Sail in the Tyrian--Norther off Tampico--The Bar--The River Panuco--The
Pilot--The Shore--Alligator--"_Paso de Doña Cecilia_"--Tampico--Spanish
Consul's House--Society--Navigation--Banks of the Panuco--Extraordinary
Inoculation--The "_Glorieta_"--Leave Tampico--Furious Norther--Voyage--
Arrival at Havana.
ON BOARD H. B. M. PACKET TYRIAN, 15th.
On the 8th, having taken leave of the family of our friend, Señor Velasco,
and of General Bustamante, whom we hope to see again in Havana, we went out
in a little boat, accompanied as far as the packet by several gentlemen,
and in a short time were standing on deck, looking our last at Vera Cruz
and its sandbanks, and sopilotes, and frowning castle, as the shores
gradually receded from our view, while the Tyrian was making the best of
her time to get clear of reefs and rocks, before the arrival of the
norther. We regretted to find, that instead of being one of the new line of
English packets, the Tyrian was the last of the old line; small, ancient,
and incommodious, and destined to be paid off on her return to England.
Captain Griffin, the commander, who looks like an excellent, gentlemanly
man, is in wretched health, and in a state of acute suffering. There were
no passengers but ourselves, and a young Mexican, guiltless of any
acquaintance with salt water, up to this date.
The very next morning out burst the norther, and with loud howling swept
over the ocean, which rose and tossed to meet the coming storm. Surely no
wind ever had a voice so wildly mournful. How the good ship rolled, and
groaned, and creaked, and strained her old timber joints! What rocking,
thumping, falling, banging of heads at the low entry of the cabin! Water
falling into berths, people rolling out of them. What fierce music at
night, as the wind, like a funeral dirge, swept over the ocean, the rain
falling in torrents, and the sky covered with one dark, lugubrious pall!
And how lonely our ship seemed on the world of waters!
But the next day, the storm waxed fiercer still, and the night was worse
than the day. The waves that dashed over the deck made their way into the
cabin. At one time, we thought the ship had struck, and even the captain
believed that a mast had fallen. It was only a huge wave that broke over
the deck with a sound like thunder, drowning the wretched hens and ducks,
who little thought, when they left their comfortable English poultry-yard,
they were destined to be drowned off Tampico--and drenching the men. Our
little lamp, after swinging to and fro for some time went out, and left the
cabin in darkness. Impossible to sleep of course, and for the _first time_
at sea, I confess to having felt afraid. Each time that the ship rolled
upon her side on the slope of a huge billow, it seemed impossible that she
could ever right again, or that she could avoid receiving the whole
contents of the next great watery mountain that came roaring on.
On the morning of the eleventh there was still no abatement of the storm.
All was dark and dreary. The norther continued to blow with unrelenting
fierceness, and the ship to rock and roll amongst a tumult of foaming
billows. The nights in this pitch darkness seemed interminable. The berths
being constantly filled with water, we dragged our mattresses on the floor,
and lay there wishing for the dawn. But the dawn brought no relief. The
wind howled on like a fierce wild beast roaring for its prey. I had made my
way every day upstairs, and by dint of holding on, and with a chair tied
with strong ropes, had contrived to sit on deck. But this day I retreated
under cover behind the helmsman, when, lo! a large wave burst over the
ship, found me out in my retreat, and nearly throwing down several stout
sailors in its way, gave me the most complete salt-water bath I have had
since I left New York. All that night we were tossed about in storm and
darkness.
On the thirteenth the wailing of the norther grew fainter, and towards
night died away. On the fourteenth it veered round, and the coast of
Tamaulipis appeared in sight faintly.
This morning opened with a slight norther; nevertheless they have hung out
the packet flag and cast anchor, in expectation of the pilot boat.
Meanwhile, all is at a stand-still, _morally_ speaking, for we are rolling
so that it is scarce possible to write comprehensibly. We see the
sad-looking shores of Tampico, long, low, and sandy, though to the south
stretching out into gloomy, faintly-seen woods. We can distinguish the
distant yellow sand and the white surf breaking furiously over the bar. The
day is gloomy but not cold. A slight rain accompanies the light north wind.
Sea-gulls are flying in circles round the ship and skimming the surface of
the waves. The master looks impatient and anxious, and prognosticates
another week of northers. Vessels, they say, have been detained here thirty
days, and some even three months! No notice is taken of our signal--a sign
that the bar is impassable.
16th.--The ship has rolled and pitched all night, and to-day we remain in
the same predicament.
TAMPICO, 18th.
Yesterday morning the wind was much lighter, and a pilot-boat came out
early, in which the captain set off with his despatches; and we being
assured that we might cross the ominous bar in safety, hired a boat for
forty dollars, with ten sailors and a pilot, too glad at the prospect of
touching the solid earth even for one day. Having got into this boat, and
being rowed out to the bar, we found that there the sea was very high, even
though the day was calm. The numerous wrecks that have taken place here
have given this bar a decidedly bad reputation. Great precaution is
necessary in crossing it, constant sounding, and calm weather. It is formed
by a line of sandhills under the water, whose northern point crosses that
to the southward, and across which there is a passage, whose position
varies with the shifting sands, so that the pilots are chiefly guided by
the surf.
Perched upon a sandbank was a regiment of enormous white pelicans of
thoughtful and sage-like physiognomy, ranged in a row, as if to watch how
we passed the bar. Over many a drowning crew they have screamed their wild
sea dirge, and flapped their great white wings. But we crossed in safety,
and in a few minutes more the sea and the bar were behind us, and we were
rowing up the wide and placid river Panuco--an agreeable change. We stopped
at the house of the _commandant_, a large, tall individual, who marched out
and addressed us in English, and proved to be a native of the United
States.
We stopped at a collection of huts, to let our sailors breakfast, where
there is the house of a celebrated character, Don Leonardo Mata, a colossal
old pilot, but who was from home at present. We amused ourselves by
wandering along the beach of the river and making a collection of beautiful
shells, which we left at the old pilot's house, to be kept there till our
return. A sort of garden, attached to the house, is appropriately
ornamented with the figure-head and anchor from a wreck. We got into our
boat again and glided along the shores, on one side low and marshy, with
great trees lying in the water; on the other also low, but thickly wooded
and with valuable timber, such as logwood and ebony, together with cedars,
India-rubber trees, limes, lemons, etc. On the bare trunk of a great tree,
half-buried in the water, sat an amiable-looking alligator, its jaws
distended in a sweet, unconscious grin, as if it were catching flies, and
not deigning to notice us, though we passed close to it. A canoe with an
Indian woman in it, was paddling about at a very little distance. All these
beautiful woods to the right contain a host of venomous reptiles,
particularly the rattlesnake. Cranes and herons were fluttering across the
surface of the river, and the sportsmen brave the danger of the reptiles,
for the sake of shooting these and the beautiful rose-coloured spoonbills
and pheasants that abound there.
The approach from Tampico is very pretty, and about two miles from it on
the wooded shore, in a little verdant clearing, is a beautiful
_ranchito_--a small farmhouse, white and clean, with a pretty piazza. In
this farm they keep cows and sell milk, and it looks the very picture of
rural comfort, which always comes with double charm when one has been
accustomed to the sight of the foaming surges and the discomforts of a
tempest-tossed ship. The sailors called it "El Paso" (the pass) "de Doña
Cecilia;" which sounded delightfully romantic. The proprietress, this Doña
Cecilia, who lives in such peaceful solitude, surrounded by mangroves, with
no other drawbacks to her felicity but snakes and alligators, haunted my
imagination. I trusted she was young, and lovely, and heart-broken; a
pensive lay nun who had retreated from the vanities and deceits of the
world to this secluded spot, where she lived like a heroine upon the
produce of her flocks, with some "neat-handed Phillis," to milk the cows
and churn the butter, while she sat rapt in contemplation of the stars
above or the snakes below. It was not until after our arrival at Tampico
that I had the mortification to discover that the interesting creature, the
charming recluse, is seventy-eight, and has just buried her seventh
husband! I accept the account doubtingly, and henceforth shall endeavour to
picture her to my mind as an ancient enchantress, dwelling amongst
serpents, and making her venomous charms of
"Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting.
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing."
As you approach Tampico, the first houses that meet the eye, have the
effect of a number of coloured band-boxes; some blue, some white, which a
party of tired milliners have laid down amongst the rushes. On leaving the
boat, and walking through the town, though there are some solid stone
dwellings, I could have fancied myself in a New England village. Neat
"shingle palaces," with piazzas and pillars; nothing Spanish, and upon the
whole, an air of cleanness and cheerfulness astonishing to me who have
fancied Tampico an earthly purgatory. We afterwards heard that these houses
were actually made in the United States and sent out here. There are some
good-looking _stores_; and though there is certainly little uniformity in
the architecture of the houses, yet considering the city was built only
sixteen years ago, I consider it a slandered place. In 1825 there were but
a few Indian huts here, and any little commerce there was, concentrated
itself in _Pueblo Viejo,_ which stands on the shores of a lake some miles
off. We were taken to the house of a Spanish consul, a fine, airy, stone
building with a gay view from the windows;--the very first house that was
built in the place.
Its owner, Don Juan de la Lastra, Spanish vice-consul, is not here himself,
but we were kindly received by Don Josd de Comez Mira, the consul. In the
evening all the principal Spaniards in the place came to see C---n; and
having arrived here yesterday morning as perfect strangers, without the
probability of finding any one whom we knew, we find ourselves surrounded
by the most unexpected and gratifying attentions. As to what is called
society, there is literally none in Tampico. Those who live here, have come
in the hope of making their fortune; and the few married men who are
amongst them have been unwilling to expose their wives to the unhealthy
climate, the plague of mosquitoes and _xins-xins,_ the intermittent fevers,
which are more to be dreaded here than the yellow fever, and the nearly
total deprivation of respectable female society. The men, at least the
Spaniards, unite in a sort of club, and amuse their leisure evenings with
cards and billiards; but the absence of ladies' society must always make it
dull. Riding and shooting in the neighbourhood are their out-of-door
amusements, and there is excellent sport along the river, which may be
enjoyed when the heat is not too intense.
Our captain, who has paid us a visit this evening, with several Englishmen,
expects to get off to-morrow. We staid at home in the morning on account of
the heat, and wrote letters, but in the afternoon we made the most of our
time, walking about the city, in which there is not much to see. There are
many comfortable-looking large houses, generally built according to the
customs of the country whereof the proprietor is a native. Were it not for
the bar, which is a terrible obstacle, not only from the danger in crossing
it, but the detention that it causes, vessels having been stopped outside
for months, Tampico would become a most flourishing port. Besides that the
depth of water can permit vessels of burden to anchor near the town, there
is an interior navigation up the country, for upwards of forty leagues.
The banks of the river are described as being very beautiful, which we can
easily believe from what we have already seen; but for its beauties after
passing Tampico; its wooded shores dotted with white ranchos, its large
cattle farms, and its picturesque old Indian town of Panuco, we must trust
to hearsay. The country in the vicinity is described as being a wilderness
of rare trees, matted together with graceful and flowering creepers, the
wild haunts of birds of bright and beautiful plumage; but our ardour to
visit these tangled shrubberies was damped by the accounts of myriads of
_xins-xins_ and _garrapatos;_ little insects that bury themselves in the
skin, producing irritation and fever; of the swarming mosquitoes,--the
horrid caimans that bask on the shore; and worse than all, the venomous
snakes that glide amongst the rank vegetation. Parrots and butterflies and
fragrant flowers will not compensate for these.
We have just been hearing a curious circumstance connected with poisonous
reptiles, which I have learned for the first time. Here, and all along the
coast, the people are in the habit of inoculating themselves with the
poison of the rattlesnake, which renders them safe from the bite of all
venomous animals. The person to be inoculated is pricked with the tooth of
a serpent, on the tongue, in both arms and on various parts of the body;
and the venom introduced into the wounds. An eruption comes out, which
lasts a few days. Ever after, these persons can handle the most venomous
snakes with impunity; can make them come by calling them, have great
pleasure in fondling them; and the bite of these persons is poisonous! You
will not believe this; but we have the testimony of seven or eight
respectable merchants to the fact. A gentleman who breakfasted here this
morning, says that he has been vainly endeavouring to make up his mind to
submit to the operation, as he is very much exposed where he lives, and is
obliged to travel a great deal on the coast; that when he goes on these
expeditions, he is always accompanied by his servant, an inoculated negro,
who has the power of curing him, should he be bit, by sucking the poison
from the wound. He also saw this negro cure the bite given by an inoculated
Indian boy to a white boy with whom he was fighting, and who was the
stronger of the two. The stories of the eastern jugglers, and their power
over these reptiles, may perhaps be accounted for in this way. I cannot say
that I should like to have so much _snaky_ nature transferred into my
composition, nor to live amongst people whose bite is venomous....
We have just returned from a moonlight walk to the Glorieta, a public
promenade which they are making here, where there are some stone benches
for the promenaders, close to which some public-spirited individuals had
dragged the carcase of a horse, which obliged us to retrace our steps with
all convenient speed.
As for provisions in this place, if we may judge by the specimens we have
seen in this house, they are both good and abundant. We had especially fine
fish, and a variety of vegetables. To-morrow, alas! we return to our
packet, much refreshed, however, by two pleasant days on shore, and
consoling ourselves for our prolonged voyage by the reflection, that had we
gone direct to Havana, we should not have seen Tampico; and, as La
Fontaine's travelling pigeon says,
"Quiconque ne voit guere
N'a guere a dire aussi.
Mon voyage depeint
Vous sera d'un plaisir extreme.
Je dirai: j'étais là; telle chose m'avint:
Vous y croirez être vous-même."[1]
[Footnote 1: He who sees little, little can he say;
And when my travels I describe some day,
And say, "That chanced to me--there I have been"--
The pleasure you will feel will be so great,
You will believe, while hearing me relate,
That all these wonders you yourself have seen.]
Once more on board our floating prison. A _norte_ is expected this evening,
but at least it will now be in our favour, and will drive us towards
Havana. Our Spanish friends concluded their cordial and disinterested
kindness, by setting off with us by daybreak this morning, in a large boat
with Spanish colours unfurled, crossing the bar with us, coming on board,
and running no small risk in recrossing it, with every prospect of a
norther before their eyes. We stopped at the house of the "_Marine
Monster_," Don Leonardo Mata, before crossing the bar, took up our shells,
and had the felicity of making his acquaintance. He is a colossal old man,
almost gigantic in height, and a Falstaff in breadth--gruff in his manners,
yet with a certain clumsy good-nature about him. He performs the office of
pilot with so much exclusiveness, charging such high prices, governing the
men with so iron a sway, and arranging everything so entirely according to
his own fancy, that he is a complete sovereign in his own small way--the
_tyrant of Tampico_. He has in his weather-beaten face such a mixture of
bluffness and slyness, with his gigantic person, and abrupt, half-savage
manners, that, altogether, I conceive him to be a character who might have
been worthy the attention of Walter Scott, had he chanced to encounter him.
Old and repulsive as he is, he has lately married a pretty young girl--a
subject on which he does not brook raillery. One amiable trait the old
tyrant has in his character--his affection for his old mother, who is
upwards of ninety, and who resides at Mahon, and to whom he is constant in
his attentions. At one time he was in the habit of sending her small sums
of money; but as they were frequently lost, he sent her five hundred
dollars at once by a safe conveyance. The old woman, he said, was so
frightened by seeing such a quantity of money in her hut, that she could
not sleep, and at length entrusted it to a _friend_, who carried it off
altogether. Since then he has assigned her fifteen dollars a month, upon
which the old woman lives in what she considers great luxury.
We took leave of our friends an hour or two ago, but do not expect to set
sail till the afternoon, as they are discharging the quicksilver which our
vessel brought, and loading the silver which we carry away. Three young
Englishmen came on board this morning, to see the packet, and are making a
disagreeable visit, being perfectly overwhelmed by sea-sickness.
2Oth.--Last night arose a furious norther. To-day it continues; but as it
is driving us towards our desired haven, and away from these dangerous
coasts, we need not complain. As usual on these occasions, I find myself
alone on the deck, never suffering from the universal prostrator of
landsmen. By way of variety, I have been sitting in the cabin, holding on
to the leg of a table, and trying to read Stephens, with as much attention
as circumstances will permit. All further attempts at _writing_ must be
delayed!
3Oth.--On the 21st the norther continued with unabated violence, the wild
wind and the boiling waves struggling on the agitated bosom of the ocean,
great billows swelling up one after the other, and threatening to engulf
us; the ship labouring and creaking as if all its timbers were parting
asunder, and the captain in such a state of intense suffering, that we were
in great apprehension for his life. Horrible days, and yet more horrible
nights! But they were succeeded by fine weather, and at length we had the
consolation of seeing the moon, smiling placidly down upon us, like a
harbinger of peace. On the evening of the twenty-sixth the full moon rose
with a troubled countenance, her disk obscured by angry clouds. She shook
them off, but still looked turbid and superb. A gloomy cloud, black as
night, still stretched over her like a pall, thickly veiling, yet not
entirely obscuring her light, and soon after she appeared, riding serenely
in the high heavens, mildly triumphant. Of all who sing the praises of the
moon, who should love her blessed beams from his inmost heart like the
seaman? Then the angry clouds dispersed;--the north wind blew freshly, but
not fiercely, as if even his blustering fury were partly soothed by the
influence of her placid light;--the studding-sails were set, and the Tyrian
bounded on her course eight knots an hour.
The next day the wind died away, and then blew lightly from the opposite
quarter. We were about two hundred and fifty miles from Havana, but were
then driven in the direction of Yucatan. The two following days we had
contrary wind, but charming weather. We studied the chart, and read, and
walked on deck, and played at drafts, and sat in the moonlight. The sea was
covered with flying fish, and the "Portuguese men of war," as the sailors
call the independent little nautilus, sailed contemptuously past us in
their fairy barks, as if they had been little steamers. A man fell
overboard, but the weather being calm, was saved immediately. We have been
tacking about and making our way slowly towards Havana, in a zigzag line.
Yesterday evening the moon rose in the form of a large heart, of a red gold
colour. This morning, about four o'clock, a fine fresh breeze sprung up
from the north-east, and we are going on our course at a great rate, with
some hopes of anchoring below the Morro this evening. To-day being Sunday,
we had prayers on deck, which the weather had not before permitted;--the
sailors all clean and attentive, as English sailors are. Last night they
sang "Rule Britannia," with great enthusiasm.
HAVANA, 31st.
Last evening we once more saw the beautiful bay of Havana, once more passed
the Morro, and our arrival was no sooner known, than the captain-general,
Don Geromino Valdés, sent his falua to bring us to the city, and even
wished us to go to his palace; but Don B---o H---a, who gave us so
hospitable a reception on our first visit, came on board, and kindly
insisted on taking us to his house, where we found everything as elegant
and comfortable as before, and from whence I now write these few lines.
In the midst of our pleasure at being once more on dry land, surrounded by
our former friends, and at receiving letters from home, we were shocked and
distressed to hear of the unexpected death of our friend, the Señora de
Gutierrez Estrada, who had followed her husband to Havana in his exile.
What a blow to him, to her mother, to all her friends!...
I shall send off this letter by the first opportunity, that you may know of
our safe arrival.