FERNANDO DE NORONHA--ITS FAMOUS PEAK--IS A PENAL SETTLEMENT OF BRAZIL--A
VISIT FROM THE GOVERNOR'S AMBASSADORS--A VISIT TO THE GOVERNOR IN
RETURN--THE ARISTOCRACY OF THE ISLAND--CAPTURE OF THE LAFAYETTE AND THE
KATE CORY--BURNING OF THE TWO LAST SHIPS, WITH THE LOUISA HATCH--PRISONERS
SENT TO PERNAMBUCO--THE CLOUD RING, AND THE RAINY AND DRY SEASONS.
Fernando de Noronha lies not a great way from Cape St. Roque in Brazil. It
forms the western end of a chain of volcanic islands and deep-sea
soundings that extend some distance along the equator. Earthquakes have
been frequently experienced by ships when passing along this chain, and
the charts point out a number of supposed dangers hereabout. Many of these
dangers have no real existence, but still the prudent mariner gives them a
wide berth, when sailing past the localities assigned them. The island of
Fernando de Noronha is evidently of volcanic origin. Its whole appearance
indicates that it was thrown from the depths of the sea, by nature, when
in one of her most fearful paroxysms. Its abrupt and rugged sides of solid
rock, rent and torn, and blackened by the torrents, rise almost
perpendicularly from the waters to the height of several hundred feet.
The famous peak before spoken of, and which the mariner at sea descries
long before the body of the island becomes visible, is a queer freak of
nature. It looks as though the giants had been playing at church-steeples,
and had upraised this immense shaft of granite to mark one of nature's
cathedrals. The illusion is almost perfect. When "land ho!" is first cried
by the look-out at the mast-head, and the glass is applied in the given
direction, the observer is startled at the resemblance. Nor is his
surprise diminished, as his ship approaches nearer, and the body of the
island begins to make its appearance above the water; for there is the
roof of the massive cathedral, to which the steeple belongs! The peak is a
mass of solid granite, shot by the earthquake through the solid crust of
the mountain, and is almost symmetrical enough to have been shaped by
human hands. We lay nearly two weeks at Fernando de Noronha, and I was
never tired of gazing upon this wonderful evidence of the power of
volcanic forces.
The winds, the rains, and the sunshine have, in the course of ages,
disintegrated enough of the surface of this rocky island, to form a rich
soil, which is covered with a profusion of tropical vegetation, including
forest-trees of considerable size; and a number of small farms, with neat
farm-houses, add to the picturesqueness of the scene. Fruits and
vegetables, the Indian corn, and the sugar-cane, flourish in great
perfection, and a few ponies and horned cattle have been introduced from
the main land. Swine, goats, and domestic fowls abound. Fernando de
Noronha stands as a great sign-board, as it were, on the principal
commercial thoroughfare of the world. Almost all the ships that cross the
line, from Europe and America, to the East Indies and Pacific Ocean, and
_vice versa_, sight it, for the purpose of taking a new departure from it.
The dwellers on its lonely hills look out upon a constant stream of
commerce, but they are like prisoners looking out from their
prison-windows upon a scene of which they are not a part. A ship rarely
ever touches at the island. There is nothing to invite communication. It
is too insignificant for traffic, and has no good harbor where a ship
could repair damages or refit. It is, besides, a penal colony of Brazil,
to which it belongs. It is under the government of an officer of the
Brazilian Army, who has a battalion of troops under him, and hither are
sent from Rio Janeiro, and the other cities of the empire, all the noted
criminals who are condemned to long terms of imprisonment. Very few of the
prisoners are kept in close confinement. The island itself is prison
enough, and there are no possible means of escape from it. The prisoners
are, therefore, permitted to run at large, and mitigate the horrors of
their lot by manual labor on the farms, or engage in the mechanic arts.
Our arrival was announced in due form to the Governor, and the paymaster
had, besides, at my suggestion, addressed him a letter on the subject of
supplies. In the meantime, we hauled the _Louisa Hatch_ alongside, and
commenced coaling. The next morning a couple of gentlemen visited me, on
the part of the Governor, to arrange personally with the paymaster, the
matter of supplies, and to welcome me to the island. No objection was made
to our bringing in the _Hatch_, or to our receiving coal from her. The
state of my diplomatic relations with the Governor was thus so
satisfactory, that I invited his ambassadors into the cabin, and summoned
Bartelli to provide champagne. A popping of corks, and a mutual clinking
of glasses ensued, and when we had resumed conversation and lighted
cigars, one of the gentlemen diplomats informed me, in the most easy and
_san souciant_ manner possible, that he was one of the convicts of the
island! He had been sentenced for six years, he said, but had nearly
served his term out. He was a German, and spoke very good English. Several
of my officers were present, and there was, of course, a casting of
glances from one to the other. But Bartelli, who was still standing a few
paces in the rear, with a fresh bottle of uncorked champagne in his hand,
seemed to be most shocked. My faithful steward felt the honors and dignity
of my station much more than I did myself, and it was amusing to see the
smile of derision and contempt, with which he wheeled round, and replaced
the uncorked bottle in the champagne basket.
The next day, accompanied by my paymaster--by the way, I have forgotten to
mention that I had appointed Dr. Galt, my esteemed surgeon, paymaster, at
the time I made a present of my former paymaster to Mr. Adams, as related;
and that I had promoted Dr. Llewellyn to be surgeon--I made a visit to the
Governor at his palace. He had kindly sent horses for us to the beach, and
we had a pleasant ride of about a mile, before we reached his
headquarters. It was about eleven A. M., when we alighted, and were
escorted by an aide-de-camp to his presence. The Governor was a thin,
spare man, rather under the medium height, and of sprightly manners and
conversation. His complexion, like that of most Brazilians, was about
that of a side of tanned sole-leather. His rank was that of a major in the
Brazilian Army. He received us very cordially. We found him at breakfast
with his family and some guests, and he insisted that we should be seated
at the breakfast-table, and partake of a second breakfast, though we
endeavored to decline. The meal was quite substantial, consisting of a
variety of roast meats, as well as fruits and vegetables.
As soon as I could find a little time to look around me, I discovered that
her ladyship, the governess, was a very sprightly and not uncomely
mulatto, and that her two little children, who were brought to me with all
due ceremony, to be praised, and have their heads patted, had rather
kinky, or, perhaps, I should say curly, hair. But I was a man of the
world, and was not at all dismayed by this discovery; especially when I
observed that my _vis-a-vis_--one of the guests--was a beautiful blonde,
of sweet seventeen, with a complexion like a lily, tinted with the least
bit of rose, and with eyes so melting and lovely, that they looked as
though they might have belonged to one of the houris, of whom that old
reprobate Mahomet used to dream. To set off her charms still further, she
was arrayed in a robe of the purest white, with a wreath of flowers in her
flaxen hair. She was a German, and was seated next to her father, a man of
about sixty, who, as the Governor afterward informed me, was one of his
chief criminals.
The Governor seeing me start a little as he gave me this information, made
haste to explain, that his guest was not of the _canaille_, or common
class of rogues, but a gentleman, who, in a moment of weakness, had signed
another gentleman's name to a check for a considerable amount, which he
had been clever enough to have cashed. "He is only a forger, then!" said I
to the Governor. "That is all," replied he; "he is a very clever old
gentleman, and, as you see, he has a very pretty daughter." There was
certainly no gainsaying the latter proposition. The chaplain of the penal
colony--which numbered about one thousand convicts, the entire population
of the island being about two thousand--a portly and dignified priest, was
also at the breakfast-table, and my paymaster and myself spent a very
pleasant half-hour around this social board, at which were represented so
many of the types of mankind, and so different moral elements.
From the breakfast-table, we retired to a withdrawing-room, which was
pretty well filled when we entered, showing that his Excellency had done
me the honor to get some guests together to greet me. The paymaster and
myself were personally presented to most of these distinguished
gentlemen--some military men, some civilians. Among others, was present
the ambassador of the day previous, who had given such a shock to
Bartelli's nerves, as to render him incapable of doing that which he loved
above all other things to do--draw a champagne cork for the Captain's
guests, whom he regarded, after a certain fashion, as his own. The
Governor had evidently been select in his society, for most of these
gentlemen were not only well dressed, but well-mannered, and some of them
were even distinguished in appearance. They were mostly homicides and
forgers, and seemed rather to pride themselves upon the distinction which
they had attained in their _professions_. There was one young fellow
present, upon whom all seemed to look with admiration. He was a dashing
young German, who had evidently driven fast horses, and kept the best of
company. He wore an elaborately embroidered shirt-bosom, on which
glittered a diamond brooch of great brilliancy, and there were chains hung
about his neck, and signet and other rings on his fingers. This fellow was
such a master of the pen, that he could cheat any man out of his
signature, after having seen him write but once. To give us an example of
his skill, he sketched, whilst we were talking to him, the _Alabama_, and
her surroundings, as they appeared from the window of the saloon in which
we were sitting, so perfectly, with pen and ink, as to create a murmur of
applause among the bystanders. This charming young gentleman had "done"
the Bank of Rio Janeiro out of a very large sum, which was the cause of
his being the guest of the Governor.
Wine and cigars were brought in, and as we chatted, and smoked with these
fellows, the paymaster, and I were highly amused--amused at our own
situation, and by the variety of characters by whom we were surrounded.
The levee being at an end, the Governor ordered horses, and, accompanied
by an orderly, we rode over his dominions. It was in the midst of the
rainy season, and the island was almost constantly wreathed in mists and
rain, but as these rains continue for months, no one thinks of housing
himself on account of them.
We passed within a stone's throw of the Peak, and were more struck than
ever, with the grandeur of its proportions and the symmetry of its form.
The island is broken and picturesque, as all volcanic countries are, and
in the midst of the rains, it was one mass of rank vegetation, it being as
much as the farmers could do to keep a few patches of cultivation free
from the encroaching weeds and jungle. We had not been in the saddle more
than twenty minutes, when a heavily laden, vaporous cloud swept over us,
and drenched us to the skin. But I found that this was not to interfere,
in the least, with our ride. Its only effect was, to induce the Governor
to call a temporary halt, at a Manioc factory, in which he was interested,
and whistle up a boy, who brought each of us a very small glass filled
with the villanous _aguadiente_ of the country. The Governor tossed his
off at a single gulp, and not to be discourteous, we made wry faces, and
disposed of as much of ours as we could.
We passed through tangled forests, the trees of which were all new to us,
and through dells and ravines, in which the living, and the decaying
vegetation seemed to be struggling for the mastery, and emerged in a
beautiful cocoanut plantation, on the south end of the island, which lay
only a few feet above the sea-level. I was now at the end of the
Governor's dominions--an hour's ride had brought me from the sea, on one
side of them, to the sea, on the other, and there was nothing more to be
seen. Other showers coming on, we entered a tiny country house of the
Governor's, and had some grapes, figs, and melons brought in to us by the
major domo. The green cocoanut was brought to us among other delicacies,
to be eaten with spoons. We were quite amused at the manner in which these
nuts were gathered. The major domo called a boy, and tying his legs
together, just above the ankles, so that the ankles were about six inches
apart, set him down at the foot of a tree. These trees, as the reader
knows, grow to a great height, are perfectly cylindrical, and have not an
excrescence of any kind from root to top; and yet the boy, by the aid of
the bandage described, wriggled himself to the top of one of the tallest,
with the agility of a squirrel.
There being at length a pause in the rains, the sun even peeping through
an occasional rift in the ragged and watery clouds, we remounted, and rode
back. The tiny mountain paths had, many of them, by this time become rills
and torrents, and our horses were frequently knee-deep in water. The
paymaster and I pulled on board at five P. M., without having suffered any
inconvenience, either from the rains, or the Governor's _aguadiente_; nor
did our morals suffer materially by what we had seen and heard in the
island of Fernando de Noronha. The next morning the Governor's wife sent
me a fat turkey for dinner, accompanied by the most charming of bouquets.
This was evidently my reward for patting the little curly heads of her
children. My diplomacy from this time onward was all right. I did not hear
a word from the Governor, or any one in authority, about neutral rights,
or the violation of neutral jurisdictions. Brazil had, I knew, followed
the lead of the European powers, in excluding prizes from her ports, and I
had fully expected to receive some remonstrance against my bringing in the
_Louisa Hatch_, but Madame was too strong for the Governor, and, as the
reader has seen, I received fat turkeys, and bouquets, instead of
remonstrances. The anchorage being nothing but an open roadstead, we soon
found it too rough to permit a ship to lie alongside of us, and so were
obliged to haul the _Hatch_ off to her anchors, and continue our coaling
with boats. This was rather a tedious process, and it was not until the
15th of April, or five days after our arrival, that we were coaled.
We had not once thought of a prize, since we came in. Our whole attention
had been given to coaling ship, and refitting for another cruise,
refreshing the crew, and attending to the ladies at the Government House.
But the ubiquitous Yankee would turn up in spite of us. Just as we had
gotten our last boat-load of coal on board, two ships appeared off the
harbor, and were seen to heave to, and lower boats. We soon made them out
to be whalers, and knew them to be American, though they had not as yet
hoisted any colors. The boats pulled in apace, and soon entered the
harbor. They contained the masters of the two whalers, who had come in to
barter a little whale oil for supplies. The _Alabama_ was lying, without
any colors hoisted, as was her wont while she remained at this island,
and, of course, the _Louisa Hatch_, her prize, had none set. The boats
pulled in quite unsuspiciously, and observing that the _Hatch_ was an
American-built ship, went alongside of her. The prize-master, who was
taking it easily, in his shirt-sleeves, and so had no uniform on which
could betray him, went to the gangway and threw them a rope. The two
masters declined to come on board, as they were in a hurry, they said, but
remained some time in conversation--the prize-master, who was an
Englishman, endeavoring to play Yankee, the best he could. He repeatedly
invited them to come on board, but they declined. They wanted to know what
steamer "that was," pointing to the _Alabama_. They were told that it was
a Brazilian packet-steamer, come over to the colony to bring some
convicts. "What are _you_ doing here," they now inquired. "We sprang a
pretty bad leak, in a late gale, and have come in to see if we can repair
damages." Presently there was a simultaneous start, on the part of both
the boat's crews, and the words "starn, all!" being bawled, rather than
spoken, both boats backed out, in "double quick," and put off, with the
most vigorous strokes of their oars, for the shore, like men who were
pulling for their lives. The prize-master, a little astonished at this
sudden movement, looked around him to see what could have caused it. The
cause was soon apparent. A small Confederate flag--a boat's ensign--had
been thrown by the coxswain of one of the boats on the spanker-boom to
dry, and while the conversation was going on, a puff of wind had blown out
the folds, and disclosed the little tell-tale to the gaze of the
astonished whalers. It was not precisely a Gorgon's head; they did not
turn to stone, but perhaps there was some of the tallest pulling done,
that day, at Fernando de Noronha, that was ever done by a Yankee boat's
crew.
In the meantime, the "Brazilian packet-steamer" having gotten up steam,
was moving quietly out of the harbor, to look after the ships outside.
They were still lying to, and fortunately for me, they were four or five
miles off; outside of the charmed marine league. There was an outlying
shoal or two, in the direction in which they were, and this was the
reason, probably, why they had not ventured nearer. It did not take us
long to come up with them. We fired the usual gun as we approached, and as
there was no occasion for _ruse_, we showed them our own flag. They saw in
a moment that their fate was sealed, and did not attempt to stir, but
hoisted the United States colors, and patiently waited to be taken
possession of. The first we came up with, was the bark _Lafayette_, of New
Bedford. There were no papers to be examined--the mate, in the absence of
the captain, having thrown them overboard, as we approached--and we gave
her a short shrift. She was burning brightly, in less than an hour. We now
ranged up alongside of the other, which proved to be the hermaphrodite
brig, _Kate Cory_, of Westport. Instead of burning the _Cory_, I took her
in tow, and stood back to the anchorage with her, it being my intention to
convert her into a cartel, and dispatch her to the United States, with my
prisoners, who were now quite as numerous as my crew, there being 110 of
them. By seven P. M., we had again anchored in our old berth; the burning
ship outside lighting us into the roadstead, and throwing a bright glare
over much of the island. A number of ships that passed Fernando de Noronha
that night, must have been astonished at this illumination of the lonely
mile-post. The sea was smooth, and the ship was still burning, the next
morning, though by this time she had drifted so far, that there was
nothing visible except a column of smoke. I afterward changed my
determination of converting the _Cory_ into a cartel. A small Brazilian
schooner having come into the anchorage, offered to take all my prisoners
to Pernambuco, if I would provision them, and give her, besides, a few
barrels of pork and flour for her trouble. This I at once consented to do,
and the Governor having no objection, the arrangement was forthwith made.
I was thus enabled to burn the _Cory_, and to put the enemy, to the
expense of sending his released prisoners to the United States. I burned
the _Louisa Hatch_ along with the _Cory_, having no farther use for her;
taking the pains to send them both beyond the marine league, that I might
pay due respect to the jurisdiction of Brazil.
And now we were ready for sea again, though I remained a few days longer
at my anchors, hoping that the _Agrippina_ might arrive. She was past due,
but I had not yet given up all hope of her.
We were now getting well along into the latter part of April, and a great
change was taking place in the weather. It had been raining, as the reader
has observed, ever since we reached the vicinity of the equator. The rains
were now becoming less frequent, from day to day, and we had the showers
agreeably alternated with sunshine. The rainy season was passing away, and
the dry season was about to set in. I watched this phenomenon with great
interest--all the more narrowly, because I had nothing to do, but look out
for the weather, and the _Agrippina_; except, indeed, to attend to the
refreshment, and recreation of my crew, and send Bartelli on shore,
occasionally, with messages to the ladies at the Government House. The
reader, who has now been a passenger with us for some time, has watched
the trade-winds, as he has crossed the tropics, and has fanned himself and
panted for breath, when we have been working our tedious way through the
calm-belts. He has seen how this system of trade-winds and calm-belts
wanders up and down the earth, from north to south, and south to north,
drawn hither and thither by the sun. But we have had no conversation, as
yet, about the Equatorial Cloud Ring. He has been, for the last three
weeks, under this very Cloud Ring, but has probably failed to remark it.
He has only seen that the flood-gates of the heavens have been raised, and
witnessed the descending torrents, and the roll of the thunder, and the
play of the lightning, without stopping to ask himself the reason.
Let us pause a moment, and look into this beautiful phenomenon of the
Equatorial Cloud Ring, before we flit away to other seas, and are absorbed
by new phenomena. The north-east and south-east trade-winds, meeting near
the equator, produce the Cloud Ring. Let us suppose the _Alabama_ back at
the crossing of the 30th parallel, where, as the reader will recollect, we
established the toll-gate. She had, whilst there, a high barometer.
Starting thence on her way to the equator, as soon as she enters the
north-east trade, she finds that her barometer settles a little--perhaps a
tenth of an inch on an average. The reader has seen, that we had, whilst
passing through this region, a series of half gales, and bad weather; but
this was an exceptional state of the atmospheric phenomena. The normal
condition of the weather is that of a clear sky, with passing
trade-clouds, white and fleecy, and with moderate breezes. If the reader
has watched his barometer narrowly, he has observed a very remarkable
phenomenon, which is not known to prevail outside of the trade-wind
belts--an atmospheric tide. The atmosphere ebbs and flows as regularly as
the sea. This atmospheric tide is due, no doubt, to the same cause that
produces the aqueous tides--the attraction of the moon. It occurs twice in
twenty-four hours, just like the aqueous tides, and there is no other
cause to which we can attribute it.
The needle has a like semi-diurnal--indeed, hourly variation--showing the
normal, electrical condition of the atmosphere. The atmospherical, tidal
wave, as it ebbs and flows, seems to carry the needle backward and forward
with it. The average barometer being but a very little under thirty, there
is an agreeable elasticity in the atmosphere, and officers, and crew are
generally in fine spirits. The sailors enjoy their evening dances, and
story-tellings, and when the night-watches are set, sleep with impunity
about the decks--guarded, however, by those woollen garments, of which I
spoke, when describing our routine life. But observe, now, what a change
will take place, as we approach the equator. We are approaching not only
the calm-belt, which has been before described, but the Cloud Ring, for
the latter is the concomitant of the former. The winds die away, the
muttering of thunder is heard, and a pall of black clouds, along which
dart frequent streaks of lightning, is seen hanging on the verge of the
horizon, ahead of the ship. As she advances, fanned along by puffs of wind
from various quarters, she loses sight of the sun altogether, and enters
beneath the belt of clouds, where she is at once deluged with rain. She is
at once in the equatorial calm-belt, and under the Equatorial Cloud Ring.
The north-east and south-east trade-winds, as they came sweeping along,
charged to saturation with the vapors which they have licked up from a
torrid sea, have ascended as they met, and when they have reached the
proper dew-point, or point of the wet-bulb of the thermometer,
precipitation has commenced. The barometer falls another tenth of an inch,
or so, all elasticity departs from the atmosphere, and officers and crew
lose their cheerfulness. They feel all the lassitude and weariness of men
in a perpetual vapor-bath. The sailor no longer mounts the ratlines, as if
he had cork in his heels, but climbs up sluggishly and slothfully, devoid
of his usual pride to be foremost. In other words, though not absolutely
sick, he is "under the weather." The rays of the sun being perpetually
excluded, the thermometer stands lower under the Cloud Ring, than on
either side of it. At least this is the normal condition. Sometimes,
however, the most oppressive heats occur. They are local, and of short
duration. These local heats are occasioned as follows: When a cooler
stratum of the upper air sweeps down nearer the earth than usual, bringing
with it the dew-point, condensation takes place so near the surface, that
the rain-drops have not time to cool, at the same time that an immense
quantity of latent heat has been liberated in the act of condensation. At
other times, when the dew-point is far removed from the earth, the latent
heat is not only thrown off at a greater distance from us, but the
rain-drops cool in their descent, and greatly reduce the temperature.
The Cloud Ring is being perpetually formed, and is perpetually passing
away. Fresh volumes of air, charged as described, are constantly rushing
in from the north and from the south, and as constantly ascending, parting
with a portion of their water, and continuing their journey to the poles,
in obedience to the laws providing for the equal distribution of rain to
the two hemispheres, before explained. The Cloud Ring encircles the entire
earth, and if it could be viewed by an eye at a distance from our planet,
would appear like a well-defined black mark drawn around an artificial
globe. Its width is considerable, being from three to six degrees.
It remains to speak of the offices which this remarkable ring performs. It
is an important cog-wheel in the great atmospherical machine, for the
distribution of water over the earth; but, besides its functions in the
general system, it has local duties to perform. These are the hovering by
turns over certain portions of the earth, giving them an alternation of
rain and sunshine. In short, it causes the rainy, and dry seasons, in
certain parallels, north and south, within the limits assigned to it. The
ancients were of the opinion that the equatorial regions of the earth were
a continuous, burning desert, devoid of vegetation, and of course
uninhabitable; and perhaps this opinion would not be very far wrong, but
for the arrangement of which I am about to speak. The Cloud Ring is a part
of the system of calm-belts, and trade-winds. It overhangs the equatorial
calm-belt, as has been stated, and it travels north and south with it. It
travels over as much as twenty degrees of latitude--from about 5 deg. S.
to 15 deg. N., carrying, as before remarked, rain to the regions over which
it hovers, and letting in the sunshine upon those regions it has left. If
the reader will inspect a map, he will find that it extends as far into our
hemisphere, as the island of Martinique, in the West Indies. Fernando de
Noronha, where we are now lying in the _Alabama_, is near its southern
limit, being in the latitude of about 4 deg. S. The reader has seen that
the rainy season was still prevailing, when we arrived at this island, on
the 10th of April; and that it had begun to pass away, while we still lay
there--the rain and the sunshine playing at "April showers." The preceding
diagram will explain how the Cloud Ring travels:--
[Illustration]
Figure 1 represents the island of Fernando de Noronha still under the
Cloud Ring. It is early in April, and only about three weeks have elapsed
since the sun crossed the equator on his way back to the northern
hemisphere. When he was in the southern hemisphere, he had drawn the ring
so far south, as to cover the island. His rays had been shut out from it,
and it was constantly raining. The little island would have been drowned
out, if this state of things had continued; but it was not so ordered by
the great Architect.
Suppose now a month to elapse. It is early in May, and behold! the sun has
travelled sufficiently far north, to draw the Cloud Ring from over the
island, and leave it in sunshine, as represented in figure 2. Thus the
island is neither parched by perpetual heat, nor drowned by perpetual
rains, but its climate is delightfully tempered by an alternation of each,
and it has become a fit abode for men and animals.
As we have seen in a former chapter, a benign Providence has set the
trade-winds in motion, that they might become the water-carriers of the
earth, ordering them, for this purpose, to cross the equator, each into
the hemisphere of the other. We now see that he has woven, with those same
winds, a shield, impenetrable to the sun's rays, which he holds in his
hand, as it were, first over one parched region of the earth, and then
over another--the shield dropping "fatness" all the while!