to be too hot to be pleasant, even by that perfect model for all future
lords of the bedchamber, who was never known to speak a word, except
in praise, of any thing living or dead, through the whole course of his
life: but, at last, one day he met with an accident--he happened to die;
and the next day he met with another accident--he happened to be damned:
and immediately upon his arrival in the infernal regions, the Devil (who
was determined to be as well bred as the other could be for his ears,)
came to pay his compliments to the new-comer, and very obligingly
expressed his concern that his lordship was not likely to feel satisfied
with his new abode; for that he must certainly find hell very hot and
disagreeable. “Oh, dear, no!” exclaimed the Lord of the Bedchamber, “not
at all disagreeable, by any manner of means, Mr. Devil, upon my word
and honour! Rather _warm_, to be sure.” In point of heat there is no
difference between the days and the nights; or if there is any, it is
that the nights are rather the hottest of the two. The lightning is
incessant, and it does not show itself forked or in flashes, but in wide
sheets of mild blue light, which spread themselves at once over the
sky and sea; and, for the moment which they last, make all the objects
around as distinct as in daylight. The moon now does not rise till near
ten o’clock, and during her absence the size and brilliancy of the stars
are admirable. In England they always seemed to me (to borrow a phrase
of Shakspeare’s, which, in truth, is not worth borrowing,) to “peep
through the blanket of the dark;” but here the heavens appear to be
studded with them on the outside, as if they were chased with so many
jewels: it is really Milton’s “firmament of living sapphires;” and what
with the lightning, the stars, and the quantity of floating lights which
just gleamed round the ship every moment, and then were gone again,
to-night the sky had an effect so beautiful, that when at length the
moon thought proper to show her great red drunken face, I thought that
we did much better without her.
The above-mentioned floating lights are a kind of sea-meteors, which, as
I am told, are produced by the concussion of the waves, while eddying in
whirlpools round the rudder; but still I saw them rise sometimes at so
great a distance from the ship, and there appeared to be something so
like _Will_ in the direction of their course,--sometimes hurrying
on, sometimes gliding along quite slowly; now stopping and remaining
motionless for a minute or two, and then hurrying on again,--that I
could not be convinced of their not being Medusæ, or some species
or other of phosphoric animal: but whatever be the cause of this
appearance, the effect is singularly beautiful. As to air, we have not
enough to bless ourselves with. I had been led to believe, that when
once we should have fallen in with the trade winds, from that moment
we should sail into our destined port as rapidly and as directly as
Truffaldino travels in Gozzi’s farce; when, having occasion to go from
Asia to Europe, and being very much pressed for time, he persuades a
conjuror of his acquaintance to lend him a devil, with a great pair of
bellows, the nozzle of which being directed right against his stern,
away goes the traveller before the stream of wind, with the devil after
him, and the infernal bellows never cease from working till they have
blown him out of one quarter of the globe into another: but our trade
winds must “hide their diminished heads” before Truffaldino’s bellows.
It seems that like the Moors, “in Africa the torrid,” they are “of
temper somewhat mulish;” for, although, to be sure, when they _do_ blow,
they will only blow in one certain direction, yet very often they will
not blow at all; which has been our case for the last week: indeed, they
seem to be but a queerish kind of a concern at best. About three years
ago a fleet of merchantmen was becalmed near St. Vincent’s: in a few
days after their arrival, there happened a violent eruption of a volcano
in that island, nor was it long before a favourable breeze sprang up.
Unluckily, one of the ships had anchored rather nearer to the shore than
the others, and was at the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards
from the stream of the trade wind; nor could any possible efforts of
the crew, by tacking, by towing, or otherwise, ever enable the vessel
to conquer that one hundred and fifty yards: there she remained, as
completely becalmed as if there were not such a thing as a breath of
wind in the universe; and on the one hand she had the mortification to
see the rest of the merchantmen, with their convoy (for it was in the
very heat of the war), sail away with all their canvass spread and
swelling; while, on the other hand, the sailors had the comfortable
possibility of being suffocated every moment by the clouds of ashes
which continued to fall on their deck every moment, from the burning
volcano, although they were not nearer to St. Vincent’s than eight or
nine miles; indeed that distance went for nothing, as ashes fell upon
vessels that were out at sea at least five hundred miles; and Barbadoes
being to windward of the volcano, such immense quantities of its
contents were carried to that island as almost covered the fields; and
destroying vegetation completely wherever they fell, did inconceivable
damage, while that which St. Vincent’s itself experienced was but
trifling in proportion.
Our captain is quite out of patience with the tortoise pace of our
progress; for my part I care very little about it. Whether we have
sailed slowly or rapidly, when a day is once over, I am just as much
nearer advanced towards April, the time fixed for my return to England;
and, what is of much more consequence, whether we have sailed slowly
or rapidly, when a day is once over, I am just as much nearer advanced
towards “that bourne,” to reach which, peaceably and harmlessly, is
the only business of life, and towards which the whole of our existence
forms but one continued journey.
DECEMBER 21.
We succeeded in catching another dolphin today; but he had not a hat on;
however, I just asked him whether he happened to have seen mine, but to
little purpose; for I found that he could tell me nothing at all about
it; so, instead of bothering the poor animal with any more questions, we
eat him.
DECEMBER 22.
About three years ago the Captain had the ill luck to be captured by a
French frigate. As she had already made prizes of two other merchantmen,
it was determined to sink his ship; which, after removing the crew and
every thing in her that was valuable, was effected by firing her own
guns down the hatchways. It was near three hours before she filled, then
down she went with a single plunge, head foremost, with all her sails
set and colours flying. This display of the ship’s magnificence in her
last moments reminded me of Mary Queen of Scots, arraying herself in her
richest robes that she might go to the scaffold. If Yorick had fallen
in with this anecdote in the course of his journey, the situation of the
Captain, standing on the enemy’s deck, and seeing his “brave vessel”
in full and gallant trim, possessing all the abilities for a long
existence, yet abandoned by every one, and sinking from the effect of
her own shot, might have furnished him with a companion for his old
commercial Marquis, lamenting over the rust of his newly recovered
sword.
DECEMBER 23.
THE DOLPHIN.
Does then the insatiate sea relent?
And hath he back those treasures sent,
His stormy rage devoured?
All starred with gems the billows bound,
And emeralds, jacinths, sapphires round
The bark in spray are showered.
No, no!’t is there the Dolphin plays;
His scales, enriched with sunny rays,
Celestial tints unfold;
And as he darts, the waters blue
Are streaked with gleams of many a hue,
Green, orange, purple, gold!
And brighter still will shine your skin,
Poor fish, more dazzling play each fin,
On deck when dying cast;
Like good men, who, expiring, bless
The Power that calls them, all confess
Your brightest hour your last.
And now the Spearman watchful stands!
The five-pronged grainse, which arms his hands,
Your scales is doomed to gore;
The lead will sink, and soon on high,
Borne from the deep, perforce you’ll fly,
Nor e’er regain it more.
Weep, Beauty, weep! those vivid dyes,
Those splendours, but the harpooner’s eyes
To strike his victim call!
Ambition, mark the Dolphin’s close--
To dangerous heights he only rose
To find the heavier fall!
Mark, too, ye witty, rich, and gay,
How quick those sportive fins could play,
How gay, how rich was he!
He moves no more--he’s cold to touch--
He’s dull--dark--dead! The Dolphin’s such,
And such we all must be!
There is a technical fault in the above lines: the grainse, or
dolphin-spear, has five barbs; but the _harpooner_ never uses a lance
with more than a single point. However, the word was so agreeable to my
ear, that I could not find in my heart to leave it out.
DECEMBER 24. (Sunday.)
At length we have crawled into the Caribbean Sea. I was told that we
were not to expect to see land to-day; but on shipboard our not seeing
a thing _to-day_ by no means implies that we shall not see it before
_to-morrow_; for the nautical day is supposed to conclude at noon,
when the solar observation is taken; and, therefore, the making land
_to-day_, or not, very often depends upon our making it before twelve
o’clock, or after it. This was the case in the present instance; for
noon was scarcely passed when we saw Descada (a small island totally
unprovided with water, and whose only produce consists in a little
cotton), Guadaloupe, and Marie Galante, though the latter was at so
great a distance as to be scarcely visible. At sunset Antigua was in
sight.
DECEMBER 25.
The sun rose upon Montserrat and Nevis, with the _Rodondo_ rock between
them, “apricis natio gratissima mergis,--” for it is perpetually covered
with innumerable flocks of gulls, boobies, pelicans, and other sea
birds. Then came St. Christopher’s and St. Eustatia; and in the course
of the afternoon we passed over the _Aves_ bank, a collection of sand,
rock, and mud, extending about two hundred miles, and terminated at each
end by a small island: one of them inhabited by a few fishermen, the
other only by sea birds. Of all the Atlantic isles the soil of St.
Christopher’s is by some supposed to be the richest, the land frequently
producing three hogsheads an acre. I rather think that this was the
first island discovered by Columbus, and that it took its name from
his patron-saint. Montserrat is so rocky, and the roads so steep and
difficult, that the sugar is obliged to be brought down in bags upon
the backs of mules, and not put into casks, till its arrival on the sea
shore.
The weather is now quite delicious; there is just wind enough to send
us forward and keep the air cool: the sun is brilliant without being
overpowering; the swell of the waves is scarcely perceptible; and the
ship moves along so steadily, that the deck affords almost as firm
footing as if we were walking on land. One would think that Belinda had
been smiling on the Caribbean Sea, as she once before did on the Thames,
and had “made all the world look gay.” During the night we passed Santa
Cruz, an island which, from the perfection to which its cultivation has
been carried, is called “the Garden of the West Indies.”
DECEMBER 28.
Having left Porto Rico behind us, at noon today we passed the insulated
rock of Alcavella, lying about six miles from St. Domingo, which is now
in sight. As this part of the Caribbean Sea is much infested by pirates
from the Caraccas, all our muskets have been put in repair, and to-day
the guns were loaded, of which we mount eight; but as one of them,
during the last voyage, went overboard in a gale of wind, its place
has been supplied by a _Quaker_, i. e. a sham gun of wood, so called,
I suppose, because it would not fight if it were called upon. These
pirate-vessels are small schooners, armed with a single twenty-four
pounder, which moves upon a swivel, and their crew is composed of
negroes and outlaws of all nations, their numbers generally running from
one hundred to one hundred and fifty men. To-day, for the first time,
I saw some flying fish: we have also been visited by several men-of-war
birds and tropic birds; the latter is a species of gull, perfectly
white, and distinguished by a single very long feather in its tail: its
nautical name is “the boatswain.”
As we sail along, the air is absolutely loaded with “Sabean odours
from the spicy shores” of St. Domingo, which we were still coasting at
sunset.
DECEMBER 30.
At day-break Jamaica was in sight, or rather it would have been in
sight, only that we could not see it. The weather was so gloomy, and the
wind and rain were so violent, that we might have said to the Captain,
as one of the two Punches who went into the ark is reported to have said
to the patriarch, during the deluge, “Hazy weather, Master Noah.”--I
remember my good friend, Walter Scott, asserts, that at the death of a
poet the groans and tears of his heroes and heroines swell the blast and
increase the river; perhaps something of the same kind takes place at
the arrival of a West India proprietor from Europe, and all this rain
and wind proceed from the eyes and lungs of my agents and overseers,
who, for the last twenty years, have been reigning in my dominions with
despotic authority; but now
“Whose groans in roaring winds complain,
Whose tears of rage impel the rain;”
because, on the approach of the sovereign himself, they must evacuate
the palace, and resign the deputed sceptre. “Hinc illæ lachrymæ!” this
is the cause of our being soaked to the skin this morning. However,
about noon the weather cleared up, and allowed us to verify, with our
own eyes, that we had reached “the Land of Springs,” without having been
invited by any Piccaroon vessel to “walk the plank” instead of the deck;
which is a compliment very generally paid by those gentry, after they
have taken the trouble of laying a plank over the side of a captured
ship, in order that the passengers and the crew may walk overboard
without any inconvenience.
We arrived at the east end of the island, passed Pedro Point and
Starvegut Bay, and arrived before Black River Bay (our destined harbour)
soon after two o’clock; but here we were obliged to come to a stand
still: the channel is very dangerous, extremely narrow, and full of
sunken rocks; so that it can only be entered by a vessel drawing so
much water as ours with a particular wind, and when there is not any
apprehension of a sudden squall. We were, therefore, obliged to drop
anchor, and are now riding within a couple of miles of the shore, but
with as utter an incapability of reaching it as if we were still
at Gravesend. The north side of the island is said to be extremely
beautiful and romantic; but the south, which we coasted to-day, is low,
barren, and without any recommendation whatever. As yet I can only look
at Jamaica as one does on a man who comes to pay money, and whom we are
extremely well pleased to see, however little the fellow’s appearance
may be in his favour.
We passed the whole of the day in vain endeavours to work ourselves
into the bay. At one time, indeed, we got very near the shore, but the
consequence was, that we were within an ace of striking upon a rock,
and very much obliged to a sudden gust of wind, which, blowing right off
shore, blew us out of the channel, and left us at night in a much more
perilous situation than we had occupied the evening before, though even
that had been by no means secure. At three o’clock, the other passengers
went on shore in the jolly-boat, and proceeded to their destination;
but as I was still more than thirty miles distant from my estate, I
preferred waiting on board till the Captain should have moored his
vessel in safety, and be at liberty to take me in his pinnace to
Savannah la Mar, when I should find myself within a few miles of my own
house.
In the course of the afternoon, one of the sailors took up a fish of a
very singular shape and most brilliant colours, as it floated along upon
the water. It seemed to be gasping, and lay with its belly upwards;
it was supposed to have eaten something poisonous, as whenever it was
touched it appeared to be full of life, and squirted the water in our
faces with great spirit and dexterity. But no sooner was he suffered
to remain quiet in the tub, than he turned upon his back and again was
gasping. He had a large round transparent globule, intersected with red
veins, under the belly, which some imagined to proceed from a rupture,
and to be the occasion of his disease. But I could not discover any
vestige of a wound; and the globule was quite solid to the touch;
neither did the fish appear to be sensible when it was pressed upon. No
one on board had ever seen this kind of fish till then; its name is the
“Doctor Fish.”
A black pilot came on board yesterday, in a canoe hollowed out of the
cotton-tree; and when it returned for him this morning, it brought us a
water-melon. I never met with a worse article in my life; the pulp is of
a faint greenish yellow, stained here and there with spots of moist red,
so that it looks exactly as if the servant in slicing it had cut his
finger, and suffered it to bleed over the fruit. Then the seeds, being
of a dark purple, present the happiest imitation of drops of clotted
gore; and altogether (prejudiced as I was by its appearance), when I had
put a single bit into my mouth, it had such a kind of Shylocky taste of
raw flesh about it (not that I recollect having ever eaten a bit of raw
flesh itself), that I sent away my plate, and was perfectly satisfied as
to the merits of the fruit.
1816.--JANUARY 1.
At length the ship has squeezed herself into this champagne bottle of
a bay! Perhaps, the satisfaction attendant upon our having overcome
the difficulty, added something to the illusion of its effect; but the
beauty of the atmosphere, the dark purple mountains, the shores covered
with mangroves of the liveliest green down to the very edge of the
water, and the light-coloured houses with their lattices and piazzas
completely embowered in trees, altogether made the scenery of the Bay
wear a very picturesque appearance. And, to complete the charm,
the sudden sounds of the drum and banjee, called our attention to a
procession of the John-Canoe, which was proceeding to celebrate the
opening of the new year at the town of Black River. The John-Canoe is a
Merry-Andrew dressed in a striped doublet, and bearing upon his head a
kind of pasteboard house-boat, filled with puppets, representing, some
sailors, others soldiers, others again slaves at work on a plantation,
&c. The negroes are allowed three days for holidays at Christmas, and
also New-year’s day, which being the last is always reckoned by them as
the festival of the greatest importance. It is for this day that they
reserve their finest dresses, and lay their schemes for displaying their
show and expense to the greatest advantage; and it is then that the
John-Canoe is considered not merely as a person of material consequence,
but one whose presence is absolutely indispensable. Nothing could
look more gay than the procession which we now saw with its train of
attendants, all dressed in white, and marching two by two (except when
the file was broken here and there by a single horseman), and its band
of negro music, and its scarlet flags fluttering about in the breeze,
now disappearing behind a projecting clump of mangrove trees, and then
again emerging into an open part of the road, as it wound along the
shore towards the town of Black River.
----“Magno telluris amore
Egressi optatâ Troes potiuntur arena.”
I had determined not to go on shore, till I should land for good and
all at Savannah la Mar. But although I could resist the “telluris
amor,” there was no resisting John-Canoe; so, in defiance of a broiling
afternoon’s sun, about four o’clock we left the vessel for the town.
It was, as I understand, formerly one of some magnitude; but it now
consists only of a few houses, owing to a spark from a tobacco-pipe or
a candle having lodged upon a mosquito-net during dry weather; and
although the conflagration took place at mid-day, the whole town was
reduced to ashes. The few streets--(I believe there were not above two,
but those were wide and regular, and the houses looked very neat)--were
now crowded with people, and it seemed to be allowed, upon all hands,
that New-year’s day had never been celebrated there with more expense
and festivity.
It seems that, many years ago, an Admiral of the Red was superseded on
the Jamaica station by an Admiral of the Blue; and both of them gave
balls at Kingston to the “_Brown Girls;”_ for the fair sex elsewhere are
called the “Brown Girls” in Jamaica. In consequence of these balls, all
Kingston was divided into parties: from thence the division spread into
other districts: and ever since, the whole island, at Christmas, is
separated into the rival factions of the Blues and the Reds (the Red
representing also the English, the Blue the Scotch), who contend
for setting forth their processions with the greatest taste and
magnificence. This year, several gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Black
River had subscribed very largely towards the expenses of the show;
and certainly it produced the gayest and most amusing scene that I ever
witnessed, to which the mutual jealousy and pique of the two parties
against each other contributed in no slight degree. The champions of
the rival Roses,--the Guelphs and the Ghibellines,--none of them could
exceed the scornful animosity and spirit of depreciation with which the
Blues and the Reds of Black River examined the efforts at display of
each other. The Blues had the advantage beyond a doubt; this a Red
girl told us that she could not deny; but still, “though the Reds were
beaten, she would not be a Blue girl for the whole universe!” On the
other hand, Miss Edwards (the mistress of the hotel from whose window we
saw the show), was rank Blue to the very tips of her fingers, and had,
indeed, contributed one of her female slaves to sustain a very important
character in the show; for when the Blue procession was ready to set
forward, there was evidently a hitch, something was wanting; and there
seemed to be no possibility of getting on without it--when suddenly we
saw a tall woman dressed in mourning (being Miss Edwards herself) rush
out of our hotel, dragging along by the hand a strange uncouth kind of
a glittering tawdry figure, all feathers, and pitchfork, and painted
pasteboard, who moved most reluctantly, and turned out to be no less a
personage than Britannia herself, with a pasteboard shield covered with
the arms of Great Britain, a trident in her hand, and a helmet made
of pale blue silk and silver. The poor girl, it seems, was bashful at
appearing in this conspicuous manner before so many spectators, and hung
back when it came to the point. But her mistress had seized hold of her,
and placed her by main force in her destined position. The music struck
up; Miss Edwards gave the Goddess a great push forwards; the drumsticks
and the elbows of the fiddlers attacked her in the rear; and on went
Britannia willy-nilly!
The Blue girls called themselves “the Blue girls of Waterloo.”
Their motto was the more patriotic; that of the Red was the more
gallant:--“Britannia rules the day!” streamed upon the Blue flag;
“Red girls for ever!” floated upon the Red. But, in point of taste and
invention, the former carried it hollow. First marched Britannia; then
came a band of music; then the flag; then the Blue King and Queen--the
Queen splendidly dressed in white and silver (in scorn of the opposite
party, her train was borne by a little girl in red); his Majesty wore
a full British Admiral’s uniform, with a white satin sash, and a huge
cocked hat with a gilt paper crown upon the top of it. These were
immediately followed by “Nelson’s car,” being a kind of canoe decorated
with blue and silver drapery, and with “Trafalgar” written on the front
of it; and the procession was closed by a long train of Blue grandees
(the women dressed in uniforms of white, with robes of blue muslin),
all Princes and Princesses, Dukes and Duchesses, every mother’s child of
them.
The Red girls were also dressed very gaily and prettily, but they had
nothing in point of invention that could vie with Nelson’s Car and
Britannia; and when the Red throne made its appearance, language cannot
express the contempt with which our landlady eyed it. “It was neither
one thing nor t’other,” Miss Edwards was of opinion. “Merely a few yards
of calico stretched over some planks--and look, look, only look at it
behind! you may see the bare boards! By way of a throne, indeed! Well,
to be sure, Miss Edwards never saw a poorer thing in her life, that she
must say!” And then she told me, that somebody had just snatched at a
medal which Britannia wore round her neck, and had endeavoured to force
it away. I asked her who had done so? “Oh, one of the Red party, _of
course!_” The Red party was evidently Miss Edwards’s Mrs. Grundy.
John-Canoe made no part of the procession; but he and his rival,
John-Crayfish (a personage of whom I heard, but could not obtain a
sight), seemed to act upon quite an independent interest, and go about
from house to house, tumbling and playing antics to pick up money for
themselves.