eats enough, has no fever, and every symptom is so favourable, that Dr.
Ashman encourages us to hope that he has received no material injury.
Our ship-carpenter has always appeared to be the sulkiest and surliest
of sea-bears: yet, on the day of Edward’s accident, he passed every
minute that he could command by the side of his sofa, kneeling, and
praying, and watching him as if he had been his son; and every now
and then wiping away his “own tears” with the dirtiest of all possible
pocket-handkerchiefs. So that what Goldsmith said of Dr. Johnson may be
applied to this old man: “He has nothing of a bear but his skin.” After
tearing every sail in the ship into shivers, and being as disagreeable
as ever it could be, the gale has at length abated. Yesterday it was
a storm, and we were going to Ireland, Lisbon, Brest--in short, every
where except to England; to-day, it is a dead calm, and we are going
nowhere at all.
APRIL 26. (Sunday.)
The gale has returned with increased violence, and we are once more
at our old trade of dead lights; however, for this time, the wind, at
least, is in our favour.
APRIL 28.
The wounded mate is so much recovered as to come upon deck for a few
hours to-day, and may now be considered as completely out of danger;
although Dr. Ashman is positive (from his difficulty of breathing
at first, and the subsequent pain in his chest) that his lungs must
actually have been wounded, however slightly. We are now nearly abreast
of Scilly; we fell in with several Scilly boats to-day, from whom we
obtained a very acceptable supply of fish, vegetables, and newspapers.
APRIL 29.
_An African Nancy-Story_.--The headman (i. e. the king) of a large
district in Africa, in one of his tours, visited a young nobleman, to
whom he lost a considerable sum at play. On his departure he loaded
his host with caresses, and insisted on his coming in person to receive
payment at court; but his pretended kindness had not deceived the nurse
of the young man. She told him, that the headman was certainly incensed
against him for having conquered him at play, and meant to do him some
injury; that having been so positively ordered to come to court, he
could not avoid obeying; but she advised him to take the river-road,
where, at a particular hour, he would find the king’s youngest and
favourite daughter bathing; and she instructed him how to behave. The
youth reached the river, and concealed himself, till he saw the princess
enter the stream alone; but when she thought fit to regain the bank,
she found herself extremely embarrassed.--‘Ho-day! what is become of
my clothes? ho-day! who has stolen my clothes? ho-day! if any one will
bring me back my clothes, I promise that no harm shall happen to him
this day--O!’--This was the cue for which the youth had been instructed
to wait. ‘Here are your clothes, missy!’ said he, stepping from his
concealment: ‘a rogue had stolen them, while you were bathing; but I
took them from him, and have brought them back.’--‘Well, young man, I
will keep my promise to you. You are going to court, I know; and I know
also, that the headman will chop off your head, unless at first sight
you can tell him which of his three daughters is the youngest. Now I am
she; and in order that you may not mistake, I will take care to make a
sign; and then do not you fail to pitch upon me.’ The young man assured
her, that, having once seen her, he never could possibly mistake her
for any other, and then set forwards with a lightened heart. The headman
received him very graciously, feasted him with magnificence, and told
him that he would present him to his three daughters, only that there
was a slight rule respecting them to which he must conform. Whoever
could not point out which was the youngest, must immediately lose his
head. The young man kissed the ground in obedience, the door opened,
and in walked three little black dogs. Now, then, the necessity of the
precaution taken by the princess was evident; the youth looked at the
dogs earnestly; something induced the headman to turn away his eyes for
a moment, and in that moment one of the dogs lifted up its fore paw.
‘This,’ cried the youth--‘this is your youngest daughter;’--and
instantly the dogs vanished, and three young women appeared in their
stead. The headman was equally surprised and incensed; but concealing
his rage, he professed the more pleasure at that discovery; because, in
consequence, the law of that country obliged him to give his youngest
daughter in marriage to the person who should recognise her; and he
charged his future son-in-law to return in a week, when he should
receive his bride. But his feigned caresses could no longer deceive the
young man: as it was evident that the headman practised Obeah, he did
not dare to disobey him; and knew that to escape by flight would be
unavailing. It was, therefore, with melancholy forebodings that he set
out for court on the appointed day; and (according to the advice of his
old nurse) he failed not to take the road which led by the river. The
princess came again to bathe; her clothes again vanished; she had again
recourse to her ‘Ho-day! what is become of my clothes?’ and on hearing
the same promise of protection, the youth again made his appearance.
‘Here are your clothes, missy,’ said he; ‘the wind had blown them away
to a great distance; I found them hanging upon the bushes, and have
brought them back to you.’ Probably the princess thought it rather
singular, that whenever her petticoats were missing, the same person
should always happen to be in the way to find them: however, as she was
remarkably handsome, she kept her thoughts to herself, swallowed the
story like so much butter, and assured him of her protection. ‘My
father,’ said she, ‘will again ask you which is the youngest daughter;
and as he suspects me of having assisted you before, he threatens to
chop off _my_ head instead of yours, should I disobey him a second time.
He will, therefore, watch me too closely to allow of my making any sign
to you; but still I will contrive something to distinguish me from my
sisters; and do you examine us narrowly till you find it.’ As she had
foretold, the headman no sooner saw his destined son-in-law enter, than
he told him that he should immediately receive his bride; but that if he
did not immediately point her out, the laws of the kingdom sentenced him
to lose his head. Upon which the door opened, and in walked three large
black cats, so exactly similar in every respect, that it was utterly
impossible to distinguish one from the other. The youth was at length on
the point of giving up the attempt in despair, when it struck him, that
each of the cats had a slight thread passed round its neck; and that
while the threads of two were scarlet, that of the third was blue.
‘_This_ is your youngest daughter;’ cried he, snatching up the cat with
the blue thread. The headman was utterly at a loss to conceive by what
means he had made the discovery; but could not deny the fact, for there
stood the princesses in their own shape. He therefore affected to be
greatly pleased, gave him his bride, and made a great feast, which was
followed by a ball; but in the midst of it the princess whispered her
lover to follow her silently into the garden. Here she told him, that an
old Obeah woman, who had been her father’s nurse, had warned him, that
if his youngest daughter should live to see the day after her wedding,
he would lose his power and his life together; that she, therefore, was
sure of his intending to destroy both herself and her bridegroom that
night in their sleep; but that, being aware of all these circumstances,
she had watched him so narrowly as to get possession of some of his
magical secrets, which might possibly enable her to counteract his cruel
designs. She then gathered a rose, picked up a pebble, filled a small
phial with water from a rivulet; and thus provided, she and her lover
betook themselves to flight upon a couple of the swiftest steeds in her
father’s stables. It was midnight before the headman missed them: his
rage was excessive; and immediately mounting his great horse, Dandy, he
set forwards in pursuit of the lovers. Now Dandy galloped at the rate of
ten miles a minute. The princess was soon aware of her pursuer: without
loss of time she pulled the rose to pieces, scattered the leaves behind
her, and had the satisfaction of seeing them instantly grow up into
a wood of briars, so strong and so thickly planted, that Dandy vainly
attempted to force his way through them. But, alas! this fence was but
of a very perishable nature. In the time that it would have taken to
wither its parent rose-leaves, the briars withered away; and Dandy was
soon able to trample them down, while he continued his pursuit. Now,
then, the pebble was thrown in his passage; it burst into forty pieces,
and every piece in a minute became a rock as lofty as the Andes. But
the Andes themselves would have offered no insurmountable obstacles to
Dandy, who bounded from precipice to precipice; and the lovers and the
headman could once more clearly distinguish each other by the first
beams of the rising sun. The headman roared, and threatened, and
brandished a monstrous sabre; Dandy tore up the ground as he ran,
neighed louder than thunder, and gained upon the fugitives every moment.
Despair left the princess no choice, and she violently dashed her phial
upon the ground. Instantly the water which it contained swelled itself
into a tremendous torrent, which carried away every thing before
it,--rocks, trees, and houses; and ‘the horse and his rider’ were
carried away among the rest.--‘Hic finis Priami fatorum!’ There was an
end of the headman and Dandy! The princess then returned to court, where
she raised a strong party for herself; seized her two sisters, who were
no better than their father, and had assisted him in his witchcraft; and
having put them and all their partisans to death by a summary mode of
proceeding, she established herself and her husband on the throne as
headman and head-woman. It was from this time that _all_ the kings of
Africa have been uniformly mild and benevolent sovereigns. Till then
they were all tyrants, and tyrants they would all still have continued,
if this virtuous princess had not changed the face of things by drowning
her father, strangling her two sisters, and chopping off the heads of
two or three dozen of her nearest and dearest relations.
It seems to be an indispensable requisite for a Nancy-story, that
it should contain a witch, or a duppy, or, in short, some marvellous
personage or other. It is a kind of “pièce à machines” But the creole
slaves are very fond of another species of tale, which they call
“Neger-tricks,” and which bear the same relation to a Nancy-story
which a farce does to a tragedy. The following is a specimen:--_A
Neger-trick_.--“A man who had two wives divided his provision-grounds
into two parts, and proposed that each of the women should cultivate one
half. They were ready to do their proper share, but insisted that the
husband should at least take his third of the work. However, when they
were to set out, the man was taken so ill, that he found it impossible
to move; he quite roared with pain, and complained bitterly of a large
lump which had formed itself on his cheek during the night. The wives
did what they could to relieve him, but in vain they boiled a negro-pot
for him, but he was too ill to swallow a morsel: and at length they were
obliged to leave him, and go to take care of the provision-grounds. As
soon as they were gone, the husband became perfectly well, emptied the
contents of the pot with great appetite, and enjoyed himself in ease and
indolence till evening, when he saw his wives returning; and immediately
he became worse than ever. One of the women was quite shocked to see the
size to which the lump had increased during her absence: she begged
to examine it; but although she barely touched it with the tip of
her finger as gingerly as possible, it was so tender that the fellow
screamed with agony. Unluckily, the other woman’s manners were by no
means so delicate; and seizing him forcibly by the head to examine it,
she undesignedly happened to hit him a great knock on the jaw, and, lo
and behold! out flew a large lime, which he had crammed into it. Upon
which both his wives fell upon him like two furies; beat him out of
the house; and whenever afterwards he begged them to go to the
provision-grounds, they told him that he had got no lime in his mouth
_then_, and obliged him from that time forwards to do the whole work
himself.”
A negro was brought to England; and the first point shown him being the
chalky cliffs of Dover, “O ki!” he said; “me know now what makes the
buckras all so white!”
MAY 29.
We once more saw the “Lizard,” the first point of England; and, indeed,
it was full time that we should. Besides that our provisions were nearly
exhausted by the length of the voyage, our crew was in a great measure
composed of fellows of the most worthless description; and the captain
lately discovered that some of them had contrived to break a secret
passage into the hold, where they had broached the rum-casks, and had
already passed several nights in drinking, with lighted candles: a
single spark would have been sufficient to blow us all up to the moon!
June 1. (Saturday.)
We took our river pilot on board; and on Wednesday, the 5th, we reached
Gravesend. I went on shore at nine in the morning; and here I conclude
my _Jamaica Journal_.
1817.
November 5. (Wednesday.)
I left London, and embarked for Jamaica on board the same vessel,
commanded by the same captain, which conveyed me thither in 1815. We
did not reach the Downs till Sunday, the 9th, after experiencing in our
passage a severe gale of wind, which broke the bowsprit of a vessel in
our sight, but did no mischief to ourselves. On arriving in the Downs,
we found all the flags lowered half way down the masts, which is a
signal of mourning; and we now learnt, that, in a few hours after giving
birth to a still-born son, the Princess Charlotte of Wales had expired
at half-past two on Thursday morning.
November 16. (Sunday.)
“Peaceful slumbering on the ocean.” Here we are still in the Downs, and
no symptoms of a probable removal. Indeed, when we weighed our anchor at
Gravesend, it gave us a broad hint that there was no occasion as yet for
giving ourselves the trouble; for, before it could be got on board, the
cable was suffered to slip, and down again went the anchor, carrying
along with it one of the men who happened to be standing upon it at the
moment, and who in consequence went plump to the bottom. Luckily, the
fellow could swim; so in a few minutes he was on board again, and no
harm done.
November 19.
We resumed our voyage with fine weather, but wind so perverse, that we
did not arrive in sight of Portsmouth till the evening of the 21st. A
pilot came on board, and conveyed us into Spithead.
November 22.
This morning we quitted Portsmouth, and this evening we returned to it.
The Needle rocks were already in sight, when the wind failed completely.
There was no getting through the passage, and the dread of a gale
would not admit of our remaining in so dangerous a roadstead. So we
had nothing for it but to follow Mad Bess’s example, and “return to the
place whence we came.” We are now anchored upon the Motherbank, about
two miles from Ryde in the Isle of Wight.
November 30. (Sunday.)
Edward, the young man who was so dangerously wounded on our return from
my former voyage to Jamaica, is now chief mate of the vessel, and feels
no other inconvenience from his accident, except a slight difficulty in
raising his left arm above his head.
DECEMBER 1. (Monday.)
Here we are, still riding at anchor, with no better consolation than
that of Klopstock’s halfdevil Abadonna; the consciousness that others
are deeper damned than ourselves. Another ship belonging to the same
proprietor left the West India Docks three weeks before us, and here she
is still rocking cheek by jowl alongside of us,
“One writ with us in sour misfortune’s book.”
DECEMBER 3.
A tolerably fair breeze at length enabled us to set sail once more.
DECEMBER 24. (Wednesday.)
I had often heard talk of “a hell upon earth,” and now I have a perfect
idea of “a hell upon water.” It must be precisely our vessel during the
last three weeks. At twelve at noon upon the 4th, we passed Plymouth,
and were actually in sight of the Lizard point, when the wind suddenly
became completely foul, and drove us back into the Channel. It continued
to strengthen gradually but rapidly; and by the time that night arrived,
we had a violent gale, which blew incessantly till the middle of Sunday,
the 7th, when we were glad to find ourselves once more in sight of
Plymouth, and took advantage of a temporary abatement of the wind to
seek refuge in the Sound. Here, however, we soon found that we had but
little reason to rejoice at the change of our situation. The Sound was
already crowded with vessels of all descriptions; and as we arrived so
late, the only mooring still unoccupied, placed us so near the rocks on
one side, and another vessel astern, that the captain confessed that
he should feel considerable anxiety if the gale should return with its
former violence. So, of course, about eleven at night, the gale _did_
return; not, indeed, with its former violence, but with its violence
increased tenfold; and once we were in very imminent danger from our
ship’s swinging round by a sudden squall, and narrowly escaping coming
in contact with the ship astern, which had not, it seems, allowed itself
sufficient cable. Luckily, we just missed her; and our cables (for both
our anchors were down) being new and good, we rode out the storm
without driving, or meeting with any accident whatever. The next day was
squally; and in spite of the Breakwater, the rocking of the ship from
the violent agitation of the waves by the late stormy weather was almost
insupportable. However, on the 9th, the wind took a more favourable
turn, though in so slight a degree, that the pilot expressed great
doubts whether it would last long to do us any service. But the captain
felt his situation in Plymouth Sound so uneasy, that he resolved at
least to make the attempt; and so we crept once more into the Channel.
In a few hours the breeze strengthened; about midnight we passed the
lights upon the Lizard, and the next morning England was at length out
of sight. This cessation of ill luck soon proved to be only “_reculer
‘pour mieux sauter_” The gale, it seems, had only stopped to take
breath: about four in the afternoon of Wednesday, the wind began to rise
again; and from that time till the middle of the 23d it blew a complete
storm day and night, with only an occasional intermission of two or
three hours at a time. Every one in the ship declared that they had
never before experienced so obstinate a persecution of severe weather:
every rag of sail was obliged to be taken down; the sea was blown up
into mountains, and poured itself over the deck repeatedly. The noise
was dreadful; and as it lasted incessantly, to sleep was impossible; and
I passed ten nights, one after another, without closing my eyes; so that
the pain in the nerves of them at length became almost intolerable, and
I began to be seriously afraid of going blind. In truth, the captain
could not well have pitched upon a set of passengers worse calculated to
undergo the trial of a passage so rough. As for myself, my brain is so
weak, that the continuation of any violent noise makes me absolutely
light-headed; and a pop-gun going off suddenly is quite sufficient at
any time to set every nerve shaking, from the crown of my head to
the sole of my foot. Then we had a young lady who was ready to die of
seasickness, and an old one who was little better through fright; and
I had an Italian servant into the bargain, who was as sick as the young
lady, and as frightened as the old one. The poor fellow had never been
on board a ship before; and with every crack which the vessel gave, he
thought that to be sure, she was splitting right in half. The sailors,
too, appeared to be quite knocked up from the unremitting fatigue to
which they were subjected by the perseverance of this dreadful weather.
Several of them were ill; and one poor fellow actually died, and was
committed to the ocean. To make matters still worse, during the first
week the wind was as foul as it could blow; and we passed it in running
backwards and forwards, without advancing a step towards our object;
till at length every drop of my very small stock of patience was
exhausted, and I could no longer resist suggesting our returning to
port, rather than continue buffeting about in the chops of the Channel,
so much to the damage of the ship, and all contained in her. A change of
wind, however, gave a complete answer to this proposal. On Thursday
it became favourable as to the prosecution of our voyage, but its fury
continued unabated till the evening of the 23d. It then gradually died
away, and left us becalmed before the island of Madeira; where we are
now rolling backwards and forwards, in sight of its capital, Funchal, on
the 24th of December, being seven immortal weeks since my departure from
Gravesend. The evening sun is now very brilliant, and shines full upon
the island, the rocks of which are finely broken; the height of the
mountains cause their tops to be lost in the clouds; the sides are
covered with plantations of vines and forests of cedars; and the white
edifices of Funchal, built upon the very edge of the shore, have a truly
picturesque appearance. We are now riding between the island and an
isolated group of inaccessible rocks called “the Deserters;” * and the
effect of the scene altogether is beautiful in the extreme.
* The Dezertas.
DECEMBER 25. (Christmas-day.)
A light breeze sprang up in the night, and this morning Madeira was no
longer visible.
DECEMBER 31. (Wednesday.)
We are now in the latitudes commonly known by the name of “the Horse
Latitudes.” During the union of America and Great Britain, great numbers
of horses used to be exported from the latter; and the winds in
these latitudes are so capricious, squally, and troublesome in every
respect,--now a gale, and then a dead calm--now a fair wind, and the
next moment a foul one,--that more horses used to die in this portion
of the passage than during all the remainder of it. These latitudes from
thence obtained their present appellation, and extend from 29° to 25° or
24 1/2°.
1818.--JANUARY 1.
(Thursday.)
On this day, on my former voyage, I landed at Black River. Now we are
still at some distance from the line, and are told that we cannot expect
to reach Jamaica in less than three weeks, even with favourable breezes;
and our breezes at present are _not_ favourable. Nothing but light
winds, or else dead calms; two knots an hour, and obliged to be thankful
even for that! A-weel! this is weary work!
JANUARY 17. (Saturday.)