Galapagos Islands  Source  Whalesite

THE

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

JULY, 1815.

Art. IV. – Journal of a Cruize made to the Pacific Ocean by Captain David Porter, in the United States Frigate Essex, in the years 1812, 1813, and 1814, containing Descriptions of the Cape de Verd Islands, Coasts of Brazil, Patagonia, Chili and Peru, and of the Gallapagos Islands. Also, a full Account of the Washington Group of Islands; the Manners, Customs, Dress of the Inhabitants, &c. &c. Illustrated with fourteen engravings. In two volumes, 8vo. pp. 440.. Philadelphia. 1815.

      It will be thought superfluous, perhaps, to put the English reader on his guard against a book which he may never have an opportunity of purusing; for we believe that ours is the only copy which has crossed, or is likely to cross, the Atlantic: – if accident, however, should throw it in his way, or if some English publisher should be desperate enough to reprint it, it may save him both expense and trouble to be apprized of the fallacies held forth in the lengthy title-page. We can assure him that he will look in vain for the promised description of the Cape de Verd Islands, – or for that of the coasts of Brazil, – or of Patagonia, no part of the two latter of which, in fact, did the writer ever see. For the rest, 'A sequel to the Adventures of the Buccaneers of America,' or to 'The History of the Pirates,' would, in our estimation, have been a far more appropriate title to this "Journal of a Cruize,' than the one assumed. It would, however, be an act of injustice to the memory of the gallant Captain Morgan, the undaunted Ann Bonney, and many others of the same class, to associate with theirs the name of David Porter; to them we cannot refuse the merit of heroic courage and disinterested generosity; but our 'adventurer,' as we gather from his own narrative, is utterly destitute of both.

      In hinting at any similitude, however, we would not be understood to allude, in the most distant manner, to the capture or destruction of the whale-fishing vessels in the Southern Pacific, and the mass of individual distress occasioned thereby: – private property, met with on the sea, however innocently, employed, is, by the practice of war, unfortunately excluded from that protection which is usually granted to it on shore. Our charges against Captain Porter are of a more flagitious nature, and out of his own mouth shall we condemn him.

      The style or rather jargon of the book is that of a boatswain's mate; and with regard to any new information, nautical, geographical, or moral, it is so trifling in its extent, and of so little importance in any point of view, that the notice of it will not detain us long. By far the greater part of the book is occupied with a tedious detail of the author s exploits in capturing unarmed whalers, in maltreating his prisoners, and in wantonly murdering unof-

fending savages, of all which he is hardy enough to make an exulting recital.

      The first port that 'David Porter, Esquire,' of the United States frigate Essex touched at, in this memorable 'cruize,' was Porta Praya, on the island of St. Jago. The friendly attentions which he there met with from the "allies of Great Britain," were as surprizing as they were unexpected;' a moment's reflection, however, solved the mystery – they arose, it seems, from a comparison of his amiable and gentlemanlike manners' with the haughty unconciliating conduct of the commanders and officers of British vessels of war.' But they carried their 'friendly attentions' yet farther: 'they were highly gratified,' Captain Porter says, 'at the accounts I gave them of our success against the ships of that imperious navy;' and such a portion of his own ardour did this heroic chief instil into the breast of the Portugueze governor, that he offered to protect him against any British force that might arrive there.' p. 25. This was the more generous, as it appears, from the captain's own account, that 'there were but four serviceable muskets on the island:' The return which this mirror of transatlantic politeness makes for these distinguished civilities on the part of the allies of Great Britain,' is to ridicule their whole establishment. This, with the price of fowls, and a few desultory remarks on bad rum, petmonkeys, and baracouters, (baracouta,) constitutes the 'description of the Cape de Verd islands,' so prominently put forth in the title-page.

      As the run across the tropical latitudes is an event of rare occurrence in the history of navigation, it was not to be expected that this able navigator would pass over in silence the phenomenon of the trade-winds, the cause of which we do not recollect to have any where met with so briefly and intelligibly explained. They are caused, 'he says, by the passage of the sun from east to west,' or 'rather' (for either of the two causes, it seems, will do) 'the earth's rotatary motion from west to east.' Hence, we conclude that the reason why we, who dwell without the tropics, have no trade-winds, is, that our sun does not pass from east to west, or rather, that our portion of the earth stands still, at least has no rotatory motion from west to east.

      Here he captures the Nocton packet, of ten gons and thirty men and boys, including passengers. On this occasion his humanity is as conspicuous as his bravery. 'He forbore to make use of his great guns;' but, as he apprehended that this formidable cock-boat was 'about to rake him; he poured a volley of musketry into her,' which killed one man. His prisoners;, meanwhile, were quite ravished with their good fortune in falling into his hands: they seemed (he says) to consider their capture and trip to America more

in the light of an agreeable adventure and party of pleasure than a misfortune.' p. 56. – 'How can you be so cruel,' said Beckford to a warrener, 'to sew up the mouths of your ferrets?' Lord, sir!' replied the fellow, they likes it.' Captain Porter must have read this passage. On another occasion, his prisoners, many of whom had been in irons, being put on board 'an old ship, and a dull sailor,' on taking their departure, 'gave him three hearty cheers, and many good wishes for his success;' in which, the captain says, he doubts not they were sincere!

      On approaching the small island of Fernando de Noronha, Captain Porter 'disguises' the Essex as a merchantman, hoists English colours, and sends his first lieutenant on shore, in plain clothes, to inform the governor that the ship was the 'Fanny, Captain Johnson, from London, bound to Rio de Janeiro; – short of water; – crew sick of the scurvy; – in want of refreshments; – and unable to anchor, the anchors being lost, and the cables bad.' This 'lie circumstantial' procured him intelligence of two English frigates having been there the week before, and that the governor had a letter addressed to Sir James Yeo, of the Southampton, which had been left with him to send to England. In consequence of the latter part of this information, the lieutenant was a second time dispatched with a 'lie direct,' – 'that there was a gentleman on board who was intimately acquainted with Sir James Yeo, and was going from Brazil direct to England, who would take charge of the letter and deliver it to Sir James.' The unsuspecting governor delivered the letter, which David Porter, Esquire, made no scruple to break open; but the information it contained was rather alarming to the nerves of the fictitious Englishman, (and never was the name so disgraced before,) who immediately shifted his ground to avoid falling in with a British frigate. The sum of the information, therefore, concerning this island, is – that there are no females on Fernando Noronha – for no other motive that our author can conceive unless it be 'to render this place of exile more horrible.'

      The next place which he visited was the island of St. Catharine's, where we find very little worthy of remark, except his 'punishing a man for paying a dollar for a dozen of rotten eggs.' Here, too, he takes occasion to speak contemptuously of the Portugueze establishments, in return for their civilities: the walls of the fortress were covered with trees, the guns were honey-combed, the gun-carriages in a rotten state, and the garrison consisted of about 20 half-naked soldiers; the church was within the fortress, and a broken crow-bar was suspended at the door as a substitute for a bell – this is the substance of the information concerning the island of St. Catharine's, which, with what we have already stated with regard to Fernando Noronha, comprises the 'description of the coast of

coast of Brazil' – a coast, of which, in point of fact, he never once came within sight. A report, indeed, of some British frigates in the neighbourhood 'determined him on getting to sea again with all expedition;' and as the southern Atlantic was likely to prove too warm a station, he resolved to make the best of his way round Cape Horn for the Pacific, where plenty of prizes were to be had without fighting for them. To keep his crew in good humour, he addressed to them 'a note,' which he says produced the happiest effects – and well it might: – it is couched in the meanest buccaneer-style – the rapacity without the spirit – 'Sailors and Marines! .... The unprotected British commerce on the coast of Chili, Peru and Mexico, will give you an abundant supply of wealth, and the girls of the Sandwich islands shall reward you for your sufferings during the passage around Cape Horn.'

      One would suppose, from the terrors which haunted Captain Porter on this passage – the black clouds, – the torrents of rain, – the whistling of conflicting winds – Libs, Notus et Auster – and the roaring of breakers – with the repetition of which we are entertained through a chapter of thirty pages, that the Essex was the only ship which had doubled Cape Horn since the days of Lord Anson, whose misfortunes, he tells us, served only to 'rouse his ambition,' and to prompt him 'to make the name of the Essex as well known in the Pacific ocean as that of the Centurion', by retorting on the haughty English the evils which Lord Anson had done the Spaniards!' p. 76. Captain Porter's ethics and logic are on a par; and the thought was worthy of him. La Perouse had said that 'the navigation round Cape Horn was like that of all high latitudes;' and this observation draws from our hero expressions of high indignation against this unfortunate navigator, which, however, are somewhat qualified by ascribing them probably to the 'false or prejudiced statements of the editor.' He forgets, surely, for even he cannot be ignorant of the fact, that no less thau forty or fifty whalers have, for the last twenty or thirty years, annually doubled Cape Horn at all seasons of the year, and, as we believe, without the loss of a single ship in that part of their voyage – but David Porter, Esquire, betrays in no part of his journal any indications of seamanship. His directions for doubling this formidable Cape are, 'never to attempt it in the month of February,' – the best month, by the way, in the year – and 'never to attempt it at all, if you can get there by any other route.' We suspect, however, that there might be a motive for all this blustering of the winds and weather: to describe the Essex as crippled by the elements, was the most plausible way of preparing the reader for her subsequent capture by the Phoebe.

      Once, and but once, Captain Porter had a glimpse of the land – Cape San Diego, on the coast of Staten-land;

      'The appearance was dreary beyond description; perhaps, however the critical situation of the ship, the foaming of the breakers, the violence of the wind, and the extreme haziness of the weather, may (all combined) have served to render the appearance more dreadful; but from the impression made by its appearance then, and from the description given by others, I am induced to believe, that no part of the world presents a more horrible aspect than Staten-land.

      This glimpse of Staten-land is meant, we presume, for 'the description of the coast of Patagonia,' announced in the title-page; for if it be not, we allait look in vain for a single syllable in the whole book that has any reference to that part of the world.

      The Essex, after escaping the dangers of Cape Horn, anchored near the island of Mocha, on the coast of Chili, where they shot wild hogs and wild horses: the flesh of the latter is described as more fat and tender than that of the former. They killed few of either, but 'many of the poor animals,' it seems, were wounded in different parts of the body, and made their escape with the blood streaming from their wounds. After having 'caused much cruel and unnecessary destruction among them,' in what he calls 'a delightful excursion,' we have a puling lamentation from this wholesale destroyer, 'that visitors to this island should indulge themselves in such wanton barbarity! – p. 95.

      Off Valparaiso Captain Porter sends his lieutenant ashore to inform the governor of his want of supplies, 'having lost his store-ship off Cape Horn,' – 'a little artifice,' as he calls it, (and his whole cruize is a tissue of such 'artifices,') which he was induced to use from the unaccommodating disposition of the Spaniards. It turned out, however, to be quite unnecessary; as he discovered, to his great satisfaction, that the people of Valparaiso were in a state of rebellion against their mother country; that they were eagerly looking up to the United States for example and protection; that, in fact, he had got among 'staunch republicans – men filled with revolutionary principles;' and that the governor was himself one of those thriving adventurers who owed his rise entirely to the revolution; 'his grade being that of a lieutenant in the navy, but was created governor on shaking off his allegiance to Ferdinand.'

      This aspiring governor gave to his brother republicans a grand ball, at which was a brilliant assemblage of about two hundred ladies, many of whom were handsome (with the exception, however, of their teeth) both in person and face.

      'With their grace, their beauty of person and complexion, and with their modesty, we were delighted, and could almost fancy we had gotten amongst our own countrywomen; but in one moment the illusion

vanished. The ballas de tierra, as they are called, commenced; they consisted of the most graceless, and at the same time fatiguing, movements of the body and limbs, accompanied by the most indelicate and lascivious motions, gradually increasing in energy and violence, until the fair one, apparently overcome with passion, and considerably exhausted with fatigue, was compelled to retire to her seat; her rosy checks and fair complexion disappeared in the large drops of sweat which ran trickling down her neck and breast, and were succeeded by the sallow tinge which nature had bountifully bestowed.

      The defect in their teeth is ascribed to the inordinate use of matti, a decoction of the herb of Paraguay (what the herb of Paraguay is, European botanists have not yet ascertained) sweetened with sugar, and taken without much regard to delicacy.

      'When the cup containing it is brought in, one of the company blows into it, through a silver tube, until a high froth is produced. The same matti and tube is then passed around the room, and each one takes in turn a suck of it, with much apparent relish and delight , but, considering the rotten teeth and unsavoury breaths of the Chilians, there could not be a dose offered more repulsive to a delicate stomach than this same frothy matti, served up in their style.'

      In eating and drinking they all use the same fork, glass, spoon, &c. so as to lead to the belief, in our author's choice phraseology, 'that they had a particular relish for the taste of each other's dirty mouths.' We can scarcely give credit to some parts of Captain Porter's description, especially to that perverted notion of refinement which would lead a Chilian lady to prefer being caught in bed with a gentleman, than be seen walking arm and arm with him.' Among their few virtues, he gives them credit for that which ail savages possess – hospitality – and a marked attention to strangers. The principal guest is placed at the head of the table, the host on one side of him and the hostess on the other; and their chief care during dinner seems to be that of cramming him with a part of every dish upon the table.

      When Sunday arrived, Captain Porter 'determined to devote it to pleasure,' and accordingly he invited 'the ladies and gentlemen of Valparaiso' on board his ship. These worthy republicans, he tells us, 'do not, like the people of Protestant countries, (Captain Porter and his crew, for instance,) spend their Sabbath in penance and prayers, but in feasting and dancing; and although a good Catholic would consider himself damned to eternal flames if he neglected confession, or eat meat during Lent, yet he is above the vulgar Protestant prejudice of devoting one whole day in each week to the worship of the Almighty, when he has it in his power to spend it so much more agreeably in amusement.' – p. 108. But if the religious sentiments of the Chilians were so much to the taste of

our cruizer, their patriotism, as he calls it, threw him into raptures; and he mentions with exquisite delight that, at a feast given by the governor, where some Portugueze officers and English merchants were present, 'when the wine began to circulate, and the Chilian officers to feel the ardour of their patriotism, such flaming toasts were given, as to make them (the Portugueze and English) think it prudent for them to retire.' He admits that there is a strong party favourable to the cause of Ferdinand; some of whom, however, have happily been hanged, and others banished to the Island of Juan Fernandez. The ladies are all in favour of the patriots – because (adds the captain) they are mostly young, dashing Chiliens,' whilst the saracens (so it seems the loyal inhabitants are called) 'are invariably crusty, old, formal Castilians:' no wonder therefore that the latter should be hanged and banished with so little ceremony; or that the ladies should so openly avow their political preference to the former, which it seems they do by 'wearing their hair gracefully brushed over on the left side of the face!

      In the muster-roll of the crew we found the name of 'David Adams, chaplain.' Knowing the economy as well as the 'philosophy' of Mr. Madison's government, this appointment took us by surprize; since, with the exception of a lively sally of Captain Porter against the pigheaded protestants who prefer prayers on a Sunday to debauchery and rebellion; and a desperate threat 'to set fire to the magazine and blow up the crew to eternity,' (words which might have been picked up by the captain in conversation with such a person,) we could not perceive the slightest indication that any one on board the Essex had any better notion or knowledge of a God, or of any thing connected with religion, than the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego. – But our surprize was gratuitous, and originated merely in ignorance of the American language, in which the word chaplain does not mean what it does in English, but a sort of Jack-of-all trades. In fact, this worthy character, whom we injuriously suspected of enjoying a sinecure, appeared, on examination, to be one of the most efficient men on board. His name occurs in three places, in the first of which he acts as prize-master, in the second as superintendant of the boiling of blubber and in the third as a kind of deputy surgeon's mate.

      We find nothing remarkable in the 'cruize' from hence to the northward, excepting that, near the islands Lobos, 'the sea was covered with pelicans, and other aquatic birds, feeding on the schools of small fish,' which were also pursued by 'boneters' and 'baracouters,' seals and porpoises; and it is stated, for the thousandth time, though never before, perhaps, in such elegant terms, that those which jumped out of the water were snapped up by the innumerable swarms of birds that were hovering over them. Cap-

tain Porter next visits the Gallapagos islands, where land tortoises, we are told, are to be obtained, as indeed we should conclude from their name, 'the islands of Tortoises;' but we were not aware that they reached the weight of four hundred pounds each; or that after living a year without food or water, they could be 'found greatly improved in fatness and flavour.' They have grown, no doubt, since honest Dampier's time, who thought he should hardly obtain credit in stating 'one of the largest of these creatures to weigh one hundred or two hundred pounds, and some of them to measure two feet, or two feet six inches over the challapee or belly.' Disagreeable and clumsy as Captain Porter thought them, we cannot resist the temptation of conveying to our turtle-loving friends of Candlewick and Portsoken-wards, the glowing description which he has given of these luscious monsters.

      Their motion resembles strongly that of the elephant; their steps slow, regular and heavy; they carry their body about a foot from the ground, and their legs and feet bear no slight resemblance to the animal to which I have likened them; their neck is from 18 inches to two feet in length, and very slender; their head is proportioned to it, and strongly resembles that of a serpent; but hideous and disgusting as is their appearance, no animal can possibly afford a more wholesome, luscious, and delicate food than they do; the finest green turtle is no more to be compared to them in point of excellence, than the coarsest beef is to the finest veal; and after once tasting the Gallapagos tortoises, every other animal food fell greatly in our estimation.

      And have we then remained thus long in utter ignorance of the Gallapagos tortoises, and been lavishing our praises, and smacking our lips on the vulgar challapash and challapee of the green turtle, when every whaler, for the last thirty years, might have supplied us with such abundance of an article so superior in every respect! But Captain Porter proceeds:

      'These animals are so fat as to require neither butter nor lard to cook them, and this fat does not possess that cloying quality, common to that of most other animals; and when tried out, it furnishes an oil superior to that of the olive. The meat of this animal is the easiest of digestion; and a quantity of it, exceeding that of any other food, can be eaten without experiencing the slightest inconvenience. But what seems the most extraordinary in this animal, is the length of time that it can exist without food; for I have been well assured, that they have been piled away among the casks in the hold of a ship, where they have been kept eighteen months; and, when killed at the expiration of that time, were found to have suffered no diminution in fatness or excellence.

      There are other circumstances no less singular in the natural history of this abstemious animal.

      They carry with them a constant supply of water, in a bag at the

root of the neck, which contains about two gallons, and on tasting that found in those killed on board, it proved perfectly fresh and sweet. They are very restless when exposed to the light and heat of the sun, but will lie in the dark from one year's end to the other without moving; in the day-time they appear remarkably quick-sighted and timid, drawing their head into their shell on the slightest motion of any object; but they are entirely destitute of hearing, as the loudest noise, even the firing of a gun, does not seem to alarm them in the slightest degree; and at night, or in the dark, they appear perfectly blind.

      Captain Porter was so well convinced of the good qualities of these tortoises, which his people called Gallapagos mutton, that he laid in about fourteen tons weight of them, which was as ranch as he could conveniently stow.

      They were piled up on the quarter deck for a few days, in order that they might have time to discharge the contents of their stomachs, which is considerable; after which they were stowed away below, as you would stow any other provisions, and used as occasion required.' 'No description of stock, he adds, is so convenient for ships to take to sea with them as the tortoises of those islands; they requise no provisions nor water for a year, nor is any further attention to them necessary than that their shells should be preserved unbroken'

      We have dwelt thus long on these interesting creatures, so 'like elephants,' for lack of better matter, though the Gallapagos supplied other objects of which a skilful traveller would have availed himself for the instruction and amusement of his readers: they are, for instance, all volcanic, and in a state of activity; and these volcanoes are apparently fed by a constant indraught of the sea towards the group of islands; they abound too with a great variety of plants and animais, and though their situation is directly under the equator, the climate is so moderate as to resemble that of the temperate rather than that of the torrid zone: but matters of this kind are beneath the observation of Mr. Porter. He tells us, however, that the temperature of the air of the Gallapagos islands varies from 72° to 75° and he mentions an object which he encountered on landing, that created both surprize and alarm. 'On entering the bushes we found myriads of guanas, of an enormous size, and the most hideous appearance imaginable; the rocks forming the cove were also covered with them, and from their taking to the water very readily, we were induced to believe them a distinct species from those found among the keys of the West Indies. In some spots a half acre of ground would be completely covered with them, as to appear as though it was impossible for another to get in the space. 'They were harmless,'^* the captain adds, 'and as good for eating as the tortoises.

      He also discovers that these islands are newly created, which, by the way, may account for the increased size of the tortoises since Dampier's time; and the idea naturally conducts him into a strain of moralizing on the loss of his goats, which we are sure will be deemed worthy of admiration: – 'they all strayed away,' says he, 'one young male and three females, one of which was of the Welsh breed, and was with young by a Peruvian ram with five horns' – their attendant could not help it; the blame was solely owing to nature. – 'Perhaps nature,' continues he, with all that philosophical tranquillity for which, on great occasions, Mr. Shandy was so deservedly celebrated, – 'perhaps nature, whose ways are mysterious, has embraced this first opportunity of inhabiting this island with a race of animals who are, from their nature, almost as well enabled to withstand the want of water as the tortoises with which it now abounds; and, perhaps she has so ordained it, that the breed which shall be produced between the Welch goat and the Peruvian ram shall be better adapted to the climate than any other.'

      The captain is at a great loss, but it is no business of his, he says, to conjecture, how all the tortoises, guanas, and other reptiles first came upon these islands; but though at present they are only fit for tortoises, guanas, lizards, snakes, &c. he doubts not that in time the Gallapagos will have a set of human beings of their own as well as the rest of the world: – 'Nature has created them (the human beings) elsewhere, and why could she not do it as well at those islands?'

      We pass over the loves and adventures of 'a red-haired wild Irishman, and a copper-coloured mixt-blooded squaw,' on which he founds a sagacious conjecture as to the manner in which the Paoific islands must have been peopled; for though nature, he thinks, may have created men elsewhere, and may hereafter, perhaps, create a new set for the Gallapagos, yet, to people the islands of the Pacific, he seems to think it is just possible that they may, in the usual manner, have created one another. We shall also pass over his gallant exploits in capturing the whalers, and the unauthorized and brutal treatment which, by his own account, some of their masters experienced at his hands; at least, we will only trespass on the reader's patience, for a very few words. 'The ease,' he says, 'with which these ships (two whalers) were taken by our boats, gave us but a poor opinion of British valour.' p. 160. It may be so: – but, 'in a dead calm,' surrounded by six or eight boats full of armed men, with a heavy fifty gun frigate within hail,we really do

not see what resistance a couple of fishing vessels could properly offer; nor do we think that their abstaining from furnishing Captain Porter with a pretence for 'pouring in another volley of musketry,' though it might disappoint his malice, justifies his sneer at 'British valour;' under which, be it remembered, the modest hero himself sunk shortly after. But the name of Britain inflames his rancour, and his head, confused at the best, becomes a mere chaos whenever a thought of this country crosses it. His speech to his crew upon this glorious achievement may serve to illustrate our remark. 'Seamen and Marines! Fortune has at length smiled upon us, because – we deserve her smiles: and the first time she enabled us to display "free trade," she put into our hands half a million of dollars. We have nothing to object to the spoliation; but – to exult in the commission of it under 'the flag of free trade,' is a species of stupid perversity, peculiar, we believe, to the American 'cruizers.'

      With the exception of these, the whole of his prizes, we believe, were decoyed into his power. Half his time is occupied in painting and disguising the Essex, so as to make her pass for an English frigate. The captains of our whalers come fearlessly under his guns, and are favoured with an invitation on board: – while they are engaged in conversation, their vessels are secured. Of this practical joke, though eternally repeated, we do not complain; the evil is, that while these unfortunate men, relying on Captain Porter's assurance that they are conversing with a British officer, lay aside restraint, this insidious American watches for the slightest reflection on his countrymen, and with all the malice of a little mind, punishes his victims for that very freedom of discourse which his treacherous encouragement alone had produced. Of one officer thus betrayed, and thus punished, he indulges his poor spite, by boasting, that 'in consequence of his treatment, this haughty Englishman was so humbled, that he would have licked the dust from his feet!' p. 186. Captain Porter here makes a vast parade of the 'balance against the British, occasioned by his cruize in the Pacific.' This is stated at 5,000,000 dollars. The estimate on which it rests is not a little curious. Each of the captured whalers was worth, it seems, about 250,000 dollars – we did not imagine that these fishing vessels were so valuable – but as this makes up but half the amount, i.e. 2,500,000, our maritime Cocker puts on 2,500,000 more for the whalers which, he presumes, his prizes would have taken from his countrymen in those seas, had he not been before-hand, and cunningly secured them! Be this as it may, he still reckoned without his host, for none of his prizes, no, not one, ever reached America, and his own ship (a circum-

stance which unfortunately slipped his memory) ought to have been carried to the contra side of the account.^*

      At the conclusion of this notable summary of his achievements, he pursues his triumph over poor Lord Anson, whom be had before discomfited, without mitigation, and ends by observing, that 'he (Lord Anson) had no trophies of his success to exhibit.' What trophies our egregious conqueror had to display, except the scalps of a few murdered savages, we are unable to guess. But, with submission, Lord Anson was not sent to make war on whalers; his expedition defeated the vast designs of Spain, and ultimately led to the ruin of a mighty armament.^† He captured, too, a vessel as powerful as his own, and, having rounded the world, returned in safety, and in his own ship, with all his treasure. Captain Porter, on the contrary, after losing half his crew, was taken by a ship of inferior force, and owed his return to the humanity of his captor, who sent him home in a cartel! It is impossible to pass such ridiculous vanity without a smile. We would not willingly mortify the knight of La Mancha, and yet there is a passage of his history which brings Captain Porter full before our eyes. – Beaten, bruized, and unable to sit upright, deprived of Rozinante, (as the captain was of the Essex,) and laid across Dapple, the Don has yet a conceit in his misery. 'Sancho,' quoth he, 'think not this mode of conveyance without glory; for it is recorded in story, that Silenus, the foster-father of Bacchus, entered the city of an hundred gates, riding on an ass.' 'It may be so,' replied the squire, 'but surely there is some difference between riding an ass, and being slung across him like a sack of rubbish!'

      We now arrive at the second volume, in which the reader, who has accompanied us thus far, must prepare, we lament to say, to exchange the feelings already excited in his mind for others of a different nature, if he has any pity for outraged humanity, any detestation for wanton rapine and destruction.

      From the Gallapagos, Captain Porter set sail with the Essex and her prizes for the group of Islands long known by the name of the Marquesas, but which, after an example that we recently took occasion to reprobate, he is pleaaed to call the Washington's islands. To three of this group he assigns the names of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison – names which, 'he is quite sure, will pass to posterity, whatever names may be given to them by English or

French partizans.' Another note was addressed in this part of the 'cruize' to the ship's company, which he tells us he thought it right to administer, as an approved antidote against the scurvy – it spoke of their destination, and of the amusement they might expect; – and after this they could talk and think of nothing but the beauties of those islands; – 'every one,' says he, 'imagined them Venus's, and amply indulged themselves in fancied bliss, impatient of our arrival at that Cytherean paradise where all their wishes were to be gratified.' – vol. ii. p. 8.

      On their arrival off Rooahooga island, the Riou of the English, and Jefferson of Captain Porter, a few natives, who came off in a canoe, invited them to the shore, assuring them, 'by the most expressive gesticulations, that the vahienas, or women, were entirely at their service.' Captain Porter's promises to his ship's company were here amply fulfilled. There were no scruples on his part; none, of course, on the part of the crew; he sees no harm in giving countenance to the moral depravity of ignorant savages – but we must here pause, and draw a veil over his proceedings. We cannot pollute our pages with the description which Captain Porter gives of his transactions with these people. His language and his ideas are so gross and indelicate, so utterly unfit for this hemisphere, that we must leave the undivided enjoyment of this part of his book to his own countrymen. We are at a loss to determine which is most disgusting and offensive – his nauseous ribaldry, or his impudent avowal of his improper conduct. 'If,' says he, 'there, was any crime, the offence was ours, not theirs; they acted in compliance with the customs of their ancestors; we departed from those principles of virtue and morality, which are so highly esteemed in civilization.' It was enough, he thinks, that 'each confined himself to one object, and she of the best family and rank;' which, he says, was as mach as the most 'zealous celebiate' could require – but more than enough of this profligate, this pernicious trash.

      The island in this group next visited by the Essex, was Nooaheevah, which in Captain Porter's book is dignified by the name of Madison; the bay is nick-named Massachusetts, and a miserable group of huts built during their stay, Madisonville. Here, on their landing, they met with one Maury, a midshipman of the United States navy, and an Englishman named Wilson, the latter of whom had lived among the Marquesas many years, and spoke their language with great fluency. Though of a nation against the very name of which Captain Porter entertains the most rooted antipathy, he allows Wilson to have been 'an inoffensive, honest, good-hearted fellow, well disposed to render every service in his power, and whose only failing was a great attachment to rum.' Captain Porter soon discovered, or pretends to have discovered, that the

people of a neighbouring valley, at the head of Comptroller's bay, named the Happahs, were at war with those among whom he landed; though it was admitted that a friendly intercourse was still kept up between the two tribes. Anxious to show his prowess among a people whose weapons were harmless when put in competition with fire-arms, and still more anxious to procure provisions without paying for them, (for avarice is the ruling passion of this huckstering captain,) he caused a message to be sent over the mountains 'to tell the Happahs he had come with a force sufficiently strong to drive them from the island; and if they presumed to enter into the valley while he remained there, he should send a body of men to chastise them.' With the return of the messenger came the Happahs themselves within half a mile of the camp, and sent for answer, 'that in consequence of his threats they had come into the valley, and destroyed the bread-fruit trees, and yet they had not been opposed; that they believed him and his people to be cowards, and would soon pay them a visit.' This threat 'somewhat provoked' our hero – but it also alarmed him; he landed a great portion of his ship's company; he employed the natives of the valley to drag a six-pounder to the top of the mountains to oppose their progress. With this gun was sent the first lieutenant, Downes, (the counterpart of himself, and the ready agent of all his 'little artifices,') and a party of men. The lieutenant reported, on his return, that on ascending the top of the mountain be was knocked down with a huge stone which struck him on the belly; that on recovering, he ordered the enemy to be pursued, who, however, made a stand at a kind of breastwork or fortress – 'scoffed at his men, and exposed their posteriors to them, and treated them with the utmost contempt and derision.' The Americans upon this rushed forwards towards the barrier, fired among the croud, and shot five of them dead; – 'one, in particular, fought till the muzzle of the piece was presented to his forehead, when the top of his head was entirely blown off.' The scene of massacre and plunder, the destruction of houses, utensils, live stock, and bread-fruit trees that followed, Captain Porter says, was 'shocking to see.' But he obtained his end, and got 'a large supply of hogs' for nothing.

      The bodies of the five men.who had been killed in storming the fortress were brought down to the valley, and taken to the public square where their festivals are held. Maury and Wilson had both said, on their arrival, that the natives were cannibals, though neither had ever seen them in the act of eating human flesh; and it was also understood from Gattanewa, the chief, that they sometimes ate their enemies; it was fair therefore to conclude, that the bodies in the great square were destined to be eaten, which Wilson said they would certainly be as soon as they were advanced, to a

state of putridity. Captain Porter was determined to ascertain this fact with his own eyes, and for this purpose proceeded to the square – several of the young warriors were hastening along towards the same place, armed with their spears, at the ends of which were hung plantains, breadfruit, or cocoa nuts, intended as offerings to their gods; the sound of the drums was now heard, and presently the chanting of the war-songs.

      'I soon discovered five or six hundred of them assembled about the dead bodies, which were lying on the ground, still attached to the poles with which they had been brought from the scene of action. The warriors were all armed with their spears, and several large drums, ornamented with cloth, were placed near the slain, on which some were employed beating, while Tawattaa, and another priest, elevated above the rest, appeared to preside over the ceremonies. Ah! said Wilson, they are now making their infernal feast on the bodies of the dead. At this moment my approach was discovered. They were all thrown into the utmost confusion; the dead bodies were in an instant snatched from the place where they lay, and hurried to a distance among the bushes, and shouting and hallooing evinced the utmost consternation. I now believed the truth of Wilson's declaration, and my blood recoiled with horror at the spectacle I was on the point of witnessing. I directed them in an authoritative manner to return the bodies to the place whence they had taken them, and refused to advance a step farther until they had done so. With much reluctance they brought them back; two of them carefully covered with branches of the cocoanut tree, the others were entirely uncovered. I immediately caused all of them to be exposed to my view, and to my great surprize found them unmutilated, except by the clubs with which they had been dispatched.'

      On inquiring why they had carried them off, he was told that they supposed the sight would be disagreeable to him; and when he expressed his apprehension that they were about to eat them, they all assured him they had no such intention, and only requested that a couple of them might be suffered to remain in their hands to offer as a sacrifice to the manes of their priest who had been slain: that he might send any one to attend the ceremony, and witness their burial, assuring him that they would bury them as deep as he pleased. Captain Porter seems to think therefore that both Wilson and he must have misunderstood them, when they said they sometime ate their enemies, and that they meant no more than to sacrifice, or keep them as trophies; and that the word to eat may have many meanings besides; as mattee, to kill, also signifies to be in pain, to be sick, wounded, or in any way injured. Far from espressing any desire to eat the bodies, they manifested such a horror to touch them, that Captain Porter was obliged to order one of his people to cut the lashings by which the bodies were attached

to the poles; and the moment they dropped into the graves the natives made all haste to cover them up.

      We do not doubt that the world has long been abused with regard to cannibals or eaters of human flesh, and perhaps no such people exist. The late Mr. Alexander Dalrymple, hydrographer to the Admiralty and the East India Company, used to say, that although he believed he had read all the voyages and travels that were ever published in any language, and of course had met with numerous stories of anthropophagi, yet he knew not a single instance stated on personal knowledge, that could be considered as substantiatiug the fact, by such direct and positive evidence as would be taken in a court of justice – we mean, of course, the fact of eating human flesh from choice – dire necessity, like that which compelled the unfortunate inhabitants of Johanna to eat their own children, or the shipwrecked crew of the Nautilus the dead bodies of their comrades, must be taken as an exception. Every age and portion of the globe have nevertheless had their anthropophagi: – Cyclops, Scythians, and Sarmatians. – Every body knows that Hannibal's soldiers were fed on human flesh to make them ferocious – that the Massagetae were fond of eating old men and women – that the Essidonians, out of pure affection, feasted on their relations – that the Caribbees tore the chiidren from their mothers' breasts as the most delicious of all food – and that the Peruvians kept mistresses expressly for breeding children to be fattened for the table, who, when past it, were themselves fattened for the same purpose. – All the world too has heard, that the civilized nations of lndia and China sold human flesh in the market – and that the Grand Khan of Tartary made a present of ail the, condemned criminals to be eaten by his astronomers and magicians. We are assured by John Battell, of Essex, 'a near neighbour of mine,' says Purchas, 'and a man worthy of credit, that the Anzigas of South Africa exposed human flesh for sale on their shambles, as we do beef or mutton' – every word of which our good friend Doctor Langsdorff, the Aulic counsellor, believes to be strictly true.

      There are, however, in almost every modern voyage which has been published, vague accounts of cannibalism, that are as discreditable to the relaters of them as they are calumnious and injurious to the character of the people of whom they are related. Thus Dentrecasteaux's surgeon mistook the bones of a kangaroo for those of a young girl, and set down the hanmless people of Van Dieman's land for cannibals; he did the same from seeing one of the natives. of New Caledonia gnaw what he thought the cupbone of the knee of a youth of fourteen or fifteen years of age, though Captain Cook tells us that these people regarded with horror some of his crew who were picking a beef bone, supposing it to be that of a

human subject: and Admiral Krusenstern believes the inhabitants of the Marquesas to delight in human flesh; a fact which he considers to be corroborated by human skulls being offered for sale, and human bones being attached to varions parts of their furniture.

      We entertain not the smallest doubt that these people are entirely free from this abominable practice. Indeed we have heard, since these sheets went to the press, from several of our officers who remained many weeks among them, that there were not the slightest grounds for suspecting them of any such practice; and Captain Porter not merely exonerates them from this charge, but affirms, from the knowledge which he acquired of their character during bis stay among them, and while he was fully employed in robbing and murdering them, 'that an honester, or more friendly and better disposed people, do not exist under the sun.'

      'They have been stigmatized,' he continues, 'by the name of savages; it is a term wrongly applied; they rank high in the scale of human beings, whether we consider them morally or physically. We find them brave, generous, honest, and benevolent; acute, ingenious, and intelligent; and their beauty and regular proportions of their bodies correspond with the perfections of their minds: they are far above the common stature of the human race, seldom less than five feet eleven inches, but most commonly six feet two or three inches and every way proportioned: their faces are remarkably handsome, with keen, piercing eyes; teeth white and more beautiful than ivory; countenances open and expressive, which bespoke every emotion of their souls; limbs which might serve as a model for a statuary, and strength and activity proportioned to their appearance; the skin of the men is of a dark copper colour, but that of the youths and girls is of a light brown – the first are as beautiful as those of any part of the world; but the latter, although possessing intelligent and open countenances, fine eyes and teeth, and much acuteness and vivacity, are far from being as handsome as the men – their limbs and hands (particularly the latter) are more beautifully proportioned than those of any other women; but a graceless walk and a badly shaped foot, occasioned by going without shoes, take greatly from their charms.'

      This description we know to be somewhat exaggerated; but we know also that they are a fine race of men, possessed of many good and amiable qualities: and yet, with all their good qualities, joined with the most kind and friendly reception of Captam Porter, they met, as we have observed, with a most ungrateful return from him.

      The hogs and other provisions extorted from the terrors of the Happahs were, by this time, consumed, and it became necessary to procure a fresh supply. Not content with having shown his superiority by the spoliation and destruction of those already mentioned, Captain Porter determined, in the plenitude of insolence and power,

that the whole island should minister to his cruelty and rapacity: he sent, therefore, a message to a tribe called the Typees, inhabiting the most distant part of the island, and one with whom he neither had, nor needed to have, any kind of connection, threatening to punish them severely if they should attempt, which they had not done, to commit hostilities on any other tribe on the island in friendship with him, and desiring to know if they wished for pence and friendship. This spirited people, in reply to the message of this knight-errant, returned for answer, that they wished to know why they should desire a friendship with him? why they should bring him their hogs and fruit? – they knew well enough, they said, that he would take them without ceremony if he could, and his not doing so was to them a proof of his weakness. This reply was, to the man of the fearful countenance, throwing down the gauntlet of defiance, and he accordingly prepared for immediate war. We shall not follow him through the inflated description of his prowess with muskets and cutlasses against slings and clubs. Some of his officers and people were bruised with stones, but many of the poor natives were killed. The Americans, however, were repulsed in the first assault, for which, as he tells us, he 'meditated a severe punishment.' He put arms into the hands of 200 of his men, manned the boats, landed at a convenient spot, and proceeded to take the whole valley by surprize; he and his party were however benighted, and 'a cold and piercing wind, accompanied by a deluge, chilled them to the heart.' But the break of day, and the cheering prospect of plunder and destruction; raised their drooping spirits; and they pounced at once upon the valley – the poor Indians, alarmed, began to shout, to beat their drums and blow their war conchs from one end of the valley to the other; and what with the squealing of the hogs, the screaming of the women and children, and the yelling of the men, the din was horrible.' – p. 100.

      It is impossible to read without the strongest feeling of indignation the feats of destruction committed by this execrable marauder on the property of these innocent people. He tells us that he and his blood-hounds halted on the ridge to take breath, and te view for a few minutes a most delightful valley which was soon to become a scene of desolation. It was nine miles in length by three or four in breadth, surrounded by mountains, and watered by a beautiful river that meaudered through it. 'Villages were scattered here and there, the bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees flourished luxuriantly and in abundance; plantations laid out in good order, inclosed with stone walls, were in a high state of cultivation, and every thing bespoke industry, abundance and happiness – never in my life did I witness a more delightful scene, or experience more

repugnancy than I now felt for the necessity which compelled me to punish a happy and heroic people.' – p. 102.

      Well may your conscience suggest to you, Mr. Porter, 'that your conduct may be censured as wanton and unjust' – it must. It was most flagitious; and your only excuse, that 'the Typees refused to be on friendly terms with you, and that had they wished for peace it would have been granted,' is too weak and contemptible to avail you in the least. Greatly indeed are you mistaken in supposing that on these grounds 'the blood of themselves, their relations and friends must be on their own heads' – no, Mr. Porter, their blood is on yours – and all the efforts of your supporters will be found insufficient to wash out the stain. The mark of Cain is upon you! – Like Cain, indeed, you are safe; – but like Cain, too, you will find every finger pointed at the indelible spot.

      'Wars,' says this ruthless destroyer, iu the detestable cant common to all his tribe, 'are not always just, and are rarely free from excesses – my conscience acquits me of any injustice, and no excesses were committed, but what the Typees had it in their power to stop by ceasing hostilities.' Without detailing the shocking massacre of these innocent inhabitants as described by himself, we shall merely extract a few sentences to shew a small part of these 'excesses,' of which Captain Porter's conscience so easily acquits him.

      ' We continued our march up the valley, and met in our way several beautiful villages, which were set on fire; and at length arrived at their capital, for it deserves the name of one. We had been compelled to fight every inch of ground as we advanced, and here they made considerable opposition; the place was, however, soon carried, and I very reluctantly set fire to. it. Numbers of their gods were here destroyed, several large and elegant new war canoes, which had never been used, were burnt in the houses that sheltered them, and our Indians loaded themselves with plunder; after destroying bread-fruit and other trees, and all the young plants they could find.' – p. 106.

      Again –

      'We proceeded down tbe valley, and in our route destroyed several other villages, at all of which we had some skirmishing with the enemy. The number of villages destroyed amounted to ten, and the destruction of of trees and plants, and the plunder carried off by the Indians, is almost incredible.'

      And when he had finished his work of destruction, with a feeling of diabolical delight similar to that with which another artificer of ruin viewed the flames of Mosco from the walls of the Kremlin, he thus affects to wail over the fate of the unfortunate valley.

      'When I had reached the summit of the mountain, I stopped to contemplate that valley which, in the morning, we had viewed in all its

beauty, the scene of abundance and happiness – a long line of smoking ruins now marked our traces from one end to the other; the opposite hills were covered with the unhappy fugitives, and the whole presented a scene of desolation and horror. Unhappy and heroic people! the victims of your own courage and mistaken pride; while the instruments of your own fate shed the tears of pity over your own misfortunes, thousands of your countrymen (nay, brethren of the same family) triumphed in your distresses!' – p. 108.

      And what were.the tears of pity shed by this accursed 'instrument of their fate?' – an extortion from these ruined people of four hundred hogs as the price of his friendship! – but we have no patience – we really cannot proceed. – This act of inhumanity is followed by a most nauseous and indelicate account of the bestial amours of himself and his ship's company, affording an exhibition of moral depravity which any man of sense and proper feeling would be ashamed to avow. But Mr. Porter revels in the delight of exhibiting disgusting scenes.

      Let the philosopher mourn over the depravity, as he may call it, of human nature; let him express his horror that civilised man can, for a moment, be lured by the charms of a savage; let the moralist, from his closet, preach the charms of virtue and deformity of vice; still I shall not let fall the curtain; the veil shall still be raised and nature exposed; I shah exhibit her deformities, when I meet them; but shall also display her beauties.'

      And all this, a debauchee of fifty (if we may form a judgment from the forbidding portrait stuck as a frontispiece to these volumes) tells us is written chiefly for the improvement and information of his son' – it being proper, he adds, 'that I should instruct him on every subject which has come within my knowledge.'

      We pass over the farcical ceremony of taking possession, for the United States, of Madison's island, the christening of Fort Madison, Madisonsville and Massachuset's bay; and the 'Declaration' of admitting the natives into the 'great American family, whose pure republican policy approaches so near their own;' – though we must not forget that one article of this precious 'Declaration' stipulates, that these poor people 'shall use all their efforts to prevent the subjects of Great Britain' (the constant disturbers of Captain Porter's imagination) 'from coming among them.' – p. 83.

      The natives, however, as we can inform this great negociator, indignantly disown the connexion with this august 'family.' Captain Porter suppresses the real facts, and we shall therefore relate them for him from the most unquestionable authority.

      When Sir Thomas Staines of the Briton frigate, and Captain Pipon of the Tagus, who had been sent into the Pacific in quest of our hero, arrived off the island of Nukaheevah, they perceived

a vast crowd assembled on the shore and armed, apparently with a view of preventing any landing. These officers understood, through Wilson, that the islanders had conceived the two frigates to belong to the 'great American family,' and that their late guest was returning to revenge the death of four persons belonging to this new connexion, and left behind in a pnze, whom, after Captain Porter's departure, they had, under the smart of their recent sufferings, stoned to death on the beach: but the moment Wilson informed them that the ships were English and manned with his own countrymen, they unanimously laid aside their arms, shook hands in the most cordial manner with the officers and boats' crews, and were delighted beyond measure at the meeting. As another proof of the lasting regard and affection for the 'family,' the flag and its staff had been torn clown, and every vestige of Fort Madison destroyed: our people unburied the bottle, and used very little ceremony with the ridiculous 'Declaration' it contained, to which David Porter, Esquire, had affixed his seal and signature. His name, however, we can take upon us to assure him, will long be remembered at Nukaheevah; where, it appears, he made himself 'so acceptable to the natives,' that he never once dared to step beyond the fortified enclosure in which his people had pitched their tents, without an armed guard.

      We shall take no notice of his garbled account of the capture of the Essex, nor of the base and malignant aspersions cast on the conduct of Captain Hillyar, whom, after directly charging him with cowardice, treachery, and falsehood, he admits to have 'shewn the greatest tenderness to the wounded, and to have endeavoured, to the utmost of his power, to alleviate the distresses of war by the most generous and delicate deportment towards himself, his officers, and crew.' p. 159. For this galling acknowledgment, which was wrung from him by the notoriety of the fact, he immediately consoles himself by covertly insinuating that Captain Hillyar connived at the stealing of 'many articles of his clothing'! a circumstance, continues he, 'which I should not have considered of sufficient importance to notice, did if not mark a striking difference between the navy of Great Britain and that of the United States, highly creditable to the latter.'

      We shall not degrade 'the navy of Great Britain' by a word – With respect to Captain Hillyar, he is a good officer and a gentleman; and it is really refreshing, after the vulgar transatlantic pride and spleen through which we have waded, to meet with the following specimen of genuine English manners. p. 160.

Letter to Captain Porter.

      My dear Sir, – Neither in our conversations, nor in the accompanying letter, have I mentioned your sword. Ascribe my remissness,

in the first instance, to forgetfulness; I consider it only in my servant's possession with my own, until the master may please to call for it: and although I omitted, at the moment of presentation, from my mind being much engrossed in attending to professional duties, to offer its restoration, the hand that received it will be most gladly extended to put it in possession of him who wore it so honourably in defending his country's cause. – Believe me, my dear sir, very faithfully yours,

'JAMES HILLYAR.'

      Such is the officer so grossly traduced by Captain Porter! What Captain Porter, himself, is, we willingly leave his own book to declare; his character is there drawn at full length; and so congenial is it with that of his countrymen, and so respectable in the eyes of his government, that we have just read (without surprize) in one of their public papers, that Mr. Madison has appointed him (David Porter, Esquire, such as our readers have seen him) 'one of the Commissioners of the American Navy.'

      This volume concludes, like the former, with a reference to Lord Anson; and our author 'thinks, that when his materials shall be dressed with the same taste, the voyage of the Essex' (especially ber homeward voyage)' ought not to yield the palm to those of Anson and Cook!' p. 146.

      This is not our opinion. Let the 'materials be drest' as they may, there will still be a bad savour about them: they should, as Uncle Toby observes, have been wiped up at first, and no more said. – Captain Porter may, indeed, easily persuade his countrymen, as he has undoubtedly persuaded himself, that his 'Cruize' rivals or eclipses the 'Voyages' of our great circumnavigators; but the belief will always be confined to themselves. Anson and Cook were men of high courage, honour, and generosity. Cook, in particular, (of whom David. Porter, Esq. speaks with insolent contempt,) was born for all ages and all countries, and will be held in grateful admiration long after his ridiculous 'rival' is forgotten, or only remembered with derision. It is not possible to read the 'Voyages' of these great men without an expansion and elevation of mind. The best feelings of our nature are interested in their adventures; and we accompany them through a captivating alternation of suffering and success, with pity, respect, and triumph. In toiling through the' Journal' of Captain Porter, the mind shrinks back on itself: – we read of nothing from page to page, but 'painting,''disguising,' 'new dressing,' and a number of other little artifices,' in which the huckster contends with the –––– ; or of an interminable series of unprovoked aggression, extortion, and cruelty which converts disgust into horror. To have done with the subject – we are compelled, as far as the present author is concerned, to retract a concession which we gladly made in the case of the liberal and en-

terprizing Kruzenstern: 'Les marins écrivent mal, mais avec assez de candeur.' Captain Porter writes ill, but not with one grain of candour.

      To atone for the uniform dulness of Captain Porter's 'Journal,' and to relieve, in some measure, the harassed feelings of our readers, we shall make no apology for laying before them the history of an interesting race of men which this 'Cruize' has been the means of making us better acquainted with; the two frigates above-mentioned having, by mere accident, fallen in with them. We give this little narrative the more readily, on account of the awful example it holds forth of the certain punishment which awaits the guilty, and which no time, nor distance, nor concealment in unfrequented corners of the world, can avert. Of the discovery of the descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty we took occasion, in an early Number, to give some account – we are now enabled to complete their history, and to describe their present condition.

      It is well known that in the year 1789 his Majesty's armed vessel the Bounty, while employed in conveying the bread-fruit tree from Otaheite to the British colonies in the West Indies, was taken from her commander, Lieutenant William Bligh, by a part of the crew, who, headed by Fletcher Christian, a master's mate, mutinied off the island of Tofoa, put the lieutenant, with the remainder of the crew, consisting of eighteen persons, into the launch, which, after a passage of 1200 leagues, providentially arrived at a Dutch settlement on the island of Timor. The mutineers, twenty-five in number, were supposed, from some expressions which escaped them, when the launch was turned adrift, to have made sail towards Otaheite. As soon as this circumstance was known to the Admiralty, Captain Edwards was ordered to proceed in the Pandora to that island, and endeavour to discover and bring to England the Bounty, with such of the crew as he might be able to secure. On his arrival in March, 1791, at Matavai bay, in Otaheite, four of the mutineers came voluntarily on board the Pandora to surrender themselves;^* and from information given by them, ten others^†

(the whole number alive upon the island) were, in the course of a few days, taken; and with the exception of four, who perished in the wreck of the Pandora near Endeavour Strait,^* conveyed to England for trial before a court-martial, which adjudged six of them to suffer death^† and acquitted the other four.^‡

      From the accounts given by these men, as well as from some documents that were preserved, it appeared that as soon as Lieutenant Bligh had been driven from the ship, the twenty-five mutineers proceeded with her to Toobouai, where they proposed to settle; but the place being found to hold out little encouragement, they returned to Otaheite, and having there laid in a large supply of stock, they once more took their departure for Toobouai, carrying with them eight men, nine women, and seven boys, natives of Otaheite. They commenced, on their second arrival, the building of a fort, but by divisions among themselves and quarrels with the natives, the design was abandoned. Christian, the leader, also very soon discovered that his authority over his accomplices was at an end; he therefore proposed that they should return to Otaheite; that as many as chose it should be put on shore at that island, and that the rest should proceed in the ship to any other place they might think proper. Accordingly they once more put to sea, and reached Matavai on the 20th September, 1789.

      Here sixteen of the five-and-twenty desired to be landed, fourteen of whom, as already mentioned, were taken on board the Pandora; of the other two,^§ as reported by Coleman, (the first who surrendered himself to Captain Edwards,) one had been made a chief, killed his companion, and was shortly afterwards murdered himself by the natives.

      Christian, with the remaining eight of the mutineers, having taken on board several of the natives of Otaheite, the greater part women, put to sea on the night between the 21st and 22d September,

1789; in the morning the ship was discovered from Point Venus, steering in a north-westerly direction; and here terminate the accounts given by the mutineers who were either taken or surrendered themselves at Matavai bay. They stated, however, that Christian, on the night of his departure, was heard to declare that he should seek for some uninhabited island, and having established his party, break up the ship; but all endeavours of Captain Edwards to gain intelligence either of the ship or her crew at any of the numerous islands visited by the Pandora, failed.

      From this period, no information respecting Christian or his companions reached England for twenty years; when, about the beginning of the year 1809, Sir Sidney Smith, then commander-in-chief on the Brazil station, transmitted to the Admiralty a paper which he had received from Lieutenant Fitzmaurice, purporting to be an 'Extract from the log-book of Captain Folger of the American ship Topaz,' and dated 'Valparaiso, 10th October, 1808.' This we partly verified in our Review of Dentrecasteaux's Voyage, by ascertaining that the Bounty had on board a chronometer made by Kendal, and that there was on board her a man of the name of Alexander Smith, a native of London.

      About the commencement of the present year, Rear Admiral Hotham, when cruising off new London, received a letter addressed to the Lords of the Admiralty, of which the following is a copy, together with the azimuth compass to which it refers:

'Nantucket, 1st March, 1813.           

            My Lords,

                        The remarkable circumstance which took place on my last voyage to the Pacific Ocean, will, I trust, plead my apology for addressing your Lordships at this time. In February, 1808, I touched at Pitcairn's island, in latitude 25° 02' S. longitude 130° W. from Greenwich. My principal object was to procure seal skins for the China market; and from the account given of the island, in Captain Carteret's voyage, I supposed it was uninhabited; but, on approaching the shore in my boat, I was met by three young men in a double canoe, with a present, consisting of some fruit and a hog. They spoke to me in the English language, and informed me that they were born on the island, and their father was an Englishman, who had sailed with Captain Bligh.

      'After discoursing with them a short time, I landed with them, and found an Englishman of the name of Alexander Smith, who informed me that he was one of the Bounty's crew, and that after putting Captain Bligh in the boat, with half the ship's company, they returned to Otaheite, where part of their crew chose to tarry; but Mr. Christian, with eight others, including himself, preferred going to a more remote place; and, after making a short stay at Otaheite, where they took wives and six men-servants, they proceeded to Pitcairn's island, where

they destroyed the ship, after taking every thing out of her which they thought would be useful to them. About six years after they landed at this place, their servants attacked and killed all the English, excepting the informant, and he was severely wounded. The same night the Otaheitan widows arose and murdered all their countrymen, leaving Smith with the widows and children, where he had resided ever since without being resisted.

      'I remained but a short time on the island, and on leaving it, Smith presented me a time-piece, and an azimuth compass, which he told me belonged to the Bounty. The timekeeper was taken from me by the governor of the island of Juan Fernandez, after I had had it in my possession about six weeks. The compass I put in repair on board my ship, and made use of it on my homeward passage, since which a new card has been put to it by an instrument maker in Boston. I now forward it to your Lordships, thinking there will be a kind of satisfaction in receiving it, merely from the extraordinary circumstances attending it.

(Signed)              MAYHEW FOLGER.'           

      Nearly about the same time a further account of these interesting people was received from Vice-admiral Dixon, in a letter addressed to him by Sir Thomas Staines, of his Majesty's ship Briton, of which the following is a copy:

'Briton, Valparaiso, 18th Oct. 1814.

                  Sir,

                              I have the honour to inform you that on my passage from the Marquesas islands to this port, on the morning of the 17th September, I fell in with an island where none is laid down in the Admiralty or other charts, according to the several chronometers of the Briton and Tagus. I therefore hove to, until day-light, and then closed to ascertain whether it was inhabited, which I soon discovered it to be, and, to my great astonishment, found that every individual on the island (forty in number) spoke very good English. They prove to be the descendants of the deluded crew of the Bounty, which, from Otaheite, proceeded to the abovementioned island, where the ship was burnt.

      'Christian appeared to have been the leader and sole cause of the mutiny in that ship. A venerable old man, named John Adams,^* is the only surviving Englishman of those who last quitted Otaheite in her, and whose exemplary conduct, and fatherly care of the whole of the little colony, could not but command admiration. The pious manner in which all those born on the island have been reared, the correct sense of religion which has been instilled into their young minds by this old man, has given him the pre-eminence over the whole of them, to whom they look up as the father of the whole and one family.

      'A son of Christian's was the first born on the island, now about twenty-five years of age, (named Thursday October Christian,) the elder Christian fell a sacrifice to the jealousy of an Otaheitan man, within three

or four years after their arrival on the island. They were accompanied thither by six Otaheitan men, and twelve women: the former were all swept away by desperate contentions between them and the Englishmen, and five of the latter have died at different periods, leaving at present only one man and seven women of the original settlers.

      'The island must undoubtedly be that called Pitcairn's, although erroneously laid down in the charts. We had the meridian sun, close to it, which gave 25° 4' S. latitude, and 130° 25' W. longitude, by chronometers of the Briton and Tagus.

      'It is abundant in yams, plantains, hogs, goats and fowls, but affords no shelter for a ship or vessel of any description; neither could a ship water there without great difficulty.

      'I cannot, however, refrain from offering my opinion that it is well worthy the attention of our laudable religious societies, particularly that for Propagating the Christian Religion, the whole of the inhabitants speaking the Otaheitan tongue as well as English.

      'During the whole of the time they have been on the island, only one ship has ever communicated with them, which took place about six years since by an American ship called the Topaz, of Boston, Mayhew Folger, master.

      'The island is completely iron bound, with rocky shores, and landing in boats at all times difficult, although safe to approach within a short distance in a ship.

(Signed)                  STAINES.'                 

      We have been favoured with some further particulars on this singular society which, we doubt not, will interest our readers as much as they have ourselves. As the real position of the island was ascertained to be so far distant from that in which it is usually laid down in the charts, and as the captains of the Briton and Tagus seem to have still considered it as uninhabited, they were not a little surprized, on approaching its shores, to behold plantations regularly laid out, and huts or houses more neatly constructed than those on the Marquesas islands. When about two miles from the shore, some natives were observed bringing down their canoes on their shoulders, dashing through a heavy surf, and paddling off to the ships; but their astonishment was unbounded on hearing one of them, on approaching the ship, call out in the English language, 'Won't you heave us a rope, now?'

      The first man who got on board the Briton soon proved who they were. His name, he said, was Thursday October Christian, the first born on the island. He was then about five and twenty years of age, and is described as a fine young man about six feet high; his hair deep black; his countenance open and interesting; of a brownish cast, but free from that mixture of a reddish tint which prevails on the Pacific islands; his only dress was a piece of cloth round his loins, and a straw hat ornamented with the black

feathers of the domestic fowl. 'With a great share of good humour,' says Captain Pipon, 'we were glad to trace in his benevolent countenance all the features of an honest English face.' – 'I must confess,' he continues, 'I could not survey this interesting person without feelings of tenderness and compassion.' His companion was named George Young, a fine youth of seventeen or eighteen years of age.

      If the astonishment of the Captains was great on hearing their first salutation in English, their surprize and interest were not a little increased on Sir Thomas Staines taking the youths below and setting before them something to eat, when one of them rose up, and placing his hands together in a posture of devotion, distinctly repeated, and in a pleasing tone and manner, 'For what we are going to receive, the Lord make us truly thankful.'

      They expressed great surprize on seeing a cow on board the Briton, and were in doubt whether she was a great goat, or a horned sow.

      The two captains of his Majesty's ships accompanied these young men on shore. With some difficulty and a good wetting, and with the assistance of their conductors, they accomplished a landing through the surf, and were soon after met by John Adams, a man between fifty and sixty years of age, who conducted them to his house. His wife accompanied him, a very old lady blind with age. He was at first alarmed lest the visit was to apprehend him; but on being told that they were perfectly ignorant of his existence, he was relieved from his anxiety. Being once assured that this visit was of a peaceable nature, it is impossible to describe the joy these poor people manifested on seeing those whom they were pleased to consider as their countrymen. Yams, cocoa-nuts and other fruits with fine fresh eggs, were laid before them; and the old man would have killed and dressed a hog for his visitors, but time would not allow them to partake of his intended feast.

      This interesting new colony, it seemed, now consisted of about forty-six persons, mostly grown up young people, besides a number of infants. The young men all born on the island were very athletic and of the finest forms, their countenances open and pleasing, indicating much benevolence and goodness of heart: but the young women were objects of particular admiration, tall, robust, and beautifully formed, their faces beaming with smiles and unruffled good humour, but wearing a degree of modesty and bashfulness that would do honour to the most virtuous nation on earth; their teeth, like ivory, were regular and beautiful, without a single exception; and all of them, both male and female, had the most marked English features. The clothing of the young females consisted of a piece of linen reaching from the waist to the knees, and generally a sort of

mantle thrown loosely over the shoulders and hanging as low as the ancles; but this covering appeared to be intended chiefly as a protection against the sun and the weather, as it was frequently laid aside – and then the upper part of the body was entirely exposed, and it is not possible to conceive more beautiful forms than they exhibited. They sometimes wreath caps or bonnets for the head in the most tasty manner, to protect the face from the rays of the sun, and though, as Captain Pipon observes, they have only had the instruction of their Otaheitan mothers, 'our dress-makers in London would be delighted with the simplicity, and yet elegant taste, of these untaught females.'

      Their native modesty, assisted by a proper sense of religion and morality instilled into their youthful minds by John Adams, has hitherto preserved these interesting people perfectly chaste and free from all kinds of debauchery. Adams assured the visitors that since Christian's death there had not been a single instance of any young woman proving unchaste; nor any attempt at seduction on the part of the men. They all labour while young in the cultivation of the ground; and when possessed of a sufficient quantity of cleared land and of stock to maintain a family, they are allowed to marry, but always with the consent of Adams, who unites them by a sort of marriage ceremony of his own.

      The greatest harmony prevailed in this little society; their only quarrels, and these rarely happened, being, according to their own expression, quarrels of the mouth: they are honest in their dealings, which consist of bartering different articles for mutual accommodation.

      Their habitations are extremely neat. The little village of Pitcairn forms a pretty square, the houses at the upper end of which are occupied by the patriarch John Adams, and his family, consisting of his old blind wife and three daughters from fifteen to eighteen years of age, and a boy of eleven; a daughter of his wife by a former husband, and a son-in-law. On the opposite side is the dwelling of Thursday October Christian; and in the centre is a smooth verdant lawn on which the poultry are let loose, fenced in so as to prevent the intrusion of the domestic quadrupeds. All that was done was obviously undertaken on a settled plan, unlike to any thing to be met with on the other islands, In their houses too they had a good deal of decent furniture, consisting of beds laid upon bedsteads, with neat covering; they had also tables, and large chests to contain their valuables and clothing which is made from the bark of a certain tree, prepared chiefly by the elder Otaheitan females. Adams's house consisted of two rooms, and the windows had shutters to pull to at night. The younger part of the sex are, as before stated, employed with their brothers, under the direction of their common father Adams, in the culture of the ground, which produced

cocoanuts, bananas, the bread-fruit tree, yams, sweet potatoes, and turnips. They have also plenty of hogs and goats; the woods abound with a species of wild hog, and the coasts of the island with several kinds of good fish.

      Their agricultural implements are made by themselves from the iron supplied by the Bounty, which with great labour they beat out into spades, hatchets, crows, etc. This was not all. The good old man kept a regular journal in which was entered the nature and quantity of work performed by each family, what each had received, and what was due on account. There was, it seems, besides private property, a sort of general stock out of which articles were issued on account to the several members of the community; and for mutual accommodation exchanges of one kind of provision for another were very frequent, as salt, for fresh provisions, vegetables and fruit for poultry, fish, &c.; also when the stores of one family were low or wholly expended, a fresh supply was raised from another, or out of the general stock, to be repaid when circumstances were more favourable; – all of which was carefully noted down in John Adams's Journal.

      But what was most gratifying of all to the visitors was the simple and unaffected manner in which they returned thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings they enjoyed. They never failed to say grace before and after meals, to pray every morning at sun-rise, and they frequently repeated the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. 'It was truly pleasing,' says Captain Pipon, 'to see these poor people so well disposed, to listen so attentively to moral instruction, to believe in the attributes of God, and to place their reliance on divine goodness.' The day on which the two captains landed was Saturday the 17th September; but by John Adams's account it was Sunday the 18th and they were keeping the Sabbath by making it a day of rest and of prayer. This was occasioned by the Bounty having proceeded thither by the eastern route, and our frigates having gone to the westward; and the Topaz found them right according to his own reckoning, she having also approached the island from the eastward. Every ship from Europe proceeding to Pitcairn's island round the Cape of Good Hope will find them a day later – as those who approach them round Cape Horn, a day in advance, as was the case with Captain Folger and the Captains Sir T. Staines and Pipon.

      The visit of the Topaz is of course, as a notable circumstance, marked down in John Adams's Journal. The first ship that appeared off the island was on the 27th December, 1795; but as she did not approach the land, they could not make out to what nation she belonged. A second appeared some time after, but did not attempt to communicate with them. A third came sufficiently near to see the natives and their habitations, but did not attempt

to send a boat on shore; which is the less surprizing, considering the uniform ruggedness of the coast, the total want of shelter, and the almost constant and violent breaking of the sea against the cliffs. The good old man was anxious to know what was going on in the old world, and they had the means of gratifying his curiosity by supplying him with some magazines and modern publications. His library consisted of the books that belonged to Admiral Bligh, but the visitors had not time to inspect them.

      They inquired particularly after Fletcher Christian. This ill-fated young man, it seems, was never happy after the rash and inconsiderate step which he had taken; he became sullen and morose, and practised the very same kind of conduct towards his companions in guilt which he and they so loudly complained against in their late commander. Disappointed in his expectations at Otaheite, and the Friendly islands, and most probably dreading a discovery, this deluded youth committed himself and his remaining confederates to the mere chance of being cast upon some desert island, and chance threw them on that of Pitcairn. Finding no anchorage near it, he ran the ship upon the rocks cleared her of the live stock and other articles which they had been supplied with at Otaheite, when he set her on fire, that no trace of inhabitants might be visible, and all hope of escape cut off from himself and his wretched followers. He soon however disgusted both his own countrymen and the Otaheitans, by his oppressive and tyrannical conduct; they divided into parties, and disputes and affrays and murders were the consequence. His Otaheitan wife died within a twelvemonth from their landing, after which he carried off one that belonged to an Otaheitan man, who watched for an opportunity of taking his revenge, and shot him dead while digging in his own field. Thus terminated the miserable existence of this deluded young man, who was neither deficient in talent nor energy, nor in connexions, and who might have risen in the service, and become an ornament to his profession.

      John Adams declared, as it was natural enough he should do, his abhorrence of the crime in which he was implicated, and said that he was sick at the time in his hammock; this, we understand, is not true, though he was not particularly active in the mutiny: he expressed the utmost willingness to surrender himself and be taken to England; in deed he rather seemed to have an inclination to revisit his native country, but the young men and women flocked round him, and with tears and entreaties begged that their father and protector might not be taken from them, for without him they must all perish. It would have been an act of the greatest inhumanity to remove him from the island; and it is hardly necessary to add that Sir Thomas Staines lent a willing ear to their entreaties, thinking, no doubt, as we feel strongly disposed to think, that if he were

even among the most guilty, his care and success in instilling religious and moral principles into the minds of this young and interesting society, have, in a great degree, redeemed his former crimes.

      This island is about six miles long by three broad, covered with wood, and the soil of course very rich: situated under the parallel of 25° S. latitude, and in the midst of such a wide expanse of ocean, the climate must be fine, and admirably adapted for the reception of all the vegetable productions of every part of the habitable globe. Small, therefore, as Pitcairn's island may appear, there can be little doubt that it is capable of supporting many inhabitants; and the present stock being of so good a description, we trust they will not be neglected. In the course of time the patriarch must go hence; and we think it would be exceedingly desirable that the British nation should provide for such an event by sending out, not an ignorant and idle evangelical missionary, but some zealous and intelligent instructor, together with a few persons capable of teaching the useful trades or professions. On Pitcairn's island there are better materials to work upon than missionaries have yet been so fortunate as to meet with, and the best results may reasonably be expected. Something we are bound to do for these blameless and interesting people. The articles recommended by Captain Pipon appear to be highly proper; – cooking utensils, implements of agriculture, maize or the Indian corn, the orange tree from Valparaiso, a most grateful fruit in a warm climate, and not known in the Pacific islands; and that root of plenty, (not of poverty, as a wretched scribbler has called it,) the potatoe; bibles, prayer books, and a proper selection of other books with paper, and other implements of writing. The visitors supplied them with some tools, kettles, and other articles, such as the high surf would permit them to land, but to no great extent; many things are still wanting for their ease and comfort. The descendants of these people, by keeping up the Otaheitan language, which the present race speak fluently, might be the means of civilizing the multitudes of fine people scattered over the innumerable islands of the Great Pacific. We have only to add, that Pitcairn's island seems to be so fortified by nature as to oppose an invincible barrier to an invading enemy; there is no spot apparently where a boat can land with safety, and, perhaps, not more than one where it can land at all; an everlasting swell of the ocean rolls in on every side, and breaks into foam against its rocky and iron bound shores.

      O happy people! happy in your sequestered state! and doubly happy to have escaped a visit from 'Captain Porter of the United States frigate Essex!' May no civilized barbarian lay waste your peaceful abodes; no hoary proficient in swinish sensuality rob you of that innocence and simplicity which it is peculiarly your present lot to enjoy!

[John Barrow.]
      "Journal of a Cruize made to the Pacific Ocean by Captain David Porter, in the United States Frigate Essex, in the years 1812, 1813, and 1814, containing Descriptions of the Cape de Verd Islands, Coasts of Brazil, Patagonia, Chili and Peru, and of the Gallapagos Islands. Also a full Account of the Washington Group of Islands; the Manners, Customs, Dress of the Inhabitants, &c. &c.",
Quarterly Review
Vol.14, No. 26 (July 1815).
pp. 352—383.

Galapagos Islands  Source  Whalesite