Excursion to St. Anne de Chaves--Mode of drying Coffee--Black
Priests--Madame Domingo's Hotel--Catering for the Mess--Man swallowed by a
Shark--Letters from Home--Fashionable Equipage--Arrival at the
Gaboon--King Glass and Louis Philippe--Mr. Griswold--Mr. and Mrs.
Wilson--Character of the Gaboon People--Symptoms of Illness.
_May_ 22.--I have just returned from an excursion to St. Anne de Chaves,
the capital of St. Thomas. Leaving the ship, yesterday, at 9 A.M., we
landed, but did not find the horses which had been ordered from the city.
Deeming it unadvisable to wait, three of the party started on foot, and
two in the "gig" (not the land-vehicle of that name), which was to proceed
on the same destination. After walking three or four miles along the
beach, we met two of the six horses expected. These served to mount a pair
of us, while the third, with the guide and boys, proceeded on foot; it
being arranged that we should travel in the old-fashioned mode of "ride
and tie." Most of the distance was across open land, without a tree or
shrub, but overgrown with coarse, high grass. The whole appearance was
that of a western prairie, but without the grandeur of its extent, or the
flowers that attract the traveller, when wearied with the immensity of
prospect. The soil, like that of the cocoa-nut groves, is a black, deep,
fertile loam.
In two hours, we arrived at St. Anne de Chaves. The town is spread out
upon the circular shore of the bay, nearly half a mile in extent, and is
defended by a stone fort, situated on the extreme point of the cape. There
are three or four hundred houses, which, with few exceptions, are small,
and constructed of wood. A long stone building is appropriated as the
residence of the governor, and contains the public offices. The only
remarkable edifices besides, are a large wooden church, looking very like
a barn, and a smaller one of stone. The streets are unpaved, but kept
remarkably clean, and not without an especial reason. The great, and
almost only, article of commerce is coffee, which is kept in the houses,
and dried daily in the streets. As soon as the sun is up, therefore,
servants sweep the streets, as carefully as if it were a parlor-floor, and
bring out large quantities of coffee, which they spread upon the ground to
dry. At night, it is carried in. More than half the street, at the proper
season, is covered with coffee yet in the husk. The exports of this
article amount annually to about a million of pounds, producing from
seventy to eighty thousand dollars. The only whites residing on the
island, with one exception, are about sixty Portuguese; the number of
colored inhabitants is estimated at fifteen thousand.
Black priests are plenty in the streets, walking about in bombazine robes,
with the crisp hair shaven from their crowns. The Jesuits invariably
followed hard upon the heels of the early Portuguese adventurers, in their
African discoveries; but I am not aware that their efforts to Catholicise
the natives have anywhere produced such permanent results, as in this
island. To be sure, the religion of the inhabitants seems to amount to
little more than the practice of a few external rites; for they have both
the appearance and character of dishonesty and treachery, and are said to
be addicted to all sorts of vice. So far as the black priests possess any
influence, however, it is believed to be used conscientiously, and with
excellent effect; nor, though provoked to smile at these queer specimens
of the cloth, could I indulge the impulse without being self-convicted of
narrowness and illiberally. St. Augustine, and other Fathers of the
church, if I have heard aright, were of the same sable hue as the priests
of St. Anne de Chaves.
The currency of the island is wretched. Coppers are the sole coin in use,
in all domestic transactions, and pass at ten times their intrinsic value.
They are said to be introduced mainly by the American merchantmen, who do
most of the trade with the island.
The foreign business is chiefly transacted by Mr. Lippitt, a Hamburgh
merchant, at whose house we were hospitably received. He set his best fare
before us; and some of the party not only ate at his table, but slept
beneath his roof. The others took lodgings at the house of Madam Domingo,
a fat black lady, whose first husband, a merchant of considerable
business, had left her a large mansion, several slaves, some children, and
other desirable property. A young, dandy-looking negro succeeded to the
vacant place in her house and heart, and now does the honors of the
establishment. The largest room had a singular aspect of familiarity to
our eyes; its walls being adorned with prints of American origin, among
which were portraits of all the Presidents of the United States, previous
to General Harrison. These, perhaps, were the gift of some
merchant-captain to his hospitable landlady; or, more probably, they had
been hung up in compliment to the national sensibilities of Madam
Domingo's most frequent guests. Tawdry mirrors and chandeliers completed
the decoration of the apartment. A supper of coffee and hard-boiled eggs,
beds harder than the eggs, and a bill equally difficult of digestion,
comprise all that is further to be said of the fashionable hotel of St.
Anne de Chaves. After a good breakfast with our Hamburgh friend, we all
embarked in the gig, and, spreading our canvass to the breeze, reached the
ship in an hour and ten minutes.
23.--Ashore with the caterer of the mess, marketing for sea-stores; a
difficult task among a set of people who, though poor, care little about
making a profit by selling what they have. Many of them would not take
money, requiring in payment some article of clothing, especially shirts,
or, as the next grand desideratum, trowsers. By careful research among the
small plantations we were able to pick up a few goats, pigs, and fowls,
and came off with materials to keep the mess in good humor for at least
ten days. None but sea-faring men can appreciate the great truth, that
amiability is an affair of the stomach, and that the disposition depends
upon the dinner.
We found the soil very fertile. Groves of cocoa-nuts cover many acres
together. Beneath the shade, coffee trees were in full bearing; and
bananas, plantains, and corn, flourished luxuriantly. The people are all
blacks, speak Portuguese, and--a circumstance that affords the voyager an
agreeable variety, after seeing so much nakedness--wear clothes. Their
habitations are scattered among the trees. It is usual to have one house
for rainy weather, for sleeping, and for storage, and another as a
kitchen, and for occupation during the day. The first is close, the other
has merely corner-posts, supporting a roof sufficiently light to make a
shade.
Part of the day was spent in picking up shells upon the shore.
Occasionally, I unhoused a "soldier-crab," who had taken up free quarters
in some unoccupied cone, and became so delighted with its shelter as never
to move without dragging it at his heels along the sand.
24.--6 P.M., a horrid accident has just occurred. As the gig was coming
alongside, under sail, the tiller broke, and the coxswain who was
steering, fell overboard. He was a good swimmer, and struck out for the
ship, not thirty yards distant, while the boat fell off rapidly to the
leeward. In less than half a minute, a monstrous shark rose to the
surface, seized the poor fellow by the body, and carried him instantly
under. Two hundred men were looking on, without the power to afford
assistance. We beheld the water stained with crimson for many yards
around--but the victim was seen no more! Once only, a few seconds after
his disappearance, the monster rose again to the surface, displaying a
length of well nigh twenty feet, and then his immense tail above the
water, as if in triumph and derision. It was like something preternatural;
and terribly powerful he must have been, to take under so easily, and
swallow, in a moment, one of the largest and most athletic men in the
ship. Poor Ned Martin!
25.--Again visited the town, where we found an American brig, the Vintage
of Salem, Captain Frye. She is from the South Coast, homeward bound, with
a cargo of gum copal. The Captain had some letters for the squadron, which
were now eleven months old. My own gave an account of the President's
visit to Boston, the Bunker Hill Celebration, and other events of that
antediluvian date. Epistolary communication is, at the best, a kind of
humbug. What was new and true, when written, has become trite and false,
before it can be read. It assures of nothing--not even of the existence of
the writer; for his hand may have grown cold, since the characters which
it traced began their weary voyage in quest of us; and all of which we can
be absolutely certain is, that many unexpected events have happened, and
many expected ones have failed to happen, betwixt the sealing of the
letter and the unfolding it again. Until the ocean be converted into an
electric telegraph, through which intelligence will thrill in an instant,
there can be no real communication between the sailor and his far-off
friends. And yet, after all, how pleasant it is to write letters!--how
much pleasanter to receive them! I acknowledged the receipt of these musty
epistles, by the same vessel that conveyed them to me.
I have seen but one equipage in the capital of St. Thomas, but that was a
sufficiently remarkable one; a small, three-wheeled vehicle, like a
velocipede, with a phaeton-top to it. Drawn by two negroes, and pushed by
three, it rolled briskly to the door of the church, and there deposited a
plump and youthful dame, as black as ebony. From the deference shown her
by the priests, I inferred that it was my good fortune to behold the
leading belle of St. Anne de Chaves.
After dining with Mr. Lippitt, we returned to the boats, and got safely on
shipboard before dark. My impressions of St. Thomas and its delightful
climate are highly favorable. A visit to an island has generally more of
interest and amusement than one to a spot on the continent, because the
secluded position of the inhabitants imparts an originality and raciness
to their modes of life.
27.--Got under way yesterday morning for the Gaboon. Today the wind has
been favorable, and we are now at anchor for the night, off the mouth of
the river, five miles from land.
28.--At 4 P.M., anchored within three miles of the missionary
establishment. Mr. Bushnell took his leave, respected by us all, as a
pious, unpretending, sensible, and amiable man.
29.--Ashore. We found our friends well, and glad to see us. They are
comfortably situated in large houses, made of bamboos, and thatched with
the bamboo-leaves sewed together. These present an airy, cool, and light
appearance, highly suitable to a tropical region, and yet are impervious
to rain.
We visited the house of King Glass, where several of the chiefs assembled
to talk a palaver. They are apprehensive of difficulties with the French,
and wish the English and Americans to interpose. According to their story,
the commandant of a French fort, three miles distant, had attempted, a
short time ago, to procure a cession of their territory. This they
constantly refused, declaring their intention to keep the country open for
trade with all nations, and allow exclusive advantages to none. After
several trials, the commandant apparently relinquished his purpose. A
French merchant-captain now appeared, who ingratiated himself into the
favor of the simple King Glass, invited him to a supper, and made his
majesty and the head-man drunk. While in this condition, he procured the
signatures of the King and two or three chiefs to a paper, which he
declared to be merely a declaration of friendship towards the French, but
which proved to be a cession of certain rights of jurisdiction. Next
morning, the French fired a salute of twenty-one guns in honor of the
treaty between Louis Philippe and King Glass, and sent presents which the
natives refused to receive. They now apprehend a forcible seizure of their
territory by the French, and desire our interposition, as calculated to
prevent such a national calamity. Our captain, however, declined to
interfere, or to express any opinion in the premises, on the ground that
it was not his province to judge of such matters abroad, unless the
interests of Americans were involved.
The missionaries have perhaps some agency in this movement. They see the
probability that the Catholic priests will follow them to the Gaboon, and
subvert their influence with the natives.
31.--In the morning I visited Mr. Griswold's place, about two miles from
Baracca, the residence of Mr. Wilson. The former establishment was
commenced only eight months ago; and already there are two buildings
finished, and two more nearly so, all of bamboo. The ground is more
fertile than that occupied by Mr. Wilson, and has been brought thus
seasonably into a good state of cultivation. Mr. Griswold is a Vermonter,
a practical farmer, and an energetic man, and doubtless turns his
agricultural experience to good account, great as is the difference
between the bleak hills of New England, and this equatorial region. His
lady, an interesting woman, is just recovering from fever.
After an agreeable visit, we returned to the ship, accompanied by Mr. and
Mrs. Griswold, and there found Mr. Wilson and lady, and Mr. James and his
daughter. They all dined and spent the day on board. Mr. Wilson is well
known in America by reputation, and is one of the most able and judicious
among the three hundred missionaries, whom the American Board sends forth
throughout the world. Here at Gaboon, he preaches to the natives in their
own language, which he represents as being very soft, and easy of
acquirement. The people frequent divine services with great regularity,
and are at least attentive listeners, if not edified by what they hear.
Mrs. Wilson is a lady of remarkable zeal and energy. Reared in luxury, in
a Southern city, she liberated her slaves, gave up a handsome fortune to
the uses of missions, and devoted herself to the same great cause, in that
region of the earth where her faith and fortitude were likely to be most
severely tried. It is now six years since she came to Africa; and she has
never faltered for a moment. Having had the good fortune, on a former
cruise, to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Wilson, at Cape Palmas, I was
happy to renew it here. I have seldom met with a person so well fitted to
adorn society, and never with one in whose high motives of action and
genuine piety I had more confidence.
The natives at the Gaboon, to whom these excellent people are sacrificing
themselves, are said to present more favorable points of character than
those in most other parts of Africa. They are mild in their manners,
friendly to Europeans and Americans, and disposed to imitate them in dress
and customs. They own many slaves among themselves, but treat them with
singular gentleness, and never sell them to foreigners. They are very
indolent, and make no adequate improvement of their advantages for
agriculture and trade. Their country is excellent for grazing, and the
cattle of the best kind; but they take so little forethought as to sell
even the last cow, should a purchaser offer. Consequently, there are
hardly more than thirty cattle left in a tract of country capable, in its
present state, of sustaining a thousand.
King Glass is an old man, much inclined to drink, yet more regular than
any of his subjects in attendance at church. Toko, a headman, is very
shrewd and intelligent, and highly spoken of by Mr. Wilson, in reference
to his moral qualities. Will Glass, nephew to the King, is blessed with a
couple of dozen wives, and seldom moves without a train of five or six of
them in attendance. He paid a visit to our ship in a full-dress English
uniform, said to have cost three hundred dollars. On the other side of the
river lives King Will, a great man, and with the reputation of a polished
gentleman. The slave-trade is carried on in this King's dominions; and,
while I write, a Spanish slaver lies at anchor off his town, waiting for
her human cargo.
_June_ 1.--Got under way, and went down the river about three miles,
when, the wind failing, we anchored. At 3 P.M., we started again, and
stood out to sea. Mr. Wilson accompanied us to the mouth of the river, and
there left us, bearing back our hearty good wishes for his personal
prosperity and that of the mission.
2.--At 12, meridian, we have made the run to the island of St. Thomas, and
are now about fifteen miles to the northward of it.
3.--The wind is still sufficiently fresh and fair to enable us to make
seven knots westing; the great desideratum. Four months we have been
running away from our letters; and now we go to meet them. Blow, breezes,
blow, and waft us swiftly onward!
4.--A continuance of favorable winds. I am not well to-day. Slight
headache, and heaviness of feeling--no great matter--but these are ominous
symptoms, on the coast of Africa.
5.--One year since we left America; a year not without incident and
interest. We are still on the first parallel of north latitude, and going
nine. I am under the surgeon's hands, apprehending a fever, but hoping to
throw it off.
6.--We have made two hundred and twenty miles within the last twenty-four
hours; and still the breeze does not slacken. Much better in health. Bless
the man who first invented Doctors!