The ship was the _Principe Umberto_, bound from Callao to Genoa; she
had carried a number of emigrants to Rio, had gone thence to Callao,
where she had taken in a cargo of guano, and was now on her way home.
The captain was a certain Giovanni Gianni, a native of Sestri; he has
kindly allowed me to refer to him in case the truth of my story should
be disputed; but I grieve to say that I suffered him to mislead himself
in some important particulars. I should add that when we were picked up
we were a thousand miles from land.
As soon as we were on board, the captain began questioning us about the
siege of Paris, from which city he had assumed that we must have come,
notwithstanding our immense distance from Europe. As may be supposed, I
had not heard a syllable about the war between France and Germany, and
was too ill to do more than assent to all that he chose to put into my
mouth. My knowledge of Italian is very imperfect, and I gathered little
from anything that he said; but I was glad to conceal the true point of
our departure, and resolved to take any cue that he chose to give me.
The line that thus suggested itself was that there had been ten or
twelve others in the balloon, that I was an English Milord, and
Arowhena a Russian Countess; that all the others had been drowned, and
that the despatches which we had carried were lost. I came afterwards
to learn that this story would not have been credible, had not the
captain been for some weeks at sea, for I found that when we were
picked up, the Germans had already long been masters of Paris. As it
was, the captain settled the whole story for me, and I was well
content.
In a few days we sighted an English vessel bound from Melbourne to
London with wool. At my earnest request, in spite of stormy weather
which rendered it dangerous for a boat to take us from one ship to the
other, the captain consented to signal the English vessel, and we were
received on board, but we were transferred with such difficulty that no
communication took place as to the manner of our being found. I did
indeed hear the Italian mate who was in charge of the boat shout out
something in French to the effect that we had been picked up from a
balloon, but the noise of the wind was so great, and the captain
understood so little French that he caught nothing of the truth, and it
was assumed that we were two persons who had been saved from shipwreck.
When the captain asked me in what ship I had been wrecked, I said that
a party of us had been carried out to sea in a pleasure-boat by a
strong current, and that Arowhena (whom I described as a Peruvian lady)
and I were alone saved.
There were several passengers, whose goodness towards us we can never
repay. I grieve to think that they cannot fail to discover that we did
not take them fully into our confidence; but had we told them all, they
would not have believed us, and I was determined that no one should
hear of Erewhon, or have the chance of getting there before me, as long
as I could prevent it. Indeed, the recollection of the many falsehoods
which I was then obliged to tell, would render my life miserable were I
not sustained by the consolations of my religion. Among the passengers
there was a most estimable clergyman, by whom Arowhena and I were
married within a very few days of our coming on board.
After a prosperous voyage of about two months, we sighted the Land’s
End, and in another week we were landed at London. A liberal
subscription was made for us on board the ship, so that we found
ourselves in no immediate difficulty about money. I accordingly took
Arowhena down into Somersetshire, where my mother and sisters had
resided when I last heard of them. To my great sorrow I found that my
mother was dead, and that her death had been accelerated by the report
of my having been killed, which had been brought to my employer’s
station by Chowbok. It appeared that he must have waited for a few days
to see whether I returned, that he then considered it safe to assume
that I should never do so, and had accordingly made up a story about my
having fallen into a whirlpool of seething waters while coming down the
gorge homeward. Search was made for my body, but the rascal had chosen
to drown me in a place where there would be no chance of its ever being
recovered.
My sisters were both married, but neither of their husbands was rich.
No one seemed overjoyed on my return; and I soon discovered that when a
man’s relations have once mourned for him as dead, they seldom like the
prospect of having to mourn for him a second time.
Accordingly I returned to London with my wife, and through the
assistance of an old friend supported myself by writing good little
stories for the magazines, and for a tract society. I was well paid;
and I trust that I may not be considered presumptuous in saying that
some of the most popular of the _brochures_ which are distributed in
the streets, and which are to be found in the waiting-rooms of the
railway stations, have proceeded from my pen. During the time that I
could spare, I arranged my notes and diary till they assumed their
present shape. There remains nothing for me to add, save to unfold the
scheme which I propose for the conversion of Erewhon.
That scheme has only been quite recently decided upon as the one which
seems most likely to be successful.
It will be seen at once that it would be madness for me to go with ten
or a dozen subordinate missionaries by the same way as that which led
me to discover Erewhon. I should be imprisoned for typhus, besides
being handed over to the straighteners for having run away with
Arowhena: an even darker fate, to which I dare hardly again allude,
would be reserved for my devoted fellow-labourers. It is plain,
therefore, that some other way must be found for getting at the
Erewhonians, and I am thankful to say that such another way is not
wanting. One of the rivers which descends from the Snowy Mountains, and
passes through Erewhon, is known to be navigable for several hundred
miles from its mouth. Its upper waters have never yet been explored,
but I feel little doubt that it will be found possible to take a light
gunboat (for we must protect ourselves) to the outskirts of the
Erewhonian country.
I propose, therefore, that one of those associations should be formed
in which the risk of each of the members is confined to the amount of
his stake in the concern. The first step would be to draw up a
prospectus. In this I would advise that no mention should be made of
the fact that the Erewhonians are the lost tribes. The discovery is one
of absorbing interest to myself, but it is of a sentimental rather than
commercial value, and business is business. The capital to be raised
should not be less than fifty thousand pounds, and might be either in
five or ten pound shares as hereafter determined. This should be amply
sufficient for the expenses of an experimental voyage.
When the money had been subscribed, it would be our duty to charter a
steamer of some twelve or fourteen hundred tons burden, and with
accommodation for a cargo of steerage passengers. She should carry two
or three guns in case of her being attacked by savages at the mouth of
the river. Boats of considerable size should be also provided, and I
think it would be desirable that these also should carry two or three
six-pounders. The ship should be taken up the river as far as was
considered safe, and a picked party should then ascend in the boats.
The presence both of Arowhena and myself would be necessary at this
stage, inasmuch as our knowledge of the language would disarm
suspicion, and facilitate negotiations.
We should begin by representing the advantages afforded to labour in
the colony of Queensland, and point out to the Erewhonians that by
emigrating thither, they would be able to amass, each and all of them,
enormous fortunes—a fact which would be easily provable by a reference
to statistics. I have no doubt that a very great number might be thus
induced to come back with us in the larger boats, and that we could
fill our vessel with emigrants in three or four journeys.
Should we be attacked, our course would be even simpler, for the
Erewhonians have no gunpowder, and would be so surprised with its
effects that we should be able to capture as many as we chose; in this
case we should feel able to engage them on more advantageous terms, for
they would be prisoners of war. But even though we were to meet with no
violence, I doubt not that a cargo of seven or eight hundred
Erewhonians could be induced, when they were once on board the vessel,
to sign an agreement which should be mutually advantageous both to us
and them.
We should then proceed to Queensland, and dispose of our engagement
with the Erewhonians to the sugar-growers of that settlement, who are
in great want of labour; it is believed that the money thus realised
would enable us to declare a handsome dividend, and leave a
considerable balance, which might be spent in repeating our operations
and bringing over other cargoes of Erewhonians, with fresh consequent
profits. In fact we could go backwards and forwards as long as there
was a demand for labour in Queensland, or indeed in any other Christian
colony, for the supply of Erewhonians would be unlimited, and they
could be packed closely and fed at a very reasonable cost.
It would be my duty and Arowhena’s to see that our emigrants should be
boarded and lodged in the households of religious sugar-growers; these
persons would give them the benefit of that instruction whereof they
stand so greatly in need. Each day, as soon as they could be spared
from their work in the plantations, they would be assembled for praise,
and be thoroughly grounded in the Church Catechism, while the whole of
every Sabbath should be devoted to singing psalms and church-going.
This must be insisted upon, both in order to put a stop to any uneasy
feeling which might show itself either in Queensland or in the mother
country as to the means whereby the Erewhonians had been obtained, and
also because it would give our own shareholders the comfort of
reflecting that they were saving souls and filling their own pockets at
one and the same moment. By the time the emigrants had got too old for
work they would have become thoroughly instructed in religion; they
could then be shipped back to Erewhon and carry the good seed with
them.
I can see no hitch nor difficulty about the matter, and trust that this
book will sufficiently advertise the scheme to insure the subscription
of the necessary capital; as soon as this is forthcoming I will
guarantee that I convert the Erewhonians not only into good Christians
but into a source of considerable profit to the shareholders.
I should add that I cannot claim the credit for having originated the
above scheme. I had been for months at my wit’s end, forming plan after
plan for the evangelisation of Erewhon, when by one of those special
interpositions which should be a sufficient answer to the sceptic, and
make even the most confirmed rationalist irrational, my eye was
directed to the following paragraph in the _Times_ newspaper, of one of
the first days in January 1872:-
“POLYNESIANS IN QUEENSLAND.—The Marquis of Normanby, the new Governor
of Queensland, has completed his inspection of the northern districts
of the colony. It is stated that at Mackay, one of the best
sugar-growing districts, his Excellency saw a good deal of the
Polynesians. In the course of a speech to those who entertained him
there, the Marquis said:—‘I have been told that the means by which
Polynesians were obtained were not legitimate, but I have failed to
perceive this, in so far at least as Queensland is concerned; and, if
one can judge by the countenances and manners of the Polynesians, they
experience no regret at their position.’ But his Excellency pointed out
the advantage of giving them religious instruction. It would tend to
set at rest an uneasy feeling which at present existed in the country
to know that they were inclined to retain the Polynesians, and teach
them religion.”
I feel that comment is unnecessary, and will therefore conclude with
one word of thanks to the reader who may have had the patience to
follow me through my adventures without losing his temper; but with
two, for any who may write at once to the Secretary of the Erewhon
Evangelisation Company, limited (at the address which shall hereafter
be advertised), and request to have his name put down as a shareholder.
_P.S_.—I had just received and corrected the last proof of the
foregoing volume, and was walking down the Strand from Temple Bar to
Charing Cross, when on passing Exeter Hall I saw a number of
devout-looking people crowding into the building with faces full of
interested and complacent anticipation. I stopped, and saw an
announcement that a missionary meeting was to be held forthwith, and
that the native missionary, the Rev. William Habakkuk, from——(the
colony from which I had started on my adventures), would be introduced,
and make a short address. After some little difficulty I obtained
admission, and heard two or three speeches, which were prefatory to the
introduction of Mr. Habakkuk. One of these struck me as perhaps the
most presumptuous that I had ever heard. The speaker said that the
races of whom Mr. Habakkuk was a specimen, were in all probability the
lost ten tribes of Israel. I dared not contradict him then, but I felt
angry and injured at hearing the speaker jump to so preposterous a
conclusion upon such insufficient grounds. The discovery of the ten
tribes was mine, and mine only. I was still in the very height of
indignation, when there was a murmur of expectation in the hall, and
Mr. Habakkuk was brought forward. The reader may judge of my surprise
at finding that he was none other than my old friend Chowbok!
My jaw dropped, and my eyes almost started out of my head with
astonishment. The poor fellow was dreadfully frightened, and the storm
of applause which greeted his introduction seemed only to add to his
confusion. I dare not trust myself to report his speech—indeed I could
hardly listen to it, for I was nearly choked with trying to suppress my
feelings. I am sure that I caught the words “Adelaide, the Queen
Dowager,” and I thought that I heard “Mary Magdalene” shortly
afterwards, but I had then to leave the hall for fear of being turned
out. While on the staircase, I heard another burst of prolonged and
rapturous applause, so I suppose the audience were satisfied.
The feelings that came uppermost in my mind were hardly of a very
solemn character, but I thought of my first acquaintance with Chowbok,
of the scene in the woodshed, of the innumerable lies he had told me,
of his repeated attempts upon the brandy, and of many an incident which
I have not thought it worth while to dwell upon; and I could not but
derive some satisfaction from the hope that my own efforts might have
contributed to the change which had been doubtless wrought upon him,
and that the rite which I had performed, however unprofessionally, on
that wild upland river-bed, had not been wholly without effect. I trust
that what I have written about him in the earlier part of my book may
not be libellous, and that it may do him no harm with his employers. He
was then unregenerate. I must certainly find him out and have a talk
with him; but before I shall have time to do so these pages will be in
the hands of the public.
* * * * *
At the last moment I see a probability of a complication which causes
me much uneasiness. Please subscribe quickly. Address to the
Mansion-House, care of the Lord Mayor, whom I will instruct to receive
names and subscriptions for me until I can organise a committee.
Footnotes
[1] The last part of Chapter XXIII in this Gutenberg eText.—DP.
[2] See Handel’s compositions for the harpsichord, published by Litolf,
p. 78.
[3] The myth above alluded to exists in Erewhon with changed names, and
considerable modifications. I have taken the liberty of referring to
the story as familiar to ourselves.
[4] What a _safe_ word “relation” is; how little it predicates! yet it
has overgrown “kinsman.”
[5] The root alluded to is not the potato of our own gardens, but a
plant so near akin to it that I have ventured to translate it thus.
Apropos of its intelligence, had the writer known Butler he would
probably have said—
“He knows what’s what, and that’s as high,
As metaphysic wit can fly.”
[6] Since my return to England, I have been told that those who are
conversant about machines use many terms concerning them which show
that their vitality is here recognised, and that a collection of
expressions in use among those who attend on steam engines would be no
less startling than instructive. I am also informed, that almost all
machines have their own tricks and idiosyncrasies; that they know their
drivers and keepers; and that they will play pranks upon a stranger. It
is my intention, on a future occasion, to bring together examples both
of the expressions in common use among mechanicians, and of any
extraordinary exhibitions of mechanical sagacity and eccentricity that
I can meet with—not as believing in the Erewhonian Professor’s theory,
but from the interest of the subject.