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
to 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 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 a disgust at 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 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 are 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 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 _chere 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 shown 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 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 set 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 skin 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 show you," said she; when, going to a closet, she 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 into 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 stanched 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
`unaneled' 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 fore head; 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 further 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 shown
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 were 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 [Lyttleton's Dialogues of the Dead] 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.
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 hang 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 _a
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 _ennuye_ of France or England. 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 sting-ray, 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 further 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, _coute qui coute_, 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, that 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.