The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism Volume I Part 13

"Oh! be not qua.s.s of nika; Thy seahoose turn on me; For thou must but hyas c.u.mtux, That I hyas tikkee thee!

Nika potlatch hyu ictas; Nika makook sappalell Of persicees and la biscuit, I will give thee all thy fill!"

which, addressed to a "sweet Klootchman," a "forest maiden," means, that loving her so much, all that he had was hers. Much greater absurdities have been put in plain English.

A bishop of British Columbia was, however, hardly so successful; not being himself a student of Chinook, the entire vocabulary of which would have taken him rather less time to learn than the barest elements of Latin, he engaged an interpreter, through whom to address the Indians. The latter was perfectly competent to say all that _can_ be said in Chinook, but was rather nonplussed when his lords.h.i.+p commenced his address by "Children of the forest!" He scratched his head and looked at the bishop, who, however, was determined, and commenced once more, "Children of the forest!" The interpreter knew that it must make nonsense, but he was cornered, and had to do it. And this is what he said: "Tena.s.s man copa stick!"-literally, "Little men among the stumps" (or trunks of trees). The writer will not comment upon the subject here, more than to say that Chinook is _not_ adapted for the translation of Milton or Shakespeare; while the simplest story or parable of the Scriptures must be unintelligible, or worse, when attempted in that jargon.

The only other settlement on Vancouver Island which has any direct interest to the Royal Navy, is Nanaimo, the coal-mines of which yield a large amount of the fuel used by the steams.h.i.+ps when in that neighbourhood and about all that is used on the island; a quant.i.ty is also s.h.i.+pped to San Francisco. The mines are worked by English companies, and are so near the coast that, by means of a few tramways and locomotives, the coal is conveyed to the wharves, where it can be at once put on board. It is a pleasant little place, and many an English miner would be glad to be as well off as the men settled there, who earn more money than at home, own their cottages and plots of land, obtain most of their supplies cheaper than in England, and have a beautiful gulf before them, in summer, at least, as calm as a lake, on which boating and canoeing is all the rage in the evenings or on holidays.

The Pacific Station is an extensive one, for it commences at the most northernmost parts of Bering Sea, and extends below Cape Horn. It embraces the Alaskan coast. Many English men-of-war have visited these lat.i.tudes, princ.i.p.ally, however, in the cause of science and discovery.

In the old days, when the colony of Russian America was little better than are many parts of Siberia-convict settlements-the few Government officials and officers of the Russian Fur Company were, it may well be believed, only too ready to welcome any change in the monotony of their existence, and a new arrival, in the shape of a s.h.i.+p from some foreign port, was a day to be remembered, and of which to make much. The true Russians are naturally hospitably and sociably inclined, and such times were the occasion for b.a.l.l.s, dinners, and parties to any extent. The writer well remembers his first visit to Sitka, which, although the capital of Alaska, is situated on an island off the mainland. On approaching the small and partially land-locked harbour, a mountain of no inconsiderable height, wooded to the top, appeared in view, and below it a little town of highly-coloured roofs, in the middle of which rose a picturesque rock, surmounted by a semi-fortified castle, which, in the distance at least, looked most imposing. Near this, but separated by a stockade, was the village of the Kalosh Indians, a powerful tribe, who had at times, as the members of the expedition learned, given a considerable amount of trouble to the Russians-in 1804 they murdered nearly the whole of the Russian garrison-while beyond on every side were rocky sh.o.r.es and wooded heights.

An old hulk or two, lying on the beach below the old castle, itself princ.i.p.ally built of wood, the residence of the Governor of Russian America, then Prince Maksutoff, which had been roofed in and were used for magazines of stores, and some rather shaky pile-wharfs, made up the town.

Soon was experienced the warmth of a Russian welcome, and for a week afterwards a succession of gaieties followed, which were so very gay that they would have killed most men, unless they had been fortified with a long sea-trip just before. Every Russian seemed to wish the party to consider all that he had at their service; the _samovar_ boiled up everywhere as they approached; the little lunch-table of anchovies, and pickles, rye-bread, b.u.t.ter, cheese, and so forth, with the everlasting _vodka_, was everywhere ready, and except duty called, no one was obliged to go off at night to the three vessels comprising the expedition to which the writer was attached, for the best bed in the house was always at his service. There was only one bar-room in the whole town, and there only a kind of _lager-bier_ and _vodka_ were to be obtained. When the country was, for a consideration of 7,250,000 dollars, transferred to the United States, there was a "rush" from Victoria and San Francisco. Keen Hebrew traders, knowing that furs up country bore a merely nominal price, and that Sitka was the great _entrepot_ for their collection-a million dollars' worth being frequently gathered there at a time-thought they would be able to buy them for next to nothing still. Parcels of land in the town, which had not at the utmost a greater value than a few hundred dollars, now ran up to fabulous prices; 10,000 dollars was asked for a log house! Hotels, "saloons"-_i.e._, bar-rooms _a l'Americaine_-German lager-bier cellars, and barbers' shops sprang up like mushrooms; a newspaper-office was opened, and everything reminded one of the sudden growth of mining-towns in the early days of California. Alas! everything else went up in proportion, excepting salmon, which must be a drug on that coast for many centuries to come;(107) provisions greatly rose in price, and the compet.i.tion for furs was so great that they became nearly as dear as in San Francisco. The consequence may be imagined; there was an exodus, and the following January the whole city could have been bought for a song. The Russian officials, of course, left it shortly after the transfer, and most of the others as speedily as they could. The "capital"

has never recovered from the shock; for, although organised fur-companies are scattered over the country, in one instance the United States Government leasing the sole right-that of fur-sealing, on the Aleutian Islands-to a firm which has a Russian prince as a partner, Sitka is not the _entrepot_ it was; everything in furs is brought to San Francis...o...b..fore being consigned to all quarters of the globe. The value of Alaska to the United States is at present very small, but so little is known about it that one can hardly form an estimate concerning its future. It possesses minerals, but these will always be worked with difficulty, on account of the climate. Its grand salmon-fisheries are, however, a tangible property; the cod in Bering Sea is as plentiful as it ever was on the Newfoundland banks; and there are innumerable forests of trees, easily accessible, reaching down to the coast-of pines, firs, and cedars, of size sufficient for the tallest masts and largest spars, so that Alaska has a direct interest for the s.h.i.+p-builder.

By its acquisition, the United States not merely extended its seaboard for, say, 1,500 miles north, but it obtained Mount St. Elias, by far the largest peak of the North American continent, and one of the loftiest mountains of the globe. "Upon Mont Blanc," says an American writer,(108) "pile the loftiest summit in the British Islands, and they would not reach the alt.i.tude of Mount St. Elias. If a man could reach its summit, he would be two miles nearer the stars than any other American could be, east of the Mississippi.... As a single peak it ranks among the half-dozen loftiest on the globe. Some of the Himalaya summits reach, indeed, a couple of miles nearer Orion and the Pleiades, but they rise from an elevated plateau sloping gradually upwards for hundreds of miles. As an isolated peak, St. Elias may look down upon Mont Blanc and Teneriffe, and claim brotherhood with Chimborazo and Cotopaxi." It acquired also one of the four great rivers of the globe, of which the writer had the pleasure of being one of the earliest explorers. The Yukon, which renders the waters of Bering Sea fresh or semi-fresh for a dozen miles beyond its many mouths, is a sister-river to the Amazon, Mississippi, and, perhaps, the Plata; it has affluents to which the Rhine or Rhone are but brooks.

The Kalosh Indians of Sitka live in semi-civilised wooden barns or houses, with invariably a round hole for a door, through which one creeps. They are particularly ingenious in carving; and Jack has many an opportunity of obtaining grotesque figures, cut from wood or slate-stone, for a cast-off garment or a half-dollar. One brought home represents the Russian soldier of the period, prior to the American annexation, and is scarcely a burlesque of his stolid face, gigantic moustache, close fitting coat with very tight sleeves, and loose, baggy trousers. Masks may be seen cut from some white stone, which would not do dishonour to a European sculptor. But now, leaving Sitka, let us make a rapid trip to the extreme northern end of the Pacific Station.

Men-of-war proceeding north of Sitka-which, except for purposes of science or war, is not likely to be the case, although the Pacific Station extends to the northernmost parts of Alaska-would voyage into Bering Sea through Ounimak Pa.s.s, one of the best pa.s.sages between the rocky and rugged Aleutian Islands. In the pa.s.s the scenery is superb, grand volcanic peaks rising in all directions. While there, many years ago, the writer well remembers going on deck one morning, when mists and low clouds hung over the then placid waters, and seeing what appeared to be a magnificent mountain peak, snowy and scarped, right overhead the vessel, and having a wreath of white cloud surrounding it, while a lower and greyer bank of mist hid its base. It seemed baseless, and as though rising from nothing; while the bright sunlight above all, and which did not reach the vessel, lit up the eternal snows in brilliant contrasts of light and shadow. This was the grand peak of Sheshaldinski, which rises nearly 9,000 feet above the sea level.

The Aleutian Islands are thinly inhabited, and the Aleuts-a harmless, strong, half-Esquimaux kind of people-often leave them. They make very good sailors. The few Russian settlements, among the princ.i.p.al of which was Kodiak, were simply trading posts and fur-sealing establishments.

Since the purchase of Alaska, the United States Government has leased them to a large mercantile firm, which makes profits from the sealing. North of the islands, after steaming over a considerable waste of waters, the only settlements on the coast of the whole country are Michaelovski and Unalachleet, both trading posts; while south of the former are the many mouths of one of the grandest rivers in the world, the Yukon, almost a rival to the Amazon and Mississippi. That section of the country lying round the great river is tolerably rich in fur-bearing animals, including sable, mink, black and silver-grey fox, beaver, and bear. The moose and deer abound; while fish, more especially salmon, is very abundant. Salmon, thirty or more pounds in weight, caught in the Yukon, has often been purchased for a half-ounce of tobacco or four or five common sewing-needles. The coasts of Northern Alaska are rugged and uninviting, and not remarkable for the grand scenery common in the southern division.

Leaving the north, and pa.s.sing the leading station already described on Vancouver Island, the sailor has the whole Pacific coasts of both Americas, clear to Cape Horn, before him as part of the Pacific Station.

There is Mexico, with its port of Acapulco; New Granada, with the important sea-port town of Panama; Callao, Peru; and Valparaiso, in Chili: at any of which H.B.M. vessels are commonly to be found. Panama is, indeed, a very important central point, as officers of the Royal Navy, ordered to join vessels elsewhere, usually leave their own at Panama, cross the isthmus, and take steamer to England, _via_ St. Thomas's, or by way of New York, thence crossing to Liverpool. The railroad-which, during its construction, is said to have cost the life of a Chinaman for every sleeper laid down, so fatal was the fever of the isthmus-has the dearest fares of any in the world. The distance from Panama across to Aspinwall (Colon) is about forty miles, and the fare is 5! An immense amount of travel crosses the isthmus; and it is only matter of time for a ca.n.a.l to be cut through some portion of it, or the isthmus of Darien adjoining.

Steamers of the largest kind are arriving daily at Panama from San Francisco, Mexico, and all parts of South America; while, on the Atlantic side, they come from Southampton, Liverpool, New York and other American ports.

Southward, with favouring breezes and usually calm seas, one soon arrives at Callao-a place which may yet become a great city, but which, like everything else in Peru, has been r.e.t.a.r.ded by interminable dissensions in regard to government and politics, and by the ignorance and bigotry of the ma.s.ses. Peru had an advantage over Chili in wealth and importance at one time; but, while the latter country is to-day one of the most satisfactory and stable republics in the world, one never knows what is going to happen next in Peru. Hence distrust in commerce; and hence the sailor will not find a t.i.the of the s.h.i.+pping in Callao Roads that he will at the wharfs of Valparaiso. Lima, the capital, is situated behind Callao, at a distance of about six miles. When seen from the deck of a vessel in the roadstead, the city has a most imposing appearance, with its innumerable domes and spires rising from so elevated a situation, and wearing a strange and rather Moorish air. On nearing the city, everything speaks eloquently of past splendour and present wretchedness; public walks and elegant ornamental stone seats choked with rank weeds, and all in ruins. You enter Lima through a triumphal arch, tawdry and tumbling to pieces; you find that the churches, which looked so imposing in the distance, are princ.i.p.ally stucco and tinsel. Lima has a novelty in one of its theatres. It is built in a long oval, the stage occupying nearly the whole of one long side, all the boxes being thus comparatively near it. The pit audience is men, and the galleries, women; and all help to fill the house, between the acts, with tobacco smoke from their cigarettes.

The sailor, who has been much among Spanish people or those of Spanish origin, will find the Chilians the finest race in South America.

Valparaiso Harbour is always full of s.h.i.+pping, its wharfs piled with goods; while the railroad and old road to the capital, Santiago, bears evidence of the material prosperity of the country. The country roads are crowded with convoys of pack-mules, while the s.h.i.+ps are loading up with wheat, wines, and minerals, the produce of the country. Travelling is free everywhere. Libraries, schools, literary, scientific, and artistic societies abound; the best newspapers published in South America are issued there. Santiago, the city of marble palaces-where even horses are kept in marble stalls-is one of the most delightful places in the world.

The lofty Andes tower to the skies in the distance, forming a grand background, and a fruitful, cultivated, and peaceful country surrounds it.

Valparaiso-the "Vale of Paradise"-was probably named by the early Spanish adventurers in this glowing style because any coast whatever is delightful to the mariner who has been long at sea. Otherwise, the t.i.tle would seem to be of an exaggerated nature. The bay is of a semi-circular form, surrounded by steep hills, rising to the height of near 2,000 feet, sparingly covered with stunted shrubs and thinly-strewed gra.s.s. The town is built along a narrow strip of land, between the cliffs and the sea; and, as this s.p.a.ce is limited in extent, the buildings have straggled up the sides and bottoms of the numerous ravines which intersect the hills. A suburb-the Almendral, or Almond Grove-much larger than the town proper, spreads over a low sandy plain, about half a mile broad, bordering the bay. In the summer months-_i.e._, November to March-the anchorage is safe and pleasant; but in the wintry months, notably June and July, gales are prevalent from the north, in which direction it is open to the sea.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PORT OF VALPARAISO.]

Captain Basil Hall, R.N., gave some interesting accounts of life in Chili in his published Journal,(109) and they are substantially true at the present day. He reached Valparaiso at Christmas, which corresponds in climate to our midsummer. Crowds thronged the streets to enjoy the cool air in the moonlight; groups of merry dancers were seen at every turn; singers were bawling out old Spanish romances to the tinkle of the guitar; wild-looking hors.e.m.e.n pranced about in all directions, stopping to talk with their friends, but never dismounting; and harmless bull-fights, in which the bulls were only teased, not killed, served to make the people laugh. The whole town was _en carnival_. "In the course of the first evening of these festivities," says Captain Hall, "while I was rambling about the streets with one of the officers of the s.h.i.+p, our attention was attracted, by the sound of music, to a crowded pulperia, or drinking-house. We accordingly entered, and the people immediately made way and gave us seats at the upper end of the apartment. We had not sat long before we were startled by the loud clatter of horses' feet, and in the next instant, a mounted peasant dashed into the company, followed by another horseman, who, as soon as he reached the centre of the room, adroitly wheeled his horse round, and the two strangers remained side by side, with their horses' heads in opposite directions. Neither the people of the house, nor the guests, nor the musicians, appeared in the least surprised by this visit; the lady who was playing the harp merely stopped for a moment to remove the end of the instrument a few inches further from the horses' feet, and the music and conversation went on as before. The visitors called for a gla.s.s of spirits, and having chatted with their friends around them for two minutes, stooped their heads to avoid the cross-piece of the doorway, and putting spurs to their horses' sides, shot into the streets as rapidly as they had entered; the whole being done without discomposing the company in the smallest degree." The same writer speaks of the common people as generally very temperate, while their frankness and hospitality charmed him. Brick-makers, day-labourers, and washerwomen invited him and friends into their homes, and their first anxiety was that the sailors might "feel themselves in their own house;"

then some offering of milk, bread, or spirits. However wretched the cottage or poor the fare, the deficiency was never made more apparent by apologies; with untaught politeness, the best they had was placed before them, graced with a hearty welcome. Their houses are of adobes, _i.e._, sun-dried bricks, thatched in with broad palm-leaves, the ends of which, by overhanging the walls, afford shade from the scorching sun and shelter from the rain. Their mud floors have a portion raised seven or eight inches above the level of the rest, and covered with matting, which forms the couch for the invariable _siesta_. In the cottages Hall saw young women grinding baked corn in almost Scriptural mills of two stones each.

From the coa.r.s.e flour obtained, the poor people make a drink called _ulpa_. In the better cla.s.s of houses he was offered Paraguay tea, or mattee, an infusion of a South American herb. The natives drink it almost boiling hot. It is drawn up into the mouth through a silver pipe: however numerous the company, all use the same tube, and to decline on this account is thought the height of rudeness. The people of Chili, generally, are polite to a degree; and Jack ash.o.r.e will have no cause to complain, provided he is as polished as are they. He generally contrives, however, to make himself popular, while his little escapades of wildness are looked upon in the light of long pent-up nature bursting forth.

CHAPTER XI.

ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (_continued_).

FROM THE HORN TO HALIFAX.

The dreaded Horn-The Land of Fire-Basil Hall's Phenomenon-A Missing Volcano-The South American Station-Falkland Islands-A Free Port and Naval Station-Penguins, Peat, and Kelp-Sea Trees-The West India Station-Trinidad-Columbus's First View of it-Fatal Gold-Charles Kingsley's Enthusiasm-The Port of Spain-A Happy-go-lucky People-Negro Life-Letters from a Cottage Ornee-Tropical Vegetation-Animal Life-Jamaica-Kingston Harbour-Sugar Cultivation-The Queen of the Antilles-Its Pas...o...b..auty of the Archipelago-A Dutch Settlement in the Heart of a Volcano-Among the Islands-The Souffriere-Historical Reminiscences-Bermuda: Colony, Fortress, and Prison-Home of Ariel and Caliban-The Whitest Place in the World-Bermuda Convicts-New York Harbour-The City-First Impressions-Its fine Position-Splendid Harbour-Forest of Masts-The Ferry-boats, Hotels, and Bars-Offenbach's Impressions-Broadway, Fulton Market, and Central Park-New York in Winter-Frozen s.h.i.+ps-The great Brooklyn Bridge-Halifax and its Beauties-Importance of the Station-Bedford Basin-The Early Settlers-The Blue Noses-Adieu to America.

And now the exigencies of the service require us to tear ourselves away from gay and pleasant Valparaiso, and voyage in spirit round the Horn to the South-East American Station, which includes the whole coast, from Terra del Fuego to Brazil and Guiana. Friendly ports, Rio and Montevideo, are open to the Royal Navy as stations for necessary repairs or supplies; but the only strictly British port on the whole station is that at the dreary Falkland Islands, to be shortly described.

Every schoolboy knows that Cape Horn is even more dreaded than the other "Cape of Storms," otherwise known as "The Cape," _par excellence_. In these days, the introduction of steam has reduced much of the danger and horrors of the pa.s.sage round, though on occasions they are sufficiently serious. In fact, now that there is a regular tug-boat service in the Straits of Magellan, there is really no occasion to go round it at all. In 1862 the writer rounded it, in a steamer of good power, when the water was as still as a mill-pond, and the Horn itself-a barren, black, craggy, precipitous rock, towering above the utter desolation and bleakest solitudes of that forsaken spot-was plainly in sight.

Captain Basil Hall, and his officers and crew, in 1820, when rounding Cape Horn observed a remarkable phenomenon, which may account for the t.i.tle of the "Land of Fire" bestowed upon it by Magellan. A brilliant light suddenly appeared in the north-western quarter. "At first of a bright red, it became fainter and fainter, till it disappeared altogether. After the lapse of four or five minutes, its brilliancy was suddenly restored, and it seemed as if a column of burning materials had been projected into the air. This bright appearance lasted from ten to twenty seconds, fading by degrees as the column became lower, till at length only a dull red ma.s.s was distinguishable for about a minute, after which it again vanished."

The sailors thought it a revolving light, others that it must be a forest on fire. All who examined it carefully through a telescope agreed in considering it a volcano, like Stromboli, emitting alternately jets of flame and red-hot stones. The light was visible till morning; and although during the night it appeared to be not more than eight or ten miles off, no land was to be seen. The present writer would suggest the probability of its having been an electrical phenomenon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPE HORN.]

The naval station at the Falklands is at Port Stanley, on the eastern island, where there is a splendid land-locked harbour, with a narrow entrance. The little port is, and has been, a haven of refuge for many a storm-beaten mariner: not merely from the fury of the elements, but also because supplies of fresh meat can be obtained there, and, indeed, everything else. Wild cattle, of old Spanish stock, roam at will over many parts of the two islands. When the writer was there, in 1862, beef was retailed at fourpence per pound, and Port Stanley being a free port, everything was very cheap. How many boxes of cigars, pounds of tobacco, cases of hollands, and demijohns of rum were, in consequence, taken on board by his 300 fellow-pa.s.sengers would be a serious calculation. The little town has not much to recommend it: It has, of course, a Government House and a church, and barracks for the marines stationed there. It is, moreover, the head-quarters of the Falkland Islands Company, a corporation much like the Hudson's Bay Company, trading in furs and hides, and stores for s.h.i.+ps and native trade. The three great characteristics of Port Stanley are the penguins, which abound, and are to be seen waddling in troops in its immediate vicinity, and stumbling over the stones if pursued; the kelp, which is so thick and strong in the water at the edge of the bay in places, that a strong boat's crew can hardly get "way"

enough on to reach the sh.o.r.e; and the peat-bogs, which would remind an Irishman of his beloved Erin. Peat is the princ.i.p.al fuel of the place; and what glorious fires it makes! At least, so thought a good many of the pa.s.sengers who took the opportunity of living on sh.o.r.e during the fortnight of the vessel's stay. For about three s.h.i.+llings and sixpence a day one could obtain a good bed, meals of beef-steaks and joints and fresh vegetables-very welcome after the everlasting salt junk and preserved vegetables of the s.h.i.+p-with the addition of hot rum and water, nearly _ad libitum_. Then the privilege of stretching one's legs is something, after five or six weeks' confinement. There is duck and loon-shooting to be had, or an excursion to the lighthouse, a few miles from the town, where the writer found children, of several years of age, who had never even beheld the glories of Port Stanley, and yet were happy; and near which he saw on the beach _sea-trees_-for "sea-weed" would be a misnomer, the trunks being several feet in circ.u.mference-slippery, glutinous, marine vegetation, uprooted from the depths of ocean. Some of them would create a sensation in an aquarium.

The harbour of Port Stanley is usually safe enough, but, in the extraordinary gales which often rage outside, does not always afford safe anchorage. The steams.h.i.+p on which the writer was a pa.s.senger lay far out in the bay, but the force of a sudden gale made her drag her anchors, and but for the steam, which was immediately got up, she would have gone ash.o.r.e. A sailing-vessel must have been wrecked in the same position. Of course, the power of the engines was set against the wind, and she was saved. Pa.s.sengers ash.o.r.e could not get off for two days, and those on board could not go ash.o.r.e. No boat could have lived, even in the bay, during a large part of the time.

The West Indian Station demands our attention next. Unfortunately, it must not take the s.p.a.ce it deserves, for it would occupy that required for ten books of the size of this-ay, twenty-to do it the barest justice. Why?

Read Charles Kingsley's admirable work, "At Last"-one, alas! of the last tasks of a well-spent life-and one will see England's interest in those islands, and must think also of those earlier days, when Columbus, Drake, and Raleigh sailed among the waters which divide them-days of geographical discovery worth speaking of, of grand triumphs over foes worth fighting, and of gain amounting to something.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS AT TRINIDAD.]

On the 31st July, 1499, Columbus, on his third voyage, sighted the three hills which make the south-eastern end of Trinidad. He had determined to name the first land he should sight after the Holy Trinity, and so he did.

The triple peaks probably reminded him.

Was.h.i.+ngton Irving tells us, in his "Life of Columbus," that he was astonished at the verdure and fertility of the country, having expected that it would be parched, dry, and sterile as he approached the equator; whereas, he beheld beautiful groves of palm-trees, and luxuriant forests sweeping down to the sea-side, with gurgling brooks and clear, deep streams beneath the shade. The softness and purity of the climate, and the beauty of the country, seemed, after his long sea voyage, to rival the beautiful province of Valencia itself. Columbus found the people a race of Indians fairer than any he had seen before, "of good stature, and of very graceful bearing." They carried square bucklers, and had bows and arrows, with which they made feeble attempts to drive off the Spaniards who landed at Punta Arenal, near Icacque, and who, finding no streams, sank holes in the sand, and so filled their casks with fresh water-as is done by sailors now-a-days in many parts of the world. "And there," says Kingsley, "that source of endless misery to these harmless creatures, a certain Cacique-so goes the tale-took off Columbus's cap of crimson velvet, and replaced it with a circle of gold which he wore."

Alas for them! that fatal present of gold brought down on them enemies far more ruthless than the Caribs of the northern islands, who had a habit of coming down in their canoes and carrying off the gentle Arrawaks, to eat them at their leisure-after the fas.h.i.+on which Defoe, always accurate, has immortalised in "Robinson Crusoe." Crusoe's island has been thought by many to be meant for Tobago; Man Friday having been stolen in Trinidad.

No scenery can be more picturesque than that afforded by the entrance to Port of Spain, the chief town in the colony of Trinidad, itself an island lying outside the delta of the great Orinoco River. "On the mainland,"

wrote Anthony Trollope,(110) "that is, the land of the main island, the coast is precipitous, but clothed to the very top with the thickest and most magnificent foliage. With an opera-gla.s.s, one can distinctly see the trees coming forth from the sides of the rocks, as though no soil were necessary for them, and not even a shelf of stone needed for their support. And these are not shrubs, but forest trees, with grand spreading branches, huge trunks, and brilliant-coloured foliage. The small island on the other side is almost equally wooded, but is less precipitous." There, and on the main island itself, are nooks and open glades where one would not be badly off with straw hats and muslin, pigeon-pies and champagne.

One narrow shady valley, into which a creek of the sea ran, made Trollope think that it must have been intended for "the less noisy joys of some Paul of Trinidad with his Creole Virginia." The same writer, after describing the Savannah, which includes a park and race-course, speaks of the Government House, then under repairs. The governor was living in a cottage, hard by. "Were I that great man," said he, "I should be tempted to wish that my great house might always be under repair, for I never saw a more perfect specimen of a pretty s.p.a.cious cottage, opening, as a cottage should do, on all sides and in every direction.... And then the necessary freedom from boredom, etiquette, and governors' grandeur, so hated by governors themselves, which must necessarily be brought about by such a residence! I could almost wish to be a governor myself, if I might be allowed to live in such a cottage." The buildings of Port of Spain are almost invariably surrounded by handsome flowering trees. A later writer tells us that the governors since have stuck to the cottage, and the gardens of the older building have been given to the city as a public pleasure-ground. Kingsley speaks of it as a paradise.

Jack ash.o.r.e, who, after a long and perhaps stormy voyage, would look upon any land as a haven of delight, will certainly think that he has at last reached the "happy land." It is not merely the climate, the beauty, or the productions of the country; nor the West Indian politeness and hospitality-both proverbial; but the fact that n.o.body seems to do, or wants to do, anything, and yet lives ten times as well as the poorer cla.s.ses of England. There are 8,000 or more human beings in Port of Spain alone, who "toil not, neither do they spin," and have no other visible means of subsistence except eating something or other-mostly fruit-all the live-long day, who are happy, very happy. The truth is, that though they will, and frequently do, eat more than a European, they can almost do without food, and can live, like the Lazzaroni, on warmth and light. "The best subst.i.tute for a dinner is a sleep under a south wall in the blazing sun; and there are plenty of south walls in Port of Spain." Has not a poor man, under these circ.u.mstances, the same right to be idle as a rich one?

Every one there looks strong, healthy, and well-fed. The author of "Westward Ho!" was not likely to be deceived, and says: "One meets few or none of those figures and faces-small, scrofulous, squinny, and haggard-which disgrace the civilisation of a British city. Nowhere in Port of Spain will you see such human beings as in certain streets of London, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Every one plainly can live and thrive if they choose; and very pleasant it is to know that." And wonderfully well does that mixed and happy-go-lucky population a.s.similate. Trinidad belongs to Great Britain; but there are more negroes, half-breeds, Hindoos, and Chinese there than Britons by ten times ten; and the language of the island is mainly French, not English or Spanish. Under cool porticoes and through tall doorways are seen dark shops, built on Spanish models, and filled with everything under the sun. On the doorsteps sit negresses, in flashy Manchester "prints" and stiff turbans, "all aiding in the general work of doing nothing," or offering for sale fruits, sweetmeats, or chunks of sugar-cane. These women, as well as the men, invariably carry everything on their heads, whether it be a half-barrow load of yams, a few ounces of sugar, or a beer-bottle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW IN JAMAICA.]

One of the regrets of an enthusiastic writer must ever be that he cannot visit all the lovely and interesting spots which he may so easily describe. The present one, enamoured with San Francisco, which he _has_ visited, and Singapore and Sydney, which as yet he hasn't, would, if such writers as Charles Kingsley and Anthony Trollope are to be credited, add Trinidad to the list. Read the former's "Letter from a West Indian Cottage Ornee," or the latter's description of a ride through the cool woods and sea-sh.o.r.e roads, to be convinced that Trinidad is one of the most charming islands in the whole world. Bamboos keep the cottage gravel path up, and as tubes, carry the trickling, cool water to the cottage bath; you hear a rattling as of boards or stiff paper outside your window: it is the clas.h.i.+ng together of a fan-palm, with leaf-stalks ten feet long and fans more feet wide. The orange, the pine-apple, and the "flower fence"

(_Poinziana_); the cocoa-palm, the tall Guinea gra.s.s, and the "groo-groos"

(a kind of palm: _Acrocomia sclerocarpa_); the silk-cotton tree, the tamarind, and the Rosa del monte bushes-twenty feet high, and covered with crimson roses; tea shrubs, myrtles, and clove-trees intermingle with vegetation common elsewhere. Thus much for a mere chance view.