinner,

282 ALVARO NUNEZ.
and rheumatism ; who will not only do this, but
will talk about nothing else for weeks after, to the
intolerable boredom of their friends. Dine again
with a party of fox-hunters, and see how their
hearts have been in it ; with a party of shooters,
and see how one man sits moody over a good
dinner because he has missed one rocketting phea
sant. Dark tongues whisper to us that Mr. Bright
loves the wild swirl of a salmon dearly. All these
sports are as nothing to gold hunting ; especially
where it runs nuggety.
To see IT — it itself. Mammon's own bait, which
rules the world as at present constituted ; the sweet
heavy, delicious lump of yellow metal, which mar
ries your palm so lovingly : to see it itself — the
thing for which parliaments legislate first and
men, otherwise good citizens, lie, forge, and cheat
widow and orphan : to see this peep with its in
describable golden gleam out of dirty gravel is a
thing which maddens men. See the wondrous sight
for yourself before you utterly condemn the men
who are driven mad by the lust of it
The compiler, speaking in his own person from
considerable experience, has seen strange things
from this gold fever, which this expedition had
strong on them, and which made them, like some
other people, forget God and morality. I have
stood, wishing to plead between two angry brothers,
but have desisted in fear of the "redding straik"
(this is the most absolute truth). I have seen
wives deserted with promises of return ; I have
seen wives dragged many hundred miles on mere

ALVARO NUNEZ. 283
newspaper reports, and have seen them come back
—broken people. I have helped to take out beau
tiful young men dead, who have gone, in spite of
remonstrance, into dangerously undermined ground
after this same gold. I have sat myself eight hours
together by candlelight, at the end of a long dark
drive, singing Lycidas and the Christmas hymn,
contented and perfectly happy at seeing the metal
gleam now and then among the gravel. And more,
I have sat on Christmas eve waiting for those who
never came, and who will come no more for ever.
Dim, fever-stricken ghosts came in from the Buck-
land, and brought with them still dimmer ghosts
from the Omeo ; but some who were waited for came
not They had thrown all at the feet of Mammon,
and he had devoured them.
Of all the so-called " sports '' by which men have
chosen to plague themselves, gold hunting is the most
maddening, and in most respects the most degrading
, and selfish. The guiding god on the expedition we
have in hand was gold. The Spaniards devastated
the earth for it ; we have helped to civilize the earth
by it How much less selfish we have been than the
Spaniards, casuists, if they knew how, might deter
mine. Yet we, the greatest of Teutonic pirates, have
never been so cruel as the great Latin pirates.
Three hundred men started up the long point of
Florida on this strange expedition ; forty were on
horseback, the rest on foot. For fifteen days
they saw no Indians, and met with no food except
dates, and at this point came to the first noticeable
river.

284 AL VARO NUNEZ.
I have reasons, which it would be wearisome to give,
for thinking that the expedition headed towards the
east or Atlantic coast of Florida, and that this river
was the Suwanee. He talks of the large lakes and
high mountains of this country, meaning, I believe,
the " Sandy Ridge " and the Lakes Mayaco, and other
expansions of these rivers. They crossed this river
by swimming and by rafts, and having met 200
Indians without a fight, once more inquired for
Appalachen, the province where the gold came from,
ready to believe anything, or to do anything for their
gold. What they would believe we can learn from
the account of, and skirmish with, the Indians. " Some
of them " (the Spanish soldiers) " swore that they had
seen two okes (oaks), each of them as great as a
man's legge, shot throw from side to side with the
arrowes of the Indians." Nunez himself claims to
have seen an arrow in the foot of an elm " a handful
in,'' which is not incredible.
They now arrived at Appalache Bay, the time
and probable distance coming quite right, and after
a fight in which one was killed, came in nine days
to Ante, where, resting two days, Alvaro Nunez was
despatched by the governor to look for the sea, which
the Indians said was near. He went, discovered no
sea, but a great river, which I venture to conceive,
taking times and distances, and remembering that
his story was dictated from memory, was no less a
river than the Alabama. He says that it was the
Magdalena. The expedition here suddenly collapsed. We can
now see how our great enemies, the Spaniards, could

ALVARO NUNEZ. 285
shift for themselves in those times. I think that we
must allow, nearly as well as we could.
If they were on the Alabama, they were at least,
as they had come, 700 miles from their point of de
barkation ; if they were on the Chatahouchy, they
were certainly 500 (these figures, according to the
compiler's usual custom, are greatly understated). The
bubble had burst, the horses were dying before their
eyes ; the third conquest of Florida, to live in the
minds of men at all, must turn itself into a great
and honourable disaster, and a glorious retreat. Next
to a Jena campaign, a really fine Anabasis is the most
glorious thing. A most decisive Anabasis was posi- ><'
tively necessary, and they set about it.
They must get away by boat : but where was the
timber to build them in a country of monocotyle-
donous trees, without iron .' Why, here were bamboos,
and here were stirrup-irons, and here were wild beast
skins, and, more than all, the divine spark which could
bring cosmos out of such queer organic and inorganic
things. One of their men, a man whose name is
lost for ever, a man never noticed, comes to us
in this black midnight of disaster, and says to us,
"Excellentissimo Adelantado Pamphilo Navaez, most
noble and excellent Alvaro Nunez, Capo de Vava, our
Secretary ; I am Sancho Panza, a blacksmith and
bellows-maker, and my brother is a carpenter, and
lives on the quay of the ever-blessed St. Christopher,
at St. Lucar. Now, most excellent and right admi
rable gentlemen, you have made a rather worse mess
of this business than any of your predecessor's, but
if you will listen to me I will get you out of it I

286 ALVARO NUNEZ.

will make you (by my bellows-making knowledge)
rafts of inflated skins ; I will float them with canes
(by my brother's carpentering knowledge) ; and I
will take your very knightly spurs off your heels,
and make out of them iron bolts sufficient for the
purpose." Don Quixote did not like this last proposition very
much, but he remembered that, against Sancho's
recollections about the helmet of Mambrino, and the
Cave of Montesinos, he had no case against Sancho,
save Sancho's solitary indiscretion about the Pleiades,
And when Don Quixote remembered that he also was
riding cock-horse on Clavileno at the same time, he
gave up his spurs, and Sancho made files of them.
Our dear "old Don does not seem to have remem
bered on this occasion the promissory note for the
ass foals. Well ! well ! a book one loves is hard to
part with.
These boats were made of cane and- inflated skins,
caulked with palmetto fibre and pine amber.*
Between the fourth of August and the twentieth of
September five boats were finished, each thirty-three
feet in length ; the oars were of " savine " (most likely
Juniperus Barbadensis or Virginian'a), the ropes and
tackle of the tails and manes of the horses on which
they had been living while building their boats.
Flaying these horses' legs whole, they made bottles
« Called in our great southern provinces "kawri," not from the
same species of tree of course, but similar. In the old English trans
lation from Ramusio it is called "a certain gumme, which a Grecian
called Don Theodoro," which seemed difficult to class in any way, until
one saw that Don Theodoro was the name of the man who fetched it,
and not of the gum.

ALVARO NUNEZ. 287

to carry their water. In "the country whereinto
our sinnes conducted us " there were no stones, and
so they were badly off for ballast But at last they
got afloat.
Fifty men were now dead, the rest were divided
among the boats ; and putting off into the river, were,
after all kinds of almost incredible hardships from
hunger and thirst (the water in the horseskin bottles
having, of course, turned putrid), carried along the
shore, among islands and reefs which it is impossible
to recognise. The record of their voyage, until the
eighth of November, it would be utterly useless and
painful to go through.
On the eighth of November we find the boat of
Alvaro Nunez in very strange case. Hunger, thirst.
the wild beating of the cruel sea, the cold of the
winter, had all done their work, and the crew of
Alvaro's boat lay heaped on one another as they
had cast themselves down in their despair. Alone
erect among them stood Alvaro and the master,
the latter of whom soon told Alvaro that he must
take the helm, for that his time was come, and
so went and cast himself down among the others.
What a night-watch for Alvaro upon the wild,
wandering sea, alone, waiting for his turn to die as
he thought ! This is surely stranger and wilder than
anything we have heard of yet. He steered the
boat until after midnight and then leaving her to
herself crept forward to see if the master, the last
man who had spoken, was dead." What an errand !
" The merry men so beautiful,
And they all dead did lie."

288 ALVARO NUNEZ.
But that was not for them as yet The apparently
dead men were not dead ; their end was not come,
but was to come all the same. The. master also
was not dead. I honestly confess that my pen fails
me here. The reader must trust to an older one
than mine.
" Midnight being past, I went to see if the master
was dead, who said vnto me, that he was suddenly
better, and that he would guide the boat vntil day.
Then surely I found myself in such state, that
much more willingly would I haue received death
than see so many men before me, in that state in
which they were.
"And after the master took charge of the boat
I rested myself a little, but very vnquietly, because
nothing was further from me than sleepe."
Stars, which look down on our wandering, restless
brothers in bush and in jungle, listen to this awful dead
voice out of the dim past, and shine kindly on them !
" And about the morning me thought that I heard
the noise and roaring of the sea ; because being a
very lowe coast it raged much. Whereupon I called
the master, who answered me, that he supposed we
were now neere to the land, and, sounding, we found
ourselves in seuen fathom. He thought it fit that
we should remain at see until daylight appeared.
" And so I took an oare and rowed to the land's
side, and put the stearne to the sea. And being
neare to the land, a wave took us, which cast the
boat back into the' sea, as farre as a man might
sling a stone. And with the great blowe which it
gaue, almost all the men who remained there as dead

AL VARO NUNEZ. 289

recovered their senses again, and began to goe on
their hands and feet''
It had been strange, e'en in a dream.
To see these dead men rise."
Had Coleridge read Alvaro Nunez .' I think not
Candlish and Pigafetta would have given him all
his materials for the "Ancient Mariner."
The men of Alvaro Nunez got on shore and
managed to make fires. They were staying at one
more resting-place on the road to dusky death.
Lopez d'Oviedo, the strongest among them, was
sent to climb into a tree ; and he reported that they
were on an island, and could see an Indian town.
To this they went, found it empty, and took a
small pot; some thornback, and a "young whelpe."
An hour or two afterwards, six hundred Indians
were upon them (while only six Spaniards could
rise from the ground), with bent bows. These Indians,
about whom the Spanish captains will have to plead
against Las Casas before the throne of God, loved
them, pitied them, and brought them such store
of food as enabled them to make an attempt to
proceed on their voyage.
The Spaniards dug their boat out of the sand, and
stripping themselves naked, got her across the surf.
A heavier sea than they had calculated on capsized
her near the shore, and they being naked, and the
cold intense (November), let go the oars, and all was
ruin and disaster once more. The controller and two
others tried a swim for it but the boat struck them
and drowned them ; the others, clinging to the boat
u

290 ALVARO NUNEZ.
were cast ashore stark naked, with the loss of every
thing they had in the world, and finding the brands
of their fire still burning, they crowded round it
"We stood craning mercy from our Lord God,
and pardon of our sinnes with many teares ; every
one of us not grieving only for himselfe, but for
all the rest that hee saw in the same state. At the
setting of the sunne, the Indians, supposing that
we had not been gone, came to find vs, and brought
vs somewhat to eate."
Poor, wild, forest children ! But they were terrified
and puzzled at seeing the Spaniards naked, and
they did not know them again. The gaunt, grim,
terrible Spanish soldier in his mail was one thing,
the utterly naked, cowering men, whose very natural
majesty was gone by starvation, were another. They
knew them no more than did the wary porter know
Jovinian when he came before him in such guise :
" ' We list not buy to-day or flesh or fell ;
Go home and get thyself a shirt at least.
If thou would'st aught ; for saith our vicar well.
That God hath given clothes e'en to the beast.
Therewith he turned to go, but as he ceased.
The king cried out, ' Open, O foolish man !
I am thy lord and king Jovinian.' " *
And as they cried out, the Indians knew their
Jovinian at once. It seems a pretty story to tell
about the way they received the poor naked
Spaniards. While telling it let us contrast the
English of the verse I have quoted above — which
I humbly venture to think almost the most exquisite
* Morris's "Proud King."

AL VARO NUNEZ. 291
English we have ever had, the highest development
of our great language — with the English, roughly
speaking, of Shakespeare.
"The Indians seeing the misfortune which had
befallen us, and the lamentable case wherein we
were, with so great calamitie and miserie, came
amongst vs, and through great griefe and compas
sion which they had of vs, beganne mightily to
weepe and lament, and that from the heart, insomuch
that they might be heard farre from thence; and
they thus lamented more than halfe an houre."
To go back again from the language of Purchas
to that of Chaucer, two hundred odd years before,
may interest our younger readers. Let us take a
fragment which Chaucer has put into the mouth of
a Cambridge student, leaving the Early English
Text Society to dispose of the question whether
Chaucer's English was the vernacular of the day ;
and leaving also Tyrwhitt, who thinks it was, to
fight his own battle. The two undergraduates are
catching horses :
" These sely clerkes rennen up and down.
With Kepe, kepe ; Stand, stand ; Jossa, wanderere.
Ga whistle thou, and I shall kepe him here.
# * * *
They coulde not, though they did all hir mightj
Hir capel catch, he ran alway so fast,
Till in a diche they caught him at the last."
Now that I have tried by a few, I hope well-
chosen, words, to take your mind for a little time
from this continued history of disaster, we will
follow Alvaro Nunez in his unparalleled adventure.
U 2

292 ALVARO NUNEZ.
Strangely enough, the Indians among whom these
wrecked Spaniards were, were a tribe familiar to
all English mouths as household words. I find that
they must have been the Seminoles.
Here are the historical old Seminoles for you, if
you care to hear of them from the first educated
man who ever saw them and lived.
They fought most stoutly and well. Their bows
were terribly strong, but of no use against Spanish
armour; yet they managed to kill the controller's
horse under him. They lived in little huts made of
straw and reeds, placed carefully out of the way of
lightning, in small gullies, with a good elevation
nearly round them, so that the spark v/as little likely
to strike them, by no means a brick villa on an
elevation, with metal cowls on high chimneys, like
the Sydenham man's house, who lives in expectation
of having that house about his ears during the next
thunderstorm. They lived mainly on maize, ground
in their hand-mills, and on fish. Their bows were
as thick as a man's arm, and their range was two
hundred paces (one Avellameda was stricken like
Ahab " between the joints of his harness," and
killed dead). They were gentle, brave, good-hu
moured, and very affectionate in their domestic
relations. In stature very tall and handsome. They
were apparently a very innocent set of people, but
they had to go, and they went. I forget where
they were shoved round to last.
Seeing -in the hands of the Indians two Spanish
nets, Alvaro asked the Indians, by signs, where
they had got them : they replied, in the same manner.

AL VARO NUNEZ. 293

that they were got from two countrymen of theirs
who were living not far off. He, sending two
Spaniards and two Indians after them, found that
they were two Spanish gentlemen of the expedi
tion, in an ill case, Andrea Dorante and Alonzo
di Castiglio. These poor Spanish gentlemen had
kept their clothes, and were deeply distressed at
finding their comrades naked, but they could do
nothing at all for them.
Their only chance now was to get at what they
believed to be the nearest Spanish settlement to
them, Panuco, of which place we have heard before
in this book. The first attempt was to launch the
remaining boat, but she was at once swamped.
One more chance remained. The main body
•might possibly winter at Appalache Bay, but four
of the lustiest and strongest swimmers might de
sperately go round the head of the gully, swimming
the rivers and creeks, and bring assistance. The
names of the four valiant naked Spaniards who
were, in an entire absence of all geography, set to
swim the Alabama, the Mississippi, the Sabine, the
Trinity, the Colorado, and the Bravo del Norte, at
the place where Brownsville now stands ; these men's
names, I say, shall not be lost, " carent quia vate
sacro." They were : Alonzo Ferrante, a Portuguese,
carpenter and mariner ; Mendoz, of whom nothing
more is said ; Figueroa, a native of Toledo ; and a
fourth, who had, apparently, like Hans Andersen's
magician, no name at all — so I cannot assist him
further. They passed away, and the others were left without

294 ALVARO NUNEZ.
clothes, and the winter settled down. The head
party under Alvaro Nunez seem to have known
how to die like Spanish gentlemen ; but five isolated
men, leaderless, along the coast, in their hunger,
their despair, and their fury at being brought by
their leaders to die in such a place, grew devilish,
and ate one another, until only one solitary man
remained. The horror that this catastrophe caused among
the Seminoles was very great. The eighty Spaniards
were now reduced to fifteen.
Their fury against the Spaniards was increased by
the belief that an epidemic dysentery, from which
the Seminoles were suffering, was caused by witch
craft of the Spaniards. Alvaro Nunez pointed out
to them that if they had ever had this power, they
would never have allowed their own men to die. The
argument prevailed -with the kindly Seminoles. But
there is very little doubt, from his account, that if
the Seminoles had dreamed of the ghastly horror of
cannibalism being enacted in their territory, they
would have murdered every Spaniard at once. The
savages spared them as men smitten of God, and
therefore sacred from the stroke of man.
A singular and strange custom, of which I have
never read before, prevailed among these Seminoles,
so fantastic and almost frantic, that it seems to put
them in a rather high class of civilization, and
makes one wonder that they did not use hair
powder and chignons, like the Latookas of Baker
When anybody died, these Seminoles "initiated a
function " (I believe .that is correct American),

ALVARO NUNEZ. 295
When any one died in a house, they instantly
left off providing supplies for that house, and the
house left off providing supplies for itself There
is surely more midsummer madness in this piece
of religion than in any other one has heard of,
not excepting suttee or witch -swimming. Until
April he stayed with them, and then the tribe
migrated to get mulberries (whether Morus rubra
or scabra I cannot say, but he says they grew by
the sea).
These Seminoles now got it into their poor heads
that these Spaniards, so different from them, who
prayed to gods other than theirs, and had been
honoured by being smitten and afflicted by those gods,
must have miraculous powers of healing. Cooper the
novelist, who knew much about the Indians, was the
first who ever called my attention to this strange
respect for the dignity of sorrow existing among these
forest children. One is glad to find it cropping out
here again, were it only that one is glad to find that a
man who has given us so much pleasure was right
The Spaniards laughed at the Indian nonsense, but
the Seminoles deprived them of food until they
undertook cures. And of course, having little more
to deal with than flatulent dyspepsia, accompanied
with nervous symptoms, succeeded. Homceopathy
and spirit-rapping were alive among ourselves till
very lately ; brain waves are the last thing ; Great-
rakes may write to the papers to-morrow, for aught
one knows, and give us the details of his stroking
cure. However, Alvaro Nunez undertook cures, and

296 ALVARO NUNEZ.
expresses to us his unutterable astonishment at find
ing them quite successful.
Having done a little doctoring, he now took to mer
chandise, travelling about, as I believe, into the
country of Indians scarcely less historical than the
Seminoles, that of the Choctaws. They were as
different from the Seminoles as the Mandans are from
the Arrapahoes, the Comanches, or the Sioux. Had
this expedition landed west of the Alabama, they
would have had short shrift, and we should have heard
no more of them for ever. It is to the gentle kind
ness of the Seminoles that we are indebted for this
story ; clumsily told enough in the first instance, and
possibly not less so now. The story is the wildest
and strangest I have ever read, " like a fire seen
far off in waste places," as Swinburne says of
Blake. Now,' wandering among these Choctaws in the
lonely, swampy forests which maddened Dred, he took
for five solitary years to trading. The world was past
the man. Everything was entirely gone from him,
as he believed ; the broad sweeping reaches of the
Guadalquivir, crowded by the fantastic and beautiful
aTe<pdvo}/j,a irvpyaTcov which men call Seville, gone
utterly, and in their place the swamps of Florida,
and the brutal Choctaws, with their indescribable vices
and cruelties.
Now for five years this Spanish gentleman, pre
serving his form of faith in Christ lacking the ordi
nances of his form of religion, without clothes, without
companions, save for occasional interviews with the
Other three who were left now, Andrea Dorante,

ALVARO NUNEZ. 297
Estenamico, and Figueroa, lived, if it may be called
living. He describes the buffalo* as being met within fifty
leagues of the mouth of the Alabama (which river he
never named, I am merely guessing) : for the rest he
tells us little about either Choctaw or Seminole, which
we cannot learn from Catlin.
He now traded, a matter his nation has always
been famous for, but has very often only performed
one half of the task^in buying they are apt not to
pay. This poor Spanish gentleman went into trade,
and sold reeds for arrows, and strung shells and
nuts to be used for festival dances, which I take to
be wampum. About this time I think that he passed
a little westward into the country of the Moscagas
(he says Marianes), in the direction of Mobile.
So time went on, and he lived and did not die.
One attempt he and a few others made to escape
westward round the head of the gulf, but it was
detected by the Indians and prevented. It caused
them to treat the Christians with great jealousy and
harshness, and separate them one from another. But
the next time that the Indians went away into the
woods to drink what he calls June, Alvaro Nunez,
Dorante, Castiglio, and a negro started for their lives.
It was late autumn, and there was no time to spare.
Two days' quick walking, however, got them to a fresh
tribe of Indians, whom he calls Ananares, whom we
• "These came from the north, fiirther through the .land unto the
coast of Florida; little horns, like the Moresche cattle" (the bull of
the arena?). " They have very long hair, and extend themselves into
the country more than four hundred leagues." Evidently the bison.

298 ALVARO NUNEZ.

may guess were between Appalachicola and Mobile, >
and were so far safe.
They had been heard of here for their great healing
powers, and Alvaro Nunez tells us this story in perfect
good faith. I make no comments on it, disliking
such stories. Indians came to them afflicted with
pains in their heads, requiring to be healed. Castiglio
blessed them, and commended them to God, where
upon they were instantly well. The Indians believed
in the miracle, and it was a splendid thing for the
Spaniards ; venison and " Tune " they, might have
now as much as they would. They were now
certainly west of St. George's Sound. Their new
friends seem to have been Moscagas, for the Creeks
lay up country, about the lower slopes of the Appal-
lachian mountains. Here they determined to winter.
The Indians, however, were migrating in search of
food, and almost at first Alvaro got lost and left
behind. Five days he wandered alone, carrying fire
brands to make four great fires to lie between every
night, utterly without food and without clothes.*
For some time Castiglio seems to have done almost
all the healing. His prayers seemed to have worked
wonders, though he deeply distrusted the effect of
them himself in consequence of his numerous sins.
They were intensely believed in. Nunez, a polished
Spanish gentleman, was evidently puzzled by the
cures wrought, and gave God thanks always for His
mercies, hoping that He would soon remove him to a
place where he could serve Him better. The only
theory I can advance is, that the Indians had over-
* " As naked as ever I was born " in trans.

ALVARO NUNEZ. 299

fed themselves with the " Tune '' and venison, and
were suffering from nervous dyspepsia, a disease
always instantly cured by pulling the patient's nose,
or being rude to his wife. Few students over thirty
have not known those singular reflected actions of
stomach on to brain, which are instantly removed and
forgotten by action or pleasure. Certain sermons
bring those symptoms on, but while Maurice is preach
ing they disappear. A street organ may make an
over-worked man feel ill, but I never heard that
Madam Schuman and Joachim interpreting Beethoven
ever did.
Besides, I know from personal experience that
savages, starved at one time, over-eaten at another,
are singularly subject to nervous dyspepsia. They
are always seeing the devil. The grasshopper is a
burden unto them. Their remedy, when they have
found it out, is brandy or whisky. " Plenty mine,
tumble down die to-morrow, Mr. Overseer. See um
debbil debbil along a creek in a tea scub. Give it
nobler brandy, Mr. Overseer." Give him a couple or
so of charges of powder and shot, and tell him that
when he brings you half a dozen ducks he shall have
tea and bread, and he is well in an instant His debbil
debbil disappears, as the rackshass or shietan of Brah
mins or Mussulman East Indian disappears before
the vigorous bullying of Captain Jones, Bengal
Artillery. I want to believe in my troublesome friend Alvaro
Nunez, and so I have defended him at some length.
He did not believe in these apparent cures himself,
but wondered at them.

30O ALVARO NUNEZ
The Indians among whom he passed now are
utterly undistinguishable by me from any atlas (and
I have been favoured in that respect) which I can get
hold of The antiquarians of New Orleans must
settle the matter between these tribes, amongst which
the discoverer of the Mississippi passed : Cucalenches,
Maticoles, Coaios, Sofalas, and Ataios. It appears to
me that, whatever they were, they were not Choctaws.
There appears an internal evidence in this quaintest
of quaint stories that the Seminoles were gentle
and the Choctaws violent. Perhaps some American
gentleman will come across, write the history of
Berkshire, and survive. However, one man turned
up at the end of his journey, and saw the Mississippi
first of Europeans ; enough for a book of adventure.
The Sofala Indians came to Castiglio and begged
him to come and heal some of their sick. But
Castiglio was a " very fearful physician," and dis
trusted the whole business from beginning to end.
And so that great Spanish gentleman Alvaro Nunez
was sent on the errand.
Among the Sofala Indians Alvaro found a man
apparently dead ; he actually believed that he was :
though the symptoms, as described by him, are
certainly those of a man in a state of coma after a
singularly violent epileptic fit. After Alvaro had
roused him, and blown on his face a little, he came
to himself, to the wonder and delight of the Indians.
They entertained him with the greatest hospitality.
Such as they had, but it was little enough. These
Indians of Florida were wretchedly poor for three-
quarters of the year, the strength they got- at the

ALVARO NUNEZ. 301
Tune harvest being obliged to carry them on for a
long time. With these people he abode no less than
eight months, before he and his three companions
resumed their walk round the gulf
Among the next Indians with whom he sojourned
he had to sell a net, and, what was worse, a skin he
had to cover him, to buy provisions ; so he now had
to go naked again in the broiling sun, " which caused
them," he says, " to change their skins twice a year."
The packages they had to carry cut their flesh, and
the thorns tore them. " Once," poor Alvaro says,
that " being terribly torn, and losing much blood in
seeking wood, he could comfort himself no other
way than by thinking of the Passion of our Lord,
and the blood which had been shed for him." The
poor treasurer had need of some comfort now, for he
was in evil case. He contracted with these Indians
to make combs, bows, arrows, and nets. What he
liked best was to, get a job of scraping a hide thin,
for then he could eat the scrapings.
I put him now in and about the Alabama
and the Chickasawshay, in the country of the
people known familiarly to us as the Choctaws, or
(.') flat-heads. This nation was evidently divided
into nearly innumerable tribes, each one of which
could hardly hav5 consisted of many families, yet
which all had right of war. Seventeen tribes are
named in the Choctaw country alone, between the
Alabama and Lake Pontchartrain. It would be
utterly ridiculous for me to plague my reader and
exhibit my own ignorance in trying to localize these
little tribes of those three great groups which we now

302 ALVARO NUNEZ.
popularly know as Seminoles, Choctaws, and Creeks,
none of which three names are mentioned by Nunez
at all. Some American antiquary should epitomize
it for us ; it would be very interesting. No name of a
tribe is mentioned by Nunez in any way familiar to
European ears, except one which bears a slight simi
litude to "Arrapahoe;" no geographical name known
to me, or to modern atlases (from 1808 to Keith
Johnston), except Appallache.
Nunez, however, was the first educated European
who saw the red man of Florida and Louisiana, and
lived to write about him.* A few facts about these
great historical tribes may not be uninteresting.
It seems that they were singularly (when first
seen) like the Australian savage in more than one
point They showed most unmistakably the signs
of an older civilization decaying among outlying
tribes, by dispersion in quest of the necessaries of
life. In a case of dispersion, in consequence of utter
poverty, when dvdjKrj becomes God, the first tradi
tions which go are the old forms of culture ; the last,
the traditions necessary for the preservation of human
existence. None of these men had art to invent
their terrible bows and arrows, any more than an
Australian could invent that marvellous thing, the
boomerang. But their necessity was so great, that
they had kept hold of the traditions necessary for
their dog-like existence, and had abandoned all those
which were not necessary for it.
That they were not so far fallen away as the
Australians, it is unnecessary to say ; for, instead of
' But compare the narrative of De Soto.

ALVARO NUNEZ. 303
dying out like the Australians, they had sufficient
vitality left in them to become partially civilized, to
become very dangerous and troublesome. They were
soon splendid riders of the horses which, as Nunez
tells us, so terrified them at first They took to the
gun, and by all accounts used it with a superior
dexterity to our own. In fine, the strongest of them
were driven westward, and I believe that, getting
more into the real buffalo track, they got turned into
Comanches, and Arrapahoes, and such people. This
however is more the business of the Pacific Railway
Company than ours. Aboriginal tribes will certainly
coalesce if there is a sufficient amount of vitality left
in them. For example, the Sioux. One would like
to know the pedigree of some of the Sioux chiefs.
You may consult the " Almanach de Gotha " and get
no information. Are there none of the gentler
Pawnee, and the still gentler Mandan, among them,
not to say Chickasaws, Choctaws, Kickapoos, and
Cherokees .' Are they an Adullamite coalition .' I
do not know, whatever I may think, and so will say
not one word.
Another fact about these noble red men is notice
able in comparison with the Australian savage, the
very last one which has been brought face to face
with civilization. Their languages seem to have been
absolutely infinite. To claim precedence for the
Tower of Babel would be to speak slightingly of the
Capitol at Washington in this case. We wish to give
no further national offence, and so will pay the
United States the compliment of saying that the
country they took possession of beat (whipped .' )

304 ALVARO NUNEZ.
; Babel in the matter of the confusion of tongues
hollow. It would be incredible that two petty tribes, con
sisting of about a dozen families each, divided by a*
brook, should speak a different language. But one
finds it exactly the case in Australia to the present
day. Let us give a ghost of a guess at this very
strange fact.
Necessity. You must live, you can't starve, " at
least I can't," as that jolly convict says in "Great
Expectations." And even though you have fallen
so low in the dim dark night of savagery that you
do not care for your own children, yet you will
still care for your wife, as long as she is a patient
drudge for you. And you must feed her when she
cannot feed herself You naturally being a brute,
do so with as little trouble as possible ; consequently
you take possession of the best bit of country you
can get hold of, and hold it if you can. Dynastic
traditions step in to assist family necessities, and it
becomes entirely impossible that you can give up
your patrimony to your dearly beloved and anointed
brother at Berlin.
It is however among savage tribes not like any
little difference between Nassau and Prussia. If you
give way, you get your throat cut. Consequently you
fight for it, your sons fight for it, your grandsons
fight for it (in the barbarous manner). If you fall,
there is an hegemony of Cherokees or Kickapoos, as
the case may be. But no interchange of articulate
speech ; no Talleyrand or Londonderry ; only arrows
which will go half through a small tree.

ALVARO NUNEZ. 305

Then you cannot read or write, not even novels or
newspapers. So there is no interchange of literature,
which has done so much to cause the present existing
good feeling between the United Kingdom and the
United States.
So in fifty or sixty years, if you can hold your own
for so long, you will find that, never having held
articulate speech with any one but your own tribe,
you will have developed a new language.
Seriously, however, I do believe that this wonder
ful variety of languages among savage tribes arises
from isolation, continuous necessitous war, and utter
absence of written speech.* from languages -whose
words had entirely lost their first intention, and had
become mere arbitrary sounds, utterly without any
form of inflexion.
The people who seem to me to be the Choctaws,
of various septs, entertained them very well. Their
character for miraculous cures had gone before them,
and the further they went the greater was their
prestige. Alvaro Nunez himself says that human
memory cannot recall the innumerable tribes through
which he passed. They were received everywhere as
great " Medicine Men," few natives daring to eat
anything unless they had blown upon it. The first
sign of Mexican civihzation which they met was a
copper bell with a face engraved on it
When and where he crossed the Mississippi it is
extremely difficult to -decide ; in fact, I think im
possible. While he dawdled one has a hope, of
tracking him, but when he got among more civilized
* One need only go to Eyre's Australian vocabularies to prove it.
X

3o6 ALVARO NUNEZ.
tribes, with his prestige as a great physician, he is
nearly impossible to trace.
But he was the first European who saw the
Mississippi ; of that I think there is little doubt
If not he, who .' I believe, after a certain amount
of careful thought, that in his zeal he kept north
of Lake Pontchartrain and crossed the Mississippi
just below Baton Rouge. By this route he would
get to Requiza, and so by Rio Bravo del Norte,
and by the towns of Loredo and Revilla to Panuco.
But he confuses counsel by saying that he came to
the South Sea. Now if it can be only granted that
¦the South Sea only means the Gulf of Mexico, my
theory would hold water beautifully. But he gives
us so many facts to prove that he actually crossed to
the Pacific that one must give up this theory. About
his crossing the Mississippi there is, of course, no
doubt He arrived at the desert which the advanced
Spaniards had made and called it Peace. His
fellow-countrymen entreated him most grossly at
first but much better afterwards. The discoverer of
the Mississippi was sent home with all honour, and
arrived in Lisbon in 1537.
He had been ten years in this unutterable misery
and confusion ; ten years of hopelessness, anxiety,
and starvation. There was nothing left for him but
to go home to Spain and die comfortably. To go
home to Spain .' Certainly. But to die .' No. There
was no " die " in the . man. On his arrival home
he demanded the Governorship of Florida, but
Hernando de Soto, the man of whose death I have

ALVARO NUNEZ. 307
spoken above, had been beforehand with him there.
His vast wealth overpowered the petty claims of
our Alvaro Nunez. But in 1 540 we find the naked
Nunez, maker of nets, scraper of hides, afloat once
more, as Governor of Buenos Ayres. Losing two
ships on the coast of the Brazils, this unkillable man
landed his men and marched them overland to the
heads of the Parana, whence in canoes he took them
to his capital — -an adventure greater than his first.
If the Latin nations could hold as well as they can
conquer, where should we be .'
Poor Alvaro ! His end is very problematical.
Everybody seems to contradict every one else about
it, as is generally the case in what is called history.
Perhaps somebody may find something at Simancas
or Fetter Lane about him. That he was sent as
prisoner to Spain by the colonists in 1544 (like our
Governor Bligh) there is little doubt. Some say that,
like Bart, de las Casas, he took the side of the Indians
too strongly; some, on the other hand, say that it was
nothing of the kind. Sent home prisoner he was
however, and had to wait eight years for trial. Some
say he was honourably acquitted ; some say, on the
other hand, that he was banished to Africa. Two
things about him are certain however : that he was
a man made of stuff rarely found in these days, and
that he discovered the Mississippi.

X 2

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
It may be, as some say, that we British are the
greatest pirates on the earth ; or, on the other hand,
it may be said that we have been civilizing the earth
and subduing it, in the way God has shown us,
with many mistakes, many errors, many cruelties,
many sins, many sad ferocities. But if piracy means
the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
this magnificent regenerated India (our great future
work, leaving Western civilization to the United
States), the suppression of the slave trade, and last,
not perhaps (who can tell yet .') least, the civilization
of the Nile Basin, all I can say is, " Piracy go on
and prosper!"
We have seen in this little volume the beginning
of several things which have collapsed. Notably, the
Mogul invasion of China ; the attempt of the Papacy
on the Mogul emperor ; the works of the brave monks
in West Africa ; the slave trade ; the attempts against
Mother Carey in Spitzbergen. Let me close my little
book with an account of a matter which does not seerti
inclined to collapse in any -w^ay at all.
There lies among the pleasant Southern Seas an
island as large as Europe — an island lone, melancholy,

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 309
until lately desolate. The traveller approaching that
island even now is struck with the awful melancholy
of its high-piled forest capes ; for, like Ireland, its
mountains are near its coast, and it has a great central
basin, in trying to cross which our poor brothers have
fallen down and died, leaving their bones to whiten in
the scorching sun.
The largest, and possibly the grandest, island in the
world — not so much because its flora and fauna have
not one solitary plant, animal, or bird in common
with the nearest point of Asia, Malacca ; but because
there, among its strange, wandering savages, you find
the traces of a civilization, never, in all probability,
high, but which has left at least one puzzling trace
behind it. The natives of Australia acknowledge
no God, and are loth to hear of any, as the brave
Moravians will tell you ; yet who can still make
a boomerang and throw it .'
The land of lonely rivers and level grey plains ;
the land of wool and of corn incalculable to the
human mind ; the land of gold and of jewels —
1 1,000,000/ sterling of gold passed out of Port Philip
heads in one year, beating by 3,000,000/ the largest
export ever made from the Minas Geraes in Brazil.
The present writer used at one time to cast away
from the surface of his gold blue stones of great
specific gravity. It occurred to him in an idle
moment to ask a jeweller in Melbourne what they
were : he said, " Sapphires !"
Who were to have this wondrous land, which lay
for countless thousands of years in a summer sea,
waiting for its owners .' Whom had God selected out

3IO THE FOUND A TION OF AN EMPIRE.
of those who had done their best to serve Him to be
owners of this wondrous land .' Was it to be a Latin
colony, priest-plagued, and torn to pieces with ever-
recurring petulant revolutions .' Was it to fall to the
Dutch .' Was it to go to the Dutch, those glorious
rovers, to be tied hand and foot with over-government,
like Java, farmed only for the benefit of the mother
country .' No, readers ! God designed that country
for us.
I want shortly to show you, before we part by
what silent and wise ways He gave it to us. I think
that we have done our duty by it.
I for myself (as an erring brother may confess and
ask mercy) can find no mention of the country at all
before l6i6, not believing that Saris (1606) got to the
country at all. I believe that Theodoric Hertog (better
known to English readers as Dirk Hartog) was the
first educated European who ever set eyes on the land
some of us love so well. But when a man begins
saying that he believes such and such a thing, you
cannot argue with him. Some believe that St. Bridget
nursed St. Patrick. It is no use teUing them that she
was only one year old when he died, as seems un
doubtedly the case ; and then in comes your cranking
man who denies the existence of St. Bridget alto
gether. I only say that I believe in Dirk Hartog, as
did also President De Broisey — no small authority.
1619, 1622, 1628, Edels, Flamming, De Witte,
coasted down the west coast of Australia, but made
nothing of it In 1628 also {jnost decidedly) Carpenter
discovered Carpentaria. Prevost says 1662.
In 1642 Tasman discovered Van Dieman's Land

THE FOUND A TION OF AN EMPIRE. 311
and New Zealand. Of Van Dieman one knows
mainly that he returned to Europe with vast riches
in 163 1. Good Tasman — probably put on his legs
by the wealth of Anthony Van Dieman — called the
country Van Dieman's Land. But the name got to
smell so very unsavoury in the nose of every decent
mainland colonist, that our good Queen, on humble
petition, whitewashed it (as far as she could) by calling
it Tasmania. So Abel Tasman has got his due from
the Queen of England and Empress of India.
Before us everywhere (with the Spaniards), be
hind us everywhere now, the Dutch seemed to have
had, and to have, every facility which one could
possibly wish for; but I fancy that they had too
small a population from which to select Comparing
our population and resources against the Dutch, it
would be like a united Trinity against such a
College as Christ's or Jesus for a boat race. I
can draw no illustration from Oxford, for all the
Colleges are small.
So much did the Dutch do, and the land was left
in peace. They seemed to be wanting in dash here —
the dash which we have got partly from Celt, partly
from Norseman. They slept over it, and the sun rose
and set on the beloved old land. And the world
-wagged on there, as it did here ; and, to avoid being
wearisome, I will pass over Dampier, and come right
on to Captain Cook at once, in his first voyage in
1770. Leaving New Zealand, he held twenty days north
west, and, on the 19th of April, Lieutenant Hicks .saw
Australia, and left his name for ever on Point Hicks.

312 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
He now entered Botany Bay, from the swamp at the
head of which Sydney is now supplied with water.
It was Sir Joseph Banks — a man of a high-renowned
old family, and of very great fortune, who had given
up luxury, ease, marriage, everything, to come with
Cook — who had it named Botany Bay, from the
innumerable flowers he found there — a certain sign
in Australia of barren and worthless land. Surely
stranger mates were never found than Cook and
Banks : Banks, one of the high old noblesse ; Cook,
the son of a common agricultural labourer, who had
run away to sea and turned collier's boy, and who, in
the Wolf-Montcalm war in Canada, had sounded
and buoyed a channel in the St Lawrence under fire.
These men sailed together, in all hearty love, with
Solander, a Swedish naturalist, pupil of Linn^us ;
and they all three died, but not, as they were willing
to do, together. Wolf and Montcalm have one
monument, these three true friends have none.
They had been but a short time in Botany Bay
when La Perouse sailed in, and, having met Cook,
sailed away again, to be seen by civilized eye no
more. Our brothers, the Australians, have had the
good taste to erect a pillar to him on the shores of
Botany Bay. A noble man in every respect he seems,
but gone into utter dim, dark night. It was forty
years before a trace was recovered of him, and after
that one only finds that some of his company ha"d
built a schooner out of the wreck of his two ships,
and had sailed away, and in their turn had been lost
utterly to human knowledge.
At about this time the British Government were

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 313
beginning to find out that hanging some ten or a
dozen persons per month for petty theft was by no
means decreasing crime, but increasing it. I cannot
explain this phenomenon in any way. One would
fancy that if you wanted anything, you would sooner
steal it under the penalty of imprisonment than under
that of hanging ; but it was not so. For myself, I
simply confess that I have not sufficient personal
courage to commit a burglary; I believe that I should
half die of fright if I met the housemaid. What
must the terror of hanging be.' Possibly the case
was that prison was then worse than death. Any
how, hanging did no good ; transportation was tried,
and the great dominion of Australia founded.
They knew nothing of the wealth of the land. I
think that they thought it was a hopeless, God-
forgotten place. How can one go into details here .'
I have read nearly every account of the settlement,
and really I am getting to the state of mind in which
Mr. Matthew Arnold was when he said that history
was a Mississippi of lies.
Before, however, I begin to gi\'e the words of
another, I will give the legend (for it is really nothing
more) of the discovery of Port Jackson. " The story
goes," said Mr. Willet to Mr. Solomon Daisy, " that
you saw a ghost last March, but nobody believes it."
The story goes that one Jackson, a sailor, was on the
maintop on the look-out as Cook was sailing by
Sydney heads. Jackson reported that there was a
large harbour inland. Captain Cook told him that
he (from the deck) could see nothing but a small
boat harbour, and that were there such a harbour, it

314 THE FOUND A TION OF AN EMPIRE.
should be called after him. It is a good story, but
I do not find confirmation of it They believed it,
however, for Sydney harbour is Port Jackson to this
day; and on that then desolate shore, beside the green
sea-water, with flying violet shadows, stands a white-
walled city of 60,000 inhabitants — as some say, the
most beautiful city in her Majesty's dominions.
Governor Phillip, mentioned below, John Hunter
the great physiologist and my grandfather Doctor
Lucas were great intimates. There is now in the
family a tea-caddy made of the first wood sent from
Australia. My grandfather, again, was the intimate
friend of Lord Rodney, and knew Gibbon. The
foundation of this empire seems so old, and is yet
so new, that I mention these facts.
The reason of this seems to me to be, that the
French Revolution, and the wars which followed it,
made a terrible gap, which nothing seems able to fill
up. As to Australia, it was left alone to sink or swim,
we having command of the seas. It was a case of
" Crescit occulto velut arbor eevo.''
Now I will leave my own words, and give you those
of an eye-witness. This is dated the 5th of March,
1787 — a day which will be memorable for ever
to (potentially) 25,000,000 souls. What follows is
an extract from Mr. White's journal, surgeon-general
under Captain Phillip, my grandfather's friend.
" I this day left London, charged with dispatches
from the Secretary of State's office, and from the
Admiralty, relative to the embarkation of that part

THE FOUND A TION OF AN EMPIRE. 315
of the marines and convicts inte:nded for Botany
Bay ; and on the evening of the seventh, after travel
ling two days of the most incessant rain I ever
remember, arrived at Plymouth, where the Charlotte
and Friendship transports were in readiness to re
ceive them.
" General Collins, commander-in-chief at that port,
lost no time in carrying the orders I had brought into
execution ; so that, on the morning of the ninth, the
detachment of marines were on board, with all the
baggage. But the next day being ushered in with
a very heavy gale of wind, made it impracticable to
remove the convicts from on board the Dunkirk
prison-ship, where they were confined. So violent
was the gale, that his Majesty's ship the Druid, of
thirty-two guns, was forced to cut away her mainmast
to prevent her driving on shore.
" The weather being moderate the following day,
the convicts were put on board the transports, and
placed in the different apartments allotted for them —
all secured in irons, except the women. In the evening,
as there was but little wind, we were towed by the
boats belonging to the guardships out of the Hamoaze,
where the Dunkirk lay, into Plymouth Sound. When
this duty was completed, the boats returned ; and the
wind now freshening so as to enable us to clear the
land, we proceeded to Spithead, where we arrived
on the 17th, and anchored on the Mother Bank,
among the rest of the transports and victuallers in
tended for the same expedition, under the conduct
of his Majesty's ship the Sirius. As soon as the
ship came to anchor, I visited all the other transports.

3i6 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
and was really surprised to find the convicts on board
them so very healthy. When I got on board the
Alexander, I found there a medical gentleman from
Portsmouth, among whose acquaintance I had not
the honour to be numbered. He scarcely gave me
time to get upon the quarter-deck before he thus
addressed me : ' I am very glad you are arrived, sir ;
for your people have got a malignant disease among
them of a most dangerous kind, and it will be neces
sary for their preservation to get them immediately
-relanded.' Surprised at such a salutation, and alarmed
at the purport of it, I requested of my assistant, Mr.
Balmain, an intelligent young man, whom I had
appointed to this ship for the voyage, to let me see
the people who were ill. ' Sir,' returned Mr. Balmain,
taking me aside, ' you will not find things by any
means so bad as this gentleman represents them to
be ; they are made much worse by him than they
really are. Unlike a person wishing to administer
comfort to those -who are afflicted, either in body or
in mind, he has publicly declared before the poor
creatures who are ill, that they must inevitably fall
a sacrifice to the malignant disorder with which they
are afflicted — the malignity of which appears to me
to exist only in his own imagination. I did not
however,' continued Mr. Balmain, ' think proper to
contradict the gentleman, supposing, from the con
sequence he assumed, and the ease with which he
had given his opinion, or more properly his directions.
that he was some person appointed by the Secretary
of State to officiate for you till your arrival. 'When
you go among the people, you v/ill be better able to

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 317
judge of the propriety of what I have said.' Mr.
Balmain had no sooner concluded than I went
between decks, and found everything just as he had
represented it to be. There were several in bed with
slight inflammatory complaints; some there were who
kept their bed to avoid the inconvenience of the cold,
which was at this time very piercing, and whose
wretched clothing was but a poor defence against the
rigour of it ; others were confined to their bed through
the effects of long imprisonment, a weakened habit,
and lowness of spirits, which was not a little added
to by the declaration of the medical gentleman above-
mentioned, whom they concluded to be the principal
surgeon to the expedition. However, on my un
deceiving them in that point, and at the same time
confirming what Mr. Balmain had from the first told
them, viz. that their complaints were neither malignant
nor dangerous, their fears abated. To this I added,
that I would immediately give orders for such as were
in want of clothing to be supplied with what was
needful — a power delegated to me by Captain Phillip,
together with the liberty of giving such other direc
tions as I thought would tend to the recovery or
preservatiori of their health. And further, as they
had been nearly four months on board, and during
that time had been kept upon salt provisions, I would
endeavour to get fresh for them while in port. This
short conversation had so sudden an effect on those
I addressed, and was of so opposite a tendency to
that of the gentleman alluded to, that before we got
from between decks I had the pleasure to see several
of them put on such clothes as they had, and look

3i8 THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
a little cheerful. I then pointed out to Lieutenant
Johnson, commanding officer of the marines on board,
and to the master of the ship, the necessity there was
of admitting the convicts upon the deck, one half at
a time; during the course of the day, in order that
they might breathe a purer air, as nothing would
conduce more to the preservation of their health.
To this these gentlemen readily assented, adding
that they had no objection to the whole number
coming upon deck at once, if I thought it necessary,
as they were not apprehensive of any danger from
the indulgence. On returning to the quarter-deck,
I found my new medical acquaintance still there ; and
before I could give some directions to Mr. Balmain,
as I was about to do, he thus once more addressed
me : ' I suppose you are now convinced of the
dangerous disease that prevails among these people,
and of the necessity of having them landed in order
to get rid of it.' Not a little hurt at the absurd part
the gentleman had acted, and at his repeated impor
tunity, I replied, with some warmth, ' that I was very
sorry to differ so essentially in opinion from him as
to be obliged to tell him that there was not the least
appearance of malignity in the disease under which
the convicts laboured, but that it wholly proceeded
from the cold, and was nearly similar to a complaint
then prevalent, even among the better sort of people,
in and about Portsmouth.' Notwithstanding this, he
still persisted so much in the propriety of their being
landed, and the necessity there was for an application
to the Secretary of State upon the occasion, that I
could no longer keep my temper, and I freely told him

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 319
' that the idea of landing them was as improper as it
was absurd.' And, in order to make him perfectly easy
on that head, I assured him that when any disease ren
dered it necessary to call in medical aid, he might rest
satisfied I would not trouble him ; but would apply
to Doctor Lind, Physician to the Royal Hospital at
Hasler, a gentleman as eminently distinguished for
his professional abilities as his other amiable qualities;
or else to some of the surgeons of his Majesty's
ships in Portsmouth harbour, or at Spithead, most of
whom I had the pleasure of knowing, and on whose
medical knowledge I was certain I could depend.
This peremptory declaration had the desired effect.
The gentleman took his leave, to my great satis
faction, and thereby gave me an opportunity of writing
by that evening's post to inform the Secretary of
State and Captain Phillip of the real state of the
sick, and at the same time to urge the necessity of
having fresh provisions served to the whole of the
convicts while in port as well as a little wine for those
who were ill. Fresh provisions I dwelt most on, as
being not only needful for the recovery of the sick,
but otherwise essential, in order to prevent any of
them commencing so long and tedious a voyage as
they had before them with a scorbutic taint ; a con
sequence that would most likely attend their living
upon salt food, and which, added to their needful
confinement and great numbers, would, in all proba
bility, prove fatal to them, and thereby defeat the
intention of Government
" The return of the post brought me an answer, and
likewise an order to the contractor for supplying the

320 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
marines and convicts daily -with fresh beef and vegetables,
while in port. A similar order I found had been given
long before my arrival ; but, by some strange mistake
or other, had not been complied with. The salutary
effect of this change of diet, with the addition of
some wine and other necessaries ordered for the sick,
through the humanity of Lord Sydney, manifested
itself so suddenly, that in the space of a fortnight, on
comparing my list of sick with that of a surgeon
belonging to one of the guardship.s, allowing for the
disproportion of numbers, mine did not exceed his.
And yet, notwithstanding this, which is a well-known
fact, the report of a most malignant disease still pre
vailed ; and so industriously was the report promul
gated and kept alive by some evil-minded people, who
either wished to throw an odium on the humane
promoters of the plan, or to give uneasiness to the
friends and relations of those engaged in the expe
dition, that letters from all quarters were pouring in
upon us, commiserating our state. The newspapers
-were daily filled with alarming accounts of a disease
which only existed in the imagination. But with
some more delays we at last sailed towards our
destination, and in eight months v/ere off the coast
of Australia.
" (^tli. — Wind variable, and weather hazy, damp, and
(lark ; with some vivid flashes of lightning, succeeded
by distant peals of loud thunder. On the morning of
this day died Edward Thomson, a convict, worn out
with a melancholy and long confinement. Had he
lived, I think he would have proved a deserving
member of society, as he seemed sensible of the

THE FO UNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 321
impropriety and imprudence of his former life, and
studious to atone for it.
" \oth. — The wind variable, and weather dark and
gloomy, with a very troublesome high sea. About
two o'clock P.M. we had one of the most sudden gusts
of wind I ever remember to have known. In an
instant it split our mainsail ; and but for the activity
shown by the sailors in letting fly the sheets and
lowering the topsails, the masts must have gone over
the side. The Prince of Wales, who was close to us,
had her mainyard carried away in the slings. For
tunately for us the squall was of short duration ; other
wise the ships must have suffered considerably from
the uncommon cross sea that was running, which we
had found to be the case ever since we reached this
coast. "nth and 12th. — The wind variable, inclining to
the southward and westward, and still an unpleasant
cross troublesome sea. We saw a whale, several seals,
and many large oceanous birds, which we frequently
fired at, without their betraying the smallest symptom
of fear either at the report or at the balls, which
frequently dropped close to them. A conclusion may
be drawn from hence that they had never been
harassed with fire-arms before ; if they had, they
would undoubtedly have shown some fear, a sen
sation they seemed to be totally unacquainted with.
In all our firings we did not kill one of them.
" 19^^. — In the evening we saw the land over Red
Point bearing W. by N., the extremes of the land
from S.S.W. to N. We were then about three leagues
from the shore ; and finding it unlikely to get in that
Y

322 THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
night. Captain Hunter made the signal for the convoy
to come within hail, when he acquainted them that
the entrance into Botany Bay bore N.N.W. ; adding,
that for the night he intended to stand off and on,
and early in the morning make sail for the bay.
" 20//^. — At four in the morning the Sirius and
convoy made sail, and at eight o'clock anchored
in eight fathom water ; Cape Banks E.S.E., Point
Solander S.S.E., and the entrance of the bay, between
these two lands, W.S.W. We found here the Supply
tender, which had arrived the i8th, and the Alexander,
Scarborough^ and Friendship transports, who had only
arrived the day before. To see all the ships safe in
their destined port, without ever having, by any
accident, been one hour separated, and all the people
in as good health as could be expected or hoped for,
after so long a voyage, was- a sight truly pleasing, and
at which every heart must rejoice. As we sailed into
the bay, som^ of the natives were on the shore, looking
with seeming -attention at such large moving bodies
coming amongst them. In the evening the boats were
permitted to land on the north side, in order to get
water and grass for the little stock we had remaining.
An officers' guard was placed there to prevent the
seamen from straggling. Captain, Hunter, after an
choring, waited on the governor, on board the Supply ;
who,, with several other officers, landed. As they
rowed along the shore, some of the natives followed
the boat ;, but on her putting in for the shore, they
ran into the woods. Some of the gentlemen, however,
before they returned on board, obtained an interview
with them, during which they showed some distrust.

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 323
but, upon the whole, were civilly inclined. The boats
sent to haul the seine returned, having had tolerable
success. The fish they caught were bream, mullet
large rays, besides many other smaller species.
" 2ist. — The governor. Captain Hunter, and the two
masters of the men of war, with a party of marines, set
off this morning, in two rigged long-boats, to examine
Port Jackson, a harbour lying a little to the northward,
which was discovered by Captain Cook.
" 23^. — The party returned this evening, full of
praises on the extent and excellence of the harbour,
as well as the superiority of the ground, water,
and situation, to that of Botany Bay; which I own
does not, in my opinion, by any means merit the
commendations bestowed on it by the much-lamented
Cook and others, whose names and judgments are
no less admired and esteemed. During his Excel
lency's absence, the lieutenant-governor had issued
his orders to land all the artificers that could be
found among the Gonvicts, and a party of others, to
clear the ground for the irrtended town, to dig saw-
pits, and to perform everything that was essential
towards the works purposed to be carried on. Although
the spot fixed on for the town was the most eligible
that could be chosen, yet t- think it would never have
answered, the ground around it being sandy, poor,
and swampy, and but very indifferently supplied with
water. The fine meadows talked of in Captain
Cook's voyage I could never see, though I took some
pains to find them out [they came at another time of
year,' when- the grass was grey, not green, as Cook
saw it], ; nor have I ever heard of a person that has
Y 2

324 THE FO UNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
seen any parts resembling them. While the people
were employed on shore, the natives came several
times among them, and behaved with a kind of
cautious friendship. One evening, while the seine
was hauling, some of them were present, and ex
pressed great surprise at what they saw, giving a
shout expressive of astonishment and joy when they
perceived the quantity that was caught. No sooner
were the fish out of the water than they began to
lay hold of them, as if they had a right to them, or
that they were their own ; upon which the officer of
the boat, I think very properly, restrained them, giving,
however, to each of them a part They did not at
first seem very well pleased with this mode of pro
cedure, but on observing with what justice the fish
was distributed they appeared content.
" While we remained at Botany Bay, as I was one
morning on board the Supply, we saw twenty-nine of
the natives on the beach, looking towards the ship
ping, upon which Lieutenants Ball and King, Mr.
Dawes, and myself, went on shore, landing at the
place where they were. They were friendly and
pacific, though each of them was armed with a spear
or long dart, and had a stick, with a shell at the
end, used by them in throwing their weapons [the
wommera, or throwing-stick, which some say is only
a corruption of boomerang\. Besides these, some few
had shields made of the bark of the cork tree, of a
plain appearance, but Sufficient to ward off or turn
their own weapons, some of which were pointed and
barbed with the bones of fish, fastened on with some
kind of adhesive- gum. One of the most friendly,

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 325
and who appeared to be the most confident on signs
being made to him, stuck the end of his shield in the
sand, but could not be prevailed upon to throw his
spear at it Finding he declined it I fired a pistol
ball through it. The explosion frightened him, as
well as his companions, a little ; but they soon got
over it, and on my putting the pistol into my pocket,
he took up the shield, and appeared to be much
surprised at finding it perforated. He then by signs
and gestures seemed to ask if the pistol would make
a hole through him, and on being made sensible that
it would, he showed not the smallest signs of fear ; on
the contrary, he endeavoured, as we construed his
motions, to impress us with an idea of the superiority
of his own arms, which he applied to his breast, and
by staggering, and a show of falling, seemed to wish
us to understand that the force and effect of them
was mortal, and not to be resisted. However, I am
well convinced that they know and dread the supe
riority of our arms, notwithstanding this show of
indifference, as they, on all occasions, have discovered
a dislike to a musket ; and so very soon did they
make themselves acquainted with the nature of our
military dress, that, from the first, they carefully
avoided a soldier or any person wearing a red coat,
which they seem to have marked as a fighting vesture.
Many of their warriors, or distinguished men, we
observed to be painted in stripes across the breast
and back, which, at some little distance, appears not
unlike our soldiers' cross-belts.
" 2\th. — The boats were employed in getting water
and grass for the live stock, as the governor, finding

326 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
Port Jackson more suited to his wishes, had deter
mined to remove to that place, and form the settle
ment there. While these preparations were making,
every person in the fleet were surprised to see, in this
part of the world, two large ships [these were the
ships of La Perouse] plying hard in the offing to get
into the bay. It was seen, in the evening, that they
had French colours flying; but the wind blowing
pretty strong out of the bay, they were unable to get
in, and the weather becoming thick and hazy, we soon
lost sight of them.
" 2$th. — Nothing of the strange ships to be seen.
The governor, with a detachment of marines, sailed
in the Supply tender for Port Jackson, leaving instruc
tions with Captain Hunter to follow him with all the
transports and victuallers, as soon as the wind and
weather would permit.
" 26th. — We again descried the French ships stand
ing in for the bay, with a leading wind, upon which
Captain Hunter sent his first lieutenant on board the
commanding officer's ship, which was distinguished by
a broad pendant, to assist them in coming in. Soon
after the lieutenants were returned to the Sirius,
Captain Clonnard, the French commodore's captain
(who during the late war commanded the Artois,
taken by the Bienfaisant, Captain Macbride), waited
on Captain Huiiter, and informed him that the ships
were the Astrolabe and the Boussale, which sailed
from France in the year 1786, under the command of
Messieurs de la Perouse and De Langle. He further
acquainted him that, having touched at Navigator's
Isles, they had had the misfortune to lose Captain

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 327
De Langle, the second in command, with ten other
officers, and two boats' crews, all of whom were cut off
by the natives of those islands, who appeared to be
numerous and warlike. This accident induced them
to put into this port in order to build some boats,
which they had in frames. It also had afforded room
for the promotion of Monsieur Clonnard, who, on
their leaving France, was only the commodore's first
lieutenant. " At ten o'clock the Sirius, with all the ships,
weighed, and in the evening anchored in Port Jackson,
with a few trifling damages done to some of them
who had run foul of each other in working out of
Botany Bay. Port Jackson I believe to be, without
exception, the finest and most extensive harbour in the
universe, and at the same time the most secure, being
safe from all the winds that blow. [True enough, were
the entrance larger. When you have got in you are
safe enough, but getting in without steam is not always
easy.] It is divided into a great number of coves, to
v/hich his Excellency has given different names. That
on which the town is to be built is called Sydney
Cove. It is one of the smallest in the harbour, but
the most convenient, as ships of the greatest burden
can with ease go into it, and heave out close to the
shore. Trincomale, acknowledged to be one of the
best harbours in the world, is by no means to be
compared to it. In a word, Port Jackson would
afford sufficient and safe anchorage for all the navies
of Europe. The Supply had arrived the day before,
and the governor, with every person that could be
spared from the ship, were on shore clearing the

328 THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
ground for the encampment In the evening, when
all the ships had anchored, the English colours were
displaj^ed ; and at the foot of the flag-staff his
Majesty's health, and success to the settlement, was
drank by the governor, many of the principal officers,
and private men, who were present upon the occasion.
" ijth. — A number of convicts from the different
transports were landed to assist in clearing the ground
for the encampment. His Excellency marked the out
lines, and as much as possible to prevent irregularity,
and to keep the convicts from straggling, the provost-
marshal, aided by the patrole, had orders to take into
custody all convicts that should be found without the
lines, and to leave them in charge of the main or
quarter guard. The boats sent this day to fish were
successful. Some of the natives came into the little
bay or cove where the seine was hauled, and behaved
very friendly. Indeed they carried their civility so
far, although a people that appeared to be averse to
work, as to assist in dragging it ashore. For this
kind office they were liberally rewarded with fish,
which seemed to please them, and give general satis
faction. " 29^"^. — A convenient place for the cattle being
found, the few that remained were landed. The frame
and materials for the governor's house, constructed by
Smith, in St George's Fields, were likewise sent on
shore, and some preparations made for- erecting it
This day Captain Hunter and Lieutenant Bradley
began to take a survey of the harbour. In the course
of the last week all the marines, their wives and
children, together with all the convicts, male and

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 329
female, were landed. The laboratory and sick tents
were erected, and, I am sorry to say, were soon filled
with patients afflicted with the true camp dysentery
and the scurvy. More pitiable objects were perhaps
never seen. Not a comfort or convenience could be
got for them, besides the very few we had with us.
His Excellency, seeing the state these poor objects
were in, ordered a piece of ground to be enclosed for
the purpose of raising vegetables for them. The
seeds that were sown upon this occasion, on first
appearing above ground, looked promising and
well, biit soon after withered away ; which was not
indeed extraordinary, as they were not sown at a
proper season of the year. The sick have increased
since our landing to such a degree, that a spot for a
general hospital has been marked out, and artificers
already employed on it. A proper spot, contiguous
to the hospital, has been chosen to raise such veget
ables as can be produced at this season of the year,
and where a permanent garden for the use of the
hospital is to be established.
" February ist. — We had the most tremendous
thunder and lightning,* with heavy rain, I ever
remember to have seen.
"2d. — This morning five sheep, belonging to the
lieutenant-governor and quarter-master, were killed
by the lightning under a tree, at the foot of which
* White was not yet accustomed to the fearful concussion of Aus
tralian electrical storms. From comparison of human experience I
believe that the centre and metropolis of thunderstorms is the island of
Celebes. When you get your ship struck twice a day for a week, you
may be allowed to hold an opinion.

330 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
a shed had been built for them. The branches and
trunk of the tree were shivered and rent in a very
extraordinary manner.
" ^th. — A storehouse has been begun for the pur
pose of receiving the stores and provisions of the
three transports bound to China. On a muster of
the convicts this morning some were found to be
missing, and supposed to have gone to Botany Bay
in hopes of being received on board the French ships,
which are said to be short of hands, and made more
so by the loss they had recently sustained, as before
mentioned. " "jth. — The governor's commission, and that for
establishing a criminal court of judicature, admiralty
court, &c., were read. After this was done the troops
under arms fired three volleys, when his Excellency
thanked the soldiers for their steady and good con
duct, which Major Ross caused to be inserted in the
general order-book. The governor then addressed the
convicts in a short speech extremely well adapted
to the people he had to govern, and who were then
before him. Among many circumstances that would
tend to their future happiness and comfort he recom
mended marriage, assuring them that an indiscriminate
and illegal intercourse would be punished with the
greatest severity and rigour. Honesty, obedience, and
industry, he told them, would make their situation
comfortable, whereas a contrary line of conduct would
subject them to ignominy, severities, and punishment
When the ceremony was concluded his Excellency,
attended by all the officers of the colony, withdrew to
a tent pitched for the occasion, where a cold dinner

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 331
was laid out ; and after the cloth was removed many
loyal and public toasts were drank.
" %th. — A party of the gentlemen of the garrison
set out by land to pay a visit to the French at Botany
Bay, from whom they met with the most hospitable,
polite, and friendly reception and treatment. Many
of the convicts who had been missing had been, at
Botany Bay. They had offered themselves to the
French navigators on any terms, but not one of them
had been received.* This refusal obliged them to
return, and when they came back they were real
objects of pity. Conscious of the punishment that
awaited so imprudent and improper an experiment,
they had stayed out as long as the cravings of nature
would permit, and were nearly half starved. A
woman, named Ann Smith, and a man have never
since been heard of They are supposed to have missed
their way as they returned, and to have perished for
want. As the French commodore had given his
honour that he would not admit any of them on
board, it cannot be thought he would take them.
The convict, it is true, was a Frenchman, named
Peter Paris,-f and it is possible, on that account, he
might have been concealed through pity by his
countrymen, and carried off without the knowledge
of the commanding officer. At the very time the
party from hence were gone by land to Botany Bay,
Captain Clonnard came round in a boat on a visit
* Probably the last political act of La Perouse with Europeans. He
carried his great name most nobly to his unknown grave.
t I doubt he had been coining, but had been recommended to mercy
by a mixed jury.

332 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
of ceremony from Monsieur de la Peyrouse to the
governor. He brought with him some dispatches,
which he requested might be forwarded to the French
ambassador at the court of London by the first trans
ports that sailed for England. The captain stayed all
night, and returned the next morning. This day, for
the first time, a kangaroo was shot and brought into
camp. Some of the natives passed pretty close
to the Sirius without seeming to express, by their
countenance or actions, either fear, curiosity, or sur
prise. During the course of this week fourteen mar
riages were solemnized. The criminal court, consist
ing of six officers of his Majesty's forces by land or
sea, with the judge-advocate, sat for the first time
before whom several convicts were tried for petty
larceny. Some of them were acquitted, others sen
tenced to receive corporal punishment, and one or
two. were, by the decision of the court ordered to a
barren rock or little island in^ the middle of the
harbour, there to remain on bread and water for a
stated time.
" 12//?. — The commissions were read a second time,
at the desire of some of the officers, whose situation
with the battalion prevented them from being present
at the first reading ; after which the lieutenant-
governor and judge-advocate were sworn in justices
of the peace, and Lieutenant King (second of the
Sirius) superintendent and commanding officer of
New Norfolk Island, an appointment given him by
the governor.
" i^th. — The Supply sailed for Norfolk Island, with
Lieutenant King and his detachment, consisting of

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 333
Mr. Cunningham, master's mate, and Mr. Jameson,
surgeon's first mate, of the Sirius, two marines, and
twelve male and female convicts. The governor
furnished him with provisions and stores of every
kind for six months, and with tools for cutting down
timber ; which last employment was the purpose of
his mission.
" 2jth. — Thomas Barrett, Henry Lovel, and Joseph
Hall were brought before the criminal court, and
tried for feloniously and fraudulently taking away
from the public store beef and pease, the property of
the Crown. They were convicted on the clearest
evidence ; and sentence of death being passed on
them, they were, about six o'clock the same evening,
taken to the fatal tree, where Barrett was launched
into eternity, after having confessed to the Rev. Mr.
Johnson, who attended him, that he was guilty of the
crime, and had long merited the ignominious death
which he was about to suffer, and to which he said he
had been brought by bad company and evil example.
Lovel and Hall were respited until six o'clock the next
evening. When that awful hour arrived, they were led
to the place of execution, and just as they were on
the point of ascending the ladder, the judge-advocate
arrived with the governor's pardon, on condition of
their being banished to some uninhabited place.
" 2gth. — Daniel Gordon and John Williams were
tried and convicted of stealing wine, the property of
Mr. Zachariah Clarke Williams being an ignorant
black youth, the court recommended him to the
governor as a proper object of mercy, and he was
accordingly pardoned. Gordon, who was another

334 THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
black, had his sentence of death, while at the gallows,
changed to banishment with Lovel and Hall.
" 30//^. — John Freeman was tried for stealing from
another convict seven pounds of flour. He was
convicted, and sentenced to be hanged ; but while
under the ladder, with the rope about his neck, he
was offered his free pardon on condition of performing
the duty of the common executioner as long as he
remained in this country; which, after some little
pause, he reluctantly accepted. William Sheerman,
his accomplice, was sentenced to receive on his bare
back, with a cat-o'-nine-tails, three hundred lashes,
which were inflicted.
"A' New Holland Cassowary* was brought into
camp. This bird stands seven feet high, measuring
from the ground to the upper part of the head, and
in every respect is much larger than the Common
Cassowary of all authors, and differs so much there-
frdm, in its form, as to clearly prove it a new species.
"March g^/z.^The governor, with two long-boats
manned and armed, returned from Broken Bay,
situated a little to the northward, which he had been
exploring for several days. It affords good shelter
for shipping, and the entrance is bold ; it cannot
however, be compared with Port Jackson. While
he was there he saw a great many of the natives,
some of whom he thinks he had observed before,
either at Botany Bay or in the neighbourhood of
Port Jackson, One of the females happened to fall
in love with his greatcoat ; and to obtain it she
-• This is the Emu. A foolish bird, which I have often attempted
to kill, but have never succeeded

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 335
used a variety of means. First she danced and
played a number of antic tricks ; but finding this
mode ineffectual, she had recourse to tears, which
she shed plentifully. This expedient not answering,
she ceased from weeping, and appeared as cheerful
as any of the party around her. From this little
incident it may be seen that they are not a people
devoid of art. At Broken Bay many of the females,
young and old, had the first joint of the little finger
on their left hand cut off. As this was the case with
those who were married, or appeared to be so from
their having young children, as well as with those
who were too young for a connexion of that nature,
it was not possible to account for the cause of such
an amputation. Thefts and depredations on one
another have become so very frequent and glaring
among the convicts, that scarcely a day passes without
some of these miserable delinquents being punished.
So hardened in wickedness and depravity are many
of them, that they seem insensible to the fear of
corporal punishment, or even death itself
"The principal business going forward at present
is erecting cabbage-tree huts for the officers, soldiers,
and convicts ; some store-houses, &c. ; and a very
good hospital ; all which in the completion will cost
a great deal of time and trouble, as the timber of
this country is very unfit for the purpose of building.
Nor do I know any one purpose for which it will
answer, except for firewood, and for that it is excel
lent ; but in other respects it is the worst wood that
any country or climate ever produced ; although some
of the trees, when standing, appear fit for any use

336 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
whatever, masts for shipping not excepted. Strange
as it may be imagined, no wood in this country,
though sawed ever so thin, and dried ever so well,
will float. Repeated trials have only served to
convince me that, immediately on immersion, it sinks
to the bottom like a stone.*
" The stone of this country is excellent for building,
could any kind of cement be found to keep it
together. There is not any limestone (I believe)-f-
in New South Wales. The governor, notwithstanding
that he had collected together all the shells which
could be found, for the purpose of obtaining from
them the lime necessary to the construction of a
house of his own residence, did not procure even a
fourth part of the quantity which was wanted. The
foundation stone of a private house for him has been
laid ; and a plate of copper, with the following
inscription engraved on it, is to be placed in the wall :
ARTHUR PHILLIP, ESQ.,
CAPTAIN-GENERAL IN AND OVER HIS MAJESTY'S TERRITORY OF
NEW SOUTH WALES, AND ITS DEPENDENCIES,
ARRIVED IN THIS COUNTRY ON THE i8tH DAY OF JANUARY, 1788, WITH THE
FIRST SETTLERS ;
AND ON THE I5TH DAY OF MAY, IN THE SAME YEAR, THE FIRST OF
THESE STONES WAS LAID.
* This is perfectly trae. I had once to point out this fact to a
gentleman who proposed to get up a Great Lumber Company
(Limited). The first basis of operations was to have been the
"Yarra." Coming two hundred miles through splendid forests, I
challenged him to find a solitary tree on its banks which would float.
+ He may well say, like an honest man, "I believe." Now-a-days
they would -write it down for a fact. In reality there are no such
fantastic developments of magnesian limestone (with the exception of
Virginia) as those of New South Wales. The awful, unapproached
caverns off the Mitta Mitta, into which our friends crept to die,
are limestone.

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 337

" The Supply tender returned from Norfolk Island ;
-ivhere, with great difficulty and danger, the stores
sent with Lieutenant King were landed, on account
of the rockiness of its shore, and the violence of
the surf that almost continually beats upon it In
her passage there she fell in with an island, in lat. 31"
36' S. long. 159° 4' E. never before discovered, to
which Lieutenant Ball, who commanded the Supply
on this occasion, gave the name of Lord Howe's
Island. On her return to this port she stopped
at it and found the landing nearly, if not quite,
as difficult as at Norfolk Island. The shore in
many places was covered with excellent turtle,
eighteen of which were brought here, and proved
a seasonable supply to the convicts afflicted with
the scurvy, many of whom were in a deplorable
situation. "The smallest turtle brought from Lord Howe's.
Island did not weigh less than 1 50 lbs. They also
found on it, in great plenty, a kind of fowl, resembling
much the Guinea fowl in shape and size, but widely
different in colour ; they being in general all white,
with a red fleshy substance rising, like a cock's comb,
from the head, and not unlike a piece of sealing-wax.
These not being birds of flight, nor in the least
wild, the sailors availing themselves of their gentleness
and inability to take wing from their pursuits, easily
struck them down with sticks. There were also
many birds of the dove kind, as tame as the former,
and caught with equal facility. Some of them were
brought alive to this place. Besides these, the shore
abounded with sea birds of several species. The
z

338 THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
island is very barren, and not more than twenty miles
in circumference.
"April i^th. — His Excellency, attended by Lieu
tenant Ball of the navy. Lieutenant George Johnston
of the marines, the judge advocate, myself, three
soldiers, and two seamen, landed in Manly Cove
(so called from the manly conduct of the natives
when the governor first visited it), on the north side
of the entrance into Port Jackson harbour, in order
to trace to its source a river which had been dis
covered a few days before. We, however, found
this impracticable, owing to a thicket and swamp
which ran along the side of it. The governor,
anxious to acquire all the knowledge of the country
in his power, forded the river in two places, and
more than up to our waists in water, in hopes of
being able to avoid the thicket and swamp; but,
notwithstanding all his perseverance, we were at
length obliged to return, and to proceed along the
sea-shore, a mile or two to the northward. At the
end of this we fell in with a small salt water lagoon,
on which we found nine birds, that, whilst swimming,
most perfectly resembled the rara avis of the
ancients — a black swan. We discharged several shot
at them, but the distance was too great for execution.
Our frequent firing, however, caused them to take
wing, and they flew towards the sea, which was
very near, in the order that -wild geese generally
preserve — the one before the other. Had we not
raised them we should certainly have concluded that
they were black swans ; but their flight gave us an
opportunity of seeing some white feathers which

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 339
terminated the tip of each wing; in every other
part they -were perfectly black. Their size appeared
not equal to that of an European swan, but the
shape exactly corresponded, except about the
wings, which seemed rather small for the body.
We not long after discovered the great brown
kingfisher.* "We rounded this lagoon, and proceeded four or
five miles westward, along the banks of a small
fresh-water river which emptied itself into it, and
had for its source only a swamp or boggy ground.
After we had passed this swamp, we got into an
immense wood, the trees of which were very high
and large and a considerable distance apart, with
little under or brushwood. The ground was not
very good, although it produced a luxuriant coat of
a kind of sour grass growing in tufts or bushes,
which at some distance had the appearance of
meadow land, and might be mistaken for it by
superficial examiners. Here we pitched our tents
(without which the governor never travelled) for the
night near a swamp, out of which we were supplied
with water, not indeed either of the best or clearest
kind. The night being cold, and a heavy dew falling,
we kept up a large fire before the tents, which,
though in one respect an excellent precaution, far
from chasing away, seemed to allure the musquitoes,
which tormented us inexpressibly during the whole

* TaeAlcedo gigantea, or "Laughing Jackass." His merry shouts
and shrieks of laughter echo through the wood at sundown. He is a
sacred bird now, for he lives on deadly snakes.
Z 2

340 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
night. We this day discovered the Banksian cock
atoo.* "i6th. — We pursued our route westward, proceed
ing many miles inland, without being able to trace,
by a single vestige, that the natives had been recently
in those parts. We saw, however, some proofs of
their ingenuity, in various figures cut on the smooth
surface of some large stones. They consisted chiefly
of representations of themselves in different attitudes,
of their canoes, of several sorts of fish and animals;
and, considering the rudeness of the instruments with
which the figures must have been executed, they
seemed to exhibit tolerably strong likenesses. On the
stones where the natives had been thus exercising
their abilities in sculpture were several weather-
beaten shells. The country all around this place was
was rather high and rocky; and the soil arid, parched,
and inhospitable.
"In the evening, after a long and fatiguing march,
we fell in with the north-west branch of Port Jack
son harbour. Here the two seamen, overcome with
fatigue, and having their shoes torn from their feet
through the ruggedness of the road along which we
had travelled, could proceed no further. This circum
stance induced the governor to consign them to the
care of Lieutenant Ball and a marine, supplying
them with provisions sufficient to last them till they
reached the ships. His Excellency, with the rest of
the party, pushed on to the westward, by the water-
* The black Cockatoo with the ruby tail. Not the larger and
savage Wee Wah with the yellow tail, the untameable eagle among
Scansores.

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 341
side, in hopes of finding better land, and a more open
country. About four o'clock in the afternoon we
came to a steep valley, where the flowing of the tide
ceased, and a fresh-water stream commenced. Here,
in the most desert, wild, and solitary seclusion that
the imagination can form any idea of, we took up our
abode for the night, dressed our provisions, washed
our shirts and stockings, and turned our inconvenient
situation to the best advantage in our power.
"The next morning we hid our tents and the re
mains of our provisions, and with only a little rum,
and a small quantity of bread, made a forced march
into the country, to the westward, of about fourteen
miles, without being able to succeed in the object of
our search, which was for good land well watered.
Indeed the land here, although covered with an end
less wood, was better than the parts which we had
already explored. Finding it, however, very unlikely
that we should be able to penetrate through this im
mense forest, and circumstanced as we were, it was
thought more prudent to return. We accordingly,
after an expeditious walk, reached the stream from
whence we had set out in the morning, and taking up
the tents and provisions which we had left, proceeded
a little farther down, to the flowing of the tide,
and there pitched our tents for the night; during
which it rained very heavily, with thunder and
lightning. " \%th. — We began our progress early in the morn
ing, bending our course down the river. Some places
along the shore, where the tide had flowed so as to
obstruct our passage, we were obliged to ford ; and

342 THE FO UNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
at times we were under the necessity of climbing
heights nearly inaccessible. At length, after under
going much fatigue, we were agreeably surprised, and
cheered with the sight of two boats, sent by Captain
Hunter to meet us, and just then coming up with the
tide. By them we learnt that Lieutenant Ball with
his enfeebled party had arrived safe at the ship the
day after they had quitted us. We all went on board
the boats, and fell down the river till we got to a
pleasant little cove, where we dined, with great satis
faction and comfort, upon the welcome provisions
which were sent in the boats by the governor's
steward. After having refreshed ourselves, we again
embarked, and about six o'clock in the evening
arrived in Sydney Cove.
"22^. — On the morning of this day the governor,
accompanied by the same party, with the addition of
Lieutenant Cresswell of the marines and six privates,
landed at the head of the harbour, with an intention
of penetrating into the country westward, as far as
seven days' provisions would admit of, every indivi
dual carrying his own allowance of bread, beef, rum,
and water. The soldiers, beside their own provisions,
carried a camp kettle, and two tents, with their poles,
&c. Thus equipped, with the additional weight of
spare shoes, shirts, trousers, together with a great
coat or Scotch plaid, for the purpose of sleeping in,
as the nights were cold, we proceeded on our destina
tion. We likewise took with us a small hand hatchet
in order to mark the trees as we went on ; those
marks (called in America blazing) being the only
guide to direct us in our return. The country was so

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 343
rugged as to render it almost impossible to explore
our way by the assistance of the compass.
" In this manner we proceeded for a mile or two
through a part well covered with enormous trees, free
from underwood. We then reached a thicket of brush
wood, which we found so impervious as to oblige us to
return nearly to the place from whence we had set out
in the morning. Here we encamped, near some stag
nant water, for the night, during which it thundered,
lightened, and rained. About eleven o'clock the
governor was suddenly attacked with a most violent
complaint in his side and loins,* brought on by cold
and fatigue, not having perfectly gotten the better of
the last expedition. The next morning being fine,
his Excellency, who was rather better, though still in
pain, would not relinquish the object of his pursuit ;
and therefore we proceeded, and soon got round the
wood or thicket which had harassed us so much the
day before. After we had passed it, we fell in with
an hitherto unperceived branch of Port Jackson har
bour, along the bank cf which the grass was tolerably
rich and succulent, and in height nearly up to the
middle, interspersed with a plant much resembling
the indigo. We followed this branch westward for a
few miles, until we came to a small fresh water stream
that emptied itself into it Here we took up our
quarters for the night, as our halts were always regu
lated by fresh water, an essential point by no means
to be dispensed with, and not very abundant, or fre
quently to be met with, in this country. We made a
kettle of excellent soup out of a white cockatoo and
* Bush lumbago.

344 THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
two crows which I had shot, as we came along. The
land all around us was similar to that which we had
passed. At night we had thunder, lightning, and
rain. The governor, though not free from pain, was
rather recovering.
" 'ZA.th. — As soon as the dew, which is remarkably
heavy in this country, was off the ground, we pro
ceeded to trace the river, or small arm of the sea.
The banks of it were now pleasant, the trees im
mensely large, and at a considerable distance from
each other ; and the land around us flat, and rather
low, but well covered with the kind of grass just
mentioned. Here the tide ceased to flow ; and all
further progress for boats was stopped by a flat space
of large broad stones, over which a fresh water stream
ran. Just above this flat, close to the water side, we
discovered a quarry of slates, from which we expected
to derive great advantage in respect to covering our
houses, stores. Sec. it being a material beyond concep
tion difficult to be procured in this country ; but on
trial it was found of no use, as it proved to be of a
crumbling and rotten nature. On this fresh water
stream, as well as on the salt, we saw a great many
ducks and teal, three of which we shot in the course
of the day, besides two crows, and some loraquets.*
About four in the afternoon, being near the head of
the stream, and somewhat apprehensive of rain, we
pitched our tents before the grass became wet a
circumstance which would have proved very uncom-
* Scarlet, purple, and blue ; one of the most splendid of all Scansors.
A long-tailed parrot as big as a small pigeon, which the colonists mis
name "Lories."

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 345
 a 
fortable during the night. Here we had our ducks
picked, stuffed with some slices of salt beef, and
roasted ; and never did a repast seem more delicious ;
the salt beef, serving as a palatable substitute for the
want of salt, gave it an agreeable relish. The evening
cleared up, and the night proved dry. During the
latter, we heard a noise which not a little surprised us,
on account of its resemblance to the human voice.
What it proceeded from we could not discover ; but I
am of opinion that it was made by a bird, or some
animal.* The country round us was by no means so
good, or the grass so abundant, as that which we had
passed. The water, though neither clear, nor in any
great quantity, was neither of a bad quality nor ill-
tasted. " The next day, after having sowed some seeds, we
pursued our route for three or four miles west, where
we met with a mean hut, belonging to some of the
natives, but could not perceive the smallest trace of
their having been there lately. Close to this hut we
saw a kangaroo, which had come to drink at an adjacent
pool of stagnated water, but we could not get within
shot of it. A little farther on, we fell in with three
huts, as deserted as the former, and a swamp, not
unlike the American rice grounds. Near this we saw a
tree in flames, without the least appearance of any
natives, from which we suspected that it had been
* Almost certainly the great Caprimulgus, or goat-sucker, who
spends the watches of the night by crying out m a loud voice, " More
Pork ! More pork ! " as well as a man could say it himself. A man
told me that their real name was -' Mope-hawk, " because they were
like hawks, and moped. For me, I beheve in the onomatopoeia.

346 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
set on fire by lightning. This circumstance was first
suggested by Lieutenant Ball, who had remarked,
as well as myself, that every part of the country,
though the most inaccessible and rocky, appeared as
if, at certain times of the year, it had been all on fire.
Indeed in many parts we met with very large trees,
the trunks of which and branches were evidently rent,
and demolished by lightning. Close by the burning
tree we saw three kangaroos. Though by this time
very much fatigued, we proceeded about two miles
farther on, in hopes of finding some good water, but
without effect ; and about half-past four o'clock we
took up our quarters near a stagnant pool. The
ground was so very dry and parched, that it was with
some difficulty we could drive either our tent pegs or
poles into it The country about this spot was much
clearer of underwood than that which we had passed
during the day. The trees around us were immensely
large, and the tops of them filled with loraquets and
paroquets of exquisite beauty, which chattered to
such a degree that we could scarcely hear each other
speak. We fired several times at them, but the trees
were so very high that we killed but few.
" 26^.^. — We still directed our course westward, and
passed another tree on fire; and others which were
hollow, and perforated by a small hole at the bottom,
in which the natives seemed to have snared some
animal. It was certainly done by the natives, as the
trees where these holes or perforations were, had in
general many notches cut, for the purpose of getting
to the top of tbem After this we crossed a water-'
course, which shows that at some seasons the rain is

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 347
very heavy here notwithstanding that there was at
present but little water in it. Beyond the chasm we
came to a pleasant hill, the top of which was tolerably
clear of trees, and perfectly free from underwood. His
Excellency gave it the name of Belle Veiie. From the
top of this hill we saw a chain of hills or mountains,
which appeared to be thirty or forty miles distant,
running in a north and south direction. The nor
thernmost being conspicuously higher than any of the
rest the governor called it Richmond Hill ; the next,
or those in the centre, Lansdown Hills ; and those to
the southward, which are by much the lowest, Car
marthen Hills.
" In a valley below Belle Veiie, we saw a fire, and
by it found some chewed roots of a saline taste,*
which showed that the natives had recently been
there. The country hereabout was pleasant to the
eye, well wooded, and covered with long sour grass,
growing in tufts. At the bottom of this valley or
flat, we crossed another water-course, and ascended
a hill, where the wood was so very thick as to
obstruct our view. Here, finding our provisions to
run short, our return was concluded on, though with
great reluctance, as it was our wish, and had been
our determination, to reach the hills before us if it
had been possible. In our way back, which we easily
discovered by the marks made in the trees, we saw a
hollow tree on fire, the smoke issuing out of the top
part as through a chimney. On coming near, and
minutely examining it we found that it had been set
on fire by the natives ; for there was some dry grass
* I think Mesembrianthemum equilaterale.

348 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
lighted and put into the hole wherein we had supposed
they used to snare or take the animal before alluded
to.* In the evening, where we pitched our tents, we
shot two crows and some loraquets for supper. The
night was fine and clear ; during which we often heard,
as before, a sound like the human voice, and, from its
continuance on one spot, we concluded it to proceed
from a bird perched on some of the trees near us*
"2'jth. — We now found ourselves obliged to make
a forced march back, as our provisions were quite
exhausted — a circumstance rather alarming, in case of
losing our way, which, however, we met with no
difficulty in discovering by the marked trees. By our
calculation we had penetrated into the country, to the
westward, not less than thirty-two or thirty-three
miles. This day we saw the dung of an animal as
large as that of a horse, but it was more like the
excrement of a hog, intermixed with grass.t When
we got as far back as the arm or branch of the sea
which forms the upper part of Port Jackson harbour
we saw many ducks, but could not get within shot of
any of them. It was now growing late ; and the
governor being apprehensive that the boats which he
had ordered to attend daily might be, for that day,
returning before we could reach them, he sent
Lieutenants Johnston and Cresswell, with a marine,
a-head, in order to secure such provisions as might
have been sent up, and to give directions for the
* Done to smoke out a poor opossum. There is a capital drawing.
of the thing being done in i Sturt's Travels, fifty years later, and
1,000 miles away.
+ Emu.

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 349
boats to come for us the next morning, as it then
appeared very unlikely that all the party, who were,
without exception, much fatigued, could be there soon
enough to save the tide down. Those gentlemen
accordingly went forward, and were so fortunate as to
be just in time ; and they returned to us with a season
able supply of bread, beef, rum, and wine. As soon
as they had joined us, we encamped for the night on
a spot about the distance of a mile from the place
where the boats were to take us up in the morning.
His Excellency was again indisposed, occasioned by a
return of his complaint, which had been brought on
by a fall into a hollow place in the ground, that, being
concealed by the long grass, he was unable to discern.
We passed the next day in examining different inlets
in the upper part of the harbour. We saw there
some of the natives, who, in their canoes, came along
side of the boat to receive some trifles which the
governor held out to them. In the evening we
returned to Sydney Cove.
"May 1st — James Bennet, a youth, was executed
for robbing a tent belonging to the Charlotte trans
port of sugar and some other articles. Before he
was turned off he confessed his guift, and acknow
ledged that, young as he was, he had been an old
offender. Some other trifling thefts were brought
before the court at the same time, and those concerned
in them sentenced to receive corporal punishment
" The Supply tender sailed for Lord Howe's Island
to fetch turtle; as did the Lady Penrhyn transport
for China. The Scarborough dropped down the
harbour ; she was followed the next day by the Char-

350 THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
lotte, and they sailed in company for China. Some
of the natives came alongside the Sirius, and made
signs to have their beards taken off. One of them
patiently, and without fear or distrust, underwent the
operation from the ship's barber, and seemed much
delighted with it.
"2ist. — William Ayres, a convict, who was in a
state of convalescence, and to whom I had given per
mission to go a little way into the country for the
purpose of gathering a few herbs wherewith to make
tea, was, after night, brought to the hospital, with one
of the spears used by the natives sticking in his loins.*
It had been darted at him as he was stooping, and
while his back was turned to the assailant. The
weapon was barbed, and stuck so very fast, that it
would admit of no motion. After dilating the wound
to a considerable length and depth, with some diffi
culty I extracted the spear, which had penetrated the
flesh nearly three inches. After the operation he
informed us that he received his wound from three of
the natives, who came behind him at a time when he
suspected no person to be near him except Peter
Burn, whom he had met a little before, employed on
the same business as himself He added, that after
they had wounded him they beat him in a cruel
manner, and stripping the clothes from his back,
carried them off, making signs to him (as he inter
preted them) to return to the camp. He further
related, that after they had left him, he saw Burn in
the possession of another party of the natives, who
were dragging him along, with his head bleeding, and
* The beginning of the end.

THE FO UNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 35 1
seemingly in great distress ; while he himself was so
exhausted with loss of blood, that, instead of being
able to assist his companion, he was happy to escape
with his life.
" The Port Jackson thrush inhabits the neighbour
hood of Port Jackson.*
" 2C,th. — The Supply arrived from Lord Howe's
Island without a single turtle, the object for which
she \vzs sent ; a dreadful disappointment to those who
were languishing under the scurvy, many of whom
are since dead, and there is great reason to fear that
several others will soon share the same fate. This
disorder has now risen to a most alarming height,
without any possibility of checking it until some
vegetables can be raised, which, from the season of
the year, cannot take place for many months ; and
even then I am apprehensive that there will not be a
sufficiency produced, such are the labour and difficulty
which attend the clearing of the ground. It will
scarcely be credited, when I declare that I have
known twelve men employed for five days in grub
bing up one tree ; and when this has been effected, the
timber (as already observed) has been only fit for fire
wood ; so that in consequence of the great labour in
clearing of the ground, and the weak state of the
people, to which may be added the scarcity of tools,
most of those we had being either worn out by the
hardness of the timber, or lost in the woods among
• Now called White's Thrush, after our present good author. It is
the only vertebrate creature found universally in all divisions of the
earth. I have shot the poor innocent things, I am sure I do not
know why.

352 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
the grass, through the carelessness of the convicts,
the prospect before us is not of the most pleasing
kind. All the stock that was landed, both public
and private, seems, instead of thriving, to fall off ex
ceedingly. The number at first was but inconsider
able, and even that number is at present much dimin
ished. The sheep, in particular, decrease rapidly,
very few being now alive in the colony, although
there were numbers, the property of Government or
individuals, when first landed.
"26th. — Two men of the Sirius were brought
before the criminal court, and tried for assaulting
and beating in a cruel manner another man be
longing to the same vessel while employed on an
island appropriated by the governor to the use of
the ship. They were sentenced to receive five hun
dred lashes each, but could not undergo the whole
of that punishment, as, like most of the persons in
the colony, they were much afflicted with the
scurvy. " 2&th. — Captain Hunter, his first lieutenant, and
the surgeon of the Sirius, went to the point of land
which forms the north head of Port Jackson. In
going there they discovered an old man, with a
little girl about five years of age, lying close to
the ground watching their motions, and at the
same time endeavouring to conceal themselves. The
surgeon had his gun with him, the effects of which
he let the old man see, by shooting a bird which
fell at his feet The explosion at first greatly
alarmed him, but perceiving that they intended him
no ill, he soon got over his fears. The bird was

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 353
then given to him, which (having barely plucked
and not more than half broiled it) he devoured,
entrails, bones, and all. The little girl was much
frightened, and endeavoured to hide herself behind
the old man, to escape the least observation.
" lOth. — Captain Campbell of the marines, who
had been up the harbour to procure some rushes
for thatch, brought to the hospital the bodies of
William Okey and Samuel Davis, two rush-cutters,
whom he had found murdered by the natives in a
shocking manner. Okey was transfixed through
the breast with one of their spears, which with great
difficulty and force was pulled out He had two
other spears sticking in him to a depth which must
have proved mortal. His skull was divided and
comminuted so much that his brains easily found
a passage through. His eyes were out, but these
might have been picked away by birds. Davis was
a youth, and had only some trifling marks of violence
about him. This lad could not have been many hours
dead ; for when Captain Campbell found him, which
was among some mangrove-trees, and at a consider
able distance from the place where the other man
lay, he was not stiff, . nor very cold ; nor was he
perfectly so when brought to> the hospital. From
these circumstances we have been led to think that
while they were despatching Okey he had crept to
the trees, among which he was found ; and that
fear, united with the cold and wet, in a great degree
contributed to his death. What was the motive
or cause of this melancholy catastrophe we have
not been able to discover ; but from the civility
A A

354 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
shown on all occasions to the officers by the natives,
whenever any of them were met, I am strongly
inclined to think that they must have been provoked
and injured by the convicts.
" Early the next morning the governor, lieutenants
G. Johnston and Kellow, myself, six soldiers, and
two armed convicts, whom we took as guides, went
to the place where the murder had been committed,
in hopes, by some means or other, to be able to
find out either the actual perpetrators, or those
concerned. As most of their clothes, and all their
working tools -were carried off, we expected that these
might furnish us with some clue ; but in this we
were disappointed. We could not observe a single
trace of the natives ever 'having been there. We
then crossed the country to Botany Bay, still flat
tering ourselves that we might be ,a!ble to discover,
among a tribe at that place, some proof that they
had been concerned ; as the governor was resolved,
on whomsoever he found any of the tools or clothing,
to show them his displeasure, and 'by every means
in his power endeavour to convince them of his
piotives for such a procedure* In our route we
saw several kangaroos, and shot a very fine teal.
A little before sunset, after a long and fatiguing
march, we arrived at Botany Bay. When we
approached the bay, we saw eleven canoes, with
two persons in each, fishing ; most of them had a
fire in their canoe, a convenience which they seldom
go without at any time or season, but particularly
* It is evident that the unhappy blatks began the war of exter
mination.

THE FO UNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 3 5 5

at this, as the weather was very cold. Here we
pitched our tents, for (as I have before observed) we
never travel without them, and kindled large fires both
in front and rear ; still, however, the cold was so very
intense that we could scarcely close our eyes during
the night. In the morning the grass was quite
white with a hoar frost so as to crackle under our
feet.* After breakfast we visited the grave of the
French abb6, who died whilst the Count de Peyrouse
was here. It was truly humble indeed, being dis
tinguished only by a common head-stone, stuck
slightly into the loose earth which covered it.
Against a tree, just above it was nailed a board,
with the following inscription on it : —
HIC JACET
LE RECEVEUR
EX F. F. MINORIBUS GALLIA SACERDOS
PHYSICUS IN CIRCUMNAVIGATIONE MUNDI
DUCE D. DE LA PEYROUSE.
OBIIT DIE 17TH FEBR. ANNO 1 788.
As the painting on the board could not be per
manent. Governor Phillip had the inscription engraved
on a plate of copper, and nailed to the same tree ;
and at some future day he intends to have a hand
some head-stone placed at the grave. We cut down
some trees which stood between that on which the

* Our gardeners insist on putting everything which comes from any
part of Australia into a tropical oven house. If they had had their
clothes frozen as stiff as a board, after trying to ford a creek, as I have,
it is possible that they would not do so. Also Alsophilla Australis, the
verdant fern tree, will flourish where there is severe frost j but as it
looks like a palm tree, it is smothered in a hot-house.
A A 2 '

356 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
inscription is fixed and the shore, as they prevented
persons passing in boats from seeing it.
"Between this and the harbour's mouth we found
forty-nine canoes hauled upon the beach, but not a
native to be seen. After we had passed them, we
fell in with an Indian path; and, as it took a turn
towards the camp, we followed it about two miles ;
when on a sudden, in a valley or little bay to the
northward of Botany Bay, we were surprised at
hearing the sound of voices, which we instantly
found to proceed from a great number of the natives
sitting behind a rock, who appeared to be equally
astonished with ourselves, as, from the silence we
observed) they had not perceived us till we were
within twenty yards of them. Every one of them,
as they got up, armed himself with a long spear,
the short stick before described used in throwing
it, a shield made of bark, and either a large cldb,
pointed at one end, or a stone hatchet At first
they seemed rather hostilely inclined, and made
signs, with apparent tokens of anger, for us to return ;
but when they saw the governor advance towards
them, unarmed, and with his hands opened wide
(a .signal we had observed among them of amity
and peace), they, with great confidence, came up
to him, and received from him some trifles which
he had in his pocket, such as fish-hooks, beads, and
a looking-glass. As there appeared not to be less
than three hundred of them in this bay, all armed,
the soldiers were ordered to fix their bayonets, and
to observe a close, well-connected order of march
as they descended the hill. These people (as already

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 357
mentioned) seemed to dislike red coats, and those
who carry arms ; but on the present occasion they
showed very little fear or distrust ; on the contrary,
they in a few minutes mixed with us, and conducted
us to a very fine stream of water, out of which some
of them drank, to show that it was good. The women
and children kept at some distance, one or two more
forward than the rest excepted, who came to the
governor for some presents. While he was distri
buting his gifts, the women danced (an exercise
every description of people in this country seemed
fond of).
"The men in general had their skins smeared all
over with grease, or some stinking, oily substance;
some wore a small stick, or fishbone, fixed crossways
in the division of the nose, which had a very strange
appearance ; others were painted in a variety of ways,
and had their hair ornamented with the teeth of fish,
fastened on by gum, and the skin of the kangaroo.
As they conducted us to the water, a toadstool* was
picked up by one of our company, which some of
the natives perceiving, they made signs for us to
throw it away, as not being good to eat. Soon
after I gathered some wood-sorrel, which grew in
our way, but none of them endeavoured to prevent
me from eating it ; on the contrary, if a conclusion
may be drawn from the signs which they made rela-
* I have no hesitation in asserting my opinion that the Agaricus
campestris or common mushroom, now so amazingly abundant in
Australia, was introduced accidentally by Europeans. The marsh
mallow and the thistle seem for the first time to have found then-
natural habitat ; while the salmon seems to be a dead failure at present.

358 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
tive to the toadstool, they showed by their looks
that there was nothing hurtful in it.
"We halted but a short time with them, as it
was growing late, and we had a long way to walk.
Before we parted from them, the governor gave
them two small hand axes in exchange for some
of their stone axes and two of their spears. As
we ascended a hill, after our departure from them,
eight of them followed us until we had nearly reached
the top, where one of those who had been most
familiar with us made signs for us to stop, which
we readily complying with, he ran to the summit,
and made a strange kind of hallooing, holding at
the same time hands open above his head. As soon
as we came up to him, we discovered another large
body of them in a bay, about half a mile below
us. Our new friend seemed anxious to carry us
down to them, but it not being in our way we
declined his offer. Seeing us take another direction
he halted, and opened his hands, in order, as we
supposed, to put us in mind that he had received
nothing from us, upon which we presented him with
a bird, the only thing we had, with which he returned,
to appearance, fully content and satisfied. We now
proceeded towards the camp, where we arrived about
sunset. "This was the greatest number of the natives we
had ever seen together since our coming among them.
What could be the cause of their assembhng in
such numbers gave rise to a variety of conjectures.
Some thought they were going to war among
themselves, as they had with them a temporary

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 359
store of half-stinking fish and fern-root, the latter
of which they use for bread. This we remarked,
as several of them were eating it at the time we
were among them. Others conjectured that some
of them had been concerned in the murder of our
men, notwithstanding we did not meet with the
smallest trace to countenance such an opinion, and
that fearing we should revenge it, they had formed
this convention in order to defend themselves against
us. Others imagined that the assemblage might
be occasioned by a burial, a marriage, or some
religious meeting.
'¦ The /^th of June, The King's Birthday. — His
Excellency ordered every soldier a pint of porter,
besides his allowance of grog ; and every convict
half a pint of spirits, made into grog, that
they all may drink his Majesty's health ; and, as
it was a day of general rejoicing and festivity, he
likewise made it a day of forgiveness — remitting
the remainder of the punishment to which the sailors
of the Sirius were subject, and pardoning Lovel,
Sideway, Hall, and Gordon, who had been confined
on a little sterile island, or rather rock, situated in
the harbour, until a place of banishment could be
found. This act of lenity and mercy, added to many
others which the governor had shown, it is to be
hoped will work some change on the minds of these
men. Indeed some good may be expected from
Hall and Gordon, who, since their sentence, have
appeared penitent; but from Lovel and Sideway
very little change for the better can be expected,
because they seem so truly abandoned and incor-

36o THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
rigible. At night every person attended an immense
bonfire that was lighted for the occasion ; after which
the principal officers of the settlement, and of the
men-of-war, supped at the governor's, where they
terminated the day in pleasantry, good humour,
and cheerfulness.
" The next morning we were astonished at the
number of thefts which had been committed during
the general festivity by the villainous part of the
convicts on one another, and on some of the officers
-whose servants did not keep a strict look-out after
their marquees. Availing themselves thus of the
particular circumstances of the day is a strong
instance of their unabated depravity and want of
principle. Scarcely a day passes without an example
being made of some one or other of these wretches ;
but it seems to have no manner of effect upon them.
" loth. — John Ascott and Patrick Burn, two con
victs, were brought before the criminal court, and
prosecuted by Lieutenant G. William Maxwell of
the Sirius, and Mr. Kelter the master of the same
ship, for having, a few nights before, in a riotous
manner, with many more of the convicts, attacked
some seamen belonging to the men-of-war, and
behaving in an insolent and contemptuous manner
to them. After a long and judicious hearing, the
prisoners were acquitted, as the charge brought
against them was by no means substantiated.
"26th. — About four in the afternoon a slight shock
of an earthquake was felt at Sydney Cove and its
environs. This incident had so wonderful an effect
on Edward Corbett, a convict who had eloped about

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 361
three weeks before, on a discovery being made of
his having stolen a frock, that he returned and gave
himself up to justice. A few days antecedent to
his return he had been outlawed, and was supposed
to have driven off with him four cows, the only
animals of this kind in the colony.* This, however,
he declared himself innocent of, but confessed his
having committed the theft laid to his charge. The
strictest search was made, but. in vain, after the
cows. It is probable that they have strayed so far
off in this endless wild as to be irrecoverably lost
Previously to the return of Corbett, he must have
suffered very severely from hunger ; his eyes were
sunk into his head, and his whole appearance showed
that he had been half starved. While he was absent,
he says, he frequently fell in with the natives, who,
though they never treated him ill, did not seem to
like his company. He informed us, that in a bay
adjacent to that where the governor and his party
had met with so many of the natives, he saw the
head of one of the convicts lying near the place
where the body had been burnt in a large fire.
This, in all likelihood, was Burn, who was carried
off at the time Ayres was wounded, as he has not
been heard of since.
"The natives of this country, though their mode
of subsisting seems to be so very scanty and pre-
* In 1788 there were four cows and a bull on the Australian
continent. In 1868 there were 960,000 horned cattle in New South
Wales alone, leaving out the three other splendid provinces of
Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland. " Verily, the earth is the
Lord's, and the fulness thereof."

362 THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE.
carious, are, I am convinced, not cannibals.* One
of their graves, which I saw opened, the only one
I have met with, contained a body which had evi
dently been burned, as small pieces of the bones lay
in the bottom of it The grave was neatly made,
and well covered with earth and boughs of trees."
So began a terrible fight lasting for so many years,
of which we now begin to see some of the results.
On the one side were five or six gentlemen and 150
troops, and the desert and the savages on the other.
Of the convicts one can hardly say which way they
were They were in overwhelming majority, a mass
of desperate men, who had all forfeited their lives by
the then existing laws, and no doubt would have
risen if they could. Some showed signs of amend
ment, and seem to have been as well used as was
possible. Others were hopelessly depraved, and
extreme repressive measures were necessary. Phillip
seems to have been spoken of by those who knew him
as a humane and excellent man, but it fell to him to put
the laws of those times in force, and he did it He
pardoned where he could. On the 4th of June, as we
see, he pardoned every body, but it was little good.
How Phillip, Hunter, and King kept their wits at
all, in the seething hell of abominations and massacres
which followed, is a great wonder ; but they did right
nobly. They had to do some very severe things ; it
becomes most necessary among swarms of enlarged
-* Not habitually, but occasionally. On this point consult Eyre, late
Governor of Jamaica, their friend and protectOT^ Even heroes not
hesitate to pronounce against them in this respect.

THE FOUNDA TION OF AN EMPIRE. 363
and desperate convicts ;* but by degrees they got
order out of confusion, staggering and uncertain
cosmos out of utter chaos, and the thing throve.
They were hard-fisted men who hit. Neither the
United States or Australia were founded by kid
gloves and rose water. Those who sneer at these
men who bore the burden and heat of the day,, had
better undertake a similar job on their own account,
which, happily, thanks partly to the hard hitting of
the men who founded America and Australia, they
will find difficult The men who landed "at the
bottom of Bridge Street, Sydney, near the colonnade,"
had to hit out from the shoulder, and did so.
It was a miserable struggle for a long time, but
Civilization won steadily, in spite of all the terrible
elements she had to contend with. She had for her
assistance a young race, (quite) indomitable, and in the
long run she won.
The first real sign of civilization was, of course, a
revolution. Our old friend 'and hero, Bligh, of the
Bounty, who had successfully proved that his temper
was so atrocious that he could not keep a picked crew
of exQpUent men in order, was, for some inscrutable
reason, "told off" to administer this colony just at
the very time when free settlers were becoming
powerful, and when the most perfect tact and caution
* The Governor of Norfolk Island told me once in private conver
sation, that he gave 300 convicts 100 lashes a-piece one night. The
island' was all but gone, but he did not like to shed blood. A gentler
or more humane being than this man does not walk this earth. He
was a man who got a nickname for his extreme good-nature. He had
to do something, and he did that— and won.

364 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
were required. The end was an explosion. The
troops mutinied, and in January 1806 seized him,
and put him on board ship, with orders to leave the
colony. So ended the great Australian Revolution,
without one solitary black eye to any person concerned.
Major Johnson, the leader of the insurgent troops,
was tried by court-martial at Chelsea Hospital, and
what — hung .¦" Shot 1 — no, quietly cashiered. He
lived and died happily in Australia. Bligh lived
until 1 8 17.
While these little matters were happening, the roar
of Trafalgar was still in our fathers' ears, the great
Moravian battle had been won, and Pitt lay dead at
Putney, " with the look of Austerlitz in his face." It
was no time to bother about small majors of infantry
who had squabbled with a not very successful captain
of the navy. The hurricane of great desolation was
sweeping over the earth, and in front of the swift
hurrying cloud sped the War Eagle, Napoleon, who
guided it Cease your babbling, you Sydney gaol
birds, lest a worse thing befall you. We are all alone,
and our temper is gone. Disband your mutinous
troops. Here is Macquarie and the 73d Regiment
to knock you into shape*
Australia had been getting" ready for Macquarie,
and Macquarie was exactly the man for Australia. In
twelve yeara he had made a country of it. MacArthur
had introduced the merino sheep in 1803. Under the
wise and good rule of Macquarie, these had increased
enormously, and Sydney was built In Europe these
* The exact dates of the news arriving in England are very confused,
so one has to be very vague.

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 365
twelve years of Australian prosperity are noted in
men's minds by such words as Wagram, Torres
Vedras, advance of Wellington through the Penin
sula, Moscow, Passage of the Beresina, Leipsig, Elba,
Waterloo, St Helena. In Australia these echoes
came dimly deadened by long distance,
" Like footsteps upon wool."
Macquarie all this time was civilizing, road-making,
bridge building, nay, street building, for the infant
colony, while the old parent land was fighting her
hardest for them and theirs. When you show me a
successful Latin colony, I will confess that we wasted
all our money in getting command of the seas.
There is little more to chronicle : the great colony
squabbled on, scolding a great deal, until it came to
what it is now. The natives, of course, went on, one
way or another, by drink or by sheer butchery, in spite
of some splendid efforts to save them : notably by eccle
siastics of all persuasions (who have fairly earned their
salt in that colony). But even the glorious Moravians
could do nothing with them. By degrees the land
throve so gloriously that it had to be divided, and
South Australia (the country discovered by Sturt) and
Tasmania (the great island to the south) had to be
pared off the parent stem, even before the tremendous
prize of gold was found.
It is wonderful to think of the way in which God
hides things from men until His time is ready. Sir
Thomas Mitchell, a meritorious and excellent man,
in one of his numerous expeditions, crossed Expedi
tion Pass, by Mount Alexander, through a long

366 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
valley, leading over some 10,000,000/. of gold, an
immense quantity of which must have been actuallly
visible after a shower of rain. The gold about Expe
dition Pass (we used to call it Sawpit Gully, I do not
know what they call it now), was actually so thick
on the very surface, that the children used to go
out " nuggetting " with knives on Sunday. The
" squatters " (wool growers) had no notion that they
were walking upon half the interest of the National
Debt until Lyell gave the word, and Hargreaves
followed it, but not in Victoria, in New South Wales.
That colony did well in gold, but the new colony,
only just separated from her, did better.
Victoria, the richest of our colonies save India,
was but a district of New South Wales : a small and
not very important district, principally separated
because it was considered hard that honourable
members should be required to go 500 miles to
Sydney to attend to their legislative duties. This
trifling province exported in 1852, 11,000,000/. in gold
alone. Now just cast your mind back for a few moments
for eighty-one years. Many whom we know were
alive then. What did we see at that time .'
A band of sailors and soldiers, landing in a hope
less swamp, on a continent as large as Europe, in
charge of a band of hopeless, godless, convicts, 700
strong. Not one solitary white man was on that
continent at that time. An old lady who walks
about the streets at Clifton now, and is as good at a
crossing as another, was then a bright child of seven
years old.

THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE. 367

Now just read the statistics which follow, and see
what man can do when God will back him.
The Australian continent is divided into five nearly
independent republics, the presidents of which are,
at the desire of the colonists, nominated by the
Imperial Government. The first which claims our
attention is, of course, the oldest : —
New South Wales —
Population, 440,000.
Revenue, ;£^3, 000,000.
Population of its chief town, Sydney, about 6o,coo.
Victoria {its offshoot) —
Population, 660,000.
Revenue, ^^2, 99 1,000.
Population of its chief town, Melbourne, 130,000.
South Australia —
Population, 170,000.
Revenue, 975,000.
Population of the chief town, Adelaide, 30,000.
Queensland (possessing twice the acreage of the Canadas) —
Population, 96,000.
Revenue, i;593.ooo-
Population of chief town, Brisbane, 10,000.
Tasmania —
Population, 98,000.
Revenue, ;^27o,ooo.
Population of chief town, Hobart Town, 25,000.
West Australia, Convict Settlement —
Population, 21,000.
Summed up, then : —
Australian United Provinces—
Population, 1,670,000.
Revenue, £\o, 194,000.
This is a lame conclusion to a book of spirited
adventure you say. I say no. Where would the

368 THE FOUNDATION OF AN EMPIRE.
great Australian United Provinces be now, had it not
been for the glorious band of adventurers who made
her .' The object of our race is to civilize the earth,
and we have not done very badly with such figures as
these before us.

J-HE END.

IJ,Nl)ON : R. CLAY, SOWS,-^ ANO TAYLOR, PRINTERS.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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