Drearily passed the time of my sojourn in that benighted region. Day
after day I sought in vain for the means of escape. Vessels often
touched at the island; but directly they appeared, a strict watch was
kept on me, and if I went towards the shore, I was told to go back and
remain in the chief's house till they had sailed. Under some
circumstances I might have been tolerably happy. The climate was
delightful and healthy; there were provisions in abundance--yams and
bananas and plantains, cocoa-nuts and shaddocks, pumpkins and
pine-apples, guavas and water-melons--indeed, all the tropical fruits
and vegetables, with a good supply of pigs for meat. The chiefs treated
me with kindness and consideration; the people with respect, barbarous
and savage though they were; but the scenes of horror I was constantly
witnessing, and could not prevent, had so powerful an effect on my mind
that time rolled on with me in a dreamy sort of existence. I scarcely
knew how the months passed by--whether, indeed, as it seemed to me,
years had elapsed since I landed on that fatal spot.
I had not believed beings so bloodthirsty and savage existed on the face
of the earth, possessing, at the same time, so much intelligence and
talent. Their houses and temples are very neatly built; the tapa-cloth,
which they make from the paper-mulberry by beating it out, is of a fine
texture, of great length, and often ingeniously ornamented; they
cultivate a large number of the fruits of the earth with much attention;
the way in which they fortify their villages appears almost scientific.
The town in which I lived was surrounded by several deep moats, or
ditches, one within the other, arranged with so much intricacy, that it
was at first difficult to find my way out of it; then there were several
walls, and in the centre a sort of citadel on a hill surmounted by a
rock. On the summit of the rock stood a flagstaff, on which was
hoisted, in war-time, the flag of defiance.
I had been many months there in the condition of a prisoner, if not a
slave, before I was allowed to go beyond the fortifications. At last
the young chief invited me to accompany him. He did not explain where
he was going. He and all those with him were painted in their gayest
colours. We reached the sea-shore, and embarked in a large double
canoe, with an out-rigger to prevent her capsizing. Several other
canoes accompanied us.
We sailed on till we came to an island. At no great distance from the
water rose a high hill with a fort on the top of it. I remained on
board the canoe, while the chief and his followers landed. As soon as
they had done so, they began to shout out and to abuse the people in the
fort, daring them to come down. After a time, about a dozen left the
fort, and descended the hill to meet the invaders. Our chief had
stationed some of his people behind an embankment, and as soon as these
incautious warriors appeared, they drew their bows and shot three of
them. Then the people in the fort rushed down in great numbers to
secure their fallen companions; but in doing so, more were shot, and
others clubbed by our party, who carried off the bodies of the three
first killed, as well as most of the others, and then, with loud shouts
of triumph, retired to their canoes. With these spoils we sailed back.
We were received in the village with every demonstration of joy. In the
evening of the same day, when I went out, I found that all the slain had
been carried to the grove before the temple, and were placed in rows,
with their bodies covered over with paint. The chiefs and all the
principal men of the tribe were assembling from far and near. The
priest of the town was standing near the temple, and the butcher, as he
was called, a bloodthirsty monster, was ready with the implements of his
horrid trade, while his assistants were employed in heating the ovens.
I rushed from the spot; but, instigated by a curiosity I could not
repress, I again returned, and witnessed a scene of the most disgusting
cannibalism the mind could imagine. The bodies of the slain were baked,
and then cut up by the priest or butcher, and distributed among the
chiefs and principal men, none of the women or lower orders being
allowed to partake of the horrible banquet. What struck me was the
avidity with which the savages seized the fragments and devoured them.
I would have avoided giving the dreadful account, were it not to show
the depth of wickedness into which human nature, when left to itself,
will inevitably sink. Often have I seen parties of men set out for the
express purpose of capturing and murdering their fellow-creatures--
people of the same colour and race, and chiefly helpless women and
children--to satisfy their disgusting propensities--frequently to
furnish a banquet on the visit of some neighbouring and friendly chiefs.
Some people have pretended to doubt the existence of cannibalism as a
regular custom, though unable to deny that it has been resorted to under
the pressure of hunger; but the Feejee islands afford numberless
undoubted proofs that hundreds of people were yearly slaughtered to
gratify the unnatural taste of their ferocious chiefs. Wars were
undertaken for the express purpose of obtaining victims; all persons,
friends or strangers, thrown by the stormy ocean on their inhospitable
shores, were destroyed; their own slaves were often killed; and men,
women, and children among the lower orders, even of friendly tribes,
were frequently kidnapped and carried off for the same purpose.
But, praise be to God! heart-rending as are the scenes I have witnessed
and the accounts I have heard, all-powerful means exist to overcome this
and other horrible, though long established customs. The Christian
faith, when carried to those benighted lands by devoted men, who go
forth in love and obedience to Him who died for them, and in firm
confidence that He is all-powerful to preserve them, and to make His
name known among the heathen, is the sure and effectual means to conquer
the giant evil. Before its bright beams, the dark gloom of savage
barbarism and superstition has been put to flight, by the untiring
efforts of Christian missionaries; and I am told, that among even the
Feejee islands, wherever they have planted the Cross, numbers have
flocked round it, and in many places the whole character of the people
has been changed. I am describing simply barbarism as it existed, and
as it still does exist, in numberless places in those beautiful regions
of the earth's fair surface; and I would point out to those who read my
history, how much it is their duty to inquire into the truth of the
statements I make, and to support by all the means at their disposal
those who are engaged in our Lord's service in overcoming the evil, by
teaching the pure, simple, evangelical faith as it is in Christ Jesus--
His incarnation--His sufferings--His atonement--His propitiation offered
once--His intercession ever making--the cleansing power of His blood--
our acceptance by an all-holy God through Him. Let these great truths
be made known to the heathen, and, by the divine blessing, their minds,
dark as they may have been, will accept them with joy and thankfulness.
But to return to my life on the island. My master, the old chief, was
said to be a very civil and polite man; but I have seen him, when the
inhabitants of the tributary or slave states were bringing him their
quota of provisions, if he did not think that they were approaching his
abode in a sufficiently humble posture by stooping almost to the ground,
deliberately take his bow and shoot one of them through the heart. The
rest, not daring to interfere, or to run away, would continue their
progress as if nothing had happened, while the body of the unfortunate
wretch would be carried off to the bake-house. To approach his house on
one side, a river had to be crossed, swarming with sharks; and often he
would make the slaves swim across, and if one of them were bitten by a
shark, and still managed to get across, he was instantly on landing
killed for the same dreadful purpose.
Some months after my arrival, the chief's house was burned down--though
the rolls of cloth, and much of his more valuable property, were saved.
He at once issued his commands to the people of all the tributary
villages to bring in materials for the erection of another on a much
larger scale. Meantime we lived in huts, quickly erected on his
property. When the day arrived to commence the building, I saw that
four very deep and large holes had been dug to receive the corner posts.
These posts were brought up with great ceremony to the spot. At the
same time, four slaves, strong, muscular young men, were brought up, and
when the posts were placed upright in the holes, a slave was made to
descend into each of them, and as I looked in, I saw them clinging
tightly round the posts. I concluded that they were to remain there to
hold the posts upright till the earth was shovelled in; but what was my
horror to find that they were to remain for ever in that position!
While they stood in all their health and strength, looking up with
longing eyes into the blue sky, others threw in the earth, and beat it
down with heavy mallets over their heads. I shuddered at the spectacle,
but heart-broken as I was I dared not interfere.
Our old chief had resolved to build a fleet of large double canoes, with
which to bring the inhabitants of another island under subjection. It
had been his chief care and attention for some years past. At length a
portion was finished and ready for launching. Before this ceremony
could be performed, it was necessary to attack a village at some
distance, to obtain victims to offer in sacrifice to the evil spirits
they worshipped, in order that success might attend their operations.
The young chief and his party set out with his warriors, and attacking a
village in the dead of night, carried off fifty of its unfortunate
inhabitants.
The next day, the shrieking wretches were brought to the dockyard. That
they might be kept in a proper position to serve as ways or rollers over
which the canoes might pass, each person was securely lashed to two
banana-trees, lengthways--one in front, and the other behind him. Thus
utterly unable to move, with their faces upwards, they were placed in
rows between the canoes and the water. Ropes were then attached to the
canoes, which, it must be understood, are very heavy, and numbers
hauling away on them, they were dragged over the yet breathing, living
mass of human beings, whose shrieks and groans of agony rent the air,
mingled with the wild shouts and songs of their inhuman murderers, till
the former were silenced in death. I need not say what became of the
bodies of the victims thus horribly immolated. The ceremony ended with
a great feast, at which all the chiefs and principal men assembled from
far and near, and which lasted several days.
With the young chief I was on intimate terms, and I believe that he had
formed an attachment to me, and was anxious to preserve me from injury.
In our excursions about the country, we visited one day a temple at the
end of a small pond, and I saw him throw into it some bread-fruit and
other provisions. Looking into the pond, and wondering what this was
for, I observed a large monster with a body as thick as a man's leg, and
a hideous head, which I took to be a great snake, but which he told me
was an eel of vast age, showing me some eels to explain his meaning, and
also that it was a spirit which he worshipped. This was the only
worship I ever saw him engaged in.
I had spent upwards of a year on the island, or it may have been two,
when the old chief fell ill. He sat moping by himself in the corner of
his house, and no one could tell what was the matter with him. One day
his son came in, and taking his hand, just as if he had been going to
say something very affectionately to him, told him that the time had
arrived when it would be better for him to die! The old man bowed his
head, and replied that he was of the same opinion! The son mentioned a
day for the burial, to which the old man willingly consented; and till
the time arrived, as if a weight had been taken off his mind, he seemed
very much the better that everything had been so satisfactorily
arranged. I could discover no compunction on the part of the son, nor
regret on that of the father, who was cheerful and contented, and ate
his meals with far more relish than he had before done. As the fatal
day approached I attempted to remonstrate with the young chief on so
unnatural a proceeding; but he sternly rebuked me, and told me not to
interfere with the immemorial customs of the people. His father had
been chief long enough--he was worn-out and weary of life--and he
himself wished to be chief. When he should become old, his son would
probably wish to finish him in the same honourable way, and that he
should be content to submit to the usage of his nation.
The day arrived, and all the relatives and friends and neighbouring
chiefs assembled. The old chief got up, and was followed by a
procession of all his people, some bearing spades, and others cloths
with which to wrap him up in the grave. The grave was about four feet
deep. A cloth having been spread at the bottom, the old man was
conducted to it. He stepped down with as little unwillingness as if he
had been entering a bath, and having been placed on his back, the cloth
was folded over him. Instantly others began shovelling in the earth,
and then his son and nearest relatives came and stamped it down,
exerting all their force with their feet. Not a sound was uttered by
the old man. Leaves were scattered on the grave, and then all engaged
in the ceremony went and washed at a neighbouring stream.
This done, they returned to the old chief's house, where a feast was
prepared; and having eaten as much food and drunk as much angona as they
could, they got up and commenced dancing in the most frantic manner,
making a most hideous uproar with their drums, conch-shells, and other
instruments, and shrieking and howling at the top of their voices.
After this, the principal chiefs entered the houses of the late chief's
wives, armed with a sort of bowstring. With these they proceeded
deliberately to kill the unfortunate women, one after the other, till
about twenty were thus executed. The new chief's mother had before
died, or she would have been murdered in the same way. Many of them
seemed perfectly willing to submit to their fate, though several, with
shrieks and cries, endeavoured to escape, but were brought back and
compelled to submit their necks to the executioners.
The young man at once assumed the functions of chief, and seemed
disposed to be no less cruel and bloodthirsty than his father. Soon
after, the news was brought that a vessel had anchored in a bay a short
distance from the town. She was said to be full of all sorts of
valuable commodities; of fire-arms and weapons of all sorts; of cloths,
and tools, and other articles likely to be attractive to savages. At
once the cupidity of the young chief was excited. If he could get
possession of these things, he might become the most wealthy and
powerful of all the chiefs of his nation, and bring the other tribes
into perfect subjection to him. A council of his most trusty followers
was called, and his plan explained to them. They at once agreed to aid
him in its execution.
I trembled for the fate of the unfortunate crew of the ship, and
resolved, if possible, to warn them of their danger. How was I to
succeed? I would try, I thought, and swim off to the vessel; I would
risk my own life for the purpose. Pretending not to have understood
what was proposed, I walked about in as unconcerned a manner as
possible. I lay down at night in my usual place in the chief's house,
intending to get up when all were asleep, and run along the shore till I
came abreast of where I supposed the vessel would be. Anxiously I
waited for the time. I got up and reached the door. Just as I stepped
out into the night air I felt a hand placed on my shoulder! I must have
trembled. It was the hand of the chief.
"Ah, I know what you are about," said he. "You wish to escape to the
white people, to tell them what we are going to do. I suspected you.
That cannot be. You will see that it would be wiser for you not to join
them. Come with me to-morrow, and you will see."
My first plan was thus defeated. Still I hoped that I might meet some
of the white crew of the vessel and warn them of their danger. I
determined to try.
The next morning the chief and his warriors collected, and all their
canoes were launched and paddled off to a point which concealed them
from the stranger vessel. The smaller canoes were loaded with fruits
and vegetables of all sorts, and about twenty men and boys without arms
and in the most peaceable garb, paddled off to her.
On getting up, I found that the chief had appointed two men to attend on
me and watch my movements. Everything conspired, therefore, to defeat
all my hopes of warning the strangers of the fate intended for them.
I was allowed to proceed to a high hill, whence I could look down on the
vessel, which lay in a bay at my feet. I longed to have the wings of a
bird, to fly down and tell the crew of the intentions of the savages,
whose small canoes now began to flock about her. Several of the chiefs
reached her deck, and began offering presents of fruit and vegetables to
the officers, and pointing to the shore, as if to indicate that if they
would come there they would be received with a hearty welcome. I
guessed, from the build of the vessel, that she was not English. At
last I saw a boat lowered into the water, and a French flag flying over
her stern. Though I had often been engaged in deadly strife with those
fighting under that ensign, I was nevertheless anxious to save the lives
of those I saw. Yet I could not speak a word of French, and probably
they would not have understood my warning even if I could have given
them one.
Not only one, but two boats were lowered; and, as far as I could see, no
one was armed. What could have thus so speedily enticed them on shore?
Looking along the beach, I saw it lined with a number of people, mostly
women and children. There were young girls with baskets of fruit, and
older women with vegetables, and little boys with sucking pigs and other
dainties, and children running about and playing on the sands. As this
was not the usual custom of the savages, I guessed too well that it was
an artful device of the chief to entrap the unwary strangers. By the
time the boats had reached the shore, the women and children gradually
drew off, and I saw two bodies of savages stealing down through the
woods on either side of them. Oh, how I longed to warn them of their
peril! I would, at every risk, have shouted out, but they would not
have understood me. I remained spell-bound.
Meantime, three or four of the large canoes stole out from behind the
point, and gradually approached the doomed ship, the chiefs in them,
when they were perceived, waving their hands in token of amity to those
on board. If the party on shore observed them, I do not know; they
appeared to have no fear, no suspicion of treachery. The aim of the
cunning savages was to get them to separate from each other. The
sellers of fruit got in among them, and enticed one on one side, and one
on the other; and when this had been accomplished I saw a warrior, with
his club concealed under his cloak, glide noiselessly in and attach
himself to each of the unsuspecting white men. The large canoes, full
of warriors, had likewise been incautiously allowed to get alongside the
brig, and soon her decks were crowded with savages, making signs, and
laughing, and pretending to traffic with the crew.
On a sudden, a conch-shell was sounded by the chief. Before its hoarse
braying had died away, the deadly weapons of the savages had descended
with terrific force on the heads of the white men on the shore. Many
fell, killed at once; others attempted to run to the boats, but were
pursued and quickly dispatched. On board, the plot of the chief seemed
to be equally successful. Though some resistance was offered and
several shots were fired, all was unavailing--not a white man ultimately
escaped; and in a few minutes their bodies were brought on shore in one
of the canoes, while the others followed towing the brig, whose cable
the savages had cut, that they might the more easily plunder her.
As soon as she was brought close to the shore, a scene of havoc and
destruction commenced on board. Some climbed the masts to unrig her,
others rushed into the hold to get out the cargo, and numbers hurried to
the cabin to carry off the lighter articles which it contained.
The chief, as may be supposed, got the lion's share; and his house was
soon full of fire-arms and other weapons, and clothes, and trinkets, and
crockery, and articles of every description. He himself had come on
shore, but numbers still remained on board, working away in the hold,
and lowering down the rigging from aloft, when there was a loud
explosion, and the deck of the vessel, with all on board, was lifted up
and blown into the air! Not a human being on board escaped. Fragments
of the wreck and mangled bodies came falling thick around, while flames
burst out on every side from the hull, the scene of the late atrocity.
The chief was very angry at the loss of so much property, but seemed in
no way to regret the lives of so many of his subjects.
I took occasion to tell him that the catastrophe was a judgment on him
for the number of murders and the robbery he had committed.
He replied that he did not understand what I meant--that white men had
often come to those islands in their ships, and had kidnapped his
people, or shot them down with their guns, or beaten them, for some
trifling misunderstanding or theft of little importance they might have
committed, and that he was only treating them as other white people had
treated his countrymen.
No reasoning that I was able to use after this could convince him that
he had acted wrongly. Indeed I knew that there was too much truth in
his assertion; and much have those navigators to answer for who have
acted unfairly towards savages, when those savages, following the law of
their untutored nature, have retaliated on subsequent voyagers with a
tenfold measure of vengeance.
After this occurrence, I was always seeking an opportunity to escape
from this blood-stained spot of earth. Whichever way I turned had been
a scene of murder, and I loathed the sight of the sanguinary perpetrator
of so many atrocities.
I might employ many an hour in describing the dreadful customs and
superstitions of these people. Every day my desire to escape from them
increased. Three or four vessels in the course of the next year called
off the island, but the crews seemed to be cautious; and, at all events,
no attempt was made to surprise them. As each appeared, I found myself
narrowly watched, so I had no opportunity of communicating with them.
I had now for some time been looked upon as a sane man, and had employed
myself in working in various ways for the chief. It at last struck me,
that if I were again to feign madness I might obtain greater liberty.
On putting my idea into execution, I found that it had the desired
effect; and I was allowed from that time forward to go about wherever I
liked, and to pry into people's houses and gardens, and even into the
temples. I soon found my way down to the sea-shore, and used to pretend
to be busy in picking up shells, and in stringing them together into
necklaces and bracelets for my own adornment. Then I made others, which
I presented, with many a strange antic, to anybody I met. Day after day
did I continue this employment, my eye wandering anxiously over the blue
sea in search of the wished-for vessel.
Drearily passed the time, without a human being with whom I could
exchange an idea we might hold in common. I learned then fully to
appreciate the value of the society and sympathy of my fellow-men. At
length, one day as I sat at my usual occupation on the shore, my eyes
fell on a white speck just rising above the horizon. Anxiously,
intently did I watch it. Slowly it increased. First I made out the
topgallant-sails; then the topsails; and at last the courses of a
square-rigged schooner. She approached the island. Oh, how my heart
beat within me for fear she might not come near the part where I was!
There was a channel through which vessels had more than once passed. A
point of land ran out into it, covered almost to the end with trees.
Towards this point I ran, concealing myself as much as I could among the
trees from the people on shore. I reached the point unobserved. I had
hoped to find a canoe there, but there was none. I looked about, and at
last discovered a log of banana-wood, which is very light. It had been
cast on shore. With my knife I cut a stick with a broad end, to serve
as a paddle and to defend myself against the sharks which abound on the
coast. I was ready to run all risks. I had become desperate. I felt
sure that if I were observed by the natives I should be brought back and
slaughtered. Still that idea did not daunt me. At every hazard I was
resolved to get on board, or to perish in the attempt.
Eagerly I kept my eye on the vessel. On she came. She was steering for
the channel. I got my log ready to launch. It was with no small dread
that I looked around to ascertain that I was not observed. I watched
for the moment to commence my perilous voyage, when, by pulling directly
out from the shore, I thought I could fetch her. I had secured two long
outriggers at each end of my log, to prevent it from turning round; the
tendrils of the wild vine served me as rope. The time arrived to launch
forth. With all my strength shoving the log into the water, I took my
seat on it, and with might and main using my paddle, I worked on my
rough canoe towards the schooner.
Now commenced the most dangerous part of the enterprise, as I drew out
from the point and became exposed to the view of the people on shore.
Every now and then I gave a hasty glance over my shoulder to ascertain
if I were followed.
For a long time no one observed me. I had nearly gained a position by
which the schooner must pass, when, to my dismay, I saw a large canoe
putting off from the shore. If I could not gain the side of the
schooner before she reached me, I was undone.
Again I took to my paddle, and urged on the slow-moving machine towards
the approaching vessel; still the canoe was rapidly drawing near. Every
instant I expected to find an arrow sticking in my body. The thought
made me redouble my efforts.
On came the schooner. I shouted out, "Have mercy on an unfortunate
Englishman!" I saw many swarthy faces on her forecastle. I thought
that I might not be understood. What was my joy then to see her brail
up her sails, for she had a leading wind, and lower her boat!
The boat approached me. I leaped into her just as a shower of arrows
was sent flying after me. Most of them fell short, but some struck the
boat. Those on board the schooner seeing this, instantly let fly a
volley of musketry at my pursuers, and made them pull back with no
little rapidity towards the shore. The moment my eye had time to look
about the vessel, I thought that I recognised her. I was not mistaken;
she was Newman's schooner, and Newman himself was standing on the
quarter-deck, not as I had for so long known him, but in dress and
appearance like an officer. He, of course, did not know me. How should
he? I was thin and haggard with care and anxiety. Of my seaman's
clothes but a small portion now remained, and the few garments I had
were made of the native cloth, but had been torn in my run among the
trees, and afterwards almost destroyed in the water. Altogether, I was
a miserable figure.
I resolved not to make myself known to my old friend, but still I was
anxious to guard him against the treachery of the natives. Seeing that
I appeared to wish to speak to him, he sent for me aft to give an
account of myself. I had not talked five minutes when he exclaimed, "I
am quite certain I know that voice and mode of expression. Who are you,
my man?"
I at once told him. He grasped my hand cordially, and greeted me as he
would have done in the forecastle of the _Drake_. Directly he made me
at home, and told me that I must mess in his cabin.
"You must be clothed, so I will dress you as an officer. As we have no
boatswain on board, I will at once appoint you to fill the berth.
That's all settled; and after you have had some food, I must hear all
that has happened to you since we parted." He told me that he was well
aware of the treacherous disposition of the natives, and that he was
always on his guard.
How delightful it was to feel myself out of the power of those
bloodthirsty savages, and to be sitting at dinner with an intelligent
companion! He had been in the schooner ever since we parted; and so
much satisfaction had he given the Dutch authorities, that he had been
promised shortly the command of the largest vessel on the station. He
was in high spirits, and told me that he expected, on his return to
Batavia, to marry a lady of considerable fortune, and that he looked
upon his prosperity as certain. "Pretty well, is it not, I have done,
remembering the point from which I started only a few years ago?"
I very soon recovered my health and strength on board the schooner.
Newman had been sent to examine these and other neighbouring groups of
islands. We cruised about among them for some months, and then once
more shaped our course for Batavia.
On getting on board, I had no little difficulty at first in speaking
English, and I found that I had almost entirely forgotten how to read
and write. Newman, however, used to have me every day into his cabin,
and I very soon recovered the knowledge I had lost. Indeed, he took as
much pains to instruct me as he had done on board the whaler, and he
encouraged me with the hope that he might get me appointed as one of his
mates while he remained in the schooner. But alas! I found that in one
point he was still unchanged. Religion was yet a stranger to his soul.
At length we reached Batavia. He went on shore in high spirits, telling
me that he was going to visit the lady to whom he was engaged; but he
let me know that he must call also on another who had formed an
attachment for him, that he might pacify her respecting his intended
marriage. I feared from what he said that all was not right. I
expected him on board again that night, but he did not return.
In the morning he did not come, so with some anxiety I went on shore to
inquire for him. For a long time I searched in vain. At last I met a
person whom I guessed to be an Englishman.
"Your captain do you ask for?" he answered. "Look there!"
Some police-officers stood at the door of a house. They allowed me to
enter. On the floor of a room at the side lay a body. A cloth covered
the face. I lifted it up. There I beheld all that remained of the
highly endowed Edward Newman, for by no other name did I know him. He
had been poisoned through fiery jealousy. A cup, in pretended
friendship, had been laughingly offered him. Unsuspiciously he had
drunk of it. The Government seized the murderess, who paid the penalty
of her crime with her life.
Thus died one who was well calculated to shine in the higher walks of
life. Who he was, whence he came, or even the slightest clue to his
previous history, I was never able to ascertain. In a strange land he
died, far away from kindred and friends--if, indeed, he had any--his
fate for ever unknown to them. Let this be a warning to those who hear
the sad conclusion of his history. The highest talents, and the most
undaunted courage and perseverance, will avail a man nothing, unless at
the same time he be under the guidance of principle.
The death of my friend threw me completely adrift, and I was glad to
find an opportunity of working my passage to England on board a ship
just going to sail for Liverpool.
Once more I stood on my native shore, a care-worn, weather-beaten man,
well advanced in years. On inquiring for the bank in which I had
invested the savings of my former voyage, I found that it had failed,
and that I was as poor as when I began the world, with this difference,
that I had a profession, and had bought a large amount of experience
with the money I had squandered--which is not always the case with
spend-thrifts.
I made inquiries for Captain Carr, but could hear nothing of him. As I
concluded that he had invested the money made by my last voyage in the
_Drake_, I supposed that also to have been lost by the bank. I thought
this a very great misfortune, as I wished to have settled on shore in
some business or other. Perhaps I might have chosen that of a publican,
as many sailors do. However, I had now no resource but to go to sea
again.
While in this humour I fell in with an old shipmate. We had been
together in the _Glutton_, and one or two other ships, so we knew each
other directly. He told me that he belonged to a revenue-cutter then
stationed in the Mersey, and that she was short of hands, especially of
three or four steady men; and when I mentioned to him that I had been
boatswain of a man-of-war schooner, he said that he was certain I would
get a berth on board. I was weary of foreign voyages, so I accompanied
him at once, as he proposed, to the commander, and was entered
immediately.
Ever since have I had reason to bless that day. The commander was a
pious, excellent man, who, aware of the value of his own soul, was ever
solicitous for the eternal welfare of all those placed under his
authority. He soon found that though I had some knowledge of the Bible,
and much of other things, I was ignorant of the way of salvation. He
called me often into his cabin. Kindly and affectionately he spoke to
me, and set before me the truth of the gospel as it is in Christ Jesus.
As he spoke to me, so did he, from time to time, to all the rest. He,
truly, was not ashamed of the Master he served. At an early age he had
hoisted his flag, and had ever since fought bravely under it, against
the scorn of the world, against evil in all shapes. Even the most
obdurate were softened and influenced by the example he set, though they
might not receive the truth with gladness of heart. We were what all
ships' companies might become--a Christian crew, though not without
faults and shortcomings; but we loved Christ, and worshipped him with
singleness of heart. At the same time I am very certain that no crew
ever more efficiently did their duty to their country than we performed
ours.
For three years I served on board that vessel, and at the end of that
time was sent round to Woolwich, where she had been fitted out, to be
paid off.
The last time I landed at Liverpool, I met an old gentleman walking
along the street. I looked in his face. It was Captain Carr! I told
him who I was. Of course he had thought I had been lost, and was very
much surprised to see me. He was shocked to hear of the death of my
companions, and deeply interested in the account I gave him of my
captivity. To my no little satisfaction he told me that he had not
invested the money, which was mine by rights, from the last voyage; and
that he thought he could obtain fifty pounds from the owners as my share
of profits. This sum I afterwards received. It was all that remained
out of the thousands I had made in the course of my life.
I was now sixty years of age. I had recovered my health on board the
cutter, but though strong and hearty, I felt I was no longer fit for
sea. I found, however, on application, that I could obtain employment
as a rigger in the dockyard; and in that work I spent some years. I
took a little cottage on the hill, which I furnished by means of the
money I received from Captain Carr, and made myself perfectly
comfortable.
Directly I was settled, I started off next day for Greenwich Hospital,
for I thought that I should very likely fall in with some old shipmates
there. I went into the chapel and sat myself down--no one hindering me.
As the men were coming out when service was over, I saw before me a
tall, thin old pensioner, bending under the weight of years, and resting
on a staff as he walked before me. I came behind as he reached the open
air, and looked up in his face. It wore the same kind, benignant, mild
expression which I remembered so well in the countenance of Peter
Poplar. I waited till he got down the steps.
"Just lean on me, sir," said I. "You have carried me before now, if I
mistake not." He looked hard at my face. A tear dimmed his eye.
"Yes, yes--it's the boy himself," he whispered in a tremulous voice.
"But you are `Old Jack' now." I loved the name he gave me, and ever
since to the lads I meet and talk with I have called myself by it.
A few weeks after that, I sat by the bedside of my kind, noble old
friend--talking of that glorious eternity into which his spirit entered
before I left him.
After I had been settled for some years, I met an old shipmate, sick,
and I saw plainly dying. He had been a lad when I knew him. He had
with him a little girl, his only child, some ten years old. His wife
was dead. He had no friends. I promised as he lay on his death-bed to
take charge of the lassie. He blessed me, and died. I took her to my
cottage, and she has ever since been a comfort and a solace to me--a
daughter by adoption, if not by blood.
Not long after this event, I met my former commander in the cutter. He
asked me how I was employed. I told him as a rigger, but that I
sometimes found my strength scarcely equal to the work; but when that
failed, I was sure God would provide for me as He had always done.
He replied that he had no doubt of it--that even then there was work for
which I was well fitted ready for me--that he belonged to a society
which had been formed to distribute, at a low price, religious and other
publications among those classes who were accustomed to purchase the
most pernicious style of literature, frequently from not having better
offered to them; and that if I would undertake the work, he would get me
appointed to it. I gladly accepted his offer, and have ever since been
a humble, though I feel sure not an inefficient, labourer in making
known the good tidings of great joy among the almost heathen population
of our own land, as a colporteur.
I have told my tale. I have offered many an example of what religion
can do, and of what the want of it will produce. I have uttered many a
warning. One more I must repeat: Remember that this world affords no
rest to the soul--this world is unstable and fleeting--those who persist
in making the utmost it can offer their aim, are striving to clutch a
passing shadow. Oh! never forget it is but a place of preparation--a
place of trial--for all human beings alike. To commence mother life all
are hastening--all must commence ere long. High and low, rich and poor,
young and old--those in health and those in sickness--the light-hearted
and happy--the miserable and forlorn--all alike are going the same road,
and entering into a condition which, whether wretched or joyous, will
last for eternity. Though the rest of what I have said may be
forgotten, let this great truth be remembered, and you will have gained
a pearl of great price from reading the life of OLD JACK.