pleasantest spot we had seen in this part of the world; though it has
nothing on it eatable but some berries, which resembled gooseberries
in flavour: they are of a black hue, and grow in swampy ground; and
the bush or tree that bears them is much taller than that of our
gooseberries. We remained here some time, living upon these berries,
and the remainder of our seal, which was now grown quite rotten. Our
two or three first attempts to put out from this island were without
success, the tempestuous weather obliging us so often to put back
again. One of our people was much inclined to remain here, thinking it
as least as good a place as Wager's Island to end his days upon; but
he was obliged to go off with them. We had not been long out before it
began to blow a storm of wind; and the mist came on so thick, that we
could not see the land, and were at a loss which way to steer; but we
heard the sea, which ran exceedingly high, breaking near us; upon which
we immediately hauled aft the sheet, and hardly weathered the breakers
by a boat's length. At the same time we shipped a sea that nearly
filled us: it struck us with that violence, as to throw me, and one or
two more, down into the bottom of the boat, where we were half drowned
before we could get up again. This was one of the most extraordinary
escapes we had in the course of this expedition; for Captain Cheap, and
every one else, had entirely given themselves up for lost. However,
it pleased God that we got that evening into Redwood Cove, where the
weather continued so bad all night, we could keep no fire in to dry
ourselves with; but there being no other alternative for us, but to
stay here and starve, or put to sea again, we chose the latter, and
put out in the morning again, though the weather was very little
mended. In three or four days after, we arrived at our old station,
Wager's Island; but in such a miserable plight, that though we thought
our condition upon setting out would not admit of any additional
circumstance of misery, yet it was to be envied in comparison of what
we now suffered, so worn and reduced were we by fatigue and hunger;
having eat nothing for some days but sea-weed and tangle. Upon this
expedition, we had been out, by our account, just two months; in which
we had rounded, backwards and forwards, the great bay formed to the
northward by that high land we had observed from Mount Misery.
The first thing we did upon our arrival, was to secure the barge, as
this was our sole dependence for any relief that might offer by sea;
which done, we repaired to our huts, which formed a kind of village
or street, consisting of several irregular habitations; some of which
being covered by a kind of brush-wood thatch, afforded tolerable
shelter against the inclemency of the weather. Among these, there was
one which we observed with some surprise to be nailed up. We broke
it open, and found some iron work, picked out with much pains from
those pieces of the wreck which were driven ashore. We concluded from
hence, that the Indians who had been here in our absence, were not of
that tribe with which we had some commerce before, who seemed to set
no value upon iron, but from some other quarter; and must have had
communication with the Spaniards, from whom they had learned the value
and use of that commodity. Thieving from strangers is a commendable
talent among savages in general, and bespeaks an address which they
much admire; though the strictest honesty, with regard to the property
of each other, is observed among them. There is no doubt but they
ransacked all our houses; but the men had taken care, before they went
off in the long-boat, to strip them of their most valuable furniture;
that is, the bales of cloth used for lining, and converted them into
trowsers and watch-coats. Upon farther search, we found, thrown aside
in the bushes, at the back of one of the huts, some pieces of seal, in
a very putrid condition; which, however, our stomachs were far from
loathing. The next business, which the people set about very seriously,
was to proceed to Mount Misery, and bury the corpse of the murdered
person, mentioned to have been discovered there some little time after
our being cast away; for to the neglect of this necessary tribute to
that unfortunate person, the men assigned all their ill-success upon
the late expedition.
That common people in general are addicted to superstitious conceits,
is an observation founded on experience; and the reason is evident:
but I cannot allow that common seamen are more so than others of the
lower class. In the most enlightened ages of antiquity, we find it to
have been the popular opinion, that the spirits of the dead were not at
rest till their bodies were interred; and that they did not cease to
haunt and trouble those who had neglected this duty to the departed.
This is still believed by the vulgar, in most countries; and in our
men, this persuasion was much heightened by the melancholy condition
they were reduced to; and was farther confirmed by an occurrence which
happened some little time before we went upon our last expedition.
One night we were alarmed with a strange cry, which resembled that
of a man drowning. Many of us ran out of our huts towards the place
from whence the noise proceeded, which was not far off shore; where
we could perceive, but not distinctly (for it was then moonlight), an
appearance like that of a man swimming half out of water. The noise
that this creature uttered was so unlike that of any animal they had
heard before, that it made a great impression upon the men; and they
frequently recalled this apparition at the time of their distresses,
with reflections on the neglect of the office they were now fulfilling.
We were soon driven again to the greatest straits for want of something
to subsist upon, by the extreme bad weather that now set in upon us.
Wild celery was all we could procure, which raked our stomachs instead
of assuaging our hunger. That dreadful and last resource of men, in
not much worse circumstances than ours, of consigning one man to death
for the support of the rest, began to be mentioned in whispers; and
indeed there were some among us who, by eating what they found raw,
were become little better than cannibals. But fortunately for us, and
opportunely to prevent this horrid proceeding, Mr. Hamilton, at this
time, found some rotten pieces of beef, cast up by the sea at some
miles distance from the huts, which he, though a temptation which few
would have resisted in parallel circumstances, scorned to conceal from
the rest; but generously distributed among us.
A few days after, the mystery of the nailing up of the hut, and what
had been doing by the Indians upon the island in our absence, was
partly explained to us; for about the fifteenth day after our return,
there came a party of Indians to the island in two canoes, who were not
a little surprised to find us here again. Among these, was an Indian of
the tribe of the Chonos, who live in the neighbourhood of Chiloe.[4]
He talked the Spanish language, but with that savage accent which
renders it almost unintelligible to any but those who are adepts in
that language. He was likewise a cacique, or leading man of his tribe;
which authority was confirmed to him by the Spaniards; for he carried
the usual badge and mark of distinction by which the Spaniards, and
their dependents, hold their military and civil employments, which is a
stick with a silver head. These badges, of which the Indians are very
vain, at once serve to retain the cacique in the strongest attachment
to the Spanish government, and give him greater weight with his own
dependents: yet, withal, he is the merest slave, and has not one thing
he can call his own. This report of our shipwreck (as we supposed)
having reached the Chonos, by means of the intermediate tribes, which
handed it to one another, from those Indians who first visited us;
this cacique was either sent to learn the truth of the rumour, or
having first got the intelligence, set out with a view of making some
advantage of the wreck, and appropriating such iron-work as he could
gather from it to his own use: for that metal is become very valuable
to those savages, since their commerce with the Spaniards has taught
them to apply it to several purposes. But as the secreting any thing
from a rapacious Spanish rey, or governor (even an old rusty nail),
by any of their Indian dependents, is a very dangerous offence, he
was careful to conceal the little prize he had made, till he could
conveniently carry it away; for in order to make friends of these
savages, we had left their hoard untouched.
[FOOTNOTE 4:
Chiloe is an island on the western coast of America, about the 43rd
deg. of S. latitude; and the southernmost settlement under the Spanish
jurisdiction on that coast.]
Our surgeon, Mr. Elliot, being master of a few Spanish words, made
himself so far understood by the cacique as to let him know, that
our intention was to reach some of the Spanish settlements, if we
could; that we were unacquainted with the best and safest way, and
what tract was most likely to afford us subsistence in our journey;
promising, if he would undertake to conduct us in the barge, he should
have it, and every thing in it, for his trouble, as soon as it had
served our present occasions. To these conditions the cacique, after
much persuasion, at length agreed. Accordingly, having made the best
preparation we could, we embarked on board the barge to the number of
fifteen, including the cacique, whose name was Martin, and his servant
Emanuel. We were, indeed, sixteen, when we returned from our last
fruitless attempt to get off the island; but we had buried two since
that, who perished with hunger; and a marine, having committed theft,
run away to avoid the punishment his crime deserved, and hid himself
in the woods; since which he was never heard of. We now put off,
accompanied with the two Indian canoes; in one of which was a savage,
with his two wives, who had an air of dignity superior to the rest, and
was handsome in his person. He had his hut, during his stay with us,
separate from the other Indians, who seemed to pay him extraordinary
respect; but in two or three nights, these Indians, being independent
of the Spaniards, and living somewhere to the southward of our Chono
guide, left us to proceed on our journey by ourselves.
The first night we lay at an island destitute of all refreshment; where
having found some shelter for our boat, and made ourselves a fire, we
slept by it. The next night we were more unfortunate, though our wants
were increasing; for having run to the westward of Montross island, we
found no shelter for the barge; but were under the necessity of lying
upon our oars, suffering the most extreme pangs of hunger. The next
day brought us to the bottom of a great bay, where the Indian guide
had left his family, a wife and two children, in a hut. Here we staid
two or three days, during which we were constantly employed in ranging
along shore in quest of shell-fish.
We now again proceeded on our voyage, having received on board the
family of our guide, who conducted us to a river, the stream of which
was so rapid, that after our utmost efforts from morning to evening, we
gained little upon the current, and at last were obliged to desist from
our attempt and return. I had hitherto steered the boat; but one of our
men sinking under the fatigue, expired soon after, which obliged me to
take the oar in his room, and row against this heart-breaking stream.
Whilst I was thus employed, one of our men whose name was John Bosman,
though hitherto the stoutest man among us, fell from his seat under
the thwarts, complaining that his strength was quite exhausted for
want of food, and that he should die very shortly. As he lay in this
condition, he would every now and then break out in the most pathetic
wishes for some little sustenance; that two or three mouthfuls might be
the means of saving his life. The Captain, at this time, had a large
piece of boiled seal by him, and was the only one that was provided
with any thing like a meal; but we were become so hardened against the
impressions of others' sufferings by our own; so familiarized to scenes
of this, and every other kind of misery; that the poor man's dying
entreaties were vain. I sat next to him when he dropped, and having a
few dried shell-fish (about five or six) in my pocket, from time to
time put one in his mouth, which served only to prolong his pains; from
which, however, soon after my little supply failed, he was released
by death. For this, and another man I mentioned a little before to
have expired under the like circumstances, when we returned from this
unsuccessful enterprise, we made a grave in the sands.
It would have redounded greatly to the tenderness and humanity of
Captain Cheap, if at this time he had remitted somewhat of that
attention he shewed to self-preservation; which is hardly allowable
but where the consequence of relieving others must be immediately
and manifestly fatal to ourselves; but I would venture to affirm,
that in these last affecting exigencies, as well as some others, a
sparing perhaps adequate to the emergency, might have been admitted
consistently with a due regard to his own necessities. The Captain had
better opportunities for recruiting his stock than any of us; for his
rank was considered by the Indian as a reason for supplying him when he
would not find a bit for us. Upon the evening of the day in which these
disasters happened, the Captain producing a large piece of boiled seal,
suffered no one to partake with him but the surgeon, who was the only
man in favour at this time. We did not expect, indeed, any relief from
him in our present condition; for we had a few small muscles and herbs
to eat; but the men could not help expressing the greatest indignation
at his neglect of the deceased; saying that he deserved to be deserted
by the rest for his savage behaviour.
The endeavouring to pass up this river was for us, who had so long
struggled with hunger, a most unseasonable attempt; by which we were
harassed to a degree that threatened to be fatal to more of us; but our
guide, without any respect to the condition our hardships had reduced
us to, was very solicitous for us to go that way, which possibly he
had gone before in light canoes; but for such a boat as ours was
impracticable. We conceived, therefore, at that time, that this was
some short cut, which was to bring us forward in our voyage; but we
had reason to think afterwards, that the greater probability there was
of his getting the barge, which was the wages of his undertaking, safe
to his settlement by this, rather than another course, was his motive
for preferring it to the way we took afterwards, where there was a
carrying place of considerable length, over which it would have been
impossible to have carried our boat.
The country hereabouts wears the most uncouth, desolate, and rugged
aspect imaginable; it is so circumstanced, as to discourage the most
sanguine adventurers from attempts to settle it: were it for no other
reason than the constant heavy rains, or rather torrents, which pour
down here, and the vast sea and surf which the prevailing westerly
winds impel upon this coast, it must be rendered inhospitable. All
entrance into the woods is not only extremely difficult, but hazardous;
not from any assaults you are likely to meet with from wild beasts;
for even these could hardly find convenient harbour here; but from the
deep swamp, which is the reigning soil of this country, and in which
the woods may be said rather to float than grow; so that, except upon a
range of deformed broken rocks which form the sea-coast, the traveller
cannot find sound footing any where. With this unpromising scene
before us we were now setting out in search of food, which nothing but
the most pressing instances of hunger could induce us to do: we had,
indeed, the young Indian servant to our cacique for our conductor, who
was left by him to shew us where the shell-fish was most plenty. The
cacique was gone with the rest of his family, in the canoe, with a view
of getting some seal, upon a trip which would detain him from us three
or four days.
After searching the coast some time with very little success, we
began to think of returning to the barge; but six of the men, with
the Indian, having advanced some few paces before the officers, got
into the boat first; which they had no sooner done than they put off,
and left us, to return no more. And now all the difficulties we had
hitherto endured, seemed light in comparison of what we expected to
suffer from this treachery of our men, who, with the boat, had taken
away every thing that might be the means of preserving our lives. The
little clothes we had saved from the wreck, our muskets and ammunition
were gone, except a little powder, which must be preserved for kindling
fires, and one gun, which I had, and was now become useless for want of
ammunition; and all these wants were now come upon us at a time when we
could not be worse situated for supplying them. Yet under these dismal
and forlorn appearances was our delivery now preparing; and from these
hopeless circumstances were we to draw hereafter an instance scarce
to be paralleled, of the unsearchable ways of Providence. It was at
that time little suspected by us, that the barge, in which we founded
all our hopes of escaping from this savage coast, would certainly have
proved the fatal cause of detaining us till we were consumed by the
labour and hardships requisite to row her round the capes and great
headlands; for it was impossible to carry her by land, as we did the
boats of the Indians. At present, no condition could be worse that we
thought ours to be: there ran at this time a very high sea, which
breaking with great fury upon this coast, made it very improbable that
sustenance in any proportion to our wants could be found upon it; yet,
unpromising as this prospect was, and though little succour could be
expected from this quarter, I could not help, as I strolled along shore
from the rest, casting my eyes towards the sea. Continuing thus to look
out, I thought I saw something now and then upon the top of a sea that
looked black, which upon observing still more intently, I imagined at
last to be a canoe; but reflecting afterwards how unusual it was for
Indians to venture out in so mountainous a sea, and at such a distance
from the land, I concluded myself to be deceived. However, its nearer
approach convinced me, beyond all doubt, of its being a canoe; but that
it could not put in any where hereabouts, but intended for some other
part of the coast. I ran back as fast as I could to my companions, and
acquainted them with what I had seen. The despondency they were in
would not allow them to give credit to it at first; but afterwards,
being convinced that it was as I reported it, we were all in the
greatest hurry to strip off some of our rags to make a signal withal,
which we fixed upon a long pole. This had the desired effect: the
people in the canoe seeing the signal, made towards the land at about
two mile distance from us; for no boat could approach the land where we
were: there they put into a small cove, sheltered by a large ledge of
rocks without, which broke the violence of the sea. Captain Cheap and
I walked along shore, and got to the cove about the time they landed.
Here we found the persons arrived in this canoe, to be our Indian guide
and his wife, who had left us some days before. He would have asked us
many questions; but neither Captain Cheap nor I understanding Spanish
at that time, we took him along with us to the surgeon, whom we had
left so ill that he could hardly raise himself from the ground. When
the Indian began to confer with the surgeon, the first question was,
What was become of the barge and his companion? and as he could give
him no satisfactory answer to this question, the Indian took it for
granted that Emanuel was murdered by us, and that he and his family ran
the same risk; upon which he was preparing to provide for his security,
by leaving us directly. The surgeon seeing this, did all in his
power to pacify him, and convince him of the unreasonableness of his
apprehensions; which he at length found means to do, by assuring him
that the Indian would come to no harm, but that he would soon see him
return safe; which providentially, and beyond our expectation, happened
accordingly; for in a few days after, Emanuel having contrived to make
his escape from the people in the barge, returned by ways that were
impassable to any creature but an Indian. All that we could learn from
Emanuel relative to his escape was, that he took the first opportunity
of leaving them; which was upon their putting into a bay somewhere to
the westward.
We had but one gun among us, and that was a small fowling-piece of
mine; no ammunition but a few charges of powder I had about me; and
as the Indian was very desirous of returning to the place where he had
left his wife and canoe, Captain Cheap desired I would go with him and
watch over him all night, to prevent his getting away. Accordingly I
set out with him; and when he and his family betook themselves to rest
in the little wigwam they had made for that purpose, I kept my station
as centinel over them all night.
The next morning Captain Cheap, Mr. Hamilton, and the surgeon, joined
us: the latter, by illness, being reduced to the most feeble condition,
was supported by Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Campbell. After holding some
little consultation together, as to the best manner of proceeding in
our journey, it was agreed, that the Indian should haul his canoe, with
our assistance, over land, quite across the island we were then upon,
and put her into a bay on the other side, from whence he was to go in
quest of some other Indians, by whom he expected to be joined; but as
his canoe was too small to carry more than three or four persons, he
thought it advisable to take only Captain Cheap and myself with him,
and to leave his wife and children as pledges with our companions till
his return.
As it was matter of uncertainty whether we should ever recover the
barge or not, which was stipulated, on our side, to become the property
of the cacique, upon his fulfilling his engagements with us; the
inducements we now made use of to prevail upon him to proceed with us
in our journey were, that he should have my fowling-piece, some little
matters in the possession of Captain Cheap, and that we would use our
interest to procure him some small pecuniary reward.
We were now to set off in the canoe, in which I was to assist him in
rowing. Accordingly, putting from this island, we rowed hard all this
day and the next, without any thing to eat but a scrap of seal, a very
small portion of which fell to my share. About two hours after the
close of the day, we put ashore, where we discovered six or seven
wigwams. For my part, my strength was so exhausted with fatigue and
hunger, that it would have been impossible for me to have held out
another day at this toilsome work. As soon as we landed, the Indian
conducted Captain Cheap with him into a wigwam; but I was left to shift
for myself.
Thus left, I was for some time at a loss what I had best do; for
knowing that in the variety of dispositions observable among the
Indians, the surly and savage temper is the most prevalent, I had good
reason to conclude, that if I obtruded myself upon them, my reception
would be but indifferent. Necessity, however, put me upon the risk;
I accordingly pushed into the next wigwam upon my hands and knees;
for the entrance into these kind of buildings is too low to admit of
any other manner of getting into them. To give a short description of
these temporary houses, called wigwams, may not be improper here, for
the satisfaction of those who never saw any; especially as they differ
somewhat from those of North America, which are more generally known
from the numerous accounts of that country.
When the Indians of this part of the world have occasion to stop any
where in their rambles, if it be only for a night or two, the men, who
take this business upon them, while the women are employed in much
more laborious offices, such as diving in the sea for sea-eggs, and
searching the rocks for shell-fish, getting fuel, &c., repair to the
woods, and cutting a sufficient number of tall, strait branches, fix
them in an irregular kind of circle, of uncertain dimensions; which
having done, they bend the extremities of these branches so as to meet
in a centre at top, where they bind them by a kind of woodbine, called
supple-jack, which they split by holding it in their teeth. This frame,
or skeleton of a hut, is made tight against the weather with a covering
of boughs and bark; but as the bark is not got without some trouble,
they generally take it with them when they remove, putting it at the
bottom of their canoes: the rest of the wigwam they leave standing.
The fire is made in the middle of the wigwam, round which they sit upon
boughs; and as there is no vent for the smoke, besides the door-way,
which is very low, except through some crevices, which cannot easily be
stopped, they are not a little incommoded on that account; and the eyes
of some of them are much affected by it.