.r
1
y
t
1
i
i • ; :
"A" k 'i' %■ 'it ir 'k 'if ir Vr Ss- a- -cr V '<i '6' 'a V '6' tf 'o" V "i V '6' 'ijr "6 "o o b a '6 j' \V 'i'
A. S. BARXEJ
3 it COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.
r: ;^ MAT HE
MATICAL
AVORKS,
^ ^/ /
W:>'Oi$.
G. DAVIE3''blFrERENTIAL AND INTEGRAL CALCULUS.
THE TEACHER'S MATHEMATICAL TEXT BOOK AND CHART
1. BAVIES' LOGIC AND UTILITY OF MATHEMATICS.
2. DAVIES' NOKMAL CHART OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCE.
'i' 'ir '^oWd- ^6- "S "6' V ':>
. L\iv :>^o .: .,..-:^.^:^Y-3 PUBLICATION'S.
•^ TALUABLS LIBRIEY AKB Ti^aT BOOKS,
i GILLESPIE iVro^essoT^^^^^^^^^^P^^ AND RAILHOADS.
g 1 vol. 8vo.^^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ p,^„^, a„d rail road builder;'
S MANSFIELD (Edward D.) ON AMERICAN EDUCATION.
' ''""• *uT;vc-k of great practical value to every intellisent American."
••GES (David P.) THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING.
^'<}S^. .rand booU ; and 1 ^^a^^e^n th.. you^have .rUtcn iUj^^^^^
VVIES' (Charles, LL.D.) LOGIC AND UTILITY OF MATH 1-
^^'^'^^^f valulbt book for evc,7 student's and teacher's library.
-)LTON (Rev. Calvm) ON PUBLIC ECONOMY TOR Til-
UNITED ^^^^;^^X^:^ou^, .ot ^1 to read it."
.ol;on:sW^ ;:e YEARS in CALIFOH-^,
I vol. l-2!no. "Witli inai' :^ .,j ..^jgg j^ ^vith deligbt.
All iiilereslod 111 I •'J ' „,,--, r^ a t- — ■, -
■IAK5PIELD-S (Ed. D.) HISTORY OF THE MEXIOAI. ...v.
-A^-SFIELDS (E,Kara D.) LIFE OF GES. WIl.FIi.LD SCOTT. ^
1 vol l-'mo. With ilUislriilions. ^.„,,nci' '
V AllIrD-S (.L.. E,nn,a) HISTORY OF THE U. STAILS,
■ VTT LARDS (Mrs. Emma) UNIVERSAL HISTORY in Per.rect.vo.
>MLLARDb .1 ' „iDOMENT OF ALISON'S EUROPE.
COULD 3 (F.ilward S.) AljKii-n..Jii--i i ^
PARKER-S (Ricl>ava G.) RHETORICAL READER, n^o.
"POCKS' rrrathan C.) greek and latin CLASSICS.
:.SG^E?s1Zo.icEURCHANDSCH00LMUSICB00KS.
CLARK'S (S. Vf.) NEW ENGLISH GRAMIIAR. icno.
N0RTHEND-^.v1cs) ELOCUTIONARY -WORKS. S vols.
^::^^
c.(Disfflra ® ©©[ME im „ [F=. STToecnr® iFa
DECK AND PORT;
INCIDENTS OF A CRUISE
UNITED STATES FRIGATE CONGRESS
CALIFORNIA.
WITH SKETCHES OF RIO JANEIRO, VALPARAISO, LIMA, HONOLULU,
AND SAN FRANCISCO.
BY
REV. WALTER COLTON, U. S. N.,
AUTHOR OF " SUIP AND SHORE," ETC.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES «fe CO.,
NO. 51 JOHN-STREET.
CINCINNATI:— H. W. DERBY & CO.
1852.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year Eighteen Himdred and fifty,
By a. S. BARNES & COMPANY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York.
Stkrbottped bt
BICHARD C. VALENTINE,
New Tore
Printer,
tso. 51 John-strecl, corner of Dutch.
TO
THOMAS I. WHARTON, ESQ,.
OF PHILADELPHIA,
Sl)i0 t)olume
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY HIS FRIEND
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
On joining the United States frigate Con-
gress, fitting for sea, at Norfolk, and destined
to tlie Pacific, I commenced a journal, in which
I sketched down the incidents of each day, as
they occurred. It was more a whim of the
hour, than any purpose connected with the
public press. It was a diverting experiment
on the monotony of a sea-life ; was continued
because it had been begun — and the present
volume is the result. The streamlet* flows
from gathered drops.
I send it to the press as it was written, ex-
cept the division into chapters, which has been
made at the suggestion of the publishers, who
perhaps, think the yarn will reel better if the
PREFACE.
thread be broken. It undoubtedly contains
passages wMch may seem liglit and irrelevant ;
but a diary has privileges, in this respect,
which are not extended to compositions of a
graver character. He who gathers what the
chance wind may shake from the trees of his
garden, will find some leaves as well as fruit in
his basket ; and he may find there the nest of
some insect that has a sting in it, but this he
has no right to send to market. He may send
the leaves — perhaps their sear hues may set ofl:'
the bloom of his fruit, as a wrinkle the rouge
through which age sometimes seeks to blush
back again into youth.
The members of Congress are responsible
for any* typographical errors which the volume
may contain, for they so lumbered the mails,
between Washington — where the proofs were
sent — and New York, with theii^ speeches, that
my publishers had about as little chance of
getting a corrected copy through this travel-
PREFACE.
ling Babel, as they would have had in finding
a righteous man in Sodom after Lot had left.
I know it seems cruel to roll the responsibility
of blunders on a body of men who have errors
enough of their own to answer for. But the
evil one himself is held accountable for the
sins of half the world.
Having thus conveniently disposed of all
responsibility, I leave my Deck and Port to
the w^ave and strand, where they belong.
"Wreckers will receive no salvage from me —
they must make the most of the floating
planks. I only ask them not to scuttle the
craft before she strikes.
w. a
NOTE.
The incidents which connected the oflScers of the Pacific Squadron and of the
army, and many other prominent persons, with public erents in CaUfomia, are not
reached by the Diary of this volume; they fall within the three years which are
reserved for another work, entitled " Three Tears in Califomia.^^
CONTENTS.
13
CHAPTER I. — Preparations for the voyage.
Orders to the Congress.— Passengers' poop-cabin.— Passing U. S.
ship Pennsvlvauia.— Divine service.— Waiting the wind.— Kip-
raps.— Internal arrangements.— Library of the crew.— bhip
cheered.— Departure of the pilot Page
CHAPTER II.— Passage FROM Norfolk to Rio de Janeiro.
A culprit.— Corporal punishments.— Divine service.— A bird.— A
gale— Grandeur of the Gulf stream.— Man missing.— Tracts on
board.— Waterspout— Life at sea.— An echpse.— Ihe sick-
bay —Moral mechanism of a man-of-war.— Speaking a brig.—
Departure of Mr. Beale.— Death of Spillier.— Astor-House
sailor.— Universalist chaplain— A petrel— Speaking a slup.—
Departm-e of Mr. Norris.— Crossing the equator.— Southern
constellations.— A man lost.— Land-ho ! ^^
CHAPTER III.— Rio de Janeiro.
BavofRio.— Scenery.— Aspect of the city .-Royal palace and
chapel-Lancers and baby.-Miseracordia -Aqueduct.-Morn-
ingride.-Botanic garden— Tea-plant.— The Sabbath m Rio.—
Museum.— Nunnery.— Jealousy of husbands.— A pompous fu-
neral.—The Plymouth.— Hon. Henry A. Wise— Slave-trade.—
Marriages and domestic aiTangements.-Political condition of
the BrazUians.— Treatment of the slaves.— Rehgion.—W asher-
women.— San Antonio.— CUmate.— The unknown couple.—
Diamonds. — Farewell to Rio
86
CHAPTER IV. — Passage from Rio to Cape Horn.
Getting under way.— The letter-bag.— Runaway sailor.— Isle of
St. Catharine.— Pamperoes.— The shotted gun.— Loss ot our
. coon— The sailor and shark.— General quarters at night-
Fireworks in the sea.-The phantom ship.-Patagonians.-
The Falkland Islands.— The captui-ed albatros.— Terrific gale.
—Condition of our frigate.— The sailors burial— Ihe «ape ot ^^^
storms
10 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V. — Passage from Cape Horn to Valparaiso
Gale. — Habits of the albatros and ■ penguin. — the sea off Cape
. Horn.— Sleet and hail. — Farewell to the Cape. — Directions for
doubhng the Cape. — Gale in the Pacific. — Appearance of the
stars. — A rainbow. — Divine service. — The razor at sea. — The
httle bark. — Plum pudding and tripe. — The Cordilleras. — Ar-
rival at Valparaiso ;■ Page 156
CHAPTER VI.— Sketches of VALP.\RArso.
Aspect of the city. — Groups on the quay. — Chihan horsemansliip.
— The women. — Huts of the natives. — American and English
society. — Opera-house. — The tertuha. — Mode of travelling. —
Police of the city. — Visits from the shore. — Feudal system. —
The clergy. — The Bible in Chili. — The confessional. — Burial
gromid. — The Indian mother, — Political condition of Chih. —
Farewell to Valparaiso 191
CHAPTER VII. — Passage from Valparaiso to Callao,
Flare up of the Pacific. — Songs of seamen. — Sailors on shore. —
Loss of the Samson of our ship. — The setting sun at sea. — Our
Astor-House sailor. — The mad poet of the crew. — Land ho ! —
Aspect of Callao. — Appearance of the natives. — The burial
isle 219
CHAPTER VIII.— Sketches of Lima.
Incidents of the road. — The grand plaza. — Shops and houses. —
The saya y manto. — American lady. — Mixture of races. — De-
meanor of girls and boys. — Procession on Palm Sunday. — Con-
vent of the Franciscans. — Doctors of Lima. — Good Friday. —
The Last Supper. — Pilate's court. — Garden of Gethsemane. —
Close of Lent — Jubilations. — Climate. — An officer in prison, —
Lawyers. — The Indian's eyrie. — Lottery. — Bull-fight 234
CHAPTER IX.— Sketches of Lima.
Education of females. — Marriages, — Lapses from virtue, — The
sunset bell, — Silk factory in a convent. — Habits of the Indians.
— The half wedlock. — Blind pedler. — Protestant youth in Li-
ma.— Religion of the Limanians. — Intrigues at court. — Modes
of living. — The Zampas, — Churches. — Indian doctors. — Fruits
of the co\intry. — Old Spanish famiUes. — Masses for the repose
of the soul 265
CONTENTS. 11
CHAPTEK X. — Passage from Callao to Honolulu.
Departui-e from Callao.— The ruin smuggler. — Sunset. — Sea-birds.
— A sailor's defence. — General quarters. — Spirit ration. — The
sailor and religion. — The flag. — Sagacity of the rat. — The
cloud. — Calms and showers. — Keligious tracts. — Constellations.
— Trade-winds. — Conduct of the crew. — Moon in the zenith. —
Lay sermon. — Funeral. — Land ho ! Page 299
CHAPTER XI.— Sketches of Honolulu.
Bay of Honolulu. — Kanacka funeral. — The missionaries. — Huts
and habits of the natives. — Taro-plant. — Roast dog. — School of
the young chiefs. — Ride in the country. — The Mausoleum. —
Cocoanut-tree. — Canoes. — Heathen temple. — Iving's chapeL —
Ride to Ewa. — Father Bishop. — His sable flock 328
CHAPTER XIL— Sketches of Honolulu,
The king and court. — American commissioner. — Royal residence.
— The salt lake. — Surf sports of the natives. — Gala day. — The
"women on horseback. — Sailor's equestrianism. — The old man
and the children at play. — Adda-ess of Com. Stockton. — Capt.
La Place. — His Jesuits and brandy. — Lord George Paulet — 348
CHAPTER XIII. — Passage from Honolulu to Monterey.
The moral pharos. — The Mormon ship. — Bible class. — The sea-
hen. — Our insane sailor. — Fourth of July. — Profaneness at sea
— Evening prayer-meeting. — Funeral. — Target firing. — Reli-
gious condition of the crew. — Anchor under Monterey 367
CHAPTER XIV.— Glances into California.
Sailors on sliore as soldiers. — The bear flag. — Capt. Fremont and
armed band. — Departure of Admiral Seymour. — San Francis-
co.— Aspect of the town. — Habits of the people. — Spii'it of
speculation. — Gambling. — Effects of the gold mines. — Past and
pre^t condition of the country 386
BRITISH ( \ ^^.^
Ji_P R T H /~^
PACIFIC
OCEAN.
BITE NOS./y RES. ^ .
C .HOft
DECK AND PORT.
CHAPTER I.
PREPAEATIONS POR THE YOTAGE.
ORDERS TO THE CONGRESS. PASSENGERS' POOP-CABIN. PASSING U. S. SHIP
PENNSYLVANIA. DIVIN:^ SERVICE. ^WAITING THE WIND. RIP-RAPS. —
INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS. LIBRARY OF THE CREW. SHIP CHEERED.
DEPARTURE OF THE PILOT.
To sea ! to sea ! thy soft shore life
Must wrestle on the deck,
Where winds and waters meet in strife,
To revel o'er the wreck.
While enjoying the luxury of sea-bathing at Sa-
chem's Head, I received an order to report for duty
on board the U. S. Frigate Congress, fitting for sea
at Norfolk. The order came as unexpectedly as
thunder out of a cloudless sky. But never having
declined an order of the department during the many
years that I have been in the navy, I determined not
to didionor a good rule on this occasion, and in-
formed the secretary that I should report agreeable
to his instructions, but requested the indulgence of
a few days in which tff'make my preparations. The
reply was, that the ship was ready for sea, that the
9
14 DECK AND PORT.
Other officers were on board, and I must hasten at
once to my post. My trunks were immediately
packed, my books boxed, and in twenty-four hours I
was on board the Congress. Home, and all that
makes that home dear, exchanged at once for the
bustle of a man-of-war ! It was like throwing a bird
from its nest upon the whirlwind : not that I have
any thing in common with a bird, unless it be a sort
of involuntary cheerfulness when the storm-cloud
has passed. I have never yet met with a picture all
the features of v/hich were dark. There is a star
even in the night of the grave.
I found the frigate nearly ready for sea. The
honorable secretary, as if to hasten our departure,
paid us a farewell visit. We returned the comipli-
ment in a parting salute. We were now ready to
weigh anchor and make sail, when an order came
for us to take out as passengers a commissioner and
a consul to the Sandwich Islands, with their families,
twelve individuals in all. The question was, where
shall they be accommodated ? Every part of the
ship was already occupied. Another order soon
came for the construction of a poop-cabin. Some
thirty carpenters were immediately set at wOTk, but
its completion occupied three weeks. In the mean
time some of the officers, whose homes were less re-
mote, had an opportunity of^visiting their families.
1 was enabled to finish my preparations, complete
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE. 15
my wardrobe, and take a decent leave of one from
vi^hom I had been hurried away as the culprit,
" Who fitted the halter and traversed the cart,
And often looked back as if loath to depart."
Saturday, Oct. 25, 1845. The poop-cabin being
finished, commissioner, consul, and families, quarter-
ed in it, stores laid in, the commodore on board, an
order was given to unmoor. In a few minutes our
anchors were up and we were proceeding under a
light land-breeze towards the sea. Passing the Penn-
S3'lvania, where she lay in her majesty and strength,
we gave her a parting salute, which she returned in
thunder from her frowning batteries. She frowned
not on us : she seemed to grieve, " if aught inani-
mate e'er grieves," that she must lie there and rot,
and we be bounding over the billows. She seemed
like a daring eagle that has never been permitted to
soar into its element and unfurl its strong pinions
on the storm. The Titan chained to the Caucasian
rock stayed his proud heart on his past triumphs, but
this noble ship perishes without a solitary achieve-
ment to relieve her indignant doom. On reaching
Hampton Roads the wind came out ahead, and we
were obliged to let go our anchors. An air of dis-
appointment was visible among the crew. I once
started on a journey in a splendid carriage, broke
down in sight of my own home, and learned a lesson
16 DECK AND PORT.
of submission that will never wholly desert me.
Calamities are our best instructors.^
Sunday, Oct. 26. The wind still ahead. This
being the sabbath, we had divine service. The
crew were attentive : not the rustle of a hand or
foot disturbed the stillness ; the speaker's voice only
broke the silence of the deck. The text was the in-
junction of the prophet, " Go up now, look towards
the sea." The object of the speaker was to sketch
the stern magnificence of the ocean as illustrating
the majesty of God ; to exhibit the effects of an
ocean life on the social and moral character of man ;
and to inculcate the great lesson, that into whatever
climes we may penetrate, through whatever seas we
may pass, we cannot escape from the presence of
the Deity. The effects of our moral teachings may
in many instances never be revealed in this life, but
the time will come, when they will be fully recog-
nised. They are like underground streams which
will yet rush to the light.
Monday, Oct. 27. Still in Hampton Roads. The
day has passed with scarce a breath of wind from
any quarter. The sun has set in gorgeous splendor.
Evening has spread its purple light over sea and
land. Only here and there a cloud floats through
the star-lit depths of heaven. The fortress of the
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE. 17
old Rip-raps lifts its giant form in savage grandeur
from the w^ave ; and yet the moonlight sleeps upon
it so lovingly, you half forget its chained thunder.
It seems as some submarine monster that had shoved
its head up through the sea, to glance at the v^on-
ders of earth. Gaze on, thou Titan of the deep!
Thou hearest not the death-knell v^^hich shakes the
heart of nations : thou seest only the verdure which
waves in fragrant life and beauty over the dust of
ages. Thou heedest not the sorrows of the millions
that have sunk to the silent shroud. Earth is a
charnel-house, but thou knowest it not. It is death's
empire. Go look into some world where sin hath
not been, and where man has not marred the works
of his Maker.
Tuesday, Oct. 28. Our ship still riding in the
Roads, with forty sail around wind-bound like our-
selves. We went to general quarters at ten o'clock,
exercised the- guns, passed powder, called away the
boarders, and went through all the forms of a real
engagement at sea. It is singular what an enthusi-
asm even a mimic battle can create ; what then
must be the excitement of the reality ! The sailors
are proud of our frigate ; and well may they be ; she
is a splendid specimen of naval architecture. For
capacity, strength, and harmony of proportions, she
stands in her class without a rival in the world.
2*
18 DECK AND PORT
She is so much a favorite in the service that one old
sailor travelled all the way from Pensacola to Nor-
folk in the mail stage, and at his own expense, to
join her. We had our complement of seamen, but
his was so strong a case he could not be denied.
We number about five hundred souls, all told;
have laid in provisions and fuel for five months, with
fifty thousand gallons of water, and sails and rigging
sufficient to replace what is now in use, should emer-
gency demand. How such a mass of life and mate-
rial can be brought within a frigate's capacity, and
yet leave " scope and verge" enough for action and
repose, is a mystery which can be comprehended
only by those who are versed in nautical economy.
The housewife who grumbles over the intrusion of
an additional piece of furniture, should look into a
man-of-war, and she will go home with the convic-
tion that she can sleep quite comfortably in the
cradle with her infant. How beautiful is an infant
waking out of its sweet slumber, and opening its
soft blue eyes upon the face of its mother! But
what has this to do with our getting under way ?
Wednesday, Oct. 29. Our anchors still sleep in
the sands of Hampton Roads — a slumber which we
now think the morrow will break. The wind has
been light and varying, but inclining towards the
right quarter, though hesitatingly, as a diffident
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE. 11)
youth in his first declaration of love. How the
words on such an occasion will stick in a man's
throat ! — worse, indeed, than Macbeth's prayer, try-
ing to struggle up from the grasp of his guilty con-
science.
I have been occupied to-day in arranging in suit-
able cases the library of the crew — a library com-
prising between three and four hundred volumes.
For many of the miscellaneous and religious books
in this library I am indebted to the Presbyterian
Board of Publication, to the Sunday School Union,
to the American Tract Society, and to the liberality
of Commodore Stockton. My acknowledgments are
also due to the American Bible Society for a dona-
tion of Bibles adequate to the wants of the crew.
No national ship ever left a port of the United States
more amply provided with books suited to the habits
and capacities of those on board. This desideratum
has been supplied, so far as the crew is concerned,
with comparatively little aid from the department.
The government furnishes the sailor with grog to
burn up his body, a Christian liberality with books
to save his soul. The whisky ration is a curse to
the service, and a damning blot on our national
legislation.
Thursday, Oct. 30. The long looked for breeze
came at last. It was a south-wester ; and at day-
30 DECK AND PORT.
light this morning we weighed anchor and got under
way. When we had cleared the capes of Old Vir-
ginia, all hands were called, and Commodore Stock-
ton delivered the following brief and appropriate
address to the officers and crew : —
" Captain Du Pont and officers —
" Yom' reputation in the service is a sufficient
guaranty that the cruise before us will enlist your
highest energies and zeal,
" Men—
" Your conduct since you have been on board this
ship justifies the strongest confidence in your fidelity.
Above us floats the flag of our country ; to your
patriotism and undaunted valor 1 intrust its honor,
dearer to me than life. We now sail for California
and Oregon, and then, where it may please Heaven."
Then, turning to the chaplain, he said —
" You will offer up our prayers to Almighty God
for his protection."
This service performed, the broad pennant was
saluted, the ship cheered, and the band struck up
" Hail Columbia."
The whole ceremony was well calculated to inspire
a jealous regard for the honor of our flag, and impress
sentiments of dependence on the divine protection —
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE. 21
SO well becoming those who go down to the sea in
ships, who do business on the great waters, and who
see the wonders of the Lord in the deep.
Commodore Stockton invited the officers into the
cabin to an elegant entertainment. Sentiments
connected with country, home, and those left behind,
passed feelingly around. The pilot now took his de-
parture with our letter-bag. How many affections,
hopes, and fears, that little hasty mail took back ! If
you would know how dear home is, start on a three
years* cruise. How the heart clings to the living,
recalls the dead, and restores the forgotten ! How
all animosities die and give place to love ! I do not
wonder the Greek and Roman dreaded exile more
than death. What is earth without a home ?
Farewell ! the shore is fading fast,
The wind is piping free,
The pennant, from our gallant mast^
Points to the dark blue sea.
22
CHAPTER II.
PASSAGE FHOM NORFOLK TO RIO DE JANEIRO.
A CULPRIT. CORPORAL PUNISHMENTS. DIVINE SERVICE. A BIRD.— A
GALE, — GRANDEUR OF THE GULF STREAM. — MAN MISSING. TRACTS ON
BOARD. WATER-SPOUT. LIFE AT SEA. AN ECLIPSE. THE SICK BAY.
MORAL MECHANISM OF A MAN-OF-WAR. SPEAKING A BRIG. DEPARTURE
OF MR. BEALE. DEATH OF SPILLIER. — ASTOR-HOUSE SAILOR. ^UNIVER-
SALIST CHAPLAIN. — A PETREL. — SPEAKING A SHIP. DEPARTURE OF MB.
NORRIS. — CROSSING THE EQUATOR. SOUTHERN CONSTELLATIONS. A MAN
LOST. LAND HO !
" The ship was cheered, the harbor cleared,
And merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top."
Friday, Oct. 31. A brilliant soft atmosphere; a
light breeze from the southwest ; average log, three
knots; sounded in thirty-six fathoms; a sand and
shell bottom; exercised the men at the guns from 10
to 12 o'clock ; loaded the guns a little before sunset.
One of the crew, after nightfall, watched his opportu-
nity and knocked down a marine. The aggressor is
one of those hardened fellows where the hope of re-
formation seems to despair in its work. He was
flogged but a few days since for an aggravated
offense. He has cruised before, and been notorious
for his bad conduct. The best thing that could be
PASSAGE TO RIO. 23
done with him would be to turn him out of the ship,
but the law don't allow this. The next best thing is
to try him by a court-martial, and award him a pun-
ishment that will linger with terror in his memory.
I am opposed to severity when milder measures will
avail ; but leniency to the incorrigible is destructive
of discipline.
Corporal punishments are opposed to the spirit of
the age ; but he would be worthy a monument who
could invent an adequate substitute on board a man-
of-war. It is easy to pull down a house, but not so
easy to build another on its ruins. Still the power
to inflict corporal punishment is so liable to abuse,
and is so often abused, I do not wonder public senti-
ment seems to demand its abolition. Could sailors
be brought thoroughly under moral influences, it
might be easily dispensed with. Virtue has motives
and impulses to good conduct stronger than those
ever wielded by physical force. The best obedience
is that which flows from moral rectitude.
Saturday, Nov. 1. The high temperature of the
water, which my boy brought me this morning for
bathing, indicated that we were in the Gulf Stream.
On inquiry, I ascertained that during the night we
had penetrated near to its centre. This great river
of the ocean holds its majestic course in seeming in-
dependence of the vast and violent elements through
24 DECK AND PORT.
which it moves. Storms may howl over it, and con-
flicting cmTents fiercely assail it, but it moves on in
the tranquil greatness of its unabated strength. It
never stops to parley with its adversaries, proposes
no terms, accepts none ; but like a brave champion
of truth, moves steadily to its goal. In its equa-
nimity, its fidelity to one great purpose, and its tri-
umph, the God of Nature utters a moral lesson in the
ear of nations.
Our coursers, topsails, top-gallant, and studding-
sails are set to a free, fresh wind from the southwest,
and we are making ten knots the hour. Our ship has
been too much by the stern, but the removal of four
of her spar-deck guns from her after to her forward
ports, has brought her more by the head, and she
sails better. Her constructor conjectured that if
deep, she would sail better by being at least fifteen
inches by the head. His conjecture turns out to be
correct. She is now moving through the waters as
if she had an exulting pride in her occupation. I do
not wonder sailors regard a fast ship as a thing of
life, and speak of her with an affection applicable
only to the higher attributes of humanity. She is
indeed the highest triumph of human skill — the
noblest representative of art.
Sunday, Nov. 2. The Sabbath. The force of
the wind and the roll of the ship might have excused
PASSAGE TO KIO. 25
divine service with those disposed to find an apology
for such omission. But we have commenced the
cruise with the determination to have service every
Sabbath when it is at all practicable. Regularity in
this duty promotes regularity in every other. The
discipline of a man-of-war lies in the fact that noth-
ing is omitted that ought to be done. Besides what
more appropriate for men, tost on the howling waste
of the ocean, than a recognised dependence on that
Being who binds the elements at his will ; who can
say to the rushing storm and chainless wave, hith-
erto shall ye come and no further, and here shall
your proud strength be stayed.
Last evening a bird flew on board. He had been
driven far out to sea in a gale, and now timidly
sought our spars as a place of rest. No one was
allowed to molest him for the night ; in the morning,
turning his eyes in that direction where the land lay,
though some three hundred miles off, he bade us
adieu and disappeared in the distant horizon. A safe
passage to him and a speedy return to those left
behind. He too has his home, and those there who
make that home dear ; and though but a bird of the
wild wood, he shares the benevolent regard of One
whose care extends to the falling sparrow, and who
hears the young raven when it cries. If the bird
whose wing is thrown on the wind to-day, and is
furled in death to-morrow, may share the guardian-
26 DECK AND PORT.
ship of the great Parent of all, much more man with
his boundless sympathies and immortal hopes.
Monday, Nov. 3. The wind last night hauled
several points to the east, and forced us north of our
true course. We have been waiting for it to haul
back, but it seems to have settled down as if deter-
mined to make itself at home in its new quarter.
Well, let it stay there, if it will, and I will ponder these
lines which I find inclosed in my last letter from
aome.
THE SAILOR S WIFE.
Thou o'er the world and I at home,
But one may hnger, the other may roam,
Yet our hearts will flee o'er the sounding sea,
Mme to thy bosom, and thuie to me.
Thy lot is the toil of a roving life,
Chances and changes, soitqw and strife —
Yet is mine more drear to Hnger here —
In a ceaseless, changeless war with fear.
I watch the sky by the stars' pale light.
Till the day-dawn breaketh on gloomy night.
And the wind's low tone hath a dreary moan
That comes to my heart as I weep alone.
With tlie morning light, oh ! would I could see
Thy white sail far on the breaking sea,
^^_ And welcome thee home, o'er the wild wave's foam,
"^^nd bid thee no more from my side to i oam.
PASSAGE TO RIO. 27
Tuesday, Nov. 4. The sun rose this morning
o
with that look of darkness and flame which the
monarch of the seasons puts on when tempests are
abroad in his domain. Yet he drove his flashing
chariot up the lowering steep of clouds with a fleet-
ness and force which indicated no disposition to re-
sign his sceptre. The glance of his eye kindled the
ridges of the black masses around into lines of fire,
and revealed the caverns of darkness which stretched
away in their unfathomed folds. The roused ocean
threw up its howling billows as if in stern defiance.
It was evident we were to have a conflict of the
giant elements. They rushed into the battle like
foes who neither give nor crave quarter.
The roar of the tempest above, the thunder of the
sea below, the careering squadrons of clouds, and the
dark defiant waves, as they rushed into combat, add-
ed sublimity to terror-. Our ship was not an idle
spectator ; she plunged into the thickest of the fight,
and with wings furled and a steady keel, presented
her frowning mass of exulting courage and strength ;
she trembled but not with fear, she wavered but not
from want of valor. Wave after wave of the great
ocean rolled its massive strength against her, but she
met each successive shock with dauntless intrepid-
ity. Night at last closed over the conflict, and the
lightnings lit the watch-fires of the hostile squadrons.
The moon broke through a rift in the black masses,
28 DECK AND PORT.
and cast her soft light on the savage features of the
scene. So rose she over Thermopylae, and Waterloo,
and blushed at the havoc of human ambition.
Wednesday, Nov. 5. The gale of yesterday in-
creasing at night-fall, we sent down our fore and
mizen top-gallant masts, and put our ship under
close-reefed main top-sail, fore storm stay-sail, fore
and mizen try-sails. Thus she lay like a crouched
lion. Darkness was on the face of the deep, save
here and there, where a falling meteor threw its
transient light on the foaming crest of some towering
wave. As the soaring billow combed over, sheets
of lighted foam rolled down into the intervening gulfs
of night, and then succeeded a darkness that might
be felt. As the heavy bell struck the hours, the
voices of the watch from different parts of the ship
came like broken tones from unseen sources. The
hollow sound of the storm through the rigging, made
it seem as if the very winds were pouring our death-
dirge.
But a little after midnight the gale broke. It
broke suddenly as the hope of the wicked at death.
But the driving waves still remained, dark and tu-
multuous as the convulsions of guilt in despair. Our
.ship, without wind or sail to steady her, plunged
blindly about. She had scarcely a dry foot of plank
in her, and yet multitudes slept soundly that night.
PASSAGE TO RIO. 29
Such is life at sea. The resistless gale and the dead
calm follow each other with the fickleness of an un-
weaned child over its toys. And proud man submits,
as well he may ; for he cannot help it. We are al-
ways reconciled to that which is remediless. Even
death seems to lose its terrors in its inevitability.
Thursday, Nov. 6. At quarters, this morning,
one of the crew, John Amey, was missing at his post.
His name was called through the ship, but there was
no reply. All the decks and the hold were searched,
but he was nowhere to be found. He was last seen
between seven and eight bells of the mid-watch.
He had not been well since we left Norfolk, had
complained of his head, of an oppression on the
brain, and had evinced at times, in the incoherency of
his remarks, symptoms of insanity. He had most un-
doubtedly; in a paroxysm of this disease, jumped out
of one of the ports, and perished. The watch might
perhaps have heard him as he fell into the water, but
for the high sea that was running at the time.
He had shipped from Philadelphia, where he left a
sister, of whom he often spoke with tenderness and
affection. He was prompt and faithful in the dis-
charge of his duties, and had been promised promo-
tion. But he is now where the frowns or caresses
of fortune can never reach him. His sister will long
wait and watch for his return, and will long doubt
3*
30 DECK AND PORT.
in her amazement and tears the story of his death.
But he has gone to that silent bourne from which
nor wave, nor sail, nor mariner, has e'er returned,
nor one fond farewell word traversed the w^aters
back. He will reappear no more, till the signal-
trump of the archangel shall summon the sea to give
up her dead. He will then, wrapped in the winding-
sheet of the wave, appear at that tribunal where infi-
nite rectitude will sit in judgment on the deeds of
men.
Friday, Nov. 7. All hands were mustered this
morning on the spar-deck by order of the commo-
dore, and the untimely death of poor Amey was an-
nounced to the crew. The chaplain was called
upon for such remarks as the melancholy event sug-
gested. After briefly sketching the characteristics
of the deceased, his fidelity to duty, his love for his
sister, the awful malady of" which he died, he told the
crew that the sad event impressed one lesson with
fearful force upon all, and that was the necessity of
a preparation for death and the scenes that await us
beyond, while life and reason remain, — that as no
one knows the hour or circumstances of his death,
his only security lies in that thorough preparation
which no event can surprise. The crew listened
with attention, as they always do on such occasions ;
but impressions connected with death are often tran-
PASSAGE TO RIO. 31
sient with the sailor. His wild adventurous life is
so full of tragedy, that the dead drop through it like
pebbles through a stormy wave.
If you would see the most deep and wide impression
that death ever produces, go to a quiet country village.
You will hear it wiiispered from house to house, that
Henry or Mary is dead ! No long array of mourn-
ing-carriages darkens the street ; but a silent train is
there, moving in sym.pathy and grief to the grave.
All gather around that narrow cavern, and as the
coffin rumbles down to its rest, tears from the aged
and the young fall thick and fast, and each, as he
returns to his home, feels that a joy has been
extinguished, that a light has fled from his own
hearth.
Saturday, Nov. 8. Last evening, wdiile a fine
breeze was filling our sails, and the white caps were
dancing under the light of the stars, a cloud was seen
emerging above the bright line of the horizon. It
sailed steadily up ttie blue cope, and at last stationed
its dark distended form directly over our ship. All
eyes were turned to it, expecting a storm to explode
from its folds. But its contents fell in a sheet of
water that instantly drenched us all, and utterly an-
nihilated the breeze. The poor dog-vane fell mo-
tionless, as if suspended in a grave. The cloud now
dissolved, the light of the stars streamed down
32 DECK AND PORT.
through the radiant depths of air, and the crushed
wind, hke an unhorsed rider, resumed its career.
Man, when frustrated in his purposes, slowly, if
ever, recovers his courage and force ; but nature
instantly moves on again in her exulting strength.
What to her are crumbling temples and mouldering
pyramids ? She spreads her verdure over the ruins
of nations ! In her august domain empires rise and
fall with as little sensation as leaves put forth and
perish. She hushes the great dirge of human sor-
row. Her winds waltz over the graves of ages. All
are hers, and all, from the stars that tremble in the
blue vault of heaven to the groves of coral which
wave over the pavements of the unsounded sea, feel
the pulses which throb in her mighty heart. What,
then, frail man, is thy pride amid these stupendous
attributes and achievements of nature ? — a bubble
that breaks amid the eternal thunders of the deep.
Nov. 9. Sunday, and a soft breeze from the south-
west. The sparkling wave disturbs not the even
tenor of our keel. Our ship swings only to the
slow and solemn undulations of the ocean. No flap-
ing sail disturbed the quietude of our worship. We
sung " old hundred," the band performing the instru-
mental part. How impressive on the sounding sea
is that old majestic tune ! It seems in harmony with
the many-voiced waves around. The organ-tones
PASSAGE TO RIO. 33
of the mighty deep roll it to heaven with a fullness
and power which no cathedral choir can pour from
its melodious recesses. Nature througli all her vast
domains awakens and sustains the devotions of the
human heart. Our pilgrim fathers worshipped in
the sanctuary of the forest. The aisles of the deep
wood rang with their hymns of gratitude and praise.
Wliat to them were stately shi'ines,
Gorgeous dome or towering spii-e ?
'Neath their sturdy oaks and pines,
Rose their anthems, winged with jBre.
1 distributed tracts to-day to the crew — to all who
came to me for them; and few remained behind. It
would have encouraged the hearts of those who sup-
ply these sources of salutary instruction, to have
witnessed the eagerness with which our sailors took
them. In a few minutes there were three or four
hundred men on the decks of our ship reading
tracts ; each catching some thought which lures
from sin, and throws its clear and tender light on the
narrow path which leads to heaven.
Monday, Nov. 10. Our sweet southwest breeze
still continues, and we are moving on under an easy
sail seven knots the hour. There is not a greater
folly on the ocean than for a man-of-war to be
crowding on sail, as if speed were the all-predomi-
34 DECK AND PORT.
nant motive. This will do for a merchantman,
when a market is to be reached as soon as possible ;
but for a national ship, bound on a three-years'
cruise, it is a miserable exhibition of impatience.
Indeed, in all the affairs of human life moderation is
true philosophy. Our energies will give way soon
enough without any forced action. A spirit of rest-
lessness and discontent is one of the most striking
faults in the American character. We rush with
rail-road speed even on ruin. It is as if a man on
his way to the scaffold were to put his horse into a
gallop.
We have been for several days past in the vicinity
of water-spouts. One of them rose close upon our
larboard bow. It towered through several strata of
clouds, preserving through each its columnar form
till its summit was lost in the sky. We attempted
to near it sufficiently to bring it within the range of
a cannon-ball, but it seemed to elude our approach
as the rainbow the flying footsteps of childhood. Its
apparent vicinity was undoubtedly one of those op-
tical delusions so common to the phenomena of the
sea. The wonders of the deep belong to their Ma-
ker. Man may survey them as a worshipper, but
when he attempts to appropriate them, they fly his
profane grasp, disarm him with their terrors, or over-
power him with their magnificence. We filled away
and were again on our course.
PASSACJK TO RIO. 35
Tuesday, Nov. 11. This has been inspection-
day. Once a month each sailor is required to ex-
hibit his clothing to the officer who has charge of
the division to which he belongs. The object of this
inspection is to see that his clothes are in good con-
dition, to see if he wants any thing further for his
comfort, and to see that every article of apparel is
marked with his name. In this respect sailors are
to be treated as children. They require the same
constant care. They are the most thoughtless, im-
provident beings in the world ; and if left to them-
selves, will be, in some instances, v^ithout a decent
article of clothing, and in others with their whole
wages in their clothes-bag. There is no subject on
which officers of the navy should exercise so much
patience, and such sound paternal judgment. It is a
work which brings its own reward in the conscious-
ness of the benefits conferred.
The life of a sailor is brief enough at best. Even
with all the care which you can bestow upon his
habits, and with all the restraints you can exert upon
his headlong career, he soon reaches his goal. You
seldom meet with a gray headed sailor. Long before
age can have frosted his locks, the icy hand of death
has been laid on his heart. He dies in the midst of
his days, and often in his full strength. He perishes
like his ship, which the tempest hath cast on the
rocks. Could the wave which sepulchres his form
36 DECK AND PORT.
be the winding-sheet of his soul, our solicitude for
him might be less ; but he has a spirit that will sing
in worlds of light or wail in regions of wo, when the
dirge of the deep sea is over.
Wednesday, Nov. 12. Last evening we had an-
other tropical shower. It fell as if some atmospheric
lake had burst its cloudy boundary. In a moment
all exposed to it were drenched. It passed, and the
moon circled up out of the sea full of mellow light.
I love that orb on land, but more at sea. On shore,
other objects relieve your solitude, but on the ocean
it is all that seems to break the desolation which
would else be universal. I have seen sailors sit and
look at it by the hour. Few of them understand the
laws which regulate its phenomena, but all feel its
influence. Nature unrolls her treasures to the sim-
plest of her children.
This morning a fine breeze visited us from the
northwest, the first that has cheered us from that
quarter. We have been on the starboard tack ever
since we left Norfolk. We who occupy the larboard
state-rooms, now congratulated ourselves that in the
event of a blow, we should have dry quarters, and
our starboard companions would take their turn at
leaking ports. But this self-gratulation was hardly
over, when the wind chopped about to its old quar-
ter, and our exultation, like most exhibitions of self-
PASSAGE TO RIO. 37
ish delight, proved premature. Our frigate, with a
breeze that scarcely crisps the sea, knots her hun-
dred miles a day. This, before steam began to anni-
hilate space, would have been considered very fair
travelling. But now it is a tortoise by the side of
an antelope. Four bells have struck — my light
must be extinguished, and I can either walk the
deck or turn in for the night.
Thursday, Nov. 13th. I rise with the sun, and,
like that stern old monarch, from a salt bath. Like
him, too, I take another on retiring to rest. Here,
I suppose, ends the resemblance between us, except
that both have some spots. They who go to sea for
their health should rise with the sun, bathe in salt
water, and inhale the fresh atmosphere an hour be-
fore breakfast. They should also bathe before they
retire to rest. Salt water, the chafing towel, and
fresh air, are the restoratives most to be relied on,
and the very restoratives which a lazy invalid will
first neglect. Were I to omit these, I should hardly
live long enough to reach our next port. The in-
valid should confine himself to a spare diet, and take
no stimulants. His only tonic should be the pure
salt atmosphere of the sea. Wine, brandy, and por-
ter are sufficiently injurious on land, but at sea they
carry disease and death in their train.
We have had this evening an eclipse of the moon ;
4
38 DECK AMD PORT.
only a narrow rim of the orb escaped the dark shad-
ow of our earth. Our sailors, not anticipating this
eclipse, could not at first account for the disappear-
ing light. They saw the slender spars and tracery
of the ship becoming momentarily less distinct and
visible, but knew not from whence the shadow fell.
A few of them, better versed in lunar observations,
explained to the rest the phenomenon. They said
the earth had shoved a part of her black hull between
us and the moon. But when asked why she had
done this, the reason assigned was, that the moon had
probably got a little out of her reckoning, and in
attempting to tack had missed stays.
Friday, Nov. 14. We have now been fourteen days
at sea, and have sailed eighteen hundred miles. A
vast sheet of water spreads between us and our
homes, but a greater between us and our port of
destination. Our fresh prpvisions still hold out, but
the appearance of a junk of corned beef on our table
every day indicates the gradual approach of short
commons. Still it will be some time before we reach
that last dish of gastronomic desperation — ^lobscouse.
We have an experienced caterer, a provident stew-
ard, and an ingenious cook. With the three we
feel pretty safe. I have been at sea in four or
jfive national ships, and have never found in any,
after the second week out, a table so well supplied as
PASSAGE TO RIO. 39
ours. Still our variety is effected in a great measure
by the ingenuity of our steward and cook.
The culinary art is forced into its highest degree
of perfection, and achieves its last triumph at sea.
The cook, who, in a Parisian restaurant, can make a
palatable soup from the carcass of a crow that has
perished of inanition, is entitled to but little praise in
comparison with him who can raise a good soup at
sea after the third week out. The nautical cook
has seemingly nothing left for his pot but the recol-
lections of his coop. Recollections make very good
poetry, but they simmer badly into a soup. The
attenuation is too fine even for homoeopathic gastron-
omy. It would do, perhaps, for Bishop Berkeley's
ideal world. I rather think the worthy bishop must
have formed that theory at sea after the third week
out. It certainly suits man in that condition. The
unstableness of a thing entitles it to faith.
Saturday, Nov. 15. To-day our ship has been
holystoned from stem to stern. A person who has
stood in the silent excavations of Herculaneum, and
heard the carriages rattling overhead, can have
some idea of the sounds which those rumbling stones
produce on the decks of a ship. The whole ship is
converted into a floating Babel, and w^orse indeed,
unless the strokes of the gravel be comprehended in
the vocal jargon of the tower. But we shall have
40 DECK AND PORT.
our compensation for this in decks so clean that a
handkerchief might be swept over them without soil-
ing its whiteness.
Nothing on board a man-of-war requires such un-
remitted attention as cleanliness. It puts to the last
test the most indomitable purpose. Without it, a
ship soon becomes intolerable. Without it, sickness
would ensue; some epidemic would sweep half the
crew to the grave. And yet nine- tenths of our
sailors are so inconsiderate, that if left to themselves
they would exercise no precautions on the subject.
This renders the most careful supervision of officers
indispensable. Negligence in this department soils
every laurel he can win on the deck. It is like that
louse which Burns saw climbing up a lady's bonnet
in church. This allusion reminds one of an- anecdote
related of Lord Byron and Lady Blessington. Her
ladyship had taken something that the poet had said
in high dudgeon, but dismissed it with the fling that
she " didn't care three skips of a louse for his lord-
ship." To which the sarcastic poet retorted in the
couplet —
" I forgive the dear lady what she has said,
A woman will talk of what runs in her head."
Sunday, Nov. 16. The Sabbath has returned, and
we have had divine service. Last night we dis-
covered a sail on our starboard-bow, close hauled
TASSAC^E Tf) RIO. J 1
upon her wind. This morning we tacked ship and
brought her to. She proved to be a brig from
Norfolk, bound to Rio do Janeiro. She had been
fifty-two days out, with light head-winds. We wished
the captain a pleasant voyage, and parted company.
We were in hopes she might prove a craft bound to
some port in the United States, and that she would
take letters back from us. We were disappointed ;
our friends must wait for letters from our port of
destination. It will probably be six months from our
departure before they will get a line from us.
You who cannot leave your wives and children for
a week, without intelligence from them, go to sea
with the prospect that we have, of not hearing from
them for a year. The truth is, none but old bachelors
and hen-pecked husbands should go to sea. The
latter flies from persecution, the former from that
wretchedness which a sight of real domestic happi-
ness inflicts. The bhss of Eden made even Satan
more wretched than he was before. But the ocean is
itself a rich domain. The treasures of empires lie in
its depths. The wrecks of the richest argosies are
hers ; and her waves roll over the unsurrendered
forms of matchless beauty. She gives back nought
that comes within her vast embrace. Her great seal
of proprietorship will be broken only by the thun-
ders of the last trump.
4*
42 DECK AND PORT.
Monday, Nov. 17. Our ship has been tantalized
all day with a light head-wind — ^just one of those
winds that are but little better than none ; the only
advantage it has over a dead calm is the air it af-
fords. As for progress, we might as well be
" A painted ship upon a painted ocean."
How dependent is a ship on the elements ! Let the
winds refuse to visit us, and this noble frigate would
never move from her present position ; she would
rot down piece-meal where she is now lying, with
the bleaching bones of five hundred men on her
decks. But the winds are at the bidding of Him
whose pavilion is in the clouds, and whose mandates
are nature's resistless law. May we ever live in
humble submission to His will, and rejoice that He
reigns ; feeling fully assured that His measures are
dictated by infinite wisdom, and by an unerring re-
gard to the happiness of His creatures.
I found in the sick-bay to-day a patient laboring
under a typhoid fever, and apparently near his end.
He spoke to me of his mother and his sisters, and
tears filled his eyes. The first being that rushes to
the recollections and heart of a sailor, smitten with
disease at sea, is his mother. She still clings to his
memory and affection in the midst of all the forget-
fulness and hardihood induced by a roving life. The
last message he leaves is for her; his last dying
PASSAGE TO RIO. 43
whisper breathes her name. The mother as she in-
stills the lessons of piety and filial obligation upon
the heart of her infant son, should always feel that
her labor is noi in vain. She may drop into her
grave, but she has left behind influences that will
work for her. The bow is broken, but the arrow is
sped and will do its office.
Tuesday, Nov. 18. Another day of light airs.
Our sails hang as pertinaciously to our masts as a
veil over the features of one whose imaginary beauty
has touched your heart. We discovered another
sail to-day over our weather-bow, hull down. Con-
jecture makes her the Courier, which sailed from
Hampton Roads two or three days before us. There
is an interest in speaking a vessel at sea, which they
who dwell on land can hardly realize. These nau-
tical greetings are all that break the vast solitude of
the ocean. Without them a ship would be more
lonely than the solitary traveller on the desert of Sa-
hara, for he will now and then encounter a gazelle.
A sailor's life is one of constant privations. He
makes his meals from bread which the hammer can
scarcely break, and from nieat often as juiceless and
dry as the bones which it feebly covers. The fresh
products of the garden and the fruits of the field
have all been left behind. As for a bowl of milk,
which the child of the humblest cottager can bring
44 DECK AND PORT.
to its lips, it is as much beyond his reach as the nec-
tar which sparkled in the goblets of the fabled divini-
ties on Ida. When Adam went forth from his lost
Eden, under the frown of God, he had still a con-
fiding companion at his side, to share with him the
sorrows of his lot, and he still found some flowers
amid the briers and brambles which infested his
path ; but the sailor finds no flowers springing up
along the pathway of the sea, and he has no con-
soling companion there, except in his dreams of some
far-off" shore.
Wednesday, Nov. 19. We have three sailors in
the sick-bay to-day, in a very critical condition.
They are all good men, so far at least as ship duty
is concerned. Their death would make a serious
breach in our crew. Our intelligent surgeon and his
faithful assistants are devoted to them. They are
not left night or day, for an' hour, without a medical
attendant. Commodore Stockton went into the sick-
bay to-day to see them. He never forgets the sailor.
He pities when others might reproach, forgives when
others might denounce, and never abandons him
even though he should abandon himself; and yet he
exacts prompt obedience. His discipline, and that
of Capt. Du Pont, is derived in a great measure from
moral influences, the power of correct example and
the pressure of circumstance.
PASSAGE TO RIO. 45
Make the moral mechanism of a ship Hke a piece
of well-contrived machinery, and but few blows will
be required to keep it in order. But this requires
energy in the details. It is much easier to flog a
man who has committed an error, than it is to train
him to avoid that error. Indolence flies to the lash,
enlightened activity to a system of correct training,
which is to be pressed at all points. And this train-
ing must be consistent with itself. It will not suc-
ceed if it is to be broken in upon constantly by brute
force, or by language as disreputable to the officer
who uses it, as it is unjust and provoking to the men
to whom it is addressed. Profane or opprobrious
epithets are a mockery of all discipline, except that
which is enforced by the lash. An officer incapable
of enforcing any other discipline, is a calamity to the
service.
Thursday, Nov. 20. We discovered, this morn-
ing, a brig on our weather-beam, standing down for
us, and hove-to with our main top-sail to the mast.
She run up Danish colors, and in an hour hove-to at
a cable's length under our lee- quarter. We lowered
a boat and boarded her. She proved to be the brig
Mariah, forty days from Rio Grande, bound to Ham-
burg. We inquired for fruit, but she had none. The
captain wished to correct his reckoning, and well he
might, for he was seven degrees out of his longitude.
46 DECK AND PORT.
Mr. Beale, our second master, took passage in her
for the United States. It was arranged between him
and the captain of the brig, that he should be put on
board the first vessel that they might fall in with
bound to an American port, and if they fell in with
none before that, he should be landed at Dover, Eng-
land. The captain must have had a very flexible
policy. When it was understood that letters could
be sent back, pens that had slumbered for weeks
woke up. In half an hour the commodore had fin-
ished his pommunications, our home-letters were
written, and Mr. Beale was passing over the side.
In reaching the boat, a box of segars and a revolving-
pistol fell overboard. Strange as it may seem, the
pistol floated a moment, and was saved, while the
segars were lost. I watched the letter-bag, saw that
safe in, thought of the satisfaction it would give, and
forgot the Havanas. Though the sea was running
high, Mr. Beale reached thp brig safely, and our boat
returned. The little vessel then squared away, and
we made sail ; and thus we parted, the one for Ham-
burg, the other for Rio. How the paths of life cross
each other!
Friday, Nov. 21. Poor Spillier, whose critical
condition I have watched for several days in the sick
bay, has passed beyond hope. His disease has passed
into pneumonia, and his lungs have already ceased,
PASSAGE TO RIO. 47
in a great measure, to perform their functions. I
told him to-day he could not live. The sad intelli-
gence brought tears to his eyes. He said it was
dreadful to die away from his friends, and be buried
in the sea. I told him his mother died a good
Christian and had gone to heaven, and he could go
there and meet her. But he must bring all the
errors and sins of his life, and with sincere sorrow
and contrition, lay them at the foot of the cross,
and implore divine forgiveness. He was silent
for a few minutes, and then uttered a brief and
appropriate prayer, confessing his manifold trans-
gressions, and casting himself on the compassion of
Christ.
He was silent again, and seemed absorbed in
thought. The expressions of mental anguish and
hope alternated over his pale features like cloud and
sunlight over a landscape. He now became com-
posed, and opening, his large swimming eyes upon
me, thanked me for my attentions to him, and re-
quested me to write his sisters ; . to give them his
dying love ; to say that he died in Christ and hoped
to go to heaven, where he should see their mother.
He told me that the dread of being buried at sea had
left him ; that it was no matter where his poor body
was laid, if his soul was saved ; that his blessed
mother would know him and would be the first to
greet him. How the ties of a mother's love fasten
48 DECK AND PORT.
upon her child, soothing the couch of pain and tri-
umphing over the terrors of the grave !
Saturday, Nov/ 22. We have a stiff wind to-day
from the southeast, and we are running, close hauled,
under reefed top-sails. The sea is high, and every
now and then a huge wave throws its curling crest
through some half-closed port, as a wolf pounces into
a sheep-fold, or as the arch adversary o'erleaped the
green wall of Eden. Though we are any thing but
Eden, with its beauty and its bliss : our first parent
would have had but little cause of regret, if, in re-
signing Eden, he had relinquished only the habitudes
of a sea-life. A wigwam might have consoled him
for his loss. No Milton had sung — •
" Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden." '
The truth is, man was never intended for a nauti-
cal being. He was made perfect, but he has sought
out many inventions ; and this going to sea is one of
them. His pathway on the deep is hedged about
with storms, icebergs, water-spouts, and breakers.
But, in the strange perversity of his nature, he perse-
veres through the whole of them. He knows and
feels that he is a fool in his nautical obstinacy, and
PASSAGE TO RIO. 49
yet he clings to it, as the inebriate to the cup that
consumes his vitals. He seems to court hardship for
its own sake, and to court peril for the excitement
which it bestows. But for the indecency of the
thing he would toll, in advance, his own funeral-bell,
that its fearful monotone might tremble on his heart
before it should be cold. And he would almost dig
his own grave, that he might hear his coffin rumbling
down to its rest.
Sunday, Nov. 23. Another Sabbath morn has
poured its holy light on land and sea. On land, the
stir of the village and the tumult of the great city
have ceased. Men walk softly in the prelude of that
rest which remains to the good. Sacred truth melts
on their hearts like dew. No community in a Chris
tian land can be utterly bereft of moral influence. If
it has none from within, there is a pressure from
without. The moral as well as physical atmosphere
tends to an equilibrium. Righteous Lot may have
fled from Sodom, but his warning voice rolled back
upon the wind to the doomed city.
But a ship is cut off* by its position from all extra-
neous influences. It is like a ball suspended in the
centre of a hollow sphere. This isolation has placed
it beyond the reach, and seemingly beyond the sym-
pathies, of those who dwell on the land. They have
regarded it as a thing apart from themselves, a thing
50 DECK AND PORT.
with which they had no common bond of brothei-
hood, and they have abandoned it to its calamities
and its crimes. When guilt and misery have done
their worst, when the pirate-flag has been unfurled
where the insignia of commerce streamed before, in-
stead of accusing their own apathy and negligence,
they have seemed to regard the terrible spectacle as
some singular exemplification of divine justice — as
some malignant star accursed and made
" A wandering hell in the eternal space."
Monday, Nov. 24. Yesterday morning, as the
men left their hammocks, the ominous whisper went
round — "Spillier is dead!" He had died during the
night, while storm and darkness rested on the face
of the deep. Last evening, as the sun was going
down, we consigned him to his floating grave. The
deep-toned call, " All hands to bury the dead !" went
like a knell through the ship. The body, wrapped
in that hammock in which the deceased had swung
to the force of the wind, was borne by his mess-
mates, preceded by the chaplain of the ship, from
the gun-deck up the forward hatch, and round the
capstan to the lee-side ; the band, with muffled
drums, playing the " dead-march," and the marine-
guard presenting arms. The commodore, the cap-
tain, and officers of the ship, took their position near
the main-mast ; the crew were stationed forward.
PASSAGE TO RIO. 51
Then commenced the bm'ial-service : " I am the
resurrection and the Hfe, saith the Lord ; he that be-
Heveth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live ;
and whosoever believeth in me shall never die."
When the solemn sentence was uttered, " We com-
mit this body to the deep," the inner end of the plank
was lifted, and down its steep plane moved the ham-
mocked dead, and a hoarse hollow sound followed
the heavy plunge. The waters closed over the dis-
appearing form — the ship glided on as before. Then,
with impressive effect, came in the words, " Looking
for the general resurrection in the last day, and the
life of the world to come, through our Lord Jesus
Christ, at whose second coming in glorious majesty
to judge the world, the earth and 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 benediction followed, and the
crew returned in silence to their stations.
Reader, when you die, it will be, I trust, in the
sabbath calm of your hushed chamber ; but the poor
sailor dies at sea between the narrow decks of his
rolling vessel. The last accents that will reach
your ears will be those of kindness and affection,
such as flow from a mother's care, and a sister's
solicitude ; the last sounds that reach the ears of the
52 DECK AND PORT.
dying sailor are the hoarse murmurs of that wave
which seems to complain at the delay of its victim.
You will be buried beneath the green tree, where
love and grief may go to plant their flowers and
cherish your virtues ; but the poor sailor is hearsed
in the dark depths of the ocean, there to drift about,
in its under-currents, to the great judgment-day.
Alas, for the poor sailor ! the child of misfortune,
impulse, and error : his brief life filled with privation,
hardship, and peril ; his grave in the foaming deep !
Though man pity him not, may God remember his
•weaknesses and trials in the day of his last account.
Tuesday, Nov. 25th. We have had for two days
past a steady breeze from the southeast, and have
run an average of seven knots the hour. We are
now in the hope of making Rio in twenty days from
this time. This will make our whole passage forty-
six days, — not a bad run., The Columbia was ninety-
three days making the same passage ; but it was at
the most unfavorable season of the year. To take
this as a specimen of her sailing would be doing
great injustice to that noble frigate.
Wednesday, Nov. 26th. We are to-day in lat.
18" 49 N., long. 33° 46' w., with a light steady breeze
from the southeast. We are knocked off to the west
of our course. We ought to head east of south, even
PASSAGE TO RIO. 53
with the variation in our favor. We are anxious to
cross the line at twenty-seven or eight, to avoid the
head winds of Cape St. Roque. We are where we
ought to have the northeast trades, but we have not
yet had a puff of wind from that quarter. Unless our
present breeze hauls or dies we shall be obliged to
tack, which will be about as agreeable as running
back in a railroad-car to make way for a locomotive
ahead, when you are in haste to get on. But we
have one thing to console us, it is all in the cruise,
so let the winds blow as they list.
The hammers of our blacksmiths are heard this
morning, the first time for some days. They have
been silenced on account of the sick ; but they are
now going as if determined to make up lost time.
Iron takes almost every shape under their blows.
A ship's blacksmith has no such word as can't in his
vocabulary^ He takes his order, and tries to shape
his iron accordingly, though he may know it to be
utterly impracticable. We had on board the Natchez
an old time-piece which had broken its main-spring.
The first lieutenant, for fun, told the blacksmith to
take it to the anvil and put a new main-spring in it.
Hearing the puff of the bellows and the click of the
tiammer, I went forward, where I found the old
watch taken to pieces, and the worthy representative
of Vulcan, beating with his full force a piece of iron.
" What are you doing with this time-piece ?" I in-
5*
54 DECK AND PORT.
quired. " Making a kinked-up sort of a thing, sir, to
make it go," was the sardonic reply.
Thursday, Nov. 27. The wind hauled round into
our teeth last evening. We tacked to the east, and
headed east by north through the night. But the
wind soon became too light for us to make much
progress in any direction. Instead of trade-winds,
these fickle puffs ought to be called the variables.
No coquette was ever half so inconstant. The only
certain thing about them is the lightning, which has
been throwing its cables of flame from its aerial
craft. I have often thought a thunder-cloud might
be the chariot of the prince of darkness. But let
that pass : digression is my besetting infirmity.
This morning, large masses of cloud broke the ho-
rizon in the east with their dark distended forms.
The sun coming up behind them, converted their
jagged outline into fire, and poured over their steep
precipices torrents of flame. We predicted a strong
wind from that quarter. But one battlement after
another tumbled from this cloudy fortress, till only
a few tottering bastions remained, and these soon
dissolved,
" And like an unsubstantial vision faded,
Left not a wreck beliind."
We felt as much disappointed as a confident lover
PASSAGE TO RIO.
getting a blank refusal. How singular it is that the
enamored youth always ascribes the first negative
to female delicacy, and the second to the hostility of
some one of her friends. He still believes she loves
him, and would say so if her heart could only speak
out. Perhaps this amiable weakness has been placed
in our nature to relieve disappointment, and suppress
an indignant tone from wounded pride.
Friday, Nov. 28. This morning our vanished
clouds reappeared on the eastern horizon, and as
they lifted, a strong wind streamed down from that
quarter, and we were able to lay our course. We
shook the only reef out of our top-sails, and at seven
bells set our top-gallant-sails. The sky had that
light haze upon it peculiar to the tropics. The sun
melts through it, instead of throwing its full burning
beams. The appearance of the atmosphere resem-
bles in some respects that of the Indian summer in
other climes, but it is more humid and softer. In the
afternoon the wind became so stiff that our ship
fairly staggered under it. Her lee-guns knocked the
caps from the waves. We now took in our top-
gallant-sails. At sunset we took a reef in our top-
sails and courses, but still plunged ahead sufficiently
fast.
Our frigate returned from her last cruise with a
brilliant reputation for speed, — a reputation which
56 DECK AND PORT.
she has not sustained thus far with us. Some as-
cribe this loss of character to a foul bottom ; but the
three thousand miles which we have run, must have
pretty well scoured her copper. Others ascribe it to
her lying so deep ; but this difficulty every day is
removing in the consumption of provisions and
water. -We shall soon be able to settle the truth or
fallacy of this supposition. The truth is, a ship often
loses her sailing and recovers it again without any
satisfactory reason. The United States, one of the
best sailors in the service, once lost her reputation
entirely, but recovered it again ; and our frigate will,
I doubt not, regain her laurels. Our commodore and
captain are studying her points as anxiously as a
gentleman of the turf those of a race-horse that has
had the misfortune to be beaten once.
Saturday, Nov. 29th. Our east wind still holds
steady and strong ; we are running nine and ten
knots on our* course. This has put us all in fine
spirits, notwithstanding the wet condition of our
frigate. Only give a sailor a good ten-knot breeze
on his course, and he wont complain, if he wades in
water to the chin. Some of us had a fine shower-
bath to-day. We were reading on the half deck be-
tween the weather guns, w^hen we shipped a tremen-
dous sea through the ports, which half buried us in
its surge. Our chairs slipped up, and we were tum-
PAS3AGE TO RIO 57
bling about like porpoises. One of the crew, at
least, laughed in his sleeve.
This reminds me of an occurrence on board the
Vincennes. We had been in a gale for two days,
which at last broke suddenly, leaving a high sea.
Governor V. S., of Santa Cruz, wbom we were
taking out as passenger, when the gal^ Iiad broken,
sent an invitation to the wardroom officers to come
to the cabin and take a glass of whisky-punch with
him. Total abstinence not being at that time the
order of the day, we all went up. The governor
stated that he had one bottle of very old Irish
whisky with him, which would make a capital
punch. Tumblers were ordered ; the hot water,
whisky, and sugar, in due proportions, mixed and
stirred. Now, said the governor, please take your
glasses, gentlemen, and I will propose one sentiment;
each lifted his glass, when a tremendous sea struck
us under the counter, and pitched us all in a mass
together on the floor. Whisky, glasses, and senti-
ment all came down in one crash. The first thing
I heard was the exclamatory inquiry of the governor,
— " Captain Shubrick, are we still afloat ?''
Sunday, Nov. 30th. We were apprehensive that
our sabbath worship would be broken in upon, by a
dash of rain from some of the clouds that were
driving over our ship. But only a few drops fell.
58 DECK AND PORT.
Sailors have but very little respect for fair-weather
Christians. They believe the course to heaven lies
through a stormy sea, and that a man to get there
must battle with hostile elements. They like plain,
direct preaching, full of heart and strength. They
cannot tolerate a display of literature, or metaphy-
sical acumenj in a sermon. They know they are
wicked and unfit for heaven, and they wish to be
told so. The man who should tell them otherwise
would at once forfeit their confidence.
A gentleman of the Universalist persuasion was
once appointed a chaplain in the navy, and re-
ported for duty on board one of our ships fitting
for sea. His creed soon became known to the
sailors, and was freely discussed in their messes.
" If we are all so good that we are going to heaven,"
said an old tar, " what is the use in overhaulincr
one's sins? it only gives a man a bloody sight of trouble
for nothing." " If we are. all on the right tack," said
another, " and must bring up at the right port, what
is the use in preaching and praying about it ?" " If we
trust this doctrine, and it don't turn out true, there'll
be hell to pay," exclaimed a third. These sentiments
were shared in by the whole crew, and soon became
known to the newly-appointed chaplain. He resign-
ed his commission, and showed a considerateness
in doing it which entitles him to respect. Sailors,
ignorant and wicked as they are, can never be made
PASSAGE TO RlU- 59
to believe that the good and bad bring up at Inst in
the same port.
Monday, Dec. 1*. Our fine east wind, which has
been shoving us on at the rate of two hundred and
thirty miles a day, was crossed this afternoon by a
squall from the south, and knocked under. We
watched its overthrow with grief, and expected for
some time that it would rally and overpower its an-
tagonist. But victory remained with the foe, and
we were driven from our course. In the mean time,
a tropical shower, falling without premonition, has
drenched all on duty to the skin.
These reverses fall hardest upon the gentlemen
among the crew. We have one, an Englishman by
birth, who was living a few months since at the
Astor House, drinking the choicest wines the hotel
could furnish, and promenading Broadway in white
kid gloves, with gold-headed cane and quizzing-glass.
But suddenly, from some freak of nature, he threw
himself into our ship as a common sailor. He is
about twenty years of age, full six feet high, and ex-
tremely well proportioned. He has a small foot and
hand, an open cheerful countenance, large floating
eye, and hair that falls in showering ringlets. He is
willing and prompt in the performance of every duty.
But what a transition ! The Astor House for a wet
rolling deck, its beds of down for a hammock, its rich
60 DECK AND PORT.
viands and desserts for salt junk and hard tack. The
last London cut in coat, pants, and beaver, for a blue
roundabout, ducks, and tarpaulin, and a gold-headed
cane for a tarred rope ! And yet he is cheerful, and
seemingly ambitious of excelling as a sailor. How
nature accommodates herself to circumstances !
Tuesday, Dec. 2. Poor Lynch, one of our crew,
from the state of Maine, died last evening, and we
have to-day, as the sun was setting, committed his
remains to the deep. He has left a pious mother, of
whom he often spoke to me in his last sickness.
She seemed to be the strongest tie that fastened him
to earth. Her early lessons of piety awoke with
singular power as his end approached. They crowd-
ed thick and fast upon his heart ; he clung to them
as something that could stay him, something that
could lift him above present suffering and future ap-
prehension. He died under the light of these senti-
ments, and in an humble hope of the happiness which
they promise to the pure and meek.
At the call, " All hands to bury the dead !" the
officers and crew took their stations. The body,
wound in its hammock, and preceded by the chap-
lain, was brought up the fore hatch and round the
capstan to the waist, the band playing the " dead-
march," and the marine-guard presenting arms. The
service was read, and the hollow sound of tbe ham-
PASSAGE TO RIO. " 61
mocked dead descending through the sea, told that
another of our crew had left lis for ever. This is the
third that we have lost within less than thirty days.
The death of a man in a crowded town is little felt,
but in a ship's crew it leaves a vacuum which all
observe. Still, these bereavements are so blended
with the vicissitudes of a sea life, that they fail to
make a permanent impression ; they are felt deeply
for the moment and then glide away.
" As from the -mng the sky no scar retains,
The parted -wave no furrow from the keel,
So dies in human hearts the thought of death."
Wednesday, Dec. 3. Our trade-wind has left us
utterly. We have had a regular Irishman's hurri-
cane— up and down. The rain fell in a perfect
avalanche ; with all the scuppers open, the water
became, in a few minutes, almost knee deep on the
spar-deck. The roUing of the ship threw it over the
combings of the hatches, and down it came upon the
gun-deck, and then took another leap below, flood-
ing the ward-room, steerage, and berth-deck. With
the hatches covered, and the external air excluded,
the heat below soon became intolerable. Our choice
lay between being roasted or drenched. Most of us
preferred the latter, and emerged into the drifting
sea above.
In the midst of these troubles, our cook came aft
6
62 DECK AND POUT.
and informed our caterer that the water came in
such floods into the galley, that he could not keep
fire enough alive to light his pipe by. This was
good news for our last pig, who looked out from his
gratings as one that has another day to live. I
always pity the last tenant of the coop and sty. He
looks so lonely, so disconsolate in the midst of that
voiceless solitude, which the untimely death of his
companions has spread around him, that I could
never have the heart to kill him. It seems like ex-
tinguishing the last of a race. Indeed, I would never
take the life of any thing, unless it was in the way
in which the Irishman thought his squirrel might
have been killed. Two of them were gunning, and
had treed a large squirrel upon a very high limb.
One of them, a little more experienced at the busi-
ness, lifted and fired his old Queen's-arm ; down
came the squirrel with a bone-breaking crash; when
the other exclaimed, " An' faith, you might as well
have spared your pooder, the fall itself would ha'
kilt him."
Thursday, Dec. 4. We caught, two days since,
a stormy petrel. As the bird was brought on board,
the old sailors around shook their heads with omin-
ous looks of dissatisfaction. " We'll have a blow for
that," said an old salt ; and sure enough, before the
wings of the petrel were dry a storm set in. " We'll
TASSAGE TO RIO. G3
have no more fair weather," said another, " till that
petrel is put back into the sea." " I knew a ship,"
exclaimed a third, " that had a forty days' gale for
having killed a petrel ; and if that bird dies on board,
we'll escape a wreck by the skin of our teeth, or
we'll rot down in a dead calm." Our storm con-
tinued without any token of abatement, and last
evening the ominous bird was returned in safety to
its element. The clouds soon swept past, the sun
emerged into a bright sapphire sky, and a leading
wind from the southeast sprung up.
How far the return of the petrel to the sea in-
fluenced this auspicious change in the elements, I
leave to the decision of those who have more or less
philosophy than myself I must confess I w^as glad
to see the petrel go back. There is a sacredness
attached to this bird that should exempt it from vio-
lence. It is supposed to be the form in which the
spirit of some one, who has been sepulchred in the
sea, still floats in troubled light, and that when its
penance is passed, it will be translated to some higher
form which the gale and the breaker can never reach.
This may all be superstition, but it is a glimmering
of the great truth of man's immortality. He who
believes that man can survive death in the shape of
a iDird, is more than half way to the belief that he can
survive in the form of an angel.
It is a tranquil eve ; our ship is gliding quietly on ,
64 DECK AND P 3RT.
my thoughts, unoccupied here, run warmly back to
those left behind — to the loved and lost •
CATHARA.
The evening star sleeps in the moon's pale rim,
And slumber rocks the weary world to rest ;
Nor wakes a sound except the vesper hymn
Of pines, that mm-mur on the mountain's crest ;
And now, at tliis lone hour, fond thoughts of thee
Melt o'er my heart as music on the sea.
But thou hast gone, hast wuiged thy silent flight
O'er Death's dim waters to the spirit-land ;
Thy faith discerned its hills of purple hght
Ere yet thy footstep left our mortal strand ;
As closed the shadows on thy farewell track,
A wliisper of thy bhss came floating back.
It came too soft and low for Echo's breath,
And died, with tender transport in its tone ;
But ere it ceased, it reached the ear of Death,
And shook the sable monarch on his throne ;
He knew the omen, wliich .that whisper gave,
Would burst one day in thunder from the grave.
Friday, Dec. 5. We are to-day in lat. S° 23' n.,
long. 28° 20' w. We have a steady but light breeze
from the southeast, and are heading south by south-
west, with half a point westerly variation. We shall
cross the line if this wind holds, and there is now
little prospect of change, at 30°. This is three or
four degrees further west than most ships bound to
PASSAGE TO KIO. 65
Rio de Janeiro venture to cross it at. Still, unless
we encounter westerly currents on the other side of
the line, we expect to be able to double Cape San
Roque, and proceed directly to our port. Should
we be disappointed, we shall be obliged to make a
long tack to the northeast, which may keep us many
days longer at sea. But we are going to make the
experiment, and must bide the consequences. Noth-
ing can be less certain than a ship's progress. Even
those winds deemed regular and almost infallible by
mariners, seem now and then infected with the last
degree of fickleness and perversity.
We have now been thirty-six days at sea without
an isle or promontory to break the dim horizon, or
relieve the vast rolling waste of waters. Harmony
and good feeling prevail among the officers. There
has not been the slightest clash of feeling between
our Captain and those who carry on duty under him.
And yet the most energetic forms of discipline have
been maintained. The crew are cheerful and active.
Punishments have been very rare. The cats have
been used but once since we weighed anchor. Ef-
ficiency has been secured by a thorough attention to
details on the part of Mr. Livingston, our first lieu-
tenant, and the watch officers.
Saturday, Dec. 6. We are now within one de-
gree of the equator. But the wind having hauled
6Q DECK AND PORT.
round one point east of south, we have been obliged
to go upon our starboard tack to avoid crossing it
too far to the west. ^ We shall probably have made
sufficient easting by to-morrow noon to make a dash
over it. Then for a new hemisphere and new con-
stellations. But we have a splendid moon to-night,
directly in the centre of the great dome of heaven.
Our masts cast no shadow. This position gives the
moon a much greater apparent distance than it has
when near the horizon. It now seems as some
heaven-born sphere, that, having in vain tried to win
you from the cares of earth, has gone back with mel-
ancholy countenance to its choiring sisterhood on
high.
" There's not the smallest orb, which thou behold'st,
But m his motion, like an angel, sings,
Still choiring to the young-eyed cherubim."
We had a visit, a few evenings since, from a whale.
We were lying in a dead calm, when this monster
saluted us like a locomotive blowing off steam. The
column of brine which he threw up with his great
forcing-pump, fell in a sparkling shower. Man con-
structs his fountain with great cost and pains, and
when all is done, it can play only in that one place :
but *he whale moves about, throwing up his brilliant
cascade at will in every zone. The springs may
%il, the streams forsake their channels, but this show-
PASSAGE TO RIO. G7
ering column still soars from a source exhaustless as
the mighty deep. Give me the whale and ocean for
a fountain, and you may do what you please with
your drizzling pipes and frog-ponds.
Sunday, Dec. 7th. At eleven o'clock, the tolling
of the ship's bell announced the hour of worship.
The officers took their accustomed station on the
starboard- quarter ; the marines on the poop-deck ;
the crew on the larboard-quarter, stretching back to
the waist and circling the main-mast to the opposite
side ; the band and singers between the after-hatches ;
Mr. Ten Eyche and Mr. Turrel, with their families,
forming a group between the officers and marines.
The commodore, being informed by the captain that
the crew were assembled for worship, appeared and
took his station on the left of the officers. The
chaplain then took his station at the capstan, w^hich
was covered with a large flag, when the band played
the impressive air to the words, " O come and let us
worship."
We sung the missionary hymn — " From Green-
land's icy mountain" — a hymn for which sailors
have the greatest partiaHty. The splendid imagery
of this hymn, and the rich melody of the music,
always take hold of the sailor. It has something of
the same effect on him, which the impassioned elo-
quence of Peter the Hermit must have had, when
68 DECK AND PORT.
he poured the population of Europe, in tumultuous
crusades, on the bosom of Asia. If sailors could win
their way to heaven with weapons of war, there is no
act of hardship or daring from which they would
shrink. But when you throw them back upon their
own hearts, and confine them to the enemy found
there, they are too apt to make a truce ; still, so far
are they from being unsusceptible of rehgious im-
pression, that could I at all times select my auditory
and place of worship, I would take a ship of the line
with her thousand sailors on her spar deck ; and, if 1
failed of**making an impression there, I should despair
of making it anywhere.
Monday, Dec. 8th. The watch in the main-top
discovered this morning, at break of day, a sail just
peering up over the swelling sweep of the sea. She
was hull down ; indeed, the little canvas that loomed
to the eye might easily have been mistaken for one
of those small sheets of vapor which seem blent with
the spray of a wave. But sail after sail emerged into
vision till her hull broke with its dark mass the bright
line of the horizon. She came down to us before the
wind, with her royals and studding-sails set, and
with the American ensign flying from her mizen-
peak.
She proved to be the w^hale-ship Jason, of New
London ; twelve days from St. Helena ; bound
PASSAGE TO RIO. G9
home. She had been out on her whaling expedition
seventeen months, and had secured in that time
twenty-eight thousand gallons of oil, and forty-six
thousand pounds of whalebone. The second mate, a
noble tough tar, w^ho came on board, told us that
his portion of the spoil would be eight hundred dol-
lars. He wanted some powder and shot to keep ofl'
the Mexicans. We told him there was no war with
Mexico ; still he should be welcome to some ammu-
nition, certainly enough to fire a salute as he wound
into the harbor of New London.
All pens were now put in motion to dispatch let-
ters home. Go where you w^ould, fore or aft, nothing
was to be heard but the scratch of these pens. What
surprised me most was the number of sailors who
were driving the quill. How they can carry paper
in their clothes-bags unrumpled, w^here every things
else is mussed up, is more than I can explain. But
of all beings the sailor is most fertile in expedients.
He stows away every thing in his clothes-bag, from
a mirror to a marlin-spike, from a cable to a cambric
needle, and has plenty of room remaining.
The captain of the Jason kindly offered to take
any officer to the United States whom the commander-
in-chief might wish to dispatch. Our commodore
fixed on Mr. Morris, his secretary, who was very de-
sirous of going ; and having given him an outfit, in
the shape of provisions and funds, equal to all emei'-
70 DECK AND rORT.
gencies, instructed him to get the President's mes-
sage, the proceedings of Congress, all the news of the
day, with letters for the officers of the ship, take the
first packet to Chagres, cross over to Panama, and
join him at the nearest point practicable. The let-
ters now being bagged, a boat was called away, Mr.
Morris took leave of us, and was soon on the deck of
the Jason. The sturdy whaler squared round before
the wind, we filled away, and when the sun w^ent
down were once more alone on the ocean.
Each seemed lost in thoughts of the surprise and
pleasure which the letters he had thus unexpectedly
been able to send back would awaken. One of our
best young sailors told me his mother would weep for
joy over his letter, and sleep for a month with it un-
der her pillow. No eloquence that ever flowed from
human lips affected me half so much as the simple
remark of this dutiful sailor. There was a tender-
ness, a truthfulness, a moral beauty in it, which made
me forget the rough exterior of the being from whom
it came. He seemed as a brother whom I could take
to my heart, and whose hard lot I could most cheer-
fully share. That man who can forget his mother,
who can forget the sorrows and solicitudes which she
has endured for him, and the lessons of piety which
she instilled into his young mind, has sundered the
last tie that binds him to virtue and a reasonable
hope of heaven.
PASSAGE TO RIO. 71
Tuesday, Dec. 9. Our painters commenced to-day
painting our gun-carriages black. They had a coat
of white paint when we left port, but it soon became
dingy and defaced by the rough-and-tumble of sea
usage. Black paint can easily be restored ; a few
coats of varnish will make it shine like a Congo un-
der his native sun. The objects to be aimed at in the
use of paint on board a man-of-war are neatness,
preservation, economy in money and time. There
is nothing fantastic, but all is substantial and endu-
ring. It is in harmony with the solid oak out of
which the storm-defying fabric is itself constructed.
I have been attached to ships where the belaying-
pins, the midship-stanchions, and even crowbars,
were bright work. The amount of labor bestowed
upon them during a three years' cruise, might, if
properly directed, have almost constructed another
ship equal to that of which these are mere blacksmith
appendages. Were sailors merely unthinking ma-
chines, it might do to keep them employed on such
work ; but as it is, the idea will often force itself
upon them that their labor is a frivolous waste of
time. This renders them impatient and remiss, and
this impatience and remissness soon extends to their
other duties. Keep sailors employed, but let them
feel, that their employment is working out some ade-
quate ends. No man will continue to roll an empty
wheelbarrow, however liberally paid for his services.
72 DECK AND PORT.
Wednesday, Dec. 10. This morning, with our
royals set to a steady southeaster, we dashed across
the equator at longitude thirty. That great circle,
cutting the continents, mountains, oceans, and islands
of the globe asunder, now threw^ its steep plane be-
tween us and the thousand objects to which memory
clings with affection and pride. The sunset clouds
on which we had gazed, the towering crags where
morn first broke, and the brilliant constellations which
faith had peopled with the spirits of the pure and
meek, all went down in dying pomp over the dim
horizon. What now to us Niagara's thunder, or the
rush of the Alpine avalanche I Even the polar star,
that has poured its steady light for ages on the ruins
of pyramids, the wrecks of temples, and the graves
of empires, has left its watch-tower in darkness, —
all are lost in the shoreless ocean of night.
Old Neptune formerly saluted every ship that
crossed the line. He appeared in the shape of some
tall sturdy tar, in ox-hide mail, with a long beard of
yarn falling far below his chin, and locks of the same
flowing in drenched ringlets down his shoulders.
His trident was a huge harpoon, his pipe the coiled
hose of the fire-engine ; thus accoutred, he hailed the
ship over her bows, and mounting a gun-carriage,
was drawn aft to the quarter-deck. Here he sum-
moned the green horns to his presence, and after
lathering them from a tub of grease and tar, shaved
PASSAGE TO RIO. 73
them with a ship's scraper. Having thus introduced
the novice into his service, he returned in triumph
to his watery realm. This ceremony was found such
an infraction of discipline, that it has been discon-
tinued on board our national ships. Our sailors were
allowed to splice the main-brace as a substitute.
Thursday, Dec. 11. A delicate question of disci-
pline occurred to-day. The master's mate of the
gun-deck, finding the captain of the main-top behind
the rest in lashing and stowing his hammock, ordered
him to clean the bell, — a menial service, and intend-
ed as a punishment. The captain of the main-top,
knowing the order to be illegal and derogatory to
his position, declined compliance. He was reported
to the officer of the deck and confined. All this had
taken place without the knowledge of the first lieu-
tenant or the commander. When known to them,
the facts were promptly inquired into. I felt some
interest in seeing how Captain Du Pont would dis-
pose of the question.
The illegality of an order, though it may mitigate
the offence, cannot for a moment justify disobe-
dience. Such a doctrine would make every man a
judge in his own case, and overthrow discipline. He
must obey the order, and seek redress at its proper
source. The offender saw his error, as exhibited to
him by Captain Du Pont, and said he should submit
7
74 DECK AxVD PORT.
to any punishment which the government of the ship
required. That was enough ; he was one of our best
men, this his first offence, and Captain Du Pont very
properly at once restored him to duty. Now what
would have been the moral effect of inflicting chas-
tisement on that man, as some, in a spirit of haste,
might have done. It might have broken his ambi-
tion. It would certainly have reduced him to a lash-
level with the hardened culprit. It would have
relieved punishment of some portion of the shame
which attaches to it. The bad always exult when
they see any portion of their disgrace transferred to
the good ; therefore never punish a good faithful
sailor for the first offence into which he may be be-
trayed, if there is any way of getting round it. Let
his virtues
" Plead for liim like angels, trumpet-tongued."
Friday, Dec. 12. We have had, for three days, the
regular trade-wind from the southeast, and have been
running under royals and studding-sails, from seven to
ten knots the hour. The thermometer has ranged at
75, the air has been balmy, and the sky free of clouds.
What a contrast to the weather of the line, — where
a cloud gathered before you could turn your eye, and
where showers fell like water from some vast reser-
voir,, with the bottom suddenly knocked out !
A flying-fish, hard pressed by a dolphin, took refuge
PASSAGE TO RIO. 75
on the deck of our ship. He might as well have re-
mained in the sea, for he was instantly secm'ed by
one of our sailors, and presented by him to a lady
passenger, who, with too little feeling, fried and ate
him. It is true he had the satisfaction of being eaten
by a lady, which was perhaps preferable to being
swallowed by a dolphin. How many frantic lovers
there are who would like to be eaten up by their
mistress ! Besides, it is in much better taste to dis-
pose of one's self in this way, than making a plunge
into the sea to feed a hungry shark. Still, for one, I
should not like to see a woman coming at me with a
frying-pan.
Our batteries, in their black paint, look solid and
uncompromising. Their threatening strength re-
minds one of the terrific lines of -Campbell, in the
Battle of the Baltic :—
" When each gun,
From its adamantine lips,
Spread a death-shade round the sliips
Like the hurricane's echpse
Of the sun."
Saturday, Dec. 13. A booby was seen last even-
ing, at sunset, circling around our masts. He was
looking where he should light when it should become
sufficiently dark. He lives on w^hat he can find in
the sea, but prefers a spar to a wave on which to
roost. He has sense enough to know that when
76 DECK AND PORT.
asleep, the fish may avenge upon him some of the
wrongs which he inflicts. But he is, after all, a very
stupid fellow. He secures his prey often at the ex-
pense of his life, and that, too, when there is no ne-
cessity for it. If a little billow casts a dead fish on
a rock, he poises over it for a moment to be sure of
his mark, and then plunging down, head first, dashes
his own brains out ; very much like a politician who
rushes so hard upon an office that he destroys him-
self in its attainment. The senate is, in this case,
the rock on which his little craft splits.
We are now approaching the region of dolphins,
porpoises, sharks, and small whales. Our sailors are
rigging their hooks and harpoons. It will be difficult
for any thing that comes near us to escape their glit-
tering steel. Their hostility falls mostly on the
shark. They regard him as a graver robber. He
can expect no mercy. The loudest note of exulta-
tion I ever heard on board a man-of-war, was when
one of these fellows was brought on board. " There,"
said a rough salt, " you have been prowling about
here to get a nab at us, and have got nabbed your-
self— you old blood-sucker !" There are three beings
that can expect no mercy in misfortune, — a rat, a
tyrant, and a shark. Of the three I" would soonest
spare the rat ; I always associated something respect-
able with his long tail. But let that pass.
PASSAGE TO RIO. 77
Sunday, Dec. 14. We have had the awning
spread, and have held divine service. All joined in,
and sung Old Hundred to the hymn commencing
with the lines —
" God of the seas, thine awful voice
Bids all the rolling waves rejoice."
The impressiveness of a service at sea is owmg,
in part, to the isolation of those on board. There
is nothing around to distract the attention, or win a
diverted thought. Around rolls or rests the melan-
choly main — above stretches the blue heaven, and
over all reigns that Supreme Intelligence, at whose
fiat resplendent worlds rolled from chaotic night.
All is vast and awful, like that state of being into
which we are ushered at death. It is this that
makes the sailor religious, and inspires him with re-
spect for all the great truths which throw their light
through the night of the grave.
The errors and vices of the sailor seldom result
from skepticism. I never met with one who denied
or doubted the existence of a God, the wickedness
of the human heart, or the realities of a future state.
They attach a much higher offence to a disrespect
to the Bible, than the use of profane language. They
seem to think a man's impulses may be wrong, while
in the main he is good. The spirit is willing, but
the flesh is weak. They have a law in their mem-
78 DECK AND PORT.
bers warring against the law of their mind, and
bringing them into captivity to Satan ; and yet they
are free to denounce that captivity, and brand it as
the source of all their degredation and misery. Their
loathing spirits, touched with a diviner life, often ex-
claim, " Who shall deliver us from this body of sin
and death ?"
Monday, Dec. 15. We were to-day, at 12 o'clock,
in lat. 15° 46' s., long. 36° 58' w. We have run
within the last five days a thousand miles, and are
now within six hundred and sixty miles of Rio
Three or four days more, and we shall probably be
at rest in one of the most magnificent bays in the
world. Our ship is in prime condition for displaying
her symmetry and strength. She is indebted for this
to the experience and activity of our captain and
first lieutenant. They are thorough in the details of
ship duty, and are sustained by efficient officers. To
keep a man-of-war trig, taxes the profoundest pa-
tience and energy. It requires an eye that sees
every thing, and a fidelity that neglects nothing.
I saw this morning, at daybreak, an old tar stand-
ing alone on the forecastle. His stalwart form rose
in bold relief on the brightening sky. His dark locks
flowed out from under his tarpaulin upon the wind.
His large deep eye was fastened on the sun as it
came whirling up in splendor out of the sea. His
PASSAGE TO RIO. 79
large sinewy arms were extended, as if to welcome
some being that inspired reverence and love ; when
Milton's sublime apostrophe to light rolled in solemn
emphasis from his lips : —
*" Hail, holy Light 1 offspring of Heaven, first born
Or of the eternal co-eternal beam !
May I express thee unblamed ? since God is light,
And never but in unapproached light,
Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee.
Bright affluence of bright essence increate."
Tuesday, Dec. 16. This is beautiful sailing ; a
soft, balmy atmosphere, a smooth sea, and a breeze
that carries us seven and eight knots the hour. We
have not taken in our studding-sails for several days ;
while our royals seemed to have entered into an
agreement with our broad pennant to stand or come
down together. The day is not darkened by clouds,
and the night is filled with the soft light of the moon.
The stars come out from the blue vault of heaven,
and blaze with a distinctness and force that makes
each one seem some central source of exhaust-
less and unquenchable splendor. Of this high host
Jupiter leads the way ; to him the eye of the sailor
tm'ns as that of the Moslem to the crescent that
glo^ys on the minaret of his prophet.
An officer to-day, after reprimanding a sailor for
some alleged neglect of duty, told him to go forward ;
80 DECK AND PORT.
that he was such a perfect nondescript that he did
not know what to do with him. So forward Jack
went, muttering to himself nondescript — what does
that mean ? " Here, Wilkins," said he, " can you tell
me what nondescript means ? the officer of the deck
called me a nondescript, and I want to know \'V^hat it
means — something bad, I suppose, for he w^as mighty
angry." " No," said Wilkins, " I don't know what it
means ; call Tim Shades, he can tell you." Now
this latter person was a sort of ship's dictionary, and
though perhaps as ignorant as any on board, had a
meaning for every thing, and a reason for it besides.
So Tim Shades came. "What does nondescript
mean ?" inquired the aggrieved sailor. Our lexicog-
rapher seemed at first a little puzzled ; but soon set-
tling his features into oracular solemnity, replied : —
"Nondescript means one who gets into heaven with-
out being regularly entered on the books." " Is that
all it means ?" ejaculated the offended sailor ; " well,
well, I shall be glad to get 'there any way, poor sinner
as I am." Were there more of the spirit of this
sailor among sectarians, there would be less alterca-
tion about the right road, and quite as much speed.
Wednesday, Dec. 17. Another hundred miles of
the distance that separated us from Rio has been left
behind. Four hundred miles more remain to be
traversed. The breeze is extremely light, directly
PASSAGE TO RIO. 81
aft, and our studding-sails on both sides, below and
aloft, are out. We are under a cloud of canvas,
which hangs over our frigate like the brooding wings
of the cherubim over the sanctuary of the ark. But
here I fear the parallel must stop. We have the sacred
tables, it is true, and the commandments inscribed on
them, but where is the soul-absorbing reverence they
should inspire ?
All hands are at work getting our ship ready for
port. She is being scoured from stem to stern, out-
side and in. Every soil on her paint is obliged to
yield to soap and clean water ; and every weather-
stain on her rigging is removed. She will look neat
as a bride approaching the nuptial altar. What is
there more beautiful on earth than a young and guile-
less being thus timidly intrusting her destiny to the
hands of another, — leaving her home, her father, mo-
ther, brothers and sisters, for a hearth which another
love has lighted, and where other hopes are to bud
and bloom ? He who can betray the confidence thus
reposed in him, and break the heart that has treas-
ured its last trust in his, is callous alike to crime and
shame. But this is digression.
Thursday, Dec. 18. As we were exercising to-
day at general quarters, our ears were startled by
the cry, " Man overboard !" The life-buoy was in-
stantly cut away, the ship hove-to, and a bont low-
82 DECK AND PORT
ered. The missing sailor had fallen from the steps
of the lee gangway, and was discovered before he
had passed the ship's counter, but immediately dis-
appeared- He was known to be a good swimmer ;
the cause of his sudden disappearance is left to con-
jecture. His head may possibly have struck the
ship's side with sufficient force to have stunned him,
or he may have fallen a prey to an enormous shark
that has been hanging around our ship all the morn-
ing. A protracted and most diligent search was
made, but not a trace of him could be found. The
boat was at last recalled, and our ship filled away.
The deceased was one of the most intractable and
dangerous men we had on board. He had knocked
down one of the crew in the dark, and stamped on
the face of another at night, with the apparent in-
tention of inflicting a mortal wound. No punish-
ments, no counsels had the slightest effect upon him.
Captain Du Pont had tried his utmost to reform him.
He seemed proof both to the language of kindness
and rebuke. When it was known among the crew
that he was the one ^lat was lost, not a sentiment of
sorrow or regret was evinced. But on the contrary,
the crew seemed as if relieved of a calamity by a
mysterious Providence. This death carries one
moral lesson with obvious effect to all, and that is,
to have the sympathy and regret of others in death,
we must command their friendship and respect in
PASSAGE TO RIO. 83
life. No eloquence can proclaim this truth with
half the effect that this death has done. But the
appearance of one at the bar of God so utterly un-
prepared for his last account, is a thought inexpress-
ibly awful, and should strike the deepest alarm into
a guilty breast.
Friday, Dec. 19. We were to-day, at 12 o'clock,
in lat. 21° 36' s., long. 38° 55' w., 200 miles from
Cape Frio, and 260 from Rio. The breeze which
for several days past has often died into a calm, has
freshened to-day, and is carrying us along with stud-
ding-sails below and aloft, some six and seven knots.
We may perhaps get in on Sunday evening, but not
before. We have seen nothing of the strong w^est-
erly winds which prevail in the North Atlantic du-
ring the winter months, and very little of the north-
east monsoons found to the south of the equator.
These winds, like broken-down politicians, have
blown themselves out.
A large ship, which, if our glasses speak truly, is
armed, and bears a broad pennant, is in sight. All
hands have been called to quarters, the breeching of
the guns cast loose, the match-buckets stationed,
cutlasses and pistols belted, the magazines opened,
and every thing ready for an engagement. Our com-
modore will never be taken by surprise. His ship is
ready at any moment for action. To this subject
84 DECK AND PORT.
he gives his personal attention. Every division of
the guns is exercised under his immediate supervi-
sion. His presence, and the interest he takes in the
exercise, encourages and animates the men. He
has an enthusiasm himself which he infuses into
others.
" Our bosoms -we'll bear to the glorious strife,
And our oath is recorded on high,
To prevail in the cause that is dearer than life,
Or crushed in its ruins to die."
Saturday, Dec. 20. " Land-ho !" This cry from
the man in the fore-top sent an exulting thrill this
morning through our whole ship. We have been on
the ocean fifty-two days, and not an island or even
desolate rock have we seen. Our eyes have rested
only on the sky and melancholy main. But now a
towering headland welcomes us to a new cHme and
the wonders of a new shore. Mr. Morgan, our mas-
ter, calculated that we should discover land this
morning at half past eleven, on our starboard bow.
Within ten minutes of the time, and bearing pre-
cisely as he had calculated. Cape Frio was announced
by the man in the fore-top. This, after an absence
from land of more than seven weeks, and the sailing
of more than six thousand miles, speaks well for our
chronometers, and the scientific accuracy of our sail-
ing-master.
PASSAGE TO RIO. 85
We have been running, for several hours past,
twelve knots, with the wind on our quarter. We
shot past a Brazilian brig on the same course, as if
she had been at anchor. The line of coast is now
but a few miles distant, and heaves its soaring peaks
into the sky. The sun is setting in splendor. As
the night deepens apace, sheets of moonlight descend
through the rifts of the floating darkness above, while
a long train of phosphoric light flashes behind our
keel. The storm on the lofty coast becomes still
more grand and awful. Every mountain-peak be-
comes a blazing fortress, and shakes with the heavy
thunder. The very sea trembles under this artillery
of the sky.
" And this is in the night : — most glorious night !
Thou Tvert not sent for slumber ! let me be
A sharer in yom' fierce and far delight, —
A portion of the tempest and of thee !
How the ht wave shines a phosphoric sea,
And the big rain comes dancing to the earth !
And now again 'tis black, — and now, the glee
Of the loud hills shakes with its mountain-mirth.
As if they did rejoice o'er a young earthquake's birth."
8
80
CHAPTER III.
RIO DE JANE IE 0.
BaX" Cf RIO. SCENERY. — ASPECT OF THE CITY. ROYAL PALACE AND
CHAi-SX. LANCERS AND BABY. MISERACORDIA. AQUEDUCT. MORN-
INt* BIDE. — BOTANIC GARDEN. — TEA-PLANT THE SABBATH IN RIO.
MUSEUM, NUNNERY. — JEALOUSY OF HUSBANDS. — A POMPOUS FUNERAL.
THE PLYMOUTH. HON. HENRY A. WISE. SLAVE-TRADE. MARRIAGES
AND DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS. POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE BRAZIL-
IANS. TREATMENT OF THE SLATES. RELIGION. WASHER-WOMEN.
SAN ANTONIO. — CLIMATE. — THE UNKNOWN COUPLE. DIAMONDS. — FARE-
WELL TO RIO.
Land-ho — from the mast-head swelling,
On the breeze its music throws,
Like the tones of angels, telling
Where the soul may find repose.
Sunday, Dec. 21. We found ourselves on Sun-
day morning off the harbor of Rio. The first object
that here arrests the eye is a rocky isle swelling
abruptly from the sea, and crowned with a pharos,
that had thrown its light some thirty miles to us the
night before. Betw^een this and the main land on
the left, soars another mass of rocks, while a cor-
responding one rises with a savage aspect on the
right. These wave-encircled bastions resemble those
posted by nature on either side of the Dardanelles,
through which the grim spirits of Europe and Asia
challenge each other.
Within the entrance on the left rise the steep
RIO DE JANEIRO. 87
sides of Sugar-loaf mountain, while on the right frowns
the lofty fortress of Santa Cruz. Further in looms
the fortified isle of Lagem, commanding the central
passage, and throwing its protection over the roman-
tic cove, from which Bota Foga looks out upon the
waters. As the eye wanders further up the bay, it
encounters the island of Cobras, buried under its
frowning batteries, and the Ville-Gagnon with its cas-
tellated summits ; while on the opposite side a giant
rock has walked out into the waters, and taken up
its lofty, independent position.
The bay, studded with picturesque islands, circles
up bold and beautiful some thirty miles into the main
land. The shore presents here a glittering beach,"
which retreats into the green recesses of a deep
ravine, and is there overhung by some stupendous
cliff, which throws its dark shadows below. The
whole bay is like a resplendent lake looking to
heaven amid Alpine pinnacles. High above all soars
the steep Corcovada, where plays the first blush of
morn, and where the dying day lingers ; while the
Organ mountains, with their sharp peaks, pour down
the harmony of the winds. All between these lofty
barriers and the quiet bay presents a forest of fan-
tastic cones ; while swinging depths of shade wave
over the glad rills that leap down their sides, and make
music at their base. It would seem as if some vol-
cano had thrown up these hills in a frolic ; or as if
88 DECK AND PORT.
some Titanic spirit, imbued with a love of the won-
derful, had been permitted to work out its concep-
tions in these wild shapes.
The city descends from mountain coves to the
strand of the bay, like a spreading stream, which en-
counters here a rolling hill and there a projecting bluff.
Some of the elevations are crowned with public edi-
fices, but no princely palace, gorgeous dome, or glit-
tering spire, strongly arrests the eye. The architecture
of man here is so inferior to that of nature, it ought
to make an apology whenever it shows itself. It is
like the tent of an Arab throwing up its dirty cone
beneath the magnificent umbrage of the palm. It is
said the genius of a people is in harmony with the
scenery in the midst of which they have been reared ;
but here is scenery that might almost throw sun-
bows over the dreams of the dead, and architecture
sombre enough to send even a Quaker to sleep. Such
is the aspect of the city as seen from our frigate,
swinging at her anchors in front of the imperial pal-
ace. A nearer view may possibly bring out some
concealed beauty. But cities, like fashionable wo-
men, are very apt to betray their charms at the first
blush.
Monday, Dec. 22. I visited the shore to-day, in
company with Dr. Mosely and Mr. Spieden, our
purser. We landed in front of the palace-square. A
RIO DE JANEIRO. 89
flight of broken wood steps took us to the top of
the sea-wall, where we found ourselves on a paved
parapet, presenting an open area of several hundred
feet, which was broken only by the dark form of a
fountain, from which the water fell in profusion. We
here encountered a swarm of half-naked slaves, suffi-
ciently diversified in their features to represent every
African tribe from which they were stolen. Some
had not lost their first look of wonder, while others
seemed as those in whom grief and hope had long
since perished. They were engaged in transporting
merchandise, and seemed to be the walking drays of
the city. They carry these enormous burdens on
their heads, and trot along with a sonorous grunt,
which works itself off into a sort of song. You won-
der how they can have so • much wind to spare for
their tune.
We next encountered a little carriage, with a child
in it, drawn by a diminutive pony. You might al-
most put the whole establishment into a good sized
market-basket. It was 'attended by some half dozen
slaves, who seemed extremely anxious about their
charge. Where they were going I know not ; but
the whole group presented a striking picture of the
extremes of human life. That child would have been
just as happy in the strong arms of its nurse ; the
globe would probably have turned on its axle just as
long ; but parental pride and folly would not have
90 DECK AND PORT.
been gratified. This is a small outbreak of the aris-
tocratic sentiment — a sentiment not primitive.
" When Adam delved and Eve span,
"Where was then the gentleman ?"
The royal palace has no charms of architecture.
It is a long, low, and rather heavy-looking building,
with ballustraded windows, and stuccoed walls.
Within the iron gratings of the court the form of a
black soldier moved to and fro, on guard ; while
others stretched at length on benches, or sitting in
the corners of the walls, were sound asleep. The
whole w^as a breathing type of that listlessness and
slumber which falls on the soldier guarding in a time
of profound peace an empty palace. This palace
might be converted into a warehouse without ever
awaking in the visiter a suspicion of the regal use to
which it had been put.
We passed on to the royal chapel, which stands
near by, and which communicates with the palace
through the silent halls of a monastery. The exte-
rior of the chapel presents only its front to the eye,
surmounted by a cross, and relieved by a mimic
crown which reposes in a central niche. The inte-
rior is adorned with a profusion of gilding, and con-
tains several private boxes, where the occupants may
conceal themselves behind crimson curtains. We
found in the oratory a dozen priests or monks, chant-
RIO DE JANEIRO. 91
ing their devotions. Two of them were laughing
most immoderately. They seemed to make every
effort to suppress their risible impulses, and would
now and then succeed so far as to present for a mo-
ment a grave countenance, but the ludicrous would
immediately gain the ascendency, and the laughter
burst out. I once saw the gravity of a whole con-
gregation in one of our largest country churches irre-
trievably disturbed. An owl had perched himself on
the key of the arch directly over the choir ; the cler-
gyman had given out the hymn commencing with
the words, . .
" Hark from the tombs, a doleful sound."
As the singers rose, and just as the leader was going
to pitch the pathetic tune, the owl, as if taking this
duty on himself, gave a solemn hoot ! They w^ho
were troubled w^ith a quick sense of the ludicrous,
couldn't hold in for a moment, and the infection
spread to the whole congregation.
Tuesday, Dec. 23. I came near being captured
to-day by a troop of lancers. They were riding at
full speed before two carriages, in one of which lay
the infant emperor, in its nurse's arms, and in the
other chatted the servants in attendance on the baby.
The lancers had the important bearing of Roman co-
horts, ushering Caesar into the imperial city after the
92 DECK AND PORT.
triumphs of his African campaign. How far the
baby was benefitted by this military display, or the
lactant provisions of its nurse increased, I was not
informed.
Turning away, I soon encountered a woman with
her infant lashed to her back. The little fellow reposed
in the bunt of a shawl, the corners of which were
fastened over the breast of his mother. He kept his
eye on me, as I walked behind him, but with no signs
of fear ; he well knew that the love which carried
him would protect him. His mother was still in
youth, moved with an elastic step, and evinced her
cheerfulness of heart in her animated face. How
strikingly this group contrasts itself with that in the
imperial carriage ! Pomp was there, but heart here.
Between a venal homage of soldiers and a mother's
love who could hesitate ? The last will live and
throb with undying strength, when the other is a
breathless mockery.
Wednesday, Dec. 24. We visited to-day the Mis-
eracordia, a noble monument of Brazilian humanity.
Hundreds, who would otherwise have died unnoticed
and unknown in the streets, have here experienced,
in their last hours, those attentions which religion and
benevolence bestow upon the destitute and helpless.
A statue of the Emperor, in the finest Carrara mar-
ble, is being executed by an Italian artist, for this
RIO DE JANEIRO. 93
institution, at the private expense of a wealthy Bra-
zilian.
Long may that statue stand on its pedestal, a true
symbol of the humanity of him whom it represents.
One king in an hospital has more true glory than a
thousand on the field of carnage. It is a false view
of the moral characteristics of our nature, to find
more honor in killing a man than comforting him.
It is doing homage to the thieves, who robbed the
traveller and left him for dead, instead of the good
Samaritan, who bound up his wounds and took him
to an inn.
We passed on to the Aqueduct, which is brought
over this section of the city upon a succession of
lofty arches, which sweep high over the dwellings.
This national work, constructed under the viceroyal-
ty of Vasconcellas, is in imitation of the Alcantra
aqueduct at Lisbon, and reflects lasting honor on its
projector. It is supplied with water from artificial
lakes in the Corcovada mountain. The summit of
this mountain is covered with wild forest-trees, which
being cooler than the. surrounding atmosphere, con-
dense the vapor, which falls in showers into these
lakes. To this beautiful law of nature Rio is in-
debted for that refreshing element without which she
would be but little better than a desert.
In giving a community pure water to drink, you
take from the tippler his standing apology for putting
94 DECK AND PORT.
rum in it. You reduce him to that pain in the
stomach' from which he finds no reUef except in the
minted toddy. When among the temperate, this per-
petual coHc will sometimes twist him almost double.
Poor fellow ! to have such a pain, and no relief ex-
cept in rum, and even this very much embarrassed
by the refusal of others to drink it. What business
has a man to stop drinking himself, if doing so makes
it disreputable in others ? He should be held re-
sponsible for bringing odium on that horn of poor
human nature's dilemma. Let whisky be as plenty
as water, and it would be a beastly disgrace to get
drunk on it. Can three cents turn vulgarity into
gentility, shame into honor, and guilt into innocence ?
■' 0 would some power the giftie gie us,
To see oursels as others see us."
Thursday, Dec. 25. Mr. Livingston, Dr. Mosely,
Mr. Spieden, with myself, chartered this morning a
carriage-and-four for the day. Our first drive was
to the residence of the American minister, some
three miles out of the city, and in the centre of a
vast variety of rural charms. We found Mr. Wise
listening to the grievances of two American sailors,
who had been unceremoniously thrown ashore by
their captains. His action was prompt and ener-
getic, as it always is when there are rights to be
vindicated, or wrongs to be redressed.
RIO DE JANEIRO. 9&
We spent a very agreeable and entertaining hour
with him, and called for our carriage, when we dis-
covered that our postillion had unharnessed his steeds
and put them very quietly to the manger, thinking,
no doubt, that as the fodder would cost him nothing,
it was by no means best to let it pass. While he
was harnessing up, a servant connected with the im-
perial palace came in for his Christmas token. He
had called, it seemed, on the morning of the happy
day, and wished the American minister a merry
Christmas, and had now come for his fee. The same
call, wdth the same salutation, had been made on all
the foreign ministers, and all were expected to
" shell out" very liberally on the occasion. Usage
is law, and the result is verf expensive merry wishes.
I intend next year to wish the whole world a merry
Christmas.
Seated once more in our carriage, we found our
postillion whirling us back to the city, instead of
taking the rode to the Botanic Garden, to which we
were bound. We explained our wishes to him, think-
ing he labored under a misapprehension ; but a shrug
of his shoulders convinced us that he was acting
from obstinacy. We then poured our remonstrances,
reproaches, and threats upon him, in half a dozen
different languages, creating quite a little Babel.
Shaking his head like one whose purpose, but not
will, is broken, he turned into the right road, and
96 DECK AND PORT.
drove his horses, at the top of their speed, under a
broiling sun, to Bota Foga, about half the distance to
the Garden, but then brought up in front of a re-
staurant, declaring his horses could proceed no
further.
We ordered for them a bucket or two of fresh
water, and after resting a few moments, directed the
postillion to drive on ; but not a step would he budge.
Here was a poser, a sort of crisis in our affairs, as
political leaders say when they wish to rally the
strength of their party. We gave our postillion one
minute in which to decide whether he would drive
us to the Garden, or be ousted from his seat to make
room for another who would drive us there. He
waited till the last secon(f, and then started off sulk-
ily, as one in doubt whether to fight or yield. At
last we reached the little hotel near the Garden,
where we alighted, and directed the keeper to take
the best care of the horses. In the mean time, we
pushed into a neighboring grove, where we indulged
in the luxuries of a lunch, which our provident pur-
ser had brought from the ship, and for which our
ride had given us a keen appetite. This finished,
and a few segars whiffed off*, we directed a dinner,
and proceeded to the Garden.
This refreshing retreat from the heat and dust of
the city, derives its leading attractions from its loca-
tion. Beyond rolls the sea, and over it towers the
RIO DE JANEIRO. 97
lofty Corcovada. It occupies some fifty acres, and
is intersected by winding walks, which are overhung
with forest shade. Several of the plats are devoted
to the cultivation of the tea plant, which had been
introduced by the father of the present emperor.
Although the plant has never succeeded to perfec-
tion, it has approached it sufficiently to have satisfied
the good ladies of Boston, whose husbands had
thrown their Chinese dreams into the sea. What a
scene such an interference with the phlegathontic
weed would create around our hearths ! Think you
our ladies would so quietly have taken to spearmint
and sage ? But let that pass.
In other plats we met with the cinnamon, the red
pepper, and the clove, all in fruit. But aromatics
are the last plants that will consent to carry their
fragrance with them into foreign climes. The walks
are overhung with the mango, the orange, the mar-
mosa, and dark olive, while the croton and plantain
cast in every coppice the deep umbrage of their for-
est gloom.
On one side of the garden a silver-footed stream-
let dashes down the steeps of the Corcovada, like a
girl escaping from a crabbed aunt for Gretna Green.
Near this rises an elliptical mound, crowned with a
beautiful bower of the arbor vitae. This vivacious
shrub allows itself to be twisted into a thousand fan-
tastic shapes, without a thought of dying. In this
9
98 DECK AND PORT.
bower, which is so thickly interlaced as to exclude
the sun, I sought a wicker couch, and, lulled by the
lapse of the waters, and the melody of a mourning
bird, fell asleep, and dreamed of
" Groves, whose rich trees -wept odorous gums and babn,
Plowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose."
We returned to the hotel, discussed a very indif-
ferent dinner, ordered up our carriage, and started
on our return to the city. The evening came in
with a soft beautiful twihght. We passed many
family groups seated in the front yards of their
houses enjoying the hour. Here and there was one
who had deeper thoughts than her younger sisters,
and whose large black eyes were often turned to the
climbing moon.
We called on our return upon Mr. Furgeson, our
naval store-keeper at Rio, a situation which he fills
with a fidelity and business tact, which have the
merited confidence of the' department.
The evening had well advanced when we reached
the city. We discharged our postillion in the same
sulky humor in which he had been all day. He had
ihe look and air of an old pirate, thrown by some
freak of fortune into livery, and upon the box of a
coach instead of the scaffold. All his ill temper
arose from the fact that we had not promised him a
gratuity. We had engaged to give his employer
RiO DE JANEIRO. 99
twelve dollars for the carriage, and we should not
have forgotten him had he been civil and obliging.
His conduct, like that of most people when they get
out of temper, worked him only evil.
Ill fortune rides iU will where'er it leads.
Friday, Dec. 26. The United States frigate Co-
lumbia, commanded by Capt. Richie, and bearing the
broad pennant of Commodore Rousseau, arrived this
morning from Norfolk. She has had, by a singular
coincidence, the same passage as the Congress —
fifty-two days. I was right glad to find on board of
her, as chaplain, my esteemed friend, the Rev. T. R.
Lambert. A portion of her crew are down with the
smallpox, which broke out in the person of one of her
marines several days after she had sailed. All direct
communication with her has been interdicted ; but
we met her officers, who are very agreeable asso-
ciates, on shore. We expected letters by the Co-
lumbia, but her departure followed so fast on our
own that very few were sent.
The Columbia is a fine frigate, combining speed,
strength, and grace of architecture. Near her swings
the frigate Raritan, under the command of Captain
Gregory. She has less beauty than her sister, is low
between her decks, and her spikes, with their black
heads, disfigure her planks ; but she rides the water
gracefully, and is a swift sailor. For this, however,
100 DECK AND PORT.
she may be indebted, in some degree, to the skill of
her commander, whose sagacity in detecting and
bringing out the latent qualities of a ship is seldom
baffled. Her wardroom, though dark from without,
has light from within ; not that which strays from a
few dim tapers, but from the spirit that is in man,
and which will still stream on when life's taper itself
is out.
Saturday, Dec. 27. Her Britannic Majesty's frig-
ate President, under the command of Rear- Admiral
Dacres, entered the» harbor to-day, and let go her an-
chors within a few cables length of us. She is the
new-fledged phenix of the old one, captured from us
in the last war. The parent has perished, but her
memory still survives in the glorious triumphs of De
catur, as well as in this fledgling which bears hei
name. The old bird was captured by an overwhelm-
ing superiority of force ; not by greater tact or cour-
age. No laurels were won or lost.
The offspring which has arisen from her relics, is
now bearing the pennant of one who was himself,
while commanding the Guerrier, captured by the
Constitution, under Commodore Hull. But he fought
his ship well ; it was no want of courage that allowed
victory to perch on our flag. He had no resource
but to surrender, or sink in a dismantled hulk. The
English journals affected to prefer the last catastro
RIO DE JANEIRO. 101
phe ; but this does very well for those who are not
themselves in the hulk. The bubbles which brim the
watery grave of the sailor may break and disappear
as other bubbles ; but when they ascend from our
own strangling gasps, they carry with them agonies
which should shake a world. The capture of the
Guerrier, and the triumphs which followed, broke the
charm of British invincibility. That dream of su-
premacy fled the ocean, never to return —
" That spell upon the minds of men,
Broke, never to unite again."
Sunday, Dec. 28. Were a stranger to the reli-
gious habits of a Catholic community thrown into Rio
on the Sabbath, he would think he had mistaken his
sabbatical calendar. He would think he had arrived
on some holiday, in which the serious concerns of
life yield to gayety. He would see this spirit of
social mirth pervading all classes. Even the bells
would have a glee in their tones. He would find the
priests in the promenade instead of the pulpit, with
their large-rimmed hats rolled up over the ear, and
the solemnity of their sable gowns in singular con-
trast with the levity that runs through their manner.
Such is the Sabbath where the principles of Prot-
estantism have not obtained, and where its spirit is
not felt. It is a day of amusement and recreation.
Such it has ever been in everv country where the
9*
102 DECK AND PORT.
genius of papacy has been paramount. Such it is
now in Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain. Let the
see of Rome I'oll its waves over the Protestant in-
stitutions of the United States, and it would sweep
the sanctity of the Sabbath from the land. There
would not be enough of its vitality left to embalm
the memory of our pilgrim fathers. To rebuke those
who abuse religion is not to disparage its spirit.
■* All hail, Religion ! maid divine,
Pardon a muse so mean as mine,
Who, in his rough, imperfect line,
Thus dares to name thee ;
To stigmatize false friends of thine,
Can ne'er defame thee."
Monday, Dec. 29. Visited the Museum of Natural
History. Here the beautiful birds of Brazil speak in
dumb show, and her minerals seem to mourn their
mines. But the specimens are not extensive. The
Public Library, in another building, contains some
twenty thousand volumes, which slumber in dust on
their shelves. The Academy of Fine Arts has a
few specimens in statuary and painting; but none
that would kindle an eye that has once gazed on the
triumphs of a Phidias or a Raphael. The Opera
House has elegant and ample accommodations for
spectators, but no performers.
All these institutions were established by Don
RIO 1)E JANEIRO. 103
Pedro L, but have been on the decline since his ab-
dication. It was his ambition to make Rio a second
Lisbon ; but his plans outran his means. Mafra
Castle alone, with its time-honored towers and their
hundred and twenty bells, rolling out their anthems
on the airs of old Portugal, leave all that Rio can
present, like an afterpiece from which the auditory
has escaped.
The great mass of the laboring classes in Rio sub-
sist on the farina of the jatrapha-plant, made into a
coarse bread, called pan de tierre caliente. It is man-
ufactured from the same plant of which the tapioca is
obtained. This, with the black bean, which grows
in great abundance, is with them the staple of life.
The more luxurious bread-stuffs are imported. Even
meat, amidst all this teeming vegetation, is scarce and
dear. Every thing here runs to coffee, of which a
hundred and thirty millions of pounds are exported
annually, which goes to foreign markets, and brings
back, in the great circle of commerce, ^the products
of every other clime.
. Tuesday, Dec. 30. Visited the queen's garden,
which covers some six acres, and lies within the en-
virons of the city, between the Miseracordia and
Gloria Hill, and opens by a broad terrace on the bay.
The gravelled walks, which sweep around in every
direction, are over-arched by swinging masses of
104 DECK AND PORT.
shade. The cassia waves here by the side of the
silver-leaved myrtle, and the imperial laurel — the
shamrock of Brazil — tm'iis its green yellow-striped
leaves to the sun ; while two small pyramids of
granite stand as grim sentinels over the proprieties
of the place. A tough job, it is said, they have of
it, when the young of the city flock here in the even-
ing, though their watch duties are aided by conjugal
jealousy and parental vigilance.
Not far removed from the garden, and in harmony
with some of its associations, stands a nunnery,
which, considering the uses to which it is put, might
with propriety be called the bridal prison. Hus-
bands, leaving the country or the city for any length
of time, are in the habit of shutting up their wives
and children in this nunnery. A beautiful exhibi-
tion of conjugal love and confidence ! But where
are the confessors all. this time with their compulsory
vows of celibacy, and that latitude of conscience
which compulsion always leaves ? Better to trust a
wife to her own affections than the guidance of men
whom superstition has invested with the power to
pardon the errors of human frailty, who can commit
sin one hour, and cancel it with all parties the next.
Ecclesiastical rules and regulations, which deprive
any portion of the community of the privileges of the
marriage state, pave the way to crime. They are a
violation of the laws of nature and nature's God.
RIO DE JANEIRO. 105
On our return we stopped at the imperial chapel,
where preparations were making for a sumptuous
funeral. The chapel was brilliantly lighted; the
priests were in their gorgeous robes ; and the dark
carriage of the dead soon arrived, with four black
horses, and postillions in sable plumes. The body
was placed near the great altar, candles were placed
in the hands of those who crowded the nave, and
amid a shower of light the chant for the repose of
the soul began.
One of the candles set fire to the long locks of a
fashionable youth standing near the bier. The priest
who was sprinkling the holy water, dashed a shower
of it upon his head, while a suppressed laughter
shook the whole crowd. The prayers finished, — the
bier was removed to the enclosure in the rear of the
church, the body taken from the coffin, and thrown
up into a niche in the wall, resembling a baker's oven.
It was tossed in head first, and the aperture being
small and high, it required no little tact in the swing-
ing and cant to secure it a proper lodgment. Lime
and holy water were then cast upon it, and the ori-
fice closed. Sooner than have such a burial as this,
with scorching hair, laughter, an oven, and dissolv-
ing lime, let me glide from earth unnoticed and un-
known, as a flower falls in the pathless wilderness,
and let my grave be a sunless cave of ocean, only
let me have there as mourner : —
106 DECK AND PORT.
The mermaid, whose elegiac shell
Shall pour its tender stave,
In many a wild and fond fareweU,
Around my sea-green grave.
Wednesday, Dec. 3 1 . Visited to-day the Plymouth,
under the command of Capt. Henry. She is one of
the most finished specimens of naval architecture
afloat ; and the neatness of her internal appearance
corresponds with her outward grace and beauty.
Her light spar-deck, running flush fore and aft, un-
encumbered by a gun ; her bulwarks sweeping from
stem to stern without a breaking beam, and clouded
into the hue of the pearl ; her gun-carriages exhibiting
through their hard varnish the native grain of the
oak, and the guns presenting the hard polish of their
cylinders ; her stanchions of burnished iron, her sides
and bends without a weather-stain, and her ham-
mocks rising above their netting white as the snow-
rift, — all have the finest effect. She reflects, in every
aspect in which she may be viewed, the highest
credit on the taste and professional skill of Captain
Henry and his officers.
She came here from the Mediterranean, after hav-
ing visited most of the ports in that sea, and paid her
respects to the grand sultan at Constaritinople. She
was there, as she is here, the admiration of all who
visited her. Such a ship as this, with the soft clime
of Italy, the storied shores of Greece, and the classic
RIO DC JANEIRO. 107
associations of the ^Egean isles, would be the perfec-
tion of cruising with the scholar, and would involve
nothing incompatible with the sterner purposes of a
man-of-war.
Thursday, Jan. 1, 1846. This is new-year's day,
and the anniversary of the discovery of the bay of Rio
by Salis. The Brazilian flag is flying from the public
buildings and the masts of all the vessels in the har-
bor. Salutes from fortifications and national ships are
pouring their reverberating thunder among the hills.
Commodore Stockton has graced the occasion in
the shape of a splendid dinner to the Hon. Henry A.
Wise. Many ladies and gentlemen of Rio, with the
officers of the English and American squadrons, were
present. The most perfect good feeling prevailed ;
many patriotic sentiments went round ; and many
recollections of home melted their way into our
hearts.
The honor of the occasion was for Mr. Wise ; nor
was it unworthily bestowed. He has been a firm,
devoted friend to the navy ; he has stood by her in
her darkest hours, and found, in the triumphs of the
past, a bright prophecy of the future. He has been,
at the court of Brazil, the fearless champion of the
rights and claims of humanity. He has shrunk from
no efforts and no responsibility in crushing the slave-
trade. Where selfish ease suggested silence, he has
108 DECK AND PORT.
spoken ; where timidity urged a temporizing indiffer-
ence, he has resolutely acted. His moral firmness
has made him the terror of every slaver, and of all
connected with this accursed traffic. If he resigns
his present -post, may his successor, in this respect at
least, tread in his footsteps.
Friday, Jan. 2. A Brazilian lady was pointed
out to me to-day who is but twelve years of age,
and who has two children, who were frolicking
around her steps. She was married at ten to a
wealthy merchant of sixty-five, — a spring violet
caught in a curling snow-drift ! But ladies here
marry extremely young. They have hardly done
with their fictitious babies, when they have the smiles
and tears of real ones. Their parents make the
matches, as well they may at that age ; and they
ought in conscience to retain still the spanking priv-
ilege, and exercise it down to the third generation.
The evidences of consideration here turn upon a
two or four wheeled vehicle, which is kept in the
basement story of the house, and throws the sheen
of its varnish on the eye of the passer. Whether
there is a horse to draw it or not, is a matter of com-
paratively little importance. It answers its essential
purpose without. It is a quiet indication of rank,
and all the better that its slumber is seldom broken.
In the parlors and apartments above, vou find the
RIO DE JANEIRO. 109
transmitted furniture of past generations. Antiquity-
has a charm against which novelty cannot prevail.
The same chair in which the departed ancestor
trembled between this life and the next, still stands
by the verandah, where budding beauty breathes and
throbs. The same old harp, which was swept by a
hand that has long since forgotten its cunning, now
wakes to melody under the touch of one in whom
life's earliest pulses play. Its music ever floats be-
tween the cradle and the grave.
Saturday, Jan. 3. This is a holiday at Rio, and
the calkers from shore, who are at work on our frig-
ate, knocked off last evening, refusing to come this
morning unless their per diem should be raised fifty
per cent. As we are anxious to get to sea, their de-
mand has been complied with. Conscience, it would
seem, has no concern in the matter, though it is a
saint's day, and one of the most sacred in their calen-
dar. How very convenient when that little inward
troubler can be tied up in a man's purse, and stowed
away in his breeches pocket !
Rio is a city without chimneys, and strikes one as
a regiment of soldiers without caps. A vein of smoke
is never seen circling up over its red-tiled roofs. The
mildness of the climate dispenses with all parlor fires,
except the gleam of the brasero. The houses, which
rarely exceed two stories, are built of fragmented
10
110 DECK AND rORT.
stones and a species of mortar, which the air indu-
rates into the solidity of a cement. The parlors are
in the second story, and open out on a verandah.
The servants divide the ground-floor with the old
spaniel, who looks out from the dusky background
like the lion of Agamemnon, still keeping stern watch
over his master's gloomy shrine.
The domestic habits of the Brazilians, and their
household economy, are closely shrouded; yet now
and then, like guilty love, they betray themselves
through their very disguises. They have but little
confidence in their own virtue, and still less in yours ;
and, as might be expected, betray and are betrayed.
Redress for such grievances is seldom sought through
the forms of law. The stiletto makes less noise, and
is more certain in its results. Don Pedro I. put his
very throne in jeopardy by his profligacies. He
brought ruin and indignant shame into some of the
first families in Brazil. His victims were in every
circle. The conditions of office involved their mar-
riage, without interfering with this illicit relation.
He was abusive to his wife, as false husbands gener-
ally are, and went to his grave with but little which
friendship itself would not conceal.
Sunday, Jan. 4. The slave-trade is still carried
on in the ports of Brazil. The government, though
committed by treaty against it, connives at the traffic
RIO f)E JANEIRO. IH
From ten to fifteen thousand slaves are imported an-
nually. Of these the Mina, from the north interior
of Africa, brings with him the greatest force of char-
acter. He never trifles with the misfortunes of his
lot, and submits indignantly to a state of servitude.
He speaks his deep-sounding Arabic, and looks with
contempt upon the twattle of the other tribes. He
has the bearing of one conscious of resources in him-
self. His energy and industry often procure him his
liberty. His presence in Brazil puts the stability of
her institutions in peril. It is apprehended he may
one day strike for unconditional freedom. He is not
a being who will crave quarter, or be very likely
to grant it. It will be with him a life and death
struggle.
Monday, Jan. 5. The United States frigate Raritan
has arrived from La Plata, and reports that the Eng-
lish and French are still engaged fighting their way
up the Parana for the purpose of opening a perma-
nent communication with the interior provinces.
The general opinion here is, that Governor Rosas will
be obliged to abandon the blockade of Monte Video,
and consent to the commercial communications de-
rnanded by England and France. Popular opinion
here runs strongly in favor of free trade the world
over.
The Brazilians do not like the interference of Eu-
112 DECK AND PORT.
ropean powers in the affairs of this continent, but
they dislike anarchy and despotism still more.
They are the advocates of free constitutional govern-
ment, and have embodied its most essential principles
in their political institutions. The Emperor of Bra-
zil has but little more power than the President of
the United States. Law take its shape from the na-
tional legislature, and from that branch of it which
expresses the popular will. This branch can at any
time force a joint vote with the senate, and carry a
measure by its numerical strength. This can indeed
be vetoed by the emperor, but it would be an exer-
cise of prerogative seldom resorted to, and never, I
believe, where the popular will has been clearly ex-
pressed.
The condition of the slave population here is much
less abject and wretched than I expected to find it.
Slaves are generally treated with kindness and hu-
manity by their masters. Their color operates less
to their prejudice than with us. Their freedom, in
many cases, lies within their reach, and may be ob-
tained, as it often is, by industry and frugality. The
owner who should demand an exorbitant price for a
slave, who wishes to earn his freedom, would be se-
verely censured. When free, he goes to the ballot-
box, and is eligible to a seat in the national legisla-
ture.
Nor would anybody here go into hysterics should he
RIO DE JANEIRO. 113
marry a woman whose skin should be a shade whiter
than his own. It is for us Americans to preach up
humanity, freedom, and equahty, and then turn up
our blessed noses if an African takes a seat at the
same table on board a steamboat. Even in our
churches he is obliged to look out some obscure nook,
and dodge along towards heaven as if he had no bu-
siness on the " narrow way." The misery is, that
they who preach equality the loudest, are generally
the last to practice it. They are generally for level-
ling downwards ; but give me the man who tries to
level upwards. Give me the man whose smiles are
like the rays of the sun — if they strike the loftiest
objebts first, it is only that they may glance to the
lowest.
Tuesday, Jan. 6. The religion of the Brazilians,
as seen in their legislative policy, is, less trammelled
by superstition than in most countries where Papacy
prevails. The Pope, a few years since, sent a legate
to this court. It is expected, in such cases, that the
salary of the legate will be paid by the country to
which he is accredited. But the Brazilian legisla-
ture, not having the fear of the Vatican before their
eyes, voted that his holiness might pay his own rep-
resentative. He was of course recalled. Such has
been the abuse here of ecclesiastical supremacy, such
its interference in political affairs, and such its oner-
10*
114 DECK AND PORT.
ous pecuniary exactions, that there has been a sweep-
ing reaction, and the civil power of the Pope is
openly set at defiance.
As for the priests here, should they attempt to set
up any secular authority, they would only expose
themselves to derision. There is vastly more rever-
ence for the decisions of the Papal see among the
Roman Catholics of our country, than there is among
the Brazilians. Were a bishop here to interfere at
an election, it would cost him his episcopate. It is
for us Americans to submit to such an outrage on
the sanctity of the ballot-box.
Wednesday, Jan. 7. I encountered to-day, on a
large public square within the environs of the city, a
washing-scene, which was rather primitive. The
square is carpeted with green grass medallioned with
flowers, and shaded here and there by clusters of
forest trees. In the midst stands a fountain, from
which the water falls in light showers into an im-
mense basin. In this basin some two hundred fe-
males, of every age, clime, and color, were dashing
their clothes, and rubbing them on the great sweep
of the curb-stone. Their apparel, what little they
had on, was fastened above the knee ; the water in
the basin was a pool of foaming suds, and they were
jumping about in it like the Nereids of the Nile.
The younger ones were full of mischief, and dis
RIO DE JANEIRO. 115
played their agility in tripping each other up. The
fall of one into the suds was followed by a general
shout. How they escaped having their clothes inex-
tricably mixed up in this general melee of the great
wash-tub, was a mystery to me.
On the green were hundreds of others occupied
with their clothes. Some were snapping them in
the wind ; some spreading them on the grass to dry ;
some folding them up and depositing them in baskets,
to be transported on their heads home ; and others
were under the shade of the trees asleep. Some
trick, however, such as a dash of water from the
bowl, was sure to await the dreamer ; and then an-
other laugh would be thrown on the wind. As twi-
light came on, all this panorama of life, with its
breathing forms, its triumphs in laundry, and its mer-
riments, disappeared. Nothing but the whisper of
the leaf, or the bubble which still floated on the foun-
tain, remained to tell where such a bustle had been.
What a magnificent washtub one of our great
western lakes would make ! It would hold all the
clothes, clean and unclean, which cover the human
race. There is only one difficulty in the way of this
arrangement : it would be a little awkward to have
the lake freeze over in the dead of winter. This,
however, might be prevented by introducing under
it the volcano of Vesuvius, which is of no use where
It now stands. This done, and Whitney's railroad
116 DECK AND PORT.
to the Pacific finished, and we shall truly be a great
nation. But our women will never consent to have
the small clothes perilled in Lake Superior; so theie
is an end to the whole business.
Thursday, Jan. 8. Rambled on shore to-day with
Lieut. Gray, and returned several calls. Every
family in Rio, where superstition asserts her sway,
has two things, an image of St. Antonio and a whip.
If the saint, after being duly invoked, still refuses to
grant the boon craved, he is taken down from his
niche and soundly whipped. This chastisement is
repeated till the prayer is answered, or some priest
interferes, and consoles the disappointed with the
persuasion that the blessing sought has been, or will
be, conferred in some other form. This compulsory
process with a saint, accounts for the maimed state
in which you always find poor Antonio here. There
is something unique and interesting in this mode of
obtaining benefactions. If a saint wont shell out,
when he has the power, why should he not be whip-
ped as well as a sinner ?
We encountered to-day a Brazilian lady of rank in
her palankeen. She was carried by two sturdy
slaves, and followed by a retinue of servants. She
was evidently bound on a visit to some female ac-
quaintance, with whom she expected to spend the
day. Her attendants must also be provided for.
RIO DE JANEIRO. 117
Such an arrival in a quiet family would turn the
whole house topsy-turvy. The further we get from
the heart, the more bustle we make. The forms of
fashionable etiquette, like feathers in a lady's bonnet,
are full of flare and flutter.
Friday, Jan. 9. On shore to-day with Lieutenant
Tilghman, rambling through the environs of the city,
and on the green hills which overlook the bay. Capt.
Wilkes, in his history of the exploring expedition,
calls this place St. Salvador. The Brazilians laugh
at the misnomer, and enjoy it the more as the cap-
tain's comments are deemed by them censorious and
unjust. It was an unfortunate slip of the pen to
write St. Salvador for St. Sebastian, and still more
unfortunate to stereotype it into immortality.
The primitive name of this splendid bay is Nithe-
rohi, which means concealed water, and is beautifully
significant of its phenomena, as they unroll their
wonders on the eye. And what a liquid name is that
Nitherohi ! it fairly melts on the tongue. It is In-
dian in its origin, and should never have been dropped
for any saint in the calendar. But in Catholic coun-
tries, Eden itself would soon cease to go by its proper
name.
Ido not wonder the Brazilians are deficient in en-
terprise and energy. No physical force can with-
stand the enervating influences of this climate, and
118 DECK AND PORT.
that Ustlessness which it induces. Not one exhila-
rating pulse heaves the heart. You feel as one
walking in a half-exhausted receiver. The heat at
this season is intense ; the atmosphere often humid,
and your whole frame yields to lassitude. How can
a man attempt any thing great, when the least exer-
tion throws him into perspiration, and even to dream
seems an effort ! It is as much as I can do to muster
up resolution enough to pen this feeble page ; and as
for the reader he will probably fall asleep over it.
Saturday, Jan. 10. We had to-day a forcible
specimen of Rio showers. We were in Rua d'Ouvi-
dor, which is lined with the most fashionable shops in
the city, when a black cloud, sailing down from the
Corcovada peak, rolled out the lake, which lay in its
bosom. The street was immediately filled with a
flood of sufficient depth to float a family canoe. The
inclined plane of the street carried it off in a rapid
torrent. The sun again struck the pavement, and
we were at liberty to renew our walk. Were such
a flood to rush down Broadway, our New Yorkers
would think their Croton reservoir had burst its last
boundary. But here it creates as little commotion
as the breaking of a bubble on the public fountain.
The fruits of Rio are delicious ; richer oranges and
bananas the houri never shook from the blooming
boughs of Mahomet's horticultural heaven. But the
RIO DE JANEIRO. 119
milk here, or the liquid sold under that name, has
less of the lacteal element in it than water filtered
through the " milky-way." For this attenuated dilu-
tion our steward pays twenty cents the quart. Ru-
mor says it is procured from the maternal functions
of a tribe of slaves, who are wonderfully endowed in
this particular, and who act as a class of wet-nurses
to the community. Be the rumor true or not, it was
very difficult to use it after this idea had once enter-
ed the imagination. It was hurrying one rather too
fast into his second childhood. Would it bring back
our first infancy, with its innocent glee, it would do.
But life's current has no refluent tide.
Sunday, Jan. 11. Mr. Wise and family, with sev-
eral other ladies and gentlemen from the shore, at-
tended divine service on board. We assembled on
the spar-deck under an awning that protected every
one from the sun's rays. The leading points in the
discourse turned on the value of the soul, as asserted
in the nature of its powers and capacities, and in the
humiliation and sufferings of the Son of God in its
behalf. At the close of the service we all joined in
singing the missionary hymn ; the sacred music
swelling up full and clear from so many deep-toned
voices, floated far and wide over the still waters ot
the bay.
The Protestants in Rio have but one place of wor-
120 DECK AND PORT.
ship — the Enghsh chapel. They have been very
unfortunate in the appointment of their chaplains.
These appointments, and those of a diplomatic and
political character, emanate substantially from the
same source. Warm, devoted piety, in its unobtru-
sive meekness, seems to be overlooked in the glare
of other qualities, or the erring partialities of private
friendship. The last chaplain who served here for a
time and left, went into one of the West India islands
and set up a gaming-table. The English chaplain at
Trieste, as I had occasion to observe, was one of the
most accomplished waltzers in the place. Such men
have their place, perhaps, in this varied world, but it
is not in the missionary field. He will bring very
few sheaves home with him who has converted his
sickle into a fiddle-bow ; and he will find even these
few made up mostly of those tares which the devil
sowed while he frolicked or slept.
Monday, Jan. 12. A Brazilian gentleman of some
note sent his card over the side of our ship this
morning, and was invited on board by Capt. Du Pont,
who received him and his lady at the gangway. He
was tall, well-proportioned, and in his carriage com-
bined dignity with ease. His dark locks rolled out
from under his chapeau in rich profusion. His face
had that calmness and strength in its features which
express force of intellect and benignity of heart. His
RIO DE JANEIRO. 121
dress was rich, but not gaudy ; sable in hue, and well
fitted to his stately person. He spoke in French,
with a slight Brazilian accent. His questions were
relevant and shrewd ; his admiration of our frigate
undisguised.
His lady was slightly below him in height, and
more delicate in form. There was something pecu-
liarly feminine in her air, and yet something which
betrayed strength of character. Her small foot rose
and lit on the deck with precision and airy lightness.
Her countenance constantly changed in the tide of
its expressions. The features were extremely regu-
lar, but you forgot their well-defined lines in the har-
mony of the whole. Her eyes were large, soft, and
floating, and were shaded by long silken lashes, from
which light and darkness seemed to fall. When
some thought of deep animation struck her, the emo-
tion flushed in her cheek like the blush of morn on a
soft cloud. Her voice, though not deep, was musi-
cal, and flowed like the low sweet warble of a bird.
Such was she, and such the one in whom her aflfec-
tions confided. They left the ship as they came,
without ostentation. I have been told since that he
is one of the first statesmen in Brazil.
Tuesday, Jan. 13. Visited the shore for the
last time, as we are to weigh anchor to-morrow
morning. Walked through Rua d'Ouvedor, the
11
122 DECK AND PORT.
Broadway of Rio, which displays in its fancy shops
the fabrics and fashions of foreign capitals ; and
where you can purchase every thing from a camel's
hair shawl to a shoe-string, and from a Damascus
blade to a toothpick.
Crossed into the Rua d'Ourives, which flashes with
all the jewels of Brazil. Their rays bewilder the
eyes, and sometimes the wits. Doubloons, that are
wanted for bread, are here parted with for a little
pebble, that has nothing to recommend it but its
light, and even that is a stolen ray. When Frank-
lin's niece wrote to him at Paris to send her some
ostrich feathers for her winter bonnet, the republi-
can minister wrote her — " Catch the old rooster, my
child, and pull the feathers out of his tail, they will
do just as well." What is true of the rooster's
feather, in comparison with the plume of the os-
trich, is equally true of the common pebble by the
side of the diamond. Th^ brightest ray is that which
flashes from intellect ; the warmest that which melts
from the heart.
Of the hotels in Rio the best is the Pharoux — an
extensive estabhshment, under Parisian arrange-
ments, and evincing a great want of cleanliness. If
by good fortune your tester-bar keeps out the mus-
queto, you fall into the hands of a still worse enemy
in the shape of the flea. Besides these annoyances,
the night tubs, emptied on the beach of the bay,
RIO DE JANEIRO. 123
waft to your window odors which make you prefer
heat to air. The goddess Cloacina ought to visit
this place and order her altars under ground, where
they belong, instead of having them transported on
the heads of negroes, under the shadows of night,
and sending up their exhalations, which are enough
to make the man in the moon hold his nose. But
let that pass. Flowers spring from corruption.
Man pollutes, but nature purifies.
A spirit of freedom is gradually working its way
into the heart of the Brazilians. They have made a
vast stride in constitutional liberty within the last
twenty years. Their government has ceased to be
a despotism. Its functions now embody the energies
of the public will ; its measures look to the welfare
of the great masses. The throne merely holds in
check the leaders of factions, without wantonly im-
pairing the freedom of the patriotic citizen. Should
the period arrive, when monarchical forms can safely
be dispensed with, and the public will tranquilly
work itself out in the shape of law, Brazil will take
her station among free republics.
As the old cathedral clock struck eleven, and the
lights in the balconies grew dim, the barge of our
commodore, in which we had been invited to take a
seat, parted from the strand of Rio. Again on deck,
a farewell look was thrown to its hills, sleeping in
the soft moonlight. On those hills a Byron, a Cook,
124
DECK AND PORT.
a Magellan have gazed. The morn still breaks over
them, but they know it not. The world may still
retain a faint echo of their fame, but where are they ?
and where, in a few years, shall we be ? where are
the millions, whose voices rang through the past?
Death has hushed their exulting tunes, and their
monuments have crumbled under the footstep of
time. And we are passing to the same silent shore.
As the furrows of our keel pass from the face of the
deep, so will the strife, the sorrows, and the triumphs
of our being, glide from the memory of man.
" What shado-ws we are, and what shadows we pursue 1"
125
CHAPTER IV.
PASSAGE FEOM EIO TO CAPE HORN.
GETTING UNDER WAY. THE LETTER-BAG. RUNAWAY SAILOR. — ISLE OF ST.
CATHERINE. PAMPEROES. — THE SHOTTED GUN. LOSS OF OUR COON.
THE SAILOR AND SHARK. GENERAL QUARTERS AT NIGHT. FIREWORKS
IN THE SEA. THE PHANTOM SHIP. PATAGONIANS. THE FALKLAND ISL-
ANDS. THE CAPTURED ALBATROS. TERRIFIC GALE. CONDITION OF OUR
FRIGATE. THE SAILOR's BURIAL. THE CAPE OF STORMS.
All hands unmoor— the captain's brief command ;
The cable round the flying capstan rings,
The anchor quits its bed, the sails expand,
The gallant ship before the quick breeze springs.
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1846. This morning as the
first rays of the sun Ht the Corcovada peak, we trip-
ped our anchors, and, under a Hght land breeze, stood
down the bay of Rio. It being understood that we
were to take our departure at this hour, the officers and
crews of the national ships, which lay moored around
us, were on deck to see us get under way. This being
the first time we had gone through with these evolu-
tions on the cruise, a slight solicitude was felt, lest
some awkwardness in executing the orders, some
want of perfect harmony and dispatch, should be
evinced. The liability to those errors which we
wished to avoid, was perhaps only enhanced by the
presence of so many professional eyes. But the
11*
126 DECK AND PORT.
successive orders were executed with admirable
promptitude and accuracy. We left our berth with
the grace of the swan gliding from the place of her
cradled sleep.
We left at anchor the U. S. frigate Columbia, bear-
ing the broad pennant of Commodore Rousseau, bound
to La Plata ; the U. S. sloop-of-war Plymouth, bound
to the same place ; and the U. S. frigate Raritan,
bound to the Mexican gulf. To each and all we
waved our adieu, and filled away for Cape Horn.
What a contrast between what lay around us, and
what lay before us ! We were exchanging a quiet
harbor for a tumbling ocean, — zephyrs too soft to
ruffle the cheek of beauty, for storms which the
sturdy ship can hardly withstand, — a clime of per-
petual sunshine and flowers for one of eternal ice.
Thursday, Jan. 15. We were to-day at 12 o'clock
two hundred and sixty miles from our anchorage at
Rio, a very good commencement of our run south.
We have been looking out all day for some vessel to
heave in sight, that we might throw on board her
our last letter-bag, which, by a singular inadvertence,
had been brought off* to sea with us. It had been
made up during our last night at Rio, and contained
our last words of affection and remembrance ; and
here it was going with us towards Cape Horn, in-
stead of our homes. This was vexatious, and le-
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 127
quired that philosophy which the heart is slow to
learn. They who can write their friends every
tw^enty-four hours, will let months perhaps roll away
without penning them a sentence. But take away
this facility, spread an ocean between them and their
kindred, and they will look for a vessel bound home
as eagerly as a condemned culprit looks for a re-
prieve or pardon.
Friday, Jan. 16. Our wind still continues direct-
ly aft ; we have all studding-sails out below and
aloft. The weather is extremely warm ; the ther-
mometer ranging at 87. The night is quite as op-
pressive as the day, and perhaps more so, as we are
then in our state-rooms. The wind-sail is a great
comfort ; without it the berth-deck would be almost
intolerable. But we are like frogs jumping out of
the sun into the frost, and then out of the frost into
the sun.
Our sailors while at Rio behaved extremely well.
They were constantly passing between the ship and
the shore, and frequently without an officer in charge
of the boat, and yet but one or two instances of in-
toxication occurred ; only one deserted, and he was
so worthless a creature that no efforts were made to
recover him. We all felt quite relieved when it was
known that he had run ; our only fear was, that he
would relent and come back. Captain Du Pont
128 DECK AND PORT.
might have said to him with some propriety, " I shall
punish you, not for running away, for that was re-
lieving us of a bad man, but for coming back." Our
Rio runaway did not, however, return ; if this was
the result of an unwillingness to ask further our cha-
rity and forbearance, he is certainly entitled to some
praise.
Saturday, Jan. 17. The weather still continues
close and sultry. The sky is filled with a dull haze,
the sea is smooth, the breeze very light and directly
aft, where it has been for the last eight-and-forty
hours, and yet we have sailed between 12 o'clock
yesterday and the same hour to-day 105 miles. Four
knots the hour is slow sailing by the clock, but in
the aggregate for the day extends over a wide space
of water. You would think so, were you doomed to
swim it, though you might have three months to do
it in. No man should complain of a horse or a ship
that carries him faster than he can carry himself.
Besides, why should we be in haste to reach our
port ? We are out here on a great ocean, exempt
from all the troubles and perplexities of the shore.
Realms may be revolutionized, capitals shaken, dy-
nasties overthrown, and we feel and know it not.
We are as secure as Mahomet's coffin, swinging high
and serene above the careering sirocco. If the world
wearies you, if its frivolities sicken or its crimes
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 129
overv^elm you, proceed to sea, get out on the broad
ocean, and hold communion with the stars and the
free billows. Here you are not a slave to custom,
you are not trammelled by party, you have not to
coin your cheek to smiles. The ocean exacts no
such homage ; but impresses on her children a por-
tion of her own grandeur and strength.
Sunday, Jan. 18. We have had divine service
on a very unquiet deck. The fall of the barometer
through the first watch, last night, indicated a change
in the weather. It came, during the mid-watch, in
the shape of a strong blow from the southeast. This
is the first pampero that we have encountered, and if
the rest are like this, the fewer we have of them the
better. They knock you off your course, raise a
tumbling sea, and then leave you like a culprit escap-
ing from the scene of his outrage.
We have passed the Brazilian island of St. Catha-
rine, unable to gratify our curiosity by any stay
there. This small island has many attractions ; its
fruits are unrivalled; its scenery is wild and pic-
turesque ; its inhabitants are mild and amiable. The
climate, though warm, is so modified by a sea-breeze
that the heat is never oppressive. The birds of this
island are remarkable for the sweetness and brilliancy
of their music. The fertility of the soil is seen in
the rich verdure which waves in a mass of living
130 DECK AND PORT.
green over its steeps and glens. Could Edee have
taken its departure from the east in the shape of an
island, I should think it had anchored itself here un-
der the name of St. Catharine.
, " How sweetly does the moonbeam smile
/ To-iiight upon yon leafy isle !
Oft, in my fancj-'s wanderings,
/ Ive wished tliat httle isle had wings,
And we, within its fairy bowers,
Were wafted off to seas unknown,
r Where not a pulse should beat but ours,
■ And we might hve, love, die alone —
( Far from the cruel and the cold —
Where the bright eyes of angels only
Should come ai-ound us, to behold
A paradise so pure and lonely,"
Monday, Jan. 19th. The wind is still out of the
south and in our teeth. It has taken up its stand
there like the indignant angel heading oft' Balaam's
ass. This reminds me a an anecdote not more out
of place here than the graceless animal that intro-
duces it. A man who stammered to such a degree
tliat he was under the necessity, when journeying, to
have an interpreter with him. encountered on the
road a clergyman, mounted on rather a sorry-looking
horse. Before the parties met. the stammerer told
his interpreter that he was going to pro-pro-pose to
the par-par-parson a certain question, and then ex-
plained, in his broken dialect, what the question was.
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 131
As the. clergyman came up, the stammerer saluted him
with " Good morning, Mr. par-par-parson : can you
tell me wha-wha-wha" — Here the interpreter came in
to his relief, and, with a satirical leer in his look,
told the parson that his companion wished to ask
him — what made Balaam's ass speak. The clergy-
man instantly replied, " Why, Balaam was a stam-
merer, and his ass spake for him." This is not the
only instance in which a wicked wag, attempting an
impudent witticism upon a simple-hearted man, has
fallen into his own snare. Wisdom is justified of her
children.
But I forget the ship and our destination. The
last we might well forget till the wind hauls. Noth-
ing conduces more to resignation than losing sight
of your objects. We are always in the greatest fever
nearest our goal. Youth may indeed pursue interests
which can be reached only in age ; but enthusiasm
and anticipation overleap this gulf of years, leaving
action and reality to come along afterwards. Love
lights its lamp long before it reaches its shrine ; so
long, indeed, that it often goes out on the road ; and
when once quenched, there is no Promethean spark
that can rekindle it. But what have lamps and love,
or ladies either, to do with our getting to Cape Horn ?
Tuesday, Jan. 20. The wind has hauled to the
west at last, and we are now laying our course. But
132 DECK AND PORT.
such a change in the temperature ! our thermometer
fell fifteen degrees in almost as many minutes, and
remains there like a broken-down politician. A day
or two since, and we were panting with heat even in
our thinnest dress ; now we are in winter apparel,
and cold at that. Our crew are barking all over the
ship. It is a little singular that the two animals
which withstand these changes of climate the best,
are man and the hog. I always had some regard for
this last animal till he was introduced into Congress
to help out a metaphor of party animosity ; since that,
I have seen him roasted without compunction. Every
thing is known by the uses to which it is put.
We have had for some time past a shot in one of
our spar-deck guns, which we found it impossible at
Rio to dislodge, to make room for firing a salute.
Every other expedient having failed, it was decided
to-day to fire it off. The danger lay in the gun's
bursting. It was trained to one of the forward ports,
the crew ordered below, and a slow match applied to
it. It went oflf, and the ball wdth it, into the infinity
of space, harming nothing save the air through which
it passed, and which closed up again as suddenly as
Europe restored itself to its old landmarks after the
battle of Waterloo. This was a tragedy running
foul of a counterplot in the very last scene. It was
a triumphant wave just sweeping the shore, and then
suddenly thrown back by a rock to whence it came.
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 133
" Thanks for that lesson : it will teach
To after warriors more
Than high philosophy can preach,
And vainly preached before."
Wednesday, Jan. 21st. We met this morning
with an irreparable loss in the death of our coon.
He took, passage on board our frigate at Norfolk.
The great presidential election having just closed,
and there being no further occasion for his distin-
guished services, till another campaign should open,
he determined to spend a portion of the intervening
time in studying the habits and customs of coons in
other lands.
He had been extremely occupied at Rio with the
objects of his mission, and probably neglected those
precautions observed by coons in a torrid zone. He
was seized with a malady beyond the sagacity of the
profession, and which suddenly unrove his life line.
This evening he was silently consigned to the deep,
by the boatswain's mate, who committed a great
breach of propriety in not piping him over. But he
probably thought that one who had been so honored
in his life could dispense with ceremony at his death.
IVfy Ariel, however, who loved the coon, and will
long lament his loss, has penned the following :
12
134 DECK AND PORT.
ELEGY ON THE COON.
Thou meek and melancholy moon !
Smile sweetly on yon curling wave,
For 'neath its foam om- gentle coon
Is in his grave.
No more he'll leave his woodland hole
To frohc with the fox,
Or meet the Whiggies, cheek by jowl,
At ballot-box :
No more will stu- the Locos' bile
By his provoking pranks —
To think that he, who lead their file,
Should quit their ranks.
In grand processions he stood out,
High o'er the gaping crowd,
As if to him arose that shout,
Full thunder loud.
He knew to chasten his desires,
To curb all selfish wishes,
And left to those who worked the wires
The loaves and fishes.
The flowing waves wiU softly wreath
A chaplet on his breast,
The sighing winds a requiem breathe
Above his rest. ,
We are to-day nearly past the broad mouth of the
Plata. The wind for the last twenty-four hours has
been extremely light, but we have made about a
hundred miles on our course. At this rate we shall
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 135
soon be beyond the reach of the pampero. This
wind gives no admonition ; it springs upon you like
a serpent from the brake, striking with its fang before
it springs its rattle. This is foul play, but we must
put up with it, or make ourselves ridiculous over a
wayward element.
Thursday, Jan. 22d. We caught our first shark
this morning. The rogue had been following in the
wake of our ship for some hours. The sailors baited
a large hook with a piece of pork, and let it trail by
a long line from the stern. The shark nabbed it, and
finding himself caught, attempted to break the line
by his vigorous plunge, but it was too strong for
him. He was soon brought on deck, cut up, and on
the fire broiling for dinner. The sailors ate him with
that savage glee which often attends an act of retrib-
utive justice. But for eating him, they felt quite
sure he would in the end eat some of them. The
way to finish an adversary is to eat him up. He
will then give you no further trouble save in the di-
gestion. Anthropophagy is greatly abused. It is
much more innocent to devour a man's body than
his character ; yet the latter is done every day ;
while even a vague rumor of the former will fill a
whole community with consternation. But what
has this to do with getting to Cape Horn ?
136 DECK AND PORT.
Friday, Jan. 23d. Fresh meat at this rate will
soon cease to be a dainty with us. One of our crew
harpooned a huge porpoise this morning. He shared
the fate of the shark, on coals and the gridiron. He
makes very good eating ; rather dry, as the Irish-
man said — picking the bones of an owl, which he
had shot for a grouse.
We went to general quarters this afternoon ; all
fire and lights having been first extinguished. The
crew went through with the evolutions of an engage-
ment with an enthusiasm that would not dishonor
the reality. On these exercises depends in a great
measure the efficiency of a ship when the crisis
comes. But there is one feature of the arrangement
not quite to my liking. I am stationed at the cap-
stan to take notes of the action ; very cool business
when balls are flying around you like hail ! If there
is any fighting to be done I wish to do my part of it,
but not with a goose-quill. That weapon does very
well when there are no cutlasses, powder, and shot
about, but it is not quite the thing with which to
protect your own deck or board the enemy. It is
said the chaplain of the Chesapeake, who wielded a
cutlass instead of a goose-quill, gave the commander
of the Shannon, as he attempted to board, the wound
of which he ultimately died : so much
For one whose courage cut hirn loose
From weapons furnished by a goose.
PASSAGE FROM RlO TO CAPE HORN. 137
Saturday, Jan. 24, We were to-day at 12 o'clock
full half way from Rio to Cape Horn. The wind is
on our starboard quarter, the sea smooth, and we
are slipping along six and seven knots the hour.
The atmosphere has that smoky appearance which
is characteristic of our clime when the autumn has
set in. An albatros has been circling around our
ship to-day. He is a large white bird approaching
the swan in size, but with shorter neck and longer
wings.
Last night, on the eve of the mid- watch, the drum
rolled all hands out of their hammocks. We sprung
to the deck, and went to general quarters. The
guns were cast loose, and we went through with the
evolutions of a night engagement. Hardly a loud
word was heard, though the manoeuvring of our ship,
and the management of her batteries, would have
signalized us in the battle of the Nile. If we are to
have a fight, we shall know how to go at it, whether
it come at noon or midnight. What would have sur-
prised a stranger most, was the quickness with which
every one appeared on deck, when the call was beat.
From the first tap of the drum not more than three
minutes elapsed before the last hammock was stowed,
and its roused occupant was ready for action. The
marine officer, who occupies the state-room adjoining
mine, must have jumped into his clothes without the
time to draw them on :
12*
138 DECK AND PORT.
•Ere you could open well your eye,
He stood in arms prepared to die.
Sunday, Jan. 25. We have had no service to-
day, in consequence of a cold which I had taken, and
which rendered speaking extremely difficult. Our
wind still holds, without having veered scarcely a
point, and is now carrying us onward ten knots the
hour.
We had last night a splendid exhibition of aquatic
fireworks. The night was perfectly dark, and the
sea smooth ; and you might see a thousand living
rockets shooting off in all directions from our ship,
and, running through countless configurations, return
to her, leaving their track still bright with inextin-
guishable flame. Then they would start again,
whirling through every possible gyration, till the
whole ocean around seemed medallioned with fire.
The fact was, we had run into an immense shoal of
porpoises and small fish. The sea being filled at
the same time with animalculae, which emit a bright
phosphoric light when the water is agitated, the
chase of the porpoises after these small fish created
the beautiful phenomena described. The light was
so strong that you could see the fish with the utmost
distinctness. They lit their own path, like a sky-
rocket in a dark night. Our ship left the track ot
its keel in flame for half a mile. I have witnessed
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 139
the illumination of St. Peter's and the castle of Mi-
chael Angelo at Rome, and heard the shout of the
vast multitudes as the splendors broke over the dark
cope of night ; but no pyrotechnic displays ever
got up by human skill, could rival the exhibitions
of nature around our ship. Give me a phosphoric
sea and a shoal of porpoises for fireworks : out on
man and his vanity ; he is outdone, even with the
thunders of the Vatican at his command, by the
ocean hog !
Monday, Jan. 26. We have been engaged to-day
in stumping our top-gallant-masts, and striking below
some six of our spar-deck guns. The gales often en-
countered off Cape Horn render these precautions
expedient on board a man-of-war. She is not like a
merchantman, with the great bulk and weight of her
cargo down in the hold; her heavy batteries, the
strong decks which support them, her lofty masts,
solid spars, and immense field of canvas, are all
above water-mark. She feels, therefore, more than
her mercantile sister, the strength of the wind, and
rolls more fearfully to its force.
It is seldom indeed that a man-of-war is lost. But
her safety lies in her precautions, — in the fact that she
has not the same motive for carrying sail as a mer-
chant-ship rushing to a market, — and in the great
amount of living force which she can throw upon
f40
DECK AND PORT.
her yards in any sudden emergency. Her crew is
necessarily sufficient not only for managing her sails,
but for working her batteries, and can at a moment
be summoned to this duty or that, as the occasion
requires. In this lies her safety in storms and her
strength in battle.
Tuesday, Jan. 27. We were at twelve o'clock
to-day within six hundred miles of the Cape. We
had a ten-knot breeze, and the prospect of a fine run,
when a black thunder-storm careered into the sky
directly ahead. We had only time to shorten sail
before it was upon us. It swept past, throwing back
its forked lightning. I regretted its departure about
as much as I should that of a savage disappearing in
the thicket, and throwing behind the sheen of his
tomahawk.
But one evil the storm has wrought us : it has de-
stroyed our good wind, and left us to look out for
another, like a widow for a second husband. No
4"" lady should marry a second time. If her first hus-
- band was a good one, she should cherish his memory;
if bad, he should serve as a beacon. Gentlemen may
marry again ; for they were once allowed as many
wives as they wished, and it would be a pity if under
any circumstances they couldn't have one. But
somehow the ladies outdo us entirely in these second
marriages, and in most other things which require
V
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 141
tact and management. But what has this to do with
getting to Cape Horn ?
A large number of black whales are plunging about
our ship. They have a long heavy motion, and move
over a swell like a lubberly Dutch merchantman.
How the lazy rascals ever secure their food is unac-
countable. I should suppose every thing would drift
out of their way. They move in Indian file, and
their uneven backs, rippling above the water, so
closely resemble the bumps of the sea-serpent, that I
began to suspect we had got into the neighborhood
of Nahant, or that the commanc^rs of her fishing-
smacks had lost forever their great marine fiction :
" Our army swore terribly in Flanders."
Wednesday, Jan. 28. Our good wind, which the
thunder-squall knocked down last evening, has not
yet recovered itself. It occasionally sends out a
breath, but it comes faintly, as from some dying
thing. I fear we shall have to part with it. Let its
grave be in the clouds, and let the softest sunlight
rest upon it. May the thunder which has killed it
be compelled to roll its funeral dirge.
Our thermometer has stood to-day at 60. The
sky at the zenith has been brilliant, but on the hori-
zon full of mist. The refraction of the sun's rays in
the latter, has the eflfect to lift the distant line of the
sea into a circular wall. We seem to float in the
142 DECK AND PORT.
centre of a magnificent basin, the rim of which soars
into the circumambient line of tlie sky. It is an
amphitheatre of waters, and as daylight darkens over
it, the stars hang in the blue dome their lamps of
gushing light. No human architecture can rival its
beauty and grandeur. The Coliseum, which ex-
hausted the genius and wealth of Rome, dwindles
into a cock-pit at its side. Nations might be seated
here as spectators, and the navies of the world float
in the arena. How nature pours contempt on the
vanity of man wherever she encounters it ! From
the fathomless depths of the rolling ocean to the
dew-drop that trembles on the thorn, she sends out
her challenge, and covers the presumptuous competi-
tor with humiliation. She is the mirror of her Ma-
ker, and images forth his power ; and chiefly thou,
great ocean, ever rolling, ever free and full of strength!
" Time writes no wrinkles on thine azm*e brow ;
Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now."
Thursday, Jan. 29. We discovered this morning,
on our weather bow, a small white cloud, skimming
along the undulating line of the horizon. Its shape,
its whiteness, in contrast with the dark background
of the sky, and its horizontal movement, all gave its
appearance a singularity that arrested our attention.
When first seen, it was going east, but it soon tacked,
and stood west. It was distinctly visible, as it rose
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 143
on the crest of a long sweeping wave, and then
seemed lost behind its tumbling foam —
" A speck, a mist, a shape, I -wist !
And still it near'd and near'd :
As if it dodged a water sprite.
It plunged and tack'd and veer'd."
But it proved to be no water sprite — no phantom-
ship, but a good and substantial whaler, of JVew Bed-
ford, bound home after a successful cruise. Right
glad were we to fall in with her on this frozen realm
of waters. We saluted her with " Hail Columbia !"
She sent a boat alongside, and her mate came on
board. She had just doubled Cape Horn, where she
fell in with several vessels waiting for a change of
the wind. She had been out eighteen months, and
was in good condition. In half an hour our letter-
bag was ready, the mate took it on board, and she
filled away. She is again but a speck on the slope
of the ocean, and is now beneath its blue verge.
Friday, Jan. 29. Our wind, which the thunder-
storm had crushed, has at last sprung up again with
renewed vigor, like truth overpowered for a time by
falsehood. As if to make up for its temporary over-
throw, it is now overdoing the business. We have
been obliged to take in our topgallant-sails, and fetch
a reef in our topsails. We are now between the
144 DECK AND PORT.
Falkland islands and the Patagonian coast, some
three hundred miles from the Cape. We are head-
ing, close-hauled, for the Strait Le Mair. The sea
is pretty rough, but we are tumbling over it at the
rate of nine knots the hour. The air is cold and
searching, sleet and hail are on our deck. What a
transition from the melting rays of Rio! A leap
from a lightning cloud into an iceberg !
The wind has hauled, and we are now heading in
for the Patagonians. We shall find •them, says
one of our mess, who has been among them, not a
diminutive race, as is generally represented, but tall,
well formed, and possessing great muscular power.
They live in huts, which resemble gipsy tents, are
clad in skins, and subsist on seals, guanacoes, and
birds. The women dress like the men, plait their
long hair, but wear no ornament in the ear or nose.
They have all a bronze complexion, smooth skin, and
one accredited evidence of nobility, small hands and
feet. The men are fond of the chase, and are dex-
terous in the use of the lance and bow. The women
are attached to their children, but are kept in vassal-
age to the other sex. Their religion is that of na-
ture, and its spirit partakes of the wild and dreary
elements which prevail around them. Let those
who prefer the savage state embark for Patagonia,
And rid themselves of ills and ails
With every meal they make on snails.
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 145
Saturday, Jan. 31. We gave up the Patago-
nians as soon as the wind permitted, and are steering
again for the Strait Le Mair. The wind is fitful
and uncertain, and the air cold enough to make you
snap your fingers ; but the sky, which through the
morning was overhung with clouds, now throws its
blue and brilliant lake on the eye.
The Falkland Islands lie on our larboard quarter,
and serve as huge ice-breakers to the coast. Noth-
ing can be imagined more terrible and sublime than
the rush of a steep iceberg against these towering
masses of rock. The tumult and roar of an Auster-
litz or Marengo might pass unheeded. So much
does nature outdo man, even when he rouses in flames
and blood.
The Falkland Islands serve one important purpose
in the economy of the nautical world. They are a
resting-place between two great confluent oceans.
Here ships in want of water can find it bubbling up
as freshly as if it had never felt the chain of winter.
Wild cattle are leaping among its rocks free and un-
fettered as goats among Alpine crags. Wild geese
and ducks swarm in the bays ; snipe are so tame,
you can knock them over with your gun if you have
not skill to shoot them, a circumstance that would
suit me. The eggs of the penguin, albatros, and gull,
as they return from the sea to rear a new generation,
cover acres, as thick as hailstones ; while the tea-
13
146 DECK AND rORT.
plant, unlike its delicate Chinese sister, blooms out
amid eternal frost.
Sunday, Feb. 1. Lat. 53° 56' s., long. 64° 49' w.
We are now within forty miles of Staten Land, that
huge barrier-rock of the American continent, around
which raves the Antarctic sea. It is the very throne
of Eolus, the centre of storms which never slumber.
One of them struck us a few hours since, and carried
away our fore-topsail. It was an old sail, and we
bent another in its place, which will prove true to
its trust. We have sent down our top-gallant yards,
and set our try-sails. Sleet and hail are falling, and
the night has closed over us in starless gloom.
Against the night-storm, you who dwell on the
land can close your shutters, and retire in safety to
repose. That storm summons the sailor from his
hammock to the yards. There, on that giddy eleva-
tion, with his masts sweeping from sea to sea, the tem-
pest roaring through his shrouds, the thunder burst-
ing overhead, the waves howling beneath, and the
quick lightning scorching the eyeballs that meet its
glare, the poor sailor attempts to reef sail. One false
balance, one parting of that life-line, and he is pre-
cipitated into the rushing sea. A shriek is heard ;
but who in such a night of tumult and terror can
save ? A bubbling groan ascends : the billows close
over their victim, and he sinks to his deep watery
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 14T
bier. His poor mother will long wait and watch for
the return of her orphan boy ; and his infant sister,
unacquainted with death, will still speak his name in
gladness. But they will see his face no more ! He
has gone to that dim bourne —
•
From which nor wave, nor sail, nor mariner
Have e'er returned, nor one fond, farewell word
Traversed the waters back.
Monday, Feb. 2. As we were close-hauled, with
Staten Land on our lee-bow, we carried during the
night only sail enough to steady the ship. But as
day began to glimmer, we shook a reef or two out of
our topsails, and set our courses. The sun came up
with a cold beam out of an horizon of heavy haze.
Light clouds, in the southwest, began to shoot up into
the zenith, and were followed by a fierce blow, accom-
panied with dashes of sleet and hail. Our courses
were hauled up, and we were soon under close-reefed
topsails, main spencer, and fore-staysail.-
2 o'clock, p. M. The indications of a still severer
blow are gathering around us. The scud drives over
the sky with lightning speed, throwing out here and
there its wild black flukes. The sea is running
high, and our ship is plunging into it like a mad le-
viathan. We have bent our storm-sails for the worst
that may come. Among small matters, my books,
n a heavy roll of the ship, have just fetched away,
148 DECK AND PORT.
and lie in every possible position in my state-room.
I have more literatm^e under my feet than I shall
ever have in my head.
7 o'clock, p. iw. The smi has just burst through
the heavy clouds that hang on the horizon, and
thrown into light a bark on our weather-quarter.
She is visible only as she comes over the combing
summit of a mountain wave, and is then lost in the
hollow of the sea. So long indeed she disappears, you
half believe she is gone forever, when up she comes,
hanging upon the plunging verge of another wave.
The sun has set, and night is on the deep.
Tuesday, Feb. 3. Lat. by alt. near noon, 55° 17'
s. Long, by dead reckoning, 61° 32' w. Distance
from Staten Land, 85 miles, bearing n. w. by w. ^ w.
(true) heading w. by s., and making no better than
w. N. w., allowing two points variation, and one for
the heave of the sea. Such is our position, such our
prospect for doubling Cape Horn : a head wind, a
high sea, and dashes of rain and hail. Still we take
matters very quietly. Our dead-lights are in, our
hatches hooded, and our ship under close-reefed top- "
sails. When the wind has blown its blow out, where
it now is, we expect it will change its quarters like a
spendthrift without cash or credit left.
We looked out this morning for the little bark
thrown into vision last evening by a gush of sunset
PASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN. 149
light. But she is now nowhere to be seen. She re-
lieved for the moment om' sense of utter dreariness,
and will again if she comes within the dark line of
our vision. It is not good for man to be alone;
and this is as true of a ship at sen as of Adam in Eden.
There is only one exhibition of social solitude so
dreary as that of a single ship at sea, and that is the
condition of an old bachelor.
A large number of the albatros and stormy petrel
have been following us for hours to pick up the*
crumbs which the cooks of the different messes throw
over. The albatros gets all the larger bits ; the little
petrel darts about under its overshadowing wings,
and looks up for permission like an infant to its mo-
ther's eyes. The night has closed over us ; not a
star looks out through the thick mass of clouds above,
and only the combing billow flashes through the
darkness beneath.
Night, and storm, and darkness, and the ocean,
Heaving 'gainst their strengtli its sullen motion.
Wednesday, Feb. 4. Our gale which had held
out three days broke down last night in the mid-
watch, but the fragments of its strength have had
sufficient calcitrating force to prevent our making
any perceptible progress to-day. We are this even-
ing within a few miles of where we were at the last
sunset, and the wind, which comes in occasional puffs,
is still in our teeth. This is doubling Cape Horn
13*
150 DECK AND PORT.
There is no mistake about this cape. It has
shoved itself out here for no idle or mistaken pur-
pose. It always has, and always will, exact homage
from seamen. It may now and then, from some
whim, allow a ship to pass without these tokens of
fealty, just as the pope ma}- permit a subject to come
into his presence w^ithout kissing his great toe. But
then it may put the very next ship into a quarantine
from which she would be glad to escape into a Span-
ish lazaretto.
Our little bark is as^ain in siiiht. hoverinor like an
unquiet cloud on the horizon. She bears up with
right good heart against the winds. Steady, my
little ocean friend ! Keep up thy indomitable cour-
age ; thou shalt yet weather this cape of ice and
thunder. To-day we harpooned a cape porpoise.
It differs w^idely from those found in other zones ; is
more lithe and slender ; seems formed for speed, and
has beautiful black and white stripes running from
head to tail ; the flesh is less dry, and the liver might
almost tempt a pisciverous epicure.
Thursday, Feb. 5. At 4 o'clock p. m., kit. 56° 27'
s., long. 61° 57 w. In the last fifty-two hours we have
made but a little more than one degree of latitude,
and less than half a degree of longitude. It will take
us a long time at this rate to get around Cape
Horn.
•A8SAGE FROM RIO TO CAIE lloRN. 161
The wind during the morning came in cold gusty-
puffs from the south. At noon the whole southern
horizon seemed tumbling up in black jagged masses
into the sky. This was a signal for reefing, which
none could mistake. But the men had hardly got
into the tops before the storm was upon us. It
came charged with hail and sleet, and lasted some
three hours. The masses of cloud then broke asun-
der, and through their rift the sun-light streamed like
a torrent from a forest-covered steep.
Two enormous whales have been plunging about
us to-day. Their huge backs as they crossed the
hollow of the sea might have been mistaken for a
reef of rocks. They blow like a locomotive puffing
off* steam. Every puff* sends up a shower of spray
which may be seen at a great distance, and which
guides the Nantucketite with his glittering harpoon.
But who would trust his vessel in such a sea as this
with a dead whale at her side ? I should as soon
think of lashing to an iceberg.
8 o'clock, p. M. The cold sun has just set; and our
barometer has fallen to 29.44— lower than it has
been since we left Norfolk. It has never yet de-
ceived us, and if true now, we shall have a stormy
night. But let it come —
The earth mil on its glowing axle roll
Though billows howl and tempests shake the polo.
152 DECK AND PORT.
Friday, Feb. 6. Our barometer vaticinated cor-
rectly last evening. The storm which it predi? ted
came punctually as an executioner to his condemned
culprit. It lasted through the greater part of the
night, and left us with a heavy head-sea. Going on
deck this morning I found, it extremely difficult to
preserve my balance, and brought up in the scuppers,
though I have been on sea-legs between fifteen and
twenty years.
A long line was floated astern this morning, with
hook and bait, for an albatros. Several of these
noble birds were sailing in our wake. One of them
took the hook, and as he was drawn slowly towards
the ship his female companion followed close at his
side. When lifted in she looked up with an expression
of anxiety and bereavement that would not dishonor
the wife of his captor in a reverse of circumstances.
We found in his shape some resemblance to the wild-
goose, but much larger in head and body, and with a
longer wing. The hook had not injured him, and
though his wings, which measured twelve feet be-
tween their tips, were pinioned, he walked the deck
with a proud defiant air. His large eye flashed with
indignation and menace. His beak was armed with
a strong hook like that of the falcon, his plumage
was white as the driven snow, and the down on his
neck soft as moonlight melting over the verge of an
evening cloud.
'ASSAGE FROM RIO TO CAPE HORN.
153
He was captured by
one of .our passengers,
who now proposed to
kill him for the sake
of his wings. But the
sailors, who always
associate something
sacred with this bird,
interfered. They predicted nothing but head winds,
storms, and misfortunes if he should be killed ; and
unlocking his wings, gave him a toss over the ship's
side into his own wild element. His consort, who
had followed the ship closely during his captivity, re-
ceived him with outstretched wings. She sailed
around him as he lighted, and in her caressing joy,
threw her soft neck now over this wing and now
over that. In a few moments they were cradled
side by side, and he was telling her, I doubt not, of
the savage beings he had been among, and of his
narrow escape.
Live on ye bright-eyed pair ; the deep
Is yoiu-s, each crested wave shall keep
Its \"igils o'er your cradled sleep.
Saturday, Feb. 7. We have made but very little
progress during the last two days. A slant of wind
has occasionally favored us, but with the counter-
current, it has been about as much as we could do
154 DECK AND PORT.
to hold our own. What we gain when the wind
hauls we are sure to lose when it returns to its old
position. It is in our teeth, and has been there, with
brief variations, for the last six days. Unless it
changes we may box about her till doomsday.
Out on Cape Horn ! Had it shoved itself between
Pandemonium and Paradise, Milton would never have
expected Lucifer to weather it. He would have sent
him across the Isthmus of Panama. There ought to
be a ship-canal there ; not for demons, but for men.
If Cheops could build himself a tomb which the rays
of the new-risen sun should greet before they touched
the lyre of Memnon ; if Brunell could arch a path-
way under the Thames for the multitudes of London,
with navies on its bosom ; and if Whitney can run
a railroad from the Atlantic board to Oregon through
the Rocky Mountains, surely the civilized powers of
Europe, and those of America combined, can cut a
canal across the Isthmus of Panama. I only wish all
who oppose the project were obliged to double Cape
Horn ; they would give in before they got round, if
not, a jackass might take lessons from their obsti-
nacy.
I have swept, with the telescope, the whole hori-
zon to find our little attendant bark, but not a
vestige of her is to be seen. We parted with her
two days since at nightfall. But she is still, I doubt
PASSAGE IU(»M UIO TU CAPE HORN,
155
not, afloat, and will again loom to light. Courage,
my little fellow ; you may outdo us yet —
The race is not — to be got
By him what swiftest runs,
Nor is the battell — to the peopell
What's got the longest guns."
A J^r-^
156
CHAPTER V.
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORX TO YALPAEMSO.
GALE. HABITS OF THE ALBATROS AND PENGUIN. THE SEA OFF CAPE
HORN. SLEET AND HAIL. FAREWELL TO THE CAPE. DIRECTIONS FOB,
DOUBLING THE CAPE. GALE IN THE PACIFIC. APPEARANCE OF THE
STARS. A RAINBOW. DIVINE SERVICE. THE RAZOR AT SEA. THE
MTTLE BARK. PLUM PUDDING AND TRIPE. THE COP.,DILLERAS. AR,
KIVAL AT VALPARALSO.
Amid the storm, an iceberg's foiTa
Came tumbling through the ocean,
So like the cape in hue and shape
Our crew, who watched its motion,
While rounding-to beneath our lee.
Declared the Cape had put to sea.
Sunday, Feb. 8. The severity of the weather and
the heave of the sea prevent our holding divine ser-
vice to-day. May each heart silently erect within
itself an altar on which to offer the oblations of con-
trition, gratitude, and faith. Religion is a mission
from Heaven to the heart, of man ; and when taken
away from that heart, and shrined in stately temples
and sumptuous altars, it loses its vitality and power.
No floating censer or pealing organ can have the
moral eflicacy of that still small voice of the Deity,
which speaks in the whispers of the human con-
science.
The gale which we have had for several days
veered last night, and brought the heave of the sea
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 157
under our quarter. It was enough to make our ship
roll her masts out of her. Every thing not secured
by strong lashings fetched away. Even the shot were
thrown from the combings of our main hatch. As
for repose in our berths, the Countess of A^ottingham
had as much of it under the death-shakings of her
indignant queen, — till that last sleep overtook her
which grief and rage reach not. I write this with
my inkstand fastened down, my chair and table se-
cured to the deck, and my paper presenting a plane
at every heave of the sea steep enough, if it were
covered with snow, to tempt' the sledge of the truant.
7 o'clock, p. M. Our barometer is now down to
28.44, and is still falling. The gale has become
truly terrific ; the sea and sky seem rushing together.
We can only carry our storm try-sails ; and even
their strength is tested to the last thread. The whole
ocean is white with foam, which falls in cataracts
from the crests of soaring waves. It is terrible
and sublime to watch one of these huge combers
heaving up within the horizon, and rolling mast high
upon you. Niagara gazed at from the boiling abyss,
is its only parallel. The hail is driving upon our
deck, the sea breaking over our bows, and a starless
night closing in. Yet a spirit of cheerfulness and
alacrity in duty animates all. Captain Du Pont,
with his thorough experience and sound judgment,
leaves the deck @nly to return to it again. Our first
14
158 DECK AND rORT.
lieutenant is exercising that vigilance which never
fails him through the ship, and our watch-officers
meet the emergency with great firmness. But our
trust is in Him who can say to the chainless wave,
hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here
shall thy proud strength be stayed.
Monday, Feb. 9. The gale still continues with
unmitigated force. Our ship has a good character
for steadiness, but last night she plunged and rolled
like a leviathan in his death-throes. At every heave
of the sea she rolled her lee guns under. The water
which was forced through her ports lay on her gun-
deck ankle deep, and rolled in sheets over the comb-
ings of her hatches. Her lee scuppers could not
be opened to carry it off; and in opening her weath-
er ones there was great danger of admitting a tor-
rent to let out a rivulet.
In the mid-watch my library, secretary, mirror,
and washstand, fetched away. The books and look-
ing-glass rushed together into my cot. I was half
asleep, and thought for the moment our guns were
tumbling below. In extricating myself I cut my
hands with the fragments of the mirror. I felt for
my clothes, and found them on the floor, covered
with the wreck of my wash-bowl and pitcher, and
well drenched. I hauled oxx a few articles and
groped out to the gun-deck to get a light. The
PASSAGE FROM (^APH HORN TU VALPARAISO. 159
watch on deck had just been reHeved and were
crowding below, covered with sleet, stiff with cold,
and wading through water ankle deep to reach their
hammocks ; there to turn in and sleep in these
drenched frozen garments. What are my petty
griefs compared with this ? I got my light, and di-
viding my berth with my books, shivered mirror,
manuscripts, inkstand, razors, chessmen, and broken
flasks of casash, turned in — abundantly satisfied with
the romance of sea-life.
•
Tuesday, Feb. 10. Lat. 57° 34' s., long. 61° 32'
w. We are very near where we were a week ago.
Seven days of the roughest sea-service and in statu
quo I Our progress resembles that of Ichabod's court-
ship, who being asked, after seven years of devoted
attentions, how he got along in the business, replied
that now and then he thought he had a little encour-
agement, and should feel quite sure of it were it not
for the rebuffs. *
The gale broke down last evening. The remnant
of its force hauled round to the south and enabled
us to lay our course, but a heavy head-sea has pre-
vented our carrying sail. By the time the sea goes
down, and we have shaken a few reefs out of our
topsails, it may whirl back, and then we shall have
to fight the battle over again, as the whigs said when
President Tyler suddenly took up his old democratic
160 QECK AND PORT.
position. But nil desperandum, the whigs will in
time come into power, and we shall in time double
Cape Horn. But the Cape and the democracy are both
hard to weather.
Our little bark is once more in sight. She has
survived the gale, and is now, wdth good heart,
struggling forward to double the Cape. Our stormy
petrels still follow us. They are ever on the wing,
close to our stern, to pick up the crumbs which are
thrown overboard. Capt. King, of the British navy,
states that having caught one of these birds and
fastened a piece of ribbon to it, to designate it, he
ascertained that it followed his ship over five thou-
sand miles. A lesson to all good wives with wav-
ward husbands.
Wednesday, Feb. 11. The wind, as we predicted,
has gone back to its old quarter, like a wolf to his
jungle. We have only been able to hold our own.
Sunset leaves us where the flushing day found us.
We have the albatros still about us, but we have
missed the penguin. The habits of these birds are
peculiar, especially when they get up their annual
rookery. They select for this purpose, as one in-
forms me who has been among them, a plot of smooth
ground, covering two or three acres, and opening on
the sea. From this they remove the sharp pebbles,
piling them on each side into a miniature stone-
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 1(>1
fence. The ground is then plotted off into httle
squares, with paths intersecting each other at right
angles. In each corner of the square a penguin
scoops out a nest ; while the albatros takes, by com-
mon consent, the centre, raises a small mound and
constructs a nest on the top, so that each albatros
has four penguins around him. The paths, which
resemble gravelled walks, are used for promenading
and exercise, except the broad one, which runs
around the whole encampment, and where sentries
are constantly patrolling. These sentries give the
alarm at the approach of danger, and are relieved at
regular intervals. The watch is kept up night and
day, and is always under the command of the
albatros.
When the eggs have been laid, the strictest vigil-
ance is exercised by the albatros to prevent the
penguin from stealing them ; for the penguin lays
but one egg, and, as if ashamed of making all this
ado for the sake of that one, tries to get another from
the nest of the albatros. But the latter has no idea
of gratifying the domestic ambition of its neighbor in
that way. There is of course little need among them
of a foundling hospital.
The eggs are never left or exposed to a breath of
cold, air during incubation. The male bird, who
has been at sea seeking his repast, returns and takes
the place of his faithful consort. He always allows
14*
162 DECK AND PORT.
her the most favorable hours out of the twenty-four
in which to secure her food, and often brings it to
her, especially when the infant progeny requires her
more delicate maternal attentions. He never ill-
treats his mate, or goes off at the dead of night sere-
nading other birds. He may have indeed his little
domestic troubles, but he overcomes them by kind-
ness and affection. His partner always greets him,
on returning from his brief excursions at sea, with
the liveliest expressions of gladness. Ye who prate
of incompatibilities, and fly to a legislature for an
act of separation if a little jar occurs at your hearth,
look at these birds, and if there be shame or com-
punction in ye, go find your divorced mates and
resolve not to be outdone in forbearance and attach-
ment by an albatros.
When the little ones get sufficiently strong to
endure a change of element, the penguins and
albatros break up their encampment, and young and
old take to the sea, that great harvest-field where the
reapers of earth and air, under a beneficent Provi-
dence, gather their food. But what have penguins
to do with our getting round Cape Horn ?
Thursday, Feb. 12. The lion-wind still roars
from its old lair. That lair lies directly in our path.
If we attempt to escape it on the right, the breakers
of Cape Horn lift their thunder ; if we try to avoid
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 163
it on the left, tumbling icebergs present their steep
fronts. So here we are, hemmed in like the hero of
Marengo, amid the black battlements and keen hail
of Russia's capital and clime. Patience, thou meek-
est virtue in man, still pour on us thy soft, submis-
sive light.
10 o'clock, p. M. The wdnd went down with the
sun, leaving only the long, low undulations of the sea.
The moon is forth, placid as if this were no region
of storms. The stars, without an obscuring veil,
blaze in the deep blue vault of heaven. A' flood of
diamond light melts down through the depths of air,
and pours itself in radiant softness on the sea. There
it lies unbroken and still, save where the sleeping
ocean gently heaves, like one who should breathe in
his shroud. Such a night as this in the region of
Cape Horn ! It is as if a nightingale were to pour
its liquid melody through the interludes of the forest-
shaking storm.
But our anxiety is to know where, amid this seren-
ity of the sea, the wind will next wake up — where
the slumbering storm will first howl on the waste.
The rising sun will not find us in that repose on
which he shed his parting glance.
A change mil come, like that the sculptor throws
In lines of life, on marble's cold repose.
Friday, Feb. 13. In the night, our old frigate be-
164 DECK AND PORT.
ginning to stir herself complainingly, like one trou-
bled with bad dreams, I asked the officer of the deck,
as he came below from the mid-watch, about the
wind. "In gusts from the northwest," was the re-
plv. From the northwest ! then we are laying our
course — that will do ; and I relapsed back again into
slumber, and dreamed we had rounded Cape Horn.
I saw it sheer astern, storming like a savage at the
escape of his intended victim.
The w^ind favored us during the morning, and we
shot ahead with high hopes of success. But by noon
it began to haul round towards the south, and in an
hour or two more reached its old quarter, the south-
west. It is now blowing a gale, and we have all
sails furled except our close-reefed main-top and
storm try-sails. The sea is running high, and the
huge combers, shaking the foam from their crests,
are rushing down upon us like a host of cavalry
frothing at the bit. The sun is sinking in cold dim
light,' and seems to abandoi'i the ocean to the lashing
tempest.
Such is the life of the sailor : one hour is full of
sunshine, the next of storms. He lives between hope
and disappointment : they alternate through his whole
existence. Nothing but the most indomitable reso-
lution could endure the vicissitudes of his lot. He
is cheerful when others would despond, and triumphs
when others would despair. He elicits sparks of joy
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 1G5
from his hard lot, as you strike flashes of fire from
flint. Ye who sigh over the tales of fictitious be-
reavement, bestow one glance on this real tragedy of
life. Here are woes which no illusion paints, — a
death-knell rung by no unseen hands.
Saturday, Feb. 14. The passenger who caught
the first albatros, and which was liberated by the
crew, caught another the day following and killed it
to get its wings. It would probably have been res-
cued by the sailors had they been aware of the cruel
intention of its captor. They associate a sacredness
with this noble bird which invests it w^ith the privi-
leges of a charmed life, and regard a violation of this
sanctity as an outrage, which will be followed by
disastrous consequences. Dark ominous looks fell
on their faces when the wild whisper went round
among them that the beautiful albatros had been
killed. We had been for several days in thick foul
weather —
" At length did cross this albatros ;
Through the fog it came ;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.
" And a good north wind sprung up behind ;
The albatros did follow, *
And every day for food, or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo.
166 DECK AND PORT
" And be has clone a hellish thing,
And it will work us woe ;
For all averr'd, he had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow."
" And it will work us woe" — and so it has proved, for
we have had ever since head winds, gales, and
storms. These, in the simple creed of the sailor, are
the penalties through which expiation is to be made
for the crime of having killed the albatros.
Sunday, Feb. 15. Lat. 58° 39' s., long. 68° 41' w.
We are at last some forcy-five miles west of Cape
Horn, and about one hundred and sixty south of it.
This position we have gained in spite of the elements,
by taking prompt advantage of those slight variations
which will occur in winds of remarkable constancy :
still we are not round the cape ; for the wind is
dead ahead, and is blowing almost a gale. We are
on our larboard tack, close hauled, and shall be
obliged this evening to wear ship and stand off to
the southeast, where the heave of the sea alone, if
the gale continues, will soon throw us back into the
meridian of the cape. Such is life at sea ; gaining,
losing, persevering, and finally triumphing.
8 o'clock, p. M. The cutting gale still continues.
The sun has set in gloomy grandeur. As he plunged
below the horizon, a flood of flame flashed up through
the masses of cloud which overhung his descent.
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 167
This soon vanished ; and now thick darkness settles
on the sea. The light of a full moon cannot struggle
through it, and the brightest star glimmers on it
faintly as the glow^-worm on the pall of the coffined
dead. Our sailors have had to-day very little of that
comfort and rest which belong to the Sabbath.
Though sent aloft as seldom as the condition of the
ship would allow, still they have been often on the
yards, with the rain and sleet driving in their faces.
Nor have those on the deck fared much better.
When off watch and allowed to reach the berth-
deck, they have found their Bibles and tracts. May
these scattered rays of heavenly light reach their
hearts, and point their hopes to that shore where
clouds and storms come not.
Monday, Feb. 16. Our southwest gale went sud-
denly down last night, and this morning a fresh wind
rose in the northwest. We are now laying our
course with a fair prospect of getting clear of Cape
Horn. I have no desire of ever coming near this
cape again. I would give it a berth world-wide.
Here and there a navigator, it is true, has doubled
the Cape without encountering the gales which we
have experienced. But his good fortune was an
exception to a general rule. A man may escape
death under the gallows by the breaking of the rope ;
but then the fifty, who come after him, will swing
168 DECK AND PORT.
till dead. This cape has acquired its stormy repu-^
tation by its acts. Had nautical theory only in-
vested it with difficulties, they would long since have
been dissipated by experience. But what navigators
found the Cape a century ago their successors find
it now. It is as true to its stormy character as a
lion to his savage instincts. You may as well trifle
with the shaking mane of the one as with the
awaking tempest of the other.
A distinguished naval commander — the late Com-
modore Porter — who had cruised in almost every
sea, inserted in his journal this significant paragraph :
" The passage round Cape Horn, from the eastward,
I assert, from my own experience, is the most dan-
gerous, most difficult, and attended with more hard-
ships than that of the same distance in any other
part of the world."
Tuesday, Feb. 17. Lat. 58° 10' s., long. 73° 33' w.
We are at last round Cape Horn. We have left its
stormy steeps astern, and are holding our course,
with a stiff northwester, for more congenial climes.
farewell to cape horn.
Cape of clouds, of hail and thunder,
Towering o'er a savage sea,
Lot the earth's wide circuit sunder
Our departing keel and thee.
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. IGU
On thy scalp the keen hail dances,
At thy base mad breakers roar,
'Neath thine eye the iceberg glances
From its steep antarctic shore.
'Mid thy billows' wild commotion.
In thy sea of tumbling foam,
Scaly monsters of the ocean
Share this undisputed home.
Ships of oak, with storm-sails riven,
From thy plunging combers reel,
Like the wai--horse backward driven,
From the serried ranks of steeL
Morn in smiles hath ne'er ascended
O'er thy smumit stark and drear ;
Day and night are dimly blended
In thy sunless atmosphere.
Cape of clouds, of hail, and thunder,
Sinking o'er the ocean's swell,
Rallied hope and chiding wonder
Shout to thee theii* stem farewell.
Wednesday, Feb. 18. Our northwest wind, which
we feared would fail us before we had made sufficient
westing, began to awaken this afternoon apprehen-
sions of a very different character. It suddenly rose
into a gale of terrific energy. It seemed to pin the
men to the shrouds as they tried to draw themselves
up into the tops. Such was its roar through the rig-
15
.70 DECK AND PORT.
ging, you could hardly hear a man at the top of his
voice six feet off. It-rivalled in force the hurricane
which we experienced ofFTortugas, in 1831, and the
sea it raised ran much higher. Our quarter-boats
were in danger of being rolled under.
3 o'clock, p. M. We have had to sail under close-
reefed main-top, and fore and mizen storm try-sails.
It seemed almost impossible for a ship to live in such
a sea as now roared and heaved around us. Each
comber in its towering height, seemed to bring
with it the plunging force of a Niagara. It was as
if the steep side of a mountain, with torrents foaming
down its crags, were thrown against you by the
earthquake. Had it struck us full on the broadside
it would have dashed us into fragments. But our
ship, with buoyant energy, rose up steadily over it,
and descended again into the abyss, to encounter
another just like it. This continued till near sunset,
when the gale gradually subsided, and now, at mid-
night, is scarcely sufficient to give us steerage way.
Thursday, Feb. 19. The sun came up clear, over
a calm, cold sea. We waited impatiently for the
Avind ; it came at length in broken gusts from the
north, and so continued through the day. At sun-
set we had a dash of hail from a group of passing
clouds. The troubled twilight died away into a dark,
cheerless night.
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 171
111 doubling Cape Horn from the Atlantic, expe-
rienced navigators, who differ in almost every other
suggestion, agree in this — the expediency of keeping
near the land, and especially so if the passage is made
with the sun south of the equator. In this period of
the year westerly winds prevail. They often rise in
the northwest, yet in their sweep around the Isles of
Diego Ramirez, take a westerly direction. Near the
land you are within their circle, and can take advan-
tage of every eddy to make westing, but further
south you get their full force, and directly in your
teeth.
Besides, there is very little danger of being driven
on the cape. It is a weatherly shore. The heave of
the sea is counteracted, close in, by the strength of
the current, which sets with great force to the east.
This current will carry a vessel off towards the Falk-
land Islands with the wind from the southwest and
even south. And should it veer into the southeast,
the reacting force of the current, close in, renders the
position of your vessel comparatively safe, even when
she is bound into the Atlantic. This provision of
nature against being driven on the cape, is one of the
few alleviations which she has thrown into the hard-
ships of the mariner's lot.
In rounding the cape from the Pacific the sum-
mer months are the best, for then you have short
nights and westerly winds. In rounding it from the
172 DECK AND PORT.
Atlantic you have a choice of evils in the different
seasons. In the winter you have long nights and
icebergs, but favorable winds. In the summer you
have head winds, but short nights and no ice. Cap-
tain King, of the British navy, who has spent several
years in the vicinity of the cape, prefers the winter
months. But Basil Hall, as the result of his expe-
rience, recommends the summer season. My own
opinion is, that any man who has a log-hut on land,
with a corn cake at the fire, and who will consent to
leave them to double Cape Horn for any purpose
whatever, is a proper subject for a lunatic asylum.
Friday, Feb. 20. Lat. 59° 51' s., long. 80° 12' w.
The wind having veered this morning into the south-
west, we tacked ship and stood north. The weather
through the day has had all the extremes incident to
high latitudes ; an hour of bright sunshine, and then
a squall. We have not had at any time since we came
off the cape, a smooth sea and a steady wind. We
have now the long, sweeping waves of the Pacific.
They image, in their majesty, the grandeur of the
ocean over which they roll. Nature never impairs
the sublimity of her works by blending the trivial
with the vast. The shout of her torrents fills with
solemn echoes the old ancestral wood. The many-
voiced waves of her oceans shake the green isles with
their stately anthems.
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 173
But nature has, in this portioh of her mighty domain,
sources of the beautiful and sublime in the constella-
tions which light her heavens. Each star burns out
from the blue vault with the brilliancy and force of
an independent sun. It has a breadth of circle and
an intensity of light which opens on you like the
flame from the eye of the volcano. And then there
is the Southern Cross, a constellation hanging serene
and beautiful over the troubled night of the grave.
To it not only the Christian pilgrim turns in his path
to heaven, but the weary traveller of earth seeks his
late repose by its inclined beam.
" 'Tis past midnight ; the Cross begins to bend."
Saturday, Feb. 21. Our westerly winds still hold ;
we. are braced up sharp, and steering north. But we
have had to-day a strong current setting us east, and
trying to drive us back again off Cape Horn. We have
lost by its force one degree of the westing we had
made. If it continues, and the wind remains in its pres-
ent quarter, we shall be obliged ultimately to tack ship
and stand off to the southwest ; a gloomy, discour-
aging result. It is the fate of Agag after congratu-
lating himself on his escape. But He whose steps
are on the clouds, and whose pathway is in the mighty
deepj will order all things right.
We had to-day, at sunset, a sudden shower. It
fell from a cloud travelling east upon an upper cur-
15*
174 DECK AND PORT.
rent of air, and which carried on its front, as it passed
down over the swelling arch of the ocean, a magnifi-
cent sun-bow. A moment before all had been cloud,
darkness, and storm —
" When overhead this rainbow, bursting through
The scattering clouds, shone, spanning the dark sea,
Resting its bright base on the quivermg blue :
And all within its arch appeared to be
Clearer than that without, and its wide hue
Waxed broad and waving like a banner free.
It changed again ; a heavenly chameleon.
The airy child of vapor and the sun,
Brought forth in purple, cradled in vermilion,
Baptized in molten gold, and swathed in dun."
Sunday, Feb. 22. Though the sea is rough, and
the roll of the ship deep, we have had divine service.
Even a brief service is much better than none. It
is a recognition of the sanctity of the Sabbath, and
of our obligations to that Being whose guardian care
is our defence.
If dependence can awaken the voice of suppli-
cation, the sailor, of all men, should be the most
devout. His poor frail bark floats between life and
death. A sudden tempest, a latent rock, or a spark
of fire, and he sinks into a strangling grave. He
may emerge, but it is only to strike his strong arms
in wild despair. No drifting plank floats between
him and the "pale bourne." Prepared or unpre-
PASSAGE FROM CAi'E HORN TO VALPARAISO. 175
pared, he must appear at once before the dread tri-
bunal and answer for the deeds of his erring hfe.
He should live with these awful realities ever present
to his thoughts. Like the bird of the stormy peak,
his pinion should be ever ready to unfurl itself. But
from his flight there is no return ; he is off into the
boundless unknown.
This is the anniversary of the birthday of Wash-
ington. Its sacredness is in harmony with his serene
virtues. Too pure for corruption, too disinterested
for ambition, he lived for his country and his God.
The entire energies of his being were surrendered to
those great interests which will quicken the hopes of
man when the marble that guards his dust has
crumbled. He has left an example which throws its
steady light on the fetters of captive nations and into
the pale recesses of kings. Millions who sit in dark-
ness will yet hail its auroral splendors.
Monday, Feb. 23. To save ourselves from being
carried back among the Patagonians, we have tacked
ship and are standing southwest by west. This, with
two points variation, and the current in our favor,
\V\Vi enable us to make a nearly west course. With
the first material variation in the wind we shall be
able to go upon our larboard tack and make a stretch
up the coast.
The high sea and heavy roll of our ship made the
176 DECK AND PORT.
use of the razor this morning a delicate operation.
I had strapped the instrument and laid it on my
bureau, when away it went into the wash-bowl.
Having fished it up and made it secure, I got out my
china box of shaving-soap, but laying it down for
a moment to find the brush, crash it went on the
floor. Picking up the fragments, I managed to raise
suds enough for the present occasion ; when looking
around for my razor, to my astonishment, it could
nowhere be found. It had fetched away again, and
brought up in one of my boots. But I had no sooner
recovered it, than my candle, having caught the
moving infection, rushed into my cot and scorched
my pillow-case. All things being righted again, and
a little fresh suds applied where the old had evap-
orated, I took the razor, and watching for the ship to
get on an even keel, gave a clip ; but it so happened
the ship plunged instead of rolling, and this brought
the point of the razor in contact with the extremity
of the nose, where a severe cut proclaimed itself in
a gush of blood. But stanching the wound, I
managed at length, by a clip here, and another
there, to disencumber the chin of its stubble. Such
are some of the advantages for shaving at sea.
Man was made perfect, but has sought out many
inventions, and this of shaving at all is one of
them.
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 177
Tuesday, Feb. 24. Lat. 53° 35' s., long. 78^
56' w.
" It comes resistless, and with foaming sweep,
Upturns the whitening surface of the deep ;
In such a tempest, borne to deeds of death,
The wild-weird sisters scour the blasted heath."
The black clouds which hovered in the western hori-
zon last evening, hung their banners of darkness over
the descending sun, as if impatient of the presence of
that orb in the frightful work which they purposed.
Before his level rays had left the ocean, their waiting
squadrons began to rally. One black cohort after
another filed into the ranks, till they presented a solid
mass of impetuous strength. Thus compact, they
moved down upon the plane of the trembling sea.
When opening to the right and left, a tempest rushed
forth, which seemingly nothing but the stable moun-
tains could withstand.
Our ship had been put under storm-sails for the
encounter ; and yet, even with this precaution, she
rolled down before its force like a crushed foe ; while
the crested waves howled over her as savages in a
death-dance over their victim. It was some minutes
before she could recover herself. She was overpow-
ered, but her courage was not broken. At every
pause in the storm she came up, and then plunged
into it as if for life or death. The conflict closed
about midnight, and our ship won another laurel for
178 DECK AND PORT.
Steadiness and strength. This was the most violent
gale that we have experienced.
Wednesday, Feb. 25. We had this evening one
of the most beautiful phenomena connected with sun-
set at sea. The flaming orb had been for more than
an hour below the horizon, when the long, dark bank
of clouds, beneath which he had disappeared, lifted,
disclosing a lake of golden light, which poured its
melting radiance far and wide over the sea. It
seemed as a rosy morn rising out of the bosom of
night.
Not a star lit the blue vault, and yet the spars and
tracery of our ship became visible in the soft efful-
gence of the departed sun. When the beautiful of
earth die, they carry their pale charms with them to
the shroud ; but when the brilliant orbs of the sky
depart, they light their very pall with their surviving
splendors. The light even of the Pleiad, lost in the
infant world, still circles around her choiring sisters,
who have poured for ages her sweet melodious dirge.
Our long-lost, little bark peered to light this morn-
ing on our lee-beam. We had parted with her in a
storm off* the Cape, and had relinquished all expecta-
tion of falling in with her again. But here she is,
within three miles of us, with the American ensign
flying at her peak, in answer to ours. We may yet
speak her. She is, we conjecture, the Charles, which
PASSAGE FROM CATE liOKN TO VALPARAISO. 179
sailed from Boston on the first of November, bound
to the Sandwich Islands. If she stops at Valparaiso
she will probably find us there. We outsail her,
though she has managed, by keeping close in, to
double the Horn with us.
Thursday, Feb. 26. Our west wind continued
through yesterday and carried us some eight knots
the hour towards our port ; but this morning it has
veered into the north and compelled us to go upon
our starboard tack. This steering due west, when
our port lies due north, is reaching our destination
by right angles. But there is no angle, that ever yet
shaped itself in the wildest mathematical dream,
which is not described by a ship at sea. The path
of the boa constrictor is not further from a right line.
Our nights are beginning to lengthen as we ap-
proach the sun. Off the Cape we had only a brief
dip of darkness. The day was sixteen hours, twi-
light three, and the night five. Our fowls lost their
reckoning, and were clucking and crowing when
they should have been asleep. What could be done
in our country with only five hours of night ? Be-
fore the elite of our city got to a party it w^ould be
daylight ; and as for the rural swain, who does all
his courting on Sunday night, the sun would be up
before he had got half way to the all-important, yet
very awkward question. He would have to begin
180 DECK AND PORT,
anew each Sabbath eve, and stop where he left off
before. A sailor would settle the whole business in
fifteen minutes, and what is more, he would then
stick to his bargain for better or worse. He never
troubles a court or legislature for a divorce. If he
cannot make good weather on one tack he tries
another ; but he never throws his mate overboard,
nor scuttles his own ship. But let that pass.
Friday, Feb. 27. It is now forty-four days since
we left Rio. We had a splendid run to the Cape,
but since that we have wrenched every league from
the elements by the hardest. We sailed two thou-
sand miles off the Cape to make four hundred on our
course. We literally beat round it. A feat that has
been deemed almost impracticable. We have hardly
been for an hour without a head wind and a head
sea. We have the latter to-day, but a wind from
the west that is driving us on in spite of it nine knots
the hour.
We are rapidly reaching more genial latitudes.
The transition is like that from Lapland to the Line.
The severity of the cold off the cape is inexplicable.
The thermometer never fell below the freezing point,
and yet no amount of clothing we could put on,
would keep us warm. We shivered in double
flannels and over-coats ; our feet, had they been
chiselled from ice, could scarcelv have been colder ;
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 181
and all this in a temperature that would not crisp a
pool of sleeping water. Hail fell, it is true, with
great force and frequency, but it was from upper
strata of air. The currents nearer the sea would
not have congealed vapor.
It will be said we felt the cold more, coming, as
we did, from a torrid clime. But the system does
not cool dow^n so rapidly. The rigors of the first
northern winter are felt least by those born nearest
the sun. The Italian division in the Russian cam-
paign suffered less than any other. The Poles fell
like icicles from a tree shaken by a winter storm,
while the Neapolitans seemed to melt the very snows
in which they bivouacked. The cold we experi-
enced is to be ascribed to the absorption of electri-
city from the system by the condition of the atmos-
phere.
Saturday, Feb. 28. Lat. 45° 10' s., long. 80°
24' w. We are now making a good run towards our
port. If our west wind holds we shall in a few days
let go our anchors in the harbor of Valparaiso.
Fresh meat, vegetables, and milk will be a luxury.
Our last pig and fowl went some days since to the
cook. Our potatoes still hold out, but they are not
larger than bullets, and are as full of water as a tick
of blood. Our hommony is in the kernel, and will
not soften sufficiently for use short of a week's boil-
182 DECK AND PORT.
ing, which is hardly practicable in a ship's economy
of water.
The only fresh article of the flesh kind that comes
upon our table, is salmon, which has been preserved
in air-tight jars. Our bread is baked on board ; by
what process it is attempted to be raised I know not;
but well would it be for human nature were its
vanity as little puffed up. We attempted a plum-
pudding to-day, but every plum was as soundly im-
bedded as marine fossils in primitive rocks. We
have some tripe left, but I understand the leader of
our band wants it for a drum-head, and our black-
smith is anxious to get it for an apron. If its apti-
tudes determine the disposition to be made of it, no
connoisseur in gastrotomy can save it from the
anvil ox the drum. Well dried it would ring a
good tattoo,
Or shield a Vulcan, wliile he shapes
The form his bolted thunder takes.
Sunday, March 1. Divine service on the spar-
deck ; oflicers and crew present ; the air balmy ; the
broad Pacific heaving in silent majesty around, and
a soft cloud, loaded with the incense of nature, soar-
ing into the great dome of heaven. Lead me for
worship —
Not to the dome, where crumbUng arch and column
Attest the feebleness of mortal liand,
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 183
But to the fane, most catholic and solemn,
Which God hath planned :
To that cathedral, boundless as her wonder.
Whose quenchless lamps the sun and moon supply ;
Its choir, the winds and waves ; its organ, thunder ;
Its dome, the sky. ^^
Found in the sick-bay to-day a sailor, who spoke
feelingly and well on the subject of religion. He is
a member of the Methodist church, and carries a
warm, devoted heart under his rude exterior. It is
not the smoothest cloud that has in it the most of
summer's balmy breath. It is a great comfort to me
to find among the crew here and there one of earnest
piety. His example flashes out like a star from a
sky of cloud and storm. God grant these lights may
be multiplied till our whole horizon shall be lit with
their steady splendors.
Mrs. Ten Eyke, the wife of our consul on board,
whose health has been for some time delicate, is
gradually sinking. How cold the grave to one so
young, to whom the earth seems so fair, and life so full
of joyous pulses ! O death ! to thy unbreathing realm
glide silently away the beautiful and the beloved.
"^ " They hear a voice, we may not hear,
Which says they must not stay ;
They see a hand we may not see,
Which beckons them away."
Monday, March 2. We fidded our topgallant-
184 DECK AND PORT.
masts ; crossed our royal yards ; rousted up and
mounted the eight spar-deck guns, which had been
struck below off the Cape ; unbent our heavy topsails
and courses, and bent lighter ones ; holystoned our
decks ; scrubbed our paint-work ; cleaned our brass
rails ; finished our new side-ladder ; and repaired the
whaleboat stove in the gale. A good day's work all
this, and a wide stride in our preparations for port.
Our band in the mean time is practising some bril-
liant airs, with which we expect to captivate the
Chilanos. But of all the music that ever melted on
mortal ear, give me
The lay of streamlets, and the trill of bu-ds,
The lisp of children, and their earliest \^ords.
The coelebs may turn away from these earliest
words, for they have a music which he understands
not. There is not a string in his soul which they
can touch — not a chord to vibrate as their pulses
play over it. But should he wed, and a sweet minia-
ture of life reflect his own features, lisp with his
voice, and smile with his eyes, he would hang over
it as the Peri over the long-sought secret that was to
admit her to celestial bliss. Its faintest note would
breathe a sweeter strain than ever trembled from the
strings of the Orphean lyre. The earth might be
full of loudest harmonies, but he would still turn his
ear to that slender note of piping infancy. But let
that pass.
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 185
Tuesday, March 3. Our studding-sails, which
have lain undisturbed for several weeks, have been
out to-day, below and aloft, to a light breeze from
the south. The sea has been smooth, presenting
only its long, majestic undulations. The ocean never
rests. From the day morn first broke over its silent
depths, it has been rolling on to the present hour.
Capitals have crumbled on its shores, thrones and
dynasties perished, but it still rolls on in the majesty
cf its unabated strength.
Our preparations for port are still going on. Our
standing rigging has been tarred ; our masts, yards,
booms, and hull have received a fresh coat of paint.
Our guns are beginning to throw back the sun-light
from their polished surface. You would hardly sus-
pect such voilied thunder could sleep in their re-
cesses. Our cutlasses have been furbished, our
boarding-pikes sharpened, and our carbines made
true to their trust. We bear the olive-branch and
the sword.
Our albatrosses have left us. They followed us to
the verge of the summer's clime, and then, wheeling
on their bold, arching wings, sped back to their win-
try domain. They w^ere our only companions off
the Cape, and something like a sentiment of bereave-
ment fell on us, as they took their departure.
The heart will doubly feel alone,
When "hat which served to cheer hath flown.
16*
186 DECK AND PORT.
Wednesday, March 4. Our sick list, which ran
up to forty, in consequence of the hardships and ex-
posures off the cape, is rapidly diminishing. Com-
modore Stockton, who has been quite ill, is convales-
cent. We should regret extremely any circumstance
that would deprive us of the pleasures and advan-
tages derived from our present relations to him.
Mr. G., one of our watch officers, has been for some
days confined to his berth. But he is gathering
strencrth again, and will soon be able to resume his
post on the quarter-deck.
As for myself, I am a slender reed, easily bowed
before the blast, but coming up again as soon as its
force is spent. I entered the navy with a constitu-
tion impaired by sedentary habits, and have perhaps
derived some advantage from the recreations and ad-
ventures involved in a sea-life. I have been in
every variety of climate, but I doubt much if these
changes have been promotive of health. My advice
to invalids is, never go to sea with the expectation
that ship-board is to restore you. A change of cli-
mate may be of benefit, but the passage in nine cases
out of ten will begin in seasickness ^and end in de-
bility. If you have a comfortable home, stay by it ;
if your digestion is bad, stop eating; if your nerves
are deranged, bathe in cold water ; if you have chil-
dren, romp and frolic with them. This is much
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 187
better than sucking sugar canes in Cuba, or going to
Rome to kiss the pope's toe.
Thursday, March 5. Our hawse bucklers are
out, our chains bent, and we are now ready to let go
our anchors ; we are still seventy miles from our
port, but the first breeze, which breaks the calm of
the sea, will probably take us in. We are now fifty
one days out from Rio, and more than half of them
have been passed in storms. We have been at sea
since we left the United States, one hundred and
three days ; and have sailed, in that time, twelve
thousand two hundred and twenty miles. We have
yet some twelve thousand miles more to sail before
we circle round into the port where we may look for
repose. Our ship is another dove over the unsub-
sided waters of the deluge.
Several of the stormy petrels, which joined us be-
fore we reached the Cape, are still skimming along
in the wake of our keel. They follow us, as little
politicians their leader, for crumbs, not of office —
they are too sensible for that — but of Jack's table-
cloth ; and in doing this they never displace or dis-
turb their betters. Between a stormy petrel and a
little party politician I should not hesitate a moment
where to place my regard. We have had about us
to-day a flotilla of w^hales, sharks, and porpoises.
Their gambols stirred the sleeping sea into foam.
188 DECK AND PORT.
They seemed to be trying' their speed. The whale
was quickest to the goal, but slowest in doubling it.
His head is entirely too far from his tail. I com-
mend his case to the Owenites at their next world-
convention.
Friday, March 6. The light breeze which fanned
us along faintly through the night, has left us in the
morning- watch within twenty miles of our port. The
coast on our starboard beam lies full in view, with
its deep indentations, and its bold bluffs, against
which the Pacific rolls its surge. Far in the back-
ground rise the stupendous steeps of the Cordilleras,
throwing their shadows a hundred miles at sea. On
their summit, glittering with the icy hail of centuries,
the morning star furls its wing of flame. Beneath
such a vision, what is man ? He disappears, and his
shadow, as if ashamed to linger, goes with him.
The breeze, for which we have been waiting and
watching, has come. Our studding-sails, below and
aloft, are out to catch its first breath. We are again
moving up the coast. Fifteen miles of it are passed,
but no headland appears which we can identify with
those designated on the chart. Seven more, and still
no evidences of a harbor. We begin to think our
master, like a Millerite, has left out some figure in his
reckoning.
At last we discover, upon a slight swell in the
PASSAGE FROM CAPE HORN TO VALPARAISO. 189
coast, a little lighthouse, but no bay, and nothing that
indicates one. Doubling this projection, we catch
our first glimpse of Valparaiso, nestled among the
fissures and shelves of a steep ascent of rocks. It
seems one of those wild nooks in which pirates might
have sought a perilous home. Taking in our stud-
ding-sails, and hauling up our courses, we have
rounded to handsomely, and anchored in thirty-two
fathoms.
All eyes are directed to the shipping. A French
man-of-war has already saluted us ; a national cour-
tesy which we have promptly returned. But we are
looking for the American flag ; only one can be
seen, and that is flying over a merchantman. No
national vessel holds out any hope of letters from
home by the Isthmus. Our disappointment is con-
firmed by our consul, who informs us that no dis-
patches have been received from the United States
of a date subsequent to our departure, except a copy
of the President's message, which was brought in the
English mail, and which was considered quite bel-
ligerent in its tone. The news of the resignation of
the Peel ministry greatly surprises us, and has in it,
as we fancy, quite a little war-cloud. A national
ship abroad catches every premonition of hostilities
as quickly as a barometer the approach of a storm.
So, here we are at last in front of Valparaiso, with
a continent and an ocean between us and our homes ;
190 DECK AND PORT.
another ocean still to be traversed, and to roll us yet
wider asunder ; and then this war-cloud on the hori-
zon ! But there is one separation, one which awaits
us all, still wider than this — the chasm of the grave.
Over that no signals extend, and no messenger-bird
hath winged its way. I have walked in its pale light
for years, hovering between the sun and a total
eclipse.
" Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave."
191
CHAPTER VI.
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO.
ASPECT OF THE CITY. GROUPS OX THE QUAY. CHILIAN HORSEMANSHIP.
THE WOMEN. HUTS OF THE NATIVES. AMERICAN AND ENGLISH SO-
CIETY. OPERA-HOUSE. THE TERTULTA. MODE OF TRAVELLING. POLICE
OF THE CITY. VISITS FROM THE SHORE. FEUDAL SYSTEM. THE CLER-
GY, THE BIBLE IN CHILI. THE CONFESSIONAL. BURIAL GROUTED. THE
INDIAN MOTHER. POLITICAL CONDITION OF CHILI. FAREAVELL TO VAL-
PARAISO.
Where Valparaiso's cliffs and flowers,
In mirrored wildness, sweep
Their shadows round the mermaid's bowers,
Our steadfast anchors sleep.
Saturday, March 7. Valparaiso, at a first glance,
instead of justifying the name it bears — the vale of
Paradise — might rather be called some outpost of
purgatory. Its wild crags, its scorched hills, and
dark glens might well be supposed to lead to that
intermediate abode of condemned spirits. You are
puzzled to know why a city should be there. With-
out encroaching on the sea, there is hardly room
enough, between the base of the steep acclivities and
the surge, to set up a fisherman's hut. The harbor
is but little better than an open roadstead. A norther
is an admonition to all vessels to slip their cables.
Yet Valparaiso is a city, and one which, having
192 DECK AND PORT.
once seen, you will never forget. It will stand alone
in your after-dreams like Jacob's ladder. Like the
rounds in that airy vision, its buildings ascend, roof
over roof, till they seem to topple in the sky. One
violent shake of an earthquake would precipitate the
whole into the sea. And yet these terrible visita-
tions are constantly throwing out their premonitions.
There is not a building whose walls have not vi-
brated to their force. There is not a rock on which
they rest, but is of volcanic origin. The soaring
peaks of the Cordilleras, which overhang them, rest
on craters that may at any moment throw^ them
heaven-high. And yet who does not sleep sound in
Valparaiso ? Such is peril, when it has become an
old familiar acquaintance.
We landed from our boat on the jetty, which has
been thrown out from the beach to prevent the
necessity of debarking in the surf The quay was
alive with boatmen, cracking their jokes over their
water-melons and coarse bread. A fat friar was seen
straying among them, willing to shrive the most
wayward for a large melon. One fellow, who looked
as if he had obliquities enough to justify some
effacing process, made light of the proffered shrift.
He thought a green melon would pay.
Near by sat a Chilano on a stone, which swelled
up from the pavement, tantalizing the strings of a
guitar, while a little cloud of tobacco-smoke curled
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 193
up around the high cone of his felt hat. The only
accompaniment was the sharp creak of a file, with
which a muleteer was sharpening the rowel of his
spurs, which resembled a circular saw, except that
the teeth were much longer.
Here a beggar, who had lost a leg, hobbled up to
us, wearing around his neck a label, showing that he
had the permission of the police to solicit alms on
Tuesdays and Saturdays. Poor fellow ! if his limb
was lost in a good cause, he ought to be allowed to
solicit charity when he can get it. And if it was
lost even in a scuffle, it would not be in my heart
to deny him a penny. What a world is this in
which we dwell ! How is it filled with paupers,
spurs, tobacco, guitars, water-melons, and absolving
monks ; all jangling and jargoning along together to
dusty death ! What an incongruous mass the grave
Sunday, March 8. Divine service on board ; a
large attendance of Americans from the shore. Sub-
ject of the discourse — cause and criminality of inde-
cision in matters of religion. The state religion of
Chili is the Roman Catholic. Protestant forms of
worship are tolerated, but in a private way. The
erection of churches for the purpose is not permitted.
A hall may be used, if it has no symbols of consecra
tion. Think of that, my dear Papal brothers in the
17
194 DECK AND PORT.
United States, kneeling in your sumptuous cathe-
drals, while your vesper-bells summon from their
lofty steeples the faithful to prayer. And you talk to
us Protestants about toleration ! Why, there is more
toleration in my Uncle Toby's teapot than can be
found in the whole Papal See.
Before you assey the ballot-box again, because the
Bible, without note or comment, is permitted in our
public schools, look abroad and see what privileges
you extend to Protestants. In those countries where
your religion and laws are all paramount, you do not
tolerate the consecration of the humblest chapel ;
and as for a steeple and bell, they would not stand
long enough to knell their own ruin. And yet you
talk of toleration, and lecture the whole world on
Christian charity ! The latnguage of forbearance and
fraternal love melts from your lips softly as dew
on the flowers of Hermon. One would think, from
•your professions, Protestants must have a perfect
elysium in your lands. But somehow it strangely
happens that they are disqualified for holding any
office of civil trust ; and are denied even a consecra-
ted place of worship. They are fortunate if allowed
the sanctity of a grave.
In Chili, intolerance flows purely from the man-
dates of the Papal hierarchy. Legislators, as a body,
are well disposed, but they cannot carry their liberal
measures without putting the stability of their civil
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 195
institutions in peril. An act of religious toleration
would be followed by ecclesiastical denunciations
and appeals to the passions of the mass, which would
result in revolution and blood. " Come here, my bish-
op of New York, with your smooth doctrines about
the rights of conscience, and talk a little to your
brother bishops in this quarter. If these doctrines
are good when proclaimed to American Protestants,
let us see how they will sound in the ears of Chilian
Catholics. Do a few leagues of salt water destroy
their force and propriety ? Do they cease to be or-
thodox the moment they leave a Protestant shore and
enter a Papal domain ?
Come, my dear bishop, set down here in Chili with
me, and let us talk together a little. You tell us the
rights of the human conscience are sacred. What
rights of conscience have Protestants in Chili — or
even in Rome ? You go there once in three years
to report in person to the holy Father, you seq,
Protestants filing off on the Sabbath through a narrow,
dirty street, to a little, obscure chapel, without steeple
or bell, where they may worship, if they won't speak
above a whisper. And then you return to New
York and talk to its corporation about the sacred
rights of conscience ! Your toleration, my dear
bishop, is much like the Yankee hunter's division of
game with his Indian companion — all turkey on one
side and all buzzard on the other.
196
DECK AND PORT.
Monday, March 9. I encountered, in my ram-
bles to-day, a specimen of Chilian horsemanship.
The costume of the rider was in wild harmony with
his occupation. His hat rose in a high cone, like
that of a whirling dervish in Turkey. His poncho,
resembling a large shawl, fell in careless folds around
his person. His gaiters rose to the knee ; his heels
were armed with a huge pair of silver-mounted spurs,
while a brace of pistols peered from the holster of his
saddle-bow. He was mounted on a powerful animal,
impatient of the bit, and sure of foot as the moun-
tain roe. The strong muscles betrayed their swell-
ing lines in his limbs ; the dilating nostril was full of
panting force, while his arching neck seemed clothed
with thunder. He was such a steed as you would
choose for that last decisive charge, in which a Wa-
terloo is to be won or lost.
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 197
His rider knew him well and gave him the rein ;
on he dashed, over hill and vale, with the speed of
the wind. Now shaking the topling crags with his
iron hoof, now plunging down the steep ravine, now
leaping, with frightful force, the sudden chasm;
never missing his foothold, never throwing his rider.
Both were safe where the neck of neither seemed
worth a farthing. I have seen the Tartar ride at
Constantinople, and witnessed, with silent admira-
tion, the Grand Sultan's horsemanship, but he is
outdone by the Chilano.
A company of circus-riders, from Europe, came
here a few years since to astonish the Chilians. But
they soon found they had brought their w^are to a
wrong market. The Chilanos took the business out
of their hands ; and so far outdid them that they sud-
denly disappeared, and have not been heard of in
*hese parts since. It was like a bufFalo entering a
herd of deer to astonish them with his fleetness, or
like a bull attempting a race with one of Baldwin's
locomotives.
The Chilian women betray their Spanish blood.
It is seen in their stately forms, their firm elastic
step, their nut-brown complexion, their large black
eyes, and their earnestness of manner, which is full
of silent, significant force. They wear their hair in
two plaits, which are sometimes coiled into a turban
and interlaced with flowers, and at others flows from
17*
198 DECK AND PORT.
V
a slight fillet, quite down to the heel. They use no
stays ; the tide of nature ebbs and flows without
constraint. The rich shawl which covers the neck
and shoulders, neglects at times its occupation, and
the silk stocking forgets now and then that it has
taken the veil. ^
y.. They are fond of attentions, and will much sooner
excuse a liberty, which flows from admiration, than
a neglect, which results from indifference ; still they
are not considered as very exacting. What they
want is the homage of the heart. Civility that has
no soul in it, they consider a mockery. Love is
consequently with them a passion. As daughters,
they are wild and thoughtless ; as mothers, fond of
their children and attached to their homes. The
most sober flower will often blossom from the bud
that has danced the most lightly in the sunbeam. ,
Tuesday, March 10. I encountered to-day in the
environs of Valparaiso, a long string of donkeys,
ladeii with vegetables and fruit from Quilota, some
forty miles distant. The little hardy fellows were
plodding along in single file, covered up under their
huge panniers, and turning this way or that to the
cry of their driver, who brought up the rear. I
never could encounter one of these creatures with-
out a sentiment of pity and even respect. He seems
as one doomed to drudgery, merely because nature
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 199
has wronged him in making him up. And then his
patience — it is a model. He has long ears it is true,
but then he never, like those who consider them-
selves his betters, tries to conceal them. He is an
honest ass !
The markets of Valparaiso are supplied from val-
leys in the interior. The grounds in the immediate
neighborhood are, for many months in the year,
parched up with drouth. Large tracts of land, well
suited to the harrow, are herbless from want of
means to irrigate them. Springs have been hunted,
and rocks bored almost half-way to the earth's cen-
tre, but in vain. Even the monks have tried their
miraculous charms, but nature's great Nile obeys no
such incantations. Their fleece, unlike that of Gid-
eon, remained dry. No snow falls on these vallies,
and no rain, except in the three winter months.
The earth becomes baked and broken into deep
fissures. When the winds are abroad the dust is
driven over it in clouds thick enough to bury a
Gipsy encampment.
The huts of the native peasantry are built of reeds,
plastered with mud and thatched with straws They
have seldom more than one room, and are generally
without a floor. Here the inmates sit, sleep, and
work in wigwam-life. They seldom look beyond
their present wants. Their industry ebbs or flows
as plenty or penury prevail. Out of these murky
200 DECK AND PORT.
cabins beauty sometimes emerges in a combination
of charms that might stir the chisel of a Praxiteles.
The females are generally pictures of health and
animation. Their diet is coarse bread and fruit.
They know nothing of the luxuries of the table, and
seem to care as little. They are fond of music and
dancing, and throw an energy into their motions
which would astonish even a Shaker. The qua-
drille has not sufficient action in it. They prefer
the fandango. The old are grouped around the
broad circle in which the young couple spring to the
vibrations of the guitar or violin. The short dress
of the female, and the prurient motions of both, are
at war with all our sentiments of propriety. Still,
unless nature libel herself, the mothers who witness
these exhibitions in their daughters, must be influ-
enced more by a false taste than a lubricity of dispo-
sition. This is as true of savage as civilized life — of
the Chilian mother as the Roman matron. Nature
has thrown her most beautiful iris in a mother's look
over the wave which flows from the depths of a
daughter's unsullied soul.
Wednesday, March 11. The features of Valpa-
raiso, which strike the stranger with the greatest
force, are perhaps the elegant articles of ornament
which are presented in the fancy shops. They seem
as much out of place here as a jewel in a swine's
sketches! of VALPARAISO. 201
snout. And yet they are not out of place ; for higher
forms of fashionable life are seldom encountered.
Those little cottages, which gleam from the toppling
crags, are garnished with furniture on which the
Parisian artist has exhausted his skill. From the
balcony rolls out upon the wind the most exquisite
music of harp and voice. Such strains from amid
such a savage scene ! It is like Proserpine, crossing
the gloomy Styx, crowned with the flowers of para-
dise.
The English and Americans here are singularly
free from those rivalries and jealousies, which are the
besetting sin of foreign residents. They flow to-
gether with a congeniality of spirit, which is the
source of a thousand pleasures to them as well as the
stranger. Their society is the all-redeeming charm
of Valparaiso. Their hospitality is open as the day,
and warm as their soft clime. You forget in their
company the rude rocks and barren hills around you.
The earth without may be covered with brambles,
but you feel for the time in a sort (^ Eden whose
flowers have escaped the primal malediction. I do
not wonder that this is the favorite port with the
officers of the Pacific squadron. They always leave
it with regret, and cherish for it the most affectionate
remembrance.
Who would expect to find among these wild cliflfs
an opera house, vying, in the elegance of its decora-
202 DECK AND PORT.
tions and the richness of its music, with some of the
most hberally endowed estabhshments in Europe?
yet such is the fact. Of its merits I speak from the
representations of others, as I have not myself been
within its precincts. I decUned going, not from an
apprehension of moral taint, conducted as the opera
is here, but from motives of expediency. I would
not indulge even in an innocent amusement, that
had assumed a doubtful shape in the imaginations of
others. But still I would not be a slave to mere
whims, which have no reasonableness and force. I
admire an enlightened, sober, independence of opin-
ion and action.
I believe the opera, if introduced thoroughly into
the United States, if performed in suitable edifices,
and under suitable restrictions, would promote, indi-
rectly at least, the cause of morals and good taste.
It would attract to it a thousand young men, who
now spend their evenings in grog-shops and at ga-
ming-tables. The opera has its evils, but what human
institution hfs not. If every thing is to be de-
nounced which is not an unmixed good, then every
thing emanating from man must go by the board.
People will have amusements, it is a law of their so-
cial being, and it is your duty as a friend to virtue to
look out and encourage the most innocent. You
may deride this counsel and persevere in trying to
put human nature into a straight jacket ; but you
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 203
will never succeed, and it' you could, you would Hnd
that jacket any thing but a garment of righteousness.
Thursday, March 12. I accompanied last even-
ing several of my wardroom companions to a Chilian
tertulia. A broad flight of stairs took us to a large
and brilliantly lighted saloon, where we were met by
the lady of the mansion who gave us her hand, and
welcomed us to Valparaiso. It would have been a
little embarrassing to encounter the flash of so many
eyes, but for the ease and tact of our accomplished
hostess. Instead of taking us around the saloon and
introducing us, amid a general suspension of conver-
sation, to the company, which would have embar-
rassed all parties, she went to talking with us, and in
a few minutes managed to introduce us to several
ladies, as unceremoniously as if there* had been no
design in it. This artless tact continued till we
were introduced to every lady and gentleman present.
All were at ease and full of talk, though some of
us had but a limited range of Spanish at our com-
mand. But a great deal of conversation may be
made out of a few words, when the heart is glad. /'
The ladies never corrected the wrong word, and
affected to understand it just as well as if it had been
the right one. Some of them attempted English
with the amiable purpose, no doubt, of relieving our
blunders by making as many of their own.
204 DECK AND PORT.
"'Tis pleasing to be schooled in a strange tongue
By female lips and eyes * -^ *
They smile so when one's right, and when one's wrong
They smile still more."
I asked one of the ladies if she would gratify us
with a piece of music ; she instantly took my arm to
the piano, beckoned her sister to her side, and gave
us a duett which called back my recollections of
poor Malibran. What melodies were quenched for
ever when that sweet singer died. Her strain still
lingers in the hearts of thousands, but where is she !
As a bird from its bower, as a rainbow from its
cloud, she has passed away. Spring will call back
its little minstrels, and the summer sun rebuild its
airy arch. But she, who charmed the world, will
come back no more. Her melodious lips are sealed
in silence, anfl the shadow of death is on her eye-
lids.
' Leaves have their time to fall.
And flowers to wither at the north- wind's breath,
And stars to set — but all,
Thou hast all seasons for thine own, 0 death !" i^
But to return to the tertulia. The costume of the
ladies differed but little from what you meet with at
evening parties in the United States. The hair,
which betrayed great care in its arrangement, was
ornamented with natural flowers. The dress, gener-
ally of a light airy material, had short sleeves, rather
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 205
low in the neck, with a short, full skirt. The reason
assigned for this is, that the wearer may be less em-
barrassed in dancing, but, perhaps, the pride of a
well-turned ankle is an additional motive. The gen-
tlemen were more sedate than the ladies, but their
conversation had not half the versatility. At twelve
o'clock the tertulia broke up. The lady of the house
gave us her hand at parting with a heuna noche.
Friday, March 13. Went on shore to-day to take
a ride. This has fo be done either on the saddle, or
in a vehicle resembling our chaise, but of much ruder
construction. The latter is preferred for long dis-
tances. One horse trots within the shafts, another at
his left, on which the postillion is mounted, while
half a dozen others accompany the vehicle to act as
relays. If these give out, the lasso is resorted to, and
some half-wild horse, who a few moments before
snuffed the wind in freedom, is within the traces.
The postillion seldom troubles himself with the ques-
tion whether the animal has ever been thoroughly
broken to the harness. The wilder, the more speed,
and therefore all the better for his purpose. He is
master of his business, and seemingly of every thing
in nature that can conduce to its success. His
driving is like that of Jehu. You expect every
moment the old quill-wheel, in which you are em-
Darked, will fly into a thousand pieces. But like the
18
206 DECK AND PORT.
hurdle of the doomed, it still holds together, hurrying
you, if not to the gallows, to the grave.
If you take to the saddle you will probably find
your stirrups of wood, resembling in shape and size
the large beetle with which a New-England farmer
splits his rails. Their weight is seemingly relieved
by grotesque carving ; in the side is a sharp excava-
tion, sufficiently deep to admit one-third of the foot.
The saddle is made of raw hide, and a frame which
an Indian's hatchet might have shaped. It rises up
before and behind like a well-horned half-moon.
The bridle has one recommendation, a tremendous
bit. But with all this you are on a horse, wild as he
may be, that is sure of foot. You can no more get
a stumble out of him, were you so disposed, than Lu-
cifer could a defection from duty out of Abdiel, or a
whig a bank- vote out of a democrat.
The police of Valparaiso, which once seldom pro-
tected the innocent, or- punished the guilty, is now
unrivalled in efficiency. Its vigilance reaches your
person and property through every hour of the day
and night. You are safe even in spite of your own
negligence. If, for instance, you leave your shop
with the window unbolted, you will find the next
morning a padlock on it, and one which you cannot
remove without paying a fine of three dollars. If
you dine out, tarry late at the wine, get tipsy, and
can't find your way home, a watchman picks you up,
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 207
puts you into a chaise, finds out by some means
where you Uve, takes you to your door, and delivers
you to your waiting wife, with the good-humored re-
mark that you are a httle indisposed. What a capi-
tal arrangement for those who have more wine than
wit in' them!
If you wake up in the night, find one of your
family sick, and want a physician, you have only to
hand his name to the watchman near your door, who
passes it to another, and he to another still, till it
reaches its destination, and you soon have the phy-
sician at your side. His prescription must perhaps
be taken to an apothecary ; it is handed to the
watch, passed on, and in a few minutes back comes
the medicament required. What bachelor might
not venture to get married in Valparaiso ?
Saturday, March 14. The governor of Valpa-
raiso, with his suite, visited our ship this morning.
He is a man of some sixty years of age, with no very
brilliant qualities, but possesses sound sense. He
' expressed himself delighted with our frigate, exam-
ined every part of her, and received, as he went over
her side, the salute due to his rank.
Our ship has been the constant scene of visits from
the Chilians. A party has just left us who came all
the way from Santiago. They make themselves
quite at home on our decks. When the band strikes
208 DECK AND PORT.
up, they call for a waltz, or fandango, and commence
dancing with just as much freedom as if they were on
their own village green, beneath the light of the moon.
On leaving they urge us to come and see them, prom-
ising us horses to ride, music, and the smiles of a
thousand glad eyes. Their invitations are • full of
sincerity and heart : and for my own part I would
much sooner avail myself of them, than the august
condescension which should open to me the palace
of a king.
The inequalities of the feudal system, introduced
from old Spain, still survive in Chili. The lands are
owned by the privileged few, and their succession
secured by the right of entail. An effort was made
a few years since to break up this system, and dis-
tribute the lands among the heirs, without reference
to any advantages of primogeniture. But the great
number of illegitimate children, who came in and
urged their claims, rendered the measure a danger-
ous experiment. It was waived for the time ; but
unless republicanism here be a farce, it will come
back again with augmented force. Freedom and
equality are twin-born : they breathe the same air,
and share the same destiny. Besides, there is no
good reason why a natural child should not share in
his father's estates. It is a hard case, indeed, if he
must be made a beggar, merely because his parents
have made him a child of sin. Let those who thus
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 209
err pay the penalty. They have planted the tree,
and now let them partake its fruit, — apples of Sodom
though they be.
The elective franchise involves no property quali-
fication in Chili. All go to the ballot-box ; but few,
however, deposite thoroughly independent votes.
One portion is overawed by the will of their land-
lords, another by the will of their priests. The ec-
clesiastics have every thing at issue in the stability
of the existing order of things. A revolution would
result in a triumph of the Liberals, and a suppression
of all monastic institutions. Even the connection
of the church with the state could not long survive.
The papal hierarchy would have to provide for its
maintenance through voluntary contributions.
The ecclesiastics therefore exert all the influence
which their position gives them, to uphold the pres-
ent government. They look to each man's vote, and
follow it with a blessing or malediction, which throws
its ominous shadow beyond this life. This ecclesi-
astical power is the most fearful feature in the pres-
ent condition of the Chilians. Instead of being a
wall of defence, it is a wide magazine, laid under its
foundations, with a train reaching to Rome. One
spark from the Vatican, and Chili sinks in flame and
blood !
Sunday, March 15. We had to-day at our ser-
18*
210 DECK AND PORT.
vice a very large attendance from the shore. The
weather was remarkably fine ; the awning was
spread, and we assembled on the spar-deck. After
prayers, we sung a hymn in Hamburg, with the band
for an orchestra. The sermon turned on the condi-
tion of the soul out of Christ : its guilt, its wretched-
ness, its ruin. Plain and practical sermons are the
only ones that do much good. When a preacher
forgets the simplicity and meekness of his office, and
throws himself, though in a blaze of eloquence, be-
tween his hearers and the Cross, he is in a miserably
false position. He may win perishing laurels to his
fame, but not immortal souls to Christ.
The clergy in Chili exert, through the confessional,
an influence which reaches the most private transac-
tions of life. Every communicant is required to
confess at least once a year. A refusal to do it is
followed by the severest pains and penalties which
the church can inflict. Some two years since, a
daughter of one of the most prominent members of
the legislature of Chili was grossly insulted at the
confessional. She told her mother, who, in grief and
consternation, related the circumstance to her father.
He excused her from going again to the confessional.
The year rolled round, and she was summoned to a
compliance ; the father peremptorily refused his as-
sent. Three of the inferior officers of the church
were dispatched to bring her by force. Her father
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 211
planted himself, armed, on the door-sill of his house,
and told them if they entered it would be at their
peril. They retired and reported their ill-success to
their superior. The next Sabbath she was publicly
excommunicated, and her candle at the altar blown
out, to signify that her hope of heaven was extin-
guished.
The father, indignant at the attempt to undermine
the virtue of his daughter, and the cruel injustice
done her in the act of excommunication, introduced
a bill into the national legislature for abolishing en-
tirely the confessional. It produced the most intense
excitement ; the pulpits o^hili rang with denuncia-
tion ; the archbishop dispatched a messenger to
Rome for the Pope's anathema. Many husbands
and fathers, whose wives and daughters had been in-
sulted at the confessional, and who from motives of
prudence had remained silent, now began to speak
out. But a repugnance to innovation in ecclesiasti-
cal affairs, and the combined influence of the clergy
prevailed, and the contemplated law was defeated.
But it still survives in the breast of its projector, and
will yet speak out in thunder-tones.
Instead*of attacking the confessional, the domestic
evils which it inflicts would perhaps be more thor-
oughly remedied by abolishing the coerced celibacy
of the clergy. This is the prime source of those im-
moralities which have sapped virtue and overthrown
212 DECK AND PORT.
the peace of families. Its abolition would contribute
alike to the virtue of the ecclesiastic, and the safety
of the communicant. The best-informed writers on
Chili, those whose observation has been the most
thorough, agree in the fact that many of the clergy
live in a state of the most shameful profligacy. These
disclosures force upon you^ the painful conviction,
that their illegitimate offspring are found in every
circle in the community, and fill every grade of ec-
clesiastical preferment. Abolish, then, the forced
celibacy of the clergy. Blot out at once and forever
this apology for crime. Human nature is sufficiently
slippery even when it hasp no excuse for its lapses.
In saying this, I intend no sectarian reproach. I
would not confide to any religious persuasion the
consequences of a forced law of celibacy. Our safe-
ty lies not only in an upright conscience, but in free-
dom from temptation.
Monday, March 16. I have been passing an
agreeable evening in the family of Mr. Hobson, our
former consul at this port. The amenity and intelli-
gence of Mrs. H. lend an unfailing charm to her
conversation. Her daughters have been* educated
with great care, and are adorned with many intellec-
tual and social accomplishments. It is singular what
encounters will occur in one's travels. I met here a
lady whom I last saw in the Naval Asylum at Phila-
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 213
delphia, and who had come out there to hear one of
my poor sermons. This was a year since. She is
now here, and the wile of one of the most enterpri-
sing merchants in Valparaiso.
I dined to-day with William Ward, Esq., an Ameri-
can gentleman, who is the senior partner in one of
the largest mercantile , houses here. His ample
mansion and costly furniture are in keeping with the
taste and liberality displayed at his table. I met
there Mr. Barton, another American gentleman, who
is engaged in surveying the route of a contemplated
railroad between Valparaiso and Santiago. I passed
the morning with the Re.v. Mr. Trumbull, from the
United States. He is out here under the patronage of
the Foreign Evangelical Society. His labors as yet
have been confined mostly to seamen ; but he has every
prospect of having within a short time a congregation
on land. Mr. Dorr, our consul, has, with a praise-
worthy spirit, interested himself in the objects of his
mission ; and other Americans have pledged their
aid. Such are the stars of hope which are yet to
throw their rays through the extremities of Chili.
I visited this afternoon the Protestant burial-ground,
which occupies a portion of one of the hills which
overlook our anchorage. The situation has been
selected with good judgment, and the ground evinces
taste and propriety in the arrangement. Here rest
many sailors far away from their native shores. A
214 DECK AND PORT.
humble slab, erected by their messmates, gives you
their names and that of the ship to which they were
attached ; and sometimes a nautical epitaph, like the
following :
" Here lies the rigging, spars, and hull
Of sailing-master David Mull."
This to a landsman seems trifling with our poor
mortality ; not so to the sailor. His technicalities have
with him a meaning and a force which, in his judg-
ment, more than sanction their use on the most
grave and melancholy occasions. He would pray
in this dialect even were life's taper flickering in the
socket, or his soul trembling on the verge of despair.
In the Catholic burial-ground, which adjoins the
Px'Otestant, stands the beautiful monument of Por-
tales. The genius of History is recording his glorious
deeds. Grief lamenting his early doom, and Hope
pointing to a fruition in the skies. Near this monu-
ment I encountered a youthful mother in weeds,
leading her little orphan boy. She carried a bunch
of flowers in her hand, and as she came near a new-
made grave, kneeled down at its head, and planted
them there. Her child kissed them, but when she
attempted it her silent tears fell fast on their tender
leaves. A bird lit on the tree, which cast its
shadows on the grave, and poured a wild sweet
strain as if to wean the mourner from her grief; but
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 215
she heeded it not. Her child turned and listened ;
her eye fell on his ; she heard the bird. Nature
triumphs over bereavements through those we love
and who still survive.
Tuesday, March 17. The Indian mother still ad-
heres to the primitive method of carrying her child
Instead of supporting it in her arms, with the un
healthful inclination of person which a burden there
will always induce, she tosses it on her back, into the
bunt of her shawl, and walks off erect as the Indian's
tree, which stood up so straight it leaned backward.
When hunger overtakes it she will feel a slight pull
on one of the long braids in which her hair falls over
its form ; and when she takes it out of this travelling
cradle to nurse it, there is something new and fresh
in its first look : true, it has not been out of her sight
216 DECK AND PORT.
for more than an hour, but this with a mother is a
long time. But her heart is now running over with
happiness,
So deep and vital is the joy
That thrills a mother's breast,
Clasping her infant, blue-eyed boy
From out his cradled rest.
Many attempts have been made to introduce the
Bible into Chili. Our countryman, Mr. Wheelwright,
who now has a flourishing school in Valparaiso, suc-
ceeded in distributing a number of copies in the
Spanish language among the people of Quillota. But
the priests forbade their being read, and doomed them
to the flames. They were brought out and burnt in
presence of the assembled multitude. They were
without note or comment, and left the sectarian big-
otry, that decreed the sacrilegious act, without an
apology. What would my venerable friend. Bishop
Hughes, say were the Protestants of New York to
collect his Douay Bibles and burn them in the Park ?
Would that, my deaf Bishop, be freedom of con-
science ? •
The population of Chili is estimated at about a mil-
lion and a half Her commerce is steadily on the
increase. Her silver and copper mines richly repay
the labor bestowed in working them. Her southern
plains yield an abundance of the finest wheat. Her
SKETCHES OF VALPARAISO. 217
people in the mass are hardy, frugal, and ardent lov-
ers of freedom. The course of education, under her
new constitution, is receiving fresh impulses, and
gradually emerging into popular favor and national
importance. Her public debt amounts to about ten
millions of dollars, which is owned mostly in Eng-
land. Her military establishment, which has bur-
dened her treasury, and sometimes perilled her peace,
is melting away under her civil institutions.
In breaking the Spanish yoke, and establishing her
independence, she has had to pass through a fiery
ordeal. The virtues that could achieve so much,
will yet win farther triumphs. No nation or state
ever rose at once from vassalage and ignorance to
freedom and intelligence. She may emerge into dis-
order, but that will be more tolerable than the des-
potism from which she has escaped. To meet the
consequences of a revolution, to restore order where
it has been broken up, to consolidate the elements of
national existence, and settle them on a new and per-
manent basis, requires all the time which this republic
has enjoyed since she proclaimed her independence.
There is nothing in the present condition of Chili
which should fill the advocates of free institutions
with distrust. She has clouds on her sky, but most
of them are skeletons from which the storm has long
since passed.
But I have no space for a disquisition on Chili. A
218
DECK Ai\D ruKT.
labored essay is beyond the scope and purpose of this
diary. I have only time to wave my adieu to
VALPARAISO.
Sweet Valparaiso — fare thee -well !
Thy steep romantic shore,
And toppling crags, where wildly dwell
The echoes, which thy billows pour
As o'er the rocks their anthems swell —
Shall greet my pilgrim steps no more.
When they whose tread is on thy steep,
Have down to death's dim chambers gone,
Where harp and lute in silence sleep.
Thy sweet sea-dirge will still roll on.
219
CHAPTER VII.
PASSAGE from: VALPARAISO TO CALLAO.
FLARE UP OF THE PACIFIC. — SONGS OF SEAMEN. SAILORS ON SHORE. LOSS
OF THE SAMSON OF OUR SHIP. THE SETTING SUN AT SEA. OUR ASTOR-
HOUSE SAILOR. THE MAD POET OF THE CREW. LAND HO ! ASPECT OS
CALLAO. APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES. THE BURIAL ISLE.
" Our pennant glitters in tb« breeze,
Our home is on the sea :
Where wind may blow, or billow flow,
No Umits to the free :
No limits to the free, my boys,
Let wind and wave waft on,
The bomidless world of waters is,
My merry men, our own."
Wednesday, March 18. We tripped our anchers
this morning and stood out to sea from the bay o(
Valparaiso. While getting under way, a boat fron*
the British ship Daphne came alongside with dii
patches for Admiral Seymour, in command of thp
Collingwood, on the coast of California. No soone"
were these received, and orders given to make sail,
than three other boats were seen starting from the
shore at the top of their speed. Our ship was hove
to till they came up. Two of them had communica
tions to merchants in Callao. The third had in her
two of our runaway sailors, who had been picked up
by the police, and whom we were very sorry to see
220
DECK AND rORT.
again ; for they were notoriously the two most worth-
less fellows on board. But we were not, it seems, to
get rid of them in this way. So true is it that a bad
penny always comes back.
Thursday, March 19. Before coming into the Pa-
cific, our imaginations were filled with dreams of its
majestic tranquillity. But if the exhibition it made
of itself last night be a fair specimen of its charac-
ter, it is a living libel on its own name. It flared up
like an enraged maniac, and stove in our cabin win-
dows, which even Cape Horn had spared. Its rage
seemed wholly unprovoked ; for the sky was almost
free of clouds, and even the few which did darken its
face, moved on lazily as those in which the winds
have fallen asleep. The moon looked down on the
uproar in perfect calmness. Her light fell on the
crest of the wave, soft as dew on the death-foam of
the savage.
One of our boys ran away at Valparaiso. He had
but just recovered from the effects of a fall down the
main-hatch. He probably thought the best method
of escaping the chances of another fall, would be to
give the hatch the widest berth possible. But the
poor lad will find worse hatches on land than he evei
yet stumbled through at sea. Here he broke only a
limb, but there he may break his peace of conscience,
and his hope of heaven. But sailors are of all beings
PASSAGE FROM VALPARAISO TO CALLAO. 221
in the world the most thoughtless. The monitions
of the future are lost in the impulses of the present.
They have been known, for some temporary gratifi-
cation, to run from a ship with two years pay due
them, and to forfeit the whole by that act of folly.
This running commences in rum and ends in ruin.
Friday, March 20. We have the wind directly
aft. Our fore studding-sails are out like the wings
of a bird on the breast of a gale. We have run
within the last two days four hundred and forty
miles. This is good sailing considering we have six
months' provision on board, and lie consequently too
deep for the greatest speed. The air is balmy, and
the songs of our sailors, at sunset, rose exultingly
into its blue depths. A sailor always sings with
heart. His music rolls out like a dashing stream
from its mountain source. It is never gay; it al-
ways has a deep vein of melancholy. If a few more
lively notes mingle with the strain, they come only
at intervals, like flakes of moonlight between the
cypress shadows which mantle the marbles of the
dead.
He is a gay being when he gets upon shore ; but
he is then no longer on his own element. Give him
a day's liberty, and he will commit more follies than
he would in six months at sea. If he charters a
hack, he will ride out on the box wdth the driver and
19*
222 DECK AND PORT.
make the hold, as he terms the interior, welcome to
any one who may be disposed to use it. If he hires
a horse, he will ride him at his utmost speed, though
he knows no more than you do where he shall bring
up. He goes • to church on the Sabbath, and if no
one offers him a seat, brings in a huge billet of wood,
or a stone, and moors ship in the middle of the aisle.
He sits there grave as a deacon, never once nods
during the sermon, and when the contribution box
comes along for sending missionaries to the heathen,
drops in the last dollar which his fiddler has left him.
Saturday, March 21. We lost at Valparaiso the
Samson of our ship. He was from Bremen, and of
German extraction. He stood seven feet in his
stockings. His arm was as large as the leg of an
ordinary man. He could carry a water tank, which
any two others among the crew could only lift. He
went with the rest upon shore on liberty, fell in with
a few of his countrymen, drank too freely, and stayed
beyond his time.
He would have returned 6n board, but he shrunk
from the disgrace of corporal punishment. He had
the finest sensibilities, and looked upon a blow, in-
flicted in the shape of a chastisement, as a brand of
indelible infamy. To escape this he had no resource,
as he supposed, but to conceal himself till after our
ship should sail. E^ery effort was made to recover
PASSAGE FROM VALPARAISO TO CALLAO. 223
him, but without success. His conduct had been
unexceptionable. He had never fallen under cen-
sure. His fidelity to duty had won the regard and
confidence of all. His loss was the more regretted
as it flowed from a misapprehension on his part.
He would not have been punished had he returned
on board. His next liberty day might have been
withheld, and that would have been all.
He w^ould have been a tower of strength in an
engagement. He could have wielded a sky-sail yard
as a boarding-pike. But in the centre of all these
giant energies gushed a fountain warm and fresh as
that in the heart of a child. He carried with him
his mother's picture, and hung over it with that fond-
ness which absence cannot wean or age chill. Keep
that picture, thou noble tar ! all is not lost while the
love of that remains.
Sunday, March 22. The sky covered wath a soft
haze, the air balmy, our ship moving four and five
knots ; divine service at 11 o'clock. The subject of
the discourse, the power of evil habit ; the progress
of crime traced ; its incipient insignificance, its tre-
mendous results ; the stealing an apple leading to
highway robbery ; an irreverent word paving the
way to profaneness ; a play of chance for amuse-
ment leading to the hazards of the gaming table ;
the social glass ending at last in delirium and death.
224 DECK AND PORT.
But a future state revealing the more full effects of
an evil habit. Here the traces of guilt dimly appa-
rent on the man, there deep and indelible on his soul ;
here an outcast from the community, there an out-
cast from heaven ; here suffering the loss of a tran-
sient temporal good, there an immortality of bliss.
God grant these admonitions may arrest some poor
sailor in his career of folly and ruin.
Monday, March 23. The vi^ind has been faint and
directly aft through the day ; still we have made a
hundred miles in the last twenty-four hours. We
have just had a splendid sunset. The whole western
horizon was a sea of cloud and flame.
The setting sun is beautiful at sea,
And tlirows a richer splendor on the eye
Than when on land beheld ; the cause may be
A brighter, bolder amphtude of sky.
And then the fathomless immensity
Of waters, and the twilight clouds, which lie
Along the west, and which at sea appear
As islands in a golden atmosphere.
But then there follows this resplendent sight
An hour of deeper beauty to the shore ;
The glowing west has darkened into night.
The stars are out, and from their cisterns pour
On tree and tower a flood of mellow hght.
Through which the crags in sheeted sUver soar ;
While caverned cliffs the billows' dirge prolong.
And roll it back a murmuring tide of song.
PASSAGE FROM VALPARAISO TO CALLAO. 225
And this is rapture — thus alone to stray
Along the moon-lit shore, and hear each wave
Repeat its d}'ing anthem round the bay,
Or rush exulting down some sparry cave
With death-defiant roar ; though on its way,
With all its swelling peans, to the grave.
And then 'tis hushed again, except the song
Of breaking billows, which the cliffs prolong.
Oh, you may talk of banquetings and balls —
Of wit and merriment at masquerade —
Of revels held in old baronial halls —
Or music murmured in the serenade :
Give me the lay of distant waterfalls,
The song of May birds in the forest shade.
And that deep anthem, which the choiring waves
Of ocean roll from her melodious caves.
Tuesday, March 24. What ups and downs there
are on board a man-of-war ! The young Englishman
who left the elegancies of the Astor House, and ship-
ped as a common sailor on board our frigate, contin-
ued to win upon the friendship of the crew. He was
hail fellow well met with the whole. He was always
at his post, and prompt and cheerful in duty. No
weather ever sent him below, when it was his watch
on deck. He struck out so strongly, that he soon
gained a position aloft, and had his eye on being
captain of the maintop.
But on reaching Valparaiso his nom de guerre took
.flight. He was recognised as the son of a wealthy
226 DECK AND PORT.
broker in Manchester, England ; and the important
intelHgence had just reached here that his uncle, re-
cently deceased, had left him twenty thousand pounds.
The correctness of this intelligence was ascertained
from sources which left no doubt ; and still he hesi-
tated about applying for his discharge, and declared
he had never been so happy as since he turned sailor.
He brought on board a letter of credit on a large
banking-house in New York, but had never availed
himself of it. He at last yielded to the importuni-
ties of his friends at Valparaiso, and applied for his
discharge, which Captain Du Pont, with the sanc-
tion of our commodore, ordered to be made out.
He shook hands with his shipmates, wished them stiff
breezes and snug harbors, and in his tarpaulin and
roundabout, left his station on the main-yard for a
London coach.
Wednesday, March 25. We have among our
crew a youth who is touched with insanity. The
hallucination takes every variety of shape, and every
degree of force. A few days since he fancied that he
had but one friend on board, and wanted a lantern at
noon, with which to look him up. To-day his con-
viction has been that he shall not see the sun rise
again ? As the glorious orb went down, he stationed
himself on the steps of the accommodation-ladder to
take his farewell look. There was as much poetry
PASSAGE FROM VAlirAUAlriO TO CAI.LAO. 227
in his fine wild features as in the tragical idea that
had brought liim there. He poured his mournrul
adieu to the sun in the lines of Manfred, which
seemed more his own than the guilty misanthrope's
who uttered them :
" Thou material God !
And representative of the Unkno\«,Ti —
Who chose thee for his shadow. Thou chief star 1
Sire of the seasons ! monarch of the cHmes,
And those who dwell in them ! for near or far,
Our inborn spirits have a tint of thee.
Even as our outward aspects ; — thou dost rise
And set in glory. Fare thee well !
I ne'er shall see thee more. As my first glance
Of love and wonder was for thee, then take
My latest look : thou wilt not beam on one
To whom the gifts of life and warmth have been
Of a more fatal nature. He is gone !"
Thursday, March 26. We discovered a sail this
afternoon on our starboard-bow, and stood down for
her. As our noble ship, with her heavy batteries
frowning death, neared her, she run up the American
ensign at her peak. We captured her in mimic war.
She proved to be the Balsena, a whale-ship, or, as our
sailors term it, a spouter, from New Bedford. She
had been out five months. She had two men at her
main, two at her fore, and one at her mizen top, look-
ing out for whales. Success to them. I would as
soon seek a tree-top in a thunder-storm. The mimic
228 DECK AND PORT.
fight took place after she had shown her colors, and
was gone through with merely to accustom our men
to some of the evolutions of a real engagement.
Our crew is composed in too great a proportion of
young men. They have not that solidity and strength
of muscle which our heavy guns require. But they
are very active, and would pour themselves, as board-
ers, in a living tide on the enemy. Our best crews
are those enlisted after war has been declared.
Thousands who now seek our civil marine, would in
that event rush to our armed decks.
The Balaena must have been christened by some
lady of New Bedford who has a touch of Latinity
about her. The name, it is true, signifies a whale,
but no vulgar vandal spouter, but an elegant Roman
balaena — such as might hav^ danced on the harp-
strings of a Lucretius, or streamed in the insignia of
Cleopatra's barge, as it rocked on the amber waves
of Cydnus, and threw back the sun's rays from its
decks of burnished gold. Give me that lady who
can throw a classic charm around a whale-ship. A
cabbage in her hands would soon take the colors and
perfume of the rose. /
Friday, March 27. Our slumbers were broken
this morning by the cry of land ho ! from the watch
in the fore-top. We had been under shortened sail
through the night for fear of shooting too far ahead.
PASSAGE FROM VALPARAISO TO CALLAO. 229
But we made an excellent landfall. As day glim-
mered, the barren isle of San Lorenzo loomed into
the light on our starboard bow. It was sufficiently
near to throw its jagged outline full on the eye.
The sea breeze soon sprung up, when we made
sail, and doubling the northern extremity of San Lo-
renzo, the harbor of Callao opened upon us. We
moved up its ample expanse with our topgallant sails
set, and came to in handsome style with our star-
board anchor. We were welcomed by clouds of
gulls and pelicans, which floated around our ship
and cast the sea into shadow. Had they possessed
anthropophagous propensities, we might . have felt
some solicitude for our personal safety.
Our sails were hardly clued down when our vice-
consul, Mr. Johnson, came on board. Our first in-
quiry was for letters from home. Deep was our dis-
appointment when told there were none. Almost six
months from the United States and not a single mail
yet, — not even a straggling letter ! Think of that,
ye who cannot leave your homes for a week without
a letter each day. We may have children born
without knowing it, and find them, on our return,
some three years old. It is no wonder they timidly
stare at their strange fathers, and take refuge in their
mothers' arms.
Saturday, March 28. Callao falls immeasurably
20
230 DECK AND rORT.
short of the picture which my imagination had
painted. It is a collection of low, dingy dwellings,
occupying the rippling verge of a vast sand-plain.
The only beings which give to it an air of life are
buzzards ; or here and there a fisherman hawking
the trophies of his hook ; or an Indian w^oman on a
donkey, riding straddle.
We encountered on reaching the landing two im-
mense piles of wheat, which had been shipped from
Chili. Each pile must have had in it not less than
twenty thousand bushels. Neither had any cover-
ing, and needed none, as it never at this season rains
or snows Jiere. Nature allows man to be as lazy as
possible, and he seems to have availed himself of the
privilege to the utmost extent. Even the dog which
slumbers on the trottoir will sooner hazard your
heel than break his dreams. The children run half
naked ; and the women, too indolent to hook the tops
of their dresses, throw a loose shawl over their
shoulders, and nurse their infants as publicly as they
would take out a pocket-handkerchief.
The fort, a place of great' strength in its day, has
been dismantled. It had become the rallying point
of the disaffected. A few revolutionists could here
set the arms of the whole republic at defiance. The
government, standing in greater dread of domestic
than foreign foes, issued a decree for its destruction.
The government must be weak indeed, which is
PASSAGE FROM VALTARAISO To CAT, LAO. 231
obliged to consult its safety in the destruction of the
defences of its territory.
Sunday, March 29. We are lying in the bay of
a Roman Catholic country where no place of wor-
ship is allowed to Protestants. There is not a hall
or chapel within the limits of Peru where they who
differ from the papal see can assemble on the Sab-
bath. Repeated efforts have been made to obtain
permission to erect such a place, but as yet without
success. The archbishop of Lima, who gets his in-
structions from Rome, has set his face against it,
and the government is at present too weak, were it
so disposed, to set his ecclesiastical authority at de-
fiance.
It would not be amiss for some of our Catholic
bishops to come here and preach up a little tolera-
tion to their brethren ; and, before they go away, I
wish they would pass over to the barren isle of San
Lorenzo. On this bleak, herbless rock, which is fre-
quented only by pelicans and vultures, they will find
the graves of nearly all the Protestants who have
died in Peru for centuries past. Not one of those
who lie here could have procured himself a grave on
the mainland.
But we have one resource on board ship w^hich no
proscription can reach. We carry our chapel with
us on the open deck. Our capstan is a pulpit which
has never been overawed. We have our worship
232 DECK AND PORT.
on the Sabbath, in whatever port we may lie, with-
out consulting the authorities on shore. Our privi-
lege is wide as the ocean, and the shores which it
laves. Would it were so with every denomination
of Christians. The faggot which bigotry kindles
may burn the recusant first, but is pretty sure in the
end to consume those who light it.
Our forefathers were driven out of the old world
by the intolerance of an arbitrary authority, attempt-
ing to enthrone itself on the human conscience. I
seem to stand once more beneath the wintry trees
which threw their bleak shadows on the rock where
they first knelt, in their wild inhospitable home.
Their memory stands apart, as a thing by itself, sa-
cred and imperishable in the reverence and love of
millions. Hail to
THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
They were men of giant soul,
Men of faith and deeds sublime ;
Men whose acts will reach their goal
In the mighty depths of time.
They resigned, at God's behest,
Kindred, home, their fathers' graves —
Pilgrims o'er the ocean's crest,
Mid the thunder of its waves.
Here — where pathless forests frowned,
Wailing torrents rolled their foam,
PASSAGE 1T.OM VALPARAISO TO CALLAO. 233
Wolves and wild -men prowled around —
Rose their altars and their home.
Wliat to tliem were stately shrines,
Gorgeous dome, or towering spire ?
'Neath their sturdy oaks and pines
Rose their anthems, winged with fire 1
When oppression reached the coast,
With the tyrant's purpose flushed,
They to peril's deadhest post
For their God and country rushed.
As the steep volcano throws
From its burning breast the rock,
They o'erthrew their columned foes.
In the battle's fiery shock.
All that consecrates their fame.
All that sanctifies our hearth,
All that jfreedom here can claim ;
In their noble minds had birtL
By their dead, on Bunker's steep I
By their bones, in Monmouth's plains
We their faith and trust will keep,
While their blood rolls in our veins 1
Thou who heard'st the Pilgrim's prayer —
Nerved him for the doubtful field —
Made his sacred cause thy care,
O'er us cast thy mighty shield I
20*
234
CHAPTER VIII.
SKETCHES OE LliTA.
INCIDENTS OF THE ROAD. THE GRAND PLAZA. SHOPS AND HOUSES. THE
SAYA T MANTO. AMERICAN LADY. MIXTURE OF RACES, DEMEANOR OF
GIRLS AND BOYS. PROCESSION ON PALM SUNDAY. CONVENT OF THE
FRANCISCANS. — DOCTORS OF LIMA. GOOD FRIDAY. THE LAST SUPPER.
PILATE's COURT. GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. — CLOSE OF LENT. — JUBILA-
TIONS.— CLIMATE. AN OFFICER IN PRISON. LAWYERS. THE INDIAn's
EYRIE. THE LOTTERY. BULL-FIGHT.
In Lima's streets a stranger stood,
Who wrapp'd his thoughts about him
So close, that they who watched his mood,
But deemed the place without him.
Monday, March 30. We were off this morning
at an early hour for Lima. The distance is only-
seven miles, and is travelled by a line of omnibuses,
drawn by six horses, three abreast. Our companions
were lieutenants S. and L. of the Congress, two
Peruvian officers, a Spanish lady with a lapdog, a
Creole girl smoking a cigar, and a quadroon in white-
kid slippers.
We passed on the right an obelisk surmounted by
a cross, designating the spot to which the sea was
thrown, in the great earthquake of 1746. A little
further on we passed the neglected dwellings of Bel-
lavista, projected as the new Callao, and built further
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 235
inland, that it might escape the terrible fate of its
predecessor. But fear soon yielded to the sugges-
tions of commercial convenience, and Callao went
back again to the strand of the sea.
After dragging along for nearly an hour, with our
old vehicle buried to the axle in sand, we reached
the halfway station, which consists of a dilapidated
church and a grog-shop. In the ruined turrets of the
one the martins had built their procreant nests ; at
the bar of the other stood a bare-headed monk, soli-
citing the change which the glass of toddy might
leave. His large feet were protected by sandals, and
his Roman nose was so red that one of the passen-
gers got out a cigar.
Having breathed our steeds, we started again,
when a fierce quarrel arose between the Spanish
lady and her poodle. The little fellow had wet her
pocket-handkerchief, and had his ears soundly boxed
for the indiscretion. The quadroon took the part of
the poodle, and the Creole girl smoked on. We now
passed several huge tumuli — the burial mounds of
the aborigines. The heroic virtues which they en-
tomb have perished. No Homer has swept his lyre
in their giant shadows. The road, as we approached
the city, presented on either side double rows of pop-
lars, beneath which the Limanians take their twilight
promenade. But at this time only a few donkeys
were winding their way through them, buried up in
236 DECK AND PORT.
grass, which they were taking to market. You saw
only the burden ; the animal was concealed under
it, like a tortoise beneath its shell, or a mouse under
a crow's nest.
We found at the gate a sentry posted with as
much solemnity as if the old bastion could still thun-
der out its defiance. We rattled up a broad street
into the heart of the city, where we were emptied
from our crazy coach into an office surrounded by
boys, who vociferously claimed the privilege of trans-
porting our baggage. The urchins had hold of it
before we could even tell them where we were go-
ing. The lady with her repentant poodle, and the
Creole with her cigar, went their way, and we brought
up at Morin's hotel on the grand plaza. The keeper
met us in the hall, welcomed us to Lima, and allotted
us our apartments. Here we were then at last in
the " city of kings," and in the most sumptuous hotel
which its ambition and luxury could furnish. What
a transition from the storms, the sleet, and whales
off Cape Horn !
Tuesday, March 31. The heart of Lima is occu-
pied by a great public square, in the centre of which
stands a fountain, the showering waters of which fall
into a wide marble basin. Beneath the verandas
which open on this square are the fancy shops of the
city, while the Cathedral towers over all in its solemn
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 237
magnificence. Around the fountain, instead of mar-
ble statues, you find donkeys, waiting to have the
tanks, which are swung across their httle pack-sad-
dies, filled with water. As soon as this has been
done, off they start on their destination, without
leader or rein. For these two kegs of water the
owner gets a real, or twelve and a half cents. Thus
is Lima supplied with water ; when it might be con-
ducted by pipes through every street of the city.
In the shops, which line three sides of the grand
square, are found almost all the elegant products of
art and mechanical ingenuity. The long colonnades
which protect them from the sun, are paved with
smooth pebbles, and are sufficiently wide for several
persons to walk abreast. Here you encounter, at all
hours of the day, the indolent and the active, the
grave and the gay of Lima. A more motley crowd
in color and costume cannot well be conceived. The
language of almost every nation on the globe throws
its peculiar accents on the ear. The poorest have
on them generally some article of luxury or refine-
ment. The Spanish lady is seen in her say a y man-
to ; the mestizoe in her gayly-figured shawl, and the
quadroon in her white-kid slippers.
Wednesday, April L Since the great earthquake
of 1746, the houses in Lima have generally been
confined to one story. A few families of wealth,
238 DECK Ai\D I'ORT.
who consulted their pride more than their personal
safety, have run their dwellings a little higher. The
walls are uniformly of sun-baked brick, and the roofs
flat. The more pretending houses have an open
court between the heavy gate and the main building.
The front of the dwelling, with its fresco paintings,
and gilded window-frames, glimmering through the
evergreens which fill the court, has a fine effect ;
every thing looks inviting and cool, well suited to
the climate — but a dash of snow would ruin it5 attrac-
tions.
Almost every house betrays the Moorish origin of
its architecture in its veranda. This appendage re-
sembles a long, capacious bird-cage, fastened to the
wall ; it is composed of lattice-work, and is painted
green. Here the inmates can observe the passing
crowd without being themselves seen. But all the
buildings in Lima ha^je about them the evidences of
decay. Many of the mansions of the rich have
passed into the hands of foreign merchants, and are
used as counting-houses ; while others have been
converted into hotels and restaurants. Many fami-
lies of distinction, after the revolution, returned to
Spain ; and not a few of those who remain are slow-
ly exhausting the remnants of their once splendid
fortunes. A Spaniard with the most diluted drop of
noble blood in his veins, will about as soon starve as
work. He regards labor as a degradation.
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 239
Thursday, April "2. The novelty in costume,
which first strikes the stranger in Lima, is the saya
y manto of the ladies. At a distance this dress
looks like two petticoats ; the one hanging down
where all petticoats should hang, and the other drawn
up over the head, as if lifted by a little whirlwind in
mischief. But the lower garment proves to be a rich
silk skirt, so plaited. and arranged as to betray the
swelling outline of the person and fall in wooing
drapery around the limbs, while the upper one com-
bines the advantages of the hood and mantle. It is
fastened at the bottom within the band of the skirt,
and falls over this cincture in a flowing wreath ;
while the top is gathered over the head and face, and
so held by the hand within as to expose but one eye.
240 DECK AND PORT
The disguise is complete ; no husband could recog-
nise his own wife in such a dress.
The apology attempted for this dress is, that it en-
ables a lady to go out in the morning, to mass or
shopping, before she has made her toilet. The ob-
jections to it lie in the facilities which it lends to
purposes of a very different character. It veils a love
intrigue from all but the guilty. The jealous care of
the husband, and the sleepless vigilance of the du-
enna, are alike baffled by its impenetrable folds.
With the young it often paves the way to ruin and
a life of crime. No virtuous community would tol-
erate its presence for a moment. It has been relin-
quished by some of the* better families in Lima, and
was once put under the ban of a legislative statute ;
but it still survives, and is still in extensive use. The
Evil One, could such a thing be, might drop tears
over its fall.
How the heart turns from such a picture as this,
to that of one whose breathing features throw at
this moment their unveiled sweetness on my eye.
Born in other climes, she blooms here in all her na-
tive modesty and grace. There is an air about her,
a delicacy, and a heart that speak the truthfulness of
her nature, and her freedom from those affectations
which vanity and a false taste induce. My Ariel,
who loves these qualities in woman, has thrown into
a few simple stanzas a faint outline of the original.
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 241
THE AMERICAN LADY.
She moves among us, but apart
From folly's empty din ;
The smile that lights her silent heart
Flows from a fount -within.
The incense of the flatterer's tongue,
Which each in turn may share.
She lightly deems as bubbles flung
Upon the empty air.
And when a flash of anger's force
"Would light resentment's flame,
She only pities more the source
From which the menace came.
There's not a throb which sorrow brings,
Or sigh of the oppress'd,
But pours its pulses o'er the strings
Which tremble in her breast.
There's not a smUe which hope bestows,
Or light in memory's dream.
But o'er her changing aspect throws
Its warm reflected beam.
Her bright thoughts greet us as the rays
Of some sweet star at even,
Seen o'er the twilight's misty haze.
Climbing the verge of heaven.
Friday, April 3. Slavery is near its extinction in
Peru. No one can be born a slave under its new
21
242 DECK AND PORT.
constitution, and the introduction of slaves from
other provinces or states is prohibited under penal-
ties which involve a loss of citizenship for life. Any
slave can obtain his freedom for a few hundred dol-
lars, or by taking refuge among the Indians who in-
habit the glens of the Cordilleras. It is unlawful for
any master to strike his slaves. If they misbehave,
he can increase their task, but cannot inflict corporal
chastisement.
Nothing puzzles the stranger here so much as the
singular mixture of races. The Spaniard, the In-
dian, and the African run together like the hues of
the dying dolphin. It is impossible to tell where one
color ceases and the other begins. Even in the same
family, complexions frequently differ wide enough to
embrace both extremes. The African in other coun-
tries can be traced ; but here, after a few genera-
tions, he becomes so bleached by the climate that
you lose sight of his origin. Even his hair, that
almost infallible indication, straightens out into the
texture of the European's. Add to this the results
of intermarriage, and you may well be in doubt
where to class him.
Some of the best-looking females in Lima are ot
this description. They resemble in hue and form
the Circassian, and would be regarded at Constanti-
nople as extremely beautiful. They are soft and en-
gaging in their manners, amiable in their dispositions,
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 243
excel in music, and are often married to gentlemen
of distinction and wealth.
Saturday, April 4. The college boys in Lima
look like little military captains. They strut about
in cocked hats and laced coats; the sword only is
wanting. The last thing with w^iich you would
associate them would be a severe ancient classic.
You would as soon look for Greek among the mata-
dores at a bull-fight. Peru will produce no Porson
while these cocked hats and gilt buttons continue in
vogue among the boys.
But all the little boys belonging to families of note
are dressed here like gentlemen. Your first impres-
sion would be, that you had arrived among a race of
Lilliputians. But a closer observation shows you
that these little well-dressed gentlemen are infantines,
let loose from their nurses' arms. They are but little
more than knee-high ; but wear, with singular gravi-
ty, their black beaver hats and long-tailed coats.
The same holds true of the little miss of eight and
244 DECK AND PORT.
nine. Her hair, of singular length for that of a
child, instead of falling in ringlets or plaits, is done
up with a conib like that of her mother's. Her silk
dress, with its close bodice, depends gravely to the
instep ; her mantilla falls down her shoulders with
the precision of that of a nun ; while her hands and
arms are adjusted with the utmost composure. Her
w^hole air is that of a lady over w^hom some thirty
years have passed, and she expects you to address
her in the same respectful terms. She is the pocket-
edition of a precise spinster.
Sunday, April 5. This being Palm Sunday, all
Lima turned out to witness a procession intended to
convey an idea of the last entrance of our Saviour
into Jerusalem. On a platform, borne forward on
the shoulders of six stout men, stood a donkey, on
which a wax figure was mounted, w^hile the staging
was strewn with leaves of the palm. As it passed,
hosannas broke from the lips of the spectators.
On the staging which followed this, stood the Vir-
gin, in glowing wax. She wore a sparkling diadem,
and a robe of purple velvet, gorgeously inwoven
with gold, and flowing off into a magnificent train,
supported by angels. As she passed, the crowd fell
on their knees . and whispered their Ave Marias,
w^hile the swinging censers of the priests sent up
their curling cloud of homage.
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 246
The third and last staging supported a tree, high
in the limbs of which clung a little wax cherub, in-
tended to represent Zaccheus. He was looking
down with an expression quite removed from one of
reverential curiosity. The children shouted, and it
was as much as their mothers could do to hush them
into silence. Thus passed this religious pageant ;
when the crowd broke up in much the same humor
with which they would leave their seats at a theatre.
Were the historic symbols of our religion intended
to amuse mankind, this spectacle might possibly an-
swer its purpose. *But here the awful reality so over-
powers the representation, that it cannot leave in the
imagination even the solemnity of a religious delu-
sion.
Monday, April 6. We visited to-day the Francis-
can church and convent. They cover seven acres
of ground, and combine a degree of architectural
grandeur and cloisteral luxury singularly at variance
with the mendicant virtues of the fraternity to which
they belong. The church, indeed, is one of the most
sumptuous in Lima, and showers its rich gilding upon
you from pavement to dome. In its niches, and over
its altars repose statues, on which art has bestowed
the highest expressions of its ambition.
In one of the altars we recognised St. Benedict,
hoidincr a black infant Saviour in his arms. The ex-
246 DECK AND PORT.
istence of this representation has been denied by a
distinguished prelate of the Roman Catholic church
in the United States, but of its truth I have the tes-
timony of my own eyes. The idea originated, un-
doubtedly, in a wish to conciliate the African. Rome
becomes all things to all men, and I hope for the pur-
pose of saving some.
The convent has four hundred cloisters, which
open on stately corridors that circle around central
courts, where fountains play among evergreens,
fruits, and flowers. Who would not gaze on a skull
and a life-glass only an hour or two a day to enjoy
such a residence as this ? These gloomy emblems
of our mortality might almost be forgotten in the
deathless bloom of the amaranth. Give me a monk
for exigencies ; he can make solitude social, and con-
vert a golgotha into a garden. He lives in affluence
without a ready penny, and is sainted without an
active virtue.
Tuesday, April 7. To die regularly in Lima the
patient must be admonished of his approaching end
by his physician, and receive extreme unction from
his priest. The physician who should let his patient
die without this timely warning, would receive the
severest censures of the relatives of the deceased,
and be required by the church to pay for masses for
the repose of his soul. He is consequently faithful
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 247
in this last sad office. With us the sick often die in
glowing dreams of life. The pale shadow flits before
their glassing eyes, but is not seen.
The medical profession here, in dignity and re-
spect, ranks far below the pulpit,^the bar, and the
camp. It involves too many cares, too many vigils,
too many humble offices to suit the indolence and
pride of the Spaniard. It is consequently exercised
mainly by those of African or Indian descent, and a
thankless office they have of it. If their patient sur-
vives, it is ascribed to some miraculous intervention
of the Virgin ; if he dies, it is attributed to an r: par-
donable want of skill : so that between the inj;^Li.ted
miracle 'in the one case and inevitable death in the
other, he gets but little credit for his professional
sagacity. His only resource in all critical cases is
to call in half a dozen consulting physicians, and
share with them the responsibility of the issue. I
always pity a consulting physician ; he must approve
what has been done, though in so doing he often
gives the lie to the change of treatment which he
directs. But let that pass.
Wednesday, April 8. The great cathedral was
crowded at an early hour this morning to witness
the ceremony of the " Banner." As the organ com-
menced a low, mournful air, a tall priest, robed m
black, took his station in front of the high altar,
248 DECK AND PORT.
where he unfurled from its staff a large sombre
banner.
After having waved it for a few minutes in front of
the hghts on the great altar — knocking over one of
the candles, which I suppose went for Judas Iscariot
— ^he faced about, and with his long train, supported
by three pages, marched down, with a slow stately
step, into the centre of the cathedral. Here twenty-
four priests, through whose files he passed, and who
were in sable robes, with dark crowns on their heads,
fell flat with their faces upon the pavement. The
banner continued waving over them for several min-
utes, while the low tones of the organ died away on
the silent air. Several of these prostrate functiona
ries, when their eyes met each other, found it almost
as difficult to preserve their gravity as Cicero's
augurs.
The banner now disappeared through one of the
side chapels ; the priests got up, replaced their
crowns, and the spectators departed. Not a word
was spoken during the whole ceremony ; what it
meant, is more than I can say. I made repeated
inquiries of those present, but no one could give me
any information beyond the fact that it belonged to
Holy Week. I must, therefore, refer the reader to
those better versed than myself in symbolic worship
for an interpretation of the vision.
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 249
Thursday, April 9. At twelve o'clock to-day all
the bells in Lima rung out a simultaneous peel, and
were then sent to Rome to be blessed by the Pope.
They will return again, it is understood, on Satur-
day, and announce their arrival from their respective
steeples. Their visit to the pontifex maximus must
of course be taken in a metaphorical, or Picwickian
sense. It is a constructive journey, such as our hon-
orable senators take at the inauguration of a new
president.
As the bells left for Rome every shop in Lima was
closed. No public or private vehicle was seen in
any street. Even the donkeys, with their water
tanks, disappeared from the city fountains. Every
man, woman, and child suspended their amusements,
labors, and secular cares. The dominoes lay un-
touched, and the cue of the billiard-table stood un-
molested in its rack. Men passed each other in the
streets without the customary salutations. It was
as if the whole city had been suddenly struck into a
speechless awe and reverence.
This was intended to portray an appropriate sense
of the scenes which occurred in Jerusalem, when
redeeming Love underwent the agonies of the Cross.
Its significance lay in the exhibition of a seeming
sympathy with the sorrows of the sufferer. It was
a silent allegorical tragedy, in which each one found
himself an actor. To me no other exhibition in the
250 DECK AND PORT.
^
ceremonies of Holy Week had so much moral force.
Silence often makes itself felt, when thmider passes
unheeded.
Friday, April 10. All good Limaneans, with the
president and his cabinet at their head, made last
night the circuit of the principal churches. In each
was a representation, in effigy, of some scene con-
nected with the Crucifixion. In San Lorenzo was
the Last Supper. The table was spread wdthin the
chancel in front of the high altar, and w^as loaded
with the richest viands and fruits, while each plate
had its bottle of wine and roll of bread. A profane
epicure might have forgotten the sacredness of the
symbols in the culinary skill and taste which they
displayed.
In the church of San Domingo was represented
the accusation before Pilate. Beneath the high altar
sat the Roman governor, with his court on either
hand ; before them raved the accusers, w^hile within
stood in silent meekness the divine Victim. Near
Pilate knelt a page, with a bowl of water in one hand,
and a napkin in the other, that this arbiter of life and
death might cleanse his hands of guilt. The whole
scene betrayed an extravagance in attitude and emo-
tion better suited to the drama than the solemnity of
the occasion.
In the church of San Francisco the slender trees
SKETCHEa OF LIMA. 251
of Gethsemane cast their still shadows over the kneel-
ing form of the Son of God. By his side stood an
angel with that cup which might not pass away. In
the great Cathedral, the summit of Calvary, with the
cross and the crowd, rose in solemn gloom. In San
Pedro, the Roman guard, with drawn swords, kept
their grim watch over the tomb. The moral effect
of all these exhibitions in a Protestant community
would be to impair the awful reality ; and even here
they appeared to inspire but a qualified reverence.
The mass gazed as a curious child stops in its play
to look at a picture that has momentarily caught its
roving eye.
Saturday, April 11. The great band of musi-
cians, connected with the army, passed through the
principal streets of Lima last night, playing a funeral
wail. The subdued strains rose through the silent
air mournful as melodies from out the grave. This
was intended to be significant of the anxious sorrow
which watched around the tomb where Death had
temporarily asserted his empire over the Prince of
Life.
At an early hour this morning the church of San
Augustine was filled to overflowing with the beauty
of Lima. A large choir and orchestra had been
brought together on the occasion. The music com-
menced in strains of lamentation and grief: and at
252 DEGK AND PORT.
last burst into expressions of the most triumphant
joy. At this moment the bells in all the towers of
the city, and which had been silent since Thursday,
rung out an exulting peal. This was the announce-
ment of the Resurrection ! The whole assemblage
fell on their knees and joined in the Hosanna which
seemed to shake the pillars of the great edifice.
The whole scene was now changed. Throughout
the city gladness lighted every countenance, and the
gayest attire took the place of the gloomy sables.
The confectionaries, the fruit-stalls, the wine-shops,
the billiard-tables, were all thrown open, and were
filled by crowds giddy with the excitement of the
joyous transition. Mothers played with their infants ;
maidens twined jessamine-flowers in their locks ;
children fired oflf their crackers ; cripples neglected
their crutches ; creditors forgot their insolvent debt-
ors ; and even the barefooted monk passed you with-
out soliciting charity. He strode on, independent as
a lord.
Sunday, April 12. The jubilation continued
through the whole of last night. Evening found the
living tides of the city upon the great public square.
Here every species of trick and merriment, with the
humor of the hour, convulsed the crowd with laugh-
ter. All distinctions and all restraints were cast
aside. All classes and all colors mingled together
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 253
like leaves of the forest in the whirl of the autumnal
winds.
Some were fiddling, some dancing ; some singing,
some shouting; some niggling, some nudging; some
declaiming, some drinking ; some pilfering nosegays,
and some picking pockets ; some making mischief,
and some making love. Here a harlequin turned
somersets, and there a half-naked rope-dancer figured
on the suspended cord. Here a Punch and Judy
played oflf their pugilistics, and yonder a puppy and
porcupine bristled and barked. Here a broken-
headed drum flapped its roll, and there a cracked
guitar squeaked its discords. Here wit ruled the
hour, and there rum.
Thus passed the night till the Sabbath morn threw
its broad light on the scene. Thus closed Lent, and
thus commenced Easter-Sunday. Thus terminated
the ceremonies of Holy Week, — begun in penance
and prayer, and ended in frolic and fun. That such
a celebration can substantially promote the cause of
piety and the proprieties of life, must surpass the be-
lief of any one whose faith has not lifted the ceremo-
nies of his church above the reach of human falli-
bility.
Monday, April 13. The climate of Lima has no
extreme variations. The mercury on .Fahrenheit's
scale rarely rises in summer above eighty, and rarely
22
254 DECK AND PORT.
fails in winter below sixty-five. The prevailing tem-
perature is about seventy-five. But there is a surpri-
sing sensitiveness in the inhabitants to these slight
variations. Let a cooler current of air sweep from
the Cordilleras, and you will encounter everywhere
the ample cloak and heavy shawl. You hardly feel
the change yourself, and think for the moment you
have got among invalids.
The effect of the climate on the constitutional
habits of the European, soon betrays itself in a re-
laxation of his energies. He loses his enterprise,
enthusiasm, and flinty endurance, and sinks into that
dreamy listlessness which pervades the great mass.
His descendants dwindle in intellect, and are dwarfed
in person. If white, his complexion becomes bronzed;
if black, it is bleached into hues less sable. The cli-
mate acts like the crucible which fuses the different
metals which it contains into one mass.
The climate acts with the same softening and
subduing effect on the force and ferocity of animals.
The dog becomes spiritless, the tiger ceases to spread
dismay and terror when he leaves his lair, and the
wild bull brought within the arena, has to be goaded
to the combat by a system of refined cruelty and tor-
ture. No animal fights save in his own defence, and
the men, if roused and forced to action, rarely pursue
an enemy beyond the limits of the field where fortune
has favored their arms.
SKETCH Eri OF LIMA. 255
Tuesday, April 14. We visited again to-day the
Franciscan convent. Tliis magnificent establishment
had once some four hundred inmates, and an income
suited to the easy and sumptuous style in which they
lived. But in the Revolution its funds disappeared,
and the monks sought an asylum elsewhere. We
encountered in its vacant halls but one, and he dart-
ed out upon us seemingly to frighten away an Amer-
ican lady whom we had in our company. He ap-
peared, as he flitted along the silent corridors, more
like a dusky ghost than aught of flesh and blood.
His long robe draped his person ; his cowl half con-
cealed his wan features ; his thin hands held a cru-
cifix ; and his steps glided over the pavement noise-
less as his shadow. He was here, and there ; now
in the faint light ; now in the shadow of the wall ;
now in his cell ; now in the chapel, and then sweep-
ing the long, dim corridor. You saw no motion of
any limb ; you heard no sound ; and if the glance of
his eye fell on you, it was but for a moment.
" Beware ! beware of the black Friar,
Who flits through these halls of stone,
For he mutters his prayer in the midnight air,
And his mass of the days that are gone.
His form you may trace, but not his face,
'Tis shadow'd by his cowl ;
But his eyes may be seen from the folds between,
And they seem of a parted souL"
256 DECK AND PORT.
Wednesday, April 15. The most intolerable fea-
ture of a legal process in Peru grows out of the
" law's delay." A foreigner may be imprisoned for
weeks, and perhaps months, without being able to
secure a hearing before the proper tribunal. If he
applies to the functionary, who represents his coun-
try at this court, his case then takes a diplomatic
character, and wanders back and forth, in shadowy
shape, while moons wax and wane. His case is
loaded with all grievances, piques, and prejudices,
which have agitated the parties, who have the man-
agement of it, through a series of years. Till at last
he finds it quite as difficult to get out of the diplo-
matic net of his minister as the clutches of Peruvian
law.
Now our commodores have a very brief mode of
settling these difficulties. They man their batteries
and demand the release of the prisoner in twenty-
four hours. He is then held amenable to the laws,
which it is alleged he has offended. If innocent, he
is rescued from false imprisonment ; if guilty, he
pays the penalty. There are here no stately forms
of court etiquette, no subscriptions of having the
honor to be, with high consideration, your excel-
lency's most humble nincompoop. Instead of this a
demand is made, founded in humanity and justice,
and enforced by argument which the wise will not
and the timid dare not resist. Such is one of the
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 257
advantages of having a navy. Disband it and our
citizens go to prisons and our commerce to pirates.
In the general tumult of Saturday night one of our
junior officers came in conflict v/ith an irregular de-
tachment of the military police. Weapons were
drawn ; the leader of the file was disarmed by him,
and several others received slight wounds, when he
was overpowered by numbers, and led off* to the
guard-house. His liberation was promptly demanded
by Capt. Du Pont, but his amenability to the laws
of Peru, of course, recognised. The demand, after
the responsibility of the case had been shuffled from
the intendentB to the prefect, and from him to the
criminal judge, was complied with.
As soon as it reached the lawyers of Lima that a
case of this kind had got into their courts, they
gathered around the young officer like forty rival
lovers for the hand of the same lady. Some prof-
fered their services for half the usual fee ; some for
what he might please to give, and several said they
should charge him nothing except for stationery.
Some pressed their pretensions through the legiti-
mate character of their diplomas ; some through
their relationship to the judge ; and one quoted half
the Justinian code, as evidence of his qualifications.
But they were all a little too disinterested ; and it
was determined to let the case go by default ; and
pay such damages as the court might decree. The
22*
258 DECK AND PORT.
result was that every rascal who had received a
scratch, no matter from whom, on Saturday night,
came in for damages. The sagacity of the judge set
the claims of most of them aside ; but enough suc-
ceeded to mulct our young officer in several hun-
dred dollars, though his sword had as little to do Avith
most of their wounds and bruises as the pen with
which I write this. An offence here connected with
a foreign officer, has as wide a responsibility as the
magic of a Salem witch. Hardly a hen can miscarry,
but the loss of her egg is traced in some way to this
military Achan.
But yesterday the captain of an ilffnerican mer-
chantman was imprisoned at Callao. Commodore
Stockton immediately inquired into the circumstan-
ces, which were these : — The captain had come
down to the Landing to go on board his vessel, when
he found his boat's crew in conflict with a party on
shore. The difficulty originated with a midshipman
in the Peruvian navy, who had struck one of the
Americans. The captain made a resolute effort to
detach his crew from the engagement, when the
whole were overpowered by the military and lodged
in prison.
These being the facts. Commodore Stockton called
in person on the governor of the port and demanded
the captain's release. His firmness, and his ability
to back his demands with the guns of the Congress,
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 259
had the desired effect. The captain was liberated.
This was done, not to rescue the captain from just
amenability, but from unjust imprisonment. When
the case was examined into by the proper authorities
he was acquitted of all blame : still his innocency
would not have saved him from a vexatious confine-
ment but for this resolute proceeding on the part of
the Commodore.
Thursday, April 16. The Indian's eyrie, on the
summit of some steep and lofty mountain, says a
traveller, may be easily passed many times unnoticed
by the stranger. But he will one day encounter a
swift-footed Indian, closely followed by a person on
a well-accoutred mule, — whose geer is all laden with
silver ornaments ; and the rider, who sits at his ease
in a saddle of the country, wdth a rich ,pillion, wears
a large brimmed hat, with a black silk cap emerging
to view at the ears and temples. He has on a couple
of ponchos, well decorated and fringed : — his brown
stockinets are of warm Vecufia wool ; and the heel
of his small shoe, half concealed in a clumsy, though
costly wooden stirrup, is armed with a prodigiously
disproportioned silver spur, with a" large tinkling
roller, used to keep his noble animal in mind that she
is but the harbinger of death, and carries on her back
the keeper of the sinner's conscience.
This minister of peace to the miserable hurries to
260 DECK AND PORT.
shrive the soul of a dying Indian, whose abode, like
the falcon's, overlooks the paths of the ordinary way-
faring man ; and which, when descried, seems to the
sight of the observer underneath to be, indeed, the
loftiest earthly point between the ground he himself
stands upon, and the heaven for which, it is believed,
the anxious and fluttering spirit of the dying man
only waits the curate's absolution and blessing to
wing its immortal flight. When all is over, when
the absolving benediction has been pronounced, and
death has triumphed where Hfe took its last stand, the
pale pulseless form, wrapped in its most costly vest,
is dressed for burial. Wild-flowers are strewn on
the dead by the Indian maiden, while the cliffs around
mournfully echo back the funeral dirge. How true
is human instinct to the awful mystery of the
grave !
Observing an immense concourse on the grand
plaza, I elbowed my way among them, and soon as-
certained the cause of the rush to be the drawing oi
the public lottery. On an elevated ample platform
were seated the judges, before whom revolved three
hollow globes. The first contained the billets repre-
senting the prizes, the second the names of those who
held tickets, the third the numbers of these tickets.
When the globes stopped revolving, the lads station-
ed at each drew, through a small aperture, simulta-
neously, a billet. One contained the prize, another
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 2G1
the number of the ticket, the third the name of the
owner. Every heart was now in a terrible flutter till
the number and name were announced ; and then a
shadow fell on many faces that were bright a mo-
ment before.
The largest prize was a thousand dollars ; the least
was a silver pitcher, or a silver unmentionable, be-
longing to chamber furniture, and which was dis-
played without the slightest sentiment of mirth. A
more motley crowd than those whose dreams of
wealth were here dashed, delusive hope never brought
together. They assembled in noise and mirth, and
separated in silence and sadness. Such a scene as
this the grand plaza presents on the afternoon of
every Wednesday. The proprietor of the lottery
pays the state annually forty thousand dollars for his
privilege. The tickets are one real, or twelve and a
half cents each. They who cannot buy ten, twenty,
or a hundred, can buy one. In this lies the secret of
its success and mischief. It finds a dupe wherever
it can find a fool with a penny. The venders of these
lottery tickets hawk them through every street and
lane, and from the stepstones of every church in
Lima. The pious signature assumed by the pur-
chaser, shows that he connects his hopes of success
Avith the assurances of his religious faith. No one
here would pit a cock without a prayer to his patron
saint.
262 DECK AND PORT.
Friday, April 17. On the Sabbath which succeed-
ed Holy Week I went to the cathedral to attend wor-
ship, and found it closed ; continued on to the church
of San Pedro, and found that closed ; turned off to
the church of San Augustin, and found that also
closed. Observing the streets full of people, who
were moving towards the broad bridge which crosses
the Rimac, I concluded that there must be some
great religious festival in that quarter, and followed
on.
The crowds continued to move over the Rimac,
but instead of entering any church, wound off, in
solid column, through the rows of trees which shade
its left bank. I at last inquired of an intelligent look-
ing man who was walking at my elbow, to what sa-
cred spot they were bound. When, with a look of
half wonder at my ignorance, he replied. To the cor-
rida de toros ! — the bull-fight ! I turned on my heel
and threaded my way back, with some difficulty,
through the crowds who were pressing onward to
.the savage spectacle. Among them were groups of
children from the schools,-T-boys in gay frocks, and
girls in white, with wreaths of flowers around their
sunny locks, headed by their teachers. Monks with
their beads, mothers with their daughters ; infancy
at the breast, and old age with one foot in the grave ;
all chattering and laughing, and jostling and shout-
ing, and pressing on to the bull-ring, on the Sabbath'
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 263
Upon inquiry, I found that these bull-fights former-
ly took place on Monday, but that the Archbishop of
Lima, to enable the laboring classes to attend them,
had changed the day to the Sabbath. They are a
horrible spectacle at best, utterly revolting to every
sentiment of refinement and humanity ; and the so-
cial and moral evils which they inflict would be suf-
ficiently revolting were they confined to secular oc-
casions, but they become doubly pernicious when
they involve such an outrage on the sanctity of th^
Sabbath, under the sanction, too, of the highest ec-
clesiastical functionary in the state.
Bull-fights, as conducted here, involve very little
peril and suffering except to the poor beast. His
antagonists are pretty safe, or he would drive them
out of the arena. It is an exhibition of craft and
cowardice on one side, and courage and despair on
the other. Of the two, the bull sustains much the
nobler part, and would have much the larger share
of my sympathy and respect. If men must fight for
the amusement of their fellows, let them fight one
another. If the death of one don't furnish sufficient
excitement, then let the other be shot or hung, as the
taste of the spectators shall suggest. But let them
not catch a poor beast, torture him with fagots and
fire, skulk themselves, and pick him to death with
their long weapons, and then insult the intelligence
264 DECK AND PORT.
of the community by calling the dastardly act an
exhibition of chivalry and valor.
It is no wonder the ladies in Lima are deficient in
delicacy and moral refinement, accustomed as they
are from their childhood to such savage spectacles.
It is but justice, however, to say, that there are some
mothers here who will not permit their daughters to
attend them ; nor will they allow them, for this, or
any other purpose, to disguise themselves in the saya y
yianto. There was one righteous man in Sodom, and
there is more than one good mother even in Lima.
265
CHAPTER IX.
SKETCHES OP LIMA.
Education of females. — maeeiages. — lapses feom virtue. — the sun-
set BELL. SILK FACTORY IN A CONVENT. HABITS OF THE INDIANS.
THE HALF WEDLOCK. BLIND PEDLEE. PROTESTANT YOUTH IN LIMA.
RELIGION OF THE LtMANIANS. INTRIGUES AT COURT. MODES OF LIV-
ING. THE ZAMPAS. CHURCHES. — INDIAN DOCTORS. FRUITS OF THE
COUNTRY. OLD SPANISH FAMILIES. MASSES FOR THE REPOSE OF THE
SOUL.
" I say in my Blight way I may proceed
To play upon the surface of humanity;
I write the world, nor care if the world read,
At least for this I cannot spare ita vanity."
Saturday, April 18. A girl here at the age of
ten or eleven is as far advanced in her social and
matrimonial anticipations as she is with us at seven-
teen. She expects in her fourteenth year to sway
hearts, as the moon the troubled tide. For this pe-
riod she trains herself with an ambition far beyond
her years ; and when it arrives, she is armed with all
the brilliant weapons of beauty, wit, repartee, and a
lively self-possession. Her wit never wounds, her
repartee never gives offence. She is thoroughly
amiable in all her sallies, she means to .make you
think well of her, and is equally anxious that you
should think well of yourself She understands how
to inspire self-complacency without any broad flat-
23
266 DECK AND PORT,
tery. She is sportive, but it is with dignity ; and
will sooner excuse a liberty than a slight.
When this hey-day of life has been sufficiently
enjoyed, she marries, not from having fallen in love,
but for the sake of an establishment. If her husband
devotes himself to her, she is generally faithful ; but
if he spends his nights in clubs, at the billiard and
card table, she is apt to permit the intimacy of some
one whom she ought not to love. This is rarely, if
ever, followed by a domestic explosion. She feels
secure of all that forbearance and silence which the
most jealous regard to the peace and reputation of
the family can suggest. With us, the injured party,
though first himself in the fault, yet in his resent-
ment often turns his own hearth-stone into a tomb.
Guilt never fails to carry with it, in the end, its own
punishment. There is a serpent in the cup of guilty
pleasure, whose fang will inflict wounds on which the
tears of repentant anguish will yet fall big and fast.
Sunday, April 19. There is one religious observ-
ance in Lima which reminds the traveller of the call
of the muezzin from the minarets of Constantinople,
when he summons the Mussulman to prayer. When
the bell of the great Cathedral tolls the departing
sun, every one, whether on foot, in his curricle, or on
horseback, and whatever may be his speed, stops and
takes off his hat. The gayest look grave, and the
SKETCHKS OF LIMA. 267
serious whisper a brief prayer. The shopkeeper sus-
pends his bargain, the bilUard-player lays down his
cue ; the gambler folds his cards and reverently rises.
In a minute the bell ceases : the horseman dashes on,
the cue and cards are resumed, and Heaven seems
again forgotten.
Many of the simple artisans ply their trades out-
side their shops. You will encounter twenty or
thirty shoemakers driving the awl in a single court,
and as many tailors pushing the needle in another ;
while a third is filled by milliners, bleaching and
trimming gipsy-hats for Indian girls. The Limanian
lady seldom w^ears a bonnet ; she prefers the manto ;
with that she can conceal her face, save the peeping
eye, and pass unrecognised. The saya or skirt of
this disguising dress is not the work of her own sex ;
it is ahvays cut and made by the same hands which
fit and seam the coats of the gentlemen. What can
be expected of a nation where the men are engaged
in making petticoats for the women ? Enterprises
of pith and moment are not achieved through the
stitches of that garment. But let that pass.
Monday, April 20. The convent of San Pedro,
an extensive, costly edifice, has been converted into
an establishment for raising and twisting silk. The
few monks who still lingered in their cloisters, when
they saw the worms slowly winding themselves up
268 DECK AND PORT.
in their continuous thread, as if the sole object of
life was to secure an undisturbed exit from it, con-
cluding that two of a trade could never agree, picked
up their rosaries and relics, and departed. The
worms work on, and wind their silk sepulchres as
industriously as if the monks who have gone had
left behind them their ghastly mementoes of life's
brevity.
How strangely sounds that steam-engine as it turns
the twisting machinery, and throws its ceaseless echoes
around among these chambers once dedicated to the
spirit of silence ! And the thread, as it reels itself off
from the cocoon, seems as if it unwound the quiet ex-
istence of some recluse, whose life was here " rounded
with a sleep." These threads are to be woven into
a rich tissue, beneath which the bounding heart and
glowing limb will but faintly indicate the penance
and vigils which once reigned in these gloomy cham-
bers, from which they stream to the light. Such are
the strange mutations to which the enterprise of the
age brings us. A convent is converted into a facto-
ry, its skulls into steam-boilers, and its beads into
bobbins ! It is enough to wake St. Anthony out of
his sunless sleep!
A relic can no further dwindle
Than when 'tis reeled from spool or spindle.
Tuesday, April 21. I have encountered no class
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 269
of persons in Peru that have awakened the same de-
gree of sympathy and interest as the native Indians.
On them have been piled misfortunes that would have
crushed a less enduring race. Their lands, their for-
ests, and their streams have been wrenched from
them through treachery and force. The mounds in
which the bones of their forefathers were entombed,
have been violated, and these sacred relics exposed
to the gaze of a profane curiosity. These are wrongs
against which his untutored nature rebels, and which
he partially avenged in the frightful scenes of the
Revolution. The power of Spain in Peru went down
like a wreck, over which the whelming wave rushes
in remorseless triumph.
The Indians on the coast, born among Europeans,
have still something of that sedateness which is char-
acteristic of their race, when reared under the influ-
ences of civilization. But those from the interior,
whose cradles were swung among the stupendous
steeps of the Andes, have a stern, wild force, which
shows where their home has been. They look with
scorn on the tricks of the toilet. They may indeed
wear plumes in their dark hair, but they are from the
pinions of some dai'ng bird that has battled with the
mountain storm, or whose rush has been over the
cataract's plunging verge. Still, they are in a great
measure free from ferocity and disguised revenge.
They are magnanimous as conquerors, and patient
23*
270 DECK AND PORT.
as captives. They never lose their equanimity in
good or ill fortune.
Wednesday, April 22. Flowers here play an im-
portant part in love matters. If a lady presents a
gentleman with a rose in the morning, it is significant
of the fact that he has not yet, at least in her imagin-
ation, passed into the yellow leaf. But if she pre-
sents it to him in the evening, there is no hope for
him, unless he can rejuvenate himself. These floral
gifts at the anniversary of the lady's birthday, fly
about thick as Cupid's arrows. They are graceful
advances when presented by gentlemen, and delicate
responses when given by ladies.
The Indian girl has less reserve in her love recog-
nitions. She sends a pretty doll on a nice little
couch, covered with white jessamine flowers. This
is a broader intimation than that given through the
rose by the Spanish lady ; but it proceeds from a
heart quite as guileless and chaste. If I must con-
fide in the purity and fidelity of either, let it be in
the one who thus embodies the instincts of her sex in
these mimic miniatures of fife. Yet with all this seem-
ing delicacy in an aflTair of the heart, the Spanish lady
indulges in a latitude of speech that would quite dis-
turb female modesty with us. Her allusions are as
broad as are the exhibitions of folly and vice. She
speaks of a man's mistress, or a woman's paramour,
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 271
just as freely as she would of their carrier-pigeons,
and with just about as little surprise or virtuous in-
dignation. She seems to consider it neither a high
crime nor a pitiable weakness ; but one of those for-
tunes which mysteriously connect themselves with
the conditions of humanity. When she weds, she
will probably need the same charitable construction,
and she will be pretty sure to receive it from her
family and friends. They will deprecate and resent
as suicidal folly, any public demonstrations of domes-
tic disquietude. The husband, if a foreigner, is told
that these are the habits of the country ; if a native,
he needs no such information.
Thursday, April 23. When a young female con-
sents to become the mistress of a man here, she re-
quires of him a certificate that he will not marry
without her consent. This certificate she deposites
with the Bishop of Lima, and purchases a dispensa-
tion for the irregularity involved in the compact.
Should the man, from weariness or any other motive,
attempt to effect a marriage arrangement with an-
other person, without her consent, she calls at once
on the bishop, who threatens the delinquent, if he
perseveres, with the highest pains and penalties of the
church.
He is thus reduced to the necessity of either
making an adequate settle) nent on the person with
272 DECK AND PORT.
whom he entered into the illicit arrangement, or of
foregoing entirely his matrimonial purposes. The
object of the bishop in this matter is to prevent a
dishonored female, with perhaps three or four chil-
dren, from being thrown on the world without any
means of support. Whether this motive, even when
its object is achieved, can justify the semi-official
sanction of the compact, is another question. But
this I may say, it often prevents the heartless liber-
tine from selfishly abandoning one for whose guilt
and ruin he is measurably responsible. If he don't
like the conditions, then let him decline the arrange-
ment; it is at best only a passport to guilt and
sorrow.
Friday, April 24. 1 encountered to-day a blind
pedler, of whom there are several in Lima. He car-
ried two baskets, the one filled with elegant toys, the
other with ribbons, thread, needles, and pins. He
knew where to find each article, and the price which
he should get for it. Even the quality of the ribbon
could not deceive his delicate touch ; nor could the
coin which he received in exchange, palm itself off
for more than its value. Heaven guide and protect
thee, thou poor blind pedler ! We all feel our way
through this dim world in the hope of reaching a
brighter and better.
There are a great many families in Lima who
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 273
have no cooking done in their houses through the
year. They send out to the cook-stands which are
sprinkled all over the city. They thus save the ex-
pense of extra servants and fuel. It is another mode
of disguising poverty, and of avoiding the necessity
of breaking up their establishments. When a Span-
ish family of some pretension becomes reduced, and
it is necessary to sell the carriage, the coat-of-arms
and every clue to its previous owner, are, as far as
possible, effaced. As a last resort, the household ser-
vants are allowed to hire themselves out, and bring
back a portion of their earnings to their owner.
When these die, or desert, the last string in the old
harp is broken. If a tone lingers still, it is so sad
you would not hear it breathe again. There is some-
thing in the condition of a man who is now poor and
who has seen better days, with which only the most
callous levity can trifle. It was only out of Eden
that Adam felt in its full force his irreparable loss.
Saturday, April 25. Foreign youth who come
to Lima from Protestant countries to engage in busi-
ness, often disappoint the fondest expectations of their
friends. Cast adrift from the moral and religious re-
straints which they felt at home, and having no re-
spect for the solemn pageantries of religion which
they encounter here, they fall easy victims to the
vices of the metropolis. Hardly one in ten escapes
274 DECK AND PORT.
V
the giddy maelstrom, down which they are whirled
from light and hope. Their ruin would at least be re-
tarded were the institutions of the Protestant faith
permitted here. But the Roman hierarchy, which
cries aloud for freedom of conscience in the United
States, here tramples it down with Bastille ferocity.
If the masses in the Catholic church here are bigoted
and intolerant, their spiritual superiors have made
them so. The depth of the forest wakes or sleeps
with the tempest that walks over it.
The frailties of the Limanian female seem not to
extinguish her sympathies with distress. She is often
at the couch of pain with that tender assiduity which
we can hardly dissever from a virtuous life. Her
watchful care is not denied to the stranger, or to
those utterly incapable of rewarding it. This sur-
viving virtue, amid the wreck of others, is to be
ascribed perhaps to that forbearance which her frail-
ties experience. With us she would be abandoned
by her relatives, and delivered over by her former
associates to irremediable crime and shame. The
result of this is a fearful proclivity in guilt and ruin.
Whether virtue is best vindicated by a denunciation
which never relents, or a forbearance \Yhich tries to
save, is a question which would not long hold me in
suspense. No heart is wholly bad; it has some string
in it that will vibrate if rightly touched. He who
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 275
suffered on the cross died to open the door of mercy,
not to shut it.
Sunday, April 26. The religion of the Limani-
ans is entitled to a charitable judgment. The mass
of the people are not responsible for the pageantries
with which it is invested. Their uninformed faith
may be perplexed among shadows, but it often pene-
trates to the substance. Among the frivolous there
are not a few with whom religion is an earnest real-
ity. Among the skeptical, many may be found who
have cast the anchor of their hopes within the veil.
We may denounce the prescriptive polity of their
church, but we should not denounce them. They
worship in a temple which the zeal of ages has rear-
ed to their hands. They found its doors barred to
other religious persuasions, and it is requiring too
much to expect that they will at once throw back its
bolts. This can be realized only through the influ-
ence of that higher light which the Bible is now
pouring into the recesses of every sectarian shrine.
Even our own Protestant altars are now visited by
rays which have long been shut out, or permitted to
fall in only faint fragments. The spirit of intoler-
ance which has pervaded our churches, has been a
source of vast moral mischief. The road to heaven
is covered v/ith the footprints of thousands, who have
been won to it bv the accents of Christian love.
278 DECK AND PORT.
angry. It is another check on peevishness and pas-
sion. It would not be amiss were the superstition
universal. Of all objects in the world the most pain-
ful to me is, a mother nursing and scolding at the
same time. It is worse than thunder out of a soft
April cloud.
Wednesday, April 29. There are in Lima two
associations which are very attentive to strangers.
A member of one is called a pillo, a member of the
other a pillofero. The first is a genteel loafer, the
second a dexterous gambler. So you have your
choice between a good-humored graceless uninvited
guest, and a refined cheat. The one is satisfied with
your table and floating change, the other goes for
your purse and its entire contents. The one plun-
ders you through your vanity, the other through your
bad fortune.
Priests here not only guard the prerogatives of
their order, but the purity of their Spanish blood. A
high ecclesiastic, of Indian or African descent, is not
to be found in their ranks. Such a lineage would
debar him the sacred functions of the altar. Those
who exercise them are as jealous of the Castilian
blood which flows in their veins, as an old Hidalgo
furbishing his family coat-of-arms. They inculcate
equality among their communicants, and make them
kneel together on the same stone pavement, but they
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 279
stand aloof in the immemorial privileges and dignity
of their order. They have inferiors who mix with
the masses : some of these are devoted men ; they
encounter incredible hardships in propagating their
faith. Their self-denying zeal may well be a lesson
to Protestants.
The most amusing being in Lima is the mestizo —
the offspring of the European and Indian. His wit
and humor never fail him. He will convulse you
with laughter, and be himself quite sedate. It puz-
zles you that a bird of such dazzling plumage should
fly out of the shadows of such a sombre tree. The
zambo, half Indian and half African, has a broader
humor. His allusions are under no restraints from
sentiments of delicacy, or respect for the presence of
the other sex. I have seen one of them keep a street
crowd in a roar by the hour.
Zambos are generally employed as household ser-
vants. The children naturally fall into their care,
and become early accustomed to the language sug-
gested by their prurient imaginations. Love in-
trigues are with them a never-failing source of en-
tertainment. Even the " peccadillos" of their parents
are sometimes made a subject of mirth. The adven-
tures of the mother are thus made known to the
daughter. Her prudent counsels, after that, sound
hollow indeed. It is not to be wondered at that she
should turn away from the precept to imitate the
280 DECK AND PORT.
example. Many families, and among them some of
the first in Lima, have thus been plunged in irre-
trievable humiliation and grief. The cause may be,
and generally is, carefully concealed. But an un-
seen wound may rankle as deeply as that which has
no covering. The light which a mother should de-
'^Z pend upon to guide the steps of her daughter, is that
which is reflected from her own example. If shadows
rest on this — if it falls only in transient flakes, seen
one moment and lost the next, like the firefly's fitful
beam — it will only serve the more to bewijder and
betray. What the mother would have her daughters,
she should be herself It is her example, and not her
I precepts, that shapes their social and moral being.
Thursday, April 30. In the native Indians is
found the productive industry of Peru. The prod-
ucts of their gardens and fields roll in a ceaseless tide
into the markets of Lima. Their jewelry and pon-
chos, wrought with little aid from machinery, rival
in elegance some of the most finished productions of
art ; while their sturdy arms fill with ceaseless echoes
the deep silver mines of the Andes. The roads
which they constructed under their Incas still run
along the jagged steeps of the Cordilleras ; their
swinging gardens still throw their fragrance on the
wind ; and through their aqueducts still rolls with re-
freshing force the mountain stream. But many of
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 281
their richest plains and glens, Spanish rule and indo-
lence have turned into sterility.
An Indian boy from the interior, domesticated in
a European family in Lima, will at first show some
alacrity in duty ; but when he enters the summer of
youth, he flies back to his mountain home. And the
Fndian girl, who has little else to do than carry a mat
to church, on which her mistress may kneel at mass,
when the levities of childhood are passed, turns an
earnest eye to the picturesque glades of the Andes.
The sequestered hut, tne wild fruits and flowers
which bloom around it, the stream that ripples past
the door, the lama-skin couch, and one by whom she
can be loved and protected, float through her young
dreams, and off* she flies for the reality of this roman-
tic vision. Her mistress, the next time she goes to
mass, looks for her Indian girl, and begins to think
" That love in simplest hearts hath deepest sway."
Friday, May 1. The most tender and melancholy
associations here are those which crowd upon one,
seated at twilight by the burial mounds of those who
were once sole possessors of the soil. The yellow-
leaved willows wave in the still moonlight ; their
whispers are in mournful unison with 4;he dirge of
the Indian, which still floats over the graves of his
fathers, and melts into harmony with the voice of the
cuculi, that responds in plaintive notes from the gua-
24*
282 DECK AND PORT.
rango grove. Every thing around you breathes of
the past, and of the ruins which time and disaster
have left behind.
" Thou unrelenting Past !
Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,
And fetters, sure and fast,
Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.
Far in thy realms withdrawn,
Old emphes sit in sullenness and gloom,
And glorious ages gone.
Lie deep within the shadow of thy womb."
The swinging hammock is the sofa of the Lima-
nian lady. This airy couch, twined of beautiful
grass, and died into the varied hues of the rainbow,
swings in the cool corridor, while flowers of loveliest
tint throw around it their fragrant breath. In the
midst of these odors the fair one takes her siesta,
while her cheek is flushed with the triumph that
floats along her rosy dream. Sleep on while yet
thou mayest ; a morrow comes when these visions
of pride and happiness will' take to themselves wings
and fly away. Care and sorrow will cast their
shadows upon thee, and thou must walk in their
gloom down to the dreamless sleep of the grave.
But there are visions which will not depart ; there
are flowers that will never die ; but they belong to
the spirit-land.
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 283
Saturday, May '!. The cathedral, and indeed all
the principal churches of Lima, impress you more
through the magnificence of their proportions than
any richness of architecture. They are generally
built of a coarse freestone, stuccoed and painted.
Their domes and towers rise on the distant eye, in
gaudy grandeur, but betray their poverty on a closer
vision. The statues which adorn them are generally
coarse and frail in the material, and without taste in
the execution. Over every altar is a statue of the
Virgin in the hues of life. Her costume is light or
dark, as the occasion is merry or sad ; but the skirt
of her dress always spreads to the right and left like
a great fan. This depression is given it, so that
the priest officiating at the altar, when he looks up,
may see her benignant face.
Sunday, May 3. In the church of San Domingo
is a statue, in which there is an attempt to represent,
under the similitudes of the human form and coun-
tenance, the Supreme Jehovah. The idea is taken
from those ancient sculptures w^hich embody the at-
tributes of the Olympian Jove. The analogy be-
tween those statues which Christianity has been
made to sanctify, and those which she cast off with
the mythology of paganism, is painfully true. We
have here the Venus of the Greeks in the likeness of
the blessed Virgin, and the Jupiter of the Romans in
282 DECK AND PORT.
rango grove. Every thing around you breathes of
the past, and of the ruins which time and disaster
have left behind.
" Thou unrelenting Past !
Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,
And fetters, sure and fast,
Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.
Far in thy realms withdrawn,
Old empkes sit in sullenness and gloom,
And glorious ages gone,
Lie deep within the shadow of thy womb."
The swinging hammock is the sofa of the Lima-
nian lady. This airy couch, twined of beautiful
grass, and died into the varied hues of the rainbow,
swings in the cool corridor, while flowers of loveliest
tint throw around it their fragrant breath. In the
midst of these odors the fair one takes her siesta,
while her cheek is flushed with the triumph that
floats along her rosy dream. Sleep on while yet
thou mayest ; a morrow comes when these visions
of pride and happiness will' take to themselves wings
and fly away. Care and sorrow will cast their
shadows upon thee, and thou must walk in their
gloom down to the dreamless sleep of the grave.
But there are visions which will not depart ; there
are flowers that will never die ; but they belong to
the spirit-land.
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 283
Saturday, May •?. The cathedral, and indeed all
the principal churches of Lima, impress you more
through the magnificence of their proportions tliau
any richness of architecture. They are generally
built of a coarse freestone, stuccoed and painted.
Their domes and towers rise on the distant eye, in
gaudy grandeur, but betray their poverty on a closer
vision. The statues w^hich adorn them are generally
coarse and frail in the material, and without taste in
the execution. Over every altar is a statue of the
Virgin in the hues of life. Her costume is light or
dark, as the occasion is merry or sad ; but the skirt
of her dress always spreads to the right and left like
a great fan. This depression is given it, so that
the priest officiating at the altar, when he looks up,
may see her benignant face.
Sunday, May 3. In the church of San Domingo
is a statue, in which there is an attempt to represent,
under the similitudes of the human form and coun-
tenance, the Supreme Jehovah. The idea is taken
from those ancient sculptures w^hich embody the at-
tributes of the Olympian Jove. The analogy be-
tween those statues which Christianity has been
made to sanctify, and those which she cast off w^ith
the mythology of paganism, is painfully true. We
have here the Venus of the Greeks in the likeness of
the blessed Virgin, and the Jupiter of the Romans in
284 DECK AND PORT.
the representations of the Supreme Being. Mercu-
ry, in the character of the Angel of the Annunciation,
brings tidings from heaven ; and Pluto, under the
thunder-scarred front of Satan, reigns over hell. The
unpurified, instead of wandering on the gloomy Styx,
now wander in purgatory, till some Charon, in the
person of an absolving priest, ferries them over to
the fields of purple light. I know the force of visi-
ble symbols, and the facility and seeming advantage
of impressing man through his outward senses ; but
something is due to the dignity of truth and the
sanctity of that spiritual revelation which God has
made of himself, and above all to that fearful man-
date— " Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven
image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in the
heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the wa-
ter under the earth : thou shalt not bow down to
them nor worship them."
Monday, May 4. The aborigines of Peru still
wear a bean at the temple as a charm against dis-
ease, and still adhere to their herb doctors. These
simple disciples of Esculapius, laden with their barks,
balsams, roots, and herbs, traverse the steeps and
glens of the Andes, descend into the plains of Chili,
and the pampas of Buenos Ayres. If they seldom
cure, they have the satisfaction of knowing that they
never kill. But as the legitimate province of medi-
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 285
cine is to amuse the patient, while nature cures the
disease, perhaps the result of their practice will not
sufler by a comparison with that of their more learn-
ed brethren. It is much wiser, in ordinary cases, to
hang a bean to the temple, than to put a pill into the
stomach. Nature never complains of the bean, but
she is often very much puzzled to know what to do
with the pill. Were the ghosts of those who have
fallen victims to medicine to appear on this earth,
there would be a more terrible shaking among the
medical profession, than there was in the valley of
Ezekiel's vision of dry bones. -^
Tuesday, May 5. The winds in Peru prevail for
nine months in the year from the south. These
cooler currents, mingling themselves with warmer
airs, produce what is called the Scotch mist. It instils
itself into your garments slowly, but in a continued
exposure will completely saturate them. It is expe-
rienced most at night, and disappears beneath the
slanting rays of the sun. Strangers are apt to disre-
gard it ; but the natives put on their ponchos.
The traveller from a northern zone finds the sea-
sons quite reversed here. Spring opens with Sep-
tember. When the farmer with us is gathering in
his last harvest, the seeds of the first are sown here.
When the birds forsake our groves for winter quar-
ters, they are here selecting their vernal mates.
286
DECK AND PORT.
When the flowers with us perish, they are here just
opening their bright eyes to the sun. Nature never
leaves herself here without a witness, nor society
without its signals, as seen in this monk and Peru-
vian farmer.
Alonk. Peruvian Farmer.
I encountered two things in the markets of Lima
rather peculiar in their way. The first was a chicken
quartered as if it had been a sheep or bullock, and
sold in parts to suit purchasers ; each part bringing
the price of a whole one with us. The second was
a monk carrying a little tray, with a crucifix em-
bossed upon it, which every one was invited to kiss,
and pay for the privilege what he might please to
put in. One cast into it a biscuit, another a sausage,
a third a potatoe ; so the monk went off* with quite a
breakfast, and will be back assuredly to-morrow
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 287
morning to have it filled again in the same way. It
was the first time 1 ever saw the privilege of a kiss
purchased with a potatoe. But a monk is seldom at
a loss for an expedient.
Of all the fruits in Peru, the most esteemed is the
chirimoya. It grows rather larger than our pippin,
has a rougii exterior, but is filled with a soft pulp,
which resembles in taste our strawberries and
cream. It is scooped out with a teaspoon, melts in
the mouth, and gushes over the palate in a luscious
tide. The tree which bears this fruit requires seven-
teen years before its seminal buds ripen into their
precious burden.
Next comes the granadilla, the fruit of the passion
flower. It resembles, in shape, size, and smoothness
of texture, the egg of our domestic fowls. You break
the shell, and swallow the rich mucilaginous pulp
with its delicate seeds. The taste has no analogies
in any other fruit. At first it seems to want charac-
ter or palatable emphasis, but it wins upon you, till
that w^hich appeared a defect becomes an excellence.
It is just such a fruit as the seeming sacredness of its
origin would lead you to expect. It brings you back
in your sensations to that fount which nursed your
infant life.
Close on this follows the palta-pear, with its large
central stone resembling that of the peach. This
fruit, which is protected by a hard, thin rind, has the
288 DECK AND PORT,
consistence of thick cream, and, with salt sprinkled
on it, is used upon bread as an excellent substitute
for butter. I do not wonder that the epicurean
monk, in his desire to lift the flagging imaginations
of his hearers to the fruitions of the better land, rep-
resents the chirimoya, the granadilla, and palta, as
nodding over its crystal streams. They have that
which never entered even the imagination of Maho-
met, when he spread the verdant lawns and wove the
ambrosial bowers of his pictured heaven.
Wednesday, May 6. The therapeutics of the
Limanians are as peculiar, when applied to their tem-
pers, as their bodies. They never drink cold water
when angry, from an apprehension that it conduces
to hepatic diseases. In their opinion it chills and
contracts the biliary excretories, prevents a natural
flow of the bile, and leads to congestion. The phy-
sician often attributes the death of his patient to this
fatal indiscretion. He would sooner give an angry
man alcohol, than a glass of iced-water.
The old Spanish families, who were swept away
by the Revolution, resembled the Mussulman in many
of their characteristic habits. They were remarka-
ble for their commercial probity, their love of ease,
their hatred of innovation, their intolerance of the
slightest indignity, their pride of lineage, and their
indulgence in sensual gratifications. Their dwellings
SKETCHES UF LIMA. 289
were stately castles, where the indolent lounged, the
gay revelled, the sad were beguiled of their sorrows,
and the poor forgot their poverty. But they have
passed away, save a few who remain, like the sturdy
trees of a forest, which the hurricane hath swept.
The few who remain are rarely engaged in any im-
portant enterprises. What capital they have is often
locked up, where they forego the interest for the
safety of the principal. There is one old Spaniard
who has now, and has had for years, eight hundred
thousand dollars packed away in the vaults of a large
commercial house here. An interest of twenty per
cent, would not draw it from its stronghold. Revo-
lution and rapacity have wrecked his confidence ; and
he is in this respect only one among thousands. The
result is, the commerce of Peru has fallen mostly
into the hands of the English and Americans. Their
daring spirit will carry it on, though revolutions suc-
ceed each other strong and fast as the breaking
waves of ocean. But the storm is past, and the great
deep is rocking itself to rest.
The Spanish lady has but little book-knowledge,
but a most observant sagacity. She has no acquire-
ments in letters, but reads character as by intuition.
She never essays an argument, and is never at a loss
for a pertinent reply. She is ardent in her tempe/a-
ment, and yet rarely loses her equanimity. She is
alive to adulation, and is never overawed by menace.
25
290 DECK AND PORT.
She is punctilious in all the forms of religion, and
persevering in all the perils of an intrigue. Her
mornings are spent with her confessor, her evenings
with her lover.
Masses for the repose of the soul are inculcated by
the clergy as an indispensable religious duty. They
are a source of vast revenue to the curate, and often
involve the relatives of the deceased in ruinous ex-
penses. It is considered worse than cruel to leave
in purgatory the soul of a relative, which might be
relieved through the efficacy of the mass. The dic-
tates of religion and nature are therefore both en-
listed in securing a punctual performance of this
pious obligation. It is an expensive duty, and the
burden often falls where it is least able to be borne.
The poor widow, believing, as she is taught, that
masses can relieve the condition of her deceased
child, mitigate its sufferings, and hasten its transit
from purifying flames to perfect bliss, parts with her
last shilling, as well she may, and even sells her
mourning weeds for this purpose. The author of
" Three years in the Pacific" says : — " I saw in Pi-
sco an Indian boy, who had been sold by the curate
in one of the interior provinces, to pay for the requi-
site number of masses for the rest of his father's
soul !" There is a company in Lima, instituted un-
der the sanction of the archbishop, which engages,
for the consideration of a real a week from any poor
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 291
family, to purchase, at the death of a member of the
household, a sufficient number of masses to liberate
the deceased from the pains of purgatory. This
company has a hundred applicants where the life-
insurance corporation has one. Masses for the dead,
claiming as they do to reach the condition of the de-
parted soul, cast into insignificance every thing this
side of their object, and leave nothing for a supersti-
tious faith to desire beyond it. The human imagina-
tion cannot conceive of a more tremendous eccle-
siastical engine.
Thursday, May 7. The pleasures of our visit to
Lima were not a little enhanced by the arrangements
and hospitalities of Commodore Stockton. He took
ample apartments in the elegant hotel which opens
on the grand plaza, where he had his own table and
attendants. We met here not only the officers of
the Congress, but the first gentlemen in Lima. These
entertainments were free of ostentation, and that
parade in which the heart is lost in the forms of
etiquette, and were on a scale in keeping w^ith the
rank and ample means of the individual who dis-
pensed them. They have had the effect not only to
strengthen friendship among ourselves, but to win
the good opinion and favor of those whose prominent
position here gives them an influence over the char-
acter of our foreign relations.
292 DECK AND PORT.
The gentlemen connected with the Alsop House
have also contributed largely to the pleasures of our
visit here. We shall long remember in connection
with this hospitable mansion the kind attention of
Mr. McCall, Mr. Foster, and our worthy Consul.
Their liberality, ample means, and sterling integrity
are a rock on which the American name may safely
repose at Lima.
The time had come for me to leave Lima, and
take up my quarters again on board the Congress.
I took a seat in the diligence just starting for Cal-
lao, and which was already pretty full with other
passengers. But I had the advantage of not re-
quiring a great deal of room, and so squeezed in.
Opposite to me sat a fat Peruvian lady, whose huge
fan, which threatened my nose as much as her broad
face, was in a constant dash to create a breath of
air, while her flesh shook at every jar as if it would
break from its moorings. Two lap-dogs, one under
either flank, pushed out their panting noses with
many ineffectual attempts to extricate themselves
from the heat of their ' smothered condition ; but
were rebuffed by a slap from the lady's hand, which
was too fat to hurt them but for the massive rings
on her fingers, in which flashed gems enough to stud
a sultan's snuff'-box. She wore no bonnet or broad
gipsy hat to protect her from the rays of the sun,
which broke through the open crevices in the roof
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 293
of the diligence; and indeed she needed none, for
the heavy puffs of her cigar rolled up there, and
hung over her head in a thick floating cloud.
On one side of me sat an officer of the Peruvian
afHiy, in full uniform. His chapeau, tasselled, plumed,
and covered with gold lace, rested on his knees, and
exposed the heavy black wig, in which each hair had
been made to take its particular place. His thick
coat, with its massive embroidery, was buttoned, not-
withstanding the heat, so close over his chest and up
to the neck, that it seemed to dispute with his stock
the office of supporting the chin. His pantaloons,
down which flowed a broad stream of gold lace,
were straightened and stretched in every thread by
the short straps under the boot, which might have
lifted his feet from the floor, but for the ponderous
spurs which projected far behind the heel in a shaft,
at the end of which rattled a roller in the shape of a
circular saw. Not a smile or emotion of any kind
once disturbed the fixedness of his bronzed features.
He sat crank and motionless as a statue, save the
bony hand which now and then gave another twist
to his moustache, which curled its horns into the
corners of his mouth. But for this slight motion, he
might have been taken for one of those old heroes
whom Egyptian art more than three thousand years
ago embalmed into immortality.
On the other side of me sat a middle-aged native,
25*
294 DECK AND PORT.
in a white fringed poncho, a large Guyaquil hat, and
figured trowsers. An old-fashioned ring was con-
spicuous on his finger, and the remnants of a gold
mounting still lingered on the top of his cane. His
features were sharp and prominent ; and he had a
remarkable strabismus of his eyes, which seemed to
be trying to look into each other across the bridge of
his nose. On his knees he carried an article of
chamber furniture, which, though manufactured of
silver, shall be nameless here.
Having occasion to light a cigar, which required
the use of both his hands to manage the flint and
steel, which he carried in his pocket, he placed the
unmentionable, without saying a word, in the lap of
the passenger next him, who happened to be the
captain of an American merchantman, and who as
quickly thrust it back on the knees of its owner,
with the ejaculation, " Carry your own teapot."
The eyes of the proprietor flashed fire into each
other, but not a word was said. The officer gave
his moustache another twjst, the fat lady fanned her-
self as before, but the two other lady passengers
seemed to be not a little surprised at the rudeness of
the American ; neither of them smiled, nor seemed
to perceive the least impropriety, or the slightest
shade of the ludicrous in the conspicuous position
which the unmentionable occupied. With us, two
ladies so situated, would have jumped out of the
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 295
stage, if not through the door, then through a
window.
Better at once to fly the sight,
Than stay to perish with aflEright.
Friday, May 8. VVe were all again on board,
and watching for the appearance of the steamer
from Panama. Seven months had elapsed, and we
had received no intelligence from home, and could
expect none now through any government mail.
Indeed, our government has no mail arrangements
in the Pacific. Once in two or three months a
packet is dispatched to Chagres with a mail, which
finds its w^ay over the isthmus to Panama, and there
goes soundly to sleep. For matter of reaching its
destination, it might as well be in the moon.
Commodore Stockton had dispatched Mr. Beale and
Mr. Norris to the United States, with instructions to
join him by the nearest practicable route in the Pa-
cific. The line of steamers between the West India
islands and Chagres, and between Panama and Cal-
lao, had not then been completed, and it was there-
fore extremely doubtful whether they would attempt
to reach us by this route. The probability seemed
to be they would take the route by New Orleans, and
across the continent to Mazatlan, and thence to Cal-
ifornia.
In the midst of these doubts, the steamer threw
296 DECK AND PORT.
her black mass within the bright line of the horizon.
" There she comes !" ran in quick whispers through
the ship. As she neared us, the all-absorbing ques-
tion was, whether the secretary of the commodore
was in her. On this depended our last and only
hope of letters from home. She passed us at no
great distance ; but we tried in vain to discover,
through our glasses, the individual for whom we
were looking. No sign of such a person appeared
among the few passengers who paced her deck. I
went below ; I had seen enough of steamers, and
never desired to see another. The third cutter was
called away, and directed to proceed to the steamer ;
but that seemed only blotting out the last ray of pos-
sibility.
In twenty minutes, an officer rushed below with
the surprising intelligence that the secretary of the
commodore was in the boat alongside. I was not
long in reaching the deck, and could hardly credit
my owh eyes when I saw him come over the gang-
way ; and still less when he placed in my hands some
twenty letters from my family and friends. Our ad-
vices were within about thirty days from the United
States. The commodore received a large mail ; Capt.
Du Pont, and nearly all the officers, got letters from
home. For this intelligence, with files of papers
from the press, we were indebted to the arrangement
of Commodore Stockton, carried through at his pri-
SKETCHES OF LIMA. 297
vate expense. We spent the greater part of the
night in 'reading our letters and penning answers to
them, as we were to sail the next day for the Sand-
wich Islands. These details may not be interesting
to some, especially those who have not been absent
from home a week without intelligence ; but let more
than half a year of their brief life circle round with-
out any information, and they will appreciate the sig-
nificance of such seeming trifles. The surest source |
of sympathy is found in an experience of the same >
calamity.
The Incas of Peru, who invested their imperial
sway with the mandates and sanctions of a supreme
theocracy, are in their graves. Their palaces and
temples remain ; and in these vast monuments are
shrined the evidences of their departed grandeur and
power. The solid blocks of porphyry which pave
the great public way from Quito to Cuzco, and the
table-land of Desaguadero, still invite the footsteps
of the moving masses, and still roll back the sun-
beams in show^ering gold.
The dominion of the usurper who entered this peace-
ful realm with the cross and chain, has at length been
broken. It lies in ruins, amid penitent tokens of guilt
and sorrow, around the sacred ashes of the Incas. The
fiery deluge of revolution which has swept this fair
land since, has also passed away. The calm hearts
of two millions of freemen remain. They bend the
298 DECK AND PORT.
knee to no iron despotism, no consecrated pageant
of power. They have rights which they assert in
the unrestricted freedom of the elective franchise.
Their progress to constitutional freedom and repose
has been tumultuous and wild, but they are within
sight of their goal, and will reach it as assuredly as
the wave of the rolling deep its destined strand.
But our anchors are up, our courses set, and we
are away for other shores.
Land of the Incas, fare thee -well !
For thee my fancy twines
A rarer, richer coronel
Than glitters in thy mines, —
A circlet where each jewel flings
A. ray that blasts the hope offings.
299
CHAPTER X.
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU.
DEPARTURE FROM CALLAO. THE RL*M SMUGGLER. SUNSET, — SEA-BIRDS
A bailor's DEFENCE. GENERAL QUARTERS. SPIRIT RATION. THE SAIL-
OR AND RELIGION. THE FLAG. SAGACITY OF THE RAT. THE CLOUD.
CALMS AND SHO^^TERS. RELIGIOUS TRACTS. CONSTELLATIONS. TRADE
WINDS. — CONDUCT OF THE CREW. — MOON IN THE ZENITH. LAY SERMON.
FUNERAL. LAND HO !
'* Huzza ! for Otaheite ! was the cry,
As stately swept the gallant vessel by,
The breeze springs up, the lately flapping sail
Extends its arch before the growing gale."
Saturday, May 9. We rousted our anchors this
afternoon from the bed in which they have slumber-
ed for the last six weeks, and stood out to sea from
the bay of Callao. The breeze freshened as the sun
set, and before our mid- watch was out, only the rock
of San Lorenzo was seen lifting its naked peaks into
the light of the moon.
Farewell, Callao ! I have seen quite enough of your
destitution and dirt, your pickpockets and parrots,
your fish and your fleas, your brats and your buz-
zards. I wonder not that nature in sore disgust sunk
your progenitor from the light of the sun ; and unless
you reform, you may expect to share the same fate.
Through your chambers the dolphins will sport ;
300 DECK AND PORT.
your forsaken harps will thrill beneath the wild fin-
gers of the mermaid, while, far above, the hoarse
wave pours on the rocks your death-dirge. The
sea-gull only will know the place of your rest, and
only the poor pelican mourn that you are not.
Sunday, May 10. Divine service: officers and
crew all present. Subject of the sermon, the temp-
tations of the sailor. A chaplain in the navy has
one advantage over his brethren on land. He has
his parishioners in the most compact of all possible
forms, and every one present when he officiates. In
making his official visits he has not to ride around
among five hundred families located at all points of
the compass. He cannot stir without coming in
contact with them. But he has this disadvantage ;
in the vicissitudes of a sea life they are extremely
apt to break away from his constraining influence.
They may be brought back again, but it is too often
through the deepest self-inflicted humiliation.
I was called down from Lima to see a sailor who
was supposed to be dying. As I came to the ham-
mock in which he was lying, he told me he did not
think he should live, and that he felt unfit to die.
He made a free and frank confession of the errors of
his life, and desired me to pray that he might be for-
given. I tried to lead his thoughts to the cross and
to the fountain of Christ's blood. To these his con-
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 301
trition and solicitude quickly turned. He seemed
not to doubt, in his infinite need, their full sufficiency.
I prayed with him ; he earnestly responded, and so
did his messmates, who stood silently grouped about
his hammock. Sailors well know what is involved
in that awful transition which we undergo in death.
They never trifle with the event itself, however heed-
less they may be in the indulgences which lead to it.
Monday, May 11. We have a fine, steady wind
on our larboard quarter. It has carried us, with the
aid of a strong current, during the last twenty-four
hours, two hundred and sixty miles. This good for-
tune, however, cannot last. We must part with the
wind as we approach the equator, and perhaps before.
But sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. It is
much wiser rightly to enjoy the blessings of the
present, than to yield ourselves to anxieties about the
contingencies of the future.
We have a beautiful sunset. The air is serene,
and the blue circle of the sky rests in tranquil soft-
ness on the utmost verge of the ocean. The whole
realm of waters seems cradled in its limitless sweep.
The rays of the descending orb lie along the gently
heaving billows in lines of level light. The clouds
which o'ercanopy his couch of repose, are robed in
purple and gold; while the long vistas which open
through them, seem as soft avenues to the spirit-land.
302 DECK AND PORT.
" Methiiiks it were no pain to die,
On such an eve, when such a sky
O'ercanopies the West.
To gaze my fill on yon calm deep,
And, like an infant, fall to sleej)
On earth, my mother's breast.
" There's peace and welcome in yon sea
Of endless blue tranquillity.
Tlie clouds are living things ;
I trace then- veins of liquid gold,
T see them solemnly imfold
Their soft and fleecy wings.
" These be the angels that convey
Us weary cliildren of a day —
Life's tedious jom-ney o'er —
Where neither passions come, nor woes,
To vex the genius of repose
On I)eath's majestic shore."
Tuesday, May 12. We have now leisure to look
back as well as forward. Our crew conducted them-
selves remarkably well at Callao. Our boats were
in constant communication with the shore, without
an officer in them. And yet, during six weeks, no
disturbances took place, and only one or two cases ol
intoxication occurred. One attempt was made by a
hand in the third cutter to smuggle off a skin of rum.
It was discovered by the officer who overhauled the
boat as she came alongside. An effort was made to
find its owner, but no one would acknowledge the ill-
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 303
gotten thing. As the crew of the boat must have
been cognizant of the fact, they were informed by
Capt. Du Pont, that unless the name of the offender
was given up, they would all be punished. They
were given an hour to decide what should be done.
Before its expiration three of the crew gave in the
name of the smuggler; and he paid the penalty,
which involved a loss of the contraband article and
the infliction of a severe chastisement. We have no
laws with us which are a dead letter.
Wednesday, May 13. Our wind has veered still
further aft, and consequently fills fewer of our sails ;
but we are running before it at the rate of nine and
ten knots the hour. The sky is covered with light,
fleecy clouds, through which the sun's rays melt
without any intensity of light. The ocean has a
long, undulating swing, like that of some vast mass
which has been seeking for ages to rock itself to
rest, but is prevented by some invisible power that
has decreed against its repose.
Thirty more of the crew to-day voluntarily relin-
quished their spirit-ration. They considered it a
source of mischief. A sailor attached to one of our
frigates was court-martialed for an attempt to break
open the spirit-room. His defence before the court
was ingenious, to say the least of it. The govern-
ment, he said, had given him two tots of grog during
304 DECK AND PORT.
the day, and a third by way of splicing the main-
brace. The wardroom steward had given him, for
some service he had rendered, two more, and these
five had made him crazy. It was not him, he said,
but the whisky which was in him that had made the
assault on the spirit-room. And now, as the govern-
ment had administered to him more than half of this
whisky, the government should bear half the respon-
sibility of the offence. He therefore prayed that one
half of the lashes which this offence merited might
be given to the government, and the other half he
would take himself.
There is a volume of argument, in this defence,
against the whisky-ration. It is a shame for the
government to render a sailor half intoxicated, and
then punish him for becoming wholly so. It is the
first glass, and not the last, on which your indigna-
tion should light. This whisky-ration has done evil
enough in the service ; let it be consigned to perdi
tion, where it belongs.
Thursday, May 14. The birds which followed us
from the coast have returned ; but several boobies,
who had probably lost their reckoning, circled around
our masts at sunset. As twilight deepened, they
perched on our yards, and were in a few minutes
sound asleep. They might have been easily cap-
tured, but sailors are not very partial to such tro-
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 305
phies. There is something in their name which they
do not like, and which seems to react on the valor
of the captor. Give them a tiger, and they will storm
his jungle with only such weapons as they can pick
up on the way. But a booby, that can harm no one,
and whose stupidity seems to have suggested his
name, is allowed to go unmolested. The weakest
man in the community has generally the fewest de-
tractors, while an intellectual giant will always have
a pack at his heels. There is more honor in striking
at a lion, than there is in killing a monkey.
Friday, May 15. The sick sailor whom I came
down from Lima to see, has passed the crisis of his
disease, and may recover. He fluttered for some
time between life and death. The vital flame seemed
to come and go as a thing apart from him. But now
its ray is more bright and steady. He is an orphan,
without father or mother ; but has a sister, to whom
he is much attached. The idea of being permitted
to see her again, is almost too much for his exhaust-
ed state. If you would get. at the true character of
the sailor, you must visit him in his sickness. His
better feelings then gush out over the asperities of
his -lot, like a spring from amid the tangled shrubs of
the wildwood.
Saturday, May 16. We went to general quarters
26*
306 DECK AND PORT.
this morning at three bells, and exercised the guns.
Those on the main-deck are so heavy, they require
a prodigious outlay of strength to work them. Any
irregularity in the application of the force frustrates
all dexterity of movement ; each man must forego
all individual volition, independent action, and be-
come a part of the mechanism which is to be tasked
to the utmost as a whole ; and yet he must have all
that enthusiasm which is felt in freedom from con-
straint, and when the strong impulses of the soul
throw themselves off in resistless action. It is much
easier to slash away gallantly with the sabre, than to
train quickly and accurately on the enemy a forty-
four-pounder. This requires self-possession, and in-
domitable firmness. Sailors have no retreat. They
must conquer, die, or surrender. The last they
would seldom do, were it not forced upon them by
the laws of humanity. They would sooner die, as
boarders, on the deck of the enemy, than survive, as
captives, over their own keel.
Sunday, May 17. DWine service : subject of the
sermon, the influence of religion on a man's intellec-
tual character. The object of the speaker was to
show that religion aids mental development, — that
while it strikes down pride, it imparts true dignity.
Nothing can be more absurd than the idea, that reli-
gion impairs strength of character. It invests even
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 307
the timid with a firmness and force which stand un-
dismayed amid dungeons, racks, and flaming stakes.
To possess the religious character seems to the
sailor such a vast stride in advance of his ordinary
habits, that he is extremely diffident in preferring his
humble claims. He will pray when peril presses,
for he thinks a wicked man may do that, but he con-
nects a worthy profession of personal piety with a
degree of sanctity hardly compatible with the infirm-
ities of his nature. He has rarely enjoyed the ad-
vantages of a religious education ; no moral training
has gradually introduced him to the sanctities of the
Christian life. The utmost that he feels himself fit
to do is, like the poor publican, to smite upon his
breast, and exclaim, " God be merciful to me a sin-
ner!" But to take his place among those whose
piety is to guide and animate others, is to him as if
a lost star were to spring out of the depths of dark-
ness, and take its station among the burning con-
stellations of heaven. When therefore he does avow
his religious faith and hopes, it is generally with him
no halfway measure ; no decent compromise be-
tween conscience and inclination. He takes with
him his all for this world and the next.
Monday, May 18. The phrase "fickle as the wind"
is not applicable to the trades of the Pacific. The
wind before which we are running has hardly veered
308 DECK AND PORT.
a point for the last week. I commend its steadiness
to those politicians who find it necessary every few
months to define their position.
We have had about om' ship this afternoon several
sea-birds, to which sailors have given the name of
boatswains. They have a long feather in their tail ;
which streams behind them like the train of a duchess
at court. But it answers a much wiser purpose, for
instead of embarrassing motion, it acts as a rudder,
and steadies the bird in navigating the aerial cur-
rents. Nature never bestows any useless append-
ages. These are the achievements of human vanity ;
and sorry achievements they are. They even enter
the grave, and mock with their tinsel its awful reality.
Tuesday, May 19. We have had through the
day a soft, hazy atmosphere. At sunset these light,
floating vapors gathered themselves into more sub-
stantial clouds, and promised a shower. But after
hanging on the horizon for a time, they seemed to
sink below its rim. The moon came up late ; her
soft light fell on the sea, but the wings of the clouds,
if touched by the effulgence, were invisible. The
wind, though of sufficient force to carry us on some
eiffht knots, scarcelv agitated the breast of the ocean.
It seemed as something intended to move over its
level plain and not to disturb its depths. It was like a
shadow gliding over the tops of a vast sleeping forest.
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU, ^09
Wednesday, May 20. Our gun-carriages, with
their black paint on a white ground, could never be
made to look neat for any length of time. The white
was perpetually working itself through its sable cov-
ering, like an inborn levity of heart through an as-
sumed gravity of demeanor. Our captain and first
lieutenant, who have an acknowledged taste in every
thing that belongs to the appearance of a man-of-
war, ordered the carriages thoroughly scraped of
every particle of paint. A dark stain was then
given to the wood, through which the grain shows
itself in its native strength. Over this a thin varnish
of spirit and oil was spread, imparting to the wood a
beautiful polish, and blending itself with its texture.
The battery of a frigate, especially as you come upon
her gun-deck, is that which first strikes the eye. Like
the pulpit ol d church, if forlorn in its appearance,
elegance elsewhere will not retrieve the error. A
rough pulpit may have thunder in it, but the thunder
don't lie in its roughness.
Thursday, May 21. One of our quarter-masters
has just finished a new and splendid flag, which we
shall display at the islands. How profound the love
and reverence of the sailor for his flag ! He con-
nects with it, as it streams in freedom and light on
the wind, a thousand glorious memories. It points
to crimson waves where his comrades of the deck
310 DECK AND PORT.
have triumphed or sunk overpowered to then' rest.
He holds the deepest crime to be that of treason to
its obHgations and sacred hopes. He would surren-
der it only to the King of kings.
The last words of the late Commodore Hull were
addressed to the stern majesty of Death.
"l STRIKE MY FLAG."
I strike not to a sceptred king —
A man of mortal breath —
A weak, imperious, fickle thing ;
I strike to thee, 0 Death !
I strike that flag which in the fight
The trust of millions hailed,
The flag which threw its meteor light
Where England's lion quailed,
I strike to thee, whose mandates fall
Ahke on king and slave,
Whose hvery is the shroud and pall,
And palace-court the grave.
Thy captives crowd the caverned earth,
They fill the rolling sea,
From court and camp, the wave and hearth,
All, all have bowed to theo.
But thou, stem Death, must yet resign
Thy sceptre o'er this dust ;
The Power that makes the mortal thine,
Will yet remand his trust.
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 311
His signal trump shall pierce this ear
Beneath the grave's cold clod —
This form, these features reappear
In life before their God.
Friday, May 22. I was sitting at a late hour last
evening on the gun-deck to catch the breeze, which
came freshly through the larboard ports, when a
large, sleek, long-tailed rat, with a slow, aristocratic
step, approached the combings of the hatch, which
he mounted, and then deliberately descended into the
steerage among the junior officers. What his errand
was there, I know not ; but there w^as a dignity and
self-possession in his demeanor which was admirable.
He seemed as one conscious of his rights, and not at
all disposed to waive them. I have always felt some
regard for a rat since my cruise in the Constellation.
We were fitting for sea at Norfolk, and taking in
water and provisions ; a plank was resting on the sill
of one of the ports which communicated with the
wharf. On a bright moonlight evening, we discovered
two rats on the plank coming into the ship. The
foremost was leading the other by a straw, one end
of which each held in his mouth. We managed to
capture them both, and found, to our surprise, the
one led by the other was stone-blind. His faithful
friend was trying to get him on board, where he
would have comfortable quarters during a three
years' cruise. We felt no disposition to kill either,
312 DECK AND PORT
and landed them on the wharf. How many there
are in this world to whom the fidelity of that rat
readeth a lesson !
Saturday, May 23. We have now been out four-
teen days from Callao, and have sailed two thousand
eight hundred miles, making an average of two hun-
dred miles a day. Not a squall, nor a threatening
cloud, have we encountered; nor have we once
furled our royals, or taken in our studding-sails. The
wind has been, with scarce a point's variation, dead
aft ; and has maintained an equanimity which the
most serene philosophical temper can scarcely hope
to rival. Contentment, cheerfulness, and alacrity
have been everywhere visible among the crew. Not
an offence has been committed which has received or
merited punishment. Such is our condition in the
midst of the Pacific — under the influence of its balmy
airs — and under a discipline in which justice and hu-
manity are admirably blended. We have yet to sail
some twenty-eight hundred miles before we make
our port. The distance between Callao and the
Sandwich Islands is about twice as great as that be-
tween New York and Liverpool. Yet we all remem-
ber the time when a man bound to Liverpool, or
London, took leave of his friends with a sadness and
solemnity, which augured a dismal doubt of his re-
turn.
PASSAGE FROM CALL.AO TO HONOLULU. 313
Sunday, May 24. Though we are near the Equa-
tor, where the weather is apt to be variable, yet we
have had a dehghtful day, a brilliant sky, a smooth
sea, and a mild aft wind. We had divine service at
six bells. The subject of the discourse was, the ex-
ample of the primitive Christians, — their faith, their
zeal, their constancy, their sufferings, their triumphs.
They are a cloud of witnesses who have gone before
us to heaven, but they have left their footprints on
the shores of time. The example of their faith and
constancy remains for our imitation.
Every man, however humble his sphere, may be,
and ought to be, in his own life a preacher of righte-
ousness. A religious example, wherever found, is
invested with a prodigious moral power. Such an
example is within the reach of every one on the
decks of a man-of-w^ar ; and there is no situation
where its effects would be more certain. We are as
responsible for the good which we can do, as the
evil which we have done. The man who had one
talent was condemned, not because he had only one
talent, but because he hid that talent in the earth.
Monday, May 25. We crossed the Equator last
night in our first watch, at longitude one hundred
and twenty west. We crossed it first on our way
to Rio de Janeiro ; since that we have sailed through
one hundred and twenty degrees of latitude, and al-
27
314 DECK AND POKT.
most as many degrees of temperature. At Rio we
were melted down with the heat ; off Cape Horn
our fingers were stiffened with the cold ; and now
the most grateful gift in the world would be a glass
of ice-water. Such extremes of temperature are the
more felt in the exposures inseparable from a sea-life.
We have on board ship no forests into which we can
rush from the heat ; no glowing grates, around which
we can gather from the cold. We must take the
elements, whatever they may be, in their full force.
They shatter the constitution ; and sink a grave in
the sailor's path, over which he rarely passes to a
green old age.
Tuesday, May 26. Clouds hung in thick masses
on the eastern horizon this morning. They had not
that jagged outline, which in other seas indicates a
severe blow. They loomed up lazily, as if they
knew not themselves for what purpose their dark
forms had been shoved between us and the splendors
of the breaking day. We supposed they were charged
with showers, and Vv^atched their motions with some
interest. But the higher they ascended, the thinner
they became, till at last they gradually melted away,
and left only the soft over-arching sky. But they
may gather themselves another morn, each take a
distinct shape, and utter its satirical soliloquy, like
the cloud of Shelley : —
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 315
I am the daughter of earth and water,
And the nursling of the sky ;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores ;
I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain, when with never a stain.
The pavilion of heaven is bare,
And the winds and the sunbeams, with their convex gleams,
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph.
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.
Wednesday, May 27. We have been becalmed
all day between the northeast and northwest trades.
The ocean has slumbered around us with scarce a
ripple. A large shark was seen hanging around our
ship through the morning. A strong hook, attached
to a rope and baited with a pound or two of pork,
was drifted astern. He nabbed it as a famishing
politician an office. He was a monster in strength
as well as size, and made the sea foam with his strug-
gles to break away. It required four or five sailors
to draw him in : and when on deck he cleared a
pretty broad circle by his ferocious sweep. But he
was soon overmastered, deprived of his head and tail
by the axe, and cut up into pieces accommodated to
the sailors' culinary apparatus. Many, as they ate
him, derived their keenest relish from their inherited
antipathy to his species.
316 DECK AND PORT.
Thursday, May 28. We have had through the
day scarce a breath of wmd ; the thermometer has
ranged at 85 ; the heat below has been quite insup-
portable. The sun set through a thick, stagnant
atmosphere ; our sails hung motionless, save an occa-
sional flap against the mast, given them by the slug-
gish swing of the ship. This continued till six bells
of the first watch, when the rain fell in a perfect
deluge. The water formed an instant lake between
the bulwarks of the spar-deck, fell through the hatches,
and flooded us below. It was some minutes before
the hatches could be hooded ; and when they were,
our last breath of fresh air was shut out. We con-
tinued in this situation through the night. The sun
rose into a dim, murky haze, in which his beams
were quenched long before they reached our position.
Friday, May 29. The most gorgeous sunsets I
hare ever witnessed at sea have been near the equa-
tor. We have just been watching one from the
deck ; all eyes were fastened upon its magnificent
phases. The whole west appeared at first as if it had
lost its steep wall, and seemed to stretch away like a
limitless prairie in conflagration. It changed and
presented itself as a wild, picturesque landscape ;
mountain forests were on fire, throwing their lurid
flames upon the rushing torrents, and into the deep
ravines, and upon the sleeping lakes It changed
PASSAGE FROM CALT.AO TO HONOLULU. 317
again, and poured its splendors upon the bastions,
domes, and turrets of a vast city. Princely palaces,
columned temples, and monumental pyramids, soared
into a crimson atmosphere. A rushing wind swept
the aerial structures, and over their gigantic ruins
rolled an ocean of flame. If this be sunset, what will
that conflagration be which will at last wrap the
world !
Saturday, May 30. We have been in a calm the
greater part of the day. The mirror of the ocean
has been broken only by the plunges of a huge whale.
He rose at times within a few fathoms of our ship,
blowing the brine almost into the faces of our crew.
They would, if permitted, have retaliated with their
harpoons ; though the result w^ould have been only
the loss of their weapons, for the monster would have
carried them off" with as much ease as Samson the
bodkins of Delilah. He tumbled around us for several
hours, as if measuring his size and strength with that
of our frigate. At last, with one great heave, made
as if in pride and scorn, he plunged and disappeared.
Long life to him. I like his independent bearing.
One of our seamen got tipsy to-day, and raised a
disturbance on the berth-deck. How he managed to
get a double dose from the grog-tub is not known.
And yet he alleges his liquor came from that nuisance
which the law has sanctioned. I have taken some
27*
318 DECK AND PORT.
pains, during the long period that I have been in the
navy, to ascertain the causes of the offences which
have called for punishment ; and from these inquiries
I am clearly of the opinion, that these offences, in
nine cases out of ten, are connected with ardent
spirits ; and are committed, in almost every case, by
those who draw the whisky-ration provided by the
government. I am clear in the conviction, that aiiy
statutes intended to restrain or punish intoxication
in a national ship, must be without moral force so
long as our legislation panders to this appetite in the
sailor. The government presents itself before the
seaman with a cup of whisky in one hand and a cat-
o'-nine tails in the other. Here, my good fellow,
drink this ; but if you drink any more, then look out
for these cats. It is amazing that such a flagrant
violation of every principle of justice and humanity
should escape the reprobation and even oblique ani-
madversion of the department, and be left to the re-
monstrances of those who hold no official relation to
the navy.
Sunday, May 31. Ill health has disqualified me
for performing service to-day. Indeed it would have
been difficult had I been well, as the rain has been
falling in frequent and copious showers, attended by
squalls, which have obliged us to take in our lighter
sails about as soon as they were set. I gave tracts
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 310
to the crew who called for tliem, and nearly all ap-
plied. Every chaplain should supply himself with a
good store of these silent preachers. They help him
on in his good work. They will be read by seamen
when more labored efforts would be neglected. Many
a sailor owes his conversion to the modest tract.
They have poured a steady light around his dying
hammock which had else been wrapped in darkness.
The brightest triumphs of religion are found nearest
the grave. Its last great triumph will be over death
itself.
There has been for some weeks past a growing
seriousness among our sailors. The indications are
too obvious to be mistaken. Two or three of them
I have reason to believe have experienced religion.
They meet every night and pray for the conversion
of others. This little cloud may yet extend itself,
and its drops may fall in a copious shower. Let us
have confidence in the power of God's grace.
Monday, June 1. The northern constellations
which have been lost to us for several months, now
that we have recrossed the equator, begin to emerge
into vision. They come back like old, tried friends,
whose fidelity time cannot chill or distance impair.
Man may change, but nature never. The same look
of love which she cast upon our cradles she will cast
upon our graves. The same exulting .streams, whose
320 DECK AND PORT.
melodies charmed our childhood, will at last roll
among the echoing hills our loud requiem ; while
the gentle dews steep with tears the flowers which
spring shall sprinkle around our place of rest. But
yonder streams upon us again the constellations of
our youth.
" The northern team,
And great Orion's more refulgent beam,
To which, around the axle of the sky.
The Bear, revolving, tm-ns his golden eye."
Tuesday, June 2. The northwest trades brought
us on briskly till within a few degrees of that point
where we crossed the equator. We there fell into
calms, light baffling winds, and tremendous falls of
rain. We w^ere several days working our way
through these to the seventh degree, north latitude,
where we took the northeast trades, and we are now
running ten and eleven knots the hour. These
trades blow obliquely to the equator, and prevail
with a surprising regularity and force. A ship
bound to the Sandwich Islands, as we are, should
make the shortest cut across the variables. When
the northwest trades leave her, in consequence of her
proximity to the line, she should take advantage of
every puff of wind to make northing, till she gains
the northeast trades. She may run a little further,
it is true, by this course, but she more than makes it
up by her ultimate speed ; and she escapes, by the
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 321
shortest route, the extremely disagreeable weather
which prevails near the equator.
Wednesday, June 3. A large flying-fish flew this
evening into the cabin, through one of the side ports.
It was rather a diflicult achievement, as we were
running ten knots. The little fellow had been at-
tracted by the light, and flew at it, as the mullet in
our southern streams leap at night into the lighted
canoes of the negroes. Our flying-fish made a bad
exchange, not out of the frying-pan into the fire, it is
true, but out of the water into the frying-pan. But
then he was dazzled, captivated by a floating light,
gave chase, and came to ruin. It is ever thus with
man ; his life is an eager chase after some false light,
some ignis fatuus of his imagination, which leads him
on till at last he drops into his grave and disappears
forever.
Thursday, June 4. We have the chart used by
the frigate United States in her passage from Callao
to Honolulu, on which her route is designated, and
the distance whigh she ran each day dotted down.
Up to the equator, we ran neck and neck with her.
In the variables she got ahead of us ; but we have
now left her some three hundred miles astern. We
have been making an average of two hundred and
forty miles a day, without motion enough to shake
322 DECK AND PORT.
a dew-drop from its level leaf. We have not had,
except for a few days near the equator, occasion to
take in our top-gallant studding-sails. The ther-
mometer has stood pretty steady at about seventy-
five, and the air is pure and bracing. If we reach
our port on Monday next, which we have now a fair
prospect of doing, we shall have made our passage
from Callao in twenty-nine days ; one of the yery
shortest passages on record. Five thousand four
hundred miles in twenty-nine days ! That will do.
Friday, June 5. We have the moon again direct-
ly in the zenith ; she hangs there like a resplendent
orb in the centre of a magnificent dome. The stars
gleam out with timid auxiliary light ; while soft
clouds float with incense from earth's thousand al-
tars. The dome, beneath which the turbaned repre-
sentative of the Prophet kneels, and that which bends
in grandeur over the supplicating form of the papal
hierarch, are poor when compared with this. The
walls of St. Sophia will crumble, and the pillars of
St. Peter's give way, but nature's great dome will still
stand, brilliant and undecaying, a^s when it echoed
the song of the morning stars over the birth of our
planet ; and it will stand the same,
" Till wrapp'd in flames the realms of ether glow,
And heaven's last thunder shakes the world below."
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO Ho T.ULU. 323
Saturday, June 6. We have in the slew -bay a
sailor, James Mills, who must die. He may survive
a few days longer, and must then go. He is in the
prime of life, and a few montlis ago ranked among
the most athletic on our decks. He is now but the
shadow of the past, and hovers dimly on the verge
of life. The night of that narrow house is not all
dark to him ; some rays of light reach it from the
Cross. These are now all that can cheer him ; they
are all that can cheer the descending footsteps of the
proudest monarch. Into death's domain the honors
and friendships of earth cannot enter ; they leave
their possessor in the hour of his utmost need. But
there is One whose love will remain with the meek,
when these depart ; One whose smile will kindle up
a morn even in the night of the grave.
Sunday, June 7. Commodore Stockton, who has
always taken an interest in our religious exercises,
having occasion to speak to the crew to-day, I in-
duced him to extend his remarks to topics more
sacred than those which lay within his original
purpose. He spoke of the Bible as that crowning
revelation which God has made of himself to man,
of its elevating influences on the human soul, of the
priceless counsels which it conveys, and the immor-
tal hopes which it awakens. He contrasted the
gloomy condition of those tribes and nations which
324 DECK AND PORT.
were without it with that of those where its steady
light shone, and found in this contrast a vindication
of its divinity, which none could gainsay or resist.
He commended its habitual study to the officers and
crew as our only infallible rule of duty, as our only
safe-guiding light in the mental and moral twilight
of our being here. He rebuked the idea that religion
was out of its element among sailors, and told them
that of all classes of men they were the one that
most needed its restraining influences and glorious
promises, and denounced as insane a disposition to
trifle with its precepts. He commended the good
conduct of the crew on the Sabbath, and expressed
the earnest hope, that they would continue, in the
event of probable separation from them, the same
respectful and earnest regard for the duties of re-
ligion.
Such remarks as these, coming from the command-
er of a ship or squadron, will do more to sustain a
chaplain in the discharge of his difficult duties than
any privileges which can be conferred upon him
through the provisions of law. They honor the
heart from which they flow, and their influence will
be felt in the moral well-being of hundreds, when that
heart shall have ceased to beat. The tree you have
planted will grow, and its fruit rome to maturity,
though you see it not.
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 325
Monday, June 8. At seven bells of our forenoon
watch the call of the boatswain, " All hands to bury
the dead !" rolled its hoarse, deep tones through the
ship. The remains of the deceased — wrapped in
that hammock from which he had often sprung as
his night-watch came round — was borne by his mess-
mates up the main-hatch, and around the capstan, to
the slow measures of the dead march, played by the
band. In the starboard waist, and on a plank, one
end of which rested on the sill of an open port, the
relic reposed, till in the funeral service the words
were announced, " We commit this body to the deep ;"
— the inner end of the plank was then lifted, and
the hammocked dead, with a hoarse, rumbling sound,
glided down to his deep floating grave. Thus passed
poor Mills from our midst in the morning of his days,
with broken purposes and blighted hopes. Though
the wave rolls over his form, and none can point to
the place of his rest, his humble virtues still survive
in the recollections of those who knew him.
" The departed ! the departed !
They visit los in dreams,
And glide above our memories
Like shadows over streams.
The good, the brave, the beautiful,
How dreamless is their sleep,
Where roUs the dirge-like music
Of the ever-tossing deep I"
28
326 DECK AND PORT.
Tuesday, June 9. Last evening, while it was yet
some three hours to sunset, the cry of " Land ho !"
rang from mast-head. It was the island of Hawaii
boldly breaking the line of the horizon over our lar-
board bow. We were now near our port, but not
sufficiently near to reach our anchorage by day-
light. We were running ten knots, and orders were
given to take in sail, that we might not shoot too far
ahead.
Night, and the hour of slumber came on, and our
dreams were filled with the flowers and fruit of
sunny isles. Day broke over the steeps of Oahu,
and threw its light into the port of Honolulu.
Here at last we let go our anchors, and once more
clewed up our sails. We had made one of the short-
est passages on record from Callao. We had run
for the last seven days an average of two hundred
and thirty-five miles. We had sailed about six thou-
sand miles, and had hardly disturbed a royal or
studding-sail, and the sea had been smooth as the
slumbering surface of an inland lake. Give me the
Pacific and the trade wind^. You have here a quiet
ocean, a steady breeze, and an even temperature.
In the Atlantic you are in squalls or calms ; in the
one you plunge about, and in the other you sleep.
Here we are to part with our passengers, Mr. Ten
Eyk, our commissioner to the Sandwich Islands, with
his lady, children, and Miss J ; and with Judge
PASSAGE FROM CALLAO TO HONOLULU. 327
Turrell, our consul to these islands, with his lady,
children, and Mr. H. They have been with us since
we sailed from Norfolk. Their society has helped to
relieve the monotony of a sea life. They have mani-
fested no impatience at our delays, and have cheer-
fully conformed, in all respects, to the usages of a
man-of-war. The consequence has been, an unin-
terrupted harmony between them and the officers,
and an interchange of all those civihties on which
the happiness of our social condition depends. They
are to be landed under the salute to which their rank
entitles them. They carry with them our esteem
and our best wishes. May a kind Providence be
their guardian and friend.
" Farewell ! a word that may be and hath been,
A sound that makes us linger — yet, farewell T*
328
CHAPTER XI.
SKETCHES OF HONOLULTJ.
BAY OF HONOLULU. KANACKA FUNERAL. — THE MISSIONARIES. HUTS AND
HABITS OF THE NATIVES. TARO-PLANT. ROAST DOG. SCHOOL OF THE
TOUXG CHIEFS. — RIDE IN THE COUNTRY. THE MAUSOLELTVI. COCOANUT-
TREE. CANOES. HEATHEN TEMPLE. KING's CHAPEL. RIDE TO EWA.
FATHER BISHOP. HIS SABLE FLOCK. /
Wednesday, June 10. The bay of Honolulu is
only a bend in the shore. About a mile from the
strand, a coral reef emerges, over which the rollers
pour their perpetual surge. Through this reef, na-
ture has left a narrow passage, which admits smaller
vessels, but a ship of our depth is obliged to anchor
outside, and nearly two miles distant from the shore.
The right extremity of the bay, as you enter it, is
guarded by the steep cone of an exhausted volcano,
which has taken the less terrific name of Diamond
Hill. The left is defended by a -bold bluff, v^^hich
shoulders its way, with savage ferocity, into the roar-
ing sea. The town of Honolulu stretches along the
interval, while close in the background soars the
wild crater of another extinguished volcano, under
the bewildering name of the Punch-Bowl. The
steeps beyond are broken into deep ravines, which
wind off in rich verdure into the heart of the island.
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 329
On its mountain crags the boldest eagle might build ;
in its glens the callow cygnet slumber.
While I was inquiring for a good hotel, the Rev.
Mr. Damon, seamen's chaplain at this port, came on
board, and invited me to take quarters with him, an
invitation which I cheerfully accepted. Months of
boxing about at sea give a charm to the land-berth,
which only they can fully appreciate who slumber
over keels. On landing, my trunk was claimed by
some twenty boys and porters. In the general strife
I gave it to the one who appeared to need a shilling
the most. His fellows took their disappointment in
good humor. A short walk brought me to the domi-
cile of my friend, where an agreeable lady welcomed
me in.
Thursday, June 11. I had only seated myself in
my new abode, when Mr. Damon invited me to ac-
company him to a funeral. The deceased was a
foreigner, of some popularity among the natives, who
attended his remains in large numbers to his grave.
They were all on foot, moving in silent, but tumult-
uous order. There was no solemnity in their mo-
tions, but a subdued air in their faces. Some were
helping along those who were bowed with the infirm-
ities of age, and others were carrying piping infants
in their arms, lashed to their backs.
The burial-ground is a mile, or more, from the
28*
330 DECK AND PORT.
town, on a slight elevation, fenced in and shaded
with native trees. Here the procession halted, and
gathered in dark, silent masses around a new-dug
grave. The coffin was lowered ; a few words of ap-
propriate admonition addressed to those around ; a
prayer offered ; the earth returned to its place ; a
slight mound raised ; flowers and sprigs of evergreen
cast upon it, and the crowd wound their w^ay back
in the same silent disorder in which they came.
Here was no pomp, no trappings of grief, but that
simple homage of the heart, which bespeaks a senti-
ment of bereavement and respect. Let others have,
if they will, a funeral pageant, but give me rather
that flower which grief gathers and affection plants,
or that tear which trembles in the eye of the untu-
tored child of nature.
Before the missionaries introduced a change of
customs, the natives were in the habit of expressing
their grief, at the death of a favorite chief, by knock-
ing out two or more of their front teeth. The
strength of their attachment was evinced by the ex-
tent of this dental devastation, which sometimes in-
volved the destruction of every tooth. This is the
reason that so few of the older inhabitants have their
teeth entire. The missionaries substituted for this
act of self-inflicted violence, the innocent tokens of
bereavement, and that tribute of respect which is
conveyed in casting on the grave a sprig of ever-
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 331
green, as a type of the soul's immortality. Humanity
and religion always go hand in hand.
Friday, June 12. The morning has been passed
in receiving calls from the missionaries. They are
plain in their apparel, easy in their manners, and in-
telligent in their conversation. They have none of
that rigid solemnity, which a sectarian puts on, who
would throw his religion into his looks ; and yet they
are free of that lightness and triviality which are in-
compatible with a high and earnest purpose. They
have cheerfulness without levity, and sobriety with-
out sternness. They are far from being men of one
idea ; their mental horizon is broad. They have im-
pressed their genius upon all the social habits and
civil institutions of the islanders among whom they
dwell. Indeed, all that exists here, upon which the
eye of the Christian philanthropist can dwell with
complacency, has risen from a weltering tide of bar-
barism, through their agency, as the islands them-
selves have emerged from the ocean through the
action of the volcano.
Saturday, Jjne 13. The nuts of the natives dot
with a cheerful aspect the broad plain on which Hon-
olulu stands, and stretch away into the green gorges
of the mountains. They resemble in the distance
ricks of hay, and you half persuade yourself that
332 DECK AND PORT.
you have arrived in a community of thrifty farmers.
This impression ahnost flashes into conviction, when
you see herds of cattle reposing in the valleys, and
goats bounding among the cliffs. But the rush of
children from the interior of these hay-stacks, and
their prattle and laughter among the vines which
trail their porches, soon dispel the illusion. You
find them human habitations, and possessing, in many
instances, an air of surprising neatness and comfort.
True, you find in them no chairs, tables, or ordina-
ry cooking utensils ; nor do the habits of the inmates
render these articles necessary. But you find thick
mats, on which they sleep and sit, as Adam and Eve
did on the leaves which the autumnal wind shook
from their bowers. They need no fireplaces, no
glowing grate, or crackling hearth, — a broad, bright
sun, wheeling up in splendor out of a quiet ocean,
reigns monarch of the seasons, and tempers the air
aright. Their apparel extends but little beyond the
simplest requirements of the nursery. It is a gar-
ment seemingly thrown on for the sake of modesty,
as drapery is sometimes attached to a statue. But
the proportions still swell in their roundness and
strength on the eye. It was with no little difficulty
the missionaries could persuade them to assume even
this scanty garment. It seemed to them a super-
fluity, suggested neither by the characteristics of the
climate, nor sentiments of delicacy. They would
SKETCHEfcJ OF HONOLULU. 333
have gone without it as readily to a church as to a
carousal. Such is habit impressed on a people by
the force of barbaric ages.
Near each cot you encounter an oven, not obtru-
ded on your eye as if to mock your hunger, but
modestly sunk in the earth. The cavity is lined
with stones, in which a fire is kindled ; when suffi-
ciently heated, the embers are removed, a few taro-
leaves thrown in, and on this the taro itself and
meat. The whole is then covered over with taro-
leaves and earth. The meat thus preserves its
juices, and has an advantage in this respect over all
modern inventions. This primitive process of cook-
ing is called the lua.
The most esteemed roaster, that undergoes the lua,
is one of the canine species. It is a dog resembling
the larger-sized poodle, with smooth hair and soft
flesh. It is nursed at the breast of the women, and
never allowed to eat animal food. It is baked entire,
like the pig, and is said to taste very much like that
little grunter. This is considered the most choice
dish which an epicurean chief can present to his dis-
tinguished guests. I was earnestly invited to partake
of one, but the little fellow's once cheerful bark, his
wagging tail in token of recognition, his love of chil-
dren, his participation in their sports, his gratitude
and unsuspecting confidence, were all too warm in
my imagination to permit the deed. I would never
334 DECK AND PORT.
take life for the sake of animal food, and least of all
the life of one that is
" The first to -welcome, foremost to defend."
In another hut which we entered, we found the
mother and her children seated around a large cala-
bash, which contained poi. This is the dish on
which the natives mostly subsist. It is made of the
root of the taro plant, which resembles in shape the
large beet. A plat of low ground is thrown up into
little hills like a potatoe-patch, and water let in suffi-
cient to fill the furrows. In these hills the taro
grows, shaded only by its own luxuriant leaves. At
maturity, which it reaches in a few months, the men
and women dash into it, and, w^th the water ankle-
deep, commence pulling. The bottoms, which are
intended for consumption, are conveyed to the earth-
oven ; being baked, they are then pounded, and wa-
ter added till the mass assumes the consistency of
paste. In this state it undergoes a partial fermenta-
tion, and is then in prime order for eating. It is
conveyed to the mouth by the two forefingers, which
are dipped into it, and to which it adheres in a pen-
dulous globule, which a slight shake detaches.
This was the dish to which the mother invited us,
and which it seemed almost discourteous to decline.
Her little daughter exclaiming, " Mili, mili — good,"
coaxed me to let her drop a globule of it from her
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU- 335
small fingers into my mouth. Down it dropped, and
down it went, leaving only a sour taste. I tried to
keep up a look of relish, but the effort must have be-
trayed itself This was the last time I attempted
poi. On this the natives live, and their physical de-
velopments sufficiently attest its nutritious proper-
ties. Some of them, who are exempted by their
means from labor, attain a giant stature. They be-
come extremely fat, and roll along as if bone and
muscle were hardly equal to the task of locomotion.
What think ye of that, ye carnivorous tribe, who
judge of a man's bulk by the amount of roast beef
which he consumes ! The Haw^aiian outdoes ye on
paste !
Sunday, June 14. I have exchanged to-day with
Mr. Damon ; he taking the capstan of the Congress,
and I the pulpit of the mariners' chapel. The au-
dience both morning and evening has been large,
leaving hardly a vacant seat. It is composed of for-
eign residents and sailors in port. The music, led
by a seraphine, would have been creditable in any
place. I could hardly persuade myself that I was in
an island of the Pacific, where but a few years since
the homage of man rose only in howls to ^ pagan
idol.
The attendance at this chapel is the best evidence
of the success with which Mr. Damon performs the
336 DECK AND PORT.
duties assigned him by the American Seamen's
Friend Society. But his sphere of activity is not
confined to these walls ; it extends to the moral
wants of the different ships entering the harbor, and
embraces also the management of a periodical devo-
ted to seamen. This publication was eagerly sought
by our crew. To sustain it a subscription was pro-
posed, which was headed by a liberal donation from
Commodore Stockton, Captain Du Pont, and the
officers.
Monday, June 15. There are two large churches
for the natives in Honolulu. The services in these
are conducted in the native language by the Rev.
Mr. Armstrong and the Rev. Mr. Smith, both intel-
ligent and devoted missionaries. These men and all
their brethren occupy a difficult position in these
islands. It is made so, less by the fickleness of the
natives than the interference of foreigner^ The
very men who, coming as they do from civilized and
Christian lands, should be the first to countenance
and sustain them, are those from whom they expe-
rience the most opposition. It seems impossible to
avoid their cavils. If the missionaries devote them-
selves exclusively to their spiritual duties, the com-
plaint is, that the temporal interests of the commu-
nity are neglected. If they interest themselves in
the encouragement of agriculture and the mechanic
SKETCHES ur llUNOEULU 337
arts, the cry is, that they are interfering in secular
matters which do not belong: to them. Between
these two rocks no ship can pass without having her
copper raked off on one side or the other.
The truth is, the missionaries are pursuing the
only plan which can produce decisive and satisfac-
tory results. They are inculcating the precepts and
obligations of the Bible on all classes, and educating
the young. Their schools embrace hundreds of na-
tive children, who will themselves become teachers.
In one of these schools, which is under the superin-
tendence of Mr. and Mrs. Cook, I found the children
of the high chiefs, and among them the heir-appa-
rent. They spoke the English language with entire
freedom, and wrote it with surprising accuracy.
Their acquirements, in all the branches of a useful
education, would have done credit to youth of the
same age in any country. In mental arithmetic, I
have never seen them surpassed. They multiplied
five decimals by five, named at random, and gave
the result, with perfect accuracy, in less time than
any one could possibly have reached it on a slate.
We now adjourned with the scholars to the parlor,
where Mrs. Cook placed one of the misses at the
piano, while another took the guitar, and they all
struck into a melody that might have gratified a
more fastidious taste than ours.
Now these are the children of the chiefs — their
29
338 DECK AND PORT.
sons, and their daughters ; those whose intelHgence
and influence are to shape the destinies of these isl-
ands. If this is not beginning at the right end of
the business, I should like to have some one tell us
where the right end is.
Tuesday, June 16. My kanacka brought me his
horse this afternoon punctual at the hour. This
horse, a noble animal, is all his capital. I give him
a dollar a day for the use ; can have him at any and
all hours, though I seldom ride but once. This is
enough, unless the showers hold up more than they
have ; for they now fall as easily as a hasty word
from a heated heart ; or a blow from the ferule of a
vexed pedagogue ; or a yellow leaf from the twig of
a blighted tree ; or a false smile from the eyes of a
cunning coquette ; or a hollow nut from the teeth of
a squirrel ; or a silver eel from the hand of a fisher-
man ; or any thing else, which escapes very easily
from its confinement.
My fair companion being firmly in her saddle, we
started, at an easy canter, over the plain, which
stretches away from the eastern section of the town.
We passed on the right the royal mausoleum, lifting
its sombre roof over the coffins of barbaric kings.
Before Christianity, with her silent rites, reached
these islands, the death of a monarch or sachem was
followed by a wail that poured itself over hill and
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 339
vale, in a roaring tide. Then followed a scene of
promiscuous licentiousness, from which the orbs of
heaven might have withdrawn their light. Over these
obscene orgies Christianity has spread her influences,
and the dead now go quietly to their rest, and the
living lay it to heart.
Further on, we passed through a cocoanut-grove.
This singular tree shoots up some fifty feet, without
seeming to know for what purpose ; it then suddenly
branches out, and is so eager in this spreading busi-
ness that it seems to lose its soaring ambition ; and
there it stands, like a naked shaft, with its umbrella-
shaped top. Its broad leaves hang down as if to con-
ceal its blushes. It is naked as sin driven from its
last subterfuge. It fain would reconcile you to its
deformity by its milk ; but this is as insipid as its
own look is foolish. This tree, with a half-naked
kanacka climbing its shaft, is the most effective pic-
ture of poverty with which I have ever met. It is,
if possible, worse than a monkey on the sign-post of
a groggery, beckoning to his fellow-topers to con:ie
in. But the decoy, in this case, wiser than the dupe,
never drinks.
We passed near the shore a large number of ca-
noes, in which the natives were engaged in fishing.
They keep them pointed towards the sea, and one
person vigorously at work with the paddles, so that
the rollers, which set in here with great force, may
340 DECK AND PORT
not heave them high and dry on the beach. They
show great skill in the management of these treach-
erous canoes. A novice would upset one before he
was well in. They are often themselves capsized,
but it costs them only a ducking ; the canoe is in-
stantly righted, and they are back again in its hol-
low. As for the water, it is almost as much their
element as that of the fish for which they angle.
They can dive from ten to fifteen fathoms, and bring
up shells ; or swim many miles without apparent fa-
tigue. There is a native woman, now living in
Honolulu, who, being wrecked at sea, swam twenty
miles to the shore of a neighboring island. Her hus-
band, of feebler constitution, gave out ; she buoyed
him up, swimming with him till they had come in
sight of the shore, when he sank overpowered. Still
she clung to him, and brought the lifeless form to the
beach. Give me a kanacka wife in a gale.
Winding around a bay which circles up, with a
rippling verge, into the mainland, we arrived at the
blackened ruins of a celebrated heathen temple. The
rude foundations only remain ; the superstructure
has been swept away with the savage rites which it
enshrined. The smoke of human victims here ap-
peased the violated tabu, and the putrid exhalations
of decaying beasts cancelled the turpitude of human
guilt. But Revelation has poured its clear light into
its dark recesses. The sorcerer has fled, the victim
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 341
been unbound, and the guilty have gone to that
mercy-seat where penitence never pleads in vain.
High over these fearful ruins soars the steep crater
of an extinguished volcano, to which a capricious fan-
cy has given the appellation of Diamond Hill. It still
stands in all the stern ruggedness which its adaman-
tine features assumed, when, ages since, its burning
torrents of lava stiffened into rock. It is now the bea-
con of the mariner ; the first that greets his glance,
and the last that fades upon his eye. Against its
base the broad Pacific heaves its swelling strength ;
but it will stand unshaken till the pillars of nature's
vast fabric fall.
We passed, on our return, the king's chapel, a
spacious edifice, of one hundred and fifty-four feet
by seventy-eight. It is reared of coral rock, hewn
into uniform blocks, and impresses you with its ar-
chitectural sobriety and strength. The interior of
its high walls is relieved by a substantial gallery,
while the ample area of its floor presents to the eye,
in the form of seats, the varied means and ingenuity
of their occupants. The pulpit is the same which
once gravely dignified the central church in New
Haven, Conn., but which a more fastidious taste re-
cently set aside. It answers its sacred design very
well here. Sinners are converted under its drop-
pings just as readily as if the marbles of Carrara
gleamed from its panels. The truth of God falls
29*
342 DECK AND PORT.
with the same power in the sumptuous shrine of the
prince and the wigwam of the savage. The towers
of the triple crown, and the tent of the Arab, tremble
ahke beneath its force.
The sun had set before we reached our home.
The bustle through many of the streets had subsided ;
but the loud words and laughter of the crowd that
had gathered to witness the approach of a strange
sail, came floating on the wind. The hour of ten is
announced by a gun from the fort, — a signal for the
keepers of pulperias and places of amusement to
close their doors. The king himself, if abroad, though
engaged in a game of chess, would forego the triumph
of a checkmate, and return to his palace. He aims,
in this particular at least, to maintain a wholesome
regulation through the influence of his own example.
Prouder potentates may laugh at this punctilio of his
Hawaiian majesty, but were they to imitate it, their
thrones would be quite as safe and their subjects
quite as virtuous. A good example is like a guinea,
which shines just as bright, however deep and dark
the mine from which it came. Our wisest lessons
often come from our inferiors, as the choicest fruit is
frequently found on the humblest shrub. The con-
dor may dwell in the lofty steeps of the mountain,
but it is to the modest thrush or meadow-lark that
we turn for a gush of music.
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 343
Wednesday, June 17. Mr. Damon and myself
took horses this morning for Ewa, lying in a valley,
which opens on the sea, and distant some twelve
miles. Our horses were in fine spirits, and started
off at a hand-gallop, across the broad lagoon, which
skirts the western extremity of the town. Over this
fertile interval swell many round knolls, crowned with
kanacka huts, and surrounded with thrifty taro patches.
Ascending the spur of a mountain range, a deep, green
valley opened on the right, through which a winding
rivulet babbled, and where herds were seen cropping
the grass, or ruminating in the shade. From its
bosom rose the walls of a spacious enclosure, into
which the cattle, horses, and sheep are driven at
night, — to protect them, as one would suppose, from
ravenous beasts ; but there are none in the island :
the object is to keep them from straying off among
the mountains, and becoming too wild for domestic
purposes ; for every thing here runs instinctively to
wildness.
Further on, wc passed upon the left a lofty rock,
over the steep stern face of which a convolvulus had
spread its verdure, throwing out its green leaves and
delicate blossoms, like smiles on the face of a hypo-
chondriac. Here we met a native driving two large
pigs to market, and carrying a third lashed to his
back. I expected to hear a squeal at least from his
living knapsack ; but the mouth had been tied up,
344 DECK AND PORT.
leaving only room through the nostril for air. When
the pig is to be killed, no knife is drawn, no blood
taken ; but this cord around the nose is tightened till
respiration ceases, and death ensues. Rather a hard
end awaits the poor pig, whether it come by knife or
cord ; and yet no other animal, in his last struggles,
has so little sympathy. That he is uncomely, is most
true, but he did not select his own shape ; and true
it is, that his habits are not quite neat, but he has
been turned out of doors, and left to shirk and shack
for himself. It was not his fault that the devil once
got into him, and run him down a steep ledge into
the sea. The devil leads his betters to a much worse
place. I see not therefore why all feeling should be
denied the pig in death. But let that pass.
Proceeding on, we soon reached the precipice
which overhangs the deep ravine, through which the
Pearl river holds its exulting course. Here we might
have stopped ; but our horses, which well understand
these difficult paths, and are as sure of foot as the
chamois, wound down the steep, and hurried, with
clattering hoof, over the bridge which span's the rush-
ing stream ; and then swept up the opposite eleva-
tion at the top of their speed. Ewa now broke on
the eye, swelling from a wide verdant plain, embow-
ered in shade, and looking out on the sea. A wind-
ing path, which obeyed the curve of the shore, took
us into the heart of the little village, where we alight-
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 345
ed at the door of our venerable host, the Rev. Mr.
Bishop.
This devoted missionary was at the time with his
sable flock in the church, where he meets them once
a week, independent of the Sabbath. They look up
to him with feelings which only goodness can merit
and reverence inspire ; and well may they pay him
these tokens of love and respect. He has been long
with them, restraining their wild propensities, train-
ing them, ^o habits of industry, and leading them to
the path of immortal life. This is with him a labor
of love. The stipend allowed him by our Board of
Foreign Missions is all spent in maintaining schools
and destitute places of worship. He lives on the
proceeds of a dairy, which his good wife manages.
If this be not Christian benevolence, will some oppo-
nent of the missionary enterprise tell me what is.
The house of Father Bishop, as he is familiarly
called, is a plain, one-story building, with a rude porch
runnino- around it, covered with the vines of the
creeping-grape. It stands in the midst of fruit and
shade trees, which throw their shadows to the verge
of a garden, where the varied plants of a tropical
clime are in luxuriant bloom. Yet every thing
seemed as free of display and mechanical arrange-
ment as if its growth had been spontaneous. The
family consisted of Mrs. B., two sprightly native
children, whose mother had recently died, and a ka-
346 DECK AND PORT.
nacka domestic. At two o'clock we sat down to
dinner, which consisted of mullet, presented om' host
by a native chief, and a turkey of his own raising.
Then came figs and milk, with the fruits of his gar-
den. All presenting a pleasing specimen of pastoral
life.
After a siesta, to which the climate here inclines
one, w^e rambled over the parsonage, among the neat
huts of the natives, and, at about two hours to sunset,
took our departure. We soon fell in with a herd of
cattle, which two or three noisy kanackas on horse-
back were driving to their enclosure for the night.
When a beast attempted to break away, one of these
started in pursuit ; and instead of heading off the an-
imal, brought him up with the lasso, which he threw,
with surprising dexterity, over his horns. In one of
the narrow runnels which crosses the last lagoon, we
found a horse, which had missed his step on the two
logs which compose the bridge. The channel was
only broad enough to let in the length of the horse,
and on each bank stood a kanacka, the one hold of
the bridle, the other hold of the tail, trying to lift the
animal out. We told one of them to jump in and
turn the head of the horse up stream, and the other
to drop the tail and take his whip. These orders
obeyed, the animal gave a spring, and was soon out
of his difficulties.
We reached home before dark : we had rode
I
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 347
twenty-four miles on a road running over steep
ledges, across deep ravines, and around toppling
crags : I was bruised and fatigued, and determined
to try, before retiring to rest, the bath and the " lomi-
lomi." The latter is a kind of shampooing much re-
sorted to here to relieve fatigue. A kanacka who
understood it was at hand, and, on my coming out
of the bath, commenced his kneading process. He
used me much as a baker would a lump of dough.
He worked me into this shape, then into that, then
into no shape at all. My limbs became flat, or
round, or neither, at his will. My muscles were all
relaxed, and my joints seemed to have lost a sense of
location. He put me back into the shape in which
I came from nature's mould, and I sunk to sleep soft-
ly as an infant in its cradle. Ye who take to ano-
dynes and inebriating potations to relieve a sense of
pain, restlessness, or fatigue, try the lomi-lomi. /^/
/
348
CHAPTER XII.
SKETCHES OE HONOLULU.
THE KING AND COURT. AMERICAN COMMISSIONER. — ROYAL RESIDENCE.
THE SALT LAKE. SURF SPORTS OF THE NATIVES. GALA DAT. THE WO-
MEN ON HORSEBACK. SAILOR's EQUESTRIANISM. THE OLD MAN AND THE
CHILDREN AT PLAY. ADDRESS OF COM. STOCKTON. CAPT. LA PLACE.
HIS JESUITS AND BRANDY. LORD GEORGE PAULET.
Thursday, June 18. To-day, at twelve, the offi-
cers of the Congress, and Captain Harrison, of the
schooner Shark, assembled at Commodore Stockton's
rooms, and proceeded in a body to the royal palace.
The object was the installation of Mr. Ten Eyk in
his new functions as United States Commissioner at
this court. We were received, on our arrival, by a
small guard posted at the palace, and conducted into a
spacious central hall. From this we were ushered into
a large saloon, rather .plainly furnished, but light and
airy. In front of us stood the king, with the heir-
apparent and high chiefs on the right, and his cabinet
on the left.
Ex-commissioner Brown advised his majesty of his
recall, and introduced his successor, Mr. Ten Eyk,
who presented to the king an autograph letter from
the President of the United States, which he accom-
panied with some appropriate remarks. These were
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 349
followed by a brief address from Commodore Stock-
ton, in which he expressed the earnest hope that un-
interrupted amity might prevail between the two
countries. He assured the king of the lively interest
felt in the United States for the successful issue of
all his majesty's plans and purposes for the benefit of
his people, and pledged the cordial support of our
government in any aggressive emergencies, which
might threaten the tranquillity and integrity of his
realm.
To each of these addresses the king made a brief
and pertinent reply. Not having sufficient confi-
dence in his English, he spoke in the native lan-
guage,— his minister of finance, Mr. Judd, acting as
interpreter. There was no parade, or affectation of
court phraseology in what he said. His language
was remarkable for its directness and simplicity.
His reply concluded with these words : " Commo-
dore, I thank you for your visit to our islands ;
your words will long be remembered ; may you be
happy." The king is about thirty-four years of age,
of a stout frame, dark complexion, and with good hu-
morj rather than strength of intellect, betrayed in his
features. He wore a blue military uniform, with
gold epaulettes and sword. The prince and chiefs
were without any badge of distinction, except a star
worn on the breast. Their costume was all in the
European style. The cabinet, consisting of the min-
30
350 DECK AND PORT.
ister of finance, the minister of foreign affairs, the
minister of instruction, and the attorney-general, all
of whom, except the second, are Americans, were in
plain garb. You see more parade at Rome in five
minutes, when the Pope steps from the Vatican into
St. Peter's, or a red-stockinged cardinal enters his
carriage, than you would here in six months.
The king confides the affairs of government very
much to his ministers. Succeeding to power at an
early age, without a political education, or establish-
ed principles of action, his policy would be incon-
sistent and wavering, but for the steady influence of
those around him. He evinces his moderation in
foregoing the dictates of an arbitrary will, and con-
sulting the judgments of those whose intelligence
and experience have given them a broader scope of
vision. The foreigners who have settled in his
island, and who seek to undermine the influence of
his counsellors, are the most subtle and dangerous
enemies with which he has to contend. Their selfish
and mischievous dispositions are masked under pro-
fessions of friendship. They talk of changes for the
the better, but they aim at revolution. They are
willing to run the hazard of the great political earth-
quake, for the chance of being hove into stations
of emolument and power. But if the present social
fabric falls, they will be buried in its ruins : and
there they may lie, sepulchred under the horrors of
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 351
a betrayed people, and the execrations of the civil-
ized world.
Preparations are making for the erection of a
royal residence, which shall be in keeping with the
progress of the arts in these islands. The mansion
at present occupied by the king, is the property of
one of his chiefs. It is built of coral ; a graceful
portico adorns the front, and the whole is surmount-
ed by an elegant belvidere. The grounds are ample,
tastefully laid out, and shaded by beautiful forest
trees. No splendid coach dashes through its ave-
nues ; no train of servile retainers lounge in its
shades ; no throng of parasites disturb its domestic
quietude and social ease.
The amusements of the king are with the bow
and arrow, in his bowling-alley, and at his billiard-
table. In these pastimes he is cheek-by-jowl with
his chiefs, and any well-bred gentleman. He was
inclined in his youth to habits of dissipation ; and
often drained, at the expense of his dignity, the ine-
briating bowl. But he is now at the head of a na-
tional temperance society. He is perhaps the only
monarch, civilized or savage, who has abjured, in
his own example, all intoxicating drinks. Go, ye
potentates of prouder thrones, and take a lesson of
practical wisdom from this sable brother.
Friday, June 19. Our ride to-day has been to the
352 DECK AND PORT.
Salt Lake, which lies some five miles west of the
town, on the margin of the sea. It is cradled in the
crater of an old volcano. You reach it by a steep
ascent of one hundred feet, and rapid descent of as
many more. It is the third of a mile in circuit ; and,
standing by its breathless margin, the rock-bound
rim of the hollow cone soars above you in wild gran-
deur.
The lake is on a level with the sea, and is un-
doubtedly fed from it through unseen fissures. The
salt is crystalized out of the water, through a rapid
evaporation, occasioned by the intense heat to which
it is subjected. It steams up as if the central fires,
which once found an escape here, were again seek-
ing for a vent. vShould they burst forth, this lake
will be thrown sky-high; and not only the geologist
be bereaved of a rare curiosity, and the king deprived
of an important source of revenue, but the kanacka
will be obliged to eat his poi and fish without salt.
Nothing here has amused me more than the surf-
sports of the young chiefs. Each takes a smooth
board, of some eight feet in length, leads it over the
coral shallows far out into the sea, and when a tre-
mendous roller is coming in, jumps upon it, and the
roller carries him upon its combing top, with the
speed of an arrow, to the shore. A young Ameri-
can, who was among them, not liking to be outdone
in a sport which seemed so simple, thought he would
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 353
try the board and billow. He vePxtured out a short
distance, watched his opportunity, and, as the roller
came, jumped upon his plank, was capsized, and hove,
half strangled, on the beach.
" There, breathless, "with his digging nails he clung
Fast to the sand, lest the returning wave,
From whose reluctant roar his life he wrung,
Should suck liim back to her insatiate grave."
The young females are as fond of the water as the
men. We passed in a boat yesterday a group of
them sitting on the coral reef a mile out at sea.
They were enjoying the surf, which broke over them
with each successive billow. Now and then a
stronger wave would sweep some of them from their
perch, and bear them to a great distance in its whirl-
ing foam. But they would soon swim back again
amidst the laughter of their companions. They were
without covering, and plunged under the water till
our boat had got past, and then recovered their posi-
tion on the reef; and there they sat like mermaids,
Serene amid the breakers' roar,
Their dark locks floating on the surge.
Attuning shells, through which they pour
The solemn ocean's mimic dirge.
Saturday, June 20. Saturday here is a gala-day,
especially the afternoon, when the natives give them-
selves up to amusement. Every horse is in requisi-
30^
354 DECK AND PORT.
tion ; and though often without saddle or bridle, has
a rider on him, who is dashing about like an adjutant
at a regimental training. The great plain at the east-
ern end of the town is alive with groups that have
collected to witness or participate in the fun. The
variety of colors, which blended their hues in Jo-
seph's coat, hold no comparison with the motley dyes
which flare up here in the costume of the crowd.
They resemble the tints of the forest, when the au-
tumn's breath has touched its leaves with frost ; *the
foam of ocean breaking over their coral reef is not
more tumultuous than the roar and rush of these liv-
ing tides.
Here streams away a valetudinarian, whose puny
frame has been borne to this shore like a bubble
from some foreign clime. His light horse, fleet of
foot, heeds his weight as little as if he were an elf
that had left the forest to frolic on the green. His
thin legs lie in the shadow of his stirrup-straps, while
his sharp face peers up between the high pommel and
stern of his saddle like a famished owl, watching be-
tween two old turrets a luilar eclipse.
Near him dashes on the wife of a chief, whose vast
bulk shakes over the plunge of her strong horse as
if the fat would fall from her sides in Hving flakes.
The broad leaves of the koa tremble in the chaplet
that encircles her head ; her great shawl floats on
the wind like a topsail, while the vast sweep of her
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. .SoS
garments rolls down over her courser's sides like the
folds of an Arab's tent. By the side of her puny at-
tendant she shows like the full-orbed moon with a
little star twinkling near her rim ; or like a giant oak
with an alder in its shade ; or like a ship-of-the-line
with a cockle-boat under her lee.
Here sweeps past a compact figure on a horse half
wild from the woods. His white trowsers, his blue
roundabout, and tarpaulin with its yard of black rib-
bon streaming over the right ear, show him to be a
tar fresh from the deck. His hammock-blanket, with
its nettings for a girth, serve him for a saddle ; while
his bridle is a rope bent on a small anchor, which is
wreathed with leaves and flowers, and w^hich he can
let go, when he would bring up his unkeeled craft.
A shout follows wherever his unipanageable horse
dashes, — unless it be among the crowd, and then
there is such a scattering as there would be among
sheep at the pounce of a wolf, or among pigeons at
the swoop of the hawk.
Foremost in a gazing group bends an aged chief,
who has come out to see one gala day more before
he descends to the land of shadows. He erects his
tall stature, but not in pride, and half forgets the tufted
wand that has long sustained his tottering years.
He thinks not of the feathered mantle which falls
from his shoulders, or the badges of rank which glit-
ter on his breast. His eyes are on a group of chil-
356
DECK AND PORT.
dren wildly at play. Fourscore summers have shed
their vernal honors since he was young as they, and
yet their glee this day makes his pulses fly as if he
were again a child. He watches their light foot-
steps, their laughing eyes, and timid hands as they
garland with flowers the arching horns of the old pa-
triarch of his flock.
" A band of children, round a snow-white ram,
There wreathe his venerable horns with flowers ;
While peaceful as if still an unweaned lamb,
The patriarch of the flock all gentlj cowers
His sober head majestically tame,
Or eats from out the palm, or playful lowers
His brow as if in act to butt, and then,
Yielding to their small hands, draws back again."
SKETCHED OF HONOLULU. 357
Sunday, June 21. I exchanged with Mr. Damon
this morning ; he officiating on board the Congress,
while I took his place in the Seamen's chapel. The
frigate had the advantage in the arrangement, but I
intend to look out for my floating parish. In the
afternoon I was, by appointment, in the pulpit of the
ting's chapel. The spacious edifice was crowded.
His majesty, the court, and chiefs were present, and
an auditory of some three thousand. They had as-
sembled under the vague expectation that Commo-
dore Stockton might address them, for a report to
that effect, without the commodore's knowledge, had
been circulated through the town. I felt, in common
with the missionaries, a desire that they should not
be disappointed. But as the commodore was wholly
unprepared, and averse to any arrangements that
might seemingly trench upon proprieties, it was no
easy matter to have their wishes realized.
Backed by the Rev. Mr. Armstrong, I made a bold
push, and, having addressed the audience for half an
hour, through him as interpreter, on the religious en-
terprises in our own country, which were throwing
their light and influence into other lands, stated that
I was aware of their desire that Commodore Stock-
ton should address them, and that I would take the
liberty of expressing the hope that he would gratify
their wishes. He was sitting at the time by the side
of the king ; and while the choir were singing a
358 DECK AND PORT
hymn, Mr. Armstrong descended from, the pulpit and
urged with him the puhhc expectation. He finally-
assented, and taking the platform under the pulpit,
commenced a train of pertinent and eloquent re-
marks.
He spoke of the previous condition of those around
him, — of the dark and cruel rites in which their an-
cestors were involved, — of the humanizing and ele-
vating influences of that Christianity which had
reached them, — of the philanthropy, faith, and devo-
tedness of their missionaries, — of the destruction of
nations where the true God was disowned, and of the
stability of governments and institutions founded on
the precepts and moral obligations of the Bible. He
adjured them, by all the hopes and fears which be-
tide humanity, to persevere in their great and good
work of social, civil, and moral improvement. He
urged upon them systematic industry, wholesome
rules and regulations in their domestic economy, a
respect for law and order, the advantages of educa-
tion, the importance of the Sabbath-school system,
the necessity of temperance ; and assured them, that
in all their good endeavors they would have the
sympathy and support of the Christian world.
Such was the tenor of his remarks, which were de-
livered with as much freedom and force as if they
had been well-considered and arranged. Their effect
was obvious in the eager attention which pervaded
I
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 359
the great assemblage. At the conclusion, the king
and the chiefs came up, and, with undisguised emo-
tion, thanked the commodore for his address. The
commodore may win laurels on the deck, but none
that can bloom more lastingly than these. If there
be consolations in death, they flow from efforts made
and triumphs won in the cause of humanity and God.
Monday, June 22. The forcible introduction of
the Roman Catholic faith into these islands was art-
fully disguised under the plea of religious toleration.
The manifesto of La Place, acting under the author-
ity of the French cabinet, sets forth, that, " Among
civilized nations there is not one which does not per-
mit in its territory the free toleration of all religions:"
therefore he demands, under the batteries of his fri-
gate, that the Roman Catholic faith shall have ample
scope and verge here.
The basis of this demand is an assumption, con-
tradicted by the most glaring facts. In countries no
further removed than Chili and Peru, the organic
laws of the land declare that " no religion except the
Roman Catholic shall be tolerated ;" and these laws
are enforced. So much for universal toleration, in
those countries where that religion is predominant,
which La Place comes here, under the sanction of
his government, to shoot down into the consciences
of this people. A very expeditious mode this of ma-
360 DECK AND PORT.
king converts, and quite consonant with the theolo-
gical tactics of a military propagandist. If you
cannot reason your religion into a man, why, shoot
it into him. You may, it is true, in doing this shoot
his life out; but what of that, if you shoot your creed
in. A dead man with your creed in him, is perhaps
better than a living one without it.
This demand of La Place was accompanied by an-
other, which would disparage the most petty prince
in Christendom. It required the Hawaiian king to
place on board the French frigate twenty thousand
dollars, as a guarantee that Roman Catholic priests
shall in future be undisturbed in propagating their
faith. These priests, it was well known, were Jes-
uits, belonging to an order which France herself
was at the time endeavoring to suppress. Perhaps
she intended the Sandwich Islands as a sort of Bot-
any Bay for these men, whom state policy had pro-
scribed from her own soil. They had given the
French monarch trouble enough, and it was time his
Hawaiian majesty should take his turn.
Another demand, forced under the disguise of a
treaty, was that French brandies should be admitted
into all the Hawaiian ports, with only a duty of five
cents on the gallon. It seemed to be thought that
this liquor, among all its other wonderful achieve-
ments, would promote Christian charity, and open
the way for the Jesuits among the natives. Brandy
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. ^iGl
is good in cases of colic, but I never before heard of
it as a specific against the evils of religious intoler-
ance. But the French are a very sagacious people ;
and if they have found in it an antidote to bigotry,
they ought not to be deprived of the honor and ad
vantage of the discovery.
All these demands of the French government were
compulsorily complied with under the batteries of an
armed ship. The king had no alternative ; he must
either submit, or suffer Honolulu to be levelled with
the ground, and its helpless inhabitants driven into
the mountains. On the one hand lay rapine and
massacre ; on the other, Jesuits and brandy. Of the
two evils, the king submitted to the latter. Mahom-
et propagated his religion with the sword ; but he
did not force on those whom he subjugated the ele-
ments of intoxication. It was reserved for the
French, it seems, to discover this new ally, and give
to shame its last blush.
The American missionaries were arraigned, and
denounced by the French, on the charge of having
stimulated the king and regent of the Hawaiian isl-
ands to measures of hostility against the introduction
of the Roman Catholic faith. This accusation is
met and annihilated by the well-known fact, that
they who came here to preach that faith were sup-
plied by these very missionaries with the books
thiough which they obtained a knowledge of the na-
31
362 DECK AND PORT.
tive language. Fanatics, filled with intolerance,
never supply their opponents with the means of pro-
pagating their faith. They may surround them with*
fagots, but never with books.
The truth is, the king and regent apprehended that
the introduction of a new religion might produce dis-
sensions among their people. They could not com-
prehend why a Protestant should not be permitted to
marry a Roman Catholic, and very naturally dreaded
the introduction of a system which set up such ex-
clusive pretensions. Their untutored sagacity dis-
covered the discord which this marriage prohibition
must of itself create. Before Roman propagandists
raise the cry of proscription, let them accommodate
their antiquated faith to the more liberal and enlight-
ened spirit of the age. Let them lift the ban from
the sacred rights of marriage, and admit the possi-
bility of a Protestant's getting into heaven, or at
least of throwing his shadow in ; that will save the
Swedenborgians !
But the king and regent were also apprehensive
that the images used in the forms of the Romish wor-
ship might lead their people back again into idolatry.
They could not see clearly any difference between
praying to an image, or praying to a spirit through
that image. They could not detach the substance
from its seeming shadow, and worship the latter
without an obtrusion of the former. My venerable
SKETCHES or HONOLULU. 363
friend, the bishop of New York, with his metaphysi-
cal acuteness, can undoubtedly accomplish this ; but
a poor kanacka here would be very apt to commit a
blunder ; and this, too.
In that dread creed, in which a truth and blunder
Are deemed as wide as heaven and hell asunder.
The crowning act of shame perpetrated here by
La Place, was in his communication to the American
consul, in which he informs that functionary, that in
the havoc which will follow a non-compliance \yith
his demands by the government, the missionaries,
with their families, will not escape. They are sin-
gled out as objects of special vengeance. Their
houses are delivered over to rapine, their wives and
daughters to pollution. This communication our
consul should have returned indignantly to its brutal
author, and our government should have visited the
insult which it conveyed with the rebuke and chas-
tisement which it merited. If we would have our
consular flag respected, we must not allow its sanc-
tity to be trampled upon by every insolent bravado
of the sea.
La Place, having achieved these triumphs, having
bullied an unarmed government, menaced with mas-
sacre a helpless people, intimidated the wives and
children of the missionaries, forced on a reluctant
community his Jesuits and brandy, and filched all
364 DECK AND PORT.
the small change in circulation, took his departure,
much to the relief of all good men, and to the great
disappointment, no doubt, of the devil, who had fur-
ther work for him.
The officers of the American squadron, under the
command of Commodore Reed, who arrived here a
short time after the departure of La Place, issued a
circular, from which the following is an extract : —
" Being most decidedly of opinion that the persons
composing the Protestant mission of these islands are
American citizens, and, as such, entitled to the pro-
tection which our government has never withheld ;
and with unwavering confidence in the justice which
has ever characterized it, we rest assured that any
insult offered to this unoffending class, will be prompt-
ly redressed."
This circular, which honors the intelligence and
moral justice in which it had its source, is signed by
Commodore George A. Magruder ; Lieutenants An-
drew H. Foot, John W. Livingston, Thomas Turner,
James S. Palmer, Edward R. Thompson, Augustus
H. Kelly, George B. Minor ; Surgeons John Hazlett,
John A. Lockwood, Joseph Beale ; Purser Danger-
field Fauntleroy ; Chaplain, Fitch W. Taylor ; Pro-
fessors of Mathematics, J. Hcnshaw Belcher, Alex-
ander G. Pendleton.
Captain La Place having succeeded so brilliantly
with his powder-and-shot diplomacy, Lord George
SKETCHES OF HONOLULU. 365
Paulet, the commander of her Britannic majesty's
ship Carysfort, thought he would try his hand at the
business. He arrived here a short time after his
illustrious predecessor ; but, having no Jesuits and
brandy to introduce, it became necessary to fin^
something else as a basis of action.
In this emergency, he drummed up a set of claims
on the government, to which he deemed its resources
unequal, and demanded for them immediate satisfac •
tion. To his utter surprise, these claims were recog-
nised: he had now no alternative but to bring in a
new set, of such a magnitude as to render all adjust-
ment impracticable. The government remonstrated
against the injustice of the proceeding; but it was of
no avail : payment must be made instanter, or the
sovereignty of the islands surrendered. Lord George
accordingly hauled down the Hawaiian flag, and run
up that of her Britannic majesty. The little ships
belonging to the government were all re-christened :
one taking the name of Victoria ; another the Ade-
laide ; and even the old fort was honored with a
Georgian title.
Dispatches were immediately sent by Lord George
to the British ministry, informing them of the acqui-
sition of all the Hawaiian islands to her Majesty's
dominions. But in the mean time, Admiral Thomas,
the senior officer of the English fleet in this sea, ar-
rived here, in the Dublin, from Valparaiso. He re-
31*
366 DECK AND PORT.
quested an interview with the king : the real diffi-
culties were at once amicably adjusted ; the fictitious
ones, which were the basis of Lord George's pro-
ceeding, were thrown by the Admiral to the wind,
and the sovereignty of the islands restored. This
was rather an imposing ceremony. The king and
his chiefs appeared on the plain, east of the town,
where fifteen or twenty thousand of the inhabitants
had assembled. Admiral Thomas entered the grounds
under a brilliant escort of marines from his squadron.
The standard of the king was now unfurled, and his
flag run up on the two forts. They were saluted by
the guns of the Dublin and Carysfort, and Kameha-
meha III. was again on the throne of his ancestors.
Thus ended the brilliant conquest of Lord George,
and thus vanished his dream of empire, when touched
by the wand of moral rectitude. He was not only
compelled to see the Hawaiian flag restored, but to
salute it from his own ship, and with those very guns
with which he had demanded its surrender under a
threat that Honolulu should be blown sky-high.
Verily, as the proverb hath it, " he that governs his
own spirit, is greater than he that taketh a city."
The conduct of Admiral Thomas was sustained by
the British ministry, and Lord George went to the
wall.
367
CHAPTER XIII.
PASSAGE FROil HONOLULU TO MONTEREY.
THE MORAL PHAROS. THE MORMON SHIP. BIBLE CLASS. THE SEA-HEN. —
OUR INSAXE SAILOR.— FOURTH OF JULY.— PROFANENESS AT SEA.— EVENING
PRATER-MEETING.— FUNERAL.— TARGET FIRING.- RELIGIOUS CONDITION
OF THE CREW. ANCHOR UNDER MONTEREY
" The sea-bird wheels above the mast.
And the waters fly below,
And the foaming billows flashing fest
Are leaping up the prow."
Tuesday, June 23. We weighed anchor at day-
light this morning, and stood out from the open bay
of Honolulu. The breeze was fresh, and in a few
hours Oahu presented only its volcanic peaks above
the swell of the ocean. We cast a parting glance
to those cliffs from which we had gazed in delighted
wonder, and felt a sentiment allied to bereavement,
as they faded on our vision.
The volcanoes which threw up these mountain-
masses have long since rested from their labors ; the
flames which lit the savage grandeur of their craters
are extinct ; dim ages have swept over them, and
only the bleak monuments of their terrific energy
remain; but Christian philanthropy, without pomp
and parade, and in the silence of that love which
368 DECK AND PORT.
seeks only to solace and save, has here kindled a
light that shall never wane. Centuries may come
and go, and night rest upon other isles of the wide
sea, but this light will still stream on in undying
splendor. Beneath its beams generations will here
go untremblingly down to the unbreathing sepulchre,
and as this world darkens on their vision, discern
those objects of faith which loom to light in the spirit-
land. With the good, a shadow only falls between
this world and the next.
Wednesday, June 24. We have been for the last
twenty-four hours on our starboard tack, with the
wind from the northeast. The jagged steeps of Ka-
nie sunk this morning in the sea over our larboard
quarter. We are again upon the wide ocean with-
out an object on which the eye can rest. Our frigate
has a heavy roll ; she has in her six months' provi-
sions, and lies too deep for the greatest speed. The
heat is oppressive, but has been relieved by several
refreshing showers. Our men jumped around in
them like wild ducks in the foam of the cascade.
The ward-room of the Congress presents an or-
derly, well-regulated table. It has been so from the
commencement of our cruise. Grace is said at our
meals ; not a glass of spirits has entered our m.ess ;
not a word of discord, petulance, or anger, has been
heard. The officers are within the circle of that re
PASSAGE FROM HONOLULU TO MONTEREY. 369
ligious sentiment which more or less pervades the
crew. It is rehgion alone that can bind passion, har- \
monize the elements of society, and render the obli-
gations of mutual forbearance and love the abiding
rules of action.
Thursday, June 25. We left at Honolulu the
American ship Brooklyn, with one hundred and sev-
enty-five Mormon emigrants on board, bound to
Monterey and San Francisco, where they propose to
settle. They look to us for protection, and expect
to land, if necessary, under our batteries. I spent
the greater part of a day among them, and must say,
I was much pleased with their deportment. The
greater portion of them are young, and have been
trained to habits of industry, frugality, and enter-
prise. Some have been recently married, and are
accompanied by their parents. They are mostly
from the Methodist and Baptist persuasions. Their
Mormonism, so far as they have any, has been super-
induced on their previous faith, as Millerism on the
belief of some Christians. They are rigidly strict in
their domestic morals ; have their morning and even-
ing prayers ; and the wind and the weather have
never suspended, during their long voyage, their ex-
ercises of devotion.
Friday, June 26. We have had since we left port
370 DECK AND PORT.
a head wind ; but we are constantly w^orking our
way north through the trades into the variables ; a
few weeks since we were very anxious to get out of
the variables, we are now equally anxious to get into
them. But we were then sailing northwest ; our
course now lies northeast : such is the occupation of
the sailor. He is forever crossing and retracing his
own track, and well would it be for him if this cross-
ing and retracing were confined to his track on the
deep, but unhappily it enters into the pathway of his
moral being. He plods back in penitence and re-
morse the space over which folly and passion blindly
whirled him. "Facilis descensus averni, sed revocare
hie labor, hoc opus est."
Saturday, June 27. We have at last a slant of
wind which has put us on our course. The Mormon
ship must make haste if she expects to overtake us
before we reach Monterey. It is a little singular
that w^th a company of one hundred and seventy
emigrants, confined in a vessel of only four hundred
tons, depending on each other's activity and forbear-
ence for comfort, unbroken harmony should have
prevailed. They may have had their momentary
jars, but I was assured by the captain, who is not of
their persuasion, that no serious discord had occurred.
They put their money into a joint stock, laid in their
own provisions, and have every thing in common.
PASSAGE FROM HONOLULU TO MONTEREY. 371
They chartered their vessel, for which they pay
twelve hundred dollars per month. It will cost them
for their passage alone some ten thousand dollars be
fore they disembark in California.
Sunday, June 28. We had divine service at the
usual hour. The subject of the sermon was the
aversion of the world to the meekness, humility,
and forbearance w^hich enter into the Christian char-
acter. Men of the world are too apt to consider these
qualities incompatible with courage, resolution, firm-
ness, and self-respect. But the most heroic virtues
have been displayed in dungeons, on the rack, and at
the stake, by martyrs to truth. He who suffered on
the cross, triumphed over not only the malice of his
foes, but the terrors of death. After service I met
my Bible class, and spent an hour with them. Among
them are some of the first seamen in the ship ; men
whose influence extend through the whole crew ;
several of these, there is reason to believe, have ex-
perienced religion since we started on the present
cruise. God grant they may persevere with unshaken
firmness.
I applied to-day to Captain Du Pont and Mr.
Livingston for the apartment' leading to the store-
room, in which to hold our evening prayer-meeting.
It was granted without any hesitation. This prayer-
meeting commenced with three or four individuals •
.17*2 DECK AND PORT.
it now embraces some fifteen or twenty, and it will
not stop here.
Monday, June 29. We have been in a dead calm
all dav, — the ocean slumbering about us without a
ripple, and our dog-vane not lifting a feather. The
lazv clouds piled themselves up in pyramids and
castles on the sea, without a wave or breath to
disturb their fantastic forms. The rays of the sun
were quenched in their veils, and twilight spread
over their summits her rosy charm, xls night in her
sable hues advanced, the moon came up and poured
on turret and tower her tender^ liglU. Man rears
his structures amid weariness and tumult ; nature
erects hers in silence. When the monuments of
man decay, ages may sigh over their unreviving
relics, but when those of nature are dissolved, others
emerge from the ruin in more exulting beauty, as
the bird of flame from the ashes of its parent
Tuesday, June 30. When an aquatic fowl ap-
pears for which the sailor has no other name, he al-
ways calls it a sea- hen. Several of this brood have
been about our ship to-day, circling through the air,
and resting on the sleeping sea. The head is large,
the neck strong, the wings long and arching, and the
plumage dark brown. We tried to hook one of them
with a tempting^ bait, but the fellow was too cunning.
PASSAGE FROM HONOLULU TO MONTEREY. 373
The only purpose they seemingly serve is to relieve
the monotony of a sea-life.
We have been lying now for two days in the same
waveless berth ; our motion has not been sufficient
to straighten our log-line. Every cloud is watched,
but it brings no breeze. It departs like the airy vis-
ions of childhood, and none knoweth the place of its
rest. We are born in shadows ; live in their aerial
folds, and vanish at last into deep night. But the
spark of the Divinity that glows within is quenchless
evermore.
Wednesday, July 1. We caught to-day, with a
hook, one of the sailor's sea-hens. It proved to be
the brown albatros of the Pacific ; and measured ten
feet between the tips of its wings. When brought
on board, the fellow threw his wild glances at the
crew, and walked about as haughtily as if sole mon-
arch of the peopled deck. One of the men attempted
to trifle with his dignity, when he pounced upon him
and severely chastised his impertinence. After be-
ing detained an hour, we let him go to join his fe-
male companion, who was waiting for him, on the
wave, by the side of the ship. The albatros never
deserts its consort in calamity.
The love which coldly wounds and kills,
Is that which care and sorrow chills.
32
374 DECK AND PORT.
Thursday, July 2. Our sailor, Lewis, who is
touched with insanity, is again on deck. He moves
around among the crew, but never participates in
their amusements, or enters into conversation with
any one. If questioned, his answers are so stern and
brief they quefl curiosity. He handles a rope as if
there were a scorpion's fang in every strand. Only
snatches of his history are known. He has borne
arms ; his last exploits were at San Jacinto. He
has the air of one in whom the feelings of a better
nature have been turned to apathy and scorn.
" His featui-es' deepening lines and varying hue
At times attract, and yet perplex the view
As if within that murkiness of mind
Worked feeUng, fearful and yet undefined.
He has the skill, when cunning's gaze would seek
To probe his heart and watch his changing cheek,
At once the observer's pm-pose to espy,
And on himself roll back his scrutiny."
Friday, July 3. We have at last a breeze from
the northwest, which is leading us out of this region
of calms. Our latitude is 35° n. Our thermometer
ranges at seventy, — rather a cool temperature, con-
sidering that we are so near the vertical rays of a
cloudless sun, wheeling around his northern bourne
in his career of flame to the Line. But the tempera-
ture of the Pacific never undergoes those extreme
changes to which that of the same latitude in the
PASSAGE FROM HONOLULU TO MONTEREY. 375
Atlantic is subjected. The cause of this difference
is probably found in the relative disproportion of sea
and land over which the tides of the atmosphere pass
in the two oceans.
Three seamen came into my state-room to-day to
converse with me on the subject of religion. They
stated that for several weeks their attention had been
drawn to this subject, and that they had now re-
solved to renounce every sin, and seek an interest in
Christ. I encouraged them in this good resolution,
gave them books suited to their frame of mind, and
invited them to our evening prayer-meeting. These
are the bows of promise which span the dark tides of
ocean.
Saturday, July 4. This is the anniversary of
our national independence. The crew have been
permitted to spend it as they pleased ; no duty being
required of them beyond what is essential to keep
the ship on her course. Some collected themselves
in groups, and spun patriotic yarns about naval ac-
tions in the last war ; some sung the star-spangled
banner; some waxed eloquent at* the idea of a war
with Mexico, and some sat quietly mending their old
clothes. The young were generally the most eager
for hostilities, and seemed to think they could hew
their way with a cutlass and a pound of pork to the
halls of the Montezumas.
376 DECK AND PORT.
Commodore Stockton gave an elegant dinner to
his officers. Many sentiments, kindled by the exam-
ples of the glorious past, went round ; and many
thoughts of home and hearts left behind, melted in
an under-tone through the festivities. How venera-
tion, gratitude, and pride, will grow in the breast of
an American, in a distant clime, over the memory of
those who perilled their all in the Revolution ! They
rest in immortal remembrance amid the flowers and
fragrant airs of earth :
" By fairy hands their knell is rung,
By forms unseen their dirge is sung."
Sunday, July 5. Though the morning has been
overcast with flying clouds, from which dashes of
rain have fallen, accompanied with sudden gusts of
wind, giving every thing the air of discomfort, and
rendering the ship rather uneasy, yet we have had
our regular service. The subject of the discourse
was, Profaneness — its degrading efl^ects, its prohibition
in the rules of the service, its violation of the laws
of God.
This is the besetting sin of those who follow the
seas, — of those who, in their helplessness, are sur-
rounded by the most stupendous displays of omnipo-
tent power. Yet let the ship in which it prevails
most, be swept in a gale of shroud and mast, be dri-
ving amid breakers against the steep rock, her guilty
PASSAGE FROM HONOLULU TO MONTEREY. 377
crew will fall on their knees in prayer, and call on
Him whose name they have profaned, whose wor-
ship they have derided, to have mercy and save.
Our prayer-meeting has increased, so that the small
apartment in which we have been assembling will
not accommodate us. Capt. Du Pont, on the sug-
gestion of Mr. Livingston, has given us the use of
the store-room. It has been so arranged that there
is no interference with the public stores, and no in-
crease of hazard from additional hghts. It would
have been easy for them to have suggested difficul-
ties ; but, thank God, they are not so inclined. They
have extended to me every facility and every encour-
agement in their power. Nor has any officer on
board the ship cast an impediment in my way. Not
a derisive remark from any one, either in or out of
the ward-room, has fallen on my ear.
Monday, July 6. When we were receiving our
crew at Norfolk, an old seaman, by the name of Bar-
nard, applied to Capt. Du Pont to be shipped. He
was told that he had not vigor for the hardships of
another cruise, and kindly advised to make the Na-
val Asylum his home. But he plead the forty years
of service which he had performed in our national
ships so earnestly, that he was permitted to come on
board. Though over sixty years of age, he has dis-
charged the duties of quarter-master very well. But
32^
378 DECK AND PORT.
recently the springs of life have been giving way, till
at last he has been obliged to relinquish his post at
the wheel. He could not rally again, and has sunk
to his last repose.
To-day we have consigned his remains to the
deep. The body, wrapped in ' his hammock, was
borne by his messmates up the main-hatch, along the
line of the marine guard presenting arms, where it
was met by the Commodore and Captain. As the
band ceased its funeral air, the burial service was
read, the plank on which the body lay was lifted, and
Barnard glided down to his deep rest. Over him
roll the waters of the Pacific.
But when the last great trump shall thrill the grave,
And earth's unnumbered myriads reappear,
He too shall hear the summons 'neath the wave,
That now in silence wraps his sunless bier.
And coming forth, in trembling reverence bowed,
Unfold the tongueless secrets of his sliroud.
Tuesday, July 7. We have sailed since we left
Callao about eight thousand miles without falling in
with a single vessel', though the Pacific is said to be
sprinkled with whalers and merchantmen. The
former pursue their vocation without any reference
to the customary tracks of other vessels ; they set
up their chase wherever the whale sweeps, be it to
the Pole or the Line, and yet we have not encoun-
PASSAGE FROM HONOLULU TO MONTEREY. 379
tered one of them. Out of the thousand, not one has
come within the range of our vision. This gives one
some idea of the immensity of the Pacific. A ship in
it is like a meteor in the unconfined reahns of space
Wednesday, July 8. We have had general
quarters, with the exercise of the crew at the guns,
almost every day since we left Honolulu. Mexican
papers were received there, the day before our de-
parture, stating that hostilities had commenced be-
tween that country and the United States, on the
Texan line. We doubted the correctness of the
information, but put to sea at once, that we might
be off Monterey in season for any service which the
possible exigency might require.
To-day we have been practising at target firing.
This fictitious foe made his appearance on a platform
buoyed up by eight empty casks at a distance, vary-
ing with the action of the sea and wind, of from one
to two miles. The firing commenced on the larboard
side, and was restricted to one round from each gun.
It was found that the shot, though the guns had been
elevated one degree, struck the water short of the
mark. An order was therefore given to elevate the
guns two degrees, and to be careful to fire on an
even keel. This brought the target within a point-
blank range ; and the shot whistled past it, grazing
this side and that.
380 DECK AND PORT.
We now tacked ship, and gave the starboard lads
a chance. Their shot struck with sufficient accuracy
for all practical purposes in a naval engagement, and
the target, though bobbing up and down on the sea
as a frightened thing of life, very narrowly escaped.
The whistling, whizzing sound made by a huge ball
in its passage through the air, is like nothing else
that I have ever heard. It seems to carry in its very
tone an import of the destructive errand upon which
it is sent. This ominous voice, however, in the ex-
citement and thunders of an engagement, is never
heard. The warning and the havoc come together,
twins in life and death 1
Thursday, July 9. We have made, for the last three
days, but very little progress towards our port. The
wind has been extremely light and baffling, breathing
and dying away at all points of the compass. The at-
mosphere has had that peculiar property which mag-
nifies every object of vision. The moon hung on
the horizon this evening with a breadth of circle
which attracted the attention of all on board ; the
stars seemed to have extended their glowing verge,
the sea-bird to have enlarged its dusky form as it
floated dimly in the pale light, while the wing of
the cloud threw its vast shadow on the sleeping sur-
face of the sea. We heard
PASSAGE FROM HUNOLULU TO MONTEREY. 381
" Not a sound, save the surge of the ship
As she lazily rolls to and fro,
And the sails as they listlessly flap,
And the creak of the rudder below."
Friday, July 10. We have had to-day a hght but
steady breeze on our starboard quarter. Our stud-
ding-sails have been set for the first time since we
left Honolulu. We are now within nine hundred
miles of our port. All are engaged, some in slii}ys
duty, some in acquiring Spanish, some in writing
letters home ; while the crew, as they come off
watch, occupy their time with books from the libra-
ry. Sailors w^ill read if you furnish them with books
suited to their tastes and habits. Give them narra-
tives, history, biography, and incidents of travel. In
these sketches virtues may be shadowed forth that
will win reverence and love, and the results of vice
unfolded wdth repelling power. But all this requires
care in the selection ; this duty properly devolves on
the chaplain ; it is for him to elevate and mould the
moral sentiments of those around him. If he is not
equal to this, he should not put his foot on the decks
of a man-of-war.
Saturday, July 11. Our light aft wind has left
us, and we have in its stead a heavy sea, rolling in
from the west. There must have been a tremendous
blow in that quarter. Our ship rolled last night as
382 DECK AND PORT.
she did off Cape Horn. Every thing in the ward-
room and steerage which had not been secured,
rushed about in crashing confusion. The candle-
sticks leaped from the sideboard, a tray of knives and
forks followed, while a water-tank flew from one
bulkhead to another, as if determined to dash in its
own staves. The front board of my berth had been
taken out to admit more air, and I had no sooner
dropped asleep, than out I rolled on the floor ; and
well was it for me that I did, for I was no sooner out
of my berth than my library tumbled in. What sin-
gular feelings, half vexatious and half ludicrous, one
has gathering himself up from such a tumble ' /
Sunday, July 12. The weather has been too
stormy, and the roll of the ship too heavy, for reli-
gious service on deck. We have had a prayer-
meeting in the store-room. The attendance was
voluntary, but the large apartment was filled. A
good number of our sailors are earnestly seeking re-
ligion, and several hope they have found it. I meet
them every evening from eight to nine o'clock.
They speak in these meetings w^th much frankness
of their previous evil courses, and of their resolution
to abandon them and seek Christ. Those who have
obtained light and comfort, encourage others, and
pray for them with an earnestness which shows their
heart is in the work. Every evening some two or
PASSAGE FROM HONOLULU TO MONTEREY. 383
three new ones join us. Among them are some of
the first sailors we have.
The effect of this on the discipline of the ship is too
marked to escape observation. There is no disobe-
dience and no punishment. Each performs with
alacrity the duties of his station. It would seem as
if we might throw every instrument of correction and
coercion overboard ; their requirement, for the pres-
ent at least, has ceased. Give me the religious sen-
timent in a crew, and you may sink your hand-
cuffs, cats, and colts in the depths of ocean. They
who, under the hypocritical cry of church and state,
would deprive our seamen of these influences, have
steeled their hearts to the first instincts of humanity.
Their religion, if they have any, is cruel as the grave.
Monday, July 13. The following note, which I
received last evening from one of our quarter-gun-
ners, a stanch sailor, derives its interest from the
fact that he followed it up with an attendance at our
prayer-meeting.
U. S. Frigate Congress, Juhj 12, 1846.
Dear Sir : —
With feelinors of sincere reorret for the error I made on
the night of the 11th, by using profane language in your
hearing, I do humbly crave your pardon, and I do assnrc
you, had I known you were present at the time, such Inn-
guage would never have been used by me. I am aware I
384 DECK AND PORT.
can make no excuse for the crime of swearing : it is, as you
have truly said, the force of habit, which should have been
checked by me years ago. No man inside this ship is more
indebted to an all-merciful God than I am, for I have been
totally shipwrecked in the course of my sea-life four differ-
ent times, and been preserved when some of my shipmates
met a watery grave ; and still I sin greatly, daily, hourly,
in spite of all my resolutions to the contrary.
Yours obediently.
Tuesday, July 14. We were tumbled out of our
dead calm by a roaring northwester, and have been
driven by it two hundred and thirty-five miles in the
la'st twenty-four hours. We have six months' provi-
sions, and four months' water, on board, and have
been logging eleven and twelve knots. A ship that
can do this under these circumstances, and close-
hauled, must be a good sailer. We are now within
two hundred and twenty miles of our port ; and if
this wind continues, shall probably anchor under
Monterey to-morrow. Whether it be for hostilities
or for peace, we know not ; but we are prepared for
either.
Wednesday, July 15. The wind continued very
fresh through the night. Not wishing to make the
land till daylight, we furled our top-gallant sails,
hauled up our courses, double-reefed our topsails, and
TASSAGE FROM HONOLULU TO MONTEREY. 385
still run eight knots. As day dawned, Point Pinos
rose fifteen miles directly ahead of us. But as the
first rays of the sun tipped its forest-tops with flame,
a bank of fog rolled between. Not a vestige of the
coast was seen for hours ; and we wore ship, and
stood out to sea.
It was nearly noon before the fog lifted. We then
made sail, and in two hours rounded Point Pinos, and
entered the harbor of Monterey. We discovered at
anchor the U. S. frigate Savannah, bearing the broad
pennant of Commodore Sloat; the U. S. sloop-of-
war Cyane, Captain Mervin ; and the U. S. sloop-of-
war Levant, Commander Page. We run up the red
pennant, and saluted the blue of Commodore Sloat
with thirteen guns, which were returned by the Sa-
vannah. As we rounded under her stern for our
berth, her band struck up " Hail Columbia !" We
came to anchor, in graceful style, outside the Cyane.
Here will we rest, and let the winds rave on
33
386
CHAPTER XIV.
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA.
SAILOES ON SHORE AS SOLDIERS. THE BEAR FLAG. CAPT. FREMONT AND
HIS ARMED BAND. DEPARTURE OF ADMIRAL SEYMOUR. SAN FRANCISCO.
ASPECTS OF THE TOWN. HABITS OF THE PEOPLE. THE GOLD-DIGGER. —
SPIRIT OF SPECULATION. — GAMBLING. EFFECTS OF THE GOLD MINES.-
PAST AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.
The peak where bums the blush of mom,
The glen in which a torrent rolled,
The crater where the Deil was bom,
Are hemmed and stratified with gold ;
And e'en the quartz, which bind the shore,
Sweat out at times the precious ore.
Thursday, July 16. The Cyane warped out ot
her berth this morning, and we warped into it. Our
ships are now moored in Hne, command the anchor-
age, and present a very warhke appearance.
This afternoon a large ship was discovered round-
ing Point Pinos. She entered the harbor under a
cloud of canvas, and proved to be the Collingwood,
bearing the broad pennant of Admiral vSeymour. She
came to anchor outside the' Congress and Savannah.
Our band greeted her with " God save the Queen,"
which she returned. with "Hail, Columbia." She is
an 80 gun ship, and looks majestic on the wave.
The Admiral was greatly surprised to find Monterey
in possession of the Americans.
Commodore Sloat, having received information at
CLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 387
Mazatlan, through the pubhc press, that our advanced
posts on the Rio Grande had been attacked by a
Mexican force, sailed immediately for this port. On
his arrival the town was taken without any conflict,
the flag run up and saluted with twenty-one guns
from each ship of the squadron. A proclamation was
then issued by the commodore, informing the inhabit-
ants of the bases of his proceedings, and invoking
quietude as the condition of security and repose ;
while our own men, who had been stationed on shore,
were strictly enjoined not to molest the citizens in
their lawful occupations.
Friday, July 17. The bay of Monterey circles
up broad and deep into the coast. It is far from be-
ing land-locked, and yet the southern bend is suffi-
ciently sheltered to afford a safe and quiet anchorage.
The town is buiit within a circling range of forest-
feathered hills, and on a plain that descends in easy
slopes to the strand of the bay. A more inviting pic-
turesque location for a city never entered a poet's
dream. The buildings are reared of adobes, covered
with a white layer of lime ; they are seldom over one
story and a half, and are ornamented with porticoes
running the entire front. The streets are broad but
irregular, and the hills around connect themselves
with the gleaming walls of cottages which as yet ex
ist only in your imagination.
388 DECK AND PORT.
The U. S. sloop-of-war Portsmouth, J. B. Mont-
gomery commander, is at San Francisco ; the War-
ren, J. B. Hull, commander, is at Mazatlan. Our
flag is now flying over Monterey, San Francisco,
Sonoma, and Sutter's Fort. No formidable attempt
has been made by the Californians to recapture any
of these positions. The great body of the inhabit-
ants seem but little inclined to take up arms. They
have no great affection for Mexico, or reverence for
the military chieftains whom she has sent to govern
them.
Our marine guard, commanded by Lieut. Zelin,
and fifty sailors under the command of Lieut. Tilgh-
man, left our ship to-day for duty on shore. It is
amusing to see Jack with a carbine in his hand ; he
don't know what to do with it, whether to carry it in
one hand or both, at his side or on his shoulder.
When posted as a sentinel, he always forgets the
countersign of course, and if a man looks pretty hon-
est, allows him to pass ; but if he comes in some mys-
terious shape, he may expect to be shot. One on an
outpost last night, hearing a rumpling sound among
the dry leaves, and catching glimpses, by the pale
moonlight, of a form gliding behind this bush and
that, instead of hailing, " Who comes there ?" cried
out, " A bloody Indian !" and let off* his carbine. The
guard, hearing the report, rushed immediately to the
spot, where they found a bullock, which had narrow-
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 389
ly escaped our sentinel's bullet. Jack, when shown
his horned antagonist and rebuked for his precipitan-
cy, gruffly replied, that it was impossible to make out,
in the night and among the bushes, what sort of a
craft was coming at him, and he thought it best to
get the first fire.
Saturday, July 18. The whole of California is
in a state of tumult, and was so before our squadron
made a demonstration on Monterey. The jealousy
of the government had been roused by the arrival of
a fresh body of emigrants, who had located them-
selves on the Sacramento, and by the movements of
Capt. Fremont, whose scientific projects a disturbed
imagination had converted into revolutionary pur-
poses. The emigrants were ordered out of the coun-
try, with Capt. Fremont and his exploring party ; and
measures adopted to enforce the mandate. But the
indomitable captain and the emigrants were not thus
to be ousted or overawed. They had the Anglo-
Saxon blood in therh, and decided that a man has a
right to live where he pleases on this green earth of
God's.
They ran up a flag sufficiently significant of their
intentions, — a white field, red border, with a grizzly
bear eyeing a single star, which threw its light on the
motto, " The Republic of California." To this flag and
its fortunes they pledged themselves in mutual confi-
33*
390 DECK AND PORT.
dence, and though a band of only two hundred, pushed
their measures so vigorously that Gen. Castro, with a
force of three times their numbers, retreated before
their resolute positions. They are now within the de-
partment of Monterey, and their arrival is looked fpi
hourly. Such in brief is the history of the Bear flag,
and of that courageous organization which set the
ball of Anglo-Saxon supremacy rolling in California.
Sunday, July 19. We had divine service at the
usual hour. The object of the sermon was a plain
illustration of the text, " The way of transgressors is
hard." The every-day life of the sailor is a living
commentary on the truth of this significant proverb.
The hardships of his lot have generally been entailed
upon him by a career of folly. The recitals of his
errors, which are often poured into my ears, are full
of painful interest. I greatly fear the novelties of the
shore, and the excitements which reach us every day
from all quarters, will dissipate that religious concern
which has prevailed of late arnong our crew.
Monday, July 20. Captain Fremont and his armed
band, with Lieut. Gillespie of the marine corps, ar-
rived last evening from their pursuit of Gen. Castro.
They are two hundred strong, all well mounted, and
have some three hundred extra horses in their train.
They defiled, two abreast, through the principal street
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 391
of the town. The ground seemed to tremble under
their heavy tramp. The citizens glanced at them
through their grated windows. Their rifles, revolv-
ing pistols, and long knives, glittered over the dusky'
buckskin which enveloped their sinewy limbs, while
their untrimmed locks, flowing out from under their
foraging caps, and their black beards, with white
teeth glittering through, gave them a w41d savage as-
pect. They encamped in the skirts of the woods
which overhang the town. The blaze of their watch-
fires, as night came on, threw its quivering hght into
the forest glades, and far out at sea. Their sentinels
were posted at every exposed point ; they sleep in
their blankets under the trees, with their arms at
their side, ready for the signal shot or stir of the
crackling leaf.
For let a footstep, scarce as loud
As falls the winter's flake.
Approach theu* tents, they wake,
And spring like lightning from the cloud.
Tuesday, July 21. The Levant has been ordered
to be ready for sea w^ith ail dispatch. She is to take
Commodore Sloat to Panama, v/here he crosses the
Isthmus for the United States. His measures here
involve some responsibility, as no authentic intelli-
gence of a declaration of war has reached us. But
his motives have been high and patriotic, and his ac-
392 DECK AND PORT.
tion opportune in the event of national hostilities.
The command will now devolve on Commodore
Stockton ; what he will do with the California ques-
tion, remains to be seen. Among the persons whose
influence is felt in these affairs, stands T. O. Larkin,
Esq., U. S. Consul for many years in this province,
and of whose services I shall have occasion to speak
hereafter.
Wednesday, July 22. Captain Fremont's band
of riflemen visited our ship to-day, and lunched with
us. Many of them are trappers from the interior
wilds, who have never seen a man-of-war before.
They looked at our frowning battery with a wonder
for which their trap dialect had no expression. The
Indians connected with the body, wanted to know
how such an immense mass could be put on the
trail. We pointed to our sails, clewed to the yards ;
they shook their heads in incredulity. They seemed
to think there must be some invisible monster in the
hold, whose terrific energies caused the ship to go.
Our band played some of their most spirit-stirring
airs, but they had as little effect on these children of
the wild as the song of the grasshopper. The article
which seemed to interest them most, was the rifle of
Commodore Stockton; they handled it with that
yearning fondness which a mother feels clasping her
first -born.
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 303
Thursday, July 23. The Collingwood sailed to-
day for the Sandwich Islands. Many of her officers
had clothes on shore in the hands of washerwomen ;
they were hurried off, some half ironed, some half
dry, and some in the suds. Such are the accidents
which await the linen of one connected with a na-
tional ship. He may think himself fortunate if he
recovers his clothes at all ; they are often left as con-
tingent remainders in a man's will.
The Collingwood has offered us no molestation .
Admiral Seymour is an officer of great amenity of
deportment, — has been several times on board the
Congress : he was much impressed with the force of
our battery, and says our ship is the most powerful
frigate afloat in the world. The Admiral and most
of his officers are connected with the English nobili-
ty, but assume no airs, and are boon companions
wherever met. It has been often stated by American
writers that the Admiral intended to raise the Eng-
lish flag in California, and would have done it had we
not stolen the march on him. I believe nothing of
the kind ; the allegation is a mere assumption, unwar-
ranted by a solitary fact. He had no such instruc-
tions from the British ministry : what the English
might have done, had they been apprized of our de-
signs, is another thing; what they did do, was to
watch our movements. When we had harpooned
394 DECK AND PORT.
the whale, they left us to make the most of its blub-
ber and bones.
Friday, July 24. Capt. Du Pont left us to-day to
take command of the Cyane — a fine ship, well offi-
cered and manned. We part with him with much
regret ; he has been with us in gale and calm, amidst
the ice of the Cape and on the burning Line, and
cheerfully shared, in his own person, every hardship
and peril. His professional knowledge and efficiency,
with his social qualities and unblemished character,
have won our unmeasured confidence and esteem.
Mr. Livingston, our first lieutenant, succeeds to the
command, under an appointment from Commodore
Stockton, and combines, with the duties of this post,
those of executive officer. His station is one of some
difficulty, but he is the better qualified for it by his
previous services and thorough knowledge of the
crew. Capt. Mervin takes command of the Savan-
nah— a post to which he is entitled by his experience
and rank. The officers attached to this frigate are
an ornament to the service ; ' there are not wanting
individuals among them whose religious example has
been felt deep and wide.
Here the publication of my journal must rest ; and
be resumed in another volume, under the title of
" Three Years in California." But without trenching
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 395
on the incidents sketched in that volume, I may
glance at a few local circumstances which recent
events have thrown into remarkable prominency.
The geographical features of the country will be de-
scribed in their proper place ; I turn from these to a
point which looms up, in the fancy at least, like a
headland on which a rosy twilight has poured its
golden charm.
The bay of San Francisco resembles a broad in-
land lake, communicating by a narrow channel with
the ocean. This channel, as the tradition of the abo-
rigines runs, was opened by an earthquake which a
few centuries since convulsed the continent. The
town is built on the south bend of the bay, near its
communication with the sea. Its site is a succession
of barren sand-hills, tumbled up into every variety of
shape. No levelling process, on a scale of any mag-
nitude, has been attempted. The buildings roll up
and over these sand ridges like a shoal of porpoises
over the swell of a wave, only the fish has much
the most order in the disposal of his head and tail.
More incongruous combinations in architecture never
danced in the dreams of men. Brick warehouses,
wooden shanties, sheet-iron huts, and shaking tents,
are blended in admirable confusion.
But these grotesque habitations have as much uni-
formity and sobriety as the habits of those who occu-
py them. Hazards are made in commercial transac-
396 DECK AND PORT.
tions and projects of speculation, that would throw
Wall-street into spasms. I have seen merchants pur-
chase cargoes without having even glanced into the
invoice. The conditions of the sale were a hundred
per cent, profits to the owner, and costs. In one car-
go, when tumbled out, were found twenty thousand
dollars in the single article of red cotton handker-
chiefs ! " I'll get rid of those among the wild In-
dians," said the purchaser, with a shrug of his shoul-
ders. " I've a water-lot which I will sell," cries an-
other. " Which way does it stretch ?" inquire half a
a dozen. " Right under that craft there," is the re-
ply. " And what do you ask for it ?" " Fifteen
thousand dollars." " I'll take it." " Then down with
your dust." So the water-lot, which mortal eyes
never yet beheld, changes its owners without chang-
ing its fish. " I have two shares in a gold mine,"
cries another. "Where are they ?" inquire the crowd.
" Under the south branch of the Yuba river, which
we have almost turned," is the reply. "And what
will you take ?" " Fifteen thousand dollars." " I'll
give ten." " Take them, stranger." So the two
shares of a possibility of gold under a branch of the
Yuba, where the water still rolls rapid and deep, are
sold for ten thousand dollars paid down ! Is there
any thing in the Arabian Nights that surpasses this ?
But glance at that large wooden building, which
looks as if the winds had shingled it, and the powers
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 397
of the air pinned its clapboards in a storm. Enter,
and you find a great hall filled with tables, and a mot-
ley group gathered around each. Some are laying
down hundreds and others thousands on the turn of
a card. Each has a bag of grain-gold in his hand,
which he must double or lose, and is only anxious
to reach the table where he can make the experiment.
You w^ould advise him at least to purchase a suit of
clothes, or repair his old ones, before he loses his all ;
but what cares he for his outward garb, when piles
of the yellow dust swell and glitter in his excited im-
agination ? Down goes his bag of gold — and is lost !
But does he look around for a rope or pistol that he
may end his ruin ? No : the river bank, where he
gathered that bag, has more ; so he cheers his mo-
mentary despondency with a strong glass of brandy,
and is off again for the mines. He found the gold
by good fortune, and has lost it by bad, and now
considers himself about even with the world. Such
is the moral effect of gold hunting on a man whose
principles are not as fixed and immoveable as the
rock. It begins in a lottery and ends in a lottery,
where the blanks outnumber the prizes ten to one.
But you are hungry — want a breakfast — turn into
a restaurant — call for ham, eggs, and coffee — then
your bill — six dollars ! Your high boots, which have
never seen a brush since you first put them on, have
given out : you find a pair that can replace them —
34
898 DECK AND PORT.
they are a tolerable fit, and now what is the price — •
fifty dollars ! Your beard has not felt a razor since
you went to the mines — it must come off, and your
frizzled hair be clipped. You find a barber : his dull
shears hang in the knots of your hair like a sheep-
shearer's in a fleece matted with burrs — his razor he
straps on the leg of his boot, and then hauls away —
starting at every pull some new fountain of tears.
You vow you will let the beard go — but then one side
is partly off, and you try the agony again to get the
other side something like it ; and now what is the
charge for this torture — four dollars ! Night i^ ap-
proaching, and you must have a place where you can
sleep : to inquire for a bed would be as idle as to hunt
a pearl in the jungle of a Greenland bear. You look
around for the lee of some shanty or tent, and tum-
ble down for the night ; but a thousand fleas dispute
the premises with you — the contest is hopeless — yoix
tumble out as you tumbled in, and spend the remain-
der of the night in finding a place not occupied b}
these aborigines of the soil.
But you are not perhaps a gold-digger, as I had
supposed ; you are a supercargo, and have a valuable
freight, which you wish to land. You have warped
your vessel in till her keel rakes, and yet you are sev-
eral hundred yards off. Some lighter must be found
that can skim these shallows ; your own boats will
not do : after waiting two or three weeks, you get the
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 399
use of a scow, called a lighter, for which you pay one
hundred and fifty dollars a day.
To-morrow you are going to commence unloading,
and wake betimes ; but find that during the night ev-
ery soul of your crew has escaped, and put out for the
mines. You rush about on shore to find hands, and
collect eight or ten loafers, who will assist you for fif-
teen dollars a day each. Your cargo must be landed,
and you close the bargain, though your fresh hands
are already half-seas over. The scow is shoved from
shore, brought alongside, loaded with goods, which
are tumbled in as an Irishman dumps a load of dirt,
and then you up oars and poles and push for the land-
ing ; but the tide has ebbed too soon : you are only
halfway, and there your scow sticks fast in the midst
of a great mud bottom, from which the last ripple of
w^ater has retreated. You cannot get forward, and
you are now too late to get back : night is setting in
and the rain-clouds are gathering fast ; down comes
a deluge, drenching your goods, and filling your open
scow. The returning tide will now be of no use, the
scow won't float, except under water, and that is a
sort of floating which don't suit you ; skin for skin —
though in this case not dry — what will a man not
give for his own life ? So out you jump, and by
crawling and creeping, make your way through the
mire to the landing, and bring up against a bin, where
another sort of wallower gives you a grunt of welcome.
400 DECK AND PORT.
Your loafers must be paid off in the morning, and
the scow recovered, or its loss will cost you half the
profits of your voyage. But the storm last night has
driven another brig into yours ; and there they both
are, like a bear and bull that have gored and crushed
each other. But " misery loves company," and you
have it The storm which swamped your scow and
stove your brig last night, has been busy on shore.
Piles of goods heaped up in every street, are in a
condition which requires wreckers as well as watch-
men. But no one here is going to trouble himself
about your misfortunes, nor much about his own.
The reverses of to-day are to be more than repaired
by the successes of to-morrow. These are only the
broken pickaxes and spades by which the great mine
is to be reached. What is the loss of a few thousands
to one who is so soon to possess millions ? Only a
coon back in his hole, while the buffalo remains
within rifle-shot, — only a periwinkle lost, while the
whale is beneath the harpoon, — only a farthing can-
dle consumed, while the dowered bride, blushing in
beauty and bliss, is kneeling at the nuptial altar. But
let that pass.
But you are not alone in your destitution and dirt.
There are hundreds around you who were quite as
daintily reared, and who are doing out here what
they dodged at home. Do you see that youth in red
flannel shirt and coarse brogans, rolling a wheelbar-
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA, 401
row ? He was once a clerk in a counting-house in
New York, and came here to shovel up gold as you
scoop up sand. He has been to the mines, gathered
no gold, and returned, but now makes his ten dollars
a day by rolling that wheelbarrow ; it costs him six,
however, to live> and the other four he loses at
monte.
See you that >^oung man with a long whip in his
hand, cracking it c v er an ox-team ? He was one of
the most lea/ncd ;^eologists, for his age, in the United
States, and f a/r.^ out here to apply his science to the
discovery '/ gold deposites ; but some how his diving-
rods alwoytj dipped wrong — and now he has taken a
rod about which there is no mistake, so at least think
his cij'.tie. He would accumulate a fortune did he
not \*.:*e it as fast as made in some phrensied specula-
tion. But look yonder — do you see that young gen-
tlennen with a string of fish, which he offers for sale.
He was the best Greek and Latin scholar of his class
in Yale College ; and subsequently one of the most
promising members of our bar. But he exchanged
his Blackstone for a pick ; and instead of picking fees
out of his clients' pockets, he came here to pick gold
out of the mines ; but the deuce was in it, for when-
ever his pick struck close upon a deposite, it was no
longer there ! so he exchanged his pick for a hook
and line, and now angles for pike, pickerel, and perch,
and can describe each fish by some apt line from Ca-
34*
402 DECK AND PORT.
tullus. He would do well at his new piscatory pro-
fession, but for the gilded hook of the gambler. He
laughs at the trout for darting at a fictitious fly, and
then chases a bait himself equally fanciful and false.
But look again — do you see that pulperia, with its
gathered groups of soldiers and sailors, poets and pol-
iticians, merchants and mendicants, doctors and dray-
men, clerks and cobblers, trappers and tinkers.
That little man who stands behind the bar and deals
to each his dram of fire, was once a preacher, and
deemed almost a prophet, as he depicted the pangs of
that worm which dieth not; but now he has ex-
changed that worm for another, but preserved his
consistency, for this worm, too, distilleth delirium and
death. And that thick-set man who stands in the
midst of the crowd, with ruby countenance and rev-
elling eye, whose repartee sets the whole pulperia in
a roar, and who is now watching the liquor in his
glass to see if it stirreth itself aright, once lectured in
the West on the temptations of those who tarry late
at the wine ; but now his teetotalism covers aJl liquors
as goodly gifts graciously bestowed. But one brief
year, and some dame Quickly may describe his pale
exit as that of his delirious prototype, — " I saw him
fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and
smile upon his fingers' ends."
And yet with all these drawbacks — with all these
gambling-tables, grog-shops, shanties, shavers, and
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 403
fleas, San Francisco is swelling into a town of the
highest commercial importance. She commands the
trade of the great valleys through which the Sacra-
mento and San Joaquin, with their numerous tribu-
taries, roll. She gathers to her bosom the products
and manufactures of the United States, of England,
China, the shores and islands of the Pacific. But let
us glance at California as she was a few years since,
as she is now, and as she is fast becoming.
Three years ago the white population of Cali-
fornia could not have exceeded ten thousand souls.
She has now a population of two hundred thousand,
and a resistless tide of emigration rollino^ in throuo-h
the heart of Mexico, over the Isthmus of Panama,
around Cape Horn, and over the steeps of the Rocky
Mountains. Then the great staple of the country
was confined to wild cattle ; now it is found in ex-
haustless mines of quicksilver and gold. Then the
shipping which frequented her waters was confined
to a few drogers, that waddled along her coast in
quest of hides and tallow ; now the richest argosies
of the commercial world are bound to her ports.
Three years ago the dwellings of her citizens were
reared under the hands of Indians, from sun-baked
adobes of mud and straw ; now a thousand hammers
are ringing on rafter and roof over walls of iron and
brick. Then the plough which furrowed her fields
was the crotch of a tree, which a stone or root might
404 DECK AND PORT.
shiver ; now the shares of the New-England farmer
glitter in her soil. Then the wheels of her carts
were cut from the butts of trees, with a hole in the
centre for the rude axle ; now the iron-bound wheel
of the finished mechanic rolls over her hills and val-
leys. Then only the canoe of the Indian disturbed
the sleeping surface of her waters ; now a fleet of
steamers traverse her ample rivers and bays. Then
not a schoolhousC; public teacher, magazine, or news-
paper, could be found in the whole territory ; now
they are met with in most of the larger towns.
Then the tastes and passions of an idle throng ran
on the guitar and the fandango; now the calcula-
tions of the busy multitudes turn to the cultured
field and productive mine. Then California was a
dependency of Mexico, and subject to revolutions
with the success of every daring military chieftain ;
now she is an independent state, with an enlight-
ened constitution, which guaranties equal rights and
privileges to all. Then she was in arms against our
flag ; now she unrolls it on the breeze, with the star
of her own being and pride glowing in the constella-
tion which blazes on its folds.
Three years ago and San Francisco contained
only three hundred souls ; now she has a population
of twenty-seven thousand. Then a building lot
within her limits cost fifteen dollars ; now the same lot
cannot be purchased at a less sum than fifteen thou-
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 405
sand. Then her commerce was confined to a few-
Indian blankets, and Mexican reboses and beads; now
from two to three hundred merchantmen are unload-
ing their costly cargoes on her quay. Then the
famished whaler could hardly find a temporary relief
in her markets ; now she has phrensied the world with
her wealth. Then Benicia was a pasture covered
with lowing herds ; now she is a commercial mart,
threatening to rival her sister nearer the sea. Then
Stockton and Sacramento City were covered with
wild oats, where the elk and deer gambolled at will ;
now they are laced with streets, and walled with ware-
houses, through which the great tide of commerce
rolls off into a hundred mountain glens. Then the
banks of the Sacramento and San Joaquin were
cheered only by the curling smoke of the Indian's
hut ; now they throw on the eye at every bend the
cheerful- aspect of some new hamlet or town. Then
the silence of the Sierra Nevada was broken only
by the voice of its streams ; now every cavern and
cliff is echoing under the blows of the sturdy miner.
The wild horse, startled in his glen, leaves on the
hill the clatter of his hoofs, while the huge bear,
roused from his patrimonial jungle, grimly retires to
some new mountain fastness.
But I must drop this contrast of the past with the
present, and glance at a few facts which affect the
future. The gold deposites, which have hitherto
406 DECK AND PORT.
been discovered, are confined mainly to the banks
and beds of perpetual streams, or the bottoms of ra-
vines through which roll the waters of the transient
freshet. These deposites are the natural results of
the laws of gravitation ; the treasures which they
contain must have been washed from the slopes of
the surrounding hills. The elevations, like spend-
thrifts, seem to have parted entirely with their golden
inheritance, except what may linger still in the
quartz. And these gold-containing quartz will be
found to have their confined localities. They will
crown the insular peaks of a mountain ridge, or fret
the verge of some extinguished volcano. They have
never been found in a continuous range, except in
the dreams of enchantment. You might as well look
for a wall of diamonds, or a solid bank of pearls.
Nature has played ofi^ many a prodigal caprice in
California, but a mountain of gold is not one of them.
The alluvial gold will at no distant day be meas-
urably exhausted, and the miners be driven into the
mountains. Here the work can be successfully pros-
ecuted only by companies with heavy capitals. All
the uncertainties which are connected with mining
operations will gather around these enterprises.
Wealth will reward the labors of the few, whose suc-
cess was mainly the result of good fortune ; while
disappointment will attend the efforts of the many,
equally skilful and persevering. These wide ine-
GLANCES INTO CALIFORNIA. 407
qualities, in the proceeds of the miner's labor, have
exhibited themselves wherever a gold deposite has
been hunted or found in California. The past is the
reliable prophecy of the future.
Not one in ten of the thousands who have gone,
or may go, to California to hunt for gold, will return
with a fortune. Still the great tide of emigration
will set there, till her valleys and mountain glens
teem with a hardy, enterprising population. As the
gold deposites diminish, or become more difficult of
access, the quicksilver mines will call forth their un-
flagging energies. This metal slumbers in her moun-
tain spurs in massive richness. The process is sim-
ple which converts it into that form through which
the mechanic arts subserve the thousand purposes of
science and social refinement, while the medical pro-
fession, through its strange abuse, keep up a carni-
val in the court of Death. But for this they who
mine the ore are not responsible ; they will find their
reward in the wealth which will follow their labors.
It will be in their power to silence the hammers in
those mines which have hitherto monopolized the
markets of the world.
But the enterprise and wealth of California are not
confined to her mines. Her ample forests of oak,
red-wood, and pine, only wait the requisite machine-
ry to convert them into elegant residences and
strong-ribbed ships. Her exhaustless quarries of
408
DECK AND PORT.
granite and marble will yet pillar the domes of me-
tropolitan splendor and pride. The hammer and
drill will be relinquished by multitudes for the plough
and sickle. Her arable land, stretching through her
spacious valleys and along the broad banks of her
rivers, will wave with the golden harvest. The rain-
cloud may not visit her in the summer months, but
the mountain stream will be induced to throw its
showers over her thirsting plains.
Such was California a few years since — such is
she now — and such will she become, even before
they who now rush to her shores find their footsteps
within the shadows of the pale realm.
ir^i^'i-i:'if-'^-^ir^ir^ir'i-ir'i:'cr'i;ii'ii'i'^'^'^i''l:^i.' *:- 'i;- '^r i; V 'i^ 'cr'^'k'
^^T ^
A. S. BAR^^ES & COMPANY'S 'PUBLICATIONS.
CHAMBERS' EDUCATIONAL COURSE.
NATURAL SCIENCES,
The Messrs. Chambers have employed the first professors in Scotland in the prepa-
ration of these works. They are now offered to the sciiools of the United States,
under the American revision of D. M. Reesk, M. D., Lh-D.^late Super iatcndoU uf
Pahiic Schools in the city and county of JVew York.
I. CHAMBERS' TREASURY OF KNOWLEDGE.
II. CLARK'S ELEMENTS OF DRAWING & PERSPECTIVE.
III. CHAMBERS' ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
IV. REID & BAINS' CHEMISTRY AND ELECTRICITY.
V. HAMILTON'S VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY.
Vi. CHAMBERS' ELEMENTS OF ZOOLOGY.
Vil. PAGE'S ELEMENTS OF GEOLOGY.
•' — ~~ -^— ^
"• It is well known that the original publishers of these works (the Messrs. Cham-
bers of Edinburgh) are able to command the best talent in the preparation of their
books, and that it is their practicp to deal faithfully with' the public. This series
will not disappoint the reasonable expectations thus excited. They are elementary
works prepared by authors in every way capable of doing justice to their respective
undertakings, and who have evidently bestowed upon Uiemthe necessary time and
labor to adapt them to their purpose. We recommend tliem to teachers and
parents witli confidence. If not introduced as class-books in the school, they may
be used- to excellent advantage in genei-al exercises, and occasional class exer-
cise, for which every teacher ought to provide himself with an ample store of
materials. The volumes maybe had separately; and the one first named, in the
hands of a teacher of the younger classes, might furnish an inexhaustible I'uml of
amusement and instruction. Together, they would constitute a rich treasm-e to a
family of intelligent children, and imptu*t a thirst for knowledge." — Fcrmont Chron.
" Of all the numerous works of this class that have been published, there ai-e
none that have acquired a more thoroughly deserved and high reputation than this
series. Tlie Chambers of Edinburgh, well known as the careful and intelligent pub-
lishers of a vast number of works of much importance in the educational world,
are the fathers of this series of books, and the American editor has exercised an
lunisual degree of judgment in their preparation for the dse of schools as well as
privaKi families in this country." — Phitadelphia Bulletin.
"T!ie titles furnish a key to the contents, and it is only necessary for us' to say^
that the material of each volume is admirably worked up, presenting with suflicient
fulness and with much clearness of method the several subjects which are treated."
— Cincinnati Gazette.
■:. A r-. ,1"- A', .7j :< ■;■, c^V '■'. c?., A ■??: ^9, -^^ 5?, r?T. ^r?, ^?'. t?. ??, ^V: r^r rf. -?; ■,% ": ,?•;. -P- -;?, f; ^9, A ?'?, ^V- (T?: -P-^ P. 'P> '■
BROWN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
3 1236 01637 3683
n- iV t- "S- f "i" ^ 'i* •.-,
A. S. BAKNIJS ct C0MI>AXVS rUJJLICATlONS.
.WTIRAL AM) EXPEiailEMAL PJ8IL0S0PIIV ,
i'')Ii SOiroOLS AXD AUADHMIHS.
BY R. G. PARKER, A , ^'1 .
I!, r
XOFMY.
J.^' Stilts— cl
;j;r3 arrangt'ii'.fi;!
;;J "Thisw.
.;.i^ otlior si in I i
;v?o "This i<
i"'"^ Spcctat&r.
-|o ^ "•The pr-
;.| "Itseci.i-
; |c too abstract.
: 1° " I have )
■?" valuable (-l-
i^ ^ y. at;,.
'.■^fi " 1 am h-ii
; A3 ' V'ictoria t . ■
i^ aiul 1 hojii' !
:^'j luentaiy \\. ■
.~o Tii-st Li'ss' ;/
; if; relerred to. ;
r- t'i« mode/ -^
r= Normal t^clio
:"' "I have ,
, diaiciy in;..
' " I have 1
We shall
.\-,-. /'
■A Ml.; I
■.I il,-^- :
\\ e Shall II , .