duration. Beginning at daybreak, it lasted till after sundown, twelve
hours in all; and during it the _Iroquois_ took on board the only
solid sea that crossed her rail during my more than two years' service
in her. We sprung also our main mast-head, which made us feel
flatteringly like the ancient mariners, who, as we had read, were
always "springing" (breaking) some spar or other. Ancient mariners and
albatrosses are naturally mutually suggestive. Except for the greater
violence, the conditions were much the same as a week before; with the
exception, however, that the sun shone brightly most of the time from
a cloudless sky, between which and us there interposed a milky haze,
the vapor of the spoon-drift. During the height of the storm the
pressure of the wind in great degree kept down the sea, which did not
rise threateningly till towards the end. For the rest, our voyage of
thirty-three hundred miles, while it afforded us many samples of
weather, presented as a chief characteristic perpetual westerly gales,
with gloomy skies and long, high following swell. Although the wind
was such that close to it we should have been reduced to storm-sails,
the _Iroquois_ scudded easily before it, carrying considerable canvas.
"Before it" must not be understood to mean ahead of the waves. These,
as they raced along continually, swept by the ship, which usually
lifted cleverly abaft as they came up; though at rare intervals a tiny
bit of a crest would creep along over the poop and fall on the
quarter-deck below--nothing to hurt. The onward movement of the
billows, missing thus the stern, culminated generally about half-way
forward, abreast the main-mast; and if the ship, in her continual
steady but easy roll, happened just then to incline to one side, she
would scoop in a few dozen buckets of water, enough to keep the decks
always sloppy, as it swashed from side to side.
From Rio to the Cape took us thirty-two days. This bears out the
remark I find in an old letter that the _Iroquois_ was very slow; but
it attests also a series of vicissitudes which have passed from my
mind, leaving predominant those only that I have noted. Among other
experiences, practically all our mess crockery was smashed; the
continual rolling seemed to make the servants wilfully reckless. Also,
having an inefficient caterer, our sea stores were exhausted on the
way, with the ludicrous exception of about a peck of nutmegs. Another
singular incident remains in my memory. At dawn of the day before our
arrival, a mirage presented so exactly, and in the proper quarter, the
appearance of Table Mountain, the landmark of Cape Town, that our
captain, who had been there more than once, was sure of it. As by the
reckoning it must be still over a hundred miles distant, the
navigating officer was summoned, to his great disconcertment, to be
eye-witness of his personal error; and the chronometers fell under
unmerited suspicion. The navigator was an inveterate violinist. He had
a curious habit of undressing early, and then, having by this symbolic
act laid aside the cares of the day, as elbow space was lacking in his
own cabin, he would play in the open ward-room for an hour or more
before turning in; always standing, and attired in a white night-shirt
of flowing dimensions. He was a tall, dark, handsome man, the contrast
of his full black beard emphasizing the oddness of his costume; and so
rapt was he in his performance that remarks addressed directly to him
were unheard. I often had to remind him at ten o'clock that music must
not longer trouble the sleep of the mid-watch officers. On this
occasion, with appearances so against him, perplexed but not
convinced, after looking for a few moments he went below and sought
communion with his beloved instrument; nor did the fading of the
phantasm interrupt his fiddling. When announced, he listened absently,
and continued his aria unmoved by such trivialities. Cape Flyaway, as
counterfeits like this are called, had lasted so long and looked so
plausible that the order was given to raise steam; and when it
vanished later, after the manner of its kind, the step was not
countermanded, for the weather was calm and there were abundant
reasons in our conditions for hurrying into port.
At the season of our stay, May and June, the anchorage at Cape Town
itself, being open to the northward, is exposed to heavy gales from
that quarter, often fatal to shipping. I believe this defect has now
been remedied by a breakwater, which in 1867 either had not been begun
or was not far enough advanced to give security. Vessels therefore
commonly betook themselves to Simon's Bay, on the other side of the
Cape, where these winds blew off shore. Thither the _Iroquois_ went;
and as communication with Cape Town, some twenty miles away, was by
stage, the opportunity for ordinary visiting was indifferent. We went
up by detachments, each staying several days. The great local natural
feature of interest, Table Mountain, has since become familiar in
general outline by the illustrations of the Boer War; from which I
have inferred that similar formations are common in South Africa, just
as I remember at the head of Rio Bay, on the road to Petropolis, a
reproduction in miniature, both in form and color, of the huge
red-brown Sugar-Loaf Rock that dominates the entrance from the sea.
Seen as a novelty, Table Mountain was most impressive; but it seems to
me that Altar Mountain would more correctly convey its appearance.
With rocky sides, which rose precipitate as the Palisades of the
Hudson, the sky-line was horizontal, and straight as though drawn by a
ruler. At times a white cloud descends, covering its top and creeping
like loose drapery down the sides, resembling a table-cloth; which
name is given it. I believe that is reckoned a sign of bad weather.
I recall many things connected with our stay there, but chiefly
trivialities. Most amusing, because so embarrassing to the unprepared,
was an unlooked-for and startling attention received from the British
soldiery, whom I now met for the first time: for the war at home had
hitherto prevented the men of my date from having much foreign
cruising. I was in uniform in the streets, confining myself severely
to my own business, when I saw approaching a squad of redcoats under a
non-commissioned officer. Being used to soldiers, I was observing them
only casually, but still with the interest of novelty, when wholly
unexpectedly I heard, "Eyes right!" and the entire group, as one man,
without moving their heads, slewed their eyes quickly round and
fastened them steadily on me; the corporal also holding me with his
glittering eye, while carrying his hand to his cap. Of course, in all
salutes, from a civilian lifting his hat to a lady, to a military
passing in review, the person saluting looks at the one saluted; but
to find one's self without warning the undivided recipient of the
steady stare of some half-dozen men, transfixed by what Mr. Snodgrass
called "the mild gaze of intelligence beaming from the eyes of the
defenders of their country," was, however flattering, somewhat
disturbing to one not naturally obtrusive. With us the salute would
have been given, of course; but only by the non-commissioned officer,
touching his cap. Afterwards I was on the lookout for this, and dodged
it when I could.
Both in Rio and at the Cape the necessity for repairs occasioned
delays which militated somewhat against the full development of our
cruise. Through this, I believe, we missed a stop at Siam, which,
consequently, I have never visited; and I know that towards the end
our captain felt pressed to get along. Our next destination was
Madagascar; to reach which, under sail, it was necessary to run well
to the eastward, in a latitude farther south than that of Cape Town,
before heading north. We left somewhat too soon the westerly winds
there prevailing, and in consequence did not go to Tamatave, the
principal port, on the east side of the great island, but passed
instead through the Mozambique Channel. It was in attempting this
same passage that the British frigate _Aurora_, in which was serving
the poet Falconer, the author of "The Shipwreck," disappeared with all
on board; by what nautical fate overtaken has never been known. His
first shipwreck, which he celebrated in verse, was on the coast of
Greece, off Cape Colonna; the second in these far southern seas.
The French occupation of Madagascar postdates our visit to it. The
harbor we entered, St. Augustine's Bay, on the west side, was only
nominally under control of the native dynasty at Antananarivo, in the
centre of the island; and the local inhabitants were little, if at
all, above barbarism. Though dark in color, they had not the flat
negro features. Wandering with a companion through a jungle, having
lost our way, we came unexpectedly upon a group of brown people,
scantily dressed, the most conspicuous member of which was a woman
carrying a spear a little taller than herself, the head of which was
burnished till it shone like silver; whether a weapon, or simply a
badge of rank, I do not know. They rose to meet us in friendly enough
fashion, and had English sufficient to set us on our way. The place
was frequented by whalers, who occasionally shipped hands from among
the natives; one such came on board the _Iroquois_, and within a
limited range spoke English fluently. Our chief acquaintance was known
to us as Prince George, and I presume had some personal importance in
the neighborhood. He was of use in obtaining supplies, hanging about
the deck all day, obligingly ready at any moment to take a glass of
wine or a cigar, and seemingly even a little sulky that he was not
asked to table. The men dressed their hair in peculiar fashion,
gathered together in little globes about the size of a golf ball,
distributed somewhat symmetrically over the skull, and plastered with
a substance which looked like blue mud. As I refrained from close
inspection, I cannot pronounce certainly what it was.
From St. Augustine's Bay we went on to the Comoro Islands, between the
north end of Madagascar and the African main-land. I do not know what
was then the precise political status of this pleasant-looking group,
except that one of them had for some years been under French control.
Johanna, at which we stopped, possessed at the least a qualified
self-government. We had a good sight of its surface, approaching from
the south and skirting at moderate distance westward, to reach the
principal anchorage, Johanna Town, on the north. The island is
lofty--five thousand feet--and of volcanic origin; bearing the family
likeness which I have found in all such that I have seen. On a bright
day, which we had, they are very picturesque to look on from the sea,
with their deep gullies, ragged precipices, and varied hues;
especially striking from the effects of light and shadow produced by
the exaggerated inequalities of the ground. It is hard to say which
are the more attractive, these or the totally different low coral
islands of the tropics, with their brilliant white sand, encircled by
which, as by a setting of silver, the deep-green brush glows like an
emerald. It is hard, however, to make other than a pleasing picture
with a combination of blue water and land. Like flowers, they may be
more or less tastefully arranged, but scarcely can be less than
beautiful.
In the way of landscape effect, Johanna had a special feature of its
own. Up to a height of about fifteen hundred feet from the sea-level,
the slopes were of a tawny hue, the color of grass when burned up by
drought. Except scattered waving cocoanut palms which grew even on
these hill-sides, no green thing was apparent, save in the ravines,
where trees seemed to thrive, and so broke the monotony of tint with
streaks of sombre verdure. Farther up, the peaks were thickly covered
with a forest, which looked impenetrable. The abrupt contrast of the
yellow lower land with this cap of tanglewood, itself at times
covered, at times only dotted, with fleecy clouds, was singularly
vivid.
The inhabitants of the island were Arabs, mixed with some negro blood,
and wore the Oriental costume now so familiar to us all in this age of
illustration. The ship was besieged by them at once, and throughout
our stay, at all hours that they were permitted to come on board. They
were cleanly in person, as their religion prescribes, and applied no
offensive substance to their hair; on the contrary, some pleasant
perfume was perceptible about their clothing. The coloring generally
was dark, although some, among whom was the ruler, called the sultan,
have olive skins; but the features were clear and prominent, the
stature and form good, the bearing manly; nor did they seem other than
intelligent. The teeth, too, were fine, when not disfigured by the
chewing of the betel nut, which, when long continued, stains them a
displeasing dark red. Like all barbarians, they talked, talked,
talked, till one was nearly deafened. On one occasion, a group of them
favored us with a theological exposition, marked by somewhat
elementary conceptions. The ship was a perfect Babel at meal-times,
when the intermission of work allowed the freest visiting. Every man
who came brought at least a half-dozen fowl, with sweet potatoes,
fruit, and eggs, to match; and as, in addition to our own crew
bargaining, there were on the deck some fifty or sixty natives, all
vociferating, bartering, beseeching, or yelling to the fifty others in
canoes alongside, the tumult and noise may be conceived. The chickens,
too, both cocks and hens, present by the hundred in basket-work cages,
made no small contribution to the general uproar. Chickens, indeed,
numerous though not large, are among the chief food commodities of
that region; the usual price, as I recollect, being a dollar the
dozen. When we left Johanna, we must have had on board several hundred
as sea-stock. Not infrequently one would get out of its cage, and if
pursued would often end by flapping overboard, so by drowning
anticipating its appointed doom; but it was a pathetic sight to see
the poor creature, upborne by its feathers so long as dry, floating on
the waste of waters in the wake of the ship which seemed almost
heartlessly to forsake it.
The faith of the island being Mohammedan, we found it safe to give a
large liberty to the crew. Especially, if I rightly recall, I availed
myself of the circumstance to let go certain ne'er-do-wells whose
conduct under temptation was not to be depended on. We had the
unprecedented experience that they all came back on time and sober;
thus avouching that the precepts of the Prophet concerning rum were
obeyed in Johanna. Exemplary in this, it would be difficult to say,
otherwise, on what precise rung of the ladder stretching from
barbarism to civilization these people stood. In manner towards us
they were pleasant and smiling; not averse to the arts of diplomacy,
but perhaps a little transparent in their approaches to a desired
object. I went on shore one Friday, their Sunday, which was
inadvertent on my part, for their religious duties interfered with
customary routine; one and another excused themselves to me on the
plea that they must go to pray. I was known, however, to be in
authority on board, which produced for me some simple hospitality,
principally not very inviting lemonade--attentions that I soon found
to be not wholly disinterested. Next day one of my hosts came on board
and interviewed me with many bows. "The _Iroquois_ very fine ship,
much better than English ship. Captain English very good man; and
first lieutenant [myself] he _very good_ man;" and the complimenter
would like certain articles within the gift of the said very good man,
together with a note to bearer, permitting him to come aboard at any
time.
Being by this some weeks away from Cape Town, we sent our wash
ashore; a resort of desperation. It came back clean enough, but for
ironing--well; and as to starch, much in the predicament of Boatswain
Chuck's frilled shirts after the gale, upon which, while flying in the
breeze, he looked with a degree of professional philosophy that could
express itself only by thrashing the cooper. Crumpled would be a mild
expression for our linen. We remonstrated, but were met with a shrug
of the shoulders and a deprecatory but imperturbable smile--"Yes;
Johanna wash!" And "Johanna" we found we were expected to receive as a
sufficient explanation for any deficiencies in any line. If not
satisfactory to us, it was at least modest in them.
Grave courtesies, ceremonious in conception, if rather rudimentary in
execution, were exchanged between us and the authorities of Johanna.
Our captain returned the visit of the official in charge of the place,
and subsequently called upon the sultan, who came to the town while we
were there. I went along on the first occasion. Upon reaching the
beach we found a guard of some forty negro soldiers, whose equipment,
as to shoes, resembled that of the Barbadian company immortalized in
Peter Simple; but in this instance there was no attempt at that
decorous regard for externals which ordered those with both shoes and
stockings to fall in in the front rank, and those with neither to keep
in the rear. They were commanded by a young Arab, who seemed very
anxious to do all in style, rising on tiptoe at the several orders,
which he jerked out with vim, and to my surprise in English. When duly
pointed, we marched off to the sound of a drum, accompanied by a
peculiar monotonous wail on a kind of trumpet; the order of the
procession being, 1, music; 2, the soldiers, led by an old sergeant in
a high state of excitement and coat-collar, which held the poor
fellow's head like a vise; and, 3, our captain and his attendants. The
visit to the sultan, two days later, was marked by additional
features, indicative, I presume, of the greater dignity of the event;
the captain being now carried in a chair with a red silk umbrella over
his head.
Between three and four years before our visit, the Confederate steamer
_Alabama_ had stopped at Johanna, and, so at least our friends told
us, Semmes had promised them a Yankee whaler or two. Whether he found
the whalers or not I cannot say; but to the Johannese it was a
Barmecide feast, or like the anticipation of Sisera's ladies--"to
every man a damsel or two." To use their own quaint English, the next
thing they heard of the _Alabama_, "he go down."
We left Johanna with the southwest monsoon, which in the Indian Ocean
and China Sea blows from June to September with the regularity of the
trade-winds of the Atlantic, both in direction and force. There the
favorable resemblance ends; for, in the region through which we were
passing, this monsoon is overcast, usually gloomy, and excessively
damp. The northeast monsoon, which prevails during the winter months,
is clear and dry. The consequent struggle with shoe-leather, and the
deterioration of the same, is disheartening. But, though surcharged
with moisture, rain does not fall to any great extent in the open sea,
nor until the atmospheric current impinges on land, when it seems to
be squeezed, like a sponge by the hand, with resultant precipitation.
Our conditions were therefore pleasant enough. Being under sail only,
the wind went faster than we, giving a cooling breeze as it passed
over; and it was as steady and moderate as it was fair for our next
destination, Aden, to reach which we were now pointing for Cape
Guardafui. The _Iroquois_ ran along steadily northward, six to eight
knots, followed by a big sea, but so regular that she rolled only with
a slow, steady swing, not disagreeable. The veiled sun showed
sufficiently for sights, without burning heat, and by the same token
we passed that luminary on our course; that is, he was north of us
while at Johanna, and one day on this run we got north of him. This
must have been after we had crossed the equator; for, being August,
the sun was still north of the "Line."
This reminds me that, the day we thus passed the sun, our navigator,
usually very exact, applied his declination wrong at noon, which gave
us a wrong latitude. For a few minutes the discrepancy between the
observation and the log caused a shaking of heads; the log doubtless
fell under an unmerited suspicion, or else we had encountered a
current not hitherto noted in the books, the usual solvent in such
perplexities. I may explain for the unlearned in navigation that
declination of a heavenly body corresponds in the celestial sphere to
the latitude of an object on the terrestrial. The sun, being a
leisurely celestial globe-trotter, continually varies his
latitude--declination--within a zone bounded by the two tropics; and
the rule runs that when his declination is of the same name (north or
south) as his direction from the ship at noon, the declination is
added or subtracted, I now forget which, in the computation that
ascertains the vessel's precise position. This has to be remembered
when he is passed overhead, in the zenith; for then the bearing
changes, while his declination remains of the same name. If the
resulting error is large, of course the mistake is detected
immediately; a slight difference might pass unnoted with dangerous
consequences.
At Johanna, or possibly at St. Augustine's, some of our officers and
men, moved by that queer propensity of mankind to acquire strange
objects, however useless, had bought animals of the kind called
mongoos. There were perhaps a half-dozen of these in all. The result
was that most of them, one way or another, escaped and took refuge
aloft in the rigging, where it was as hopeless to attempt recapture
as for a man to pursue a gray squirrel in a tree. The poor beggars had
achieved their liberty, however, without the proverbial crust of bread
or cup of water; and in consequence, after fasting all day, gave
themselves to predatory nocturnal forays, which were rather startling
when unexpectedly aroused by them from sleep. The ward-room pantry was
near my berth, and I remember being awaked by a great commotion and
scuffling, as one or more utensils were upset and knocked about in the
unhappy beast's attempt to get at water kept there in a little cask.
No reconcilement between them and man was effected, and one by one
they dropped overboard, the victims of accident or suicide, noted or
unnoted, to their deliverance and our relief. While they lasted it was
pathetic to watch their furtive movements and unrelaxed vigilance,
jealously guarding the freedom which was held under such hopeless
surroundings and must cost them so dear at last.
When the ship had rounded Cape Guardafui and fairly entered the Strait
of Bab-el-Mandeb, the alteration of weather conditions was immediate
and startling. The heat became all at once intense and dry. From the
latter circumstance the relief was great. I remember that many years
afterwards, having spent a month or more determining a site for a
navy-yard in Puget Sound, where the temperature is delightful but the
atmosphere saturated, I experienced a similar sense of bodily comfort,
when we reached Arizona, returning by the Southern Pacific Railroad.
One morning I got up from the sleeper and walked out into the rare,
crisp air of a way station, delighted to find myself literally as dry
as a bone, and a very old bone, too; tertiary period, let us say. The
sudden change in the strait proved fatal to one of our officers. He
had been ailing for a few days, but on the night after we doubled the
cape woke up from a calm sleep in wild delirium, and in a brief period
died from the bursting of an aneurism; an effect which the surgeon
attributed to the abrupt increase of heat. I may add that, though dry,
the air was felt by us to be debilitating. During the ten days passed
in the gulf, young as I then was, I was indisposed to any unusual
bodily or mental effort. What breeze reached us, coming over desert
from every direction, was like the blast of a furnace, although the
height of the thermometer was not excessive.