There she goes, brimful of anger and jealousy. Mercy on the poor man!
"_Jealous Wife_."
The dreadful fish that hath deserved the name
Of Death.
SPENSER.
As the brig moved out of the harbour of Nassau, I moved out of bed;
and as she set her royals and made sail, I put on my hat and walked
out. The officers of the regiment quartered there, kindly invited me
to join their mess; and the colonel enhanced the value of the offer
by assigning for me good apartments in the barracks. I was instantly
removed to cleanly and comfortable lodgings. I soon regained my
strength, and was able to sit at the table, where I found thirty-five
young officers, living for the day, careless of the morrow; and,
beyond that never bestowing a thought. It is a singular fact, that
where life is most precarious, men are most indifferent about its
preservation; and, where death is constantly before our eyes, as in
this country, eternity is seldom in our thoughts: but so it is; and
the rule extends still further in despotic countries. Where the union
between the head and shoulders may be dissolved in a moment by the
sword of a tyrant, life is not so valued, and death loses its
terrors; hence the apathy and indifference with which men view their
executioners in that state of society. It seems as if existence, like
estates, was valuable in proportion to the validity of the title-deeds
by which they are held.
To digress no more. Although I was far from being even commonly
virtuous, which is about tantamount to absolute wickedness, I was no
longer the thoughtless mortal I had ever been since I left school.
The society of Emily, and her image graven on my heart; the close
confinement to the brig, and the narrow escape from death in the
second attempt to save the poor sailor's life, had altogether
contributed their share to a kind of temporary reformation, if not
to a disgust to the coarser descriptions of vice. The lecture I had
received from Emily on deceit, and the detestable conduct of my last
captain, had, as I thought, almost completed my reformation. Hitherto
I felt I had acted wrong, without having the power to act right.
I forgot that I had never made the experiment. The declaration of
Captain G.'s atheism was so far from converting me, that from that
moment I thought more seriously than ever of religion. So great was
my contempt for his character, that I knew whatever he said must be
wrong, and, like the Spartan drunken slave, he gave me the greatest
horror of vice.
Such was my reasoning, and such my sentiments, previous to any
relapse into sin or folly. I knew its heinousness. I transgressed and
repented; habit was all-powerful in me; and the only firm support
I could have looked to for assistance was, unfortunately, very
superficially attended to. Religion, for any good purposes, was
scarcely in my thoughts. My system was a sort of Socratic heathen
philosophy--a moral code, calculated to take a man tolerably safe
through a quiet world, but not to extricate him from a labyrinth of
long-practised iniquity.
The thoughtless and vicious conduct of my companions became to me a
source of serious reflection. Far from following their example, I felt
myself some degrees better than they were; and in the pride of my
heart thanked God that I was not like these publicans. My pharisaical
arrogance concealed from me the mortifying fact that I was much worse,
and with very slight hopes of amendment. Humility had not yet entered
my mind; but it was the only basis on which any religious improvement
could be created--the only chance of being saved. I rather became
refined in vice, without quitting it. Gross and sensual gratification,
so easily obtained in the West Indies, was disgusting to me; yet
I scrupled not to attempt the seduction of innocence, rather more
gratified in the pursuit than in the enjoyment, which soon palled, and
drove me after other objects.
I had, however, little occasion to exert my tact in this art in the
Bahama Islands, where, as in all the other islands of the West Indies,
there is a class of women, born of white fathers and mustee or mulatto
women, nearly approaching in complexion to the European; many of them
are brunettes, with long black hair, very pretty, good eyes, and often
elegant figures. These ladies are too proud of the European blood in
their veins to form an alliance with any male who has a suspicion of
black in his genealogical table; consequently they seldom are married
unless from interested motives, when, having acquired large property
by will, they are sought in wedlock by the white settlers.
So circumstanced, these girls prefer an intercourse with the object of
their choice to a legal marriage with a person of inferior birth; and,
having once made their selection, an act of infidelity is of rare
occurrence among them. Their affection and constancy will stand the
test of time and of long separation; generous to prodigality, but
jealous, and irritable in their jealousy, even to the use of the
dagger and poison.
One of these young ladies found sufficient allurement in my personal
charms to surrender at discretion, and we lived in that sort of
familiar intercourse which, in the West Indies, is looked upon as a
matter of necessity between the parties, and of indifference by every
one else. I lived on in this Epicurean style for some months; until,
most unfortunately, my _chère amie_ found a rival in the daughter of
an officer, high in rank, on the island. Smitten with my person, this
fair one had not the prudence to conceal her partiality: my vanity
was too much flattered not to take advantage of her sentiments in my
favour; and, as usual, flirtation and philandering occupied most of
my mornings, and sometimes my evenings, in the company of this fair
American.
Scandal is a goddess who reigns paramount, not only in Great Britain,
but also in all his Majesty's plantations; and her votaries very soon
selected me as the target of their archery. My pretty Carlotta became
jealous; she taxed me with inconstancy. I denied the charge; and as a
proof of my innocence, she obtained from me a promise that I should go
no more to the house of her rival; but this promise I took very good
care to evade, and to break. For a whole fortnight, my domestic peace
was interrupted either by tears, or by the most voluble and outrageous
solos, for I never replied after the first day.
A little female slave, one morning, made me a signal to follow her to
a retired part of the garden. I had shewn this poor little creature
some acts of kindness, for which she amply repaid me. Sometimes I had
obtained for her a holiday--sometimes saved her a whipping, and
at others had given her a trifle of money; she therefore became
exceedingly attached to me, and as she saw her mistress's anger daily
increase, she knew what it would probably end in, and watched my
safety like a little guardian sylph.
"No drinkee coffee, Massa," said she, "Missy putty obeah stuff in."
As soon as she had said this, she disappeared, and I went into the
house, where I found Carlotta preparing the breakfast; she had an old
woman with her, who seemed to be doing something which she was not
very willing I should see. I sat down carelessly, humming a tune, with
my face to a mirror, and my back to Carlotta, so that I was able to
watch her motions without her perceiving it. She was standing near
the fireplace, the coffee was by her, on the table, and the old woman
crouched in the chimney corner, with her bleared eyes fixed on the
embers. Carlotta seemed in doubt; she pressed her hands forcibly on
her forehead; took up the coffee-pot to pour me out a cup, then sat
it down again; the old woman muttered something in their language;
Carlotta stamped with her little foot, and poured out the coffee.
She brought it to me--trembled as she placed it before me--seemed
unwilling to let go her hold, and her hand still grasped the cup, as
if she would take it away again. The old woman growled and muttered
something, in which I could only hear the name of her rival mentioned.
This was enough: the eyes of Carlotta lighted up like a flame; she
quitted her hold of the salver, retreated to the fireplace, sat
herself down, covered her face, and left me, as she supposed, to make
my last earthly repast.
"Carlotta," said I, with a sudden and vehement exclamation. She
started up, and the blood rushed to her face and neck, in a profusion
of blushes, which are perfectly visible through the skins of these
mulattos. "Carlotta," I repeated, "I had a dream last night, and who
do you think came to me? It was Obeah!" (She started at the name.) "He
told me not to drink coffee this morning, but to make the old woman
drink it." At these words the beldam sprang up. "Come here, you old
hag," said I. She approached trembling, for she saw that escape from
me was impossible, and that her guilt was detected. I seized a sharp
knife, and taking her by her few remaining grey and woolly hairs,
said, "Obeah's work must be done: I do not order it, but he commands
it; drink that coffee instantly."
So powerful was the name of Obeah on the ear of the hag, that she
dreaded it more than my brandished knife. She never thought of
imploring mercy, for she supposed it was useless after the discovery,
and that her hour was come; she therefore lifted the cup to her
withered lip, and was just going to fulfil her destiny and to drink,
when I dashed it out of her hand, and broke it in a thousand pieces on
the floor, darting, at the same time, a fierce look at Carlotta, who
threw herself at my feet, which she fervently kissed in an agony of
conflicting passions.
"Kill me! kill me!" ejaculated she; "it was I that did it! Obeah is
great--he has saved you. Kill me, and I shall die happy, now you are
safe--do kill me!"
I listened to these frantic exclamations with perfect calmness. When
she was a little more composed, I desired her to rise. She obeyed, and
looked the image of despair, for she thought I should immediately quit
her for the arms of her more fortunate rival, and she considered my
innocence as fully established by the appearance of the deity.
"Carlotta," said I, "what would you have done if you had succeeded in
killing me?"
"I will shew you," said she; when, going to a closet, the took out
another basin of coffee; and before I could dash it from her lips, as
I had the former one from the black woman, the infatuated girl had
swallowed a small portion of it.
"What else can I do?" said she; "my happiness is gone for ever."
"No, Carlotta," said I; "I do not wish for your death, though you have
plotted mine. I have been faithful to you, and loved you, until you
made this attempt."
"Will you forgive me before I die?" said she; "for die I must, now
that I know you will quit me!" Uttering these words, she threw herself
on the floor with violence, and her head coming in contact with the
broken fragments of the basin, she cut herself, and bled so copiously
that she fainted. The old woman had fled, and I was left alone with
her, for poor little Sophy was frightened, and had hidden herself.
I lifted Carlotta from the floor, and, placing her in a chair, I
washed her face with cold water; and having staunched the blood,
I laid her on her bed, when she began to breathe and to sob
convulsively. I sat myself by her side; and as I contemplated her
pale face and witnessed her grief, I fell into a train of melancholy
retrospection on my numerous acts of vice and folly.
"How many warnings," said I, "how many lessons am I to receive before
I shall reform? How narrowly have I escaped being sent to my account
'unanealed' and unprepared! What must have been my situation if I had
at this moment been called into the presence of my offended Creator?
This poor girl is pure and innocent, compared with me, taking into
consideration the advantages of education on my side, and the want
of it on hers. What has produced all this misery and the dreadful
consequences which might have ensued, but my folly in trifling with
the feelings of an innocent girl, and winning her affections merely
to gratify my own vanity; at the same time that I have formed a
connection with this unhappy creature, the breaking of which will
never cause me one hour's regret, while it will leave her in misery,
and will, in all probability, embitter all her future existence? What
shall I do? Forgive, as I hope to be forgiven: the fault was more mine
than hers."
I then knelt down and most fervently repeated the Lord's Prayer,
adding some words of thanksgiving, for my undeserved escape from
death. I rose up and kissed her cold, damp forehead; she was sensible
of my kindness, and her poor head found relief in a flood of tears.
Her eyes again gazed on me, sparkling with gratitude and love, after
all she had gone through. I endeavoured to compose her; the loss of
blood had produced the best effects; and, having succeeded in calming
her conflicting passions, she fell into a sound sleep.
The reader who knows the West Indies, or knows human nature, will not
be surprised that I should have continued this connection as long as I
remained on the island. From the artless manner in which Carlotta had
conducted her plot; from her gestures and her agitation, I was quite
sure that she was a novice in this sort of crime, and that should she
ever relapse into her paroxysm of jealousy, I should be able to detect
any farther attempt on my life. Of this, however, I had no fears,
having by degrees discontinued my visits to the young lady who had
been the cause of our fracas; and I never afterwards, while on the
island, gave Carlotta the slightest reason to suspect my constancy. I
was much censured for my conduct to the young lady, as the attentions
I had shewn her, and her marked preference for me, had driven away
suitors who really were in earnest, and they never returned to her
again.
In these islands, the naturalist would find a vast store to reward
investigation; they abound with a variety of plants, birds, fish,
shells, and minerals. It was here that Columbus made his first
landing, but in which of the islands I am not exactly certain; though
I am very sure he did not find them quite so agreeable as I did, for
he very soon quitted them, and steered away for St Domingo.
It is not, perhaps, generally known, that New Providence was the
island selected for his residence by Blackbeard, the famous pirate;
the citadel that stands on the hill above the town of Nassau, is built
on the site of the fortress which contained the treasure of that
famous freebooter. A curious circumstance occurred during my stay
on this island, and which, beyond all doubt, was connected with the
adventures of those extraordinary people, known by the appellation of
Buccaneers. Some workmen were digging near the foot of the hill under
the fort, when they discovered some quicksilver, and on inspection, a
very considerable quantity was found; it had evidently been a part of
the plunder of the pirates, buried in casks or skins, and these having
decayed, the liquid ore naturally escaped down the hill.
Though not indifferent to the pleasures of the table, I was far from
resigning myself to the Circean life led by the generality of young
military men in the Bahamas.
The education which I had received, and which placed me far above
the common run of society in the colonies, induced me to seek for a
companion whose mind had received equal cultivation; and such a one
I found in Charles ----, a young lieutenant in the ---- regiment,
quartered at Nassau. Our intimacy became the closer, in proportion as
we discovered the sottish habits and ignorance of those around us. We
usually spent our mornings in reading the classic authors with which
we were both familiar; we spouted our Latin verses; we fenced; and we
amused ourselves, occasionally, with a game of billiards, but never
ventured our friendship on a stake for money. When the heat of the day
had passed off, we strolled out, paid a few visits, or rambled over
the island; keeping as much aloof from the barracks as possible, where
the manner of living was so very uncongenial to our notions. The
officers began their day about noon, when they sat down to breakfast;
after that, they separated to their different quarters, to read the
novels, with which the presses of England and France inundated these
islands, to the great deterioration of morals. These books, which they
read lounging on their backs, or laid beside them and fell asleep
over, occupied the hottest part of the day; the remainder, till the
hour of dinner arrived, was consumed in visiting and gossiping, or in
riding to procure an appetite for dinner. Till four in the morning,
their time was wholly devoted to smoking and drinking; their beds
received them in a state of intoxication more or less; parade, at nine
o'clock, forced them out with a burning brain and parched tongue; they
rushed into the sea, and found some refreshment in the cool water,
which enabled them to stand upright in front of their men; the formal
duty over, they retired again to their beds, where they lay till noon,
and then to breakfast.
Such were their days; can it be wondered at that our islands are fatal
to the constitution of Europeans, when this is their manner of life in
a climate always disposed to take advantage of any excess? The men too
readily followed the example of their officers, and died off in the
same rapid manner; one of the most regular employments of the morning
was to dig graves for the victims of the night. Four or five of these
receptacles was thought a moderate number. Such was the fatal apathy
in which these officers existed, that the approach, nay; even
the certainty of death, gave them no apparent concern, caused no
preparation, excited no serious reflection. They followed the corpse
of a brother-officer to the grave in military procession. These
ceremonies were always conducted in the evening, and often have I seen
these thoughtless young men throwing stones at the lanthorns which
were carried before them to light them to the burying-ground.
I was always an early riser, and believe I owe much of my good health
to this custom. I used to delight in a lovely tropical morning, when,
with a cigar in my mouth, I walked into the market. What would Sir
William Curtis, or Sir Charles Flower have said, could they have seen,
as I did, the numbers of luxurious turtle lying on their backs, and
displaying their rich calapee to the epicurean purchaser? Well, indeed
might the shade of Apicius[A] lament that America and turtle were not
discovered in his days. There were the guanas, too, in abundance, with
their mouths sewed up to prevent their biting; these are excellent
food, although bearing so near a resemblance to the alligator, and
its diminutive European representative, the harmless lizard. Muscovy
ducks, parrots, monkeys, pigeons, and fish. Pine apples abounded,
oranges, pomegranates, limes, Bavarias, plantains, love apples,
Abbogada pears (better known by the name of subaltern's butter), and
many other fruits, all piled in heaps, were to be had at a low price.
Such was the stock of a New Providence market.
[Footnote A: Lyttleton's "Dialogues of the Dead."]
Of the human species, buyers and vendors, there were black, brown and
fair; from the fairest skin, with light blue eyes, and flaxen hair, to
the jet-black "Day and Martin" of Ethiopia; from the loveliest form
of Nature's mould, to the disgusting squaw, whose flaccid mammae hung
like inverted bottles to her girdle, or are extended over her shoulder
to give nourishment to the little imp perched on her back; and here
the urchin sits the live long day, while the mother performs all the
drudgery of the field, the house, or the market.
The confusion of Babel did not surpass the present gabble of a West
India market. The loud and everlasting chatter of the black women, old
and young (for black ladies _can_ talk as well as white ones); the
screams of children, parrots, and monkeys; black boys and girls, clad
_à la Venus_, white teeth, red lips, black skins, and elephant legs,
formed altogether a scene well worth looking at; and now, since the
steamers have acquired so much velocity, I should think would not be
an unpleasant lounge for the fastidious _ennuyé_ of France or England.
The beauty and coolness of the morning, the lovely sky, and the
cheerfulness of the slaves, whom our morbid philanthropists wish to
render happy, by making discontented, would altogether amply repay the
trouble and expense of a voyage, to those who have leisure or money
enough to enable them to visit the tropical islands.
The delightful, and, indeed, indispensable amusement of bathing, is
particularly dangerous in these countries. In the shallows you are
liable to be struck by the stingray, a species of skate, with a sharp
barb about the middle of its tail; and the effect of the wound is so
serious, that I have known a person to be in a state of frenzy from it
for nearly forty-eight hours. In deeper water, the sharks are not only
numerous but ravenous; and I sometimes gratified their appetites, and
my own love of excitement, by purchasing the carcass of a dead cow, or
horse. This I towed off, and anchored with a thick rope and a large
stone; then, from my boat, with a harpoon, I amused myself in striking
these devils as they crowded round for their meal. My readers will,
I fear, think I am much too fond of relating adventures among these
marine undertakers; but the following incident will not be found
without interest.
In company with Charles, one beautiful afternoon, rambling over the
rocky cliffs at the back of the island, we came to a spot where the
stillness, and the clear transparency of the water invited us to
bathe. It was not deep. As we stood above, on the promontory, we could
see the bottom in every part. Under the little headland, which formed
the opposite side of the cove, there was a cavern, to which, as the
shore was steep, there was no access but by swimming, and we resolved
to explore it. We soon reached its mouth, and were enchanted with its
romantic grandeur and wild beauty. It extended, we found, a long way
back, and had several natural baths, into all of which we successively
threw ourselves, each, as they receded farther from the mouth of the
cavern, being colder than the last. The tide, it was evident, had
free ingress, and renewed the water every twelve hours. Here we
thoughtlessly amused ourselves for some time, quoting Acis and
Galatea, Diana, and her nymphs, and every classic story applicable to
the scene.
At length, the declining sun warned us that it was time to take our
departure from the cave, when, at no great distance from us, we saw
the back, or dorsal fin of a monstrous shark above the surface of the
water, and his whole length visible beneath it. We looked at him
and at each other with dismay, hoping that he would soon take his
departure, and go in search of other prey; but the rogue swam to and
fro, just like a frigate blockading an enemy's port, and we felt, I
suppose, very much as we used to make the French and Dutch feel last
war, at Brest and the Texel.
The sentinel paraded before us, about ten or fifteen yards in front of
the cave, tack and tack, waiting only to serve one, if not both of us,
as we should have served a shrimp or an oyster. We had no intention,
however, in this, as in other instances, of "throwing ourselves on
the mercy of the court." In vain did we look for relief from other
quarters; the promontory above us was inaccessible; the tide was
rising, and the sun touching the clear blue edge of the horizon.
I, being the leader, pretended to a little knowledge in ichthyology,
and told my companion that fish could hear as well as see, and that
therefore the less we said the better; and the sooner we retreated out
of his sight, the sooner he would take himself off. This was our only
chance, and that a poor one; for the flow of the water would soon have
enabled him to enter the cave and help himself, as he seemed perfectly
acquainted with the _locale_, and knew that we had no mode of retreat
but by the way we came. We drew back, out of sight; and I don't know
when I ever passed a more unpleasant quarter of an hour. A suit in
Chancery, or even a spring lounge in Newgate, would have been almost
luxury to what I felt when the shades of night began to darken the
mouth of our cave, and this infernal monster continued to parade, like
a water-bailiff, before its door. At last, not seeing the shark's fin
above water, I made a sign to Charles that, _coûte qui coûte_, we must
swim for it; for we had notice to quit, by the tide; and if we did
not depart, should soon have an execution in the house. We had been
careful not to utter a word; and, silently pressing each other by
the hand, we slipped into the water; when, recommending ourselves to
Providence, which, for my part, I seldom forgot when I was in imminent
danger, we struck out manfully. I must own I never felt more assured
of destruction, not even when I swam through the blood of the poor
sailor; for then the sharks had something to occupy them, but here
they had nothing else to do but to look after us. We had the benefit
of their undivided attention.
My sensations were indescribably horrible. I may occasionally write
or talk of the circumstance with levity, but whenever I recall it to
mind, I tremble at the bare recollection of the dreadful fate that
seemed inevitable. My companion was not so expert a swimmer as I was,
so that I distanced him many feet, when I heard him utter a faint cry.
I turned round, convinced that the shark had seized him, but it was
not so; my having left him so far behind had increased his terror, and
induced him to draw my attention. I returned to him, held him up, and
encouraged him. Without this, he would certainly have sunk; he revived
with my help, and we reached the sandy beach in safety, having eluded
our enemy; who, when he neither saw or heard us, had, as I concluded
he would, quitted the spot.
Once more on terra firma, we lay gasping for some minutes before we
spoke. What my companion's thoughts were, I do not know; mine were
replete with gratitude to God, and renewed vows of amendment; and I
have every reason to think, that although Charles had not so much room
for reform as myself, his feelings were perfectly in unison with my
own. We never afterwards repeated this amusement, though we frequently
talked of our escape, and laughed at our terrors; yet on these
occasions our conversation always took a serious turn: and, upon the
whole, I am convinced that this adventure did us both a vast deal of
good.
I had now been six months in these islands, had perfectly recovered
my health, and became anxious for active employment. The brilliant
successes of our rear-admiral at Washington made me wish for a share
of the honour and glory which my brethren in arms were acquiring on
the coast of North America; but my wayward fate sent me in a very
opposite direction.