torrent, where there were rue, lavender, prickly pear, hypericum, and
spurge; but not a blade of grass had survived the summer's drought. We
passed a heap of black ashes, which anywhere but at the base of the peak
would be called a respectable mountain. It has not been cold long enough
to be disguised by vegetation; and though on one side the vine is
beginning to clothe its rugged surface, yet the greater part is
frightfully barren. Shortly after we passed it, we arrived at Mr.
Galway's garden-house, and found his lady, a Spaniard of Irish
extraction, ready to receive us. As I had seen in some old Scotch
houses, the best bed-chamber served as drawing-room; but the
dressing-room is apart, and from the front there is an opening to a
pleasant terrace, commanding a charming view. Our dinner was a mixture
of English and Spanish cookery and customs: the Spanish part consisted
of part of a Darter, a very fine fish, white, but resembling a salmon
in taste, with sauce made of small lobsters, oil, vinegar, garlic, and
pimento; some excellent stews, and mixtures of vegetables and quails
roasted in vine leaves; the rest were all English; and the wines, the
growth of the island, and ices[40] were delicious. Neither the
pine-apple nor water-melon grow in Teneriffe, but abundance of the
latter are brought from Grand Canary. All the common garden fruits of
Europe flourish here; but too little attention is paid to horticulture.
This island, or at least the part I have seen, evidently belongs to a
state that has once been great; but is now too poor or too weak to
foster its foreign possessions. Some fine houses begun are in an
unfinished state, and appear to have been so for years; others, though
falling, are neither rebuilt nor repaired; and the only things like
present prosperity, are the neat English country-houses.
[Note 40: The ice is procured from a large cavern near the cone of
the peak; it is almost full of the finest ice all the year round.]
It was sunset before we reached the boats that were to convey us to the
ship; and we had some difficulty both in getting off and in going
alongside of the frigate, owing to the great swell. The night, however,
was fine, and the scene enlivened by the lights in the fishing boats,
which, like those in the Mediterranean, are used to attract the fish. On
shore, the lights of the ports and villa, and the fires of the charcoal
burners shining from amidst the dark hanging forests of pine, and those
of the limekilns in the direction of Laguna, appeared like a brilliant
illumination; and there being not a cloud, the outline of the peak was
well defined on the deep blue of the nocturnal sky.
27th _August_. To-day, some of our new friends, both Spanish and
English, came on board; but the swell was so great, that only one
escaped sea-sickness. Mrs. Galway was fearful of suffering, so did not
come, but she sent me some of the beads found in the sepulchres of the
Guanches: they are of hard baked clay. Mr. Humboldt, whose imagination
was naturally full of South America, has conjectured that they might
have been used for the same purpose as the Peruvian _quipos_, but they
are inconveniently large for that use. They are not unlike the beads
Belzoni found in the mummy pits in Egypt, and they closely resemble some
of the many kinds of beads with which the Bramins have counted their
muntras time immemorial. The Oriental custom of dropping a bead for
every prayer having been adopted by the Christians of the west, and
still continuing in Roman Catholic countries, appears, on that account,
too common to deserve the notice of a philosophical traveller; and
therefore the Guanche shepherds, or goatherd kings, are rather supposed,
like the polished Peruvians, to have recorded the annals of their reigns
with clay beads, than allowed to tell them with their orisons, like the
Bramins of the Ganges, the shepherds of Mesopotamia, or the anchorets of
Palestine and Egypt, because the modern monk does the same. The Guanche
mummies are now of very rare occurrence. During the early times of the
Spanish government of the island, their sepulchres were carefully
concealed by the natives; now, intermarriage with their conquerors, and
consequent change of religion and habits, have rendered them careless of
them, and they are, generally speaking, really forgotten, and only
discovered accidentally in planting a new vineyard, or ploughing a new
field.
28th. This morning left the "still vext" bay of Oratava, and before
sunset saw Palma and Gomera. The Canary Islands, supposed to be the
Fortunate Islands of the ancients, were discovered accidentally in 1405.
Betancour, a Frenchman, took possession of them for Spain; but the
natives were brave, and it cost both the Spaniards and Portuguese, who
possessed them by turns, much blood and treasure to conquer the country
and exterminate the people, for their wars ended in nothing less.
Purchas complains that he could not obtain the reading of some travels
by an Englishman who had visited the Peak; the good pilgrim's curiosity
had been strongly excited by the particulars he had learnt from books,
and the journals of some of his friends who had travelled, which he has
carefully related: they are such as to make me regret that he has not
recorded more, and that I cannot see more. We brought with us from
Oratava one of the finest goats I ever saw; I presume she was a
descendant of the original flock which the supreme deity of the Guanches
created to be the property of the kings alone: she is brown, with very
long twisted horns, a very remarkable white beard, and the largest udder
I ever saw.
29th. Passed the island of Hierro or Ferro, the old first meridian;
which honour, I presume, it enjoyed from having been considered as the
most western land in the world until the discovery of America. We were
very close to it, and all agreed that we never saw so hard-looking and
inaccessible a place. We saw some fine woods, a few scattered houses,
and one village perched upon a hill, at least 1500 feet above us. The
Peak of Teneriffe still visible above the clouds.
_Sept._ 1st. The flying-fish are become very numerous, and whole fleets
of medusæ have passed us; some we have picked up, besides a very
beautiful purple sea-snail. This fish has four horns, like a snail, the
shell is very beautifully tinted with purple, and there is a spongy
substance attached to the fish which I thought assisted it to swim: it
is larger in bulk than the whole fish. One of them gave out fully a
quarter of an ounce of purple fluid from the lower part of the fish. A
fine yellow locust and a swallow flew on board; and as we believe
ourselves to be four hundred miles from the nearest land, Cape Blanco,
we cannot enough admire the structure of the wings that have borne them
so far.
Our school for the ship's boys is now fairly established, and does Mr.
Hyslop, our school-master, great credit; that for the midshipmen is
going on very well, being kept in the fore-cabin under the captain's
eye. The boys have his presence, not only as a check to idleness or
noise, but as an encouragement to industry. He is most anxious to make
them fit to be officers and seamen in their profession, and good men and
gentlemen both at sea and on shore. Happily they are all promising; but
if G---- should disappoint us, I never will believe in youthful talent,
industry, or goodness more. Our days pass swiftly, because busily. The
regular business of the ship, the school, astronomical observations,
study of history and modern languages, and nothing permitted to pass
without observation, fill our time completely.
Lord Bacon says, "It is a strange thing that in sea voyages, where there
is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries; but in
land travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they
omit it, as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation."
However, for once, his lordship has only seen, or perhaps only spoken,
in part. Sea and sky must be observed before we can know the laws by
which their great changes or chances are regulated. Observations on the
works of man, as cities, courts, &c. may be omitted, for we know their
authors, and can have recourse to them, their motives, and their
history, whenever we please; but the great operations of nature are so
above us, that we must humbly mark them, and endeavour to make their
history a part of our experience, in order that we pass safely through
their vicissitudes. Hence it is, that the commonest details of the early
navigators, their sunrise and sunset, their daily portionings of food
and water, are read with a deeper interest than the liveliest tour
through civilised countries and populous cities; that Byron's passage
through Chiloe continues to excite the most profound sympathy; while
Moore's lively view of society and manners in France or Italy, are now
seldom or languidly read. The uncertainty, the mystery of nature, keep
up a perpetual curiosity; but I suspect that if we knew the progress and
dependance of her operations, as well as we do those of an architect or
brick-layer, the history of the building of a theatre or a
dwelling-house might vie in interest with that of a sea voyage.
The books we intend our boys to read are,--history, particularly that of
_Greece_, _Rome_, _England_, and _France_; an outline of general
history, voyages, and discoveries; some poetry, and general literature,
in French and English; Delolme, with the concluding chapter of
Blackstone on the history of the law and the constitution of England;
and afterwards the first volume of Blackstone, Bacon's Essays, and
Paley. We have only three years to work in; and as the _business_ of
their life is to learn their profession, including mathematics,
algebra, nautical astronomy, theory and practice of seamanship, and duty
as officers, with all the _technicalities_ belonging to it,--this is all
we dare propose.
5th. We have begun to look forward to that festival of the seamen, the
crossing the line. I know not whence the custom is derived, but the
Arabs observe it with ceremonies not very unlike those practised by our
own sailors. To-day a letter, containing a sketch of the intended
festival, with thanks for permission to keep it, was sent into the
cabin. I shall copy it with its answer. I find that some captains have
begun to give money at the next port, instead of permitting this day of
misrule. Perhaps they may be right, and perhaps in time it may be
forgotten; but will it be better that it should be so? It is the
sailors' only festival; and I like a festival: it gives the heart room
to play. The head in one class, and the limbs in another, work every
day, and in divers, if not opposite directions; but on a festival, the
hearts of all beat the same way: yet I would not have them too often,
for
"If every day were playing holiday,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;"
the converse of the proverb, "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull
boy." But to our letters.
"The sons of Neptune, of His Majesty's ship Doris, commanded by Captain
T.G., return their most grateful thanks for his kind condescension for
granting them the favour that has been allowed to them from time
immemorial, in crossing the Equinoctial, on our Old Father Neptune's
dominions, when we hope the characters will meet your Honour's
approbation, which will appear in the margin.
Thomas Clark, quarter-master, -- Neptune.
J. Ware, forecastle, -- Amphitrite.
W. Knight, -- Amphitrite's Son.
W. Sullivan, 2d captain main-top, -- Triton.
C. Brisbane (_negro_), -- Triton's Horse.
J. Thompson, gunner's mate, -- High Sheriff.
J. White, forecastle, -- Sub Sheriff.
W. Sinclair, captain forecastle, -- Barber.
J. Smith, J. Forster, Michael Jaque, -- Barber's Mates.
J. Gaggin, -- Clerk.
W. Bird, captain fore-top, -- Chief Constable.
Nine assistants.
J. Duncan, boatswain's mate, -- Coachman.
J. Clark, -- Postilion.
J. Leath, -- Footman.
J. Speed, -- Painter.
W. Lundy, -- Bottle-holder.
W. Williamson, -- Satan.
J. Williams, -- Judge Advocate.
Eight Sea-horses.
"So we have given you as good a relation as possibly our weak abilities
afford us; and, honoured Captain, believe us when we say, we wish you
every happiness this life can afford, and your honoured lady entirely
included, and believe us yours, &c. &c. &c.
"BRITTON'S SONS."
_Answer._
"I received your letter with the list of characters that are to appear
in Father Neptune's train on our crossing the line, of which I
completely approve. I have to thank you for your kind wishes both for
Mrs. G---- and myself, and to assure you, that the greatest pleasure I
can feel in the command of this ship, will be in promoting the happiness
and comfort of the whole of Britain's sons on board the Doris.
"Believe me your sincere friend,
THOS. G----,
"H.M.S. Doris, at Sea, Sept 5th, 1821.
To Britain's Sons, H.M.S. Doris."
It would be worth while to enquire into the origin of the merry-making
on crossing the line. As the Arabs, an astronomical people, have it, it
has probably some reference to their now-forgotten worship of the
heavenly bodies. Like us, they set on fire some combustible matter or
other, and let it float away, but they add some food to it, as if there
had once been a sacrifice accompanying the festival. Such, at least, I
have been assured by several gentleman well acquainted with the Arab
traders in the Eastern sea, is their practice.
18th. We have done nothing but sail on with very variable weather, for
the last thirteen days.
"From world to world our steady course we keep,
Swift as the winds along the waters sweep,
Mid the mute nations of the purple deep."
One night we observed that luminous appearance of the sea so often
described, but it was not so brilliant as I remember to have seen it
near the same latitude. The next morning we found the temperature of the
sea, at the surface, two degrees higher than that of the atmosphere.
Last night at 8 P. M. we crossed the line: to-day, accordingly, our
Saturnalian festival took place.
About six o'clock P. M. yesterday, the officer of the watch was informed
that there was a boat with lights alongside, and begged to shorten sail.
The captain immediately went on deck, and Neptune hailed from the fore
part of the rigging, "What ship?" "Doris." "Who commands?" "Captain T.
G." "Where from?" "Whitehall." "Where bound?" "A man of war's cruize."
Upon which Triton mounted upon a sea-horse, admirably represented,
appeared as bearer of a letter containing the names of all who had not
yet crossed the line, and who were consequently to be initiated into the
mysteries of the Water God. Triton having thus executed his commission,
rode off, and was seen no more till 8 o'clock this morning, when Neptune
being announced, the captain went on deck to receive him.
First came Triton mounted as before, then a company of sea-gods or
constables dressed in oakum and swabs, but having their arms and
shoulders bare, excepting the paint which bedaubed them. Neptune with
trident and crown, Amphitrite by his side, and their son at their feet,
appeared in a car drawn by eight sea-horses, and driven by a sea god:
the train followed in the persons of the lawyers, barbers, and painters.
The whole pageant was well dressed, and going in procession, fully as
picturesque as any antique triumphal or religious ceremony; the fine
forms of some of the actors struck me exceedingly. I never saw marble
more beautiful than some of the backs and shoulders displayed; and the
singular clothing to imitate fishes instead of legs, and seaweed skirts,
which they had all adopted, carried one back for centuries, to the time
when all this was religion.
After the progress round the decks, a conference with the captain, and a
libation in the form of a glass of brandy, to which the god and goddess
vied with each other in devotion, the merriment began. Mock-shaving, or
a fine paid, was necessary to admit the new comers to the good graces of
their watery father; and while he was superintending the business, all
the rest of the ship's company, officers and all, proceeded to duck each
other unmercifully. None but women escaped, and that only by staying in
my cabin. The officer of the watch, sentries, quartermasters, and such
as are absolutely necessary to look after the ship, are of course held
sacred; so that some order is still preserved. It seemed really that
"madness ruled the hour;" but at the appointed moment, half past eleven,
all ceased: by noon, every body was at his duty, the decks were dried,
and the ship restored to her wonted good order. The whole of our gunroom
officers dine with us, and we flatter ourselves that we shall end the
day as happily as we have begun it.[41]
[Note 41: Frezier, who crossed the line, March 5th, 1712, says,
"When it was no longer to be doubted that we were to the southward of
the line, the foolish ceremony practised by all nations was not omitted.
"The persons to be so served are seized by the wrists, to ropes
stretched fore and aft on the second deck for the officers, and before
the mast for the sailors; and after much mummery and monkey tricks, they
are let loose, to be led after one another to the main mast, where they
are made to swear on a sea chart that they will do by others as is done
by them, according to the laws and statutes of navigation: then they pay
to save being wetted, but always in vain, for the captains themselves
are not quite spared."
Jaques le Maire, the first who sailed round Cape Horn, mentions in his
Journal, 8th July, 1615, baptizing the sailors when he arrived at the
_Barrels_.--Has this any thing in common with the ceremony of crossing
the line?]
20th. The long tiresome calms, and the beautiful moonlight nights near
the equator, have been talked of, and written of, till we know all about
them. Mention but passing the line, and you conjure up a wide,
apparently interminable, glassy dull sea: sails flapping, a solitary
bird sinking with heat, or a shark rising lazily to catch a bait; or, at
best, a calm warm night, with a soft moonlight silvering over the
_treacherous_ deep, and rendering the beholders, who ought to be lovers
if they are not, insensible of the rocks that may lurk below.--But our's
was not the _beau idéal_ of crossing the line: we had fresh breezes in
the day, and thunder and lightning at night; saw few tropic birds, and
those very vigorous, and fish more nimble than sharks, or even sun-fish,
of which, however, we met a due proportion. I had once been in a
tropical calm, and I really, after trying them both, prefer the breezes
and thunder-storms. The other night we had one, such as Milton talks of:
"Either tropic now
'Gan thunder, and both ends of heav'n: the clouds
From many a horrid rift abortive poured
Fierce rain with lightning mixt, water with fire
In ruin reconciled; nor slept the winds
Within their stoney caves, but rush'd abroad
From the four hinges of the world, and fell
On the vext wilderness."
I never see a thunder-storm at sea, but it reminds me of the vision of
Ezekiel:
"The sapphire blaze,
Where angels tremble while they gaze."
It is awful and grand every where: fearful in the plain, sublime among
the mountains; but here, on the ocean, with nothing to intercept its
bolt, the horrible is superadded, and he must be more or less than man
that does not at least take thought during its continuance.
_Friday, September 21st._ At length we are in sight of the coast of
Brazil, which here is low and green, about two degrees to the northward
of the point first discovered by Vincente Pinzon, in 1500.[42] The
weather is very squally, and there is a heavy swell: we are anchored
about eight miles from Olinda, the capital of Pernambuco, in fifteen
fathoms water, but though we have fired more than one gun for a pilot,
none seems to be coming off.
[Note 42: Cabral first took possession of the country which he
called _that of the Holy Cross_, for the crown of Portugal; Amerigo
Vespucci 1504, called it Brazil, on account of the wood.]
[Illustration]
_Pernambuco, September 22. 1821._--At nine o'clock the commodore of this
place, whose office is a combination of port-admiral and commissioner,
came on board with the harbour-master, and the ship was guided by the
latter to the anchorage, which is about three miles from the town, in
eight fathoms water. The roadstead is quite open, and we find here a
very heavy swell. It is not wonderful that our guns were neither
answered nor noticed last night. Mr. Dance, having been sent on shore
with official letters to the governor and the acting English consul,
found the place in a state of siege, and brought back with him Colonel
Patronhe, the governor's aide-de-camp, who gave us the following account
of the present state of Pernambuco:
Besides the disposition to revolution, which we were aware had long
existed in every part of Brazil, there was, also, a jealousy between the
Portuguese and Brazilians, which recent events had increased in no small
degree. On the 29th of August, about 600 men of the militia and other
native forces had taken possession of the Villa of Goyana, one of the
principal places in this captaincy, and had forcibly entered the
town-house, where they had declared the government of Luiz do Rego to be
at an end. They proceeded to elect a temporary provisional government
for Goyana, to act until the capital of the province should be in a
condition to establish a constitutional junta; and in order to
accelerate that event, they had collected forces of every kind, and
among them several companies of the Caçadores who had deserted from Luiz
do Rego; with these troops, such as they are, they had marched towards
Pernambuco, and last night they had attacked the two main points of
Olinda, to the north, in four different places, and Affogados to the
south. They were, however, repulsed by the royal troops, under the
governor, with the loss of fourteen killed and thirty-five prisoners,
while the royalists had two killed, and seven wounded. This morning the
alarm of the town's people was increased by finding several armed men
concealed in the belfreys of the churches, whither also they had
conveyed several stands of arms. Luiz do Rego is a soldier, and attached
to the royal cause. He served long with the English army in Portugal and
Spain, and, if I mistake not, distinguished himself at the siege of St.
Sebastian's. He is rather a severe man, and, especially among the
soldiers, more feared than loved.--Great part of the regiment of
Caçadores has left him to join the patriots, and formed the most
efficient corps in the attack last night. The towns-people have been
formed into a militia, tolerably armed and trained. The town is pretty
well supplied with mandioc flour, jerked beef, and salt fish; but the
besiegers prevent all fresh provisions from coming in. All shops are
shut, and all food scarce and dear. Most people who have property of
value, in plate or jewels, have packed it up, and lodged it in the
houses of the English merchants. Many persons with their wives and
families have left their homes in the out-skirts of the town, and have
taken refuge with the English. The latter, who, for the most part,
sleep, at least, in country houses in the neighbourhood, called sitios,
have left them, and remain altogether at their counting-houses in the
port: every thing, in short, is alarm and uncertainty.
_23d._--The night passed quietly, and so indeed did the day. Many
messages have passed between us and the land, but I could not go on
shore: we have excellent oranges, and tolerable vegetables from the
town, and have been quite enough amused in observing the curious little
boats, canoes, catamarans and jangadas, that have been sailing, and
paddling, and rowing round the ship. The jangada resembles nothing I
have ever seen before; six or eight logs are made fast together by two
transverse beams; at one end there is a raised seat, on which a man
places himself to steer, for they are furnished with a sort of rudder;
sometimes the seat is large enough to admit of two sitters, another
bench at the foot of a mast, immense for the size of the raft, holds
clothes and provisions, or an upright pole is fixed in one of the logs,
to which these things are suspended, and a large triangular sail of
cotton cloth completes the jangada, in which the hardy Brazilian sailor
ventures to sea, the waves constantly washing over it, and carries
cargoes of cotton or other goods, or, in case of necessity, letters and
despatches, hundreds of miles in safety.
About three o'clock a large canoe with two patriot officers came along
side, to ascertain if we were really English; if we had come, as was
reported, to assist the royalists, or if we would assist them: so apt
are men, under the influence of strong feeling themselves, to doubt of
perfect indifference in others, that I question much whether they
believed in the strict neutrality we profess. They left us, however,
without betraying any particular anxiety, and made a very circuitous
passage home, in order to avoid the Recife cruizer, which was looking
out for straggling boats or vessels of any description belonging to the
patriots.