Qfacnell Hmoeraitg ffixbrarg 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE, GIFT OF 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 CLASS OF 1876 
 
 1918 
 
Cornell University I.ibrai7 
 G 175.D88 
 
 The world's explorers, or. Travels and a 
 
 3 1924 023 244 845 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023244845 
 
W-''*"Wi'' 
 
THE 
 
 WORLD'S EXPLOEERS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 TRAVELS AND ADYENTURES. 
 
 By H. W. DULCKEN, Ph. Dr. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH 
 
 MANY ENGRAVINGS FROM DESIGNS BY EMINENT ARTISTS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 WAED, LOCK, AND TYLER, 
 
 WARWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 

 V/^^0^ 
 
 LOHBONi 
 
 PEIKTED Er JAS. WADE, 
 
 TAYISIOCK SXBEBT, COYEKT GABBED. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Bbuce and Abyssinia. 
 
 I. — Truth Strauger'thau Fiction. Critics of the Laat Century : their Ignorance 
 and Injustice. Bruce the Traveller. His Birth and Early Life. Indian 
 Scheme. Study of Oriental Languages. Consulship at Algiers. Bruce 
 Departs on his Travels. Lions and Lion-eaters. Euins of Ancient Cities. 
 Caravan. Shipwreck atBengazi. Ajrival at .Alexandria. Cairo Page 1 
 
 II. — Cairo in the Last Century. Ali Bey and his Favourites. Bruce as an 
 Astrologer. Trying a Prescription. Bruoe's Toyage up the Nile. The 
 Nile Boat. Crocodiles. Kenne. The Caravan. Quarrel with the Leader. 
 Cosseir. Fable of the Emerald Mountain. A Boat without Nails. Arrival 
 at Jidda. Curious Adventure. Eastern Method of Trading. Voyage 
 towards Massuah. Arrival in Abyssinia 11 
 
 III. — Description of Abyssinia. PoKtioal State of 'the Country. Eas Michael's 
 Usurpation. Ozoro Esther. Spirited Conduct of Bruce. Advance to 
 Gondar. Adventure with the Cow. Beefsteaks off the Living Animal. 
 "Tagoube" at Court. Abyssinian Banquets. Bruce Continues his 
 Journey. Cataract of Alata. Fazil, the Robber Chief. His Submission 
 and Second Revolt. Difficulties Encountered by Bruce. He Reaches the 
 Source of the Nile. Conclusion • 21 
 
 The Astoeians. 
 
 I. — Vast Bxtenf of 'North America. Extensive Emigration from Europe. 
 The Mormons and their Progress. The Rocky Mountains. Jacob Astor. 
 His Early Life. His Progress in America. Great Scheme of Colonisation 
 and Commerce. The Pur Trade. The Various Great Companies. Details 
 of Mr. Astor's Plan 37 
 
 II. — The Two Expeditions. The Tonquin and her Commander. Quarrels on 
 Board. lU-humour of the Captain. Opposition of the Partners. The 
 Captain's Complaints to Mr. Astor. Arrival at the Sandwich Islands. 
 Unappreciated Botanists and Explorers. Arrival at the Columbia River. 
 Difficulty of Landing. Loss of a Boat's Crew. Foundation of Astoria. 
 Description of theRed Indians 45 
 
Ti CONTENTS. 
 
 HI. — Astoria. Departure of the Tonquin. Anxiety respecting Mr. Hunt and 
 his Party. Bad News concerning the Tonquin. Tragical Fate of that 
 Vessel and her Crew. Gloom in the , Settlejnent. , ^ Mr. Maodougal's 
 Stratagem to Frighten the Indians. Post Founded at Oliinagan. 'Sew 
 Year's Eve Celebrated under Diffioulties , Page 5S 
 
 IV. — Expedition of Mr. Hunt. Character of Hunt. His Extensive Prepara- 
 tions. The Missouri Fur Company and Mr. Manuel Lisa. Pierre Dorion, 
 the Half-breed Interpreter. John Day, the Hunter. Account of 
 Blaotbird, the Omahaw Chief. Mr. Bradbury's Adventure -with the 
 Indians 09 
 
 v.— Encounter with the Sioux. Manuel Lisa and his Schemes. Buffalo Plains. 
 Antelopes. Aricaras and Cheyermes. Difficulties of the March. WiUiam 
 Cannon and the Grizzly Bear. The Pilot Knobs. Pierre Dorion's Squaw. 
 Her Patient Endurance and Courage. Arrival at Astoria. New Expedi- 
 tions Planned 60 
 
 VI. — Mr. Astor's Plans. The Beaver Fitted Out and Despatched. War 
 between Great Britain and the United States. Mr. Macdouglil'^ Marriage 
 with the Daughter of Comcomly. His Equivocal Conduct. Arrival of 
 Mr. Hunt at Astoria. Macdougal Sells the Settlement -to the British 
 North-American Fur Conapany. Surprise and Regret of Mr. Aster. The 
 British Take Possession of Astoria. Macdoiigal Joins the Fur Company. 
 Renewed Efforts of Mr. Astor. His Further Career. Conclusion . 69 
 
 Maeco Polo. 
 
 I. — A Remarkable AiTival. The Three TraveUera. The Banquet.' Surprise 
 of the Guests. Marco Polo and his Works. First Journey of the Elder 
 PoU. The Tartar Empire. Jenghis Khan and his Cohqnests. Kublai 
 Khau. His Wish to Open Communications vrith Europe. His Com- 
 mjssion to tlje Brothers. Their Second Journey, in Company with Marco. 
 Panic of their Monkish Companions. Marco's Account of Cashmere. 
 Journey Across the Great Desert of Gobi 73 
 
 II.— Arrival at the Confines of China. Reception by Kublai Khan. Account 
 of the Alligator. Elephants and Rhinoceroses. Talent and Energy of 
 Marco. The Poh Promoted by Kublai Khan. Account of China. Desire 
 of the Poli to Return Home. Refusal of the Khan. . Opportunity 
 Afforded by the Proposed Marriage of the Khan's Granddaughter. 
 Proposal to, Reaph the Borders of Persia by Sea. The Khan's Parting 
 Injunctions 84 
 
 III. — Homeward Voyage of the Poh. Java. Description of Sumatra. Counter- 
 feit Mummies of Diminutive Men. Account of Zeilan, or Ceylon. Sum- 
 mary Judicial Practice. Madagascar. Account of the Roe, or Rukh. 
 The Island of Socotra. Desciiption of Various AnimalS: ; Accurate 
 Particulars concerning the Giraffe, or CaiAelopard. . Intelligence of King 
 Arghuns Death. Arrival of the Poli in Venice .... 89 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CoMMODOEE Anson's Votage Round the World. 
 
 1. — Heroism of Britisli Sailors. War with Spain in 1739. The Right of 
 Search. Captain Jenkins and his Grievances. The Manilla Galleon. 
 Anson's Squadron Fitted Out. Embarlcation of Chelsea Pensioners. 
 Crowded State of the Ships. Disease and Death on Board tie Ships. 
 The Trial's Disaster. ArriTal at Port St. Julian, on the Patagonian Coast. 
 Departure of the Squadron for Strait-le-Maire. Intelligence of the 
 Spanish Squadron Page 97 
 
 II. — Stormy Weather in the South Atlantic. Difficulty in Rounding Cape 
 Horn. Frightful Increase of the Scurvy on Board. Frequent Deaths. 
 Arrival at the Island of Juan Fernandez. Effect of Fresh Vegetable's on 
 the Crew. Seal's Flesh. Description of Juan Fernandez. Alexander 
 Selkirk. The Goats. Arrival of the Gloucester. Her Deplorable Con- 
 dition. The Trial and the Anna. The Severn and Pearl Put Back. 
 Wreck of the Wager and Sufferings of the Captain and Crew . . 104 
 
 III, — Brighter Prospects. Captui'o of Spanish Merchantmen. Information 
 respecting the Spanish Squadron. The Trial's Prize. Intelligence con- 
 cerning a' Treasui'e at Paita. The Ships Sail Thither. Attack on the 
 Town. An Easy Capture. Cowardice of the Spaniards. The Town 
 Burnt. Two more Prizes Taken by the Gloucester. Losses of the Paita 
 Merchants 113 
 
 IV. — Ansdety of Anson to Take the Spanish Galleon. The Island of Quibo. 
 Monkeys as an Article of Food. Parrots and Turtle. Disappointment 
 concerning the Treasure Ship. The Gloucester Abandoned and Sunk. 
 Renewed Sickness on Board the Centurion. Vain Attempts to Land at 
 Anatacan and Deringan. The Island of Tinian. JProvide'ntial Arrival 
 there. Fertility of the Island. Abundance of Fresh Vegetables and 
 Cattle. The Sick Carried Ashore. Causes of the Sickness on Board 121 
 
 V. — The Centurion Driven to Sea. Trying Position of the Commodore. 
 Anson's Resolution. Construction of a Ship. Return of the Centurion. 
 Flying Proas of the Islanders. The Centurion proceeds to Macao. The 
 Ship Refitted. Determination to Take the Aoapulco Galleon. Anson's 
 Address to the Crew. Cheerfulness of the Men. Warhke Exercises and 
 Preparations on Board. Suspense and Expectation . . . . 129 
 
 VI. — ^Appearance of the Spanish Galleon. Anson's Judicious ATangements. 
 Method of Fighting the Centurion. Confusion on Board the Galleon. 
 Capture of the Spaniard. Sufferings of the Prisoners on Board the 
 Centurion. Anson's Return to Macao. Chinese Duplicity. A Faithful 
 Interpreter. Return to England by the Cape of Good Hope. War 
 between; England and France. Anson's Fortunate Escape. Importance 
 of his' Voyage 136 
 
tiii CONTENTS. 
 
 Captain Cook akd his Discoveeies. 
 
 I. Importance of Cook's Voyages. Early Life of James Cook. His Practical 
 Seamansliip. Voyages at the Beginning of the Reign of George III. The 
 expected Transit of Venus over the Sim. Expedition Fitted Out under 
 Cook's Command. Madeira. The Portuguese in Rio. Passage round 
 Cape Horn. Patagonia. Arrival at Otaheite. Character of the Natives. 
 Judicious and Humane Conduct of Cook Page 143 
 
 II. — Surf-swimming at Otaheite. Thievish Propensities of the Natives. Tupia 
 the Otaheitan accompanies Cook. Singular Customs in Otaheite. Cook's 
 Arrival at New Zealand. Circumnavigation of the Islands. Cook's 
 Strait. Account of the Natives. Cook's Exploration of the Coast of 
 New Holland. Narrow Escape of the Endeavour. Natives of New 
 Holland. Cook Takes Possession of New South Wales. Voyage to 
 Batavia 152 
 
 III. — Pestilential Climate of Java. Death of Tayeto and Tupia. Mortality 
 among the Crew. Running a Muck. Cape Town and St. Helena. Return 
 to England. Determination to Send a Second Expedition. Cook Under- 
 takes the Command. Question concerning a Southern Continent. Fitting- 
 out of the Ships. Precautions against Scurvy 161 
 
 ly. — Voyage to the South. Punctiliousness of Cook. The Southern Ocean. 
 Danger from Ice Islands. Existence of a Southern Continent Disproved. 
 Dusky Bay, New Zealand. Queen Charlotte's Sound. Cannibalism of 
 the New Zealanders. Otaheite. Danger of Shipwreck. King Otoo. 
 Huaheine. Omai, the South Sea Islander. The Friendly Islands. The 
 Two Ships Part Company. Thievish Propensities of the New Zealanders. 
 Fresh Proofs of Cannibalism 167 
 
 V. — Second Run to the South. Hardships and Dangers. The Ships obliged 
 to turn Northward. Cook's Design of Exploring the Pacific. Easter 
 Island. Curious Statues. Otaheite. Barter with Red Parrots' Feathers. 
 Oree, the Chief. New Zealand. Tragical Occurrence to Captain Pur- 
 neaux's Crew. Details of the Massacre. Rounding the Horn. Survey of 
 Staten Island and Southern Coast of America. Return to England. 
 Brilliant Success of the Voyage 176 
 
 VI. — Preparations for a Third Voyage. Question concerning the North-West 
 Passage. The Resolution and Discovery Fitted Out. Kerguelen's Land. 
 Island of Desolation. Van Diemen's Land. Passage to New Zealand. 
 The Friendly Islands. Taboo. Human Sacrifices at Otaheite. Visit to 
 Eimeo and Bolabola. Christmas Island. Nootka Sound. The Natives : 
 their Shrewdness and Rapacity 185 
 
 VII. — New Attempt to Penetrate Northward. Stopped by the Ice. Further 
 Exploration of the Sandwich Group, Discovery of Owyhee. Karakakooa 
 Bay. Return of the Ships. Fatal Attack. Death of Cook. Further 
 Proceedings of Captain Gierke. Return to the North. Fur Trade at 
 Canton. Death of Clarke. Return of the Ships in 1779 . . .193 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Feenand Mendez Pinto. 
 
 I. — Achievements of Eminent Men and their Fame. Kepler and Galileo. 
 CalnmnieB Attached to Certain Names. Bacon and Walton. Slander 
 Promulgated by Cervantes concerning Pinto. Repeated by Congreve. 
 Fignier's Translation of Pinto's Travels. Their Value. Pinto'a First 
 Voyage. His Capture and Slavery. His Voyage to India. He is De- 
 spatched from Malacca to Sumatra. The King of the Battas . Page 201 
 
 II. — Pinto's Mission to the King of Aaru. Hostilities against the Aoheens. 
 Pinto's Shipwreck. He is Employed by a Mussulman Merchant. Antonio 
 de Paria turns Pirate, and is Joined by Pinto. Captures and Adventures. 
 Shipwreck. The Chinamen Tricked 210 
 
 III. — ^Another Piratical Craise. Meeting with a Chinese Pirate Junk. Treaty 
 of Alliance. Encounter with Coja Acem. Victory of Antonio de Faria, 
 and Death of Coja Acem and his Crew. Triumphal Reception of the 
 Victors at Ningpo. Further Adventures. Plunder of the Tombs. DIb- 
 astrous Shipwreck, and Death of Antonio de Paria .... 219 
 
 IV. — Pinto in Trouble. Kindness of the Bonzes. Retribution. Harsh Cap- 
 tivity. Travels in China. Improved Circumstances. Singular AfEtay 
 among the Portuguese. Their Punishment. Attack on Pekin by the 
 Tartars. Taking of Qaangsay by the Tartars. The Portuguese Enter the 
 Service of the Tartar King 225 
 
 V. — Portuguese Boasting. Raising of the Siege of Pekin. Magniloquent 
 Descriptions of Pinto. George Mendez and his Talents. Departure of the 
 Portuguese. Renewed Quarrels among them. Piracy and Shipwreck. 
 Events at Tanimmaa. The King of Bungo. Great Reputation of 
 Femand Mendez Pinto 233 
 
 VI. — ^Accident to the King's Son. The Portuguese Depart for Liampoo. Grreat 
 Expedition Prepared for Japan. Disastrous Events. Pinto Shipwrecked 
 on the Loochoo Islands. Condemned to Death. Pardoned through the 
 Intercession of the Women. Pinto Advocates the Conquest of the Loochoo 
 Islands. Return to Liampoo and Malacca. Pinto's Embassy to the King 
 of Martaban. Treachery of the Portuguese. Martaban Taken by the 
 Burmese. Procession of the Vanquished. Lamentable Fate of the Royal 
 Family ..." 238 
 
 VII. — ^Description of Siam and Ava. Former Magnificence of the Cities. Effects 
 of Revolutions. New Calamities of Pinto. A Portuguese Renegade. 
 Another Shipwreck. Dreadful SafFeriugs and Cannibalism. Father 
 Francis Xavier, the Missionary. Pinto's Further Adventures. His Pinal 
 Return to Goa. His return to Portugal, Disappointment, and Neglect. 
 Conclusion of his Chronicle 249 
 
CeNTENTS. 
 
 The Voyage of La Pekouse. 
 
 I. — La P^rouse and his Merits. Importajice of Lis Voyage. Its Origin. Its 
 Political Intention. Early Lite of La P^rouse. His GaUautry and 
 Humanity. His Conduct towards the EngUsh. Plan of his Voyage. Its 
 Exaggerated Extent. Departure from Brest. Eemartable Appearance of 
 St. Ehno's Lights Page 257 
 
 II. — Saccessfol Precautions against Disease on the Boussole and Astrolabe. 
 Congregation of Whales in Strait Lemaire. Easter Island. Bemarkable 
 Monuments. State of Cultivation. Pilfering Propensities of the Natives. 
 Eun to the North. Port des Pran9ais. Its Capabilities as a Trading 
 Settlement. Lamentable Accident and Loss of Twenty Lives. Climate 
 of Port des Erau5ais compared with that of Labrador. Voyage to 
 Monterey 265 
 
 III. — The Portuguese Settlement of Macao. The Philippine Islands. Manilla. 
 The Coast of Tartary. Bay of Castries. The Tartar Inhabitants. Their 
 Honesty and Friendliness. Sui'vey of the Coasts of SagaHen. Kamt- 
 schatba. The Russians and their Government 275 
 
 IV. — La Perouse's Memorial to Captain Gierke. The Kamtschadale Nation. 
 Ravages of Small-Pox. Intermarriages with the Russians. De Lesseps 
 Travels to Europe Overland. His Account of his Travels. Return to the 
 Southern' Hemisphere. The Island of Maouna. Architectural Preten- 
 sions of Native Buildings. Appearance of the Natives. Death of M. de 
 Langle . . . . ' 282 
 
 V. — Voyage Across the Pacific. Vavao, in the Friendly Islands. Norfolk 
 Island. Run to Botany Bay. La Perouse's Last Letters. Departure from 
 Australia. Long Doubt concerning the Pate of the Expedition. Voyage 
 of Admiral D'Entrecasteaux in Search of La Perouse. Unfortunate Issue 
 of D'Entrecasteaux's Voyage. • Rumours concerning Relics of the Expe- 
 dition. Voyage of Captain DiUon, and its Results .... 289 
 
 AXEXANDEE VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS TeAVELS. 
 
 I. — Humboldt's Long and Arduous Career. His First Work. His Pui'suit of 
 Geology. His Appointment as Inspector of Mines. He Resolves to 
 Travel. Verifies the Experiments of Galvani. Designs to Join Captain 
 Baudin's Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere. On the Failure of 
 that Expedition' Resolves to Pass the Winter in Spain . . 300 
 
 II. — Humboldt Receives Permission to Visit the Spanish Colonies in South 
 America. Resolves to Travel to New Spain. Writes to Ask his Friend 
 Bonpla,ud to Join Him. Embarks for the West Indies on a Spanish 
 Fiigate. Visits the Peak of Teneriffe. The Dragon-Tree at Orotava. 
 Humboldt's Interesting Views and Researches regarding the Age of 
 IVees 30G 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 III. — Various Zones of Vegetation in the Island of Teneriffe. Passage to the 
 West Indies. Observations on Atlantic and other Ocean Currents. Great 
 Beds of Seaweed. The Sargasso Sea. Arrival in the West Indies. A 
 Doctor Sangrado. Earthquakes and Eruptions of Volcanoes. Connection 
 of the Phenomena. Humboldt's Views on Volcanic Action . Paje 314 
 
 IV. — Theatment of Slaves. The Marshes of Araya. Salt Works. A OastUiau 
 Shoemaker. Cheap Immortality. Manners and Customs of the Natives 
 of Araya. Effect of the Dominion of the Priests. The Capuchins of 
 Caripe. Cavern of the Guacharo. Nocturnal Birds. Singular Method of 
 Procuring OH. Abundant and Varied Flora of Caripe. The Vultures of 
 Cumaua. Their Lazy Habits 321 
 
 V. — Adventure with a " Zambo.'' Narrow Escape of Bonpland. Eohpse of 
 the Sun. Earthquake Shocks from the Volcano of Pinchinca. Phos- 
 phorescence of the Sea. The Hangman of Oumana. La Guayra. A 
 Zealous Physician. Ascent of the Saddle Mountain. The Difference 
 between Promise and Performance. Harmless Bees . . . 329 
 
 VI. — Journey across the Llanos, or Great Plains. Aspect of the Llanos. 
 Steppes in Various Parts of the World. Animal Life in the Llanos. The 
 Horse and Ox Tribe and Cereal Plants. The Dry Season and the Kainy 
 Season. The Gynmotus, or Electric Eel. Method of Capture. The 
 Apui'e and Orinoko. Canoe Voyage. Nocturnal Life of Animals. Savage 
 Tribes of America 335 
 
 VII. — Land Journey across the Cordilleras. Disappointment of Humboldt. 
 Volcanic Agency. Singular Method of Travelling. The Great Volcanic 
 Peaks of the Andes. Their Height, &o. PubKc Works of the Old Peru- 
 vians. Beads and Palaces. Conquest of Peru, &c 348 
 
 VIII. — Nature of Volcanic Agencies in the Andes. Cotopaxi. The Quina or 
 Cinchona Bark. Architectural Bemains in Peru. The Inca Beads. 
 Aqueducts and Fortifications. Destraotion of Public Works in Peru by 
 Spanish Conquerors. Caxamarca. Bemains of the Palace. "Baths of 
 the Inca." Pizarro and Atahuallpa. The descendants of Atahuallpa. 
 A Peruvian Aladdin's Garden 353 
 
 Captain Flinders. 
 
 I. — Flinders' only Memorial. His Early Predilections for Exploring. The 
 Tom Thumb : its Crew and First Voyage. Mr. Bass Penetrates as far as 
 Port Philip. Discovery of Bass's Strait. Lieutenant Flinders is En- 
 trusted with the Command of an Exploring Expedition. The Inves- 
 tigator Commences her Great Work. The French Expedition. Grand 
 Preparations. Interview between Captain Flinders and the French Com- 
 mander. The Two Expeditions Separate. Hospitality to the French at 
 Sydney. The Investigator Proceeds along the North Coast, departure 
 for England. Wreck of the Porpoise and Cato ...... 360 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 II.— Want of Aesistsmoe ia the Captain of the Bridgewatcr- The Bridgewater 
 Deserts the Two Wrecks. The Crews of the Porpoise and Cato reach an 
 Adjacent Sandbank. Captain Flinders Starts for Sydney and B^seues his 
 Corapanions. Leaves again for England in the Cumberland. Puts m for 
 Eepairs at Mauritius. The Governor Accuses Him as a Spy. Filthy 
 Lodgings. The French Government's Passport Repudiated. Appearance 
 of the Record of the French Expedition. Public Feeling in France. The 
 Emperor Signs the Order for his Release. De Caen's Behaviour. Flinders 
 Returns to England. His Death Page 366 
 
 EtRE: GrOVERNOE AND EXPLORER. 
 
 I.— Overlanders. Wealth of the Colonists. Scarcity of Water in the Interior 
 of Australia. The AuBtraKan Explorer. Services of the Explorers. Social 
 Position of the Overlanders. Magnitude of their Operations. Demand 
 for New Pastures. Country round Adelaide. Application to Mr. Eyre. 
 He Accepts the Command of the Expedition. Departure of the Exjdorersr 
 Repeated Failures in Attempting to go Northwards. Byre Determines to 
 go Westward. The Ejcpedition is Sent Back. The Exploring Party. The 
 Coast Line of South Australia. Want of Water . . .- 372 
 
 II.— The Water-bags Empty. The Horses Give Way. The Sandhills. A 
 Well Made. No Water but at the Yarious Sandhills. Superior En- 
 durance of Man above other Animals. Half the Distance Accomplished. 
 Restlessness of the Horses. Mr. Eyre and his Overseer Watch Them. 
 Murder of the Overseer. Escape and Recapture of the Horses. The 
 Adelaide Natives Steal the Provisions. The Horses Killed for Food. A 
 Whaling Barque Sighted. Return to Adelaide. Quarrels between the 
 Aborigines and Colonists. Mr. Eyre appointed Black Protector, Governor 
 of Wellington, N. Z. Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica. Pull Governor. 
 Respect for Mr. Eyre in Australia 378 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Dnok-bin, The .... 4 
 
 Egyptian Dancing Giria . . 5 
 
 I/ion, Lioness, and Cubs , . 8 
 
 Crete 9 
 
 Baalbeo, The Great Gate at , 10 
 
 On the Nile 12 
 
 Egyptian Female Costumes . 13 
 Sphina, The, and the Great 
 
 Pyramid , , . , . 16 
 
 Eviined City of the East . . 17 
 
 Smyrna 19 
 
 Egyptian "Woman ... 20 
 
 Hyenas and Leopard ... 24 
 
 Buffaloes 29 
 
 Abyssinian Wedding Sports . 33 
 
 Mormon City of Utah, The . 37 
 
 Mor&on Encampment . . 40 
 
 A Beaver Village ... 41 
 
 Indian Weapons and Ornaments 48 
 
 A Mandan Chief .... 49 
 
 Chippewa 52 
 
 Indian Burying Place ... 57 
 
 Buffalo Hunting on the Prairie . 61 
 Blackbird and his Favourite 
 
 Squaw 64 
 
 The Elk and the Red Deer . . 69 
 
 Daootah Chief .... 73 
 
 Leopaids and Panther . . 76 
 
 Pekin 80 
 
 Pisa ... . . 81 
 
 The Rhinoceros .... 85 
 
 The Hippopotamus ... 89 
 
 Condor and Vultures ... 92 
 
 Giraffes 93 
 
 Cabnl 96 
 
 Spearing Turtle off the Island of 
 
 Tinian .... 101 
 
 Tailpiece 103 
 
 Seals and Walrus . . . 
 
 Goats 
 
 Tailpiece . . . , , 
 
 Tailpiece 
 
 Breadfruit Trees at Tinian . 
 
 Parrots 
 
 Proa Laden with Breadfruit 
 
 Savage Weapons . . . . 
 
 Tailpiece 
 
 Terns or Sea Swallows 
 
 Schooner 
 
 A Street in Canton 
 
 The Koodoo and Nylghau . 
 
 Dance of the Australian Abori- 
 gines 
 
 Sea Birds of the Southern Ocean 
 
 Stormy Petrel— Wandering Alba- 
 tross . 
 
 Surf Swimming . 
 
 Opossums . 
 
 A Native Home . 
 
 Tattooed Head . 
 
 Cape of Good Hope 
 
 St. Helena . 
 
 Tailpiece 
 
 Iceberg 
 
 Flying Fish . 
 
 Banyan Tree 
 
 Australian Native 
 
 Tropical Birds 
 
 Eagles . 
 
 South African 
 
 Canoeing in the Pacific 
 
 Esquimaux of Nootka Sound 
 
 Polynesian Huts . 
 
 Tiger .... 
 
 Fejee Man . 
 
 Wine-Making in Portugal 
 
 FAOB. 
 
 105 
 109 
 113 
 120 
 121 
 124 
 125 
 127 
 128 
 133 
 135 
 139 
 141 
 
 143 
 148 
 
 153 
 157 
 159 
 160 
 164 
 165 
 166 
 168 
 169 
 173 
 175 
 180 
 184 
 185 
 189 
 192 
 193 
 197 
 200 
 204 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Great Apes, Baboon, &c. 
 Ooenong Api — Bauda Isles 
 View in Siaiu 
 Bats . 
 Tailpiece 
 Camels 
 Tailpiece 
 Tropical Animals 
 Zebras . 
 
 Tailpiece . '. 
 Chinese 
 Elephant 
 Savage Weapons . 
 Polar Bears . 
 Song Birds . 
 Unssian Feasants 
 Pelicans 
 
 Kamtscbadale Sledge 
 Barbadoes from the Sea 
 The Tapir . 
 Scene in the Friendly Islands 
 Bepnblicans Escorting Louis 
 XVI. to Paris . . . . 
 
 Tailpiece 
 
 Hiuuboldt 
 
 A Silver Mine .... 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 208 
 209 
 213 
 217 
 224 
 229 
 
 237 
 241 
 248 
 253 
 267 
 269 
 273 
 275 
 277 
 282 
 288 
 292 
 293 
 
 297 
 299 
 301 
 304 
 
 the 
 
 Reindeer 
 
 The Capybara or Cavy 
 
 Tortoise 
 
 Ibex .... 
 
 Scene in the Andes 
 
 Jaguar, Puma, and Lynx 
 
 Tailpiece 
 
 Mountain Region 
 
 Madrid 
 
 Scarborough 
 
 Armadillos and Pangolins 
 
 Ca^ituring Wild Cattle 
 
 Llanos 
 Hirmming-birds . 
 Sapagoas and Tiverrse 
 Tailpiece 
 Hippopotamus 
 Llamas 
 
 An Australian Native . 
 Australian Fishermen . 
 An Australian Duel 
 Map of Coast Line from Adelaide 
 
 to King George's Sound 
 Hurling the Spear 
 Throwing the Boomerang 
 
 rAOB. 
 
 305 
 308 
 313 
 314 
 316 
 317 
 320 
 325 
 329 
 332 
 337 
 
 340 
 344 
 345 
 347 
 348 
 357 
 36;i 
 364 
 
 372 
 376 
 381 
 
LIST OF SEPARATE ILLUSTRA^nONS. 
 
 Bbxtce and Abyssinia— Bkuce Fires a T^vllow Candls thuouoh 
 
 Theee Shields 
 A Heed oe Bisons 
 Venice . 
 
 American Monkeys 
 The Kangaroo 
 The Walrus' 
 
 OsTKiCH, Emu, and Cassoti-aey 
 Chinese Commekcial Junks 
 South Sea Whale Fisheky 
 La Guayea, neae Caeaccas 
 Toucans .... 
 Captain Flindees— Goteknoe Eyre 
 
 1 
 
 37 
 75 
 97 
 lis 
 176 
 201 
 238 
 257 
 300 
 352 
 360 
 
THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 
 
 I. 
 
 Tmth Stranger than Fiction — Critics of the Last Century : their Ignorance and 
 Injustioe^Bruce the Traveller — His Birth and Early Life — Indian Scheme 
 — Study of Oriental Languages — Consulship at Algiers — ^Bruoe Departs on 
 his Travels — Lions and Lion-eaters — ^Ruins of Ancient Cities — Caravan — 
 Shipwreck at Bengazi — Arrival at Alexandria— Cairo. 
 
 TN one of Captain Marryat's clever books tliere is an amusing 
 story of an English sailor, -who, strongly urged to tell a tale for 
 the delectation of a Turkish pasha, proceeds to spin one of the most 
 Avonderful "yarns" ever perpetrated by nautical adventurer. The 
 dangers and escapes of. Sindbad the Sailor are as nothing compared 
 ■with the perils and adventures of this modern mariner. He relates 
 how in a gale the crew of his ship were compelled to "station two 
 men to hold the captain's hair on his head," how " a little boy was 
 carried up into the air by the force of the gale, and then slid back 
 on a moonbeam unharmed to the deck of the ship," with many other 
 particulars "equally marvellous and strange. The pasha listens to all 
 with an air of imperturbable gravity. Each extravagant fiction gains 
 ready and uudoubting credence with him; and, however "tough". the 
 English; Jack's yarn may be, the Turkish dignitary is ready for fresh 
 marvels.. But amid all this mass of absurdity there happens to be 
 just one little grain of truth. Jack mentions by chance in the course 
 of his marvellous narrative that in his travels he has met with an 
 animal which has a bill like a duck, and four webbed feet — he is 
 alluding, in fact, to the well-known "duckbill" of New Holland. At 
 this the pasha's patience is exhausted : he who has contentedly sub- 
 mitted to the barefaced demands Jack has been all along making on 
 his credulity, cannot bring himself to believe in the existence of a 
 duck-billed quadruped ; and by the mouth of his vizier and inter- 
 preter, he indignantly admonishes the narrator to refrain from telling 
 
 B 
 
2 THE WORLD'S EXPLOKEKS. 
 
 him suoli impudent lies. Whereupon honest Jack departs, marvelling 
 greatly that the pasha should have pitched upon the only piece of 
 truth in the whole yarn as the subject of his indignant protest. 
 
 This little anecdote furnishes no unapt illustration of the behaviour 
 of a numlier of British and foreign critics at the close of the last century 
 ■with regard to an enterj^rising and persevering traveller. Not that the 
 British public of the latter part of the eighteenth century was wanting 
 in credulity. When a rumour was spread of the appearance of a ghost 
 in Cock-lane, Smithfield, a multitude of the curious flocked to hear the 
 spectre's knookings, and returned with a, full conviction of the reality 
 of their supernatural host; the impudent quack, Dr. Graham, never 
 lacked dupes to listen to his preposterous stories of cures he had effected, 
 or to pay the unconscionable fees he demanded for pretended services ; 
 but when a brave, honest gentleman, who had perilled his life and 
 sacrificed his fortune in the cause of science, came home from his- 
 travels with a plain account of what he had seen and experienced 
 in distant lands, he was assailed with sneers by the malevolent, and 
 with open denial by the incredulous ; and the public, taking its tone 
 from sundry ignorant and self-elected critics, refused to the veracious- 
 narrative of James Bruce the credence it had given to the fictitious 
 pretensions of a score of earlier writers. Dr. Johnson, himself the 
 very reverse of a traveller, pronounced in a few turgid sentences a 
 dictum adverse to the Abyssinian pilgrim's credibility; a graceless 
 German, named Easpe, wrote a marvellous farrago of impossible 
 achievements, which he dubbed The Adveidares of Baron Muncliausen, 
 and sarcastically dedicated to Bruce ; and presently there appeared a 
 certain Baron de Tott, who, emboldened by the storm of ridicule he 
 saw pouring down on the devoted head of the traveller, boldly declared 
 his beUef that Bruce had not been in Abyssinia at all. And prepos- 
 terous as this assertion might seem, there were many who believed it, 
 until the well-known Daines Barrington wrote an elaborate vindication 
 of his friend, and silenced the baron and his followers. 
 
 It will be our task, in these pages, briefly to recount the labours 
 of the Abyssinian traveller, and to show hov.' those labours were 
 requited. 
 
 James Bruce, the discoverer of the sources of the "Blue Nile,'' 
 was born on the 14th December, 1730, at the seat of a long line of 
 ancestors, Kinnaird House, in the county of Stirling, in Scotland. 
 His family was one of considerable antiquity, and could trace back its 
 
BRUCE AND xVBYSSiXIA. H 
 
 annals to a younger son of the heroic Robert Bruce. James was the 
 older of two sons, and the heir- apparent to the estate oi Kinnaird ; his 
 father, naturally and wisely anxious to give him an education commen- 
 surate with the position he would one day "be called to occupy, sent him 
 first to a good school in the neighbourhood of London, and then to 
 Harrow. At the latter school, where he remained four years, he 
 appears to have acquired a considerable knowledge of the ancient 
 languages, and to have made himself popular and beloved. At 
 the age of seventeen he returned to his native country, in 
 order to commence the study of the law at the University of 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 But the study of the law presented little to gratify his ardent 
 imagination, while the close application it demanded proved too heavy 
 a tax on a frame which, slender and delicate, gave little promise of 
 the athletic strength to which it attained in after days. Mr. Bruce 
 was soon obliged by ill-health to abandon his legal studies, and he 
 looked around in search of a new field for his energies. India was 
 then, as it has ever since been, the country towards which many a 
 restless and enterprising spirit looked ardently as a field where fame 
 and fortune could be won, and to India James Bruce resolved to pro- 
 ceed. He was too old to be sent out as a writer in the East India 
 Comj)any's service, and determined, therefore, to seek permission to 
 settle in Hindostan as a free trader, under the patronage of the court, 
 of directors. Bent on obtaining this privilege he repaired to London 
 in July, 1753, when he was twenty-throe. 
 
 His Indian scheme, however, was destined to remain unfulfilled ' 
 In London he made the acquaintance of the family of a Mrs. Allan, 
 the widow of a wealthy wine-merchant, to whose daughter he was 
 married in February, 1754: ; whereupon he gave up the idea of pro- 
 ceeding to India. Perhaps this was a fortunate resolve ; for in 175G- 
 occurred the taking of Calcutta by the infamous Surajah Dowlah, 
 an event followed by the massacre of the Black Hole, in which Mr. 
 Bruce might have perished with the other hapless victims of the 
 wretched despot, soon himself to meet his reward at the hands of 
 the victors of Plassey, led by the young and intrepid Chve. 
 
 A few short months saw Bruce a widower. His young wife fell a 
 victim to consumption, and Bruce returned almost heartbroken to 
 London. For some years he devoted himself to the study of Oriental 
 languages ; for, as the depression of spirits produced by his great 
 
i THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 grief yielded insensibly to the natural effect of time on a character 
 singularly energetic and active, Bruce conceived the idea of a new 
 career in which difficulties and dangers were to be overcome and fame 
 ■was to be gained. The death of his father in 1758 put him in 
 possession of the paternal estate, and the idea of Eastern travel and 
 exploration took a firmer hold on his imagination in proportion as his 
 
 mnvearied industry gave him a greater insight into tlie (ihees, or 
 Ethiopic, and the Arabic languages, the objects of his dilicfnt study 
 during some years. 
 
 In 1762 the consulship at Algiers was offered to Mr. Bruce, who 
 eagerly accepted it, as an official position couldnot failto be astepping- 
 stone to the enterprise he had detCTmined to prosecute. I'his was 
 nothing less than the discovery of the source of the Nih\ a prol>k>;n 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 6 
 
 that had perplexed the learned of various ages, and which even kings 
 at the head of victorious armies had failed to solve. After holding the 
 consulship for a year, during which time he displayed eminent firmness 
 and resolution in the course of a quarrel with the savage Dey, Bruce 
 applied for leave of absence to travel in the interior, and then for 
 permission to resign his appointment. Though he had steadfastly 
 
 EUTPTIAN DANCINtr GIULS 
 
 advocated the interests of his own government in ojiposition to those 
 of the Dey, his uniform honesty and singleness of purpose so gained 
 the good opinion of that barbaric potentate, that he was furnished 
 with valuable letters of recommendation to the governors of the places 
 lie intended to visit in Algiers, and to the Beys of Tunis and Tripoli. 
 
 And now, attended by ten spahis or dragoons, excellent good horse- 
 men, but exceedingly cowardly, Bruce set out on his journey, the 
 primary object of which was to explore the various towns in the 
 Barbary States where ruins of ancient temples and other buildings 
 might be found, and to make drawings and write descriptions of i.hese 
 antiquities. He had hired an Italian artist named Balungani to assist 
 
G THE WOELD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 him with ' Ilia drawings; but the poor draughtsman died of dysentery 
 long before the travels of Bruce came to an end. 
 
 Our hero was a model traveller in many respects. He had prepared 
 himself for his enterprise by a long and arduous course of study, and 
 was able to speak in the modem Greek, the Ax-abic, and the Ethiopic- 
 languages. He had devoted much attention to mathematics and 
 astronomy, and was thus enabled to take observations and determine 
 •longitudes and latitudes with an accuracy to which his detractors 
 themselves have borne unwilling witness. He knew enough of the 
 principles of surgery and medicine to make himself valued and 
 respected by many a wUd tribe, and, moreover, he stood six feet four 
 inches in height without his stockings, and was possessed of courage 
 and determination at least proportionate to his bodily stature. Such 
 was the traveller who sallied forth to explore the then almost unknown 
 districts of the Barbary States. 
 
 On the frontiers between Algiers and Tunis, he stopped at Hydra, 
 the Thunodrudum of the ancients. Here he found a tribe of Arabs, 
 called the Welled Sidi Boogannim — the sons of the father of flocks. 
 They are a very rich tribe ; they pay no tribute, form a kind of half- 
 military, half-religious order, and are bound by a vow to eat lion's 
 flesh as their daily food. They are naturally expert hunters, and are 
 exempted from tribute in consideration of the services they perform i)i 
 ridding the country of lions. Bruce himself ate lion's flesh with the 
 Welled Sidi Boogannim, and describes the flesh of the male lion as 
 tough, lean, musky in flavour, and altogether resembling what he could 
 fancy would be the taste of old horseflesh. The flesh of the she-lion 
 he describes as fatter and less disagreeable ; but the meat of a whelp of 
 six or seven months was the most nauseous of all. 
 
 In reference to this fact of Hon-eating, which has been abundantly 
 verifled by later travellers, Bruce tells an anecdote strongly illustrative 
 of the hardness of belief of the learned in those times, and of the diffi- 
 culty with which a traveller gained credence who had to teach some 
 new thing. A Dr. Shaw, of Oxford, who had travelled among the 
 Arabs, and under whose notice this custom of lion-eating had come, 
 very naturally mentioned the circumstance on his return to England 
 but this would not do for the Oxford common-room. That lions ate 
 men everybody knew ; but a man eat a lion — preposterous ! So the 
 doctor, a peaceable man, anxious to propitiate his critics, discreetly 
 omitted the fact of the lion -eating in his narrative, and merely hinted 
 
BliUCE AND ABYSSINIJL. 7 
 
 at it in his appendix. Our traveller was not the mail to take a similar 
 course. When he had once asserted a thing as a fact, he considered it 
 a point of honour to maintain his assertion, and contradiction only 
 made him cling the firmer to his position, on the good old principle 
 that, however wide a scope there might be in matters of theory for 
 difference of opinion, facts were not to be suppressed or explained 
 away, inasmuch as, if once true, tliey were true always. 
 
 As he travelled from place to place, diligently drawing every 
 remarkable relic of antiquity that came in his way, noticing at Lam- 
 bessa the sculptured standard of a legion with the proud old inscription 
 " Legio Tertia Augusta," and at Kisser, the Colonia Assuras of the 
 ancients, a small square temple with instruments of sacrifice carved 
 upon it, the explorer could not fail to meet with stirring adventures, 
 more especially as the country was in a stats of war. In the ruins of 
 Spaitla, the ancient Suffetula, his studios were unpleasantly interrupted 
 by a visit from a lawless tribe, the Welled Omram. These marauders 
 blockaded Bruce and his party, who fortified themselves within the 
 high walls of the ruined temples of Spaitla, and kept the besiegers at 
 bay with their guns. The arrival of a friendly tribe rescued the 
 besieged garrison, who were reduced to a state of semi-starvation when 
 the relieving force freed them from their tormentors. At Feriana, the 
 ancient Thala, which Metellus destroyed in his pursuit of Jugurtha, 
 King of Numidia, he found fishes like gudgeons swimming merrily in 
 baths of very warm water. Near Tripoli he met the Emir al Hadj, or 
 commander of the annual cai'avan conducting the yearly throng of 
 pilgrims who journey from Fez and Zuz, in Morocco, to Mecca. A 
 disorderly rabble rout these hadji proved to be — about three thousand 
 in number, with some fourteen thousand camels. They mistook Bruce 
 and his horsemen for mounted banditti, and showed a disposition to 
 run, but plucked up courage, which soon changed to insolence when 
 they found that the travellers were peaceable men, and had no con- 
 federates lurking in the neighbourhood. 
 
 At Ras Sem Bruce visited the petrified city, respecting which it 
 had been asserted, and, indeed, extensively believed in Africa, that the 
 Divine vengeance had overtaken the inhabitants, and suddenly trans- 
 formed them to stone, as they were engaged in their daily employment. 
 A French consul had once offered a considerable sum to the Arabs for 
 a specimen of petrified humanity, aind had been rewarded by becoming 
 the possessor of a very rudely sculptured statue. As may be supposed, 
 
.S THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 our enthusiastic investigator found no stony inhabitants at Ras Sem, 
 but he had an opportunity, for the first time, of observing the habit* of 
 
 LION, LIONESS, AND CUBS. 
 
 the jerboa, a curious long-legged mouse, remarkably long-limbed and 
 agile. Soon after this Bruce was shipwrecked in a Greek vessel, 
 near the harbour of Bengazi, and very narrowly escaped with hjs. 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 9 
 
 life. His account of his escape reads like a passage from Rotnnmin 
 (^rasoe :— 
 
 The vessel, he says, was very ill accoutred. She had enough of 
 sail, but no ballast. A crowd of passengers fleeing from the famine 
 were taken on board. The commander was not accustomed to those 
 seas. A light, steady breeze, promising a short and agreeable voyage, 
 soon became violent and cold. A storm of hail followed, and the 
 gathering of the clouds seemed to threaten thunder. The captain 
 was preparing, on Mr. Bruce's persuasion, to put into the harbour of 
 
 Bengazi, when the vessel unexpectedly struck on a sunken rock in 
 the entrance to the harbour, and at no great distance from the shore. 
 Mr. Bruce and his two servants, one of whom, Roger M'Cormack, was 
 an old man-of-war's man, went down into one of two boats that were 
 towing astern, trusting to their own skill to get ashore. Before they 
 could get clear of the ship, a crowd of passengers rushed in after them. 
 They had not got twice their boat's length from the ship when they 
 were drenched by a wave which nearly filled their frail craft, and drei\' 
 a howl of despair from the wretched passengers. Bruce had fortunately 
 stripped himself for a swim, retaining only his waistcoat and drawers. 
 A sUk sash was wrapped round him. In his breast-pocket he had a 
 pencil, a small pocket-book, and a watch. The next wave was to 
 determine the fate of those in the boat ; he, therefore, called his 
 servants to follow him if they could swim, and instantly let himself 
 down in the face of the wave. With all his strength and activity n 
 
10 
 
 THE AVORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 swimming, he could not witlistand tlie force of the surf. From the 
 etbing -waye he recci-\'c:l a violent blow on the breast, v.-liich threw 
 him upon his l^ack, and occasioned him to swallow a ccjnsiderable 
 quantity of water. He dipped his head wdiile the next wave passed 
 over. He was now breathless, weary, and exhausted, bnit almost on 
 land. A large wave floated him up ; but he was again struck on the 
 face and breast, and involuntarily twisted about by the violence of the 
 ebbing wave. As a last effort, he tried to feel the bottom, and happily 
 reached the sand with his feet, although the water was still over his 
 mouth. This success inspired him with new vigour. He floated on 
 with the influx of the wave, and, by sinking and touching the ground, 
 tvithstood the ebb. At last, finding his hands and knees upon the 
 sand, he fixed his fingers in it, crawded forward a few paces wdien the 
 sea retired, and, having got beyond its reach, he sank insensible on 
 the ground. 
 
 The Arabs, in the meantime, came down to plunder the vessel. 
 The persons in the boat had perished. One boat "was thrown ashore ; 
 the Arabs had several others. In these they made their way to the 
 ship to plunder the wreck, and brought the people safe to land. A 
 blow on the neck with the butt-end of a lance was wdiat first awakened 
 Bruce from the senseless state in which he lay, after escaping the 
 violence of the waves. The Arabs, believing him, from his dress, to 
 be^a Turk, after beating, kicking, aird cursing him, stripped him of 
 
 THE GREAT GATE AT UAALl.l, 
 
BRUCE AXD ABYSSIKIA. 11 
 
 tlie scanty clothing yet upon him ; and, after treating the rest- in the 
 same manner, went to their boats, to seek the bodies of those , who 
 had been drowned. On its appearing, however, that tlie shipwrecked 
 wayfarer was not a Turk, but a poor Christian physician, the swarthy 
 wreckers somewhat relented towards him, and threw around his bruised 
 and wearied form a tattered baraca. The sheikh of the tribe ordered 
 him a supper, and he afterwards procured a passage to Canen, in Crete, 
 in the ship of a French captain, who happened to be at Bengazi. 
 Thence, after recovering from a dangerous illness, Bruce proceeded to 
 Sidon, Baalbec, and Palmyra, everywhere making drawings, examining 
 hieroglyphics, seeking to decipher doubtful or obscure inscriptions, 
 and bearing hardships, fatigues, and occasionally sickness, with un- 
 failing buoyancy of spirit. At length he arrived at Alexandria, 
 and thence proceeded to Cairo. He had now received some scientific 
 instruments from Europe, and was bent on making every preparation 
 for the expedition from which he justly hoped to earn credit and 
 fame — the project which had been present to his mind for years, and 
 to which he had clung through discouragement and dissuasions which 
 would have shaken a less vigorous resolution — the attempt to discover 
 the sources of the Nile. 
 
 II. 
 
 Cairo in the Last Century — ATi Bey and Ma Favourites — ^Bruce as an Astrologer 
 — Trying a Prescription — Bruce's Voyage up the Nile — The Nile Boat — 
 Crocodiles — Kenne — The Caravan — Quarrel with the Leader — Cosaeir — 
 Fable of the Emerald Mountain — A Boat without Nails — ^Arrival at Jidda — 
 Curious Adventure — Eastern Method of Trading — Voyage towarda Massuah 
 — Arrival in Abyssinia. 
 
 A VERY different place was the Cairo whence James Bruce started 
 on his voyage up the Nile from the bustling city through which 
 thousands of travellers now stream every month; bound for the pre- 
 sidencies of our Indian Empire. The overland route had not yet been 
 dreamt of, and the camel, horse, and mule were the only means of 
 transport where now the iron steed and the iron road have established 
 themselves — a type of modern progress and civilisation amid the stag-' 
 nation of the East. The voyage up the Nile, now a favourite trip 
 with luxurious " howadji;" who, as the author of the Nile Notes 
 observes, are accustomed to " suffer and be strong" on a luxurious- 
 sofa, surrounded- by all the means and apphances of comfort, was at 
 
12 
 
 THE -WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 that time a dangerous undertaking, not to be achieved without much 
 negotiation and entreaty, and much propitiation of various men in power. 
 It was a Cairo without donkeys for hire and sellers of jeweUery— 
 
 a Cairo hostile to strangers and in- 
 tolerant of exploring zeal — that Bruce 
 entered at the end of the year 1768. 
 
 Fortunately, however, one cu'- 
 ciimstance was in his favour. Ali 
 Bey, Pasha of Egypt, was entirely 
 swayed in his counsels by three 
 advisers — a Jew, a Greek, and a Coptic Egyptian — and the third of 
 these men, Risk by name, possessed the greatest share of the Bey's con- 
 fidence. Risk was greatly impressed at sight of the astronomical and 
 scientific instruments Bruce had brought with him, and looked upon 
 the gigantic British traveller as a great necromancer and magician, to 
 whom, accordingly, he applied for prophecies concerning future events, 
 especially touching the issue of a certain expedition to Mecca which 
 was shortly to be undertaken. In a country where the bastinado or 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 
 
 13 
 
 death by impalement might be the consequence of a mistake, it was a 
 serious thing to meddle with astrology ; but Bruce judiciously contrived 
 to give an oracular ambiguity to his prophecies. He had, moreover, 
 the satisfaction of knowing that he should be far beyond the terri- 
 tories of the pasha before the issue proved their correctness or their 
 fallacy ; and Kisk, whose respect for a prophet that had such manifold 
 and complicated appliances was unbounded, recommended Bruce in 
 warm terms to his master. The Bey also happened to be unwell, and 
 Bruce, suspecting that the illness arose from excess at table, prescribed 
 a very simple remedy, which was first tried, on the principle, "Fiat 
 
 EUVPIIAK FEMALE COSTUi'UES. 
 
 experimentum in corpore vUi," on an unfortunate monk of the Greek 
 convent, and then used by the Bey with complete success. This proof 
 of profound medical science completed the favourable impression Bruce 
 had already made, and he, departed on his journey well provided with 
 letters of recommendation from the bey himself, and from, the janis- 
 saries, to the principal authorities, political, military, and ecclesiastical, 
 with whom he might expect to be brought in contact. 
 
 And now, on the 12th of December, 1768, Bruce started on the 
 voyage up the Nile. He travelled in a boat a hundred feet long, 
 provided with two tall masts and enormous lateen sails, the greater of 
 them a hundred and twenty feet in length. He passed the famous 
 p)yramids of Ghizeh, concerning which he surmised that they were 
 hewn out of the solid rock — an opinion disputed by later travellers. 
 
14 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 After some delay, the rais, or captain of the boat — a hadji who had 
 made the voyage to Mecca, and never tasted fermented liquor — made 
 his appearance with his son, very completely intoxicated. When this 
 ■worthy follower of the prophet had slept himself sober, the voyage 
 commenced in real earnest, and day after day the great boat worked its 
 way up the broad current of the Nile, between the flat banks studded 
 with pahn trees, beneath whose scanty shade crouched poverty-stricken 
 villages — past magnificent ruins, teUing of the mighty Roman people, 
 who left their mark in stone and sculpture wherever their vast yoke 
 had been placed on the necks of the nations — past fishermen, on 
 triangular wooden rafts supported on jars, floating down the stream 
 to sell their pottery in the market-place at Cairo — past Comaicedy, 
 where the l\ile inclines to the westward, and Nizelet el Aral, consisting 
 of miserable huts, where the people wove boats with sugar-canes for a 
 voyage down stream to Cairo. At Rhoda, where Bruce attempted to 
 land to make drawings of some ruins, he was attacked by the natives, 
 who stole the turban of his servant Mahomet, but were put to pre- 
 cipitate flight when a blunderbuss full of pistol-bullets was fired over 
 their heads. Christmas Day, ninety-and-nine years ago, brought them 
 to the ruins of Dendera, and here they saw the first crocodile. We 
 are told that hundreds of these animals were afterwards seen lying 
 upon every island of the river, like herds of cattle ; yet the inhabitants 
 of Dendera drive their beasts of every kind into the water, and they 
 stand there for hours. Girls and women, too, who come to fetch water 
 in jars, stand up to their knees in the water for a considerable time, 
 and, if we may guess by what happens, their danger is full as little as 
 their fear, for none of them that Bruce ever heard of had been bitten 
 by a crocodile. Further on he tells us that the ancient notion recorded 
 in the fable of ^Esop, that the dogs run along the banks of the Nile, 
 lapping the water as they go, lest the crocodile should seize, them if 
 they tarried, is a fiction, for he himself saw many dogs quenching then- 
 tliirst, standing quietly in the river without showing any^of the appre- 
 hension of danger attributed to them in the ancient story. 
 
 After a voyage of sixty-four days, Bruce quitted the Nile. During 
 his passage up the river he had diligently taken observations of the 
 longitude and latitude of every important place, andj^ subsequent re- 
 searches have testified to the accuracy of these labours. That they 
 might not be lost, in case of fatal accident to himself, Bruce took 
 care, before leaving the Nile, to "write up his journal," and send 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSiNIA. 15 
 
 his various manuscripts to friends at Cairo, to remain with them till 
 the issue of his enterprise should be known. And now he joined the 
 caravan for Kenne, the ancient Csene Emporium, and the really perilous 
 part of his journey commenced ; for, of the two hundred mounted 
 guards who accompanied the caravan for its protection, it might truly 
 be asked, " Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ?" Not only were they 
 arrant thieves, but Bruce shrewdly suspected discretion with them was 
 considered decidedly the better part of valour, and before a few 
 attacking Arabs they would run, like Falstaff, upon " instinct." Sub- 
 sequent observation convinced him that his opinion was not ill- 
 founded. 
 
 An attempt to steal a portmanteau confided by some Tm-ks to 
 Bruce, and the severe chastisement inflicted on the offender by the 
 proprietors, had nearly involved our traveller in a serious quarrel with 
 Sidi Hassan, the leader of the caravan, and the rabble rout under his 
 command. Hassan found fault with Bruce for patronising the Turks, 
 and further declared that the whole camp was in disturbance on 
 account of the beating of the man, and that it was as much as he 
 could do to prevent his followers and servants from falling upon and 
 exterminating Bruce and his followers. With characteristic intrepidity, 
 our undaunted traveller laughed this covert threat to scorn. " With 
 regard to your preventing people from murdering me," he said, " it 
 is a boast so ridiculous that I only laugh at it Those pale-faced 
 fellows who are about you, muffled up in burnouses for fear of cold 
 this morning, are they capable of looking janissaries like mine in the 
 face ? Speak low, and in Arabic, when you talk at this rate, or it 
 may not, perhaps, be in my power to return the compliment you paid 
 me last night, or hinder them from killing you on the spot.'' Ou 
 this a man behind exclaimed, " Were ever such words spoken ? Tell 
 us, master, are you a king ?" " If Sidi Hassan is your master," replied 
 Mr. Bruce, " and you speak to me on this occasion, you are a wretch ! 
 G-et out of my sight !" By a display of resolution, not unmixed, 
 perhaps, with a little occasional bluster, to maintain " prestige, ' 
 the traveller managed to preserve his position among the doubtful 
 characters into whose company he was continually brought. 
 
 Bruce especially mentions the quantity of jasper, granite, and 
 marble of various colours seen by the travellers on their way from 
 Terfoowey to Cosseir, and he conjectures that hence the ancients must 
 have drawn the stores of stone with which the ornamental parts of 
 
I(i 
 
 'iHE WOKLD'S EXPLOEERH. 
 
 their cities were built. He declares that he passed in four days more 
 porpliyry, marble, and jasper than would have built Rome, Athens, 
 Clorinth, Memphis, Syracuse, Ale-xandria, and, as he vaguely adds, 
 "half-a-dozen such cities." At Cosseir, a mud-walled village on the 
 Red Sea, Bruce heard a strange story of a mountain of emeralds, said 
 to be at no great distance, and while waiting for the return of a ship 
 that was to convey him from Cosseir do^vn the Red Sea towards 
 Abyssinia, he made an excursion thither ; but he found that Eastern 
 romance had been at work here ; the substance called emerald turned 
 out to be nothing more nor less than a kind of green granite ; some 
 brittle green crystal was the nearest approach to an emerald to be 
 
 illi. srUlKi AKL) Tl-IE GUKAT pyilAMiiJ. 
 
 loiiud. The craft in which Bruce now navigated the Red Sea was 
 curiously constructed. It had but one sail, like a straw mattress, made 
 of the leaves of a kind of palm-tree, "which the natives call "doom." 
 'Hiis sail was fixed above, and could be drawn up like a ciu-tain, but 
 did not lower with a yard, like an ordinary sail, so that, upon stress 
 of weather, if the sail was furled, it was so topheavy that the ship 
 must founder, or the mast be carried away. The planks of the vessel, 
 however, were sewn together, and there was not a nail nor a piece of 
 iron in the whole ship, so that when it struck on a rock — a casualty 
 
 that happened mure than once in the course of the voyage no oreat 
 
 damage was done. 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 
 
 17 
 
 By the time our traveller reached Jidda, a port of considerable 
 note, he presented a very woebegone appearance. He had been suffering 
 for some time from ague, and the anxieties and dangers of his journey 
 had told upon him to such an extent that tlie Emir Bahar, a captain 
 of the port, could scarcely believe that he "was an Englishman, but 
 took him for a Galiongy, or Turkish sailor. At the house frequented 
 by the Bengal merchants he was also looked upon as an impostor ; but 
 a certain benevolent Captain Thornhill, looking upon him as a country- 
 man in distress, procured him immediate succour and a passage to 
 India, and sent him into a sort of warehouse where the merchants 
 were accustomed to show samples of their goods. 
 
 RUINED CITY OF THE EAST. 
 
 FeeUng himself safe here, Bruce, after taking some refreshment, 
 stretched himself on the ground to enjoy the first quiet sleep he had 
 been able to indulge in for many days, and as he lay dozing he could 
 hear several English sailors, who sauntered dovm from the quay to take 
 a look at him, discussing his appearance among themselves, and they all 
 seemed to decide that he was a particularly ill-looking fellow, and 
 beyond all question a Turk. In the meantime, however, Jousef Cubil, 
 governor of Jidda, a person of an inquisitive, or rather acquisitive, 
 turn, began inspecting the traveller's trunks with a general view to 
 plunder, by the ingenious process of taking off the hinges, and thus 
 opening them at the back, without disturbing the locks, and greatly 
 was this dignitary disturbed on finding a firman of the Grand Seignior, 
 
 C 
 
18 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 a wMte satin bag addressed to the Khan of Tartary, a green and gold 
 silk bag with letters for the Sherriffe of Mecca, a plain crimson satin 
 bag with letters for Metical Aga, and, lastly, a letter to himself from 
 Ali Bey, peremptorily commanding hmi to advance the bearer's views 
 by every means in his power. Jousef at once proceeded to where Bruce 
 sat contentedly on a mat at the Bengal house, solacing himself with 
 coffee, and when matters had been explained, strong letters of recom- 
 mendation were procured for him to the Prince of Massuah, the King 
 of Abyssinia, Michael the prime minister, and the King of Sennaar, 
 and in addition to this Mahomet Gibberti, an Abyssinian, was sent 
 with Bruce to Massuah (Massouah) to witness and report on his 
 reception there. 
 
 Bruce was greatly astonished at the manner in which trade was 
 carried on at Jidda, and at the confidence with which cargoes are 
 disposed of on credit to Arab and Turkish merchants. He says, "Nine 
 ships may be there from India, some worth perhaps two hundred 
 thousand pounds. One merchant, a Turk living at Mecca, some thirty 
 hours' journey off, where no Christian dares venture, whilst the whole 
 continent is open to the Turk for escape, offers to purchase the cargoes 
 of foul out of these nine ships himself ; another of the same caste comes 
 and says he will buy none unless he has them all. The samples are 
 shown, and the cargoes of the whole nine ships are carried into the 
 wildest parts of Arabia by men with whom you would not willingly 
 trust yourself alone in the field. This is not all. Two Indian brokers 
 come into the room to settle the price — one on the part of the Indian 
 captain, the other on that of the buyer, the Turk. They are neither 
 Mahometans nor Christians, but have credit with both. They sit down 
 on the carpet, and take an Indian shawl, which they carry on their 
 shoulders like a napkin, and spread it over their hands. They talk 
 in the meantime on different subjects — of the arrival of ships from 
 India, or of the news of the day, as if they were employed on no 
 serious business whatever. After about twenty minutes spent in hand- 
 ling each other's fingers under the shawl, the bargain is concluded — 
 say for nine ships — ^without one word ever having been spoken on the 
 subject, or pen or ink used in any shape whatever. There was never 
 one instance of a dispute happening on these sales.'" It is Qifficult to 
 read- this account without a latent idea that the traveller's imagination 
 or credulity must have betrayed him into a little exaggeration. 
 
 It would be wrong to pass from this part of Bruce's adventures 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 
 
 19 
 
 ■without noticing the very valuable nature of his observations of longi- 
 tude and latitude, which, in spite of fatigue, anxiety, danger, and 
 occasional ill-health, he carried on with indefatigable perseverance 
 
 throughout his voyage in the Red Sea from Cosseir to the Strait of 
 Babelmandeb. It reads somewhat oddly side by side with the sneeiing 
 detraction of Lord Valentia and Mr. Salt, who travelled over the same 
 ground many years afterwards, apparently with the view of disproving 
 as much as possible of Bruce's narrative, to find an English naval 
 captain who accompanied his lordship telling us how he " made use of 
 Mr. Bruce's observations, which he found exceedingly accurate." As 
 an instance of the spirit in which these late travellers spoke of Bruce, 
 it may be here noted that because he had mentioned a predilection 
 for hhe cloth and blue beads among the females of Abyssinia in his 
 day, they take occasion, on finding that no such preference existed in 
 their time (forty years later), to lament that Iilr. Bruce should have 
 misled them by his inaccurate statement, and induce them to bring 
 merchandise of a colour which they found unsaleable, as though 
 Fashion — that proverbially fickle goddess — were bound to change her 
 nature in Abyssinia, and to abdicate her functions for half a century. 
 
20 THE WORLD'S EXPLOEERS. 
 
 With ready good-lnimour, Bruce laughed the vais or captain of his 
 primitive vessel out of the superstitious fears that beset him from the 
 rumour that the ghost of an Abyssinian who had died on board had 
 been seen on several occasions riding on the bowsprit. 
 
 " My good rais," said Mr. Bruce gravely to the commander, who 
 had come aft in hot haste to consult him upon this prodigy, and 
 urgently reciuested him to come forward and speak to this super- 
 natural intruder, "I am exceedingly tired, and my head aches much 
 with the sun, which hath been very violent to-day. You know the 
 Abyssinian paid for his passage, and if he does not overload the ship 
 (and I apprehend he should be lighter than when we took him on 
 board), I do not think that, in justice or equity, either you or I can 
 hinder the ghost from continuing his voyage to Abyssinia, as we 
 cannot judge what serious business he may have there." 
 
 The rais, who must have more than half suspected that his dis- 
 tinguished passenger was quizzing him, declared that he did not care 
 for his life more than another man, but stiU insisted that Bruce, as a 
 learned man, ought to speak to this contumelious spectre. Bruce 
 thereupon suggested that the rais should go forward and invite the 
 ghost aft into the cabin, but as neither the rais nor any of nis men 
 dared carry the message, the matter blew over for the time. At 
 length, after a long and tedious voyage, Bruce landed in the harbour 
 of the Island of Massuah, and now he would soon enter the ancient 
 Empire of Abyssinia. 
 
BKUCE A:N1) ABYSSINIA. 21 
 
 m. 
 
 Description of Abyssinia — Political State of the Country — Eas Michael's. Usurpa- 
 tion — Ozoro- Esther — Spirited Condnct of Bruce — Advance to Gondar — 
 Adventure with the Cow — Beefsteaks oiF the Living Animal — " Yagoube" at 
 Court — Abyssinian Banquets — Bruce Continues his Journey — Cataract of 
 Alata — Faziil, the Eobber Chief — His Submission and Second Revolt — Diffi- 
 culties Encountered by Bruce — He Reaches the Source of the Nile — Con- 
 clusion. 
 
 TN Bruce's time the realm of Abyssinia was divided into three great 
 portions, but the continual disturbances and frequent political 
 revolutions rendered these boundaries liable to frequent change — in 
 fact, their condition was like that of the sprung topmast in Marryat's 
 novel, vrhich the magniloquent carpenter described as ' ' precarious, and 
 not at aU permanent." Between the Bed Sea and the Eiver Tecazze 
 extended the Tigre district ; while from the Tecazze westward to the 
 Nile was the province of Amhara. To the south of these two provinces 
 lay the obuntry of the Galla tribes. From the sea to some distance 
 inland extends a plain, very hot and unhealthy. Then begin three 
 successive ranges of mountains, each presenting a separate elevation 
 and its peculiar chmate, the heat naturally decreasing as a greater 
 height is attained ; the Abbo Jared, the highest of the Abyssinian 
 mountains, rises to a height of 15,200 feet. In some parts of the 
 country Bruce describes the climate as delightful, the hills covered with 
 cattle, and the fields with verdure ; in others, naked plains and dreary 
 wildernesses extended for many miles before the tired wanderer. 
 
 At the time when Bruce arrived, a revolution had just taken place 
 in the country. Has Michael, the crafty and astute governor of the 
 Tigre district, had put the king to death, and raised in his place a 
 youth, a species of roi faineant, in whose name he governed with a 
 sway as independent as the authority exercised by the maires du palais 
 at the court of the later Carlovingians. To strengthen his influence, 
 he had married the beautiful Ozoro Esther, daughter of the Iteghe, 
 or queen-mother, and established himself at Gondar, the capital of the 
 country., _ Bruce was well provided with recommendations to some 06 
 the. principal persons in Gondar, and in his intercourse with them 
 showed an admirable amount of tact and self-reliance. No man better 
 understood the art of "being all things to all men," and he became 
 equally popular with the stern and fierce old Kas, the weak young 
 
22 THE WOELD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 king, the beautiful Ozoro Esther, and the melancholy Iteghe, in -whom 
 a queenship of thirty years had but produced the com-iction of the 
 vanity of aU earthly things. 
 
 His first difficulty was with the naybe, or governor, of Massuah, 
 the port where he landed. This officer considered the chance of 
 plundering a stranger in the light of a golden opportunity not to be 
 carelessly thrown away. But Bruce understood his position and 
 privileges as a British subject too well to be intimidated, and haughtily 
 said that he would visit the naybe no more. " Whatever happens to 
 me," he said to the officers of the divan, " must befall me in my own 
 house. Consider the figure a few naked men wiU make ilm day my 
 countrymen ask the reason of this, either liere or in Araiia." And with 
 this he turned his back on the assembly, and departed without further 
 ceremony. No wonder that as he departed he heard a voice behind 
 him exclaim, "A brave man! Wallah Englese! A true Englishman, 
 by Heaven!" Resolution and an undaunted bearing had the desired 
 effect, and the naybe, considering that, after all, it would not be safe 
 to drive such a man to extremity, permitted him at length'to go his; 
 way in peace. 
 
 After crossing the Taranta Mountain, our traveller entered upon 
 an exceedingly fertile range of country. On the road the cortege was 
 frequently disturbed by the prowling hyenas, who would come forth 
 from their haunts among the bushes, and slink round the travellers at 
 a little distance, greedily eyeing the asses and mules. In one instance, 
 when five asses were to be brought up Taranta, they congregated in 
 such numbers that the four Moors who were driving the asses became 
 seriously alarmed for their own safety — ^indeed, the viUainoas plun- 
 derers, grown bold by numbers, seized an ass, and dragged it down j 
 but one of the Moors, who was armed with a musket, fired it among 
 them, whereupon they fled. Great herds of antelopes were also seen ; 
 and so devoid of fear were they that they allowed the travelling party 
 to pass through the midst of them, only moving slightly to the right 
 and left, like a herd of grazing cows in a meadow. 
 
 As the success of Eas Michael, and the fear in which that crafty 
 ruler was personally held, had produced a kind of calm in Abyssinia, 
 Bruce determined to take advantage of this period of tranquillity, and 
 push forward at once for Gondar. He encouraged his drooping com- 
 panions by hopes of reward and preferment, and as much by his own 
 cheery example as by his promises prevailed on them to proceed. On 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 23 
 
 his way to Gondar he was witness of an incident the relation of which 
 in Europe was receired with a general shout of incredulity, though the 
 accounts of subsequent trayellers have completely verified the existence 
 of the custom which it illustrates. He had just lost sight of the ruins 
 of Axum, the ancient capi^l of Abyssinia, when his party overtook 
 three travellers driving a cow before them. They had black goatskins 
 upon their shoulders, and lances and shields in their hands ; in other 
 respects they were but thinly clothed ; they appeared to be soldiers. 
 He says, " The cow did not appear to have been fatted for killing, and 
 it OGCiurred to us that she had been stolen. This, however, was no 
 business of ours ; nor was such an occurrence at all remarkable in a 
 country so long engaged in war.'' Bruce's attendants had some con- 
 versation with the drivers. Soon after one of the latter " tripped up 
 the cow so as to throw her roughly on the ground, which was but the 
 beginning of her sufferings. One of them sat across her neck, holding 
 down her head by the horns ; the other twisted the halter about her 
 fore-feet ; while the third, who had a knife in his hand, in place of 
 taking her by the throat, got astride upon her body before her 
 hind-legs, and gave her a very great wound in the upper part of her 
 buttock." Mr. Bruce, who, from the time when he saw the cow thrown 
 on the ground, naturally concluded she was to be killed, was com- 
 pletely astounded to see the man with the knife deliberately cutting 
 two large pieces of flesh out of the wretched animal, and these steaks 
 were afterwards spread on one of the shields. The men now proceeded 
 to cure the wound. The skin, which had not been separated com- 
 pletely, was flapped over the wound, and fastened at the edges with 
 small wooden pins ; a plaster of clay was further spread over the place, 
 and then the unhappy cow was compelled to rise, and was driven away, 
 as Bruce tells us, "to furnish a fuller meal when they should meet their 
 companions in the evening.'' 
 
 The shouts of incredulity with which the relation of this incident 
 was received in England seem to have arisen from a misconception. 
 The hearers and readers seem to have jumped to the conclusion that 
 Bruce meant to represent this cutting of flesh from the living animal as 
 an everyday occurrence, and that he wished them to believe the cow 
 was to be kept alive for an indefinite time after the operation. But 
 the written narrative conveys nothing of the kind. The very ex- 
 pression, " to furnish a fuller meal when they should meet their 
 companions in the evening," indicates that the cow was then to be 
 
24 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 slaughtered, and that unusual hunger or greediness induced the drivers 
 to commit a cruel act, one which Bruce, during all his residence m 
 
 HYENAS A^'D LEOPAIiD. 
 
 Abyssinia, never saw repeated, although the native manner of 
 slaughtering cattle was almost equally cruel. But the incident was 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 25, 
 
 quite a windfall to the critics and satirists, who, with Peter Pindar 
 at their head, fell upon it quite as greedily as the Abyssinians upon 
 the tortured cow ; and having demonstrated, to their own satisfaction, 
 that the cutting of flesh from the living animal was a fiction, they 
 proceeded to deny the now. well-known fact that the Abyssinians ate 
 raw meat, though the experience of travellers abounds with instances 
 of their use of diet still more disgusting to Europeans. The "beef- 
 steak" anecdote was supposed to furnish a case against Bruce, whose 
 critics worked it against him with malignant perseverance. 
 
 As Bruce approached Gondar the country became more and more 
 fruitful in appearance; luxuriant wheat-fields and groves of sugar- 
 cane gave evidence of the fertility of the soil ; but the bad government 
 and the ravages of continual war kept the inhabitants poor in spite of 
 the bounty of Nature. But it is rare in Eastern countries to find the 
 mass of the population rising above the most abject poverty. 
 
 Bruce's acquaintance with the Tigre language, and his elementary 
 knowledge of medicine, were of great importance to him in making his 
 way in Abyssinia. It happened, moreover, that at the time of his 
 arrival the children of the fair Ozoro Esther were suffering from an 
 attack of small-pox, a disease greatly dreaded in Abyssinia, , where it 
 had made great ravages, especially at Massuah. Bruce, or " Yagoube,' 
 as he was called, was immediately requested to show his skiU; he 
 prescribed plenty of fresh air and cleanliness, with a few simple 
 remedies ; his patients quickly recovered ; and , the influence of 
 Yagoube, the Englishman, was flrmly established at court. The 
 young king took evident pleasure in his society, and admitted him 
 to frequent interviews; with the Iteghe he stood exceedingly well; 
 Ozoro Esther, who considered she owed the lives of her children to 
 him, became his firm friend ; and even the stern and taciturn Has 
 Michael would occasionally unbend in his society. Bruce gives us the 
 following description of the Has: — "He was an old man with white 
 hair, dressed in many short curls ; his face was lean ; his eyes were 
 quick and vivid, but seemed a little sore from exposure to the weather ; 
 he seemed about six feet high, though his lameness made it difiicult to 
 ^ess with accuracy ; his air was perfectly free from constraint. They 
 must have been bad physiognomists that did not discern his under- 
 standing and capacity by his countenance ; every look conveyed a 
 sentiment with it ; he seemed to have no occasion for other languages, 
 and, indeed, he spoke but little." 
 
26 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 The favour Bruce had gained at court naturally excited a certain 
 amotuit of jealousy, and raised up enemies against him. Foremost 
 among these was Guebra Masoal, a nephew of Ras Michael, a bold and 
 determined soldier, but a very ill-conditioned fellow, much given to 
 boasting, and valuing himself especially on his skUl with the firelock. 
 An altercation into which Bruce was betrayed with Guebra at a 
 banquet, nearly led to bloodshed ; and on this occasion Bruce seems 
 to have displayed more courage than discretion ; but he afterwards 
 completely re-established his position by performing the feat of 
 piercing three shields with a tallow-candle fired from a gun— an exhi- 
 bition that filled the king and the whole court with unbounded 
 astonishment and admiration. The banquets in Abyssinia, at which 
 raw meat formed the jfiei^e de resistance, are described as degenerating 
 towards their close into drunken and brutal orgies ; and as Bruce was 
 obliged, in his capacity of courtier, to be present at many of them, his 
 health suffered considerably. He thus became doubly anxious to 
 prosecute his journey and make his way to the source of the Nile, and 
 begged to be allowed to depart. The king and the ladies tried all in 
 their power to dissuade him from his enterprise ; .they represented the 
 dangers of the route, and the hostility of the Galla tribes among 
 whom Bruce would have to make his way. The Iteghe was especially 
 emphatic in her dissuasions. "See," said she, "how every day 
 furnishes us with proofs of the contradiction and folly of human 
 nature. You are come from Jerusalem through vile Turkish govern- 
 ments, and hot unwholesome climates, to see a river and a bog, no 
 part of which you can carry away, were it ever so valuable, and of 
 which you have in your own country a thousand larger, better, and 
 cleaner, and you take it ill when I discourage you from the pursuit of 
 this fancy, in which you are likely to perish, without your friends at 
 home ever hearing when or where the accident happened : while I, on 
 the other hand, the mother of kings, who have sat upon the throne of 
 the country more than thirty years, have for my only wish, night and 
 day, that after giving up everything in the world, I could be conveyed 
 to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and beg alms for 
 my subsistence all my life after, if I could only be buried at last within 
 sight of the gate of that temple where our blessed Saviour once lay.' 
 So different are the aspects in which the same things are viewed by 
 various natures. The enterprise which our traveller fondly hoped 
 should immortalise his name and give him a place in the glorious 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 27 
 
 catalogue of British -worthies, appeared to the Abyssinian princess but 
 as " a visit to a bog, no part of which he could carry away." 
 
 There was, however, a reason with which Bruce was not at that 
 time fully acquainted for the depressed tone of the Iteghe's spirits. 
 Fazil, the rival chief, who disputed the supremacy of Kas Michael in 
 Abyssinia, had collected a numerous army, and the old captain had 
 gone forth to oppose him, and wage what at best must be a dangerous 
 and doubtful conflict. Ras Michael marched with his army to defend 
 his usurped authority, carrying with him the king, the Iteghe, Ozoro 
 Esther, and his whole court; and Bruce was free to continue his 
 journey. On the 21st of May, 1770, he came to a magnificent cataract 
 of the Nile, whose height he estimates from a rough measurement made 
 with poles and sticks at about forty feet. He describes the swoUen 
 river as pouring over the rock in an unbroken sheet haK-a-mile in 
 width. Jerome Lobo, the Jesuit, had described this cataract of Alata 
 as one. in which it was possible to sit down behind the faU between 
 the rock and the projecting deluge of water ; but Bruce denies the 
 possibility of this. It is probable, however, that in the many years 
 which intervened between the visits of Lobo and Bruce, the bed of the 
 river above the cataract may have changed so as to render a feat which 
 was perfectly practicable in Lobo's day an impossibility in the year 
 1770. 
 
 The war appears to have been carried on with great ferocity ; Ras 
 Michael's soldiers plundered and set fire to the villages on both sides, 
 of their route, and their enemies rivalled them in ferocity. A certain 
 Woodage Asahel, a chief whose hatred to Ras Michael was implacable, 
 showed considerable talent in guerilla warfare, Appearing when least 
 expected to make a dash at some part of Michael's army, and disap- 
 pearing as suddenly as he had come. Woodage Asahel's men hovered 
 on the outskirts of the Abyssinian army, like the Cossacks on the 
 wings of Napoleon's force', in the campaign of 1812 ; and their leader 
 was allowed on all hands to be " the most merciless robber the age 
 had produced in all Abyssinia." 
 
 A feigned submission of Eazil put an end to the expedition of the 
 king, and before commencing his retreat towards Gondar he made a 
 grant to Bruce of the village of Gresh, and the district of the source 
 of the NUe, that the traveller might have a right to draw supplies of 
 provisions and necessaries thence for himself and his servants. Indeed, 
 throughout aE their intercourse, the king, with whom Yagoube was a 
 
28 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 prime favourite, treated Bruce with exceeding kindness and conde- 
 scension, and was unfeignedly sorry to part with him, especially as 
 he considered Bruce's project as alike harebrained in character and 
 frivolous as regarded the object in view. 
 
 The king's troubles soon began afresh ; Ras Michael's cruelties had 
 exasperated a great part of the population of Abyssinia, who rose in 
 revolt against him. Eazil renounced his allegiance- on the first oppor- 
 tunity, and Bruce saw that it would be impossible to continue his 
 journey without first conciliating the goodwill and obtaining the per- 
 mission of this dangerous chief. With equal resolution and tact he 
 visited Fazil in his quarters, where he found the formidable chief 
 seated in barbaric fashion in a tent, on a cushion with a lion's skin 
 upon it. He had a cotton cloth, "like a dirty towel," wrapped round 
 his head. His upper garment or cloak was drawn far over his hands ; 
 so that when Bruce came forward, bowing, to kiss one of them, he 
 could not get at.it, and was obliged to salute Fazil's sleeve. Our 
 traveller shrewdly suspected that this covering up of the hands was 
 intended as. a mark of disrespect ; for Fazil's manner, during their first 
 interview, was the reverse of friendly. He affected to ridicule Brace's 
 design of visiting the source of the Abaye ; he declared that the region 
 was -inhabited by the wild Galla, a ferocious and terrible people, and 
 that Bruce must be raving to think of trusting himself among them. 
 It seems that Abba Salama, a priest, who detested Bruce, had been, 
 endeavouring, to persuade him to bar our traveller's further progress, 
 F-azil endeavoured to excite his visitor's wrath by an affectation of 
 contempt. "I would have you to consider," he was pleased to say, 
 "that the, men of this country are not like yours; a boy of these 
 Galla. would think nothing of kiUing a man of your country. You 
 white people are all effemiaate ; you are like so many women ; you are 
 not fit for going into a province where aU is war, and inhabited by- 
 men warriors from their cradle.". 
 
 In general, Bruce had his temper, which was naturally fiery, under 
 proper control ; but the insults of FazU stung him to the quick, and 
 he threw judgment and discretion to the winds. He roundly told the 
 savage that, in all the barbarous nations among whom he had passed, 
 he had found none who wo^ld insult a defenceless stranger as he had 
 been insulted that day. He protested against the name of Frank, 
 by which Fazil had called him, and in reference to the chief's dispa- 
 raging remarks concerning white men, boldly declared that there 
 
BRUCE XHD ABYSSINIA. 
 
 29 
 
 were soldiers among his countrymen who, with five hundred men, 
 would trample aU Fazil's Galla savages, " wha had been warriors from 
 
 BUFFALOES. 
 
 their cradle," in the dust; and that he himself, mounted on horseback, 
 and armed in his usual way, would think little of encountering and 
 
30 THE WOLBD'S EXPLOREES. 
 
 vanquishing the two best Norsemen and soldiers from among these 
 famous men ; and hereupon they parted, mutually dissatisfied. 
 
 A little reflection, however, calmed both the disputants ; and in the 
 morning Fazil was evidently in a better temper, for he invited Bruce 
 to a great breakfast, where he offered his guest " honey and butter, 
 and raw beef in abundance, as also some stewed dishes that were very 
 good." The sight of the presents Bruce had brought completely mol- 
 lified him, and he now showed himself as ready to advance his visitor's 
 designs as he had been eager, the day before, to oppose them. He 
 introduced him to seven GaUa chiefs, whom he had summoned, " the 
 most thief -looking fellows," Bruce declares, "I had ever seen iu my 
 life," and caused these savage warriors to swear that they would help 
 and protect Yagoube. He moreover invested him with the govern- 
 ment of the Agow Gresh, where the head of the Nile is situated, 
 gave him a reliable guide, and, as a crowning token of goodwill, caused 
 a very handsome grey horse to be brought to the door of the tent as 
 Bruce was bidding him farewell. " Take this horse," said Fazil, 
 " as a present from me. It is not so good as your own ; but, depend 
 upon it, it is the horse which I rode upon yesterday when I came 
 here to encamp. But do not mount it yourself ; drive it before you 
 bridled and saddled as it is ; no man of Maitsha will touch you when 
 he sees that horse ; it is the people of Maitsha, whose houses Michael 
 has burnt, whom you have to fear, and not our friends the Galla." 
 
 Protected by the powerful Fazil, Bruce encountered no annoyance 
 from the natives ; but Woldo, the guide provided by that chief, proved 
 a very slippery customer. This amiable personage pretended to faU 
 violently ill, magnified the distances that still remained to be crossed, 
 and at last declared that he could proceed no farther. Bruce met 
 this imposture with characteristic firmness. He told Woldo that any 
 trick played upon him would turn out very much to the disadvantage 
 of the perpetrator; and that he, as a physician, was perfectly com- 
 petent to distinguish a real from a feigned sickness. " Look you," 
 he said, when Woldo talked piteously of the " great hiU" yet to be 
 overcome before they could arrived at Gresh, " lying is to no purpose. 
 I know where Gresh is as well as you do, and that we have no more 
 mountains or bad places to pass through, therefore if yOu choose to 
 stay behind you may; but to-morrow I shall inform your master, 
 Welletor Tasous, of your behaviour." Woldo hereupon recovered his 
 health with miraculous swiftness, and being propitiated by the gift 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 31 
 
 of a silken aash, on which he had set his heart, proved perfectly- 
 tractable and compliant. The " big hill" he had described so pa- 
 thetically proved to have no existence save in his own imagination ; 
 when they had gone a little distance farther he said — " Look at that 
 hillock of green sod in the midst of that watery spot; it is in that 
 the two fountains of the Nile are to be found ; Gresh is on the face 
 of the rock where two green trees are; if you go the length of the 
 fountains, pull off your shoes, as you did the other day ; for these 
 people are all pagans, worse than those that were at the ford" (he 
 alluded to a tribe who woujd not let our traveller's party cross the 
 river without pulling off their shoes in token of respect towards a 
 stream they hel4 sacred), " and they believe in nothing that you believe, 
 but only in this river, to which they pray every day, as if it were God ; 
 but this perhaps you may do likewise.'' And now Bruce, rushing 
 precipitately down the hill in the direction pointed out by Woldo, 
 regardless of two severe falls among the prickly bushes in his headlong 
 course, found himself at last at the goal of which he had dreamed 
 through so many anxious days and sleepless nights. Before him rose 
 an island of green turf in the form of an . altar, apparently the work 
 of art, and he stood in rapture over the principal fountain which rises 
 
 in the middle of it — at last he had reached the source of the Nile. 
 * 4^ * * * 
 
 And here, in~the moment of his triumph, we leave our enterprising 
 traveller. He had not, indeed, solved the whole problem that had 
 puzzled geographers and kings for ages ; for it was only the source of 
 the Blue Nile,'_, whose waters he now quaffed exultantly with his Greek 
 servant Stratos ; the White Nile stiU hid his head far to the south, and 
 it was reserved for two travellers of our own day to drink the waters of 
 the discovered Nile at the spring-head of the mighty stream. 
 
 The travels and researches of Bruce were worthy of a better reward 
 than he received when, after many years, he returned, first to England, 
 and then to his own country. The incredulity which the narrative of 
 his travels excited embittered his last years. That he was sometimes 
 careless about names and dates, and that the account of his travels, 
 written- long after the events they describe, are not free from inac- 
 curacies, is certain ; but the general tone, though here and there 
 disfigured by_^bombast, is one of eminent candour and honesty, and 
 would, to any but an ignorant and carping critic, carry with it a 
 conviction of trustworthiness. 
 
32 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Bruce died from the effects of an accidental faU, in his own house, 
 at Kinnaird, in April, 1794. 
 
 The following particulars of the country into which a British force 
 advanced towards the end of 1867 are, with immaterial changes, drawn 
 from Consul Plowden : — 
 
 The ancient form of government in Abyssinia was a despotic mon- 
 archy, with many Persian forms and Jewish institutions. This, while 
 powerful, was preferable to the present state of lawless violence, and 
 afforded an appearance of unity, however ill the law may have been 
 executed, as appears by their records. Long before its fall, the inroads 
 of Mahomedans on the coast of the Red Sea, and of the Gallas on the 
 southern and eastern boundaries, had much reduced the ancient limits 
 of the empire ; and the royal family had ceased to be regarded with 
 respect or fear, even in the few provinces that their arms could stiU 
 defend. 
 
 This monarchy was finally overthrown by Ras Michael of Tigr^ 
 shortly after the visit of Bruce to Gondar; and that Ras was next 
 attacked and defeated by the Gallas, under pretence of avenging thefi 
 emperor. The son of Ras Michael having been afterwards slain in 
 battle by the Mahomedans from Edjo and Worrahaimano, in the general 
 confusion that ensued, a young man of no note from the former province, 
 named Gooksa, seized the province of Begemder, and received from the 
 deposed but stiU recognised "Ahtiee," orj emperor, the title of Eas. 
 Here the power of the Church was felt, and though by the aid of 
 Mussulman sabres he had overthrown Christian forces, and felt himself 
 strong enough to portion out the country amongst his foUowors, and to 
 contemn the royal shadow at Gondar, he was obliged to profess the 
 Christian faith, not daring to risk the holy war that would otherwise 
 have been kindled by the priests. 
 
 He then became virtual ruler of Abyssinia, as far as subtlety and 
 force could confinn his title ; but in the north, Tigre, or, as Plowden 
 writes, Teegray, acknowledged only its native princes, and Godjam, in 
 the south, kept him occupied in constant wars with various fortune. 
 For nearly seventy years this GaUa dynasty held Begemder, and if not 
 acknowledged sovereigns were most powerful pretenders. It is owing 
 to this revolution, and the consequent number of claimants for power, 
 none of whom succeeded in establishing a permanent and hereditary 
 authority, that relations with Abyssinia have been since so difiicult and 
 fruitless. 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSIXIA. 
 
 33 
 
 Ras All, the grandson of Gooksa, having received tribute and a pro- 
 fessed allegiance from the other chiefs, including him of Tigre, became 
 the sole Ras. Nevertheless, all men having arms in their hands and 
 many leaders heading large armies, the whole period of his twenty-two 
 
 .b^ 
 
 
 *> 
 
 r 
 
 %' 
 
 ■\^^ 
 
 
 » 
 
 ^^'kl . ^<<. 
 
 «.•> 
 
 \ ! 
 
 '^r". fe. 
 
 
 ABYSSINIAN WEDDING SPOETS. - ... - . 
 
 years' reign the Ras was in the saddle, and his palace was his tent ; 
 being engaged in pursuing those wlio fled into impregnable mountain 
 strongholds or pathless wildernesses, or in striking down others who 
 withstood his arms in open fight. During his reign he overcame tliree 
 powerful cabals of the northern and southern chiefs combined. During 
 the government of Ras Gooksa, the Ras Welda Selasee, in Tigre (to 
 whom an embassy was sent by England), and lias Gilivee, in Scnicn, were 
 
 D 
 
34 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 independent. Oubieh (Plowden writes Oobeay), the grandson of Ras 
 Gibree, slew Dejaj— or Dejaz— Sabagardis, the successor of Ras Welda 
 Salasee, who also contemplated a strict alliance with us ; and after that 
 victory conquered Tigre, which he held for twenty years. Although Dejaj 
 Oubieh became, by this acquisition of territory, a formidable rival, he 
 was, after several severe struggles, forced to recognise Ras Ah as his 
 chief, to pay him tribute yearly, and to send a quota of troops as 
 feudal service. AU rivals being apparently vanquished, the Chief of 
 Godjam, Dejaj Birro, alone held out unconquered through the whole 
 period of Ras Ali's power. After repeated victories over the troops 
 sent against him, an overwhelming force, headed by the Ras in person, 
 drove him for refuge to his mountain, where he remained shut up for 
 five years. During this period was Plowden's mission, while the Ras 
 Ali might be said to be, in one way or the other, complete master of 
 Abyssinia. But this mastery, however proud a position for himself, 
 secured by a turbulent and licentious army, was necessarily factitious ; 
 and the numerous bands of Gallas, his relatives, brought by him to sustain 
 his precarious power, with the difficulty of feeding the immense army 
 he kept up, in no way added to the security of property and the tran- 
 quillity of the land. Indeed, ho had many troubles even in his camp ; fca* 
 the great chiefs, though from fear they rendered him feudal service, yet, 
 chafing at the obligation, still asserted almost sovereign rights in then- 
 several provinces. JVlany of them, who claimed descent from the royal 
 family of Gondar, or whose ancestors had held high offices under the Em- 
 pire, considered themselves with some reason his equals. Others, again, 
 of inferior pretensions, plundered the country, or exacted contributions 
 in proportion to their force. The Ras, could all his vassals be united, 
 might have mustered .at one time 50,000 men of all arms ; and his^ival, 
 Oubieh, 30,000 ; yet many a petty adventurer, their equal in birth 
 perhaps, with only 500 or 1,000 followers, trusting to the strength of 
 his mountains or valleys and his local infiuence, continually braved these 
 rulers ; and though, after much bloodshed, many of them were reduced 
 to obedience, enough were always under arms to render the roads 
 unsafe without a military force, or the escort of a strong caravan of 
 merchants. It may easily be conceived that each chief, in proportion 
 to his importance, dealt pretty much as he pleased with travellers or 
 merchants on his own ground ; and in these matters the Ras was power- 
 less, or too careless, to interfere, inasmuch as he knew it easy to pro- 
 voke a rebellion amongst a soldiery that regarded inaction as a penalty 
 
BRUCE AND ABYSSINIA. 35 
 
 and war as a delight. Little vigour was shown in suppressing these 
 outbreaks, the Ras generally caring little if his own supplies were not 
 cut off, or his revenues seriously diminished. He generally made terms 
 with his rebellious vassals, preferring policy to force. 
 
 The feudal sovereignty of the Eas haviag been established by the 
 sword, and depending any time on the issue of a battle, he was 
 obliged, in appointing a "Dejajmatch,'' or governor of a province, to 
 be attentive to the claims of the great families, who, from their 
 hereditary influence, must be either rulers or rebels in -their respective 
 districts ; the doubtful alternative of destroying them he was always too 
 merciful to adopt. These chiefs followed him to war, and gave him a 
 portion of their revenues ; they bestowed on their retainers districts and 
 villages as they pleased ; and the pay of each was the revenue he could 
 extract from these allotments. 
 
 The Ras reserved for himself a number of provinces, to provide for 
 his household officers and troops. The soldiers were paid an uncertain 
 sum of money occasionally, and had a monthly allowance of corn. 
 This corn was sometimes measured out from the Ras's granaries ; but 
 more often a half-plundering licence to quarter themselves in the 
 reserved provinces was given. This was not always patiently 
 acquiesced in, and bloody struggles ensued, in which the peasantry 
 sometimes succeeded in expelling the soldiery ; the weakness of the 
 Ras generally obliging him to overlook such an affair. 
 
 The petty household of a chief who has three or four villages is an 
 exact imitation, on a ludicrous scale, of that of one who musters at a 
 word 5,000 horse. He has all officers, and no servants; his "king's 
 mouth," his major-domo, his grand butler, his chief of conunissariat, his 
 jester, his master of the horse, and so forth ; this with an establish- 
 ment of perhaps thirty persons, each system revolving round its sun or 
 candle. Yet, as every military man who is courageous or well 
 connected may hope with reason to reach the highest grade, they 
 practise state without thinking themselves absurd. The Ras is, 
 truly, only the most powerful of a number of competitors ; several 
 of those who acknowledged him as feudal superior maintaining their 
 right to judge without appeal. It is one favourable trait in this long 
 rivalry, that poison, or assassination, has rarely, if ever, been resorted 
 to ; their warfare being open, often chivalrous. 
 
 Such was the state of Abyssinia in Consul Plowden's time, and such 
 it has remained with not great variation till now. The adrent of King 
 
36 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Theodore gave the Abyssinians an Emperor, King, or Negus again. But 
 although he put his foot on the neck of his enemies more firmly than 
 aay Abyssinian ruler of modem times, and repressed many acts of 
 brigandage and oppression, he has not had it, any more than any one 
 else, entirely his own way. 
 
 The Abyssinian Expedition undertaken under the command of Sir 
 Robert Napier, in 1867, leads to the consideration of many difficult 
 questions. The future of Abyssinia, the position of the Turks and 
 Egyptians, and our own stations and possessions in the Red Sea, are all 
 involved in the issue of the policy which has led us to the land of the 
 Negus Theodore. Here is not the proper place to discuss that policy. 
 Considerable rivalry has often been displayed between the English 
 representatives and French emissaries in the lands bordering the Red 
 Sea — the passage to India. In Persia we have intrigued against them, 
 wliilst they have not been slow to return the compliment. In India we 
 are supreme at present ; but it was stated by eminent authorities in the 
 House that, for the sake of our prestige there, it was necessary to 
 take active measures to release Consul Cameron. The French and 
 other continental governments are watching our proceedings narrowly ; 
 they would by no means be sorry to hear of our ill-success, for it is in 
 human nature that we take a little comfort from the troubles of our 
 friends and associates.' Whether, therefore, the reasons were sufficiently 
 weighty to commit the nation to such an enterprise as the Abyssinian 
 Expedition, we have yet to learn ; but the Expedition being a fact, then 
 we must all wish it success, if not a speedy return. 
 
A HERD OF BISONS. 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 THE ASTORIANS. 
 
 /■^V^. 
 
 
 
 TPIE MORMON ClTi: OJ? UTAH. 
 
 Vast Extent of North America — Estenaive Emigration from Europe — The 3Ior- 
 mons and their Progress — The Rocky Mountains — Jacob Astor — His Early 
 Life — His Progress in America — Great Scheme of Colonisation and Commerce 
 — The Pur Trade — The Various Great Companies — Details of Mr. Aster's 
 Plan. 
 
 TF any ten persons of ordinary education were desired to indicate on 
 
 a map of the world the part whose manifold natural resources have 
 
 been least developed by the industry of man, nine out of the ten would 
 
38 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 probably point to the great Ifortli American continent. And in this 
 case the verdict of the majority would be the true one. The stream of 
 emigration hag, indeed, for a long time been flowing towards the 
 West, deepening and widening year by year, and absorbing in its 
 current men from all parts of the Old World, and especially from 
 Europe. Peasants from the Black Forest have floated their frail 
 boats of fir-planks down the Neckar and the Rhine, to embark on 
 the broad ocean, and carry their labour to a region where, as one of 
 their own poets has said, " He who ploughs the land shall reap." 
 Political fugitives hurrying from the dangerous lands of despotism, 
 artisans in quest of a new market for their various crafts, enter- 
 prising and speculative traders and merchants, have sought " fresh fields 
 and pastures new" in the regions of the Far West. Not the least 
 among the reasons that have contributed to people the AVestem wiWs, 
 and raise cities as if by enchantment in regions where the bear and 
 the buffalo had roamed in undisputed sovereignty, has been the rise and 
 progress of that wonderful sect the Mormons, who, uniting to a strange 
 and ludicrous fanaticism a remarkable amount of perseverance and 
 courage, have formed and consolidated an empire, on the shores around 
 the Great Salt Lake. In spite of all this various activity, millions of 
 acres that might laugh with harvests still lie unclaimed and untouched 
 by the hand of man, lonely and deserted, save for the occasional passage 
 through them of some trading caravan, or some paarty of painted 
 Indians on the war-trail or on a hunting expedition. The vast extent 
 •of the country, the various barriers interposed by ranges of mountains, 
 and still more effectually by desert plains, the rigour of the climate in 
 some jparts, and the absence of means of communication in others, 
 long prevented the regions around the Rocky Mountains from being 
 included in the regular track of emigration. But already these 
 barriers are disappearing before the magic of science. The iron road 
 is forcing its way through hitherto deserted tracts, superseding the 
 heavy waggon that painfully creaked across the boundless prairies; 
 already the great republic has stretched forth its arm to the Pacific, 
 and included within its jurisdiction all the land to distant San 
 Francisco. 
 
 The discovery, made some twenty years ago, that gold existed in 
 large quantities in California, has resulted in planting many a thriving 
 community in spots which might otherwise have been left for many 
 years to wandering herds of buffaloes, solitary grisly bears, and tribes 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 39 
 
 of " Redskins'' eq^ually solitary and nomadic ; and it may truly be said 
 that an amount of colonisation and progress which ■would require 
 centuries for its achievement under ordinary circtimstances, has been 
 accomplished in the " Far West" within fifty years. 
 
 Our readers will do well to bear these facts in mind if they would 
 form a just estimate of the condition of the western and north-western 
 portion of the great North American continent at the beginning of 
 the present century. No gold-fields had yet been discovered ; no 
 farms had been established in the fruitful spots by the ba,nks of great 
 rivers, to be the nuclei of thriving villages- and towns ; the Rocky 
 Mountains had indeed been crossed by explorers, biit no idea yet 
 existed of establishing a regular route. It was at this period, when 
 Western North America was indeed a wilderness, j)athless, deserted, 
 and in a great measure unexplored, that a scheme of colonisation 
 and trade remarkable alike for the boldness of its conception, the 
 originality of its plan, the soundness of the views on which it was 
 founded, and the extensive range of its operations, was conceived and 
 executed through the energy and perseverance of one man. This 
 scheme was the foundation of a settlement on the Pacific, at the mouth 
 of the Columbia river, and it was originated and accomplished under 
 the auspices of John Jacob Astor. 
 
 This remarkable man, who by his own exertions throughout a long 
 life of industry and probity, gained for himself a foremost place 
 among the merchant princes of the world, was born of poor parents, 
 in the little town of WaHdorf, near Heidelberg, in Germany, on the 
 17th of July, 1763. His father carried on the trade of a butcher in 
 the place, and John Jacob was the last of four sons of a first marriage. 
 On the death of his wife, the elder Astor took to himself a second help- 
 mate ; and this new marriage, which produced a second family, seems 
 to have lessened the comfort and narrowed the means of subsistence 
 of the elder children. Accordingly, as the Astor lads grew up, they 
 began to turn their thoughts to the remedy which seems naturally to 
 suggest itself to the imagination of the German peasant, when pinched 
 by poverty or roused by tyranny into anger. The youths emigrated 
 one after another ; and in due time John Jacob, or " Nobbele," as he 
 was called at home, strapped his knapsack on his shoulders, took staff 
 in hand, and stepped into the little market boat that was to carry him 
 down the Neckar and the Rhine to the port of embarkation — whence 
 he hoped first to reach England, and ultimately America, the "land 
 
•iO 
 
 THE WORLD'S KXPLORERS. 
 
 of promise" in the imagination of tlie German peasant of tfie Black 
 Forest and the Palatinate. 
 
 It was in the winter of 1783 that Aster, who had been living for 
 some time in London, embarked for America. The season was vm- 
 nsuaUy severe, and the ship was for a long time blocked up by the 
 ice in Chesapeake Bay. During the period of enforced idleness, Astor 
 made the acquaintance of a countryman, who earned a good income 
 by buying furs at the frontier stations, and carrying them across the 
 ocean to England for sale when he had amassed a sufficient number. 
 
 ^OmiON ENCAMPiTELT. 
 
 The account given of the condition and future prospects of the fur trade 
 by the dealer determiued the future plans of the enterprising young 
 traveller. He would learn all that was to be learnt about furs ; he 
 would be a furrier — in time a fur-merchant ; and this should be his 
 road to independence and wealth. This resolution he carried out with 
 unswerving industry and untiring perseverance. It is told of him how, 
 soon after this time, while success and prosperity had not yet begun to 
 loom in his future, he one day passed along the Broadway of New 
 York, celebrated already in those days for its magnificent houses. 
 " Ah," said the young German, looking coolly up to the lofty buildings 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 
 
 41 
 
 on each side, " I'll buUd a finer house than any of these some day — and 
 in this very street too ;" — and he lived to found in New York, not only 
 
 A BEAVER VILLAGE. 
 
 a house for himself, but more than one institution to perpetuate his 
 memory. 
 
 Mr. Astor had been many years in New York, and the penniless 
 
42 THE WOELD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 German immigrant had become one of the -wealthiest and most re- 
 speeted men in the city, when in the year 1810 he set about the 
 execution of the great scheme of colonisation and commerce the out- 
 lines of -which -we have no-vv to present to our readers. The idea 
 originated in the foUo-wing cii'cumstances : — 
 
 As in the discovery of Central and Southern America the one 
 object of the colonising Spaniards and Portuguese had been the 
 acquisition of gold, so in the cold and bleak regions of Northern 
 America the English and French settlers and traders had confined 
 their attention and their hopes to the traffic in furs. Already in the 
 reign of Charles II. a vast tract of British America had been conceded 
 to the Hudson's Bay Company, -who had established their forts and 
 stations at various points in the -wilderness, and carried on a. t-wofold 
 trade. They trafficked -with the Indian tribes, to -whom they gave 
 beads, iron and steel ornaments and implements, guns of coarse 
 manufacture, blankets,, kettles, and not unfrequently ardent spirits, ui 
 exchange for furs. They, moreover, maintained a number of hunters 
 and trappers in their o-wn seivice ; — men accustomed to live for months 
 together in the -wilderness,, -trapping beaver by the great lakes — 
 hunting the wild animals of the forest, and themselves not unf requently 
 hunted by parties of IcostUe Indians. The company, possessing a huge 
 monopoly in the- sole right of hmiting over thousands of squMe miles, 
 had amassed great wealth. The French, during their occupation of 
 Canada, had not been unmindful of the benefits to be derived from tbe 
 trade in peltries; and licences had been frequently granted to certain 
 merchants, and sometimes to the widows or other representatives, d 
 deceased officers, empowering them to fit out expeditions to traffic -with 
 the Indians for furs. On such occasions large boats^ manned by sturdy 
 rowers called " voyageursy" and by adepts in woodcraft who bore the 
 appropriate name of " coureurs des bois," would push their way up the 
 great Canadian rivers, with whose every bend and reach these expe- 
 rienced travellers were weU acquainted. At various places the Indian 
 tribes, and sometimes solitary trappers who had for years been 
 pursuing their lonely industry in the silent woods, came down to trade ; 
 and frequently an expedition of the kind returned to its starting-place 
 with a cargo of furs whose value was sufficient amply to repay all 
 outlay and risk, though the lion's share was absorbed by the projectors 
 and proprietors, and the hardy men who had borne the peril and 
 suiiering obtained but a trifling share of the profit. They are 
 
THE ASTOKIANS. 43 
 
 described as a strangs race these coureurs des bois and voyageurs, 
 sprightly, mercurial, somewhat given to bragging of their exploits and 
 of their "hairbreadth 'scapes by flood and field," active and hard- 
 working, fond of singing and dancing, but, on the other hand, subject 
 to fits of sudden depression, and easily led for evil as for good. After 
 Canada came into the possession of the British, the old system was 
 changed. Merchants made ventures on their o^vn account, no licences 
 being required. The two rival centres of the fur trade, Michilimackinac 
 and Montreal, sent out expeditions, and by endeavouring to outbid 
 each other brought the trade into confusion. In 1787 a number of 
 merchants-, chiefly at Montreal, amalgamated with some of their rivals, 
 and formed "The Korth-West J'ur Company." This corporation for a 
 time engrossed almost the whole of the Canadian fur trade, conveying 
 merchandise for trafiie up the great lakes and rivers, and bringing back 
 valuable cargoes of furs from the high northern latitudes, even as far 
 as the Great Slave Lake. Another British company was soon started 
 to work the trade of the west and south-west, which the North- West 
 Fur Company had left almost untouched. This second association had 
 its headquarters at Michilimackinac, or Mackinaw, and was hence 
 known as the Mackinaw Company. 
 
 We could scarcely suppose that the government of the United 
 States looked with favour upon this concentration of the fur trade in ■ 
 the hands- of the British : it could hardly fail to see the vast profits ■ 
 that accrued from the traffic, and some feeble attempts were made 
 to establish trading houses at various points ; but these desultory 
 efforts were powerless to withstand the concentrated action of the 
 companies. Mr. Astor now offered, if the government would counte- 
 nance and assist him, to turn the American fur trade into the hands of 
 American citizens ; and was encouraged by the expressions of favour 
 bestowed on his scheme by the government to. hope for a substantial 
 co-operation which he never received. Under a charter from the State 
 of New York he organised the "American Fixr Companj^," with a 
 capital of a million of dollars, the whole of which he provided ; then, 
 in 1811, he bought out the Mackinaw Fur Company, amalgamating 
 that association with his own under the name of the " South-West 
 Company.'' Before this amalgamation was carried out he had already 
 set on foot two expeditions ; — and it is the history of these expeditions 
 we have now to describe. 
 
 The plan which Mr. Astor laid before the United States Govern- 
 
44 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 ment, and the execution of -which Le pursued unaided and alone, 
 comprised two main points — first, to form a settlement, and secondly, 
 to organise direct and permanent communication with that settlement 
 both by sea and land. The locality for the new trading town was to 
 be a spot selected at the mouth of the Columbia river, which pours its 
 waters into the great Pacific Ocean in 47° north latitude. Here the 
 company was to establish its headquarters, and here was to be the 
 grand fur depot ; minor stations at suitable distances from each other, 
 and in localities frequented by the native tribes, were to be estabHshed 
 successively as necessity or convenience suggested. Mr. Astor admitted 
 four gentlemen into partnership with himself. Three of these had 
 been clerks in the North- West Company and had abandoned that 
 association, by which they considered themselves ill-treated. Their 
 names were Mackay, Macdougal, and Mackenzie. The fourth of 
 Mr. Astor's partners was Mr. Wilson Price Hunt, of New Jersey, an 
 American gentleman of great experience and worth. 
 
 Anxious, if possible, to avoid the hostility of the North- Western 
 Company, as he was already certain of the rivalry of the Hudson's 
 Bay association, Mr. Astor made overtures to the directors at Montreal, 
 offering to give them a share in his enterprise. They not only refused 
 to co-operate with him, but endeavoured, by despatching an expedition 
 of their own towards the mouth of the Columbia, to forestal the coming 
 of Mr. Astor, and spoil his market with the natives. Finding that 
 nothing was to be effected by negotiation, the spirited merchant now 
 determined to try what he could achieve in the fair and open field of 
 competition. 
 
 The chief articles of agreement between Mr. Astor and his partners 
 were these: — Mr. Astor was to be at the head of the company, to 
 manage its affairs in New York, to furnish vessels, goods, ammunition, 
 and to pay aU charges up to 400,000 dollars ; in return he was to have 
 half the profits, the remaining half to be divided among the other 
 partners. If successful, the association was to continue for twenty 
 years; an agent was to reside for a term of five years at the 
 settlement on the Pacific, and Mr. Hunt was to be the first to 
 undertake this duty. 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 45 
 
 n. 
 
 The Two Expeditions — The Tonqnin. and her Commander — Quarrels on Board — 
 Ill-humour of the Captain — Opposition of the Partners — The Captain's 
 Complaints to Mr. Astor — Arrival at the Sandwich Islands — ^Unappreciated 
 Botanists and Explorers — ArriTal at the Columbia Eiver — Difficulty of 
 Landing — Loss of a Boat's Crew — Foundation of Astoria — Description of 
 the Red Indians. 
 
 A ND now, preliminaries having thus been settled, Mr. Astor deter- 
 -^ mined that one party of the new colonists should proceed to their 
 destination by sea, and another by land. The land expedition was to 
 travel up the Missouri, across the Rocky Mountains, and down the 
 Columbia river, exploring the country, and noting the points where 
 trading stations could be established. Mr. Hunt, the American partner, 
 was appointed leader. For the expedition to proceed by sea round 
 Cape Horn, and thence to the Columbia river, up the Pacific, a fine 
 ship called the Tonquin had been provided, and furnished with every 
 requisite for the new colony ; even to a little schooner to be used in 
 trading up the river. The vessel was well armed, moreover, and placed 
 under the command of Captain Jonathan Thorn, of New York, who 
 had been a lieutenant in the United States Navy. Some artisans went 
 in her, and also thirteen Canadian voyageurs. The partners Messrs. 
 Mackay and Macdougal were among the passengers, and several young 
 men went out as clerks. 
 
 It was on the 8th of September, 1810, that the Tonquin started on 
 her voyage ; and she had not been at sea many hours before unmis- 
 takeable symptoms appeared, foreboding difficulties of various kinds 
 between Captain Thorn and his passengers. The honest captain was 
 the most single-minded of men. He knew that Mr. Astor, the origi- 
 nator of the expedition, had himself borne the whole expense ; and the 
 captain accordingly bent all his energy towards saving Mr. Astor's 
 purse, and consulting Mr. Astor's interest in every possible way. His 
 one object, like that of an honest letter-carrier, was to convey his cargo 
 to the destined port in the very shortest time ; and, educated in the 
 strict discipline of the navy, he considered himself entitled to carry out 
 a despotic system of rule on his own quarterdeck. On the other hand, 
 among his heterogeneous passengers there were many causes of discord. 
 Macdougal and Mackay, and two junior partners, an uncle and a 
 nephew of the name of Stuart, looked upon themselves as part 
 
46 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 proprietors of the ship and cargo, and accordingly as entitled to 
 command Captain Thorn. The Canadian voyageurs, unsurpassed in 
 skill and resource on their own rivers and lakes, became peevish and 
 morose under the influenoe of sea-sickness ; and when they got well 
 they complained of the man-of-war fare offered to them on board, 
 requiring delicacies the very mention of which filled Captain Thorn 
 with unmitigated disgust. " And those," he writes indignantly to Mr. 
 Astor, "are the fellows who boasted that they could eat dog!" The 
 young clerks, too, showed an aptitude at forgetting the main object 
 of the voyage and a levity which was an abomination to Captain 
 Tihorn. Js^aturally enough, they kept journals in which they recorded 
 many matters new and curious to them, though to the old sailor every- 
 day occurrences ; this the captain considered waste of time. The 
 partners murmured at and disobeyed his "man-of-war" order to put 
 out all candles at eight o'clock every night. He threatened to put the 
 chief partner, Maodougal, in irons, and ilacdougal swore that on 
 such a thing being attempted he would shoot the captain through the 
 head. Peace was only restored by the intervention of some quieter 
 spirits. At one of the Falkland Islands the captain hove to, and sent 
 a boat on shore for water. Messrs. Mackay and Macdougal took the 
 opportunity to go on a hunting excursion, and were very nearly left 
 behind ; the indignant captain setting sail without waiting for the boat 
 when his signals of recall were disregarded. Another time, on a simUar 
 occasion, he compelled Macdougal and the elder Stuart, with the 
 boat's crew, to follow the ship for many hours, tugging hard at the 
 oars ; and even then, in spite of the threats of the younger Stuart, who 
 feared his uncle's life would be sacrificed, he would hardly have given 
 in, but that fortunately the wind came ahead, and the ship's way 
 was stopped. In a letter written a day or two afterwards to Mr. Astor, 
 the bluff captain says — "Had the wind imfortunatebj not hauled ahead 
 soon after leaving the harbour's mouth, I should positively have left 
 them ; and indeed I cannot but think it an unfortunate circumstance 
 for you that it so happened, for the first loss in this instance would, in 
 my opinion, have proved the best, as they seem to have no idea of the 
 value of property, nor any apparent regard for your interest, although 
 interwoven with their own." 
 
 Thus, amid much jarring and wrangling, the voyage proceeded 
 uncomfortably enough. Especially between Macdougal and the captain 
 there existed a kind of chronic feud. Mr. Macdougal considered him- 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 47 
 
 self, reasonably enough, as the proxy and representative of Mr. Astor 
 during the absence of Mr. Wilson Hunt, while the captain was bent 
 on arrogating all authority to himself. Occasionally Mr. Maodougal 
 required that some packages of the cargo should be opened to supply 
 the men with new clothing and other necessaries ; and on such occasions 
 the wrath of the captain was sure to break forth at a proceeding which 
 he stigmatised as contrary to all custom and precedent, and subversive 
 of discipline and authority. 
 
 Early in February, 1811, the Tonquin reached the Sandwich Islands, 
 and anchored at Owyhee, the island where the enterprising and humane 
 navigator, Captain Cook, had been murdered not many years before. 
 Captain Thorn's object was to obtain provisions, especially a supply of 
 pork and fresh vegetables, and then to sail away at the earliest 
 moment ; the travellers, on the other hand, were rather inclined to 
 protract their stay to the utmost possible limits; for the partners 
 wished to cultivate the friendship of the chiefs with a view to future 
 trade, and even to the formation of a settlement, in connection with 
 their enterprise ; the voyagers who were of a scientific and botanical 
 turn were delighted with the new genera of plants they found in 
 these favoured regions ; and the younger clerks were vehemently dis- 
 posed to cultivate the acquaintance of the dusky beauties, by whose 
 smiles several of them were fairly captivated. All this was a weariness 
 and vexation of spirit to gallant Captain Thorn, who inveighed against 
 everything that could cause delay, and whose letters to Mr. Astor show 
 an increasing bitterness of spirit as the voyage "dragged its slow 
 length along ;'' at length the partners seriously threatened to deprive 
 him of the command, and the prospect of a mutiny was added to his 
 other vexations. This effectually soured his temper, and increased 
 his impatience at anything that seemed to him like interference or con- 
 tradiction ; and matters were in this unsatisfactory condition when the 
 Tonquin arrived opposite the mouth of the Columbia river on the 
 22nd of March. 
 
 For many miles from the point where it pours its waters into the 
 Pacific Ocean the Columbia river forms a broad estuary, whose naviga- 
 tion is exceedingly intricate by reason of many banks and shoals. The 
 weather had been stormy during the last days before the Tonquin's 
 arrival, and the voyagers beheld a surf tumbling angrily on the shore 
 or leaping high into the air, where it encountered the. impediment of a 
 rock, so that the whole mouth of the river was masked by a broad 
 
-ib 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 belt of foam. Accordingly the caiitain, not deeming it prudent to 
 bring tl:e ship near shore until a channel should be found, ordered 
 
 Air Fax, the first mate, to 
 t iK ■i^ ith him in a boat three 
 S^nd\^lcll Islanders, who had 
 (.rab liked with our voyagers 
 at O^iyhee, and Martin, an 
 oil ind experienced sailor, 
 ■nhi had been in those re- 
 gion's before. The mate de- 
 iiunel; he represented that 
 m 1 service of such danger 
 he cUght at least to have his 
 I bont manned by part of the 
 ii-,iilai crew, and appealed 
 to the partners, who sided 
 ■pith him and remonstrated 
 i\ 1 itli the captain. But this 
 interfircnce only made C'ap- 
 t an Ihom more determined 
 than L'i er to be obeyed to the 
 Tuy letter; and poor Fox 
 put off with tears in his eyes, 
 iiid ■^^ ith daik forebodings 
 th t he was going to his 
 (k i+h Very sadly were those 
 f rebodings verified; theorem 
 uid passengers gazed after 
 the little boat so long as it re- 
 mained in sight ; after awhile 
 the waves hid it from view. 
 Vll that day, and during the 
 I ^tless and anxious night 
 \ hich followed, they waited 
 fir the return of the boat 
 and her crew, but nothing 
 more was ci'er heard of either. After several attempts to land in the 
 jiinnace, another boat was despatched, manned by three sailors and two 
 .Sandwich Islanders ; this was swamped, and tMo out of the three 
 
 IIsDIiK 1\£ PCNS INI 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 
 
 49 
 
 sailors perished in the waves. The remaining sailor, Stephen Weekes, 
 with the two Sandwich men, succeeded in reacliing the shore ; hut one 
 of the latter died the same night from exhaustion and cold ; and thus, 
 when at length the Tonquin was able to stand in for the mouth of the 
 
 A MANDAN CHIEF. 
 
 river and make her way up the channel, eight of her company had 
 already perished, and the natural feeling of sorrow at their loss was 
 embittered by the unavoidable thought that some of these lives had 
 been sacrificed through the obstinacy of Captain Thorn. 
 
 The gloom which this calamity naturally cast over the colonists was 
 in some measure dispelled by the necessity for immediate exertion. 
 For the next few weeks there was much to be done in exploring the 
 region round the mouth of the Columbia river, and fixing on a site 
 
50 THE WORLDS EXPLORERS. 
 
 for the new settlement. Mr. Macdougal was especially anxious to 
 cultivate friendly relations with, the Indians, especially with Comcomly, 
 a wary old one-eyed chief of the Chinooks. Macdougal seems to have 
 been somewhat too anxious to exhibit his importance as the represen- 
 tative of the head partner in the enterprise ; and his activity, though 
 generally laudable and iiseful, occasionally degenerated into mere 
 fussiness and an inveterate tendency to meddle. Captain Thorn, on 
 the other hand, held the whole Indian race in unmitigated contempt, 
 and stigmatised them on every occasion as a fraternity'of the greatest 
 rogues unhung. Utterly despising them as ignorant savages, he con- 
 sidered himself and his disciplined crew a match for any number of 
 them, and neglected many precautions which had been especially 
 impressed upon him by Mr. Astor ; and fatally did the consequences of 
 this neglect recoil upon himself and his ship. 
 
 The Red Indian, as he is described in such books as The Last of the 
 IMoliicans, and the various other tales of the American novelist Cooper, 
 and other highly-coloureds najrratives of the kind,, differs almost as 
 much from the Indian of actual life, as the theatrical sailor and 
 peasant differ from the tar of the naval and the merchant service, and 
 the ploughman of Sussex or Dorsetshire. Ko delusion has been more 
 completely dispelled by authentic information than the imaginary 
 picture whicli, drawn from hearsay by writers who in many instances 
 had never so much as beheld a Redskin, professed to portray how 
 '■' wild in woods the noble savage ran." A\'ild enough was the savage, 
 in all conscience ; and, moreover, he had a great tendency to nm, and 
 even to skulk in the woods, preferring ambush to open attack, and 
 treachery to fair fighting ; but the nobility of his character was an 
 hallucination sure to be very quickly abandoned by all who had 
 personal dealings with him. As the various Indian tribes, those of the 
 Raciiic coast as well as the nations who inhabited the interior of the 
 vast regions between the Missouri and the mouth of the Columbia 
 river, played a great part in the history of the Astorians, it may be 
 well here to give a few general characteristics of their mode of life 
 and government. They ware divided into many separate nations, eash 
 having. its own chiefs, and originally possessing its own territory; hut 
 the predatory and warlike nature of the race, their universal dislike to 
 settled dwelling-places and peaceful labour, had shown itself in 
 constant and cruel wars. In these contests some of the weaker tribes 
 had been driven from their country and completely ruined ; so that of 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 51 
 
 many once powerful tribes there remained only a scattered remnant, 
 hiding from their foes in thickets and deserts, and dragging out a 
 miserable, starved existence in constant peril and fear. Some tribes, 
 like that of the Sioux, were especially noted for ferocity and for a 
 delight in carnage ; others, who dwelt on the banks of the great rivers, 
 and lived principally on fish, were less enterprising and warlike than 
 the hunter tribes, who, f ron* being continually on horseback, and living 
 chieiiy on the flesh of the buffalo and bear, became sinewy and lithe in 
 appearance, and fierce in character. Those nations who had been 
 brought most into contact with the white men became wonderfully 
 versed in the chicanery and wiles of traffic ; while treachery and fraud, 
 though allowed sometimes to remain in abeyance on ordinary occasions, 
 were employed as an vMma ratio alike by all. In a case where blood 
 had been shed, " life for life" was the maxim of Indian honour. The 
 death of a slain Indian was only to be atoned for by the death of one 
 or more white men. But even this rule was not immutable ; and at 
 least one instance occurred in the experience of our adventurers, in 
 which the death of an Indian was atoned for, and the hand of revenge 
 stayed, by a judicious distribution of blankets and tobacco. Of for- 
 giveness to be given without a " consideration,'' or from other motives 
 than policy, they had no notion ; and one of their most dangerous 
 characteristics was the quiet and deep dissimulation with which they 
 would hide their meditated revenge until the moment came when it 
 could be safely indulged. Their power of enduring hardship through- 
 out a long period was, to a great extent, an effect of early training and 
 of the vicissitudes attending their unsettled life, in which periods of 
 want and plenty would ailternate sometimes in a very unexpected 
 manner. Some of the hunting parties were known to live for weeks, 
 and to make long marches, upon a pittance of food which would hardly 
 have been sufficient to support life in a white man ; but on discovering 
 an unexpected supply of food, they gorged themselves to an extent 
 that caused them to remain for days in an almost torpid state. Of 
 honesty and fair dealing, as a matter of principle, they knew nothing. 
 On one occasion when Mr. Hunt, the American partner, wished to buy 
 a number of horses of a chief for purposes of transport, that worthy 
 replied that he could undertake to furnish Mr. Hunt with the number 
 required ; for if he happened not to have so many in camp, his people 
 could easily steal more. They showed great aptitude in bargaining, 
 and soon became adepts in the art of raising the price of an article in 
 
52 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 exact proportion to the necessity or the eagerness of the intend^g 
 purchaser. GeneraUy, where skins were to be the objects of traffic 
 the market rate was fixed by an experienced chief, to whose tariff aU 
 the rest confonned. In many instances they showed tokens oE boast- 
 
 CHIPPEWA. 
 
 fuhiess and a love of parade, and often carried the scalps of slain 
 enemies in triumph through their villages on their return from a 
 warlike expedition. When driven to frenzy by long-continued lU- 
 success on their warlike forays, a party of braves would sometunes 
 devote their clothes to the medicine. They would cast away all their 
 garments, and saUy forth armed with their weapons to try and charm 
 fortune back by some desperate deed of valour. All hard work, except 
 hunting and fighting, was done by the squaws, who, indeed, would 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 53 
 
 have despised their lords as weak and -womanish, had the dusky 
 warriors shown any inclination to derogate from their position by 
 doing anything useful. 
 
 Such were the people with whom the trading operations of the 
 colonists had to be carried on. Mr. Astor had obtained a good practical 
 knowledge of Indian character in the course of many journeys he had 
 made during the earlier part of his career. He had given very definite 
 instructions to his representatives, and especially to Captain Thorn, 
 concerning the method of dealing with the red men. The judicious 
 advice he gave may be thus summarised : — " Treat the Indians kindly 
 but firmly. If they proffer friendship, accept their overtures, without 
 believing too readily in, their sincerity ; avoid offending their prejudices 
 or their pride, and admit only a few of them on board the ship at the 
 same time." 
 
 III. i 
 
 Astoria — Departm-e of tEe Tonquin — Anxiety respecting Mr. Hunt and hia Party 
 • — Bad News concerning the Tonqnin — Tragical Fate of. that Yesael and her 
 Crew — Gloom in the .Settlement — Mr.;Maod6ngal'a Stratagem-,to Frighten 
 the Indians — Post Founded at Okinagan — New Tear's Etc Celebrated under 
 Diflioulties. , - 
 
 TT was in the spring-time that the expedition .r.eached the Columbia 
 river ; and all its members were speedily employed in preparing to 
 establish their new settlement. A spot near the entra,nce of the bay 
 was fixed upon, and in honour of the originator of the enterprise the 
 new city received the name of Astoria. The first business was to build 
 storehouses for the reception of that part of the Tonquin's cargo 
 which was to be left for the use of, the settlement ; and this naturally 
 consumed much time, though Captain ^Thorn's anxiety to "get on," 
 and sail away towards the north, where he was to trade for furs at 
 various parts, increased day by day. Comcomly and his men, it 
 appeared, had no furs to dispose of, — whereupon the captain, in great 
 dudgeon, refused to admit any one of them on board his ship. He 
 severely censured Mr. Maodougal, who tried to conciliate the Indians, — 
 and day by day his contempt for the " ragamuflSns" became more open 
 and undisguised. At last, early in June, the last bale of goods had 
 been landed, and the Tonquin sailed out of the bay with the captain 
 and crew on the last voyage she was ever to undertake. Soon after, 
 Mr. Stuart left them with a small party on a reconnoitring expedition 
 
54 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 into the interior, with the especial view of fixing on spots for trading 
 ports. The Astorians, thus reduced in number, began to look anxiously 
 for the arrival of Mr. Hunt with the party he was to lead overland to 
 Astoria, and their anxiety was increased by the suspicious attitude of 
 the Indians, who disappeared from the settlement, and were supposed 
 to be planning a combined attack upon the settlers. Even Comcomly, 
 who had at first been so friendly, was now hardly ever to be seen. 
 
 To guard against the impeiiding danger, Astoria was fortified as far 
 as the means at hand would permit, and with four small cannon upon 
 their battlements, and a stoekade as an outwork of defence, the colonists 
 waited for tidings of the Tonquin and of Mr. Hunt's expedition. 
 
 In August a party of Indians arrived at the settlement. They 
 brought alarming accounts concerning the Tohquin, which they declared 
 had been entirely destroyed. The report, at first discredited as an idle 
 rumour, was repeated by a second set of Indian visitors ; and at last 
 there came an Indian who, in consequence of his knowledge of the 
 coast and his partial acquaintance with the English language, had been 
 engaged as interpreter on board the Tonquin. His narrative un- 
 happily put an end to all doubts concerning the fate of the unfortunate 
 ship and her crew. 
 
 On leaving Astoria the Tonquin had borne away to the northward, 
 and soon arrived in a bay in Vancouver's Island, where she oast anchor 
 opposite an Indian village. Presently some of the Indians came 
 on board, and Mr. Mackay, the partner, with several companions, 
 was received on shore with much honour by the chief Wicananisli. 
 Mr. Mackay remained on shore all night, a few Indians being detained 
 on board the Tonquin as hostages ; and the next morning packages of 
 cloth, blankets, fishhooks, knives, and the various other articles wHoh 
 form the Staple of trade with Indians, were spread out in tempting 
 profusion on the ship's deck, in sight of the natives. They, on their 
 part, brought plenty of sea-otters' skins, and there seemed every 
 prospect that a brisk trade would be done. But the Indians were not 
 inexpert in the wiles of trafiic. They had been accustomed to buy and 
 sell with the white men, and were under the influence of a cunning old 
 chief named Nookamis, whose dictum settled the market price. 
 Captain Thorn was not a man who would brook contradiction, even 
 from his own countrymen. The habit of command, working on a temper 
 naturally despotic, had made him hard and unyielding ; and great was 
 his disgust when Nookamis and the Redskins treated his proffered 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 56 
 
 price for »n otter-skin with scorn, and demanded more than double the 
 amount, , Jfpt an inch would he budge from the posil^ion he had once 
 taken up, and he totally disregarded the arguments and persuasions of 
 old Kookamis, who followed him about the deck, holding out an otter- 
 skin and pestering him with his importunity. At last the old chief began 
 to change .his tone, and attempted to banter Captain Thorn upon the 
 shabby price he had offered; — whereupon the choleric coanmander 
 suddenly turned round in a rage, snatched the skin from Nookamis, 
 and rubbed it over hi-s face, and then sent him away by the application 
 of sundry vigorous kicks, equally hurtful to the chief's corporal and 
 mental sensibilities. Old Nookamis went ashore -vowing vengeance, 
 aud his followers were as angry and indignant as he. All trading 
 chances had been destroyed by this outbreak — and the interpreter, who 
 knew the revengeful character of his owp people, strongly urged 
 Captain Thorn to leave the harbour. Mr. Mackay and Mr. Lewis 
 warmly seconded the interpreter's arguments ; but the captain, trusting 
 to the arms and ammunition with which he was plentifully provided, 
 and to the prowess of himself and his crew, refused to listen to them. 
 
 Next morning at daybreak a large canoe was seen approaching the 
 ship. The Indians in the canoe, who appeared to be unarmed, held up 
 otter-skins, and asked to be allowed to come on board and trade. They 
 were admitted ; the wares brought by the Tonquin were once more 
 spread out ; and a brisk trade commenced. The savages showed especial 
 eagerness to buy knives in exchange for their peltries ; presently other 
 canoes appeared, and around the sides of the ship other canoes came 
 paddling up, whose occupants were soon scrambling on deck, Again 
 the wary interpreter became alarmed, especially as he suspected the 
 savages were secretly armed ; he repeated his warning of the previous 
 day, and urged the necessity of caution. At length Captain Thorn 
 himself became uneasy. Seven men were sent aloft to make sail ; 
 others of the crew were commanded to heave up the anchor, and pre- 
 parations were made to dear the ship of the crowd that encumbered the 
 deck. But now the Indians offered to trade on the captain's own terms. 
 More and more of them came swarming up the sides, and at length, 
 when a determined effort was made to get rid of them, they suddenly 
 gave a general yell and rushed upon the devoted captain and crew. 
 Mr. Mackay was among the first victims ; he was killed with many 
 stabs and flung overboard. Mr. Lewis, mortally wounded by a knife- 
 thrust in the back, fell down the hatchway. Captain Thorn fought 
 
o6 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 desperately, but was despatched after killing several of his enemies ; 
 and the rest of the crew, who defended themselves bravely with 
 handspikes, axes, and any weapon they could catch up, were massacred 
 and thrown into the sea. The seven men who were aloft unfurling the 
 sails, stared down in horror upon the scene of blood below. They 
 then slid down the ropes and endeavoured to gain the cabin. Three of 
 them were stabbed to death as they touched the deck, but the four 
 others rushed down the companion-way and barricaded themselves, with 
 the wounded Mr. Lewis, in the cabin. Here they found guns and 
 ammunition, and opened a fire through some holes in the cabin stairs, 
 which soon cleared the deck, the Indians paddling off in their canoes 
 to the shore. A consultation was now held. Mr. Lewis advised his 
 companions in misfortune to sUp the cable, and endeavour to escape 
 with the ship. But they declared that the wind set so strongly into the 
 bay that the ship would infallibly be driven ashore, and avowed their 
 intention of endeavouring to reach Astoria by coasting in their boat. 
 Mr. Lewis, desperately wounded as he was, refused to accompany them, 
 and they launched their boat and departed. These particulars were 
 obtained by the interpreter' in a subsequent interview with the four 
 unfortunate men, who afterwards fell into the hands of the Indians, 
 and were cruelly put to death. All that day none of the savages 
 ventured to approach the Tonquin ; but early next morning some 
 canoes were seen cautiously approaching to reconnoitre. Mr. Lewis 
 had determined upon taking a terrible revenge for the massacre of the 
 crew. He "appeared on deck, made friendly signs to the Indians, and 
 invited them on board. When he foimd they were preparing to accept 
 his invitation, he disappeared down the ladder into the cabin. On 
 came the savages, intent on plunder, and suspecting no snare. Great 
 was their glee when they found the rich bales of goods on deck, aban- 
 doned, as it seemed, to their rapacity. They commenced the work of 
 rifling the ship with shouts of savage joy, and soon the decks of the 
 Tonquin were covered with dancing, howling savages, while hun- 
 dreds more hovered round in their canoes, waiting their opportunity to 
 join in the work of spoliation. Suddenly the ship blew up with a 
 tremendous explosion ! Mr. Lewis, sternly resolved in his purpose of 
 revenge, had set fire to the powder-magazine ; — and with the fragments 
 of the unfortunate Tonquin more than a hundred of the ruthless 
 plunderers were buried in the waves. 
 
 The interpreter, who had been standing in the main chains, was 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 
 
 67 
 
 blown into the water, and managed to scramble into one of the canoes, 
 whose crews, frantic with fear, were hastening ashore. For some time 
 he was detained in a sort of captivity, that he might not carry to the 
 Astorians the intelligence of their companions' tragic fate. But he 
 managed to escape, and brought the terrible news to the settlement, 
 where it occasioned a general gloom. When, long afterwards, the 
 sad story reached New York, Mr. Astor rightly characterised it as a 
 calamity the consequences of which could not be estimated ; but with 
 characteristic energy he refused to be daunted by the disaster, and set 
 about repairing it by the fitting out, at great trouble and cost, of 
 
 ^^,\ 
 
 "ii.. • \ 
 
 1 
 It, 
 
 1^' U'/l 
 
 
 V 
 
 '- ' .* 
 
 •_ ^y ^ :> ± 
 
 XNDI.VN BUItyiNi 
 
 another vessel to take the place of the unfortunate Tonquin. In Astoria 
 the intelligence, which seemed to the Indian tribes an evidence of the 
 weakness of the settlers, could not fail to produce a bad impression. 
 The natives began at once to be suspicious and insolent, and seemed to 
 meditate a treacherous attack. Mr. Macdougal, however, managed to 
 avert the danger by ingeniously practising upon the superstition of the 
 Indians. Knowing the dread they had of the ravages of the small-pox, 
 he exhibited to Comcomly and the other chiefs a corked bottle, which 
 he declared contained that deadly disease. He assured them that he 
 could, by merely opening the bottle, set the terrible stranger free to 
 work havoc among them, their wives and children ; and threatened that 
 the cork should fly from the bottle upon the slightest indication of 
 treachery or hostility on their part. Whereupon the panic-stricken 
 
58 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Indians, fully persuaded that Macdougal could execute his threat, 
 begged the " great small-pox chief" to let the cork remain where it 
 was, promising on their part the utmost loyalty and devotion to the 
 white settlers. The combined force of terror and self-interest kept 
 them faithful to their word ; and the settlement had cause to rejoice in 
 the successful strategy of the " small-pox chief." As the season 
 advanced, the intelligenoe of the presence of purchasers of furs at the 
 mouth of the Columbia river brought not a few beaver-trappers and 
 other wanderers of the wilderness to the settlement ; and early in 
 October a portion of Mr. David Stuart's party came back from the port 
 on the Okinagan, accompanied by a Canadian Creole named Regis 
 Brugierc, one of those hunters called freemen in the fur trade— hardy 
 men who have served their time in one of the fur companies, and then 
 continue their profession on their own account, setting their beaver- 
 traps in the great wilderness beside rivers and lakes, and frequently 
 sojourning in complete solitude for months, and even years, until their 
 stock of peltries has so far accumulated that they consider it worth 
 selling at some frontier post. 
 
 As the autumn advanced and the rains set in, the Indians began to 
 break up their camps and retire into the woods. The excursions of the 
 little "Dolly" up the river for provisions were not always successful, 
 and the settlers began to look forward with much aaxiety for th« appear- 
 ance of Mr. Hunt and his paity, who were to make tho journey to 
 Astoria overland. The winter came on, and in spite of the disquieting 
 aspect of affairs, the Astorians contrived to usher in the year 1812 
 with something like festivity. The Canadian voyageurs especially 
 distinguished themselves in celebrating New Year's Eve with all due 
 honours. Flour and rum had been liberally served out for the prepa- 
 ration of cakes and punch. A ball was improvised, in which, for want 
 of lady partners, the voyageurs stood up to dance with each other, and 
 with the proverbial gaiety of Frenchmen forgot all their dangers and 
 troubles in the festivity of the moment. 
 
 But still the overland party came not ; and not the least among the 
 anxieties of the band of hardy adventm-ers, who began a new year 
 under such dangerous and difficult auspices, must have been the 
 thought that perhaps tbey would never come at all ; that their hones 
 were perhaps already whitening on the inhospitable slopes of the 
 Rocky Mountains, or in the pathless deserts between the foot of that 
 great range and the Pacific co.asts ; that Mr. Hunt and his brave 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 59 
 
 comrades might have furnished new members to the vast army of the 
 martyrs of exploration, and that his expedition might be chronicled 
 among the many that are recorded in the history of travel as having 
 set out on their journey in high hope and joyful expectation, whose 
 path has been traced to a certain point in their adventurous route, and 
 who then have been heard of no more ! 
 
 IV. 
 
 Expedition of Mr. Hunt — Character of Hunt — His Extensive Preparations — The 
 Missouri Pur Company and Mr. Manuel Lisa — Pierre Dorion, the Half-breed 
 Interpreter — John Day, the Hunter — Account of. Blackbird, the Omahaw 
 Chief — Mr. Bradbury's Adventure with the Indians. 
 
 T EAVING the little community at Astoria, we have now to foUow the 
 -^ fortunes of that overland expedition whose arrival was so anxiously 
 expected. If Mr. Astor had been somewhat mistaken in the nautical 
 leader he had chosen, in the person of Captain Thorn, to command the 
 enterprise by sea, his selection of the commander of the land expedition 
 was, at any rate, eminently judicious. Mr. Wilson Hunt possessed all 
 the courage and the singleness of purpose evinced by the ill-starred 
 commander of the Tonquin, together with a discretion, an equanimity, 
 and a mastery over himself in which poor Captain Thorn had shown 
 himself lamentably deficient. During all the perils and dangers of his 
 adventurous journey, harassed as he was frequently alike by the 
 treachery and cunning of the red men with whom he came in contact, 
 the intrigues of a rival company, and the insubordination and unfaith- 
 fulness of some of his own followers, he showed himself from begin- 
 ning to end as a man of unswerving courage, inexhaustible resource, 
 and rigid justice and equity. In many respects his task was far harder 
 than Thorn's; and but for the rare qualities he displayed, the overland 
 expedition could scarcely have escaped a conclusion as disastrous and 
 tragical as that of the Tonquin's voyage. 
 
 The first care of the leader was to recruit boatmen, or " voyageurs," 
 from Mackinaw. After considerable trouble he obtained a sufiicient 
 number, among whom, however, were some rather "hard bargains," 
 men either worn out by a life of toil or insufferably lazy, and far more 
 ready to disembark and boil the great camp-'kettles than to urge the 
 canoe up the Missouri. A valuable addition to the party was found in 
 a new partner, Mr. Ramsay Crooks, who had already made journeys in 
 the service of the North-West Company, and who especially warned 
 
■60 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Mr. Hunt against the hostilities to be apprehended from the Sioux 
 Indians, who had compelled him to abandon a former journey, in which 
 he and his followers had, indeed, hardly escaped with their lives from 
 the lurking foes who fired at them, on every opportunity, from the 
 banks of the river. After numberless delays the expedition, consisting 
 of about sixty persons, started from St. Louis on their voyage up the 
 Missouri river. Mr. Hunt was well aware that he could not accomplish 
 the whole of his journey before the winter, for it was already 
 September. He had therefore determined to go as far as he could 
 liefore the river became unnavigable through ice, and then to winter in 
 some convenient spot. The voyageurs laboured, on the whole, patiently 
 and well, and the three heavy boats toiled on against such obstacles as 
 sandbanks, an adverse curi'ent, piles of driftwood, sunken trunks of 
 trees, called savryers, and various other impediments, untU, on the 16th 
 ■of November, the travellers came to the mouth of the Nodowa rivier, 
 where, in a good hunting country, they were to pass the 'winter. 
 Mr; Hunt here met with another partner, a Mr. McClellan, an energetic 
 and enterprising man, who. afterwards proved very useful. Mr.flunt, 
 .howeyer, found that his force was not strong enough to proceed 
 .through the hostile countries he should have to traverse; for 'the 
 Canadians, excellent rowers though they might be, had given various 
 .indicatipns that they cared very little, for fighting.' He therefoifi- 
 returned to St. Louis with a few followers to obtain further reinforce- 
 ments; and, indeed, such an accession of strength was especially 
 -desirable, as bfesides the expected dangers from Sioux and Blackfeet 
 Indians, Mr. Hunt plainly saw that he would find it difficult.to combat 
 the hostility of a rival expedition sent out by the Missouii: Fur 
 Company, imder an enterprising partner, Mr. Manuel Lisa. 
 
 This gentleman was just about to lead an expedition in the same 
 direction that Mr. Hunt's company intended taking. His primary 
 object was to obtain intelligence of a partner named Henry, who had 
 •started with a company the year before, and had not since been heard 
 of. The setting out of two expeditions at the same time naturally 
 rendered it more diificult for Mr. Hunt to procure either voyageurs or 
 hunters, as the rival company was bidding high for the services of 
 such men, and in spite of great perseverance and judgment, Mr. Hunt 
 only succeeded in procuring a few men, and those not of the best class. 
 The one thing indispensable was to procure the services of an inter- 
 jireter who knew the language of the Sioux, and could negotiate, if 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 
 
 61 
 
 necessary, with that warlike tribe ; and this necessary article was found 
 in the person of Pierre Dorion, a half-breed, a wonderful vagabond of 
 mingled Indian and Canadian extraction. This remarkable gentleman 
 had lived much among the Indians, and, it was rumoured, possessed a 
 
 BUFFALO HUNTING ON THE PRAIBIE. 
 
 squaw and a family among every tribe ; but his cliief wife, who perma- 
 nently accompanied him, was a Sioux woman. He was a clever fellow 
 in his own way, and useful and tolerably trustworthy when sober ; but 
 then he was so often drunk. At times, whatever might be the work in 
 hand, the fascination of the whiskey-bottle would be too strong for 
 Pierre Dorion, and, indeed, it was this unfortunate predilection for 
 " firewater" that had embroiled him with the Missouri company, in 
 whose service he had been, and procured Mr. Hunt the opportunity of 
 engaging him. It appeared that, in the previous year, at a frontier 
 
C2 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 fort belonging to the company where Pierre had been Staying, the 
 whiskey mania seized upon this erratic son of the woods. He had been 
 supplied with the means of gratifying his propensity, four quarts 
 of whiskey having been supplied to him out of the company's stores ; 
 but this whiskey had been charged to his account at ten dollars the 
 quart. Now, strong drink at half-a-sovereign for half-a-pint was too 
 strong even for Pierre Dorion, who in a fit of indignation quitted his 
 masters and took service with Mr. | Hunt. 'Sot would his sense of 
 justice permit him to discharge the extortionate demand before he 
 went. Mr. Manuel Lisa, with the manifest object of hampering his 
 rival's proceedings, took measures for arresting Pierre at St. Louis, and 
 thus detaining him for the debt. But the wily half-breed, on receiving 
 intelligence of this intention, quietly left the boat, and marched away 
 into the woods with his wife, his two babies or papooses, and aU hig 
 worldly wealth. He promised' t/) 'rejoin the company some distance 
 above St. Louis, and was as good as his word. Meanwhile the travellers 
 had been reinforced by John Day, a famous hunter, whose name is 
 immortalised in the John Day's River, a small tributary of the 
 Columbia ; by Mr. Bradbury and Mr. Nuttall, two naturalists ; and by a 
 few stalwart hunters, and once more the adventurous party worked up 
 the Missouri. 
 
 In due time they reached the chief town of the Omahaws, at that 
 period a numerous and powerfnl tribe, the exploits of whose great 
 chief, the Blackbird, were stni fresh in the mouths of men. This 
 famous savage had been noted for his daring and sagacity, and for the 
 mighty influence he possessed over his tribe ; but not a little of that 
 influence had been due to a strange, and, as it appeared, a gupematnral 
 power possessed by the gloomy chief. When any man offended the 
 leader of the Omahaws, the Blackbird wouid prophesy the death of 
 the offender within a certain time, and the prophecy u-as always fulfilled. 
 Before the allotted period had passed, the victim of the chieftain's 
 wrath wasted away in an unaccountable manner, in a dread and 
 mysterious disease that had but one tei'mination. The truth was that 
 an unscrupulous trader had imparted to the Blackbird a knowledge of 
 the deadl'y qualities of arsenic, and the wily savage employed this 
 dangerous knowledge as a means at once of revenge, and of maintaimng 
 his power oyer his simple and superstitious subjects. 
 
 The only person who had any real power over the gloomy chief was 
 a young and beautiful wife, who had originally been sent to him to sue^ 
 
THE ASTOUIANS. 63 
 
 for peace, when her tribe had been reduced to extremity by Blackbird's 
 attacks. And even her influence was epliemeral ; for he slew her in a 
 lit of anger. 
 
 A^'hen the travellers had gone some distance beyond the country of 
 the Omahaws, their real dangers] began. The Sioux Tetons, a ruthless 
 tribe, who had earned for themselves the title of the Pirates of the 
 Missouri — these were the people who had stopped the progress of an 
 expedition under Crooks and McClellan the year before, it was said at 
 the instigation of Mr. Manuel Lisa, of the Missouri Fur Company, 
 against whom, consequently, Mr. McClellan entertained the most bitter 
 hostility. When, therefore, two Indians gave notice that the Sioux 
 Tetons were in the neighbourhood, the hardy hunters and trappers felt 
 uneasy, while something very like panic spread among the Canadian 
 voyageurs. Mr. Bradbury, the naturalist, was in the habit of filling 
 his shot-pouch with corn, and starting in the morning on a botanising 
 expedition up the banks of the river, rejoining his companions at the 
 close of the day. One morning he had thus set forth, full of ardour 
 for science, and utterly oblivious of Sioux Tetons and all dangerous 
 savages generally. In the afternoon, as he stood waiting for the boat, 
 a hand was suddenly laid upon his shoulder. "Starting and turning 
 round," says the biographer of the expedition, " he beheld a naked 
 savage, with a bow bent, and the arrow pointed at his breast. In an 
 instant his gun was levelled, and his hand upon the lock. The Indian 
 drew his bow still farther, but forbore to launch the shaft. Mr. Brad- 
 bury, with admirable presence- of mind, reflected that the savage, if 
 hostile in his intent, would have shot him without giving him a 
 chance of defence ; he paused therefore, and held out his hand. The 
 other took it in sign of friendship, and demanded, in the Osage 
 language, whether he was a Big-Knife (American). He answered 
 in the affirmative, and inquired whether the other was a Sioux. To 
 his great relief, he found that he was a Ponoa. By this time two 
 other Indians came running up, and all three laid hold of Mr. Brad- 
 bury, and seemed disposed to compel him to go off with them among 
 the hills. He resisted, and sitting down on a sand-hill, contrived 
 to amuse them with a pocket compass. When the novelty of this 
 was exhausted, they again seized him, but he now produced a small 
 microscope. This new wonder again fixed the attention of the savages, 
 who have far more curiosity than it has been the custom to allow 
 them. While thus engaged, one of them suddenly leaped up, and 
 
Ci 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 gave a war-whoop. The hand of the liardy naturalist was again on 
 his gun, and he was prepared to give battle, when the Indian pointed 
 
 1 ■ ^1^ 
 
 BLACKBIRD AND HIS FAVOUEITE SQUAW, 
 
 down the river, and revealed the true cause of his yell. It was the 
 mast of one of the boats appearing above the low willows which 
 bordered the stream. Mr. Bradbury felt infinitely relieved at the 
 sight." 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 65 
 
 Enooimter with the Sioux — Manuel Lisa and his Schemes — Bnffalo Plains — 
 Antelopes — Aricaras and Cheyonnes— Difficulties of the March— William 
 Cannon and the Grizzly Bear — The Pilot Knobs — Pierre Dorion's Squaw — 
 Her patient Endurance and Courage — Arrival at Astoria — New Expeditions 
 Planned. 
 
 flTiREE hardy hunters were now picked up in the woods, and induced 
 to join the expedition ; and very opportune was this meeting for our 
 travellers, for soon afterwards a large war party of the dreaded Sioux 
 was encountered, numbering about six himdred warriors. These 
 ranged themselves at a point of the river somewhat above the boats, 
 and were evidently determined to dispute the passage. Mr. Hunt, on 
 his part, was not disposed to turn back, and prepared for a fight. On 
 seeing this, the savages held a parley ; and in the end the caliunet of 
 peace was smoked, and the opposition of the Sioux was overcome by a 
 judicious present of tobacco and corn. 
 
 The ingenious Mr. Manuel Lisa, who had already made overtures 
 for a junction of the two expeditions for purposes of mutual defence, 
 now came up with his party ; and a sort of alliance, though by no 
 means a cordial one, was made. It soon appeared, however, that Lisa 
 was endeavouring to detach some of Mr. Hunt's men from their 
 allegiance. An attempt made to tamper with the redoubtable Pierre 
 Dorion put that worthy personage into a fury, an allusion having been 
 indiscreetly made to that ancient grievance the whiskey debt ; a quarrel 
 occurred which almost led to bloodshed, and McClellan openly declared 
 that he would shoot Lisa dead on the least appearance of treachery. 
 
 All confidence between the two sides being now at an end, the 
 rival parties coasted on opposite sides of the river, Mr. Hunt taking 
 especial care to keep slightly in advance, that Lisa might not get the 
 start of him, and work upon the Indians to his prejudice. And now 
 they entered the pathless wastes in which the great herds of buffalo, 
 the chief source of support to some of the Indian tribes, w.ere roaming 
 in unchecked freedom. We are told, " At one place the shores seemed 
 absolutely lined with buffaloes ; many were making their way across 
 the stream, snorting, and blowing, and floundering. Numbers, in spite 
 of every effort, were borne by the rapid current within shot of the 
 boat, and several were kUled. At another place a number were 
 
 F 
 
66 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 descried on the beach of a small island, under the shade of the trees, 
 or standing in the water like cattle, to avoid the flies and the heat of 
 the day. » * * Besides the buffaloes, we saw abundance of deer, and 
 frequent gangs of stately elks, together with light troops of sprightly 
 antelopes, the fleetest and most beautiful inhabitants of the prairies." 
 
 There are two kinds of antelopes in these regions : one nearly the 
 size of the common deer, the other not much larger than a goat. 
 Their colour is a light grey, or rather dun, spotted with white, 
 and they hare small horns, like those of a deer, which they never 
 shed. Nothing can surpass the delicate and elegant finish of their 
 limbs, in which lightness, elasticity, and strength are wonderfully 
 combined. All the attitudes and movements of this beautiful animal 
 are. graceful and picturesque ; and it is altogether a fit subject for the 
 fanciful uses of the poet, as the oft-sung gazelle of the East. John 
 Day, the hunter, was very successful in shooting these beautiful 
 animals. He used to attract them by fastening a handkerchief to the 
 end of a ramrod, and waving it in the air, while he lay concealed 
 among the long grass ; the antelopes, coming up to inspect the novel 
 sight, were shot down as they came within the range of the marksman. 
 
 At a village of the Aricara Indians, the travellers had an opportunity 
 of seeing the excellent horsemanship of the Indians. They seemed 
 almost to live on horseback, and even the smallest children were 
 fastened on the backs of shaggy ponies. Their skill in horse-breaking 
 and horse-stealing was remarkable. The Cheyenne Jndians rival the 
 Arioaras in their skill as riders. 
 
 The march across the prairies towards the west was far more toil- 
 some and harassing than the navigation of the river. Sometimes the 
 travellers were in great straits for provisions, at others they were 
 menaced with Indian attacks. It was very difficult to procure horses 
 for the transport of the baggage and goods ; and it was amid difficulty 
 of every kind that they slowly made their way westward towards the 
 Rocky Mountains. Some alarm was created more than once in the 
 camp by the discovery of tracks of the grizzly bear. William Cannon, 
 one of the hunters attached to the expedition, had a narrow escape 
 from one of these formidable animals. Cannon had been bantered 
 somewhat freely by his companions on his ill-success in hunting, and 
 Ilia inaccuracy as a marksman. He one day sallied forth alone, deter- 
 mined to bring home game of some kind. He was fortunate enough to 
 shoot a buffalo, and we are told, "As he was at a considerable distance 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 67 
 
 from the camp, he cut out the tongue and some of the choice bits, made 
 them into a parcel, and slinging them on his shoulders by a strap passed 
 round his forehead, as the voyageurs carry packages of goods, set out 
 all glorious for the camp, anticipating a triumph over his brother 
 hunters." But poor Cannon had not calculated on the bad company 
 he might meet by the way. In a narrow ravine a grizzly bear came 
 trotting after him. Cannon dropped the buffalo meat, and ran for his 
 life. The grizzly did not seem to care for eating buffalo when there 
 was a chance of eating hunter ; he passed the place where the meat lay 
 without even stopping to sniff at it, and kept steadily on after the 
 affrighted hunter. Cannon, almost breathless with haste and fright, 
 managed to reach a tree, into which he scrambled. Bruin established a 
 blockade at the foot of the tree, and waited with a methodical patience 
 extremely irksome to the hunter until night came on, and Cannon was 
 left to conjecture whether the bear had abandoned his post or was still 
 " on duty." The morning dawn, however, showed that he had betaken 
 himself away ; and the baffled hunter was glad to make his way back 
 to the camp, without thinking it worth while, under the circumstances, 
 to inake any search for his dropped parcel of buffalo meat. 
 
 An important point in the" journey was reached when the travellers 
 came near to the Pilot Knobs, three peaks of the Rocky Mountains 
 which serve as landmarks to companies crossing the range. In the 
 desert region they had to traverse on the western side of the range 
 they suffered terribly from hunger, thirst, and cold. It was necessary 
 to leave almost all the goods behind in pits, or, as they are called by 
 the backwoodsmen, '.' caches," made to receive them. Mr. Crooks and 
 some of the party who were unable to proceed with the rest wore left 
 behind in the wilderness; and the gloomiest apprehensions for the 
 future took possession of nearly all the wanderers. Through danger, 
 toil, and hardship, the poor squaw, the wife of Pierre Dorion, trudged 
 uncomplainingly on. She became the mother of a poor little papoose, 
 which lived but a short time after its birth. Even this event did not 
 hinder her from keeping up with the rest, and the poor woman's 
 example was of infinite service in restraining the petulance of the 
 voyageurs, who, however much disposed they might be to lament their 
 fate, could not well give way to despondency while a woman was so 
 patiently enduring hardship and want in their company. 
 
 At length after trials and sufferings innumerable, after losing 
 several of their number, and more than once almost despairing of their 
 
68 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 own chance of safety, the adventurers reached the settlement of Astoria 
 on the 15th of February, 1812. They had traversed a distance of 
 
 yt 
 
 THE ELK AND THE RED DEER. 
 
 .3, .500 miles from St. Louis, and considering the difficulties and dangers 
 of their route, their preservation seems little short of miraculous. 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 69 
 
 With the return of spring the Indian tribes who had abandoned 
 the coast in the autumn reappeared to commence their fishing. When 
 the mUd season had fairly set in, various expeditions were sent out from 
 the settlement. One was to carry a supply of goods to Mr. Stuart's 
 post on the Oakinagan ; another to search for Mr. Crooks and John 
 Day, who had been perforce left behind in the wilderness when they 
 could proceed no farther ; thirdly, it was requisite that the " cache" or 
 hiding-pit in which a great quantity of goods had been concealed 
 should be Tisited, and the goods, if they still remained in safety, 
 carried away. One of these objects, at least, was successfully accom- 
 plished. Mr. Crooks and John Day were discovered in the last 
 extremity of misery and destitution. They had fallen into the hands 
 of marauding Indians, who had literally stripped them naked, and 
 taken from them aU they possessed, not leaving them so much as a 
 flint and steel wherewith to kindle a fire. John Day afterwards became 
 insane, and put an end to his own life. The hardships of that dreadful 
 time had unsettled the poor hunter's brain. The cache was found 
 plundered of its contents. The most important expedition was to ' 
 proceed overland to New York, carrying despatches to Mr. Astor. The 
 leader of this party was a clerk, Mr. John Reed, who unfortunately • 
 chose to inclose the valuable papers in a shining tin case, an object 
 especially likely to attract the notice and raise the cupidity of the 
 Indians, who could scarcely fail to covet the gUttefing box as a " great 
 medicine." In the sequel the tin case was carried off by Indians, and 
 almost caused the death of many of the travellers. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Mr. Astor's Plans— The Beayer Fitted Out and Despatched — War between Great 
 Britain and the United States — Mr. MaodongaVs Marriage witk the Daughter 
 of Comoomly — His Equivocal Conduct — Arrival of Mr. Hunt at Astoria— 
 Macdougal Sells the Settlement to the British North- American Fur Company 
 — Surprise and Regret of Mr. Astor-^The British Tate Possession of Astoria 
 — Macdougal Joins the Pur Company — Renewed Efforts of Mr. Astor — His 
 Further Career — Conclusion. 
 
 Tl/TEANWHILE Mr. Astor, whose master mind had planned the enter- 
 prise, was determined to carry out his project of establishing a 
 trade with the Russian settlements for peltries, which should be carried 
 to China for sale. The Beaver, a fine ship of nearly 500 tons, was 
 despatched by Mr. Astor, who made an arrangement with the Russian 
 
70 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Fur Company, trading in the north-east, to supply them with stores in 
 return for peltries. The Beaver started on her voyage, and in due 
 time arrived at Astoria, from -whence she sailed to the Russian settle- 
 ments, and collected a valuable stock of furs, which Mr. Astor destined 
 to supply the market in China. Partly through various delays on the 
 voyage, partly also through the mismanagement of those to whom the 
 affair had been intrusted, this part of the enterprise resulted, like the 
 rest, in a heavy loss to the projector. 
 
 But the event which contributed more than any other to the failure 
 of the Astorian enterprise was the breaking out of the war which now 
 began between the United States and Great Britain. This rendered 
 communication by sea with the settlement hazardous and difficult, and 
 exposed the little community at the mouth of the Columbia river to 
 the chance of a visit from a hostile ship of war. Though all 
 probabilities pointed to a speedy restoration of peace between the two 
 countries, the worthy Mr. Macdougal, who occupied the place of 
 command in the settlement, felt, or affected to feel, that the fate 
 of the enterprise was sealed, and gave way to an unnecessary 
 despondency that violently contrasted with the fussy and consequential 
 airs he had formerly assumed. He had, indeed, strengthened himself 
 by cultivating friendly relations with the Indians, and had actually 
 married a daughter of the old chief Comcomly ; vastly to the satis- 
 faction of that astute personage, who glorified himself greatly on the 
 strength of having as his son-in-law a white man of such exalted 
 position, and who sent his daughter to her expectant bridegroom so 
 thoroughly painted and anointed, according to Indian notions of a 
 complete marriage toilette, that immediate and copious ablutions were 
 considered necessary before the bride could be presented to a com- 
 munity whose notions of adornment were of a very different kind. 
 
 Comcomly's alliance was of material use to the settlement. A man 
 of considerable weight and authority among his own people, he inter- 
 posed sometimes as a mediator, sometimes as a guard, between the 
 Astorians and Indian tribes less friendly than his own. A valuable 
 stock of furs had, moreover, been collected; the settlement began to get 
 into what may be considered as " working order," when the conduct of 
 Macdougal gave the final blow to the whole enterprise. 
 
 Whether his action was really inspired by fear and distrust, and 
 by the natural timidity of a mind at once restless and weak, or whether 
 the accusations afterwards made against him were well founded, and 
 
THEASTOKIANS. 71 
 
 lie sold the interests of Astoria to promote his own with the North 
 American Fur Company, will always remain a matter of conjecture. 
 Certain it is that he did not clear his character in the eyes of Mr. 
 Astor, who attributed the final failure of the enterprise to him, and did 
 not believe that he had acted in good faith. 
 
 Macdougal, in fact, resolved to take the extreme measure of 
 abandoning the settlement. He openly expressed his conviction that 
 all the chances pointed towards failure, and declared that it would be 
 far better to dispose of the stock of furs for what they would fetch, 
 to the British North American Fur Company, than to let the whole fall 
 into the hands of the enemies of the United States as a prize of war. 
 He spoke openly in the settlement of his gloomy apprehensions and 
 anticipations of evU. 
 
 "And fear, admitted into pubUo oounoilg, 
 Betrays lite treason." 
 
 Even old Comcomly at last became disgusted, and declared in con- 
 fidence to various of his own friends that his daughter had married a 
 squaw. 
 
 The active and intelligent Mr. Hunt, who arrived at Astoria shortly 
 after Macdougal had publicly announced his resolution, .testified great 
 surprise at the extreme course proposed, the necessity for which he 
 could not at all see; but he failed to shake the determination of 
 Macdougal. It is a noteworthy circumstance, moreover, that just at 
 this time three clerks, British subjects, passed with Macdougal's 
 consent from Mr. Aster's service into that of the North-Western Fur 
 Company ; and immediately afterwards a negotiation was opened by 
 Macdougal for a sale of the whole Astorian stock of furs to the 
 company before mentioned, and for a transfer to them of the settlement 
 itself. This transaction appears the more equivocal when we consider 
 the relative positions of the contracting parties at the time when it was 
 effected. Macdougal was in possession of a strong fort well supplied 
 with provisions and garrisoned by sixty men; the North-Western 
 Company, on the other hand, was in so destitute a condition that he 
 was obliged actually to feed them whUe the negotiations were being 
 carried on ; and yet he allowed them to dictate the terms of the 
 transfer, as if the whole matter had been in their hands. The stock of 
 furs passed out of the hands of the Americans at a ruinous sacrifice — 
 parcels of otter-skins worth 500 dollars were disposed of for 50, and 
 the more valuable peltries were transferred at a proportionate reduce 
 
72 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 tion. This part of the transaction seems to have affected Mr. Astor 
 more painfully than all the rest; and, indeed, there was so large a 
 portion of the stock for which nothing at all was allowed, that that 
 gentleman was quite justified in considering his property as virtually 
 given away. He soon afterwards wrote to Mr. Hunt — " Had our place 
 and our property been fairly captured, I should have preferred it. I 
 should not have felt as if I were disgraced." 
 
 Washington Irving, who gives what appears to be a most impartial 
 and moderate account of these transactions, concludes the account of 
 them in the following significant words : — " AU these maybe unmerited 
 suspicions ; but it certainly is a circumstance strongly corroborative of 
 them that Mr. Macdougal, afcortly after concluding this agreement, 
 became a member of the North- West Company, and received a share 
 productive of a handsome income." 
 
 The rest of the history of Astoria is soon told. On the 12th of 
 December in the same year, the Racoon, a British sloop of war, arrived 
 at the mouth of the Coluinbia river, the visit having been undertaken 
 at the instigation of the North- Western Fur Company, whose managers 
 pointed out that a great advantage would accrue irom the value of the 
 property in the hands of the Pacific Fur Company, represented by 
 Mr. Astor. Great was the indignation of the captain of the Racoon 
 when he found that the whole stock had already been purchased and 
 removed by the very people who had pounselled the enterprise, and 
 in his first indignation he swore that the North- West Company should 
 refund their gains to the British government. On calmer reflection, 
 however, he was obliged to content himself with formally taking 
 possession of the settlement in the name of his Britannic majesty, 
 changing the name of the place from Astoria to Fort St. George, and 
 consoled himself as -best he might for the loss of the prize-money he 
 and his officers had confidently expected to gain. Mr. Hunt, who had 
 been absent on the affairs of the settlement, arrived soon after, and 
 great was his indignation when he heard of the forced sale that had 
 taken place. Mr. Macdougal, now a partner in the North-West 
 Company, suggested that probably the goods might be repurchased at 
 an advance of 50 per cent., a proposition not calculated to appease the 
 wrath of the energetic and faithful guardian of his principal's interests. . 
 
 Nothing more remained to be done but to embark with the 
 remainder of the settlers, and thus for a time Astoria became British 
 territory. At the conclusion of the short, war it was restored to the 
 
THE ASTORIANS. 
 
 73 
 
 United States, and it is a remarkable proof of the unwearied perse- 
 verance of Mr.. Astor, and of liis wonderful tenacity of purpose, that 
 in spite of his immense losses, and the heavy and repeated disappoint- 
 ments to which he had been subjected, he was even now ready to renew 
 
 St 
 
 
 
 'i^'^v 
 
 DACOTAH CHIEF. 
 
 the enterprise, if only he could obtain what ought to have been 
 extended to him from the first — the protection and sujjport of the 
 government. To procure this he made an application to the President 
 of the United States, pointing out the obvious advantages to be gained 
 by keeping the fur trade in the hands of Americans, and the amount 
 of revenue that would be lost should the British succeed in re- 
 establishing and extending their monopoly. But the Columbia river 
 
74 THE WOELD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 with its tributary streams was now in the hands of the British, and 
 then, as now, possession was considered as "nine points of the law." The 
 American govermnent was not prepared to risk the chances of a serious 
 quarrel, and perhaps the rupture of a lately-concluded peace, for the 
 sake of an enterprise which it persisted in looking upon as a private 
 trading venture, and the opportunity was again lost. 
 
 For many years the liberal-minded merchant continued his career of 
 enterprise and usefulness in New York, and when at length that career 
 was closed, the testamentary disposition of his property showed that he 
 had been alike mindful of the claims of the land that gave him birth 
 and of the adopted country which had opened to him a career leading 
 to wealth and honour. Alike in the village whence he had gone forth 
 a penniless lad, and in the great city where he had achieved affluence, 
 rose institutions that perpetuate his memory, and render a nation 
 participators in his good fortune ; but those friends who, received into 
 his most intimate confidence, were best able to tell how far higher than 
 private emolument he valued public usefulness, were accustomed to say 
 how to the last day of his life Jacob Astor never ceased to regret the 
 splendid opportunity that had been thrown away in the premature 
 abandonment of the outwork of civilisation and commerce, founded 
 with so much toil, and danger, and suffering on the shores of the 
 mighty Pacific, at the mouth of the Columbia river. 
 
( 75 ) 
 
 MARCO POLO. 
 
 A Eemarkable Arrival — The Ttree Travellers — The Banquet — Surprise of the 
 Guests — Marco Polo and his "Works — First Journey of the Elder Poli— The 
 Tartar Empire — Jenghis Khan and his Conquests — Kublai Khan — His Wish 
 to Open Conmiunioations with Europe — His Commission to the Brothers — 
 Their Second Journey, in Company with Marco — ^Panio of their MonMsh 
 Companions — Marco's Account of Cashmere — Journey Across the Great 
 Desert of Gobi. 
 
 TN the year of grace 1295 there arrived in the splendid and wealthy 
 -*- city of Venice three travellers, whose appearance may well have 
 excited someitattention even in that place, then the emporium of 
 coromerce of the Western world, and thronged not only with travellers 
 from all parts of Christendom, but with visitors also from the lands of 
 " Heathenesse" — graye Moors, keen-eyed Copts, and many a swarthy 
 visitor from the lands that lie beneath the tropic sun. Two of our 
 travellers were men already past the prime of life, while the third had 
 not yet reached the age of forty years. Their faces were tanned and 
 weather-stained ; their threadbare garments, of a shape and make 
 imknown in Venice, proclaimed them newly arrived from some distant 
 land ; and even their speech, though Italian for the greater part, was 
 mingled with many strange words which none but themselves could 
 understand. Great was the astonishment, and equally great the doubt 
 and incredulity in Venice, when one of the sunburnt strangers 
 announced himself as MafEeo Polo, the head of a patrician family of 
 Venetian merchants, and declared his two companions to be Mccolo 
 Polo, his brother, and Marco, the son of Niccolo, just returned to their 
 native city, after an absence of no less than twenty-four years, spent 
 in travels to the farthest corners of the world. 
 
 So long a time had elapsed, indeed, since the departure of the 
 persons who had been known under these names in Venice, that the 
 city was loath to accept the statement of the travellers ; the more 
 so, perhaps, as the claims of these men to be acknowledged as the PoU 
 involved the overturning of some existing and long-established arrange- 
 ments. That three Poli had actually left Venice nearly a quarter of a 
 century before was remembered by many of the older inhabitants, but 
 
7G 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 the absent ones had long been given up as dead, and the handsome 
 palace belonging to the family in the Strada San Giovanni Chrisostomo 
 
 LEOPARDS AND PANTHER. 
 
 had for years been in the possession of one of their kindred ; and 
 admittance was at first refused them, and only at length reluctantly 
 
MAKCO POLO. 77 
 
 granted when various circumstances combiaed to prove that these 
 poorly-clad personages were indeed the long-forgotten Poll, and that 
 their marvellous tale of a long residence as honoured guests and trusted 
 ministers at the court of a great Asiatic potentate was not the fable it 
 at first appeared. Soon it became manifest, also, that the pecimiary 
 circumstances of the returned wanderers were not to be accurately 
 judged by the lowliness of their apparel. They were evidently wealthy, 
 and their' biographer, Ramusio, relates the manner in which they 
 contrived to place this important fact altogether beyond dispute. 
 
 After obtaining possession of their own house it seems they invited 
 their numerous relatives and connections to a grand banquet. This 
 mediseval house-warming was arranged on a scale that throws the most 
 splendid of> modern festivities into the shade. The three travellers 
 issued from their apartments to meet their guests in the dining-hall 
 habited in, long flowing robes of crimson satin. After the washing 
 of hands, the preliminary ceremony at grand entertainments in those 
 days, the' hosts exchanged their satin robes for siniilar dresses of 
 damask, the suits in which they had entered the banqueting-haU being 
 given as '" largesse" to the attendants. After the first course they 
 appeared in new garments more costly than the last, the material in this 
 instance being crimson velvet, and in due sequence the damask and the 
 velvet garments were given to the servants, the hosts now habiting 
 ■themselves in plain suits, such as were worn by their guests. And now 
 came a surprise which completely eclipsed, the magnificence of these 
 preliminaries. 
 
 After the servants had retired from the room, Marco Polo brought 
 in the three patched, threadbare suits which had produced so unfavour- 
 able an impression in Venice upon the return of ;the travellers. One 
 of these suits lie handed to his father, and another to his unci?, 
 retaining the remaining one for himself ; and then they all three began 
 to rip up the se^s and patches in the unsightly garments with their 
 knives; then, eVen as the toad, "ugly and venomous," is said, in 
 poetical parlance, to wear " a precious jewel in its head," so did these 
 tattered and unsightly shells disclose kernels of inestimable worth. 
 Carbuncles, sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds, cunningly sewn up in 
 the despised garments, were displayed in magnificent profusion before 
 the dazzled eyes of the guests. The travellers, it appeared, had chosen 
 this method of conveyifig home the bounty of the great Asiatic prince 
 whom they served; and all doubts as to their identity, and as to the 
 
78 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 fact of their voyaging, were at once set at rest by the display of this 
 very tangible result. 
 
 It is with the name of Marco Polo, the youngest of the three 
 travellers, that the history of the voyages they made in company has 
 been associated ; indeed, there seems to be a fitness in this, as Marco 
 imderwent the greatest perils, and was, moreover, the only one of the 
 three who left a detailed account of his wanderings. He may justly be 
 considered the Herodotus of the Middle Ages, and though he certainly 
 did not sift the infonnation he gathered during his various pilgrimages 
 with the careful reticence of a modern traveller, he is entitled to the 
 merit of telling truly and honestly, so far as his memory wiU serve him, 
 what he has witnessed in various lands ; and though marvellous tales, 
 wherein the figure hyperbole is much employed, are of frequent 
 occurrence during his work, he takes care to distiaguish between hear- 
 say and actual experience, and prefixes a cautious " They say," or I have 
 heard," to each of these tales of marvel. On the other hand, the 
 accuracy of his general statements, and the exactness of many of 
 his descriptions, have been corroborated by many subsequent travellers, 
 and though his travels were not published till long after his death, they 
 must have thrown what in those days appeared a flood of light on 
 many countries, each of which had been a terra incognita until then. 
 
 The father and uncle of Marco were, as we have mentioned, Venetian 
 merchants. Shortly before the birth of our hero, Niocolo and Maffeo 
 Polo quitted Venice on a commercial journey to the East. They 
 disposed of the goods they carried with them at Constantinople, and 
 here the idea seems to have struck them that a new market for their 
 industry, and one yielding a handsome profit, might be found still 
 farther in the East, among the Tartars on the borders of the Caspian. 
 Accordingly, they invested in jewels the money they had received for 
 their goods, crossed the Euxine to the Crimea, and thence made their 
 way eastward to the shores of the mighty Caspian. 
 
 The Tartar empire has more than once had a great influence on the 
 history and destinies of European nations. Already, in the fifth 
 century, Attila, the " Scourge of God," had poured his vast hordes of 
 hideous warriors over the affrighted West — ^the moody savage king of 
 whom the affrighted nations said that where his horse's hoof had 
 trodden the grass would grow no more, and whose hideous followers 
 the terrified imagination of the Gotliic tribes, among whom they first 
 appeared, painted as the offspring of witches and demons. The very 
 
MARCO POLO. 79 
 
 nation and city to which the Poli belonged owed its origin in some sort 
 to the invasion of this savage chief, for it was an affrighted community 
 of Italy, flying from the advance of the conqueror, after the destruction 
 of the fair and ancient city of Aquileja, who took refuge among the 
 islands and lagoons of the Adriatic, and there, on the island of Kialto, 
 laid the foundation of what afterwards became the lordly and opulent 
 Venice. In the very century in which the Poli undertook their voyage, 
 another conqueror had arisen among the Tartar race, whose achieve- 
 ments threw those of Attila into the shade, and who was destined to 
 found an empire far more wide-spread and more enduring than that of 
 the Scourge of God, whose career had been arrested by the stroke of 
 sudden death while his work was yet unfinished. Jenghis Khau, the 
 great Tartar chief, had once more made the name of the Tartar a spell 
 with which to alarm the nations, and now his grandson, Kublai Khan, 
 was strengthening and indefinitely extending the power his great 
 ancestor had founded. Once more, in the thirteenth century, had the 
 Tartars broken forth from the deserts, of Asia, and poured over the 
 plains of the West in a flood which the best efforts of the armies of 
 Europe were unable to stem ; and it had even been feared that Western 
 civilisation and Christianity itself would perish beneath the fierce 
 onslaught of the invaders, when the death of a Khan providentially 
 called back the leader of the host that had invaded Europe, and for a 
 tune averted the danger. Such were the circumstances under which 
 the Poli began their enterprising travels among a nation as much 
 dreaded as it was imperfectly known. 
 
 In its commercial aspect, the journey of the brothers was eminently 
 successful. They disposed of their jewels to good advantage, and were 
 about to take leave of the friendly Tartar chief who ruled the part of 
 the country into which they had penetrated, when the breaking out of 
 hostilities between him and some Western tribes cut off the road to 
 Constantinople. Accordingly, they turned their faces once more to the 
 East, and were soon after persuaded by an ambassador of the Grand 
 IQian, whom they met in the city of Bokhara, to extend their travels 
 still farther, and seek an interview with Kublai Khan himself, and 
 after a long and tedious journey through ^nowy deserts and across 
 barren plains, they arrived at the conqueror's court. 
 
 Kublai Khan received his visitors very graciously. They were the 
 first Italians who had arrived at his court, and he evidently appreciated 
 their zeal and perseverance, and showed every desire to do them all 
 
80 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 honour. He expressed an anxiety to enter into relations of friendship 
 and alliance with the papal power, and intrusted his visitors with a 
 royal letter to the Pope, wherein he requested that a certain number of 
 learned men might be sent to him, with a view of converting his people 
 to the Christian faith, and to teach them the principles of the sciences. 
 He also furnished them with a most convenient and useful passport, in 
 the shape of a golden tablet displaying the imperial sign manual, or 
 " grand chop," the possession of which warrant frequently procured 
 for the travellers gratuitous food and lodging, besides all necessary 
 
 protection on their journey for themselves and their suite. JIuch has 
 been said concerning the advantages of a British Foreign Office passport 
 to travellers journeying on the continent, but they sink into insignifi- 
 cance compared with the merits of a document which absolves the 
 bearer from paying hotel bills. 
 
 This first voyage of the Poll has here been indicated in a very 
 summary manner, but its accomplishment occupied a long time. The 
 brothers had been many years absent from Venice, though the dates in 
 the narrative are so confused that it is almost impossible to fix the 
 precise period. The wife of Niccolo Polo had long been dead, but 
 shortly after the departure of her husband from Venice she had given 
 birth to a son, Marco. 
 
 This Marco was now a well-grown youth, inheriting to the full the 
 enterprise and energy of his father and uncle, and gifted with the 
 
MARCO POLO. 
 
 81 
 
 mingled determination and caution which form tlie cliief qualification 
 of the explorer. The Pope to whom the Khan's letter had been 
 addressed was, however, dead, and a considerable time elapsed before 
 the college of cardinals appointed his successor. The choice at length 
 fell upon a bishop who knew the Poli, and who was strongly interested 
 in their cause. Trebaldo, the former legate at Acre, was raised to the 
 papal throne as Gregory X., and furnished by him with presents to the 
 Ivhan, and accompanied by two Dominican friars, to whom ample 
 authority had been given in such matters ecclesiastic as the ordination 
 
 of priests and the consecration of bishops, the two elder Poli once 
 more set out for the dominions of the Grand Khan, with young Marco 
 in their company. This was at the end of 1271 or the beginning of 
 1272. 
 
 Contrary to the general rule of their order, whose monks were in 
 those days among the most zealous and self-sacrificing of missionaries, 
 the two friars quickly gave up the enterprise. They were alarmed at 
 an invasion of Armenia which had been undertaken shortly before by 
 the Sultan of Babylon, and hastened to deliver up their credentials to 
 the Poli, and to place themselves under the protection of the Knights 
 Templars. But the enterprise of the combined merchant and traveller, 
 characteristic of the PoU family, would not allow our three Venetians 
 to give up their enterprise in this its earliest stage. They had started 
 with the idea of visiting Kublai Khan's coast, and to Kublai Khan's 
 
 G 
 
82 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 coast they were determined to penetrate ; therefore bidding farewell to 
 the recreant friars, they pushed forward to the north-west, trading on 
 their route whenever an opportunity offered. Their progress was slow. 
 Thus in the country of Badakhshan, near the sources of the Oxus, they 
 lingered for a whole year, and thence penetrated into the territory of 
 "famed Cashmere." 
 
 Marco's description of this region shows that he was not free from 
 the superstition of the thirteenth century regarding the practice of 
 magic. The particulars he gives concerning the country have been 
 abundantly verified by later travellers. In his chapter " On the 
 Province of Kesmur" he teUs us — "Its inhabitants have their peculiar 
 language. They are adepts beyond all others in the arts of magic, 
 insomuch that they can compel their idols, though by nature dumb and 
 deaf, to speak : they can likewise obscure the day, and perform many 
 other miracles. They are pre-eminent among the idolatrous nations, 
 and from them the idols worshipped in other parts proceed. From this 
 country there is a communication by water with the Indian Sea. The 
 natives are of a dark complexion, but by no means black, and the 
 women, although dark, are very comely. Their food is flesh, with rice 
 and other grains, yet they are in general of a spare habit. The climate 
 is moderately warm. * * * ^jjg natives of this 
 
 country do not deprive any creature of life, nor shed blood, and if they 
 are inclined to eat flesh meat, it is necessary that the Mahometans, who 
 reside amongst them, should slay the animal. The article of coral, 
 carried thither from Europe, is sold at a higher price than in any other 
 part of the world." 
 
 From this favoured region the travellers pursued their journey 
 through the present Afghanistan, where Marco especially notices the 
 large-horned goat, and so on to Bucharia to the famed city of Kashgar. 
 Our author does not entertain a high opinion of the inhabitants of the 
 city and region of Kashgar. Though he does justice to their industry 
 and ability, he describes them as a sordid and covetous race, eating 
 badly, and, adds Messer Marco emphatically, " drinking worse." This 
 latter must have been a serious defect in the eyes of the young 
 Venetian. 
 
 One of the most toilsome events of the journey was the crossing the 
 great desert of Gobi— the " Hungry Desert" or " Sea of Sand." The 
 part of the account of this journey wherein our traveller details his 
 personal experiences is accurate enough, but here, as elsewhere, he 
 
MAECO POLO. 83 
 
 repeats with undoubting good faith the marvellous tales which he hears, 
 so that the real dangers and discomfort of the journey across the desert 
 of Gobi are here and there heightened by imaginary terrors. No doubt 
 these wonderfiU tales arose in part from natural phenomena imperfectly 
 understood, such as the mirage. Appearances of this kind, viewed by 
 persons whose imaginations are rendered perhaps morbidly acute by 
 fatigue and fear, naturally assume terrifto shapes, and give rise to tales 
 of wonder, and these tales ovir worthy Marco seems to have reproduced 
 with much simplicity, giving them apparently to his readers for what 
 they are worth. He speaks of the journey across the desert in its 
 narrowest part as occupying a month. " During these thirty days," he 
 says, " the journey is invariably over sandy plains or barren mountains, 
 but at the end of each day's march you stop at a place where water is 
 procurable — ^not, indeed, in sufficient quantity, for large munbers, but 
 enough to supply a hundred persons, together with their beasts of 
 burden. At three or four of these halting-places the water is salt and 
 bitter, but at the others, amounting to about twenty, it is sweet and 
 good. In this tract neither beasts nor birds are met with, because 
 there is no kind of food for them." Then he goes on to speak of the 
 supernatural wonders of the great desert, of travellers belonging to 
 caravans who, loitering behiad their companions, have heard familiar 
 voices calling to decoy them from their road ; of phantom bodies of 
 cavalry appearing to the startled traveller, and causing him to take to 
 flight in terror of being plundered, so that he perishes miserably of 
 hunger in the pathless waste ; of spirits of the desert, who fiU the air 
 with the sounds of martial music and the clash of arms, to the dismay 
 of the travellers, who expect an immediate attack. " Such," says 
 Marco Polo, " are the excessive troubles and dangers that must un- 
 avoidably be encountered in the passage of this desert." 
 
84 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 n. 
 
 Arrival at the Confines of Clima — ^Reception by Elublai Khan — Aooount of the 
 Alligator — Elephants and Rhinoceroses — Talent and Energy of Marco— The 
 Poll Promoted by Kublai Khan — ^Account of China — Desire of the Poli to 
 Return Home — Refusal of the Khan — Opportunity Afforded by the Proposed 
 Marriage of the Khan's Granddaughter — Proposal to Reach the Borders of 
 Persia by Sea — The Khan's Parting Injunctions. 
 
 T ONG- journeyings succeeded the crossing of the desert of Gobi. 
 During these Marco records many things then considered new and 
 strange, but now " familiar as household words." Among others he 
 describes the rhubarb-plant, and the cloth made from asbestos, " in the 
 nature of a salamander." At length the party reached the confines of 
 • China, and here they were detained a whole year, for the IChan was 
 absent on a distant expedition, and they and their mission seemed to 
 have been forgotten. But at length they were admitted into the 
 presence of the great Kublai, and performed the kotoo, or nine pros- 
 trations. The conqueror, who was at that time engaged in the conquest 
 of China, from whence he expelled the Ming dynasty, received the 
 travellers as graciously as before, and extended his especial favour to 
 young Marco, whom he employed in many affairs of importance. At 
 one time he made him governor of a province for three years, a period 
 beyond which, according to the laws of ihe empire, no ofi&cer could 
 hold authority in the same place. 
 
 Among the animals here met with, Marco Polo especially notices 
 the yak and the mUsk animal, the account given of which is much more 
 accurate than the particulars wherewith we are favoured .concerning 
 the alligator, which Marco describes as a huge serpent with two feet. 
 His account, in another pai?t of his work, of the rhinoceros, of which 
 many wondrous fables had been reported, the shape of the creature 
 being even altered to that of the graceful unicorn, is much more correct. 
 He tells us — 
 
 "In this country" (he is speaking of Java) "are many wild 
 elephants and rhinoceroses, which latter are much inferior in size to the 
 elephant, but their feet are similar. Their hide resembles that of the 
 buffalo. In the middle of the forehead they have a single horn, but 
 with this weapon they do not injure those whom they attack, employing 
 only for this purpose their tongue, which is armed with long sharp 
 spines, and their knees or feet, their mode of assault being to trample 
 
MARCO POLO. 
 
 85 
 
 upon the person, and then to lacerate him with the tongue. Their 
 head is like that of a wild boar, and they carry it low towards the 
 
 THE ItHINOCEROS. 
 
 groimd. They take delight in muddy pools, and are filthy in their 
 habits. They are not of that description of animals which suffer thera- 
 selyes to be taken by maidens, as some people suppose, but are quite of 
 
86 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 a contrary nature." He adds — "There are found in this district 
 monkeys of Tarious sorts, and vultures as black as crows, which are of 
 a large size, and pursue the quarry in a good style." 
 
 Marco appears to have been in many respects a model traveller, 
 sparing no pains to acquire the languages of the countries he visited, 
 anxious to please the Khan by activity in business, and not neglectful of 
 his private affairs when circumstances permitted him to make a journey 
 on his own account. Like his father and uncle, he seems to have lived 
 on the very best terms with Kublai Khan, and describes his position, 
 speaking of himself in the third person, modestly, yet with a certain 
 sense of dignity. He says — 
 
 " Marco, on his part, perceiving that the Grand Khan took a pleasure 
 in hearing accounts of whatever was new to him respecting the customs 
 and manners of people, and the peculiar circumstances of distant 
 countries, endeavoured, wherever he went, to obtain correct information 
 on these subjects, and made notes of aU he saw and heard, in order to 
 gratify the curiosity of his master. In short, during seventeen years 
 that he continued in his service he rendered himself so useful that he 
 was employed in confidential missions to every part of the empire and 
 its dependencies, and sometimes also he travelled on his private accovmt, 
 but always with the consent, and sanctioned by the authority, of the 
 Grand Khan. Under such circimistances it was that Marco Polo had 
 the opportunity of acquiring a knowledge, either by his own observation 
 or by what he collected from others, of so many things, until his time 
 unknown, respecting the eastern parts of the world, and which he 
 diligently and regularly committed to writing, as in the sequel will 
 appear." 
 
 Our traveller liere speaks truly. His position at the court of 
 Kublai gave him peculiar and exceptional facilities, of which he 
 availed himself to the utmost ; and it may be added that what he saw 
 " by his own observation" he generally describes with tolerable accu- 
 racy ; it is in "what he collected from others" that the strong flavour 
 of the marvellous and the supernatural is found. And, indeed, this 
 credulity of our good Marco is not so wonderful as may at first appear. 
 Here was a man surrounded with things which, familiar as they are to 
 the children of this age, from their spelling-book days upward, were 
 to him strange and new. In China he found cities and provinces whose 
 population and extent far exceeded the population and extent of the 
 famous Italian republics ; he saw public works whose magnitude akto- 
 
MAKCO POLO. 87 
 
 nished him; where he had expected, according to the ideas of his 
 countrymen, to find a savage and barbarous people, little advanced in 
 civilisation beyond the state of nomadic tribes, he found a mighty and 
 ■well-organised empire, full of industry and wealth, teeming with a vast 
 population, and ruled by a prince of considerable power, enlighten- 
 ment, and talent ; and every day brought under his own observation 
 things new a,nd strange, of which tiU then he had had no conception. 
 It is hardly to be wondered at, therefore, "that he was ready to give ear 
 to any new marvel the report of which might reach him ; and that 
 imaginative tellers of wondrous tales found in him. a ready and willing 
 listener. It must be remembered, moreover, that the travels of Marco 
 Polo were written down long before the invention of printing ; that 
 there are many traces of interpolations in the work; and that very 
 probably some of the most marvellous tales, and many of the most 
 glaring inaccuracies, have been added long after the death of the 
 original author of the travels by the transcribers who copied his work. 
 At length, after many years of residence, in wealth and honour, at 
 the court of the great Kublai, our travellers began to think of turning 
 their faces homewards. The two elder PoU were now advanced in 
 years, and were naturally anxious to see their native land again, and 
 after their many perils and wanderings to husband out life's taper at 
 the close, and spend the evening of their days in the beautiful city of 
 the Adriatic. But when the subject of their departure was mooted to 
 the aged Kublai Khan, that gracious but despotic prince would in 
 no wise grant them leave to go. If they wanted more wealth and 
 honours, he said, he had enough to satisfy them to the utmost of their 
 expectations ; but they had become indispensable to him, and must 
 remain where they were ; nor did he seem to understand what attrac- 
 tions the distant city of Venice could have to compensate them for 
 what they would lose in quitting his empire, or to warrant the long 
 and perilous journey they must undertake to get there. Chance, how- 
 ever, not long afterwards came to their aid, and procured them the 
 permission they had sought in vain. It happened that a certain Prince 
 Arghun, a Tartar chief who ruled in Persia, and who was a relation of 
 Kublai Khan, was in want of a wife, and despatched an embassy to the 
 great emperor to solicit that a lady of the family of Kublai might be 
 sent to him from China. Kublai accordingly determined to bestow on 
 Arghun one of his grandchildren, a young princess of seventeen, who 
 accordingly set forth with the ambassadors to go with them to Persia. 
 
88 THii; WOEIJ)'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 But the turbulent state of some of the intervening countries rendered 
 it impossible to traverse them ; and after vain efforts, during several 
 months, the embassy and the princess -were obliged to turn back, and 
 made their appearance once more in China at the capital of Kublai. 
 Now Marco had made more than one voyage on the Indian Ocean ; and 
 when, on returning from one of his voyages, he found the princess and 
 the ambassadors, as it were, land-locked, and unable to depart, he 
 boldly proposed to carry them to Persia by sea, declaring that, if he 
 were furnished with a proper fleet, he would bring them to the Persian 
 Gulf more cheaply and far more safely than they could travel by land. 
 This was a welcome proposition to the ambassadors, who had been 
 three years absent from their own country, and were naturally anxious 
 to return homfi; and therefore Marco strongly urged them to use 
 every endeavour to obtain the consent of Kublai Khan, without whose 
 permission nothing could be done in the matter. 
 
 Marco says — " Should his majesty incline to give his consent, the 
 ambassadors were then to urge him to' suffer the three Europeans" 
 (namely, himself and his father and uncle), " as being all persons skilled 
 in the practice of navigation, to accompany them until they should 
 reach the territory of King Arghun." The Grand Khan, upon receiving 
 this application, showed by his countenance that it was exceedingly 
 displeasing to him, averse as he was to parting with the Venetians. 
 Feeling, nevertheless, that he could not with propriety do otherwise 
 than consent, he yielded to their entreaty. Had it not been that he 
 found himself constrained by the importance and urgency of this 
 peculiar case, they would never have obtained permission to withdraw 
 themselves from his service. He sent for them, however, and addressed 
 them with much kindness and condescension, assuring them of his 
 regard, and requiring of them a promise ' that when they should have 
 resided some time in Europe, and with their own family, they would 
 return to him once more. With this object in view he caused them to 
 be furnished with the golden tablet, or imperial passport, which con- 
 tained his order for their having free and safe conduct through every 
 part of his dominions, with the needful supplies for themselves and their 
 attendants. He likewise gave them authority to act in the capacity of 
 his ambassadors to the Pope, the Kings of France and Spain, and the 
 other Christian princes. 
 
MARCO POLO. 
 
 89 
 
 .i* 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 THE HIPPOPOTAMtrS. 
 
 III. 
 
 Homeward Voyage of the PoU— Java— Descriptiun of Sumatra-Counterfeit 
 Mummies of DiminutiTe Men— Aooount of Zeilan, or Ceylon— Summary 
 Judicial Practice— Madagascar— Account of the Boo, or Rukh— The Island 
 of Socotra- Description of Various Animals— Accurate Particulars con- 
 cerning the Giraffe, or Camelopard— IntelUgence of King Arghun's Death- 
 Arrival of the Poll in Venice. 
 
 FUKTHER enriched by the liberality of the Khan, the Poll departed, 
 with a gallant fleet of fourteen large ships, from the land where they 
 had acquired so much wealth and honour. And now commences a new 
 chapter in the wanderings of these indefatigable voyagers. It was at 
 the beginning of the year 1291 that they set sail from the Pekin river, 
 touched at the present Amoy, then caUed Hia-muen, and steered along 
 the coast of Coohin-China to Isiampa. The description given of Java 
 is evidently derived from hearsay. Thence the travellers proceeded to 
 the eastern entrance of Malacca Straits, and so on to Sumatra, where 
 
90 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 they stayed five months, till the season was favourable for crossing the 
 Bay of Bengal, the most arduous stage of their journey. 
 
 In his chapter on Sumatra, which he calls " Java Minor," Marco 
 gives an account of a curious imposture sometimes practised in Europe 
 in those days, in the sale of so-caUed mummies of a diminutive race of 
 men, whose existence in those days it was as heterodox to doubt as to 
 express disbelief in the existence of mermaids. Marco Polo gives the 
 following account of these monkey-mongers: — "It should be known 
 that what is reported respecting the dried bodies of diminutive human 
 creatures, or pigmies, brought from Lidia, is an idle tale, such pretended 
 men being manufactured in this island in the following manner : — The 
 country produces a species of monkey of a tolerable size, and having a 
 countenance resembling th^t of a man. Those persons who make it 
 their business to catch them shave off the hair and tail, leaving the 
 hair only about the chin, and where it grows on a man. They then dry 
 and preserve them with camphor and other drugs, and having prepared 
 them in such a mode that they have exactly the appearance of little 
 men, they put them into wooden boxes, and sell them to trading people, 
 who carry them to all parts of the world. But this is merely an impo- 
 sition, the practice being such as we have described ; and neither in 
 India nor in any other coxmtry, however wild and little known, 
 have pigmies been found of a form so dimnutive as these monkeys 
 exhibit." 
 
 In a short chapter on the Angaman or Andaman Islands, our 
 traveller speaks of the ferocity and cannibalism of the inhabitants — a 
 fact abundantly corroborated by subsecjuent voyagers. He describes 
 them as a most brutish and savage race, having heads, eyes, and teeth 
 resembling those of the canine species. Then we are taken across to 
 the island of ZeUan, or Ceylon, of which Marco gives an account that 
 must have been looked upon as fabulous by those to whom it was first 
 related, though Cordiner, many centuries afterwards, confirmed its 
 accuracy in every important particular. The pearl fishery is very 
 accurately described, even to the fact of the en^loyment of enchanters 
 or magicians to charm away -the sharks — a precaution considered bo 
 necessary by the divers, that they will not venture to ply their sub- 
 marine avocations unless one of these impostors is present to insure, 
 as they fancy, their safety. He notices, also, the self-immolation 
 practised by superstitious natives, and the practice of suttee, or the 
 burning of the wife on the funeral pile of the dead husband. The 
 
MAECO POLO. 91 
 
 Cingalese mode of olDtaining satisfaction from a debtor in Marco's time 
 ■was so curious and summary that it may be given in the author's own 
 words; it certainly seems a considerable improvement on the more 
 lengthy and tedious practice of Western nations. 
 
 "Offences in this country," says Marco, "are punished with strict 
 and exemplary justice, and with regard to debtors the following customs 
 prevail : — If application for payment shall have been repeatedly made 
 by a creditor, and the debtor puts him oS from time to time with 
 fallacious promises, the former may attach his person by drawing a 
 circle round him, from whence he dares not depart until he has satisfied 
 his creditor, either by payment or by giving adequate security. Should 
 he attempt to make his escape, he renders himself liable to the punish- 
 ment of death, as a violator of the rules of justice. Messer Marco, 
 when he was in this country, on his return homeward, happened to be 
 an eyewitness of a remarkable transaction of this nature. The king was 
 indebted in a sum of money to a certain foreign merchant,, and although 
 frequently importuned for payment, amused him for a long time with 
 vain assurances. One day, when the king was ridihg on horseback, the 
 merchant took the opportunity of describing a circle round him and his 
 horse. As soon as the king perceived what had been done, he imme- 
 diately ceased to proceed, nor did he move from the spot until the 
 demand of the merchant was fully satisfied. The bystanders beheld 
 what passed with admiratibn, and pronounced that king to merit the 
 title of most just who himself submitted to the laws of justice." Truly 
 a summary way of procuring payment, but scarcely suited to modern 
 times ; for how many people might not find themselves suddenly and 
 unexpectedly confined within the charmed circle? 
 
 Readers of the Arabian Nights — and who has not read that charming 
 work ? — must remember two celebrated episodes in the adventures of 
 the indomitable Sindbad the Sailor — one tells of the valley of diamonds 
 and the methods of obtaining those precious gems by throwing pieces 
 of meat into the valley to be picked up by the eagles who frequented 
 it, and who afterwards were compelled to drop the flesh, to which the 
 stones were found adhering. The other relates to the gigantic bird 
 called the roc or rukh, by whose means Sindbad was rescued from 
 imminent death. Both these tales were told to Marco, who reproduces 
 the first tale with his simple prefix, "Messer Marco was told," and 
 evidently leaves it to the reader to believe or disbelieve, as their 
 credulity or scepticism may prompt. The story concerning the mar- 
 
92 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLOKERS. 
 
 vellous bird he gives thus, among some hearsay intelligence he has 
 collected concerning the island of Madagascar: — "The people of the 
 
 CONDOE AND VULTUKES. 
 
 island assert that at a certain season of the year an extraordinary kind 
 of bird, which they call a rukh, makes its appearance from the southern 
 
MARCO POLO. 93 
 
 re-ion In form it is said to resemble tlie eagle, but it is incomparably 
 greater in size, being so large and strong as to seize an elephant m its 
 
 talons, and to lift it into the air, from whence it lets it faU to the 
 ground, in order that when dead it may prey upon the carcass. Persons 
 
91 THE WORLD'S EXPLOKERS. 
 
 who have seen this bird assert that when the wings are spread they 
 measure sixteen paces in extent, from point to point, and that the 
 feathers are eight paces in length, and thick in proportion. Messer 
 Marco Polo, conceiving that these creatures might be griffins, such as 
 are represented in paintings, half bird and half lion, particularly ques- 
 tiouod those who reported their having seen them as to this point, but 
 they maintained that their shape was altogether that of a bird, or, as it 
 may be said, of the eagle. The Grand Khan having heard this extraordi- 
 nary relation, sent messengers to the island, on the pretext of demanding 
 the release of one of his servants who had been detained there, but in 
 truth to examine into the circumstances of the country and the truth of 
 the wonderful things told of it. "When they returned to the presence 
 of his majesty, they brought with them (as I have heard) a feather of 
 the rukh, positively affirmed to have measured ninety spans, and the 
 quill part to have been two spans in carcum^erence. This surprising 
 exhibition afforded his majesty extreme pleasure, and upon those by 
 whom it was presented he bestowed valuable gifts." We consider that 
 they were bold men, these envoys of his majesty, for the penalty, had 
 they been detected in hoaxing the Khan, could not have been a light 
 one. Or did the hoax merely consist in the report made to the 
 credulous Venetian ? 
 
 That the stories of the rukh have their origin in tales originally 
 told of large condors and vultures, and exaggerated as they passed into 
 traditions, there can be little doubt ; or perhaps geological traces of 
 gigantic antediluvian birds, such as have been met with in New Zealand 
 and elsewhere, may have something to do with the mystery. 
 
 In spealdng of the island of Socotra, or, as he calls it, Socooteraa, 
 at the north-eastern extremity of Africa, Marco gives some particulars, 
 correctly enough, concerning the whale fishery, and the obtainiog of 
 oil and ambergris. He explains how the whale is harpooned, and how, 
 after the creature has been struck, he tells us that — "To the iron a 
 long rope is fastened with a buoy at the end, for the purpose of 
 discovering the place where the fish, when dead, is to be found." It is 
 strange, however, that in all his wanderings our traveller makes no 
 mention of the great wall of China, which he must, in the course of his 
 travels, have seen more than once. On that stupendous piece of 
 engineering, the Grand Canal, on the other hand, he bestows a warm 
 tribute of well-deserved admiration. Some writers suppose, and indeed 
 it seems reasonable, that as Marco's travels are written in short detailed 
 
MARCO POLO. 95 
 
 chapters, some of these have been lost through the facte of certain of 
 the transcribers. This is the more probable, as in the edition of the 
 learned Ramusio there is evidently an omission of this kind, one chapter 
 at least having been dropped out of Ramusio's book, though reference is 
 made to it in a subsequent portion of the work. 
 
 The tiger is frequently mentioned in Marco's travels under the nobler 
 name of the lion. In one passage reference is evidently made to the 
 animal called the cheitah, or hunting leopard. We are told that " The 
 Grand Khan has many leopards and lynxes kept for the purpose of 
 chasing deer, and also many lions, which are larger than the Babylonian 
 lions, have good skins and of a handsome colour, being streaked length- 
 ways with white, black, and red stripes. They are active in seizing- 
 boars, wild oxen and asses, bears, stags, roebucks, and other beasts 
 that are the objects of sport. It is an admirable sight when the lion 
 is let loose in pursuit of the animal to observe the savage eagerness 
 and speed with which he overtakes it. His majesty has them conveyed 
 for the purpose in cages placed upon cars, and along with them is con- 
 fined a little dog, with which they become familiarised." The Khan, we 
 are told, had also eagles trained to stoop at wolves. 
 
 A very correct account is given of the giraffe* or camelopard, which 
 Marco describes as a handsome beast. He says — " Its body is well 
 proportioned, the fore-legs long and high, the hind-legs short, the neck 
 very long, the head small, and in its manners it is gentle. Its pre- 
 vailing colour is light, with circular reddish spots." He also mentions 
 the custom practised by some nations of making elephants encounter 
 each other in mortal combat. 
 
 Eighteen months had elapsed from the sailing of the fleet when it 
 reached Ormuz, on the Persian Gulf, the place of its destination. By 
 this time the numbers of the voyagers had been woefully decreased by 
 the vicissitudes and perils inseparable from a long voyage. Marco 
 relates that no less than six hundred men had perished, while of the 
 women who formed the suite of the princess there had died only one. 
 After all, the object of the long sea voyage could not be accomphshed, 
 for at Ormuz the travellers received intelligence that King Arghuu 
 had been dead some time. His son, who was of tender age, had 
 sijcceeded him, and during the minority of the young king the affairs 
 of the nation were administered by the prime minister Kiakato. By 
 the direction of the regent, the princess was handed over to the young 
 prince, and thus the responsibility of the Poli with regard to her 
 
96 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 terminated. We are not told what was the further history of the 
 granddaughter of Kublai Khan, who had come so far in quest of 
 a husband. 
 
 Soon- after, whUe on their homeward journey, our travellers received 
 the news of the death of their generous friend and patron, the aged 
 Kublai Khan. They hastened onward 'with what speed they might 
 to Trebizond and Constantinople, whence they proceeded to Venice, 
 arriving in their native city, after an absence of nearly a quarter of a 
 century, in the year 1296. Immediately after their arrival the famous 
 banquet was given which has been already described. 
 
( 97 ) 
 
 COMMODORE ANSON'S VOYAGE EOUND 
 THE WORLD. 
 
 Heroism of Britiah. Sailors — ^Warwith Spain in 1739— The Riglat of Searcli — 
 Captain Jenkins and Ms Grievances — The Manilla Galleon — Anson's 
 Squadron Fitted Out — Embarkation of Chelsea Pensioners — Crowded Stats 
 of the Ships — Disease and Death on Board the Ships— The Trial's Disaster 
 I — Arrival at Port St. Julian, on the Patagonian Coast — Departure of the 
 Squadron for Strait-le-Maire — Intelligence of the Spanish Squadron. 
 
 CJTRICTLY speaking, the celebrated voyage of tlie squadron which 
 ^ started from England in 1740, under the command of the valiant 
 Anson, cannot be classed among exploring expeditions. The equip- 
 ment and the objects of the fleet were altogether warlike, and no 
 scientific aim animated the brave men who were destined to undergo 
 dismal suffering and hardship, and most of whom' bade farewell to their 
 country and friends for the last time when they embarked on that 
 memorable voyage. But as the globe was circumnavigated by the 
 gallant Centurion before she once more entered the Channel, years 
 afterwards, a battered hulk, and as the result of the voyage increased 
 the geographical knowledge of the time, as well as the warlike prestige 
 of Great Britain on the ocean, an account of the sufferings and perils of 
 Anson's crews may find a fitting place in a narrative of adventures of 
 the World's Explorers. And, indeed, in few pages of our naval annals 
 does the indomitable spirit of the British seaman appear in brighter 
 colours than in the plain, unadorned narrative of the voyage of Anson, 
 published in 1748 by the Rev. Mr. Walter, who accompanied the 
 Centurion as chaplain. Peril, misfortune, and suffering in their most 
 ghastly shapes hovered round the ill-fated ships from the beginning to 
 the end of the enterprise. More than once, for months together, the 
 most sanguine spirits must have been secretly calculating how long the 
 crazy, storm-beaten planks that interposed between them and destruc- 
 tion could resist the death that raged around them, eager to fores an 
 
 II 
 
98 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 entrance ; or how many days -would elapse before the pestilence that 
 stalked in their midst should lay its ruthless hand upon the last of their 
 number, and leave the shattered vessels, already scarcely under their 
 control, to drift at random upon the long swell of the ocean, to be 
 found by later navigators manned wjth corpses, like Sir Hugh 
 Willoughby's ship two centuries before. Even the intrepid commander 
 himself — ^bravest among the brave as he was — must sonietimes have had 
 a dark foreboding of the time when his crews, able to struggle no 
 longer against wind and wave, and pestilence and blank disappoint- 
 ment, should give up the task in despair. But throughout all, that 
 ■ wonderful instinct of obedience — that sense of " doing his duty" to 
 which he who had the best right to understand the nature of the 
 British sailor appealed on the tremendous day of Trafalgar — maintained 
 discipline and honour in the breast of each weary and toilworn mariner ; 
 and nobly did those brave men die with their officers in generous 
 rivalry, anxious only to do their duty to kin and country so long as life 
 should last. 
 
 It was in the year 1739 that the heartburnings and jealousies that 
 had long existed between the maritime powers of Great Britain and 
 Spain, after an abortive attempt at compromise, culminated in war. 
 On the coast of America washed by the great Pacific, known in those, 
 parts as the Spanish Main, and in a lesser degree along the eastern 
 coast-line of the great continent, the Spaniards arrogated to themselves 
 certain rights and privileges against which the spirit of the British tars 
 had long risen in sturdy rebellion, and which were scarcely less offensive 
 to the British merchants whose ships navigated those distant seas. 
 Foremost among these assumed privileges was the obnoxious right of 
 search. The Spaniards were in the habit of boarding all foreign vessels 
 they encountered to search for contraband goods ; and this inquisitorial 
 practice became additionally distasteful from the arrogant and op- 
 pressive manner in which the search was frequently carried on. 
 Louder and fiercer grew the expressions of defiance and anger ; the 
 matter quickly assumed national importance ; and at length an event 
 occurred which blew the smouldering embers of discontent into a 
 flame. 
 
 In 1738 there was examined at the bar of the House of Commons a 
 man whose statement, even in those days of imperfect and hearsay 
 reports of legislative proceedings, aroused a thrill of indignation 
 throughout the British Empire. Captain Jenkins, a master of a 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE "WORLD. 99 
 
 merchant ship, being interrogated on the subject of the treatment he 
 had undergone at the hands of the Spaniards, made a dismal report' of 
 their proceedings. His ship had been boarded by a revenue cutter, or 
 guarda casta. The Spaniards had apparently expected to make a haul 
 of contraband goods, and, disappointed in finding nothing to satisfy 
 their cupidity, had vented their disappointment upon the unfortunate 
 skipper. They assaUed him with opprobrious epithets, they tortured 
 him cruelly, threatened to kill him, and filled the measure of their 
 iniquities by cutting off one of the unfortunate captain's ears, bidding 
 him carry that to his king, whom they, moreover, promised to treat in 
 the same manner if George II. ever fell into their hands — a somewhat 
 improbable contingency, by the way. Poor Captain Jenkins carried 
 home the memory of his grievances and his amputated ear to England, 
 and produced them both before the indignant and sympathising House ; 
 but the chief effect of the sitting was made when, on being asked 
 the somewhat irrelevant question, " What he had thought when sub- 
 jected to these indignities?" Captain Jenkins replied, " I recommended 
 my soul to God, and my cause to my country." After this there was 
 nothing more to be said. War was decided on, and the government of 
 Spain had in the sequel to pay a very considerable smart-money for 
 Oaptain Jenkins's ear. That the captain was no poltroon was abvm- 
 dantly proved by his subsequent career ; for the East India Company, 
 sympathising with his misfortunes, afterwards employed him, and he 
 highly distinguished himself in the operations against the Indian pirate 
 Angria. 
 
 Among the warlike operations to be undertaken against the 
 Spaniards, it was determined to despatch an expedition to the Pacific 
 to operate against the enemy's commerce in the equatorial regions, and 
 to capture or destroy their merchantmen. But the chief object of the 
 enterprise was to make prize' of the rich treasure ship which sailed 
 «very year from Acapulco, in Mexico, to Manilla, in the Philippine 
 Islands. It was known, moreover, that the Spaniards would despatch 
 a squadron to operate in the equatorial seas, and thus it was hoped 
 that the glory of a naval victory woidd be added to the substantial 
 Tjenefits expected to accrue froni the expedition. Accordingly, in 1740, 
 the ships which were to comprise the squadron were put into commission 
 and prepared for the enterprise. They were the Centurion, Commodore 
 Anson's ship, of 60 guns and 400 men ; the Gloucester, mounting 50 guns 
 and carrying 300 men, Richard Norris commander ; the Severn, of like 
 
100 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 strength, commanded by the Hon. Edward Legg ; the Pearl, of 40 guns 
 and 260 men, commanded by Matthew Mitchell ; the Wager frigate, 
 28 guns and 160 men, Dandy Kidd commander; the Trial sloop of 
 8 guns and 100 men, commanded by the Hon. John Murray ; and 
 2 pinks, or victualling ships, carrying extra provisions, their cargo to 
 be distributed among the various ships so soon as there should be room 
 to receive it, after which the pinks were to be discharged. Such was 
 the squadron which, after long and vexatious delays, left St. Helen's 
 Roads to tide it down channel with a contrary wind, on the 18th of 
 September, 1740. 
 
 There had been many vexatious delays in the fitting out of the 
 vessels. The difficulty of procuring men was great, and for nine 
 months the ships had been lying in port, waiting for their complement, 
 which was at length made up by the strange expedient of • shipping 
 between four and five hundred invalids, out-pensioners of Chelsea 
 Hospital, who were to do duty as marines and landsmen. This was a 
 cruel, and at the same time a foolish expedient. The poor old men 
 were totally unfit to endure the hardships and privations of a long sea 
 voyage, amid the horrible discomforts which all men-of-war's crews 
 had to endure in those days, when overcrowded ships, total want of 
 ventilation, absence of cleanliness, and the distribution of mouldy and 
 decayed provisions, were added to the iuevitable discomforts that 
 surround the seaman's life. These unhappy invalids were of no service 
 beyond merely representing so many items in the ships' registers. They 
 soon began to die off very fast, and in the sequel not one of them 
 survived to see England again. 
 
 Surrounded by a gallant fleet of above a hundred and fifty sail of' 
 outward-bound merchant ships, the squadron made its way down the 
 channel ; then, parting from the traders when their course diverged, 
 Anson's vessels made the best of their way to their first place of des- 
 tination, the island of Madeira. But here already their distresses 
 oegan. The ships were crowded with men unable to do sailor's duty ; 
 the wind was mostly contrary, and forty days elapsed before the island 
 of Madeira was reached. This was a serious consideration ; and the 
 season was already far advanced, and the crews had every reason to 
 dread the passage round Cape Horn in the stormy winter season. It 
 was the 4th of November before the commodore left Madeira. He 
 appointed the island of St. Catherine's, on the coast of BrazU, as the 
 place of rendezvous for the vessels of the .squadron, in case they should 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE AVOELD. 101 
 
 get separated from each other, and fail to meet at the Cape de Verde 
 Islands ; and thus, with a fresh supply of wine and water and provisions 
 on board, and in sanguine expectation of being able soon to give a good 
 account of the enemy, the squadron hoisted sail for the American coast, 
 and bade farewell to the island of Madeira. 
 
 The foolishness of the policy that had made up the numbers of the 
 expedition by crowding the vessels with old and infirm men now became 
 apparent. We already find the captains reporting to the commodore 
 
 SPEARING TURTLE OFF THE ISLAND OF TINIAN. 
 
 on the 20th of November that their crews are in a very sickly condition, 
 and suggesting the propriety of giving them more air between decks. 
 Indeed, the wonder seems to be how men could have existed at all 
 under the conditions amid which the man-of-war's men of the last 
 century passed their lives. When, after a run of a month across the 
 Atlantic, the ships brought up at St. Catherine's, eighty sick men, 
 about a fourth of the crew, were landed from the Centurion, and the 
 other ships of the squadron, we are told, had as many in proportion to 
 their numbers. Numerous deaths had also occurred on the various 
 
102 THE WORLD'S EXPLOEERS. 
 
 ships during the passage to St. Catherine's. Commodore Anson seems 
 to have taken every practicable measure for the health of his saUors. 
 The spaces between decks, which the chaplain describes as " inexpres- 
 sibly filthy and loathsome,'' were thoroughly cleansed ; the ships were, 
 moreover, fumigated from end to end, and the rigging of each was 
 thoroughly overhauled, in anticipation of the rough weather- which 
 might be expected in the passage through high southern latitudes in 
 the winter season. Various places of rendezvous for the ships were 
 again appointed, and once more the squadron set sail for the 
 southward. 
 
 The passage to Port St. Julian, at the northern extremity of 
 Patagonia, gave the travellers a foretaste of what they might expect 
 during their subsequent voyage. The Trial sloop, a vessel quite 
 imfitted to attempt the passage round the Horn, lost her mainmast in 
 a squall, and nearly all the remaining ships suffered damage in various 
 ways. Mr. Walter speaks of the mishaps of the bi'ave little Trial in 
 the following terms : — 
 
 " Being come to an anchor in the bay of St. Julian, principally with 
 a view of refitting the Trial, the carpenters were immediately employed 
 in that business, and continued so during our whole stay at the place. 
 The Trial's mainmast having been carried away about twelve feet from 
 the cap, they contrived to make the remaining part of the mast serve 
 again, and the Wager was ordered to supply her with a spare maintop- 
 mast, which the carpenters converted into a new foremast. And I 
 cannot help observing that this accident to the Trial's mast, which gave 
 us so much uneasiness at that time, on account of the delay it occasioned, 
 was in all probability the means of preserving the sloop and all her 
 crew, for before this her masts, how well soever proportioned to a 
 better climate, were much too lofty for these high southern latitudes ; 
 so that, had they weathered the preceding storm, it would have been 
 impossible for them to have stood against those seas and tempests we 
 afterwards encotmtered in passing round Cape Horn." 
 
 On the 23rd of February, 1741, the squadron quitted^Port St. Julian, 
 and steered for Strait-le-Maire, between States Island and Tierra del 
 Fuego. As the wind and tide hurried them through this passage, and 
 the weather was bright and fair, the spirits of the crews rose rapidly. 
 They considered that, once in the Pacific, and steering towards a milder 
 clime, their course would be comparatively easy, and began to indxilge 
 in visions of victory over the squadron of Admiral Joseph Pizarro, of 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE KOUND THE WORLD. 
 
 lot; 
 
 which they had obtainoJ intelligence at jNladeira, as having sailed to 
 the American coast to frustrate their designs ; and the prospect of 
 prize-money came also to console theje poor fellows among their perils 
 and discomforts. " Animated by these delusions," says the chaplain, 
 "we traversed these memorable straits, ignorant of the dreadful 
 calamities that were then impending, and just ready to break upon 
 us — ignorant that the time drew near when the squadron would be 
 separated never to unite again, and that this day of our passage was 
 the last cheerful day that the greater jsart of ns would ever live 
 to enjoy." 
 
 
lOi THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 n. 
 
 Stormy Weather in the South Atlantic — Difficulty in Rounding Cape Horn— 
 Frightful Increase of the Scurvy on Board — Frequent Deaths — Arrival at 
 the Island of Juan Fernandez — Effect of Fresh Vegetables on the Crew- 
 Seal's Flesh— Description of Juan Fernandez— Alexander Selkirk— The 
 Goats— Arrival of the Gloucester— Her Deplorable Condition — The, Trial 
 and the Anna— The Severn and Pearl Put Back — Wreck of the Wager and 
 Sufferings of the Captain and Crew. 
 
 'T'llE -weather now suddenly changed, and a period of unparj,lleled 
 hardship and suffering for the travellers succeeded. Before the ships 
 were well clear of the straits a violent gale arose from the northward, 
 blowing them hither and thither, and tossing about the huge hull of 
 the Centurion as if she had been a wherry. Snow and sleet blinded the 
 mariners, and rendered the rigging and cordage of the vessels brittle and 
 unmanageable ; great waves washed over the deck, overturning and 
 injuring the men, more than one of whom were carried overboard and 
 . drowned. The upper works of the Centurion were so loosened by her 
 continual rolling and pitching that the water rushed into the officers' 
 cabin in floods, and a night seldom elapsed during which some of them 
 were not washed out of their beds ; and the Gloucester and the Trial 
 sloop were almost wrecked. It was only by means of the most un- 
 remitting exertions, and through the assistance rendered to the other 
 ships by the Centurion, that the vessels were kept afloat during the 
 terrible months that succeeded the departure from Port St. Julian. At 
 length the ships lost sight of each other, and each had to struggle 
 on separately to gain the next place of meeting, the island of Juan 
 Fernandez. 
 
 As month after month went by, amid toil, and hardship, and priva- 
 tion, the scurvy, that terrible scourge of sailor's in past times, but 
 which has in modern days been entirely banished from our navy, and 
 almost completely from the merchant service, by. the use of a few 
 simple remedies and preventives, broke out with terrible violence 
 among the ill-fated crews. In the month of April forty-three men died 
 of this disease on board the Centurion. In the month of May double 
 that number perished ; and by the time the Centurion reached land, in 
 the middle of June, two hundred of her people had been buried, and 
 the survivors were in such a state that not more than six men in each 
 watch were capable of doing duty. 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE KOUND THE WORLD. 105 
 
 Ai3 might be expected, the poor old invalids who ought never to 
 have been embarked on such a service as this, suffered most. "^Vounds 
 
 SEALS AND WALKUS. 
 
 that the veterans had received in past wars, and which were supposed 
 to be long healed, reopened ; and in one case an old man of seventy, 
 
106 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 who had been wounded fifty years before at the battle of the Boyne, 
 found his long-healed hurts bursting out afresh under the influence of 
 the terrible scurvy, as if they had never been cured ; and even bones 
 that had been once broken, parted again, to the horror of the agonised 
 sufferers. Never has the sailors scourge appeared in a more malignant 
 form than it assumed on board the Centurion and her ill-starred com- 
 panions. The chaplain teUs us in his plain, straightforward way how 
 the least depression of spirits following upon ill news was sure to pro- 
 duce a number of deaths ; how many who, though confined to their 
 hammocks, seemed yet to have a fair share of vigour left, expired on 
 simply being removed from one part of the ship to another, in their 
 hammocks ; and how others who deceived themselves with the behef 
 that they were recovering, fell down dead while making an effort to 
 quit their beds. And all this terrible sickness occurred at a time when 
 the stormy weather would have rendered the working of the ships a 
 matter of difficulty even if every man on board "had been well and 
 fit for duty. 
 
 At length it became evident that the preservation of the remains of 
 the crew on board the Centurion depended upon a speedy arrival at 
 Juan Fernandez. So far from being able to attack the enemy, the 
 most sanguine began to doubt the possibility of saving the ships ; and, 
 as the chaplain observes, time was extremely precious, the men dying 
 four, five, and six in u. day. It was under these deplorable circum- 
 stances that the enfeebled crew of the Centurion at length sighted the 
 island of Juan Fernandez at daybreak on the 9th of June. 
 
 It was with the greatest difficulty that the few men capable of duty 
 on board the Centurion contrived to bring their shattered vessel near 
 the long-desired land. The beautiful aspect of the island, diversified 
 with mountain and valley, green meadows and falling cascades, acted 
 like a charm on the storm-tossed mariners. Even those among the 
 sick who were not in the last stage of the terrible scurvy, crawled on 
 deck to feast their eyes with the sight of the land ; and so great was 
 the eagerness for fresh vegetables, the natural remedy for scorbutic 
 disease, that the first boat despatched on shore brought back a 
 quantity of grass, which was eagerly devoured. The boat also brought 
 back some seals, which the sailors looked upon as fresh meat. We are 
 told these were not much admired, because, during the absence of the 
 boat, the men on board had caught a quantity of excellent fish, but 
 afterwards they were considered very wholesome and pleasant food. 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGiE ROUND THE WORLD. 107 
 
 The Centurion was scarcely at anchor before tlie Trial sloop came 
 in. Her condition was as deplorable as that of the commodore's ship, 
 and it was only by' the assistance of some men sent on board from the 
 Centurion that she was worked into the bay. Out of his small 
 complement of men Captain Saunders had lost- thirty-four, and the 
 rest were so enfeebled by sickness that only himself, his lieutenant, and 
 three men were able to stand by the saUs. There must have been 
 deplorable neglect and mismanagement in the berthing and victualling 
 of our sailors in those days to have produced such mortality, even 
 when aU allowance has been made for the unavoidable loss produced 
 by hardships and the dangers of the seas. 
 
 To many of the sufferers the relief came too late. Though the sick 
 were conveyed on shore in their hammocks and at once deposited 
 in tents constructed for them, a duty in which all the officers without 
 distinction bore a part, they continued for some time to die at the rate 
 of five or six each day. At last the rest and quiet, and still more the 
 welcome change of diet, began to tell on the survivors, and those who 
 were not in the last and most inveterate stage of the illness began to 
 recover rapidly. And now the commodore, ever mindful of his duty, 
 began to look anxiously for the arrival of the rest of the squadron ; 
 for he was determined with his diminished crews to meet the squadron 
 of Don Pizarro at the first opportunity, and in every other respect to 
 carry out to the minutest particular the instructions he had received on 
 being appointed to his command. 
 
 Juan Fernandez, the island where the storm-beaten voyagers were 
 resting from their labours, had been a famous resort of the ships of the 
 buccaneers and pirates of the Spanish Main during the lawless times 
 when the vessels of these rovers held the dominion of the seas in those 
 parts. It was here that Alexander Selkirk, of Largo, in Scotland, had 
 been left on shore at his own desire more than thirty years before ; and 
 here he lived that life of solitude during five years that has been 
 immortalised in the poem of Cowper, and, it is said, in the pages 
 of Defoe's immortal biography. Selkirk, in relating the adventures 
 that befeU him in the solitary kingdom where he was " monarch of all 
 he surveyed," used to tell how he at last became sufficiently active to 
 run down the goats that furnished him at once with food and the 
 materials for clothing, and that when he caught more of these creatures 
 than he wanted he used to mark their ears and let them go. As the 
 very first goat caught by the Centurion's crew had its ears slit, it was 
 
108 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 conjectured to have been one of those which Selkirk had thus marked, 
 especially as its long and venerable beard proclaimed it a patriarch of 
 the herd, who might well have been a survivor of tSie period when the 
 Scotch sailor roamed among the solitudes of those green hills and 
 valleys. Other goats were afterwards found with their ears marked in 
 the same manner, and all these had the appearance of extreme old age. 
 
 On the 19th of June a ship was seen on the horizon. As she neared 
 the island it was observed that she had only her lower sails or courses 
 set, and one topsail; and after a time she was supposed to be the 
 Gloucester. She disappeared after a time, and as she did not reappear 
 until the 2Gth, it was feared that she must have been so much weakened 
 by sickness or other causes that her crew could no longer navigate her, 
 and Commodore Anson sent off a boat's crew with a boat-load of fresh 
 provisions and water to the help of the distressed vessel, and at last, 
 after efforts in which several . days were consumed, the ship was 
 brought to an anchor. The unhappy Gloucester was, however, in a 
 deplorable condition ; scarcity of water had been added to the other 
 embarrassments and perplexities of her crew, who for a long time had 
 been reduced to an allowance of a pint a day per man. This circum- 
 stante, added to the ordinary hardships of that stormy voyage, had 
 produced a frightful mortality on board. Two-thirds of the crew were 
 •dead, and the survivors were in such a state of misery and disease that 
 the officers and their servants were almost the only men who remained 
 fit for duty. But for the opportune assistance sent by the commodore, 
 who on the following day despatched a second boat's crew to help, the 
 Gloucester, the storm-beaten ship could not have been brought to 
 an anchor ; even then this was not effected till after weeks of labour 
 and anxiety, and not tiU the 23rd of July was the Gloucester safely 
 anchored in the bay beside her consort. Death had made a still further 
 clearance among her unhappy sailors, and before the sickness abated 
 three-fourths of the Gloucester's crew had been buried. 
 
 One of the most remarkable features of the expedition was the 
 perseverance and energy evinced by the crews of the various ships 
 amid the greatest personal distresses and dangers. So soon as the sick 
 were landed froin the Centurion, the enfeebled crew had begun the 
 labour, of refitting the ship. Though they were reduced to such a 
 condition by sickness that only a few of the most robust could under- 
 take the labour of felling trees, and sawing the trunks into billets, the 
 others were fain to carry these billets, one at a time, to the beach, 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. lOO 
 
 many of them absolutely hobbling on crutches to perform this duty. 
 But there was no "giving up," even when things were at the worst ; 
 
 the patient, hardy sailors, officers and men alike, kept steadily in view 
 the object for which the expedition had been fitted out ; and their first 
 
110 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 anxiety was to put themselves in a position of defence, and avoid " the 
 disgrace which must befall them if they had to fight their sixty-gun 
 ship with thirty men," for to them the idea of striking their flag under 
 any circumstances conveyed the idea of dishonour. Various appear- 
 ances on the island denoted that vessels had been there lately ; and as 
 the Spanish merchantmen avoided Juan Fernandez as a place where 
 the enemy's men-of-war were likely to look in, it was conjectured that 
 the ships, which had left tokens of their presence in the shape of 
 broken earthenware and other relics, must have belonged to Pizarro's 
 squadron. After a time the gallant little sloop Trial came staggering 
 into the bay, in a condition almost as destitute as that of the Gloucester 
 when she made the island ; and towards the end of August, when the 
 crews were already on a short allowance of bread, and had made the 
 unpleasant discovery that the late purser of the Centurion had 
 neglected to ship many necessary stores which were supposed to be 
 on board, and whose absence might produce the most serious conse- 
 quences, the hearts of the brave soldiers were rejoiced by the arrival of 
 their victualler, the Anna, pink. 
 
 On the whole, the Anna had been far more fortunate than any of 
 the other ships. She had indeed run a great risk of being wrecked on 
 a desolate coast, but at the very time when she was drifting fast 
 towards a rocky lee-shore, and nothing but immediate destruction was 
 expected, an opening was discovered that led into a most excellent 
 harbour, where the crew had been able to rest from their labours, 
 at the time when the Centurion, the Gloucester, and the little Trial 
 were buffeted about in the stormy seas of the high southern latitudes. 
 The Anna's men accordingly presented quite a favourable contrast, on 
 their arrival at Juan Fernandez, to the crews of the other vessels, and 
 greatly increased the efiiciency of the squadron. Their healthy con- 
 dition demonstrated the value of those only practical preventives of 
 scurvy at sea — fresh provisions and good water. 
 
 The Anna was the last ship that joined the commodore. The fate 
 of the three that were stiU missing was not ascertained till long 
 afterwards. The Severn and the Pearl were unable, in spite of their 
 utmost efforts, to get round Cape Horn, and were at last obliged to 
 put back and steer for the Brazils, and thus ended their connection 
 Avith the squadron. Far worse was the fortune that befeU the frigate 
 Wager. That ill-fated ship, to the command of which Lieutenant 
 Cheap had succeeded, struck on a sunken rock at daybreak on the 15th 
 
ANSOJJ'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WOKLU. Ill 
 
 of May, in latitude 47" south. Captain Cheap, who had been greatly 
 exerting himself, had unfortunately dislocated his shoulder by a fall 
 down the after-ladder, and, contrary to the usual custom among 
 British seamen, much confusion occurred. Some of the crew became 
 mutinous ; they armed themselves with any weapons they could seize, 
 and, worse than all, broke into the spirit-room, where many drank 
 themselres into a state of helplessness. The captain seems, in his 
 disabled condition, to have done everything he could to restore 
 discipline and order, but in vain. The instinct of subordination was 
 lost, and could not be restored. The men could not be induced to 
 work perseveringly to save what could be obtained from the wreck, and 
 the scarcity of provisions, augmented by this neglect, caused quarrels 
 and heartburnings among them. When they were at length as- 
 sembled on the island near which the ship had struck — and even this 
 was not effected until several had been drowned, in consequence of 
 their drunkenness — the majority differed from the captain in their 
 opinion as to the course to be pursued. Captain Cheap, anxious to 
 .do his duty to the commodore, and to retrieve his ill-fortune, strongly 
 urged that the ship's company, about a hundred and thirty in number, 
 should embark in the frigate's boats, and make for the island of Juan 
 Fernandez, there to rejoin the squadron. He represented that in their 
 passage to that island they should be in the track of vessels, and could 
 scarcely fail to fall in with some Spanish merchantman ; that it would 
 be an easy matter to take the trader, and convert her to their own 
 use ; and that thus they might obtain for themselves a better ship 
 than the one they had lost wherewith to take a further share in the 
 expedition. But the men, thoroughly weary of the enterprise, and of 
 everything belor.ging to it, strongly disapproved of this proposition. 
 They suggested, as the most feasible plan, that the long-boat should be 
 lengthened, and that all should embark in her, and endeavour to make 
 their way through the Straits of Magellan and round the coast to the 
 Brazils ; and they immediately set about preparing the long-boat to 
 carry out this design. Quarrels and heartburnings continued during 
 their enforced residence on " Wager Island," as they named their rock 
 of refuge. A midshipman, who became especially mutinous, was shot 
 dead by Captain Cheap, who appears to have acted with some pre- 
 cipitation in this matter ; and though this instance of severity silenced 
 the disaffected for a time, it increased the distrust and suspicion with 
 which they already regarded the commander, on account of his open. 
 
112 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLOREKS, 
 
 opposition to tlieir plans. At length about eighty of tlie men depaited 
 southward in the long-boat. Desperate as their enterprise was, they 
 succeeded at last in reaching the Brazils, woefully thinned in nmnbers. 
 Death had meanwhile been busy at Wager Island, where only nineteen 
 persons now remained. After many further misfortunes. Captain 
 Cheap succeeded at last in reaching the island of Chiloe with the 
 survivors of his party. He and his men were treated with much 
 humanity by the Spaniards who held that island, and ultimately they 
 were exchanged by cartel for some Spanish prisoners taken by the 
 British, and returned to England. Such was the fate of the unfortunate 
 ship Wager. 
 
 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 113 
 
 m. 
 
 Brighter Prospects — Capture of Spanisi. Merchantmen — Information respecting 
 the Spanish Squadron — The Trial's Prize — Intelligence concerning a Treasure 
 at Paita — The Ships SaU Thither — Attack on the Town — An Easy Capture 
 — Cowardice of the Spaniards— The Town Burnt — Two more Prizes Taken 
 by the Gloucester — Losses of the Paita Merchants. 
 
 'T'HUS was the powerful squadron which had sailed from St. Helen's re- 
 duced to two ships of war — one of which, the Gloucester, was almost 
 in a sinking state — ^to a small sloop and a victualling ship. But on the 
 principle, perhaps, that when matters are at the worst they must mend, 
 the fortunes of the expedition began to brighten from this period. On 
 the 8th of September the spirits of the sailors were gladdened by the 
 appearance of a strange sail bearing away to the north-east. The 
 Centurion immediately got all her hands on board, and was towed out 
 of the bay by all the boats to give chase. The ship, probably a 
 .Spanish merchantman, managed to give her pursuers the slip, and the 
 disappointed Centurions had already pxit their vessel about to return to 
 Juan Fernandez, when their spirits were gladdened by the sight of 
 another sail between four and five leagues distant. The movements of 
 this new stranger seemed to indicate that she was a ship of war 
 belonging to Pizarro's squadron. This put the crew of the British ship 
 into the highest spirits. By Commodore Anson's command the officers' 
 cabins were at once pulled down aiid thrown overboard. The casks 
 of provisions and water that stood between the guns were disposed of in 
 the same summary manner ; so the decks were soon clear, fore and aft, 
 ready for a fight. These preparations, however, proved unnecessary, 
 for the strange ship proved to be only a Spanish merchantman 
 — "without so much as a single tier of guns," the worthy chaplain 
 observes, with some appearance of bitterness. Four shots fired from 
 the Centurion among the Spaniard's rigging were sufficient to make the 
 crew of the good ship Nuestra Senora del Monte Carmelo lower their 
 topsails in token of submission; and when Mr. Saumarez, the first- 
 lieutenant, came on board, he found the ship's company in a horrible 
 fright, in the expectation of being subjected to the worst of cruelty at the 
 hands of their captors. It appeared on this and on many subsequent 
 occasions, that Spanish agents, clerical and lay, had spread abroad among 
 that nation the most horrifying tales of British cruelty and rapine ; and 
 
114 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 the crews of the various prizes taken by Commodore Anson and his 
 companions were agreeably disappointed at finding themselves treated 
 with all proper humanity and consideration by an enemy who did not 
 consider that a war between two groat nations furnished an excuse for 
 buccaneering atrocities. The Ifuestra Senora had a valuable carga. 
 She belonged to Callao and was bound to the port of Valparaiso, in 
 Chili. Her captors were chiefly gratiiied by the discovery of a con- 
 siderable treasure on board in specie and silver plate ; for as there were 
 no facilities for disposing of the cargo, only that portion which could be 
 removed to their own sliips was of any practical value to them. 
 
 Very valuable information was furnished by the crew and passengers 
 of the captured ship. The expedition of Don Pizarro had, it appeared, 
 proved a complete failure. The terrific g'ales which had played such 
 havoc with the English ships round the Horn had reduced the Spanish 
 vessels to even greater distress ; and Don Pizarro was moreover firmly 
 persuaded that the English vessels had never rounded the Cape. 
 Accordingly he had put back into the Rio do la Plata ; but he sent an 
 express overland to the Governor of CJallao, to inform him that perhaps. 
 English cruisers might be navigating the seas. Hereupon the governor 
 had despatched an armament, whose traces the English had discovered in 
 Juan Fernandez ; and had these ships met the Centurion and Gloucester 
 in their crippled condition, the result might have been most disastrous to 
 our arms. 
 
 The ships had actually been cruising in the neighbourhood of Juan 
 Fernandez until within a few days of the arrival of the Centurion at 
 that island ; and the circumstance of their missing the laud when first 
 they endeavoured to make their port, which had been looked upon as a 
 great misfortune by the toil-worn crew of the Centurion, had, in fact, 
 proved the cause of their safety. 
 
 All toil, and peril, and suffering were now forgotten, in the exciting 
 prospect of encountering the enemy, and in the pleasant prospect of 
 fame and success. The little Trial sloop, whose appearance in the 
 stormy southern latitudes was a source of continual surprise to the 
 Spanish prisoners, who could hardly be made to believe that a vessel of 
 such diminutive size had reaUy rounded Cape Horn, was sent to cruise 
 off Valparaiso, and to intercept some merchantmen which were expected 
 to sail from that port. The Gloucester, patched up and strengthened 
 as well as circumstances would allow, was sent to await the arrival of 
 the commodore off the island off Paita, where the Spaniards hadja 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WOKLD. 115 
 
 fortified town ; and at last, on the 18tli of Septemlier, the Centurion, 
 with her prize in company, sailed away from the island of Juan 
 Fernandez, -which had indeed been a haren of rest and safety to her 
 exharasted and storm-beaten crew. 
 
 A few days after the Centurion's departure from Juan Fernandez 
 her crew were delighted by the discovery of two ships at some distance. 
 The Centurion at once made all sail towards the one nearest her, and 
 the men were at their guns ready to pour a broadside into the stranger, 
 when Commodore Anson caused her to be hailed in Spanish by the 
 captain of the Nuestra Senora del Carmelo, who had been a prisoner 
 on board the Centurion since the capture of his own ship. To his 
 great surprise the answer came in English, and in the well-known 
 voice of Lieutenant Hughes, of the Tiial sloop. The strange ship had, 
 it appeared, been captured by the Trial a few days before, and the 
 other vessel was the sloop herself in a disabled condition. She had 
 had a smart chase after the Spaniard, wliose crew had screened all their 
 lights when night came on, and attempted to escape in the darkness ; 
 but a crevice they had forgotten to stop had "prated of their where- 
 about" to the watchful foe, and caused their capture. They submitted at 
 the first broadside fired by the Trial. The ship was a large merchant- 
 man, the Aranzazu, bound from Callao to Valparaiso with a valuable 
 cargo, and silver to the amount of £5,000. This was the last service 
 performed by the brave little Trial, which was now in a deplorable con- 
 dition. Her masts were badly sprung ; lier timbers were in such a 
 ricketty condition that they would hardly keep together ; and so much 
 was she strained that it was only by continual pumping she could be 
 kept above water. Accordingly, upon a memorial being presented by 
 her conunander to Captain Anson, the commodore determined to take 
 the crew out of the sloop and destroy her ; and as the Spanish mer- 
 chantman was strongly built, and, indeed, had already been used 
 as a ship of war by the Viceroy of Peru, it was determined that 
 she should be constituted a frigate in the service of his Britannic- 
 Majesty, under the name of the "Trial's prize.'' Commodore Anson 
 accordingly made out new commissions for Captain Saunders, of the 
 Trial, and his ofiicers, and that commander received directions to 
 scuttle and sink the sloop, after taking out of her all that could 
 be obtained in the way of stores, whereupon he was to rejoin the 
 commodore in his new ship. This was accordingly done, and for some 
 time the -ships cruised in the Pacific in hopes of taking merchantmen 
 
116 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 from Callao or Valparaiso. They, however, made prize of but one 
 more ship, on board of which they found some lady passengers, who 
 were treated by the commodore with great consideration and respect, 
 to their great surprise, and especially to that of the Spanish crew, to 
 whom the English had been represented as a set of buccaneers, wholly 
 destitute of humanity and mercy ; and, as the historian of the expedition 
 judiciously observes, this conduct of the commodore's had a very good 
 effect in inspiring confidence and respect towards the English in the 
 minds of the Spaniards. Mr. Walter observes, with a sly touch of 
 humour, that a Jesuit priest who was on board was so completely 
 astonished at the consideration shown by Commodore Anson to the 
 Spanish ladies, that this admirable conduct of a generous enemy induced 
 hmi to interpret in a loose and hypothetical way the doctrine of his 
 Church that the souls of heretics cannot be saved. 
 
 And now the ships, having quitted the stormy southern latitudes, 
 careered along before the pleasant trade winds of the tropics, the flying 
 fish and bonitos frisking about her ; and on the 10th of November the 
 hearts of the crews were gladdened by the capture of another prize; 
 among whose cargo is mentioned the singular item of " a number of 
 Roman indulgences.'' Mr. Walter adds — "This cargo, under our 
 present circumstances, was not of much value to us." Among the 
 people on board this last prize there was, however, an Irishman named 
 Williams, who had some valuable intelligence to offer. The governor of 
 the Spanish town of Paita, it appeared, had been infoi'med by a mer- 
 chantman which put in at that harbour of the presence of an Enghsh 
 squadron in those seas, and, justly alarmed by the intelligence, he had 
 at once sent to inform the Governor of Lima, and had likewise com- 
 menced removing the treasure then deposited at Paita to Piura, an 
 inland town, where it would be safe from the attacks of the enemy ; a 
 considerable quantity of silver was also said to be lying at the custom- 
 house at Paita, waiting to be conveyed away to a Mexican port in a 
 ship which was rapidly preparing for sea, and was expected to be ready 
 in a very few days. These considerations induced the commodore to 
 determine on attacking the town of Paita, an enterprise by which he 
 expected to inflict much damage on :the enemy, and to obtain a reward 
 in prize-money for his own crews. Moreover, the numerous Spanish 
 prisoners on board his ships made very considerable inroads on the 
 stock of provisions, and it was highly desirable at once to obtain a new 
 supply, and to set on shore the extra consumers, who were very much 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 117 
 
 in the ■way. To Paita accordingly the Centurion bent her course, with 
 the two prizes in company, her crew highly elated with the double 
 prospect of gaining prize-money and of having a brush with the Dons. 
 
 In order that the Spaniards might not have time to remove their 
 valuables from Paita, it was necessary to conduct the attack on the 
 place with the utmost despatch and secrecy. The commodore there- 
 fore determined to send an expedition of boats upon this duty, and 
 intrusted the execution of the enterprise to Lieutenant Brett. Two of 
 the Spanish pilots who had been taken in one of the prizes were ordered 
 to guide the lieutenant first to the landing-place, and then along the 
 narrow and tortuous streets of the town. The liberty of all the Spanish 
 prisoners on board was promised in case of the success of the expe- 
 dition; while on any appearance of treachery the pilots were to be 
 instantly shot, and the Spanish prisoners would be conveyed as captives 
 to England. Under these prospects of reward and punishment, no 
 failure on the part of the pilots was apprehended, and the readiness 
 with which the Spaniards had on every occasion yielded at sea did not 
 point to the probability of their making a very terrific resistance on 
 shore. By a strange coincidence, one of the pilots was the very man 
 who, twenty years before, had been forced to act as guide to Captain 
 Clipperton and his people at the taking of Truxillo. 
 
 It was ten o'clock at night when the ships made sail towards the 
 town. At five leagues' distance the course of the ships was checked, 
 and the boats put off, their object being to remain undiscovered as long 
 as possible. They succeeded in escaping observation until they had 
 reached the entrance of the bay, but then the crew of a vessel riding at 
 anchor perceived them, and rowed off for the shore with all speed, 
 shouting the alarming intelligence that " the English dogs" were 
 coming. The whole place was instantly in alarm. Lights could be 
 seen flashing to and fro, and the ' fort opened a fire upon the boats, 
 whose crews bent vigorously to their oars, well aware that their safety 
 lay in effecting a landing as soon as possible. A cannon-shot that 
 whizzed close over their heads further quickened their motions, and 
 upon landing they were conducted into a by-street by the pilot, where, 
 in a sheltered position, they were formed into something like order, and 
 marched forth to the open parade or square, on one side of which stood 
 the fort, and on the other the governor's house. 
 
 The darkness of the night, the confusion arising from the suddenness, 
 of the attack, and the shouting and clamour of the excited sailors, who 
 
118 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 were mad with delight at the prospect of a fight and of subsequent 
 pillage, all combined to give the enemy an exaggerated idea of their 
 assailants' numbers, and very little resistance was made. The merchants 
 who owned the treasure in the town made a faint demonstrati«m of 
 defending the governor's house, but retired after receiving a volley 
 from the assailants ; and as to the governor himself, that exemplary 
 functionary was so anxious to get to a place of safety that he even 
 forgot to take with him his wife, a young lady of seventeen, to whom 
 he had only been married three or four days before ; and the unfor- 
 tunate lady was borne off in a most dishevelled and bewildered state by 
 a couple of sentinels, barely in time to prevent her from falling into the 
 victors' hands. In a quarter of an hour the town was in the hands of 
 the English, with the loss of one man killed and two wounded. The 
 fort and the governor's house were put under the control of a guard, and 
 a number of sturdy negroes whom our men found in the place were 
 pressed into the service to carry the chests of treasure found in the 
 custom-house to the fort for safety. But for the precipitate flight of 
 the governor, Mr. Brett would have been glad to treat for the ransom 
 of the place, but the retreat of that prudent officer precluded any 
 arrangement of the kind. 
 
 The sailors, who were in the highest spirits at the success of their 
 enterprise, could not be restrained from plundering the, houses, whose 
 inhabitants had fled en masse. " The first things which occurred to 
 them," says Mr. Walter, "being the clothes which the Spaniards in 
 their flight had left behind them, and which, according to the custom 
 of the country, were most of them either embroidered or laced,, our 
 people eagerly seized these glittering habits and put them on over their 
 own dirty trousers and jackets, not forgetting, at the same time, the 
 tye or bag-wig and laced hat wluch were generally found with the 
 clothes ; and when this practice was once begun, there was no pre- 
 venting the whole detachment from imitating it. And those who came 
 latest into the fashion not finding men's clothes, sufficient to equip 
 themselves, they were obliged to take up with wonuin's gowns and petti- 
 coats, which (provided there was finery enough) they made no scruple 
 of putting on, ahd blending with their own greasy dress ; so that when 
 a party of them, thus ridiculously metamorphosed, first appeared before 
 Mr. Brett, he was extremely surprised at their appearance, and could 
 not immediately be satisfied that they were his own people." 
 
 Meanwhile the Centurion had been approaching the bay under easy 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE AVORLD. 119 
 
 sail, and greatly rejoiced were officers and crew to behold the English 
 colours hoisted on the flagstaff of the fort. At eleven the next morning 
 the first fruits of the easy victory were brought on board, in the shape 
 of a boatload of dollars and church plate. Mr. Brett prosecuted the 
 business of removing the valuables with the utmost vigour, and the 
 movements of his men were quickened by an appearance which 
 threatened an attack from the enemy. The Spaniards, who were no 
 doubt somewhat piqued at having been sent scampering out of their 
 town by a force of sixty men, assembled on the neighbouring heights 
 in something like military array, commanded by the redoubtable 
 governor. Among them they had a body of two hundred horse from 
 Piura, with kettledrums, standards, and all regimental appurtenances. 
 The English had, however, formed such a moderate estimate of the 
 enemy's powers, that they continued very calmly to load their boats 
 with the' valuables and coin to be found in the place, quite undismayed 
 by the Spanish demonstration, which they were the less disposed to 
 regard as serious, as they thought horse soldiers would hardly trust 
 themselves in the narrow streets of the town. Lieutenant Brett was 
 very anxious to treat with the governor for the ransom of the town, a 
 measure which would have equally benefited both parties, as there were 
 many valuable wares which the English could not carry away with them, 
 and the destruction of which must have been ruinous to the Spanish 
 merchants. Lieutenant Brett accordingly sent various messages to the 
 governor by inhabitants of the town, declaring that he should not insist 
 upon anything like a just equivalent, but that if no negotiations were 
 opened he should certainly burn the town ; but the governor was too 
 much afraid or too sulky to send any kind of answer. 
 
 It seems difficult to account for the cowardice of the Spaniards on 
 this occasion, when even regard for their own interest could not 
 stimulate them to a display of courage or resolution. The only deed of 
 daring enacted on their side was achieved by an Englishman resident 
 among them. This worthy, who had been a ship carpenter at Ports- 
 mouth, probably wished to gain a reputation for courage among the 
 community to which he now belonged. He accordingly came down 
 unarmed to a sentinel, whom he deluded with overtures of submission, 
 and then, rushing in upon him, deprived him of his pistol. He » as, 
 however, pursued by two of the Centurion's men, and paid for his fool- 
 hardiness with his life. 
 
 When all the specie in the town had been removed, Paita was set 
 
120 THE WORLD'S EXPLOKEES. 
 
 on fire in many places, and was soon in a blaze from end to end. 
 AVhen the English were seen to be retreating to their boats, the 
 Spaniards made a show of coming down from the hills to attack them, 
 but they took care to keep a considerable distance between themselves 
 and their foes. It is, however, lamentable to reflect on the immense 
 loss of property, and the consequent ruin of individuals, which this 
 species of warfare involved. In the taking of Paita, as in the capture 
 of their various prizes upon the high seas, the amount of spoil in gold 
 and silver which fell into the victors' hands was a very small matter 
 in comparison with the enormous quantity of valuable wares they were 
 compelled to destroy for want of the means to carry them off. Just as 
 they were quitting Paita they fell in with the Gloucester, which had 
 taken two prizes, on board the smaller of which were found twelve 
 thousand pounds' worth of doubloons, hidden in bales of cotton. This 
 money, like the greater part of that found in the town, belonged to the 
 unfortunate Paita merchants. 
 
 N. 
 
 1 1 «• 
 
 1' 
 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 121 
 
 BltEAD-FIiUIT TREES AT TINIAN. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Anxiety of Anson to Take the Spanish Galleon — The Island of Quibo — Monkeys 
 as an Article of Food — Parrots and Turtle — Disappointment concerning the 
 Treasure Ship — The Gloucester Abandoned and Sunk — Renewed Sickness 
 on Board the Centurion — Vain Attempts to Land at Anatacan and Dei-ingan 
 — The Island of Tinian — Providential Arrival there — Fertility of the Island 
 ■ — Abundance of Fresh Vegetables and Cattle — The Sick Carried Ashore — 
 Causes of the Sickness on Board. 
 
 npHE taking of Paita was an achievement of some importance, but the 
 grand object of the voyage was yet to be accomplished. Commo- 
 dore Anson had determined to capture the great galleon or treasure- 
 ship that sailed annually from Acapulco in Mexico to Manilla in the 
 Philippine Islands, and now the time drew near when this enterprise 
 could be undertaken. It was now November, and the galleon was 
 expected to sail from Acapulco early in January. Therefore the com- 
 modore determined to proceed first to the island of Quibo for a supply 
 of fresh water, of which his people stood greatly in need. 
 
122 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 At Quibo the ships' companies, who by this time had become most 
 catholic in their freedom from prejudice as regarded any kind of fresh 
 food, made many a meal off the monkeys with which the place 
 abounded. The guanaco was also found there in abundance. The 
 only birds to be seen were parrots. The torpedo, or sting-ray, whose 
 powers of imparting an electric shock are well known, was also found 
 in these regions. The ships' crews also luxuriated on turtle, with 
 great benefit to their health ; and it is mentioned as an unpars^eled 
 circumstance that, during a space of seven months, they buried only 
 two men. This favourable state of things they attributed to the 
 ealubrity of the climate and the wholesomeness of' the diet enjoyed 
 by the men. 
 
 The next few months were passed in vain endeavours to intercept 
 the galleon, which was supposed to be in the neighbourhood of 
 AcapulcOi For the time, however, the commander's hopes were dis- 
 appointed, and the crew of the Centurion's cutter, which had been 
 detached to cruise off' Acapulco, with the hope of intercepting the 
 galleon, were almost staiTed to death before they found means to rejoin 
 their ship. It also became necessary to destroy the Trial's prizes, the 
 Carmelo and Carmin, which had till now accompanied the captors. At 
 last, as it became evident that no treasure-ship would be despatched 
 that year. Commodore Anson resolved to run across the Pacific to the 
 Ladrone or Marian Islands, where he might have an opportunity of 
 overhauling his ships. The original number of the squadron was now 
 reduced to two, the Centurion and the Gloucester ; and of the large crews 
 that had started from England, there remained not a sufficient number 
 alive to navigate' the two ships with anything like safety. And even 
 this was not the worst, for heavy weather came on, with large rolling 
 seas. The position of the Centurion became difficult and dangerous, 
 but that of the Gloucester was most deplorable. The unhappy ship 
 laboured so heavily that she could hardly be kept above water by the 
 most strenuous exertions of the captain and crew, who laboured 
 incessantly at the pumps, without being able to free her from the 
 water which found its way through her gaping seams into the hold. 
 Day aiter day men were detached from the enfeebled crew of the 
 Centurion to help their brethren on board the Gloucester, and it 
 became more and more apparent to all that this unfortunate ship would 
 never see the completion of the voyage. Matters became worse with 
 the weather, and at last reached a climax when a violent storm obliged 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 123 
 
 the ships to lie-to for some days, and prevented the usual assistance 
 being rendered by the Centurion to her unfortunate consort. When 
 the weather moderated, a boat was sent on board the Gloucester by 
 the Centurion ; the report she brought back is best told in Mr. Walter's 
 own words. He says : — 
 
 " Our boat soon returned with a representation of the state of the 
 Gloucester, and of her several defects, signed by Captain Mitchell and 
 all liis officers, by which it appeared that she had sprung a leak by the 
 stern-post being loosa and working with every roll of the ship, and by 
 two beams amidship being broken in the orlop, no part of which, the 
 carpenters reported, was possible to be repaired at sea ; that both 
 officers and men had worked twenty-four hours at the pump without 
 intermission, and were at length so fatigued that tjiey could continue 
 their labour no longer, but had been forced to desist with seven feet of 
 water in the. hold, which covered their cask so that they could neither 
 come at fresh water nor provision ; that they had no mast standing but 
 the foremast, the mizenmast, and the mizen-topmast, nor had they any 
 spare mast to get up in the room of those they had lost ;, that the ship 
 was, besides; extremely decayed in every part, for her knees and clamps 
 were all worked quite loose, and her upper works in general were so 
 loose that the quarter-deck was ready to drop down, and that her crew 
 was greatly reduced, for that there remained alive on board her not 
 more than seventy-seven men, sixteen boys, and two prisoners, officers 
 included, and that of this whole number only sixteen men and eleven 
 boys were capable of keeping the deck, and several of these very 
 infirm." 
 
 An examination made by the Centurion's carpenter, whom the 
 commodore sent on board the Gloucester for the purpose, showed that 
 this melancholy account was not exaggerated, and that it was merely a 
 question of days how long the ill-fated ship could remain above water. 
 Therefore,.i!n; the presence of this unavoidable necessity, the commander 
 determined to take the survivors of the crew on board the Centurion, 
 with whatever stores could be saved, and then to abandon the water- 
 logged ship to her fate. Captain Anson was especially desirous of 
 saving two of the Gloucester's anchors, as his own ship was ill-furnished 
 in this respect. But the Gloucester rolled and laboured so much that 
 this was found impracticable. Nothing of importance could be trans- 
 ferred but the chests of specie, which were got on board the Centurion 
 with considerable difficulty and danger. Five casks of flour were also 
 
124 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 secured, but three of these, it was afterwards discovered, had been spoilt 
 by the salt water. The melancholy duty of bringing the sick on deck 
 
 and transferring them to the Centurion had next to be performed; 
 there were nearly seventy of these unfortunate men, and in spite of 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 126 
 
 every care three or four of them died in the boats on being brought 
 into the air. Then, lest by any chance the water-logged ship should 
 continue to float, and should fall into the hands of the enemy, she was 
 set on fire on the evening of the 15th of August, 1742. All night long 
 she continued to burn fiercely. The explosion of her loaded guns, 
 which went off one by one as the fire reached them, sounded like 
 signals of distress, and must have struck mournfully upon the hearts of 
 all on board the Centurion. At last, towards morning, the ship blew 
 up, with a huge column of black smoke, but without much noise. 
 
 t' 
 
 ' <■ J r 'a. 
 
 
 ^-1^ 
 
 :>■•" 
 
 ^ 1 — r 
 
 PnOA LADEN ^ITH BP.BAD-FEUIT. 
 
 Indeed, her powder must have been thoroughly wetted by her leaky 
 condition. The good chaplain ends his record of these events with the 
 simple words, '■' Thus perished his JIajesty's ship the Gloucester." 
 
 And now began a period of suffering and danger surpassing in 
 horror anything the Centurion's crew had yet endured. The storm 
 that proved fatal to the Gloucester had driven this, the last surviving 
 .ship of the squadron, far out of her course. Her own condition was 
 hardly better than that of the gallant vessel that now lay buried 
 beneath the waves, and an almost universal despondency had at last 
 taken possession of the minds of the crew. Under the influence of this 
 depression the number of the sick on board increased with fearf al rapidity. 
 
126 THE WORLD'S EXPLOREUS. 
 
 Every day saw eight, ten, or even twelve corpses lowered into the 
 deep ; and even those who had been healthy during the whole voyage 
 now began to droop visibly. A dangerous leak was sprung in the 
 gunner's storeroom, and only the fortunate occurrence of a few calm 
 days enabled the carpenters to apply a partial remedy ; to stop it 
 entirely they declared to be impossible without getting at it from the 
 outside, which could only be done when the ship was laid ashore. At 
 length two islands, Anatacan and Deringan, were sighted ; but it was 
 impossible to obtain an anchorage, and the weather was so rough that 
 the languishing crew dared not even send a boat on shore to obtain a 
 supply of cocoanuts or bread-fruit for the sick, and as the island 
 diminished in the distance, the last hope of the forlorn mariners 
 seemed drifting from their sight. " Thus," writes Mr. Walter, "with 
 the most gloomy persuasion ,of our approaching destruction, we stood 
 from the island of Anatacan, having aU of us the strongest apprehen- 
 sions (and those not ill-founded) either of dying of the scurvy or 
 perishing with the ship, which, for want of hands to work her pumps, 
 might in a short time be expecited to founder." 
 
 But it was not the will of God that these brave mariners should be 
 added to the number of gallant men who have perished on the wide 
 ocean without leaving a record of their heroism and sufferings. When 
 matters had come to the very worst, and the only question seemed to Tje 
 who should survive to witness the end, a merciful Providence brought 
 the ship to the island of Tinian, one of the Ladrone group. On the 
 morning of the 27th of August this island was sighted ; and soon after- 
 wards a proa was seen proceeding under sail to the southward. Imme- 
 diately the instinct of duty was strong in the breast of the storm-tossed 
 sailors. As it was known that the Spaniards kept a force at the 
 island of Guam, and the presence of the proa seemed to infer that there 
 were inhabitants on Tinian, it became advisable at once to obtain 
 intelligence concerning the Spaniards, and to prevent them from 
 ascertaining the lamentable condition of the Centurion, and learning 
 how little she would be able to oppose an effectual resistance to an 
 attack. Accordingly the Spanish coloui-s were hoisted, with a red flag 
 at the foretopmast-head ; and the crew of the proa, deceived into the 
 belief that the strange ship was their own galleon from Acapulco, 
 approached near enough to be taken prisoners by the Centurion's cutter. 
 There were four Indians under the command of a Spaniard. The 
 account given by the Spaniard of the resources of the island filled the 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 127 
 
 Centurion's crew with joy. Tliey were assured that the island not only 
 afforded plenty of fresh water, but that cattle, poultry, and hogs were to 
 he found running wild there in great numbers, so that it was used as a 
 storehouse for the Spanish garrison at Guani, to which the captain 
 of the proa belonged. He had, in fact, been sent to Tinian with 
 some Indians to procure a cargo of jerked beef for the garrison at 
 Guam, and a bark of about fifteen tons burden, which lay at anchor 
 near the island, was destined to receive the cargo when enough beef 
 had been prepared. 
 
 SAVAGE WEAPONS. 
 
 There was intelligence for the poor mariners, languishing for fresh 
 provisions and wholesome air and rest ! Tlie contrary winds and 
 currents which had been anathematised by the harassed voyagers had 
 probably for the second time preserved them from capture, or perhaps 
 destruction. The bark was at once secured, lest the Indians should 
 escape in her and carry intelligence of the Centurion's arrival to the 
 garrison at Guam. The anchor was let go, and under the stimulus 
 of revived hope the feeble crew contrived after five hours of hard work 
 to furl their sails, and preparations were made for once more landing 
 the sick. It was, indeed, time ; for such was the condition of the crew 
 that out of the united survivors of the comj^any of the Centurion, Trial, 
 and Gloucester ships, that at their departure from England had mustered 
 nearly a thousand men, only seventy-one men could be mustcredcapable 
 of standing at a gun on the greatest emergency, and these included the 
 
128 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLOKERS. 
 
 Jjoat's crow, and some Indians and negroes who had been made prisoners 
 at various times. 
 
 The presence of the Indians on the island proved a fortunate event, 
 for these men had erected a large hut, twenty yards long and fifteen 
 broad, as a storehouse for their beef. This was at once cleared and 
 convei-ted into an hospital for the sick, who could thus be transported 
 on shore without waiting for the erection of tents. 
 
 In the duty of carrying the sick ashore, every one, to the commander 
 himself, took part. A melancholy procession they were — one hundred 
 and twenty-eight persons, few of whom could hobble on crutches to the 
 great hospital-hut. But so entirely was the lamentable state of these 
 poor fellows attributable to preventible causes, that, though twenty- 
 one were buried on that day and the preceding one, during the two 
 months of their subsequent stay on the island not above ten men were 
 lost. Fresh air and wholesome food, and especially acid fruits, were au 
 infallilile specific against the horrible scurvy, and hardly ever failed to 
 cure those who were not absolutely in a dying state when they landed. 
 It seems incredible that long after this period our navy continued to 
 be annually decimated by this terrible scourge, and yet no effectual 
 measures for the health of the men were introduced into the code of 
 our maritime regulations. 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 129 
 
 The Centurion Driven to Sea — Trying Position of the Commodore — Anson's 
 Resolntion — Construction of a Ship — Return of the Centurion — Flying Proas 
 of the Islanders — The Centurion proceeds to Macao — The Ship Befitted — 
 Determination to Take the Aoapulco Galleon — ^Anson's Address to the Crew 
 — Cheerfulness of the Men — Warlike Exercises and Preparations on Board — 
 Suspense and Expectation. 
 
 ) 
 A T the earliest possible moment, those of the sick -who had partially 
 
 -^ recovered were sent back on board the Centurion, and the process 
 of watering the ship began. The anchors were also weighed, that the 
 cables might be examined and strengthened as far as possible, for it 
 was apprehended, that the time of the new moon would bring violent 
 gales. But in spite of every precaution, the worn cables were not 
 sufficient to bear the strain. On the 22nd of September a furious gale 
 was blowing. The great majority of the crew, to the number of a 
 hundred and thirteen, including Commodore Anson himself, were on 
 shore. All communication with the ship was cut off, for no boat could 
 live in such a sea. As evening came on many were the anxious glances 
 cast towards the ship ; for the few men on board were manifestly 
 insufficient to carry her out to sea, and it was Tery doubtful if she 
 would ride out the gale at her anchors. As the night wore on the gale 
 increased. At midnight signals of distress were sent up in the shape of 
 blue-lights, and guns were fired from the ship, but it was too dark for 
 these to be seen or heard. The storm continiied to rage ; and when the 
 morning dawned, and the watchers on the island looked out anxiously 
 over the wild waste of tumbling waters, they gazed on one another in 
 blank dismay, and the hearts of the boldest stood still, for the Centiirion 
 bad disappeared ! 
 
 QTie position in which Commodore Anson now found himself was 
 one of the most trying in which a commanding officer could be placed. 
 The men had scarcely recovered from the despondency that naturally 
 accompanies the grievous sickness from which they had so long suffered, 
 and now there had suddenly come upon them the most terrible calamity 
 of aU. 
 
 No one could teU whether the Centurion had foundered, or had only 
 been driven off the land ; but even in the latter and more favourable 
 
180 THE WOEJLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 contingency it was very improbable that the few men on board her 
 would be able to do anything but let the ship run whithersoever the 
 gale should drive her. Their present place of refuge was so entirely out 
 of the track of ships that the island was quite unknown to the generality 
 of Europeans ; it was not likely, therefore, that they would be rescued 
 by a chance vessel. Added to this, there was the danger that the 
 Spaniards might come from Guam, and, in the absence of any docu- 
 ments to prove the rank of the officers and the status of the men, might 
 treat them as pirates, and put them to an ignominious death. The 
 sailors knew all this, and the commander must secretly have felt bitterly 
 disquieted, but, to all outward appearance, he remained cahn and un- 
 moved. With ready common sense, while he professed his unhesitating 
 belief that the Centurion had only been driven off the coast by the gale 
 and would quickly return, he represented to the men that they must 
 provide against every chance that might prevent the Centurion's return 
 by themselves preparing the means of quitting the island. The smalt 
 bark of fifteen tons, intended to receive the cargo of jerked beef, might 
 be lengthened twelve feet, and thus made fit to carry them all to China. 
 The carpenter Said that this could be accomplished by the united 
 efforts of the crew ; therefore, he argued, it behoved them to set to work 
 at once. For himself he would not require from any of them more than 
 he, their commander, would be willing himseK to do, nor should they 
 make any exsrtion in which he would not take his share. Thus, if the 
 Centurion should not return, they would be able to extricate themselves 
 from their dilemma, and if she reappeared, they would only have lost a 
 few days', or at most a few weeks', labour. 
 
 In the presence of such sterling counsel it was impossible to despair. 
 The British sailor is not generally the man to leave his officer to work 
 alone, and in a short time all was activity and labour. The work Of 
 enlarging the bark was begun under great difficulties ; many of the 
 most necessary tools had to be made before anything else could be done, 
 and even the smith's bellows were ingeniously constructed with some 
 hides which the ship's company themselves tanned, and a gun-barrel 
 for a pipe. A dry-dock was dug for the bark, and she was broitght 
 into it with infinite labour and difficulty, and day after day found the 
 shipwrecked mariners hard at work upon the preparation of their ark 
 of safety. 
 
 The 9th of October saw the work so far advanced that they cal- 
 culated they should launch their little ship by the 5th of the next month. 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE KOUND THE WORLD. 131 
 
 On the 11th, however, one of the Gloucester'B men, a man who had 
 been on a hiU in the centre of the island, came rushing down frantically 
 to his comrades, waving his hands and shouting, " The ship ! the ship !" 
 Mr. Gordon, a lieutenant of marines, ran with the good news to the 
 captain, and Commodore Anson, throwiug down the axe with which he 
 had been hard at work, for the first time lost his composure, and gave 
 way to an outburst of thankful joy. It was true : there, in the ofiing, 
 slowly but surely nearing the island, was the old Centurion herself. A 
 boatful of proidsions for the refreshment of her crew was at once 
 despatched, and the next afternoon she came to an anchor amid the 
 acclamations of aU. She had been away nineteen days, and it was only 
 by the persevering and incessant exertions of the few brave men on 
 board that she had been brought back to the island. 
 
 The business of watering the ship was now carried on with great 
 vigour, but before it was completed the ship was driven once more off 
 the shore. This time, however, the admiral and most of the crew were 
 on board, and as the weather was more favourable the rest managed to 
 come off in the ship's boats, with the exeeption of about thirty, who 
 were away in the woods, and were consequently left behind. When, 
 five days afterwards, the Centurion stood iu again for the island, these 
 indefatigable men had already begun to shorten the " fifteen ton" bark, 
 and prepare her for sea. At last, late in October, the Centurion 
 sailed away, well furnished with water, provisions, and fruits, from 
 an island that had been in every sense a place of safety and refresh- 
 ment to her crew, and that well deserved its Spanish name of Buena- 
 vista. 
 
 Mr. Walter was especially struck with the appearance of the flyiag 
 proas or canoes, of which several were seen at the island of Tinian. 
 He describes their construction in the foUowuig manner : — 
 
 " The construction of this proa is a direct contradiction to the prac- 
 tice of all the rest of mankind, for as the rest of the world make the 
 head of their vessels different from the stern, but the two sides alike, 
 the proa, on the contrary, has her head and .«!tern exactly alike, but her 
 two sides very different ; the side intended to be always the lee side 
 being flat, and the windward side made rounding in the manner of 
 other vessels ; and, to prevent her oversetting, which, from her small 
 breadth and the straight run of her leeward side, would, without this 
 precaution, infallibly happen, there is a frame laid out from her to 
 windward, to the end of which is fastened a log, fashioned into the 
 
132 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 shape of a small toat, and made hollow ; the weight of the frame is 
 intended to balance the proa, and the small boat is by its buoyancy (as 
 it is always in the water) to prevent her oversetting to windward, and 
 this frame is usually cailed an outrigger. The body of the proa ((it 
 least of that we took) is made of two pieces joined endways, and sewed 
 together with bark, for there is no iron used about her. She is about 
 two inches thick at the bottom, which at the gunwale is reduced to less 
 than one.'' These craft will sail before the trade winds at the rate of 
 twenty miles an hour, and have been justly called flying proas. 
 
 Through all danger and difficulty Commodore Anson never lost 
 sight of the object he had proposed to himself, and which he was deter- 
 mined to carry out at all hazards. He had set his heart upon taking 
 the Manilla galleon, and every obstacle and every delay he encountered 
 only made him more firmly resolved to carry out this part of the inten- 
 tion of the Government whose servant he was. Before he could combat 
 the great Spanish ship with any chance of success, it was necessary 
 that the Centurion should be put into fighting condition. The stores 
 and fittings necessary to put the ship into condition could not be pro- 
 cured nearer than China ; and accordingly the Centurion's course was 
 shaped for Macao by way of the island of Formosa. At Macao, a 
 Portuguese settlement, he was received in a friendly manner by the 
 governor, who, however, told him plainly tliat he could not furnish him 
 with the required stores and provisions without an order from the 
 Chinese Government, and the procuring of this permission was attended 
 with a great many difliculties and delays. The Chinese merchants made 
 all sorts of promises, declaring that they would use their utmost influ- 
 ence with the viceroy ; and after a great deal of shuffling on their part, 
 during which they caused the loss of much valuable time, they at 
 length coolly informed Captain Anson that they could do nothing in 
 the matter, for that the viceroy was by far too great a man to be 
 approached by them. 
 
 Nothing daunted, the commodore determined to proceed liimself 
 to Canton, and partly by liberal offers, partly by judicious firm- 
 ness, he succeeded, after some months, in having his ship hove 
 down and thoroughly overhauled! The dangerous leak which for 
 many months had kept the ship in hourly danger of foundering, was 
 permanently stopped; the vessel was thoroughly victualled and 
 furnished with all necessary stores ; and at last, in the spring of 1743, 
 the Centurion saUed away from Macao in a very different condition 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 133 
 
 from that in -which she had entered the roads some months before. Her 
 crew was, moreover, recruited by some twenty new men and boys, and 
 
 TERNS OR SE.\ SWALLOWS. 
 
 mustered two hundred and twenty-seven hands, a small complement 
 stiU for a ship of her size, but yet siifficient, under a brave and 
 
134 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 judicious commander, to make her a match for any Spaniard that sailed 
 the seas. 
 
 Commodore Anson was aware that by cruising off Acapulco the 
 preceding year he had prevented the usual galleon from putting to sea 
 for the Philippine Islands, and therefore he had reason to expect that 
 there would this year he two of these ships despatched, instead of one. 
 AccordiRgly he resolved to shape his course for Samal, the first of the 
 Philippine Islands usually visited by the Acapulco ship, and then to 
 cruise off a point called Espiritu Santo, and await the arrival of the 
 galleon ; and as it was the middle of April when the Centurion left 
 Macao, and the time for the arrival of the galleon at the Philippines 
 was early in June, he had every prospect of being in time. He had 
 studiously concealed his intentions while the ship was refitting ; but 
 now that she was fairly at sea, he summoned all hands to the quarter- 
 deck, and told the crew he purposed fighting the galleons. At the same 
 time he cautioned them against crediting the absurd stories they had 
 heard concerning the immense strength of the enemy's ships, and then- 
 reputed " shot-proof sides," promising them to lay the Centurion so 
 close to the enemythat the sho* should go, not through one of the 
 Spaniard's sides, but through both. This speech, which was exactly 
 to the taste of the sailors, was received with three " strenuous cheers," 
 and nothing was now talked of but the taking of the galleons. Of the 
 issue of the combat the men had not the least doubt. They talked of 
 the galleons as if one or both had been already captured, and the ship's 
 butcher asked and received permissioa to keep the two last of the 
 sheep brought from Canton " for the entertainment of the general of 
 the galleon." 
 
 Every measure was taiken to bring the crew into an efficient 
 state. Frequent exesreise at the great guns, and incessant practice 
 in firing at a mark^ the commodore giving small prizes to the best 
 shots, soon made them very expert,, and their dexterity in tke use 
 of small-arms was of great inrportance in the fight which was to 
 ensue. 
 
 It was the end of May when the Centurion arrived at her station off 
 Cape Espiritu Santo. The eagerness of all on board to meet the 
 enemy is well illustrated in the journal kept by one of the officers on 
 board, and of which Mr. Walter gives some extracts. The officer in 
 question writes : — 
 
 " May 31. Exercising our men at their quarters, in great expectation 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 135 
 
 of meeting with the galleons very soon, this being the 11th of June 
 
 their style." 
 
 " June 3. Keeping in our stations, and looking out for the galleons." 
 "June 5. Begin now to be in great expectation, this being the 
 
 middle of June their style." 
 
 "June 11. Begin to grow impatient at not seeing the galleons." 
 "June 13. The wind having blown fresh easterly for the forty-eight 
 
 hours past, gives us great expectations of seeing the galleons soon." 
 "June 16. Cruising on and off, and looking out strictly." 
 "June 19. This beiag the last day of June N.S., the galleons, if 
 
 they arrive at all, must appear soon." 
 
136 THE WORLD'S EXPLOREKS. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Appearance of the Spanish Galleon — Anson's Judioious Arrangements — Method 
 of Fighting the Centnrion — Confusion on Board the Galleon — Capture of 
 the Spaniard — Sufferings of the Prisoners on Board the Centurion — Anson's 
 Return to Macao — Chinese Duplicity — A Faithful Interpreter — Efitum to 
 England by the Cape of Good Hope — War between England and France — 
 Anson's Fortunate Escape — Importance of his Voyage. 
 
 npmS state of suspense had lasted just a month, when it was ended 
 by the discovery, one morning at sunrise, of a sail bearing down 
 upon them from the south-east. The stranger came steadily on, and 
 after a time it became evident that she was the long-looked-for galleon. 
 On perceiving the Centurion she did not alter her course, for it appeared 
 that her commander, trusting to the size of his ship, and the con- 
 siderable nimibers of his crew, was resolved to fight the enemy, well 
 knowing the comparative inferiority in size and strength of Commodore 
 Anson's ship. 
 
 With great alacrity and joyous zeal the Centurion's men prepared 
 for the long-expected combat. Their judicious commander had taken 
 precautions to insure quickness and promptitude in the preparations for 
 battle, whUe all confusion and hurry were avoided. Thirty picked 
 marksmen were posted in the tops, where they did good service. With 
 admirable judgment Anson had appointed two men to each gun, to be 
 solely employed in loading it ; while the rest of the men, divided into 
 gangs of ten or twelve, moved about the decks, firing each gun as it 
 was got ready ; thus harassing the Spaniards much more than if the 
 guns had been discharged in broadsides, in which case it was their 
 custom to lie down and let the shot pass over them, taking advantage 
 of the time to retaliate during the necessary interval whilst the guns 
 were being reloaded. The Spaniards, on their part, lay-to, to await 
 the coming up of the Centurion. They had delayed the duty of clearing 
 their decks till the last moment, and the Centurion's men, as they came 
 up, could see their adversaries throwing cattle overboard, and making 
 great efforts to regain the time they had wasted. Thereupon the com- 
 modore ordered his people to open fire upon them with the bow-chasers, 
 to embarrass their motions, and increase the confusion on board the 
 galleon. 
 
 The galleon replied briskly enough to this attack with her stern- 
 chasers ; and when the Centurion came up with her, a fair pounding 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE KOUND THE WORLD. 137 
 
 hammer-and-tongs fight began. The Spaniards fought well, and were 
 right valiantly commanded by their general ; but they lacked the sea- 
 manship of the British, who at the outset obtained the advantage in 
 station, and kept it almost to the end of the battle. Mr. Walter tells 
 us: — 
 
 "And now the engagement began in earnest, and for the first half- 
 hour Mr. Anson overreached the galleon and lay on her bow, where, by 
 the great wideness of his ports, he could traverse nearly all his guns 
 upon the enemy, whUst the galleon could only bring a part of hers to 
 bear. Irttmediately on the commencement of the action the mats with 
 which the galleon had stuffed her netting took fire and burnt violently, 
 blazing up half as high as the mizen-top. This accident — supposed to 
 be caused by the Centurion's wads — ^threw the enemy into great con- 
 fusion, and at the same time alarmed the commodore, for he feared lest 
 the galleon should be burnt, and lest he himself too might suffer by her 
 driving on board him ; but the Spaniards at last freed themselves from 
 the iire by cutting away the netting, and tumbling the whole mass 
 which was in flames into the sea. But stiU the Centurion, keeping her 
 first advantageous position, firing her cannon with great regularity and 
 briskness, whilst at the same time the galleon's decks lay open to her 
 topmen, who having at their first volley driven the Spaniards from 
 their tops, made prodigious havoc with their small arms, killing or 
 wounding every officer but one that ever appeared on the quarter-deck, 
 and wounding in particular the general of the galleon himself. And 
 though the Centurion after the first half -hour lost her original situation, 
 and was close alongside the galleon, and the enemy continued to fire 
 briskly for near an hour longer, yet at last the commodore's grapeshot 
 swept their decks so effectually, and the number of their slain and 
 wounded was so considerable, that they began to fall into great disorder, 
 especially as the general, who was the life of the action, was no longer 
 capable of exerting himself. Their embarrassment was visible from on 
 board the Centurion, for the ships were running so near that some of 
 the Spanish officers were seen running about with great assiduity to 
 prevent the desertion of their men from their quarters. But all their 
 endeavours were in vain, for after having as a last effort fired five or 
 six guns with more judgment than usual, they gave up the contest, and 
 the galleon's colours being singed off the ensign-staff in the beginning 
 of the engagement, she struck the standard at her topgallant-masthead, 
 the person who was employed to do it having been in imminent peril of 
 
loS THE WORLD'S EXPLOREKS: 
 
 being killed, had not the commodore, who perceived what he was about, 
 given express orders to his people to desist from firing. But the danger 
 was not over when the Spaniard struck her colours. Immediately 
 afterwards the commodore was informed that the Centurion was 
 dangerously on fire near the powder-room. The conflagration was, 
 however, happily extinguished before the alarm had been allowed to 
 spread, and all were soon busily employed in the task of transferring 
 the prisoners from their own ships to the Centurion, with the exception 
 of a few who were retained on board to assist in working the galleon.'' 
 
 The Spaniards had suffered severely in the action, the crowded state 
 of their vessel and the confusion on board contributing, no doubt, to 
 their loss. Sixty-seven had been killed, and more than eighty 
 wounded, while the English hst of casualties showed only two men 
 killed, and seventeen men and one officer woxmded ; " of so little con- 
 sequence," observes Mr. Walter, "are the most destructive arms in 
 untutoredand unpractised hands." The prisoners were greatly chagrined 
 when they found that the Centurion's crew did not amount to half their 
 own number, and some of them loudly expressed their indignation at 
 " being Taeaten by a handful of boys." The fear of a mutiny among them 
 was now added: to the other anxieties of Commodore Anson, who was 
 obliged to confine his captives in the Centurioji's hold under a strong 
 guard ; while swivel-guns, loaded with grapeshot, were kept on deck, 
 pointed at the hatchways, ready to fire down among them at the first 
 outbreak. The poor wretches suffered fearfully in this mariae " black 
 hole," and their woes were aggravated by want of water, for the supply 
 on board was so short that it was necessary to restrict them to a pint 
 a day, a fearful hardship in a torrid climate. They were kept alive, 
 indeed ; but when they at length emerged from their loathsome prison 
 they are described as looking more like ghosts and spectres than real 
 men. 
 
 The silver in bars and coins — of which there was a great quantity 
 on board the galleon — ^was at once transferred to her conqueror, and 
 victors and vanquished made sail in company for Canton Biver. On 
 their arrival at the Bocca Tigris, a narrow channel at the mouth of the 
 river, the evident strength and the warlike aspect of the two vessels 
 excited considerable aJarm, and the pilots of the place received secret 
 instructions from the mandarin forbidding them to guide the stranger 
 ships past the forts. Anson, however, compelled the pilot he had taken 
 on board to bring him past these threatening castles, which proved, on 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 139 
 
 observation formidable only iu appearance, and made no attempt to 
 dispute the passage. The poor pilot was threatened with hanging at 
 the yardarm if the ships struck, and under the mingled influence of the 
 fear of punishment and hope of reward performed his task efficiently 
 enough. The Chinese mandarin, indeed, caused the poor fellow te be 
 beaten for disregarding his command ; but the commodore, to whom the 
 pilot came piteously exhibiting the marks of the punishment he had 
 received, gave him a sum of money that sent him away rejoicing. 
 
 A STEEET IN CANTON. 
 
 Anson proposed to stay in the Canton River till the shifting of the 
 monsoon, and meanwhile to obtain a supply of provisions for his home- 
 ward voyage. The Spanish prisoners were sent down the river in two 
 jmiks, and set at liberty at the Portuguese settlement of Macao. And 
 now began a series of tedious and intricate negotiations with the 
 viceroy at Canton, considerably complicated by the duplicity and bad 
 faith of the mandarins. Attempts were made to extort from the 
 Centurion the duties paid by merchantmen. Every obstacle was 
 thrown in the commodore's way in his attempts to obtain provisions, 
 
140 THK WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 and it was only at length, by a very significant Hnt at the strength of 
 his ships and their fighting capabilities, that he brought the Chinese 
 officials to anything like reasonable terms. One of the ofiicers who 
 went on shore to walk was beaten and plundered, and it appeared that 
 the authorities, though profuse in their promises to punish the delin- 
 quents, had more than connived at the outrage. A topmast that had 
 been towing astern of the Centurion was one night cut loose and car- 
 ried off. The commodore, who considered that this was not a very 
 portable article, or a thing easily hidden, thought fit to offer a reward 
 of fifty dollars to a mandarin for the recovery of the spar, which 
 accordingly reappeared in a few days, whereupon Commodore Anson 
 gave fifty dollars to an interpreter or linguist through whom he trans- 
 acted his business with the mandarins, to be paid over to the official 
 through whose means the spar had been recovered. The worthy 
 interpreter, however, thought fit quietly to retain the cash. The wily 
 mandarin indirectly questioned the commodore, and elicited the fact 
 that the interpreter had received the money, whereupon that unfortunate 
 embezzler was stripped not only of his plunder, but of all his legitimate 
 earnings in the commodore's service, and beaten within an inch of his 
 life. Afterwards the poor wretch came crawling to Anson in a state of 
 abject misery, begging for help. The conmiodore, naturally enough, 
 upbraided him with the foUy that had made him risk losing a couple 
 of thousand dollars on the chance of an illicit gain of fifty. The 
 interpreter's reply was characteristic — " Chiaese man very great rogue, 
 truly!" said this model of incorruptibility, "but have fashion — ^no can 
 help." 
 
 How widely this agreeable fashion was diffused among the celestials 
 the commodore and his crew soon had good reason to know. Never was 
 known such a community of cheats as these worthies of the Canton 
 River. No provisions, living or dead, that were sold by Chinese 
 dealers escaped the plague of adulteration. On finding that carcasses 
 of hogs were bought by weight, they managed to fill them with water ; 
 when live hogs were purchased they crammed the unhappy brutes with 
 salt, to induce them to drink largely just before bringing them on 
 board. Live fowls were crammed in like manner with gravel, so that 
 the weight was in some instances increased ten ounces by this honest 
 device. And inasmuch as they were quite free from any prejudice 
 against eating animals that had died a natural death, they managed 
 to mutilate the last batch of hogs and poultry they delivered on board 
 
ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 141 
 
 the Centurion in such a manner that two-thirds of the hogs and all the 
 fowls died before the ship was out of sight of land ; and many Chinese 
 
 THE IIOOUOO AND KYLGHAU. 
 
 boats followed ia the Centurion's wake to pick up the carcasses as they 
 were flung overboard by the disgusted crew. At the last they were 
 
142 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 anxious to impress the 'barbarian strangers with, an idea of their forts, 
 by drawing out the garrisons on the ramparts ; and one man of un- 
 usual stature was seen marching to and fro in an especially conspicuous 
 manner. This paladin was clothed in complete armour ; but from 
 certain appearances the crew shrewdly suspected that the redoubtable 
 warrior's panoply was formed, not of vulgar iron, but of a peculiar kind 
 of glittering paper. 
 
 As the crew of the Centurion was far too weak in numbers to take 
 both their own ship and the galleon to Europe, the latter was sold to 
 the merchants of Macao at a price far below her value. It was, 
 moreover, of the highest importance that the Centurion should return 
 to England as quickly as possible ; for ker rich freight would have 
 rendered her a most valuable prize, if any project could be formed io 
 intercept her on her homeward voyage. At last, on the 15th of 
 December, 1743, the Centurion finally set sail from China, to return to 
 England round the Cape of Good Hope. A short stay at the Cape, 
 then in the possession of the Dutch, retarded the passage to England ; 
 and it was not till the 10th of June, 1744, when they were not far from 
 the Lizard, that a Britkh ship from Amsterdam brought our voyagers 
 intelligence of the war that was being carried on between England and 
 France. This was startling news. The French could scarcely fail to 
 have a fleet cruisiog in the Channel, and the weather-beaten Centurion, 
 with her weary storm-tossed crew, was not in the best fighting condition. 
 
 But for the third time the commodore's good fortune clung io him. 
 A thick fog came on ; and, hidden by its friendly veil, the Centurion 
 passed through the midst of a large French fleet, who thus lost the 
 chance of a prize of rare value. Sot tiLL he anchored at Spithead on 
 the 15th did Anson know bow great had been his peril. He had been 
 absent from England three years and nine months. The narrative 
 ®f his voyage round the world stands brilliantly forth amid the tales 
 of naval adventure as a proof of what the courage, fortitude, and 
 endurance of British sailors can effect, when guided by a commander 
 who unites cool judgment to quick resource and unflinching resolution. 
 

 m\ 
 
 THE KANGAROO. 
 
( 143 ) 
 
 CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 DANCE OF THE ADSTKALIAN ABOEIGINES. 
 
 Iniportanoo of Cook's Voyages — Early Life of James Cook — His Practical 
 Seamanship — Voyages at the Begimiing of tue Reign of George III. — The 
 expected Transit of Venus over the Sun — Expedition Fitted Out under 
 Cooli's Command — Madeira — The Portuguese at Rio — Passage round Cape 
 Horn — Patagonia — Arrival at Otaheite — Character of the Natives — Judicious 
 and Humane Conduct of Cook. 
 
 'X'lIE voyages of Captain Cook in many respects form a contrast to 
 
 the celebrated expedition of Commodore Anson, from which they 
 
 differ alike in the object for which they were undertaken, the means by 
 
144 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 which they were carried out, arid the results that have been derived 
 from them. The gallant commander of the Centurion was essentially 
 a man of war, who, employed in a warlike cause, fulfilled his duty in 
 a brilliant manner ; Cook, on the other hand, sailed in the interests of 
 peace, science, and civilisation. Anson went forth to fight against his 
 country's enemies. Cook to explore unknown seas, and enrich the world 
 with the peaceful triumphs of navigation and research. The one, in 
 the stern pursuit of his duty, destroyed to the value of above a million 
 of " enemy's property ;'' the other enriched his country and the world 
 with knowledge that has already been worth many millions, and 
 whose value has not yet been exhausted, or even fully appreciated. 
 
 Captain James Cook was born of humble parents, at Marton, in 
 Yorkshire, in the year 1728. His father belonged to the labouring 
 class, and, like his illustrious son, rose by his own exertions from his 
 original station. He became under-steward on the estate on which he 
 had long and honestly laboured. James, one of a family of nine, 
 received a very rudimentary education, and was apprenticed to a shop- 
 keeper ; but soon exchanged the drudgery of the shop for the more 
 congenial career of a seaman. He served for seven years as appren- 
 tice to the owner of a fleet of colliers, and the dangerous coasting 
 service j)roved to him a most valuable school of practical navigation. 
 Active, eager, and industrious, he mastered the details of his profession 
 in an unusually short time ; and at the expiration of his apprenticeship 
 was promoted to the post of mate on board a collier. In 1755 he 
 volunteered on board the Eagle, a sixty-gun ship, and soon afterwards 
 his efliciency and good conduct, backed by the interest of friends of 
 his family, raised him from before the mast. The Mercury, a small 
 vessel, was to accompany the squadron of Sir Charles Saunders, bound 
 to the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; and young James Cook was appointed 
 master of this vessel. 
 
 The English were at this time occupied in the task of wresting 
 Canada from the French, and a British fleet was sent to strengthen the 
 army of General Wolfe. The difficult and perilous task of taking 
 soundings before the ships proceeded to their stations was intrusted 
 to Cook, who fulfilled his duty in the most efficient manner, and in 
 doing so narrowly escaped capture by the enemy. On one occasion 
 he only saved himself by stepping out of his boat at the bow as some 
 Indians who were in pursuit of him rushed in at the stem. He after- 
 wards made a survey of the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, a 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 145 
 
 service of especial utility from the importance of the former settlement 
 as a fishing station. Thus, step by step, by repeated seryices unobtru- 
 sively rendered, but rich in practical worth, the young mathematician 
 won his way to distinction and honour. 
 
 With the reign of George III. began an age of exploration and dis- 
 covery in the distant regions of the Pacific, and in those parts of the 
 Atlantic that had hitherto escaped the investigation of mariners. In 
 1764, Commodore Byron started on his memorable voyage round the 
 world in the Dolphin, following in some measure the track pursued by 
 Anson's squadron nearly a quarter of a century before. In 1766 a 
 second voyage round the world in the Dolphin was undertaken by 
 Captain Wallis, and further discoveries were made ; while in the mean- 
 time Captain Carteret achieved a similar enterprise in the sloop Swallow, 
 a miserable old tub quite unfit for the important service on which 
 she was despatched. But a still more arduous work was now to be 
 intrusted to the energy and skill of Cook. 
 
 In the year 1716 the illustrious astronomer HaUey, himself a great 
 voyager in the cause of science, had pointed out the advantages to be 
 obtained by an accurate observation of a transit of the planet Venus 
 over the sun's disc. The parallax of the sun and the dimensions of the 
 solar system, with the distance of the sun from the earth, could be 
 determined with an accuracy yet unattained by an accurate observation 
 of this phenomenon. The transit of Venus over the sun only occurs 
 once in more than a century. It had happened in 1639, and was to be 
 expected again in 1769 ; and HaUey exhorted those who should come 
 after him not to let this grand opportunity for scientific observation 
 pass without making due use of it. His admonitions were not forgotten, 
 and in 1766 the Admiralty prepared to send out an expedition to the 
 southern seas to take the necessary observations. 
 
 It had been originally intended to put the enterprise under the 
 direction of Dalrymple, the eminent astronomer, with whom was to be 
 associated a naval oflScer who should undertake the practical com- 
 mand ; for former experience in the case of HaUey himself had shown 
 that a purely scientific commander cannot always secure the necessary 
 subordination and respect among his crew. Dalrymple, however, 
 refused to have anything to do with the enterprise unless he had the 
 entire command ; and in this dilemma Cook was mentioned as a proper 
 man to undertake the responsible duty. Accordingly he received a 
 lieutenant's rank and a commission appointing him commander of the 
 
 L 
 
146 THE WOKLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 enterprise. With him were associated Mr. Green, an astronomer, 
 Dr. Solander, a Swedish botanist of considerable attainments, and 
 Mr. Banks, a young gentleman of large fortune, who zealously deyoted 
 himself to science, and afterwards made for himself a celebrated name 
 as Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society. He survived 
 till 1820. 
 
 With rare judgment Lieutenant Cook selected for his enterprise a 
 stout, strongly-built coUier, the Endeavour, well knowing that a ship 
 built for the coasting trade would be easier to navigate in intricate and 
 dangerous channels than a frigate or line-of-battle ship, and would, 
 moreover, contain much more room for stores. Thus, on the 26th of 
 August, 1768, Cook sailed from Plymouth on a voyage destined to be 
 recorded as one of the most remarkable in the annals of maritime 
 discovery. 
 
 The first and most important object of the expedition was to note 
 the transit of Venus over the sun's disc ; and by the advice of Captain 
 WaUis, who had returned from a voyage of discovery round the world 
 while the preparations of Cook's expedition were in active progress, it 
 was decided that King George the Third's Island in the South Sea, 
 now more generally known by its native name of Otaheite, should be 
 the point where the astronomers were to make their observations. 
 
 Accordingly, Cook steered for the Pacific, following the usual route 
 of vessels in those days — namely, by way of Madeira to the Brazils, and 
 thence to Strait le Maire, the scene of such terrible discomfort and 
 danger to the ships of Anson's squadron. Cook gives a few interesting 
 particulars concerning Madeira, and graphicaEy and truly describes it 
 as a place for which Nature had done everything and art and industry 
 nothing. He speaks of the negligent and imperfect cultivation of the 
 splendid vines with almost a prophetic foreknowledge of the results 
 this carelessness would produce in the deterioration of the grapes, and 
 consequently of the famous vines of the island. The good commander's 
 ideas of artistic taste and fitness were moreover outraged by the 
 pictured saints to be found in numbers on the walls of the convents, 
 and many vf whom were attired in laced coats. 
 
 Coasting southward along Brazil, the Endeavour reached Eio 
 Janeiro. The Portuguese authorities seem to have looked with con- 
 siderable suspicion upon the strange ship, especially as the governor of 
 Kio, whose scientific knowledge was probably of a very elementary 
 kind, could not at aU be made to understand the object of the voyage. 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVEKIES. 147 
 
 That a ship should be sent thousan<Js of nules for the sake of astro- 
 nomical observations was to him a great and unfathomable mystery, 
 and the transit of Venus itself was a thing he could by no means be 
 made to comprehend. At last, however, he became impressed with a 
 vague notion that the phenomenon in question was " the passing of the 
 North Star through the South" Pole;" and, sorely harassed in his 
 mind with all manner of doubts as to the real intentions of his visitors, 
 the worthy viceroy caused them to be strictly watched. To the last he 
 seems to have been persuaded that the true object of the voyage was 
 rather political than scientific, and was connected with some sinister 
 design on his Portuguese Majesty's town of Kio. 
 
 On the coast of Patagonia immense flocks of sea birds were observed, 
 from- the stately albatross to the stupid penguin. The scientific gentle- 
 men on board were also astonished at the appearance of the Fucus 
 giganieus, an enormous sea-weed, whose stalks were hundreds of feet 
 in length, growing up and spreading over the surface of the water, 
 where there was a perpendicular depth of eighty-four feet. This is 
 the same plant which has been described by Alexander von Humboldt 
 in his Views of Nature. 
 
 The gigantic inhabitants of Patagonia, with whom the voyagers 
 held some intercourse, were very degraded specimens of the " noble 
 savage," and appeared destitute, not only of intelligence, but even of 
 curiosity. Some of them came on board, but did not appear at all 
 impressed by the multitude of new and strange objects they saw. They 
 gazed around them with looks of vacant indifference; nor on their 
 landing and rejoining their companions was any anxiety exhibited by 
 the latter to hear what they had seen. A tragic adventure happened 
 to a party consisting of Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, and other gentlemen, 
 with some servants and sailors, who ascended a mountain on a bota- 
 nising expedition. They had secured their plants and were returning 
 to the ship when violent snowstorms retarded their progress, and it 
 became apparent that they must pass the night on shore. This was a 
 hard and even a dangerous prospect, and they determined to make 
 what speed they could to the shelter of a wood, and there pass the night 
 by a fire. Dr. Solander, who in his native country had crossed the Kolen 
 range of mountains between Norway and Sweden, knew of the fatal 
 drowsiness that frequently seizes the weary traveller, and of the effects 
 of indulging in the inclination to rest, and implored his companions to 
 keep moving, whatever pain the effort might cost them. " Whoever sits 
 
148 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 down," he said, "will sleep, and whoever sleeps wUl wake no more." 
 Thus urged, the travellers pushed sturdily onward ; but as night came 
 
 SEA BIRDS OF Tni: SOUIHEEI; OCKAX. 
 
 on, the cold became more and more severe. Dr. Solander himself was 
 the first to feel the approach of the fatal lethargy against whose insidious 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 149 
 
 attacks be had warned his companions ; and, " recking not his own 
 rede," he piteously begged to be allowed to lie down and sleep, though 
 
 STORMY PETREL — WANDERING ALBATROSS. 
 
 he had emphatically declared that to sleep was to die. Eiohmond, a 
 black servant, felt the same inclination, and began to linger behind ; 
 
150 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 and in a short time, in spite of the entreaties of Mr. Banks and the 
 other gentlemen, the two half-stupeiied men lay down on the ground. 
 Mr. Banks, with admirable forethought, had sent some men on to 
 kindle a fire when Dr. Solander and Richmond began to flag. With 
 great difficulty the doctor was conveyed to this fire and revived ; but 
 Richmond and another man perished from the terrible cold. 
 
 Cook was fortunate in the weather in rounding Cape Horn. The 
 albatross now appeared larger than ever, and our travellers certainly 
 laid themselves open many times to the penalties and sorrows that 
 befell Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, for theynot only "shot the albatross" 
 whenever they could find him, but ate him too, without the slightest 
 scruple. " The albatrosses we skinned," says Dr. Hawksworth's account, 
 taken from the journals of the commanders and gentlemen, "and 
 having soaked them in salt water till the morning, we parboiled them ; 
 then having thrown away the liquor, stewed them in a very little fresh 
 water till they were tender, and had them served up with savoury 
 sauce ; thus dressed the dish was universally commended, and we ate 
 of it very heartily even when there was fresh pork on the table." 
 Throughout aU this part of the voyage the remarks of Cook on the 
 navigation of the seas around Cape Horn exhibit him as a true prac- 
 tical sailor ; and the comparative ease with which he found his way 
 around the boisterous Horn must be partly attributed to his excellent 
 seamanship, and to the unceasing vigilance he exercised in every period 
 of danger and difficulty. 
 
 Thus the most perilous part of the voyage was passed without 
 serious loss or damage ; and the Endeavour entered the Pacific, steering 
 for the appointed harbour in Matavai Bay. 
 
 Otaheite, or King George the Third's Island, as it had been termed 
 by Captain.WaUis, has always claimed more attention, both on religious 
 and political grounds, than any other island in the Pacific groups. It 
 has long been a favourite field for missionary enterprise, Roman 
 Catholics and various Protestant denominations having vied with each 
 other in their efforts to convert the inhabitants ; and not quite a quarter 
 of a century has elapsed since the forcible establishment of a French 
 " protectorate" on the island, and certain insults offered to Mr. Prichard, 
 the British consul, who tried to defend the unfortunate native queen 
 Pomarg, nearly led to a rupture of amicable relations between England 
 and France. But, as Hermann Melville acutely observes iu his amusing 
 book Omoo> — the best account, by the way, that has been written of the 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 151 
 
 island in our own times — "Saint George and Saint Denis were not 
 going to cross swords about Tahiti," and the difficulty was amicably 
 adjusted. In our own days, Papetee Bay, the principal harbour of the 
 island, has become a calling place for ships, chiefly American, engaged 
 in the South Sea whale fishery ; and it may be safely aflirmed that the 
 intercourse with the crews of these vessels, and with other visitors to 
 the island, has wrought most lamentable effects upon the character and 
 prospects of the inhabitants. In Cook's time the people of Otaheite 
 were a handsome race, tall, strong, and well made, and many among 
 the women had considerable pretensions to beauty. They had already 
 made acquaintance with Europeans, Captain Wallis and former 
 voyagers having touched at Otaheite, and in their behaviour they were 
 generally exceedingly friendly and obliging. In many points of their 
 character they resembled children ; easily excited to laughter or tears, 
 they seemed incapable of long preserving the memory either of joy or 
 sorrow, and every passing feeling of their minds was plainly expressed 
 in their faces. They were exceedingly fond of approbation, and of an 
 affectionate disposition, eager to show friendship to their visitors, and 
 quickly forgetting any cause of complaint or quarrel that might arise. 
 Simple and imsuspicious, they allowed their visitors to land and build a 
 fort, and never seem to have imagined that the power of the strangers 
 who had come over the great sea to visit them could be used otherwise 
 than for their benefit. On the other hand, they were arrant thieves, 
 and in this particular the only difference between chiefs and people 
 appeared to be that the chiefs showed something like shame when 
 caught in the fact, and the people did not. They were very ingenious 
 in various ways, especially in the manufacturing of tappa, or native 
 cloth, from the fibres of the bark of trees. The commander, imme- 
 diately upon landing, drew up a set of " Regulations to be observed by 
 every person in or belonging to his Majesty's bark the Endeavour,'' in 
 the cultivation of intercourse and trade with the natives. These regu- 
 lations, especially enjoined that the natives should be treated with 
 justice and humanity ; and as Cook himself took care to see that they 
 were not infringed with impunity, the effect was satisfactory to all, and 
 perfect confidence was soon established between the natives of Otaheite 
 and their visitors. The commander's judicious conduct in rigidly 
 punishing the first offender who attempted to wrong the natives had the 
 best effect. The ship's butcher received a sound flogging for threatening 
 to cut the throat of a chief's wife who refused to sell him a stone 
 
152 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 liatchet. The natives, when they saw the punishment begun, earnestly 
 tried to procure pardon for the offender, and the whole transaction 
 impressed them with a respect alike for the power and for the justice 
 of Cook. 
 
 The chief object of the voyage, the observation of the transit of 
 Venus, was successfully accomplished. The sun rose on the important 
 day without a cloud, and the time of the transit was very accurately 
 noted by Mr. Green, the astronomer, and the other scientific gentlemen 
 attached to the expedition. A second set of observations, taken at the 
 neighbouring island of Eimeo, were equally satisfactory with those at 
 Otaheite. 
 
 n. 
 
 Surf-swimmiiig at Otaheite— Thievish Propensities of the Natives — Tupia the 
 Otaheitan accompanies Cook — Singular Customs in Otaheite — Cook's Arrival ' 
 at New Zealand — Circumnavigation of the Islands — Cook's Strait — ^Account 
 of the Natives— Cook's Exploration of the Coast of .New Holland — Narrow 
 Escape of the Endeavour — ^Natives of New Holland — Cook takes Possession 
 of New South Wales — Voyage to Batavia. 
 
 "VrONE of the customs of the Otaheitans seem to have excited so , 
 -^ much surprise in their visitors as the practice of surf-swimiriing, of 
 which the following account is given :^-" We came,'' says the com- 
 mander, "to one of the few places where access to the island is not 
 guarded by a reef, and consequently a high surf breaks upon the i 
 shore ; a more dreadful one, indeed, I had seldom seen. It was im- 
 possible for any European boat to have lived in it, and if the best 
 swimmer in Europe_ had by any chance been exposed to its fury, I am 
 confident that he would not have been able to preserve himself from 
 drowning, especially as the shore was covered with pebbles and large 
 stones. Yet in the midst of these breakers were ten or twelve Indians 
 swimming for their amusement. Whenever a surf broke near them 
 they dived under it, and, to all appearance with infinite facility, rose 
 again on the other side. This diversion was greatly improved by the 
 stern of an old canoe, which they happened to find upon the spot. 
 They took this before them, and swam out with it as far as the outer- 
 most breach; then, two or three of them getting into it and turning 
 the square end to the breaking wave, they were driven in to the shore 
 with incredible rapidity, sometimes almost to the beach ; but generally 
 the wave broke over them before they got half way, in which case they 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 153 
 
 dived, and rose on the other side with the canoe in their hands. They 
 then swam out with it again, and were again driven back, just as our 
 hoKday youth climb the hill in Greenwich Park for the pleasure of 
 rolling down it. At this wonderful scene we stood gazing for more 
 than half-an-hour, during which time none of the swimmers attempted 
 to come on shore, but all seemed to enjoy the sport in the highest 
 de2;ree." 
 
 SUEF SWIMIIIhG 
 
 The incurable propensity of the natives to steal was the cause 
 of frequent petty disputes and misunderstandings. Never did a nation 
 seem so universally afflicted with kleptomania as these islanders 
 appeared to be. Everything on which they could lay felonious hands 
 disappeared as if by magic. At one time the quadrant -ndth which the 
 observation of Venus was to be taken was carried off; at another, 
 almost all the clothes of some of the gentlemen disappeared myste- 
 riously while the owners were sleeping in a friendly tent ; and the 
 
164 THE WORLD'S EXPLOEEKS. 
 
 discoTery of eact theft was TSut the prelude to the commission of the 
 next. On the other hand they were quite free from the vindiotiveness 
 and malice that characterised the inhabitants of many other islands. 
 The offences, occasionally committed against them by the ship's crew 
 were never remembered with anything like rancour or a desire for 
 revenge. On the whole, Cook formed a most favourable opinion of the 
 Otaheitans, and declared that, except for their inveterate propensity to 
 thieve, they would bear comparison with any people he had ever seen. 
 
 The chiefs and nobles were a taller and finer set of men than the 
 common people ; they were, moreover, lighter in colour, so that Captain 
 Walhs had imagined there were two distinct races on the island, the 
 one subject to the other. The difference, however, seems attributable 
 to the easier and more luxurious life of the chiefs. One of these nobles, 
 a mam named Tupia, with his boy Tayeot, determined to accompany 
 the expedition; and as it was supposed that his knowliedge of the 
 language and customs of the inhabitants of various islands might be 
 turned to good account, his offer was accepted. Tupia was a man of 
 some science ; he had a certain knowledge of astronomy, and during 
 any part of the subsequent voyage could always point out the position 
 of Otaheite by a reference to the stars. 
 
 After a stay of about three months at Otaheite, Cook set sail, 
 with the knowledge that the grand object of the voyage had been 
 achieved. He gave to the group of islands of which Otaheite formed 
 the principal one the name of the Society Islands. On passing Bora- 
 bora, an island whose people had been lately at war with Otaheite, 
 Tupia was exceedingly urgent in requesting Cook to fire great guns at 
 the hostile coast, that the warriors of Bora-bora might see what 
 powerful allies his people had gained. His whim was gratified ; but as 
 the Endeavour did not touch at Bora-bora ihe effect of this diplomatic 
 proceeding on the islanders could not be ascertained. Not the least 
 curious among the customs of Otaheite was the practice of considering 
 the new-bom son of a chief or king as the immediate inheritor of his 
 father's rank and wealth, the father, during the rest of his life, acting 
 only as regent during the minority of the son. Thus Oberca, the 
 Queen of Otaheite, who during the time of Captain WaUis's visit 
 enjoyed undisputed sway and the highest consideration in the island, 
 had already lost much of her position and influence at the time of 
 Cook's first landing ; for a son had been born to her, and this child 
 was considered as the king of the island. 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND fflS DISCOVERIES. 155 
 
 After passing several other i^ands Cook made his way to New Zea- 
 land, which had been disooTered "by Tasman, the Dutch navigator,' 
 about a century and a quarter before. The people here could under- 
 stand the language spoken by Tupia ; but they were very hostile and 
 fierce, and no presents or blandishments could conciliate them. They 
 came boldly out of the woods to attack the voyagers with long 
 pikes and lances ; and at the very first meeting four of them made so 
 hostile a demonstration against a boat's crew that to save their own 
 lives Cook's people were obliged to shoot one of their assailants dead. 
 It was now thought advisable to capture some of these savage islanders, 
 and by subsequent kind treatment to disarm their resentment ; but 
 this plan likewise failed. An attempt was made to cut ofE two canoes 
 in the bay, and capture the crews. One party escaped by paddling ; 
 but the other, which consisted of seven persons, finding retreat impos- 
 sible, determined to fight, and attacked Cook's men so furiously with 
 sticks, stones, and other weapons, that it was necessary to fire upon 
 them, and four were unhappily killed at the first discharge. The three 
 survivors, who were mere youths, expected nothing less than instant 
 death at the hands of their captors, and were accordingly greatly 
 delighted when they found themselves kindly treated and loaded with 
 presents. They seemed intelhgent and impressionable, and sang a 
 native song with a taste that surprised the English. They were after- 
 wards set on shore, where the presents they displayed Were looked upon 
 with indifference; and the questionable expedient of their capture 
 seems, like most questionable expedients, to have turned out a failure, 
 for the natives continued fierce and distrustful to the last. At length 
 a party of them made a very determined attempt to capture Tayeto, 
 Tupia's boy, and very nearly succeeded in their enterprise ; so at last 
 Cook, seeing that nothing was to be done with these savages, sailed 
 away to the northward, after giving to th« place where his ship had 
 spent tilne so unprofitably the name of Poverty Bay. 
 
 True to his conscientious and methodical habits, the commander 
 made an dccurate survey of the coast of New Zealand. He discovered 
 a broad river to which he gave the name of the Thames, and was par- 
 ticularly struck with the appearance of the Heppahs, or fortified villages, 
 of the inhabita,nts, who, with all their ferocity, and, as was afterwards 
 ascertained, their cannibalism, were remarkably intelligent and ingenious, 
 and possessed arts and a religion of their own. New Zealand had until 
 then been considered a part of the almost unknown Terra Australs ; 
 
156 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 but Cook proved it to consist of two separate islands divided by a 
 strait, through which he passed, and to which his name has very 
 properly been given. The circumnavigation of New Zealand was an 
 achievement of much importance; and now Cook, who had great 
 doubts as to the existence of the Terra Australis incognita of Tasman, 
 a continent supposed to stretch, to :the South Pole, sailed away from 
 New Zealand on the 31st of March, 1770, determined to set this 
 question at rest. Three weeks' sailing brought him to the east coast of 
 Australia. He landed at the place which afterwards obtained an unenvi- 
 able notoriety in the annals of transportation under the name of Botany 
 Bay, an appellation first given to it on account of the rich plant- 
 stores found there by the indefatigable Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander. 
 The persevering industry with which the coast here, as elsewhere, was 
 examined, proved of the utmost use to subsequent navigators ; and, 
 indeed, there seems to have been hardly one of our great navigators 
 who possessed the attribute of thoroughness in so great a degree as it 
 was shown by Cook. In surveying, taking soundings, and making 
 observations, he was indefatigable. 
 
 The natives were seldom seen, and in many respects appeared far 
 below the New Zealanders in intelligence and activity. On one occasion, , 
 ^ve are told, " The people who were left on board the ship said that 
 while we were in the woods about twenty of the natives came down to 
 the beach abreast of her, and having looked at her some time, went- 
 away ; but we that were ashore, though we saw smoke in many places, 
 saw no people. The smoke was at places too distant for tis to get. 
 to them by land, except one, to which we repaired. We found ten 
 small fires still burning within a few paces of each other, but, the people 
 were gone; we saw near them several vessels of bark, which we 
 supposed to have, contained water, and some shells and fishbones, the 
 remainder of a recent meal. We saw also, lying upon the ground, 
 several pieces of soft bark, about the length and breadth, of a man, 
 which we imagined might be their beds ; and on the windward side of 
 the fire, a small shade, about a foot and a-half high, of the same 
 substance. The whole was in a thicket of close trees, which afforded 
 good shelter from the wind. The place seemed to be much trodden, 
 and as we saw no house, nor any remains of a house, we were inclined 
 to beUeve that as these people had no clothes they had no dwellings, 
 but spent the nights, among the other commoners of Nature, in the open 
 air ; and Tupia himself, with an air of superiority and compassion, shook 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 157 
 
 liis head and said that they were Taata Enos — ' poor wretches.' " In 
 this instance Cook was mistaken. The natives of New Holland have 
 
 
 OPOSSUJiS. 
 
 their rude huts, or Gunyon ; and the strips of bark found by the 
 exploring party were pirobably the materials of which these rude 
 
158 THE WORLD'S EXPLOEERS. 
 
 dwellings had been built. Here our travellers also, for the first time, 
 saw that singular animal the kangaroo. 
 
 A terrible and weU-nigh fatal accident now befell the Endeavour. 
 The coast along which the explorations were carried on was an 
 eminently dangerous one ; the sea was full of sudden and unexpected 
 shoals, and of rocks rising abruptly from the bottom. Amid aU these 
 perils the Endeavour had threaded her way unharmed; but one 
 memorable night, at eleven o'clock, she suddenly struck upon some 
 coral rooks at about eight leagues from the land. So violent was the 
 shock that some of the planks that formed the sheathing, and part of 
 the false keel, could be seen in the moonlight floating away from the 
 vessel. The ship grated violently against the rock, and the water 
 rushed into the hold. The crew, under the captain's direction,, did , 
 everything that could be done under the circumstances. All heavy 
 stores were thrown overboard, to lighten the ship. The fresh water 
 was started in the hold, and pumped out ; the guns and the iron and 
 stone ballast were got rid of immediately. Fortunately, the weather 
 was calm, and a sail, wadded with oakum, -was got over the ship's side,\> 
 and made fast over the part where the water was rushing in. The men 
 laboured resolutely at the pumps, and at length the tide lifted the ship 
 oif the rock. With a less able commander than Cook, the Endeavour 
 must inevitably have been lost ; but with consvmimate seamanship he 
 navigated her across the perilous eight leagues to the shore, and ulti- 
 mately brought her safely into a small cove at the mouth of a stream, 
 which afterwards was named Endeavour River; while the cape Bear which 
 the disaster to the ship occurred was aptly designated Cape Tribulation. 
 " Upon this occasion," says Cook, " I must observe, both in justiee and 
 gratitude to the ship's company and the gentlemen on board, that 
 although, in the midst of our distress, every one seemed to have a just 
 sense of his danger, yet no passionate exclamations or frantic gestures 
 ■were to be heard or seen. Every one appeared to have the perfect 
 possession of his mind, and every one exerted himself to the uttermost, 
 with a quiet and patient perseverance equally distant from the 
 tumultuous violence of terror and the gloomy inactivity of despair." 
 
 It was not until the Endeavour was emptied and thoroughly 
 examined that the full amount of the late peril was recognised. A 
 large fragment of coral rock, after forcing its way through four planks, 
 had been broken off, and remained sticking in the wound it had made, 
 and acting as a stopper. Had the leak not been thus plugged, eight 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 159 
 
 pumps — instead of the four -vvhicli the Endeavour i^ossessed — would not 
 have been sufficient to keep the ship above water. The expedient of 
 the sail, too, had done signal service, for the oakiun with which the 
 inner surface of the sail had been strewn had forced its way into the 
 interstices between the fragment of rock and the edges of the hole it 
 had bored. 
 
 The natives here were more sociable than those of Botany Bay, and 
 
 
 
 .>:.y'^^**- 
 
 
 '■"arj 
 
 »"/ 
 
 2.AI±\i^ ilU-Ui^. 
 
 would probably have been pronounced by Tupia not quite sxich poor 
 wretches. They were certainly entirely destitute of clothing, but they 
 by no means despised ornaments, rejoicing in bracelets and necklaces of 
 hair and shells. Their chief pride seemed to be in the piece of bone, 
 five or six inches in length, which they thrust through the pierced 
 cartilage of the nose. The sailors of the Endeavour made very merry, 
 over these singular ornaments, which they likened to spritsail-yards 
 Nothing would induce these people to part with any of their ornaments, 
 nor had they any idea of trafljc or barter. Tlie only thing in the 
 possession of their visitors which excited their cupidity was a turtle. 
 
160 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 which they endeavoured to appropriate by force, and things that were 
 given them they left lying about upon the beach, as children would 
 fling away toys when the charm of novelty was gone. 
 
 Once more the ship was entangled among the reefs, and in imminent 
 danger of being lost ; she was saved by being steered through a small 
 opening, which Cook appropriately named Providential Channel. 
 Before quitting the eastern coast of New Holland, he solemnly took 
 possession of the whole stretch he had explored, from 38" to 10" south 
 lat., in the name of his Majesty King George HI., giving it the name 
 of New South Wales, and the island upon which the ceremony took 
 place was called Possession Island. 
 
 The length of the voyage and the occasional scarcity of fresh 
 provisions had now begun to tell in a very marked manner upon the 
 'health of the ship's company. Poor Tupia, the Otaheitan, had several 
 times been ill with the scurvy, and many of the crew were in a very 
 weak state. Cook therefore resolved to abandon his intention of 
 surveying the coasts of New Guinea, and made the best of his way 
 to the Dutch settlement of Batavia ou the island of Java, in the 
 hope that a short residence on shore would recruit the strength of the 
 sick. 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 161 
 
 III. 
 
 Pestilential Climate of Java— Death o£ Tayeto and Tupia— Mortality among the 
 Crew — Bnnning a Muck — Cape Town and St. Helena — Return to England 
 — Determination to Send a Second Expedition — Cook Undertakes the 
 Command — Question concerning a Southern Continent— Fitting-out of the 
 Ships — Precautions against Scurvy. 
 
 T)UT the remedy proved worse than the disease. The pestilential 
 climate of Java told fatally upon the enfeebled voyagers. The low 
 swampy position of Batavia, and the numerous canals by which it is 
 ntersected, produced malaria and intermittent fever, and one after 
 another of the ship's company was attacked by the insidious foe, until 
 there were not ten men left in the ship fit for duty. Among the first 
 victims was the surgeon of the ship, Mr. Monkhouse, " a sensible, skilful 
 man," says Cook, who, like Nelson, was always anxious to give all 
 possible praise to his officers. Next died Tayeto, Tupia's boy, and then 
 poor Tupia himself, who had been long ailing, and who sank rapidly on 
 hearing 6f the lad's death. The loss of this simple islander was much 
 regretted by the whole ship's company. He had several times been 
 eminently, useful as an interpreter in New Zealand and elsewhere, and 
 had always shown himself as an amiable, worthy man, not without 
 shrewdness and good sense, and perfectly amenable to discipline. 
 
 The condition of the ship necessitated a stay of some time in the 
 pestiferous climate of Batavia. When the keel came to be examined a 
 very alarming state of things was discovered. " How much misery did 
 we escape," exclaims the narrator, "by being ignorant that a conside- 
 rable part of the bottom of the vessel was thinner than the sole of a 
 shoe, and that every life on board depended on so fragile a barrier 
 between us and the roaring ocean !" The ship was accordingly " hove 
 down," and the necessary repairs were pushed forward with all possible 
 despatch. But the progress of the disease among the voyagers was 
 more rapid still. Dr. Solander and Mr. Banks barely escaped with their 
 lives, after being removed to a house in the country. Seven men were 
 buried before the ship-finally sailed out of Batavia roads, and when the 
 Endeavour at last left the deadly shore behind her she had forty sick 
 on board, and all the rest were languid and feeble, with one notable 
 exception. The sailmaker, a jovial old salt, more than seventy years of 
 
 M 
 
162 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 age, had never been unwell since their arrival at Batavia, "and it is 
 very remarkable," says the narrative, " that this old man during our 
 stay at this place was constantly drunk every day." The anti- 
 temperance veteran, however, died before the end of the voyage. 
 
 The horrible practice of mode, or, as it is generally called, running 
 a muck, is noticed by Cook. The man who designs to run a muck first 
 madly intoxicates himself with opium, and then rushes through the 
 streets with a naked weapon in his hand, cutting down every one whom 
 he meets, until he himself is slain or captured. The motive is always 
 revenge, and thus the man who runs a muck is in most cases a slave 
 who has been rendered fvantio by some real or supposed wrong, for 
 which he can obtain no legal redress. Any man who captured an 
 amock, or, as the name was corruptly called, a mohawk, alive, was 
 entitled to a considerable reward. The punishment for runniag a muck 
 was death by breaking on the wheel. The evil effects of the climate 
 of Batavia continued to show themselves among the crew for a long 
 time after the departure of the Endeavour from that fatal shore. 
 Dysentery and fever raged in the ship, and nearly every evening the 
 body of a sailor was committed to the deep. Mr. Green, the astro- 
 nomer, Mr. Parkinson, the naturalist, and the boatswain and his mate 
 were among those who perished. The ship was thoroughly washed 
 with vinegar between decks, and the drinking water was purified with 
 lime ; but in spite of all curative and preventive' measures twenty-three 
 deaths occurred v/ithin a few weeks of the Endeavour's departure from 
 Be.tavia. 
 
 A short stay at the Cape restored the survivors to comparative 
 health. Among the animals at the Cape, Cook and his companions 
 especially remaked the koodoo, or, ?.s it is called in the journal of the 
 voyage, the coo doe, a creature of the deer kind, as large as a horse, 
 and with fine spiral horns. The country at the back of the Cape at 
 that time contained very few settlers, and these were thinly scattered 
 over a great extent of territory, living at enormous distances from each 
 other. While the Endeavour was at the Cape, a man came to Cape 
 Town, a fifteen days' journey, bringing his children with him. When 
 our voyagers, surprised that the man should travel with such an 
 incumbrance, suggested that he might have left his children with his 
 next neighbour, he replied that his next neighbour resided at a distance 
 of five days' journey from him. Fortunately the bushmen, or plun- 
 derers, who infested these outposts of civilisation, never attacked the 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 163 
 
 settlers openly, bat made stealthy lorayS to caixy off the cattle, 
 generally by nigbt. This had given rise to a 'strtage custom amoSg 
 the other natives of training bulls to attack the thievbs, just as watch- 
 dogs might be used in this country, and these homed guardians of thor 
 settlements wandered about the town at night, just as a mastiff might 
 be let loose to patrol a faroiyard. 
 
 The volcanic nature Of the island of St. Helena, where the ship 
 touched on her way from the Cape, is especially noticed. The account 
 says, " It appeared, as We ^approached it on the windward side, like a 
 rude heap of rockS, fewnSed by precipices of amazing height, and 
 consisting of a kind oJ feall-f riable stone yhich shows not the least sign 
 of vegetation, iiW iS it more promiaag upon a nearer view. In sailing 
 along the shore, We cten'e So near the huge cliffs, that they seemed to 
 overhang the ship, and the tremendous ^ecSt of their giving way made 
 us almost fear the event ; at length we opfitaed at a valley, called 
 Chapel Valley, aind in 'iSkia valley we discovered the town. The bottom 
 of it is slightly ooves^d with herbage, but the sides are as naked as the 
 cliffs that are next the 'Sea. Such is the first apjueiarance of the island 
 in its preselit cultivated State ; and the "first hills must be passed before 
 the valleys look green, or the country displays any other mark of 
 fertility." 
 
 It was at the beginning of May, 1771, that Cook left St. Helena ; 
 on the 12th of Jtily he landed at Deal, having completed his first 
 voyage round the wol*ld in the space of two years and eleven months. 
 In various ways the voyage had been a brilliant success. The survey of 
 the eastern coast ot Australia, which the commander had prosecuted 
 under circumstaacSfs of great difiiculty and danger, drew attention to- 
 the capabilities ot New Holland for colonising purposes. The circum- 
 navigation of New Zealand was also important ; for until then the two 
 islands of which it- is composed had been considered as a part of 
 Tasmania; and the scientific objects of the voyage had been very 
 completely carried out. It was time, however, that the voyage should 
 terminate. In spite oi constant patching and splicing, the rigging and* 
 sails were so worn that on the passage from St. Helena to England 
 something was giving Way every day. By a strange coincidence, the^ 
 long-wished-for land was discovered by the sharp eyes of the same lad 
 who had been the first to discern New Zealand. 
 
 The successful results of Cook's first voyage stimulated the British 
 GovemnKnt to persevere in the path of discovery ; and befote tke 
 
lU 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 enterprising navigator had been home a year we find him embarking on 
 a second voyage. On this occasion two vessels were despatched ; and 
 again, according to the judicious advice of Cook, ships were purchased 
 
 m 
 4,t 
 
 'T * 
 
 jl|Ai 
 
 ^0^m ■ WW 
 
 that had been employed in the coal dale. Cook had already pointcl 
 out that the chief requisites for discovery-ships were stoutness of con- 
 struction, th.it they might receive the least possible injury if by .luv 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 1G5 
 
 chance they should run aground ; roominess of construction, to enable 
 them to carry the necessary provisions for the crew, and a cargo of 
 miscellaneous articles for traffic with the natives ; a moderate draught 
 of water, that they might be navigated on unknown and dangerous 
 coasts ; and such limited burden as should not prevent their being laid 
 ashore for repairs, if necessary. All these qualities were found 
 combined in two Whitby ships, which were accordingly purchased of a 
 Hull shipowner. They were called the Resolution and the Adventure. 
 
 bl HI LE^\ 
 
 The former was of four hundred and sixty-two tons burden, the latter 
 of three hundred and thirty-six. 
 
 On the equipment and fitting out of these vessels much judicious care 
 was spent. Many of the officers had been with Cook during his former 
 voyage, and Lieutenant Fumeaux, to whom the command of the second 
 ship was intrusted, had accompanied Wallis in his voyage round the 
 world. Almost for the first time in the history of an expedition of 
 this kind, it was considered necessary to adopt precautions to prevent 
 disease among the crews. A quantity of salted cabbage, sour-krout, and 
 other auti-scorbutic stores were placed on board each ship, and sundry 
 articles, such as inspissated juice of wort, and a curious preparation 
 called marmalade of carrots, were added by way of experiment. 
 These judicious measures, supplemented by the care and vigilance of 
 Cook himself, who exercised a rigid supervision in all matters affecting 
 
166 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 the health of his sailors, were crowned with such complete success as 
 to establish the fact that scurvy is not by any means, as it had till then 
 been considered, a]necessary concomitant of long voyages, but that, 
 like most other diseases, it arises from definite and preventible causes. 
 As a further ' measure of convenience and safety, each ship carried on 
 her deck the framework of a small vessel of twenty tons burthen, large 
 enough to serve "as a pink or victualler in distant islands, or to cany 
 the crew in case of shipwreck. Two noted mathematicians, Messrs. 
 Wales and Bayley, were engaged by the Admiralty to conduct the 
 astronomical observations necessary during the voyage ; and Mr. John 
 Reinhold Forster and his son accompanied the expedition in the capacity 
 so ably filled in Cook's first voyage by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander. 
 The fitting" out of the expedition altogether reflected much credit on 
 Lord Sandwich, the First Lord of the Admiralty, who fully appreciated 
 its importance, and' gave it the most energetic support and aid. 
 
 For a long time there had been a theory of the existence of a great 
 southern continent. This belief was chiefly based upon the idea that 
 as there was a great mass of land aroimd the pole in the northern 
 hemisphere, there must necessarily be a corresponding mass to balance 
 it in the south. The testimony of Cook's first voyage had rendered 
 this theory very doubtful ; but it was considered desirable to have 
 further proof before the idea of a southern continent should be 
 definitely abandoned. Accordingly, Cook was directed in the first 
 instance to sail to the southward, and settle this disputed point by 
 observation, and then to prosecute investigations among the islands of 
 he Pacific. 
 
 :Asr-s.: 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 167 
 
 IV. 
 
 Yojage.to the Soutli — Punctiliousness of Cook — Tlje Soubheru. Oooan — Danger 
 from Ice Islaniis — Existence of a Sontliern Continent Disproved— Dusky 
 Bay, New Zealand — Queen Charlotte's Sound — Cannibalism of tie New 
 , Z'ealanders — Otaheite— Danger of Shipwreck — King Otoo — Huaheine — 
 Omai, the South Sea Islander — The Friendly Islands — ^The Two Ships Part 
 Company— Thievish Propensities of the New Zealanders — Fresh Proofs of 
 Oannibaliam. 
 
 A FTEK some delays, Cook sailed from Plymouth on the 13th of July, 
 "^ 1772, just a year after his return from Ms first voyage. His course, 
 as on the first occasion, was. by way of Madeira, where the two ships 
 arrived on the 29th. Water, wine, and fresh provisions having been 
 procured at Funchal, the ships sailed av/ay towards the Canary Islands, 
 and on the wa-y a portion of the inspissated juice of malt, which had 
 been taken on board expeKimeutally, was used in. the manufacture of 
 three puncheons of beer,, to the great satisfactioa of the ship's company 
 on board each vessel. 
 
 Cook was punctilious in matters where he considerod the honour of 
 the British flag, to bja- involved. He especially notices, bi his. journal at 
 Poxt3i Praya,, in the island of St. Jag<}, where he east, anchor to obtain 
 a supply of fi-esh provisions, he saluted the fort with eleven guns,, on a 
 promise: that the cowplinieut should be returned with an equal fljumber. 
 Either by accident or design;,, the salute was, howe^Ker, returned with 
 only nine guns ; tat tiie governor apologised nest day for the irregu- 
 larity. The captain speaks with a. very natural complacency of the 
 healthy condition of his men at a time when the weather had been 
 very bad. He says — "On the 27th, spoke with Captain Eurneaux, 
 who informed us that one of his petty ofiicers was dead. At this time 
 we had not one sick on board, although we had every kind of this 
 thing to fear "from the rain we had had, which is a great promoter of 
 sickness ia hot climates. To prevent this, and agreeably- to some hints 
 I had from Sic Hugh- Palliser, and, from Captain Campbell, I took 
 every necessary precaution, by airing and drying tlie ship, with fires 
 made between the decks, smoking, &c., and by obliging the people to 
 air theii bedding, and wash and dry their clothes,; whenever there was 
 an opportunity. A neglect of these things," the captain judiciously 
 adds, "causetha disagreeable smeU below,, affects, the air, and seldom 
 fails to bring on sickness, but more especially in hot and wet weather." 
 
168 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 After a short call at that noted half-way house for ships the Cape 
 of Good Hope, the ships were steered southwards, in search of the 
 great Antarctic continent. The weather suddenly became very cold, 
 so that almost all the live stock procured at the Cape died ; and a 
 violent gale drove the voyagers far to the westward of their intended 
 course. In latitude 50* South they first met with huge islands of ice, 
 on one of which tliey nearly ran, in a thick fog. A number of stormy 
 
 petrels were here seen flying about the ships, and also many albatrosses, 
 some of which the sailors caught with a hook and line. As they pro- 
 ceeded these ice islands increased in number, and penguins, the indige- 
 nous sea-birds of cold climates, made their appearance. On one day, 
 no less than eighteen ice islands were passed, a circumstance which 
 kept the crews on the alert; "for a ship that got to the westward of 
 one of these islands when the sea runs high," says the captain, " would 
 be dashed to pieces in a moment." The weather became so severe that 
 the sails and rigging were all hung with icicles ; and at last the further 
 progress of the ships was stopped by an immense field of ice stretching 
 towards the pole as far as the eye could reach. For many days the 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 169 
 
 ships skirted this barrier, in the vain endeavour to find an opening 
 in the ice to the southward ; they were enabled, however, to get a good 
 supply of fresh water from the floating blocks around the large ice 
 islands, which were collected in the boats and melted on board the ships. 
 At length, after they had definitely disproved the existence of the 
 supposed southern continent, the two captains bore up for New 
 Zealand. Before they arrived there, however, the ships were separated 
 from each other ; and on the 26th of March, 1773, after beating about 
 for four months in the stormy Southern Ocean, the Resolution cast anchor 
 in Dusky Bay. On his passage Cook had been greatly struck with the 
 
 FLYING rid 
 
 appearance of the Aurora Australis, an atmospheric phenomenon cor- 
 responding to the Aurora Borealis of the Arctic Seas, and arising from 
 the same causes ; and now again Cook had reason to congratulate 
 himself on the healthy condition of his crew. In spite of the continual 
 hardships to which tlie crew had been exposed for months, the three 
 great physicians. Cleanliness, Ventilation, and Diet, had kept the good 
 ship Resolution clear of disease, an immunity which no ship imder 
 similar circumstances had yet enjoyed. 
 
 From Dusky Bay the Resolution proceeded to Queen Charlotte's 
 Sound, the place of rendezvous appointed with Captain Fumeaux in 
 case the ships became separated. On the way they saw several water- 
 spouts, which Cook rightly conjectured to have been caused by whirl- 
 winds, as during their continuance the wind blew in puffs from all points 
 of the compass. Of some of these waterspouts he gives the following 
 
170 THE WORI^'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 account : — ■" Four roso aad spent, themaelTes between us and tk« land' — 
 that is, to the south-west of us ; the fifth was without us' ; the sixth 
 first, appeared in the south-west at. the distance of two or three tnilea 
 at least from us. Its pi-ogressiTe motion was to the nioi'th-east, not in 
 a straight but in a crooked Une, and passed withia fifty yards, of our 
 stern, without our feeling any of its effects. The diameter of the- base 
 of this spout I judged to be about fifty or sixty feet-^that is, the sea 
 within this space was much agitated, and foamed up to a great height. 
 From this a tube, or round^body, was formed, by which the watec^ or 
 air, or both, was carried in a spiral stream up to the clouds. Some of 
 our people said they saw a bird in the one near us, which was whirled 
 
 round like the fly of a jack as it was carried upwards The 
 
 weather continued thick and hazy for some hours after, with variable - 
 light breezes of wind. On reaching Queea Charlotte's Sound, Captain 
 Cook found that the Adventure had been there for six weeks, a&eadyt,! 
 Captain Furnoaux, her commandejr,. had had several interviews with the 
 natives, one tribe of v.'hojia proved to, be the same people Cook had ■ 
 seen in hia fiScst voyaige.. They inquired very paHtttCuJady aftfiu lupia,, 
 and Oft hearing of Ma death seemed much concerned!,, partieularly, 
 wishwig to know, moreover, if he had been killed, or had died a natural 
 death, Vei-y decided proofs of their canaibalism had been obtained 
 by Cftptain-Furneaux's people. The Adventure was not so free from 
 sickness as the Endeavour. At one time twenty of her people were sick- 
 of scorbutic disease ; this maybe attributed to a certain laxity on board 
 with respect to sanitary precautions, and to the neglect of vegetable 
 diet by the crew in Queen Charlotte's Sound. Cook justly observes 
 that it requires both the authority and example of a commander to 
 induce sailors to adopt a new article of diet, let it be ever so much for 
 their benefit. On quitting jSfew Zealand Cook left the natives som« 
 practical proofs of his goodwill, in the shape of a ram and ewe and 
 some goats. Ho also caused a garden to be dug, and sown with useful 
 culinary vegetables. From this time dates the introduction, among 
 other plants, of the potato, which afterwards became a staple articlsiof 
 food with the inhabitants. 
 
 The Resolution now steered for Otaheite, with the Adventure w, hfii 
 company. On their way the two ships passed several of the low islands 
 which the Frehch navigator, De Bougainville, had aptly named, the 
 Dangerous Archipelago. Cook determined on this occasion to put ioto 
 Oatipiha, or, as it is now called, Papetee Bay, ai the S.E. of thp island- 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 171 
 
 In eairpying' out this intentioa botli vessels had a very narrow escape 
 from shipwreck on the dangerous coiral reefs at the entrance of the 
 bay-. The breeze which should have kept the ships off the reef feU to 
 a calm, and the- current set in strongly towards the rocks. An attempt 
 made with the boats to tow the ships, offi the reef failed entirely. "As 
 the calm continued," says Cook, "our situation became stiU more dan- 
 gerous. We were not, however, without hopes of gettiug round the 
 western point of the reef and into the bay, till about two o-'clock in the 
 afternoon, when we came before an opening or break in th« reef, 
 through which I hoped to get with the ships. But on sending to 
 examine it I found there was not a sufficient depth of water, though 
 it caused such an indraught of the tide through it as was very near 
 proving fatal to the Resolution, for as soon as the ships, got into the 
 stream they were carried with great impetuosity towards the reef. The 
 moment I perceived this I ordered one of the warping machines which 
 we had in readiness to be> carried out with about four hundred fathoms 
 of rope, but it had not the least effect. The horrors of shipwreck now 
 stared us in the f aee. We were not more than two cables' length from 
 the breakers; and yet we could find no. bottom to anchor, the only 
 probable means we had left to save the ships. We, however, dropped 
 an anchor, but before it took hold and brought us up the ship was in 
 less than three fathoms water, and struck at every fall of the sea, which 
 broke el&se imder our stern in a dreadful surf, and threatened us every 
 moment with shipwreck. The Adventure, luckily, brought up close 
 upoB our bow without striking." By great exertions they managed to 
 get the ship afloat, and presently a providential land-breeze carried 
 both ships out of the reach of danger; Had they been frigates, or the 
 lai^e- heavy ships used at that period in the navy, there ia no 
 probability but that they would have been wrecked. Dm-ing all this 
 time many of the natives were on board', but they had no idea of the 
 danger; and did not manifest any sense of uneasiness even when the 
 ship struck. The natives in general behaved well, though as a matter 
 of course they began pilfering ; but a little judicious display of force 
 on the part of Cook put them on their best behaviour, and matters 
 went on amicably enough. Many inquiries were made after Mr. Bajiks, 
 but very few asked concerning poor Tupia — an illustration of the fact 
 that no man is a prophet in his own country, even in a small island in 
 the South Seasi There was, however, a diffitulty in getting provisions, 
 and this determined Cook to proeeedi at once to Matavai. 
 
172 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Otao, the king, was at Matavai when Cook arrived, but he seem| 
 to have been a somewhat timid potentate, and for a long while cpul^^ 
 not be persuaded to come on board the Resolution, frankly avowing, 
 that he w&smataou no te paupoue—ih&t is, afraid of the guns. TMa 
 warlike potentate was, however, treated with great respect by tis 
 subjects, of whom, according to the Otaheitan custom, his father wa| 
 one. AH appeared before him with uncovered head and shoulders. 
 Kiug Otoo caused his visitors to be entertained with a heava, or natiyi 
 dramatic representation, in which dancing had a great part. Spme 
 portions of the play seemed to refer to the visit of the strangers, but 
 they did not know enough of the language to catch its meaning. 
 
 From Otaheite the ships proceeded to the neighbouring island of 
 Huaheine. Oreo, the chief of this island, had made the commander's 
 acquaintance during Cook's first voyage, and came out with unfeigned 
 pleasure to meet him. He showed great alacrity in keeping Cook's 
 table supplied with the best vegetables, and presented him with several 
 hogs ; a great many of these animals were also offered by the natives 
 for sale ; so that the victualling of the ships .went on briskly, llougli 
 small, the island of Huaheine was very fertile, and_ during the short 
 stay of the ships no fewer than three hundred hogs were procured. 
 
 Captain Furneaux received on board at Huaheine a native of the 
 island of Ulietea, named Omai. This Omai did not belong' to the 
 highest rank among the natives, but he proved quite an acquisition 
 during the subsequent part of the voyage, and was even more useful 
 than poor Tupia had been. He was brought to England by Captain 
 Furneaux, and excited feo much attention and interest that he wasi 
 inveterately "lionised" during the two years of his stay. Even,, the 
 king himself honoured Omai with an audience at Kew. The islander 
 showed considerable tact and much good sense. Cook, who was a 
 shrewd observer, had a high opinion of him, and said — u. 
 
 " Omai has most certainly a very good understanding, quick parts,, r. 
 and honest principles ; he has a natural good behaviour, which rendered, 
 him acceptable to the best company, and a proper degree of pride, 
 which taught him to avoid the society of persons of inferior taiiku 
 . . . . He was very watchful into the manners and conduct of tl^e,! 
 persons of rank who honoured him with their protection ; he was sohpr , 
 and modest ; and I never heard that, during the whole time of his st^ 
 in England, which was two years, he ever once was disguised mt^ 
 wine, or ever showed an inclination to exceed." 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 173 
 
 Omai was ultimately taken back to his own country by Cook, in his 
 third voyage, and carried with him so many tokens of the goodwill of 
 the English, in the shape of presents of various kinds, that he was 
 looked upon by his countrymen as a kind of millionaire, and became a 
 living example that the old Latin Grammar quotation, '■^ Donee erisfelix, 
 muUo.i," &c., holds good even in the uncivilised Society Islands no less 
 than in civilised society. Captain Cook also took with him in the 
 Resolution a youth of UHetea named Oididee, or, as the natives called 
 the name, Hete-hete. 
 
 From Ulietea Cook proceeded to the Friendly Islands, as he wished 
 
 BANYAN TREE, 
 
 to land at one of them, Middelburgh, before returning to New Zealand. 
 At Middelburgh, a chief named Tioong at once came on board the 
 Resolution, and entered into amicable relations with his visitors, and on 
 landing Cook found the shore thronged with an immense unarmed 
 multitude, who welcomed him to their country with acclamations. They 
 were profuse in their gifts of cloth matting, fruits, and such other 
 articles as they possessed, and seemed, says our commander, "more 
 anxious to give than to receive." The position of the harbour where 
 the boats had landed was charming, with rich tropical verdure. 
 
 Fine undulating lawns were skirted by groves of cocoa-nut trees, 
 and with shaddock- trees heavy with their bright yellow fruit. The 
 floor of Tioong's house was laid with mats, and gave a delightful view 
 over the harbour. The air of the whole island was loaded with the 
 fragrance of the fruit-trees. The chief possessed some well-ordered 
 plantations, and the visitors noticed hogs and fowls running about the 
 
174 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 felMxd In the traffieking wMeh soon odmrnei^eed tetWeen the crews of 
 
 the two ships a.d the natives, the greatest ha«.ony and gMmm^ 
 
 Ze preserved. The people showed themselves extreme y anx^ to 
 
 oblige their visitors, and did honour to the discernment wh.ch had 
 
 given to their group the designation of the Friendly Islands. Atthe 
 
 f«l^d of Amsterdatn, to which the two ships next bent th^r co„^ 
 
 the visitors were received with simUat demonstrations of goodw^.and 
 
 th. king of the island proposed to our commander, as a «xgn o fn^d- 
 
 ship and alliance, that they should exchange names. This .strang^ 
 
 ll,m had already been found prevalent at the Socxety Islands, .nd at 
 
 Slheine, where the venerable Oree ruled, Captaxn Cook had been 
 
 induced to take the name of Oree during his stay on the island wMe 
 
 his majesty was called Oookee. Amsterdam Island was stiE more 
 
 highly cultivated than Middelburgh ; the whole place bemg laid outm 
 
 plantations, and the very hedges consisting of fruit-trees The people 
 
 paid implicit obedience to their chief, and it was noticed that though 
 
 Leir curiosity regartog their visitors was great, they immediately 
 
 ranged themselves in a circte at some disfe^ce, upon the command of 
 
 theJ chief, and did not attempt to «iOlest their visitors by crowding 
 
 round and mobbing them^an example of politeness towards i lust™. 
 
 guests which might be commended to the attention of far more 
 
 dvilised communities. They expressed their thanks on receiviBff a 
 
 rit by placing the axticle on their heads. A most -g-^-;-^; 
 
 Zlgtl^emwas the practice of cutting oif one or both of the httle 
 
 ""* n'cw Zealand was now visited by the two ships, and Cook, e« 
 mindful of the interests of the people Whose land he came to e^ore 
 Lc to one of the chiefs some pigs .nd poultiy, and a number of 
 useful garden seeds; the ohief w.s enraptured with his new acq..^- 
 Tns, L promised not to kill any of the .nimals, but to ke^P tl.^ J 
 stock the island, and he Went away r^joicmg, the ^env ed of # 
 observers In a great gale Which occurred soon after, the Adv.nto, 
 Captain Furneaux's ship, parted company with the R««f -*i^^' ^''\;''^ 
 never able to rejoin her. Cook proceeded in the Resolution to Qneen 
 Charlotte's Sound, and was mucli mortified to find that the aXJimals 
 had left with the natives on his former visit had *^of T^^^J^^ 
 them But the gardens his benevolent carfe had planted had farea 
 better, and the potatoes in particular had thriven exceeditiKly. ^ 
 tone of commercial morality among the natives m Queen Charlotte* 
 
CAi-TAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 175 
 
 Sound was decidodly lo^v. Cook relates how lie and Iiis people pur- 
 chased a large qnaulity of fish from them, and he saj's — ■• While we 
 were upon this trallic they showed a great inclination to pick my 
 pockets, and to take away the fish ■svith one hand which they had just 
 given mo with the other. This evil one of the chiefs undertook to 
 remove, and with fury in his eyes made a show of keeping his people at 
 a proper distance. I applauded his conduct, but at the same time kept 
 so good a look-Out as to det«ct him in picking my pocket of a handker- 
 chief, which I suffered him to put in his bosom before I seemed to 
 know anything of the matter, and then told him what I had lost. He 
 seemed quite ignoraiit and innocent tUl I took it from liim, and then he 
 put it oft with a laugh, acting his part with so much address that it 
 was hardly possible for me to be angry vi ith liim, so that we remained 
 good friends, and he accompanied me on board to dinner." 
 
 Fresh proof v* as now obtained of the prevalence of cannibalism among 
 these people ; one of them absolutely brought a piece of human flesh on 
 board the Kesolution, and cooked and devoured it in the presence of 
 the officers and crew, to the horror and disgust of all, and especially of 
 Oedidee, the Otaheitan, who expressed the utmost indignation against 
 the perpetrators of the savage act, telling them that they were vile men, 
 and that henceforth he would never again be their friend. But the 
 savages argued that there could be no harm in eating enemies whom 
 they had kiUed in battle, and who, had the fortune of war been 
 reversed, would have done the same to tliem ; and tliey laughed at the 
 expostulations of the more scrupulous Oedidee. 
 
 H ! 1 
 
 AU'-TEALIA^ ^AfIVE 
 
176 THE WORLD'S KXPLORERS. 
 
 Second Eun to the South — Hardships and Dangers — The Ships obliged to turn 
 Northward— Cook's Design of Exploring the Pacific— Easter Island — Ouriona 
 Statues— Otaheite — Barter with Eed Parrots' Feathers— Oree, the ChiefJ- 
 New Zealand — Tragical Occurrence to Captain Pumeaux's Crew — Details of 
 the Massacre — Rounding the Horn — Survey of Staten Island and Southern 
 Coast of America — Return to England— Brilliant Success of the Voyage. 
 
 AS there appeared no prospect of the speedy arrival of the Adven- 
 ture, and Cook was determined to go once more in search' of the 
 reputed southern continent, he left New Zealand on the 26th of 
 November, and steered south towards the icy region of the Antarctic 
 Circle. Again the ship was exposed to aU the dangers of striking upon 
 ice islands, or of being entangled among the pack or field ice ; and the 
 further the Adventure pushed her way towards the Southern Pole, the 
 more convinced did her commander become, from the swell that roUed 
 continually northwards, and from other signs which his practical 
 judgment knew well how to appreciate, that there could be no great 
 extent of land except in close proximity to the Southern Pole; and 
 subsequent investigations have proved the correctness of his con- 
 clusions. The ship several times narrowly escaped running on ice 
 islands, and had frequently been embayed among' fields of ice ; and day 
 by day the navigation became more intricate and dangerous. At one 
 time twenty-three of these floating islands were seen from the deck, 
 while more than double, the number could be counted from the mast- 
 head. Strong gales brought with them blinding showers of sleet and 
 snow, which froze to the rigging, making the ropes stiff as wire, and 
 the sails as hard as sheets of metal, so that at last the hoisting 
 or lowering of a sail became a matter of the greatest difficulty ; while 
 thick fogs increased the difficulties and troubles of the mariners by 
 adding a "horror of darkness" to the many dangers which beset their 
 adventurous path through these unexplored seas. But not imtil the 
 ice to the south stretched away, far as the eye could reach, in a thick 
 impenetrable field, did the brave commander determine to turn the 
 ship's prow once more to the north, and even then Cook was not 
 satisfied with what had been done. He had certainly solved the 
 problem for whose solution the expedition had been fitted out, and had 
 ascertained beyond a doubt that no southern continent existed thai 
 was not wholly inaccessible from the barrier of ice by which it must be 
 
THB WAIRUS, OK SEAHORSE. 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 177 
 
 surrounded ; but there appeared something yet to be done, and while 
 this was the case Cook was not the man to steer for England. " To 
 have quitted the Southern Pacific Ocean," he says, "with a good ship 
 expressly sent out on discoveries, a healthy crew, and not in want 
 either of stores or of provisions, would have been betraying not only a 
 want of perseverance, but of judgment, in supposing the South Pacific 
 Ocean to have been so well explored that nothing remained to be done 
 in it. This, however, was not my opinion, for though I had proved 
 that there was no continent but what must lie far to the south, there 
 remained, nevertheless, room for very large islands in places wholly 
 unexamined ; and many of those which were formerly discovered are 
 but imperfectly explored, and their situations as imperfectly known. 
 I was, besides, of opinion that my remaining in this sea some time 
 longer would be productive of improvements in navigation and 
 geography, as well as in other sciences." 
 
 Accordingly, Cook communicated to his officers and crew his design . 
 of thoroughly exploring the Pacific, a course which would prolong the 
 voyage for another year ; and by both the intelligence was received 
 with cheerfulness and satisfaction. Ko quality in this indefatigable 
 man was more remarkable than the hold he gained over the affections 
 of those he commanded, and this he owed chiefly to liis sense of justice 
 and his plain practical good sense. The men knew that he had their 
 welfare and comfort always in view, and where he found it necessary 
 to punish there was never any trace of vindictiveness or malice towards 
 the offender. 
 
 The first result of Cook's resolve to continue his explorations in the 
 South Sea was the discovery that the southern land, said to have been 
 seen by Juan Fernandez, did not exist. Cook next rediscovered Easter 
 Island, where, to his surprise, he found the inhabitants speaking a 
 language closely resembling that of Otaheite ; the names of the numbers,^ 
 especially, were identical. The good people of Easter Island had 
 elevated thieving to the state of a fine art. The travellers could scarcely 
 keep their hats on their heads; their pockets were picked with a 
 dexterity which the worthy Mr. Fagin's pupils might have envied, and 
 so dexterously were the thefts managed, that the same article was in 
 some instances sold to the travellers two or three times over, and then 
 stolen from them after all. During the passage to Easter Island, the 
 captain, whose health was in general excellent, fell seriously iU ; and 
 he mentions, as an example of the axiom that " circumstances alter 
 
 N 
 
178 THE WORIJD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 cases," how a favourite dog of one of tlie gentlemen on board was killed 
 and Cooked, that he might have broth and fresh meat during his oon- 
 valescenoe ; and how this fare, from which he would have turned with 
 loathing in Europe, was eaten by him not only with great benefit, but 
 with positive relish. 
 
 At Easter Island they found the gigantic statues and stone platforms 
 mentioned by earlier travellers. These structures were monuments of 
 ingenuity and perseverance, and evinced some knowledge of art; but the 
 inhabitants could give no account of them, and they were evidently the 
 work of a former race. Cook took them, from several indications, to 
 be the burial-places of chiefs. The Marquesas Islands, originally dis- 
 covered by Mendana, were next visited by Cook, who gives an almost 
 enthusiastic account of the handsome features and stalwart frames of 
 the natives. Here, again, a great affinity was noticed between the 
 language of the natives and that of Otaheite. They had very little 
 clothing, but were fond of ornaments, and wore elaborate headdresses 
 made of the fibre of the cocoa-nut husk, adorned with pieces of mother- 
 of-pearl and tortoiseshell. After discovering a few small islands, which 
 he named after his friend Sir Hugh Palliser, Cook returned to Otaheite, 
 which must by this time have been regarded quite as a South Sea home 
 by his companions. They vrcre received with joy by the natives in 
 their old quarters at Matavai Bay, and treated as honoured guests with 
 every demonstration of affectionate regard. 
 
 Here the useful discovery was made that the natives of all the Pacific 
 Islands set a high value on red parrots' feathers, of. which Cook's people 
 liad procured a large stock at the island of Amsterdam ; and these 
 proved never-failing means of barter when the original stock of goods 
 was exhausted. Otoo, the king, treated his visitors to the spectacle of 
 a grand naval review, and they were not a little astonished at the 
 number and size of his Otaheitan majesty's vessels. A great crowd of 
 people flocked to see the show, and our travellers conceived an 
 erroneous idea of the magnitude of the population of the island, the 
 natives having assured them, with an idea of inoreasiug their own 
 importance in the eyes of their guests, that the fleet exhibited was only 
 the division belonging to one of the twenty portions into which the 
 island was parcelled out. The people also showed considerable talent 
 in dramatic representations. Several plays were acted for the amuse- 
 ment of the visitors. At Ilualieine, in the Society Islands, Cook paid a 
 visit to the venerable Oreo, who manifested a strange curiosity to know 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVEEIES. 179 
 
 the name of Lis guest's "Matai," or burying'-place. Cook had no 
 resource but to mention Stepney, the parish in which he stayed in 
 London during the intervals between his voyages ; and old Oree, quite 
 satisfied with the answer, gravely repeated several times, " Tepnee 
 matai no Tootee" — Stepney is the burial-place of Cook. Mr. Foster, 
 of whom the same question was asked, replied more appropriately that 
 a man who passed his life sailing about the world could not teU where 
 he should be buried. At Ulietea they left Oedidee; who had been their 
 useful companion for some months. Cook now fulfilled a very arduous 
 and important duty by exploring various parts of the Pacific, which till 
 then had been almost unknown. Among other regions thus explored 
 was that of the Terra Australis del Espirito Santo of Quiros. He also 
 discovered the Shepherd's Isles, a small group, Erromanga (afterwards 
 celebrated by the martyrdom of Mr. Williams, the zealous missionary), 
 Tanna, and many other islands, thoroughly exploring the coasts of these 
 islands, which had till then been considered as portions of a great 
 southern continent. To this group ,Cook gave the name of the New- 
 Hebrides. Norfolk Island, afterwards notorious as a penal settlement, 
 was discovered by Cook at this time. 
 
 Once more the Resolution steered for New Zealand, and on the 
 18th of October Queen Charlotte's Sound was reached. The Adven- 
 ture had certainly been there since the last departure of the Resolution ; 
 for a bottle containing the particulars of the visit, and instructions 
 for Captain Furneaux, had been dug up and taken away. As the 
 ships did not join company again during the voyage, it was not until 
 after his return to England that Cook was made acquainted with the 
 tragical event which occurred- here. It seems that on finding the 
 letter which informed him of the commander's arrival at Queen 
 Charlotte's Sound' and his subsequent departure, Captain Furneaux 
 and his crew made every exertion to get their ship ready for sea as 
 soon as possible, and when they were ready to sail a boat was sent 
 on shore, with a crew of nine men, under the charge of a midshipman 
 named Rowe, to procure a stock of wild celery for the voyage, as that 
 vegetable grew in abundance in some of the bays. Some uneasiness 
 was occasioned in the ship by the boat failing to return in the 
 evening ; but as Mr. Rowe, the midshipman, had been very anxious to 
 start in the morning, it was supposed that either he had proceeded 
 farther than was at first intended in exploring one or other of the bays 
 and cores, or that the boat, lett m charge of a careless boatkecpev. 
 
180 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 had been stove against a rock and could not be launched. In 
 pursuance of this latter conjecture, -when the missing crew failed to 
 
 
 
 11*- 
 
 TROPICAL BIHDS. 
 
 make their appearance next morning, a second boat was despatched 
 co]nmanded by Lieutenant Burney, and carrying some armed marines. 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVEKIES. 181 
 
 The natives at first menaced the crew to prevent their landing, and 
 their behaviour was doubtful, as though they meditated hostilities, 
 but were deterred from any overt demonstration by the presence of the 
 marines. For some time nothing suspicious was found ; but at length, 
 in a sequestered cove, the searching party came upon a number of 
 baskets filled with meat, packed.together with the fern-root which the 
 natives use for bread. What this meat was they soon discovered to 
 their horror ; for presently one of the party picked up a human hand, 
 and by the letters "T. H." tattooed on it in the Otaheitan fashion, the 
 hand was identified as belonging to Thoiiias Hill, a forecastle man. 
 In the next cove a number of mutilated remains were found, on some 
 of which a party of native dogs were greedily feasting. A broken oar, 
 stuck in the ground, to which the canoes had been fastened, showed 
 that the attack on the boat's crew had been made here ; and at some 
 distance off a number of natives were observed wa,tching the move- 
 ments of the English, and inviting them by" signs to land. Some 
 volleys of inusketry fired among them by the enraged marines sent 
 them scrambling away into the woods, and it was not deemed prudent 
 to follow them into their hiding-places ' for the doubtful satisfaction of 
 killing some more of them. Therefore, after collecting for interment 
 what mournful relics they could find strewn along the shore, Lieutenant 
 Burney and his party returned on board, to report the miserable fate 
 that had befallen ten of the best men in their ship. It was conjectured, 
 and subsequent inquiries during Cook's third voyage proved the 
 correctness of the idea, that the tragical occurrence had not been 
 premeditated, but was the result of a sudden quarrel between the 
 sailors and some of the natives. The English had trusted too much 
 to the effect which they supposed their firearms would have in intimi- 
 dating the natives ; while the New Zealanders were quite cunning 
 enough to know that when a musket has been discharged it must be 
 reloaded before it can do them any further damage ; and they knew 
 how to take advantage of this interval to make a renewed charge. 
 After this misfortune the Adventure made the best of her way back to 
 England. 
 
 From New Zealand Cook purposed to return home round Cape 
 Horn ; and with his accustomed activity and zeal he examined that 
 stormy region, and especially the coasts of Staten Island and Cape le 
 Maire, much more closely than any former navigator had done. Such 
 numbers of seals and sea-lions were found on the little islands near the 
 
182 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Horn that it was a very easy matter to kill scores of them. There was 
 no danger in this sport, except in the chance of being run down by the 
 seal in its endeavour to escape into the sea, -whither they always fled 
 for refuge when attacked. Cook says — "Sometimes when we came 
 suddenly upon them, or woke them out of their sleep (for they are 
 a sluggish, sleepy animal), they would raise up their heads, snort and 
 snarl, and look as fierce as if they meant to devour us; but as we 
 advanced upon them they always ran away, so that they are downright 
 buUies." Sea birds were also found in these regions in vast numbers, 
 and among land birds were noticed eagles, hawks, bald-headed 
 vultures, the American turkey buzzard, and some thrushes and small 
 birds. 
 
 In the far south Cook discovered another island, to which he gave 
 the name of Georgia. It was a wild, desolate region of which Cook 
 now took possession, with hoisting of colours and firing of muskets, in 
 the name of King George ; and, as the commander himself says, it did 
 not seem probable that any one wouli ever be benefited by the discovery. 
 Of the place where he landed Cook gives the following account: — 
 " The head of the bay, as well as two places on each side, was termi- 
 nated by perpendicular ice-cliffs of considerable height. Pieces were 
 continually breaking off and floating out to sea ; and a great fall 
 happened while we were in the bay, which made a noise like cannon. 
 The inner parts of the country were not less savage and horrible. The 
 wild rocks raised their summits till they were lost in the clouds, and the 
 valleys lay covered with everlasting snow. Not a tree was to be seen, 
 fior a shrub even big enough to make a toothpick. The only vegetation 
 we met was a coarse, strong-bladed grass growing in tufts, wild bumet, 
 and a plant like moss, which sprang from the rocks. From various 
 appearances. Cook made a conjecture, which subsequent observations 
 have verified, concerning the existence of land round the South Pole. 
 "It is true, however," he says, " that the greatest part of this southern 
 continent (supposing there is one) must be within the polar circle, where 
 the sea is so pestered with ice that the land is thereby inaccessible. The 
 risk one runs in exploring a coast in these unknown and icy seas is so 
 very great, that I caji be bold enough to say that no man will ever 
 venture farther than I have done, and that the lands which may lie to 
 the south will never be explored. Thick fogs, snow-storms, intense 
 cold, and everything that can render navigation dangerous must be 
 encountered ; and these difficulties are greatly heightened by the inex- 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 183 
 
 pressiWy honid aspect of the country — a country doomed by Nature 
 aever once to feel the warmth of the sun's rays, but to be buried iu 
 everlasting snow and ice. The ports which may be on the coast are iu 
 a manner wholly filled up with frozen snow of vast thickness, but if 
 any should be so far open as to invite a ship into it, she would run a 
 risk of being fixed there for ever, or of coming out in an ice island. 
 The islands and floats on the coast, the great falls from the ice-cliffs in 
 the port, or a heavy snowstorm attended with a sharp frost, would be 
 equally fatal." 
 
 From the Horn the Eesdlute ran to Fayal, a port in the Azores, 
 where a short stay was made ; and thence Cook returned to England, 
 completing this, his secon'd voyage, in three years and eighteen days. 
 During this long period ibe had lost only one man by sickness ; and it 
 was noticed tha* his men, when they retunaed to England, presented an 
 appearance of robust health very diff^'eaa.t item tfee sickly look former 
 crews had worn on thesr return from sfcmilar voya^^. This immunity 
 ixma such scourges as wrought toawoie with the crews of Anson's 
 Bquadrom is to be attributed almost entirely to the jpractieail good sense 
 (rf Ae commander. Cook was mot coaatent to look iajpon sidkioess and 
 mSeery as necessary adjuncts to a seamiaaa's exfeteaoe, or to regard the 
 mortality produced by ignorance, indiffeEenoe, sm& a systMBitia aeglect 
 of all sanitary rules and precautions as a visdtatiQia. One of the most 
 impoitant results of this second voyage is to be found in the plain, 
 straightforward sentences in which the kind-hearted commander 
 describes what h» Sd to keep Ms men in health, and the effect of his 
 expedients and jprecaijtisafl ; asnd liike the company in the story of 
 Columbus and ttke egg, many captains a,nd merchants who read Cook's 
 journal must have been surprised to find how fiinajJe were the means by 
 which such an important result as the keeping IIS men in health during 
 a three years' voyage through every variety of climate had been attained. 
 They may be briefly summed up as follow : — Care, in the selection of 
 provisions, to enforce the use of anti-scort)utic vegetables, the much- 
 maligned preparation called sour-krout being especially recommended 
 when fresh vegetables cannot be procured ; the frequent changing of 
 the drinking water, the old store that had remained in the ship for some 
 time being poured away whenever a fresh supply from the shore 
 could be obtained ; a rigid attention to the rules of cleanliness, and a 
 thorough and frequent ventilation of every part of the ship, fires being 
 kindled when it was necessary to produce a draught of air, and 
 
18i THK WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 fumigation being also frequently resorted to ; finally, special attention 
 to the comfort and well-being of the crew, who were divided into three 
 
 watches instead of two, an arrangement which gave them longer periods 
 of unbroken rest than they could otherwise have enjoyed, and who 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 185 
 
 ■were provided with a sufficient stock of clothing, so that they 'were not 
 obliged to remain in wet clothes for want of a change. To these means 
 may be added the example of the commander, who from the beginning 
 to the end of the voyage ruled with gentle firmness the little community 
 intrusted to his charge, careful in all things that affected their welfare, 
 doing his duty thoroughly, and trusting in God. 
 
 SOUTH AFKICAN. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Preparations for a Third Voyage — Question concerning the North-West Passage 
 • — The Resolution and Discovery Fitted Out — Kerguelen's Land — Island of 
 Desolation — Tan Diemen's Land— Passage to New Zealand — The Friendly 
 Islands — Taboo — Human Sacrifices at Otaheite — Visit to Einieo and Bola- 
 bola — Christmas Island — Nootka Sound — The Natives ; their Shrewdness 
 and Rapacity. 
 
 /BOOK'S second voyage had thus been brilliantly successful, and our 
 commander was rewarded with post rank in the navy and an 
 appointment as one of the captains of Greenwich Hospital, a nomination 
 to which a sufficient pension was attached. The Earl of Sandwich, under 
 whose patronage the late voyage had been undertaken, was delighted 
 with its result. The public interest in voyages had been stimulated by 
 
186 THE "WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 ihs discoyeries and explorations of the Resolution and Adyenture, 
 and ihere was a general desire that further effoi-ts should be made to 
 obtain an accurate knowledge of distant shores. 
 
 A question, moreover, which was as old as the Elizabethan period, 
 noyf began to he discussed and debated with renewed interest and 
 yigour. The idea of a north-west passage to India through Hudson's 
 Bay, across the north of America to Behring's Strait, had occupied 
 the attention of the scientific world for more than a century and a half, 
 and the boldness with which Cook had pushed forward towards the icy 
 regions of the south seemed to suggest &a,t the same measures would 
 in the north be crowned with equal success, and that the question of 
 the existence of a north-west passage might be set at rest as that of 
 the existence of a southern continent had been. Defective know- 
 ledge concerning the cUmate, and the length and seyerity of winter in 
 the Arctic regions, also left room for a hope which was afterwards 
 dispelled long before the main question of ihe existence of a north- 
 west passage had, in our own times, been settled in the'afiirmatiye. 
 It" was thought that the discoyery of the passage would produce 
 important o©mmercial results, and that the route across the northern 
 ocean could be made available for ordinary trading diips; whereas 
 subsequent experience showed that a pecidiar construction and equip- 
 ment are necessary for the very existence ©f a sihip in those wild seas. 
 But in 1775 these facts were not known, the public attention and 
 interest had been thoroughly awakened, and it was determined that the 
 course of discovery, so gloriously begun, should be prosecuted with 
 diligence to the end. 
 
 It might well be supposed that Cook, who had twice circum- 
 navigated the globe and had borne the burden and heat of the day, 
 might enjoy the repose he had so thoroughly earned, and leave to 
 others the task of concluding the exploration of the Pacific by a survey 
 of its northern coasts. But it happened that, early in 1776, a few 
 months after his return to England, he was a guest at Lord Sandwich's 
 house, and the feasibility of exploring a north-west passage by entering 
 through Behring's Strait instead of Hudson's Bay was fully discussed. 
 Cook, who had every right to give an opinion on such a subject, 
 entered into the discussion with avidity, and when it appeared that 
 Lord Sandwich had determined to send an expsdition to the North 
 Pacific, zealously offered to take the command himself. This so 
 exactly coincided with Lord Sandwich's wishes that the offer was 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 187 
 
 accepted as soon as made. It was quickly decided that two ships 
 should be despatched as early in the year as they could be got ready, 
 and the preparations for this, the third voyage of Cook, were pushed 
 forward with all speed. The zeal of the sailors was further stimulated 
 by the extension to ships of his majesty's navy of the reward of 
 £20,000 that had been offered by Act of Parliament some thirty years 
 before to any private English ship that should sail through the north- 
 west passage, and whereas the old Act had defined that the route 
 should be through Baffin's Bay and Davis's Strait, the terms were 
 extended to ships sailing in any direction. Under sueh favourable 
 auspices did the good captain sail, in July, 1776, from Plymouth Bay 
 oa the expedition from which he was never to return. He was in his 
 old ship the Resolution, and among the company were many of his old 
 men. A second ship, the Discovery, was put under thfl command of 
 Captain Gierke ; and as some unavoidable delay occurred in fitting her 
 out, it was determined that she should join the Resolution at the Cape 
 of Good Hope. 
 
 Cook's instructions were to proceed to the north-west coast of 
 America, and to begin his explorations in 65 degrees north latitude ; 
 if possible, he was to make his way across the north of the American 
 continent in an easterly direction to Davis's Strait. In the first 
 instance he proposed to call at Otaheite and other islands of the 
 Pacific groups, and took on board at the Cape several bulls and heifers, 
 goats and horses, with the view of leaving them in those islands as a 
 valuable gift to the inhabitants. Omai, the South Sea Islander, also 
 took this opportunity of returning to his own people. He had been 
 treated with great kindness and distinction during his stay iu England, 
 and parted from his new friends with evident soitow, declaring that 
 nothing but the certainty that this was the only opportunity he should 
 ever have of returning to his own country would have induced him to 
 quit them so soon. 
 
 Steering, as before, towards the Southern Pole, Cook came in sight 
 of an icy shore that had been discovered a short time before by 
 Kerguelen, a French navigator, and had by him been considered as a 
 southern continent ; but Cook, whose practical mind was not satisfied 
 with mere conjecture, ascertained by exploration of the coast that 
 Kerguelen's Land, or,- as it is generally called on the maps, the Land of 
 Desolation,' is an island. From these southern latitudes the voyagers 
 proceeded to Van Dieraen's Land, ■ which Cook, relying upon the 
 
188 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 account given by Captain Furneaux, held to be a portion of Australia. 
 The natives are described as a degraded race, destitute of the ordinary- 
 curiosity and intelligence of savages. The only weapon observed 
 among tbem was a kind of stick, and even this they used very unskil- 
 fully, failing several times to hit a block of wood set up by them as a 
 mark ; whereupon Omai, burning to exhibit the superiority of the 
 weapons of his friends the English, and his own skill, fired off a musket 
 which he held in his hand. The report set all the natives scampering 
 into the woods, in spite of the reassuring exclamations of the travellers, 
 and so great was their terror that one of them dropped an axe and 
 several other presents he had received just before. From Van Diemen's 
 Land the ships steered for the former harbour of the Resolution and 
 the Adventure, Queen Charlotte's Sound, in New Zealand. 
 
 It was manifest that the natives here looked upon the arrival of the 
 ships with no very cordial feeling of welcome, or even of security. 
 They recognised Omai and several officers and men who had been on 
 board the Adventure when the unfortunate affray happened that 
 terminated in the death of Mr. Rowe, the midshipman, and. his 
 unfortunate boat's crew, and evidently expected that Cook had 
 returned to take vengeance upon them for that atrocity. Their appre- 
 hensions were speedily quieted by the assurance that no further notice 
 would be taken of an event that had happened long ago, but that any 
 attempt to molest their visitors would be visited with condign punish- 
 ment. On receiving this assurance they laid aside their fear, and 
 many families took up their residence in the bay, close to the place 
 where the ships had anchored. Cook now learned the particulars of 
 the fray, which had originated in the attempt of some natives to snatch 
 bread and fish from the English sailors, who were at dumer. The 
 Englishmen resented this, and beat the thieves ; whereupon, with the 
 sudden vindictiveness of savages, the New Zealanders made an unex- 
 pected onslaught on the boat's crew, who were all killed in a few 
 moments. Happy would it have been for the kind-hearted commander 
 had he remembered this incident, and learned caution in his dealings 
 with such men as these ; but there was no place in his open, honest 
 heart for suspicion ; and, scrupulously careful where the interests and 
 safety of others were concerned, he continued careless of his own, till 
 that mournful day when his valuable life was sacrificed through just 
 such a sudden burst of savage fury as that which had proved fatal to 
 the boat's crew of the Adventure. 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 180 
 
 Several fresh islands were discovered, and upon one of these, at a 
 distance of two hundred leagues from the Society Islands, Omai met 
 with four of his own countrymen, who had been driven to the island 
 by a storm, in one of their frail canoes. Events of this kind had more 
 than once happened in the Pacific Ocean. One notable instance s 
 recorded, which occurred in 1696, when two canoes, with no less hau 
 thirty persons of both sexes on board, were tossed about at sea for 
 seventy days, and finally cast on one of the Philippine Islands, after 
 having performed a voyage of three hundred leagues. The island 
 
 
 
 CAXOEINO IX THE PACIFIC. 
 
 on which these Otaheitan castaways were found was called by the 
 natives Wateeo. A trip to the Friendly Islands formed the irext stage 
 of the voyage, and the travellers were received with the same demon- 
 strations of goodwill as on their first visit. A certain Feeuou, who 
 was first represented to Cook and his companions as the king of the 
 whole group of islands, was evidently a very great personage. The 
 very highest respect was shown him by all his countrymen, who 
 implicitly obeyed his commands ; but he proved to be only a kind of 
 police commissioner, invested with extraordinary powers. They were 
 afterwards introduced to the real king, who proved to be a very benign 
 
190 THE WORLD'S EXi'LORERS. 
 
 potentate, aud received them in a manner -worthy of the name thoy 
 had given to his island realm. Here Cook noticed the use of the word 
 " taboo," which was used in a very extended acceptation to signify 
 " forbidden," and which has since found its way to our own voca- 
 bulary, a subject or an institution being often spoken of as ".tabooed." 
 From the Friendly Islands Cook proceeded to Otaheite, and the 
 ships were brought to an anchor in the familiar Matavai Bay. Otoo, 
 the King of Otaheite, had been visited shortly before by two Spanish 
 sHps from Lima, and a bull and other animals had been left on the 
 island. The live stock brought by the Resolution and Discovery was 
 very acceptable to the king and chiefs, who did not, however, seem to 
 realise the full value of the gift, and were inclined to give the prefe- 
 rence to red feathers, which were a never-failing article of traffic 
 among them. There was a great political difficulty in progress at the 
 time when the travellers arrived. The neighbouring island of Eimeo 
 had been for a long time in a state of revolt, and a great fleet sent out 
 to reduce it to. subjection had effected little. A new armament was, 
 therefore,, to be despatched ; and now Cook obtained ocular certainty 
 respecting the practice of offering human sacrifices which had long 
 been rumoured to exist among the Otaheitans, a proof how superstition 
 can produce cruelty even in mild and gentle natures. Towha, a chief 
 of part of the island, who had commanded the former expedition, sent 
 to Otoo one morning, to inform him that he had killed a man to he 
 sacrificed to the Ea tooa, or god, that the deity might be propitiated and 
 give his assistance against Eimeo. Cook proposed to accompany Otoo 
 to the Matai, or burying-place, where the poor islander's corpse was to 
 be offered. Otoo readily consented to take the captain with him, 
 and several other Englishmen joined the party. The ceremonies on 
 the occasion were elaborate and numerous, and Otoo was particularly 
 anxious that his visitors should take off their hats as soon as they 
 entered the Matai. 
 
 It was oustomaiy not to give the unfortunate men selected for these 
 sacrifices any notice of their fate, but to fall uijon them suddenly and 
 put them to death with blows of a club or with stones. " The unhappy 
 victim offered up as the object of their worship ujion this occasion," 
 says Cook, "seemed to be a middle-aged mau, and, as we were told, 
 was a toutou — that is, one of the lowest class of the people. But after 
 all my inquiries I could not learn tliat he had been pitched upon on 
 account of any particular crime committed by lam meriting death. It 
 
CAPTAIN COQK AND" HIS DISGOVERIES. 191 
 
 is certain, ho-wever, that they generally make choice of such guilty 
 persons for their sacrifices, or else of common, low fellotirs who Stroll 
 about from place to place, and from island to island, without having 
 any fixed abode, or any visible way of getting an honest livelihood, of 
 which description of men enough are to be met with at these islands. 
 Having had an opportunity of examining the ajipearance of the body 
 of the poor sufferer now offered up, I could observe that it was bloody 
 about the head and face, and a good deal bruised about the right 
 temple, which marked the manner of his being killed, and we were told 
 that he had been privately knocked on the head with a stone." 
 
 After visiting Eimeo and Bolabola (the island at which Omai had 
 persuaded Cook to " fire great guns" on the former voyage) the prows 
 of the ships were pointed north, and the Resolution and Discovery 
 sailed to prosecute the main object of the voyage, the endeavour to find 
 a passage through Behring's Strait across the continent of North 
 America to Davis"s Strait and Baffin's Bay. On his way northward 
 Cook discovered Christmas Island, where they obtained » number of 
 turtles. The island obtained its name from the fact that it was first 
 seen on Christmas Eve of the year 1777. Some other islands were soon 
 afterwards seen, the natives of which, to the surprise of Cook and his 
 companions, spoke the language of Otaheite. They were very friendly 
 and communicative, anxious to trade with their visitors, and exceed- 
 ingly respectful withal, but thieves every man of them, like the other 
 islanders of the Pacific. Among the articles they offered for barter 
 their visitors especially remarked some cloaks and caps of feathers 
 sewn upon a groundwork of netting, and so skilfully arranged as to 
 form and colour, that, according to the commander's journal, " even in 
 coimtries where dress is more particularly attended to, they might be 
 reckoned elegant." The islanders were rich in pigs, poultry, and 
 various vegetables. The predilection for red feathers noticed in the 
 other groups extended to these islands, where an especial value was 
 set upon the plumage of a bird resembling the bird of paradise. That 
 cannibalism was practised among them was soon ascertained beyond 
 doubt. To this group, of which he is the undoubted discoverer, the 
 captain gave the name of the Sandwich Islands, in honour of his patron 
 the Earl of Sandwich. 
 
 In Mardi 1778, the ships, after a stormy passage to t'ao north, 
 arrived-a-fyootka Sound, on the North American coast, in latitude 44 
 degrees ntirth. The natives, who had evidently before been in commu- 
 
192 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 nication with Europeans, immediately opened a trade, offering valuable 
 furs for a very moderate equivalent. They understood the use of iron, 
 but put a higher value on brass ; accordingly the sailors cut the 
 buttons off their jackets, and bartered them away for the furs which 
 the natives continued to offer in great abundance. They were very 
 anxious to keep the market to themselves, and to prevent other tribes 
 from communicating with the ships. Though peaceable and friendly, 
 they considered that the strangers ought to pay for everything they 
 wished to take, and even the right of cutting grass had to be pur- 
 chased ; and when the captain began to pay for this privilege in beads, 
 it seemed as if every square inch of grass had a separate owner, so 
 many pressed forward and asserted a right to a share in the purchase- 
 money. But when they found that Cook's stock of beads was really 
 exhausted, and that no more were to be had, these exclusive claims 
 were abandoned, and the crews were allowed to cut wherever they 
 wished. The natives were very ingenious in catching fish, large quan- 
 tities of which they preserved. While the ships were at Nootka Sound 
 visitors of a stranger tribe appeared in three canoes. One of them 
 exhibited two silver tablespoons of Spanish manufacture, which he 
 wore round his neck as an ornament. 
 
 ESQUir^IAUX OF NOOTKA S_UXD. 
 
 ' S . 
 
 h; '.At 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 193 
 
 vn. 
 
 New Attempt to Penetrate Northward — Stopped by the Ice— Farther Explora- 
 tion of the Sandwich Group — Discovery of Owyhee — Karakakooa Bay — 
 lletarn of the Ships — Fatal Attack — Death of Cook — Further Proceedinss 
 of Captain Gierke — Beturn to the North — Fur Trade at Canton— Death of 
 Gierke — Return of the Ships in 1779. 
 
 A FTER a short stay in Nootka Sound, Cook pi'oceedel northward, and 
 -^ doubled the great promontory of Alashka, the most westerly point 
 of the North American continent. He also ascertained the width of 
 Behring's Strait, which he entered ; and he pushed on to the north- 
 ward, aocoi-ding to his custom surveying the coast wherever this was 
 
 POLYNESIAN HTJTS. 
 
 practicable. He had advanced as far as 70 degrees north latitude^ 
 when it became evident that the attempt to penetrate farther to the 
 north must be abandoned. As far as the eye could reach extended a 
 barrier of ice six feet in height, covered with walruses and seals, and it 
 was evident that for months this barrier must remain unbroken. Ac- 
 cordingly Captain Cook determined to turn southward and defer the 
 exploration of the northern sea till the following summer, consoling 
 himself and his crew for the disappointment of the delay by the reflec- 
 tion that they would have time in the interval to explore the group of 
 the Sandwich Islands, with which they had as yet only made a very 
 cursory acquaintance. Corporal Ledyard, of the marines, who after- 
 wards became distinguished as an African explorer, here distinguished 
 himself by undertaking a perilous journey in an Esquimaux kajak, or 
 
 
 
tU THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 ■savsied «anoe, to a Russian settlement, the commander of which had 
 sent a present of fish and a Russian letter, which no one could read, to 
 £he captain. 
 
 Cook's perseverance in returning to the Sandwich group was 
 arewarded by the discovery of a larger and more important island than 
 3Mky he had seen in those regions. It was called by the natives Owyhee, 
 aut-l seemed of sufficient importance to warrant the commander in 
 spending several weeks in surveying it. The natives made very friendly 
 "demonstrations, brought abundance of provisions to the ships,, and 
 flocked to visit their guests in such numbers, that many who could, not 
 ;pr«eure admission on board were continually swimming round the ships 
 like fishes. They seemed to have the most profound respect for Cap- 
 Sain Cook, to whom they did homage by throwing themselves flat on 
 their faces before him, as if worshipping a being of supernatural power. 
 Tiaej were, moreover, thoroughly under the control of their chiefs, 
 ■w^ese frieMdship the kindness of the commander quickly secured,, and 
 thas a very friendly intercourse was established,,which the petty thefts, 
 '■whick the English had now learned to look upon as unavoidable iiici- 
 "deats in their dealing with islanders, were not suffered to interrupt. At 
 Siaiakakooa Bay, on the west side of the island, the ships were brought 
 to an anchor. The natives made great demonstrations of joy at this 
 (eni&eaice of the intention of their visitors to make some stay among 
 -Jiheia, and all day long men and boys were swimming out to have 
 « nearer view of them, splashing and frisking round the ship 
 Iifce .shoals of porpoises. Kaoo, an influential chief, and Terreeoboo, 
 the Mng ©f the island, were pleased to give their countenance and 
 support to the visitors, and the king paid a ceremonious visit to the 
 icajAaiEi, which the latter returned in due form. A company of priests, 
 sestablished in the island, were also very generous in making presents of 
 SiogB and vegetables. When the time came for the departure of the 
 shipE, great regret was manifested by the natives, who had taken an 
 -especial femcy to lieutenant King, and strongly importuned him to 
 snemain among them. At last farewells were exchanged, with every 
 .^expression of mutual goodwill ; and Captain Cook sailed away, with 
 ^3ie Discovery in company, with the object of further exploring the 
 ffioasts of the various islands. Soon afterwards, however, the Resolution 
 spramg her mainmast in so serious a manner that it was considered 
 se^nisite to return at once to Karakakooa Bay, there to effect the 
 saacessary repairs; and thither accordingly the mariners proceeded. 
 
CAPTAIN COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 195 
 
 little anticipating the fatal misfortune which was soon to give to th(3 
 names of Karakakooa and Owyhee a mournftil celebrity in the history 
 of discovery. 
 
 When the ships arrived for the second time in the bay, it was found 
 almost deserted. The people began soon to assemble, but the chiefs 
 did not appear. Whether the return of the travellers with one of the 
 ships in something like distress weakened the belief of the islanders in 
 the power of their visitors, or whether the absence of their own chiefs 
 removed a salutary check from them, certain it is that their conduct 
 soon began to be turbulent and insubordinate, though the outward 
 appearance of friendship was kept up, and they prostrated themselves 
 before Captain Cook as readily as ever. But the pilfering which 
 had been merely an annoyance on the former visit now increased to 
 serious and positive theft, and at Jength two acts of dopTedation too 
 grave to be overlooked were simultaneously committed. The pinnace 
 of the Discovery was plundered, and the Resolution's cutter was 
 detached from the buoy at which she rode, and carried off by the 
 natives. In the Society Islands, when acts of this naiure had been 
 committed, the expedient of keeping one or more chiefs as hostages 
 had frequently been adopted with success ; and on this occasion Captain 
 Cook determined to carry the king himself on board the Resolution, 
 feeling sure that the detention of their king would induce the people to 
 deliver up the cutter and the articles plundered from the pinnace. 
 Accordingly Captain Cook came on shore in the pinnace, accompanied 
 by a strong guard of marines. He had given orders that other boats 
 shoxild guard the entrance to the bay, and prevent any canoes from 
 passing out, and had the launch in readiness to support him in case of 
 need. Captain Gierke was in a small boat, and was left in command of 
 one side of the bay, the last instructions he received from his superior 
 officer being " to quiet the minds of the natives on his side of the bay 
 by assuring them they should not be hurt, to keep his people together, 
 and be on his guard." These instructions he imphcitly carried out, 
 ordering the marines to load with ball, and to remain within the tent, 
 and explaining to Kaoo and the priests that no harm would be done to 
 the people or to their king, but that the captain was resolved to recover 
 the cutter, and to punish the thieves who had stolen it. 
 
 Meanwhile COok landed with nine marines and a lieutenant. In the 
 village the usual respect was shown him ; and on his inquiring for the 
 King Terreeoboo and his two sons, the lads were at once brought to 
 
198 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 him, and he was conducted to a house where he found the old king-, 
 who had just awoke from sleep. Teireeoboo made no objection oh 
 being invited to spend the day, with his two sons, on board the Reso- 
 lution. He rose up readily and prepared to accompany his friend Cook ; 
 but his favourite wife, who seems to have suspected some design against 
 the king, passionately dissuaded him from proceeding. Terror and 
 suspicion quickly spread among the bystanders, and a hundred eager 
 voices were joined to hers, frantically imploring the king not to trust 
 himseK on board the ship. Presently Terreeoboo himself became 
 alarmed, and sat down on the ground with a troubled countenance, 
 evidently imdecided what to do. Captain Cook quickly perceived that 
 he would not be able to get the king on board if the natives chose to 
 unite in resistance. At the same time the lieutenant of marines pro- 
 posed that his men should be drawn up along the shore, as they could 
 then act better in case of need than when they were huddled together, 
 among the crow^d ; and accordingly the marines were stationed along' 
 the beach, and Cook and the lieutenant were left alone among 'the 
 throng. The chiefs had now taken the alarm, and showed themselves 
 prepared to resist by force any attempt to remove their king from 
 among them. They were in the excited, turbulent state in which any" 
 untoward incident would suffice to turn their defiance into open attack ; 
 and at the critical moment the news of an incident of this kind was 
 brought, and spread like lightning among them. A chief of the first 
 rank had been killed by a shot fired from one of the boats to prevent a 
 canoe from leaving the bay, and this news was brought just as Cook, 
 having given up the idea of taking the king and his sons on board, was 
 walking slowly towards the shore. The intelligence of their chief's 
 death roused the natives to fury. They sent away the women and 
 children, put on their war-mats, and armed themselves with their spears 
 and with stones. A man advanced towards the captain brandishing 
 an iron spike in one hand and a stone in the other, threatening by his 
 gestures to fling the stone and to stab Cook with the spike. The 
 captain desired him to desist, and at length, when the man persisted in 
 advancing, fired at him with small shot. The charge failed to pene- 
 trate the thick war-mat worn by the savage, and this apparent hann- 
 lessness of our weapons increased the insolence of the islanders. A rush 
 forward was made ; and when the marines at length fired, the natives 
 were very little intimidated. Indeed, the crowd was now so great that 
 those in front were pressed onward by the rest, and the whole roaring, 
 
CAPTAm COOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 197 
 
 frantic mass rushed upon the thin line of marines drawn up on the 
 beach, and on the unfortunate commander. The marinoa were unable 
 
 to stand against the shook. They were at once forced into the water ; 
 four of them were killed, and three others wounded. The lieutenant, 
 
198 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 severely stabbed with an iron dagger, barely escaped -with his life^ 
 Fortvmately he had reserved his fire, and was enabled to shoot a savf^ 
 dead who rushed forward to despatch him after inflicting the first 
 wound. The crews in the boats now began firing at the assailants, but 
 amid the confusion of getting the wounded marines into the boats, and 
 the horror and excitement of the moment, they could effect little. 
 
 Cook, meanwhile, was pursuing his dangerous way towards the 
 nearest boat. What happened next is thus told in the journal of 
 Captain Gierke : — " Our unfortunate commander, the last time he was 
 seen distinctly, was standing at the water's edge, and calling out to the 
 boats to cease firing and to puU in. If it be true, as some of those who 
 were present have imagined, that the mariiies and boatmen had fir^d 
 without his orders, and that he was desirous of preventing any ftirther 
 bloodshed, it is not imprebable that his humanity on this oeoasion 
 proved fatal to him; for it was remarked that, whilst he faced the 
 natives, none of them had offered him any violence, but that having 
 turned about to give his orders to the boats, he was stabbed in the 
 tack, and fell vrfth his face in the water. On seeing him fall, "tha 
 islanders set up a great shout, and his body was immediately dragged 
 on shore, and surrounded by the enemy, who, snatching the dagger out 
 of each other's hands, showed a savage eagerness to have a share in his 
 destruotloB." 
 
 Another account, which agrees with Captain Clerke's report in the 
 jasAn feateres, gives a few additional particulars. It teUs us of the 
 gallant Cosk — "He was observed making for the pumace, holding his 
 Jeft hand against the back of his head to guard it from the stones, and 
 cSirryirig his musket undgr the other arm. An Indian was seen follow- 
 ing him, but with caution and timidity, as if undetermined how to 
 proceed. At last he advanced upon him unawares, gave him a blow on 
 the back of the head with a large club, and then precipitately retreated. 
 The stroke seemed to stun Captain Cook. He staggered a few paces, 
 then fell on his hand and one knee, and dropped his musket. As he 
 was rising, and before he could recover his feet, another Indian stabbed 
 him in the back of the neck with an iron dagger. He then fell into the 
 water about knee-deep, where others crowded upon him, and endea- 
 voured to keep him under ; but, struggling very strongly with them, 
 he got his head up, and casting his eyes towards the pinnace, seemed to 
 solicit assistance. Though the boat was not above five or six yards 
 distant from him, yet, from the crowded and confused state of the crew, 
 
CAPTAIN GOOK AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 1996 
 
 it seems it was not in their power to save him. The Indians go* hms 
 under again, but in deeper water. He was, however, able to get his 
 head up once more, and being ahuost spent in the struggle, h»ita£iiiri^^ 
 turned to the rocJk, and was endeavouring to suppoct hinaseM' by it^ 
 when a savage gave him a blow with a club, and he was seen alive n«» 
 more.'' 
 
 Thus, by a sudden outburst of suspicioiis rage among a natiom of 
 fickle savages, perished this truly great and useful man. It seems- 
 Strange that the lieutenant who commanded the launeh should iave- 
 returned to his ship without making an attempt to recover the mrstilate^. 
 body of his unfortunate commander, which lay for some time abandoaecl 
 upon the beach. He seems, however, to have been bewildered, and aot 
 unreasonably, at the suddenness and violence of the attack, and did mot 
 consider himself justified in exposing the men under his eommsmct *»• 
 the chance of the return of the savages in mass, flushed with vieiery- 
 Captain Clerke was obliged to open a negotiation with the petals for 
 the recovery of the commander's remains. At length this was effected, 
 and the bones of the great navigator were committed to the deep in &©; 
 bay_he himself had discovered, amid the sincere lamentations of the- 
 sailors, whose respect and affection he had nobly gained. He haci 
 not quite completed his fiftieth year, and had speat nearly a quarter oE 
 a century in the service of his country. 
 
 On the death of the lamented Cook, Captain Gierke succeeded i<» 
 the command of the Resolution, and Lieutenant King was appointed to 
 the Discovery. The intention of the late commander was carried otit^ 
 and the ships were once more steered to the icy regions of Rt!ssiai& 
 America. But, for the second time, the impaaetrable barrier of ice 
 arrested the progress of the navigators, and after a sojourn of some time 
 among the Esquimaux tribes, and making acquaintance with sem.es: 
 Russian traders, it was decided that the ships should return to EoglsniS. 
 This resolution was received with great rejoicing by the crews, whe^ ■we 
 are told, were as glad as if they had already been in the Brxti^ 
 Channel. First, however, it was necessary to proceed to. Cantea ferr 
 some indispensable repairs, and here the sailors were agreeably snr- 
 prised to find an excellent market for the furs they had obtaaarf by 
 tarter among the Esquimaux. One man made 800 dollars l^ Ma afeicSr, 
 and this was the more surprising, as the majority of the furs w^eBot 
 in good condition, the sailors having taken no care of th^Q skj Sie; 
 passage to Canton, and having frequently used them for bedding . 
 
200 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 other purposes. With the proverbial fickleness of sailprs, the men, -who 
 had been all for a speedy return, now almost broke out into mutiny 
 because they were not permitted to return to the North American coast 
 for a fresh supply of peltries. The lesson, however, was not lost either 
 on Britain or America, and from that time the trade in furs to China 
 assumed very important proportions. 
 
 On the 4th of October, 1779, the sliips anchored at the Nore, after 
 an absence of more than four years. Captain Clerke had not long 
 survived his beloved commander. He had long been in bad health, and 
 died of a decline in the far North. The health of the crews had been 
 as exceptionally good as on Cook's second voyage, and from the same 
 reasons. On board the Resolution only five men had died, and three 
 of these left England in bad health. The crew of the Discovery had 
 had no fatal case of sickness during the whole voyage. 
 
 
 A^' 
 
 FEJEE MAN. 
 
( 201 ) 
 
 FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 
 
 Achievements of Eminent Men and their Fame— Kepler and Galileo — Calumnies 
 Attached to Certain Names — Bacon and Walton — Slander Promulgated by 
 Cervantes concerning Pinto — Repeated by Congreve — Figuier's Translation 
 of Pinto's Travels— Their Value— Pinto's- First Toyage — His Capture and 
 Slavery — His Toyage to India — He is Despatched from Mala3oa to Sumatra — 
 The King of the Battas. 
 
 'T'HE disproportion that too often exists between a man's actual 
 achievements and the fame, honour, and emolument he derives 
 from his actions, has been a fertile theme of comment in all times 
 among biographers and historians. An accidental occurrence or circum- 
 stance, a witty saying, or a telling anecdote, will often malie or mar 
 the fame which should attach to the work of a lifetime. Thus the 
 persecution of Galileo gave to the name of the Italian astronomer 
 a wide-spread popularity which entirely eclipsed the glory of another 
 great worker of his time, his correspondent and fellow-astronomer, 
 Johann Kepler. Among a hundred persons, who have heard the story 
 how Galileo was compelled by an intolerant priesthood publicly to 
 abjure the theory he knew to be true, and how by the famous "For 
 S3 muove" he protested agaiugt the tyranny to which he was being 
 subjected, there is scarcely one who has heard of the " laws" of Kepler, 
 or who can appreciate the" mighty value of those laws, in. which lay 
 concealed the essence of the doctrine of gravitation, that was to be so 
 magnificently demonstrated, in the ■ next .century, by the genius of 
 Newton. On the other hand, how- many are there not, who, totally 
 unacquainted with the career of Francis Lord Bacon, have based their 
 estimate of the great .Lord Chancellor's character simply on that one 
 line of paradox-loving Pope, who in his own flippant way describes a 
 man whose genius he could not comprehend as "the greatest, wisest, 
 meanest of mankind?" And how many, again^ who, never having read 
 a line of the kindly philosophy to be found in Izaak Walton's delightful 
 book, are content to set down as a " cruel coxcomb" one of the gentlest 
 
202 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 men who ever loved the green fields, and in a greedy, self-seeking age 
 preached the doctrine of contentment and thankfulness for common 
 mercies, merely on the strength of a cynical couplet of Byron's? 
 Nothing like a " smart" saying to mar the character of a man. It is so 
 easily learned, and remains so well impressed in the memory. 
 
 Among travellers who have borne injustice from the incredulity 
 of contemporaries and the flippant criticism of later writers, none have 
 suifered more glaring wrong than the celebrated Portuguese traveller, 
 Pernand Mendez Pinto. Cervantes, who "laughed Spain's chivalry 
 away," very nearly succeeded in doing the same bad office for the fame 
 of poor Pinto. Actuated, it would appear, partly by the national 
 jealousy which existed in his time between his own nation and Portugal, 
 and partly urged, perhaps, by the temptation which so few authors of 
 the satirical turn of mind can resist, that of sayiug a "good thing," he 
 dubbed the enterprising traveller Mendax Pinto, and the prince of 
 liars ; and in later -tames, Congreve, who very probably knew nothing 
 about Pinto and his travels, except through the sneering allusion «f the 
 author of Don Quixote, perpetuated the slander by an of t^quoted line in 
 one of his comedies, in which a foolish old astrologer is thus addressed: 
 " Fernando Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first 
 magnitude." ■ 
 
 Thus was fixed upon poor Fernand Mendez a character which he> 
 by no means deserved. The strictures of Cervantes may have 
 been prompted by the natural spirit of rivalry at the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century between the Spaniards and Portuguese, 
 keen competitors in the race of discovery, between whom Pope Alex- 
 ander so conveniently divided the world. But if we allow for a certain 
 looseness with regard to numerals, in which particular he may be 
 classed with Marco Polo and the majority of mediaeval travellers, there 
 seems really no ground for the opprobrious epithets heaped upon him. 
 Credulity and superstition were universal in his day, and from these 
 weaknesses he is not free ; but in general he describes the things he 
 saw and the dangers he encountered in all good faith and sober serious- 
 ness ; and for pioturesqueness of narrative and quaint simplicity of 
 sky\& few books of his period wiE bear comparisoui with the account 
 which he, a wayworn, travel-broken man, in his latter years indited 
 concerning the wanderings and pilgrimages in which the greater par* 
 of his stormy existence had been passed. 
 
 In the year 1845 there was published in Paris a somewhat remark- 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 203 
 
 able volume. It was entitled, Les Voyages Avantureitx cle Fevnand 
 Mender Pinto, fidilement traduits de Portu/jais en Francois par le Sieur 
 Bernard Piguier, gentilhomme Portugais ; and the work was dedicated to 
 no less a personage than Monseigneur le Cardinal de Richelieu. Ko 
 hasty compilation is this production of the Sieur Figuier, but a goodly- 
 quarto volume of more than a thousand pages, divided into many 
 short chapters, and representing, as the translator states in his dedica- 
 tory essay to the cardinal, the labour of no less than eight years. 
 Figuier mates a telluig allusion to the critics, " who condemn as false 
 what the feebleness of their minds prevents -themirom understanding." 
 He concludes his epistle with Hhese words: — "What has moved me to 
 translate the book into Fr^ch has been the desire to make public 
 many singular matters on which other historians have not touched in 
 their works, and to show by the same means the great things that the 
 Portuguese have done in the East Indies, though the revolution of 
 time has since dsprived them of the fruit thereof, and to-day the 
 Spaniards arrogate all the glory to themselves." 
 
 One of the chief sources of the value of Pinto's book of travels is in the 
 vivid picture it presents of the character and spirit of travel in those days. 
 Remarkable must have been the contradictions between the profession 
 and practice of the Spanish and Portuguese adventurers of the six- 
 teenth century. Sometimes it is very diffieult to draw the distinction 
 between .their doings and actual piracy. In executing vengeance 
 upon their enemies they manifested a truly Draconic severity ; concern- 
 ing the ordinary rights of nations they maintained a grand and lordly 
 indifference ; and yet they were not without the feeling of religion, 
 deeply tinctured, however, with the utter intolerance and savage 
 harshness of the time. Thus Pinto, a man of many sorrows and cares, 
 an enthusiastic admirer of the missionaries whom he encountered in his 
 Indian and Chinese travels, and especially of St. Francis Xavier, the 
 most devoted of them all, speaks with perfect gravity of Mahometans 
 thrown into the sea "for the glory of God," and evidently considers that 
 to- deprive an unbeliever of his goods and possessions is a perfectly 
 justifiable spoiling of the Egyptians. Strange compounds of enthu- 
 siasm, heroism, and endurance with dense bigotry and utter intole- 
 rance were the Spaniards and Portuguese of three hundred years 
 ago; and Pinto, a true "Portugal," exhibited in his narrative each 
 of these characteristics. 
 
 Fernand Mendez Pinto appears to have been the very Jonah of travel. 
 
204 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 From beginning to end hia career was one long series of misfortunes, 
 intermingled, indeed, with transient gleams of sunshine, which seem 
 but to deepen the prevailing gloom of misfortune in which he was 
 almost continually enshrouded. He was born at the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, in a little town in Portugal, and began life at the 
 age of eleven or twelve years, at Lisbon, as the servant of a lady to 
 whom he had been recommended by an uncle, "who," says Pinto, " was 
 
 ; ;.;f.j 
 
 '■"-I 
 
 ,(0 
 
 VINE-MAKING IN POKTUGAL. 
 
 desirous of advancing my fortunes and of withdrawing me from the 
 caresses and the spoiling of my mother." This was in 1521. A year 
 and a half later young Pinto was involved in some scrape, on the nature 
 of which he observes a discreet silence ; he merely says — " An adven- 
 ture happened to me which put me in manifest peril of my life. Con- 
 sequently, to escape from death, I was obliged to abandon her dwelling 
 with all the speed I could make." Accordingly, Pinto embarked on 
 board a caravel laden with the horses and goods of a lord who was 
 proceeding to Setuval. And here poor Pinto's misfortunes began. The 
 caravel was captured by French pii-ates, who first designed to sell their 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 205 
 
 prisoners at La Uoohe, in Barbary, but abandoned this design on taking 
 a more valuable vessel a few days afterwards ; -whereupon they resolved 
 to proceed at once to France, carrying with them only such of the 
 captured crews as were able to help them in navigating their vessels, 
 and the test were landed at night at a place called Melides. They 
 were in a very deplorable condition, "covered only," says Pinto, "with 
 the wounds we had on our bodies, caused by the great number of 
 lashes which we had received the preceding days.'' The wretched men 
 managed to crawl to a neighbouring town, where they were kindly 
 relieved by the inhabitants ; and especially a certain Donna Beatrix de 
 Pantoja, wife of the commander and grand provost of the town, played 
 the part of a good Samaritan towards- them. After this preliminary 
 taste of the amenities of travel, young Pinto made his way to Setuval, 
 where he remained in service for some years ; but at last the spirit of 
 adventure awoke in him, and he determined to embark on a voyage. 
 " Inasmuch," he tells us, " as the wages that were then given in the 
 houses of princes were not sufficient to maintain one, necessity con- 
 strained me to' quit iny master with the design of advancing myself by 
 his favour, and to try and embark for the Indies. For that was my 
 principal design at that time, and the most favourable method I could 
 find for getting rid of my poverty. And although at that period I had 
 very few commodities, I did not refrain from embarking, trusting 
 myself to fortune, good or evil, in whatever form she might come to me 
 in those distant countries." 
 
 It was on the 11th of March, 1587, that Mendez Pinto set out on his 
 voyage in a vessel that sailed in company with four others. The ship 
 in which Mendez was, first proceeded to round the Cape and up the 
 Mozambique Channel to the Red Sea, and touched at an Abyssiaian 
 port. Soon after, the young traveller was persuaded to embark on one 
 of two trading ships, or foists, to proceed on an expedition to Mecca. 
 The captain of one of these foists was his very good friend ; and, says 
 Pinto, " the good hope he gave me concerning the voyage he was about 
 to undertake was the cause that I embarked with him to accompany 
 him, whereunto I was induced by the assurance he gave me of his friend- 
 ship, joined to the promise that byhis favour I might become rich 
 easily and in a short time, which was the thing in the world I desired 
 most,, Trusting, therefore, in the promises this captain made me, and 
 allowing myself to be deceived by my own hopes, I imagined myself 
 already the possessor of great riches and of infinite treasures; not 
 
206 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 rememberiug how bitter and xmcertain are the promises of men, and 
 that I might not gain much fruit from the voyage I waa about to 
 vmdertake, because it was dangerous, and not the season for nwvigating 
 ia those countries." In this sober, straightforward style, the BarratiTe 
 of Fernand Pinto is written throughout. Here aad there, indeed, hig 
 imagination or his credulity runs away with him in a description of 
 what he has he.vd ; but in describing his own feelings, motivesj and 
 actions, his writing is uniformly modest, frank, and tinged with a 
 certain grave melancholy that is not without its charm. 
 
 Pinto's visions of wealth were soon dissipated in the rudesttnanner. 
 His ship was attacked and taken by three piratical Turjdsh gdleys, and 
 thus our traveller was for a second time a prisoner. The Christian 
 captives were carried to Mocha and paraded through the town amid 
 the execrations and insults of the inhabitants, by whom, as well as by 
 their captors, they were very brutally treated. Miserably beaten, half 
 starved, and covered ■«dth wounds and bruises, the survivors were sold 
 to whoever would purchase such damaged wares, Pinto fell into the 
 hands of a Greek, and had a very bad time of it indeed. Afterwards 
 he was purchased by a Jew, who carried him to Ormuz, on the Persian 
 Gulf, and here he was delivered from slavery by two Portuguese 
 gentlemen ; and he ends the seventh chapter of his travels with pious 
 thanksgivings for his liberty. 
 
 Finding a ship ready to sail to Goa, in the East Indies, Pinto em- 
 barked, with courage undiminished by past mishaps, and towards the 
 end of the year 1 538 ho arrived safely at that port. Here he joined the 
 captain of a foist who was going to visit the Queen of Onoro, on the 
 Malabar coast, and afterwards intended to cruise against the Turks ; 
 and in this expedition he saw some rough work and reaped very small 
 proiit. Indeed, this part of his narrative reminds us of the letter of 
 the French recruit, who, writing to his friend, says — " Nous avons eU de 
 grands avantages ; la mitraOle m'a brise Ics os ; nous avous pris 
 amies et bagages — et moi, j'ai deux balles dans le dos." And, indeed, 
 it was with two wounds for his share of the profits that poof Mendez 
 Pinto returned to Goa. But here better fortunes seemed about to 
 smile on him. Don Pedro de Faria, captain-general of Malacca, took 
 the disconsolate traveller into his service ; and now Pinto had' an 
 opportunity of seeing and describing a country till then almost un- 
 known even to the most adventurous of voyagers. 
 
 An embassy soon came to Don Pedro de Faria from the King of 
 
FEENAND MENDEZ PINTO. 207 
 
 Batta, in Sumatra, requesting help against the Aeheens, another 
 nation inhabiting, the, same island, and with whom his majesty was at 
 war. Five nations then held sway in the land, and among them that of 
 theAcheens seems to have been the most powerful. Mendez Pinto 
 gives a vivid description of the couHtry ; and allowing for such 
 inaccuracies as may be expected in the record of a traveller describing 
 many things by hearsay, and many others which he could only 
 imperfectly view, his aasrative is both interesting and attractive, 
 having been confirmed in many particulars by the accounts of later 
 travellers, especial]^ Sir Stamford EafHes. 
 
 In the strife beftween the Battas and the Aeheens, the latter had 
 decidedly the best of it. Pinto, who was sent by Don Pedro as agent 
 to the. Batta eottrt, witnessed the defeat of his allies with no little 
 chagrin, ia, his account of the eountry he especially makes mention of 
 the caquesaeiiiaiai a great bird, probably the cassowary. He becomes 
 somewhat imagina,tive in describing the serpents, some of which he 
 declares to be so venomous "that they can kill people by merely 
 breathing upon, them.'' The great apes and baboons of the island are 
 also mentioned. Speaking of his voyage up a little river which he calls 
 Guateamgrin,, he says : — 
 
 ' ' Now, while w-e were navigating with a good wind, we saw through 
 a thicket which was on the -bank such a number of bats and other 
 crawling animals not less prodigious by their size than by their singular 
 forms, that I shall not be astonished if those who read- this history will 
 not deign to believe what I shall relate concerning them, principally 
 persons who have not travelled, for I am well aware that they who 
 have seen, little will believe little, compared with that which will be 
 believed by those who have seen much. Along this river, which, more- 
 aver, is not broad, there was a great number of lizards, which may 
 more properly be called serpents, inasmuch as some of them are as large 
 as a little vessel they call Almadia ; they have scales on their backs, 
 and their jaws are two feet wide. Those of the coimtry have assured us 
 that these animals are so bold that some of them are to be found who will 
 attack an Almadia, principally when they see only four or five people in 
 it, and that they sink it with their tails in, order that they may eat the 
 men, whom they swallow whole, without dismembering them. We 
 also saw in this place a strange animal they call caquesseitan. They 
 are of the size of a great goose, very black, and scaly on the back, with 
 a row of sharp points on the spine of the length of a writing-pen. 
 
208 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Furthermore, they have "wings like those of tlie bat, a very long neck, 
 and on the head a little hone, shaped like a cook's comb, with a very 
 
 GREAT APL!?, BABOON, ETC. 
 
 long tail marked with green and black spots, like the lizards of this 
 country." 
 
FERNAND MKNDEZ PINTO. 209 
 
 In the lizard the reader will not fail to recognise the alligator, 
 though the story concerning the Almadia sunlc by the animal's tail, and 
 of the discrimination of the monster, which selects a vessel in whicli 
 there are " only four or five men," seems very like an attempt of tlie 
 unscrnpulous Battas to impose on their visitor's credulity. The 
 caquesseitau, also, might have puzzled Buffon or Cuvier, so strange a 
 compound of bird and beast does it appear to be. The description goes 
 on to record still greater marvels. Pinto tells us — ■ 
 
 "These animals jump and fly together like grasshoppers, and in this 
 manner they chase monkeys and other animals of the kind, which tliey 
 
 ' <>03N0N'a API — EAKDA ISLAND.^. 
 
 pursue to the tops of tlie trees, and by this chase they usually subsist. 
 We also noticed hooded serpents as thick as a man's tliigh, and si» 
 venomous that the negroes of the country told us how, if their breath 
 touched anything living, it immediately died, without there being any 
 remedy or any antidote that could be applied. \\'e saw some others 
 that were not hooded nor so venomous as the preceding, but mucii 
 larger and longer ; moreover, they had heads as big as that of a calf. 
 We were told us that these are accustomed to liiuit the others. Tliis 
 serpent mounts the wild trees, of which there are a great number in this 
 country, and twining round some branch with its tail, it lets its body 
 hang down. By the same means, putting its head to tlie grass at tlie 
 foot of the tree, it presses one of its ears to the ground, so that in this 
 manner it may hear if anything stirs in the silence of night. If by 
 chance an ox, a wild boar, or any other animal passes by the foot of 
 the tree or near it, they seize it in their jaws ; and inasmuch as they 
 
 e 
 
210 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 have the tail already twisted in the branch of the tree, they catch 
 nothing that they do not draw up on the tree, so that in this manner 
 nothing escapes them. There we also perceived a number of magots 
 (macaques), grey and black, of the size of a great mastiff, of which the 
 negroes of the country are more afraid than of any other animajs, 
 because they attack with so much boldness that none can stand againgt 
 them." ,i 
 
 We have made this extract from Figuier's translation, and quote it 
 ^literally, as showing the style of Pinto and the nature of his inaccu- 
 racies. The reader wUl have no difficulty in recognising the boa- 
 constrictor in the gigantic serpent angling for its prey from the lofty 
 tree ; and the great magots are evidently mandrils and other baboon?. 
 It will be seen that what Pinto himself observed he described accurately 
 enough, and that the marvellous particulars with which his narrative is 
 embellished are generally stories with which he has been favoured, by 
 the negroes of that coimtry. 
 
 Mendez accompanied the King of the Battas as a volunteer in his 
 expedition against the Acheens, and saw some tolerably hard fightjng. 
 In the end the latter nation gained the victory, partly by their greater 
 amount of powder and partly by their superior strategy. In the height 
 of the combat they managed to fire a mine and blow three hundred 
 Battas — among whom was the captain who led them — ^iato the air 
 " with so great a noise and so thick a smoke," says the chronicle, " that 
 the place seemed the very picture of hell." This catastrophe decided 
 the victory, and Pinto made the best of his way back to Malacca to his 
 patron Don Pedro, noting, as his manner was, many strange and 
 marvellous things on his way. 
 
 II. 
 
 Pinto's Mission to the King of Aara— Hostilities against the Acheens— Pinto's 
 Shipwreck — He is Employed by a Mussulman Merchant— Antonio de Faria 
 turns Pirate, and is Joined by Pinto — Captures and Adventures — Ship- 
 wreck — The Chinamen Tricked. 
 
 SOON after he had related to his patron the story of the wonderful 
 things to be seen in Sumatra, Pinto was employed on a new apd 
 moreimportant mission. The King of Aaru, monarch of another of the 
 five nations of Sumatra, sent an ambassador to Don Pedro de Faoa, 
 requesting assistance against the ruler of the Acheens, who was a 
 
FERITAND MENDEZ PINTO. 211 
 
 Mussulman. This ambassador seems to have been a veiry Talleyrand of 
 the Eastern seas in his ingenuity of putting a case in the best possible 
 light for his master's purpose. In a long set speech, faithfully recorded 
 in Pinto's travels, he proved to demonstration how " Codlin was tlie 
 friend — not Short" — how it was the King of Aaru who was "as much 
 a Portuguese and a Christian as if he had been born in Portugal" — 
 how the assistance he craved to prevent the King of the Acheens from 
 taking away his kingdom was a very trifling matter (fort pen de chose), 
 being merely the loan of some forty or fifty Portuguese to instruct his 
 majesty's troops in the use of the arquebuss, and the European manner 
 of fighting. Added to this was a request for certain barrels of powder, 
 and a small supply of bullets, for the effectual discomfiture of the 
 tyrant of the Acheens, who would, it was represented, if he succeeded 
 in his nefarious designs against the King of Aaru, decidedly flock 
 up the straits with his men, " and," continued the ambassador, " as his 
 people do not fail to boast aloud, wOl prevent you from carrying on 
 the commerce of drugs of Banda and the Moluccas, stopping also the 
 commerce and the navigation of the seas of China, Sunda, Borneo, 
 Timor, and Japan. Whereof we are well assured by reason of the 
 treaty he has lately made with the Turks, by the intervention of the 
 Pacha of Grand Cairo, who has made him hope that he would assist 
 him with great forces ; and, indeed, you may have learnt this by the letters 
 which I have delivered to you." The moral of aU this was, that for 
 their own interest it behoved the Portuguese to give every assistance 
 towards utterly destroying and putting down the tyrant of the Acheens. 
 
 Though he let the eloquent ambassador depart " with much discon- 
 tent, on accormt of the bad reply he carried back," Don Pedro was soon 
 after moved by various considerations to send some help to the King of 
 Aaru, in the form of a small supply of gunpowder and bullets, together 
 with sundry arquebusses, morions, and other arms offensive and defen- 
 sive. The duty of conveying these supplies to the king was intrusted 
 to Pinto, who, "for his sins," as he says, " was induced to undertake 
 tlie commission, and accordingly embarked in a long boat, with his 
 stores, on Tuesday morning, the 5th of October, 1539. 
 
 Pinto accomplished his mission successfully and duly delivered his 
 presents to the King of Aaru ; but on the homeward voyage his vessel 
 suddenly struck upon a sunken rock on the coast of Sumatra, and out 
 of twenty-eight men who composed her crew, twenty-three were imme- 
 diately drowned. The others managed to wade ashore through the 
 
212 THE WORLD'S EXPL0R5JES; 
 
 deep mud, and for a time subsisted miserably upon some shell-fifeh and 
 the pieces of weed thrown up by the sea. In crossing a small fiYer 
 two of the five were seized by alligators and devoured, and another 
 died of exposure and misery in the arms of hia unfortunate leader. 
 Finto himself, with the sole survivor among hia companions, at length 
 hailed the approach of a boat manned by some natives ; but these men 
 had no idea of showing kindness to the shipwrecked travellers. They 
 bound them to the mast of their vessel and beat thein cruelly to make 
 them discover the whereabout of some gold they supposed them to have 
 hidden ; and then, in the supposition that the poor men had swallowed 
 their treasures, proceeded to administer to the companion so abomi- 
 nable an emetic that the poor wretch presently died. As no gold was 
 brought to light by their inhumanity, Pinto"s captors did not think it 
 worth while to try the experiment upon him, but contented themselvea 
 with carrying him off as a slave. There was no market=for him, how- 
 ever, and therefore, to use his own expression, he was " turned out to 
 graze,'' and lived a miserable life for some months, begging for food 
 from door to door, among a people whose poverty left them very little 
 to give. A Mahometan merchant whom he encountered by chance at 
 length rescued him from his wretched plight, purchasing his freedom 
 for a sum equivalent to leas than a pound of our money. The libe- 
 rator of I'iiito, a speculative man, thereupon loaded a vessel with 
 merchandise for Malacca, and departed thither, taking our traveller 
 with him ; and thus did Pinto return, the sole survivor of this u.nfor- 
 tunate and iU-starred expedition. 
 
 After he ha;d recovered his health and strength; Pinto was de- 
 spatched by Don Pedro de Faria to Pahang, on the Malay peninsula, in 
 cliargo of a vessel iiUed with merchandise, and consigned to an agent 
 of Don Pedro's resident there. Again Fernand Mendez arrived in 
 safety at his post ; but before his departure a disturbance occurred 
 among the people in consequence of the murder of the King of Pahang; 
 the warehouses were plundered, and Pinto's cargo was carried off by 
 the insurgent populace. Naturally reluctant to return to Malacca 
 without goods or money, Pinto proceeded to Pantani,;at the southern 
 extremity of the Malay peninsula. The Portuguese, who had spread 
 tlicniselves pretty generally over this part of the world, had here estab- 
 lished a factory, and Fernand Mendez was kindly welcomed by hia 
 countiymen; Before he had been long at Pantani there 'arrived' three 
 Chinese junka. It w»s ascertained (though' pr6bably the Poi-tugu^le- 
 
FERNAIJD MENDEZ PINTO. 
 
 213 
 
 gave themselves the benefit of any doubt which might exist) that 
 these junks belonged to Mohametans from Pahang, and by a rough- 
 
 w •■■■'.. 
 
 *« 
 
 A 
 
 
 -wft *^ 
 
 ■V* 
 
 
 "V— * 
 
 I / 
 
 • I 
 
 'ii^"'f'iir 
 
 and-ready law of reprisal, Pinto and his companions reconciled it to 
 their consciences to capture these junks and confiscate the cargoes 
 
214 THE WOBID'S EXPLOEEKS. 
 
 8s an indemnification for tlie merchandise lost at Eahang ; and Pkito 
 returned to Pantani rejoicing greatly in his success. 
 
 And now an event occurred -which was destined to have a great 
 effect on our traveller's future course of life, and to convert him from a 
 sad, sober wayfarer into something suspiciously like a pirate. Tliere 
 arrived in those parts, in charge of a cargo of goods worth 12,000 
 crowns, a bold man named Don Antonio de Faria, a relative of Don 
 Pedro, the Captain- General of Malacca. Failing a ready market for 
 his Indian stuffs at Pantani, this Don Antonio was informed that at 
 Lugor, in Siam, to the north, on the Peninsula, he could dispose of 
 them to advantage ; and accordingly he put the cargo on board a 
 vessel manned by sixteen Portuguese, with Pinto among the number ; 
 and in good spirits and f uU of hope they hoisted sail for Lugor. But 
 "turn and turn about" is said to be fair play; the manoeuvre the 
 Portuguese had practised upon the three junks reported to haU from 
 Pahahg was successfully practised upon themselves ; a great junk, with 
 eighty Mahometan Malays on board, came upon them one day while 
 they were at dinner, and "before they could pick their teeth" twdve 
 out of the sixteen Portuguese were slain. The four others, our hero 
 of course among the number, jumped overboard and swam for the 
 shore, which three of them reached in safety ; but. one of these died in 
 the woods next day. For the second time in Ma life Pinto now expe- 
 rienced the kindness of woman. An elderly Siamesfrlady compassionated- 
 his distress, and furnished him and his surviving companion in misfor- 
 tune with the means of returning to Pantani, where Don Antonio de. 
 Faria was waiting anxiously for his return, little anticipating the bad 
 news his plundered deputy would have to impart. 
 
 Don Antonio listened to Pinto's miserable tale with feelings of 
 mingled rage and terror. The twelve thousand crowns represented by 
 the cargo of which the Mahometans had possessed themselves, had 
 been borrowed by him at Malacca, and he freely confessed to his 
 countryman, who tried to console him for his loss, that he had not the 
 courage to return empty-handed to Malacca and face his creditors. 
 The course before him was obvious enough to the angry man. He 
 must get back, by whatever means, either his goods or an eqtuivalent 
 for them ; and with a curious elasticity of eonseience, and a whimsical 
 inconsistency not uncommon in those times, he determined to seek the 
 remedy for having been robbed, in himaelf turaaiag robber upon the 
 most extended scale. He swote a solemn oath that he- would set forth 
 
EEENAND MENDEZ PBSTO. 216 
 
 at once in search of the robber, and force him, by fair Boeans or foul, to 
 make restitution a hundredfold for the plunder that had been taken ; 
 moreover, he would avenge the death of the Portuguese in the most 
 striking manner, and show these infidels that Christiana were not to be 
 massacred with impunity. In short, Don Antonio de Faria resolved 
 tD turn pirate. JHis friends, highly applauding his resolution, joined 
 him to the number of more than fifty, and among the gallant company 
 Femand Mendez Pinto made one. 
 
 The course of life upon which -Pinto and his companions now 
 entered was neither more nor less than plain downright piracy. They 
 plundered strange vessels, all of which are scrupulously described as 
 pirates, and occasionally ravaged towns, exercising what among the old 
 Normans would have been called the right of slrandung in the most 
 effectual manner, and soon their vessels could exhibit a store of wealth 
 far greater than that of which Don Antonio had been originally plun- 
 dered. The " unkindest cut of all" among their numerous enterprises 
 was, perhaps, the plundering of a bridal party, who were making their 
 way by water "to meet the bridegroom" with, songs and rejoicings. 
 The bride and her companions were captured ; and shortly afterwards 
 the bridegroom and his friends, meeting Faria's piratical vessel, saluted 
 it with great politeness, little imagining that the ship to which this 
 courtesy was shown held the unlucky bride as a prisoner. Even Pinto, 
 who generally relates these adventures with most edifying gravity, 
 seems to feel some compunction in telling how miserably the poor 
 bridegroom was tricked. 
 
 Many a bay and many a coast did these prototypes of the bucca- 
 neers explore in their cruisings to and fro in these as yet unknown seas ; 
 and steadily did their wealth increase as junk after junk succumbed to 
 their lawless valour. The chief object of their vindictive pursuit, how- 
 ever, was Coja Acem, a Mussulman native of Guzerat, and a great 
 enemy of the Portuguese, and, indeed, it would appear, of all people 
 who had purses in their pockets and goods in their ships. This Coja 
 Acem was a famous rover of the seas. His father and twa brothers had 
 followed the same honourable trade and perished in their vocation. 
 Goja it was who had plundered Don Antonio de Faria of his goods ; 
 and all the adventurers had sworn to wreak condign vengeance upon 
 ^^^,. unbeliever. But they themselves were destined to encounter 
 fitraSge mishaps before they should meet their enemy face to face. 
 
 Some of the piratical crew now became anxious for a division of the 
 
216 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Spoil. They had taken three great juiiks as prizes, and .thought it lugh 
 time for a holiday after so much hard work, especially as, there appeaiied 
 no immediate prospect of falling in with the worthy Coja Acem. 
 Accordingly it was arranged that they should winter in Siam; and the 
 four vessels proceeded in company to the island De los Ladrones, or 
 Thieves' Island, than which they could hardly have chosen a more appro- 
 priate port of call. Here arose a great storm, which drove the four vessels 
 against each other, and afterwards flung them on the coast, where they 
 were broken to pieces. "So that," says Pinto, "there died on this 
 occasion five hundred and eighty-six men, among whom were eight 
 Portuguese; and God permitted that the surplus of the crews, fifty- 
 three in all, should be saved, among whom were twenty-three Portu- 
 guese, the rest being slaves and raa^riners. After this dismal shipwreck 
 we went, all naked and wounded, to take refuge in a marsh un^l the 
 next morning, when, "after daybreak, we returned to the margin of ,the 
 sea, which we found strewn with corpses, a sight so pitiable and, so 
 horrible that there was not one among us who thus beheld them that 
 (lid not fall exhausted on the ground, making a dismal moan overthfim, 
 accompanied by many blows that each one gave himself ; this lasted 
 until the hour of vespers, when Antonio do Faria, who \)j the grace of 
 God was one of those that remained alive, whereat all of us rejoiced, 
 concealing in his heart the grief that none of us could refrain from 
 manifesting, came where we were, dressed in a scarlet coat that he had 
 taken from one of the corpses, and, with a cheerful countenance and dry 
 eyes, made us a short speech." 
 
 The harangue delivered on this occasion by Captain Antonio was of 
 the most edifying description. The worthy leader pointed out to his 
 hearers that the goods of this world were very transitory things, a 
 doctrine he had, moreover, very practically impressed upon every 
 owner of a junk with whom he had come in contact. He deprecated all 
 undue lamentation over the losses they had sustained, feelingly pointing 
 out that if in this place they had lost five hundred thousand crowns, 
 there was no reason why they should not gain six hundred thousand 
 elsewhere. Even this cogent argument failed to restore the ship- 
 wrecked mariners to cheerfulness and comfort, oppressed as they were 
 ■Nvith the sense of present misery and ruin. The chapter in which these 
 events are told concludes in the following edifying strain : — 
 
 " This brief harangue was heard by all with abundance of tearsiand 
 <Jf discomfort; then we passed two days and :a-half ibithat. place 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ TINTO. 
 
 217 
 
 burying our dead who were scattered along the coaat. During this 
 time we likewise recovered some victuals and provisions, all wetted, for 
 
 
 
 
 ',1 ^1 
 
 * ■■ t!'-'. 
 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 i.a 
 
 ' *■' ■, 
 
 our subsistence ; nevertheless, these did not last us more than five days 
 out of a fortnight that we remained in that place. And, inasmuch as 
 
218 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 these provisions were wet, they quickly became rotten, and did us no 
 good. This fortnight being past, it pleased God, who never abandons 
 those who really trust in Him, miraculously to send us a remedy where- 
 with we saved ourselves, all naked and despoOed as we were, as I shall 
 hereafter relate." 
 
 The " miraculoua remedy'' consiated in the arrival, when they were 
 at their wits' end, of a junk full of Chinamen, who landed on the coast 
 while our shipwrecked friends were harking in the thicket. The unsus- 
 pecting Celestials proceeded to enjoy what Jack would call a "run 
 ashore" after their voyage. They brought ashore their linen, and 
 washed it; while some of them were preparing food for the party, 
 others amused themselves with wresUing, leaping, and similar sports 
 until their dinner should be ready. On seeing this, the worthy Antonio 
 de Faria proceeded to demonstrate to his companions that the desigrt of 
 Providence in sending this small junk or lantea to the coast at this 
 exact moment was clearly and manifestly that they, the Portuguese, 
 should seize it suddenly, and, embarking therein, sail away in quest of 
 fresh adventures. If his former harangue had been a comparatire 
 faitore, the present speech was a brilliant success. The suggestion was 
 acted upon without loss of time. At a given signal the shipwrecked 
 rosurineis rushed from iJie wood in a body, made straight towards the 
 junk, and scrambled on board before the bewildered Chinamen clearly 
 knew what they were about. A small cannon fired at tliem from their 
 own vessel sent the poor deluded fellows scampering into the forest 
 whence their plunderers had just emerged. Pinto tells this with some- 
 thing like a chuckle at the fortune of war. " They ran. oiF into the 
 woods," he says, " where it may be believed that they passed the rest of 
 the day in weeping over their evil fortune, as we until' then Imd 
 bewailed ours." Before carrying off the lantea, the Portuguese added 
 insult to injury by eating up the dinner the Celestials bad prepared for 
 themselves ; and then these eminently Christian men sailed away, 
 rejoicing in their miraculous preservation, and utterly indifferent as to 
 the fate of the fellow-creatures they had so egregiously duped. 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 219 
 
 III. 
 
 Aaother Piratioal Cniiae — Meeting with a OliiiieBe Pirate Junk — ^Treaty of 
 Alliance— Encounter with Coja Acem — Victory of Antonio de Faria, and 
 Death of Coja Acem and his Crew — Triumphal Eeoeption of the Victors 
 at Ningpo^Purther Adventures — Plunder of the Tomba — Disastrous Ship- 
 wreck, and Death of Antonio de Faria. 
 
 TN the Chinese vessel the adventurers found a cargo valued at four 
 -*- thousand crowns, besides a quantity of good provisions, which latter 
 were exceedingly welcome to them in their starved condition. A part of 
 the lading of the lantea consisted of sUks, satins, and damasks, and of 
 these costly materials the captors made themselves suits of clothes, so 
 that they soon appeared bravely apparelled and ready for any new 
 adventures. An unhappy child about twelve years of age, the son of 
 the captain of the lantea, was found on board. Don Antonio de Faria, 
 whose zeal for proselytising seems to have been equally strong with his 
 love of piracy, vehemently urged this young captive to beconSe a 
 Christian ; but the boy, says Pinto, " raised his eyes to heaven, and 
 with clasped hands he said, weeping, ' Praised be Thy power, O God, 
 which allows there to be men on earth who speak so well of Thee, though 
 they observe Thy law so badly, as do these miserable blind men, who 
 think that preaching and plundering are things that can satisfy Thee, 
 like the tyrant princes that dwell upon the earth.' " 
 
 The next day Faria and his people met with a large junk, and pre- 
 pared for an attack, which was indeed just about to commence, when a 
 number of red caps, evidently covering Portuguese heads, were noticed 
 on the stranger's deck ; and on the principle that " hawks do not pick 
 out hawks' een" — the strange junk being evidently a Chinese pirate 
 vessel — a parley began ; and it was ultimately agreed that the two 
 junks should join company and carry on their predatory trade together, 
 the proportion of plunder each crew was to receive being settled by 
 solemn compact and agreement. Soon afterwards a small fishing-boat 
 was seen, wherein were eight Portuguese, sorely wounded and in very 
 evil case. On being taken on board they threw themselves at the feet 
 of Don Antonio de Faria, and with many tears bewailed their piteous 
 case. They had formed part of a large company which had been 
 attacked by Coja Acem, the very pirate of whom Antonio de Faria, 
 that quiet. God-fearing man, was in search; and the said Coja had 
 
220 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 massacred their companions and taken their vessel, they themselves 
 escaping with the utmost difficulty, Hereupon Don Antonio de Faria 
 took off his bonnet, knelt down on the deck of his ship, and with a 
 fervour which would have been sublime had it not been so whimsical, 
 uttered a long prayer, wherein he invoked the aid of Heaven in his 
 enterprise of seeking out and destroying this wicked pirate. In this 
 extraordinary supplication we find strangely mingled with an allusion 
 to the crimes of Coja Acem, who had killed many Portuguese, a devout 
 aspiration " that he may pay to Thy soldiers and faithful servants what 
 he oweth them for so long a time." Faria seems quite to forget the 
 circumstance that he had recouped himself pretty liberally for the losses 
 he had suffered through Coja Acem. 
 
 Soon afterwards the long-desired combat took place. Coja Acem 
 was seen approaching with his vessels in gallant trim, and evidently 
 eager for the fight. Antonio de Faria attacked him with a fury partly 
 inspired by fanaticism and partly due to the remembrance of the ruin 
 Coja Acem had once brought upon him. The Mahometans called upon 
 their Prophet for aid, and the Portuguese invoked the name of the 
 Saviour. The fight was long and desperate. At length Coja Acem fell by 
 the hand of Don Antonio. His death damped the ardour of his followers, 
 and cheered their opponents, who at length achieved a complete victory. 
 Of all the Mahometan pirate's men only, five remained alive, and these 
 were bound and flung into the hold of their junk, " in order," observes 
 Pinto very frankly, " that by force of torments they might be made to 
 confess certain things that we wished to ask of them ; but," he continues, 
 "they tore each other's throats with their teeth, from fear of the death 
 that they expected, which did not prevent our servants from dismem- 
 bering them, and afterwards throwing them into the sea, in company 
 with the dog Coja Acem, their captain, grand captain of the King of 
 Bantam, shedder and drinker of the blood of the Portuguese — ^titles 
 that he ordinarily gave to himself in his letters, and which he vaunted 
 publicly to all the Mahometans; by which cause, and through the 
 superstition of his accursed sect, he was greatly honoured by them." 
 
 " The perdition of the enemy," as Fluellen might have expressed 
 it, had in this action been "very reasonable great." With Coja Acem 
 had died nearly four hundred of his people, whilst the Portuguese 
 had lost about forty men. Enriched with many a chest of silver taken 
 from the dog Coja Acem, Antonio de Faria now shaped his course for 
 Chiampoo or Ningpo to repair his ships. The Portuguese merchants 
 
FERN AND MENDKZ TIISTO. 
 
 221 
 
 resident at that place received him with distinguished honour, escorting 
 him in a kind of triumphal procession ; and to the natives, v/ho were 
 anxious to learn what was the rank and dignity of a man thus distin- 
 guished by his own countrymen, Antonio replied that he was the man 
 who shod the King of Portugal's horses, with which intelligence the 
 Chinamen were very much impressed. A religious celebration, in which 
 mass was performed, and a sermon preached by an enthusiastic priest, 
 who greatly lauded Antonio and his exploits, gave additional lustre to 
 this triumphal entry. One part of the holy father's exhortation gives 
 a whimsical picture of the theology of those times, and even the grave 
 
 \^1 
 
 Fernand Mendez can scarcely rufrain from a laugh when ho describes 
 it. Antonio de Faria himself was heartily ashamed of the extravagant 
 terms in which his praises were sung by the priest, whose robe one of 
 his followers plucked once or twice that he might desist. But he being 
 nettled cried, "I will not stop, but will rather say more, for I speak 
 nothing but what is as true as gospel. In regard whereof let me alone, 
 I pray you ; for I have made a vow to God never to desist from praising 
 this noble captain, as he deserves it at my hands, for saving me 7,00o 
 ducats' venture, that Merim Taborda had of mine in his junk, and Wdn 
 taken from him by that dog Acem ; for which let the soul of so cursed 
 a rogue and wicked devil be tormented in hell for ever and ever, where- 
 unto say all with me. Amen." 
 
 At Ningpo the Portuguese had a strong fort, and it was told to 
 
222 IHE WORLD'S EXPLOBERS. 
 
 Faria, whom all treated with great honour and distinction, that there 
 was a great war going on in China, where no less than thirteen princes 
 were contending for the imperial crown. There was nothing to prevent 
 him from taking and plundering the great city of Canton, if he should 
 be so minded, and from what we have seen of Faria it may be supposed 
 that an enterprise of the kind would suit his temper exactly. First, 
 however, he resolved to sail away in search of a certain island, con- 
 cerning which the Portuguese at Mngpo had given him intelligence, 
 and which was reported to contain the tombs of many Chinese kings, 
 buUt of gold, and containing many golden idols. Antonio de Faria's 
 navigation was certainly of the boldest, for he ventured into unknown 
 seas and straits and among dangerous rocks and shallows with an 
 intrepidity which did all honour to his courage. It was, indeed, by the 
 additions they made to the stock of maritime knowledge during their 
 semi-piratical, and sometimes wholly piratical, expeditions, that the 
 Portuguese and Spanish rovers of the sixteenth century are entitled to 
 a place among the explorers of the world. On this occasion Captain 
 Antonio was compelled to explore far more than he had intended, for 
 the island of royal tombs seemed to elude his search, and his men 
 were worn out with toil and almost in open mutiny when he at length 
 came in sight of it. But here, as in many other places, the htmdred 
 tongues of Rumour had told an exaggerated story, for the gold of 
 popular report on the tombs and images turned out to be burnished 
 copper and brass ; but the disappointed mariners broke open the graves, 
 and were consoled by finding a great quantity of silver. They pursued 
 their lawless career among the defenceless islands, plundering without 
 remorse, and sometimes firing the villages near the coasts; and no 
 horde of heathen Danes in the Dark Ages, roaming the seas in search 
 of plunder, the terror of every coast on which they landed, and the 
 avowed enemies of civilisation and industry, could have pursued a 
 course of more unscrupulous rapine than was run by these devout 
 Portuguese, who had a chaplain on board each of their junks to read 
 mass to them, and, sailing with the Cross on their banner, vaimted 
 their Christianity, and looked down with supreme contempt upon the 
 benighted nations they despoiled. Certainly no JSTorthern Viking could 
 have perpetrated a greater act of sacrilege than the breaking open of 
 the graves in the island of Callamplay. 
 
 "Mischief shall. hunt the violent man," saith the proverb, and the 
 worthy Antonio de Faria's career was destined to be concluded by 
 
FEKNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 223 
 
 a sudden and overwhelming calamity. Pinto relates how his com- 
 maadfir was in a thoroughly savage humour, and " tore his own beard 
 and scratched his face'' with vexation at having by his own indiscretion 
 failed in the finest (piratical) exploit he had ever undertaken. The 
 crews were likewise in very low spirits, "so sad and chagrined," says 
 our chronicler, "that we said nothing at all to any purpose, as if we 
 had been quite beside ourselves.'' In this humour they were sailing 
 along the Bay of banking, when they were caught in one of the violent 
 typhoons which occasionally rage in those seas. Pinto thus relates the 
 catastrophe which then occurred: — "As our boats were for rowing, 
 with low bulwarks, and weak and without mariners, we beheld our- 
 selves reduced to such great extremity, that despairing of saving our 
 lives we let ourselves drift along the coast wherever the current of the 
 water should carry us ; for we thought there seemed a much greater 
 prospect of perishing ampng the rocks than of being swallowed up in 
 the sea, and though we should have chosen this design as the best and 
 the least difficult (that of drifting before the storm), we could not 
 succeed therein ; for towards the afternoon the wind came round to the 
 north-east, which caused the waves to rise in such a manner that it 
 was a terrible sight to behold them. The extreme terror in which we 
 were then caused us to throw into the sea everything that we had, 
 even to our chests full of silver. Having done this we cut away both our 
 masts, because our vessels were then quite open. Thus destitute of 
 masts and saUs we drifted all the remainder of that day, and towards 
 midnight, at last, we heard from Antonio de Faria's vessel a great noise 
 of people, crying ' Lord God, have mercy on us !' which caused us to 
 think that he was perishing. Then, having replied to them in the same 
 way, we heard them no more, as if they had already been drowned ; 
 whereat we were so frightened, and so transported beyond ourselves, 
 that for a fuU hour no one spoke a word. Having passed aU this 
 mournful night in such great affliction, an hour before daybreak our 
 ship's keel opened, so that in an instant we wore full of water, eight 
 spans high, and thus we felt ourselves sinking without any hope 
 of remedy. Then we judged that it was the good pleasure of the 
 Lord that our lives and our labours should end here, and in the 
 morning, when day broke and we cast our eyes far abroad over the 
 ocean, we could no longer see Antonio de Faria ; and this made us lose 
 all the courage we had left, in such fashion that after that time not 
 one of us had the heart for anything. AVe continued in this anguish 
 
224 
 
 THK WOKLDS EXI'LOIJEUS. 
 
 till ten o'clock or thereabouts, with so much apprehension and fear 
 that words would not suffice to-express it. At last we struck against 
 the coast, and, almost drowned as we were, the waves of the sea rolled 
 us against a rocky point which jutted out towards us. There we had 
 scarcely arrived when the rolling broke everything to pieces. Then we 
 clung to one another, crying with a loud voice, ' Lord, have mercy 
 upon us !' and of twenty -five Portuguese that were among us there 
 were only fourteen saved, inasmuch as the other eleven were drowned, 
 with eighteen Christian servants and seven Chinese mariners. Such 
 was the great disaster which befell us on Monday, the fifth of August, 
 in the year one thousand five hundred and forty-two, for the which." 
 piously concludes Pinto, "may the Ijord be praised for ever !" 
 
FEKNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 225 
 
 ly. 
 
 Pinfco in Trouble — Kindness of tlie Bonzes — Retribution — Harsh Captivity — 
 Travels in China — Improved Ciroumstanoes — Singular Affray among the 
 Portugneae^Their Punishment — Attack on Pekin by the Tartars — Taking 
 of Quangsay by the Tartars — The Portuguese Enter the Service of the 
 Tartar King. 
 
 rr^HUS -vras Fernand Mendez Pinto, the very Jonah of travellers, once 
 -^ more a shipwrecked, naked man, wandering along a desolate shore 
 with a few companions as miserable as himself. The place swarmed 
 with tigers, and was backed by a dreary swamp. The unhappy mariners 
 dug holes with their nails in the sand, wherein they buried the bodies 
 of their dead companions as the corpses were washed ashore; and 
 passed two dreary nights in that dreadful spot, terrified by the roaring 
 of the tigers and other wild beasts, and miserably contrasting their 
 present forlorn position with their late prosperity. They then set off 
 in the hope of discovering some inhabitants who might succour them 
 in their distress. Their number was qmckly reduced to eleven by the 
 death of three, who were drowned in attempting to swim across an 
 estuary ; and the survivors were reduced to the extremity of wretched- 
 ness when they came upon a company of five Chinamen sitting round 
 a fire. These good people relieved the immediate wants of the ship- 
 wrecked mariners, and directed them to a pagoda, inhabited by bonzes, 
 or priests, where poor travellers were hospitably entertained. The 
 bonzes proved themselves worthy, of the good character that had been 
 given them. They treated Pinto and his companions in the kindest 
 manner, and passed them on to a second pagoda, whose priests were 
 richer than themselves, and therefore more able to relieve them. 
 
 The shipwrecked Portuguese were quite shrewd enough to suspect 
 that the narrative of their late proceedings among the Chinese islands 
 and on the coasts would not constitute a very impressive letter of 
 recommendation. Accordingly they represented themselves as " poor 
 natives of Siam." But it would not do ; the Celestials, as Pinto relates 
 with an air of pious injury, insisted on considering them as robbers, 
 and in the course of two months' wandering through the country they 
 received many beatings and little relief. The thoroughly lawless pro- 
 ceedings of the Portuguese in those parts of the world had caused them 
 to be looked upon as the Ishmaelites of the sea ; and as their hand had 
 
226 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 been against every man it was not unnatural that every man's hand 
 should be against them. Thus when they entered the town of Taypor 
 they found Nemesis waiting for them in the shape of a stern mandarin, 
 who, utterly disbelieving their story of being poor Siamese mariners, 
 cast them into a noisome prison, loaded with chains, and with iron 
 collars round their necks. Here they endured such hardships that one 
 of their number died, and Pinto plaintively tells how the twenty-six 
 days he passed in this carcere duro seemed to him like twenty-six 
 thousand years, for the amount of suffering compressed into them. 
 
 From Taypor they were sent on with a number of Chinese prisoners 
 to Nanking, and here they received such a flogging that two more of 
 them died, and only eight remained to be despatched to Pekin, the 
 capital, where their ultimate fate was to be decided. Thus Pinto had 
 an opportunity of seeing a part of the great Chinese empire under 
 circumstances of great personal discomfort indeed, but such as enabled 
 him to ndte and observe for himself the condition of the country and its 
 inhabitants. His report is singularly straightforward and accurate, 
 and is in itself sufficient to free him from the imputation of wUfid and 
 deliberate falsehood so unjustly attached to his memory. He speaks 
 much of the manners and customs of the Chinese, admires with dis- 
 interested approval the manner in which every natural and artificial 
 advantage of the country is utilised, tells us of the hatching of eggs by 
 heat, the singular mode of life among the communities who dwell on 
 the great rivers, the order maintained among the community by the 
 mandarins, the general industry of the inhabitants, and many other 
 particulars. In his numbers, certainly, he sometimes approaches the 
 hyperbolical ; but it must be remembered that, like other travellers, 
 while individual objects passed under his immediate notice, and could 
 therefore be accurately described, for others, such as the number of 
 inhabitants and of temples in certain cities, the size of armies, and 
 similar particulars, he had to depend on the reports of natives, and 
 must therefore not be accused of mendacity where these estimates 
 exceed the reality. Thus when Pinto tells us, " The mandarins assured 
 ■me that there are in this city. Nankin, eight hundred thousand hearths, 
 eighty thousand lious'js of mandarins, sixty-two very large markets, 
 one hundred and tliirty shambles, each with eighty shops, and eight 
 thousand streets, whereof six hundred are the greatest and most 
 beautiful;" and again, " He hare been a.-isiired that there are two 
 thousand throe hundred pngodas, a thousand whereof are monasteries 
 
FBRNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 227 
 
 of men, professed priests of their accursed sect," it will be noticed that 
 he repeats the statements as having been made to him, and does not 
 give them on his own authority. Moreover, it was not until the time 
 of Lord Macartney's- embassy in China, at the end of the last century, 
 that any definite or accurate idea was held as to the real extent and 
 population of the Chinese towns ; and much that in the time of 
 Cervantes and even of Congreve was considered as gross exaggeration 
 has since been established as sober fact. He gives an accurate account 
 of the great wall of China, and collected many curious particulars 
 concemiug the manner in which that gigantic barrier was kept in 
 repair by the work of slaves and criminals. 
 
 At last the prisoners arrived at Pekin, the capital, which city they 
 entered bound three and three together, and where their sentence was 
 finally to be pronounced. Thirty lashes apiece were here administered to 
 them as a preliminary taste of Chinese justice, and, as it were, to bring 
 them to a sense of their situation, and to a proper frame of mind for' 
 appearing before the high imperial council. To their great satisfaction, 
 their sentence was much lighter than this formidable preparation had 
 led them to expect. They were condemned only to a year's labour on 
 the repairing of the fortifications of Quang-si, and after a stay of two 
 months and a-half in Pekin, were removed to the above-mentioned city, 
 whither they set out on Saturday, the thirteenth of January, 1644. 
 And now we come to perhaps the most characteristic incident of the 
 whole book — an incident which vividly portrays the disposition of these 
 strange, fiery, wonderful vagabonds. The story reads best in the 
 account given by Figuier from the original Portuguese of Fernand 
 Mendez himself, and therefore we present it literally translated from 
 the old French quarto : — 
 
 "So soon as we arrived," says Pinto, "the khan caused us to be 
 brought before him, and after he had asked us certain questions he 
 desired that we should be of the nmuber of the eighty halberdiers the 
 king allowed him for his guard. This we took as an exceeding grace of 
 God, inasmuch as the ofiice was not a very hard one, while the enter- 
 tainment was good and the pay better, added to which we were assured 
 that we should recover our liberty at the expiration of their appointed 
 time." It might have been expected that the travel-worn pilgrims, 
 beaten and abused as they had frequently been, would have made the 
 most of this unexpected and fortunate chance. But their combativeness 
 was too strong, and like the Hibernian hero of a well-known story, 
 
228 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 they seem after a time to have felt they were " growing mouldy for 
 want of a beating," and accordingly Pinto haa the following extra- 
 ordinary outbreak to chronicle : — 
 
 " After we had thus dwelt there for almost a month very peaceably, 
 and much rejoiced that a better fortune had befallen us than we had 
 expected, the Devil, seeing in what union all nine* of us lived together 
 (for all our goods were in common, and when misfortunes overtook us 
 we shared them with each other like good companions), took upon him 
 to sow a discord between two of us, which brought great misfortune 
 upon us all. This quarrel arose from a certain vanity common enough 
 among our Portuguese nation, of which I can render no other reason 
 than that our people are very sensitive concerning everything that 
 touches their honour." 
 
 Pinto then tells the story of the quarrel in the following way. 
 He writes : — ' ' Two of the nine of us had a great debate on the pedigree 
 of the Madureyras and the Fonsecas, to determine which of these 
 two houses was held in the greatest honour or esteem at the court 
 of the King of Portugal. This affair was pushed so far that, one word 
 leading to another, they began to exchange opprobrious terms in their 
 harangues, saying one to the other, 'Who are you?' and 'Who are 
 you yourself ?' though possibly both of them were not any great 
 things in the king's household. In such manner they let themselves 
 be so violently transported by anger, that one of them gave the other a 
 great box on the ear, which the latter returned by a sword-stroke 
 wherewith he cut off half of his cheek. Then the second, feeling 
 himself wounded, clapped his hand upon a halbert, with which he 
 pierced the arm of the other ; whereupon the quarrel was enkindled so 
 hotly among us all, that out of the nine we numbered seven of us were 
 grievously wounded. Bleanwhile the khan came running up in person 
 at the noise, with all the officers of justice, who, having seized us, gave 
 us thirty lashes on the spot, which covered us more with blood than our 
 wounds had done. Thereupon they loclifed us up in a prison under- 
 ground, where we were kept for the space of forty-six days, with 
 exceedingly heavy collars round our necks, and chains on our wrists 
 
 * There is a numerical error in Pinto's narrative. He teUa of fourteen who 
 escaped the wrect, whereof three were drowned in crossing an estuary, one 
 perished in prison, and two died under the flogging they received, which would 
 make only eight survivors. There must have been fifteen saved from the wreck 
 to make the numters tall/. 
 
FERNAi^D MENDEZ PINTO. 
 
 229 
 
 and feet, so that we suffered much, being reduced to this deplorable 
 condition." 
 
 Ml'- ' -- 
 
 The brawlers were presently brought before an officer of justice, 
 who read them a severe and well-deserved lecture on the folly and 
 
230 THE WORLD'S KXPLORERS. 
 
 ■wickedaess of .fighting and bloodthirstiness, and who seems to have 
 been especially severe upon the manifest contradiction between the 
 profession and practice of these Christian prisoners ; and to impress 
 the sermon upon their memories the captives received thirty more 
 blows each. They were then removed to another prison Jess horrible 
 than their underground dungeon ; but they still had to endure much 
 from hunger and thirst for a couj)le of months, at the end of which 
 time the Portuguese were again brought before the "" Haute Justice," 
 and a somewhat contemptuous mercy was extenfled-to them, on the 
 ground that, being men naturally depraved and addicted 1;o brawling 
 and all kinds of wickedness, they must be judged by a lower stamdard 
 than that to which the Chinese were accustomed. Accordingly they 
 were to be pardoned for thisonoe, in consideration of the two wit^pings 
 they had undergone, and the strictness of their imprisonment ; but it 
 was strongly impressed upon them that if anyiurther quarrel OBOHaaed, 
 or there was any spiUing of blood in pubKc jflaces, they shoiiianBESfflMtt 
 same day 'be ibeaten to death. Whereupon the PotPtuguese, -who had 
 expectefl something worse, congratulated themselves upon escaping 
 so cheaply, and took a solemn and serious pledge that thi^ would 
 thenoeiorth lisre in amity and good runderstaaiding amoBg Ifcems^es, 
 like Christiaiis as th&y were. They moreover laid down 'eeitain rules 
 in writing for the better observance of the new arrangemeitfc. 
 
 " And in tifuth,"isays Pinto, in concluding the (ftiapter, "'©ad gave 
 us grace thenceforth to live in good peace -and conoord, though we 
 could not ilive without much Wfeoiir, and .a ^eat JaA of those things 
 that are -necessary foirJivelihooS.'" 
 
 There are few episoflsss in the history of travel more whimsical thsm 
 this^sitrange brawl amon^jnen who had-endured-aom,uoh. Th^mast 
 havB been strange, 'kot-T-.eaded fellows, 'who, on the first intwval at 
 resjate frean pain and suffering, could thus come to Wows and pike- 
 thrusts on 'the question of the respective merits of the Madureyras and 
 the Fonsaoas. 
 
 Stirring times were now approaching, and the valorous Portuguese 
 were soon to have a congenial field iac the display of their warlike 
 valour. " We had been eight months and a half in captivity," says 
 Pinto, "wherein we endured many labours and inconveniences, inas- 
 much as we had for our support only the little alms that we obtained 
 in the town, when at last, on a Wednesday, the third of the month of 
 July, in the year fifteen hundred and forty-four, at a little after mid- 
 
FKRNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 2;;i 
 
 nigVit, there ai-ose among all the people so great a tumult, that to hear 
 the cries and the noise that resounded on all sides one would have 
 thought the world was being turned upside down.'' The reason of the 
 commotion was soon imparted to the astonished Portuguese. Certain 
 news had just arrived of an intended attack of the Tartars on the city 
 of Pekin, " with so great an army, that no king from the days of Adam 
 until now had ever levied its like." In describing the numbers of this 
 invading army — which, however, he reproduces from an account given 
 to him — Pinto certainly makes use of very astonishing numbers— 
 — 600,000 cavalry and 80,000 rhinoceroses (probably camels) figuring 
 conspicuously in liis story among other equally startling items. 
 
 Quinsay, or Quangsay, the city where the Portuguese then dwelt, 
 was soon attacked by an immense Tartar horde. According to Pinto's 
 account the enemy advanced "with a terrible aspect." "Their army 
 was divided into seven great battalions, marching with banners dis- 
 played, the colours being green and white. In this order, marching to 
 the sound of drums, which they beat after their fashion, they came to a 
 pagoda called Petilau Namegoo, which was very lodgeable in respect 
 of the number of chambers it contained, and not far distant from the 
 walls. In their advanced guard they had a number of light horsemen, 
 who, running confusedly with their lances lowered, careered round the 
 battalions. 
 
 "In this order having arrived at the pagoda, they stopped there a 
 good half-hour, .and all took ixp their positions to the sound of warlike 
 instruments, which wei-e continually played, in a great squadron in 
 the form of a half-moon, which encompassed all the city. Then, when 
 they saw themselves near the town wall, within the distance that an 
 arquebuse would carry, they suddenly rushed forward with such a 
 frightful outcry that it seemed as though earth and sky were coming 
 together. Moreover, they set uj) more than two thousand ladders 
 which they had bratight for this purpose, and made an assault on every 
 side where they could attack, mounting the ladders like men of resolute 
 courage and insensible to fear. And althouglrat ,the outset the besieged 
 made a certain resistance, they -were not able to prevent their enemies 
 from fulfilling their jpurpose; for, throiigh the use of certain battering- 
 rams that they had-brought with them, they so completely broke in the 
 four gates of the city as to render themselves masters of it, after having 
 put to death the khan, together with a great number of mandarins and 
 gentlemen who had hastened up to defend the entrance ; by this means 
 
232 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 ■without any other assistance these baibavians entered this miserahlo 
 city by eight gates, and put to the edge of the sword as many inhabi- 
 tants as they found therein, not sparing the life of one of them ; and it 
 is calculated that the number of the slain amounts to sixty thousand 
 persons, among whom were many women and girls grandly beautiful, who 
 belonged to the richest lords of the city. After the bloody massacre of 
 so many people, and after the city had been set on fire, the pn-ivate 
 houses demolished, and the most sumptuous temples razed to the grovmd, 
 without there being anything that remained standing in this disorder, 
 they remained there for a week, at the end of which time they returned 
 to the city of Pekin, where dwelt their king, and whence they had been 
 sent out on this expedition." 
 
 The Portuguese managed to escape the massacre ; but they were 
 carried away as captives by the conquering Tartars. In spite of all they 
 had suffered, these indomitable rovers were still full of courage and 
 energy. It was not in the power of stiipes, imprisonment, and wounds 
 to cool their fighting blood ; and one of them, George Mendez, so 
 effectually recommended himself and his companions to the notice of 
 the Tartar general by his courage and skill at the taking of a castle, that 
 the barbarous leader, who seems to have had a Napoleonic aptitude 
 for discovering merit, rewarded the stranger with the present of a beau- 
 tiful horse, and began to treat him and his fellow-countrymen with great 
 honour and distinction, as men who were likely to be very valuable to 
 him. They tried to get away to Hainan with the hope of ultimately 
 making their way to JIalacca, but their " resignations" were not 
 accepted. 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 
 
 233 
 
 
 ij 
 
 
 * 
 
 V. 
 
 ^=^ Pi.i-taffucse Boastins: — Eaisino; of the Sicsre of 
 
 _ -^ :; 3.^ ^^i. I Pcldn — Magniloquent Descriptions of Pinto — 
 
 ' George Mendez and his Talents — Dei^ai-tnre of 
 
 I the Portuguese — Renewed Quarrels among 
 
 tliem — Piracy and Shipwreck —Events at Tanixumaa — The King of Bungo 
 
 ■ — Great Eeputation of Pemand Mendez Pinto. 
 
 '^"'IIE Portuguese accompanied their new jDatrons to Pckin, where the 
 Tartar khan had pitched his camp for the siege of the city. Tlie 
 monarch received them graciously, and seemed much impressed with 
 the account they gave of the country whence they came. On liearing 
 that their native land was distant a three years' journey, his Tartar 
 majesty was pleased to observe that there m^ust be great ambition and 
 little justice in the country of those people, that they should come from 
 so far away to conquer other lands. The Portuguese, on their side, 
 
234 THE WOEIiD'S EXPLORKKS. 
 
 were not a little surprised at the splendour and magniiicence they saw- 
 around them. The khan sat, like the Prince of Darkness in Milton's 
 Paradise Lost — 
 
 "tQn a ihrone of royal -state, wliich far 
 •Qatshone the wealth of Ormnz and of Ind ; 
 Or where the gorgeous JJast, (with richest hand, 
 Showers on'her kings harharic pearl anfl^old." 
 
 IfefcB gives a very ifletailed aocouirt of the glories jof the Tartar 
 camp and court, and in many pariaeiilars he has "teen corroborated by 
 totter travallers. 
 
 Aiter some time spent tbaf ore Pekin in sHrmifllung and ajthenrarlike 
 operations, iihe ikhan resolved ■to Taise .the siege for that time, and 
 retired from .the beleaguered (>ity,..taking his faithful Portuguese with 
 3am. The breaking up of iihe great camp is described in language 
 •Strongly savouring of the use .of the .figure hyperbole, which, as ithe 
 inteUigeat reader is doiibfless awajse, a6»nsists in !the empk^tment of 
 -iwords conveying more fthan "iftie idea to be d^oribed. Here itisihat 
 anantion is made of fiie khan's these imxiiced thousand horsemen and 
 ei^ty thousand rbinoeeroses. The account of iilled and woimded, rtoo, 
 s-welte to propoaisions. that, dwarf totcomparative insigniftcance even ithe 
 celebrated Russian disasters of Napoleon in 1B12. "jUiter the account 
 had been made of all the dead," says Pinto, "it appesEed by the reokon- 
 ing of the captains that they amounted to four hundred .and iifty thou- 
 sand, the greater number of whom "had perislied .from Sisease, together 
 with three hundred thousand horses and eighty thousand rhinoceroses, 
 which were eaten in two months and a half of famine ; so that of one 
 million eight hundred thousand men with whom the khan had gone 
 forth from his kingdom to besiege the city of Pekin, before which he 
 remained six months and a half, he lost seven hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand, whereof four hundred and fifty thousand had died by plague, 
 famine, and battle, and three hundred thousand had gone over to the 
 side of the Chinese, being induced thereunto by the great pay given 
 them by the latter, and by other advantages of honour and of presents 
 continually held out to them, whereat we must not be greatly astonished, 
 inasmuch as experience has shown us that these inducements have more 
 power in moving men than all other things in the world." 
 
 Ultimately the Portuguese obtained permission to depart;; but 
 George Mendez, whose engineering skill had been the cause of their 
 good fortune, and who was by this time looked up to as a very Vauban 
 
FERKAJID MENBEZ TINTO. 285 
 
 by the Tartar generals, was induced by the prospect of gain and 
 honour to caat in bis lot with the Tartars, and to remain permaneatly 
 amongst them. He took leave of his friends with many tears, and 
 most handsomely bestowed on them a thousand ducats, " which," says 
 Fernand Mendez Pinto, who does not seem greatly impressed by this 
 act of generosity, " he could easily do, inasmuch as his revenue amounted 
 to six thousand already ;" nevertheless, it would seem that two months' 
 pay was not a bad parting gift, though Pinto thinks so lightly of it. 
 
 Once more the Portuguese adventurers were " set up in the world," 
 furnished with a ship of their own, and ready to seek fresh cruising 
 grounds. As they sailed away down the great river that ilowed from 
 the dominions of the generous Tartar khan, they might have sung in 
 the words of the old sixteenth century sailor's song — 
 
 " All things aie ready, and nothing wc want, 
 To furnish our ship that i-ideth hereby; 
 Victnale and provender they be nothing scant, 
 Like worthy mariners ourselves we will try." 
 
 For seven days they sailed down the river amid villages and 
 pagodas, which Mendez Pinto describes in truly enthusiastic style. 
 " We saw," he says, " a quantity of great burghs and of very beautiful 
 towns, the which, so far as we could judge by their appearance, could 
 only be inhabited by people grandly rich. The which we might well 
 judge from the sumptuousness displayed in the private houses, but 
 stOl more from the temples, whose towers were covered with gold, and 
 likewise from the great number of rowing boats which were upon this 
 river, laden in abundance with all sorts of provisions and merchandise." 
 
 But however well our worthy mariners might be furnished with all 
 things necessary for their voyage, they " abundantly lacked discretion," 
 and, forgetful of the severe lesson they had received in China, they 
 began to quarrel violently among themselves. "Inasmuch as we 
 Portuguese," observes Master Pinto gravely, "have this of our nation 
 that we abound in iirmness, and hold fast to our opinions, there was 
 among us eight so great a contrariety of feeling in a matter in which 
 it was of the first consequence that we should preserve peace and 
 union, that we were almost ready to kiU one another.'' The officer 
 who had been commissioned to accompany them some way on their 
 journey was so disgusted at the quarrelling of these turbulent men, 
 that he quitted them abruptly, refusing to take back any letters or 
 messages from such ill-conditioned strangers, and roundly declaring 
 
236 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 that he would rather the king should cut off his^head than offend 
 God by carrying with him anything that belonged to them. 
 
 The quarrel had arisen on the question as to which of two junis, 
 ready to depart in different directions, the travellers should favour; 
 and the result was that both vessels sailed ^away without them, and 
 they were left for seventeen days on an island, in great distress of 
 mind and pain of body. Assistance came in the congenial form of the 
 Malay pirate Samipocheca, who took refuge on the island with two 
 ships, the only vessels that remained to him of a numerous fleet, and 
 who stayed some time on the island till the wounded men among his 
 crew should recover. ''As our present necessity constrained us to 
 take some step, be it what it might," says Pinto deprecatingly, " we 
 were obliged to cast in our lot with him, and to let him carry us 
 where he would until it should please God to put us in a safer ship 
 to go to Malacca." So as these extraordinary travellers were still at 
 loggerheads, and their late quarrel had not been followed by any kind 
 of reconciliation, they divided into two parties, one consisting of three, 
 and the other of five, and embarked respectively in the ship com- 
 manded by the corsair in person, and in her consort commanded by 
 his nephew. Happy, in this case, were those who had sided with the 
 minority ; for in a piratical combat soon afterwards, the two ships 
 being attacked by a corsair fleet, the nephew's vessel, in which were 
 the five Portuguese, was burnt, and all on board perished. 
 
 The adventurous company of Portuguese was now reduced to thi-ee, 
 and these were very nearly losing their lives in a terrible tempest, which 
 almost overwhelmed their barque. Running for the Loochoo Islands 
 seemed the best chance of safety. But the pirate commander failed to 
 make his port ; and at last the storm-tossed voyagers found shelter in 
 an island called Tanixumaa, belonging to Japan. On being interro- 
 gated as to the country of the three foreigners in his crew, the pirate 
 captain replied that "they were from a country called Malacca, 
 whither they had come some years before from another country called 
 Portugal, whose king, according to what he had heard us say at 
 other times, lived at the very end of the great world." The Portu- 
 guese themselves, in their accounts, patriotically took care to make 
 their country appear to the best advantage in the report they made 
 of it. The governor of the island had heard of the Portuguese, and 
 had somehow imbibed the impression that Portugal was very much 
 larger than China, that the King of Portugal had conquered the 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 237 
 
 greater part of the eartli, and that that wealthy monarch possessed 
 two thousand houses, crammed with gold to the roofs. Questioned on 
 these points, Pinto and his two friends unhesitatingly answered in the 
 affirmative as regarded the power and the warlike character of the 
 Portuguese monarch ; the third point they diplomatically evaded, by 
 answering, "that for the number of houses, we did not know for 
 certain, the kingdom of Portugal being so large, so full of treasures, 
 and so populous, as rendered it impossible to specify this." Already 
 favourably impressed by this account of the wealth and consequence 
 of the native land of the Portuguese, the governor or nantaquin was 
 struck dumb with astonishment on witnessing the skill of one of their 
 number, Diego Zeimoto, in shooting with the arquebuse, a weapon 
 entirely new and strange to the islanders. The ease and certainty with 
 which small birds were j^brought down by this apparently magical 
 weapon threw the nantaquin into transports of admiration ; and the 
 fame of the travellers having spread to the neighbouring kingdom of 
 Buogo or Bungo, the monarch desired that these wonderful strangers 
 should be brought before him. Here they were likewise well received, 
 and Pinto, who occasionally practised with the arquebuse, was looked 
 upon by the people with admiration, not unmixed with fear, as a 
 sorcerer who had the thunder and lightning of the skies at his command. 
 
238 TliLE WORLD'S EXPLORERS- 
 
 VI. 
 
 Accident to the King's Son^The Portuguese Depart for Liampoo— Great 
 Expedition Prepared for Japan — Disastrous Events — Pinto Shipwrecked on 
 the liooohoo Islands — Condemned to Death — Pdrdoned through the Inter- 
 cession of the Women — Pinto Advocates the Conquest of the Loochoo 
 Islands^— Eeturn to Liampoo and Malacca — Pinto's Embassy to the King of 
 Martaban — Treachery of the Portuguese — Martaban Taken by the Burmese 
 — ^Procession of the Vanquished — Lamentable Pate of the Koyal Family. 
 
 X) UT the favour of courts is precarious, and he who depends upon the 
 -^ goodwill of a prince may at any time be surprised by that " killing, 
 frost" which Wolsey so pathetically describes. An untoward accident 
 almost cost Pinto his popularity and his life at a blow. The young 
 son of the king, Auriohandono, a youth of about sixteen years, was 
 naturally anxious to learn the art of shooting, and one day having 
 obtained possession of Pinto's arqu^buse while the owner was asleep, 
 he loaded it to the muzzle and fired it off. As might be expected the 
 gun burst, and poor Aurichaudono fell to the ground with a shattered 
 thumb. The populace were ready to slay the " magician" on the spot, 
 but Pinto managed, by vaunting his skill as a physician,- to evade the 
 immediate danger ; and as he succeeded in curing the young prince by 
 a very simple treatment, he quickly regained the prestige and honour 
 he had lost by this unfortunate occurrence. 
 
 The corsair captain had meanwhile been selling his plunder to the 
 inhabitants of Tanixumaa; and this necessary business being con- 
 cluded, and Pinto and his companions having taken leave ©f the King 
 of Bungo, they all set sail together for Liampoo (or Hin^o), where 
 they arrived without misadventure, enriched by the bounty of the 
 good-natured monarch, and full of the marvels o£ Japan, of whose 
 wealth they gave a most glowing account. Then a sud^n speculative 
 mania seized the Poituguiesc dwellers at Ningpo. They felt convinced, 
 one and, all, that fortunes were to be rapidly made By trading to 
 Japan ; and in a furious hurry began to equip juuks for an expedition 
 to this Eldorado, whether piratical or commercial, or both, does not 
 very clearly appear. Such speed was made that im fifteen days nine 
 junks were ready ; and in hot haste they all set forth, each endea- 
 vouring to be the first in, the race for gold. But that Jonah of a 
 Fernand' Mendez was on board one of the ships, and his presence was 
 enough to bring bad fortune to the whole fleet. Seven of the nine 
 ships were wrecked, and their crews, to the number of 600, among 
 
4' K\ 
 
FEENAND MENDEZ PINTO. 2391 
 
 whom were iiearly 160 Portuguese, perished miserably. The two 
 surviving ships were separated in a storm ; the one in which Pinto had 
 embarked was, at last, thrown on one of the Loochoo Islands — ^twenty- 
 four men and some women escaping to the shore. 
 
 Bruised and wounded by stones and. rooks, wet, famished, and 
 miserable, the unhappy surviyoi-s were driven by a number of inhabi- 
 tants into the presence of the King of Leqiuos. The story of the 
 cruelties of the Portuguese at the taking of Malacca, when many 
 natives of Loochoo had been put to death by the barbarous conquerors, 
 was well known in the island on which the shipwrecked men had been 
 cast ; and they were sternly put upon their defence, on the accusation 
 of being pirates by profession, and enemies to aU peaceable and well- 
 disposed people. The Portuguese could make but a lame defence 
 where the case against them was so clear, and they were forthwith 
 sentenced to be decapitated and cut to pieces — their qtiarters to be sent 
 to different parts of the kingdom, and there hung up as a perpetual 
 warning and terror to evildoers. This sentence would most assuredly 
 have been carried into execution against them but for the benevolent 
 interposition of the women of the island, who, moved with pity, chiefly 
 at the distress of the only surviving Portuguese woman, wrote a 
 petition and presented it to the king's mother, begging her to mediate 
 with her son that the Hves of the unfortunate captives might be spared. 
 The influence of his mother was sufficient to induce the king to reverse 
 the sentence, and a general pardon was granted. 
 
 Fortune seemed inclined once more to smile upon the travellers. 
 The officer who came to announce their pardon to the captives caused 
 two great baskets of native clothing to be brought, from which each of 
 them might provide himself according to his need. Thus equipped the 
 Portuguese were taken before their generous intercessors to offer their 
 thanks, and to receive the congratulations of the ladies. " They 
 consoled us," says Pinto, "with a great demonstration of pity, the 
 which is an effect of the good disposition of the women of this country, 
 and is common to all of them ; with which not yet being content, they 
 entertained us in their houses, one after the other, during all the time 
 we were there and imtil our departure. For we remained there for the 
 space of forty- six days, during which we were provided with all things 
 necessary for us, and that in such abundance that there was not one of 
 us who did not carry away more than a hundred ducats. As for the 
 Portuguese woman of whom I liavc already spoken, she had more than 
 
240 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 a thousand, partly in money, and partly in otlier presents that were 
 made to her; so much so, that her .husband in less than a year 
 recovered all the losses he had incurred. After we had passed these 
 forty-two days in great repose, the season suitable for our voyage 
 having come, the oiEcer procured us a place in the junk of certain 
 Chinese who were going to the port of Liampoo, in the kingdom of 
 China; wherein he fulfilled the exact orders given to him by the king. 
 But iirst of all the captain of the junk was required to give strict 
 security concerning the safety of our persons, so that he might 
 perpetrate no treason upon us during the voyage. In this fashion we 
 went away from the city of Pungor, the capital of the island of 
 Lequios, of which I shall here give some brief particulars, as I have 
 done concerning the other countries whereof I have hitherto treated ; 
 in order that if the day should come when it shall please the Lord to 
 inspire the Portuguese nation, so that in the first place, principally for 
 the exaltation and the spreading of the holy Catholic faith, and, after 
 that, for the great profit that may be thence derived, to undertake 
 the conquest of that island, it may know in the first place where to get 
 a footing, and also the gTcat profits that can be derived from the 
 enterprise, and how easy the conquest of the island would be." And 
 here foUow some topographical and nautical details, all tending to 
 assist any enterprising spirits among his countrymen who might wish 
 to undertake the subjugation of the kindly and simple race who had 
 treated the Portuguese with such" generous lenity I 
 
 It does not appear, however, that Fernand Mendez was at aU con- 
 scious of anything like deliberate ingratitude or treachery in uttering 
 such sentiments. Among the most curious traits of the fanaticism of 
 those times was the fact that the lawless adventurers of the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries fully believed they were doing a good and 
 laudable work in attacking with fire and sword the territories of any 
 heathen prince ; and that all the misfortune and ruin their rapacity 
 brought upon the unfortunate nations on whose coasts they descended 
 were fully counterbalanced by the inestimable benefits of a compulsory 
 conversion to the Catholic faith. Moreover, men so reckless of their own 
 safety as were these pirate adventurers were not likely to be scrupulous 
 in so small a matter as involving a nation in war; and thus it is 
 that Pinto speaks of the island of Lequios, and counsels his country- 
 men, to take possession thereof, with an apparent unconsciousness that 
 his advice is at all cruel or treacherous ; he talks of the place as though 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 
 
 241i 
 
 it were inhabited by dogs or monkeys, creatures too insignificant to be 
 taken into account, and ends a somewhat circumstantial account of tire 
 Loochoo Islands by saying, "From this brief relation which I have 
 made concerning the island of Lequios, it may be' inferred, as much 
 from the things I haye heard tell as from those I have seen, that with 
 no more than two thousand men one might take this islan<l and the 
 others of the Archipelago, from which much greater profit might be 
 drawn than from the Indies, and they might be kept with less expense, 
 both as regards men and other things, for we have here spoken to 
 merchants who assured us that the revenue of three custom-houses 
 alone, and of this island of Lequios, amounts to a million and a half of 
 gold, without reckoning the mass of all the empire, and the mines of 
 sUver, copper, iron, steel, lead, and tin, which bring in a much greater 
 revenue than the customs. I will say no more concerning the other 
 particulars of this island which I might here report, for it seems to me 
 that this wUl be enough to rouse the courage of the Portuguese, and to 
 incite them to an enterprise which is of such great service to our king, 
 and of so great profit for ourselves." 
 
 In due time the adventurers arrived safely at Liampoo, or Ningpo, 
 where they were received with much rejoicing. 
 
242 THE WOELD'S EXPLOEEES. 
 
 Whatever we may think of Pinto's morality, there is no doubt of 
 his courage and perseverance. All his misfortunes had not taken the 
 heat out of his rover's blood ; and his idea now was to get back to 
 Malacca, and thence endeavour to start afresh, in hopes of better 
 fortune. He succeeded in reaching Malacca, where his old patron 
 Earia was still in power, and as Pinto had by this time gained a know- 
 ledge of Eastern languages, and an experience of many things that 
 rendered him a valuable servant, he was employed as a kind of 
 diplomatic agent by Faria, in negotiations and arrangements with 
 neighbouring princes. There was no lack of work of this kind to be 
 done. The armies of Siam, Burmah, Cochin China, Pegu, and various 
 other powers were always at war ; and the Portuguese were ever ready 
 to take part with one potentate or against another, according to the 
 chances of profit and plunder. Thus we soon find Pinto accredited to 
 the great city of Martaban, with whose rulers he was to enter into 
 alliance, for at that time the commerce between Martaban a,nd Malacca 
 was of great importance. He was also to keep his eyes open, and 
 make use of any chance that might occur to further the Portuguese 
 interests, and to make alliances offensive and defensive where the safety 
 of his countrymen at Malacca seemed to require it. Furnished with 
 these instructions Pinto once more departed from Malacca, in January, 
 1545. 
 
 A remarkable circumstance occurred to delay the arrival of Pinto at 
 Martaban, which place he did not reach until more than two years 
 after the commencement of his voyage. A number of Portuguese 
 adventurers had taken advantage of the troubled state of the Eastern 
 world to form themselves into a kind of association, nominally to 
 protect the interests of one monarch against his rivals. They had 
 manned a little squadron of well-armed vessels, and sailed nominally as 
 a mercenary navy, while in reabty they seem to have plundered friend 
 and foe with a grand impartiality. Pinto fell in by chance with these 
 rovers of the seas, and his meeting seems to have had an effect on him. 
 like that which the meeting with Napoleon returned from Elba had on 
 Ney and his followers. All the buccaneering blood in Pinto's veins 
 was on fire. Martaban and his mission were alike postponed to the 
 too-tempting prospect of a piratical cruise ; and Pinto and the Maho- 
 metan captain of his ship made an agreenieiit to join this notable 
 squadron and share its fortunes. 
 
 Of fighting they soon had enough, and more than enough. The 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 243 
 
 entire trade of those seas had been interrupted and terror spread along 
 every coast by the lawless proceedings of the Portuguese squadron, and 
 great efforts were made to destroy it. The armed vessels gave the crews 
 plenty of work, and their victories brought them plenty of glory ; but 
 it seemed fated that Pinto should never become rich ; and in March, 
 1547, he arrived at Martaban, having gained little by his long cruise 
 but experience and scars. 
 
 Pinto had come to the famous city in an unhappy hour. The King 
 of Burmah had invested the place with an immense army, and was 
 actively prosecuting the siege. For siz months the siege had already 
 been going on, and there was no prospect that the place would hold 
 out much longer. The enormous number of the besiegers (Pinto puts 
 them down at the magnificent total of seven hundred thousand) pre- 
 cluded the idea of bringing any assistance to the beleaguered monarch 
 of Martaban. Pinto heard the true state of affairs from some Portu- 
 guese, of whom there were many in the besieging army, and who 
 boarded his ships as he entered the river. Part of his commission was 
 to recall all wandering Portugals to Malacca,, as an attack on that 
 place by the Siamese Acheens was apprehended ; and he seems to have 
 endeavoured to persuade the Portuguese, as in duty bound, to return 
 with^im. But this did not at all suit their plans. Martaban could 
 evidently hold out but a short time longer, and it would be manifestly 
 foolish, after bearing the burden and heat of the day during a six 
 months' siege, to abandon the enterprise just as the reward of their 
 labours was about to be dealt out to them in the plunder of a rich city. 
 Therefore did the worthy Portuguese in the army of the King of 
 Burmah, after many assurances that they would never undertake any- 
 thing to the dishonour or disadvantage of the King of Portugal, 
 proceed to declare that there was not the slightest danger of any attack 
 on Malacca, or of their services being required in that direction. They 
 then^went a step further, and proceeded to demonstrate to Fernand 
 Mendez Pinto that as he certainly could be of no service to the King of 
 Martaban, who was a doomed man, his best course would be to join 
 the besiegers and take his chance of a share of the spoil. It was the 
 line of argument acted upon by Cowper's schoolboy in the well-known 
 poem where his comrades say — 
 
 " Ton apeak very fine, and you look very grave, 
 But apples we want, and apples we'll have ; 
 If you choose to go with us we'll give you a share, 
 If not you shall have neither apple nor pear." 
 
244 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 And Pinto, acting upon the maxim of the sedate youngster of the poem, 
 " He'll lose none by me, though I get a few,'' gave ear to the tempting 
 suggestion, and forgetful of his diplomatic mission, and the instructions 
 he had received, resolved to joia the besiegers and go in for a share of 
 the King of Martaban's apples. 
 
 The account given by Pinto of the final surrender of Martaban to 
 the Burmese, and of the events which followed, is graphic and interesting, 
 and in many particulars bears the impress of accuracy and truth, though 
 to the Europeans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who had 
 a very vague and inadequate idea of the greatness and splendour of the 
 cities and countries of Eastern Asia, it appeared absurdly exaggerated. 
 Here, as elsewhere, it must bo remembered that Pinto had no means of 
 accurately estimating mmibers, and that he frequently was obliged to 
 take his details from the reports of men who no doubt employed Eastern 
 hyperbole with great freedom. 
 
 It appears that the unfortunate King of Martaban had reckoned 
 greatly upon the assistance of the Portuguese, and had held out in the 
 full hope that they would give him efficient succour. When he found 
 them, to his intense chagrin, ranged on the side of his enemies, he 
 gave up his cause for lost, and entered into negotiations with his 
 assailant, offering to surrender his capital on condition that he 
 should be allowed to retire in safety with his family. The faithless 
 Burmese tyrant, after pledging his word that this condition should 
 be granted, shamefully broke the promise he had given, and the un- 
 happy prince was led forth in triumph with his wives and children, and 
 exposed to grea.t humiliation and ignominy. Pinto gives a very circum- 
 stantial account of the procession of guards and captives who marched 
 forth from Martaban, giving the names of many of the princes, the 
 chief priest, &o. He then says — " Immediately after these there came in 
 a litter Nhay Canatoo, daughter of the King of Pegu, whose kingdom 
 the Burmese monarch had taken away, and wife of the Chambainhaa. 
 She had with her four little children, two boys and two girls, the 
 greatest of whom was not more than seven years old, and around her 
 were thirty or forty young women of noble family, and grandly beau- 
 tiful. They all had their faces bowed down towards the ground, and 
 tears in their eyes, and leaned upon other women. After these marched 
 in order certain Falagrepos, who are among themselves like the Capu- 
 chins among us, and who all, barefooted and bareheaded, marched 
 onward praying, and carrying in their hands a kind of chaplets. More- 
 
FEKNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 245 
 
 over, they encouraged these ladies as well as they could, throwing 
 water in their faces to revive them when their hearts failed them, which 
 happened often enough — a lamentable spectacle, which it was impossible 
 to look upon without shedding tears. This unhappy company was 
 followed by a number of foot-guards, and after these came some five 
 hundred Burmese on horseback. Near them was the Chambainhaa, 
 mounted on a small elephant, in token of poverty and of the disregard 
 of the world, conformably to the religion to which he had devoted him- 
 self anew. There was no greater pomp about him than this, and he 
 was dressed simply in a long garment of black velvet, in token of 
 mourning, having his beard, his hair, and his eyebrows shaved off ; and, 
 moreover, he had caused an old cord|to be placed about his neck before 
 he gave himself up to the king. This spectacle, too, was so mournful 
 that none could look upon it and refrain^^from weeping. With regard 
 to his age, he was about sixty-two years old, of very lofty stature, with 
 a grave and severe countenance, and the look oi a very generous prince. 
 When he had come to a place where a confused company of women, 
 children, and old men awaited him, when they saw him in such a 
 lamentable condition, before he had emerged from the city, they all 
 raised, six or seven times, such a loud and terrible cry, that one would 
 have said the earth was crumbling^under his feet ; and these lamentations 
 and cries were incontinently followed by a multitude of blows that they 
 inflicted on their own faces, striking themselves heavily with stones, 
 with so little pity for themselves that the majority of them were in a 
 short time covered with blood. Moreover, these things so horrible, to 
 see and so terrible to hear, in such measure afflicted all the bystanders, 
 that even the Burmese guards, though they were men of war, and con- 
 sequently little inclined to compassion, and enemies of the Chambainhaa, 
 could not refrain from weeping like children. It was at this place, also, 
 that the heart of Nhay Canatoo, the wife of the Chambainhaa, twice 
 failed her, and aU the other ladies gave way also, insomuch that it was 
 necessary to let him dismount from the elephant on which he was 
 riding, that he might be able to encourage his wife and to console her. 
 Then, seeing her lying on the ground like one dead, and embracing her 
 four little children, he knelt down on the ground and looked up with 
 tears in his eyes." 
 
 The severest part of the unfortunate prince's trial was the mortifica- 
 tion of meeting the Portuguese, who had behaved very treacherously 
 towards him, and who were now standing to see him pass " all clothed 
 
246 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 in holiday dresses, with cuirasses of buffalo leather, their hats on their 
 heads ornamented with a great number of plumes, and their arquebuses 
 on their shoulders." Juan Cayeyro, one of the number, especially 
 attracted the notice of the Chambainhaa by ilaunting in crimson satin. 
 On seeing him, the f aUen monarch bent forward on his elephant's neck, 
 and declared that he would go no farther unless these wicked and trea- 
 cherous men were removed. The Birmans themselves were irritated at 
 the double-dealing of the Spaniards, and the captain of the guard sar- 
 castically bade them go shave their beards, and no longer deceive people 
 into the belief that they were soldiers ; and the Burmese would hire a 
 number of women in their stead, who would serve for money. The 
 Burmese guards, following their commander's lead, thereupon pushed 
 away the Spaniards with great contempt, and Pinto adds pathetically, 
 " Not to tell a lie, nothing ever so sensibly affected me as this, for the 
 honour of my compatriots." 
 
 The plunder of the rich city of Martaban was the bait that had 
 attracted the Spaniards to serve the Burmese invader. They made no 
 doubt that their help would be paid for by the abandonment to them of 
 a great part of the spoil. But the Burmese conqueror had all the cun- 
 ning of an Asiatic and all an Asiatic's disregard of promises and oaths. 
 He caused the gates of the city to be very strictly guarded, that none 
 might enter or go out without his express permission. He took occa- 
 sion to convey away the Chambainhaa's treasure privately ; and so 
 great was this treasure, according to Pinto's assertion, that a thousand 
 men were employed for two days in removing it. When he had thus 
 taken care of his own interests, the tyrant gave up the city to be plun- 
 dered by his own soldiers, to the great chagrin of the Portuguese, who 
 found themselves cheated of fhe wages of their treachery. Pinto tells 
 the story of these events in his usual graphic style. He says — 
 
 " After these two days were past, the king went very early on a lull 
 called BeiddOj distant a couple of gunshots from thence, and caused the 
 captains who guarded the gates to withdraw. Then the miserable city 
 of Martaban was given up to the mercy of the men of war, and as a last 
 signal a camion was fired. Immediately all the soldiers rushed peU- 
 meU into the place in such crowds that it is considered more than three 
 hundred were suffocated at the entrance of the gates ; for as there was 
 an infinite number ef men of different nations, the majority of them 
 without a king, without law, or the fear of God, they all rushed with 
 closed eyes to the spoil, and were so fierce about it, that they made no 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 247 
 
 scrui)le of kUling a hundted inen for a crown. In truth, the disorder in 
 the town was so great that the king was obliged to go six or seven 
 times to allay it. The sacking of the city lasted three days and a half, 
 and was carried on with such avarice and cruelty by these barbarous 
 enemies that it was completely pillaged, and nothing remained that 
 could attract the eye of covetousness." 
 
 And now come some of Pinto's magnificent figures. He teUs us — 
 " When this was done, the king, with a new ceremony of publica- 
 tions, caused the palaces of the Chambainhaa to be destroyed, which 
 were very beautiful and very rich ; and with them thirty or forty houses 
 belonging to the principal captains, together with the pagodas and 
 temples of the whole city, insomuch that, according to the opinion of 
 many, it is held that the loss of these magnificent edifices may be 
 estimated at ten liiillions of gold ; with which, not yet content, he 
 caused all the buildings of the city which still remained standing to be 
 set on fire, and by the violence of the wind these kindled so fiercely that 
 on the first night there remained nothing that was not burnt down ; 
 and even the walls and the bulwarks were destroyed to their very 
 foundations. The number of the dead was more iian sixty thousand 
 persons, and that of the prisoners was no less. There was a hundred 
 and forty thousand houses burnt, and seventeen hundred temples, in 
 which were likewise destroyed sixty thousand statues of idols of 
 different metals. Moreover, during the Siege, those of the city had 
 eaten three thousand elephants-. There were found there six thousand 
 pieces of artillery of brbnze and of iron, a hxmcbred thousand quintals 
 of pepper, and as much more of different drugs — of safidal, benzoin, 
 lac, aloe-wood, camphor, silk, and of divers other kinds of very rich 
 merchandiae ; but e^ecially an infinity of goods that had come from 
 India in more than a hundred ships <5f Cambaya., Aohem, Melinda, 
 and Ceilam (Ceylon), and from Mecca, the Looohoos, and 'China. As 
 to th'e gold, silver, asd precious stones which were found there, its 
 amount canndt be truly known, because things are usually concealed ; 
 therefore it shall suffice me to say that what the Burman king had 
 for himself of the treasure of the Chambainhaa amounted, so far as I 
 was assured, to more than a hundred millions of gold, whereof, as I 
 have before said, our king (the King of Portugal) lost more than half, 
 as much for our sins as for the weakness and want of courage of 
 men who were cowardly and full of evil inclinations." 
 
 The promises of the Burman tyrant were no more kept towards Mb 
 
248 
 
 THE WOELD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 captives than his engagements with the Spaniards had been. Wars in 
 Kastern Asia at that time, and long afterwards, were wars of extermi- 
 
 nation. A captured dynasty was geneially put to death to the last 
 man, woman, or child, for fear of reprisals ; and this course was pur- 
 sued by the conqueror of Martaban. He caused a number of gibbets to 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 249 
 
 be erected; a great body of horsemen came forth from the king's 
 quarters, proclaiming that no man, " on pain of death, should appear in 
 arms, or say with his mouth what he thought in his heart." Presently 
 the whole army was paraded, and amid a great display of barbaric 
 pomp and splendour of war, the unhappy king and his wives, children, 
 and dependants were hanged en masse with circumstances of atrocious 
 cruelty. In concluding the chapter which tells us of these barbarous 
 proceedings, Pinto says — " As for the rearguard, it consisted of a 
 hundred elephants, like those that marched in front. So that the 
 number of warriors who were present at this execution, partly as a 
 guard and partly for the pomp of justice, amounted to ten thousand 
 foot soldiers and two thousand horsemen, and two hundred elephants, 
 not to mention an infinity of other men, natives and foreigners, who 
 had assembled to see the end of this wretched and miserable tragedy." 
 
 vn. 
 
 Deaoription of Siam and Ava — Former Magnifioenoe of tlae Cities — Effects of 
 Revolutions — New Calamities of Pinto — A Portuguese Renegade — Another 
 Shipwreck — Dreadful Sufferings and Cannibalism— Father Francis Xavier, 
 the Missionary— Pinto's further Adventures— His final Return to Goa— His 
 Return to Portugal, Disappointment, and Neglect — Conclusion of his 
 Chronicle. 
 
 rpHE charge of exaggeration brought against Pinto seems to have 
 -"- originated in a great measure from the fact that Oriental cities are 
 estimated by their present size, population, and wealth, no regard being 
 taken of the terrible revolutions, wars, and overturning of dynasties 
 which have laid them desolate over and over again', and rendered them 
 but the shadows of what they were. After the Burman war in 1825, 
 general attention was drawn to the almost unknown countries of Ava, 
 Pegu, and Birmah, and the writings of several English officers of 
 known veracity and accuracy have corroborated Pinto's account in 
 many important particulars. One of these officers, quoted by Mac- 
 farlane, in his excellent Romance of Travel, says, speaking of the 
 
 expedition in which he himself had a share 
 
 " On approaching Pegu our curiosity became much heightened by 
 the anxiety to behold the capital of this unfortunate but once 
 flourishing country; and setting aside the chance of engaging the 
 enemy, which seemed very problematical, we thought only of the 
 
250 THE WORLD'S EXPLOKEKS. 
 
 interest attached to tte ruins of this ill-fated city. Its sudden down- 
 fall from the height of splendour to insignifloanoej the crimes of which 
 it had been the theatre, and the blood which had been spilt under its 
 walls in the last efforts it made to preserve its independence, all con- 
 spired to render the spot exceedingly interesting, and made it quite a 
 classical memento with regard to the history of this country. * * * 
 On entering the precincts of the town, the eye in vain searches for 
 those memorials of former greatness which might indicate days of 
 splendour now gone by ; the only striking object within a vast area of 
 four square miles, the limits of which were clearly defined by the line 
 of ramparts, being that far-famed temple the Shoomadoo. 
 
 " It stands in the north-east corner of the square on a slightly 
 elevated ground^ and is surrounded by a few minor pagodas, kioums, 
 and a miserable eoUection of huts ; the rest of the vast square was 
 cultivated with rice ; still, here and there a remnant of brick pointed 
 out where a street had once been ; but now aU was desolate. There is 
 something very melancholy in contemplating a scene like this, and con- 
 trasting the idea of the past and the present. Here, not eighty years 
 since, flourished one of the finest cities of the East, renowned in arms, 
 and governed by a long race of kings, but "now how fallen, how 
 changed 1' In one year Pegu witnessed the downfall of that power 
 and preponderance which ages had been maturing ; her sovereign 
 and royal family, the captives of an elated conqueror, were soon ex- 
 terminated ; those temples to which all the empire crowded to offer up its 
 adorations, no longer the resort of multitudes, were neglected, and fell 
 into disrepute, whilst the inhabitants of the city were scattered over the 
 country, and became the despised subjects of that very race whom they 
 had before tyrannised over." 
 
 Pinto remained for some time in the seirice of the Burman monarch, 
 much against his own wiU, but driven by imperative necessity, for the 
 conqueror of Martaban was not the kind of monarch whose sovereign 
 will and pleasure it was at all safe to dispute. The treacherous and 
 unworthy conduct of one of the Spaniards, Gonzalo Falcan, procured 
 him new trouble and fresh imprisonment and torture. This " traitor 
 Gonzalo," also, was the cause that the junk in which Pinto had come 
 from Malacca was seized by order of the Burman tyrant. Afterwards we 
 find him accompanying an ambassador into Siam, Laos, and part of 
 the Chinese Empire. His account of Siam is as graphic and interesting 
 as the rest of his book. He especially speaks of the "white elephant," 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 251 
 
 and of the superstitious veneration with wHch it is regarded. He was 
 the first who described this creature, which was long considered in 
 Europe as fabulOus as the unicorn, though white buffaloes, monkeys, 
 and other animals (aU of them what are called albinos) are not un- 
 common in those regions.| 
 
 Pinto returned to Goa, in the East Indies, after years of peril and 
 adventure, as poor and needy as he had set out. With a spirit still 
 unsubdued in spite of all his misfortunes, he determined upon another 
 voyage to the Loochoo Islands and China in search of better fortune ; 
 and once more joining himself to a half, or rather a wholly, piratical 
 crew of Portuguese, he began anew the adventurous life of a sea-rover. 
 
 On one occasion they took a somewhat remarkable prisoner. He was 
 a Portuguese named Nuno Eodriguez Taborda, and had been away from 
 his country for nearly forty years. He had fought valiantly in the ranks 
 of the first Portuguese occupants of India, and had been entrusted with 
 the command of a vessel by the great Alphonso Albuquerque, the most 
 famous and perhaps the most cruel of the Portuguese conquerors in 
 the East. "I was present with him at the taking of Goa and of 
 Malacca," says this adventurer, who, by the way, was a renegade, and 
 had lived as a pagan among pagans for many years. "After that I 
 worked at the foundations of Omiuz and of Calicut, without once 
 failing on any occasion to serve that famous captain to whom so many 
 different nations have given the title of ' the Great.' I continued to 
 give similar proofs of my courage during the government of Lopo 
 Juarez, of Diego Lopez de Siqueyra, and of the other governors of the 
 Indies, down to Don Henry de Menesez, who succeeded to this office 
 by the death of the viceroy, "Vasco de Gama." The career thus 
 auspiciously begun was, however, soon clouded over by the vicissitudes 
 which seem to have attended all the Portuguese adventurers in the 
 East. Nuno Eodriguez Taborda was shipwrecked, and lost not only 
 his vessel but all his crew excepting three on the island of Lirgan; and 
 to preserve his lite among the natives of that intolerant region, he had 
 to renounce his religion. He tries to excuse his apostasy as best he 
 can. " Finding myself frequently pressed by the GentOes," he says, 
 " to foUow their pernicious errors, I refused for a long time. But 
 inasmuch as flesh is weak, seeing myself very poor, distant from my 
 country, and without hope of liberty, my sins made me grant to their 
 prayers what they asked of me with so much importunity, for which 
 reason the king always showed me great favour." 
 
252 THK WORLD'S EXPLOEERS. 
 
 This ancient mariner was afterwards taken to Malacca and received 
 into the Christian communion at that place. His adventures form a 
 type of the life of many of his countrymen in the East. 
 
 Again Pinto's adventurous career led him to China, and again this 
 most unfortunate of navigators suffered shipwreck. His crew con- 
 sisted of forty Chinamen and twenty-eight Portuguese; and the 
 Chinamen, having made a large raft, proposed to save themselves upon 
 it and leave the Portuguese to perish. Whereupon a sanguinary affray 
 took place, which ended with the destruction of the Chinamen, but 
 with terrible loss to the victors, sixteen of whom were killed in the 
 battle, while four more died from their wounds next day. The eight 
 survivors who now took possession of the raft soon suffered all the 
 horrors of famine, and were compelled to resort to the horrible 
 expedient of cannibalism to preserve their wretched lives. For iive 
 days they lived upon the body of a Caffre servant who had died. At 
 the end of that time they managed to laud on an island, and were 
 presently sold as slaves to a merchant of the island of Celebes. After- 
 wards they passed into the possession of a native king, who not only 
 set them free but sent them away to Sunda, where Pinto obtained the 
 means for a fresh start in life from some of his countrymen. Again we 
 find him journeying to Siam ; and presently he enters into the service 
 of the king, not without profit to himself. But poor Pinto never had 
 the fortune to keep what he made. 
 
 In one chapter Fernand Mendez breaks out with enthusiasm in 
 praise of the King of Siam, who certainly had treated his Portuguese 
 auxiliaries very well. Pinto says of this monarch — " When he saw that 
 a Portuguese of the hundred and sixty whom he then had with hiin 
 had remained a little behind, in a combat in which our people had been 
 engaged, wherein they wrought so valiantly and with such courage 
 that they gained the principal fortress which the enemy had taken in 
 the town of Lantor, he commanded him to return to Siam, inasmuch 
 as he was not like his companions ; and that so long as he lived there 
 he was not to go out of his house or to give himself the name of a 
 Portuguese, under penalty of having his beard shaved like the warriors 
 of Banca, since he was as cowardly as they. Whereas, on the contrary, 
 to all the others, who, as I have said, were a hundred and sixty in 
 number, he sent three times, doubling their pay, and exempted them 
 from the dues on their merchandise ; and, moreover, he decreed that in 
 every part of his kingdom they might build churches, where the name 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO. 253 
 
 of the God of the Portuguese should be adored, as it was clear and 
 manifest that this God -was more powerful than all others. By these 
 
 examples, and by others which I could repeat here in sufficient number, 
 it is rnanifest how great and laudable were the inclinations of that 
 
254 THE WOKLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 prince, who, though a Gentile, nevertheless had a very good disposition, 
 and was given to virtuous actions." 
 
 But the poor King of Siam, who was so laudably given to the 
 virtuous action of doubling the pay of the Portuguese, was poisoned 
 by his wicked wife, to the great chagrin of Pinto, who had never yet 
 found so generous a patron and master. Then came another war 
 between the Siamese and Burmese. Pinto, ever ready to sell his 
 services to the highest bidder, and with a slight tendency to be, like 
 the Duke of Austria ^n King John, " strong upon the stronger side," 
 entered the army of the King of Burmah, and at last returned to 
 Malacca, having gone through many stirring adventures, taken part in 
 many combats, and slightly improved his f ortun^. 
 
 Lawless, and even piratical, as much of Pinto's career had been, 
 there was in the character of this singular royer a strong element of 
 enthusiasm ; and his religious feeling, though tinctured with all the 
 superstition of the age in which he lived, and marred by tjie life he led, 
 was doubtless sincere. It was now his fortune to meet, at Jilalacca, 
 one of the most remarkable missionaries the world has evev seen, the 
 Jesuit who was afterwards canonised by tjie Roman Cathojic Church as 
 Saint Francis de Xavier. All the reverence and capacity for hero- 
 worship in Pinto's character was called into action by tlse conversation 
 and acts of Father Francis. Pinto attached hims,elf to ^he missionary, 
 with whom he made several journeys, and to whose sayings and doings 
 the latter part of his book is almost entirely devoted. This thorough 
 sinking of his qwa personality in his admiration for the genius and 
 virtues of another, is alone sufficient to prove that Fernand Pinto was 
 no vulgar boaster. Indeed, throughout thp whole of his remarj^al?!^ 
 book he speaks of himself with a certain grave modesty as a man wljo 
 Ijas seen affliction, and whose pajth in life has been strewn with thorns 
 from beginning to end. 
 
 After a career of practical usefulness and piety, Father Francis 
 Xavier died at Shan-shan, not far from Macao, on the Canton river, in 
 December, 1552. Pinto was not present at his death, but deplored that 
 event with real and unaffected sorrow, and it is remarkable that the 
 chapter in which he records the holy father's death is by far the 
 longest in the book. Xavier was buried in the first instance at Shan- 
 shan, but soon his remains were removed to Malacca, and finally to 
 Goa, the capital of the Portuguese possessions in the East. After the 
 death of his great patron and hero, Pinto attached himself to the 
 
FERNAND MENDEZ PHTTO. 255 
 
 service of Father Belquior, another zealous missioBary of the Jesuits, 
 and again we find him pursuing his adventurous journeys. But age 
 ■was creeping upon him, and the various hardships and privations he 
 had undergone must have made him older in constitution than in years. 
 And now the wayworn wanderer began to yearn for the country he 
 had left, full of hope and courage, many years before. Indeed, his 
 native land seems never to have been out of his thoughts during his 
 weary pilgrimage, if we may judge by the constant allusions he makes 
 to Portugal and its king in his work. And as his energies began to 
 fail, the impulse to return home came upon liim with renewed strength. 
 With Goldsmith he might have said^- 
 
 " In all my wanderings ronnd tKia world of care, 
 In all my griefs — and God has given my share^> 
 I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown, 
 Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down-rr 
 To husband out life's taper at the close, 
 And keep the flame from wasting, by repose," 
 
 Accordingly, for the last time, he tiirned his face towards 
 Hindostan, and arrived at Goa on the 17th gf February, 1558. He 
 had brought a present of arms and toys of various kinds to the 
 governor, Don Francis Barreto, from the King of Japan, and Barreto 
 received these gifts very graciously, and in return furnished the home- 
 ward-bound traveller with a letter to the King of Portugal, wherein 
 were duly set forth the perils and adventures through which Pinto had 
 passed, the imprisonments, shipwrecks, and other disasters he had 
 endured, and the claims he had upon the favourable consideration of 
 the government. Armed with this document, in which he fondly 
 fancied he possessed a guarantee that his long tqils and disasters would 
 at last find some reward, Pinto departed from Goa, and arrived at 
 Lisbon on the 28th of September in the same yegj. 
 
 But the evil fortune that had dogged the footsteps of the unfor- 
 tunate traveller was destined to foUow him to the end. Joam TTT, 
 King of Portugal, to whom the viceroy's letter of recommendation was 
 addressed, had been dead almost a year when Fernand Mendez Pinto 
 landed at Lisbon. The regency had devolved upon Catherine of 
 Austria, his widow, during the minority of his little son Sebastian ; 
 and though Catherine granted an audience to Pinto, and heard from 
 the traveller's own lips the story of his perils and adventures, she does 
 not seem to have considered it incumbent upon her to do anything for 
 
266 THE WORUD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 him. Yet he had done much towards increasing the knowledge of his 
 century concerning the remote lands of the East. He had penetrated 
 to regions which few Europeans had yet visited, and which none had 
 described ; and some years of his adventurous life had been spent in 
 the task of spreading the Roman Catholic faith among pagans. Yet 
 all this was disregarded. Catherine, indeed, after hearing his story, 
 handed him over to a minister of state, and this functionary made him 
 live on " the chameleon's diet, promise-crammed," for several years, 
 at the end of which time he left him to his poverty. 
 
 What became of Pinto ultimately has never been ascertained. It 
 is certain that he married, and that his wife and a daughter survived 
 him a considerable time ; but where and when his eventful life termi- 
 nated is not known. The last passage in his interesting work breathes 
 a spirit of mingled disappointment and resignation. He says — 
 
 " To conclude : These are the services which I have rendered during 
 a space of twenty-one years, in which time I have been thirteen times 
 a slave, and sold sixteen times, in consequence of the unfortunate events 
 whereof I have treated sufficiently at large in this book of long and 
 laborious travel ; but although it has been thus, I cannot refrain from 
 thinking that the fact of my being left without the reward which I 
 might expect after so many services and labours, has proceeded rather 
 from Divine Providence, which for my sins has permitted it to be thus, 
 than from the neglect or the fault of him whom the duty of his office 
 seemed to oblige to do me right ; for it is true that in all the kings of 
 this country, which is like a live source whence proceed rewards, though 
 they flow sometimes into channels in which partiality is more at work 
 than reason, there has always been a holy and grateful zeal, accom- 
 panied by a very ample and large desire, not only to recompense those 
 who serve them, but even to give very great advantages to those who 
 have done them no service at all. It is evident from this, that if I and 
 others have not been satisfied, it has come to pass only by the fault of 
 the channels and not of the source ; or rather, it is the doing of Divine 
 justice, which cannot err, and which orders everything for the best, 
 and according to what is necessary for us ; wherefore I render abundant 
 thanks to the King of Heaven, who has deigned to accomplish His 
 holy wUl ; nor do I complain of the kings of the earth, inasmuch as 
 my sins have rendered me undeserving of anything more." 
 
 And thus ends the chronicle of Pinto's voyages. 
 

 
 /- 
 
 
 SOUTH SEA WHALE FISHERY. 
 
C ^57 ) 
 
 THE VOYAGE OF LA PEROUSE. 
 
 I. 
 
 La PiSronse and his Merita — Importance of his Voyage — Its Origin— Its PoKtioal 
 Intention — Early Life of La P^rouse — His Gallantry and Humanity — His 
 Conduct towards the English— Plan of his Voyage— Its Exaggerated Extent 
 — Departure from Brest — Remaikable Appearance of St. Elmo's Lights. 
 
 fyHE expedition undertaken, towards the close of the last century, bj 
 the unfortunate La P(5rouse, occupies an important place in the 
 annals of discovery and exploration. The courage and perseverance of 
 the commander, the singleness of purpose with which, iu the face of 
 many difficulties and dangers, he pursued the object of his voyage, his. 
 fortitude under reverses, and his loyal and undeviating respect for tha 
 memory of the great Cook, in whose steps he followed, entitle La 
 Pcrouse to more than " honourable mention" among the navigators of 
 the last century ; and the interest excited by the journals he sent home 
 from time to time to Europe was increased by the suspense and expec- 
 tation that arose when these journals ceased to be followed by others , 
 and the story of his voyage was suddenly broken off. Not till a long; 
 time had elapsed was the mystery which hung over the conclusion of 
 La Perouse's adventures finally dispelled, and the fate of the expedition 
 ascertained — a fate which has stamped this expedition as one of the 
 most unfortunate in its issue, as it was one of the most elaborate in. 
 preparation and design among modern voyages of discovery. 
 
 Towards the end of the last century the French prestige, in maritime 
 and colonial affairs, suffered very considerably. The loss of the Car- 
 natio iu India, and of Canada in America, had been heavy blows ahke- 
 to the national power and the national pride. In the field of geo- 
 graphical and maritime discovery, also, the French had been distanced 
 by the English, and the successes of Cook and other navigators roused 
 in the minds of the French government a not ignoble spirit of emu- 
 lation. Inasmuch, also, as the- discoveries of Cook, great and impor- 
 tant as they doubtless were, had been left incomplete by the lamented 
 
 s. 
 
258 THE AVOllLD'S EXl'LOllEllS. 
 
 death of that eminent navigator at Owyhee, it was obvious that a 
 supplementary voyage that should clear up the points left unascertained, 
 and complete the work that Cook had left unfinished, might he expected 
 to bring both scientific fame and material profit to those who should 
 project, and to those who should carry it out ; and thus originated the 
 idea of a new voyage round the world. 
 
 There was another reason, moreover, which had much to do with 
 the fitting out of La Perouse's expedition — one that whimsically illus- 
 trates the frivolous policy of the French government in the period that 
 preceded the great Revolution, and the time-serving and inadequate 
 expedients employed by a ministry, who thoroughly mistook the national 
 spirit, to check or divert the discontent that was already heralding the 
 overthrow of the whole fabric of the State. The expedient of " throwing 
 a tub to a whale" has become proverbial. In this instance the French 
 people was the whale, and the tub that was to diveit its attention from 
 the government, the object of its fury, was an expedition to the South 
 Sea,s. In a singular memorial on the subject presented by a minister 
 to Louis XVI. in 1784, occurs the following strange passage : — " If you 
 wish. Sire, to turn aside the attention of your subjects from this dange- 
 rous Anglomania, this passion for liberty, so destructive of good order 
 and of peace, amuse them with new ideas, beguile their leisure by images 
 the bewitching variety of which may feed their frivolity. It is better 
 that they should employ themselves in contemplating the waggish 
 tricks of Chinese monkeys than in following the present fashion which 
 leads them to admire the horses and philosophers of England." What 
 a specimen of statesmanship ! A nation groaning under an intolerable 
 burden of taxation, tyranny, and injustice, looking eagerly at the free 
 institutions of a neighbouring country, and gradually working itself up 
 to a stern, unalterable determination that these things should no longer 
 be ; and a ministry persuading the king that the relentless march of 
 events could be arrested by diverting the attention of the country to 
 the "bewitching variety" of the incidents in a voyage of discovery. 
 ITow could such a measure be otherwise than a failure in its effects? 
 The French people had- for some considerable time employed itself in 
 contemplating the waggish tricks, not " of Chinese monkeys," but of 
 the ministers of state ; and was very much engrossed, but not in the 
 least amused, by that edifying spectacle. 
 
 However, the voyage was determined upon. It produced conside- 
 rable benefit to scientific knoVs-ledge, though it failed to pfevent the 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA P^ROUSE. 259 
 
 French EeVolution ; and the results achieved are mainly owing to the 
 personal qualities of the commander to whom it was entrusted. 
 
 Jean Fran9ois Galoup de la Pdrouse, born at Albi in 1741, had 
 already distinguished himself as an active, prudent, and vigilant naval 
 oflBcer. He had been employed in the war between France and England, 
 which broke out in 1778. When the French government formed the 
 project of taking and destroying the English settlements in Hudson's 
 Bay, the carrying out of this difficult design was entrusted to him ; and 
 La Perouse showed on the occasion a courage and resolution which 
 obtained the high approbation of his own government, and a humanity 
 and forbearance that won the respect and admiration even of his foes. 
 Thus, when on several occasions he had been obliged to destroy the 
 settlements of the English, he left provisions and arms for the captives 
 who had taken refuge in the woods, lest they should fall defenceless 
 into the hands of the savages, or perish with hunger. "We ought," 
 says an English navigator, writing an account of a voyage to Botany 
 Bay, " to call to mind with gratitude, in England especially, this 
 humane and generous man, for his conduct when ordered to destroy 
 our establishment in Hudson's Bay in the course of the last war." La 
 Perouse possessed in a high degree that spirit of chivalry which dis- 
 played itself in the wars of the last century, on such occasions as in 
 the battle of Fontenoy, where the "gentlemen of the French guard" 
 were offered the privilege of firing first — and which inculcated respect 
 for the vanquished, and generosity tevards every foe, as a chief part 
 of a soger's duty. 
 
 The instructions given to La Perouse were very definite and elabo- 
 rate, and the scheme of the voyage itself only too comprehensive. Two 
 fine frigates. La Boussole and L'A'strolabe, were prepared for the 
 voyage, and furnished with every article that experience or forethought 
 could suggest as likely to be useful to the crews, or beneficial to the 
 nations they were to visit. The Boussole was to be commanded by 
 La Perouse himself, and the Astrolabe by Captain de Langle, an 
 officer of courage and experience. The most elaborate directions were 
 given regarding the policy to be pursued during the voyage, with 
 instructions for the conduct to be observed towards the natives of the 
 countries where the two frigates might touch. Many precautions 
 evidently suggested by a diligent perusal of Cook's voyages, were 
 ordered for preserving the health of the crews, and a long and detailed 
 plan of the voyage was laid out. This latter had the defect of Ijeing 
 
260 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 too comprehensive ; it contained much more than could be possibly 
 comprised within the limits of one expedition. The sanguine projectors 
 of the voyage seem to have expected that La Pcrouso could at once 
 supply every hiatus that had been left in the accounts of former navi- 
 gators, and complete the map of the world in the course of a few 
 
 «P V ■■ "^ •- 
 
 XHF. COA^T OF TRINIDAD. 
 
 years. The "plan of the voyage" instructed La Perouso to sail from 
 Brest as soon as the preparations for the voyage should be completed. 
 He "was to make for Funchal in Madeira, to sail thence to Praya, in 
 the island of St. Jago, then to cress the line and successively examine 
 Pcnnedo de San Pedro, Triuidad, Isle Grande de la Roche, and Cook's 
 island of Georgia. Then he was to try and find Sandwich Land, and, 
 if ho succeeded, to examine the coasts, next to double Cape Horn, and 
 anchor in Christmas SoaaJ, on the south-west coast of Tierra del 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PEIIOUSE. 261 
 
 Fnego, and, after looking out for Drake's Land, to strike across the 
 Pacific Ocean towards Easter Island ; then to cruise in the Pacific, to 
 ascertain particulars concerning various islands said to have been seen 
 by the Spaniards, but of whose position no definite knowledge had 
 been obtained. The two frigates were then to part conjpany, the 
 BouRsole to proceed to Otaheite in the expectation of meeting with new 
 islands in her course, the Astrolabe to look out for Pitcaim's Island, 
 and thence to proceed by a circuitous route to join her consort at 
 Otaheite. After a month's stay the rest of the Society Islands were to 
 be vis5it<;d, and plants, vegetables, seeds, &o., to be left there. Then 
 
 - ' , r 9 
 
 
 tlie island of St. Bernard was to be visited, and the part of the Pacific 
 north of the Friendly Islands to be explored, likewise the island of the 
 Bella Nacion, of Quinas and Bougainville's Navigators' Islands ; thence 
 to sail to New Caledonia, to run down its south-west coast, and 
 endeavour to make Queen Charlotte's Islands, and try and reconnoitre 
 the island of Santa Cruz of Mendana. 
 
 1 his was only the preliminary task imposed upon the commander. 
 La Perouse's further instructions comprised a survey of the north- 
 western coast of America, an examination of the Aleutian Islands, and 
 a further cruise to Japan, Manilla, and China. Then the eastern coast 
 of Tartary was to be explored, the island of Yeddo surveyed, and the 
 north-west coast of America visited for a second time. Then the dis- 
 persed islands near the Ladrones were to be examined, and Tinian 
 visited if possible. On quitting the isle of Tinian, the instructions said 
 " he may run down and examine the Kew Caroliuas, situate south-west 
 
262 THE WOELD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 of the island of Guaham, one of the Mariannes, and to the east of Min- 
 danao, one of the Philippines." The Isle of France, or Mauritius, was 
 to be the eighth rendezvous of the ships in case of separation ; and La 
 Perouse was especially enjoined to stay there no longer than might be 
 absolutely neaessary to put himself into a condition to return to Europe. 
 Then he was to look out for Cape Circumcision, discoyered by Lozier 
 Bouvet in 1739, and thence make sail for the Cape of Good Hope ; " if 
 at this period he judge the ships to be not sufficiently furnished with 
 provision, to make their return to Europe;'' in any case, however, he 
 was, on his return to Europe, to endeavour to examine the islands of 
 Tristan d'Acunha, Picos, and several others, to dispel some micertainty 
 which prevailed concerning their position. " He will return to the port 
 of Brest," the instructions concluded, "where it is probable he may 
 arrive in July or August, 1789." 
 
 A commander would have required the eyes of Argus and the hands 
 of Briareus to get through such a task as this. But things were 
 destined to take a very different turn, and the July and August of 1789 
 brought events that distracted the general attention very effectually 
 from the enterprising navigator and the chances of his return. 
 
 It was on the 4th of July, 1785, that La Perouse arrived at Brest to 
 take the command of the expedition, which sailed a month afterwards 
 on the 1st of August. Among the precautions taken against accidents 
 and losses on the voyage had been the providing a completely decked 
 boat about twenty tons burden, which had been stowed in pieces on 
 board the Boussole. A spare mainmast, capstan, and other similar 
 things had also been provided ; and the Astrolabe, was furnished with 
 equal completeness. The voyagers had a pleasant run to Madeira, and 
 La Perouse, in his journal, mentions with enthusiasm the warm and 
 cordial reception given him by several English residents there, but 
 deplores the dearness of the wine, of which he had intended to lay in a 
 stock, but which he found more than twice as expensive as the vintage 
 of Teneriffe. In this latter island, where the voyagers made a short 
 stay, an observatory was erected, and some interesting observations 
 were taken relative to the variation of chronometer clocks, as caused by 
 temperature. Here also sixty pipes of wine were bought. 
 
 Adverse winds prevented the commander from making the island 
 Pennedo de San Pedro, as he had wished to do ; and La Perouse, who 
 was always exceedingly anxious to carry out his orders to the letter, 
 takes care to note in his journal — " The making of this island was not 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PEROUSE. 
 
 263 
 
 enjoined in my instructions, but merely indicated, in case it should 
 oblige me to turn only a little or not at all out of my way." LUce other 
 
 voyagers in the tropics, he notices the great numbers of msn-of-war 
 birds and other seafowl that follow ships from 8 degrees north latitude 
 to near the line. 
 
264 
 
 THE >VORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 On the 15th of October, during a violent thunderstorm, the Boussole 
 and Astrolabe were both visited by the singular electric phenomenon 
 known to sailors since the JNliddle Ages under the name of Corpo Santo, 
 or St. Elmo's lights. This phenomenon consists of a vivid blue light 
 dancing at the masthead, and the superstition of the sailors pronounced 
 it to be St. Elmo, their psitron saint, who thus appeared to the faith- 
 ful during a storm to show them by his visible presence that ho took 
 them under his protection. In ancient times already these lights had 
 been observed, and both Seneca and Pliny mention them as having 
 flickered about the masts of the Roman galleys during storms. Fer- 
 nando Columbus, a brother of the great discoverer of America, records 
 how, during the voyage of 1193 — the second that Columbus made — the 
 crews of his ships were one night in great peril among the West India 
 Islands from a sudden gusty storm of wind ; and how the crew were 
 comforted by the appearance of the phenomenon. " On the same Satur- 
 day," he says, "in the night was seen St. Elmo, with seven lighted 
 tapers, at the topmast. There was much rain and great thunder. I 
 mean to say that those lights were seen v.diich mariners af&rm to be the 
 body of St. Elmo, on beholding which they chanted many litanics_and 
 orisons, holding it for certain that in the tempest in which ho appears 
 no one is in danger." In the record of Magellan's voyage a similar 
 circuinstance is mentioned. In the superstitious imagination of the 
 sailors the light fashioned itself into St. Elmo, holding sometimes one 
 taper, sometimes two ; whereupon the sailors " shed tears of joy and 
 received much consolation." 
 
 T.U.I1TL\N NOSM-FLUTF. 
 
'THE VOYAGE OF LA PJilKOUSE. 265 
 
 U. 
 
 SucoegsM Precautions against Disease on tlie Boussola and Astrolabe— Congre- 
 gation of Whales in Strait Lemaire — J5aster Island — Remarkable Monu- 
 ments — Slate of Cultivation -Pilfering Propensities of lie Natirea-Eun to 
 the North — Port dea Fran9ais — Its Capabilities as a Tralinj Settlement — 
 Lamentable Accident and Loss of Twenty Lives — Climate of Port des 
 Fra!i9ais compared with that of Labrador — Voyage to Monterey. 
 
 "VfOTHING of importance happened during the time occupied by the 
 ■^ voyagers in rounding Cape Horn and entering the Great racific. 
 La Perouse, laudably concemed for the health of his crews, followed out 
 the measures origiaally adopted by Cook, frequently fumigating the 
 ships, enforcing personally all matters connected with ventilation and 
 cleanliness, and paying especial attention to the diet of the ships' com- 
 panies. The result, as in Cook's case, was that the ordinary scourges 
 of seamen on long voyages did not appear on the Boussole or Astrolabe. 
 Li Lemaire Strait, at half a league distance, they were surrounded by 
 whales. "It was easy to see,'' says La Perouse, "that they had never 
 been molested. They took no alarm at our ships, swam majestically 
 along within pistol-shot of us, and will no doubt remain sovereigns of 
 these seas till the fishermen go to make war upon them as at Spitz- 
 bergen or Greenland. I doubt," he continues, "whether there be a 
 better place in the world for the whale fishery. The ships might be at 
 anchor in good bays, within reach of water, wood, anti-scorbutic herbs, 
 and seafowl ; while their boats, without going a league, might kill as 
 many whales as would make them a good cargo. The only incon- 
 venience would be the length of the voyage, which would require near 
 fire months for each run ; and I should imagine that these latitudes 
 can only be frequented in the months of December, January, and 
 February." 
 
 The days of immunity for the whales in the Southern Ocean have 
 long passed away. Increasing competition has brought an increased 
 energy and boldness into whale-fishing as- into every other branch of 
 commerce ; and the traveller passing through Strait Lemaire would now 
 be told that the whales— rendered timid and distrustful by increasing 
 persecution — have retired to higher latitudes to take refuge from their 
 numerous enemies in the icy regions around the pole. 
 
 Early in April, 1786, the voyagers reached Easter Island, in the 
 
266 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 South Pacific. Cook had already visited this singular land, but La 
 P^rouse had a better opportunity than the English navigator of examin- 
 ing it, and gives us many interesting particulars concerning the country 
 and its inhabitants. He speaks highly of the ingenuity and friendliness 
 of the people, who welcomed their visitors with every appearance of 
 cordiality ; but they were great thieves, and had a bad habit of stealing 
 the hats and handkerchiefs of the French during the friendliest of inter- 
 views. The colossal images found in their burial-places, or morals — 
 monuments of which Cook had made mention — proved on examination 
 to be made of a kind of lava, very pliable, and consequently easily 
 worked. They had evident notions of a future state, and one of them 
 explained that a heap of stones surmounted by one of these statues was 
 a tomb, by laying himself flat on the earth and pointing downward, to 
 indicate that a man lay buried beneath. lie then pointed towards the 
 sky, endeavouring to explain to the strangers that the spirit of him 
 whose body was interred there had travelled beyond the clouds. 
 
 M. Duche, a scientific gentleman attached to the expedition, sent 
 home a very graphic illustration of a moral of this kind ; and with a 
 touch of true French humour he has introduced into his drawing the 
 figure of a native peeping from behind a statue, the dimensions of which 
 two Frenchmen are busily engaged in measuring, and by means of a 
 long stick stealing the hat of one of the scientific investigators. The 
 statues themselves were nearly fifteen feet high. The numerous fields 
 and plantations, of rectangular shape, and evidently cultivated with 
 great care and assiduity, showed that these people had attained some 
 degree of civilisation. There appeared to be no chief of real authority 
 among them. Trees were scarce, and, as a consequence, good supplies 
 of fresh water were not to be procured ; for in these regions the amount 
 of rainfall depends in a great measure on the nature and abundance of 
 the vegetation. The presence of the sugar-cane gave evidence of the 
 natural fertility of the soil. The islanders are described as a stout, 
 handsome race, with tawny skins and black hair. Their garments— 
 with which, however, they were very scantily supplied — were made 
 chiefly from the bark of the paper mulberry. They also made hats and 
 baskets of rushes, and were adepts at carving in wood. They had a 
 custom of depositing the bodies of their dead in caverns. 
 
 The ships now sailed to the Sandwich Islands, on one of which, 
 Moanee, La P^rouse made a considerable stay ; but as this group had 
 already been accurately described by Cook, this part of the French 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PEROUSE. 
 
 267 
 
 a confirmation of 
 the facts stated by 
 the English navi- 
 gator. Very great, 
 on theothcrhand, 
 was the service rendeied 
 to geograjjhy by La 
 Perouse in the next part of liis 
 voyage. He proceeded towards 
 the north-west coast of America, and 
 came upon the coast in latitude 60 deg. 
 north, near Mount Saint Elias, the p'ace 
 whence Cook had begun his survey towards ff. "^Md^ 
 the north. La Perouse now wisely turned ^ ) 
 southward, and devoted the months of July, 
 August, and September, 1786, to a work of great , //o~-jifeX 
 importance : he surveyed the whole coast from Mount - _//,':' 
 Elias along the Californian coast, a3 far as Monterey, "'' 
 then an insignificant Spanish settlement ; for no rumours of 
 auriferous treasure had yet attracted the goldseeker to 
 those desolate regions. This survey fiUed up a great blank which had 
 till then existed in the map of the world. In performing this service- 
 La Perouse had a narrow escape of losing both his ships in entering a 
 harbour discovered by himself, and to which ho gave the name Port 
 des Frantjais. 
 
 "During thirty years' experience of navigation," he says, "I had 
 never before seen two ships so near being lost ; the occurrence of such 
 
268 THE WORLD'S EXPLORKKS. 
 
 an event at the extremity of the -world would have rendered our 
 calamity Btill greater." 
 
 Port des Francfais, according to the map published in the account of 
 La Pferouse's voyage, and the description given by the commander in 
 his journal, is indeed a singular place. The entrance is very narrow, 
 and obstructed by a large sandbank and by rocks, many of which an- 
 marked as not always visible. Within the dangerous entrance, a 
 long and broad sheet of water extends into the country for some miles, 
 ending in two basins, one oil each side, so that the whole has something 
 the form of the letter T. These basins are fed by huge glaciers, of 
 which there are five, pouring their streams into the broad channel. La 
 Perouse describes this harbour in the following manner : — 
 
 "We had already visited the bottom of the bay, which is perhaps 
 the most extraordinary place in the world. To form an idea of it let us 
 suppose a basin of water of unfathomable depth in the middle, bordered 
 by peaked mountains of exceeding height, covered with snow, without 
 a blade of grass upon this immense collection of rocks, condemned by 
 Nature to perpetual sterility. I never saw a breath of air ruffle the 
 surface of this water ; it is never disturbed but by the fall of enormous 
 pieces of ice, which continually detach themselves from five different 
 glaciers, and which in falling make a noise that resounds from the 
 mountains. The air is in this place so very calm, and the silence so 
 profound, that the mere voice of a man may be heard half a league ofF, 
 as well as the noise of uome seabirds which lay their eggs in the cavities 
 of these rocks. At the extremity of this bay we were in hopes of 
 finding channels by which we might penetrate into the interior of 
 America. We imagined that it might terminate in a great river, the 
 course of which might be between two mountains, and that this river 
 might have its source in the great lakes to the northward of Canada." 
 
 The natives here had an exceedingly good notion of bargaining, and 
 understood the art of regulating their demands by the stocks of goods 
 they had on hand, and by the eagerness of their visitors to purchase, as 
 completely as the most civilised traders. They attached a great value 
 to iron, and at last would hardly take anything else in exchange for 
 their furs and other wares. Of course they were ingenious thieves, 
 and, like the South Sea Islanders, seemed to feel no shame when 
 detected in systematic larceny. 
 
 An observatory was erected at Port des Fran(;ais, on a small island, 
 which La Perouse purchased of a native chief ; though the French com- 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PEEOUSE. 
 
 269 
 
 raandcr shrewdly expresses his fears that the purchase might bo set 
 aside in any court of law, inasmuch as it appeared doubtful whether 
 
 
 
 POLAR BEAEB. 
 
 the chief had any property in the land, or any right to alienate it. 
 "We had no proof," says La PdrouBe, "that the chief was the real 
 
270 THE WORLD'S EXPLOEERS. 
 
 proprietor, and the witnesses his representatives. Be that as it may, 1 
 gave him Several ells of red cloth, hatchets, knives, bar-iron, and iiaUs. 
 I also made presents to all his suite." 
 
 La Perouse considered Port des Fran(;ais would he a spot excellently 
 adapted for a trading settlement, and that a very profitable traffic in 
 furs might be established without interfering with either the Russian 
 or the English interests. That he was right in his conjecture as to the 
 trade, subsequent events sufficiently proved ; but the dangers arising 
 from the rocks at the entrance of the bay, and the consequent difficulty 
 of bringing ships up to the anchorage, would have been a very serious, 
 if not a fatal, drawback. Of the extent of this danger, the crews of the 
 Boussole and Astrolabe soon had a lamentable proof in a calamity 
 which befell them just before their departure from Port des Fran<;ais, 
 and which appeared to them the more unfortunate, as, until then, chiefly 
 by the vigilant care and judicious management of the commander, the 
 crews had enjoyed almost uninterrupted good health, and they had not 
 lost a single man by any casualty. 
 
 The calamity happened in the following manner : — La Perouse 
 wished to have the entrance of the bay accurately sounded, and its 
 breadth determined by measurement. He determined to entrust this 
 duty to M. d'Escures, a lieutenant of the navy, and to despatch the 
 two pinnaces belonging to the Boussole and Astrolabe, and a smaller 
 boat, to perform the task. As the tide sometimes ran violently in and 
 out of the channel, and the entrance was rendered dangerous by 
 breakers, the commander-in-chief had given written instructions to 
 M. d'Escures enjoining him to be very cautious, and not to attempt the 
 passage of the channel if he noticed any indications of danger. So 
 definite and circumstantial were these instructions that the pride of the 
 young officer was somewhat touched, and he remonstrated with his 
 commander upon being " treated like a child," and reminded La 
 Pdrouse that he had already commanded ships ; whereupon La Perouse 
 mildly and judiciously pointed out to his zealous subordinate that 
 caution and prudence were equally essential with courage in an 
 officer. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 14th of July, the three boats set out. 
 The crews and officers were in the highest spirits, and no one appre- 
 hended danger. At ten o'clock the small boat was seen returning alone. 
 M. Boutin, who commanded her, had a terrible report to make. Some 
 unusual circumstances 'of wind and tide must 4ave made the ehanmel 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PliROUSE. ^1 
 
 more dangerous than usual on that fatal day. The boats had suddenly 
 been drawn into a current which carried them out to sea at a tremendous 
 rate, while the breakers were rushing into the bay in a direction exacstly 
 opposite to the tide, which was rushing out. The small boat — strongly 
 built, and so buoyant that she floated even when full of water — had 
 managed to struggle back against the current, and after great labour, 
 directed by unusual skill, had been brought back by M. Boutin into the 
 bay ; but the heavier pinnaces had been seen to founder, and there was 
 little doubt that every soul on board them had perished. 
 
 This indeed proved to be the case. La Perouse remained for some 
 days longer in the bay, in the vain hope that one or other of his 
 unfortunate sailors might have drifted out to sea on a piece of wreck, 
 and be thrown upon the coast. Large rewards were offered to the 
 Indians, some of whom had witnessed the catastrophe, and who seemed 
 sincerely to pity the victims, to induce them to explore the coasts, in 
 search of any survivors. But not even a corpse was recovered. By 
 this calamity twenty brave sailors perished. That it was partly to be 
 ascribed to the rashness of M. d'Escures there is no doubt. That 
 officer evidently miscalculated the strength of the current, and under- 
 ^timated the diiEculties of the duty with which he had been entrusted. 
 M. Boutin, the commander of the small boat, generously tried, in his 
 official report of the disaster, to ^bear as lightly as possible upon a 
 gallant comrade whose owu life had paid the forfeit of his rashness ; 
 but it is impossible to misunderstand the meaning of his words. He 
 says — " I think it necessary to explain the motive of M. d'Escures' 
 conduct. It is impossible that he ever should have thought of going 
 into the channel. He wished only to approach it, and imagined the 
 distance he was from it was more than sufficient to keep him out of all 
 danger. Of this distance he, as well as I, and the eighteen persons who 
 were in the two boats, had formed a wrong judgment.'' The fate of 
 M. de Marchanville, a promising young officer in command of the second 
 pinnace, who perished in the attempt to succour his companions, was 
 especially deplored by his comrades. La Perouse, after vainly waiting 
 for, some days in the hope of finding some relics of his unfortunate 
 shipmates, erected a monument with an inscription to their memory, 
 and sailed away from the fatal harbour. 
 
 The fact that climate is influenced by other circumstances besides 
 latitude was strongly illustrated by the experiences of the mariners 
 during their stay on this coast, and by the facts they noted during their 
 
272 THE WORLD'S EXPLORKRS. 
 
 excursions into the country. Port des Francjais is situated between the 
 58th and 59th parallels of north latitude in a region corresponding in 
 position with icebound Labrador on the opposite coast of the continent ; 
 but of its climate and productions the commander gives the following 
 account in his journal. He says — "The climate of this coast seemed 
 to me infinitely milder than that of Hudson's Bay, in the same latitude. 
 We measured pines of six feet diameter,' and a hundred and forty feet 
 high. Those of the same species at Prince of Wales's Fort and Fort 
 York (in Labrador) are of dimensions scarcely large, enough to serve 
 for studding-sail-booms. I should not be in the least surprised ,to see 
 Russian corn and a great many common plants thrive there exceedingly. 
 We found great abundance of celery, round-leaved sorrel, lupine,.the 
 wild pea, and endive. Every day and at every meal the copper of our 
 ship's company was filled with them ; we ate them in soups, ragouts, 
 and salads ; and these herbs did not a little contribute to keep us in our 
 good state of health." The woods are described as abounding in goose- 
 berries, raspberries, and strawberries, with splendid forest trees fit to 
 make masts for the largest vessels. The streams abounded in trouf, 
 salmon, and other fish. The hunters encountered in the woods many 
 bears, martens, and squirrels ; and the Indians had many skins of the 
 black and brown bear to offer" for sale. Tanned elk-skins were also 
 noticed among the possessions of the natives. Of birds, we are told,' there 
 was no great variety in species, but the individuals were very numerous. 
 The familiar birds of Europe, sparrows, blackbirds, nightingales, and 
 yellow-hammers abounded in the thickets ; and their songs appeared 
 delightful to the mariners, hearing, as they did in each note, some echo 
 of home. In the air were seen hovering the white-headed eagle and 
 the large species of raven ; we surprised and killed a kingfisher, and wa 
 saw a very beautiful white jay, with some humming-birds." In this 
 last particular there must be some mistake. Humming-birds fifty- 
 seven degrees north of the line would be an entirely new phenomenon in 
 natural history. The swallow and martin and the black oyster-catcher 
 are described as building their "nests in the clefts of the rocks ; and 
 cormorants, gulls, red-footed - guillemots, and wild geese appeared 
 among the sea-birds. Among the natives the women had a curious 
 custom of distending the mouth by fixing a piece of wood of elliptical 
 form, and about half an inch thick, firmly in the under-lip. This orna- 
 ment, which caused the lower part of the face to project in an especially 
 hideous manner, was exceedingly valued by the natives, and those only 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA P]!;R0USE. 
 
 273 
 
 were entitled to wear it who belonged to families of some distinction. 
 Captain Dixon, in his voyages, notices this strange custom, and tells 
 
 jm- 
 
 SONLi BILiD3. 
 
 how, when he wished to purchase one of these singular ornaments of an 
 old lady who owned it, his offer of a hatchet was refused with 
 
27i THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 contempt, so highly did the proprietor value her strange decoration ; 
 but at last, when almost everything the captain had to give had been 
 offered to the old dame in vain, she was captivated by the glitter of 
 some bright brass buttons, in return for which she surrendered her 
 beloved treasure. The lip-piece measured nearly four inches in length, 
 and was more than two and a-half inches broad at the widest part ; it 
 was inlaid with a smaU pearly shell, and had a rim of copper. 
 
 From Fort des Fran(;ais the ships proceeded along the coast to 
 Monterey. The measurements and observations of the longitude and 
 latitude of the coast are very accurate, and reflect great credit on the 
 energy and industry of the commander. Monterey Bay La B^rouse 
 found full of whales. " It is impossible to conceive the number with 
 which we were surroimded," says the captain, "or their familiarity; 
 they every half -minute spouted within half a pistol shot of our ships, 
 
 and made a prodigious stench in the air The sea was 
 
 covered with pelicans. These birds, it seems, never go more than five 
 or six leagues from the land ; and navigators, who shall hereafter meet 
 with them during a fog, may rest assured that they are within that 
 distance of it. The first time we saw any of them was in Monterey 
 liay, and I have since learned that they are very common over the 
 whole coast of California ; the Spaniards call them alkatrsE." There 
 is something whimsical in this idea: " a pelican in a fog" would be 
 rather an uhusual landmark. 
 
 A number of Roman Catholic missions had already been founded 
 in California. In the presidency of Loretto, on the east coast of the 
 peninsula of Old California, there were no less than fifteen of them. 
 The object of their establishment was to convert the Indians ; and the 
 exertions of the missionaries seem here, as elsewhere, to have been 
 untiring and constant. La Perouse speaks of the Spanish missions in 
 terms of undisguised admiration. Of the character of the Indians of 
 California he seems to have made a very just estimate. He describes 
 them as men totally devoid of the higher impulses of humanity, with- 
 out emulation or self-control, to be governed rather by the fear of 
 punishment than by the hope of reward, without gratitude to appre- 
 ciate kindness, or spirit to resent an injuiy. The monks and priests 
 attached to the missions appeared to rule them as if they had been 
 children, exercising over them an authority sufficiently mild, but 
 entirely arbitrary. 
 
THE VOYAGi: OF LA I'EROUSE. 
 
 275 
 
 
 EUSSIATv PEASANTS. 
 
 III. 
 
 The PjrtLigueso Settlement ot Micao— The Philippine Islands— ManUla— The 
 Coast of Tartary— Bay of Castries— The Tartar Inhabitants— Their Honesty 
 and Friendliness —Survey of the Coasts of Sajalien- Kamtschatka- The 
 Russians and their Govomment. 
 
 "OEYOND a narrow escape of running on a sunken rock, nothing 
 -^ remarkable occurred in the passage from Monterey to Macao, the 
 Portuguese settlement in China. In 1780 the population was estimated 
 at twenty thousand inhabitants, of T.'hom only a hundred were Portu- 
 guese. At Macao, also, an observatory was erected, in an Augustine 
 convent, for astronomical and nautical observations. Some Chinese 
 
276 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 sailors were shipped to take the places of the men so unfortunately lost 
 at Port des Franijais ; and La Perouse observes, that though by the 
 laws of the country any one leaving the Empire of China was liable to 
 the punishment of death, the condition of the inhabitants was so 
 wretched, that had the ships required two hundred men they could 
 have enrolled them in a week. From February to April, 1787, was 
 occupied in the run to Manilla in the Philippine Islands, and in making 
 the necessary preparations for an important part of the voyage — ^the 
 exploration of the east coast of Tartary. The Philippine Islands are 
 described by La Perouse as a splendid country, capable of producing 
 any amount of revenue, and of maintaining an enormous population, 
 but utterly spoiled by the ignorance and bigotry of the government. 
 In his account of the inhabitants he alludes to the practice of smoking ; 
 and it is amusing to observe that his French editor has considered it 
 necessary to append afoot-note to explain in a few words what is 
 meant by " a cigar.'' 
 
 The course of the ships was now to the north-east, past the island 
 of Formosa and the peninsula of Corea, into the sea which lies, between 
 the coast of Chinese Tartary and the islands that constitute the Empire 
 of Japan. The navigators were now in regions which had not, like tl^ 
 Pacific, been explored by former navigators. La Perouse was 'the first 
 who gave accurate information respecting the coast of Tartary on 
 the one, and the Japanese islands on the other, side of the deep channel 
 up which his ships were running. After touching at various parts of 
 the coast, the ships came to an anchor in the Baie de Castries, on the 
 coast of Tartary, in latitude 51 deg. 29 min. north. The inhabitants 
 of the bay were a mild tribe of Tartars, diminutive and ugly in 
 appearance, but gentle and obliging in their manners. They lived 
 almost exclusively on fish, and seemed to enjoy a quiet, unlaborious 
 existence, being able to supply their wants without much trouble or 
 exertion. They held theiir women in much greater estimation than any 
 tribes which had been yet encountered^consulting them before making 
 any bargains, and providing for their comfort with unusual solicitude. 
 They differed radically from the nations with whom the travellers' had 
 before come in contact in being scrupulously honest ; so that the 
 articles of barter they most valued could be left in their cabins 
 iiuguarded, save by the probity of these simple people. Thsy had a 
 very ingenious method of smoking salmon, but horrified their visitors 
 by devouring raw the gills, small bones, and sometimes the whole ,p]^j^ 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PEROUSE. 
 
 277 
 
 of the fish, which they could strip off in one piece with much dexterity. 
 They had subterraneous houses for the winter like the Kamtschadalcs. 
 
 They were accustomed to deposit bows, arrows, fishing-lines, and other 
 articles they considered valuable with the bodies of their dead, in the 
 
276 THE -WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 tombs erected outside their villages ; and testified no jealousy or feai 
 when they saw the crews of the ships enter these tombs, not doubting 
 that the feeling of respect for the dead that prevented themselves froB 
 plundering these sanctuaries of the departed would influence theii 
 visitors also. 
 
 When the French began writing down the particulars they obtained 
 by signs from these simple people, the Orotchys, as they were called, 
 became very uneasy, evidently looking upon their questioners as magi- 
 cians possessed of occult and dangerous powers. La Perouse tells us 
 the following anecdote in his journal : — 
 
 " It was only by the greatest patience and difficulty that M. Lavaux, 
 surgeon of the Astrolabe, attained the formation of the vocabulary of 
 the Orotchys and the Botchys. In this respect our presents could not 
 vanquish their prejudices ; they even received them with repagnance, 
 and frequently refused them with obstinacy. I imagined I could 
 perceive that they were, perhaps, desirous of more delicacy in the 
 manner of oifering them ; and to try if this suspicion was well founded, 
 I sat down in one of their houses, and after having drawn towards me 
 two little children, of three or four years old, and made them some 
 trifling caresses, I gave them a piece of rose-coloured nankeen, which I 
 had brought in my pocket. The most lively satisfaction was visibly 
 testified in the countenances of the whole family ; and I am ceartain 
 they would have refused this present had it been offered directly to 
 themselves. The husband then went out of his cabin, and soon after- 
 wards returning with his most beautiful dog, he entreated me to accept 
 of it. I refused it, at the same time trying to make him understand 
 that it was more useful to him than to me ; but he insisted, and per- 
 ceiving that it was without success, he caused the two children who 
 had received the nankeen to approach, and placing their little hands on 
 the back of the dog, he gave me to understand that I ought not to 
 refuse his children." These friendly Tartars gave their visitors some 
 valuable geographical information. The French officers made a sketch 
 of the Tartar coast so far as they had explored it; whereupon the 
 natives took the pencil from their hands, and indicated by a few strokes 
 the position of the Japanese island of Sagalien, and the fact that that 
 island was separated from the mainland of Asia, merely by a strait 
 almost filled up by the sand and detritus brought down by the feagalien 
 river, the stream now called the Amour. This island they called 
 Tchoka. " They took the pencil from our hands," says La Perouse, 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PJilROUSE. 279 
 
 " and by a touch of it joined the island to the continent; then after- 
 wards pushing their canoe upon the sand, they gave us to understand 
 that, having departed from the river, they had thus pushed their canoe 
 wpon the bant of sand which joins the island to the continent, and 
 which they had just sketched ; then, plucking up from the bottom of 
 ■the sea the weed with which I have already said the bottom of this 
 gulf was filled, they placed it upon the shore to signify that there was 
 also this seaweed upon the bank which they had traversed." 
 
 Acting upon the information derived from the friendly Tartars, La 
 Perouse crossed the strait, and made a survey of the coasts of Sagalien, 
 and passed through the strait that separates that island from Jesso, and 
 to which his name has been given. His explorations here threw con- 
 siderable light upon a part of geography of which little had till then 
 been accurately ascertained. It is a gratifying fact that the name of 
 an enterprising and meritorious navigator should have been preserved 
 to perpetuate the memory of a voyage which, in the sequel, proved very 
 disastrous to all engaged in it. 
 
 Some time was now passed by the travellers in Kamtschatka, where 
 the officials of the Russian settlement, in the Bay of Avatscha, and 
 Lieutenant Kaboroff, the Russian ofl&cer in command, gave them not 
 only permission to erect an observatory, but valuable assistance. It 
 fortunately happened, moreover, that M. KaslofE Oagrenin, the Go- 
 vernor of Okhotsk, was making a tour through his province at the time, 
 and was expected to arrive very shortly at the neighbouring harbour of 
 St. Peter and St. Paul. A somewhat perilous adventure was here under- 
 taken by, the zealous naturalists attached to the expedition, Messieurs 
 Bernizet, Mongfes, and Reseveur, who accomplished the ascent of a 
 volcano under circumstances of great difficulty. They found that even 
 Kamtschatka was not destitute of natural productions suitable for the 
 food of man. In those regions, 
 
 " Where, tumbling in their sealskin boat, 
 Fearless the hungry fishers fl.oat, 
 Ajid from their teeming fields supply 
 The food their niggard plains deny," 
 
 the " niggard plains" and barren hills themselves are not entirely 
 destitute of food. From the stunted pine the Kamtschadale can select 
 one species the cones of which contain nuts or seeds good to eat. 
 From the bark of the birch, which grows even in these northern 
 
280 THE WOKLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 regions until it is at last found trailing along the ground like the ivy, 
 the people extract an agreeable beverage ; and berries of many kinds, 
 black and red, and of acid but not disagreeable taste, are found on the 
 mountain side. Fish could be procured along the coast in such abun- 
 dance that yre are assured a single cast of the net close alongside the 
 frigates would have brought up a^haul sufBcient to feast the crews of 
 half-a-dozen ships ; small cod, herrings, plaice, and salmon forming the 
 chief species of the finny prey. 
 
 Monsieur Karsloff, at the settlement ^of St. Peter and St. Paul, 
 rivalled his subordinate at Avatscha injpoliteness. He supplied the 
 travellers with oxen, for which he resolutely refused payment ; and, 
 moreover, gave a ball in their honour, to which all the women in the 
 settlement, both Kamtschadales and Russians, were invited. The 
 female part of the community were not numerous, but peculiar. They 
 numbered only thirteen, ten of whom were Kamtschadales, with flat 
 faces and little eyes, decked out in silks, and demiu^ely seated on 
 benches round the.baU-room. These ladies^favoured the travellers 
 with the exhibition of several Kamtschadale dances, which are 
 described as the reverse of graceful or exhilarating in character, though 
 the ladies exerted themselves with thorough good-will, dancing until 
 they feU exhausted to the ground. "As the dances of all these nations 
 have ever been imitative," writes our commander, "and in fact 
 nothing but a sort of pantomime, I asked what two of the women who 
 Lad just taken such violent exercise had meant to express ; I was told 
 that they had represented a bear-hunt. The woman who rolled on the 
 ground acted the animal, and the other, who kept turning round her, 
 the hunter ; but if the bears could speak, and were to see such a 
 pantomime, they would certainly complain of being so awkwardly 
 imitated." The ball was interrupted by the arrival of a courier from 
 Okhotsk with despatches for the travellers [from Europe ; and La 
 Perouse was much gratified by finding that his government, anxious to 
 mark its approbation of his zeal and success, had raised him to the 
 rank of commodore. Monsieur Karsloff, the governor, seems to have 
 been especially anxious to make a favourable impression on his visitors, 
 both personally for himself, and as the representative of the Russian 
 Government. The promotion of La Perouse was celebrated by a 
 discharge of artillery ; the congratulations of the governor were accom- 
 panied by a number of presents, and every effort was made to exhibit 
 the Russian power as a generous and enlightened one, favourable to 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PJjlRGUSE. 2»1 
 
 progress and science, and desirous of the progress and happiness of 
 humanity. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, there was in the suite of the governor a 
 living representative -of the other and the darker side of Russian rule. 
 Following the governor from place to place with a humble dog-like 
 affection, which M. Karsloff repaid with indulgent kindness, was an 
 aged, downcast, broken-spirited exUe, named Ivaschkin. This man's 
 history was an illustration of the tyranny of despotism, and of the 
 system by which the Russian rule was carried on. Fifty years before, 
 Ivaschkin, a youth not twenty years old, was an oificer in the Imperial 
 Guard at St. Petersburg, in the service of the Czarina Elizabeth. The 
 dissolute chg,racter of the empress was well known ; and in the heat of 
 wine, at the breaking up of a convivial party, Ivaschkin was rasli 
 enough to utter a foolish jest reflecting on his imperial mistress. A 
 spy reported the indiscreet expressions, and for this tipsy outburst of 
 petulance the stripling was condemned to the horrible punishment of 
 the knout ; his nostrils were slit to stamp him with lifelong infamy, 
 and he was banished to the interior of Kamtschatka. After many 
 years the Empress Catherine granted the unfortunate man a pardon. 
 But Ms spirit had been thoroughly broken by the cruelties he had 
 endured. The ei-officer of the Guard had no desire to parade his 
 degradation and exhibit his slit nostrUs in St. Petersburg; the one 
 fixed purpose that survived in him was the determination to hide his 
 disgrace, and end his days in Siberia. It was with the greatest diffi- 
 culty that the officers, whose sympathies were strongly excited, could 
 prevail on the unfortunate exile, who had been educated at Paris, and 
 still preserved something of the manners and feelings of a gentleman, 
 to accept the presents of tobacco, powder, shot, and other articles. they 
 pressed upon him, for which he stammered out some words of grati- 
 tude in the language he stOl remembered. His first impulse, ou 
 hearing of the arrival of the strangers, had been to hide himself from 
 them, and a week had elapsed before they found out his whereabout, 
 by means of M. Lesseps, one of their number. 
 
282 
 
 THE WOELDS EXPLORERS. 
 
 KAMTSCHADALE SLEDGE. 
 
 IV. 
 
 La Pdrouse's Memorial to Captain Gierke — Tlie Kamtscliadale IN'ation — Ravages 
 
 . of Small-Pox — Intermarriay-es with the Russians — De Lesseps Travels to 
 
 Europe Overland — His Account of his Travels — Return to the Southern 
 
 Hemisphere — The Island of Maouna — Architectural Pretensions of Native 
 
 Building-s — Appearance of the Katives — Death of M. de Langle. 
 
 T A PEROTJSE did a good work during his stay at St. Peter and 
 -*-' St. Paul by erecting a tablet to the memory of M. de la Croyere, 
 an earlier explorer, who had died there in 1741, on his return from an 
 expedition to explore the coast of America, undertaken by command of 
 the czar. With singularly graceful courtesy he erected a similar tablet 
 over the grave of Captain Clerkc, Cook's second in command duriflg 
 that celebrated navigator's third voyage, and who had here closed his 
 arduous and eventfiil career only a few years before. La Perouse also 
 verified the survey of the Bay of Avatshka, taken by tlie British in 
 Cook's third voyage, and pronounces their work exceedingly correct. 
 The Kamtschadale nation had been greatly reduced in number about 
 sixteen years before the French commander's visit by that scourge of 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PEROUSE. 
 
 283 
 
 civilised and savage communities, tlie smallpox, which had swept away 
 three-fourths of the native population, and the survivors were rapidly 
 losing their distinctive character by constant intermarriage with the 
 Russians. This mingling with the Russians had doubtless improved 
 the position and habits of the Kamtscha- 
 dalcs. The filthy yourts, or underground 
 dv/ellings, in wdiich they had been accus- 
 tomed to burrow during the winter, had 
 been abandoned for the more civilised 
 isbas, or wooden houses of the Russian 
 peasants, with the large brick stove, wlrose 
 fierce heat renders these peasant dwellings 
 a pandemonium to the stranger. The 
 women were also beginning to dress their 
 hair in imitation of the Russians, whose 
 costume and language they were likewise 
 adopting. The taxes imposed upon them 
 by the government are described as merely 
 nominal, the produce of half-a-day's hunt- 
 ing being frequently found sufficient to 
 defray the imposts of a year, and alto- 
 gether the Kamtschadales seem to have 
 been in every way benefited by the Russian 
 occupation of their territory. In character 
 they are greatly preferable to the Esqui- 
 maux. "They ought no more to be — " 
 compared to tlie Esquimaux Indians," says our txaveller, ' than the 
 sables of Kamtschatka to the martens of Canada." He tells us 
 further concerning them — "Ere long the primitive character that dis- 
 tinguished them so strongly from the Russians will be entirely effaced. 
 Their population does not at present exceed four thousand souls, 
 scattered over the whole peninsula, which extends from the fifty-first 
 to the sixty-third degree of latitude, and occupies several degrees of 
 longitude. Hence it appears that there are several square leagues for 
 each individual. They cultivate no one production of the earth ; and 
 the preference they give to dogs over reindeer in drawing their sledges, 
 prevents their breeding either hogs, sheep, reindeer, horses, or oxen, 
 because these animals would be devoured before they could acquire 
 sufficient strength to defend themselves. Fish is the pirmcipal food of 
 
284 THE WORLD'S KXPLOKERS. 
 
 theii: draught dogs, which go, notwithstanding, as much as twenty-four 
 leagues a day. They are never fed till they come to their journey's 
 end." 
 
 M. Lesseps, who had accompanied the expedition as Kussian inter- 
 preter, here quitted his companions, with the sanction of La P^rouse, 
 as it was his intention to return to Europe overland, with a view of 
 giving a more detailed scientific account of the great Asiatic-Russian 
 territory than had yet appeared. He accomplished his intention, and 
 his book, which contained much interesting information, was afterwards 
 published and translated into English under the title of Travels from 
 Kamischatka to France. 
 
 Again the prows of the ships were turned southward, and 
 La Perouse, after some further exploration of the Pacific, which dis- 
 proved the alleged existence of land laid down in the old Spanish maps, 
 crossed the line once more into the southern hemisphere, and brought 
 his ships to anchor at Maouna, one of the group called the Navigators 
 Isles. Maouna was a beautiful island, and seemed to promise a liberal 
 supply of the fresh provisions and water of which the mariners now 
 began to stand in need. The natives, a vigorous and handsome race, 
 many of the men being above six feet in height, who crowded round 
 the strangers with every demonstration of friendship, brought a 
 plentiful supply of cocoa-nuts, guavas, and other fruits, and offered 
 fowls and hogs for sale, with pigeons, paroquets, and other birds, 
 disdaining the iron and cloth that were offered in exchange, and 
 coveting only beads wherewith to deck themselves out. Their houses 
 and furniture showed a considerable degree of skill. " I went into the 
 handsomest of these huts," says the commander, " which probably 
 belonged to a chief ; and great was my surprise to see a large cabinet 
 of lattice-work, as well executed as any of those in the environs of 
 Paris. The best architect could not have given a more elegant curve 
 to the extremities of the ellipses that terminated the building ; while a 
 row of pillars at five feet distance from each other formed a complete 
 colonnade round the whole. The pillars were made of boughs of trees 
 very neatly wrought, and between them were five mats, laid over one 
 another with great art, like the scales of a fish, and drawing up and 
 down with cords like our Venetian blinds. The rest of the house was 
 covered with leaves of the cocoa-palm." 
 
 A certain expression of ferocity in the faces of these architectural 
 savages, who, moreover, like most of the nations inhabiting the South 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PlfiROUSE. 285 
 
 Sea Islands, were great thieves, pilfering everytliing on -which they 
 could lay their felonious hands, warned the commander to abridge his 
 stay among them. He noticed that although they made no display of 
 offensive weapons, the men were in many cases covered with soars that 
 told of former contests, and plainly indicated their warlike character. 
 They also seemed inclined to become insolent on the strength of their 
 own superior stature, and evidently looked upon their visitors as a 
 curious race of pigmies. There were also disagreeable incidents 
 indicative of hostility. Stones had been thrown at M. Eollin, the 
 surgeon-major, and an attempt had been made to snatch a sword from 
 another officer, M. de Monernon. 
 
 All these indications made La Perouse resolve to abridge his stay 
 at Maouna as much as possible, and he had made every preparation 
 for departure on the following morning, when M. de Langle, who 
 commanded the Astrolabe, returned from an excursion he had made 
 along the coast with the intelligence that he had discovered a magni- 
 ficent harbour for boats, situated near a pleasant village, and, what 
 was of more consequence, in immediate proximity to a splendid cascade 
 of pure fresh water. Though the ships were all ready to sail, M. de 
 Langle strongly urged that such an opportunity of obtaining a few 
 longboat cargoes of excellent water ought not to be neglected, and 
 suggested that the ships could easily be kept standing off and on 
 outside the harbour whOe the boats' crews were employed upon this 
 duty. Some of his men were beginning to suffer from scurvy ; and 
 Captain de Langle quoted Cook's opinion that water recently shipped 
 was in such cases infinitely preferable to any that l)ad been some time 
 on board. La Perouse for a long time held out against every repre- 
 sentation. He had been seriously alarmed by the turbulent behaviour 
 of the islanders, and was anxious to sail at once ; but when De Langle 
 at length offered to head the watering-party himself, and promised to 
 be on board in three hours with all the boats under hia command full 
 of water, the commodore allowed himself to be persuaded, and intrusted 
 the, command of the expedition to hia friend, though with a presenti- 
 ment of evil which the event fatally realised. 
 
 . Accordingly the longboats and barges of the two ships were 
 prepared and manned by a party of sixty-one men, fully armed with 
 musketa and cutlasses ; and six swivel guns were shipped in the long- 
 boats as an additional measure of precaution. It was soon found that 
 M.'de Langle,, in his eagerness to procure fresh water for his men, had 
 
286 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 somewhat overstated the case with regard to the magnificent harbour. 
 On examination the harhour proved to be a shallow basin, approached 
 by a winding channel only twenty-five feet wide, and so nearly empty 
 at low tide that the long-boats were presently aground. M. de Langle 
 had examined the bay at high water, and had not calculated for the 
 difference of six feet made by the ebb. The peaceful attitude of the 
 natives, who had their women and children with them, and of whom 
 only about two hundred were present, made Be Langle determine to 
 remain in the creek and fill his boats with water. By the time this 
 operation was finished the inflow of the tide would give him plenty of 
 depth to take his boats out of the harbour. The business of ship- 
 ping the water was, therefore, commenced; but the captain, now 
 thoroughly anxious, could not fail to observe that the crowd of natives 
 was steadily increasing, until it swelled to about a thousand men. 
 Canoes, which had been trading with the ships in the offing, now con- 
 tinually arrived in the bay, where they landed their crews to swell the 
 crowds on shore. Meanwhile, the operation of watering was completed; 
 but the long-boats were still aground, and the cunning islanders seemed 
 fully aware that something was wrong with the French, who had 
 taken post in their boats, and were waiting, with what patience they 
 might, for the rising of the tide. The natives now began to wade into 
 the water around the boats, and to pelt the crews with stones. Like 
 Cook at Owyhee, M. de Langle was unwilling to order his men to fire 
 while there was a chance of avoiding bloodshed ; and, like Captain 
 Cook, he lost his life through his humanity. 
 
 When at length he began to retaliate, it was too late. The Indians, 
 rendered bold by impunity, had waded into the water quite close to the 
 boats. M. de Langle, struck by a stone, fell over the side of the boat 
 into the water, and was immediately killed by the savages with clubs and 
 stones. The two long-boats were quickly cleared of their occupants, some 
 of whom were massacred in the water by the natives, while others managed 
 to swim to the barges, which lay at a little distance, and very for- 
 tunately had been kept afloat. Had these barges grounded, like the 
 long-boats, it is hardly probable that a single man would have escaped. 
 It was lucky also that the savages, having obtained possession of the 
 long-boats, began to tear up the seats and break their prizes in pieces 
 in search of plunder ; for the fugitives in the barges, who by their 
 numbers had greatly embarrassed the movements of the crew, gained 
 time to establish some kind of order. The officers behaved with great 
 
THE VOYAGE GF LA PEROUSE. 287 
 
 gallantry under these trying circumstances. M. de Gobien, who com- 
 manded the long-boat of the Astrolabe, under the orders of M. de 
 Langle, was the last man to quit the boat and take refuge on board 
 one of the barges ; nor did he retreat until he.had fired his last charge 
 of powder and ball at his assailants. So deeply laden were the two 
 barges, now encumbered with wounded men who had crawled or had 
 been dragged on board, that one of them grounded. The savages, 
 perceiving this, made an attempt to cut off the retreat of their foes ; 
 but by the prudence and coolness of the officers and the courage of the 
 men, the survivors at length effected their escape. At five o'clock the two 
 barges reached the place where the Boussole was riding at anchor, 
 surrounded by a number of canoes, whose crews were busily engaged 
 in trading with the French. The anger and dismay of captain and men 
 on hearing what had occurred was extreme. The sailors and soldiers 
 seized their muskets, and began to cast loose the guns to revenge upon 
 the crowd of natives who surrounded them the outrage perpetrated on 
 their friends. But La Perouse, whose just indignation did not obscure 
 his reason, peremptorily forbade any attack ; pointing out with great 
 ustice that the outrage must have been unpremeditated, and that the 
 fact that these islanders had remained around the ship all day wai a 
 proof of their ignorance of what was going on in the bay. A single 
 charge of powder, fired from a cannon, warned them to depart from 
 the ship ; and when one of their own canoes shortly after joined them, 
 the news was evidently brought, and they paddled away in great 
 haste. 
 
 In this miserable affair twelve persons lost their lives. The mis- 
 take made by De Langle seems to have consisted chiefly in his taking 
 counsel rathee with bis own eagerness than with his jndjgmeiit, in at- 
 tempting a landing in a creek where he was separated from the ships, 
 and left to encounter single-handed a great horde of savages, of whose 
 treachety and fickleness he had already received proofs. La Perouse 
 intended to revenge the deaths of his men by destroying the villages 
 of the treacherous natives ; but, on examination, this plan was seen to 
 be fraught with such danger that it was given up. There was no 
 secure anchorage for the ships outside the reef, and to get into the 
 creek was impossible. Had the remaining boats been allowed to pro- 
 ceed glone, they might have grounded, in which case the destruction of 
 their crews would have been a matter of certainty. The natives, with 
 remarkable impudence, put oif in their canoes, and laying-to at some 
 
288 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 distance from the ships, made signs to the crews that they were willing 
 to trade as if nothing had happened ; but a round shot that came 
 bounding over the bay towards them, and sent the water splashing 
 into their boats, made them scuttle away ; and, with rage and mortifi- 
 cation burning in their breasts, the French sailed away from Maouna 
 without even the mournful satisfaction of recoyering and committing 
 to the deep the corpses of their murdered comrades. 
 
 BAEEAD0E3 FEOM THE SEA. 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA P^EOUSE. 289 
 
 V. 
 
 Voyage Across the Pacific — ^Vavao, in tlie Friendly Islands — Norfolk Island — ■ 
 Enn to Botany Bay — La P&'ouse's Last Letters — Departure from Australia 
 — Long Doubt concerning tie Pate of the Expedition— Voyage of Admiral 
 D'Entrecasteaux in Searcli of La P^rouso — Unfortunate Issue of D'Entre- 
 casteaux's Voyage — Rumours concerning Relics of the Expedition — Voys-go 
 of Captain Dillon, and its Results. 
 
 'TiHE voyagers now toot their way across the Pacific, and touched at 
 several islands, which had been seen and noticed, but not explored, 
 by Cook. After visiting the Navigators' group, they proceeded to the 
 Friendly Islands, and visited that of Vavao, of the existence of which 
 Cook had been informed by report, though he never visited it himself. 
 Vavao is described as larger than Tongataboo, and as possessing 
 several advantages over that island, such as greater elevation, and a 
 constant supply of fresh water. Bear Vavao was another island named 
 Magoura. The caution inculcated by the massacre is seen in an extract 
 of the commander's journal. He says, speaking of the island of 
 Vavao — "Towards noon, I was at the entrance of the port in which 
 Msiurelle (a Spanish navigator) had anchored. It is formed by small 
 islands of some elevation, which have narrow but very deep passages 
 between them, and which afford complete shelter against the winds 
 from the oiBng. This harbour, infinitely superior to that of Tonga- 
 taboo, would have suited me perfectly well for a stay of a few days ; 
 but the anchorage is within two cables' length of the shore, and in 
 that position a long-boat is often necessary to carry out an anchor in 
 order to get off the coast. Every instant I was tempted to lay aside 
 the plan I had formed on leaving Maouna, of putting into no port till 
 I should reach Botany Bay ; but reason and prudence made me resume 
 it. I was desirous, , however, of making some acquaintance with the 
 islanders, and brought-to at a small distance from the land ; but not a 
 single canoe came near the ships." 
 
 On the 13th of January, 1788, the expedition, after encountering 
 very heavy and tempestuous weather, came in sight of Norfolk Island, 
 a spot which afterwards acquired a dismal celebrity in the annals of 
 transportation. The attempts made to land here failed; and La 
 P&ouse, who seems to have been doubly cautious after the lamentable 
 catastrophe of Maouna, had strictly enjoined the commander of the 
 boats to run no risk. They were enabled, however, to observe and 
 
 u 
 
290 THE AVORLD'S EXPLOREES. 
 
 admire the gigantic ISTorfolk Island pine ; and the verdant appearance 
 of the island, as noticed from the sea, appeared to indicate the pre- 
 sence of many plants, a circumstance which aggravated the disappoint- 
 ment of the naturalists, who had promised themselves a rich scientific 
 harvest. But the commander's orders were too explicit and peremptory 
 to be disregarded. Reluctantly, the boats were put about, and the 
 Boussole and Astrolabe crowded all sail for Botany Bay. Tlie 
 travellers sighted the bay on the 23rd of January, and to their great 
 astonishment found a British fleet at anchor there. Captain Hunter, 
 of the Sirius, sent officers on board the Boussole to pay the captain's 
 compliments, and offer his services to the new comers, " adding, how- 
 ever," says La Perouse, with what appears to be quiet satire, " that 
 as he was on the point of getting under way, in order to run to the 
 northward, circumstances would not permit him to furnish us either 
 with provisions, ammunition, or sails ; so that his services were con- 
 fined to wishes for the further success of our voyage." The French 
 commander was not to be outdone in politeness. "Sent an officer,'' 
 says La Perouse, " to return my thanks to Captain Hunter, who 
 already had his anchor apeak, and his topsails hoisted. Intimated to 
 him that my wants did not extend beyond wood and water, of which 
 we should find plenty in the bay ; and that I was sensible that ships 
 destined to establish a colony at so great a distance from Europe could 
 afford no succour to navigators." 
 
 The English were, in fact, occupied in forming a settlement' at the 
 harbour of Port Jackson, a few miles to the noi-thwardof Botany Bay. 
 An amicable intercourse was soon established between the French and 
 English; and La Perouse took advantage of the departure of an 
 English ship to send to Europe the charts and maps, the records of 
 his discoveries and observations since the time he . left Kamtschatka, 
 and also his journal from Kamtschatka to Botany Bay. Already in 
 the preceding September, in a letter dated from Avatscha, he had laid 
 down a plan for his future course. " From Queen Charlotte's Sound," 
 he says, " I shall make a run to the Friendly Islands, and shall do 
 everything I am enjoined to do by my instructions with regard to the 
 southern part of New Caledonia, to the island of Santa Cruz of 
 Mendava, on the south coast of the Terre del Arsacides, and to 
 BourgainviUe's Louisiade, by determining whether it be a part of New 
 Guinea, or separated from it. At the end of July, I shall pass between 
 ISTew Guinea and New Holland by a different channel from that of the 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PliRODSE. 291 
 
 Endeavour, provided such, a one exists. During the months of 
 August, September, and part of October, I shall visit the Gulf of 
 Carpentaria and the coast of New Holland, but in such a way that it 
 may be possible for me to get to the northward, and to reach the Isle 
 of France at the beginning of December, 1788. I shall sail thence 
 very speedily, to reconnoitre Bonnet's pretended Cape Circumcision, 
 a,nd shall arrive in France, after having put in or not, according to 
 circumstances, at the Cape of Good Hope, in June, 1789, forty-six 
 months after my departure." The latter part of this plan is repeated 
 verhatim in a letter written by La Perouse at Botany Bay, and dated 
 February 5th, 1788. Two days later, on February 7th, he wrote a 
 long letter to a friend; he again speaks of his intentions. "In my 
 letters from Kamtschatka," he says, " I communicated to you the plan 
 for the remainder of the voyage, upon which I was obliged to deter- 
 mine, in order to arrive in France in June, 1789. Neither our 
 provisions, nor our rigging, nor even our ships would permit me to 
 prolong the period of my voyage, which, I imagine, will be the most 
 considerable ever made by any navigator, at least as to length of 
 route." 
 
 The concluding paragraph of this, the last letter of La Perouse, 
 refers in a touching manner to the second great calamity that befell the 
 expedition, and the loss of M. de Langle and his companions in the bay 
 at Maouua — a misfortune that evidently weighed deeply on the humane 
 commander's mind. He ends his letter thus : — " M. de Clonard now 
 commands the Astrolabe, and M. de Monti has taken his place on board 
 the Boussole. They are both officers of the greatest talent. In M. 
 de Langle we have lost a man of great merit. He was endowed with 
 excellent qualities, and I could never discover any fault in him but 
 that of being obstinate, and so inflexible in his opinion, that there was 
 no refusing to follow it without quarrelling with him. He rather 
 extorted from me than obtained the permission which was the cause of 
 his death. I should never have yielded if his report of tlic bay where 
 he perished had been exact ; nor can I conceive how it was possible 
 for so prudent and enlightened a man to be so grossly deceived. You 
 see, my dear friend, that I am stiU much afflicted by that event. In 
 spite of myself I return to it incessantly.'' 
 
 These words, in which a tinge of self-reproach seems to mingle not 
 ungracefully with the natural regret for a lost friend, are almost the 
 last penned by the hand of the enterprising navigator. A few days 
 
292 
 
 THE WOKLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 afterwards the Bonssole and the Astrolabe sailed from Botany Bay, 
 and for a long time nothing more was heard of them or of their crews. 
 
 THE TApin. 
 
 When two years had passed, and no word of news reached Europe, 
 public anxiety began to be aroused ia France respecting the fate of 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PE 110 USE. 
 
 29.3 
 
 La Perouse's expedition. The stirring events then convulsing the 
 French kingdom had indeed drawn off public attention from scientific 
 subjects ; but when, in the beginning of 1791, the Parisian society oE 
 Datural history called the attention of the National Assembly to the fact 
 lliat nothing had been heard of the expedition for two years, and that 
 tliough there was every reason to fear the ships had been wrecked, it 
 was very probable that part of the crews might still survive among the 
 irilauds in the Pacific, the government at once determined to fit out two 
 
 SCENi; IX THE FKIt;NDLY ISLANDS. 
 
 new ships, whose mission should be partly to ascertain the fate of the 
 missing voyagers, and partly to complete the task of exploration La 
 Perouse had so well begun. The vessels were appropriately named the 
 llecherche and Esperance, and were placed under the command of 
 Admiral Bruny D'Eutrecasteaux and Captain lluon Kermadec. The 
 -expedition sailed from Brest Koads on the 28th September, 1791. 
 
 At the Cape of Good Hope, Admiral D'Eutrecasteaux received some 
 intelligence bearing in a very important manner iipon the object of his 
 voyage. Captain Hunter, of the Sirius, who had so liberally offered 
 his services to La Perouse at Botany Bay, had lost his ship at Norfolk 
 Island, and was compelled to return home with his ship's company in a 
 Dutch vessel. Near the Admiralty Islands, in the South Pacific, the 
 
294 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 commander and crew of the wrecked Sirius had seen several people 
 clothed in European costume, and some of them, especially, appeared to 
 he wearing French uniforms. Captain Hunter, who had frequently 
 seen La Perouse and his companions, at once declared his belief that 
 these xmiforms had been worn by men of the crews of the Boussole 
 and the Astrolabe. Captain Hunter reported this circumstance at 
 Batavia, and hence the report was carried to the Cape. The state- 
 ments made by the two captains, which were taken down in writing 
 and duly signed by them, were too circumstantial to be disregarded. 
 Though the Admiralty Islands were a long distance out of the intended 
 route of La Perouse, it was thought necessary that they should be 
 explored ; and some time was spent by D'Entrecasteaux in this task. 
 No traces of the lost crews could be found, and the admiral accor- 
 dingly sailed partly round New Holland, and then followed the route 
 which La Perouse had mentioned in his letter of February, 1788, as his 
 intended course. The naturalist La Billardiere, who, with other 
 scientific men, was attached to the expedition, and who afterwards 
 published a well-written and interesting narrative of the voyage, did 
 good service by a careful examination of the productions of the 
 various countries at which the Espdranoe and the Recherche touched in 
 their cruise ; and thus the voyage of D'Entrecasteaux had a practical 
 result in the advancement of natural history, as well as of geographical 
 science. But so far as its main object was concerned, the expedition 
 failed utterly. In spite of the minutest inquiries and the most diligent 
 researches in the Friendly Islands, not one scrap of information could 
 be gathered concerning the Boussole or the Astrolabe ;■ and at length 
 D'Entrecasteaux felt convinced that La Perouse had never visited that 
 group at all. Sickness now broke out among the crews to an alarming 
 extent, and D'Entrecasteaux resolved to return home. In his course 
 he passed near the Queen Charlotte Islands, one of which he named, 
 after his own ship. Isle de Recherche. By this time, however, he was 
 convinced that La Perouse's ships must have foundered far from land, 
 and accordingly he did not explore Isle de Recherche so minutely as he 
 would have done had it been encountered earlier in the voyage. Soon 
 afterwards Admiral D'Entrecasteaux and his colleague, Captain Huon 
 Kermadec, died. The pestiferous climate of Java proved fatal to a 
 great many of the sailors, ninety-nine out of two hundred and nineteen 
 perishing, the great majority in Java itself ; and at last, as war had 
 broken out, in 1792, between the French and Dutch, the ships were 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA ElilEOUSE. 295 
 
 seized as prizes by the authorities, and the unfortunate officers lost 
 their commissions. Thus ended the voyage of D'Entrocasteaux ; and 
 for many years the adventures and the doubtful fate of La PcSrouse 
 ■were forgotten in the tempest of war that swept over Europe during 
 the period of the first French Republic, Consulate, and Empire. 
 
 By a strange chance, when all prospect that the question of La 
 Perouse's fate Trould ever be settled had long been abandoned, the 
 mystery in which the end of his voyage had been shrouded "was 
 dispelled. The Feejee Islands were then, as now, inhabited by a 
 degraded race, savage, brutal, and treacherous. Nevertheless, Euro- 
 pean vessels used not unfrequently to touch at those far-off nooks for 
 cargoes of sandal- wood ; and sometimes parties of the natives were 
 induced, by presents of arms and ammunition, to give their assistance 
 in loading the ship. Occasionally, also, a sailor would run from a ship 
 and hide himself on shore till his vessel had sailed, preferring the rude 
 liberty of savage life on shore to the treatment too frequently endured 
 by " the dog before the mast" at sea. These settlers, many of whom 
 were very doubtful characters, frequently took part in the wars of the 
 natives ; and more than once the natives of an island have risen against 
 the white strangers and massacred them every one. Something of this 
 kind happened in 1813, when the ship Hunter, Captain Kobson, was 
 lying at one of the Feejee Islands, loading with sandal-wood. One day 
 a Prussian named Martin Buschart, and a Lascar named Achowha, the 
 former accompanied by a Feejee wife, came in great dismay to take 
 refuge on board Captain Robson's vessel. They were the sole sur- 
 vivors of a general massacre organised by the natives, who had killed 
 and devoured every other foreign resident in the island. The fugitives 
 begged to be put on shore on the first habitable land the Hunter 
 should pass ; and they were left among the natives of Tucopia, one of 
 the Queen Charlotte group. 
 
 Thirteen years later. Captain Dillon, of the St. Patrick, who had 
 been on board the Hunter in 1813, happened to come in sight of 
 Tucopia on a voyage to Pondicherry, in the East Indies. A feeling of 
 natural curiosity to ascertain whether the old Prussian and his com- 
 panion survived, prompted him to bring the ship to ; and presently, 
 among the swarms of canoes that put off from the shore to trade with the 
 strangers, Captain Dillon saw one rowed by the identical Martin 
 Buschart and his Lascar friend. The latter sold to the gunner of the 
 St. Patrick a silver sword-hilt ; and on inquiry, Martin Buschart told 
 
296 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 how at his first arrival he had seen on the island many articles of 
 French manufacture, such as cups, knives, axes, and iron bolts. These 
 articles, he had afterwards ascertained, came from Manicolo, an island 
 t-wo days' sail to the west. The story told him concerning them was 
 to the effect that two ships had come to Manicolo — ^the very Recherche 
 Island which D'Entrecasteaux had neglected to explore. One of these 
 ships, said the islanders, had been wrecked in deep water, and all her 
 crew perished ; the other had been thrown on a coral reef, and her 
 people had lived for sometime on shore, employed in constructing a new 
 ship from the wreck of the old one. At last they had sailed away, 
 leaving several of their number behind on the island. Now it hap- 
 pened that Captain Billon had heard of the voyage and disappearance 
 of La Perouse, whose initials he, moreover, fancied he recognised on 
 the silver sword-hilt. The story of the islanders also seemed to point 
 to La Perouse's expedition ; and Captain Dillon determined to examine 
 Manicolo for himself, and set the matter at rest. But baffling winds 
 and scarcity of provisions forbade him to linger on his voyage, and 
 he was obliged, in the interest of his owners, to make the best of his 
 way to Pondicherry, the port of his destination. 
 
 Captain Dillon did not fail, on his arrival, to make known what he 
 had seen and heard, and strongly represented to the government the 
 desirableness of sending a ship to Manicolo, and, if possible, to ascer- 
 tain the fate of La Perouse. He offered to conduct the inquiry himself, 
 and, indeed, his long experience in the Pacific and among the Society 
 Islands rendered him peculiarly fit for the duty. He was duly provided 
 with a ship, and in 1827 started on his mission. At Tucopia he 
 procured an interpreter, and proceeded to Manicolo, where the natives 
 told him a story of whose truth he obtained abundant proofs. That 
 two ships had been wrecked upon the coral reef that surrounded then- 
 island, as reported by Martin Buschart and the Lascar, they declared 
 to be true. One ship, the smaller, no doubt the Astrolabe, had sunk 
 in deep water with all her crew, at a place called Whannow ; while 
 the other and larger vessel ran on the coral reef at some distance from 
 Whannow, and remained fixed in the rock, so that her crew could get 
 ashore. For five months they remained on the island, occupied in 
 building a two-masted ship from the wreck of their own. The people 
 had an idea that they were magicians, inasmuch as they conversed with 
 the sun and stars through a long stick — the "long stick" in question 
 being, of course, the telescope used in astronomical observations. 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PEROUSE. 
 
 297 
 
 Some of these men, said the natives, used to stand on one leg, 
 and hold a bar of iron in their hands — these must have been tlie 
 sentries. 
 
 A more astounding assertion was the one that the strangers had 
 noses a yard long ; but the ingenious reader will conjecture that these 
 "long noses" were the coclied hats to which Frenchmen have in 
 all ages been greatly addicted. The Lascar had seen two Frenchmen 
 
 c->\L 
 
 ^it\^ 
 
 liEPUELICANS ESCOHTIiSG LOUIS XVI. TO PARIS. 
 
 on the island. One of them had died three years before Captain 
 Dillon's visit ; the other had departed from the island in the suite of a 
 fugitive chief, wlio had been compelled to retreat from IManicolo after 
 being worsted in battle. 
 
 Captain Dillon now set himself to the task of collecting relics iu 
 corroboration of this account, and he found sufficient to set all doubts 
 at rest. The natives came forward with a number of articles, some of 
 which were easily identified. Among these were a piece of a ship'is 
 back-board displaying a flear-de-lis, a part of a theodolite, a ship's 
 bell with a French inscription, a number of bolts and bars, fragments 
 of china, and pieces of philosophical instruments. On examining the 
 
2£8 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 reef on whicli the larger stip was reportsd to liave sunk, the captain 
 raised several brass guns. With these practical proofs of his success 
 he returned to Calcutta, and thence -went to Paris, where the Ising, 
 Charles X., liberally rewarded him for his exertions. Complete cer- 
 tainty was attained when an expert English genealogist identified 
 the arms engraved on a candlestick — one of the relics brought home 
 by Captain Dillon — as those of Colignon, one of the scientific men on 
 board the Boussole. 
 
 Thus the fiite of the two ships and of one of the crews was ascer- 
 tained beyond a doubt. What became of the survivors and of the un- 
 fortunate commander himself after their departure from Manicolo wiU 
 ever remain a mystery. That the two vessels should have been lost as 
 they were is somewhat remarkable, when we consider that the natural 
 prudence of the commander had been further stimulated by the imfor- 
 tunate occurrence at Maouna; but, on the other hand, it must be 
 remembered that so cautious and exporiencedr a navigator as Cook 
 himself barely escaped shipwreck on a coast where coral reefs rose 
 suddenly out of the deep water as at Manicolo. The strangest part of 
 the whole story is that an expedition sent out with the avowed purpose 
 of ascertaining the navigator's fate, should, by an unlucky chance, have 
 failed in its mission, while an English captain, turning out of his 
 course to satisfy an impulse of curiosity in quite another direction, 
 should stumble on the answer to the question that had been a mystery 
 for nearly half-a-hundred years. 
 
 Of the importance of La Perouse's voyage, and of the merits of 
 this commander as a navigator and explorer, there can be no doubt. 
 Like Cook, whose example he quoted and followed on every important 
 occasion, he was distinguished by' continual vigilance and anxiety for 
 the well-being of his crews, who enjoyed ahnost as complete an 
 immunity from sickness as those of the Adventure and Discovery. 
 A conscientious, painstaking man, he took care to perform his nautical 
 duties with an honest thoroughness that has rendered his observations 
 especially valuable. His examination of the coast of America to 
 Monterez, and his investigations on the Tartar shore opposite Sagahin, 
 supplied pages that had been wanting in the geography of the 
 world. 
 
 Never, perhaps, did an explorer start with fairer prospects of success, 
 or a. more thorough determination to achieve it; never did voyage, 
 begun vmder prosperous auspices, end more unhappily for those who 
 
THE VOYAGE OF LA PEROUSE. 
 
 299 
 
 undertook it. Still, though the lives of the brave commander and his 
 followers were sacrificed in the cause, their efforts were not in vain ; 
 and the names of La I'erouse and of the voyages of the ISoussole and 
 jVstrolabe are worthily inscribed on the glorious roll of the heroes of 
 maritime discovery. 
 
( 300 ) 
 
 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS 
 TRAVELS. 
 
 Humboldt's Long and Arduous Career — His First Work — His Puranit of 
 Geology — His Appointment as Inspector of Mines— He Eesolves to Travel- 
 Verifies the Experiments of GalTani — Designs to Join Captain Baudin's 
 Expedition to tlie Southern Hemisphere — On the Failure of that Expedition 
 Resolves to Pass the Wiator in Spain. 
 
 TN the year 1790, -when tlie project of sending Admiral D'Entre- 
 casteaux into the Pacific to search for La Perouse was being 
 mooted, there appeared a book on a subject then in its infancy, and 
 very little understood even by scientific men. It was entitled Observa- 
 iioiw on the Basalts of the Rhine, and was published at Brunswick ; it 
 treated of certain geological facts, and was in many respects beyond 
 the intellectual grasp of most readers of the day. It excited some 
 attention, however, and the young Baron Humboldt, its author, was 
 already spoken of as a man who had a great future before him. More 
 than sixty years afterwards, in the year 1854, was completed a work of 
 stupendous learning, research, and industry, entitled Cosmos. This 
 book contained a great and exhaustive inquiry into the physical nature 
 of the universe, comprising within itself deepest questions in astro- 
 nomy, geology, distribution of climate, and, in fact, every department 
 of science connected with the nature and operations of our planetary 
 system. This book was by the same hand which in 1790 had indited 
 the work on the basalts of the Rhine. Alexander von Humboldt, 
 more than eighty years of age, was stiU hard at work, diligently and 
 faithfully delving in the inexhaustible field of science. For more than 
 sixty years had he been investigator, traveller, philosopher, and 
 author; and though past the "fourscore years," the Scriptural limita- 
 tion of the life of strong men, he still laboured day by day in his 
 study, earnestly and patiently investigating those secrets which Nature 
 only reveals as a reward for diligent and devoted toil. 
 
teiSTT 
 
 
 .a"^''"-^', 
 
 ,. ' 
 
 w 
 o 
 
 l> 
 
 R) 
 t> 
 o 
 
 
 jy^ 
 
 
 y 
 
 I _ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 1- 
 
 ^ » 
 
 ^s 
 
 "^ 
 
AJ_iJiJS.AJMJJliK VUJN JlUMiiUljDi. 
 
 301 
 
 jSTo scientific investigator has had such a career as Humboldt, no 
 name has been more widely spread, more generally honoured, than his. 
 Goethe, the poet, was called by his admirers " der Allsoitige," the all- 
 sided, for the wonderful diversity of knowledge he displayed ; tlie term 
 might with even greater aptness be applied to the great Prussian 
 traveller and philosopher. No department of science was unfamiliar 
 ohim, whether the subject under consideration was the physiognomy 
 
 of plants, the relative height of continents, the movements and magni- 
 tude of particular stars, the barometric measurement of the height of 
 mountains, the habits of wild animals on the banks of the great South 
 American rivers, the customs, languages, and manners of the still more 
 savage human inhabitants of those regions, the structure and action of 
 volcanoes, the direction of isothermal lines, or any other of the 
 thousand and one branches into which physical science in its widest 
 sense may be divided. Alexander von Humboldt could discourse upon 
 each question as if it had been the one study of his life ; and not the 
 least remarkable point in his manner of treating every subject was the 
 total absence of dogmatising self-assertion. In writing of matters 
 which have been with him the peculiar study of years, and to the 
 consideration of which he has brought all the stores of his vast intellect 
 
302 THE WOKLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 and varied experience, it is touching to olDserve him writing as if 
 under correction ; bringing forward his views as suggestions rather 
 than as assertions, and showing in every line that he considers himself, 
 after all his years of intense study, but a beginner in the mighty task 
 of investigating the secrets and explaining the workings of Nature. 
 No man has achieved more as a traveller, philosopher, or writer ; no 
 mSn has arrogated to himself less, or has been so willing to supplement 
 and to correct his own views by a due and impartial consideration of 
 the labours of others. 
 
 The travels of Humboldt occupy a separate and peculiar place in 
 the history of scientific exploration. In maritime voyages the necessity 
 of pursuing the path sketched out, the danger of going far from the 
 ships, and, in many cases, the want of scientific apparatus, and, still 
 more frequently, of leisure for making journeys into the interior of the 
 countries visited, confined the area of investigation to the coasts, and 
 prevented the commander at the head of the enterprise, or the 
 scientific men acting under his directions, however active their zeal 
 might be, from obtaining more than a "coast and island" knowledge of 
 distant regions. Thus one after another, Cook, La Perouse, and 
 several other navigators, filled in strip by strip the chart of the coast 
 of America from Behring Straits to Cape Horn. But of the wonders 
 hidden in the pathless wilds of the vast regions bordering on the 
 Amazon, the Essequibo, and the Orinoko, in South America — of the 
 marvels of the Andes, and of the i-ecords of a past age hidden deep in 
 the forests of Mexico and Peru — of these and a thousand other 
 questions connected with the unexplored tracts alike of the New and 
 of the Old World, of Asia and of America, the scientific world knew 
 nothing until Humboldt, boldly penetrating into those regions, raised 
 the veil which had hung over the climes where Nature is grandest in 
 her manifestations, and returned from his travels to tell his countrymen 
 and the world what things he had seen in wildernesses where the foot 
 of civilised man had never passed till he startled their solitudes by his 
 approach. Let those who would learn to appreciate the flood of hght 
 the researches of this greatest of scientific travellers has cast upon 
 Central America and Asia read the admirable Views of Nature, in 
 which some of the results of the travels of Humboldt have been 
 epitomised. The vastness of his merits appears nowhere in more 
 shining array than in that wonderful book, in which the veteran 
 traveller has told in plain and simple language, which, however, here 
 
AijJliA.AJNL»JiK. > UiN n.UiVlDUljL»i. OUO 
 
 and there ■warms up iato natural eloquence, what things ho has seen 
 and noted in his wanderings ; and modestly, and with a certain graceful 
 reticence infinitely pleasing in a man of such vast attainments, 
 indicates rather than asserts the convictions to which he has been led 
 by a long course of study and experiment. 
 
 Frederick Henry Alexander von Humboldt was born at Berlin in 
 1769, a year which gave to the world such great men as Napoleon, 
 Wellington, and Cuvier. After studying at Grottingen and at Frank- 
 fort-on-the-Oder, where the bent of his mhid towards iavestigations in 
 natural science was sufficiently shown, he began his travels by a 
 scientific journey through Germany, and a visit to England and 
 Holland. Geology and botany, in the widest sense, were the studies to 
 which he principally devoted his attention at this time. In 1791, soon 
 after the publication of his work on the basalts of the Khine, he pro- 
 ceeded to Frtyb !rg, in Saxony, where at that time resided, as inspector 
 of the royal mines, the celebrated Gottlieb Werner, who has been 
 called the father of modern geology. Like several other men who 
 afterwards became distinguished geologists, the young Baron Hum- 
 boldt respectfully received the instructions of Werner ; and, like many 
 of his feUow-students, he found it necessary, at a subsequent period of 
 his career, to forget, or at any rate greatly to modify, much that 
 Werner had taught him. Werner, forming his conclusions from obser- 
 vations restricted to the mountain chains of Saxony, had started what 
 was called the Neptunian theory, which ascribed an aqueous origin to 
 all rooks ; and this had not yet been opposed by the theory advanced at 
 a later period by James Hutton, of Glasgow, a theory which very 
 rightly pointed to the evident traces of fire on certain rocks, and 
 declared the aqueous rocks to be the debris of earlier formations. The 
 great contest between Neptunians and Plutonians had not yet com- 
 menced, and not till afterwards did " Stratum Smith" arise to point 
 out that " both were right and both were wrong," and to put geology 
 on a firm basis. Humboldt's mind was of too original and reflective a 
 cast to be entirely swayed by the assertions of another ; and in his 
 works there is abundant proof that while ho profited by Werner's 
 instructions, he was not led away by the incorrect generalisation which 
 introduced so much error into the Neptunian theories. 
 
 The geological acumen of Humboldt soon attracted attention, and 
 between 1792 and 1795 he was first appointed assessor of the Council 
 of Mines at~ Berlin, and afterwards director- general of the mines of the 
 
304 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLOKERS. 
 
 principalities of Aiispacli and Bayronth, in Franconia. Fortunately for 
 the interests of science, Humboldt was possessed of sucli ample private 
 means that the emoluments of office were indifferent to him, and in 
 1795 he resigned his appointment, having resolved to travel. At this 
 time he turned his attention to electrical science, and esjjocially to the 
 discoveries of (lalvani, which were at that time looked upon with the 
 scepticism in wliiiih ignorance loves to take refuge. Alexander von 
 Humboldt not o'Aj repe:it?d the exjjerimcnts of Galvani, but coi'rected 
 
 A SILVEr. Mi:v'l\ 
 
 them in many important particulars. At this period it was that he 
 also made the acquaintance of the celebrated naturalist Leopold von 
 Buch, and of the French botanist Aime BoniDland, who afterwards 
 accompanied him in his travels. It was Humboldt's first intention to 
 associate himself with an expedition of discovery that was to have been 
 despatched to the southern hemisphere under Captain Baudin, a 
 French man of science of considerable attainments. But France was 
 at that time the Ishmaelite of nations. Her hand was against every 
 man, as every man's hand was against her. The greatest efforts were 
 necessary, the most heroic sacrifices had to be day by day repeated, to 
 insure her national existence. Tlie generals who won her battles on 
 the frontiers had given up tlio Tory bullion on their epaulettes and on 
 
ALEXANDER VON IIUJMBOLDT. 
 
 305 
 
 the facings of their uniforms to provide for tlie cxitjcncies of the 
 moment, and the gorernment couhi not grant for scientific purposes 
 the funds tliat were hut too urgently required for powder and iron. 
 Tlie sclieme of tlic voyage to tlie soutliern hemisijhcrc was abandoned, 
 and Ilmnboklt and Bonjilaud now purposing to visit Northern Africa 
 and investigate the flora and the geology of the Atlas range, waited nt 
 ^Marseilles for two months for the ari-ival of the frigate which was to 
 convey the Swedish consul, who had promised them a passage. News 
 came at last that the vessel had been injured by a storm, and would 
 not sail for some time ; accordingly Humboldt and Bonjoland parted, 
 and the former detei-minod to pass the winter in Spain. 
 
 (C^C= 
 
30G THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 U. 
 
 Humboldt ReoelYOs Permission to Visit the Spanish Colonies in South America 
 —Resolves to Travel to New Spain— Writes to Ask his Friend Bonpland to 
 Join Him— Embarks for the West Indies on a Spanish Frigate— Visits the 
 Pealr of Teneriffe— The Dragon-Tree at Orotava- Humboldt's Interesting 
 Views and Kesearches regarding the Age of Trees. 
 
 /CIRCUMSTANCES now gave a new and far more important direction 
 ^^ to our travellers' scheme than had been included in their first plan. 
 Humboldt, who had already become a marked man in the scientific 
 world, was everywhere received with great distinction ; and the king, 
 struck by the energy and enthusiasm of the young German stranger, 
 no less than by his undoubted attainments, offered his guest permis- 
 sion to visit, under the government protection, each and every part of 
 the Spanish colonial territory in America, and to make whatever 
 scientific explorations and experiments he should think fit. This waa 
 a very valuable concession ; for at that time the Spaniards, and indeed 
 almost every nation, looked with suspicion and mistrust upon any 
 stranger who visited their colonial dependencies. The sapient colonial 
 governor had wondered how Cook and his companions could want " to 
 see the north star go through the south pole;" and there was a 
 tendency, both before and after that time, to attribute all exploring 
 voyages and travels to political rather than to scientific motives. 
 Humboldt himself felt the importance of the point he had gained. In 
 his Personal Narrative he says — 
 
 " Never had so extensive a permission been granted to any traveller, 
 and never had any traveller been honoured with more confidence on 
 the pai-t of the Spanish Government. To dissipate every doubt which 
 the viceroys, or captains-general representing the royal authority in 
 America, might entertain with respect to the nature of my labours, the 
 passport of the primera secretaria (k estado stated that I was authorised 
 to make free use of my instruments of physic and geognosy, that I 
 might make astronomical observations through the whole of the Spanish 
 dominions, measure the height of mountains, examine the productions 
 of the soil, and execute all operations which I might judge useful for 
 the progress of the sciences. These orders of the court were strictly 
 followed, even after the events which obliged M. d'Urquijo to quit the 
 ministry. I endeavoured, on my part, to justify by my conduct these 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 307 
 
 marks of unceasing attention. During my abode in America I pre- 
 sented the governors of the provinces with a duplicate of the materials 
 which I had collected, and which might interest the mother country by 
 throwing some light on the geography and the statistics of the colonies. 
 Agreeably to the offer I had made before my departure, I addressed 
 several geological collections to the cabinet of natural history of 
 .Madrid. The purpose of our journey being merely scientific, we suc- 
 ceeded in conciliating the friendship of the natives, and that of the 
 iLuropeans entrusted with the administration of these vast countries. 
 During the five years in which we travelled throughout the new 
 continent we did not perceive the slightest mark of distrust ; and we 
 remember with pleasure that amidst the most painful privations, and 
 whilst we were struggling against the obstacles which arose from the 
 savage state of those regions, we never had to complain of the 
 injustice of men." 
 
 Humboldt immediately wrote the good news to his friend Bonpland, 
 r,t Paris, and enjoined him to make the best of his way to Spain. 
 Bonpland obeyed the summons ; and on the 5th of June the two 
 travellers embarked at Corunna,. on board the Spanish frigate Pizarro, 
 on one of themost remarkable voyages of exploration ever undertaken 
 for purely scientific purposes. From beginning to end, during the five 
 years -the expedition lasted, the mind of Humboldt was continually at 
 work, and his notebooks soon became a storehouse of scientific wealth, 
 as valuable for the facts they contained as for the new theories they 
 suggested. Nothing seems to have disturbed the equanimity or damped 
 the energy of the ardent inquirer, who found a congenial spirit in his 
 young companion. Spain and England were at war at that time, the 
 Piairro was not in fighting condition, so a stringent regulation 
 forbade the use of lights in the evening, even in the great cabin, lest 
 the ship shoidd be discovered and chased by the enemy's cruisers. 
 This regulation was extremely irksome to the two investigators during 
 the passages they made in their five years' travels ; but Humboldt found 
 out a way, by the use of dark lanterns, to satisfy the requirements of 
 safety and yet to pursue his investigations in examining the nocturnal 
 temperature of the water, and reading the numbers on astronomical 
 instruments. During the run across the Atlantic his attention was 
 especially turned to a question which till then had been only partially 
 investigated, and to the elucidation of which Htimboldt offered many 
 new and important facts — the direction and .velocity of ocean currents. 
 
308 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 His account of the Gulf Stream is especially interesting. Humboldt 
 mentions how a hrancli of this stream every year deposits on the western 
 
 THE CAPYBARA, OR CAVY. 
 
 cossts of Iceland and Norway the fruit of trees which belong to the 
 torrid zone of America, how on the shores of the Hebrides the reeds of 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 309 
 
 the Mimosa scandens and many other plants of Jamaica, Cuba, and the 
 mainland of America are collected ; and how barrels of French -vvines, 
 the remains of cargoes of ships wrecked in the West Indian seas, have 
 found their way, in good preservation, to the western shores of Europe. 
 Still more remarkable instances of the method in which ocean currents 
 have become the means of communication between the Old World and 
 the Now are adduced in the Personal Narrative. "The wreck of au 
 English vessel," he says, "the Tilbury, burnt near Jamaica, was found 
 on the coasts of Scotland. On these same coasts various kinds of 
 tortoises are sometimes found that inhabit the waters of the Antilles. 
 When the western winds are of long duration, a current is formed in 
 the high latitudes which runs directly towards the east-south-east, from 
 the coasts of Greenland and Labrador as far as the north of Scotland. 
 Wallace relates that twice, in 1682 and 168^, American savages of the 
 race of the Esquimaux, driven out to sea in their leathern canoes during 
 a storm, and left to the guidance of the currents, reached the Orcades. 
 This last example is &o much the more worthy of attention as it proves 
 at the same time how, at a period when the art of navigation was yet 
 in its infancy, the motion of the waters of the ocean would contribute 
 t3 disseminate the different races of men over the face of the globe." 
 
 Subsequent travellers and men of science have pursued the investi- 
 gations begun by Humboldt respecting the effects and the cause of the 
 (lulf Stream; and Lieutenant Maury, of the United States navy, one 
 of the foremost investigators of the natural phenomena of the ocean, 
 has, in his valuable work, the Physical Geography of the Sea, advanced 
 a theory which has superseded all foriher conjectures. Arguing on the 
 well-known phenomena of tropical seas, he ascribes this great "river 
 in the sea," like other ocean currents, to the disturbing influences of 
 change of temperature expanding and contracting the water, and thus 
 altering its relative density or weight. 
 
 At Teneriffe the travellers ascended the celebrated Peak, a volcano 
 of very peculiar construction. Humboldt declares that its crater bears 
 no resemblance to those of the majority of volcanoes he visited ; for 
 instance, those of Vesuvius, JoruUo in Mexico, or Pichincha in Peru, 
 in which the crater is in the form of a cone, sloping gradually down 
 from the apex to the base at about the same angle, and covered with a 
 layer of small particles of pumice-stone. The Peak of Teneriffe, like 
 Cotopaxi in Peru, has a w^all surrounding the crater, "looking at a 
 short distance like a cylinder on a truncatii cone." The size of the 
 
010 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS, 
 
 cvatOT o£ a volcano, Humboldt observes, is not directly proportioned to 
 the height of the mountain or the intensity of its volcanic actio;i. 
 Thus Vesuvius, which, compared to the Peak of Teneriffe, is but a hill, 
 h,as a much larger and wider crater than the latter mountain. Th« 
 usual notion of a volcano presents to the mind the picture of a 
 mountain of moderate height, of conical form, and having a circular 
 opening or crater at the summit. This idea has arisen from the fact 
 that Etna and Vesuvius have generally been considered as the models 
 of all volcanoes. Humboldt, hoy/.ever, points out that the forms of 
 volcanoes and of their craters are as va,rious as are the manifestations 
 cf volcanic action themselves ; that many of the highest volcanoes in 
 the world, such as those in the lofty Andes range, have extremely small 
 craters ; and that the summit of a volcano is by no means the only 
 cutlet by which the volcanic force expends itself, lateral outlets or 
 Gssurcs in the side of the volcano often serving as passages for eruptive 
 force. Hero, as throughout the whole of his work, the author warns 
 his readers and all scientific students against the mistake continually 
 made in his day, aiid, as recent experiences would seem to indicate, 
 equally rife in ours— namely, the error of forming general conclusions 
 from a few restricted phenomena. "In order to raise ourselves to 
 geological conceptions worthy of the greatness of Kature," he concludes 
 a paragraph, '' we must set aside the idea that all volcanoes are formed 
 after the models of Vesuvius, Stromboli, and Etna." 
 
 The toil of climbing the Peak was amply repaid by the splendid 
 view spread out before the travellers when they had reached the 
 summit. The clearness of the air in this sc-mi-tropical climate enabled 
 the travellers to see much farther than they could have done in a higher 
 latitude. Before them lay spread a glorious panorama of the whole 
 Archipelago of the Canaries, the Fortunate Isles of the ancients, where 
 tlie great myth placed the "Islands of the Blessed." The Peak has 
 BOW been for many centuries in an inactive state, and its crater is what 
 we call a solfatara; but Humboldt points out that a volcano, from 
 whose fissures exude gases that raise a thermometer to 160 deg., cannot 
 be considered extinct ; and mentions the fact that in 1611 the crater of 
 Vesuviu,^ was in the condition of a solfatara, overgrown with shrubs 
 and plants, as a proof that the Peak, like Vesuvius, may some day 
 resume its activity, and burst out afresh into flame. 
 
 Near the small town of Orotava, the ancient Taoro, the travellers 
 saw one of the most remarkable historical trees in the world'. It was a 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 311 
 
 draccena, or dragon-tree, of colossal proportions, and was considered 
 " as sacred in the eyes of the inhabitants of the Canaries as the olive- 
 tree in the citadel of Athens, or the elm of Ephesus." Tliis tree had 
 been mentioned by the Norman adventurers De Bcthcncourt, -who, at 
 the beginning of the fifteenth century, conquered the Canary Islands, 
 and was oven then remarkable for its great age. In his I'icics of 
 Nature, Humboldt, spealdng of tlio age of trees, has inserted a very 
 interesting note respecting the dragon-tree of Orotava. It appears he 
 and Bonpland measured it several feet above the root, and found the 
 circumference of the tree to be nearly 48 English feet. I^ov/er down 
 and nearer to the root, liC Dru, another naturalist, m.adc it nearly 
 79 English feet, while Sir George Staunton found the diameter as much 
 as 12 feet at the height of 10 feet above the ground. This dragon-tree 
 was remarkable rather for its thickness than for its height, which latter 
 did not ezceod 69 English feet. " According to tradition," says 
 Humboldt in the note, "this tree was worshipped by the Guanches'' 
 (the native inhabitants of the Canary Islands) " as the ash-tree of 
 Ephesus was by the Greeks, or the Lydian plane-tree which Xerxes 
 docked with ornaments, and the sacred banyan-tree of Ceylon, and 
 at the time of the first expedition of the De Betheacourts, in 1402, 
 it was already as thick and as hollow as it is nrjw." Remembering that 
 the draooena grows extremely slowly, we are led to infer the high 
 antiijnity of the tree of Orotava. BerthoUet, in his description of 
 Teneriife, says, " When we compare ike young dragon-trees that 
 stand around with the gigantic tree, the estimate we are compelled to 
 make of the age of the latter becomes tremendous. The dragon-tree 
 has been cultivated in the Canaries, and in Madeira, and Porto Santo, 
 from the earliest times ; and an accurate observer, Leopold von Buch, 
 has even found it wild in Teneriffe, near Igneste. Its original country, 
 therefore, is not India, as has long been believed ; nor does its appear- 
 ance in the Canaries contradict the opinion of those who regard the 
 Guanches as having been an isolated Atlantic nation, without inter- 
 course with African or Asiatic nations It is affirmed that 
 
 in the early times of the Norman and Spanish conquests in the fifteenth 
 century, mass was said at a small altar erected in the hollow trunk of 
 the tree. Unfortunately, the dragon-tree of Orotava lost one side of 
 its top in the storm of the 21st July, 1819." 
 
 That some trees have a prodigious antiquity thereis no doubt. It 
 is told by Navarete that in 1503, when the ship of Gonzalo; Coelho, a 
 
312 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Portuguese navigator, was -wrecked on an island near tire Gulf of 
 (juioca (probably San Fernando Noronha) inscriptions were found ia 
 the bark of trees, of crosses and mottoes, left by navigators employed 
 almost a century before by the Infante Don Henrique, surnamed the 
 Discoverer, one of the first of those enlightened men whose eiforts drew 
 attontiou to the probable existence of a new world beyond the Atlantic. 
 ()ji one tree was the date 1435, and the motto of Don Henrique, 
 "Talent de bien faire." On another appeared an inscription with a 
 datd ninety years before. DecaudoUe, the French naturalist, writing 
 on the longevity of trees, assigns to a yew he saw at Braborne, in Kent, 
 
 an age of three thousand years, making his estimate from the annua 
 rings formed under the bark, and the ratio of time between the thick- 
 ness of the wood and the period of growth. Similar calculations have 
 assigned to tlie Scotch yew of Fortingal an age of from twenty-five to 
 twenty-six centuiics ; to those of Crowhurst, in Surrey, and of Ripon, 
 in Yorkshire, fourteen and twelve centuries. At llildesheim, iu 
 Germany, there is a wild rose-tree iu the crypt of the cathedral, the 
 root of which is certainly proved to be a thousand years old. The 
 cathedral itself dates from the time of Louis the Pious, the son and 
 successor of Charlemagne, who died iu 840, and founded the cathedral 
 some twenty years before his death. In the archives of llildesheim 
 there is an original document of the eleventh century, two centuries 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 
 
 8ia 
 
 only after the foundation of the cathedral, wliich tells us that wlioo 
 Bishop Hezilo rebuilt the cathedral, -which had been destroyed by fire, 
 he inclosed the roots of the rose-tree of Louis, the founder, with a vault 
 (which still exists), and built upon this vault the crypt, which waf< 
 reconsecrated in 1001, and spread abroad tire branches of the rose-tree 
 upon the walls. The stem, 2G-i feet high and 2 inches in diameter, anJ 
 the spreading branclu^s covering part of the wall of the crypt, are Etill 
 full of life and vigour; and the tree is justly celebrated as a Vetera,. 
 whose age has been verified by documentary evidence. 
 
314 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXl'LOUERS. 
 
 ni. 
 
 Various Zones of Vegetation in tlic Ideaid of Tcncrifib— PasEai^e t.j the West 
 Indies — ObserTations on Atlantic and ctlier Ocean CniTents— Great Beds of 
 Seaweed — The Sar,i;asso Sea — Arrival in the West Indies — A Doctor 
 Sangrado — Earthnnakes and Eruptions of Tolcanoes-Gonneetion of the 
 Phenomena — Humboldt's Views on Volcanic Action. 
 
 'XiHE island of TeuerilTe v.as a mine of botanical wealth to our 
 -*- travellers. j\s IlujnljolJt had afterwards occasion to remark con- 
 cerning i'eru, some countiics offer in tjiemselres the productions of 
 various climes and regions, tlie different productions "being arranged in 
 zones or belts, according to the heiglit above the sea level of the places 
 where thej flourisli. 'I'hus in Teneriffc the productions of tropical 
 countries, the brcad-frn it-tree, cinnamon-tree, and others, grow and 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUJMBOLDT. 315 
 
 flourish. The zone of laurels is the next ; and this coiup rises the 
 \v"oody part of Teneriffe. Four species of laurel, aa oak species rescir.- 
 liling that of Thibet, a native olive, and many myrtles, form, with the 
 chestnut-tree, the staple vegetation of this zone. The third zone, 
 begianing het^veen five and six thousand feet above the level of the sea, 
 offers a great forest of pines, with some cedars interspersed. The 
 fourth and fifth zones, occupying heights equal to the most inaccessible 
 summits of the Pyrenees, and generally volcanic in character, offered 
 flo-svering-plants of Alpine broom, "that form oases amidst a vast sea 
 of ashes." Tv/o herbaceous plants, the Sorofularia glabrata and the 
 Viola cheiranthifolia, are also found there ; and almost to the summit 
 of the Peak lichens are found among the scorified matter, the evidence 
 of the former action of fiery forces. "By this unceasing action of 
 organic forces," says Humboldt, " the empire of Flora extends itself 
 over islands ravaged by volcanoes." 
 
 Iherun from Teneriffe to the West Indies was not marked by any 
 stirring incidents ; but Humboldt, whose active mind was easily roused 
 to speculation and theory, made the floating seaweed that was passed in 
 great quantities during part of their passage the occasion of a very 
 valuable treatise on the position of banks of seaweed, as caused and 
 modified by the position and direction of ocean currents. Already in 
 the ancient writers mention is made of a part of the sea where the ships 
 of the Phceniciaus, pushing out westward into the great Atlantic, y.-ere 
 checked in their course by great masses of weed, forming sea meadows, 
 or connected masses of weed. Some part of these rumours spread by 
 the Phoenicians Humboldt ascribes with great probability to Punic 
 artifice. A great trading nation, having in its own hands the profitable 
 maritime commerce of the Atlantic, would naturally seek to deter other 
 nations from entering into rivalry and competition by an exaggerated 
 jicoount of the dangers and difliculties to be encountered in the navi- 
 gation of the seas. Some record of the enormous banks of fucus or 
 seaweed to be found in a particular region of the Atlantic had been 
 handed down from ancient times ; and the Sargasso Sea, as it is called, 
 is, in fact, the part of the great ocean to which currents from various 
 quarters drift the waifs and strays of marine vegetation. There they 
 accumulate, and are tossed up and down on the long swell of the 
 Atlantic. Fernando Columbus, the son of the great discoverer of 
 America, graphically describes how the fears of the sailors in his 
 father's ships were excited by the immense masses of weed, in which 
 
316 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 they feaveJ the vessels would be entangled. In tlie three centuries 
 which have elapsed since the time of Columbus, the position of the 
 great fucus banks lias remained the same. 
 
 With respect to the appearance of these masses of weed on the 
 surface, Humboldt says, " 1 hough a S23ecies of seaweed has been seen 
 with stems 800 feet long" (he is here alluding to the Fucus giganteus 
 of Forster), " the growth of these marine cryptoganiia being extremely 
 rapid, it is not less certain that, in the latitude we have just described, 
 the fuci, far from being fixed to the bottom, float in separate masses on 
 the surface of the water. In this state the vegetation can hardlv coii- 
 
 SCENE IN THE ANDEP. 
 
 tiuue a longer tiano than it would do in a branch of a tree torn from' 
 ics trunk; and, in order to explain how moving masses are found for 
 arcs in tiie same position, we mu.jt admit that tliey owe their origin to 
 submarine rocks, which, situated at forty or sixty fathoms depth, 
 continually supply what has been carried a-vay by the equinoctial 
 currents." 
 
 A malignant fever broke out on board the Rizarro during the 
 passage to Cumana, and a poor young Spaniard, the son of a widow, 
 who had quitted his native land hoping to make his fortune in the 
 New World, fell a victim to the disease after an illness of a couple of 
 days. The fever was ascribed by llimiboldt, no doubt correctly, to 
 the incumbered state of the ship, and to the total neglect of ventila- 
 tion and of ordinary sanitary measures. 'J'lic working of the ship and 
 
AI.EXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 
 
 317 
 
 the quiolnicss of tlie passage seemed the two points upon which tl c 
 attention of those in authority was concentrated; and even after t! o 
 
 JAGUAK, PUMA, AND LYNX 
 
 fever had broken out, no measures were taken to confi:ie its ravages. 
 The ignorant Gallician surgeon, a very Doctor Sangrado, ordered 
 
318 THE WOKUD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 copious bleeding o£ the patients, on the convenient ground that the 
 fever arose from corruption and heat of the blood ; of the ordinary 
 fever-bark there -was not a single ounce on board. No wonder, there- 
 fore, that besides the poor young Spariard a sailor was speedily at tlic 
 point of death. The astute surgeon had given up his case as hopeless, 
 and announced that the time had come when the last sacraments of the 
 Roman Catholic Church should be administered to the dying man. 
 The custom on board Spanish ships prescribes that the sacrament 
 should bo solemnly borne in procession, preceded by lighted tapers, to 
 
 he bedside of the sufferer ; and as the unhappy sailor was lying in a 
 hammock, with a space of barely ten inches between his face and the 
 deck, it became necessary to remove him to a more convenient spot for 
 receiving the last rites. A berth was accordingly prepared, in an airy 
 situation, near the hatchway ; and the shipmates of the sick sailor saw 
 with intense astonishment that their unfortunate comrade, who had 
 been slowly suffocating in his miserable den, began to recover so soon 
 as ho was placed in a position where he could breathe freely. From 
 the day when he quitted the middle deck the sailor's condition began 
 to amend; whereupon the Gallician Sangrado, impertm-bable in liis 
 stupidity, and strong in prejudioe, insisted on seeing in this wonderful 
 recovery an additional proof of the efficacy of bleeding" and purging, 
 and was more than ever confirmed in his own method of practice. 
 
 "We soon felt the fatal effects of this treatment," says Humboldt. 
 
 "and wished more than ever to reach the coast of America." 
 
 The city of Cumana, at the time when the travellers arrived, was 
 only recovering from the effects of a tremendous earthquake that had 
 almost destroyed it eighteen months before. Indeed, 'the frequency 
 and violence of the earthquakes forbade the erection of any great or 
 important buildings ; unlike Quito, where earthquakes frequently occur, 
 but where lofty and sumptuous churches have, nevertheless, been 
 erected. Humboldt points out this difference, and attributes the 
 greater violence of the earthquakes at such places as Cumana and 
 Lima to the fact of their being distant from any great volcano:; and 
 thus their earthquakes are not merely oscillations of the ground, but in 
 their phenomena and effects resemble the bursting of subterranean 
 mines. In an excellent chapter in another of his works he gives an 
 admirably lucid theory of the structure and action of volcanoes in 
 various parts of the earth, pointing out the evident and close analogy- 
 bctween eruptions of burning mountains and the action of earthquakes. 
 
alexa:ndeii yos hltmboldt. 319 
 
 as manifostatious of the subterraaoan powers called " volcanic force." 
 He shows that volcanoes are evidently natural vents for the escape of 
 volcanic matter, and adduces facts to show that there are subterranean 
 communications, not only between volcanoes situated at great distances 
 from each other, but oven between countries in which there- are no 
 volcanoes. Where volcanoes occur, either in a line or scattered over 
 an area, the subterranean fire breaks out sometimes from one summit, 
 sometimes from another. When these forces can no longer find a vent 
 through the craters of active volcanoes, solfataras or extinct craters 
 sometimes are restored to renewed activity. In other cases new craters 
 are formed, frequently in the shape of great rifts or clefts on the sides 
 of mountains ; or the force, acting in a horizontal instead of in a 
 perpendicular direction, causes the surface of the earth to heave and 
 swell, and occasionally to burst, and then there is an earthquake. In. 
 the above-mentioned dissertation, " On the Structure and Mode of 
 Action of Volcanoes," read by him in the Academy at Berlin, in 1823, 
 Humboldt says — "Even the earthquakes which occasion such dreadful 
 ravages in this part of the world afford remarkable proofs of the 
 existence of subterranean communications, not only between countries 
 where there are no volcanoes (a fact which had long been known), but 
 also between fire- emitting oj^eniugs situated at great distances asunder. 
 Thus in 1797 the volcano of Paste, east of the Guaytara River, emitted 
 uninterruptedly for three months a lofty column of smoke, which 
 column disappeared at the instant when, at a distance of 2iQ geo- 
 graphical miles, the great earthquake of Eiobamba and the immense 
 mud-eruption called 'Moya' took place, which caused the death of 
 between thirty and forty thousand persons. The sudden appearance 
 of the island of Sabrina, near the Azores, on the 30th of January, 
 1811, was the precursor of the terrible earthquake movements which, 
 much farther to the west, shook almost incessantly, from the month of 
 May, 1811, to June, 1813, first the West India Islands, then the plain 
 of the Ohio and Mississippi, and, lastly, the opposite coast of 
 Venezuela or Caranas. 
 
 "Thirty days after the destruction of the principal city of that 
 province the volcano of the island of St. Vincent, which had long been 
 quiescent, burst out into eruption. A remarkable phenomenon accom- 
 panied this outburst. At the moment when the explosion took place, 
 on the 30th of April, 1811, a loud subterranean noise was heard in 
 South America, which spread terror and dismay over a district of 
 
■'20 THE WORLD'S EXPLORKliS. 
 
 3;i,500 geographical square miles. The dwellers on the banks of the 
 '\purc, near the junction of the river Nula, and the inhabitants of the 
 <nost distant part of the seacoast of Venezuela, alike compared the 
 sound to that of the discharge of great pieces of ordnance. Now, from 
 fhe confluence of the Nula with the Apure to the volcano of St. Vincent 
 is a distance in a straight line of GiiS English geo.graphical square miles. 
 I'ho sound, which certainly was not propagated through the air, must 
 Slave proceeded from a deep-seated subterranean cause, for its intensity 
 li-as scarcely greater on the seacoast nearest to the volcano where the 
 I'mption v.-a.s taking place than in the interior of the country, in the 
 iiysin of tlie Apure and the Orinoko." 
 
 The well-known fact that at the time of the great earthquake of 
 N'overaber 1st, 175.5, at Lis'oon, the sea in the north of Europe rose 
 .suddenly many feet above its ordinary level on the Swedish coast, and 
 that the Swiss cities were violently agitated as if by a storm, may be 
 '■Hed in support of the theory of the widespread action of subterranean 
 volcanic forces. Even among the Eastern islands of the West India 
 group, such as I\Iartinique, Antigua, and Barbadoes, where the tide 
 never exceeds thirty inches, the sea suddenly rose more than twenty 
 
 "All llicic phenomena," says the great philosopher, "show the 
 operation of subterranean forces, acting cither dynamically in cartli- 
 quakcs, in the tension and agitation of the crust, or in volcanoes, in the 
 jiroduction and the chemical alteration of substances. They also show 
 that these forces do not act superficially in the thin outermost crust of 
 the globe, but from great depths in the interior of our planet, through 
 crevices or unfilled vein.s, affecting at one and the same time points of 
 the earth's surface at a great distance from each other.'' 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 321 
 
 IV. 
 
 Tveatmeat of Slaves — The Marshes of Araya — Salt Works — A Castilian Shoe- 
 maker— Cheap Immortality — Manners and Customs of the Natives of Araya 
 — Effeot-of the Dominion of the Priests — The Capuchins of Caripe — Cavern 
 of the Gaaoharo — Nootumal Birds — Singular Method of Procuring Oil — 
 AVandant and Varied Flora of Caripe — The Vultures of Cumana — Their 
 Lazy Habits. 
 
 T) Y astronomical measurement Humboldt ascertained the real lougi- 
 -^ tude and latitude of Cumana, and of many other places, which had 
 been erroneously stated in the maps. The greater part of his time at 
 Cumana was occupied in astronomical labours which furnished data for 
 his subsequent works. The travellers were struck by the wretched 
 condition of the slaves, and wondered at the indifference with which 
 cruelties were inflicted upon these unfortunate people, who were not 
 more considered or protected than if they had been so many head of 
 cattle. The practice of branding them with a hot iron on the arms or 
 the forehead that they might be known in case of an attempted escape 
 was universal; and they were sold in open market without any re- 
 striction, the age of the slave being ascertained, like that of a horse, by 
 forcing open his mouth and examining his teeth. In reference to the 
 slaves and their condition, Humboldt quotes the noble passage of La 
 Bruyere : — " We find (under the torrid zone) certain wUd animals, male 
 and female, scattered through the country, black, livid, and scorched 
 hU over by the sun, bent to the earth, which they dig and turn up with 
 indefatigable perseverance. They have something like an articulate 
 voice, and when they stand up on their feet they exhibit a human face, 
 and, in fact, these creatures are men." 
 
 The great salt marshes of Araya, worked by the Spanish govern- 
 ment and a source of considerable profit, constitute one of the sights in. 
 the neighbourhood of Cumana. A calculation of the amount of salt 
 consumed by the inhabitants of the two provinces of Cumana and 
 Barcelona in 1799 and 1800 gave the astonishing quantity of sixty 
 pounds for each person, while in France, where a few years previously 
 a similar calculation had been made to assess the value of the gabelle, 
 or salt-tax, only twelve to fourteen pounds were reckoned by M. Necker, 
 the minister of finance, as consumed by each individual. The difference 
 is partly attributed to the quantity of salt employed in curing meat. 
 
322 THE WOELD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 The inhabitants of the peninsula of Aiaya were a harmless set of black 
 men, Uving chiefly on the fish they caught, and as shiftless and idle as 
 negroes almost invariably are. When their visitors expressed surprise 
 that they did not cultivate gardens, in which with little trouble they 
 might raise abundance of vegetables and fruit, they replied that their 
 gardens were beyond the gulf, meaning that they could bring back 
 vegetables and fruit from Cumana, whither they carried their fish for 
 sale. They had a very fine breed of goats, which roamed in wild 
 freedom among the mountains, each, however, bearing the mark of its 
 owner. It is recorded as a trait of unusual generosity among these 
 people that when a hunter kills a goat bearing one of these marks, he 
 immediately carries it to the family whose property the mark indicates 
 it to be, and any wrongful appropriation of a goat is extremely rare. 
 
 "Dans le pays des aveugles les borgnes sont rois," says the old 
 I'rench proverb. An illustration of this truth was found at Araya, 
 where the travellers encountered one of these one-eyed kings of the 
 blind. The following account is given of him : — " Among the 
 mulattoes, whose huts surround the salt lake, we found a shoemaker of 
 CastUian descent. He received us with the air of gravity and self-suffi- 
 ciency which in those climes characterises almost aU who are conscious 
 of possessing some peculiar talent. He was employed in stretching the 
 string of his bow, and sharpening his arrows to kill birds. His trade 
 of a shoemaker could not be very lucrative in a countiy where the 
 majority of the inhabitants go barefoot ; but he only complained that, 
 on account of the dearness of European gunpowder, a man of his 
 quality was reduced to employ the weapons used by the Indians. He 
 was the wise man of the plain ; he knew how the salt was formed by 
 the influence of the sun and the full moon, could tell the symptoms of 
 earthquakes, distinguish the marks by which mines of gold and silver 
 are discovered, and select medicinal plants, which, like all other 
 ■colonists from Chili to California, he divided into two classes, hot and 
 cold (exciting and debilitating). Having collected the traditions of 
 the country, he gave us some curious accounts of the pearls of Cubagna, 
 articles of luxury for which he expressed the profoundest contempt. 
 To show us how familiar the sacred writings were to him, he took a 
 pride in quoting to us the patriarch Job, who preferred wisdom to all 
 the pearls of the Indies. , His philosophy was circumscribed by the 
 narrow range of his daily wants. A very strong ass, which should be 
 able to carry a heavy load of vegetables to the emharcadere, was the 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 323 
 
 only possession he coveted." This sage with a great fiourish presented 
 a few very small and opaque pearls to his visitors, but the philosophic 
 contemner of this world's goods had sufficient vanity to beg that the 
 travellers would note in their tablets for future publication the fact that 
 a poor shoemaker of Araya, but a white man, and of noble Castilian 
 race, had been able to give away what on the other side of the great 
 sea (a figurative expression among the colonists for Europe) was 
 sought for as a very precious thing. Humboldt promised to make a 
 note of it, and was as good as his word; and thus the philosophic 
 cobbler of Cumana purchased immortality at the price of a few pearls, 
 " small in size and opaque in colour." A shrewd sage, with no small 
 share of the wisdom of the serpent in his composition. 
 
 The narrative mentions that in crossing the barren hills of Cape 
 Cirial, the strong smeU of petroleum was perceived by the travellers. 
 The first historians of these regions, including Oviedo, had mentioned 
 the petroleum springs as fountains of "a resinous, aromatic, and 
 medicinal liquor," but neither they nor the later explorers had any 
 idea what an important part petroleum was destined in future days to 
 play in commerce. A great marvel was shown to the travellers in the 
 shape of the eye-stone, or piedra de las oyos. This production was 
 described by the colonists as one of the marvels of nature, being at 
 once a stone or an animal. Motionless when found in the sand, they 
 declared that when placed on a polished surface, such as a metal or 
 earthenware plate, and excited by lemon- juice, it showed signs of hfe 
 and moved. Placed in the eye, it turned about and expelled any 
 foreign substance that might accidentally or otherwise be there. At 
 the salt-works and at the village of Maniquarez, where a great many 
 of these eye-stones were offered to the strangers, the natives were 
 especially anxious to show their visitors' the efficacy of this wonderful 
 substance, and obligingly offered to put sand in the' travellers' eyes, 
 and afterwards show them how easily the eye-stone would expel every 
 particle. A very simple explanation of the marvel is offered by our 
 author. The wonderful stones are nothing more than little convex 
 slabs of a small xmivalve shell of a chalky nature. When brought into 
 contact with an acid, this chalk or lime effervesces and moves by the 
 action which disengages the carbonic acid. Introduced into the eye, 
 especially with the addition of lemon-juice, the stones naturally 
 increase the flow of tears, and thus every foreign substance is expelled. 
 The inhabitants of Araya, however, vitterly refused to believe in the 
 
824 THE WORLD'S EXPLOREES. 
 
 correctness of this explanation, and greatly preferred believing in the 
 s-.ipsrnatural virtues of their eye-stone. 
 
 A journey to the interior, to the missions of the Chayma Indians 
 and the mountains of New Andalusia, opened new and wondrous 
 scenes. It was the 4th of September when they set out. The morning 
 was deliciously cool, and the road along the bank of the Manzanares, 
 the river which flows through Cumana, was fragrant with rich vegeta- 
 tion, and presently led through forests of palm-trees and arborescent 
 ferns. The great traveller discusses in a liberal and kindly spirit the 
 nature and effect of the Roman Catholic missions established among 
 the Indians. While fully recognising the benefits of the security 
 afforded to the Indians, and the mildness of the rule established over 
 them, he is far too clear-sighted and too honest to overlook the weak 
 points of the system. The Indians appear, like the Tahitians and 
 other nations among whom missions have been established, to have 
 been denationalised and reduced to a state of helpless dependence, 
 which has rendered them utterly childish. On some swarthy counte- 
 nances, indeed, the travellers read a lurking expression of defiance 
 which seemed to indicate that the control in which the Indians were 
 kept was anything but welcome ; but in general the people appeared 
 thoroughly helpless, pliant, and submissive, anxious to please those in 
 authority over them, with no intellect or judgment of their own, and 
 ready to acquiesce in any proposition or assertion advanced by a white 
 man. Thus the author especially warns those travellers who may come 
 after him to be cautious of valuing "information" received from 
 Indians at more than its worth, for they will frequently fill in details 
 and narrate .s,tories that have no foundation in truth, merely to please 
 their audience. The system of the missions also kept them isolated 
 and apart from each other, so that there was little chance of their 
 development, either intellectually or nationally. 
 
 In descending the mountains, occasions frequently occurred to 
 phow the admirable sure-footedness of the mules used among tl^e 
 .passes.. "We found this passage difficult," says Humboldj;, "b^^awse 
 at that time we had not climbed the Cordilleras ; but it is. by np means 
 so perilous as they are fond of representing it at Cumana. The path 
 is indeed in sevei'al places only fourteen or fifteen inches broadband 
 the, ridge of the. mountain, along which the road runs, is, cqvereji wifjjj.a 
 sliort and exceedingly slippery turf; the slopes on each ^idejare steep, 
 a;nd the .traveller, if he should stumble, might sUde down pn thq.grass 
 
ALEXANDER YON HUMBOLDT. 
 
 325 
 
 to the depth of seven or eight hundred feet." But tlio mides were 
 fully equal to the occasion whenever a dangerous spot occurred. They 
 fully understood the nature of the ground they had to traverse ; and 
 when they felt there was danger, always stopped, turning their heads 
 uneasily to right and left. Tliey seem to be considering the course 
 they shall pursu3, and if left to themselves, and not hurried or forced 
 forward by the traveller, will always bring him safely out of the 
 
 MCUNT.VIN r.EOIOX. 
 
 difficulty. They seem to exert a reasoning power beyond and above 
 mere instinct; and this power is fully recognised and valued by their 
 owners. " It is on the frightful roads of the Andes," says the Personal 
 Narrative, '• during journeys of six or seven months across movmtains 
 furrowed by torrents, that the intelligence of horses and beasts of 
 burden displays itself in an astonishing manner. Thus the moun- 
 taineers are heard to say, ' I will not give you the mule whose step is 
 easiest, but him who reasons best (la mas racional).^ This popular 
 saying, dictated by long experience, combats the system that makes 
 animals animated machines, better, perhaps, than all the arguments of 
 speculative philosophy." 
 
 A considerable stay was made at a convent of Arragonese Capu- 
 chins, at Caripe. The convent itself was built in front of an enor- 
 mous wall of perpendicular rock, of resplendent whiteness, and the 
 scenery reminded the travellers of a Derbyshire valley. The monks 
 
826 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 received tlieir visitors with great hospitality, and offered them every; 
 facility for carrying on their scientific labours. The fraternity 
 possessed a tolerable library, in which their visitors noticed with 
 surprise the Leltres Edifiantes, the Teatro Critico of Feijo, and NoUet's 
 Traile d'Electricite. It is recorded as greatly to their credit, that 
 though they knew Humboldt to be a Protestant, they never showed a 
 symptom of intolerance or any disposition to meddle with him on 
 religious matters. He tells us tliat " No mark of distrust, no indiscreet 
 question, no attempt at controversy ever diminished the value of the 
 hospitality they exercised with so much liberality and frankness." 
 The travellers were, indeed, in a kind of scientific paradise. The flora 
 that surrounded them, the geological formations, the various- animals 
 that ranged the forests, the very stars in the sky above them, all were 
 as books requiring to be read and studied ; and not a day passedl that 
 did not bring an accession to their store of information, and to the 
 splendid collection of plants, minerals, and insects they were diligently 
 bringing together;. 
 
 The chief object of atfeaction to scientific visitors in the valley of 
 Caripe is undoubtedly the Great Cueva, or cavern of the Guacharo. 
 The name means the cavern of noise or lamentations, and has its origin 
 in the fact that this cavern is the hamit of thousands of nocturnal 
 birds, who are very noisy, and fill their subterranean dwelling with 
 their wailing cries. Humboldt and Bonpland, accompanied by the 
 alcaids, or Indian magistrates, and by a number of monks from the 
 mission, paid a visit to this remarkable cavern. The entrance of the 
 cave is described as "majestic even to the eye of a traveller accustomed 
 to the picturesque scenes of the higher Alps." Humboldt, who had 
 already seen the caverns of the Derbyshire Peak, of the Carpathian 
 and Hartz mountains, and the vast stone caverns of Franconia, with 
 their petrified remains of tigers, hyenas, and bears, was singularly 
 impressed with the magnitude and grandeur of this Caripe cavern. 
 The entrance itself was eighty feet broad and seventy-two feet high, 
 and formed an enormous archway in a vertical rock, festooned to its 
 summit with magnificent flowering plants — bignonias of violet blue, the 
 purple dohchos, and magnificent solandras of orange hue, with fleshy 
 tubes more than four inches long. Not only the outside, but the inside 
 also of the cavern was magnificent with luxurious tropical vegetation. 
 Plantain-leaved heliconias eighteen feet high, the praga palm tree, and 
 arborescent arums flourished in the semi-darkness of what may be. 
 
ALEXAJSTDER VON HUMBOLDT. 327 
 
 called the vestibule of the cavern of Caripe, to between thirty and 
 forty feet from the entrance. As the travellers penetrated into the 
 darkness, the shrill voices of the nocturnal birds were heard, growing 
 louder and more menacing as the intruders advanced into the gloom. 
 Four hundred and thirty feet from the entrance, it became neces- 
 sary to light the torches. The guacharo is about the size of 
 a hen ; it has a plumage of dark bluish grey, tinged with small 
 streaks or specks of black, and with white heart-shaped spots on the 
 head, wings, and tail. Its cry is something like the croak of the 
 crow. These strange nocturnal birds are hunted once a year, at mid- 
 summer, by the Indians, who enter the cavern armed with long poles, 
 with which they destroy maSy nests, and kiU some thousands of the 
 birds. The guacharo would have become as extinct as the dodo but 
 for the superstition of the natives, who are exceedingly averse from 
 entering the cavern, except in large companies on the occasion of tlieic 
 annual hunt. The birds are exceedingly fat ; the inert nature of their 
 lives, and the darkness in which they sit cowering month after month, 
 give them the appearance of having been fattened by some artificial 
 px'ocess, instead of being lean and skinny like the nocturnal birds of 
 Europe, who live on the scanty prey they hunt with much muscular 
 exertion and toil ; while the fi-ugivorous guacharo finds his meal upon 
 every shrub and tree. The abundant fat, called guacharo oU. or butter, 
 is melted out of the dead birds. It has the property of keeping fresh 
 and pure for more than a year. Thus this " oil harvest" is a very 
 important time for the Indians. The monks also make extensive use 
 of the guacharo oil ; and a family of Indians, who dwell near the 
 cavern and assume to be the original proprietors of this singular pre- 
 serve, are compelled to furnish a certain quantity of oil for the use 
 of the convent lamps and the convent kitchen. The good monks 
 asserted, indeed, that only for the church lamps was the oil supplied 
 gratis, and that they paid for all the rest ; but Humboldt seems to 
 have shrewdly doubted this statement, and there is an under-current of 
 polished irony in the sentences in which he describes the relations 
 between the Morocoymas Indians and their monkish neighbours. "We 
 shall not decide," he says, " either on the legitimacy of the rights of 
 the Morocoymas, or on the origin of the obligation imposed on the 
 natives by the monks. It would seem natural that the produce of the 
 chase should belong to those who hunt ; but in the forests of the Kew 
 World, as in the centre of European cultivation, public right is 
 
328 THE WORLD'S EXPLOEERS. 
 
 modified according to the relations which are established between the 
 strong and the weak, the victors and the vanqviished." Was there ever 
 a more polite and euphuistic method of proclaiming the hard truth 
 that " might is right, all the world over?" 
 
 For the space of 1,458 feet the grotto of Caripe preserves its original 
 form, dimensions, and direction. A small' river flows through it, and 
 about fifteen hundred feet from the entrance forms a cascade. The 
 natives were superstitiously reluctant to advance far into the cavern, 
 whose darkness and solitude had for them the terrors with which these 
 attributes are associated in the minds of all uneducated nations. Man 
 ■ should avoid places, they declared, where neither the sun nor the moon 
 gives light. To go and join the guaclitros would be to go and seek 
 their fathers — ^namely, to die. Magicians and poisoners performed their 
 incantations at the entrance of the cavern, to conjure the chief of the 
 evil spirits. After penetrating for some distance farther into the 
 cavern the Indians definitively " struck ;" and all the persuasions and 
 authority of the monks could not overcome their superstitious terrors, 
 or induce them to advance one step farther into what was to them the 
 Cavern of Cocytus, peopled with the spirits of the dead. Strangely 
 universal is the tendency in man to associate darkness with ideas of 
 death, while light everywhere typifies life and joy. The travellers 
 were accordingly obliged to retrace their steps, and grope their way 
 out of the cavern ; and even Humboldt confesses he was glad to emerge 
 from a region whose darkness was not even accompanied by the peace 
 associated with solitude and silence. From the report of the monks, 
 it appeared that a certain bishop of St. Thomas in Guyana had pene- 
 trated farther than our travellers had proceeded int« the gloomy 
 cavern. Provided with good waxen torches, which give much light 
 without the suffocating smoke inseparable from those made of bark 
 and resin, he had worked his way for a distance of 2,500 feet into the 
 cave without finding any indication of its ending. At the entrance 
 the monks had prepared a little feast for our travellers in honour of the 
 occasion, and Humboldt and Bonpland sat down on the bank of the 
 river, at the entrance of the cavern, to a repast spread on leaves of 
 banana and heliconia large enough to serve as tablecloths. 
 
 On their return to Cumana, the travellers noticed large flocks of a 
 species of vulture perched on the cocoa trees, and roosting in rows like 
 fowls. They appeared of a very lazy disposition, going to roost long 
 before sunset, and slimibering on until long after the sun had risen. 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 
 
 829 
 
 The same tendency to close before sundown and not to unfold their 
 leaves untd some time after sunrise was noticed in many of th.c plants 
 of these rcnions. 
 
 V. 
 
 Adventure with a '' Zambo" — Narrow Escape of Boupland — Eclipse of tlie Sun 
 — Earthquake Shocks from tlie Volcano of Pichincha — Phosphorescence of 
 the Sea — The Hangman of Cumana — La Guayra — A Zealous Physician — 
 Ascent of the Saddle Mountain— The Difference between Promise and 
 Performance — Harmless Bees. 
 
 nnriE next stage of the adventurous journey was a canoe expedition 
 -^ on the great rivers Orinoko and liio Negro, and naturally required 
 much preparation of instruments, and many and complicated arrange- 
 ments. Humboldt was, moreover, very anxious to observe an eclip)se of 
 the sun ; and the bright, clear climate of Cumana was particularly 
 favourable for astronomical observations. Accordingly the departure 
 from Cumana was deferred till the end of October. A very few days 
 before that appointed for the start, an adventure happened to 
 our travellers which might easily have had fatal residts. The 
 two friends had gone out as usual to the margin of the gulf, in 
 the evening, to observe the exact time of high-water. They were 
 walking along the beach, when suddenly Baron Humboldt became 
 
880 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 aware that some one was creeping stealthily behind him. Turning 
 hastily, he beheld a negro, or " Zambo," armed with a macana, a 
 formidable cudgel of palm wood, thick as a, club at one end, 
 and which Zambo flourished menacingly over the head of the asto- 
 nished explorer. The next moment the maoana descended heavily ; 
 but Humboldt managed, by a quick spring aside, to avoid the 
 tremendous blow aimed at him. But Bonpland was less fortunate. 
 The Zambo, who appeared as drunk with fury as a Malay running 
 a muck, aimei another blow, which alighted on Bonipland's head just 
 above the temigle, and. stretched him on the saad stunned and senseless 
 for a few seconids. Humboldt bent over his companion in alarm ; both 
 were unarmed aodi haH a league from any habitation. Fortunately 
 their aggressor did mot follow up Ms- attack, but moved slowly away to 
 pick up Bonpland's ha*,^ which had been knocked off by the blow he 
 had given him. Meanwhile the wounded man had regained his senses, 
 and both he and HumboHt started m pursuit of the Zambo, who ran 
 off towards a neighbouring thicket. In spite of his broken head, Bon- 
 pland outran the black, who presently stumbled and fell. Bonpland 
 threw himself upon him to secure him ; but the Zambo's knife was out 
 in an instant, and he would certainly have done more serious mischief 
 but for the opportune arrival of some Biscayan merchants, who had 
 seen the fray at a distance, and now came hastening to the i-esoue. The 
 Zambo again took to his heels, but was captured, and submitted quietly 
 to be led away to prison. It afterwards appeared that the poor wretch 
 had been driven almost mad by ill-treatment received on board a 
 privateer belonging to St. Domingo. He had heard Humboldt and 
 Bonpland talking French, and in his poor muddled brain had in some 
 way associated them with his oppressors, and thus resolved on revenge. 
 In those days the course of justice was so tardy that prisoners often 
 remained in durance for six or seven years before they were tried. 
 Accordingly our author expresses his satisfaction when he heard, some- 
 time after his departure from Cumana, that the culprit had escaped 
 from his prison in the castle of San Antonio. Bonpland had a narrow 
 escape. The blow he had received was bo severe that he felt its effects 
 for three months afterwards, and at one time his fellow-traveller' 
 seriously feared that an internal abscess was forming, but gradually 
 the bad symptoms passed away. 
 
 The observation of the eclipse was successfully carried out. A 
 few days afterwards the travellers for the first time felt the shock of an 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 331 
 
 earthquake — a startling and novel experience which naturally made a 
 deep impression on both of them. Humboldt says, concerniDg thiis 
 phenomenon : — 
 
 "It -was a real lifting up, and not a shock by undulations. I did 
 not then imagine that after a long abode on the table-lands of Quito 
 and the coasts of Peru, I should become almost as familiar with the 
 abrupt movements of the ground as we are in Europe with the noise 
 of thunder. We did not think of rising at night, in the city of Qmto, 
 when subterraneous rumblings (hramidos), which seem always to come 
 from the volcano of Pichincha, announced, a shock two or three, and 
 sometimes seven or eight, minutes beforehand, the force of which shock 
 is seldom in proportion to the intensity of the noise. The carelessness 
 of the inhabitants, who recollect that for three centuries past their city 
 has not been overwhelmed, easily communicates itself to the least 
 intrepid travell&r. In general, it i& not so much the fear of the danger 
 as the novelty of the sensation that "strikes so forcibly when the effect 
 of the slightest earthquake is felt for the first time. . . . When a shock 
 is felt, when tiie- eairth ra shaken on its old foundations, which we had 
 deemed so stable, one iincstant is sufficient to destroy long illusions. It 
 is like awakening from, a dreami,. but it is a painful a-wakening. "\Ye 
 feel that we have been deceived by the apparent calm of nature ; wc 
 listen for the least noise ; for the first time we mistrust a soil on which 
 we had long placed o\ir feet with confidence. If the shocks are repeated, 
 if they become frequent during several successive days, this uncertainty 
 quickly disappears. In 1784, the inhabitants of Mexico were accustomed 
 to hear the thunder roll beneath their feet, as it is heard by us in the 
 region of the clouds. Confidence easily springs up in the hxmian breast ; 
 and at last, on the coast of Peru, we became accustomed to the undu- 
 lations of the ground, as the sailor becomes accustomed to the tossing 
 of his ship on the waves." 
 
 The plan of the travellers was now to pass by sea from Cumana to 
 the town of La Guayra, an important seaport of Venezuela, and the 
 seat of the chief export trade. Thence they were to make their way to 
 New Barcelona and Caraccas, in which latter place they would remain 
 till the end of the rainy season. Then a very important part of their 
 enterprise v/as to begin — namely, the journey across the marvellous 
 llanos, or plains that extend from the valleys of Caraccas to the banks 
 of the Orinoko. This mighty river they then proposed to ascend from 
 the Spanish missions in its lower part to the cataracts near the Kio 
 
•^32 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Kegro, on tlie frontier of Brazil, and tlience to make their way back to 
 Cumana hj tlic capital of Spanish Guyana, Angostura. 
 
 Near Cape Arenas the phosphorescence of the sea became especially 
 remarkable. Great porpoises followed the ship, as many as sixteen 
 appearing together on one occasion. Tumbling about after the manner 
 of their kind, they now and then struck the water with their broad 
 tails, whereupon flames would seem to flash up from the depths of the 
 ocean. In swimming through the water, moreover, each band of 
 
 porpoises left behind it a track of bluish light, while the rest of the 
 sea showed no phosphorescence. This circumstance induced Humboldt 
 to conjecture that the porpoises, in striking the water with their tails, 
 or lushing along its surface, detached from their own bodies phospho- 
 rescent gelatinous substance. Near the group of islands which are 
 named, like the celebrated city Caraccas, from a tribe of Indians long 
 since passed away, a number of flamingoes were seen fishing in creeks 
 ^vherc a narrow beach bordered the chalky rocks. On one of the islands, 
 which were then quite uninhabited, a white man had settled about 
 thirty years before with his family. He survived them all, and 
 became rich enough to purchase two slaves, by whom he was eventually 
 murdered. For a long time there was no evidence against the two 
 slaves ; but at length one of tliem, induced by the offer of a pardon if 
 he would turn hangman and execute a number of men who had been 
 condemned to death, but were kept waiting for a Jack Ketch, betrayed 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 333 
 
 his accomplice, and in due time hanged him. At the time of Humboldt's 
 visit this wretch was the hangman at Cumana. 
 
 At La Guayra the heat was exceedingly great ; and as yellow fever 
 frequently rages there, the population, and especially strangers from 
 Europe, are very careful not to expose themselves to the rays of the 
 noonday sun. Humboldt, too much engrossed by scientific pursuits to 
 be nervously sensitive about his health, was one day busily occupied in 
 the balcony of his house at noon, making observations on the difference 
 of temperature as shown by the thermometer in the sun and in the 
 shade. Suddenly he was surprised on finding himself addressed by a 
 stranger, who offered him a potion which he conjured him to swallow. 
 This obliging gentleman was a physician. Having observed that Hum- 
 boldt had been for half-an-hour exposing himself to the full raya 
 of the noonday sun, he considered the philosopher in " a parlous case,' 
 only to be met by prompt and vigorous treatment ; accordingly he con- 
 jured Humboldt to drink the potion, or yellow fever would infallibly 
 ensue before night. 
 
 "I was not alarmed by this prediction, however serious," says our 
 traveller, " believing myself to have been long seasoned ; but how could 
 I avoid yielding to entreaties that had so benevolent a motive? I 
 swallowed the dose, and the physician perhaps reckoned me among 
 the number of the sick whose lives he had saved in the course of the 
 year." 
 
 At Caraccas the adventurous voyagers made a considerable stay, 
 and Humboldt speaks enthusiastically of the " noble hospitality" 
 extended to him and his fellow-traveller by the Captain-General of 
 Venezuela, who resided there. The city of Caraccas reminded him 
 more of a European city than any place he had seen in South America. 
 He says they seemed to be nearer Cadiz and the United States at 
 Caraccas and the Havannah than in any other part of the New World. 
 It appeared that no one at Caraccas had tiscended to the summit of the 
 Silla, or Saddle Mountain, in the neighbourhood of the city. The two 
 friends accordingly determined to undertake the feat. The enterprise 
 was somewhat arduous, and it speaks well for the energy of our tra- 
 vellers, and their physical endurance, that they passed all the previous 
 night in watching three occultations of the satellites of Jupiter. 
 
 At five in the morning they set out, accompanied by Indians and 
 negroes, to serve as guides and carry the instruments. Some of the 
 people from the town likewise came out from Caraccas to take part in 
 
33i THE WOEiaj'S EXPLOREKS. 
 
 the expedition ; but a very short trial of mountain-climbing sufficed to 
 cool their ardour, and they returned whence they came, after causing 
 the travellers to lose much valuable time. A young Capuchin monk 
 belonging to the convent had been especially outspoken on the occasion, 
 vaunting the superiority of European Spaniards over those born in 
 America, and promising to fire off some rockets for the edification of 
 his brethren at the convent when he should have reached the summit 
 of the SJUa. Whether it was that the reverend friar had miscalcu- 
 lated his strength, or that his monkish garments were ill adapted for 
 climbing, certain it is that he gave in at a very early period of the 
 enterprise, and passed the day in a plantation near the foot of the hill, 
 engaged in the laborious process of watching through a spyglass the 
 progress of the climbing party. Unfortunately he had undertaken the 
 conduct of the commissariat department, and detained the slaves who 
 carried the provisions and water so long that the travellers were ten 
 hours without refreshment of any kind. The chief danger of the 
 ascent arose from the mist which often surrounded the mountain, and 
 hid the landmarks, while it rendered the ground very slippery. Palm- 
 trees and tropical plants were found growing for a considerable distance 
 up the Silla, and at higher elevations appeared European forms of 
 vegetaticin. Though the elevation of the SiUa was not very great, the 
 summit being somewhat lower than that of the European Canigou, the 
 view it offered was magnificent, and the mountain was moreover distin- 
 guished by presenting an enormous precipice of six thousand feet on 
 the side next the sea. Not even Mont Blanc could be compared with 
 it in this magnificent feature. A kiud of hairy bee, smaller in size than 
 the honey-bee of Europe, was found haunting the summit of the Silla. 
 These bees make their nests in the ground, and seldom fly, seeming 
 benumbed by the cold of the mountains. They were called angelitos, 
 or little angels, by the natives, because they hardly ever sting. Hum- 
 boldt confesses that several times, when numbers of them settled on 
 his hands and face, while he was making observations, he felt a sen- 
 sation of nervous fear, and was ahnost tempted to drop his instruments, 
 in spite of the angelic character attributed to these insects by popular 
 consent. 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. S35 
 
 VI. 
 
 u omncy across the Llanos, or Groat Plains — Aspect of the Llanos — Steppes in 
 Various Parts of the World — Animal Life in the Llanos — The Horse and 
 Ox Tribe and Cereal Plants — The Dry Season and the Eainy Season — The 
 Gymnotus, or Electric Eel — Method of Capture— The Apm-e and Orinoko — 
 Canoe Voyage — Nocturnal Life of Animals — Savage Tribes of America. 
 
 TTUMBOLDT and Bonpland now began perhaps the most interesting 
 part of their travels. They were to cross the vast stretch of unex- 
 plored land lying between Caraccas and the mighty system of rivers 
 that, pouring from the snows of the Andes, flow towards the east 
 through the broadest part of South America. First they had to cross a 
 mountain range running east and west ; then they came upon the great 
 llanos, or treeless plains stretching from the coast chain of Caraccas 
 to the left bank of the Orinoko, and then to navigate and explore such 
 great and unknown rivers as the Apure, the Rio Negro, and the vast 
 Orinoko itself. Among the mountain valleys of Caraccas appeared 
 the full luxuriance of tropical vegetation. Vast groves of the cacao- 
 tree alternating with the bright and tender green of the Tahitian sugar- 
 cane, spreading tracts of plantain and banana, flourishing plantations 
 of indigo and cotton, render this region one of the most delightful of 
 those favoured climes described by so many writers as terrestrial 
 paradises. The island-studded lake of Tacarigua, 1,470 feet above the 
 level of the sea, appears the most beautiful region in a land of beauty. 
 Then suddenly all is changed, and the traveller sees before him vast 
 treeless plains, stretching to the horizon, as he enters the great llanos, 
 or steppes. 
 
 These vast treeless plains form one of the most wonderful of natural 
 phenomena. Their enormous size, the absence of vegetation over their 
 great exjsanse, the violent and almost sudden changes of temperature 
 and climate to which they are at certain periods subjected, cause these 
 steppes to excite as much astonishment and admiration in the traveller 
 as might be aroused by the mighty Andes range itself. 
 
 The account given by Humboldt himself in his Personal Narrathe, 
 and afterwards in his charming Views of Nature, is singularly graphic. 
 He describes the astonished traveller turning suddenly from the view of 
 the rich fuUness of organic life to find himself on the dreary margin of a 
 treeless waste. Nor hiU nor cliff rears its head, like an island in the 
 ocean, above the boundless plain ; only here and there broken strata of 
 
336 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 floete,, extending over a surface of more than three thousand English 
 square miles, appear sensibly higher than the surrounding district. The 
 natives term them hanks, as if the spirit of language would convey 
 some record of that ancient condition of the world when these elevations 
 formed the shoals, and the steppes themselves the bottom, of some vast 
 inland sea. The resemblance between the steppe and the sea is some- 
 times heightened when at night a sheet of vapour covers the ground, 
 giving the scene the appearance of a shoreless ocean, in whose waters • 
 the light of the stars is reflected. But our author justly observes that 
 "the ocean in its continual change is the emblem of life, while the 
 steppes lie stretched before us, cold and monotonous, like the naked 
 stony crust of some desolate planet." 
 
 As great steppes or plains elevated far above the level of the sea 
 occur in all parts of the world, so in the various quarters they are 
 distinguished by special characteristics. In Europe they are compara- 
 tively small in extent and covered with heath and furze. The great 
 plains of Central Asia, whence the Huns or the Hiognu found their way 
 into Europe, are distinguisbed by a growth of alkaline grasses, flourish- 
 ing so luxuriantly that the traveller journeying in the low waggons 
 of the Tartars is often completely hidden by a vegetation five or six 
 feet high. The African desert is characterised by intense heat, arising 
 chiefly from the sandy nature of the ground. But the great llanos of 
 South America present alternately the appearance of a sandy desert, 
 a,nd of a verdant plain. Twice in every year they change their whole 
 aspect, appearing, during one half of it, waste and barren like the 
 Libyan Desert, and during the other covered with verdure, like many 
 of the elevated plains of Central Asia. 
 
 The great rivers which, pouring from the Andes range, roll their 
 majestic volume through the breadth of South America towards the 
 ocean, the presence in many parts of dense forests of great extent, and 
 the immense body of water by which the South American continent is 
 almost surrounded, all tend to lower the temperature, and render the 
 climate less burning than that of Africa. But in the position of the 
 continent, which lies between the tropics, the sun has suflicient power 
 during a certain season of the year to dry up almost every trace of 
 vegetation on the parched earth. Almost uninhabited, except by 
 scattered communities living in little towns at long distances from each 
 other on the banks of the mighty rivers, the llanos have been for 
 centuries the dwelling-place of very numerous wild animals. Among 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 
 
 337 
 
 ilie creatures which roam over the tresless plain Humboldt enumerates 
 ' agoutis, small spotted antelopes, the shielded armadillo, which, rat- 
 
 ARMADILLOS AND PArOOLIKH. 
 
 like, terrifies the hare in its subterranean retreat, beautifully-striped 
 viverrfe, or bats, whose pestilential odour infects the air, the great 
 
338 TIIiE WORLD'S KXl'LOUElli;. 
 
 nifttieless lion and' the variegated jaguar, commonly known as the tiger, 
 whose Btrengtli enables; it to drag to the summit of a hill the body of 
 a young bull it has slain." But the most remarkable creatures that 
 roam ovor the great steppes are undoubtedly the wild herds of horses, 
 liorued cattle, and mules. Few things in the economy of Nature are 
 more remarkable than the adaptability given to certain species of 
 animals and plants to suit .themselves to almost eveiy vicissitude 
 of climate in every variety of circumstances. Thus the cereals or corn- 
 plants, from the hardy rye that flourishes far into the high Northern 
 latitudes to the lordly maize of tropical regions, are found, successively 
 distributed over the earth, each zone of climate having' its indigenous 
 and representative species. Thus, also, the ox and ass tribe seemi to 
 have followed man in all his migrations over tlic earth, and minister 
 to his comfoi-t and well-being alike in tlie valleys among the Black 
 Scandinavian hills> and' in; the burning plains that glow beneath the 
 Indian sky. These animals,, which seem indispensable to the comfort 
 off man in certain stages of his social development, are gifted with a 
 wonderful tenacity of life and. strength of constitution ; arid, nowhere 
 are these qualities more sfcmkingly displayed than in the llanos of South 
 America. 
 
 At almost all the settlements formed on the great rivers that skirt 
 tlio great plains of Venezuela, the inhabitants have begun to rear 
 cattle. The horjs roam across the steppe in a wild state, and have 
 nusEeflsedpi-odigiously in numbers. At the time of Humboldt's visit 
 tUe.number of hoiaes, oxen, and mules in the steppe was estimated at 
 a million, and a-half. These animals roam over the steppe in perfect 
 freedom.; and, in. spite of the perils by which they are surrounded, 
 their numbera increase in a. marvellous manner. 
 
 First there arc the sufferings of the dry season. As the intense 
 glare of the sun is poured upon the plain week after week, the streams 
 become.dry watoi-courses, the pools are dried up, and the herds roam 
 wildly over the. arid plb,in.seeking for water to allay their burning thirst. 
 The earth cracks a::d bursts with the intense heat; the palm-trees, 
 whose broad loaves have protected the pools, shrivel amd shrmk, and 
 vegetation perishes almost entirely upon the soil. The hot, dry wind, 
 sweeping acrois-the arid waste, raises thick clouds of stifling dust that 
 impede respiration, and shroud the heavens in a copper-coloured haze, 
 and the wind itseU glows with the radiated heat. The wretched horses 
 and; oxen rush frantically over the plain, tortured alike by hunger and 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 339 
 
 thirst, and oppressed by the hot^ dust-laden atmosphere, bellowing, and 
 snuffing the air, and seeking for some pool whose waters are not yet 
 entirely exhausted. 
 
 The cunning mule resorts to a stratagem to quench his thirst. Ho 
 cautiously breaks open with his hoofs the thorny rind of the melocactus ; 
 for he knows that a watery pulp is contained inside which he greedily? 
 sucks. Sometimes, however, he is lamed by the thorns of the plant,, 
 which are peculiarly hard and sharp. "With the horses and oxen he has 
 to endure the stings of myriads of insects, whose number increases with 
 the intensity of the heat ; . and Humboldt asserts that huge bats attack 
 the unhappy quadrupeds at night, and, " vampire-like, suck their 
 blood." But this last- particular has been disputed by modern natura- 
 lists, who declare that aU bats are strictly insectivorous. While the horse, 
 mule, and ox arc dragging on this wretched existence, crocodiles, 
 alligators, and huge serpents — rendered torpid by the heat— lie in a 
 sleep similar to that of hybernation produced in other regions, by the 
 winter cold. 
 
 But now the dry season draws to an end. A cloud no bigger 
 than a man'a hand appears on the southern horizon — rising gi-adually 
 towards the zenith, and spreading as it advances untU the whole sky is ■ 
 blackened. The muttering of distant thimder is heard, and then follows 
 the ripple of rain, gradually increasing in intensity until it pours down 
 in unbroken sheets amid the lurid flashing of the lightning and the 
 crash of a tropical tempest. The parched ground speedOy drinks in the 
 moisture, and as it becomes thoroughly saturated the surface heaves ■ 
 and moves here and there. The affrighted beasts fly from these moving ■ 
 spots with redoubled terror, for they know that a great water-snake or 
 a scaly crocodile is ready to dart from the subterranean lair where it 
 has lain hidden through the dry season. And now the lower parts of 
 the steppe are covered with water, while grasses of various kinds — 
 shooting forth with almost magical rapidity — peer above the liquid 
 surface. The animals can now slake their thirst ; but they are obliged. 
 to lead the lif« of amphibious creatures, and swim about in the turbid. 
 water, anxious to reach the higher strata, which appear like islands 
 above the watery waste. The crocodile lurks for them in the water and 
 devours many of them ; the jaguar springs forth from among the high 
 grass and reeds, fastening with deadly bound on the backs of others ; 
 and the rapid current drowns many calves and foals as they try vainly 
 to make head against its impetuous course. Far up among the trunksof 
 
340 
 
 THE WORLDS EXl'LOKKKS. 
 
 the palm-trees spread the rising waters ; and as a crowning danger the 
 gymnotus, or electric eel, lies in the deeper pools, benumbing the victims 
 on whom it fastens with the deadly force of its electric discharge. 
 
 The gymnotus is one of the most remarkable of the creatures that 
 swarm in the great rivers of South America. It grows to a length of 
 five or six feet. The strange power of imparting an electric shock can 
 be used by the animal at will, and this voluntary power can be exerted 
 with sutiicient strength to kill a large quadruped. At one time it was 
 necessary to alter the route by which the caravans crossed the steppe, 
 in order to avoid a certain rivulet infested by the gymnoti ; for a great 
 
 ■^^^C-s 
 
 ft, I . CAPTURING V.ILD CATTLr, IN THE I.L.VNOS. 
 
 number of horses and mules perished every year, iu fording this water, 
 from the attacks of the electric eels. At Calabozo, in the llanos, 
 Humboldt and Bonpland witnessed a gymnotus hunt conducted by 
 natives, and in the Vkios of Nature the former gives the following 
 account of what he saw :— 
 
 "The mode of captmiug the gymnotus," ho says, "affords a 
 picturesque spectacle. A number of mules and horses are driven into a 
 swamp, which is closely surrounded by Indians, until the unusual noise 
 excites the daring fish to venture on an attack. Sei-pent-like they are 
 seen swimming along the surface of the water, striving cunningly to 
 glide under the bellies of the liorses. By the force of their invisible 
 blows numbers of the poor animals are suddenly prostrated ; others, 
 snorting and panting, their manes erect, their eyes wildly flashing 
 with terror, rush madly from th<' raging storm : but the Indians, armed 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 311 
 
 with long bamboo staves, drive them back into the midst of the pool. 
 By degrees' the fury of this unequal contest begins to slacken. Like 
 clondg that have discharged their electricity the wearied eels disperse. 
 They require long rest and nourishing food to repair the galvanic force 
 which they have so lavishly expended. Their shocks become gradually 
 weaker and weaker. Terrified by the noise of the trampling horse.4, 
 thejt timidly approach the brink of the morass, where they are wounded 
 by harpoons and drawn on shore by non-conducting poles of dry wood." 
 
 Humboldt himself was on one occasion injured by incautiously 
 putting his foot on a gymnotus, which immediately communicated to 
 him a shock like that of a powerful Leyden jar. Even the anglers in 
 the tributaries of the Orinoko are occasionally benumbed by shocks 
 conveyed along the moistened fishing-line from the enemy that lurks 
 below the surface of the water. 
 
 From the llanos the travellers made their way to the Apure and 
 thence to the Orinoko. These are the regions wljere tropical vegetation 
 appears in all its exuberant vastness and magnificence. The huge 
 forest trees were festooned to a great height with climbing plants 
 hanging like cordage from their gigantic limbs or stretched from bough 
 to bough. By the water'.? edge the trailing plants and bushes formed 
 a fence four feet in height, through which the wild beasts of the forest-^ 
 the peccary, cavy, and jaguar — had broken paths that they might come 
 and slake their thirst in the flowing water. As the canoes floated down 
 the river the hedge of sauso grew so thick as to resemble a regularly- 
 trimmed garden-fence, with gate-like openings here and there through 
 which the wild animals gained access to the river. When disturbed, 
 these creatures were often obliged to run for some hundreds of yards along 
 the bank of the river till they came to an opening in the hedge through 
 which they might escape into the woods ; thus the voyagers had good 
 opportunities of observing them. The flamingoes and other water-fowl, 
 frightened by the unusual advent of boats in their solitudes, rOSe up 
 into the air in clouds that darkened the sky. Daybreak and sunset 
 were the times at which the wild beasts resorted most frequently, to the 
 river side with their young. "There came to drink, bathe; and fish," 
 says Humboldt, "groups of creatures belonging to the most opposite 
 species of animals ; the larger mammalia, with many-coloured herons, 
 palamedeas, with the proudly-strutting curassow. 'It is here as Jn 
 Paradise' (es como en el Paradho), remarked vsdth pious aia? oTir steers- 
 man — an old Indian who had been brought up in' the house of "an 
 
342 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 ecclesiastic. But the gentle peace of the primitive golden age does-not 
 reign in the paradise of these American animals. They stand apart, 
 watch and ayoid each other. The capybara— a cavy, or riyer-hogthiee 
 or four feet long, a colossal repetition of the common Braziliancary(Cat)!a 
 aguti)~is devoured in the river by the crocodile and on the shore by 
 the tiger. They riin so badly that we were frequently able to overtake 
 and capture several from among the numerous herds." 
 
 This part of -the travels of the two friends was especially full of 
 results for the enrichment of natural science. "With unwearied zeal 
 and perseverance they formed coUections of plants and insects, and of 
 •stuffed specimens of such smaller anunals as they could carry with 
 them. During seventy-four days they traversed in their canoe more 
 than fifteen hundred miles of the course of the mighty Orinoko, which 
 they explored almost to its sources, and along the Cassiquiari and Rio 
 Negro. The picture of the nocturnal life of animals on the banks of 
 these great rivers is exceedingly graphic. In the Views of NatureM, is 
 thus given: — 
 
 "Below the mission of Santa Barbara de Ariohvma we passed the 
 night, as usual, in the open air, on a sandy flat on the bank of the 
 Apure, skirted by the impenetrable forest. We had some difficulty in 
 finding dry wood to kindle the fires with which it is here customary 
 to surround the bivouac as a safeguard against the attacks of the 
 jaguar. The air was bland and soft, aud the moon shone brightly. 
 Several crocodiles approached the bank ; and I have observed that fire 
 attracts these creatures as it does our crabs and other aquatic animals. 
 The oars of our boats were fixed in the ground to support our ham- 
 mocks. Deep stiUuess prevailed, only broken at intervals by the 
 blowing of the fresh-water dolphins, which are peculiar to the river 
 network of the Orinoko, as, according to Colebrooke, they are also to 
 the Ganges, as high up the river as Benares ; they followed each other 
 in long rows. 
 
 " After eleven o'clock, such a noise began in the adjacent forest, 
 that for the remainder of the night sleep was impossible. The wild 
 cries of animals resounded through the woods. Among the many 
 voices which echoed together, the Indians could only roooguise those 
 which, after short pauses, were heard singly. There was the plaintire, 
 monotonous cry of the howling monkeys, the whining flexible notes of 
 the little sapagous, the grunting murmur of the striped nocturnal ape, 
 the fitful roar of the great tiger (jaguar), the cougar, or maheless 
 
ALEXAKDEIl VON IIUAIBOLDT. Ui 
 
 Ameiican lion, tlie peccary, the sloth, and a host of parrots, parraquas, 
 and other birds of the pheasant kind. Whenever the tigers approached 
 thp edge of the forest, our dog, which before had barked incessantly, 
 came howling to seek protection under the hammocks. Sometimes the 
 cry of the tiger resounded from the branches of a tree, and it was then 
 always accompanied by the plaintive piping tones of the apes, which 
 were endeavouring to escape from the unwonted pursuit. 
 
 " If the Indians are asked whysudh a continuous noise is heard on 
 certain nights, they answer with a smile that the animals are rejoicing 
 in the beautiful .moonlight and celebrating the return of the fuU moon. 
 To me the scene seemed father to be owing to an accidental, long-con- 
 tinued, and gradually-increasing conflict among the animals. Thus, for 
 instance, the jaguar wiil pursue the peccaries and the tapirs, which, 
 ■densely ciMwded together, Taurst through the barrier of tree-like shrubs 
 which opposes their flight. Terrified at the confusion, the monkeys at 
 the tops of the trees join their cries to those of the larger animals. This 
 arouses ithe tribes of birds that build their nests in communities, and 
 suddenly rthe whole animal world is in a state of commotion. Further 
 experience taught us that it was by no means always the festival of 
 moonligH that disturbed the stillness of the forest ; for we observed 
 that the voices were loudest during violent storms of rain, or when the 
 thunder echoed and the lightning flashed through the depths of the 
 woods. The good-natured Franciscan monk, who, notwithstanding 
 the fever from which he had been suffering from many months, 
 accompanied us through the cataracts of Atures and Maypures to San 
 Carlos, on the Kio Negro, and to the Bi'azilian coast, used to say, when 
 apprehensive of a storm at night, ' May Heaven grant a quiet night 
 both to us and to the wild beasts of the forest !' " 
 
 Few achievements in the history of travel have been more remark- 
 able in their results and incidents than this boat voyage on the great 
 South American livers. Proceeding onward, amid toil and difficulty 
 and frequent danger — tormented ia the daytime by musquitoes, and 
 snatching what repose they might at night amid the bowlings of the 
 wild animals of the forest— the travellers pushed their way towards the 
 sources of the Orinoko, undeterred by peril or labour, and having for 
 their one great object the advancement of science and the furthering 
 of knowledge among men concerning that marvellous creation whose 
 •wonders reveal themselves to the patient, persevering investigator — that 
 ..Nature whose voice speaks aloud to him who, with singleness .^of 
 
344 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 purpose and chivalrous devotion to tlie cause, seeks to bo initiated into 
 her inanifold secrets. No tritlor, no diUUnnte loiterer in the pleasant 
 
 HUAIMINa-BIUDS. 
 
 paths of KCience, must hope to be rewarded with the discovery of new 
 truths and marvels ; for him such knowledge is too high — he caunot 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 
 
 S4^ 
 
 attain to it. The true natural philosopher, who may hope to forge a 
 new link in the wondrous chain of physical truth, must bu a hard- 
 
 SATAGOUS AND VIVEEKiJ. 
 
 working, zealous, cool-headed man ; a man who can forego sleep for 
 jnauy nights, and live on scanty food for many days ; who can endure' 
 
3J^C TIIIC WOl^LD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 the heat of the midday sun, and the damp unhealthiuess of tlie 
 uight dew — whose one absorbing interest is in the science he has taken 
 in hand to elucidate, luid who, oficriug everything he has, is content 
 to grope his way slowly and uuM-ea>riedJy from truth to truth. And 
 .such a man was Ilujnbold^ 
 
 The determined hostility of the Indian tribes, especially of the 
 vvailike Guaicas and the cannibal Gi'.ajaribes, prevented Humboldt and 
 Bonpland from tracing the Orinoko completely to its source, and com- 
 pelled them to turn thtir boat's head down the liver. ^It was well 
 remarked by oiu- gieat 1:aveller that the ferocity and cruelty cf bar- 
 barous luatioES is often in inverse proportion to their numbers. Thus 
 the lilmlly-seattered triles who traverse the immense wilds bordering 
 ■on the great rivers are animated by a malignant enmity towards each 
 othex which appears ituaccomitable, whan we take iuto consideration 
 liowample is the territory over which they can roam at will. Parties of 
 savages sli-nk to and fro among the vast solitudes, more suspicious and 
 tierce than the beasts of prey -with wliich they Share the shelter of the 
 "waofls. "Whatever ingenuity they possess is devoted to the task of 
 ideatroying their foUow-^men. Some of them extract from the fangs of 
 Msppents a poison wherewith they anoint the points ef the arrows 
 which they shoot at their foes from behind trees ; others smear the 
 wourali or snake poison 'upon their thmnbnail, and thus inflict deadly 
 wounds. Many tribes, v/hen they travai'BO the wilderness, take care to 
 walk in each other's footsteps as they liaston onward in single line, and 
 the last man of the party carefully effaces the footprints, lest a hostile 
 tribe should become aware of their proximity and pursue them to the 
 death. The strange .habit of earth-eating is prevalent among some of 
 these tribes ; the Otomacs, who dwelt on the banks of the Orinoko, v^^ere 
 accustomed to devour lumps of an unctuous yellow clay. They kneaded 
 this strange comestible into balls of from four to six inches in dia- 
 meter, which th^ baked before a slow fire to harden the outer smf ace. 
 Humboldt found great pyramidal piles of these earth-balls stored up in 
 the Otomac huts, as a provision for the rainy season, during which time 
 earth constitutes the chief food of this extraordinary people. The clay 
 of which these balls are made is selected with some care ; it is found on 
 the banks of the Orinoko and the Meta, and is of a yellowish-grey 
 colour, and almost tasteless. It is not entirely from necessity that the 
 Otomacs adopt this strange diet. Although in the rainy season scarcity 
 of provision compels them to have recourse to their piles of clay dump- 
 
ALEXANDEi! VOX HUMBOLDT. W7 
 
 liug'S, yet in the diy season, v.-lieu tlioy can procure fisli in plenty, they 
 are accustomed to devour an oartli-ball or two as a second course, or, 
 as Humboldt expresses it, " as a liuiiia'-hoiiclte aitcr their regular meals." 
 The languages of these tribes are very various. Their continvial distrust 
 of each other, resulting in a state of chronic strife, has kept them 
 entirely apart and isolated ; and wherever there is a want of inter- 
 course between nations, diversity of tongues and dialects mu«t prevail. 
 Thus, in the vast regions of theOiinoko and the Cns3ir|uiari, there are 
 almost as many languages as tribes. 
 
 Thus the first part of JSturaboldt's travels had been devoted to the 
 exploration of the great river system of Western South America, and 
 science had been enriched-^ndth a host of new and interesting facts. The 
 second part of our traveller's investigations was to comprise a journey 
 through the mountain chains or Cordilleras of the mighty Andes, and 
 to produce results of equal scientific ■\alue and importance. 
 
 
348 
 
 ■J"HE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 VU. 
 
 1j and Journey ii<;ro.-» the CurdiUcriis— Disaiipointmeut of Humlwldt— Wilc-amc 
 Agency— Singular Method of Travelling— Tlie Great Volcanic Peaks of the 
 Andes— Their Height, &e.— rablie Worlcs of the Old Peruvians— Ronds and 
 Palaces — Conc^ucst of Pi ru, tte. 
 
 i FTER a stay of souif months in several of the West India islands, 
 Humboldt and iJonpland proceeded to Cartagena, whence they de- 
 signed to make their way overland to Santa Fe de Bogota, the capital of 
 New Granada, and from thence across the Cordilleras to Quito in Peru. 
 The French scientific expedition, under Captain Baudin, which had been 
 several times ''advertised to sail," was now again reported to have 
 actually set out, and to be proceeding to Peru. Hmnboldt had promised 
 Baudin that he would joiu him, and accordingly set out for the Peruvian 
 coast, and it was not until some time afterwards that our friends were 
 finally undeceived by the intelligence that the long-projected expe- 
 dition was to circumnavigate the globe from west to east, and they 
 determined to make their plans in future entirely independent of 
 Baudin and his instructions. 
 
 The cheerfulness with wliich the great traveller was accustomed to 
 bear disappointment, and his happy faculty of extracting the " soul of 
 goodness in things evil," arc exemplified in the way in which he notice?. 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 3i'i 
 
 the imival of this intelligence, and its effect upon his plans. " American 
 papers circulated in the Antilles," he says, " announced that the two 
 French corvettes, Le Gcographe and Le Naturaliste, were to sail round 
 Cape Horn and to touch at Callao de Lima. This information, -which 
 I received when in the Havannah, after having completed my Orinoko 
 journey, caused me to relinquish my original plan of proceeding through 
 Mexico to the Philippines. I lost no time in engaging a ship to convey 
 me from Cuba to Cartagena de Indias. But Captain Baudin's expe- 
 dition took quite a different cours3 from that which had been expected 
 and announced. Instead of proceeding by way of Cape Horn, as had 
 been intended at the time when it was agreed that Bonpland and I 
 should join it, the expedition sailed round the Cape of Good Hope. 
 One of the objects of my visit to Peru and of my last journey 
 across the chain of the Andes was thus thwarted ; but I had the 
 singular good fortune, at a very unfavourable season of the year, in the 
 misty regions of Lower Peru, to enjoy a clear bright day. In CaUao 1 
 observed the passage of Mercury over the sun's disc, an observation 
 of sound importance in aiding the accurate determination of the longi- 
 tude of Lima, and of the south-western part of the new continent. 
 ' 'f'hus, amidst the- serious troubles and disappointments of life, there 
 may be found a grain of consolation." 
 
 On their way from Cartagena to Santa Fo de Bogota, the travellere 
 visited the remarkable volcanilos, or little volcanoes, of Turbaco. The 
 natives of Peru and the adjacent countries divide volcanoes into two 
 classes — " de aqua" and " da fuego,'' or fire and wa'er volcanoes, and 
 those at Turbaco are of the latter kind. They consisted of about 
 eighteen or twenty mounds about five-and-twenty feet in height, and 
 when in eruption discharged groat quantities of air -with a hollow 
 rumbling sound. The tradition among the Indians regarding thorn told 
 that they had originally been fiery volcanoes ; but, on being sprinkled 
 with holy water by some personage of great sanctity, they immediately 
 lost their dangerous tendencies ; the subterranean fire within them was 
 extinguished, and in future eruptions they discharged only harmless 
 gases and water. 
 
 ; With the visit to these volcanitos began a long and elaborate 
 .series of observations on the nature and characteristics of volcanic 
 afition.in.the vast volcanic hearth that extends along the western sea- 
 board of Souih America. Singularly patient and persevering as ait 
 icyestig^or- of Nature's wonders, ever anxious to fortify every- 
 
360 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 assertion he made by earnest and repeated experiment, Humboldt 
 deprecates, with great justice, the hasty and imperfect conclusions 
 drawn by previous travellers and men of science as to the nature of the 
 structure and action of volcanoes in various parts of the world. He 
 points out how general conclusions can only be justified by widely- 
 extended and oft-repeated investigations ; but at the same time he fully 
 acknowledges the difficulties with which the. subject had for a long 
 time been surrounded. In a discourse on volcanic action he says — 
 " Although our geological knowledge maybe extensively augmented by 
 researches over vast regions, we can hardly be surprised that the class 
 of phenomena constituting the principal subject of this address should 
 have been so long examined in an imperfect manner, since the means of 
 comparison were difficult and labwious of access. Until towards the 
 close of the eighteenth century all that was known of the form of 
 volcanoes and of the action of their subterranean forces was derived 
 from observations made on two volcanic mountains of Southern Italy, 
 Vesuvius and Etna. As the former of these was more accessible, and, 
 like all volcanoes of slight elevation, had freq;uent eruptions, a hill, 
 became to a certain degree the type according to which a whole world — 
 including the mighty volcanoes of Mexico, South America,- and the 
 Asiatic Islands— was supposed to be formed. Such a mode of reasoning 
 involuntarily reminds us of Virgil's shepherd, who fancied in his o^vn 
 humble cot he saw the image of the Eternal City, Imperial Rome." 
 
 The natural bridges of Icononzo, since Humboldt's time repeatedly 
 described by travellers, excited the admiring wonder of the friends. 
 These bridges are situated in a region where the volcanic forces have 
 wrought on a tremendous scale of magnitude. Masses of rook have 
 been "rent asunder, and deep valleys, or rather fissures, many hundred 
 feet in depth, continually intersect the Cordilleras. In one of these 
 fissures, through which thunders the vast torrent of La Suma Paz, the 
 sandstone rock has not been completely rent asunder. A portion of 
 the rock, fifty feet long and from thirty to forty wide, spans the 
 torrent in the form of a natural bridge ; and fifty or sixty feet below 
 this bridge, which towers four hundred feet above the foaming waters, 
 there is a second of still more marvellous construction. Three vast 
 blocks of rock have been tumbled from the precipice above, ^and have 
 fallen in such a manner as mutually to prevent each other's further 
 descent, the centre mass forming the keystone of the natural, arch ; 
 and in this second bridge is 9,n aperture through which the torrent 
 
ALEXANDER VON liUMBOLDT. 351 
 
 may distinctly be seen holding its course through a caYcin liauntud by 
 nocturnal birds, who, safe in their inaccessible ic treat from the pursuit* 
 of man, fill the air -with their discordant cries. These natural bridges 
 of the Cordilleras are at an elevation of more than three thousand feet 
 above the level of the sea. 
 
 A very -whimsical method of transit among the valleys of the Andes, 
 as national as the palkec or palanquin in India, vi'as the employment of 
 the carqueros, or porters. These functionaries, generally the Btronge,st 
 men of the valleys, earned a laborious living by carrying travellei-s in 
 chairs on their backs up and down the mountain ijdges. The traveller 
 who uses this extraordinary conveyance is seated with his back to that 
 of^ the porter v.'ho carries him, and whose stooping position compels the 
 passenger somewhat inconveniently to exemplify what Ovid describes 
 as the characteristic of man's superiority over the animal creation, for 
 he is. obliged " erectos ad mlera tollere imltus" — ho must contemplate 
 the heavens, for the angle at which he travels almost precludes him 
 from turning his glance towards the earth. Declining this eccentric 
 method of progression, Humboldt and Bonpland were obliged to 
 embrace the alternative of travelling barefoot, at the risk of frost- 
 bite, among the snow-covered passes. The dangers and difficulties of 
 the route did not, however, deter them from crossing the lofty moun- 
 tain of Quindin, on a road or track which sometimes narrowed till only 
 a foot of space separated them from a precipice. Sudden and violent 
 rains that swelled the mountain brooks into torrents difficult and 
 dangerous to ford, increased the labours of the journey; but, on the 
 other hand, the valley of Boquia displayed a wealth of botanical trea- 
 sures that enriched their collections with many new and valuable 
 specimens, and their journal with many novel scientific facts. Here 
 it was that they found the curious species of palm-tree whose trunk 
 supplies a wax-like substance from which the natives manufacture very 
 tolerable candles ; and the forests of Quindin furnished numerous 
 specimens of the vigao, a plant of the banana kind, whose large broad 
 leaves, two feet long by eighteen inches in breadth, are sufficiently 
 strong andtough to resist the drenching i-ains for a considerable time, 
 and are accordingly used by the natives for roofing their huts. The 
 Indians who accompanied Humboldt and Bonpland several times made 
 tents, the framework of. branches of: trees, the covering of the liighly- 
 varnished vigao leaves ; and though the rain poured in torrents in the 
 valley of Boquia, the dwellers beneath those extemporised huts were 
 
352 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 dry and well sheltered. After a four months' travel, every day of 
 which added to their store of information, they arrived at Quito in 
 the beginning of 1802. 
 
 A series of ascents of the chief volcanic mountains, and researches 
 into the antiquities and historical relics of the covmtry, occupied many 
 useful months. Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, Piohincha, Antisama, and Tun- 
 guragua were amongst the volcanoes ascended by the indefatigable 
 travellers. The ascent of Chimborazo — the extreme summit of which 
 a, fissure prevented them from reaching — ^was effected by Humboldt, 
 Bonpland, and an energetic and friendly companion, the young 
 Marquis Carlos Montufar, on the 23rd of June, 1802. They ascended 
 the eastern slope of the motmtain to a height of 19,286 feet. At an 
 elevation of 18,225 feet, nearly 2,200 feet higher than the summit of 
 Mont Blanc, winged insects were buzzing around, and at more than 
 16, .500 feet above the line of perpetual snow, yellow butterflies were 
 fluttering about. A kind of saxifrage was also found growing among 
 the snow at a height of 15,770 feet, a striking proof of the diffusion 
 of animal and vegetable life in regions where it might be supposed 
 the conditions of climate would forbid its existence. The vertical 
 height of this great mountain was estimated, after careful barometrical 
 measurement, at 21,422 feet. 
 
 The derivation of the name Chimborazo, which was explained by 
 several natives as meaning simply "the snow of Chimbo" (a name 
 given to the district in which the .mountain is situated), is considered 
 a matter of doubt by Humboldt, who inclines to think the name may 
 be totally independent of the Inca language, and have come down from 
 an earlier and forgotten age. He points out that the names of other 
 mountains, such as Cotopaxi, Pichincha, and Ilinissa, are totally devoid 
 of meaning in the language of the Incas, and conceives that the name 
 Chimborazo, like these, may have been derived from some tongue whose 
 meaning has perished from, the face of the earth. At any- rate, he 
 observes, the word ought to be written Chimporazo, as there is no h 
 in the Peruvian language. The towering Chimborazo is, however, not 
 the highest of mountains. This honour belongs to another range, and 
 our author observes that if we could suppose the pass of St. Gothard, 
 Mount Athos, or the Rigi, piled on the summit of Chimborazo, we 
 should have the elevation ascribed to Dhawalagiri, in the Himalayan 
 range. 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 853 
 
 vni. 
 
 Nature of Volcanic Agencies iii'the Andes— Cotopaxi — The Quina, or Cinchona 
 Bark — Architectural Remains in Peru — The Inoa Koads — Aqnedncts and 
 Fortifications — Destruction of Public Works in Peru by Spanish Conquerors 
 ■ — Caxamarca — Bemains of the Palace — "Baths of the Inca" — PizaiTO and 
 Atahuallpa— The Descendants of Atahuallpa — A Peruvian Aladdin's Garden. 
 
 rpHE tremendous nature of the volcanic agencies which have contri- 
 -^ buted to the formation of the Andes range will appear as described 
 by Humboldt in the Views of Nature, a work in which a very great 
 amount of physical science is concentrated and popularised in a very 
 agreeable manner. The author says — 
 
 "From the granitic rocts of Diego Ramirez and the deeply- 
 intersected district of Terra del Fuego— which in the east contains 
 Silurian schist, and in the west the same schist metamorphosed into 
 granite by the action of subterranean fire — ^to the Polar Sea, the 
 Cordilleras extend over a distance of more than 8,000 miles. Although 
 not the loftiest they are the longest mountain chain in the world, beinf/ 
 vplwaved from one fxsure which runs in the direction of a meridian from 
 pnle to pole, and exceeding in linear extent the distance which, in the 
 old continent, separates the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) from the icy 
 capo of the Tschuktches in the north-east of Asia. Where the Andes 
 are divided into several parallel chains, those lying nearest the sea are 
 found to be the seat of the most active volcanoes ; and it has moreover 
 been repeatedly observed that when the phenomenon of an eruption of 
 subterranean fire ceases in one mountain chain it breaks forth in some ' 
 other parallel range. The cones of eruption generally follow the 
 direction of the axis of the chain, but in the Mexican table-land the 
 active volcanoes are situated on a transverse fissure, running from sea 
 to sea, in an east and west direction. Wherever the upheaving of 
 mountain masses in the ancient crust of the earth has opened a com- 
 munication with the fused interior, volcanic activity continued to be 
 exhibited in the mass which had been upheaved like a wall by means 
 of the ramification of fissures. That which we call a mountain chain 
 has not been raised to its present elevation, or manifested as it now 
 appears, at one definite period ; for we find that rocks, varying con- 
 siderably in age, have been superposed on one another and have 
 penetrated towards the surface through fissures formed at an earlier 
 
 period." 
 
 2 a 
 
354 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 The imagination fails in the attempt to portray the extent of 
 volcanic force necessary to uphea/ve a range of granitic mountains 
 through a distance of 8,000 miles. 
 
 Cotopaxi, which the travellers ascended on the 5th of May, though 
 not the most lofty, is at once the most beautiful in shape and the 
 most terrible in its destructive power of the numerous volcanoes in 
 the Andes range. The valleys around it are shown to a great depth, 
 with the ashes and scoriae which this giant of 18,000 feet has at 
 various periods east forth. In the great eruption of 1724: the roaring 
 of the volcano is said to have been heard at a distance of 200 leagues. 
 Humboldt and Bonpland distinctly heard it at Guayaq^uU — ^more than 
 fifty leagues distant — and its noise is compared to the sound of salvoes 
 of heavy artillery. The dazzling snow-covered cone — six times higher 
 than that surmounting the Peak of Teneriffe — which towers above 
 Ootopaxi, is pronounced inaccessible by Humboldt, who moreover 
 observes that ascents of mountains beyond the line of perpetual snow 
 are rarely productive of any definite scientific result. 
 
 One of the most tremendous volcanic outbursts that ever changed 
 the face of these regions happened in February, 1797. The sorcalled 
 mud eruption of the Moya caused the death of forty thousand Indians 
 in the torrents that swept suddenly from the mountains upon the 
 plains. At Riobamba the travellers had an opportunity of noting the 
 effects of this fearful event. At Loxa their attention was drawn to 
 the tree whence the quina, or cinchona bark, known in Europe as 
 the Peruviaa bark, used in cases of fever, is obtained. Hmnboldt 
 describes the pleasure they felt, after a year's residence in the higher 
 regions of the Andes at an elevation of from 8,000 to 13,000 feet above 
 the level of the sea, in descendiag to a more genial tract, rich in new 
 and beautiful forms of tropical vegetation. The quina, or cinchona 
 bark, first became known in Europe in the middle of the seventeenth 
 century. According to the assertion of Sebastian Badus, the year 
 1632 is given as the date of its introduction ; but other accounts speak 
 of its being brought to Madrid in 1640 by Juan del Vego, physician 
 to the Countess of Ohinchon, wife of the Viceroy of Peru. This lady 
 had been cured of a fever at Lima by the use of this valuable remedy. 
 The following account is given of the quina tree : — 
 
 "The trees which jield this bark grow on mica, slate, and gneiss, 
 at the moderate elevations of 5,765 and 7,675 feet above the level ,Df 
 the sea, nearly corresponding respectively with the heights <d the 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 355 
 
 hbsjiiee on the Grimsel and tlie pass of the Great St. Bernard. The 
 cinchona woods in these parts are bounded by the little rivulets 
 Zamoob and Caehyacu. The tree is felled in its first flowering season, 
 or about the fourth or seventh year of its growth, according as it may 
 have been reared from a strong shoot or from seed. At the time of 
 my journey in Peru we learned with surprise that the quantity of the 
 cinchona condeminca annually obtained at Loxa by the casoariUa 
 gatherers, or quina hunters (cascarilleros and cas<jadores de quina), 
 amounted only to 110 cwt. At that time none of this valuable 
 product found its way into commerce; all that was obtained was 
 shipped at Payta, a post on the Pacific, and conveyed round Cape 
 Horn to Cadiz for the use of the Spanish court. To procure the 
 small supply of 11,000 Spanish pounds no less than 800 or 900 
 cinchona trees were cut down every year. The older and thicker 
 stems are becoming more and more scarce ; but such is the luxuriance 
 of growth that the younger trees — which now supply the demand 
 though measuring only six inches in diameter — frequently attain a 
 height of from fifty-three to sixty-four feet. This beautiful tree, which is 
 adorned with leaves five inches long and two broad, seems, when growing 
 in the thick woods, as if striving to rise above its neighbours. The 
 upper branches spread out, and when agitated by the wind the leaves 
 have a peculiar reddish colour and glistening appearance, which is 
 distinguishable at a great distance." A story was extensively circulated 
 to the effect that the lion (puma) chewed the bark and leaves of the 
 quina tree when tormented by fever ; but there is no foundation for the 
 " traveller's tale.'' 
 
 Throughout their wanderings in Peru, the travellers were con- 
 tinually astonished at the stiipendous remains of great public works 
 erected in the time of the Incas. It is curious to notice what erroneous 
 impressions prevailed in Europe, even long after the return of Hum- 
 boldt, respecting the civilisation and power of the Peruvians, whom 
 the Pizarros combated so bravely and oppressed so ruthlessly. Lord 
 Macaulay, writing in 1842, draws the comparison, in his masterly essay 
 on CUve, between the natives of Hindostan in the last century, and the 
 Peruvians and Americans of the sixteenth, in which he greatly under- 
 rates the importance of the enemies against whom Cortez and Pizarro 
 had to contend, presenting the civilisation of the natives of India as a 
 contrast with the barbarism of Spanish America. " They had not 
 broken in a single animal to labour," he says, speaking of the native 
 
356 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 American races, wMle " thd natives of Hindostah had buUt cities 
 larger and richer than Saragossa or Toledo;" and in an elaborate} 
 passage he designates the Mexicans, and reruvians.as "savages.'' 
 But when Humboldt and Bonpland travelled among the relics of the 
 ancient Peruvian dominions, they found the remains of a stupendous 
 road, constructed of slabs of hard black stone, twenty feet in breadth, 
 and extending the whole way between Cuzco and Quito, the two 
 ancient capitals of Peru. Now the distance in a direct line between 
 these two cities is no less than 1,000 miles ; and as the road necessarily 
 follows the windings of the mountains, some idea may "be formed of 
 the magnitude of this atupendous work and of the co-operation neces- 
 sary to accomplish it. Some of the old Inca roads are covered with a 
 coating of cemented gravel, and have the appearance of being mac- 
 adamized. Others, which traverse regions where the mo.iwtains are 
 unusually steep, are cut out into broad steps, impracticable indeed for 
 the passage of cavaliy, but perfectly adapted to the passage of llamas, 
 the Peruvian beasts of burden, which had only light loads. to carry. 
 The great road between Cuzco and Quito traverses the mountains at 
 an elev-ation considerably higher than the summit of the Peak of 
 TenerifPe. Aqueducts and foi-tifioations, on an equally magnificent 
 scale, were also constantly found. "The early Spanish Conqmta, 
 dorex,'" says Humboldt, "were filled with admiration at the-first sight 
 of the i-oads and aqueducts of the Peruvians ; yet not only did they 
 neglect to preserve those great works, but they even wantonly 
 destroyed them. As a natural consequence of the destruction of the 
 aq-ueducts, the soil was rendered unfertile for want of irrigation. 
 Nevertheless, those works, as well as the roads, were demolished for 
 the sake of obtaining stones, ready hewn, for the erection of new 
 buildings ; and the traces of this devastation are more observable near 
 the sea coast than on the ridges of the Andes, or in the deeply-cleft 
 valleys with which that mountain chain is intersected. Puring . our 
 long day's journey from the syenitic. rocksof Zaulac to theyalley of 
 San Felipe, we had no less than twenty-seven times to ford the Bio 
 do Guancabamba, which falls into the Amazon. We were compelled 
 to do this on account of the numerous sinuosities of the stream ; whilst 
 on the brow of a steep precipice near us we had continually within 
 our sight the vestiges of the rectilinear Inca road. The little moun- 
 tain stream, the Rio de Guancabamba, is not more than from 120 to 
 150 feet broad ; btit so strong is the current, that our heavily-laldeu 
 
AI.EXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 
 
 357 
 
 mules wero in continual danger of being swept away by it. The laulos 
 canicd oui" manuscripts, our dried plants, and all the other articles 
 
 .,.<=*» 
 
 which we had beeu engaged a whole j ear in collecting ; therefore, 
 every time we crossed the stream, we stood on one of the banks in a 
 
358 THE WOKLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 state of anxious suspense, until the long train of our beasts of burden^ 
 eighteen or twenty in number, were fairly out of danger." 
 
 The most interesting memorials of the Incas were found in the 
 elevated plain on which is situated the city of Caxamarca, " the Snow 
 city," which in ancient times was the capital of Atahuallpa, the last 
 of the Incas who really reigned in Peru. The remains of the ancient 
 palace of the Peruvian monarchs are still to be seen here. The neigh- 
 bourhood of Caxamarca is remarkably fertile. In spite of its elevation 
 it enjoys a sheltered position ; and its fields are bright with the red, 
 yellow, and white ilowers of the datura, with mimosas, and with 
 beautiful rosaceous trees. In the distance, but plainly to be seen from 
 Caxamarca, columns of vapour rise into the air from certain hot 
 springs which still bear the name of "Baths of the Inca," where 
 Atahuallpa was accustomed to spend part of each summer. It is 
 impossible to think, without sympathy mingled with a feeling of indig- 
 nation, on the history of this unfortunate prince, whose unhappy fate 
 threw him into the hands of men equally faithless and cruel alike as 
 friends and enemies. The dealings of the Spaniards with the nations 
 of the Kew World were tainted throughout with the vicious notion 
 from which the dealings of our own countrymen; in the East were not 
 entirely free — ^the indefensible doctrine that in dealings with " nafives" 
 the common reat*fefions of honour and honesty may be disregarded, 
 that a Clive may cheat an Omichund by a forged document, without 
 damaging hie own character as a gentleman. The conduct of Pizarro 
 and his assoetates towards the pooi-, plundered, duped AtahuaJlpa, 
 disgusts alike by its iareachery and rapacity. Though the sum of 
 £3,500,000, stsriied by the historian Prescott to have been divided by 
 the Pizarros and their associate, Almagro, is considered by Humboldt 
 to have been over-estimated, the amoimt of plunder obtained under the 
 name of ransom wa^ doubtless, enormous. The treasures brought from 
 the temples at Huaylas, Huama-Chuco, Cuzco, and Pachacamao,, are 
 valued by Garoilaso de la Vega at 3,838,000 ducats. The poor Inca 
 seems to have been very anxious to be buried in Quito ; and thither, 
 after a mass had been said for the repose of his soul, in the presence of 
 the Pizarros, who attended the ceremony dressed in deep mourning, his 
 body was conveyed for burial. 
 
 At Caxamarca, living in poverty amid the ruins of former splendour, 
 dwelt the descendants of the unfortunate Inca. Some traditions of 
 their former greatness survived in the family of AstorpUca the Cacique, 
 
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 359 
 
 who, in Humboldt's time, was the direct representative of the family of 
 AtaiuaUpa. Among the Caxamarcans stories were diffused concerning 
 subterranean treasures — gardens like that wondrous region in the 
 Arabian tale, into which the magician led the bewildered Aladdin-rr 
 groves whose trees were solid gold, bearing jewels for fruit, were 
 believed to exist beneath the dust and rubbish of the dead city, and 
 many besides the Cacic[ue's family were firm in their expectation that a 
 day woidd come when the ancient dominion of the Incas would be 
 restored in all its glory, and the hidden treasures would blaze in the 
 light of day. Humboldt, who had heard of these traditions, one day 
 questioned the son of Astorpilca concerning them, inquiring if, the 
 Cacique and his family had never felt a desire to dig for some of these 
 treasures. The young Peruvian's answer, he says, " was so simple, and 
 so expressive of the quiet resignation peculiar to the aboriginal 
 inhabitants of the country, that I noted it down in Spanish in my 
 journal. 'Such a desire (tal antajo),^ said he, 'never comes to us. 
 My father aays that it would be sinful ((pie faese pecado). If we had the 
 golden branches, with all their golden fruits, our white neighbours 
 would hate us and injure us. We have a little field and good wheat 
 (buen trigd).' " Like the Roman country folk described by Goldsmith in 
 the Traveller :■— 
 
 " In those domes where Caesars once bore sway, 
 Defaced by timej and tott'ring in decay, 
 There, in the ruin, heedless of the dead, 
 The shelter-seeMng peasant hides his head, 
 And, wondering man could need the larger pile, 
 Stilts, and owns his cottage with a smile." 
 
 As strange a contrast as the course of time could well bring about 
 — ^from Atahuallpa, a Peruvian Damocles on his golden throne, to 
 Astorpilca, content in his poverty with a little field and " buen trigo," 
 The wanderings of Humboldt and Bonpland were protracted to 
 August, 1804, when they reached Europe, after achieving such results 
 for science as had seldom been attained within the limits of one 
 voyage. 
 
CAPTAIN FLINDERS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Kinders' Only Memorial— His Early Predilectiona for Exploring— The Tom 
 Thumb: its Crew and First Voyage— Mr. Bass Penetrates as far as Port 
 Philip— Discovery of Bass's Strait— Lieutenant Flinders is Bntrnsted with 
 the Command of an Exploring Expedition — The Investigator Commences 
 her Great "Work — The French Expedition— Grand Preparations— Interview 
 between Captain FUnders and the French Commander— The Two Expedi- 
 tions Separate— Hospitahty to the French at Sydney— The Investigator 
 Proceeds along the North Coast — Departure for England— Wreck" of the 
 Porpoise and Cato. ' . 
 
 fyillE traveller who disembarks on " the Wharf" at Melbourne finds 
 -^ himself in Flinders-street: a frontage of bonded warehouses, 
 wool-stores, and shipping-offices, facing the Yarra-Yarra.* It is the 
 only memorial to an English naval officer, distinguished for high 
 abilities, indomitable enterprise, and most undeserved wrong. To 
 Captain Flinders we are indebted for the very name of Australia, and, 
 in all probability, the preservation within the British Empire of its 
 most important colonies. 
 
 In 1788 the first English settlement was formed on the shores of 
 Australia, then known as New Holland. Some eight years after, 
 Mr. Matthew Flinders was appointed. to the post of midshipman on 
 board his Majesty's ship EeUanoe, sent to protect the infant colony. 
 He was filled with an ardent passion for exploring new countries — and 
 here was a whole continent, scarcely known, to quicken it into activity. 
 
 Midshipman Flinders, assisted by Mr. Bass, the surgeon of the 
 vessel, constructed a small boat, seven feet long. To this was given 
 the appropriate name of the Tom Thumb. In the Tom Thumb, 
 Mr. Flinders and Mr. Bass — with a crew consisting of one boy — 
 made various explorations along the shores of Botany Bay,t adjoining 
 the new settlement. They ascended one of the rivers falling into the 
 
 * In the aboriginal languages of Australia, the repetition of" the word 
 intensifies its meaning, thus Tarra means simply "flowing." 
 
 t So named previously by Captain Cook, in consequence o£ the great number 
 of new and valuable botanical specimens which it was found to furnish. 
 
CAPTAIN FLINDERS. 
 GOVERNOE EYRE. 
 
CAPTAIN FLINDERS. 
 
 3G1 
 
 Bay itself. At length, emboldened by success, they iDroceeded to fill 
 uji some of the great gaps existing on the charts of Captain Cook. 
 The presence of a strong current, coming up from the westward, first 
 suggested to them that the great mass of land on which Tasman had 
 conferred the name of "\"an Uiemen, the Governor of Batavia, did not 
 in reality form part of the mainland of New Holland, as supposed, but 
 an independent island. At this particular period, Mr. Flinders v.-as 
 
 ,iN .iUGir.ALIJ.N N.^TIVK. 
 
 temporarily detained on ship duty; but Mr. Bass, having penetrated, 
 ill an open whale-boat, as far as the entrance to Port Philip — the future 
 scat of Melbourne — found 'further evidence to confirm the conjecture. 
 On his return, the two friends obtained the aid of the Norfolk, a colonial 
 sloop placed at their disposal to prosecute their researches. In the 
 Norfolk they actually passed between the south coast of New Holland 
 and Van Diemen's Land, coming ovrt on the great Southern Ocean. 
 With a view to extinguishing all trace of its subsequent penal history. 
 Van Diemen's Land is now known as the Island of Tasmania ; the 
 separating strait bears the name of BIr. Bass. On the return of the 
 Pieliance to England in 1800, the charts of these new discoveries were 
 
362 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 published, and reflected great credit on the young midshipman and his 
 friend. 
 
 The English Government was at that time becoming alive to the 
 necessity of a more intimate knowledge of the vast regions, on the 
 mere borders of which it had planted its colony of New South WaleSi; 
 and Mr. — now Lieutenant — ^Flinders was deemed the most fitting man 
 to take the command of an exploring vessel to be despatched thither. 
 With the first year of the new century, he sailed from Sheerness on 
 board the Livestigator, an armed sloop of 334 tons burden. England 
 and France being then at war, the expedition was provided — ^in accor- 
 dance with the usages of nation*— with the proper passport, furnished 
 by the French Minister of Marine,, in which the pacific objects of the 
 Investigator were recited, and hae captain, officers, and crew recom- 
 mended to the hospitality and protection of all foreign possessions of 
 the new Republic. This expedition conunands additional interest from 
 the fact that among th# midshipmen serving on board — a relative, 
 indeed, of the commaadBf — was John— afterwards Sir John — Franklin. 
 
 With the following December, Cape Leettwin, the extreme south- 
 west point of Austtalia, was mghted, and the work of marine survey 
 began. The whole of the south coast was carefully examined, and 
 names were affixed to the various bays, capeS), islands, and headlands. 
 In April, 1802, the Investigator had advanced as; far east as long. 138 
 deg. 58 min. — nearly opposite where the city of Adelaide now stands — 
 when a circumstance occurred deeply affectiag the results of the 
 expedition, and which clouded the future years o£ its commander with 
 most cruel disappointment^ and injustice unparaBelfed in the history of 
 international rights. 
 
 That success in maritime discovery which had early distinguished 
 the Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch, had been, of late, becoming the 
 possession of England. It was not without envy that her rival, France, 
 saw her occupying shore after shore with new colonies, taking firm, 
 root, and giving every promise of holding possession of the soil. Most 
 eBpeciaUy was it judged expedient to anticipate her labours in the 
 " Great South Land." For this purpose, an exploring expedition h^d 
 been fitted out by the French Government on more than an prdmary 
 scale of grandeur and preparation. In the somewhat inflated language 
 of M. Peron, who accompanied the expedition as naturaljst, 'f'Ehe 
 magazines of Havre were placed at the disposal of our compiaiider ; 
 considerable sums were granted him for the purchase ,of chqiee 
 
CAPTAIN FLINDEKS. 863 
 
 wines, liquors, syrups, sweetmeats of various kinds, Italian oakes', 
 soup-cakes, acid of lemon in crystals, &c. Filtering maohines 
 invented by Schmidt, stoves with ventilators, hand-mills, and different 
 apparatus for distilling were put on board each vessel ; while inatruc- 
 tiolis of great value were issued by M. Kerandrum, first physician to 
 the navy, for the preservation of health. Our numerous instruments 
 of astronomy, physical instruments, and those requisite for the 
 meteorological and geographical departments, were the work of the 
 most eminent artists of the capital; the matense of the chemists, 
 painters, draughtsmen, were of the first quality ; a numerous library, 
 composed of the best works relating to the sea, to astronomy, geo- 
 graphy, physics, natural history, and voyages was prepared for each 
 vessel ; for the instructions necessary for scientific researches, it wUl be 
 sufficient to notice, in order t» ascertain Iiow precise and complete they 
 were, that they were the compa»ti6n of a CommissioxKsf tfie Institute, 
 formed of MM. Fkrietr, lL«c6pMe, l;aplace, BongainviUe, Cuvier, 
 Jussiea, Lelifevre, eamus, and Laagles j M. Degeraisdff, a member of 
 the same learned; society,. Rested; iat us an interesting work on the 
 jnethodi' t0 l»e foitowed in owr ofeaenfiUioiis on tmeivilised people ; a 
 natioiud medal was struck to eemaaemars^e this grand eiHsi^rise ; the 
 most flatseiiffg pasBfportB- were fajnished by all tli« Severnments of 
 Europe ; an unlimited credit was evened for us with the principal colonies 
 of Africa and Asia ; in one word, tfie august chief, under the auspices of 
 
 ■ whom this important voyage was about to be undertaken, had given 
 directions that nothing should be omitted which might tend to the 
 preservation of the men, facilitate our labours, or guarantee our inde- 
 pendence." It is difficult to refrain from a snule when comparing these 
 elaborate preparations with those which the real discoverers and 
 explorers of Australia brought with them to their task. Mr. Bass, we 
 have just seen, made the most important marine discovery affecting 
 those regions in an open whale-boat; and the hitherto impregnable 
 iaterior has at length yielded to Mr. Stuart, accompanied by two men 
 only. In truth, in matters of exploration, the British Government has 
 maMy left its people free to exercise their own discretion. In general, 
 the Biost important and successful results have been accomplished by 
 the colonies themselves — indeed, not seldom by private and unassisted 
 individuals. 
 
 ' Towards the close of 1800, this, expedition had sailed fromEn*nee, 
 in the ships Le Gdographe and Le Natmrallste. It was not imtU the 
 
364 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 spring of 180:i that they arrived at tlie scene of their proposed labours. 
 What they had been doing during much of the intervening time wiil be 
 found sufficiently explained by the remark of one of the officers, at a 
 subsequent interview with the commander of the Investigator. 
 "Captain," said M. Bonnefoy, "if we had not been kept so long 
 picking up shells and catching butterfles at Van Diemen's Land, you 
 would not have discovered the south coast before us." No conversation, 
 however, of such a nature took place at this first meeting of the two 
 
 AUSTitALIAN FISILEI'.ilEN. 
 
 expeditions. Captain Flinders went on board Le Geographe, and 
 requested to see Captain Baudin's passport from the English Admiralty. 
 "And when it was found," run Captain Flinders' own words, "and I 
 had perused it, I offered mine from the French Marine Minister ; but 
 lie put it back without inspection." The commander of Le Geographe 
 made hardly any allusion to the scenes around them, confiuiug his 
 remarks to Van Diemen's Land, and also criticising a certain English 
 chart of Bass Strait in his possession, pubUshed immediately before 
 his departure from Europe. He found fault with the north side of the 
 strait, but commended the form given to the south side and. to the 
 smaU islands near it. On Captain Flinders pointing out a note upon 
 the chart, explaining that the north side of the strait was seen only in 
 an open boat by Mr. Bass, without adequate means of taking longitude 
 and latitude, he expressed bis surprise, and confessed that that fact 
 
CAPTAI.V FLINDERS. 365, 
 
 had previously escaped his notice. " On my asking the name of the 
 captain of Le" Naturaliste, ho bethought ■ himself to ask mine, and, 
 fiiiding it to be the same as the author of the chart which he had 
 been .criticising, expressed not a little surprise, but had the isoliteness 
 to congratulate himself on meeting me.'' 
 
 On parting with Le Geographe, Captain Flinders proceeded with 
 his examination of the south coast, and, having made an examination 
 of Port Philip Bay — in which the cities of Melbourne and Goelong 
 hate since risen— finally arrived at Sydney in the following May. The 
 French ship, Le Naturaliste, had arrived a few days before, and she 
 was soon followed by Le Geographe. Captain Flinders and the 
 whole of the inhabitants of Sydney were unremitting in their attention 
 and hospitality to the members of the French expedition. Though in 
 time of war, the town and its whole neighbourhood were tliiown open 
 to their inspection. They were received at a public dinner on board tie 
 Investigator, as also, on several occasions, in the town itself. And 
 while, from the great scarcity of live-stock at that period in the new 
 colony, the governor felt vm.?.ble to victual the English expedition, 
 large supplies were sent on board Xe Geographe and Le Naturaliste. 
 
 Oii leaving Sydney, the Investigator proceeded along the north 
 coast of the island-continent, between the mainland and that most 
 extraordinary production of animal life known as the Great Barrier 
 Eeef. This reef is wholly the result of the labours of the coral insect, 
 and runs, parallel with the coast for the amazing distance of 1,200 miles. 
 Along the coast now traversed by Captain Flinders, several 
 excellent bays were discovered, and regions disclosed, which have since 
 led to the foundation of the new colony of Queensland. In completing, 
 however, the survey of the Gulf of . Carpentaria, the Investigator was 
 found to be in so unseaworthy a condition as to render a return: to 
 Sydney indispensable. At Sydney a Government Commission con- 
 demned the vessel as unfit to put to sea again. Under these cireum- 
 'stanees, it became necessary for Captain Flinders to sail for England, 
 in' orddr to lay his maps and charts before the Admiralty, and to obtain 
 another Ship to complete the coast survey of Australia. A store ship, 
 called the Porpoise, was placed at his disposal by the Colonial Govem- 
 nlerit for this purpose, and two ships bound for Batavia — the Bridge- 
 waterj under Captain Palmer, and the Cato, under Captain Park — 
 sailed 'at the same tune, being desirous of his coinpany. For the 
 pii*p6fee ' of some further inspection, it was Captain Flinders' Wish to 
 
36G THE WORLD'S EXPLOKERS. 
 
 proceed homewards by the north coast, necessitating a second voyage 
 between ihe east coast of the mainland and the Great Barrier Reef, to 
 which we have already referred. Here, however, his usual good fortune 
 deserted hun — ^unfortunately never to return. When opposite the 
 present colony of Queensland, the Porpoise struck on a detached mass 
 of coral reef. Her masts immediately went overboard, and she turned 
 broadside on to the violence of the waves. It being apparent to those 
 on board that their vessel could not long hold together, aU eyes were at 
 once turned in the direction of the Cato and Bridgewater as the only 
 means of escape. But there a truly fearful sight met their gaze. 
 Following in the wake of the Porpoise, these two vessels had perceived 
 her mishap, and now suddenly altered their courses in a last effort to 
 avoid the reef. This manoeuvre caused the paths of both ships to cross, 
 and they were now bearing down on each other with every appearance 
 of a collision. By a daring and skilful turn, however, the captain of 
 the Cato avoided the impending shock. The anxious spectators of the 
 Porpoise saw the two vessels pass side by side, almost grazing. Pre- 
 sently they opened off from each other, the Cato steering to the north- 
 east, and the Bridgewater going south. The manoeuvre, however, of 
 the captain of the Cato cost him his ship. In another moment she 
 struck on the reef ; through the gathering darkness her masts were 
 seen to fall overboard by the crew of the Porpoise, and then night 
 entirely closed on the dreadful scene. One solitary ray alone shone 
 through the thick gloom, still lending hope. A light was shown from 
 the masthead of the Bridgewater, indicating that she, at all events, had 
 escaped from these complicated dangers. 
 
 n. 
 
 "Want of Assistance in the Captain of the Bridgewater— The Bridgewater Deserts 
 the Two Wrecks— The Crews of the Porpoise and Cato Beach an Adjacent 
 Sandbank— Captain Flinders Starts for Sydney and Eesones his Companions 
 —Leaves again for England in the Cumherland— Puts in for Eepairs at 
 Mauritius— The Governor Accuses him as a Spy— Filthy Lodgings— The 
 French Government's Passport Eepudiated— Appearance of the Eecord of 
 the French Expedition— PubKc FeeUng in France— The Emperor Signs the 
 Order for his Release- De Caen's Behaviour— Flinders Eetums to Englsmd 
 — His Death. 
 
 QEIDOM indeed is a writer called on to record any want of prompt 
 ^ and generous assistance on the part of those whose trade is on the 
 deep to their less fortunate brethren, most seldom when the honour of the 
 
CAPTAIN FLINDERS. 367 
 
 English flag is concerned. Our narrative, however, now compels us to 
 mention as dastardly an act of desertion as it is possible to conceive. 
 Captain Palmer, having escaped into smooth water — ^mainly through 
 the gallant, though ill-fated, manoeuvre of the commander of the Cato 
 —waited for the morning's light — " saw,'' in the language of JMr. 
 Williams, one of his own indignant oificers, "the reef on our weather 
 bow, and, from the masthead, the two ships, and to leeward of them a 
 sandbank" — and then proceeded on his course. " The ships," continues 
 this honest fellow, "were very distinctly to be seen from aloft, and also 
 from the deck ; but, instead of rendering them any succour, the captain 
 ordered the ship to be put on the other tack, and said it was impossible 
 to send them any relief." The indignation of Mr. Williams did not 
 end here. Wherever the Bridgewater touched, he spread the report of 
 this base desertion of their fellow-voyagers, and, as soon as opportunity 
 permitted, left the vessel, forfeiting his wages, and even his few articles 
 of property. On the contrary. Captain Palmer, on arriving at Calcutta, 
 commmiicated to the newspapers a circumstantial narrative of the total 
 destruction of the two vessels and their crews. From India he sailed 
 for England, and was heard of no more. 
 
 Let us how return to the scene of the wrecks. As soon as it was 
 placed beyond doubt that the Bridgewater had abandoned them to 
 their fate, the crews of the Porpoise and Cato put forth all their 
 energies to rescue themselves from their vessels, now rapidly going to 
 pieces. After great exertions, they at length succeeded in assembling 
 on an adjacent sandbank, about 150 fathoms long, and elevated some 
 four feet above high- water mark. Thither they conveyed aU the stores 
 that could be saved from the ships, and, on the second day after their 
 catastrophe, found they numbered 94 souls, with water and provisions 
 for about three months' consumption. They also saved a couple of 
 six-oared cutters. Most fortunately, Captain Flinders' highly- valuable 
 maps and charts were also preserved. They were now about 800 miles 
 from the nearest settlement — namely, Sydney — and Captain Flinders 
 proposed to go thither, in search of aid, in one of these open cutters. 
 This most difficult achievement he accomplished in less than two 
 months, returning to his companions with the Holla and a most 
 welcome supply of provisions. 
 
 On his return to Sydney, Captain Flinders made his second effort to 
 reach England in the Cumberland, a vessel of only 29 tons burden. She 
 proved leaky, and scarcely able to carry sail. When in the vicinity of 
 
368 THE WOllLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 Mauritius, it was found necessary to put into Port Louis to refit. And 
 here that storm, -whose early -warnings we gave intimation of on the 
 arrival of the French exploring expedition on the Australian coast, 
 burst on the devoted head of our commander. Mauritius — then known 
 as the Isle of France — was, at that period, the property of the French 
 Government. Indeed, it was the chief French privateering station in 
 the Napoleon wars, and the injury which it inflicted on the merchant 
 marine of England is well-nigh incalculable. It was now under the 
 governorship of General De Caen, and Le Geographe had recently 
 paid it a visit on her return home, some months before the arrival of 
 Captain Flinders. 
 
 On his first interview with De Caen, Flinders became aware how 
 dangerous a step he had taken in entering ' Port Louis. The governor 
 behaved with excessive rudeness; affected to believe that so great an 
 explorer as Captain Flinders could not possibly be sent home in a leaky 
 vessel of 29 tons burden ; and ended by calUng him an impostor and a 
 spy. His diaries, charts, and maps were brought on shore. The 
 Cumberland was taken, possession of. • Captain Flinders; and his com- 
 panion, j\ir. Aken, were conducted to a miserable lodging,- to be there 
 confined to an equally miserable room, containing two truckle-beds 
 without curtains, a small table, two rush-bottomed chairs, and >vhole 
 legions of "fle?LB, and other istill more objectionable vermin. To add to 
 these indignities, early the next morning a sentinel burst open the door, 
 and took up his beat between the two truckle-beds. At dinner-hour, 
 an invitation, was given to him to go to the governor's table. But the 
 spirit of a British officer was now thoroughly roused within him. He 
 returned for answer, that he could appear as the guest of the governor 
 only when treated in accordance with his rank and the terms of his 
 passport. In all probability, this was the reply which De Caen sought, 
 and which his previous treatment had been fashioned to bring about. 
 His hospitality had been offered — and was refused: without explanation, 
 the onus of this fact would rest upon his prisoner. Certainly, from 
 that hour all intercourse ceased ; nor was even the least reply vouch- 
 safed to Captain Flinders' repeated letters and appKcations. The 
 identity of Captain Flinders with the commander of the late Ex- 
 ploring Expedition being, of course, capable of the clearest proof, a 
 new expedient, to justify this strange detention, became necess^. 
 The passport issued by the French Government was " to the captain, 
 officers, and crew of the Investigator ;" and, ot Necessity, could contain 
 
CAPTAIN FLINDERS. 
 
 369 
 
 110 reference to the Cumberland. It was now maintained, on tlie part 
 of the governor, that he was not bound to recognise the passengers of 
 an unknown ship entering one of his ports ; that Captain Flinders, iii 
 changing from one^vessel to another, had forfeited all rights and privi- 
 leges conferred on him by the French Minister of Marine. 
 
 VL n ALLAN DULL. 
 
 In 1806 — while Captain Flinders was of course a close prisoner, and 
 his maps and charts in De Caen's possession — appeared the first volume 
 of the results of the French Exploring Expedition in Le Geographe and 
 Le Natui-aliste. Had Captain Flinders obtained a sight of it, he would 
 have stared indeed. The scene of his discoveries is there called 
 "Napoleon's Land." For the various bays, capes, islands, &o., named 
 by him and entered on his charts, appeared " Golfe Bonaparte," " Golfe 
 
 2 B 
 
870 THE WORLD'S EXPLOKEKS. 
 
 Josephine," "Cap Marengo," " Cap Dessaix." In short, scarce a spot 
 was left which did not bear the name of some member of the new 
 Emperor's family, his marshals, or the incidents which had given 
 importance to his career. Even Port Philip, named from the earliest 
 governor of the settlement — and which recent gold discoveries have 
 made so familiar to English ears — now appeared as " Port de Debut." 
 To complete the whole, to the map of this imaginary land (for the 
 charts were rudely and very imperfectly copied from the actual surveys 
 of Captain Flinders) was affixed the representation of an eye, with, an 
 " N" inscribed therein, looking down on the Southern Hemisphere, on 
 which were traced the outlines of New Holland. It is almost unnecessary 
 to remark that to the map of Australia has long since been restored 
 its honest English nomenclature. Had, however, the life of Captain 
 Flinders then yielded to the harsh treatment and cruel suspense to which 
 he was exposed — as, indeed, it did shortly after to their i«sults — ^it is 
 difficult to say what might have been the ultimate fate of that portion of 
 the globe, both in a political as well as in a geographical sense. " The 
 state of unoertitude," writes Captain Flinders, " in which I remained, 
 brought on a dejection of spirits which might have proved fatal, had I 
 not endeavoured, by constant occupation, to force my mind from a 
 subject so destructive to its repose. - Such an end to my detention would 
 have given too much pleasure to the captain-general ; and, from a sort 
 of perversity in human natare, the conviction even brought its support." 
 It is but fair to the great body of the French nation, at home and 
 abroad, to state that the ill-fated English explorer possessed their entire 
 sympa^y. In the island. Admiral Linois made repeated applications 
 to the governor on his behalf. M. Laborde, the chief physician of the 
 medical staff, represented that country air and exercise were absolutely 
 necessary for the restoration of his health; for which he received a 
 sharp rebuff from De Caen. Captain Bergeret made solicitation that 
 his maps and charts should be restored to him, in order that he might 
 employ his enforced leisure upon their completion, while the surveys 
 were fresh in his memory. The civilians of Mauritius offered him all 
 the care and hospitality in their power ; and a petition, signed by every 
 one of position andinfluence in the isle, was forwarded to the National 
 Institute in his behalf. In France, the world-renowned geographer^ 
 Malte Brun, hastened to restore these discoveries to their rightful 
 owner. The brother of Captain Baudin, of Le Geographe (Captain 
 Baudin himself had died on the voyage) published the kindness and 
 
CAPTAIN FLINDERS. 371 
 
 hospitality with which the French Exploring Expedition had been 
 received by the inhabitants of Sydney. Nay, several letters found 
 their way into the French newspapers — ^not even excepting the official 
 Moniteur — setting forth the injustice of detaining Captain FHnders. 
 
 It is needless, however, here to repeat the tale of France's position 
 at the time. The will of the Emperor ruled supreme and undisputed. 
 In very charity, we may suppose he was ignorant of the early detention 
 of the English explorer, or that the facts of the case were placed before 
 him in a distorted form — though the action of De Caen strongly savours 
 of previous instruction. But as year succeeded year, and Captain 
 Flinders BtUl remained aprisoner, that plea loses foundation. In 1806, 
 the Emperor made public approval of the decision of the Council of 
 State, "to grant to Captain Flinders his liberty, and the restitution of 
 his vessel." Yet intrigue rested not still. The British Government 
 was informed that this order was despatched in triplicate to Mauritius 
 id three French vessels. De Caen asserted that he received no order ; 
 he certainly acted on none. The English Government placed in his 
 hands a fourth copy of the order ; but even this the governor dared to 
 disobey — a proof amounting to conviction that he kad received strong 
 and explicit countermanding instructions. Year again succeeded year. 
 Finally it was' not till 1810 that Captain Flinders was permitted to quit 
 the island and resume his voyage to England. Eventually, most of his 
 maps and charts were restored. Some of his note-books, however, were 
 never returned. Indeed, it is sufficiently clear, from the use made of them, 
 that it had been found impossible to return them. Captain Baudin 
 himself had placed it on record that he had constructed no charts while 
 on the Australian coast. 
 
 On Captain Flinders' return to England, he at once set about 
 preparing his papers and surveys for publication. But hope too long 
 deferred, and repeated attacks of illness resulting from the rigour of his 
 confinement, had already undermined his constitution. On the very 
 day that his work saw the light, and that the claims of the Frerich to 
 these vast " South Lands" were scattered to the winds, he breathed his 
 last. His specimens of marine surveying are models for all future 
 explorers, and, perhaps, have never been excelled up to the present 
 moment. The name " Australia" which he affixed to the scene of his 
 labour, at once took the place of the Dutch New Holland. This name 
 has since continued to be held undisputed, and it is high time that the 
 name of Flinders should be raised from the oblivion into which it has 
 fallen. 
 
( 372 ) 
 
 EYRE: GOVERNOR AND AUSTRALIAN 
 EXPLORER. 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 S T E 
 
 R, N 
 
 A UU#^ R J-^ 
 
 
 Ovorlanders — Wealth of the Colomsta — Scarcity of- Water in the Interior of 
 Australia— The Australian Explorer — Services of the Explorers — Social 
 Position of the Overlanders — Magnitude of their Operations — Demand for 
 New Pastures— Country round Adelaide— Application to Mr. Eyre— pie 
 Accepts the Command of the Expedition — Departure of the Explorers — 
 Repeated Failures in Attempting to go Northward — Eyre Determines to go 
 Westward— The Expedition is Sent Back— The Exploring Party— The Coast 
 Line of South Australia — Want of Water. 
 
 T) ECENT affairs in Jamaica having given prominence to the name 
 -'-*' of Edward James Eyre, we here retrace the previous career 
 of that gentleman in other and even more distant lands. Apart from 
 Jamaica matters, it will be found to furnish incidents of a highly- 
 
EYRE: GOVERNOR AND EXPLORER. 373 
 
 interesting character; indeed, in one ihstance liis name is associated 
 with a feat unparalleled in the annals of exploration. 
 
 Some quarter of a century ago, Mr. Eyre belonged to a class of 
 Australian colonists on which had been conferred the title of " Over- 
 landers." Up to the time of the Australian discoveries of gold, that 
 great island-continent continued to be solely a pastoral country. The 
 •wealth of the colonists consisted entirely in cattle and sheep, and their 
 only concern was to find pasture for them. To a few settlers dwelling 
 on the sea-ooast of regions nearly as large as Europe this might not, 
 at first sight, appear a very difficult task, yet it was the great problem . 
 which year after year pressed upon the Australian settler. Available 
 pasture lands were found to occur only in isolated positions, and widely 
 remote from each other, while progress into the vast interior presented 
 suoh'insurmountable obstacles, from scarcity of water, that it was only 
 a couple of years ago that the centre of the island was at length reached, 
 after numberless and daring attempts aU ending in failure, and then 
 only with the loss of the leaders of the expedition, the gallant Burke 
 and WiDs. These peculiarities of Australian settler life brought into 
 existence two classes of colonist, the explorer and the overlander. It 
 was the business of the explorer to discover new pastoral districts ; it 
 was the business of' the overlander to purchase large herds and flocks 
 in the old district, and to convey them to the new — generally through 
 absolute wilderness — for the purpose of selling them to the eager crowd 
 of settlers who invariably rushed into these newly-opened lands. The 
 Australian explorer battled with the obstacles of nature for honour and 
 glory, but it was an honour and glory somewhat different from that 
 actuating the explorers of other unknown countries. No one in the 
 world would be a penny the richer for the discovery of the sources of 
 the Nile : the geographical problem of centuries would receive its 
 solution, and the name of the discoverer would be handed down to all 
 posterity — that would be his reward. The Australian explorer, on the. 
 other hand, conferred immediate wealth on many thousands of hi.s 
 feUow-colonists. The pent-up flocks and herds of the earlier settlements 
 languished for need of new pastures for their superabundant increase : 
 these exploratory expeditions were dismissed into the wilderness with 
 the prayers and God-speed of every colonist, from governor to latest 
 European immigrant, and their return awaited with intense anxiety and 
 eagerness. 
 
 With each discovery the whole of the Australian colonies received a 
 
374 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 solid and permanent accession of material wealth and prosperity ; hence 
 the Australian explorer has always been held in peculiar favour among 
 his fellow- colonists as a public benefactor. The overlander, it is true, 
 acted more in accordance with his own private interests and recompense ; 
 but the magnitude of his operations, the thousand dangers of the sepa- 
 rating desert to which he entrusted his all, his manly bearing, indomi- 
 table energy, and evidence of previous culture, all contributed to render 
 him a favourite. He is well described in the words of Sir George Grey, 
 himself governor of an Australian colony,* and an explorer of no mean 
 •repute : — 
 
 " The overlanders are generally descended from good families, have 
 received a liberal education (Etonians and Oxonians are to be found 
 among them), and, even at their first start in the colonies, were possessed 
 of what is considered an independence. Among them is to be found a 
 degree of polish and frankness rarely to be looked for in such a mode 
 of life, and in the distant desert you unexpectedly stumble on a finished 
 gentleman. The magnitude of the operations of the overlanders would 
 scarcely be credited ; a whole fortune is risked — and in the wUdemess. 
 The stock of the overlander is the capital which he has invested in a 
 single speculation, and to give an idea of the amount of this, I will 
 show, at a moderate estimate, the value of a herd, the property of an 
 overlander who arrived in Adelaide in the month of March, 1840, from 
 the district of Llawarra, New South Wales : — Horned stock, £8,550 ; 
 horses, £3,720 ; wethers, £1,575 : total value, £13,845." 
 
 As might be naturally expected, the overlander often became the 
 explorer when new lands were more urgently needed — as, indeed, was 
 the case in the instance of the gentleman whose name we have placed 
 at the head of this article. So much for 5V.ustralian explorers and over- 
 landers — now for the particular exploits of Mr. Eyre. 
 
 The progress of Australian settlement had been (and now is) a repe- 
 tition of the same events, in the same order of succession : — ^the discovery 
 of a new pastoral region, the rapid and eventually superabundant in- 
 crease of the flocks and herds which quickly filled it, and then the demand 
 for new lands. Thus New South Wales had found vent in the Adelaide 
 district through the daring achievement of Captain Sturt (a name ever 
 to be remembered in the annals of Australian exploration), who had 
 boldly thrown himself on the grim and unknown interior. And now the 
 
 * Now Governor of New Zealand. 
 
EYRE: GOVERNOB, AND EXPLORER. 375 
 
 Adelaide district was threatened with commercial ruin unless a fresh vent 
 could be found. This district — scarcely with propriety known as South 
 Australia — belongs to the eastern corner of the island- continent : the 
 western comer is occupied by King George's Sound and the Swan River 
 settlement, some 1,500 mUes distant. This comer was known to consist 
 of good grass lands, and the question arose — long and anxiously debated 
 by the Adelaide colonists — how far these grass lands extended towards 
 them in an eastern direction, and what was the nature of the intervening 
 space ? Of this intervening space nothing hitherto had been discovered ; 
 up to the moment at which we write it has been trod by one solitary 
 white foot, that of Mr. Eyre himself. All that was known was that all 
 round Adelaide to north and west lay an absolute and most forbidding 
 waste of desert^and pools of brackish water, and that necessity obliged 
 them to break through this belt, whatever might be its unknown breadth. 
 Mr. Eyre was appealed to : he had been to King George's Sound by 
 vessel, and his testimony was corroborative of its good pastoral character. 
 His opinion, however, was that the intervening space would be found 
 an inhospitable and unmitigated desert, through which it would be 
 impossible to drive sheep and cattle, and that search in a direct 
 northern course — that is, towards the head of the colony, and in the 
 direction of the centre of the island-continent — would be more likely to 
 lead to available result. On this recommendation, the intended route 
 of a large exploring expedition, already organised, was changed, and 
 the leadership of it offered to Mr. Eyre. It becomes necessary to bear 
 in mind these preliminary details in order to fully appreciate what 
 followed. The command of the expedition was accepted by Mr. Eyre. 
 On the morning of its "departure a large entertainment was given at 
 Government House in honour of the undertaking : the ladies of Adelaide 
 had embroidered a Union Jack which Mr. Eyre was to plant in the 
 centre of the continent, and this was now presented to him by Captain 
 Sturt, who at the time held the office of Commissioner of Crown Lands* 
 in the colony which he had helped so materially to found. A gay 
 cavalcade escorted the expedition beyond the city boundaries, and with 
 a parting cheer, and much waving of handkerchiefs by the ladies, sr nt 
 it on its way into the wilderness. "As we dashed over the bridge," 
 writes Mr. Eyre, " and up the hiU in North Adelaide, it was a heart" 
 Stirring and inspiriting scene." 
 
 * All colonial lands not alienated — i.e-, sold to priTate iadiyiduala — are known 
 as Crown Lands. 
 
376 
 
 THE WORLD'S EXPLOKERS. 
 
 Repeated attempts to advance in a noi'therly direction all ended in 
 failure. It is not easy to picture the blank desolation -wliicli reigna 
 towards the north of the colony of South Australia. The traveller 
 leaves wealthy homesteads, smiling vineyards, and rich golden corn- 
 fields, yielding the finest grain in the world, to find himself 0]i the 
 edge of a desert consisting of mud, brine, and patches of water so 
 
 dccjly cnciusted AMth 
 ■silt as to resemble 
 hori fiost Later cx- 
 ploiers ha\e fomid a 
 way — more mdeed by 
 iccident than design — 
 through this foi bidding 
 belt to moie desiiable 
 legions Such accident, 
 hovievei was denied to 
 Ml Eyre and he com- 
 plete! a quadi \nt of a 
 cucle m ^am eff Git's to 
 pierce this treacherous 
 surface, finally arriving 
 at the head of Spencer Gulf, where the belt itself communicates with 
 the Southern Ocean. 
 
 An ordinary man would have estimated his defeat at its true value, 
 and returned to Adelaide with his expedition. Such, however — be it 
 to his credit or the contrary — is not Mr. Eyre. He had altered the 
 exploring expedition from its original intention of effecting a junction 
 with the western settlement of Swan River by a direct westerly route. 
 He now determined to take up this westerly route, and live or die in an 
 effort to pass through l,50i) miles of a wholly unknown tract of 
 country. The resolution can scarcely be justified on tlie grounds of 
 reason or necessity. Mr. Eyre's plan was to risk no European life save 
 his own in the attempt. The expedition was sent back : its o.'hcers 
 expostulated with their leader; they pointed out his own previous 
 
 HURLING THE SPEAR. 
 
EYRE: GOVERNOR AND EXPLORER. 37T 
 
 atguments' against a westerly route ; finally, they implored permission 
 to accompany him ; but Mr. Eyre was firm. One European, who had 
 been for many years his faithful servant, and who now occupied the 
 position of overseer in the expedition, proved as wholly obstinate as its 
 leader ; it was his firm resolve to perish with his master, and Mr. Eyre 
 at length yielded to his wishes. Two aborigines who had been brought 
 up on Mr. Eyre's own squatting station were also retained, and a 
 young native black named Wylie, belonging to Swan River settlement. 
 Such was the small force which now set forth on the most hopelessly 
 forbidding region of country which, considering its immense extent, is 
 to be found on the sixrface of the earth. " We were now alone," writes 
 Jlr. Eyre, "myself, my overseer, and the three native boys, with a 
 fearful task before us. The bridge was broken down behind us, and 
 we must succeed in reaching King George's Sound or perish. No 
 middle course remained." 
 
 A word as to the peculiar nature of this terrible region may not be 
 inappropriate. Captain Flinders, to whom the world is indebted for 
 the most complete marine surveys of the Australian sea-coast line, had 
 sailed along the whole of this south coast, but had found it impossible 
 to effect a landing : a violent current sweeps round the Great Austra- 
 lian Bight, eating into the coast, while high and perpendicular cliffs 
 were found to tower from 800 to 600 feet above the deck of his vessel. 
 Thus the whole coast-line had remained perfectly abandoned up to the 
 period of Mr. Eyre's visit. He now found the summits of these cliifs to 
 consist of one unbroken level platform, overlooking the lonely ocean, 
 and stretching inland without rise or fall. A thick and perfectly im- 
 penetrable screen of " scrub" hid the interior from view ; while, occa- 
 sionally, huge masses of the limestone cliffs became detached, and_ 
 tumbled into the boiling waves beneath, emitting the only sound which 
 broke the utter desolation of the scene. During the day a fierce sirocco 
 blew from the interior, bearing with it large volumes of fine sand ; 
 towards evening this was met by an exceedingly cold blast, coming up 
 from the great Southern Ocean. These two antagonistic atmospheric 
 currents caused a deposition of sand on the edge of this high limestone 
 table-land, on which a few herbs had taken root, barely sufficient to 
 yield a scanty sustenance to the horses and to the few sheep which 
 were to form their food on their journey. Water, however, was the 
 great essential, and the hopes of Mr. Eyre and his man were founded 
 on the supposition that the country would soon become sufficiently open 
 
378 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 for progress into the interior, or that the elevated table-land on which 
 they trod would become sufficiently depressed lor inland streams to 
 find their way to the coast. 
 
 n. 
 
 . The "Water-bags Empty— The Horses Give Way— The Sandhilla— A "Well Made 
 — No "Water but at the Tarions Sandhills — Superior Endurance of Man 
 above Other Animals — Half the Distance Aceomphshed — Restlessness of the 
 Horses — Mr. Eyre and his Overseer "Watch Them — Murder of the Overseer 
 — Escape and Eecapture of the Horses — The Adelaide Natives Steal the 
 Provisions — The Horses Killed for Eood — A "Whaling Vessel Sighted — ; 
 Eetum to Adelaide— Quarrels between the Aborigines and Colonists^ 
 Mr. Eyre appointed Black Protector, Governor of "WeUmgton, N.Z. — 
 Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica — Pull Governor — Eespect for Mr. Eyre in 
 AustraHa. 
 
 rpHE first day's march was accomplished without the appearance of 
 -^ any such result — and the second : finally, Mr. Eyre and his small 
 party arrived at the head of the Great Bight without meeting a drop 
 of fresh water, or without possibility of descending to the sea or 
 advancing to any appreciable distance inland. Their water-bags were 
 now quite empty, the sheep in a pitiable state of exhaustion, and the 
 horses — always the first to give in under great drought — strewn along 
 the way which they had traversed. Some distance beyond the Great 
 Bight a few sandhills were seen to raise their insignificant heights, and 
 by digging down to the base of these a little moisture was found to lie 
 concealed between the sand and the limestone table-land. Here they 
 constructed a well, though with considerable difiiculty, from the falling 
 nature of the sand, to which the sheep added in their frantic efforts to 
 reach the water. The water-bags were now xe-filled, though the water 
 flowed so slowly into the well that the greater portion of the night was 
 consumed in this operation. Loaded with these bags Mr. Eyre and his 
 men retraced their way to the horses, and eventually succeeded in 
 bringing them on to the sandhills. Some days were spent in recruiting, 
 when the party made a fresh start, hoping for better luck. 
 
 Extraordinary as it may appear, these groups of sandhills, occurring 
 at distances of 200 and 300 miles from each other, yielded the sole 
 supplies of fresh water which were found along the whole extent of this 
 terrible coast, a circumstance without parallel in the experience of 
 geographical discovery. Mr. Eyre's account of one of these forced 
 
EYKE: GOVERNOR AND EXPLORER. 379 
 
 marches from sandhill to sandhill well exemplifies the superior 
 endurance of man above all other animals. Generally about the third 
 or fourth day the horses exhibited symptoms of failing. Their light 
 loads, consisting of a few indispensable articles of baggage, were then 
 taken off them and left on the wayside. Relieved of these they 
 managed to struggle on for a day or two more ; beyond which, how- 
 ever, no power could get them to advance. Providing themselves with 
 the empty water-bags, Mr. Eyre and his men now pushed forward 
 until a group of sandhills appeared in sight. Here they scooped out 
 a well, slaked their thirst, and took a few hours' rest while the bags 
 were filling. Loaded with these, they returned to the horses, and 
 brought them to the sandhills ; occasionally, however, they found one 
 in the agonies of death, and past all assistance. Arrived for the second 
 time at the sandhills, the most laborious portion of these herculean 
 toils commenced. Their baggage, consisting of flour, tea, sugar, guns, 
 and ammunition, still lay strewn along the track, sometimes as much as 
 fifty or sixty miles behind them, and these they were obliged to carry 
 on their backs while the horses regained some little strength at the 
 sandhills. By such means they had advanced so far into these for- 
 bidding solitudes as to render a return a matter of extreme uncertainty, 
 and were now led on by hope of some ameliorating change in the 
 character of the country. They had accomplished more than half the 
 distance between Adelaide and King George's Sound when Mr. Eyre's 
 cup of toil and anxiety, already full to overflowing, received a wholly 
 unexpected and most distressing increase. 
 
 In addition to the harassing and exhaustive toils we have recorded, 
 Mr. Eyre and the overseer had also taken upon themselves a task of 
 great, and, indeed, vital, importance. The horses — the sheep had long 
 since disappeared — though incapable of the same endurance as them- 
 selves, were, nevertheless, of essential service in conveying their few 
 articles from stage to stage as long as the water-bags lasted — ^that is, 
 during the first three or four days from sandhill to sandhill. At night, 
 however, notwithstanding their weariness, they became extremely rest- 
 less, especially after the water-bags ran low, seizing every opportunity 
 to return to the last stage. Nor could they be tethered, since, in con- 
 sequence of the extremely scanty and scattered nature of the few tufts 
 ol herbage, they would run the risk of absolute starvation. So respon- 
 sible a task, therefore, as watching the horses at night, Mr. Eyre and 
 the overseer deemed unsafe to be intrusted to the three aboriginal 
 
3,80 THE WORLD'S EXPLOEERS. 
 
 youths, and up to the present they had taken it in turns between them, 
 Mr. Eyre watching one half the night and his man the other. On one 
 of these occasions, when some two months of their weary journey had 
 been accomplished, the earlier portion of the night watch had fallen to 
 Mr. Eyre's share. The horses — it was now three days since they 
 had passed the last water stage — proved unusually restless, drawing 
 ISlr. Eyre to a considerable distance from their temporary camp in their 
 efforts to return. As it approached midnight, when the overseer would 
 relieve him, the chill sea-breeze had risen to a gale, sighing mournfully 
 through the few belts of scrub which alone interrupted the dreary 
 monotony of these desolate wilds. An Australian moon, however, 
 poured its flood of light upon the scene, marking out the alternate 
 wastes of sand and bare limestone surface, the few salsolaceous plants, 
 and the white awning of their nightly dwelling in the distance, with 
 the great Southern Ocean beyond and below. Suddenly the report of 
 a gun was borne on the sea-breeze. Aroused by so startling and 
 unexpected an event, Mr. Eyre hastened towards the camp. About 
 half-way he was met by Wylie, the King George's Sound native, 
 running towards him in great alarm, and exclaiming, " Oh, massa ! oh, 
 massa! come here," but unable to afford him any information. On 
 reaching the camp, which he did in about five minutes after the shot 
 was fired, a dreadful sight met his gaze. The scanty stores of flour, 
 tea, and sugar had been broken open, and the contents rifled; the 
 two Adelaide natives had disappeared, and the overseer lay on the 
 ground weltering in his blood, and in the last agonies of death. He 
 had been shot in the left breast by a ball, and in a few moments he 
 expired. The wretched remnant of food had been the incentive to this 
 terrible and most atrocious act, and the Adelaide native youths, the 
 murderers, had also taken with them all the water, and all the arms 
 and ammunition they could lay their hands upon. " The frightful, the 
 appalling truth now burst upon me,'' writes Mr. Eyre, "that I was 
 alone in the desert. He who had faithfully served me for many 
 years, who had followed m^ fortunes in adversity and prosperity, who 
 had accompanied me in all my wanderings, and whose attachment to 
 me had been his sole inducement to remain with me in this last, and, 
 to him, alas I fatal journey, was now no more. For an instant I was 
 almost tempted to wish that it had been my own fate instead of his. 
 The horrors of my situation glared upon me with such startling reality 
 as for an instant almost to paralyse the mind. At the dead hour 
 
EYRE: GOVEKNOR AND EXPLORER. 
 
 381 
 
 of night, in the wildest and most inhosijitable wastes of Australia, with 
 a fierce wind raging in unison with the scene of violence before me, I 
 was left with a single native, whose fidelity I could not rely upon, and 
 who, for aught I knew, might be in league with the other two, who, 
 perhaps, were even now lurking about with a view of taking away my 
 own hfe, as they had done that of the overseer. Three days had jiassed 
 
 THBO\YING THE BOOMEEANO. 
 
 away since we left the last water, and it was very doubtful when we 
 might find any more. Six hundred miles of country had to be traversed 
 before I could hope to obtain the slightest aid or assistance of any 
 kind, whilst I knew not that a single drop of water or an ounce of flour 
 had been left by these murderers from a stock that had previously 
 been so small." 
 
 The horses, however, were the first and vital consideration, and, 
 leaving this scene of violence and treachery till the morning's light, 
 Mr. Eyre and Wylie hastened after them. They had already set out on 
 their return to the last stage, and Mr. Eyre and his solitary attendant 
 had considerable difficulty in coming up with them. " Having suc- 
 ceeded in doing so," continues Mr. Eyre, " Wylie and I remained with 
 
882 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 ■them, -watching them during the remainder of the night ; but they were 
 very restless, and gave us a deal of trouble. With an aching heart, an3 
 in most painful refliection, I passed this dreadful night ; every moment 
 appeared to be protracted to an hour, and it seemed as if the daylight 
 would never appear. About midnight the wind ceased, and it became 
 bitterly cold and frosty. I had nothing on but a shirt and a pair of 
 trousers, and suffered most acutely from the cold. To mental anguish 
 was now added intense bodily pain. Suffering and distress had well- 
 nigh overwhelmed me, and life seemed hardly worth the effort necessary 
 to prolong it. Ages can never efface the horrors of this single night, 
 nor would the wealth of the world tempt me to go through similar ones 
 again." With the morniag they returned to the encampment, and pro- 
 ceeded to perform the last sad office to their late companion. So thin, 
 however, was the coating of sand on the surfece of the limestone rock, 
 that it was found impossible to bury the body, and, wrapping it in a 
 blanket, they hastened from the dreary and fatal scene. A few pounds 
 of flour was all that their utmost research could discover, and, 
 abandoning everything else, they took their departure. The two 
 Adelaide natives made their appearance as they were starting, and 
 endeavoured to seduce Wylie from his allegiance ; but fhey could not 
 be induced to hold converse with Mr. Eyre. Failing in their attempt, 
 they disappeared again into the wilderness, and were never more heard 
 of. Considering their limited stock of provisions and the absolute 
 desolation of all around, Mr. Eyre is of opinion that they perished. 
 
 Mr. Eyre and his dusky companion were now obliged to subsist on 
 their horses, killing one at intervals, curing the flesh in the sun, and 
 carrying on a sufficient stock to last some days. On these occasions- 
 the governing instinct of the Australian savage exhibited itself — eating, 
 and eating to satiety. In blackfellow's eyes all human felicity consists in 
 repletion : his mind — and he has an extremely acute one— acknowledges 
 no otlier incentive to action. When a horse was killed, Wylie devoured 
 several poimds before retiring to rest. Almost hourly during the 
 night, Mr. Eyre heard him getting up to resume his meal. He made 
 sad and dismal moanings, and complained of pain in his throat, th* 
 effect, he averred, of having to work too hard. He lay on the ground. 
 He roared in agonies of indigestion. He entreated to be allowed to 
 rest for one day longer — he was ill, very ill, and was curing himself 
 with horseflesh. "I did not find that his indisposition interfered 
 greatly with his appetite, for nearly eveiy time I awoke during the 
 
EYRE: GOVERNOR AND EXPLORER. 883 
 
 Bight I found him up and gnawing away at his meat. He was literally 
 fulfilling the promise he had made me during the evening, ' By-and-by, 
 you see, massa, me eat all night.' "* Before resuming their march he 
 loaded himself with choice pieces, and wept over all he was obliged ixy 
 leave behind him. 
 
 At length this immense line of highly-elevated cliff gave indications 
 of depressing, and by-and-by they were enabled to get down to the 
 sea beach, where they occasionally caught a stinging ray. Water, 
 however, was still their great need, and under the wretched and. 
 infre(iuent supplies of it already described, both mind and body 
 threatened to succumb. Indeed, there is. little doubt that such would 
 have been the ultimate result but that a whaling barque was at length 
 seen off the coast which had come up from the Antarctic station for 
 the purpose of executing some temporary repairs. "Poor Wylie's. 
 joy," writes Mr. Eyre, "now knew no bounds, and he leaped and 
 skipped about with delight as he congratulated me once more upon the 
 prospect of getting plenty to eat. I was no less pleased than he was, 
 and almost as absurd; for although the vessel lay quietly at anchor 
 near us, with no sails loose, and her boats away, I could not help 
 fearing that she might disappear before we could get to her, or attract 
 the notice of those on board." Their signals were perceived, and a 
 boat immediately despatched to them by the commander of the vessel, 
 Captain Kossiter, of the French whaling ship Mississippi. They were 
 received on board with much kindness and hospitality, and being; 
 detained until they had fully regained their strength, they were again 
 landed within reach of the small settlement at King George's Sound. 
 They reached the settlement in July, IS-ll, when twelve months absent 
 from Adelaide. Thus was brought to a termination a forced march 
 which, considering aU the circumstances of distance, _ physical diffi- 
 culties, and human treachery, stands alone in the history of explo- 
 ration. After some delay the services of a vessel were procured, and 
 Mr. Eyre returned in safety to the colony of South Australia, long 
 after all hope of him had been abandoned. 
 
 About the period of Mr. Eyre's return to Adelaide, the overlanders, 
 in their periodic trips down the banks of the Murray with the cattle of 
 New South Wales, had fallen into very bad relations with the native 
 tpbes of thfr great Australian river. Pilferiugs of cattle, and bloodshed 
 
 ' * Eyre's Journals. 
 
384 THE WORLD'S EXPLORERS. 
 
 ia retaliation, had become the order of the day. Mr. Eyre was now 
 oifered the post of black protector and resident magistrate at Menindie, 
 which he continued to flU with satisfaction for the three following 
 years. He supplied the aborigines with food and clothing from 
 Government stores, and succeeded in bringing about a complete footing 
 of friendship between black and white. Mr. Eyre's name is still to be 
 heard uttered with esteem and thankfulness at Menindie. Returning 
 to England, the British Government appointed him Lieutenant- 
 Governor of the province of Wellington, in New Zealand, which 
 position of responsibility he assumed in 1850. In 1854 we find 
 him transferred to the Governorship of the AVest Lidian island of 
 St. Vincent. Li 18C2 he received the appointment of Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Jamaica, and on the transference of his chief. Sir Charles 
 Darling, to the colony of Victoria, Australia, he was promoted to the 
 post of full governor in 1864. The results of that appointment scarcely 
 lie within the scope of our article, and, indeed, out limits now forbid 
 us to enter upon it. But whatever may be the final and unprejudiced 
 judgment on Mr. Eyre's acts as Governor of Jamaica, we believe our 
 narrative wiU show him to»have been in possession of no ordinary 
 energy, courage, and humanity in ' the cause of the Australian native, 
 .capable of winning the respect and devotion alike of European and 
 aboriginal. As such he is still regarded throughout the whole of the 
 Australian colonies, on whose inhabitants the charges preferred against 
 him have come wholly by surprise.