[Illustration:
CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART
Fifth Series
ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832
CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS)
NO. 34.—VOL. I. SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1884. PRICE 1½_d._]
GROUSE.
Exact statistics cannot be obtained of the number of grouse annually
killed upon the Moors; but estimates of a reliable kind have
occasionally been published, from which we learn, that as many as five
hundred thousand annually reach the markets, in addition to the numbers
given away as presents or ‘consumed on the premises.’ That this figure,
large as it may appear to those who are not well versed in sporting
matters, is not exaggerated, will be apparent when we mention on good
authority, that on some days of August as many as sixteen thousand
grouse (single birds) have been received by the London wholesale
dealers; and that for days in succession, supplies of from two to ten
thousand birds reach the metropolis to be sold to the retailers. But
no matter how great may be the slaughter on the grouse-moors in any
given year, the death-roll of the following season is frequently even
greater. The grouse, in common with many other birds, protected or
otherwise, is endowed with great powers of reproduction; and even when
disease has on some occasions played such havoc with the birds, that on
some vast stretches of heather only half-a-dozen brace may have been
left to multiply and replenish, yet, in two or three seasons they will
have increased with such rapidity as to be more numerous on that ground
than they ever were before. Stories of nests being seen with as many as
fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen eggs have often gone the round of the
newspapers; but the usual number of eggs annually laid by each female
may be fixed at not less than from seven to nine.
But the chief question is not so much the number of eggs produced, as
the number of birds which are hatched and the percentage of these that
become food for powder. The grouse has a hundred enemies lying in wait
to do mischief—to destroy the nests, suck the eggs, or kill the tender
brood; nor are the parents spared, when the enemy is their superior in
strength and cunning. Let all who have the chance walk the heather
in June and July with an observant eye, and note the damage which
has been done during the breeding season by foes, both quadruped and
biped. See yonder carrion crows, how they sweep down on those spots
of heather which are populous with nests and young ones! And what a
delicious titbit for stoat and weasel do the day-old ‘cheepers’ afford!
Many a gallant battle will be fought by the male grouse on behalf of
his mate and her eggs, as he does not hesitate to defend them from the
greedy crow, nor is afraid even of the bloodsucking weasel. Whenever
danger threatens the home of his little family, the cock-grouse is
up in arms, ready to do all he can for the protection of madame and
her chicks. Before twenty-four hours have elapsed, the nest in which
the young ones have been hatched seems to be no longer necessary for
rearing purposes, and is consequently forsaken; and the parents and
their family take to a nomadic life, travelling about with a rapidity
which is wonderful, considering the tender age of the brood. It is also
a curious circumstance that one or two birds of almost every nest come
to maturity at an earlier date than their brothers and sisters—the
percentage that displays this precocity of growth being about two out
of every seven; and we have been told by shepherds that these are ‘the
cock’s own birds.’
Both parents are attentive to their young ones, and tend and nurse
them with assiduity and care; but the birds which are specially looked
after by the male, come on, it is thought, the quickest. The father of
the brood, however, seldom takes in hand to pay attention to more than
three members of his family, no matter how numerous may be the total
number hatched. The cock-grouse is a brave parent; but in addition
to being courageous, he is cunning as well, and in times of danger
frequently outwits his enemies by his superior resources. He is often
able, when his brood is threatened, to find a safe hiding-place for
them, or is skilful in devising other modes of escape from sudden
danger.
But notwithstanding all the care which the parent birds are able
to bestow on their young ones, the percentage of mortality, as in
the case of other wild animals, is always considerable. In the first
place, there are ‘the elements’ to do battle with. A stormy spring-time
will delay pairing; the birds are late ere they begin their work of
egg-laying, and deluges of rain will wash the eggs out of the nests or
drown the tender nestlings. Nevertheless, there is still a head of game
left for the sportsman; and after the moors have been industriously
trodden for a few weeks, there may yet remain a stock of birds
sufficiently numerous to insure an ample supply for the sportsmen of
the future.
The exact number of moorfowl that a given acreage of moor will feed and
breed cannot be stated except by way of an estimate. Some shootings
are much better stocked than others of similar size, probably because
the breeding accommodation is good and the food more plentiful. To
insure good sport on the Twelfth and subsequently, much requires to
be done to a moor. It must be traversed by keepers, whose duty it is
to trap and otherwise destroy the ‘vermin;’ patches of old heather
must be burned to insure the growth of young shoots, upon which grouse
delight to feed; and poachers and other trespassers must be dealt with.
In some places where the heather is well cared for and systematically
burned, and where the vermin are looked after, the return will be much
more liberal than on moors that have been left to themselves, though,
strangely enough, in some districts, one of several contiguous moors
will often produce a greater percentage of birds than can be obtained
on any of the others. Big bags quickly filled are the order of the
opening day, and instances of modern sport will bear us out when we say
that two guns have been known to kill two hundred and eighty single
birds on the first or second day of the season; and we have known a
small party to have shot in the course of ten days as many as nine
hundred and fifty-two brace. On some of the English grouse moors, still
larger bags are occasionally recorded. On the Wemergill moor, belonging
to Sir Frederick A. Millbank, there were shot in four days in 1882 by
seven guns on the first two days, and by four guns on the next two,
four thousand eight hundred and thirty-three grouse. Some twenty years
ago, a good sportsman was well contented with his sixteen or twenty
brace of birds; but we shoot faster and closer nowadays.
All who have had occasion to take a moor for themselves or friends,
know that the pastime of grouse-shooting is yearly becoming more and
more expensive. ‘The heather is cheap enough,’ we are sometimes told;
‘it ranges from about sevenpence to eighteenpence an acre;’ and that
certainly does not appear to be an expensive matter; but the extras
mount up to a tidy sum before the season closes. No good shooting with
a comfortable residence upon it can be obtained much under two hundred
and fifty pounds for the season; but that sum, with travelling expenses
hither and thither of family and servants, the payment of keepers and
gillies, the entertainment of guests, and other items of expenditure,
becomes largely augmented. There are always, of course, shootings in
the market at the most varied prices, from a share of a moor at perhaps
twenty-five pounds, to a stretch of heather with palatial residence,
and perhaps salmon-fishing, that costs a thousand pounds and upwards.
Various terms are occasionally exacted besides the payment of a given
sum by way of rent—the number of birds to be shot is specified, and
the period of occupation strictly laid down in the articles of lease.
There are, however, moors which are let on a pretty long lease for good
rentals, where the tenant is, as it may be, put on honour, and shoots
as few or as many birds as he pleases, it being understood, that when
he quits the ground, he shall leave upon the heather as good a breeding
stock as he found.
Yearly, or, as they may rather be called, season tenants, have often
proved somewhat unscrupulous as to this factor of grouse-moor economy,
and have been known to shoot every bird that could be found. It is
because of such dishonourable conduct that landlords or factors have
been compelled to lay down stringent conditions as to the number
of birds that shall be slain during the shooting season. There are
persons who make it their business to rent a moor in order that they
may completely despoil the heather of its feathered treasures. In some
instances of this kind of dealing, a large stretch of moorland has been
depopulated in the course of a few days, the lessee being assisted in
his deadly work by a band of confederates, and the grouse hurried into
the market—this being of course the intention of all concerned from
the beginning. It is the next tenant of that shooting who suffers.
Both laird and factor being very likely ignorant of what has occurred,
the ground is again let for the season; and the tenant—who probably
had omitted the precaution of previously visiting the moor to satisfy
himself as to the chances of coming sport—finding that birds are
exceedingly scarce, is naturally very much annoyed. In consequence of
such fraudulent practices, sportsmen rarely take a moor without some
guarantee of the quantum of sport they are likely to obtain; while on
the other hand lairds are yearly becoming more particular as to the
character of offering tenants.
The expenses of a shooting are nowadays so great, that it is the custom
for nearly all who take a moor to send a considerable number of their
birds to market. In the days of our grandfathers, it would have been
thought mean to sell one’s grouse, most of the birds which then were
shot being distributed as presents. But in those days, shooting was
truly a ‘sport,’ and was leisurely gone about, with the result that, in
a comparative sense, not more perhaps than a third of the number now
killed were shot. It must, however, be borne in mind that at the period
indicated, say fifty years ago, breech-loaders had not been invented;
the same facilities for reaching distant markets were not in existence;
the modes of steam transport, now so well developed, were only in
their infancy; and the rents of moors were not, speaking roundly,
more than a fourth of what they are to-day. Ten or twelve thousand
acres of productive heather might have been leased in the days of our
grandfathers for little more than a hundred pounds a year, and probably
not above seventy or eighty, or at most a hundred brace of birds would
be shot upon it—no more being needed, the London and other grouse
markets not being then in existence, at anyrate not in the active way
that we find them to-day. Seeing that fifty years ago there was even a
greater expanse of heather than there is now, it is curious to note the
increased abundance of game, though the apparent increase may partly be
accounted for by the modern methods of suppressing moorland ‘vermin.’
Formerly, hawks, carrion crows, stoats, and other grouse-foes, roamed
the moors comparatively unmolested, and doubtless committed great
havoc. Nowadays, gun and trap destroy those creatures, and secure a
larger head of game to the sportsman. That being so, grouse are sent in
large quantities to market in order to be sold, much to the benefit of
the general public.
Grouse commerce is of varied incidence. There are persons, for
instance, who before the shooting season begins will contract with the
lessees of moors to receive all the birds they can shoot, at a fixed
price per brace. These contractors take their chance of making a profit
by sending the grouse they receive to London, Liverpool, Manchester,
&c., to be sold for what they will bring. It depends on the season how
they fare. If the supply is large, the price falls, and little profit
may in consequence be realised. On the other hand, if the supply is
less than the demand, then prices rise and profits are insured. Some
lessees consign their birds to a dealer, and agree to take the market
price—a commission being allowed on sales. The prices vary according
to the quality and plumpness of the birds. Thus, we have seen a large
number of the return lists from big salesmen in London and Manchester,
in which the prices range from 7s. 6d. and 6s. 9d. for single birds,
down to 1s. 3d. The following salesman’s note speaks for itself: ten
at 7s. 6d.; twenty at 6s. 6d.; thirty at 5s. 9d.; forty-nine at 4s.
6d.; twenty at 3s. 9d.; twenty at 2s.; twelve at 1s. 6d.—total, one
hundred and sixty-one, all priced, be it noted, as single birds. These
will have been sent in hampers, and will most likely be disposed of by
auction by the salesmen to the West-end poultrymen and game-dealers
of London; who in turn will fix the price of the finest of the birds
at probably a guinea a brace. The returns for sales are very varied;
at times the market is so glutted with grouse, that none of them will
bring more, perhaps, than two shillings or half-a-crown. Such loads
of grouse in plentiful seasons now reach our populous towns and great
cities by the 13th and 14th of August, that this delicious game may be
bought at quite a moderate figure.
As a matter of fact, the great bulk of the birds which are annually
killed reach the markets before the close of the month named; and we
regret to say that despite of every care being exercised, poached
birds are still plentiful—so plentiful that they hurt the market.
The ingenuity of the poachers is notorious; they will sweep a moor
a few days before ‘the Twelfth,’ and then manage to place the spoil
in the hands of such dealers as will purchase, in spite of all the
watchfulness of the authorities. This pernicious system often accounts
for grouse being exposed for sale on the _morning_ of the Twelfth.
The amount of money which is annually expended in grouse-shooting and
deer-stalking cannot be less than from one to two millions sterling.
The sporting rental of Scotland has been estimated to be not less than
half a million per annum; and the amount of money paid for living,
and for the wages of servants, entertainment of guests, as well as
what is expended in travel, must be at least four times the sum named.
It has been said that Sir Walter Scott _made_ Scotland, in the sense
of conferring upon it that celebrity which caused it to become a
profitable show. Not only did he describe its scenery of cloud-capt
mountain and placid lake, but he made classic its sports and pastimes,
and sent thousands from all parts of the world to stalk its deer, kill
its salmon, and shoot its moorfowl.
BY MEAD AND STREAM.
CHAPTER XLIII.—OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY.
At an early hour Wrentham was with him again, as smartly dressed and
hat as glossy as if he had been on his way to a garden-party, or
Ascot, which was the more probable expedition for him to be intent on.
Whatever he thought of Philip’s haggard looks and ruffled dress, which
indicated that he had been up all night, he affected not to perceive
these signs of a mind perturbed.
‘Any letter this morning?’ he inquired after a cheerful greeting.
‘No letter from Mr Shield,’ answered Philip, comprehending the real
meaning of the question.
‘Droll,’ muttered Wrentham, for an instant allowing his disappointment
to appear. ‘Should have thought he would not have failed to write last
night, knowing what a corner you are in. Never mind. I daresay he means
to send the answer by messenger, and he can’t back out of giving you a
lift, seeing that he is pledged to do so.’
‘He may be annoyed—he has reason enough to be so—and may refuse. What
then?’
Wrentham shrugged his shoulders and smiled complacently.
‘Why, then, my dear old man, you must go in for the whitewash.’
‘The what?’
‘The whitewash. Go through the Court—the Bankruptcy Court.... Oh, you
need not look so glum over it, for it is quite the pleasantest way
of getting out of a difficulty, and every sensible man does it. I’ve
been through the Court twice myself, and only want to go through it a
third time in order to be certain of success. I assure you the Court of
Bankruptcy is the gateway to fortune. Look at’——
He ran over a long list of notable commercial men who had undergone
‘the whitewash,’ as he termed it, in his flippant way, who had never
done any good until they underwent the ordeal, and who were now wealthy
and respected. He spoke of them with genuine admiration, and concluded
with the declaration of his ambition to go through the Court once
again: then, success was certain.
Philip stared at him. Surely the man would not dare to jest at such a
time as this; and yet the species of consolation he offered him was
very like a cruel jest. But it was impossible to look at Wrentham’s
cheerful confident countenance and doubt his sincerity.
‘If the object I had in view had been different from what it is,’
Philip said coldly, ‘and if the money had been my own, probably I
should not have felt the loss as I do.’
‘That’s just where I don’t understand you. The beauty of it to me
is that the money was not your own—if it had been, I should have
sung another tune. But it’s nonsense to think that anybody can be
desperately upset when they are only losing other people’s money.’
Philip turned weariedly to the window: it was a hopeless endeavour to
get this man to understand his sentiments on this subject.
‘Come, come; cheer up, old man—things never turn out so bad as they
look. I know Shield has plenty, and he’ll stump up. If he doesn’t, why,
there’s the Court open to you, and you can start again fresher than
ever.’
‘We need not talk further on the subject at present,’ said Philip,
turning round. ‘I shall wait till eleven o’clock, and if there is no
message by that time, I go to Willowmere. Should I not call at the
office on my way back, come here in the afternoon and let me know what
is doing.’
‘All right. I am glad you are going to see Miss Heathcote. I believe
she can give us some useful information—if she chooses.’
The mixture of good-nature and selfishness as displayed in Wrentham was
at that time most painful to Philip. He felt as if his noble purpose
had been dragged down to the level of a swindle; and if he had been a
conscience-stricken swindler, he could not have endured sharper stings
than his morbidly exaggerated sense of failure thrust into him.
Eleven o’clock struck, and still no message had come from Mr Shield.
* * * * *
After breathing the close atmosphere of Wrentham’s unscrupulous
counsels, it was a relief to be out in the meadows again, although they
were covered with snow: the crisp tinkle of the river in the frosty
air was delightful music to his weary ears; and the trees, with their
skeleton arms decked and tipped with delicate white glistening in the
sunlight, refreshed his eyes.
‘Eh, lad, what is’t that has come to thee?’ was the greeting of Dame
Crawshay. ‘Art poorly?’
‘Ay, poor enough; for I am afraid I have lost everything.’
‘Nay, nay, Philip; that cannot be—thou hast not had time for it,’ she
said in distress and wonderment as they went into the oak parlour.
‘Time enough to prove my incapacity for business,’ he answered
bitterly; ‘and my grand scheme will burst like a soap-bubble, unless Mr
Shield comes to the rescue.’
‘And never doubt he will,’ she said earnestly, her own mind troubled at
the moment by the knowledge of Mr Shield’s intentions, which she could
not communicate. The sight of Philip’s face convinced her that the
ordeal was too severe.
‘I sent to him yesterday afternoon asking help, and he has given no
answer yet.’
‘But he will do it. Take heart and trust him. But there must be
something wrong about this, Philip—that such a fortune should slip
through thy fingers so quickly.’
‘Yes, there is something wrong; and I am trying to find out what it is,
and where it is. I _will_ find it out before long. But I am anxious to
get back to town, and I want to see Madge for a few minutes. That was
what brought me out.’
‘There’s a pity now! She’s gone to London all in a hurry after the post
came in. I thought she was going to see thee.’
‘I sent no letter last night,’ said Philip, chilled with chagrin and
disappointment. ‘Did she say that she was going to see me?’
‘Yes, and with good news; but if she finds thee looking as glum as thou
art now, she’ll be frightened;’ and the dame tried to smile. Her soft
kindly voice soothed him, although her words conveyed little comfort.
‘Where is Uncle Dick?’ he inquired after a brief pause.
‘He is away to the inspector about the cattle he is sending to
Smithfield. I do hope he’ll get a prize; he has so set his heart on it.’
At any other time, Philip would have cordially sympathised with that
good wish: at present, he scarcely noticed it.
‘I shall not see him to-day, then.... What time did Madge go?’
‘By the nine o’clock train. Stay and have a bite of something, lad. I
do not believe thou hast been eating properly, or thou’dst be better
able to bear this pother. It will be ready in ten minutes.’
‘Not now, Aunt Hessy, thank you,’ was his reply to her sensible
proposal. ‘There is the more need for me to hurry back, since Madge is
to call for me. I cannot make out how she did not reach my place before
I started.—Good-bye.’
The dame had been watching him anxiously all the time; and now she laid
her hand with motherly tenderness on his arm.
‘Thou art poorly, Philip: come back here to-night.’
‘I cannot promise that; but I will come as soon as possible.... Do you
think it likely that Madge might have gone to see Mr Beecham?’ he asked
abruptly.
‘What would she do that for?’ said Aunt Hessy with some surprise.
‘I don’t know—but it seems, they have struck up a great friendship.’ He
spoke with affected carelessness, his eye scanning the floor.
‘Then I must tell thee, she has gone to Mr Shield, and will bring thee
good news. Thou must learn the rest from herself. It would not be fair
for me to take the pleasure from her.’
What had she gone to Mr Shield for? and what good news was she to bring
him? Had she suspected or discovered that he was on the brink of ruin,
and gone to plead for assistance? That would be a sting indeed. Hard
as it might be for him to do it himself, it was unbearable to think
that she should be brought to such a pass. This idea presented itself
to him in all sorts of shapes, as he hurried back to Dunthorpe station,
and it by no means tended to allay his agitation.
He drove straight from Liverpool Street to his chambers. They had been
left in charge of one of the office lads, sent from Golden Alley for
the purpose. This smart youth informed him that no one had called and
no message had arrived during his absence.
He dismissed the lad and, with a dogged determination to master his
nervous excitement, attacked the account-books and vouchers once more.
His head was painfully clear now, and he was surprised at the sudden
development of a hitherto unsuspected capacity for figures. He threaded
the mazes of those long columns with what was for him singular rapidity
and accuracy. He was rewarded by finding everything perfectly correct:
the balance, although largely against him, was strictly in accordance
with the items entered; and for every item, there was the voucher
beside him.
He only paused when the fading light compelled him to rise and light
the lamp. There was no mistake about it: the money had been spent in
accordance with his directions, and there was no present return, nor
any probability of a return in the future. A black lookout, truly; and
he began to wonder gloomily whether it would not be best to undergo
that whitewashing process of which Wrentham spoke so admiringly. By
that means he would at anyrate save himself from the pain of losing
more money which did not belong to him.
He passed his hand slowly over his head and stared vacantly, like
one dazed by some mental vision of horror. Had he then lost faith
in the work he had undertaken? Was he to bow down and own that he
had blundered egregiously in imagining that there were men—and women
too—willing to work and capable of seeing the advantages of being paid
for what they produced—paid for quality as well as quantity—rather than
by a fixed wage for so much time spent on the premises of the employer?
No; he had not blundered: the system was in a minor degree already in
vogue in various trades, and there was no reason why it should not be
developed to its full extent, so that the workman should find that his
labour was tangible capital, which would increase as it improved in
quality and productiveness.
His eye fell on the open account-books on his table. What a cruel
commentary on his brave speculations. He had tried to realise
them—tried under the most favourable circumstances of time and money.
The people were in a ferment of discontent with their condition, ready,
apparently, to enter upon any scheme which promised to improve it;
and the capital he had invested in his scheme for their benefit was
considerable. And he had failed!
Again the dogged look came into his face. The failure was not due to
the men or to the scheme: the fault lay in himself. He had mismanaged
somehow; and he had not yet found out how.
He was roused from his reverie by a sharp knock at the door. It was
Wrentham, who entered briskly and with the air of one who has important
intelligence to communicate. His manner was not precisely excited; but
it was flustered, as if he had been running a race and was a little out
of breath. ‘No message yet, old man, I suppose?’
‘None,’ replied Philip, and his tone was not indicative of a pleasant
humour. ‘Has anything happened—since I saw you?’
‘Yes, something has happened,’ was the answer.
Wrentham cooled suddenly when he observed how Philip had been occupied.
‘Have you seen Miss Heathcote?’
Philip had a repugnance to the sound of Madge’s name on this man’s
lips, and yet it was pronounced respectfully enough.
‘I have not seen her yet.—But look here, Wrentham; I wish you would do
without referring to Miss Heathcote so frequently. I do not like to
have her name mixed up in the mess of my affairs.’
‘I beg your pardon, my dear Philip, if I have touched the very least of
your corns. ’Pon my honour, it was accidental, and I am sorry for it.’
‘All right, all right.’
‘Well, but I must ask you to pardon me once again, for I am compelled
to refer to the lady, and I hope to do so as a gentleman should in
speaking to his friend of the fair one who is to be that friend’s wife.
Will you grant me leave?’
‘What is it?’ was the irritable query.
‘I mentioned to you that I imagined Miss Heathcote could throw some
light on the proceedings of Mr Beecham and Mr Shield. Now I know she
can.’
‘You say that as if you thought she would not. How do you know that she
knows anything about their business?’
‘Don’t get into a temper with me—there’s a good fellow. Although I
could not enter into your plan with the enthusiasm you and I would
have liked, I am anxious—as anxious as yourself—to see you out of this
scrape.’ (He had good reasons of his own to be anxious; for there was
a certain strip of blue paper in the hands of Philip’s bankers which
it was imperative that Wrentham should get possession of; and that he
could not do unless a round sum was paid in to Philip’s account during
the week.)
‘Don’t mind my ill-humour just now,’ muttered Philip apologetically, in
answer to his manager’s appeal.
‘Certainly not,’ Wrentham went on, instantly restored to his usual
ease. ‘Well, I could not rest in the office to-day, and having put
everything square until to-morrow, I went up to Clarges Street.’
‘To call on Mr Shield again?’
‘No; but to examine apartments in the house opposite to the one in
which he is staying. Whilst I was engaged in that way, I looked across
the road and saw, in the room opposite, Beecham, Shield, and Miss
Heathcote together.’
‘Well, you guessed that Beecham was a friend of my uncle’s, and
as she started this morning to visit Mr Shield, there was nothing
extraordinary in seeing them together.’
‘Oh, you were aware of that! No; nothing extraordinary at all in seeing
them together; but it confirms my surmise that Miss Heathcote can give
us—you, I mean—information which may be useful.’
They were interrupted by a gentle knock at the door, and when Philip
opened it, Madge entered.
SANITARY INSPECTION OF THE PORT OF LONDON.
We move easily in the little beaten track of our own concerns, and do
not think of the care that is taken of us. What snug citizen of us all
ever imagines danger to himself and the community from such a source
as the port of London? Nevertheless, if the matter be given a moment’s
consideration, it must be allowed that danger threatens there of a
very real kind. Our great port swarms all the year round with vessels
of every nationality. They come with human and other freight from
this country and that, from ports maybe in which disease of one sort
or another was rife when they sailed; they carry the germs of many a
deadly malady in cabin or in hold; disease often ripens on the voyage
amongst passengers or crew, and is carried right up to the port itself;
and the vessels, on their arrival here, lie a day, a week, a month in
our docks. What, if any, precautions are taken, and by whom, to prevent
the diseases that are thus borne so near to us, from spreading through
the port, and from the port through the wide area of London itself? The
thing is worth looking into for a moment.[1]
There is no better known craft in all the Port of London than the
_Hygeia_. She is the little steam-launch used by the medical officer
of the port when, accompanied by his inspector, he goes up and down
the river on his sanitary rounds. The inspector inspects, and the
medical officer receives the report and gives instructions. Through
the kindness of the medical officer (Dr Collingridge), I was enabled,
a few days ago, to accompany him on board his fast-going and comely
little craft. The purpose I had in going will be better understood if
I explain first what are the functions of the port medical officer.
He acts under the corporation of London, who for ten years or more
have been the sanitary authority for this vast and teeming port.
The custom-house has sanitary powers of a kind, but they are little
better than nominal. The duty of discovering an infected ship rests
upon them, but having done that, their responsibility is almost at an
end. For example, every vessel arriving at the port of London from a
foreign port is bound, on reaching the quarantine ground at Gravesend,
to signal, for the information of the boarding officer. This officer
at once visits the vessel, and interrogates the master as to the
health of the crew and passengers. If all questions be answered in a
satisfactory manner, the vessel is allowed ‘free pratique,’ and the
quarantine certificate is issued, without which no vessel is allowed to
report. If there has been any sickness of an infectious or contagious
character, the vessel is examined by the Customs medical officer, who,
if he find infectious cases on board, communicates with the medical
officer of the ship-hospital at Greenwich. But the arrangements in
force at this moment for preventing the importation of disease into
the port of London are exceedingly defective, insomuch as—unless the
disease be cholera, plague, or yellow fever—there exists no power by
which an infected vessel can be detained at the entrance to the port.
Unless, therefore, the hospital officer—who acts in concert with the
port medical officer—arrive immediately, a vessel containing infectious
disease is allowed to pass up the river with her cases on board, and
it is not until her arrival in dock that the patients are able to be
removed by the medical officer of the port. But this weak point in the
system is now in train to be wholly remedied, for the corporation have
within the last few weeks framed a regulation by which no vessel with
any contagious or infectious disease on board will be allowed to pass
into port until the cases have been removed and the vessel thoroughly
cleansed and fumigated.
A notion may be gathered from the foregoing of the functions of the
port medical officer. He derives his authority from the Port of London
Sanitary Committee of the corporation, a main part of whose business
it is to prevent the importation of epidemics into London by means of
the vessels which arrive daily in the port from all quarters of the
globe. It is hardly necessary to expatiate on the extreme importance
of their functions; but let me endeavour to show these by one or two
picked examples, and then—for the _Hygeia_ has her steam up, and the
fog is rising rapidly—we shall be off on our tour of inspection. In the
latter part of the summer of 1882, a very serious epidemic of smallpox
occurred at the Cape of Good Hope. What has smallpox in South Africa
to do with us in London? A good deal, considering that the shipping
which arrives here from that colony is enormous. The disease spread,
the death-rate rose, and our port medical officer was very properly
alarmed. He at once set to work to take all due precautions, and by
his orders, rigid note was had of every vessel arriving from the Cape.
Beyond this, a circular letter was addressed to the principal Companies
and shipowners engaged in that trade, calling attention to the disease,
and asking for immediate notice in the event of its breaking out on
board any vessel. It turned out that very few vessels carried the
disease; but, thanks to the precautionary measures that had been taken,
such cases as did arrive in the port were promptly discovered and dealt
with. At another time Boulogne was attacked by the same disease, and as
this is a port within nine or ten hours’ voyage of London, and steamers
arrive almost daily, the matter was of great importance to the port
sanitary authorities of London. The medical officer himself visited
Boulogne, to inquire into the causes and extent of the disease; and
in the port an inspector was told off to examine each vessel on its
arrival; while the General Steam Navigation Company were advised to
order the revaccination of all officers and crews on vessels running to
Boulogne. The recent outbreak of cholera in Egypt occasioned no small
anxiety to the Port Sanitary Committee, and it was owing in part no
doubt to the vigilance of the medical officer and his assistants that
not a single case of the malady appeared in this port. To the crew of
every infected ship, or of any ship arriving from an infected port, the
medical officer offers vaccination free of cost. These are some amongst
the precautions that are taken to protect the citizens of London
against the importation of infectious diseases from foreign ports.
Not a vessel that enters the port of London, great or small, or of
any nationality, escapes inspection. There are two inspectors for the
river, one of whom, in the _Hygeia_, and the other in a rowing-boat,
goes through and through the port every day of the week; and two for
the docks, the whole of which—miles in extent—undergo a careful daily
inspection. I forget how many thousands of vessels the medical officer
told me were overhauled in this way in the course of a year—British,
American, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Austrian, Russian, Italian,
Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Swedish, and Norwegian. Cases of infection
are received at present on the hospital-ship at Greenwich; but a
land-hospital has just been opened there, an improvement on the
floating establishment for which the medical officer has long been
anxiously waiting. A ship-hospital, he says, is useful enough for
one class of infectious disease; but he holds that it is impossible
effectually to isolate more than one class in the same vessel; and in
addition to this grave disadvantage, there is the danger to the vessel
herself, an illustration of which was afforded one rough night lately,
when the hospital-ship _Rhin_ broke from her moorings and went pitching
down the river.
But let us see how the work of inspection is done. We are aboard
our pretty little launch, which has been steaming impatiently this
half-hour past. The master is at the wheel, the ‘boy’ is lively with
the ropes, and the inspector has his note-book ready. The medical
officer descends to the cosy little cabin; and when he has changed his
silk hat for the regulation blue cloth cap, and bestowed his umbrella
where no nautical eye may see it, he produces a cigar-case, and
observes casually, that should stress of weather confine us below, the
locker is not wholly destitute of comforts. That all may know what we
are and what our business is, we fly in the bows, or the stern—I speak
as a landsman—a small blue flag, whereon is inscribed in white letters,
‘Port Medical Officer.’
We are not going to make the tour of the whole port, which at our
necessarily moderate rate of speed—though the _Hygeia_ can do her
twelve knots an hour and race any craft on the river—would be something
like a day’s voyage; for the area over which the Port Sanitary
Committee has control is a wide one, embracing the whole river from
Teddington Lock to Gravesend, and from below Gravesend to Trinity High
Water. We are to run through the region known as the Pool, which,
commencing below London Bridge, ends somewhere about the West India
Docks. It is now half-past ten o’clock, and the river is all astir with
its own picturesque and varied life. The rising breeze has scattered
the mist, and fretted the surface of the water, which dances around us
in a thousand crested wavelets. The sun has struggled through a mass of
slate-coloured clouds, and plays over the wonderful towers and steeples
of the City churches, and lights up the gray old wharfs along the
river, and pierces the deep holds of vessels discharging their cargoes.
In making his ordinary round, the inspector works steadily up or down
the river, going from vessel to vessel, until all have been examined.
But as I am anxious not only to see the routine of inspection, but
to get some notion besides of the variety of the craft lying in the
Pool, the medical officer kindly proposes to make a selection of
typical vessels. Steering out of the course of a fine Thames barge,
just bearing down on us with all sail set, and fit as she moves to
be transferred to the vivid canvas of Miss Clara Montalba, we stop
alongside a Dutch eel-boat. The inspector has already intimated that
the work of inspection here will be little more than a form. He never
has any trouble with the Dutch eel-boats, for the crew appear to
spend the major part of their existence in scrubbing, scouring, and
polishing their neat little craft. The skipper salutes us in very
passable English, and invites us aboard. We go from stem to stern,
above and below; and I confess my inability to discover a single speck
of dirt. These are trim and sturdy little boats, strongly and even
handsomely built, and able to stand a good deal of weather. With a
fair wind they make the passage in one or two days, but are sometimes
delayed a fortnight or three weeks between Holland and the Thames.
We steer next for one of the General Steam Navigation Company’s
continental steamships, with the blue boats hanging in the davits. Here
the inspector discovers a small sanitary defect in the neighbourhood
of the forecastle, and a promise is given that it shall be remedied
without delay. I am much struck by the genial and kindly style of the
inspector. He has the _suaviter in modo_ in perfection. It is never ‘Do
this’ or ‘Look to that,’ but, ‘If I were you now, I think I’d,’ &c.;
which goes far to account for the evident good feeling with which he is
everywhere received. He can afford, however, to go about his business
in a courteous spirit, for he rests upon the strong arm of the law. We
board next a Thames sailing-barge. These vessels carry a miscellaneous
cargo of grain, bricks, manure, cement, &c., from below London Bridge
up the Medway. They are for the most part handsome and well-kept
ships. There is no prettier sight on the river than a fleet of Thames
barges sailing into port on a sunny summer’s day, laden high with hay
or straw. The inspector puts the usual questions; ‘How many have you
aboard? How’s the health of the crew?’ and so on; and then we take a
look round. Both the medical officer and the inspector have a keen eye
to the water-casks, and to the cabin where the crew have their bunks
or hammocks. The mate has the pick of the berths; the men come next;
and the ‘boy’ takes his chance in a hole, where, if he be pretty well
fagged out by the time he turns in, he may not impossibly manage to get
his forty winks. In the matter of crew, by the way, these Thames barges
are generally short-handed, and a bad time they have of it in dirty
weather, when all hands are needed for the sails, and the helm and
everything else has to be abandoned. It is small wonder that so many of
them are lost.
Our next visit is to one of the splendid Dundee passenger boats.
No chance of fault-finding here, where everything is spick-and-span
throughout. These are very fast boats, and their fittings are fine
enough for a yacht. The chairs in the saloon are velvet, the fireplace
a picture in itself, and the pantry glistens with silver-plate. As
we go down below, the captain suggests refreshments; but the medical
officer, fully alive to the force of example, makes a modest reply to
the effect that the day is not yet far spent. We board then a Guernsey
sailing-boat, discharging a cargo of granite. The mate is nursing a
wounded hand, crushed the day before in attending to a crank; and the
medical officer tenders a bit of professional advice, for which he
receives no fee. The crew’s quarters in the forecastle have a decidedly
close smell, and the inspector thinks that a little lime-washing would
not be amiss. We go on to visit a ‘monkey’-barge, the craft which
sails the unromantic waters of the canal. Cleanliness abounds here—the
master, in fact, is polishing his candlestick when we arrive; but he
receives a reprimand from the inspector for not having his papers on
board. In this way the work of inspection is performed. It is lightly
and easily done, to such perfection has the system been brought; and
thanks to the extreme care with which it has been carried out for years
past, and to the readiness with which masters and owners have complied
with the instructions of the medical officer, it is now often in nine
cases out of ten almost entirely formal. To see the really big vessels,
we must go farther down the river; but we have learned something in the
Pool as to the manner in which the sanitary work is conducted amongst
the craft of every description.
We are now at the Shadwell entrance to the London Docks. Limehouse is
on one side of us, and Rotherhithe on the other. It is a charming bit
of the river, for those with an eye for quaint water-side scenery,
as one of Mr Whistler’s early canvases abundantly testifies. The
gray steeple of Limehouse church is to the left; nearer to hand,
the red house of the harbour-master stands out brightly; ancient
weather-smitten wharfs are on either side; queer old tenements with
projecting stories, and coloured white, brown, and black, elbow one
another almost into the water; and behind us rise the countless masts
and delicate rigging of the vessels lying in the dock. The sun has
gained full power now, and burnishes the restless surface of the river
as I take leave of my courteous friends.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See also the article on ‘Quarantine’ in the present sheet.
VERMUDYN’S FATE.
A TALE OF HALLOWEEN.
IN TWO CHAPTERS.—CHAPTER I.
A little knot of miners were gathered round the fire in Pat Murphy’s
drinking-saloon, situated in that delightful locality known to diggers
as Rattlesnake Gulch. They were listening eagerly to the details
of a story related by Gentleman Jack, a member of their fraternity
who had recently visited San Francisco. He had gone there with the
twofold object of having what was facetiously termed a ‘fling,’ just
to relieve the monotony of existence, and also with the intention of
exchanging the gold he had accumulated during the past six months for
notes and coin. He had likewise in some mysterious way contrived to
get rid of the burden of his wealth, and now returned almost penniless
to the bosom of his friends; but this fact in nowise diminished the
cheerfulness with which the wanderer greeted his mates, or disturbed
the equanimity with which he recounted his adventures since their last
meeting. He had just ended his narration with the account of a curious
discovery of which he had heard the details that morning on his way
back to the Gulch.
‘A mighty queer story, anyhow,’ observed Pat, _alias_ ‘Flash’ Murphy,
as he emptied his glass.
‘Mighty queer!’ repeated the chorus, following suit.
‘Spin out that yarn again, mate!’ demanded a gentleman who rejoiced in
the sobriquet of Old Grizzly. This personage had only entered the ‘bar’
in time to catch the concluding words of the narrative. ‘Let’s have it,
Jack!’ he repeated impatiently.
Thus invited or encouraged, the young man rejoined carelessly: ‘It
was nothing much, only the finding of a man—all that was left of him
at least—in a place they call the Devil’s Panniken, when they were
blasting the rock for the new railroad between Sandy Bar and ’Frisco’——
‘I know the place—travelled that road years afore they ever thought of
running cars through it,’ interposed Old Grizzly. ‘But what about the
man?’
‘Well, that’s the queer part of the story; not that they found a man,
but that they should have found him where they did, and with so much
gold on him too,’ answered Gentleman Jack with his slow languid drawl.
‘Say!’ ejaculated Old Grizzly, who was listening with a curiously eager
excited face to the indifferent, careless utterances of the younger
man. ‘Cut it short, mate, and tell us how they found him.’
‘Well, they were blasting a big rock, and as it broke, it disclosed
a cave right in the heart of the limestone; but there must once have
been an entrance to it, for the skeleton of a man lay there. All his
clothes had fallen to dust; but there was a ring on one finger, and
about seventeen ounces of gold lay in a little heap under him. It had
evidently been in his pockets once; but the bag that held it, and the
skeleton’s clothing, were alike a heap of dry light dust. There was
nothing to identify him, nothing to show how long he had been there.
The very ring he wore was of such a queer outlandish fashion that the
fellows who found him could make nothing of it.’
‘Was that all?’ demanded the elder man.
‘All that I can recollect.—Stay! I think he had a rusty knife somewhere
near him, but nothing more. It’s a queer story altogether. How he got
there, if he died in the cave, and by what means it was afterwards
closed up—these are all mysteries.’
Old Grizzly smoked in silence for some time; and the miners had resumed
the usual occupations of their idle hours, drinking, smoking, playing
poker, and quarrelling, which amiable amusements had been momentarily
suspended in order to welcome the return of the ‘Wanderer’ with due
_empressement_, when suddenly the deep voice of Old Grizzly was heard
above the babel of tongues, saying: ‘This story of Jack’s about the
Devil’s Panniken and the man they found there puts me in mind of what
befell me and a mate of mine when we were riding through that same
place one October night hard upon twenty years ago. His Satanic Majesty
had a hand in that job, if ever he had in anything.’
‘Spin us your yarn, old chap!’ shouted a dozen voices; and passing
the word for a fresh supply of whisky, they gathered closer round the
log-fire, filled their pipes, and prepared to listen with the keen
interest of men who lead an isolated and monotonous life far from the
stir and life of big cities, and are therefore ever ready and eager to
hail the smallest incident with pleasure; while a good story-teller is
regarded with universal respect. Rattlesnake Gulch was at that period
a comparatively new Claim, on the very outskirts of civilisation, and
news from the cities was long in reaching the denizens of this locality.
‘What I am now going to tell you, boys, has never crossed my lips from
that day to this, and most likely never would, if I hadn’t chanced to
come along just now as Jack was speaking about the body those navvies
found in the Devil’s Panniken.’