He shook his head. "All is not gold that glitters. He was much the
same when he first took command. Wait till we are out of sight of land
before we begin to congratulate ourselves."
Mr Henley had doubted whether, should Mr Grimes return, he would
remain in the ship. The first mate had pretended to be ill as soon as
we arrived, and had gone into hospital. However, directly after Captain
Gunnell appeared so did he. He too seemed changed, and was very polite
to all the officers, and quite mild in his manner. Though the second
mate had little confidence in him, he still made up his mind, greatly to
my satisfaction, to remain in the ship. His prognostications proved too
true. By the time we had been three days at sea, the captain began to
resume his bad habits, and of course the mate followed his example. The
voyage was comparatively short, so they took care not to lose their
senses altogether, and were tolerably sober when we came in sight of the
Mauritius.
I had never seen anything more beautiful than the scenery of Port Louis
harbour. High above the town rises La Pouce, or the thumb mountain,
clothed with trees to its very top. It forms one of an amphitheatre of
queer-shaped mountains, at the foot of which nestles comfortably the
capital of the island. To the left, seen over a range of hills, rises
"Pieter Bot," a mountain so called from a Dutchman who, in a spirit of
adventure or pot valour, attempted to ascend its summit, and was dashed
to pieces. The compliment paid him was of a doubtful character, as
"Bot" means silly, a _sobriquet_ he obtained probably in consequence of
his failure. Some English officers, cleverer than silly Pieter, by
means of a line thrown over the summit, by which a ladder was drawn up,
managed to reach it, and moreover, to the great disgust of the French
inhabitants, to place the Union Jack there. The difficulty of the feat
exists in consequence of the upper portion overhanging that immediately
below it, as a man's head does his neck. I had been reading the account
of the ascent in a book I had with me, and therefore looked at silly
Pieter with considerable interest, and thought how much I should like
also to get to the top of his pate. The harbour is small, and the
entrance is defended by heavy batteries. As we sailed in, with the
pretty little town before us, and the finger-like mountains rising in a
semicircle behind it, we had on our right the mountain of Morne
Fortunee, where is the signal station at which the famous ship-seer, who
could see ships nearly a hundred miles off, was stationed. He saw them,
it was supposed, reflected in the clouds. When the island belonged to
the French, he used to give notice in the war time of the whereabouts of
the English cruisers.
As I stood on the deck watching the shore, my heart beat with anxiety to
get there, that I might visit my grandfather, and commence my inquiries
for Alfred. I had little expectation of being able to accomplish my
wish. I went, however, to the captain, expecting to be told that the
duties of the ship required my attendance on board. What was my
surprise, therefore, to find him bland and courteous in the extreme.
"You wish to pay a visit to your grandfather, Mr Coventry, you say?"
answered the captain; "certainly, Mr Marsden--certainly. Give my
compliments to him. I have the pleasure of his acquaintance, and I
conclude that he has not forgotten me. And hark you, Mr Marsden, you
will not allow anything which has occurred on board here to transpire:
we shall be very good friends if we keep council, but if not, the
consequences will be disagreeable."
I scarcely knew what answer to make to this observation. I felt how low
a man must have fallen to find it necessary to speak thus. I considered
a moment, and then answered boldly--
"Unless I am specially questioned, I will say nothing about the matter.
If, however, I am asked the particulars of what has occurred, I will not
refuse to reply; for, should I do so, I should probably myself be looked
on as having taken part in the mutiny."
"No fear of that. I must trust to you," he answered. "But mark me, Mr
Marsden; you will find that I am a firm friend, but I can be a bitter
enemy."
"I hope I shall not lose your friendship, sir," I answered, hurrying
away, and shocked that a man who professed to be a Christian could give
expression to so dreadful a sentiment.
I was glad to find that Dr Cuff was going on shore; so he and I and
Solon set off together. We landed on the beach in front of the town,
amid swarms of black men entirely naked, with the exception of a blue
cotton handkerchief tightly fastened round their thighs. However, their
colour in a degree answers the purpose of dress. As we walked through
the town we thought it a very pretty place. None of the houses are
crowded together, while most of them stand in a small garden, amid a
profusion of trees and flowers; and even in the streets we observed
growing luxuriantly the banana, the bread fruit, the palm, and other
tropical trees and shrubs. The most conspicuous building is Government
House, with a broad verandah running round it; but it has no pretensions
to architectural beauty. Behind the city is the Champ de Mars, a small
level space, above which, on three sides, rise the rugged, curious
shaped hills we had seen from the harbour. The Champ de Mars is the
race-course and the general resort of the inhabitants, and was, we were
told, in days of yore the usual duelling place. From all I saw and
heard of the Mauritius, I believe it is one of the richest and most
fertile of the British insular possessions. Yet, to garrison it and
defend it from our enemies, not an entire regiment is to be found in the
whole island, while the French have in the island of Reunion, formerly
called Bourbon, a force of not less than six thousand men, ready to take
advantage of any dispute which may occur between the two countries, and
to pounce down upon the Mauritius once more, to make it what the French
still call it--an isle of France. The blacks from Mozambique, we were
told, do all the rough and dirty work in the city, such as dragging the
sugar casks down to the quays, and loading the vessels. They seemed a
merry set; and Dr Cuff and I could not help stopping to watch some of
them, as they met each other, indulging in their hearty laughs, one with
a cocked hat and feather on his head, and another with a round hat which
even an Irish carman might decline to wear. What their jokes were about
it was impossible to tell. One would say something, and then the other
would answer him, and both would burst into the most absurdly noisy
roar, turning back to back to support each other, then clinging
together, rising, and falling, and twisting, and turning, and finally
rolling over on the ground, as if completely overcome. It seemed a
matter of constant occurrence, for no one stopped even to take notice of
these strange performances. I know that I felt inclined to burst into
laughter too, either for very sympathy, or on account of the
ridiculousness of the scene.
My grandfather's estate was, I found, about fifteen miles from Port
Louis. The people at the hotel said they knew him, but that they had
not seen him for months. However, that was not extraordinary, as he
often went a whole year without coming into the city. I asked the
doctor to accompany me, which, as he was anxious to see the island, he
consented to do. We hired two horses, and a black man who was to act as
our guide, take care of our steeds, and carry our luggage. This
consisted chiefly of a change of linen and trousers, which the doctor
put into a tin case, to preserve the things from the attacks of the
numerous insects in the island, who would quickly eat them up. Solon
followed us on foot. Our guide carried in his hand a piece of
sugar-cane about six feet long, which served him as a walking-stick,
while at the same time he amused himself and kept away hunger by chewing
the upper end. Shorter and shorter grew the stick, until he had eaten
it down till it was scarcely three feet in length.
"I suppose we have got through more than half our journey, for see,
blackie has eaten up the best part of his cane," said the doctor; but he
was mistaken, for our sable guide knew that he could get another at any
estate we passed, and soon sucked up his first walking-stick.
We found that we were passing the village of Pamplemousses, close to
which is an estate where, we heard, are to be seen the tombs of Paul and
Virginia, whose history, written by Saint Pierre, I had read. Not a
moment had I ever doubted the truth of their history; still, not being
sentimentally disposed, I had no great wish to visit their graves,
especially as I was in a hurry to hear of Alfred. Our guide, however,
had no notion of our passing a spot which everybody visited, without
paying it our respects; so, before we were aware of it, we found
ourselves standing before two pretty urns in a garden of roses.
"And so here sleep at rest poor Paul and his devoted Virginia," said I,
with a sigh; for I was beginning to feel sentimental.
"Fiddlestick!" answered the doctor, laughing. "The _Saint Geran_ was, I
believe, wrecked hereabouts, and some of her passengers were drowned;
but whether there was a Paul or a Virginia on board, I cannot say.
Certainly the French author had no other foundation for his tale than
the mere wreck of a ship of that name; and as the language is good, and
the moral is less exceptionable than that of most French tales, it is
put into the hands of most young people beginning to learn French, and
has thus become universally known."
I felt almost vexed to find that two such people as Paul and Virginia
never really did exist, till the doctor laughed me back into my usual
state of mind.
"Fictitious sentiment I cannot abide," he observed. "There is quite
enough of real sorrow and suffering in the world to excite our
sympathies; and if we employ them on fiction, we are very apt to exhaust
them before they can be employed to some useful end."
The scenery at the foot of Pieter Bot is very fine, as, indeed, was all
we passed through. It was only towards the evening that we reached my
grandfather's estate of Eau Douce, or Sweet Water, as he called it. How
my heart beat as our guide pointed out the house, a single-storied
building with a wide verandah round it, standing in a garden filled with
trees and shrubs of the most luxuriant growth, and of every variety of
shape and colour.
"Can Alfred himself be here?" I thought, as I eagerly jumped off my
horse, and letting our negro guide take the reins, ran up the steps to
the front door. The doctor followed slowly. Though the door was open,
I did not like to go in. I waited and waited, and rang two or three
times, and no one came. At last I heard a shuffling in the passage, and
an old black man, dressed in a white shirt and trousers and yellow
slippers, made his appearance. In broken English, with a French accent,
he asked me what I wanted. I told him.
"Oh, Master Coventry! He gone away--no come back for one year, two
years, or more," he replied, with a grin.
I asked him if he knew where Mr Coventry was gone. His notions of
geography were limited; he could not tell. I felt very dispirited.
"But I am his grandson. Is there no one here who can tell me about
him?" I exclaimed.
The negro looked at me hard. "Oh yes, there is Mr Ricama, the steward;
he will tell you all about the master," he answered. "Come in,
gentlemen, come in."
The doctor said, however, that he would prefer waiting under the shade
of the balcony till invited to enter by the officer in command. I
accordingly followed the old black, who showed me into a cool
sitting-room, the floors covered with matting, and furnished with
cane-bottomed sofas and marble tables, the windows opening to the ground
looking out on the sea, whence a delicious breeze came blowing freshly
in. In a short time a tall, dark-skinned man, in a light calico dress,
and with straw hat in hand, came into the room. He bowed as he entered,
and advanced towards me.
"I am the overseer here left in charge by Mr Coventry, whose grandson I
understand you are," he said in very good English. "I shall be glad to
do everything you may wish which is in my power."
"Thank you," I answered. "First, then, tell me where Mr Coventry is; I
am most anxious to see him."
"That is a very difficult question to answer," he replied. "I can tell
you where he was when I last heard from him; but where he now is I
cannot say, and where he may be in another month no man can tell."
"Where was he then?" I asked eagerly.
"In Ceylon. He purposed remaining some time there, but many months have
passed since I last heard of him," was the answer I received.
Here again was a bitter disappointment. If my grandfather was away,
still less likely was I to hear of Alfred. The next question I put to
the overseer was about him.
"Yes, a young midshipman had been to visit Mr Coventry, belonging to a
ship in Port Louis harbour. He had come once again without his uniform,
when he seemed very sad and unhappy. Mr Coventry had spoken kindly to
him, and had given him assistance." What had become of him afterwards,
the overseer could not say positively. He had an idea, however, that he
had been sent to Ceylon, where Mr Coventry had an estate. That he was
not aware if Mr Coventry had again heard of him; but he seemed little
troubled by this, as he, Mr Coventry, was himself so eccentric in his
movements, and so seldom wrote letters, that he could not be surprised
at others altering their plans, or at not writing to him.
This was the sum total of the information I obtained from the overseer.
It was altogether far from satisfactory. I felt sure that Alfred, after
having been kindly treated by our grandfather, would not have failed,
had he possessed the power, to communicate with him. Still it was
possible, as Dr Cuff reminded us, that he might have done so without
the overseer knowing anything about the matter. The moment the overseer
heard that Dr Cuff was with me, he went out and brought him in,
insisting on our making ourselves perfectly at home.
"Pray, do not thank me," he observed; "I feel that I am but doing my
simple duty in treating you with all the attention in my power."
There was something particularly pleasing and attractive about the
overseer. From his colour, he was evidently a native of the East, but
he spoke English well, though with a foreign accent. He was, as the
doctor called him, one of nature's gentlemen. In the course of
conversation we learned that his name was Ricama--that he was a native
of Madagascar, and had at an early age been converted, as were many of
his countrymen, to Christianity. He had come over with his father to
the Mauritius in charge of cattle, dressed, as he said, in a long piece
of yellow grass matting with green stripes wound round his body, with
the end thrown over his left shoulder and hanging down at his back. His
hair was long, and fastened up in large bunches about his head.
Persecution against the Christians in Madagascar having arisen, he had
remained in the island, but his father had returned, and with many other
Christians had been put to death. Ricama had before that time entered
the service of Mr Coventry, who, appreciating his high principles and
honesty, raised him to the highest office of trust he had to bestow.
From all I saw and heard, the overseer was well worthy of the confidence
placed in him. A very tempting repast was soon prepared for us, to
which we were well inclined to do ample justice. At first Ricama would
not sit at table with us, but we entreated him to do so, nor could the
most polished Englishman have behaved in a more appropriate manner. He
was perfectly free and unembarrassed in his conversation, and gave us a
great deal of information about the island.
Before it grew dark we took a turn in the garden, where he showed us the
Indian rubber tree, the tea plant, and many other trees and plants which
Mr Coventry had wished to cultivate. With regard to the Indian rubber
tree, the doctor said that it was only one of many trees producing
caoutchouc--the _Ficus elastica_, I believe. To produce it the tree is,
during the rainy season, pierced, when a yellowish-white coloured and
thickish juice runs out into the vessels prepared to receive it. If
kept in a corked air-tight bottle, it will remain liquid and retain its
light colour for some time. Heat coagulates it, and separates the juice
from the Indian rubber. If exposed to the air in thin films, it soon
dries. In this way it is prepared for exportation:--lumps of clay,
generally in the shape of bottles, are spread over with successive
coats, and to hasten the process dried over fires, the smoke from which
gives the black colour which it generally possesses at home. The marks
we see on the Indian rubber bottles we buy are produced by the end of a
stick before they are quite dry.
"How wonderful are the ways with which Nature supplies our wants!"
observed the doctor. "Not only do trees give us fruit in every variety
of shape, consistency, and flavour, but even their juices minister to
our gratification. How many valuable gums do they exude! The
maple-tree of North America gives excellent sugar, and certainly the
discovery of caoutchouc has added very much to our comfort and
convenience. Just think of the number of elastic articles, the
waterproof dresses, the piping, and even the boats which are made with
it."
Ricama assisted us to pick some leaves from the tea plants, with which,
in their raw state, we afterwards made an infusion, and we found it
differ little from ordinary tea, except that it possessed a richer
aromatic flavour and scent.
Ricama told us that great numbers of his countrymen came over to the
Mauritius, and among others the son of the famous King Radama had been
sent to learn various useful trades. As his majesty had considered that
the first step towards civilising his subjects was to have them dressed,
he had requested that his son might learn the trade of a tailor. The
young prince, however, was said not to have taken very kindly to the
goose, and had soon returned.
Among other trees were guavas, bananas, mangoes, breadfruit palms, and
two or three fern-trees. The leaves of the latter are in shape like
those of the English fern, but of gigantic proportions, and grow on the
top of a stem thirty feet in height. The sugar-cane is the chief
cultivated production of the island on all the more level parts. The
fields are surrounded with pine-apple plants; the fruit is, therefore,
so abundant that the pines are sold for a penny a-piece. A small insect
had, however, lately attacked the sugar-canes, eating their way into
them and destroying them utterly. Though fresh canes had been
introduced, they had suffered in the same way. The proprietors, like
those of Madeira, had therefore lately taken to cultivating the mulberry
tree to feed silk-worms. The overseer entreated that we would remain at
the estate as long as we could. I had got leave to be away from the
ship for a week, and the doctor said that he need not return for some
days. Could I have forgotten my disappointment in not meeting with
Alfred and our grandfather, I should have considered those some of the
most delightful days in my existence. Yet we did little but converse
with Ricama and go about the estate, with short trips into some of the
wilder regions of the island, and examine and hear about the trees, and
shrubs, and fruits, and flowers, and animals, and insects, and reptiles
of the country.
On desiring to be shown our bed-rooms, on the first night of our
arrival, the overseer, to our surprise, conducted us out into the
garden. Here we had observed a dozen or more little pavilions, with
windows opening nearly all the way round, so that from whatever
direction the wind came, it could find a passage through them. Some
light gauze curtains, an iron bed-stead, a table and chair, with a tin
box, constituted the furniture of these temples dedicated to Morpheus.
The tin box was, I found, to hold my clothes; for though the ants and
other insects might not carry them off bodily during the night, they
were likely to inflict much mischief on them in a short space of time.
The white ants of the Mauritius generally build their nests in trees,
where one of them looks like a huge excrescence of the stem. Numerous
covered ways approach it along the branches and up the trunk. Not a
single insect is seen, though thousands may be employed in bringing to
this castle the produce of the tree or the booty they have collected
from the neighbouring country. They have a pale, long-buried look,
caused probably from living so entirely in the dark. When attacking a
house, they run a tunnel with wonderful expedition through the floor and
up a wall, always taking care to have a case of some sort to work in.
If anything particularly tempting to their appetites is discovered, they
immediately branch off to it, and if it is inside a wooden box, or chest
of drawers, or bureau, they take up their abode in the interior till
they have completely gutted it. They think nothing of eating up a
library of books, or cutting out the whole interior of the legs of
tables and chairs, so that, should a stout gentleman sit down on one of
them, he would be instantly floored.
I saw the negro servant who attended me to my bower hunting about in
every direction. I asked him what he was looking for.
"Scorpions, master," was his answer.
Presently he produced from a corner, holding it by the head, what looked
like a spider with a very long tail, which latter adornment was curled
up over his back like that of a squirrel. He put it down close to the
table, when down came its tail with considerable force. He showed me a
sort of claw in the tail, through which the poison, which lies in a bag
at the bottom of it, is projected. I called to the doctor, whose house
was within hail of mine, to come and look at it. He told me that it
belonged to the class _Arachnida_, It had two claws and eight legs, or
stigmata, with a very long tail. He laughed at the common notion that
the scorpion will sting itself to death when surrounded by fire, and
showed how that would be impossible, as he has no muscular power to
drive his sting through his breast-plate, nor could he do much more,
when curling it up, than tickle his back with it. He cannot even twist
his tail to strike, so that the only dangerous point on which to assail
him in his rear.
Cockroaches, of course, abound. They are frequently destroyed by a
peculiar sort of large fly, the female of which lays her eggs in them
while they are alive, the larvae afterwards eating them up.
The prettiest little creatures I saw were lizards, which ran quite tame
about the house in search of flies, their usual food. Their feet are
furnished with a pneumatic apparatus like those of the house fly, by
which means they are able to run along the ceiling, or even any surface
as smooth as a mirror. They are of a whitey-brown colour. I watched
one of them shuffling along with an awkward gait, consequent on the
peculiar formation of his feet. When about two inches from a fly, out
he darted his tongue, and it had disappeared.
The most curious insect I saw was the leaf-fly, the wings of which so
exactly resemble the leaf on which it feeds that it is impossible to
distinguish them from it. It is said that if a number are put into a
box without food, they will eat up each other's wings.
I heard of deer and wild boars, and saw plenty of monkeys. They are of
a small size. They are here rapacious and cunning as usual. It is said
that a large number will concert to rob a plantation, and forming a
line, will pass the fruit from hand to hand till it is deposited safe in
their mountain fastnesses. I doubt, however, whether there is honour
among such thieves, and I suspect that those at the home end of the line
would in most instances get the lion's portion.
I did not see many birds; indeed the island does not boast of any large
number, though the dodo once inhabited it, and perhaps still exists
among some of the thick jungles in the interior, into which no human
being has as yet penetrated. The only songster is called a martin. He
is somewhat larger than a blackbird, and pied like a magpie. He is a
lively, chattering fellow, very good-looking into the bargain, and, from
his sociable qualities, a great favourite with everybody. There are
several species of amadavides, or love birds, of the finch tribe, with
red beaks, which, as they live on seeds, are easily kept. Had I been
going home, I should have liked to have taken some with me. The most
conspicuous bird is the cardinal, though scarcely larger than a
bullfinch, as his bright scarlet plumage is seen flitting about amid the
dark green jungle. But I might fill my pages with descriptions of the
various wonderful things I saw and heard about, and have no space left
to give an account of my own adventures.
I awoke cool and refreshed the morning after our hot ride; and had a
delicious bath in a stream which ran close to the garden. Solon sat by
the pool watching my proceedings, and evidently ready to lay hold of any
noxious creature which might come to interfere with me. He seemed very
glad when I was out again, and bounded back with me to my bower, where I
went to finish my toilet. The overseer was ready to receive us at
breakfast. It consisted of bread in various forms, rice, and every
variety of fruit, with tea, and coffee, and cocoa.
"Some English gentlemen take all sorts of hot and exciting dishes, as
well as strong beverages," observed Ricama, "but Mr Coventry never
takes them himself, and never gives them to his guests. I have followed
his custom, and let me assure you that, especially in a hot climate, it
is a very wise one. Depend upon it, Europeans would not suffer nearly
so much from hot climates if they would but alter their mode of living
to suit them. Adhere to this plan while you are here, and you will at
once perceive its advantage by the sound and refreshing sleep you will
enjoy."
The doctor agreed with Ricama, and I ever afterwards, notwithstanding
many temptations to act in a contrary way, strictly followed his advice,
and most certainly benefited greatly by it. One day was spent very much
like another, in going about the estate, seeing the labourers at work,
and taking rides about the neighbourhood. We were obliged to keep on
the beaten paths, for so dense a barrier did the masses of creepers form
amid the boughs of all the trees, that a company of pioneers could alone
have penetrated into the woods.
At the end of a week we took our departure to return to Port Louis. We
were both much pleased with Ricama, and I felt a sincere friendship for
him. He furnished me with letters to two friends of my grandfather's at
the capital, as he thought they would be glad to be of assistance to me.
They could tell me nothing about my brother, but they both thought it
most probable that he had been sent to Ceylon. I was now only anxious
once more to continue my voyage. I forgot the misconduct of the captain
and first mate, and all the dangers to which, in consequence, all on
board had been exposed, and was quite ready once more to trust myself at
sea with them.