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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely Included In one exposure are filmed beginning In the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre fllmAs A des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A oartir de Tangle supArleur gauche, de gauche A drolte, et de haut en bes, en prenant le nombre d'Imagas nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 a 3 ♦ i A •*<' ' i. PERILS, ^C PASTIMES, AND PLEASURES OF AK EMIGRANT IN AUSTRALIA, VANCOUVER'S ISLAND AND CALIFORNIA. LONDON: THOMAS CAUTLEY NEWBY, PUBLISHER, 72, MORTIMER St., CAVENDISH Sq, 1849. L 4 rV ':x: i) V '^ •5^ JAMES WYLD, Esq., M.P. ■ ■-»■■', W^' It! 1^ Dbae Sir, "^ ,^ • , ■ ■ ■ ^ I shall not dedicate the " Perils, Pastimes, and Pleasures of an Emigrant in Aus- tralasia" to you through the medium of a dry dissertation upon Emigration, but shall endeavour to pen it in as free and easy a manner as though we were quietly discussing that knotty question ; or, rather, as though I were simply engaged in recording the many pithy and practical suggestions which, unpremeditatedly, emanate from your well-stored mind, whenever that subject is under consideration. You will ai^ree with me that there are two great facts connected with our present Social Condition, B V 1 Si 823 2 DEDICATION. which may well perplex the Statesman and affl let the philanthropist. The first is, that our population has long been increasing at the rate of a thousand souls a day ; and the second, that pauperism has been increasing at a still faster rate than population. This may be truly termed an organic disease in our Social Condition, and the ultimate tendency of it, unless it be carried oft by some wi?e remedial treat> ment, must be obvious to every one< Now the nature of that remedial treatment of the disease can only be suggested to us by a careful considerar tion of the cause of it ; and the increase of popu- lation, per se, cannot be the cause of it, for the laws of God and nature are abhorrent to such a conclusion. Nor can the concurrent increase of pauperism be properly termed th& cause of the disease, being, in fact, the ejTBct of it ; and what we really have to consider then is, what is it that is continually ag- gravating this baneful effect ? And, first, what is Pauperism — I mean able-bodied Pauperism ? Is it ^ not an insufficiency of productive and remunerative " employment; and if so, how is it that this in- sufficiency of our resources for employing the ia- >, DEDICATION. J dustrial classes becomes greater pari passu with the numerical growth of those classes ? To solve this important question, we must con- sider what the nature and extent of our resources for employing the industrial classes are ; and these may be nearly wholly comprised under the general terms of agriculture and manufactures — including in the latter all handicrafts of every description. Now, of the latter, it is true that the demand for manufacturing labour would increase with the in- ^ crease of population, if there was a similar increase in the demand for agricultural labour. But the demand for agricultural labour in this country has a limit which it reached long ago, and, therefore, every increase of the agricultural population, instead of creating an increased demand for manufacturing products, (as every increase of the manufacturing population creates an increased demand for agri- cultural produce), flies, by necessity, to manufacturing labour itself, and thus inordinately swells the supply of it, instead of augmenting the demand for it. The cause, therefore, of tbe disease is the limit which nature has placed to the demand for agri- PEDICATION. :. ?i cultural labour in this country, while she has at ^e same time ordained that it shall continually increase and multiply. Oi the erer accruing excess, the more inert portion remain and augment the mass of pauperism in the rural districts, while the mor« active portion are constantly migrating into the manufacturing districts^ and importing the same evil of a superabundance of labour into them. It is thus that the limited extent of the soil has an increasing tendency to crowd all the markets of labour to repletion — to render employment pre- carious because there is not sufficient employment for all — to reduce wages to the minimum of 8ub< sistence, because all are competing for employment under the pressure of an apprehension of that pauperism which mtut be the fate of some. Such a state of things of course could not have arisen until the whole extent of soil capable of profitable cultivation had been fully interrogated to supply additional employment for the growing increments of the popuktion. Neither could it have arisen at all, had the Crown possessed accemhU and unoccupied ter- ritories into which the surplus labour of the country i ? \S DEDICATION. might have been conducted by eaaj and inezpensiTe channels of transit. But, unfortunately, although BMiOBATioN would obviouslj hare been the natural preventive of the pauperism, which has sprung from the impossibility of our limited area supplying ad infinkum sufficient employment for a popula- tion which is illimitable ; and, although the Grown possesses unoccupied territories, of almost bound- less extent and fertility, for colonisation, our surplus labour has been hitherto cut off from them by oceans which have rendered them in- accessible for immigration, except on too small a scale to produce any sensible effect on the labour market, which it is so essential to relieve from redundant competition for employment at home. , The question, therefore, is— How is Emigration to be carried out so as to produce this desirable re- sult } Before I attempt to answer this question it may be as well to take a retrospective glance at the subject of Emigration — to trace its rise and progress in public opinion— to mark the different phases through which it has passed, from its first nebulous '(Condition in the cloudy regions of error, to its pre- I 6 DKDICATION. sent semi-transparent state, as it approximates to the luminous point of demonstration The gradual encroachment of population upon territory, with its accompanying evils, of labourers wanting work, and capitalists seeking investment for their capital, is no now phenomenon in the history of the world. Sooner or later in every country of not unlimited extent this phenomenon must have been experienced ; and the only difference between the past and the present is, we conceive, that in former times the means of relief were at hand, and the evil was no sooner felt than remedied. If the parent hive became too full, there were trees enough in the land j the surplus population had but to swarm, and make for themselves another, and the faster .the mother city grew, the sooner her boughs touched the earth, and became off- shoots to renew and cherish, instead of branches to weaken and exhaust her. At length, however, by the continual pressure of population upon sub- sistence, the earth has been partly peopled ; and some of the peopled parts have grown so full, that no vacant places are left in the neighbour- ' \ DEDICATION. hoodj into which the superabundance may be drawn off, as it used to be. If the Emerald Isle were, at this moment, uninhabited, instead of being full to repletion, those who are now uneasy with the elbow- ing and competition in England, would straightway cross over the channel and commence a new career for themselves ; and when the increase of numbers should re-appear in all their irritating activity — and no second Ireland should be at hand, to absorb the discontented and unemployed, the people must either make up their minds to the slow destruction, which decimating disease and deadly fever would bring about, or bridge the Atlantic and seek an existence in tho unbroken solitudes of the far- west. This has been partly accomplished in cur time, and the great question is, how to bring the occupied and unoccu- pied portions of the earth nearer to each other, so as to stream off the pent-up people from their densely isolated spots to a wider space, and an ampler region for their industrial energies, and give them elbow- room for the full development of their faculties. But we are somewhat anticipating. When the popu- lation in this country began to increase too rapidly » DEDICATION. '. for the means of employing it — when it became difficult to adjust the proportion between the claim- ants for wages, and the fund out of which wages were paid — the public mind was strongly directed to this phenomenon, and after the usual amount of acrimonious dispute, and more than the usual amount of hypothetical dogmatism, from the novelty and magnitude of the question, and the immense interests that were at stake — no less than the peace and prosperity of the whole community — it ^as at length agreed that Emigration would prove the panacea for the great evils which stared every one in the face, and the recognition of that fact was a considerable point gained. Enquiry was immediately set on foot to devise a scheme on an adequate scale to the emergency; and two Committees of the House of Commons (1826-7) elaborately investi- gated the question, and reported that the British settlements supplied room enough for the surplus population, and that by the assistance of Government a sufficient number could be enabled to settle on the Colonial Wastes, so as to relieve the immediate pressure, and restore, in some measure, the equi- DEDICATION. 9 librittin between demand and supply. This was a beginning which augured well for the lab deemed tlie expense of his voyage, fr'i. This can easily be done by the Colonial Legislature enacting that no one shall hold land who has not redeemed his debt. 20 DEDICATION. w. ! im I: i' m-' 6t the greatest number, or rather of all. The ships, of course, should be specially fitted up for the ob* ject. 8th. When the Fin. Class shall hare been fully subscribed to, a Second Class must be opened for subscriptions, and then a third, and so forth. It must not, however, be supposed that I have the emigration of Agricultural labourers alone in view ; for, although the situations, which are chiefly open to imigrants in our colonies, are of a rural character, operatives from towns will find no difliculty in either obtaining them, or discharging the duties of them. On the contrary, the Stockholders and Sheep Farmers of Australia prefer the latter as servants, not only on account of their more disciplined sagacity and ingenuity, but on account of their freedom from all prejudice in favour of the old-world way of doing things which is frequently impracticable, and always too expensive, for the young and rude agriculture of a colony, where so many conveniences must not be looked for as at home. To conclude. Let any man of ordinary observation pay a visit DEDICATIOir. 2t to our Colonies — wy the Cape or Atuttnlia — ftnd he will there find a splendid climate, a fertile coun- try, yielding ererything that a man can desire — the finest wool wherewith to clothe him, the finest corn wherewith to feed him, besides other things, beyond necessaries, in abundance. Man alone is scarce. Ask the Colonist what he wants ; and the only answer will be Man. Men are not ; therefore, labour is not. The colony languishes for want of labour. Let the enquirer then turn his eyes upon this large capital, fretting and sweltering with the density of its population — what will be the first ob- servation that he will make ? He will be struck with the superabundance of Man, and the want of everything but Man. He will see the land taxed to the utmost to ooze out a living for the masses upon its surface. He will see these things, and involuntarily exclaim — " England wants what the colonies can supply ; and the colonies want what England can supply." Nothing seems more easy, simple, and practicable, yet it is not effected. The question has been deemed too complicated — too weighty for or- dinary solution — too perplexed by Utopian projectors — in short, impracticable. a 22 DEDICATION. '■'\ As a humble attempt to render the question plain, practical, and intelligible, I respectfully present through you, my dear sir, the preceding plan to the public. •^ I have the honour to remain, ^ ^ With ev^ry respectful consideration, Your's, J. W. Baytwater. % na estion -,< ■ ivr'FV^" *'- -.■)-5:9i:5i,?r:l. *•> resent 1 ^;i'^ -l.:- '/'■■'" 1 , > to the 1 ;.v ■:' < ".-I ■'■' '; _■' '.S'-K ■ i * ■ ii ' m :•; :_ •. ■ ■ .■■ , !'■ ' ' -,'*■« ! ' ' ■ •J o \? ■:! » v*;t.K»- .:;r ."»', I.>f INTRODUCTION. Nugce in seriaducunt! When I sat down to rummage over my friend's Australasian Correspondence, in order to furnish you with a few hints as to the sort of world you might expect to find in the other hemisphere, I little thought that I should be led into such a serious scrape, as becoming the Editor of a work upon the subject. How little, indeed, I meditated such a piece of presumption is evi- m INTRODUCTION. ''.i If It"^' If!'' ■ ii!' ■ dent from tbe fact that, instead of supplyin you with a digest of the information scattered through his letters, I consulted my own indolent humour by placing them bundled up together in your hands in order that you might sift them for yourself; and even now I can scarcely conceive myself accountable for their publication, seeing that I have been propelled into it by the urgency of your " numerous friends," amongst whom you have handed them about, and who threaten to impeach me of in- justice to my friend if I refuse to allow him to appear in print. I am bound to say this much, on my own behalf, lest it should be supposed after all thav I have been lured into the publication of my friend's MSS. by the tempting opportunity it would afford me of lugging some of my own lucubrations also before the public. And, in fact, it is only as a further act of justice to myself that I also protest that I should not have thought of publishing the following INTRODUCTION. 25 friendly suggestions to you on the subject of JEmiffration, had you not overcome me by the following remonstrance that the work would hardly be completo without them. ^ In the first place, then, I would hare you to understand that whoever goes to this new world, if he means to succeed in it, must re- solve, in a great measure, to become a new man. He must make up his mind to dispense with most of the indulgences, and to discard from his memory most of the conventionalities to which he has been accustomed, and to recon- cile himself to the simpler pleasures, and the ruder manners, of a mere primitive life. The man who can thus break through old habits, and divest himself of old social prejudices, is endowed with a force of character which would enable him to make his way anywhere ; and in Australia will certainly carve out for himself a sure, though somewhat rough, road to for- tune. You, for instance, considered as an Emigrant, may be classed as a capitalist ; but, 26 INTRODUCTION. I 1 ,, I plj If: if:! i'--''i *^:lt ii!;: you would make a very great mistake if you looked for all the exemptions in Australia which the capitalist is entitled to here. The province of capital here is simply to keep labour in motion without any further effort than that of vigilant superintendence ; but there the capitalist must make up his mind to set the example of labouring himself, and, in- deed, to consider himself as little better than the foreman of the persons in his employment. He must not expect to say " do this," and see it done ; but must direct how it is to be done, and also lend a hand in doing it. He must re- member that in a new country labour, instead of being the slave of capital, is itself the most valuable species of capital, which he never ought to allow to remain idle and unproductive for a day. In this country, where labour of every description is plentiful and cheap, it would be bad economy in a master to endeavour to save the wages of a labourer by labouring himself, to the neglect of that general super- liii "> INTRODUCTION. 27 intendencc, by which he is able to save incal- culably more; because here the division of labour is carried so far, that without his super- intending head to direct and controul every branch of it, there would be endless irregu- larity and waste. But, in a new country, where there is little or no division of labour, the best sort of superintendence is that which is ever present in participating in the work to be done ; and it is obvious, moreover, that it is of the utmost consequence to the employer to fix the scale of labour by the example of what he is capable of performing himself. Indeed, to the person who emigrates with a moderate capital, I would strenuously advise that he should make a point of weaning him- self from most of his previous habits — even those wliicli may comi; within the category of innocent indulgoiiocs — except those which are purely domestic ; an 1 tiiese latter, on the con- trary, I would have him cherii?h with a hun- flrcd-fold more Icrvo.ir llian ever. People will c 3 28 INTRODUCTION. P 1; tell you, my dear , not to take out thiSf and not to take out that ; but, whatever you resolve not to take out, by all means take out a wife. Few men know what a home ia Mrithout a wife, even here ; and what sort of a home, therefore, can he expect to find in the wildernesses of Australia without one ? And even as a matter of £. s. d. it is of the utmost importance to a settler that he should be mar- ried. Here, a married life is associated with frightful ideas of large expenses and increasing incumbrances; but in the Bush the cost of housekeeping is not much affected by the number of mouths to be supplied ; and, even if it was, children, ahnost as soon as they are breeched, become such valuable helps to their parents, that in Australia it may truly be said, happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them. And, on the contrary, what economy, to say nothing of comfort, can be expected from the housekeeping of a clumsy Satyr, in the shape of a hut-keeper ? For my part, I Hit INTRODUCTION. 29 can easily fancy the pleasing excitement which the Bushman's occupations afford him during the hours he is engaged out of doors ; but the happiness of his life must be marred by his returning home in the evening to a cheerless hearth, where there is no object upon which his affections can repose and expand them- selves. In the following pages there will be found such excellent arguments, by real Bushmen, for even your " practical men " imposing upon themselves the discipline I have inculcated, of renouncing as many of their old notions and prejudices as possible, that I need not take those who are already adepts in the agriculture of the Old World under my instructions. There is another class, however, for whom I have a few words of stern but encouraging advice ; and it is the more incumbent upon me to dwell upon their catfc, because it has been customary to treat them with disdain, as wholly unfitted 30 INTRODUCTION. 1 to be of any service to themselves, or to others in the character of Emigrants. If a clerk, a shopman, or a weaver, was to go into the country and ask a farmer for employ- ment, he would no doubt be laughed at by all the clowns who might overhear such an out-of- the-way application. But if you were suddenly to transplant one of those clowns, nnd one of the aforesaid non-descripts, as they may be termed in an agricultural sense, into the Bush, their respective chances of proving valuable labourers would be all in favour of the latter. In fact, the clerk, the shopman, or the weaver, would, if he possessed an ordinary share of ingenuity and pluck, became a tolerably good herdsman, or shepherd, in the Bush, before Hodge had got rid of half of the old-world notions, which he must unlearn before he could make himself worth tiie salt to his j)orridge. All that the clerk, for instance, has to make up his mind to is precisely that uhich I have said the capitalist himself must do — namely, to dis- INTRODVCTION. »l miss all the ideas which he has hitherto associ- ated with his relative position Id life, and recon- cile himself to the new conditions which are attached to the situation of servant, as well aa master, in the new world where he is desirous of obtaining that sufficiency, and perhaps com- petence, which he despairs of finding here. He will not be called upon to unlearn his old practice of book-keeping, and go to school again to Iciirn another against which he would be prejudiced. lie will only be called upon to forget waste-books, cash-books, and ledgers, altogetiier, and apply his wits to a pastoral occu[)ation, which is so much more simple, that a child can learn all the mysteries of it there, much before he would be master of the twenty first pages of a Tutor's Assistant, here. And so far from his Town education being a dis- advantage to him, he will be found to have derived from it a quickness of perception, and a dexterity in emergencies, which is seldom or ever possessed by the uneducated, and there St INTRODUCTION. mi i^ i M' wA fore unreflecting, farm- labourers of England. To say that a claes of men who have been accustomed to the free and easy carriage of their limbs, and to the continual exercise of their faculties, cannot learn how to use an axe, a spade, or a bullock-drivers whip, is absurd. All that they would want is the untt; and, if they have the will, they are a hundred to one before the joint-stiffened and muddle-headed clown from the threshing-floor or the plough's tail. That the prosperity of Australia will be pro- gressive there can be very little doubt. Even the crisis through which its various settlements have passed , are sure indications of their ulti- mately arriving at a point from which there will be no sensible retrogression. In short, those commercial crises have been only the natural struggles of a rising commercial spirit, which will overcome all obstacles. Her wool trade has already taken its place amongst the taple trades of nations ; the revival of the INTRODUCTION. 33 1 Southern Fisheries will create another yast branch of tra£Sc with Europe ; and, above all, the rapid development of her mineral resources* will shortly effect a radical chann;e in another branch which is of the highest importance to all countries, and will therefore bring her into intercourse, when our Navigation Laws are repealed, with the world at large. Commercial pursuits, however, will not be appropriate immediately for the moderate capi- * The rich mineral resources of Australia is one of the most striking phenomenon of modem dis- coveries. Within the short space of three years the proprietors of the mines have exported copper to England which has realized twenty per cent., on an average, more than the best European coppers, not even excluding those of Chili and Peru ; the ore of the Burra Burra mine yielding as much as 40 per cent, of pure copper, while the average yield of Chilian copper is 17 to 18 per cent., and those of South Wales about 8 per cent. The average price of South Wales or EngUsh ores at Swansea, for the last three years^ has been 51. lOs. per ton j whilethose of foreign origin have realized 12^., and during the same period c 5 I p. i lii 34 INTHODUCTION. talist. The development of her marine and mineral resources can only be prudently attempted, or effectually worked out, by the enterprize, management, atid capital, of associ- ated bodies. An individual who only equipped one ship for the Whaling Grounds, or sunk his capital in a solitary mine, might be ruined by the failure of that isolated adventure ; but a public company, which sent out fleets to the Fisheries, or worked simultaneously a dozen different mines, would be compensated for the the Australian ore has commanded, in some instances, as much as 33^ per ton — the lowest price never falling below 131., and the bulk realizing from 18 to 191. per ton. Other mines in Australia have yielded corresponding riches in copper ores ; and when the lead and iron ores shall have been but partially realized, the mining interest of the South Australian Settlement must become one of the finest and richest of the New World. For an interesting detail of the mineral resources of South Australia, and other valuable information relative to tlint settlement, see Mr. Wilkinson's work — " South AusLiah \., its advan- tages and Resources." INTRODUCTION, 36 loss arising from some by the gain accruing from the rest, and thus, by a sort of self-in- surance, secure to themselves an average rate of profit. And, as to joining these public com- panies, emigration is not necessary for that, because it can be done just as easily at home. With those introductory remarks, I shall leave the letters of our friend to speak for themselves; and, if read with attention, and in a proper spirit, they cannot fail to impart a great deal of useful ii 'ormation, not only to the Emigrant, but to the Merchant, the Manufacturer, and even to the Statesman. Yours, etc., J. W. ^ 1 t ' ■ * - - ■- ,' > --. ''■'• ' « ii »■ 1 \ i 1 ' ■■ * r ' • • M CHAPTER I. cow PASTURES, THIRTT-PIVE MILES PROM SYDNEY. Since my arrival on this side of the globe, my dear W— — , I have witnessed some strange sights and adventures, which I shall describe to you, as well as I can, knowing your love for that sort of thing, and the lively interest which you will take in perusing the description, from the simple fact of your old chum being the sight-seer and adventurer. 38 COW-PASTUttES. m You may believe me when I state that I never witnessed any sight or scene out of the ordinary way, that I did not instantly think of you, and of the pleasure you must have expe- rienced, had you been present, so much does sym- pathy increase the power of enjoyment ; and when the freshness of the scene had worn away, and you were still in my mind, I naturally reverted to the incidents which marked our long acquaintance — to our almost daily meet- ings at that anatomical temple, St. George's, where the High Priest of nerves and muscles, old cut-em-upi who never said a kind thing and never, willingly, did a good one, was con- tinually dinning into our ears, the necessity of acquiring a thorough knowledge of anatomy and of the human frame, and while he was prac- tically demonstrating before our eyes the truth of his instructions, or, in other words, was cutting away at his subject, how frequently, have we wished to * cut away' to our favourite pastille es and pleasures. Ah ! my dear fellow, * COW-PASTURES. 39 I think I know better now, experience has taught me a wrinkle or so ! There is nothing like roughing it in this world, if you wish to clear the brain of many of its ii ">Uah notions ; especially in its youthful eute, when there is something peculiarly green about it, and it is too apt to riot in the freshness, and freedom of its nature. It is all very well to talk as you and I did, * when the bloom was on the peach,' of the monotonous routine of our ex- istence ; of our ardent desire to see more of the world, as we then phrased it, of our deter- mination to emancipate ourselves, or, in familiar terms, to * cut it,' the very first oppor- tunity that might present itself. Well— that opportunity presented itself to me, which I eagerly embraced, and, as you know, I would scarcely give myself time even to make the necessary preparations for a long journey, so hot and imsty was I to bo off, going, I knew not whither, and to see, I scarce knew what, or whom. Believe mc, iny dear W , that 40 cow PASTURES. f:m vIM time works wondrous changes in our feelings and sentiments ; and were I to tell you that I have experienced more pleasure in wandering alone amidst the wild " Bush," and in the deep solitudes of New South Wales, or commingling with the motly denizens of her stations and her towns, than I have done while sauntering down that great artery of civilization — Regent Street — arm-in-arm with yourself, I should grossly deceive myself if I did not de- ceive you, and I will not attempt to do either. It is very easy for your sickly sen- " timentalist, who never lacked the creature, comforts of this life, to declaim against the thronged city — to conjure up imaginary wrongs — and the hypocritical feelings of its denizens; to chatter about hollow hearts, pride, ambition finery, and festivity ; and then, by way of con- trast, to paint the Arcadian simplicity of your Australian Emigrant, so honest, so truthful, and so guileless, as we have heard our friends, R— and B-^-do, and then quote the beau- tiful antithesis of Byron, touching his *' pleasure cow PASTURES. 41 in the pathless woods,** and his '' rapture on the lonely shore ;"butlet them experience afew of the hardfcships which every Emigrant is com- pelled to undergo, when he arrives in this quarter of the globe, and the luxury of "a pathless wood,'* and the rapture in viewing ** a lonely shore," will become merely conventional terms, the true meaning of which must greatly depend upon the physical condition of the individual, which must be of a good, healthy, nature before the mind can experience such enjoy- ments. Try it, my friend, as I have done, half-a-score times, and you will soon discover the delusion. A head-ache or too, a severe cold with fever and excitement, and a scarcity of the common comforts of life, these ills will soon dispel your poetic notions of *' society where none intrudes,*' and all the Byronic sentiments of your brain. In this land of Convicts and Kangaroos you cannot live upon fine scenery, but you must work hard, endure much, ac- 42 cow PASTURES. ipl ^4"'^'^ lU'l i'* cumulate slowly, if at all, and then, perchance, you may end your days with a comfortable competency — which you cannot fail to do in England, with your peculiar education, if you only exercise ordinary industry and prudence. Having eased my mind of these few reflections upon the difference between imagination and reality, as regards the feelings of certain would-be emigrants, I shall now proceed to jot down my scenes and adventures in this quarter of the world, as freshly and freely as they occurred to me ; and shall consider my- self especially happy, if they have the effect of conveying a truthful impression to your mind, of the actual state of things, so contrary in many respects to that, which is generally enter- tained of them in the mother country. The Cow Pastures are about thirty-five miles from Sydney, where the Australian Nomade really begins his life. The pasture- life, especially sheep-tending, is dull, lazy, and excessively monotonous. Day after day passess cow PASTURES. 43 away without the slightest call for exertion, except at branding time, which comes but once a year, when the bustle and boozing create a temporary change ; but it is soon over, and then returns the usual quietude and repose. Everything connected with this occupation disposes to dreaminess and dozing — the heat, the drowsiness of the atmosphere, and the stillness of the cattle — and you sink, as it were insensibly, into that condition. I soon became like others, very idle —smoked a great deal — stuffed birds by way of killing time, and atfording me a stimulus to carry my gun — took long steaming walks, as they term tiem — from the shear fatigue of indolence, which fre- quently created the only excitement which is incidental to a Bush life. I passed three months in this lazy manner, and became heartily weary of it. Our living, I must ob- serve, was wretchedly bad, as everything was so very scarce and dear. Sometimes we had great difficulty in procuring even bread ; and 44 cow PASTURES. IS as to meat and milk, although in the Cow Pastures, the first was lean and tough, and the latter not to be obtained at almost any price. But this scarcity arose, I ought to relate, from a terrible drought which laated three successive years, and rendered everything in the shape of food almost inaccessible. The cattle died off by thousands, and those remaining behind were weak, attenuated by hunger, and com- paratively unproductive. A timely importa- tion of wheat and rice, chiefly from the Indian Archipelago, proved a great relief to all classes and conditions of society, and even to animal life, so universal was the depression at that time. My professional pursuits frequently called me to the Pastures^ althougth my head quarters, or bleeding establishment, was at a small house near Yass, on the road to Goul- bourn, where my partner C , who at- tended to the kill-or-cure department at home, while I toured it in the country, almost always ■# cow PASTURES. m '^ M resided. During the awful scarcity to which I have alluded, we could neither obtain money nor meat of our clients in the town, therefore determined to take a turn together in the country — to pay our patients a friendly visit — where we hoped to find * relief in one shape or another. C put the horse in the gig, and off we started on our tour, and we generally managed to enquire the price of ducks, fowls, hams, &c., or whatever we saw about in the eating line ; especially if there was an old bill standing, or a new one ac- cumulating. We never objected to take it out in kind during the drought, as there was scarcely any kind of eatables to be obtained for either love or money. One day we had a goose, two dried tongues, a loaf of bread, a couple of live ducks, a small bag of flour, a piece of mutton, and a lump of butter; all of which were sets-off against our precious medicine and advice. It would have done your heart good to have seen C hand out the 46 cow PASTURES. articles, one after another, and to have heard his quaint observations upon the relative value of the 'mutton' and * goose,' as compared with our costly ' draughts' and * lotions.' It would also have been capital fun to have seen you in a similar predicament, with your precise notions, and systematic habits — breakfast exactly at nine ; dinner — at five, to a minute; or Lord have mercy on the servants ! Stick at home, my boy, and don't venture out of the regular routine of life ; it would play the deuce with your clock-work habits, and prim, and precise locomotion. You no more could stand * rough- ing ' in this quarter of the globe, unless your old feelings were completely bruised and bat- tered out of you, than a fine-fed Italian grey- hound could take a tramping tour with the gipsies — a jump from the luxuriant drawing- room to a dirty ditch. You have often ad- mired the Horse-Guards and their fine black horses. Just imagine one of the latter — fat, sleek, and sauc}' — suddenly transferred to a cow PASTURES. 47 cabman ; and, in lieu of regular habits, capital feeding, and out-and-out grooming, shoved here and there, on every road, and at all hours, subject to the caprice of his drunken driver — you know the rest, broken knees, broken wind, broken heart — he dies, and the dogs close the account of the poor animal — then you have a not very inapt resemblance to many men who come out here, who are totally unfitted for it. Don't feel otfended at my blunt and homely way of writing to you; it is, at all events, sincere. Picture to your mind what I have been compelled to endure, and many others besides me, who had no notion of the real state of things here — no bread, no butter — worse than the charity children in England ; no meat, no money — worse than the common prigs of London, for they can at *a pinch* procure both — to say nothing of a multitude of other inconveniences which came * thick and fast ' upon me, and which, with every respectful feeling be it spoken, I question much if you ii m 48 cow PASTURES. could endure, without wincing most grievously. But, rCimporte. We considered ourselves exceedingly for- tunate by the tour which we made amongst our friends, as it secured us against the terrible scarcity which everywhere prevailed. We were determined to enjoy ourselves, therefore cooked the goose, and tapped some bottled stout, which cost us fifteen shillings at Sydney, not reckoning the carriage to Yass, which is always very high throughout the Colony ; and on that day we made a good dinner — a great treat — and looked forward to a few more while our prog and porter latited I ought to mention that I purchased some excellent claret for fifteen pence per bottle, which turned out a most agreeable beverage, especially in the hot season. .^. ^it My three month's partnership, if I may so term it, had expired — for I was only on trial — the influenza, which was raging most murder- ously, had disappeared, and from the time I cow PASTURBS. 49 arrived at Yass till I left, every one seemed less and loss to require medical aid, and from booking two and three pounds per day, it gra- dually fell down to that sum in the course of as many weeks, or a month. After winding up our accounts, I found myself just Jive pounds better than when I started ; not so bad after all, thought I, considering the times and cir- cumstances. *C , my boy, it will not do — I must try another station,' said I. The remote — the very remote bush, with all its pri- vations — salt beef, damper, nothing but water* tea with the coarsest brown sugar, no milK, a mere shed to dwell in, bush-ranger«rascals on the one hand, and black savages on the other, ready to instantly pounce upon your valuables, and carriage, at such a price that even a few books would be a source of trouble and expense — all these things 1 did not fancy, for if money were to be made, it would be at the sacrifice jf all social feelings and pleasure, and the rust which solitude invariably generates, would most D i 50 COW-PASTURB& likely corrode and canker the little valnable stufiP I may have in my mind, to say nothing of the repulsiye manners which one too readily acquires by association. "I will see what this place WoUongong is," I observed to C— . "It is becoming a fashionable watering place to Sydney.'* We had several horses, which cost nothing for keep if you turn them out in the Bush ; but, if you require them for use, they become expensive. We were obliged to have one ready at all hours, and with maize at ten and twelve shillings per bushel, and hay at eighteen pounds a ton, it was no joke. An inn- keeper would charge ten shillings for the k^ep of a horse, for one night only — so dear was everything at that time. " No riding for me,** said I : ** I will stump it, it is not more than forty miles.'* - C put to the horse, and over we drove to the village pastor, from whom we solicited a letter of introduction to the clergyman of V COW-PASTURES. 51 WoUoDgong; and permit me to remark that the former is a most excellent and worthy man, uniyersallj beloved, and an honour to old England. When I first Joined G-: — »iie was saffering severely from strumous abscesses, 80 that he could not attend to his business in a proper manner ; and it was so arranged that I should take the night journies, and the long distances, which enabled him to recruit his strength, and recover his ordinary state of health. But, as business fell off, we generally went together for mere company's sake, and I always drove, as he was rather timid, and many a shake have I given him by shaving too close to a fallen log in the Bush, driving over a branch, pitching one wheel into a deep excava- tion, or rattling, with increased speed, through the trees, where there was not the slightest trace of a road. We had many merry days together; for he was a good-tempered and lively dog, although an invalid. We occupied part of a house — a whole one was too expen- D 2 M 52 cow PASTURES. sive there — situate on the road to Yass, Goul- bourn, and Port Philip, and the owner was a freed-man. His wife had also been a convict, and they formerly kept a public-house; but they lost their license through bad conduct of some kind or other. They were almost always drunk ; and our servant, who had been trans- ported for forgery, and was a ticket-of-leave man, was just as bad. The scenes of riot and drunkenness were too much for us, so that we moved a little further off to the house of a white native, whose father, it was said, was an Irishman of the genuine '98 breed, who "left his country, for his country's good." This man, also, was drunk ihe first thing in the morning, and would continue in that state for four or five weeks together. ' I have seen vice in almost every form, and under almost every condition in the old world, but never did it appear to me in bo repulsive and disgusting a shape as it exists among the lower orders at Sydney, and, indeed, in almost cow PASTURES. every place that I have visited in New South Wales. The Sydney ites seem to have concen- trated all the worst feelings of human nature — beastly drunkenness, sensuality of the grossest and coarsest kind, expressions of the most horrid and sickening nature ; in short, every- thing that debases the human species is there indulged in to the utmost extent, and, being so common, produces among the better sort of resident iVeling of surprise, and excites no comment jluc higher class of settlers, as if affected by inhaling so tainted an atmosphere, are selfish, grasping, suspicious, cunning, full of trickery, deceipt, and falsehood, in almost all their dealings ; and the day is wholly en- grossed in endeavours to overreach your neigh- bour, while the spare time is filled up by in- dulging in scandal, and drinking to excess, which leads to every other debauchery. When once the foot is placed on this hated spot, all the little courtesies of life disappear, and all P. V 54 cow PASTURES. refinement of thought, and every generous and elevated sentiment, is instantly extin- guished. Poor fallen human nature seems to have sunk to its lowest possible depth in this place. :"■''■'. 1 ' I 7 ": .- CHAPTER 11. 8YDNE7. The first day of my journey to "WoUongong, in the beautiful district of Illawarra, was through a partially cultivated country. After leaving Campbell Town to the right, I passed over a hilly district which was studded with wind-mills, cottages, and. neatly trimmed gardens, besides a pretty considerable extent of enclosed lands ; then dropped into a broad road made by the convicts in some former i W V 66 SYDNEY. Governor-Generars administration, for public convenience, which soon brought me to Appin, a queer, long, and straggling village, at which I stopped for the night. There was but one public-house in the place, kept by a freed convict ; it was a low and dirty criA, and you may imagine that it was no luxury to sleep in it. The next day I tramped along the broad road, which soon terminated, when I plunged into the bush, where I had to rough it, all alone, for more than twenty miles — one small path, through which the mail goes, being my only guide. The weather was remarkably fine. The sun shone out brightly, but not oppressively ; the birds glanced cheerfully from bough to bough, their plumage gleaming like the coruscations of a rainbow ; the scene was wild, my mind at ease, my legs strong ; in my hand a good thick stick, very little in my pocket, and '" the world all before me where to choose." ( SYDNEY. 57 While I was pushing along through the brushwood I observed a flook of white parrots, which indicated that water was near, and in a few minutes afterward tb autiful Nepean burst upon my sight, meandering at a distance oyer the undulating ground like a silvery eel in motion. The bed of the river was deeply worked in the rocks, at the point where I crossed it, and its water was gurgling over the shingly bottom at a rapid rate, making its way to a broad valley which stretched itself out at the foot of the hills over which I was passing. I batlied myself in the river, whose cool water refreshed my feet, and quenched my thirst, and I never in my life felt so grate- ful and contented in my mind, especially as I viewed the pendant woods, the bold precipices, and the picturesque falls, which this stream had formed in its onward Course through the mountains. I sat myself down to take a view cf the country^ and greatly admired the scene that presented itself, so different in almost m V 58 SYDNEY. all the phenomena which meet the eye in an European landscape. Trees are but trees, you will say, but trees^ vegetation, flowers, birds, insects, animals — in short, everything that goes to make up a landscape — assume such a peculiar aspect, and are so strikingly different in this country, to anything that I have obr served in our northern latitudes. The pe- culiarity of Australian vegetation, as contrasted with European, is its harshness. The leaves of almost all the trees and shrubs are tough and rigid, and frequently terminate in a sharp and prickly point, which is anything but agreeable when you have to push your way through a tangled mass of them, a by no means uncommon occurrence. The gum tree, which abounds here, is very like our laurels ; the casuarina resembles the fir genus; the cabbage tree approximates to the yew in shape; and the dryandra may be likened to the holly. The foliage, with few exceptions, is exceedingly thin, and the leaves present f x 8TDNET. 59 their edge, and not their 'surface, to the light ; 80 that we have little of that cool and um- brageous luxury in the forests of Australia, which you have in your European woods. To the traveller this is a matter of prime im- portance, especially when the hot sun is pour- ing down his rays upon your head, and the parched earth is responding in the same ele- ment to your feet. The bulrush, the sow- thistle, and the furze, appear indigenous in New Holland. The beauty and luxuriance of the flowers are beyond description, and seem to afford considerable sustenance to many of the feathered and insect tribes. The silence that prevails in these forests is singularly felt by an European at first, until the ear and the eye became accustomed to it. It will fre- quently happen that, in a deep, woody country, no sound or movement of life can be heard or seen ; the very leaves on the trees seem fast asleep, the insects are perfectly tuneless in the air; no hum, no buzz, no chirrup, to break V ^ 8TDNEY. I I the fairy-bound and spell-like monotony which completely reigns around you. Such was the effect on my senses when I gazei upon the scene around me from the banks of the Nepean, and so it continued, until I came to the open country, when the comical-looking kangaroo, and its bounding movements — the queer scream of the cockatoos — the agile squirrels — and the various other living things which there abound, began to show life and animation, in all their respective peculiarities. On I trudged for another ten miles or so, when I heard the sound of the human voice, which came like refreshing music on my ear ; and, as I was anxious to ascertain its where- about, I listened and listened, and actually thought it bad been a dream, until, at length it burst out into a loud and boisterous laugh, which soon broke the spell, and convinced me of its reality. On a sudden turn in the path I came upon some men, who were seated in a shed, which they had been erecting in the SYDNEY. 61 midst of the forest, as a sort of r.estiug-place for way-faring wanderers like myself; and, as this was the only spot likely to contain a human being on ray route, I turned in among them, lighted my pipe, sat down, and began to chat away ; so delighted was I to meet with anything in the shape of a human being. Here I found some damper —& kind of heavy, close, bread — and some good brandy, which I greatly enjoyed, and while I was slowing these things away, up came a constable and a run- away convict, on th^sir way to WoUongong. The constable observed that he saw me start from Appin, and guessed that I was not ** all right," from the rapid pace at which I was going ; and then he further questioned me as to my being " free,'* my destination, place of departure — all of which I purposely evaded, . which excited his curiosity still more. I was amused at the idea of being taken for a run- away felon. What next? thought I. The constable could make nothing of me, which and then he astonishes them all, above a bit, in this quarter,*' re- sponded the constable. " I should like to bring him out, then,** I exclaimed. ^''^ -^^ - '^vj ^w ** Well, so you shall, and when you like. He'll do anything for me, for I've given him a turn now and then, which cost me nothing, but was of great service to him," replied my companion. " If you have half-an-hour to spare, when you have finished your stroll, we'll drop in upon him; I see he's a little bit " on'" now, you've only to wet him, as they say of a hedgehog in my country, and he's sure to open^'' observed the constable. I V 8\DNET. 73 ** With all my heart," I replied, «« for I'm very partial to everything of the curious and uncommon in life, which you must have seen a great deal of, since you have been in these quarters.'* " Well, Mr. Watson, we have come to have a glass of your " yankee particular" after dinner, if you have no objection," observed the constable, as we re-entered the store of the little spirit-dealer, which we had visited in the morning. " Walk in, gentlemen, walk in," exclaimed the active boniface, '* there, go into my little snuggery behind, there's nobody there, and I'll join you in a jiffy." We all three smoked, we all three drank, and heartily too, for the constable was a regular soaker, and nothing i^eemed to come amiss to him — he could stretch his throat, like a ribbed stocking, to anything, from a pen'orth of gin up to a frothy pot of heavy — and we all three talked, but not iu the same ratio, for m 74 SYDNEY, I said little, ♦he constable said much, but the landlord said the most, which particularly- pleased me, as I was anxious to hear the his- tory of his adventured through life. « When I first carae out to this country," exclaimed the landlord. The constable whispered in my ear. " Carae out, indeed I he was sent out! a little difference between you and I." *' Well, well, I know what you mean, but I don't care about that. I've always behaved * fair and square' since 1 have been here, and show me the man that's done better, consider- ing what I've had to fight against," alluding to our tete-a-iSte, which I would gladly have avoided, but the constable was getting a little on himself. " I meant no harm, I assure you, Mr. Wat- jjon," exclaimed the constable, " I was merely cracking a joke upon the difference between * came out' and * sent out,' which we hear so often up at Sidney ; but I never thought for >\ SYDNEY. 75 a moment that it would * bring you out* in this way, or would'nt have drop't a word to my friend beside me.'* " Ah I that's all very well, you are like many others that I know here ; you must have " a fling" at us * out-siders,* you can't help it," retorted the landlord. " Let a man once commit himself— it's all up with him, then ; he may be as good as an angel all his lifetime afterwards, but they won't forget it — that's just like the world," continued Watson, who seemed disposed to turn sulky and * shut up shop,' as the saying is. " Mr. Watson," I put in, " I've heard our friend, the constable, give you the best of characters, during our stroll this moruing, therefore I hope you won't take ainiss what he said to me just now — I'm sure he meant no harm to you, as I'm certain he respects you tco much for that. In fact, to tell you the truth, it was only what he said to me about you, that induced me to come back to E 2 I 1:1 I m V 6 SYDNEY. your place, and take a glass of grog with you^ therefore I shall take it as a personal favour if you won't allude to it again. Here's to your very good health, Watson; may you live long and die happy." ** Thank you, sir, thank you — the same to you," responded the landlord. " Well, I was going to tell you why I'm out here," con- tinued his boniface friend, ** and to make a long story short, I'll begin at the beginning." In the mean time our glasses were re- plenished and our pipes re-filled, at my sug- gestion. " 1 was born, bred, and educated, in a small town in Northamptonshire, and my parents were respectable farmers, and pretty well to do in life. As a start in the world, I was apprenticed to a linendraper in the country ; served five years, and learned my trad«; such as it was; then removed to London, to try my fortune in that great whirlpool of strug- gling care, honest industry, ambitious hopes, >\ 8TDNET. 77 Splendid success, and, I must say, of crushing misery to the many^ whatever advantage the lucky ^to roay obtain —in that great industrial game which is always on, and never played out, in one way or another, within its eddying rounds. I was lucky at first ^n obtaining a dituatiou at twenty pounds a year in one of those large houses — whose gaudy fronts and well crammed windows, which denote a very plethora of opulence, are an infallible cynosure to ladies eyes — situate in the neighbourhood of St Pauls. Our governor — we never called him master — was a religious man, and lived out of town, and, in his way, not a bad sort of character either; but as deeply bitten with the conventional morality of the trade, as any shopkeeper possibly could be. His motto was — * sell, sell — fairly and honestly, if you can — but you must sell, or you won't do for me.' If a lady came in, and one of the young men — or women either— for there were a great number of the latter in the shop— could not 78 SYDNEY. suit her with &n article, he was considered a bad salesman, and depreciated instantly in his annual value, if indeed he was allowed to stop, which was seldom the case. The result of this system — which is almost universally observed throughout London — with a few exceptions — is the rearing up of young men and women thus employed, as unmitigated and rotten liars, which it would be impossible to surpass, as the utmost ingenuity and ability are exercised in devising new schemes to entrap customers, and fresh devices to prevent their escape with- out making purchases, when once entrapped. I have known some of the most audacious liars in those establishments, and well they might be so, for many of the after-hours of business were spent in telling the tricks and devices of the day, in order to sell goods, or, in other terms, to make a * good book,' which the governor most scrupulously scanned next morning. If you were a good salesman, or, which is synonymous in linen-drapery ety- >\ SYDNEY. 79 mology, a great liar, that is, technically speaking, if you could shave the ladies well, and took a good amount every dny, you would be sure to obtain the approbation of the heads of the house, and receive an approving smile or nod from the ^oyer«or-in-chief, as he made his morning's survey through his well-drilled establishment That is a very corrupting school, let me remark, and, I believe, that competition, or the great glut of goods, has produced it in that branch of trade, more than in others. My next move in life was to a large wholesale hou^e, which abound in London, where I received a good salary, and succeeded comparatively well. But there you may observe the same system of lying, deceit, and chicanery, and of a more atrocious nuture too, as far as genuine morality or common honesty is concerned; but the parties upon whom it is practised are of a more crafty kind than the * ladies' in the retail shops — being no less than the buyers and masters of these same 'I '1!. hi H ^l mV' 80 SYDNEY. shops — therefore to compete with them is verifying completely the old proverb of * dog eating dog/ and to beat that class of men, the most pre-eminent of liars, you must obtain a * sad pre-eminence' indeed, in the art of lying yourself. Having ran the round of the large Houses, with the view of enlarging my experience, and improving my finances, in both of which I greatly suc- ceeded, I at length determined to commence business on my own account. The times were good — money was easy — I was well known in the manufacturing districts, as a buyer — others, with less me»ns, had succeeded, which greatly annoyed me — therefore, I made up my mind ■ to try my luclc Imagine me in business with about twelve thousand pounds stock, with liabilities to about fifty thousand, and literally owing twenty thousand — similar to many and many a man in the city of London, I will ven- ture to say, at the present moment — a great depression in trade, a panic in the money mar- SYDNEY. 81 ket, no bills discounting in any shape ; you are desperately hard up for the needful, and with a balance at your bankers', which they had long hinted as too tapery, or too Jine^ as their respective terms might be ; what could you have done under such circumstances? What I — why stop payment, of course 1 Nothing but a miracle, which never occurs in methodical London, in the shape of a secret mine, could save you. That was my case in 1837, and here I am in 184— little thinking that I should have 'experienced so many and such peculiar change:?. Ah ! that is an infernal system of business, and breaks many a man's heart. No one should embark in such a business without he has ample capital to carry it on with ense, I think I hear you say; very true, but almout ah your wealth)! men in England, and cspLcally in London, many of whom have fallen under ray observation, have commenced with com- paratively little capital. The fsif.t is, wiien a storm sets in, no matter whence it blows, tiie 1*1 AS V 82 SYDNEY. great commercial world of England feels H most keenly, and many of her strongest and most stately trees are swept down by it, although fully prepared to live in fair and quiet weather. Talk of misery, too ; what can equal the feel- ings of a man who wishes to do well; who would gladly pay twenty shillings in the pound, and yet cannot turn himself round to do it ? Many and many a time have I gone into London in a morning with the most agonized feelings ; and many and many a man have I saluted in the well-known Omnibus, with an apparent smile upon my face, who was similarly circumstanced to myself. Talk of the tread-mill — that must be a luxury when compared to the misery which a poor devil must endure who has a heavy bill coming due and very little at his banker's to meet it. He goes home to his excellent and careful wife, the mother, perchance, of several children, all of whom must be provided for, and, of course, in a respectable manner, if he wishes to main SYDNEY. 83 tain his status in his neighbourhood ; he listens to n little music, which, for the moment, drives away the thoughts of the ** bill ;" he goes to bed, tries to sleep, and from sheer fatigue dozes or dreams an hour or two, all of which time his thoughts are disturbed, his mind is wandering over figures, cheques, stamps, bill-discounters and bankers, yhich cause him to tumble about and " fan " the sheets right and left, when his gentle spouse — that guardian angel of his existence, who instantly divines that all is not quite right — gently taps him, which procures a momentary cessation in his bodily move- ments. When he rises in the rrorning he feels fatigued, hurries to the city to read tbe " city article," never cares about the "splendid Leader," although it may be in The Times — not even the *' Jupiter tonans " himself can seduce him from the one overwhelming idea— the unprovided-for bill at the banker's. A man — I mean a fair, round dealing man, such 43 abound in the city of London, who would V 84 SYDNEY. pay if he could — who has bills falling due and cannot command the means to meet them, and wishes to keep up his credit, may as well have a live cat in his belly, scratching its way out every morning of his existence — no sinecure that, you will say. "But," you will naturally exclaim, " what haa all this to do with my being here. 9 will tell you, and you will find it has more to do with the circumstance than you imagioe. One morning I was desperately hard up ; had gone through all the phases of mental agony which I have feebly attempted to describe ; had some thousands coming due at my bankers', and very little to meet it ; could force no sales, which, after all, was only precipitating the event ; had oxhaupted every means of renewal, bor- rowing, exchanging cheques, drawing " pig on pork," as it is technic Uly oallcl ; therefore came to the fatal resolinion of writi»i-s^ another partie's name across a stamped bit of paper — or, in other terms, as you know all about it. ' \ SYDNEY. 85 I, committed forgery. When I wrote the name I trembled ; when I took it with others to the discounter's I almost fainted, and felt sick at heart ; and yet I end r> red all this to prolong a miserable existence — to hide a false feeling — false, in relation to a criminal act — of shame ; and rather than brunt the supercilious sneers of the world, plunged into a crime of the deepest dye, and inflicted a lasting 'stigma upon my family and friends, which no after-exertion can thoroughly efface. Oh ! could I but live my time over again, how differently would I act J but that, you will say, is idle rant it isn't much better." For a moment or two Watson paused, as though in deep agony of mind, and never shall I forget his countenance as he fixed his little keen eye upon me — his face, at the same time, lit up with the fiery spirit we had been drink- ing — when he exclaimed in a measured, solemn, and deep-toned, voice, If I wished any one to be miserable — tt ■:im ._Ji 86 SYDNEY. really and truly miserable —to have all feeling of kindness and humanity thoroughly crushed in his bosom — I have only to wish him the feelings I experienced while standing at the bar of the Old Bailey — to see an old friend sneaking in one corner of the court, looking at you on the sly, and ashamed to ac- knowledge you ; to bid your wife and family an everlasting good-bye ; to be thrust amongst the lowest criminals, and obliged to hear their blasphemous language, and see their filthy and disgusting habits ; to make a long voyage, un- der every species of hrrdship, mental and physical ; then to be ordered about like a dog ; and if all that would not gratify a malignant heart, then I don't know what human feelings really are." When he had finished, he fell back lor a moment in the seat ; his pipe dropped from his hand ; the cold perspiration seemed to hang on his brow ; and altogether lie seemed really and truly a miserable man. SYDNE?. 87 " Come, cheer up, my trump," exclaimed the constable, " let us have another * drain* before we part ; and let by-gones be by-gones ; and, if ever you be so down upon your luck again, when I introduce a gentleman to you, hang me if I'll enter your house.'* "Agreed, agreed, my friend," exclaimed Watson, at the same time extending his hand to the constable, who shook it most heartily, and then drank his ^' last drop," as a matter of course, and your humble servant did the same. h m il I 'i*ffc';-v CHAPTER III. SYDNEY. As I found the ground occupied at Wal- longong, I took my departure for Shoalhaven, according to the advice of Mr. M , who gave me a letter of introduction to his friend B , one of the largest occupiers of land in that quarter, an.l, indeed, the principal settler. My first day's journey was through a line of country of rich and varied wildness — flats, rivers, hills, tall trees, and tangled bf ushwood, SYDNEY. alternating the scene. Nature was arrayed in all her glory, and most luxuriantly displayed her charms. Here a thick and inter-t wined mass of scrub and brush, utterly impervious to the human frame — there an open ice, dotted over with isolated tufts of gra^ e favourite couch of the Kangaroo and OposGum, on which " the foot of man had ne'er, or rarely, been," to disturb their almost unbroken solitude. The trees, in many instances, were of the most gigantic growth, and, in others, of the most fantastic forms, which added greatly to the beauty of the woody scene. The enormous ferns, the thick-girthed gums, shooting up to a heifcht of a hundred feet with their branchless bolls, and their peculiar barks ; the caoutchouc, or Indian fig-tree, with its tortuous branches piercing the atmosphere in the most fantastic directions, were flourishing in unrestrained luxuriance. The Banksia, with its orange-red flowers, in shape like the cone of a pine, and perfuming the air with a scent as delicious as '^ ■•I li m IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 1.1 1.25 mm |2.S ■SO ""^" IImHH Ill 1.8 U 11.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) 872-4503 V iV ^\ LV O^ ^ ^ > 90 SYDNEY. that of the honey-suckle ; the Drya-ndra^ with its flowers shooting from the end of the branch, like the head of a large thistle ; the Xanthorea^ or grass tree, with its sooty-coloured trunk, its long, pendulous, thickset tuft of grass, from the centre of which springs up a stem several feet in height, covered with small white blos- soms ; then there was the Xylomela, with its fragrant flowers, and its pear-like seed-vessels ; the Zamia Spiralis, with its black trunk, and its foliage like that of the wild date tree— the fruit of this tree is a favourite with the natives, and a condiment resembling arrow-root has been made from its pith — which, curious to relate, has often been found in a fossil state in England ; but the tree of trees in Australia — the glory of her forests— is the Nuytsia floribunda^ or cabbage 'tree, with its bright yellow-and-red-tinted flowers, profusely scat- tered over the foliage, and, at sun-set, glitter- ing like a mass of molten fire; these, and many others, variegated the richly-spread landscape SYDNET. 91 in whatever direction you turned your eye. The luxuriance of Florae too, was beyond description ; she had decked herself out in the utmost profusion — her robe glittering in the wUdeet gaiety of colouring, and enriched with every variety of tint and shade. There was the purple Kennedia, climbing here, there, and everywhere ; and, also, the scarlet Kennediut creeping along the ground, in the same fan- tastic forms ; then the pale green Arragosanthus, with its velvet-like, ruby stem ; the scarlet Comptoniana ; the Droserut with its pink and white blossoms; the orange Camilanthium; the slate and yellow -coloured Chrysanthimums ; the elegant Thysanotus, or lace flower ; the white, pink, and gold-tinted Xeranthemum, were peeping up in every direction, with their peculiar shapes, and their rich and brilliant hues. The variety of birds, with their gaudy, yet superb, plumage, skimming here and there in apparent wonderment at the sight of an object like myself, was perfectly staggering ; rt !l mn^ ■it'r' 92 SYDNEY. and the stillness ~ the almost breathless quietude — and my utter loneliness, which added to the peculiarity of the scene — all con- spired to throw my mind into that dreamy state, which strangely bewilders one's thoughts, and utterly baffles description. This district of Illawarra is certainly the most beautiful portion of New South Wales, and amply deserves all the fine things said of it. Being fatigued, I sat dovvn on a log of wood, ate the lunch which I had brought with me, and, after contemplatiiig the en- chanting scene around me to the full of my fancy, 1 fell off to sleep as soundly as though I had been feather-bedded in old England, by which I felt greatly refreshed. When I awoke I jumped up and shook my- self to ascertain, as it were, my ' whereabout/ so indistinct and dreamlike did everything seem around me, for a few moments; at length, feeling the reality of objects, I trudged on and reached a small place called Dapto, SYDNEY. 93 where I stopped for the night, and indulged in the luxury of a lie-down, infinitely preferable to what I found at WoUongong, although it is the fashionable watering-place — the Brighton — of the Sydney people. The next day I passed through Jamboroo and reached the village of Kiama>-^ consisting of three houses — where I fell in with a native and his family, quietly squatted under the branches of a tree, round a queer sort of fire which they had kindled, and eating a peculiar kind of sea- weed which they had cooked, after a certain fashion. Blackey, his Gin, or wife, and two girls, all of the true Australian breed, and myself, bivouacked together that night ; and, as he had picked up a few words of broken Engliifih amongst the settlers, with whom he had been *on' and 'off* for some time, his com- pany was not a perfect blank, as far as speech was concerned. He wished me to understand that he Nvas king, or a bigwig of some kind or other among the natives, and wore round his 4 I. 1* 94 SYDNEY. neck a semi-lunar piece of brass, which some one had gieen to him, and upon which was inscribed the name of a chief of a certain Australian tribe. I gave him some tobacco, which he seemed to enjoy very much, and, as his sable majesty was going the same way as myself, we set off early in the morning on our journey. When we were all fairly en route I had an opportunity of observing the habits of the Australians in their migratory excursions, and was highly amused at everything I saw. The Gin carried a bundle of all sorts on her back, which was pretty heavy ; the eldest daughter had a few things in a bag, and a lighted stick in her handy toddling steadily along with her mother, whilst the youngest ran and rolled in the sand, and tumbled about in the tufts of grass, like a jovial young savage, which she really was ; her black skin glistening in the eun, for she was almost ' as naked as she was born,' and with a long reed, like a spritsail-yard, run through the cartilage SYDNEY. 95 of her nose. The chief * of this bright host ' carried his waddyj or clubj in one hand, and a few spears in the other; and wore over a por- tion of his body an old shirt, almost as black as his skin, which he had picked up some- where, not having the slighest idea of washing it, or of the comfort that would be derived from such an operation. The lady- blacks were decked out in pieces of old blankets, just as dingy as the skeleton shirt of their lord ; and so careless were they about such a covering, and so utterly insensible did they appear to anything like shame, that they allowed their bits of blanket to float free about their sable persons, and took no pains to restrain the liberties of the saucy and capricious wind, which blew about them where it listed, and seemed to make a sport of their half-covered nakedness. At length Blackey scented some friends of his in our immediate neighbour- hood ; and thinking, perhaps, that he could get nothing more out of me, shammed head- 1; ilM F*2 mm. 96 SYDNEY. ache. " Cohbera sick," said he — then asking me for ** tick pence," left me to pursue my way quite alone, which was anything but irk- some, as it gave me an opportunity of in- dulging in one of those quiet communions with nature, which invariably leave behind a pleasing sensation in the mind. Wandering about the neighbourhood of Kiama in search of something out of the ordinary routine of nature's phenomena, I observed a bold and rocky point jutting right into the sea ; the waves beat furiously against it, interrupting their full-flowing and free course, and sent up their foam and spray, which floated like a fleecy cloud in the atmosphere, until the wind spread them like a white mist far over the cliff and the forests, when at length they were dissolved into a good smart shower t)f rain, which felt both cool and re- fretshing. But the most curious object that met my eye was the crater of an extinguished volcano, which spouted up a column of water \. ■■; ' \ SYDNEY. 97 to at least tbirty feet in height, and with immense force, as its splashing fall on the sides of the vitrified and rocky cone could be heard at a great distance. The sea had worked its way by a bend of the coast to the base of the volcano, the hollow cone of which soon became filled ; and the water rushing out with great force through a narrow aperture, formed a foamy column, whose feathery spray, presented an object of the most unlooked for and startling beauty. This phenomenon is the Lion of the place, and every visitor, as a matter of course, is sure to see it. For my part, I candidly confess, that I never witnessed a more beautif'il sight, and I lingered about for hours, looking f*t this fine natural Je^ d*eaUy and even returned on the morning, before I bad adieu to the place, to indulge in the luxury of another and a longer look. Before I arrived at Shoalhaven, I passed through Jeringong, which is a small place ; made my way over a rocky and winding road, which was intersected m m SYDNEY. with woody scenes of singular ricbness, and at length came to the sandy beach of the sea, along which I trudged for seven or eight miles, holding a boot in each hand, and allowing the spent surges to lave my feet, which I found to be agreeably cool and refreshing. A dead whale on the shore was the only object that I saw of importance, throughout the journey, after leaving Blacky, and the volcano water- spout of Kiama. When I arrived at B 's, I was most hospitably entertained, but in- stantly dissuaded from attempting the project I had on foot, which was the principal, if not the sole, cause of my visitig so out-of-the-way place as Shoalhaven. There were as many doctors as they required in that neighbour- hood, the settlers enjoying a very good state of health, from their temperate habits, and their industrious pursuits ; and, had I been allowed to set myself down amongst them, it is within the range of possibility that they might have fared worse, as young beginners must make a ,,' STDNRY. trade if they wish to do as well aa their neigh- bours, although I should feel ashamed to estab- lish myself at the expense of others — that is, by creating a raw in the healthy sides of the community, as 1 have seen others do since I have been in this quarter of the world. B— — is a Scotchman of the truly in** dustrious breed, and has accumulated a large property by his own unaided exertions, if I exclude his two sisters and his three brothers, which perhaps I ought not to do, although they followed him to New South Wales. He is the owner of 70,000 acres of land, a member of Council at Sydney, where he generally resides, and employs, altogether, about two hundred hands. He has constructed a wind-mill, and several saw-mills; makes his own casks, and all his iron work ; contracts largely to supply the government with salt provi;3ions; and the shoemakers, carpenters, smiths, butchers, and salters, which were em- ployed on his establishment, were nearly aU F 2 100 SYDNEY. convicts. I observed a patch of wheat of about three hundred acres, growing in the most luxuriant condition on the other side of the river (the Shoalhaven) which I crossed to pay a visit to B 's bailiff with whom I stayed two nights, but was compelled to sleep in a mere sea-cot, through which the wind whistled with terrific violence. There I was regaled with salt mutton, damper^ tea, and the usual eatables and drinkables in the bush, but here I had an additioml luxury — milk — which was quite a treat to me. This was the regular fare, all the year round, at Shoalhaven ; and also, except the milk, at almost all the other set- tlements which I visited. Before I left Shoal- haven, M arrived to preach his monthly sermon, as usual, when I acted as his clerk, the first time that I ever assumed such a vocation in my life. He performed service under a verandah of B 's house, and all the congregation appeared decorous and attentive in their demeanour Here I wit- ..S**J.-, SYDNEy, m •>\ 1 ncssed, for the first time, the performance of the Corrj/boryt by a tribe of natives, who were A^andering about the settlement, as they were in the habit of doing at certain periods of the year. It was a kind of merry-making with them, or meeting to dispense justice, according to their barbarous ideas of jurisprudence ; and it generally ended by the natives dancing in the wildest and most grotesque manner, and by shouting and hallooing in the most savage and unearthly tones. The women were orna- mented about the head with the white tips of the native dogs' tails, and with Kangaroo-teeth ; and their faces patched about with pipe-clay, which gave them the most extraordinary ap- pearance. Some had their lips whitened only ; others the inside of the lei;; while a third portion had drawn over their heads a small net, w^hich was stuck over with svvansdown, looking something like a powdered head-dress of the olden time. The men were, also, as comi- cally decorated as the women, and both formed > ■ % I % ■'ft i 102 STDNET. as singular a coup cTaeil, as well could be met with in this world. I must, also, tell you that the men rejoiced in certain peculiar names, that had been given them by different settlers, and mostly through caprice or fun, as there was no affinity between the meaning of the terms and objects to which they were applied. One was called " Ugly Jack ;" nother *' Blanket;'* several assumed the titles of " Broken-nose Tom," and ** Water- man Bill;" and one fellow was glorying in the appellation of ^* Fryingpan." .These Aborigines are proverbially lazy, and can only be induced to work at intervals ; so naturally opposed is savage life to regular and consecutive industry. Before the ceremony was closed some of the youths were admitted to the rites of manhood, which are performed at a certain age ; when after undergoing a peculiar, and I should suppose, painful, process of initiation, they are per* mitted to indulge in the luxury of a wife, t\ SYDNEY. 103 which is strictly prohibited up to that age — 80 at least I was informed by my old friend and companion— ^/acAy. Some of the women were not badly formed, and by no means unattractive — especially the younger ones ; but those of more advanced age were ugly and repulsive in the extreme. One old damsel might be termed a finished specimen of ugli- ness; nevertheless, she seemed to command considerable respect, moving among them, like some mere defamille , and apparently possessed of considerable authority. < j I , : 1 ", ^:-M -K**» O 1 ■:iwi •;i ,•< tj ;jf '. :'< '■"} 1 1 i> ■ ■ •\'-r '■ L j i ■>.b : ii w, : . ■1 , 1 ' . i , ' t 1 .■; ■ r'i 'Uiii'j<.'.v, t V J. 1 1 ij f ; 1. rti.i -ii:'Jli '■>-.■ l'> '7!. .',(■■ '^< . ":• V.;' ^ ■ '.-■■'.■y. CHAPTER IV. ' \ i.i}' u- , SYDNEY. Bidding adieu to my hospitable friends at Shoalhaven, I set out on my journey back to Wallongong ; but not exactly by the same route, although, as a matter of necessity, I touched at the same places, for there alone could anything be found in the shape of eat- ing, drinking, and sleeping ; and everything approaching to civilization, however coarse it \ \ SYDNEY. lOvJ may be in its condition, is alwaya acceptable to tbe way-worn and weary wanderer, esj eciuUy if he happen to be in the primeval paths of an untrodden and uninhabited forest. Necessitas non habet legem — or, as we used to translate the axiom somewhat freely — Necessity has no legs; and when poor human nature is really hard up, as your humble servant was at that precise period, and in that particular spot, it must stump along as well as it can, and leave the more measured manner of its movements to luckier and happier times. After enjoying the soft and refreshing breezes of the ocean for an hour or so, I tramped bare-footed on the sands, which most agreeably cooled my feet ; then plunged once more into the deep and umbrageous woods, which almost fringed the water's edge for miles along the shore, and en- deavoured to shape my course to Jeringong ; but the new and singular phenoi.oena which nature spread before me at almost e^ery turn and step I took, caused me to diverge strangely ,>■-■ ^»l 106 SYDNEY. ;! I \ SYDNKY. HI intercourse, that scarcely a stone will be left unturned, which lies immediately in their path. I also observed a great variety of the Reptilia — especially snakes, lizards and tortoises ; some of the snake and lizard genus being exceedingly venomous/ but the greater part are, I believe, harmless, and all fly at the approach of a human being. There are several kinds of frogs, and some of them beautifully coloured ; particularly one species, the dark green-backed kind, with brown spots and stripes intersecting his body ; his belly was yellow, and his eyes v. '. 'e peculiarly bright, which he seemed to open rather largely as I accidentally dropped on him. Beating my way through the bushy underwood, which produced a crackling noise, whose echo seemed to startle the sunny silence of the spot, as though I were the only destructive being in the wide circumference around me, I suddenly came upon an open space, which contained some water holes ; and if you had heard the flutter 112 SYDNEY. I of birds, the scampering of Auiiiials, and the rustling noise in every direction, of something or other scudding away from nic, you would never have forgotten it. • ^ I Silt down on a clump of trees, pulled out my pipe, lit it, and smoked in quiet contempla- tion of the scene around me, which was full of animation and intelligence to an active and ^' .^cursive mind; and when the calm had be- come somewhat restored, and I betrayed no symptom of existence, except the curling wreaths of smoke which ascended from my pipe, out came the animals, one by one, but most provokingly cautious, to have their feed among the young grass, whicli was profusely scattered over the ground, and their drink at the " holes'," which had been dug, I presume, by some of the settlers, although it was la .-uch a wild, sequestered, ami unfrequented part of the forest. The birds, too, hopped do-An from the trees and bushes, and exchanged mutual signs of contentment, after tlie strange in- SYDNEY. 113 trusion, which I had committed on the silence of their habitations, and which must have strangely puzzled them. I felt at that moment the beauty of Byron^s splendid stanza, which has embalmed the spirit of solitude, as it exists in thronged cities, and amidst the busy hum of men ; con- trasting it in a felicitous vein of irony with the cheerful and healthy communion with nature, which the mind may hold, when properly tuned, as to place and condition ; but I shall forbear quoting the stanza — it has become so trite and hacknied, especially amongst those who have the least opportunity of experiencing its truthful beauty and sublimity. At length, feeling somewhat hungry, and having taken my fill of the animated scene around me, I made my way as well as I could to the beaten path which I had quitted, but, it was a long while before I could reach it, having no clue to direct me, and the under- wood, was of more than ordinary thickness and density, so that the day was fur M MM "■ if ' ^wi 'fTi 114 SYDNEY. F 1^^ advanced before I found myself on the right route for Jeringong. On I trudged, however, for some time, until I saw the sun was de- clining fast on the horizon ; and, as there is no twilight in this hemisphere, I became some- what anxious to reach my destined point, half regretting that I had dallied so long for the mere purpose of indulging in beautiful scenery, which I could do freely every day of my existence, in this quarter of the globe. Yet, so it was ; and before I reached Jeringong it was long after sun-down ; never- theless, I indulged in a comparatively com- fortable sleep at the house of a freed man, who had been a convict, and who, considering his position, and the scenes that he had gone through, was by no means a common man. Before I reached his station I was wandering some time by the light of the moon, which seemed like a large lamp suspended in the sky, and never before saw an Australian night to so much advantage. The heavens Bfi- f \ SYDNEY. 116 were beautiful and clear, and the stars were out all over the bright expanse — and so sharply defined were they on the dark ground of the sky, and of such a resplendent order, that I looked at them with an almost silent awe — the moon, too, was Queening it in the most lustrous style, and steered her radiant course in such quiet beauty over the arched ex- panse of the dark, deep blue, that I could scarcely take my eyes off the enchanting scene, had not chillness and hunger somewhat damped the poetic temperament of my mind. The stillness of the night in the forest of Australia is peculiar, and almost unbroken ; except you chance to be in the neighbourhood of the wild dogs, which occasionally intrude on the haunts of man, especially when pressed by hunger, and then their howling is mournful and monotonous in the extreme. When in the pursuit of their prey these dogs seldom bark, but generally make a " yapping" noise, something similar to that of the fox in F ^ # «*; 116 SYDNEY. England, when hunting down the rabbit; but, let a poor beast stray behind, when on your journey, through fatigue or sickness, and you will presently have a whole multi- tude of these dogs upon it, yelping, fighting, and tearing each other, and quarrelling over their victim, although a few minutes before you would scarcely have seen one in the whole range of your view. At night time these dogs drop down upon the kangaroo and dalgoyt, the latter sometimes going out to feed when the sun goes down ; but the instinctive sagacity of the latter is generally a match for the dog during the day, smelling them a long way off, and conscious of their approach, these timid creatures make off with the utmost fear and rapidity. There is an owl in these quarters which takes its nocturnal round and is abroad in search of ver- min when everything else seems buried in sleepy repose, startling the '* dull ear of night" with its drowsy and lonely cooing ; but, in general, SYDNEY. 117 there is an almost death-like silence pervading the nights of Australia, when you are distant from the habitation of man, and his living appendages. Next morning, after I had somewhat re- freshed myself, I started for Kiama, which I reached about noon, rested myself for an hour or so, then pushed on to Jamboroo, where I stopped for the night. There I obtained a bed, or rather a settle before the fire, at an Irishman's store, and a pretty comfortable kind of afiair it was too ; the next day I trudged on to Dapto, where I found somewhat decent quarters, and stopped all night, but the fleas were so active and industrious that I could scarcely sleep, therefore, I rose in the morning more fatigued than when I retired to'rest. This store was kept by a Scotchman, who, like most others in a similar condition of life had been a transport, and had recovered his liberty by good conduct and steady industry. At length I onco more reached Wollongong, paid my old 118 SYDNEY. friend Mr. Mears a visit ; stroiled down to Watson's store, whose romantic history I have already related to you ; stopped the night with him, and started the next day on my way back to the Cow Pastures, by way of Appin, where I rested for the night at old Bean's ; and on the evening of the following day, reached my destination — a little fatigued, but as sound in •* wind and limb," as they say of horses, as on the day I set out on my journey. It is true that I passed two places in the forest, in one of which, a few days afterwards, the mail was robbed, and in the other, a traveller was stripped of his clothes, by the bushrangers ; but the latter only look for plunder, and seldom add murder to their other crimes, so that I should not have been desperately frightened at encountering one or two of those rascals, provided they had confined their atrocities to robbing me of my clothes, albeit a not very pleasant condition to be left in — stripped stark naked in the lonely wilds and SYDNEY. 119 forests— although I can now affjrd to talk lightly of the matter, seeing that all danger is over, and^ I am completely out of their reach. In my next I will give you an account of my first whaling excursion, and the new scenes of excitement which it opened up to my view ; and by the time that I have carried you through them, 1 shall be prepared to enter upon a wider and more comprehensive chapter — namely, the convict-system, and the position of the freedmen in the colony, which I trust you will find not only interesting, but also instructive, as I have been most particular in sifting the details of the information, which I have obtained, and have weighed it all with scrupulous care and comparison. K CHAPTER V. ON THE LINE, LONGITUDE 178. ^' In November last, while at Sydney, I saw an advertisement in the paper for a surgeon to go a Whaling-voyage, which stated that he would be " treated liberally by the Captain," and that his services would be required for eighteen months, or, perhaps, two years. A long time, thought I, but I should like to see New ON TOE LINE. 121 Zealand, and take a cruize among the islands of the Pacific — " I longed to see the isles that gem, Old ocean's purple diadem." So I immediately enquired about it, and found everything to my satisfaction. I shipped my- self aboard at once, and on the 24th of Novem- ber we were outside the Heads, running before the wind with a fresh bieeze, which soon took us into the deep blue ocean, and out of sight of the contaminated shore of Australia. We had provisions on board to last us the first twelve months at least ; the remainder we could procure from the different islands at which we intended to touch. The first night we were at sea, it came on to blow, the ship tumbled about awfully, and we were in very deep water, which washed over us like a half- tide rock. About midnight a heavy swell swept away the binnacle, carried overboard O ■« 122 ON THE LINE. I the compass, knocked off our cabin sky-lights, and poured down the water like a cataract into the cabin, setting everything afloat. We car- ried four whale-boats, ready for lowering, and two spare ones on the " skids ;'* and the sea, that night, swept one away with a crash, breaking the davits short off, at the same time carrying every fastening with it. We tried hard to save it, but the elements were too much for us. We then hoisted on board the larboard waste-boat, and lay-to under close reefed main- ■topsail, main try-sail, and fore top mast stay- sail, till the storm blew itself out, or, in other words, till it appeared to have become spent. For four months we cruized southward to about latitude 38, having encountered heavy blowing weather, rolling seas, and gales of wind, with a few intervals of fine weather; but with indifferent success, having taken only five whales during all that time. Some of the latter, however, were pretty large, and the oil we obtained from them was worth about r ON THE LINE. 123 £2000, calculating it at £80 per ton, the then market price. We only killed sperm whales ; for the black, or Greenland, whale is rarely seen in these latitudes, nor have I seen a single one during the whole voyage. Now, I will tell you all about whaling. The "Jane" — our ship— is a barque of about 300 tons, carrying 32 hands, and is what is called a four-boat ship — that is, she is able to lower four boats at a time, after whales. There were five men to each boat to pull, and the headsman at the steer-oar. A whale-boat is well loaded — six harpoons, three lances, two tubs of line, short-warp, key for water, tinder box, lantern, blue lights, compass, boat spaiie, axe, knife, whiffs, drogues, nippers, &c. Sup- pose the day to be Sunday, the ship goin^;- easily before the wind, and most of the hands turned in, or lying down on their chests, some asleep, others mending their clothes. Two men are stationed, from sunrise to sunset, at the main-top-gallant mast-head, and two at the o 3 ^^ 124 ON THE LINE. si-: ■ [Hi m at fore. One of them sings out in a long, melan- choly, strain — " T-h-e-r-e she s-p-o-u-t-sJ* " T-h-e-r-e a-ff-a-i-n" and down goes the work or book, the skipper bolts out of his cabin and runs on deck, and the hands, all alive and eager, come tumbling up the half-deck hatch and fore scuttle. Now, the following is some- thing like the colloquy that takes place between the skipper, the mast-headsman, and the mnn at the wheel. In the meanwhile, the boat's crews are in active preparation to lower at the iirst signal. First question — " Where away ?" " On the weather bow." *« How far?" ' « Five miles off." " T-h-e-r-e a-g-a-i-n,^^ sings out the man at the must-head. " Here, Charloy, hand up the glass !" " Aye, aye, sir." " There she breaches ; there again !" ■vvf ON THB LINE. 125 " Mind what you are at there, at the wheel ; why, (1 n your eyes, you are three points off the wind — well so ; steady there ; keep her as she is." ** Where are they now ?" ** Making to windward." "Here — give me the glass; mind your weather helm ; there's white water." ^."Near — near — no hi|2;her; you are now all up iu the wind ; top-guUant sails are shaking ; why, damme, you'll have her all aback directlv." " T'h-e-r-e she s-p'O-u-t-s^^^ continued from the mast-head — the skipper having got as fur as the fore-top-mast cross-trees, looks through the glass, exclaiming— " That's only current rip." " T-h-e-r-e she s-p-o-u-t-Sy*^ continued the mast-head man. " That's not sparm whales," exclaims one who had been looking all along in the w.'ong direction ; at length, coming along the horizon 126 ON THE LINE. n: ' I fe witli his glass, he sees the " spout," and loud and joyously exclaims, *'sparm whales!" "Keep your lufF there, you tiger; bruce up the yards a bit — get your tuba in your boats." Now life commences. TA'enty-four men — the crews of the four boats — are now seen hauling away, pulling along the whale-line tubs, and rousinff them into the boats— tumbling over one another, and swearing, and singing, like mad. " Stand by to lower — down with your flills." " There's blackskin," meaning the whale itself. " There she breaches." " That's only floptail." " There again, five miles off — keep her to the wind — we will see if we cannot shave them pretty close before we lower." "There she breaches — there again— a whole school ! ! — we are making on them fast." ON THE LINE. 127 ** T-h-e-r-e she s-p-o-u-t-Sj^ again from the roast-head — t-h^e-r-e a-g-a-iiu'^ - . . . ,. " Four or five of *em right ahead, sir." " Steady there — steer her steady — don't be yawing the ship about that way — we shall be on the top of 'era directly — man your clew garnets — stand by to back the main-yard — braces let go — lay the topsail to the mast, boats boys !" I : , . i Now there's a devil of a bustle, and all hands are jumping up to the boats. ** Cast off your cram lines — cut away your mousings." * >, . ,„ Down davit-taokle falls. " Cast off the gripes — hoist away — sway up well — hold on, in with your cranes — avast lowering there, you -Tloi Crow — look out for the steer oar — lower, lower away, fore and aft altogether — hurrah, boys ! Unhook, hand up tackle there — jump in, d — n you, jump in, you sleepy-headed beggars — ship your tholes, out boat-hooks, shove off — shove her off there. '^^^ '■^'51 128 ON THE LINE. if • f »'!••■ ■ A ^ ri«' forward — keep her away from the ship — ship your oars — pull, pull, pull, you beofgars, pull." " Where away, now ?" " Two points on the weather-bow." And away they go, pulling as if for life ; the steersman standing and backing up the after-oar at eyery stroke. The boat pulls right alongside the whale, puts two irons (harpoons) into her, if they can, takes a turn round the logger- heads, and eases the line out, now and again, if the whale pulls the bows too much under water, and if she slacks at all, they haul upon it to get up to her. She (the whale) must come up to bloW} and then the lances are ready to complete the work of death ; the boat's crew dart them into her as deeply and quickly as they can, until, at length, she gives up the ghost. There is always one man who acts as ship-keeper when the skipper is away, and who stands at the masthead all the time, to keep the " run of the whales," make signals, put the ship about I*" lljf ON THE LINE. 129 and heave to. The complitnent generally left to work the ship cotnprlaed the carpenter, the cooper, the steward, the cook, two boys and myself. We all watched with intense excite- ment the proceedings of the boats —now j' .jp' ing up on the rail, now standing on the cat- head or the skid, or half way up the rigging, and every one exclaiming, according to his feelings and excitement, in short and rapid sen< tences, at the scene before them. " There they are — boats in among them — look at the humps !*' " The skipper is nearly up with them — there, she spouts again I" ** Mr. Kerr is laying with his oars apeak, to give the green boat a chance." ** There — he's into her — didn't you see him strike?" *' Pshaw ; he's only getting ready." "Getting ready do you call it; look how she's dragging him through the water." Q 5 ■-r% 'm x4^' J4*V 130 ON THE LINE. " I'll bet two niggerheads we get a couple of m,., »> em. "Mr. B.'a got another; see, there goes a lance... they are fouling one another's lines... there's a mess.. .one will have to cut." ' *' By Jove I she's carrying him right in the teeth of the wind." "Brace*up the main yard; keep her close at it." . ' ■ ** There she is again — strike, you beggars, strike." " There she has it again — ^now she fights." ,, "There's white water — spouts clear yet." "Now she tumbles — another boat coming up — he'll be at her directly." "There she kicks again — there's blood — there's the red shirt." ** Two chaws of baccy against a rope-yarn she's oura — there she fights again — there's the red flag — she's getting weaker— it's all up." **A young bull, I think — back the main ill F^ ON THE LINE. 131 yard — clew up the main-sail— in driver — boat coming for fluke-rope." ■ A stout Tope is then carried from the ship, made fast round the small just before the iiukes, and the whale is soon towed alongside; when operations are immediately commenced, as she lays in the water — the " cutting-falls'* being prepared — and the men standing on a stage over the ship's side. First — the upper part of the head is separated from the lower ; the former comprises what is called the *' case'' , and the "junk," and is immediately towed astern till the last, and then, if not too. large, brought on deck. The "junk" is cut up into slices, and the "case" is baled out— the latter, containing pure fluid oil ; while the " junk " or brain, contains the spermaceti, or, as we call it, head-matter. I will endeavour to describe the mode of disposing of the whale, and extracting the oil. Suppose a ruler about eighteen inches in length, with a ribbon, about three inches wide, wound round it in a spiral mt « 132 ON THE LINE. manner ; the former will represent the whale — the latter the blubber. Suppose, again, a piece of the outside cover- ing of the whale (the blubber) which averages from three to four inches in thickness, is raised by tackles and hooks, worked by a windlass — the men cutting with long spades into the sides of the whale to detach the covering— this may be compared to the ribbon. As the piece is raised by the tackle, the whale itself will turn, precisely in the same manner as tho- rnier would turn, were you to pull the ribbon perpendicularly from it — or, in other words, were you to uncoil it. The piece cut is called a ** blanket piece," generally measuring from three to four feet in width ; and the first pro- cess of oil-making is to. stow down this * piece* in the blubber room, where two men cut it up into what are called *^ horse pieces," thence it is conveyed to the mincers who prepare it for the " try pots," where it is boiled till the scraps arc quite brown and crisp, which denote that l>*>-:iir ON THE LINE. 133 the utmost quantity of oil has been extracted from them. The oil is then bailed out into the coolers, and from thence to the barrels; when it becomes cool it is stowed below. The next operation is to boil 'vhat is technically called the *' stink," which comprises the slivers of blubber, bits of "fat lean," and the *'snot'* — which may have been thrown aside. As the barrels are rolled off from the coolers, they are lashed to the "stringer," till stowed down. We have had sometimes fifteen tons of oil on deck. The eperm, which some imes adheres BO closely to the casks when emptied, we call south- sea snow. The flesh of the whale is of a deep red colour, darker than beef, and ap- pears full of blood ; its flavour very much re- sembling that of black puddings. We had it frequently on table — sometimes stewed, some- times in steaks, sometimes chopped up with onions and pepper, like sausage-meat —and it is not a bad relish in any way, although I pre- ferred it prepared in the suucagc manner. 134 ON THE LINE. Such is the pastime of a south- sea whaler, which I have described aa minutely and faith- fully as my memory will enable me ; and now we are off to the islands which you shall have some account of in my next. I i i CHAPTER VI. At sea. lat. 45 miles, south, long. 176 miles, west. We are in what we call fine weather — that is, without gales of wind, under a hot and scorch- ing sun, and with a few squalls and "ain ; but had very bad weather to the southward. We are out fur twenty months, nearly seven of which are expired — now crossing and re- crossing the line — now running to the west- ward« and expect every moment that the man M si 136 AT !?EA. at the mast-head will sing out, ** T-h-e-r-e she s-p-o-U't-s." This whaling life is a life of great excitement. It suits me to a T. I am glad now that I chose surgery, as a means for a livelihood ; it not only enables me to maintain a respectable position in the world, but it gratifies that darling delight of my soul, which seems to " grow with my growth and strengthen with my strength," I mean the love of ad- venture, and the wandering to and fro, through the world, with fresh scenes and characters constantly starting up before my view. I en- joy, beyond description, visiting strange and unfrequented lands, although I have to endure greater hardships than your quiet peoj)le on shore; but, as our old friend Miss P would say, I am * manured* to it now, and endure willingly all the inconveniences which are incident to such a life. After leaving Sydney, the first place we made was Lord Howe's island — one of the most beautiful and romantic spots in the AT SEA. 137 Pacific ocean. Some parts of the island rose perpendicularly from the water to the height of six or seven hundred feet ; while others were lower, and, in some instances, there were portions undulating to the water's edge, although we experienced great difficulty in landing. The interior of the ishind is richly covered with trees, growing in all manner of forms, and covered with the most variegated verdure. There we saw the tall cabbage, with its graceful plume at the summit ; the tangled fig-tree with its peculiar shape, besides a great variety of almost all the tropical kinds. There were three white men (English) on the island, ana each of them had a wife and a numerous family ; their wives were New Zealand women, which they had picked up, somehow or other, from ships putting in for food. Those three Hobinson Crusoes, a big lad, brother to one of the women, and their families, constituted the whole of the population. They had plenty of pig?, goats, poultry, and dogs for hunting; besides a canoe for 1? m m m 138 AT SEA. catching fish, so that they did not want pro- visions, whatever may have been their other privations. Birds were also in great abundance, and many of them of a plump and eatable order; but, as to their plumage, you may imagine that, when I tell you that nature had painted them in the most prodigal manner. I shall not attempt even to describe it. There we saw growing the pumpkin, the water melon, potatoes, onions, cabbages, and other vegetables, all of which were cultivated with care, and appeared healthy in condition. I spent a whole day there with my gun, and killed more birds than I could stuff, while they were good. There is a beautiful bay of smooth water within the reef, with a sandy beach, which leads up to the bottom of a hill, where those island-triumviri had built their houses, which were rude and simple in structure, but by no means incommodious ; and there these secluded adventurers and their families, lived happily together, so at leastj I should infer from their appearance, and their if: AT SEA. 139 observations. I dined with one of the " Englishmen'* on pork and greens, and left the charming little island with regret. We had fifteen miles to pull from the ship to the shore, with a heavy swell ; but, towards even- ing, she had beat up nearer, so that we got safe on board abnut an hour after sun-down. The other boats had been off to near the rocks, to catch fish, and had returned with a bounteous stock, so that we had plenty to salt down after we had all enjoyed a good fresh meal or two, which made an agreeable change in our food for some time after- wards.. The next island on which I landed, was called the " Three Kings." It is, properly speaking, a group of islands, situate near New Zealand, but by no means inviting in its ap- pearance, from the bold and rocky projections, which front you on every side. There is not a single place all round this group, on which you can safely shove a boat, so that we were greatly puzzled at fir^t how to land. n ^■^m w f 140 AT SEA. li ;t' 'it We wanted some pigs, and two hoats were sent from the ship to bring back what we purchased. The group consists of several small rocky islets, one of which is much larger than the rest, and to that we bent our course, one boat steering leeward, and the other keei)ing the weather side of the island, in the hope of find- ing a convenient place for landing ; but, after a long pull right roup 1 the island, meeting each other at a point directly opposite to that from whence we started, it proved a fruitless search, and we, were compelled to jump from the boat on to a piece of rock, one of the crew standing by, and with great diflSculty keeping the boat from bumping to pieces. We then ascended a broken, irregular, and nearly perpendicular rock, and when we had reached the summit, we found some of the natives anxiously waiting our arrival. As we cast our eyes around, we saw some fine slopes and tracts of land, which seemed highly fertile, but very little timber appeared on its surface, which greatly diminished its picturesque JV AT SEA. 141 beauty, when compared to Lord Howe's island. However, the little streams of water were murmuring through the rocky channels, the birds were singing a cheerful note, the day was beautifully bright and clear, and the varied tints of reeds, tea* trees, short-scrub, and here and there a small patch of green cultivation, which shone out distinct and vivid, while the deep shadows formed the relief — all these ob- jects produced so enchanting a scene, such a de- licious landscape, that I still linger on it with pleasure and regret. I sat down by the side of one of the natives — an old chief — and drank in, as it were, the delicious beauty of the scene. There were only twenty-seven inhabitants on the island, including men, women, and children ; and, according to their own account, they are a remnant of a conquered tribe of New Zealanders, who escaped from their ene- mies, and found a peaceful rrifuge in that almost inaccessible spot. The old fellow, who sat next to me, was partly enveloped in a blanket, and deeply tattooed all over his face. 142 AT SEA. I gave him a pipe and a piece of tobacco ; and I heard him say to one of his countrymen — ** Ranga Tiroy^ or, in plain English, that " I was a gentleman." One of the natives who had been in a whaler, and spoke a little broken and barbarous English, was particularly anxious about the grog, so we formed a party round this fellow's house, and spent a jolly hour or two in that way. His wife, rigged out in a Cockahooy or rough mat round her middle, squatted herself on the ground, made a fire, and stuck up some fish to dress, which she per- formed much to our satisfaction. Hunger, after all, is the best sauce ; and I am not so dainty a dog as I used to be, when in your 4^rterof the globe, or I might, perhaps, hive questioned the culinary art of our sable serviteure. We produced our buiscuit and grog, and several of the natives seated them* selves round us ; but what amused me most in that singular scene was two little girls — Like George and the Dragon, 'I Without e'er a rag on, AT SEA. 143 who stood gazing at a distance, in apparent wonderment, yet seemingly amused, while their black, smooth skins were glistrningin the sun. For the life of me, I could not help laughing at those sable nymphs, which caused them to laugh still more ; yet the sensations which proauced the laughter must have been widely different in each of us — so, at least, I should respectfully suggest. We soon left the island, as we could procure but little provisions, o£her ships having forestalled us in the purchase of what we wanted. We bartered two niggerheads of tobacco for four pigs and a couple of baskets of potatoes ; the pigs were very small, and as wild as rabbits. Oae of our meu gave his old woollen shirt for a couple of small pigs, and pulled on board quite comfortable without it... as naked as pos- sible. Another was fixed on a point of the rock, in making his descent, with a large puaipkin in his shirt, and a pig squeaking under his arm, which completely paralyzed his move- ments; he could neither get up nor down, m I'' ykwn . ''-■Am M n 144 AT SEA. and appeared in a strange quandary. — When I eased him of his burden, he descended easily, and the young grunter was soon lowered into the boat. We had still two hours of day- light, so we pulled among the large rocks, and amused ourselves by letting down the line for fish ; and long before sunset the bottom of the boat was covered with them— mostly rock cod (and capital eating they were, too) — which added to our stock of food on board. At length, we stood out to sea for the ship, which was a long way off; but having taken her bearings, and steering by the compass, we reached her in about an hour after dark. Whale-boats, let me remark to you, carry compasses, tinder, blue lights, lanterns, water, and all sorts of useful things at sea. Our second mate is a New Zealander, son of the chief from whom Mr. Marsden bought so much land for a few axes, and a decent fellow he is, too, considering all things. While 1 am writing the perspiration is dropping from my nose and chin, and literally running in streams AT SEA. 145 from my arms— having tucked up my ehirt sleeves for coolness. All the clothing that we require here— that we can really wear— is a light cotton shirt and trousers, so powerful is the heat felt in these latitudes. I am as well in health as I could possibly wish to be, and enjoy myself, in my way, as much as it is pos- sible for any one to do. Adieu. 1 ' .',): ,'s «;- , r ■m CHAPTER VIL OM THE LIME, LONG. 178 DEG. Although among new scenes, new countries, and new faces, I love to cherish the recollection of old days, old associations, old rambles, and Ftill more lonely evenings, so that we might participate in each other's pleasurable emotions. I look forward, with fervent hope, to the time when we shall be able to smoke a cigar together — it is one of the choicest pleasures which I have stored up for myself — when, I promise you, I shall be most happy *^ to spin a jolly ■■!£■•! ON THE LINE. 147 good twister," as our mate calls telling stories, and relating incidents. Shortly after we left the " Three Kings " we made for New Zealand, rounding North Cape, and running into a small but secure harbour, called Mungonutie, in Doubtless Bay, about sixty miles to the northward of the Bay of Islands. We had a bit of a breeze a night or two before we got in, and were in some danger from the rocks on our lee. As it fell calm the night we entered the bay, we sent our boats a-head, and were towed in by four of them, each containing six men ; and, as they were pulling all night, we cheered them up by sing- ing songs, all joining in with a jolly good chorus, and keeping time to the oars, which made the labour comparatively light and cheer- ful. We had scarcely anchored, before a canoe with about thirty natives came off to our ship, and it was highly amusing to see them pattering away, and digging their paddles so quickly in u 2 m A8 ON TOE LINR. the water, as though it were a matter of life or death with them. In the midst of the crowd stood a chief, with a green, plaid, camlet cloak thrown over his shoulders, a large tuft of white down stuck jauntily in his ear, his hair besmeared with fat or oil, and hanging in black ringlets all round his head. This chief was a regular, out-and-out, south-sea swell; and, in his line, I have no doubt, a very clever fellow. He brought his "mob" of women in hia canoe, for the accommodation of the ship's crew ; keeping a regular stock of that com- modity, which he carefully cultivates and pre- serves for the use of the ocean-wanderers who may chance to put in there, either for safety or for provisions. The Franklin, an American Whaler, anchored just beside us, when off went those ** dusky doves " of the island, to give the Yankees a turn, having transacted their business with us, with the utmost coolness and nonchalance. The canoe with the nymphs was no sooner alongside our ship, than up they ON THE LINE. 49 canae, Bcrambling over the ship*s side any how, anywhere, tumbling down over the rail, and walking about, as if the vessel was all their own, and they had the greatest quantity possible of business to perform. Some of those Ebony Eves ^not like our friend Baily's, that deesse of art — were clothed in a sack-shaped garment of blue printed calico ; others had mats — Cockatoos — blankets, and some only a portion of one of these articles. I must say that they were not over-prepossessing in their appearance, and by no means a fair sample of the South-sea Island- nymphs; nevertheless, it was highly amusing to see " Jack" turning and twisting them about, and making his se- lection. These nymphs mostly belong to the chief, who receives a blanket or so by way of compensation, for any services that they may have rendered ; in addition to which they pick up a trifle for themselves. Little is known of this Mungonutie, and only about four respectable white settlers live on the island. On the shores of the harbour Wt. m ■■■->■;,,; •I'' J". V W m Mm ^fi 150 ON THE LINE. v there are a few grog-shopkeepers, and some druDken and reprobate labourers, such as sawyers, helpers, &:c. Three families are set- tled here from Adelaide, having left that settle- ment in consequence of the excessive dearness of everything in the shape of provisions, of which they gave a most miserable account ; but 1 find by experience, that such testimony of the value of localities is not to be relied upon, so much depending upon individual ability and enterprise, whether a place is esteemed good or bad. While our ship anchored in this harbour, I endeavoured to see as much of the island as possible, and made the most of my time. There are two small rivers, which empty themselves into the Bay, almost close to where we lay ; and another five or six miles to the northward, but much larger. I went up these rivers six or eight times, as far as the boat would go, and should conclude that it would be a capital place for an emigrant to settle at — from its fine timber, evidently suited to almost every ON THE LINE. 151 purpose, its extensive tracts which are ready for the plough or the spade, and others equally rich, which only require the fern to be burnt off, to i».nder them highly productive. There is a fine, black, loamy soil — the debris o? thousands of years of decayed vegetable matter — with which a little skilful industry on the part of man, would make a smiling garden. The natives had numerous patches of land, producing maize, po* tatoes, water-melons, shallots, &c., and all ap- peared in the most exuberant state. The cli- mate is infinitely superior to any that I know of in the whole circuit of New Holland ; and the rains are genial, mild, and abundant. The natives are active, intelligent, and well-be- haved ; and would, to a great extent, if under proper treatment, supply the Emigrant with what he so much desires, and is so much talked of in all the colonies — namely, a suffi- ciency of labourers. Many of the natives are excellent sawyers; and some of them on the West Coast, have learned several trades; so different is their disposition to the lazy, crafty mm mi If"! W3 152 ON THE LINE. New Hollander, whom I shall describe when I touch upon Swan River, and other points of the Continent which I have visited. All along the Eastern Coast there are numerous creeks and harbours for coasting craft ; with a small capital, and a little skill and in- dustry, an emigrant on this island would rapidly progress, as compared with other set- tlements. To tell you the truth, I have pur- chased about 200 acres of land, which is situ- ated on the river Typat, about five or six miles northward of Mungonutie; and look forward to its becoming a place for building houses upon, as it is just at the mouth of the river, and a native settlement is already near it. I had made up my mind to purchase land in that quarter, when I left Sydney^ from the accounts I had previously heard of it, which were more than confirmed by my own eyes ; and had furnished myself with the usual and useful articles for such an under- taking — namely, blankets, cotton prints, powder, ehot, double barrelled gun, rifie, soap, shirts. ON THE LINE. 153 trousers, €tc,, etc, all of which are incli8[)cr- sahle to the settler. It is possible, from the uncertain state of property there at present, that I may never possess it : nevertheless, I thought the risk not great, and the prospect highly advantageous, when I made the pur- chase, and do not regret it. There are two native houses on the estate at present — they will make capital pig-styes. Some of the huts of the natives are large, warm, and not badly put together; and one old chief, whom I visited at a place called Orudee, had u very comfortable hut, with a verandah and two windows, in which he was stowed away at his ease. When I arrived, the old chief, nnd his fat wiff^ were enjoying themselves outside the house, and, as the latter had taken just enough grog to make her feel funny, it was highly auiusing to observe her deportment to her spouse and to ourselves. This lady had done us the honour to visit our ship in the morning, and, as a matter of course, we returned the compliment in the aftqrnooii. H 5 mn '^^ 154 ON THE LINE. They made us very welcome ; wanted us to stop all night, and would insist upon killing a pig — a great compliment, by the bye, to strangers. The *' lady " produced her spirits, which was what we call "white face," or " Yankee Particular ;" sent her slave for water melons, and brought out her best mat for us to recline upon under the verandah, at the same time, making me sit close beside her. During the whole of my stay here, the ship was crowded with natives ; each seaman had his wife, and our crew numbered thirty-two, and these wives their friends. They used, all of them, to sit on the taffrail bowsprit, nijiht-head, or on t])e top of the " try works," and sing a curious song, which they frequently composed from the passing incidents. They were very clever and showed great dexterity in that sort of amusement. These women were also fond of a game, at which two only could play ; which consisted in performing a motion n'ith tlie fingers and hands, at which both must keep ON THE LINE. 155 time. They would play at this game for hours together I and when they left us, to go on a visit to the Yankee ship anchored close by, we could see them sitting on the hurricane- house, and almost all parts of the ship, amusing them- selves in this manner. Fish were most plenti- ful in the Bay, ar.d it was highly amusing to set the black girls to fish over our stern, which they delighted to do, as it was a novelty for them. While we stopped there, our crew were at work every day, taking in wood and water, and getting drunk — indeed, I may safely say that they were all drunk from the day we cast anchor, till we were out to sea again — and heartily sick of it was your humble servant, I can asdure you. ■m m ■m hf'\ CHAPTER VIIL AT SEA. — THERMOMETER IN MY BKRTU TO-DAY 84^* LAT, 3 MILES SOUTU— EAST LONGITVDB 177° 12' I HAD just commenced writing to you, some days since, when " spouts " were hailed from the mast-head, the boats were instantly lowered, and all hands at their post, so that I was obliged to lay down my pen, and hurry on deck to take my part in the business In the course of the day, we had three whales alongside ; and, with little intermission, have been taking in •liJ' AT SEA. 157 whales ever since, having stowetl down, in a very short space of time, nearly £4,000 of oil, at the present market price. There is great excitement and bu^stle while the game lasts, and a great deai of dirt and work after it is over ; but I have little to do with thi latter, except to mind the " try pots," aud prevent the oil lunninc^ too lapidly into the "coolers," which it ii apt to do if the heat is kept up at too liuious a pitch But, before I give you a description of my scenes and adven- tures since I last wrote to you, permit me to observe that I have met with a somewhat serious accident, which very nearly prevented me writing to you again— -for some time at least. I nearly cut off two of m>' riglit-imnd fings ;3, and have just removed tlie bimdage to take up ray pen; but I find them so stiff and cramped that I am fearful you will tcarccly be able to read ray writing, so difficult do I find it to use them in any way. We had hoisted on deck the jaw of a large wliale, measuring about ■■ >;■ us AT SEA. seventeen feet in length, which contained some very fine teeth ; as ail hands were busy in cutting them out, I took up a boat*knife to asi'ist them, and began cutting away like the rest. The teeth of the whale are imbedded in a tough, white, resisting substance, and it requires some dexterity of hand and knife to cut them out cleanly from their sockets; while I was forcing the knife round a large tooth, my hand slipped over the handle, which was covered with oily matter, on to the sharp blade which cut right to the bone of my little finger, and nearly through the joint of the next, for I was grasping pretty tightly the handle of the knife. The wound healed rapidly ; but I have no feeling in the last joint of the little finger, and very little in the next, as the nerve is com- pletely divided, lo I have lost all power of moving the joints of either of them. In uiy last letter 1 endeavoured to describe the treatment which we met with in the Island of Maiigonutie, and ended with an ac- AT SEA. 15d count of the confusion and noise on board our vessel, occasioned by the women leaving, our sailors abnost all drunk, and bidding a mawkish adieu to the dark ** fair ones," who had been so generous in bestowing their favours upon them; some of the native chiefs trading fur pigs and potatoes, while others were buying muskets and cotton goods, to say nothing of the bustle and shouting of the natives in their canoes, who came alongside our ship, either to barter or beg ; the rafting of casks, and the stowing away of wood and provisions, so that I was heartily glad to get clear of the place altogether. But I must be permitted to indulge in a few more remarks on the scenes and incidents which I observed in that beautiful island, so as to make my narrative complete in all its partp. Some of the chiefs were tattooed in a most re- markable manner ; and amongst the rest " Jacky," or " wide awake," the fellow who came off with the sable "mob" to our ship, leo AT SEA. wben we first si^^hted the island. The face of the latter was lined iu every direction, and with great regularity ; and, altogether, he presented the best specimen of tattooin<; that I ever beheld. *' Jackey " was about the middle size; very firm and well set in his ap- pearance, his features were good and regular, and his manner, altogether, had the air of a melo-dramatic " swell" on the stage, so aw- fully fierce and energetic were some of his movements. He was an ofF-shoot of the war- rior tribes of New Zealand, and prided him- self on his great qualities in that respect. Sometimes he would come on deck, with no other covering than an old tattered shirt : while at others, he would sport a pair of clean duck trousers, a showy handkerchief round his neck, and his hair well-plastcrcd, and gli- ten- ing, with oil. Many of these men were tat- tooed all over their thi<>hs, as well as their faces ; and most of the women were marked about the lips in characters of a deep blue AT SEA. 161 tint, which gave a singular appearance to their otherwise not badly formed features ; but, both men and women had a large hole bored in each ear, through one of which they stuck the stem of their tobacco-pipe, while the other was generally decorated with the tooth of the tiger-shark, suspended to a black ribbon, and ornamented with red sealing wax. Both sexes seemed blessed with a luxuriant head of hair, but greatly varying in quality, and in quantity, also; some of them exhibited the frizly tex- ture, while others were of the gently waving, as though they had indulged in '* Rowland's Macassar" all their life-time. Some of the white settlersJ urgently requested .ne to stay in the island, as there was no disciple of Esculapius within some hundred miles of them ; whiltf one old chief solemnly declared that I should never want either " pigs or po- tatoes," would I but consent to live among them. I left the island with considerable regret. m '}^% 4m 162 AT SEA. When we had got our men together, dis- charged their " wives," and their grog-bills, we weighed anchor, md stood out to sea — sighting Curtis's Island, and passing another which seemed uninhabited, except by goats. It was our intention to have touched at Navigator's Island, to procure yams and pigs, but we had such a continuance of foul winds, that we were blown much more to the east- ward than we wished ; but, shortly afterwards, I landed at a small Island, mentioned by Cook, called Mangea, against which the surf beat with tremendous force. Several canoes came off to land us, our boats being perfectly use- less for that purpose in such a swell; and I could not but admire the rude cunning of the natives in the construction of their craft, which were built with an outrigger to prevent their capsizing, and seemed admirably adapted for those seas. One of the ** natives" beckoned me to come ashore in his canoe, which in- vitation I willingly accepted, and stepped into AT SEA. 163 • \ it, when he paddled away until he reached the outside] of the point where the swell breaks on the coral reefs. There he paused till three good surges had passed ; then, taking ad- vantage of the lull, both he and his companions paddled in with all their might, the next surge merely wetting us to the skin, and grounding us on a bar of gravel and shingle, we all jumped out, standing ready for the swell within one hundred yards of the shore, which is bordered with coral rock. There was a crowd of natives waiting our landing, all of whom set up a loud shout when I touched the shore, and conducted me to the house of a native mis- sionary, from Otaheite, where I sat down until all our party should arrive. The people on the island were exceedingly civil, and I may say with justice also, hospitable and ingenious, for we were treated in a somewhat generous manner, and by no means in a mean condition. The natives were not a large race ; they m^ 164 AT SEA. were brighter and clearer in colour than the New Zealanders, and the expression of their features was somewhat pleasing, and indicated a niildness of disposition seldom met with in a semi-savage race. I dined with the mis- sionary, who had prepared a boiled sucking pig, some yairs, breatl-fruit taro^ and sweet potatoes, by way of edibles ; while cocoa-nut milk, and lime-juice, served us for drink. I enjoyed my dinner greatly, and was highly amused at the semi-religious and savage- saintism of my host, who talked in quite an ex-cathedra tone, sim[)ly because he took me to be a thoroughly-ingrained sailor, whom he characterized as more barbarous, in a certain way, than the natives of the islands, to whom he administered spiritual comfort. The next day I had the honour of dining with the ** Kinfif of the island" — an old man — who enter- tained me in a similar manner to the missionary, except that he served up to table some roast fowls, which were exceedingly delicious eating. AT SEA. 165 There seemed a great plenty of the good things of life on the island — turkeys, pigs, ducks, fowls, bananas, and alnaost every variety of tropical production. The natives are very expert in making straw hats, nets, furs, plaited woman's hair-belts, mats, carved clubs, wooden bowls, and native cloth of various colours and patterns, in many of which articles they exhibit considerable skill. They exchange these various commodities for cotton handker- chiefs, shirts, iron, scissors, needles, thread, tomahawks, soap, and other articles which they require for their use. One of the natives gave me a quantity of native cloth, which they call Tappe, because I cured his sore eyes, a disease which prevails to a great extent among them, especially in the younger classes. There is a large church on the island, which I visited ; the inside is painted red, white, and black, and there are several carved pieces of work, which evince considerably ingenuity in the architect. The houses are large and lofty, Wf-v. il^ .-,-■<:, 166 AT SEA. U] t and are put together without nails, and very strongly and ingeniously lashed at the joints ; and the better sort are carved and painted to even a su"«ptuou8 degree, considering the nature and condition of the place. The females are clean iind tidy in their appearance ; and many of them exceedingly good looking — simply clothing themselves in a scanty piece of native cloth, except the better sort, whose clothing pnrtakes of more ample dimensions, although composed of the same materials. As I walked about the island the people followed me in crowds, gaping and staring in apparent wonderment, while the little boys and girls tried to touch my hands, looking up in my face, and rubbing my lejis, and feeling down my back — sometimes giving me a poke, to see, apparently, if it was all right, and flesh and blood, like themselves — and on my turning round to see what was the matter, away they would scamper in all directions, which afforded me a great deal of amusement. !\ AT SEA. 167 It was late before we had collected our three boat's crews, who hjd been purchasing commoclitief), and amusing themselves as well ns they could among the natives. I wns then shoved oft in the same canoe which landed me ; and, after being nearly capsized, and getting a good wetting in the surf, 1 reached our boat, which was lying off" to avoid the breakers. I had scarcely left the canoe when it was over- set, and the five natives were swimming and chattering away at a furious rate ; but our people took no notice of them, and never moved an oar, so accustomed were they to see the Islanders in the water, and apparently in the most dangerous plight. While our men were arranging the cargo of fruits and live- stock, which we were to take on board, I watched the natives extricating themselves from their difficulty, and was highly amused to see tlicm pattering about the serf, and shoving their canoe to the shore. These islanders are expert swimmers, and seem quite at home in ■.'k m 168 AT 8RA. the water, where an ordinary swimmer could scarcely exist; and I remember seeing one native, breaking his way through the serf, and swimming towards our ship, which was at least five miles off, with something in his hand, which he held above the water to keep dry ; and, when tired witb holding it in one position, changed hands, still keeping it above his head, that it should not be damaged, intending it for barter or sale. The ship, however, had braced up her main-yard, and was going through the water when he was about half-way, which, when he perceived it, caused him to return to the island, still holding his commodity above his head. Before we had arranged our cargo it became quite dark, and no one could see the ship, which was lying off at a great distance ; and, to make matters as bad as possible, no (>ne had taking her bearings, but almost every man differed in opinion as to her " where- about," so that we were compelled, as it were, to grope our way over the waters, which with AT SEA. 169 our living and dead stock was no sinecure; nevertheless, we reached her in the course of the night, and glad enough we were to get to what seemed our home. After leaving Mangea, we steered for a small island called Whylotacke, sighted Har> vey's Island, which is said to be uninhabited at the present time, although there were people upon it when Cook landed there ; and after two nights and a day-and* half's sailing, wc reached the former, when we sent two boats ashore to procure yams for sea-stock, which we found both plentiful and cheap. The island produces bananas, bread-fruit, iaroy tobacco, limes, pumpkins, water-melons, and other rich fruits and vegetables; besides pigs, fowls and turkeys, all of which were in excellent con- dition, and proved very agreeable eating. Mr. Riley, an English Missionary, resides there, for the praiseworthy purpose of con- verting the heathenish natives to Ciiristianity ; but, how far he has progressed in his holy en- I t% m no AT SEA. terprise, I am incompetent to give an opiniun, therefore shall content mjeelf with simply relating what I saw, and leave you to infer the precise condition of his progress. I learnt that Mr. Riley came out in the Missionary brig, Camden, in company with poor Williams, who was so cruelly murdered at Eromango, by the savage natives of that island ; and many singular stories are told of the humbug and duplicity of both missionaries and natives — the one wishing to believe that they had made converts, by way of gratifying their vanity, in swelling their own importance in the eyes of the home authorities; the other disssembling, in the most artful manner, and pretending to embrace the doctrines of the missionary, by way of eerving some cunning T'urpose, or acquiring some paltry gain, I could fill a page with the artful dodges which are practised on both siJes, as little creditable to the pretended piety of the one, as it is in- dicative of the low cunning of the other. \-. AT SEA. 171 As soon as I landed I made enquiries for Mr. Riley, for whom I had brought a letter from Mangea, and was told that I should find him at church, where he was performing divine service, although on a week-day, which struck me as being somewhat extra-pious; but upon further enquiry, I also learned, that the natives were seldom occupied steadily in their pursuits for many days together, therefore had a great deal of idle time on their hands, which caused the missionary to preach a few extra sermons, by way of keeping them up to the mark, and preventing them from sliding down the declivity upon which, with much praiseworthy perseverance, and pious energy, he had contrived to raise them. I soon made my way there, and found the little* * We should siDcerely regret if any inference un- favourable to the Missionaries in the South Seas were drawn from the above remarks, as we deeply venerate their character, and can bear testimony to the value of their services. The Missionaries have I 3 M*i, i ■5 *■.'"■'■■ Si- J .'it,'.' 172 AT 8RA. man peppering out the service to his numerous and dingy congregation, in a somewhat smart and fluent manner; but thinking, perhaps, that my presence — a white man, and a stranger, togged in sailor's costume — ^would distract the attention of his hearers, if it did not dis- concert himself, I withdrew until the service was over, and then delivered my letter in propria persond to Mr. Biley, as he came out of the church. Our mate was with me, and we waited outside the church for some time, taking a view of the surrounding scene, which . >va8 peculiarly interesting from the religious done much to humanize the savage islanders, and prepare them for a higher state of civilization ; and the sacrifices which many of the former have made to carry out their sacred purpose, may be classed in the choicest category of human martyrdom. We have no desire to make exceptions, but must give our testimony to the great services which the Wes- leyau Missionaries have rendered in the cause of progress and civilization, especially in the Southern Seas. AT SEA. 173 associations with one's native land. The tune sung by the natives at the conclusion of the service, although in a nasal and conventicle tone, reminded me of many a chaunt which I had heard in my youthful days at home, and threw my mind into a melancholy mood, which seemed, for the moment, like a sweet dream of the past — and that even here, in this lone and remote island of the ocean, the holy and benign influences of religion were beginning to be felt. . , While we were waiting, a shower of raiu came on, which caused us to seek shelter in the but of a native close by, the owner of which brought us a mat to sit down upon, and began questioning us about "this and that,*' iu hit^ broken English, as though he were intent oti turning a penny, either by direct sale or by barter. When the ** darky " learned that our mate had given "two needles'* for his straw hat at Mangea, which he had in his hand, he held up his hands iu astonishment, and laughud fB .'■tWj 174 AT SEA. heartily at the idea of his being so egregiously cheated by bartering the article at so dear a rate. At lengthy the congregation came out, and many of them saluted me, as they passed, with "Your honour, Bo," this being the com- mon **good morning, fine day," of these islanders; and almost all seemed as decorous and devout as they possibly could be, con- sidering the sunny nature of their skins, the warmth of their blood, and their strong animal passions, which, in spite of the thick covering of continual devotion which had been impressed upon them, peeped out in their sly, slanting, and laughing eyes. Many of the women wore bonnets, and the favourite trimming seemed to be a bit of red rag, which they had obtained from the sailors; therefore, a soldier's red coat, and a sailor's flannel shirt, if torn into shreds, would be valuable at Whylotacke, and command a considerable amount of produce in exchange. I paid a visit to the missionary's house, which was a large and lofty building. AT SEA. 175 but somewhat rude ia shape; the walls of which were composed of coral rock, the natives having erected the whole building at their own expense. The church, also, is very large, con- sidering the number of inhabitants to be accommodated ; but coolnes.*^, and not space, is what is generally required in public buildings ill these islands — hence their apparent dispro- portion to the domestic huts of the natives. Mr. Hiley is a deliberate, smooth-faced and precise little man, with a white shirt and tie scrupulously clean, and neatly put on ; a light blue dressing-gown was wrapped negligently round his person — a ; ressing-gown in the pulpit ' iiew fashion that, thought I — and he wall cU along in as prudish and pedantic a iTiauDer, as -^'uy provincial ])edagoj;ue would have done among his squad of unruly boys. Mrs. liiley was no great shakes, so 1 shall pass her over at once; although I ought not to forget that she treated us with some delicious milk and oranges —the former, we learnt, was *■.; m ■.\^;.-vj\ r-fj 176 AT SEA. from a cow and two heifers which the mission- ary had contrived to pick up among his English friends, and nurtured on the island. While we were seated on the sofa at Mr, Riley's, and fanned by a native girl, the judge of the island, two fat female Otaheitans, old servants of Mr. E.., and several other natives, squatted them- selves on the floor in a semi-circle around us, and seemed to take great interest in our conversation. Altogether, the scene was highly amusing, and I shall never forget it. Mr. Riley told me that he had experienced great diflficulty in reclaiming the natives, and that a large party called the "Tutiony," or opposition-mob, still held out airalnst his instruction and ministration, aui resolutely adhered to their heathenish customs. The judge of the island, learning that I was a surgeon, or one skilled in the use of medicine, particularly wished to ha' e me tattooed, with the view of * iducing me to stay there; and the venerable chief actually spoke to Mr. AT SEA. 17T BIley on the aubject, thinking that he might persuade me to adopt that course. I marie the old gentleman a present of a bundle of Epsom aaltS; for which he seemed extremely grateful; and taking my leave of the nr^is- sionary and his pious, but, apparently, prudiah wife, I bade adieu to the island. As we made our way to the shore, where the barter and trading was going on, we were followed by three or four nice, plutnp, laughing girls, who were joined by others, until there was quite a mob of them, all playing the same trick::, exhibiting the same wonderment, and full of the same savage wantonness,, which we oboerved in the islanders of Mangea ; but rhey were perfectly harmless, and only wished to iudulge in a little innocent curiosity at thti expense of uui convenience, but by no means against our will and pleasure. I must not oiuit to mention the visit which I paid to th« " old king" of the island, whom I found gre^'tly advanced in years, his eyes being nearly 2 5 ■:^-:m i^ ^m mm t78 AT SEA. clouded by his white, shaggy eye-brows ; his hair was short, grizzly, and frosted with age, and his harsh, crabbed, and dried-up counte- nance, exhibited all the phases of impotent cunning, and used-up duplicity. When I entered bis house he requested me to take a seat upon an old sofa, by his side, which had a table before it, with certain fruits upon it, some of which I gladly partook, and made ** his majesty" a present of some medicine in the shape of a few bundles of Epsom salts, in return for which he seemed highly grateful ; but, on taking my departure, 1 observed a native girl, who was weeping bitterly, with her hands and feet confined in a wooden structure, something like the old stocks in the country towns of England, and altogether she presented a very melancholy and pitiable ap- pearance. I inquired the cause of such treatment, which appeared cruel in the extreme, when I was informed that the old chief had turned missionary, and had married the girl— and, in ▲T SEA. 179 short, that she was compelled by missionary law to sacrifice her young and blooming beauty to an old man, contrary to her notions, her educa> tion, such as it was, and all the associations and customs of her companions, at th^ same age of life. Mr. Riley bad married them; had converted his " ms^esty ;" had made him a good christian, by confining him to one wife, and as the old gentleman could not treat her in a manner suitable to her age, her wishes, and the notions in which she had been reared before missionaries or single-blessedness, in the shape of one wife, had set its foot on the island, it seemed the height of cruelty to sacrifice that young being to an old and in- fatuated dotard— yet so it was. The fact was that the young and beautiful islander had violated the marriage vow ; and she was suf- fering for her guilt at the instance of the missionary, as I understood, and, certainly, according to the wishes cf the jealous old chief. There she sat — that prepossessing creatui^ ■'life -■■•'} i ■"'■• '' to ■IW, 180 AT SEA; in all the fulness and freshness of youth and age; her long, dark hair flowing to her waist in waving curls ; her bright and beautiful eyes shining from beneath her smooth and well- turned forehead ; and, from my soul, I pitied her. The features of that young creature were singularly fascinating ; her skin was clear, and her general expression was mild and pleasing ; and her feet and hands were particularly small and well-formed, a pecu- liarity, by-the-bye, which I observed in almost all the females on that island. -When we had finished our bartering with the natives, for yams, pigs, ducks, fowls, tur- keys, and potatoes, for which we gave them boat-axes, blue cotton prints, and dungaree, and had stowed all away in the boats, we shoved off, and were soon outside the reef of rocks and aboard, the ship having beat in pretty close to shore. The yards were instantly squared, the maiui^acks brought aboard, and in an hour we lo^t sight of that pleasant little AT SEA. 181 island, and stood away to the north. We in- tended to touch at Palnierston Island, to take in cocoa nuts for our live-stock, thinking it was uninhabited as it used to be ; but hear- ing that some white men were there, and not of the best character, we declined, although it abounds in nuts and fruits, which we greatly stood in need of at that time. i m .V- '* ■i>i< r>VH» ijj?: W4 CHAPTER IX. SANDWICH ISLANDS, OAUU. We put in here to obtain provisions, after a long, dreary, and profitless voyage to the northern latitudes of the Pacific, having sought the "field" of whales, which we heard of when down at Mangea, in vain ; for this was one of the chances of war to which we wan- dering whalers are subject, and often have to cruise three or four months, with a man at each must head on the look-out, without the cheering sight of a single fish. Indeed, we III SANDWICH ISLANDS. 183 r ought to have been cruizing more to the southward, as the whale-herd had migrated to that quarter, according to their natural in- stincts, in search of the food which wa? .:'C''e in abundance — the insects blown o*:' the ini- ' tracts of land which are washed by the n> Pacific, forming a glutinous mass which floats with the periodical currents ; but, as our captain wished to do a little business on his own ac- count, he too readily listened to the reports of others, and the more so, as they tallied with his own interested views. After touching at numbers of the small islands which, within a few hundred leagues, stud the great basin of the Pacific — some- times to exchange articles of trade for native produce, at others, to take in provisions solely — we traversed the greater portion of the 49th and 50th degrees of North latitude without catching a single fish, and found ourselves at Vancouver's Island, as rich as when we left port, as regards the real object of our voyage. i if m If:- >-^;) ' 1 » .- ■ ■ ' m '■■'C te IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) /. V ^ /., %r 1.0 1.1 UilM |2.S £ liS 12.0 J£ 1.25 III 1.4 III 1.6 ^ 6" ► °w Phot^phic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M580 (716) 872-4503 »^ v •N? A \ '9> 6^ ^ 6^ 184 SANDWICH ISLANDS. We lay to in the harbours of the latter island for nearly six weeks, in and out ; and had many opportunities of viewing its condition, which, in many respects, was highly interest- ing. The principal portion of the Islanders are Indians, belonging to different tribes, who hunt the fur-animals, and dispose of their pro- duce to the Hudson*s Bay Company ; few of the inhabitants being addicted to steady and stationary industry, except some old semi- civilized hunters and half-cast Americans, who till the land, and dispose of the produce prin- cipally to the Sandwich Islanders and the few ships that frequent those distant seas in search of the whale. The Hudson's Bay Company have an agricultural establishment on the southern point of the island, where they cultivate must of the productions which are common to the climate of England, to supply the posts of their fur hunters, farther north, with pro- visions, instead of imporliug them from the western coast of America, and the distant r\': SANDWICH ISLANDS. 185 islands of the Pacific, as well as some of them, as formerly, from this country. They have also built a fort called Victoria, to protect the property of the establishment from the thievish incursions of the Indians, who are not over scrupulous as to whom they plunder when the cravings of want are strong upon them. As we sailed down the straits of San Juan de Fuca, at the south et^tern point of which the Victoria Fort la built, we observed two vessels, principally laden with corn, destined for the islands of the Pacific, the Vancouver settlers carrying on a considerable trade with the latter, but mostly in the shape of barter — the former exporting corn, pigs, potatoes, and dried fish ; receiving in return sugar, pepper, dried woods, honey and spices, moat of which ultimately find their way to the European markets. There are also some fish- curing depots, at which we purchased dried salmon in a reniarkably fine condition, and at a very reasonable rate; that kind of fish migrating •«s^ ^•mh. 186 8AKDWICH ISLANDS. in immense shoals, at certain periods, all along the north western coast of the Continent of America, and caught in abundance as it as- cends the fresh- water streams to spawn. The sturgeon is also caught and cured, and proves a very agreeable dish after a long sea-voyage. Vancouver's leknd is about three hundred miles long and fifty broad, and is said to abound in minerals of the most useful de- scription ; especially in copper and lead, the former jutting out of the rocks in many places and apparently in large quantities ; lead is also plentiful, and the specimens extracted were of an excellent kind. Cual is found in abundance, especially on the north-eastern portion of the island, and is seen distinctly on the open beach, extending over the space of a mile in length, having been laid bare by the washing of the sea, which in the course of time has evidently frittered away the overlaying mould and sandstone. The Indians dig the coal, and transport it to the ships, at a very trifling ex- > 1 SANDWICH ISLANDS. 18: i^ pense ; and the mineral burns bright, exuding a good heat, being otrongly impregnated with a bituminous matter. The timber is exceedingly luxuriant, espe- cially in the northern portions of the island ; such as pine, spruce, red and white oak, ash, cedar, arbutus, poplar, maple, willow, and yew, all of which are more or less abundant, the cedar and pine attaining an immense size. Limestone may be easily excavated, and fit for the most useful purposes. The climate is con- sidered mild and pleasant, and not subject to any extraordinary change:), from local causes, which obtain in many places in the same latitude; and the capabilities of the soil for agricultural purposes have proved great, being composed the most part of two varieties — a dark vegetable mould of considerable depth, and a mixture of the latter with a greyish, clayey loam, upon both of which vegetation is rampant and luxurious. The island is not subject to the damp fogs which prevail along , ii V;', 188 SANDWICH ISLANDS. the coast in lower latitudes, especially in Upper California, which are blown from the ocean, and stunt down, even when they have not sufficient power to blight, the cereal crops. The potatoe grows to an enormous size, and seems to thrive most luxuriantly on the island ; the Indians having large patches under culti- vation, which frequently serve them for food, when the hunting-season is not on, or not so productive as they expect. The natives, for the most part, are a fine race of men, have their faces tattooed accord- ing to the savage rites of their respective tribes ; are excessively fond of ardent spirits, for which they will exchange their very souls if possible ; not indifferent to beads, pins, or anything in the shape of metals in a manufac- tured state ; are industrious and friendly, but cannot possibly abstain from thieving whenever the slightest opportunity presents itself. Having stored ourselves amply with pro- visions, and our captain done his utmost to SANDWICH ISLANDS. 189 turn a penny on his own account, which was not always in unison with the interests of the owners of the vessel, nor of the crew, we left the island for the south, and kept coasting along for some days, until we stood in for Mendocino, a cape on the Coast of Upper California. But, before we could reach it, the wind changed, and we again stood out for sea, still steering for the south ; when, after a few days' fishing, in which we were unexpectedly successful, having stowed away a couple of whales, we sailed for San Francigcos,* with the view of recruiting our stock of water and provisions. As the tide sets in heavily at certain changes of the moon in the deep channel leading to the Bay of San Franciscos, we were obliged to steer the vessel steadily in one direction, so as to avoid the strong eddies on either side of the stream. The Bay is one of the finest and * Vide Appendix. 190 SANDWICH ISLANDS. most capacious in the world, not excepting Sydney Cove, and a thousand vessels could ride at ease in its deep bnsins which widen out and stretch far into the land north and south beyond the point where we cast anchor. There were several ships in the harbour be- sides ours ; some of them for trading purposes from New York and Boston, with their float- ing retail-shops of dry goods, trinkets, and wearing apparel, the latter especially adapted to the habits and climate of the country ; others were there for repairs, and for recruit- ing their stock of provisions and water, like ourselves ; and almost all their crews becacne alike noisy, drunken, and quarrelsome, which made it anything but agreeable to be in their neighbourhood even, much less their company, as we were sometimes compelled to be. The town of San Franciscos lies on the southern extremity of the channel which leads to the Bay, and vessels may anchor almost «lose to SANDWICH ISLANDS. 191 shore with perfect safety. The passage to the latter is about two miles in width, bounded by steep basaltic rocks, and the tide is sufficient, as we have already observed, to carry you in without the wind being in your favour. The Bay extends about twenty miles N. E., and about thirty miles S. W. ; the northern part narrowing to a passage which opens into a basin about ten miles wide, called San Pablo, and a second pass unites this basin with an- other, into which most of the great rivers empty themselves. The favourite anchoring place for whalers is called San Salito, opposite to Yerba Buena, where fresh water and pro- visions can be readily obtained. There are several islands in the Bay of Franciscos, the largest lying in the northern part of the first basin, and is easily distinguished, even from the ocean ; the next in size is opposite to the town of Yerba Buena, and is the habitation of goats, birds, and game, being covered with wood and wild pasturage. i^et-i ;i5^S^ 'm 192 SANDWICH ISLANDS.-^ There are a few merchants in the town, some poor Indians, a few half-caste Spaniards, and here and there an old friar strolling about ; the dwellings', for the most part, are miserable, being built of adobes or unburnt bricks, for the better kind of houses, while the meaner huts are simply composed of rough i^oles, covered with dry grass, having a small aperture for the entrance. The climate is beautiful, except some dense fogs which come steaming off the ocean at certain seasons of the year, but they do not extend far inwards ; in other respects the atmosphere is pure, clear and invigorating — bracing up the nerves to a most healthy tension, and imparting an elasticity to the limb, which is only occasionally felt in the more temperate regions of the globe. The land all round San Franciscos seems highly productive, and requires but little cultivation ; judging by the indolent habits, and the lazy movements of the inhabitants, who appear, in that particular respect, to take things very .SANDWICH ISLANDS. 193 easy. The wheat is sown broad cast on the land when it has been sufficiently ploughed and crossed ; the latter being occasioned by the construction of the plough which cannot cut up and turn over a furrow as with us, but simply leaves a rut, therefore the soil must be broken by repeated crossings, before it is capable of receiving the seed. The land is prepared in the same way for the maize, oats being little cultivated, although in some parts they grow wild and luxuriant — so at least I have been informed by parties well acquainted with the interior of the country. In many parts of California they are obliged to irrigate the land to produce corn, but round San Fran- cisco the rains and dews are sufficient for that purpose. The same remark will apply, doubt- less, to the rich valleys lying between the two great mountainous chains which run from North to South, and are parallel with the line of the coast. Barley is cultivated in com- paratively small quantities, as it only serves for m & : :. 194 SANDWICH ISLANDS. food to the horses, distillation from this graio being unknown. The price of wheat is about two dollars the fanega, or 1/. 6s, the English quarter, and maize at 1^ dollar, or \h per quarter. Barley is about the same price as wheat, the latter being mostly cultivated. Clover is also grown, and serves as excellent fodder for the cattle ; and flax is found in a wild state, the Indians using it for their nets and ropes. Vegetables of almost every des- cription we found in abundance, and exceed- ingly cheap ; potatocf), beetroot, onions, carrots beans — besides fruits of almost all kinds, such Hs apples, pears, peaches, melons, grapes, plums, cherries, flgs, oranges, and pomegranates, were offered at an extremely cheap rate, and most excellent in quality. Many of these fruits, we were credibly informed, grew wild, especially the strawberry and the grape, the former attaining an extraordinary size, and deliciously siweet in flavour. But the principal occupation of the Cali^ ' '\' SANDWICH ISLANDS. 195 fornians, and the foreign settlers, must be ia rearing cattle, which not only supply them with meat, but also yield a profitable return from their hides and tallow. These cattle are comparatively wild, roaming at will in the immense praries which are covered with vege- tation, or in the rich valleys watered by the numerous streams, which lie between the great mountain chains of the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky range. Judging by the price of skins, which were heaped up in huge piles ready for shipment, with that of animal food, it might reasontvbly be inferred that the herds of cattle must be very numerous, and in excellent con- ditio'ii. The management of the dairy is almost unknown among the natives ; cheese and butter being procurable only from the foreign settlers. The pigs are fatted for their lard, of which a large quantity is exported ; while the sheep does not seem so plentiful, nor so much prized, although, with an improvement of the breed, it would prove more profitable, in their K 2 ii ¥ V." fm H6 SABTDWICH ISLANDS. rich pa8turage> than either the ox or the pig. The population is a strange mixture of Mexicans, Germans, Americans, and English ;. the first are proud, ignorant^ and lazy; the second, as far as we could learn and observe, are quiet, laborious, and intelligent ; while the latter partake oi iheir national characteristics — industrious and dominating, according to the peculiarities of their disposition and education. The Indians are quiet and docile ; lazily dis- poned, and scarcely fit for continuous industry — their wild habits and roving spirit being utterly inimical to buch a condition of ex-> ist^nce. We left San Franciscos with regret, having experienced a more than ordinary amount of courtesy and kindness, both by the Americans and our own countrymen ; and our captain had made up his mind to put in there on \m return from the south, had he not been pre* vented by the " winds and the waves," whose « SANDWICH ISLANDS. 197 mandates no sailing vessel dares dispute, and to which we were obliged to submit, although much against our inclinations. As we cleared the harbour and stood out at sea, with the intention of steering southwards, we soon found that it would be useless to attempt it, as the southeast wind, which blows with such terrific violence up the Pacific, had set in somewhat earlier than usual, and compelled us to take a nor-westerly course. At length, drifting about for some days — sometimes in a calm, sometimes in a storm— and constantly on the "look-out" for our game, which, by- the-bye, seldom appeared, we found ourselves off the Sandwich Islands, after sweeping over half the Pacific ; and, as we had lost a mast, and otherwise damaged our vessel, we made up our minds to put in the first convenient port, by way of squaring our timbers — as a landsman would say — or, in other words, to put our ship in order, so that she might weather another storm or so before she reached her final desti^ nation. il CHAPTER X. SYDNEY. I HAVE been sojourning for the last three months at Sydney, not only to purge myself of a little scurvy which I picked up in my last whaling expedition, but also with a view of studying the strange phases of society here, to which, neither in its origin or present con- dition can any prototype be found in the history of the world. It was precisely on this day sixty years ago that Governor Philip laid the foundations of this now important Colony SYDNEY. 199 at the head of Sydney Cove ; and strange, in truth, were the oiateriald which were placed at his disposal. Indeed, there was no idea then of colonizing even at some future time this distant acquisition of the British Grov«n. The loss of our American Colonies had de- prived Great Britain of a pltice of exile to which she was accustomed to banish those of her sons whose crimes had placed them out of the pale of liberty, and civilization ; and New South Wales was, in this predicament, selected simply as a penal settlement for all the roguish depravity which was supposed to be incorrigi- ble at home. This, the first stage of the present colony, has been compared with the early state of ancient Home, in which the communit/ were nothing more than an asso' ciation of robbers and outlaws ; but, there is this remarkable difference to be observed be- tween them — the robbers and outlaws of ancient Rome were independent and free, while those of New South Wales were in a ^^ n vy « 2C0 SYDNEY. State of slavery more rigorous in principle than even negro slavery in the West, because the labour and submission exacted from them was not merely considered by their masters as a right, but as a punishment also, which it was their duty to render effectual, both for retri- bution and correction. The great blunder committed in the outset was in endeavouring to construct a community of felons alone, which was to be continually increased by fresh accessions of convicts* The machinery of government, even in its most simple and orderly state, cannot be carried on without hands, and much less in a state of society almost exclusively composed of unruly spirits, who are to be kept under rigid surveil- lance and coercion, because the local govern- ment had no alternative but to select from this very class nearly ail its subordinate function^ aries. Public works were necessarily filled by those convicts whose better educacion only rendered them more dangerous as confidential SYDNEY. 201 employes. The frauds and robberies in par- ticular practised upon the government in the timber-yard — that is the depdt for the materials and stores belonging to the Office of Public Works — were most enormous and audacious. Every Overseer and Clerk on coming into office at once set about building on his own account with the labour and materials of government; and such was the fellow-feeling amongst the convicts that the practice was very rarely split upon, or detected. Some of the largest fortunes now enjoyed in the Colony by JEinancipists, or their descendants, have no other origin but this. ** It was not until the appointment Sir Thomas Brisbane, in 1821, that the tide of free emigra- tion steadily set in for New South Wales, and enabled the government to keep the felon popu- lation somewhat more at arms-length. In the course, however, of thirty years, under the system I have alluded to, that class had acquired, ^ a body, great wealthy and became '\''t^'' }-.'}"/: ?'' 202 8YDNET. inflated with extravagant pretensions. Nor, unfortunately, was the assignment system which was now brought into full vigour, how- ever well caleulated in other respects to pro- mote the progress of the Colony, calculated to check the growth of this evil. In fact, it was through the facilities which existed of abusing the assignment system that transporta- tion, instead of conducting the malefactor to a place of punishment, only opened for hiin a road to fortune ; and that we at this daj witness the anomaly of the opulence and luxury of a rising Colony being represented by a class, whom our criminal legislation had intended that they should reap nothing from their labours in it, but privation and disgrace. , I am not, however, going to moralize, or philosophize, on this subject ; and you will, therefore, merely regard the above observations as necessary to your fully entering into the amusing sketches which the most common-place observer cannot fail to draw from those singular SYDNEY. 20J adventures whicli have rendered society in Sydney what it njw is. A few words first, however, as to the nature of the assignment system itself. By it all free settlers could command the unpaid labour of as many convicts as they could satisfy the government they were able to employ and sub- sistj on re-imbursing the Government for the trifling expense of the convict's dresses ; and the masters of these assigned convicts had the power of rewarding them for good conduct by recommending them for a ticket of leave. In consequence of these regulations a very differ> ent fate was in store for the ignorant convicts from the rural districts of the mother* country, and the better educated criminals from the cities and towns. The former were, of course, selected by settlers in the interior, who, in the event of their proving worthless, returned them upon the hands of the government, to be em- ployed in chain-gangs upon Public Works, and if they proved useful and valuable, never re- ! m 204 SYDNEY. linquished their services until the term of their sentences e:spired. Not so, however, with your Gentleman-forger, Cracksmen, Swell- mob-men, &c., who might escape for a ten or fifteen years retirement to Sydney, at the public expense. This class of offenders are usually ** fallen angels '* from a better sphere of society, and, together with the accomplish- ments acquired in the earlier and more virtuous portion of their career, bring with them also the unscrupulous cunning which they have imbibed during their rise and progress in crime. This sort of people had very little difficulty in procuring eligible assignments in the Colonial Metropolis; and in most cases proved them- selves so useful to their masters, that they could command from them a very early recom- mendation for a ticket of leave, as the condition of continuing to devote their talents to their service. In frequent instances they would insist, not only upon a ticket of leave, but even upon a sub rosa partnership with their SYDNEY. 205 assignee masters, and the latter, for their own interest, were compelled to submit, because, though assignees of the mere manual labour of their convict-servants, they had no power to exact the exercise of their professional skill, or other acquirements, except upon their own terms. . But there was something still more in favour of this class. Your swell-burglars, fences, forgers, swindlers, mail-coach robbers, &c., always advised some old hands in the Colony of their coming, so as to have assignees of the right sort to apply for them on their landing. These gentry, moreover, always took care before conviction at home to secure the spoils of their raids on the public so that they could enter into partnership with their pseudo assignees at once, and, frequently, by the time that they underwent the ceremony of Emanci- pation, they were prepared to start a carriage- and-four, and liveried retinue, a town house and a cottage orn^, with extensive pleasure- h3 ■ f' Via ,r;^-..jt>,'5i *■ ^ ■•>,.■■■"■ - ^v miSSi I lit-* ■■ 206 SYDNEY. grounds delightfully overlooking the fiuest sea- scenery in the world. It often happened, too, with the highest class of criminals — lawyers, for instance, who had robbed their clients with so much ingenuity that they were not allowed to practise it any longer at home — that the very enormity of the offence was a sure and immediate passport to a much greater degree of affluence her<* than they could ever have aspired to in tLwir native land. Their fame, as clever practitioners, pre- ceded them, and the incompetent professional men of the Colony were all on the qui vive to obtain from Government a preference of their assignment, and to outbid each other with the convicts themselves for their services. I met a man this morning, driving his barouche and pair along George-street, whose history is a fair illustration of the manner in which these gentry get on. His naine is f^F , and he was at one time an attorney of considerable repute and practice in Liverpool. Like many M 8TDKEY. 207 other clever people, however, who are not content with making respectable fortunes by persevering in their own calling, this man would fain become rapidly rich by secretly entering into speculations alien to his profesision ; and, as it mostly happens, he found that he had been throwing away his substance by grasping at shadows. To meet his engagements, and with the hope of retrieving himself, he took to abusing the confidence of his clients, and, ultimately, forged a will, and was sentenced to be transported for life. The dexterity, however, with which he had prevented the fraud from being di.-covered, for several years, was a theme of general con- versation, and the fame of it had reached the Colony before his arrival. A yvmng lawyer named A , who had previously been desti- tute of busincc'S, was fortunate enough to obtain the assignment of this celebrated rogue, and from that day clients beset his offices in shoals. "VV of course was, under the rose, the active, and A only the sleeping, partner in .' l , ;.•■'«- y^i 208 SYDNEY. the concero ; and the former thus jumpeJ into a vastly more lucrative business, on the strength of his bad character, than he had enjoyed at home on the strength of a good one. There was also another dodge, which was the more remarkable, because it was generally connived at by the authorities ; but, as before, I had better give you an example, than a description, of it. A Jew in Petticoat Lane, who had been a notorious fence for years in London, at last carried his pitcher to the well once too often — in short he was nabbed and lagged. From the first he was quite aware that the scene of his future destiny would be laid in New South Wales ; aud he set about providing for the change in the most business-like way imaginable. He realized all he possessed, and had it placed to the account of his wife in one of the Sydney banks ; and the day after he received his sentence, sent her forward to the colony to be ready for his arrival. Immediately upon his landing, his SYDNEY. 209 better half was ready with a petition to the Governor to have him assigned to her as a convict servant, and, as she had qualified as an householder, the assignment was made to her as a matter of course. Indeed, a wife, if she had a family of children to back her claim — and if she had not, she could easily borrow three or four brats for the occasion — rarely failed in having her husband assigned to her ; and thus the transported felon not only became his own master, but found himself in a place where he could employ the fruits of his past nefarious courses to more advantage than he could have done, had he been allowed to con- tinue his career at home. The large and rapid fortunes which these gentry have made in Sydney would almost ap- pear fabulous, even in the purlieus of Capel Court during an epidemic mania for specula- tion. The spectacle of a millionaire JtJmancipist is by no means a rara avis ; and from five, to twenty, thousand a year may be taken as the ■\-^ ■ ) V m ■:V'' '■At it 210 SYDNEY. average incomes of the aristocracy of that worthy class. Indeed they quite over-top the free and respectable inhabitants; and the ex- hibition is the more glaring because they en- deavour to revenge themselves for the noli me tangere of the untainted citizen, by the most ostentatious display of their wealth. You shall count hundreds of carriages-and-four, barouches, landaus, &c. on the race-cuurse at Five-dock Farm; and your cicerone in giving you an account of their proprietors will only be giving you a catalogue of the most success- ful felonry of the colony. Still, in spite of their display, there is always the meanness of the parvenu amongst these gentry ; for they will give anything to acquire a footing in the society of the free settlers, whom, at the same time, they appear so ambitious of out* shining. I know an instance of a wealthy emancipist, who had for a long time been endeavouring in vain to induce a respectable draper to lend him his countenance, by taking a seat in his SYDNEY. 211 barouche ; despairing at least of being able to scrape an acquaintance with him, he turned his attention to a person in the same trade, but in more humble circumstances, over the way. He finally succeeded in corrupting hia virtue, and in enrolling one free settler on the list of his acquaintances, by the lavish ex- penditure of himself and his emancipist friends. It has often struck me that these people, who are certainly not endowed with any excess of modesty, so rarely return to dazzle their old friends and enemies at home. I only know one instance of the kind ; and if the reception he met with in his native place was generally known, I do not think that it would deter others from following his example. Master P was a very large horse-dealer in Lin- colnshire, ransacking all the fairs in the United Kingdom for hunters, carriage-horses, and hacks, and, after making them up, dispos- ing of them to great advantage amongst the gentry, within fifty miles of his ^tables. He m m m ■ ^f ■ 212 SYDNEY Vf&a a master-hand at his craft, and had, notori- ously, accumulated considerable wealth; but one luckless, (or, as it ultimately turned out, lucky) day, he happened to sell a horse at a high figure to a gentleman who returned it as unsound, and, as our hero refused to return the money, a series of expensive law-suits was the result, in which he was finally discom- fitted. Enraged at this issue of his shiftiness, he turned everything he possessed into ready money, and procured a docket of bankruptcy to be struck against him. His opponent, how- ever, stuck to him like a bull-dog, and palpably proving in the Bankruptcy Court that he must have made away with his property to de- fraud his creditors, he was prosecuted for the offence, convicted of it, and sentenced to transportation for fourteen years. An assignee master, however — a large emancipist, stock and landholder — was ready to apply for him as a convict servant on his arrival, and with a' large sum which he had saved SYDNEY. 213 "out of the fire** by "smashing*' at home, he purchased a share of his sham-mastei's busi- ness. Now, although they are very good judges of breeding horses in Australia, they knew nothing of training them to their paces, and making them up for market; and Sam P possessed these peculiar qualifications to perfection. Before three years had passed, he and his partner became the largest ex- porters of chargers to India, where they always commanded enormously high prices, and where the breed* of Master P and his partner had already grown high into repute, above all others. At the expiration of eleven years P received a full pardon, and he re- turned home with a large fortune. Instead, however, of sneaking into his native place, like a returned convict, he entered it in an * The horses on a stock-farm in Australia are all branded with some peculiar mark by the owner when yearlings. 'iif ^^ ■ill-}. 214 oTDNEY. open carriage-and-four to the tune of ** See the conquering hero comes," by a couple of bray- ing bugles; and the same evening gave a sumptuous feast to his old neighbours and friends, whose flattering reception of him, I presume, must be imputed to their attributing his return with health and wealth to the inter- position of Providence in favour of persecuted innocence I When I last heard of him he was enjoying all the pleasures and sports of a country gentleman's life, within a few miles of the stables which, before he left England, he did not disdain to clean out himself. But, if the strange fortunes of our male convicts may be called the romance of crime, that terui is still more applicable to those of the female convicts. They remained after arriving at Sydney, eight or ten days on board before they landed, during which a portion of them found assignee-masters, and the remain- der wtre then sent to what is called the Factory at Paramatta. Such, also, of those who were % SYDNEY. 215 assigned, and did not conduct themselves to the satisfaction of their masters, were returned on the hands of the Government, and sent to the Factory, where they are provided with an abundance of food, without being subject to any labour or discipline, and enjoyed, also, in a range of extensive gardens, all the pleasures of gregarious intercourse. Indeed, the female convicts soon found out that the Factory was the very best market for their charms imaginable. The settlers in the interior are alwijys anxious for the male convict servants marrying; and the latter, when they become free, are equally bent upon matrimony> because, apart from other considerations, a wife and children are of considerable value in the Colony, as indeed they are in all thinly-peopled, grazing, coun- tiies. The wife can always command good wages in the same service as her husband; where a boy of ten years of age is as useful in tiie mauagement of a flock, and of twelve years in the management of stock, as many a grown- f ■Ai^ 216 SYDNEY. up adult. When one of these Benedicts was on the look out for a spouse, and could not, as he very rarely could, find a mate to pair with near home, he applied to the Factory.* The * A painful circumstance, in relation to Para- matta, occurred some years ago, and, as it points a moral, by showing that the only romance is in real life, we shall repeat it here. A yonng man who had been some years in Australia, came up from the Bush as usual to dispose of his produce, and take unto himself a wife j when he arrived in Sydney, he was advised by his friends to choose his " fair one " from Paramatta, as a fresh importation had recently arrived from Eng- land, and women were then scarce in Sydney. Ac- cordingly, he took his way to the Factory, speculating in his mind what kind of being he would be able to select ; when, to his utter astonishment, his own sister was in the file of the women he had to choose from, and the effect upon his mind was so stunning that fntal consequences nearly ensued. At length the young man recovered ; obtained the freedom of his sister by means of a ticket of leave ; and both are represented to have lived happily together, and to have accumulated an easy competence. It is needless to observe that his sister was a con- vict. irV- SYDNEY. 217 unmarried frail ones were drawn up in a line for inspection; and after examining their points with as much curiosity as if he was about to bargain for a brood-mare, he beckoned with bis finger for the one to step forward from the rank, who happened to strike his fancy the best. After a short conference in private, the treaty of marriage was generally agreed upon ; and, if not, the amorous adventurer had only to try his luck again and again, until he suc- ceeded in bringing one of the fair Calistas to terms. Indeed, from the moment that the female convicts acquired any knowledge of the con- vict customs of the Colony, marriage was the subject which pre-occupie' all their thoughts. As soon as the transport-ship arrived at Sydney, they devoted the few days of their Quarantine in preparing to make their descent, upon the natives, with the greatest possible m^. .•f'il .-■(rVT ^M\ 218 SYDNEY. effect. Most of them carried out some little finery with them ; but your lady- sinners made their appearance in all the gorgeousness, in which they bad been accustomed to tread the pav^ of Begent Street, or the saloon of old Drury. Thus decked out, they disembarked to present themselves before their future masters; and were frequently besieged by captivated suitors even before they arrived at their new habitations. But the assignee- master had the power of '^forbidding the banns/' though his obstinacy rarely continued long, for my " lady,** by playing the part of a princess instead of a servant, could soon extort from him her conffe for the Factory, where the surliness of a master would no longer be a bar to her matrimonial projects. Bad, however, as all this was, it was iQ> finitely better than that the Colony should be left, as it since has been, almost entirely with- SYDNEY. 219 out a supply of female immigration into the interior. My friend Onslow, however, has already enlightened you on this subject, better than I can do, and I will, therefore, conclude with the assurance of my respectful esteem. ^ >l&t!! h 2 CHAPTEil XI. SYDNEY. I HAVE to thank you for the flattering com- pliment that not only you (from whose friend- ship I might expect some little partiality), but the circle also of your private friends, to whom I am a stranger, take great interest in my communications from this part of the world. I will not, however, affect to be surprised that, however homely the style of them, the matter should possess some charms for you denizens of the old world ; because I can easily SYDNEY. 221 perceive that the adventures and Fcenes, and strange conditions of society into which I have been led by my rambling disposition, and which have left such vivid impressions upon me as an observer of, or actor in, them must, even in description, however feeble, have the charm of novelty for those who are languishing fur want of excitement, under the jog-trot sameness of civilized and conventional life in the West. Nor will I deny that I derive much pleasure from corresponding with you on these subjects, because it is only when J sit down to recal my experience, and embody it in litteris scriptis, that I begin to reflect and philosophise upon it, and to feel that I have not travelled from Dan to Beersheba, and found all barren of useful and entertaining knowledge. Your last, however, contained a request with which I shall not be so foolish as to attempt to comply. You wish me to give you some ideas of "Life in the Bush;'* but, personally, I know little of it, except !'S'2 ^M^M. i."- ''ji ■* V '•'■■' pi mi 222 SYDNEY. a ramble or two to the Cow-Pasturev, which I have already described, and which, after all, is but the mere fringe of life, and character, and incident, in the " Bush/' Nor are any accounts of it to be gathered in the settled districts, (beyond which my erratic star has never led me to penetrate to any extent) at all to be relied upon. Indeed the shop- keeper, or broker, of Sydney knows no more of " Life in the Bush,** ex officio^ than the slop-seller of Portsmouth does, by virtue of cheating Jack when on shore, know of life afloat. It is true that the Bushman comes down once a year to Sydney to dispose of the products of the Bush, and to take back pro- visions and other necessaries in return; but the Bushman in the colonial metropolis is no more like what he is while exerting his un- ceasing watchfulness and activity in the solitude of the interior, than ti.e seaman who comes to London with his pocket full of ironey to unbend himself, after the privatione and •YDNET. 223 restraints of ten or twenty months* voyage, is like the same man buffeting, with an eye always to the weather, the winds and waves in the solitude of the ocean. You must re- collect, too, that there were no bagmen who travel into the Bush for orders, as they do into the rural districts in England, and hence the most valuable class of anecdote- mongers are wanting to give us even sketchy outlines of the life of a Bushman ; and as for your mere book-keeping travellers they know as little of it as a Frenchman would learn of the graziers of Lincolnshire from a Smithfield salesman, who had never been further north than Barnet in his life. Fortunately, however, though I can tell you little or nothing on this subject of my own knowledge, I am enabled to furnish you with some interesting particulars at second hand. About a month ago I received a long letter from an old friend of mine in the Bush, in answer to one from me which anticipated the <^^'i :>".«| '^^^1 224 SYDNEY. very request contained in yours. I had heard by accident at Sydney that my old hospital chum, Charles Onslow, had come out about six years ago, and had proceeded at once into the interior to commence the life of a Bush- man. I at once wrote to him to inform him that I also was in this part of the world, and having related my own ups and downs since we had last parted in London, desired that he would in like manner gratify my friendly curiosity as to his own. I enclose his answer, which will Bu£Sciontly speak for itself ; but it will perhaps be better to preface it by inform- ing you out of what materials this successful and happy Bushman has been made. Charles Onslow's father was a surgeon, en- joying a first-rate practice in a provincial town, and educated him (he being an only child) to his own profession, with a view of his suc- ceeding at a proper age to the business. He received a tolerably good education— though he was much fonder of stealing a mount upon SYDNEY. 225 one of his father^s spare horses than making a hobby of poor Pegasus — and in due time he was sent up to *' walk" one of the hospitals in London. It was there that I first met him as a fellow student ; and, although our tem- peraments were strongly contrasted, it was perhaps to that very reason that we became such intimate friends. I was always observing everything, but in a quiet way, whereas, Onslow, though equally ardent to acquire a knowledge of the world, was never happy un- less the pursuit of it was productive of some strong and stimulating excitement. You may suppose, therefore, that there was a good deal of that reckless dare-devil about him which does not qualify a young man for gaining favour in that ordinary level of society, where the proprieties are considered to be ahnost as essential as the virtues. Whether under ordi- nary circumstances, his tendency to become a scapegrace might not have been checked as maturer age taught him the necessity of not L 5 m^ 226 SYDNEY. offending the sober prejudices of the iivorld ia which he was about to move, I cannot say ; and his sudden succession, just after he had attained the age of twenty-one, to a fortune of seven thousand pounds by the death of hi» father, cut off every chance of this problem being solved. What course of life he led for some time after this event, you will be able to infer pretty well from his letter, of which the following is a transcript — ** My dear ** I have not experienced so much surprise and delight sin^e I have re- sided here, divisus toto orbe as it were, in the Bush as I did on the receipt of your letter. Not that I have any hankering for the blasS old world which I have quitted; but one cannot refrain from indulging in speculations as to the fate of one's former friends and companions ; and curiosity is gratified by any SYDNEY. 227 information which enables one to retrace with the mind^s eye the scenes of our earlier career, and note the changes which time has wrought in the characters aua fortunes of those who once played a part in them. Need I, therefore, repeat that to hear from yoa, not only the earliest, but 1 may say the only, friend (of course, I except my father) with whom I ever truly sympathized in my younger days, afforded me inexpressible gratification. " Nor will you wonder, my dear , you who know how pleasurable any sort of excite-' ment is to me — that this gratification was greatly heightened by my astonishment oa finding that you also should have made a weary pilgrimage to the Antipodes, in search of ad- ventures to satisfy an uneasy spirit, as well as myself. As for me, my impetuosity and my impatience of anything that is stale and con- ventional, was certain to hurry me, sooner or later, into taking a tangential flight from the centre of civilization into distant and unknown m ^ m ■■■■v/i £28 SYDNEY. regions, in search of something natural and new. But for your more quiet temperament, dashed as it is with a sort of semi-professional passion for dissecting human nature, I should have thought that the study of the excrescences which the luxuries and privations of civiliza- tion have engendered in the body social of the world in which you were bom, would have been sufficient. I should have as soon expected to hear of a curious oyster leaving his ' native * bed at Burnham to examine into the condition of his fellow-creatures in the pearl fisheries of Ceylon, as to hear of your whaling in the Pacific, or philosophizing and trading at Sydney. *'But a truce to these prosy reflections. Yoa wish to know what I have been doing since we parted ; and, like a true Bushman, I will dash in medias res at once. '^ You are aware that just after having attained my majority, and my examination at the * College,* my father died, leaving me about SYDNEY. 229 I • seven thousand pounds, and the reversion of hiij practice. However, it would have been as little desirable as it would have been agreeable for me to start alone in my profession at that early age ; and I, therefore, contracted with a medical man of name and standing to take a share in the business, upon the condition that he should manage the whole of it himself for three years, while I was acquiring a little more knowledge and manliness in London. Small, however, was the portion of my time which I devoted thenceforward to Professors and Phar- macopoeias. Possessed of so considerable a sum of ready money, and with the best share of a lucrative practice to fall back upon, if that fund should be exhausted, I abandoned myself to the indulgence of my craving for excitement without stint. My first step was to make myself at home at those places of convivial resort — Coal-hole, Cyder-cellars, &c. —where the sons of Apollo and Thespis enjoy their mid- night revels, after having gone through the .'k m M 230 SYDNEY. laborious harmony and forced humour of the stage. But I was soon tired of this sort of thing. The sameness of it, night after night, in a short time only produced that sort of weariness which the musician in m orchestra may be supposed to feel, who is doomed to sit through the performance of the same opera for half a season without change. There was always the same set, and the same ' feast of reason and flow of soul,' until the affair at last became as intolerable as it would be to sit down to the same dish with the same set of faces before you for twelve months together. I therefore looked out for something else, and chance threw me into the * ring,' and here, for a time, I ceitainly found a source of more animating excitement. To a medical student the development of physical power in the heroes of the * ring ' is always an interesting study ; and besides this branch of * comparative anatomy,* the science of Fistiana presents to the novice seducing opportunities for making i^ SYDNEY. 231 himself practically acquainted with the ' Doc* trine of Chances.* In fact, while the amuse- ment to be found at the ' Sporting Houses ' of the East and West continued to be racy from its novelty, and heightened by the additional excitement of betting, it was all very well. But the manners of the P.K., which at first attracted from their unsophisticated rudeness, soon disgusted by their revolting coarseness ; and even the passion for gambling in such an arena vanished as soon as I discovered that in every match to which I was a party, and in every bet into which I was drawn, I was uni- formly planted upon as a victim and a dope by a set of blackguard sharpers who, while flat- tering and spunging upon me, were only chuckling in their sleeves at the fat flat who had fallen into their clutches, "With the change of scene, however, no change took place in the bent of my inclina- tions. Even the mortification of having been gulled did not efface the pleasing infatuation of m v> I. 3 'H'.' .i;/ 23a SYDNEY. having something worth one's anxiety de- pendent upon the hazard of events ; and I only souglit to find . what had become the principiU charm of my existence in a somewhat more refined sphere. In short, I next sought to dissipate the irksomeness of mental inaction by "roughing" it among the well-dressed (and in many instances, well-bred) black legs of the turf, and the fashionable roues of the second-rate Hells in Bury Street, and the Quadrant. But even here the fascination gave way before the satiety of sameness ; and so it was in every subsequent stage of "Life of London;" until at last, thoroughly fatigued with the the vain pursuit after a stimulus capable of exhausting the overflow of my animal spirits, I sat down coolly to consider whether I had not adopted a mistaken course for that purpose, from the first." "I shall never be able, I thought to myself, to keep down these ever-teeming humours of n)y temperament by such drastics as I have. •'1 . n ft: hit SYDNEY. 233 hitherto been taking to expurgate them. My diseased state of mind rtquires a medicinal regimen, the basis of which must be more powerful ingredients than any I have hitherto prescribed for myself — and those ingredients are toil, difficulties, and dangers. As soon as this new light broke upon me, I, at first, turned my thoughts to the army ; but then, in these piping times of peace, I should be much more likely to find my lot cast in the ener- vating lethargy of a Colonial barrack, than amidst the exciting apprehensions and aspira- tions of the march, the retreat, and the battle- field. Then foreign travel, with its surprising discoveries and ever-present perils invited me ; but my forture was no longer adequate for such a life of adventure, as I had hareiy ^ffeen hundred pounds of my original patrimony left. I had been turning these and other schemes over in my mind without arriving at any satis- factory result for more than a fortnight, when I accidentally alighted upon an amusing article ■■S*j? mi ■^Y>.x: w 234 BYDNET. in one of the Magazines, descriptive of the hardships and enjoyments of life in the Bush of Australia. No fiction of romance ever in- terested me so much as the startling realities which were there portrayed. Eureka I I ex- claimed, with more rapture than ever as- tronomer did over the discovery of a long- sought star ; and my mind was instantly, and unchnngeahly, made up to pursue my destiny in the virgin wildernesses of the southern hemisphere. I have said that I had still fifteen hundred pounds left ; I disposed of my interest in my late father's business to my partner for another twelve hundred pounds; and in less than ten months I found myself at Sydney, well equipped for a residence in the Bush, and with an account of £2,500 at the Bank of Australia, ** Being a single man, and in rather inde- pendent circume^tances, I resolved, before finally settling down, to acquire some experi- ence by a tour of obsen'ation in the Bush for li\. SYDNEY. 235 a twelve-month. Mounted upon a strong and good-paced horse, and with no other baggage than my arms, which consisted of a musket, a brace of pistols, and an axe, and a knapsack furnished with a blanket, a change of linen, and a supplementary pair of stout, moleskin trousers, behold me crossing the frontier of the narrow belt of sea-board which comprises the settled district of New South Wales. The few necess.xies I required, such as tea, to* bacco, &c., were stowed away in the capacious pockets of my stout, fustian shooting-jacket. " The appearance of the country before D>e was, at first, anything but promising ; tracts of stunted scrub and stony waste succeeding each other, alternately, for a considerable distance. This cheerless phenomenon, however, did not, as might have been expected, depress me ; on the contrary, I never experienced more elasticity of spirit in my life. Of course, I attributed this to the stimulus of the adven- tures in store for me ; but I afterwards learned m -§1 ..*H 236 SYDNEY. to account for it in a much more natural way. Once beyond the taint of the denser haunts of men, the atmosphere of Australia is the most ^ exhilarating in the world ; the genial warmth of it not bein<; counteracted, as the similar temperature of India and America, by steam- ing exhalations from the soil. It is not, how- ever, altogether exempt from the sudden con- vulsions common to all climes, in which the air is unequally rarified, as I had an opportu- nity of testing before I had travelled twenty miles into the interior. A tornado suddenly gave evidence of its approaching from the East, by the huge spiral column of dust and leaves, and even branches of trees which seemed to sport madly on the wings of the whirl-wind ; in less than two minutes it was upon me, and had not my steed understood the nature of the crisis better than I did, I should certainly have been unhorsed in the very out- set of my first trip in the Bush. The saga- cious animal turned his head to leeward, and cv SYDNEV. 237 planting his fore-feet into tlie ground nt an angle, and drawing in his hind quarters at a parallel inclination, opposed the resistance of his whole weight to the fury of the storm, while, by throwing myself forward on his mane, I afforded it as little surface as possible to act upon. In ten minutes it had passed as far to the West as I had first observed it in the East ; and, except that I was smothered with dust, I suffered no inconvenience from the rencontre. " The appearance of the country at last began to improve. Belts of woodland and pasture succeeded to those of scrub and flint ; and huts whiciA appeared in the distance like dark spots 8catte7'^d over the horizon indicated that at this point man had again re* commenced bis labours upon the soil. As the sun was«d r^^m Ml 246 SYDNEY. I centre of our movements (the hut), at an understood signal we severally turned short to the right and followed each other rapidly in a circle around it ; and the experienced Bush- men, having ascertained that the cattle had not passed this cordon, dispersed themselves over the area within it, to discover in what amphi- theatrical valley they were browsing, or to what gulley they had resorted for water. Presently the clang of whips, the short, sharp barking of dogs, above which rose the Bush* man's cry of * Tail 'em I Tail *em, boys !* which was heard to our right; and, the other parties all making in that direction, we were soon in a body driving the cattle furiously before us at a pace, which no one can conceive who has not witnessed the ex* traordinary speed of the Australian kine. Never did I enjoy a half-hour's burst behind the most clipping pack of fox-hounds so much, or relish after it a deviled bone and a draught *'\^ SYDNEY. 247 of old October, more than I did the mutton chop and pannikin of tea, which awaited us after our exploit. ** The road of one of my new friends not lying very wide from the direction of my own, he kindly offered, in order to show me the nearest route, to see me ten or twelve miles on ray way ; and, as we rode at our leisure, I learned from him some particulars respecting our late host, which explained to me the causes why the management of his * Run* was, ob- viously even to me, so very indifferent. He had occupied rather a large sheep-farm in Wiltshire, and finding that his returns did not enable him, with the utmost economy, to face the landlord and the tax-gatherer, without trenching upon his capital, he resolved to emigrate to a land where those unpleasant visitors are unknown. ^ He came here,* said my informant, ' and took to the * Kun* he now holds; but, though he had been living among sheep all his life-time in England, he ■4 "^fi' ■u- 248 SYDNEY yvoB as little calculated for the management of a sheep-farm in the Bush, as if he had not learned the difference between a ewe and a tup. Sheep-farming in England is an occu- pation over which the grazier and his shepherd may almost go to sleep, except in the lambing- season ; but here a man need have a hundred eyes, and a hundred hands to conduct it suc- cessfully. Indeed, here it is a different business altogether, when we have those two curses to contend with, the scab and the wild dog, to say nothing of the wide extent to which our flocks are apt to ramble if not diligently at- tended to ; and, therefore, the man who comes out here to make his fortune by breeding sheep with the conceit that lie knows all about their nature and habits, is sure to make a failure of it, because he will not set about unlearning his old lessons, and learning the little which is peculiarly required for his calling in this country. Our friend, too, made another seri- ous blunder in bringing out with him his very fi\ SYDNEY. 249 knowing old shepherd to superintend his flocks), and one of his waggoners to officiate as his principal bullock-driver. A Manchester weaver, or a Birmingham button maker, or a Sheffield grinder, make much better shepherds here, than any born and bred shepherds from Eng- land, Scotland, or Wales ; because the former have no prejudices to get rid of, while you have to drive (if yo*i can) a host of old no- tions out of the heads of the latter, before you can drive into them the slightest conception of what they are required to do, and to contend with, in the Bush. Besides, your English farmers, and farm-servants, have been used to 80 many conveniences that they have no idea of the shifts that must be, and, where there is a resolute will not to be beat, can be made in the Bush ; and hence they leave a hundred things undone, which are all material to suc- cess, because they have been accustomed not to do them at home. What is wanted here is, M 5 iffifi ^n m 250 6TDNEY. not an European education in agriculture, but an active mind which can apply itself to any- thing, and which will fish out for itself, not only what, under the peculiar circumstances, is to be done, but how it can be done ; and, it is from the want of this quality in our friend and his servants that the management of his ' run* is so slovenly and unsatisfactory as it is. "I was comforting myself with the reflec- tion that I was at least unencumbered with any previous knowledge of the business to which I was about to devote myself, when my fellow traveller directed my attention to several dark and motionless objects which appeared on our field of view about a furlong out of the line which we were traversing. In reply to his question, what I conceived they might be, I said that I took them for the burnt stumps of trees ; upon which he gave a loud crack with his stock-whip, and these seemingly inert masses of matter at once started into life and SYDNEY. 251 scampered away from us in an oblique direc- tion, and with a speed, which would have done credit to the swiftest of your sporting pedes- trians. - " My companion informed me that this sor. of pose plastique was a trick, to which the Aborigines usually resorted when they wished to avoid observation ; and that, therefore, he apprehended that the blackies^ who had just given us leg-bail, bad some mischief in hand. Nor was it long before these apprehensions were verified: — we had not proceeded more than a mile when we observed a dense cloud of smoke, issuing, as it were, from the bowels of the earth, at some distance from us to the north west; and then a lambent and ^iirid flame burst forth, which ran with teniiic rapidity in a line parallel to that of the route we were pursuing ; and then, having deployed, as it were, to the full extent of its forces, began to advance upon us at the rate of the quick ^arch of an attacking enemy. it. J'7 '.'V .(,♦'•1 »:.'''•« J ^ 252 SYDNEY. '<* Those villanous blackies,* said my com- panion, ' have set fire to the dry herbage — ^let us haste on to the nearest station, and give the alarm, or the fire will be down upon them, and consume them, before they can entrench them- selves against it.' *^ And driving his spurs deep into the flanks of his horse, he was off at a furious gallop, as if on a business of life or death. Of course I followed in his wake, and in about twenty minutes we arrived at the station where he tvas so anxious to give the alarm. From this point the advance of the fire was just then concealed by a high ridge of upland ; but no sooner were the inmates apprized of the coming danger than all hands were busily employed in entrenching their little fortress against it — an operation which consisted in clearing a considerable circular space around it, by setting fire to the grass, and \r^jn it had been sufficiently burnt down to afford no pabulum to the hoj^ile flames which were coming down upon them^ liW SYDNEY. 253 beating it out with branches of trees, or any- thing else that was at hand for the purpose. Scarcely had we thus fortified ourselves within a little desert, which tabooed us, as it were, from the incursions of the approaching con- flagration, than it made its appearance on the crown of the upland ridge to which I have alluded, swept down the declivity like a stream of liquid flame, and then advanced steadily upon us, until at last we found ourselves sur- rounded, as it were, by a circular wall of fire. The heat was intense, but of short duration, for the destroying angel did not slacken in his pace, but passed on steadily to the East, and was followed by a refreshing breeze, to fill up the vacuum which its scorching breath had created. Little or no damage had been done ; having taken lunch with the proprietor of the station, my companion summoned me to pre- pare for our departure with as much nonchalance as if nothing extraordinary had happened. 'You will find some difficulty,' observed <( ■■t I 254 SYDNEY. i it,' I Mr. Smith (for such was the name of my guide) * in continuing your route to the point you intended, because the blaze which these rascals have kicked up will have obliterated all traces of the track we shall pursue. 1 do not, therefore, think that you could do better than come with me, and pass a few days at my station, if time is no great object to you, as you will there meet with all the principal settlers for forty miles round, who are about to assist me in conducting the sports, and doing the honours, of my annual Bushman's feast.' " I gladly complied with this invitation, and in a few hours we arrived, and were welcomed by a numerous retinue of servants at his hut. ** On entering the hut my host found a considerable number of guests already as- eembled iu anticipation of the grand to-do on the morrow ; and a more picturesque tableau than the one they presented to a stranger can- not be imagined. Picture to yourself a dozen stalwart, young, and middle-aged men, form- i'\- SYDNEY. 255 ing five-sixths of a circle, round a blazing wood fire— conceive them habited pretty much after the fashion of discarded game-keepers, turned poachers, in England ; and their waists encircled by broad, leathern belts in which huge pistols are stuck, ready to be used right or left, while the savageness of their appear- ance is so heightened by their thick, bushy, beards that it would excite suspicion, if not terror, were it not relieved by the honest con- viviality which sparkles in their eyes — and you have a scene before you which I wish you could send us some modern Salvator Kosa to immortalize. They all rose when they per- ceived that their host was accompanied by a stranger, whose outward man at once satisfied them that he was a new recruit to the Bush, and without waiting for any formal intro- duction, welcomed me amongst them with every demonstration of satisfaction. " Mr. Smith withdrew me for awhile into an inner room to partake of some solid re- M .*'■■ -NT. m ■]M ■m a;* 256 SYDNEY. freshment, which by this time we very much needed, and we then rejoined the company in what might be termed the hall of the Bush- man's residence. As this was the eve of a grand, annual festival, the usual abstinence observed by the denizens of the Bush, was relaxed, and our tea was allowed to acquire a strong flavour of Jamaica rum. In fact, instead of tea we revelled that night in tea- punch ; and the time, most agreeably to me, was passed by my companions in recounting their adventures, since their re-union, or in discussing the probable fate of several gangs of Bushrangers who had been recently hi^nted down, and carried back to Sydney for trial. *' The history of one of these miscreants was such a harrowing one, and is, altogether, 80 illustrative of the horrid life which they must lead, that I will endeavour to tell it to you as nearly as possible as it was told to me. -^^ ■■ ' "■■'■■^ ■■ ' " ' ** I must first apprize you that the most SYDNEY. 257 atrocious, or incorrigible convicts, are confined to a distant settlement by themselves, where they are employed in chain-gangs by day, and as soon as their hours of labour are over, are transferred to a sort of land-hulk, where they are confined by night. So intolerable does this sort of life become to them, that they have been frequently known to have murdered their contiguous convicts, from no other motive than that of ending their sufferings on the scaffold ; and you will, therefore, not be sur- prised to learn that they still more frequently make the most dangerous attempts at escape. In this, though extremely difficult, three con- victs had lately succeeded ; and also in making their way to the far Bush, by traversing wnich they hoped to find their way to some point on the coast, where a vessel might possibly pick them up, and carry them either to India or Europe. •' On their route to the Bush they had each contrived to furnish themselves, feloniously, m ijj; i;^ ^f-- I ■•(-.'. I ( 258 SYDNEY. with a hatchet, but with nothing more. For the first three days they struggled onwards without either food or drink ; and on the fourth, famine and despair could be read by each in the glaring eyes of hid companions. Simultaneously a horrid thought struck them all : namely, that one must fall to satisfy the furious cravings of the survivors ; and then, also, simultaneously, each was seized with the horrid fear that he was marked out as the victim by the other two. All day long they walked abreast, neither of them daring to leave his companions in his rear, and each manoeuvering, by side-way movements, so as not to be the centre of the line, lest he should be cut off from flight, both to the left and right. Night came, but they dared not sleep ; and in the morning they moved on pletely exhausted, and is compelled to make his way back, foaming, panting, and bleeding, as the only means of obtaining a respite from the Bushman's knout, which at every stroke has cut him to the flesh. Within your field of view twenty such scenes as these are being enacted at the same time ; and the excitement of the meUe is occasionally increased by a wild bullock, who has found his way amongst the herd, and who, scorning either to obey or fly, fights like an Andalusian, and only yields when he is pinned, nose and heel, by half-a- dozen of the dogs. (V- SYDNEY. 265 " When the cattle are once got into the etock'yard, the sport may be said to be over. In drafting, the poor creatures receive a plen- tiful measure of goadihg and cudgelling, and tail-screwing, as a punishmeni. for not com- prehending the wishes of their masters; but there is not much amusement in this, and still less in the branding and cutting of the ' rising generation ' among the herd which follows. It is late in the day before all these labours are completed, and then they are wound up in the evening by the * Bushman's Feast.' " With the exception that our party was more numerous, and perhaps somewhat more bent upon enjoying themselves, this evening was spent pretty much in the same manner as the last. I gathered, however, a * new wrinkle * as to Bush life in the course of it. I found that the stock-holders of the Bush — of which class our party was exclusively composed — not only regarded the drudgery of sheep-breeder as vexatious, but its pursuits as comparatively m ■ i m \-eJ .-^^ 266 SYDNEY. ignoble. Indeed, the life of a stock-holder is by far the'most romantic, as he is constantly on horseback from morning to night, and ranging far and wide with some exciting object in view — tracking stray cattle, or exterminating the wild dog — while, on the other hand, he has nothing to do with that filthy and everlasting torment of the sheep-run, the scab. The feel- ing of the thorough-going Stock-holder towards the duller and more tiresome, but more pro- fitable occuption of sheep-breeding is some- what akin to that which the military adven- turers of the era of chivalry may be supposed to have entertained for the plodding and exacting but more lucrative pursuits of commerce. I need hardly tell you that my election was made at once, and that I have since sought health and wealth in the tending of my herds. " Our party broke up the following day ; but Mr. Smith, aware that my more immediate object was to acquire information, which might prove valuable to me when I should determine SYDNEY. 267 to settle down in a ' Bun,' invited me to pro- long my visit ad libitum. I gladly accepted the offer and for more than a fortnight attended him in the overlooking of his extensive con- cerns. Nothing could be more admirable than the vigour, the regularity, and what was of equal importance, the liberality of his manage- ment ; for it is of the utmost consequence to the success of a large Stock-holder that, while he keeps his Stock-men rigorously up to their work by his vigilance, he should also attach them to his interest by the well-timed gene- rosity of his treatment. And, would you believe it — this same Mr. Smith was in Eng- land nothing more than a linen-draper I Find- ing, as he informed me, that the old game in that trade of buying job-lots of draperies, which had become depreciated by the superan- nuation of their patterns, and then bla- zoning them forth to the public as the effects of a bankruptcy to be cleared in a few days at a stupendous sacrifice,' had grown N 2 %1i ■V. > 268 STPNET. ' flat, stale, and uDprofitable/ he resolved to capitalize bis assets, and try his fortune in the yet unreclaimed wilds of Australia. You must not, howeyer, suppose that Mr. Smith was an aboriginal cockney. In fact, there are very few stirring men of business in the middle walks of life in London, who have not, in the first instance, pushed their way up from the country — younger sons, and otheis, who are compelled to make up, by enterprize, for the accidental disadvantar»es of birth, or station — and these men never forget the pur- suits and the sports amongst which their boy- hood and youth were past. Mr. Smith had been one of these cadets of the agricultural order; and, therefore, although his genuine cockney friends shrugged up their shoulders at the wildness of his Australian adventure, he was not quite so unfitted to prosecute it with success, as, in their ignorance of his real character, they .^apposed. "Indeed he was the better fitted for it. SYDNEY. 269 from not haviag become bigoted, by force of habit, to any of the provincial systems of farming, in favour of which such strong, local prejudices exist at home. His mind was opea to square his own system with the necessities which he might have to encounter; and, by the advice of his friend, who was an old settler in New South Wales, he selected such servants as he chose to take out with him, from classes who would have still less to unlearn in the new world they were going to, than himself. ' That fellow,' he said to me one day, pointing to a man who was working in the beat or Is ,v)d kitchen-^garden to be found within fifty miles of his station, * is worth his weight in go?d to me. I knew that I should want a garJlener : but, instead of selecting one tf your blue- apron professionals, who cau shave lawns and trim hedges and box-borders as neatly as a barber will shave the chin and trim the whiskers of a dandy, I fixed upon a cobler, whom I accidently observed one Sunday morn- m ■;I ■■■iTl • ^ ' ' 1- • ■_ 270 SYDNEY. Ing planting cabbages and hilling potatoes oii on a few perches of a large piece of waste, opposite the old church of St. Fancras, which had for years been abandoned to any one who chose temporarily to cultivate it, until cus- tomers could be found to take It upon building- leases. This man was, of course, in his way an example of the * pursuit of knowledge under difficulties/ had learned how to make anything do for a tool, when he was not master of a proper one, and to make a thousand shifts which an educated Scotch gardener would never have dreamed of — and in fact was just the man for the Bush, where few things that are wanted in the way of impletnents are at his hand, and where, if his mother-wit cannot find a substitute for them, he is of no more use than a man without hands. A kitchen garden is invaluable here; but I never should have had one if I had trusted to one of ycvr scientific gardeners, who can do nothing with- out a whole out-house full of tools.' SYDNEY. 271 AT SEA. I Great Britain are directly referable to the great distance of the place of outfit from the actual field of enterprize — an economical consideration which I am surprised should have escaped the notice of a class of men who are accustomed in all their mercantile operations to take into strict account the smallest items of profit and loss, and especially as in this particular matter the waste of labour, time, and materials, under the old system, was such a large figure in the balance-sheet of every voyage, that it could hardly have failed to be sug^^jestive of the question, whether there were no means of avoiding it. Curiously enough, this idea first struck rje as I stood gazing over the Pacific from one of the Hills of that very island which Mr. Enderby proposes to convert into a depot for the produce of the Southern Fisheries. In the month of April last, the Whaler to which I was engaged stopped at Auckland Island, not to refit — for your Colonial Whalers only being out one AT SEA. 277 860800, are not subject to such inconveoiences and delays — but simply, pour passer le temps for awhile, because we had ascertained that we should otherwise be somewhat too early on the "Whaling Ground, and of course I di^ ot lose the opportunity of making myself at ich as possible acquainted with the spot which may be considered as one of the solecisms in the order of nature. Few spots have been discovered, even in the most barren and secluded quarters of the globe, in which some Aboriginal, or migrant race has not been found, or in which traces, at least, could not be detected of their having at some former time been inhabited by man. But in this island there is no sign what- ever of its having been a habitation of the human species before it was discovered by one of Mr. Enderby's Whaling ships in 1806. There is something imposing in the thought that you are penetrating into such an undoubted primeval solitude ; the excitement of curiosity is dashed by a feeling of awe as the imagina- .■■M;»5l t ■ ,'■' . > .1 :f fi'i •fa m 31, m ,l:»i* h > IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I IK m 1^ 1.8 |l.25 1 U |,.6 < 6" ► 7 Photographic Sciaices Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716)872-4503 i fs o^ :<> 278 AT SEA. tion suggests that you are about to trespass on one of the sanctuaries of nature, hitherto un- disturbed from the date of its creation, except by the tuneful choristers of the woods; and I have wandered whole days moralizing, and philosophising, or dreaming, of Alexander Selkirks and Robinson Crusoes, while I thought I was simply investigating the botany and ornithology of this terra incognita. But how, my dear , the poetical, even in a reverie, gives way to the utilitarian, when a glorious scheme is suggested to the acquisi- tion of riches! When I had made myself master of Mr. Enderby's splendid project for converting this hitherto uninhabited spot into a flourishing seat of cheerful industry and active commerce, I could not refrain from dis- cussing the subject with myself in the following strain : — After all, I reasoned, there is little cause for wonder in this island having been so long doomed to the neglect of man, and still less for regret that it should be at last brought AT SEA. 279 within the sphere of civilization. For how many ages have the most wonderful secrets of nature been hidden from man, because he has been too incurious, or too indolent, or too bigotted to deviate from the beaten track? And when, at last, some accident, or some adventurous, or inquisitive, spirit has brought them to light, of what a large ac- cession to the aggregate cf human happiness they have been productive I If some wizard were to afford us, by his magic speculum, a prophetic exhibition of the changes which will some day be effectuated in that island, what a great and happy transformation would he fore- shadow I First, he would exhibit it to us as a little desert in the ocean, walled in against the aggression of the waves by precipitous, basaltic cliffs, and clad in a defensive dress of rampant verdure matted with thick and tangled underwood, as if to ward off the intrusion of man. Suddenly the scene dissolves away, and another is gradually lighted up within the 280 AT 8EA, field of view. The wild, choking, yegetation, and the impervious brushwood of ages seems to have retired at the approach of man, and a broad belt of fertile gardens, fruitful or- chards, luxuriant pastures, and golden corn- fields, encircles the Bay in which a whole fleet of Whalers are lying ready to discharge the rich products they have gathered on the Whaling Grounds of the Southern Seas, or in the Western Coasts of Africa, or the sea-board which stretches along the shores of the Americas. Silence has been affrighted from her retreat of ages, and the air is resonant of business and life. Around the head of the harbour rise warehouses, and docks, and wharfs, and quays ; and crowds of happy, or anxious wives and children awaiting to receive the adventurous whalers after the perils and labours of the season are over, and welcome them to repose and enjoyment, until the song of the April bird again warns them that the harpoon must hang no longer idle on the wall Hark I p AT SEA. 281 from beneath yon spire, which towers above the humbler dwellings of the settlement, there is wafted a sweet strain of holy harmony — it is the hymn of praise and thanksgiving, which the hardy mariners are -offering to the Most High for his past mercies to them amidst the perils of the deep ! Who would wish that your Magician — and his name is TIM Ex- should restore the picture to its original state, however wild and picturesque it may have been ? The extent of the field, which is comprised under the term of the Southern Fisheries is generally misconceived in Europe. The popu- lar impression is, that the prosecution of the Southern Fisheries is only followed in the high latitudes towards the South pole, just as the Northern Fisheries are prosecuted in the high latitudes towards the North. But this is a mistake. The field of the Southern Fisheries consists of nearly two-thirds of that broad central zone of the globe, which is in width ¥4 282 AT SEA. nearly ninety-five degrees of latitude* and only indented by the Southern projections of the Asiatic and African Continents. It stretches fron 50 South to 45 North latitude ; and from 75 West, to 18 East longitude; em- bracing the coasts of Chili, Peru, the Polyne- sian Islands, Japan, "New Zealand, and the Eastern Archipelogo. They are simply called the Southern Fisheries because ships from Europe must sail Southwa^ J to reach them. And a fine, free, and easy trade, it is which they offer to the adventurous Mariners. To be sure, there is occasionally some labour in vain ; but there are no tarifis or treaties, to perplex them; or quarantines, or Custom- house squabbles, to detain them. They roam over the waters in search of their game as free as the birds of the ocean themselves, and, were it not for the irksome length of the voyage, a sea-faring life would present no more seductive adventure. * . Another popular error on this subject 1 1 AT SEA. 283 amongst you is, that your Fisheries have fallen off in consequence of the introduction of gas- light; whatever diminution in the demands for oils may have arisen from this cause it has been more than doubly or trebly compensated for by the increased demand for them in manu- facturing processes. The total quantity of fish and vegetable oils imported into Great Britain in 1821 was under 50,000 tons, and in 1845 they considerably exceeded 100,000 tons — the increase being thus accounted for, that while the quantity of fish oils fell from 32,000 to 22,000 tons, the quantity of foreign vegeta- ble oils increased from 16,000 to 82,000 tons. Nor is this to be wondered at, seeing that Sperm oil in England has been 82/. per ton, while Olive oil has only been 47 £» and common oil 29^, while Linseed oil has been only 27/. The vegetable oils, therefore, at such relative prices have naturally had the preference; while in America, where Sperm oil has only +.*<4 m ; ' J 284 AT SEA. been 56/. per ton, and common oil 211 per ton» the vegetable oils meet with no such favour. The question, therefore, in a Mercantile point of view, appears to me to be this— could not our Southern Whalers compete with the foreign vegetable oils, as the Americans do, by affording it at the same price as they do ? According to the present system of course they could not ; but, could they not, by adopting the Colonial plan of fitting out vessels of a more moderate size, from a station con- tiguous to the Whaling Grounds, and shipping the produce of each season auDually for Europe, instead of waiting to bring home the accumulated produce of those seasons at the end of the fourth§[year from setting out ? I have made some calculations for the solution of this problem, which may be worth the at- tention of some of your mercantile friends in England. . - r , : . . v ^ '* Your present • system is to send out a AT SEA. 285 vessel of 350 tons, fitted for a four years Toyage ; that is, for three years on the Whaling Grounds, and a year for their voyage out and home. The ship will cost you 18^. per ton, and 2/. per ton per year for stores, provisions, &c, in all 9,100/., to which you must add interest at 5 per cent., or 1,820/L for the four years, during which you are without any re- turn for your capital. Your whole cost of equipment, therefore, is 10,920/. On the other side of the account, your crew will be thought to do well if they ship ffty tons of sperm oil in each season, or, 150 tons during the whole cruize, which, at 80/. per tun, would yield 12,000/. Of this the crew's share (32 in number) would be 3,500/1, so that you would net only 8,500/. You may also consider your ship still worth half her prime cost, or 3,150/., so that you will have 11,650/. standing in your favour against 10,920/. the cost of equipment, which shews a balance of (v. ''-^■'m t. 286 AT SEA. i' 730^. ia your favour, or a profit rather less than 7 per cent. But a ship sent from a station contiguous to the Whaling Ground to fish only for a season, need not exceed 250 tons, which at 18^ per ton will only cost 4,500/. ; and her fitting out with stores and provisions for four successive seasons at 2/. per ton per year, would come to 2,000/. more— altogether to 6,5606. Moreover, as two years would elapse before a cargo could be realized — one year for collecting it, and another for carrying it to Europe, and re* mitting the proceeds — two years interest, or 650/. must also be charged to the ship, making her total equipment 7,150/. On the other hand the ship will make four voyages in the four years, and, therefore, col- lect 200, instead of 150, tons of sperm oil, which, if sold in England at the American price of 56/. per ton, would produce 11,200/. But from this you must first deduct 6/. per M AT SEA. 287 ton for freight to England, or 1,2002. ; and, secondly, the share of the crew who, being only 22 in number, would be better paid by 2,500/. than the crew of the 350 tons vessel were by 3,5002; these deductions would reduce your assets to 7,500/., to which you would have to add 2,250/. for the then value of your vessel (half of its prime cost) ; so that you would have resulting in your favour 9,7oO/. against 7,150/., which is something more than 36 per cent. From these comparative statements, the reasons why it would pay so much better, at the American price for oil, to prosecute the Southern Fisheries from a station in the vicinity of them, tbau to prosecute them from England at the extravagant price, under which the oil cannot now be afforded there, are obvious. A ship setting out from a Colonial station need only be Jive- sevenths the tonnage of a whaler from England, and a crew in propor- m i 288 AT 8RA, tion ; and she not only makes an annual return of her produce, but makes four seasons, while the other makes three; but there is another consideration still further in favour of the Colonial vessel which is onlj absent one season from the first of her departure. It is an es- tablished fact that the oil which she makes in a season exceeds more than one-half the quantity which an English whaler makes ; nor is this surprising, when we consider the dif- ference between the two services. Neither on board the English or American whalers does the monthly pay, earned by the seamen,amount to anything like that given on board of ordi-^ nary trading vessels; and hence, instead of experienced seamen, their crews are made up of *' green hands," who, after having ac- quired a knowledge of their calling, during their four years apprenticeship to the whaling trade, of course quit it for some other branch of the merchant service, in which the wages are higher, and the privations of shorter • ^ ▲T BBA« 289 duration. Indeed, no small portion of them anticipate the period of their emancipation from the whaler by desertion, an occurrence which so frequently takes place as to cause the most serious obstruction to the prosecution of the voyage. With the crew of a Whaler, on the contrary, fitted out from a station in the South Pacific, for a single year's voyage, cir- cumstances are entirely different. Instead of one jourth of their time being unprofitably occupied in going to and returning from the Whaling Grounds, they are in them at once, and are fishin^^ every hour that they are out. This greatly enhances their part in the venture, and as that is only for a twelvemonth, they never think of deserting it, but work like Turks to make the most of it ; hence, they are neither disgusted by the length or unprofitable- ness of their voyages, but rather become enamoured of them as short, enterprising cruises, and the service is never in want of practised and trustworthy hands. And again; it is 290 AT SEA. Utterly impossible to prevent the master of an European Whaler, which is out four years, from neglecting his owner's interest by em- ploying the time which ought to be devoted exclusively to fishing, in trading on his own account. An Ksoulapian brother assured me that he was once in au English Whaler, which only spent 850 days in these parts, and that during. 310 of them he was lying to at one place or another, to traffic on his own account with the inhabitants. This abuse cannot be prac- tised in Whalers fitted out from a port in the South Seas, because the masters would have no apology, except on extreme occasions, to put ia anywhere. It is no wonder, therefore, that Colonial Whalers make such better yearly returns of oil than those from England, or even from America. In 1845, it appears that the Australian Whalers made 88 tons per annum, while British Ships made only 50; but, sup- posing that the former, in a series of yeard only averaged 70 tons, the account of expenditure i\' AT SEA. 291 and returns, given at page 29* would assume the following form :— 280 Tons of Oil at £56 per ton . . £15,680 Deduct Crew*8 Share .... 3500L Freight to England at 61. per ton 1680L 5,180 It * 10,500 Value of the Vessel 2,250 12,750 Equipment as before .... 7,150 Profit 5,600 which is upwards of 78 per cent * Vide the able and explicit pamphlet of Mr finderby, entitled a " Proposal for re-establishing the British Southern Whale Fishery," published by Effingham Wilson, which clearly demonstrates the immense advantage that must accrue to England, and her Colonial possessions, especially Australia, in the event of the Fisheries in the Southern Latitudes being prosecuted upon the plan proposed therein* The Americans employ between 600 and 700 vessels^ o 2 I ill i ■C, '';im n^ AT SEA. ■V We miist not forget, however, that there are two features in this trade, which render it rather repulsive to individual enterprise — namely, its tincertainty, and its liability to abuse, when carried on by agents at a distance. The owner of a single ship may incur a very serious loss, by its making what is termed a clean voyage — that is, by its falling into a track from which the fish have been disturbed, and coming home with its deck unsoiled by the blubber of a single whale. Some other ship, of course, will faU in with the fish in more than usual abun- manned by upwards of 18,000 seamen, in these Fisheries ; and the oil produced between 1838 and 1845 was 37,459 tons, one third of which was ex- ported. The capital employed by our transatlantic friends iu this branch of industry amounts to £1,500,000 ; while the produce of Great Britain during the last year — including the Greenland Fishery — was only 5,565 tons, or one-eighth of that of America, which represents a capital of only £249,181. The balance in favour of Jonathan, in capital employed in the Whale Fisheries is, therefore, £1,171,266. ». !..< l^ AT SEA. ^d3 dance ; and if the two ships belong to the same party, the gains of the one woi^ld tnake up for the losses of the other. In short, a number of ships should be employed, so as to mutually ensure each other; and this taode of imparting certainty to the trade can, of course^ be adopted only by a confederation of capita- lists, who agree to divide the aggregate profits of the whole of it amongst each other, accord- ing to the amounts which they have invested in it. I need hardly say that a company alone could organize an agency, under such checks and responsibilities as would prevent peculation, or any other malversation. To such a company the higli ratie of profit which I have shown to be possible, from prose- euting the fisheries, from a station contiguous to them, offer a most inviting prospect ; sup- posing the rate of profit to be only 40 per cent, instead of 70 per cent, it would leave, after making a liberal allowance for the foun- dation and management of the station, a net m 294 AT 8BA. profit to the shareholders, larger and more certain than any other speculation of modern days. Nor is this any new conception. More than seventy years ago, the capacious and pene- trating mind of Burke comprehended the vast riches which are to be gathered from this source, and foresaw that we were allowing our American brethren to pre-occupy the field, where they were to be gathered, before us. In his speech on American affairs in 1774, he re- proached us for our envy and indolence in the following terms — •' '^As to the wealth, which the Colonists' have drawn from the sea by their fisheries, you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely thought those acquisitions of value, for they seemed to excite your envy ; and yet the spirit by which that enterprising employ- ment has been exercised ought rather, in my opinion, to have raised esteem and admiration. And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it? !■» AT SEA. 295 Pass by the other parts, and look at the man- ner in which the New England people carry on the Whale Fishery. While we follow thein among the trembling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating in the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's and Davis* Straits ; while we are looking for them beneath the Arctio Circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold; that they are at the Antipodes, and engaged under the frozen serpent of the South. Falkland Island, which seemed too remote and too romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and resting-place, for their victorious in- dustry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more dis- couraging to them than the accumulated winter of both poles. We learn that while some of them draw the line, or strike the harpoon, on the coast of Africa, others run the longitude, and pursue their gigantic game along the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed with their Fisheries. No climate that is not wit- ■ irsa ii i?-- 296 AT SEA. ness of their toils. Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English en- terprise, ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it has heen pursued by this people ; a people who are still in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone, of manhood." ' I fear that you will have found this letter somewhat uninteresting, not being of the same rambling and anecdotic character as my letters usually are; but you must, for once, forgive my taking the liberty of riding a hobby of my own, however dull it may be, and expect to be recompensed by a something more amusing in my iiext. *v* ''i', J ,'. 1 ' / ■ ' ,' ' t ■ tV ',• --^ t i: - -v ' ' -■' J ». . ,. : \ . ^- ■- ^'i' m{ iiy.i.'jn -<.■! 'f>it Ki-' !I . I. CHAPTER XIII. >■'» . '..1 .--..t iu /.■v>ir»-j, 1r i. •;'•) :^*;;.t: • t ■ ■ ' ' ' SYDNEY. — MINING INTERESTS. DESTINY OF AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. i 1! 11 $i s-V )^ -;;t ]A .1 Ua''\-\ :••:*, ijih «vf:i' o!'J":Dlir;'i^:>:i -,.i-T.;: ;\5' ".:;■?, f i i-T;'/ ,••;■ T-U I CANNOT but admit that 1, in some sort, sym- pathize with the psychological yearning to which you give expression in your last You say that you cannot reflect upon the wonder- ful discoveries in mechanical, chemical, and pathological science, which seemed to have marked the present as an epoch from which the march of intellect, after ages of desultory and digressive efforts, has in reality commencedi o 5 m 298 SYDNEY without a curious longing for a spiritual privi- lege to revisit the world a hundred years hence, and note the startling changes which, by that time, man will have worked out in his condition, as lord dominant of the creation, by his progressive mastery of the secrets of nature. In like manner £ cannot reflect upon the expansive power with which the coloniza- tion of this vast continent has begun to ex- tend itself, without regretting that I am un- able to pierce through the present, and have revealed to me the destinies which are in store for it, within even the very brief term of a few fleeting generations I When I remember, too, the happy geo- * graphical position of Australia, in reference to the Equator— that it is blessed with a climate which enables its soil, wherever it is fit for cultivation, to yield in abundance not only all the cereal and esculent vegetable?, which are indigenous or naturalized within the more temperate latitudes of Northern Europe^ M I SYDNEY. 299 but the wine, and oil, and other productions of its more genial " garden-landa** in the South, and even the cotton and the spices, and other rich fruits of the Tropics — I am at times seduced into a belief vtiat we shall almost see her leap, per saltum, as it were, into a position £rom whence she may face proudly the im- memorially inhabited regions of the ancient West. But these flights of fancy are soon curbed by the obtrusive truth, that the growth of communities of men, like that of the in- dividual, must be slow ; and that a wilderness is not to be peopled by the human species with the same rapidity, as it frequently is by the lower orders of creation, to whom it is capable of furnishing all the necessaries of life without any exertion or preparations of their own. The adventurous race which is reclaiming Australia must be content to toil through the usual stages which have marked the progress of every new community to an established sitate of material prosperity ; for many of the ■■.•r*"L 300 8TDNBT. most essential resources of that prosperity must be created by tht,m8elTe!>, before they can hope to attain it. When they have inter- sected the located parts of the country with roads and canals, which, with commodious har- bours and quays, are the first objects to which their surplus means should be applied; and, when they have accumulated capital to assist nature by art in preparing the soil fo" «he finer operations of agriculture, which cannot be done until, by the increase of population, labour becomes more abundant and cheaper, then it will be sufficient time for them to turn their attention to the vine, to the olive, anB the cotton tree ; but for many years to come they must look to the more primitive occupa- tions of the soil for the acquisition of that wealth, without which, if they hurry pre- cociously into more expensive exphitqtions, they will only verify the proverb of the << most haste, the least speed." t To this, however, as a general economical ' i.> 8TDNBT. 301 principle, for advancing the progresd of the colony, there is an exception. The colonization of South Australia was first commenced at Adelaide in 1835; but, although there was no deficiency in the quantity or quality of land available for settling, the colony was in a state of general insolvency — the government as well as the people — before the end of 1842. These were the conse> quences of the impolitic restrictions of the Wakefield system, by which no grants of land could be made in less quantities than a square mile, or at a less 'price than \l per acre, and by which, therefore, all small capitalists were proscribed from becoming owners of the soil , and they must have been fatal to the colony, had it not been for the fortunate discovery '^f the Great Burra Burra and Kapunda copper mines in 1843. From that time the colony has wonderfully revived ; and if the mineral wealth, of which the Burra Burra have af- forded the first indication, is industriously 302 SYDNEY. tracked through the mountain range which runs from the south towards the north, not only will the capital of the colony ra' :dly in- crease directly from this source, but indirectly, also, from the demand which will be created not only for the agricultural products of the colony, but for foreign imports, by which the internal trade will be encouraged and ex- tended. Hitherto, however, the South Australian Miners have not bad fair play, having suffered much inconvenience and loss from an entirely useless privilege, with which the British Ship- owner finds himself invested to their costt The importation of their ores into England is prohibited except in British Bottoms ; and the commerce between Adelaide and England has not attained such a degree of magnitude and regularity that freights in British Bottoms are always to be engaged there. In fact, the ex- portable produce of South Australia is not yet sufficient to supply employment for a constant iiy SYDNEY. 3oa line of trading vessels to and from the Mother Country, and, as the Colonists are prohibited from sending it in foreign bottoms, their op- portunities of forwarding it to England are both rare and precarious. So situated, the Mining Agents in South Australia are com- pelled, either to allow a large stock of ore to accumulate on their hande, by which their em- ployers suffer a great loss of interest in the Capitiil which it represents, or to forward it in any old brig or bark to Sydney, and there re- ship it for the English market, by which the expense of freight is considerably increased. Of course this is only a consequence of that principle of the navigation laws by which (wisely or not) it is sought to secure to the British Shipowner the carrying trade between the Mother Country and her Colonies; but as the British Shipowner himself does not think this particular branch of it to be one which it would be worth his while to under- take, it is very hard that^the Government H m m 304 SYDNEY. should play the dog in the manger in his be- half, and refuse the Colonists the privilege of getting others to do for them what he declines doing for them himself. Some time since the Colonists petitioned the Government at home that German ships, which imported mining labour from Germany into the Colony, might be permitted to return with the produce of such labour to England; but the boon was refused. It would have been a contravention of the Navigation Laws, which Lord Grey thought inadmissible, though the case was one to which the framers of those laws could neve( have dreamed of its occurring, and calling for their application. The principal miners in South Australia are Germans, many of whom came out from Bremen last year, and they live in a village, almost in an isolated state near the Kapunda mines, which is some distance from Adelaide. They have a pastor of the Lutheran church, who presides over their spiritual interests; and . 1 SYDNE7. 305 their temporal affairs are almost exclusively confined to Mining operations, few of them being connected with the agricultural industry of the Colony. They are a quiet, industrious, and slow-working race ; but, in the absence of good, stout English miners, whose strength and capacity is about double to that of the Ger- mans, they have proved of great utility in de- veloping the resources of the Colony. These Germans understand the process of smelting the ore, according to the manner of the Hartz- smelters, which is expensive when compared to that of England, as pursued at Swansea ; the first using wood, while the latter have plenty of coal, to say nothing of the superior skill and capital employed in England in such operations. But the great difficulty to overcome, in Australia, is the transport to England, which I have already remarked upon ; nevertheless, to give you a clearer conception of its injurious effects upon the interests of the Miners, and of mi & i.'W H 306 STDNEY. H the Colony also> I shall note down a few facta R which must carry conviction with them, even • , B to the most prejudiced mind. In the course of M the year 1846 there were raised, and sent to m England, from the Kapunda Mines alone from H 1,200 to 1,500 tons of copper ore, of first-rate m quality — 200 tons of this quantity having been m sold at Swansea at an average of 191. 3*., and M another 300 tons averaging 211. 9s. — notwith- M standing the great impediment to its transport. 1 ■■ occasioned by the navigation laws. R ; The Burra Burra Mines have been equally W productive, and more successful in some of the Iks * M sales, as regards the price realized for the ores m i — some of the latter having sold as high as I'l 311. 6s. Qd. per ton at Swansea; and when a §H( regular cummunication shall be established S with England — the most effective and practical 'If £ wt suggestion yet made for so desirable an object K is that of a central depOtf where the ore can be •hf deposited as freight homewards; which must K have the effect in a still greater ratio of in- w\ ' SYDNEY. 307 ducing freights outwards, the return cargo being the great desideratum with the merchants and shipowners in this country — the copper mines of Australia may vie with those of Cuba, and other slave-holding states, and will have, also, a tendency to solve that knotty problem — the slavery question — which so strangely perplexes our statesmen, however experienced and weighty may be the amount of their knowledge. There is, certainly, a growing conviction that the most effective blow which can be aimed at the slave-trade, is to prove that free labour is cheaper than that of slavery ; and when the Mines of Australia shall become more productive, as they cannot fail to do when the ores can be more easily transported to their proper market, then it will be seen that the 'copper of the Antipodes will supersede that of Europe, and also that a simple incident in the industrial and commercial interests of the world will prove more potent in suppressing a great crime, and in wiping out a moral stigma on the \m 1 1 f>art| 'ii 'ft I »*• 'v«, 308 SYDNEY, enlightenment of the nineteenth century, than the proud and gigantic schemes of your politico- economical statesmen, with almost unlimited resources at their command. ' ' ' Oh, man I how impotent, after all thy display of power and ingenuity, appear thy works, when compared to His who moves in a way so simple and so grand, that it seems to rebuke the ostentation of thy efforts ; and while you have been straining your nerves to the utmost, and wasting your means most prodigally, in the non-attainment of a single object— the suppres- sion of slavery — from an opposite, and unlooked- for quarter comes the true solution of all your difficulties I I have often heard it doubted whether society in Australia did not receive an original taint which will, for a long time, prevent it from settling down into that gradation of orders for which the Mother Country is, be- yond all others, remarkable ; and there cer- tainly does exist a serious obstacle to wealth SYDNEY. 309 raising itself into an indisputable Aristocracy, as it does in reality everywhere else, whatever may be the form of Government. The Emi- grant who brings a large capital here has rarely any other view than that of rei)airing or im- proving the fortuneb of his family, and has seldom any idea of making the Colony his future hereditary home. Those, too, who have left their father-land voluntarily in search of that independence, without which no man can feel comfortable in England, are prompted, by pride as well as love of country to return to it when the object of their ambition is accom* plished. Hence the opulence of the Colony will for a long while be represented by the most successful of that class who would rather banish every idea that is associated with their mother country than otherwise. But then, on the other hand, it will be long before the •' Colonial origin" of these people will be for- gotten, and the resident wealth of the Colony ?^ •"'■'.<■'• ., -'T K. ■;■..■, SIO SYDNEY. command the respect and influence which i« the cement of civil society. And there is also another question under this head, which it is as painful to speculate upon as it is difficult to solve. What, as the inroads of the white man take a deeper and broader range, will become of the Aboriginal possessors of the soil ? Reasoning by analogy from past experience, we should conclude that they will be unavoidably exterminated; for such has been the fate of the savage in almost every quarter of the world ; and, of all savages hitherto discovered, the Australian seems to be the very lowest in the scale of humanity. We found him in what philosophers have sup- posed to have been the rudest and primeval state of our species. He had not the least idea of rendering the soil tributary to his sub- sistance, or of contriving defences even against the climates, by which he was continually harassed. He hud no conception of any mode •u 8YDNET. 311 of social government, not even the patriarchal, and was utterly devoid of all religious, or even moral, impressions. Even of the rudest con- veniences and contrivances, common amongst all other savage tribes, he was utterly ignor- ant ; his invention, not having soared even so far as a vessel for holding water, or the bow, the spunge, and the net, for supplying himself with animal faod. In the latter respect, too, he does not seem to have been endowed with a taste to make any distinction, devouring in- sects, reptiles, fish or flesh, clean or unclean, indifferently; and bis culinary art extended no farther than roasting the flesh of animals, under hot embers, alike ungutted and un- skinned. And, lastly, so circumscribe'l were his ideas, that he had no terms to express any but visible objects, or divisions of time, or quantities, beyond the number three. Whether a race so deplorably backward can survive the introduction of a highly civilized people la ■>:••*': I ■■*■■■' z- .i^ftfa • 1' '<■ \ 312 SYDNEY. amongst them, may, indeed will, be doubted, when we reflect upon the extinction, under the same circumstances, of other uncivilized races, who had arrived, comparatively speaking, at a higher pitch of savage refinement. -,'.VO»: ir ' *n-)! i^'M' r .;«.;;■*?,*■ tig' 70 .ftiTL'* :•} "H ifjK,- -■v-7 -'Xi!,-^ ^'■^;A;3M ■' -.-;.'?:.'.•■> {^ ' -if ^ix ■',-., l Hf i^. Lf'tl:^, uv,. ' ^. ' APPENDIX '^y CHAPTER 1. The uiiiooked-for discovery of the mineral riches of California, made long after the pre- ceding pages were in print, has imparted a new interest to that quarter of the globe. The auri sacra fames has resumed its magic influ- ence on the mass of mankind, and thousands are hurrying, under the excitement, to parti- cipate in the discovery of the treasure. Over seas and continents, through morasses and deserts, traversing the highest mountains, ^■h 314 APPENDIX. fording the most dangerous and rapid r'vers — in short, no obstacle is too great, no difficulty too appalling, for men to attempt when hurried on by greed, and blinded by avarice. They will neglcet the treasure which lies immedi- ately beneath tlieir feet, to hunt after that which tempts the eye at a distance upon the surface of the earth ; it is the old story of the Tortoise and the Hare retold — the craving desire of the many to gratify their wishes without tlie necessity of labouring for the means, or, in other terme, the hop-step-and- jump process of procuring a competence, in contradistinction to the old, steady, refreshing, and healthy-toned habit of acquiring it by well-directed industry. As the public mind is too strongly beiit to- wards the Californian Eldorado for our feeble voice to influence it in a contrary direction, we 8hall endeavour to act in the same way, as though we were unfortunate enough to be placed in a vehicle, with the horse rattlinp- down hill at a neck-or-nothing pace — in short, running away — nnd simply content ourselves with pointing out the best route to arrive at the scene of wealth, to prevent n useless sacrifice, and nn immense amount of suffering, APPENDIX. 315 on the part of the treasure-hunters, just the same as we should coolly guide the reins of the horae — to diminish the chances of having our own neck broke. Every now and then the world is awakened from its ordinary and even movements by some startling event or other; but it must be some- thing to strike the million, to flash on the ' mind's eye' of the many to produce such a result. It is not your scientific discoveries that have the desired effect, although in reality the incipient cause of such phenomena, for they are con- fined to the choice and limited few, and are only palpable to the multitude when embodied, perchance, in the form of a locomotive steam engine, for the first time let loose upon the world — a flying, thundering, screaming mon- ster, tearing along and snorting fire, with tons of weight and whole towns of people in its rear. Such a phenomenon strikes upon the trcnses of the vulgar niany in too unmistakable a mnnner — they look, they wonder, they are astonished ; while your informed mind, without any such excitement, can easily reason, by an inductive process, to so magnificent a re- sult, A revolution, for instance, which smashes p 3 m 316 APPENDIX. a throne, and scatters a dynasty, is an event which may properly be called a " startler," especially when we see the frag- ments before our eyed, in the shape of a * discrowned king,' white-haired and worn-out, rudely thrust from his imperial abode, and even glad to shelter his feeble frame from the rough and ugly storm in an old pilot coat. Who is so blind as not to see such an event as this, in its befitting ampli- tude? Again, the discovery of the gold on the banks, and in the estuaries, of the Sacra- mento in California, must naturally be deemed a * startler ;' as it hits the latent des^ire of the heart of man, the darling object of his as- pirations — power, in one shape or other — either to exercise an influence, or to ind^l \ t;; ■■ •>> >■ i 324 APPENDIX. CHAPTEB III. THE SUDDEN INFLUX OF THE PRECIOUS METALS INTO SPAIN, THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF THE DECLINE AND DECAY OF HER INDUSTflT. The sudden influx of the precious metals into Spain, upon the discovery of the rich mines of Mexico and Peru, was the principal cause of her manufacturing and commercial de- cline. Previous to that period she was supreme in the skilled arts of industry, and supplied the whole of Europe with the rich and costly products of her looms. The workshops of Cuenca, Cordova and Seville, with their " busy hum" of manufacturing enterprise, were in&- APPF.NUIX. 323 \. nitely richer sources of national wealth than the golden mines oi the new world ; and, had the Spaniards of the sixteenth century taken a juster view of the real value of the •precious metals — had they not mistaken the means for the end, by estimating a lump of gold at a higher rate than a piece of cloth, although the same amount of labour should have been ex- pended on both — her looms might possibly have been competing at this day with those of England, France, and Germany. The following historic summary will fully illustrate our meaning. -^j>. From the middle of the fourteenth century the kings of Castille rigidly prohibited the ex- portation of the precious metals, under an im- pression that they alone constituted the wealth of the nation. The great truths of political economy had not then dawned upon the minds of statesmen, and revealed the laws which de- fine the precise value of gold and silver among the material productions of the earth. While kings and ministers were taking counsel, and racking their brains to keep the precious metals within their dominions, the latter were quietly oozing out in spite of all their schemes, and in obedience to a law which is beyond human con- tm '^ml/ ^'m 326 APPENDIX. trol — the desires of man. The Spanish states- man could not be supposed to be in advance of the age, and it was perfectly natural, with their limited notions of the subject, to apprehend an internal derangement of industrial occupations, were the gold and silver — which they mistook lor the end instead of the means — to leave their country. In these days we may smile at the ignorance which prevailed in the sixteenth century on the subject of Political Economy ; nevertheless, we may as well bear in mind that it has caused us a vast deal of trouble and la- bour, and no little sacrifice of national wealth, to arrive at a clearer notion of its sound and useful laws. In 1480 the Cortes of Toledo formally demanded of Ferdinand and Isabella a stricter application of the prohibitive laws against ex- porting the precious metals, and it was declared highly penal to export gold in any shape, or under any conditions. Not only bars of gold were specifically named, but coined money, vessels, ornaments, and articles of luxury, into which the precious metals largely entered, were strictly forbidden to be sent out of the country. But, upon the discovery of the Auiericus, when the gold poared in so abun- •^Sit, \- I'Vi V- # APPENDIX. 327 dantly to the mother country, it becaine im- possible to maintain the prohibitive laws against its exportation ; nevertheless, it was preserved in the country as effectually as it could be, and every device, threat, and denunciation, was called into requisition for that purpose. In lieu of exporting the gold to the markets of the world, in exchange for commodities, which would have enriched her people, and diffused the former more equally among her manufac- turing neighbours, Spaiu pursued an opposite course ; and the vast accumulation of the pre- cious metals among her own people, soon aug- mented the price of raw materials, raised wages to a corresponding height, and prevented her manufacturers from competing with those of other countries. Instead of being an ex- porting, she soon became an importing nation, dependant upon the foreigner for her supplies, and compelled to give her dearly-cherished gold, which she vainly imagined the be-all of industry and enterprise, for the very commodi- ties which her own looms had previously pro- duced. The cheap labour of Flanders, Spain, and Italy, soon attacked her manufactures, which could not breathe in such a golden at- i?^ 328 APPENDIX. mosphere; and the very source of what she deemed her riches and power, became the moat effective cause of her ruin. It is impossible to ascertain the quantity of the precious metals imported from Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards ; a rough estimate is the utmost that can be achieved. Under the reign of Charles Y., the royal functionaries allowed ten years to elapse before they rendered any account of their stewardship; and the docu- ments in the provincial Treasury of Fotosi have no records beyond the first year of the reign of Phillippe If.,* therefore the state- ments of Moncada, Ustaritz, and UUoa, must be considered somewhat apocryphal, as they are too often teased upon very incorrect data. The researches of Humboldt have reduced the extravagant estimates of the Spanish writers to their just value, and may be safely relied upon, as the nearest approximation to the truth. Be states that the importation of the pre- cious metals into Spain was in the folio A-iug sums: — from 1492 to loOO, there were Hamboldt, livre 4, chap. zi. >'\' APPENDIX. 329 250,000 piastres'!' annually imported; from 1545 to 1600, eleven millions; and from 1600 to 1700, there were sixteen millions. Thus, in the space of two hundred years, the quantity of the precious metals imported into the mother country was about seventeen millions and a half of poundd sterling, of English money, which must have had an immense in- fluence on the price of commodities, consider- ing the value of the precious metals at that period, throughout the markets of the world, and especially in Spain, where it was hugged and hoarded with the utmost tenacity. Some idea may be formed of the effects which this vast influx of gold must have pro- duced upon the Spaniards, by collecting the scattered notices of the luxury, the grandeur, and the wasteful extravagance, which seemed to dominate among all classes, from the throne down to the common artizan, in all the writers who have touched upon that period. The king, the court, and the grandees, seemed to vie with each other in lavish expenditure, and * De r Influence du Gouvemement d* Isabelle. Memoire ins^r^ dans la collection derAcad6mie de rhistoire de Madrid, t. vi., p. 293. m ,-f 330 APPENDIX. in costly display. Philip 11. spent six millions of pistoles* in the construction of the Escurial ; an enormous sum at that period, when the precious metals were comparatively scarce. The marriage of Marguerita of Austria with Philip III. was celebrated in the most eumptu- oiiR style ; a million of ducats was spent upon that occasion, or nearly half a million of our money in pounds sterling. The grandees imitated the court, and scattered their newly- acquired wealth from the new world, with vicious profusion. Their palaces, dependents, and vassals, were upon a scale of magnificence that dazzled Bossompierre^'f albeit, not unac- customed to the splendour and display of a court. The income of the Duke of Lerma was 600,000 ducats (200,000/.) ; on his death- bed he bequeathed to pious purposes 1 ,500,000 ducats, or nearly half a million of pounds sterling. Then there were the Mendozas, the d'Enriquezs, the Pachecos, and others of ap- proximative grandeur, of whose wealth some notion may be formed, when it is related that ♦ Nearly 2,000,000/. t Journal de ma vie. p. 536. APPKNDIX. 331 upon the death of the Duo d' Albuquerque, it took six weeks to complete the schedule of his vessels of gold and silver, working two hours each day. There were 1400 dozen of gold plates and dishes ; and forty steps of solid silver, to serve as ladders, by which he could ascend to the top of his lofty buffets, " When they told me of this opulence," says the writer,* from whom we are quoting, ** I thought they were quizzing me; but when I enquired of Don Antonio de Toledo, son of the Due d'Albe, he assured me it was true, and that his father, who did not consider himself rich in plate, had six hundred dozen of dishes of gold, and eight hundred of silver." The citizens imitated the nobles, and disdained the manual arts, and other industrial pursuits, as beneath their dignity; and the folly descended the inter\ enlng degrees of all ranks of the people, u*^ til even the water-carriers of the capital abandoned their humble pursuit, and luxuriated as long as they could in the golden showers which had so suddenly poured down m %?.;^ * Relatim du voyage d'Espagne fait en 1679, t. ii., p. 119. 332 APPENDIX. upon the nation. This feeling pervaded all Spain, after the precious metals had become sufficiently diffused ; and in the course of a century they declined in value about four- fifths, according to the most accurate authori- ties.* The merchants of Seville, who had the monopoly of trading with the new world, ag- gravated the evil, by the conviction and belief that gold was more profitable to import than other commodities ; and disdained to bring home a cargo of anything but the precious metals.! They treated with superb contempt the drugs, the indigo, cotton, leather and wools, which were the first articles of necessity, and the prime support of the Spanish manufactures. The foreigner instantly availed himself of the ignorance of the Spaniard, and quietly crept into a lucrative commerce. In the seventeenth century the Dutch were masters of the island of Curasao, and the English had established themselves in Jamaica; the ships of these enterprising traders began to dot the oceans * The Value of the old Piastre was about four shillings and two-pence of our money. t Mancipantes se ipsos fertilitati. Campanella, p. 128. \K^ APPENDIX. 333 of the world, and while the stately galleons of Spain, with their rich argosies from the Indies were proudly sailing into port, the former were quietly picking up the crumbs which the latter, in their ignorance, had dis- dainfully flung from them. The English traders purchased in the markets of Panama and Porto Bello, re sold their commodities in the markets of Europe, and realiszed a good profit.* The Spanish manufacturers soon began to decline in their energies; workmen became scarce ; and the raw materials rapidly advanced in price. The Merchants of Seville were obliged to order, sometimes, five or six years beforehand, what they wanted of the manufac- turers, the price of commodities in a manufac- tured state, at the same time, were greatly advancing; while, in neighbouring countries, where the precious metals were in less profusion, labour at a much lower rate, and workmen plentiful, the progress of manufacturing industry was making rapid strides, and ultimately inun- dated the markets of Castille, Yalentia, and !S^'- * M^moir6s de la Soci6t6 economique de Madrid, t. iii., p. 264. 334 APPENDIX. Seville. This was the death-blow to Spanish industrial supremacy. The Genoese, to whom Charles V. had accorded certain commercial privileges, poured in their goods in almost over- whelming quantities ; and, conjoined to the persecutions of the Jews by Philip II., the most industrious and useful portion of his people, their coinpetition completely ruined the manufac- turers of Guenca, Segovia, and Toledo, who alone had previously furnished the Colonies with their productions.* Nevertheless, Spain might have struggled on with its embarras de richesses, had her states- men turned a deaf ear to the ignorant clamours of the people, who seemed determined to plunge deeper and deeper into the slough of error. The high price of commodities was attributed ta the exports to the Colonies, and the Cortes were solemnly adjured to put an end to all exportation, as the exchange of the gold of Mexico and Poru, for the products of national industry, was deemed an injury. The document which embodies these extraordinary opinions, is worth citing, as it furnishes a curious insight ♦ Mfemoir^s de la Soci6tfe de Madrid, p. 289. Jovellanos, Collecion de veriaa obras, t. i., p. 110. APPENDIX. 335 into the spirit and intelligence which then prevailed, regarding commerce and manu- factures; and in these days of trading free- dom, and commercial enterprize, when the last blow has been struck at the old giant of monopoly, it will be perused with pity or derision, according to the dieposition of the reader. The petition was presented to the Cortes of Valladolid in 1548.* " Every day," say the petitioners, " we see the price of . "oihs, of leather, of silks, and of other articif / lecessity, which are manufac- tured in tiiia kingdom, rise in price. We know, also, that this rise of price is occasioned by their exportation to the Indies; and the evil has now become so great that the people cannot struggle against the growing dearness of commodities — even the first articles of necessity. And, as it is notorious that America furnishes, in abundance, wool superior to that of Spain ; why don't the inhabitants make their own cloths ? Many of their provinces, also, produce silk ; why don't they manufacture their own satins and velvets? Does not the * Cortes de 1548. Petic. cciv. 336 APPENDIX. New World produce plenty of leather, not only for its own wants, but also for the whole kingdom ; we therefore pray your Majesty to prohibit the export of these Articles to America." It is difficult to conceive the ignorance which must have existed in those days regarding the laws which regulate human industry, had we not so many and such palpable proofs before us ; and, by way of completing the picture uf economic wisdom in the sixteenth century, we shall add a few more touches, which are equally as characteristic as the preceding sketches. The petitioners had not the slightest concep- tion that the precious metals, which they esti- mated as the real riches of the country, were the cause of all the evils they deplored ; and the government, equally ignorant, shaped their measures in unison with the misconceptions of the petitioners. A law was passed, limiting the departure of galleons for the Indies, to the guild of Seville ; and an absolute prohibition of trading with the Colonies could not have had a more fatal effect upon the industry of the country than that partial nieasure.* In the « Memoires de la Societe economique de Madrid, t. iii., p. 289. n APPENDDC. 337 meantime the wise statesmen of that day passed a singular law, in the hope of diminishing the price of commodities — they enacted that the exportation of " corn and cattle were hurtful to the kingdom, as it enhanced the price of food, to the detriment of the people;" and threatened with confiscation of their goods, whoever dared to violate that law. They also, in their wisdom, prohibited the export of cloth, of woollens, silks, &c.;* and from that time forward, as it will be readily conceived, the manufactures languished for want of markets, and ultimately declined altogether. The go- vernment also fixed the price of leather and other articles, which gave a fatal blow to those industries ; they also" prohibited the export of raw and manufactured silks, which diminished the amount annually consumed about 5O,OO01bs. and gave the coup de grace to weaving — the markets of Genoa, Florence, and even Tunis, being supplied by the Spaniards.! By these absurd and destructive measures the Government of Spain inflicted an irrepara- * Influence du gouvernement d'Isabella. Nueva Hecopilacion, ley 27. t Jovellanos, Colleccion de varias obrus, t. i. p. 112. <4 'l!tnkind can scarcely be estimated. ., I'; <.-;,:. y L> u CHAPTER IV. ' FLUCTUATIONS IN THE RELATIVE VALUE OP GOLD AND SILVER. The relative value of gold and silver has ex- perienced some strange fluctuatloos since these metals have been selected as the standard of value for all other commodities. Heeren relates that the value of silver was tenfold greater than that of gold in Arabia Felix*, when the Phenicians discovered the mines in Spain, and exchaoged their produce — silver — for the gold of Arabia. The only authority which he cites is a note of Bochart\ * Historical Researches — Phenioia. W^ 342 APPENDIX. and adds, *' that the conjecture of the latter is not destitute of foundation." At the time of the second punio war, the relative value of gold and silver was I to 17^, according to the authority of Jacob ; but the reason assigned for the relative high price of gold is not well- authenticated. The cause most probably was, the successful workings of the Spanish mines by the Carthaginians, whose wealth and enterprise had enriched the whole western world ; and the comparative difficulty of procuring the gold from the East, when the commercial intercourse of the Carthaginians with the Arabians had diminished. Silver, for several centuries previous to the reign of Justinian had held in general the pro- portion of 10 to 1 of gold, when it suddenly rose to 14| to I. Gibbon attributes this fall in the value of silver to the inroads of the Bar- barians in the fifth century who happened to throw themselves on countries which produced the gold. The produce of the Austrian Gold Mines, he says, had long averaged £1,000,000 per annum : they were ruined by the Visigoths, and have never been re-opened since. The proportionate value of the two metals is not at any time a correct index of the actual APPENDIX. 343 proportionate quantities of them. Silver is at present nearly sixteen times less valuable thau gold, but when we consider how very much the former is used in manufactures, there can be no doubt that its quantity exceeds that of gold in a greater proportion than 16 to 1. The relative value, or price, of gold and silver has long been fixed by all civilized nations, and bears a corresponding* ratio throughout the ♦ When I say that the Mint fixes the relative prices of gold and silver, I merely use the ordinary expression ; but, as there seeois to be a great miscon- ception of that expression, it may not be inopportune to explain what it reallj means. The Mint does not fix the price of gold ; but merely says, by fixing the standard, that a Conventional pound bhall mean the same thing to-morrov7 as to-day — the satue a month, or three months hence, when I am to be paid for my goods as on the day I sold them. All the fixity amounts to this — A sells. B certain goods to-day for one pound sterling — that is, so many grains of gold ; and B is to receive in payment the same number of grains of gold when the day of payment arrives, or what is equal to it, a Bank Note for which he can go and demand those number of grains of gold. The truth is that a. fixed price of gold only means a, fixed quantity. • This is the error which the Liverpool Reform Financial Association commit, like many others who will not take the trouble to understand, or who have not the clearness of intellect to perceive it, commit, which leads them, necessarily, into all man- ner of currency crotchets and blunders. mti 01* 344 APPENDIX. world ; aod the fluctuations, hitherto, have been but Blight, as the cose of producing the precious metals is generally a fixed sum, which, from the nature of things, admits of little or no diminution. From the reasoning in the preceding chapters it may be safe, therefore, to infer that the cost will not be greatly dioturbed by the recent dis- coveries in California. flu CHAPTER V. HOARDING, ONE OF THE CAUBE8 WMICU MAIN- TAINS THE VALUE OF THE PAECIOUS MCTALS. The passion of mankind for the precious metals is as intense now as it was at the earliest recorded instance of exchange, when simple barter was supersedd. It is superfluous to dwell upon this point, as there are so many evidences of i;-. reality and truth. But the passion for hoard- ing may not be so obvious to the ordinary observer, as it is to those who are 0Ci2\/.pied in watchiag the varied phenomena which it exhibits, and which assume so many ■■iZ^ ■If-, 346 APPENDIX. I forms in tbe actions of mankind. Hoarding is practised to as great an extent in the most civilized nations as it is in the comparatively barbarous ; and, singular to relate, it arises from the same cause — namely, the insecurity of properti/. In France* the passion * Chevalier has made an ingenious calculation of the circulating medium of Europe, and fixes it at 8 milliards of francs. Estimating the population at 250 millions of inhabitants, and France having 35 millions, he gives as her share of the medium, 1,120 millions, whereas she has upwards of 4 milliards, which entails upon her an enormous expense, annually, in coinage and interest. He estimates the circulating medium of England, 1,200, with which she transacts the enormous amount of her business. France loves the bullion, under a mistaken impression that it is more valuable and safer, as an instrument of exchange. — " II r^gne dans toutes les classes un amour exclusif de la richesse metallique," says Chevalier ; and he proves clearly that she pays preciously dear for it. Of the 825, kilogrammes of precious metals, pro- duced annually by America and Europe, France has coined, since 1830, 300,000 kilog., almost half. Her custom-tables also show that her import of silver, since 1816, has exceeded her export by two milliards of francs. What with the cost of extraction, mercury, and the expenses of coinage, she pays annually about 3,600,000, or nearly four millions of francs for her circulating niediu*; She still adheres to her bar- barous method of delegating the royal authority to a company, who, at their different Hotels des Monnaies, strike off 80 millions of francs annually ; the reason >h, APPKMDEC. 347 for hoarding is greater than any other country of Europe, which may be easily traced to the uneasy and unsettled condition of property. The revolutionary ploughshare has so completely furrowed up the settled habits of her people, and destroyed that mutual confidence in each other, which alone can inspire a high tone of credit and security, that there are but few investments to attract the surplus earnings of her industry. And even that few are looked upon by the mass of the French with distrust and appro - hension ; hence the almost universal con- comitant of parental dissolution — the hoarded is simple — the directory get a handsome per centage upon the coinage. A great portion of this annually increasing coinage is hoarded, which has become a settled passion with the French, especially among the working and middle classes. M. Chevalier does not go deep enough ; he wishes, I presume, to spare the feelings of his countrymen by merely glozing over the causes of the intense passion for hoarding which has long characterized them. I would respectfully refer him to Les Causes Celebres, wherein he will find abundant evidence of the fact, and of the diabolical results to which it fre- quently leads. In most of the cases of murder, there is generally an old stocking of five franc pieces pro- minently in the fore-ground, as one of the exciting causes of the perpetration of crime. ■'it 348 APPENDIX. Btocking of five-frank pieces. The crimiaal tribunals of that, in some respects, fine and intelligent people, exhibit some dark and mournful incidents; indicating too unmistak- ably the wide-spread passion for hoarding which exists among them. In other parts of Europe, where property is not respected, the same passion must exist, although, perhaps, not to the same extent as in France. The in- habitants of the East Indies have long been noted for hoarding the precious metals; and the bulk of the enoraious sums which find their way to that quarter of the globe, never returns into the great circulating arteries of commerce, but lies in a state of unprofitable and unhealthy congestion. Their passion for hoarding is a natural result from the political institutions of that country, and must always exist under similar conditions; the Indians, even now, under the comparatively mild and paternal sway of the East India Company, are not permitted to hold land, therefore have no inducement to cultivate it to a profit, which would naturally wean thom from hoarding their wealth. If their property, formerly, was too palpable to sight or touch, it was safe to be mulcted; for Asiatic rulers are not, (!" APPENDIX. 349 and never have been, over nice in their scruples as regards the law of meum and tuumt as their subjects can too plainly prove. I except the Company, of course, from this remark ; whose rule is a blessing compared to the native chiefs of India, although the conditions of the land-question, as it stands at present, require very grave consideration. The hoarding of the precious metals must rather increase than diminish, under the dis- turbed state of the world, and the protracted political struggle of the present age ; and any increase, therefore, from tlie mineSf to any considerable extent, would meet with a coun- teracting check in this strange, but in some respects pardonable, passion of mankind. CHAPTER VI. WHAT FFFECT WILL THE DISCOVEUY OF THE MINES IN CALIFORNIA HAVE UPON THE IN- DUSTRIAL RELATIONS OF THE WORLD? •-ii.;i,v;-i,. Before a satisfactory answer can be given to so important a question, it is necessary to con- sider the conditions under which it has risen. First. — Ti.e discovery of a new source for the production of the precious metals, must naturally create an impression that the general quantity in the world will be greatly aug- mented. Secondly, — A sudden increase in the quan- >n APPENDIX. 351 tity of the precious metals will have a tendency to derange their relative value to other com- modities ; and such derangement must naturally disturb the commercial dealings of nations, the pecuniary settlements of society, and the equitable relations of debtor and creditor. First. — Will the discovery of the California Mines— the new productive source — lead to an augmentation of the quantity of the precious metals ? It is barely possible that the supply of the precious metals from California may be so abundant that they will be materially depre- ciated as compared to other commodities, and their utility, as instruments of exchange, and a standard of value, greatly impaired ; and were this inconvenience to arise, gold would simply take the place of silver, and silver that of copper, in their relative exchangeable values — in short, copper would be useless, as silver would exchange for the smallest com- putable quantity of commodities. But these are not probable events — and we ought to limit our hypotheses to the probable, and not extend them to the possible, range of contin- gencies — for if any fertile mines of either gold m 1 '4 « u S52 APPF.NUIX. H or silver were discovered, or even the present minea to yield far more abundantly, it would soon be found, that, owing to the increased quantity of these metals, their value would be diminished in proportion ; and the least fertile mines, whose produce would be no longer equal to the expense of working them, would neces- sarily be closed. This happened in the I6th century, when the Spaniards discovered the mines in South America, and procured unusual supplies from that quarter; the greater part of those in Europe were soon abandoned, as the cost of working them was too great for the value of their produce in the markets of the world. And the same results will again obtain in the event of unusual quantities of the pre- cious metald being found in California ; the least productive mines, no^ in operation, must naturally cease to be worked. Again, there is an a priori argument against the immense quantity of the precious inetals alleged to exist in the newly discovered regions of California. All history attests that gold has been found in small quantities —indued, it seems an essential result from the condition of its existence — and in similar states, from the most remote period to the present tim APPENDIX. 353 Heeren, the able and learned historian, enters elaborately into the condition of the Minea of Spain, when first discovered by the Phenicians, trading to that country. That adventurous people found the silver lying upon the surface of the earth, the natives having no means '^f exchanging it, and only estimating its value by its utility ; but when the adventurers had exhausted the first supply which was of so easy access, they were compelled to dig deep into the bowels of the earth for the second, and to expend a great deal of labour, involving a vast outlay of capital, before they could obtain additional supplies of the metal At length, according to the natural laws which govern production, mining in Spain became a laborious, expensive, and exceedingly precari- ous undertaking, which barely paid those whose capital was embarked in it ; and, upon the discovery of the Athenian Mines shortly after, when silver became depreciated in the market, the Phenicians abandoned those of Spain, from the fact of the outlay being too great for a profitable return. I have already remarked upon the abandonment of the Euro- pean mines, when those of America were dis- 1 1 II ' ll I I I 351 APF£MDIX. covered, from the same causes, precisely, as those which closed those of ancient Spain ; it will only be necessary to state another event in the history of the precious metal-discovery, to illustrate simply and clearly, the point at which I am aiming. The discovery of gold in the Ural Chain of Siberia led to the most exaggerated estimates of its quantity, and suggested many enquiries which have resulted in a more correct know- ledge of its positive conditions. In the gulli js and ravines of the water-courses the precious metal was found in abundance; but in the wide estuaries, formed by the rivers, over which the debris of that high mountain range had been washed fur ages, it was scattered about in comparatively diminished quantities. After the first gathering was accomplished, it became a settled form of labour, involving a definite outlay of capital, and yielding an average, but not an enormous, rate of profit. Indeed, the profit barely exceeds that of the Brazilian and Mexican Mines, which have been lung in operation. Nor has the working of the Ural mines mate- rially changed the relative value of gold, which * \ v» APPENDIX. 355 was confidently anticipated*, as the quantity an- nually produced approximates to a given sum — about £ 2,0C0,000 odd— but with this drawback, that the amount of labour is almost annually in- creasing, while the quantity of metal produced is not augmenting in the same ratio. Again, when we consider the conditions under which the precious metal is generally found, it will be readily inferred that the quantity must be exceedingly limited; and that the ex- pense of obtaining it must always keep up its relative value to other commodities. *' In the lofty chain of mountains running fit * The reader may feel some interest in knowing to what extent the mines of the Ural and Siberia have proved productive. In the year 1837, th« gold produce of the Ural mountains exceeded 304 poods ; this portion is considered the richest of the mountain-chain, as all the other mines only produced 104 poods. In 1842, the total amount had already reached 100 poods — nearly double that of 1838 — and in the last year, 1843, it swelled to the enor- mous quantity of 1342 poods. Taking the pood at 43 lbs. 103 dwts. troy, and estimating the ounce of gold at 3£. 178. lO^d., and the fineness of the gold at the British standard, the sterling value of the last year's produce of Hussiau gold amounts to 2,751, 9 62£. Vide, Murchisons " observations on the Ural mountain." m m *■»■ I.' 356 APPENDIX. It 1 I / nearly due north, which form as it were the ./ backbone of Central America, shoot out an infinite number of elevated spurs; these, run- ning in a N. E. and S. W. direction, form either deep ravines or elevated table lands. The plains are composed, at the Base of the Hocky Mountains, of limestone overlj'ine gra- nite. In a lower latitude they are superstra- tified with serpentine, and greenstone trap; and in the Sierra Nevada, the rocks are com- posed of granite — consisting of white quartz, feldspar, and black mica — porous trap, or basalt. The granites of this part of the world are nearly all auriferous (California — but the geological phenomena are nearly the same in the Ural chain,) and from their granular and loose structure, undergo rapid decomposition. During the winter season, the crests of these mountain-ranges are deeply covered with snow; and at the periods of thaw, and during the rainy season, which lasts from November until March, torrents of water sweep from the mountain-tops down the deep gullies and ravines into the valleys, and carry with them the disintegrated rock, and the particles of gold. Thus the valleys of the region are annually inundated, and masses of decomposed APPENDIX. 357 rock are scattered over tbeir surfaces. The rich gold deposits are found in the heads of the ravines, and although the valleys may yield large returns, the richest accumulation will be found at the heads of the deepest gullies. Hence the pursuit of gold-finding is very uncertain, although throughout Cali- fornia and Upper Mexico the washings of the mountains have accumulated since the creation of the world, yet in valleys the gold is seldom found below a few feet from the surface, and the smallest undulations upon the surface of the valley may considerably lessen or increase the residuation of the metallic grains. Thus, therefore, in most parts of the world where gold deposits have been found, the superficial working has been successful : but as the pur- suit is extended, very large tracts are often explored unsuccessfully. This has been the case in the Ural, in Columbia, in Costa Eica, and other places." (Wyld's notes.) It may readily be inferred from the pre- ceding observations, that no great quantity of the precious metals will be obtained in California; none, at least, that will have any great disturbing influence on its relative value in the markets of the world, as many alarmists m ^Lfe? 358 APPENDIX. apprehend,* from too limited a view of the nature and conditions of the question. The cost of the labour to obtain it will fc^oon assimi- late the Sierra Nevada to the conditions of the Ural Chain; when the cream is swept off — if we may be pardoned such a phrase — the " diggins " will gradually diminish, and the * Vide the pamphlet of a Merchant, entitled " Reflections on the manner in which property may be affected by a large influx of Gold in California 1" The following may be taken as a sample of the writer's reasoning powers — " In all the gold mines hitherto discovered, circumstances have imposed a limit on the extent to which they could be worked. In Africa, the impediments are a bad climate and a barbarous people. In the Oural mountains the ste- rility of the soil prevents any increase of population. In South America and other countries, where the metal is obtained exclusively by excavation, that very circumstance restricts the number of miners, as few can be employed at a time in a shaft." In all these instances of the '* merchant," a wrong cause is assigned for the limited production of gold. The cause is simply this — mining will not repay the cost of labour employed in it. In Africa, Mehemet Ali found that the forced labour in the gold mines of Darfour and Nigritia cost him more than the gold was worth — therefore abandoned them as- unprofita- ble undertakings. The Emperor of Russia, or rather the Prince Demidoflj and the owners of the Ural mines, find that no more labour can be profitably employed upon them j the sterility of the soil has Uttle to do with the question, even were it in that APPENDIX. -I- 359 " diggers " will be gradually reduced to the skltnined-milk state, as the labourers are at present in the Russian Mines. Having treated of the first branch of the proposition which I set out with, I shall now consider the subject in another form, so as to meet the conditions of the second bra'ich. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that a large influx of gold from California will take place. What effect will that quantity have on the monetary relations of the world i The possessors of the precious metal, like other people, will be desirous of emjdoying advan- tageously the greater part of their property ; an increase of currency, which would naturally ensue from a large influx of the precious metals, would therefore cause more competi- tion for its employment, and, consequently, the , nominal price of commodities would rapidly condition, which is not confirmed by intelligent observers, (vide, Murchison.) In South America also, the mines would have been more extensively worked, had they yielded a profit ; and not simply because " the metal is obtained by excavation, that circumstance restricting the number of miners," which could soon have been obviated by a profit- able return. We have one word for this species of reasoning — Niaiserie. m w Ttf.'f. -.yti. m .Si 'if 360 APPENi)IX. advance. I assume, at the same time, that the quantity of commodities has not increased pari passu with the gold. After prices had ad- vanced, a new relation would be established between the circulating medium and com- modities ; and the competition for the extra currency would immediately cease. An aug- mentation of the precious metals in any one country will advance the price of commodities in that country, but not always in proportion to their excess, as a part would most likely be exported for profitable employment elsewhere ; and, as prices advanced, the inducement to import foreign goods would increase, which would be paid for in the precious metals, until a more equable relation was established be- tween the importing and exporting countries, as regards the price of commodities. Many people regard the importation of gold and silver as a benefit greater than re- sults from that of other commodities, and consider the exportation of them as a national detriment. A superabundance of the precious metals is no proof of tlie increase of national wealth. An individual possessed of a large quantity of these metals may be condi.dered opulent, but if he does not ex- APPENDIX. 361 change them for other objects which can add to his property, it will continually diminish by all the amount of expense that he incurs. So it is with the aggregate of individuals consti- tuting the nation. Every superfluity of wealth, not employed usefully for the reproduction of another value, is placed in a state of total con- sumption, and the national wealth accordingly diminishes. Were an increase of metallic cur- rency to afford additional facility to the circu- lation of goods, then production might be en- couraged, and a greater supply of gold acd silver would be desirable ; but every excess, beyond what can encourage production, proves useless, and occasions wasteful expense. Let us pursue this argument a little further, as many are smitten with the notion that the ac- quisition of the precious metals is tho acqui- sition of wealth. Such reasoners do not bear in mind that the foreigners, who send gold nnd silver to this country, take away what they deem of greater value ; in like manner, the exporters, also, of the precious metals to other countries calculate, as if they sent other goods, upon obtaining from thence a greater value mi m m 'i'.'iX- I 362 APPF.NUIX. in return, nnd were no benefit to result, the exportation would cease. : r The importation or exportation of gold and silver does not, necessarily, imply the transfer of capital from one country to another for the sake of permanent employment. Either of these, like the importation or exportation of any other commodity, is most frequently the exchange of the excess of one kinJ of capital which cannot be so usefully employed where it is, as if it were forwarded to another country, for the acquisition of a different kind of capital, from which the owners expect a greater benefit. Every advantage, therefore, which may be supposed to Rrhe from the augmentation in the quantity of the precious metals in any par- ticular country, is altogether without founda- tion. No country can retain an excess of them in circulation, greater than would occasion a diminution in their value, equal to the risk and expense of conveying them to other countries, united to a moderate rate of profit. The aug- mented value attainable from other nations, which are in comparative want of the precious APPENDIX 363 metals, beyond what they will exchange for where they exist in superfluity, must always prove an inducement to export them for com- modities of greater value, and even to carry on a contraband trade in them, too powerful to be controlled.* Spain furnishes a memorable ex- ample of this fact. Il ';i + Nueva Becopilacion, ley 27, Madrid 1548. There were several laws of this kind passed before and after the period cited, prohibiting the exportation of the precious metals. In consequence of that pro- hibition Spain suffered two disadvantages. First, every possessor of gold and silver in the kingdom could obtain less for them than he otherwise would; had he been permitted to send them freely to the best market. Secondly, foreigners received additional encouragement to carry on a forbidden trade with the Spanish colonies, as all goods sent from Spa^r,. to the former were a per centage dearer than those sent from other countries, in as far as the price was en- hanced by the prohibition of the export of gold and silver. The colonies returned raw produce to F ^ . in in payment for what they received, then the price of the returns in the mother country would have ij^en sufficiently enhanced to equalize the ad- vance on the goods sent out. But the result was different when returns were made in coin or bullion, which was more valuable to foreigncra than to Spanish Merchants, by the per centage of prohibition imposed R 2 if 364 APPENDIX. We must also bear in mind that the circumstan' ces of the world are vastly dijfferent to what they were when the Spaniards discovered America, and inundated Europe with the precious metals. The elements of production were comparatively limited, and commodities, therefore, but few ; and the means of diffusing those commodities throughout the world, and carrying on an ex- tended commercial exchange, were but scanty and meagre, as compared to the present day. A voyage across the ocean was a marvel and wonder which few could undertake ; and even from town to town, not to say from country to country, a communication was of but rare occurrence. The influx of the precious metals into Europe at- that period, therefore, must have had an instantaneous effect upon prices, as commodities were but few, and not capt.ble of rapid augmentation. The manufiictures were almost exclusively confined to Spain and on the latter. The prohibition of the exportation of gold and silver from Spain was consequently a tax upon the trade both of the mother country and of the colonies. The design was to preserve a large quantity of the precious metals in Spain ; but the effect was to diminish their importation into that country, and to ruin her manufactures and com- merce. APPENDIX. S65 Flanders ; France and England, at that period employing but few hands in such occupations. There were then no Manchester;^, Glasgows, Birmioghams ; no Lyons, Paris, Rouen, St. Quentin; no Strasbourgh, Elberfeldt, Mul- hausen, Abbeville; no Milan in Italy for manufacturing renown — no Berne in Switzer- land for its ingenious devices ; all these busy hives of industry had not awakened into exist- ence, to send forth to the world the marvellous prodigies of their power, to excite the cravings, to indulge the tastes, and to satisfy the wants of mankind : at the period to which we refer population was thinly scattered over the globe, its desires few and easily supplied; its power of satisfying its wants were exceedingly limited. Gold must, therefore, have been but iittle im request among the mass of the community, and seldom used ;^^ an instrument of exchange, al- though it was adopted, as the precious metals have been in all ages, among civilized nations, as the standard of value, by which every article in its saleable capacity wi\s measured. The mer- chants of that day—those of Grenoble, Venice, Barcelona and Seville, had a measurement of its value, and minutely watched its fluctua- tions in the markets of the world, as far as t3 mi it* ." ■•■Kl 366 APPENDEC. their limited knowledge of the rise and fall of the precious metals at that period, would allow them; but the mass of men— and even the governing few — knew little about it, or cared for comprehending the laws which governed its Talae, although it was almost daily affecting the "elations of their whole property. Contrast tlf; *^ osent state of the world with what it was 'in tb? I6th century, when the influx of the |irco*-:>us metals affected so great a change in ihi; relative value of commodities. In these days we can produce commodities much faster than we can dig or delve gold from the earth, and were mankind to discover a real JPactolus, with nothing but gold for its sands , the spinning-jenny in our great hives of in- dustry would keep pace with it, and produce as rapidly as the value of the metal could pos- sibly fall, BO that the standard measure would not be greatly disturbed by the dis- covery. The ships now off the coast of Cali- fornia, to omit those annom ced hr thjxt quarter, even in this country Hone, contain more ex - changeable commodities tlian the relative value of the discovered gold is worth, and must quickly absorb it; so that the chance of a APPENDIX. 367 large importation from thence is but remote, except in exchange for commodities, and any surplus quantity that may reach either Europe or America will be instantly diffused by the multiplicity of articles awaiting a profitable exchange, and the many wants of mankind which are only scantily gratified. To sum up these few remarks — the productive power of our manufacturing and agricultural industry is much greater than that which pro- duces the precious metal"), as is clearly de- monstrated by the fall in the price of com- modities in relation to silver and gold ; while, on the contrary, the production of the precious metals in the sixteenth century was much greater than that of commodities, hence the great fall that ensued in the value of the former, as compared to the latter. The positions are precisely reversed, . t If any large increase, therefore, of the precious metals result from the discovery in California, the absorbing power is sniHciently great to counteract the effect of depreciation in those metals ; and it may be safely inferred that the disturbing influence will not be so great as many alarmists are disposed to believe^ "Sim i m ■' :W ?*« 1 >»!;; V: 368 APPENDIX. which fulfils all the conditions required in the proposition. * Should the influx of gold from California into Europe ultimatelj prove as large as it is at present expected to be, it would produce two effects, ac- cording as we consider it, first — as increasing the whole aggregate of the coined monies circulating throughout Europe ; and, secondly, as we consider it, as merely altering its own relative value to that of silver. With respect to the latter effect, though it may not be so serious as anticipated, yet the consequences which will flow from it, will be of a most momentous character. Let us suppose, for instance, that gold, instead of bearing as it does now a relative value to that of silver, as 15^ to 1, should become so depreciated by its abundance, or rather by its cheapness of production, that it should be only twelve times the value of silver. It would thus be depreciated about one-fifth; and the 113 grains of fine gold in our sovereign would be only worth sixteen shillings. In fact, it would require four shilliugs-worth more of gold, at that price, or 28 grains more, that is, 141 grains to discharge an obligation of one-pound sterling. In all our existing contracts, the bond between the creditor and the debtor is, that for every pound sterling of obligation, the former shall demand, and the latter shall not be called upon to pay more than 113 grains. The operation of such a change will not only effect the public creditor, but all those great social institutions, Life Assurance and Reversionary Companies. For instance, the former, at some dis- tant date, on being called upon to satisfy a Policy, APPENDIX. 369 after having taken for a seriea of years of the Insurer gold which was worth twenty shillings, would pay his representatives in gold which would be only worth sixteen shillings. And, on the contrary, a Reversionary Society which had advanced a sum of money in gold worth twenty shillings for the dis- tant Keversion of a larger sum, would, when that Reverson fell in, have to receive it in gold worth only sixteen shillings. In fact, all the calculations which these Institutions have made during the last two generations would be stultified to the immense gain of one claas, and the immense loss of the other. :l'i]i \ r . CHAPTER VII. ';• - ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. The accidental development of mineral 1 wealth . m: in the far west, has naturally directed public attention to the Isthmus of Panama, which seems on the map like a thin line of thread uniting the two great continents of Americn. Nothing seems easier than to snap it asunder, and force a passage for the two oceans to j oin their masses of water together, so that the ships of the world might sail proudly through, instead of having to sneak some thousands of miles round Cape Horn^ not only to their great APPENDIX. 371 endangerment, but aUo at an immense sacrifice of time, one of the most important elements in an economical calculation. Yet, so it is. Science, with all its gigantic accomplishments, seems appalled at the effort to remove this obstacle to the world's enrichment ; she can fill the earth with her wonders, and has er abled man almost to outstrip even time a.i<# space, yet she cannot annihilate the dis- tance between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans — a mere forty-five odd miles — which would immediately bring the East and West into polite proximity to each other; at least, if brother Jonathan would leave off his " tar- nation go-a-head intrusiveness," and John Bull would not insist upon thrusting down the throat of the fastidious Chinaman bis commer- cial rules and regulations. But this will never be, although the Isthmus should cease to- iiiii ^ lis IIIIIJ4 ';' Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 %" 4^^ 6^ > ^ 372 APPENDEC. ultlmatelj recognise their presence and give evidence uf their sway. When? Let time answer ; in the meanwhile we may speculate on the events which will lead to the precise period when that answer will be given. Ever sinee the discovery of America the project of cutting down the Isthmus of Panama has been entertained at one time or other. Old Christopher Columbus was the first to estimate its importance — the discoverer of that new world saw at a glance that it would immensely assist mari- time intercourse between the Eastern and Western hemispheres, were that barrier knocked down ; but all the Kings of Spain, nor all the wealth of their sumless mines, could not accomplish it ; and there it stands, like an ugly eye-sore, to reproach the boasted exploits of man, and to humble the otherwise superb flights of his soaring and scientific mind. Humboldt has penned even a sublime sum- mary of the advantages that must accrue to mankind, were the Isthmus knocked on the head; and Monsieur Michel* Chevalier has V * Vide Journal des Debats. July, 1846. APPENDIX. 373 drawn up, most ably, the report of M. Garella, who surveyed it in a very scientific manner, and the former concludes that it never can be accomplished in our days — at least, upon the plan projected by his countryman. M. Garella proposed to cut a canal through the solid rock of the Isthmus at an elevation of 140 metres (460 feet), which would require a lockage for every three metres — or 48 metres on the one side, and 54 metres on the other, on account of the difference of tides in the two oceans ; or to pierce a tunnel at the same elevation, of dimensions sufficient to let ships of 1,200 tons burthen pass through with their lower masts standing. Of these two projects M. Garella inclined to the latter, and estimated the work as follows : — •*' i m Height from the bottom of canal to crown of the arch 37 metres (122 feet) Breadth 21 metres (69 feet) Total length 5,350 metres or 5,900 yards. M. Garella considers that the tunnel would be cut through a solid rock of porphyry, and calculates the expense : — 4 m P, I 374 APPENDIX. For Canal, tunnel, conduits, and ports— 139 millions of francs, or in English money — 6,560,000/. ^ Several objections to this project were soon started ; and most of them well-founded. Like others, of a similar nature, it died a natural death. Since then the Americans have sur- veyed the Isthmus, but nothing, at present, has resulted from their survey. The most feasible, and, at the same time the most practicable, is the plan proposed by Don Jose de Garay^ who caused the survey of the Isthmus at Tehuaiitepec to be made, under the sanction of the Mexican Government, in 1842. M. Moro, to whose scientific skill M. Garay is indebted for the survey, declares the Isthmus at Panama to be impracticable, from the enor- mous expense that it would involve. He next examines the plan projected of cutting a canal to the lake of Nicaragua, or making the river St. John, which runs a distance of 93 miles, navigable; and finds the physical obstacles so great, that he abaa dons it in despair. M. Moro then proposes the Isthmus of • \ APPENDIX. 375 Tehuantepec, as the most eligible point for constructing a canal, the greater part of the distance which separates the two seas, being occupied on the south by lagoons and exten- sive plains, and on the north it is traversed by the river Coatzacoalcos ; so that the principal works to be executed would be comprised within a space of about fifty miles in length. He calculates that the canal would be navi^ gable for ships drawing twenty feet water; will ensure excellent ports at both extremi- ties ; and alleges that the ' materials for con- struction cannot be more abundant, superior in quality, or better distributed in any part of bhe Isthmus. In point of health, Tehuantepec is exceedingly favourable ; while, on the con- trary, Panama is a complete pest'honse, so much so, that Messrs Loyd and Falmarc could not complete their exploring labours, which they undertook in 1827 and 1828, by order of Bolivar. Besides these purely local advantages, Te- huantepec is more favourable for navigation, offering to vessels proceeding to Asia or the N. W. coast of America, a communication more direct, and through a more genial cli- mate. On their return, they are now obliged Hi ' \ 376 APP'^.NDIZ. to keep in northern latitudes, and direct their course towards the Californias, in order to escape the influence of the trade-winds, and for these also the route would be less cir- cuitous. Lastly, the fresh but not dangerous north and north-easterly winds are common to the whole of the American Isthmus, but Tehuantepec is not subject to the protracted calms, which at some seasons of the year, paralyze navigation at Panama. M. Moro estimates the cost of the under- taking as follows :— Cost of 150 locks at £8000 £1,200,000 « 50 miles of canal at 30,000 1,500,000 *' 15 miles of trench 400,000 " 3 miles of trench 120,000 Rec^ulation of the Cuatzacoalcos hikes, and Bocca Barra 160,000 £3,380,000 Tlio estimated returns to repay this outlay of capital, are based upon the maritime com- merce of the four principal shipping nations of the world— England, United States, France, APPENDIX. ±! 377 ( and the Netherlands. M. Moro states that the aggregate quantity of tonnage, conveyed round Cape Horn annually, amounts to 1,500, 000 tons, relying upon documentary evidence : this, wnh other items of profit, would pro- duce-^ For transit duties £600,000 Sale of lands, and steam navigation 50,000 Timber, &c., &c 550,000 Total. £1,200,000 ' We shall leave to others the task of analys- ing these statements, simply contenting our- selves with placing them prominently before the public ; nevertheless, we may be allowed to observe that, from our slight experience in such matters, the proposal of M. Garay ap- pears the most practical of all that have been as yet submitted to public adoption, and promises as great advantages as can possibly accrue from such an undertaking. Surely England will not be backward at this important crisis ; the requirements of her commerce, and the adventurous instincts of the age, demand that she should be prompt and decided. The same policy that dictated the necessity of ill I 11 I), 1 ii 378 APPENDIX. making Aden a station to protect .the Overland- route to India ought, we must presume to re- mark, to prevail as regards the Isthmus of Panama ; and there can be no great difficulty about the matter, if pursued with promptitude and energy. We hold Gibraltar, the key to the Mediterranean, and wisely too ; then ought we to lose the opportunity of securing the key to the Pacific, in whose waters we have so many and such mighty interests? Common prudence says no— emphatically, no. Jonathan is already alive to the importance of the crisis, and has directed his keen and calculating eye upon the Isthmus, knowing well the im- mense advantage that must accrue to him, when a free communication shall be made through it ; and it will be a hard race with our commercial and manufacturing interests and those of America, when the distance to the Eastern hemisphere shall be shortened to the former some thousands of miles. We must hold our power over the great maritime artery of the world, through which the life-stream of national enterprise must naturally and inevita- bly flow ; and that artery must lie athwart the back of the Isthmus of Central America. Again, the cutting a canal through the ( V APPENDIX. 379 Tsthmus, at the most eligible point, would not absorb a large amount of capital, when com- pared to other works which have been effected to benefit our commerce, the profitable returns of which have been more than doubtful ; we allude more particularly to the Caledonian Canal, and the Exploring Expeditions to the North Pole. Indeed^ a free passage through the Isthmus for our mercantile marine would, in a great measure, supersede the advantages of a North-west passage, even could the latter be effected ; we allude, of course, to the mercan- tile advantages, and shall not presume to un- dervalue its scientic results, which are justly appreciated by all. We feel confident that the British Government will lose no time in the matter, as the Central States have been always ready and willing to dispose of the beneficial interest to any party who would undertake such a noble work. The late King of Holland seriously entertained the idea of a canal, before the revolution of 1830 shook him from his purpose ; and the state of Nicaragua pro- posed the same measure to the Belgian Emi- gration Society, which was abandoned from a similar cause, and would gladly do the same to a 380 APPENDIX. England, with full and guaranteed right of pos> seseion. In our next chapter we shall attempt to analyze a project which, from the sudden celebrity of its author, has largely attracted public attention. pos- t to den cted CHAPTER VIII. PRINCE LOUIS MAPOL£ON*S PROJECT TO CONNECT THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS BY MEANS OF A CANAL. In the year 1846, Prince Louis Napoleon, then an exile in this country, circulated, among his friends, a project to coanect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which excited considerable attention, not only from the singular position of its author, but also from the great practical knowledge which it evinced of the subject. The project, it appears, was first suggested to the '* Imperial mind'* by the following circum* stance. m I: X 11 I 382 APPENDIX. " In the year 1842, several influential persons of Central America wrote to the Ijrisuner of Ham, through a French gentleman in Jamaica, with the view of inducing him to ask for his liberation and proceed to America, where, as they said, the Prince would be wel- comed with enthusiasm, and would find occu- patioo worthy of his name and active mind." The Prince declined the proposition ; never- theless, it made a strong impression upon his mind, if we may judge by the terms in which he alludes to it — " The more closely," he re- marks, ** the body is confined, so much more is the mind disposed to wander in unbounded space, and to canvass the feasibility of projects which it would scarcely be at leisure to enter- tain in a more active existence." And a French Naval Officer, who was about to start for Central America, having paid Louis Napoleon a visit in his prison, >yas directed by the latter to make observations on the practicability of cutting a ship-canal that should join the two oceans, especially through the lakes of Nica- ragua and Leon. This incident was duly communicated to Head Quarters at Paris, and the Citizen King whose microscopic mind unduly magnified the mole- hills that came APPENDIX. 283 within its range, instantly despatched M. Garella to make surveys for a contemplated cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, not with the most distant view of carrying it out, but simply to check-mate a rival whose power he affected to despise, and whose apparent in- fluence, at that period, was at xero on the political scale. What a singular destiny is that of Louis Napoleon I It was a favourite saying of his uncle — " there is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous," and many have remarked that Louis Napoleon has always taken that step. The Strasbourgh and Boulogne affairs partook largely of the "ridiculous" portion of the apophthegm ; they certair'y embodied but a trifling amount of the ** sublime." The pro- jected cutting of the Isthmus, which has en- gaged so many and such marvellous minds, and yet unaccomplished, must stand upon its own merits — it is simply in print, and will be judged accordingly. Has Louis Napoleon put his " ridiculous," or his ♦* sublime," foot foremost in stepping into his present position ? He has never yet taken a right measure of his move- ments ; not from want of pluck, but from fail- ing to perceive that there is an immense distance m I* : it ft t 1 If a il 384 APPENDIX. between the conception and the execution of a scheme.* Be that as it may, we have no right, perhaps, to introduce political disserta- tion while considering a plan which is purely commercial and scientific, therefore shall pro- ceed to analyze that of Louis Napoleon as fairly and justly as we are able. In a preceding chapter we have already alluded to the surveys of M. Garella, and pointed out their imprac- ticability, even had the French Government been desirous of seeing them completed. i I f I ♦ The avowed policy of the President, among his friends in this country, is to break up the Centraliza- tion-Systemj which was the grand aim of his Uncle to accomplish ; the first, wishes to scatter the fiery spirits of the Capital over the provinces, on the prin- ciple of divide et impera ; the latter did all he could to concentrate them on one point, in order that he might the more effectually rule them. Napoleon was in his element when directing the collective wit and wisdom of his empire ; and Louis Napoleon, we can imagine to be anywhere but in his element, when attempting to direct either one or the other. Has he the grasp to " hold in leash " the fiery and subtle spirits which encircle him — to say nothing of the dare-devil and desperate few who oppose him ? Has he the genius to start the right game, and keep them well on to the scent ) He stands, in our opinion, a much greater chance of realizing the fable of ^c^cpow — nor will he be the first, by a great many, who has fallen a victim to his own followers. / V APPi^^DIX. 385 / The Prince states, after a fe«^ prelioiinary remarks upon. the condition of Central America, ** that five principal points have been proposed as eligible for the opening of a communication between the two seas. The first, on the north- ern side, through the isthmus of Tehuantepec ; the second, through the isthmus of Panama ; and finally, two other projects, through the gulf of Darien. Of these, the passage through the isthmus of Tehuantepec presents almost insuperable difficulties, according to the surveys of General Orbegoso, and t)ie valuations of M. Garella;* besides, this canal would have the immense disadvantage of opening into the gulf of Mexico, dangerous to navigation, and also of lengthening, by several hundred miles, the route to South America. The opinions collected by M, Chevalier , are quite unfavour- able to the adoption of the two proposed routes through the gulf of Darien, There remain only two available projects ; one by the isthmus of Panama, the other by the river San Juan and the lakes of the state of Nicaragua. If all • We have already observed that the surveys of M. Garella are not to be depended upon. They were got up to serve a political purpose. V. 386 APPENDIX. these projects were available, the last is the only one that should be adopted, inasmuch as it is the only one conducive to the real interests of Central America, and the world at large. The proposed canal must not be a mere cutting calculated to convey from one sea to the other European produce simply ; it must, above all, render Central America a maritime btate, prosperous by the interchange of its internal produce, and powerful by its extensive com- merce." A canal can only do this by running through a fertile country, with a highly- pro- ductive and numerous population, with many wants and plenty of means to gratify them. The prince commits a pardonable error in political economy — as many others have done before him — namely, in mistaking a consequence for a cause. Canals do not create the con- ditions required by the hypothesis, no more than railways through a sterile district create activity and industry ; but they are created in consequence of those conditions being already in existence. When a people have produced commodities, then canals are highly useful to circulate them ; but all the canals in the world are not able to create commodities, where the ■ \ V APPENDIX. 387 people are deficient in the elements for tbeir creation. The Prince obaerves— " that if a canal could be made to cross this territory of Cen- tral America, situated on the Caribbean sea, and ending at Realego on the Pacific, that canal would completely satisfy the required conditions (?), for Realego has a good harbour, and San Juan offers a good roadstead, sheltered from the north-easterly winds, which are the only violent ones upon the coast. Neither at Panama, nor at Chagres, nor on any point of the same coasts, is there any moorage to- be compared with that just mentioned." We enter the more minutely into this pro- ject of the Prince, from the fact of the public mind being largely directed to the subject, as a natural result of the recent discoveries in that region of the goble ; and we already per- ceive, by the announcements in the papers, that speculation will run strongly in that direction, and blindly too, if n t cautiously, and ju- diciously instructed. The two oceans must be united through the medium of the Isthmus, at one point or other ; the wants of the world will accomplish the union sooner or later. The Prince objects to Panama for the i 388 I ^ APPENDIX. reasons frequently nssijjjned — '* at Panama such a canal could only cross a country marshy, unwholesome, uninhabited, and uninhabitable, which would offer a passage of but thirty miles, amidst stagnant waters and barren rocks, yielding no spot of ground fitted for the growth of a trading community, fur sheltering fleets, or for the development and interchange of the produce of the soil.'* The proposed canal between the Atlantic and Pacific, commencing at the port of San Juan, and terminating at the port of Realego, would be as follows — Miles. Length of the river San Juan - 104 „ Lake Nicaragua 90 p, River Tipitapa 20 „ Lake Leon 35 Isthmus between Lake Leon and Pacific - - - - 29 Total lei agth 278 Eighty-two miles only of this length will need exploitation, as the lakes are navigable for \' ^( APPENDIX. 389 ships of the largest size. According to the most accurate surveys of the whole contem- plated course of the canal, the following results have been obtained : — Above the Atlantic Above the Pacific ft. in» ft, in. Height of the Lake of Nicaragua 147 9 128 3 Height of the Lake of Leon 176 5 156 11 Height of superior level of laud 231 11 212 5 V' The diflference of level between high- water in the Pacific and low-water in the Atlantic being, according to M. Garella, nineteen feet and a half, it will require less lockage on the side of the former ; and nut prove an obstacle to the construction of the canal, as many, un- acquainted with hydraulic works, suppose. The Prince anticipates overcoming all the dif- ficulties in the San Juan river^ in spite of shallows, rapids, lockage, and 57,906 yards, or 33 miles of complete transformation; but, on this point, there appears considerable difference of opinion, and, as it involves the practicability !^l I V 390 APPENDIX. of the plan, we may as well cite other authori- ties, who seem to have thoroughly studied and mastered the question. '* The Isthmus of Nicaragua seems to offer many advantages; but upon a more minute examination there appear many difficulties, and these of an insurmountable nature. From the report published by the command of the Government of the State of Nicaragua in re- ference to the exploration of that Isthmus, effected during the years 1837 and 1838 by Mr. J. Bailey, it seems that the course of the river St. John, with all its windings, is about 93 miles in length, six and a half of which are obstructed by four rapids, caused by ledges of rocks stretching across the whole width of the river. These obstacles were considered such formidable impediments as to suggest the con- struction of a canal as an easier operation than that of rendering the river itself navigable. Towards the South, a distance of nearly 17 miles between the lake and the Pacific, the territory is occupied by a chain of mountains which, although not very elevated, would occa- sion works of extraordinary magnitude. It would be necessary to excavate a considerable portion of it to a depth much greater than has <\ V APPKNDIX. 391 •1- te le been hitherto cuetomary in works of this kind, and for 3^ miles it would be indispensable to bore the mountains, and open a tunnel of suf- ficient dimensions to admit the large vessels employed in transatlantic navigation. Besides, on the side of the Atlantic, the port of San Juan de Nicaragua, into which the river San Juan empties itself over a bar with only three feet of water upon it, now only affords an- chorage for a few vessels drawing 10 feet of water; and could not be formed into a har- bour for large ships, except at an enormous expense ; and the Port of St. John, South, on the Pacific side, is not adequate from its small dimensions for large shipping, as its access is difficult, if not impossible, when the North and North-east winds, which are common, pre- vail."* These are grave objections, and, in our opinion, which is also confirmed by other au- thorities, fatal to the scheme of the Prince ; nevertheless, we shall lay the whole of it before ■ *Vide An account of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec by. Don Jose de Garay. 392 APPENDIX. the public, bo that they may be able to judge for themselves, premising that the surveys of Signior de Moro cohfirm those of Bailey and others. The estimated cost of the works is as follows — Works on the river San Juan „ Tipitapa The Isthmus of Bealego At the extreme ports - Purchase of tools, engines, waggons Other works - - - Casual expenses and reserved fund *» »f M X&60,808 318,760 2,157,445 80,000 120,000 80,000 399,987 £4,000,000 After specifying the immense advantages that must accrue to commerce by opening a canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific, as it would shorten the voyage from Europe to the wester coast of American 2,846 miles, and save, on an average, forty-eight days, he es- timates his revenue upon the following data. APPENDIX. 393 Of the 1,203,762 tons, which the commerce of the leading maritime nations measured in 1841. he assumes that 700,000 tons at least have doubled Cape Horn; in addition, he calculates upon an augmentation of 200,000 tons by the in^ulse that would be given to the enterprize of the world — 600,000 tons at 10«. £300,000 300,000 „ 20«. 300,300 Yearly revenue of the canal £600,000 or 12 per cent upon the cafdtal employed, after deducting 2 per cent., for repairs, and 1 per cent, for sinking-fund. The difference of tollage of ten shillings per ton would be charged to the ships of the United States, as they would gain double, their voyage being shortened by two months; but how long Jonathan would submit to such a differential item, the Prince docs not consider it worth while to consider. 394 APPENDIX. The economy to the ship- owner he estimates thus — In the maintenance of the crew Interest at ]| per cent, on the value of the cargo, supposed to be worth £4,000 . - - - Interest at 1 per cent, on the value of the ship, valued at £3,000 Reduction of insurance at 1 per cent. £120 60 36 76 Total saving £292 Equal to a saving of I9s. Id, per ton. The following calculations of time required for voyages to different points on the globe, will be read with interest, whether the project of the Prince be carried out or not, and clearly indicate the importance of piercing the Isthmus at one point or other. o p < w w w w w P B C3 D D 0^ era OQ OQ crq rt- sj- «^ SJ- SJ- o o o o o 45^ S^ 2 » 3 3 g- g- . (^ m CD CO M a* g. to U) < er ~ a o -"I to o o «o 9 c: to o"» I— ' t— O CO 00 o OqOTQ 5^3- r♦ rt- fl> » g* V. V S O «• >• * CD 1^ f.^ I-I h-l !-• 5^ rfi. ►(i. OS trt rfk ^a. &9 &s 00 Cn O ^* 5 CK C* 00 CO W JT g ' o o o o o « 2. H^ M I— »— H-5 C 09 to ^ CO M £.^ -J 00 C« -a 032 " a. U H- »-• I— > h- • H-i -• os<^ ^''PPas" C* -^ 00 00 00 =: = -T w 03 ^ to 8 8 00 00 VX) 00 00 s* 00 I t-' 09 to o g.^ p. 1.1 II tz) a i d Hi ! I r 5- ^ ;0 lO CO O t» X CO .« 00 OO « 00 00 2 OS o Ti< tfj '— ' >-• * 00 00 *^ «o 00 t>. &J 00 O 00 QQ I nS «0 00 «o 91 I a cr* t- O 00 o »o S"-^ O W 4 eo !N si P S IP o 00 OS e3 •13 O .O a bcjS eS V p4 r* J 4S^ B s vi d OS v H a FN eS (D H B B e3 08 eS OS A Q e3 08 B~. < « 53 bc bO APPENDIX. 397 For reasons stated in a pieceding chaptei' we consider the project for the Tehuantepec route, greatly preferable to that of Nicaragua, as it will secure the same advantages to com- merce, and will be much easier of being carried into effect. 1 ( \ i 1 i •' \ t ■ {'■ A CHAPTER IX. SHORTEST ROUTE ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. The following details from a traveller who has recently crossed the Isthmus, nnd upon whom every reliance may be placed, will be read with interest at the present moment : — " The route across ihe Isthmus from Panama to Chagres is perfectly easy at almost all seasons of the year, and may be accom- plished in about 28 or 30 hourp, with due diligence and energy on the part of the traveller. Tl»e land-portion of llic journey is has kom ead lost Din- clue the y is V ArPENDIX. 399 about 21 miles, from Panama to Cruces; the remainder is effected by means of the river Chagrcs, which is navigable for small boats at all seasons, and admits even heavy-weij^hted canoes to sail on its bosom for a considerable portion of the year. The best route to take from Panama is to Gorgona, and not Cruces, as the road, except in the rainy season, is more easily traversed by the mules; while the latter is stony and in a roughly broken«up condition. The Cruces' road, as its condition clearly indicates — excellent materials lying 3cat- tered about in almost every direction shewing that it must have been expensively constructed — was the old route of the Spaniards, before the colonies were separated from the mother country, and the common high-way between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Indeed, the jealousy of that secret and selfish government was ever opposed to a free and open communi- ,r cation across the Isthmus, from an apprehen- sion tliat its influence would be lessened, and that tlie needy and prying foreigner would acquire too large an insight into the richly- productive power of its possessions. The in- structions of the mother country to her viceroys i V 400 APPEKDIX. in America were highly characteristic of this feeling, as we may learn from Alcedo,* who informs us that the kings of Spain itnerdicted, on pain of death, the opening of the two oceans. " En tieropo de Felipe 2nd,'' he says, " be projeoto cortarlo, y communicar los dos mares por medio de un canal, y d este efecto se enviaron para reconocerlo dos Ingenieros Flamencos; pero encontraron dificultades in- Buperahles, y el consejo de Indias represent6 los perjuicios que de ello se [^seguirian a la monarquia, por cuyd razon mando aquel Monarca que nadie prospusiese 6 tratare de ello en adelanto, pena de la vida.** The road branches off about three leagues from Panama, to the right towards Cruces, and to the left towards Gorgona. Before you reach this point you lose sight of the Pacific, which lies spread out before you with its in- dented shores, its islands, and its countless beauties, presenting, at almost every turn of the road, a fresh and enchanting landscape to the view. Gorgona is a small place * Vide, Die. Oeo. Hist, de las Indias Occiden- tales, ad verbum Istmo. V. APPENDIX. 401 comprising a few shabby tenements built principally of the reeds, which grow so abundantly and so richly throughout the Isth- mus ; and the occupation of the inhabitants is generally as muleteers, store-keepers, boat- men or bagosy the remainder are employed in agricultural pursuits, simply to gratify their limited wants. Ft'om Panama to Gorgona the road is excellent in summer, or the dry season, but impassable during the rainy season, which lasts from the end of July to the beginning of December. The distance from Gorgona to Ghagres may be accomplished in about eighteen hours in favourable weather, that is when the currents of the river, which winds about in so many directions, are not effected by the winds which blow with terrific violence during the rainy months. The scenery on the banks of the Chagres, when it flows evenly on its course, is richly picturesque ; its water is pellucidly clear, and you may trace the bottom with ease as you silently float along in the canoes, undisturbed by a single object, if you except the dip of the paddle or the buzzing nuisance of musquitoes- The cost of a journey from Panama to Chagres, with a 402 APPENDIX. moderate allowance of baggage, is about 18 dollars — Dollars, From Panama to Cruces or Gorgona, with two mules, one for saddle, the ; other for luggage - - 8 From Cruces to Chagres by a Cayucu 10 Total 18 If , The Cayuca is a small boat or canoe which is the quickest conveyance for a single pas- senger with little luggage; but a canoe is necessary if you have a large quantity of packages and of considerable weight. The latter are conveniently built for navigating rivers, and are worked by negro watermen who paddle them along with considerable dexterity ; some of these canoes are laden with 60 or 80 bales, averaging 150lbs. weight each, besides a bed or two, luggage for the travellers, and an awning, or toldos^ made of cane and leaves, to keep out the ^un and rain, which adds con- siderably to the weight and draft of the canoe. The freight of goods is about as follows : — h. APPENDIX. 403 Dol. Rial. From Chagrcs to Cruces per Canoe. 1 5 Mule-hire from Cruces to Panama (7 leagues) 2 4 (On each bale of 150lbs. weight) . 4 1 "Were a tram-line laid down from Gorgona, or better still, from Cruces to Panama, the 76 miles, which the windings of the river, and the detours of the road occasion, across the Isthmus, while its line measurement is only 32 miles, might be effected in a comparatively few hours, and to the immense advantage of commerce and civilization. One example will fully illus- trate our meaning : — Time required from England to Lima via Panama. Days. England to Jamaica by Steam ... 23 Jamaica to Chagres 4 Chagresto Panama 1 Panama to Lima . 9 Total... 37 Time required via Cape Uorn. Days. Average voyage from England to Lima via Cape Horn . 110 Deduct Panama Route ... 37 Total... 73 n Ali.?* 404 APPENDIX. Therefore, the difference between the two routes, for travellers and light goods, would be 73 days! which requires not single word of comment. \\ THE END. iir If - ry- ■ w ^' the ode, not