USA > Texas > Harris County > Houston > Texas and the Gulf of Mexico ; or, Yachting in the New World, volume 1 > Part 2
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lishmen would, I am sure, sink very soon under the exertion, besides the natural ob- jection entertained by our countrymen to being used as beasts of burthen.
The sugar-cane grows in considerable quantities, and it was formerly the staple commodity of the Island, but, not proving very productive as an article of commerce, its culture was abandoned for that of the vine. Coffee, likewise, though of a most superior kind, is grown but in small quanti- ties. The coffee-trees are very handsome, and grow to a larger size than even in the West Indies or Cuba.
Vines are found growing at a very great heighth, some say nearly three thousand feet above the level of the sea; but, though even in these elevated situations they bear fruit, no wine can be made from it. The chest- nuts are excellent, and in great profusion.
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There are a good many rabbits and wild hogs on the island, but goats and oxen are the most common, as well as the most useful animals of which it can boast. Here, for the first time, I tasted that most indis- pensable article of (negro) food, the sweet potatoe. I cannot say that I approved of it as an adjunct to meat, but roasted like a chestnut, and eaten hot, it is very tolerable.
I confess that in spite of its bright sun and flowery hills, Madeira has left a me- lancholy impression on my mind. I met so many wasted invalids, pale hectic girls, and young men, struggling vainly against decay. Oh ! that sad feat of the physician who can do no more, and " despairing of his fee to- morrow," sends his patient away to breathe his last in a foreign land ! Poor wanderers ! I saw their last resting place. " After life's fitful fever they sleep well," -as well as
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though they reposed under a grassy mound at home. And yet - I would wish to have those whom I had loved when living near to me in death. It is a fancy, and the wise would doubtless call it a weak one, but who can reason away a fancy, or dogmatise on the feelings of the heart. I have been assured that consumptive patients at Ma- deira, lose in the charm of scenery, and under the influence of the climate, a sense of their danger, and the precariousness of their existence; that their spirits become raised, and that at the last they quietly sink to eternal rest with their sketch-books in their hands, and hopeful smiles upon their lips. - I doubt it. - Can they shut their eyes upon the hundreds of fellow-sufferers whom they daily meet ?- or forget where- fore they are there? It is a comfortable belief, however, for their friends at home.
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But I have not yet done with Madeira. I must say something of its rain, and a little more of its sunshine. The former falls in great quantities during four months of the year, viz. : - October, November, December, and January. The rain was described to me as descending in torrents ; yet greatly must the inhabitants enjoy the first refreshing and purifying drops, after the long spell of sunshine. The honey is delicious at Madeira; the bees have such flowers to revel amongst that it would be strange were it otherwise. The dress of the Portuguese inhabitants is extremely picturesque ; it consists of a blue jacket co- vered with silver buttons, a little cap on one side of the head, about the size of a large saucer, a white or striped shirt, and very wide trowsers.
The anchorage in Funchal Roads is any-
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thing but safe, and more than once during our stay we were in doubt whether we should not be obliged to up-anchor and stand out to sea, although there was not more than half a gale of wind blowing at the time.
We secured a good stock of turkies, be- sides ducks and fowls, and a very pro- mising goat : the latter, however, fulfilled none of the promises made for her. Ma- riana, (for that was her name) enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best of her kind on the island : indeed her Portuguese owner, having exhausted his vocabulary of praise, wound it up by saying, that " she was fit to hang in a lady's ear." This, con- sidering that she was about three feet high, and large in proportion, with a most formi- dable pair of horns, was saying a good deal. By the man's account she was a perfect an-
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nuity to him, and we considered ourselves fortunate in securing her services. Un- luckily for us, Mariana was not " a good sailor," (that expression of much meaning) and from the first she refused her accus- tomed aliment, and would taste nothing, except occasional scraps of such food as one would imagine no sensible goat of any country would have touched. Brandy cher- ries and birch brooms she particularly re- lished ; and on one occasion when in her awkwardness she upset the mustard-pot, (in hot weather we dined on deck) the con- tents were greedily devoured. So much for a Madeira goat, but as I could not wil- lingly revert to her again, I will close her eventful history here. We bore with her ca- prices till we arrived at Jamaica, when we turned her into the Dockyard, under the protection of the Commodore, where I be-
C II.
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lieve her to be at this moment. The little bullocks must be much better feeders, to judge from the excellence of the beef; the mutton is by no means so good.
Three of our men took the opportunity of our stay at Madeira to misconduct themselves sadly, so much so, as to require the assistance of the local authorities in bringing them to punishment. They were three of our finest men, and had hitherto conducted themselves well, at least to out- ward appearance, but the cheapness of the wine made it irresistible, and one night they being more than commonly noisy in the forecastle, the master sent to order them to be quiet, and to put out the lights. This, the three men in question refused to do, and moreover grew so violent and un- ruly, that it was found necessary to send for some Portuguese soldiers, from a
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schooner lying nearly alongside, to assist in capturing the delinquents. They were des- perate in their resistance, vowing death and destruction to all on board, and daring the Doctor, who was armed to the teeth, and all the others in authority, to approach them. I happened to be on shore, and knew nothing of these occurrences till the following morning. They were at length safely lodged in a miserable prison, on a small insulated rock called the Loo. Here, if anywhere, repentance was sure to come ; and come it did, but all too late for two of the culprits. These men had made themselves so obnoxious to the rest of the crew, and were moreover such confirmed mauvais sujets, that all idea of compro- mise was out of the question; but with the other man the case was different; he was a favourite with his messmates, and there
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was evidence to prove that he had been led away by the rest, besides which, he had offended in a less degree. All things consi- dered, we granted him a free pardon, while the others were left on the rock, to their solitude and their remorse.
* I must not forget to mention a circumstance, which I have since heard in regard to our recreant sailors. At the great flood and hurricane, which occurred at Madeira some months afterwards, these two men dis- tinguished themselves greatly, by the voluntary zeal which they displayed in the rescue and assistance of the sufferers. They saved some lives, and worked in the cause as only Englishmen can.
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CHAPTER III.
DEPARTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. PEAK OF TENE- RIFFE. DEAD CALM. EMPLOYMENT OF THE CREW.
SUNDAY. BARBADOES. TRADE-WINDS. DEARNESS OF PROVISIONS, &c. FROGS AND GRASHOPPERS.
BRIDGETOWN. MISS BETSEY AUSTIN."
Now in the fervid noon, the smooth bright sea Heaves slowly, for the wand'ring winds are dead That stirr'd it into foam. The lonely ship Rolls wearily, and idly flaps the sails
Against the creaking masts. The lightest sound Is lost not on the ear, and things minute Attract the observant eye.
ON the eighth day from our landing at Funchal, we were again in readiness for sea ; it was a lovely summer evening, about seven o'clock, when the order was given to up-anchor, and set sail for the West Indies. The windlass was manned, and as I lis-
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tened to the jovial chorus of the crew, as they cheerily sung at their work, I could not help thinking of their late companions on the lone Loo rock, and mentally comparing them to the captive knight of old, in Mrs. Hemans' beautiful ballad. It was, however, I fear, a sad waste of sentiment.
On the third day from leaving Madeira, we saw on the lee-bow the wonderful Peak of Teneriffe, and this at the immense dis- tance of one hundred and forty miles ! A curious aspect it wore, -a high bank of white clouds seeming to extend itself half- way up to the heavens, and that small dis- tinct peak of land crowning the whole.
Having been informed at Madeira that we should have a fresh North-East wind, which would infallibly and expeditiously waft us to Barbadoes, and also that having
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once set our sails, we should not have to shift them till we arrived there, we were not prepared for the long calm which followed. A repetition of the words " calm and fine," varied only by occasional changes to, " light airs and fine," is all I can find in the log- book for many days. As for the employ- ment of the hands, it consisted in spreading and furling awnings, fitting and mending cutter sails, spinning yarn, and washing clothes. As for holy-stoning the decks, I set my face against that from the first ; it is the worst description of nervous torture of which I ever heard, excepting perhaps, the infliction of the squee gee, which, as its name almost implies, sets every tooth in one's head on edge for a week. Brooms and swabs are bad enough, but to these I was obliged to submit.
This, certainly, was not a very animating
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life ; still, what with fishing for dolphins and bonetas, watching anxiously for wind, which sometimes came in the tantalizing shape of cats' paws, time slipped along, though the ship did not. I tasted one of the bonetas, which the sailors had cooked for themselves, and very tough and dry it was. A dolphin, which soon after followed its unwise example, and allowed himself to be enticed on board, proved rather better. We dressed up our namesake with wine and other condiments, and he was pro- nounced to be "not bad;" still I greatly doubt if we should have allowed him even this scanty meed of praise, had a turbot or John Dory been within reach.
And now, having brought my readers into a dead calm, or, as I have learnt to say in America,-a fix,-I think it high time to apologise for inflicting upon them any
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fuller account of such a tedious time. I ought to remember that wise remark of Rochefoucauld, that " L'extrême plaisir que nous prenons à parler de nous-mêmes, nous doit faire craindre de n'en donner guère à ceux qui nous écoutent." Still, as a long continuance of calm weather at sea is an acknowledged trial both to the temper and spirits, I have thought it better to give some account of the manner in which we endured it, for the benefit of adventurous persons, who may hereafter be disposed to follow us, and brave the dangers of the wide Atlantic in a yacht.
But to return to our voyage. The ex- ceeding beauty of the stars and sky within the Tropics, has been often described, but had I not witnessed their nightly glory, my imagination never could have done them justice. A lonely ship in the wide ocean
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must ever, I think, be a source of poetical feeling, even to the coldest fancy : but the calm and quiet of the sensation is raised to a trusting and almost holy train of thought, when the heat of the day being over, and the blazing sun gone down to his rest, you lie beneath that canopy studded with most brilliant stars, and feel with the poet, a longing
" to tread that golden path of rays
That seems to lead to some bright Isle of rest."
One particularly quiet breezeless day, a shark gave us a good deal of employment and amusement. He was swimming about the ship for hours, with the pretty little pilot fish playing about his monstrous nose. Every sort of bait, from salt junk to tempting candles, was offered for his ac- ceptance, and rejected. The monster evi- dently was not hungry, for though he smelt
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at them all, nothing would induce him to nibble at the baited hook. Once only they succeeded in hooking him, but he very soon broke away. Towards the evening, however, he grew more sociable, and condescended to eat some biscuit which I threw to him over the side. He was an enormous crea- ture, at least ten feet in length. There was something very unpleasant in the idea of this horrid "creature following in our wake," and though I did not share in the sailors' superstition of their being harbin- gers of death, yet I looked at him with great distaste, feeling that he was thirsting for our blood.
We saw flying fish in great numbers ; they flew on board at night, and were found in the morning on deck and in the chains, being attracted by the light. I ate them for breakfast, and found them deli-
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cious ; like a herring in flavour and con- sistency, but more delicate.
While copying my journal in England, on a positively winter's day in the month of June, dark, drizzling, and cheerless, how strange it appears that I ever could have dis- liked the sun, in the way I did, in the Tro- pics. How often, in the morning, did I then find myself exclaiming against its scorching rays. At six o'clock, and often even at an earlier hour, I was on deck, driven up by the intolerable heat of the cabin, which being below the surface of the water, was necessarily hotter than it was above. It was contrary to all orders to spread the awning, before the decks were swabbed up, so I had ample leisure for complaint. There was that terrible sun again; not a cloud above or around, but one wide canopy of blue over our heads ; nothing to break the
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line of the horizon, and the azure sea, shining as crystal, with its long wearying swell. Yes! there was the perpetual sun glaring on us through the long day, and still more fiercely in the fervid noon; the winds asleep, and the ship rolling heavily with her creaking masts, and idly-flapping sails. One day was so like another, that sometimes weariness almost took the place of hope. " When will it end ?" I used to exclaim, " When will there be a cloud ?" It put me in mind of Coleridge's beautiful description of a calm, in the " Ancient Ma- riner." And truly the schooner did look " like a painted ship upon a painted sea."
31st. Light breezes, hardly more than " cat's paws," but they gave us hope. The look-out man reported a sail on the lee- bow. All eyes were strained to catch a view of the vessel, as she gradually neared
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us. She proved to be a small brig, and hoisted English colours. She commenced making signals, and our master deciding that she wished to speak us, we slightly altered our course, to facilitate her object. Her only reason for nearing us appeared to be to ascertain our longitude, which having done, for we chalked it on the outside of the bulwark, she proceeded on her way. The sight of this ship was quite an event, and gave us matter of discussion for the rest of the day. If I had followed my inclinations I should have entered into conversation with her, so eagerly did I long for the sight of fresh objects : and I felt quite surprised at the apathy with which she passed us by.
When o'er the silent seas alone, For days and nights we've cheerless gone, Oh! they who've felt it, know how sweet, Some sunny morn a sail to meet.
During all this time the heat was intense,
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the thermometer ranged from 88 to 96 under the awning, and there was no wind to refresh us. The only manner in which I could procure a breath of air, was by spreading a mattrass on the deck, between the ports, which were left open. It was fortunate that the yacht contained a large supply of water, as from the unexpected length of the passage, and the intense heat, an unusual quantity was daily consumed. Had the calm lasted much longer, however, we must have had an allowance of water ; as it was, indeed, our fresh provisions began to run short, and turkies and fowls were anxiously counted over, and cared for.
There was much difficulty, after a time, in finding employment for the ship's com- pany, and as it is well known that the only method of keeping sailors out of mischief, and free from grumbling, is never to let
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them be idle, all kinds of work were re- sorted to.
The men, in fact, were seldom left in re- pose; they were always either spinning yarn, making mats, scraping cables, cleaning guns, or occupied in some task of a similar nature. We did not quite follow the ex- ample of American ships, in which it is said of the sailors, that
" Six days they labour, and do all that they are able, And on the seventh, holystone the decks, and scrape the cable."
Sunday, of course, was a day of rest, and idleness ; on that day the men, clad in their light clean dresses, after attending prayers on deck, lay listlessly about the forecastle ; the best, and those most religiously inclined, (and sailors are often so, in spite of their reckless manners) were seen reading their Prayer Books, or some sober book from the
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ship's library ; others were poring over old scraps of newspapers, or letters, which from their long-folded creases, were evidently the much and long-prized missives of their wives, or friends in distant England. Thus, Sunday passed away, but on week-days the evenings were cheered by a fiddler, and en- livened by song. Music, such as " charmed the spirits of the deep," was heard from the forecastle, and in default of better and more refined strains, shortened our silent way. One of the performers, the steward's mate, who boasted of having been " on the stage" at an earlier period of his life, had a beautiful voice, and really sung very tole- rably. Sailors' ditties are very mournful things, not at all like the joyous chorusses I had imagined them to be; and I often longed to give them some new and more lively airs, to vary their monotonous concerts.
D
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Still, though we scarcely appeared to move, we certainly progressed a little, for after a most tedious passage of thirty days, I was told we were within a hundred miles of Barbadoes. This was indeed most wel- come intelligence, as we intended to make that island. On the afternoon of this day, when at least eighty miles from any land, a hawk was perceived flying round the ship. How glad I was to see him! Poor thing ! He was very tired, as well he might be, after his long aerial journey. After perform- ing a few feeble evolutions, and alighting occasionally on different parts of the rig- ging, he settled on the foreyard-arm, and being quite exhausted, was easily taken. The creature did not live through the night. He was a kestrel, and a very fine one. In consideration of its long flight, and from a feeling of gratitude, as having been
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the first harbinger of land, we thought his skin worthy of being preserved, for the pur- pose of stuffing, and it was put in the me- nagerie accordingly.
At six o'clock in the morning of the 2nd of November, we were within a very few miles of the land. Barbadoes is a very low island, and does not strike one with any feeling of either wonder or admiration. You see a few white-looking houses on the slight elevations. The sight of tropical trees, cocoa, palms, &c. must always be interesting to one who sees them for the first time. About eight o'clock we made Bridgetown, and at ten, A. M. brought up in Carlisle Bay, in seven fathom water.
Nancy, the negress, gave me, immedi- ately on our arrival, a fresh proof that ner- vous fancies are not confined to fine or even white ladies. Immediately after we
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had come to an anchor, her conduct was most remarkable ; she commenced running wildly about the deck, evidently under the influence of some nervous panic. Every one she met she informed with striking marks of dismay on her countenance, that she must be near her end, for that she had a loud and terrific sound in her ears, which she was persuaded was the result of some fatal malady. The men only laughed at her, and at length she appealed to me for advice and consolation. I was too merciful to keep her longer in suspense, and told her what every one in the ship might have done, had they not enjoyed her tribulation, that the noise she thought exclusively her own, proceeded from myriads of frogs and grashoppers, which we distinctly heard, though at a considerable distance from the land.
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The first interesting object which claimed our attention was an English man-of-war, the Imaum. She had arrived a few hours before us, and was lying at anchor. We had taken up our position close to her, and on comparing notes, we found that her pas- sage from Madeira had been as long as our own.
I became almost persuaded, by this new instance of delay, of the truth of what I had previously suspected, that the exist- ence of trade-winds is a vulgar error, a sort of travellers' wonder. It was a constant demand of the doctor's, " Where is the trade-wind ?" and a standing joke on board, that it had gone out of its course to annoy us. It was some consolation to find that we had companions in misfortune, and to make quite sure that the winds of heaven, and not the little Dolphin, had been in fault.
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We were soon surrounded by boats, filled with individuals of every shade of black, brown, and yellow. The black ladies, dressed in white, and adorned with the most brilliant colours, glass bead necklaces, with gaudy handkerchiefs tied round their heads, were chattering and laughing, bar- gaining and coquetting, but still com- porting themselves with a dignity, and an air of grandeur, which shewed them duly conscious of their claim to respect, in being " true 'Badian born."
I began to believe that, as they them- selves assert, "you must go to Barbadoes to larn manners." I was very much amused by these freed bondswomen; they came upon the quarter-deck without any cere- mony, walked down into the cabin, and made themselves quite at home.
The negroes brought alongside such fruits
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as the island afforded, and they were poor enough. Having heard much in praise of the West India fruits, I was disappointed in those I saw. There were bad oranges, worse grapes, no pines, at which we felt our- selves much aggrieved, shaddocks, guavas, cocoa-nuts, and bananas, all indifferent. Still, notwithstanding the want of flavour of their contents, the fruit baskets were imme- diately emptied by our men, who seemed greatly to enjoy the sour oranges and taste- less cocoa-nuts. An immense quantity of grass was also purchased by them, for the purpose of making hats. These hats, which they make with much ingenuity, I ex- pected would be both light and cool; they however turned out to be neither. They sew the plaits so closely together, that all such purpose is defeated. As an addition to the original weight, many sailors put on
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a covering of canvas, and paint it thickly over.
After enquiring the prices of various ne- cessaries, we made the discovery, when too late, that we had come to the wrong island for supplies, everything we required being both indifferent and expensive. Barbadoes, I was told, imports almost everything from Tobago and Martinique, and it was to St. Pierre, the capital of the latter island, that we ought to have betaken ourselves. Beef and mutton are tenpence a pound at Bridgetown, and water, of which we re- quired a considerable supply, a dollar a cask. Turtle are brought from Tobago, cattle from the Costa firma, and fruit and vegetables from Antigua and Martinique. Still, it is well known, that the Island of Barbadoes affords provisions of many sorts, which are raised on its own soil, though
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unfortunately for us, they were not the kinds we required. I believe the exports of sugar average about 300,000 cwts. annu- ally.
Barbadoes is said to be one of the heal- thiest of the West India Islands ; neverthe- less, in spite of the prevalent opinion, I confess that the country gave me the idea of being anything but salubrious, princi- pally from its lowness, and also from the immense number of frogs and grashoppers, which we heard throwing out their various notes in all directions. This alone gives an idea of marshiness and dampness, which precludes that of health. Barbadoes was one of the first, if not the very first of the Caribbean Islands colonized by the Eng- lish. For several years during the early part of the seventeenth century, the Earl of Carlisle was hereditary proprietor of the
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Island, by virtue of a grant obtained from James the First. After the Restoration, it became the property of the Crown. The coloured population seem to me to be tole- rably well off, and not very idle.
We went on shore in the cool of the evening, having appointed a carriage to be in waiting for us at the landing. And such a carriage and horses ! It was wonderful, from their appearance, how they contrived to go at all, but go they did, and at a tre- mendous pace. In vain I implored the negro driver to rein in his steeds. I believe he was revenging himself upon them for the previous drivings he had himself un- dergone in his own proper person, for he flogged away most unmercifully.
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