_The Baron secures his chariot, &c., at the Cape and takes his passage
for England in a homeward-bound Indiaman--Wrecked upon an island of ice,
near the coast of Guinea--Escapes from the wreck, and rears a variety of
vegetables upon the island--Meets some vessels belonging to the negroes
bringing white slaves from Europe, in retaliation, to work upon their
plantations in a cold climate near the South Pole--Arrives in England,
and lays an account of his expedition before the Privy Council--Great
preparations for a new expedition--The Sphinx, Gog and Magog, and a
great company attend him--The ideas of Hilaro Frosticos respecting the
interior parts of Africa._
I perceived with grief and consternation the miscarriage of all my
apparatus; yet I was not absolutely dejected: a great mind is never
known but in adversity. With permission of the Dutch governor the
chariot was properly laid up in a great storehouse, erected at the
water's edge, and the bulls received every refreshment possible after so
terrible a voyage. Well, you may be sure they deserved it, and therefore
every attendance was engaged for them, until I should return.
As it was not possible to do anything more I took my passage in a
homeward-bound Indiaman, to return to London, and lay the matter before
the Privy Council.
We met with nothing particular until we arrived upon the coast of
Guinea, where, to our utter astonishment, we perceived a great hill,
seemingly of glass, advancing against us in the open sea; the rays
of the sun were reflected upon it with such splendour, that it was
extremely difficult to gaze at the phenomenon. I immediately knew it to
be an island of ice, and though in so very warm a latitude, determined
to make all possible sail from such horrible danger. We did so, but all
in vain, for about eleven o'clock at night, blowing a very hard gale,
and exceedingly dark, we struck upon the island. Nothing could equal
the distraction, the shrieks, and despair of the whole crew, until I,
knowing there was not a moment to be lost, cheered up their spirits, and
bade them not despond, but do as I should request them. In a few minutes
the vessel was half full of water, and the enormous castle of ice that
seemed to hem us in on every side, in some places falling in hideous
fragments upon the deck, killed one half of the crew; upon which,
getting upon the summit of the mast, I contrived to make it fast to a
great promontory of the ice, and calling to the remainder of the crew to
follow me, we all escaped from the wreck, and got upon the summit of the
island.
The rising sun soon gave us a dreadful prospect of our situation, and
the loss, or rather iceification, of the vessel; for being closed in
on every side with castles of ice during the night, she was absolutely
frozen over and buried in such a manner that we could behold her under
our feet, even in the central solidity of the island. Having debated
what was best to be done, we immediately cut down through the ice, and
got up some of the cables of the vessel, and the boats, which, making
fast to the island, we towed it with all our might, determined to bring
home island and all, or perish in the attempt. On the summit of the
island we placed what oakum and dregs of every kind of matter we could
get from the vessel, which, in the space of a very few hours, on
account of the liquefying of the ice, and the warmth of the sun, were
transformed into a very fine manure; and as I had some seeds of exotic
vegetables in my pocket, we shortly had a sufficiency of fruits and
roots growing upon the island to supply the whole crew, especially the
bread-fruit tree, a few plants of which had been in the vessel; and
another tree, which bore plum-puddings so very hot, and with such
exquisite proportion of sugar, fruit, &c., that we all acknowledged
it was not possible to taste anything of the kind more delicious in
England: in short, though the scurvy had made such dreadful progress
among the crew before our striking upon the ice, the supply of
vegetables, and especially the bread-fruit and pudding-fruit, put an
almost immediate stop to the distemper.
We had not proceeded thus many weeks, advancing with incredible fatigue
by continual towing, when we fell in with a fleet of Negro-men, as they
call them. These wretches, I must inform you, my dear friends, had found
means to make prizes of those vessels from some Europeans upon the coast
of Guinea, and tasting the sweets of luxury, had formed colonies in
several new discovered islands near the South Pole, where they had a
variety of plantations of such matters as would only grow in the coldest
climates. As the black inhabitants of Guinea were unsuited to the
climate and excessive cold of the country, they formed the diabolical
project of getting Christian slaves to work for them. For this purpose
they sent vessels every year to the coast of Scotland, the northern
parts of Ireland, and Wales, and were even sometimes seen off the coast
of Cornwall. And having purchased, or entrapped by fraud or violence,
a great number of men, women, and children, they proceeded with their
cargoes of human flesh to the other end of the world, and sold them to
their planters, where they were flogged into obedience, and made to work
like horses all the rest of their lives.
My blood ran cold at the idea, while every one on the island also
expressed his horror that such an iniquitous traffic should be suffered
to exist. But, except by open violence, it was found impossible to
destroy the trade, on account of a barbarous prejudice, entertained of
late by the negroes, that the white people have no souls! However, we
were determined to attack them, and steering down our island upon them,
soon overwhelmed them: we saved as many of the white people as possible,
but pushed all the blacks into the water again. The poor creatures
we saved from slavery were so overjoyed, that they wept aloud through
gratitude, and we experienced every delightful sensation to think
what happiness we should shower upon their parents, their brothers and
sisters and children, by bringing them home safe, redeemed from slavery,
to the bosom of their native country.
Having happily arrived in England, I immediately laid a statement of
my voyage, &c., before the Privy Council, and entreated an immediate
assistance to travel into Africa, and, if possible, refit my former
machine, and take it along with the rest. Everything was instantly
granted to my satisfaction, and I received orders to get myself ready
for departure as soon as possible.
As the Emperor of China had sent a most curious animal as a present
to Europe, which was kept in the Tower, and it being of an enormous
stature, and capable of performing the voyage with _éclat_, she was
ordered to attend me. She was called Sphinx, and was one of the most
tremendous though magnificent figures I ever beheld. She was harnessed
with superb trappings to a large flat-bottomed boat, in which was placed
an edifice of wood, exactly resembling Westminster Hall. Two balloons
were placed over it, tackled by a number of ropes to the boat, to keep
up a proper equilibrium, and prevent it from overturning, or filling,
from the prodigious weight of the fabric.
The interior of the edifice was decorated with seats, in the form of
an amphitheatre, and crammed as full as it could hold with ladies and
lords, as a council and retinue for your humble servant. Nearly in the
centre was a seat elegantly decorated for myself, and on either side of
me were placed the famous Gog and Magog in all their pomp.
The Lord Viscount Gosamer being our postillion, we floated gallantly
down the river, the noble Sphinx gambolling like the huge leviathan, and
towing after her the boat and balloons.
Thus we advanced, sailing gently, into the open sea; being calm weather,
we could scarcely feel the motion of the vehicle, and passed our time
in grand debate upon the glorious intention of our voyage, and the
discoveries that would result.
"I am of opinion," said my noble friend, Hilaro Frosticos, "that Africa
was originally inhabited for the greater part, or, I may say, subjugated
by lions which, next to man, seem to be the most dreaded of all mortal
tyrants. The country in general--at least, what we have been hitherto
able to discover, seems rather inimical to human life; the intolerable
dryness of the place, the burning sands that overwhelm whole armies
and cities in general ruin, and the hideous life many roving hordes are
compelled to lead, incline me to think, that if ever we form any great
settlements therein, it will become the grave of our countrymen. Yet it
is nearer to us than the East Indies, and I cannot but imagine, that in
many places every production of China, and of the East and West Indies,
would flourish, if properly attended to. And as the country is so
prodigiously extensive and unknown, what a source of discovery must not
it contain! In fact, we know less about the interior of Africa than we
do of the moon; for in this latter we measure the very prominences,
and observe the varieties and inequalities of the surface through our
glasses--
"Forests and mountains on her spotted orb.
"But we see nothing in the interior of Africa, but what some compilers
of maps or geographers are fanciful enough to imagine. What a happy
event, therefore, should we not expect from a voyage of discovery and
colonisation undertaken in so magnificent a style as the present! what a
pride--what an acquisition to philosophy!"