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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 G 525.S21 
 
 Daring deeds of great pathfinders ; true 
 
 3 1924 006 343 929 
 
TtiE Intercession of Princess Pocahontas. 
 
 When Captain lohn Smith's head was actually about to he clubbed, she 
 interceded with her father and his life was spared. 
 
DARING DEEDS OF 
 GREAT PATHFINDERS 
 
 TRUE STORIES OF THE BRAVERY AND RESOURCE 
 
 OF INTREPID PIONEERS IN ALL PARTS 
 
 OF THE WORLD 
 
 BY 
 
 EDGAR SANDERSON, M.A. (Cantab.) 
 
 SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF CLARE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 n GREAT BRITAIN IN MODERN AFRICA," "a HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND THE 
 
 BRITISH EMPIRE," £r»C , &*C, &*C 
 
 WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 " l tni 
 
 
 
 -LONDON 
 SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LIMITED '^ , 
 
 196 Shaftesbury Avenue *> 
 
 MDCCCCXXVII S . 'Mr. ■>{ 
 
 * \ ''lii'ili*"" • 
 
THE DARING DEEDS LIBRARY 
 
 FOR 
 
 BOYS &> GIRLS 
 
 A Series of Copykight Books describing 
 
 the Adventures, Bravery & Resources of 
 
 Soldiers, Sailors Sf Others in all Parts 
 
 of the World. 
 
 Square crown 8vo, with many Illustrations in Colour. 
 
 DARING DEEDS OF FAMOUS PIRATES. 
 
 By Lieut. -Commander E. Keble Chatterton, 
 B.A. Oxon., R.N.V.R. 
 
 DARING DEEDS OF HUNTERS AND 
 TRAPPERS. By Ernest Yojwg, B.Sc, 
 
 F.R.G.S. 
 
 DARING DEEDS OF THE INDIAN 
 MUTINY. By Edward Gilliat, M.A. Oxon. 
 
 DARING DEEDS IN DARK FORESTS. By 
 
 H. W. G. Hyrst. 
 
 DARING DEEDS OF GREAT PATH- 
 FINDERS. By Edgar Sanderson, M.A. 
 
 Cantab. 
 
 DARING DEEDS OF GREAT MOUN- 
 TAINEERS. By Richard Stead, B.A., 
 
 F.R.Hist.S. 
 
 DARING DEEDS OF POLAR EXPLORERS. 
 
 By G. Firth Scott. 
 
 DARING DEEDS AMONG WILD BEASTS 
 By H. W. G. Hyrst. 
 
 SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LIMITED 
 
 Printed in Great Britain 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IT is the purpose of this book to recall to mind some 
 of the work of pioneers of the adventurous, colo- 
 nizing, and conquering class in the modern world. 
 Some of these memorable heroes bear names for ever 
 associated with achievements in which they played a 
 leading part in founding new States. In this work were 
 displayed the high qualities of courage, endurance, and 
 resolution amidst dangers, difficulties, sufferings, conflicts, 
 and toils of no common kind. The pioneers of an army 
 are the military artisans who, provided with saw-backed 
 swords, axes, and other needful implements, march at 
 the head of the fighting-men to clear a passage through 
 woods and jungles ; or, with explosives, pickaxe, and 
 shovel, remove rocky barriers, and construct or improve 
 roads ; or, with rapid work in carpentry of piles and pon- 
 toons, bridge streams ; or, in the modern warfare, lay 
 down and repair railways, and carry the electric wires 
 onwards through hostile territory. In like fashion, some 
 of the men here commemorated prepared for the advance 
 of the peaceful forces of commerce and civilization by 
 making their way steadily through obstacles of every kind 
 that wild country and yet wilder man could interpose, 
 and thus bringing strange and barbarous regions and 
 
PREFACE 
 
 their denizens into contact with a world hitherto un- 
 known. In other instances of successful pioneering we 
 deal rather with efforts of the armed forces of a nation 
 than with those of individuals, or of small parties of men 
 boldly plunging into Nature's wilds, and we see bodies 
 of regular troops, or of native troops drilled and led by 
 European officers, gaining beneficent triumphs over savage 
 foes, making peace and order reign where anarchy was 
 rife, or replacing an imperfect system of social and 
 political life by one of higher position in the scale of 
 civilization. 
 
 It is a remarkable instance of heredity that some of the 
 best qualities of Captain John Smith, the founder of 
 Virginia, were reproduced, after the lapse of about three 
 centuries, in his descendant Baden-Powell, the man whose 
 magnetic spirit, even more, perhaps, than his military 
 skill and resource, kept the flag flying at Mafeking. In 
 the hour of despondency among the beleaguered, that 
 hero's influence never failed in reviving courage and hope, 
 and, in the words of a resident, it was " better than a 
 pint of dry champagne to see ' B.-P.' go whistling down 
 the street, bright and confident." 
 
 Such was the spirit that brought success to many of 
 the brave men whose deeds are here narrated. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh and Virginia — Sir Humphrey Gilbert's fate — First 
 expedition sent by Raleigh — Appearance of the country — Landing 
 at Roanoke Island — Friendly reception by natives — Trade begins 
 — A hospitable " Queen " — Two natives brought to England — 
 Raleigh's second expedition — Sir Richard Grenvflle — Trouble with 
 natives — A colony started — Poor prospects — Drake's fleet appears 
 off coast — Settlers return home — Sir Richard Grenville leaves men 
 at Roanoke — Raleigh's third expedition — Roanoke found deserted 
 — Fate of the men — First English child born in New World — 
 Raleigh's fourth expedition — Final failure of his efforts — James I. 
 and the " London Company " — The new settlement — The first 
 " Jamestown " founded — Its only remains ... 17-24 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 EARLY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA — Continued 
 
 The real founder of Virginia — Captain John Smith — His early oareer 
 — In France — Fights Spaniards in Holland — His life as a hermit 
 —Is trained in horsemanship— OS to fight the Turks — Adventures 
 at sea — His prowess against the infidels — Taken prisoner — Be- 
 comes a slave — In Russia — Kills his cruel master and escapes — 
 More wandering and fighting — Back to England — Starts for Vir- 
 
 finia — Sets out exploring country — Indian attack beaten off — 
 mith as a builder — Tillage begins — Quarrels among settlers — 
 Sickness and destructive fire — Smith has town rebuilt— His courage 
 and wisdom — His principles of colonization — His dealing with 
 Indians — An expedition up Chickahominy River — Taken, after a 
 fight, by natives — Inspires them with awe — The story of Princess 
 Pocahontas — She come3 to England — Her death — Smith becomes 
 President of colony — The splendid oountry for settlers — Scenery, 
 fruits, streams — Fish — Wild birds — Deer — The climate — Smith 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 and the natives — His courage in a fight — His firm rule of colony — 
 His explorations — Friendly reception among Indians— A Christmas 
 at native village — Settlers grow maize — Smith's perils and acci- 
 dents — Wounded by a sting-ray — Disabled by powder explosion — 
 Returns to England — The " starving-time " of settlement — The 
 colony saved Dy Lord Delaware— Smith's explorations — His 
 death— His fine character— His descendant Baden-Powell - 25-38 
 
 CHAPTER in 
 
 THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 French dominion in North America — A retrospect — First Frenchmen 
 seen in New World — Francis I. sends out Jacques Cartier — 
 Landing at Cape Gaspe — Cartier's second voyage — Beaches 
 Hochelaga (site of Montreal) — Aspect of the Huron town — The 
 reception of French by natives — First Catholic service in New 
 World — The new-comers winter at Stadacona (site of Quebec) — 
 Many deaths — " New France " (afterwards Canada) — Cartier takes 
 Indian chiefs to France — Their death — The real founder of French 
 Canada — Samuel de Champlain — His character — Champlain's first 
 voyage to Canada — " Acadie " in early days — Champlain founds 
 the colony — Meets Frenchmen in St. Lawrence — Fur trade with 
 natives — Champlain foundB Quebec — The first buildings — French 
 plot against Champlain — His prompt action — Sufferings and deaths 
 of settlers — Champlain's exploring trip — Makes alliance with 
 Algonquins and Hurons against Iroquois — The voyage up the 
 Bichelieu — He discovers Lake Champlain — Comes on the Iroquois 
 —Fight with the enemy — They flee before the firearms — Bad 
 future result of victory — Champlain returns to France — His inter- 
 view with the King (Henri IV.) - • - • 39-48 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 the feench in Canada — continued 
 
 Champlain again in Canada (1610) — More fighting with the Iroquois — 
 Frenchmen tormented by mosquitoes — With their Indian allies they 
 storm the Iroquois fort — News from France of King's assassina- 
 tion — Champlain back to France — Again in Canada (1611) — At 
 Montreal (Hochelaga) — Many adventurers from France arrive — 
 Champlain again in France — His serious accident — Returns to 
 Canada with large powers- — His important work for colony — 
 Takes out new settlers to Montreal (1615) — The Recollet friars — 
 First Mass said in a Canadian church — The growth of Quebec — 
 Champlain's journey to Lake Huron — Tour in Huron country — 
 A delightful region — A deer-hunt — French and native allies attack 
 Iroquois — Enemy's strong defences — Assault by Hurons repulsed 
 — Champlain wounded — He winters among the Hurons — Is lost 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAG KM 
 
 in the woods — Narrow escape — Slow progress of colony — Champ- 
 Iain's efforts — Many visits to France — His return with a wife 
 (1620) — Low condition of colony in 1626 — Change comes with 
 Richelieu in power — The " Hundred Associates " — The new 
 Company's bad policy — Champlain made Governor of Canada — 
 War with England — Poor condition of Quebec — English ships 
 under Sir David Kirke — He captures a French fleet in St. Law- 
 rence — Champlain's courageous conduct — Starvation at Quebeo 
 — The place surrenders to English — Champlain a prisoner in Eng- 
 land — Restored to France at peace (1633) — His fresh work in 
 Canada — New forts erected — His death and funeral — Final fate 
 of colony — Champlain's noble character - ■ - 49-59 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Heroism of the Pilgrim Fathers — Scrooby village — The Puritans there 
 — The resolve to migrate — Difficulties in the way — The first at- 
 tempt foiled — -Another start — The party separated — All at last 
 in Holland — Robinson, Brewster, and Bradford — The exiles in 
 Leyden — The new enterprise — The start across the Atlantic — 
 The Speedwell and Mayflower — Failure of Speedwell — Voyage of 
 the Mayflower — Hard conditions — Danger of vessel — A voyager's 
 account — Land sighted — The coast at Cape Cod — The first landing 
 — The natives — Exploring the country — Native attack- — The land- 
 ing at Plymouth Rock — Appearance of " New England " — King 
 James's threat fulfilled — Town built — Sickness among emigrants — 
 Indians appear again — A friendly native — Alliance with a great 
 chief — Mayflower Dack to England — Tillage begun — Death of the 
 Governor — Bradford chosen .... 60-73 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND — Continued 
 
 The colony fairly started — Description of the town — Trade begins — 
 Coming of new settlers — Threats from Indians — The reply sent — 
 Miles Standish as military leader — Union of settlements — Harvard 
 College founded — Yale of Boston — Fighting Puritans — Indian 
 outrages — Colonists take the field — Native property destroyed — 
 More fighting — Attack on Indian village — The place stormed and 
 burnt — Severe loss of natives — End of Pequod power — Troubles 
 after death of Massasoit — The war with King Philip " — His 
 siege of Brookfield — The attack on Hadley — A mysterious leader 
 — Colonel Goffe, the regicide — Further warfare with natives — 
 A winter campaign — Fort stormed by colonists — Terrible loss of 
 natives — The enemy's strength broken — King Philip killed — 
 Great work of the Plymouth pioneers ... 74-83 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN . THE SETTLEMENT OF 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 PAOJH 
 
 Boone and Kentucky — Description of territory — The first white ex- 
 plorers — The coming change — Interest aroused in North Carolina 
 — Daniel Boone — His birth and early life — His first visit to Ken- 
 tucky — The buffalo herds — Boone and friend seized by Indians — 
 Their escape — Boone's brother finds him — White killed by Indians 
 — The brothers Boone alone — Delights of woodland life — Squire 
 Boone returns home — The wild creatures of Kentucky — Daniel 
 Boone alone — A trip through the country — A noble prospect — 
 His precaution against surprise — His brother returns — Another 
 season in the woods — Both back home — Boone's resolve to emi- 
 grate — The start from North Carolina — Attacked by Indians — 
 Boone's son killed — Enemy beaten off — The night camp — Another 
 attack repelled — Failure of the enterprise — Boone and family 
 retreat — Boone on Burvey work — His second enterprise in Ken- 
 tucky — A company purchase territory — The meeting with Indians 
 — Start of the expedition — Boone in command — Work of the 
 pioneers — Cumberland Gap passed — Arrival in Kentucky — Fatal 
 attacks by Indians — Boone sends back for aid — Starts for Otter 
 Creek — Reinforcements already on the way — Met by Boone's 
 messenger — Panic among settling parties — Henderson goes still 
 ahead — A brave courier sent on — Boone's advance — A buffalo 
 herd — Work of the woodmen — A site for settlement chosen — 
 Beautiful scene at Sycamore Hollow — Beginnings of Boones- 
 boro' Town — Arrival of Henderson's party — Joy of the negroes — 
 Erection of fort — Appearance of town — Boone fetches his family — 
 Civilizing female influence ..... 84-98 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY — Continued 
 
 More Indian outrages — Seizure of three Boonesboro' girls — The pur- 
 suit — The rescue — Savages on the warpath — A Boonesboro' 
 wedding— Tidings of independence— New Indian trouble — Boones- 
 boro' attacked — Boone saved from death — The place surrounded 
 —Enemy beaten off — Attacks on other white posts — Troubles in 
 1777 — Making of gunpowder — Material progress of settlement — 
 A Boonesboro' interior— Supply of salt fails— Boone's party of 
 salt-makers— Boone taken prisoner — His crafty conduct— Indians 
 
 taken in — Boone at Detroit — Friendly treatment by natives 
 
 His artful ways— His esoape to Boonesboro'— The works strength- 
 ened — Arrival of reinforcements — March of enemy's army 
 
 Boone attacks party outside — Timely return to the town 
 
 Enemy come up in force — Boone's reply to summons of sur- 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PJL0K6 
 
 render — Triok practised on Indians — A conference with the foe — 
 Their treachery evaded — A feigned retreat — Siege of Boonesboro* 
 — Mining and countermining — Heavy firing — Serious loss of 
 Indians — The siege abandoned — Indian outrages in 1780 — The 
 punishment inflicted — Boone fetches back his wife and family — 
 Expedition with his brother — Squire Boone killed — A hard winter 
 — General war in 1782 — Indians beaten off — Boone in the field — 
 Severe defeat of whites — Boone's son killed — The finding of the 
 dead — Punishment inflicted on Indians — The negro, the savage, 
 and the brave woman — Peace comes in 1783 — Boone's achieve- 
 ments and their oost — His death — Fate of Boonesboro' — The 
 founder's memory ...... 99-118 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES, THE SPICE ISLANDS, 
 AND SINGAPORE 
 
 Sir Stamford Raffles as colonial ruler — His birth and early life — 
 Clerk in India House — Hia self-training — His diligence and ability 
 — His promotion — Chief Secretary at Penang — Trip to Malacca — 
 His acquaintance with natives — At Calcutta — Relations with Lord 
 Minto— -State of affairs in Eastern seas — Raffles, Lord Minto, and 
 Java — The British expedition — The lines of Cornelia stormed — 
 British conquest of Java — Raffles made Lieutenant-Governor 
 — His work of reform — Puts down Sultan of Samarang — Java 
 restored to Holland — Raffles back to England — Interview with 
 Napoleon — Returns to East — Governor at Bencoolen — Revives 
 prosperity — Adventurous toure with Lady Raffles — Another visit 
 to Calcutta — Wrecked on a sandbank — His interviews with Lord 
 Hastings — The occupation of Singapore — Importance of the 
 position — Visit to Acheen — Attempt to bribe Lady Raffles — His 
 scientific studies — Discovery of an enormous flower - 119-129 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES AND SINGAPORE — Continued 
 
 British possession of Singapore — The Sultan of Johor — The island of 
 Singapore in 1819 — The interior now — The products — Rapid 
 progress made — Raffles' great work — Value of the possession — 
 Checkmate " to the Dutch — Raffles' work at Bencoolen ; at 
 Singapore — System of justice — Town of Singapore now— Size 
 and importance — Raffles' domestic troubles — Another sea mishap 
 — Fresh water needed — The churlish Dutchman — The generous 
 Yankee — The start home — Ship on fire — Exciting scenes- 
 Raffles' description — All hands saved — The blazing vessel — Sky 
 lit by blue fire — The boat — Voyage to Bencoolen — Rescue by ship 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 FAOI3 
 
 — Joy of Benooolen people in Baffles' safety — The loss of his 
 treasures — The menagerie on board — Baffles and the East India 
 Company — Statement of his services — His loss by the fire — The 
 meanness of the Company — The fresh start for home — Storms off 
 the Cape — The arrival — Brief life at home — Sudden death — The 
 monument at Singapore — Baffles founds Zoological Society — 
 The Zoo of Begent's Park his memorial ... 130-139 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 Brooke an Elizabethan hero — A British Bajah — The title of " High- 
 ness " — Brooke's birth and early days — An unruly boy — Enters 
 Indian army — Fights in Burmese War — Raises a body of horse- 
 men — His dashing courage — Severe wound — Invalided home — 
 Long illness — His return to India — Quite military service — First 
 thoughts of Eastern career — Enriched by father's death — Buys a 
 yacht — Cruises in Mediterranean — An admirer of Baffles — 
 Brooke's personal appearance — His character — Starts for the East 
 — From Singapore to Sarawak — Bajah Hassim — The Dyak tribes 
 — Hunting for heads — Brooke to Celebes — Helps to beat the 
 Dyaks — Made Bajah of Sarawak — His system of rule — Settles 
 at Kuching — Meets Captain Keppel at Singapore — They attack 
 the Borneo pirates — A dashing charge — Brooke fighting pirates 
 in Sumatra — His life at Kuching — More work against pirates — 
 Brooke and Admiral Cochrane attack Sultan of Brunei — A smart 
 fight — Flight of Sultan — Rajah's reception at Sarawak — Home to 
 England — His greeting and honours — Out to East again with 
 Keppel — The Pirates again — Their utter defeat— Progress of the 
 new State — Bajah again in England • - 140-151 
 
 CHAPTER Xn 
 
 bajah bsooke of Borneo — continued 
 
 ' Head-money " awarded to British sailors and marines — The Bajah 
 attacked in England — Brooke's action against a company — Dinner 
 in his honour — A high testimony — Result of Commission of In- 
 quiry — His position in Sarawak — Native esteem — The Bajah in 
 peril— Chinese attack on Kuching — His narrow escape — British 
 
 officials killed — A brave lady — The defence of the stockade 
 
 Rajah's faithful Malays — British steamer arrives — Flight and 
 
 pursuit of Chinese — The Bajah's losses at Government House 
 
 He returns to England — His welcome there — Another public 
 
 dinner — His speeoh at Liverpool — Attack of paralysis His 
 
 pecuniary position — A generous lady — Public subscription He 
 
 buys an estate — Again at Sarawak — Gift of a steamer— Extension 
 of Bajah's territory — Trouble with his nephew, the acting-ruler 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 — Nephew deposed — The new acting-Rajah — Independence of 
 Sarawak recognized — He returns to England — Further illness — 
 His death — His tomb — Present condition of Sarawak — The first 
 Rajah's public character — His dealings with natives — Mr. Wallace's 
 high testimony ...... 152-162 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 MAJOR SKINNER, THE CIVILIZER OP CEYLON 
 
 Importance of roads to civilization — Thomas Skinner as a civilizer — 
 His birth and early life — Learns little at school — Out to Ceylon — 
 Enters army — A boy-officer on parade — Takes troops to Colombo 
 — Description of Ceylon — The rain-swollen streams — Thickness of 
 jungle — Skinner's temperate habits — Cold tea for thirsty people — 
 He learns to go barefoot — Shoots his first elephant — His friend the 
 Governor — Sets to work at road-making — Finds out how to do it 
 — His native labourers — His just treatment — His work approved — 
 Value of praise — The road completed — Voyage to England — 
 Then to Newfoundland — Again at work in Ceylon — His promotion 
 — His work in surveying — His suspension bridge — A tour in 
 Eastern Archipelago — Nearly shipwrecked on return — A new 
 Governor of Ceylon — Road-making again — Learns military sketch- 
 ing — Toilsome work of survey — His athletic powers — His lost 
 labourers rescued — His meeting with a leopard — Narrow escape — 
 Power of human eye — Becomes Commissioner of Roads ; then of 
 Public Works — Close of his career in Ceylon — Death in England 
 — Native testimony to Skinner — Summary of his great work in 
 the island — From barbarism to civilization ... 163-178 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 PIONEER WORK EST SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 The pioneers of South Australia — The maritime explorers — Adventures 
 of Bass and Flinders — Flinders' great voyage — Meeting with 
 French expedition — Fun and feasting from kangaroos — A sea 
 disaster — The interior explored — Captain Start's discoveries — 
 His voyage down the Murray — Meetings with natives — A concert 
 in the Bush — Lake Alexandrina discovered — Voyagers blooked 
 by sand-bar — The toilsome return — Captain Barker's explora- 
 tions — Killed by natives — Start's report on the territory — Plans 
 in England for settlement — Formation of a company — Mr. 
 Angas' work — The first fleet sails — Colonel Light — Arrival of 
 the Governor — The colony " proclaimed " — Mr. Gouger's voyage 
 — Difficulties on landing — Mosquitoes and centipedes — A busn- 
 fire — Lost in the Bush on Kangaroo Island — A settler's hut — 
 The first child born — The first deaths — The Governor recalled — 
 Colony fairly started ---.-- 179-191 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 PAOIS 
 
 Sir George Grey's birth and early life — His work in Australian ex- 
 ploration ; as Governor of South Australia — His first term of rule 
 in New Zealand — State of the colony — His first measures — His 
 bold attitude — Description of a Maori pah — The storming of 
 the Bat's Nest — The country pacified — New military settlers — 
 Founding of Otago and Canterbury — The Governor's treatment 
 of natives — He wins their affection — His tactful conduct — Work 
 in eduoation — Bishop Selwyn in the colony — His excellent work 
 — The two fellow-helpers— Grey's return to England — The wel- 
 come at Oxford — Second period in New Zealand — Another war 
 — Storming of Te Ranga pah — Captain Smith's heroism — Close 
 of Grey's career ..... . 192-206 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 CECIL EHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 Rhodes as an Empire-builder — His birth and early life — To South 
 Africa — His wealth and health — Travels on the veldt — His 
 aspirations — Illness and restoration — A champion against the 
 Boers — Acquisition of Bechuanaland — Matabeleland — King Lo- 
 bengula — British treaty with — The Boers excluded — The British 
 occupation — Work of the pioneers — Salisbury founded — Early 
 
 difficulties — The Matabele war-party — First Matabele war 
 
 British columns in the field — Native attacks on laager repulsed 
 
 Capture of Buluwayo — Pursuit of Lobengula — Major Forbes' 
 movements — Major Wilson and his men — Attaoked by Matabele 
 — Retreat of Major Forbes — Matabele surrender — The Shangani 
 patrol — Heroic resistance to death — The last man — The burial 
 of the skulls — The cool courage of Cecil Rhodes — His death, 
 burial, and monument — The Victoria Falls Bridge opened - 207-222 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 Description of Algeria — The peoples — Origin of war— Outbreak of 
 hostilities — The French expedition — First fighting — Capture of 
 Algiers— Release of Christian oaptives— Turkish divisions of the 
 country — General Clauael in command — His recall — Abd-el-Kadr 
 in the field — His early exploit — Formation of Zouave corps by 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 HUBS 
 
 French— Count d'Erlon as Governor— Defeat of French by Abd- 
 el-Kadr— Arab cruelty— D'Erlon recalled — Clausel as Governor 
 — He captures Maskara — Abd-el-Kadr again successful — Then 
 defeated in field by Bugeaud — Clausel marches on Constantino — 
 Strong position of city — His failure and recall — Abd-el-Kadr 
 near Algiers — General Damremont in command — Marches for 
 Constantino — Killed before walls — General Valee storms the plaoe 
 — Appointed Governor — French victorious over Abd-el-Kadr — 
 His harassing guerilla warfare — Bugeaud made Governor - 223-237 
 
 CHAPTER XVni 
 France in Algeria — continued 
 
 Bugeaud's previous career and charaoter — His new methods of war- 
 fare — His columns and commanders — Occupation of Algerian 
 towns — Abd-el-Kadr's swift movements — Hia Smalah, orj mov- 
 able tent-town — Attaoked and dispersed by Duo d'Aumale — The 
 spectacle of the rout — Great booty taken — Effect of this blow — 
 Bugeaud's victory at Isly — Abd-el-Kadr in Morocco — Again in 
 the field — Bugeaud's forces scour the country — The Arab chief 
 again near Algiers — His desperate courage and escapes — Again 
 in Morocco — Defeats Moorish army — His hopeless position — Sur- 
 renders to Duo d'Aumale — French finally masters of Algeria — 
 Kabyle revolts — Civil rule established — Mode of government — 
 Progress made under French rule— Education — Tillage — Growth 
 of European population — Agricultural products — The esparto 
 (alfa) grass — Its great utility — The wine production — Increase 
 of trade — Toe city of Algiers — Oran — Constantino — Bona - 238-248 
 
PUBLISHERS 1 NOTE 
 
 The contents of this volume are drawn from Mr. Sanderson's larger and 
 more expensive book entitled "Heroes of Pioneering!' 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 THE INTERCESSION OF PRINCESS POCAHONTAS - to face p. 30 
 
 THE INDIANS FELL LIKE NINEPINS ,, 46 
 
 A HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT WITH RED INDIANS - „ 82 
 
 CAPTURED BY THE INDIANS „ 100 
 
 A GALLANT RBSOOB ----- i, 102 
 
 the attack on pirate prahus „ 150 
 
 his first elephant -•-"-„ 168 
 
 on kangaroo island -----„ 180 
 
 abd-bl-kadr's bravery ----,, 228 
 
 .1 
 
DARING DEEDS OF GREAT 
 PATHFINDERS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EAELY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh and Virginia — Sir Humphrey Gilbert's fate — First 
 expedition sent by Raleigh — Appearance of the country — Landing 
 at Roanoke Island — Friendly reception by natives — Trade begins 
 — A hospitable " queen " — Two natives brought to England — 
 Raleigh's second expedition — Sir Richard Grenville — Trouble with 
 natives — A colony started — Poor prospects — Drake's fleet appears 
 off coast — Settlers return home — Sir Richard Grenville leaves men 
 at Roanoke— Raleigh's third expedition — Roanoke found de- 
 serted — Fate of the men — First English child born in New World 
 — Raleigh's fourth expedition — Final failure of his efforts — 
 James I. and the " London Company " — The new settlement — 
 The first " Jamestown " founded — Its only remains. 
 
 THE first attempts at colonization in the region 
 which became one of the most important and 
 historical of the American colonies of Great 
 Britain were made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, under 
 the patronage and with the pecuniary aid, though without 
 the personal presence — a vital element in the enterprise — 
 of Sir Walter Raleigh. That brilliant personage — at once 
 soldier, mariner, prose -writer, poet, courtier, scholar, 
 statesman, and gentleman-adventurer — named the land 
 from the unwedded Sovereign, and received a knighthood 
 for his Bhare in the undertaking. Raleigh's half-brother, 
 
 17 B 
 
EARLY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA 
 
 the brave, ill-fated Sir Humphrey Gilbert, started for 
 the West in June, 1583, with a fleet of five ships, ranging 
 from 200 to 10 tons burden. Gilbert had sold a large 
 part of his landed estate in order to raise funds, and the 
 best vessel was equipped by Raleigh at the cost of £1,000 
 — a large sum in those times. 
 
 The voyage was unfortunate from the outset. The 
 ship sent by Raleigh deserted on the third day after 
 leaving port, on the plea that the captain and some of the 
 crew were sick. A few weeks later, the little squadron 
 was lost in a fog, and two ships more thus quitted Gilbert. 
 These vessels, at the end of July, rejoined him at New- 
 foundland, of which the commander took formal pos- 
 session in his Sovereign's name, and thus, in a sense, 
 started the first British colony. Towards the end of 
 August, Gilbert started southwards to explore the coast. 
 Then came a sore mishap : the Delight, the only ship 
 over 40 tons burden, carrying most of the provisions, 
 struck on a rock, and went to pieces in full view of the 
 other vessels. Gilbert was forced to turn homewards, 
 and going on board the Squirrel, the smallest craft, he 
 sank with her suddenly on a midnight in September, 
 his last words being : " We are as near heaven by sea as 
 by land." 
 
 In 1584 Raleigh, under a " patent " granted by the 
 Queen, sent out two ships to examine and report upon 
 the region which he desired to colonize. Arthur Barlow, 
 the commander of one vessel, who left a record of the 
 voyage, reports that on the 2nd of July the shallowness 
 of the water and a sweet smell of flowers told of the 
 nearness of land. The course taken had been more to 
 the south than Gilbert's, and, on coming close to the 
 shore, the voyagers looked on a land of woods and 
 meadows, an abundance of wild vines, and of many 
 streams. After passing about 120 miles along the coast 
 
 18 
 
EARLY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA 
 
 they found an inlet, and reached an island, called 
 " Roanoke," as they found, by the natives, at the 
 entrance of what is now Albemarle Sound, in North 
 Carolina, a little south of the State now called " Vir- 
 ginia." This island, about 20 miles long and 6 miles 
 broad, had beyond it a spacious enclosed sea, with many 
 well-wooded islets. 
 
 The land was formally claimed in the Queen's name, 
 with possession for Raleigh according to her grant. On 
 the third day, three natives landed from a canoe, and 
 one of them, with no signs of fear, accosted Barlow and 
 the other captain, Amidas. He willingly went with them 
 to the ships, and, being kindly entertained and presented 
 with some small articles, he went away, soon returning 
 with a good supply of fish. Next day a flotilla of canoes 
 arrived with two or three score of Indians, whose form, 
 stature, and demeanour the English much admired. 
 The brother of the local chief was among the natives, and 
 when his servants had spread mats on the ground, and 
 he and four of the chief men were seated, with the others 
 grouped around, the two captains, with some of the 
 crew, weapons in hand, drew near, and were received in 
 fearless and friendly style. Presents were given to 
 the chief, who asserted his superior position by putting 
 into his own basket those which were being handed to 
 his four subordinates. 
 
 Traffic soon began between the two parties, a tin dish, 
 which was at once made into a shield, fetching twenty 
 skins, and a copper kettle being bartered for fifty. The 
 chief had explained that his brother, the King, had been 
 wounded in a recent fight, and the state of affairs ashore 
 was indicated by the eagerness of the natives to obtain 
 any articles which would serve as weapons. Hatchets, 
 knives, and axes were readily bought up, but the foreigners 
 would not dispose of swords. 
 
 19 B 2 
 
EARLY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA 
 
 In a few days, Barlow and his men had a friendly 
 interview with the chieftain's wife, attended by forty or 
 fifty women, at the little town, and the utmost kindness 
 and hospitality were shown. The native Queen, a born 
 lady in manners, asked her guests to stay the night, and 
 on their declining she sent them away with supper and 
 bedding, and supplied a guard to keep watch over them 
 at their boats. The chief showed perfect honesty in 
 all the trade dealings, and Barlow declares that he 
 " found the people most gentle, loving, and faithful, 
 void of all guile and treason, and such as live after the 
 manner of the golden age." In the middle of September 
 the expedition was back in England, conveying two of the 
 natives, and giving a good account of the fertility of the 
 soil and the abundance of game. 
 
 Raleigh promptly prepared to make a settlement in 
 so promising a territory, and a fleet of seven vessels, for 
 conveying over 100 settlers, was placed under the 
 command of the famous sea-hero Sir Richard Grenville. 
 A courtier named Ralph Lane, a man of versatile gifts 
 and adventurous career, ready to fight in any cause, 
 and, at any rate, a courageous and able soldier, was on 
 board as chief colonizer. The intended settlers may be 
 described in familiar terms as " a very mixed lot." 
 Many were eager to find silver and gold in the new region, 
 without having any reason to expect such luck. Others 
 were townsmen, without any experience of work in till- 
 age or of hard fare, and looked for smooth times and 
 soft living in the new home ; few were really fit for the 
 enterprise. 
 
 In the middle of May the voyagers were in the West 
 Indies, and saw something of the Spanish possessors, 
 and there, for some reason, ill-will arose between Lane 
 and Grenville. Towards the end of June the fleet was 
 off Florida, and before the middle of July anchored at 
 
 20 
 
EARLY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA 
 
 an island near Roanoke. The leaders and a large party 
 of men crossed to the mainland, and were well received 
 by the Indians. Trouble soon arose, mainly from the 
 fault of the new-comers. At one of the villages a native 
 stole a silver cup, and the cruel punishment inflicted 
 for the offence of one was the burning of the huts and the 
 destruction of the crops. 
 
 Towards the end of August Grenville started for home, 
 and was soon followed by all the other ships except one. 
 Lane remained as a colonizer, and sent home good reports 
 of the country, climate, and natives, but complained of 
 the unruliness of his own people. In the spring of 1586 
 the prospects of these first English settlers in the New 
 World were very poor. They had no seed-corn to raise 
 food, and being also unskilled in catching fish, they were 
 dependent on the Indians for subsistence. Lane unwisely 
 took up exploration to the north and west, led on by 
 reports of pearl-fisheries and precious metals, and during 
 his absence trouble had arisen with the natives. On his 
 return fighting began, and the firearms of the English 
 and the courage and coolness of Lane saved the little 
 colony, if such it can be called, from destruction. 
 
 On the 8th of June a large fleet appeared off the coast, 
 and a Spanish attack was dreaded, but it was soon 
 found that the vessels were under the command of Drake, 
 returning with the spoils of war from Carthagena and 
 San Domingo. The great Devon commander at once 
 offered any aid, and at Lane's request sent off a 70-ton 
 ship, two smaller sailing craft, four boats, and four 
 months' provisions, with a body of sailors and craftsmen. 
 Hi-fortune still pursued the settlers. A violent storm, 
 lasting four days, drove the relieving ship out to sea, to 
 appear no more, and then Drake offered a ship of 
 170 tons. 
 
 Lane and his party were now, however, tired out, and 
 
 21 
 
EARLY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA 
 
 with Drake's permission they took passage for England. 
 As they were going aboard in the Admiral's boats a rough 
 sea arose, which caused most of their goods to be thrown 
 overboard. The only record of the settlement which 
 was saved among the drawings and journals was a book 
 of coloured sketches now in the British Museum. 
 
 The last blow of destiny against the enterprise came 
 in the fact that Drake's fleet, on the return voyage, 
 missed, off the American coast, a ship sent by Raleigh 
 with abundant supplies. The commander, after a vain 
 search, sailed homewards. Shortly afterwards Sir 
 Richard Grenville arrived with three ships. He also 
 made a useless search, and after some exploration he left 
 fifteen men at Roanoke Island, with two years' stores, to 
 hold possession, and went off for England, doing much 
 harm on his way to Spanish vessels at the Azores. 
 
 Raleigh, influenced, in spite of all misfortunes, by the 
 good reports concerning the territory, sent out another 
 and larger expedition in 1587, led by John White. He 
 and twelve others were appointed as " the Governor and 
 assistants of the city of Raleigh," in anticipation of the 
 foundation of a town so called. Of 150 settlers, seventeen 
 were women. The party included the two natives who 
 had been brought to England, and might now be useful 
 as interpreters. On arrival, nothing was found of the 
 fifteen men left by Grenville except the bones of one man 
 who had been killed, as became known, by the Indians. 
 The natives, in revenge for the death of a chief shot by 
 Lane in the encounter above mentioned, had attacked the 
 settlers, who, with the loss of two men, escaped in their 
 boat, and were never heard of again. 
 
 White had a meeting with the Indians, who were now 
 generally hostile, and a straggler of the new-comers was 
 killed. One of the two natives returned from England 
 endeavoured to make peace, with some success. The 
 
 22 
 
EARLY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA 
 
 first child born to English parents in the New World 
 appeared as a good omen, the father being one of the 
 twelve " assistants," and the mother a daughter of the 
 leader White. Manteo, the native, was baptized, and 
 created afterwards " Lord of Roanoke " by Raleigh. 
 Late in August, White sailed for home to report on the 
 new colony, and persuaded Raleigh, though the Spanish 
 Armada was now threatening invasion, to send out two 
 small vessels, with which White sailed from Bideford in 
 April, 1588. 
 
 One of these ships, turning to piracy on the high 
 seas, returned to England after being roughly handled 
 in an engagement with two men-of-war, and the other, 
 to Raleigh's great displeasure, followed suit. The dis- 
 tinguished patron of the enterprise had now spent 
 £40,000 in vain attempts to colonize Virginia, and the 
 settlers were left for a year without any relief. In the 
 course of 1589 White, with the privilege from Raleigh 
 of trading in the settlement, started with three ships, but 
 tried some " buccaneering " among the Spaniards in the 
 West Indies before going to the settlement. When he 
 reached the spot, remnants of goods were found, but no 
 settlers, and it was not till years afterwards that rumours 
 came of a captivity and final massacre of the hapless 
 party. The land called Virginia was thus not destined 
 to be colonized in the days of the maiden Sovereign who 
 closed the Tudor line. This was reserved for the first 
 of the Stuarts. 
 
 In April, 1606, James granted a patent for a new 
 " plantation," naming a council of thirteen to reside in 
 the colony, with certain rights and privileges, under a 
 superior council at home, also of royal appointment. 
 The " London Company," with some influential members 
 sent out two ships and a pinnace, with 143 emigrants on 
 board, on New Year's Day, 1607. The command was 
 
 23 
 
EARLY SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA 
 
 given to a seaman of experience and of some renown on 
 the " Spanish Main," named Christopher Newport. 
 After a long delay through contrary winds near home, 
 and a stay in the West Indies for the collection of seeds 
 and roots, the expedition in April sighted a point of land 
 at the south of Chesapeake Bay, which was named " Cape 
 Henry " in honour of the heir to the throne. 
 
 About the middle of May, after some exploration, a 
 spot on a peninsula was selected, and the new settlement 
 was called " Jamestown." We may here state that the 
 buildings were destroyed in a little civil war which 
 occurred many years later, and the only remains of that 
 Jamestown are the ruins of an old church on the right 
 hand of the voyager ascending James River. The 
 crumbling tower, with its arched doorways, is almost 
 hidden amid profuse vegetation. A few weather-beaten 
 tombstones are seen in the churchyard at the back, 
 half concealed by rank vines and tangled bushes. A 
 huge button-wood tree has burst apart one of the old 
 slabs, and now, with many others, overshadows the 
 resting-place of the dead. We must now turn to some 
 account of the previous life of one of the council, the man 
 who was really the hero-pioneer of Virginia as a colony, 
 who, at a critical time, saved it from extinction, and 
 justly holds the foremost place in the early history of the 
 settlement. 
 
 24 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 The real founder of Virginia — Captain John Smith — His early career 
 — In Prance — Fights Spaniards in Holland — His life as a hermit 
 — Is trained in horsemanship — Off to fight the Turks — Adventures 
 at sea — His prowess against the infidels — Taken prisoner — Be- 
 comes a slave — In Russia — Kills his cruel master and escapes — 
 More wandering and fighting — Back to England — Starts for Vir- 
 ginia — Sets out exploring country — Indian attack beaten off — 
 Smith as a builder — Tillage begins — Quarrels among settlers — 
 Sickness and destructive fire — Smith has town rebuilt — His courage 
 and wisdom — His principles of colonization — His dealing with 
 Indians — An expedition up Chickahominy River — Taken, after a 
 fight, by natives — Inspires them with awe — The story of Princess 
 Pocahontas — She comes to England — Her death — Smith becomes 
 President of colony — The splendid country for settlers — Scenery, 
 fruits, streams — Pish — Wild birds — Deer — The climate — Smith 
 and the natives — His courage in a fight — His firm rule of colony — 
 His explorations — Friendly reception among Indians — A Christmas 
 at native village — Settlers grow maize — Smith's perils and acci- 
 dents — Wounded by a sting-lay — Disabled by powder explosion — 
 Returns to England — The " starving-time " of settlement — The 
 colony saved by Lord Delaware — Smith's explorations — His 
 death — His fine character — His descendant Baden-Powell. 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH was one of the most 
 extraordinary men of romantic adventure in an 
 adventurous age. He was born in 1580, elder 
 son of a prosperous tenant-farmer near Alford, in Lincoln- 
 shire, on the estate of Lord Willoughby de Eresby. Losing 
 both his parents in his sixteenth year, and being neglected 
 
 25 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 by the guardians of his little estate, he struck out a path 
 for himself, and began a career which took him to various 
 parts of the three continents of the Old World. He 
 reached France as an attendant on the second son of Lord 
 Willoughby, and after being at Orleans, Paris, and Rouen, 
 he found himself moneyless at Le Havre, and took service 
 as a soldier under Henry IV. in his war with the Catholic 
 League. 
 
 When peace came he went off to Holland, and served 
 there for some time, probably with English troops in 
 Dutch pay. His next move was to Scotland, where, 
 narrowly escaping shipwreck on Holy Island, near 
 Berwick, he made some stay, and then returned to his 
 native village, Willoughby. Being now in possession of 
 his property, caring little for the social life of the place, 
 and desirous of self-improvement, he sought retirement 
 "in a little woody pasture, a good way from any town, 
 environed with many hundred acres of other woods. 
 Here, by a fair brook he built a pavilion of boughs, 
 where only in his clothes he lay." He studied 
 Machiavelli's " Art of War " and the Meditations of 
 the noblest of pagans and best of the Stoics, the 
 Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. For exercise he had 
 a good horse, on which he practised with his lance in 
 tilting at a ring suspended in the air. His food was 
 chiefly venison and other wild meat ; bis man-servant 
 brought him what else he required. 
 
 At Tattershall, a small town in Lincolnshire, he had 
 further training in horsemanship from an accomplished 
 Italian gentleman in the Earl of Lincoln's household. 
 Thus become a competent cavalier, and "lamenting 
 and repenting to have seen so many Christians slaughter 
 one another," he longed to try his fortune against the 
 Turks. Wandering through France from Picardy to 
 Marseilles, he took ship for Italy in a vessel full of pilgrims 
 
 26 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 going to Rome. A fearful storm arose, and, being the 
 one " heretic " aboard, and cursed as the cause of foul 
 weather, he was flung into the sea — a modern Jonah. 
 He swam to a little island, whence he was rescued next 
 day by a Breton ship bound for Alexandria, and kindly 
 treated by the captain. 
 
 After visiting Egypt and the Levant, he saw some 
 fighting on his return, when the Breton ship met and 
 captured a Venetian " argosy " of 400 tons, double her own 
 size. The Frenchman landed Smith, who, no doubt, had 
 played a man's part in the engagement, at Antibes, with 
 a handsome present of money. The adventurer then went 
 over Italy, seeing Tuscany, Rome, Naples, and Venice, 
 and next came to Gratz, in Styria. As soon as he heard of 
 an invasion of Turks making for Vienna through Hungary, 
 he entered the Emperor's service for two years of war- 
 fare. His chief feat of arms was an encounter on horse- 
 back, in presence of two armies, as " champion of the 
 Christians," when he killed three Turks in succession. 
 In November, 1602, at a battle in Transylvania against 
 an overwhelming force of Crim Tartars, Smith, after des- 
 perate fighting, was left wounded on the field. 
 
 He was sold as a slave on recovery, and found himself, 
 after a visit to Constantinople, in the service of a pasha 
 on the Don, in the region then called Tartary. Being 
 brutally used by his master, the Englishman, while he 
 was threshing at one of the farms, was so spurned, reviled, 
 and beaten by the Turk that he knocked out the man's 
 brains with his threshing-bat. He then assumed the 
 pasha's clothes, hid the body under the straw, filled his 
 knapsack with corn, shut the doors, mounted his horse, 
 and rode away into the desert, still wearing some of his 
 irons. After many days, riding for his fife, he reached a 
 Russian outpost on the Don. 
 
 His bonds were removed, and he was kindly treated 
 
 27 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 everywhere as an escaped Christian slave, making his way 
 through Muscovy, Hungary, and Austria in December, 
 1603, to Leipsic. An old commander of Smith's, Prince 
 Sigismund of Hungary, meeting him there, recalled the 
 victorious combats with the three Turks, and richly re- 
 warded him. Then came further wanderings, to see the 
 world, in Germany, France, and Spain, and a trip to 
 Morocco. From a port on that coast he made a voyage 
 to the Canaries on an English vessel, and saw more fighting 
 in an encounter with two Spanish vessels, which were 
 beaten off. This was the last of his adventures in the 
 Eastern Hemisphere, and he returned to England with a 
 fair fund of money. We now trace Smith's proceedings 
 in his Western sphere of action. 
 
 Soon after the landing, Smith was one of a score of 
 colonists who set out to explore up the river Chesapeake. 
 The Indians were generally friendly, and on the third day 
 the party reached the falls where the city of Richmond 
 now stands. On the return to Jamestown it was found 
 that the settlement had been attacked by a large body 
 of natives, who were beaten off with some loss to the 
 English, one of whom was killed, while eleven, including 
 four councillors, were wounded. The elected President 
 of the colony was a brave soldier, a just and honest man, 
 named Wingfield. 
 
 The first dwellings erected were simply huts thatched 
 with reeds, run up very quickly under Smith's energetic 
 supervision. Wheat brought from home was sown, and, 
 in the fertile soil, the blades were, in seven weeks, over 
 5 feet in height. On other cleared ground seeds of melon 
 and potato, pineapple and orange, were sown with suc- 
 cess, and the first attempt to raise cotton in North 
 America was made. Quarrels among the councillors soon 
 led to the deposition of Wingfield and the substitution of 
 one named Ratcliffe, and a mutineer was condemned and 
 
 28 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 hanged. Towards the end of June, 1607, Newport sailed 
 for England with the first products of the new oplony — 
 a cargo of timber cut down, under Smith's superintend- 
 ence, by axemen who were mostly gentlemen by birth, 
 and, taking kindly to the work, brought down over 
 double as many trees as the same number of men of lower 
 class working by command. 
 
 Among the early troubles of the colony were sickness, 
 which soon cost forty lives, and the burning of James- 
 town, in the winter of 1608, with the destruction of a new 
 wooden storehouse and church, the stockade around the 
 place, and of arms, apparel, bedding, and a large store of 
 provisions. In the spring of 1608 the town was rebuilt 
 under Smith's direction, the place being defended by two 
 dozen small cannon mounted on platforms, and command- 
 ing a free view of approaching assailants. For some time 
 the colony was dependent for food on fish and game, peas, 
 pumpkins, and maize bread, purchased from the Indians, 
 sometimes with the barter of pickaxes, hoes, and spades 
 brought from England. Amidst all difficulties, the 
 courage and energy of one man made him the deliverer 
 of the new settlement. 
 
 Captain Smith was the only man among the leaders 
 who really understood the true resources of wealth in the 
 new colony. He opposed the waste of time in searching 
 for gold or silver or pearls. His principles of action, for 
 the permanent foundation of the settlement, were that 
 the natives must always be kept in awe of the colonists, 
 and that the new Virginians should trust to their own 
 industry on the rich soil of their place of abode for their 
 subsistence, instead of looking to England for continual 
 aid. In dealing with the Indians, Smith, while, like a 
 true Englishman, he was ever ready, in case of need, to 
 strike hard and fast in self-defence, sought and gained 
 influence over their minds and hearts by other methods. 
 
 29 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 In one of his expeditions up the River Chickahominy, 
 undertaken, by the express orders of the Company, in 
 the vain idea of finding a water-passage to the Pacific, 
 and so to India, China, and Japan, the Captain was taken 
 by some Indians. He knew a little of the language, and, 
 helped by signs, he explained to them the use of his 
 pocket compass, and conveyed a notion of the movements 
 of the moon and stars. He had materials for writing 
 with him, and when they allowed him to send a letter 
 to his friends at Jamestown, their astonishment was 
 great on learning that the mysterious marks made on 
 the paper would let them know what had occurred. He 
 was at once treated with great reverence as a superior 
 or half-divine being, which was precisely the effect he 
 had intended to produce. 
 
 The capture of Smith was due to his forced surrender, 
 from cold, after he had fallen into a swamp. When the 
 Indians attacked his little party, his two English followers 
 were killed, and then the Captain seized his Indian guide, 
 and, tying him in front as a shield against arrows, kept 
 the foe at bay for a time with his gun. The Indians, for 
 some days, took him about as a distinguished prize, and, 
 after displaying him at various villages, brought him to 
 their chief Powhatan. That potentate was much im- 
 pressed by the prisoner's description of the wonders of 
 civilization. 
 
 It is to this period that the story of the Indian Princess 
 Pocahontas belongs. It is said that when Powhatan 
 condemned Smith to death, and the captive's head was 
 laid on a stone ready for the war-club of the executioner, 
 the girl rushed forward, flung herself across him, and gained 
 his pardon from her father. The first account of Smith's 
 captivity, written by himself in 1608, has no word concern- 
 ing his danger and escape ; another work, written under 
 his name in 1624, introduces the story. Leaving aside 
 
 30 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 the question of the credibility of the narration, we note 
 the interest attending the career of Pocahontas. 
 
 At a later day she married one of the councillors, named 
 John Rolfe, after being baptized in the church at James- 
 town. In 1616, visiting London with her husband, she 
 attracted much attention, under the name of " Lady 
 Rebecca," as the fashionable folk called her, by her 
 simple and graceful manners in the dress of the period, 
 and, being presented at Court, she appeared with her 
 Indian suite at a masque. Early in 1617, on the point of 
 returning to her native land, Pocahontas died at Graves- 
 end. She left one child, a little son, who became a man 
 of wealth and distinction in the colony, and in later days 
 some leading families of Virginia were proud to be of the 
 race of the Indian Princess. 
 
 In truth, it was a noble territory where Captain John 
 Smith, in the summer of 1608, on the deposition of Presi- 
 dent Ratcliffe for arbitrary and unjust conduct, became 
 ruler. The region was a virgin land, untouched as a whole, 
 and scantily peopled by natives mainly subsisting by 
 the chase. To the voyagers who had long been on the 
 Atlantic swell, the country, green with leafage and decked 
 with the bright flowers of May, must have seemed a Para- 
 dise of beauty. The breeze from the land had come to 
 them over the waters, as they drew near the shore, laden 
 with the odours of blossoms and herbs. The sun was 
 bright, the air of crystal clearness. Strange birds of 
 bright plumage moved among the branches of the forest 
 trees, and flitted over the surface of the streams whose 
 waters flashed in silver as the teeming fish broke the 
 surface. 
 
 The eyes of these adventurous Englishmen were be- 
 holding, for the first time among men of their race, a land 
 unspoiled since the completion of the work of the Creator. 
 The primeval forests displayed to explorers the finest 
 
 31 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 timber of the world, in woods so free from undergrowth 
 that horsemen and footmen could always move freely 
 among the trees. The whole coast was rich in noble pines 
 of various kinds. Walnuts of the richest grain and grand 
 oaks of several varieties abounded on all sides inland. 
 Stately cypresses, cedars and ash-trees, elms and chest- 
 nuts, poplars and sugar-maples, were among the denizens 
 of the immense forests. 
 
 The wild fruit-trees included the mulberry, cherry, 
 plum, and persimmon ; raspberries, cranberries, and 
 whortleberries, and four kinds of grapes only needed 
 picking, and strawberries of great size and exquisite 
 flavour covered the ground. Melons, squashes and 
 gourds, pumpkins and beans, were there ; and, better 
 than all for commercial purposes, tobacco and maize were 
 native products. The land was very rich in forest- 
 brooks of clearest water, feeding, in their countless 
 numbers, the noble rivers — now known as the Rappa- 
 hannock and Potomac, the York, the James — entering 
 the sea in broad estuaries. These main waterways, and 
 many of inferior size, had safe and spacious harbours, and, 
 at some point or other, channels deep enough for great 
 merchantmen. 
 
 When we turn to the living creatures of this splendid 
 country, we find the waters swarming with countless 
 varieties of fish — shad and sturgeon, rock and herring, 
 soles and mullet, salmon, plaice, bass and chub, roach 
 and perch, flounders and whiting, carp, pike, bream, and 
 eels. The oysters were so plentiful and large that, in 
 the autumn of one year, when food was scarce, a large 
 number of hungry settlers were sent to some banks of the 
 delicious bivalve near the mouths of the Elizabeth and 
 Powhatan Rivers, living mainly on the shell-fish for nine 
 weeks, with a pint of Indian corn per week for each man. 
 
 The wild-fowl of the country, appearing in September, 
 
 32 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 in vast number and variety to feed on the wild celery and 
 other aquatic plants in the rivers and sounds, would have 
 been delightful to the modern gunner, and furnished most 
 delicious food to the early settlers. The swan and the 
 goose ; the duck in many forms, including the famous 
 canvas-back, dear to epicures ; the mallard, widgeon, 
 plover, snipe, curlew, and woodcock, were among these 
 winged inhabitants, with huge turkeys of fine flavour. 
 We must pass over the many birds of prey, and the song- 
 sters, to note the partridge and the enormous flocks of 
 wild pigeons. 
 
 Great herds of deer, red and fallow, ranged the land ; 
 small bears and foxes, red and grey, were on the mountains 
 and in the woods ; beavers built in all the streams, and 
 sportsmen had for choice, in small game, wild cats and 
 minks, otters and martens, and squirrels which included 
 the remarkable flying specimen. The climate of this 
 delightful land showed an early spring, a summer not 
 hotter than that of Spain, a winter like that season in 
 England and Prance ; abundant rains in April and Sep- 
 tember ; furious thunder-storms and tempests of hail. The 
 outbreaks of pestilence among the early settlers were 
 generally due to change of diet, especially in the substitu- 
 tion of unwholesome water for English ale. Habitude 
 and due precaution soon made settlers as healthy and 
 long-lived as the Indians. 
 
 Captain Smith, in his dealings with the natives, dis- 
 played a min gling of courage in action with conciliatory 
 manners. He knew that, with American Indians, as 
 with Orientals, to play the coward, to reveal any symptom 
 of fear, is to court ruin. He knew that, with all mankind, 
 gracious and gentle ways in a brave man are potent for 
 peace and friendliness. We may give one instance of his 
 successful audacity in a position of the utmost peril. 
 
 In the Indian country, having with him a party of but 
 
 33 o 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 fifteen men, he was attacked by the chief Powhatan's 
 brother, heading a great body of warriors. Smith, 
 dashing forward, seized the leader by his long hair, and 
 dragged him into the midst of his braves, who, amazed 
 at such daring, let the Englishman depart unharmed. 
 His methods as a ruler of somewhat disorderly, incapable, 
 and indolent settlers were marked by firmness and by 
 a due care for their interests. Following St. Paul's 
 maxim, he declared that " he who would not work might 
 not eat." He taught them that industry and self- 
 reliance are the right road to success. 
 
 Not long after the foundation of Jamestown, Smith, 
 not then President, but from the first the leading man in 
 ability and character, brought back great baskets of maize 
 for the settlers from an Indian village which his soldiers 
 had assailed. From a voyage up the Chickahominy River 
 he returned to the settlement with seven hogsheads of 
 the same corn, obtained by barter with the natives at a 
 very cheap rate. In another expedition the Captain 
 compelled tribes who sued for peace to undertake the 
 delivery, in the following season, of 400 bushels of maize. 
 We have many proofs of his friendly relations with the 
 natives. In 1608, visiting Powhatan's town when that 
 great chief was absent, he was entertained by the women 
 at a great feast, consisting of fruit, fish, fowl, and venison 
 served in huge wooden platters. Some of the squaws 
 waited on Smith and his four companions, while the rest 
 amused them by singing and dancing. 
 
 In the following year, when Smith was staying with 
 Powhatan, the chief, in his lavish hospitality, sent to his 
 guest as many platters of venison as ten of his strongest 
 warriors could carry. On another visit to the same ruler, 
 when Captains Smith and Newport were unable to accept 
 his invitation to dinner, he sent aboard their vessel more 
 bread and venison than fifty men could consume. Later 
 
 34 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 on, when they proceeded to the chief's residence, they saw 
 near the door two or three score platters of maize bread 
 laid in regular lines on each side of the approach. Pow- 
 hatan requested Smith to bid his men enter the house 
 two at a time, and, on their departure, every one took 
 away a present of 4 or 5 pounds of bread, with as much 
 other food as he could carry on his back. To the two 
 leaders a large basketful of provisions for each was given ; 
 and the day ended with a supper in which the chief set 
 before Smith food in abundance too great for a score of 
 feasters, and, seeing his guest's inability to deal with it all 
 in person, he bade his people distribute the huge surplus 
 among the soldiers. 
 
 Such were the lavish supplies and hospitality of 
 the Indians of Virginia. One Christmas was spent 
 by the Captain and a party of men at a village called 
 Kecoughtan, through detention by a heavy snow-storm; 
 and the Englishmen had a reminder of the old country 
 in the abundant fare of good oysters, other fish, and 
 wild-fowl, with excellent bread, consumed alongside 
 roaring wood fires. It was when Smith was President of 
 the colony that the settlers succeeded in raising a crop of 
 maize. The grain could be more conveniently and easily 
 converted into flour than the wheat which, in scanty 
 supply, they had managed to produce, and the meal could 
 be made into more forms of palatable food than wheat- 
 flour, and that food more nourishing for men of toil. The 
 provident Captain had, in 1608, taken two Indians, from 
 whom he learned the proper manner of tillage for Indian 
 corn, and he then caused 40 acres of ground to be pre- 
 pared, and the seed sown in the Indian fashion of squares, 
 with 4 feet between the seed-holes. The experiment, 
 which succeeded fairly, was one of historical interest in 
 view of the vast importance which maize was destined to 
 assume in the life of modern North America. 
 
 35 2 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 The tounder of Virginia was not free, in his experiences 
 of the Western World, from painful and perilous accidents 
 and attempts on his life. On one occasion we learn that 
 he was poisoned, but overcame the effects of the dose, 
 and soundly thrashed the miscreant who prepared it. 
 In his voyage up the Chesapeake Smith entered the water 
 for a bathe, and was severely wounded by a sting-ray. 
 The spine of this creature is used by the savages of the 
 Pacific Isles as a spear-point, and the tail, which is 
 armed with several strong barbed spines, is employed for 
 defence, inflicting gashes which cause acute pain, with 
 subsequent inflammation and swelling. There is no 
 poison-duct in the spines, and the effect is due to mucus 
 of a venomous nature secreted from the surface of the 
 fish. The injury may end in gangrene, but in this case 
 the victim's hardy constitution and purity of blood 
 enabled him to recover. 
 
 It was an explosion of gunpowder which, to the great 
 detriment of the settlers and their prospects, caused 
 John Smith to leave the colony, depriving it of the one 
 man who could protect it from danger without and 
 enforce some degree of order within. The disaster befell 
 him on board a boat, where the bag of powder lay at his 
 side. He was shockingly burned, and, leaping instantly 
 into the water, he narrowly escaped drowning. Partial 
 recovery left him still so weak and disabled that he was 
 compelled to return to England, and Virginia saw him no 
 more. The state of affairs which succeeded his departure 
 bears ample testimony to his value. His successor in the 
 Presidency, a councillor named Percy, was too feeble 
 in health to enforce his authority, and anarchy and 
 destitution followed. The winter of 1609-1610 became 
 known as " the starving-time." 
 
 The number of settlers was reduced in six months from 
 nearly 500 to sixty. Ratcliffe, one of the councillors, 
 
 36 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 when out foraging, was " ambushed " by the Indians 
 and slain, with thirty of his men. Some of the colonists, 
 in despair, took a boat and turned to piracy. Stragglers 
 from the fort were cut off by the natives. The survivors 
 were on the point of flight from the scene of misery when 
 Virginia was saved, as a oolony, by the arrival of the 
 new Governor, Lord Delaware, with abundant supplies 
 and a good company of emigrants. We are not here 
 concerned with the further fortunes of the colony, which 
 was to become a State renowned throughout the world 
 for its production of able men and its successful revolt, 
 in conjunction with other colonies, from British rule. 
 
 From 1610 to 1617 Smith's time was chiefly spent in 
 making discoveries to the north of Virginia, with a view 
 to cod-fishery and the fur trade, and the selection of new 
 sites for settlement on the coast. The rest of his life 
 was mainly given to writing accounts of his varied career, 
 and having done much, endured much, and recorded 
 much, he died in June, 1631, and was buried in St. Sepul- 
 chre's Church, where also he the remains of Roger 
 Ascham. The edifice was almost entirely destroyed in 
 the Great Fire, but was well restored under Wren's 
 supervision, being the well-known structure at the eastern 
 end oi Holborn Viaduct. The monument to Smith's 
 memory perished, but a brass plate gives the inscription 
 which it bore, twenty-six lines of verse eulogizing his 
 achievements in the Eastern and Western worlds. 
 
 The man whose work in Virginia has been here briefly 
 commemorated was a fine specimen of his race. He 
 had all the higher qualities, and few of the faults, of the 
 typical Englishman. He was brave, sagacious, prudent, 
 public-spirited, energetic, untiring, self-reliant, faithful, 
 and humane. If he was also somewhat egotistic and 
 self-asserting, he paid far more than the due penalty in 
 the antagonism which he thereby aroused in some of his 
 
 37 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 asspciates in life, and still more in the puerile and ignoble 
 enmity with which, after death, he has been pursued in 
 some quarters. In spite of all detractors, posterity will 
 pronounce him to be a noble example of a Christian 
 officer and gentleman, a man who, in the general opinion 
 of the colony and of the -State, rendered services of 
 incalculable value, in immediate effect and in their 
 influence, in the first settlement of Virginia. 
 
 In 1612 two of the sixty survivors of " the starving 
 time " thus expressed in print their opinion of Captain 
 John Smith : " What shall we say ? but thus we lost him 
 [in October, 1609] that in all his proceedings made 
 justice his first guide and experience his second ; ever 
 hating baseness, sloth, pride, and indignity more than 
 any dangers ; that never allowed more for himself than 
 his souldiers with him ; that upon no danger would 
 send them where he would not lead them himself ; that 
 would never see us want what he either had, or could by 
 any means get us ; that would rather want than borrow, 
 or starve than not pay ; that loved actions more than 
 words, and hated falsehood and cozenage more than death; 
 whose adventures were our lives, and whose loss our 
 deaths." Such a man, on the evidence of those who 
 knew him best, was the founder of Virginia. 
 
 Note. — It is an interesting fact that Major-General Baden-Powell is 
 a descendant of Captain John Smith. In July, 1906, the defender of 
 Mafeking visited Louth Grammar School and made inquiries respect- 
 ing his ancestor. In March, 1907, a bust of the founder of Virginia, 
 of Baden-Powell's own execution, was presented by him to the Sohool, 
 and unveiled there by a gentleman (the Hon. Charles W. Kohlsaat), 
 Commissioner-General for the Exhibition of Jamestown, Virginia. 
 
 38 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 French dominion in North America — A retrospeot — First Frenoh- 
 men seen in New World — Francis I. sends out Jacques Cartier — 
 Landing at Cape Gaspe — Cartier's second voyage — Beaches 
 Hoohelaga (site of Montreal) — Aspect of the Huron town — The 
 reception of French by natives — First Catholic service in New 
 World — The new-comers winter at Stadacona (site of Quebec) — 
 Many deaths — " New France " (afterwards Canada) — Cartier takes 
 Indian chiefs to France — Their death — The real founder of French 
 Canada — Samuel de Champlain — His character — Champlain's 
 first voyage to Canada — " Acadie " in early days — Champlain 
 founds the colony — Meets Frenchmen in St. Lawrence — Fur 
 trade with natives — Champlain founds Quebec — The first build- 
 ings — French plot against him — His prompt aotion — Sufferings 
 and deaths of settlers — Champlain's exploring trip — Makes alliance 
 with Algonquins and Hurons against Iroquois — The voyage up the 
 Richelieu — He discovers Lake Champlain — Comes on the Iroquois 
 — Fight with the enemy — They flee before the firearms — Bad 
 future result of victory — Champlain returns to France — His inter- 
 view with the King (Henri IV.). 
 
 THE French dominion in North America is a memor- 
 able but half-forgotten chapter in the book of 
 human life. To look back thereon is, in the 
 earlier stages, to call up strange, romantic visions of 
 camp-fires throwing a fitful light around on men of noble 
 birth, in plumed helmets, mingled with fellow-country- 
 men, coureurs de bois, or bushrangers, of rugged guise, 
 and with the wild forms of savage warriors adorned with 
 
 39 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 paint and feathers. The scenes of the past here include 
 a vast continent, unexplored, with countless square 
 leagues of forest, rivers with mighty cataracts and 
 perilous rapids, lakes like inland seas, glimmering pools 
 and woodland nooks, abundant game in fur and feather. 
 A full view of the period and the region would display 
 men of old learning, in priestly garb, passing the noon and 
 evening of their lives in ruling savage hordes with a mild 
 parental sway, and standing calm in the presence of 
 torture and death. 
 
 Hardy Frenchmen — Normans and Bretons — were seen 
 in North American waters, cod-fishing off Newfoundland, 
 very soon after the discovery of the New World. On 
 land, the solitudes of the region which became in due time 
 the State of New York, and the territory as far as the 
 shores of distant Lake Huron, were trodden by the 
 iron heel of the soldier and the sandalled foot of the 
 Franciscan friar long before the arrival of any British 
 settlers. The pioneers of the Western Hemisphere were 
 Frenchmen — enduring, daring representatives of the 
 white lilies of Bourbon Kings. 
 
 Francis I., at an earlier date, having resolved, as he 
 declared, not to leave all America to his brother-Kings 
 of Portugal and Spain, " without allowing me any share," 
 sent forth in 1534 Jacques .Cartier, of St. Malo. The 
 ancient town of strange, stern aspect butting the sea, 
 as it were, with rugged battlemented walls, a base of 
 operations for privateers, a nursery of hardy seamen, 
 had no braver son than Cartier. Sailing in April with two 
 vessels, each of about 60 tons, he reached the estuary 
 of the St. Lawrence, named Des Chaleurs Bay, from the 
 heat felt on the sunny July day, and landed off rocky 
 Cape Gaspe, erecting a wooden cross with a shield bearing 
 the fleur-de-lis and an inscription claiming the land for 
 his Sovereign. 
 
 40 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 In May of the following year, Cartier, with three larger 
 vessels, which bore some young French nobles, again 
 left St. Malo, and passing the gloomy gorge of the 
 Saguenay River, and the lofty promontory of Cape 
 Tourmente, he had friendly intercourse with the natives 
 at the hamlet called Stadacona, on the site of the 
 lower town at Quebec. The voyagers passed upwards 
 with boats, as the navigation, from sandbanks, grew 
 difficult for the ships, and rowing or sailing, in late 
 September, between forests of rich autumnal foliage, 
 they arrived at a town of the Huron Indians, at the foot 
 of a great wooded hill, which Cartier called " Mont 
 Royal." 
 
 The native name for the buildings on the site of the 
 future Montreal was Hochelaga. After a friendly feast 
 with the natives, who provided abundant fish and maize, 
 the first Christian service was held in those regions, 
 when Cartier read a lesson from the Gospels, and 
 prayed for the bodies and souls of his hosts. They 
 listened with wonder and awe, regarding their white 
 visitors as supernatural beings, but understood better 
 the gifts of hatchets, beads, and knives. The Frenchmen 
 were struck by the dwellings which they saw inside the 
 stockade of the Huron town. These were about fifty large 
 oblong structures, each some 50 yards long, and 12 to 
 15 yards wide, made of sapling poles well covered with 
 sheets of bark, and each containing several families with 
 their separate fires. 
 
 The people crowded round the strangers with cries of 
 delight and wonder, touching their faces and beards, and 
 holding up the babies, who screamed in fright, to be 
 touched in turn. In their complexion and attire, and 
 equipment of helmet, cuirass, arquebuse or rude musket, 
 and halberd, the Frenchmen appeared to be rather demi- 
 gods than men. After the religious service the trumpeters 
 
 41 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 amazed the Indians with a warlike blast before the party 
 took leave. The new-comers spent the winter in a fort 
 of palisades erected on the bank of the St. Charles River, 
 near Stadacona, with the ships moored in front. 
 
 The climate was a severe trial, with rocks, shores, 
 pine-trees, and the frozen river clad in snow, and the 
 rigging of the vessels thickly covered with ice sparkling 
 in the rays of a dazzling sun. Many men died from 
 scurvy, and the bodies, with the ground frozen hard as 
 flint, were hidden in snowdrifts. The newly-found land 
 was styled " New France " by the discoverers ; the 
 abiding name " Canada," in the Iroquois tongue, means 
 either " country " or " village, town," it is uncertain 
 which. 
 
 In the spring of 1536, with the melting of the ice, 
 Cartier and his people sailed for France, taking with them 
 ten Indian chiefs who had been lured on board in order 
 to display to the sovereign living proofs of the success, in 
 a certain sense, of the expedition. The hapless Indians 
 all died before Cartier 's third voyage to Canada in 1541, 
 and the effect on the feeling of the natives was pernicious. 
 There is no need to deal with Cartier's other expeditions. 
 The first French efforts to colonize Canada had failed, 
 and for many years the foreign and domestic wars of 
 France prevented any heed to transatlantic matters. 
 
 In 1599, when Henri Quatre was King, a St. Malo 
 merchant, Pontgrav6, and a naval officer of Rouen, 
 named Chauvin, received from the sovereign a commission 
 to establish a colony, with a monopoly of the trade in 
 furs. This attempt was a failure, but the hour and the 
 man came at last. The discoverer of Canada was Jacques 
 Cartier, but the pioneer of French colonization was 
 Samuel de Champlain. 
 
 This heroic personage, a man of the chivalrous mediaeval 
 class, endued with a romantic spirit, was sagacious, 
 
 42 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 honest, and energetic in practical affairs. Ardent in 
 exploration, and a keen observer, he wrote and illustrated 
 with rude drawings journals of value for an account of 
 his adventurous career. Born in 1567 at Brouage, a 
 small seaport on the Bay of Biscay, he had fought for 
 the King in Brittany, and he had become a skilled and 
 hardy seafarer in a two-years' voyage of adventure to 
 the West Indies, where he made his way to Mexico and 
 Panama, and conceived the plan of a ship-canal across 
 the isthmus (" by which," he wrote, " the voyage to 
 the South Sea would be shortened by more than 
 1,500 leagues ") more than 250 years before any attempt 
 on that great enterprise was made. 
 
 It was in March, 1604, that Champlain, with the 
 Sieur de Monts, a gentleman of the King's chamber, 
 and Pontgrave, sailed from Le Havre with the largest 
 expedition that had left the French shores for America. 
 The country called " Acadie " (Nova Scotia and New 
 Brunswick) was reached and partly explored, and the 
 winter was passed amid great suffering from cold and 
 scurvy. Champlain was the life and soul of his country- 
 men in the hour of severe trials, and the Acadie colony 
 was beginning to prosper when, in 1607, an order for the 
 abandonment of the settlement arrived from Prance, 
 an issue due to Court intrigues against the Huguenot 
 noble de Monts. 
 
 The real beginning of Champlain's great work came 
 in April, 1608, when, a few days after his comrade 
 Pontgrave, he sailed forth from Honfleur for the West. 
 As this vessel passed up the St. Lawrence white whales 
 were gambolling in the Bay of Tadousac, and the 
 wild-duck, riding on the waters in front of the craft, 
 dived as the foaming prow drew near. The leader of 
 the enterprise had been eager to return, for his thoughts 
 had been full of the odours of the pine-forest, of the 
 
 43 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 music of falling waters, of the clear sunlight, of the 
 mystery of the boundless wilderness, and it was the 
 noble ambition of his soul to plant the Christian faith 
 and establish the power of France amid the ancient 
 barbarism. 
 
 In the anchorage under the cliffs at Tadousac, Cham- 
 plain found Pontgrave, who, his vessel laden with goods 
 to be bartered for furs, had met with a rival. A Basque 
 fur-trader was doing brisk business with Indians in 
 huts along the shore of. the cove, and the crew, refusing 
 to recognize the Frenchman's right under his King's 
 letters of monopoly, fired on his vessel with cannon and 
 musketry, killing one man, and wounding the leader and 
 two sailors. Pontgrave's ship was then boarded, and his 
 cannon, small arms, and ammunition were seized, with a 
 promise of restoration when the Basques had done their 
 work. 
 
 The appearance of Champlain caused a change of 
 affairs, and the hostile traders went off to catch whales. 
 While Pontgrave filled his hold With the furs of beaver 
 and marten, otter and fox, wild-cat and lynx, and the 
 skins of the moose, caribou, and bear, his friend sailed 
 up the great river to the part where, above the point of 
 the lie d'Orleans, the channel narrows to less than a 
 mile between the green heights of Point Levis on the 
 south and the cliffs of Quebec to the north. The word 
 " Quebec " is Indian, meaning a " strait." 
 
 Here, where Cape Diamond rose to 350 feet above the 
 waters, being then covered with creeping vines and 
 crowned by stately walnut-trees, the explorer resolved to 
 found a settlement. The axemen of the expedition were 
 soon at work, and a pile of wooden buildings arose on the 
 river edge. The site of the present market-place in 
 Quebec lower town was occupied by a fort having a strong 
 wooden wall, surmounted by a loopholed gallery, and 
 
 44 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 enclosing three buildings with quarters for the chief and 
 his men, and a courtyard overlooked on one side by a 
 lofty dovecot. The whole was surrounded by a moat, 
 and on platforms facing the river some small cannon 
 showed their muzzles. A large storehouse was built near 
 at hand, and, remembering the losses caused by scurvy, 
 Champlain at once began to lay out ground for a garden. 
 
 The founder of Canada had his first trouble when one 
 day, as he was directing his workmen in the garden, he 
 received from his pilot notice of a plot against his life, 
 with a view to the sale of the new town to the Basques 
 and Spaniards at Tadousac. By a prompt use of artifice, 
 four ringleaders were entrapped and arrested. The chief 
 culprit was hanged, his body gibbeted, and his head was 
 displayed on a pike from the topmost roof. The three 
 accomplices were carried by Pontgrave to France and 
 sent to the galleys. Less than thirty men were now left 
 with Champlain. 
 
 The winter brought deadly mischief to the little body 
 of pioneers. The Frenchmen, after feeding parties of 
 starving Algonquin Indians, a tribe who never made pro- 
 vision for the cold season by raising and storing corn, 
 were attacked, as spring drew near, by scurvy. By the 
 middle of May all had perished save eight, and half of 
 these were affected. The joy of the survivors was great 
 when, on the 5th of June, 1609, a sailing-boat was seen 
 rounding the Point of Orleans. She brought news that 
 Pontgrave was back at Tadousac, and Champlain, leaving 
 his friend in charge of the little town, started on the ex- 
 plorations by which, in his ignorance of the " great 
 beyond," he hoped to find a way to China. 
 
 A young chief from the banks of the distant Ottawa 
 River had been at Quebec in the previous autumn, and, as 
 an Algonquin eager for aid against the formidable Iro- 
 quois, he induced the French leader to make alliance with 
 
 45 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 his people and their friends, the Hurons, to encounter the 
 common foe. Champlain, in a skiff, with eleven men of 
 Pontgrave's party, sailed up-stream, attended by hundreds 
 of Indians paddling their canoes. When impassable 
 rapids were reached above Chambly Basin, the sailing-boat 
 was sent back, with most of the Frenchmen, to Quebec, 
 and the leader, with two of his countrymen, went forward 
 with a force of sixty Indian warriors in twenty-four 
 canoes, which were carried overland above the rough 
 waters. 
 
 The course towards the region of the Iroquois lay up 
 the river now called the Richelieu, on the southern shore 
 of the St. Lawrence. After passing great league-long 
 islands and deep channels, with broad " reaches " of water 
 between them, Champlain and his fellow-voyagers entered 
 the lake which preserves his name for all time. Far away 
 to the left rose the wooded ridges of the Green Mountains, 
 and on the right lay the Adirondacks, the hunting-ground 
 of the Iroquois, beyond which, in the valleys of the 
 Mohawk and other rivers, stretched the long line of their 
 five cantons and palisaded towns. Caution was needful 
 now, as they drew near the enemy. By day the travellers 
 lay close in the forest, the Indians sleeping, lounging, 
 and smoking tobacco of their own growth ; at twilight, 
 stealthy paddling in the canoes was resumed until the 
 eastern sky grew ruddy. 
 
 On the evening of the 29th of July, at ten o'clock, the 
 voyagers, near a point of land, discerned dark objects 
 on the water ahead. These were heavy Iroquois canoes, 
 and, as each party viewed the other, war-cries pealed 
 through the gloom. The enemy landed to form a stockade 
 for defence, and Champlain and his allies remained 
 aboard, watching the foe at work in the woods, while the 
 Indians of both parties exchanged volleys of threats, 
 boasting, and abuse. Near dawn Champlain and his two 
 
 46 
 

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 The Indians fell like ninepins 
 
 Champlain fired his carbine and the braves fell, their arrow-proof armour availi 
 nojiing against the bullets. 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 French followers put on their light armour — breastplate 
 and back-piece, steel for the thighs, and a plumed helmet 
 with the bandolier, or ammunition-box, on a strap across 
 the shoulder, the carbine or arquebuse in hand, and sword 
 at the side. 
 
 Each of the three was in a separate canoe, and as the 
 whole party landed at some distance from the enemy, 
 they saw about 200 tall, strong men, the best fighters 
 of the land, filing out of their stockade. They marched 
 steadily through the forest, in charge of three chiefs, 
 made conspicuous by tall plumes. Some of the enemy 
 had shields of wood and hide, and others wore armour 
 of rough twigs interlaced with vegetable fibre. The allies 
 of Champlain, growing uneasy as the vastly superior force 
 came near, cried loudly for their champion, and he 
 advanced to the front through their opened array. 
 
 The Iroquois gazed in mute amazement at the armoured 
 figure, and then got ready to shoot their arrows. Cham- 
 plain promptly fired his carbine, loaded with four balls, 
 with a direct aim at one of the three chiefs. Two fell 
 dead, and the third was wounded. Arrows flew thick 
 from both sides, the allies of Champlain yelling with de- 
 fiance and delight, the Iroquois astounded and dismayed 
 by the sudden death of warriors in arrow-proof armour. 
 As the French leader was reloading, one of his country- 
 men sent another shot from the woods, and the victory 
 was won. The enemy fled into the depths of the forest, 
 closely pursued by the Hurons, who killed some and 
 captured others. The camp, canoes, and provisions of 
 the foe, with many weapons flung away in the flight, 
 became the prize of war. At night Champlain, horrified 
 at the torturing of one of the prisoners prior to his death by 
 fire, put an end to his misery by a shot. 
 
 The Canadian-French, for a century and a half, paid a 
 heavy price for this first easy triumph over the most 
 
 47 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 powerful tribesmen of the vast region. The Iroquois 
 took a multiple vengeance for their fallen warriors in the 
 European victims of ambush, or of stealthy attacks on 
 scattered settlers. Champlain, returning to France for 
 a time with Pontgrave, showed his Sovereign, Henri 
 Quatre, at Pontainebleau, some tokens of the new colonial 
 possession in a belt embroidered with dyed quills of the 
 Canada porcupine, two small birds of scarlet plumage, 
 and the skull of a garfish, a species of pike. The King 
 was much entertained by the account of his adventures. 
 
 48 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FRENCH IN CANADA— Continued 
 
 Champlain again in Canada (1610) — More fighting with the Iroquois — 
 Frenchmen tormented by mosquitoes — With their Indian allies 
 they storm an Iroquois fort — News from France of King's assas- 
 sination — Champlain back to France — Again in Canada (1611) — 
 At Montreal (Hochelaga)— Many adventurers from France arrive 
 — Champlain again in France — His serious accident — Returns to 
 Canada with large powers — His important work for colony — 
 Takes out new settlers to Montreal (1615) — The Recollet friars — 
 First Mass said in a Canadian church — The growth of Quebec — 
 Champlain's journey to Lake Huron — Tour in Huron country — 
 A delightful region — A deer-hunt — French and native allies attack 
 Iroquois — Enemy's strong defences — Assault by Hurons repulsed 
 — Champlain wounded — He winters among the Hurons — Is lost 
 in the woods — Narrow escape — Slow progress of colony — Champ- 
 Iain's efforts — Many visits to France — His return with a wife 
 (1620) — Low condition of colony in 1626 — Change comes with 
 Richelieu in power — The " Hundred Associates " — The new 
 Company's bad policy — Champlain made Governor of Canada — 
 War with England — Poor condition of Quebec — English ships 
 under Sir David Kirke — He captures a French fleet in St. 
 Lawrence — Champlain's courageous conduct — Starvation at 
 Quebec — The place surrenders to English — Champlain a prisoner 
 in England — Restored to France at peace (1633) — His fresh work 
 in Canada — New forts erected — His death and funeral — Final 
 fate of colony — Champlain's noble character. 
 
 IN the early spring of 1610 Champlain, with Pontgrave, 
 again put to sea, the former being very weak after a 
 serious illness. Again in alliance with the Hurons, 
 Champlain, on the way to the Great Lakes and the copper- 
 
 49 D 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 mines on the shores, met his Indian friends at the mouth 
 of the Richelieu. A sudden conflict came with the Iro- 
 quois in the forest, in which Champlain and four of his 
 men were engaged. The Frenchmen were left behind by 
 their naked, light-limbed comrades, and suffered much in 
 a swamp where the close, heavy air was swarming with 
 mosquitoes, " so thick," wrote the leader, " that we could 
 scarcely draw breath, and it was wonderful how cruelly 
 they persecuted us." Struggling on through black mud, 
 spongy moss, and water up to the knees, over fallen trees, 
 among slimy logs and tangled roots ; tripped up by wild 
 vines, and whipped in the face by recoiling boughs, 
 panting under the weight of body-armour and casque, 
 the Frenchmen came at length to the scene of action. 
 
 In a clearing near the river the enemy stood savagely 
 at bay within a strong circular breastwork of piled trees — 
 trunks, boughs, and matted twigs and leaves — having 
 already repulsed a fierce attack. A yell from the Hurons 
 and Algonquins welcomed the new-comers, who, amid a 
 storm of shafts, flung themselves into the fight with a 
 random fire through the fence made by the Iroquois. 
 Champlain and one of his men were wounded in the ear 
 and neck by stone-headed arrows, but the terror of the 
 guns again did its work, and the foe inside the barricade 
 fell flat on the ground at each report. 
 
 The allies of Champlain, covered by their large shields, 
 were dragging out the felled trees of the barricade, when a 
 boat's crew of St. Malo fur-traders came up to aid their 
 countrymen. The fire of the reinforcement was irre- 
 sistible. The Iroquois were panic-stricken. At a signal 
 from Champlain, the assailing crowd broke through or over 
 the tree defence, and the enemy, all but fifteen, were cut 
 down, fighting furiously with their war-clubs, or driven to 
 death in the river. A terrible scene of torture and death, 
 which Champlain could not prevent, ended the day. 
 
 50 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 The victorious Frenchman, higher in credit than ever 
 with the Hurons and Algonquins, was again forced to 
 postpone his journey to the distant wilds. A ship came 
 in from his native town of Brouage with news of the 
 French King's assassination, an event which involved the 
 loss of the chief protector of the enterprise of coloniza- 
 tion. Early in August, leaving his little farm at Quebec, 
 where wheat, rye, barley, and maize, all kinds of vege- 
 tables, and a small vineyard of grapes, gave promise of 
 good success in his schemes of tillage, the French pioneer 
 started for Honfleur. 
 
 In May, 1611, he was again at Tadousac, in a ship 
 which had been for days entangled, off Newfoundland, 
 in drifting bergs and floes of ice. The mountains and 
 forests were still white with snow when he made his way 
 to Montreal, his object being to secure a hold upon the pro- 
 fitable fur trade by relations with the chief Indian tribes. 
 He was, however, followed by a crowd of small craft 
 bearing eager adventurers, who had come from France 
 through allurement of the new territory. 
 $ It was clear that Champlain's toils of travel, his dis- 
 coveries, and his battle risks would bring profit to other 
 men than the true colonizer. He chose a site, and 
 cleared ground for another French centre, and then, after 
 planting roses round Quebec, returned to France to 
 arrange new plans with De Monts. That nobleman left 
 everything to his friend's judgment, and the determined 
 man started from Rochelle for Paris, and was nearly killed 
 on the way by his horse falling on him. On his partial 
 recovery he was fortunate in gaining the powerful influ- 
 ence of Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, the first 
 Prince of the blood, who was appointed by the new 
 Sovereign, Louis XIII., to be Viceroy of " New France." 
 
 The position of Champlain was now assured. In him 
 alone was the life of the territory, and for many years he 
 
 51 d 2 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 played his part, enjoying, as local " Lieutenant," the con- 
 fidence of successive Viceroys, who remained in France, 
 and left the actual rule in his hands. It was a proof of 
 his courage, faithfulness, and zeal that this was due, and 
 a score more times he crossed the Atlantic in the in- 
 terests of his great charge. 
 
 In 1615 he took out a new body of settlers to Montreal, 
 including three Recollet friars, of a branch of the great 
 Franciscan Order, in pursuit of one of his chief objects — 
 the conversion of the heathen. One of these men, the 
 first of the devoted missionaries of France in North 
 America, was placed at Tadousac, another at Quebec, 
 and a third at Three Rivers ; and on the 25th of June, 
 at Quebec, Mass was first said in a Canadian church. A 
 fort had been erected, for the protection of the fur trade, 
 at the point where the Ottawa joins the St. Lawrence at 
 the island of Montreal. The island called St. Helens 
 was named from Champlain's newly-wedded wife. 
 
 The former policy of fighting the Iroquois was resumed, 
 in alliance with the Algonquins of the Ottawa, and 
 Hurons from the borders of the lake called by their 
 name. The Indians were to muster 2,500 warriors for 
 the invasion, while Champlain went to Quebec for his 
 preparations. On his return, he found that his allies 
 had dispersed, impatient of delay, and the resolute man, 
 in his zeal for exploration, started up the Ottawa with 
 two canoes, bearing himself, his interpreter Etienne 
 Brule, another Frenchman, and ten Indians. By tribu- 
 tary streams, and across a lake, in a voyage where failure 
 of the store of provisions forced the party to live on 
 blue - berries and wild raspberries, Champlain reached 
 Lake Huron, and passed for over 100 miles along its 
 eastern shores. Welcomed and feasted by the Huron 
 tribesmen as the champion for victory over the Iroquois, 
 he found there his friend the friar Le Caron, who rejoiced 
 
 52 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 in saying the first Mass in the Huron country in the 
 presence of Champlain and his two countrymen, and 
 the twelve Frenchmen who had accompanied the steps 
 of the missionary. 
 
 In a tour made by Champlain with some of his 
 Frenchmen, he visited some palisaded villages of the 
 Hurons, taking delight as he went in the country, with its 
 deep woods, its meadows, pine and cedar copses, abound- 
 ing in partridges and hares, and in the wild fruits — plums 
 and grapes, crab-apples and cherries, raspberries and 
 nuts. Near Lake Simcoe the party came to the Huron 
 capital, where the warriors shouted for joy, the squaws 
 stared with eyes of wonder, and the children fled scream- 
 ing at the strange sight of the white men. Passing beyond 
 Lake Simcoe, they saw a big deer-hunt, in which 500 
 Indians, advancing as beaters in a line, drove the game 
 to the end of a woody point, and men in canoes slew the 
 animals with spears and arrows as they sought refuge in 
 the river. 
 
 The French and their allies were now, as the description 
 shows, returning to attack the Iroquois in what is now 
 New York State, and crossing Lake Ontario, they entered 
 the woods to reach the enemy's territory. The Hurons 
 were repulsed in a rash attack on a party of Iroquois busy 
 with their harvest of pumpkins and maize, and Champlain, 
 before the attack on the town, delivered a lecture on the 
 art of war. The defensive works were very strong. Four 
 concentric rows of palisades, formed of tree-trunks 
 30 feet long, were set aslant in the ground, intersecting 
 each other at the top, and there supporting a gallery 
 defended by shot-proof timber, and having wooden 
 gutters for quenching fire. An ample supply of water 
 came from a small lake washing one side of the stockade, 
 and led inside the town by sluices. The galleries were 
 stocked with magazines of stones. 
 
 53 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 The Hurons now made a wooden tower, high enough to 
 overtop the palisade, and giving shelter to a few marks- 
 men. Huge shields of wood, or movable parapets, like 
 the mantelets of olden warfare, were provided. Then 
 200 of the strongest men dragged the tower forward, and 
 placed it near the stockade. Three arquebusiers ascended, 
 and delivered a raking fire along the galleries, now thronged 
 with defenders. 
 
 The Hurons spoiled all by their rash fury. In spite of 
 Champlain's shouted orders, they rushed into the open, 
 shrieking their war-cries and shooting their arrows, to 
 which the Iroquois vigorously replied with shafts and 
 stones. An attempt to fire the stockade - with brands 
 was frustrated by the water from the gutters, and after 
 three hours the assailants, with many warriors wounded, 
 retired to their fortified camp. Champlain himself was 
 disabled by an arrow in the knee and another in the leg. 
 The Hurons declined to renew the attack until they were 
 joined by a promised reinforcement of some hundreds of 
 allies. In several skirmishes outside the works the Iro- 
 quois had the better of the fighting. No friends came up 
 in aid, and the Hurons and Frenchmen recrossed to the 
 northern shore of Lake Ontario. 
 
 Folly measures merit solely by success, and the de- 
 feated Indians, who were alone at fault, lost some of their 
 regard and admiration for their brave and skilful French 
 ally. Champlain spent the winter among the Hurons, 
 and had a perilous adventure in being lost alone in the 
 woods, pursuing a bird of strange appearance, which lured 
 him on by flitting from tree to tree. He passed the night 
 fasting at the foot of a tree ; shot waterfowl which he 
 cooked at a fire he kindled ; and, after two more days and 
 nights of weary wandering and comfortless bivouac, he 
 made his way back to his friends by the guidance of a 
 rivulet which led him out of the forest. 
 
 54 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 He was received with joy by the Indians, who had 
 searched for him without ceasing, and his host, a chief 
 named Durantal, never let him go more into the woods 
 alone. In July, 1616, Champlain was back in Quebec, 
 where he met the friar Le Caron, to whom he had been 
 reported as dead. A solemn Mass and thanksgiving were 
 held in the chapel, and the hospitable chief Durantal 
 was well entertained, returning home in admiration of the 
 wonders he had beheld — the fort, the ship, the cannon, 
 the architecture of the houses and barracks, and the 
 splendours, to his eye, of the chapel. Quebec grew slowly, 
 and the friars started a farm with some hogs, a couple of 
 geese, two asses, seven pairs of fowls and four of ducks. 
 
 Few new settlers came from France who had tillage as 
 , their object, the absorbing pursuit being the lucrative 
 trade in furs ; and Champlain, giving up his wanderings 
 of exploration, devoted himself to the task of nursing his 
 little colony, which was half a trading post, half a mission. 
 The permanent population consisted of under sixty 
 persons, and a sarcastic report sent home to the King of 
 France represented the garrison of the fort as two old 
 women, with a brace of hens for sentinels. Religious 
 quarrels between the Catholics and Huguenot new- 
 comers arose, and the Governor's fortitude was sorely tried. 
 Every year he went to France, seeking help, and finding 
 little. 
 
 In 1620 he returned with a very young wife, who did 
 her best for four years among the squaws and children. 
 In 1622 a large body of Iroquois warriors threatened 
 Quebec, but dared not assault the gun-armed works, and 
 withdrew, after burning two Huron prisoners. When 
 the year 1626 arrived, the little colony was in so low a 
 condition that Champlain might well look back with pain 
 on the seemingly fruitless efforts of eighteen years. The 
 whole white population of the little town barely exceeded 
 
 55 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 100, and only one or two families were living on the 
 produce of their tillage. The selfish fur-traders and 
 the religious propagandists — Catholics and Huguenots 
 alike — were indifferent to the cause of colonial progress. 
 
 A change came with the advent to power in France, in 
 1627, of a statesman of the first rank, Cardinal Richelieu. 
 One of his many cares was that of fostering the com- 
 mercial power of the country which, in the name of 
 Louis XIII., he virtually ruled. Turning his attention 
 to " New France," he annulled all existing charters and 
 formed the " Company of the Hundred Associates," of 
 which he was the head, the body including merchants, 
 burghers of good position, and men of rank. On these 
 men sovereign power was conferred over the whole terri- 
 tory from Hudson's Bay to the far south, with a per- 
 petual monopoly of the fur trade and of all other com- 
 merce for fifteen years. Two ships of war were given, 
 ready for service. 
 
 The Company, on their side, undertook to convey to the 
 colony in 1628, 200 or 300 men of all trades, and to 
 increase the number to 4,000 persons of both sexes before 
 the year 1643. These new colonists were to be lodged 
 and supported for three years, and were then to receive 
 cleared lands for their maintenance. A fatal mistake 
 was made in the condition that every settler was to be a 
 Frenchman and a Catholic — a contrast with the British 
 method of admitting to her settlements all who desired 
 to come, which meant in most cases the class of colonists 
 best worth having. Among the " Hundred Associates " 
 Champlain was one of the most prominent, from his per- 
 formances, experience, and character. 
 
 In accordance with the new scheme, four armed vessels, 
 with a fleet of transports under Roquemont, an Associate, 
 sailed from Dieppe in April, 1628, with colonists and 
 supplies. At this moment, when Champlain was ap- 
 
 56 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 pointed Governor of Canada, with no Viceroy as a 
 nominal chief, a new difficulty arose. England had just 
 declared war against France, and Charles I. permitted a 
 body of London merchants, under " letters of marque," 
 to send out an expedition against the French possessions 
 in North America. A dozen armed ships were fitted out, 
 conveying many Huguenots, now hostile to their native 
 country. 
 
 The colonists at Quebec were in sore straits. There 
 was very little food ; the half -ruined works could resist 
 no battering, and the magazine contained only 50 pounds 
 of gunpowder. Day by day the people looked out for 
 the sails of the first fleet of the Associates, now due to 
 arrive, when, on the 9th of July, two wearied men from 
 the outpost at Cape Tourmente came in with news of 
 large vessels lying in the harbour of Tadousac. Two 
 Recollet friars went out to reconnoitre, and off the lie 
 d' Orleans they met two Indian canoes, with certain in- 
 telligence of the ships being hostile. 
 
 Sir David Kirke, commanding the British ships, sent 
 in a courteous summons to surrender, but the stout- 
 hearted Champlain saved, the place for a time by a bold 
 attitude. He gave the messengers the best entertain- 
 ment at command, his own people being at the time 
 rationed on half a pound of bread per day. The Governor 
 then sent them away with an expressed resolve to hold 
 out to the last. Then came fresh news in a boat bearing 
 ten Frenchmen, despatched by Roquemont to tell 
 Champlain that the fleet of the Associates was in the 
 St. Lawrence. They also reported that the British vessels 
 had steered downwards to intercept the relieving squadron, 
 and that fighting had begun. 
 
 On the 18th of July the British commander, in a run- 
 ning action, captured all the French ships save one, and, 
 after removing the cargoes and burning most of the 
 
 57 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 vessels, he cruised about for French fishing craft in the 
 neighbouring waters. The bold defiance of Champ- 
 lain had prevented Kirke from attacking Quebec, but 
 this relief brought little comfort to starving people. The 
 Governor, as usual, played a heroic part in enduring hard- 
 ship and inspiring hope, while food was reduced to a 
 scanty allowance of pease and Indian corn. By the end 
 of May, 1629, men, women, and children were grubbing 
 up edible roots in the woods. No help came from the 
 mother-country, and it was a relief to Champlain when an 
 Indian eel-fisher came to announce his view of three ships 
 approaching Point Levis. 
 
 These were British men-of-war. A boat with a white 
 flag brought a young officer ashore with a summons to 
 surrender, and terms were soon arranged. Only sixteen 
 haggard men were left as garrison, and they were to be 
 conveyed to France. Champlain was sent down the river 
 to Tadousac, where Admiral Kirke lay with five other 
 ships, and, after being treated with courtesy and allowed 
 to join his captor in shooting larks on shore, he went to 
 England as a prisoner of war. 
 
 The conclusion of peace at this time not only restored 
 Champlain to his country, but New France to the French 
 Crown. In March, 1633, he started again for Canada 
 with three ships, conveying 200 settlers, large supplies of 
 goods for barter, and provisions and munitions of war. 
 
 Again in command at Quebec as the representative of 
 the Company of Associates, the founder of French 
 Canada devoted himself to the work of religious improve- 
 ment in conjunction with the Jesuit Fathers, and of 
 material progress for the colony. His mission in life, 
 however, was nearly finished. In 1634 he erected forts 
 at Three Rivers and at the mouth of the Richelieu for the 
 protection of the fur-trade against the Iroquois. 
 
 Sufferings and toils by sea and land, in the wilderness 
 
 58 
 
THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 and in warfare, had done their work, and Champlain, at 
 the age of sixty-eight, died of paralysis, after a long 
 illness, on Christmas Day, 1635. His last cares were for 
 the colony, in whose behalf he had constantly laboured 
 for twenty-seven years, at the sacrifice of fortune and 
 repose. The first and greatest of the rulers of French 
 Canada was followed to the grave by soldiers and traders, 
 Jesuits and officers, arid many of the 250 European settlers 
 whom he had left behind him. 
 
 The power of France in North America was to grow 
 under other Governors, amongst whom the able De Fron- 
 tenac is a great figure. The French rule, however, 
 based on a worn-out feudal system, and on an unsound 
 theory of trade, and neglected, amid European warfare, 
 by the authorities at home, was doomed to failure. The 
 end came when conquering Wolfe, dying in the moment 
 of victory, caused the British flag to float in the breeze 
 on the Heights of Abraham. None the less is the highest 
 praise due to the many-sided man — a combination of the 
 mediaeval and the modern — with the spirit of a Crusader, 
 a romantic explorer, a navigator, a ruler, and a shrewd 
 man of business, known to the world as Samuel de Champ- 
 lain. His work as a colonial founder endured for little 
 more than a century of time, but his untiring patience, 
 his hardihood, his dauntless courage, his unselfish nobility 
 of character, his purity of life, his rare honesty of pur- 
 pose and action, won for him lasting fame. 
 
 59 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Heroism of the Pilgrim Fathers — Scrooby village — The Puritans 
 there — The resolve to migrate — Difficulties in the way — The first 
 attempt foiled — Another start — The party separated — AH at last 
 in Holland — Robinson, Brewster, and Bradford — The exiles in 
 Leyden — The new enterprise — The start across the Atlantic — 
 The Speedwell and Mayflower — Failure of Speedwell — Voyage 
 of the Mayflower — Hard conditions — Danger of vessel — A 
 voyager's account — Land sighted — The coast at Cape Cod — 
 The first landing — The natives — Exploring the country — Native 
 attack — The landing at Plymouth Bock — Appearance of " New 
 England " — King James's threat fulfilled — Town built — Sickness 
 among emigrants — Indians appear again — A friendly native — 
 Alliance with a great chief — Mayflower back to England — Tillage 
 begun — Death of the Governor — Bradford chosen. 
 
 IF it be heroic to cross a stormy ocean to an unknown 
 land, to face and endure toil and hardship, and en- 
 counter peril of death in divers forms, in order to 
 have freedom of worship according to the light of con- 
 science, then were the " Pilgrim Fathers," who created 
 New England beyond the seas, veritable heroes. Not 
 for them were the sweets of worldly fame won amid the 
 pomp and circumstance of war, nor earthly rewards of 
 victory in battle against earthly foes. Fleeing from 
 what they held to be tyranny in religious affairs, they 
 first abandoned the country which they loved for a land 
 of aliens, and then departed from Europe to North 
 
 60 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 America. The band of wanderers consisted of people 
 known as Puritans, who, under Queen Elizabeth, refused 
 to submit to the established form of church government 
 and church worship, and became known as " Separatists " 
 and " Independents," being, in the modern phrase, 
 " Nonconformists " or " Dissenters." 
 
 Our story starts at Scrooby, a little village among 
 streams and meadows in the north of Nottinghamshire, 
 near to the point where the borders of that county meet 
 those of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Almost forgotten 
 until recent days, the place had been well known in dis- 
 tant times, even in those of Domesday Book, for a manor 
 and palace of the Archbishops of York. Cardinal Wolsey, 
 after his political downfall, lived there quietly for three 
 months, and Henry VIII., in 1541, slept a night in the 
 palace on his way to the North. The remains of the old 
 manor-house, and the field where the foundations of the 
 palace lie buried, are now often visited by modern New 
 Englanders, pilgrims seeking, as a shrine, the abode of 
 some of their forefathers. 
 
 In this village of Scrooby, early in the seventeenth 
 century there lived and worshipped, according to their 
 lights, a little body of Puritans. The new Sovereign, 
 James I., had declared concerning the whole sect : " I 
 will make them conform, or I will harry them out of the 
 land." It behoved them, therefore, if they would live 
 in peace, to look elsewhere. Already, in 1593, a con- 
 gregation of Independents, which had arisen in London, 
 had settled in Amsterdam, and early in the reign of 
 James another body at Gainsborough followed them to 
 the same place of refuge. 
 
 The Scrooby people of the same religious sect, having 
 resolved to follow their brethren to Holland, found it no 
 light matter to get away from the country where they 
 were liable to constant persecution, in fine and imprison- 
 
 61 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ment, for conscience' sake. The mere determination to 
 quit their place of abode showed courage of no common 
 kind. They were about to abandon their occupation, 
 being mostly plain tillers of the soil, and unskilled in 
 trades or handicrafts by which they might earn a sub- 
 sistence in a new country. They were exchanging a land 
 of peace for one subject to the miseries of war. They 
 were leaving all their friends and familiar acquaintances 
 for a region where they must learn a new language in 
 order to get a living. 
 
 The first difficulty was that it was as unlawful to leave 
 their native country as to remain in it as people not 
 conforming to the established religion. An old statute 
 of Richard II. 's reign forbade all emigration without 
 license. There were many men of the base brood of 
 " informers " at work, eager to denounce religiouB 
 offenders and have a share of the penalties inflicted, and 
 it was needful to get away from England in a stealthy 
 fashion, by bribing the captains of vessels, and paying 
 hush-money to any hostile persons who might become 
 aware of the movement. There were many failures in 
 attempts to go abroad in small separate parties. 
 
 In the autumn of 1607 a body of Scrooby Puritans, 
 having resolved to start from Boston, made arrange- 
 ments with the captain of a vessel which they hired for 
 their own sole use. The man betrayed them to the 
 authorities, and they were arrested as soon as they 
 stepped aboard. Taken ashore in boats, they were 
 roughly searched and stripped of their money, books, 
 and other property, led through the town, brought 
 before the magistrates, and committed to gaol to await 
 the pleasure of the Lords of the Council. Two of the 
 cells in which they were confined may still be seen in 
 the Guildhall of the curious old town famous for the 
 magnificent tower of the great Church of St. Botolph, 
 
 62 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 a landmark for mariners, known as " Boston Stump." 
 These dens, long disused, are 7 feet long and about 
 6 broad, secured, in • place of doors, by five-barred 
 iron gates. After a month's detention, most of the 
 prisoners were sent back to their homes, seven of the 
 leaders being kept for the assizes, with an issue not 
 recorded. 
 
 In the spring of 1608 another attempt at voluntary 
 exile was made, and Hull was chosen as the place of 
 departure. A Dutchman of Zealand, owning the ship 
 which he commanded, was found, and he agreed to take 
 the party on board at a lonely spot on the coast between 
 Grimsby and Hull, where there was a large common at 
 a distance from any town. The women, children, and 
 goods were conveyed in a large boat by way of Gains- 
 borough and the Trent. The men travelled about 
 forty miles across country. Both parties met at the 
 appointed place, but there was no ship yet arrived, 
 and the boat was run into a creek to lie aground at low 
 water. 
 
 When the Dutch vessel, next morning, appeared off 
 shore, the boat was hard and fast, unable to move until 
 high-water at noon. The captain had taken one boat- 
 load of the men on board, and was sending for a second, 
 when he saw in the distance, in full pursuit, " a great 
 company, both horse and foot, with bills and guns and 
 other weapons, for the country was raised to take them." 
 The Dutchman, with good heed for himself, weighed 
 anchor, and sailed off with a fair wind. The boat- 
 load of fugitives on board the ship had nothing with 
 them but the clothes they wore. Their male friends 
 were left ashore, and the women, children, and goods 
 were on the boat in the creek at the mercy of the 
 pursuers. 
 
 Worse still, in the North Sea a tempest arose which 
 
 63 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 drove the ship near to the coast of Norway. During 
 seven days and nights of tossing, out of fourteen in all, 
 sun, moon, and stars were invisible, and the mariners 
 themselves at one time gave up all hope. At last the 
 coast of Holland was reached, and the Puritans made at 
 first for their countrymen at Amsterdam. The forlorn 
 people left behind were arrested and taken about the 
 country from one magistrate to another, but the justices 
 would not act against them. In the end, with help from 
 friends, they contrived in small parties to join their 
 relatives in Holland. 
 
 The whole party, after about a year spent in Amsterdam, 
 received permission from the authorities at Leyden to 
 settle in that beautiful city, now recovered, to a great 
 extent, from the disastrous effects of the famous siege by 
 the Spaniards thirty years previously. The minister and 
 chief man of the little flock was John Robinson, a man 
 of admirable toleration and gentleness, and possessed 
 of excellent practical sense. His chief colleague was 
 William Brewster, who had been at Cambridge Univer- 
 sity, and was a man of good social position and political 
 experience. William Bradford, afterwards Governor of 
 the American colony for many years, was a lad of seven- 
 teen at the time of the flight from Scrooby. It is to his 
 writings that we are almost entirely indebted for our 
 knowledge of the Puritans under notice from the time 
 when they left England until they were firmly established 
 beyond the Atlantic. 
 
 The English exiles in Leyden were at length enabled, 
 by hard labour, to earn subsistence in various trades. 
 Bradford became a fustian-worker. Brewster, as a man 
 of superior education, at first taught English to students 
 at the famous University, and then set up a printing- 
 press for the production of works in defence of Puritan 
 principles, such as could not be printed in England. 
 
 64 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 The little community won high esteem among the Dutch 
 by their good conduct, and the magistrates of the city 
 bore public testimony to the fact that, in twelve years 
 of residence, "no suit or accusation came against any 
 of them." 
 
 As years went on, the leaders of the Leyden Puritans, 
 for various reasons, bethought them of a more distant 
 scene of life, where they could have complete freedom 
 from the external influences, not always salutary for the 
 younger people, which existed in Holland, and set up 
 a little independent Puritan colony. King James 
 favoured the new project, as their principles, at such a 
 distance, would be comparatively harmless, and the 
 Leyden community were permitted to make their start 
 from England. It was in July, 1620, that, after a 
 canal journey from Leyden, they sailed from Delfs- 
 haven, and reached Southampton after a prosperous 
 voyage. 
 
 The vessel which had brought them from Holland was 
 the Speedwell, of 60 tons. A few recruits from London 
 were brought by the Mayflower, of 180 tons, and on the 
 5th of August, 1620, the two vessels sailed down South- 
 ampton Water, past Alum Bay and the Needles, into the 
 Channel, with their prows pointing for the far west. 
 The mishaps of the voyage soon began. The Speedwell, 
 which had been fitted out in Holland, was " overmasted," 
 an error which caused the hull to be strained in sailing. 
 The wind was not fair, and after tacking about for three 
 or four days, the captain, Reynolds, reported dangerous 
 leakage. Captain, Jones, of the Mayflower, agreed to 
 put into Dartmouth, where the smaller vessel was 
 thoroughly overhauled and some leaky places were 
 mended. 
 
 On starting again, the two ships were about 300 miles 
 westward of Land's End when the Speedwell was again 
 
 65 E 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 found to be so leaky that pumping could hardly keep her 
 free of water. A return to England was made, and both 
 vessels put into Plymouth. At that port no special leak 
 was found in the smaller craft, but she was now con- 
 demned as unfit for the voyage from general weakness. 
 She conveyed back to London about a score of pas- 
 sengers who had had enough of the venture, and about 
 a dozen were added to the complement of the Mayflower, 
 already overcrowded. 
 
 On the 6th of September that vessel again put to sea, 
 with 102 persons on board, the party of emigrants being 
 composed of 66 men (24 married), 26 women (18 married), 
 and 10 children. There were 14 male servants and 1 
 female servant among them. One man died at sea, and 
 on the voyage two children were born, the first of whom, 
 appearing about midway, was called Oceanus Hopkins. 
 The other, born in harbour just before the landing on 
 the American coast, received the name of Peregrine 
 White. The number that actually landed thus be- 
 came 103. 
 
 It is needless to dwell on the different conditions of 
 life during a voyage to America in those days and those 
 which, for persons of even the most moderate means, 
 prevail now. The Mayflower, of 180 tons, with over 
 100 people aboard, was truly for the passengers " a 
 prison, with the chance of being drowned." The time 
 of transit to the Western world was measured by weeks 
 instead of by days. Below deck all hands were wretchedly 
 cramped for room to move about and for sleeping space. 
 The fare was hard, the smells were noisome. In a small 
 craft the danger of foundering at sea if a storm arose 
 was real, and with the best weather discomfort was, in 
 many respects, the lot of the traveller. The floating 
 town, the luxurious hotel at sea, provided in the gigantic 
 liners of the present day, have made a delightful holiday 
 
 66 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 trip out of what, for the pilgrims in the Mayflower, 
 was a sore trial of courage and endurance. 
 
 The voyagers had left Plymouth with a fair wind, 
 and for about half the way over matters went well. Then 
 came the equinoctial gales, and the little vessel was 
 terribly shaken from stem to stern. The upper works 
 became leaky, though the ship was, happily, strong and 
 firm below, but a main beam amidships was so twisted 
 that the captain and crew were alarmed. It chanced 
 that one of the passengers had brought from Holland a 
 strong iron screw, and with this the beam was raised 
 into its place, and then supported by a great post on the 
 lower deck. The ship was thus saved, but bad weather, 
 lasting for many days, prevented any sail being set, and 
 kept her driving under bare poles. The misery of the 
 passengers may be conceived, as, crowding below for 
 safety, they had their clothes and bedding drenched with 
 salt water, and, weak from sea-sickness and in fear of 
 death by drowning, grew hopeless of reaching land. 
 
 A description written by one of the party, afterwards 
 Governor Bradford, states : "As they thus lay at hull 
 (drifting about, without sails), in a mighty storm, a lusty 
 young man, called John Howland, coming upon some 
 occasion above the gratings, was with the seel (roll, or 
 pitching) of the ship thrown into the sea ; but it pleased 
 God that he caught hold of the topsail halliards, which 
 hung overboard and ran out at length ; yet he held his 
 hold, though he was sundry fathoms under water, till 
 he was hauled up, by the same rope, to the brim of the 
 water ; and then, with a boathook and other means, got 
 into the ship again and his life saved. And though he 
 was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after, 
 and became a profitable member both in Church and 
 Common Wealth." 
 
 At last, more than thirteen weeks after leaving South- 
 
 67 E 2 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ampton, and nine out from Plymouth, the adventurers 
 sighted land at Cape Cod. They sailed south-westwards, 
 with the purpose of settling near the mouth of the Hudson 
 River, where territory was held by Dutchmen, but, 
 falling amongst shoals and breakers, and the wind be- 
 coming contrary, they bore up again for the Cape, and 
 came to anchor in the harbour. The adventurers found 
 themselves at the head of a peninsula running north- 
 wards, parallel to the mainland, for about twenty miles. 
 It then turns westward for a short distance, and forms a 
 land-locked, capacious basin. 
 
 They were looking on a region covered, down to the 
 sea-shore, with pines and oaks and with sassafras, juniper, 
 and other aromatic shrubs. Great flocks of wild-fowl 
 were seen, and whales were spouting in the bay. We may 
 imagine with what joy the voyagers set foot ashore. It 
 was, however, a sore misfortune for their enterprise that 
 delays so long had occurred at the outset. They were 
 thus brought to a land of early, lengthy, and severe 
 winters too late to make due preparations against the 
 rigours of the season, and dire were the suffering and loss 
 that thereby ensued. There was, however, nothing to be 
 done except to stay where they were. There was shallow 
 water for nearly a mile from land, and it was needful " to 
 wade a bowshot or two in going a-land, which caused 
 many to get colds and coughs." 
 
 On the 15th of November a party of sixteen men, with 
 musket, sword, and corselet, set forth to explore, under 
 the command of Captain Miles Standish, who had seen 
 military service in the Netherlands. The first living 
 objects seen were six Indians and a dog coming towards 
 them as they went southwards along the peninsula. 
 At their approach the natives fled into the woods, and 
 the explorers followed them vainly for a long distance, 
 in hope of gaining information. At night, forming a 
 
 68 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 barricade of logs, they kindled a fire and fixed sentries. 
 We may here note that Standish was, in a sense, the 
 " John Smith " of New England, as the leading spirit 
 for many years in all enterprises needing courage and 
 military skill. 
 
 On the following day, making way with difficulty up 
 and down hill, through dense thickets, the explorers 
 came upon deer and a good supply of spring - water. 
 The next discoveries were an abandoned piece of corn- 
 land, some Indian graves, the remains of a house, and a 
 great iron kettle, giving signs of the former presence of 
 Europeans. The best find was, under heaps of sand, 
 " divers fair Indian baskets filled with corn," from which 
 they took a supply, and so went back to the ship. In the 
 last days of November another exploration brought the 
 men into blinding snowstorms, but at night they found 
 shelter under some pine-trees, and supped " with soldiers' 
 stomacks," as one account tells, on three fat geese and 
 six ducks which they shot. More stores of maize and 
 some Indian huts, lately occupied, were found, and then 
 came the first encounter with natives. 
 
 A body of these people, who had been tracking and 
 watching the new-comers, came on them suddenly as 
 they breakfasted at their bivouac, and the fearful war- 
 cry sounded in the ears of the English, followed by a 
 shower of arrows. Some musket-shots drove off the 
 assailants, with no wound to the exploring party. 
 
 After due consideration, a spot for settlement was 
 chosen, provided with a supply of water, and giving 
 signs of fertility, on the mainland nearly opposite 
 Cape Cod. 
 
 On the 21st of December a great historical event came 
 in the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. The 
 joy of the party was turned, for a time, into sadness by 
 the accidental death, through falling overboard from the 
 
 69 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Mayflower as she lay in the harbour, of the wife of William 
 Bradford, an event which he learned when he returned 
 with the explorers. Further tramping inland showed 
 woods of beech, ash, birch, hazel, and holly, with vines, 
 cherry-trees, plum-trees, and many herbs, including wild 
 strawberry. There were also watercresses, a great 
 abundance of leeks and onions, and good strong-fibred 
 plants of the flax and hemp species. Sand and gravel, 
 with excellent pottery-clay, were found ; the best of 
 drinking-water in many lakes and ponds, and brooks 
 teeming with fish. 
 
 Such was New England as first seen by the settlers from 
 the old country. They had reached the haven of refuge 
 where they would be. They could now, without dread of 
 being despoiled of their goods and haled to prison, wor- 
 ship in their own fashion. King James had, as he had 
 threatened, " harried them out " of their own country, 
 but they had reached one which for them, as lovers of 
 freedom, was a far better land — one where they were 
 to be the founders of a great nation, with people like the 
 sands on the sea-shore for multitude. 
 
 It was Christmas Day (Old Style), 1620— the 15th of 
 December by right reckoning — when the emigrants began 
 to build. A " common house," about 20 feet square, 
 for general use until separate dwellings could be erected, 
 was run up in a few days. Early in the New Year (1621) 
 the whole company, divided into nineteen families, had 
 plots of land assigned by lot for choice of position, and 
 rows of houses, now called Leyden Street, were being 
 built, parallel with the stream known as the Town- 
 brook, upwards from Plymouth Rock and the beach to 
 the hills. On the eve of departure from England a boast 
 had been made concerning the emigrants that " it was 
 not with them as with other men, whom small things can 
 discourage or small discontentments cause to wish them- 
 
 70 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 selves at home again." This statement was quickly and 
 severely put to the proof. / 
 
 Hard toil and poor fare and exposure to cold, after the 
 crowding on shipboard, which had lowered the vital 
 powers, brought sickness such that, during January and 
 February, the people died sometimes at the rate of two 
 or three a day. At one time there were but six or seven 
 persons able to attend on sufferers. Miles Standish, the 
 soldier, was conspicuous in his tender care for the sick. 
 In the end scarcely half of the people who had landed 
 three months before survived, when, in the middle of 
 March, the deaths abated, and, as the journal of one of 
 the party records, " the sun began to be warm about 
 noon, and the birds sang in the woods most pleasantly." 
 
 It was a happy circumstance for the settlers that, in 
 their time of helplessness from disease, the savages made 
 no attack. The truth was that, a few years before, a 
 pestilence had swept away most of the tribe that haunted 
 the shores of Massachusetts Bay, and the Indians already 
 seen were a few of the remnant. Signs of Indian presence, 
 in the month of March, were not wanting. Standish and 
 another man, at work in the woods, left their tools behind 
 them for the night, and these, in the morning, had dis- 
 appeared. Roaming savages, also, were heard in the 
 woods, and a great fire of their kindling was seen. Strict 
 watch was kept in the little town, but there was no real 
 cause for alarm. 
 
 On the 16th of March the voice of a stranger was heard 
 in the street crying " Welcome !" in broken English. A 
 savage appeared, clad only in a waist-cloth, with plumes 
 on his head, a man "of a seemly carriage," and free in 
 speech, so far as he could express his mind in the language 
 which he had gathered from English fishermen on the 
 coast to the north. He stayed the night, and on the 
 morrow he came back with five of his countrymen. The 
 
 71 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 friendship thus begun by the man, named Samoset, was 
 confirmed by another Indian whom he brought, a man 
 who was the very last of his tribe that once lived in that 
 region. This man had been for three years in London, 
 after escaping from a British adventurer who had kid- 
 napped him and a score of his countrymen, in order to 
 sell them as slaves in Spain. 
 
 In a week's time an alliance was made with Massasoit, 
 the Grand Sachem of some confederate tribes. That 
 chieftain came, with threescore braves, seeking an 
 interview, and was met by Standish with six musketeers, 
 who gave him a military salute as he crossed the ford to 
 the town and conducted him and his body-guard, a score 
 of armed warriors, to the town-house. The chief was a 
 man in the prime of life, grave in manner and of brief 
 utterance, marked out from his tall, athletic followers 
 by a great necklace of white bone beads. Governor 
 Carver, with his guard of musketeers, met his guest in 
 a courteous way, and the whole party ate and drank 
 together. 
 
 On the 5th of April the Mayflower sailed for England, 
 leaving the Pilgrims with their nearest civilized neigh- 
 bours 500 miles away to north and south — French- 
 men in Acadie and the early English settlers in Virginia. 
 The Indian who knew London taught them the right 
 time and method for sowing maize, and the only able- 
 bodied males of the colony left by the sickness — twenty- 
 one men and six growing lads — kept hard at work in 
 felling timber and building, hunting and fishing, sowing 
 and planting. In this first season of their new life 
 21 acres of land were tilled for Indian corn, and 6 
 more were sown with barley, wheat, and rye, and the 
 gardens around the houses were cultivated. 
 
 At this juncture, in April, grief came on the com- 
 munity in the sudden death of John Carver, the excel- 
 
 72 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 lent Governor, who was laid in a grave at a spot over- 
 looking the sea along with his wife Katharine, a delicate 
 woman, whom hardship had brought to her end. Due 
 honour was done in volleys of musketry fired after the 
 burial. William Bradford, the first American citizen of 
 the British race who ruled by the free choice of his 
 brethren, was then elected Governor. 
 
 73 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE FOTJNDEKS OF NEW ENGLAND— Continued 
 
 The colony fairly started — Description of the town — Trade begins— 
 Coming of new settlers — Threats from Indians — The reply sent — 
 Miles Standish as military leader — Union of settlements — Harvard 
 College founded — Yale of Boston — Fighting Puritans — Indian 
 outrages — Colonists take the field — Native property destroyed — 
 More fighting — Attack on Indian village — The place stormed and 
 burnt — Severe Iosb of natives — End of Pequod power — Troubles 
 after death of Massasoit — The war with " King Philip " — His 
 siege of Brookfield — The attack on Hadley — A mysterious leader 
 — Colonel Goffe, the regicide — Further warfare with natives — 
 A winter campaign — Fort stormed by colonists — Terrible loss of 
 natives — The enemy's strength broken — King Philip killed — 
 Great work of the Plymouth pioneers. 
 
 THE colony was now fairly launched on its career, and 
 we may give some description of Plymouth. The 
 town stood on rising ground about twenty yards 
 from the sea, and consisted of two streets crossing each 
 other, with the Governor's house at the, meeting-point. 
 An open space in front had four cannon, one pointing 
 down each street-opening. On a hill behind the town, 
 but within the fortification, was a building which served 
 at once as a place of worship, a public storehouse, and a 
 fort, with the protection of battlements and six cannon. 
 Each house, being a strong hut of logs, stood on its own 
 palisaded ground, and the whole place was surrounded by 
 a stockade. Three of four entrances had gates. On the 
 
 74 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 fourth side the sea-approach was commanded by the 
 guns of the fort. 
 
 The colonists soon engaged in trade, selling surplus corn 
 to the Indians for beaver-skins and other produce. In 
 1624 there were 180 inhabitants, who, by 1629, had grown 
 to 300. We note that the Puritans, men of peace except 
 in self-defence, were not, as Englishmen, men to submit 
 tamely to threats. In November, 1621, a ship called the 
 Fortune had brought out a reinforcement of thirty-five 
 colonists, and soon after her departure in the following 
 month many threats against the little colony were made 
 by the Indians of Narragansett. 
 
 One of that people, sent by the chief Sachem, came 
 inquiring for Tisquantum, the interpreter, the friendly 
 Indian who had been in England and had now settled at 
 Plymouth. The messenger, finding Tisquantum away 
 from home, left for him a bundle of new arrows lapped in 
 a rattlesnake's skin, and was then in a hurry to get away. 
 The Governor, however, suspecting his purpose, handed 
 him over to the custody of Captain Standish. On the 
 interpreter's return to the town, he explained to Governor 
 Bradford that the sending of the weapons in a rattle- 
 snake's skin " imported enmity," and that it was, in 
 fact, a challenge. The Governor then sent back the skin 
 stuffed with powder and shot. This hint was enough. 
 The war material was not touched by the Indian ruler, 
 nor would he allow it to remain in his house or territory, 
 and, after being handed about from one chief to another, 
 it at length came back in the same condition to Plymouth. 
 
 Standish then divided the little forces of the settlers 
 into four squadrons or companies, and appointed his 
 place to each man. He gave orders to one company that 
 at the sight of fire, or the cry " Fire !" in the town, each 
 man should take his arms, enclose the place endangered, 
 standing on guard at a distance, with their backs to the 
 
 75 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 fire, and so be ready to meet any foe from without. 
 From time to time other ships arrived with fresh bodies of 
 settlers from England, and other settlements were formed, 
 called the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with towns called 
 Weymouth, Dorchester, Salem — the afterwards great 
 and famous Boston — Cambridge, and many more. 
 
 In 1643 a union of the settlements of Massachusetts 
 Bay, Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut was 
 formed, under the title of the United Colonies of New 
 England, for common protection against the Indians 
 and the encroachments of the Dutch and French settlers. 
 New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island arose as new 
 settlers arrived, and the fist of New England colonies 
 became complete. In 1636 the General Court of Massa- 
 chusetts voted the sum of £400 towards founding a 
 college, and thus, with a munificent grant of money from 
 the Rev. John Harvard, a graduate of Emmanuel Col- 
 lege, Cambridge, and his library of 260 volumes, arose 
 the famous Harvard College. 
 
 The example of Massachusetts was followed by 
 Connecticut, and at New Haven there was founded 
 the institution which became Yale University, named 
 from Elihu Yale, a Boston (Massachusetts) man, who 
 had been Governor of Fort St. George, Madras, and, 
 acquiring great wealth, sent liberal gifts of money and 
 books. Such was the conduct in regard to sound learn- 
 ing of the New England Puritans, members of a religious 
 body in the old country, so often reviled by ignorant and 
 bigoted people as regardless of mental culture. 
 
 The Puritans of New England were not left without 
 need to employ the " arm of flesh " against human foes. 
 In the early days of the Plymouth Colony, Captain 
 Standish had several skirmishes with parties of Indians, 
 causing no serious loss on either side. The first real 
 trouble that came in this shape was the Pequod War. 
 
 76 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Some people of that troublesome tribe attacked an English 
 vessel near the mouth of the Connecticut River, killed 
 the captain and his seven men, and burnt the ship. No 
 redress in the way of the giving up of the guilty was 
 forthcoming, and in 1635 fresh outrages were com- 
 mitted on settlements in the Connecticut Valley and on 
 a trading-ship from Plymouth (New England). Again 
 no satisfaction could be obtained, and in August, 1635, 
 an attack was made - by Narragansett natives on a solitary 
 trader named Oldham. 
 
 He was engaged in dealing in corn with the Indians on 
 the shore of Rhode Island, and one day John Gallop, 
 master of a small vessel, cruising with a man and two 
 boys near Block Island, saw a pinnace, which he knew 
 to be Oldham's, filled with Indians. They were unable 
 to manage the craft, and Gallop, sailing round her again 
 and again, kept pouring in volleys of duck-shot. Some 
 of the natives were hit, and others, leaping overboard, 
 were drowned. When the Englishman had got rid of all 
 the enemies except four, he boarded the pinnace, and 
 found there Oldham's mutilated body. 
 
 The Massachusetts Government took the matter up 
 in vigorous style, and a force of about 100 men was sent 
 to Block Island. A heavy sea delayed a landing, and 
 on shore the ground was found very difficult from dense 
 thickets. The Indians either got away in their canoes 
 or hid themselves in the brushwood, and the force re- 
 turned, after burning down the houses and reaping the 
 corn. The Pequod Indians were then attacked for the 
 old offence in killing the captain near the Connecticut. 
 Wigwams were fired, the corn spoiled, and buried pro J 
 perty dug up and carried off, with a loss to the English 
 of one man hit by an arrow in the leg, and, to the natives, 
 of a few slain and many wounded. 
 
 During the winter of 1636 the Pequods harassed the 
 
 77 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 settlers on the Connecticut, killing or carrying off more 
 than twenty persons. In the first week of May, 1637, 
 a force of ninety Connecticut men took the field, under 
 the leadership of a man named John Mason, who had 
 learned a soldier's business in the Netherlands, and now 
 showed rare ability, vigour, and force of character in 
 inspiring his followers. It was no easy task that he had 
 undertaken, that of clearing the enemy out of many 
 hundreds of square miles of territory, with dense forests 
 at the back. 
 
 The main body of the savages was entrenched in two 
 villages well fortified, of which one was on a river, at 
 about four miles' distance from the sea-shore. The 
 chiefs had sent away their wives and children to Long 
 Island, and clearly " meant business." A Mohican chief 
 named Uncas, with eighty warriors, was with the English 
 force. The Plymouth settlement voted fifty men, and 
 Massachusetts 200, but Mason could not await their 
 arrival, and he advanced with 200 Narragansett Indians 
 added to his force. After a day's march he found him- 
 self in front of the Pequods' larger village, on a river 
 bank, in a great enclosure surrounded by a stockade 
 12 feet in height, with a 3-foot earthwork. 
 
 The English leader had already reason to doubt the 
 fidelity of his native allies. Many of the Narragansetts 
 had deserted him, and the rest, and the Mohicans, were 
 not at all eager to join in the attack. Mason then 
 divided his body into two, and attacked the place on east 
 and west. A heavy volley was poured in, and he then 
 stormed the gateway, while his second in command, 
 Underbill, after a sharp effort, scaled the stockade. The 
 Indian arrows, in spite of the helmets and buff-coats of 
 the English, killed two and wounded twenty men. The 
 savages, shooting from their wigwams, were sheltered 
 from much of the hostile fire. 
 
 78 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 There was but one method to adopt, not merely for 
 victory, but for personal safety. Mason, seizing a fire- 
 brand from one of the huts, set alight to the basket- 
 work, covered with dry mats, and that part of the village 
 was in a few minutes ablaze. Underbill, on his side, did 
 the same, and in half an hour the whole place was reduced 
 to ashes, with the loss of over 600 of the Pequods. It 
 was a terrible necessity, and that is the vindication of 
 Mason and Underhill. 
 
 Of the English force, one man in four was disabled, and 
 the Indian allies, though they would not fight, gave aid 
 in carrying the wounded men down to the vessels at the 
 river mouth. On the way to the sea a fresh party of the 
 Pequods, over 200 strong, came to the remains of the 
 village, and rushed after those who had done the deed 
 with yells of rage. They were easily kept at bay by the 
 firearms, and the victors were received with joy and 
 triumph by their fellow-colonists. The power of the 
 Pequod Indians was at an end, and one chieftain, with 
 seventy picked followers, fled to the Mohawk country. 
 Other portions of the tribe were captured or driven away 
 in scattered bands, and the Connecticut men were freed 
 from all terror in that quarter. 
 
 During the life of Massasoit the Plymouth people were 
 at peace with the Indians, as those of Jamestown, Vir- 
 ginia, had been while Powhatan lived. The English 
 settlements in general had become more scattered and 
 more open to attack since the Pequod War. The younger 
 people had no experience of service against Indian foes, 
 and there was some relaxation of vigour in several re- 
 spects. There was not, moreover, the same unity of 
 feeling among the New Englanders as had existed for- 
 merly, before the separation of communities into the 
 tillers in the backwoods territory and the traders on the 
 coast. 
 
 79 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 After the death of Massasoit, one of his younger sons, 
 who had taken the name of Philip, planned a general 
 rising against the intrusive English. He had become 
 chief of his tribe by the death of his elder brother, and in 
 1675, being called to account for the murder, on his 
 territory, of an Indian convert to Christianity, he pre- 
 pared for action. His residence was at the head of 
 Narragansett Bay, about forty miles from Swansea, in 
 the Plymouth colony, a prosperous village of about forty 
 houses, on the borders of Rhode Island. 
 
 On the 20th of June the people of Swansea were the 
 victims of a raid, in which houses were sacked and cattle 
 killed. This outrage was not punished, and, naturally 
 enouhg, some of the settlers were killed in further defiance. 
 Three settlements in the Plymouth territory were attacked, 
 and then troops from Plymouth and Boston blockaded 
 " King Philip " in his stronghold. He made his escape 
 through the English lines, and, with some allies, went 
 through the forests towards the Connecticut Valley. 
 
 The town of Brookfield had been already besieged 
 for three days by Indians, who sent a fire-cart rolling into 
 the place among the wooden houses, which were only 
 saved from destruction by a rainfall. A body of fifty 
 horsemen from Boston relieved the place, but the enemy 
 did great damage towards the west. Some settlements 
 were abandoned, and a picked force of ninety men sent 
 out to bring in the waggons loaded with harvest-corn, and 
 to protect the rest of the crop, fell into an ambush, with 
 the destruction of all save ten. This great blow lived 
 long in the memory of the Puritans. At Springfield 
 forty houses were burned, and the rest of the town was 
 barely saved by a relieving force. 
 
 On the 13th of June, 1676, the people of Hadley were 
 taken by surprise when they were at service on a fast- 
 day. At the sound of the war-whoop the men seized their 
 
 80 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 muskets, rushed out of the meeting-house, and found 
 themselves surrounded by the Indians. A panic was 
 beginning, when the settlers were suddenly rallied by an 
 old man, unknown to most of them, who, with sharp 
 words, restored order, took the command, and led them 
 on to a victorious attack. The champion vanished as 
 quickly and mysteriously as he had appeared, and some 
 people talked of an angel specially sent to their aid. 
 
 It is said, however, that a few of the English party 
 recognized him as Colonel Goffe, an old Cromwellian 
 soldier, and one of the regicides who had sat in judg- 
 ment on and signed the death-warrant of Charles I. 
 When Charles II. came to the throne in 1660, a price was 
 set on Goffe's head, and for years he wandered about, 
 living in forest-caves, clefts of rock, and other hiding- 
 places. Crossing the Atlantic for a safer refuge, he was 
 taken in by the minister of Hadley, and from his window 
 he saw the stealthy approach of the Indians down the 
 bill. Eager to save his Puritan countrymen, he rushed 
 out and led them on to victory, and then returned to his 
 retreat, never more to reappear. After the repulse of 
 this attack, the adult males of each town were put on 
 guard duty. The workers in the fields took their weapons 
 with them, and stacked them at the door when they went 
 into chapel. Philip and his warriors then wandered 
 eastwards, and lived in the forests, waiting for spring to 
 renew their attacks. 
 
 The colonists made many reprisals on scattered parties 
 of Indians, and suffered at times themselves from the 
 craftiness of foes skilled in ambush and disguise. The 
 legislature of each colony forbade the sale of arms and 
 ammunition to natives, and at Plymouth it was made a 
 crime punishable with death. During the autumn of 
 1675 it was rumoured that the Narragansett Indians were 
 aiding Philip, and that some of their warriors had been 
 
 81 v 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 seen among his force. The Federal Commissioners 
 thereupon demanded the surrender of those men, and 
 when, after ten days, none were forthcoming, a regular 
 campaign was arranged by the colonists. 
 
 The winter was chosen for an attack, as the Indians 
 could not then, through the snow, make swift marches, 
 nor in the leafless forests he hidden for attack or for 
 safety. Over 1,100 men were raised, including 150 
 friendly Indians, useful as guides and advisers, and 
 placed under the command of Josiah Winslow, the 
 Governor of Plymouth. The Narragansetts, having 
 gathered their stores of food for the winter, took their 
 position in a wooden fort standing on dry ground, but 
 surrounded on all sides by swamps. The marshy soil 
 was, however, hardened by frost, and it was also free 
 from snow, thus favouring the assailants. 
 
 It was on the 19th of December, 1675, that the English 
 force reached the spot. The gateway to the fort was 
 found to be protected by an outwork, but the place was 
 " rushed " under a severe fire, which at once laid low 
 six captains. While the main force was thus engaged, 
 another body attacked the foe in rear by scaling the 
 stockade, and for three hours a desperate conflict went 
 on within the enclosure. In close battle the Indians 
 were no match for the English, and when the brief 
 December daylight failed the wigwams were set on fire, 
 with the destruction of all within, including the women 
 and children, and the terrible scene ended when a thousand 
 braves lay dead on the ground. 
 
 In the spring the war broke out anew along the 
 frontier over a distance of 300 miles, and the enemy 
 came once within twenty miles of Boston. The tre- 
 mendous blow inflicted in the winter had, however, 
 broken the strength of the Indians, and the contest 
 became one of guerilla warfare. The atrocities com- 
 
 82 
 
A IIand-to-hand Fight with Red Indians 
 
 The English rushed the gateway, and a desperate conflict tool; place within the stockade. 
 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 mitted by the Indians caused the settlers to hunt them 
 down everywhere as if they were beasts of prey. During 
 the spring and summer Philip, fighting when he could, 
 was chased from place to place, and he was at last, when 
 he came near one of the outposts, shot down by one of 
 the Indian " friendlies " on guard for the English. The 
 dead body was, according to the savage practice of that 
 age with traitors, cut into quarters, and his head fixed 
 on a post in Boston, and his " wampum " ornaments 
 (composed of black and white polished material from 
 sea-shells, used also as coin) were sent to England as a 
 present to the King. 
 
 Here our account of the establishment of the British 
 race in New England closes. It has been seen that the 
 Plymouth Pilgrims were the pioneers of the great 
 enterprise. These men had done more than found a 
 new polity in Western wilds : they had made a new 
 epoch in history. In aiming at freedom of worship for 
 themselves and for their children, they were bringing to 
 a new issue the long and determined struggle of centuries 
 in England and in Europe. They were those who opened 
 out a pathway to a broader and a freer life for English- 
 speaking people on both sides of the Atlantic. By the 
 united action of religious enthusiasm and the spirit of 
 personal independence they were establishing the great 
 principle of government by the people which created the 
 mighty republic known as the United States. The effect 
 of the work of these men was at the time unseen, un- 
 dreamed of by themselves. That effect has made the 
 Pilgrim Fathers world-historical, famous for evermore. 
 
 83 f 2 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN : THE SETTLEMENT OF 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 Boone and Kentucky — Description of territory — The first white ex- 
 plorers — The coming change — Interest aroused in North Carolina 
 — Daniel Boone — His birth and early life — His first visit to Ken- 
 tucky — The buffalo herds — Boone and friend seized by Indians — 
 Their escape — Boone's brother finds him — White killed by Indians 
 — The brothers Boone alone — Delights of woodland life — Squire 
 Boone returns home — The wild creatures of Kentucky — Daniel 
 Boone alone — A trip through the country — A noble prospect — 
 His precaution against surprise — His brother returns — Another 
 season in the woods — Both back home — Boone's resolve to emi- 
 grate — The start from North Carolina, — Attacked by Indians — 
 Boone's son killed — Enemy beaten off — The night camp — Another 
 attack repelled — Failure of the enterprise — Boone and family 
 retreat — Boone on survey work — His second enterprise in Ken- 
 tucky — A Company purchase territory — The meeting with Indians 
 — Start of the expedition — Boone in command — Work of the 
 pioneers — Cumberland Gap passed — Arrival in Kentucky — Fatal 
 attacks by Indians — Boone sends back for aid — Starts for Otter 
 Creek — Reinforcements already on the way — Met by Boone's 
 messenger — Panio among settling parties — Henderson goes still 
 ahead — A brave courier sent on — Boone's advance — A baffalo 
 herd — Work of the woodmen — A site for settlement chosen — 
 Beautiful scene at Sycamore Hollow — Beginnings of Boones- 
 boro Town — Arrival of Henderson's party — Joy of the negroes — 
 
 Erection of fort — Appearance of town — Boone fetches his family 
 
 Civilizing female influence. 
 
 THE name of Daniel Boone is famous in connexion 
 with the rise of the region called Kentucky, 
 from the position, in the middle of the eighteenth 
 century, of a hunting-ground for Indians to that of a 
 
 84 
 
BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN 
 
 State of the American Union. The noble territory 
 extends over 450 miles from east to west, with an extreme 
 breadth of 170 miles from north to south, and an area 
 of about 40,000 square miles. On the north this fine 
 agricultural region, one of the central States, is bounded 
 for nearly 650 miles by the Ohio, and contains many 
 hundred miles of navigable rivers connected with the 
 system of the mighty Mississippi, which forms for 50 miles 
 the western frontier. 
 
 Kentucky possesses a very mild and healthy climate ; 
 a race of men renowned for stature, strength, and vigour ; 
 the best horses for speed and endurance in the whole 
 American continent ; many caverns of great size and 
 beauty, including the " Mammoth Cave," the largest 
 known cavern in the world ; the finest of pasture and 
 farm-stock ; abundant timber, coal, and building-stone ; 
 and a great diversity of the produce of tillage, including 
 one-third of the whole tobacco crop of the United States. 
 This was truly a territory worth opening up to civiliza- 
 tion, and the man who was foremost in that beneficent 
 pioneering was in all points fitted for such an achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 Under the British Crown the region was included in 
 the colony of Virginia, and for a large part of the 
 eighteenth century was, to the whites, an unknown terri- 
 tory "beyond the mountains." Then adventurous hunters 
 turned their thoughts westwards, and exploration soon 
 began. The first white man known to have entered the 
 territory was James M'Bride, who, in company with some 
 other explorers, passed down the Ohio River in 1754, 
 and landed at the mouth of the river called, like the 
 region, " Kentucky " by the Indians. The word is 
 variously explained as meaning, in the Mohawk dialect, 
 " among the meadows," and in the Shawanese tongue as 
 " at the head of a river." 
 
 85 
 
BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN: 
 
 There M'Bride marked a tree with the initials of his 
 name and the date, and after some examination of the 
 country he and his comrades returned with tidings of 
 their discovery of " the best tract of land in North 
 America, and probably in the world," as it is styled by 
 an enthusiastic old Kentuckian writer. This was the 
 beginning of things by which a region where the hand 
 of violence had often shed the blood of innocent settlers 
 became safe and peaceful. Groups of wretched wigwams 
 were to vanish and be replaced by towns, and Kentucky, 
 in the words of a fervid colonist, was to " rise from 
 obscurity to shine with splendour equal to any of the 
 stars of the American hemisphere." 
 
 The country does not seem to have been again visited 
 by white persons till about 1767, when one John Finley 
 and some companions, trading with the Indians, travelled 
 over much of the territory. Finley was struck by the 
 evidences of fertility in the soil, but was afterwards 
 obliged to quit owing to quarrels between the natives 
 and the traders. He returned to his home in North 
 Carolina, and there made the existence and character 
 of the region known to Colonel Daniel Boone, a man 
 unsurpassed among backwoodsmen as a roamer through 
 untrodden forests in search of game, and as a fighter 
 with Indians from behind tree-trunks in the woods or 
 on the open plain. 
 
 Boone was born in the State of Pennsylvania in 
 February, 1735. His father emigrated thence in 1753 
 to Yadkin Valley in North Carolina, when the son, in 
 his nineteenth year, was already an athletic, hardy, and 
 adventurous hunter, of proved courage and resolute 
 character. Long before receiving Finley's report of the 
 West, Boone had, in 1760, crossed the Alleghanies as an 
 explorer, and in 1769 he resolved to start for Kentucky. 
 The hero-pioneer of the story has related, in his own 
 
 86 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 words, his adventures in connexion with the settling of 
 the region, an event which, as he truly asserts, " well 
 deserves a place in history." 
 
 On the 1st of May, in 1769, Boone left his peaceful 
 home and his family on the Yadkin River, and started 
 with five companions, including John Finley. After a 
 long and wearisome progress over a mountainous wilder- 
 ness towards the west, the travellers reached the borders 
 of Kentucky, and from a height they joyfully descried 
 the beautiful landscape. A camp was formed, and 
 abundant game supplied food. On the 7th of June they 
 came to Red River, where Finley had once traded with 
 the Indians. On the wide plains droves of buffaloes, 
 hundreds at a time, were seen, and the numbers gathered 
 about the salt springs were amazing. The opening of 
 the bold enterprise was not matched by the issue. 
 
 In a ramble taken by Boone and a comrade named 
 John Stewart the rovers passed through a great forest 
 of trees gay with blossoms or rich in fruits. Near the 
 -close of the day, as they climbed the brow of a hill, a 
 party of Indians rushed out of a thick cane-brake and 
 made them prisoners. The two white men were robbed 
 of all they had, and kept captives for seven days of 
 harsh treatment. Boone and Stewart, as cunning men 
 biding their time, showed no desire to escape. Then 
 at dead of night, as the party lay in a cane-brake beside 
 a fire, and all the savages were fast in slumber, Boone 
 gently touched his comrade to awake him, and they 
 both stole quietly off. They made their way to their 
 old camp, only to find it plundered, and their friends 
 departed. 
 
 Soon afterwards Squire Boone, Daniel's brother, and 
 a companion, who had set out to explore the country, 
 and were resolved, if possible, to find Daniel, came on 
 his and Stewart's camp, to the great satisfaction of the 
 
 87 
 
BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN: 
 
 four men. Stewart, wandering alone, was killed by 
 Indians ; Squire Boone's friend went home ; and the 
 brothers Boone were left alone, without a white man 
 in the country, as was almost certain, except themselves. 
 Daniel, brave and wise man as he was, writes of the 
 happiness which they enjoyed in a wild region exposed 
 to danger and death, hundreds of miles away from their 
 families. As he observes, Nature requires little to be 
 satisfied, and happiness mainly depends not on the 
 enjoyment of external things, but on a man's own 
 feeling of content, and his resignation to the will of 
 Providence. 
 
 The brothers were busy hunting every day, and con- 
 structed a little " cottage," as Daniel calls it, against 
 the wintry weather. The season passed without dis- 
 turbance, and on the 1st of May, 1770, Squire Boone 
 started home for a supply of horses and ammunition. 
 We will take advantage of his absence to give some 
 account of the live creatures of the territory at this time. 
 Among the native animals the most remarkable was 
 the buffalo, a broad-sterned creature with thick, short, 
 crooked horns and a humped shoulder covered with long 
 dark-brown hair. These animals fed on cane and grass. 
 Deer of various kinds and elks and bears abounded. The 
 beasts of prey included panthers, wolves, and wild-cats. 
 In the abundant waters were many beavers, otters, 
 minks, and musk-rats, and the fauna included foxes, 
 rabbits, squirrels, racoons, polecats, and opossums. The 
 rivers and lakes teemed with fish — salmon, mullet, 
 rock-fish, perch, gar-fish, and many more species. The 
 wild-fowl comprised geese, ducks, turkeys, pheasants, 
 partridges, and a kind of woodcock. > 
 
 The sturdy-hearted Daniel was now left without bread, 
 salt, or sugar, and having no companion, " not even a 
 horse or dog," as he says. His fortitude and philosophy 
 
 88 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 were severely tried by the thought of the anxiety which 
 his wife and family must feel concerning his position. 
 A tour through the beautiful and diversified country in 
 the early summer was a great relief . At the close of day, 
 when the air was calm and not a leaf stirred, Boone 
 reached the summit of a commanding ridge, and viewed 
 the vast beautiful region in front, while on the other 
 side the broad flood of the Ohio rolled in silent grandeur. 
 In the far distance mountain-tops pierced the clouds. 
 He lit a fire near a fresh-water spring, and feasted on the 
 loin of a buck which he had killed during the day. He 
 thus enjoyed a few days' wandering, during which he 
 explored a good deal of territory, and then returned to 
 his old camp, which he found undisturbed. 
 
 With the craftiness of a backwoodsman, Boone did not 
 always lodge there at night, but took shelter in thick cane- 
 brakes to avoid the Indians, whom he believed to visit 
 his camp during his absence. He writes, in his perilous 
 position, of his happiness in being " destitute of the 
 afflicting passion of fear." At night he was often dis- 
 turbed by howling and prowling wolves. He took 
 delight in the beauties of Nature's wilds, which he would 
 have exchanged for no pleasures, of a populous city. 
 His resignation to the solitude, which, as it could not for 
 a time be cured, must be endured, did not, we may be 
 sure, lessen his delight when, on the 27th of July, hia 
 brother arrived at the old camp as had been arranged. 
 
 Until the spring of 1771 the brothers Boone were 
 engaged in hunting and exploration, and then returned 
 home, where Daniel found his family well and happy. 
 The spell of the Western regions was laid upon him, and 
 he formed the design of making there a new and per- 
 manent abode. He sold his farm on the Yadkin, and 
 all property which could not be carried into the wilds, 
 and in the early part of 1773 he and his household, with 
 
 89 
 
BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN : 
 
 five other families, started from North Carolina. The 
 party of emigrants comprised eighteen men, besides 
 women and children. After crossing Clinch River and 
 over Powell Mountain, near the head of Wallen Creek, 
 the travellers went down this watercourse to " the Gap," 
 where it breaks through Wallen Ridge. 
 
 Just as they entered the pass they were attacked in 
 the rear by a body of about thirty Indians, whose first 
 fire killed Boone's eldest son. Daniel shot one of the 
 savages dead, and before his comrades could carry the 
 body away, he reloaded his gun and wounded another. 
 The natives then fell back, and, as it was now late in the 
 evening, Boone chose a camping-ground in the Gap, 
 where a dry hollow led up into a gorge, and a shelter from 
 the wind was afforded at the roots of a great beech-tree 
 whence the soil had been washed away in the wet season. 
 There the women and children were placed, with sentinels 
 posted around them. Then Boone, with some of the 
 men, followed the retreating enemy some distance down 
 the creek, but, seeing nothing of them, returned to 
 camp. 
 
 About midnight the sentries gave notice of the Indians' 
 stealthy approach, and the savages, when they came 
 within range, received a sudden volley, and hastily with- 
 drew. In the morning, on their trail being followed, 
 traces of blood were found. Boone and his comrades, 
 cautiously advancing, reached the mouth of the creek 
 where it enters Powell River, and on a bluff on the oppo- 
 site shore they saw the Indians crouching over a fire. 
 A shot from Boone's party sent them scampering away. 
 This first attempt of the pioneers ended in failure. The 
 leader was as prudent as he was courageous. The cattle 
 had been scattered ; some of the party were discouraged, 
 and there was good reason to beneve that the enemy were 
 in great force in front. .After a few days' rest most of the 
 
 90 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 emigrants returned to North Carolina, but Boone and 
 bis family only retreated to Clinch River. 
 
 In June, 1774, Boone and a man named Michael 
 Stoner were requested by Governor Dunmore, of Vir- 
 ginia, to go to Ohio Falls and guide a number of sur- 
 veyors sent out by him some time before. Kentucky 
 had by this time attracted the attention of many ad- 
 venturous persons. Boone and his comrade undertook 
 the task, leading the surveyors on a journey of about 
 800 miles, which was completed, under many difficulties, 
 in sixty-two days. Much further knowledge of the 
 country was thus obtained, and Boone on his return was 
 engaged in the command of some armed posts against 
 the Indians. 
 
 In 1775 the time had arrived not only for the asser- 
 tion of freedom by the North American colonists against 
 the old country, but for extension westward. The 
 keenest interest in this latter enterprise was felt in 
 North Carolina, and especially in the scattered little 
 frontier settlement of Watauga, in the region which is 
 now East Tennessee, beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. 
 Daniel Boone, ever since the time when he and his party 
 had been driven back from Wallen Ridge, had been more 
 fully resolved to plant a colony in Kentucky. He was 
 only waiting to make a start with the consent of the 
 Cherokee Indians, as agent of a new Company which had 
 been formed. The nine members of this body were all 
 citizens of North Carolina, and a conference with the 
 chiefs of the Indian tribe was held in the Watauga 
 valley. 
 
 After much talk the Company purchased, for £10,000 
 worth of merchandise, then on the ground, the territory 
 south of the Kentucky River, comprising more than half 
 of the present State. Of the 1,200 Indians present at 
 the meeting, some grumbled at receiving only one shirt 
 
 91 
 
BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN : 
 
 apiece for their share of the land, but the transaction was 
 open and fair on both sides, and all the natives, at the 
 close of the conference, shared in the big feast provided 
 by the Company. The plans for taking possession of 
 the splendid domain had already been formed, and a 
 spot had been selected as head-quarters on the Kentucky 
 River, near the mouth of a tributary stream called Otter 
 Creek. 
 
 Boone and his party of woodmen, with their axes and 
 hatchets, had started, even before the Watauga treaty 
 was concluded, along with his brother, Squire Boone, 
 and an old Yadkin neighbour, Colonel Richard Callaway, 
 of the militia, and some other adventurous land-hunters, 
 from North Carolina. 
 
 On the 10th of March, 1775, this memorable expedition 
 of thirty mounted men set out, armed mainly for hunt- 
 ing, as no trouble was expected from the natives. They 
 were followed by a train of negro servants, loaded pack- 
 horses, and hunting-dogs. Daniel Boone was in com- 
 mand. One of the chief objects was to open up the new 
 country by communications which should connect 
 buffalo-roads, or the wide tracks made by wandering 
 herds, and the trails of hunters and Indian traders, with 
 the roadway called the " Warrior Path." Trackless 
 forests and cane-brakes were to be cut through, with the 
 distances " blazed " on the bark of trees a mile apart, 
 and thus the first regular road was to be made through 
 the wilderness to Kentucky River. 
 
 The pioneers, after climbing the dreary ridges that rose 
 between them and Cumberland Gap, made their way 
 through that grand natural passage, a narrow roadway 
 extending for six miles between mountain-sides rising 
 to 1,200 feet above. As they went forward, the ad- 
 venturers forded rivers still nameless, and were heard 
 of no more until they had toiled over the depression in 
 
 92 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 a great hill of Madison Co., Kentucky, the passage 
 known as Boone's Gap. On the 25th of March, before 
 daylight, after a peaceful journey of fourteen days, the 
 party were suddenly fired on by Indians, who at once 
 withdrew. A negro servant of Captain Twetty, one of 
 the leaders, was killed. The captain himself was mortally 
 wounded, and another young man dangerously stricken. 
 
 Two nights later, another attack was made on a de- 
 tached party camping near a stream at some distance 
 from the main body. The men had rashly lighted a 
 fire, and were drying their soaked moccasins (soft hide 
 shoes), when the savages came upon them. Two of the 
 whites were killed and scalped, and the rest promptly 
 stampeded, escaping barefoot through the snow. One 
 of the men, who had some wood-craft, took to the stream 
 to hide his tracks, as it was a moonlight night, and this 
 waterway is still known, from him, as " Tate's Creek." 
 Boone, regarding these attacks as indicating a serious 
 effort to drive out all the whites, sent off a courier order- , 
 ing all the companies of hunters and settlers in the 
 neighbourhood of what is now Harrodsburg to concen- 
 trate at the mouth of Otter Creek. 
 
 On the 1st of April he also sent a despatch to Judge 
 Henderson, the leading member of the Company, urging 
 him to bring or send aid as soon as possible, and stating 
 that he and his men were starting for the mouth of 
 Otter Creek, and would there erect a fort. Henderson 
 was already on the way when Boone was writing his 
 message, with an expedition of forty mounted riflemen, 
 a large number of negro slaves, a drove of cattle, forty 
 pack-horses, and a train of waggons laden with pro- 
 visions, ammunition, material for making gunpowder, 
 seed corn, garden seeds, and a varied store of articles 
 needful at an isolated settlement. 
 
 The fresh party, keeping in Boone's tracks, and further 
 
 93 
 
BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN : 
 
 clearing the road as they proceeded, were met, on the 
 7th of April, at Cumberland Gap, by the letter concerning 
 the Indian attacks. The camp was startled, as if by a 
 bomb-shell, by these tidings, and a few of the party that 
 very night went off on the back-track. As Henderson's 
 body of men went forward they met other companies of 
 panic-stricken adventurers returning on the news of 
 " Indian troubles." These rencontres were demoralizing 
 the members of the expedition, and it was difficult for 
 Henderson to find a man bold enough to carry forward a 
 message to Boone that help was coming, and so encourage 
 his men to hold their ground. Of Daniel Boone himself 
 Henderson had no doubt whatever. 
 
 A gallant man, Captain Cocke, volunteered to be the 
 needed courier, and as no one offered himself as com- 
 panion, he started off alone with a good " Queen Anne " 
 musket, plenty of ammunition, a tomahawk, a big knife, 
 a Dutch blanket, and a good «tore of " jerked " beef. 
 He had to ride for 130 miles over a wild, solitary path, 
 which, according to the " stampeders," was beset by mur- 
 derous ambuscades. This ride was one of the most 
 romantic deeds in the annals of the wilderness. Boone, 
 of course, had not turned back, but had started to cut a 
 way through the cane-growth down the meandering 
 course of the Otter Creek to the southern bank of Ken- 
 tucky River. 
 
 There he had connected his path with a great buffalo- 
 track which led, broad and clear, to the site, on the same 
 side of the river, which he had chosen for the official 
 seat of the Company. As the horsemen moved on, there 
 was a sudden sound of trampling hoofs, and they saw a 
 drove of 200 or 300 buffaloes making off from a " salt- 
 lick," followed by young calves playing and skipping 
 about as they went. The creatures forded the stream 
 and vanished. 
 
 94 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 The woodmen were glad to be at rest after their toil- 
 some work of many days in chopping down saplings, 
 cutting away wild vines and overhanging branches, 
 " blazing " the way through the forest, marking mile- 
 trees, removing logs and fallen timber, connecting paths, 
 filling up holes, burning a road through dead brushwood, 
 casting logs over streams for future travellers on foot, and 
 cutting wide swaths through vast cane-brakes. 
 
 When the weary way and historic march were ended, 
 it was at a charming level in a sheltered hollow that 
 Boone gave the order to halt. It was an ideal spot for 
 a settlement, with a rich soil, almost free of undergrowth, 
 on open, firm ground, and adorned, thus early in the 
 year, with great patches of fine white clover and a thick 
 carpet of the incomparably rich and beautiful natural 
 pasture known as " Kentucky bluegrass." More than 
 all, for the leading pioneer in making his choice, there 
 were two abundant springs. One, nearest the river, was 
 of sulphur mixed with salt, the other of fresh water. 
 
 Near these stood some of the grandest sycamores ever 
 seen, their white trunks polished by the constant rubbing 
 of the elk, buffalo, and deer who sought the salt-lick, 
 and an elm so majestic in stature, so grand in proportion, 
 and having such a spread of branches, that one who saw 
 it called it " divine." Near at hand the noble river ran 
 in solemn beauty deep down between the rugged steeps 
 on its southern bank and the wooded heights of the 
 farther shore. There, at Sycamore Hollow, on the 1st 
 of April, 1775, Boone and his woodmen unloaded their 
 pack-horses, cooked a meal, and, after a good long spell 
 of repose, began to erect log-huts for shelter and de- 
 fence. 
 
 On the 4th of April one of the party out hunting was 
 killed by Indians, and it was only the cool courage of 
 Daniel Boone that kept the enterprise going, or, as Hen- 
 
 95 
 
BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN: 
 
 derson said, " it was owing to Boone's confidence in us " 
 (the Company), " and the people's in him, that a stand was 
 ever attempted." Fear subsided when it was found that 
 attacks came from only a small number of adventurous 
 natives, whose acts were strongly condemned by the 
 chivalrous and influential chieftain " Cornstalk." On the 
 20th of April Henderson and his party arrived at the new 
 settlement, and were joyfully welcomed with the dis- 
 charge of rifles and a repast of buffalo-beef and cold 
 water, which the judge declared to be the most delightful 
 banquet he ever enjoyed. 
 
 The negroes, who had the utmost dread of " Ingins," 
 and had, in their fancy, seen a murderous savage lurk- 
 ing behind every rock and tree on the long route, hailed 
 the sight of the log-huts as a glimpse of heaven, and 
 sent their laughter, merry songs, and cries of delight 
 sounding along the river and among the hilltops. The 
 united companies, including negroes and boys, amounted 
 to eighty persons, and the supply of food was a serious 
 matter. The noisy work of the woodsmen had driven 
 the big game far away, and squads of hunters had to go 
 out to many miles' distance for wild meat. The supply 
 of bread was running short, and could not last until the 
 crop of maize would ripen. Some of Boone's party had 
 put in Indian corn seed soon after arriving, and more 
 was sown, with arrangements for regular work on the 
 ground. 
 
 After Henderson's arrival, a site for a substantial fort 
 was chosen about 30Q yards from Boone's quarters, and 
 on much higher ground, for safety from inundations of 
 the river. The work began on the 29th of April, under 
 Boone's supervision, with the building of a small log- 
 magazine, half underground, and having the roof covered 
 with clay to protect it against sparks from the chimney 
 and the possible torches of attacking Indians. A little 
 
 96 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 cluster of cabins arose around the fort, and thus began 
 the town of Boonesboro' and the real occupation of 
 Kentucky. The settlement consisted of about two 
 dozen one-story log-huts and four block-houses, arranged 
 in a hollow square about 260 feet long and 180 broad. 
 The block-houses, with projecting second stories, formed 
 the angles or bastions of the fort, and the stockades and 
 huts had little portholes for rifle-fire. The back of the 
 settlement was nearly parallel with the river, and the 
 front commanded the open space in the hollow below the 
 fort, in which were the two springs and the " lick." 
 There were two gates, at back and front. 
 
 On the 13th of June, when the work had been com- 
 pleted without any further harm from the savages, 
 Boone set out to fetch his family, who were at a station 
 or settlement on Clinch River. He was accompanied 
 by his old neighbour, Richard Callaway, whose errand 
 was the same. On return, Boone brought with him a 
 number of fresh settlers, and the party, conveying a 
 supply of salt, much needed for preserving the meat 
 killed for winter use, reached Boonesboro' on the 8th of 
 September. Boone's wife and his adult daughter, 
 Jemima, were the first white women who ever stood on 
 the banks of Kentucky River. 
 
 The appearance of their sun-bonnets, we read, had an 
 immediate influence on the men, especially on the 
 younger ones, who improved in appearance through a 
 sudden rage for shaving and hair-cutting. Under female 
 sway were seen the soap-kettle and clothes-lines, hickory 
 brooms, and home-made washboards. The sound of 
 the spinning-wheel was heard in the land, and glimpses 
 were caught of a little looking-glass, a patchwork quilt, 
 knitting-needles, and a turkey-tail fan. The two ladies 
 were delighted to be joined, on the 26th of September, 
 by those of Colonel Callaway's family and by fresh 
 
 97 o 
 
BOONE THE BACKWOODSMAN 
 
 immigrants who added three matrons and several young 
 women to the social life of the settlement. One of the 
 new-comers, an ingenious man, fabricated wash-tubs, 
 churns, and other wooden utensils. The supply of salt 
 made provisions more plentiful in the certainty of preser- 
 vation, and the harvesting of the first crop of maize 
 supplied bread. Peace and plenty prevailed for the 
 time at Boonesboro'. 
 
 98 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY— Continued 
 
 More Indian outrages — Seizure of three Boonesboro' girls — The pur- 
 suit — The rescue — Savages on the warpath — A Boonesboro' 
 wedding — Tidings of independence — New Indian trouble — Boones- 
 boro' attacked — Boone saved from death — The place surrounded 
 — Enemy beaten off — Attacks on other white posts — Troubles in 
 1777 — Making of gunpowder — Material progress of settlement — 
 A Boonesboro' interior — Supply of salt fails — Boone's party of 
 salt-makers — Boone taken prisoner — HJs crafty conduct — Indiana 
 taken in — Boone at Detroit — Friendly treatment by natives — 
 His artful ways — His escape to Boonesboro' — The works strength- 
 ened — Arrival of reinforcements — March of enemy's army — 
 Boone attacks party outside — Timely return to the town — 
 Enemy come up in force — Boone's reply to summons of sur- 
 render — Trick practised on Indians — A conference with the foe — 
 Their treachery evaded — A feigned retreat — Siege of Boonesboro' 
 — Minin g and countermining — Heavy firing — Serious loss of 
 Indians — The siege abandoned — Indian outrages in 1780 — The 
 punishment inflicted — Boone fetches back his wife and family — 
 Expedition with his brother — Squire Boone killed — A hard winter 
 — General war in 1782 — Indians beaten off — Boone in the field — 
 Severe defeat of whites — Boone's son killed — The finding of the 
 dead — Punishment inflicted on Indians — The negro, the savage, 
 and the brave woman — Peace comes in 1783 — Boone's achieve- 
 ments and their cost — His death — Fate of Boonesboro' — The 
 founder's memory. 
 
 TROUBLE began before the year ended. The Indians 
 had been greatly excited and alarmed by the per- 
 manent occupation which was indicated in the 
 construction of the fort, and their feelings found vent in 
 
 99 o 2 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 serious acts of hostility. On the 23rd of December two 
 lads who, going out without their rifles, had crossed the 
 river and climbed the hills on the opposite side, fell into 
 the hands of some lurking Shawanese, who fired on 
 another member of the garrison. On the following day 
 a man was killed. On the 27th the scalped body of one 
 of the lads was found in a cornfield about three miles 
 north of the river, and a party of men, scouring the 
 woods, discovered no trace of the murderers. In the 
 following year, 1776, the settlers were greatly harassed. 
 Innocent tillers of the soil were shot down while they were 
 engaged in raising food for their families, and the cattle 
 round Boonesboro' and some other stations were driven 
 off or destroyed. It was in the summer of this year that 
 a very exciting and remarkable event occurred. 
 
 On the afternoon of Sunday, the 14th of July, when 
 the customary Bible-reading was over, three young 
 ladies set off on an excursion. These were Elizabeth 
 (Betsy) Callaway, a grown woman, her sister Frances, 
 and Jemima Boone, the two latter being about thirteen 
 or fourteen years of age. They went off in one of the 
 rough canoes of the settlement to visit a family beyond 
 the river, at a short distance from Boonesboro'. When 
 they were within a few yards of the further landing- 
 place, the craft struck a little sand-bar, and was instantly 
 seized by five Indians — four Shawanese and a Cherokee, 
 as it proved — who darted out of the thick cane on the 
 bank. Miss Callaway, startled and terrified as she was 
 by the onslaught, instinctively struck one of the savages 
 on the head with a paddle, while her young companions, 
 in utter fright, covered their pale faces with their hands. 
 
 In a moment the girls, too breathless and bewildered 
 to scream, were hurried through the shallow water to 
 shore, and then up a densely wooded ravine to the 
 summit of the lofty, lonely hills. Kept silent by the 
 
 100 
 
Captured by the Indians 
 
 Betsy Callaway, startled and terrified as she was, instinctively struck one ot the savages 
 on the head with a paddle. 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 threat of the tomahawk, they were marched through 
 cane-brakes, woods, and streams toward the ancient 
 Warriors' Track leading to the Ohio. The captives 
 were not missed at home for some hours, when, at milking- 
 time, the alarm was given by a hunter who had gone out 
 to meet them. Two bands of riflemen, one under Boone, 
 the other under Callaway, about twenty men in all, 
 instantly set off in pursuit. 
 
 On that night the rescue party could only follow for 
 about five miles. At dawn the next day they were on 
 the track, but the crafty captors prevented pursuit, at 
 first, in the true course by walking at some distance apart 
 through the thickest cane to be found. Beyond the 
 canes, however, the pursuers regained the traces, and 
 followed for about thirty miles, finding the fresh marks 
 on a buffalo-path. The Indians were overtaken just as 
 they were kindling a fire to cook. The danger was lest 
 the savages should slay the prisoners on being discovered. 
 In fact, the two parties viewed each other almost at the 
 same instant. Four of the Boonesboro' men fired, and 
 then all made a rush, and the young people were 
 saved. 
 
 The Indians fled, leaving nearly all behind except a 
 shot-gun without ammunition. Boone and another 
 settler got a pretty fair aim as the savages moved off, 
 one being shot through the body and another wounded 
 so as to drop his gun. The spot was covered with thick 
 cane, and in the joy of rescuing the three weeping girls 
 no further search was made. The natives, as Mr. Floyd, 
 one of the party, relates, " were sent off almost naked, 
 some without their moccasins, and none of them with so 
 much as a knife or a tomahawk." When the girls re- 
 covered so as to be able to speak clearly, they told their 
 rescuers that their captors could speak good English, and 
 said they were going to the Shawanese towns. Several 
 
 101 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 words of the native language, which the girls could re- 
 member, were known to be Shawanese. 
 
 This event was prophetic of more evil, the beginning of 
 days and years of trouble. News came to Boonesboro' 
 that small parties of hostile Shawanese were haunting 
 all the scattered settlements. The Indians had dug up 
 the war-hatchet. Some straggling savages had burned a 
 settler's cabin and ruined his little orchard of apple- 
 trees. Outlying whites who had families brought them 
 for safety into the fort, which was now provided with 
 substantial gates, and all gaps in the stockade were 
 closed up. Many settlers left the country, including 
 some of the Boonesboro' people, and at last only thirty 
 riflemen were left for the defence of the place. Fortu- 
 nately, in that year (1776) the natives made no general 
 hostile movement, though frequent murders and depre- 
 dations were perpetrated by skulkers and petty bands. 
 
 An auspicious event had come to vary the evil impres- 
 sion created by the deeds of the Indians. On the 7th of 
 August, three weeks after the capture of the girls, there 
 was a wedding, the first that ever took place in Kentucky. 
 The bride was Elizabeth Callaway, who Was married to 
 Samuel Henderson, a brother of the judge. Squire 
 Boone, who was a Baptist elder, as well as a fighter of 
 Indians, officiated on this occasion as minister, and the 
 event was celebrated with dancing to the music of a 
 fiddle by the fight of tallow " dips." A few days later 
 a returning settler brought tidings of the Declaration of 
 Independence on the 4th of July, and a copy of the 
 Virginia Gazette containing the text of the historical 
 document. This was read out to the assembled garrison, 
 and the reading was followed by cheers and war-whoops, 
 and by a big bonfire at night. 
 
 The opening of 1777 brought more trouble from the 
 Indians. On the 1st of January a half-dozen refugees 
 
 102 
 
'■".. '. 
 
 - '-■ 
 
 - r^SB^*jd£Ls$> ' f . 
 
 
 A Gallant Rescue 
 
 Kenton, a stalwart man of twenty-one, saved Boone's life by carrying him, when 
 wounded, into the fort. 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 from another fort reached Boonesboro'. The natives 
 were out, and the last station to the north of the Kentucky 
 River had been abandoned. Early in March, when Colonel 
 Daniel Boone was regular commandant, a number of 
 Shawanese were lurking about the settlement. An ad- 
 venturer named Simon Kenton got in at nightfall with a 
 warning, but two of the garrison, who had not waited, 
 as he had, for the darkness, had been killed outside as 
 they came towards the stockade. Small parties of the 
 enemy were active, and Kenton and another man were 
 appointed special scouts by Boone. It was on the 24th 
 of April, when the scouts were at home, that the place 
 was, for the first time, openly attacked. 
 
 A party of about 100 Indians approached, and Boones- 
 boro', then containing only twenty-two armed defenders, 
 barely escaped capture. One of the men who went out- 
 side was tomahawked and scalped, but Kenton, who was 
 at the fort-gate, shot dead the exulting savage as he was 
 tying the hair-trophy to his girdle. Daniel Boone was 
 for once deceived by the wily savages when they made a 
 feigned retreat, and the garrison, whom he led out in 
 pursuit, were cut off in their rear, and only regained the 
 fort after desperate fighting, in which Boone and three 
 others were wounded and several Indians slain. Kenton, 
 a stalwart man of twenty-one, six feet high, saved the 
 white leader's life by carrying him into the fort. There 
 brave Boone, a man who assuredly never forgot the 
 service, but was one of few words and scanty compliments, 
 conferred on his preserver a knighthood of the back- 
 woods by calling him " a fine fellow." 
 
 On the 4th of July the persistent foe made a more 
 serious attack. Coming swiftly down to the Kentucky 
 River, they sent off detachments to threaten the other 
 stations and prevent reinforcements being dispatched to 
 Boonesboro'. Early in the morning, with about 200 
 
 103 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 warriors, they suddenly surrounded the place. The 
 savages came swarming up from the river-bank, and hid 
 themselves in the deserted hollow and behind trees and 
 stumps, and in patches of the tall maize. The scouts, 
 however, had warned the garrison, and for two days and 
 nights of persistent firing, and attempts to burn the fort, 
 the whites held the red men at bay. It was a weary and 
 anxious time for the scanty defenders and their families. 
 
 The women were busily engaged in loading extra rifles, 
 so that needful shots should never fail, and in passing 
 round water from the rain-barrels, distributing food to 
 the fighters, and tending the wants of the little people 
 and the live stock. Before sunrise on the 6th the Indians 
 had had enough of the contest, and went off with the 
 bodies of seven dead men, seen and counted by the 
 garrison from the loopholes. Many of the savages were 
 wounded, the loss of the defenders being one killed and 
 two injured. It was a time of sore distress in other 
 quarters of Kentucky, and it is wonderful that the settlers 
 were able to hold their ground. 
 
 On the 19th of July a fort in charge of Colonel Logan 
 was besieged vainly by about 200 Indians, who killed 
 two and wounded one of the little garrison of fifteen men. 
 The loss of the enemy remained unknown, owing to their 
 practice of carrying off the dead during the time of 
 action. Another fort, under Colonel Harrod (afterwards 
 the town of Harrodsburg), was defended by only sixty- 
 five men against a large body of savages. In the whole 
 country there were now no other armed posts or white 
 men except at the Ohio Palls, a long distance away, and 
 the whole number of whites in the region was a mere 
 handful to the numerous warriors in various quarters, 
 ever intent on doing mischief. 
 
 One of the dangers from blockade by the Indians 
 was the lack of stores of water inside the forts. At 
 
 104 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 Boonesboro', when the scouts reported the enemy as 
 fairly gone, the cumbersome gates were dragged open, 
 and the horses and other animals rushed out to the grass 
 and the river, while the weary, thirsty settlers sought 
 the fresh-water springs. During the autumn of 1777 
 the people were much harassed by lurking parties of 
 natives, and suffered from being for some time closely 
 pent up within the stockade, half starved, and exposed to 
 sudden death if they ventured outside. 
 
 The chief dependence for food was on corn, potatoes, 
 and turnips, raised close at hand, almost under the rifle- 
 barrels of the garrison. In the fall, wild fruits were a 
 welcome supply, and large stores of walnuts and hickory- 
 nuts were laid in. On one occasion the gunpowder gave 
 out, and the garrison were in despair, when it was re- 
 membered that the magazine contained a little store of 
 brimstone and saltpetre, brought long before by Hender- 
 son. Some charcoal was made, and Boone and two 
 other backwoodsmen, taught in the past by necessity, 
 soon made enough powder for present purposes. Salt, an 
 article as needful for the preservation of lif e as gunpowder, 
 ran sorely low, and the dwellers in the log-cabins of the 
 little town always remembered the trials of 1777. 
 
 The settlement was making progress in regard to need- 
 ful conveniences. Sheds for corn and fodder, and for 
 the storing of hides and furs, were built ; rough hand- 
 mills and mortars for grinding and pounding the maize 
 were made ; troughs for the stock formed by hollowing 
 logs ; skins of animals " pegged," for curing, to the 
 palisades ; and a blacksmith's shop was set up for the 
 making of pack-saddles, ploughs, and other implements. 
 The equipment of a cabin or log-hut included a slab table, 
 a feather-bed or one of buffalo-skin, hickory chairs with 
 deer-skin seats, iron pots, ovens, and small vessels ; and 
 big and little gourds were used for all kinds of purposes. 
 
 105 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 The antlers of bucks, and wooden pegs, held rifles, 
 powder-horns, and fishing-rods, sun-bonnets and saddle- 
 bags, bundles of dried herbs, and " hands " of tobacco. 
 On a shelf over the fireplace might be seen bottles of 
 medicine, the whisky-jug, tinder-box, ink-bottle, and 
 quill pens, with the almanack, the Bible, and a few other 
 books, which included, in some cabins, the " Pilgrim's 
 Progress " and Shakespeare. Such is one aspect of an 
 interior in the life of old-time Kentucky. 
 
 Before the end of the year 1777 the supply of salt was 
 exhausted, and it was absolutely necessary to go forth 
 and make some at the salt - springs. A few militiamen 
 from Virginia had come in to aid the defence of the town, 
 and on the 1st of January, 1778, Boone started with thirty 
 men from Boonesboro' and two other forts for the " Blue 
 Licks " on Licking River to procure a supply. A sore 
 mishap was about to fall on the brave backwoodsman. 
 After many days and muph trouble and toil, which in- 
 volved the boning of several hundreds of gallons of water 
 in order to make a single bushel of salt, a supply was sent 
 back by three men, who got the pack-horses through 
 safely. 
 
 The work was still going on when, on the 7th of Febru- 
 ary, as Boone was out hunting to procure meat for the 
 company, he fell in with a party of about 100 Indians 
 and two Frenchmen, who were on the march to attack 
 Boonesboro'. The expedition was sent out by Governor 
 Hamilton, who was hostile, on behalf of his Sovereign, 
 George III., to the Kentucky " rebels." Boone was taken 
 prisoner, after hard running, several miles from the 
 hunting-camp. On the eighth day after his capture the 
 party drew near the Licks where Boone's salt-makers 
 were employed, and he resorted to a stratagem on behalf 
 of himself and his friends. Pretending to be a loyalist, 
 he offered, as a proof, the peaceful surrender of his men, 
 
 106 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 and was allowed to go forward within shouting distance 
 of the workers. 
 
 At his command, fully trusting their leader, they be- 
 came prisoners, and Boone then expressed his regret that 
 Boonesboro' was too strongly garrisoned to be captured 
 by the force which he saw, and advised waiting for aid 
 in the attack. The bait took, and the enemy retired 
 across the Ohio with their captives. The Indians, who 
 included two Shawanese chiefs, had promised good usage, 
 and this undertaking was honourably fulfilled. After 
 a painful journey in severe wintry weather, the party 
 arrived, on the 18th of February, at the chief Indian 
 town, Chelicotha, on Little Miami River. 
 
 On the 10th of March Boone and ten of his men were 
 taken to Detroit, where they arrived in about three 
 weeks, and were most kindly treated by Governor 
 Hamilton, the British commander at that post. When 
 the news of Boone's capture reached the town, the 
 Boonsboro' people were much distressed. The loss of 
 such a leader and twenty-seven men was the greatest 
 calamity that had yet befallen the pioneers, and caused 
 consternation in the other settlements. At Boonesboro' 
 Colonel Callaway now became the leading spirit, and he 
 did his best to cheer up the faint-hearted. We must 
 now trace the fortunes of the great backwoodsman. 
 
 He had attracted the admiration of the Indians, who 
 well knew his value as an enemy, and they refused the 
 offer of £100 from the Governor as ransom for his return 
 home on parole. Some English gentlemen, moved by 
 sympathy for his position, made a generous offer of 
 money for his present wants, but the brave, honest man 
 declined it, with many thanks, on the ground that he 
 could not see his way to repayment. On the 25th of 
 April he was back at the Indian town, leaving his men at 
 Detroit as prisoners in the hands of the British, At 
 
 107 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 Chelicotha Boone tells us that " he spent his time as 
 comfortably as he could expect." According to Indian 
 usage with a favoured captive, he was adopted as son 
 into a family, and treated with great affection by his 
 " new parents, brothers, sisters, and friends." 
 
 He won the confidence of all by his familiar, friendly, 
 and cheerful demeanour, and often went out hunting 
 with the Indians. He was applauded for his skill at 
 shooting-matches, but was careful (the cunning man !) 
 " not to exceed many of them, for no people are more 
 envious at this sport." " I could observe," he writes, 
 " in their countenances and gestures, the greatest ex- 
 pressions of joy when they exceeded me, and when the 
 reverse happened, of envy." It was a tribe of Shawanese 
 with whom Boone was sojourning, and the " King " 
 treated him with great kindness and respect, often begging 
 him to go out hunting alone. On his return with game, 
 he often presented to the chief some of the spoils of 
 woodland craft, " expressive of duty to my Sovereign." 
 
 It is needless to state that the pioneer of Kentucky was 
 playing a very artful game and meditating an escape. 
 In June he was taken to some salt-springs and kept there 
 for ten days, making salt from the brine and hunting for 
 his Indian friends. On the return to Chelicotha he had 
 good reason to fear for his people at home when he saw 
 450 Indians, the choicest warriors of the tribe, " painted 
 and armed in a fearful manner," and " ready for a march 
 against Boonesboro'." He resolved to escape on the first 
 chance, and on the 16th of June he went quietly off 
 before sunrise on a horse which Governor Hamilton had 
 given him. 
 
 Boone's wood-craft now served him well. He was 
 assuredly pursued, but never overtaken. He had a 
 journey of 160 miles before him, and, taking his course, 
 whenever it was possible, along the channel of streams 
 
 108 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 to hide his tracks, he was warmly welcomed at Boones- 
 boro' on the fourth day, after having only one regular 
 meal since his escape. He found urgent work ready to 
 his hand. The fort was in a bad state of defence, and 
 repairs were at once begun on the flank-works, and the 
 gates were strengthened. Double bastions were also 
 formed, the whole work being completed in ten days. 
 On the 25th of July, 1778, a welcome reinforcement of 
 forty-five riflemen rode in from North Carolina, and 
 the people were still more cheered by the arrival, in 
 August, of Colonel Bowman with 100 militiamen from 
 Virginia. Hope revived as, in Boone's words, " we began 
 to strengthen." 
 
 The garrison had been daily expecting the appearance 
 of the Indians, but at length a former fellow-prisoner of 
 Boone's came in with the news that the enemy, knowing 
 of Boone's escape, had postponed the expedition for three 
 weeks. Savage spies were out on the watch near the 
 place, and great uneasiness was aroused amongst the 
 enemy by tidings of the increase in the number of the 
 whites, and of the strengthening of the fortifications. 
 The " grand councils " of the various tribes were fre- 
 quently held, and unusually grave deliberations were in 
 progress. The natives clearly saw the approach of the 
 time when " the long knife," as the immigrants were 
 styled, would become masters of the territory, and they 
 resolved on a great effort for the utter extirpation of the 
 Kentucky whites. 
 
 Boone and his fighting-men did not passively await 
 attack. About the 1st of August, with a score of men, 
 the leader made an incursion into the' Indian region in 
 order to surprise a small town up the River Sciotha. At 
 four miles from the place they fell in with a body of thirty 
 natives on the march as a reinforcement for the warriors 
 from Chelicotha. A smart fight ensued for some time, 
 
 109 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 and then the savages gave way and fled. Boone's party 
 suffered no loss, the enemy having one man killed and 
 two wounded, with the further loss of three horses and 
 all the baggage. Two of the party went forward and 
 found the native town empty, and Boone and his men 
 hastened back home, which, on the 7th of August, was 
 safely reached. 
 
 The party had returned at the right moment, for on 
 the next day the Indians arrived about 450 strong, under 
 the command of Captain Duquesne, eleven other French- 
 men, and four native chiefs. Marching up within view 
 of the fort, with British and French colours flying, they 
 sent in to Boone a summons of surrender, " in His 
 Britannic Majesty's name." The commandant there- 
 upon requested and received two days for consideration. 
 The occasion was critical. Some detachments of the 
 garrison were away, and the number of defenders, com- 
 pared with the enemy, was small. In Boone's words, 
 however, " death was preferable to captivity, and, if 
 taken by storm, we must inevitably be devoted to 
 destruction." In this position, he and his men resolved 
 on fighting. 
 
 All the horses and cattle outside that could be reached 
 were brought in, and on the evening of the 9th of August 
 Boone returned answer that they were determined to 
 defend the place while a man was living. As the com- 
 mander, Duquesne, stood attentively listening, Boone 
 said : " Now we laugh at all your formidable preparations. 
 But we thank you for giving us notice and time to pre- 
 pare for our defence. Your efforts will not prevail, for 
 our gates shall ever deny you admittance." We may 
 note that during the negotiations with the enemy a good 
 trick was practised inside the fort to impress the Indians 
 with the number of men for the defence. 
 
 Every woman and child, white and black, was dressed, 
 
 110 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 as far as possible, in male attire, with old hats and 
 hunting-shirts, and the savages were surprised to see the 
 number of hatted heads that appeared from time to time 
 above the stockade. What they did not see was the 
 little band of sharpshooters sent out by cautious Boone 
 to the block-house commanding the place of meeting when 
 he and his comrades went forth to talk with the delegates 
 of the enemy under the shade of the great sycamore. 
 
 The cunning reply of the enemy to Boone had been 
 that they had orders from Governor Hamilton of Detroit 
 to take the Boonesboro' people captives, and not destroy 
 them ; but if nine of the garrison would come out and 
 treat with them, they would at once withdraw their 
 forces and return home in peace. Boone and his people 
 agreed to this proposal, but were suspicious of the 
 enemy's intentions. The conference took place within 
 60 yards of the fort, and articles were formally agreed 
 to and signed. The Indians then said that it was custo- 
 mary with them on such occasions for two natives to 
 shake hands with every white man, as an evidence of 
 perfect friendship. 
 
 Young athletic Indians had been chosen for this 
 purpose, and when Boone agreed also to this suggestion, 
 the natives betrayed their treacherous purpose by too 
 tight a grasp of the hands of the whites, and by a sudden 
 movement towards the brushwood. Boone and his com- 
 rades, alert and quick, instantly freed themselves and 
 darted away. At the same thrilling moment, as they 
 sprang back and waved their hats, came the crack of the 
 rifles from the block-houses, and the savages vanished in 
 the thicket. Boone and his men dashed up the rising 
 ground towards the fort, bounding from one tree-trunk 
 to another, and from stump to stump, to escape the hail 
 of bullets from the savages in ambuscade. 
 
 Squire Boone was wounded in the left shoulder, and 
 
 111 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 another man had to lie flat on his face for hours behind 
 a stump in shelter from the enemy's fire, and only got 
 inside the fort at nightfall. During the afternoon the 
 Indians made preparations as for a general retreat, and, 
 leaving a hidden body of warriors behind, went off with 
 much clatter before daylight. After going some distance, 
 with the sounds of a French bugle dying away at last, 
 the enemy stealthily retraced their steps, hoping to catch 
 the Boonesboro' people with the gates open. It was not 
 likely that such a trick would succeed. Not a man went 
 outside ; and the enraged savages at once attacked the 
 place on all sides, keeping up a heavy fire all day. 
 
 A regular siege now began, with some of the methods 
 of scientific warfare. The enemy worked at under- 
 mining the fort, beginning at the watermark of the 
 river and proceeding for some distance under the bank. 
 The garrison frustrated this design by cutting a trench 
 across the subterranean passage, and the Indians desisted 
 when they saw the clay thrown out from the counter- 
 mine. The mining attempt was also baffled by the falling 
 in of earth through heavy rains, which at the same time 
 saved the fort from the risk of destruction by fiery arrows 
 and by torches. 
 
 After nine days, during which a heavy fire was main- 
 tained, the enemy, foiled at all points, went off in earnest, 
 having caused the garrison a loss of only two men killed, 
 with four wounded, and a certain number of cattle. Of 
 the Indians, nearly forty were killed and a great number 
 wounded. After their departure had been fully ascer- 
 tained, Boone's men went out and picked up 125 pounds' 
 weight of bullets, besides what stuck in the logs of the 
 fort, " which certainly is," the leader observes, " a great 
 proof of their industry." For some time nothing worthy 
 of note occurred, and Daniel Boone went off to North 
 Carolina to see his friends in the old home. 
 
 112 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 In 1780 further trouble came on the Kentucky colonistB. 
 On the 22nd of June about 600 Indians and Canadians, 
 under Colonel Bird, with six pieces of artillery, attacked 
 two forts and settlements at the Forks of Licking River. 
 The inhabitants had no notice of this expedition until 
 the enemy fired on the works, and, being without means of 
 prompt defence, they were obliged to surrender. The 
 savages at once killed one man and two women with their 
 tomahawks, and, loading all the others with heavy 
 baggage, they forced the unhappy captives along towards 
 their towns. All who were weak and faint by the way 
 were tomahawked, including women and children, and 
 cruelties too savage for recital were committed. 
 
 In retaliation for these atrocities General Clark, com- 
 mandant at Ohio Falls, started out with his own regiment 
 and the armed force of his district against a chief town 
 of the Shawanese, on a branch of Great Miami River. 
 There, with the loss of seventeen men, he took seventeen 
 scalps and burnt the town. About this time Boone re- 
 turned " with his family " to Kentucky. In explanation 
 of this statement we go back to record that his wife, 
 during his captivity with the Indians, fully believing that 
 his life was ended, and feeling deeply her situation, had 
 transported the family and goods on horseback through 
 the wilderness, amidst a multitude of dangers, to her 
 father's house in North Carolina'. A brave woman this, 
 and well worthy of the man who, in his narrative, naively 
 says that she acted thus, " bereaved of me, her only 
 happiness." 
 
 For some time Boone had a peaceful life with his house- 
 hold. On the 6th of October, 1780, he went with his 
 brother to the Blue Licks, and on the return they were 
 fired on by a party of Indians, and Squire Boone was 
 killed. Daniel was pursued by the scent of the enemy's 
 dog for three miles, and then, killing the dog, he escaped. 
 
 113 H 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 The winter after his brother's death was a very severe 
 one, and confined the savages to their wigwams. The 
 Kentucky whites suffered much, as the Indians, during 
 the previous summer, had destroyed most of the corn, 
 and oread became very scarce. The people lived mainly 
 on buffalo-meat, but they bore up well, " being a hardy 
 race," in Boone's words, " accustomed to difficulties 
 and necessities," until the ensuing " fall," when abun- 
 dance was received from the fertile soil. 
 
 Amidst such troubles and frequent warfare with the 
 natives was the State of Kentucky founded, by degrees, 
 on a firm basis. In the course of 1782 a general war was 
 afoot, in which the tribes of the Shawanese, Cherokees, 
 Wyandots, Delawares, and others near Detroit united 
 against the white people. The picked warriors of all the 
 " nations " were gathered at Chelicotha to go forth for 
 the utter destruction of the settlers. Two white traitors 
 urged and led the Indians in all schemes of mischief, and 
 on the 15th of August they commanded a body of Indians 
 and Canadians, about 500 strong, marching against a 
 settlement near Lexington. Without demanding a sur- 
 render, they furiously attacked the garrison, but the men 
 were ready for defence, and the enemy, after the vain 
 expenditure of much ammunition and killing the cattle 
 around the fort, went off on the third day, with about 
 thirty men killed and many wounded. 
 
 On the 18th, Boone, Colonel Todd, and other officers 
 quickly gathered about 180 well-armed men and pur- 
 sued the savages. They were overtaken on the following 
 day at a bend of the main fork of Licking River, about 
 forty miles from Lexington, and, seeing the approach of 
 the pursuers, they gave way, and, concealing their num- 
 bers allowed them to pass the river. Then the enemy 
 formed a line of battle across the river bend, and a fierce 
 fight of fifteen minutes ensued. The Kentucky men, 
 
 114 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 overpowered by numbers, were forced to retreat, with 
 the loss of sixty-seven men, including seven prisoners. 
 Among the slain were Boone's second son, the brave 
 Colonel Todd, and two other leaders. 
 
 When the Indians, on counting their dead, found that 
 they had four more killed than the whites, four of the 
 prisoners were put to death in the most barbarous way 
 by the young warriors, and the enemy then went off to 
 their towns. The Kentucky force, on the retreat, was 
 met by Colonel Logan with a number of well-armed men, 
 who would have completely turned the scale in the recent 
 fight. The courage of the Kentuckians, who, at odds of 
 about one against three, had maintained so stout a battle, 
 is proved by the fact that the Indians acknowledged that 
 they would have given way if one more volley had been 
 delivered against them. 
 
 The news of this defeat carried dismay to Lexington, 
 where many women had been made widows. A close 
 pursuit had been made at first, and many of the whites 
 fell in the flight, some in the difficult passage of the river, 
 as they entered the water, others in the water, and others, 
 again, as they scaled the cliffs beyond. The people of 
 Lexington, when they went out, reinforced, to bury the 
 dead, found the bodies strewn about dreadfully mangled 
 by wild beasts and by fish, and most of the features were 
 beyond recognition. 
 
 General Clark, who was at Ohio Falls, promptly sent 
 out an expedition in pursuit of the savages, who were 
 overtaken within two miles of their towns. Unluckily, 
 two stragglers of the enemy's force, seeing the whites 
 approach, swiftly carried warning to the main body, and 
 the Indians escaped by an instant and disorderly flight. 
 Chelicotha was occupied by the Kentuckians, and the 
 pursuit followed through five towns on the Miami rivers, 
 all of which were destroyed by fire, with the corn and 
 
 115 H 2 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 other produce, and the Indian country was laid waste. 
 Seven prisoners and five scalps were taken, with the loss 
 of only four men to the avenging whites. This little 
 campaign did much to depress the Indians. The con- 
 federacy was broken up ; the forces were scattered far 
 and wide, and a regular invasion being now beyond their 
 power, the savages were reduced to the former petty and 
 stealthy attacks, chiefly on isolated settlers in exposed 
 parts of the territory. 
 
 In the following October (1782) a body of the savages 
 made an excursion into a district called " Crab Orchard," 
 and a remarkable scene occurred. One of them, some 
 distance in front of his party, entered the house of a white 
 family in which, at the time, there were only a woman, 
 her children, and a negro. The Indian seized the negro 
 to make him a prisoner, but the man threw the savage 
 to the ground, and, as they struggled, the woman, snatch- 
 ing an axe from a corner, cut off the Indian's head, while 
 her little daughter closed the door. In an instant the 
 other savages came up and chopped at the door with 
 their tomahawks. In a corner of the room lay an old 
 rusty gun-barrel, without a lock, which the mother put 
 through a small crevice, and the Indians, fearing a shot, 
 fled. The alarm spread abroad ; the savages were pursued 
 into the wilds, and a wholesome effect was produced by 
 this repulse. 
 
 From that time until the conclusion of peace, in 1783, 
 between the United States and Great Britain, the Indians 
 did no mischief in Kentucky. They were aware of the 
 contest between the colonists and the mother-country, 
 and of the great share taken by Virginia State in the 
 war Hence, in Boone's words, " finding the great King 
 beyond the water disappointed in his expectations, and 
 conscious of the importance of ' the Long Knife,' 
 and of their own wretchedness, some of the ' nations ' 
 
 116 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 immediately desired peace." Thus was Kentucky finally 
 placed in a secure position for future development. 
 
 The prominent hero of the early struggles thus sums 
 up the cost in his own case : " Two darling sons and a 
 brother have I lost by savage hands, which have also 
 taken from me forty valuable horses and abundance of 
 cattle. Many dark and sleepless nights have I been a 
 companion for owls, separated from the cheerful society 
 of men, scorched by the summer's sun, and pinched by 
 the winter's cold, an instrument ordained to settle the 
 wilderness." 
 
 The same author of good for his countrymen in the 
 great West adds : " But now the scene is changed : peace 
 crowns the sylvan shade. I now live in peace and safety, 
 enjoying the sweets of liberty and the bounties of Provi- 
 dence with my once fellow-sufferers in this delightful 
 country, which I have seen purchased with a vast expense 
 of blood and treasure, now delighting in the prospect of 
 its being, in a short time, one of the most opulent and 
 powerful States in the continent of North America, 
 which, with the love and gratitude of my countrymen, I 
 esteem a sufficient reward for all my toil and dangers." 
 
 The great pioneer in 1812 received a tract of land in 
 Missouri State in recognition of his public services, and 
 died at Charette, on the Missouri River, in the autumn 
 of 1820. It is remarkable that the town which he 
 founded, called by his name, has utterly vanished. 
 Boonesboro' fell into decay from the attraction of the 
 people to more suitable and profitable scenes of work 
 and residence. The place was, in fact, superseded by 
 Harrodsburg. 
 
 The memory of the town whose site, without a vestige 
 of the old buildings, a paling of the stockades, or any 
 portion of the bullet-battered lines, is now a cornfield, 
 is tenderly cherished by the descendants of the first 
 
 117 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY 
 
 settlers, the Boones, Hendersons, Callaways, and others — 
 the men who stood like an impregnable wall and rolled 
 back the fierce tide of savage warfare until civilization 
 and Christianity were established in the primeval forest. 
 Boonesboro' in its material form passed away ; Daniel 
 Boone abides in the page of history. 
 
 118 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES, THE SPICE ISLANDS, 
 AND SINGAPORE 
 
 Sir Stamford Raffles as colonial ruler — His birth and early life- 
 Clerk in India House — His self -training — His diligence and ability 
 — His promotion — Chief Secretary at Penang — Trip to Malacca — 
 His acquaintance with natives — At Calcutta — Relations with Lord 
 Minto — State of affairs in Eastern seas — Raffles, Lord Minto, and 
 Java — The British expedition — The lines of Cornelis stormed — 
 British conquest of Java — Raffles made Lieutenant-Governor — 
 His work of reform — Puts down Sultan of Samarang — Java re- 
 stored to Holland — Raffles back to England — Interview with 
 Napoleon — Returns to East — Governor at Bencoolen — Revives 
 prosperity — Adventurous tours with Lady Raffles — Another visit 
 to Calcutta — Wrecked on a sandbank — His interviews with Lord 
 Hastings — The occupation of Singapore— Importance of the 
 position — Visit to Acheen — Attempt to bribe Lady Raffles — His 
 scientific studies — Discovery of an enormous flower. 
 
 ONE of the greatest and noblest adventurers recorded 
 in history, General Charles Gordon, declared that 
 the British Empire was founded by adventurers, 
 not by politicians. Thomas Stamford Raffles was not, 
 in the strict sense, an adventurer. He was an official of 
 the highest and rarest — that is, of the adventurous, 
 class — original, imaginative, energetic, sympathetic in a 
 remarkable degree with the natives whom he ruled. 
 Being such, he was, quite naturally and inevitably, 
 generally suspected and thwarted by the mere officials 
 of his day who were his unworthy " superiors " — the men 
 
 119 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 of red-tape and precedent, ever ready to look askance 
 at such men as Raffles, and to regard them as dangerous 
 in their policy and aims. 
 
 In spite of this, Raffles won lasting fame as the ruler 
 for five years of Java — one of our country's finest " lost 
 possessions," insanely given up, as were Manila and 
 Havana at an earlier day, after most legitimate conquest 
 — and as the founder of one of our greatest treasures in 
 the East — Singapore. This great Englishman was, fitly 
 enough, born at sea, on board the ship Ann, on the 5th of 
 July, 1781, off Port Morant, Jamaica. He was the only 
 surviving son of Benjamin Raffles, one of the oldest 
 captains out of the port of London in the West India 
 trade. The lad, in his childhood and his early youth, 
 was remarkable for his thoughtfulness and his diligence 
 in work, giving thus early signs of the coming man's 
 vigorous character and devotion to duty. 
 
 In his fifteenth year he became a clerk in the East 
 India House, long before the usual school-training of the 
 day was completed, but this, to Raffles, was not the 
 disadvantage which it would have been to most youths. 
 He quickly made up leeway by earnest private study, 
 and may be regarded as a self-educated, self-made man 
 of the best class. His early life was obscure and toilsome, 
 without influential friends to aid him, or hope of pro- 
 motion except through sheer merit. He was, however, 
 in a position from which a young man of good natural 
 talents, force of character, and worthy ambition was 
 almost sure to rise to eminence. 
 
 Raffles was soon earning a higher salary by extra 
 labour at the office, for he was anxious, by every means 
 in his power, to aid the mother to whom he was devoted. 
 Unremitting toil caused a temporary failure of health, 
 which was restored by a brief leave of absence and a tour 
 on foot through Wales. During this trip he walked 
 
 120 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 thirty or forty miles a day, and was able to indulge his 
 remarkable loving observation of natural objects. His 
 tastes were very simple, and it is recorded of him, by one 
 who had the best means of knowing, that in the native 
 land whose people were so devoted to outdoor sports, he 
 never saw a horse-race or fired a gun. On the other 
 hand, Raffles had a rare facility in acquiring languages, 
 having a most retentive memory, and he became at this 
 time, unaided, a fluent French scholar. His abilities 
 and zeal did not fail to attract attention at the India 
 House, and in 1805, when he was twenty-four years of 
 age, his first reward came. 
 
 He was sent out as Assistant-Secretary, at a salary 
 of £1,500 a year, to the new Government of Penang 
 founded by the Court of Directors. On the voyage out 
 round the Cape, then lasting six months, he acquired a 
 knowledge of Malayese sufficient to allow him to enter 
 at once on his duties when he arrived in September, 
 1805. He soon became perfect in writing and speaking 
 the language, and also showed wonderful quickness in 
 mastering the details needful for the conduct of a new 
 system of rule. He won general confidence and esteem, 
 and all the people of the settlement were much pleased 
 when he rose to be Chief Secretary, a post of which he 
 had for some time discharged the duties during the 
 illness of his official superior. 
 
 He was now again for a time the victim of his zealous 
 devotion to his work, and fatigue, responsibility, and the 
 climate caused a severe and dangerous illness. In 1808 
 he went to Malacca for a healthful change of air, and there, 
 for the first time, he came into close contact with the 
 varied population of the Eastern Archipelago. He 
 found himself among natives of distant Asiatic countries, 
 people coming from Java, Amboyna, Celebes, the 
 Moluccas, Borneo, Papua (New Guinea), China, and 
 
 121 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 Japan. With many of these Raffles soon became inti- 
 mate, sometimes through converse in their own tongues, 
 and his sociable ways with natives gave him a remark- 
 able influence over them. During his stay he drew up 
 and sent to his Directors a very valuable report on the 
 capabilities and resources of Malacca, which gained high 
 approbation at the India House. 
 
 An epoch in the life of our hero came in 1810, when 
 he went to Calcutta, and became known to the^able, 
 enlightened, and energetic Governor-General, Gilbert 
 Elliot, first Earl of Minto, a man who could appreciate 
 Raffles at his real worth, and became his firm friend. 
 The state of affairs for Great Britain in the further East 
 at this time deserves notice. France, then under the 
 rule of Napoleon, had acquired, through her annexation 
 of Holland, the possession of Java, the gem of the 
 Eastern seas. That power also held Mauritius, half-way 
 on the voyage for British trade to and from the East, 
 and the French position in the two territories was a serious 
 menace and danger. In 1810 Lord Minto sent from 
 India a naval and military expedition, which took posses- 
 sion of Mauritius, to the great relief of British merchants 
 in general and of the East India Company. 
 
 It was Raffles who induced the Governor-General, for 
 naval, military, and commercial reasons, to resolve on 
 the conquest of Java. The noble region, over 600 miles 
 in length, with an area almost equal to that of England, 
 is the most important of all the islands of the Indian 
 Archipelago in all respects except size. Remarkable for 
 natural beauty, the territory is rich in rice, sugar, 
 and coffee, and in many other vegetable products, 
 and is a perennial source of wealth to its European 
 possessor. A fleet of ninety sail, carrying an army of 
 10,000 men, appeared in June, 1811, before Batavia, 
 the capital, and must have presented one of the 
 
 122 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 grandest spectacles ever afforded by the old wooden 
 navy. 
 
 The conquest of Java was virtually effected by the 
 storming of the fortified camp or lines of Cornelis, held by 
 13,000 Frenchmen. This achievement, one of the least 
 known, as it is one of the most brilliant, in the annals 
 of the Anglo-Indian army, was one which involved 
 marvellous difficulties overcome with triumphant valour 
 and success, in which the cold steel played a chief part. 
 The scene of action was a thick, jungly forest, in a country 
 cut up by ravines and enclosures, and defended by a 
 most complicated series of other obstacles, natural and 
 artificial. Proper reconnaissance of the enemy's position 
 was impossible, and the only guidance towards important 
 points for assault was afforded by one or two French 
 deserters. 
 
 It is impossible here to give details of the operations. 
 The chief troops engaged were King's Regiments, some 
 Royal Artillery, Royal Marines, Madras Pioneers, and 
 Bengal Native Infantry. The French entrenched camp, 
 a kind of oblong, five miles in circuit, was defended by 
 an unfordable river, with only one unbroken and perma- 
 nent bridge, by a deep artificial stream, by trenches cut 
 in the few roads of approach, by abattis and caltrops, 
 by concealed pitfalls, and by redoubts and batteries at 
 many points, mounting in all many scores of guns. 
 Through all this a combination of desperate courage and 
 good luck won its way. 
 
 The men scrambled across the trenches, the pioneers 
 cut away and removed abattis, a French deserter gave 
 the " word of the day," which enabled the troops at one 
 point to get past the outposts. Redoubt after redoubt 
 was stormed without firing a shot to give the alarm ; the 
 bamboo bridge over the artificial river was " rushed " 
 in the nick of time, just before it could be cut by the 
 
 123 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 defenders ; and, finally, by attacks in different quarters 
 the whole position was taken, and the French force 
 broken up and chased for ten miles, with the loss of 
 280 brass cannon, 6,000 prisoners, including three generals 
 and a host of other officers, and the island of Java. We 
 note that the General-in-Chief was Sir Samuel Auchiauty, 
 under the immediate observation of Lord Minto, who had 
 accompanied the expedition, with Baffles in attendance 
 as Secretary. 
 
 Further promotion promptly came for the rising 
 Briton in the East. The Governor-General appointed 
 Raffles to be Lieutenant-Governor of Java and its 
 dependencies, and the new ruler set to work in his usual 
 vigorous style. He was very successful in conciliating 
 the native princes and chiefs, at whose oourts he placed 
 British Residents, with full instructions for their 
 guidance. Above all, he won the affection of the Javan 
 people by his complete reform of the corrupt system of 
 rule, by freely mingling with all classes, learning their 
 character and reasonable aspirations, and by striving to 
 educate and civilize the inhabitants. The Dutch policy 
 had been one of repression. That of Raffles was regenera- 
 tion by means of humane and enlightened rule upon a 
 native basis. 
 
 In June, 1812, Raffles went in person against the 
 Sultan of Samarang, a potentate who aimed at the 
 expulsion of all Europeans from the country. The 
 troops were under the command of Colonel Gillespie, 
 who had played a chief part at Cornells. On the 20th of 
 June the stronghold of Jokjokarta was attacked by a 
 body comprising 600 British infantry, and about the 
 same number of dragoons, artillery, and sepoys. A part 
 of the ammunition had been cut off by the enemy, and 
 an immediate assault was necessary. A regular fortified 
 position, three miles in circuit, surrounded by a wide and 
 
 124 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 deep ditch, and by a wall 45 feet high, with well-built 
 bastions, and held by 11,000 armed men, was taken by 
 escalade. The British turned the rampart guns on the 
 enemy, and the place was won at the cost of a few officers 
 wounded, one mortally, and about forty non-commis- 
 sioned officers and privates slain and disabled. 
 
 This event completed the conquest of Java. It is 
 needless to dwell at any length on Raffles' work there, 
 seeing that, as already noticed, the British Government, 
 on the downfall of Napoleon, thought proper to restore 
 the splendid island to its former Dutch possessors. The 
 financial position of affairs had been greatly improved 
 before the departure of Raffles in 1816, an event which 
 was marked by the universal regret of the people, and 
 by a presentation of plate. He then returned to England 
 for the restoration of his health, impaired by the tropical 
 climate and by hard work. On the long voyage home 
 Raffles had, at St. Helena, an interesting interview with 
 its illustrious captive, who displayed an acquaintance 
 with the value and importance of Java, and made many 
 personal inquiries concerning the careers of Raffles and 
 an officer who attended him. 
 
 On his arrival in England, Raffles received the well- 
 deserved honour of knighthood, and was henceforth 
 known as Sir Stamford Raffles. During his lengthy 
 sojourn in sea-air his health had been restored. He 
 visited Holland and other parts of Europe, and in October, 
 1817, he embarked at Portsmouth on board a vessel 
 called, from his wife, the Lady Baffles. His destination 
 was Bencoolen, the chief town of a territory on the 
 south-west of Sumatra, over which he had been appointed 
 Lieutenant-Governor by the East India Company. It 
 was again the fate of the great administrator to labour 
 for the ultimate benefit of other nations than his own, 
 a fact which does not in the least detract from bis fame 
 
 125 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 as an able and righteous ruler. He was the pioneer, in 
 fact, of good government in that portion of the East 
 which was, in 1825, given up to the Dutch in exchange 
 for their settlements in India. 
 
 In March, 1818, Raffles landed at Bencoolen, and 
 found the town and territory in " a fearful state of ruin 
 through misrule and natural convulsions in the shape of 
 hurricanes and earthquakes." The roads in the country 
 were impassable ; the highways in the town were over- 
 grown with rank grass ; the Government House was, in 
 Sir Stamford's words, " a den of ravenous dogs and 
 polecats." The natives spoke of the territory as a 
 " dead land." Happily the right man to stir things up 
 to new life was now come. The region was one of the 
 first establishments of the Company in the East, but it 
 had not been well managed, and had been costing £100,000 
 a year for the production of a few tons of pepper. 
 
 Sir Stamford at once set to work at reforms, partly on 
 the instructions of the Company, largely on his own 
 account. The slaves were set free. His house was 
 freely opened to the natives ; the chiefs and people became 
 his friends ; and good feeling between the ruler and the 
 ruled was restored. In company with Lady Raffles he 
 made tours of exploration, during which many hardships 
 were encountered by the adventurous pair. On one 
 occasion he and his wife, after a walk of thirty miles, 
 during which they were wet through with heavy rain, 
 found themselves forced to camp out on a moonless 
 night. No fire could be lit, as no wood would burn, and 
 they slept with their heads on a pillow of the smoothest 
 stone that could be found in a river-bed. During the 
 journey coolies had sometimes to cut a way through the 
 thick briars of a jungle, and more cold, wet bivouacs 
 were endured before the return to Bencoolen. 
 
 The Lieutenant-Governor, caring nothing for his per- 
 
 126 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 sonal convenience, started for Calcutta, on business con- 
 nected with the settlement, in a small vessel with only 
 one cabin, of which centipedes and scorpions were the 
 fellow-tenants. In the Bay of Bengal a mast was lost 
 in a squall, and then a drunken pilot caused the craft to 
 upset, in the middle of the night, on a bank at the mouth 
 of the Hooghly. There B/affles was forced to wait until 
 boats were sent from Calcutta, where he had his interview 
 with the new Governor-General, Lord Hastings. It 
 was at this time that Sir Stamford began to carry out his 
 design for the occupation of Singapore. 
 
 He strongly urged on Lord Hastings the necessity of 
 fighting the Dutch mercantile power in the Eastern seas. 
 He pointed out that the Hollanders already controlled, 
 in the Sunda Straits, between Sumatra and Java, one of 
 the two passages to the great archipelago. He explained 
 that the object he had in view was not people nor terri- 
 tory, but a position, by which he meant a place in which 
 to hoist the British flag on either the Straits of Malacca 
 or of Sunda. Thus would the trade of Great Britain be 
 secured in that region of the world, and the monopoly of 
 the Dutch would be broken. By these and other argu- 
 ments Lord Hastings was convinced, and the ultimate 
 result was the founding of Singapore. 
 
 It was high time that such a step should be taken for 
 the maintenance of British commercial interests in that 
 quarter of the world. In January, 1819, Sir Stamford 
 Raffles was at Penang, and he found that the Govern- 
 ment there was resolved to thwart him. The Dutch 
 Government had already declared their supremacy over 
 the whole Eastern Archipelago, and had put forth regu- 
 lations for the exclusion of British trade. In spite of 
 this hostile attitude, Raffles, in February, 1819, hoisted 
 the British flag at Singapore. 
 
 **The attractions of this particular spot for him were, 
 
 127 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 firstly, its commanding position at the southern entrance 
 of the Malacca Straits, in the track of the China and 
 country traders, who could thus be protected by British 
 influence and power. Secondly, the place could be 
 defended by a moderate force, which would afford means 
 of supporting and defending commercial intercourse 
 with the Malay States. Again, by its proximity to the 
 seat of Dutch power, it would afford the opportunity of 
 watching Dutch policy, and, if needful, of counteracting 
 Dutch influence. The occupation of the territory proved 
 to the varied and enterprising population of the archi- 
 pelago and neighbouring regions that the power and 
 commerce of Great Britain had not wholly succumbed 
 to Dutch encroachments, and that the great Western 
 country was resolved to make a stand against them, and 
 to maintain the right of free commerce in those Eastern 
 seas. 
 
 Again, the position of Singapore peculiarly favoured 
 its becoming the entrepot for the commerce of Siam, 
 Cambodia, Cochin China, and China. The merchants 
 of those countries would first resort to Singapore in 
 search of a market for their goods, and if they were to 
 find that, and the means of supplying their wants, they 
 would not proceed to the more distant, unhealthy, and 
 expensive Javan port, Batavia. The passage from China 
 by sailing-ship could be made under six days, and the 
 same time only would be occupied between Singapore 
 and Borneo, Batavia, and Penang. 
 
 In the earlier part of 1819 Sir Stamford stayed only 
 about a month at the new settlement, which, with a just 
 pride, he describes as " a child of my own." After join- 
 ing Lady Raffles for a time at Penang, he went with her 
 to Acheen, in Sumatra, where he was to settle the affair 
 of a native claim to the crown. There were complicated 
 intrigues and other difficulties to deal with, and Baffles 
 
 128 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 was thus engaged for three months. Oriental methods 
 in such oases are illustrated by the fact that Lady Raffles 
 was offered a casket of diamonds by a wealthy native 
 merchant at Penang for her influence in his behalf, and, 
 as she writes, " it seemed to create much surprise that it 
 was not even looked at." 
 
 We note that, in spite of his absorbing political duties, 
 Raffles devoted much time and trouble to multifarious 
 studies of a scientific character. In conjunction with the 
 Oriental scholar, Dr. Leyden, he made great progress 
 in knowledge of the languages, ethnology, history, and 
 customs of the Malaysia people. His scientific friend, 
 Dr. Arnold, and Lady Raffles, were his companions in 
 many tours undertaken for the study of natural history, 
 and, by degrees, he made most valuable collections of 
 animals, plants, and birds. In the interior of Sumatra 
 he and Dr. Arnold discovered the curious parasitic plant 
 fitly called Rafflesia Arnoldi, a species peculiar to the 
 Malay Islands, bearing a single flower, measuring 3 feet 
 across, the largest and most extraordinary floral specimen 
 in the world. 
 
 129 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 SIR STAMFOED RAFFLES AND SINGAPORE— Continued 
 
 British possession of Singapore — The Sultan of Johor — The island of 
 Singapore in 1819 — The interior now — The products — Rapid 
 progress made — Raffles' great work — Value of the possession — 
 "Checkmate" to the Dutch — Raffles' work at Bencoolen; at 
 Singapore — System of justice — Town of Singapore now — Size 
 and importance — Raffles' domestic troubles — Another sea mishap 
 — Fresh water needed — The churlish Dutchman — The generous 
 Yankee — The start home — Ship on fire — Exciting scenes — 
 Raffles' description — All hands saved — The blazing vessel — Sky 
 lit by blue fire — The boat-voyage to Bencoolen — Rescue by ship 
 — Joy of Bencoolen people in Raffles' safety — The loss of his 
 treasures — The menagerie on board — Raffles and the East India 
 Company — Statement of his services — His loss by the fire — The 
 meanness of the Company — The fresh start for home — Storms off 
 the Cape — The arrival — Brief life at home — Sudden death — The 
 monument at Singapore — Raffles founds Zoological Society — 
 — The Zoo of Regent's Park his memorial. 
 
 WE must now deal more fully with Raffles' main and 
 permanent achievement in the Eastern seas. 
 The possession of Singapore made the British 
 virtual masters, in the end, of the whole Malay Peninsula. 
 The Sultan of Johor, an ally of the new holders of the 
 little territory, and then residing on the island, was 
 head of all the Malay States to the north of Palembang, 
 in Sumatra, and through him British influence was 
 extended. Singapore Island, now, commercially and for 
 administrative purposes, the most important of the 
 
 130 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 Straits Settlements of the British Colonial Empire, is 
 about twenty-seven miles long from east to west and 
 fourteen broad, lying off Johor, at the south of the Malay 
 Peninsula, from which it is separated by a strait less than 
 half a mile wide at the narrowest point. 
 
 The surface is undulating, with hills ranging up to 
 about 500 feet, and streams never exceeding six miles 
 in length, only swollen to importance by an unusual rain- 
 fall. When Raffles landed, these rivulets stole through 
 the forests and jungle with which the whole island was 
 then covered. The climate, in a region only one degree 
 from the equator, is wonderfully good, with an annual 
 range of temperature from 70° to 90°, cool and refresh- 
 ing nights, and a calm atmosphere. The surface of the 
 sea is disturbed only by the swell of tempests which have 
 been raging far away, in the Bay of Bengal or the China 
 Sea. 
 
 In the interior the warmth and moisture now keep the 
 ground covered with thickets of plantains and palms, 
 limes and orange-trees, which, along with the ferns and 
 orchids clustering in their shade, form a favourite haunt 
 of squirrels, monkeys, sloths, wild hogs, and deer. Prom 
 time to time a stray tiger which has swum across from the 
 mainland may be hunted. Pineapples, coco-nuts, aloes, 
 and Liberian coffee are the chief commercial products. 
 At the time of British occupation the island did not con- 
 tain more than a few score of people, and at the site of 
 the town of Singapore, on the southern coast, there were 
 only a few huts. In July, 1819, six months after the 
 raising of the British flag, 5,000 people had gathered 
 thither, through the hurrying of traders from Malacca 
 and elsewhere, especially from China. 
 
 As regards the progress made, Sir Stamford, writing 
 in January, 1823, notes " the activity and cheerfulness 
 prevailing. Every day brings new settlers, and the 
 
 131 I 2 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 place has already become a great emporium. Houses 
 and warehouses are springing up in every direction, and 
 the inland forests are fast giving way before the in- 
 dustrious cultivator. I am now engaged in marking out 
 towns and roads, and in establishing laws and regula- 
 tions for the protection of person and property. We 
 have no less than nine European mercantile houses, and 
 there is abundant employment for capital as fast as it 
 accumulates." He then writes of his having chosen a 
 site for the erection of a college, to be endowed by 
 himself with lands, and of his intended building of a 
 church. 
 
 It was indeed a great work which Raffles had in- 
 augurated at Singapore. The tables had been completely 
 turned on the Dutch, and the British foundation of the 
 prosperous colony, the gate-house to the Straits of 
 Malacca and the China Sea, the watch-tower looking 
 southwards, past countless clustering islets, down the 
 sunny waters between Sumatra and Borneo, towards 
 the lost Java, was a death-blow to all the Dutch plans 
 of exclusiveness and greed. It must not be forgotten 
 that this prize for Great Britain, the glory of Raffles' 
 career, was won by him in the face of opposition and 
 censure from the very authorities who should have sup- 
 ported him — the Government of India, at one time, and 
 the East India Company at home. 
 
 While Singapore was fast rising into importance, 
 Raffles was actively engaged at Bencoolen, which was 
 flourishing in the production of spices, and where, as in 
 all other parts of the East where he was known, he was 
 beloved by all the natives. Among the benefits which 
 he there conferred on those whom he ruled were his efforts 
 for education and for the freeing of slaves. With Lady 
 Raffles he also made voyages to Borneo, Batavia, and 
 other parts of Malaysia. We must now note some of 
 
 132 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 his work at Singapore during nearly five years (1819 to 
 1823), in which he had full charge of affairs. 
 
 From the first he declared the place to be " a free port, 
 open to ships and vessels of all nations, free of duty." 
 He abolished slavery, gambling-houses, and cock-fight- 
 ing, all of which had been encouraged by the Resident 
 whom he had appointed in his capacity as Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Bencoolen. His most original and remark- 
 able piece of work was the framing of a short code of 
 laws and regulations for preserving peace and good order 
 in the rapidly growing port, at which sailors and traders 
 of almost every colour and creed were found. This very 
 simple code was carried into execution by the Resident 
 and by twelve magistrates selected from the merchants 
 of the place, with juries composed of either five Europeans 
 or of four Europeans and three natives of good character 
 and position. 
 
 As he had done in Java, Raffles thus made the adminis- 
 tration of justice cheap, simple, and secure. He won the 
 confidence of all classes of the people, and on his de- 
 parture in June, 1823, he received a most eulogistic 
 address from the chief residents. He had established a 
 new city which was, early in the twentieth century, to 
 contain a population of nearly 230,000 people, with six 
 miles of busy sea-frontage and a harbour enlivened by 
 the coming and going of shipping which displays at once 
 the stateliest and the quaintest vessels in the world. 
 
 The streets, squares, and markets hum with the sound 
 of the tongues of residents of many nations and of visitors 
 from many lands. There are to be seen on all sides, on 
 the once desolate ground, cathedral churches, pleasant 
 gardens, spacious public buildings, and noble institutions 
 called by the founder's name. Singapore, the abode of 
 British freedom and justice in the fullest sense of the 
 words, is a grand and enduring memorial of the wisdom, 
 
 133 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 the courage, and the beneficence of the great Englishman 
 to whom its rise is due. 
 
 Sir Stamford and Lady Raffles were sorely tried by 
 domestic troubles. In 1821 they lost their eldest son and 
 two other children, and were left with only one surviving 
 child — a little girl, who was sent home — by the death of 
 two more children early in 1822. The parents had a 
 severe illness at this time, and the elastic spirit of Raffles 
 was much depressed. Later on, when they were return- 
 ing to Bencoolen with a son only four months old, their 
 vessel struck on a bank in the Straits of Rhio (or Riou), 
 between Sumatra and Malacca, during the night. It 
 was feared that the ship could not be got off, and a small 
 boat was made ready to convey the passengers back to 
 Singapore. 
 
 When morning came, the ship was floated by throwing 
 all the fresh water overboard to lighten her, and a boat 
 was sent in at Rhio asking the Dutch Resident for a 
 supply of water ; but he refused all intercourse, asserting 
 that Sir Stamford was " a spy." The voyage was then 
 continued with much anxiety, but one of the United 
 States vessels, numerous in those seas, was met and 
 hailed. The captain promptly hove-to, though he had 
 a strong wind in his favour, and at considerable risk, 
 and with great difficulty, by means of ropes, he sent 
 some casks of water aboard, going also in person to learn 
 the cause of distress. 
 
 It was early in 1824 that the great calamity of Sir 
 Stamford Raffles' career, apart from the loss of children, 
 befell. On the 2nd of February, at the close of his term 
 of office at Bencoolen and Singapore, he and Lady Raffles 
 embarked for home at Bencoolen on board the ship 
 Fame. The vessel sailed at daylight with a fair wind, 
 but was not fated to proceed far on her voyage. On that 
 very evening Lady Raffles had just gone to bed, and her 
 
 134 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 husband was half undressed, when there arose the cry 
 of " Fire ! fire !" In five minutes the flames had spread 
 in an alarming way. We describe the occurrence from 
 his own dramatic account, written from Bencoolen two 
 days later : 
 
 " ' Down with the boats ! Where is Sophia ?' (Lady 
 Raffles). 'Here!' ' The children ?' 'Here!' ' A rope 
 to the side. Lower Lady Raffles.' ' Give her to me,' 
 says one of the crew. ' I'll take her,' cries the captain. 
 ' Throw the gunpowder overboard !' 'It cannot be got 
 at. It is in the magazine close to the fire. Stand clear 
 of the powder. Scuttle the water-casks ! Water ! 
 water! Where's Sir Stamford ?' ' Come into the boat !' 
 ' Push off ! push off !' All this passed," he says, " much 
 quicker than I can write it. We pushed off, and as we 
 did so, the flames burst out of our cabin window, the 
 masts and sails take fire, and we move to a distance 
 sufficient to avoid the explosion. The flames were now 
 coming out of the main hatchway, and seeing the rest of 
 the crew, with the captain, still on board, we pulled back 
 to her under the bows, so as to be more distant from the 
 powder. 
 
 " We saw the people on board getting into another 
 boat on the opposite side. She pushed off. We hailed 
 her. ' Have you all on board V ' Yes, all save one.' 
 ' Who is he V ' Johnson, sick in his cot.' ' Can we save 
 him V ' No ; impossible.' At this moment the poor 
 fellow, scorched, I imagine, by the fire, roared out most 
 lustily, having run up on the deck. ' I will go for him,' 
 says the captain. The two boats then came together, 
 and we took out some of the persons from the captain's 
 boat, which was overladen. He then pulled under the 
 bowsprit of the ship and picked the poor fellow up. ' Are 
 you all safe V ' Yes, we have got the man. All lives 
 safe.' 'Thank God!' 'Pull off from the ship. Keep 
 
 135 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 your eye on a star, Sir Stamford. There's one, scarcely 
 visible.' 
 
 " We then hauled close to each other, and found the 
 captain, fortunately, had a compass, but we had no light 
 except from the burning ship." The distance from 
 Bencoolen was about fifty miles. The captain's boat 
 took the lead, steering north-east, with the other boat 
 following. The ship was now " one splendid blaze, 
 fore and aft, and aloft, her masts and sails flaring 
 up, and rocking to and fro, threatening to fall in an 
 instant. ' There goes her mizzen-mast ! Pull away, my 
 boys!'" 
 
 In the two small open boats, without a drop of water, 
 or grain of food, or a rag of covering, except what they 
 happened at the moment to have on their backs, the 
 people were on the ocean. Lady Raffles, taken out of 
 her bed, had nothing on but a wrapper — neither shoes nor 
 stockings — and thechildrenwere just as they were snatched 
 out of bed, whence one had been taken after the flames 
 had attacked it. The lives alone were saved. As the 
 boats steered onwards, by the light of the burning vessel, 
 about midnight the saltpetre on board took fire, and 
 sent up a most brilliant flame, illumining the horizon all 
 round for at least fifty miles, and casting over the people 
 in the boats a terrible blue light. 
 
 In an hour or two the ship was lost to view in a cloud 
 of smoke. After hours of toilsome rowing, and some 
 rain, the daylight came, and the people saw land far 
 south of Bencoolen. A ship came from the Roads, 
 having seen the blaze of the vessel, and thus the people 
 were rescued, when Lady Raffles was quite exhausted 
 and continually fainted. At about 2 p.m. they 
 landed, and the strongest and most affecting proofs of 
 the esteem won by Sir Stamford Raffles' administration 
 were given. " There was not a dry eye," he writes ; 
 
 136 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 " and as we drove back to our former home, loud was the 
 cry of ' God be praised !' " 
 
 The irreparable loss sustained was that of all Raffles' 
 papers and drawings, all his notes and observations, with 
 memoirs and collections, sufficient for a full and ample 
 history of Sumatra, Borneo, and most other islands of 
 note in those Eastern seas, as also for an account of the 
 establishment of Singapore, and for the history of his 
 own administration. There were Eastern grammars, 
 dictionaries, and vocabularies, a fine map of Sumatra, on 
 which he had been employed at intervals since his arrival 
 at Bencoolen, and had bestowed almost his whole atten- 
 tion for the last six months. Over 2,000 drawings 
 perished, along with specimens of almost every hitherto 
 unknown bird, beast, fish, and interesting plant of those 
 regions. This collection included a living tapir, a new 
 species of tiger, and fine pheasants and other fowl domesti- 
 cated for the voyage. " We were, in short," he wrote, 
 " a perfect Noah's Ark." 
 
 We note that, as the boat containing Sir Stamford and 
 bis family came in sight of the shore, the numerous little 
 native craft came darting up, and the people, without 
 one exception, put the single question : " Is the Tuan 
 Besar (the great man) safe ?" On receiving the answer 
 they were off again, as if no other point of interest could 
 exist. The fire, it was found, had arisen in the store- 
 room, under the state cabins, through the gross care- 
 lessness of a steward, who went with a naked light to 
 draw off brandy from a cask. 
 
 We are now to see the treatment accorded to Sir Stam- 
 ford Raffles by the Court of Directors, a matter which is 
 an abiding black blot on the record of the East India 
 Company. The great administrator, in his letter to the 
 Court, claims that " he had served the Company for 
 nearly thirty years, during twelve of which he had 
 
 137 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 exercised the authority of Governor over some of the 
 finest and most interesting, but perhaps least known, 
 countries of the world." This lovely and interesting 
 region had, politically speaking, long sunk into insignifi- 
 cance from the withering effects of Dutch policy. 
 
 He had directed the course of British arms to the 
 island of Java, and there, on the ruins created by mono- 
 poly, torture, and general oppression, he had re-established 
 man in his native rights, and reopened the channel of 
 an extensive commerce. When Java was ceded again 
 to the Dutch he had applied the same principles at 
 Singapore. As regards his natural history collections 
 lost in the Fame,, the more than 2,000 drawings, executed 
 from life and with scientific accuracy, in a style superior 
 to anything hitherto known in Europe, were intended 
 for the East India Company's Museum. There were also 
 many cases full of plants, animals, and minerals. 
 
 His own other losses were most serious, including much 
 that no money could replace, such as the service of plate 
 received from the people of Java, the diamonds presented 
 by the captors of Jokjocarta, and the diamond ring 
 presented to him by the Princess Charlotte of Wales 
 when he left for India, a week before her death. He left 
 it to the Court of Directors how far his claims on account 
 of services were strengthened by the severity of his 
 late misfortune. The result was this : The pecuniary 
 loss sustained by Raffles amounted to at least £20,000 ; 
 the Directors, for the damage done by the fire, gave him 
 not one penny. 
 
 On the 8th of April Sir Stamford and his family sailed 
 for England in the Mariner. On the 25th of June they 
 were at St. Helena, after gales for three weeks off the 
 Cape of Good Hope, in which serious danger was incurred. 
 They landed at the island, and, leaving again on the 
 3rd of July, reached Plymouth on the 22nd. The end 
 
 138 
 
SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES 
 
 of the strenuous and successful, but too brief, career 
 was near at hand. He was engaged at home in various 
 kinds of active work for many months, and died suddenly 
 of apoplexy at his residence, near London, on the anni- 
 versary of his birth, the 5th of July, 1826, in the very 
 prime, reckoned by years, of his admirable life. Sixty- 
 one years later, in the year of Queen Victoria's Jubilee 
 (1887), there was unveiled, on the Esplanade at Singapore, 
 the statue in the founder's honour. The Governor, Sir 
 Frederick Aloysius Weld, in his eloquent address, said : 
 " In Raffles England had one of her greatest sons." 
 
 One word more and we have done. We have seen this 
 illustrious man's life prematurely closed when his health 
 had been broken down in the East by climatic influences 
 and incessant toil. He lived, however, just long 
 enough after his return home to become the founder and 
 first President of the Zoological Society of London, 
 whose Museum contains a large collection of preserved 
 animals which he sent home in 1820. The formation of 
 the famous " Zoo " in Regent's Park came about two 
 years after Raffles' death, but its existence must be 
 justly ascribed to him. Few, indeed, of the " country 
 cousins " from all parts of the British Isles, and of the 
 visitors from every quarter of the Empire, who in that 
 beautiful and instructive resort gaze with wonder and 
 delight on the finest collection of living fauna in the 
 world, know that their pleasure is due, in its source, to 
 Sir Stamford Raffles of Singapore. 
 
 139 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 EAJAH BEOOKE OP BORNEO 
 
 Brooke an Elizabethan hero — A British Rajah — The title of " High- 
 ness " — Brooke's birth 'and early days — An unruly boy — Enters 
 Indian army — Fights in Burmese War — Raises a body of horse- 
 men — His dashing courage — Severe wound — Invalided home- 
 Long illness — His return to India — Quits military service — First 
 thoughts of Eastern career — Enriched by father's death — Buys a 
 yacht — Cruises in Mediterranean — An admirer of Raffles — 
 Brooke's personal appearance — His character — Starts for the East 
 — From Singapore to Sarawak — Rajah Hassim — The Dyak tribes 
 — Hunting for heads — Brooke to Celebes — Helps to beat the 
 Dyaks — Made Rajah of Sarawak — His system of rule — Settles 
 at Kuching — Meets Captain Keppel at Singapore — They attack 
 the Borneo pirates — A dashing charge — Brooke fighting pirates 
 in Sumatra — His life at Kuching — More work against pirates — 
 Brooke and Admiral Cochrane attack Sultan of Brunei — A smart 
 fight — Flight of Sultan — Rajah's reception at Sarawak — Home to 
 England — His greeting and honours — Out to East again with 
 Keppel — The pirates again — Their utter defeat — Progress of the 
 new State — Rajah again in England. 
 
 BROOKE of Borneo was a man who, in the reign 
 of Queen Victoria, reproduced, in a sense, the 
 Elizabethan type of Drake, Probisher, Hawkins, 
 and other heroes of the new Western world in their exploits 
 in the Spanish Main. The account of his career in 
 the East suggests, in a measure, the charming romance 
 " Westward Ho !" with the substitution of Dyaks and 
 other pirates for the Spaniards with whom Amyas Leigh 
 
 140 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 waged ruthless war. Many of the home-staying subjects 
 of Victoria were surprised to hear, in the earlier years 
 of her reign, of an Englishman who bore the title of 
 " Rajah," and they wondered what it meant. An 
 energetic and able Briton who went abroad in the service 
 of his country might become a General, or an Ambassador, 
 or a Governor, in a regular, respectable, red-tape fashion, 
 but to hear of such a man as a Rajah was somewhat 
 startling. 
 
 It is one object of this brief memoir to explain this 
 irregular proceeding, and to enlighten the possible 
 ignorance of persons, if such there still be, who, like a 
 lady in Brooke's earlier days, cried : " Let me see. Where 
 is Borneo ? I know so little of the West Indies !" or 
 of those who still believe James Brooke's nephew and 
 successor, the present Rajah of Sarawak, to be a " black 
 man." The Brooke family, we may explain, bear the 
 title of " Highness " owing to the political position of 
 Sarawak and the discernment of King Edward VII. 
 That monarch, in 1902, recognizing the splendid work 
 done for civilization and for British fame by the Brookes, 
 awarded to them the honours and precedence of Feudatory 
 Princes of the Empire. Thus it was that the ruler of a 
 country as large as England, with 600,000 people, became 
 " His Highness the Rajah " instead of, up to 1887, simply 
 "Mr. Brooke," and thenceforward, up to 1902, "Sir 
 Charles Brooke, G.C.M.G." 
 
 James Brooke, like Robert Clive and some other 
 Englishmen who rose to eminence, was a wild, wilful, 
 unruly boy. He was born at Coombe Grove, near Bath, 
 on the 29th of April, 1803, being 'second son of a member 
 of the Bengal Civil Service of the East India Company, 
 Mr. Thomas Brooke, and of Anna Maria Stuart, a woman 
 of superior intelligence, who carefully trained him in 
 substantial goodness, and won bis perfect love and 
 
 141 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 confidence. He was sent for education, at twelve years 
 of age, to Norwich Grammar School, then ruled by 
 Dr. Valpy. The lad's temperament could not, after a 
 two-years' trial, endure the irksomeness of the school 
 discipline of the time, just as, in later years, he revolted 
 from the restrictions of red tape. He accordingly ran 
 away from school, and when he was placed in charge of 
 a private tutor, he locked that gentleman, on one occasion, 
 in his room, and went off on some frolic for the day. 
 
 The Company's Indian army was clearly the destination 
 of such a spirit, and he entered the service in 1819, as 
 ensign in the Madras Native Infantry, when he was 
 sixteen years of age. He had at school become dear to 
 many of his comrades, and the influence which he 
 obtained showed an inborn capacity for rule. Having 
 become a Lieutenant in 1821, he found thoroughly con- 
 genial work three years later as a combatant in the 
 First Burmese War. The British General, Sir Archibald 
 Campbell, sorely needed cavalry, and Brooke raised an 
 efficient body of riders, to act as scouts, from the infantry 
 battalions. 
 
 In an action fought in January, 1825, he earned the 
 thanks of the General and mention in dispatches for 
 " most conspicuous merit " as leader in the dashing work 
 of his irregular horsemen. Two days later, when some 
 native troops attacking a stockade were wavering, Brooke 
 sprang from his horse, took the command, and fell 
 wounded just as, foremost of all, he led them up to the 
 position. The men again lost heart, but reinforcements 
 arrived, and the palisaded post was stormed in a few 
 minutes with heavy loss. Brooke's Colonel, who had 
 seen him fall, was told that the young officer was dead, 
 but he carefully examined the body, found fife in it, and 
 had him taken to hospital. 
 
 There, with a slug lodged in the lungs, Brooke lay for 
 
 142 
 
ItAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 months between life and death, and was then, in August) 
 1825, paddled down a branch of the Brahmapootra in a 
 canoe, taken to Calcutta, and ordered home on a long 
 leave by the Medical Board. He joined his family at 
 Bath, and recovered at last by extraction of the slug. 
 He then had some continental travel, and, embarking for 
 India to rejoin his regiment, he was much delayed on the 
 voyage by bad weather. He found, on arrival at Madras, 
 that he had overstayed his leave, and with his usual 
 impetuosity he resigned his commission, only to find that, 
 through his father's interest, his offence had been con- 
 doned. On a visit to China he saw something of 
 Malaysia, and appears at this time (1830) to have first 
 thought of the region as one where something might 
 be done by an enterprising man. 
 
 After returning to England, he was soon in the East 
 again, trading in the China seas for a large British firm, 
 and during further travel in those waters Brooke formed 
 his serious plan, his great design, of striving to rescue 
 from barbarism some of the people of savage tribes who, 
 continually at war with each other, or engaged as ferocious 
 pirates, brought desolation and woe on the islands of 
 the Archipelago which was so rich in natural beauty and 
 fertility. It was at the end of 1835 that he found himself 
 in possession of the needful pecuniary means, when his 
 father, on his death, left the restless son £30,000 at his free 
 disposal. 
 
 Brooke forthwith purchased and equipped the Royalist, 
 a schooner-yacht of about 140 tons, and in the autumn 
 of 1836 he started for a cruise in the Mediterranean, 
 where he visited the chief places of interest. On returning 
 to England, after testing fully his vessel and crew, he 
 made a close study of the Eastern Archipelago in books, 
 having a fervent admiration for Sir Stamford Raffles, 
 whose work he desired to follow up in his own fashion. 
 
 143 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 His great aim was to see man in the wildest natural state 
 in lands and waters practically unknown to Europeans. 
 We may here pause for a moment in the adventurous 
 career to note our hero's personal characteristics. 
 
 The admirable portrait by Sir Francis Grant, P.R.A., 
 described as " a speaking likeness " by one of Brooke's 
 most intimate friends, shows the man in a sort of naval 
 undress. The figure and attitude, in easy standing pose, 
 suggest rare activity and alertness, and the face is full 
 of resolution and fire. In stature he was about 5 feet 
 10 inches ; his countenance was open and handsome ; his 
 frame supple and strong. Brooke was a man of dauntless 
 courage and the sweetest disposition, with an unsur- 
 passed power of winning the affection of followers and 
 friends. In regard to the natives whom he ruled, the 
 simplicity and kindliness of his demeanour won the 
 confidence and invited the fearless approach of the poor 
 and oppressed. The victim of ill-usage felt sure of a 
 ready and gracious hearing, and of redress, if it were 
 possible, for any wrong. His failings were his excessive 
 frankness and trust in human nature, arising from 
 goodness of heart. 
 
 At length, in the last days of 1838, Brooke sailed in 
 his yacht from Devonport for the East. The Royalist 
 belonged to the Royal Yacht Squadron, which gave her, 
 in foreign ports, the privileges of a man-of-war carrying a 
 white ensign. She was a fast-sailing craft, and carried 
 six 6-pounder guns, a good supply of swords, and all 
 kinds of small arms, with four boats and provisions for 
 four months. The crew had mostly been with the owner 
 and commander for three years, and the rest were men 
 carefully chosen. In May, 1839, the vessel reached 
 Singapore, where some weeks were spent in refitting and 
 in preparation for future work. 
 
 By a happy chance Brooke was directed to Sarawak, a 
 
 144 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 region in the north-west of Borneo, as the bearer of a 
 letter and presents from the merchants of Singapore to 
 Rajah Muda Hassim, uncle of the Sultan of Brunei, 
 On the 27th of July, with a reinforcement of eight Malay 
 mariners, fine athletic oarsmen, who could alsc give 
 useful help in getting wood and water, the Royalist left 
 Singapore for Borneo, and on the 11th of August she 
 reached the mouth of the Sarawak River. Hassim was 
 already well disposed to the English, having taken kindly 
 care of a shipwrecked crew and sent the men safely to 
 Singapore. He was mightily pleased with the presents 
 of silk, jams, China toys, a large quantity of coarse 
 nankeen, and gunpowder, which Brooke had brought, 
 and he gave him permission to trade and travel in the 
 territory. 
 
 Brooke did some exploring work, but was prevented 
 from penetrating into the interior through the warfare 
 of the Sultan's forces with several of the Dyak tribes who 
 had revolted. The Dyaks, who are of kindred race with 
 the Malays, represent the aboriginal people of Borneo, 
 and are an active, hardy, intelligent, hospitable, honest 
 race, divided into many tribes of varying dialects and 
 customs. The warriors were wont at this time to 
 preserve the skulls of slain enemies as proofs of success 
 in conflict, and the younger men went out on " head- 
 hunting " excursions because the possession of a certain 
 number of human heads was the only means of admission 
 to some chief social privileges. The Dyak tribes, for the 
 most part, dwelt inland, but some, known to Europeans 
 as the " Sea-Dyaks," were most audacious and persistent 
 pirates. 
 
 After returning for a time to Singapore, where he was 
 welcomed for his account of a new region for trade — one 
 not yet appropriated by the obnoxious Dutchmen — 
 Brooke made a run to Celebes for exploration, returned 
 
 145 K 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 to Singapore for the refitting of his vessel, and in August, 
 1840, he was again at Saiawak. His friend Hassim was 
 still troubled by the rebels, and Brooke now rendered 
 effective aid by the use of his yacht-guns, and before 
 the end of the year he brought about the restoration of 
 peace. His reward was appointment as Rajah of Sara- 
 wak by Hassim, which was confirmed in September, 1841, 
 by the Sultan of Brunei. 
 
 The new Rajah's tenure of power was joyfully received 
 by the " land " or non-political Dyaks, the Malays, and 
 the Chinese of the territory. Brooke's career as a Borneo 
 ruler, in its first phase, lasted for five years, and was one 
 of conspicuous and beneficent success. A new judicial 
 system made all persons and classes equal before the law. 
 Rule was wisely exercised through the influence and by 
 the aid of the native chiefs. He took up his abode at 
 Kuching, a village of 1,000 people about twenty miles up 
 the Sarawak River, in a comfortable wooden " palace," 
 and was there engaged for about two years in his adminis- 
 trative duties. In 1843 he was again at Singapore, where 
 he made the valuable acquaintance of that fine British 
 sailor and gentleman Captain the Hon. Henry Keppel, 
 in command of H.M.S. Dido, a man who died, under King 
 Edward VII., as Admiral of the Fleet. 
 
 It was one of the Rajah's chief objects, in his plan of 
 developing commerce for the general benefit of Borneo, 
 to suppress the piracy which was the curse of the country 
 in preventing trade, and a standing danger to European 
 and American vessels in the Eastern seas. Keppel had 
 at once taken Brooke at his real value, and the British 
 captain, by permission of the Admiralty, gladly sailed, in 
 May, 1843, with Brooke on board, for the scene of action. 
 The natives were delighted to see once more their " Tuan 
 Besar," or " great man," and hailed with joy the sight 
 of the British man-of-war as their ally against the pirates. 
 
 146 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 A native contingent of 500 men was enrolled, and 
 Keppel anchored his frigate off the Seribas River. The 
 British boats put off with armed crews of about eighty 
 seamen and marines, who, with their usual " dash," 
 stormed every fort and obstruction of the pirates. The 
 enemy, thousands strong, fled in terror and astonishment 
 before the novel and audacious assault, and the native 
 force destroyed the piratical forts and villages. The 
 Rajah's influence was, of course, much increased by this 
 success. At the end of 1843, visiting Singapore, he had 
 the grievous news of his mother's death. 
 
 Unable to rest long in any place, Brooke went off to 
 Penang, whence he joined in an attack on some pirates 
 off the coast of Sumatra. He was a guest at the time 
 on board a British man-of-war, and his share in the 
 conflict ended in a gash on the forehead and a shot in 
 an arm as he helped in " rushing " a stockade. When 
 the expedition returned to Penang, the ship's crew begged 
 the captain's permission to man yards and give three 
 cheers for their brave associate. In May, 1844, he 
 returned to Sarawak, where he found that his absence 
 had encouraged his enemies the pirates. He promptly 
 organized an expedition, and captured by surprise several 
 of their war-craft. 
 
 Of his domestic life at this time we learn that a new 
 house had been built for him at Kuching, on rising ground 
 between two streams, with the broad Sarawak River 
 flowing below. Of existence in this pretty spot he wrote, 
 in his hearty way : " I like couches, and flowers, and easy- 
 chairs, and newspapers, and clear streams, and sunny 
 walks." His favourite flower was the rose, of which he 
 had some good specimens. Keppel came again with the 
 Dido, and a fresh expedition started against the pirates 
 on the Batang Lupar River. Many natives joined the 
 British force, and early in August, 1844, under a hot fire, 
 
 147 K 2 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 the forts of Patusin were stormed, with the loss of a 
 British sailor killed and a few wounded. The native 
 allies made a close and destructive pursuit of the fleeing 
 foe. 
 
 In 1845 the Rajah, who had been named the Queen's 
 " confidential agent " in that region, officially delivered 
 a letter from her to the Sultan and Government of 
 Brunei. At this time Admiral Sir T. Cochrane arrived 
 with a squadron, and Sherif Osman of Marudu Bay, the 
 most notorious pirate-chief in the Archipelago', was 
 severely chastised. A powerful expedition forced its 
 way, with heavy loss, under fire from the forts, through 
 a very strong boom placed across a narrow stream, and 
 through other well-devised obstacles, and the pirates' 
 town was taken and burnt, the chief receiving a mortal 
 wound in the struggle. 
 
 In 1846 the Rajah's friend, Muda Hussim, was assas- 
 sinated by some who objected to the British presence 
 and methods of rule, and many of his supporters perished. 
 The Sultan of Brunei was the really guilty person, and 
 Sir Thomas Cochrane started with his ships for the capital, 
 picking up Brooke on his way at Sarawak. On the 6th 
 of June the vessels reached the Brunei River, and the 
 British Admiral sent a messenger to the Sultan, seeking 
 an interview. Some persons of inferior rank brought 
 word that " the Admiral might ascend the river in two 
 small boats." The only reply, of course, that was made 
 to this insolence was that the war-steamers, towing 
 sailing-vessels and the boats of the squadron, went up 
 the river. 
 
 On nearing the town the British were received with 
 volleys from every battery, but the marines and blue- 
 jacktes were speedily landed, and the enemy fled in dis- 
 may. A battery at the palace did much damage to the 
 Phlegethon. The Sultan escaped into the interior, and 
 
 148 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 could not be caught. The credit of Great Britain in 
 Borneo was greatly raised by the capture of Brunei, 
 which the tribes of the inner country regarded as a 
 wondrous piece of valour. They rejoiced in the discom- 
 fiture of their oppressor, and laughed as they told British 
 visitors of the spectacle of the Sultan and his nobles 
 fleeing through the jungle with their enemy in full cry 
 after them. Cochrane's squadron destroyed other 
 piratical towns before returning to Hong Kong. 
 
 Rajah Brooke, on his return to Sarawak, had a grand 
 reception as a conqueror, and the year 1846 closed in 
 peace, with every sign of prosperity. Kuching, the 
 capital of Sarawak, was growing fast in population 
 through immigration from disturbed districts of the 
 great island. The time soon came for the Rajah to 
 show himself in his native land, which he reached in 
 October, 1847, to be warmly greeted by his friends and 
 relatives. The Government received him well ; the Cor- 
 poration of London conferred its " freedom "; the Uni- 
 versity of Oxford bestowed the honorary degree of D.C.L. ; 
 and, above all, his Sovereign accorded a gracious inter- 
 view at Windsor Castle. It is needless to state with 
 what uproarious cheering from the undergraduates Brooke 
 was received in the Theatre at Oxford. 
 
 Before his arrival in England he had been appointed 
 Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Island of 
 Labuan, a new British dependency acquired by pur- 
 chase from the Sultan of Borneo, and he was also named 
 Consul-General for that country. In 1848 he became Sir 
 James Brooke, K.C.B., and on the 1st of February he 
 left Portsmouth for Sarawak on board the Meander, a 
 forty-four gun frigate, commanded by his friend Keppel. 
 After a stay at Singapore the ship reached her destina- 
 tion in September, and the Rajah had a most brilliant 
 reception from the people. Early in October he went 
 
 149 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 on the Meander to Labuan, where he, his staff of officials, 
 and the seamen were attacked by fever, which caused the 
 death of many sailors and marines. The sick recovered 
 when Brooke Bent them up to higher ground. 
 
 On the return to Sarawak he found it necessary to 
 attack the pirates again, dealing now with some tribes 
 of Sea-Dyaks who persisted in their evil practices and 
 refused submission to British authority. Some men-of- 
 war had reached the Sarawak River, and a great expedi- 
 tion was organized. The steamer Nemesis was accom- 
 panied by the boats of the Albatross and the Royalist, 
 and by about 100 native prah'us, carrying in all between 
 3,000 and 4,000 men. This force was destined to inflict 
 the greatest blow ever dealt to Dyak piracy, and the 
 event formed an epoch in the history of the coast of 
 Borneo. 
 
 On the 24th of July, 1849, the Nemesis and Royalist 
 started, with seven British boats in tow, and the Rajah 
 and some of his staff followed with the native contingent. 
 News came that over 100 piratical war-craft had pulled 
 along the coast towards the appointed place of meeting 
 for the British and native forces on the Rejang River. 
 These pirates were intercepted by one portion of the 
 British force, and, dispersing in confusion, they landed 
 and escaped in the woods, leaving the prahus to their 
 fate. Of these, seventy-five were taken as they lay on 
 the sandy shore, eighteen were sunk at sea, and only 
 twelve escaped up the river. These vessels were each 
 about 80 feet long and 9 feet broad, with a crew of at 
 least seventy oarsmen. The cruelty of the pirates was 
 revealed when Brooke's party landed far up one of the 
 rivers. In a large village house surrounded by a planta- 
 tion of cotton there were found baskets of skulls of 
 people who had been slain by the marauders, 300 of these 
 trophies being counted in one village. 
 
 160 
 
The Attack on Pirate Pkahus 
 
 Thes-i Malay pirates were severely beaten, and seventy-five prahus were captured 
 
 and eighteen sunk. 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 This great success against the common enemy of the 
 British and the peaceable natives was followed by a 
 quiet time at Sarawak. Much progress was made through 
 the arrival of 4,000 Chinese agriculturists, who fled £rom 
 the interior under the stress of a civil war among the 
 tribes. Increase of revenue attended the growth of 
 tillage and trade, and all went well except with the 
 beneficent ruler, who had a severe attack of fever and 
 ague, and was compelled in January, 1851, by medical 
 advice, to start for England. There, as we shall see, the 
 brave Rajah had to meet adversaries of another class. 
 
 151 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 EAJAH BROOKE OF BOKNEO— Continued 
 
 " Head-money " awarded to British sailors and marines — The Rajah 
 attacked in England — Brooke's action against a company — Dinner 
 in his honour — A high testimony — Result of Commission of In- 
 quiry — His position in Sarawak — Native esteem — The Rajah in 
 peril — Chinese attack on Kuching — His narrow escape — British 
 officials killed — A brave lady — The defence of the stockade — 
 Rajah's faithful Malays — British steamer arrives — Flight and 
 pursuit of Chinese — The Rajah's losses at Government House — 
 He returns to England — His welcome there — Another public 
 dinner — His speech at Liverpool — Attack of paralysis — Hia 
 pecuniary position — A generous lady — Public subscription — He 
 buys an estate — Again at Sarawak — Gift of a steamer — Extension 
 of Rajah's territory — Trouble with his nephew, the acting-ruler 
 — Nephew deposed — the new acting-Rajah — Independence of 
 Sarawak recognized — He returns to England — Further illness — 
 His death — His tomb — Present condition of Sarawak — The first 
 Rajah's public character — His dealings with natives — Mr. Wallace's 
 high testimony. 
 
 IN the various engagements of British naval forces with 
 the Borneo pirates and the Sultan's men so much 
 slaughter of natives had taken place that, prior to 
 the Rajah's visit to England in 1847, the " head-money " 
 awarded by the British Government to the sailors and 
 marines amounted to £20,000. It must be remembered 
 that every pirate's death was a distinct gain to humanity, 
 though objection might, perhaps, be reasonably made to 
 this mode of recognizing the service rendered. 
 
 152 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P. for Montrose, a distinguished 
 Radical in advocating the reform of abuses of all kinds, 
 attacked the Rajah in the House of Commons, and 
 " moved " for a Commission of Inquiry into Borneo 
 affairs, especially in regard to the " head-money." Mr. 
 Cobden, the eminent Free-Trader, also attacked 
 Brooke in a speech delivered at Manchester, denouncing 
 him as a private adventurer who had seized in Borneo 
 a territory as large as Yorkshire, driving out the natives, 
 and then, under pretence that they were pirates, mas- 
 sacring them by aid of the Queen's ships. There was, 
 in fact, a sort of cry of " Borneo atrocities," and it 
 was alleged that the Rajah, the destroyer of pirates, 
 was little better than a pirate himself. 
 
 Brooke was not the man to submit tamely to this 
 treatment, nor did he lack other aid than his own. His 
 cause was strongly maintained by the able, thorough- 
 going patriot, Lord Palmerston. Hostile motions in 
 Parliament were defeated by large majorities. The 
 Rajah, on his own behalf, brought an action against 
 some of his chief enemies, the Directors of the Eastern 
 Archipelago Company. The result of this was that the 
 court declared, in regard to the Company's capital, that 
 " the directors had signed a false certificate, knowing it 
 to be false." Their charter was forthwith annulled, and 
 the seal was torn off the document. 
 
 On the 30th of April, 1852, a great dinner was given 
 to Brooke at the London Tavern, the banquet being 
 attended by over 300 distinguished men, and Sir James 
 received a remarkable testimony from a most able and 
 eminent judge, Baron Alderson. That high functionary 
 said that " the greatest benefactors of the human race 
 have been most abused in their own lifetime," and he 
 promised the Rajah, as a lasting boon, " the approba- 
 tion of his own conscience, and of all good reasonable 
 
 153 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 men." The speech delivered by Brooke on this occasion 
 delighted all his hearers, who saw for the first time his 
 fine person and manner and heard his charming voice. 
 
 The end of the attacks on the Rajah's proceedings in 
 Borneo was that the British Government granted a Com- 
 mission of Inquiry, which met at Singapore, and examined 
 Brooke himself and other witnesses. The Commission 
 were then forced by evidence to confess that Brooke's 
 enemies in Borneo were inveterate ruffians, and deserved 
 no pity, and to pronounce other charges against him to 
 be groundless. Brooke was so far disgusted by the whole 
 affair that he resigned his official positions as Governor 
 of Labuan and Consul-General for Borneo. 
 
 On his return to Sarawak he was warmly welcomed 
 by those who knew him so well, and he pursued his old 
 course of constant conflict with rebellious Dyaks, mutinous 
 Chinese, and inveterate pirates, and treated his " lord- 
 paramount," the Sultan of Brunei, in a very high-handed 
 way whenever that potentate ventured to interfere. 
 Among his troubles at this time was a severe attack of 
 small-pox. The Rajah was supported always by the 
 knowledge that he had, in his own sphere of action, the 
 respect, the love, and the perfect trust of good men of 
 all creeds and races, and that order and civilization 
 sprang up wherever he planted his conquering feet. 
 
 In 1857 the Rajah was in most serious danger, for his 
 power and his fife, from the one class of people, lawless 
 evil-doers, to whom his just and righteous rule was ever 
 hateful. An attack on his capital, Kuching, was made 
 by a body of Chinese from the interior of Borneo, acting 
 under the orders of a secret society, which appears to 
 have been irritated by the punishment of smugglers of 
 opium. An underlying cause was, probably, the second 
 Chinese War, then being waged, concerning which contest 
 false news had come that the British had been defeated 
 
 154 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 by the Chinese forces, and that the Viceroy of Canton 
 Province had offered a reward of £25 for every English- 
 man slain. Emissaries were sent from Singapore and 
 Malacca to incite the Chinese gold-workers in Sarawak 
 to rebellion. 
 
 It was on the 28th of February that a faithful Malay, 
 who had seen a body of some hundreds of Chinese on 
 large cargo-boats descending the river towards Kuching, 
 brought the tidings to the town. His news was not 
 believed, and the Rajah was not informed. About mid- 
 night some of the Chinese boats entered a creek just 
 above his residence, while the larger force went on to 
 the landing-place of the fort, and sent out strong detach- 
 ments to surprise the houses of the English Magistrate 
 and Chief Constable, while another body went to attack 
 the stockades. 
 
 Government House, standing on a small grassy hill, 
 was surrounded by some neat cottages for the reception 
 of visitors from the out-stations. About 100 Chinese 
 assaulted the front and rear of the Rajah's house, where 
 there were only himself and an English servant. The 
 miscreants did not entirely surround the place, as they 
 feared to act separately, in dread of the Rajah's courage, 
 activity, and skill in the use of weapons. Brooke was 
 aroused by the shouts and yells of the assailants, and, 
 looking out through the Venetian blinds, he understood 
 the business in hand. 
 
 He raised his revolver several times to fire, but, know- 
 ing that it was impossible to defend the place, he resolved 
 to escape. He supposed that, as a matter of course, 
 all sides of the building were being watched by the 
 enemy, and, calling his servant, he went down to a bath- 
 room on the ground floor leading on to the lawn, and 
 told him to open the door quickly and keep close in 
 rear. Then the Rajah sprang forth with revolver pointed 
 
 155 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 and sword drawn, but found no opposition. At the bank 
 of the stream above the house he stopped, seeing the 
 number of Chinese boats. In the darkness the servant 
 had lost the master, and Brooke, forced to escape alone, 
 dived under the bows of one of the enemy's vessels and 
 swam to the other side. 
 
 He was suffering from fever and ague, and when he 
 crawled out on the muddy farther shore he fell over 
 exhausted. Partially recovering, he reached the house 
 of the Government " writer," or clerk. A young officer, 
 who was lodged as a visitor in one of the dwellings near 
 Government House, being startled by the sound of the 
 attack, rushed out to join his chief, but was intercepted 
 and killed by the Chinese, who cut off his head and 
 carried it in triumph on a pike as that of the Rajah. 
 One official escaped from another cottage into the jungle, 
 where the Rajah's servant, by great activity, joined him. 
 
 The Magistrate and his wife were cut down, the former 
 being seriously wounded, and the lady left for dead. 
 The Constable and his wife escaped, but their two children 
 and an English lodger were killed. The stockades were 
 defended with success for a time through warning given 
 by a sentinel, which allowed time to load a 6-pounder 
 field-gun. The Chinese rush was stopped by a shower 
 of grape-shot, and the official in charge shot down with 
 his rifle the leader, who was bearing a flaming torch in 
 each hand. It was, however, impossible, with only four 
 defenders, to maintain the position, and Mr. Crymble, 
 the official, a brave Irishman, when two of bis men were 
 disabled, escaped by the ditch. The town was in utter 
 confusion, as the darkness was dispelled by the flames 
 of the Rajah's, the Magistrate's, and the Constable's 
 houses, and the air rent by the yells of the Chinese. 
 
 The Rajah vainly tried to arrange with bis officers a 
 force to surprise the enemy. The men were impeded by 
 
 156 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 the presence of terrified wives and children, and there 
 was no supply of proper arms and ammunition, as the 
 arsenal was in the hands of the enemy. He therefore 
 had the women and children, during the night, removed 
 beyond the river, and then, with his party of officials, 
 he walked across to a little tributary of the Sarawak 
 River, and there found the war-boat of a friendly chief, 
 with sixty men. 
 
 They were quickly joined by another large prahu and 
 by many canoes when the Malays heard of the Rajah's 
 position. These people showed the most delicate sym- 
 pathy and attention to the ruler who was, for the time, 
 a defeated and helpless fugitive, and when the news 
 reached England, a powerful daily newspaper, which had 
 previously been hostile to the Rajah, expressed the 
 utmost admiration for " the manner in which he must 
 have exercised his power to have produced such fruits." 
 
 In the morning Kuching was in a terrible condition. 
 The Chinese had been joined by all the low people of 
 their race, half-stupefied with opium, and were roaming 
 about the town discharging ball-cartridge from their 
 muskets. About thirty of their number had been killed 
 or wounded at the stockade. Mrs. Crookshank, the wife 
 of the Magistrate, had lain all night on the ground, and 
 with marvellous courage and coolness she had shammed 
 death whilst the ruffians tore the rings from her fingers 
 and cut at her head with swords. The thick mass of her 
 braided hair saved her fife, and she was found by her 
 servant and conveyed to the mission-house. 
 
 The Chinese soon retired up-country, and, returning 
 when they heard that the Malays would not accept 
 Chinese rule, they were unsuccessfully assailed by the 
 loyal people. The Rajah sent off the English ladies and 
 children, the non-combatants and the wounded, to the 
 well-armed fort of Linga. On the next day, as he fol- 
 
 157 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 lowed the Chinese to their base of operations for recovery 
 of the position, he and his followers had reached the mouth 
 of a river, when a cry arose of " Smoke ! smoke ! A 
 steamer !" It proved to be the Sir James Brooke, the 
 vessel of the Borneo Company, on her way to the Sarawak 
 River. 
 
 The Rajah's prahu crew pulled hard to the steamer at 
 anchor. The native boats were taken in tow, and Dyak 
 reinforcements kept coming up. The Chinese at Kuching 
 fled at the first volley from the steamer's guns, and were 
 pursued by the rejoicing Malays, who slaughtered one 
 large party to the last man, or caused their death by 
 hunger in the jungle. The burnt capital was thus re- 
 covered, and the Rajah, for a time, took up his quarters 
 in the steamer. 
 
 The outbreak ended in the utter destruction of the 
 Chinese Gold Company's men, mainly owing to the 
 loyalty of the Malays and Dyaks in their attachment 
 to the Rajah. The burning of Government House had 
 caused him the lamentable loss of his library, rich in 
 books of every class — history, essays, poets, voyages and 
 travels, theology, law, novels, and works of reference — 
 but the bereaved owner was living with cheerfulness and 
 contentment in his little comfortless cottage. He was 
 now for some time busied in the work of rebuilding his 
 capital and in other affairs. 
 
 In 1858 Rajah Brooke returned to England, where he 
 remained for three years. He had previously written to 
 a friend in this country announcing his arrival as that of 
 " an old, old man," into whose heart injustice had eaten 
 its way. He had no cause, however, to complain of his 
 reception at home. He was cordially welcomed by Lord 
 Palmerston and Lord Clarendon, by the Queen and the 
 Prince Consort, and a public dinner in his honour was 
 given to him at Manchester, the place where, as we have 
 
 158 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 Been, he had been censured by Mr. Cobden. He was 
 feeling the effects of a toilsome and harassed life, and 
 endeavoured without success to induce the Government 
 to take over the sovereignty of Sarawak, with the reten- 
 tion of the post of actual ruler for himself or for his 
 nephew, Captain Brooke. 
 
 In a speech at Liverpool he declared that what he 
 wanted was the protection of his native country for 
 Sarawak. " Sarawak," he said, " must be placed in 
 security, and then my life's task will have ended." 
 Within a very short time — in October, 1858 — he had a 
 slight attack of paralysis, which would with many men 
 have brought the close of his public life. He was also 
 troubled by pecuniary affairs, having expended his whole 
 fortune on Sarawak, and he was forced to borrow £5,000 
 from the Borneo Company. His only certain income at 
 this time was his pension of £70 for the terrible wound 
 which he had received over thirty years before in Bur- 
 mah. 
 
 He was not neglected in this strait by the admirers of 
 constancy and courage. A generous lady paid the Borneo 
 Company's claim, and he received nearly £9,000 as a 
 testimonial from subscribers who appreciated his public 
 work. With part of this sum the Rajah bought a small 
 estate at Burrator, on the edge of Dartmoor, and was 
 much restored by residence in the pure bracing air. Even 
 now the much-enduring man had not done with Sarawak. 
 The old enemy, the Sultan of Brunei, who had been de- 
 posed and then restored, was causing trouble to the 
 acting Rajah, Captain Brooke, and Sir James, in 1862, 
 was again in his territory. His mere appearance brought 
 a bloodless victory, and the chieftain who had been 
 instigated by the Sultan was banished. 
 
 The same lady whose generosity has just been recorded 
 presented the Rajah with a steamer, which he called the 
 
 159 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 Rainbow, as the emblem of hope, and she proved to be a 
 most valuable acquisition for the Sarawak Government. 
 Before leaving for home Sir James paid a visit to the 
 Sultan of Brunei, and forced him to cede 110 miles of 
 coast, making 260 in all. He then installed his nephew 
 as " Rajah Muda," meaning " Young Rajah," or heir- 
 apparent, and started off for England. 
 
 His back was scarcely turned when his nephew became 
 insubordinate, declaring that his rights had been violated, 
 and that he and his uncle must try their relative strength 
 in Sarawak. Those who knew the Rajah were quite sure 
 of what his action would be. As soon as he arrived in 
 England, and heard of the state of affairs, he set off 
 again for the East, where he received his nephew's sub- 
 mission, deposed him, and installed another nephew, Mr. 
 Charles Johnson, who became afterwards, as he remains 
 (in 1907), H.H. Sir Charles Johnson Brooke, G.C.M.G., 
 Rajah of Sarawak. In 1863 the independence of the 
 territory was acknowledged by the British Government, 
 in which Lord Palmerston was Premier, with Lord John 
 (afterwards Earl) Russell as Foreign Secretary, and a 
 Consul was appointed at Kuching. 
 
 The Rajah remained for some time in Borneo, enjoying 
 the fruits of his past career in viewing the rapid extension 
 of trade and revenue, and the reign of peace and content- 
 ment which he had created by genius and valour. He 
 then returned to England, and spent much time at Bur- 
 rator, where he was beloved by all the people. His 
 health again failed, and at Christmas, 1866, he had a 
 fresh paralytic attack, after which he lingered on until 
 a third stroke ended his life on the 11th of June, 1868. 
 The remains of Rajah Brooke lie buried under a white 
 tombstone beneath a stately tree in the churchyard of 
 Sheepstor, a Dartmoor hamlet named from the rent and 
 rugged mass of granite near by. 
 
 160 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 Some details on the present condition of Sarawak, 
 which in 1888 was placed under British protection, may 
 be interesting. Further concessions of territory in 1882, 
 1885, and 1905 by the Sultan of Brunei raised the area 
 to about 50,000 square miles, with about 400 miles of 
 coast-line. In 1905 the value of the exports, chiefly 
 in sago, indiarubber, gutta-percha, pepper, and gold, 
 amounted to over £1,500,000, while the imports were 
 worth nearly £1,200,000. Kuching, with excellent public 
 buildings, has a population exceeding 25,000. Sibu, on 
 the B.ejang River, contains a large number of Chinese 
 traders, who exchange European goods for jungle pro- 
 duce. The river has a native population estimated at 
 90,000. The head-quarters of the Bishop of Singapore 
 and Sarawak are at Kuching, where he has a mission- 
 school with 100 pupils and a girls' school. There is also 
 a Roman Catholic Mission with schools for boys and 
 girls. At Brooketon and Sadong there are coal-mines, 
 which produced in 1904 about 45,000 tons. 
 
 We have now seen that Rajah Brooke of Sarawak will 
 hive in the memories of Britons as a man who, adding to 
 the long list of British worthies, made his race respected 
 in regions where the name of our country was formerly 
 never heard. He was a real builder of Empire in adding 
 large territories to the British sphere of influence. He 
 had the forethought and the courage to found a system 
 of rule in a wild region where most of the people were 
 hostile to Europeans and addicted to piracy. Governing 
 with a strong hand, he won the confidence of the natives 
 in showing them what Englishmen of the best type really 
 are. 
 
 One of Brooke's chief methods of dealing with the 
 Malays and Dyaks was that of treating them, so far as 
 possible, as equals, not only legally, but socially. Good 
 feeling was thus created, and all his assistants followed 
 
 161 L 
 
RAJAH BROOKE OF BORNEO 
 
 Wb excellent example. Sir Charles Brooke, his successor, 
 found it needless to change in any class of affairs — agri- 
 cultural, commercial, financial, political, or judicial — the 
 policy which had been established by his uncle. 
 
 Mr. Alfred Wallace, in his work, The Malay Archi- 
 pelago, declares the founder of Sarawak, on the best 
 grounds of knowledge, to have been a great, wise, and 
 good ruler, a man of exceptional ability, honesty, and 
 daring, and one of tender heart, who could be rightly 
 regarded neither as an adventurer nor as a despot. The 
 private character of the Rajah was of the highest. In his 
 public conduct he was actuated by a noble ambition, and 
 he displayed rare courage both in his conflicts with wild 
 tribes in the East and, at home, against those who assailed, 
 without lasting effect, a great Englishman's name and 
 fame. 
 
 162 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 MAJOR SKINNER, THE CIVILIZEE OF CEYLON 
 
 Importance of roads to civilization — Thomas Skinner as a eivilizer — 
 His birth and early life — Learns little at school — Out to Ceylon — 
 Enters army — A boy-officer on parade — Takes troops to Colombo 
 — Description of Ceylon — The rain-swollen streams — Thickness of 
 jungle — Skinner's temperate habits — Cold tea for thirsty people — 
 He learns to go barefoot — Shoots his first elephant — His friend the 
 Governor — Sets to work at road-making — Finds out how to do it 
 — His native labourers — His just treatment — His work approved 
 — Value of praise — The road completed — Voyage to England — 
 Then to Newfoundland — Again at work in Ceylon — His promotion 
 — His work in surveying — His suspension bridge — A tour in 
 Eastern Archipelago — Nearly shipwrecked on return — A new 
 Governor of Ceylon — Road-making again — Learns military sketch- 
 ing — Toilsome work of survey — Wis athletio powers — His lost 
 labourers rescued — His meeting with a leopard — Narrow escape — 
 Power of human eye — Becomes Commissioner of Roads ; then of 
 Public Works — Close of his career in Ceylon— Death in England 
 — Native testimony to Skinner — Summary of his great work in 
 the island — From barbarism to civilization. 
 
 FREE and open means of communication is a primary 
 need of man for civilization. The Romans, the 
 great practical people of ancient days, knew this, 
 and the European lands which they conquered and held 
 still display, in the routes taken by their highways, 
 memorials of the mighty road-makers. In the treeless 
 waste, the camel, " ship of the desert," with the risks 
 of the sand-storm or the sultry simoom, goes freely to 
 
 163 L 2 
 
MAJOR SKINNER, 
 
 and fro. In jungle-grown regions elephant, ox, horse, 
 mule, and ass are useless for commercial traffic on a 
 large scale. Such a country, especially if it be traversed 
 by many rivers and streams, can only be opened up by 
 the construction of roads and bridges. It was in this 
 capacity that " Tom Skinner," as he was called by his 
 British comrades, who were all his friends — the man 
 known by the natives, who all loved him, as " Tuan 
 Kilchel " (little officer or gentleman) — was the British 
 civilizer of the lovely island, shaped like a pearl, that is a 
 pendant to the vast Indian Peninsula. 
 
 Thomas Skinner, who was destined to pass nearly fifty 
 years in a region of tropical heat, was born at St. John's, 
 Newfoundland, on the 22nd of May, 1804, when his 
 father, an officer in the Royal Artillery, was quartered 
 there. The child lost his mother in his infancy, and 
 from an age between two and three he was in charge 
 of his maternal grandmother. In 1811 his father, being 
 ordered home, made the voyage with the lad on H.M.S. 
 Pomone, where young Tom formed a strong passion 
 for the life of a sailor, and was much excited when 
 the ship " beat to quarters " on the appearance, in 
 that time of war with France, of a strange sail. He 
 was destined for the military service, but he possessed, 
 however it may have been acquired, the wonderful 
 " handiness " and resource in sudden emergencies of 
 the British tar. 
 
 On the arrival in England, his father had to embark 
 for Ceylon, and young Skinner was placed at a school 
 near Shaftesbury, in Dorsetshire, kept by a worthy old 
 clergyman. The lad had no friends or relations in Eng- 
 land with whom to spend the holidays, and he thus 
 became for six years a permanent boarder with kind 
 Mr. Christie. He was so great a favourite that he was 
 allowed by his weakly indulgent preceptor to do pretty 
 
 164 
 
THE CIVILIZER OF CEYLON 
 
 much as he liked, and he acquired little more than the 
 rudiments of knowledge. 
 
 This issue of school-life would have been with most 
 youths pernicious to the future career, but Skinner was 
 happily of very exceptional mental and moral tone. In 
 the words of an eminent friend, Sir Monier Monier- 
 Williams, K.C.I.E., he "exhaled British pluck and 
 energy from every, pore, and seems to stand out before 
 us in sharply defined outline — a typical example of self- 
 help and self-reliance." The same high authority writes : 
 " The performance of his duty was his daily meat and 
 drink. He did it zealously, earnestly, effectively, because 
 it was his duty, and because he took a pride in doing it* 
 thoroughly. He desired no other reward than the ' wit- 
 ness in himself.' " 
 
 In 1818, at about fourteen years of age, he was sent 
 out to Ceylon with the intention of his joining the navy 
 on the East India Station. His father, when the son 
 arrived at Trincomalee, the head-quarters of the British 
 fleet in those seas, found him so ignorant that he resolved 
 to send him at once back to England for further school- 
 training. The intervention of two of his father's friends, 
 Admiral King and another naval officer, and the interest 
 used on young Skinner's behalf, caused his immediate 
 appointment to a Second-Lieutenancy in the Ceylon 
 Regiment. 
 
 He was at once ordered, before he could procure any 
 uniform, to take command of detachments of three bat- 
 talions, and march them from Trincomalee across the 
 island, through Kandy, to Colombo. The boy-officer, 
 very small for his age — between fourteen and fifteen — 
 started in his school-jacket on his first military duty. 
 When the force arrived at Kandy, he vainly begged the 
 commandant to excuse his attendance in his actual guise 
 at a general parade of troops, and the young fellow, 
 
 165 
 
MAJOR SKINNER, 
 
 naturally shy, had to endure the ordeal of passing at 
 the head of his detachment along the whole line of 
 soldiers from the right to his position on the left. He 
 walked, undriUed as he was, beside a grenadier ensign, 
 above whose elbow his head did not reach far. A 
 universal smile greeted his appearance, but the smilers 
 did not then know the soul and brain lodged in the puny 
 frame. 
 
 On the further journey to Colombo the road lay through 
 a pass which Skinner's father, four years previously, had 
 traversed with a battery of heavy guns, one of them a 
 42-pounder, for the taking of Kandy. The father was 
 a man of wonderful resource in overcoming difficulties, 
 and the guns were conveyed over almost " impossible " 
 ground — a narrow, broken, steep, and rocky mountain- 
 path that no horse and rider could pass over. When 
 the son's troops reached Colombo, the commanding officer 
 was astonished to see so youthful a leader. He had a 
 kindly welcome from the officers. He put on his uni- 
 form, got through his drill, survived an attack of dysentery 
 — the disease of the country — and was fairly in for a 
 soldier's career. 
 
 Ceylon, with an area of nearly 26,000 square miles, or 
 one-sixth less than that of Ireland, contains towards the 
 south a mountainous region covering more than 4,000 
 square miles, with many peaks well over 7,000 feet in 
 height. The slopes of the hills and the valleys were, at 
 the time of Skinner's arrival, covered with forests of 
 gigantic trees. The plateau of Nuwara Eliya, the sana- 
 torium of the island, at 6,200 feet elevation, has many 
 of the attributes of an Alpine country. There are no 
 great rivers, but in the rainy season the countless streams 
 become torrents and impetuous rivers, rushing through 
 some of the noblest scenery in the world in the shape of 
 ravines and glens, falling over precipitous rocks into the 
 
 166 
 
THE CIVILIZER OF CEYLON 
 
 depths of wooded vales, and displaying a succession of 
 rapids and cataracts unsurpassed in magnificence and 
 beauty. 
 
 On one occasion, as Skinner reports, the swollen rivers 
 so intercepted his communications with Kandy that 
 stores which ought to have reached him in three days 
 were six weeks on the way, and he had to place his 
 garrison first on half, then on one-third rations, and at 
 last to levy food from neighbouring villages. The great 
 pioneer of clearance in Ceylon describes the jungle in 
 one district as presenting difficulties compared with which 
 " the heaviest forest is quite child's-play to work through." 
 " The closely matted, thorny mass wellnigh defies the 
 native woodsmen. Working in a narrow clearing, with 
 high walls of this description of vegetation on each side, 
 excluding every breath of air, and a bright burning sun 
 pouring down upon one, gives as lively an illustration of 
 a tropical climate as any man need wish for." 
 
 The young officer, in contending with climatic diffi- 
 culties and dangers, derived invaluable aid from a con- 
 stitutional abhorrence of alcoholic liquors, and from his 
 own good sense. The smell alone of wine, beer, or spirits 
 was repulsive to Skinner. The consequence was that, 
 surrounded by comrades who, for the most part, in the 
 fashion of that day, freely indulged in spirituous drinks, 
 he remained sober when all around were, on occasion, 
 drunk ; and amid the ravages of tropical disease, while 
 his friends were carried off, he survived. 
 
 He was never a sufferer from thirst, and in his auto- 
 biography he tells us the reason. In reference to the 
 scene of arduous toil just described, he writes : " Even 
 against such odds I find a restorative in bottles of simple 
 decoction of tea, made icy cold by evaporation, by 
 wrapping wet towels round the bottles. It is astonishing 
 how soon a broiling sun can produce a cool, refreshing 
 
 167 
 
MAJOR SKINNER, 
 
 draught, without which the situation would simply be 
 beyond endurance." 
 
 On his resolution in self-training for hard work we 
 again quote his own words : " An ambition seized me to 
 render myself as self-sustained and independent as my 
 men were. The first step in this direction appeared to 
 be to learn to march without shoes. I commenced my 
 training by walking out every morning barefooted to my 
 bath, a short distance off. I had to walk over a portion 
 of the fort covered with sharp quartz gravel, which 
 touched up my sensitive feet considerably. However, 
 I persevered until I made a march of sixty miles over 
 some of the highest, most rugged, rocky mountains in 
 the island perfectly barefooted ; and such was my ap- 
 preciation of comfort in the absence of boot or shoe that 
 I never would have put on another could I have followed 
 my own inclinations." 
 
 Skinner, at a very early date in his career, when he 
 was in charge of the senior sergeant of his corps, " to 
 see that I got into no mischief," won his first victory in 
 slaying elephants, for which he was to become one of 
 the most renowned sportsmen in Ceylon. He had never 
 Been even a tame elephant when, early one morning, a 
 huge wild one came near the fort, and the young officer, 
 seizing a cut-down flint-and-steel musket and some am- 
 munition, rushed out. The sergeant, with a file of men 
 at the double, followed in alarm for Skinner's safety, 
 and the young man went straight towards the splendid 
 " tusker," which made a headlong rush. 
 
 The sergeant, being close at hand, helped Skinner, just 
 in time, to climb a rock which rose about 2 feet above 
 the elephant's head, and as the animal, making for the 
 sergeant, passed by, Skinner cocked his gun, put the 
 muzzle on the crown of the monster's head, and fired 
 into it. The elephant rolled over stone-dead. The 
 
 16S 
 
His First Elephant 
 
 Whilst still a mere boy, Skinner, who afterwards became a renowned big-game 
 sportsman, shot his first elephant. He had never seen even a tame one before this. 
 
THE CIVILIZER OF CEYLON 
 
 youthful sportsman, giving no sign of exultation then or 
 later, directed that the head should be cut off, brought 
 down to the fort, and buried, to enable him to get out 
 the pair of splendid tusks. There was great excitement 
 over this feat, and all the men off duty rushed away to 
 see the animal which their diminutive officer had killed. 
 It was a famous feat for a lad under sixteen. 
 
 We pass over more slaughter of elephants, and a nearly 
 fatal attack of jungle fever, to note Skinner's first effort 
 in road-making. The Governor of Ceylon at this time 
 (1821) was Sir Edward Barnes, a distinguished Peninsular 
 officer under Wellington, and a man not only of high 
 ability and courage, but of the soundest sense and the 
 kindliest disposition. He gave to Skinner an appoint- 
 ment " on the roads," and his first task was to open in 
 a certain district about eleven miles of a great mnitary 
 road through a pass of the mountains. 
 
 Skinner's ignorance of road-engineering was such that 
 he did not in the least understand the order received 
 from a superior officer that he was to " descend the pass 
 at a gradient of one in twenty." He had charge of a 
 party of 200 natives, wholly unskilled labourers, who 
 had never, as he writes, " seen a yard of made road in 
 the country, for the best of reasons — that such a thing 
 did not exist." He went out to explore his scene of 
 action, striking into the jungle from the narrow moun- 
 tain-path, and soon found bis progress checked by 
 enormous boulders and perpendicular precipices. 
 
 The young pioneer felt somewhat staggered, but while 
 he was waiting the arrival of his men with their tools 
 he puzzled out for himself the meaning of " one in 
 twenty," and then began his road-making. He had a 
 marvellous instinctive power of conceiving the needful 
 methods, and of turning the flank of obstacles. Every 
 fortnight his gang of labourers, who were on compulsory 
 
 169 
 
MAJOR SKINNER, 
 
 service, was changed, and he had to teach afresh the new 
 arrivals. Skinner got on well with his natives, estab- 
 lishing amongst them, he says, " a fair character for 
 justice," and they declared that they did not mind 
 " bemg beaten by the little gentleman," as he never 
 ordered their punishment without their deserving it. 
 
 As the work progressed, the officer who read Skinner's 
 weekly reports to the Governor would make on them 
 such marginal remarks as : " This lad with his Kandians 
 (men of villages in the Kandy district) is doing well." 
 The Governor sent a message that "with his raw, un- 
 taught Kandians he was accomplishing a larger quantity 
 of work than an equal number of skilled labourers of a 
 division of pioneers." We may be sure that Sir Edward 
 Barnes knew his man, and, as Skinner observes, " this 
 encouragement was far more effective than any amount 
 of fault-finding." He tells us that he was much tor- 
 mented by the wild elephants, " which seemed to take a 
 special pleasure in making nocturnal raids on my newly 
 formed embankments," and on some occasions he sat up 
 at night to have a shot at the intruders. 
 
 After several months " on the roads," Skinner had 
 opened eleven miles of the main road to Kandy, having 
 been often visited by Sir Edward, who came to inspect 
 the work and to encourage the toilers. Soon afterwards 
 a severe attack of malaria caused his departure for 
 England, on the report of a medical board, and he had 
 a very long but health-restoring voyage on what he calls 
 " the slowest tub," which was nearly wrecked between 
 the Cape and St. Helena. 
 
 He passed some time in London, and with an uncle at 
 Canterbury — the year was 1822 — and paid a long visit 
 to his old schoolmaster near Shaftesbury. The three and 
 a half years since he left school had given him much ex- 
 perience of the world, and he truly observes that " there 
 
 170 
 
THE CIVILIZER OF CEYLON 
 
 were not, at that time, many lads of eighteen to be found 
 in Dorsetshire who had been to India and bagged their 
 half a dozen elephants." In the spring of 1822 he visited 
 his native land, was enveloped in fog off the " banks," 
 and just escaped being blocked up by icebergs in entering 
 the harbour of St. John's. 
 
 Until the end of the summer Skinner remained with 
 his father and family in Newfoundland, and then took a 
 sorrowful leave. He never saw again his father or step- 
 mother, his sister or his brothers. During 1823 he was 
 with relatives in England, and early in 1824 he made a 
 visit to Paris with his new commanding officer, Colonel 
 Muller. On the 10th of April they embarked at Graves- 
 end for Ceylon, and had a pleasant voyage to Trin- 
 comalee. Sir Edward Barnes then appointed Skinner to 
 be " Staff Officer of Colombo," and took him into " King's 
 House " as a member of his family. 
 
 He was now twenty-one, and for the next four years 
 he had charge of all military buildings, quarters, and 
 barracks, barrack furniture, and equipment of every 
 description in the district, as well as performing the 
 duties of Brigade-Major of the garrison. He was also 
 assistant to the Deputy Adjutant-General, the Deputy 
 Quartermaster General, and to the officer commanding 
 the Royal Engineers whenever they required his services. 
 The imposition of duties so multifarious on so young an 
 officer by such a man as Sir Edward Barnes is the strongest 
 possible testimony to Skinner's ability, energy, and zeal. 
 His chief amusement was, as usual, elephant-shooting. 
 
 During this period the Governor, providing for Skinner's 
 duties at Colombo, gave him much employment in sur- 
 veying, of which he had learned something during his 
 long visit to England, and in tracing new roads. In 1828 
 he laid down highways on the way to Nuwara Eliya, 
 and a line from Colombo to two other towns. Towards 
 
 171 
 
MAJOR SKINNER, 
 
 the end of 1829 he was promoted to the Quartermaster- 
 General's department. He pleaded to Colonel Churchill, 
 the military secretary who brought him the message from 
 the Governor, that he was quite ignorant of the scientific 
 duties of the department. That officer replied that he 
 was well aware of the fact, and, taking Skinner's promise 
 that he would do what he could to qualify himself, he 
 said, with kindly and most flattering abruptness : " That 
 is quite enough ; go about your business." Such was 
 the impression made on official superiors by Tom Skinner 
 of Ceylon. 
 
 Two days later he was ordered to relieve an officer 
 of the Royal Engineers, who was engaged in constructing 
 a rope suspension bridge over a river midway between 
 Colombo and Kandy. It was a work of importance, the 
 progress of which was frequently inspected by the 
 Governor, with approval of Skinner's method, in carrying 
 out which the inexperienced man derived benefit from 
 his taste for maritime affairs in the management of 
 various details. He was then placed in charge of the 
 roads of the interior, under the Quartermaster-General, 
 an employment which gave him plenty of riding, an exer- 
 cise in which he took delight, and compelled him, as he 
 writes, " to be as nearly ' ubiquitous ' as possible." 
 
 In August, 1830, Skinner was dispatched by the 
 Governor to the Eastern Archipelago on a special service, 
 and visited Penang, Malacca, Singapore, and Java, 
 where he had, at Batavia, a conference with the Governor- 
 General, by whom he was courteously treated. On the 3rd 
 of January, 1831, he embarked for his return, and soon 
 after leaving Batavia the vessel ran on a reef of rocks 
 and narrowly escaped total loss. She wag ultimately 
 got off by the use of the boats, anchors, and cables, after 
 being lightened by throwing overboard the guns and many 
 other articles, as also a whole menagerie of tigers, apes, 
 
 172 
 
THE CIVILIZER OF CEYLON 
 
 monkeys, and birds, collected in Java by the medical 
 officer. Colombo was reached at the end of March. 
 
 In October Skinner was parted for a time from his 
 staunch friend the Governor, as Sir Edward Barnes had 
 been appointed Commander-in-Chief in India. The new 
 ruler of Ceylon, Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, Bart., became 
 a great friend of the young officer. In 1832 his road- 
 making was resumed in opening a highway from Aripo, 
 the pearl-fishery centre on the north-western coast, to 
 an almost unknown district of the interior. On a journey 
 of exploration, Skinner found there extensive ruins of 
 temples and tanks, and a rather dense population, instead 
 of the mountainous waste represented on the maps of 
 the period. 
 
 He first laid down on paper the forty-seven miles of 
 jungle-path, assisted in survey by another officer, who 
 began his work at the other end. They worked towards 
 each other through dense, level forest, arid, in the end, 
 met almost face to face — a great success for men using 
 imperfect instruments. 
 
 Skinner's reputation for skilful work had now become 
 such that when a Civil Engineer and Surveyor-General 
 arrived to form a department, and take over the civil 
 works from the military element, he was sent to initiate 
 him into his new duties. They travelled over the country 
 together, and Skinner handed over the roads, bridges, 
 and buildings as they successively reached them. His 
 next work was a military reconnaissance and survey of 
 the mountain-zone of the island. He had never learnt 
 the art of military sketching, he knew little of the use of 
 the theodolite, and he had never made a triangulation. 
 
 With his usual resolution he shut himself up with 
 a theodolite and a technical work on survey-instruments. 
 He took the theodolite to pieces, put it together again, 
 and learnt the use of all its parts. He then went to work 
 
 173 
 
MAJOR SKINNER, 
 
 with it at surveying, and found the results satisfaqtory 
 on submission to an able officer of the Royal Engineers. 
 By degrees, after many failures, he became skilled in 
 sketching. He took " an immense interest," he writes, 
 " in a work which I had mastered by my own determina- 
 tion and without any assistance." The result was the 
 1-inch sketch of the Kandian provinces and the general 
 map of Ceylon. 
 
 He describes without complaint the toilsome nature of 
 the service. For six or seven months in every year he 
 was never under a roof from between four and five o'clock 
 in the morning until seven in the evening, and occasionally 
 much later. For nearly two months of work amongst 
 wild forest he had no animal food beyond a couple of 
 half-starved chickens, and lived mainly on a little salt 
 fish and boiled rice. His lodging was a wigwam com- 
 posed of five sheets of the huge leaves of the Palmyra 
 or talipot palm, stitched together with shreds of the same 
 material. Each leaf was about 6 by 4 feet ; three 
 of these formed two sides and one end, and two others 
 made the roof. The furniture consisted of a little camp- 
 bed, a camp-table, and a chair. 
 
 By his temperate life and hard work Skinner gained 
 marvellous health and activity, and on one occasion, in 
 a race with an athletic native " headman " up the oone 
 of Adam's Peak, 7,240 feet high, Skinner won by forty 
 minutes. At the summit of this peak, on one occasion, 
 he was detained for some time, waiting for clear weather 
 to get observations. He had sent off two intelligent 
 natives, with a week's provisions, through the mountain 
 forest, to prepare a new station for the work. 
 
 During a morning stroll to some distance from the 
 peak, Skinner, in the still, rarefied air at about 6,500 
 altitude, heard human voices far away, and uttered his 
 loudest Kandian cry, which sometimes reaches to an 
 
 174 
 
THE CIVILIZER OF CEYLON 
 
 enormous distance. An answer came, and by repeated 
 shouts he drew the people to him. They proved to be 
 his two men, who had been wandering about for many 
 days, probably in a circle. They had consumed all their 
 provisions, and must have perished if they had not thus 
 been found. 
 
 One of his adventures at this time was a meeting with 
 a magnificent leopard. One morning, when the atmo- 
 sphere was very clear for observations, he started off 
 alone through the jungle, leaving orders for his men, with 
 the surveying-instruments, to follow his track by the 
 notches which he cut in the bark of the trees. When 
 he left the plain, he struck into a fine wide game-track, 
 where, after he had gone about half a mile from the camp, 
 he was startled by a slight rustling in the jungle to his 
 right. In an instant a leopard, bounding fully 8 feet 
 over the lower brushwood, alighted within 18 inches 
 of the spot where he stood, and lay in a crouching position 
 with his glaring eyes steadily fixed on the traveller. We 
 give the sequel in his own words : 
 
 " The predicament was not a pleasant one. The 
 animal had heard me approaching, and had I been an 
 elk, as he imagined, he would have lighted on my neck. 
 I cannot tell how long we remained in our relative posi- 
 tions, but during the time we stared at each other I felt 
 no fear. I remembered having heard that no animal 
 could bear the steady gaze of the human eye, and I fixed 
 mine on him with all the intensity I could command. 
 Had I turned or retreated, one blow from his fore-leg 
 would have finished me, for leopards are known to kill 
 a buffalo or an elk with one blow, and I had no weapon 
 of defence. 
 
 " He turned, however, and cantered down the straight, 
 broad game-track, and then I felt quite sick and faint 
 on realizing the danger from which I had escaped. For- 
 
 175 
 
MAJOR SKINNER, 
 
 i 
 
 tunately my dog was in the rear, or he would have 
 furnished a good breakfast to my formidable friend 
 A gun or pistol would have been very acceptable at that 
 moment. I had often seen these animals in their wild 
 state, but never before had met with so fine a specimen." 
 
 We may here note that Skinner, in 1836, was promoted 
 to a captaincy, after serving seventeen years as a subal- 
 tern. 
 
 Skinner's work of surveying was continued, and in 
 1841, when the Civil Engineer and Surveyor-General's 
 Department had become disorganized, he was requested 
 by the Governor to take over charge of the roads and 
 bridges of the colony. In January, 1842, he became 
 " Commissioner of Roads," and was henceforward 
 practically a civilian, though he did not finally leave the 
 military service until 1847. In 1848 he visited England, 
 after twenty-three years' service, during which his work 
 had been of the most laborious and exposed character. 
 At the end of 1849 he resumed his duties in Ceylon, 
 and from 1850 to 1867 he was Commissioner of Public 
 Works in every department. 
 
 During the later time of his long, laborious, and most 
 successful career iron bridges in various quarters and 
 the construction of the railway were the chief objects 
 of his attention. In 1867 Skinner closed his term of 
 service, having 'lecome Major and C.M.G., and passed 
 the rest of his li.9 in the British Isles, where fishing for 
 trout or salmon in Cumberland, Ireland, and Scotland 
 was his chief sport. The daughter who edited his auto- 
 biography, and records his peaceful death in July, 1877, 
 describes his great pleasure in all natural objects, and 
 " his principal delight " as " contributing to the happiness 
 of others." 
 
 Ten years after Skinner's retirement, Sir Monier 
 Monier- Williams, travelling in Ceylon, " found the repu- 
 te 
 
THE CIVILIZER OF CEYLON 
 
 tation of its great engineer and road-maker still fragrant 
 there. ... I learned," he writes, " that Major Skinner 
 was a man whose memory the Government still delighted 
 to honour, and in travelling from place to place I met 
 many eminent natives who rejoiced to speak of him as 
 one of their greatest benefactors, and as an officer of 
 unusual administrative ability, indomitable energy, and 
 unblemished integrity of character." 
 
 We now sum up the work in Ceylon with which Major 
 Skinner was mainly concerned as deviser and executant 
 during the rule of Sir Edward Barnes, Sir Henry Ward, 
 and Sir Hercules Robinson : The great military road 
 from Colombo to Kandy was made ; all the military 
 stations were connected by broad tracks, which were 
 afterwards bridged and converted into good carriage 
 roads ; every assistance was given to the coffee-planters 
 in opening up the country, and the whole of the hilly 
 district was at last intersected by a vast number of 
 fine roads, costing upwards of £2,000 per mile for con- 
 struction. 
 
 In 1848 an ordinance was passed in Council to levy 
 from every male adult in the colony, with the sole 
 exception of Buddhist priests and British soldiers, six 
 days' annual labour on the roads, or an equivalent in 
 money. The labour and money thus obtained enabled 
 the local authorities to connect the Government highways 
 by minor roads, bringing every important village into 
 communication with the principal towns. In 1874 the 
 expenditure, out of the revenues of the colony, on roads, 
 bridges, streets, and canals was about £175,000, of which 
 sum £113,500 was devoted to the ordinary maintenance 
 of existing roads. In the same year the local authorities, 
 under the road ordinance, expended £65,000, and the 
 municipalities of Colombo, Kandy, and Galle spent 
 £23,000. 
 
 177 M 
 
MAJOR SKINNER 
 
 Before Skinner retired he had seen, mainly as his 
 own achievement, a network of communications spread 
 over the country from the sea-board to the passes of the 
 highest ranges of mountains. There had once been 
 fords and ferries where, in the rainy season, property and 
 life were often sacrificed. Every chief stream in Ceylon 
 was now substantially bridged with stone or iron. In 
 1867 there were about 3,000 miles of made roads, of which 
 one-fifth consisted of first-class metalled highways, and 
 another fifth of good gravelled work. The railway from 
 Colombo to Kandy was opened in the same year. In 
 1906 there were 561 miles of railway at work, and nearly 
 4,000 miles of road open, of which 2,384 were metalled 
 highways. 
 
 In the later years of Major Skinner's charge of the 
 public works much was done in the construction and 
 restoration of irrigation works, including village tanks, 
 and large waste districts in the east and south of the 
 island were thus placed under perennial rice culture. 
 The result of what has been here recounted, for human 
 safety, prosperity, happiness, and comfort, may well 
 be imagined. The beautiful island which Birtish con- 
 quest, begun in 1795 and completed in 1815, had found, 
 except for some canals made by the previous Dutch pos- 
 sessors, in a barbarous condition as regarded means of 
 communication, has thus been truly civilized in one of 
 the most important particulars, and to Major Skinner 
 the credit is mainly due. 
 
 178 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 PIONEEB WOEK IN SOUTH AUSTBALIA 
 
 The pioneers of South Australia — The maritime explorers — Adventures 
 of Bass and Flinders — Minders' great voyage — Meeting with 
 French expedition — Fun and feasting from kangaroos — A sea 
 disaster — The interior explored — Captain Sturt's discoveries — 
 His voyage down the Murray — Meetings with natives — A concert 
 in the Bush — Lake Alexandrina discovered — Voyagers blocked 
 by sand-bar — The toilsome return — Captain Barker's explora- 
 tions — Killed by natives — Sturt's report on the territory — Plans 
 in England for settlement — Formation of a Company — Mr. 
 Angas' work — The first fleet sails — Colonel Light — Arrival of 
 the Governor — The colony " proclaimed " — Mr. Gouger's voyage 
 -^-Difficulties on landing — Mosquitoes and centipedes — a bush- 
 fire — Lost in the Bush on Kangaroo Island — A settler's hut — 
 The first child born — The first deaths — The Governor recalled 
 — Colony fairly started. 
 
 THE foundation of South Australia as a British 
 colony was not due to any single great pioneer, 
 but to several men who won distinction in various 
 ways which led to the final result. Among these we 
 may now deal with the explorers who first made known 
 that portion of the vast island-continent of the Southern 
 Seas. In this sense, Flinders, Bass, and Sturt were the 
 real founders. The great scientific navigator, Matthew 
 Flinders, born near Boston, in Lincolnshire, in 1774, 
 son of a surgeon, entered the royal navy in 1789, and 
 in 1795 he went out to New South Wales as a midshipman 
 on H.M.S. Reliance. 
 
 179 m 2 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 The same vessel had on board, as surgeon, George 
 Bass, son of a Lincolnshire farmer, and the two young 
 men, both of admirable character — kindly, modest, 
 daring, full of enthusiasm for research — became devoted 
 friends. Resolved to win fame in the joint exploration 
 of unknown regions, they sailed along the south-eastern 
 coast of Australia, and made a voyage to Norfolk Island. 
 Their adventurous disposition was displayed when, in 
 March, 1796, they started together from Sydney in a 
 boat, the Torn Thumb, only 8 feet long, with a small boy 
 to help them, and explored a stretch of coast to the south 
 of Port Jackson. 
 
 They were tossed about like a cork, but steered into 
 Botany Bay, and made an accurate map of its shores 
 and of the streams flowing into its waters. Governor 
 Hunter, of New South Wales, in September, 1798, sent 
 them out in a 25-ton sloop, with three months' leave 
 of absence, and they sailed all round Van Diemen's 
 Land (now Tasmania), which Bass, by passing through 
 the waters called Bass Strait, had already proved to be 
 an island. Flinders, returning to England, was put in 
 command of an expedition for the thorough exploration 
 of the southern coast of Terra Australia, as the region 
 was still called. 
 
 The enterprise was aided by the East India Company, 
 and the crew of picked men on board the Investigator, 
 a sloop of about 360 tons, included a midshipman named 
 John Franklin, the coming Arctic' navigator. The vessel 
 sailed from Spithead in July, 1801. On the 6th of 
 November she was off Cape Leeuwin (Lioness), named 
 from a Dutch vessel that was there in 1622, and on the 
 9th of December sheTeached King George's Sound. After 
 refitting there, Flinders closely examined the shores of the 
 Great Bight, and discovered and explored Spencer and 
 St. Vincent Gulfs. 
 
 180 
 
On Kangaroo Island 
 
 The ship's crew were in need _ of fresh meat, so a party landed and secured 
 thirty-one kangaroos. 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 The British navigator had a narrow escape of being 
 anticipated, in South Australia, by a French expedition. 
 On the 2nd of April, 1802, at Encounter Bay (so-called from 
 the meeting), near the mouth of St. Vincent Gulf, Flinders 
 fell in with the French ships Geographe and Naturaliste, 
 under the command of Captain Nicolas Baudin, who 
 had been sent out by Napoleon, then First Consul of 
 the French Republic, on a voyage of Australian explora- 
 tion. Flinders was, beyond all doubt, the first to dis- 
 cover and name, on the coast of South Australia, Fowler's 
 Bay (called after his First-lieutenant), Streaky Bay (from 
 the colour of the water), Smoky Bay (from Bush fires 
 there seen), Denial Bay (curiously named, as being near 
 St. Peter's Island), Sleaford Bay (from the town in his 
 native county), and other localities named after Boston, 
 Louth, and other Lincolnshire towns. The fine harbour 
 called Port Lincoln, first entered by the Investigator, is 
 another instance. 
 
 The fine Kangaroo Island, named from the large 
 number of those animals which were seen leaping amongst 
 the scrub, was another of Flinders' discoveries. The 
 ship's crew were in want of fresh meat, and a party of 
 sailors who landed killed thirty-one during the day, 
 animals weighing from about 70 to 125 pounds. The 
 flesh was a rare treat for men who for four months had 
 tasted nothing but salted meats. The whole ship's 
 company spent an afternoon in skinning and cleaning 
 the game, and half a hundredweight of heads, fore- 
 quarters, and tails were stewed down into a delicious 
 soup. 
 
 A grievous accident befell some of the seamen during 
 this voyage. Flinders sent out his mate, with a mid- 
 shipman and some men, in a cutter from the ship, to 
 search for an anchorage and fresh water. The boat was 
 observed sailing hither and thither, and then, as it grew 
 
 181 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 dusk, she was seen returning, when she suddenly vanished. 
 Lieutenant Fowler then went out in a boat with a lantern 
 in search. After two hours a gun was fired from the 
 Investigator for his return, and he came back alone. 
 He had found a strong current near the spot where the 
 cutter was last seen, and had himself a narrow escape 
 of capsizing. This was, as it proved, the fate of the 
 mate, Mr. Thistle, and his crew. On the next morning 
 the craft was found floating bottom upwards. None 
 of the men were ever seen again, and the swarm of sharks 
 near at hand accounted terribly and decisively for the 
 end of the mariners.. 
 
 We now turn from Captain Flinders, the discoverer 
 of the sea-board of South Australia, to Captain Charles 
 Sturt, of the 39th Regiment, the explorer of the interior 
 of the country. Sturt was a man of boundless energy, 
 shrewd sense, and dauntless courage, the first to discover 
 the natural advantages of the country. Being stationed 
 with his regiment at Sydney, he was sent out by Governor 
 Darling, of New South Wales, in November, 1828, with 
 Hume, a notable explorer, as his second in command, 
 two soldiers, and six convicts, and made his way to the 
 Macquarie River. In February, 1829, the River Darling 
 was discovered, and, after its course had been followed 
 for about 100 miles, the party returned to Sydney. 
 
 In September, 1829, the Governor ordered a second 
 trip of discovery, and Sturt, with a party well equipped 
 with all necessaries, including a whale-boat, went forth 
 to explore the course of the Murrumbidgee River. Food 
 for the teams of draught animals ran short, and Sturt 
 boldly resolved, at a point about 450 miles south-west of 
 Sydney, to send back the main body of the expedition, 
 put together the frame of his whale-boat, launch it on 
 the river, and see where it would take him and the boat- 
 party. Great care was needed to avoid the many 
 
 182 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 floating logs, and risks from suspicious or openly hostile 
 natives. 
 
 The voyagers passed the point where the Lachlan 
 River joins the Murrumbidgee, and at length, in February, 
 1830, they entered the great Murray River, and, as they 
 were borne along, passed the mouth of the Darling. 
 They rowed by day, and encamped at night on the 
 river banks, where they were sometimes surrounded by 
 hundreds of natives. Sturt was enabled to keep the 
 peace by his pleasant and tactful demeanour, and he was 
 well aided by one of his party, Mr. (afterwards Sir George) 
 Macleay. When the twilight found the little encamp- 
 ment surrounded, Sturt joined in the sports of the natives, 
 and Macleay won high favour by his comic songs, accom- 
 panied by gestures and grimaces which raised roars of 
 laughter from the dusky crowd. 
 
 On the thirty-third day of the voyage Sturt and his 
 comrades passed into a sheet of water about 30 miles 
 long and 15 miles wide, which was named Lake Alex- 
 andrina, in honour of the young Princess who was to 
 become, in due time, Queen Victoria. When the southern 
 end of the lake was reached, it was found that they were 
 near the southern shore of Australia at Encounter Bay. 
 The great disappointment was that of finding the passage 
 from the Murray into the ocean blocked by a great bar 
 of sand. It thus became needful for the travellers to 
 turn the boat round, and face the current of the great 
 river for a return voyage of 1,000 miles. Sturt took 
 his full share of the toilsome work with the oars. Much 
 hardship was endured in heavy labour, scanty food, and 
 the heat of (in that region) a summer sun. Food was 
 failing as they entered the Murrumbidgee, and settled 
 districts were reached and relief obtained only when 
 some of the party were almost insane from physical 
 suffering. 
 
 183 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 Another daring explorer of this period was Captain 
 Barker, of Sturt's regiment, who, in 1831, when he was 
 on his way from King George's Sound, in the far west of 
 the southern coast, to Sydney, entered St. Vincent's 
 Gulf, and landed on its eastern shore a little north of 
 Cape Jervis. With six members of the ship's company, 
 Barker crossed the Mount Lofty ranges, discovered the 
 hill which bears his name, and passed along the shores 
 of Lake Alexandrina to the mouth of the Murray. The 
 daring man, in order to make observations from the top 
 of a sandhill, performed the perilous feat of swimming 
 across the river where it joins the ocean. The name 
 of this gallant officer, afterwards killed by natives, who 
 flung his body into the sea, stands first in the long list 
 of explorers who, in the Bush of Australia, laid down 
 their lives in the service of humanity. 
 
 Thus was South Australia, as regards much of its 
 interior, made known ; and we turn next to Captain 
 Sturt's account and opinion of the territory which he 
 observed. What he then reported was, to a very great 
 extent, confirmed by the experience of settlers in later 
 days. He formed a high opinion of the capabilities of 
 the region, both for pastoral and agricultural purposes. 
 He regarded the climate as well adapted for the growth 
 of fruit-trees, both of the temperate and the hardier 
 tropical kinds, the English fruit-trees, and the vine, 
 the fig, and the pomegranate. " The trees," he wrote 
 later, " which are congenial to the climate arrive at 
 maturity with incredible rapidity, and bear in the greatest 
 abundance." 
 
 It was Sturt's journey of 1830, combined with Barker's 
 exploration from the coast, that led to the colonization 
 of South Australia. The former had proved that a 
 great and fertile land awaited settlers ; the latter proved 
 that there was access from the sea to land suitable for 
 
 184 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 the purpose. The matter was taken up in London, and 
 in 1836 the body called " The South Australian Asso- 
 ciation " was formed. An Act of Parliament of 1834 
 had given authority for the creation of a new " Province 
 of South Australia," to be independent of any other 
 Australian government, and it was expressly provided 
 that convicts from the United Kingdom should never* 
 be transported to the colony. The capital of the new 
 company was £200,000, and land was purchased from the 
 Crown at twelve shillings per acre in readiness for, settle- 
 ment. 
 
 The Crown had appointed some Commissioners to 
 manage and dispose of the land and land-revenues of 
 the new territory, and to superintend the emigration of 
 settlers. One of these gentlemen was Mr. George Fife 
 Angas, who, from the useful and energetic part which 
 he took, has been styled " The Father of South Australia." 
 He Was the real founder of the South Australian Company, 
 and he largely promoted success by his principle of 
 sending out emigrants possessed of capital, intelligence, 
 and high character, especially respectable young married 
 couples. 
 
 In the spring and summer of 1836 the Company's 
 first fleet was sent out. The John Pirie carried twenty- 
 one passengers, goods, and live-stock. The Duke of 
 York, the Lady Mary Pelham, and the Emma took out 
 passengers and general stores, the Duke of York being the 
 first arrival, and anchoring, on the 27th of July, in Nepean 
 Bay, Kangaroo Island. H.M.S. Buffalo conveyed Captain 
 Hindmarsh, the Governor, and Colonel Light, the 
 Surveyor-General, with his staff of assistants. This 
 officer may be regarded as one of the chief pioneers of 
 the colony, as having, after much exploration and anxious 
 thought, fixed on the site of the capital, Adelaide, on 
 the banks of the River Torrens, and that of the 
 
 185 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 harbour at the present Port Adelaide, eight miles from 
 the city. 
 
 On the 28th of December, 1836, the Buffalo dropped 
 anchor in Holdfast Bay, where the town of Glenelg now 
 stands, and on the same day Governor Hindmarsh and his 
 people landed. It was midsummer in that region, and the 
 royal proclamation was read under the welcome shade 
 of some gum-trees about half a mile from the beach. 
 The Union Jack was hoisted ; the guns of the man-of- 
 war fired a salute ; a party of marines shot off a musket- 
 volley, and rounds of cheers were given by the 200 
 settlers present. 
 
 A cold luncheon was spread under the trees, at which 
 the health of " His Majesty," and the toasts of " The 
 Governor," " The Officers," and " Success to South 
 Australia," were given and drunk with great enthusiasm. 
 An eyewitness wrote : " Our National Anthem, combined 
 with the circumstances in which it was sung, had more 
 grandeur in its simplicity than those who only hear it 
 at a theatre can conceive." Concerning the earlier days 
 of the colony, with the voyage of some of the emigrants 
 thither, we avail ourselves now of notes in a diary kept by 
 Mr. Gouger, the Colonial Secretary. 
 
 That gentleman sailed on the 30th of June, 1836, from 
 Gravesend on board the Africaine (Captain Duff), a vessel 
 of 316 tons. Many of the labouring emigrants expressed 
 a desire to have a school established on board for the 
 instruction of some of the party who were unable to read. 
 The cabin and other chief passengers included, besides 
 Mr. Gouger and his wife and son, the emigration agent ; 
 a merchant and purchaser of land as an intending settler ; 
 and the son of a Norwich solicitor, articled to the Attorney- 
 General of the colony. There were also four landed 
 proprietors, an intending hotel proprietor, ®and the 
 printer of the colonial newspaper and his family. The 
 
 186 
 
PIONEER-WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 name of this last person ought to have been Micawber 
 (vide " David Copperfield "), but it was Thomas. The 
 labourers, with their wives and families, numbered about 
 fifty. 
 
 During the passage the evil effect of allowing spirits 
 to labouring emigrants on board ship was shown. " Very 
 few of the men," Mr. Gouger writes, " ever think of help- 
 ing the sailors by pulling at a rope, or of rendering any 
 other assistance." They remained quite idle, eating far 
 too much, and rendered vicious by the allowance of 
 spirits. The women, many of whom had never tasted 
 rum before, became large drinkers, and so quarrelsome. 
 On the 22nd of September, after a voyage presenting no 
 notable incidents, the vessel anchored in Simon's Bay, 
 Cape of Good Hope, and sailed again on the 28th of 
 September, after taking in fresh water and other stores. 
 
 On the 3rd of November Kangaroo Island and Yorke's 
 Peninsula were sighted, and on the 10th the vessel anchored 
 in Holdfast Bay, so named by Colonel Light from the 
 excellent anchorage. All hands went ashore, and were 
 soon busy in erecting tents, building huts, and landing 
 goods. The Colonial Secretary notes some difficulties 
 of a new settler. He had chosen a spot suitable for the 
 erection of a tent and the building of a hut. This was 
 a place shaded by large gum-trees in the middle of a 
 meadow covered with very rich pasture. Then came 
 the transport of his goods from the beach to the tent, 
 a distance of little over a mile, " but not," he observes, 
 " of British turnpike road, nor with the aid of waggons 
 and horses." 
 
 " My only assistants were Pollard (a young friend), 
 my boy Alfred, and a portable truck which I had brought 
 from England. The road was first a deep sand, then an 
 uneven field covered with high grass and intersected by 
 two gullies, at this season dry. Three journeys from the 
 
 187 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 beach to the tent with the laden truck was a good day's 
 work. The heat, at that Australian midsummer season, 
 was sometimes very oppressive, and the mosquitoes 
 troublesome ; but the flies are afflicting — nothing can 
 equal their cruel perseverance." During these toils 
 Mrs. Gouger was left aboard the ship, and her husband, 
 on his return to the vessel at night, was obliged to wade 
 breast high in the sea to reach the boat for conveyance 
 to the vessel, as the small craft, except at high tide, could 
 not get over a sand-bank about 20 yards out from the 
 shore. 
 
 On the 19th of November he and his wife finally quitted 
 the Africaine to live ashore in the tent. There " troops of 
 mosquitoes entertained us with their music, and we, in 
 return, entertained them with a full repast, and in the 
 morning we were weUnigh in a fever from their visita- 
 tion." Another trouble was the centipedes, of which 
 five, about 5 inches long, were caught within 2 yards 
 of the tent and another inside ; and one night Mr. Gouger 
 missed by an inch laying hold of a large scorpion. The 
 great range of the thermometer was very trying ; once, 
 within twelve hours, the shade temperature varied from 
 105 to 50 degrees. 
 
 Other emigrants had erected huts, a work rendered 
 easy by the discovery, a mile away, of a little wood 
 with straight poles of trees, and by the abundance of 
 long sedge-grass for thatching. Game was found in 
 great plenty on the plain, and on the river and in the 
 lagoons, quails, wild-duck, and other fowl. On most trees 
 were seen parrots, white cockatoos, and parrakeets 
 gorgeously feathered. Numbers of kangaroos were seen 
 leaping about in the bush. At the end of November 
 the dry bush near at hand was accidentally fired, and 
 from the effects of this conflagration Mr. Gouger and his 
 family were preserved only by a trench dug, 20 yards 
 
 188 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 away, round his tent and enclosure. All beyond was 
 made black and waste, but the destruction of insects and 
 vermin was a beneficial result of the fire. 
 
 A disastrous adventure had occurred, early in the 
 month, on Kangaroo Island, a territory 87 miles in length 
 by 34 broad. On the 2nd of November some young men 
 on the Africaine landed to walk across the island, having 
 heard from one of the captains in command of the vessels 
 that it was a safe and easy excursion. The party of six 
 persons comprised Mr. Slater, a surgeon ; Mr. Osborne, a 
 printer ; Mr. Nantes, a clerk of the Colonial Secretary ; 
 and three labourers. They very rashly declined to take 
 with them, from the boats that landed them on the island, 
 the fresh water provided, and they were thus left to the 
 chance of water left in pools from the winter rains that 
 had fallen months previously. 
 
 When the party did not make their appearance again 
 in due time, an expedition of three sailors, with a native 
 woman as " tracker," was sent in search. Mr. Nantes 
 and the three labourers were found by men in a fishing- 
 boat on the eleventh day out, and were conveyed to the 
 settlement. They had not tasted food for four days, but 
 with judicious treatment they made a slow recovery. 
 Nantes stated that, after being out for nine days, Osborne 
 could go no further, and that Slater, with his usual 
 generosity, offered to stay with him while the rest went 
 on in the hope of finding and sending back relief . 
 
 Other parties sent out in search of Osborne and Slater 
 found the tracks of only one person, who appeared to 
 them to have been walking in circles, or backwards and 
 forwards, as if he were demented. This person could 
 not have been the exhausted Osborne, who had doubtless 
 perished under Slater's eyes. Neither man was ever seen 
 again. 
 
 In December Mr. Gouger's hut was erected, being a 
 
 189 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 structure 12 feet wide and 21 feet long, made of the poles 
 from the copse. Only six nails were used, the uprights, 
 cross-pieces, beams, and joists being all tied together with 
 cordage. The building was thatched with a kind of reed, 
 10 feet long, having long wide leaves. The heat on the 
 26th of December was oppressive, the thermometer in 
 the hut showing 86°, 104° in the double tent under the 
 inner covering, and 116° under the outer canvas. The 
 goats and fowls appeared to be exhausted under this 
 temperature. The arrival of the Buffalo two days later, 
 with Governor Hindmarsh and his officials, has been 
 already recorded. On the 29th a son was born to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Gouger, being the first colonial child, to whom 
 Captain Hindmarsh " stood " as godfather. 
 
 In January, 1837, another vessel arrived from London 
 with emigrants, and the Africaine, which had been dis- 
 patched to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), came in with 
 a supply of live-stock. On the 14th of March the Colonial 
 Secretary had to mourn the death of his wife, who had 
 remained very ill, and the little son died two days later. 
 The bereaved man had been a victim to divided duty 
 between attention to his sick wife and that of his official 
 post. 
 
 Trouble soon arose in disputes between Governor Hind- 
 marsh and Commissioner Fisher concerning their respec- 
 tive powers, and also between the Governor and Colonel 
 Light as to the site of the capital. The Governor acted 
 in a very arbitrary way, especially in the unjust sus- 
 pension of Mr. Gouger from his post, and about the middle 
 of 1838 Hindmarsh left the colony, having been peremp- 
 torily recalled by Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary in 
 London. 
 
 The colony of South Australia was, however, fairly 
 launched on its career after the usual difficulties and dis- 
 comforts of new emigrants. When the landing took 
 
 190 
 
PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 place at Holdfast Bay, each family had to shift for itself, 
 some having tents, and others, in imitation of the natives, 
 building huts of boughs. When a move was made from 
 the sea-coast to the spot where Adelaide stands, women 
 and children had to walk, carrying as much of the house- 
 hold goods as they could, while the men placed other 
 articles on wheelbarrows, which they had to push through 
 five or six miles of " scrub." Next came the " reed-hut 
 period," when dwellings of all shapes and sizes were made 
 from reeds growing in the Torrens River. 
 
 The time soon came when stalwart men and noble 
 women faced the practical work of colonization in sub- 
 duing the wilderness and wresting from Nature the gifts 
 of the soil. The pioneers pushed out northwards into the 
 country, and the air resounded with the crack of the 
 bullock-driver's whip and with the ringing of the axe as 
 roadways were cut through the brush. Courageous and 
 persevering toil, patience under privations, and stern 
 resolve laid the foundations of the splendid colony in 
 which the stockman, the miner, and the tiller of the soil 
 were in time to create enduring wealth and prosperity. 
 
 191 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 1 GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Sir George Grey's birth and early life — His work in Australian ex- 
 ploration ; as Governor of South Australia^His first term of rule 
 in New Zealand — State of the colony — His first measures — His 
 bold attitude — Description of a Maori pah — The storming of 
 The Bat's Nest — The country pacified — New military settlers — 
 Founding of Otago and Canterbury — The Governor's treatment 
 of natives — He wins their affection — His tactful conduct — Work 
 in education — Bishop Selwyn in the colony — His excellent work 
 — The two fellow-helpers — Grey's return to England — The wel- 
 come at Oxford — Second period in New Zealand — Another war 
 — Storming of Te Ranga pah — Captain Smith's heroism — Close 
 of Grey's career. 
 
 CjIR GEORGE GREY, one of the greatest British 
 k^ colonial Governors and statesmen, was born in 
 Lisbon on the 14th of April, 1812, eight days after 
 the death of his father, Lieutenant-Colonel Grey, of the 
 30th Foot, at the storming of Badajoz. After education 
 at Sandhurst Military College he became an ensign in 
 1829, Captain ten years later, and then left the army. 
 It is with a part of his noble career in British colonial 
 rule that we are here concerned. He possessed many of 
 the best qualities of his race, those which have enabled 
 the nation dwelling in a small island in the north-west of 
 Europe to become possessors and rulers of the largest 
 and finest Empire that the world ever saw. 
 
 His active life began as that of an explorer, enduring 
 
 192 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 great hardships, fighting hand-to-hand with wild natives, 
 in the north-west region of West Australia, and returning 
 alone on foot to Perth in 1838 so changed by suffering 
 that friends could not recognize him. In May, 1841, 
 Captain Grey arrived as Governor in South Australia, at 
 the age of twenty-nine, and justified his appointment 
 most amply in four years of patient toil by changing a 
 condition of want and discontent, almost of despair, into 
 that of contentment, peaceful industry, and prosperity. 
 Always the champion of the British ideals of freedom, 
 justice, and peace, he had abundant energy and resolu- 
 tion, combined with administrative skill of the highest 
 order. 
 
 It was the recognition of these qualities by the Colonial 
 Office that sent Grey in November, 1845, as Governor of 
 the infant colony of New Zealand. It was little more 
 than five years since Captain Hobson, the first Governor, 
 had proclaimed the sovereignty of Queen Victoria over 
 the islands, and it was at a very critical time that the 
 strong, wise man reached the country. The white people, 
 scarcely exceeding 12,000 in number, were scattered in 
 distant settlements, unable to co-operate for defence, 
 and the men were mostly untrained for military service, 
 and had no experience in the use of weapons. These few 
 and feeble folk were face to face with 120,000 natives, 
 the Maori nation, whose warriors had no superiors, of 
 their class, on earth in courage, athletic power, and skill 
 in their own peculiar style of warfare. 
 
 An armed struggle with the natives was in progress 
 when Grey landed. The British soldiers had been again 
 and again defeated. One or two more native successes 
 would bring ruin, in the expulsion or the utter destruc- 
 tion of the Europeans. This was the state of affairs with 
 which the new Governor had to deal. It is our business 
 now to show by what methods he turned a position of 
 
 193 s 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 imminent peril into one of perfect safety, and, reaching 
 the land at a crisis of savage war, left it in perfect peace ; 
 how it was that a condition of bankruptcy became one 
 not only of solvency, but of great prosperity. 
 
 Within a few weeks of his arrival the new Governor 
 had partly restored financial order by the judicious use 
 of moneys brought from South Australia, and, in the face 
 of bitter opposition from some of his colleagues, he had, 
 by an Order in Council, stopped the sale of firearms to 
 the Maoris. In regard to the war, Grey took prompt and 
 effective measures. Not all the Maoris were hostile to 
 British rule, and it was clearly incumbent on him to 
 recognize that important fact, and to enlist native aid 
 in behalf of the whites, who were in so small a minority. 
 
 There was a brave and loyal chief named Waka Nene, 
 in command of friendly natives, and the Governor at once 
 provided that all his warriors should be regularly fed. 
 He refused to have any dealings with Hone Heke and 
 Kawiti, two principal and recently victorious chiefs, until 
 they sued for forgiveness and peace ; and this bold atti- 
 tude encouraged the depressed European and the friendly 
 native people. He also proclaimed that all tribes that 
 did not render active assistance, when it was in their 
 power, to the British cause would be treated as hostile. 
 
 Within a few days of his landing at Auckland, Grey 
 went to the Bay of Islands, the scene of recent British 
 defeats, where he found the native mind exulting in suc- 
 cess as a proof of the superior skill and courage of the 
 Maori race. The forces of the disaffected party had 
 rapidly increased, and an immediate success for British 
 arms was demanded by the state of affairs. Hone Heke, 
 who had reoently defeated, with severe loss to the 
 assailants, a British attack on his fortified pah at Ohaewai, 
 had quitted that position with his warriors for a new one 
 with still stronger defences, and so looated as to appear 
 
 194 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 impregnable. This fortress was constructed at Ruapeka- 
 peka, signifying " The Bat's Nest." Governor Grey deter- 
 mined to do what in him lay to dispel the prevailing 
 delusion as to British and Maori troops. 
 
 We muat give some description of one of these strong- 
 holds, first stating that a model of the one now under 
 notice may be seen in the United Service Museum at 
 Whitehall. This ingenious kind of defensive work varied 
 in shape according to the ground on which it was con- 
 structed, but in all cases it was composed of a series of 
 trenches, one within the other, with cross-cuts as con- 
 necting passages, giving it something of the appearance 
 of a maze. Until the moment of attack the garrison 
 kept close, for the avoidance of shell-fire, within little 
 dens hollowed out in the sides of the trenches. 
 
 More protection from artillery missiles was afforded by 
 trench-roofing made of hurdles of branches and twigs 
 covered over with ferns, and sometimes with additional 
 layers of earth. The eaves of the roofs were supported 
 by posts rising half a foot or more above the edge of the 
 trench, thus enabling the defenders to sweep with bullets 
 the ground in front. In many cases rifle-pits were ex- 
 cavated on the flanks of the main work, with traverses 
 or banks of earth lying across the general course of the 
 trenches, so as to protect the men in the pits from a 
 flanking fire. Lastly, there was often, in front of the 
 whole, a fencework of posts and rails — a kind of stockade 
 — which was of service in checking the rush of stormers. 
 
 The Maori defenders of these formidable pahs, which 
 no European engineer could have surpassed for ingenious 
 devices, were generally armed with double-barrelled guns, 
 firing bullets, slugs, or buck-shot, and able to be loaded 
 much more rapidly than the muzzle-loading Enfield rifles 
 then carried by British troops. The fighting was mostly 
 at close quarters, for which the Maori gun was as effective 
 
 195 N 2 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 as any rifle, and the warriors were further armed with 
 spears of hard wood and small axes or tomahawks, while 
 the chiefs carried war-clubs of greenstone or jade. 
 
 Governor Grey had been reinforced with soldiers from 
 India and China, and within five weeks of his arrival 
 in New Zealand he took 1,100 men, commanded by Sir 
 Everard Home, against the Maori position. The first 
 needful matter, a practicable road to the scene of opera- 
 tions, had been prepared within a fortnight by the troops, 
 so that the men could draw the artillery on carts. The 
 Bat's Nest pah was under the command of Hawiti, 
 who there set up his flag. His ally, Heke, had been 
 wounded in a recent fight with some " friendlies," and 
 was twenty miles away, kept in check by a chieftain in 
 the Governor's employ. 
 
 The siege began with a constant artillery fire on the 
 palisades in front of the position. Many sorties, always 
 repulsed, were made by the Maoris, and it was in vain that 
 the wily native commander strove to tempt or provoke 
 the cool courage of the British leaders to premature 
 assault. Ten days passed away before the cannon-fire 
 of the assailants showed any serious effect on the works 
 of the besieged. On the 10th of January, 1846, two 
 small breaches could be seen. The following day was 
 Sunday, and the garrison, who were native Christians, 
 nearly all retired from the works to hold service in a 
 valley at the rear. 
 
 A friendly native, hearing the sound of hymn-singing, 
 and noting the silence within the pah, went to tell the 
 Governor and the General, and an immediate assault 
 was made. The works were entered, and the Maoris, 
 rushing back, met the British troops hand-to-hand. As 
 usual, the bayonet won the day, and the native warriors, 
 taken by surprise and outnumbered, were utterly beaten. 
 Sir George Grey, would not, of course, have made his 
 
 196 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 attack under such circumstances except for his desire 
 to avoid the far more serious loss of life which must have 
 ensued if the Maoris had been present in full force when 
 their works were assailed. This success cost the victors 
 only twelve men killed and thirty-one wounded. Thus 
 was the Bat's Nest taken, and the power of Hone Heke 
 was brought to an end. The chiefs in the North Island 
 made a general submission, and the war was ended with 
 a pardon to all who had been in arms. Such was the 
 change made in the aspect of New Zealand affairs within 
 two months of Grey's arrival. 
 
 Having thus established British credit in the country, 
 the new ruler quickly pacified other parts of the territory 
 by the same skilful and energetic operations, making 
 roads of access to minor strongholds, and capturing them 
 by swift strokes of war. In July, 1846, the most famous 
 of the Maori warriors, the chieftain Rauparaha, was 
 captured by a clever stratagem. He was a dangerous 
 man, who, pretending to be a friend of the white people, 
 was proved by an intercepted letter to be urging on his 
 countrymen against the settlers. After much miscel- 
 laneous warfare, on a small scale, in North Island, a 
 general peace was concluded with the chiefs in February, 
 1848. 
 
 The Governor, with an eye to future possible trouble 
 in the district of Auckland, the capital, from the large 
 number of armed natives in the centre of the island, 
 made arrangements with the Colonial Office in London 
 for a supply of discharged soldiers as colonists. In this 
 way four settlements arose, composed of men enrolled 
 for seven years' service as " New Zealand Fencibles." 
 Each of the men had a cottage, with an acre of land, as 
 his own property, and at the end of his term of service 
 he could claim a further five acres. These new colonists, 
 with their wives and children, numbered in a short time 
 
 197 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 2,000 souls. It was at this time that the Governor 
 received from his Sovereign, Queen Victoria, the well- 
 merited honour of a Knight Commandership of the Bath. 
 
 The important settlements of Otago and Canterbury 
 were also founded by Sir George Grey in South Island 
 through the purchase of native lands for £10,000, furnished 
 by the Home Government. Otago was established in 
 1848 by members of the Free Church of Scotland, and 
 Canterbury arose, at the end of 1850, with the arrival of 
 three ships in Lyttelton Harbour. These vessels had on 
 board emigrants sent out by the Canterbury Association, 
 representing the Church of England. In later days 
 many of the people of the British Isles were to become 
 partakers of the famous " Canterbury lamb," produced 
 on the plains which furnish for sheep the finest pasture in 
 the world. 
 
 It was a great thing to have conquered Maori warriors. 
 Sir George felt that it would be a still finer and more 
 beneficent achievement to win the love and esteem of 
 the Maori people. To this work he now addressed him- 
 self in a wise, determined, long-sustained, and successful 
 effort to master a knowledge of the language, manners, 
 customs, religion, and modes of thought of the native 
 population. He desired to have the most direct personal 
 communication with themselves on all subjects, that he 
 might fully understand their complaints, and apply 
 remedies which would not wound their feelings or deal 
 harshly with their prejudices. 
 
 It was Grey's avowed object to gain the confidence and 
 regard of the Maoris by a patient hearing, at all times 
 and in all places, of a tale of suffering or wrong, and, even 
 if he were unable to render aid, to create a belief , by a 
 kindly reply, that he had a sympathetic feeling for those 
 whom he ruled. He had on many occasions, when he 
 was travelling without an interpreter, been waylaid by 
 
 198 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 some suitor who had come on foot many weary miles 
 to utter a tale of grievance. Sir George had then been 
 compelled to pass on without the power of understanding, 
 and to witness with pain an expression of sorrow and 
 disappointment come over a countenance previously 
 bright with hope in obtaining an opportunity anxiously 
 looked for and at last secured. 
 
 It is certain that no ruler ever more fully succeeded 
 in so benevolent an enterprise. The affection of the 
 natives was won. In June, 1848, Government House at 
 Auckland was destroyed by fire, and most of the valuable 
 contents perished, including manuscripts, correspondence, 
 memoranda, and articles of various kinds, many of 
 which no money could replace. The British Parliament 
 expressed due sympathy, and voted money for the 
 redress of Sir George Grey's smallest loss — that of his 
 furniture and plate. In this time of trouble there came a 
 striking demonstration from the Maori workmen employed 
 at the Government quarries, and instructed, by Grey's 
 orders, in skilled work. 
 
 Thesemen wrote a letter to their "friend, the Governor " : 
 " Salutations to you. Great is our love and sympathy to 
 yourself and Mrs. Grey because your dwelling has been 
 destroyed by fire." They then beg to be employed 
 to furnish stones for a new house, "but there must 
 be no payment given us," and to be allowed to 
 show their skill in the erection of the edifice. " From 
 your loving children. Concluded to our father the 
 Governor." 
 
 The wisdom and tact of Sir George, in his great object 
 of conciliating the natives, and enlisting the influence of 
 the chiefs in the service of order and civilization, were 
 never found wanting. Young native chiefs were enrolled 
 in the constabulary, and the heads of the tribes were 
 appointed as magistrates, with fixed pay, in their several 
 
 199 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 districts. Energetic work was done in all parts of the 
 territory in the construction of roads by bands of native 
 workmen. As these needful operations were being 
 carried on, one great chief, a stubborn and prejudiced 
 man, refused to allow highways to be made in his territory. 
 The Governor at once attacked him at a weak point by 
 presenting a horse and carriage to a young and favourite 
 wife of the chieftain, at the same time, with assurances 
 of his friendship, suggesting that the use of the vehicle 
 would be healthy and pleasurable for the lady. The 
 Maori then made a passable road through a region 
 previously inaccessible to wheeled traffic. 
 
 The great work of education was not forgotten. Schools 
 for the sons of chiefs were established with endowments 
 for their support. We must now turn to some account 
 of the invaluable aid afforded, in the work of civilizing 
 New Zealand, by the famous Bishop Selwyn. George 
 Augustus Selwyn, born in 1809, a few months before 
 Mr. Gladstone, the coming Premier, was his close friend 
 at Eton and during the rest of his own career. At 
 Cambridge, Selwyn was Second Classic in 1831, and 
 rowed, in 1829, in the first University boat-race. He 
 was also a great pedestrian and swimmer. 
 
 In 1842 Selwyn arrived in New Zealand as the first 
 Anglican Bishop in that region, and soon proved how 
 admirably he was fitted for his work. During the 
 lengthy voyage to the Antipodes he studied the difficult 
 Maori language to such purpose that he was able to 
 address the natives in their own tongue. He also 
 mastered the art of navigation. He visited every part 
 of his extensive diocese before undertaking the arduous 
 work of organization. As a Bishop he lived a life of 
 constant strain and hardship. For whole days and 
 nights he was in the saddle as he journeyed through the 
 wilds ; he swam broad rivers, and at sea he manoeuvred 
 
 200 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 his yacht as expertly as any professional mariner in 
 the colony. 
 
 His devoted labours won the confidence of the natives, 
 but the outbreak of the first Maori War shook his 
 influential position, and in his efforts at conciliation he 
 seemed to lose for a time the trust of both the natives 
 and the colonists. Selwyn was a very determined and 
 outspoken man, and he may thus have given unintended 
 offence, but his noble character, in the end, was duly 
 appreciated. On the battlefield itself he tended the 
 bodily and the spiritual needs of the sick and wounded 
 on both sides, but the natives held the delusion, for some 
 time, that he had come out to fight against them, 
 and long afterwards a Maori pointed to a scar on his 
 leg as having been inflicted by Selwyn's own hand. 
 Before he quitted the scene of his devoted labours the 
 Bishop was respected by the Europeans for his high 
 integrity, and was regarded by the natives as a father. 
 
 Governor Grey and Bishop Selwyn, men of like char- 
 acter, both holding the highest ideals of duty, were sure 
 to become firm friends and allies. More than once they 
 traversed the North Island on foot, from Wellington to 
 Auckland, scaling mountains, toiling through forests, 
 making friends with the chiefs, and influencing the tribes 
 in the cause of Christianity and of loyalty to the Queen. 
 Never was there a more happy and beneficent partnership 
 of two men of high intellect and unsurpassed energy in 
 the promotion of civilization among conquered savages. 
 The Governor took counsel with the Bishop concerning 
 the rule of the natives ; the Anglican Church in New 
 Zealand owed the original draft of its constitution not to 
 Bishop Selwyn, but to Governor Grey. 
 
 Sir George Grey quitted the Colony on the conclusion 
 of his first term of service as Governor, on the last day of 
 the year 1853. He had ruled the country with wisdom 
 
 201 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 and power for eight years. A few months previously a 
 representative constitution had come into action. The 
 natives, whom he had not only subdued by arms, but had 
 rendered willing and loyal subjects of the Crown, teaching 
 them the value of education and industry, order and 
 law, were not slow to testify their affectionate regret for 
 his departure. There was, in fact, an outburst of native 
 poetry and oratory in his praise. 
 
 The great Proconsul had not only rescued his country- 
 men from imminent peril in a strange land, and made 
 profound peace to reign ; he had created a new nation 
 by welding scattered bodies of colonists, living in lawless 
 independence and antagonism, into a single State, with 
 a free and elastic constitution, and with municipal 
 organizations of wide and beneficent powers. The country 
 was making rapid progress, and the European population 
 had grown from about 13,000 to 30,000, while the revenue 
 had increased from below £13,000 to nearly £150,000. 
 
 Sir George Grey, on his return to England in 1854, had 
 a remarkable welcome at Oxford, when the University 
 conferred upon him the honorary D.C.L. degree. There, 
 in the Sheldonian Theatre, in presence of a great and 
 distinguished assemblage, the Public Orator, in the usual 
 Latin oration, dwelt on the remarkable merits of the 
 man whom the University had selected for honour. 
 The gownsmen in the gallery listened patiently until the 
 speaker used the word " anthropophagi " (man-eaters), 
 in noting how Sir George had quelled the fierceness and 
 civilized the spirit of the warlike, and formerly cannibal, 
 tribes of New Zealand. 
 
 On the instant a joyous tumult arose, when an under- 
 graduate, from his elevated position, started, with sten- 
 torian voice, a popular song of the period, " The King of 
 the Cannibal Islands." It was in vain that the Orator, 
 wildly waving his arms, begged for silence. The hundreds 
 
 202 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 of youthful enthusiasts, as they sang, swept away with 
 them most of the audience, who joined in with a roar of 
 delight, and drowned all the rest of the eulogium on the 
 visitor. 
 
 It was towards the end of 1861 that Sir George Grey, 
 after a brilliant success as ruler of Cape Colony, went out 
 for the second time as Governor of New Zealand. He 
 arrived, as on the first occasion, at a time of unrest, when 
 a sort of armed truce had followed on a second Maori War 
 arising from disputes concerning the land. In 1863 the 
 struggle was renewed, the hostile natives being well 
 provided with firearms and ammunition. The contest 
 spread all over the country, though 10,000 regular troops, 
 and as many colonial riflemen, were in the field. The 
 British forces often failed in attacks on pahs, and the 
 Governor became engaged in bitter disputes with Generals 
 Cameron and Tuke, whom he regarded as in some measure 
 responsible. 
 
 A brilliant success was, however, gained by the British 
 on the 22nd of June, 1864, in the midwinter of NewZealand. 
 The Maoris had constructed, at Te Ranga, in the Auck- 
 land province, one of their usual fortifications, which, in 
 this instance, barred an important route to the forces 
 under Colonel Greer. That experienced officer, well 
 used to warfare with the Maoris, determined to clear the 
 way, and advanced with about 600 officers and men of 
 the 43rd and 68th Regiments of Light Infantry and 
 Colonial Militia. He had also a few cavalry and a 
 6-pounder Armstrong gun, which was kept hidden in the 
 centre of the little column. 
 
 The scouts of the enemy were able to give warning, 
 and so prevent the surprise intended by the British 
 commander. He halted his men at about 700 yards 
 from the Maori outwork, 170 yards in length. The main 
 position represented the letter A, with the base facing 
 
 203 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 the British. Along both legs and round the top were 
 deep natural gullies, formed by art into a pah. The 
 cross-bar of the letter was the work just mentioned, not 
 straight, but sloping, being really a line of rifle-pits, 2 feet 
 wide and from 3 to 4 feet deep, partially stockaded in front. 
 
 Colonel Greer first sent a company of the 43rd, in 
 skirmishing order, out on his right, to within 200 yards 
 of the Maori left flank, where his cavalry were also drawn 
 up, and the Armstrong was posted on a hillock. As the 
 other troops slowly advanced to the attack, heavy firing 
 came from the pah, and the soldiers were eager for a rush. 
 The commander would not permit this, but caused his 
 advanced men to occupy outflanking positions command 
 ing the rifle-pits, while the gun was moved so as to 
 deliver an enfilading fire. The enemy's position was now 
 so far enclosed that the Maoris could not retreat without 
 severe loss. 
 
 At 1.15 p.m. the advance was sounded, with orders to 
 the men to reserve their fire to the utmost. With a loud 
 cheer the men dashed on under rapid and accurate 
 volleys from the foe, who were in greatly superior numbers. 
 The men of the 43rd Regiment had been severely repulsed 
 in the previous month, and were now ready for anything 
 to restore their credit. The attack, in spite of the heavy 
 fire, made good progress, and another Armstrong gun 
 came up. The whole scene was enveloped in smoke, 
 from the midst of which Colonel Greer could hear, on his 
 far right, the incessant crack of the rifles of the 43rd. 
 
 He galloped up to that point, and found them making 
 a fine charge with the bayonet. Far in advance of all was 
 Captain F. A. Smith, his sword in his right hand, his 
 revolver in the left, only a dozen yards from the parapet. 
 The captain suddenly fell headlong, and a roar of rage 
 came from his men in the rear, and a cry that he was 
 killed. In a moment he was up again, waving his sword, 
 
 204 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 though a bullet had pierced his body, and, shouting to 
 the men, he sprang on the parapet, stood there for a second, 
 and leapt among the savages in the rifle-pits, cutting down 
 four Maoris as he slashed to right and left. 
 
 His revolver cleared off more of his fqes, but a blow 
 from a tomahawk knocked him down. In a moment more 
 he was on his feet again, and got his back against the 
 highest part of the work, with his enemies below him. 
 His revolver was now empty, and could not be reloaded. 
 His left hand was smashed by a Maori axe. His sword 
 had been knocked or wrenched away by two Maoris who 
 had crept into his rear, and then a warrior in the pit 
 below, who had been cut down by Smith's last sword 
 stroke, was just able to fire a bullet through the British 
 hero's thigh, from so close a position that the flesh was 
 burned all round the wound. 
 
 Captain Smith at last rolled helpless over, down into 
 the pit, where his throat was seized by wounded foes 
 that he had laid low. At this instant his men, with a 
 yell, were over the parapet. Smith was rescued, and the c 
 British bayonets, in half a minute, had left nothing alive 
 near him. Meanwhile, in the centre and on the left 
 flank, the 68th men and the Colonial Militia had stormed 
 the rifle-pits, and the Maori warriors fled along the 
 gullies and the swamps in the rear, falling by hundreds 
 under the bullets, and cut down by the sabres of the 
 mounted men in a pursuit of six miles. All the principal 
 Maori leaders in that region were soon either killed or 
 captured, the pah was blown up, and the heroic Smith 
 received the Victoria Cross, which he wore afterwards as 
 Colonel of the 43rd, chief among the victors on the 
 Te Ranga day. 
 
 Sir George Grey's real work in New Zealand had been 
 performed during his first term of office as Governor. 
 In the second period he had not a free hand, and his 
 
 205 
 
GREY AND SELWYN IN NEW ZEALAND 
 
 efforts were thwarted by his ministers and by the colonial 
 authorities Id London. His chief offence was the military 
 success which he achieved as an example to General 
 Cameron. The Maoris had a strong work at a place 
 called Wereroa, whence they issued in marauding parties. 
 When Cameron refused to undertake the work of capturing 
 the position, asserting that it would require 2,000 more 
 troops than he had with him, or 6,000 in all, the Governor 
 gathered a few hundred men, friendly natives and 
 colonial bushmen called "Forest Rangers," and took 
 command in person. In three days' time he was master 
 of the pah, with the garrison as prisoners of war, and 
 with no loss on his side. This event occurred on the 20th 
 of July, 1865, and was regarded in Downing Street as 
 " subversive of discipline," according to the remonstrance 
 made by Cameron. 
 
 It only remains to state that in 1868 the Governor 
 was recalled, and left New Zealand amid an outburst 
 of gratitude and sympathy from those whom he had 
 ruled. At a later day, in 1877, he became Premier of 
 the nourishing colony, of which he had been the real 
 founder, for about two years. In 1894 he came to 
 London, was called to the Privy Council, and graciously 
 received by the Queen at Windsor. This great English- 
 man died at Kensington on September 20, 1898, and had 
 a public funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral. His name is 
 for ever associated in high distinction with the history 
 of more than one of our chief colonial possessions. 
 
 206 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 Rhodes as an Empire-builder — His birth and early life — Out to South 
 Africa — His wealth and health — Travels on the veldt — His 
 aspirations — Illness and restoration — A champion against the 
 Boers — Acquisition of Bechuanaland — Matabeleland — King Loben- 
 gula — British treaty with — The Boers excluded — The British 
 occupation — Work of the pioneers — Salisbury founded — Early 
 difficulties — The Matabele war-party — First Matabele war — 
 British columns in the field — Native attacks on laager repulsed — 
 Capture of Buluwayo — Pursuit of Lobengula — Major Forbes' 
 movements — Major Wilson and his men— Attacked by Matabele 
 — Retreat of Major Forbes — Matabele surrender — the Shangani 
 patrol — Heroio resistance to death — The last man — the burial 
 of the skulls — The cool courage of Cecil Rhodes — His death, 
 burial, and monument — The Victoria Falls Bridge opened. 
 
 IF ever Englishman could justly claim to be a founder 
 of Empire, it was Cecil John Rhodes, Premier of 
 Cape Colony, and Managing Director of the British 
 South Africa Company, chartered by the Crown in 
 October, 1889. The avowed objects of this association 
 were the encouragement of colonization, the promotion 
 of trade, and the development and working of mineral 
 and other resources in the regions then known as Mata- 
 beleland and Mashonaland, in the south-east of Africa. 
 Mr. Rhodes, we may observe, was the originator and guid- 
 ing spirit of the Company. 
 Thifl great colonial and Imperial statesman was born 
 
 207 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 on July 5, 1853, at Bishop-Stortford, in Hertfordshire, 
 being fifth son of the Vicar of that town. In 1870, in 
 feeble health, he went to Natal, where an elder brother 
 was engaged in growing cotton. In the following year, 
 as a successful digger for diamonds at Kimberley, he laid 
 the foundation of his great wealth, and his health was 
 restored by the pure, dry air of the veldt. He was now 
 free to choose his own course in life, and he resolved to 
 return to England and study at Oxford University. 
 Before starting for home, however, he made a lonely 
 journey of eight months' duration in the region north of 
 the Orange and Vaal Rivers. 
 
 As he made his way with his ox-waggon, at the rate of 
 about 20 miles a day, observing and meditating, his 
 imaginative mind became filled with vast schemes of 
 ambition on behalf of his country. He dreamed even 
 of the governance of the world by the British race. 
 Stepping down a little from that stupendous height, 
 Rhodes, a man of prudence and resolution, aimed at 
 British predominance in South Africa At the same time 
 he determined to extend, if he could, the region of British 
 sway in that quarter of the world. 
 
 At a later day, pointing to a map of Africa, and indi- 
 cating the territory reaching beyond the Limpopo to 
 the Zambesi, and farther still to the north, he cried, " I 
 want all that coloured red," meaning marked on the map 
 as British. This aspiration was to be fulfilled. On his 
 return to England in 1872 Rhodes entered at Oriel 
 College, Oxford, and was again seriously affected in the 
 lungs by a bad chill caught after rowing. He was sent 
 out again to South Africa by an eminent physician, in 
 whose diary, years afterwards, he saw against his own 
 name the note, " Not six months to live." 
 
 The man of science was, happily, mistaken in his 
 sentence of death. The veldt gave the patient restored 
 
 208 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 health, as it had already bestowed riches, which were 
 now increased by various schemes. From 1876 to 1878 
 Rhodes " kept his terms " at Oxford, spending the Long 
 Vacation in his southern scene of action, and taking his 
 degree in 1881, when he was a member of the Assembly 
 in Cape Colony. It was the year of Majuba, when the 
 Transvaal, after a revolt against British authority, and 
 several small defeats of British forces, was handed back 
 to the Boers as again an almost independent territory. 
 The exultant Dutch party at the Cape were talking of 
 a " United States of South Africa," under Dutch con- 
 trol. At this crisis British interests found a steadfast 
 champion in Mr. Rhodes, who was more than ever re- 
 solved on the extension of the range of British power 
 and influence in South Africa. 
 
 The first important matter was that of Bechuanaland, 
 the territory lying west of the Transvaal, and command- 
 ing the trade-routes northwards to what was then practi- 
 cally the unknown region between the Limpopo and the 
 Zambesi Rivers. In 1884 the British Government assumed 
 a protectorate over Bechuanaland, and a definite 
 border was laid down beyond which the Transvaal was 
 not to extend westwards. At the end of that year 
 Rhodes became a Resident Commissioner in the new 
 British territory, and found that, not only were the Trans- 
 vaal Boers overrunning the border, but that Bechuana- 
 land had been practically seized by a Boer " commando." 
 
 The intervention of Mr. Rhodes caused the despatch 
 of 4,000 men under Sir Charles Warren, including 2,000 
 irregular cavalry. The Boer forces were at once 
 withdrawn peacefully, and in August, 1885, British 
 Bechuanaland became a Crown Colony, and the Protec- 
 torate was defined as the land between the Molopo 
 River on the south and the Zambesi on the north, with 
 an area of over 200,000 square miles. A splendid province 
 
 20S o 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 was thus added to the Empire, with a population of about 
 200,000, including the Bamangwato tribe, ruled by the 
 excellent chief named Khama, thoroughly loyal to the 
 British Crown, an enemy of alcoholic liquors, and a friend 
 of education. 
 
 This was a good beginning for the great pioneer, but 
 there was far more to come. To the north-east of 
 Bechuanaland lay the regions called Matabeleland and 
 Mashonaland. The Matabele people were a military 
 tribe, akin to the Zulus, and had, early in the nineteenth 
 century, as a division of the Zulu army, migrated west- 
 wards and northwards, and conquered the territory 
 which became afterwards the Transvaal, and had then 
 been driven towards the Zambesi by the Boers who 
 migrated from Cape Colony. Mashonaland, to the east 
 of Matabeleland proper, was inhabited by people not 
 physically or morally strong, lowered in character by 
 Matabele tyranny, but good at tillage and native handi- 
 craft. 
 
 In 1887 it became clear that the Boers of the Transvaal 
 were aiming at Mashonaland, and that the Portuguese 
 were also eager to obtain as much territory there as they 
 could. Lord Salisbury, then Prime Minister and Foreign 
 Secretary, intervened with effect, and claimed for British 
 influence the territory up to the Zambesi. Most of Mata- 
 beleland and Mashonaland had for many years been 
 subject to Lobengula, son and successor of Moselekatse, 
 the original conqueror of the territory. Lobengula was 
 by far the strongest native chieftain south of the Zambesi, 
 and possessed a great disciplined army of warriors. He 
 was a hereditary friend of the British, and now again 
 Mr. Rhodes did good service to the Empire. 
 
 He induced Sir Hercules Robinson, the High Com- 
 missioner for South Africa, to send, as a negotiator to 
 Buluwayo, Lobengula's chief kraal, or capital, an official 
 
 210 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 named Moffat, who had long worked in Matabeleland as 
 a missionary, and was very influential with the King. 
 Lobengula was by him persuaded to seek British inter- 
 vention against the Boers and the Portuguese, - and a 
 treaty was made whereby the Matabele ruler undertook 
 to make no agreement with any foreign power, nor sell 
 or concede any part of his territory, without the sanction 
 of the British Government. In the following year (1889) 
 the South Africa Company, as above recorded, was formed, 
 and Mr. Rhodes and his fellow-directors resolved on a 
 prompt occupation of the territory in which the Company 
 was to work in connexion with the mining-rights con- 
 ceded by Lobengula. 
 
 It was a great and memorable day in the history of 
 the expansion of the Empire when, on the 28th of June, 
 1890, a body of about 200 chosen pioneers and 500 armed 
 police started northwards from the Macloutse River, a 
 tributary of the Limpopo, and made their way over 400 
 miles of the gradually rising plateau to Mount Hampden, 
 in Mashonaland. The guide of the expedition was the 
 famous explorer and lion-hunter, Mr. F. C. Selous, who 
 knew the territory better than any other white man. 
 
 A route on the east side of Matabeleland was taken, at 
 the desire of the King, in order to avoid all risk of col- 
 lision with his indunas, the commanders of his impis, 
 or regiments of young warriors, about 15,000 strong, who 
 were jealous of the presence of white men, and eager to 
 " wash their spears," in the Zulu phrase, and were hard 
 to restrain. The advancing pioneers constructed the 
 " Selous Road," 400 miles long ; they bridged streams, 
 made platforms over marshy ground, and established 
 fortified stations at Tuli, Victoria, Charter, and Salisbury, 
 on the way to Mount Hampden. All this was effected 
 without firing a shot. In two years' time the white 
 population of the country reached 3,000. 
 
 211 2 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 At Salisbury there was soon a town with many of the 
 signs of civilization — hotels and hospitals, churches and 
 clubs, lawyers and land-agents, stores, newspapers, a race- 
 course, and a sanitary board. The disbanded pioneers 
 pegged off claims in the auriferous quartz districts of 
 Mashonaland. In the very rainy season of 1890-1891 
 the adventurers suffered much, and many deaths were 
 caused by the lack of medicines and proper food. Then 
 began a dawning of prosperity, and in September, 1891, 
 within a year of the occupation, there were over 10,000 
 miDing-claims allotted in the six goldfields which had 
 been opened. The new-comers were soon destined to 
 have to assert possession of the territory, not merely by 
 concession from its ruler of a British protectorate and 
 right of occupation, but by force of arms. 
 
 The young Matabele warriors continued their raids on 
 the Mashonas who were in the employ of the British 
 settlers, and on Sunday, the 9th of July, 1893, a Matabele 
 war-party killed several native labourers close to the town 
 of Victoria. Dr. Jameson, the administrator of the Com- 
 pany's territory, met with defiance when he had an inter- 
 view with the Matabele leaders, and some hundreds of 
 their warriors were then attacked and dispersed by a 
 party of the mounted police. Lobengula, probably under 
 pressure from his warlike subjects, refused to comply with 
 British demands, and war became inevitable. 
 
 Several small columns of the Company's forces, with 
 the Border Police, who were Imperial troops, about 1,100 
 white men in all, mounted and armed with rifles, and pro- 
 vided with Maxims and some field-pieces, started from 
 Tuli, Victoria, and Salisbury, for a converging march on 
 Buluwayo, the Matabele capital. About 600 natives 
 employed as servants, waggoners, and scouts accom- 
 panied the fighting force, which had ox-waggons for the 
 food-stores and ammunition. The vehicles, with the help 
 
 212 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 of a thorn-fence, could be employed in making a " laager " 
 to resist the rush of superior numbers of the enemy. 
 About half of the Matabele warriors had rifles, with which 
 they fired far too high for effect ; the rest carried only 
 the native weapons — the spear, the club, and the hide- 
 covered shield. . 
 
 Almost all the fighting fell to the share of the Salisbury 
 and Victoria columns, united under the command of 
 Major Forbes, under whom Major Allan Wilson served. 
 On the 17th of October, 1893, they began their march 
 along the high ground forming the watershed between 
 the Zambesi and Limpopo Rivers. The route lay through 
 a country well watered by streams, generally over open 
 glades and high downs, though sometimes a track had 
 to be cut through the bush. On the night of the 24th 
 the invading force camped near the head-waters of the 
 Shangani River. 
 
 The Victoria and Salisbury contingents lay close 
 together in separate laagers formed with the waggons, 
 and connected by parallel thorn-hedges, inside which the 
 oxen and horses were picketed. The guns were placed 
 in openings of the laagers left for the purpose, and pickets 
 of white volunteers and natives were outside the laagers 
 in every direction. Just before daybreak the Matabele 
 warriors, about 6,000 strong, " rushed " the pickets. 
 Major Forbes wrote : " At five minutes to four we were 
 suddenly awakened by quick firing, and realized that the 
 enemy were upon us. The waggons were manned im- 
 mediately, and fire was opened all round the laager. It 
 was too dark at first to see the natives, but their position 
 was shown by the flashes that came from the grass all 
 round, very close and frequent." 
 
 The pickets mostly got safe inside the laagers, though 
 one officer of the native scouts was wounded in the arm 
 and side, and had a thumb shot off. His people had been 
 
 213 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 awoke by " finding the Matabele right among them, and 
 stabbing them." The first attack ended before day- 
 break, and when it was light firing began again, but the 
 enemy were driven into the bush by rifle-bullets and 
 shell. It was observed that when the larger shells burst 
 the Matabele fired their rifles at them, as if at a living 
 foe. 
 
 The white troops had one man killed and six wounded ; 
 forty or fifty of the natives with the British were killed 
 or wounded, partly when the pickets were "rushed." 
 The Matabele lost many scores of men. They retreated 
 on Buluwayo, keeping now in front, now in flank, of the 
 British column. On the evening of the 26th a scouting- 
 party was nearly cut off by them, and Captain Williams, 
 the commander, lost his life through his horse " bolting " 
 and carrying him into the midst of the enemy. 
 
 On the evening of the 31st of October the column was 
 at a point about twenty miles east of Buluwayo, and on 
 the following day the Matabele made a last fight to save 
 their capital. The British laager was formed on a spur 
 of the hills, with a stretch of open ground between it and 
 the bush. There some thousands of the enemy were seen 
 in motion to surround the camp and make an attack. 
 When a 7-pounder gun was fired, they broke cover and 
 rushed in dense masses, firing as they came on, against 
 the north and east sides of the laager. 
 
 Swept down by the fire of rifles and Maxims, and by 
 the shells of the two guns bursting in their midst, the 
 Matabele could scarcely get within 300 yards of the 
 waggons, and in about forty minutes they slowly retired. 
 The victory oost the whites three killed and seven 
 wounded ; hundreds of the enemy fell. On the 4th of 
 November Buluwayo was quietly occupied, being mostly 
 ruined by fire, as Lobengula had ordered when he fled to 
 the north. During the course of these events the 
 
 211 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 Bechuanaland Border Police and the Tuli column, about 
 450 men in all, united under Colonel Goold Adams, had 
 rendered great service by drawing towards them about 
 8,000 of Lobengula's warriors. There was no serious 
 fighting on his march, and on the 15th of November he 
 reached Buluwayo. 
 
 The Matabele people now seemed to desire peace, but 
 the King at first refused to surrender, and a body of 
 mounted men under Major Forbes was sent out in pur- 
 suit. They were forced to retire, from want of stores, 
 when they were, as was afterwards found, within three 
 miles of Lobengula's place of retreat. The King was now 
 really ready to submit, and he had sent off two mes- 
 sengers to the British commander, with a present of gold 
 and a letter asking for terms. The gold was stolen and 
 the letter intercepted and suppressed by two troopers of 
 the Border Police. 
 
 This criminal conduct, rare enough in a British force, 
 drove the King and his bodyguard to a desperate further 
 effort, and caused the loss of many valuable fives. The 
 pursuers, following the tracks made by the wheels of 
 Lobengula's three waggons, arrived on the 3rd of Decem- 
 ber at a native camp, recently abandoned, near the Shan 
 gani River. A captured Matabele stated that the King 
 and his escort had slept there on the previous night, and 
 that he was, in fact, near at hand. Major Forbes, as it 
 was now 5 p.m., resolved to camp for the night, but he 
 sent forward a patrol — fifteen officers and men — under 
 Major Allan Wilson. 
 
 It was now the South African midsummer, and Forbes 
 hoped that Wilson, by a swift advance, could find out 
 Lobengula's last place of rest, and be back before dark 
 to camp. Late in the evening two of the patrol returned 
 with a message from Wilson that he had crossed the Shan- 
 gani and ascertained the King's position ; he would, 
 
 215 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 therefore, spend the night near Lobengula's bivouac. 
 Still later three troopers came in from Wilson to warn 
 Major Forbes that the enemy were in considerable force, 
 and meant to surround and attack his camp. 
 
 In the dark, Major Wilson, coming close to the King's 
 place of rest, had shouted out to the natives that he 
 meant no harm, and only wished to speak to their master. 
 The Matabele then, in large numbers, came crowding 
 round the little party, and Wilson and his men rode back 
 half a mile and halted for the night. Forbes, on receiving 
 Wilson's last message, sent off Captain Borrow and about 
 twenty troopers to his aid, with a message that on the 
 morrow he would join him with the rest of the column 
 and the Maxims. Borrow's party reached Wilson with- 
 out seeing any of the Matabele. 
 
 On the 4th of December, at dawn, Forbes started for 
 the Shangani ford, and at once heard from beyond the 
 river the sound of firing. Shortly after a heavy fire was 
 opened on his men from the dense bush on the left. The 
 party halted to reply with Maxims and rifles, and after 
 a fight in which a few men were wounded, the enemy's 
 fire ceased, and Forbes and his men drew nearer the 
 river. While the firing went on, three men from Wilson's 
 party — an American scout and two troopers — joined 
 Forbes by swimming their horses across the river, and 
 the American startled his comrades by the words : " I 
 think I may say that we are the last survivors of that 
 party." 
 
 The story told was a terrible one, yet full of glory for 
 brave Britons. At dawn of that day Wilson and his 
 patrol, riding up to the King's camp, and again calling 
 out for Lobengula, had been received with rifle-fire, which 
 they returned. They retreated before overwhelming 
 numbers, and when they were nearly surrounded Major 
 Wilson sent off the three men, as the best mounted, to 
 
 216 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 Forbes for help. The American and his comrades, 
 making for the ford, had to dash through a mass of the 
 enemy, who had abeady cut off Wilson from his only 
 chance of safety. 
 
 The surrounding of the Shangani patrol was due to 
 the facts that several of the troopers were dismounted, 
 as their horses had been shot ; the other steeds were 
 tired out ; and the several wounded and the dismounted 
 men could not, come what might, be abandoned. Major 
 Forbes was in the terrible position for a brave man of 
 being helpless while comrades were being done to death. 
 The river had become swollen during the night through 
 heavy rains, and he could not get his Maxims across. 
 His own force was small, and if he took the troopers, 
 supposing it were possible, over the deep rushing stream, 
 he would only throw away more lives to no purpose. 
 
 He could only stay on his side of the river, in the hope 
 that it might fall, and make way for his machine-guns, 
 or that some of Wilson's party might get down to the 
 river-bank within their range. On the next day he was 
 forced to abandon all hope, and he' retreated, sending on 
 a message to Buluwayo for a column of relief. He was 
 abeady short of supplies, and his men, as they retired, 
 had to kill and eat the horses, except a few retained for 
 the use of the sick and wounded. 
 
 There was fighting at first with enemies on the flanks 
 and rear, and the constant rain made the ground so deep 
 and difficult that most of the baggage and the very car- 
 riages of the guns were left behind. The force was in a 
 terrible plight when the relief column was met about forty 
 miles north of Buluwayo. In January, 1894, another 
 patrol of 180 men and two Maxims, under Colonel Goold 
 Adams, started for the Shangani, but was soon stopped 
 by the heavy rains. 
 
 Early in February two white traders, well known to 
 
 217 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 Lobengula from long residence in his capital — James 
 Dawson, a Scot, and Patrick Riley, an Irishman — volun- 
 teered for the dangerous task, which no native could be 
 induced to undertake, of carrying a message to the 
 Matabele King. Travelling in a small cart, without any 
 esoort, they reached the Shangani in the middle of 
 February. They were helped by their knowledge of the 
 native language, and were not attacked. 
 
 They learned that Lobengula was dead, that many of 
 bis people had perished, and that most of the survivors 
 had been down with fever from exposure to the rains 
 and lack of proper food. They were quite ready to sur- 
 render, but dreaded death in revenge for their slaughter 
 of Wilson and his men. When they received due assur- 
 ance on this point from the white envoys, they laid down 
 their weapons, and Matabeleland was then so safe that 
 white men could ride unarmed through the wildest parts 
 of the territory. 
 
 The story of the Shangani patrol was now, through the 
 Matabele chiefs who related it to Dawson and Riley, told 
 to an admiring Empire. Cut off, as we have stated, and 
 surrounded by hundreds of dusky warriors, the white 
 men stood and fought in a little group on and around 
 a big ant-hill, defying death in the passion and pride of 
 heroic resolve. One by one these Britons fell, answering 
 the heavy fire poured in from the bush on all sides with 
 a steady discharge of rifles and revolvers to meet every 
 rush. When a man was disabled from standing, he lay 
 down, and, if he could, he fired still from his prone 
 position, or handed up his ammunition to his comrades. 
 
 At last all were slain, or so severely wounded that they 
 could fire no more, with the exception of one big man, 
 who, in the words of a Matabele chieftain who was 
 present, " would not die." Gathering round him a 
 number of the weapons dropped by his dead comrades, 
 
 218 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 and plenty of ammunition, he slew a number of his 
 assailants. The Matabele thought he was a wizard who 
 could not be killed or worn out, though they could see 
 the blood streaming from his wounds. 
 
 They seemed awe-struck by the splendid Briton as he 
 picked up weapon after weapon and shot all round him 
 with wonderful aim — in front, to each flank, and over 
 his shoulders — whenever a foeman approached him out 
 of the bush. Shot at last in the hip, he dropped down, 
 and fired on as he sat. The fight was only ended by his 
 exhaustion from loss of blood, and his last breath passed 
 away in the stabbing of assegais. The thirty-four men 
 of the Shangani patrol had slain nearly 400 of the enemy. 
 The Matabele chiefs were full of admiration for the 
 heroes who had proved that, without Maxims, the white 
 men could fight nobly. The brave old Umjan, chief in 
 command of Lobengula's royal impi, or regiment, cried : 
 " Men of men they were, whose fathers were men of men 
 before them." 
 
 Matabeleland was conquered, and the natives were 
 glad to surrender, " that they might sleep," their phrase 
 for being free from care. The remains of the men who 
 fell by the Shangani were disinterred, and the skulls — 
 most of them pierced by bullets — were buried in conse- 
 crated ground near some stately ruins due to an unknown 
 religion and civilization. There they he, on a bare, rocky 
 mound, amidst dense tropical bush and flowering trees, 
 with a granite monolith raised by Cecil Rhodes in their 
 honour. These brave builders of Empire are for ever 
 enshrined in the memories of all their countrymen worthy 
 of the name of Britons. 
 
 We must pass over all details of the Matabele rebellion 
 which broke out early in 1896, and was suppressed, after 
 a contest lasting for several months, by a force of 5,000 
 men headed by Sir Frederick Carrington. The conclu- 
 
 219 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 sion of peace showed the founder of Rhodesia as the 
 worthy compatriot, in coolness and courage, of his fighting 
 countrymen. Among his many gifts was an extra- 
 ordinary power of winning the affection and confidence 
 of the natives in South Africa. He employed no white 
 servants, but all were native youths, many of whom 
 came from Matabeleland and Mashonaland. The time 
 came when this influence over the minds and feelings of 
 the natives was used with excellent effect in public 
 matters. 
 
 Towards the end of August, 1896, when the Matabele 
 rebels had been severely defeated in an action fought 
 among the wild Matoppo Hills, the scouts brought in as 
 a prisoner a woman who proved to be the wife of the 
 chief named Inyanda. Through her, communication 
 under the white flag was opened with the chiefs, and Mr. 
 Rhodes, who had gone into the hills unarmed, and with 
 only three attendants, trusting to the word of the Mata- 
 bele, had an interview with Inyanda and some other 
 leaders. The result of this meeting was an armistice, 
 followed by some other conferences, and the conclusion 
 of peace in the following October. Mr. Rhodes' action 
 had, in fact, put an end to the rebellion in its main strong- 
 hold. 
 
 The South African statesman did not survive the con- 
 clusion of the Boer War, during which he played a most 
 effective part in the defence of Kimberley. He lived 
 long enough to see victory assured for the British arms, 
 but died at his Cape Town residence on the 26th of March, 
 1902., The body lay in state at the Houses of Parlia- 
 ment, the coffin being adorned with wreaths sent by 
 Queen Alexandra, Dr. Jameson, Lord Kitchener, and 
 Lord Milner, amidst hundreds of such testimonies of grief 
 and regard. It was then borne to the cathedral on the 
 carriage of " Long Cecil," the gun which was manufao- 
 
 220 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 tured at Kimberley during the siege, and there did good 
 work against the enemy. A most impressive service was 
 conducted by the Archbishop of Cape Town, followed a 
 few days later by a memorial service in St. Paul's Cathe- 
 dral, London. 
 
 The great man's remains were finally and most fitly 
 laid on a huge, steep, stony kopje among the Matoppo 
 Hills, in a grave cut a yard deep into the solid rock. 
 Many chiefs stood around, with about 2,000 natives, 
 saying among themselves: "My father is dead." The 
 Bishop of Mashonaland read the service, and said : " I 
 consecrate this place for ever as his grave." The spot 
 is about ten miles within the recesses of the hills, where 
 are forests and high waving grass, taking in the winter 
 hues of crimson and of gold such as are rarely seen in 
 South Africa. A few huge monoliths, stained with 
 green and orange lichen, stand around the tomb like a 
 Druidical circle. 
 
 Cecil Rhodes' countrymen could not but regret that 
 he did not live to witness the extension, far beyond the 
 Zambesi, of his great scheme — the " Cape to Cairo Rail- 
 way." In October, 1902, about seven months after his 
 death, a line connecting Salisbury with Buluwayo (301 
 miles) was completed. Rapid progress was then made 
 northwards from Buluwayo, and on the 25th of April, 
 1904, the railway was finished as far as the Victoria Falls 
 on the Zambesi (282 miles). In less than a year the great 
 river, at that point of grand scenery in rock and cascade 
 which surpasses even the glories of Niagara, was spanned 
 by the highest bridge in the world. 
 
 This fine structure passes over the gorges at the Falls 
 at 420 feet above the level of the water, with a length of 
 650 feet and a width of 30 feet. It was on the 1st of 
 April, 1905, that the two pieces of engineering work were 
 linked up, and on the 12th of September, in the same 
 
 221 
 
CECIL RHODES AND RHODESIA 
 
 year, the ceremony of opening took place. JMany mem- 
 bers of the British Association, headed by the President, 
 Sir George H. Darwin, K.C.B., were visiting South Africa, 
 and Sir George formally opened the bridge with a happy 
 allusion to the prophetic words of his great-grandfather, 
 Erasmus Darwin, written in 1785 : 
 
 " Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam, afar 
 Urge the slow barge and draw the flying ear." 
 
 The day was the fifteenth anniversary of the occupa- 
 tion of Mashonaland. Early in 1906 the railway had 
 advanced over 200 miles northwards from the Falls, and 
 the telegraph-line had reached Ujiji, about 3,250 miles 
 from the Cape. The great bridge may well he regarded 
 as a monument to the man who was instrumental in 
 adding to the British Empire, in Southern and Northern 
 Rhodesia, an area of about 750,000 square miles. 
 
 222 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 Description of Algeria — The peoples — Origin of war — Outbreak of 
 hostilities — the French expedition — First fighting — Capture of 
 Algiers — Release of Christian captives — Turkish divisions of the 
 country — General Clausel in command — His recall — Abd-el-Kadr 
 in the field — His early exploit — Formation of Zouave corps by 
 French — Count d'Erlon as Governor — Defeat of French by Abd- 
 el-Kadr — Arab cruelty — D'Erlon recalled — Clausel as Governor 
 — He captures Maskara— Abd-el-Kadr again successful — Then 
 defeated in field by Bugeaud — Clausel marches on Constantine — 
 Strong position of city — His failure and recall — Abd-el-Kadr 
 near Algiers — General Damremont in command — Marches for 
 Constantine — Killed before walls — General Valee storms the place 
 — Appointed Governor — French victorious over Abd-el-Kadr — 
 Hia harassing guerilla warfare — Bugeaud made Governor. 
 
 THE occupation of the great territory of Algeria by 
 France — a very long and very costly operation, 
 both in lives and money — is an instance of pioneer- 
 ing on the grandest scale — that of conquest by the use 
 of great military forces. The country has over 700 miles 
 of coast-line between Morocco and Tunis, with a breadth 
 inland of 180 to 250 miles, bounded by desert. If we 
 take the 30th parallel of north latitude as the southern 
 limit, the area exceeds 250,000 square miles, or is, in 
 other words, about five times the size of England. The 
 territory contains three distinct regions. The northern, 
 called the Tell, is somewhat larger than England, and is 
 
 223 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 generally mountainous, with fruitful valleys intersecting 
 the hills. In some parts a fertile plain lies between the 
 hills and the sea, as the Plain of Oran, and the Metidja, 
 to the south of Algiers. This part of the country has an 
 average breadth of fifty miles. 
 
 South of the Tell lies the central region of mountainous 
 plateaux, rich in spring with a sudden growth of long 
 grass and aromatic herbage, much relished by the nume- 
 rous herds of cattle. This district is bounded on the 
 south by a chain of mountains reaching, in one peak, a 
 height of 7,500 feet. Southwards, again, comes the third 
 division, the Algerian Sahara, equal in area to the two 
 others combined, and consisting partly of sandy dunes 
 always barren, partly of land producing herbage after 
 rain. Around the wells are many oases. At the time 
 when the French became involved in war the population 
 may have been about 3,000,000. The Arabs of various 
 tribes were, perhaps, 1,500,000 ; the Kabyles, or Berbers, 
 over 1,000,000 ; and the Arabs of the towns, the Moors, 
 and the Jews, over 250,000. 
 
 The country Arabs were either nomads in the southern 
 territory, rearing cattle, or tillers and cattle-breeders in 
 the Tell. The Moors of the towns and villages on or 
 near the coast were a mixed stock of the ancient Mauri- 
 tanian and Berber races. The true Berbers, the famous 
 Kabyles of Franco-Algerian warfare, mainly dwelt in the 
 mountainous parts of the eastern region. These deter- 
 mined people, mostly fighters on foot, are descended from 
 the old Numidians of Roman times, and differ in person 
 and in language from the Arabs. These descendants of 
 the seventh-century conquerors of the land fight on horse- 
 back. The bond of union between these two chief races 
 is that of religion, both being devotees of Islam. 
 
 It was the insolent behaviour of an Algerian " Dey," 
 the man ruling in a city which had for ages been a den 
 
 224 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 of pirates, which brought Prance into collision with 
 Algeria. The tremendous chastisement inflicted in 1816 
 by the British fleet under Lord Exmouth is well known, 
 but it was France that had the honour of abolishing the 
 evil work of Algerian pirates in the Mediterranean. In 
 1826 the Dey of Algiers, Hussein, had made himself ob- 
 noxious to the French Government by acts of plunder at 
 sea, including the seizure of vessels protected by the 
 French flag, and by other hostile proceedings. In April, 
 1827, at a State audience, in presence of the Consular 
 body, he insulted M. Deval, the French Consul, by 
 viplent reproaches, following this up by a blow in the 
 face with his fan. Lands near Bona, belonging to French 
 merchants engaged in the coral trade, were seized, and 
 their buildings destroyed, and the Dey, as if suffering 
 from madness, then declared war against France. 
 
 The prompt answer to this defiance was the dispatch 
 of French men-of-war, which drove the Algerian fleet 
 under the guns of the capital, and blockaded the port. 
 Political unrest, under Charles X., who was ultimately 
 deposed, existed in France at this time, rand hence the 
 delay which occurred in taking a decisive course. Further 
 gross provocation came in June, 1829^ when three small 
 French craft of the blockading fleet were cast ashore by 
 a heavy sea, and some scores of troops an( j sa ilors were 
 massacred by a host of Arabs. The Dey defied French 
 envoys who were sent, and one of the vessels which bore 
 them was fired on by the Algerines as she left the port, 
 in spite of the flag of truce flying at the masthead. The 
 Dey did, indeed, disclaim this outrage by dismissing the 
 commander of the Mole batteries and giving the bastinado 
 to the gunners, but this reparation, such aa it was, came 
 too late. 
 
 Unanimous public opinion in France demanded strong 
 measures, and the ultimate issue was the conquest of 
 
 225 p 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 Algeria. In May, 1830, a fleet of eleven ships-of the line, 
 twenty-four frigates, forty-one smaller craft, and 357 " 
 transports, carrying 27,000 sailors, 37,600 soldiers, and 
 4,000 horses, set sail from Toulon under Admiral Duperre, 
 a man who had risen to the highest grade from that of a 
 sailor before the mast. Lieutenant-General Bourmont 
 was in command of the troops ;, the chief engineer, Vajaze, 
 had served against the Spaniards in the Peninsular War 
 at Saragossal Among the minor officers were five future 
 Marshals of France — Baraguey d'Hilliers, Vaillant, T?e- 
 lissier, Magnan, and MacMahon — and other men that 
 were then or afterwards famous, such as Changarnier and 
 La Moriciere. The army comprised sixteen regiments of 
 light infantry, a few squadrons of chasseurs, and 183 field- 
 guns and siege-cannon^ ■, 
 
 The force here described looks very formidable, and it 
 was efficient ; but the French nation had no idea of the 
 magnitude of the task undertaken. They knew little of 
 the country and the people. They would have been 
 amazed to learn that a complex struggle extending over 
 more than thirty years was about to begin — a warfare 
 destined to form a whole new school of officers and men 
 — a contest which was to cost, many thousands of fives 
 , and £150,000,000 before France acquired a new pro- 
 vince across the Mediterranean. Above all, the European 
 invaders of northern Africa knew nothing of the existence 
 of the Arab champion, Abd-el-Kadr, one of the noblest 
 characters of modern history, a model of the highest form 
 of Moslem chivalry, worthy to be compared with Saladin 
 in courage and ability. 
 
 The reduction of the city of Algiers was an easy business 
 for such a force as was sent against it. The troops were 
 disembarked 5 leagues to the west, on the peninsula of 
 Sidi-Ferruch, between two deep bays well suited for the 
 anchorage of the fleet. The Algerian forces, exceeding 
 
 226 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 40,000 men, were on the coast to the east of the city, 
 under the brave but incapable Ibrahim, son-in-law of the 
 Dey. On the 19th of June over 30,000 of the enemy, 
 mounted men armed with muskets 5 attacked the French 
 entrenched position, but they were vigorously repulsed, 
 and Bourmont's counter-assault on the Algerians drove 
 the foe off in rout to Algiers. Inside the city an excited 
 mob, on news of the defeat, cried for the Dey's deposition 
 and death. Hussein,^ safe in his citadel-palace, the 
 Kasbah, an ancient fortress 500 feet above the sea-level, 
 would have beheaded his luckless commander but for the, 
 intervention of his own daughter, the wife of Ibrahim. 
 
 The Algerian troops were now massed under the city 
 walls in great strength, and detached parties made fre- 
 quent attacks on the French, who were waiting the arrival 
 of their heavy siege-guns in slow-pailing transports. On 
 the 24th of June the siege-train was landed, and the 
 march to Algiers began. There was some sharp fighting , 
 on the road, and trouble arose from the lack of guides 
 and maps, rugged ground, hedges of aloe, and the mirage 
 in the Metidja Plain, which counterfeited the sea, and 
 caused a wrongful change of route. On the 29th the 
 invading army mounted the heights commanding the rear 
 of the city, and beheld on the horizon their fleet moving 
 up for the attack by sea. 
 
 On the land side the defences were weak, consisting 
 only of a single wall with some detached forts. The 
 French opened siege-trenches and mounted guns under a 
 constant fire, while the fleet bombarded and destroyed 
 ( batteries on the front. On the 4th of July the siege- 
 guns quickly silenced the fire of the fort called " The 
 Emperor's Castle," from being on the site of Charles V.'s 
 , head-quarters in his Siege of 1541. The garrison fled 
 into the city; an explosion opened a great breach; and 
 the French flag was quickly flying from the castle. The 
 
 227 p2 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 populace, excited and alarmed, forced the Dey to sur- 
 render, and he left for Leghorn on a French frigate. 
 
 The entrance of the French army on the 5th of July 
 set free 122 Christian slaves, one of whom, a native of 
 Toulon, had been in misery since 1802. Some of the 
 captives were mentally deranged ; some were totally 
 blind ; most were thin and haggard from suffering. Thus 
 the Cross finally triumphed over the Crescent in the chief 
 stronghold of the corsairs. The value of nearly £2,000,000 
 found in the Dey's treasury in gold and silver went to 
 France. About £200,000 worth of current coined money 
 was kept for the use of the army. Great quantities of 
 stores of various kinds were also taken. In twenty days 
 from the opening of the campaign Moslem power in the 
 city of Algiers had been laid prostrate, but this was 
 only a beginning. 
 
 Algeria was found to be divided into four heyliks, or 
 provinces — Algiers to the north, Constantine to the east, 
 Oran to the west, and Tittery in the centre, this last alone 
 not bearing the name of its capital, Medeah. There were 
 no regular lines of communication — no roads or bridges 
 connecting the four cities. The last traces of the old 
 Roman roads had long been overgrown with trees and 
 brushwood. Turkish rule had been confined to the chief 
 towns and a few strategical positions, and a large part of 
 the people — the Kabyles of the mountains and the Arabs 
 of the south — were wholly independent. Most of the 
 people in the north and centre had merely paid tribute 
 to the Turkish Government, and comprised, a number of 
 tribes, subdivided again into douairs, or little groups of 
 inseparable families. Each tribe was a kind of sovereign 
 State, connected with the others only by ties of blood, 
 language, and religious faith. 
 
 The Turks were hated by all, as conquerors and op- 
 pressors, and their Christian successors were now, by long 
 
 228 
 

 Abd-el-Kader's Bravery 
 
 "Cowards!" he cried, when none of his men would expose themselves, "give me the 
 cartridges." He then rode over the plain and flung the ammunition into the ditch, bad 1 ; 
 the men stand firm, and dashed back unhurt. 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 and bitter experience, to find the necessity for an entirely 
 new system of warfare against enemies united by the 
 strong bond of religious fanaticism. The French com- 
 manders at first engaged had little success when the 
 forces moved towards the interior. General Bourmont, 
 in July, was driven from Blidah, at the foot of the Lower 
 Atlas, by fierce attacks of hill-Arabs. The " revolution 
 of July " in Paris, when the Duke of Orleans, as Louis 
 Philippe^ replaced the exiled Charles X., led to the recall 
 of Bourmont, and his replacing by General Clausel, an 
 officer of considerable distinction in the Peninsular War. 
 In Algeria, Clausel was a comparative failure, both as a 
 commander and an administrator. He reorganized the 
 army, captured Medeah in November, 1830, and was soon 
 recalled through disputes arising with the new French 
 government. 
 
 It was in May, 1832, that Abd-el-Kadr first encountered 
 the French. The Arabs had been attacking a strong post 
 to the south of the city of Oran. When he arrived with 
 a mixed body of cavalry and infantry, he sent his foot- 
 soldiers into the ditch of the fort to keep up a constant 
 fire on the ramparts, while he held his horsemen ready 
 against a sortie. The Arabs, staggered by the French 
 shot and shell, were only kept to the work by their 
 leader's courageous demeanour and cheering words. 
 News came that the men in the ditch had expended all 
 their ammunition, and that no man would expose him- 
 self to supply them. " Cowards !" cried Abd-el-Kadr ; 
 " give me the cartridges !" He then wrapped them up 
 in the folds of his scarlet burnous* rode singly over the 
 plain, flung the cartridges into the ditch, bade the men 
 stand firm, and dashed back unhurt to his post. 
 
 By this and other acts of daring he won marvellous 
 influence over his followers, and became one of the most 
 formidable opponents ever encountered by Frenchmen. 
 
 229 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 In November, 1832, he was chosen "Sultan," and de- 
 livered in the Mosque at Maskara an oration of fiery 
 1 eloquence proclaiming the " Djehad," or Holy War, 
 against the infidels. The French governors, on their 
 side, created the famous corps of Zouaves, light infantry 
 clad in a distinctive dress — the red fez, short jacket, and 
 wide Turkish trousers. At first they were all' warlike 
 mountaineers of the country, commanded by Colonels 
 La Moriciere and Cavaignac, under whom they won great 
 distinction in conflicts with the Arabs of the south. 
 
 In course of time the regiments included adventurers 
 from many European countries, eager to serve in a body 
 of troops renowned for headlong courage in attack, bold- 
 ness and self-reliance in face of every peril. The native 
 element grew less and less, and after the year 1840 the 
 Zouaves became almost wholly French troops, wearing 
 the native uniform as at first adopted, and recruited from 
 veterans of the infantry of the line distinguished by fine 
 physical qualities and by tried courage. 
 
 In June, 1835, when Count d'Erlon was the French 
 Governor, Abd-el-Kadr gained one of his chief successes 
 at the River Makta. A French column, under General 
 Trezel, composed of 5,000 infantry and a regiment of 
 Chasseurs d'Afrique, with four mountain-guns, a small 
 train of provision-waggons, and the usual ambulance 
 service, were furiously attacked by the Sultan and his 
 mounted Arabs, in front and flank, in a wood. The 
 sudden onset, the thickness of the forest, and the un- 
 dulating ground, tending to conceal the enemy's real 
 numbers, soon shook the steadiness of the French troops. 
 It was in vain that changes of formation were tried — the 
 rear battalion being closed up, the centre compacted, and 
 the cavalry thrown forward on all sides. The whole body 
 was flung into confusion, the cavalry were driven in, and 
 the infantry and artillery could only fire at random. 
 
 230 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 The attack of the Arabs \^as for a time suspended^ as 
 it was only Abd-el-Kadr's rear-guard that was present. 
 Then the Frenchmen fell' on their provision-waggons, 
 slaved in the wine-casks, and made a hasty and ravenous 
 meal. Some kind of order was restored by the exertions 
 of the officers, and the march being resumed, the little 
 army encamped at sunset, in a solid square, on the banks 
 of a river. In the morning the Arab leader . came up 
 with his main body, and seizing the line of communica- 
 tion with Oran, on which Trezel was retreating, he occu- 
 pied a defile in advance near the River Makta. About 
 mid-day the Frenchmen, after a toilsome march across a 
 plain in which they were constantly harassed by Arab 
 horsemen, entered the defile and were entrapped. 
 
 The slopes on each side were bristling with armed men. 
 As the French troops advanced, huge pieces of rock were 
 hurled down upon them. Two hours were spent by the 
 skirmishers in bravely but slowly opening a way, and 
 Abd-el-Kadr with his whole force closed in upon the 
 column in the rear. The rearguard pushed hurriedly to 
 the front, Part of the artillery took ground to the right, 
 and were swamped in a marsh. The gunners cut the 
 traces of the horses, mounted them, and fled ; regiment* 
 were mingled together ; companies and sections rushed 
 this way and that, seeking to escape. , 
 
 The exulting Arabs, luckily for some of their enemies, 
 wasted time in plundering and in slaying the wounded, 
 and let many Frenchmen get away into nooks and cdrners/ 
 Many men, plunging into the Makta for escape by swim- 1 
 ming, were carried away by the stream and drowned. 
 As an organized force, the French column was annihilated, 
 and only fragments of helpless fugitives, as night drew 
 on, made their escape to the nearest fortified French 
 town. 
 
 During the night the defile presented a strange and 
 
 231 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 terrible scene, as the Arabs, amid the glare of torches, 
 with shouts of joy, revelled in plunder and in the carnage 
 which they had made. At one point a pile was seen 
 growing up like a pyramid under the work of busy 
 hands. When the task was done, some hundreds of heads 
 of Frenchmen were displayed. It was about midnight 
 when Abd-el-Kadr, who had been directing operations 
 in front, rode to the spot and viewed the ghastly trophy 
 with horror. Throughout the whole war he was dis- 
 tinguished by his humanity, and he fulfilled the vow 
 which he now made in his own heart, that this should be 
 the last of such barbarities. 
 
 The terrible disaster of the Makta enraged and horrified 
 the French nation. D'Erlon was recalled, and Trezel 
 was replaced by General d'Arlanges. Marshal Clausel 
 was again sent out, now as" Governor-General, and, 
 reaching Algiers in August, 1835, he issued a pompous 
 proclamation, with a map portioning out Algeria into 
 beylicks, or provinces, under native governors named, 
 as though Abd-el-Kadr, the victor of the Makta, the 
 Sultan of Maskara, did not exist. Clausel at first had 
 some successes. In November he took the field, from 
 Oran, with 12,000 men, and was met, near Maskara, 
 by the Sultan, who commanded 8,000 cavalry, 2,000 
 foot, and four guns. The excellent tactics of the French 
 leader, the French shells and rockets, and superior dis- 
 cipline, won the day, and Clausel, early in December, 
 entered the city. 
 
 Abd-el-Kadr, however, was quickly at the head of 
 6,000 horsemen, and, attacking the French, had much 
 the better of ten days' continuous fighting by avoiding 
 .regular battle and seizing and defending every point 
 of vantage presented by hills and ravines, rocks and rivers. 
 Clausel was harassed in his retreat up to the very gate 
 of Oran, and then he took ship for Algiers, where he tried 
 
 232 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 to save his credit by a proclamation that the war was 
 over, and that " Abd-el-Kadr, utterly beaten, had, fled 
 to the Sahara." If this were so, it was a strange fact 
 that the Sultan, in April, 1836, swept down on General 
 d'Arlanges near the Tafna, and drove back his force 
 of 3,000 men and eight guns. In June General Bugeaud, 
 with a fresh force, completely defeated the Sultan in a 
 long and desperate battle, but the Arab leader, again 
 trying guerilla warfare, moved about rapidly in all 
 , directions, cutting off convoys, and reducing the French 
 at Oran and other points to extremities for food. 
 
 In November, Qausel, returning from a brief absence 
 in France, and eager to re-gild his tarnished reputation/ 
 marched against C®nstantine, in the eastern province.' This 
 place, the •' Cirta " of ancient Roman days in Numidia, 
 the capital of Syphax and Masinissa, had been found " a 
 hard nut to crack " by the conquerors in the Jugurthine 
 War. Qausel, trusting to a statement that the city 
 would at once surrender to a French force, set out with 
 only 7,000 men and fourteen mountain-guns. The troops 
 carried only fifteen days' rations, half in their own 
 haversacks. The weather was a mixture of stormy, 
 winds, heavy rains, and icy cold in the higher ground. 
 The mountain-streams had become raging torrents, the 
 paths were broken up, the soldiers had to bivouac without 
 fire to cook their food. 
 
 When the French troops, after thirteen days of toil 
 and trouble, arrived before the key of Eastern Algeria, 
 they beheld a most formidable stronghold on a quadri- 
 lateral plateau rising to a height of about 2,000 feet on 
 the north-east and over 600 feet on the south-west. 
 On all sides but one are deep, wide ravines, with peaked 
 rocks, at the foot of which runs the swift River Rummel, 
 in some places dashing down in cascades, in others bury- 
 ing its waters in huge caverns, to emerge to light farther 
 
 233 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 on. On the south side alone is there any natural ap- 
 proach to Constantine, where the rocky peninsula is 
 joined by an isthmus to -the main country ; on the west 
 the ravine is crossed by the beautiful old Moorish bridge 
 El Kantarah. 
 
 The French Marshal found no signs of submission. 
 The Pasha, an old Turk who, on the capture of Algiers, 
 had set up for himself under the Sultan at Constantinople^ 
 was in the field with a large body of horsemen. Clausel 
 had no siege-guns, and, with only 3,000 effective troops 
 in hand, he only made an immediate assault because 
 supplies were scanty. Both attacks, on the isthmus 
 side and at the El Kantarah gate, were repulsed. Retreat 
 began, and, after a campaign of three weeks, the army 
 was at Bona, having lost 2,000 men in killed and wounded 
 and by deaths from disease and fatigue. 
 
 In February, 1837, Clausel was recalled, to be succeeded 
 as Governor by General Damremont, at a critical time for 
 French fortunes in Algeria. The failure at Constantine 
 was followed by a swoop of Abd-el-Kadr, ,at the head of 
 his Arabs and Kabyles, on the Metidja Plain, carrying 
 (destruction and" dismay to the very gates of Algiers. 
 Damremont, however, a man who had served in the 
 country since 1831, and was of resolute and energetic 
 character, full of forethought for the welfare of his troops^ 
 and possessing their full confidence, was determined to 
 capture Constantine. No means that could assure 
 success were neglected. 
 
 On the 1st of October, 1837, he quitted Bona at the head 
 of 10,000 infantry, with sixteen field-guns, seventeen heavy 
 siege-cannon, and ample supplies of stores. Ten companies 
 of engineers were under General Valee, the eommander 
 of the artillery, and the Due de Nemours, a son of King 
 Louis Philippe, led a brigade of Zouaves. When the 
 force, after six days' march, arrived at the Hummel, the 
 
 234 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 walls of Constantino were covered with men waving great 
 crimson flags, while the women on the flat roofs of the 
 houses yelled, defiance at the foe. In six days a practi- 
 cable breach Was made at the isthmus side of the walls, 
 and Damremont, on the morning of the 12th of October, 
 drew near to reconnoitre. He was shot dead by one of 
 the enemy's sharpshooters at the moment when the Due 
 de Nemours was protesting against his rashness.' 
 
 General Valee, succeeding to the command, kept up 
 a fierce bombardment all day, and posted his columns 
 of attack during the night, each composed of 500 men, 
 with a reserve of 400. The first assaulting T party, chiefly 
 of Zouaves, was led by Colonel La Moriciere. These men, 
 fifty by fifty, made the first rush. An inner wall was 
 blown down by an explosion from the inside, burying 
 many of the assailants, but a way was opened for the rest. 
 The second column went on at a run, but was checked 
 by a second and more fatal explosion, and the cry of 
 " Retire ! the whole ground is mined !" arose. At this 
 moment a young captain, St. Arnaud (afterwards Marshal 
 commanding in the Crimea), dashed to the front, rallied 
 the men, and led them on. After fierce fighting in the 
 streets the place was taken, and the French had thus a 
 strong position in the eastern province.. Valee became 
 Marshal of France and Governor-General of Algeria. 
 
 Abd-el-Kadr, however, again carried war through the 
 plains up to Algiers, and a new effort became needful. 
 Strong reinforcements arrived from France, and Valee 
 took the field at the head of 30,000 men in April, 1840. 
 The Sultan headed about that number of cavalry, with 
 about 6,000 regular infantry, and a fair trial of strength 
 soon came between the Arab and the Frenchman. The 
 Arab leader, by a feigned movement, led his foe to enter 
 the mountains by some gorges which he had spent 
 months in fortifying. Every eminence useful for the 
 
 235 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 purpose was cut into entrenchments. The highest peak 
 was crowned by a redoubt armed with heavy guns. 
 Near this were placed his regular infantry, with French 
 deserters as officers. Arabs and Kabyles swarmed in all 
 directions, and, crouching in nooks, were ready to open 
 fire on the French army as it wound its way with steady 
 march along the narrow causeway hanging midway on 
 the slopes of the mountain. It seemed as if the French- 
 men were again entering a trap. 
 
 Valee had divided his force into three columns, one 
 consisting of Zouaves led by La Moriciere, while Chan- 
 garnier headed the 2nd Light Infantry. Abd-el-Kadr was 
 now to learn the value of French troops properly com- 
 manded. To the astonishment of the Arabs, the enemy, 
 quitting the roads, came darting over the steeps. Ravines, 
 woods, and rocky places were all mastered in the rush. 
 Slowly and surely the assailants drew near the entrench- 
 nients, when a thick veil came over the scene from the 
 smoke of incessant fire. The breeze sweeping through 
 the pass made all clear again, and the combatants were 
 seen fighting hand to hand. 
 
 The Arabs and Kabyles clung desperately to then- 
 places of shelter, but the French went ever onward in 
 their clambering, grasping bushes and branches of trees. 
 Abd-el-Kadr made a last stand in person at the great 
 redoubt, while his " regulars " and masses of Kabyles 
 gathered round him. The converging columns of the 
 French came creeping on amid the clang of trumpets 
 and the roll of drums, and the Arabs, bewildered by 
 attacks both in front and 'rear, at last wavered, broke, 
 and fled. The tricolour was quickly waving on the 
 summit of the Middle Atlas. 
 
 The Sultan, after this reverse, resumed the old guerilla 
 warfare, and caused endless trouble by constant attacks 
 on the flanks and rear of marching troops, the cutting 
 
 236 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 of communications, the seizure of baggage, and the 
 devices of feigned retreats, ambuscades, and sudden 
 sallies in order to bewilder and weary his enemies. French 
 garrisons were reduced to want by the occupation of 
 surrounding territory, and Abd-el-Kadr, by his com- 
 binations and swift movements, kept the Frenchmen ever 
 on the alert from the borders of Morocco to those of 
 Tunis. The prospect of conquering Algeria seemed as 
 distant as ever. A better French leader was sorely 
 needed, and he appeared when General Bugeaud, in 
 February, 1841, assumed the functions of Governor- 
 General. A new era in the long contest now opened, 
 
 237 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 FRANCE IN ALGERIA— Continued 
 
 Bugeaud's previous career and character — His new methods of war- 
 fare — His columns and commanders — Occupation of Algerian 
 towns — Abd-el-Kadr's swift movements — His Srnalah, or mov- 
 able tent-town — Attacked and dispersed by Due d'Aumale — The 
 spectacle of the rout — Great booty taken — Effect of this blow — 
 Bugeaud's viotory at My — Abd-el-Kadr in Morocco — Again in 
 the field — Bugeaud's forces scour the country — The Arab chief 
 ^ again near Algiers — His desperate courage and escapes — Again 
 in Morocco — Defeats Moorish army — His hopeless position — Sur- 
 renders to Due d'Aumale— Stench finally masters of Algeria — ■■'>. 
 Kabyle revolts — Civil rule established — Mode of government — '■• 
 Progress made under French rule — Education — Tillage — Growth/ 
 of European population — Agricultural products — The esparto 
 (alfa) grass — Its great utility — The wine production — Increase 
 oil trade — The city of Algiers — Oran — Constantino — Bona. 
 
 THOMAS BUGEAUD, born in 1784, of a good 
 family, descended by his mother's side from Irish 
 people who had emigrated to France in Stuart 
 days, entered the army in 1804 as a big, athletic youth" 
 of , twenty years, enlisting as a private in the Imperial 
 Guard. A man of little education but good natural 
 abilities, he made his way to a colonelcy in the Peninsular 
 War, and in that rank he fought at Waterloo. When 
 he assumed rule in Algeria he was fifty-seven years of 
 age, hard as steel in constitution and frame, a commander 
 of the old Grande Armee type in imperious manner and 
 
 238 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 decision. To his tioops he was always ' ' le pere Bugeaud," 
 for his devotion to their welfare in every way and his 
 kind and friendly demeanour. He shared their priva- 
 tions, and made his officers of infantry go afoot with their 
 men. 
 
 Bugeaud, with 100,000 men at his disposal, at once 
 changed the faulty methods of warfare which had been 
 hitherto adopted. He knew that an adversary such as 
 Abd-el-Kadr, one so mobile, so full of expedients, and 
 resource ? could be successfully met only by mobility and 
 incessantly offensive movements. It was not an army, 
 but a nation in arms, that had to be subdued. The 
 French forces were promptly organized in many small, 
 compact columns, each a little army in itself, composed 
 of a few infantry battalions, two squadrons of horse, a 
 transport-train, of camels and mules, and two mountain- 
 guns firing shell. Picked men only, acclimatized and used 
 to toil, were employed, carrying nothing but their muskets, 
 ammunition, and a little food. These columns were 
 placed under the command of energetic and capable 
 men such as Cavaignac and Changarnier, Pelissier and 
 Canrobert, La Mbrieiere and Bedeau, St. Arnaud and the 
 Due d'Aumale. 
 
 During 1841 and the two following years the ooast 
 towns were linked together by a chain of armed posts. 
 The command of the Tell was ensured by the occupation 
 ef Medeah and Mascara, Tlemcen, Miliana, and other 
 towns. The provinces of Algiers and Tittery were in 
 French hands ; Oran was half subdued ; Constantine was 
 free from the Arabs. The mountain tribes to the south, 
 towards the Sahara, were then assailed by the movable 
 French columns, which, in combined operations, were 
 ever in touch with each other. During these campaigns 
 Abd-el-Kadr continued to give much trouble by the 
 rapidity and intricacy of his movements, as he slipped 
 
 239 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 with his forces between the columns, now flitting in the 
 front, then hovering on the flanks or assailing the rear, 
 aided by his perfect knowledge of the country in every 
 direction. 
 
 No nation, however, of limited resources in men and 
 material has ever, in the long-run, beaten a great Power 
 of endless means for warfare, employed with reasonable 
 skill. It was in 1843 that a deadly blow was dealt at 
 the power of the great Arab leader. In order to protect 
 the dependents of his most faithful adherents, he formed 
 a new and remarkable organization, consisting of a gather- 
 ing of private families called the Smaldh. To this moving 
 asylum of refuge and safety the tribes sent their treasures, 
 their herds, their women and children, their sick and aged 
 people. The Smaldh was, in fact, a great travelling 
 capital, containing many thousands of persons, following 
 the Sultan's movements by the aid of a vast number of 
 transport animals in advance to the more cultivated 
 regions or in retreat to the Sahara, according to the 
 fluctuations of the contest which he was so bravely waging. 
 
 In the Sahara the tents of the shifting town spread to 
 the distant horizon. In the Tell they filled a great valley, 
 and rose up the slopes of the hills. All the arrangements 
 were of military regularity. The , different deiras, or 
 households, were distributed into four great encamp- 
 ments, each deira having its appointed place, each chief 
 with his station marked and his duties assigned. To 
 protect the whole body in its wanderings four tribes and 
 guide were set apart, and the guard was composed of the 
 last of Abd-el-Kadr's regular troops. It became a chief 
 object with the French leaders to capture or disperse 
 this great organization. La MoriciSre and the Due 
 d'Aumale, in charge of two separate columns, were fore- 
 most in this enterprise, and fortune favoured the son of the 
 French King. 
 
 240 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 On the 10th of May the Due d'Aumale left Boghar at 
 the head of 1,300 infantry and 600 horsemen, with food 
 for twenty days. After six days' journey, of which the last 
 twenty-four hours took the force across untilled, waterless 
 plains, his advance-guard caught sight of a town of tents, 
 set up on the bank of a stream running amidst rich pas- 
 turage. This was the Smalah. Only the cavalry were 
 with the Duke, and it seemed too great a risk to attack 
 with this small force a camp containing ten times as many 
 fighters. On the other hand, if he waited for his infantry, 
 Abd-el-Kadr might escape, or, learning the neighbourhood 
 of his foes, himself assail them. The bold course was 
 adopted, and the French leader launched his cavalry 
 from three sides on the great gathering. The Arabs, 
 taken by surprise, could make no regular resistance, and 
 in less than an hour a complete rout was made. 
 
 The Smalah was broken up amid terrible scenes of con- 
 fusion and despair, including the extraordinary sight of 
 a promiscuous mass of camels, dromedaries, horses, mules, 
 asses, oxen, and sheep, careering and plunging on the 
 plain. There was little bloodshed, but the French victors 
 were in possession of hostages of the utmost value in the 
 families of Abd-el-Kadr's most influential chiefs. His 
 wife and mother escaped, escorted by the Sultan and a few 
 picked cavaliers. The booty taken, was immense, com- 
 prising thousands of animals ; the Sultan's valuable 
 library of rare Arabic manuscripts ; the military chest 
 containing coin worth some millions of francs ; and the 
 chests of his khalifas and other high officers, filled with 
 gold and silver coins and costly jewellery. The French 
 soldiers baled out dollars and doubloons in their shakos s 
 and filled their haversacks with diamonds and pearls. 
 
 This was a deadly blow to the Arab cause. At the 
 time of D'Aumale's attack the Smalah contained about 
 60,000 people, of whom 3,000 were taken. The Sultan's 
 
 241 q 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 adherents began to fall away, and the ranks of the French 
 were swelled by large contingents of Arabs. The de- 
 feated hero sought refuge in Morocco, and that country 
 was invaded by the French. On the 14th of August, 1844, 
 Bugeaud, at the great battle of Isly, routed the Morocco 
 army, capturing many guns, a large quantity of small 
 arms, and great stores of warlike material. The ruler of 
 the country then made peace on condition of his expelling 
 Abd-el-Kadr from his territory. The victor, already 
 created Marshal, became Due d'Isly. 
 
 In the spring of 1845 the Arab chieftain was again in 
 the field, and had some successes over French detach- 
 ments. Bugeaud returned from France, and in October 
 entered on a fresh campaign with 120,000 men. This 
 great force was broken up into fourteen divisions or 
 flying columns, each complete in infantry, cavalry, and 
 artillery. Algeria was scoured in every direction, and 
 resistance in every quarter was ruthlessly crushed. At 
 last, in December, 1845, when the Sultan was in the Tell, 
 combined movements of columns were made to hunt him 
 down. In February, 1846, at the head of 5,000 
 Kabyles, the dauntless leader swept into the plains, and 
 was within four hours' march of Algiers, while his enemies 
 were looking for him in the Tell. 
 
 In the same month, however, they came upon him, 
 and Abd-el-Kadr had some narrow escapes. The chas- 
 seurs closed around him. He fought with them single- 
 handed until two horses were shot under him. He then 
 stood his ground on foot, and for that time escaped in 
 the confusion and gloom. On the 13th of March, after 
 more fighting, he was attacked by cavalry on open 
 ground. The Sultan was conspicuous on a white horse, 
 and, alternately firing and charging, he kept the French at 
 bay until forty of his small body of men were killed. Then, 
 after a display of wondrous valour, he vanished in a defile. 
 
 242 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 He again resorted to Morocco, his whole force being 
 now under 2,000 men ; but these included 1,200 horsemen, 
 the flower of the Algerian cavalry. On the 11th of 
 January, 1847, starting at dead of night, Abd-el-Kadr 
 fell furiously upon a great Moorish host, under the Sultan's 
 two sons, sent out to attack him. The slumbering enemy 
 awoke to see the thick darkness illumined by the flashes 
 of musket-fire. Seized with panic, the men rushed away 
 in all directions, abandoning arms, tents, and baggage. 
 The Arab chief and his men swept onwards, defeating and 
 dispersing a second Moorish division. In this and further 
 conflicts he had lost over 200 men killed, and nearly all 
 the rest were suffering from wounds. The end of the 
 struggle was at hand. 
 
 The brave champion of Algerian independence had 
 crossed the border into French territory. He had in 
 charge about 5,000 non-combatants, and he felt it im- 
 possible to protect them against the attack of a French 
 force visible in a pass three hours' march away. After 
 consulting his chief warriors, he wisely resolved on sub- 
 mission, and, obtaining favourable terms from La 
 Moriciere, he rode, on the 23rd of December, 1847, to the 
 head-quarters of the Due d'Aumale, the new Governor- 
 General. After a detention of some years in France, he 
 was released in October, 1852, by Louis Napoleon, Presi- 
 dent of the French Republic. His honourable career 
 ended by death at Damascus in May, 1883. 
 
 The submission of Abd-el-Kadr gave Algeria finally 
 into French possession. There were many revolts of the 
 irrepressible Kabyles, dealt with in succession, from 1849 
 till 1870, by Pelissier, Canrobert, and MacMahon. The 
 downfall of the Second Empire in September, 1870, 
 caused another great revolt on the withdrawal of a large 
 part of the garrison of Algeria for service in France 
 against German invaders. On the suppression of this out- 
 
 243 ' Q 2 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 break, a wise change of government was made in the sub- 
 stitution of civil rule in the three departments — Algiers, 
 Oran, Constantine — for the military domination which 
 had hitherto prevailed. 
 
 The country is regarded as a portion of France rather 
 than as a colony in the proper sense, and each department 
 sends one senator and two deputies to the National 
 Assembly. There are seventeen subordinate prefectures 
 and 348 communes for the purposes of civil rule. The 
 Bureaux Ardbes, mediating between the sheikhs, or native 
 chiefs, and the Government authorities, do useful work 
 in protecting the civil and religious interests of the Arabs 
 and of the colonists in their relations with the other native 
 population. The Mohammedan worship is supported by 
 the State, as also that of the Jews, who are now regarded 
 as French citizens. 
 
 Great progress in material prosperity and in the arts of 
 • civilization has been made under French rule. Algiers is 
 the centre of an educational system which comprises the 
 whole colony, and has a university with " faculties " of 
 law, sciences, and literature, and about 800 students. 
 There are three lycees (upper schools), with over 2,000 
 pupils, at Algiers, Oran, and Constantine ; nine colleges, 
 with about 4,000 pupils ; and at Oran a college for girls, 
 with 200 students. Most of the 1,200 primary schools 
 are Arab-French, with about 110,000 pupils, of whom 
 over three-fifths are boys. The infant schools contain 
 over 30,000 children, and there are some superior Mussul- 
 man schools, where pupils are prepared for native employ- 
 ments. 
 
 Much land, formerly desert from natural reasons, or 
 devastated by warfare, has been converted into fertile 
 ground. In the Sahara districts the sinking of artesian 
 wells has increased the number of oases, with a large 
 growth of palms and fruit-trees of various kinds. 
 
 244 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 Thousands of miles of road have been made, connecting 
 the three departments with the caravan routes leading 
 inland to the Sudan and Timbuktu. The advance 
 in the numbers of the European population has been 
 steady and remarkable. In 1840 the European civil 
 population was only about 45,000. Five years later 
 it had increased to about 76,000. In December, 1849, 
 there were over 112,000, of whom 58,000 were French, 
 about 7,000 Maltese, over 33,500 Spaniards, 7,000 
 Italians, 2,500 Germans, 1,250 Swiss, and 3,250 of other 
 nations. 
 
 In 1861 there were over 112,000 French people, and 
 80,500 of other European nations. Five years later, 
 again, the French exceeded 122,000 ; the Spaniards were 
 nearly 59,000, the Italians 16,650, the Maltese 10,600, 
 and the Germans over 5,600. In 1901, when the total 
 population was about 4,750,000, over 364,000 were French. 
 The new irrigation created by the French rulers has done 
 much to restore the fertility of the country as it existed 
 in the old Roman days. 
 
 In 1866 over 4,160,000 acres were growing different 
 kinds of grain, chiefly wheat and barley. There were 
 over 28,000 acres of vineyards, above 14,200 under cotton, 
 6,000 growing flax, and nearly 10,000 producing tobacco. 
 Olives were being largely grown, and over 100,000,000 
 pounds' weight of fruit were gathered, including oranges. 
 At this time the growth of alfa, or esparto grass, had 
 become an important matter for Algerian trade. The 
 plant, reaching a height of 3 to 4 feet, and growing 
 in clusters from 2 to 10 feet in circumference, resembles 
 the ornamental feather-grass of gardens. The cylin- 
 drical stems, clothed with short hair, serve as food for 
 cattle in the earlier growth, but become in a few years 
 very tough in texture. The grey-green leaves, from 
 6 inches to 3 feet long, have a tenacious and flexible 
 
 245 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 fibre, which has for centuries been used in making ropes, 
 sandals, baskets, matting, and other articles. 
 
 This valuable material, of indigenous growth in the 
 south of Spain and the north of Africa, springs up abun- 
 dantly on the dry steppes and high plateaux of Algeria, 
 where about 500,000 tons are annually gathered on an 
 area of 3,000,000 acres. The esparto-leaves contain 
 56 per cent., by weight, of fibre, or about 10 per cent, 
 more than straw, and so become largely used as a sub- 
 stitute for linen rags in the making of paper. It was 
 French ingenuity which first utilized esparto for this 
 purpose, and in 1857 the material was introduced into 
 Great Britain, to which country the bulk of the export is 
 sent. 
 
 There has been also a considerable development in the 
 production of minerals, the chief being iron, zinc, lead, 
 phosphate, stone, and marble. By far the most important 
 industry of Algeria, however, is the tillage of the soil, and 
 it is in regard to this that French rule has been most 
 beneficial by the maintenance of peace and the increase 
 of communications, which now include over 2,000 miles 
 of railway. The tables of Paris are well supplied with 
 early vegetables and fruit. The progress of vine-culture 
 has been very remarkable. In 1872 under 40,000 acres 
 of ground produced less than 5,000,000 gallons of wine. 
 In 1880 the figures were about 56,000 acres, and 9,500,000 
 gallons ; and in 1888 nearly 309,000 acres, and 60,750,000 
 gallons. In 1898 nearly 350,000 acres of vineyard sent 
 out over 100,000,000 gallons, worth over £6,500,000. 
 Tobacco, wheat, barley, and oats are largely grown. 
 
 The enormous increase in the trade of the country, since 
 the French conquest is a striking proof of the value of 
 civilized domination in a semi-barbarous region. In the 
 olden days the wild tribes were ever at war with each 
 other, agreeing in nothing save in devotion to the religion 
 
 246 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 of Islam, and living, under nominal Turkish, rule, prac- 
 tically uncontrolled. In 1831, when the French appeared 
 on the scene, the annual value of Algerian imports was 
 only £280,000. In 1863 the value had reached nearly 
 £4,500,000; in 1868 it approached £7,750,000. In 
 1863 the annual value of exports had never exceeded 
 £2,000,000 ; in 1870 it was close upon £7,000,000. In 
 1898 the yearly exports were worth over £10,500,000, and 
 the imports more than £11,500,000. Five years pass away, 
 and in 1903 the exports had a value exceeding £12,500,000, 
 and the imports were worth nearly £13,750,000. 
 
 The population of the city of Algiers between 1872 and 
 1900 grew from 66,000 to 135,000 through the extension 
 of commerce, of the public services, and of agriculture. 
 The city, placed on high hills all covered with gardens,, 
 has now become one of the most frequented winter resorts 
 for wealthy foreigners. The old Algiers, with its steep 
 and narrow streets, crowned by the Kasbah (Citadel), has 
 witnessed the creation of a new town on level ground, 
 with the grand Boulevard de la Republique and many 
 fine public buildings. The old walls have been demolished, 
 and their place is taken by a line of forts on the edge of 
 a hill over 1,300 feet above sea-level. The port has been 
 transformed, and a quick service of steamers conveys 
 passengers from Marseilles to Algiers (500 miles) in less 
 than thirty hours, and brings the place within forty-five 
 hours of Paris. 
 
 At Oran, a chief port, a new French town has arisen, 
 with " places," or public squares, beautiful promenades, 
 public buildings, a fine harbour, and excellent water- 
 supply. In 1900 the population was 85,000, of whom 
 25,000 were French and over 34,000 Spaniards. At Con- 
 stantine, which is the chief town of the richest and most 
 populous part of Algeria, a striking contrast is seen 
 between the older and Moorish portion of the city, with 
 
 247 
 
FRANCE IN ALGERIA 
 
 its winding lanes and Oriental architecture, and the 
 modern French quarter, showing rectangular streets and 
 wide open squares, bordered with trees and adorned with 
 fountains. The place lies on a railway about fifty-four 
 miles south-west of Philippeville, its seaport, and by its 
 beautiful situation and fine air yearly attracts crowds of 
 visitors. In 1900 the population was about 52,000, of 
 whom over 18,000 were French. Bona, in the depart- 
 ment of Constantine, is now, through recent works, one 
 of the best and safest ports on the Mediterranean coast, 
 with a population grown from about 19,000 in 1872 to 
 32,500 in 1900, of whom over 12,000 were French. Such 
 are some of the changes wrought in Northern Africa under 
 French rule during the last half of the nineteenth cen- 
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 With Coloured Illustrations. Extra Crown 8vo. 5s. nett each 
 
 Each of the volumes in the Ian Hardy Series is a complete 
 story by itself, but each describes another stage of the 
 adventurous life of the delightful young rascal who is their 
 hero. 
 
 VOLS. I TO IV OF THE IAN HARDY SERIES. 
 
 IAN HARDY, NAVAL CADET. 
 
 "An ideal gift book for a boy, for it is utterly 
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 IAN HARDY, MIDSHIPMAN. 
 
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 faithful picture of what a middy's life may be when 
 
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 IAN HARDY, SENIOR MIDSHIPMAN. 
 
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 IAN HARDY, FIGHTING THE MOORS. 
 
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 Adventures on the 
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 9. HEROES OF THE INDIAN MUTINY 
 
 Edward Gilliat, si. a., sometime 
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 SOME OP THE 29 VOLS. IN THIS SERIES 
 
 LIONHEARTED. Canon E. C. Dawson. 
 
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 IAN HARDY, NAVAL CADET 
 
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 whom his father might occasionally have reason to whip, but never feel 
 
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 IAN HARDY, MIDSHIPMAN 
 
 " Commander E. Hamilton Currey, R.N., is becoming a serious rival 
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 written." — Yorkshire Observer. 
 
 IAN HARDY, SENIOR MIDSHIPMAN 
 
 "Of those who are now writing stories of the sea, Commander Currey holds 
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 Saturday Review. 
 " It is no exaggeration to say that Commander Currey bears worthily 
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 IAN HARDY FIGHTING THE MOORS 
 
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THE 
 
 ROMANCE of MISSIONARY HEROISM 
 
 TRUE STORIES OF THE INTREPID BRAVERY AND STIRRING ADVENTURES 
 
 OP MISSIONARIES WITH UNCIVILISED MEN, WILD BEASTS, AND THE 
 
 FORCES OF NATURE IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD 
 
 By JOHN C. LAMBERT, M.A., D.D. 
 
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 HEROES OF 
 MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE 
 
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 " The book has not a dull page from first to last." — Northern Whig. 
 
 " A splendid collection of stories of brave deeds, many worthy of the V.C." 
 
 — Life of Faith. 
 
 "There is no book for boys like the right missionary book. To the average 
 boy, of course, the average missionary book is a fraud. But the right book 
 exists. Here it is, written in captivating English by the Bev. Claud Field, 
 and embellished with stirring illustrations." — Expository Times. 
 
 HEROINES OF 
 MISSIONARY ADVENTURE 
 
 TRUE STORIES OF THE INTREPID BRAVERY AND SELF-SACRIFICING 
 LIVES OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 By Canon E. C. DAWSON, M.A. 
 
 St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh 
 With Twenty-four Illustrations. Extra Crown 6vo. 
 
 " A book of thrilling interest. The volume makes vivid and fascinating 
 reading." — Sheffield Telegraph. 
 
 " A noble record, written in exactly the right vein, simply, straightfor- 
 wardly, and with enthusiasm." — The Lady. 
 
 "Tells with much vividness of the everyday work of those who enter the 
 foreign field as missionaries. It has many striking illustrations." — Scotsman. 
 
 " The most thrilling missionary book we have ever read. A view of the 
 heroic side of the missionary's life, showing intrepid bravery and patient 
 endurance." — Methodist Times. 
 
 SEELEY, SERVICE &• CO. LIMITED 
 
THE ROMANCE OF MODERN 
 INVENTION 
 
 CONTAINING INTERESTING DESCRIPTIONS IN NON-TECHNICAL LANGUAGE 
 
 OF WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY, LIQUID AIR, MODERN ARTILLERY, SUBMARINES, 
 
 DIRIGIBLE TORPEDOES, SOLAR MOTORS, AIRSHIPS, &=C. &°0. 
 
 By ARCHIBALD WILLIAMS, B.A.(Oxon.), F.R.G.S. 
 
 REVISED AND BROUGHT UP TO DATE BY 
 
 THOMAS W. CORBIN 
 
 Author of " Engineering of To-day," Sfc. &c. 
 
 With Twenty-five Illustrations. Extra Grown 8vo. 
 
 " There is no boy but will keenly enjoy this admirable volume." 
 
 — Standard. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF THE WORLD'S 
 FISHERIES 
 
 WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MANY AND CURIOUS METHODS OF 
 FISHING IN ALL FARTS OF THE WORLD 
 
 By SIDNEY WRIGHT 
 
 With Twenty-four Illustrations. Etdra Crown 8vo. 
 
 " Will delight boys."— Country Lift. 
 
 " An engrossing book, profusely illustrated." — Western Press. 
 
 " The book teems with interesting descriptions of the varied methods of 
 fishing all over the world, and gives animated pictures of the fishermen's 
 lives and adventures." — Dundee Courier. 
 
 THE FAERY QUEEN AND HER 
 KNIGHTS 
 
 STORIES RETOLD FROM SPENSER 
 
 By Peof. A. J. CHURCH, M.A. 
 
 With Illustrations in Colour. Extra Crown 8vo. 
 
 " The simplicity and refinement of Prof. Church's style enables him to 
 reproduce the spirit of Spenser's masterpiece with singular felicity." 
 
 r— Scotsman, 
 
 SEELEY, SERVICE &• CO. LIMITED 
 
THE CHILDREN'S ODYSSEY 
 
 TOLD FOB LITTLE CHILDREN 
 
 By Prof. A. J. CHURCH, M.A. 
 
 With Fourteen Illustrations. Extra Crown 8vo. 
 
 "A really charming volume in all respects. No writer has done work of 
 this kind so well since Kingsley first set the fashion in his masterpiece, 
 The Heroes." — Guardian. 
 
 "The stories could not be told more simply and directly, or in a way 
 better fitted to delight and interest children, than they are in this charming 
 book. We are delighted to see the book embellished with Flaxman's exqui- 
 site illustrations. Greatly daring . . . they hare been coloured in simple 
 colours, like those of classical wall paintings. The effect is quite excellent." 
 
 — Spectator. 
 
 THE CHILDREN'S ILIAD 
 
 TOLD FOB LITTLE CHILDREN 
 
 By Prof. A. J. CHURCH, M.A. 
 
 With Fourteen Illustrations. Extra Grown 8tx>. 
 
 " What need nowadays to praise Prof. Church's skill in presenting classical 
 stories to young readers ? This is a capital example of the cultured, simple 
 style. A delightful gift-book." — Athencewm. 
 
 "Prof. Church has written as good a book as can ever be produced for 
 English children from the literary treasures of Greece. The illustrations are 
 worthy of the writing." — Sheffield Independent. 
 
 " With delightful simplicity of style Prof. Church retells the story of the 
 Siege of Troy so that it ceases to be ' history,' and becomes an engrossing 
 narrative. The handsome volume has a dozen excellent illustrations." 
 
 — Dundee Courier. 
 
 THE CHILDREN'S jENEID 
 
 TOLD FOB LITTLB CHILDREN 
 
 By Prof. A. J. CHURCH, M.A. 
 
 Wtih Fourteen Illustrations in Dolours. Extra Grown 8vo. 
 
 " Professor Church has probably done more than any other man living to 
 bring the classics of Greece and Borne within the comprehension of young 
 folks. He has a simple style that must be the envy of writers for children." 
 
 — Dwndu Advertiser. 
 
 "A delightful gift-book."— Athencewm. 
 
 SEELEY, SERVICE *< CO. LIMITED 
 
HEROES OF PIONEERING 
 
 TBUB STORIES OF INTREPID BEAVBBT AND STIRRING ADVENTURES OF 
 
 PIONEERS WITH UNCIVILISED MAN, WILD BEASTS, AND THB 
 
 FORCES OF NATURE, IN ALL PARTS OF THB WORLD 
 
 By the Rev. EDGAR SANDERSON, M.A. 
 
 Scholar of Clare College, Cambridge 
 With Sixteen Illustrations. Extra Crown 8vo. 
 
 " Will delight the heart of any boy."— Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 " Of absorbing interest, and its educational value will no doubt be recog- 
 nised by school authorities." — Western Daily Press. 
 
 " A splendid collection of true stories. Boys will find more real excite- 
 ment in these narratives of early settlers than in the wildest penny dreadfuls. 
 The book is excellently and liberally illustrated." — Dundee Courier. 
 
 HEROES OF MODERN CRUSADES 
 
 TRUE STORIES OF THB UNDAUNTED CHIVALRY OF CHAMPIONS 
 OF THB DOWNTRODDEN IN MANY LANDS 
 
 By EDWARD GILLIAT, M.A. 
 
 Formerly Master at Harrow School 
 
 With Twenty-four Illustration*. Extra Crown Bvo. 
 
 "The type of book every boy should read." — Dundee Courier. 
 " An inspiring book." — Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 " Mr. Gilliat makes the narrative of these heroisms quite as exciting as 
 most tales of battle and adventure." — Liverpool Courier. 
 
 HEROES OF MODERN INDIA 
 
 TBUB STORIES OF THE FOUNDERS OF THB INDIAN BMPIBB 
 
 By EDWARD GILLIAT, M.A. 
 
 Formerly Master at Harrow School 
 
 With Sixteen Illustration!. Extra Crown Bvo. 
 
 " A very excellent and attractive volume." — Meld. 
 
 " Mr. Gilliat is a vigorous writer, and his work should find many young 
 readers." — Liverpool Courier. 
 
 SEELEY, SERVICE &> CO. LIMITED 
 
THE 
 
 ROMANCE of ANIMAL ARTS & CRAFTS 
 
 DESCRIBING THE WONDERFUL INTELLIGENCE OP ANIMALS REVEALED IN 
 
 THEIR WORK AS MASONS, PAPER MAKERS, RAFT 6° DIVING-BELL BUILDERS, 
 
 MINERS, TAILORS, ENGINEERS OF ROADS <5r° BRIDGES, cVC. &°C. 
 
 By H. COUPIN, D.Sc. & JOHN LEA, B.A. (Cantab.) 
 
 With Thirty Illustrations. Extra Crown 8vo. 
 
 ■ " Will carry most readers, young and old, from one surprise to another." 
 — Glasgow Htrald. 
 
 "A charming subject, well set forth, and dramatically illustrated." — 
 Aihencewm. 
 
 "It seems like pure romance to read of the curious ways of Nature's crafts- 
 men, but it is quite a true tale that is set forth in this plentifully illustrated 
 book." — Evening Citizen. 
 
 "This popular volume of Natural History is Written by competent 
 authorities, and besides being entertaining is instructive and educative." — 
 Liverpool Courier. 
 
 THE 
 
 ROMANCE op MISSIONARY HEROISM 
 
 TRUE STORIES OF THE INTREPID BRAVERY AND STIRRING ADVENTURES 
 
 OF MISSIONARIES WITH UNCIVILIZED MEN, WILD BEASTS, AND THE 
 
 FORCES OF NATURE IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD 
 
 By JOHN C. LAMBERT, M.A., D.D. 
 
 With Thirty-six Illustrations. •■ Extra Crown 8vo. 
 
 "A book of quite remarkable and sustained interest." — Sheffield Telegraph. 
 
 "The romantic aspect of missionary careers is treated without undue 
 emphasis on the high prevailing motive. But its existence is the fact which 
 unifies the eventful history." — Athenaeum.. 
 
 " We congratulate Dr. Lambert and his publishers. Dr. Lambert has proved 
 that the missionary is the hero of our day, and has written the most entrancing 
 volume of the whole romantic series." — Expository Times. 
 
 THE 
 
 ROMANCE of EARLY BRITISH LIFE 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE COMING OF THE DANES 
 
 By Professor G. F. SCOTT ELLIOT 
 
 M.A. (Cantab.), B.Sc. (Edin.), F.R.G.S., F.L.S. 
 Author of " The Romance of Savage Life," " The Romance of Plant Life," <Vc. &*o. 
 
 With over Thirty Illustrations. Extra Crown 8vo. 
 
 " Calculated to fascinate the reader." — Field. 
 
 " Every chapter is full of information given in fascinating form. The 
 language is simple, the style is excellent, and the information abundant." — 
 Dundee Courier. 
 
 SEELEY, SERVICE <5>» CO. LIMITED 
 
THE 
 
 ROMANCE OF MODERN ASTRONOMY 
 
 By HECTOR MACPHERSON. 
 
 With Thirty-two Illustrations and Diagrams. Extra Grown Svo. 
 
 "Simply and clearly written. It is a perfect book for a school library. 
 Great care, taste and learning have been expended on the pictures. The best 
 of a very useful and well-written series." — Manchester Guardian. 
 
 " The illustrations are exceedingly good. ... An excellent compendium 
 of the most interesting facts in astronomy, told in popular language." — 
 Athenaeum.. 
 
 " Described with the utmost clearness, and even with charm." — Daily 
 Qraphic. 
 
 "This work should greatly appeal to any young student of the subjeot by 
 its lucid and picturesque language." — Field. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF THE SHIP 
 
 THE STOBT OF HEE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION FBOM THE EARLIEST TIMES 
 
 By E. KEBLE CHATTERTON, B.A. (Oxon.) 
 
 Author ol " Sailing Ships and their Story," A"c. .Vo. 
 
 With Thirty-three Illustrations 
 
 " Entertaining and instructive." — Spectator. 
 
 " A fascinating volume full of information and stirring incident." — Queen. 
 " A very delightful story of the evolution of the ship." — Sheffield Telegraph. 
 " A veritable mine of information and instruction." — Standard. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF AERONAUTICS 
 
 AH INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE GBOWTH AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 OF ALL KINDS OF AEBIAL CBAFT 
 
 By CHARLES C. TURNER 
 
 Holder of the Royal Aero Society') Avlatioa Certificate, 
 Author of " Aerial Navigation of To-day," &-0. eVc. 
 
 With Fifty-two Illustrations and. Diagrams. Extra Crown 8w>. 
 
 " A capital survey by an expert writer." — Guardian. 
 
 " Brightly written, exceptionally well illustrated, and shows a due regard 
 tt>r historical accuracy." — Aeronautics. 
 
 " A most interesting book." — Spectator. 
 
 "A most complete history . . . told with lucidity and enthusiasm, and 
 brimful of interest." — Truth. 
 
 " Set forth with a persuasive and accomplished pen." — Pall Mali Qaittte, 
 
 SEELEY, SERVICE 6- CO. LIMITED 
 
POPULAR SCIENCE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 By CHARLES R. GIBSON, F.R.S.E. 
 
 "Among writers for boys on science, easily the most skilful Is Mr. Charles Gibson. 
 He writes so clearly, simply and charmingly about the most difficult things that his books are 
 quite as entertaining as any ordinary book of adventure. Mr, Gibson has a first-rate scientific 
 mind and considerable scientific attainments. He is never guilty of an inexact phrase- 
 certainly, never an obscure one— or a misleading analogy. We could imagine him having a 
 vogue among our young folk comparable with that of Jules Verne." — The Nation. 
 
 "Mr. Gibson has fairly made his mark as a populariser of scientific knowledge. "—Guardian. 
 
 In the Science: fob Children Series. Illustrated. 5s. nett each. 
 OUR GOOD SLAVE ELECTRICITY. 
 
 "An exquisitely clear book for childish beginners." — The Nation. 
 
 "Told in simple and remarkably clear language, and with such ingenuity that many pages 
 
 of it read like a fairy tale."— Glasgow Herald. 
 
 THE GEEAT BALL ON WHICH WE LIVE. 
 
 " A most fascinating and suggestive story of the earth. Mr. Gibson not only knows his 
 subject thoroughly, but has the capacity of conveying the knowledge to young folk." 
 
 Church Family Newtpaper. 
 
 THE STARS & THEIR MYSTERIES. 
 
 WAR INVENTIONS. 
 
 CHEMISTRY & ITS MYSTERIES. 
 
 GREAT INVENTIONS & HOW THEY WERE INVENTED 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHY Sf ITS MYSTERIES. 
 
 MACHINES & HOW THEY WORK. 
 
 In the Library op Romancb. Illustrated. 68. nett each. 
 THE ROMANCE OF MODERN ELECTRICITY. 
 
 "Admirable, clear and concise."— Qraphic. " Very entertaining and instructive."— Quetn. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 "There is not a dry or uninteresting page throughout."— Country Life. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 " An admirable survey of outstanding scientific discoveries."— Scotsman. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF MODERN MANUFACTURE. 
 
 " A popular and practical account of all kinds of manufacture." — Scotsman. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF COAL. 
 
 " Will fascinate and instruct young and old alike."— Western Neva. 
 
 HEROES OF THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD. 
 
 " The whole field of science is well covered. . . , Every one of the 800 odd pages contains 
 
 some interesting piece of information." — Athenaum. 
 
 WHAT IS ELECTRICITY? With 8 Illus. Long 8vo. 6*. nett. 
 
 " Quite a unique book in its way, at once attractive and illuminating."— Record. 
 
 ELECTRICAL AMUSEMENTS & EXPERIMENTS. Over 70 
 
 Illustrations. 5s. nett. 
 SCIENTIFIC AMUSEMENTS AND EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 Illus. 5s. nett. 
 THE MARVELS OF PHOTOGRAPHY. With Illus. 4«. 6d. nett. 
 
 In the Wonder Library. Illustrated. 
 THE WONDERS OF MODERN ELECTRICITY. 
 THE WONDERS OF MODERN MANUFACTURE. 
 THE WONDERS OF WAR INVENTIONS. 
 THE WONDERS OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 SBELEY, SERVICE & CO. LIMITED