IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) "i 1.0 ^^ m ■tt Bii 12.2 I.I ;s 1^ 12.0 Wmu — 6" •^ V-v HictogFaphic uClBOCBS Ckflporatian 23 WKT MAM STRUT WmSTa bibliographically uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction, or which may significantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. 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ThIa Itam ia filmad at tha raduotion ratio chackad balow/ Ca documant aat filmi au taux da rMuctton indiqu* cl-daaaoua. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X aox 12X 16X aox 2IX 28X 32X Th« copy film«d h%n h«* lM«n r«produc«d thanks to the gantrosity of: Mill! MMnorial Library MoMMttr Unhrtriity L'oxomplairo filmA fut raproduit griea A la gAntroait* da: Mills Mtmorial Library McMMltr Univtriity Tha imaga* appaaring hara ara tha baat quality posslbia eonsidaring tha condition and iagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract spacificatlona. Original copies in printad papar covers ara filnnad beginning with tha front covar and ending on the last page with a printed or Illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies ara filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or iiiustriited impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printad or illustrated impression. 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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure ara filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planchaa, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre fllmAs A des taux da rAduction diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atra raproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A partir de Tangle supArleur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, an prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaira. Les diagrammas suivants illustrent la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 32X WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMEKICA. w. "^io^^^K Vtui.p -HHnK, I mNDEMNGS IN 80UTH AMERICA, THE NORTH-WEST OF THE UNITED STATES, AND THE ANTILLES, IN THE YEARS 1812, 1816, 1820, & 1824. Witli Oilfflnal Instructions for the perfect preservation of Birds, Et<;. for Cabinets of Natural History. «Y CHARLES AVATERTON, Esq. NEW EDITION. mu\i, bitlj iiograij^ical |ntrobuttioir anlr (f.vplmuiloriT |nh,v, BY THK REV. J. G. WOOD. WITH ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS. I'onbon : MACMILLAK AND CO. 1879. The Uiijht uf Translation U Iics,:md. I.OKDOX ; K. Ct.AV. PONS, AND TAVI.ni; niu:\n STni;i:T iui.l, r.c. lAcMASIER UNlVERSklY LIBRARY PREFACE. It M.VNY years ago, wliile barely in my " teens," I had the good fortune to fall in with Waterton's Wanderings, then newly placed in the school library. The book fascinated me. Week after week I took it out of the library, and really think that I could have repeated it verbatim from beginning to end. It was a glimpse into an unknown world, wliere I longed to follow the Wanderer, little thinking that I should ever have the privilege of visiting him in his wonderful Yorkf hire home. I looked upon Waterton much as the pagans of old regarded their demi-gods, and not even Sinbad the Sailor was so in- teresting a personage to me as Waterton the Wanderer. But there was one drawback to the full enjoyment and comprehension of the book. It mentioned all kinds of animals, birds, and trees, and I did not know what they were, nor was there any one who could tell me. I did not know what a Salempenta was, except that it W VI IM{KFA('K. was good to cat. It might bo a monkey, a tisli, or u fruit. Neither could T identify the Couanacouclii, Labarri, Camoudi, Duraquava, Hoiitoii, or Karabimiti, except tliat tlie tliree first were snakes and the three last wore birds. It was certainly pleasant to learn that tlie traveller in Guiana would be awakened by the crowing of the Hannaquoi, but there was no one who could tell me what kind of a bird the Hannaquoi miglit be. Then, as to trees, I did not know the Siloabali, or tlie Wallaba, or even the Purple-lieart, nor how the last mentioned tree could be made into a AVoodskin. I wanted a guide to the Wanderings, and sucli a guide I liave attempted to supply in the "Explanatory Index." I l)elieve that there is not a single living creature or tree mentioned by Waterton concerning which more or less information cannot be found in tliis Index. Tlio IVanderhhf/s I have left untouched as Waterton wrote them, not adding or altering or cancelling a syllable. They constitute, so to speak, the central brilliant of a ring, round which are arranged jewels of inferior value, so as to set off the beauty of the principal gem. The plan of arrangement is as follows : First comes a short biography of AVaterton as the Wanderer, and then a memoir of Waterton at home. Next come the Wcmdcritigs, exactly as he wrote them. Tlien there is an Explanatory Index, and lastly a few remarks on the V •? PUKFACI-:. VII system of Taxidormy wliich lie cieatcd, and in whicli he gave me personal instruction. 1 Imve much pleasure in recording my obligations to Kdmund Waterton, Esq., who kindly permitted access to tlie old family records, which he is now arranging lor publication. Also to Dr. V. L. Sclater, Secretary of the Zoological Society, for the assistance wliich he rendered in identifying several of the birds; and to J. Britten, Esq., of the British Museum, for the great pains which he took in ascertaining the names of some of the Guianan trees, without which names the work would have been imperfect. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. I OFFEU this book of Wmuh'riiujs witli ii hesitating' hand. It has little merit, and niiist make its way through the world as well as it can. It will receive many a jostle as it goes along, and perliaps is destined to add one more to the number of slain, in the field of modern criticism. r>ut if it fall, it may still, in death, be useful to me ; for, should some accidental rover take it up, and, in turning over its pages, imbibe the idea of going out to explore Guiana, in order to give the world an enlarged descrip- tion of that noble country, I shall say, " fortem ad fortia misi," and demand the armour ; tliat is, I shall lay claim to a certain portion of the honours he will receive, upon the plea, that I was the first mover of his discoveries; for, as Ulysses sent Achilles to Troy, so I sent him to Guiana. I intended to have written much more at length; but days, and months, and years, have passed away, and nothing has been done. Thinking it very probable that I shall never have patience enough to sit down and write a full account of all I saw and examined im{i:kack 'I'O tiiI': fii^st edition. ill those remote wilds, I give up the intention of doing so, and send forth this account of my Wanderings, just as it was written at the time. If critics are displeased with it in its present form, 1 beg to observe, that it is not totally devoid of interest, and that it contains something useful. Several of the unfortunate gentlemen who went out to explore the Congo, were thankful for the instructions they found in it ; and Sir Joseph Banks, on sending back the journal, said in his letter, " I return your journal, with abundant thanks for the very instructive lesson you have favoured us with this morning, which far excelled, in real utility, everything I have hitherto seen." And in another letter he says, " I hear with particular pleasure your intention of resuming your interesting travels, to which natural history has already been so much indebted." And again, " I am sorry you did not deposit some part of your last harvest of birds in the British Museum, that your name might become familiar to naturalists, and your unrivalled skill in preserving birds be made known to the public." And again, " You certainly have talents to set forth a book, which will improve and extend materially the bounds of natural science." Sir Joseph never read the third adventure. Whilst I was engaged in it, death robbed England of one of her most valuable subjects, and deprived the lloyal Society of its brightest ornament. C 0 N T E N T 8. BIOGRAPHY CHAl'TEK I. Autobiography of Watorton — Descent from Sir Thomas More— Twenty- soventli Lord of AValton, and sixteenth in descent from John AVaterton-^^Religious faith of the familj' — Persecutions of Roman Catholics and confiscation of the estates — Double taxes and fines — IJirth and early life — Escapades at Tudhoe — The cow and the wash- ing-tub— Removal to Stonyhurst — Birds'-nesting, a chase and a pig- stye — Good advice from one of the fathers — Parting with Stonyhurst — First voyage to Cadiz — The apes at Gibraltar — Habits of tin? animals — Stay in Malaga — Acquirement of Spanish — Projected visit to Malta — Advent of the plague — Seized with the disease and recovery — Closing of the ports — A hazardous and carefully-planned escape — Preparations on board ship— The opportunity seized — Escape successful — Death of an unch- — Discovery of an old friend — Failing health — A'oyag*^ to Dcmerara — Death of his father and succession to the family estates rsc.v. 1 14 CHAPTER II. Journey to Orinoco with despatches — Aainful operation -Ultimate rd gateway in the olden times — Tradition of a canon-ball— IJoth ball and canon dis- covered— Sunken plate and weapons — El-Iio at "Walton Hall — AVest view of lake — How to strengthen a bank — Pike-cutchin^' — Cats and pike — Spot where "Waterton fell 35- -48 CHAPTEK IV. Love of trees — Preservation of damaged trees — How trees perish — "Wind and rain — Self-ri!storative powers of the bark — Hidden foes — The fungus and its work — Use of the woodpecker and titmouse — How to utilize tree-stumps — The cole titmouse — Owl-house and seat — Dry-rot — "When to paint timber — Oaken gates of the old tower — Connnand over trees — How to make the holly grow ;{ SKCOND JOURXEY CHAPTER I. From Liverpool to Pernambuco— Stormy petrels— Tropical zoology— Flying-fish — Bonito, Albicore, and " Dolphin "- Frigate bird- Arrival at Pernambuco— The expelled Jesuit— Pombal, the Captain- General— Southey's history of Brazil -Botanical garden- Sungredo Buey—Rattle.snake— Narrow escape— Rainy- S.il for Cayenne- Shark -catching ' . _ _ . l,-,4-_l(5S CONTENTS. CHAl'TEK II. Arrival at Cayenne — Flamingos — Curlews, i^c. -Vegetable productions of Cayenne — LaGabrielle — Cock of the Rock— Grand Gobe-mouche —Surinam — The Coryntin — New Amsterdam — Stabroek, now George Town — Produce of Demerai'a- Slavery — A traveller's necessaries — AValkiug barefoot — The best costume — Hinnming-birds — Cotinga — Campanero, or Bell-bird — Toucans, or Toucanets — Beak of the Toucan — Evanescence of the colours — The only mode of preserving them 169 I'Aut: 184 CHAPTER III. Tlie Houtou — Curious habit of trimming the tail and feathers— its habits — The Guianan Jay — The Boclora — Slight attachment of the feathers — The Cuia — Rice-birds — Cassiques, their habit of mockery — Pendulous nests — Gregarious nesting of diffei-ent species — AVood- peckers of America and England — Kingfishers — Jacamars and their fly-catching habits — Troupiales and their songs — Tangaras — Mani- kins— Tiger-birds — Yawaraciri — Ant Thrushes — Parrot of the Sun — Aras, or Macaws — Bitterns — Egret, Herons, etc. — Goatsuckers — "Whip-poor-Will — Superstitious — Tinamou.s — Powis and Maroudi — Horned Screamer — Trumpeter — King Vulture — Anhinga — Dangers of travel — Quartan ague 185- -1'07 THIRD JOURNEY. CHAPTER 1. From the Clyde to Demerara—^ Yellow fever — A deserted Plantation — Black John — Medicines for tropical climates — Bats — The lancet — Severe accident and recovery — A primitive spear — History of the Sloth — An inhabitant of the trees -Structure of the limbs -A domes- ticated Sloth — A life of suspense—Structure of the hair — Mark on the back — Capture of a Sloth— Release and escape— Ants — Ant- bears — The great Ant-benr— Its powers of defence— Attitude when standing — How it catches its prey — Glutinous saliva — The Vampire and its habits — Bleeding gratis — Coushie Ants — Armadillo and its habits— Tortoise -Eggs of Tortoise and Turtle .... :.'08 •i\n COXTKNTS. xv CHAl'TEK II. The Vttuilla — Meauing of the word— Small (.'ayiiian— Daddy Ciuaslii Wasps — Veiiomous reptiles aiidwijd beasts — I'oisou of the Labarri siuike— Experiment with a Labarri — The Bute-rouge- The C'hegoe — Its iiest — Ticks, and how to get rid of them — The live trilies — Their habitations and mode of life— I'iwarri — The I'ee-ay-man — A nation without a liistory — Runaway negroes— Mr. Edmoustone and his services — Wounded warriors — Valour rewarded — Education — Cliaracter of the native— Skill in hunting— A beatl almanac — 1'he sun as a compass Thinness of population 2^1'- ^47 CHAPTER III. Discovery of a large Coulacanara snake— A Bush-master — Stag swal- loweil by a Boa — Negroes and the siuike — Arrangements for the attack — Tlie snake struck — Carrying off the enemy — A snake in a bag — An unquiet night — Dissection of the snake — Daddy Quashi and his dread of snakes — Capture of a Coulacanara — Vultures and their food — Habits of Vulturis — The Aura vulture — Black vultures — Severe blisters — An imiuisitivc Jitguar Fish shooting- Goat- suckers and Campancro '2-iS — 262 CHAPTER IV. Fishing for a Caynuiu— A shark-hook useless— Sting-rays — Turtle and Guana nests — Numbers of eggs— Another failure — Meeting a Jaguar —Guard against fever — More failures — A native hook and way of baiting — The ( -ayman's dinner-bell — Caught at last — How to secure the reptile — Mounting a Cayman— An improvised bridle— Skin and teeth of the Cayman — Embarkmont for England -Collision with the Custom House :2(JiJ 28i FOUliTH JOURXKY. CHAPTER I. Tliree years in England — Sail for New York — Nomenclature — Altera- tion of scenery — A sprained ankle — Magnificent cure— Feats of climbing — Quebec — Irish emigrants — Ticondtroga — Saratoga — I'hiladelphia — White-headed Eagle — Form and Fashion— C^liuiatt —^Forebodings of the civil war- Sail fcr Antigua . . 2t?5- auJ) XVl CUNTKNTS. CHAr'J'KK il. PAdK Arrival at Antigua — Dominica— Frogp and Hunnning-birds — Martinico — Diamond rock — Barbadoes — Quashi and Venus — The Alien Bill — Sail for Dtmcrara — More about tlie Sloth— Scarlet Grosbeak — Crab-eating Owl — Sun-heron— Feet of the Tinaniou — Vampires again — The Karabimiti Humming-bird — The Monkey tribe — The Ked Howler — Koast monkey — Tlu) Nondescript — Altered physi- ognomy— Gold and silver mines — Changes pf Government — Politics —India-rubber — An ingenious deception 310—^24 ON PRESERVING BIRDS FOR CABINETS OF NATURAL HISTORY. Faults in bird-stuffing— T(ols required — Knowledge of anatomy- - Attitudes of birds— Flow of the plumage— How to skin a bird — Inserting cotton — Killing wounded birds — Stuffing a hawk — The first incision — The skin to be puslied, not pulled — Arrangement of wings — Modelling the body — Spreading the tail— Constant attention required — Strength and elasticity — Value of corrosive sublimate — Experience and patience 335 — 350 EXPIj\NATORY INDEX 351-494 TAXIDERMY 495—510 INDEX 511-5i'0 ] t i fi h t] ai PA(ir. BIOGKAPHY. CHAPTER I. ""tvSc^/of mt'"--^""* ^^""^ «'^ ^^-- More.-Twe„ty- seventULoidofW niton, and sixteenth in descent from John Waterton -Eehgious fa:th of the family. -Perseeutions of Roman CathoS a "i confiscation of the estates-Double taxes and fines.-Bi land ea" v ife -Escapades atTudhoe.-The cow and the washing.tub.-RemoS rom ::;f Tt h^^^^^^^^^ ^ ^'-« -^^ ^ Pigst^-Oood x rT2 T. ■'• " ^ ''''*'"S ^'**^ Stonyhurst.-First voya«e to Mat;r r '^'' '* Gibraltar. -Habits of the animals. - Stay Jn Ma aga.-Acqun-ement of Spanish-Projected visit to Malta.-Advei^ of the plague.-Se.zed with the disease and recovery.-Clo.in.. of the iTrA.Tl^'"' "'J carefully.planned escape.'-Pr.! a::tiol t an ir^'n ^i^P*'*:*"'"^^ seized. -Escape successful -Death of an uncle.-Discovery of an old friend.-Failinc health ~V~ t„ Demerara.-Death of his father and succession to^Llmi'ylS. the author has afforded but little account of himself but ^'""^'''y- in the volumes of his Essays, and some of his Letter, he has fortunately given a sufficiency of information to hH tf r ^ ""^''^'^ ''''^'''^^'^ '''^ ^"« birth to IS death. His was a very long life, and as he considered that life as a sacred trust, he never wasted an hour of it. Waterton was the representative of one of the most ancient English families, and was justly proud of hL ' n t 15I0GRAPIIY. Sir T. More, Pediijrcc. descent from Sir Thonifis More. A clock which had be- longed to that great ancestor is still in existence, and occupied a place of honour on the upper landing of the central staircase of Walton Hall. It is but a little lock, and has only a single hand, but it keeps time as well as ever, and the sound of its bell is so clear, that it can be heard at a considerable distance from the house. He mentions in his own quaint way, that if his ancestoi's had been as careful of their family records as Arabs are of the pedigrees of their horses, he .:'^.l^^ht have been able to trace his descent up to Adam and Eve. The following account of the Waterton family is taken from the Illudrntcd London Axws of June 17, 18G5, and has been revised by a member of the house. "The good and amiable old Lord of Walton, Charles Waterton, better known for miles around his ancestral domain as " the squire," was tlie representative of one of our most ancient untitled aristocratic families, and, what is more deserving of record in these days, in the male line. " His ancestor, Eeiner, the son of Norman of Normandy, who became Lord of Waterton in 1159, was of Saxon origin. The Watertons of Waterton became extinct in the male line in the fifteenth century, when their vast possessions passed away, through Cecilia, wife of Lord Welles and heiress of her brother, Sir Eobert Waterton, to her four daughters and co-heiresses, who married, respectively, liobert, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, Sir Tiiomas ' Dymoke, Thomas Laurence, Esq., and Sir Thomas Delaware. " Sir John Waterton was high sheriff of Lincoln in 1401, and master of the horse to Henry V. at Agincourt. Sir Lady of Eobert, his brother, whose wife was a lady of the garter, "^'^''* vvas governor of Tontefract Castle while Eichard II. was BIOGRAPHY 8 confined there : he had been master of the horse to Henry IV. Sir Hugh, another brother, held high offices of state. Charles Waterton, in whom the representation of his ancient house was vested, was descended from Richard, second son of William Waterton, Lord of Waterton, who died in 1255. In 1435 John AVaterton married the heiress of Sir William Ashenhull, and became Lord of Wdlton and Cawthorne, y«/'c uxoris. " Walton formed part of the Honour of Pontefract, of Pontc/ract which Ashenhold, a 2"xon thane, was the Lord, and which was held by his son Ailric, in the reign of S. Edward the Confessor. At the Conquest it was given by William the Norman to one of his followers, Ilbert de Lacy, who granted it back again to Ailric, father of Suein. Adam, the son of Suein, Lord of Brierley, Cawthorne, and Walton, was the founder of the priory of Monk Kretton, and left two daughters and co-heiresses, Amabil and IMatilda. The former had Walton and Cawthorne, and became the wife of William de Nevile. They had one daughter and heiress, who married Thomas, the son of Philip de Burgh. Walton and Cawthorne remained in the possession of the De Burghs for seven generations, and then passed with the co-heiress of Sir John de Burgh to Sir William Ashenhull, whose heiress conveyed it to John Waterton in 1435. "Thus Mr. Waterton was twentv-seventh Lord of Walton, and sixteenth from John Waterton, who acquired that lordship. There was a grant of free warren at Walton in the reign of Edward I., and a license to crenellate in 1333. Without reference to the numerous distinguished alliances of his ancestors, it may be interesting to state that Mr. Waterton, through distinct sources, traced his descent several times over from S. Matilda, Queen of Germany ; S. Margaret of Scotland, S. Humbert of Savoy, S. Louis of France, S. Ferdinana of Castile, and Wladimir B 2 Distin- gaished ancestors. BIOGRAPHY. Ucfnrma' tion. 1^^ il Corrci've Acts. the Great, called S. Wladiinir of Russia, and Anne, called S. Aime of lUissia. Through his grandmother he was ninth in descent from Sir Thomas More." The Watertons fared but badly in the stormy times of the Reformation, and, preferring conscience to property, tliey retained their ancient faith, but lost heavily in this world's goods. The many coercive acts against the Roman Catholics naturally had their effect, not only on those who actually lived in the time of the Reformation, but upon their successors. A Roman Catholic could not sit in parliament, he could not hold a commission in the army, he could not be a justice of the peace, he had to pay double land-tax, and to think himself fortunate if he had any land left on which taxes could be demanded. He was not allowed to keep a horse worth more than five pounds, and, more irritating than all, he had either to attend the parish church or to pay twenty pounds for every month of absence. In fact, a Roman Catholic was looked upon and treated as a wholly inferior being, and held much the same relative position to his persecutors as Jews held towards the Normans and Saxons in the times of the Crusades. Within the memory of many now living, the worst of the oppressive acts have been repealed, and Roman Catholics are now as free to follow their own form of worship as before the days of Henry VIII. They have seats in parliament and on the bench, they hold commissions both in the army and navy, and all the petty but galling inter- ferences with the details of their private life have been abolished. Still, Waterton was, during some of his best years, a personal sufferer from these acts, and they rankled too deeply in his mind to be forgotten. Hence, the repeated and mostly irrelevant allusions in his writings to Martin Luther, Henry VIII., Queen Bess, Archbishop Cranmer, BIOGRAPHY. 5 Oliver Cromwell, Charles Stuart, " Dutch William " (mostly associated with the " Hanoverian " rat and the- national debt), and other personages celebrated in history. Deeply as he felt the indignities to which ho and his family and co-religionists had been subjected, and fre- quently as he referred to them, both in writing and con- versation, he never used a worse weapon than irony, and even that was tempered by an underlying current of humour. He had felt the wounds, but he could jest at the scars. On principle he refused to qualify as Deputy-Lieu- tenant and magistrate, because he had been debarred from doing so previously to the Emancipation Act. His son, however, serves both offices. Religious' Born in 1782, he spent his childish years in the old Birth. mansion and grounds of the family, and at a very early age displayed those powers of observation, love of nature and enterprise, which enabled him to earn a place among the first order of practical naturalists both at home and abroad. At ten years of age he was placed under the Rev. A. Tudhoe. Strong's care, in a school just founded at Tudhoe, a village near Durham. From Waterton's reminiscences, his in- structor seems to have inclined to the severe order of dis- cipline, and to have been rather liberal of the birch, of which instrument Waterton had his full share. His account of storming the larder for the support of hungry inmates; of the anxious glances- which he cast in the morning to judge by the master's wig of the state of his temper ; and of being captured in the very act of getting through a barred window, is exceedingly humorous. He also relates two anecdotes, both telling against him- Tmo self, and both prospective, as it were, of the celebrated fact of riding on the back of a cayman and of his ship- IJTOGRAPIIY. The cow and thi; Vshaio Colk(jc. wreck, lie was *' dared " by his comrades to get on the back of a cow, which he did, but less fortunate than in his cayman adventure, was ignominiously thrown over her burns. lie also took it into his head to get into a wasliing-tub, and take a cruise in the horse-pond ; but lost his balance at the sudden appearance of the master, and was overturned into the muddy water. The whole of the account of his Tudhoe school ex- periences is given in a collected volume of his Essays and Letters (F. Warne & Co.), edited by Mr. N. Moore, who had the sad privilege of being with him when he met with liis fatal accident, and by his sofa when he died, about thirty-eight hours afterwards. Tudhoe then being only a preliminary school, though it has since developed into Ushaw College, Waterton was re- moved at fourteen years of age to Stonyhurst, where he was one of the first pupils. This establishment, then a comparatively small one, was conducted by the English Jesuits who had been driven from their home at Li(3ge. Of them Waterton always spoke with reverence and affection, and his life at Stonyhurst was a singularly happy one. At first, his ingrained propensity for enterprise led him into trouble, and one adventure is too good not to be narrated in his own words. His account of it is another example of the way in which he enjoyed telling an anecdote against himself. " At Stonyhurst there are boundaries marked out to the students, which they are not allowed to pass ; and there are prefects always pacing to and fro within the lines to prevent any unlucky boy from straying on the other side of them. " Notwithstanding the vigilance of the lynx-eyed guar- dians, I would now and then manage to escape, and would Stomj- harat. Out of boundf. nroGnAFiiY. bolt into a very extojisive labyrinth of yew unci liolly trees clc^e at Imnd. It was the cliosen place for animatol nature. JJirds, in particuliir, used to frequent the spacious enclosure, both to obtain food and I'lijoy security. IMany a time have I luinted the foumart and the squirrel. I once took a cut through it to a neighbouring wood, where I knew of a carrion-crow's nest. The prefect missed Dlncovrnj nie; and judging that I had gone into the labyrinth, he ""'' *'"***• gave chase without loss of time. After eluding him in cover for nearly half an hour, being hard pressed, I took away down a hedgerow. " Here (as I learned afterwards) he got a distant sight of mo ; but it was not sufficiently distinct for him to know to a certainty that I was the fugitive. I luckily succeeded in reaching he outbuildings which abutted on the college, and lay at a considerable distance from the place where I had first started. I had just time to enter the postern gate of a pigsty, when, most opportunely, I found old Joe Bowren, the brewer, bringing straw into the sty. He was Rf/iuie in more attached to me than to any other boy, for I had "^'i/''^^' known him when I was at school in the North, and had made him a present of a very fine terrier. " ' I've just saved myself, Joe,* said I ; ' cover me up with litter.' "He had hardly complied with my request, when in bounced the prefect by the same gate through which I had entered. " ' Have you seen Charles Watcrton ? ' said he, quite out of breath. " My trusty guardian answered, in a tone of voice which would have deceived anybody, ' Sir, I have not spoken a word to Charles Waterton these three days, to the best of my knowledge. " Upon this, the prefect, having lost all scent of me, BIOGRAPHY. Encapc. gave up the pursuit, and went his way. When he had disappearcci, I stole out of cover, as strongly perfumed as was old Falstaff when they had turned him out of the buck basket. " Once I had gone into the labyrinth to look into a magpie's nest, which was in a high hollow tree; and hearing the sound of voices near, I managed to get a resting-place in the tree just over the nest, and there I squatted, waiting the event. Immediately die President, two other Jesuits, and the present Mr. Salvin of Croxdale Hall, passed close under the tree without perceiving me. " The good fathers were aware of my predominant pro- pensity. Though it was innocent in itself, nevertheless it was productive of harm in its consequences, by causing me to break the college rules, and thus to give a bad example to the community at large. Wherefore, with a magnanimity, and excellent exercise of judgment, which are only the province of those who have acquired a con- summate knowledge of human nature, and who know how to turn to advantage the extraordinary dispositions of those intrusted to their care, they sagaciously managed matters in such a way as to enable me to ride my hobby to a certain extent, and still, at the same time, to prevent me from giving a bad example. " As the establishment was very large, and as it con- tained an abundance of prey, the Hanoverian rat, which fattens so well on English food, and which always con- trives to thrust its nose into every man's house when there is anything to be got, swarmed throughout the vast extent of this antiquated mansion. The ability which I showed in curtailing the career of this voracious intruder did not fail to bring me into considerable notice. The cook, the baker, the gardener, and my friend old Bowren, could all bear testimony to my progress in this line. By a mutual Insight into character. ■if i BIOGRAPHY Com- promise, understanding I was made rat-catcher to the establishment, and also fox-taker, foumart-killer, and crossbow-charger at the time when the young rooks were fledged. Moreover, I fulfilled the duties of organ-blower and football-maker with entire satisfaction to the public. " I was now at the height of my ambition. I followed up my calling with great success. The vermin disap- peared by the dozen ; the books were moderately well thumbed ; and, according to my notion of things, all went on perfectly right." One of those wise teachers did him an inestimable ser- vice. He called the lad into his room, told him that his roving disposition would carry him into distant countries, and asked him to promise that from that time he would not touch either wine or spirits. Waterton gave the promise, and kept it to the hour of his death, more than sixty years afterwards. Once, when returning from one of his foreign expeditions, he took a glass of beer at dinner, but, finding the taste, from long disuse, unpleasantly bitter, he put down the glass and never touched beer again. At the age of eighteen he left Stonyhurst with much Departure regret, and after a year spent at Walton Hall amid the siomj- pleasures of the field, he started on the first of his jour- ^"^*^- neys abroad. It was during the Peace of Amiens, and Spain was chosen as the country which he should visit. After staying a short time at Cadiz, he sailed for Malaga, and had the good fortune to visit Gibraltar just in time to see the celebrated apes. Gibraltar was the last place in Europe where apes lived wild. How they got there no one knows, but Waterton suggests in one of his Essays that they belonged originally to Africa. " Let us imagine that, in times long gone by, the pre- sent Eock of Gibraltar was united to the corresponding 10 BIOGRAPHY. '!■ I. I:' i /ipes of mountain called Ape's Hill, on the coast of Barbary ; and Gibraltar, w^q^^ ])y some tremendous convulsion of nature, a channel had been made between them, and had thus allowed the vast Atlantic Ocean to mix its waves with those of the Mediterranean Sea. " If apes had been on Gibraltar when the sudden shock occurred, these unlucky mimickers of man would have seen their late intercourse with Africa quite at an end. A rolling ocean, deep and dangerous, would hi've convinced them that there would never again be a highway overland from Europe into Africa at the Straits of Gibraltar. "Now as long as trees were allowed to grow on the Eock of Gibraltar, these prisoner-apes would have been pretty well off. But, in the lapse of time and change of circumstances, forced by * necessity's supreme command,' for want of trees, they would be obliged to take to the ground on all-fours, and to adopt a very different kind of life from that which they had hitherto pursued." The animal here mentioned is the Barbary Ape, or Magot, a species of Macacque. At Gibraltar it feeds largely on the scorpions that have their liabitations under the loose stones. I do not think that Waterton's sugges- tion as to its altered habits is carried out by facts, for the magot is quite as much at home among rocks or among trees, as are the great baboons of Southern Africa. I The Magot. have seen a number of magots in a large cage, or rather, apartment, in the open air. They were supplied with rock-work and trees, and of the two seemed to prefer the former. Their colours harmonised so completely with that of the rough stones on which they sat, that many persons passed the cage, thinking it to be untenanted, while five or six magots were seated among the rocks, and almost as motionless as the stones themselves. Generally, the Gibraltar magots keep themselves so BIOGRAPHY. n much aloof, that they cannot be seen without the aid of a telescope, but Waterton was fortunate enough to see the whole colony on the move, they being forced to leave their quarters by a change of wind. He counttd between fifty and sixty of them, some having young on their backs. After staying for more than a year in Malaga, and having apparently in the meantime acquired the Spanish language, of which he was totally ignorant when he en- tered Cadiz, but in which he was afterwards a proficient, riag^ie at he projected a visit to Malta, but was checked by a ter- " "^"' rible obstacle. This was the " black-vomit," which broke out with irresistible force, accompanied with cholera and yellow fever. The population died by thousands, and so many were the victims of these diseases that graves could not be dug fast enough to keep pace with the mortality. Large pits were dug — much like our plague-pits — and as they could not accommodate the coffins, the bodies of the dead were flung promiscuously into the pits. An uncle of Waterton died of the disease, his body was taken out of its coffin and thrown into the pit, and just beneath him lay the body of a Spanish marquis. No less than fourteen thou- sand people died in Malaga, notwithstanding that fifty thousand persons had fled from the city. Waterton did not escape scatheless. He was seized with the black-vomit, but, although it was thought that Seized unth he could not live until the following day, his great strength **<^*"**''- of constitution, aided by his simple mode of life, enabled him to conquer in the struggle. As if to add to the terrors of the time, earthquakes followed the plague, and every one who possessed another home was anxious to leave a spot which had been stricken with such plagues, and among them was Waterton. But the authorities had mean- while laid an embargo on the shipping, and it was next to 12 BIOGRAPHY. S:i! I ! I impossible to get away. At last, at the risk of imprison- An escape meiit for life, he escaped by the daring and forethought of a Swedish captain. He took on board Waterton and his younger brother, the former being entered on the ship's books as a Swedish carpenter, and the latter as a passenger. How carefully the escape was planned, and how skilfully it was executed, must be told in Waterton's own words : — " We slept on board for many successive nights, in hopes of a fair wind to carry us through the Straits. At last, a real east wind did come, and it blew with great violence. The captain, whose foresight and precautions were truly admirable, had given the strictest orders to the crew that not a word should be spoken whilst we were preparing to escape. We lay in close tier amongst forty sail of mer- chantmen. The harbour-master having come his usual rounds and found all right, passed on without making any observations. " At one o'clock, p.m., just as the governor had gone to the eastward to take an airing in his carriage, as was his custom every day, and the boats of two Spanish brigs-of- war at anchor in the harbour had landed their officers for the afternoon's amusements, our vessel worked out clear of the rest, and instantly became a cloud of canvas. The captain's countenance, which was very manly, exhibited a portrait of cool intrepidity rarely seen : had I possessed the power, I would have made him an admiral on the spot, " The vessel drove through the surf with such a press of sail that I expected every moment to see her topmasts carried away. Long before the brigs-of-war had got their officers on board, and had weighed in chase of us, we were Success, far at sea ; and when night had set in we lost sight of them for ever, our vessel passing Gibraltar at the rate of nearly eleven knots an hour." BIOGRAPHY. 18 It was indeed fortunate for Waterton that he succeeded in making his escape, for in the following spring the plague returned with increased violence, and no less than thirty- six thousand more victims perished. Waterton never dwells on the hardships and sufferings which he under- went in his travels, but he remarks that his constitution was much shaken by the Malaga illness, and that in all probability he would not have survived a second attack. Shaken by He had tried to persuade another uncle to take part in the escape, but he declined, and was carried off by the second outbreak of the pestilence. So ended Waterton 's first experience of foreign travel. It was not by any means an encouraging tour, for he had lost relatives, friends, and health, while he had gained little except a knowledge of travel, and the sight of flamingos, vultures, and apes at liberty. It was characteristic of Waterton that when he found himself at Hull, forty-four years after he started on his travels, he made inquiries about the captain of the ship in which he took his first voyage, discovered that he was alive, sought him out, and renewed the acquaintance begun so many years before. His weakened state caused him to take cold as he was sailing up the Channel ; the cold settled On the lungs, and lie was scarcely in less danger in England than he had been in Malaga. However, he again rallied, and was able once more to join the hunting-field. Still, the shock to the system had been very great, and to the end of his life, though he could endure almost any amount of heat, he was painfully sensitive to cold, and especially to cold winds. The chilly climate of England did not agree CUmat': of with his health, and he found himself again obliged "^ "" to gD abroad. He longed, he said, " to bask in a warmer sun." 14 BIOGRAPHY. Voyage to Demerara. .1 I i ii Some estates in Demerara being in possession of the family, Waterton went to superintend them, and in the interval before starting, made the personal acquaintance of Sir Joseph Banks, who at once appreciated the powers which the young traveller was afterwards to develop. He gave Waterton a piece of most excellent advice, namely, to come home for a time at least once in three years. He continued to administer the estates for eight years, when, as both his father and uncle, the proprietors of the estates, were dead, he handed over the property to those who had a right to it, and thence began his world-famed Wanderings, the account of which will be given exactly as he wrote it; without the change or omission of a syllable, or the addition of a note. 'I CHAPTER II. .rouniey to Orinoco with dcspatclies.— Adventure with a venomous snake. —An involuntary bath. — A huge cayman. — The Labarri snake.— Dinner party in Angostura.— A too liberal table.— The Governor's uniform.— Dining in shirt-sleeves.— A more sensible uniform.- Pub- lication of the ?rawrfcn?t(7s.— Reception by the critics.— Sydney Smith. — Swainson's criticism upon the cayman— Truth in the garb of fiction. — Waterton's style of writing.— Quotations.— His favourite authors.— Sense of humour.— How he answered the critics.— Charge of eccen- tricity.—How he was eccentric— Travels on the Continent.— Ship- wreck.— Gallant conduct of Prince Canino.— Lost by gold.— Fall into Dover harbour and narrow escape.— The lancet and calomel.— Judge- ment of the vampire.— A bad wound.— Bare feet and bad pavement.— Mode of cure.— Accidents at home.— Gunshot wound.— Severe fall and dangerous injuries.— Crowther the bone-setter,— A painful operation.— Ultimate recovery.— A characteristic warning. During his stay in Demerara, he was selected as the Despatches bearer of despatches to the Spanish Government i^^^OHiwco. Orinoco, and received the first commission which had been held oy any one bearing the name of Waterton since the days of Queen Mary ; the commission being dated August 2, 1808. Wliile passing up the Orinoco river in the fulfilment of this mission, an adventure occurred which had well- nigh deprived the world of the Wanderings. " During the whole of the passage up the river, there was a grand feast for the eyes and ears of an ornithologist. In the swampy parts of the wooded islands, which abound in this miglity river, we saw waterfowl innumerable; and K, DIOGRArHY. Tropical birds. I'll' Wounded Labarri. when we had reached the higher grounds it was quite charming to observe the immense quantities of parrots and scarlet aras which passed over our heads. The loud harsh screams of the bird called the horned screamer were heard far and near ; and I could frequently get a sight of this extraordinary bird as we passed along; but I never managed to bring one down with the gun, on account of the difficulty of approaching it. " While we were wending our way up the river, an accident happened of a somewhat singular nature. There was a large labarri snake coiled up in a bush, which was close to us. T fired at it, and wounded it so severely that it could not escape. Being wishful to dissect it, I reached over into the bush, with the intention to seize it by the throat, and convey it aboard. The Spaniard at the tiller, on seeing this, took the alarm, and immediately put his helm aport. This forced the vessel's head to the stream, and I was left hanging to the bush with the snake close to me, not having been able to recover my balance as the vessel veered from the land. I kept firm hold of the branch to which I was clinging, and was three times overhead in the water below, presenting an easy prey to any alligator that might have been on the look-out for a meal. " Luckily a man who was standing near the pilot, on seeing what had happened, rushed to the helm, seized hold of it, and put it hard a-starboard, in time to bring the head of the vessel back again. As they were pulling me up, I saw that the snake was evidently too far gone to do mischief ; and so I laid hold of it and brought it aboard with me, to the horror and surprise of the crew. It measured eight feet in length. As soon as I had got a change of clothes, I killed it, and made a dissection of the head. " T would sometimes go ashore in the swamps to shoot I ' ii BIOGRAPHY. 17 the ling hoot maroudies, which are soinewlmt related to the pheasant ; but they were very shy, and it required considerable address to get within shot of them. In these little excursions I now and then smarted for my pains. IMoro than once I got among some hungry leeches, whicli made pretty free with my legs. The morning alter I had had the adventure with the Labarri snake, a cayman slowly Cayman. passed our vessel. All on board agreed that this tyrant of the fresh waters could not be less than thirty feet long." I onght to state that the Labarri snake here mentioned is one of the most venomous serpents of Guiana, but as it will be fully described in a subsequent page, I shall say no more about it at present. Waterton never feared snakes, even though knowing that their bite is certain death, but the coxswain of the boat, not having such nerve, might well be excused for taking alarm. A rather amusing incident took place when he had reached his destination. " On arriving at Angostura, the capital of the Orinoco, Angostura. we were received with great politeness by the Governor. Nothing could surpass the hospitality of the principal inhabitants. They never seemed satisfied unless we were partaking of the dainties which their houses afforded. Indeed, we had feasting, dancing, and music in super- abundance. " The Governor, Don Felipe de Ynciarte, was tall and The corpulent. On our first introduction, he told me that he (Governor. expected the pleasure of our company to dinner every day during our stay in Angostura. We had certainly every reason to entertain, very high notions of the plentiful supply of good things which Orinoco afforded ; for, at the first day's dinner, I counted more than forty dishes of fish and flesh. The governor was superbly c 18 HIOGUAPIIY. ■t Ikmij attired in a full uniform of goltl and blue, the weight uniform. ^£ which alonc, in that hot climate, and at such a repast, was enough to have melted him down. He had not half got through his soup before be began visibly to liquefy. I looked at him, and bethought me of the old saying, * How I sweat ! said the mutton-chop to the gridiron.' " He now became exceedingly uneasy ; and I myself had cause for alarm ; but our sensations arose from very different causes. He, no doubt, already felt that the tightness of his uniform, and the weight of the orna- ments upon it, would never allow him to get through that day's dinner with any degree of comfort to him- self; I, on the other hand (who would have been amply satisfied with one dish well done) was horrified at the appalling sight of so many meats before me. Good- breeding whispered to me, and said ; ' Try a little of most of them.' TemperMvce replied, 'Do so at your peril ; and for your ovor-strained courtesy, you shall have yellow-fever before midnight.' mat and " At last the Governor said to me, in Spanish, ' Don Carlos, this is more than man can bear. No puedo sufrir tanto. Pray pull off your coat, and tell your companions to do the same ; and I'll show them the example.' On saying this, he stripped to the waistcoat ; and I and my friends and every officer at table did the same. The next day, at dinner-time, we found his Excellency clad in a uniform of blue Salempore, slightly edged with gold lace." End of IVandcr- ings. His tropical Wanderings came to an end in 1825, in which year he published the now famous volume. At first, he received from the critics much the same treat- ment as did Bruce and Le Vaillant. Critics would not believe that Bruce ever saw a living ox cut up for food, or niOGlJAPlIY. Mi The critics. Sjidiiey Smith. that the Abyssinians ate Leef raw in preference to cooked. Neither would they believe that Lc Vaillant ever chased a giraffe, because, as they said, there was no such animal, and that therefore, Le Vaillant could not have seen it. Similarly, some of Waterton's statements were received with a storm of aerision, more especially his account of the sloth and its strange way of living ; of the mode of liandling deadly serpents, and above all, his ride on tlie back of a cayman. There is however one honourable exception in the person of Sydney Smith, who devoted one of his wittiest and happiest essays to a review of the Wanderings and fully recognized the extraordinary powers of Waterton. According to Sydney Smith, Waterton " appears in early life to have been seized with an unconquerable aversion to Piccadilly, and to that train of meteorological questions and answers which forms the great staple of polite con- versation. . . "The sun exhausted him by day, the mosquitos bit him by night, but on went Mr. Charles Waterton happy that he had left his species far away, and is at last in the midst of his blessed baboons," Nothing can be better than Sydney Smith's summary of the life of a sloth, who " moves suspended, rests suspended, Suspense. sleeps suspended, and passes his whole life in suspense, like a young clergyman distantly related to a bishop." Or, than his simile of the box-tortoise and the boa, who " swallows him shell and all, and consumes him slowly in the interior, as the Court of Chancery does a Chancery. large estate." Or, what can be happier than the turn he gives to Waterton's account of the toucan ? " How astonishing are the freaks and fancies of nature ! To what purpose, we say, is a bird placed in the forests of c 2 20 THOOUAPIIV. W i '. I Ciiyoinio, with a bill a yard lorif,', making a iioisn like a Toucan. I'lipjiy dn^', and layiiig ogt,'3 in hollow trees ? The Toueans, to ho sure, might retort — to what purpose were gentlo- men in ISond Street created ? To what i)urpoHO were certain foolish, prating members of Tarliament created? pestering the House of ('ommons with their ignorance and folly, and impeding the business of the country. There is no end of such questions. So we will not enter into the metaphysics of the toucan." Perhaps the oddest thing to bo found in criticism is that which is given in Lardner's Cahlnct Cydopalia. AVaterton's statements having been proved to be true, the writer now turns round, and tries to show that after all there was nothing very wonderful in the achieve- ment. " The crocodile in fact, is only dangerous when in the water. Upon land it is a slow-paced and even timid animal, so that an active boy armed with a small hatchet might easily despatch one. There is no great prowess therefore required to ride on the back of a poor cayman after it has been secured, or perhaps wounded ; and a modern writer might well have spared the recital of his feats in this way upon the cayman of Guiana, had he not Truth in been influenced in this and numberless other instances by fiction ^^^^ greatest possible love of the marvellous, and a constant propensity to dress truth in the garb of fiction." I'utting aside the fact that the writer received some of his earliest instructions from Waterton, who was always ready to impart his knowledge to those who seemed likely to make a good use of it, the assertion is absolutely unaccountable. No man was less influenced by a love of the marvellous, and none less likely to " dress truth in the garb of fiction." His knowledge of Nature was almost wholly obtained UKKJIJAPIIY 21 from iipr«onal observation, and not one sini^lc stiitetnent of r<'m>ruil liis lui8 ever been provetl to be cx.igfgerated, much less *"/j^',|"' shown to be false. He nnght sometimes discredit the statements of others. For example, he never couhl believe that any races of men could be cannibals from choice, and not from necessity or superstition. lUit, whether at hoino or abroad, his investigations were so close and patient, and his conclusions so just, that he is now acknowledged to be a guide absolutely safe in any department of Natural History which came within hi^ sco]»e. No one now would think of disputing Wuterton's word. If he denied or even doubted the statements of others, his doubts would have groat weight, and could lead to a closer investigation of the subject. Ihit, if lie asserted anything to be a fact, his assertion would bo accepted without scruple. As to the meaning of the sentence about truth and fiction, I fail to understand it, except as a poetical way of rounding a paragraph. In the first place, if truth be truth, it is essentially opposed to fiction, and cannot borrow her garb. In the next place, the writer gives no instance of this remarkable performance, except a reference to the capture of the cayman. Now, nothing can be simpler or more straightforward than Waterton's account of the whole transaction. lie does not glorify himself, nor boast of his courage. He leaped astride the animal, being sure, from a knowledge of its structure, that he could not be reached by the cayman's only weapons, namely, its teeth and its tail, and he never repeated the feat. Even the peculiar style in which Waterton wrote, could not justify such a charge as was made by Swainson. It was, perliaps unconsciously, formed on that of Sterne, many of whose phrases are employed almost verbatim. Then, his mind was saturated Avith Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Style of writiwj. 09 BIOGHAPIIY. Quotation, Cei'vaiites, Washington Irving (himself a disciple of Sterne), Chevy Chase, and literature of a similar character. In tlie days when he first took up the pen, it was the rather pedantic custom to introduce frequent quotations fi'om the classics into writings, speeches, and sermons, and Waterton followed the custom of the day. Moreover, it is an old Stony hurst custom to employ such quotations both in conversation and writing, and Waterton could never shake it off. But, when he came to descriptions of scenes in which he had taken part, nothing could be more simple, terse, and graphic, than his style, especially when his sense of liumour was aroused. Take for example the very scene which Swainson assailed. There is no fine language in it. There are a few of the inevitable quotations, which be omitted with advantage, but all the descrip- couched in the simplest and most forcible without a redundant word. A better word- picture does not exist in our language. We see before us the captured cayman struggling in the water, the mixed assembly of South American savages, African negroes, a Creole, and an Englishman, all puzzled to know how to get the beast ashore without damaging it, or being wounded themselves. Then, there is the amusing cowardice of " Daddy Quashi," the negro, who ran away when suspecting danger, hung in tlie rear wlien forced to confront it, and, when it was over, " played a good finger and thumb at breakfast." Water- ton's strong sense of humour prevails throughout the story, but there is not a tinge of vanity. He explains his firm seat on the furious animal's back by mentioning that he The hunt' had hunted for several years with Lord Darlington's fox- hounds, but he does not tell the reader that in that cele- brated hunt he was considered, next to Lord Darlington, as tlie best horseman in the field. might tion is English, Daddji Quashi. inij field. M BIOGRAPHY. 23 Jg rm he ■OK- It is illustrative of Watcrton's character that when the reviewers impugned his veracity, he trouhlecl liimself very- little about them, saying that tlie creatures whicli he had described would one day find their way to the Zoological Gardens, and then that everybody would see that he had but spoken the truth. So, when the first sloth arrived, Waterton had quite a little triumph over his detractors, Indeed, the probability was, that, after reading one of these reviews, he w^ould invite the assailant to Walton Hall, offer him the good old Englisli hospitality of that place, and settle the point of dispute in friendly controversy. But, little as he cared for such attacks, he was deeply Eccevtri- stung by the epithet * eccentric ' which one writer applied "'y- to him, and never could forget it. Yet, had he not been eccentric, he could not have been the Charles Waterton so long known and loved. It was perhaps eccentric to have a strong religious faith, and act up to it. It was eccentric, as Thackeray said, to " dine on a crust, live as chastely as a hermit, and give his all to the poor." It was eccentric to come into a large estate as a young man and to have lived to extreme old age with- out having wasted an hour or a shilling. It was eccentric to give bountifully and never allow his name to appear in a subscription-list. It was eccentric to be saturated with the love of nature. It might be eccentric never to give dinner-jiarties, preferring to keep an always open house for his friends ; but it nv.is a very agreeable kind of ec- centricity. It was eccentric to be ever childlike, but never childish. We might multiply instances of his eccentricity to any extent, and may safely say that the world would be much better tlian it is if such eccentricity were more common. It formed one of the peculiar charms of his society, and he was utterly unconscious of it. He thought himself the 24 BIOGIJAPIIV. ill < ! I nil H ' J ill it- Thour/ht- fulness. most common-place of human beings, and yet no one could be in bis company for five minutes witbout feeling bimself in tbe presence of no ordinary man. He bad no idea tliat be was doing anytbing out of the general course of things if be asked a visitor to accompany him to the top of a lofty tree to look at a hawk's nest ; or if he built bis stables so that the horses might converse with each other after their work was over, or bis kennel so that bis bounds should be able to see everything that was going on. Even the pigs came in for their share of bis kindly tboughtfulness. He used to say that in a wild state, swine were not dirty beasts, but that when they are penned into small sties, as is usually the case, they have no op- portunity of being clean. So he bad his sties built of stone, with a stone platform in front, sloping and chan- nelled so as to be easily and thoroughly cleansed, and having a southern aspect so that the pigs might enjoy the beams of that sun which their master loved so much himself. On these warm stone slabs they used to lie in a half- dozing state, and Waterton often used to point out tbe multitudinous wasps that came flying into tbe sties and picked off the flies from the bodies of the drowsy pigs. If the sties at Tudhoe bad been like those at Walton Hall > be would not have issued from them in the highly per- fumed state which lie so amusingly describes. See p. 6. Some persons thought that his rooted abhorrence of ifourning. mourning was eccentric. If so, the eccentricity is now shared by many, including myself, who have abandoned on principle tbe black crape, gloves, hat-bands, mutes, black feathers, black-edged writing paper, and other conventional signs of grief. Waterton however carried tbe principle still further, and could never be induced to wear even a black coat of any 1 0 T T mOGKAPIIY. 25 )lgS. [all per- 6. te of now loned Utes, lother r, and any kind on any occasion. He usually wore a blue body-coat Dress. with gold — not gilt buttons, but at the urgent request of the poHce, who told him that his costl}'' buttons were a perpetual anxiety to them wlienever he went to Wakefield, he at last consented to lay them aside, except at home, and have his buttons covered with bhie cloth. This peculiarity once caused him to lose the privilege of an introduction to the Pope (Gregory XVI.). Etiquette demanded that if uniform could not be worn, the presentee must appear in ordinary evening dress. Now, had Water- ton qualified as Deputy-Lieutenant, he could have followed the usual custom and worn that unifornj, but as he had refused to do so, evening-dress was the only alternative. But he would not wear ' frac-nero,' and so lost the presentation. On another occasion however, the difficulty was evaded in a very characteristic manner. He bethought himself of his commission in the Demerara militia ; but he had no uniform, and there was no time to make one. Some naval Uniform. friends were with him. Captain ]\Iarryatt being, I believe, one of them, and with Waterton's blue coat and gold buttons, surmounted with a pair of naval epaulettes, and with the addition of a naval captain's cocked hat and sword, they composed an amusingly miscellaneous uniform. One friend wickedly suggested that spurs would have an impos- ing effect in connection with the naval hat and epaulettes, but he was not to be caught in so palpable a snare. Of his travels on the Continent, there is but little to say as they are related at some length in the three volumes of Essays. It is remarkable, by the way, that on the Conti- nent, as well as in England, he met with injuries far more severe than any which he received in Guiana. Twice he was nearly drowned. Essays. 26 BIOGRAPHY. Shipwreck m I' li i! ill! Fall into the harbour. On one occasion he was on board a vessel named the Pollux, and bound from Civit;i Vecchia to T/eghorn. In tlie night of the same day, an accident befell the Pollux, almost exactly resembling that in which the ill-fated Princess Alice was destroyed. The night was peculiarly calm, the stars were shining brightly, and everything ap- peared to be in security, when all on board were startled from their sleep by a violent shock. A steamer, named the Mongibcllo, from Leghorn to Civita Vecchia, had run into the Pollux, and cut her nearly in two, the cutwater of the Mongihcllo having actually forced its way into Water- ton's cabin. Fortunately for the passengers, most of them, including Waterton and his family, were sleeping on deck. As is too often the case under similar circumstances, the officials on board the offending vessel lost their presence of mind, and were actually sheering off from the wreck. Had it not been for the courage and skill of Prince Canino (Charles Bonaparte) the loss of life must have been very great. He was a passenger on board the Monrjibcllo, knocked the steersman off the wheel, took the helm himself, and laid the vessel alongside the sinking Pollux. Only one life was lost, that of a man who had a large sum of gold sewed in a belt round his waist, and was drawn under water by the weight. In this shipwreck, although Waterton's life was saved, he and his party lost their wardrobes, money in cash, and letters of credit, books, writings, passports, and works of art ; the last mentioned loss being irreparable. Fever and dysentery were the results of the shipwreck, and did not loosen their hold until long afterwards. Another time, he fell into Dover harbour while about to embark on board the steamer. Any one who has walked on cliffs on a dark night is aware of the difficulty of distinguish- / ,1 BIOGRAPHY. 27 avecl, and ■ks of and d not luish- ingland from water. At Margate I was once within a single Dar^icrs step of falling over the cliff, whose edges corresponded so ^■^ '^ '■"^' exactly in colour with the sea and rocks below, that, had it not been for the information conveyed by a stick, I must have been instantly killed. Several persons, indeed, have lately been killed at the same spot. Thinking that he was at the gangway, he stepped over the edge of the quay, and fell fifteen feet into the water sinking under the paddle-box, and only finding support by catching at the wheel itself. Thence he was rescued ; but the cold winds blowing on him as he stood wet and dripping on the deck of the steamer, brought on a violent attack of fever. He had recourse to his usual double remedy, the lancet and calomel, and recovered sufficiently to attend the great religious festival at Bruges, for the sake of which he had left England. His reliance on the lancet and calomel was almost in- credible. In these times the former is hardly ever used, a\id the latter has been abandoned by a great number of medical men. But in Waterton's early days these were the principal remedies, and he never lost faith in them. When I last saw him in 18G3, he told me that he had been bled one hundred and sixty times, mostly by his own hand. The amount of blood which he would take at a tir ■» from his spare and almost emaciated frame was positive! j' Lancet and horrifying. On this occasion he lost twenty- five ounces '^^ ' of blood, and next morning took twenty grains of jalap, mixed with ten grains of calomel. It was no wonder that the vampire bat of Guiana would never bite him, though he left his foot invitingly out of the hammock in order to attract it. He used to complain tliat the bat never could be induced to bleed liira, though it would attack a man Vampire. lying in the next hammock ; but he might have antici- r. 28 . BI0G1L\PIIY Broken glass. Barefoot walk to Rome, M !Ri. patecl that the vampire would know Letter than to try to suck blood from a man who was constantly bleeding himself. Besides these accidents by water, he twice suffered severe injuries when travelling by land. In 1818, while returning over Mount Cenis, he fancied 'hat the baggage on the top of the carriage was loose, and mounted on the wheel t*:- dxamine it. Unfortunately his left knee broke the window, and two large pieces of glass ran into it just above the knee-joint. In spite of the darkness, he conti'ived to get out the two pieces of glass, bound up the wound with his cravat, cut off his coat pocket, and had it filled with j)oultice at the nearest house, and, although repeatedly attacked with fever, he reached Paris and there gained strength to return to England. The knee remained stiff for two years, but by continual exercise without the aid of a walking-stick, the limb recovered its normal flexi- bility. The next accident might have been nearly as seriou3, and is here given in his own words : — " I had a little adventure on the road from Baccano to Eome not worth relating, but Avhich I deem necessary to be introduced here in order that some of my friends in the latter city, and others in England, may not give me credit for an affair which deserves no credit at all. These good friends had got it into their heads that I had reached liome after walking barefoot for nearly twenty miles, in order to show my respect and reverence for the sacred capital of the Christian world. AVould that my motive i|iad been as pure as represented. The sanctity of the churches, the remains of holy martyrs which enrich them, the relics of canonised saints placed in such profusion throughout them, might well induce a Catholic traveller to adopt this easy and simple mode of showing his religious I ', BIOGRAPHY. 29 IglOllS feeling. But, iinfortunatclp, the idea never entered my mind at tlie time. I had no other motives than those of easy walking and self-enjoyment. The affair which caused the talk took place as follows : — " We had arrived at Baccano in the evening, and whilst Baccano, we were at tea, I proposed to our excellent friend Mr. Fletcher, who had joined us at Cologne, that we should leave the inn at four the next morning on foot to Rome, and secure lodgings for the ladies, who would follow us in the carriage after a nine-o'clock breakfast. Having been accustomed to go without shoes month after month in the rugged forests of Guiana, I took it for granted that I could do the same on the pavement of his Holiness Pope Gregory the Sixteenth, never once retlecting that some fifteen years had elapsed from the time that I could go barefooted with comfort and impunity ; during the interval, however, the sequel will show that the soles of my feet had undergone a considerable alteration. " We rose at three the morning after, and having put a shoe and a sock or half-stocking into each pocket of my coat, we left the inn at Baccano for Eome just as the hands of our watches poi- ted to the hour of four. Mr. Fletcher, having been born in North Britain, ran no risk of injuring his feet by an act of imprudence. The sky was cloudless and the morning frosty, and the planet Venus shone upon us as though she had been a little moon. '■' Whether the severity of the frost, which was more than commonly keen, or the hardness of the pavement, or perhaps both conjoined, had deprived my feet of sensibility, I had no means of ascertaining ; but this is certain, I went on merrily for several miles without a suspicion of anything being wrong, until we halted to admire more particularly the transcendent splendour of the morning planet, and then I saw blood on the pavement ; my right foot was bleeding Wounded foot. 30 lUOGHAPIIY. ■' ! ill ! ' RfjKiiring apace, and, on turning the sole uppermost, I perceived a magca. ^^^^^g ^^ jag^'od ilesli liangiug by a string. Seeing that there would be no chance of replacing the damaged part with success, I twisted it off, and then took a survey of the foot by the light which the stars afforded. " Mr. Fletcher, horror-struck at what he saw, proposed immediately that I should sit down by the side of the road, and there wait for the carriage, or take advantage of any vehicle which might come up. Aware that the pain would be excessive so soon as the lacerated parts would become stiff by inaction, I resolved at once to push on to Rome, wherefore, putting one shoe on the sound foot, which, by the way, had two unbroken blisters on it, I forced the wounded one into the other, and off we started for Rome, which we reached after a very uncomfortable walk. The injured foot had two months' confinement to the sofa before the damage was repaired. " It was this unfortunate adventure which gave rise to the story of my walking barefooted into Rome, and which gained me a reputation by no means merited on my part." Two more serious accidents occurred within his own domains. He was out shooting in 1824, when the gun exploded just as he was ramming the wad on the powder. For- tunately the charge of shot had not been put into the gun. As it was, the ramrod was driven completely through the forefinger of the right hand, between the knuckle and first joint, severing the tendons, but not breaking the bone, though the ignited wadding and powder followed the ramrod through the wound. He procured some warm water at a neighbouring house, washed the wound quite clean, replaced the tendons in their proper positions, and bound up the finger, taking care to give it its proper form. Of course the lancet was used freely, and by dint of Accident while shooting. I ! k ( BIOGHAPIIY. 81 gun. poulticinrf ind constant care, the full use of tlio finger was restorcu. Tlie other accident might liave caused his death on the spot, and was a far more severe one than that hy which he afterwards lost his life. In 1850, he being then in his sixty-ninth year, he was mounted on a ladder for the purpose of pruning tlie branches Fall while of a pear-tree. The ladder, which was merely propped P''"'"'^'"'^- against a machine of his own invention, slipped sideways, and came to the ground, Waterton having fallen nearly twenty feet. He had been repeatedly warned that the machine, not having side stays, must fall if the weight were thrown on one side. But he still persisted in using it, although, shortly before the accident, his son had left the spot, saying that he could not be responsible for an accident which he foresaw but could not prevent. He was partially stunned, and his arm greatly injured, the heavy ladder and machine having fallen into the hollow and smashed the elbow-joint. His first act on recovering himself was to use his lancet and take away thirty ounces of blood. Unfortunately a second accident happened almost immediately after the first, a servant having thoughtlessly withdrawn a chair just as he was seating himself, and so causing a second shock, and the loss of thirty ounces more blood. For some time, he lay insensible and was apparently A second dying fast, but his iron constitution at length prevailed. fall. and he was restored to life, though not to health. The injured arm was gradually dwindling in size, and gave continual pain, causing loss of sleep and appetite. He had at last resolved on having the arm amputated, when his gamekeeper advised him to try a certain bone-setter living at Wakefield, who was celebrated for his cures. ■BIW.I '.■ ■— '^-K i* ^ if' 1'^ 32 lUOGRAPIlY. The Bone sdkr. AVatortoii took liis advice and sent for tlic practitioner, AFr. .]. Crowtlier, who decided that he could cure the in- jured limb, but at the expense of great pain. The wrist was mucli injured, a callus had formed in the elbow-joint, and the shoulder was partially dislocated. After a time spent in rubbing, pulling, and twisting, he got the shoulder and wrist into their places, and then, grasping the arm "just above the elbow with one hand, and below it with the other, he smashed to atoms, by main force, the callus Painful which had formed in the dislocated joint, the elbow itself operation, cracking as though the interior parts of it had consisted of tobacco-pipe shanks." The process was rough, and gave inexpressible pain, but it was efl'ectual, sleep and appetite returned, and health was soon restored. From this accident Waterton drew a characteristic warn- ing, namely, never to use ladders when climbing trees. One, if not the principal reason of his cessation from tropical exi)lorations, was his marriage. In 1829, he married Anne, a daughter of the Charles Edmonstone^ of Demerara, who is often mentioned in the Wanderings as a kind and true friend. His marriage has a curiously romantic history. Mr. Cha,rles Edmonstone, one of the Edmonstones of Broich in Scotland, had previously gone to Demerara, where he met a fellow-countryman, William Eeid of Banffshire, who had settled there, and had married Minda Princess (generally called Princess IMinda), daughter of an Arowak chief. Charles Edmonstone married Helen, daughter of William Eeid and JMinda, and they had several children, one of whom, Anne Mary, became the wife of Waterton. He met her in Demerara, while she was yet a child, and made up his mind that she should be his wife. Mr. Edmonstone afterwards returned with his family to Marriage, Minda. I I'.lotillAI'IIV. m 13 of Irara, of anda )\vak jr of Idren, Irton. and ilyto i 1 i Scotland, and piircliased Cardruss Tark, an old I'auiily estate tluit had formed a portion ^t: -=te3 \V\r.l(lN II Ml., V\ti'\\ llli: I. AUK. ,- (i I Thi: old honsc. Very few houses will be found with an oak-panelled hall ninety feet in length. Yet all this was destroyed ; part of the oak panelling was used in l)uilding a pigeon-house, and the rest was burned. Such was the stale of architecture in the days " when George the Third was king." Unfortunately, no paintings or engravings of this most memorable house are in existence, though there are in- numerable plates of the "Seats of the Nobility and HlOUKAPllV. 87 most Ire in- {\nil Gentry," most of them in the style satii'i/ed by llof^arth in Ills " Marriage h hi Mode." In fact, the architecture of that era is on a par with tlie classical costumes of the stage. I liave possessed for many years a volume of Shakspeare in which there is a portrait of an actor in the part of Troilus. He is classically costumed as a Trojan in a tiglit scale cuirass, a sliort cloak, knee breeches and silk stockings, Eoman buskins, a tie wig, a helmet with a vast plume of ostrich feathers, and he is bi(hling defiance to Diomedes M'ith a toy Moorish sword which would liardly cut off the head of a wax doll. So if Waterton had desired architectural magnificence, he could not have obtained it, except by i)ulling the house down, and building another. ]iut, he had no taste for such magnificence, his life being one of rigid, not to say severe, simplicity. His personal expenses were such as could have been covered by the wages of one of the labourers on his own estate. His single room had neither bed nor carpet. Ho always lay on the bare boards with a blanket wrapped round him, and with an oaken block by way of a pillow. As has been mentioned, he never touched fermented liquids of any kind, and he took but very little meat. "When I knew him, he always retired to his room at 8 r M. Few men of his age would have chosen a room at the very top of a large house; but stairs were nothing to Waterton, whose liml)s were strengthened by perpetual tree climbing. Punctually at three a.m., being roused by the crowing of a huge Cochin China cock, which he called his ' morning gun,' he rose irom his plank couch, lighted his fire, lay down for half an hour, and was always dressed and closely, or as he called it, ' clean ' shaven, by four, when he went into the private chapel which was A rch ilcc- tuiv- (tad the stuije. Simplicity of lif,: The »i(inii)i