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THE

FLAG SHIP

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD,

UNITED STATES FRIGATE COLUMBIA;

ATTENDED BY HEll CONSORT

THE SLOOP OF WAR JOHN ADAMS,

AND BEARING THE BROAD PENNANT OF

MODOllE GEORGE C. READ.

FITCH W . TAYLOE,
'ft
ffifjnslnrii to tije St(uativcu.
VOL. I.

NEW-VORK:
D. APPLETON & CO., 200 BROAPWAY.
1840,

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by
D, APPLETON & CO.,
in th^Clerk's Office of the District Conn ofthe Southern District of
New- York.

UNIVERSITY PRESS— JOHN F. TEOW, PRINTER.

Dear Sir:
The late East India Squadron, in its circuit ofthe world
under your command, has done honour to our country and
professional credit to yourself. No voyage of equal length
in distance and in time can be made, without encountering
many hazards and circumstances of frequent difficulty.
These have been met by yourself — ^the cruise successfully
completed — and the purposes of the government accom
plished. Though it has not been my design to enter into
all the details of the cruise of the East India Squadron,
its action vrill be found sufficiently developed in the suc
ceeding pages for the general reader. But it is as an
acknowledgment of the invariable courtesy, which I have
received from yourself during the voyage which has origi
nated the following pages, that I beg you to accept these
volumes, with the assurances of my great respect and
esteem. FiTCH W. Taylor.
New-York, October 1840.

THE FLAG SHIP:

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD.

SECTION I.

The eve before sailing. View of the two ships from shore. A
bright omen. Author's adieus. The Lieutenant and miniature
of his boy. An officer's farewell to his wife. Social sacriflces
on the part of the officers of the N^yy. The ships in the Roads.
Lines to Mrs, R, The sailing of the ships from the Roads.
Ships at sea. ..
I SHALL never forget the sunset scene of the last eve
ning I spent on shore. The sky had been lowering with
April showers, and the sun stood yet bn hjs declining
course behind the fleecy clouds, but, occagiohally, broke
forth again through the opening vistas of their dark layers,
as if to assure us that life, even the most shaded, has its
smiles as well as tears. The mild air, at this hour, touched
the cheek as blandly as rests the head of lady on the down
of velvet ; and since the slight peals of thunder, which had
rolled far-off and high above the city, the clouds had
parted ; and now, here and there, the blue distance beyond
them was seen, in its deepness and beauty.
I went to call upon my fiiends. It was the last eve
ning I could hope to meet them, before our ships would
take their long course to distant seas. Besides, I had been,-
thinking of other friends, and dearer kindred, whom I haJ*
Vol. L 2

14 THE FLAG SHIP ', OR
already left to the chances of a world of change, until
another three years, perhaps, should permit us again to
meet. It is at such a moment, when the reahty nears us, we
feel that there is sorrow in the parting of friends. Some
foreboding thought, with its dark ^\^ng, will sail across the
imagination, and leave the heart deeply sensible of the
shadow it has cast. We may have much in our anticipa
tions of onward pleasure ; we may be looking forward to
opportunities for observation, in our extended associations
with men and things, and promise to ourselves improve
ment as we shall read foreign manners, and commune vrith
foreign intellects, and compare foreign institutions and
homes with the government and society and peacefiil
dwellings of our own native land ; but, as we think fhat a
few hours more, and each day, for months and years, we
shall be 'Receding yet farther and still farther from those
we love,^nd, perhaps, meet them no more ; it is then the
heart, that can ever feel, wakes its deepest flo^ring sjmpa-
thies. Such moments of deep feeling, doubtless, come over
all who travel, on the eve of their leavinsc their native
land. Before this hour, they may have been busy in their
preparations ; or, the time of their departure may have
been unfixed, as to the day ; and various things contributed
to dissipate the thoughts, and to conceal, from the full per
ception of the mind, the reality of one's learing, it may be
for ever, those hearts to whom Iris is most devoted. But
the calm hour that precedes his departure has now come.
The moment is fixed, and he is to bid adieu, for years, to
the objects he holds dearest of earth.
My own moveables had been sent on board the Colum
bia. We were to sail the next day. This evenin<T I met
the welcome of my friends. With two of them I walked

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 15
to the edge of the stream, on the bosom of which the two
ships were now so gently reposing, still half enveloped in
the fog that weighed on the still surface ofthe stream. But
it soon lifted, while we yet lingered on the green bank and
heard the music beat the call, as the sun went down in its
glory behind the pillars of the dark clouds, piled like Alps
on Alps above each other, as the sunbeams threw upon
their castellated peaks .the last gleams of its departing and '
indescribable glories. Here we still lingered, to watch the
tints of gold, and crimson, and emerald green, as they melted
away into the dun of earliest twilight ; when, as if by
magic, the still lingering stratum of vapour, which hung
around the two ships, rolled back, and left every cord of
the beautiftd fHgate and her consort lined on the distant
horizon beyond them ; while the crescent ofthe new moon,
from the point where we were standing, seemed fixed, in
its momentary rest, on the main-truck of the beautiful Co
lumbia. Surely, if I could ever have believed in omens, I
should have interpreted this as a bright one, as I carried
on my thoughts to the lands whither that dark courser was
soon to speed, and heard at the same moment the roll, as
the few beats of the drum came over the water, only to
render doubly more still the breathless silence of this en
chanting scene.
We slowly paced our way back to the circle which we
had left, and soon, my last land-adieu was spoken ; and the
next morning, at sunrise, I was on board our gallant ship.
In another half-hour our anchors were aweigh, and we
dropped, with a fair wind, down to the Roads, some fifteen
miles from Norfolk, with the John Adams, our consort, fol
lowing our motions.
While our new ship was gliding, like enchantment,
through the waters from Norfolk to the Roads, to the de-

16 THE FLAG SHH" J OR
light of all the officers, who were sohcitous to mark her
first movements, and were trimming the yards, and direct
ing as to the diflferent sails, there was one officer, whose
epaulet (usually worn when on duty) rested not upon his
shoulder. He stood upon the horse-block, as the side-steps
ofthe ship are called, his elbow resting upon the hammock-
nettings, and sometimes his temples rested upon his hand.
I know not what were his thoughts, but he had been un
well, and was yet off duty, and had now parted with a
loved and lovely wife, and a cherished boy, who is his
" only and beautiful." He did not long remain on deck,
but returned to the wardroom ; and there, soon after, he
showed me, as I went below and found him contemplating
it, a beautifid picture and striking resemblance of his chUd,
which the mother had paused to be taken for the father,
that it might go with him on the seas.
Another officer said to me last evening, as he was walk
ing in Norfolk with some rapidity in the edge of the eve
ning to say adieu to his wife before he went on board,
" Death were a blessing to me rather than this farewell !"
There is much in the world which casts its mists, and
shadows, and darkness over its brightest views. But there
are those feelings constantly being developed before us,
which make us look with a kind and melted heart, if not
vrith a melting eye, on those with whom we associate.
And nowhere more than in the ser^-ice of the navy are the
social feelings called on to pour out those bitter currents,
which flow when heai-ts that are bound together by the
ties of hallowed love are severed. And surely, some con
sideration should be awarded to those men, who not only
brave the seas, and daie pestiferous climes for the protec
tion of om- commerce and for the ti-anquilhty and defence
of our homes and nation, but also leave the sweets of their

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 17
own domestic circles and the bosoms of attached friends
for a home upon the wild-wave, and the precarious course
of the wanderers on the world's wide ocean.
Our ships, for one week, lay at anchor in Hampton
Roads. There was a daily communication with Norfolk
by the steamer, which ran from Old Point to the city.
Many parting mementoes from friends were thus received
by the gentlemen ofthe wardroom, during our week's stay ;
and an occasional visiter from town was found upon our
decks. Among other acceptable attentions, to be ac
knowledged on my own part, was the reception of a fine
loaf of plumb-cake, jars of pickles, and, daily, rich bou
quets of flowers " to deck my tiny room," which were
imsurpassed for their beauty and fragrance by any collec
tion that could have been made, even from that island of
flowers for which we were first to sail. And then, more
acceptable than all, were letters, " to be opened when at
sea." Commodore Read's lady had spent the week on board
the Columbia ; and by her courteous, accomplished, and
benevolent manners, won the high consideration and as
sured esteem of the officers of the ship. We were to sail,
by light, on Sunday morning, for Rio de Janeiro, touching
first at the island of Madeira, shotild the wind favour our
wishes. On Saturday evening Mrs. R., who had been
waited upon by Major M.'s family, then stationed at Old
Point, accompanied them to the shore. The incident
of her leaving on the eve of our sailing, under the broad
pennant of her husband, will render an apology unneces
sary for the introduction of the following lines, addressed
to her at such a moment, and with the felt interest they
express :

2*

18 THE FLAG SHIP J OR
TO MRS. R.
On the eve of the sailing of the East India Srjuadron, under the command of Com
modore George C. Read.
Lady, calmly rides our bark
On the green wave of the bay.
But like a charger soon will take
Her fleet and distant way.
Proudly waves her pennant now
From main-top to the breeze.
And soon in graceful curve she'll bow,
And course for Indian seas.
Music ofthe sea -surge oft
Hath met thy lady-ear.
And firm as fearless men alofl
The sea-moan thou didst hear.
, Beauty of the witching calm
Hath held thy gaze at sea,
As in its stilly ocean-sheen
The blue-deep smiled for thee.
And song, they say, once conld charm
The Nereids of the deep.
Then sure thy notes had spells for them
As ocean lulled lo sleep.
Would that now that gifted hand
Upon our course might come.
And while we wept beneath its wand,
In tears we'd think of liome:
Home ! where oft a sister's tone
Id sweetest melody.
Hath on the heart its cadence thrown,
Aud broke it tearfully ; —
Home ! where truest hearts of love
For each their feelings mete,
And we but smile, or sigh, or move,
And kindred bosoms beat.
But, fair lady, not again
The wild-wave thou dost dare,
Though with thy lord we plough the main
And his broad pen&ant bear ;

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 19
Still thy night-dreanis and of day
Will paint their visions true.
And trace us to yon lands and sea
Where suns first loom to view.
And O ! thou wilt pray for him
Who guides oar gallant fleet.
And never woman's prayer hath been „
By heaven unanswered yet.
Then we'll trust us on our course,
And think of those who pray.
And as our thoughts on them repose.
For them a prayer we'll say.
But adieu we now must speak.
And storms of ocean dare ;
And on the crested billow's peak
Is home that we must share ;
But for thee we've asked a sky
Calm as the breath of even.
And bright as gleams the loveliest ray
On home, in smiles, from heaven. '
On the 6th of May, 1838, at day break, all hands were
piped to unmoor ship, and a bright sun let fall his earHest
beam on our white sails, as we were standing by ithe long
granite line of threatening fortification at Old Point.' Ano
ther hour and we had passed Cape Henry, and with a fair
breeze stood on our course upon the blue deep, while the
John Adams came on in our wake, as a thing of animation,
graceful as she was fleet, and like a nettled steed, unwil
ling to be parted from his associate, she put forth her
. strength and regained the side of her companion.
^r^^eautiEaLjhipsi,how_are__y_e_now the objects of the
thoughts, and the prayers, and the tears, of tender hearts
and fioating eyes, from whom ye are now bearing the
choicest of their earthly treasures above the fickle wave to
foreign climes, through " dangers known and unknown,

20 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
vrith the chances that ye yourselves may be dashed upon
the rock and the coral reef, or wrecked in storm and hur
ricane, as a sacrifice to the yet uncompleted millions, who
are to find their burial in the insatiable bosom of the eter
nal ocean. But ye list not while we would tell ye, that
there are mothers' prayers that attend you, that there are
sighs of sisters, whose young hearts have ytt known no
deeper love than that for brothers ; and tears, and sighs,
and prayers of others, whose hearts in their devotion and
companionship, they say, are yet dearer than the love of
mother and sister, foUow you. Be gentle then, beautiful
ships, be gentle with the choice band, who have trusted
you for their long course of ocean, and bear back to the
renewed gush of love, the bosoms who have confided in
your stanch and faithful properties, to bear them safe
and true in their circuit of the world.
I had now placed myself on the side-steps of the fri
gate, and gazed, for the last time, I could not tell for how
long a period it would be, on the land of my home fast
receding in the distance. The heart has its private musings
at such a moment, and communes too sacredly with itself
for development to the eye of an unsj-mpathizing world.
But there were friends who had more than one sigh, as the
distant shore sunk lower, and lowei- still, in the dim, dim
distance. The blue surge, in its sea-roll, now quite concealed
the land of our western homes, as our ships, heaitless
rovers of the deep, stood on their foaming course to the
east. I sought the retirement of my state-room, for the
melancholy pleasm-e of perusing the lettei-s addressed to
me, on board " The Frigate Columbia, at Sea."

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 21

SECTION II.
Sailors' debts paid with the main-top-sail. Broad pennant saluted.
System of signals. How to shoot an lAdim. An acting appoint
ment. Religious service at sea. Marine hymn. Dinner party
at sea. Parting with the John Adams. The middle watch.
Speaking a ship. Phosphorescent track ofthe Columbia at night.
Music. Sunset. A seaman falling from aloft. Burial at sea.
Its eflFect on a young Midshipman. A ship short of provisions,
supplied. The John Adams again in company. The high
peaks of Madeira descried. Distant view of the island on the eve
of the squadron's arrival.
" Thank heaven !" said a messmate, as the capes were
disappearing, " our debts are all paid, at least, for two
years to come." " Yes," added another, " paid -with our
main4op-sail." True it is, our sails are bearing us fast
alike from creditor and debtor, from enemy, friend, and
home. As the broad blue pennant was run up, after we had
left the last point of land low in the west, the John Adams
fired a salute. The Commodore, by signals, directed our
consort to take her position on our larboard quarter. As
she came down to us, she exhibited a beautifiil movement,
graceftdly gliding on her course, bowing, and courtesying,
and coquetting, Uke a beauty aware of her charms, and
knowing herself the object of admiration. She luffed up,
as she laid her bows obhquely across our wake. Our first
Lieutenant, with the trumpet in his hand, stood upon the
tafferel of the ship, and as the Adams reached her nearest
point, he spoke through the sounding tube :
" The Commodore -will send a boat aboard of you, sir."

22 THE FLAG SHIP J OR
"Ay, ay, sir," was the sententious response of the
officer, from the deck ofthe Adams. The two ships came
so nearly together, that the officers recognised each other,
and touched their caps in acknowledgment of each other's
courtesy. It is not an uninteresting sight to -witness two ships,
while tossed on the surges of the ocean, and beyond speak
ing distance, conversing -with each other by means of
signals. Every nation has its private signals. In war and in
peace, the signal book is held sacred, and the signals are
supposed to be known only to the commander of each
vessel. In case of war, if a national vessel happen to be
captured, the signal book is at once thro-wn overboard,
before the vietor can gain possession of it Otherwise he
might decoy into his power, by a knowledge of these
private signs, other ships of the nation with which he is
at war. The system of signals has never yet been brought to
any great perfection, in practice, by any meuitime power.
Since the infroduction of numbers into telegraphic
language, however, the communication by signals has
been extended and facihtated ; and it has created a lan
guage that may be made use of as a more general means
of commimication between ships at sea, and from ships
with the shore.
Ten separate flags, -with different devices in figure and
colours, are used, as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0; the
number of each being kno-wn by its device. The flags are
read from the top downwards. Thus, if it is desired to
make the number 15 to a distant ship, which however is
sufficiently near to make out, with her glass, the emblems
by which the nmnbers of the signal aie known, the two

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 23
flags which stand for No. 1 and No. 5 are set, at the gaff
or other part of the ship, where the signal can raost
readily be made out by the distant vessel. If the No. 152
is to be communicated, the flag representuig -No. 2 wiU be
set beneath the two flags already mentioned.
The signal book contains numbers from one to one
thousand, more or less, and opposite each number is some
nautical phrase, sentence, name of place, latitude, longi
tude, or other expressions, and sufficiently numerous and
varied for most purposes. Therefore, when the number is
made out bythe distant vessel, a reference to the signal book
-will give the expression opposite to it, which it is the wish
of one party to communicate to the other. Suppose, then,
No. 15 of the signal book has opposite to it the word
"yes;" No. 16, the words "if wind and weather permit;"
No. 17, «¦ Sunday;" No. 18, "2 o'clock;" No. 19, "Will
you dine -with us 1" With these numbers we may illustrate
'the subject by a case which has already occurred on board
our ship. The Commodore, desiring to in-rite the Com
mander of the John Adams to take dinner with him,
directs the flag-officer to have the signal No. 19 made,
which is done by setting the two flags which stand for the
numbers one and nine. This being read on board the
Adams, an answering pennant, which means, " We have
made out the number," is run up and again hauled down.
, The number of the first signal haring been read, the second
or No. 18, in like manner with the first, is made by the
two flags representing one and eight. This answered, as
being understood on board the other vessel, No. 17 is
made by the flags No. 1 and No. 7. No further signals
following from the Columbia, the Commander of the
Adams, by referring to the signal book, finds it to read,
« No. 19. Will you dine with us 1"

24 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
" No. 18. Sunday."
"No. 17. 2 o'clock."
The Commander of the Adams, accepting the invita
tion, replies l3y making the numbers 16 and 15, which
will read, "Yes, if -vrind and weather permit."
Signals, in the night-time, are often made by lights of
diflferent colours, and by adjusting them in diff'erent posi
tions, at various angles ; by rockets and by fires.
The signal book of the navy has attached to it a
hea-vy piece of lead, which would immediately sink it if
thrown overboard.
I quote, at random, the folio-wing numbers from tke
" American Signal Book," which is generally used in the
American merchant service :
« 219. What are you about 3"
" 313. A mutiny on board."
" 716. If we have not immediate assistance."
« 962. AU 's lost."
"718. We -vrill send assistance."
" 188. Heave all aback."
"332. Mutiny is queUed."
"40. AU 'swell."
"327. Adieu."
" I teU you what," says Lieutenant W. (the subject of
shooting the aborigines of our land being under discussion,)
if you would kiU an Indian, you must proceed eomewhat *
after the manner of cooking a dolphiii." " How is that?"
" Why, catch him first"
' It is not unusual for the young gentlemen of the ship
to avail themselves of any innocent occasion for creating
a smile at the expense of one oftheir messmates. As we left
the Roads without the usual number of Lieutenants, it was
presumed that some of the passed Midshipmen would

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 25
receive acting appointments. By consequence, these young
gentlemen were on tiptoe expectation for the announce
ment of their acceptable good fortune. One of the Lieuten
ants, a young gentleman of wit and worth, caught a pen at
my desk, and scribbled an acting appointment for one of
tiiese expectants, for whom there was no doubt but that an
acting appointment had been made out by the Commodore,
who yet, for the present, retained the paper. Having
finished the fictitious appointment, it was regularly en
closed -vrithin the official fawn-coloured envelope, and
conveyed to the Master (who is a passed Midshipman)
by the orderly, who generally bears the particularly offi
cial messages from the Commodore. The orderly knocked
at the door of the Master, who was in his room, busily
making out the reckonings of the day's sailing. " Come
in, sir," echoed a voice from -vrithin, while the Lieutenant
and some others were standing at a distance without to
witness the effect. The Master's door was opened. The
fa-wn-coloured envelope acted like a spell. The Master
dropped his figuring utensils, and hopped into " the coim
try " of the ward room, as its open space is called, holding
up his fa-wn-coloured envelope and exclaiming in abundant
exultation, in the possession of an acting Lieutenancy,
" I writes no more of these Master's figurations, gentle
men," shaking the fawn-coloured, with three significant
configurations above his head, apd at the same time open
ing the seal, read as follows :
" V. S. Frigate Columbia, May 1st, 1838.
" Sie, — You are hereby appointed aeliiig Jemmy Ducks ofthisship
until it shall please the Hon. the Secretary of the Navy, to confirm
the appointment. s-
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" ' CORINTHIAN TOM,"
'' Commander in chief of all the U. S. poultry in the China seas.
- " To  &c. &c."
Vol. I. 3

26 THE FLAG SHH"; OR
The joke went off with a round peal of laughter from
Corinthian Tom ; and the same evening the acceptable ap
pointments were distributed to the young gentlemen, so
worthily deserving them, in view of the arduous duties
which lay before them on a long and critical voyage.
" What olden poet," it was asked at the mess-tablg
to-day, while an antique chicken was under both discus
sion and dissection, " does one think of when masticating
the drum-stick of a tough one V " I have it," said an
other, as he gave the experimental answer, with a dehcate
morsel of the antique gentleman between his teeth. " Chau-
ser," was the reply, as the chewer took breath, to save
him from premature exhaustion.
If these are trifles, they yet show that trifles are not
always excluded from shipboard, any more than from the
society of triflers on land. And they further show that
men, thrown together -vrithin the narrow compass of a
ward-room, with dispositions and tastes perhaps alike in no
two instances, can yet make themselves agreeable and be
come true and lasting friends.
The weather bemg fair on Sunday, we had divine ser
vice on the upper deck. Such a service on board a man-
of-war is characteristic and interestin"-.
At half-past ten o'clock, the decks of the ship having
been cleared, as usual, and the men having been inspected
at their quarters, they are piped, on Sunday morning, in
their best dresses, to muster.
A frigate's company, in aU, generally consists of five
hundred pereons. At the call to muster the men take their
position,on the quarter-deck. In warm weather, they are
generally dressed in white duck tiousere, white shirts, with
blue coUai-s and bosoms. The broad blue collar is turned
down, with a star upon each corner, and the blue bosom
exposes three stripes of narrow white tape, edging the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 27
inserted blue. A black silk neck-cloth, beneath the over
turned collar, is knotted on the bosom, or tied with a piece
of white tape, leaving the neck open and exposed. A
blue jacket, unbuttoned, polished shoes, with tarpaulin hat,
or a lighter straw one in warm weather, complete the
uniform and characteristic dress of an American seaman.
The whole appearance of the sailors on Iftiis day is ex
pected to be such as to pass the particular examination by
the officers — an inspection which they invariably go through
on this day, after the religious ser-rices are over — ^their names
being called, one by one, as they pass from their positions
in re-riew directly before the officers, who still retain their
places untU the muster-roll is finished. Should the shoes
of any one of the men be found unpolished, or any por
tion of the dress be characteristic of negligence, the man
is directed to stop at the mainmast. It is known that such
an offence incurs a penalty of half a dozen lashes at the
gangway, and most frequently it is inflicted. This tends
to render the appearance of the whole crew strikingly
neat on the Sabbath, in their uniform sailor-dresses. And
this requisite, as to particularity in dress, extends to the
officers, who are expected to appear in their uniform, and
-vrith as great a care to neatness as is required of the men.
The sailors thus placed upon the quarter deck, the ma
rines, about sixty in number, are next drawn up, in double
file, in full dress, on the laboard side of the ship, with the
right of the division resting near the sailors on the quar
ter-deck, and stand, with their polished guns, at rest.
On the starboard side, opposite the marines, is the
position of the officers of the ship ; and between them, with
the officers on his left, and the marines on his right, and
the sailors directly in front, on the quarter-deck, the chap
lain t^es his position at the capstan, both as his desk

28 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
and pulpit. The capstan in itself is an object of orna
ment on board a frigate, standing abaft the mainmast, and
is generally inlaid -vrith different de-rices of stars and other
figures of brass, and always kept brightly polished. Over
the top of the capstan, which is some four feet in diam
eter, a flag is thrown, in preparation for the expected ser
vice, and the platform on which the chaplain stands is also
covered with bunting. When the chaplain is in his posi
tion, the commanding officer stands near his left, -vrith the
other officers but a small distance stUl farther at the left
of the chief officer.
The deck is generally in this attitude when the chap
lain ascends the hatchway from his room, and takes his
position at the capstan. The Commodore taking a book
from the number, which are upon the capstan and before
the chaplain, the others are distributed among the officers ;
when the chaplain begins the religious serrices according
to the ritual of the Episcopal church.
Surely no one can, for the first time, contemplate such
a scene on the deck of a man-of-war, -vrithout interest —
nearly five hunched souls, their persons attired in their
neatest dresses, often deemed a rough people, but now ex
hibiting a beautiful aspect of proprietA" and neatness, and
profoundest stillness, gathered for solemn worship on the
decks of a majestic frigate, bounding- yet fleetly on her
way of ocean, yet, as if conscious of the solemn hour and
the solemn scene upon her deck, scarcely once careenino- or
pitching so perceptibly as to inconvenience the worship
pers. Aromid spreads the far blue deep, and above the
fair blue sky ; and God is seen in the majesty and the
beauty of both. The chaplam commences the profound
worship of the Eternal — it is continued — it ends.
The serrice on these occasions is generally and pro-

A VOYAGE AEOLTND THE WORLD. 29
perly abbreviated, and the sermon, it is expected, will be
comparatively brief, as the officers and crew are standing
throughout the serrice, uncovered, but beneath a spread
awning, shading the entire deck when the weather is warm.
Our services to day, with little variations to meet the
circumstances of the ship, now but eight days at sea, were
thus conducted, MARINE HYMN.
O God, the suns were made by thee.
And stars that arch the deep blue sea ;
We course the waves beneath their light,
And trace thy hand by day and night.
We hear the roar of ocean-surge,
And know, for thee, the gale will urge;
And on the sea when rests the calm.
The stilly breeze sleeps in thy palm.
And when our ships ride on the deep,
And waters only round us sweep,
The heart then feels thy throne is high,
And on the sailor rests thine eye.
Then hear our worship, O thou God,
Who gemmed the heavens and seas laid broad ;
Before thee now our hearts we lay,
And in our sea-home temple, pray.
The day was fine. The John Adams was seen on our
larboard quarter, nearly within the sound of the chaplain's
voice. The sermon was delivered without interruption,
save now and then a single flap of the wing of a sail was
heard, and once, a suppressed order from the officer of the
deck to the captain of the mizen-top.
Captain Wyman, of the John Adams, was invited on
board the Columbia, the succeeding day, to dine, together
with the Commodore, with the ward-room mess.
3*

30 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
It would be interesting to a landsman, to see one ofthe
boats of a man-of-war, with aU the confidence of security,
passmg from one ship to another, in mid ocean. Our ships,
however, in this instance, are -vrithin a mUe of each other,
and the invitation to the commander of the Adams, was
given by signal. Nor less a matter of surprise, perhaps,
would it appear to some of our fnends, could they peep
into our spacious ward-room, and mark the degree of
neatness and taste with which a table is arranged for a
dinner-party, on board our frigate. The maimer of ser
ving up a dinner in the ward-room, would in no way do
discredit to a dining-hall on shore. The polished covers,
the pure French china, the sUver forks, the napkins and
the damask table-cloths, covering a well polished mahog
any table, all show no inconsiderable degree of elegance ;
and xmder the management of Dr. H., our tasteful caterer,
presented, on this occasion, an appearance that would
be respectable in any private parlour. And then the dif
ferent dishes, got up by French cooks, (heaven bless the
French genius, when varietj' is desu-ed,) are quite suffi
cient to satisfy the taste as well as the appetite. And
fruits are alwa^-s kept by the mess, and pasbies are made
per order of the caterer. In truth, oue would hardly
remember that he was not in the private dining-hall of a
friend, if one happens to have his friends around him, the
motion of the frigate not bemg sufficient to create any
inconvenience, as may be supposed, so far as the present
occasion was concerned, as the tables were unlashed, and
no article of the dishes moved frora their position, other
wise than they -v\-ould have been frora the table of an
unlocked dwelling of one 's land-home.
After a beautiful sunset last evening, May 14th, the
sun clouded in, and the rain descended, at times, in tor-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 31
rents. It was so thick, that nothing could be seen five
lengths of the frigate, ahead of her. The weather, as
usual in the gulf-stream, has been more or less rainy, but
more favourable than is generally found to attend a pas
sage across it.
At a half-hour by sun, a signal was made to the
John Adams, for tacking ship. The Columbia changed
her course gracefuUy, as the Adams still stood on her way,
apparently directly by us, lining her beautiful form in
distinct relief on the glorious sky, then illumined by the
golden sunset behind her. But soon, when on our lar
board quarter, she came up into the wind, and tacked
-vrith grace; and the two coursers together, stood again on
their equal and common track. We were still together
during the middle watch. But, this morning, the Adams
is not to be seen. She can be descried nowhere upon the
ocean, and probably wUl take good care not to get into
our company again, if she can avoid it, until we shall
reach Madeira. It is generally deemed a pardonable
offence, for one vessel sailing in company with another,
and ha-ring a common rendezvous, to make her escape, if
a plausible excuse can be rendered to the flag-ship.
The mists and squalls of last night, were quite too good
an opportunity for the Adams not to get out of sight.
And doubtless they are in high glee this morning, at their
good fortune, in being at liberty to trace their own way,
-vrithout foUo-wing the motions, in making and shortening
sail, in mimic suit of the Columbia, to whose movements
she has to accommodate herself. " By heavens," says an
interesting small gentleman, on board the Adams, as he
takes his seat at the mess-table this morning, " I managed
it, gentlemen, last night, any how, ayl" with a small
flourish or two of his finger, as he edges a little nearer

32 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
the table, to commence a very short description of the
movement and other things.
The John Adams had orders to stand for Madeira, if
we parted company ; and having watered and taken in all
necessary supplies, to stand on her way again, for Rio de
Janeiro, unless the Columbia should be at Funchal, the
capital of the island of Madeira, at the time of her reach
ing there.
As I sought the deck, to-night, I saluted the officer of
the watch, by touching my hat, as the usual ceremony of
respect to the deck-officer, adding,
" O Pilot, 'tis a fearful night.
There 's danger on the deep ;
I '11 come and pace ihe deck with ihee,
I do not dare to sleep."
" Come," said the Lieutenant, " at the middle-watch,
that is the hour we have for gentle memories."
It was a lovely night, and not such as the poetry quoted
would lead one to suppose, but such as might awaken
poetry in sentiment, in one who yet might never have
made rhymes.
" And then," I said, " it is not -vrith you, as the saU
ors say, that salt water washes away the recoUections
of home V
"No," continued the officer of the deck. « Were I a
young lady with a lover, I would command hun to go to
sea. I am sure his affections would be deepened m the
long and deep memories which awake whde he paces the
deck in the hours of the middle-watch."
" And how is it with you. Doctor? " I asked, as the
fleet surgeon joined our promenade. " Do you find that the
briny mist washes away your soft musings of home, and
wife, and the httle ones 1"

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 33
" Ah, sir," returned the surgeon, " I find it like a mor
daunt of the chemist and the dyer, one ingredient of
which is salt, and which they use to fix indelibly their
colours. And yet I shut my eyes as much as possible to
the visions which come up before me, in their every hue of
love and home-associations."
" For myself," I added, " there was sufficient of the
nausea about me, for four or five days, to make me think
only of my uninteresting self; but I now cast my look over
the waste of waters between me and those I love, and
feast sadly but happily on the memories which winds and
waves cannot bear from me."
The watches of the ship are dirided into eight, each
Lieutenant, in turn, keeping the deck during one watch.
He is called, for the time being, the officer of the deck ;
and through him, all orders are issued, and to him the
care of the sailing of the ship is committed. The watches
at night are from 8 till 12, called the first watch ; from 12
till 4, called the mid-watch ; from 4 till 8, called the mor
ning watch. During these hours, if the wind is fair, the
Lieutenant has much time for thinking, as may be the
train of'his feelings, in happy or in sorrowful musings.
And I can imagine how often the memories of home
come up to the mind of the young Lieutenant, as he
paces the deck, -vrith the trumpet in his hand, alone ; occa
sionally casting up his eye to mark the trim of the saUs,
and issues, one moment, an order to give a pull upon a
brace, which serves to break in upqn the train of his deep
ening memories. But he soon again renews his monoto
nous step, and the gentle recoUections come over him, which
transport him to those he loves, while he almost thinks
himself in theii- embraces, in happy commune, until a
sudden sigh comes from some sudden consciousness that it

34 THE FLAG smp ; OR
is but a dream ; and he wakes to the reality, that he is yet
stemming on his long course, stiU away and away from
the land of his home, the yoimg companion of his bosom,
and fiiends less near than she, but still dear in his delight
ful and welcome loves.
On the morning of the 18th, a barque from Havre,
bound to Baltimore, came down upon us, with most of her
sails set, as we bore a httle out of our course to meet her,
that we might forward letters to our friends in the United
States. A letter bag W£^ soon prepared, and a boat low
ered. Lieut. Turner and Mid. Sincler boarded the barque,
as she lay off from us, -vrith her sails aback, exhibiting a
fine model of an American ship.
It was a beautiful sight as the two ships lay aback,
and a moment hngered on their separate courses, while
the frigate's boat bounded on the surge, to bear our
tokens of remembrances to friends and to communicate
with a ship from a foreign land.
As soon as our boat had left the barque, on her re
turn to the frigate, a fog came up suddenly over the
ocean, -vrith a change of the wind to the west The barque
filled away, and in a few moments was lost in the mists
that swept over the sea ; and had our boat been delayed
fifteen minutes longer, she might have been shut in by the
fog ; while, however, in this instance, there would have
been no danger, as she was within the hearing of our ship's
bell. The scene was an interesting exhibition, recaU
ing to the mind occurrences which often take place at sea
when a boat has been despatched from the ship. The in
stances are many of a fog unexpectedly overtaking a boat,
when, in the absence of a compass, the course becomes
unknown. In such a case, the ship, having the bearing of
the point from which the boat is expected, stands for her

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 35
accordingly, and in most cases, by the discharge of guns
and the sounding of the bell, the boat is recovered.
To-night, now after ten o'clock, our frigate presents a
magnificent exhibition, while cutting her way of light
through the dark ocean. Clouds hang thick above us,
veiling star and moon from the sight ; and the fresh breeze
drives our gaUant vessel twelve knots the hour on her course.
She leaves in her wake a stream of light, whjch blazes
forth in its meUow and spreading trail, like the tail of a
comet hned on the blue heavens ; and before her tl|e phos
phorescent billow curves around her bow a mighty ' ©rest
of ever rolling and flashing light. Beyond us, the*illu-
mined peaks of the waves, as they break, sail down in
their silver sheets, to mingle their sheen of phosphorescence
in the flood of glory, which the ship carries bef6re her.
How grand ! how beautiful ! I went far out upon the
bowsprit to get a fairer -riew of her stem, buried, as it is,
in its halo of glory, and thro-wing up its cascades of cor-
ruscating light What is she like as she careers on her way,
a giant in her prowess, and yet, in her graceful make, a
fit personification of the genius of America 1 And she is
the genius of our own, our native land. Her name, too,
is Columbia, and she is driving onward, to bear proud
credentials of her origin and of the glory of the land she
owns, to far and wilder nations, and older but not prouder
dominions and people than the land from which she sails.
God speed thee, good ship. Thou art freighted with
some choice spirits, and with honourable designs. Thy
way, to-night, is one of light and glory. May it be
brightly ominous of thy good reception ; and emblem forth
thine honourable offices and'untarnished bearing, while on
thy mission of courtesy and reciprocated good will of the
younger West to the olden East.

36 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
The Mahonese, Mr. C, has occasionally favoured us
with music, playing on the guitar, and accompanied to
night by one of the ward-room officers, on the flute. Our
First Lieutenant sang a sweet httle air with taste and feel
ing. How it comes over .the soul, that sweet strain of
symphony ! Music, I love thee ever ! Thou art to me an
inspirer — a soother — arid yet thou sometimes breakest my
heart, and I weep ! Oh, are they not happy though^
which thou awakest, as thou bearest me over the vast
waters to those I love — as I seem anew to hear the dul
cet strains, which the voices of loved ones have poured
upon my ear in days that are gone ! I find myself more
and more susceptible to the influence of sweet harmonies.
And yet, it is sometimes difficult to analyze the spell of en
chantment which comes over me. But it intoxicates like
the papaver of the opium-eater. Still I -wish to pour out
these feelings in lonely commune -vrith myself. They are
all too haUowed emotions for the s)-mpathy of others.
Sweet music, I will love thee ever, for thy power is always
kind. Thou takest me anew along the woodland acchv-
ities and deep ravines, and shaded and mead'^-sx-plains of
my own grounds. Thou recaUest the moon-ht nights,
when I have paced the avenues with a sister leaning on
my arm, and we have paused and gazed together on the
bright bosom of the river, sleeping in its flood of moon
beams. And thou tellest me Avhen togrether we have sat
on the embowered bench, and not a bird was awake, and
moist eve had perfumed the balmy air, and for me the gui
tar was struck — was struck for me — and we loved more
kindly, and our hearts were more blessed. And when, far
ther off, sweet music hath awakened, I have leaned upon
my elbow, and gazed from the lattice of my counti-y-home,
and contemplated tlie deep shade beneath the fruit-trees

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 37
and the forest clusters, and read the bright stars above
when seen through the shady vistas, and when the romance
of nature was weaving her mystic and fairy and enchanted
visions of days yet to come, when all would be well — ^when
all would be happy — when all would be bliss. Ah ! those
days I hoped for, where are ye 1 But it was happiness
thus to muse — ^thus to despond — thus to hope — thus, in
imagination, to reahze in fancied possession, more than the
glowing reahty. Music, I -vrill love thee ever !
The monotony of ship-board would be fatiguing, were
there not various things at sea to relieve the prevailing
sameness. The sunset scenes are often magnificent, and
various as are the courses of the evening clouds, and the
latitude and longitude through which we sail. The sunset
scene to-night, in longitude 32°. 48' W., would be indescrib
able, if the description were expected to meet the reality.
But there is such a thing as employing general terms to
awaken the beautiftil in emotion, which, if sufficiently dis- '
tinct in the picture they define, -vrill convey to another's
bosom some of the delightful emotions one's self has felt,
when gazing at an object addressed to our perceptions, of
the glorious, the beautiful, and the sublime. Such was the
sunset scene of this evening. Its beauty consisted in the
diffisrent layers of elouds, horizontally placed one above
the other, some extending farther, some not so far — ^broken
here and united there — while intervening strata of the
deeper back ground were seen to divide these several layers,
and varying in its hue, from the palest hght to the faintest
blue ; and then to the hghtest, brightest, and deepest green,
so as to present the back expanse, in its various changes,
now like an ocean of emerald-green water, unrippled, and
thro-vring back its flood of mellowed and green hght,
¦while the island-clouds, with their edges fringed with
Vol. L 4

38 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
light, became less laright and more dark in their colours as
the eye I'eceded from their scallopped and illumined edges
to their centres. And then, far up and far off, as the sun
just now entered a broken bank of clouds, were seen other
pUes of the airy voyagers in their various hues of hght,
and dark, and dun, yet everywhere in their velvet mel
lowness, soft as a
" Sun-beam gone astray,"
or,
" Plume in crest of knight ;'"
or,
" Cloud in sombre gray,"
seen
" Far and low at nighl."
But when you combined the whole picture — ^the golden
cloud-islands in the emerald-green sea — and the strag
gling islands, which sho-wn in their more sohtary and bril
hant and hghter beauty, higher up and farther off, it was
then, indeed, you felt the calm emotion of the beautifiil
gather through all your bosom, as you gazed in happy and
gentle and lonely musing. But scarcely an interval had
passed, when all this beautiful was iUumined Avith in
tensely more brilliant hues, as the fuU orb feU quite beneath
¦Sie horizon ; and the soft and meUow scene glowed in the
vivid colours of new floods of glory, thrown on this emerald-
green ocean of a thousand golden isles. You gazed on it a
happy and entranced beholder. The beautiftil now had
changed to the sublune. And as you let your thoughts
lead on in their involuntary train of association, you mused
with admiration and worship, as you thought in silence on
the attributes of the Eternal, veiled in his pavilion of glory.
A moment since, one bell, first watch, a man fell from
the main-top-gallant yard. He was heard to cry, " O my

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 39
God !" as he passed the maintop ; and the next moment
he struck, head foremost, upon the first cutter, stowed amid
ships alongside the lanch, and bounded into the gangway.
The surgeon was called, and when he reached the spot the
poor tar had ceased to breathe. His skull was fractured,
and in a moment, without ha-ring spoken, after striking the
deck, he passed from fiill strength and active life to the
motionless corpse and the solemn stillness of death.
The dangers cuid the toils of seamen are great and severe,
and thanks seldom greet them. I was on deck a few moments
after this melancholy incident had occurred. It was dark,
and the men were stUl furhng sails. I stood by the after
hatchway, and heard more than one sigh from those
rough men as they passed me, while still pulling upon the
halliards. A squall appeared to be gathering in the west,
and the men were furling the top-gallant-sails at the time
this unfortunate man feU.
After quarters, the succeeding morning, " all hands" were
piped "toljury the dead." The sailor, who fell last night
from the main-top-gallant yard, was to be given to the
deep. He had been laid out, as usual in such cases, by his
messmates, on the half-deck, -vrith the flag of his nation
thrown over him. His messmates were his watchers during
the night, and now, at the hour of his burial, they bore
him to the leewEU-d gangway of the frigate.
The lanch and the first cutter, two large boats of the
ship, upon one of which he had first struck, are stowed
amidships. Within these the clothes-bags of the crew
are generally piled, rising high above the gunwale of the
boats, and forming an elevation in the central part of the
ship. Upon these a large number of the crew had now
placed themselves, to witness the ceremony, new to many
of them, whUe others were standing upon the deck adja-

40 THE FLAG SHIP; OE
cent to the gangway, from which the relics of the de
parted tar were to be given to the deep. The officers stood
nearer the quarter-deck. In full view of these, nearly five
hundred gazers, rested the plank upon the upper step of
the gangway, on which the unconscious sleeper, sewed in
his hammock, with thirty-two pound shots at his feet, was
reposing, with the stars and stripes wreathing his rough
bier, as his honourable pall. Six of his messmates, as his
bearers, held the plank in its horizontal position, ready to
launch their brother of the ocean into the blue sea. And
nearest them, stood the Commodore. The chaplain ad
vanced to his side, commencing the serrices, as aU, uncov
ered and with the silence of the dead, listened to the afifect
ing ritual : " Man that is born of a woman hath but a short
time to hve, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut
down like a flower ; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never
continueth in one stay. In the midst of life we are in
death. Of whom may we seek for succour but of thee,
0 Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased. Yet, O Lord
God most holy, 0 Lord most might)", 0 holy and most mer
ciful Saviour, dehver us not into the bitter pains of eternal
death !" The chaplain advanced yet nearer to the sad
object that concentrated the solemn interest of the moment,
and continued : " Forasmuch as it has pleased Almighty
God, in his wise providence, to take out of this world the
soul of our deceased brother, we therefore commit his body
to the deep I" And in the breathless stillness of the
momentai-y pause, the solemn plunge was heard, which
spoke louder tiian the thunder of ordnance to the heart,
as the dead man was sinking to deeper and yet deeper
fathoms, until die eloquent silence was again broken by the
chaplain's voice, as he added, " Earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust; looking for the general resurrection in

A VOYAGE Around the world. 41
the last day, and the life of the world to come through ,
our Lord Jesus Christ ; at whose second coming in glori
ous majesty to judge the world, the earth and the sea shall
give up their dead, and the corruptible bodies of those
who sleep in him shall be changed, and made like unto his
own glorious body; according to the mighty working
whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself."
The serrices ended — ^the crew were again^ piped to
their places — and then we were on our course again, to
other lands. But no one would tell the story of him whom
we had now left to drift in the low deep, and among the
far-down currents of the recordless ocean. 0 ! it is a
solenm thing to die. It is a solemn thing to " lie down in
the dust," in the bosom of our mother earth ; but to sink
down, and down, and down in the deeper, darker, desolate
waters — this thrills even the bosom of the way-worn and
brazen-fea.tured mariner, as his thoughts for a moment are
arrested, and he follows his messmate to the deeps below !
But, all wilhngly tum from the scene, and again we
stand on our way ; and our ship seems little less uncon
scious than ourselves, that one of her inmates has been
left, in mid-ocean — ^his name to be no more spoken — ^his
memory to be unwept — his story for ever untold. But go
on thy bounding course, thou glorious courser, still go on ;
and " God speed thee, good ship, on thy pathway of foam.
The sea is thy country, the billow thy home."
The night succeeding the burial, young H. (a boy in
years but a man in mind) was very singularly affected.
I heard him scream aloud. His hammock being near the
ward-room, two of the gentlemen rushed to quiet him.
For a moment, he seemed quite beside himself. " Don't
you know me," asked Mr. M'C. " Yes, sir," said young
4*

42 THE FLAG SHIP; OE
H. « Yes, SIT— Mr. Mahogany ;" and then screamed yet
louder, " A man overboard — ^throw me a rope — throw me
ajope !" This little incident is not unworthy of narratmg,
in connection -with the burial of the moming, which must
have left such an impression on the mind of the youthful
midshipman, as to produce the singular phenomenon of his
dream. The lost sailor belonged to the Commodore's gig;
and young H. generally went with the boat, and thus par
ticularly knew the man, as one of his boat's picked crew.
A few moments after we had buried the dead, a brig
came down upon our starboard bow. We spoke her, and
learned that she was from Palermo, fifty days out, and short
of provisions. She lay too for our letter-bag, and the
Captain desired us to send him a barrel of beef, and a bag
of bread, if we could spare it It was sent, to the fuU
amount the Captain desired, and his receipt taken, as the
only acknowledgment of the favour.
This incident shows the beautifrd utiht)- of our navy, as
the stiong and encouraging arm of a protecting govern
ment. It is one of the specific duties of our government
ships, to relieve, without charge, our merchant vessels.
A receipt, mentioning the name of the owners of the
vessel relieved, is taken, to prevent imposition. This
receipt is forwarded to the Department at 'V^' ashington, and
if the vessels ofthe same owners should be found frequently
to have sought such aid, the Government would charge
them for the stores their vessels had received, otherwise not.
Here, then, was one of our own countrymen on the
•vride ocean, fifty days from land, -with a tiiree weeks' run
yet to make, and perhaps, by accident unforeseen, twice
that time, short of provisions and out of bread. Om- noble
frigate, standing on her course, is espied by the disfressed
merchantinan, who has been to distant lands and tempted

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. » 43
perilous seas for our luxury and pleasure. With glowing
feelings he sees the distant object, first looming to his view,
her royals only seen in the horizon, rising higher and
higher, until top-gallant-sails and top-sails and courses ap
pear; and at last, a noble ship, with all her sails set,
comes nearer and nearer ; when, at last, she is made out
to be one of our own majestic frigates, powerful to defend,
courteous to compliment, generous to relieve. The mer
chantman gazes with renewed pride on the gaUant war
ship, and feels that there is majesty, might, and magna
nimity in the arm that protects him ; and with still greater
love, he thinks on the land of his home.
Such, doubtless, were the feehngs ofthe trader, whom
we met and relieved. He was unbounded in his enthusi
asm, when speaking of the beauty of our frigate, as he
gazed upon her, while the two vessels were, aback, and
for a moment resting on their different ways, for the pur
poses of friendship and mercy. The Captain was but one
of the hardy men who fill the seas from the east, but he
could see, and could feel the beauties and the sublimities of
the scene, and go on his way, yet more and more loving
his country and western home.
This morning. May 26th, a large ship loomed up in
the horizon, at the northwest of us ; and ere long, our
suspicions were confirmed. It proved to be the John
Adams, our consort, who parted with us some two weeks
. since ; and now she has come down, in answer to our sig
nals, aiid taken her former position on our larboard quarter.
The incident is a beautiful illustration of the accuracy of
nautical science. Here we again meet on the ocean, after
ha^ring been lost to each other for fourteen days, and just
at the moment when we are expecting to make the high
lands of Madeira. - :

44 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
At the present hour it is squally, and we are now
shortening sail, and probably shall not ventiire to near
the land, after dark, unless we make it before sunset
The sea, at this moment, is high, and a sail, not far off;
to the windward of us, standing on an opposite course to
ourselves, is taking in her royals and reefing. We are
rolling more than we have before done since we weighed
our anchors in Hampton Roads, twenty days since. We
hope to lie at moorings, in Funchal Bay, to-morrow ; and
then, beautiful Madeira wiU be the agreeable object of
our visit and observation, after a passage of twentj-one days.
Ofi" the High Peaks of Madeira, May ¦26ih, P. M.
Never did the caU to quarters roU its beat more sweetiy
through our ship, than at this soft hour of evening. I have
been gazing at the wedge-shape bluff of the west end of
the Lsland of Madeira, now ¦wrrapped in fog, which, how
ever, at this moment, is lifting sufficiently for the curved
outline of the island to frace itself visibly on the misty
back ground of the horizon. And there it stands, the
island of Madeira, famed and far kno^wn, in mid-ocean,
raising its huge and sable elevations, at this hour, like
some dark monster of the deep, in his unconcern and deep
repose ; with its far-up and shaded sides lost in the mists,
which now wreath their mystic-sheet around its elevated
peaks. As we glide nearer in towards its abrupt shores and
along its deep-green sides, we discover here and there a
hamlet ; while far above the rnists, which curl around the
highest acclivities, and sail along the midway elevations,
the denser clouds are seen to roll back, and leave to
our view a deep blue sky, such as they say arches above
the land of Italy.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 45
The John Adams is standing in, behind us. The blue
deep, far out, is restless, and, the hea^vy swell heaves the
careening ships at this moment, more furiously than at any
other time since we have been coursing our way to this
island of %'ines and flowers. Long slopes of verdure, and
deep and green ra-vdnes, reach our view as we gaze ; and
the imagination easily embowers the hill-sides in orange
groves, and cifron frees, and pomegranates, and bananas,
and figs, and the frellised grape. But more in descrip
tion when we shall have gained a nearer view, on a fairer
evening, and a brighter day.
" All hands to reef topsails, ahoy !" sounds through the
ship. It is deemed too late for us to run into the bay of
Funchal, the capital of Madeira ; and the purpose of the
Commodore is, to stand off" and on, under reefed topsails,
during the night, and to anchor in Funchal bay early in
the morning.
The island now hes some four miles in the distance.
The smi has just gone down ; and the dark island, wreathed
in its vapour-sheet, exhibits an interesting scene of the
mystic and the sublime. The outlines of the dark pile are
distinctly marked on the horizon, rising some eight thousand
feet from the bosom of the deep, and now crowned ¦vrith
masses of cumuli-clouds, ¦vrith thefr round caps tinged with
the purest pink and darker crimson, as the rays of the
fallen sun send far up, in thefr slant, their beams in pro
fusion and glory ; while the lower layers of the clouds, on
which these illumined cones are resting, sleep in their
solemn gray and dun. At th# southwest of us, the lashed
sea is stiU raging ; but the clouds above its dark bosom
rest peacefully in their hundred evening hues, which the
sun, in atonement for his day's absence, now loans to these
airy voyagers.

46 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
But, it was as we tacked ships, to stand off from the
land, amid this exhibition of the mystic in our north, and
beauty in our west, that an omen gleamed above. us, fair
and bright as the one which shown in the heavens, on the
eve of our departure from our first anchorage-ground, in
our westem land. Directly above our main, in the zenith
of his glory, " The bright Arcturus, fairest of the stars,"
looked benignantly from out his azure hall upon us. The
sky, over our heads, was blue, deep, and clear ; and no
other brilhant was seen in the high heavens ; whfle the
moon, in her path of peerless loveliness, this night, was
thro^wing the soft beams of her first quarter over our right
shoulders. The afr was bahny to the cheek; and we were
happy as we paced the deck, and talked of things as
sociated with the Madefras, and fiiends, and home.

A VOYAGE AROtTND THE WORLD. 47

SECTION III.
Madeira. Funchal, capital of Madeira. Uuintas. Fortresses.
Santa Clara convent. Shrubbery and vines. Olden associations.
The influence of beautiful nature. Visit to the shore. Break
fast with the American Consul. Invitation to visit Santa Clara
convent. Ride to the Nossa Senhora de Monte, or the Church
of our Lady ofthe Mount. Visit Mr. Blandy's Quinta. Avenues
of geraniums and roses. View from the terrace-house. Mira
cles of our Lady ofthe Mount. Portuguese seamen pledge their
top-sail to this patron saint to propitiate her favour in danger.
Priest and his present of eggs. The Catholic system. A pile of
human bones. Portuguese bury in their churches. New cemetery.
Visit to Santa Clara convent. English burial ground. Portu
guese funeral. The daughter of the deceased, visiting England.
Ride to the Curral. Scenes on the road. Peasantry. The i-
grounds of Count Carvalhal. Ramble through the grounds of
Palm5'ra. Mr. and Miss O. Miss O.'s opinion of Abbot's Works.
The Til. Moving by torch light through the streets at night.
Palanquin. Easy manners of the Portuguese. English yacht
commanded by a lady. Legend of the Madeiras, Cultivation' of
the grape and process of making wine. Tinto, Malmsey.
Quantity of wine produced. Last eve on shore, and good-night to
Madeira. We have come to anchor, in fuU view of one of
nature's most beautiful landscapes. Funchal, the capital
of Madeira, is about two mUes from our frigate ; and the
southern exposure of the island lies, in its enchantment,
before us. Think of a fairy isle, raising its high peaks
abruptly 8,000 feet above the' bosom of the blue deep,
and tracing its waved outline indistinctly among the mys
tic and dark clouds, which hang, like spirit-shapes, on its
high and misty cones ; whUe, everywhere else, around
and farther yet above the cloud-capt peaks, the sky is blue

48 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
and clear; and the soft breeze and the mimic-gale from
the sea strike balmy, like an eastern atmosphere, upon the
cheek. And then, think of the elevated acclivities, and
deep ravine, broken into thousand crests, throwing their
every shaped shadows over their own mountainous and
cragged and unique landscape ; and every peak, and every
slope, and every ravine, covered -vrith vineyard and gar
den, and ever-green-tree andshmb and flower, varying from
the palest gold of harvest time to the deepest and prevailing
verdure of the freshest meadow ; and then the rillas, or
country residences of the English merchants and the weal
thier Portuguese, which are here called quintas, of all
* dimensions, -vrith red-tiled tops, and piazza and balcony
and corridors for promenade and look-outs, and frellised
terraces for the embowering -vines ; and then, the antique
cathedral and the ancient fortress, and the sacred convent ;
and then, the mountain, capped with an eternal cloud, and
the far-surrounding ocean, in eternal blue, and you will
have some ofthe outlines, which go to make up one of the
most glo-wing pictures of the beautifiil I ever saw. It is
almost perfect as a specimen of rural scenerj- of its kind.
It only needs a few castles on some of the high peaks of
the elevated positions, to render it quite so.
The houses of Funchal rise one above the other, from
the edge of the sea, which roUs, in its breakers, incessantiy
upon the narrow and dark pebbled beach. The Loo fort
is seen on the right of the citj', constructed on the top of a
rectangular rock of basalt, encrusted -with the outer honey
comb layer of lava ; and rises from out tiie sea a few
yards from the main beach.
Another forfress is situated neai- the sea, and is stiU
garrisoned. Between the two lie the pile of buUduigs,
occupied by ^e Franciscan mordcs before their expulsion

A VOYAGE AEOrrND THE WORLD. 49
from the island, but now possessed as barracks for the Gov
ernor's guards. Farther up, the convent of Santa Clara,
with its dusky and rectangular walls, appears above city
spire and city dwellings. Ascending still higher the steep
acchvity, rising like an amphitheafre before you, the beau
tiful quintas of the English merchants and the Portuguese,
are seen, every way, studding the elevated points, and lay be
fore the enchanted eye embowered in nature's freshest green,
amid shrubs, and orange trees, and figs, and citrons, and
bananas, the coffee tree, and the pomegranate / with
every other point, unoccupied by shrub and tree, covered
-vrith spacious areas of trelhssed vines, in their richest foliii.
age, the whole together exhibiting one blended scene of
rural lovehness, too distant to enable one to particularize
the different kind of shrub and tree, and flower, but de
lighting the beholder with the blended beauties of one of
nature's own amphitheatres, where she has poured out,
with the mimificence of her tropical hand, the gorgeous
magnificence of a perennial green-house. ) And still above
all this beauty of -rine, and shrub, and tree, and folia of
fig and orange and pomegranate, and the beautiful quin
tas, and the imposing turret, and fortress, and convent,
stands in lovely and bold relief, the Nossa Senhora do
Monte, or the Church of our Lady of the Mount. It is the
highest building seen, and rivets the eye of the sfranger. Its
proportions are in keeping, and its two turrets, rising on
either side of the front, give the picturesque edifice the
loveliest appearance, as it rests, in its quiet repose, and i
high-up retirement. Its white walls are beautifully re
lieved by one extended curtain of green, which rises still
farther above its white walls to meet the clouds in their
ever undulating volumes. And from the commanding
front of this solitary building, you gaze on all this beauty
Vol. n. 5

50 THE FLAG SHff ; OR
below, in its blended grandeur and loveliness ; on the vast
ocean, from whose blue bosom the green isle awakes; and
now upon our own sleeping war-ships, as they ride, in
thefr security and distance, like mimic models of thefr own
beautiful reahty, on the edge ofthe broad expanse of the
boundless main. But still farther up from the nesthng
place of our Lady ofthe Mount, the green mountain steeps
are coated in verdant shrub and tear grass, and flowering
broom, and heath, and sweet bahn, until the veU of tiie
dark spirit of the mountain-heights, forbids the eye to pen
etrate her loftier and clouded home. Surely the Fairy-
Queen poet dreamed not of a loveher scene than this,
wherever his -rision was bearing him in the foUowing Imes :
It was a chosen spot of blooming land,
Amongst wide waves, set like a little neat.
As if it had by nature's cunning hand
Been choicely picked ont from all the rest.
And laid forth as example of the best.
No daintie herb, or flower, that glows on ground.
No arboreth with painted blossoms drest,
And smiling sweet, but there it might be found,
To bud out fair, and her sweet fragrance throw around.
And all this I gaze upon, as I stand, lost in del^htfiil
reverie, on the deck of our own beautiful Columbia, sleeping
calmly, and confident in her own prowess, on these waters, in
full -view of this enchanting landscape. And the eye tfres not,
as one's thoughts, in connection with the olden story of
this sunny isle and summer beauty, come over the memory,
in recoUected legend or truer history. Here has been revo
lution on revolution. Here the prince to-day has been
embarked in an hour and in secret, for his distant exile. And
here the priest has ridden, in his ghostly power, and with
undisputed dictate, a superstitious and submissive people ;
and again, the people have arouSed to a sense of thefr

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 51
degradation and the imposition of the Franciscan hoards,
and expelled them from their isle. And here the nun,
for years the inmate of the cloister, and doomed no more
to look abroad upon the world, save through a double
grating or convent lattice, in the tide of revolutions has
been set free, and walked again in liberty and light. But
again the restrictions are placed upon her, and she is re-
enclosed -vrithin the halls of her ancient home.
I indulged myself, for hours, in delightfiil contemplation
of the beautiful scene before me, £is seen from the quartept
deck of our frigate. Nothing could more calmly sooth
the heart, whatever may have been its musings of sadness
or of joy, in refracing the past, or in sorro^wrful or happy
anticipation of the future. There are some scenes which
we love to freasure among the fadeless things, in the ar
cana of our choicest memories, to which we recur, when
tilings around, and men more than things, become insipid.
I felt assured that the scene before me was one of these.
I find myself daily more and more susceptible to the in
fluence of beautiful nature; while she often communes
-vrith me, as one who has sympathies kindred to my own.
She never upbraids the confiding heart — she never looks
with cold suspicion — she has about her nothing that is
mean, or low, or unrefined ; but hers is an open brow — a
warm, and pure, and noble heart — and she has thoughts
that are hoher than earth elsewhere knows, which she will
give, with generous and cordial Hberality, to that spirit,
„ which lets the eye rest on her mellowed beauties, -with a
melting and gushing heart. Commend me then to her
loveliness and proffered sympathies, when the heart feels
alone, in its deep and young desolation.
I had fixed the lovely picture of Madefra's green ac
clivities m my mind, and dwelled upon it -vrith increased

52 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
and increasing emotion and delight And thus I felt pre
pared for my first visit on shore, while I only feared that a
nearer view might dissipate the fairy ¦vdsion, which lay so
willingly and distinct among those remembrances which
fail not. Our time at the island would be short, and much,
it was said, existed on shore to interest the stranger, and
was worthy of his observation. I went early the morning
succeeding our arrival, and breakfasted, by invitation, ¦vrith
the American consul. This gentleman, ever attentive to
the officers of the ship, infroduced me to Mr. B., who is
said to have large possessions on the island, and to whose
courteous and gentlemanly manners I am happy here to
bear testimony, in the remembrance of our agreeable ¦vosit
to Madefra. By Mr. B. I was accompanied to the Read
ing Rooms; and afterwards, through his kindness, was
introduced to another of the English residents, who is
supposed to have considerable influence with the Cathohc
inhabitants of the island. Mr. P., the name of this gen
tleman, had received an inritation to dine with the Vicar-
General, or Bishop of Madefra, at Santa Clara Convent,
where the Bishop was to -risit, during the day. Mr. P. had
induced the vicar to allow him, on this occasion, to infro-
duce some of his friends into die convent, and politely
extended his inritation to myself. Four o'clock in the
afternoon was the hour appointed for our infroduction into
the enclosures within the convent walls.
In the mean time I took a ride to the church, high up on
the green slant, previously alluded to as Nossa Senhora do
Monte, our Lady of the Mount. We procured our horses
and attendants. Every thing ai-ound us appeareil unique,
and the mode of om- conveyance was quite in character
with our circumstances. The road to the mount church,
in its ascent of the mountain, is incredibly steep, and as far

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 53
as the Nossa Senhora do Monte, is paved ¦with th^ blue
pebbles of the beach, and basalt from the mountain. The
angle of ascent is frequently twenty degrees. We mounted
our horses, and at our side stood our burroqueros, or foot-
boys, in their picturesque costume of the island peasantry,
and each -vrith his wooden staff, six or seven feet in length.
"Nossa Senhora do Monte," we said, and dashed off in
full spring as the burroquero swept his staff against the
flanks of the horse, and seized the animal by the tail, to be
borne along in company with the cavalcade ; and every
now and then, again riving the sides of the horse, and par
ticularly at the steepest parts of the road, up which fear
ful accli-rities the horses sprung in full canter, with their
hoofs clattering over the paved way, with the riders upon
their back and the attendants at thefr tails. I suffered my
companions to advance, while I held in my spirited horse,
and to my unbounded amusement contemplated the com
ical exhibition of the riders in full speed before me, with
thefr burroqueros at their horses' tails, all on the full jump,
ascending the fearful steeps which, in our o-wn land, would
have been deemed almost, if not quite, inaccessible. While
we thus rushed up the aslant, the clatter of our horses'
hoofs o.ften drew the Portuguese brunet to the terraces, ever
above us, as the quintas, -vrith their elevated walls and em
bowered terraces, lined our narrow way, two thirds the
distance to the Church of the Mount. Over these walls, in
truant festoons falling from the terrace, and filling every
crevice in the walls, hung the luxuriant geraniums and
multifloras, and rose of every kind, and other flowers, and
vines in profusion, trailing down their branches and mak
ing our ascending way a path of blossom, and perfume,
and flowery beauty.
When we had reached some distance up the mountain-
5*

54 THE FLAG SHIP; OE
ascent, with quintas on each side of the narrow way, we
paused at the country seat of Mr. Blandy, who had invited
me, during the morning, to visit his quinta, as I rode to
the mount.
We turned in from the road to the left, through a gate
way, which opened into his grounds, and found ourselves at
once among winding avenues of geraniums, and roses,
and other flowering shrabs, which, in America, are cher
ished as choice plants, in flower-pots, and preserved in
green-houses. It is this particularity which delights and
surprises the eye. As we turned to the left, we pursued
one of these hedged avenues of geraniums, which I took
to be of that beautiful species called the princess Caroline,
bearing a large flower, and here, in its luxuriance, growing
five feet high, and inlocking its branches so as to form a
thick hedge on either side of the pathway. The avenue
extended along the high terrace, overlooking the roadside,
until it reached the front part of the garden, at which
point it commanded the cit)- and harbour and the blended
beauties of the glowing scene below. Owing to the steep
ascent of the mountain, it becomes necessarj- to raise high
walls for gaining a level for the buUding-s, and tiie pleasure
grounds around them. The terraces thus formed are nu
merous, in different parts of the grounds of the quintas,
forming levels of made soil for flower-enamelled paths, and
trellises for the vine, and for fruit frees, and ornamental
shrubs, which nature here, with the soil of volcanic ruins,
and an atmosphere ever revivifjdng to produce and sustain
in greatest perfection, has lavished, with a luxuriant hand,
on this green isle of the sea. We walked through the
grounds, every avenue bemg lined either -vrith geraniums
or roses, or other flowering shrubs. The japonica was
seen to rise from ten to fifteen feet in height, and spread

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 55
in like proportion — the hyderanger, in its luxuriance,
spreading its branches to a circumference of twenty to
thirty feet. All is luxuriance. We marked the coffee
tree, now beginning to be successfully cultivated in the
island — the pomegranate, decked with its scarlet blossoms
— the fig, in its green luxuriance — the banana, raising
high its long and fan-like leaves. A hundred ornamental
flowering trees, high and spreading, decked the grounds ;
and in this rich season of flowers one tree, of forest height
attracted and held my admiration. It was wreathed in mul
tifloras, so as to exhibit one complete layer of these clus
tered roses over every part of the stem and boughs of the
tree, exhibiting a rose tower in its magnificence and beauty.
The walk which we first entered extended along the
terrace, which rose high above the road, and terminated
abruptly in a rectangular summer-house on the terrace.
From this, one contemplates the beauties of the scene be
fore and beneath him, with the ranges of the green hills
on either side, and the vineyards, and embowered houses,
together -vrith the blue bosom of the harbour, dotted by
the vessels of varied and fairy forms, that repose upon its
surfacg, or seen sailing in the offing.
Heje I could have lingered, and mused, and thought,
delighted, on crowding subjects, which this fair isle of the
Madeiras awakes, and on dearer objects of the land of
my home. But we were yet to visit the Nossa Senhora
do Monte, and return to the city in time to meet our en
gagement at four o'clock, that we might not lose the pleasure
of our contemplated visit to the convent of Santa Clara..
We therefore remounted our horses, and left this lovely
quinta for the Church of the Mount, with a secret purpose
of again threading the beautiful avenues of Mr. B.'s coun
try seat, which, to-day, was unoccupied by his family.

56 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
It will strike the visiter to the Madeiras as a peculiarity,
that the country residences here are not found by riding
some distance into the interior. On the contrary, all the
advantages of country air, and of an escape from the heat
of city-walls, is secured by ascending the heights of the
mountain, until the temperature desired is gamed. Thus
a delightful and salubrious atmosphere is found by a half
hour's climbing up the steep roads, to these beautifiil
eyries, where lovers inight nestle in their ever-green bow
ers and flower-enameUed paths ; and phUosophers become
poets ; and poets philosophize and be happy. The pro
prietors of these quintas, while residing in the city, during
the cooler parts of the seasons, not unfrequently retfre to
their mountain seats, when they would inrite a part)- of
their friends to partake of the sociability of thefr free and
elegant hospitalit)-, their farthest seats being within a
half hour's ride from the points of thefr business and city
houses. When we had ascended still higher up, to reach the
Church ofthe Moimt, we ahghted at a flight of steps lead
ing to the artificial level, on which the edifice of the
church of Our Lady is situated. We found a number of
the younger officers of the Columbia already at the church,
but having satisfied their curiosity were soon on thefr de
scent of the mountain.
The sexton was ready to exhibit every thing which
could gratify our observation or interest our curiosit)-.
Our Lady of the Mount is represented by a smaU figure
about two feet in height ; and as tiie patron samt of the
island, she is preserved wilh great care within a glass case
upon the principal altar of the church. She is decorated
with a wax wig and tinselled robes ; and formerly dis
played about her person chains of gold, and gems yet

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 57
more precious, as gifts of her devotees. The revolution
of time and sentiment has left her sanctuary, as well as
herself, with only imitations of what once was.
We were unable, from personal observation, to know
how sacredly this saint of the island is now venerated, but
many stories are related, or rather, observed scenes are re
corded, to show the high esteem with which the Nossa
Senhora of the mount has been held. And the su
perstitions of the lower orders at least, are slow to be
removed from their credulous minds ; nor are they easily
restrained from ceremonies long cherished and practised
in their rehgious devotions.
In 1803, owing to the profusion of rain from the conden
sation of the clouds upon the mountains, the swelling streams
which rush down the ravines almost flooded the city, so
as to destroy a large number of houses, to the sacrifice of
many lives. This period of inundation from the mountains,
is even now spoken of, almost as a dating epoch. " Such
a thing haring occurred before or since the flood," mean
ing the inundation of 1803. After this devastation of
waters had ceased, the image of this pafron saint was con
veyed, in solemn procession, from her home of the mount
to the city, where the greatest pomp and ceremony at
tended her; the clergy, and the military, and the civil
authorities appearing in their gaudiest exhibition, -vrith the
impression that her presence could stay any succeeding
inundation. After the public ceremonies and processions
of the streets were over, and due honours paid, the Lady
Pafroness was placed for some months on the altar of the
cathedral in the city ; but afterwards she was returned to
her own altar at her proper mountain home, with demon-
sfrations of respect and veneration, as the church of the
mount was buUt, according to the legend of the island, on

58 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
the spot where the saint was originally found, soon after
the first discovery of the island.
One of her weU accredited miracles (if we believe the
credulous testimony of her attached devotees) will suffice
to le narrated here, as a specimen ofthe many and extra
ordinary performances of our Lady of the Mount. The
incident occurred during the American revolutionary war,
when a great and threatening scarcity prevaUed at the
island of Madeira, in consequence of the British cruisers
preventing the American vessels from conveying to the
island the usual supply of bread stuff. In this state of dis
tress, supplication was made to the Lady of the Mount,
that her influence might be secured, and by her intercession
that the calamity inight be removed, and the general dis
tress be relieved. This ceremony was attended by a pub
lic procession, and accompanied by various devotional
rites. At daybreak on the following moming, it is said,
a ship appeared in the offing, which afterwards was found
to be laden -vrith wheat, from Portugal. The inhabitants
on repairing to the mount church, found the lady-sainf s
clothes dripping wet with salt-water, which was interpret
ed by the Priests to be conclusive eridence that the pafro
ness had taken a trip to sea during the night, to hasten
the vessel which had so unexpectedly been descried in the
offing. The crew of the ve^el, on thefr reaching land,
were greatly astonished when the cfrcumstances of the
miracle were told them ; and, on recollection, it occurred
to them that they had been becalmed some distance off" the
island just at sunset, the preceding evening, when they saw
something \^ hite rising from the waves, which hovered
about the vessel, and ere long they were nnpelled to Fun
chal. This narrative of the crew confirmed the miracle ;
and the miraculous interference of the Lady of tiie Mount,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 59
on this occasion, it issaid, remains an article in the faith
of the devoted worshippers atthe altar of the Nossa Senhora
do Monte, untU the present time.
There is a custom among the Portuguese seamen, in
case of danger or difficulties at sea, to devote, with a solemn
vow, their topsail, or some other article, to the Lady of
the Mount. On their reaching their home in safety, they
go in procession to her altar, bearing their devoted canvass,
but they redeem the frophy, by paying, in money, the
amount of its value, as affixed by the priest.
But the glory and the power of this patron saint, I
should judge, when contrasting her present appearance
with her affirmed splendour of other days, has passed, in
no inconsiderable degree, if not for ever, away, while the
ceremonies, and the pubhc processions yet continue. And
the peasantry are geatly fond of these festivals and public
processions. They gather from their mountain recesses on
the occasion, and give themselves to the enjoyment of the
hohdays. We regretted that we should leave the island
on Saturday evening, which would prevent us from wit
nessing the various ceremonies of one of their most inter
esting seasons, the succeeding Sunday being Whit-Sunday.
On Saturday evening, however, we saw, from the frigate,
the bonfires on many a peak, and the church of the mount
sent forth the brilhant rays of her taper-lights far over the
blue deep, from her high and beautifiil eminence.
We indulged ourselves by walking through the main
edifice and the various rooms, where the laced robes of the
priests are kept, some of which had been rich in thefr day,
and are stUl gaudy and imposing to the peasant's eye
though thread-worn to the curious. The pictures were
generally indifferently executed, some of them even cari
catures. I was strack -vrith one, however, in connection

60 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
with an anecdote narrated at the time, by the gentleman
who accompanied me to the mount. This painting repre
sented the presentation of eggs, with various other things,
to the infant Saviour, who was resting in the lap of his
virgin mother ; certainly no impolitic design to encourage
the donations from the peasantry to the Franciscans, who, by
the tenets of their order, possess no propert)', save a place
to lodge in, while they live on the gifts of the people.
Before the expulsion of the Franciscans, the scene of a
friar with his bag, collecting eggs and bread and other
eatables, was a common and homly scene, and met the
encouragement from thefr devoted admfrers. And as we
stood before the picture, my friend instanced a case of one
of the priests, who, when dehvering his discourse, spoke to
the people in the foUowing frank language : " My flock,
you may make me presents if you choose, or not, as it may
please you ; but if you make me presents, no humbugs, if
you please ; bring me no rotten eggs, good ones, if any
thing." While the Franciscans have been expeUed from
their ancient home on the island, a small number of priests
of the coUege have been retained; emd the nuns stUl possess
their enclosures, -vrith the rents derived from the convent
grounds and entails. The salaries of the priests, however,
are less than formerly; Emd the bishop now receives only
f BOOO, while his former income amounted to je4000 with
perquisites, which, together, often reached the sum of
twenty thousand doUai-s and upwards. So passes the glory
of the popish world, in her olden possessions.
I have no heart to upbraid the Roman Catholic. It is
always an emotion of solemn pity, that comes over me,
when I pace their dismantled cathedrals, and decaying
halls, or listen to their venerated, but superstitious, and, as
a Protestant, I think, very often, puerile worship. But, I

A VOYAGE AROtJND THE WORLD. 61
well know that the heart is the secret place which the eye
of Omnipotence penefrates, and I firmly believe he often
finds in the Catholic worshipper great sincerity. But, |.
also hold, that the whole system of the Roman Catholic
rituals, and monkish celibacy, and many worse than fool
ish accompaniments of thefr worship, tend to great ,corrup-
tion in a community purely Roman Catholic, and to the
great perversion ofthe simple and true worship ofthe Deity.
It is in vain for the advocates of Papacy to deny the cor
ruptions which have existed, or the severities which have
sprung from a system which has had its triumphs, and in
the advance of intelligence and purer systems, we think,
must have its downfall. Spain and Portugal, and their
dependencies give a story which has been recorded on the
page of history with a pen of blood. . And 0 ! how de
voted have millions been, in the execution of the misguided
plans of infuriated zealots, and in the support of errone
ous tenets. But the age in which crime, in the support
ofthe church, was deemed a virtue, and intolerance believed
to be furthering the cause of the cross, existed when men
had not learned the correct principles of Christian ethics,
and the world deemed that their several rehgions were to
be propagated even at the point of the sword. If our
charities were a Httle more enlightened by a knowledge
of the spfrit of ages past, and we judged of the actioifli
of men in connection with the spirit which ruled the times
in which they existed, we should be more lenient in our esti
mate oftheir motives when criticising their actions. And
we should regret rather than upbraid, when we perceive
that the circumstances of the period in which they lived,
did not embrace, in its elements of religion, a philosophy ,'
so far as systems were concerned, which inculcated mu
tual forbearance, and heaven-born charity. Toleration,
Vol. L 6

62 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
either by Cathohc or Protestant, was unknown until the
seventeentii centiuy. And the Cathohcs will have to
live through years yet onward, before they vriU come to
appreciate the errors of thefr system, and the unscriptural
and mtolerant inculcations of their creed. But the ball of
revolution has been set in motion. The power of the Pa
pal hierarchy has been paralyzed by the advance of more
enhghtened pubhc sentiment, and truer phUosophy than
that of earher ages. It must stUl go on. We see afready
the mouldering relics of the ancient system. And while
we walk through her antique aisles, of cathedral and
abbey, and convent, we rejoice in the assurance that there
is a breaking up of olden foundations, for the laying of a
basis of a more beautifid superstructure in morals. Yet as
we reflect on the past and the present, we pit)- — we sigh —
-we hope, wMle a cloud yet veils the onward prospect,
as it looms up, how darkly ! in the coming future.
We had gone through the biulding, no way remark
able for its superstracture, but a convenient edifice, and
once, doubtiess, imposing in its decorations. But now it
exhibits httle else than gilded altars and an occasional
sUver cross, defaced paintings, and two indifferent and even
offensive statues, as they are robed in thefr canonicals.
My friend asked our cicerone to show us the place
Hbere he deposited the bones, when they were taken firom
uie common vault We passed over the pavements, which
form the great terrace of the church, and reached a door
in a waU which rises some feet on the outer edee of the
level on which the church stands. The sexton applied
his key, and the door opened, when a sight addressed the
eye, which would have pained a less susceptible heart
than my own. A pUe of human bones lay beneath us,
withm an unwalled rectangular space ; and as my eye ran

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 63
over the mass, I counted fifty-one skulls. Probably in the
sarae pile, there were thousands, with the attendant skel-*
etons, which it would have taken a number of men a num-j
bgr of days_to remove. ^
It is the custom of the Portuguese to bury the dead in
their churches. They inter the bodies within the sarae
vault, or rather they dig the grave for the body which is
to be interred, among the bones and dust of those who
have already been buried. That the body may be more
rapidly consumed, they mingle quicklime with the earth
that covers the inhumed relics. The earth of the conse
crated enclosure is deemed holy ground. But where the soil
is so shaUow as in most places on the island, and particularly
at the point where the church ofthe mount is located, the ex
cavation can be but a few feet deep, and 'extending but a
few feet in widtii. And within this space the peasantry ofthe
surrounding situations are interred. But seldom habituated
to think for themselves, and ever ready to beHeve in the mi
raculous, they dream not that the bones of thefr forefathers
rest not where they are consigning their own contempo
rary friends, and where, ere long, they hope they may thera
selves be interred. They, nevertheless, do not rest there.
At intervals the bones of the mingled bodies are removed,
to make room for the ever unanswered demands of the
stem arbiter, whom nothing will propitiate — whose hdk
nothing will make, relent. And while this necessity ^
ists for the removal' of the bones of the bodies which are
here buried, one upon the other, it yet seemed to me to he.
an unjustifiable imposition, if it be one, that the mass of
the people should be ignorant of the disinhuming of the
relics of the dead, while they dream that they are moul
dering where they hope that they themselves, when they
shall be called hence, shall also moulder, in kindred dust,

64
within the bosom of their own and popular pafron saint,
• the Nossa Senhora do Monte.
I It is a laudable object of the city authority, at the pre
sent moment, to encourage among the Portuguese the
burial of the dead in an open ground. They are now
prepai-ing a pr're la chaise on the bank of the west side
of the city, near the water, commanding a lovely view of
the sea. It must eventually become popular, even with
the Portuguese, as a place for burial. As yet, however,
it is unfinished, though tastefully inwalled ; and the ground
is nearly prepared. The portal enfrance is very respecta
ble, and the whole, edtogether, a worthy and commenda
ble project.
We now took our last view of the lovely scene, pre^
sented from the front terrace of the Church of the Mount
The city was far, far down ; and between the city and
ourselves, on the right and on the left, slept the lovely
quintas, embowered in their luxuriance of rine and flowers,
and fruit trees, and ornamental shrubberj-, with the rippling
streams from the mountains always passing through the
premises to water the grounds at the pleasure of the pro
prietors, or to replenish their ponds or jets of -water. And
then, beyond quinta, and cit)-, and forfress, and shore, our
e) e, for a moment, lingered on our o-wn sea-home dweU-
j^l^, which had brought us safely from the lands of our
western homes ; and we blessed them for their staunch
properties, and admired them for their beautiful propor-
f)ns, and felt wiUing again to frust us to the safety of
eir keeping. But we could hnger no longer, and we
remounted our horses and dashed down the steep decliv
ities, with the \-elocity with which we had ascended. And
)'ft our hoi-ses tripped not ; and what elsewhere would
have seemed inevitable destruction, here, from the confi-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 65
dence we had in the surefooted beasts, was regarded
but pleasing exciteraent, as we dared the steep and fear
ful slant, at the speed of a ftill frot.

Visit to Santa Clara Convent.
Th|| convents of Madeira, in connection with other
objects of interest, had been the subject of frequent con-
6*

66 THE FLAG SHH- ; OE
versation, during our passage to the island. One of the-
inmates of Santa Clara Convent, too, from romantic in
cident being associated with her involuntary entrance
within the convent-walls, and also her acknowledge4
beauty and strikingly interesting manners, had eHcited the
curiosity of the sfranger. An English bard had sung her
praises, and others alluded to her interest of person, and
romantic story ; and one of our own countrymen, in the
romance and benevolence of his heart, had conceived a
plan for the rescue of the " beautiful nun," from the con
vent of Santa Clara, where, it was supposed, she was re
tained, an imwilhng prisoner, through the caprice of ill
judging parents, and intriguing priests. All these cfr
cumstances contributed to give to this interesting inmate
of the convent an eclat, unen-riable, perhaps, to one of the
order of the recluse, but flattering to that love of admfra
tion, to which the young and beautiful are said ever to be
given. We therefore were much gratified, in the morning,
by the inritation of Mr. P., who had secured fiom his
friend, the Vicar General, the pri-rilege of infroducing
some of his friends into the convent. Such an incident
had never before been known. And we had only dreamed
of the possibiHty of gaining a sight of the nuns through
the double gratings, while we should be purchasing, for
t^ir interest, and as mementoes of our -visit to the island,
some artificial flowers, being the exquisite handiwork of
the inmates of the convent. But the Bishop is said to be
something of a liberal ; and at any rate, on this occaaon,
^tended to the considerations of ftiendship, a favour, of
which we were the participants.
We had returned from the mount church in time to pre
pare for our visit to the convent of Santa Clara ; and at
a little past four o 'clock, agreeably to our appointment,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 67
we entered the outer-walls of the convent grounds. The
doors, which opened from the court into tiie sacred enclo
sures, were closed ; and four or five persons, apparently on
¦the same unusual errand vrith ourselves, were standing at
the massive doors, awaiting their opening. My friend,
who had accompanied me to the mount, announced in
Portuguese our names, at the whispering window, as the
friends of Mr. P., and was answered that the Senhor was
within, and we should have immediate admittance. We
walked towards the large doors, which opened into a spa
cious and covered area, from which the passage-ways led
to other parts ofthe buildings ; and, as the doors turned back
on their hea-vy hinges, we found ourselves at once in the
presence of ten or twelve nuns, in their holiday and dark
habihments, some giving us a very polite welcome, and
others talking with their friends who had preceded us.
My friend was immediately at my side, after greeting some
of his acquaintances who were -vrithin, and added,
" Here is Donna Clementina now, of whom you have
spoken — allow me to introduce you to her."
I walked with him into the presence of a beautiful
young nun, dressed in her glossy black habito, with her
veil falHng graceftdly over her shoulders from her silk
head-dress, wliich was so adjusted as to cover the top of
the head, and terminate in a graceful point upon the fore
head, -vrithout concealing the beautiful blond of her hair,
or the open expression of her brow.
Various circumstances had been recited to me, before I
had left the frigate, which contributed considerably to
diminish my interest in the character of Maria Clementina,
the name of the beautiftd nun alluded to. And it was
suppos^, that, at this time, she must be, at least, thirty
years of age. I should not have been disappointed, there-

68 THE FLAG StilP; Oft
fore, if I had found an ordinary looking mm, once celebra
ted for her beauty, but whose charms of person had been
painted in the colouring, gaining its tints from the intenser
hues of the imagination of her admfrers, who only had seen
her through double gratings, and with sympathies which
did them honour, while it deceived thefr discrimination.
But before me now, there was greater youth, and a taUer
and more symmetrical figure, and a gracefiil manner, which
at once pleased me, and made me disposed to censure some
criticisms which dissented from the general admfration ;
and some free remarks which I had heard, defracting from
the personal character of the beautiful Maria Clementina.
I was agreeably assured, as I stood before her, that she
was a just object of one's admfration.
I said, I was happy to meet ¦vrith one, of whom I had
heard some of her friends speak ¦vrith much interest; and
besides I had for her the good wishes of an American lady,
from whora I knew she would be pleased to hear.
" Ah !" said the pretty Clementina, " I remeraber Mrs.
R ., and hope she is weU."
I assured her that she was ; and that an olden friend
of hers was lately arrived at the island. The frigate and
corvette which lay in the ofling were American ships, com
manded by Commodore Read, and were just firom the
United States.
" Indeed," again continued the interesting nun, " I had
not heard it"
I replied that it might not be surprising, as the inter
esting inmates of these fafr grounds were not always, I
supposed, the first to gain the news of the world.
What were the rausmgs of the young nun, at this mo
ment, I know not; but I could not myself perceive that her
eye kindled with that mterest, which I had anticipated

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 69
would be the case on my informing her of the welfare of
those, whom I had known to feel an interest in her welfare,
when they had risited the island some few years before
this ; and for whom, from various circumstances, IJiad pre
sumed Maria Clementina cherished a very partial friendship.
Others were now crowding about the nun, when my
friend touched my arm ; and accompanied by a number of
other nuns, we rambled through the piazzas, extending
along the buildings and overlooking the gardens ; and
tlu'eaded the different haUs and rooms of the nunery.
" Did you ' deHver your message V asked my friend,
with a smile slightly playing upon his lip.
Yes, I told him; and Clementina is certainly prettier,
and more youthful in her appearance than I anticipated to
find her. And yet she did not seem so much interested in
my communication as I had expected she would be.
In my own mind, I had already accounted for the -v^ant
of' animation, which I had expected to witness in Maria
Clementina at the moment of my communicating to her
the inteUigence, which I had presumed would be greatly
gratifying to her. The interesting recluse, doubtless, I
thought, might be the object of the watchful Care of her
elder sisters, as she would be the centre of attraction on
this occasion, which I now perceived had been made an
opportunity for introducing into these sacred enclosures a
larger number of friends than I preriously anticipated to
meet there.
"Why," said my friend, with another smile, "I told
you, on our way to the convent, that Maria Clementina
did not speak EngHsh, and I supposed you would, at once,
discover the deception."
" And then you are deceiving me, ay, mon cher 1
And the greatest deception is, that you would make me now

70 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
believe that the real Clementina is not Clementina's
self" " No, by no means, I assure you. I will point out to
you the real Maria Clementina when we find her."
My friend himself had not seen Clementina, for two
years past, and never only through the speaking grates,
and had but lately retumed from America. My own im
pressions now were, that for some reason, it was a pohcy
in the inmates of the convent, kno-vring that a number of
strangers were to be introduced this aftemoon, to have one of
thefr younger nuns assume the character of Mcuia Clemen
tina, and the real one to be missing ; for I did not know
other-vrise how to interpret the movements of my friend, and
bad, at this time, no conception, that the occasion would
admit of any thing more nearly bordering on a masquerade.
We proceeded on our walk, through the halls and dif
ferent rooras, all perfectly neat This was the bed-cham
ber of one of the nuns ; this, of another ; this, of Genoveva
Caroleta ; and this, in which I was wUling longest to Hn
ger, overlooked the far extending ocean, our two ships at
anchor, reposing like sorae spfrit-shapes on the bosom of
the blue deep; and dfrectly beneath, was the English
church, with. its loveliest garden of flowers surrounding it,
and trees embowered in flowers, and I thought that there
was poetry in all this, and that there ought to be rehgion
in the bosom that dwelled here; and the soft tear of love
and gratitude should fall from the eye that gazed over the
enchanting scene, to the dehght of a devout mind, which
could appreciate the loveliness of the character of that
Being, who made all these beauties, that they might dehght
and win our hearts to him. But we turned our gaze, from
this lovely point, and left the room so dehghtfuUy situated,
and which lilce most of the others was hung around -vrith

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 71
pictures; and upon each bed was one tiny pillow, white
and edged with ruffle, which we would have thought most
suitable for the toilet table rather than the fafr cheek of
the sleeping nun.
" And where is Maria Clementina ?" asked my friend,
as we entered other rooms from another hall, where two
or three friends, who had been introduced into the build
ings, Hke ourselves, were seated in conversation -vrith some
of the nuns.
" I will send for her," said one of the dark-clad ladies,
who, with others, was accompanying us, and as we step
ped into yet another room.
A little time only had passed, and I had said to my
friend. You are not designing again to deceive me 1
" Most certainly not," was his reply, which now seemed
most sincere ; when, the next moment, the nun who had
volunteered to thread a number of the passage-ways to
find Clementina, returned again, and, to my utter astonish
ment, and I have reason to suppose, to the no little con
fusion of my friend, introduced me to the young and fair
Clementina, to whom he had made me acquainted, on my
first entrance into the convent
I could only advance, and repeat the assurances of my
own interest, and that of our mutual friends, and adding an
apology for the desire of renewing the introduction, as my
friend here, who must take the responsibility of the occa
sion, assured me that I was not originally introduced to
Maria Clementina. We chatted again for a little tirae,
about our American friends, whom she had seen, and
which now yet more confirmed me that I was, in reality,
-vrith the nun, who well answered the description which I
had read of her, during the morning ; and now we passed
through yet other cfrcuitous passages, and, at length, joined

72 THE FLAG SfflP ; OR
the crowd on the piazza, which lead quite along the side
of the spacious buildings which front the inwalled gar
dens of the convent. A number of nuns and their friends
had gathered here, into a small bastion room, which opened
from two of its sides into the piazza, which, at this point,
made an angle. This room contained an altar, and was
hung with pictures, and studded with the blazen candle
sticks, and guilded images, characteristic of the rehgion of
the Catholics. A piano-forte also occupied a position
near the altar ; and the nuns, some of them were standing,
and others sitting upon the carpet, all at perfect ease -vrith
their company ; while others of the company, in consid
erable numbers were gathered on the piazzas, near the
two doors of the small room. A harp, also, stood at the
end of the piano-forte ; and now a lady in fiiU and rather
gaudy dress, but teisteful, advanced to the harp, and music
was expected. A young nun was seated at the piano
forte, who seemed to me more youthful stUl than the Cle
mentina, to whom I had been introduced. I asked ]\Ir.
P., through whose politeness I had been introduced into
the convent, to whom we were to be indebted for our mu
sic on the harp ?
" It was his wife."
" And I am sure, then, you should be a musical and
happy man, sfr."
The music soon awoke, the harp and the piano-forte.
It was a sweet quadrille, ribrating on the soft afr of Ma
deira, and within the sacred enclosures of the convent of
Santa Clara — the orange tree, and the cifron, and the rose,
and the geranium, and the jasmine, gi-ring forth their rich
perfiime to the gentle breath of evening, which was borne in
zephyr-breeze along the flower enamelled piazza, alike to
meet the cheek of the English belle, the brunet beauty

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 73
of the Portuguese, and the now laughing lip of the happy
nun, clad in her cloistered and flowing habiliments, and
delighted to greet within their own enclosures the friends
-vrith whom, in other days, she had only conversed through
the cold barriers of unsocial and double gratings.
A number of voluntaries and variations were played, in
good taste. A young Portuguese sung a laughing melody ;
and his Portuguese laugh I shall never forget. It will
haunt me over the waters, but the recollection -vrill not be
disagreeable among remerabered symphonies, as some spell
of darker spfrit, which mingled unearthly things with sweet
harmonies that melted, while its own and single notes
thrilled with the awe of superstitious forebodings.
And as I stood beside one of the doors of the small
room, now principally occupied by the ladies, listening to
the music, I addressed a Portuguese gentleman at my side,
in the absence of my friend, and asked, (for I was not yet
ftdly satisfied as to my ha-ring seen the real Maria Clemen
tina,) who was the young nun, sitting in front of a gentle
man, whom I now designated.
" Nun, Senhor !" said the Portuguese, " I do not see
any nun in that dfrection."
"It strikes me," I replied, " that she very much resem
bles the other young nun at the piano-forte, with blond hair
and a more rosy cheek."
" Oh, sfr," said the Portuguese, looking me kindly
in the face, " that young lady, at the piano-forte, is Miss
P., the daughter of the lady at the harp, and sister to the
young lady you take for a nun beside the gentlemari.
There is a still younger daughter near us. They have only
put on the habito and the veU of the nuns for this occasion."
I said no more, and at once comprehended the scene
and my own cfrcumstances. I held up my finger rather
Vol. L 7

74 THE FLAG SHH"; OR
menacingly to my friend, who, "however, had already as
sured me that we had been a second time deceived ; and
he had pointed out one of the nuns, as she had quickly
passed us, as the real Maria Clementina. I advanced to
Miss. P., and assured her that she was no less interesting
in her own proper person than as Donna Clementina ; and
I did not know but a second apology was due her for my
almost inexcusable blunders.
The young lady replied that she was Clementina here,
and Miss P. at home. She had once had the pleasure of
meeting my friend Mrs. R., when she was at the island of
Madeira, and therefore was glad to hear from her ; and
supposed, when I spoke of her, that I was aware of thefr
shght acquaintance.
Some moments afterwards, my fafr and interesting
friend, who graced the habito and the veo do ftimmo of
the Santa Clara nuns, approached me, and said they were
about to engage in a Httle dance, and would I join them 1
I excused myself, by saying that I had ceased, for some
years, to dance, and she must pardon me. Indeed, I felt
that I was certainly subjecting myself to the imputation of
the want of proper gallantry when adhering to what I
deemed — though it be a dissent from some of the clergy
of the English church — in my own case to be propriety.
The dance did not take place ; and I thought I must attri
bute the faUure in some littie degTee to the fact, that I did
not consent to join it It certainly would have exhibited
an interesting scene — and rather an unique one to an Amer
ican — nuns and priests, and the gay lip and the bright eye
of young and happy hearts, minghng in the dance vrithin
the supposed-to-be impenetrable and sacred enclosures of
a reHgious convent.
The music was repeated before we left. And while I

A VOYAGE AROUND THE VlfORLD. 75
was conyersing with a group of Portuguese gentlemen on
the piazza, a gentleman approached me and desired to
know if I were from the United States. I replied that I
was. He had lately returned from America, he said, by
the way of Europe. There was an American lady pres
ent, to whom he would infroduce me if I would allow
him. I was happy indeed to learn, that Mrs. Abr^o, the
young wife of the gentleman who was addressing me, had
just reached the island in company with him, by the way
of London. She is a niece of Judge Van N., a family of
Washington, at whose house I had dined, and with some
members of whose family I had formed a slight acquaint
ance. I met in Mrs. A. a young and pretty woman,
and was justly happy that America would have so in
teresting a representative of the sex from the land of my
home. During my inter-riew vrith Mrs. Abr^o, I told her of
my adventure -vrith Clementina, the young and interesting
Miss P. She smiled and asked if I had become acquaint
ed with the real Maria Clementina. ^ Her husband, she
added, was particularly acquainted with her, and had
known her from her youth, and would infroduce me to hen
He did so.
There was now no longer any doubt that I saw the
interesting person who had awakened so much interest in
other days — whose story has been repeated in both hem
ispheres for its romance ; and herself deemed the queen of
all that was lovely in person, and dehcate and elegant in
manners ; and she had not yet ceased to attract the interest
and consideration of the sfranger, and the continued cour
tesies of older friends. When I mentioned the name of
my own fair countrywoman, Avho had left a just impres-

76 THE FLAG ship; OR
sion of her accomplishments and goodness of heart in the
island, the nun's eye lighted up with a briUiancy which
must have been equal to her fame when she was some
years younger. She talks with great vivacity, and seems
yet to be the favourite of those who visit the convent She
speaks French, but understands Httle EngHsh ; and yet
she seemed to comprehend, with almost the quickness of
intuition, an English sentence, if given to be interpreted to
her in Portuguese. Her manners were easy and lady-like
— far more soft and delicate than I had been led to judge,
from the description of one who had seen her during
the revolution, which, for a period, opened the doors
of the convents of the island. Her person is sHghter
than most of her sisters-recluse, and I should think taller ;
her figure and features partaking of the more graceful
form, (as we think it,) and thinner, classic visage of an
American lady. She spoke of our ships ; of the great
kindness of Mrs. R., and inqufred, by name, after some of
the Americans -vrith whom she had met.
When I pai-ted -vrith her, in company with Mr. and
Mrs. Abreo, at the large doors opening into the court
-vrithout, from the large covered area into which we were
first infroduced — ^Mr. and Mrs. A. having invited me to
accompany them to the residence of their friends, where
they were to meet a small collection of their connec
tions — I said to the nun, that I had ma d e a collection of
artificial flowers, which Genoveva Caroleta had in her
care forme : would she add a bouquet of natural ones from
the garden from which I might press a few to take wnth
me to America ? and should I see her again if I caUed
at the convent ?
She replied that she would meet me at the speak
ing parlour, if I should call again. I knew that there

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 77
would be no other opportunity of entering vrithin the
inner walls of the convent.
And should I inquire for Santa Maria Clementina 1 I
added. " No — no" — she said, as she cast a melancholy look into
the face of Mrs. A., on whose arm she was now leaning.
It was the melancholy of a Portuguese eye, which laughs
and melts in floating Hght when it is not sad ; and then
she added, " I am not yet a saint — inquire for Maria Cle
mentina." I sought not to interpret that look of sadness
and gentle smile of feature, that seemed to say that the
heart wept.
The next day I sent for my flowers, and among them
was another artificial bouquet, more beautiful than any
which I had selected, with the signature, in her own fair
handwriting, tastefully affixed to it, " Maria Clementina."
My visit to the Convent of Santa Clara had been
highly gratifying. The general appearance of the nuns
was happy. In their persons they were very generally
inclined to embonpoint, with but a very few exceptions out
of the fifty-four nuns who are now in the convent of
Santa Clara. Maria Clementina is an interesting excep
tion. Genoveva Caroleta I should think the youngest nun
in the convent, and is quite pretty. Her person and features
are more a la mode ofthe Portuguese, than her farther famed
sister of the convent. She, also, has been distinguished
for her beauty, and merits admiration. Her eye (few na
tions can equal the Portuguese in the general beauty of this
feature of their women) is sweet beyond expression, and
national. The Portuguese eye languishes in its smiles of
Hght, and yet has nothing of the glare of the dark French
eye. It is soft, melting, floating, and the light that beams
from its contrast of dark and purest white, greets you in

78 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
vivacity, and sympathy, and sentiment, as the conversations
may awaken the different classes of emotions. You would
think it easy for such to weep, while the tear would leave
the eye yet undfrnmed, and when brushed away, its smiling
Hght would greet you as before. It is said, and I have
thought it frue, that dark eyes have only one expression,
though always bright. It is not so -vrith the Portuguese
eye. Genoveva's is large, soft, laughing, and sentimental,
and more beautiful as a single feature, perhaps, than the
eye of her fair sister, and her other features, -vrith the excep
tion of her double chin, are interesting. She is more purely a
Portuguese beauty than Maria Clementina, who, with her
more symmefrical features, possesses also a more engaging
and gracefiil person, y. _ ' ¦, /*
The Santa Clara convent, I imderstand, is well endow
ed. But no accessions can be made to the nuraber of its
inmates, and when the present nuns shaU have died, the
property entaUed to the convent reverts to the Govem
ment. The Curral, an object of great interest to the stranger
who -risits the island, being a deep ra-rine of the moun
tains, and which, on its sides and its vaUey is cultivated by
the peasantry, belongs to the convent of Santa Clara.
At the convent, on the afternoon of our visit, I saw but
one priest besides the bishop or vicar-general. The bishop
was clad in usual European dress, with the exception of
red cuffs to his coat, and scarlet stockings, worn with short
clothes. He is a partisan of the present powers. The
favourer of Don Miguel was exUed, in haste, during the
last revolution, in which Don Pedro gained the supre
macy. The day succeeding my visit to the convent of Santa
Clara, I spent in company with a gentieman ofthe island

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 79
and one of our officers, risiting different objects of interest
in Funchal. The English burial ground was one of these objects of
interest. Although the ground is small, and hemmed in
on all sides by buildings,in the midst ofthe city, it is filled
with flowers ; and many of the graves, as we saw them,
were marked only by one unbroken cluster of fresh and
beautiful rose-heads, so trimmed and arranged as to form the
shape of a monumental mound. The avenues were here,
as in almost all the gardens, lined on either side with
hedges of geraniums. But it was an emotion of deep sad
ness which awoke, as I walked along the flowery paths of
this lovely Httle cemetery. It was youth and beauty, and
young life from other laiids, which had come here to pro
long its career, but found in this isle of flowers an early
grave. The great majority of the stranger-sleepers are
under the age of twenty -five. ^
" The good die first;
And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust.
Burn to the socket,"
I paused at a monument in rehevo in the wall, with
a lovely design in marble. It represented, in classic chaste
ness, a female figure reclining, in contemplative sadness,
¦vrith her arms resting in abstracted grief, around an urn.
It marked the resting spot of a lovely girl of 16 years of
age, from Liverpool, England. She sought health, like
%ia;ny others, but returned not to the land of her fathers.
Her name was " Frances," and, as the monument said,
" She sleeps in Jesus. Far from thee,
Thy kindred and their graves maybe;
But thine is still a blessed sleep,
• From which none ever wake to weep."
" Whom the gods love die early," is an ancient apho-

80 THE FLAG SHD"; OR
rism, that recurred to my memory as I turned from this to
a neighbouring monument, ¦vrith the following inscription :
"GEO. PARISH."
" au. et Trin. Coll. Cam."
This young man was engaged to the daughter of Legh
Richmond. They were married but a few days before
they sailed together for the island of Madeira, where she
left him entombed among the roses, which die, and bloom
again when spring comes ; but the sear of the bhghted
heart that has felt the frost of the cold hand that has laid
its dearer half in the tomb, knows not again the freshness
of its young verdure. If aught, however, can render soft
the heart of grief, surely it must murmur its faintest and
soft moan, while ¦winding through these profusions of flow
ers, geranium -hedges, and rose- embowered monuments.
Nearly opposite, a few steps from the. enfrance to this
repository of the young and the loved and the beautiful, is
the ground, called " The Sfrangers! Burial Place." It is
the old place of interment, and smaller than the new
ground. There was a time, when Papacy reigned in its
greatest superstition and power, that the Protestant stran
ger could find, in the island, no place for the repose of his
dust His body was thrown mto the sea. Smce 1770,
the uncharitable and crael prohibition has been removed.
Within this ground is the frunk of a large orange-tree,
which stiU gives forth its few branches. It is sometwelve
or more inches in diameter, and has been long standing, to
contemplate the solemn advance of procession after pro
cession to deposit, in deep and lone sleep, friend after
friend ; and has seen the tear fall from the eye of kindred,
and heard the low moan and suppressed sigh of -vridow and
orphan, and of hearts tiiat loved with sisters' arfd brothers'
love ; and gave to them all the most impressive of aU

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 81
sympathy, its silence. After this burial ground was open
ed for the interment of strangers, and Madeira had become
the resort of invalids, it was a common saying among the
Portuguese, when obser-ring one of these sorrowful seekers
for renewed health, to say,
" He is going to the orange-tree."
We all, in this life of change, have our private sorrows
and tearful remembrances, which the association of place
or time or circumstance brings up to the mind's review and
re-saddens the heart. As we walked among these graves,
doubtless our thoughts took their separate course, with
some private reference to the memories of each one's kin
dred dead. I envy not the man who can walk through
the grave-yard -vrith a bosom that wakes np sigh, and with
a heart that never declared its emotion by the tribute of a
tear. And there are moments while others surround us,
in which we were never more alone. The friend that was
with me I saw stand at the flowery mound which marked
the resting place of his early companion. For myself, the
scene around me had in it much to recall past hours, when
the currents of deep wo had coursed through a heart
which had been bereft of a brother next older than myself,
and a sister next younger ; and with the insinuating and
insidious disease which had borne most of these from
earth to a world where life ends not. I thought, too, how
I had stood beside the grave of that brother, who, like some
of these, had gone far from his home to southern latitudes,
in search of health, but returned no more to the embrace
of doting friends. Who can know the anguish of that
heart that cejises its last beat among strangers, but him
who has left the home he loves to die in other cHmes ! ,
And who but such can realize thcbeauty of the eastern

82 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
blessing, "May you die among your kindred!" But the
lone hour when I saw a brother's grave filling, far from
kindred and home, claimed not now the tenderest thoughts,
as I walked through the home of these young consump
tives. It Wcis at midnight, when I last stood beside a
sister's grave. How do I remember it ! It was but the
last night before I left my home for wanderings ; where,
only a few days before, that sister had rested in my arms
as she breathed her last ; and almost -vrith her last breath,
conveyed from her lips her farewell kiss. It was a wintry
grave; and over it, unlike the flowers that covered these,
the snow had thrown its robe of white, which I then
thought so emblematical of the purity of her beautifid
character and lovely piety. Who can tell the hallowed-
ness of a sister's love, until he feels its absence ? Who
ever shed a hoher tear, than falls upon a sister's grave 1
The same friend who accompanied us to the Eng'iish
burial groimd, was kind enough to call upon me the last
day I was on shore, to say, that the funeral obsequies of
Donna Senhora Cabral were to be attended that afternoon,
and he would accompany me to vritness a Porti^ese bu
rial. This lady was a cousm of Count Carvalhal, lately
deceased hunself, who was deemed the wealthiest fidalgo
on the island, if not the richest subject of the kmg. I
gladly avaUed myself of the invitation ; but by mistaking
the church, we were belated, so that we did not reach the
cathedral in time to vritness the ceremony, though we saw
the interment of the body.
The ceremony of a Portuguese funeral, however, is
described to be (or, at least, formerly was) much as fol
lows. The body is interred, as soon as twenty-four hours
after the decease. It is borne on an open bier to the place
where it is finally to be deposited, with the face and arms

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 83
exposed, and attended by priest and friar, chanting a fu
neral dirge. The friends of the deceased follow next, and
the line of the procession is closed by a motley company
of beggars, bearing torch lights. With the body a quan
tity of rinegar and lime is thrown into the grave, to cause
a quicker decay, that room may be made for others.
Their churches are the only places where the Catholics
inter their dead, and, by consequence, the space for th.ese
purposes must be small. The relatives of the deceased
never follow the departed to the interment. It would be
deemed, in the sentiment of a Portuguese, as highly im
proper, and the widow of the departed, in the higher
circles, is said not to leave her house for twelve months
after the loss of her husband.
The grave-men were adjusting the coffin in its place
of sculls when we reached the cathedral, and persons who
had attended the ceremonies were all retired from the build
ing. The excavation had been made beneath the floor of
one ofthe small rooms or chapels, which form recesses from
the main part of the church, and contain an altar. There
are some three or four of these private altars or chapels
with their altars, in this collegiate church of Saint Peter,
where the remains of this lady were interred.
The place of interment was indeed "the place of
sculls," for, in digging the grave, ther^ had been thrown
out with the earth more than a dozen sculls and more
than a bushel of bones, which we perceived lying upon
the consecrated dust, now placed in its heap upon the
floor of the recess of the altar. And as we looked within
the grave, we saw that its sides were nearly lined with
similar embleras of our mortality and decay, jutting from
the uneven walls of the excavation. How many slept
there in thefr commingled dust !

84 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
Knovring that the body was generally exposed before
its interment, and finding ourselves too late to witness the
manner of its attire, my friend, in Portuguese, asked the
persons who were yet adjusting the coffin in its place, if it
were admissible to open it. We were given to understand,
that if we would give them money it should be done ; and
they immediately laid the hd open, which was divided
lengthwise in the centre, so as to form a folding lid, on
hinges. The sleeping Donna, unconscious of the eyes
which gazed not irreverently, but with pity and sorrow,
lay before us, robed in a black sUk dress, and lace cap and
veil, and shoes and stockings. The coffin was of common
materials, as usual, Hned inside -vrith white, and outside
¦vrith black. We were satisfied when we had lingered a
moment over this sad exhibition of the last end of mor
tality ; when, instead of immediately reclosing the folding
lid, the sexton placed the veil doubly over the face of the
sleeping Donna, and shovelled the consecrated dust, min
gled with the dust of her ancestry, around and over her
face and body, as she lay ¦within the coflfri. This seemed
like cruelty to me, but my friend assured me Aat it was
a greater honour to the dead, thus to fiU the coffin ¦vrith the
hallowed dust The grave-men then reclosed the Hd and
half fUled the grave, when they took the sculls and many
bones and replaced them in the excavation, and com
pleted the task before them, where the mingled dust of
the new comer would rest, until another claimant for a
place among these deep reposers shaU agcun lay open this
crowded horae of the dead.
As the sexton was throwing the earth into the coffin, it
was asked if it would be deemed sacrilege to take the piece
of satin riband, attached to the head dress of the uncon
scious Donna. The answer was imraediately given to the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 85
question by one of the men, as he severed the ribbon from
the dress, upon which my friend, as he folded it, inscribed
with his pencU,
" Donna Senhora Cabral, died and interred June 2d,
1838 ;" and passed it to me as a memento of a scene so
peculiar and solemn.
We left the grave and wandered through the church,
a guide being at my elbow, and admitting me into every
recess. As I was about leaving the church, with my two
companions, I perceived a priest with his assistant, (the
latter of whom was standing near the place of interment
while we were -vritnessing the covering of the relics,) in
one ofthe lesser rooms of the cathedral. The low bow of
the priest in-rited an interview while my friends were lin
gering on the steps of the cathedral. The priest was
exceedingly urbane and in-rited me to his house. Among
other things he remarked that he had been imprisoned by
Don Miguel, in Lisbon, but under the present regime, he
was the first collegiate priest of the church of St. Peter.
^egave me his name as I left him, much regretting that
I should not be able to meet him again that I might gain
various information, which I felt assured he would readily
have communicated, and which, to myself, at least, would
have been highly interesting. He wrote his name and
titles in a neat and legible hand on a paper, which he
handed me in exchange for my card.
An interesting daughter of the lady, whose funeral obse
quies we attended, is now in England. There is interest con
nected with her story. In her association -vrith some of
her English friends, her mind became interested on the
subject of the Protestant creed. She saw that some things
in her own faith were greatly erroneous. But if she be
came a Protestant, she would lose her cast ; and the frial
Voij»L 8

86 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
of one placed in her circumstances, probably, can only be
known by those who have been similarly situated. Her
English friends (howjudiciously Ido not pretend to judge,
but -vrith Protestants there is sometimes need of more char
ity than they exercise) insisted that it was her duty, at
once, to give up her Catholic creed and embrace theirs.
And in her state of agitation, stUl beliering the trath of
much that was the hereditary religipn of her family, and
yet percei-ving that other things were untenable, and,
perhaps, injudiciously pressed by her Protestant associates,
she became much excited, and for a period, her mind lost
its balance in the delirium of her emotions, through ill-
judged and confrary counsels of friends. She however
regained her reason ; and for the improvement of her
health, or for the sake of accompanying some of her
English friends, she is now ¦risiting England. It was said
to me, by the friend who narrated these cfrcumstances,
that the mother, who now sleeps so low and lorn, has
been much solicitous for her daughter ; and that this anx
iety of mind, doubtless, has contt-ibuted to hasten the sa^
termination of the mother's Hfe. And the daughter — ^may
the intelligence be borne gently to thine ear, and the sup
port, which heaven, in its sympathy, alone can give, yield
thee the consolations needed for early orphanage. Nought
but thy God can meet the necessities for such an hour ;
and his fi-iendship will suffice for the deepest wo.
The Curral.
There are a number of interesting mountain rides out
of Funchal. The Curral is considered one of the chief
lions of Madeira, and a riile to this deep rarine, so desig
nated, is a matter of course to all who visit the island. It

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 87
Is distant about five miles from the city, and by a circuitous
and winding ascent. On the moming fixed upon for the
excursion from the ship, seven of our officers, including
myself, took their places in one of the ship's cutters, and
were early conveyed to the landing at the Loo fort. Here
we found horses in waiting, from which the gentlemen
selected each his trusty steed, while I despatched a man
for the sure-footed animal which I had, on several occa
sions, ridden, and now preferred for his known speed, ease,
and safety. The officers had mounted and were on their
ascending way, with the exception of Professor Belcher,
who delayed a few moments to accompany myself, know
ing that we should soon overhaul the cavalcade, which
had sfruck forward in full speed, and with loud tramp of
thefr horses' hoofs over the paved and narrow passage that
led to the mountain through the suburbs of the city, and
occasionally by a quinta situated on the western side ofthe
city. But a few moments had passed, when Antonio, the
Portuguese, dashed down the descent to the level of the
fort ; and -vrith his amiable smile, which the expectation of
a good day's bargain rendered even more amiable, led for
ward his horse for me to mount, and at the same time
smoothing his hand upon the well-groomed neck of the
animal, added -vrith great confidence, " Caval American
mointebom " — a very fine American horse — which I had
already proved to be trae. We were but a moment be
hind our friends, but we found them in the midst of a
shower of mists, which had reached them before ourselves,
and in which we now, together, advanced along the moun
tain-way. The principal excitement along the road arose
from the narrowness of the track, which led along the
mountain, and winding around jutting peaks, which looked
down hundreds of feet into the deep below ; to the bottom

88 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
of which, in many places, both horse and rider would pitch,
if the animal should make a single false step.
The day which we had selected for our visit to this
deep ravine among the mountains was very unfavourable ;
but it was the only one we could expect to have. It is
often the case, and was tiius every day while we were
lying off Funchal, that the mountain is capped with
clouds which roll half way down the aslant, while
the sun is shining within the city. But our purpose re
mained unchanged, although the greatest part of our
ride to the mountain's highest peaks, was through showers
of rain. OccasionaUy the sky would Hght up, as the
mists would break away, or be seen sailing in horizon
tal strata along the high sides of the deep ra-rines far
above us ; whUe we were -vrinding along the narrow path,
which had been made on the steep aslants. These appear
ances of the clouds themselves were an object of curiosity,
occasionaUy opening above us and exhibiting a deep-blue
vault, through the fleecy vista, whUe beneath us lay vast
chasms, on the sides of which our passage was now lead
ing to the mightiest of these might)- openings, which exist
everywhere throughout the island.
As our ride was early, we met many of the peasantry
descending from thefr mountain-homes, -vrith various arti
cles upon their heads, which they were bearing to the cit)-,
as the fruits of their toil and tiie means for gaining, in ex
change, a string of fish or bag of minto, or other article of
food or little luxury. Again we would catch, in picturesque
relief on some far-olf peak, three or four peasants, winding
along their private paths, their diminutive forms describing
themselves in outline on the light bevond them. And'in
some still other and lower positions, with a chasm between
us, we now and e\ cr descried the shepherd boys and girls,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 89
with their crook, guarding their flocks of goats, or more
generally their stock of a small and beautiful breed of cat
tle, feeding on the green herbage that coated the steep
accHvities everywhere. The constant care of the peasant
is needed for his flock, to prevent their wandering down
decH^rities, up which they could not again ascend ; and to
keep them within the range which shall enable thera to
dfrect thefr way back to their moimtain-shantees before
night ; for every step here, when the deep shades of the
ravines have spread themselves, would be the step of death,
as it launched the be'vrildered straggler thousands of feet
below. Having urged on our course by the narrow path, that
wound along the sides and projecting peaks of the ravines,
leading up, and still up, the steep acclivities at angles of
ascent, sometimes so great as to make it appear impos
sible to rise them, and which the horses only accomplished
by starting upon the fiiU spring before they reached the
steepest aslants, we finally came, and suddenly, upon the
full view of the deep ra'rine, which constitutes the famous
Curral of the island of Madefra. It is 1600 feet deep
from the point at which we were standing ; and the dark
sides of the rarine raise thefr sublime bulwarks until they
are lost in the clouds yet above us. At the bottora of the
ra'rine runs a blue foaming current, dashing on its way,
and no ¦vrider, as seen from the elevated position at which
we stood, than the ribbon on a lady's hat. A chapel, oc
cupied by a solitary monk, is situated on the flats below ;
and the day after our ¦risit, two officers who sought the
same position, spied the "pilgrim's flag" flying from
its walls," as an invitation for the sfrangers to descend to
the bottom of the ra'rine. It was my intention to have
done this on the day of my visit, but the road was slippery,
8*

90 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
and no persuasion nor money would tempt my Antonio to
allow his horse to proceed. We therefore ascended on
foot to a high peak, which gave a better ¦riew of the deep
below, and of the length of the ravine. This deep hoUow
in the centre of the island is deemed to be an extinct crater
of a volcano. We gazed into it, and marked the -rine
yards that occupied the cultivated grounds around the
solitary church and the vine-clad peaks, and everywhere on
the sides of the ravine. The blue-deep was seen at the west,
rolling its high surges far off at sea ; and as I gazed from
this elevated point, no sound was heard around, nor life,
to day, could be seen, and nature slept in her sublime soh
tude. A single bird, true, I should not forget, was
sailing over the far-down depths, careless of the fearfid
vacancy of the chasm beneath him ; and higher and stUl
higher he edged up his flight, by the gracefvd slant of his
wide spread wing, until he scaled above us, and hung
in mid-air, over our right, when he was finally lost in the
clouds that rolled thefr mists above us. It was the Man
to ; but I thought of our own bfrd of our own repubhc,
that looks vrith an undimmed eye on the sun ; and decks
with the emblem of elevated bearing, the proud flag that
waves over America's fafr land of the brave and the free.
It takes but trifles to bear back to one's native land the
heart that loves its home. The manto's wmg, or the
canary's song, or music from the guitar's string can call
us away from foreign loves; and with an instant speU
fransport us from isle and over ocean, to the land and tiie
home most dear.
Our caterer, who accompanied us, mindful of the effect
of a ramble and a ride on tiie appetite of healthy men, had
amply provided for its calls in tiie contents of a pouch,
which one of our burroqueros, -vrith the assistance of the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 91
tail of the horse to which he clung on our steepest ascents,
bore to the Curral. We lunched; and remounting our
horses, were on our return again ; -vrith more solicitude in
descending the declivities than we had experienced when
rising their steeps. But we kept on our way, often vrith
great speed, and to the no little excitement of some of the
party with variable nerves. The rains had rendered the
path slippery ; and when we were half way on our return,
and descending one of the clayey steeps, my eye suddenly
rested on a horse prosfrate in the path, and his rider. Lieu
tenant W., quite composedly, on foot, pursuing his way,
ahead of him. The horse, which had fallen, and which
I had supposed already dead from the position in which
he lay, -vrith his head downwards, soon rose again, with
the burroquero at his side. Had the horse fallen thus at
some other points of the road, both hunself and the rider
must have launched a thousand feet into the deep below.
Instances of horses pitching from the narrow path have
frequently been known, but the riders most generally have
managed to escape, before the horses have talien their
plunge. A gentleman assured me, that a friend of his,
on the same route, had been thrown off a precipice, of fif
teen feet in height ; but the ravine bulging out at this point
below the path, saved horse, and rider from the fearful
destraction that would othervrise have met them in their
tumble of a thousand feet in perpendicular descent When
the burroquero, however, had regained the path, he seemed
to insist upon the reinstatement of the spirited steed to the
good opinion of his rider, by saying, -vrith the greatest
assurance, " Very good horse, master, Mointebom, killed
only two men." This last expression may be a little like
" romancing," to use an expression of one of our young
gentlemen, who greatly dislikes over colouring in descrip-

92 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
tion ; but the danger is not inconsiderable, to any one who
rides over this passage of the mountain, to the Curral ; and
in one instance, my Antonio seized the reins of my horse,
and on another occasion seemed to deem me too adventu
rous. I thought of the remark, that the oldest saUors are
generaUy the most timid narigators, as they are aware of
the real dangers that may be encountered. And here,
Antonio loved his caval American mointebora, and was
aware of the danger to which his very good American
horse was exposed.
We had now descended to the foot of one of the lesser
ravines, on our retum. The other officers had advanced
some distance, whUe I lingered a moment behind them, as
they passed a group of peasants, beside a mountain-sfream.
The young women were more than usually neat in thefr
attfre, and seemed eis pleased -vrith the costume of the offi
cers as the officers were interested in theirs. I asked the
peasants if they could give me a drink firom the pure stream,
which was gurgling most refreshingly over the pebbles
and through the green yam-leaves, at this hour, when the
sun again made his appearance -vrith his uncomfortable
heat, as we were reaching the lower positions ofthe moun
tain. These mountain-nymphs seeraed in somewhat of a
dilemma at fii-st, as to the manner in which they should
meet my request ; but a woman for ever, when a dUemma
is to be relieved. One of the peasant girls flew up a path,
to a small patch of yams, and plucked a large leaf, and in
a moment was at tiie little streamlet agam ; and with a
twist of the leaf formed a leaf-cup. Dipping it in the
stream, she presented it to my lip, to the very considerable
amusement of herself and the laughing group, while I sip
ped the limpid water from the extempore cup of the yam-
leaf. I knew that a Portuguese peasant was ever ready

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 93
to receive a compensation for every little favour, and I drop
ped a silver piece into her hand, and started my horse again ¦
on his way ; but the sight of the money gave motion to the
whole group after me. As a matter of amusement, I scatter
ed my small pieces of coin along the path, desiring to observe
the peculiarities of these mountaineers ; and in a few mo
ments more, although I kept my horse in a trot, the group
of boys and girls was every half minute augmented, until
I had quite a small squadron crying after me in most per
suasive tones of voice, and putting forth the utmost strength
of limb to reach me, as I occasionally taughtened the rein
of my horse and suffered the augmenting froop to reach
me. " Por sua suade," exclaimed the foremost boy, who
had afready gotten his portion, and had advanced as near
as my threatening stick would allow him, " for the sake of
your salvation," with his hands in the most entreating at
titude ; and soon the rest would come up for an additional
supply. Importunate from the encouragement they had
already met with, as I attempted to increase the speed of
my horse, the largest boy succeeded in seizing the reins of
the animal, and one further retrograde step would have land
ed myself and horse in the deep below. I raised my whip
and the boy dropped the reins; and I avoided another
pause untU I had reached a part of the path where there
Was a wider space, when I once more suffered the still in
creasing number to come up with me, and scattered among
them all the small change I possessed, and soon regained
my associates in the advance.
Throughout the city of Funchal, and along every road,
the children of the lower classes, almost -vrithout exception,
ask you, " por sua suade," for alms ; and if you pass them,
and a group be near, a general smile awakes upon their
young faces, which are sad, and only then fictitiously,

94 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
when they seek for a donation. Formerly, before the
Franciscans were exiled, there were a vast number of beg
gars in the island. Now very few are seen, and only
among the children. But there seems to be not the least
sense of sharae or degradation connected with thefr peti
tion for alms.
The peasantry ofthe island appear to be, comparatively,
a happy people. They cultivate the land, and give the
proprietor one half the produce, HberaUy diriding the va
rious articles they raise, even to the head of a cabbage.
From the mountains they also gather bUlets of wood, and
bundles of flowering broom, which, when dry, answers for
oven wood. They receive from nine to eighteen cents for
the quantity they can carry upon thefr heads. One half
of this goes to the proprietor, from whose land the material
is gathered. The same di-VTsion takes place in the grapes,
vegetables, poultry, and the flocks of goats and sheep, and
herds of cattle. The peasant who occupies the land on
these conditions, leaves hLs title to his chUdren, who culti
vate the soil on the same condition as the father before
them. We retmned in safety to the ship, regretting that the
day had not been more favourable for our ride and observa
tion, and particularly, tiiat we could not descend to the
bottora of the Curral. But the passage along the ravines,
ascending to the point where we gazed into this deepest
chasm of the mountains, and the grand scenery beneath,
and above, and around us — of high peak and fearfiil slant —
of far off and blue ocean — of cloud, sailing but half way
up the sublime mountain-sides — here, deep green and clad
in vines, and there, dark brown in its rough pumice-stone
or basalt, and jets of water spouting from its wide area, and
lining its way, Hke a silver stream floating on a daik

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 95
ground to the bottom of the crater, or to mingle its bright
Hne in the Ribeiro do Curral — all, with the peasantry in
their mountain fastnesses, constitute elements of the beau
tiful and the sublime, the rural, the picturesque, and the
novel, which, in their combination, produce a picture that
-vrill ever appear unique for its singularity, grand for the
prevalence of the vast, and pleasingly exciting for the
blending of so much beauty -vrith the fearful.
The grounds of Count Carvalhal, lately deceased, the
rich fidalgo of the island, and deemed one of the richest
subjects of the Portuguese king, are deemed an object of
curiosity to the visiter of Funchal. His situation, called
Palherio, is on the east of the city. We rode to it in the
afternoon. The late proprietor left his large estates involved
in dispute among his heirs. He is spoken of as having
been a man of great interest of character in his liberal
contributions for every public improvement ; and his own
grounds exhibit him to have been a man of taste. His
domain is set out ¦vrith forest frees, forming wide avenues
of oaks, firs, chestnut, in imitation of an English park.
The double camillia grows here in rich perfection, and ex
ists in immense hedges. The free reaches six to eight
feet in height, and the flower, in its white and red, more
nearly becomes the rival of the rose, than any other shrab
of which the queen of flowers could be jealous. The per
fume of the rose is wanting, but the ever-green leaf Of the
tree, with its polished luxuriance, has altogether its supe
riority over the rose. We regretted that the shrub was
not in blossom.
In a ramble which I took alone and at random, the
evening preceding the one we were to leave the island,
I entered the grounds of Palmyra, regarded as one of the
most beautiful quintas on the island. It is a lovely spot.

96 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
The courtesy of Mr. 0. invited me to the house, after
having with much politeness accompanied me through the
grounds. The interview -vrith himself and sister is remem
bered with pleasure. Miss O. spoke of the works of the
Abbotts with interest ; and her taste made her commenda
tion of these American productions a matter of gratification
to myself. Mr. 0., a genteel young gentieman, risited
our ship the next day, and I was pleased with the oppor
tunity of reciprocating his courtesy.
At the TU, another quinta, we looked vnth interest
upon a large bath in the centre ofthe buUdings, suppHed
with water from the mountains, as being the reservofr in
which Captain Canning of the Royal Na\-)-, son of the late
Prime Minister of England, was drowned. He had propo
sed to bathe previous to breakfast, and dela)'ing longer than
was expected, was sent for. His clothes IjTng by the side of
the bath, and his person being unseen, declared the melan
choly catastrophe.
Having spent the evening -with Mr. A., at his friend's,
I left at a late hour thefr residence for the American Consul's.
It was quite dark in the narrow streets of Funchal, through
several of which I was to pass. The servant was furnish
ed -vrith torches, formed of pitch and broom, which quite
lighted up the narrow stieet, and made our course through
the dark passes sfriking and characteristic. As we were
thus seeking the residence of the Consul, we passed a lady
borne in a palanquin. The two men who moved forward
with this comfortable conveyance, also bore thefr hghted
torches. The vivid glare of the meeting Hghts rendered
each party distinct to the view of the other ; and vrith a
salutation, we each continued our glaring way through the
dark streets, over which night, with her sablest whig,
seemed at this hour to hover.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 97
The palanquin is a kind of sedan, attached by cords,
at each end, to a long pole, which rests on the shoulders
of two athletic Portuguese peasants. The lady places her
self on a seat, or reclines as she chooses ; and if she please,
draws a curtain, which is thrown over the pole, so that it
may entfrely conceal the person -vrithin, or only partially,
so as to defend from the sun or rain, while the passers-by
and the lady may recognise each other. When crossing
the mountains or performing any distance from Funchal,
a hammock is slung to the pole instead of the palanquin,
being more convenient both for the person carried, and
those who bear the traveller. The facility and strength
which the peasantry manifest in ascending the moun
tains with Such a burden, is surprising. The peasantry
are a hardy race, and perfectly courteous. Their ease in
saluting the stranger would do credit to men who pride
themselves on much better breeding. They wear a small
cap upon their head, terminating in a peak. Their trou
sers are gathered tight below the knee, learing the calf of
the leg and foot bare, unless a boot of goat-skin decorates
the lower part of the Hmb. A jacket and shirt complete
the dress. The peasant women wear a short petticoat,
a bodice, and a shawl, with a cap of blue broadcloth lined
-vrith red, similar to the men's. The cloth from which they
usually make their garments, is a homespun linen. The
frock or petticoat of the women is sometimes a striped ma
terial of yellow and red. The peasants invariably salute
the stranger, by raising the cap, and the men never pass a
peasant woman of their own class, -vrithout doing the same.
On our way to the Curral, we passed not a single peasant
who did not make this courteous demonstration of his po
lite and easy manners.
The stranger -vrill be strack and pleased with the mark-
VoL. L 9

98 THE FLAG SfflP ; OR
ed ease and courtesy of the Portuguese at Madefra, in its
society of every grade. The higher orders of the Portu
guese and English society are a good deal distinct I know
not that there are any jealousies existing between them. But
I should attribute the circumstance to the fact, that the
English families are sufficient in number to form a society
of their own, and but few Portuguese women speak the
English with ease ; nor are there but few EngHsh women
who readily converse in the Portuguese language. The
gentlemen, however, more generally, speak khe two lan
guages of the island.
On our arrival at Madeira, among other vessels we
found an English yacht. It has excited some interest from
the circumstance that a lady commands it, who is thus
seeking her health upon the bUlow. She is the -wife of
Col. H. Her story, as given by herself, is, that her hus
band had purchased and fitted up the boat, with the inten
tion of accompanying his -wife to sea. But on the eve of
their saihng, he was promoted to a command in the guards,
which was deemed a matter of so much interest to the
husband, that he concluded not to accompany his lady on
the proposed voyage. The alternative was, that his wife
must remain at home, or consult her health by entering on
her course, unattended by her husband, to the latitudes re
commended. She did not hesitate, however singular it
might be deemed by the worid, to give her health the first
consideration, according to their original plan. With her
servant, pilot and crew, she has consequentiy been pursu
ing her frack on the ocean. She dares
" The wild raging sea,"
witii all the composure of a rear-admiral, and daily unfolds
her sails to the evening breeze, and dashes out into tiie

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 99
offing over the blue surges, in her beautiful little bark,
bounding upon the sea-billow like a Swan, rippled on the
waves of a home-stream-
She passed under the stern of the Columbia this even
ing, while her band was playing "Yankee-doodle," and
her crew, composed of some seven or eight in number,
were dancing on the' deck, in tip-toe, glee, to our national
air. Mrs. H. was sitting in her usual place on the quarter
deck, with a young friend lounging comfortably near her,
and her pilot standing near the steersman to guide the
bark. Our officer of the deck touched his cap as the yacht
passed ; and laughingly said, as he took his seat at the tea-
table a few moments since, " I was about to call you to wit
ness a scene, but was rather too busy just at the moment."
The particulars above we knew, having heard the muric of
the yacht as she passed. The Lieutenant continued, " I
thought our band was rather too small in its numerical
constitution -to return the compliment, and being just ready
to send down the royal yards, the music beat the call, and
down came the pennant, ensign, and royal yards ; and as
the yacht rounded about the frigate's .bow, we rolled off
in fine style." A very clever thing, was the response, with
a simultaneous peal of approbation from the mess.
A Legend of the Madeiras.
There is a pretty legend connected with the first dis
covery of Madeira, if I may so call a romantic narrative,
which has been embodied, as dignified history, in the wri
tings of Cadeyro, who is considered by the Portuguese one
of their historians of the ffrst rank. The incident is laid in
the times of Edward HI. of England and Don John the
First of Portugal.

100 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
An English gentieman by the name of Robert Machin
became attached to a young lady of noble family, by the
name of Anna D'Arfet Her beauty, accomplishments,
and endowments, of course, were equal to her birth, and
her fortune large.. She reciprocated the attachment of
Machin ; but on account of the superiority of the lady's
famUy, the parents forbade the union of the two lovers. To
prevent the consummation of the desfres of Anna D'..lrfet
and Robert Machin^as the young heroine thought vfrtue
and noble qualities of more value than antiquity or eleva
tion of family — the parents compelled thefr daughter to ac
cept the offers of a nobleman of distinction, who was, how
ever, the object of her great aversion. And to render the
wishes of the parents and the noble lord more certain of ac-
complishraent, a warrant was obtained frora the king, on
some pretext, by which Machin was retained in prison until
the celebration ofthe nuptials between AnnaD'.4rfet and the
noble suitor. The bride was immediately conveyed, by her
husband, to one of his country estates, near Bristol, where
she became the inmate of a sfrong castie. It being sup
posed that the lady was now successfully secm-ed from
forraing a connection, which her friends deemed would have
been dishonourable to the dignity of thefr famUv, Machin
was suffered to leave his prison. But the lover, on hear
ing the mtelhgence of the marriage, fii-st gave himself up
to despair ; then, impeUed by rage and revenge, he de
termined, if possible, to rescue the object of his love from
a position he had every reason to believe to be a state
of extreme wretchedness to her, to which she had been
reduced by acts of the greatest cruelty. He had his
friends, who aU pledged their devotion in executing his
plans. He sought her castle — communicated, by strata
gem, his presence and purposes, if she would consent to

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 101
accompany him — and having a small vessel already man
ned, he- gained her consent ; and the lovers were soon
together in their bark, making their way, as they suppos
ed, successfully to the coast of France. But the -vrinds
arising, they were driven far out to sea ; and bewildered,
as they had no experienced pilot on board, they missed
their intended port ; and when nearly exhausted and hope
less, after being thirteen days at sea, they descried a dark
object looming in the distance, which, as the sun broke
clearly upon it in their nearer approach, they discovered,
to their ir expressible relief, to be land. As they neared
the high bluffs, they presented their beautiful appearance
of green luxuriance ; and bfrds, -vrith white and yellow
plumage, lighted upon thefr vessel. And yet, while I was
on the island, a single canary and a solitary manto, were
the only two bfrds which met my eye, in my different rides
and rambles. But the age of which we are speaking, of
Anna D'Arfet and Robert Machin, were days of adventure,
and love, and beautiful birds. The sea was tranquil, as
they came stiU nearej the island, and before them was ex
hibited a scene of enchantment.
The boat was launched, and the party examined the
point which had ' attracted their attention for its beauty.
The report of the boat's crew was so favourable as to lead
the distressed lovers to hope that they had, at least for a
time, obtained a haven of repose, refreshment, and secu
rity. Fruits of various kinds, indigenous to the island,
met their eye, and gratified their taste ; and the honey found
in the crevices of the rocks possessed the flavour of violets.
The frees were immense ; and the forests, undisturbed
in the quiet of unrecorded years, displayed their verdant
and massive canopies of foHage. This may not be im
probable, though the island now is almost entfrely des-
9*

102 THE FLAG SHU"; OR
titute of forest frees. I saw the trunk of one of the old
monarchs of the isle, measuring more than thirty feet m
circumference, which stiU lingered in its leafless dignity,
in the grounds of the Til.
Machin and Anna D'Arfet, vrith some of their follow
ers, left the ship, and landed at the spot which had attracted
thefr gaze for its loveliness, and where they were anticipa
ting that they should enjoy the delights of security, as they
calmed thefr minds, after the perils of the tempestuous
voyage. But their peace was destined not long to con
tinue. A storm was borne over the ocean ; and the ill-
anchored vessel, which, under any cfrcumstances of moor
ing, could hardly have -withstood the roUing of the
open roadstead, was forced to put to sea, while nothing
of necessity or accommodation had been conveyed from
the vessel to the shore. The vessel, at length, was lost to
the anxious gazers on the shore. The shock of this new
calamity overpowered the afready prostrated system of the
young sufferer, and her form sunk beneath the pressure of
her dejected spirits and their increasing misfortunes.
The spfrit of the lovely Aima D'Arfet could no longer sup
port the multiplied distresses of her situation, and in a few
days she expfred, in the arms of her devoted and disfracted
lover. Aware that he could but a little whde surrive the loss,
which had thus overwhelmed him and made life to him of
no longer desire, Machin spent the few succeeding days
in erecting a memorial, to perpetuate the story of the
fidelity, the affection, and the misfortunes of thefr loves.
And as he was breathing almost his last respfration, he
enfreated his followers, tiiat his own remains might be in
terred in the bosom ofthe same grave witii his beloved Anna.
The request of Machm was religiously complied with, and

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 103
the bodies ofthe lovers slept together at the foot of an erect
ed altar, beneath the overhanging boughs of a wide spread
ing tree, against the stupendous stem of which a cedar
cross was placed, which seems to have been venerated in
the changes of time, as it yet occupies its original position,
to awaken the sympathy ofthe passer-by, while he reads the
story of Robert Machin and Anna D'Arfet. Thus termi
nated the sad story of these two unfortunate lovers. And
thus, and " Far from their own, their riative land they slept ;
No pitying kindred o 'er their relics wept !
Madeira's earth enshrined the hapless pair.
The first who lived, who loved, who perished there."
On the memorial, however, which Machin had left to
perpetuate the affecting tale of his, own and his loved
one's fate, was a request that if, at any future period, a
colony should be planted upon the island by Christians,
they would erect on the spot a church, to be consecrated
to the Redeemer of mankind. The pious request' of the
-dying lover has been complied vrith ; and a church, dedi
cated as desired, now occupies the memorable spot.
After the death of their leader, the distressed fol
lowers of Machin left the island, whether in the boat
which they had preserved, or in a larger craft which they
constructed for the purpose, is not said ; and they made the
African coast, which lies about three hundred miles froin the
island of Madeira. They were captured by the Barbary pow
ers and carried to Morocco, where they fell in with their old
companions, who had been driven on the same shores and
lost their vessel. ' WhUe they were all confined in slavery,
the topic of thefr adventures was often the subject of their
conversation, all of which Juan de Morales, a Spaniard,
was particular in observing, and treasuring in his memory.
He questioned them about the island, and all particulars

104 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
which he deemed of interest as to its locality and beauty
and worth. With this information he was soon afterwards
ransomed, by the particular intervention of the king of
Spain ; but while returning to his own country, he was
taken prisoner and carried into Lisbon by Joao Gonsalves
Zarco, a Portuguese navigator, to whom he narrated the
particulars, which he had gained from the party of English,
who had been his fellow prisoners at Morocco.
Zarco, imbued with the spirit of adventure, communi
cated the intelligence which he had gained from the
Spaniard to the Infant Henrj- of Portugal, whose mo
ther was the daughter of Edward HI. of England. The
Prince Henry submitted the information to his brother,
Don John, the king of Portugal, who immediately ordered
a ship to be gotten in readiness fbr Zarco, who undertook,
-vrithout delay, to make the discovery of the island of
which they had gained this account. He sailed on the
ffrst of June, 1419, and reached Porto Santo, which had
been discovered a few years before, and was held by the
Portuguese. He made a short stay. The inhabitants in
formed him that off" at the westward, a dark stupendous
object was always seen, which loomed up in the distance,
but which they had never approached from its dismal ap
pearance, and which, with the superstitious apprehensions
of the age, they regarded as the haunt of demons and evil
spirits. The adventurous narigator having seen too raany
dangers to be alarmed by this representation of the sup
posed residence of evil genu, set off"on his course, and soon
made the island for which he steered ; and as he gained a
nearer riew of the dai-k object as it first presented itself
to the sight, he thought the lightsome beaut)- of its green
sides more nearly than any other known land realized tbe
fancy of a region of fairies, and a scene of the golden age.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 105
At the bay they first entered, Zarco sent one of his
followers on shore to make what discoveries might present
themselves. He landed at the very spot which the Eng
lish voyagers had but lately occupied. They soon traced
their way to the place where the unfortunate lovers were
interred. The altar and the cross vrith the inscription were
soon discovered, and the spot, in commemoration of the
misfortunes of the unhappy Machin, received*^ the name of
Machico, which it stiU retains.
The company haring returned to the ship with their
interesting report to Zarco, he, accompanied by two priests,
went on shore, and on the same day, the 2d of July,
1419, made a pious visit to the tomb of the two lovers.
The ceremonial of thanksgiving for the discovery of the
island was performed, and formal possession of the same,
in the name of the king of Portugal, was taken, to whose
dominions the island has ever since been attached. The
service for the dead, according to the Roman ritual, was
then said at the sepulchre, and the ceremonies concluded
by laying the first corner-stone of the church, which, ac-,
cording to the request of Machin, was dedicated to the Re
deemer of the world, and subsequently the edifice was
completed, by the materials from the tree that sheltered,
during their residence on the island, the followers of the
devoted Machin arid Anna D'Arfet. The pavement of
the choir was intersected with the bones of the unfortunate
lovers, whose story has served to add romance to this green
isle of the ocean, and which history has dignified by re
peating, with how much trath we stop not to inquire, and
care not particularly to know. But we do know, that no
where else could the unfortunate Machin and the lovely
Anna D'Arfet have found a sweeter spot to repose their

106 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
mingled dust, until fr awake again for the ever green youtii
of ever blooming years.
Zarco found the island so thickly coated with immense
forest trees, that he gave it the.name of Madeira, or Mat-
tera, which signifies the isle of wood. Proceeding stiU
farther along to the west he came to an open bay, which
he deemed to be the most favourable site for the capital of
the island. As the spot was remarkable for its large
quantities of fennel, which is Funchal in the Portuguese
language, he gave this name to the location, from this-
botanical association, which has been retained up to the
present time.
Zarco transmitted his favourable reports to the king,
and Madeira having become a part of the Portuguese do
minions, Joao Gonsalves Zarco was justly appointed to
the government of the island. The king also dignified
Zarco with the rank of nobihty. And that he might add
importance to these his newly acquired possessions, Don
John sent three young noblemen from his palace to es
pouse the three daughters of Zarco, whom the king had
endowed vrith large tracts of land in the island; and from
these, it is said, the principal famUies of Madefra are de
scended. The island of Madefra has been known to Americans
principally for its vcines ; and in former years, on account
of the quantities of bread-stuffs which were imported into
the island from the United States. In later years the num
ber of \essels aiTrNing here fi-om the United States has
diminished ; while it is still a matter of some interest in
our commerce.
The principal part of the trade is in the hands of the
English merchants, who have their permanent residences
on the island, with thefr families.

A VOYAGE AROtnro THE WORLD. 107
The following particulars in connection with the cultiva
tion of the vine and the manner of securing its product, may
not be uninteresting, as given, in substance, in a sketch by
Mr. Bowditch. The best kind of grapes for making wine are
the Bual, Sercial, Verdelho, Negro MoUe, and Malvasia.
They are said not to be palatable, as eating fruit. The
-vines are propagated by cuttings, which are planted in
frenches. The usual mode of training the -rines is on
trelHses, made of common cane, and from two to three
feet above the ground. The commencement of gathering
the grapes for pressing is early in September. The grapes
are ffrst frodden by the feet, in a trough made of wood, or ex
cavated in thfr rocks ; and the ffrst juice, thus expressed,
is distinguished as the iwraAo da _^or. The bruised grapes
are then collected -vrithin th^ coils of a thick rope, made of
the f-wisted shoots of the vine, and repeatedly subjected to
the press for the second quality, called must. This is
mixed, usually, with the vinho da flor, and transferred the
same day into casks to ferment. The rapidity of the fer
mentation depends partly on the warmth of the weather,
and also on the perfect maturity of the grape. The more
violent action commonly ceases in about a month or six
weeks ; but a certain degree of fermentation continues to
go on, particularly in the richer qualities of ¦vines. The
liquors are clarified by a kind of gipsum, brought chiefly
from Spain. This is the last process of the operation.
Near the beginning of the year the wine is racked from
the lees.In the case of the Tinto ¦vrine made of the black grapes
(negro moUe) the grapes undergo only one pressure from
the lever, and are afterwards drained through a sieve,
which allows the husks and seeds to pass, the stalks only
remaining behind. The whole is put into a vat open at

108 THE FLAG SHff ; OR
the top and strained three or four times during the day,
until the fermentation has ceased. Then fr is racked off
into casks.
In making the white wines, the different kinds of
grapes are commonly mixed together, except the Malva
sia or Malmsey, and the Sercial. The Malmsey grapes
are suffered to ripen for a month later than any other, until
the skin begins to shrivel. The Malmsey grape is pro
duced only on a few spots, enjo)"ing a pecuHar warmth of
expo.sure. The grape does not always produce a sweet
wine. Indeed it only does so in one or two situations. In
other cases sugar, burnt by a particular wood, is thrown in.
The Sercial also -wUl succeed only in particular spots.
The quantity produced scarcely equals fifty pipes a year.
A quantit)- of brandy, from two gallons a pipe and up
wards, is generally thrown into the wines intended for
exportation, -with the exception, it is said, of the Tinto.
In the war time, when, from the great demand, the mer
chants were unable to keep a great stock on hand, it was
usual to ripen the wines by the use of stoves, raising the
heat gradually from 60 to 100 degrees ; and it is stUl the
practice to subject a certain portion of the vintage to the
operation of this artificial temperature. The meUowness of
the wine is, no doubt, thus accelerated, but at some ex
pense of the dehcacy of its flavour.
The average quantity of the produce throughout tiie
island is one pipe to the acre, though in some instances
fom- pipes have been obtained.
The wine from the north of the island is generally in
ferior in quality. It is neaily all consumed on the island,
or converted into brandy. There are about twelve distil
leries. Three pipes of vrine make one of brandy.
The quantit)- of wme produced dm-ing the five preced-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 109
ing years, accorduig to a statement furnished me by the
American Consul, is as follows :
In 1834, 15,000 pipes.
In 1835, 15,500 «
In 1836, 29,000 «
In 1837, 2,900-* "
As I descended the gangway to the deck, on the last
evening of our stay at Madeira, the Ffrst Lieutenant, with
his usual and always amiable smile, exclaimed, " Why, Mr.
T,, you Hke to have been left — we only wait for the depart
ure of some gentlemen who have been dining with the
Commodore, before we weigh anchors." An hour after
wards, and all hands were called to immoor ship.
The frigate's last boat had left the shore at sunset, but
as I saw no movement on board either of the two ships, I
ventured to delay a half-hour, with the design of being
pushed oflf in a shore-boat. I was on my way for a ramble
tlirough the buildings occupied by the Franciscans, before
they were banished from the island. By their tenets, this
order of monks exclude themselves from all participation
in other possessions than houses for their lodgings ; acting
literally on the precept, " provide neither gold nor silver ;"
* The Malmsey wine has been known formerly as forming a
luxuriant beverage of the more opulent classes in England. It is
frequently mentioned by Shakspeare, and is seen in all the accounts
of ancient feasts, and in the household books of the nobility of former
times. The Duke of Clarence, according to English historians, -was
drowned in a butt of it ; and whether from any particularly inspiring
property it possesses, we do not pretend to say, but a certain portion
of this sweet wine is -lUowed, as the annual stipend of the poet laureat.
It was formerly brought to England from Malvisia, a town on the
east coast ofthe Morea, from whence it derived its name. And from
the grape, originally transplanted from Malvisia to Madeira, as is
supposed, the modern Malmsey is produced.
Vol. L 10

1 10 THE FLAG SfflP ; OK
they were to beg for their Hving, and to pursue the course
of profoundest humility, in the externals of dress, food, and
their general intercourse with men, as weU as m their pri
vate communion -vrith thefr God. But after the death of
St. Francis, their founder, succeedmg generals of thdr or
der encouraged a mitigation of the strict rales of St Fran
cis, whUe the fraternity yet remained mendicants, but en
joyed, from various Popes, certain privUeges which yielded
them revenues for their comfortable living. Formerly,
there were three branches of the general institution in
Funchal. Their convent, to which I was dfrecting my
way, formerly exhibited, in its spacious buUding, one small
chamber, displaying a pecuHar fiirniture. Its ceUings and
walls were covered with human sculls and thigh-bones, so
arranged as to form a triangle -vrith sculls at each point
A figure of St. Francis was balancing the representation
of a saint and a sinner, to ascertain which was the heavier
of the two. A lamp suspended from the ceiling threw its
dim Hght on the skeleton scene, which it were better should
have been veiled by a curtain of darkness. The number
of bones in this collection was deemed more than three
thousand. But -with the banishment of this order of friars
from the island, this chamber of skeletons no longer re
mains a relic of Franciscan taste, although nothing has
surprised me more than the coUection of sculls and their
associate bones, which have met my eye within the few
days of my visit to the island. The phrenologist might
have made a collection of any amount of these sad rehcs,
to deck the shelves of his lecture-room.
I did not reach the point of the walk which I had pro
posed to myself. Mr. B., a friend, met me, and repeated
inquiries which the interesting Clementina, whom I first
saw in her assumed character «f nun, at tiie convent, had

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. Ill
made. I left for her cordial assurances of interest, which
tlie incidents of the convent would render permanent, among
my acceptable recollections of the green isle of Madefra.
I regretted that the ship's boat, by which I was to visit the
shore for the last time, was On the eve of leaving the ship
at the moment of her -risiting the frigate during the morn
ing, with her father. It is a sfrange fatality, which seems
often to guide our steps. By sfrange coincidences we meet.
As strangers, we are surprised at the interest which a pass
ing interview -vrith the stranger has awakened. The
golden chain of sympathy has wound yet another coil
around the heart. And when we hope again to meet, some
fatahty has forbidden ; and then comes the passing saluta
tion ; and then, the wave, the surge, the ocean, bear us on
our separate courses, like divergent rays of light, each rao
ment of their ffight farther and still farther apart.
Some of the stragglers from the John Adams were has
tening to their boat, expecting every moment to see her
sails fall. With an admonition to another idler from the
Columbia, who proposed delaying until nine o'clock, to
finish his notes on shore, I placed myself in a shore-boat,
yet dry upon the pebbled beach. Two athletic oarsmen
were in their seats, when four other of their,,^ associates
watched the movement of the in-rolling breaker, and as it
was returning to the sea, launched our Hght bark on the
mimic bUlow, which bore us to the imbroken water from
off" the beach. A pull of a half hour brought us within
the haU of the sentry, in the chains of the good Columbia.
Descending to the ward-room, I found the Consul tak
ing tea -vrith the gentlemen of the mess.
" Well, Mr. T.," said the Consul, as he rose to welcome
me, " I was just devising how I should entertain the chap
lain if you had chanced to be left."

112 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
" Sat cito si sat tuto," I repHed — soon enough if safe
enough. He had my thanks for the entertainment he had
already so politely extended, and here (I held up a beauti
ful handful of flowers) was a magnificent bunch of geraniums
from his grounds, which would remind me of the Consulate
•when the green isle had sunk far in the distance.
The gentlemen from shore soon after left the ship, and
" all hands to up anchor, ahoy," was piped along the
decks; and soon the music, to which the men walked
around with the capstan, was heard mingling with the oc
casional clank of the coming in of the fron cable.
And now we leave thee, sweet Madeira, vrith all thy
flower-enamelled hills, and geranium avenues, and hedges
of roses, and terraces of ever-green and ever-blooming
shrubs, and trellises of vines, and embowered quintas, -with
balcony and turret. But not aU of thee shaU we leave ;
for we have treasured up thoughts that may not die. Yet
fare thee well, thou green isle ! Henceforth thou shalt lie,
as a beautiful thing, in my memory. And the names of
some who dwell among thy garden-flowers are treasured,
where they are not to be forgotten. The shades of even
ing have shut in, and only the Hghts that gleam from thy
balconies tell me where he thy beautiful parterres. But
the clear blue sk)' spreads its canopy of early eve above
th)- shaded isle. And I have now given to ye all mv last
look, and seek my room. Then,
Good night, good night ! one star is o'er you peering,
As 'cross the wave our gallant bark is steering ;
Good night, good night I ye '11 calmly seek your pillow,
"While wc, afar, are toss'd upon the billow.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WOBLa 113

SECTION IV.
Ships stand south. Sunday exercises. Meeting of friends in another
world. A grasshopper visits the ship. His message a true one.
General quarters. Crossing the Line. Star-gazing. The old
eagle at home. Reefing. An Extract. A Naval toast. Aman
overboard. Memory of the departed and loved. South Ameri
can coast in sight. Moonlight scene. Entering the narrow pass
to the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, Music at sundown.
Our two ships have been standing on their south
westerly course, from Madefra, for several days, without
" any incident of particular interest occurring. It has been
a leisure moment for revievring the scenes which presented
themselves to us at the lovely island of Madeira, which
cannot fail to originate in the mind of the visiter many
pleasurable visions, to be recalled among his future wel
come memories.
On the first Sunday out of Madeira, after the reHgious
exercises of the day, one of 'the Lieutenants joined me as
I was pacing the quarter-deck, and expressed his persua
sion that he would become reHgious if one idea could be
made certain to him, which I had advanced in my morn
ing's discourse. It related to the meeting of friends,
and thefr recognition of each other, in another world.
That Christian friends wiU meet in heaven, and there re
cognise each other, I believe to be the general drift of the
Scriptiures. " To depart, and to be with Christ is far bet-
10*

114 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
ter," is the language of St Paul, as applicable to all
Christians as weU as to himself. And if they shaU aU be
with Christ, they, by consequence, vrill be with each other.
And retaining their memories, as one constituent part of
their mental and responsible being, they must, as associate
and social spirits, recognise each other, in their eternal
intercourse in the society of the redeemed. This young
genteraan's interest in the subject of which he spoke was
sincere ; and he has had my sympathy and solicitude for
his highest happiness for this and the coming world.
We infer that land is not far from us, as a grasshop
per has made his off"-shore leaps, to visit so sfrange a thing
as a man-of-war. Had he been a Malay, perhapg^Hire
should have asked him questions about his so unceremoni
ously boarding us. And what must have been his surprise,
as he cautiously crawled up our sides and took his first
view of our fearful decks, vrith thefr threatening forty-two
pounders lining their long bulwarks, vrith perforations,
through which " death and destraction " bear forth to thefr
enemies " blood and carnage sounding with death-groans."
And then to have looked upon the four or five hundred
tarpaulin-headed sons of the ocean, moving over the decks
of the sea-monster — here, in unison pulling upon some
sinew of the moving animal, or there, easing a sfrain upon
one of her tiruig -wings ; then, to have seen certain timid
young gentlemen waiting vrdh expectant attention, the
order of tiie deck-officer, who was about to speeds hig
¦words through a trumpet; and then, when he cast his eye,
as he sat on the lee gunwail, to the quarter-deck, and
caught a look at a venerable and graceful old gentleman
in gold lace and epaulets and bright buttons, moving
backwards and forwards in commanding dignity and self
possession ; and then, gazed upon the bright things, and

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 116
the dark things, and the painted things, and the double
edged things, and the confused things, and the straight
things, and the crooked things, surely, his agitated bosom
must, at length, have heaved in feai'ful and profound sur
prise. Ah ! Mr. Grasshopper ! not I should Hke to have
been upon thy trembling legs. In fearfiil haste to re-seek
my forsaken land-home, I should, with a single leap, have
re-laved my grasshopper sides !
The grasshopper's message was a frue one. At meri
dian, the cry of " land ho !" told us, that we were saihng
through the pass between the islands of the Cape de
Verdes — Saint Jago on our right — and the Isle of M,£iy on
our left. The jagged outhnes of St. Jago present a pecu
liar appearance, lower than Madeira, but barren, as we see
it through the mists which render its base indistinct, and
its more elevated points devoid of other interest than found
in the varied shades which its nearer prominences, in con
trast vrith the farther-in ravines, produce, while the
blending of the irregular tops of the cragged peaks, repre
sents the froubled waves of a rolling ocean, when rendered
partially indistinct by the mists which sweep over its
gray frosom.
A proud frigate with all her equipments of war, and
tracery of cordage, and sheets of canvass, is always an ob
ject to secure the gazer's admiration for her beauty and
grandeur. But nowhere, save in the storm, is the interest
which one feels as he stands upon her deck, more intense,
than during the profound silence that occurs at general
quarters. A few roUs of the dram beat the call to quarters, ffrst
slow, then quicker, and in another moment the thrilling
roll has ceased, giving only time for every man to reach
his place. The officers, with their swords in hand, are at

116 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
the position they would occupy in an engagement The
men are at thefr guns. The magazine is opened, and the
passers of powder occupy their stations, forming a Hne to
the decks from the depository of the fearful agent, which
is to do the deeds of destraction, devastation and death.
A hasty review of each division is gone through by its offi
cer, who reports his division to the comraanding officer
as ready for action ; when he retums again in silence, to
wait the orders which are to succeed. It is at this mo
ment a stillness reigns through the ship, so hushed, that a
single sigh could almost be heard ; and the step of the
commanding officer sounds as he paces the deck, back
wards and forwards, as if he were the soHtary being that
possessed the ship. The deep stUlness impresses the soul
like the ominous foreboding which precedes the earth
quake, or as the interlude between the eruptions of the
volcano. Such was the scene exhibited to-day, June 12th. The
sea was calm. The saUs hung flat to the masts. The
beat to quarters had roUed through the ship ; and in an
other moraent, every man was at his station. The ship's
crew had been almost daily exercised at the guns, that
they might become famUiar with thefr management ; but
to-day thefr evolutions were to include the dischcurge of
four rounds of canister. The order was given, and the
double broadside, with the thunder of sixty caimon, boomed
over the vride sea. Then the irreguleur cannonading suc
ceeded, each division vieing vrith the others, in their
endeavour to exceed, in quickness of action, the discharge
of the others' pieces, whUe the successive and quick report
of muskefry was heard from the upper deck.
I had passed from the magazine to the berth-deck du
ring the action, where I met the surgeon. For a moment

A VOYAGE AROTWD THE WORLD. 117
the cannonading had ceased. The hatch of the gun-deck
was hurriedly raised, and the word passed for the surgeon.
The doctor, attended by one of his assistants, was immedi
ately at the spot, where a wounded sailor was lying, with
a lacerated arm dripping with blood, and two fingers
blowTi from his hand. The accident occurred in conse
quence of the bursting of a powder-horn, whUe priming a
gun, when a portion of an ignited match still remained
upon the breech which had been unsuccessfully applied to
the priming tube. Others, who were standing about the
gun, were slightly wounded. The principal sufferer had
his hand and arm immediately dressed, and was conveyed,
in a cot, after the closing of the magazine, to a position in
the sick-bay ; and a few hours afterwards, to a yet more
comfortable place on the gun-deck. I went to the sick
bay after the mock-fight was over, and found some half a
dozen of the men having their slight cuts and bruises
bandaged. There is seldom any good we would secure, which is
not attended by some evil, in the way of our obtaining it.
And the very accidents which occur on these occasions of
exerfcise, show the necessity of their repetition, that the
crew may become famihar with their duty, and be saved
from greater destruction, in case of any necessity for con
ducting a general engagement with an enemy ; or in sus
taining the proper dignity of the national flag. Our men-
of-war, even in times of peace, are often placed in circum
stances, critical in themselves, and requiring the self-pos
session of confident preparation, to enable a commander to
act with the dignity which his station, as the protector of
our commerce in foreign ports, or as the politic negotiator,
requires. The crew have also been driUed in the use of
small-arms, and exercised in the evolutions for boarding "

118 THE FLAG SHIP J OR
with the pikes and cutiasses, as weU as the calHng away
of the firemen with their water-buckets, in case of the cri
tical situation of the ship on ffre.
When the exercises of our guns were over, volumes of
dense sraoke were seen to issue from the ports of the John
Adams, now lying on our larboard quarter ; and in a mo
ment more, the roar of her cannon told us that she was
following the motions of the Columbia.
We are nearing the line this evening, if we have not
afready bounded over it. Our latitude at meridian, July
17th, was 49' North. We are driving along finely, -vrith
-royals set and filled with the fresh trades from the south
east. The night is fine ; and the contrast of variables and
calms which have attended us for a few days past, renders
our present good fortune doubly acceptable, and conducive
to make us all good natured. The breeze comes blandly
upon the cheek, while dark clouds, in thefr characteristic
gray of the trades, form a panoramic riew in the horizon.
The sun feU beneath a serrated vapour bank, and hghted
up its cragged peaks with a fringe of gold. The twihght
was brief, while the sfraggling gray clouds began to as
sume a dull but soft bottle-green colour, deepening as they
sailed through a back ground, which changed from the
faintest light to a shade of pink, as dehcate as the softest
blush on the cheek of loveliest ladj-. And now above
us, and higher up than ever before I had seen her riding
tiirough her azure halls, eveiy raoment deepening in thefr
blue, the lovely Diana moved on her course serene, vrith a
sweet star thrown carelessly upon her westem horn, as if
to pioneer her way of gems and purple.
I was on the horse-block with the surgeon, looking at
the scene to the west, and inhalmg the delightful breeze
of the evening's earliest hour, which, although m the tem-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 119
perature of 82° F. to-night, reminded me of the bracing
atmosphere of earliest northern autumnal days.
"Two idlers here, that should be ordered to the deck,"
said the First Lieutenant, as he made a third upon the
horse-block. " And that fiinge of gold thereaway, is worth looking
at and remembering, as seen on the eve when we were on
the vridest point of earth and ocean," I repeated.
" Fine, indeed," continued the First Luff. But Doctor,
do you see the Line yet "? It strikes me that you and Mr.
T. look as if you might need sha-ring before morning."
" The Line has not snubbed us yet," added Lieut. W.,
who had also joined the party, " but there goes a bird, and
there another. They are as great boobies as ourselves, for
being here ; at least, Jack calls them boobies, as they some
times light upon the ship, and in an instant seem to be
asleep, and suffer themselves to be taken."
" See you that ?" added Lieutenant P., approaching the
horse-block and pointing to a bank of clouds, which had
afready caught our admfration, and had not yet lost its
edge of gold.
" And Diana too, with her bright-eyed gray-hound, on
her evening hunt, see you not that also V I pointed to
the beautiful moon, having at this moment nearly the same
right ascension with Jupiter, who, in his brilliant white
light, at this hour of early evening, appeared, though in
tensely more bright, of the size of a star of the fourth mag
nitude. We lingered on the side-steps, and talked of olden
customs, when crossing the Line; and chatted of other
things, like a group of idlers, enjoying the sweet hour and
the lovely scene, and snuffing the soft air, while we were
gliding finely through the waters, vrith our sails frimmed

120 THE FLAG SHH"; OR
on a tack which, -vrith the southeast frades, we expected
would last, alraost vrithout touchfrig a cord, for a dozen
days to come.
A boy from the ward-room approached, and touching
his hat, said that tea was ready. The horse-block and the
tea-table have their separate temptations ; and we left the
sociabihty of the one, and the gorgeous scene contemplated
from it, for the cheer and the chat of the other.
Star-gazing at Sea.
It is a glorious thing, that gemmed blue sky, which
nightly arches its spangled canopy over the head of the
voyager. I have long and often amused myself in reading
the bright night-lights, which have gleamed in thefr mel
lowed beauty of distance and brightness. I have watched
the north polar-star, from night to night, as it sank lower
and lower towards the horizon, telHng me that I was re
ceding farther and stUl farther from the land of my home ;
untU, at last, it sat to be seen no more imtil our ship
should retrace her course from a southern to re-enter a
northern hemisphere. The eye, however, stUl lingers on
the dipper of the northem bear, which has served to pomt
out to one the position of the polar gem, Emd stUl teUs him
where the sunken brilhant gleams, to dehght the eyes
of gazers beneath anotiier zenith. But to me, one star,
more dear tiian any other, attiacts and holds my gaze, ui
the region of the north. Nor is there a lovelier gem in
the heavens. It shuies like the ever-viar)ing but ever-
brUliant hues of the diamond in a well-lighted hall, giving
forth its translucent gleara of light, now of palest green, and
then of blue, and red, and sometimes, in its ceaseless tvritik-
Hng scintUlations, deepening to the blue of indigo, while
undiminished in its briUiancy and light It is Lyra, of the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 121
constellation of the Harp. And it is my natal star, reach
ing its meridian in the month and nearly on the day of my
birth. And it gleams almost in the zenitii of the region
that marks the home of my youth; and reminds me of
hours when, with others, I have gazed upon it for its bright
ness and its beauty.
Nor is it only our own private associations which awake,
when the stars are the objects of one's contemplation. The
thoughts go back to olden times, when the sages of other
lands and periods gazed upon the same bright orbs ; and
astrologers read them as if they might find, in their hidden
lore, the secret of immortal years and the fortunes of princes,
and armies, and kingdoms, as well as the undeveloped des
tinies of the private adventurer, and the hidden fortunes of
the agitated and expectant lover. But how deep is the
sleep that has gathered over the closed eyes of all that
multitude of millions, who, like ourselves, have gazed on
the same undying lights which awake our admiration, and
stUl gleam in the heavens for the delight of generations
yet to come ! It is no unwelcome revery of the mind, while
looking upon these bright orbs, to recall the recorded feel
ings with which others have mused, like ourselves, on the
blue heavens, hung in their gorgeous display, inwrought and
inlaid by 'the hand of Deity. How many philosophers
gazed on these same luminaries, with Hngering eyes and
longing minds, to read the trae theory of their motions arid
inatter ! But the far-ancient solved not the problem : his
theories all failed somewhere. But though ever fanciful,
they were yet often beautiful imaginings ; and not unfre
quently were blended vrith ideas strikingly sublime. Far
off, in th|f yonder region of the north, Cosmas Indopldlas-
tes, who supposed this earth an iraraense plane with an
insurpassable ocean washing its circular edge, placed a
Vol. L -¦ U '

122 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
conical mountain. Around this he conjectured that the
stars performed their daily revolution ; and the sun also,
with an oblique motion, by which the different lengths of
the days and the seasons were accounted for. But the
stars, and the sun itself, were bome on in their several
courses by celestial spirits.
And olden bards have sung the same starry glories, in
sfrains which associate their ancient reveries with the m)-s-
tic dreamings of the phUosophers. Long-hafred lopas, as
Vfrgil's heroics tell us, tuned his gilded Jyre to what the
mighty Atlas taught ; whence the race of men and beasts ;
whence Arcturus, the rainy Hyades, and the two northem
cars ; why winter-suns make so much haste to set in the
ocean, and what retarding cause detains the slow summer-
nights.* And Manihus, in the age of Augustus Csesar, also mus
ed in numbers on the beautifiil star of Lyra, as
" One, placed in front above the rest,
A vigorous light ;"
and the story of Orpheus carries us back to the period of
the Argonauts. The constellation of which Lyra is the
principal star, as ancient legend tells us, is the celestial
Harp, with which ApoUo gifted Orpheus. As he touched
its sfrings, rivers paused in thefr flow, and the forest-beast
forgot his wildness, and hill and mountain moved to listen
to his song. And when he had lost his lovely Ei|rydice,
• " Cilhara crinilus lopas
Personal aurali, docuil quae maximus Atlas.
Hic caniterralem Lunam, Solisque labores;
Unde hominum genus et pecudes; unde imber, etignes;
Arclurum, pluriasque Hyadeis, geminosque Tiiones
Quid lanium Oceano propeiantse tingere Soles
Hiberni, vel quaC tardis mura noctibus obstet."

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 123
his bride, from the land of the nymphs, his grief led him
to the lower regions of Pluto and Proserpine, in search of
her. He touched his lyre in their hearing, and so moved
their pity, that they consented to restore Eurydice to him,
with the single condition that he shouldinot cast back his
eyes upon his beautiful bride, before he had reached the
outer border of their dark dominions. But, while already
in sight of the upper regions of the air, Ofpheus cast back
one longing look upon his beloved Eurydice. He saw
her ; but the next moment she was beyond his future sight.
He could not re-enter the regions of Pluto ; and on earth
his grief led him to forsake all society of his species. This
behaviour so incensed the Thracian ladies^ as storytells
us,i.that they destroyed the lyric bard and harper, and threw
into the river Hebrus his head, which continued to articu
late, as it glided down the stream to the .S^gean sea, " Eu
rydice ! Eurydice ! Eurydice !"
Such is the legend of Orpheus, . decreed dirine honours
after his death, and his lyre placed among the constella
tions of the heavens. It is not madness to dream, in le
gends, when gazing on the stars.
The music of the spheres, we know, is another olden
Mea — i'ythagoras representing Apollo as playing upon a
seven-stringed harp ; by which, we "are informed by Pliny,
is meant the sun and the seven planets. To this harmony
ofthe spheres, Euripides thus beautifully alludes: — ^"Thee
I invoke, thou self-created Being, who gave birth to na-
ttire, and whora light and darkness, arid the '-whole frain of
globes, encircle with eternal music." ' »
But it is in Shakspeare, we may find allusion to almost
every thing ; and as no other bard has described, and no
other muse has sung. What can surpass the fines I copy
here 1

124 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
" Look, how Ihe floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid wilh patines of bright gold ;
There's not the smallest orb, which thou behold 'sr.
But in his motion, like an angel, sings.
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim:
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."
But as I turn from the beautiful star Lyra, my eye rests,
not far off in the S. W., on Arcturus, " the brightest, the
fairest of the stars," another favourite, but all unlike the
soft and modest Lyra. It shone, in its beautiful red Hght,
almost in our zenith at Madefra, and by some is deemed
the star of the heavens nearest to our earth, as it is cer
tainly one of the brightest and lovehest of the heavens.
And its associations bear us back to sacred records as weU
as to pagan legends. Surely nothing can be sublimer than
some of the allusions of the sacred penmen, when penetra
ted by a profound sense of the omnipotence of the Deity,
as seen in his works. \Miat can be finer, or more thrilling,
as an exhortation to a spfrit that acknowledges its respon
siblhty to the Eternal God, than the foUowing"? "Seek
him that maketh the seven stars, and Orion, and turneth
the shadow of death into morning." And Job represents
the Eternal as demanding, * " luiowest thou the ordinances
of heav6n ? Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the
Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou brmg
forth Mcizzai-oth in his season, eyr canst thou guide
Arcturus with his sons ?"* And this is language, supposed
to have beerj written, at least, 3351 yeai-s ago. And on
that same star gazed the patient Job, at that far back
period ; and on the same luminary, that loses nought of
its loveliness or brightness with its years, also gazed the
" priests of On," in the land of the mighty Pharaohs, from
•Job xxxviii, 31—33.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 125
one of whom Pythagoras gained his knowledge of the
theory of the heavens, and introduced the true system of
the universe into Greece ; and the daughter of another,
Pharaoh wisely gave to Joseph, as a bride.
The stars of the southern hemisphere strike one as
being fewer, but brighter and more distinct, than those of
the northern. The stars of the first magnitude appear at
greater intervals from each other, and-less surrounded by
smaller stars, and nebula. The constellation, which al
ways atfracts the voyager from the north, who has never
before crossed the line, is the southern cross. This is com
posed of four distinctly bright stars, forming the four points
of a cross, one of the first magnitude, two of the second,
and one of the third or fourth. It is a beautifiil constella
tion; and no wonder that it should have attracted, with
deep interest, the daring discoverers, who sailed in an age
when the cross was the emblem which gave license to
conquest, and enthusiasm and zeal to the bad and the
good, on the land and on the sea.
" He who admires not, lo the stars is blind,"
The Aquila, or the Eagle, has also attracted my attention
for its beauty, being favourably situated for our observation,
on our passage from the Madeiras to the Brazils. Its cen
tral red brilliant, called Altair, and a lunar star, is a lovely
gem ofthe heavens ; and it requires not a vivid imagination
to fancy it the bright eye of the bfrd of Jove, though the
fanciful resemblances appropriated, by the ancients, to the
constellations, have but little resemblance in reality, in the
adjustment of the stars in their appropriate places. . And
what American can gaze at the Eagle and not think of the
emblem in his own national escutcheon :
" The bird, above the world that dwells alone.
And proudly makes the strength of rocks his own,"
11*

126 THE FLAG ship; OE
They say he is a noble bird. His bearmg, at least, has
been a proud one on the banners of many nations. The
Roman standard, as it displayed its graceful folds, spread
the wings of the favourite bird over the hUl and vale of
every known land ; and Napoleon preferred the undaunted
eagle, an emblem of his own towering spirit, to the fleur
de lis. When shall that standard, which our own gallant
barque is now bearing, with honourable designs, in her
voyage around the world, cease to be, as it now sm-ely is,
the emblem of as happy — may I not say the happiest of
any nation of the globe ? There are those, who seem to
see the period, when we shaU cease longer to be a united
people. It seems almost fhe fashionable slang of the times,
to predict the time of our dismemberment, in language,
which, but a few years ago, it had been treason to
use. But is there no sublimer destiny before a nation,
which the hand of Deity seems so sfrUringly to have
guided to independence and greatness, than what the poh
tical croakere of the day have marked out for us 1 Let them
read the past. There have been crises, which our coun
try has met — ^there have been shoals, that threatened
shipwreck to the beautiful vessel of state, which, thus far,
in safety, has borne the charter of our rights, libert)-, and
blessed happiness ; but we have weathered the threatening
shoal, and the crested breaker. Why shaU we not stiU be
able to guide the national interests, though storm, and
tempest, and whirlwind may sweep over us in succession,
and devastation often foUow in their frain ? The ship raay
still ride safely on the threatening bUlow, though disman
tled ; and like oil spread upon the ocean, producing a calm
to the surge, so the clear interests of the whole people must
ever aUay the gale of sectional passion, before frshaUhave

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 127
for ever crushed the hbpes of the good, and veUed in
darkness the memories of the past, by a reckless forgetful
ness of the glory and the moral worth and the treasured
happiness which our foi^efathers, in their onward vision of
the future, bequeathed to yet unborn generations of the
American people.
For one, I believe not in the prophecies of political
demagogues, or the maturer apprehensions of more sober
and juster men. Every day increases those bonds of self-
interest, which must preserve us a united nation. Sec
tional interest must yield, and will yield, and general
sacrifices will be made, when the periods of the greatest
excitement come. Mutual concession, as in times past,
shall save us ; and the God who led our armies, and has
guided us thus far in the pathway of national prosperity
and happiness, should receive the devout acknowledgment
of every American heart.
The fransition of thought from one subject to another
is quicker than the passages of light from one electric
cloud to its fellow. We fly from the grave to the light,
from the sad to the joyous, from the private to the public,
and the contrary. And are there not other and private
musings for me, while gazing on the Aquila — the constel
lation of the Eagle 1 Yes, I do remember me of summer
and autumn hours, when I have wandered through the
path of the thick wood, and rustled the leaf when no other
foot was near, and bounded down the ravine and the steep
declivity to the lawn, which stretches along the most ro
mantic spot of the Connecticut. And then, I have traced
my way along its green bank or sandy shore, and paused
to look upon the still bosom of the silver stream that lay
sleeping like a lake among these highlands, and almost
the only highlands of this lovely sfream. Ere long, if I

128 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
saw him not already perched upon an old oaken limb in
his solitary home of the high rock, 1 would catch the
image of a gliding eagle moving in solemn and slow dig
nity up the reflecting stream ; and one glance above it
would give me to recognise my old familiar friend on his
return to his perch, far up on the almost perpendicular
slant of the opposite side of the sfream. It seemed but a
sling's throw where that old eagle was wont, so oft and so
long to sit. And here we have often sat, and long have
looked at each other, as familiar friends. It seemed al
ways to me, as if that bird could read ray own heart, and
sympathize with its loneliness. I had learned to love that
solitary bird, and to me he was not vrild. May I find thee
still, my old friend, at thy hill-home, on ray retum. And
if thou heist, as I have soraetimes thought thou hadst, a
fellow-feeling for a lonely heart, we vrill again commune
vrith each other, and think of out mutual wanderings to
other climes during our parting, and be happy again to
find our olden summer and autumn homes. My old friend,
may I find thee there.*
It is now after eight o'clock in the evening, and I have
just come from the deck, where I have been vritnessing
the double-reefing of the topsails. The day has been
squally ; and to-night the vrind whisties through the rig
ging of the ship in notes, which tell how many a poor

• It was a welcome coincidence to the writer, on his return, as
he glided down Ihe Connecticut, that the old eagle, at the point al
luded lo, was seen scaling in tbe clear ether above ; and seemed
to slant his graceful pinions in kind and courteous welcome, as he
kept his way high-up and ahead ofthe steamer, until he was lost
among the olden trees, where we had often met, and wilh kindly
feelings, in former days. ¦What trifles, sometimes, will originate
overwhelming emotions.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 129
mariner a single gale may destine never more to see
counfry and home.
It is indeed a fine sight, to witness a noble frigate
madly dashing through the billows, as if in defiance of the
dark surges which roll by her, and with supreme contempt
for the winds which howl, in murmurs of the sea-moan,
across her decks ; and at the same moment, one hundred
of her men laying out upon her yards, to clip the wings of
the too nimble bird by knotting the reefs in her bellowing v
canvass, and when a landsman would deem their hold,
upon a yard-arm a matter of impossibility, in the impetu
osity of the gale. To me such a scene is deeply exciting.
Since we have been out, on no previous occasion has the
Columbia raore than single-reefed her topsails. Most of
the time she has been carrying royals, topgallant-sails,
and studding-sails. The vrinds have been favourable, and
the frigate's cutters could have performed the course in
safety. I should be considerably disappointed not to wit
ness a few bona-fide gales during our cruise. And so ffrm
is ray confidence in the stanch quahties of our ship, that
I apprehend that I could have no fear, in the circumstan
ces of a hurricane at sea. The fresh gale of this squally
night, which is driving us onward, hardly changes the ac
tion of our vessel from her usual motion ; and as I sit at
my writing desk in my every way comfortable and snug
little room, at this moment, no one who had not been on
deck would suppose that a mimic-gale was raging over
the dark deep, and driving its fleecy sheets of mists over a
sea, lashed into a wild commotion of frenzy and foam.
And in a neighbouring state-room, three or four gentle
men are holding their evening tete-a-tete about Lord
Byron, and other worthies and unworthies, as pleasantly
as, if they were conversing in the ampler and motionless

130 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
parlour of a land-home. But here we are, bounding care
lessly over the blue surge, as if our ship were the very
personification of the wave and the gale, which for the
last few hours has been careering over the high seas, and
robed the ocean in its sorabre and white of whirhng mists
and cascading foam.
An Extract. — " In your letter you speak of your love of
home, and unwUlingness to leave it for society abroad. From
my own wanderings, you might think differently of my taste.
But, not so. I only go the world around, that home, here
after, may have its undisturbed sweets. Surely do I know
that the raere thing of traveUing has but Httie charm in it
for me ; but to see the world as it. is, and to cease to look at
it through the imagination, has always been an object
-vrith me ; and vrithout it, I might never be contented.^
even vrith ray contented disposition. But Home — there is
indeed a charra in that dear word. I love every letter of
the raonosyUable for the haUowed associations, which,
when blended, the word awakes. And E. once, was to
me a short home. To you, may it ever prove, while it
shall be so happy as to possess you, a sweet, happy home.
TeU HttJgi^fte^E^*^ Mr. T. loves her as much as ever ;
her mother may ever be protected .
father, who art in heaven."
ULY 4th, 1838.
Toast — Our whole country : As one dark
sea-surge succeeds another but to preserve the purity of
the ocean, so may the waves of sectional jealousies in
our land, only agitate to perpehiate our union.
" A man overboard !" is a fi-equent cry and occurrence,
at sea. It awoke a few moments since, from our deck.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 131
At such a moment, if the winds be not so high ' qs to pre
vent it, the mainsail is hauled up — the ship .thrown aback
= — and her progress thus checked, the boats are lowered
and search made for the raan overboard. All this operatiori
had been gone through, when it was discovered that the
seaman had fortunately caught the end of some rope,
which, by some oversight was trailing in the water, and
thus saved the man,- though very much endangering the
back of some negligent lubber whose duty it was to keep
every line in its^lace.
The John Adams was on our larboard beam, at the
time, and at no gieat distance from us. Every motion of
each vessel is so narrowly watched by the quarter-master
of the other, vrith their glasses always in their hands, that
no movement of the other is long unobserved. The boat
ofthe Adams was in the water almost as soon as oiy: own,
on the supposition, from our action, that a man was over
board ; and the boats from the two ships soon neared each
other abaft the frigate ; but instead of extending their
distance until they were lost to our sight, for a drowning
man, they were now endeavouring to find the life buoys,
which, as the first thing, on the cry of a man overboard,
are cut from the stern of the ship. Though it had been
dusk for an hour, the broad beams of the full moon threw
over the waters a flood -way of light, by which the boats
at length were fortunately able to discover the life buoys,
and return to the ships. Again we were on our way of
foam; and the succeeding morning being the Sabbath,
made the text of the discourse for the day peculiarly
appropriate, in riew of the incident of t^e preceding eve
ning, as it always is in view of thelDrevity arid the casual
ties of Hfe : — " Behold now is the day of salvation."
I have -wept to-day, in memory of one, dear indeed for

132 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
her beautiful character and devoted love. I thought of
her last words as she said, " My mind is almost , gone —
brother, you will take care of me — vrill you not 1" What
is there like a sister's love 1 What memory so gentle and
affecting eis that which recalls her tenderness with the
consciousness that she waits not to greet your return, as
once she waited, when you had wandered from the family
mansion. How do you see her, as she moved in every
path — through every room — adjusting the flowers in the
parterre, and arranging the fresh-culled vase upon the
mantle-piece of the parlour, and the table, and the toilet.
And how do you regret that your heart, ever kind, was
not more kind — and your ever dehcate attention, was not
yet more delicate ? And when you have been an invahd,
who was it that watched, with the stiUest breath and the
gentlest step around your bed-side and over your pUlow 1
And who, vrith the softest hand, has smoothed your palHd
brow, and poured forth the sfream of sympathy from a
filling eye, when your own hath languished, and your
heart was fainting ? Oh ! it is a sister's love, that vrill
never tire — it is a sister's love, that will never weary nor
complain, though you forget, in your debility, which makes
you a child again, and as an infant, helpless ; and often
Hke an infant and a chUd, complaining and impatient.
But she, when othei-s sleep and the watchers faint, steals
to your couch and softiy whispers the words of comfort,
and gives to you v oiu- simple remedies as no other hand
(save your mother's) presents them. And if you are con
valescent, whose smile is so cheerful — whose step at your
call is so fleet — whose invention, for your taste, is so
varied ? And when again you breathe the pure afr of the
window and the piazza, and at length, the field, who so
gentle, so assiduous, and so much your welcome compan-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 133
ion as she, who has laughed with you, and wept with you,
and nourished you, and read for you, and prayed for you-,
and suffered for you, but only suffered half of what she
gladly would have suffered if your happiness might have
been increased. Surejy do I pity him who has no sister —
and more than abhor him, who has one and loves her not.
But thou, gentle, dearest, unobtrasive, retfring, and affec
tionate E., thou art gone ! And at thy wintry tomb, but
lately made, have I wept ; and memory yet breaks the
heart at the recollection of thy lovely and modest virtues,
thy changeless Christian character, and thy devoted, cease
less, and holy love.
Last night, the South American coast was in sight ;
and this noon, the light-house, on the bold bluff of Cape
Frio, bears northwest one point north, and distant about
seven mUes. We have been standing along the coast
during the morning, while the land has exhibited the ap
pearance, in its dusky distance, of a chain of dark barren
islands. We shall soon double Cape Frio, as we stand up
north and westerly for the city of Rio de Janeiro, which
is distant about sixty miles from the light on the bold cape.
This Hght-house is a very picturesque object, elevated upon
the highest cone of several eminences, which form the
elevated ground of the point In its high pgsition and
distance from us,, it looks as if one might measure its length,
with his thumb and finger, so small is it in comparison
-vrith the height of the mountain rock, on which it is
perched ; and resembles one of the ever recurring watch-
towers of the olden Moors, seen along the mountain-
heights in the Mediterranean.
It was kmd in the officer of the deck to send for me,
in the evening, to vritness the glorious moon, wading, in
her path of Hght, through a bank of clouds piled one upon
Vol. I. 12

134 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
another, and colouring, with gold, the fleecy vapours^
banked in the west. Our ship was gliding easily through
the blue waters, vrith the courses hauled up and the top
saUs single-reefed, with the point of our destination in view,
but the hour was too late to make the enfrance of the
, harbour of Rio de Janeiro to-night. The Columbia seemed
conscious of her unusual leisure, on her hitherto untiring
course, and rested in gentle movement on the sHghtly ruf
fled sea, until the earHest Hght of the coining morning
should break upon her, for her enfrance through the beau
tiful pass called Pao de Assacar, which lets in from the sea,
into the expanded and mountain-bound waters that consti
tute the harbour of Rio de Janefro. I never before have
witnessed such a moon-ht scene. The brilhant Dian
seemed, to-night, to be abroad in her golden chariot, for
the reflection, on her way, tinged the clouds as deeply as
the sun soraetiraes gUds the east, when the retiring wheels
of his day-car recede deep into the westem ocean.
Lieutenant W., vrith Lieutenant P., was on the horse
block. I joined them, and together we gazed on the
moon, now edging a long pUe of cumuU-clouds, with brU
liant and coloured hght ; and now appearing half above
the gilded bank, Hke a sultana pUlowed on her couch of
gold and silver. We gazed at her varied beauties, yet
raore beautiful in every new movement, as she changed
her attitudes of grace, and freely, from her own lovehness,
gave reflected beauty to all about her.
We talked of the refijiement which the contemplation
of nature's lovely scenes produces upon the sensibihties of
our rougher natures. It makes us love the chaste — ^it
makes us abhor the low ; it leads us to respect ourselves,
as we listen to the gentle whispere, which a refinement
in perception and chai-acter wakes persuasively in a feel-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD.' 135
ing bosom. We talked of Byron, as a descriptive poet,
ever the favourite of W., who now repeated the Hues of
the poet, .so much and justly admired for their beauty and
fruth to nature, as associated -with the sunset scene :
" Filled with the peace of heaven, which fcom afar
Comes down upon the waters j all its hues
Prom the rich sunset to the rising star,
Their magical variety difl-use :
And now they change ; a paler shadow strews
Its mantle o'er the mountains; parting day
Dies like a dolphin, whom each pang imbues
"With a new colour, as it gasps away,
The last still loveliest, till — 'tis gone — and all is gray.''
Our worthy Master came up, and for once (I had -
never before seen(him__sentiaaent^l). only when singing
love-ditties to hiraself) said, " Could I but have a trae
description of that scene" looking dfrectiy at the moon,
" I would send it in an envelope to the north." Well,
Master, may -thy bridal-night be as fair and gorgeous as
this ; and thine onward skies clear of all clouds that can
threaten diminution to aught thou hopest of happiness and
iove. We came through the narrow pass which forms the
inlet from the ocean into the expanded harbour of Rio de
Janefro, Thursday the 10th July. This pass is exceedingly
sfriking, grand, and beautiful. It may be a mile vride,
but seems like a creek only, in breadth, as it runs between
the high bluff of the sugar-loaf, which rises more than one
thousand feet, on the left, with the fort and high mountain
side on the right The evening sea-breeze occurring
regularly here, a ship stands boldly in, passing beneath the
fortified ramparts on either side of the narrow enfrance ;
and in a few moraents more, she lies in an expanded basin
of water, surrounded by an amphitheatrie of hiUs, with

136 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
their thousand cones, far off" and near, high up and low ;
and their bases studded here vrith village and there vrith
villas; and there again and most conspicuously on the
western range, lies the city — the white, the panoramic,
and mountain-side city of Rio de Janefro.
Our anchor had ran out its length of cable but a mo
ment, when boats from the EngHsh and French ships of
war were alongside the Columbia vrith an officer from
each, to tender the compliments of thefr several comman
ders to our Commodore, and proflfering any civihty and
assistance which might be acceptable. This is usage and
form ; and is often frcmk and sincere as it is ceremonious.
Our ships had been telegraphed during the moming ;
and a boat from the U. S. sloop of war Fairfield had pulled
out the harbour to meet us ; and before we had reached
our anchorage ground, a salute from the Fairfield was fired.
It was soon returned. The next day salutes were ex
changed with all the ships in port and the municipal au
thorities. On succeeding days, when visited by the dif
ferent commandei-s, English and others, and the American
Charge, salutes were ffred, which were reciprocated to the
Commodore, on his return visits.
At sundown I stood upon the quarter-deck of the
Columbia, contemplating the scene around us. The ship
had been cleared, and was now at rest. The bay was
sprinkled with the men-of-war of different nations, at some
distance from each other ; and at our left, as our ship was
then swinging, lay the beautiful cit)- of Rio de Janefro.
The waters around us slept Hke the still bosom of a moun
tain lake, unrippled as it drank in the reflected lovehness
of a serene — how serene a sky ! It was like the earliest,
and the mildest, and the lovehest eve of autumn, at the
norlli, with the ever-green foliage of the mountain side of

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 137
the south — for this is the winter month of the summer-
winter of the southern tropics. And we had just made
another point of our cruise, and anchored amid so much,
and so lovely, and so enchanting a display of beautiful
nature around us. It was sunset. The music of our own
¦¦ship awoke ; and down the royal yards, and ensign, and
pennant had come; and all was still again on deck,
save a few of the officers on the quarter-deck, gaz
ing on the mellow and lovely scene around us. I had
placed myself on the arm-chest of the quarter-deck ; and
while I leaned against the hammock-cloths, gazing over the
larboard quarter of the tafferel, the sweet and subdued
music of a ftdl band of a Brazihan man-of-war, lying not
a great way at the stern and at the windward of us, came
softly over the water, in its wild and magic strains. I
listened apart fromthe rest ; and was carried far, far back
to those whom I had left. A second melody came float
ing over the ripple-wave as the band continued its ever
melancholy and subdued, sfrains, on their brass instruments.
I had placed my elbow upon the tafferel, and bowed my
head, and wept. Once more the music awoke. Now, it
was the evening vesper, and the beU of the ship chimed
in vrith the sacred harmony. Surely, if ever prayer
sincere awoke for those I love, it was borne to heaven this
night,"

12*

138 THE FLAG SHff ; OR

SECTION V.
RIO DE JANEIRO.
Visit to the shore. The Morning Mass. Ramble up Rua do Cas
tello. -View from the hill. Imperial Chapel. Te Deum. Idem
in Graece. Dine with the English Chaplain. -Visit to Mr.
Wright. The American Chargg d' Afiairs. Ride to the Botan
ical Garden. Lord Hood's Nose. Museum. Doctor J. J. Pres-
tina. Call on the Chaplain of H. B. M. ship Stag. British and
American Navy. Commodore Read's Dinner lo the English
Officers. The Author preaches in the EngUsh Chapel. Its wor
ship, in contrast with the scene at the Imperial Chapel. Funeral.
Last evening in the beautiful harbour of Rio de Janeiro.
Associations. Passage out the Harbour.
To-DAY I visited the shore, vrith the single purpose of
wandering at random through the town, and to mark the
floating multitude of the sfreets, presuming that I should
have ample time, during our stay at Rio, to analyze
the pecuharities of the people, and observe for my own
gratification at least, thefr institutions, and pubhc and
domestic economy. It is said to be a difficult thing for a
foreigner to gain access to the Brazihan famihes. But I
apprehend the difficulty only Hes in the want of an ac
quaintance vrith the Portuguese language, and of letters of
introduction from mutual friends.
v The first thing wliich sfrikes the sfranger as he steps
upon the shore at Rio, is the immense number of sla-ves
engaged in the labours of cai-rying the merchandise ofthe
oountry, apparentiy native born Africans ; and then, the
many wcU-di-essed raixed bloods, and equivocal bloods,

A VOYAGE AROXMD THE WORLD. 139
and many unequivocal blacks, well-dressed, and all, ap
parently, constituting part of the free and bona fide society
of the city. And now and then you see a well-dressed
female of the same equivocal relationships, with a shawl
or a veil elevated upon a wide and high comb, and drop
ping upon the shoulders.
The dark-faced slaves are hurrying on at the rate of a
slow frot, in small squads, with bags of coffee or other
burdens, on thefr heads, which they are bearing to the
boats of loading vessels, or to the store-houses for deposit.
Then, you mark the Frenchman, of darker complexion
than of northern cHraes, and the purer blooded and lighter
faced Brazihan-Portuguese — and now, an Englishman —
and now an American, vrith their usual and several char
acteristics. A moment more, and by you dashes a small
vehicle, -with the proportions of an old fashioned gig for
its top, and the ponderous wheejs of a stage-coach for its
rollers, attached to four mules, with a black in Hvery, upon
the fore nigh animal, wearing a high leather cap resem
bling a fire bucket bottom upwards, vrith a red flannel or
velvet band about it, and vrith boots that come above the
knees, and a pafr of spurs, for all the world, like the end-iron
of the tongue of an ox-cart, for its weight and proportions.
Heaven forfend us from such an equipage, exclaims one,
as he hops into the door of the neighbouring shop as the
nondescript passes by him, to the endangering of the limb
and Hfe of the foot-passenger through these pent up and
narrow streets. These vehicles, however, are not frequent,
and are generaUy the establishments afforded one from the
livery stables. Again you meet, as before, another Hne
of half a dozen blacks, vrith bags of coflfee on their heads,
trotting through the street at the monotonous sound of
thefr leader's voice, in which at intervals, and as a chorus,
they all join; or, at the sound of a jinglmg basket.

140 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
which some one of the group carries beside his ponder
ous burden, and shakes with his right or left hand, as he
angles his naked elbows in common vrith his feUows.
From every pore issues the free perspiration, and sfreams,
in no very small rivulets, down thefr bony and naked
shoulders, and shining backs.
I wandered up the Rua do Castello to the top of the
hill, upon which an olden castle once stood, and where
the wrecks of the fortification stiU exist. From this point
the whole bay is commanded — ^the range of conic moun
tains on the east, north, and west — ^the city of Prior Grande
opposite Rio — and the greater part of the city of Rio
itself at your feet The v-iew is very fine. But the poetry
of this beautiful hill itself, as one contemplates it from the
ship, vanishes when one has ascended to its top. The
banana and the cocoa-nut tree, and occasional shrabs, seen
from the bay, as they stud the hiU and seem to embower
the buUdings as they rise one above another, no longer
conceal the ruins, and the rubbish, and the old walls, and
the olden everything, as you look into the miserable yards
of the dwellings in the neighbourhood beneath you. But
as you gaze over the city, and on the bay, and on the sur
rounding amphitheafre of mighty mountains, which inhem
the vast basin of the harbour like a mountain-lake, sprink
led vrith ships of war fix)m almost all the navies of the
earth, and with merchantmen of every nation and people
— whalers, and slavers, and traders resting on thefr several
errands — you have a charm which compensates for the lost
vision, which the eye had taken in when contemplating
the Castle HiU from the deck of the Columbia.
Towards evening, I went to the imperial chapel, a
building vrith high ceiling, and a range of private boxes
in the upper story, so aiTanged as to allow the occupant
to contemplate the ceremonies and the crowds below, and

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 141
hung in front vrith drawing curtains. The building was
decorated, as usual, with Catholic images, which, so far as
I have yet seen, are ever disgusting to good taste, being
generally composed of wax or painted wood, dusty and
tinselled, and decorated with robes and halos in such a
manner that one would suppose that no eye but the rabble's
could regard them as ornamental. None of the buildings
of Rio, and least of all the imperial palace, can boast any
thing as specimens in architecture. The palace is but an
extension of only tolerably decent private dwellings.
A single individual weis vrithin the silent building as I
entered the vacant and soHtary nave of the church, and
advanced up to the far-in altar. The tapers were burning
brightly, but no whisper was heard within the spacious
walls, and the soHtary individual stood listless in a cross-
passage, which led into the interior of the buUding to ad
jacent rooms. I passed him, and advanced within the
railing of the altar and opened the quarto volume con
taining the serrices of the church. It was not unaccepta
ble to tum at once to the familiar and beautiftil Te Deum,
which carried me back to other hours, though I perused it
in the language of its original :
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.
Te Deum laudamus ; te Dominum confitemur.
Te Eeternum Patrem ; omnis terra veneratur.
Tibi omnes Angeli j tibi coeli, et universEe potestates :
Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim ; incessabili voce proclamant,
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt coeli et terra, majestatis glorise tuse.
Te, gloriosus Apostolorum chorus ;
Te, Prophetarum laudabilis numerus !
Te, Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus,
Te, per orbem terrarum, sancta confltetur Ecclesia.
Patrem immensse majestatis ;
"Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium.

142 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
Sanctum quoque Paracletum Spiritum.
Tu Rex gloriae, Christe.
Tu Patris sempiternus et Filius.
Tu ad liberandum susceptnrus hominem; non horruisli 'Vir-
ginus nterum.
Tu devicto mortis aculeo; apernisti credentibus regna ccelorum.
Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris.
Judex crederis esse venturus.
Te ergo qusesumus, luis famulis subveni ; quos pretioso sanguine
redemisti. .Sterna fac cum Sanctis tuis! in gloria numerari.
Salvum fac populum tuum Domine ; et benedic haereditati tuae.
Et rege eos ; et exloUe" illos usque in aeternum.
Per singulos dies, benedicimus le
Et laudamus nomen tuum in saeculum, et in saecnlum saeculi.
Dignare Domine die isto, sine peccato nos cnstodire.
Miserere nostri Domine; miserere nostri.
Fiat misericordia tua Domine super nos, quemadmodum speravi-
mus in te.
In te Domine speravi; non confunda in aetemnm,*
? Idem in Graece, ^s Oiov 'Tfivovfuv.
~e Ocbv vfivovfttv, as tor Kvgiov ofioloysfuy.
.2'i JOV aiiarwv IlaTega naca ij yrj cri^erai.
2ai navrsg oi "Ayyeloi ixqyiavaii /3oi<)(ti, aol oi ovQavol,lHtti
naaai at dvra/ieis avjarr
—01 ra A"fpor',3(jU Xal ^iQaq)ifi axaroTiavaa qrtufij rx^o&ttiv,
Aytoi, ayiof, ayiog Kvgioi b Oiog ^aflatuO.
HXijQtig oc ovgarot, xal r/y^ t^,- fifyaXitoriftos Tiji SbSri? <rov.
— i 0 tvdo^og Ttoy 'Ano(n6xon' x^Qog aro/ir^i ;
Si 0 Ttuj' ngocp^T&v ci^toTtgtri;^ avlXoyog ayi\u>'ei
Sf 0 T&v Magrvgiav ytvatog (TTQctTo; urvfirfi,
—f flva naaav rijv oixovfier>jr tj 'Ayla bfxoXoy'ii 'ExxXTjtria,
Jlarsga ii/s antgariov fifyaXei6Ti,Tog ;
Tov Te ai^aafiiov abr, dXijOtj xal fioroyiri) ' Tiov.
Kill TO ftytov nvfii/.ta to TiagdxXtiTov,
yi /JnatAfiv ti/c SoUij; ti Xgicrri.
-V TOU llatgbg aiding ' indg/fig ' rtog.
2l'v (itixugrffTag XvigiifraaOai xov arOguTfov, ovx i^deXv^a riv
Tiji nagOivov yaariga.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 143
A sharp, hissing sound, which I knew to come from
the solitary individual before alluded to, 'reached my ear
as an admonition for attention, when he beckoned that
others were approaching ; and in a moinent afterwards,
eight or ten priests, in thefr appropriate robes, entered from
the passage-way leading from the interior of the building.
I retained my place until they had approached, when, with
a mutual salutation I passed them, and took my place
vrithout the altar. One of thefr number marking that I
had been perusing thefr formulas on tl)^ stand in tiie cen
fre of the enclosure, said that they were about to repeat
the service. I therefore waited to listen to it, as their soli
tary auditor. They went through the vespers with distinct
and rotund voices, now responding ta each other, and now
mingling their several voices together, and agaiu chanting,
as is thefr custom, parts of the service orally. There
was no music. When they were through, I approached a
priest who seemed to be one of the superiors," and address
ed him in Latin.
2v .viKtjcrag tov davatov to xivrgov rpioi^ag naoi Totg ni<TTo1q
Trpi ^aaiXilav tGyv oiigaviov.
Sv ix dsSiav tov 0sov xadrjaai, iv t^ So^ tov Hargog.
2s xgntjv rjfi&v ij^siv niaTsvofisv. '
2ov TOivov dsofieda rolg colg oixijaig ^orjdti, ovg tw Tifilco aov
i^yogauag di/iuTi..
Uolrjcav avTovg sv rij aiayvico doirj Totg Aytog aov avvagidfii]-
Smaov TOV Xaov aov Kvgis, xal svXoyrjaov jijV xXrigoro/ilav aov.
Uolfiavov avTOvg, xal enagov avTovg sig joiig aldvag.
KaO' sxaaTTjV ^/isgav fisyaXvofisv as,
Kai Tigoaxwov/uv t& ovofiaTl aov elg tov alwva, xal tslg tov
ai&vatTov aiojvog
Allmaov Kvgis avajigTrfiovg cpvXdaasiv iijiag arjfisgov.
'Mstjuov rj/iag, Kvgis, iXsTjaov rj^ag.
rivoiTO Kvgis to sXsog aov sii^fiag, xadansg 'tiXniaafisv ini aoi
Emi aoi Kvgis rjlniaa, firj xaxaiaxwdsLrp' sig Tbv ai&va.

144 THE FLAG SHff ; OR
It appeared to me peculiar, and yet not uninteresting,
that the priests had gathered here for their evening vespers,
with the doors opened for those who chose to enter to say
their evening prayers vrith them. But none came ; and
why should the mass of the people gather, to Hsten to.
what they cannot comprehend, and where it requfres a
bell to tell them the time and the place they are requfred
to kneel ?
As I left the imperial chapel, to which I understood
there are a certain number of priests attached, and who
must all be of noble exfraction, and here are alone entitled
to wear the red stocking, I stopped on my way through the
Rua do Ouvedore, in a respectable book-store, and was
pleased -with the motto in gUded letters above thefr shelves,
" Vita sine litturis, mors est."
I thought, in connection vrith the scene I had but a few
moments previously left, that it was equaUy trae, that
Religio, sine vita, mors eterna est.
During the earlier part of the day, scarcely a female
of the higher order of the BrazUians is to be seen in the
sfreets. In the evening, however, they promenade gener
ally vrith thefr attendants without boimets or veUs.
I took a shore boat to the frigate, as I had delayed be
yond the hour for tiie sundown boat It was nine o'clock
when I neared the ship. The music was just rolling off
the tattoo. I ordered the oarsmen to rest upon thefr oars.
In a moment, a red sheet of flame came from the bows of
the Columbia, and the report of the nine o'clock gun sent
its echo around the panoramic hills, as if an answering
cannon had returned its voice from a dozen peaks.
The boatmen again applied their sculls, and "Boat
ahoy !" came as an authoritative haU, from the tafferel of ihe

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 145
frigate. " Ay, ay," was the reply ; and in a moment more
the lanterns were at the gangway and side of the ship, to
light one to the deck of the Columbia.
I dined on the 13th vrith the English chaplain, attached
to the British delegation on shore, and met the chaplain of
H. B. Majesty's ship Stag at the table, and some other of
the English officers. The Gloria Hill, where the house of
Mr. M., the chaplain, is situated, is an exquisite spot.
The view from his piazza is very beautiful, commanmng,
vrith still greater interest than from Castle Hill, the view
of the surrounding scenery, so picturesque, and beautiful,
and grand, and varied in its complex particulars, as al
ready described.
On the pr€ceding evening, I visited at Mr. Wright's,
an estimable American fainily, where most of the Amer
ican society were gathered. Mr. Hunter the Charge
d' Affafrs was present, vrith other members of his family.
He is a gentleman of agreeable manners, and read in
poHte Hterature^ Miss H., his interesting daughter, is de
servedly admired for her chaste beauty and simplicity of
manners. "Kate," her father says,"' she is called at home,
(•Miss H. of course abroad,) and all of her acquaintances
vrill ever after affirm that " Kate " is a very pretty diminu
tive. Mr. Hunter promises me the perusal of some choice
papers of the date of Charles the Second, on the return of
our squadron, which are in the imperial library. I have
seen, since the evening of the American party, two other
ladies of the clan de I'Amerique, and their acquaintance
increases rather than diminishes my interest in the Ameri
can society of Rio ; and from one I shall bear, as a deco
ration of my Httle room, a choice plant, in memory of the
donor, and as one of nature's prodigal distributers of the
rich perfumes of flowers.
Vol. I. 13

146 the flag ship; or *" .
Ride to the Botanical Garden.
The botanical garden is deemed one of the principal
lions of Rio, distant some five or six miles in the country.
Lieutenant G. of the Fairfield having made all due pre
parations for a ride thither, I left the ship at ten o'clock
in the morning ; and found our carriage in waiting
to take us a ride into the country. We preceded the
Commodore, Captain M. and Lieutenant P., who reached
the garden soon after ourselves. Our ride lay along the
beautiful little bay of Boto Fogo, Hned on its curved shore
by a number of English residences, the German minister's,
and some pretty BrazUian country-seats. The sugar-loaf
mount at the entrance of the harbour of Rio, forms a
prominent point to the scenery of this beautiful little cres
cent of water, as its high peak and base mark the eastern
termination of the curved line of the basin. Its stiUy
bosom and surrounding eminences on this moming of our
ride, reminded me of some of the stiU-cahn scenes amid the
scenery of Lake George. The Corcovado, the highest
mount, so deemed, of aU the surrounding peaks of this
mountainous landscape, was above our heads on our right,
as we drove on through the pathway, lined on either side
vrith the cocoa-nut and banana and tamarind trees, and
partly on our left and often in our front rose the pecuHar pro
minence, which, as I deemed it as seen from the ocean, consti
tutes " Lord Hood's Nose," so much spoken of by all who

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 147
enter the harbour of Rio, and which astonishingly resem
bles the face o^ a strqng-featured man lying upon his back,
as you approach the land to enter the harbour. But the
face, to me, was not the only or hardly the most striking
appearance which was lined on the horizon, by the blend
ing of the peaks of the high lands, which raise their ele
vated cones and table mountains in the skies, and strike
with pleasure the eye of the voyager as he is approaching
the inlet to the expanded basin, constituting thfe harbour
of Rio de Janeiro. All of the prominences, to which I
have aUuded, are so blended with intervening and lower
mountains, as, together, to form -the striking resemblance
(if such realities ever were) of a huge giant — one of nature's
olden monsters, laid out, vyith his face upwards, and em
balmed in eternal rock. There you see him, his forehead
slanting and low, with his hair combed back — his nose
prominent, between Roman and the Aqueline — then, his
small chin and short neck^ — then, his elevated chest, with
his arms folded for his last embalmment — then, his ex
tended limbs, with the prominent eminence of the sugar-
loaf mount, 1,000 feet high, constituting his up-turned
- feet, and in just keeping with the other proportions of this
immense phenomenon of ages back, till now, with this
evidence before us, beheved to have been fabulous. And
there he lies, as seen from the ship, as she stands on her
course to the nearing land, looking at the blue heavens,
and listless to the roar of ocean, and the storm, and the
whirl-wind, and the sea-gale ; and there he shall still He,
until one mightier than he shall sound the trump of the
last angel, and burst in sunder and wild dismemberment,
his sarcophagus of imperishable granite.
Our ride, the remaining part of the way from Boto
Fogo, was less interesting but possessing variety. We

148 THE FLAG smp ; OR
reached the garden after an hour's drive, and having ordered
(Hnner, entered the grounds, to wander at leisure through
avenues and by-paths of the garden, to observe the col
lected exotics as well as native plants, shrubs, and frees,
and yet more for myself, the taste vrith which the grounds
were laid out — all of which we had been assured to be of
considerable interest, and promised much pleasure to the
new observer.
The grounds which compose the garden are irregular,
and form a flat near the beach and beneath the mountain
side previously alluded to, and called the Corcorado. At
the entrance of the gateway, a segment of a smaU efrcle
is swept, with the gate as the centre of the efrcle, from
the convex part of which four or five avenues extend, in
straight lines, which constitute aU the pecuHarit)" of the taste
here displayed in the adjustment of the walks. The paths
ran, afterwards, as convenience directs, through the
grounds joining the main avenues. TThere is an annual
appropriation for the improvement of these grounds, hut
they are any thing rather than what we would suppose
they should be, in a climate and soU of such capabUities ;
and the grounds only in thefr cenfral parts evince much
care. There is a tasteful bower, however, which meets
the eye of the stranger in his promenade, and courts him to
enter within its ever-green walls. It is elevated on an
artificial and turfed mound, some twelve to fifteen feet high.
The bower is a paraUelogram, and formed by theinlacingof
the branches of the arbor vitre trees, with glassless win
dows inserted in each palhsade of the frees, so as to form
an opening for observation, and for the sweet gales of the
garden to quaver tiirough, to fan the cheek of the lady-
^isiter, or to give breath to her rougher companion who
may attend her ; or to render yet more pleasant the pick-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 149
nick coteries which they say, often ride from town, and
here fake their lunch, and chat all manner of gentle and
kind words. You ascend to the entrance of this ever
green bower by a flight of steps cut on a truncated triangle
of earth, which, like the mound on which the bower is
raised, is overgrown vrith perennial grass.
And in the same neighbourhood, beneath two large
tufts of cane, rising high and gracefully, and branching
out thefr tops like some mighty plume of mighty knight,
is a svring, in which all who wish once more to live over
one scene of thefr childhood, may go on the gentle sweep,
and think how different are the days of our childhood,
from those when w& are called to gaze abroad on a wild
world, and to buffet its vrild waves.
We saw in the garden a number of the tropical plants
and trees new to us, and others, from other climes, which
before we had not seen. The tea shrub was growing in
considerable areas, and at this time was in blossom. The
shrab was about three feet high, and cultivated in hills of
a few shoots each. Then there was the clove and the
cinnamon tree, and the coffee free, the bread free and the
jack-fruit, which last is a striking thing, the tree growing
as large as a forest oak, and the frait hanging froni a
stem that projects directly from the body of the free or
from the largest limb ; and grovring to the size of a half
bushel basket, though generally elongated and flattened,
rather than perfectly globular.
There were many other fruits, which it cannot be of
interest here to name or describe.
We wandered through the grounds again, and left the
garden for the Httle building in the neighbourhood, kept
as a hotel. To our surprise, the comfortable essentials
of a good meal were spread before us, after some delay —
13*

150
our party now befrig constituted of the Commodore, Capt.
M. and four others. Having nought else to do, a long
time was lingered away at the table, (some two hours or
more — horrible !) but rendered tolerable in the lounging
ease of the gentlemen who composed it, and the succession
of unexpected tastefuls which came befbre us. Our atten
dants themselves did not entirely deny us a pleasure, as it
was all so unexpected. " Take care there, Jose Maria
Cavallo, don't shake that bottle of claret as you did the
other." Don Jose Maria, etc. etc., taking the hint, thought
he understood it, and, as if it had been champaign wine
or spruce beer, deemed he was making it yet more spark
ling and choice, by adding greater agitation to the shak
ing he now gave the bottle.
Our two carriages drove into town ; and as we rattled
over the horrible pavements, the dark, and the dark, and
the DARK BrazUians looked from thefr balconies and upper
windows at the Americans of the frigata and the corvetta,
as it was the evening hour, when they are privileged to
gaze on the passers by, and be stared at, without displea
sure or displeasing of either party.
On a succeeding day I visited the Museum, which is
opened gratis for the people, tvrice a week. I did not
expect to find a large or a greatly vaiied collection.
Neither the display of bfrds nor minerals vvas such as might
have been looked for in other days of Brazil. The speci-
jaens, however, in mineralogy were respectable, though
very far inferior in variety, beauty, and arrangement, to
the cabinet at New Haven. It is said that Don Pedro I.
robbed the Musemn of its choicest and richest materials,
when he left the country. Don Pedro II. is yet a lad of
twelve or fourteen years of age, and tiiough said to be a
bright boy for his years, wiU probably have enough of

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 151
turmoil, when he shall have reached the age to take
his position for himself in the relations of the state parties,
to occupy his time for the safety pf his crown, to the
neglect of the improvement of the public institutions of
his imperial ^dominions. As evidence of the brightness
of young Pedro, I was told by Doctor Prestina, a Por
tuguese gentleman of learning, that he was familiar with
the French language, and had made con|iderable proficiency
in the English and Latin ; and had advanced in mathe
matics, and read a good deal in history. '
When I had wandered through the upper rooms of the
Museum, which are small, and exhibit but few curiosities,
I left them and entered an imder apartment of the same
building. The lower room contained a few specimens in
mechanics, where a few visiters, like myself, were now
sfroUing^ I saw nothing, however, particularly to arrest
my attention but a case of books and an atlas (a London
copy) of the comparative heights and extent of the dif
ferent water -falls of the globe. I had placed myself in an
examining posture, but the atlas was hung too high for
convenience, which the attentive person in charge of the
rooms observing, presented himself, and immediately spread
it before me on a table. I placed my finger on the Falls of
Niagara, with some remarks connected with it, when a
soft voice at my side asked, "And have you, sir, seen the
Falls of Niagara 1" with an intonation that at once told
me that it was not native.
"Yes, madam," I replied, as I tumed and beheld a
young English lady leaning upon the arm of a gentlemanly
looking man ; " and I left them," I continued, " as I would
part with a newly formed acquaintance, who had greatly
contributed to ray pleasure — delighted that we had met, and
regretting that we were so soon to separate."

152 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
" My sister," continued the lady, " is now in the United
States, and gives me such glowing accounts of what she
meets, that I envy her the fortune to have enjoyed, before
me the opportunity of visiting North America. If I might
induce my lord here," said the lady, gentiji'smiling, and
myself and her lord gently bowing, " we should not long
delay our passage to the United States."
All Englishmen, and certainly all English women, are
not prejudiced against the United States. And the time
has come when they are pleased if they can identify thefr
own genealogies as kindred -with those of the early wor
thies of our country.
A letter from a Portuguese gentleman of Madeira,
raade me acquainted vrith J. J. Prestina, a doctor of leai-n-
ing at Rio de Janeiro. He v-isited our ship, vrith a friend,
and pressed me to accept an invitation to accompany him,
on any day of our stay, to his seat in the country. I have
postponed this, vrith other visits, untU a good Providence
may return us to this port again, on our way back to our
northern homes. Dr. P. is a happy specimen of a Portu
guese gentleman, surpassed by few for ease and urbanity
of manners. He is said to have accumulated a fortune in
the practice of law ; and in the revolution of Portugal of
1823, when raany of her choice sons had no altemative
but to fly to arms or to exile, he visited Brazil. With
this gentleman, I hope, on my return, to take several ex
cursions into the surrounding country, and to the neigh
bouring islands, which are said to be exquisite in their
scenery, and rich in thefr high state of cultivation.
The chaplain of H. B. Majesty's ship Stag having call
ed upon me, I reciprocated his visit, and was invited to
take a stroll with him and some of the officere of the Stag>
to Prior Grande. They would send a boat for rae.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE' WORLD. 153
Between England and America, there doubtless will
ever be the memory of former incidents, to serve to keep
ahve the spirit of jealousy between the two nations,
M'ith a spice of envy on the part of the British people. The
English have ruled, mistress of the seas, until their prow
ess was fafrly contested, in several actions, by our own
vessels. The English can hardly be expected to yield a
concession on this point which would take them one step
from their self-complacent and proud elevation. And
Americans believe, and without doubt have proved to their
own satisfaction, and that of the world, that they are, a
match — perhaps in their young thirst for glory more them
a match — for the English, with equal forces. These cir
cumstances sometimes produce, if not a coolness yet a pre
served distance, in the assoiciation between American and
British officers ; while there is, at the same time, no asper
ity or unkindness of feeling on the part of either. It only
prevents the approach of the two parties. But when they
do meet and know each other, there is no want of cordi
ality in real feeling, or generous hospitality, and famihar
and well-bred courtesy.
On the evening preceding our departure from the har
bour of Rio de Janeiro, Commodore Read gave a dinner
to the EngHsh officers in command of the British ships,
now in the harbour. Commodore Sulivan has the British
squadron on this side Cape Horn ; and an Admiral
commands the squadron on the other. Formerly the forces
on either side of the Cape were under the command of an
Admiral, stationed on this side the Cape, with a Commo
dore, subject to his orders, on the other side. The two
forces are now independent commands.
Commodore Sulivan is an agreeable gentleman, and
made himself such on the present occasion ; and Captain

154 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
Shepherd I found sociable. He is deemed an officer very
creditably familiar vrith his profession.
The Commodore's table-plate, and well-served dishes,
always do him credit as a man of taste ; and becomingly
supports the respectabiUty of the government, whom he
represents in his honourable commands.
Prerious to our learing the harbour of Rio de Janeiro,
I preached in the English chapel. The congregation was
very respectable. The English chaplain who has charge
of the congregation, and the chaplain of the Stag, were
present — the former reading the serv ice.
It is indeed a grateful opportunity, when abroad, after
haring been for months on board a ship, to be able to
mingle in your own famUiar worship of home, on shore.
They are the same prayers to which you have often Hs
tened with a melted heart; or which you yourself have
offiered, as the leader in the petitions of hundreds of
others — ^the same responses, and the same psalms, and the
same chants, and the same hymns. The heart goes home
to kindred and to native lands ; and if rightly affected,
goes upward too in devout devotion and gratitude to Him,
who hath blessed and protected the wanderer on his course
of the seas.
The modifications in our prayer-book in which it differs
from the English serrice, strike the worshipper of the
American church, but interrupts not his devotion. It is
but natural that the English should pray for thefr ralers,
though it appears peculiar that they should mention them
by name. And in the modification of some of the old ob
solete terms, the omission of some things, and learing
others discretionary on the part of the American clergy
raan, where they are required to be gone through on the
part of the Enghsh, I deera to be in favour of the Ameri-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 155
can prayer-book. And yet, there could be very little
objection for an American clergyman of, the Episcopal
church, to go through the services of the mother church,
before an English congregation, on English ground.
Dr. Hazlet and Lieutenant Turner accompanied me^
from the ship to the English chapel. On our return we
stopped, as we were passing, for a moment, in the imperial
chapel. The services were nearly concluding. The
music was powerful. Here they have two or three
eunuchs from Italy, whose voices mingle with peculiar
effect, in the choir. The crowd were jammed together,
blacks and whites, and all sorts of the males. The private
openings in the second story on the sides of the building,
aUuded to on a preceding page, were filled -with Brazilian
women, without bonnets, who composed the household of
the Emperor and other Brazilian families. Many of them
were respectable for their personal appearance, and all
dressed with becoming taste. Rockets and other ffre-
works were already arranged in _the street, at the door of
the chapel, with which to conclude the ceremonies of a
Christian worship ! We had left the building, and had
proceeded but a short distance on our way to our boat,
which was in waiting for us from the ship, when the
match had heen applied, to the bursting of rockets and
other fire-works ; and the loud reports of the exploding
crackers, and the feu-de-joie, exhibited a scene, which we
could not but identify with the whole service, as a fanci
ful show — a religious farce — gone through for the amuse
ment of the "people.
How unlike the simple, suppressed, solemn worship of
the Eternal, in which we had just been engaged. The
Lord was not in the whirlwind, nof in the earthquake, nor

156 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
in the fire : but in " the still small voice," And when the
prophet heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle.*
It is now too late, in this age of free inquiry, with the
materials which have been spread before us, and the scenes
which are yet daily enacting in Catholic countries, to pre
tend an apology, as if there were in the mummeries and
in the religious farces of the papal ceremonies, a tendency
to pure morality Emd " religion undefUed." In our own
country, the Catholic religion, for the sake of appearances
and decency, raust omit much which is seen abroad. It is
a notorious fact, in connection with Madefra and this place,
that the people have so far felt the unhappy influences of
the monastic institutions, as to make them a subject of
legislation and restriction. And common report everywhere
says, that the ceHbacy of the corrupted priesthood has
made inroads upon the domestic peace, and harmony, and
vfrtue of the social compact And in affirming these
things, which modern CathoHc legislatures have them
selves affirmed, and in some measure acted upon, the Pro
testant is declared to be prejudiced, persecuting, and Ulibe-
ral. Pray, are there none but Protestant persecutors in the
world of Christendom ? UntU within comparatively a few
years, the right of ChristiEm sepulture weis forbidden, in the
countries where Papacy had the ascendency. And now,
I am told, that the English chapel here is precluded from
holding their worship vyith the doors oftheir church shut.
And when I see the membei-s of that church rather incHn-
ing to join the reviler and the blasphemer against the cause
of Protestant missions, and other institutions under Pro
testant influences, I am led to question the soundness of a
system, which will lead to the miion of sympathies so un-
? 1 Kings xix, 11-13,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 157
like the spirit and the professed end of the religion of Jesus
Christ. For myself, I should be most happy that the Ro
raan church, or ihe Catholic church, as they rather choose
to be called, in our country, should, as they have in some
measure, reform their system, retaining the good and reject
ing the bad ; and adhering less closely (which both pat
riotism and religion require) to the Papacy at Rome. The
Catholic church in the United States is respectable in num
bers, character, and we would be uncharitable indeed not
to suppose, in some good degree, in Christian influence.
But there is Em incubus in her system — a drawback to all
the good. There is ignorance ofthe Bible, and premedi
tated ignorance on the part of those whose duty it is,
according to the charter of all our hopes, to dispense " the
word " to thefr flocks, which is able to make, and which
vrill make, wise unto salvation. And so long as the Bible
shall be kept from the laity, there will be and there must
be something bad existing in the premises, and a perpetual
wandering from the essentials and the spirit of the gospel
system. It has been so — it will be so. It is necessary to
the existence ofthe trath, in its purity, that the Bible should
be in the hands of both the people and the pastors, that
the example of both may be tested by a common and the
acknowledged stEmdEu-d.
I have taken my last ride out of Rio, vrith Lieutenant
G. of the Fairfield. We went to the Emperor's country
residence, and also called on most of the American fami
lies of Rio. Their residences are in the neighbourhood of
the Emperor's grounds, a short way into the country.
Our ride was exceedingly pleasant, and our calls agreeable
to ourselves at least In the evening we took tea at the
Wrights', and prolonged our stay in the social circle
of this amiable family. To-day, the last we spend in the
Vol. L 14

158 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
harbour of Rio for a long, long time, I vritnessed, on
shore, at four P. M., a funeral ceremony of considerEtble
raEignificence ; and, as characteristic of the customs of this
people, is worthy of a nota bene. It was imposing, and
fully attended. I was aware that the solemnities of a
burial were to take place, from the ringing of the beUs of
the large cathedral situated on the east side of the square,
into which the Rua do Ouvedor, the principal street of
Rio de Janeiro, enters. The hearse, drawn by four white
horses, with high plumes of black feathers decking thefr
head-stalls, had already reached the front of the buUding,
where a crowd was gathered, when I arrived at the steps
of the cathedral. I entered the door of the building,
where numbers had arranged themselves in two lines
leading from the far-in altar, vrith each a waxen taper in
his hand, which served bim as a staff". As I passed, one
of these lighted sticks of wax, reaching quite to the shoul
der, and about two inches in diameter, was handed to me,
and I advanced up the Hne of Hghts to a vacant positito
nearest the altar. As I looked down to the enfrance of
the cathedral, the two Hnes of simUar tapers, each sup
ported by its holder, gave, forth a continuous gleam of
light, sfreaming on either side in a brilhant periphery of
an elongated elHpsis. In a few moments, from an adjacent
recess, which commimicated with an interior psissage, en
tered three richly decorated priests, in the habiliments of
their order, the central one supporting a massive silver
cross, and the two on either side bearing a taper light in
massive silver candlesticks. They advEmced, v\'ith twenty
priests following them, with lighted waxen tapers in their
hands, to meet the corpse at the enti-ance of the cathedral.
A number of the priests I had before seen at the imperial
chapel. They were now decked in short robes of white

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 159
lacfij' falling, like a round-about, a little below their
shotilders, upon a lower robe of black. Beside these,
were thirty or forty attendants in black bombazine cano-
niccds, whose province seemed immediately to bear the
corpse and perform the laborious parts of the burial. They
all together advanced, with the coffin, overlaid with gold
lace, to a high altar raised without the chancel, and highly
gilded, seven feet long and three in breadth, upon which
the deceased was placed. The services of the burial com
menced by the chief priest, who had borne the sUver cross
in the procession. The responses were loud and rotund.
As the coffin was elevated upon "fhe altar, it fell apart, by
its peculiar construction, opening from the top, by means
of the split-lid, and dropping either way, by hinges on either
side, so EIS to expose half the body, dressed in its usual
habiliments. The chief ecclesiastic moved thrice around
the body, sprinkHng, from a silver wand, the holy water
upon the body, as he passed at the head, the side, the feet,
and the side again, bowing to the silver cross as he passed,
which was now elevated at the feet of the altar, without
the chancel. The ceremony confiiiued — when a strain of
music carae from the choir, now in full choras, now in
dulcet sfrains, now in duetto, and again in a chorus that
shook the walls of the mEissive buildings ; and once more
the requiem was long, and soft, and silent !
The heavy doors of a side passage were opened, and
the priests advEmced to an inner court of death, embracing
an extensive area, surrounded by high walls. A colonnade
extended around, the spacious rectangle, within which and
the wall a covered pavement ranges around the square,
the centre of which is open for light and air. The pro
cession of priests moved on, (the concourse of the specta
tors having extinguished their lights and retired at the

160 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
conclusion of the requiem in the church,) and reached the
farthest side of this hollow square. They paused at an
open niche in the wall. The wall is fiUed vrith ranges,
five or six tier high, of such niches, one above the other,
rendering, it a bulwark of imbedded skeletons. Here the
coffin was placed upon a smaller altar, similar but less
decorated than the first, standing without a rougher pairof
steps, which rested beneath the opening in the wall.
Upon this altar the coffin was fiirst placed, by the attendcmts
in black, who had borne it from the spacious room of the
cathedral to this adjacent court, which forms a pEu-t of
the same pile of buildings Then, vrith the repetition of a
short additional service, the body was elevated to the
rougher platform, and agEiin the coffin fell and exposed
the body ; and eajch of the dark-robed men advancing to
the step^ took a small scuttle of quickhme, and ascending
the steps, deposited itupon the body, and again descended,
to be succeeded by others, until the unconscious sleeper
was imbedded in the element, which was soon to prey in
consumption upon his yielding dust It oiUy remained, in
completing the ceremony of the buriEd, to place the body
-vrithin the vacant niche of the wall, and to seal it in ma
sonry of lime and rock, and to affix to the external sur
face the number of the inwalled vault.
The procession of priests returned through the church,
bending their knees as they passed the altar, and extin
guishing their Hghts as they sought the inner rooms,
where they unrobed and replaced their dresses, which they
had assumed as appropriate habUiments for the religious
ceremonies of the burial.
They had gone ; and their voices were heard to mur
mur low in the inner distsmce of the extended building.
And now, all was silence. I, alone, stood in that spacious

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 161
hall, where but just now the peals of music echoed, and a
thousand lights were gleaming, and the trEunp of many feet
were heard. Mine alone, now lingered ; and one solitary
taper only was glimmering on the altar in that vast build
ing, to keep the vigils of the night-watch.
I walked through the dark passage-way to the interior
rooms — again retraced my steps, and left the silent build
ing, and was soon on my way down the Rua do Ouvedor,
with thoughts, solemn and' strange, in thefr commingling
of emotions and sentiments, which these scenes and their
associations had .awakened.
I have made the preceding notes, associated with Rio
de Janeiro, purposely omitting any excursions into the in
terior and to some of the neighbouring islands, which, with
visits to some other objects, and Brazilian families in the
neighbourhood, 1 hope to be able to make under the favour
able circumstances of intelligent and gentlemanly BrazU
ian attendance on my return.
But on this evening of our last stay in this beautiful
harbour, how many are the associations of the past, which
mingle with the present. It is here, on the still bosom of
this mountain-shored basin, sleeping to-night like a calra
lake among the hills, where the winds cannot ruffle it, the
battle-ships of all the early states of Europe have rode, and
for a moment paused on thefr several courses of dis
covery, of adventure, of merchandise, of "war, and of cir-
cumnarigation of the world ! Here the daring and ad
venturous Portuguese moored their tempest-tost barks,
which had first discovered these and hundred other shores,
as the pioneers on the seas, where the white spread sails
of other nations are now wafted in the same but earlier
and fearful tracks of the Portuguese, vrithout solicitude,
and hardly vrith a memory of the men who pointed out to
14*

162

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

them the paths of the seas. And here Magellan paused
with his little fleet of five ships, for a fortnight, whose
name is immortalized on the land, as having first passed
through the straits that unite the southern with the north-
tern ocean ; and among the stars, as giving an appellation
to the tvrin nebula, or the Magellan clouds in the southern
hemisphere. And here, in 1764, the Dolphin and the
Tamor under Byron in chief, and Mouat, in thefr cfrcuit
of discovery, moored ; and De Bougainville followed, after
resigning the Falkland Isles into the hsmds of the Span
ish, agreeably to the order of his government. And on
these same waters the energetic and accompHshed, but
unfortunate Cooke, with his companion Banks, whose
thirst for knowledge was insatiable, lay moored in the
good ship Endeavour. And they have all passed on —
passed on .' And how many others have come Edter — and
where now are they 1 And we foUow them — and where
soon shall we be, when others sHeAI stUl foUow us, and
like ourselves Emd all who have gone before, shall pass to
the realities, and the sUence, fr" not the forgetfulness of the
dead ! But since the days of MageUan and Vasco de
Gsima, -and Columbus, what a revolution has passed over
the two hemispheres of the north and the south, and of the
west and the east ! New worlds, and fafr worlds, if not in
literal extent, yet in production and population, have been
developed ; and tiie seas of the globe have become as
plain a patiiway to the msu-iner as the school-boy's frack
to the house of his esu-ly pupUage. , And to-morrow we
again weigh anchors, and follow on in our course. The
high peaks which now surround us, Emd which have rever
berated tiie echo of the cannon of almost every national flag
of the earth, and have hcEurd our own loud-mouthed pieces
speak more than a dozen times in national courtesy and

A VOYAGE AROUND THE -WORLD. 163
personal cirilities, will soon sink from their proud eleva
tions to mole-hills as we stand on our eastern traverse.
We bid ye, in good sooth, ye lofty eminences and waved
outline of cone and table-mount, and organ peaks, good-
by, for long months, perhaps for years, perhaps'- for ever !
And we will not forget the image which ye vrill have left
in our vision, for the grand in nature is always imposing,
and comraands remembrance if we would forget. And
kindly we vrill think of your unwalled lake, and some who
dwell in homes which overlook these embosomed waters ;
for we would think with kindness on those who kindly
have treated us. May a good Providence guide us again
to look upon your green mountain-sides, and to re-greet
the stranger friends, of whom we have learned enough to
desire yet more to learn. July 29, 1*38. V^vi
We are now gliding finely out of the harbour of Rio
de Janeiro, to sea. The morning land-breeze is swelling
our saUs gently, and ten boats are ahead of us, from the
different ships of war in the harbour, with our own, tow
ing us beyond the mouth of the bay. A few momenta |
more, and the boats vrill have returned j and the breeze,'
still freshening, assures us that we shall gain a sufiicient
offing before the sea-breeze shall set in, and give us a
clear sweep over the blue billow, from every danger of an
iron-bound coast.

164 THE FLAG SHIP : OR

SECTION VL
111, at sea. Religion everywhere a beautifier of the character.
Lines — An invalid's thoughts of home. Gale at sea. Nature's
harmonies in colouring and adaptation. Blow, ofl" Cape Good
Hope. Luna-bow. Theories confirmed by experience. The
variety of clouds. Island of Madagascar. Associations on descry
ing the land. Beautiful rainbow. The isles of France and Bour
bon, Harriet Newell's last restingplace. Lines loa beautiful bird,
which lighted on the -ship, Diego Rodriques. Henry Martyn.
Religion beautifies the countenance as well as the character.
Byron and Pollock. Corpo-Sant, or St. Elmo's light. Sunset
scene in the seas of Arabia, on the equatorial line at meridian.
An Arabian Falco. Eclipse of the moon. Calm of the Arabian
seas. For several days since our lea^ring Rio, I have been
unwell. Others of the ship have been variously affected.
My own indisposition has been attended vrith considerable
suffering, and is supposed to be the consequence of eating
too freely of the tropical fraits, found in great abundance
and perfection at Rio de Janefro. Doctor H. has freated
me gently, and yet I am exfremely weak. For three days
past I have kept my state-room, while every thmg has
contributed to my comfort, so far as the ship and its con
veniences can afford. Our surgeon is every thing we would
embrace in the gentleman, the physician, and the Christian.
Religion, everywhere, is a beautifier of the character, re
fining the sensibilities of our nature. It gives a charm to
the sociEd efrcle. It is, or should be, the very breath of
woraan. It is the without which nothing, to the minister
of the gospel. But nowhere is it more fitly appropriate,
than in the character of the physician. He secures our
confidence in the exercise of his skill, and the heart is soft-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 165
ened to receive his sympathy, which never reaches the
perfect state of the patient's circmnstances unless the heart
that gives it has been touched by the gospel principles,
which are indissolubly connected with the very being of
man. And advice coming from such a man, in the hours
of a patient's illness, is not ill-timed, or attended with ill-
grace. It is not ex-qfficio. As possessing such a- charac
ter, I regard our amiable and gentiemanly surgeon.
But vrith all the comfortables of a convenient ward
room, state-room, servant, prorision and attendance, all
will be forgotten by' the invalid, when much prostrated,
and his thoughts will go to his far-off home. He thinks
of the soft hand of a mother and sister, who have attended
him in some former illness. He thinks of the spacious and
corafortable chamber in his father's house. He will re
collect the -soft step — the low whisper — the smile — the
caress — the sympathetic expression — the cheerful hopes,
Emd the encouraging voice of those who love him. And
then, when he had so far recovered as to move from room
to room, tq be bolstered at the window in the easy chair,
to walk, for the tune in the yard, in the lawn, and in the
field — he recurs to all these scenes — the delicate prepara
tions — ^the support of the sister's arm — the green grass his
foot ffrst pressed — the refreshing fish-pond at whose side
he sat — the sweet orchard througfr which he leisurely sfroU-
ed, and the bench and the bower where he lounged, and
the beautiful scenery now rendered doubly more enchant
ing, on which he gazed — and then, when he could again
bear it, the soft and swe^ music, which awoke for him.
Some of these things have been passing through my own
thoughts as I have lain upon my state-room cot and mused
of home and scenes of other days. And could the heart
but break under such remembrances of kindness, and solici
tude, and parental and sisterly care 1 And the love of

166

THE FLAG SHH"; OR

home, and kindred who make home the bhssful spot that it
IS, wakes more intensely than ever before he has known it,
however sincerely he may have loved. It is the voyager
away and afar, musing in his hours of illness, who begets in his
bosom a love of home, which others cannot know. He
realizes, in more virid appreciation, the charm of those
associations, which originally possessed thefr interest on
account of the pleEisure they had caused bim to experience
at the locality of his home ; and aU these things which
have once awakened his pleasurable emotions are now
reviewed with a gentler heart, rendered additionally sus
ceptible in his weaker sfrength of body ; and he realizes
with a warmer love the happy cfrcumstances of those hap
py hours; which have been but now, in his absence and
distance, he realizes with the deepening effect of confrast,
not to be. How then with a thousand-deal of intenser love
will he greet, on his retum, his forest shades, the water
stream, the deep ravine, the hiU, and the extended lawn
of his country horae ; or the social and the kindred hearts
of his city residence.
If the following lines may meet the eye of one who has
been placed on the sick-bed, iai from kindred and home,
the writer of them believes the reader vriU recognise some
feelings kindred to his own, however defective may be the
manner in which they may be embodied in the accompa
nying measure.
An Invalid's Thoughts of Home.
Oh, hast thou known the sorrowing heart
Of one afar from home,
¦When pulses gush wiih fevered heat.
And friends around thee thou hast none 1
Then hasl ihou wept a stranger's tear
Upon thy path forlorn,
¦While musing with a wanderer's care
On scenes which memory hath of home.

A voyage around the world. 167
'Tis then a mother's holiest love
Comes o'er thee as a spell.
And thoughts that burn thy bosom rove.
As memories on her kindness dwell.
For thou hast known the silken hand
Of mother on thy brow.
As, like some charm of magic wand,
It soothed thy pulses' rapid flow.
Ay, dearer than ambition's hope
Is home at such an hour ;
And all that earth lo men can ope
Hath lost for thee its wooing power ;
There is not then a charm in wealth,
Nor lure for thee in fame j
The heart one magnet only hath.
And that is e'er-remembered home.
Oh yes, it is a mother's care,
A sister's sister-love.
And friends at home, who ofi'er prayer
For thy best weal and hopes above —
It is on them fond memories dwell.
Nor world hath charm beside;
To them thou wouldst thy last thoughts tell,
When gathered sadly at thy side.
O give me back, then, to my home,
"Where love awaiteth me,
For fevered heat hath on me come.
And soon, they whisper, I may die ;
Then back, give back this heart forlorn
And aching head of mine.
For I have words to speak at home.
Ere yet my life-lamp cease to shine.
And then I 'd lay me in the ground,
¦Where sleep my kindred near.
That friends may gather at my mound
And shed for me affliction's tear ;
And say, Hejoved as child should love.
And had a brother's heart,
And will their spirits guide above
When they, ere long, and earth shall part.

168 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
We have had fresh ¦winds ever since we left Rio ; and
only on the day of our leaving the harbour have we car
ried our royals. The winds have continued to increase,
as we have stood on our course, stUl more to the south and
east, until, for two or three days past, it has been blowing
a fresh gale. Our guns have been housed, royals and top
gallant yards sent down, and the ship made snug for the
blow. It is on us. It has been sweeping over us for two
or three days. But to-night, the darkest wing of the storm
has been expanded over the heavens, and the billows are
heaving thefr heaviest throes against the bulwarks of our
frigate, as if they would feel her strength, to know how
weU she will meet the contest of the night
Having been unweU for some time, though much
better for the last three days, I have not ventured on the
upper deck, as the weather hsis been so bad, and the winds
so high, and the gun-deck so wet from the water that
floods it, though the guns have been ran in, and the ports
rendered eis tight as practicable. But the gale rises, Emd
I have desfred to contemplate the sea in its mad commo
tion, and to listen to the vrild vrinds as they whistle through
the rigging of the ship, vrith her storm-dress upon her.
To-night therefore, I attired myself for the enjoyment of
the opportunity, and, de pie en cap, ascended to the spar
or upper deck. Lieutenant P. was the officer of the deck,
and held the nettled courser on her path of darkness Eind
foam. I told him, as he discovered me, that I had come
to look at the dark eye of the gale. He talked a raoment
of the necessity of witnessing scenes of this kind rightiy,
to conceive, or to feel, or to describe them. I had waited
for such an opportunity to Eiscend the rigging of the ship,
and now placed myself upon the windward ratlins of the
mainmast. " Have a care of yourself, Mr. T.," said the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 169
officer on learning my purpose, "if you fall overboard, the
ship cannot be hove to, to save you to-night." " I know
it — I know it," I said, and left him on the deck.
It was a fearful slant those m'dsts, ever and now made,
as they bent to the influence of the gale and the surge that
roUed beneath her ; but the noble hull was ever true, and
again the musts righted, as if to mock the winged spirit of
the storm, and waited exultingly for yet other rencoun
ters, in thefr wrestles for the mastery. And those suc
ceeding rencounters came. Ever and anon I saw, far off,
the terrible roller that bore down on the weather-beam in
its majesty, unseen only as its phosphorescent crest broke
higher than the others on the dark sea, ere his huge pro
portions sfruck the waiting Columbia, now dashing on her
way as if nb Eintagonist greater than before were nearing.
But he came on in his darkness and foam. And he was
no boaster, that huge billow ; but he weis met, and the
friumphanf%ship spurned the surge, as she bent to the
mighty impulse, and dashed yet wilder and yet grander
on her way of terror, and darkness, and mist, and whirl-
vrind, and hurricane. Who can ever forget the sea-moan
of the wind, in its flight of storm through the rigging of a
frigate, as ours, this night, bends beneath the swift and
heavy passage ofthe aerial eleraents without a rag on our
mizzen-mast — the spanker-gaff down — and under double-
reefed foresail, close-reefed main-topsail, and storm stay-
saU ; Emd yet the gallant ship is leaping from surge to
surge through the dark deep, with thickest midnight
brooding over the oceEm, at the rate of twelve knots the
hour. What could save us were we dashing on a coral
reef? What could save us, were we to come in contact
-with a hearier mettled vessel than ourselves 1 And what
could save the craft upon which our ship this night should
Vol. L . 15

170

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

strike ? No one, in the wUd darkness that overhangs us,
could descry a sail ahead, nor the high peaks of an ocean-
isle, nor the coast of main land, nor in the.roar of the tem
pest that rages with the voice of mighty elements, catch
one lisp of the loud murmurs of a coast of breakers.
I left the rigging, and wished no longer to look at the
fearful slant of the careening bark. How she is saved from
rolling irrecoverably, as her main-yard nearly sweeps the
careering billow, science can tell us, and science only,
while the eye dilates as it marks the fearful sweep of the
main-mast, from the dark zenith to the darker horizon.
It would seera as if there were power enough in the vrind
and the surge, in their madness to-night, to bear, on an un
tiring wing through mid-heaven, our heaving frigate, as a
god, in his might, would sport with an infEmt.
This is the winter season in this latitude of the southern
hemisphere, and a squall vrith haU hath met us. How
strange, in connection with all our previous ^experience.
While our friends are burning with heat in the early part
of August, it being the 12th, or enjoying the cool shade
of the bower that shelters them from the sun's too intense
beam, we are shivering, in his absence, and with the tem
perature, to-day, of a northern December around us.
Our ship has been driving, with great speed, on* her
course towards tiie Cape of Good Hope. Wfren but a few
days out of Rio, we were attended by a considerable nura
ber of a beautiful bird, usuaUy called the cape pigeon.
It may be deemed the gull of the southern hemisphere, in
size resembling that graceful personification of the wave
and its foam, that scales nearer in to the shores in the nor
thern seas. These birds are heavier than the northern gull,
their wings shorter; and varied with tracery of white
feathers on their wings, giving a beautiful contrast of dark

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 171
and white waved lines on either wing. Their necks, though
stouter, much resemble; in their hues, the wild pigeon, but
their legs are short, and their feet webbed. One of these
bfrds became entangled in the rigging of the ship, and was
taken by the men. Another was ensuEU-ed by a line,
thrown overboard with a bait ; but the bird caught his
vring in the cord and was thus drawn aboard.
How beautiful is nature in all her harmonies of colour
ing and adaptations! These birds, and more particularly
the northern gull, with its white breast and dark brown
wing, and graceful flight, chime in with the waters over
which they scale, in their thousEmd evolutions. Would
they not have seemed quite out of place, had they been of
a deep scarlet colour 1 Such a coloured bird we look not
for on the deep, but among the green bowers, and fadeless
forests of a fropical climate. But the gull seems the
gracefij child of its mother foam, breaking in the curling
crest of the dark blue wave. And the cape pigeon, ven
turing farther out upon the deeper blue ocean than the nor
thern gull, has a plumage partaking of the still deeper
blue of the surge, and his vring feathered vrith the Hghter
white of the wilder crested billow.
But there is another bird which hangs on our course
of fresh gales, as it has been for the most part of our
distance since we left Rio. He is a larger bird than the
cape pigeon, with longer wings and a slimmer body; and
dark as the misty nights themselves vvhich have overhung
us. I cannot look at that bird without regarding, him as
the very spirit of the storm that sweeps, with its dark
vrings, over the lashed sea. There he is, scaling in his
quick evolutions a thousand times, during the cloudy day,
across the track which our ship leaves in the disturbed
waters behmd her. And when the tempest of the night

172 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
has had its fuU sweep through the rigging of our naked
spars, the morning finds that dark .bird still near us, though
scarcely seen as his wing tips the billow in its roll, only
as he turns himself in his flight, and lines himself, in his
upward curve and dark relief, on the horizon beyond him.
And yet, I disHke not that bird — he is so sublimely in keep
ing with the dark rolling billows of the sea, when no crest
is on their tops, but clouds darken the heavens — or as seen
the precursor of the dark-winged squall, when driving vrith
nearing approaches over the waters — or the heavy gathering
of the dark nimbi-clouds around the whole horizon, telling
the wary sailor of the coming hurricane, that shaU throw
ocean and air, and falling waters, into thefr vrildest tumult
and ravage.
Off Cape of Good Hope, August 19, 1838.
I have written of the blow which swept over us on the
llth instant; smd fresh winds have attended us during
most of our course from Rio, up to our present position.
But the gale of last night and this morning, has outmatch
ed the elements in thefr tumult of the eleventh. We are
now standing nearly estst, vrith fore-course double-reefed,
and main-topsail close-reefed, Emd the wind abaft. The
swell of the ocean exceeds any thing which we have be
fore seen. The ciest of tiie surge rsdses high its white
cap, only to be sent, like whfrling drifts from the high peak
of a snow-bank ; and, at times, the extended ocean lies
before us sheeted in one vast layer of foEun ; or again, the
blue billow, rolling higher thEm his fellow, breaks its huge
volume, and sends its thousand currents of mingling froth
down tiie steep aslant of the surge, like expanded flakes
of snow, resting on tiie declivities ofthe blue ravine. While
standing on the arm-chest of the quarter-deck, one raight-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 173
ier surge than the rest, came on, and rolHng high its
curling crest, bent frs Hp of foam over the haramock-cloth
and drenched me from head to feet. It was a mighty
heave of the ocean, thus to overleap the highest part of
the spar-deck.
Having changed my dress, I again sought the deck, to
ascend to the mizzen-top. No sail was spread upon the
naked spars, while the winds roared through the moaning
rigging ; and here, in grand solitude, I gazed abroad upon
the Isished ocean, raging in the ¦wildness of a gale at sea.
The sun was out, and sent his steady beams abroad, as if
to light up the terror of the Storm. The spray of the
cHpped surge reached me, even in the mizzen-top, as it was
whirled on the wing of the eddying currents ; and abroad,
on the vast deep, the mighty cascades of ocean threw up,
as incense of oblation to the vrinds, their jets of foam, co
ruscating in the Hght of the glorious sun, and rendering
contemptible all the attempts of art to imitate the water
spouts of nature. But the winds — those moaning vrinds,
wailing through the taughtened rigging, now howled like
a thousand spirits, that seemed ready to chant the requiem
of half a thousand souls held at their mercy, and driving
them on their way of tempest, with life-hnes stretched
from gun to gun, the length of either deck, to enable them
to pass from boWs to stern of the careening, and pitching,
and struggling ship. It was a grand spectacle, that view
from the mizzen-top. The fore and main each bore only a
single sail, close-reefed. No other sail was set. The top
gallant-masts were housed, the guns run in, and all was
snug. Scarcely a man was seen aloft in the fore and main
tops, while the mizzen-mast stood in its naked cords and
spars, to vvail, in sympathy, with the maddened eleraents
of wind and wave, while the one swept through its cord
is*

^^^ THE FLAG SHIP; OR
age, and the other around us, in the wildness ofits tempest-
course. It was a fearful chord those masts would line on
the heavens, at times, as the ship was heaved by the roll
ing biUow ; and as I gazed over the chafed sea, from the
rocking height, the very currents of the air seemed as if
they would choke me, as I uihaled my breath. Never be
fore, as now, had I so fuUy realized the fearful circum
stances ofthe adventurous tar aloft while the gale is raging,
and mastering the winds themselves, though, from habit,
he is as confident and sure as if his feet were pressing the
firmer deck below.
Such is the scene while we are moving around the
Cape of Good Hope, some hundred mUes in the distance
from it. But we fear nothing. We know our path — ^un
hke the earHest adventurers on the same course, but hug
ging nearer to the shore, which they justly denominated,
in the days of their smaller ships and imperfect knowledge,
" the cape of aU torments." But our run is at the rate of
ten knots and more the hour, directiy on the course which
we desfre to make over the mighty bUlows, which, in aU
thefr mountain-height of blue and green, smd crest of foam
and mist, and spouting cascades of crystal waters, drinking
in the light of the high sun, ai-e yet beautiful, and grand,
and sublime as nature, even in her wrath, ever appears. Go
on, then, thou goodi>- ship. Thou hast borne us safely
thus far, and vve wiU frust thee still, in the hemd of that
greater Power, who poured the ocean's sefr from his palm,
and can wake or allay its mighty commotion, at his wUl.
On a succeeding evening Lieutenant Turner sent for
me, to come to tiie deck and look at a beautiful Luna-bow.
Its colourless but soft phosphorescent aich was lined dis-
tinctiy and perfect on a dEu-k-brown cloud, in the south
east, while the moon shone sweetly and bright in the north-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 175
west. The apex ofthe arch was some 15° above the sea;
and nothing could be more soft, more chaste, more lovely.
In its proportions and position it obeyed all the laws ofthe
rainbow, vrith the exception of the colour of its rays. The
light of the moon, though her smiles were abundant for a
maiden no more than a week old, was too feeble to trans-
rait from the bow the prismatic colours. And I would not
wish to have seen them, if ever they appear. They would
have been out of character, in the soft light of the moon,
as she walked through her blue halls to-night, with the
horns of her silver crescent turned towards the north, and
the stars above her and around her shining in their own
peculiar sheen of glory. And then, not far above this
arch of light, so chiming in with the colour of the stars and
the moon's pale beam, was seen the constellation of the
Southern Cross. There, then, were all the elements of
the escutcheon of the once proud house of Portugal, vrith
her gems of the Brazils — ^the cross supported by its arch,
and its azure field studded with brilliants. But the mind
that loves to let its vision go beyond the things of change,
would think ofthe reality, which that constellation emblems
forth of immortality to spirits, which diamonds of the mines
and stars of the heavens may not redeera ; and associate
the halo, spanned in its graceful loveliness and light on
the heavens, with the brow of Him who made them all, and
redeemed man to fadeless blessedness, if he will but return
to him the fit devotion of his heart !
Few things can more gratify one, whose habit of mind
has been to philosophize on the phenomena of nature,
than to be placed in cfrcumstances where he is able to
verify the theories with which he has been familiar, and
to observe for himself the reahty of those theorems in phy
sics which he believes as mathematical certainties, but

176

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

which his opportunities of observation have never before
given him tofeel to be trae, as matters of his own visible
inspection and consequent experience.
We all believe that the earth is a sphere. We have
read the proofs smd followed out its demonstrations in
curves and sines and tangents ; and have read of ships,
guided by the unerring raagnet, and the bright stars, and
the yet brighter sun, saihng around the world, by keeping
on their unchanged comse to the east We believe it aU.
But it is not with that feeling of conviction which pos
sesses hira, who has watched the corapass from day to day
and from raonth to raonth as he has urged on his curved
course, vrith the prow of his ship ever pointed to the esist,
and finds himself at IeisI, at the ssune point of the west
from which he started.
And again, if from the north the voyager has ever
looked at the sun performing his daily circuit at the south
of him, seeming so closely to hug his bright haUs in the
southern distance as almost to leave a doubt in one's feel
ings whether it be a possibilit)- for one to place that same
luminary at the north of him, though he should sail to the
southmost extent of the earth. But the voyager no
sooner commences his course southward than he finds that
the sun, at noon-day, is more nearly above him than before.
He continues his couree another day, and still another, and
another, and finds the sun, in his never-failing circuit, yet
nearer above him, when mid-way on his diurnal frack
of the heavens. As his ship still bounds on her fleet fra-
verse, at length the sun, at meridian, sends down his per
pendicular ray, with an intensity of heat, that tells him
there is no mistake about its coming from the point di
rectly in his zenith. But he still urges on his course to the
south, and finds that he is continually leaving the belt of

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 177
the heavens through which the sun makes his annual
circuit, until, as is now our own case, he reaches a point,
from which the sun appears as far to the north of him at
noon-day, eis a New-Yorker would see the same glorious
orb at his south, on a November's noon.
And then, as he gazes from night to night on the
bright stars, on which he has looked from his infancy,
sinking one by one beneath the horizon, as he recedes
from them ; and another heraisphere of yet brighter bril
liants loom up before him to delight his riew, he feds,
while he thus gazes and admfres, and is sad, that he Heis
eridence that this earth is a vast globe, on which he has
sailed to its higher part, and there for a moment delayed,
but is now descending again, vrith a long farewell to the
home and the hemisphere where he has ever before lived,
and looked, Emd loved.
The trade-winds are another subject of interest to the
voyager, as he passes to the equator and beyond it. In
accounting for the regularity of these vrinds, for ever
blowing in the same dfrection, he has to review but a few
and simple principles, for the confirmation of the theories
in meteorology, with which he made himself acquainted in
his school-boy days, or in hours of maturer reasonings.
And he finds the reality to be, as his theories would lead
him to infer. In the northern tropic, a perpetual north
east wind prevails, ever driring towards the equator, and
in the southern tropic, a south-east frade alike drives on
its perpetual slant
The Variety of Clouds.
There are many other objects of interest, which attract
the gaze and offer continual subjects to amuse the specu
lations of the meteorologist, as well as to delight the fancy

178

THE FLAG SHIP ; OR

of the poet, and awaken the emotion of the beautiful in the
bosom of the lover of nature. Nowhere else can we have
so full and ever varying views of the changing clouds, as
at sea. One sees them in their thousand forms and changes
and picturesque grouping of castle and turret and faUing
ruins; and cavalcade and infantry in elementary war; and
in the calm of succeeding trace, and the serene of final
peace. And then, the expanses, like ocean-plains, in the
ever changing skies, often lay before him in their green, or
blue, or saffron and gold, with the soft clouds drifting
slowly over the bosom of the rich expanse, like so many
floating islands, prepared for the spirits of the blest in their
cfrcuit of the universe, and of fsideless happiness and
years. We gaze upon the cirrus — most generally occupying
the highest place of the atmosphere, and soraetiraes cover
ing the vast expanse above us, sometimes usurping the
whole heavens. Now it throws out its fibrous lines -with
curled ends, like the flovring hair of a " Kate's crazed,"
streaming disheveUed in the breeze. Again it is seen in
its lines of net-vvork ; and at others, hke flakes of wool
distended and terminated in its curve of curls. The
saUors call this cloud the mere's tail ; Emd the cirrus, Eng-
lishized, mcEuis a tuft or lock of curled or frizzled hair. The
mariner supposes it to be a harbinger of coming vrinds;
Emd when it gathers low and dense, a blow maybe deemed
to hsmg upon its nearing wing. At such times, it is gene
rally seen rising from a direction opposite to the one
whence the gale arises. The brushy and filiforra struc
ture of this cloud, would seem to favour the supposition,
that this cIeiss of nebula serve as conductors of elecfricity
frora cloud to cloud, and frora one raass of the atmosphere
to another. Its changes are often very rapid, throvring

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 179
out filaments in various directions, from the original thread,
and disappearing in the forra of another cloud, but when
most elevated, sometimes pencils its beautiful tracery for
hours, on the fafr and deep blue sky.
The cirro-cumulus is a modification of the cirrus,
having the appearance we would imagine to be given to
the cirrus, if its small fibrous layers were confracted into
globular shapes, and extending themselves in irregular
and horizontal masses. They generally occupy the place
next lower in the sky than the cfrrus ; and by some, this
variety of form is deemed to result from the cirrus ceasing
its office as an electric conductor, either by its change of
form or the changed state of the atmosphere. It is deem
ed the forerunner of fair weather ; but not always is it
such, for, when accompanied by the cirro-stratus, another
variety of cloud, it is regarded a sure indicator of a coming
storm. The cirro-stratus is varying and many-formed, but,
like the cirrus, it is a fibrous cloud. It spreads its cross
bars or fibrous layers of oblique and parallel streaks iri a
horizontal extension, varying in their length and size and
colour, but uniting themselves in a horizontal line, while
the ends are jagged and distinct. At other times they
spread themselves in disconnected but regular oblique lines,
parallel to each other, lying on the back ground of the
heavens in fanciful resemblance of a schooljOf fish, and
hence deriving from the voyager the name of mackerel
sides. The night before the gale we experienced off
Cape Good Hope, the skies were chequered with this vari
ety of clouds, attended by the cirrus yet above it, and
both sailing in the upper region. Erelong they condensed
into darker layers towards the falHng of the sun, with the
mcrease of the vrinds. The cirro-stratus, in connection ^,

180

THE FI.AG ship; OR

¦with either of the preceding forras, is regarded as an un
faUing precursor of a gale ; and in the lEmguage of the
sailors, " Mackerel skies and mares' tail*
Make high ships carry low sails."
The cumulus and the cumulo -stratus never tire the eye
as it gazes on their sublirae piles, banked up one upon ano
ther, and rolHng on their courses in changing but ever
beautiful formations. What may not one fancy them to
be in their fleecy robes of Hght, and gossamer of a thou
sand dies, from the deepest crimson and scarlet and ver
milion, to every shade of gold ; or as they stack thefr sphe
rical shapes in an untarnished glow of silver and gold,
against the deep blue of the ether ? 1 have watched, for
hours, thefr varying forms, as they have lined themselves
in one almost unbroken and glorious panorama around the
horizon of the heavens, when nature seemed to be decora
ting herself for the gala of some one of her grandest hoh
days. And then, as the sun coursed do\vn his way to
his bed of the ocean, retiring behind the bsinks of these
conic and terraced masses,
" I've gazed upon the blushing west.
When in her gold and purple drest ;
But soon her crimson fades away,
And hazel holds the evening sky."
Of these two clouds, the cumulus, whenever it is the pre
cursor of rain, presents a more sombre and fleecy appear
ance, and is less globulEir and distinct in its formation, Emd
sinking in denser masses towards the horizon. But in
fafr weather, its rounded forms are well defined, and saU
higher up on the course of light, drinking in the beams of
the smiling sun, throughout the whole of the loveliest day.
The cumvlo-stratus is yet more beautiful in its combi-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 181
nations of rolling and heavy masses, overhanging its dark
underlayers ; and sometimes seems to lower as if all were
not right in the peaceful regions through which it is sailing,
but it is believed that rain never falls from this majestic
voyager of the fair and beautiful heavens.
The nimbus, or the rain cloud, often has its origin in
the cumulus. Large masses of the cumuli, at times, may
be seen crowding together, blending their folds and raising
high their peaks, and gHding into the formof cumulo-sfra-
tus. Erelong they become more Emd more dense, until
they present to the beholder the dark sides and threatening
volumes of the nimbus, which delays not long in its ap
proach over the waters, in gust and whirlwind, and rain ;
and is known alike to the observant and the unobservant,
as the dispenser of showers, and tempests, and storms.
The cloud which is spoken of by the meteorologist, as
occupying the lowest stations, is the stratus, which includes
in its genus, the mists and fogs formed during the
night, and dispersed by the rarefying beams of the early
sun. It is supposed to reach its density at midnight ; and
owing to this cfrcumstance, it is sometimes called the
cloud of night. But when the sun's early rays scatter
its white folds into thin air in the morning, it is the surest
harbinger of fafrest skies. Who has looked on the vast
volumes of the autumnal fogs, rolling from the river up
the ravines, as the sun sends forth his morning beams,
and has not admired the silvery and fleecy folds of the
slowly rolHng vapours, as they rise beneath the rarefying
influence of the morning ray 1 And if we have beheld
them while we were gazing upon them from the side of
friends and at the home of our youth, nothing can make us
forget the charm of these young associations, and the
waking views of our careless and happy hours.
Vol. L 16

182

OR

We have just made the southern pomt of the island of
Madagascar, after a run of thirty days from Rio. It is a
question whether a quicker passage has been made over the
same track, our ship having measured ninety degrees of
longitude, or saUed one fourth the way around the world
in thirty days.
It is indeed a thing of dehght to gain a riew of land,
after a passage of weeks at sea. The voyager feels that
he is again united to a world of Hving beings ; and the
eye fixes itself on the land as an associate object, to carry
the heart dfrectly to friends, though they be a hemisphere
from the spot where the eye is hngering its gaze. It is
on land where our dearest associations cluster. It is there
we have laughed, and wept, and loved ; and it is there we
beHeve ourselves still to be beloved.
To me, it is an agreeable circumstance to be noted,
that we have, in every instance, made the land under some
interesting exhibition of nature. The scene at Madefra,
and the bright Arctm-us shining above us, has been men
tioned. The eve of our gaining our first view of Rio de
Janeiro is noted, as Eissociated vrith an unequalled moon
lit scene. And to-night, as the sun went down but a
Httie at the west of the island, which Hes in the horizon on
our larboard beam, bathing hisgolden disk in the Indian
seas, he exhibited a pecuhai- and peaceful sunset, which
seemed to omen brightly of our onward way, through the
waters of these olden lands. The large orb feU, while we
were gazing on the newl)- seen isle. Wlien his lower
Hmb touched the waves, they heaved against his crimson
belt, while some six or eight digits of his disk only could
be seen as he continued to settle beneath the waves, from
a cloud above him, until at length, his upper rim emerged
from the fleecy bank, and in a moment more he disappeared,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 183
saying, in the last gleam that scintiUated in its farewell ray,
" I have been your friend — I have given you my beams
until I have saved you from the nearing danger, and the
wished-for object now lies before you. Praise ye then the
God who made me."
Surely that heart must be devoid of all capabihty of
gratitude, who, after a course of weeks upon the boundless
ocean, can look upon the land, and think of friends, and
health, and safety, and gives not a gush of bursting love
to the God who made him, and whose attending goodness
has been with him on the seas.
The land which we have made is the island of Mada
gascar, the ffrst we have seen in this ocean of isles, into
which we are about entering, and which we first desired
to make.* In consequence of finding it impossible to weather the
southeastern point of the island of Madagascar, occasion
ed by the adverse winds caUed the Fort Dauphin winds,
which prevail at the south end of Madagascar, our ship
has been standing to the east and south for several days,
with the intention of taking one of the outer passages for
Muscat or Bombay. The island of Madagascar is a conti
nent in itself; and it seems remarkable that it has not met
the avaricious eye of some of the European powers, and
called for the exercise of their prowess, in the attempt to
take and to hold possession of it.
* During the night, owing to our proximity to the land, we stood
off to the south, but tacked ship early in the morning. When again
we had gained a vie w of the land, a cloud had passed the ship ; and a
bow more brilliant than any one on board had ever before seen,
arched itself over the southern extremity of Madagascar. The lower
chord of rays Uned themselves as distinctly in its lovely violet as
art's less lovely tints could have drawn them on canvass. It was a
perfect thing, and awakened the admiration of every eye on board

184

THE FLAG SHIP; OE

Yesterday, September 4th, we were some three hun
dred miles from land, with the island of Bourbon and the
Isle of France at the windward. It seems yet unsolved
whether we shall touch at the latter. It is replete with
associations. It is the spot where the scenes are laid,
which have brought the tear to the eye of many a young
heart while reading the sentimental and tragic story of
Paul and Virginia. The island, in other days, has been
noted for its loveliness, and choice and hospitable society.
The clove in its rich aroma, and the cinnamon, and the
coffee tree deck the plantations, while the flowering mi
mosas wilh their contrasts of white and yellow and rose
blossoms, vrith the deep verdure of thefr dense fohage, deco
rate the streets of Port Louis.
But to me, the greatest chju-m which could be thrown
around this fair isle of the Indian seas, is the cfrcumstance
of its being the final resting place of the lovely and devoted
Harriet JYeivell, I weU remember the story of this first
martyr to the cause of East India missions. And when a
boy, the memoirs that narrated her voyage, and exhibited
her character in its loveliness, its sweetness, and its piety,
melted my heart, and perhaps was among the fixst things
that awakened in my own bosom the desfre that the God
in whom she confided might be mine. How, then, would
I stand beside that grave, which contains the dust of the
self-sacrificing, and lovely missionary, vvho had a heart
which embraced m its benevolence the mUHons of India ;
and though dehcate in her feminine loveliness, hesitated
not, in that early day of Christian effort for the East, to
dare the difficulties that attended on the path of the sfrong-
est and the roughest, who went forth with good intent for
the salvation ofthe benighted. Peacefully she rests in the
green island of cloves, which give thefr spicy richness to

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 185
the gale. None who can appreciate the moral beauty of
vfrfrie in its loveliest dress can recall thy memory, sweet
sleeper of the ocean isle, and not yield thee the tribute of
deferential respect and love.
This evening, at about sunset, a little bird carae down
on its tfred wing, and lighted on our ship. The quarter
raaster took it, and brought it to me. It is far away from
the shore for such a little wanderer to venture ; and when
taken, manifested no symptom of alarm. I brought the
little voyager to my room, and penned to it the following
lines:
To A Beautiful Little BITr d ,
Which lighted on the deck ofthe Columbia, some hundred miles and
more to the leeward of the Isle of France.
Sweet bird of the isle, too far o'er the sea
Thou has bent thy slight wing — come hither to me ;
There's none that will harm thee, sweet bird of the isle,
As thou on this bosom shalt rest for a while.
The first shade of night is on the dark -vf ave,
And the zephyrs of eve in their sea-dews lave ;
And thy home many leagues is away in the west,
Thou canst not reach it — come hither and rest.
And when the morn breaks with its first ray beaming,
And o'er the blue-sea to thy green isle is streaming,
I'll give thee to thy wing, if again thou wilt dare
To cut thy fleet way through the deep azure air.
But thy breast is now beating, lone bird of the isle.
And none its grief-breakings hath power to beguile ;
Thou dreamest of thy left-one 'mong bowers ofthe clove,
There carolling her vesper this eve in the grove :
" O where, O where is my my lost-one," she is murmuring now,
That, to-night, he returns not to his cinnamon bough ?
The soft spicy breezes lose their sweetness for me,
While I am absent, my lost-one, my lost-one, from thee,"
16*

186 the flag ship; or
But cheer thee, little bird ofthe sweet azure crest,
Again thou shalt see thy green isle of the west ;
We will bear thee, to-night, full many leagues on,
And thou shalt live again and love, in thy own spicy home.
On the moming of the 9th, we made land, agi-eeably
to our expectation, and corresponding in its longitude vrith
the time of our chronometers. It is the island of Diego
Rodriques, long. 63° 7', lat 19^ 37'. It presents, the south
ern extremity of it, an oval outHne v\-ith the highest point in
the centre, and declining either way vrith a nearly equal
curve. It is composed of high mountains and deep ravines,
while it sleeps in its ocean-solitude, in undisturbed pos
session of the crabs and turtles frequenting its shores.
We have taken the southeast monsoons, and are saU
ing delightfuUy on our course. It is a lovely day ; and it
is the Sabbath. The services of the morning are over;
and a few raoments since, while on the quarter-deck, I
marked one of the Lieutenants, who had turned from the
view of the land to the opposite quarter of the ship. His
head rested upon his hand, and his elbow upon the hEun-
mock-cloth ; while his cap was carelessly held in his other
hand, which lay listiess upon the netting ; but his thoughts
were on wings, I doubt not, which bore him to loved ones
far — how iax away, on otiier shores. And this was not
all. His were not only thoughts which relate to this Hfe.
None loved more entfrely than he ; smd it was this love
which now bore his thoughts up to the Father of us all,
for blessings which this earth cannot give, to rest on the
absent. Oh, there is a hallowedness in those breathings,
which go forth in prayer for those who are deeply beloved,
when the soul of him who prayeth hath but lately learned
to feel that there are riches beyond this world, which
friends dearer to him than life may attain, and when such

A VOYAGE AROtran THE WORLD. 187
is the burden of his prayer. God bless those friends ; and
in the mysterious commune of spfrits, may the prayer of
that young husband bear on it, by the way of the courts
of heaven, this day, a blessing which shall thrill a kindred
chord of devotion in the bosom of his young and amiable
bride, and consecrate to tiieir God the young years of their
boy, who has, as yet, but just learned to lisp the name of
father and mother.
While reading, to-day, in the Memoir of the accom
plished Henry Martyn, the scholar of Cambridge and the
missionary to the Indies, I noted, vrith interest, the follow
ing passage : " Since I have known God in a saring man
ner, painting, poetry, and music, have had charms unknown
to me before. I have received what I suppose is a taste
for them ; for religion has refined my mind, and made it
susceptibly of impressions from the sublime and beautiful.
0 how religion secures the heightened enjoyment of those
pleasures which keep so many from God, by their becom
ing a source of pride !"
There is deep trath in this reflection ; and it has often
impressed my own mind as it is here delineated in the words
of Martyn. And I once heard a gentleman of great re
finement of character, taste, in Hterature, and who minutely
observed men and manners, say, that there was nothing
like religion to give beauty of expression to the counte
nance. Why should it not be so ? We know that the
muscles of the face are exercised by the emotions of the
heart ; and those emotions which are most frequently ex
ercised in the bosom leave the evidence of their frequent
existence demonstrated on the countenance. If, therefore,
the benevolence of the heart towards our feUow-men, often
touch our sympathies — if sympathy for the disfressed — if
ingenuousness of character, rectitude of purpose, and truth

188

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

in principle, are aU habitually wakmg in the bosom and
controlling the mental decisions and external actions of
one who has devoted himself, or herself, to the discipleship
of Christ, how can it be otherwise than that these feehngs
should chronicle themselves in the open, and manly, and
ingenuous face ofthe sincere follower of Jesus Christ, whose
religion inculcates good will to all men. And these are
the virtues and the excellencies which we all admire, wher
ever they are seen to exist. It is in the very nature of our
constituent being to admire virtue and moral excellence,
as rauch so, as it is a quality of the physical eye to appre
ciate physical beauty. Therefore, where other things are
equal, that countenance vrill be the raost lightened up by
that inexpressible and often indescribable charm, which
gives one to believe that he reads, in the Hght of its expres
sion, the amiable and enchanting qualities of ^ unseen
but intelligibly speaking soul. And when a character thus
refined in its sensibihties and principles goes forth to look on
nature, her beauties chime in vrith its ov\ti sympathies. Na
ture, in all her colouring, and landscape, and subhmity in
effect, exhibits a perfection in the Creative Mind that con
ceived and spread such beauties forth to the view ; and it
awakes, in the bosom of the refined, a longing desfre for a
kindred puritv-, and that his spfrit may be untarnished by one
blemish. And the least blemish, wherever seen in confrast
with the loveliness aromid him, in his grovring habit of
refinement, gives pain to the increasing delicacy of his per
ceptions. And with this deepened refinement of spfrit,
painting, poetiy, and music, made up of beautiful and deh
cate harmonies in imagery, sentiment, and sound, come
home to his sensibilities, and the soul thrUls as it yields to
the deep tides of flowing, and beautiful, and refined thought.
No raan nor woman hath reached that delicacy of suscep-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 189
tibility, where harmonies reach the deepest chords which
nature has strung m om bosom, unless the element of reli
gion Hes among the vibrating strings of the spirit. It is
of no account to say that some unholy men have been the
greatest poets, and that many holy men have never had
the gift of poetry. Byron perceived what he might have
enjoyed, had he himself been all that his mind conceived oi
the pure, the beautiful, and the refined. We read his con
fession in the sentiment, when the prayer of one who, was
lovely, and young, and pure, was sent to him, as having
been penned and offered up to her God for him, and which,
on her death, had been found among her private papers.
He would sooner have exchanged all the glory of his po
etic fame than the one consciousness that such a prayer
had been sent to heaven in his behalf Byron should have
been a Christian, and then he would have experienced the
happiness rather than the miseries of one of the gifted chil
dren of poesy. PoUock was such ; and as he wrote, he •
not only enjoyed the mental perception of the beautiful
and the sublime, but his heart melted in the depths of its
profoundest and purest sensibilities, which reached the cir
cumstances of his whole mental, and moral, and imraortal
being. On the twelfth, a dark storm, vrith rain and thunder,
attended us, and reduced the ship to her fore-course and
main-topsaU, close-reefed. The spindle of the main con
ductor was illuminated for some time, and I stood, for a
half hour, in the deep darkness of the night, and the heavy
peltings of the rain, on deck, to watch the effect of the
clouds, charged vrith electricity, upon the pointed spars of
the ship. The illuminated point of the spindle appeared
like a small star, and lined its chord of light on the dark
zenith as the ship roUed, but at times disappeared, or

190

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

again gave forth its small bead of Hght. Before I ascended
to the deck, the officer assured me that the truck was con
siderably more illuminated, and a phosphorescent appear
ance extended some inches down the royal-mast.
The sailors are, confessedly, a superstitious class, very
generally believing in ghosts and various kinds of spiritual
appearances. While standing upon the deck, I was
amused vrith strange stories, each one being ready to spin
his yarn when interrogated. They call this electrical
appearance corpo-sant — the St Elmo's Hght of the books,
and of other superstitious times. A main-top-man as
sured me that he had often seen the corpo-sant descend
frora the truck to the deck, and ascend again. In case of
its rising again frora the deck to the truck, it is deemed an
omen of approaching good weather. But should the
corpo-sant descend the mast, smd make its way out of the
lee-scupper, then, " There's danger on the deep,''
and many vessels, under such cfrcumstances, are known to
have been lost, said the saUor, with aU thefr crews.
It is not unususd, during a stormy night like this, for
the three trucks of a ship to become iUummated, as also,
the ends of the higher yards. This phenomenon is of
frequent occurrence off Cape HatterEis, and the cause must
be obvious, as an elecfric exhibition, at the rounded points
of the spars of the ship.
Nature never tires the eye of the admiring gazer, as he
lingers his vision on her ever changing beauties. The
sunset of one night is beautiful — the next may equal it
for its briUiancy, while the colouring and the thousand
fairy forms of the one shall differ entirely with the ever
varying forms and colours of the other. I have afready.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 191
and more than once, alluded to the beautiful sunset scenes,
which are ever presenting themselves to us, at sea. But
the scene of glory spread before our eye on the evening of
the 13th, in our west, has not before been equalled for its
colouring and variety of fantastic forms ; and we will
call it A Sunset Scene in the Seas of Arabia.
And what is there of the imagination that does not come
forth as the memory recalls the olden stories and fairy
tales of that enchanted land — the days of the Caliphs —
Yemen's golden mountains, and Omon's emerald waters 1
We are now approaching this land of gorgeous legends,
and in a few days more may lave our anchors in the
green waters of Omon. And just as we are entering the
seas of Arabia, the delight is not a Httle augmented bythe
coincidence that presents to us, to-night, so gorgeous a
sunset, while we let the imagination go on its free wing
to mingle the half shady memories and mystic fictions of
the past with the brilhant images and realityof the present.
A summer's shower had gone over us, such as I have
known at the north in June, which left the soft and moist
afr to rest refreshingly against the cheek, The clouds had
been floating on their way, and were now packing them
selves up in the south and west, leaving vacant fields in
the sky, deep and vast, where they seemed to have laid off
the beautiful spaces, as if they had thought on this night
as the hour for making the greatest display of their mag
nificence and loveliness. The sun had sunk his veiled disk
beneath the western rim of the ocean, and sent back upon
the clouds his beams, in his greatest prodigaHty ; while
these aerial vapours had disposed themselves in fantastic
lines, as if they sought to be peculiar this night One

192

THE FLAG SHIP ; OR

long cirro-stratus stretched itself in a horizontal Hne, mid
way in the scene, dark and low, and long ; Emd above and
below were oblique layers so converging on the green
back ground of the sky, as to exhibit the appearance of
an undulating sea of paling green, sending back from its
unbroken and minoring surface a sheet of light, in deh
cate and softest beauty. Not the gossamer zone of lady
ever floated so Hghtly as, here and there, the elongated
curls of fleecy vapours, in their different hues of lightest
pink, and blue, and palest gold, waved thefr flovring folds
upon the sky, while the hearier layers of clouds piled
theraselves in sfrata upon strata, and all were Uluminated
with every tint of mingling scarlet and carmine and deep
est Indian red, such as painters might vrish, to give the
highest colouring to the cheek.
But it was the arrangement of the clouds, to-night,
which mostly struck my eye, Emd awakened my interest,
though nature's colourings shone forth in their indescriba
ble magnificence. There, around the gorgeous horizon,
lay all the cities of the East, as they had iUled our young
minds and vivid imaginations, with all thefr turrets and
domes and embattled ramparts, notching themselves along
the line of the glowing horizon. But one scene, more
thsm the rest, atb-acted the long gaze of my own eye,
willingly lingering on the princely vision. Two parallel
rows of clouds were so pUed, as to give the perspective
of a spacious avenue, Hned, on either side, with palaces and
castles, embowered in regular rows of ornamental and
towering trees, extending from the rim of the ocean far
across the area of the wide city, to a curve in a crystal
and expanded river, that seemed to wind, for leagues, in
the back ground. It opened directly in our front ; and in
its distance, this princely sti-eet, at this hour, seemed ani-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 193
mated with the equipages of nobles and the luxurious, on
their evening and pleasure drives, now returning to their
several homes ere the night-fall gathered over them. I
gazed until the twilight of evening left those distant halls,
and battlements, and turrets, and equipages, in the dun
of earliest eve, and only some few of the latest strag
glers here and there could be seen driving on a belated
course, at the hour when night is soon to wrap all
alike in her deep and dark mantle of shadows and forget
fulness. AU on board the frigate were gazing, from their several
places, on this gorgeous scene.
" There, Mr. T.," said the Commodore, as he turned to
me from the horseblock, " is a scene for poetry. I think
we may hear of it again. We are near enough to the
waters of Arabia to lay the scene in her seas."
" And a lady in Rio, you know, sir, told me that she
knew I WEIS a poet, the first time she saw me. And I
assured her that she was early to find out, what nature had
never yet discovered."
" Your modesty, Mr. T."
"At least I can fancy that the breeze this evening
snuffs of balmy Araby ; and the whole scene is in
keeping with the tales of enchantment, which have lain,
like fairy spells, in the iraagination from our infancy, as
we have thought of the storied land of the East. It is as
sociation, as I take it, which dehghts the voyager, as he
nears, and as he stands on olden ground, rather than the
things of the present which meet his eye around him. He
cares not though he treads on ruins, if the past be in his
memory and musings ; and he chooses ficticfn rather than
the reality, if that fiction has before delighted him. Araby
once had the reputation of all the East She is now only
Vol. L 17

194 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
Araby, by herself The SuUan of Muscat, however, is a
lion of modern times, that may justiy awake our curiosity
and admiration.
" Yes ; and I would," continued the Commodore, as
he held his hand up to the gentle breeze, " that these prog
nostics of a change of wind might come from this quarter,
and a few more days would give us the pleasure of seeuig
the Sultan. But had we a suitable present for his High
ness, and five thousand doUars to give him an entertain
ment becoming his generous hospitality, we should be ad
ditionaUy gratified. But mark you that pile of dark
pillars rising in the continued changes of the sky, in that
expanse of exquisite green, so like an ocean, there
away ?"
" It looks like the dark sugar-loaf, as the masses now
crowd together, and reminds me of the beautiful moon-rise
scene, that smiled on our first making the city of St Se
bastian, which should have been built of rock. I thought,
as I marked the beds of beautifid granite inwalHng the city
of Rio on its three sides, that Don Pedro, vrith his Brazilian
gold and diamonds and agricultural resources, if he had
possessed any energy, should have been able to say, when
exiled from his western capital, ' I found the city in mortar
and pebbles ; I left it a city of granite ;' in imitation of the
Roman, who left the seven-hUl city of brick, a city of
marble." " Tea is ready, sir," said a servant, as he approached
and touched his hat to the Commodore. [Exeunt omnes.']
It is not a frequent coincidence, in the run of a ship,
for the vessel to pass the equatorial hne, at meridian, and
under a clear sun. In our own case to-day, however,
Sept 17th, we found ourselves, at noon, five minutes, or five
miles, north of the equatorial line, of which, had it not

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD."" 195
been an imaginary circle, we could have had a fair view.
The declination of the sun was only 2°, and consequently
nearly perpendicular. The shadows of the men looked
like crabs as they were passing fore and aft the decks. I
suspended a broom, at the moment of twelve, and the
shadow of the handle could not be seen, so nearly vertical
was the sun. For a few moments before twelve it seeraed
doubtful whether the sun would dip ahead or abaft of us,
our ship standing, at the time, on a north course. But
when the sun had reached its highest point, the sextant
brought its reflected disk to the rim of the ocean, ahead of
us. To-morrow we shall have changed sides wifh each
other, and a long sweep remains for each of us before we
shall again meet and reciprocate our passing compliments.
A bird was sent to my room this morning before I had
plumed my own wings to venture from my own nest. It
came at the dfrection of the Commodore, who has been
abroad earHer than myself. It is a true Arabian — of whom
we think as of a rover that has designs upon his neigh
bour — with the eye of a hawk, the fleetness of his own
Arab steed, and the sfrength and the agility of the drom
edary. The bird is an Arabian falco, that lives by his
predatory excursions, and eats his weaker neighbours,
when he can catch them. And notvrithstanding his own
merciless nature, it was a long colloquy between my con
science, humanity, and love of the curious, whether said
falco should be considered as haring forfeited his life by
his previous course, which course, however, was to be
judged of only by circumstantial evidence and reasonings
a priori. It was at length decided that a preparation
should be made of him, and my servant boy was directed
to place his hand so as to press the breast of the bird that
jt might not expand, and to place his fingers around its

196

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

neck. The beautifully speckled falco, with his dun-
coloured and dark spotted plumage, in a moment saw no
more from those large, round, and beautiful dark eyes,
though they had looked on so many beautiful things of
nature, and with the quickness of light had seen and
seized his weaker prey. He did not even flap his vrings,
and seemed imconscious of pain, so suddenly and so com
pletely did he lose his breath.
I can seldom bring myself to a wUlingness to destroy
the life of a bird, or other animal, merely for my o^wn
pleasure of preserring him, to fill a niche in a private
museum. And I admfre that dehcacy of feehng which
caused a gentleman of my acquaintance, on perceiring a
serpent endeavouring to devour a toad, to alight from his
carriage, and separate them — giving each a switching,
and sending thera about their business. But on board of
ship, the birds which alight upon her spars and rigging,
are generally so far spent that they do not recover, and
v^-ill not eat or drink. The same day a pretty little swal
low was brought to me, and with a desfre to cherish its
life I placed it in one of the side lanterns of the ship,
with the intention of bearing it nearer to the land, that it
might find its way back agEun to its green bowers Emd
sylvan tents. But it died during the night This was
also the sad fate of the pretty bird that came aboard of us
at the leeward of the Isle of Frtmce ; and all my kind de
sires tiiat it might reach its green land-home again, failed
of their gratification. It died, as I watched its last pulsa
tions, on my handkerchief. And though my sympathies
rould avail it notiiing, the incident bore me many leagues
o^•er the seas, where I reineinbered to have seen a sweet
young lady, sitting in pensive mood, vrith her long dark
e)e-lashes nearly closed, as her neck, with a gentle curve.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 197
bent to gaze on her pretty canary, which lay imbedded on
her rich laced handkerchief, and was dying. Each pulsa
tion of its yellow plumed bosom was watched with(a lan
guishing air of sentiment as the Httle sleeper lay in her
lap, and when the last beat of its heart had stopped, and
the convulsed wings extended themselves, and its delicate
feet contracted, and all then was over, one long sigh swelled
that young lady's bosom, and a tear filled her absfracted
eye. Who will say that such a tear was ill-spent over
the death of that beautiful little bfrd 1
There was a beautifiU eclipse of the moon this evening,
October 3d, and we were every way favourably situated to
observe it, in the Arabian sea. The night was clear, and
the sea smooth, while we were gHding on our course, vrith
our sails sufficiently filled to keep the ship steady. The*
air was mild and delightful. The officer of the deck sent
for me ; and when I reached the upper deck, the earth's
shadow had already covered ten digits of the moon's disk.
The heavens were lighted by the bright stars, now streara
ing in thefr greatest brilliance from out an Indian heaven,
while the northern edge of the moon gleamed, in its nar
row strip of light, only to render the gloom beneath her
on the ocean yet more sickly and drear, while the stars
above and around lay in their loveliness deep in their dark
concave above us.
Even philosophers are sometimes so much the things
of habit in their associations, that we had not bethouo-ht
ourselves that an eclipse, invisible in the Umted States,
would be in full view to the eye that gazed at it in the
Indian seas. It was a beautiful sight, however, as pre
sented to our observation. The gorgeous queen seemed to
have taken the whim of a quakeress to-night, in her at
tfre of the light dun of her gossamer dress. I contempla-
17*

198

OR

ted her changes with interest, first with the naked eye,
then through the common night-glass, afterwards through
a larger inverted telescope, which exhibited her appear
ances yet more interesting, in her contrasts of colours. The
shadow exhibited the appearance of the richest amber ;
and the brilliant sfream of Hght, that gleamed in a smaU
line on the northern rim, as it increased its field while the
shadow receded, presented an area resembling a surface of
purest ,snow, reflecting back a flood of light m contrast
with the amber of the shadow.
We envied our friends on the 18th of the last month,
the opportunity of gazing at the annular eclipse of the sun.
No evidence of a frown gathermg over his face, appeared
to us. And the privilege we enjoyed in contemplating the
scene of to-night, from the mid-ocean, nught justly excite
their envy towards us, could friends, in their kindness of
heart, ever indulge such a feeling towards those of thefr
number when far a-^y, for the occasional pleasures which
corae across their course.
Our ship has been sleeping for some fortnight and
more m the calm waters of the Arabian seas, as if she, like
the rest of us, had become unnerved by the relaxing heat
of these latitudes. We have made but Httie progress, from
day to day. The sea has presented, often, an unruffled
bosom. Around us occasionally, the thousand coloured
and beautifiil dolphms have been seen, and the rudder-fish
adhering, as if it were life and death with him, to the
course of the ship. The waters in these seas are remark
ably phosphorescent. At night, a spunge, dipped into a
bucket freshly filled from the sea, wiU become bespangled
entirely with the brilliant phosphorescent points, giving
forth their light from a thousand small globules, that coat
the surface to which they adhere. And when the water is

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 199
dashed upon the deck these thousand little brilliants cover
the moistened space. But when a hght is brought to ob
serve the animalcules themselves, which are supposed to
give forth these phosphorescent appearances, not one can be
detected. At least, on several occasions I have made the
examuiation with others, and without success ; though these
illuminated particles are perfectly perceptible to the eye in
the dEirk, and on 'placing your finger upon them, as they ad
here to any surface, they give forth a brighter illumination,
and can be suffused over a larger space by compression,
as a small particle of glutinous matter would extend itself
when the finger was drawn, with a pressure, over it. I
can imagine that these seas should sometimes exhibit one
unbroken sheet of phosphorescent light, as it has been af
firmed of thera, as seen in some instances. And on one
evening, as our vessel was gliding gently through the
water, which was undulating vrith an unbroken surface,
the dark sea near us seemed but a counterpart of the be
spangled arch above us, as we looked into the deep concave
below, illuminated by a thousand points of these phospho
rescent and twinkling globules, which the imagination
placed as far off and beneath us as the orbs that gleamed
in their distant and far-off halls above us.
For several days have we been gliding through such
a sea, lazily indeed, and where alone we have, during our
voyage, seen the expanded bosom of the ocean exhibit its
vast surface as a mirror in its smoothness and reflecting
powers. But to-day our courser has aroused herself, and
seems moving with awakened speed on her way, as if she
had again come to her remembrance that there was some
thing to be done, and dreaming was not always to be
indulged in by one who be£u:s a nation's raessages and
commission around the world.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 201

SECTION VII.
MUSCAT.
Ofi' Muscat. Night signals. First view of Muscat. Title of Imim.
-Visit ofthe Commodore lo the Im&m. Commodore Read's letter
to his Highness. Letter and lines from the Author to the Sultan.
Also letter to the young Im9.m. Note of Syed Bin Calfaun. The
burial ofa seaman at Muscat. Author's visit to Captain Calfaun.
Sentiment of the Sultan as it respects the residence of Mission
aries. The Sultan's horses. "Visit of the young Sultan to the
frigate. Camp of the Bedouin Arabs, Banians. Bedouin Chief.
Captain Syed Bin Calfaun. Generosity of the Sullan of Muscat.
Syed Syeed Bin Soultan's family. ^
This morning, October 18th, we find ourselves off Mus
cat, the wished-for port, for which we have been steering
over a long track of water since we left Rio de Janeiro.
We have been eighty days at sea since we left the South
American coast. Last night we deemed ourselves within
a few miles of the harbour, and with all our studding-sails
set, endeavoured to press the ship up to a point, at which,
as we rounded it, we expected we should discover the
harbour. But the sun delayed not on his declining course,
and lost himself behind the serrated range of hills of the
Arabian coast, along which we had been standing during
the day, before we could weather the low and elongated
bluffi As the sun declined beyond the cragged high
land, he still sent back his rays, to bless our eyes with
a long twilight. But the point was too far to be
reached by the ship before the shades of evening had

202 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
spread over the sea ; and no one on board, with any confi
dence, could point out the entrance to the harbour, as we
were approaching it Having tacked ship and re-examined
our latitude and longitude, which placed us, according to
our best authorities, directiy off the harbour of Muscat,
we continued to stand some points more off, but along the
shore. We had spoken a vessel a day or two before, direct
from Muscat, who reported an Anlerican armed vessel
there, having arrived five days before from Zanzebar. We
of course concluded that the John Adams had arrived in
safety before us ; and if still in the harbour, bearing as we
presumed it did from us, she might be able to mark our
night signals, and return them. The gunner, therefore,
was ordered to send up a number of rockets, which fraced
their sfream of light through the afr, exploded, and iUu
mined, with a faint fhtter, the dark waters beneath them,
and expfred. But no corascating light, in the distance,
announced that there was one living being on that fron-
bound and apparently desolate shore, who marked that a
noble frigate was within a few mUes of the secluded capi
tal of the Arabian SultEm. And the hUls of rock, deeply
cut by vast chasms into unequal and fearful ravines, are so
high, that the Adams, if she is now lying at Muscat, most
probably could not have caught the gleam of our rockets.
But, this morning, having made a gentle slant to the
west and north during the night, we see a little notch in
the side of the elevated land, seven or ten miles distant.
It looks as if a niche had been made in one of the bluffs
extending along the shore ; and there, as if it were an ea
gle's e)'i)-, in its wild and still solitude, is perched a castie;
and there, too, the glasses discover to be the entrance to
the mwalled cove, on which is situated the city of Muscat.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 203
A sma^and Hght-coloured island, as it shows itself in the
beams of this morning's sun, lies off the cove, as if it were
a buoy thrown adrift, to mark the enfrance to the little
bay of Muscat. And on a range, higher up than the cas
tle, and nearer to us, are seen two watchtowers, which
occupy the elevated heights halfway up the sides of the
most elevated line of the hills, and perched on some peak
of lesser mountains. It is all a wild scene, but unique
and interesting. Not one spear of grass or leaf of green,
or relief of tree is seen upon the notched outline of the
dark rocks which are lying far back and near, cragged, and
shaded by each other, or throwing back their reflected
light, as the sun this morning pours its beams upon the
steril and hard surfaces of the broken and rocky heights.
Erelong we shall ghde nearer and through the rocky
inlet ; and there we hope to meet our consort, after a long
separation ; and then we wUl assure his Highness, the Sul
tan of Muscat, that we value his generous dealings with
our nation, and that we are friendly in the purposes of
our visit and future designs in his seas.
WhUe writing the preceding, an Arabian pilot came
off to our ship, m a canoe, paddled by two slaves. He ad
vanced to the officer of the deck with perfect ease, and
exhibited a person clad in his flovring gown, sash, and
turban, with a kinger ornamented with a silver handle
stuck, like a bowie-knife, in his girdle. We learned from
hun that the John Adams has been at Muscat, and left
there for Bombay, four days since.
With the Hght sea breeze of the morning we continued
to approach the harbour, and have now rounded the cas-
teUated point on the east of the cove, and moored our
ship in full riew of the city of Muscat And the scene pre
sented before us is Vike— Muscat. What else fr resembles

204

OR

I can scarcely define. But it is peculiar, interesting, and
Arabesque. Here, enclosing the city on three of its sides,
stands the mighty rock, crowned with castles and various
small turrets and towers, around the picturesque cove. And
there was never any thing that is mean in rock. It is ever
grand, and gives us the idea of power, durability, and im
moveable prowess. Ages on ages roll by, and still it
stands, to laugh at the tempest, and to gaze vrith a heart
of flint on the generations of mortals which the earth sends
to their graves, as the mountain-rock sheds but its disinteg
rated particles, from its enduring bulwarks, to the plains.
We had let go our anchors but a short time before a
number of Arabian boats pulled Eu-ound our ship, and a
few of the Arabs came on board, in their characteristic
costumes. In a few moments after. Captain Syed Bin
Calfaun, with the newly arrived American Consul, pulled
off to the ship. They spent a short time with the Com
modore, and soon sifter their leaving the ship a salute was
ffred, in compliraent to his Highness, the Sultan of Muscat.
Our salute was instantly returned by the forts on three
sides of the cove, two of which are almost within gun
shot of our frigate. Scarcely could a finer effect have
been produced than by the reverberating echoes which our
cannon prolonged around this rocky inlet. Ihave heard, on
Lake George, its justly admfred reverberations to the sound
of the bugle, and in repeating the thunder of a piece of
artiUery ; and can imagine the grandeur of the effect, were
the good ship Columbia's cannon discharged over its
wateis and among its surrounding hills. But here, the
echoes of the inwalled cove were repeated in quicker and
shorter reverberations, yet sublime and peculiar in their
retreating succession, until lost, like connected crashes of
thunder, as they rolled along the- longest side of the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD.

206

rocks, and were spent in low thunder in the opening
towards the sea. It was mdescribably fine. The repetition
of the ffrst cannon had not ceased its rapid succession of
reverberations on each of the three sides of the cove, until
the next gun spoke to the yet -ribrating air, to be repeated
m its tiirn, until the succeeding gun prolonged the sound.
And when our own cannon had ceased thefr handsome
fire of twenty-one guns, the forts immediately opened, and
returned the salute, as the hills seemed to have awoke from
a sUence of ages, to give forth their burning fires and
sleeping thunders.
Just previous to our reaching the place of our mooring,
our Hmdoostanee, who has been nicknamed Handsaw,
(whose real name is Hassan Hassaul,) seemed greatly de
lighted that he had gotten into a region where he might
find cast, in colour and language. When the Arab came
on board, the said Handsaw, being the steerage cook, was
not in the habit of wearing either hat, cap, or chapeau.
But after his fitrst interview with the Arab, he disappeared
beneath the hatches, and when again seen, a purser's new
' fendkerchief, as a turban, was upon his head. This was
not objected to. But when the word was passed for all
hands to clean themselves, as is usual when nearing a
port, Hindoostanee Handsaw re-appeared on deck, clad in
petticoats, sash, and turban. Approaching the First Lieu
tenant, vrith great hesitation and considerable stammering,
as if he had already committed a punishable offence, he
at length, vrith an oblique glance at his own unique gar
ments, rauttered out, " Fashion of the country, sar — these
counfry fashion, sar" — by all of which he raeant to say.
If you please, I vrill dress after my own cast. " Get out
of that, you rascal, you," cried the Lieutenant, to the
great dismay of the brown Handsaw — " get out of that
Vol. L 18

206

OR

instantly, or I wiU have you atthe gangway, sfr t" Has
an Handsaw sunk beneath the hatches, to appear no more
in his suit Hindoostanee.
We learn from Captain Calfaun, that his Highness
Syed Syeed Bin Soultan, Sultan of Muscat, as he is styled in
the treaty, and in the descriptions of Muscat as they have
been given in the narratives of the two voyages of the U.
S. ship Peacock, has left Muscat, and is now at Zanzebar,
where he has been residing for two or three years, having
left Muscat soon after the Peacock's second departure from
this place. The son of Syed Syeed Soultan, whom his
father has left here, receives the title of his father. And
this title, instead of being Sultan, is here called, by the
Arabs, Imam, pronounced Ee-maum. But both the Ameri
cans and the Enghsh, as a title more famUiEu: to thefr ear,
style him Sultan, in imitation of the titie of the Grand
Seignior of the Turks.
This raorning the Commodore waited upon the young
Imam, or Sultan, as we shaU continue to style him, being the
heir apparent of his father's possessions, and his represent
ative here in his father's absence. Captain Calfaun had
come on board the- frigate to accompany the Commo
dore and the officers who attended him, to the palace,
which is a large but plain buUding, situated dfrectly on the
edge of the bay. We landed near tiie residence of Cap
tain Calfaun and proceeded to his house, where we re
mained until Captain C. himself repafred to the palace,
(kings' houses all know are caUed palaces,) to inform his
Highness that the Commodore was on his way to wait upon
him. On fhe return of Captain C, (a few moments having
expired, wliich v\ e had spent in looking at the match-locks
and Arabian sabres ornamenting the walls of the room
where we vvere sitting,) he conducted us Edong a number

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 207
of winding and narrow .sfreets ; and having passed through
crowds of half naked Arabs, turbaned Arabs, gracefully
robed Arabs, and yellow, red, and dark-skinned Arabs,
all entirely respectful in the indulgence of their curiosity,
we at length came to the gate of the palace, which opened
from the narrow street to a passage-way leading to the
court, around which the walls of the dwelling are built.
The walls of this passage-way were studded with all man
ner of warlike weapons, from the gun with its match-lock,
to Damascus blades in leather scabbards, kingers, not un
like a hovrie-knife, and spears, all having about them a
peculiar look of antiquity, either from their much use, or
age, or fashion ; and the match-lock, in particular, would
have astonished the sportsmen of the modern school of
percussion caps and wafer wads. At this point we passed
through a nuraber of his Highness's guards, whose arms were
here decorating the walls ; and now proceeding along the
court containing a few orange trees and stunted bananas,
we entered a hall or passage-way, leading from the court
to a piazza, called by others, the divan. This passage
was Hned by a number of better dressed guards, with king
ers in their gfrdles, ornamented with silver hilts. They
saluted us as we passed. The piazza or saloon overlooks
the harbour, the water washing the waU on which it is
based, with a fiiU view of the shipping and the elevated
and castellated rocks, which inwall this picturesque cove.
The piazza runs the whole vridth of the building ; and the
upper end of fr was carpeted with Persian rugs, vrith
settees and chairs arranged at its sides. His Highness
was standmg, vrith four or five of his friends and advisers
on his left, ready to receive us, as we entered. The Com
modore and his officers were severally greeted by his High
ness and his friends with a famihar shake of the hand.

208

XHE FLAG SUV?; OR

after our own American style of meeting, each one then
taking a seat, the Coramodore near the Sultan, as Captain
Calfaun placed himself nearly opposite the Prince and next
to myself, in the range of our party.
The Prince was glad to welcome the frigate Columbia
into this port, and hoped the Commodore and his officers
were well, and inquired after the health of the President
of the United States.
Commodore Read made the usual repHes ; and during
the conversation took the opportunity to say, that the
President, the government, and the citizens generally of
our country had felt and expressed a deep sense of the
Sultan's great kindness towards the officers and crew of
the Peacock. And he had hoped that he should have
been able to convey a more particular expression of that
feeling, than it was now in his power to give. He had been
under the necessity of leaving the United States before the
government had d finitely acted on the subject which had
awakened thefr additional "mterest towards his Highness,
and he hoped, erelong, that his Highness would again
hcEu^ from the government of the United States in a
manner yet more acceptable than his present statement
could be.
The Prince repHed, that it was but very little that they
had done for the Peacock, and that so tiriflmg a circum
stance could hardly require any acknowledgment
Here was deep sarcasm, or else great magnanimity.
Prithee, Americans, which was it 1 No one who saw tiie
ingenuous countenance of the Prmce, or his prmcipal ad-
V isu'r, who was the speaker on this occasion, and is the
favourite cousin of the Prince, could have read any satire
[n their expression, and I am sure there was none in fliefr
feelings.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 209
Coff'ee, sweetened with crystallized sugar-candy, was
served by one of his Highness's oldest eunuchs, a slave long
attached to the family of his young Highness's father, at
captain C. said to me as he gave me the names of the dif
ferent persons present. After this, lemonade, made from-
sweet lemons, was passed. The coff'ee was served in small
cups, resting in corresponding sUver ones. The lemonade
was passed in common glasses.
We sat vrith the young Prince and his relatives, and
others of his council, for three-quarters of an hour. His
cousin, a young Arabian of thirty-two or three years of
age, was the prmcipal speaker, and has a sprightly intel
lect A lad, son of this last, was also present, whose
attention to all that was said was particularly marked for
one so young, as he sat vrith his hand upon the hilt of
his Damascus blade, almost as long as himself Captain
Calfaun's brother also was present, the two brothers strik
ingly resembling each other, and their features indicating
considerable cleverness. The young Sultan has a round
face, with fuU, large eyes, greatly sfriking in this burning
• region, where the sun, darting forth his scorching rays,
forbids the Arab ever to open his eye with the expanding
frankness of the EuropcEm. And this fine feature, with his
rotund face, corresponded with the idea I had conceived of
a Persian, rather than one of the princes of Araby. His
wife is said to be a Persian Princess ; and an allusion to
his marriage, which took place at the time the Peacock
was last here, originated a conversation, which seemed to
please the whole party.
I frust it vrill not be deemed out of place, when allud
ing to another incident, occurring a moment before our
leave-taking ofthe Prince. It was gratuitous on the part
of Commodore Read, and unexpected on the part of my-
18*

210

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

self; and, in connection with the succeeding papers, it
becomes a necessary part of a correct description of our
presentation. The Commodore had aUuded to the Presi
dent's Message, and would give Captain CaUaun the docu
ment to be interpreted to his Highness, so far as it related
to a mention made of the generous action of the Sultan
towards the Peacock. And you wUl please further to say
to his Highness, added Commodore Read, that a young-
gentleman of the Columbia, recoUecting that the Arabians
are a poetic people, has penned some Hnes evincing the
general feeling of interest cherished at home, in connection
with the kindness of his Highness, the young Sultan's fa
ther, towards the officers and crew of the Peacock. He
would be happy to present them to the Prince, that they
raay, through him, be conveyed to his Highness's father.
The Commodore bowed to myself as the writer of the lines ;
and when Captain Calfaun had interpreted the Commo
dore, the Prince, with a courteous acknowledgment, said
that he would be most happy to receive the communica
tion, and would fransrait it, as desired. I did not, at the
raoment, possess the lines which had been aUuded to, and
replied that they should be handed to Captain Calfaun at
some other tune, before we saUed.
It was the object of the presentation, to produce as
favourable an unpression upon tiie Prmce and his fanuly as
practicable, m riew of the interests of our commerce, and
-of humanity. If, tiierefore, the foUovring papers, which
were sent to the yomig Sultan, as the consequence of tiiis
allusion of the Commodore, shall in any degree confribute
to the good-wUl and kmdly feelmgs existing between his
liighness the Sultan of Muscat and our own citizens, I
shaU be happy tiiat tiiey were penned, and forwarded as
further described.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD.

211

My own communications were enclosed in the foUow
ing letter from Comraodore Read :
To His Highness Syed Syeed Bin Soultan :
I had anticipated,.on my arrival at Muscat, the plea
sure of being able, in person, to tender to your Highness the
assurances ofthe smcere good wishes, which the President
of the United States continues to cherish for the happiness
and prolonged prosperity of your Highness. And while
transmitting the accompanying papers, penned by my
Chaplafri, as eridence of the general kind feelmg which
the generous course of your Highness towards the Peacock
has created m the United States, I fully beHeve, although
I have not been instracted by my Government thus to say,
that your Highness, erelong, vriU agam hear from the Pre
sident of the United States, in a manner more accordant
with the generosity and great merits of your Highness.
I am, with high considerations of respect.
Your Highness's obedient servant,
George C. Read,
Commanding the TJ, S. Naval Force in the Indian Seas.
Harbour of Muscat, October 20th, 1838.
The foUovring are the two papers, allvided to in the
preceding letter of Commodore Read :
His Highness the Sultan of Muscat vrill excuse the
freedom of one who admires his magnanimous and eleva
ted character, for the liberty which is taken in transmitting
to his Highness the enclosed lines. They are sent eis evi
dence of the cordial sentiment of admiration which aflfects
the writer's own bosom not only, but also of all those who
have heard of the generous action of his Highness towards
. the officers and crew of one of the United States ships,
when she was near being stranded on the Arabian coast.
Will his Highness receive the sincere -wishes of the wri-

212 THE FLAG SHH"; OR
ter, that the years of his Highness may still be long and
happy, as they have been beneficent and glorious.
Fitch W. Taylor,
Chaplain of the U, S, Frigate Columbia.
Harbour of Muscat, October ISth, 1838,
The foUovring are the lines, aUuded to in the preceding
note:
TO ms HIGHNESS SYED SYEED EIN SOULTAN, StXTAN OF MUSCAT.
Sultan or Muscat ! thy proud story
Lives where the day-beam latest falls,
And thy name, famed in Eastern glory,
Is heard within the westem halls ;
And far o'er seas to Omon's waters
A nation's thanks we bear to thee.
And long their thousand sons and daughters
Will bless the Prince of Araby.
Not purest pearls from Bahrien's ocean,
Not diamond gems from eastern mines,
Not hoarded gold of proudest Im&m
Could win the hearts from western climes ;
But courteous deeds and princely dealing
Their stranded sons received from thee,
Hath met a nation's grateful feeling,
Who laud the Prince of Araby,
For such as thee, in martial strains.
The notes of clarion should be swelling,
And minstrel harps and sybil-lines
Thy deeds in glorious verse be telling;
And storied rolls and fadeless pages
Trace bright thy name and chivalry,
And chronicle for deathless ages
The generous Prince of Araby.
And bright thy name, with glory streaming,
Shall light the page of future story,
And fairer than thy fellows gleaming
ShaU fix the gaze of young and hoary ;

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 213
And though, like meteor-lights declining,
The sheen of other names may die,
Thy deeds shall be for ever shining,
Thou glorious Prince of Araby.
O Araby, of olden story,
Though fairy-spells live in thy name,
Deseris, green, sheiks, and all hath glory,
As in our youth we learned thy fame ;
Yet mountain-gems, and myrrh, and balms,
And tales of proud antiqnity.
We lose them all, while verse proclaims
The proudest Prince of Araby.
Then peace attend thee in thy glory
Of Eastern climes and golden treasure,
And years of life gleam long before thee,
To fill the chalice of thy pleasure ;
And where the sun goes late to rest.
Far o'er the deep and wide blue-sea.
There Syeed Bin Soultan shall be blest,
As noblest Prince of Araby.
The preceding papers, in a sealed envelope, to his
Highness Syed Syeed Bin Soultan ; together with their du
plicates unsealed, were sent, through Captain Calfaun, with
the following accompanying letter, to the young Prince,
on whom we had called :
To His Highness the Imam of Muscat :
We anticipated the pleasure of paying our respects to
his Highness, your illustrious father, on our arrival at
Muscat But in his absence, we are happy that we shall
have the pririlege of conveying to him, through your
Highness, the grateful considerations which every American
citizen, as weU as the Government of the Unfred States,
must contmue to feel towards your Ulustrious father and
his distinguished family, for the noble manner -with which

214

the flag ship ; or

he treated the officers and crew of the U. S. ship Peacock,
when she was near being lost at Mazeira.
Will your Highness, therefore, excuse the freedom of
the request, that the accompanying papers, addressed to
his Highness, your father, may be forwarded to him as
opportunity may offer ? A dupHcate ofthe same is sent to
your Highness, alike to evince the high respect and grate
ful consideration which the writer and his countrymen feel
towards the whole famUy of your distinguished father.
Fitch W. Taylor,
Chaplain of the U. S. Frigate Columbia.
Harbour of Muscat, October I9ih, 1838.
But to return to our sitting with the Iraam and his suite,
from which we digressed for the insertion of the precedic^
papers. We soon Eifter left the palace ; Commodore Read
having given the Prince an invitation to visit the Colum
bia, which was accepted. On our leaving, the usual
ceremony of shaking hands in our own style, was gone
through, with cordial good feelings, apparently, by both
parties ; and while Captain Calfaun accompanied the Com
modore and other of the officers to look at the Sultan's
horses, I returned to the edge of the bay to meet the two
boats, seen pulling from our frigate, with their flags at the
stern, declaring that they were bearing- one of their num
ber to the shore, for his burial. As I reached the landing
place, a dark Arab approached me, taking from the folds
of his turban the following note :
"Sir,— "The bearer of this note wUl conduct you to the buiy-
ing ground. Also, some of his Highness's guards wdl
attend you. " Your obedient servant,
" Syed Bin Calfaun."

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 216
The boats soon reached the shore, and the body of the
poor sailor was borne by hia messmates, accompanied by
the officers of the boats and the assistant surgeon, and a
crowd of Arabs and Africans, whose curiosity collected
them to vritness the ceremony of an Araerican burial. We
proceeded through the narrow and winding 'streets, until
v?e passed out of the southmost gate of the inwaUed
city ; and after proceedmg through the range of bamboo
houses clustered together without the walls, we soon
reached the spot where the grave had already been dug.
The crowd, from thefr loud and noisy chattering, becarae
silent as our party all uncovered, and the ceremony
of interment was said above the body of the departed
sailor. And while they were now fiUmg the grave, a
collection of masked women, at a bamboo tent at some
distance on the steep aslant above us, commenced thefr
wail for the dead. We left this worthy tar to sleep m his
foreign grave, beneath the pouring rays of an Arabian
sun. His death was sudden, and occasioned by the in
tense heat of the sun, on the afternoon of our mooring
our ship. An active seaman and petty officer, he had
exerted himself on the yard while furling sails, and with
his hat off, suffered the sun to beat upon his uncovered
head. He fell soon after his reaching the deck, and died
in the course of an hour. One or two others were affected,
but have recovered so far as to be out of danger.
The sides of the high rocks which surround, on three
sides, the narrow cove, on which the city of Muscat is situ
ated, are like so many mirrors, converging the sun's rays
to a focus, and thus concenfrating the heat upon a vessel
which lies vrithin the harbour. At the moment of our
mooring ship and furhng sails, at about four o'clock P. M.,
the sun's rays, from this circumstance, were intolerable,

216 THE FLAflliSHIP; OR
where one was exposed to them. And though I made no
particular jiote of the degree of heat we experienced whUe
at Muscat, I am told the therraoraeter rose to 110° in the
sun, while kept on the gun-deck, and in my own room it
generally ranged, during the day, at 86°. The nights were
comfortable, and the officers generally rested weU. But
during the day, the perspiration was sfreaming from every
pore ; and in no case have I ever perspfred so freely, for a
succession of days, as at Muscat.
On the day succeeding our presentation to the young
Sultan, who is about twenty-three years of age, I went on
shore to visit Captain Calfaun, and spent some time with
him, in his upper rooms.
Captain Calfaun hsis been in the navy of his Highness,
the Sultan of Muscat, and is said generally to have com
manded the vessel in which the Sultem himself saUed, when
visiting different parts of his possessions. He seems to be
a good Mussulman, and is particular in conforming to the
ceremonious observEmces of his religion. We had a long
conversation on the pecuharities of the MohammedEm Emd
the Christian systems ; and it seemed his wish rather to
leave vrith me the irapression, that the foUowere of Mo-
hamraed venerated the character of Jesus Clii-ist as pro
foundly as ourselves. And yet, wliUe he affirmed that they
considered Jesus Christ to have had, in his generation, no
eartiily father, but was born of Mary by tiie exercise ofthe
power of the Almighty, and that Mohammed was born of
eaithly parents ; it was evident, at the same time, that Cap
taui Callaun did not feel that Jesus Chiist was a greater
prophet than Mohammed, or was other than a prophet,
like Moses, and otiiere after Moses, and Mohammed after
Christ. Jesus Christ came, at the time he did, to save
certam tribes of people, and was persecuted. Mohammed

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 217
also was persecuted for the first few years of his mission,
but was finally successful in estabHshing his purpose,
and was the latest and the last prophet whom God had
sent or would send to the earth for the welfare of mankind.
His peculiar sect, which prevails in Omon, differs in
some things from the generaHty of Mussulmans, particu
larly in connection vrith their idea as to a metaphysical
speculation about the visible appearance of God. They
affirm that God, being a spirit, can never be seen, while
others suppose that he ¦will be visible to the inhabitants of
another world. Thefr whole system, however, represent
ing the future state as a physical existence, would, of
necessity, infroduce a thousand difficulties, were they at
all given to phUosophical resisonings. But it is my pur
pose elsewhere to devote a paragraph to the subject of
the rehgion of the Arabs, and, therefore, I waive it here.
In speaking of the toleration which his Highness the
Sultan cherishes towards his subjects of diflferent creeds,
CaptEun C. assured me, in reply to a question on the sub
ject, that there would be no opposition made to the loca
tion of an American missionary at Muscat.
But, I continued, should such a missionary succeed in
making a Mohammedan a Christian, in what manner
would the Arabian afterwards be treated by his tribe and
countrymen 1
" That would be impossible," Captain C. replied. " A
missionary could not make a Mohammedan a Christian."
But, I continued, with a smile, suppose the missionary
did succeed — suppose by argument and conclusive reason
ing with Captain Calfaun, he should make Captain C.
renounce his present creed. and join the Christians, how
then would his Highness treat Captain Calfaun 1
Vol. L 19 lb

218 ' THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
" His Highness, or the trae Imtoi, would kUl him,"
continued Captain C.
But^ould not that be rather cruel, and imcharitablel
I asked. " But it would be just," continued Captain C, " for I
should deserve it"
Here then is seen the amount of toleration an Ameri
can missionary would receive at Muscat; or rather, it
presents to him the probabUities of his succesp, and the
consequences of such success to the converted Mussulman.
Were there an American population at Muscat sufficient
to render it desfrable to have ChristiEm serrices and the
residence of a Christian minister, his Highness would im
pose no obstacles to the establishment of a .church for
themselves, any more than he opposes the existence of a
Banian temple, vvhich is tolerated within the city-walls,
with all their Banian peculiarities, glaringly opposed to
the professed dislike of the Mohammedans to aU idol- wor
ship. But should a convert from among the Arabs be
made to the Christian rehgion, an immediate opposition
would be raised ; and the Srdtan, who is generally at the
head of the spfritual as well as the civic power, would be
obHged to interfere ; and in case the two powers, civic and
spfritual, vvere not invested in the same indiridual, the
Imam, who is at the head of the spfritual power, would
act, witiiout appeal, in his opposition to the infroduction
of the Christian system.
It is not always the case that the ImSinship is united
witii the chief civic power. It is required, in the case
where they are invested in the same ind'ividual, that the
Prince shall possess sufficient tiieological knowledge to
enable him to deliver a discourse before the doctors or
priests, and -the assembled shieks of the diff"erent fribes,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 219
who have elected or made the reigning power. If, how
ever, the Prince decline, either from incompetency or other
reasons, thus to discourse before the assembled chiefs, he
does not receive, in fact, the title of Imam, while, at the
same time, it is generally accorded to him, in courtesy.
This is the state of things in the case of his Highness, the
present Sultan of Muscat. He is called Im^m by courtesy,
though he has never gone through the ceremonies, and
assumed the spiritual obligation, which the title sup
poses. Early on a succeeding moming I went to take a view
of his Highness's horses, tethered near the beach, at the
eastern side of the city. We passed along the narrow
bazaar, principally occupied by the Banians ; at the end
of which is their temple, vrith sketches of wretchedly drawn
houses and ships covering its walls. Both the Banians
and the Arabs seem entirely ignorant of perspective. Their
ships and houses are fac similes of the first essays of the
nursery, in drawing a man or a mouse, or a horse or a
house. The Sultan's stables are arranged within an in
walled square of considerable size, vrith a roof extending
quite around three sides of the area-wall, sufficiently wide
to protect the animals from the rays of the sun. A fixed ¦
rope, attached by a noose over the fetlock-joint of thehind
legs ofthe horses, 'preserved them in their place, and pre
vented them from doing mischief either to themselves or
others. We saw a few tolerably fine horses, among the
forty or fifty animals in this collection. But most of them,
discoimected with their Arab-associations, would not have
commanded fifty dollars a-piece, for a dray in New-York.
There was one beautiful mare with sleek Hmbs, strikingly
in contrast with the stiff joints and clumsy legs of most of
the horses we saw. Captain Calfaun said, that quite a

220

THE FLAG SHIP; OE

number of his Highness's best horses had been sent from
Muscat, a few days before we arrived.
As we returned through the bazaar, I purchased some
Persian rugs, which were very pretty, and raust be very
durable, judging from their material and compactness.
Others were afterwsirds purchased, by severEd officers ofthe
ship. These rags are brought in boats from up the Per
sian Gulf, to Muscat, and sold at auction here. They are
afterwards, a considerable supply of them, sent to Bombay.
The young Sultan, having accepted the invitation of
Coramodore Read to visit the Columbia, came on board
with his suite in the afternoon, at the hour which had been
fixed upon. He was attended by his principal minister,
who is a cousin, and a young Arab Prince of decided cha
racter ; also a brother of the young Sultan about fomteen
years of age, a bright lad ; and the commander ofthe Sul
tan's guards, who is said to have fought some hard battles ;
together with Captain Calfaun, Captain C's brother, and
several others of the Prince's officers and retainers.
The gig and cutter left the frigate at four o'clock to
bear the young Prince and his suite to the ship. Our crew
were all in thefr clean dresses, Emd the officers in thefr
cocked hats Emd swords, ready to receive this young Aiab.
The yards were manned, and as the Prince came over the
side of the frigate, the music beat the roll, while the ma
rines, in full-dress, presented arms as the Prince descended
to the deck. The music repeated the roll successively as
his Highness's chief counsellor and the Prince's young
brother came over the frigate's side. They were all re
ceived by the Commodore and First Lieutenant in advance
of tbe other officers, who then, togetiier, walked to the
quarter-deck. The beat to quEu-tei-s at once dispersed offi
cers and men to their several places j when the Prmce,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 221
through his interpreter. Captain Calfaun, was informed
that the frigate was now in the attitude assumed when
about to engage an enemy ; — Would he walk through the
ship and examine her ?
The whole party passed fore and aft the three decks,
and having sufficiently gratified theiF curiosity, entered
with the Commodore into his cabin ; to which all the offi
cers were then invited. The Commodore, with his usual
taste, had arranged his table with fruits, sweetmeats, sher
bet, lemonade, &c., of which they partook ; after which
coffee was served.
The yoimg Prince, seated on the right of the Commo
dore, said but little himself His minister was the chief
speaker and the primum mobile of the scene, here as at
the presentation of the Commodore at the Sultan's divan.
He is decidedly the most intellectual Arab I have yetseen,
is about thirty-five years of age, with a sprightiy flow of
words Emd play ofthe muscles of his face ; while his speaking
eyes give forth thefr expressions, as indices of his emotions.
The Prince's young brother sat next below the minister on
the Commodore's left, and opposite to myself. There weis
no vrine on the table, it being confrary to the religion of the
Mohamraedans to partake of it, or of any other spirituous
Hquor, until they reach the highest heaven of their paradise.
The Commodore, however, vrith a smile that was under
stood,' said he would take vrine vrith the Prince, if he would
allow him. The compliment, as meant, was interpreted to
the Prince, who oflfered the precepts of his religion as his
apology for decHning. But the gentleman beside me, said
one of the officers, drinks wine, sir. The Lieutenant allu
ded to .Captain Calfaun's brother, who had beeii^n France,
and had gamed some knowledge of the Frenwi language.
19*

222

THE FLAG SHIP J OR

" No, sir," added the courtier, " I do not drink wine m the
present company."
While Mohamraed, the young brother of the Prince,
was sipping his coffee, I indicated that I woiUd drink cof
fee vrith him, as there was no wine on the table. The
coffee seemed particularly agreeable to his taste, but the
Commodore's cups, so large in comparison with theirs,
were rather unmanageable in his hands, and his own awk
wardness so amused himself, as to befray him into an au
dible laugh. This young brother of the Prince was now
corapliraented for his fme head and teeth, and general ap
pearance, aU of which was merited by the apparently
clever lad ; and his teeth were but counterparts of his bro
ther's, and others of his family. They are strikingly white,
clear, and preserv^ed thus by the use of a particular root,
which serves them as a brush.
" His Highness," said Captain Calfaun, addressing my
self, " has seen you tvrice, and in both instances in black.
He desfres to know the cause of your wearing it 1" This
curiosity seemed to be awakened by the confrast of my
dress with the others of the officers.
I replied, that it was the uniform dress of the chap
lain of the ship.
, Captain Calfaun, apparentiy not comprehending the
term chaplain, I added, that it was the dress of the religious
officer on board the ship, corresponding, in pEurt, vrith the
reHgious office of the Imam on shore smiong themselves.
The Cathohcs, of whom they had knowm raore than of
the ProtestEmts, would call rae the priest, for which titie
we used, the term minister or clei^yman, and on board of
ship, chaplain.
His Highness repUed, that he had supposed I wore

.'¦' ¦ ; A V6YAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 223
black Ss mouming for the loss of some friend. And could
he have read the heart at the moment of his mentioning
it, he might have seen it wreathed in weeds, as it even
then bled at the recurrence of the thought that I was, in
deed, in mourning for one who sleeps to wake no more,
until the hour that shall wake us all at the last day.
The party rose and retfred to the private cabin of the
Commodore. The cousin of the young Sultan and his
principal counsellor, now continued the conversation, in
quiring as to the age of the Columbia. He was told that
this was her first cruise.
" And the John Adams, was she also new V " She
had lately been repaired, which was almost the same as
being newly built for the cruise, but had long been in the
service." His Highness continued, that they were greatly pleased
vrith their visit to the Columbia — and admired the ship —
and was sure that his Highness his father would greatly
regret that he was not at Muscat himself to receive us,
and would have been particularly pleased with the
Columbia's visit, as she was the ffrst large frigate that
had ever risited the waters of Muscat.
The Commodore re-assured his Highness of the kind ^
feelings of the President and people of the United States ;
and fully beheved that they would manifest it in thefr
future intercourse in his Highness's ports.
His Highness repHed, that Americans would always
. be welcomed, and that every thing would be done that was
possible for thefr happiness and convenience.
But, said the Commodore, our frequent visits to your
ports would cause you a considerable expense, if you
should insist, in aU instances, as you have done in this, that
our ship shaU be suppHed gratuitously.

224

THE FLAG SHIP ; OR

" We are friends," said his Highness vrith emphasis,
" now, and are happy that it is so. And we hope that it
vyill continue to be so from father to son, and from sons'
sons, down to the latest time of our family, and — for ever,"
he added, as he seemed a moment to hesitate for the last
word, in the evident increase of his feehngs, in the gen-J
erous glow of the noble sentunent.
How great a pity, said the Commodore, addressing
myself, that we do not understand aU languages. This
sentiment of the Commodore was an expression of regret
that he could not tell this Prince, as forcibly as he would
wish, the sincerity of the good feeling of the American
people, in thefr high appreciation of the character of the
Sultan of Muscat
Captain C. was desfred, however, to say, in reply,
which was the last sentence interpreted to his Highness in
this talk, having particular reference to the feelings of the
two govemments towEirds each other, that " when we re
turned to America, the President smd the citizens of the
United States wUl be told, in a language which they vrill
entirely understand and feel, how trae and how generous is
the friendship of the Sultan of Muscat towards the people
ofthe United States."
The Commodore now ordered the two boats to be
manned, eis the Prince and his suite were about to take
leave of the ship. The a-wnings had been furled while
we were in the cabin, havdng been spread when the Prince
and his party came on board. The yards were ready to
be re-manned. The young Sultan regained the deck, and
as he left the ship, the music, and the presenting arms of
the guard complimented him as he passed over the side of
the frigate to the boat So soon as the boats had puUed
to a suitable distance from the ship, they rested on thefr

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 225
oars, as the loud note of the first gun of the frigate loomed
over the still waters of the bay, succeeded by twenty other
loud-mouthed pieces, in compliment to his Highness, to be
reverberated in rolling thunders along the high defile of
rock, which nearly surrounds the harbour. The scene was
a fine one ; and when our own pieces had ceased their
voice of national compliment, the oeu-s of the two boats
were seen again to dip, in regular stroke, for the shore,
while the guns of the returning salute from one of his
Highness's vessels, opened, to prolong and to return, with
an equal number of guns, our ffre.
I went late on shore, in the evening, with a design to
take a sfroU to the camp of the Bedouin Arabs, retainers
of the Sultan's, who are quartered in their tents about
three-fourths of a mile vrithout the walls of the city.
I called at CaptEun Caulfan's ; and our Consul, who was
there, taking my arm, we started for a charming evening's
walk. The sun is scorching during the day, but now had
gone behind the high cragged peaks, which sfretch
every way around Muscat, and had just settled beneath the
notched outHne of the high rocks, even before I had left
the Columbia, sleeping at this pleasant hour on the bosom
of the picturesque cove. We passed along the narrow
streets leading to the western gate of the city ; and being
assured that it would not be closed until our return, we pass
ed out and followed on to the ericampment, which was
located in a ravine between two high defiles of rocks, the
only kind of location that could be found anywhere in the
neighbourhood of Muscat.
On reaching the encampment, we found that some few
of the Bedouins had already placed their mats in the open
ravine for their night's repose beneath the bright stars ;
while the early tvrihght, however, was yet streaming over

226 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
the mountain rocks and clothed the scene in the softness of
the sunset-hour. As we neared the Bedouin lodgment, we
observed the poUte old chief a short distance from his tent,
in the open air, at his simset-worship, with his fscc turned
towards the soft west, while the bright crescent of the
moon was mingling her silver light with the early tvrilight
of the hour, to light up the whole of the camp. Several Be
douins approached to welcome us ; but as we perceived that
the old chief had not finished his prayers, and some others
of the camp were making their three inchnations to the
ground, we said that we would pass on a Httle distance
further and stop on our retum.
We paused at one ofthe numerous wells in this neigh
bourhood, where the water is drawn by an ox, with a rope
reeved through a block, which elevates a goat skin of
water, as the ox descends Em inclined plane, reminding one
of his boyhood, when he has laboured to drEig his sled up
a steep hill for the pleasure smd ease of gliding down
again, with this advantage or apology for the boy, that
there was a necessity in the case for the youngster thus to
proceed, if he would gain his purpose; whereas, in the
case of the ox, in this arrangement for dravring water, he
would find his convenience much improved, vrith proper
machineiy, by walking over a level surface, rather than
wasting himself both by the uncomfortable gait of descend
ing, and the necessaiy great effort of reascending the
acclivity. We turned ofl!" to tiie back of the encEunpment to find
thfe inwalled area, where the Banians feed and cherish and
pet their covs-s, which, it is said, they worship. Their
creed at least embraces the idea of transmigration of souls ;
and they suppose when the spirit leaves the body, it enters
into one of these or other animals. A thatched roof ex-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 227
tends on the inside around the wall of the enclosed area,
to shelter these, their deities, during the heat of the day,
We entered the enclosure without any obsfruction, as the
gateway was open, and no Banian, at the moment, was
near. We were cautious in our advance, lest some rude
one of their godships should take it into his horned head
to sport with us. Soon after, however, three Banians
came into the enclosure as we approached several of the
cherished cattle. One of the keepers, manifesting that
some of the animals we were looking at were mischievous;
I indicated, by placing my hand upon the hilt of a sword,
that I would prick thefr hides for them if they approached
too near ; at which, the keeper's astonishment being man
ifested in his countenance, I reassured him that I would not
injure his creatures, nor trifle with his religion, however
preposterous it might be ; while, at the same time, it was
my purpose, to ascertain how great was the reverence they
cherished for these beasts.
There were several beautiful creatures among a larger
number of most miserable and apparently half-starved
yearHngs and calves. Their horns were mostly stained
with red or black, in imitation, I suppose, of their
tattooed and yellow-skinned worshippers, who, as a
cast, exhibit some fine specimens of manliness in their
persons ; vrith their peculiar turban arrayed high on their
head, like a bishop's cap as cut on chess-men, -with a
small solid twist in front, which might emblem forth a
young stump of a horn growing from the brow. I marked
particularly one gentle creature, a brindle-coloured ox, thick
and short_j with a white freckled face. He looked like a
favourite, and there was gravity and kindness in his coun
tenance, and friendship in his manner, and a white frill of
his superabundant hide extended down his neck and

228

THE FLAG SHIP ; OR

breast and along the belly, and wreathed itself in grace
ful folds over his hind legs.
I was told by Mr. M., who was walking vrith me, that
the Arabs here sometimes impose upon thefr Banian neigh
bours. If they have an indifi"erent calf or cow, and would
dispose of it at a good price, they take the anunal to the
house of the Banian, whose rehgion forbids him to kiU
any living creature, and whose veneration is particularly
turned, with tendernes, towards the bos-genus. With a
knife drawn they assure the Banian, that if he does not give
them the price demanded, the animal shaU die. It is an
appeal which the Banian finds it difficult to resist ; and the
shiners are dealt out, and the rescued animal conveyed to
the enclosure, to feed upon dates, until he shaU become
sufficiently sleek to be conveyed to thefr sacred land of
Hindoostan ; which is their home, and where they often
return themselves, after an absence of ten, twent) , or
thirty years.
We bid the BaniEms and thefr petted Euiimals good-by
as thefr keepers were giving them thefr evening meal of
dates ; and after a few moments, reached the tent of the
Bedouin chief. Two or three of thefr number came out
1 0 welcome us before we reached the enfrance, smd the old
chief rose from his couch and placed us beside him, with
a graceful and cordial shake of the hand. I had no sooner
displaced in)- hat than several of these lon2;-hafred Arab^
were aromid me in thefr beautiful and artless simplicity,
while one of tiiefr nuraber seized a fcm and swept it before
me, bearing by me the grateful currents of the cooling afr.
In a few moments, others brought a dish of halwah, a
species of sweetmeats, and desired me to partake as the
old chief" raused it for me to smell it ; of which I partook
«vith m)- fingers, having removed my glove, and thus we

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 229
ate it together, from the same dish. Two other Bedouins
with their flovring curls approached the one who was using
the fan, and vrith considerable earnestness desired to re
lieve him. But the first had secured the honour of thus
shovring a courteous attention to a guest, and insisted upon
his privilege of continuing to perform his part in the
civilities and simple hospitality of the artless and beauti
ful Bedouins. He was a beautifiil and graceful figure,
that half-naked Bedouin as he stood before me, and swept
his fan whUe I sat with the chief. I would I could ever
retain such a picture in the imagination. There he stood,
with a smUing countenance, which was the beautiful smile
of artiess nature — vrith smooth features, thin lip, and
white teeth, and amber skin, and jet hair falling in profuse
ringlets, vrith a fillet over the forehead pressing the flow
ing curls gently back and over his uncovered shoulders,
and displaying his sHra and well-formed person the whole
length of his chest. And he not only smiled, but all smil
ed ; and he was not only doing what he believed to be
raost agreeable to the guest, but all were ready to spring
on any errand for the same purpose. And when we had
slightly eaten of the halwah, the chief called for coffee ;
when three equaUy beautifully curled and raven-headed
Arabs shot to the back of the tent, viemg vrith each
other, to see which should first bring forth the hot pot of
cofi"ee, with its accompanying little cups. In an instant the
heverage was at our lips, and we sipped two cups with
the old chief, who in his artless grace and amiable manners
reminds you of a patriarch, surrounded by his hundred
grown and hEmdsome children, each delighting to move at
his beck, and would be greatly ashamed if all weis not
done that could,be done to render pleased and. happy their
sfranger-guiest-^
Vol. L 20

230

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

The Sultan of Muscat, it is said, at a'short notice can call
to his service eight or ten thousand of these Arabians of the
interior ; and on any march through his possessions, their
numbers would be continually increasing. Three or four
hundred of th^e Bedouins are continually retained, at the
expense of the Sultsm, without the waUs of the city, to
which they have ingress and egress at their pleasme during
the day. And you see them during the hot part of the
day, in the pride of thefr own free and bounding elasticity of
disposition and person, arrayed along the narrow and
shaded bazaars ; and with thefr flowing and full dishevelled
curls, bearing thefr match-lock, or shield and DamEiscus
blade, or spear and kinger, nunghng vrith the turban-
headed Arabs of the city, and BEuiian merchants ; and ex
hibiting an acceptable and picturesque confrast with aU
else about them.
The interior of Omon, which yields aUegiance to the
Sultan of Muscat, is divided into difi'erent tribes, vrith a
chief at thefr head. And in each jurisiction there is a
castle or sfrong-hold. The shiek, or chief, administers the
law in his own fribe, who have a right to appeal to the,
Sultan in case either party deems itself aggrieved by the
decision of the shiek. The chiefe of these different diri
sions are appointed by the Sultan, and hold thefr place
vrith the simple condition of fealty, to be manifested by the
supply of men, as soldiers for his fribe, according to the Sul
tan's requisition. It is the old feudal system of Europe, in
many particulars. And in case the Sultan should abuse
his power, the difi'erent chiefe, like the old barons, can
and have retired vrithin their sfrong-holds, and brought the
Prince to their terms. It is the pohcy of the present Sul
tan, to preserve the friendship ofthe Bedouin fribes ofthe
interior ; and he is said to ti-eat them with the greatest

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 231
liberality, never dismissing any that call upon him with
out a present or some mark of particular kindness. The
consequence is, that he has secured their afifection and at
tached devotion.
We parted vrith the aged chief of this Bedouin encamp
ment, and his young and dark-haired attendants, whose
glossy ringlets so gracefully hung in long curls upon their
necks and shoulders, or in some other instances were gath
ered in a tie behind, with the ends hanging loosely, in
the mode of the Greek. Their fine features and soft smUe,
and incomparably beautifiil heads of hair, curled and glos
sy, Emd daily dressed with oil of cocoa-nut, together with
thefr beautifully developed muscles of the shoulders and
arms, rather effeminate than otherwise, and yet not un
manly, presented a more picturesque Emd interesting bust
than has met our eye besides, and is more in keeping with
nature and taste than the shaved and turban-headed Arabs
of Muscat We returned, by invitation, to Captain Calfaun's, to
take tea vrith Mm, this evening, and found a, cup ofthe
-delicious beverage refreshing indeed, after the heat of the
day and the stroU of the evening. Captain Calfaun's, and
one or two others, are the only families in Muscat who are
in the habit of serving tea. Captain Calfaun and some of
his guests were reclining upon Persian rags and bolsters,
while I occupied a comfortable couch. After tea we were
shown through several of the upper apartments of the
house, besides the well-furnished and large room in which
tea was served. One or two of these rooms were sur
rounded vrith lattice-work, constracted from the split bara-
boo, which is so graceful and light a thing for ornamenting
the upper and even lower apartments, in warm climates.
Two rooms which we entered, one quite on the top of the

232 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
house, were vrithout roofs ; and the bright stars were look
ing down upon us, with their sweet smiles, as we gazed
delighted from the turreted chamber up to the blue haUs
above us. It is not astonishing that an Arab of ancient
times should become an astrologer, reader and worshipper
of the stars, when his home is so constracted as to catch
the smiles of the heavenly goddesses, so graciously con
templating thefr worshipper, and holding their night-vigils
above his sleeping-couch.
Captain C. has shown himself every way attentive to
the officers of the Columbia, in contributing to their pleas
ure and convenience, and left with them a feeling of great
kindness towards himself for his polite attentions to them.
And as this gentlemEm has been the object of frequent men
tion in the accounts given of the visits of our ships to the
port of Muscat, his character may naturaUy awaken some
interest, with those who may peruse these pages. He is a
fine specimen of Em Arabian of his o-wn tribe and sect. A
perfect gentleman ui his simple, easy, and unostentatious
manners ; moving with ease in his gracefiU costume, and
doing every thing with a fitness which prevents the atten
tion from being arrested by smy incongruity, eccentricity,
or personal peculiarity. And this, whether he is in the
presence of his Piince and other members of his Highness's
famUy and his own people, or on board of our ship, mov
ing among ourselves, with manners and customs totsdly
unlike the habits and usages of our Arabian friends. His
costume is a red or black cloak with sleeves, over a thin
white and long under robe, buttoned low at the neck.
These are gathered about the WEust vrith a sash, in which
is placed a silver-mounted kinger. A turban of fine check-
linen, edged vrith red and yellow sfripes of silk, wreaths
Ilis head. This, with sandals, which aie composed of a

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 233
sole of leather for the foot to rest upon, and an ornament
ed sfrap to cross the instep of the foot, compose the cos
tume of this Arab gentleman. Besides the kinger in the
sash, he bears a long Damascus blade in its sheath, in his
hand. This dress, as described here, is the same as the cos
tume of the Prince, only the outer robe of the Prince was
black, and laced vrith a fringe of gold thread about the
neck, and down the front on each edge of the folds.
Captain Calfaun seems sincere in a cherished purpose
of visiting, at some time not far onward, the United States,
and evidently is partial towards the Americans. We doubt
not but that he would find a welcome, that would re-assure
him in the kind feeling he has cherished towards the
citizens of the United States, and find his own hospitality
and politeness reciprocated when visiting their shores. He,
at least, may have the assurances of a cordial reception
from those who have been so happy as to form his ac
quaintance in his own native Araby. .^
As evidence of the continued good feeling of the Sul
tan of Muscat towards the Govemment of the United
States, we found that the John Adams having met his
Highness at Zanzebar, brought to Muscat an order that the
Columbia should be supplied vrith water and provisions, on
her Eirrival at this place, on her way to Bombay. Water
has been conveyed to our ship in the Sultan's own boats,
and by the Sultan's own subjects, at the Sultan's own ex
pense. We have received, also, almost daily, since we
have been lying here, fraits, as presents from his High
ness — grapes, pomegranates, etc., together with sheep and
goats.' The Commodore expressed a hope that his. High
ness would, at least, suffer him to pay the men, who, at the
expense of so much labour, watered our ship after we had
20*

234

THE FLAG SHIP; OK

been eighty days at sea; but it was replied, that his
Highness would not allow it, and if any thing were received
in his absence, it would meet his displeasure. Now, this
is all a generous action on the part of this Arab Prince,
which exhibits his hospitality in a light that should, at
least, make the American people feel that some handsome
compliment from them would receive a worthy disposition,
should it reach so magnanimous a Prince as the Sultan of
Muscat. And though I know not how far our commerciEd
interests shall be fiirthered by the treaty which has been
formed between the two governraents, I yet should be
ashamed of my own country, should it be justif said, that
the generosity and hospitality of an Arab Prince surpassed
the munificence and liberahty of the American Gov
ernment.* It is our purpose to weigh anchor, and leave the cove
of Muscat this afternoon, October 25th. The evening
breeze regularly prevEuls, and vrith it we expect to gsun an
offing that vrill leave the high shores of Omon, by the
moming, low in the western distance.
It raay not be uninteresting, in connection vrith this
Arabian Prince, whose possessions we are on the eve of
leaving, Emd by whose government our ships have been so
generously entertained, to give the follo^wing brief state
ment, in connection vrith his Highness's family.
The Mohammedan systera entails endless dissensions
on those governments where it is embraced, in connection
with the title to the tiirone. A Mohammedan is allowed.

• Since the visit of the squadron to Muscat, a vessel belonging to
the Im&m arrived in the United States, bearing presents ; and on her
return, she conveyed from the President reciprocated testimonies of
good feeling between the two powers, to the Sultan of Muscat.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 235
by the Koran, four wives, and his children by his concu
bines are also hefrs to his father's titles.
Syed Syeed Bin Soultan is descended from Aimed, (to
g6 no farther back,) who, at his death, left five sons. Their
names were Self, Kis, Soultan, Thabit, Mohamraed.
Kis was chief of Sohar, a town less than a hundred
mUes from Muscat, on the Persian Gulf, during his father
Almed's lifetime, and at his death.
Seif, the hefr apparent, being the eldest son, was elected
Sultan* by the chiefs, at the decease of his father. The
son of Seif, whose name was Aimed, succeeded his father.
But on Almed's death, who is said to have been himself a
vrise prince, the government was left in confusion. The
chiefs, however, made Soultan, the third son of the elder
Aimed, Sultan, who was afterwEurds slain by the Johasm
pirates. This prince left two sons, the present Sultan and
his brother Salem. On the death of Soultan, however,
Kis, the chief of Sohar and brother of the deceased Sul
tan, intrigued for the Sultanship.
On hearing of the death of the Sultan, Budr, a cousin
of the present Sultan, and his brother Salem, and son of
Seif, having previously retired into the interior, and bring
vrith the tribes there for some time, now returned, and
agreed to live on terms of amity with his two cousins.
While in the interior he had joined the tribe of the
Wahabis, who were rapidly extending their power. The
three cousins now united thefr influence against the en
croachments and pretensions of their uncle Kis, the gov
emor of Sohar. But Budr having ingratiated himself
vrith the interior tribes, they were desirous of seeing
him made Sultan ; and aware of his influence vrith these
tribes, he entered frito a secret freaty vrith the Wahabis>
* ImS.m is the Arabic title.

236

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

that if they would place hira in the Sultanship of Muscat,
he would contribute fifty thousand dollars to thefr tribe,
and hold his power* as Sultan of Muscat, as a tributary
Prince to the chief of the Wahabis.
Syed Syeed, being now assured that his throne would
be insecure so long as his intriguing cousin Budr lived,
contrived to have hira assassinated at a vUlage naraed
Narahan, near Burkae, on the sea-coast
The straggle, however, was not yet over. Saoud, chief
of the powerful and increasing tribe of the Wahabis, who
styled themselves reformers, with whom Budr had entered
into a treaty, as previously stated, now demanded that
Syed Syeed should ratify it in his own case. Syed Syeed
refusing indignantly so to comply, the Wahabi chief waged
war against hira ; and with a force of 4,000 Arabs, under
Seyd ibn Matack, a WEirlike and enterprising chief, so re
duced Syed Syeed, that he was under the necessity of seek
ing Eissistance from the PersiEms. EventuEdly however
the death of his uncle Kis, followed by that of Saoud and
the dispersion of the Wsdiabis, left the present Sultan
Syed Syeed Bin Soultan in undisturbed possession of his
dominions. These particulars of the famUy of the Sultan are given
on the authority of Welstead, a Lieutenant in the English
navy, who has lately pubHshed an account of his survey
and ti-avels through tiie interior, and Edong the coast of
Omon. He pays a high compliment to the present Sultan
for his Hberality, and the assistance which he derived from
hun in furthering his purposes of science and fravels. This
book, which was loaned me by our Consul for a hasty peru
sal, I should like to have taken vrith rae. But I had heard
an anecdote of another work, which would have become
too pointed towards myself, had I forgotten to return the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 237
volumes to the courteous gentleman who aflfoi-ded me the
pleasure of their perusEd.
Captain Calfaun (as the story goes) possessed a copy
of the " Naval Monument," which contains a description
of all our engagements with the English, during the late
war with England. An English officer, while one of their
vessels was lying in the harbour here, seeing the work,
desired to borrow it. But when their vessel was about leav
ing the cove, the officer assured Captain Calfaun that the
book had gotten overboard in some unaccountable way, or
otherwise displaced, and greatly regretted that it could not
be found to be retumed.
The general smile at this statement, as the circumstance
was Edluded to at the ward-room table, was sufficiently
significant ; and as there happened, very opportunely, to
be a copy of the same work on board. Captain C. was
asked to accept it, who assured the donor that he would
be raore careful of the present copy, and would see that
it did not get wet or overboard if he loaned it again.
Captain Calfaun had franslated some of the scenes in
this work, at the request of the Sultan, that he might learn
something of the actions of our navy. And while Captain
C. was reading his Highness the account of Perry's victory
on the lake, at that part which describes his leaving his
own ship, on account of her being so much cut up, in his
small boat for another, the Sultan rose from his seat, and
exclaimed, with an emphatic gesture of his hand, " That's
A Hero!"

238

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

SECTION VIII.
Bombay.
Bombay. Call upon the American Missionaries. Bishop Carr.
Archdeacon Jeffries. Rev. Mr. Fletcher. Stroll on shore at
evening. Funeral pyre. Breakfast with the Lord Bishop of
Bombay and family. Family prayers. Schools for the children of
the poor. The power of Cast. Governor Farish. Call on the
Governor's lady. Douglass. Evening prayers. Governor's din
ner, at Parel. Sir John A. Sir John Kean. Ride from the
Governor's to the Bishop's by moonlight. Caves of Elephanta
island. Tea at Dr. Wilson's, Scotch Missionary, and President
of the Asiatic Society, at Bombay. Walk in the evening to the
Hindoo temples. The long-nailed Devotee. Farewell to Bombay.
Well, if, as they say, Bombay vriU give a stranger a
fever should he raove much abroad, it is worth one fit of
iUness to look at the raedley of the fine and the finical ;
the grand, the great, the good, the groveUing, the gloomy,
and the grievous; the nondescript, and the non-to-be-
forgotten, vvhich this very strange cit)- of Bombay presents.
I have been on shore this evening, after a busy day of
writing friends at home, by an American vessel, which we
fortunately chanced to intercept whUe standing into the
harbour, and detained for our letter-bag.
It was rather a late hour when I reached the shore,
but I saw enough to assure me that there was much to be
seen, and yet much more which cannot be seen in a pass
im); week. It is all a vast and mingled variety, which
strikes with deeper impressions than would be the case if
addressed to an e)e that had contemplated the different parts
which go to form the variety, at the different spots of the
wqrld with which they are severally and singly associated.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 239
It is England abroad, here, that meets the eye — ^it is the
French, and the Portuguese, and other powers of Europe,
in the East — and speciraens frora all India, gathered at this
point, vrith their gray hairs of olden years, and crowded
masses. The object of my visit to the shore, this evening, was
to make some inquiries for future convenience ; and on
landing, I was trotted away and around in a palanquin,
borne on the shoulders of four Hindoos, a guide pacing at
my side, to direct this India-car whither I desired. What
would my friends have thought of me, could they have
taken a peep at me, just at the dusk of eveiung, borne on
as I reclined in so sfrange a machine, on black shoulders
of black limbs, vrith turbaned head and Eunbling elbows 1
They would have seen me, as before I had not dreamed
ever to be seen. In aU this varied and mingled vision of
the city, there are a thousand things of light and shade,
and oddities and fantasies, which must long lie in the
memory, when re-riewing the ever-varying forms, in which
the character and the taste and the religions of mankind
present themselves, in this very strange city ofthe East
As my sympathies directed, my frst call made in
Bombay was upon the American missionaries. I passed
through the city at an early hour the next morning, when all
is Hfe and bustle. And what a city is Bombay ! Some may
be disposed to accuse me of painting. But I paint only from
my own feelings. And he who has feeling, and loves to look
at mankind in its varied forms, with susceptibUities capable
of fresh and deep impressions, and has contemplated man
kind, with but few exceptions, in its better and sirailar
forms of European and American peculiarities, will not
accuse me of heightening the colouring if he should chance
ever to move, at this same hour, and at his own lounging ease

240 THE FLAG ship; or
and leisure, through the streets of Bombay. It was a new
world to me though in the old world, a far-wanderer from
the new. I had read of Hindoos. I had read of Banians,
Bramins, Gentoos. I had read of the Parsees, Mohamme
dans, and Sepoys. But it was never among the young
dreams of my earlier years, while musing on Rome, and
Greece, and blessed England, and Europe, and the Holy
Land, that I should look upon these hundred casts of Arabia
and Persia, and India, in their variety of costume and
manners and rehgions. But now , I was set down sunidst
all this medley of casts — these unique forms — these
strange incongraities and endless varieties — these naked
busts and robeless legs — and thousand-formed Emd co
loured costumes of those who were robed — and the
tatooed, with ringed toes, and foot, and ancle, and wrist,
and hand, and nose — and numberless and ever occurring
varieties of enslaved or degraded, and rich aud proud, smd
mean and good Emd noble men, with every coloured skin —
frora the jet of Africa Emd araber of Asia, to the hly of
Europe. And then, the describable and the non-describa-
ble animals — the Banian and sacred cows, and bufi"aloes,
and sparrows, and ravens, and pigeons, and goats, smd
other things innumerable, aU crammed and jammed and
jumbled and huddled, and yet aU a mass of raoving and
acting life — this, this is Bombay, to the newly arrived
sfranger, as he is borne through the capital of an English
Asiatic presidency.
If this be a confused coUection of appellatives and
blended images, none but a jumbled and ahnost accidental
combination of words, c:>uld rightly or n ^turally describe
the confused, and varied, and ever varj-ing scene, as it
breaks on the eye of the stranger, as he raoves, for the
first time, through the sfreets of this epitome of a world.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 241
Some days pass on, and the newly arrived begins to ana
lyze and arrange. By the time he has traversed the length
of one of the streets, he begins to class the different casts,
as they pass him by, and are known by their different tur
bans — varying with the CEist but alike to all the members
of each — and the cut and make and colour of the flovring
robe or tighter costume, and the religious mark, lined in
yeUow paint in curve or oval or straight lines or dots on the
forehead or eyebrow, or ear, or naked chest.
With this varying and apparently ever changing vision
of a phantasmagoria before my view, I had gone some
two miles or more from the walls of the fort, which in
cludes some large portion of the city within its winding
defences, when I came to the residences of the American
missionaries. The builduigs are sufficiently spacious, to
afford convenient and comfortable rooms, for the purposes
and the dwellings of these worthy disciples of the religion
of Jesus Christ, and philanthropic exiles from their country
smd home to the shores of India.
The gentlemen of the mission were out at the moment
of my call. I sent my card to the ladies, and immediately
followed the messenger, who informed me that they were
in. I could have left my shoes at their door, so profound
ly do I venerate the character of the sincere missionary,
and admire his self-sacrifice for the welfare of his fel
low men. I was introduced to Mrs. Webster, the interest
ing wife of Mr. W., of popular and just fame as an ingen
ious man and accomplished printer, as well as a man of
benevolence and Christian philanthropy. Mr. and Mrs.
Balentine, missionaries from the interior, are guests of Mr.
and Mrs. Webster, at the present moment, having, with
Mr. and Mrs. Boggs, and Mr. and Mrs. Munger, come
to Bombay, at this season, for mutual consultation in con-
Vpl. L 21

242 THE FLAG SHn- ; OR
nection with their labours. The two first gentlemen with
their wives are staying with the Rev. Mr. Allen. I gave
Mrs. Webster my hand with feelings which were most
cordial, for the love wherewith she senes the cause of our
common Lord. The Rev. Mr. Allen soon after entered,
who occupies another house in the immediate neighbour
hood, and whora I afterwards called upon. Erelong the
Rev. Mr. Balentine and Mr. Webster entered — all gentle
men, whom the cause of missions may justly be glad to
have attached to their interests.
I sat for a considerable time with this band of Chris
tians, and was glad to vritness so rauch simphcity of
character and Christian adornment, vrith minds so respect
able for their intelligence and refinement I thought, as I
conversed with Mrs. W., that there was a propriety of
expression, a clearness of thought, and a sunple chasteness
of manners, that would have qualified her to adorn any
sphere in which she might be placed. And nothing but
ill-bred jealous)', profanity, or bigotted sectarianism, could
offer aught against such a becoming combination of Chris
tian propriety and unaffected example of Christian sinceri
ty and well-bred manners.
During the day, I was introduced to Mrs. Allen, of
whom I migEt repeat, with striking propriet)-, what I con
ceived of the chaiacter and appreciated in the manners of
Mrs. W. These ladies have not forgotten that society has
its technicalities and refinements, and that religion is a sys
tem of good breeding, which makes it a school of frue po
liteness as well a«! of morEds and devotion.
Mrs. Allen's health was not gbod, but her heart poured
forth its .'sympathies in the cause in which the missionaries
are engaged, and I shall reraeraber wilh pleasure her gen
tie manners, ami the social repast of which I psu-took with
Mr. A. and herself.

A VOYAGE AROiran THE WORLD. 243
I went with Mr. Allen to call upon Dr. Carr, Lord
Bishop of Bombay — the Rev. Mr. Jeffi-ies, the Archdea
con — and the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, the Bishop's Chaplain.
The Bishop was out, but we sat a short tune with Miss C,
the Bishop's daughter, a young lady of gentle and agree
able manners, and were soon joined by the Rev. Mr.
Fletcher and lady. Mr. F. is son-in-law of the Bishop,
and resides in his lordship's family.
We conceive of an India Bishop as we have learned of
a Heber, and know of others, who have left so favourable
an impression of their evangelical piety on the raind ofthe
American church. I sat with this famUy with these asso
ciations, and left the Bishop's residence with Mr. F. and
Mr. A., to call upon the Archdeacon, whom we found at
home, although just returned from sitting in committee
with the Bishop and others connected vrith the charity
schools, which are established on a commendable scale,
with government patronage, and are creditable to the
cause of British philanthropy. The Archdeacon is deemed
a benevolent and devoted man. The cause of temperance
has elicited his feelings and action, very much, as I am
informed, to the extension of so meritorious a cause. " Amer
ica," said the Archdeacon, " has achieved a greater vic
tory, in her eff'orts in the cause of tempermce, than her
annals, however proud, can otherwise record. We admire
her for her action on this subject, and have just received
the intelligence of the resolutions in the Legislatures of
Massachusetts and Tennessee, not to issue a single license
for the sale of ardent spirits in either of those states." Our
countryman, Mr. Delavan, so justly known and estimated
for his unceEising eff'orts in the cause of temperance, is a
correspondent of Archdeacon Jeffries, who admires the
spirit of this American patriot and philanthropist. While

244 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
the action of America in the cause of temperance is awak
ing so much admiration, even in the distant regions of the
Indies, shall she herself slacken in her efforts, and suffer
the fields of so many victories to be resumed by the de
vastations, desolations, and death, which spread so fear
fully beneath the tramp of intemperance 1
The English army is continually augmenting at Bombay,
as the rendezvous for the troops from different parts of the
Indies, destined to the Indus, with a design to carry on the
war, with the Persians. A document of interest, shovring
the comparative health of the temperance men of the army
and those who continue to draw thefr grog, was lying on
the centre-table, and doubtless will be pubHshed. At times
the difference rose to four per cent, and was never less than
two Emd a half. This speaks volumes to our army and
navy department It was a matter of exhUarating infor
mation to the excitable Archdeacon, to leam that more
than 150 raen of the Columbia did not draw thefr aUow
ance of liquor.
In the Indian army, the cause of temperance has found
many advocates ; smd the commander in chief — so said
a gentleraan of the pEuty in conversation — ^by some pub
lic act in favour of the temperance cause, before he
leaves for th^idus, is going to do the Archdeacon's heart
good. I parted with these clerical friends, vrith the expectation
of taking breakfast with them at the Bishop's, by invitation,
on Monday morning.
The American missionaries stationed at Bombay,
Messrs. AUen and Webster, and the gentlemen from the
interior, Messrs. Boggs, Munger, and Balentine, now with
their fellow labourers at this place, ha\ e visited the Colum
bia. I was glad to pay them the civihties due to a class

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 245
of our own countrymen, who have left their native land to
devote themselves, with philanthropic and Christian be
nevolence, to the cause of humanity and religion.
The Commodore sent a special message to invite them
to the cabin, when they should have finished their walk
through the ship, and with great good feeling evinced his
desire to assure these gentlemen, that he appreciated their
characters as Christian missionaries, and in that character,
and also as American citizens, was happy to welcome
them on board the Columbia. On their taking leave of
the ship, after having spent some time with the Commo
dore, he invited them, if it would be a matter of interest
for them to visit the Elephanta Caves, to make up a party,
and he would accompany them, in the ship's boats, to the
island, some six or seven miles distant.
I am sure that the Christian people of our country
will thank Commodore Read for his thoughtful and court
eous attentions to these generous exiles from their homes ;
and they -will be happy to know that our ships were not
forgetful of the courtesies due and cordially accorded to
our missionary citizens, so worthy, and so far froni the
shores or their native homes, and the scenes of their earli
est and happy recollections. The Commodore desired me
to say, that he would be happy to have oneTJf their num
ber give us a discourse on board the Columbia the succeed
ing Sunday, and that he would send a boat ashore, at the
appointed hour, in the morning. I was glad that the op
portunity was presented still further to show our feelings
of approbation and commendation towards these gentle
men and their amiable associates ; and their number being
increased at this moment at the station of Bombay, by the
visit of the missionaries from the interior, it was arranged
21*

246 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
that one of them should be with us on the succeeding
Sunday. I took a stroU on shore in the evening. Having wit
nessed the drilling of the Sepoys, native troops in the
service of the company, at their evening exercise on the
esplanade, and passed the worshipping Parsees with thefr
face turned to the sea as one of the elements which they
adore, and who were now in considerable numbers gather
ed, at this hour of sunset, on this beautiful ground of the
esplanade, to gaze on the departing god whom they wor
ship, with other sects and casts at their sundown prayers,
I passed further on to the western side of the city, where
we had been told the Mahrattas burned thefr dead. The
sun had already gone down ; and when we reached the
beach, several fires were seen yet burning Edong the shore.
We approached them, but they were so nearly expended
that we saw but few indications, in the glowing embers,
of the relics of the cindered bodies. The uncrumbled ashes
of a few bones assured us, however, that we were gazing
upon the residuum of what, but a short tirae before, was
the articulated mass of sinew and bone and muscle of a
departed Hindoo, whose spfrit his brother-Mahrattas now
believe to have gone on its round of new bfrths, or, as the
consummation of their ideas of the greatest conceivable
good to the depai-ting soul, weis now absorbed in the spirit
of the Eternal.
While we were gazing on tliis expiring funeral pyre,
a person approached us, and pointed to a group not far
beyond us, who were raising a new pile, on which they
were to place the body they had borne \vith them but a
few moments before to the beach, attended by the sounds
of discordant music, for his last funeral honours. We

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 247
were glad that we were so opportune in our visit to this
beach of death, to gratify the curiosity that led us there.
Three upright sticks had already been planted in the sand
to confine the pile within its proper dimensions, and the
fiiends of the deceased, now lying near on his bier
noteless of the preparations which were making to reduce
his imconscious relics to ashes, were arranging the large and
dry sticks of teel-wood, which is kept prepared and vended
for the funeral rites of the Hindoo. When they had raised
the pUe fo half the height they designed it, they bore the
body forward and lodged it on the mound of wood. There
was an old man there, who, like all the rest that had
gathered to pay the last honoiirs of the cast to one of thefr
departed number, was clad only with a cloth around the
waist, as is usual on the occasion of the Hindoo obsequies.
He had gone to the edge of the sea, vvhich at this hour of
low tide was some rods from the pile, but soon returned
bearing a jar of water, and placed himself at the head of
his sleeping kindred. When he had poured from the palm
of his own hand a small quantity of water upon the face
and into the mouth ofthe unconscious sleeper, each of the
surrounding cast dipped their hands in like manner into the
jar, and poured from their two palms the water which they
had thus taken from the vessel, into the mouth of the de
ceased. They now completed the pile, by adding as much
more of this heavy and dry material above the body as
lay beneath it. A small pile of light wood had already
been enkindled, and the burning fagots were placed
among the timbers of the funeral heap, and in a few
moments the drawing eddies of the wind fanned the flames,
until the pyre was enveloped in one ambient and glowing
sheet of fire. '^
The Hindoos now seated themselves in a crescent

248

THE FLAG SmP ; OR

around the burning pile, and the glare lighted up their
dark faces and naked shoulders, and threw a gleam of light
around, only to render doubly more deep the gloom that
had gathered on the adjacent cocoa-nut grove, and the
clouded bosom of the neighbouring sea. We watched the
glowing mass as the body began to melt before the dis
solving power of the resistless element. The swelling
muscles, with their boiling fluids, bursted the outer and
blackening coats of the body ; and soon the limbs were dis
membered at the knee, when the swollen feet, by a long
pole, were forced yet further into the glovring pile.
It was a thrilling scene, and we gazed upon it untU
the dissolving body lessened before the flame, while the
head had melted away and still away, as the burning pyre
sent up and around its glowing Emd intenser heat, and yet
brighter and augmenting volumes. We bowed to the
surrounding and singular crowd, who rose from their sit
ting posture -as we left them, Emd refraced our way along
the shore. Having passed through the town on our way
back to our landing place, a boat soon took us to the ship.
According to the regulations of the cast, the heir of
the deceased is obligated to perform the funerEd obsequies
of the connection, and at stated periods, afterwards, to
attend to certain rites, agreeably to the Hindoo customs —
such as the offering of rice, flDwei-s, water, and so forth, to
the deceased and to the inanes, that the departed spirit may
ascend to the paradise of the Pitrls, as they call the divine
progenitors of the human rnce. These offerings are to
take place on the eleventh day succeeding the death of the
deceased, and afterwards monthly, and on the anniversary
of the death of the departed one.
Maviiic; received an invitation from Dr. Carr, Lord
Bishop of Bombay, to breakfast with him on the morning

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 249
of the sixth, I left the ship a little before eight o'clock,
and found, on my reaching the Apollo-bunder, a carriage
waiting for rae, through his Lordship's politeness, to take
rae to BycuUa.
The Bishop is a venerable gentleraan, simple in his
manners, and with an afr of kind diffidence in his address
which makes you esteem him Emd believe you would love
him for his goodness on an intimate acquaintance.
I reached the Bishop's residence a little before nine
o'clock. I was shown into a spacious upper room, into
which other rooms, nearly a,s spacious, communicated. In
front of these rooms runs a spacious and covered verandah,
constituting, itself, an upper hall, and extending quite the
length of the building. The verandah is common to the
best style of houses in Bombay, to protect the rooms from
the intense heat of the day, and affbrding a most agreeable
lounge in the cooler hours of the morning and evening.
A centre-table, with a large family Bible and Prayer Book
upon it, occupied its appropriate place. A piano-forte,
also, particularly attracted my attention ; and I never look
at this instrument when abroad, without having" my sym
pathies awake " Some remembered notes of a mute lyre,"
which carry rae back to friends and kindred, to whom I
have listened almost in enchantment in past hours, but
whose voices now, in repetition of air, and song, and sacred
hymn, would hold me in deeper charm than ever, after an
absence of months away from home and sounds of familiar
voices. The Bishop entered -with his eldest daughter, Mrs.
Fletcher, leaning upon his arm. Who does not love to
look at such a sight — a lovely and loved daughter, grown
to the pride of young womanhood, pressing gently on the

250 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
parental arm of a venerable father 1 Miss Carr, a younger
daughter still, soon after entered the parlour ; and the party
now gathered around the centre-table, when the good, and
I am sure kind-hearted Bishop, opened the sacred volume
and r ad a chapter from one of Saint Paul's epistles, and
added his own reflections upon it We all knelt, and
together prayed to the God we worship. I could have
wept ; for it was the first scene of social worship at the
family altar in which I had been privileged to mingle, since
I left the United States.
I am sure the sensibilities and susceptibUities of our
nature are both deepened and augmented for the reception
of impressions, by one's seclusion for months from society
on shore. And how like one's father's house, that morn
ing and evening- service ! There is a beauty in the domes
tic scene, when the family gather at early morn to testify
their gratitude to our ahnight)- Preserver for the mercies
ofthe night, a: d at eve, for the blessings ofthe day.
The Rev. Mr. Fletcher, the Bishop's chaplain and
son-in-law, joined us at the breakfast-table.
The family are on the eve of leaving Bombay for the
interior, where they spend some months in the mountains,
for health and pleasantness. The Bishop is just commenc
ing an extensive visitation through the interior. He leaves,
with all his family, on \\'ednesday.
At 11 o'clock I accompanied the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, to
visit the schools for promoting education among the poor.
They are, in many particulai-s, conducted on the principles
of our Free Schools in the city of New-York. The Com
pany has constructed two ranges of fine buildings, for the
separate accommodation of the boys and girls, which do
credit to the Presidency of Bombay, and speak well of Eng
lish benevolence and charity.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 251
The schools are composed chiefly of the children of
soldiers, being mostly of the mixed cast of Mahratta and
English. The chUdren exhibited a very neat appearance.
We have no schools in our country with which we could
with propriety run a paraUel ; as these children, I am told,
originally speak no EngHsh, and have to acquire that lan
guage as they proceed in their studies. But from the idea
I have gained ofthe parish schools of England, I conclude
that these schools would in no instance appear to a disad
vantage on a comparison with them. Most of the scholars
whom I saw were under the age of twelve. They read
English with very considerable accuracy, and seemed to
comprehend, as far as children of their age usually do, the
instructions which are given to them, in illustration of the
religion of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the principal and,
last class-book used, and explanations in connection with
it enter into the plans of the directors, particularly for im
buing the minds of these scholars with Christian know
ledge ; while they attend to reading, writing and Eu-ithmetic
durino- the time of their connection with the schools. The
boys, when they have reached the suitable age and ac
quired the necessary attainments, are apprenticed to the
different trades, or taken as writers into the Company's
offices; or, at the present moment, are attached to the
army as drivers of the teams, at a certain rate of pay, to
be gradually increased to the maximum allowance of the
first of that class.
I did not visit the schools composed purely of natives,
which are under the direction of the same gentlemen. But
the schools already described seem to be favourite objects
of the gentlemen connected with the superintendence of
the institution ; and they certainly deserye great credit for
the exertions, and appropriations, and successful efforts

252 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
which have presented their benevolent in'stitution in a very
favourable Hght
The Right Honourable the Governor is President.
The Lord Bishop of the Diocese, Patron.
The Members of Council, the Judges ofthe Supreme
Court, the Commander in Chief, and the Superintendent of
the Indian Navy, are Vice-Presidents.
The Archdeacon is Vice-Patron, and
All the Chaplains of the establishment, who are sub
scribers, are ex-officio Directors.*
There is a hospital department attached to the institu
tion, with a medical attendant.
Moming and evening prayers are read ; and when the
pupil leaves the school, a Bible and Prayer Book are
presented to him, with a testimonial of chEuracter when
deserved. The Lady Pafroness and Dfrectresses fransact the busi
ness of the gfrls' department
The fiftieth and fift)--fifth articles of the institution pro
vide that the boys shall be instracted in reading, -writing,
and arithmetic ; the gfrls in needle-work and household
duties ; and in both schools every endeavour is to be made
to "impart such information and useful habits, as the situa
tion of the charity renders most desfrable ; but psu-ticulEirly
they are to be instracted in tiie principles of the church of
England, and fa-ained up in habits of piety and good morals.
And before the time at which they are to leave school, the
boys are to be bound as apprentices if practicable, and the
girls disposed of by marriage, or vrith due consideration
restored to their friends."
The hope of the success of missions in the East must
• To the.se gentlemen, and other ex-officio directors, is confided
the government of the inslituiion.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 253
continue to lie in the education of the native children.
Nothing else can break down the powerful influence of
cast, which with an iron chain binds each man to his own
peculiar clan. To lose one's cast, to a Hindoo, is to be an
outcast frora a father's family, and an object of execration
by all relatives and acquaintances. A beautiful boy of the
Gentoo cast, who was riding with me in a buggee, with
a turban more elegant than usual and a hand that would
have graced a lady's arm for the roundness and smallness
of his fingers, tapering in perfect syraraetry, replied to rae
as I was urging him to accompany me to America : " Me
no go, master — ^me no go — me eat no pork — me eat no
beef — me lose my cast."
" What of your cast. Alee 1 mine is as good as yours."
" Yes, master," continued the sincere Hindoo, " your
cast good to America — English cast good to EngHsh, but,
no good to Gentoo. Friend be dear to each other — I no
have my friends more if I lose my CEist."
"But if you come back and have your pockets filled
with money, you can get your cast again."
" Yes, raaster, I have two or free hundred rupee, me
get my cast again."
" But, Alee, what would your cast do with the money
you would give them V
" Cast give great dinner, — all can't come to it, but
all invited, and all come, who come."
We thus see that both prejudice, inconceivably sfrong,
and monied interests are against all innovation on the old
system. And no one can adequately estimate the strength
of this feeling of cast. It hoots at a renegade. And it is
almost impossible -to approach the conrictions of the mass
whb are grown to manhood, if for no other reason, yet,
for their Httle or no acquafritance with English, as well as
Vol. L 22

254 THE flag SHIP ; or
their settled habits connected with their own creeds, which
are interwoven with every thought and action of thefr
being, and preclude the expectation of their appreciating
or listening to the argument for the trath of Christianity.
The setting in of English influence, however in some in
stances it may tend to corrupt the people, must eventually
carry with it, over this empire of milhons, a respect for the
Christian institutions ; and by the constant exhibition of
the superiority of their EngHsh masters, the Hindoos must
finally come to attribute this greater excellence to the su
periority of the Christian system over their rehgion. And
this is in fact the secret of the national greatness of thefr
British conquerors over the submissive and superstitious
millions, adhering to thefr own Hindoo foUies of rehgion
and cast.
And it is in this view we see the importance of the
schools of which we have been speaking, and others
vrithin the boundaries of the Presidency, whether under the
care of the Government, or under the management of
American, Scotch, or British missionaries. The yesurly
throvring of five hundred or a thousand chUdren, who are
to become the heads of families, into this mass of heathen
ism, with a knowledge of the two languages and the bet
ter principles of the religion of Jesus Christ, cannot but
have a gradual and permanent influence upon the heathen
population, and in time, render idolatry a thing of ridicule ;
and an adherence to it, a matter of disgrace Emd shame to
its devotee. We passed by Christ's church, in vn'hich Mr. Fletcher
officiates, as we left the school-buildings, with the inten
tion of calling upon the family of his ExceUency the Gov
ernor. The building is a creditable specimen of architec
ture, but mostly interesting for its twelve or fourteep •

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 255
fluted pUlars of cast iron, of the Grecian order, extending
in two rows from the door to the altar, equidistant from
the sides through the nave of the church. Pilasters for
the side walls of the building correspond with the two cen
tral ranges of colurans. The beautiful capitals and the
shafts of the pillars Eu:e in one piece, and the diameter of
the columns I suppose to be a tenth of their length.
It was the day on which Mrs. Farish, the Governor's
lady, received her company. And the Governor had been
kind enough to say that he would see me when I called
upon Mrs. Farish. We were introduced by the Governor's
Aid, and sat a short time vrith Mrs. F. and her daughter, a
young lady of seventeen or eighteen ; and met at the Gov-
emor's residence, which is a charming spot, other ladies,
who had called on the Governor's lady at the same hour.
The character of Governor Farish is well known for
its benevolence, and the happy Christian influence vvhich
he has thrown over the state of society in which he moves.
To the American missionaries, I have been assured, he
has been very kind, and advanced their desires as far as
they have come vrithin the influence of his station, as a
member of the Council and as a Christian citizen. I con
ceived a most fkvourable opinion of this worthy gentleman
at our short interview.
An invitation had already been given by his Excel
lency to our Commodore to dine with him on the succeed
ing Wednesday, with such of his officers as he should
choose to have accompany him.
We returned to the residence ofthe Bishop; and at
five o'clock sat down to dinner, the company having been
increased by the acquisition of a number of ladies and
gentleraen. A Captain Douglass of the Indian service,
formerly of the Royal Navy, was at the table.

256 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
" The Douglass." I cherish but little deference for
titles or names, or admiration for great men in loco, merely,
and beHeve that " nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus."*
Yet there is a charm in the name of Douglass which I
greatly appreciate, in connection with its olden Eissociations.
I have even formed an affection for the memory of the
Douglass and the Percy, associated as they indissolubly
are together. And if the impression which I gained be
true, there is generosity and nobleness remaining in this
blood-descendant of the ancient house. The Captain dis
plays frora his mast-head, as his private signal, the emblem
of his house. Allusion to the Douglass coat of arms led
to the remark on the part of Captain D., that he was once
sailing frora England, when he discovered a vessel with her
union down, and made her out to be in disfress. He bore
up for the ship, and as the two vessels neared each other,
he run up his private flag. " I know that emblem," ex
claimed the master of the disfressed ship, as the Qag
unfurled itself and discovered the arms of the ancient house.
" It is the DouglEtss ; he vrill not forsake me while my
ship swims." The Douglass did not — for the distressed
captain and his crew had bEtrely reached the deck of Doug
lass's ship before the wEdlowing vessel went down to the
deep currents of the deep sea.
It is said a Scotchman never forgets the land of his
home. Like the New-Englander, he may wander far from
his native hills and the remembered lawns, which have left
their unfading visions among the early impressions of
his mind and the young loves of his feeling heart. And
when he has wandered far, and made himself rich Emd
honourable, he yet often returns in his happy meraories,
and not unfiequently re-seeks, in person, the home of his
• Virtue is the only and true nobiliiy. — Juvenal.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 257
infancy, as the sacred spot to enjoy the calm of his old
days, and to repose, for its long rest, the urn of his ashes.
The Hon. Mr. Dunlop, raeraber of Council, is a Scotch
man, and was of the company at dinner. Scotland seemed
to be a word which had not lost its music for him. And
that lady now at the piano, he said to me, in the evening,
learned her music in Scotland.
And in the evening we had music. I shall not forget
it. The Bishop's two daughters played and sung. Their
voices were soft and gentle like themselves. And the lady
of the Highland associations also sung. There weis a
thrill in her voice, which rendered it characteristic of her
self and agreeable.
After tea had been served, and the hours had advanced
into the evening, the party adjourned from the parlour to
the drawing-room, which commimicated with it by folding
doors. There was an organ in the room, and the family
Bible and Prayer Book occupied the centre-table. The
Bishop placed himself at the centre-table and his daughter
atthe organ, as it had been proposed that we should have
prayers before the party separated. A hymn was read by
the venerable Bishop ; and he who has been a wanderer
over the world afar from his friends in his native land, can
appreciate the sentiment it contained, as well as every
Christian to whom alike it is applicable :
"The Lord my pasture shall prepare.
And feed me with a, shepherd's care;
His presence shall my wants supply.
And guard me with a watchful eye;
My noonday walks he shall attend.
And all my midnight hours defend.
When in the sultry glebe I faint,
Or on the thirsty mountain pant,
22*

258 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
To fertile vales and dewy meads, j.
My weary wandering steps he leads,
Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow,
Amid the verdant landscape flow.
Though in the paths of death I tread.
With gloomy horrors overspread ;
My steadfast heart shall fear no ill,
For thou, O Lord, art wilh me still ;
Thy friendly crook shall give me aid,
And guide me through the dreadful shade."
The organ was accompanied by several voices. The
Bishop read a chapter from the Bible and added his com
ments, and then, together, we knelt in prayer.
Is there any heart so callous that would not love such
a scene of quiet and social worship, exhibiting the beauty
of household rehgion t And who, after the confusion and
the unrest of the day, would not repose vrith a more as
sured and composed heart, after mingling in such a scene
of evening worship ? And who can behold a venerable
father, surrounded by his offspring and firiends, thus de
voutly engEiging in socisd smd sincere worship, Emd not
give him the earnest of Em enduring fiiiendship t
Douglass, (I like that name,) had said to me in the
early part of the evening, that if 1 deagned to return ta
the ship, he would offer me a seat in his carriage, to the
Apollo-bunder, and tiien send me on board the Columbia
in his gig* I accepted the poHte offer Emd accompanied
Captain D. and his lady in thefr carrisige, and bid them
good-night when they had ascended the deck of thefr own
vessel, to which we had been pulled in his own boat,
which soon after conveyed rae yet farther out in the sfream,
to the good frigate Columbia.
The Governor gave his dinner at Parel, the govern
ment-house, on Wednesday evening, in comphment, in
• The boat of the Commander of an armed vessel is called a gig.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 259
part at least, ta our Coramodore. At half past seven the
carriages disgorged their red-coats, and blue-coats of the
English array and American navy, and the black coats of
the civil list, composed of the Council and the bench of
Judges ; together with the Bishop and Chaplain and the
variously robed ladies, who, though mentioned last here, in
this instance is somewhat after the manner of their own
postscripts ; for which, it is said, a lady ever retains her
most interesting inteUigence, or what, at least, is raost in
teresting to herself.
The Governor's house is a spacious building, said once
to have been a Roman Catholic cloister, the chapel of which,
on the lower floor, now serves as the dining hall ; while
the spacious roora above it, to which you ascend by two or
three flights of steps, with suites of rooms and a verandah on
either side of it, forms the reception hall. But the building
has been refitted and enlarged, and now is every way a
creditable palace for the purposes for which it is appropri
ated, as the residence of the Governor of the Presidency.
Its distance is some six miles from the inwalled portion of
the town, and the ride to it is a delightful one through ex
tensive country residences, built by the Parsees for the pur
poses of being rented to the English ; and at this hour of
the evening, when the company were gliding by them, were
Hghted up with their hundred lamps, giving forth the beau
tifully clear flame of the cocoa-nut oil, burning in open
glasses, around which rose a yet longer one to protect the
light from flaring in the evening breeze, which comes de
Uciously through the open vrindows, swinging on their
hinges quite down to the floor, that every breath of the re
freshing gale raay sweep through the open rooms.
The large room with the spacious lobbies on either side
formed by the verandahs, were soon enlivened by the crowd

260 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
that entered, and advanced to be presented to Mrs. Farish,
the Governor's lady, who had taken her place near the
centre of the room. The ladies were presented by the
Governor's aid, a young officer of gentlemanly manners.
Miss Carr, the bishop's daughter, with her cousin. Miss
Farish, were the first two who entered the room after the
Govemor's lady had taken her seat And Miss Carr, I am
sure, will be remembered as an interesting vision of amia
bleness, Eis if some ineffable beam had gleamed from the
benignant and subdued brow of her father, and lighted on
the sweet countenance of his child. We admired her as
possessing more truly an American face and manners and
fashion than any others who were present. Her cousin, the
Governor's daughter, in blue, in contrast vvith the plain
and tasteful white of Miss Carr, is also an interesting young
lady, and seemed to be a worthy representative of her ex
cellent and very lady-hke mother. There were a number
of other ladles present, generally pi sdnly dressed and with
out a superabundance of ornaments decorating tiieir per
sons, and therefore, more in taste thsm othervrise they
would have been.
The Governor weis conspicuous in his civilian dress of
plain black, moving unostentatiously among his guests.
His face is strikingly benevolent ; and he is one I would
venture to take as a pledged friend, were circumstances
such as to secure from him, in an hour of one's need, the
plighted hand of sterling worth, and the action of a gene
rous nature. In consequence of the death of Sir Robert
Grant, he is now the acting Governor of the Presidency,
an appointment which tails, ex-officio, on the demise of
the Govemor, upon the eldest of the two civilian members
of the Council.
The Hon. Sir  , Knight, Judge, etc., was of the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 261
number to whom I was introduced. I should suppose him
(but my impressions were the result of a short interview)
a man of great Euniableness of character, with a smack of
letters, somewhat gifted, read in polite literature, and
withal amiably eccentric. His manners are certainly so,
resulting (is it not 1) from his keen perception of the ridi
culous. And when he would express himself in connec
tion vrith a subject, his own mind rejects the common-place
replies, and seizes hold of a more distant association ; and
the very consciousness of its peculiarity produces a pecu
liarity of manner which is his own, though perhaps, from
natural diffidence, the manner is defective in its corres
pondence with the sentiment expressed ; while, at the sarae
time, it betrays his own consciousness that his remark has
the merit of originality in its associations, and is pecuHar
to himself. " We are happy to acknowledge England as our rao
ther land," I observed, in a conversation upon the two
countries, and added, after the usual self-coraplacence of
an American, notorious for having quite enough of it in
relation to his own country, " we trust England is not less
happy in owning us her child."
" That is," said the knighted Judge, catching at the
first pEU-t of my remark, " when we go back to the age of
Milton or Addison, we have the same progenitors."
And what American of English descent, but cherishes
vrith laudable consideration the knowledge, that his fathers
were of a nation that has so many names justly famed
and loved, as they have been chronicled in the rolls which
narrate their glory in action, their attainments in letters,
and their general excellence, goodness, and piety of heart.
And here, too, was Sir John Keai. And who is Sir
John Kean 1 He was an English officer in red regimentals,

262 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
who entered the roora vrith a bow, and a smile, and a bend,
and a nonchalence, speaking to one and to another as he
advanced to make his compliments to Mrs. F. ; all which
he did as one would do who knows that he is among his
own acquaintances, and that his acquaintances know that
his position is one that enables him to smile and notice
those he passes vi-ithout compromitting his dignity of sta
tion ; and who knows himself that his rank gives him the
precedence, and the pririlege as its legitimate consequence
of acting just as he chooses, while he keeps vrithin the
bounds of poHteness. But, who is Sir John Kean 1 A
man who can enjoy a joke, even at his own expense, and
can acknowledge that he has been raost shockingly whip
ped, and that it was at the battle of J^ew-Orleans. Sir
John was one of the principal three English officers en
gaged in the battle of the Sth of January, Emd on him de
volved the command when Packenham and Gibbs feU.
He led off the British forces from the deadly field. " Yes,"
said the good-humoured Sir John, "we were whipped,
most thoroughly vt-hipped, by the Americsms." Noble con
fession. Sir John. It does thee n discredit, nor others, but
honour, to acknowledge the truth, though the action, in
volved in that truth, in the ever-varying chances of war,
contributes nothing to the well-known and weU-earned
glory of the arms of the British nation.
The company gazed at each other, and said what they
chose to any body th y knew, fbr a hafr hour; when they
adjourned to the dining-hall below.
The Governor's band gave forth the rich sfrains of its
music to regale the feasters, who had served before them
the ^-ariety and abundance of several courses, and some
Indian fruits which I had not before seen.
The gentlemen were not long after the ladies in thefr

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 263
adjournment from the table to the rooms above. And the
hours passed rapidly into the middle watch of the night,
when the company left the palace.
A polite note from his Lordship the Bishop, who, with
a part of his family, had delayed his departure into the in
terior for a day or two, had esirly in the morning conveyed
to me an invitation to accompany him, from the Governor's,
to spend the night and the succeeding day with himself
and his family. I therefore paused, until the spacious halls
were vacated, with the exception of the Govemor's and
the Bishop's famihes. Sir John A. also delayed. It had
been proposed by his Excellency, that family prayers
should be attended, before the Bishop departed. It was
indeed, to me, an acceptable termination ofa dignified and
social entertainment, where had been gathered the princi
pal dignitaries in the civil and military service of the Pres
idency, and frora the ffrst circle of the society in Bombay.
It was now an hour of stillness. The rumbling wheels of
the last carriage had rolled through the extended grounds.
The brilliant lamps still lighted up the spacious rooms,
but no step was moving where, but a moment before,
the throng passed in social vivacity and friendly cheer.
The Governor's lady and daughter, and their cousin, Miss
Carr, had withdrawn to the room at the end of the hall,
where the gentlemen soon joined them. And was not this
a worthy example to our men in power ? There had been
nothing in the entertainment of the evening inconsistent
with the propriety of a Christian household. And his Ex
cellency's family, with some of his guests, had now gather
ed to make their acknowledgements to the High Power,
that had protected and blessed us for the day. It is reli
gion wich hallows all our enjoyments — gives additional
dignity to the man in station — ennobles the man of lower

264 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
degree — and yields consolation, contentment, and happiness
to all. We knelt around the family altar in the Govern
ment house ; and when we had risen from our worship,
we made our adieus to his Excellency and his Excellency's
raost worthy and interesting family. A sweet drive by
moonlight, as the moon's bright beams glcEuned through
the foliage of the tall cocoa-nut trees, brought us, in a half-
hour, to the residence of the Bishop.
The succeeding moming Itook leave of the Bishop's fam
ily, having engagements for the remaining part of the week,
which would prevent me from again caUing at his residence.
The Bishop himself however designed, with the Archdeacon,
to visit the Columbia on Saturday moming. On Monday he
would leave Bombay, accompEmied by his daughter.
I Eun greatly indebted to his Lordship for the attentive
politeness received from himseK Emd family ; and I regret
ted raost sincerely that our early ssdling would prevent me
from accepting his invitation so cordiaUy given, that I
would accompany hira and his family into the interior. It
would have gratified my desfre of -risiting the adjacent
country, and given me the happiness of attending him on
his visitation, and yet to prolong my acquaintance vrith his
amiable househokl. I know not that this page wiU ever
greet his Lordship's eye, but it is yielding a fribute to my
own agreeable and gratefid remembrances, here to record
the pleasure of my brief but most acceptable acquaintance
vrith himself and his estimable family.
Elephanta Caves.
" Elephanta, who goes to Elephanta to-day V " I
would not give a fig to see Elephanta." " I should not
like to have been at Bombay, and have to answer, on being
questioned, that I did not go to see Elephanta." " I should
care but little not to have seen the Elephanta caves, so far

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 265
as the mere having seen or not having seen them is con
cerned ; but if, after leaving Bombay, the thought should
occur to me that a pleasure to be derived from a visit to
these caverns was within my reach and I neglected it, I
should be unhappy. To save myself from such a haunting
thought, I shall go to seethe Elephanta caves."
Such and other expressions were made by various per
sons, who felt more or less interest in connection with the
celebrated caverns which are excavated in the hills of the
island of Elephanta. I had myself fixed on Friday for
making an excursion to the Elephanta caves. I confess
that my own curiosity had diminished, in view of other
things of interest which were inviting me in the city.
But two days remained for our stay at Bombay. Having
been detained on board the frigate until ten o'clock in the
morning, the delay gave me an opportunity of going alone
to visit this curiosity, justly reckoned among the most inter
esting ejects that can attract the inspection of the stranger.
The bunder-boat which conveyed me to the island had
a nice little cabin, large enough comfortably to seat five
or six persons, and in which three might most comfortably
lounge ; while sixteen men pulled the boat over the water.
Lingo, who had often accompanied me on my excursions
through the city and without it, was ready to share my
fortunes to-day. Off we started as I threw myself upon
a comfortable cushion and bolster ; and owing to the few
hours of sleep I had enjoyed the preceding night, I now
yielded to the promptings of nature and comfort to take a
doze, during the two hours I expected to be in reaching the
island. And what else should I have dreamed of but olden
giants, and hobgoblins, and screech-owls, bats, and such
like things, which are said to dwell in the deserted haunts
of men of other days, and these now forsaken recesses or
Vol. L 23

266 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
yet cherished and venerated temples of ancient and super
stitious Hindoos. But erelong I regained my waking con
sciousness, and amused myself for the rest ofthe way, with
a story of the once celebrated Goa, the capital of the Por
tuguese East Indian dominions of olden and glorious mem
ory, which we are next to visit on our leaving Bombay.
I ascended from the beach, which is edged with dark
rocks at the point of my landing, along a path, leading
over patches of clay baked to a brick by the intense rays
of the sun. This path, winding along the ravine, soon as
cended the side of the hill, covered vrith scattered frees and
undergrowth ; and more than half way up the elevation, a
diverging path conducted me to one of the lesser excava
tions in the rock of the raountain. As I diverged from the
main track, I tamed an inquiring look to Lingo.
" Not that way, master."
" Doubt that. Lingo ; come n, and we vriU see." A
few paces more satisfied Lingo, that I had either awakened
a suspicion that he was desfrous of getting too rapidly over
the examination of these cavernous recesses, or that I had
fallen upon one which he had not before seen. I stood
before the entrance of one of the smaller excavations.
To gain a correct idea of these artificial excavations
into the rocky hill, we must imEigine a mountain-side,
studded with cocoa-nut frees and other evergreens, and
shrubs and vines, but thinly wooded, which forms one side
of a deep ravine. Halfway up this hiU-side your eye
meets a sfratum of dark rock, rising abruptly and sHghtly
receding. At tiie base of this rock, where the ground
assumes a comparative level, extending in a narrow sfrip
in width from the rock to the edge of the steeper part of
Uie ravine, the excavation is commenced. This is carried
into the mountain-side for a few feet, when a fissure, some

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 267
six or eight feet deep and as many wide is sunk in the
rock, from which, as the level of the floors of the exca
vated rooms, the rocky chambers recede, though at the
point I was at this moment contemplating they are but
one room deep. In front of you, when you have descended
the fissure, you have three rooms, about fifteen feet square
and nine or ten feet high. A partition of solid rock,
smoothly chiselled, is left between them, separating them
into distinct chambers ; and the same is the case with the
outer wall, through which three entrances are cut, one for
each room. The centre one of the three entrances is
ornamented with various devices, chiselled in the solid
casement and lintel, and high over and wide around the
pEissage way ; together with two immense figures, standing
in lone solitude and silence, as I now saw them, like two
mighty giants, or huge knights of olden days, posted at
this portal of the enfrance ofthe sacred room. Within
the centre room stood the altar, consisting -of a base three
or four feet high and five or six feet square, with a broken
pillar two and a half feet in height, rounded at the top,
and rising from the centre of the base.
There was - a stillness reigning here which rendered
the seene imposing. The ^ge but mutilated figures, and
the many lesser ones abovw^nd around, exhibiting in con
trast the huge proporticais of the two principal statues
which had remained, in their speechless and grave attitude,
longer than fradltion tells, contributed (with the occur
ring impression on the mind of the great labours that must
have been expended here, and the mystery and the solemn
shade that now rests on all that connects these cavern
ous rooms with the past) to render yet more still and yet
more sombre, the silence and the shadows which now per
vade these sacred and forsaken haunts, as you stand and

268 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
muse on the generations and the superstitions of the past,
and the Hindoo in his dEurkness and ignorance of the
present. " Come down here. Lingo," I cried to my guide, who
was sitting at the outer entrance above me, and as I was
about to enter the centre room, containing the altar, after
haring examined the devices and figures on the outer waU,
" Come down. Lingo, and enter this room vrith me."
" Me no come there, master."
" Corae down at once, boy, and enter vrith me."
" Me no come, master," continued the yet submissive
Gentoo, with a touch of his hand to his forehead, Emd then,
impressively upon his breast.
" \Miy not Lingo V
" Gentoo no go in there, master, sargeant tell you
why," added the dark-featured Hindoo, vrith his hand
pointing farther on, with a persuasive look that I would
go to the principal cave.
I advanced to cross the threshold of the enfrsmce, and
v^ as surprised at the apparent cleanness and smooth sur
face of the ground floor. Another step, smd I was ankle-
deep in water, and had not boots prevented, I should,
beyond a conjecture, have gone thi-ough the ablution of
the feet as my initiatory rite of entering into the raysteries
of the Hindoo temples, according to their many washings
in their superstitious observances. At each end of this
range of rooms, and at right angles with them, is a recess
with tlu-ee pillai-s, forming two more rooms or courts, which,
together with the cenfral chambers already described, con
stitute half a hollow square.
An exi avation, quite simUar to that now described, I
found adjacent to it, tiiough upon a yet larger scale ; and
the knights, in alto-relievo, at the entrance of the central

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 269
room were yet huger in their proportions, and the surround
ing groups of figures more numerous and more distinct And
yet, the faces of all the figures have been mutilated ; and in
instances so entirely, as hardly to leave a trace of many
features of the face remaining. This profanation of these
Hindoo temples is said to have been done by the great-
guns of the Portuguese, in that age of zeal for the exten
sion ofthe Roman Catholic religion and for the destruction
of all idols of every other system. But this big-gun story,
I take it, is something of a big-gun itself, so far as the
big-guns are concerned. For, in the first place, a very"
large gun could not conveniently be transported up such a
steep acchvity. In the next place, it would be rather dif
ficult, when the guns were in the caves, so to elevate them
and vrith accuracy so to point them as to take off so in-
VEu:iably the noses of all these rocky deities — a point to
wards which the mischievous despoiler seems to have par
ticularly dfrected his shots. And what is a further and
pretty conclusive consideration on this subject is, that a
sledge-hammer, in the hand of an athletic man, would have
done more rapid execution and vrith far greater conven
ience, in de-facing, de-nosing, de-cheeking and de-legging
all these figures, as they are now presented to the visiter,
to awaken his regrets that greater taste had not been dis
played for the preservation of these peculiar specimens of
the arts of an Emcient people, rather than the indulgence
of an unenlightened and misjudged and superstitious zeal,
in the demolition of these figures, which, unmolested by the
destructive hand of man, had remained as enduring as the
mountain rock in which, in relievo, they have been chiselled.
Lingo's patience, seeming to be waning to its lowest
point, although he sat as submissive as a fawning spaniel,
that longed to, return bome, I delayed no longer at these
23*

270 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
lesser excavations, and wound still farther around the
mountain to find the principal entrance to the most spacious
and interesting cavem.
I walked on but a few moments more in this winding
path, when a charming view opened to the eye, exhibiting
in its beauty the water scene on the opposite shore, lying
in front of the vrinding path of the island by which I had
approached these mountain temples. There lay the lovely
expanse, with green islands yet beyond it, vrith the still
bosom of the mirroring water, sprinkled vrith numbers of
the graceful latine boats, whose sails, in the distance,
rising in their spiral cut, give them the appearance of so
many butterflies, vrith thefr Hght and bright vrings saUing
over the waters. And at the right appeared the white
mosque of the Mohararaedan worshipper, lying in pic
turesque and beautiful rehef against the green raountEiin-
side of the opposite shore.
I had now reached a vride level which extended frora
the conicEd rock, rising yet high above, and extending
to the steep of the lower hiU-side. Here was the sergeant's
house and the corporal's shantee — these two personages
being retsdned at this point to prevent the caverns and
thefr remaining cmiosities from being further mutilated.
Commanding the view of this beautiful prospect, lies this
little green level, more than half way up the mountain
side, from the inner edge of which the rock again raises
its heavy bulwarks in limestone mEisses.* And here,
in that massive rock of the mountain, coated vrith
trees and shrubs above it, you see the great enfrance to
the caverns of tiie mountEon, caUed the Elephanta caves,
• I took this rock to be limestone, and still believe it to be so,
though a gentleman of science in Bombay assured me that it was
basalt.

A VOYAGE AEOtmn THE WORLD. 27 1
and which tradition tells and which the books of the Hin
doos yet preserved, narrating the actions of their gods, de
clare to have been, as they are still, the temples of the
Hindoos. In the niches of the walls, and on the side ran
ges of the rooms are chiselled the incarnations of the gods
of the Hindoostanee.
The front view ofthe rock presents a portal, vrith four
pillars and two side pilasters, supporting a horizontal en
tablature slightly ornamented with mouldings. The pillars
are fluted and large, and considered as capitals of unfin
ished pillEu-s might be considered as approximating to some
beauty, but as they are, exhibit no idea of correct propor
tions, according to our appreciation of the perfect models
of Grecian or Egyptiaii architecture. These piUars are
cut from the solid rock and are ten or twelve feet high.
As the excavation extends into the mountain, four ranges
of similar pillars yet stand, as they were left, chiselled
from the solid rock, and receding in regular distances and
regular intervals in straight Hnes back from the front pil
lars. Two additional rows correspond vrith the pilasters
on each side of the portal. "When you have entered the
portal, the excavated hall branches off vrider yet to the
right and left, giving an internal room of spacious dimen
sions. In the back wall fronting the entrance and in the
range of the space between the cenfral pUlars of the portal,
is a niche excavated in the rock, its distance from the front
being some sixty or a hundred feet from the entrance.
In this niche is seen the principal figure, which at
fracts the attention of the visiter, and remains there in its
three-faced forra, looking east, west, and north, as the only
perfect statue ^which remains. This triad figure is in keep
ing, in the proportions of the several faces ; and the execu
tion, though presenting Httle to win our admiration for

272 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
the beauty or manhness of the features, is deemed to reflect
credit on the artist. The heads may be four feet in diame
ter — the lips large — the noses well chiselled — the cheeks
rotund — the neck decorated after the present style of the
Hindoos, in wearing their onaments circling the neck in
a crescent, low on the chest. The heads are decorated
with a cap unhke any I have seen at Bombay, but resem
bling others wom further east, rising high and receding
somewhat like the upper part of a helmet and ornamented
with various derices.
It cannot be interesting to the reader, to follow the
minute description and measurements of these caverns.
The general appearance and the impressions they leave on
the raind of the visiter only can interest, in the absence of
visible inspection.
The excavation here, constituting the principal roora,
is spacious, erabracing thfrty or forty' pUlars in thefr regular
ranges, vvhich support the rocky ceiling, and are parts of
the rock left in excavating. On one side of this spacious
hall is a cubical room, higher than the square of its base ;
which is also an appendage of the solid rock, and exca
vated, within itself, for tiie purpose of embracing the altar,
corresponding to those afready alluded to. On the sides
of each corner of this cubical room, an Immense figure,
making eight in all, is cluselled ten or fifteen feet in height,
exhibiting an imposing attitude. But all these figures are
defective in the proper development of the muscles. The
lirabs are particulEu-ly so. The cm-ve line seems to exist
only as encircling the limbs ; while the lines from the knee
to the foot are nearly sti-aight, giving to the limbs the tame
ness of a pipe-stem, or more properly a regular pj-ramidal
forra, unlike the varied developments of the different mus
cles as seen exliibited m tiie natural figme of man himself.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 273
The same is frue of the arms. They are invariably cramp
ed, or make acute angles as stiffly as the adjustment of two
straight sticks, intersecting each other, would do. The
head and the chest are the two parts of the figures best
executed, while the waist reminds one of the sole-leather
corsets of olden days, or one half of an hourglass. And
this we would deem surprising, when it is considered, that
the forra is continually exposed in these eastern countries,
thus giving the artist the opportunity of daily studying the
muscular action of the body and limbs, so essential to be
noted and to be understood by the sculptor to enable him
truly to delineate his figure according to Hfe, , in the differ
ent positions of attitude and action in which he places
them. And yet, the effect of the main figures of the prin
cipal groups is striking, and must have been particularly so
upon the minds of the common people.. The larger num
ber of lesser figures around the principal, exhibit the god in
a conspicuous and imposing form, the effect being derived
principally, however, from the idea of power, inferred from
dimension in confrast. In the groups of figures occupying
different excavations in the walls, and describing various
actions of the gods ofthe Hindoos, there are a great variety
of heads crowded together, as they are often seen on Chi
nese carving on ivory — the elephant and lions, and gro
tesque winged animals and serpents — while the principal
one or two large figures are thus shown off in bold
rehef; and in all these representations, the strictest modesty
is preserved, though the figures are slightly dressed, after
the manner of most of the native Hindoos.
There is one figure cut in a recess on the inner wall,
which attracts the interest of the visiter, and is on the
right of the triad, or three-faced god, and by some caUed
the Amazon, though the pecuharity of the figure emblems

274 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
forth a very different legend of one of the Hindoo gods.
The figure is nearly perfect, more so than any other besides
the triad. Yet the same objection apphes to this figure,
tall Ul its height, which I have stated of the others, though
some speak of it as a creditable specimen of sculpture;
and probably it is the best, with the exception of the three
faced Vishna or Sciva, which decorates the mcky walls of
this spacious exca, ation. Indeed, there is in aU the figures,
without an exception, the absence of all anatomical cor
rectness. Straight lines prevaU, and the Hmbs are like
tapering poles, and the faces remind one of the rude cuts
seen on the old English grave-stones of the 17th century,
vrith cherub vrings attsich*! to thefr young and rounded
cheeks, though here, where wings are introduced, they are
the more tastefid, being of the s)-lph-like form.
Frora this principal room, a passage on the left as you
advance, extends to a yet more interior excavation, vrith
Uke groups of figures studding the excavated niches in
the inner walls. And here is an inner saloon, longer than
wide, with pUlars in front, and the wall constituting the
back part of it is studded with a rano.e of statues. These
extend quite the whole length of the wall of this apart
ment, in alto-relievo, on the wall, exhibiting a varlet)- of
male and female figures, men, women, mothers with chU
dren in thefr arms, in different attitudes, and all consti
tuting a row of statues which must have been imposing
when in their perfect state. But now there is scarcely a
statue of the whole number undefaced.
On 111)- entering the small cubical room containing the
altar, in this range of the excavated rooms, the soldier, a
natl^¦c Hindoo, who was now accompanying me, signified,
with considerable emphasis, that it was not allowable for
me to enter tiiis room of the altar. He had not marked

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 275
me entering the other, and now remonstrated at my at
tempt to enter this — " Gentoo might go in — but no English
go— no American go." " Nonsense, Sepoy," I said to
him, and mounted the altar, which I conclude, from its
being more polished than the others, still serves as the
altar where the Hindoos offer their gifts when they as
semble here, as they still do on holidays, to worship
agreeably to thefr own rites. " Nonsense," I again added,
still fm-ther to try the sincerity of the sentry. " Make any
resistance and I take you, in good haste, to the hearing
ofthe Governor."
" Against order, master," added the doubtful soldier,
vrith his present hand to his forehead — no order to let
EngHsh enter. Hindoo only enter."
" Well, Sepoy, do you not know that I have become a
Gentoo since I reaehed Bombay— go to Gentoo church —
have a mark put on my forehead 1 See, Sepoy, see you
it not V I added, touching my finger to my forehead be
tween the eyes.
Lingo and the Sepoy both laughed roundly, and made
no more opposition to my. entering the consecrated room
of the altar, but their incredulity was observable enough,
and their horror of my polluting- their temple I took to
be more a matter of affectation than otherwise.
But what was the propelling motive which led the
enthusiast, or devotee, or prince, or potentate, or genius,
straggling in the infancy of the arts, to give development
and immortality to his sweUing conceptions ; to execute
these mysterious works, of which no record now retains
the fraces of their origin, or the progress and the comple
tion of these stupendous works — stupendous, at least, when
associated vrith the age in vv'hich they must have been
executed 1 And even now they are gazed upon as aston-

276 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
ishing deraonstration of the labours of the past Nothing
that narrates of thera is found — nothing is known. A
shade, dark as the stillness was deep, which pervaded the
caverns at that moment as I mused on the revolutions of
empires, rehgions, and even the mountain-rock, now rests
over the story of their psist ; while at the same time here
Hve, in visible characters, the rocky records which chronicle,
and which shaU chronicle for ages to come, the rehgions,
the habits, and the manners of the Hindoo of other times.
How profound is ignorance ! How fleet the yeais of man !
How unbecoming is pride in a mortal ! How low may
superstition bring him in the scale of intellect ! How sub
lime and elevated his nature, when fixed on divine thinss !
How^ vast his capacities when directed by the beams of
intellect and the elevating influences of the trae system of
worship recorded for the otherwise benighted spfrit, in the
gospel of- Jesus Christ !
I returned to the boat, and our two latine sails soon
bore us on to the good frigate Columbia — my home on the
deep — whose deck one is ever wUling to reach after a day
of toil on duty or on pleasure ; and whether his rambles
have been accompEmied with happiness or disappointment
To-day, the field of that ramble was curious, unique, and
deeply Interesting. None will regret the effort which it
may cost to accomplish a visit to the Elephanta ca^ es —
and none, having examined it in connection with the relig
ion of the Hindoo, will forget their temples in these moun
tain rocks.
On the evening of the tenth I risited at the Rev. Dr.
WUson's, agreeably to an invitation to dine with him, vrith
the expectation of meeting other religious persons whom
the Dr. had politely said he would invite to meet me. The
Rev. Mr. Nesbit, and Dr. Smitten, a benevolent gentieman

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 277
who has long been in India, were there ; and the two
Misses Baynes, the sisters-in-law of Dr. W.
Dr. Wilson is a gentleman of attainment in letters, and
his conversation greatly interesting in connection with the
Hindoo religion — thefr ceremonies, thefr habits, their raan
ners, and incidents in his own experience among the na
tives. His courteous attentions will be remerabered with
very acceptable associations, in connection with the pleas
ure received in my interview with himself and family.
Dr. W. is at the head of the Literary Asiatic Society
of Bombay ; and, with his modesty of character, he exem
plifies the truth of the Scripture, that he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. He excels as a linguist, possess
ing great natural readiness in the acquisition of a new
tongue, already understanding many of the languages of
the East, Arabic, Sanscrit, Hindoostanee, etc. etc., and Heis
written with effect in several of them against the systems
of the Mohammedans, Hindoos, and the Parsees. ^
In the evening we took a walk through one of the
sfreets, near Dr. W.'s residence, in which almost every
house was a temple, or contained a Hindoo god. We
saw enough to interest, to pity, to grieve us, and to dis
gust in the worshippers, who entered thefr temples^and
prosfrated theraselves before their wooden deities, whose
forms were hideous for thefr, shapes and paints. One of
these gods, in an apparently greatly frequented temple,
contained three heads, resembling the svrine's more than
aught else, though called the monkey, with its three-formed
shape, painted red, with glaring white and black eyes.
Before this ,ill-formed block of wood numbers prostrated
themselves and worshipped — asking their god for what
ever might be the object of their particular desire, and ten
dering to him offerings of rice, or cocoa-nuts, or money —
Vol. L 24

278

THE FLAG SHIP ; OR

at times beseeching his assistance, or at others threatening
the painted deity, that if the request be not granted his
godship would get no more cocoa-nuts. This seems a pe
culiar kind of worship, but the Hindoos both threaten and
entreat, in their approaches to thefr gods.
We wandered by some thirty or forty and more of these
idol-houses, to examine their many and VEurious appear
ances. The hquses differed not rauch frora the indifferent
residences of the lower classes in the bazaar-part of the
town. Others presented more respectable piles of buUd
ings ; and in a few instances the teraples were embraced
within a court of considerable spaciousness.

At length we came to the tent of a noted devotee, who
has made himself conspicuous as a sacred chEuracter, for

A VOYAGE AROtnro THE WORLD. 279
his abstinence, mortification, and by the peculiarity of the
form of his penance. He holds in his left hand a small
flower-pot, containing a rose-shrub, with its branches pro
tected by a light frame-work. The nails of the fingers
of the hand, which embraces the flower-pot, wind in
their uncouth and spiral shape six and eight inches in
length. They say he has held this flower-pot in the posi
tion he now carries it for thirty years. The fleshy part
of his fingers, under his nail, has also oddly elongated itself.
Whether he has thus preserved this flower-pot this length
of time or not in this position, he eridently has well played
his part, as the result of this action, deeraed self-mortifica
tion and penance, has been to accumulate from the multi
tude who visit him some 20,000 rupees, equivalent to more
than nine thousand dollars, a part of which he is now de
voting for the estabhshment of an institution in which shall
be inculcated the sentiment and the habit of one's personal
consecration to some act of slmUar devotion. This singu-
lEir personage is now, from his appearance, between the
age of fifty and- sixty years, and is not deficient in spright
liness and shrewdness. " I'll get no raoney to-night," he
said to Dr. W. " You are the enemy of all religions here,
and persuade people from giving pice to the devotees."
The old man was nearly naked, with his white beard
brushed up to the cheek, and smeared over vrith white-wash,
or soraething like it, which covered his whole face and
brow and raost of his exposed body ; with a tint of red-like
blood on the brow and breast, contrasting vrith this wash
of white overlaying his darker skin. It is generally sup
posed that this old devotee's arm, which supports the flower
pot, has become emaciated. But it is not more so than
the other. The muscles of each were alike, and so ap
peared, when the devotee, at ray request put his right arm

280 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
in the sarae attitude as the left which supported the flower
pot. He seemed not unpleased by our call ; and as we
left, without marking that my friend Dr. W. saw the ac
tion, I dropped a piece of sUver into the old man's hand,
which the next moment I regretted, although I had done
it as I would have given pence to a conjuror, for Eunusing
me with tricks of his art and enchantment of his snakes;
or to the keeper of a menagerie of odd and curious beasts
of the country. Should Dr. W.'s course be pursued by aU
who visit this long-nailed Gentoo, he would soon be seen
making an effort to eam his rice Emd curry in some more
industrious manner, and the leisure-penance of the devotee
would be changed for the reahty of self-denial, which the la
borious poor man is often called on to experience in the hon
ourable effort to give support and comfort to his household.
Returning late to the ship, I found the sea rolling high
er than is usual, or than I had before seen it, in the har
bour. The oarsmen pulled to the boatman's cheerily tune ;
and erelong the saU was set, when our boat leaped from
wave to wave as she glided over the water, and dashed
the spray before her in the dark night Hke a spit-fire,
spreading the phosphorescent light every way around her
I have made my last visit on shore, and in the morning
our ship stands yet again on her eastern course. And there
are more than one to whom I may repeat with most accep
table meraories, as I leave the sfrange, the curious and the
interesting city of Bombay :
" Farewell, but whenever yon welcome Ihe hour,
Which awakes the sweet night-song soft in your bower,
Then think of the friend who once welcomed it too.
And forgot his own griefs lo be happy wiih you.
His griefs may return, not a hope may remain
Of the lew Ihat have lighiened his pathway of pain,
But he ne'er will forget ihe shori vision that threw .,
Ils enchantment around hira while lingering with you."

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 281

SECTION IX.
GoA.
Goa. Row up the river to the site of old Goa, now the city only of
churches and convents, and once the seat of the Inquisition in
the East. Returning, wind and tide ahead. Passage through the
breakers. Unable to reach the frigate. The ships stand out to
sea. Sleep at the fort. The next morning the ships stand in, and
the author regains the frigate.
We came to anchor in Goa Roads on the four
teenth of November. The basin of water in which we
are now lying indents a very picturesque shore, broken
into ranges of table land which stretches along the shore,
and high ranges, more elevated, rising in double tier of
mountains, in the blue distance of the interior.
This morning, succeeding the evening of our arrival,
I jumped into a shore-boat, with the understanding that
the ship would go to sea in the evening, and with the pur
pose of getting a larger boat on my reaching the shore', to
take me to Goa, some six miles and more distant Should
I happen to be left in these regions, why the only alter
native will be, to go over land to Madras, to regain the
ship at Colombo, or to raake the best of ray way back
again to the United States of Araerica. However, it
would be "Pitiful, wondrous pitiful,"
to come into these Roads, with all the olden associations
connected with this ancient capital of all the Portuguese
Indian possessions, and not to look* at the far-fameid city,
24*

282 ¦« THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
SO memorable for its former raagnificence and ecclesias
tical associations.
I had marked a picturesque building before I left the
ship, situated on one of the prominent elevations, near the
landing place at the fort ; and receiving the courteous sal
utation of the Captain of the forfress as I passed through
it, I sought this building on the heights by a path which
had been pointed out to me as leadmg to the residence-
chapel of the Padre, while my boat was ordered round to
another point on the opposite side of the Island to wait
for me. But when I had reached this pile of buildings on
the heights, I found it Hke most of the olden Portuguese
ancient edifices, more beautiful in the distance than on
near inspection. The Catholics are tasteful in the selec
tion of the locations for thefr public edifices; and the chapel,
the cathedral, the monastery, are mostly found to occupy
the raost conspicuous points of high ground wherever
their religion prevaik, and the effect of the tout ensemble
of their religious buildings, at a distance, is alraost inva-
ria^y fuie and imposing.
The view from this church of the mount was very fine,
and no little interest weis given to the scene of the water-
expanse which lay before the eye, by being varied with
our owm two men-of-war, riding on the bosom of this beau
tiful indentation of the sea. The Padres whom I met
here, had nothing about them which was attracting. After
a rapid view of tiie chapel, the principEd room within
which contained a saint with a small ship poised in his
hand, I bid the brotherhood adieu and descended to the
boat, which I found waiting for rae eis directed — the
peasantry at the foot of the hill showing me courtesy and
kindness as I passed their tents.
We soon crossed over to Pangun, or New Goa, where

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. * 283
I again changed my boat for one still larger, with ten
oarsmen, that I might more certainly accomplish my ex
cursion and return in time for the sailing of the ship.
Comfortably seated in the cabin of this boat, and gliding
to the dip of ten oars up the stream, I am now penning
this nota bene of the way to the old city, sorae four miles
farther up the stream, which runs between the island of
St. Pedro and the opposite one. Church edifices, Portu
guese, French and Mohammedan mosques, are frequentiy
occurring on either side, in agreeable relief of white plas
tered walls and the groves of cocoa-nut and banana
fr-ees, with their pecuHar and characteristic tops.
After a pull for a couple of hours, we reached the De
serted City — once the proud, the lofty, the superstitious,
and the overbearing city of Goa. It still stands a bea
con of what once was ; but it is Hke the hall deserted of
its feasters, when the revellers have gone ; whUe the still
ness of the present contrasts, in sad eloquence, with the
hour of carousal. I walked through the streets overgrown
with grass, with reflections which I could have cherished
nowhere else. Scarcely a being was to be seen moring
throughout the city. The olden churches, the spacious
and massive cathedral, the private chapels, and the nunne
ries, and the crambHng walls, and the cocoa-nut groves,
and the banana-trees, were seen in their profound solitude,
where once was bustle, and the raighty and the proudest
moved forth in state and affluence ; and where the mighty
Inquisition ruled in its terror and sublimity. The cross
on its base of rock, composed, itself, of imperishable mate
rial, was standing at the corner of almost every street, tell
ing the universality of the Roman CathoHc religion. The
walls lining each side of the streets were generally falling,
exposing the areas that once composed the gardens and

284 THE FLAGvsHe S V%-i
the sites of private mansions and patacEST^flffwhere now
scarcely a private residence can be found, or bamboo hut
can be seen ; while the rank and luxurious vegetation mel
lows sdl this rain and decay, of fallen walls, and terraced
mounds, and filling avenue, and broken passage, in em
bowering green of vine, or shrab, or thatching tree. Here
is indeed a field for the imaginative to wander in. Here
are all the elements of romance, of poetry, for the fragic
and the lyric mase. Goa ! how art thou faUen. The huge
walls of thy spacious churches, and cathedral, and monas
tery yet stand, while the dust is gathered on their altars,
and the gold of their CEmdlesticks is dimmed, and the
images that once moved in procession and parade in hoh
day scenes, are veUed and crowded, in their tEunished gUd
ing, into the dark recesses of the interior rooms. Ye
ghosts of departed saints, said yet to walk on your rounds
through the silent recesses of these sdmost deserted temples,
tell us, what is the blight which has come over all, that
now, only the stately pile of cathedrEd, and chapel, and
nunnery, in decay and dust, mark a solemn city of
churches, where once stood the ancient, the famed, and the
prosperous Goa of the East And why, all around you in
the same eastern seas, are another people, with a different
but Christian creed, springing up in successful prosperity
and irresistible prowess. Must the religion of the Catho
Hcs for ever leave blighted whatever it touches 1
I walked through the cathedral, Em iraraense pUe of
buildings, which once must have been imposing. The
entrance door opened into a passage-way Imed onone side
with paintings of a large and corresponding size, of inferior
merit as to their execution, while the scenes were often
such as to produce a great effect. One represented Saint
Augustine, suspended with his head downwards. Another,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD.

285

the devU in interview with a priest ; and Saint Augustine
seeing the visible Christ, while partaking of the eucharist.
This passage communicated with the door, which opened
into the spacious chapel, with its lofty ceihng. I passed
rapidly through the different rooms, some containing vari
ous images of large sizes and of lesser dimensions — the
twelve apostles and various saints, and the -Saviour repre
sented in different scenes ; — one with the thorns upon his
brow, the image bemg larger than life; and others, in
other scenes of corresponding size.
From the cathedral I went to a nunnery. A cup of
tea was handed to me by the Lady Abbess, from whora I
gained sone little things to be retained as mementos of my
visit I wandered, at random, into another nunnery, and
other churches, but, in haste to return, I raade my way
back from the heights on which these buildings are mostly
situated, covering grounds, which with their adjacent lots
must have been beautiful and valuable, almost beyond ac
count, but now neglected, with the walls of the surround
ing areas fallen or falHng, and overgrown, exhibiting long
ranges of neglected fields and gardens in ruins.
On reaching the boat, to my no small surprise and no
very inconsiderable alarm, I found that the vrind and the tide
had both changed against us, while I had been wandering
through the solitary streets and stately piles of churches and
nunneries of Goa. The boats were now streaming up the
favouring current, ¦vrith thefr canvass spread to a fair and
strong breeze, while I had been calculating upon both to
secure my return to the frigate by four o'clock. No tirae
now could be lost, it being already near three o'clock. I
passed into the boat, and directed the ten oarsmen to put
forth their strength. They did well. Our boat dashed back
to Pangim, or lower Goa, frora which our ships ^^ ere lying

286 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
some four or five mUes — ^the sea setting in vrith increased
power, and the opposing wind strengthening every moment.
We paused only for the men to take a draught of water,
when they again started for the frigate. We had passed
the inner fort of the Portuguese, but every moment was
convincing us that it was almost impossible to accomplish
our purpose against the opposing vrind and tide. But
the ships still lingered in the offing, the John Adams ap
parently just standing out, while the Colurabia had shaken
out her topsails, and was lying lazily in the vrind. The
raen were encouraged to pull to their utmost, but the
ground-roll of the sea was pitching in, and we had now
reached a position where the breakers combed high and
fearfully. The men, however, were frue to their oars.
As the high wave came on vrith its curved edge higher
than our boat, fcEu-fully threatening to flood it, the oars
men for a moraent would rest on thefr poles, and as the
breaker sfruck the boat they broke the profound silence
of the preceding instant by thefr awn peculiar prayer, as
they ejaculated in their own tongue, " Jesu Christe !" when
again they dipped their oars, with thefr greatest effort, to
send the boat still fiirther ahead, only to meet Emother
mountain-sheet with its distinctly defined curl, inclining
towards us. As the second breaker strack us, it was
waited in silence, but with the blow of the wave, these
ten, at the slight indication of the steersman, again sent
forth, in their suppressed and reverential tone, " 0 Jesu
Christe !" I thought it would be impossible to drive the
boat through these foaming breakers, which came down
against us in succession vvith their almost perpendicular
fronts. But so long as I saw the features ofthe steersman,
while they were profoundly solemn, quaked not, I en
couraged the men with the excitiing words of " Cheerily

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 287
O, cheerily all !" which they caught witii spirit as I ap
plied my own hands to the oar guided by the nearest man.
The boat at length was forced through seven or eight of
these fremendous and fearfully dangerous rolls, which
would instantly have swamped us, had the prow of the
boat not been kept perpendicularly to the line of the waves,
as they came successively, at this point of the way, some
fifty rods and more apart from each other. We were now
beyond these breaking surges, our boat having- taken in a
considerable quantity of water, sweeping from the bows
nearly to the stern and entirely drenching the men. But
the wind fell not and the tide seemed still stronger, while
we continued to pull out as we saw the Colurabia stUl
lingering, with her anchors evidently weighed, and, as I
concluded, only WEuting for myself. But I was doubtfiU
whether, in her far-out position, she yet saw rae, although
my boat was a large one. Yet at this moraent she run up
her gib, and seemed to ware as if she were standing in
for the boat. But with the strong breeze blowing directly
on this iron-bound shore, at this late^jhour, I knew that
she could not, with propriety, venture rauch farther. The
sun was fast declining, as our boat seemed only inch by
inch to gain her distance outward; when, erelong, the
sun fell beneath the distant rim of the ocean, with the
Columbia directly in its wake, which longer and raore
distinctly preserved the frigate in our view. I had spread
my handkerchief above the poop of the boat vrith the
hope that it raight attract the attention of the quarter
master, who is always keeping a look-out with his glass ;
and at the tirae the ship seemed to veer, I supposed that I
was seen. But as the red bank of a glorious sunset be
gan to die away into the dun of the palest twilight, the
distant ship also began to fade, and at length, as she lined

288 THE FLAG SfflP ; OR
herself on the horizon, I could plauily see that she was
standing out to sea, with evident propriety of not lingering
longer so near the shore for the night. In a short time,
in the increasing darkness, the ship was entirely lost, and
the boatmen, already exhausted, were dfrected to put about
and stand in for the shore.
The only hope that now remained was, that Commo
dore Read, although he had expressed hiraself to me with
more than his usual earnestness about SEuhng during the
evening, would stand off during the night and put back again
in the morning, and take me up, as I then would be able to
stand out with the land breeze and a smooth sea. But
should he proceed directly on his course to Colombo, as the
John Adams seemed to have done, my situation might be
corae very peculiar, at least, for myself. I had taken but
twenty dollars in my purse for the day's excursion. As I
had gone by myself, however, I took a sword in my hand,
as a walking stick, and possessed a watch of some value.
At the worst, I concluded I could manage vrith these com
fortably to reach Bombay, where I had no apprehension
but that I could get any amount of funds I might desire
and letters of credit to meet my wants, whether I should
make my way back to the United States through the Red
Sea, the Isthmus of Suez, the Mediterranean, France and
England, completing a desfrable tour ; or, if opportunl^
should present from Bombay, to take passage to Macao,
and rejoin the ship at Canton, where I should, probably, an
ticipate her arrival, as she would call at several places,
and be for some time detained before reaching Macao.
Anti should I not meet her there, a Canton packet
would take me comfortably back to the United States.
These w-ere the dreamings of a moraent, whUe our boat
was standing back to the fortification where 1 had landed

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 289
first, in the morning, and the bearmg of which I had been
sufficientiy considerate to take by the stars, before it had
become so dark that the land could not be seen.
But in the umest of the night, other thoughts presented
themselves, though they were too gentle in thefr alarms to
frighten entirely from me, after the fatigues of the day, a
welcome refreshment from sleep. But what, if circum
stances should so conspire as to reduce me to the necessity
of begging 1 No one person knew me on shore. And
then, the symptoms on board the John Adams had been
such, since she left Bombay, as to leave it doubtful whether
the cholera was not in our squadron. And in a climate
deemed unhealthy, and exerting myself in the excitement
of the moment, beyond my own strength and habits, it
might be my destiny to be prosfrated suddenly among
stangers of a different faith and lEmguage, and where I
knew not twenty words of thefr tongue. But necessity in
the unexpected circumstances in which I had been placed,
could not be resisted, and God Almighty, in whom I trust
ed, I did not doubt a moment, would direct and provide.
The forfress, which Is an extensive work, was already
shut, when I had reached near the landing-place opposite
one of the gates. The occupants of a boat, lying a little
way in the sfream, assured us that the captain of the fort
ress was afready in his bed, and my boat's crew appeared
to regard it as equivalent to a capital crime to wake him,
and they now insisted that they would not land, but they
must take me up the sfream some three or four miles to
Pangun. I told them that they should land me, unless the
breakers prevented, which were now roaring horribly on
the ear in the darkness of the moonless night ; and I took
_ my sword in my hand, without any further threats than my
manner indicated, which once before, when the men had
Vol. L 35

290 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
become exhausted nearly to a rebellion as we were puUing
for the ship, I had, with yet more positiveness assumed, al
though I am sure I could not have injured the head of one
of the miserable cowards. They yielded, and said they
would try ; and we pulled to the north side of the stone
pier, over wluch the inswelHng surf now rolled, • as if it
vvere another cataract of Niagara. We kept the boat from
its side, or the v\'aters, in the immense sheets as they roUed
over the pier, would instantly have fiUed the boat, and
dashed her away lUse a speck drifting on the boundless
billow. Watching my opportunity, I sprang upon the part ofthe
pier nearest the shore ; and approaching the gate ofthe fort
ress-wall, the sentry haUed rae. I told him I wished to speak
vrith the Captain of the fort The-Captain, vrith half a dozen
other Portuguese, put his head out the vrindow of a
stone building, which formed something Hke a bastion of
the embattlements of the forfress, and said that he vvas
the Captain. I told hun my story. He apologized for his
soldier-like quarters, but soon the gate was thrown open ;
and as if he thought sorae secret design was being made
upon the fortress, or else for effect, I was ushered through
the portal, along a line of guards of some twenty dark-
faced and dark-dressed soldiers, who had been gatheretl at
this pouit of tile fort at the opening of the gate. The
Portuguese officer showeil me to a small apartment, thiough
a passage vvhich led for some short distance vritiiout the
main wall, but whei-e two sentinels were stationed, and
vvhii-h constituted the quarters of the Captain. I was glad
to bc there, notwitiistanding some big stories I had heaid
of Portuguese troai her)', and Inany more I had read of it;
and now I was a stranger, within a Portuguese fortress, in
most treacherous times. I was sufficiently tired to find the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 291
spread cot of the Captain, notwithstanduig the immensity
of his mustaches, a very acceptable tender, although
I felt a reluctance to avail myself of it, as the Portuguese,
with true soldier-like generosity, threw a piece of matting
into another corner of the room,, and said, " This, to-night,
shall be my bed ;" inviting me, at the same time, to slip
off my coat and to lounge, after my fatigue, upon his clean-
spread Emd tendered cot A cup of tea was erelong served,
with bread and butter, cmxl, cheese, eggs, and cake, the last
being taken, vrith a nonchalence du corps, from the wall,
where it had been suspended by a nail in a wrapper around
the plate that contained it. " Eat, my good sir," said the
Portuguese with the huge mustaches ; " you no eat any
thing ;" notwithstanding I had^already finished a couple of
eggs, drank one cup of tea, and a round glass full of most
dellghtftd water. I weis greatly refreshed, and threw my
self upon my cot to get some rest. I slept ; and I re
member in my visions of the night to have seen two gal-
,lant ships standing in shore for me, which reassured me
that however unsailor-Hke it might be for the ships to be
there, or that I should be here, the generous Commodore
would not leave me behind. But my dreams were un-
quieting. I had a rencounter with two bancHtti, and
mastered them. But these were phEmtoms of the brain ;
perhaps the real banditti I should not be able to master, if
about me there were those who might be disposed to at
tack me. Besides, there was something peculiar in the
cup of tea which I had drank, almost from necessity, on
account of the politeness which, had prepared it for me. I
now remembered that the officer had poured some drops, as
it seemed to me, from a junk-bottle into the small tea-pot
in which the ' tea was drawn. What on earth, or in the
name of poison, could hp pour from a junk-bottle into a

292 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
tea-pot, without a design to get rid of me 1 But we had
shov^Ti, only a few hours before, a sufficient force, at least,
lo induce respect so long as there was a probabiUty that
the ships would retum. Therefore, I slept, and was re
freshed and much recovered from my fatigue the next
morning, and my nervous excitement was past The
broad dayhght brought with it the assurance to myself that
my good health continued. But the dayhght was abroad,
and the sun was up, and the look-out from the high point
ofthe flag-staff reported, to my great disappointment, "no
sh ips to be seen in the offing." I quietly yielded to my ap
parent fate, and began to raake some inquiries, to enable
me to decide upon my best course, when I IcEuned that the
Captain of a Portuguese brig was in the fort, who was
designing to get under weigh in a few hours for Bombay ;
but only a few moments longer had passed, before a paper
was handed to the Captain as a second report from the
telegraph, containing the wortls, " Two lEirge three-masted
vessels in the ofl&ng standing to the north." " They are
the frigate and the corvette," I exclEumed ; " I thought they
would not leave me." I went myself, at the suggestion
of the Captain, to the top of the hiU, embraced vrithin the
extensive fortification, and where the flag-staff is fixed, to
see what I could make the vessels out to be, while he or
dered breakfast to be prepai-ed and to be in readiness for
me on my return. The flag-staff I should judge to be 400
feet above the walls of tiie fortress. These walls sfretch
along the shore, and ai-e themselves a part of the works ;
and a distinct fort above all the rest vrith covered passages
leadmg to it, is ahnost if not quite unpregnable to any
force, should tiie lower works be taken. You ascend to
this high point by mclined planes, so EUTanged that provi
sions and airanunition may be conveyed to the elevated

A VOYA&E AROUND THE WORLD. 293
position, while the ai'tillery above commands the whole
ranges of the steep passages. The view from this point
is at once beautiful and grand. The wide ocean ex
tends as far as the eye can reach, north, south and west,
vrith the adjacent country around, in its peculiar features
of inland, island, and mountain, in .their perpetual green
and foliage of the tropics.
I took the glass, and at once recognised the long side
of the good Columbia, standing in, and with grateful feel
ings beheved that I should yet reach her. The Adams was
further out, but standing on the same tack, north. I had
already provided a large boat vrith sails and ten oarsmen
to take rae out at the first appearance of the ships in the
offing, should they again be seen.
Taking another cup of tea, which, in the day-light, at
its making, I now more particularly observed to be taken
from a junk-bottle, in which it was preserved instead ofthe
more usual domestic tea-caddy, with which I have been fa
mUiar. I now entered my boat, and cheerily, with her can
vass spread and ten men at the poles, the boat raade good
speed towards the Columbia, still some ten or twelve miles in
the distance. When she perceived us, she tacked ship, and
bore down for us as far as practicable vrith the head wind;
and, erelong I was again, with a very comfortable feeling
of convenience, on the deck of the frigate. Advancing to
the officer of the deck, I reported myself, as is usual, as
having " retumed." " Very well, sir," was the courteous
and officer-Hke reply. "Please report yourself to the Ffrst
Lieutenant," who was standing not far off. "Very well,
sfr," -w^as repeated, with as much gravity as the counte
nance of this amiable gentleman could assume, " please
report to the Commodore."
I made the best of my way to the cabin. Our Commo-
25*

294 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
dore was sitting over his private journal; and whether it
contains a private record of my own name or not, I do not
know ; but I do know that Comraodore Read has invaria
bly treated me vrith gentlemanly kindness; and that in a
few moments more the ship, vrith a crowd of canvass set,
was pressing on her bounding course to Colombo, the capi
tal of the island of Ceylon.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 295

SECTION X.
Colombo.
Colombo, Church in the evening, on shore. Diflferences bet^ween
the English and American prayer book. The Governor's dinner
to the Commodore and his officers. " Grace." Sir John Wilson.
The Governor's house. Promenade with his Excellency. Gov
ernor Mackenzie's opinion of the American Missionaries, and
liberality towards them. Music. Early fortifications in the East.
Mess-dinners. Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie. Sail by moonlight,
and dinner at Sir John Wilson's. Sir John's mansion. Bouquet.
Cooper's Switzerland. Willis's poetry. Lord Cochrane at New
Orleans. Hospitality of British officers. " West coast disaster."
Murder of Captain Wilkins of the barque Eclipse, by the Malays.
Tiffin with Rev. Mr. Bailey. A drive. Shells. Ceylon the best
place for making a collection in conchology. Breakfast to Gover
nor Mackenzie on board the frigate. Leaving Colombo.
We anchored in Colombo Roadstead on Sunday morn
ing, November 25th, 1838, having made land the preceding
evening, and standing off during the night. '•:'
After the services on board, during the day, I accoin-
panied Lieutenants Magruder and Turner and Dr. Hazlett
to the shore, to attend the services of the church in the
evening. It was dark before we landed; but the Colonial
Secretary, who had called on the Commodore, poHtely ac
companied us to the church within the walls of the fort,
and obtained us seats. As we landed we passed within
the gate, along a sfreet vrith its white colonnade Hning on
either side the whole range ofthe low buildings, producing
a fuie effect in the bright moonbeams; while the mellow
ing shade of the hour concealed all that would diminish

296 THE flag ship; or
our favourable impression, as we reached the church, Hght
ed up for the services of the evening. The congregation
had already mostly assembled, and the faces and the dress
of the female part of the congregation were so Idfe our
own congregations at home, and the prayer book contain
ing our own prayers, and the English service in our own
tongue, and the like ceremonies of rising and sitting and
kneeling, all made it seem like being in one of our own
temples in our own westem home, among our own ac
quaintances, on the stiU eve of the Sabbath day.
Most of the gentlemen attending the services of the
evening, were the officers of the barracks, in thefr red
uniform, accompanying the ladies present, who were gen
erally of the officers' families.
The American is strack vrith the shght variations in the
services of the English and the AmericEm Episcopal church.
And where this variation occurs, I think it must be con
ceded, that the alterations in our service are decidedly Em
improvement. The EngHsh clerc^- so consider it; at least
the Rev. Mr. B  thus expressed himself to me, when
the two services were a subject of remEuk. There is also
a difference between us in pronouncmg several words ofthe
serrice. In the opening exhortation of the clergyman to
the congregation, the attention of the American is particu
larly arrested by tiie pronunciation of the word acknow
ledge, which the English clergymEm pronounces as if
written ac-no-ledge : " The Scripture moveth us in sundiy
places to ac-no-ledge and confess our manifold sins and
wickedness;" "And although we ought at all times to
ac-no-ledge our sins before God," &.c. And in the Te Deum
laudamus, "We praise thee, 0 God, we ac-no-ledge thee
to be the Lord." And yet, Sheridan, and Perry, and Jones
and Jameson pronounce this word as if v\Titten ac-nol-ledge.

A VOYAGE ARdUND THE WORLD. 397
as also do Walker, Fuller, and Knight, while they are the
only three who give thefr authority also for ac-no-ledge.
As we returned to the ship, the sea was running high.
l^e Emchorage ground is an open roadstead; and some
times the swell is threatening to a small boat. And yet
there is a species of canoe here, constructed with an out-
rig. It consists of Hght pieces of wood, narrow, and nearly
as long asthe canoe, andis parallel with it. Ithas two arch
ed bars, extending from the canoe to this stick, thus enlarging
the base of the little boat by several feet. This fragile
thing, vrith this consfruction, rides on the heaviest billow,
like a wafer or a cork.
The Coramodore and some of his officers dined vrith his
Excellency the Governor, last evening, November 27th.
It was a beautifiil night. We reached the Governor's
house* a spacious mansion, at half-past seven o'clock.
Coramodore Read and his officers were severally presented
to Mrs. Mackenzie, the Governor's lady, who entered the
room with her hat on, as her head-dress, which we hum
bly conceive to have been in great bad taste, while her
ladyship was procHgal with her smiles, and vrith great frank
ness and goodness of heart, placed her guests at their ease.
The Governor's self, in lace and silver epauletts, soon pre
sented himself, that others might be presented to him. He
entered the reception-room after a number of the guests
had arrived, vrith ease, but less vrith the afr of a polished
courtier than the plainer gentlemEm of education and great
good sense, who had seen the world and knew its different
phases and its fashions, and rehed on his personal merit and
conscious mental acquisition for consideration, in connec
tion vrith his station, rather than on mannerism, or on a
polished address that excluded mannerism in the faultless
but marked attitudes of graceful and elegant demeanour.

298

THE FLAG SHIP ; OE

An hour passed after the arrival of the Governor's
company — few ladies and more gentlemen— =when there
was a moveraent from the antechamber to the halj^ where .
the guests placed themselves on a range of 'SeEits arovmd _a
tasteful and well-spread table. *
It contributed much to my gratification to be seated on
the right of Sir John Wilson, the copunander of aU her
majesty's forces ui the island ; a gentleman of great amia
bleness and worth and popularity, and distinguished for
his services in the peninsular war.
His Excellency caUed upon myself to "say grace,"
as the guests were about to take thefr seats, and again to
return thanks before the ladies left the table. I note it
here as Ulustratmg the custom of those m high stations, m
the East, of whose hospitahty we have participated, and
to commend what we deem laudable at thefr tabldf. At
Bombay, at the Governor's table, it was the same. A
blessing vvas asked and thcmks returned. And there was
no blush for the name of Christian, nor felt apprehension
that this act of devout acknowledgement to the Giver of
all our mercies, might be unwelcome to the pleasure of
any at the extensive table.
The gentlemen sat longer after the ladies had retfred
than was the case at Bombay, but it weis not in the turbu
lence of noise and excess of wine, but to indulge in the
vhacity of free and social conversation. We had afready .
IcEu-ned of the frank hospitality of the residents at Colom
bo ; and our anchoi-s had hardly dropped before we were
partaking of it, in a manner that assmed us of its generous
and entire cordiality.
Before I had risen, myself, from the table, earHer than
others, Sir John \\'ilsoii had politely urged that I would
dine with him, at his k>\ely villa, on the beautiful little

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 299
lake in the neighbourhood ofthe city. Leaving the day
to be named by myself, and proposing to invite some
friends whom he supposed it would give me pleasure to
meet, I was happy to accept of his politeness, even to the
necessary omission of courtesies proffered in notes of invi
tation to the ward-room mess generally, and some others
individually, which had been received for every night ofthe
week. The number of English officers at this station is
numerous, and the officers of the different brigades have
the different mess-houses. Each of these messes sent invi
tations to the officers of the Columbia. And though I did
jiot make it convenient, myself, to be^ at either of their
dinners, the officers who were, found the entertainments to
be most creditable to the messes for the taste and elegance
displayed ; and in every instance they were particularly
compliftieiitary, in the sentiments which were expressed,
towards the American nation, and personally to Commo
dore Read and his officers.
As I vacated ray seat at the table, I strolled into the
verandah, extending with its colonnade of pillars quite the
length of the main building with its extensive wings, and
adjacent to the garden-grounds, which surround the house ;
but erelong I passed to the upper chambers, delight
fully disposed for receiving every breath of air which
sweeps, vrith the sea-gale, through the windows, quite
down to the floor ofthe verandah. And the sea ! the deep
rolling sea — the surf-sounding sea, the beautiful, the sub
lime, the eternal sea, vrith its now calm and now turbulent
and now throwing bosom, spreads its vast expanse before
the commanding residence of the Governor. The building
consists of a cenfre and two long and low -wings, surround
ed by the verandah already alluded to, with its massive pil
lars in front and rear, vrith also an upper verandah to the

300 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
centre building, which opens at each of its ends, dfrectly
upon the flat roofe ofthe long wings ofthe mansion.
As I ascended the inner flight of stairs to the upper
verandah, the Govemor approached me; and as we leaned
over the balustrade, contemplating the scene in front of us,
his Excellency soon discovered, that the elements of poetry
were in his make ; and for a whUe, we promenaded this
sweet balcony, overlookmg the grounds between the near
sea-shore and the garden, with the white pagoda-like
light-house in the perspective. And the moon, the bright
moon, on one of her lovehest passages through the clear
Emd deep blue sky, was moving to-night, in her meekness
and softest sheen of glory, vrith only here Emd there a col
lection of fleecy clouds, which, drinking in her prodigal
beams, added new beauty to the scene, as they CEist thefr
mimic shadows on the iUumined bosom of the far-oitt deep.
" That scene reminds rae," SEud his ExceUency, " of a
print which I have seen, representing n^ht in its compo
sition, and another of moming. The night-scene was com
posed of the pEu-ticulars as they now He before us."
" It is beautiful," I repHed. " I have seen night repre
sented by a black horee vrith a dark cloud curling upon his
neck, Emd morn, by a courser sfa-iking his small hoof upon
the fleecy folds of a golden-edged cumulus, as his nosfrils
snuffed its vapour for tiie early dew. But this is indeed a
charming riew — the queen of night, as she is now seen
reclining on those clouds, as Cowley describes her, like a
Sultana pillowed on couches of silver. And tiien, that
mighty ocean, and that dashing, cascading, eternal surf,
which beats upon those rocks, thi-owmg up thefr jets in
crystal sheets of foam, to drink in the moonbeam, in conh'ast
with the deep shades of tiiose young forest trees — certainly
there is composition here, to delight ; and how the soul

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 301
loves the hallowed impressions received from the pure
sounds and pure visions of nature, when addressed to the
mind which sometimes Hves in itself
" You see those shrubs," said the Governor, as he led the
way from the verandah to the promenade on the top of the
wing of the building nearest the sea, and the ideal visions
of improvement in his garden-plots warming his iraagin
ation, as the capacities of his grounds were alluded to ;
" scEurcely one of them were here seven months ago ; — so
luxuriant is the vegetation in this chmate, that they havebeen
brought forward in thefr cultivation, in so short a period."
The Govemor devotes his mornings to the improvement
of his grounds, and pointed out to me the different plans,
as they lay in his own imaginative mind. He has but
lately, coraparatively, come to the island, as Governor of
Ceylon, but evinces an enthusiasm for its improvement, and
the development of its resources, and the promotion of its
interests as a statesman, a Christian philanthropist, and a
man of literary taste and acquisition. He has afready found
materials of interest in the old Dutch records ; and is hav
ing franslated a manuscript document composed by one of
the old Governors, on the eve of his leaving the island, for
the benefit of his successors, showing what he had done,
and proposing measures which would facilitate and extend
further improvement — " Just such a thing," said his Excel
lency, " as I should like to leave to my successor." The
paper is a curious document, and vriU form a treat to the
antiquary and the politician.
His Excellency talked of the interior — gave a graphic
description of the reception of one of the chief men of
Candy, who lately visited Colombo, whom he presented
vrith a medal, and who, of his own accord, has lately manu
mitted all his slaves. This man, though of little importance
Vol. L 26

302in a pohtical point of view, in the present ffrm establish
raent of the power of the English in the island, yet retained
.all the airs of one who still deemed himself a prince sunong
his own people. An3 of the scenery of the interior, on the
route to Candy, the olden residence of the ancient powerful
chiefs of the island and the capital of the empfre, the
Govemor gave a description, which, doubtless, was colour
ed by an imagination and a sympathy which he legitimately
inherits, as the birthright of one who has been bom in
Scotland, and has roEm[ied in his young days among its
mountain ranges and highland hills.
I was glad, also, to hear from his ExceUency, an un
equivocal commendation of our missionaries, who Eu-e situ
ated in different parts of the island. During the late
embarrassed state of the fiinances of the people in America,
which Eiffected the resources of the missionEuy stations, the
governraent here confributed JE200, or nearly $900 for
the benefit of the American missions. And his ExceUency,
in making up his private budget this season, was so
thoroughly impressed vrith the commendable zeEd which
actuated the American raissionaries, and fhe happy results
consequent on thefr labours, that he did not wait to hear of
any erabarrassment of thefrs, or allow Em appHcation to be
made in their behalf, but anticipated any thing of this kind
by asking if the allowance of the preceding year would be
acceptable to thera. It was added to his hst of expendi
tures. " And believe rae," was the sentiraent of his Excellency,
" we think the Governraent to be under a greater obliga
tion than this, for the efforts which the American missiona
ries are putting forth for the education and the reHgious
welfare of the inhabitants of the island."
We had been prbmenading for more tiian an hour on

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 303
the top of this wide and extended west wing of the Gov
ernor's house, with a bright heaven above us and a rich
landscape and glorious moon-lit sea-scene around us, un
covered, Emd with the moonbeam glancing back from the
rich lace of the Governor, as we turned or paused in our
walk, to express an agreeing sentiraent on the topics
already alluded to, or which the works of Scott and
Bulwer, or Cooper and Irving, (the last, all Englishmen
bless,) or the general theme of England and America
awakened. And now, a sfrain of music, borne frora
the inner rooras along the verandah, raet our ears, in
the open afr, as the vibrating zephyr carae dancing and
delighted by us. It had attraction for both of us, and we
sought the company, who were listening, with a marked
compliment, to the fine execution of one of our officers on
the Spanish guitar.
"Americans," said an EngHsh officer in red, who
was near rae, " excel in music. I have had the pleasure
of spending some time among them, and longest in New-
York. I speak from observation and feeling."
" At least," I rejoined, " I know sorae New-Yorkers
who have a love for music Eihnost to a passion, whatever
may be their execution ; although the inhabitants of the
Eastern States have the highest reputation for excel
lence in the art, which you know it is said, and I should
question the sensibiHty of the man who doubts it, once had
the power to move stones into regular built palisadoes.
And your particular friend. Miss B  , I should think
had inherited the lyre of Apollo, as his favourite rause. At
least she has the song of soul which is the soul of song, if
I have read rightly the spfrited play of her features."
The Colorabo people were ever ready to say kind and
compHraentary things of America, and I had no reason.

304

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

once to question the sincerity of their expressed senti
ments towards our nation ; but without an intended com
pliment, merely, to the young lady, to whom the gentleman
I then addressed, as rumour that evening said, was soon to
be joined in matrimonial nuptials, I thought her face strik
ingly pretty, as the simple fiUet of braid confmed her
luxurious ringlets from off her beautiful and pure brow.
The ladies gave us rausic, vrith the piano-forte as thefr
accompaniment ; and the evening was spent in social and
agreeable interview.
Sir John, lounging at his ease on a rich ottoman, had
passed to me the word, " dinna forget," just previous to
our leaving, and the Commodore and his officers, at a
seasonable hour, returned to the ship.
On Wednesday evening, a large number of officers
went on shore — some to the " mess-dinners," some to meet
other inritations, and most of thera, finaUy to gather to the
ball of Mi-s. Stewart Makenzie,* the Governor's lady,
later in the evening. Dr. Hazlett and myself found Sfr
John Wilson's CEu-riage waiting for us, as the last boat
? Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie is Ihe daughter of Lord Seaforlh, whose
family name is Mackenzie. She was the only child, and married
Sir Samuel Hood, afterwards an Admiral in the Brilish Navy. She
inherited the estates of her father on his death, but her husband
dying without is.sue, she Josl ihe title. She afterwards married Gen
eral Alexander Stewart, her preseni husband, who at his marriage
took the fainilyname of Mackenzie.
It is said thai his Excellency has been offered knighthood, but has
declined it, in view of obtaining something yet more acceptable,
which, il is thought probable, will await him on his relurn, when he
shall have conducted wilh satisfaction lo her Majesiy his Guber
natorial term Lord Seaforth, the family tille ofthe Mackenzies, is
what we presurae would meet his Excellency's desires, and the
family'.-i expcclation. And the peerage would receive an acquisi
tion in the person of his Excellency, that would add honour to their
number.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 305
from the ship, over a high sea, reached the shore. We
entered it, and accompanied by Sir John's Aid, Major S.,
on horseback, who was politely waiting for us at the dock,
we were soon rolled without the gate of the fort.
These early fortifications of the East generally em
brace a large space of ground, and at first must have con
tained all the European residents ; and now, the wall of
the fort at Bombay extends for six or nine miles in cir
curaference, embracing a large portion bf the city ; and
the wall of the fortification at Colombo, though not as ex
tensive, embraces the long Hnes of spacious buildings con
stituting the barracks, and nearly sdl the houses of the
European residents. »
Having passed the gate, we rolled almost insensibly
over the ffrst part of the smooth road that runs along the
exquisite beach, where the surf is ceaselessly throvring
up its crystal cascades, with the dashing murmur of
waters, so grateful in a warm climate ; but we soon wound
along the diverging way around the fort, and to our de
lightfiil surprise, were brought suddenly to the lip of a
beautiful lake, where a boat was waiting fof us.
" We vrill give you a sail by raoonlighj;," said the
Major, as he rode up to the carriage door and dismounted.
We skipped from the carriage to the boat, while the
horses were ordered around by the road to Sir John's.
" And be assured we will not forget the moon-lit scene,
as we glided over the sweet lake in ' bonny bark,' to Sir
John's," was the reply. '»*
" Beautiful, indeed," exclaimed the doctor, who is as
susceptible of the poetry and romance of nature, as good
taste, united vrith goodness of heart, always begets. Dr.
L. of the John Adams, a gentleman of great excellence of
character, and little Read, a sweet' boy and bright young
ster, were also with us. 26*

306 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
Our guide had eridently studied effect fri givmg us
this variety, on this enchanting evening.
The gentle breeze, puffing from the land, soon filled
our sails, and the ripple curled around the prow of our
boat, and in a moraent more we were cutting the moon-ht
bosom of the lake, most gently and pleasantly, as the
miraic wave sent its rausic along the sides of our boat
" Surely, night has a lovely face in your clime. Major
L., and I see she has her tasteful admfrers. There is
vritchery in the blending of Hght and shade of the tall
trees of that cocoa-nut grove, and the shady indentations of
that border Hne of the lake."
We were now gliding some distance outside of a Httle
island sfretching itself in the lake, and in fifteen minutes
more, om polite guide, by a gentle veering of the boat,
brought us in full view of the mansion of Sfr John.
There it stood, eis he pointed it out to us, brUHantly
Uluminated, with the bright lamps glesuning among the
colonnade-pillars ofthe extensive versmdahs, which overlook
the beautiful sheet of water, and reach quite to the margin
of the lovely expanse. We continued to near the beauti
ful mansion, as the guests already Eisserabled were seen
moving in promenade among the pillars of the spacious
portico, extending along tiie whole front of the gorgeous
edifice. Our boat came quite up to the steps of the verEUi-
dah, and we were welcomed h)- Sir John, and others whom
I had seen at the Governor's dinner, on the evening but
one preceding.
We were soon seated at the dinner-table of our amiable
host, ourselves being tiie last arrived.
Sir .John displayed his taste in the decorations and tiie
substaiitials of his table. But being myself no epicure in
meats or coimoiseur in wines, which, on this occasion, were
varied and abundant, I take but little notice of the dishes

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 307
which are passing during the different courses at a dinner-
table ; and am much more attracted by a beautiful vase of
flowers which maybe displaying its lovely and gorgeous col
lection of coloured bell and virgin cup, and varied hues of
corollas, and chalices, and pistils, and stamens, and giving
forth to all, their beauties and fragrance. And therefore,
I ought not to forget the beautiful vases of flowers which
decorated Sir John's dinner-table.
" Did you raark it, Mr. T. 1" he asked, as the splendid
vase was removed frora the table.
" Did I raark the bouquet, Sfr John ? I was thinking
that it even surpassed the Governor's for its richness and
varieties. And I shaU reraeraber it too, and the mango, and
the place where you showed me how to cut it."
" And you vrill remember that the bouquet was collect
ed in the month of JYovember, and the twenty-eighth day
qf that month, hard on to the approaching Christraas."
The residence of Sir John was once a governraent or
private botanical garden ; and he has, as he said, always
been famous for his bouquets. Only in the sweet and
flowering isle of Madeira, should I have looked for so rich
a chalice of these beautiful smiles of nature.
The manners of Sir John- are as gentle as his flowers ;
and I am sure no one will forget their kindness who has
been the recipient of his amiable and elegant courtesies.
The Rev. Mr. B. sat on my left, who had lately been
reading Cooper's Switzerland, and a collection of Ameri
can poetry — all which he was polite enough to admire. I
led him to expect that I would send him some further spe
cimens of American poetry, when I returned to the ship,
with a copy of the Prayer Book as used in the American
Episcopal churches, which he regarded as a very consid
erable improvement upon thefr own. He had not read

308 THE FLAG SHIP; OE
Mr. WiUis's poetry, and I was desirous of fiu-nishing him
with some pieces from the elegant pen of this American
bard. I cannot conceive how it could otherwise than please
the taste which can appreciate the delicate tints in colour
ing and the exquisite beauty of the poetic comparisons,
with which Mr. WiUis's poetry abounds in its imagery. It
is said that Mr. Willis seldom reaches the sublime. Is it
not enough always to be beautiful, and a master in it ? But
this gentleman has outlived the envy and the jealousy
which I am sure some of his young contemporaries cherish
ed, and used to his disadvantage as they started together
in the race of writers in polite literature. If Mr. WUHs
shall continue to dip his pencil only in the beautifidly pure
and virtuous, which characterizes his own pieces particu
larly, and almost all American poetry, to the shame of
many of the writers of Europe, who have corrapted rather
than benefitted their species, he wUl continue to hold the con
sideration in the esteem of his countrymen, which is now
awarded to his productions, and do the greatest justice to
himself There was an EngHsh officer of rEmk at the table, who
spoke of his haring been taken prisoner on the northern
boundary in the last war. He recurred with pleasure to the
gentlemanly conduct of Governor Cass, who was then an
officer under General Harrison. There can be no doubt
that the English nation dul)- appreciate the prowess ofthe
young America. And tiie two rencounters which the two
nations have had with each other, have contributed to in
duce great respect, on the part of both, for each other.
The battle of New-Orleans was alluded to at the mess-
dinners by the British officers, as an intentional compliment
to our arms. And however much General Jackson's ad
ministration, at home, may have excited the opposition of

A VOYAGE AE0in«) THE WORLD. 309
the respectable minority of the people, it is no less true
that the eclat of his military fame has added reputation,
with hiraself at the head of it, to the Araerican governraent,
abroad. It is a circumstance which developes another secret
motive which induced an attack on New-Orleans, that the
eye of Lord Cochrane was on the cotton-bags and hogs
heads of tobacco, which at this time were supposed to be, and
were in reality, deposited there. Lord Cochrane thought
of the prize-money, or the price of plunder. And we have
the word of one who must have known, as he was then
high in rank as an English officer, that " the attack on
New-Orleans had never been made, had it not been to
gratify Lord C's desire for enriching himself. For this
the blood was shed, and it mattered not how many lives
of English soldiers should be sacrificed for it."
If such a motive could actuate, almost exclusively, a
commanding officer, we should think that whatever raay
be the fact as to what has been denounced as calurany,by
the surviving officers who were at the battle of New-Or
leans, it yet might be true of such a Commander in Chief,
tliat he promised to his army the privileges of plunder and
rapine, as rewards of victory.
But those things are past : and English and American
hearts can now, and do now, respond to each other when
they meet, as descendants of a common parentage, and as
mutual admfrers and friends of each other. And at Co
lombo, where the largest nuraber of its European inhabit
ants are Briti^ officers, our Commodore and his officers
have received In unbounded, and generous, and frank
hospitality and courtesy, which, while it erinces the noble
heart of the Briton, declares also the partiality of the two
nations for each other. May it long continue in their

310 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
mutual prosperity, as is their interests, and in unitedly
carrying forward the noble enterprises of the age, in the
improvements in science and the cultivation of letters, and
in the efforts of phUanthropy and Christian benevolence,
for bringing a world to the participation of the blessings
proffered in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Such, surely, is
the becoming and wise course to be pursued by two na
tions deriving their bemg from a common ancestry, of the
same language, domestic associations, sympathies and
religion. When we rose from the table, near ten o'clock, the
carriages were at the door, to take most of the party to
the Govemor's, as it had been understood that the officers
at the different dinners would attend Mrs. Stewart Macken
zie's ball for the evening. I had engaged to ride
back EIS far as the Governor's in Sir John's carriao^e, on
the evening of accepting the inritation to dine vrith him,
vrithout giving it to be understood that I should stop at the
baU during the evening.
We drove back frora Sfr John's enchanting residence,
through his beautiful grounds, along the road of the ever
surf-sounding beach, with the sea on our left, which is the
avenue for the fashionable drives at the hour a little before
sunset And a most delightful drive it is. Haring re-en
tered the gate, and approached the Governor's, the music
soon reached the ear on the balmy air of the evening, as
it carae from the well-lighted halls of the Governor's
mansion. Here I said adieu to numbers of the company, who
were gathering for the dance ; and having lingered one
raoment at the carriage door, as the fine strains of music
from the full band carae to the ear, I walked with Dr. H.
to our boat ; and erelong we reached the ship, after an

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 311
agreeable entertainment at the courteous and amiable Sir
John's. I had now risited the shore at Colombo four times, but
in the evening of each day, since our. Eurrival. And there
fore my views of the city, thus far, had been entfrely by
moonhght ; and of the elite among its inhabitants, in the
gleam of the raellow light of the chandelier Emd lamp,
and lesser tapers. But I had hoped for a number of days
in the coraing week, both for the purpose of making a
very desirable excursion into the interior, to Candy, which
place the Comraodore had almost made up his mind to
visit, and also for examining sorae objects of curiosity in
Colorabo; and raore particularly to re-visit the places
where I had already called. I was quite desiroug of again
seeing the beautiful grounds of Sir John Wilson, who had
obhgingly pressed rae to do so. But all these calculations
were destined to be frustrated, by our more speedy depEU--
ture from the Roads of Colorabo than was the Commo
dore's first design.
The following document appeared in the Colombo
Observer, purporting to be extracted from a Penang paper,
of Prince of Wales' Island. It determined Commodore
Read, without delay, again to put to sea, for the purpose
of gaining all the information in connection with the
alleged outrage possible, and if the particulars affirmed
should be substantiated, and render action on the part of
the squadron, in connection of the case, justifiable and ob
ligatory, to pursue the course which circumstances should
require. The Observer thus prefaces the document which
he quotes :
" From a number of the Penang Gazette, of the 13th
of October, we extract a description of the murder of the
captain and some of the crew of the Araerican ship Echpse,

312

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

by the natives of the west coast of Sumatra, published at
the request of the Consular Agent of the United States, at
Penang. Perhaps Commodore Read may be induced to
bend his course, with the Columbia smd the John Adams,
now in our Roads, to Sumatra, to avenge the death of his
countryraen."" To the Printer and Publisher of the Penang Gazette.
Snt, — I vrill thEink you to insert the accompEmying ,
letter, addressed to m'e, in your next paper.
Yours, obediently,
J. Revely,
Consular Agent of the United Slates of America,
at Prince of Wales' Island-
Penang, October 12, 1838."
" West Coast Disaster.
" Sir, — Agreeably to your request, vrith the greatest
pleasure, I send you an official narrative of the murder of
Captam WiUdns, of the American ship Eclipse.
" From the 24th June, the day of my arrival at TuUoy
Pow and Muckie, and also the day I spoke w-ith the Eclipse,
to the 26th August, I know very Httle about her operations;
however I vvas uifoi-med that Captain W. was many days
trading at a viUage called Trabangsm, a distance of about
twelve miles fron Muckie. On the night of the 26th
Aug-ust, at about two o'clock, a man from a jolly-boat haUed
the ship in French, and begged for hospitEdity, saying they
were from the barque Eclipse, that the captEun was mm--
dered by the Malays; and tiie second mate, who was then
in the boat, se\-ere])- wounded in tiie loins, who, with two
sailors wounded In several parts of^their bodies, with great
difficulty got on board. After dressing tiieir wounds, they
coimnunliated to rae tiie foUowmg nai-rative.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 313
" On the evening of the 26th August, two sampans with
twelve men in each, having a small quantity of pepper,
came alongside the ship and offered it for sale, as it fre^
quently happens. The second mate, whose watch it was,
being particularly acquainted with Lebbey Oiisso, juratoo-
Hs of Muckie, and knowing that he had assisted Captain
W. in his former voyages, thought it no harm to allow 'him
and his people to come up, as they were very good friends,
notvrithstandfrig it was then night-time. When they came
up, he told them the captain was asleep, and had been
indisposed many days, and that they would be obliged to
wait until he awoke to weigh their pepper and settle the
price. He also told them that the custom of the ship
was, by way of precaution, to ask for their weapons,
which they without any objection immediately gave up,
and he got these secured under lock and key. After which
they feigned to sleep in different parts of the deck, await
ing the appearance of the captain, who came up about
ten o'clock, when they asked him to weigh their pepper.
Lebbey Ousso, feigning friendship for the captain, com
plained of the distrast of the second mate, and requested
to have his own and his friends' daggers given back to
them, which was accordingly complied vvith. Frora his
long acquaintance with the man, the captain did not think
that he was doing an act of imprudence in giving their
daggers. During this interval, the second mate and two
sailors were busy in getting ready the scales for weighing
the pepper that weis on deck. As the second draught was
being weighed, the captain, who was seated by a Hght
near the binnacle, cried out, "I am stabbed." The second
mate, who was stooping to take up the bags, was stabbed
in the loins. At the same time the apprentice, who was
near the captain, was killed by the very same hand that
Vol. L 27

314

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

slew his commEmder. The second raate jumped over-
boardj notwithstanding his wound. Part of the crew fol
lowed his example, and the rest went up the masts and
yards. The mate, and those who followed him, afterwards
returned to the ship, by the ropes that were hanging from
the quarter-deck, and went up on the masts to join the
others. Several among them were wounded. During this
time, the murderers were looking out for other victims.
They found the cook in frons for insubordination. He beg
ged for his life, promising to show them the place where
the dollars and opium were deposited. They immediately
broke his fetters and set him free, and took four cases of
opium and eighteen casks contaming $18,000 Spanish
dollars, and left the ship fri company vrith thefr good friend
the cook. The second raate and four saUors who were
on board, arraed a boat Emd CEirae to us, leaving the ship
vrithout any guardian to take care of her. The CEu-penter
and two sailors went on shore to join the chief mate and
four saUors, who were left there, for the purpose of pro
curing pepper.
" On the morning of the 27th, we unanimously agreed
that the sEulors should retum to thefr ship Emd hoist the sig
nal of disfress, to caU the chief mate, and if he did not come,
to fire a gun, which they did on thefr arrival on board.
" The second mate and SEiilor that had two severe
wounds in thefr bodies, and another wotmded in the foot,
remained on board of my ship for four days, after which
we took thera on board of Era American brig, that was fra-
ding at Assahan.
" On the 27th, at two in the afternoon, Tunkoo Datoraga
of Nunpat Tuan, sent his schooner in quest ofthe robbers;
she retumed tiie next day without being able to discover
any thmg.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 315
" I was afterwEu-ds informed, that the ship Eclipse, under
the command of the chief mate, sailed for Muckie, to take
one of the chiefs of that place to Soosoo, to recover his
losses and part of the opium, which the Rajah of that coun
try got from the robbers. These he refused to give up.
" This statement contains all that I know, and which I
give as authentic. " I have the honour to be, sir,
" Your most obedient servant,
" A. Van Iseghen,
Captain of the barque I'Aglee of Nantes.
Penang, October 13, 1838." " A true copy,
J. Revely,
Consular Agent of the United States of America,
at Prince of Wales' Island."
It may be a fortunate circumstance that our arrival at
Colombo occurred just at this time, for the accomplish
ment of some part of the purposes for which our ships
have been sent into these seas. We have, by the coinci
dence of our arrival and the publication of the preceding
paper, obtained this intelligence four days after our reach
ing this port ; and there seeras so much probability of the
ti-uth of the statement, that it becomes a matter of inter
est that the squadron should be prepared for the exigencies
that may occur, and that the ships should hasten to the
ground where this oufrage is said to have occurred. And
although it would be raost gratefiil to linger here, where
the hospitality of the people is so unbounded and cordial,
and at a raoment when acquaintances have been formed of
so much interest as to make us greatly wish to prolong
that acquaintance, and in some good degree to reciprocate
the courtesies which have been received frora the residents
on §hore, yet pleasure always should yield to duty, or rather

3 16 the flag ship ; or
our chief pleasure should be in doing our duty, whatever
teraporary sacrifices it may cost
On Friday, the day after the preceding document ap
peared in the Colombo paper, 1 took tiffin, as an early un
ceremonious dinner is called, at three o'clock P. M., with
the Rev. Mr. BaUey, and met the Rev. jNIr. Marsh, and
one of the Wesleyan missionaries, with a Mr. S., and a
Lieutenant in the English navy. I had purposed to spend
the evening in riding, as it was understood that we would
sail on the morrow ; and expecting a longer delay at
Colombo, I had wUlingly postponed my intended rides and
sorae additional visits on shore for the succeeding week.
After partaking of this no unsubstantial meal, which
here corresponds raore with the southern snack rather
than the northern lunch, Mr. M. proffered to take me in
his CEuriage on the drive, whUe the one I had ordered was
dfrected to follow.
We nearly encfrcled the lake, pairing through the cin
naraon groves which lie adjacent to the suburbs ofthe cit)",
and finally reached a prominent position occupied by the
Rev. Mr. M. Here we gained a riew, which on a clearer
day must be pecuHarly fine. And far across on the lake,
as seen on this shower)- evening, my eye rested with plea
sm-e on the lovely raansion of Sfr John Wilson.
Returning to the town with my cimiamon boughs, and
raiious leaves of vaiious plants, I drove at a late hour to a
Moor-man's shop, to complete a collection of superb and
curious shells, which a good fortune had given me to find, in
Colombo. I sat for some time with Corln, the shell mer
chant, who has his shells in baskets, piled up in a miserable
hut, like almost all the native shops of the bazaars of the
Fast. This said Coriii, the Moorish shell-merchEmt, might
be of sorae convtnience to those who raay follow us, with

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 317
like desfres of ipy own to make a collection in conchology.
At the sarae time, it vrill always be advisable for the
purchaser to be careful in the prices he offers. Generally
the venders in shells, and in all other things in the East,
vrill take half, and often less -than half of v^'hat they origi
nally ask. It is a confirmed habit vrith them, to ask double
the value of the article they would dispose of, and were
you to give their price, at once, you probably would very
much astonish them, and do injustice to yourself.
I purchased a large number of .shells from Corin. Two
boxes packed with taste, and others in baskets. Ceylon
is evidently the best place in the East for making a collec
tion in conchology. '
Several men took my boxes and baskets, forming a
little cavalcade, to the custom house, forthe night, whence
they were to be taken off to the ship the next morning.
They raade their appearance accordingly; and I think
they vriU gratify the eye of the common gazer on thefr
reaching the United States; while the duplicates may
form an acceptable acquisition to any cabinet that may so
far secure the complacency of the possessor, as to induce
him to make half the collection a donation to it.
On Saturday moming, December 1st, agreeably to in
vitation, his Excellency, lady and daughters, and others of
the powers that are of the Ceylon-Isle, of whose hospitahty
the Commodore and his officers had been the recipients,
came off to the Columbia, to breakfast. It would have
gratified Commodore Read, to have given a very general
entertainment before he left the Roads of Colombo, and in
that style, which would have erinced, at least, the desfre to
please the generous people whom he had met ; and raore
creditably; than was now in his power, in consequence of
hiss^ sudden departure, to have reciprocated on board his
27*

318 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
ship, the courtesies which he had received on shore. And
a lUce feelmg prompted the desires of the officers of the
ward-room. But the only practicable thing, m the time
that was left, was to manifest to his Excellency and the
authorities, his sense of their politeness, by an invitation to
breakfast — a popular meal, accordmg to the custom pre-
vaihng through the East, and borrowed from the mother
country ; and of late somewhat mtroduced into our own
country. The Columbia's boats were sent to the shore between
the hours of 9 and 10 o'clock, and a salute in compliment
to his Excellency, erelong, announced his arrival on board.
The breakfast passed off with apparent pleasantness to the
party — his Excellency, in an apt and pretty speech com
plimenting our nation and expressing his happiness to have
enjoyed the opportunit)- of meeting vrith our Commodore
and his officers, and desiring prosperlt)' to themselves indi
vidually, and to the nation, in the accoraphshment of whose
commissions we were sailing.
Commodore Read, deeming himself called upon by the
national allusion in the Governor's remarks, replied in
equally complimentary terms to the British nation, a
people, whom we not only more than respected, but to
whom we gave our preference among the nations of the
globe. The courtesies which we had received were ac
knowledged ; and with cordiEd sincerit)- it was beheved,
that the interest and the happiness of England and Amer
ica lay in the perpetuity of that good-will and friendship
which he knew, so fai- as the feeluigs of Americans were
concemed, now to exist between the two nations.
The ladies seemed pleased witii the ship ; and it would
have been a pretty compliment to have weighed anchor,
and put to sea for a few miles, favoured vrith their cgm-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 319
pany, and then to have tacked ship, stood in, giving thera
our last adieus, as the ship was lying aback and the boats
took thera to the shore, and then filled away again, on our
bounding track of the boundless seas. As it was, the party
left the ship at about twelve o'clock — the yards being
manned as his Excellency left the deck ; and the crew, in
their three cheers, bearing to his ear what the pulses of
our own hearts would have conveyed to his, that we left him
vrith cordial feelings of interest for his welfare, and due
appreciation of the com-tesies we had received dm-ing our
short delay at the spicy isle.
The shades of the night-fall were on the sea ere many
hours more, and the moonbeam fell again upon our spread
canvass, bearing us on our course to the yet farther East,

320 THE FLAG SHIP; OR

SECTION XI.
General preparalions for an allack on the Malays. Ships anchor off
Annalaboo, island ol Sumatra. Sunset. Ships at anchor off
Kwala Batu. A Malay comes on board the frigate. Po Adam
follows hira. His statement of the murder of Captain Wilkins
and the distribution of the property found on board the Eclipse.
Landing of che first boat at Kwala Batu, for a talk wiih tbe
Rajah. Instructions to Captain Wyman. Second interview and
talk. Po Nyah-heit. A beautiful wild buffalo. Malay wit.
The ships prepare for action. Cannonading of Kwala Batu.
Christmas in the tropics. Ships sail for Muckie. Boat goes
ashore for a talk with the Rajahs of Muckie. News from home.
Th ings are valuable for their association. Destruction of Muckie.
Captain Wyman's Report. SooSoo. Po Chute Abdullah's obli
gation to pay two thousand dollars. Commodore Read's paper to
the Rajah. Talk wiih the Rajahs of Soo-Soo. Pledge of the
Rajahs. A stroll. Interview at Pulau Kayu, wilh Po Kwala.
Pedir Rajah of Kwala Batu. Agreement, and the scene of affix
ing tbe seal to the instrument. Po Kwala's visit to the frigate.
We have now been out from Colombo for five days.
In view of the possibiHty and probabUity that we shall
have something to do, erelong, with the Malays, the ship's
crew, in thefr different di^¦isions, have been grinding thefr
cutiEisses, battie-Bixes, pikes, Emd putting thefr guns and
pistols in order, for immediate use.
The men are deemed to be weU drilled for SEulors ; and,
as sailor-soldiers, doubtless will accomplish any thing on
ship-board or on shore, vvhich can be reasonably expected
from them. The increased probability, however, that the
services of a detachment from the ship wiU be requfred,
has led to more practiculsu- exercise with the small Eu-ms
since we left Colombo. The target has been rigged out at
the yard-arm, for the men to practice at, with thefr fire-

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 321
arms ; and another, in the gangway, for Improving them
in pistol-shooting. Every preparation is made, and the
ship is now in perfect readiness to act with promptness,
when information shall have been obtained in connection
with the affirmed murder and robbery, which shall render
action justifiable and obligatory.
We are now nearing the ground of the murder of the
crew of the ship Friendship, some few years since ; and
where the late additional scene of perfidy, murder and rob
bery, is affirmed to have taken place. Erelong, at least,
all suspense vrill be relieved by the reality, which must
soon present itself; it is to be hoped, however, not at the
expense of the lives of any of the officers of the Columbia
or the Adams. But no one on board, when necessity and
propriety direct, will be found one moment to hesitate,
even critically to expose his life in the accomplishment of
duty and orders. And the expedition, if it land, will, no
doubt, be conducted with judgment, and most certainly -with
no lack of recklessness and courage. Bravery is never
wanting in the young gentlemen, or older ones, of our
navy, whenever an order is to be executed ; prudence
and maturity of judgment may be frequentiy. In all that re
lates to the circumstances of these miserable people, and the
safety of our own officers and men, in the event of a landing
from our ships, may a merciful as weU as a just God direct.
The John Adams, ahead of us, signalized to the Co
lumbia, at meridian to-day, Dec. 19th, that she saw two
vessels anchored in shore, which we soon made out to be
on our larboard beam. We are now off Annalaboo, island
of Sumafra. The Coramodore gave an order for the ships
to stand in shore ; and having done so, we came to anchor
within some five or six miles of the land, near which the
two brigs are lying, to which a boat, with the first Lieu
tenant, has been despatched, to gain all the inforpiation

322

THE FLAG SHIP ; OR

possible in connection with the affirmed murder of the
captain and part of the crew ofthe Eclipse, and the taking
of her raoney. The boat, like a speck, was seen, and
scarcely seen, in the distance, as I last looked at her, nearing
the largest of the two brigs, whose English colours were flymg.
I watched the sun as it went down to-night, beneath
the rim of the far-out ocean. How often have I thought
of home, as I have watched the ..beautiful Uluminatlon in
the west, at the sunset hour, which always points out to
me where the land of ray horae Hes, in its distance and
blessedness. And I never tire in gEizing at the sunset
scene. It ever awakens feehngs that make me happy,
often raelancholy, and always gathers over rae a species of
the serene in emotion. How beautiful ! how glorious !
how devotiouEd ! It seems the hour of nature's evening
worship. There, in the west, she Hghts up her temple
every eve. How gorgeous are those spacious vestibules,
that lead into her garnished iimer courts. The sapphfre-
pillars stretch theraselves in endless colonnades, enclosing
other massive and gorgeous shafts, supporting their entab
latures of raamraoth emeralds, vrith frieze and cornice
inlaid of pearl and ameth)'st, and on which are resting a
hundred golden domes. And the lost sun, pouring forth its
flood of glory from a central point in the foreground,
throws up from tiie evening's golden censer her ob
lation in binning incense, as it tinges the fleecy folds of the
clouds, that linger over the scene as spirit-worshippers, in
saffron, and carmine, and vermilion. Who could not al
most become a Parsee at an hour so beautiful, and fall
before the setting sun and worship its hallowmg glories ?
The boat has returned from the brig. She is just from
Penang, and arrived here only a few hours before us. She
had learned the same particulEus there, which we received
through the Colombo paper, as extracted from the Penang

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 323
Gazette. The captain is acquainted with the consular
agent at Penang, who fransacts the business both for the
French and American vessels at Prince of Wales' Island.
The captain of the trader lias been on this coast for
fifteen or twenty years, Emd says that the Malays are
freacherous and can never be trusted. He invariably re
quires that thefr arms be resigned before they are, permitted
to come on board his vessel.
We get under weigh at about three o'clock to-night,
and stand on our course to Kwala Batu, where we expect
to be, at some hour of the day to-morrow. Things look
a Jittle more like an expedition on shore. And should it
be found that the Muckie people are implicated in these
treacherous and murderous proceedings, we learn that our
ships can lie close in to the place, and, vrithout ceremony,
batter down thefr town, a thing which the information ob
tained may require to be done. The distance, nor time,
can be very long before our position and action will decide.
We have come to an anchor, in thirty fathoms of water
to-night, December 20, in sight of the lights on shore,
which we take for Kwala Batu.
" The probabihties seera to augraent a Httle, to-day, as
to an expedition on shore, do they not Mr. T. V asks one
young gentlemEm, approaching me on the quarter-deck.
" Should think they did, while it yet remains, as I take
it, but a perhaps."
"The plot seems to be deepening, Mr. T.," adds
another, approaching from another quarter.
" And yet the fifth act raay be wanting — at least, it is
so to be hoped, so far as it may involve any but the guilty."
The ward-room-raess have gotten nearly out of " fresh
grub," as fresh provisions are caUed on ship-board ; and in
the length of time we have been out, we are now reduced

324 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
to " hard tack," also another phrEise for ship-'biscuit, which
would require a sledge-hammer alraost to break, at
least that quality of it which was purchased at Bombay,
having nearly exhausted our American biscuit, which was
quite eatable, even to one who has some regard for his teeth,
in comparison with the fhnty substance obtained at Bombay.
" What a rush there will be for the hen-roost," adds
a third gentleman, with a little spice of an epicurcEm in
his nature, " when we shall have frightened the Malays
from their bamboo-palaces."
The mess-table of the ward-room has been well sup
plied with fresh provisions, nearly the whole time we
have been from the U. S., as also vrith soft bread, newly
baked, for each day. And the deprivation of fare so re
spectable and acceptable to voyagers so many days at sea,
makes a small interraptlon to such things observable, even
if they should never lead to unamiableness.
The tea-table had been cleared, when one of the Lieu
tenants caUed for a glass of water, and had spent some
time in vain endeavour to take, vrith his silver trap, three
.skippers, which were saihng deep down in the sea of his
tumbler. " ^Vell m) nimble fellows, if you wiU not resign yom'-
selves complaientiy, to be removed to otiier quarters, you
must enter on a travei-se of unknown but not unfrequented
coast for the like of yo,"' said the Lieutenant, with a very
considerable threat that the three skippers should, vrithout
much farther ceremony, be submitted to the chemical
alternative of tiie gEistrlc laboratory.
" And there, then," continued the officer, on re-examin
ing the glass after a moderate sip of the fluid, " one of
your triad seems to have ti-aUed on a new path of wil
derness to hira."

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 325
" Thanks, Mr. sKipper-destroyer," added the Lieutenant's
neighbour, "for your benevolent consideration of the public
good. I take it, that same small draft of yours will save
me from the serenades of at least one nearly-to-be-born
musqueto, as his chrysalis took his gauge ofthe vasty deep."
" There is stUl one way raore of securing the remaining
duet," continued the same gentleman as he dipped his spoon
into the clear water, minus the two remaining skippers.
"That is what one may call ranning them aground, I
suppose," added another neighbour, at his end of the
table, seeing the water diminishing by spoonfuls.
A silence of sorae thr-ee rainutes, (a long and profomid,
for a ward-room table,) now prevaUed, while the First
Lieutenant was examining the external coat of an insect,
which, by some presumptuous intrusion had presented him
self as a self-inrited guest, or had boarded us, with un
known mahcious intent, for the Malay coast. " Shall we
have mercy for him or not ?" asked the tender hearted officer.
" No mercy," seeraed to be the sentence of the raajori
ty. All kinds of insects on board of ships have no quar
ters appropriated to them, and, therefore he- was denied
both " Hght and afr."
Another silence of three minutes! "It is my de
liberate opinion," abraptly added the surgeon, " that they
are holding a tovm-meeting on shore to-night."
The doctor's supposition seemed to be a very sensible
one, to which all assented, with the expectation of hearing
the subjects of thefr discussions on the morrow. And this
sketch is given here, merely to show how devoid of all
sense of danger or feelings of solicitude possess any of the
officers of the Columbia on this eve, preceding, perhaps, a
morrow which shall find them on shore, receiring the shot
of an enemy. And this, too, after the discussion of the
Vol. 1. 28

326 THE FLAG SHIP J OR
Dutch expeditions, the ffrst and second of which were cut
off, and another was sent to engage the people, whose
town is now lying near us, vrith the loss of sixty or seventy
of thefr nuraber, vrithin a few years back.
The probabihty, however, of an expedition going to
the shore, I deera to be involved in considerable uncertainty,
and frora this cause, doubtless, those who are mcluded in the
detatchment frora the ship, in case the exigency requfres
thefr going to the shore, raay feel differentiy frora what
might be the case, were thefr landing a certainty. But
were the shore expedition fixed upon, as a thing certaudy
to take place, no particular anxiety, even then, would be
manifested. So profound is the habit of miHtary life and
of naval action, where duty and orders lead. It is vrith
them, no more than the labouring man going to his daUy
work, Emd the professional one to his speech, vrith the
agreeable excitement of interest, rather than fear or anxiety.
We wait until dayhght, when the ships again get
under weigh, to stEmd nearer to the shore. Ignorant of the
soundings, it would be irapradent to put further in for the
night. The further action of the ships vrill depend on the
information that may be obtained.
Our ships were not under weigh so early the succeeding
morning eis was anticipated, owing to the want of a suf
ficient breeze to drive our vessels through the water. Ere
long a canoe, however, was espied in the distEmce, making
its way towards tiie Columbia. On reaching our ship, the
principal Malay came over her side and reported that he
had been sent by Po Ad.vji, who, it seems, has made out
our vessels aright. The Malay stated that Po Adam was
ready to come on boanl if the Commodore desfred it. He
also confirmed the fruth of the reported murder of Captain
Wilkms and one of the crew of the American barque

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD.

327

EcHpse, and the plundering of the vessel. One of the
murderers, he affirmed, was now at Kwala Batu, and two
thousand dollars of the money taken frpm the ship, was in
the hEmds of the Rajah there ; others of the murderers are at
Soo-Soo, and others at Muckie, and the rest ofthe money had
been disfributed among the Rajahs of Muckie and Soo-Soo.
Our ships haring stood in some distance vrith the fresh
ening breeze, another canoe was seen in the distance, and
in a short time Po Adam's self, big as Hfe, came over the

328 THE FLAG SHIP ; OK
gangway, with a cordial expression of countenance, as if
he had gotten among friends. He greeted the officers,
and was re-greeted by them. The narae of this man has
been very favourably heard of, as one who rendered ef
fective assistance to Captain Endicott and others of the
crew of the Friendship, when a number of her men had
been cut off, and to whose kindness and assistance Captam
E. thought he owed, in no inconsiderable degree, his safety.
His assistance confributed to his support and comfort after
they had put off frora the shore, and for several days were
in the sraaU boat along the shore. The story is told in the
narrative of the voyage .of the Potomac, so as to produce
a favourable impression of this trusty Malay, if this word,
in any one instance, can be appHed, -with propriety, to one
of a notoriously freacherous people.
Po AdEun repeated what he had dfrected his man to
comraunicate, and added raany other particulars, and
represented things with so much apparent fideHty, that
it was decided that a boat should be sent ashore for the
purpose of gaining an interview vrith the Rajah.
The officer was insfructed to make known to the Rajah
that vve had received information of the robber)" committed
on bocird of the Echpse, and the murder of her captain
and one of her crew — that we were informed that one of
the murderers weis at Kwala Batu — that we had come vrith
friendly intentions, and wished to know if tiie Rajah vriU
give up the murderer, which it is expected that he vriU do,
if he valued and would continue to value the fiiendship of
the Government of the United States.
Po Adam had fissured Comraodore Read that the per
sons of the officers who should go on shore, would be safe,
and run no risk in risiting the Rajah with him. But as
all the Malaj-B are treacherous, unplicit confidence could

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 329
not judiciously be placed in this man, although he had
given so conclusive an evidence of his former honesty.
Still, as the probabilities were so preponderating in favour
of Po Adam's statements and trasty character, the Com
modore deeraed the risk to be sraaU, in sending a boat in,
and did so accordingly.
The boat started from the ship vrith Lieutenants Parmer
and Pennock, and Lieutenant Baker of the marines, ac
companied by Po Adam and one of our sailors, who has
some famiharity vrith the Malay lEmguage, as an inter
preter. The hour had afready advanced towards evening, and
the boat neared the beach only a short time before sun
down. K there had been doubt as to the propriety of
sending a boat ashore before it left the ship, the officers'
suspicions were now but little allayed, as they saw the
shore lined by more than a hundred armed Malays, who
had unsheathed thefr weapons and vrielded them above
thefr heads as the officers supposed vrith an attitude of
defiance. It was the sarae raovement araong these treach
erous natives which had prevented the boat's crew of the
Potomac from landing, when that frigate was on the coast
to punish these sarae people for their freachery towards
the crew of the Friendship. But, notvrithstanding every
dark-skinned, and frowning-faced Sumatrian raised each his
kris, a weapon of fearfid association in connection with
thefr treachery, to the number of a hundred glaring blades,
with nearly as many raore smaU daggers in their girdles,
the boat was driven boldly upon the beach, and the three
officers jumped, vrithout hesitation, nato the midst of this wild
and armed raultitude, who immediately surrounded them
as they walked up the beach, and entered the pass to the',
Rajah's fort As they were moving on with the armed
28*

230 THE FLAG SHIP J OR
crowd, Po Adam seeraed not unfrequently to laugh unna
turaUy loud, as he talked with the crowd, who pressed on
even against his apparent remonsfrance. And when they
passed the farthest .stockade, through a gate that opened
into another, which contained the bamboo-palace of the
Rajah, they found the chief upon an elevated stand, pre
senting a person of a larger frEune and finer proportions
than had been seen among his retainers, or the mob upon
whom the gate had now been shut, whUe numbers had
managed to throw themselves into the enclosure before
the passage had been closed.
The greeting passed, and Po Adam raanifested great
respect and considerable cereraony towards the Rajah;
when it was indicated that a talk vrith the Chief was de
sfred, to comraunicate the Commodore's sentiments through
the officers from the Columbia. The Rajah, unvriUing
that this talk should proceed in so open a position, led the
way to his adjacent councU-chamber, into which only one
of his friends was adraitted, while the conversation was
carried on in a whisper.
" It would be something of a difficult matter for thera to
board us here," said Moses, vrith a slight squinting of his
eye, which at once took in the bearings and defences of
the room.
Moses, one of the quarter-masters, had followed the
officers, vrith two pistols in his belt and a cutlass at his
side, giving him, in spite of his Euniable phiz, something
of a Buccaneer-rake, in the favouring shades of the night,
which had now advanced upon them.
The party seated themselves for the talk, some with
the apprehension of receiring a shght piece of steel
through their ribs before they were done vrith it ; and that
no such inconvenient weapon might reach them through

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 331
the bamboo-floor, which their imagination had constructed
for them, sorae of their number, by a species of intuition,
placed themselves above a sleeper. Or leaned against a
stanchion, or other more solid piece of material than a bam
boo raatting. They had heard of the Malays finding the
life-blood of their enemies through the shght partitions of
bamboo, or matted walls of cane, or other Hght material, of
which they constract their buildings.
But the talk was over, and with all the exciteraent of
awakened imaginations, and the known treachery of these
people, and the scene through which they had moved from
the beach full before them, the officers left the Rajah, and
made their way back again for the boat, anticipating the
same crowd to be around thefr path. But they wound
through the several passes, and finally reached the open
beach, and to their own surprise, and with the certainty
that their heads were on, and thefr sides unriddled, they
reached the boat, but not without a drenching from the
high breakers which were rolling in, through which they
had to pass to reach the cutter, which was lying moored a
short distance from the shore, to save her from thumping in
the surf The party reached the ship, and expressed thera
selves as having passed through one of the most exciting
scenes, in view of the known treachery of the Malay char
acter, their own helpless situation, and the unknown dispo
sition of the mass of the Malays who surrounded them.
But the Rajah was sufficiently courteous to them, and the
result of the conference was, that he would, during the
night, send his men and take and confine the murderer, now
at Kwala Batu, and he should be delivered up to-morrow.
Po Adam returned with the officers, and seeraed to
think that the Rajah was sincere in his intentions to take
the man who was now at Kwala Batu, who had been

332

OR

concerned in the robbery and raurder coramitted on board
the ship EcHpse. The Rajah denied nothing in connec
tion -with this man and the transaction ; but consented to
the trath of the occurrence and the fact of one of the
murdererers being in his town, by affirming that he would
use every effort during the night to take hun, that he
might, on the morrow be dehvered up as deraanded.
As Po Adam was going over the side of the ship to
enter the Columbia's boat, he was in considerable good
cheer ; and left as hostages to assure us of his fidelity the
men who had come off vrith hun in his canoe. When he
had mounted to the top of the steps of the gangway, he
turned round, seeming to catch the spirit of the officers
and the crew, who were looking upon him ; and vrith a
cunning laugh and shake of his Httle hand, he added, in
his broken English, — " Nebber you fear — me come again
— look sharp!" The last expression had reference to the
four Malays he left on board ; Emd Po Adam's whole ex
pression of face and person, and significant and broken
English, caused the officers and men, for once, to forget
thefr gravity ; and to Po's no Httie dehght, a general smUe
passed over the countenances of the raore than a hundred
faces which were, at the moraent, gEizlng upon hira.
It WEIS believed, notwithstanding the professions ofthe
Rajah, that he would not make any particular effort during
the night to take the murderer whora he had protected,
and with whom we have every reason to suppose he shared
the raoney, to the araount of two thousand doUars.
It was therefore the wish of the Comraodore to let this
Rajah know at once what was expected of him, and on
what he should insist He accordingly made out the fol
lowing instractions to Captain Wj-man, ofthe John Adams,
now lying near us.

a voyage around the world. 333
"Sir,— " You will call upon the Rajah of Kwala Batu, and
inform him what we have learned at Ceylon and other
places respecting the attack and plunder of the ship
Eclipse, and the murder of Captain Wilkins and one of his
crew. " You will make known to him that it is the desire of
the Govemment of the United States to remain at peace
and on terras of friendship with the chiefs and people of
Sumafra ; that we have come to the island as friends, and
hope that we shall be enabled to leave Kwala Batu in the
continuance ofthe same sentiments. But this must depend
upon the readiness which shall be e-rinced by the Rajah to
give up one of the murderers of Captain Wilkins, who,
having taken refuge in Kwala Batu, has been protected
by the Rajah.
" You are also instructed to demand aU the money and
any other property which the murderer brought with him
to this place, and is known to be part of the plunder of
the ship Eclipse.
" You will endeavour to make the Rajah expHcit, by
inqufring of him what course he means to take ; whether
that of a friend or an enemy. If a friend, he will at once
give up this murderer ; and cause the money and other
property taken from the ship Eclipse and may now be
found at Kwala Batu, imraediately to be returned, through
me, to the proper owners.
" I ara, sir, very respectfully,
" Your obedient servant,
" George C. Read,
" Commanding the TJ. S. Naval Force in the Indian Seas.
" To Commander Thomas W. Wyman,
XJ. S, Ship John Adams,''

334

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

Captain Wyman was accompanied to the shore by two
or three of his officers, and three from our own ship. It
was yet a raatter of doubt what might be the reception of
our boats. The threatening appearances of the preceding
evening, and the possibiHty that the Rajah was using a
finesse for delaying our action ; and the possibility, too,
that even Po Adam might be playing his game, and be Im
pHcated in the transactions which related to the money,
rendered many thmgs suspicious; for Po Adam seemed
hand £md~ glove vrith the people on shore, and yet, when
away from them, was obriously concerting thefr overthrow
and destraction. There was, however, but httle soHcitude
felt by those officers who were conveyed to the shore.
The boats nearly reached the beach, when the grap
nels were dropped, Emd the officers conveyed through the
breakers to the shore, on the trusty shoulders of the ever-
obedient and ever-ready tar. The Malays, to the apparent
number of fifty or sixt)-, were on the beach as before, whUe
their weapons now were mostly in thefr sheaths. We ad
vanced, however, vrithout soHcitude, through a narrow
passage-way, stockaded on either side, leading to an area
lined, Uke itself, by a stockade of bamboo. Passing through
this enclosure, we entered a gate-way that opened into
yet another stockaded enclosure, which contained the bam
boo dweUing of the Malay Chief We found the RaJEdi,
as he was found the evening before, elevated upon his
bEunboo throne of state. He welcomed us by rising, and
with a shake of the hand — the latter action requiring his
chieftainship to bend forward <md dovpnward, to receive
the proffered emblera of friendship — while his position was
such, that it would have been difficult for an enemy to have
reached his bosom unobserved (a la Malay) with one of
their stealthy weapons. I further remarked, at the moment,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 335
that a gate-way leading dfrectiy to the Rajah's fort, was
behind the elevated position on which the chieftain had
placed himself, affording hun a retreat, in case of necessity,
to his forfress ; as in olden times the Baron, when endan
gered in his castk, escaped for His safety through some
secret trap-door, giving hira access to sorae concealed
passage-way, by which to elude his enemies.
So soon as the greetuig was over. Captain Wyman
signified that he had been insfructed by the Commodore to
wait on the Rajah, to have a talk vrith him ; and signi
fied that he would proceed to make known his instructions
if the Rajah was ready to hear him.
The Rajah motioned that he would adjourn to the ve
randah of his house, which serves as his council-chEimber.
We ascended to this apartraent by a ffight of steps, con
structed as a comraon ladder, with the exception of the
rounds, which in this instance gave place for wider mate
rials for the cross-pieces. We entered this balcony-kind
of a roora, the floor of which was carpeted with matting.
A few considerably -worn Persian rugs, with some fresher-
made mats, had been placed for the guests to sit upon.
Two seats also were arranged in the verandah, one a back
less chair, the other a chair with a back, which Captain
W. and myself occupied ; while others placed theraselves,
a la Turk, upon the mats, or sat on the balustrade — the
open side of the room looking directly over the Rajah's
fort, towards the sea. The Rajah placed himself upon a
mat farthest possible in a corner, to which spot the chairs
were drawn, and around sat the officers, with Po Adam
and the sailor, who served as our interpreters, on their
haunches near the Rajah.
But previous to the entrance upon the subjects which
Captain Wyman was instructed definitely to bring before

336

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

the Rajah, a silence of a considerable length continued ;
while twenty men, more or less, of the Rajah's retainers,
were collecting cocoa-nuts, fresh frora the surrounding
trees. These they brought to the foot of the ladder be
low, and with their krises, a long-bladed weapon, they
cut off the outer part of each end, and opened a smaU vent
through the soft material with the point of the instrument,
and presented one to each of the officers, to drink of the
delicious beverage. This is apparently the universal cus
tom of the Rajahs here, as a prelude to the commencement
of a council talk. "^
The Rajah now untied his knotted handkerchief, in
which he carried several small cases, fiUed vrith various
articles which contribute to the luxury of his taste ; Emd to
each comer of fhe handkerchief was attached a gold nob,
both for ornament and that the tie might more conve
niently be made. The Rajah first opened a silver case,
frora which he took a bundle of green bettel-leaves, put up
in a convenient form for him to make a selection. He
next opened a golden box, fi-om which he took a substance
of the consistency of cream, being a mixture of Hme, and
spread it entfrely over the leaf. He then placed vrithin
the leaf thus prepared, a compound made up of various
materials, spice, opium, aracca-nut, a littie tobacco, etc.;
and seeraed, like his kradred skins about hira of sImUar
tastes, to be much dehghted with his cud — quite as res
pectable at least, in its appearance, as those which often
grace to the disgrace of the mouths of raany American
gentlemen. The cocoa-nut beverage having been drank, to the
content of all, tiie council was deemed to be regularly
opened according to custom. Captain Wyman stated that
vve had heard of the robbery and murder committed, and

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 337
desired to know if the murderer had been taken, as the
Rajah had gi-\ren us to suppose would be the case, last
night The Rajah replied that he had been unable to take the
Malay->— that he had endeavoured to seize him — had sent
fifty men to accomplish it — but he had not been appre
hended, as it was hoped would be the case. He had, how
ever, despatched his men, with letters, around the country,
vrith the intention of yet taking him ; and he should be
delivered up as soon as he could be found.
This was all as we had anticipated.
The Rajah was then told, that it had been reported
that two thousand dollars of the money, taken from the
Eclipse, had been brought to Kwala Batu ; and that it
was expected that this, vrith any other property known to
have been taken from the Eclipse, should be returned.
The Rajah said that the money had been distributed, in
small quantities, to the people — he never had any thing to
do with it — he had refused to receive any of it — and he
knew nothing about it — and was unable to do any tiling
about it.
Here, one of the sub-men suggested that some of it had
been buried, and could not be found. The statement was
entirely unsatisfactory and somewhat contradictory; .but
even on the statement of the Rajah himself, the people of
his town were responsibly and therefore Kwala Batu has
become implicated in the oufrage.
Nothing being gained at all satisfactory in the con
tinuance of the talk, the Rajah was again assured that the
Government of the United States was desfrous of preserv
ing a friendly intercourse with Kwala Batu, but that it
would depend upon the Rajah's action whether the United
States and himself were to continue friends. If the mur-
VoL. L 29

338

THE FLAG SHIP ; OR

derer and the property were brought on board the Colum
bia, by sundown that evemng, the good feeling which
the United States desired to preserve towards the Rajah
would continue. But if the murderer could not be taken
by that time, a deputation from the Rajah of one or more
men, (to whom Captain Wyman gave the assurances of
safety,) would be expected to raake known to the Com
raodore the reason of the delay ; and the Rajah's good or
ill will would be judged of accordingly.
The Rajah himself had been inrited to risit the Colum
bia, to talk with the Commodore, but he decHned visiting
the ship, giring an irapHed assurance, though hesitatingly
expressed, that a raessage should be sent off by night, if
the murderer was not taken.
The interriew was here concluded. Gaining the con
sent of the Rajah, we walked through the tovra, hastUy, and
along the beach. I had been left some distance behind
the party, while examining some of the houses, and was
repeatedly among twenty or thirty of these armed and
treacherous men, asking questions of some of them, and
giving others a brief reply, which several of them, at dif
ferent tiraes, caught up and repeated, as a word of a lan
guage peculiar in its sound to their ears. They rung thefr
changes on the word "yes," "yes," to the considerable
arauseraent of the crowd, which was gathering around me
as I passed along the bazaar, and vrithout waiting for
many moraents to pass while out of sight of the other offi
cers, I hastened along the little winding river on the east
side of the town, and tiien wound to the right along the
beach. Captain Wyman and two of tiie officers had al
ready wandered along the shore, to gain a view of the fort
which flanks tiie town on the west ; Emd as I vvas advan
cing along the same course, far behind them and near to

A VOYAGE AROTTOD THE WORLD. 339
the edge of the jungle, I carae upon thirty or forty raen,
gathered under a tree by theraselves. The chief came
towards me as I approached. He -was the best dressed
raan I had seen.
" Come," said he, " let you and me have a talk ;" his
men gathering around rae at the same time.
" "Very well," I rephed, " and what would you say 1"
I had observed this same man in the councU, but he
did not appear to share the confidence of the Rajah. And
before the interview in the council was over, this same
chief rose, vrith a number of his followers with him, and
left the verandah.
" Me belong to another king," he continued. " This
one king here — there, (pointing to the interior,) another
king. Me no fraid to go board ship. Me done nothing —
me no figbt -when Potomac here. Me want to make pre
sent of buffalo to Comraodore and be friends."
I told this Malay, who is the son-in-law of a rich Rajah,
said to have more men than any other chief of the island,
in this region, that I presumed the Coramodore could not
receive his buffalo, but that he must come on board and
see him.
" Me want to give hira a buffalo and be friends. Me
take you to my house and show you buffalo."
I followed the chief, whose name is Po Nyah-heit, with
his men attending him, with their weapons ; and soon we
entered his fort, some distance in the jungle, which in
cludes an area of some extent, with the tall bamboos Emd
other frees embowering the romantic spot. The gate was
firmer and in better repair than I had elsewhere seen. And
there stood the beautiful, and young, and wild buffalo, with
a string through his nostrils, and a rope around his horns
and his legs, tying him to three or four frees before and

340 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
behind him. I saw, frora his eye, that he was wUd, and
requested that one of PoNyah-heit's raen should approach
him. As the raan advanced, the young and sleek animal
snorted and shook his head and roUed his briUiant eye, and
bounded up and down as far as the ropes would allow him.
He was a beautiful creature, as fat as a well-staUed ox,
but like a sleek-limbed, two year old heifer, petted and
rendered a prize specunen for the city market I should
Vike to have owned that beast, could it have remamed as
beautiful a thmg as I then saw it, and would have tamely
coursed the fields as a petted animal.
I did not choose longer to delay in so wUd a place,
surrounded by so vrild a multitude, out of sight, and re
moved frora any comraunication with our party. I there
fore agam inrited Po Nyah-hat to corae off to the Colum
bia, Emd tender his buffalo hiraself to the Commodore, and
talk vrith hira.
On coraraunicating this interview to Captam "VVyman,
he proposed to take Po Nyah-heit off in the boats vrith us,
if he would go. The principal Rajah himself had refiised
to v-isit our ship, and hesitated about promising to send
any communication ; and it was in view of this timidity
andhesitation which Po Nyah-heit had raarked in the
council, that he said Ae was not afrsud to go — ^he was in
nocent — and on being asked by Captain W. if he would
like to accompany us to the ship, immediately consented,
whUe, at the same time, I secured the assurance, that his
person should be safe, and himself allowed to return to the
shore at his pleasure.
After having reached tiie ship I had a conversation with
this Malay. He assured us that the present Rajah of
Kwala Batu had received the two thousand dollars, and
that he would never take the murderer. He sdso added,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 341
that, in case of difficulties, he wished to come on board
with his family and property.
" And v\'hat would you do with yourseff, after we shall
have destroyed the town," he was asked, " should that be
our final purpose 1"
" I return, then, and be the Rajah," repHed the -wily
Malay ; " I get ray men around me — I new Rajah— r-I be
friend to America."
Frora what Po Adara said of this Malay, after he had
returned to the shore, there is great probability that his
scheme might succeed, if he could get but a little assistance
frora us. He offered his fort for our forces, and said he
would come do^wn to the beach and meet our men, and v\'e
could go up and defend his house, and fight from his fort.
But, unlike the policy of other nations, ours is not to
interfere vrith the petty contentions, or larger broils of a
different people. It would be an easy thing for the Amer
icans to set up a Rajah here, and maintain hira, at a little
expense, in his position, for our advantage. But such a
course would deviate from our fixed policy as a nation, and
eventuate as a deviation from our independent and neutral
course, to the injury of the greatest good of our Govern
raent. And yet, when one looks upon this beautiful island,
as it now lies before us in its luxurious green, the moun
tain-side entfrely embowered in beautiful and full foliage
of the frees and vegetation, vrithout a barren spot, one
could wish it were in the hands of an American colony,
and its resources developed by Araerican industry. But
our home and land are far beyond the waters, and there
are happiness and riches enough for us, if we vrill but hus
band them, with gratitude to the God who has given us so
goodly a heritage. Po Nyah-heit was assured, that if he
came aboard the Columbia vrith his family, he would be
29*

342 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
permitted to remain in safety during any difficulties thaf;
were being adjusted between our ships smd the town of
Kwala Batu, vrithout any promise of protection or discrim
ination as to locaHties or persons on shore. No other
course could have been pursued well with this man, as he
was no further known than he had made himself to he
during the day; and while there appeared to be honesty
and certainly ambition in his make and purposes, there
might, for all we knew, be deep freachery, though I be
heved othervrise.
Po Nyah-heit left the ship, as he had been promised
he should, at the hour he vrished, which was near sunset.
In the evening Po Adam was at the mess-table, while
one of the Lieutenants read the account given of his gen
erous action towards the part of the crew of the Friendship
who were not massacred. To hira they gave the credit of
contributing to thefr safety, if he was not the means of
preserving thefr Hves.
Po seems to be desfrous of having aU the. towns edong
the coast blovro skj- high. He has lost his o-wn fort by
sorae crook of a raightier hEmd, or by mightier men than
he. And, doubtless, he would be very grateful to the
Coramodore, would he restore it to him again. And were
it a consistent movement of our ships, perhaps Po Adam
deserves this, and much more, at our hands. His house is
at Soo-Soo, which is in sight of our ships, some four or six
raUes east of Kwala Batu.
" Do you hke tiie Soo-Soo people, Pol"
" Me Hke them here," answered the wUy Malay, put
ting liis finger upon his Hps, "but no like them here,"
] ay ing his spread hands upon his breast
" But, Po, if there is much property m Kwala Batu, and
the Rajah wovUd preserve his houses, do you thmk he

a'^ VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 343
would rather pay up the two thousand dollars than have
his place knocked dovra 1"
" Rajah is fool. He give up murderer — he give money
--¦then he save pepper-frade. "VMiat can RaJEih do vrith
pepper — ^no ships come and buy 1 He no eat pepper. He
give up murderer, he have plenty friends in America — they
come and buy pepper. But he vriU no give up Malayu —
he fool^— he d — n rascal — he buffalo !"
" Why, Po, we think the RaJEdi a very bad man, but
do not call him by one of those names you have used."
Po understood the aUusion, Emd repeated, " He bad
man — ^he no give up money — ^me thought he sincere yes
terday, no sincere to-day — ^he no send fifty men after Ma
layu. I Rajah, I catch the msm — ^Rajah no sincere — ^he
"fool — ^he d — , he one buffalo."
Po now had more than one to join him in a round laugh,
at the flow of his Malay vrit.
' I say Malay vrit. Po, however, says that he was bom
at Achin, and has spent twenty-five years on the coast in
this region. He is now about fifty years of age, has a
very good face, an aquiline nose, and, iat times, has a great
deal of vivacity in speech, and vrith his mimic attitudes, to
render himself more readily understood in EngUsh, he often
becomes quite amusing.
All expectation of gaining any satisfactory action from
the Rajah of Kwala Batu being given up, the Columbia
weighed anchor to take a nearer position to the town, that
her guns might be brought to bear upon the forts and
houses vrith the greatest effect. Having reached the desi
red position, a spring hawser brought our broadside to
bear, at discretion, upon the forts and town.
The John Adams was now seen standing in to take

344

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

her place yet nearer to the shore, and a Httle on our lar
board quarter.
AU things were now ready for cannonading the forts
and town. We had been moored in this threatening posi
tion for two or three hours. But no boat was seen putting
off from the shore, or any sign made by the Rajah that he
intended to offer any satisfaction for the injmies he had
sanctioned, or farther explanation for his delay. It was a
moment of intensest interest on board. I am sure there
was no one who did not wish that the Rajah should pursue
the course of justice, and yield the murderer Emd the pro
perty, which was deemed to be altogether vrithin his power
to do, and thus save himself from the deraonsfration of our
just displeasure, which could not long be delayed, to the
expected demolishing of his forts and town.
And I Eun sure that no one more intensely desfred this
course to be pursued thEm our Comraodore, who had now
used every means to induce the Rajah to act the psu-t of a
just chief, and what was beheved to be the wishes of many
of his men. The raoraent, however, had arrived when
farther delay on our part would hav-e been freachery to
the Hves of our own counfrymen, and a conniving at the
crimes of robbery and mmder.
Three taps upon the drura started every man in the
ship, as if the v^ing of some unseen spirit had suddenly
swept over each one's face ; and the music, for which the
three taps on the drum was the CEdl, the next instant beat
the thrUling summons to quartei-s. Each man, before .the
raoment ended, was in his place, ready to do his superior's
bidding, to throw destraction and devastation into the forts
and tovra, which lay but a few cables' length in the dis
tance from us. The thrillmg excitement now felt was not

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 345.
frora fear, for there was nothing to be apprehended, though
it was expected that the Rajah's forts might open upon us.
But it was the idea that our own shot would be sending
these miserable people into another world, and crurabling
upon their heads the dwellings they inhabited.
The guns in a moment were cleared for action — the
tompions out, the shot, grape, canister, and wadding, ar
ranged, the raatches in readiness — and now, the men, in
profoundest sUence, stood waiting the order to fire ! But a
few rolls of the music now beat the retreat ; and all, save
the excited hearts of the crew, Emd the guns in readiness
for an engagement, were agcdn as if we had never dreamed
of treacherous falsehood, infamous robbery, and murderous
Malays. An hour or more had passed. The officers were nearly
finishing their dessert when the beat to quarters again rolled
through the ship. It was known that now there would be
no longer delay. The different forts had been pointed out
as objects towards which the guns were to be directed ;
and the firing commenced. It was an interesting sight.
The first shot from the Columbia boomed over the water,
and shivered to pieces one of the frees which embowered
the fortification, and, in thefr thick and distinct cluster,
entirely concealed the fort. A second shot, directed from
another dirision towards another fortification, scattered
every Malay who had come to the beach, and in a cluster,
and beneath a number of bamboo-houses, had trasted to
the display of a white handkerchief, waving low in the
gentle breeze, for thefr protection. The Rajah's most
western fort now opened upon the Columbia, the shot
striking a few fathoms from the ship. The divisions con
tinued their fire, riddling the thick foliage in which the
fortifications were concealed, and sUenced the Rajah's fort

346

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

after it had sent three shot, one of which feU just be
neath our dolphin-striker.
The John Adams, at the same time, opened upon a
fort on the east of the town, and beyond the Httle river
that separates it frora the principal bazaars ; and the
clouds of sraoke curled frora Her side, as the thunder of
her cannonades, in the repeated concussions on the vibratino-
air, roared loud and long; while the shot now buried
themselves m the fort, or occasionally, by a ricochet upon
the water, strack again upon the beach, and threw up in
raid-air thefr clouds of sand, and uprooted shrubs and
trees. The cannonading continued frora both ships for nearly
a half hour, when the order was given to cease firing.
CHRIST^L\S IN THE TrOPICS.
There are periods in tirae, that come upon us, on thefr
annual occurrence, with an irresistible power of associa
tion. And they Eire happy or grievous, as has been our
experience, as these periods have roUed around in their
yearly returns. To-day is Christmas. And how immedi
ately is the friqufry raised, " WTiere was I last Christmas 1
and whom was I vrith ?" And how rauch there is in the
answer, as the ramd runs over the objects and thefr associ
ations, wluch are recaUed in connection vrith that day. To
me, as I go back to tiie Christmas-day, one yeai from this,
all things come back with a freshness, as if I were again
standing amid those scenes, so fai- over tiie sea, and among
friends rendered yet raore dear by the distance which inter-
¦s enes, and the time we have mcEisured since we parted.
I remember the clear day that sent forth its beams from a
cleai- sun, but with little warrath in his rays. I reraeraber

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 347
the church wreathed Emd festooned, Emd inly embowered
with evergreens ; and the pulpit where I stood, and the fixed
eyes of the people as they listened to the word of God, and
the altar around which they gathered. And I remeraber
the young and endeared sister, so lately attired in her dress
of deep raourning, and like a dove whose companion had
been smitten by an arrow, seemed an object of lonely
lovehness amid a congregation* of lighter robes and
lighter hearts; and beside her sat a man of years,
who had but a few days before put his lip upon the cold
and marble brow of the child he cherished and loved as
but few fathers love, ere that child was borne to her cold
grave, to come no more, at the Christmas gathering, around
the faraily table, and to mingle in the faraily's doraestic
circle. And I remember the letter which, on that day and
at that place, was handed me, which inrited me to visit
scenes in other nations, and which determined rae to start
on the course that has brought me to spendfthis Christrass-
day nearly half way around the world frora the spot where
I then was standing, and the friends with whora I then
communed. And to-day, instead of that neat temple, so tastefully
festooned and decorated in evergreens, on the joyous birth
day of the Redeeraer of the world, and in a clirae where
the Deceraber gale bears on its wing a freezing and bra
cing air, and the snow-storm spreads the wide folds of its
gorgeous ermine mantle over mountain and meadow, forest
and fem, and ice-bridges span the rivers in their flow, I
now look abroad from an ocean-temple, floating fri the
warm seas of a torrid clime. And before me lies one of
nature's sublimest, loveliest ever-green mountains, curving
its beautiful outline of embowering trees on a horizon that
smiles blandly and serene, as the warmer than the summer

348 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
gale sweeps along the thick foliage of the green moun
tain-side of the pepper Isle. And to-day our stiU ship
slumbers on the sraooth bosora of the lovely bay, over
which our guns yesterday were throwing their intonations
of displeasure and rebuke, into the ears of the abettors
and protectors of the robber and the murderer. But the
eternal roar of the surf ceases not, as the undulating wave
breaks, in its perpetual rim of cascading foam, along the
extended beach of gold. I have always loved this roar of
ocean-wave — this loud raurraur of the sea-surge, breaking
on the golden beach. It ever reminds me of the voice of
Niagara, in her perpetual worship of the Eternal. And
though the voice of man were lost, were he to join in the
loud chant, yet the one eraotion that sweUs the bosom of
the worshipper, as he stEmds upon the sea-shore, is subhmer
far them the loudest roar of raighty waters.
But, ye friends, who to-day are more than 10,000 miles
away, in the fiappy land'of the west, " a meny, happy
Christraas to ye aU." And 0, that I could hear your
response, and greet you for one hour on this hallowed day,
at your festive and happy board. I know that your
thoughts this day are often with me, and that for me your
prayers in kindness as certainly ascend. And I 
but raay God bless ye all.
As the Hght began to stream upon the mountain this
morning, the -^Sth, oiu- anchoi-s had been weighed and we
were stai-ting off frora Kwala Batu, for Muckie.
Yesterday, wliUe flags were flying on shore, and some
coniraunications pased between the Commodore and the
Rajahs, Po Kwala, at whose fort the John Adams particu
larly directeil her sliot, sued for peace : " He no have the
money — he no have any thing to do with the robbery — he
wish to be firiends." Po Kwala is a near connection, hy

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 349
marriage, of Po Nyah-heit, at whose fort, also, a whUe flag
was flying. Po Nyah-heit has previously been alluded to;
and was desfrous of joining his men with ours and Po
Kwala's, the Pedir Rajah of KawlaBatu, to fight Po Chute-
Abdullah, the principal or Achin Rajah of Kwala Batu.'*
But while no confidence, it was thought, should be placed
in these professions, Po Nyah-heit's comse saved his fort
frora being fired into, unless one of the ffrst shots raay have
reached it by mistake.
The Achin Rajah, it is said, sent, as his last comraunica
tion, that " he had endeavoured to take the murderer, but
was unable — he had not gotten the money — we had fired into
his town and killed his raen — thefr relations had called upon
hira for vengeance ; — and if we wanted to have his life
also, we raust corae on shore Emd take it." The sequel
vrill show that he was a Httle more modest at a later hour.
After stretching along down the coast from Kwala Batu,,
we have come to anchor vrithin a few cables' length of the
town of Muckie. While the mountain-scenery was deem
ed exquisite at Kwala Batu — ^blending the beautiful of the
thick foliage of the embowered mountain-side with the
sublimity of its height, and the graceful clouds laying their
soft folds here and there upon its tops — 'tne scenery now
before us is additionally picturesque, and equally sublime,
and even yet more beautifiil. There is a greater space
of cultivated field on the mountain-slant, which exhibits
every variety of green, from the Hghtest yellow, through
every shade of sea and bottle and emerald, and yet deeper
green. Then comes the wide and high-up slant of the
* There are two Rajahs at Kwala Batu — one having the rule over
the men from Achin ; the other, called the Pedir Rajah, holding the
power over the Pedir men. They divide the revenue of the port
between them, and are not always good friends of each other.
Vol. L 30

350

THE FLAG SHIP; OR

original forest, spreading from the top of the high mountain,
until its rim meets the edge of the cultivated fields on the
hill-side, where the green pepper vines are seen growing
in their richness and beauty.
The town of Muckie, itself, is spread out on a littie
peninsula or point, vrith groves of cocoa-nut trees embower
ing the houses ; and the fort farthest out on the point, for
the defence of the town, is equally shaded by these frees
in Asiatic costume, deep, and spreadmg, and pecuHar.
A boat from the Columbia is now shovmg off from the
ship, bearing Captam Wyman of the John Adams, to hold
a comraunication with the Rajah of the town. Two hun
dred natives are lining the shores, at the landing-place of
the town, waiting this boat, which is attended by two of
the cutters, whose crews are arraed vrith cutlasses and pis
tols, that in case of mEuiifestations of enmity or freachery
they may form a force sufficient to defend the boats and the
persons of the officers.
The Rajahs mEmifested great frankness in the interview;
and the next morning Lieutenant Tumer was sent on shore,
at an early hour of the morning, for the purpose of bring
ing off the Rajahs to the ship, agi-eeably to the expectation
they had raised in the minds of those officers who had held
the talk with them, that they would wilHngly come. But
the Commodore's invitation to them to visit she ship was
finally declined, after a long talk among themselves, and
evidently on the ground that they feared, if once on board,
they would be retained until the restitution of the money
and the surrender of the murderers supposed to be at
Muckie. And in their way of estunating things, they
doubtless also considered that tiieir lives would be endan
gered. They therefore declined, altogether, a visit to the
ships ; and Lieutenant Turner expressed hiraself, on his re-

A VOYAGE AROIMD THE.-iyORLD. 351
turn, fully persuaded that no satisfaction could be derived
from these people ; and that the finesse of yesterday was
to gain delay in Emy attack that might be designed upon
the place. It was further beheved, and affirmed positively
by Po Adam, that Lubby Sammon, a man of considerable
influence here and a particular friend ofthe chief Rajah of
Muckie, weis the instigator of the attack upon the Eclipse ;
that he induced Lubby Yusuf to select his men, and shared
a great part of the booty. This same man is now at Muckie,
and will not be given up by the Rajsdi. The whole testi
mony, that cEm be relied on, goes to implicate the Rajcdi,
here, eis one of the chief abettors of the murder and the
robbery. But eis he refuses to make any satisfaction, fur
ther than denying any participation in the crime, in the
face of eridence which is supposed to be against him, all
further hope of getting the murderers or the money is re
signed. The inffiction of what is believed to be a just re-
fribution, therefore, only remains for the action of our ships,
in their attack upon the town, by which our power may be
demonsfrated, — and the natives be further assured that we
have a force to protect our commerce ; and that it is our
purpose to inflict a punishment upon those who shield the
murderers of our citizens abroad, or who share in the plun
der from our ships.
For making -this demonstration of our abihty and deter
minations, the two ships are to be hauled nearer in to the
town. And if no deputation shall be sent off during the
morning of to-morrow, the last die will have been thrown,
to decide the course of our ships. The intention of the
squadron is entirely understood by the Malays on shore,
with the motives of its threatened action.
While the negotiations with the natives were being
carried on durmg the precedmg day, and our ships were

352 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
resting in inaction, vrith the ever-green mountain-scene
before us and the vride ocean extending far away to the
south and west, I spent the hours in reading newspapers
frora the horaes we have left so many degrees behind us.
A large roU of papers Heis been kindly forwarded to us
from CaptEun Silver, of the ship Sumafra, which arrived
on the coast a few days since ; and presuraing that we
were yet at Kwala Batu, he despatched a native, in his
boat, to convey this rich treat to us. The boat found us at
Muckie, having reached Kwala Batu just as we were stand
ing out frora that place. We record this act of Captain
S., with raany thanks for the pleasme he contributed thus
to give us. The news brought us intelUgence four months
later than our learing the United States. Besides the pa
pers from New York, the residence of most of my friends,
one CEune from a neighbourhood within a few railes of
my countr)- residence. It seemed as if some mystic hand,
unseen but ever ready to serve me vrith acts of kind
ness, had put this sheet, nicely folded, only for myself,
among the raedley-papers of the large bundle which was
conveyed to us. And could all the secrets be told by
which that same foho sheet came to rae, on the western
coast of the isle of Suraafra, perhaps we should be more
ready to beheve in the agencies of xmseen powers than
the credulities of most of us usuaUy wiU aUow.
And how powerful is association however awakened.
It is a beautiful anecdote, told of a boat's crew of those
who attended Captain Cook around the world. They had
lamled upon an island, and entered a log-cabin. A rehc
of a spoon, with half its handle gone, met their eye, vrith
tiie ^\ord London stamped on the remainfrig part of it.
This single word so affected them, in thefr distance and
long wanderings from thefr native land, that it threw them

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD.

353

all into tears, as the floods of associations crowded into
their minds.
Similar is the effect of a letter, even before the seal has
heen broken, if we recognise, in its address, the hand- Writ
ing of one we love. And how we cherish a braid of hair,
which has been given us, with the smiles of a friend, as a
thing that shall revive agreeable remembrances. And who
has not in his choice repository of trifles a thousand and
one meraentoes of emotions and kind words and loved re
collections of persons and things ? It is this element of our
being affected by the force of association, which makes us
civiHzed and kind beings, and life capable of being lived
over raore than once. I have a Httle essence-bottle —
will one of my readers remember it — which I would not part
with for the choicest pearl that ever came frora the waters of
Bahrien. I have a little painting, representing two placid
lambs, and called " peace." For what would I part with
this ] She is dead who gave it. And they have told me
that she died with bright and consistent hopes of entering,
and for ever ranging the fields, where no discord coraes,
where perpetual peace reigns. And I have a gold pencil
case, — ^there is a strange power in that Inanimate token, —
but I will not speak of that. And I have — it is not a
lock of hair, it is a single thread, which, by itself, I saw
floating on the pure brow of a young friend, who did not
think me impertinent as I wound it around my finger and
plucked it from araong its associates as a truant thing that
was playing in the breeze, as if it alone were entitled to
the favour of the evening zeyhyr, as that zephyr swept,
vrith the refreshing purity of a country air, through the
piazza. And she afterwards wound it around her own
delicate fingers, as a plaything ; and in the leisure, and
luxury, and Ustlessness of the calra and lovely summer-
30*

354 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
evening hour, we took a pencil and marked the date of the
day on a blank paper ; and she scribbled her name upon
it; and the little coU was placed vrithin the envelope,
laughingly, as if it were all a trifling thing, arausing two
happy idlers, at the raoment And now, how at this rao
ment that sweet face comes up in my vision, and seems
again to gaze in my own, confidingly, as then she looked ;
her speaking eye, laughing and floating in its soft Hght ;
her cheek tinged with a lovehness of camation which
cannot be imitated, and which nature gives to whom she
wills, varying ever, now fading and now deepening vrith
every eraotion expressed or felt ; and then her hp, inimi
table, whether an hour of exciteraent deepened its carraine,
or a Calmer hour left it in its rim of highly polished coral.
Once, I saw that lip as pale, as if the vying of the angel
qf death had swept it. Should this page happen to meet
that eye, which even now I see in aU its colours of blended
softness and tell-tale emotion, I wonder if she wUI remem
ber that Httle coil of hair — the envelope — ^its date — and
the enchanting scene and scenery of that sumraer-evening
hom ? And I have — what have I not ? I have at least
a heart, that bounds over the sea to friends, when incident
or circumstance awEdcens the frain of association, that flies
fleeter than on the vrings of dove, or other bfrd, to the land
of tne west Thanks agsun to thee, Captsun SUver, for
thy roll of newspapers. Destruction of Muckie.
New-year day, January 1, 1838. The fii-st morn of
the new ) ear has dawned upon us with a clear smd pure
sky. The sea this morning is sleeping around -;s, vrith a
bosom blight as a silver mirror, and the roll of the sea-
surge has lulled, as if, like the calm before the tremblings

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 355
of the earthquake, it would smile on the purposes of de
struction, which our ships this day seem designing to bear
into the town, which now lies alraost within gun-shot of our
thfrty-two and forty-two pounders. Both ships have been
kedged into their near positions this raorning, it being the
purpose of the Coramodore to cannonade the town, as the
only alternative of showing our displeasure, and to inflict due
punishraent upon a people whose Rajah refuses to make
any overtures, and Eigainst whom the evidence is deemed
to be conclusive, of his being culpable in the raurderous
Eiffair and robbery of the barque Eclipse.
The John Adams had early placed herself far into the
Httle bay, near the beach, and taken her position, with
her broadside sprang to bear upon the town. The Co
lurabia soon reached her place opposite the principal fort
of the town, from which it was expected that there would
be some guns ffred, but which the Colurabia would soon
silence. The ships were so placed that their guns would
rake at pleasure the whole town, in its length and breadth.
No boat having reached the ship with any overture
during the morning, and the ships being in readiness to
execute their purposes of destraction, the order was passed
to fire. Our first shot was a signal for the John Adams
to open upon the town ; and the smoke and the flames
issued from her side the instant the report of our own long
thirty-two pounder broke the quiet still-calm of the sur
rounding scene.
Every gun frora the beautiful corvette seemed to know
its errand, as it sent its report distinctly back to the ear
when the bolt had struck, with its tremendous concussion,
and sent up its cloud of dust as it riddled the bamboo-
houses, or evolved a column of smoke, as if a hundred hot
irons had been appHed to the external surface of the trees.

356 THE FLAG SHIP; OR ,„,v
as the cannon-ball rived their tranks, or, like a pruning-
hook, lopped their branches to the ground.
The Colurabia continued her ffre in an almost imbroken
succession of shots, directed particularly at the fort, which
was embowered in a grove of cocoa-nut and other trees ;
and the long thirty-two and forty-two pound cannonades
spoke loud and long, and rebukingly, as thefr thunder
rolled over the bay, and the echoes repeated their voice
from the mountain-side, and died away in deeper and
later tones, far back in the defUe of raountains, which
raise their double tier inwaUing an alraost concealed
rarine, as their ranges stretch south and west. The quick
reports of the raking shot carae back distinct and clear,
as they drove their way into the fort, or sent up the clouds
of dust as they riddled the baraboo-houses, and scattered
the splinters of buildings of firmer materials, or, point-
blank, drove against the cocoa-nut free, riving it in pieces,
and sending up a spiral column of sraoke, as if it were
curling in a pure blue cloud above the green foliage frora
a newly lighted fire of some mountain-side cabin.
The cannonading from both ships now continued, by
successions df round, and canister, and grape-shot — the
heavy balls at times striking the water near the shore, and
by ricochet, apparently doing the greater destruction, eus
crash succeeded crash, while the missile, in its lower pas
sage, felt its way across the little peninsula through the
town, and finally went on its course of dalliance over the
sheet of water which washes the opposite side of the point
Again, some of the shot passing higher tiian the rest,
reached quite beyond the peninsula, to the mountain-side ;
and their coneussion with the hills sent back a reverbe
rating rr;ish, which told the desperate rencounter; smd
throughout the embowered town, as I gazed from the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 357
mizzen-top, the falling bough and felled tree, and crack
ing and smoking roof, were seen, now together and now
separately, turabling in their destruction, while, at other
tiraes, a straggling shot sent up its cloud of sand, as it
bored its way into the beach, which throws its lip of gold
around the edge of the little bay, dividing the rim of the
Hght-blue of the sea-water from the deep-green of the
ever-verdant and luxuriant foliage of the frees that em
bower the whole line of the beautiful shore. And the
rolling volumes of sraoke, driving from the heated mouths
of the cannon, were borne away by the sea-breeze, which
was now beginning to set gently in, and curled its piles
against the raountain-side, which stood in all.'its beauty,
untarnished and lovely, and smUing while all was devasta
tion and anger, and frowning displeasure, on the level
below. A silence for a mornent succeeded. The divisions for
landing were now called away. A few blasts upon the
clear bugle summoned the boats to be manned. A like
order was conveyed to the Adams; while the large guns
of both ships were continuing thefr fire, a^often as the
remaining men could load and discharge their pieces. The
starboard sides of the ships had been sprung to bear upon
the shore, and the boats were soon manned, as they lay
along the opposite side of the ships, unseen by any enemy
that might be awaiting the landing of any force from the
two vessels. The single guns continued to open their fire
upon the forts and town during the manning of the boats.
The launch and four cutters, crowded with two hundred
and fifty men, were now ready to shove off from the
frigate. They lingered a moraent, with their oars pointed
ready to fall, while silence once more, and profound, pre
vailed. The Commodore, from the side-steps, contem-

358 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
plated the heroic little force, ready and eager to peril Hfe
if dangers were to be encountered by the expedition.
"You have been desirous," he said, "to have an op
portunity to land, on an expedition like the one which is
now offered to you. I have the fuUest confidence in your
success. Burn and destroy the town, and put to death all
men whom you may find bearing arms, and by no means
injure the unarmed and the yielding. Gentlemen," he
added to the officers, " I wish you success, and shall ex
pect your return to the ship in one hour and a half."
The boats now pulled for the Adams, whose five boats
were as instantly dfrecting thefr way to the beach, the
moment they saw our own put off from the side of the
Columbia. It was a beautiful sight, those ten boats, crowded by
arraed sailors and raarines, thefr guns pointed vrith bayo
nets, or their hands bristling with pikes, vrith pistols in
their belts and cutiasses at thefr sides. It would have been
no sraall force which could have successfully raet that gal
lant little band, flushed as they now were on thefr vfrgin
adventure in arras. Not one of those officers now in those
boats had engaged in the discharge of hostUe guns with
destructive intent till vrithin tiiese few days, at Kwala Batu,
and now at Muckie. And the young pulse of every offi
cer was beating for the occasion, (however much and
deeply they regretted the necessity of the present action,)
to show their daring on an expedition, which none could
divine sljould not prove destructive to raany of thefr num
ber. Yet, the silence of death which had prevailed through
out the doomed town — no gun having been fired from tiie
fort, nor man nor living soul been seen during the bom
bardment, save one solitary being, venturing beyond his
fellows to gaze from his nook — gave encouragement that

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 359
the thousand and probably more inhabitants of the town
had retired to the mountain ; and the devastating shot —
the round, and canister, and grape, vvhich whistled in ven-
gcErace through the groves and dwellings throughout the
town, would have raade it madness for one to have remain
ed. And yet there might be an ambush, although the
ground weis unfavourable, and every thing contributing to
favour the operation of our forces. The guns of the two
ships continued to throw their shot to the left of the boats
whUe puUing to the shore, rendering it destructive for any
foe to attempt to oppose their landing. It was a wide
sfrand on which the divisions immediately formed, and
vrithout delay advanced, in order, to the neEurest point, to
ffre the buildings of the town.
I had watched with excited interest the cannonading,
from the mizzen-top, looking far into the town, and over
it, to the adjacent bay, marking the falling ofthe boughs,
the dust rising in clouds as the shot riddled the roofs and
sides of the buildings, or chafing the trunks of the cocoa-
nut and other trees, or riving them from their stems. But
the interest had now deepened in increased intensity. The
divisions were on their advance ; and if resistance were to
be made, the moment had arrived. All vvas distinctly seen
from the ship, left like a deserted hall, where no step nor
voice was longer heard, but where half a thousand a mo
ment before were moving. I could distinguish the officers
ofthe different divisions on the beach ; and the well-known
voices of the Ffrst and Third Lieutenants occasionally carae
over the little sheet of water, and their order distinctly un-
detstood. Captain Wyman, of the Adams, commanded the expe
dition. The divisions had advanced to the range of buUd
ings stretching along the beach, with a diverging angle

360 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
from the water-side ; and the " pioneers," under Acting-
Master Jenkins, attached to the ffrst dirision, were seen
making a wider breach in the nearest range of the bazaar-
houses; while the marines, under Lieutenant Baker, ad
vanced to the neighbouring fort, to exaraine and carry it.
It had already been deserted. The guns were spiked, and
Lieutenant Pennock ordered teraporarily to hold it In a
raoraent more a smoke was seen curling up from the adja
cent building on the right of the effected passage-way,
now in its thin blue layers, then yet raore dense, and now
the flarae sfrearaed high above the thatched roof, declaring
that the town weis fired. Three or four raore buildings in
the sarae line, ranged vrith interlocking roofs, and forming
a regular street in front, in a moraent raore sent up thefr
separate sheets of flarae ; and the resistless eleraent, kindled
by port-fires and torches, under the direction of LieuteuEmt
Magruder, gave forth the glare of lurid vcdumes, rising
high and spreading wide, and blending together their ex
panding sheet, which now extended in rapid and destruc
tive voluraes down the line of the bazaar.
Each division had been araply suppHed with torches
and port-fires. Frora this point they took thefr different
courses to carry the remaining forts, and to fire the remain
ing sections of the town. Lieutenant Turk led on his
division through the northwestern range of houses, apply
ing the torch and the port-fire as he advanced, tiU he
reached a considerable stream of water, where a number
of valuable proas, of larger and smaller diraensions, were
found moored and grounded. These and lesser craft, in
considerable numbeis, and with their contents, were soon
sending up their complement of flames to mingle in the
general conflagration. The division was in time, on its re
turn, to assist in case of necessity in cariying the fort on

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 361
the point, to which the second division, under Lieutenant
Turner, after effecting the firing of its portion of the town,
vrith the other forces, had collected. The fort, like the
rest, had been deserted ; its guns were soon spiked, thrown
frora their position, and the flaraes were soon enveloping it
The town now exhibfred one scene of extended and ex
tending ruins. The Hght and dry bamboo buildings burned
Hke stubble ; and the better houses added Intensfry and
continuance to the devouring element. Flarae raingled
vrith flarae, as the opposite currents converged. The dark
colurans of sraoke rolled high in the rarefied air, and the
long and seared leaf of the cocoa-nut, and the crimped
foHage of other thickly embowering trees added to the
general mass of fuel ; whUe the spiral sheet of ffre wound
up the stem and shot through the branches and overtopped
the highest trees. The very heat seeraed to reach me in
the mizzen-top, while the loud cracking of the green foli
age, and the sphtting of the tall and thick bamboo, in the
general roar and loud cracking of a vast and extending
conflagration, came distinctly and clear to the ear. The
forked and ambient and towering flames, mingling with the
dark Emd floating colurans of smoke, now possessed the
entire town, and ..all was within the full view of our ships.
It was a scene of grandem- in destruction to be looked at
with profound interest, while pity, blended with a sense of
just displeasure rose in the bosom, as the eye conteraplated
the extended devastation. It was a spectacle of grandeur
as beheld in the day-time — its magnifience and sublimity
could riot be described as it would have gleamed, in its
terror and illumination in the night.
Such was the scene of the burning town, when the
different divisions had all gathered upon the point, in open
view of our frigate. The destruction was complete. The
Vol. L 31

362 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
bamboo-bazaars were melting fast to the ground — the bet
ter houses crumbling slower but surely, and with intenser
heat. The five forts were in flaraes. Their guns, twenty-
one in nuraber, had been spiked, and thrown from thefr
positions. The flaraes were yet in the tops of the tall
cocoa-nut, the towering and thick bamboo, and other frees.
It was a moment of triumph to this little host, having cora
pleted their work without the firing of a gun. And it
showed the daring and the determination of a gaUant band
of Araerican sailors on a foreign strand, ten thousand raUes
from their home. And well they raight exult, at the rao
ment, in view of the horrors which might have awaited
them. But hark! the report of a cannon now boomed
loud on the air. It was one of the guns of the forts,
which had been spiked, and was discharged by the burn
ing element which was now raging over it Again, three
cheers carae over the water, cleEir and distinct, as their huz
za and the swinging of their hats declared thefr complete
success. The bugle now sounded the refreat in the tune
of " Yankee Doodle," of olden and revolutionary associa
tions ; and " Hail Columbia" attended thefr diserabEu-ka-
tion. The divisions reached thefr separate ships in safety;
and their return was greeted vrith a cordial welcorae. The
heart of the Commodore unbent itself in generous feelings,
as his solicitude was relieved by the return of every inEm
to the ship who had left it.
Captain Wyman, of the John Adams, an officer of
great coolness, judgment, and gallantry, led the expedition;
whose report to the Commodore, entering mto the particu
lars of the action of tiie di^ isions, and specifying the names
of the olficers from both sliips, is here given.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 263
" United States Ship John Adams,
off Muckie, Island of Sumatra, Jan. Ist, 1839.
« Sm,— " In execution of your order to me, for the entire de-
sfruction of the town of Muckie, I this day landed on the
beach at the head of the harbour, and about one hundred
and fifty yards from the town, with six divisions of small-
arms men and mEu-ines, consisting of three hundred and
twenty raen, detEuled for the service frora the squadron un
der your command.
"Upon getting on shore, the different divisions were,
together vrith the marines, immediately formed by thefr
respective commanding officers, when all moved forweu-d for
Muckie, which was entered about half past twelve, in the
afternoon ; and by two o'clock the town was in our pos
session. Five forts were taken vrithout opposition, and
the guns found therein, to the number of twenty-one, spiked
and thrown over the parapet into the ditch — the forts set
' ffre to and entirely demolished. The town, at the same
time, was set on ffre in numerous places, which weis entirely
consumed, together vrith all the property in and ncEur the
place — consisting of proas, coasting craft, and boats of
various sizes and descriptions, and the rigging, yards, &c.,
&c., found on shore, belongmg thereto, were destroyed in
the general conflagration ; and upon embarking, nothing
remamed visible to the eye but the ashes covering the
smoking ruins, upon the site on which the town of Muckie
and the forts once stood.
" The zealous and gallant bearing of the officers, and
the efficient disciphne manfrested in the men by the prompt
and firm manner with which every order was obeyed, met
my unqualified approbation ; and I am certain, that, had
there been raore for thera to accomplish, more would have
been done ; and, m my opinion, it only required a steady

364 THE FLAG SfflP ; OR
opposition on the part of our eneraies, for which they had
araple resources, to have rendered this, to us, a brilliant
little affair.
" I am rauch gratified, however, to inform you, that the
object of our landing was completely attained, smd the
several divisions, including the raarines, returned on board
their respective ships without the loss of a mEra.
" I enclose herewith a list of the names of the officers
of the squadron, who landed vrith and belonged to the ex
pedition, Emd those who had charge of the boats on that
service. " I have the honour to remEun, sfr, very respectfuUy,
" Your obedient servant,
" T. W. Wyvian,
" Commander, and commanding officer of the expedition.
To Commodore George C. Read,
Commanding East India Squadron, off Muckie,"
Coraraander T. Wyman, convmanding tlie expedition^
Purser D. Fai-ntlerot,
Passed Mid. E. C. Ward,
Midshipraan John Qulncy Adams
Midshipraan J. M. Wainwright,
MidshipraEm Roeert S. Morris,

• .lids to the Com
mander.

{From the Columbia.^
Lieutenant George A. Magruder, First Lieutenant of the
U. S. Frigate Colurabia, coramEmding the first division.
Lieutenant John W. Turk, commanding the second division.
Lieutenant Thomas Turner, comraanding the third division.
Acting Lieutenfmt A. M. Pennock, commanding the fourth
division.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 365

Attached to Divi-

Acting Master E. Jenkins,
Passed, Mid. D. Ross Crawford,
Midshipraen C. St. G. Noland,
Barney, C. R. Smith, C. Sincler, ( sions.
W. W. Green, J. L. Toomer,
and Fauntleroy,
Passed Midshipmen James McCormick, ^ r charge of
Midshipraan Edward Donaldson, > .t j,q3o
Midshipman Fitzgerald, )
J. Hensh.\w Belcher, Prof of Math. / Acting as
Benjamin Crow, Sail-maker, \ marines.
{Frem the John Adams.)
first DmSION.
Lieutenant E. R. Thompson,
Acting Lieutenant Joseph W. Revere,
Midshipraan John N. Hixon.
SECOND division.
Lieutenant George Minor,
Acting Master Robert B. Pegram,
Midshipman Robert H. Wyman.
In charge qf boats.
Midshipman James H. Spotts,
Midshipman Charles T. Crocker,
Midshipman Willlam K. Thompson.
Soo-Soo.
The ships warped out during the evening after the
burning of Muckie farther into the offing, and at dayhght
in the raorning, weighed anchors for Soo-Soo.
The ships reached Soo-Soo towards evening of the
sarae day of thefr sailing frora the harbour of Muckie. The
boats commenced watering the next morning, and hun
dreds of the natives gathered on the banks of the little
31*

466 THE flag ship ; or.
river, where our boats were filling thefr breEtkars aU Errmed
with their peculiar weapons. Our own men wear a cutlass,
and the boats' crews have their pistols and muskets in
readiness in case of any treachery. The raarines are sta
tioned to keep a space sufficiently clear for the convenience
ofthe watering party, and to prevent any sudden attack
upon our men.
WhUe our ships have been thus engaged for the two
last days, within sight of Kwala Batu and surrounded by
the natives of Soo-Soo, the priests of Soo-Soo have been
engaged with the Achin Rajah of Kwala Batu, and have
come from him vrith overtures to the Coramodore. The
Rajah dreads a further bombardment of his town, Eifter we
shall have filled up our water. The amount of the over
ture is, to give Commodore Read a written obligation to
pay to the owners of the ship Eclipse, one year from this
time, two thousEmd dollars, the amount SEiid to have been
conveyed to Kwala Batu, bythe pfrate residing there, pro
vided the Comraodore will make peace vrith him, and ab-
stEun from further annoying his town. Cormnodore Read
accepts this ovei-ture of Po Chute Abdullah, and has ex
changed with him, for liis written obligation, the foUowing
document : " United Slates Frigale Columbia,
ollSoo-Soo, Jan. 5, ISr.O.
" I hereby certify that Po Chute Abdullah, the Rajah
of Kwala Batu, has given me a note of obligation to pay
the amount of two thousand doUai-s, in twelve months from
this date, to the commander of any vessel of war or mer-
elianlnian who may present the same when it becomes due.
"An this may appear to be a transact ion of some pecu
liarity, the Ibllowing explanation raay be necessary. Tiiese
are the facts : On the -J3d of December, 1832, the fiigate

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 367
Columbia and the sloop of war John Adams were hauled
as close in to the forts and town as they could be with
safety, for the purpose of compelling, if practicable, the
delivering up of one of the pirates, who was residing at
Kwala Batu, and known to be one of the twelve men en
gaged in the murder and robbery coramitted on board the
American ship Eclipse, of Salera. Sorae tirae was con
sumed in negotiation, and the Rajah of Kwala Batu at
ffrst promised to deliver up the pirate, but afterwards pro
fessed his inability to do so. I therefore deemed it neces
sary to fire a few broadsides, to bring the Rajah, if possi
ble, to a sense of justice. This, however, at the moment,
did not seem to have the desired effect. On my return
fi-om Muckie, however, after the destruction of that town,
the Rajah of Kwala Batu was induced to pledge himself,
that if I would not return to his town for the purpose of
annoying him, he would pay the owners of the ship Eclipse
two thousand dollars, the araount said to have been con
veyed by the pirate to Kwala Batu, on demand, one year
from this date.
" George C. Read,
" Commanding U. S. Naval Force in the Indian Seas."
The Rajah of Kwala Batu has played a politic game ;
and we have done the best thing practicable for ourselves.
Po Chute AbduUah, doubtless, anticipates an increase of
trade by the destruction of Muckie, and will be able to
meet his engagement by the imposts he will lay upon the
pepper exported from his own place ; and the people thus
reimburse the money which the Rajah declares was dis
tributed generally among them. The trade wlU continue
uninterrupted, and the people have gained the second les
son, demonstrating that the American Government has

368 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR
the power to punish, and is determined to inflict a chas
tisement on the towns of this coast, if their dealings hence
forth be otherwise than honest and honourable in thefr
intercourse with our merchant vessels.
An interview with the Rajahs of Soo-Soo has been had
. by the Commodore, on shore, since our arrival this second
time off Soo-Soo, and the town generally examined. And
though it appears that there can be no doubt that four of
the robbers and raurderers have taken refuge at Soo-Soo,
and brought part of the raoney here, yet they will not be
given up, nor wUI the Rajahs be able to pay any araount
which raay be deraanded of thera. To destroy their town
would be a thing practicable, if deemed best in the proba
ble influence upon the people towards the American
fraders on the coast. They, however, have had a demon
stration of the power of our ships, and of our purposes
both at Kwala Batu and at Muckie, which are situated one
on each side of them ; and clemency shown to them must
be taken eis such, in view of what they have seen inflicted
upon others, and what Heis been fcEu-fuUy apprehended by
theraselves. Besides, we owe, as it is supposed, sorae-
thrag to Po Adam. Soo-Soo is his place of residence, and
it is believed that its destraction would involve him in
ruin, and probably e.vpose his Hfe to be taken on our leav
ing the coast The Rajahs at first promised fairly. But,
finding themselves unable to fulfil thefr engageraents, they
retired raostly frora the place, expecting it to be attacked
after the cannonading of Kwala Batu, notwithstsmding
their white flags were waving in the tops of the bamboo
clusters iraraediately after our guns began to play upon
the forts of Kwala Batu. Contrary to thefr expectation,
however, we left for Muckie — destroyed that place, and
returned to our present anchorage ground, nearer in to the

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 369
shore than when we first Emchored off the neighbouring
town of Kwala Batu.
It is known that the Rajahs of Soo-Soo, and most of
the people, have again returned to their houses. " The
women," Po Adam says, " cry, and the men too when the
big ships come again." But the Rajahs professed the
continuance of their friendship — have suffered the party to
water without molesting them, while one or two hundred
oftheir armed men have been collected on the beach
nearly the whole three days during which our boats have
been bringing off water to the ships.
To-day, according to previous arrangement, the Com
modore and Captain Wyman, whom I accompanied, went
to meet the Rajahs. There are four in nuraber, having
authority in the town; and they were to be gathered at
Po Adam's house.
The Commodore's gig led the way around a reef of
coral rocks, over which the breakers dash their white
foEira ; Emd foUowed by Captain Wyman's boat, we en
tered over a sand-bar into the mouth of a beautiful little
sfream, which empties into the sea, as most of the rivers
of the islEmd do, by a curve, when they have nearly reached
the beach. The surf of the sea produces an embankment,
which forces the rivulet to course for a short distance par
allel with the sea-shore ; but erelong the stream, gliding
obliquely and silverly along, mingles its tide from the green
mountains with the deep waters of the blue seas. Our
men sprung from the boat as we struck the bar, and bore
it steadUy forward as a few inroUing breakers swept us
over the shoal without delay or danger; and then we
glided up the little sylvan way of the narrow stream some
yards to a landing point, on the grounds of Po Adam.
Could an Araerican of the north have been conveyed

370 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
suddenly from his home and placed where we stood as we
stepped from the boat, he would have been in ecstacy, if
he had any susceptibility to the beauty of nature. The
stream was almost embowered by the leaves of the palm,
graceful and fan-like, curving over their half efrcle of gor
geous foliage in their place, and blending with the tall
trunks of the cocoa-nut tree, spreading its top Hke an um
brella upon a pole, but Asiatic and pifcturesque beyond
description in its effect ; while the bay free, and the ban
ana, and the forest giant, and thefr lesser and more grace
ful associates, -with the tall and luxurious bEunboo every
where softening the scene, surrounded us.
As our boat came suddenly to the green bank of this
little sfream, we surprised one of Po Adam's young -wives,
with her shawl thrown from off her shoulders, leaving her
brcEist and gracefully curved araber arms uncovered, whUe
she seemed like seme water nymph just escaping from
the streara where she had been bathing. A smEdl dish of
fish nicely dressed declared the errsmd of the NEuad. She
was quite pretty, with the exception of the nose — a feature,
which the Malays insist on flattening. A nose as wide
as it is long is regEurded by thera as nearly the per
fection of beauty, as it is a perfect square. But nature, in
this instance of Po Adam's youngest espoused, resolved
not to resign all her rights of sovereignty ; and in some
other instances I have seen native women of this place
who possessed a shEU-eof feminine sofbiess, smd that species
of beauty which consists in the rotund Egyptian style of
feature. A narrow path led us through a beautiful green field
of rice, surrounded by a range of bauEraa frees, confrasting
with their light yellow green and wide-spreading leaves, vrith
the deeper green of the bay Erad cocoa-nut and the palm. We

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 371
reached the house of Po Adam, surrounded by a bamboo-
fence, which included several other buildings occupied by
his men and friends.
We drank of the cocoa-nuts, which were brought us ;
and soon two of the Rajahs, the principal two of the place,
were present, vrith their seals, ready to place their impres
sions to th efollov\ang document, which had been previously
prepared. - -
" We the Rajahs of Soo-Soo, for ourselves and the
inhabitants of Soo-Soo on the west coast of Sumatra, sensi
bly affected by the clemency practised towards us, on the
late visit of the frigate Columbia and the John Adams, do
hereby pledge ourselves to suffer no Araerican vessel to be
molested heresifter, and by all racEms in our power to pre
vent all vricked designs for annoying or in any way injur
ing them.
" Should we ever hear of any plan being laid for the
capture of an American vessel, we engage, forthwith, to
give notice ofthe same to the commander or whoever may
be on board said vessel, in time for them to prepare
themselves for the defence of their lives and the protection
of their property.
" And we do further pledge ourselves, that in case any
pfratical expedition should at any time hereafter be at
tempted, or successful plunder be comraitted upon any
Araerican vessel, and the plunderers should take refuge
araongst us, we will secure their persons and the property
taken, in the best manner we can, and keep them until
they can be dehvered to the first vessel of war of the United
States of America which shall arrive on the coast, or to
any merchantman who shall be wiUing to take them to the
United States for their trial. But we profess our utter ina
bility to comply with the demand forthe delivering up of the

372 the flag ship; or
pirates, and the property belonging to the ship EcHpse —
the pirates having fled from the place the moment it was
known that the United States ships of war had come to
Soo-Soo, for the pur; ose of securing thera.
" In short, we proraise to do all that Hes in our power
to cultivate the friendship of the United States, which we
know to be our interest to preserve, and which we here
solemnly pledge ourselves, henceforth, in every way, to en
deavour to maintain.
"In testimony of these our desfres and our solemn
pledges, we hereto affix our severEd signatures smd seals.
" Datu Bug ah,
" Datu Bugenah,
" Datu Modah,
" Datu Umpate.
" To Commodore George C. Read, commanding the American ships
of war, off Soo-Soo, January 6 h, 1839."
The seals of the Rajahs were made of brass, cut vrith
Arabic characters. The surface of the starap, for such was
its character, being art engraved brass plate, attached to a
wooden handle, was now held over the flame of a cocoa-
nut oil larap, untU tiie lamp-black, or the smoke of the
lamp had well coated the surface ofthe sesd, and the flame
had heated it for the Impression. One of tiie Rajahs, with
a small weapon fi-om his girdle, spht a green beetel-nut ;
and -\\-ith a half of it the paper was moistened for the im
pression of the heated and blackened stamp. The seal
was then appHed, and left its dark ground on the sheet,
wifh the Arabic letters containing the narae of the Rajah
in a relief of white.
The 1> ajatis, at the time, seemed to be impressed witii
the .solemiiily ofthe transaction ; hut whetiier it wUl result
in any restraint upon tiiemseh es or people, after om depai-

a voyage around the world.* 373
ture from the coast, remains a problem which a short time
only can evolve.
Two of the four Rajahs of Soo-Soo not being present
when the principal ones affixed their seals to the preceding
paper, it was proposed that the names of the other two
should be appended to the insfrument the succeeding day,
in the presence of the Rajahs who had afready signed it ;
and, accordingly, another interview for this purpose was
fixed upon, to take place the succeeding raorning.
I took a SfroU from Po Adam's residence, embowered
in Edl the variety of Asiatic fruit trees, through several ad
jacent bEimboo gates and bamboo enclosures, inwalHng a
cluster of some four or five houses in each area, alike
shaded by the clustering frees. There are no streets
through the town, but by-paths, to be threaded only by foot
passengers — ^neither horses nor other animals being used
here, either for the pmpose of burden or tillage. While
passing through one of these enclosures, I suddenly came
upon a very respectable looking Malay, who was dandhng
in his arms an infant of two or three months of age, with
its mother near. I felt that I had a secret to the hearts,
even of savages, if such were before me, where they felt
as much pleasure as these Malays exhibited in their coun
tenances as they petted this rather interesting little urchin.
They were parents, and this was their child. I approached
them by surprise, and taking a vest button, with an eagle
stamped upon it, I placed it to the neck of the little child,
indicating that the mother, with a string, should make a
necklace of it for the piccaninny. The mother received it
with a mother's smile ; and whistling kindly myself, eis
well as I knew how, (I have always aborainated whis-
tiers as invariably ill-bred men,) to please the little chubby,
I passed on. But that would not do. The next raoment
Vol. L 32

374 THE flag ship; or
I was seized by the arm, and I must wait a raoment, as my
captor indicated ; and I had only turned, when I perceived
this Malay mother waving frora the verandah of the house,
into which she had suddenly ascended by a step-ladder, a
bundle of white grass, and I was begged by the moveraent
to accept it. I dechned taking it, when the disappomted
woman, in an instant, waved Emother and larger bundle
from above me, with a kind smUe that said, I would give
you a more valuable present did we possess it I at once
recollected myself, and took two threEids from the bundle,
and vrinding it carefuUy, put it into ray pocket, assuring
thera that this was enough as a specimen, and I would keep
it, as a reraerabrance of the Httle Malayu and his parents.
As I raade another atterapt to leave the grounds, they stUl
insisted that I raust delay, to take some cocoa-nuts. I had
seen one of their slaves rush frora the gate a raoment
before, and he now had retm-ned vrith a large monkey ;
a Hne of great length being, in a small coil, attach
ed to him. The raonkey knew his business better than I
could conjecture it, as the next raoment he was seen ascend
ing Em immensely tall cocoa-nut free, on the stem of which,
fifty feet up, not a branch put out, and from the top of
which the gracet"uUy bending leaves, with thefr long stems,
together forraed sm umbrella, as it were, to keep the water
of the cocoa-nuts, which were clustering about the top of
the trunk, frora boiling in the hot sun, and preserving it cool
and refreshing, to quench the thirst of the heated native.
Jacko was dfrected on which long stera of the brjmching
leaf be should place himself, and tiie six cocoa-nuts he
must select. The animal accomplished the whole of the
command in a few moraents, and the cocoa-nuts fell from
the top. These were opened for rae, and I psirtook of the
acceptable beverage.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORED. 375
« Good-by— good-by, Malayu," I said, and agam
attempted to make my "escape, but the kind hearts of this
Malay couple begged that I would let fhe sailor who was
accompanyfrig me take for me a handsome game-cock,
which had been caught fri these few minutes, and which
a slave weis now holding for my acceptance. I begged
that J might be excused, as the hour was already passed
when I was to be vrith the Rajahs, and I would come and
see them agEun. to-morrow.
" Come, frue," said the Malay, " and I wUl have a
chinam shell for you."
The succeeding morning, agreeably to the appointment,
the four Rajahs were assembled, and the naraes of the
other two were affixed to the letter of obligation, which
they had mutually entered into, and addressed, as already
copied, to Comraodore Read. I accorapanied Captain
Wyman to the shore to vritness the completion of this
instrament. We then wandered through the town, the
inhabitants having partially recovered from their appre
hensions, though the woraen and the young children gen
erally made the quickest speed possible to reach the veran-
dsdis of their baraboo-houses, as we passed. The Rajahs
expressed a desire to visit the ship, and were invited to do so.
" Soo-Soo safe now ;" was added in their own style of
a mongrel English ; "we no fight now — we friends ;" and,
vrith an amicable shake of the hand and the drinking of
the delicious water frora the fresh cocoa-nuts, ended the
interview. Pulau Kayu is a fort which is situated on the point in
termediate between Kwala Batu and Soo-Soo, little less
than three miles distant from each, and the nearest point
of land to our ships, as they are now moored a mile distant
from the shore.

376 THE flag ship; or
Po Adam formerly resided here, and gave us to sup
pose that he had the best right to the fort still, and is quite
desirous that the Coraraodore shall restore it to hira. There
would be no hesitation on the subject could it be ascer
tained that his claims are just But the representations of
others declared that Po Adam always held Pulau Ka)-!! as
a tenant at will, and was displaced by the present Rajah
or his father, in consequence of some coramerciEd misunder
standing between him and Po Adam. The present Rajah
of the place is Taku Yah-Housin, and a relative of Po
Kwala, the Pedir Rajah of Kwala Batu.
Since our return from Muckie, Po Kwala has raani
fested the greatest desfre to raake peace vrith the Comrao
dore. His fort at Kwala Batu was ffred into by the John
Adams, at the cannonading of that town, riddled and bat
tered. He displayed (^n'mg the whole time a white flag,
and several raessages to the Commodore were sent on
board. But it was the purpose of Commodore Read to
hold no definite communication with this Rajah unless he
carae on board the Colurabia. His fort was the one which
opened on the boats of the Potoraac as they were disem
barking, after thefr landiiig Emd fight, when she was on
this coast.
It WEIS evident however that Po KwEda was unwilling
to trust his person in the hands of the AmericEuis until
some treaty had been made, and presents of buffaloes Erad
other testimonies of friendship had been accepted.
To-day, however, accompanied by Captain Silver of
the ship Sumatra, which has been lying outside of us for
a day or two, 1 went on shore with Lieutenant Pennock
to raeet Po Kwala at Palau K;iyu, the fort occupied by
his kinsman. Captain S. has seen this Rajah, and had
frora him ever> assurance of a favourable contract, and

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 377
that his ship should speedily be loaded with pepper, if
Coraraodore Read could be induced to raake a treaty of
peace with him.
We landed amidst a large number of men, bcEiring as
usual thefr long blades and krises. Po Nyah-heit met us
and conducted us to the verandah, constituting the council
hall. It was a covered portico, elevated some feet from
the ground, and open on its three sides, and extending the
whole length of the bamboo-house. Cocoa-nuts, eis usual,
were brought fresh frora the frees, which were now em
bowering us ; and with their blades, always very shEu-p
weapons, several of the men soon chipped off one end of
the cocoa-nuts, and having laid the inner-shell bare, they
appHed the point of their keen daggers to the soft part of
the bowl containing the milk, and passed the refreshing
goblet, nature's unperverted gift, to our acceptance. We
drank of the cooling liquid, while the brother of Po Kwala,
Po Nyah-heit, and the Rajah of Pulau Kayu occupied
thefr conspicuous places on the council-mats, as their raen
surrounded the verandah.
" "Why Po Kwala no come V asked the Captain, after
the cocoa-nuts had been passed, in that style of language
which the Malays use when attempting English.
" Po Kwala corae soon — four men gone for Po Kwala,"
was the reply. Captain S. had seen the Rajah the eve
ning previous, who Eissured him that he would meet any
proposition that might be made the next morning, and
would be at the pouit to attend the council which he de
sfred. But there is always great ceremony on the part of
these Malay Rajahs, when they are to appear in council.
Two or three sets of men are despatched, to let the Rajah
know that his presence is desired, and his delay is generally
32*

378 THE FLAG SfflP ; OR
measured for its length by the greater or less consideration
with which he is held by his followers.
" Po Kwala no come yet — how much longer Po Kwa
la make, and Po Kwala come V was again asked by Cap
tain S., after another interval had passed, durmg which Po
Nyah-heit had informed the Captain that he esteemed me
EIS his particular friend, thinking that I had served him in
sorae two or three instances ; and in a few raoraents more
a sraall buffalo pranced along the end of the verandah,
vrith a rope affixed to his head, by which it was tied to a
cocoa-nut tree in front of the verandah. It was to be a
present from Taku Yyah-Housin, the chief of Palau
Kayu, who was now sitting in the councU.
Po Kwala not yet having reached the point, we took
a stroll over the grounds Emd through the forts which con
stitute the location of Palau Kayu. The point is crowded
with trees bearing a great variety (rffiruits, smd magnificent
in their size and beautiful in thefr every variety of green
foliage. The cocoa-nut tree is the first that attracts the
eye ; its stem rising boughless, high up, and terminating
with long branching leaves, which curve over gracefiiUy
Hke an umbreUa, at the junction of which with the stem
the fruit clusters at the head of the trunk of this pecuHar
tree. It would look too stiff and naked were it standing
alone ; but they stand in groves, and their naked steins Eu-e
concealed more or less by the graceful palm, which serves
this people as a building material in constructing thefr hght
houses, and entirely for thefr roofs. But the yet more
graceful bamboo vxaves everywhere, blending its deep
green and feathery top wherever nature would soften this
otherwise harsh scenery of the East The tamarind free,
and tiie mango, and the wide-leaf" plantEun, and bauEma,

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 379
and nameless other frees are seen yielding to the hands of
these indolent Malays the necessaries of life, and gi-ving
a luxuriance to the appearance of the country, which as
sures one what it might be in the hands of an inteUigent
and industrious people.
The prmcipal fort is stronger than any other which I
have seen on the coast, while they all seem to have but
one raodel. An area is enclosed by a baraboo-stockade,
the bamboo often still growing, and thus lasting for a long
period. Around this stockade a thick cluster of trees and
briers soon form themselves, rendering a passage through
the jungle or hedge thus formed almost impracticable to
the native. On one corner of this area, or at the part
where the best defence can be made, an outwork is raised,
being the positions of the guns upon the mole. Between
this elevation and the first enclosure is a space, and the
passage from the ffrst area over the stockade to the out
work, is by Eiscending a ffight of steps to a plank, leading
from the large enclosure to the raised abutment, on which
the guns are placed ; and the plank is so disposed that in
case a force should make their way into the stockaded
enclosure, the plank can be raised like a drawbridge, and
still impede the advancing party in their approach to the
strong-hold, the passage-way to which is usually defended
by one of the mounted cannon.
It is wholly constructed for self-defence against any at
tacking party on land, and would afford a place of some
security in the perpetually occurring feuds between the
different clans and big-men of the coast They are. of
Httle consequence however in an attack made by an Euro
pean or American force. The torch would soon render
the place intolerable, and a few axes would open a pas
sage in any part of it, whUe the gate itself would give

380 THE FLAG SHIP ; OR ^ ^
way to a few blows from the sledge-hammer vrielded by
an arm of the muscular power of our blacksmith.
The guns of the forts are miserably mounted six-poun
ders. In the farthermost fort on the point, the guns had
been buried ; the Rajah fearing that we might land and
spike them, or take them frora their place. We were
shown the spot where they had been covered for thefr
preservation. We returned to the verandah, but Po Kwala had not
yet made his appearsmce though we had been ashore for
nearly two hours, and it was now ncEirly twelve o'clock.
" Tell Po Nyah-heit and the others," I said to the in
terpreter, " that we wait no longer. If Po Kwala wants
to make talk he must come soon or not at aU. To-day
we are willing to talk vrith him, and we have no more
talk after to-day."
" He come" — " he coming," added two or three voices,
as they sfretched thefr eye along the beach, to which they
had before turned, raarking out the point from which they
expected him.
" Po Kwala wants to bring buffaloes— Po Kwala come
some distance — Po Kwala corae soon — trae."
Po Nyah-heit had only listened to the interpretation of
what was addressed to thera, and raarked the afr of im
patience and determination with whith it had been spoken.
He rose from his mat, retiring from the council, and put
his head through a door, which led from the verandah.
His call being repHed to from within, he immediately en
tered. In a tew raoments he reappeared v^ith seven follow
ers, each ha\'ing a cleaver in his right hand, a kris in his
girdle, and a blunderbuss upon his left shoulder ; and in
a moinent after was threading his way with his followers,
in Indian file, along the beach.

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 381
« Po Nyah-hefr raake fight ?" asked the Captain.
" Po Nyah-heit go for Po Kwala," was the reply.
A few moments more and they were lost around a
neighbouring point of land. One of his seven retainers
who now followed hira was a sfriking contrEist to the rest.
He was a taU Caffre, with high cheek-bones but long face,
vrith a skin darker thEm the blackest night, and large lips
that showed his black teeth in contrast with the colour of
thefr inner surface, which glowed deeper than the reddest
enamel of a sea-conch. He wore a scarlet jacket, and a
light turban twisted around a red scull-cap. One would
pause and look three times before he advanced to raeet
such a figure should he happen to cross his path ; but his
thfrd look would assure hira that his confronter was a
cowEurd, and would refreat after the first discharge of his
blunderbuss, and postpone his murderous deeds to be done
by stealth. This dark Caffre is e-ridently a favourite slave
of Po Nyah-heit's, and once seen would always be remem
bered as one of Po Nyah-heit's frain of followers.
" Po Kwala come," said one of the chiefs, as his eye
rested on two figures, winding thefr way back, though in
the distance, on the beach.
" True 1" asked the Captain, as he seemed himself to
begin to fear that the Rajah's heart would fail him, having
apprehended that sorae train might be laid for securing
his person. In another moraent a hundred more men
doubled around the point, and left it certEun that the two
in advance were Po Nyah-heit and Po Kwala.
A single Malay entered the verEmdah and placed him
self behind Captain S., apparently unobserved, and whis
pered low : " Captain Silverheart and Po Kwala heart one
— the same. Po Kwala safe 1" asked the soUcitous Malay,

382 THE FLAG SHIP J OR
who, with others, had evidently been sent ahead to make
their observations and to report, if necessary.
It was evident that Po Kwala was now near ; and in a
moraent raore two magnificent bullocks, with thefr heads
up and their boms sloping back almost to thefr hips, were
led around the verandah, and exhibited themselves with a
step that seeraed to indicate that they were conscious of
their superior blood and royal ownership.
" Beautiful creatmes !" involuntarily escaped me, as I
gazed on these sleek animals, round and plump as the
finest prize ox that ever ribbon ornaraented, and shining
with as clean a coat of glossy hafr as the finest groomed
horse of a nobleman.
" Beautiful !" was re-echoed on the left ; and the snufl^
ing and gentle creatures in thefr jet and fawn beauty, sur
passing any thing I ever before saw of the bovine genus of
animals, now passed by the verandah to the shade of the
cocoa-nut frees, eis Po Kwala carae up from the beach and
entered the council-chamber.
He was not that cut-throat looking individual which he
had been represented to be. His person was rather smaU,
his deportment more gentiemsmly than any other Rajah's I
have met with, with an unaffected air, which declared him
to be of a family above the mass who surrounded him,
though a little solicitude could occasionally be detected in
the roll of his eye. His dark jacket was edged with lace,
and a gold ehlnam box and nobs ornaraented the silk hand
kerchief containing his beetel-nut and thrown carelessly
over his shoulders ; v\hUe a richly raounted poniard vrith
a highly ornamental hilt and gold scabbard, studded his
girdle. He took his seat at the head ofthe verandah, and after

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 383
the cocoa-nuts had passed around, the interpreter was di
rected to say that the Rajah had been expected on board
last evening, but having delayed to visit the ship and yet
• expressed his earnest desire to rasdie peace with the Cora-
modore, we had come ashore to hold a talk with him.
Was he ready to commence iti
The Rajah expressed his desfre to hear what the Cora
modore had directed to be communicated.
" Tell the Rajah, Jones, (the name of our interpreter,)
that the Americans desfre to be on friendly terras with the
Rajahs Emd their people on the coast — that we do not
desfre to injure thera, but to further the interests of both
theraselves and our people — that we desire a peaceful in
tercourse, but that we have corae on the coast again to
show that we have the power to protect our coraraerce, and
that we not only have the power but the determination to
inflict chEistisement upon those who commit acts of piracy
against our traders, and on all who shelter them. We had
now done so. Other vessels of war would be on the coast
in due time, and if similar occurrences should take place to
those which had befallen the Eclipse, the murderers and
the robbers would be punished. It was expected by the
Comraodore, from all with whom he entered into an agree
ment of peace on the part of the United States, that they
shpuld engage most solemnly that they would do all in
their power to prevent Emy further piracies on the coast —
that in case any attack should be projected (it was hoped
that there would never be another, but if there should be)
and the Rajah should hear of it, he must at once give in
formation to the captEiin and the hands on board the vessel,
and if any ofthe pirates should take refuge in any Rajah's
particular jurisdiction, he will apprehend thera and retain
thera for the ffrst msm-of-war that afterwards coraes on the

384 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
coast. Would the Rajah solemnly pledge himself in these
particulars, if the Coraraodore would treat vrith hun 1"
" The Rajah will pledge," was the reply.
Then tell the Rajah that we have here a paper which
embraces these particulars Erad pledges, to which it is
required that he wUl affix his seal, — himself to retain a
duplicate of the paper, as evidence of the pledges raade.
If any of his men understand English, they vrill be good
enough to attend, Emd mark that the sentences are correctly
interpreted. The following paper was then interpreted, sentence hy
sentence, to the Rajah, a number of those around assenting
auchbly to the correspondence of the English with the sense
of each sentence, as given in Malayu to the Rajah. Tbe
date of it was explained to him, as it had been prepared
the last evening, in expectation of his coming off to the
Columbia to sign the paper.
" United Stales Frigate Columbia, off So-Soo,
"January llth, 1839."
" Po Kwala, Pedir Rajah at Kwala Batu, having
come on board of the Columbia vrith desfres to mEdce peace
with the Govemraent of the United States,
" Hereby declares, that henceforth he wUl use every
effort, on his part, to assist the American ships which raay
be trading on tiie west cosist of Sumatra, and bring all
means in his power to suppress fdl pfracies on the coast
And in case any designed robbery or attack upon any
American \essel should be known to hira, he will use his
power to stop it, and give imraediate inforraation to the
captain and all who raay be on bosurd, for their defence and
protection. " And should any of his raen be guilty of the crirae of
piracy against an Araerican vessel ; or, should any pfrates

A VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 385
take refiige among his people, he pledges himself that they
shall be punished by death, or given up to the Government
of the United States for frial, on the demand of the com
mander of any armed United States vessel, or to the cap
tain of any merchantman who may be willing to take them
to the United States of America.
" In testimony of these feehngs, Po Kwala hereto affixes
his signatiire and seal."
Every word of this document was listened to with great
attention, as it was interpreted sufficiently loud for the
large number of Po Kwala's men to hear, who had now
crowded into the verandah and around its balusfrade.
The Rajah took his seal to apply it to the instrument
" We speak frue — we have but one tongue, tell the
Rajah — and ask him if he fully understands the paper as it
has been interpreted."
"True — we imderstand," was the reply from the Rajah
and several of his chief men ; while a peal of thunder sud
denly rolled loud and long above the verandah, telhng the
nearer approach of a gathering shower. The profound
calra of a death-scene reigned, while the Rajah still held
his seEd. " Tell the Rajah that he hears the voice of Allah speak
ing above us. We do all in Allah's name. Ask if he
pledges himself vrith equal solemnity and truth."
" True — in Allah's name I pledge," was the reply ;
and his seal was on the paper.
It was a striking coincidence — that solemn roll of
thunder through the heavens at this raoment, and every
Malay suppressed his breath in the stillness that reigned.
They are said to be greatly timid in a thunder-storm ; and
while witnessing the present scene, in their present circum
stances, there must have been deepness added to the emio-

386 THE FLAG SHIP; OR
tion of profound veneration that comes over the spfrit as
the voice of God is heard so audibly in his works.
The seal of the Rajah having been affixed, the insfru-
illent was witnessed by TuKu Nyah-oussin,
Po NvAH-HErr,
TuKu Nyah-ahlee,
FiTCH W Taylor, Chaplain U. S. Frigate Columbia ;
Alexander Pennock, Act. Lieut. U. S. Frigate Columbia ;
Peter Silver, Coraraander ship Sumafra ;
J. Henshaw Belcher, Prof, of Math. U. S. Fr. Columbia.
" We are now at peace, and hope we shall long be
friends," it weis said as the two parties shook the hand of
the other, in token of thefr future friendly purposes.
" Stay a moraent," weis the request of the Rajah, whUe
he offered to the acceptance of the Coraraodore the two
magnificent buUocks that had been led by the verandah,
and tendered another to Captain Silver.
They vvere accepted, and the RaJEdi invited to ^"isit the
ship. He placed himself in the boat with his brother, and
Po Nyah-heit and the Rajah of Pulau Ku)-u, and the boat
pulled for the ColumbiEi. I had ascended over the gang
way, and watched tiie Rajah as he descended to the deck.
His attendants had advfuiced before him. The Rajah, on
reaching the highest step of tiie gEmgway, paused hesita
tingly Em instant, and tiien came down to the deck.
Th^y visited the cabin, and pEud thefr respects to the
Commodore, who now affixed his signature to the instru
ment which had been signed by tiie Rajah. Having been
shown over tiie ship, the)- left her agfun, doubtless duly im
pressed vritii our power — the Rajah expressing his high
gratification and surprise, and desfre to have an opportunity

A voyIge aroitnd the world. 387
further to listen to the music — the bass-drum particularly
atfracting his attention.
And, should I judge from the Rajah's unwillingness to
come on board until after the treaty was signed, and the
buffaloes were accepted — and the little reluctance which
seemed occasionally to affect him afterwards — and the
doubt of security manifesting itself as he came over the
gangway — I take it that his Rajahship was greatly happy
when he found himself, wath his head still on, once more
safely on shore. The next day he would have visited the
ship, but it rained in torrents ; and the second moming
after, at daylight, the ships were unmoored and again stand
ing on thefr course at sea.
From the despatches of Commodore Read to the Secre
tary of the Navy, containing fiiU accounts of the action of
the squadron, on the west coast of Sumatra, I extract the
following paragraphs, commendatory ofthe officers named,
when alluding to the expedition at Muckie.
" For the performance and execution of this service,
Commander T. W. Wyman exhibited a promptness and
energy which could not be surpassed ; and had an enemy
appeEu-ed to oppose the advance of the party, his gallantry
would have been conspicuous.
" To Lieutenant Magruder, executive officer of the Co
lumbia, I feel much indebted for the good order and expe
dition with which the men from the Columbia were landed
and led by him, and for the previous training they had
received, the advantages of which were now apparent.
"Lieutenants Turk, Turner, and Pennock, merit my
warm acknowledgments, as leaders of their separate divi
sions ; and the conduct of Lieutenant Baker, who led the
marines, deserves my unqualified approbation. Much was
expected from the marines on the occasion, and much no

388 THE FLAG SHIP.
doubt would haVe been done, had further proof of thefr
skill and discipline been required.
" Acting Master Jenkins, Midshipmen Crawford, J^o-
land, Barney, Smith, Sincler, Green, Toomer, Fauntkroy,-
McCorralck and Donaldson ; Mr. Belcher, Professor of
Mathematics, Mr. Martin the Gunner, Mr. Crow the Sai^
maker, were all embarked in this enterprise, and are spoken
of in terras of praise by Coraraander Wyraan, to whose re
port, sent herevrith, I raust refer you for the fiirther partic
ulars of this affair, and for the naraes of those officers who
landed with hira frora the John Adams. He speaks in high-
terms of them aU, and gives me every reason to believe that
they merit my approbatioQ and thanks."

END OF THE FIRST VOLIHSIE.

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