I I'll i W IBM a Sfiljl pijjii ■ ' itijiitiliislsi IIP w i 'Pi I ffittiliili llr ill: III Iji HI m pi ■ii !i 1 1 1 1 - liflf fsliilif Hii|i|f f llfii If 11 1 |l THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE ETHIOPIC AND SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, INDIAN OCEAN, CHINESE SEA, NORTH AND SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN, IN' THE YEARS 1829, 1S30, 1831. BY ABBY JANE MORRELL, WHO ACCOMPANIED HER HUSBAND, CATT. BENJAMIN MORRELL, JR., OF THE SCHOONER ANTARCTIC. " If all our care Gives us a gentle husband, one that hinds' No galling yoke, happy our life indeed.'' ' I to Iolcos ploughed the watery way, By fondness rather than by prudence led. NEW-YORK: "PUBLISHED BV J. & J. HARPER, NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET, AND POLD BY THE BOOKSELLERS GENERALLY THROUGHOUT TH^ UNITED STATES, 183.-], [Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by J. & J. Harper, in the Office of the Clerk of the Southern District of New- York.] TO MY COUNTRYWOMEN, THE HAPPIEST OF THEIR SEX, BORN IN A LAND OF LIBERTY, EDUCATED IN A KNOWLEDGE OF VIRTUE AND TRUE INDEPENDENCE, SINGLE BT CHOICE, OR WEDDED WITH THEIR OWN CONSENT, FRIENDS TO THE BRAVE, AND PATRONS TO THE ENTERPRISING, THIS HUMBLE NARRATIVE OF A LOIVG VOYAGE, WITH SOME INCIDENTAL REMARKS, is RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, BY THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANT, A. J. M. PREFACE. When I took up my pen to prepare my journal for publication, I intended to make nothing more than a plain narrative of the events of my voyage, interspersed with such general remarks as might suggest themselves to my mind. But as I proceeded, I felt an irrepressible desire to make some observations on a subject which has become an object of no small interest to philanthropic sympathy — I mean the amelioration of the condition of American seamen. I believe that their habits can be reformed ; and it requires no arguments to prove how much this reformation would subserve the best interests of commerce. It may be thought strange that a woman should take up a subject so foreign to those which generally occupy the attention of her sex. It was, however, deeply impressed on my mind that, being a woman, I was in some mea- sure better qualified to offer a few suggestions on this subject than any one engaged in the navy or the mer- chant service. A writer so situated might be suspected of wishing to effect promotion or of seeking employment; and knowing the dislike the public have to remarks coming from a quarter where interest or prejudice may be mingled with the information offered, I thought they might at least expect sincerity from me. With all my earnestness to make these remarks, I tremble when I think I am about to offer them for the consideration of the public. Perhaps they will listen to me kindly. It has been said, that when Napoleon was brooding over VIU FREFACE. his disasters no one dared approach him hut a pet child, who played around him and induced him to take nour- ishment and repose. Let the public therefore consider me in the capacity of the child ; and if there be any force in my suggestions, they will go for what they are worth ; if there be none, why they will pass off with a smile. It is seldom, indeed, that a female can know any- thing upon this subject ; but as I have had some oppor- tunity of becoming acquainted with it, I hope I may be excused for venturing to give my opinion. I should be proud to be one of the humble instruments in im- proving the condition and raising the moral and intel- lectual standard of that race of men which ever has and ever will share in the prosperity and glory of our country. In life I would ask no higher gratification than to learn that the work of reform was going on suc- cessfully ; and desire no other earthly honour after death than an inscription on my tombstone declaring that the ashes of the mariner's friend repose beneath. A. J. M. New-York, January, 1833. CONTENTS. Preface Page 9 CHAPTER I. The Author's Birth — Education — Marriage — Voyage with her Husband — Death and Burial at Sea — Bonavista — St. Jago — Blue Beard's Castle — Crossing the Equator — Sickness on board the Antarctic — Tristan D'Acunha — -Storm at Sea — Island of Desolation — Character of a good Ship-master 13 CHAPTER II. Lord Auckland's Group — Birds — Flowers — Forests — Peculiar kind of Flax — New-Zealand — Visit from the Natives — Their Appearance — Visit to the Bay of Islands — Whale-ships — ■ Courtesy of their Commanders — Visit to the Missionary Establishment — Character of the Missionaries — The Changes they had effected among the Natives- — -Visit to the King and Queen — Courteous Reception — King's Speech — Presents from the King and Queen — Departure — Strong's Island — Appearance of the Natives — Discovery of several Islands — Difficulty of Navigation in these Seas — Discovery of more Islands — Reach Manilla — Description of the City — The Suburbs — Description of the People — Grave-yards — Dilli- culties at Manilla— Preparations for a Voyage to Islands in the South Pacific — Return of the Antarctic — Misfortunes at Massacre Island 31 CHAPTER III. Prepare for a second Voyage to Massacre Island — The Crew — Reach Massacre Island — Contest with the Natives — The Ap- pearance of Shaw, who was supposed to be dead — Account of his Sufferings there — Further Hostilities with the Natives — Description of the Means of Defence — Attack upon the Castle — Discovery of the Remains of those murdered — Fu- neral Honours paid them — Leaving the Place — Bread-fruit Tree ,.,...., , 5 ( 3 x CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. St. George's Channel — Beauty of the Scenery — Birds of New- Britain — Natural Society — Warlike Instruments of the Na- tives — Island of Papua — Birds of Paradise — Volcanic Islands — New Discoveries— Hostilities of the Natives — Productions of these Islands — Ambergris — Return to Manilla . . 73 CHAPTER V. Stay at Manilla — Visit to Convents and Churches — Spanish Ladies — Sketch of the History of the Philippine Islands — Earthquake — Appearance of the People after the Earthquake — Sketch of La Perouse's Voyages — Kotzebue — Captain Cook — Ledyard — American Whaling-ships — Their Voyages — Their Discoveries — Leaving Manilla — Arrival at Sincapore — Description of the Island — Tour to the Mountains — Ladies of Sincapore — Singing-birds — Farewell to Sincapore— Hos- pitality of the People — Horsburgh's Directory — Malays — Trade-winds — Isle of France and Madagascar — Mrs. Har- riet Newell — Mrs. Judson — Missionaries — Luminous Appear- ance of the Sea — Sea and Land compared — Dr. Mitchill — Captain Gates 88 .'CHAPTER VI. Saldanha Bay — Refitted — Visit to the Cape — Description of Saldanha Bay — Table Mountain — Comparison between the Animals found at the Cape and the Race of Men — Description of the Condor — His Habits and Character — The Albatross — His Habits and Character — Superstitions in Regard to the Condor — Hottentots and Lions — Character of the Lion — The Elephant — Ostriches; Description of, and their Character — Accuracy of the Scripture Account — Garrison at the Cape — Camoens and his Lusiad — The Character of this commercial Epic — Fate of the Author — Reflections upon the Restrictions upon Trade 127 CHAPTER VII. Departure from the Cape — Sight, of St. Helena — Its Appearance at Sea — Something of its History — Landing at St. Helena — Its natural and other Productions — Tts Appearance on Land — Strength of the Place — Longvvood — Tomb of Napoleon — Reflections at his Grave — Fernandez Lopez — Comparison be- tween St. Helena and Napoleon — Soothing Effect of the Sub- limity of the Scripture — Recrossing the Equator — Calm at Sea 145 CONTENTS. ii CHAPTER VIII. The Azores — Climate and Soil — Volcanic Origin — Liberia — Character of that Colony — Lot Cary — Effects of Exploring Expeditions — Missionary Societies — The bad Elfects of In- toxicating Liquors — Indians unacquainted with Intemperance until taught by Europeans — Course that should be pursued by Missionaries — Intellectual Character of the Indians — Their Ferocity ascribed to Ignorance and Ill-treatment — Arrival at Cadi: - — Disappointment in not being allowed to Land — Slight Skei :li of its History — The Cholera — Notice of it in New- York ....'. 1G0 CHAPTER IX. Arrival at Bordeaux — History and Description of the City — De- light at seeing the Flag of our Country — Literary and Scien- tific Institutions — Visit to the Tomb of Montesquieu — Com- parison between Montesquieu and one buried in Trinity Churchyard — Sketch of the Archbishop of Bordeaux — His Residence in America — His Popularity there — His Charities — His Return to France — J lis Popularity in his Native Land — Reception of a File of American Newspapers — The Pleas- ure they gave — American Books — Their Authors — Farewell to Bordeaux 173 CHAPTER X. Conchology — The Pearl-oyster — The Nautilus — The large Shell used lor War Trumpets — The Evcslone — Character of Sailors — Causes of their Ignorance — Their Errors on the Side of Vir- tue — The Neglect of their Education — United Slates' Ship Vinccnnes — Manner in which Seamen should be treated — Character and Description of Sunday and Monday, two Na- tives brought Home in the Antarctic 187 CHAPTER XL Observations on the Progress of Discovery — Remarks on the Marine of various Nations — Aurora Borealis — Anecdote of its Appearance early in the last Century 208 CHAPTER XII. Reflections on drawing near my Native Land — The Difficulties Women experience in gaining Information — The Value of Commerce — The Influence of Women — Love of the Ocean — Farewell to it — Sensations on arriving in the Harbour of New-York— Reaching Home—Public Attentions nhown to jny Husband and myself — Gratitude to Heaven for a safe Return , • . . 222 NARRATIVE. CHAPTER I. The Author's Birth — Education — Marriage — Voyage with her Husband — Death and Burial at Sea — Bonavista — St. Jago — Blue Beard's Castle — Crossing the Equator — Sickness on Board the Antarctic — Tristan D'Acunha — Storm at Sea — Island of Desolation — Character of a good Ship-master. Perhaps I owe the public an apology for appearing before them as an author. To become one was not my intention when, by the kind- ness of my husband, I was permitted to take a voyage with him into far distant seas ; but as I have seen much and suffered much, I have been advised to give my narrative to my friends through the press, hoping it might afford some amusement to them as well as profit to myself. Another argument had much weight with me, which was, that I should thus be relieved of the necessity of answering questions frequently put to me by my friends and acquaintance when not in health, to run over all the adventures of my travels ; and I thought, too, with the Moor of Venice, that if parts and parcels of my " hair-breadth ; scapes" would, at times, so much affect those I loved as I often found they did, the whole story told at once 14 .MRS. morrell's narrative. would move them to some kind attention to, and affectionate remembrance of, myself. It may be asked, who is the person that oilers us her narrative ? In this the reader shall be gratified, for short and simple are the domestic annals of one who has not reached her twenty- fourth year. My maiden name was Abby Jane Wood. I am the daughter of Capt. John Wood, of New- York, who died at New-Orleans on the 14th of November, 1811. He was at that period master of the ship Indian Hunter, of New- York. He died when I was so young - , that if I please myself with thinking that I remember him, I could not have been a judge of his virtues ; but it has been a source of happiness to me that he is spoken of by his contemporaries as a man of good sense and great integrity. I was born on the 17th of February, 1800, in the city of New- York. My early education was plain and regular in those branches then taught in respectable schools in my native city. At my father's death, my mother placed the property which he left in the hands of a person who either by intention or mismanagement lost or retained the whole of it. This was a grievous affliction to my mother, as she was left with a family of helpless children to maintain. The belief that she was vilely robbed at first preyed upon her mind; but the consolations of religion lifted her above all her troubles, and she found the promises of the (iospel true, that, " 1 will he a husband to the widow and a father to the orphan." In 1814 my mother married Mr. Burritt Keeler, a gentle- man of a kind and generous disposition, which lias been manifested, not only to my mother, but to her children which she brought him at the time MRS. morrell's narrative. 15 of their union. lean say, — and I think it my duty not to pass over the fact in this narrative, — ■ that I feel towards my step-father as we should to those to whom we owe our existence, and to whom we are indebted for that paternal care which springs from the laws of nature and the social relations of life. The days of my childhood passed away as those of other children, and brought with them the pleasures and pains, common to that season of life : one of my greatest enjoyments, and one which has fastened most strongly on my mind, was derived from a constant attendance on Sundays at St. Paul's or Trinity Church. I often called to mind these images, while floating upon the vast ocean, and considered the value of early instruction in religion; the house of prayer and the heaven-breathing music, with the solemn voice of holy men, and the precepts that fell from their lips, seemed all to come up, as it were, before me, and extend the worship of God all around, while the mighty abyss of waters was beneath us. The impressions made in youth upon the eye or the ear, as well as those upon the heart, live long upon the mind ; and there is nothing like distance from home, or solitude and danger, to brighten up these images. The mind seems to find new fountains of refreshing waters from these recollec- tions, which, while they purify and elevate, strengthen the soul for the hour of trial. Early in the year 1S24 my cousin, Capt. Ben- jamin Morrell, returned from a long voyage to the Pacific Ocean. I had not seen him since I was live years of age, and had hardly the slightest recollection of him. At our first interview I felt a friendship for him that I had never felt for any 16 AIRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE. one before. His personal appearance, his gentle- manly manners, and humane disposition, which was seen in his benignant face, as well as his ad- ventures, had an effect upon my mind that I did not think of lightly. His visits to our house were constant for several weeks, when he offered me his hand, and, the match being acceptable to my parents, we were married on the 29th of June. A short time after this event he informed me that he was soon to sail on a two years' voyage. I knew when I married him that I was to be the wife of a sea-faring man, but it was impossible for me to realize the distress of separation. Only a little month had passed away when my husband proposed to sail, and on the 18th of July this dreadful separation took place. I was calm, for it was a matter of duty and necessity ; but no one who has not felt them can tell the pangs of such a separation. A bride of fifteen to see her husband depart for such a length of time requires more or less than the fortitude of woman. He left me, and for many nights my dreams were of him, on a boundless ocean, tossed by storms or ingulfed in the deep. To these grad- ually succeeded dreams of his bein^ wrecked on desolate islands, and subject to all the violence of savage men. My feelings were probably the same as every good wife experiences when her spouse has left her for distant lands ; but I was so young that I had never run over in my mind any thing of this kind before, and all was as new as distress- ing. At another time he would, in my imagina- tion, be lying on a bed of sickness, with no one to give him a cup of cold water to cool his parched lips, or to render him a single act of kindness. "He has good sailors/' said my friends. 1 was MRS. morrell's narrative. 17 silent, but thought to myself, " A sailor is not a wife." In this manner passed my nights and days, until my husband came home, which was on the 9th of May, two months short of the time fixed for his return. 1 had heard that the vessel in which he sailed had arrived, and on going to a friend's with my sister to ascertain the fact, I met my husband in the street. Our meeting was such as might be imagined by one who has been separated from a beloved husband so long. All my anxieties were at an end — all my hopes were realized — -my hap- piness was complete. There is a concentration of feeling, I may say of affection, after such an absence, that none but the wife of a mariner can know. I had dwelt upon the loves of those separated by the Crusades ; but the longer they were gone, and the more perilous their adven- tures, so much the more delightful was the story. Yet it was not so to those mourning the long absence of him who roamed into far-distant lands, carrying with him plighted vows and everlasting affections. I have often thought that the ages of chivalry had not gone, as far as woman's love was a part of it. I believe human nature is the same in every age and nation, and all of good hearts feel alike, whether it is called romance or fact. I can say for myself, that I have felt more than I have ever known described. After several European voyages, — during which we had a son, who, in his mother's eyes, bore a striking resemblance to his father, — in June, 1828, my husband sailed again for the South Seas. The separation seemed worse than before, and I then came to the determination that if he ever went to sea again I would accompany him. This voyage 18 MRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE. was not so long as I thought it would have been ; lie was gone but little more than a year, for he re- turned on the 14th of July, 1829. He had been but a short time on shore, however, when he planned another voyage to the Pacific. I had determined to go, and ventured to mention it to him. At first he would not hear a word of it. but when I insisted, as far as affectionate obedience could insist, he detailed to me all the evils of a sea-faring life. I remained fixed, and he at last reluctantly yielded ; and when he had agreed to it, he put the best side outwards. I was now engaged in making preparations for a two years' voyage, which was no small affair, for many things were to be thought of in such preparations. All things being ready, on the 2d day of September, 1821*. we embarked on board the schooner Antarctic, and set sail. The crew con- sisted of twenty-three good sailors. A fine breeze wafted us from the shores of my native country, and I soon began to feel the importance of my undertaking, as it regarded myself. I had left my boy behind me. and distance seemed to make me more anxious for his welfare. I knew he was in good hands, but he was not in my own : I knew my dear mother would do every thing for him that I could, but nothing will satisfy a mother in regard to her offspring, but her own care. "While i was thinking of these things I began to grow sea-sick. The sensation can never be de- scribed ; it prostrates sense, fortitude, feelings, and reduces the adult to the baby. On the morning of the second day 1 came on deck, and all was one boundless expanse of ocean; the impression was one of magnificence, if my situation would not allow it to be one of pleasure. All was new to MRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE. 19 me ; the management of the ship, the discipline of the sailors, &c. ; all were so respectful towards my husband and myself, and so gentle towards each other, that one would have thought them a band of brothers. I often amused myself in gazing at the huge whales that tumbled about and sported in the deep around our vessel, seeming not to regard her any more than they would an egg-shell floating by them. The dolphins, too, so much admired by the ancients, as books tell us, were seen in great numbers. They were often noticed pursu- ing the flying-fish, who, to avoid their pursuers, arose from the water and kept in the air for the space of half ti minute or more, and then fell into the water again ; sometimes they would fly on our deck, and wc picked up some that would weigh nearly half a pound. My sickness continued, and I was quite ex- hausted by it ; but I had embarked at my own solicitation, and I did not suffer myself for a mo- ment to repent, nor complain. I considered that it was my duty to bear up as cheerfully as I could. My husband saw with pain how much I endured, and did every thing in bis power to make me comfortable ; but after all bis care. I suffered much more than I complained of. I walked until I felt faint. o - ot a little better, and then took up a book ; but in a few moments the lines would swim be- fore my eyes, and a tale of the deepest interest would affect me no more than the dullest story ever told by dozing senility. I have read of the stoics' bearing pain without any emotion, and wearing a smile on their countenances while their flesh was torn with pincers : it might have been so, but I think the most famed of that sect 20 MRS. morrell's narrative. would have looked a little pale in a fit of sea- sickness. On the 29th of September, one of the crew, Francis Patterson, died, after a very severe illness, supposed to have been brought on by having drunk too freely of ardent spirits in the early part of his life, and now leaving off suddenly. My husband had shipped his crew upon condition that they should abstain from all ardent spirits, unless as medicine to the sick. He was the first captain, I believe, that ever shipped a crew for so long a voyage on such terms ; and he found his account in it as a navigator, without saying any thing of the good done to the morals of these generally improvident men without such whole- some restraints. Patterson had reached the age of sixty-three, and had too long been in the use of ardent spirits to live many years, whether he ab- stained or not. He was a fine old sailor, and had only this single failing, which is indeed a great one, on the sea or on shore. At four o ; clock in the afternoon the funeral ser- vices of the deceased took place. I supposed that the body would be thrown overboard without much ceremony, but it was not so ; the funeral was the most solemn I ever witnessed. The body was laid out with great decency, and then enveloped in a hammock and sewed up. About fifty pounds of stones were secured to the feet, concealed by the hammock in which it was wrapped, for the purpose, as I presumed, of sink- ing the body deep in the ocean. The corpse was extended upon a plank on the rail at the gang- way, and all hands were called around, on the right side of the ship, to witness the solemn scene, and to join in the prayers to be offered up. MRS. morrell's narrative. 21 The colours were set half-mast, and the topsails and top-gallant-sails were settled down on the cap. Prayers were then read. The hardy crew were deeply afFected at the scene. The furrows in their sunburnt faces were wet with tears. Never before had I beheld so solemn a group : I thought they had the kindest hearts of any set of men that ever lived. The prayers being over, a gun was fired from the bows of the schooner, and the body instantly launched into the bosom of the ocean. The plunge was a dreadful shock to my feelings ! I had heard the first shovelful of earth thrown upon a corrin in a grave -yard, at home ; that was heart-rending, but not so bad as this plunging into the deep. To the grave- yard a friend might repair, at some future day, and linger over the ashes of the dead ; might erect a stone at his head, and compose the mind by writing his virtues on the marble ; but here in this grave no mortal could tell where he was — the unconscious waters had closed over him for ever ! I was awakened from my revery by the shrill pipe of the boatswain, calling all hands to duty. hi an instant the sails were set, and we were gliding onward. There was no longer any mel- ancholy in the countenances of the brave sea- men ; every one seemed to look as if he had done his 'duty, and had nothing to reproach himself with. The mate took his log-book, and wrote this sentimental epitaph: " Buried Francis Pat- terson this day, in latitude 16° 35' north, and longitude 26° 2' west from Greenwich. Tie died yesterday. The weather now fair, winds light." "So sink the brave to rest,"' was my re- flection ; and it is no matter where they rest, if they go down to the place thereof with the hopes of a resurrection and a life to come, 22 mrs. morrell's narrative. The winds were light and variable until the 4th of October, when land was discovered on our starboard bow (I had now learned most of the sea-phrases). After land was announced by the sailor at the mast-head, my husband went up, and I watched his ascension without emotion, for I had become familiar to the climbing of the sailors ; a month before I should have gone into fits to have seen him in what I then considered so dangerous a situation. The land proved to be St. Nicholas. The next day we saw the island of Bonavista, and in the afternoon we came to anchor in the harbour, about two miles from the town. It was pleasant for me again to see land, men, shipping, churches. &c. : things I had been accustomed to all my life till the last thirty-three days. There was a breeze came from the shore that seemed to me to be refreshing. These men and women, though not wondrously well-look- ing, appeared to me to be beauties. I had seen nobody but our shipmates for so many days — many days for a female sailor. These lew days, on retrospection, appeared to me nearly as long as my life had been. Early in the morning we received a visit from the health-officer, and at ten o'clock my husband and myself went on shore. The officer took us up to the governor, who with his amiable family received us with great kindness, and made us acquainted with their friends. Kind attentions are at all times pleasant, but when one is away from home it is delightful indeed to meet with those who love to pay all the courtesies of life as if it was their pleasure and happiness to do so. Sly-stay was short, but I shall long remember the politeness, yea, friendship of that accomplished MRS. MOHR ELL'S NARRATIVE. 23 family. They attended me to the boat, their servants bearing presents of such things as would, be wanted on our voyage. Our separation came : we ladies embraced, and left each other with tears. There is something in these transient attachments which shows us that we were born to do each other good, notwithstanding all the evil there is in the world. We were soon out of sight of these hospitable shores. I waved a last adieu to friends whose kindness had made me love them as sisters, and then I was long silent, while our bark was moving; on at the rate of eig\ht or nine miles an hour. There is something sooth- ing in this rapidity of motion when our minds have been agitated by a variety of thoughts and feelings. Early the next morning we made the islands St. Jago and Mayo. We came to anchor in the harbour of the former. The bottom, I noticed, was a beautiful white sand. The American consul's flag was flying about a mile and a half distant. We soon went on shore, and were kindly received by him. Mr. Merrill, the consul, took great pains to give me all the information he could about the place. My friends pointed out to me the ruins of a castle, which they said was the residence of the famous Blue Beard, in his time. This was no doubt true, as this island and those in the neigh- bourhood were the rendezvous of the Bucaniers of America, who, after having robbed the Spaniards and others, came to these places for security. The island abounds in vegetables common to tropical regions, of which we took in a good stock, and filled our casks with pure water. We left these hospitable friends with regret, and with light winds made the best of our way 24 MRS. morrell's narrative. towards the equator. We had, from day to day, frequent falls of rain, with quick and heavy thunder. Sometimes flash would follow flash until the heavens seemed in one continuous blaze. On the 23d of October we crossed the line, in longitude 22° 10' west. About 4 o'clock, P. M., I witnessed the amusing ceremony of a visit from Neptune. He came on board, not precisely with such a trident as he holds in classic paintings, nevertheless he did well enough for green hands, in which number I suppose he ranked me. With great good-nature he shaved a few of the crew who had never before crossed the equator ; and the sailors thought for the first time in his life he made all merry without being treated with one drop of ardent spirits. Although he did not pre- tend to have any power over a female sailor who had never crossed the equator, 1 thought it best to propitiate him with a few small presents, which seemed to be acceptable to the greatmonarch of the ocean. He understood English very well, although the Portuguese say that theirs is his mother-tongue. The English language, from the use made of it by the seafaring-men of both the mother and the daughter, must have been far more familiar to him, for a century or two past, than any other tongue ; and from all appear- ances, he is likely to adopt it as his court lan- guage. These things are pleasant enough to pass away an hour ; and I have been at sea long enough to find that the art of managing sailors consists in keeping them temperate, industrious, cleanly, and cheerful. They arc always obedient when healthy and comfortable. We had now got into the south-east trade-winds, and the! weather being pleasant, my husband mrs. moRrell's narrative. 25 began to exercise the crew in the management of the big guns, and in the use of small arms. The old tune of " Yankee Doodle/' which was played when the men had closed their exercises, sounded very pleasant in my ears. The voyage, with all its vicissitudes, had been pleasant until October 20th, when I was taken sick with an intermittent fever, and at the same time eleven of the crew and the officers in the cabin. Among our complement of men was a brother of mine, a discreet lad, with acquirements far above his years. He was of great assistance to my husband, as well as a great comfort to me. The disease advanced so rapidly that in five or six days nearly one-half of our crew were prostrate with it. My husband, who still had sound health, was so constantly employed in attending to his vessel and to the sick, that I verily believe he did not sleep two hours out of twenty-four during the sickness. The second day of November was a bad one to us all. I was very weak, and my senses had at times been wandering, yet I could perceive that fresh calamities had overtaken us ; but what they were was concealed from me. After my recovery, my husband told me that on that day he buried Samuel Gerry, and was fully impressed with the idea that his crew would nearly all of them die with the fever. The next day Daniel Spinney died ; but all was concealed from me. One after another was carried out of the cabin, but I dared not inquire, and no one ventured to explain. I saw my husband's heart was full of sorrow, but I asked no explanations, knowing that I could do no good. My husband, still thinking it might injure me to know the worst, was silent ; and I, believing that questioning would B 26 MRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE. add to his grief, adopted the same course, I learned from my brother, after a while, however, who dropped hints now and then, what was going on. I lost all hope, and began to think that it Avas my fate to he buried in thelndian Ocean. The ieverish dreams that flitted across my imagination were those of being pendent in mid-ocean, of being devoured by sharks, or of wasting whole ages in rising and sinking in a world of waters. So hopes of a future life could rid me of these feelings — theybelong to poor human nature. The fever now left us all, and wc had to struggle alone with weakness. For myself. I was drawn all up like a cripple: but by the kind attention of my husband 1 began to recruit, although [ had slill much to sutler; and despite the application of linamonts and frictions, I was a long time in get- ting into an erect position. In so short a time will sickness bring down the firmest constitution. Weak as we were, my husband determined on touching at Tristan d'Acunha, for the purpose of getting poultry and other fresh provisions, to raise the sick by such refreshments as experience would dictate were good for them to receive. We now saw the island for so many days the object of our wishes, and on the loth of November sent a boat ashore on the north side, the only part inhabited, There were about seven or eight men and as many women, with families amounting to about twenty children, on the island, i was carried on deck as often as my health would permit, to take a look at the land and to catch a mild breeze. On the land, which is elevated to a tremendous height above the sea, we saw goats and hogs, and a great variety of beautiful birds, both of land and sea kind. The land seemed to me much like MRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE. 27 that of St. Helena, — which we afterward saw, — formed of high ridges and deep chasms, probably, as my husband thought, of volcanic origin. The whole shore seemed to be teeming with animated nature. Shellfish, seal, sea-elephants, and wild- fowl were found in great abundance. Excellent fish, particularly a large kind of perch, were furnished for our table. The right whale, par- ticularly the female of that species, were playing around the shores. At certain seasons they come into as smooth waters as they can find, for they dare not trust their young ones to a wide and boisterous ocean until they have gained the strength of some months from their birth. Affec- tion seems not confined to our breathing atmos- phere, but lives in the deep ocean — on its surface — everywhere. God is love, and that love pene- trates all his universe. That such a monster as a whale should have a heart, and feel for its progeny, seems strange, but would it not be stran- ger if such a body should be made without aifections ? There is a bay on the N.N.W. side of this island, which is open to the north wind. The beach is of '.black sand, and extremely beautiful, upon which a boat may be hauled up at almost any season of the year. There are two or three sparkling cataracts upon the steeps, from which excellent water is taken without difficulty. Sometimes this is done by hose, without the ne- cessity of landing the boat. The highlands are covered with forests, bearing the appearance of yew-trees. A great variety of plants grow on this island, proving that it has a soil fit for almost any kind of cultivation. It is free from reptiles and wild beasts, and seems to have come up from b2 28 mrs. morrell's narrative. the ocean for the benefit of man, as he wanders across the mighty deep. Tristan d'Acunha, from mv husband's observations, lies in latitude 37° 5' 40" S., and longitude 12 J '7' 15" W. This and the two neighbouring islands have long been dis- covered. The other two are called Inaccessible Island, and Nightingale Island. After getting a good store of hogs, sheep, fowls, and various kinds of vegetables on board, Ave sailed on our voyage. For a few days we had pleasant weather, when a gale struck us, which Avas the first of any magnitude that we had ex- perienced since we left New- York. This was tremendous. Every moment I expected to lie ingulfed in the ocean. Several times I was most violently thrown out of my berth by the surges of the sea. After blowing hard for two days, the gale abated on the 1st of December. We continued our course to the island of Deso- lation, with strong winds, and now and then a storm of hail and snow. On the 5th of December, we were again cheered by the sound of " Land ahead ! ;: and soon came into smooth water. We entered the har- bour which was discovered by Capt. James Cook, the celebrated navigator, in 1776. No place in cither hemisphere hitherto discovered, affords a better field for a naturalist than this. The sea- birds are numerous, including several kinds of albatrosses — a greater variety than I ever saw before : they were so thick around the vessel that they were in each others way. Seals and sea- elephants were once numerous here also. From this romantic place we sailed for Lord Auckland's group. I now began to feel some appetite, and relished the delicacies we had on MRS. morrell's narrative. 29 board ; but the fever had left me in a sad state. I saw but little of my husband, as the weather was boisterous, and he was confined most of his time to the deck, as his officers were yet weak and unable to do their duty. I was in constant alarm for fear my husband would get sick, and it was a mercy that he held out so well. A kind Providence overrules our destinies ; and I was penetrated with gratitude to Heaven that he was spared to be the protector of us all. If his gen- tleness and benevolence had won my heart, his fortitude and bravery in the most trying scenes excited my admiration ; and. if I might be allowed to say it, my pride was raised that he was capa- ble of talcing care of others as well as myself; for I could see that the sailors were never dis- couraged ; they had such confidence in their commander that they never thought of danger when with him. The more feeble we are, the more we confide in those who can protect us. It is impossible for a woman to understand the true character of her husband by only seeing him in the domestic circle : she must watch him in trying circumstances, and where she cannot be called to counsel and advise, to form a just es- timate of his qualifications for the discharge of bis public duties. In these trying situations my husband was as calm as if only in the ordinary discharge of his duties. He was by the dying bed of the sick among the sailors, as well as by mine, and seemed all energy, resignation, hope, and decision. I could not but apply to him, how- ever partial it may seem, the fine description of the sailors' poet, of the commander of a ship lie sailed in to the Hellespont and Greece. The "•cuius of Falconer, his sufferings, and his un- 30 mrs. morrell's narrative. tinioiy fate, as well as the inspirations of his muse, endear him to every seaman's heart ; his Shipwreck is truly a sailor's epic. " The lovely ship, with all her daring band, To skilful Albert owned their chief command : Though trained in boisterous elements, his mind Was yet by soft humanity refined ; Each joy of wedded love at home he knew, Abroad, confess'd the father of his crew ! Brave, liberal, just ! the calm domestic scene Had o'er his temper breathed a gay serene : Him science taught by mystic lore to trace The planets wheeling in eternal race ; To mark the ship in floating balance held, By earth attracted, and by seas repelled ; Or point her devious track through climes unknown, That leads to every shore and every zone. He saw the moon through heaven's blue concave glide, And into motion charmed th' expanding tide, While earth impetuous round her axle rolls, Exalts the watery zone, and sinks the poles; Light and attraction, from their genial source, He saw still wandering with diminished force ; While on the margin of declining day TS'ight's shadowy cone reluctant melts away, Inured to peril, with unconquered soul, The chief beheld tempestuous oceans roll : O'er the wild surge, when dismal shades preside. His equal skill the lonely bark could guide ; His genuis, ever for th' event prepared, Rose with the storm, and all its dangers shared." Mltf, mokkell's narrative. 31 CHAPTER II. Lord Auckland's Group — Birds — Flowers — Forests — Peculiar kind of Flax — New-Zealand- — Visit from the Natives — Their Appearance- — Visit to the Bay of Islands — Whale-ships — ■ Courtesy of their Commanders — Visit to the Missionary Establishment — Character of the Missionaries — The Changes they had effected among the Natives — Visit to the King and Queen — Courteous Reception — King's Speech — Presents from the King and Queen — Departure — Strong's Island — Appearance of the Natives — Discovery of several Islands — Difficulty of Navigation in these Seas — Discovery of more Islands — Reach Manilla — Description of the City — The Suburbs — Description of the People — Grave-yards — Diffi- culties at Manilla — Preparations for a Voyage to Islands in the South Pacific — Return of the Antarctic — Misfortunes at Massacre Island. Frequently on our passage from the island of Desolation to Lord Auckland's group, we could not keep a fire to cook any thing, for the waves often swept over us ; and our sails were splitting and spars were falling around us every day. It was on the 29th of December that we reached this group, and at eleven in the morning the crew went on shore to get shellfish and other things that we wanted, while the vessel was riding safely at anchor in a fine harbour. I amused myself in listening to the sweet notes of the ten thousand beautiful birds warbling among the forest trees, within fifty yards from the stern of the Antarctic. I had been assisted to the deck by my husband and brother, and weak as I was, I felt new life at the scene. In the ecstasy of the 32 MRS. morrell's narrative. moment, I felt that all the flowers were opening to receive me — that the birds sang a joyous wel- come for me — and the " incense-breathing morn" was charming to my senses. To one who has escaped the dangers of the sea — who lias been long prostrate upon a sick-bed — a gleam of sun- shine is reviving ; but now all my senses were banqueting at once. If ever gratitude to my Maker penetrated my heart, it was at this mo- ment ; if ever I poured out that heart, it was at such enjoyments as I now felt. Such moments as these are an equivalent for long days and nights of pain. The sea around me was full of alabatrosses and aquatic birds of all sorts which are found in a temperate climate. The land was picturesque — the hills beginning to rise almost from the water's edge, with deep valleys between them, each terminating at the shore in small caves. The forests were very luxuriant, and showed the strength and fertility of the soil, which was covered with numerous plants not common to my own country. I noticed several that I was acquainted with, and many that I did not know. One plant here deserves to be par- ticularly mentioned : it is a species of flax that bears a yellow flower, and grows near the sea- shore, and sometimes far up the hills. The threads of the heart are silky ; and. in the opin- ion of my husband, it might be raised in our southern states, and by its abundant growth and easy cultivation soon supersede hemp-fields, as well as those of flax. The season here at this time answers to our July ; though not uncom- fortably warm at any part of the day, the ther- mometer not rising above (55° at noon. The land-birds were large brown and green paroquets. MRS. MORRELLS NARRATIVE. 66 large wood-pigeons, and a great variety of small birds. Among the latter there is a green bird, about the size of a robin, whose melody is so fine, and his notes so varied, that one might imagine himself regaled by a hundred different sorts of songsters at once. The animals here are mostly strangers to man, and have bat little fear of him. It is seldom that they hear the murderous gun of the sportsman ; and the ornithologist in his ram- bles around the globe has, perhaps, never been here to write the biographies of these tenants of the forest. The fish here are good, and can be had at all times. On the 4th of January we sailed from the Auckland group ; our vessel was in fine order, and we seemed to set out as on a new voyage. The group at which we were so much refreshed lies in south latitude 50° 40', and 166° 4' east longitude. On the 6th of this month we saw the south cape of New-Zealand. The boats were sent to examine the shore, but found no fur-seal upon them, the obtaining of which was one object of the voyage. The boats continued to examine the shores of the south-east and east sides of Night Island. The winds were light and the weather fair, and on the 12th of January, at noon, we had a visit from the natives, who came off to us in a war-canoe, which contained about fifty men, two of whom were principal chiefs, from Flat Point. These chiefs were whimsically tattooed ; their ears marked, and their bodies stained with red or blue. From all that we could learn, their chief occupation is war. They carry about them a greater variety of offensive and defensive wea- pons than most other savages. Their looks are b3 34 mhs. Worrell's narrative. bold and fierce, and they have no small share of martial dignity. Like other savages they delight in the war-song, and carry their phrensy and fury to the greatest excess. They have been, as near as I could learn, cannibals, and now, when prisoners are taken, they frequently cut from them while alive pieces of flesh and masticate it, to show their fury and fiendish joy at their success. Their dexterity in the use of their war-clubs, spears, &c, is said to be sur- prising. Their affections are strong ; they mourn their dead with all those marks of phrensy so often described to us as belonging to savage life. They cut themselves — tear their flesh — and utter the most piercing cries. Polygamy is allowed among them; a chief having two or three wives, or perhaps as many as he wishes to maintain ; or it maybe, that the number marks the rank of the warrior or chief. The females are generally unite young, many of them mothers at the age of twelve or fourteen. Ignorance is the mother of superstition, and these savages have it to a great extent. Their priests are arbitrary, and keep them in fear, being under that bondage (hemselvcs. I have marked that they observe their fasts and their prayers from impressions of fear. The love of God is not known where ignorance abounds ; it is that love, properly known, that casteth out all fear. iSome of these superstitions make them vigilant and daring, as well as cautious: they believe that the spirit of liim who was killed and devoured by his enemies sutlers everlasting punishment in the world of spirits, but if rescued and buried his spirit ascends to the abode of their gods. This opinion gen- erally prevails throughout all the southern henii- miis. Worrell's narrative. 35 .sphere among the savages. These savages have more curiosity than our North American Indian are said to have, for they examined the Antarcti with great scrutiny and apparent delight, and took their departure in the most peaceful manner. We continued the examination of the shores, holding frequent intercourse with the natives. On the 19th of January we saw Cape .Briton, and soon after came to anchor in the Bay of Islands, about five miles east of the missionary establishment, where we found several English whaling-ships, viz. the ship George, Captain Gray, from London ; the Royal Sovereign, Cap- tain King, and the Thetis, Captain Gray, from the same place. These were skilful, enterprising navigators, and very gentlemanly men. They all treated us with the greatest kindness, and I dined on board of each in turn, and received every attention that could be paid to a female in a distant country, whose very situation excites some sympathy and great courtesy. It is plea- sant, if it is even at the farthest side of the globe, lo be where national prejudices are forgotten, and all are of the same family. It is impossible tor those who speak the same language not at times to love one another. On the 20th of January, 1830, the English captains, my husband, and myself, went to pay our respects to the good people of the missionary establishment. My heart was overflowing at being once more in the embraces of Christian friends. Oh ! there is religion in the world, said I, mentally, when I saw the accomplished females who had left all the comforts of society and the charms of friendship in England, to come to these shores of heathenish ignorance and ferocity, 36 MliS. MOltRELLM NARRATIVE. for the sake of extending the Redeemer's king- dom, putting their trust in him, and overcoming the vanities of this world. Their labours were incessant ; for they did not allow themselves more than eight hours out of the twenty-four for repose and meals. All the rest were devoted to civilizing and Christianizing the natives. The male missionaries work many hours in the held, clothed in duck frocks and trousers, with the natives, learning them to cultivate their lands. They then spend several hours in the day in teaching the natives to read and write, and to understand the precepts of our holy religion. The wives and daughters of these pious labourers are engaged in teaching the females to sew and to read. The natives are devout and tractable. These missionaries seemed to have as many under their care as they could readily teach, and their influence was spreading far and near, and is now extremely powerful. A few years ago not a ship's crew could land without arms and a guard, and perchance, some of them were mas- sacred in attempting to get a little wood or water ; but now they may travel anywhere to the extent of a hundred miles around the missionary dwellings, and eat and sleep in security, without guard or arms, or without fear. When a vessel arrives the natives are seen flocking to the shore, extending their arms to receive the white men from a distant country, bringing with them the fruits of their agriculture in great quantities, at the lowest prices. A quarter of a dollar here, 1 am positive, would purchase more than could be had in the New- York market for two dollars. The common kitchen-garden vegetables are excellent, and in tine variety ; some apples may MRS. morrell's narrative. 37 be hud, and the small meats and poultry are supplied in abundance. Beef is not as yet much in use, but soon will be raised, as much as will be required. When I thought of these changes, produced by such feeble means, I wondered how any one could doubt the truth and efficacy of the Christian religion. Here, without the shedding of one drop of blood, Christianity had been planted ; it had been as the tree of life in a forest of the upas, and the healing in its leaves had brought out and spread abroad light and salubrity where once darkness and pestilence reigned. The whole party remained with these good people until about four o'clock in the afternoon, when we proposed leaving ; but they were anxious to have us all stay with them while we were on the coast. The captains declined, as they did not think it proper to sleep away from their vessels, for the wind often blows hard here, and sudden squalls are common, but my husband consented that I might stop for one night. Often when joining with them in their devotions I asked myself, can there be any thing selfish in this ? is it not pure and undefiled religion before God 1 it can hardly be called before man, for there were no civilized men to observe them. How happy they seemed ! indeed, how happy they were, although so far removed from the dear country of their birth and the friends of their childhood. Even prayer itself is purified on such an occasion and in such a place ; it was no great stretch of the imagination for me to think myself joining in the devotions of those who had lived in paradise in primitive innocence. I now felt myself recruiting very fast, for i could walk a few rods without assistance, my limbs beginning to come to a natural state of . 38 MRS. MORAELI/ti NARRATIVE. feeling' ; but inflexible duty would not suffer my husband to linger here on any account. He came forme on the following day. and I was obliged to take a painful farewell of these holy people. Mr. Davis and his daughters. Mr. Williams and his wife and daughters, and some of the natives, came to take their leave of me. They prayed for my temporal and eternal happiness, and for my friends, and then sans: a hymn that went to my soul, and waked up all its sympathies. They all accompanied me to the beach, and with tears, embraces, and kisses. I and my female friends parted, — they to attend to duties, and I to be tossed again by the winds and waves, to encoun- ter new hardships, and to enjoy new adventures. On my reaching the deck of the Antarctic I was received by my brother and our brave tars with three hearty cheers, which were repeated by the crews of the English ships alongside of us. and to close the scene these cheers were echoed and re- echoed by a thousand native voices, in the canoes and on shore. The next day we could not sail as we expected, the wind blowing too fresh from the north. The natives, seeing this, were desirousthat we should again come on shore, and an invitation for us to visit them came from the king and queen, which was accepted. This was the 2'M day of January, I 830. The boats of the Antarctic were prepared, and those of the ships joined, amounting in all to twelve whale-boats, handsomely manned. The natives had expected us, and came in myriads to see us. On touching tbe shore we were met by Kippy-Kippy, the king : the e. It would not be difficult for a spirited people to conquer the Philippine Islands, so far as European power is concerned ; but unborn ages will probably pass away before these possessions will become an object to any great maritime power : yet so jealous is Spain of her Eastern possessions, that a large body of troops is kept in pay here as a standing army to repel any at- tempt to take these territories from her. The government here, although arbitrary, is seldom oppressive to its own members ; but there have been times in the history of Luconia in which the Europeans, from some assumed apprehen- sion, have made general massacres among the Chinese on the island : one in the early history of the colony, and the other about the middle of the last century. The Indian women here have, of course, some share of civilization among them, and are supe- rior to the men. If I have read aright, females- are always the leaders in civilization and Chris- MRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE. 47 tianity ; in this region they certainly have more of an air of civilization than the men, and arc quite as industrious : however poor they may be, there is no appearance of slatternliness about them — every thing 1 in their dress is neat, if not worth ten cents. The Spanish lady is always a high-bred woman, with no little of the spirit of chivalry about her. Some of them have splendid complexions of a bright orange tinge, with fine eyes, and beautiful hair, well turned limbs, and a graceful walk. If they had as much application as genius, they would have no superiors in the world. I have noticed their walk with admira- tion ; it has a little of the martial staidness, with the elastic tread of the Lady of the Lake. If you could not say, as the immortal novelist and poet has said of his heroine, that " A foot more light, a step more true, Ne'er from the heath-flower dashM the dew ; E'en the slight hair-bell reared its head Elastic from her airy tread :" you could say firmness and lightness were never more happily blended than in those females of genteel soeiety who walk the fine promenades of this city. With them walking is as much of a science and an art as playing upon the Spanish guitar. I wish it was more attended to in my own country. I have heard an anecdote from good authority, which has always struck me as containing a good and wholesome piece of satire. An American female, some years ago, attended by her husband— a naval hero, — took a voyage to South America. Being of an adventurous spirit, she travelled into the interior of the coun- try, mounted on a milk-white horse, of the bean- 48 mrs. morrell's narrative;. tiful South American breed ; and being dressed in pure and elegant simplicity, and possessing a splendid form and face that would have teen attractive anywhere, the inhabitants took her for the Madonna, and bowed the knee and fell upon the ground as she journeyed along. They fol- lowed her until she alighted from her horse, when they immediately questioned her divinity • — there was nothing of the goddess in her move- ments — she had an awkward walk. It is not those who walk the most that walk the best : the spinner of street-yarn has seldom a majestic or a beautiful gait. The ladies of Manilla have generally each a cabinet of beautiful shells, and a large collection of birds, of splendid plumage. In both of these curiosities the country is more rich than most others. These shells are often tastefully ar- ranged by the ladies in their leisure hours ; and they have a method of keeping the plumage of their birds as beautiful as it was in the groves and in the rays of the sun. Great care is taken to preserve them with such spices as will prevent insects from injuring them. During a great portion of the year Manilla is healthy, but there are seasons when it is visited by severe sicknesses. The cholera, now so dread- fid a plague, and which is travelling all over the world, has been among this people and carried off thousands of them. It is rapid in its course, and comes to a sudden crisis ; but when I was there, it was more mortal in the country than in the city. They think they have in some meas- ure got the control of the disease ; but of this I will not attempt to say much, as it has baffled the wisest of the healing art in every country MRS. morrell's narrative. 49 through which, it has marched. This people think not much of death, for there is a sort of Asiatic notion of predestination with them which makes them less attentive to the means of curing or warding off disease than with my own coun- trymen. If they are not so anxious to prevent death as we are, they are more attentive to the remains of the dead. The Catholics observe all the rites of the church in the article of death, and all the rites of sepulture. The bodies of the Spaniards are buried in the church or con- vent-yards, or under the churches, with every due and solemn form. Sometimes in the coun- try, and not unfrequently in the churchyards of the city, you will see a tombstone, and by its side or head a large tamarind-tree, as a holy shade. It, supplies the place of a weeping-willow in the United States, or of a yew-tree in England. The Indians are, if possible, more attentive to sepultural rites than the Spaniards ; for they hold with ancient superstitions that the ghost is restless until the due burial rites art; performed. There are always some drawbacks in every country; even here, where you are regaled by the flowers of the orange and the fruit in the same breath, at times you are dreadfully annoyed by little red ants, thai, like the frogs of Egypt, come up to the kneading-troughs, and to the very beds of the sensitive dons, it requires Yankee ingenuity to keep them from devouring you. The mosquitoes, at certain seasons, are very troublesome ; they are large, sharp-set, and poi- sonous. This insect, I believe, is bred every- where ; or, at least, where- nature is bountiful, and the soil luxuriant. They are an enemy, X am sure, that it is impossible to fight or avoid, c 50 MRS. M0RRELL*S narrative. and those among whom they appear must con- trive to act on the defensive only ; by smoke and nettings one may contrive to be made toler- ably comfortable. I dwell, perhaps, too long in this city, but I must be excused ; for it was here that I suffered much in my mind, although I found good friends among strangers. I have a painful tale to relate, but one of which it is impossible for me to give more than a faint outline. The cause of our troubles and mortification has. sometime since, gone to account for his acts and intentions to another than an earthly tribunal ; but I know no reason why the truth, as regards the dead, should not be told, if done without bitterness or a spirit of revenge. As I hope for happiness, I will not set down any thing in malice. Soon after our arrival in this island, my hus- band became acquainted with the American con- sul at Manilla. He was a man of respectable ac- quirements, and of courteous manners. In a few days, Mr. Morrell determined to fit out the An- tarctic on a voyage to the Feejee Islands, for the purpose of getting a cargo of tortoise-shell. biehe- de-mar, and other articles which are commonly found there. "We were all busy and happy in getting ready for the voyage : and in the mean time the consul's attentions to me were courteous and friendly, but as yet respectful. At this time, as I discovered afterward, my husband began to suspect his intentions, and formed a new estimate of his character ; but I could not fairly under- stand this, as he was silent on most subjects of his voyage. I conjectured, however, that all was not right from his manner. A few days before we were to sail, my husband intimated to me that 'mrs. morrell's narrative. 51 the Spanish government were opposed to my going with him on his voyage to the Feejees, but he could give no reason for it; nor could I con- jecture why a harmless female could do any injury among the savages of distant islands. There was something extremely suspicious in it ; but the truth did not, at the first moment, flash upon my mind, as it did afterward. I could not suspect my husband of deceiving me, because the voyage was not more dangerous in his and my view than what we had already gone through with. The next time I saw the consul all was as plain as day to me, though I dared not express myself freely to my husband, for fear of the con- sequences from his quick sense of injury, and his high spirit as a brave man. And then, again, my youth and iynorance of the world made me fear that I had put a wrong construction upon the consufs demeanour. I told my husband, that, painful as our separation might be, if his in- terest and that of his owners required it, I could and would make the sacrifice, and remain at Manilla, if he would provide me a place of re- spectability to reside at while he was absent, so that I should not be under the necessity of seeing the consul. At length a residence was procured, quite to my mind, with an English family, by the name of Cannell. The firm under which Mr. Cannell transacted business was Cannell and Gellis. I had formed some acquaintance with a niece of the first-named gentleman ; she was a well-informed young lady, of about twenty years of age, and [ had frequently seen the family of Mr. Cannell. I had made up my mind to stay with this worthy family, which I understood from my husband had been vilely aspersed by the consul, c2 52 mrs. morrell's narrative. and represented as people wanting in character and integrity, within and without doors, i was nearly distracted, for I saw every day that my detention was, as I thought, a men; trick of the consul's; and, as he became more hateful in my eyes, I determined to steal a march on him. and go on the voyage to the Fecjees, at all hazards. ( m the day the Antarctic was ready for sea. my hus- band had so arranged the matter that my brother was to take me on board: this was so privately done, that I did not think my persecutor would have found it out; but in this I was deceived. When my husband came on board, he brought with him two American captains and an English captain"; Capt. Daggett, of Boston, Capt. Snow, from the same place, and Capt. Harris, from Lon- don ; and also, the second captain of the port, an officer of the customs. I now thought all was safe : and, while congratulating myself that in a few minutes I should be beyond the pursuer's power, I found, to my great distress, that the consul was on board. An altercation tool; place between him and my husband, in which ho used every threat he could think of: and appealed to my husband as a man of honour, hypocritically as- sumed the tone of an injured man. and represented that he had pledged himself to the Spanish government that I should not go in the vessel. and that it would be ruin to him if he did not re- deem his pledge ; and added, that if this was not complied with, he must take the register of the Antarctic by force. This was. indeed, an idle threat; for we were out. of the reach of the fort and gun-boats, and had a crew on board that would have destroyed the consul and his force in an instant on the slightest command from their MRfc'. morrell's narrative, 53 captain. Tiic reasons tlie consul urged might, in my husband's mind, have had some truth in them, as he represented the government of Ma- nilla as being more jealous than even the Spanish government itself, and at last he consented that 1 should go on shore. This was a death-blow to me, and tor an hour after hearing of the decision 1 was bereft of my senses: but when they came to me again, 1 found the three captains I have mentioned, with my husband, subdued like children. These almost strangers to me took so deep an interest in my fate, that I shall remember them with gratitude as long as my heart has a pulse to beat. They told my husband that they would protect me at all events. 1 was put on board the boat and carried ashore : and there being no convey- ance ready to take me to Mr. Cannell's, the place which had been provided for me when 1 con- sented to stay, I was obliged to stand on the land- ing-place until my friends could procure one for me, subject to the gaze of every rude wretch who came there ; and curiosity had collected many. From every appearance, I was fully satisfied that the consul had scattered slanders about me and my husband, in order that I might feel my- self so shunned and ruined as to fly to him for protection ; but I had made up my mind to die there before I would even speak to him. I was. at length conveyed to Mr. Cannell's hospitable mansion, and treated with every possible kindness. I afterward learned that Mr. Morrell came on shore that night, and not finding the head of the revenue in the city, could not get the protection and information he sought ; and our friends Snow, Daggett, and Harris, fearing that blood might be spilled in the affray, — for the consul 54 MRS', morrell's narrative, had watched his movements, and was at the hotel almost as soon as my husband reached there, — interfered. The consul now assumed another ground, which was, that the Antarctic was showing false lights, and that her crew prob- ably intended some mischief to the city. This was repelled as a base and false insinuation by all the gentlemen present. My husband's friends thinking it better for me to remain on shore a short time than for him to proceed to desperate lengths, took him by main force and put him on board his boat, taking his pledge to proceed to sea, and giving him theirs that I should be shielded from persecution and insult. I was with these kind people from the 12th of April, 1830, until the return of the Antarctic on the 26th of June following. After my husband's departure my story was soon known to all the people of Manilla, and I was treated by them with great attention; amid all their kindness, however, I felt like one who was fifteen thousand miles from home, lonely and distressed. My mind was constantly agitated for my husband's safety more than for my own. During his ab- sence I was frequently annoyed by notes from the consul, which I never deigned to answer. The government became acquainted with the whole story, and distinctly disavowed every connexion with the transaction, or even any the slightest knowledge of it. This gave me but from his very nature he is generally a solitary bird. The Table Mountain is hardly sufficiently elevated for him to relish his prey, which he often ascends with ; he requires a keen air. The con- dor has been caught at the Cape, and in South America, and brought to the United States, where he has been examined thoroughly. He is in every respect a wonder, and amazing stories are said to be current among the Hottentots of the prodigious 132 MRS. morrelCs narrative. size and strength of this bird, such as their hav- ing been seen with an elephant in their claws. These stories go to show that even the most stu- pid of human beings have some imagination : Asia does not originate all the wondrous things in story. The condor flies like the eagle, except that he is slower in his first movements, from the great extent of his wings. His feathers are closer and smoother than the eagle's, and he can rest in the loftiest regions of the air for a long time with- out any apparent motion, but probably, like the eagle, he has the power of moving the lesser feathers while the wings seem perfectly still. Turning from a look at the mountains, and extending your gaze over the ocean, a sea-bird of equal size and larger wing may every day be seen. The albatross is remarkable in his habits as well as in size. He is a web-footed bird, re- sembling in some degree the domestic goose as to the shape of its head and body ; but the bill is more hooked than that of the goose. The great length of wing gives the albatross superior swift- ness in flight to all other sea-birds ; and, large as he is. he skims with the fleetness of a swallow over the water, catching every tiling that comes in his way. He is a great feeder, and sometimes acts the glutton to such an extent as to be easily taken while resting on the smooth surface of the sea. It is amusing to watch his flight after the flying-fish, he poises, scales, and turns so adroitly. The albatross appears to have no regular home, but courses over half a world for his food at different seasons of the year ; he is not only found at the Cape of Good Hope and on the North-west Coast, but also at times in the Aus- tral seas, He flies so easily that he clears hin> MRS. morrell's narrative. 133 self of a storm by rising above it, and keeping himself there until the whirlwind has passed away. The albatross is tame, but not courageous, for he is often beaten to death by smaller "birds, and makes but a feeble resistance. The extent of their wings, when spread, is ten or twelve feet m general, but they grow to a much larger size. They are never taken for food, even by the Indians ; they are too coarse and oily for food for any thing. The albatross is seldom killed by American or European sailors ; they have some superstition that it betides ill-luck to kill them. Perhaps this may arise from the fact that this bird has often visited vessels farther from land than any others, and, as the sailors say, has taken more pains to board them than all the rest of the feathered tribe. Some of the largest of these birds have been killed and brought to this country, but in general their lives are spared, for it requires a very brave man to oppose a supersti- tion entertained among mariners, as all the mis- fortunes of the voyage are always charged upon any violence done to a settled prejudice. Ignorant men will more readily do violence to a positive command of their Maker than to a fixed error of the imagination. Coleridge, the poet, has made much use of this superstition in his poem called the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. " The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around : It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound ! At length did cross an albatross ; Through the fog it came ; As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in Gocl's name. 134 MRS. morrell's narrative. It ate the food it ne'er had eat, And round and round it flew ; The ice did split with a thunder-fit, The helmsman steered us through ! And a good south wind sprang up behind ; The albatross did follow, And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariner's hallo ! In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine ; YVhilest all the night, through fog smock white, Glimmered the white moonshine. God save thee, ancient mariner, From the fiends that plague thee thus ! Why look'st thou so V With my crossbow I shot the albatross ! The sun now rose upon the sight ; Out of the sea came he, Still hid in mists, and on the left Went down into the sea. And the good south wind still blew behind, But no sweet bird did follow, Nor any day, for food or play, Came to the mariner's hallo ! And I have done one hellish thing, And it would work 'em wo ; For all averred I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow ; 'Ah, wretch !' said they, ' the bird to slay That made the breeze to blow !' " The earth here, as well as the air, teems with wonders. The lion of the (Jape is the largest and fiercest in the world, and although he has been, driven from many places where he once roamed, he still holds his ground in Southern Africa. Mis roar is often heard in the abodes of Euro- peans ; but he does not often make his appearance near the habitations of men. The Hottentots have no fears of the lion, nor of auy wild ai;imal ; MRS. morrell's narrative. 135 they contend that all that are ferocious in the forests or deserts are afraid of man, and this is probably the case. A lion never attacks a man unless he is famished for food ; and then his hunger is generally superior to his courage. They prey on the harmless antelopes, and never venture to attack the elephant. Many an officer in these regions has, with the help of natives and dogs, gained laurels for bravery in lion hunting who did not risk much in the contest. The lion, like all other creatures of greatness, has been extolled and abused ever since he has been known. The Arabians, it is said, have about fifty names for this monarch of the plains. His strength is not at all overrated by any, but his magnanimity has often been questioned. Not- withstanding all the stories of ancient times, of Androcles and the lion, and of the many other legends of those ages, modern writers on natural history have made the lion a cowardly, sneaking, miserable cat, with only more strength than his enemies, and without half the courage of a terrier dog. The truth is between these historians. His magnanimity may sometimes be mistaken for cowardice, and his prudence for fear. That the lion has strong affections no one who knows his history can for a moment doubt ; and we have all seen enough of him in a state of slavery to know that he has some generous traits in his character. It is from a well-authenticated ac- count of a lion and a friendly dog that I extract the following. — In a caravan which was ex- hibited a few years since in the United States, a large lion was the head of the show, and a mon- strous sized dog was his master's faithful friend. On some occasion the whole caravan grew restiff. 136 MRS. morrell's narrative. and the keeper, somewhat alarmed, requested the audience to retire, inviting them to return on the morrow. The lion growled, and snapped his teeth at his keeper : the dog saw it, and in a fit of indignation bit the lip of the lion. This brought the latter animal to his senses, and he crouched and groaned and moaned, and refused that night and the next day to taste a morsel of food, but kept up a look of contrition towards the dog. The owner was apprehensive of losing his property, and entreated the dog to make up with the lion. At length he succeeded in getting the dog to approach the lion's cage and lick his wound. The lion's joy was excessive : he growled his affection, and seemed quite frantic in his demonstrations of happiness. The ponderous elephant never goes out of his way to attack a man ; he also is afraid of him. Whole droves of elephants will pass within a few rods of a hunter without giving him the least fear. The almost naked African traverses the deserts or the forests as fearlessly as if he had dominion given him over the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field as distinctly as it was given to Adam in the days of primeval innocence. From the enormous tusks which are brought to this market from the country, the size of the giant of the forest may in some measure be calcu- lated. Some of these tusks weigh over a hundred pounds. These are not all the wonders of the woods and the sands. Ostriches are plentiful here ; many are brought every year for sale to the Cape by the natives. A fall-grown ostrich is from eight to eleven feet in height, and the most awkward looking bird that ever was seen ; but MRS. morrell's narrative. 137 some portion of its feathers are delicate and beautiful. They were used as an ornament for a female headdress probably long before the records of man began, as they were when Vasco de Gama discovered the Cape, and would now be if the na- tives were not slaves ; or if those who were not bondmen and bondwomen had not found that these plumes could be exchanged for something which they preferred to ostrich feathers. The ostrich is often hunted, but such is the fruitfulness and the abundance of food for the bird, that they arc still found in great numbers ; and their eggs are served up at every great feast given among the officers of the garrison as a delicacy. Modern writers have stated that the ostrich incubates her eggs, and has as great a regard for them as any other bird ; now this assertion appears to me unfounded. The ostrich cannot set upon her eggs ; there is no joint in her legs that will allow her to bring her body upon her nest. Job is worth a hundred philosophers upon the subject: " Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacock, or wings and feathers unto the ostrich ? n " which leaoeth her eggs in the earth- and warmeth them in the dust : and forgettcth that the foot may crush them, or that the icild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers." An observing philosopher, who had spent the better part of his life in Asia, an officer, once gave this solution of the subject : The ostrich starts from the forest to the desert to deposite her eggs. She lays two eggs, which are deeply covered with the sand ; then seven or eight more, which are but partially covered. The first produce 138 MRS. morrell's narrative. young ones, who, as soon as they have broken the shell, begin to feed upon the roasted eggs which have been deposited there for food, until they get strong enough to set out on their jour- ney to the wilderness. This is full of wisdom, and resembles all the accounts which have been given of the ostrich. It is now a matter of fact to all the hunters of the ostrich, that at "what time she lifteth up herself on high she scorneth the horse and his rider" In catching her now, one fresh horse .succeeds another until the ostrich is tired down. It is a most extraordinary fact, that the stomach of this bird, made, as it is said, to consume fruits alone, should have such powers of digestion as to consume lead, iron, or almost any other metal. Those brought to the United States are generally destroyed by trying this experiment too often. This tall bird is good-natured, and the ancients thought marked with folly; but modern times have learned to discriminate awkwardness from folly, and adroitness from wisdom. It is said that when the ostrich hides his head among the weeds, he ti links he is not seen ; does not even wise man do pretty much the same ? The garrison here is large, and is composed, generally, of well educated men. The society is much better than it was under the Dutch govern- ment. The staid and solemn character of the Dutch may make a place a good permanent residence, but they do not give society any of the musical spirit which makes it delightful on a short visit. They catch not the graces of the passing hour ; I speak of those who have lately come from their native land. The descendants of the Dutch in my native state are not only MRS. morrell's narrative. 139 among the most solid portion of the community, but also make up a highly respectable part of fashionable as well as of valuable society. The Cape of Good Hope promises, under present auspices, to be an opening for civilization to enter Africa ; and not half of the wonders and the treasures of this country are as yet known. The region over which we have lately traversed, and where we now were, was one of epic grandeur, although still so much unknown. Camoens, who was born soon after Gama doubled the stormy Cape, and who wrote before Shakspeare or Milton, made the voyage of Yasco de Gama the subject of an heroic poem. Among the first recollections of this poet were the tales of the adventures of this great navigator. Delighted with his ro- mantic theme, Camoens, who had tried his hand in madrigals and sonnets, in early life, contem- plated an epic, which he called the Lusiad ; and to bring it to perfection he visited those seas and countries which had been discovered by Gama. His life was one of trials and misfortunes ; he lived with kings and expired with beggars. He held honourable employment under some of the viceroys, and at one time accumulated no small portion of wealth, which was afterward lost in a shipwreck. He was too open, bold, and satiri- cal to live in a court of parasites and llatterers, and he despised the whole of them, from the highest to the lowest. He died with the patriotic expression ' : Oh my country ! ; ' on his lips, and with more reason than most men who have used this lamentation. Portugal was then the first of all the maritime powers, but Spain and other countries were in the days of Camoens contending with, and indeed rivalling Portugal. The epic 140 MRS. morrell's narrative. of Camoens is divided into ten books, and, for the age, was full of poetry. To his credit, too, after all the fiction he has introduced, sometimes revel- ling in heathen mythology, mingled with scrip- tural allusions, it abounds in truths. lie carries his hero around the Cape, and brings him in competition with all the Moorish princes, who had held the best portions of the traffic of the Indies for ages. His struggles with these warlike merchants are finely described, and all the new sensations which this mighty struggle produced. Everywhere, after his time, the navigators of these regions inscribed on the bark of trees wherever they landed this proud inscription, ''Talent be Bien Faire." The reader of the Lusiad of Camoens will find in it at all times many beautiful passages ; but when reading it on the very spots he describes, it seems to bring author and reader together, although nearly three centu- ries have elapsed since the poet visited them. Ca- moens was surely an observer of nature, as well as an accurate historian. He describes the high- born cavalier preparing for his departure to un- known regions with graphic accuracy and in an elegant style. De Gama leads all his sailors to a chapel the night before he departs, and spends the night in prayer. On the road from this place to his fleet his friends met him, and prayers, tears, and waitings filled the air. Full of his glory he moved firmly onward : no one but those who have parted with friends to go on long and perilous voyages can realize this part of the scene. Oh ! it is true to nature ; it is true to the life, humbler life than the proud Spanish don. Many a mother, wife, and sister, at such times, has breathed in spirit the lines of Camoens ; MRS. MORRELL S NARRATIVE. 141 " Curs'd be the man who first on floating wood Forsook the beach, and braved the treacherous flood !" But this feeling is soon lost in a nobler one, which incorporates the pride of science and individual heroism. Woman, more than man. delights in glory ; it is, perhaps, that she does not examine so deeply as to see the motives and means, but looks at thing's in the ao-Q-reofate or the result ; she feels the national glow that would sink every thing at the thought of honour. " While thy bold prows triumphant ride along By trembling China, to the isles unsung By ancient bard, by ancient chief unknown, Till ocean's utmost shore thy commerce own." Some of the conceptions in the Lusiad are noble ; but honest critics tell us that we are much in- debted to the translator of this work into English for our pleasure, the translation being superior to the original. This may be true, but, read as we have it, it is full of beauty and truth to those who see the country while they read the poem, though it must be confessed that there is nothing won- derfully original in the machinery. The poet copied Homer. Virgil, and Ariosto, after the man- ner of the schools ; but his descriptions are natural, and that is enough. Although this is the epic of commerce, yet I believe that almost every other epic is read by merchants before the Lusiad. It is surprising that commerce and letters should have been so long divorced, as it were ; for they were once closely united. It was the Phenicians who diffused letters over Europe, while they were drawing wealth from the com- merce of the world. The schools of the Hebrews 142 MRS. morrell's narrative. flourished most when their commerce was at the highest prosperity. Letters have at all times been the necessary consecmence of commercial enterprise, and from the days of De Gama the difficulties of the navigator have extended the science of astronomy and mathematics. These difficulties are so forcibly impressed upon the mind of the seaman, and indeed upon the mind of every one who trusts himself on the ocean, that I am surprised that any one would go a mile from land a second time without knowing enough of the science of navigation to find a port when he wished. Yvornan as I am, I never would sail another voyage without some knowledge of this science ; enough to make ordinary calculations cannot lie very deep when so many pretend to it. One afreat defect of the Lusiad was more owinsf to the laws of the schools than to the want of genius in the writer ; this was a disposition to describe all the events, distances, escapes, &c, to the neglect of the natural world. Ichthyology, ornithology, conchology, and all natural history, were then beneath the epic standard. If these would have offended the critic of his day as not of sufficient importance, the voyager would now pardon him if he had descended to the descrip- tion of the works of nature which were scat- tered around, and no doubt his copious mind was delighted with them all ; but as he was writ- ing an epic, he dared not interweave them with his verse. There is no want of feeling in the Lu- siad, if there is of minute nature. Camoens was not a favourite of fortune ; his name is added to those who live for others rather than for them- selves, lie had a just idea of the happiness of those minions of fortune who sail smoothly over MRS. morrell's narrative. 143 the sea of life, and find prosperous gales every- where, and yet felt what he forcibly described of the unfortunate man : " Through the dim shade, his fate casts o'er him A shade that spreads its evening darkness o'er His brightest virtues ; while it shows his foibles, Crowding and obvious as the midnight stars, Which in the sunshine of prosperity Never had been descried." It made me almost sick to think of poor Ca- moens's fate ; that one so talented, so learned, so noble in his feelings, should have died so wretch- edly, and found an ignoble grave. I tried to con- sole myself with the reflection that he had been dead two centuries and a half, but could not ; for where genius is impressed on the page, the immor- tal shade stands for ever before the reader. There is nothing of decay in the thought ; all is fresh and blooming as it was before the ink was dry. Em- balmed by the tears of ages, a moving story grows fresher by the lapse of time. To a feeling heart the meeting of Hector and Andromache was but yesterday, and the wailings of Jephthah's daugh- ter still sound in our ears. Not half so much has been made of Southern Africa and India as might have been made if trade had been free and no monopolies known. It is not only injurious but degrading to say you must not buy here, or sell there, but under a thousand restrictions. The world should be open for all, on equal terms ; the industry of all should be regarded, and no particular set of men ought to enjoy extraordinary privileges, nor any nation be particularly favoured. There are but few places, thank Heaven, where an American vessel cannot go. and but few indeed that they 144 MRS. morrell's narrative. have not visited. At home we females think but little of national glory, or rather not much of the means of supporting it ; but when abroad we be- come interested in every thing connected with commerce or naval power. A woman in these dis- tant seas would be as proud to point to a fine frigate or a seventy-four from the United States as she ■would in dwelling on the fame of Washington, or any other distinguished man of our country. The feeling of nationality conies over us when abroad, but we leave it for others to support when we are at home. A female feels herself lost in the great mass of her countrywomen, but when abroad she represents them all ; and she must be dull indeed if she does not understand this situation. I was the first American woman who had visited some of the places I have described, and being a subject of curiosity, no one could be indifferent to such a situation ; it is not, however, to me a matter of vanity. Our men have been everywhere, but our women have not wandered much from home. mrs. morrell's narrative. 145 CHAPTER VII. Departure from the Cape — Sight of St. Helena — Its Appearance at Sea — Something of its History— Landing at St. Helena — Its natural and other Productions — Its Appearance on Land — Strength of the Place — Longwood— Tomb of Napoleon- Reflections at his Grave — Fernandez Lopez — Comparison be- tween St. Helena and Napoleon — Soothing Effect of the Sub- limity of the Scripture — Rccrossing the Equator — Calm at Sea. After hems; well supplied with refreshments, and putting every thing in tidy order, we sailed on the 22d of March, and on the 28th we took the south-east trade-winds, always so delightful after they are settled, and on the 6th of April came in sight of the island of St. Helena. As we ap- proached this " prison-house in the sea," it ap- peared as a cloud in the heavens ; hut as you come nearer it assumes a more solid looking form. I gazed upon it until my imagination gave it almost every shape that a cloud could assume, from a whale to any thing monstrous, but never like a weasel, excepting, as Polonius would say, " it is black like a weasel." The next day we anchored in front of Jamestown Valley. I had ransacked all our books on board to get an account of this wonderful island, intending to compare their descriptions with my own observations. It is unquestionably of volcanic origin, and was one of the early productions of Omnipotence in those seas, ages before man had ever navigated them. It was discovered by the Portuguese, those pio- neers of navigation, on St. Helen's dav, the 21st G 146 MRS. morrell's narrative. of May, 1501, and is about twelve hundred miles from the continent, entirely detached from any other island, reefs, or any thing but the mighty Atlantic Ocean. It lies in latitude 5° 40' south, and longitude 15° 55', west. In twelve years after its discovery it was the residence of an ex- iled Portuguese nobleman, who made some im- provements in order to make it habitable. On being restored to favour he returned to his country. and in a few years the English examined it, but did not think it worth possessing until after the visit of Cavendish, in 1588, who made some ad- ditional improvements. St. Helen, from whom it was named, was the pious mother of Constantine the Great ; and as Great Britain had not entirely lost her partiality for saints, the name was not changed. The Dutch had possession of it for several years before the English, but they did not think it of sufficient importance to their commerce to repay them for the cost they must be at to for- tify and retain it. Charles II. gave the island to the East India Company. It does not look half so extensive as it is, probably from its great height, rising, as it does, from the sea in an almost per- pendicular wall, from six to twelve hundred feet ; but it is more than ten miles long and six broad, making not far from twenty-eight miles in circum- ference. There are only four openings iti the great walls of this castle, and from these fall- mouthed batteries are pointed, and artillerists standing by the guns with match in hand. On landing, we ascended by one of these openings of nature, which, although strongly guarded, is made more easy of ascent by art than one could imagine from a distant view of it. The valley is called James's Valley, and is a mrs. morrell's narrative. 147 fruitful spot. The fig, orange, date, and pome- granate trees grow in great beauty here, and the usual kitchen vegetables flourish abundantly. The water is good, and can be made to irrigate every part of the cultivated plains. The gum- tree is still common on the island, although many of them have been destroyed ; and the lofty cab- bage-trees grow in great luxuriance, while the willows seem to hans: on the high grounds as though they were clinging to the lowland brooks. A great number of water-fowls hover around the mountains, or coast near the walls in the sea. The inhabitants once tried to cultivate wheat and barley, but at length found it more profitable to raise such articles as would more readily supply the shipping which frequently call there on their return from the India seas. The place is as wonderful in its history as in its situation, and was once nearly stocked by a colony of those who were burnt out in London in 1666, who in their desperation sought an asy- lum at St. Helena. James's Valley takes its name from James II., after whom, also, the fort was named. The town is in this valley, and has quite a picturesque appearance. The churches, for there are two, but only one parish, and the snug- built houses perched so high in the air, and yet low compared with heights still higher, give a fine effect to the whole view. An elevated chain of mountains divides the island into two unequal parts ; but there are numerous ridges and valleys of greater or less extent among these mountains. Diana's Peak is the highest part of the island, and commands a most superb prospect, for from it you can see every thing on or about the island. The ships look like small craft floating at the base G2 148 mrs. morrell's narrative. of this tremendous castle, and the albatrosses, gulls, and other sea-birds, skimming half-way from the sea to the height of Diana's Mountain, make the whole a fine panorama ; one that nature does not often in such vastness and magnificence afford. What are great guns wanted for here ? and yet in every spot where a cannon can be placed, one of large size is to be found. It would seem that if only a common stone were thrown from these towering battlements, it would sink a ship ; and what could the navies of the world effect against this castle 1 A fine assortment of goods may be found in the shops in this town, and there is much more cus- tom here than one would imagine as he approached the village. I bought several small articles, and priced a number more, perhaps from curiosity. There is a fine aqueduct leading the water for more than a mile in extent, and which brings it down conveniently for the shipping, who often stop to replenish their water-casks, as well as their fruit baskets. Great pains have been taken t.> make good roads, and the success has been aston- ishing. Industry and perseverance, with wealth, can almost work miracles. The cattle here, as well as the sheep, are good. The air they breathe is so pure, and their food is so sweet, that the beef and mutton are better than in any other place in the same latitude in the world. The poultry is also very good : chickens and ducks were very sweet and tender, and seemed to be in abun- dance. The people of St. Helena take great pains to raise them for the use of the garrison, and for the supply of ships that touch here. The place, when 1 was there, seemed very healthy, yet I did not see a very old person on the island, and on inquiring, I could not rind one verging towards MRS. morrell's narrative. 149 a hundred years of age ; which is not an uncom- mon thing in our own country, where we suffer from every change of climate, from the extreme of heat to the extreme of cold. The air here, in the upper regions, is mild, not rising much above summer warmth, and the changes in the climate vary but a few degrees from one season of the year to another. Longwood is on the north-east side of the island : it is a plain, raised seventeen hundred and sixty-two feet above the surface of the ocean, and abounds in vegetation of various kinds, but there are times when beef is high, when large India fleets arrive at the island. The birds are not so various or numerous as at other islands I have visited, but the canary is here, as in other places, a sweet songster. The canary is a delicate, yet often a hardy bird, and will live long and in good health if taken proper care of. In this island they are too common in the groves to be an object of attention among the tasteful ; but it must be confessed, after all our discussions upon slavery, that a good canary-bird in a cage, edu- cated by man. is a more beautiful singer than those who live in the retreats of nature. They may be taught from various instruments of music, and made to surpass nature by the assist- ance of art. I had seen so much of natural scenery, and had so often attempted to describe it, that I should have visited St. Helena without emotion, notwithstanding all its wonders, if it had not been for the sentiments inspired by the place. This, it may easily be supposed, was the idea that the Emperor Napoleon was for several years confined here, and that his ashes were now entombed here. 150 mrs. morrell's narrative. There was something in this that seemed to ex- aggerate the grandeur of the scene ; something that gave it a deep and solemn cast ; that blended the moral, historical, and wonderful with the natural. When I first visited Longwood, I took no more notice of the beauties of nature than I should of the richness of the furniture in a room where a dear friend was laid out for burial ; but after awhile, when my first impressions had sub- sided, I could enjoy the beauties of the scene, as "well as contemplate the history of him whose name has conferred immortality on this secluded spot. I sought the tomb of Xapolcon. There was an iron railing around a flat, dingy-coloured stone, which was raised a few inches only above the surface of the ground. A wooden railing encloses the iron one. and within the former three large willows overshadow the grave. We marched up to the spot, took a twig of willow, and ordered one of our attendants to bring us some water from the spring whence the mighty emperor drank daily. It was sweet water, and as I drank, I thought of what old Cotton Mather said in his works : — all the great virtues of cold water will not be made known to us for a thou- sand years to come. It tasted sweeter to his fevered lips than royal Tokay, or the still scantier drops of the grapes of Shiraz. As I bent over his grave, all the marvellous events of his life came fresh into my mind. Born on an island, he died on an island : both birth- place and burial-ground had been famous in history, while he was more famous than all. I saw him a spirited cadet: then a proud subaltern ; a "-eneral in Italy; a commander in the Levant. MRS. morrell's narrative. 151 looking up to the Pyramids to catch glory from their proud antiquity, and breathing it through a sensitive French army. I followed him through these fields of blood, until I saw him disperse the corrupt legislature of France, and commence what philosophers called the parallelism of the sword ; his proud spirit growing still prouder until all the crowned heads in Europe and the world cowered and bowed before his august presence. He was then in his saloon ; maps of empires were before him, and he drew levies of kingdoms as if in sport. I saw him placing the diadem of France upon his brow, and still restless until the iron crown of Italy was his also. Em- pires fell before him. as if fearful of his step, and ambition took entire possession of his whole soul. I then saw the magic thread of his destinies riven, when he repudiated Josephine and became allied to the house of Austria. The genius that had guarded him to a hundred victories was capri- cious in Spain, and deserted him at Moscow. At Waterloo the destinies were against him, and his fate was to die in this remote prison of the ocean, and sleep under the humble stone which was now before me. That a man whose nod gave law to nations should be at rest in this quiet little place seemed to me indeed as a dream. It is a good place, thought I, to reflect upon the value of human life and the instability of fortune. My reflections were made upon the stone itself, for I was enabled to get within the railings and take a position which few could enjoy. I made many inquiries respecting his treatment while here, but the good people were not inclined to say much about it. 152 mrs. morrell's narrative. I found, however, that Sir Hudson Lowe was not a favourite with them ; and my inferences, added to what I had heard, satisfied me that some Jittle insults, to say the least, were offered him, but not from the people, for they now speak kindly of " General Bonaparte," who was liberal to all those allowed to approach him. He came to this place a fallen man : and there was but little of that reverence the world pays to genius and greatness ever felt for him at St. Helena. The people were not so well pleased to think that their island would hereafter be considered as a prison. Most of the people, 1 found, fell towards him as Byron did when he wrote — " Ill-minded man ! why scourge thy kind, Who bow'd so low the knee '!, By gazing on thyself grown blind, Thou taught'st the rest to sec. With might unquostion'd, — power to save, — Thine only srift hath been the grave To those that worshipp'd thee ; ]\"or, till thy fall, could mortals guess Ambition's less than littleness ! Thanks for that lesson ! — it will teach To after-warriors more Than hi^h philosophy can preach, And vainly preach'd before. That spell upon the eyes of men Breaks never to unite again, That led them to adore Those pagod things of sabre-sway. With fronts of brass, and feet of clay. The triumph and the vanity, The rapture of the strife — The earthquake shout of victors. To thee tbe breath of life ; The sword, the sceptre, and that sway \V liich man seem'd made but to obey, Wherewith renown was rife — All quell'd ! — Dark spirit ! what must be The madness of thv memorv !" MRS. morrell's narrative. 153 The house in which the emperor lived is now converted to the uses of a granary or barn, and I believe that there are horses stabled there ! but whether this was accident, or pitiful design, I could not discover ; it could not certainly have been from any order of government, for they built him a new and convenient house, to which he would not remove. He felt that the death-fang was on his heart, and that all would soon be over with him. If he had not had a disease of the breast, to which physicians give an anatomical name, one was seated there that must have bowed him to the grave sooner or later, and that was disappointed ambition. To one who had never felt the intoxication of power and dominion, and whose bosom had no wounds of pride or con- science, it would be hard to be confined in this eagle ; s nest for many years, with the certainty that there was no escape. For several years alter Napoleon came here it is thought that he indulged hopes of being re- leased, probably by some convulsion in Europe ; but finding France quiet under the reign of the Bourbons, and still at peace with England, he lost all hopes, and the canker on his heart began to increase in malignity; and to give strong prog- nostics that he would die before his son should be of age, or Europe would engage in a general war. He was seldom heard to complain, but there was a settled disdain upon his noble brow, and his lip would curl with scorn as he beheld the proud ships of his jailers passing to and from his castle. The conversations of Napoleon, which have flooded the reading world, were, no doubt, in part authentic as they came from his lips ; but it is a 2 154 MRS. morrell's* narrative. questionable whether he was indulging in his own reveries, or sporting with the credulity of his listeners. It is said that he seldom mentioned his wife ; whether he thought that she was want- ing in affection in not offering to accompany him in his exile, or whether he never had any affec- tion for her, is not known. Those who analyze the passions would perhaps say, that no two mighty passions can exist at the same timo in any mind: ambition, they say, will destroy avarice and love, and the latter has been known to master both the others. All the communica- tions he could make to his friends were verbal ones ; the eye of the police was too vigilant to permit any others to escape from the island. The good people of St. Helena are quite aston- ished at our enthusiasm for the character of Napo- leon. They say "he was no friend to republics, nor ever discovered any partiality to the people of the United States ; that he loved all the trappings of royalty, and spurned every thing that did not partake of aristocracy/' Our only answer to this was, that we neither feared nor hated him : and that we could view him as a wonder in the history of man ; as something above the ordinary dimen- sions of nature ; a chastiser of nations, some of whom deserved their chastisement : as a lover and patron of the arts and sciences, and a pro- tector of men of genius : as a destroyer of the last remnants of the feudal system : and finally, that many of us viewed him as an instrument in the hands of God to promote unforeseen good to men, as the two mighty Roman emperors paved the way for the comino- of the Messiah : and, in short, that every thing great was intended by its MRS. morrell's narrative. 155 Maker for some great end. But after all, I was never entirely satisfied with my own ex- cuse for my enthusiasm for this great man ; and perhaps his noble physiognomy might have made a part of my admiration, for in every picture, or bust, or statue of Napoleon, whether young and spare, or grown older and corpulent, his countenance is one of the noblest ever formed. To this sea-girt castle his name is not so dear as the exile who inhabited it more than three centuries ago. Fernandez Lopez had enjoyed wealth, fame, and power ; but having lost all but honour, fled from the Indies to this retreat, and began to plant, and sow, and prepare it for the abode of his fellow-men. lie bore his exile well, and after a few years his fortunes changed, and lie came again into favour and prosperity. If all traces of his civilizing hand are now obliterated by deeper marks of improvement, still the con- temporary of Columbus, and the philosopher in misfortune, is remembered as one of the benefac- tors of mankind. We now fook the fine road to Jamestown, about two miles and a half, and left St. Helena on Sat- urday, the 9th of April, steering north, with a delightful breeze. I kept my eyes directed to- wards the island, still thinking of the mighty dead. The place, on the whole, seemed in my mind a fit one for the tomb of Napoleon ; for there was something analogous between St. He- lena and himself. The mighty mass of stone was an instantaneous creation by volcanic power ; and Napoleon arose at once by an eruption in the political and moral world. The French rev- olution threw him upward, and he bestrode the nations as a colossus. They had not done won- 156 MRS. morrell's narrative. dering at his fortunes when his reverses overtook him ; but sudden as was his elevation, his fame will last as long as the rock on which he lies. History has already placed him along with Crcsar and Alexander ; and if the grave philosopher shall in future times ask how much he has done for the world, and sarcastically add, " He left a name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral, or adorn a tale ;" still Napoleon will be a subject for young-eyed wonder, and his deeds and his fate will furnish the schoolboy declaimer with matter for a thou- sand years to come ; and the historian, when he comes to his age — an age indeed of surpassing events — will kindle with some of the enthusiasm we now feel at the mention of his name. St. Helena has become a resting-place for the ships which traverse the Indian Ocean, and it is said that not less than one hundred and fifty of them arrive there in a year. Those who visit this island will hereafter, as they have done ever since Napoleon's death, perform pilgrimages to his grave, as our classic travellers in Italy seek for the tombs of Cicero and Virgil. Our minds after leaving a magnificent scene, or contemplating the achievements of a hero, ex- perience a void that gives a restlessness to our spirits difficult to subdue. The best cure for these feelings that I could ever find when at sea was to survey the immensity of waters, or turn to some of the sublime or touching parts of the Scriptures. The contemplation of justice, mercy, and truth soothes and settles all our agitations; MRS. morrell's narrative. 157 and there is a beauty in holiness which, when we become enamoured with it, occupies all our heart, and absorbs all minor interests. As eter- nity is beyond time, so are these subjects be- yond those that lie in our pathway through life. There is something for ever so new in the Scrip- tures that no human mind can feel satisfied of hav- ing reached near their full meaning. Some new thought will spring up in every text for contem- plation. I do not believe there ever was a muti- ny on board of a ship where the Bible was read diligently by the whole crew. Works of fancy and taste after a while grow tedious, from absorb- ing- too much of- our attention at once, while the Scriptures are not only interesting, but compel us to direct our reasonings and views to ourselves. If there ever was a book which could be called an awakener of our own thoughts, it is that which furnishes so many thoughts for us, the Bible. I have read it where Christianity was professed, followed, and held the highest claims to attention ; I have read it where superstition abounds, and where infidelity, pagan infidelity, darkened the whole land : it was the same heaven-illumined page everywhere ; but if ever peculiar glory rested on it, it was when we were near those who had never received its glad tidings, and who never knew the true God. On the 19th of April we crossed the equator, but we were now all such old, experienced sailors that Neptune did not think it worth while to pay us a visit, nor did we expect him. If he had come on board he would have found our stock of liquor nearly the same as when he saw us be- fore, except a little which had been used as medi- cine ; and if he had brought his log-book, as sailors, 158 mrs. morkell's narrative. playfully say he keeps, of all bad deeds done dur- ing his absence, I question whether he would have found a single oath recorded, or one vile or blasphemous expression set down to any one of the crew of the Antarctic ; and, heathen as he is, he would have been delighted to know how much time they had devoted to reading the Bible. We had now many calms or baffling winds. There is nothing so distressing as a calm at sea. Lying like a sleeping tortoise upon the water, the vessel that in other times seems to partake of life, now loses all animation; or if there be a slight motion, it is a sea-sickening sort of one. The sailors are torpid, for it would be cruel to set them at hard work under a tropical sun, and they lie about as creatures without soul or spirit. In such a situation the nights arc restless, and the days seem almost endless, although they are only about equal in length to the nights. All that memory can furnish, that books can supply, or conversation offer, is nothing. Everybody feels sick or dissatisfied, and you see yourself re- flected in every face. You cannot laugh an hour away ; and if you smile at all, you smile like Cassius, who scorned his spirit that could smile at any thing. If, gentle reader, you have an ene- my, never wish him any thing worse than a calm at sea. The sun seems to rise in wrath, and set in fiery indignation, when one is under the equa- tor, or near it, becalmed. Every thing was changed but my husband's patience, which was proof against all. lie had before experienced the evil, and had learned how to support himself un- der it. What must be the sufferings of those who are in want of good and wholesome water at such times ? We, thanks to Heaven, had a good sup- MRS. morrell'^ narrative. 159 ply of both water and provisions; and still these calms were dreadful. The tales of distress which we have read at such times, however horrid, were, I believe, only half told. The inhabitants of Judea never panted for rain as we did for wind, when the prophet prayed for it and the little cloud arose. At length, on the 13th of May, we took the north-east trade-winds, and were wafted along so sweetly for eighteen days, when we arrived at Terccra, that the whole time seemed hardly as long as one of those days in the calm. 160 MRS. morrell's narrative. CHAPTER VIII. The Azores — Climate and Soil — Volcanic Origin — Liberia — Character of that Colony — Lot Cary — Effects of Exploring Expeditions — Missionary Societies — The bad Effects of In- toxicating Liquors — Indians unacquainted with Intemperance until taught by Europeans — Course that should be pursued by Missionaries — Intellectual Character of the Indians — Their Ferocity ascribed to Ignorance and Ill-treatment — Arrival at Cadiz — Disappointment in not being allowed to Land — Slight Sketch of its History — The Cholera — Notice of it in New- York. Tercera is one of the Azores, which group is nine in number ; some writers make more of them, by taking into the account some large rocks, but there are only nine islands of consequence, the principal one of which is called Tercera, measuring twenty-five miles in length, fifteen in breadth, and about fifty-four in circumference, the figure being, of course, rather elliptical than cir- cular. This group lies in the Atlantic Ocean, about 36° to 40 J north latitude, and from 25° to 35° west longitude. The Portuguese took possession of these islands in about 1446 ; some historians fix the date earlier and some later, and no precise time can be fixed for their discovery or possession. In former ages nature appears to have been at work in raising islands by volcanic power ; but in later days she seems to have lost her vigour, or is disposed to quit her labours, for no island of im- portance has been thrown from the deep beds of MRS. morrell's narrative. 161 ocean for the cultivation of man since the discov- ery of these islands by the Portuguese. The soil is productive, and oranges and grapes grow in great profusion. The climate is healthy, and though earthquakes sometimes terrify the inhabit- ants, still it is seldom that they cause any essen- tial injury. It is the opinion of some philoso- phers that these islands are supported by volcanic arches, whose vast ovens are burning with per- petual fires ; this is no very comfortable thought for those who keep it in mind, but the inhabitants here think this the garden of the world, or at least the place where it might be made ; and it is most assuredly true that a finer climate can hardly be found than that of the Azores. The government, though arbitrary, is mild, and I could find no instances of oppression. These islands were once supposed to belong to Africa, by geographical position, but of late years they have been classed as European, for it is certain that the new race of inhabitants are Portuguese. Portugal has always held them in affection, because they were first known to them in modern times, and have been constantly under the protection of that govern- ment. The whole island of Tercera, as far as I could see it, and we made frequent tours into the coun- try, is but an exhausted volcano. So far as I have seen the islands of the sea through more than three hundred degrees of longitude, they appear to have been brought forth by volcanoes in the oceans of the east and west. It is true that they are at work now, but they must have been more active in former times than at present. The Portuguese here are a quiet and inoffensive 162 MRS. morrell's narrative. people, but they are hardly acquainted with the growth of our country; they still think that we are in our infancy, as they measure all growths by length of years. They had heard of our settle- ment on the coast of Africa, and spoke of it as a feehle attempt to get rid of our surplus black population ; they think it will not last long, but we indulge in other hopes : and I feel persuaded that this is one of the most important colonies ever planted since the settlement of North Amer- ica. Its climate is as healthy as any we have ever known, notwithstanding the location. The settlement has flourished as well, and is increas- ing as fast, as did any of the American colonies, and their commerce is greater in proportion to the number of inhabitants. None arc more atten- tive to the cultivation of mind and morals, and their territory is unbounded, for the tenth part of Africa is not at present under cultivation. Most of this fifth part of the globe is wild as it was when the beasts of the field and birds of the air •were its lords-proprietors. I can see nothing to prevent this colony from being the nucleus of nations ; flourishing in arts and sciences, in com- merce, in civil freedom, and all that constitutes a state. What can be more rational than these noble efforts to advance the interests of man, particularly degraded man ? My nation and people are now doing something to wipe off a dark spot from their escutcheon. If this colony is cherished, the United States will reap the advantages of it ; they will get rid of their surplus population of blacks, and at the same time be planting a colony from whence great commercial results may be expected. I con- MRS', morrell's narrative. 163 ceive that there is to be a change in a great por- tion of the globe, and that change will take place speedily. The agents and governors of the colo- nization society have been men of talents and perseveranc : the most remarkable man, however, among them, was an African. The Rev. Lot Carey, who died not long since at Monrovia, was an extraordinary man. While he was a slave in Virginia, by his own industry and anxiety for knowledge, he learned to read and to write, and acquired so much general information that he was intrusted with the management of a large tobacco warehouse. In this business, by his perquisites and his industry in the time allowed him, he accu- mulated a sufficient sum of money to purchase, not only his own freedom, but that of his wife and children also. He was discreet, sober, and reli- gious, and became a preacher of the gospel while yet a slave. Many who heard his discourses thought his views of the Bible were excellent. When the colonization society was formed, and Liberia purchased, he was ready at the commence- ment of the settlement to depart with the earliest settlers, and took his share in every labour. He acted not only as a spiritual guide, but as a civil magistrate, as deputy agent, and for a while, in the absence of Mr. Ashman, as chief magistrate of Liberia. In every situation which he was called to fill, he not only evinced the high powers of a gifted mind, but the pure spirit of a righteous man. If such specimens of intellect and virtue can be found rising up among slaves, what may we not expect from these people in a state of civil and religious freedom, enlightened by schools in every branch of knowledge ? This must be effected by exploring expeditions, 164 MRS. morrell's narrative. by missionary societies, and by a universal tem- perance, which is rapidly pervading the whole population of the globe. These exploring expe- ditions should be got up by individual enterprise, assisted by government. Their failure the gov- ernment will not be answerable for, but their suc- cess must of course be a national benefit. Ac- cording to the present law of nations, discovery gives the right of possession, so far as it relates to any other power than the aborigines ; if this should be considered of consequence, certainly the trade of lauds discovered would for some time be of advantage to our commercial people. It were well, too, that we should do something for the world whose commerce we enjoy ; we have now a name to support, and what have we done to raise its glory '!- Our whalers have done some- thing worthy of remembrance, but this is all. To Nantucket, New-Bedford, Stonington, and a few other places, is most of the credit due for all the discoveries we have made in the Pacific Ocean. These enterprising men have traversed every sea in search of whales, and they have generally communicated to the world what they have found new or profitable. When the government lias wanted information, they have been ready to com- municate it from their very accurate and satis- factory journals ; if no advantage has been taken of their discoveries, it is not their fault. The next step to finding where savage men live is that of furnishing them the means of instruc- tion ; and this can only be done by sending enlight- ened missionaries to teach them civilization and Christianity. Wherever an intelligent mission- ary establishment is to be found, there good re- sults have been witnessed, notwithstanding the MRS. morrell's narrative. 165 abuse of some, and the fear of others ; there is no exception to the rule. Civilized nations have heretofore carried intoxicating liquors to those they visited, and while they opened up the light of mind and religion to them, have taught them the vices found in corrupt associations of the civil- ized world. The poor wretches had acquired all the vices before they had been taught to practise a single virtue that they had not before known ; thus civilization has heretofore been to them a curse instead of a blessing. But now it is otherwise ; the refinements of society are taught them without its vices. Ardent spirits have in general been an article of traffic in these regions, and the poor wretches have been cheated by proffering to their lips the intoxicating draught. It is the sweet recollection of our little voyage that we have never offered to the lips of primitive man one drop of ardent spirits; we have met them and drunk the waters of their springs, and never said to them that there was any thing that an Indian would like better. I never saw an Indian inebriated, because we never gave him any thing to steal away his senses. It has been, as far as I am informed, the universal practice to carry ardent spirits to the people of these rude islands, and the baneful ef- fects no one ever doubted while engaged in the traffic. Why should it not be made a penal, as it is a moral, offence to teach them drunken- ness ? There is a new and a better era to come than has as yet been known ; for even the pil- grims of New-England gave the aborigines these strong waters in traffic. The visiters to these benighted regions should never let them IGG MRS. morrell's narrative. know that such a thing as a drunken man ever existed. It is said by some that they already have inebriating draughts among them ; but this is true only to a certain extent, and that a very small one. They seldom make use of narcotics, or of any thing tbat entirely destroys their senses. The process of distillation they are unacquainted with, and but few simple juices are very inebri- ating. Of all the natives unaccustomed to Europeans, I never saw one who had any marks of intemperance about him. Travellers may say what they please of these natives in regard to in- temperance, but they never bear any of the marks of it until they become acquainted with civilized man. The ava-root and other narcotics pro- duce a stupefaction, but they leave no blotch, no laxity of muscle, no disgusting redness of the eyes, and all the wretched symptoms induced by the use of ardent spirits. Missionaries, who should be at first school- masters, and then preachers, should be sent to every isle of the sea as well as to the continent. Letters should be first taught, with domestic arts ; and then the high principles of morality and reli- gion. If day-schools for children, and Sun- day-schools for men, women, and children, should be established, I firmly believe that the work of refinement and morals would go rapidly on in any of those islands which we have visited, and which are now in darkness. The natural capacity of these savages, I believe, is not inferior to that of any people in the world. It is, I think, — I go to no theorist for the doctrine, — a law of nature, that wherever there is a fine physical or- ganization among mankind, there mental capacity will be found also. This may be a mortifying MRS. morrell's narrative. 1C7 doctrine to proud man in the old clans, tribes, or nations, but it is nevertheless true. I believe there is as much genius in some of the islanders we saw as can be found in France, England, or America. These new regions hardly ever see " The tenth transmitter of a foolish face ;" but the natives are quick of perception in all the ordinary duties of life, and are also acute ob- servers of passing events ; they compare and combine most rapidly in every instance where they are called upon to act. I do not believe that He who made man has given any particular gifts to any one race. If there be any superiority, it is in giving to some of the islanders we saw a larger corporeal frame than to any race of men which history has ever enumerated. The progress of the improvement of these people depends on us ; and we shall be answerable in future for the in- telligence and virtue they shall possess. Much may be done at a little expense, for there are per- sons of good education who are willing to settle at these places if they could have the protection of government and the assistance of the charita- ble in their exertions. The English will in a few years be the language of all the islanders where English or American missionaries are established; for as soon as the natives become more enlight- ened, they will find that their own scanty lan- guage Avill be insufficient to express their ideas ; and picking up a little English from com- mon intercourse with those who have come teach them, they will be anxious to gain some- thing more from day to day until they become proficients in English literature. They are, 168 MRS. MORRELI/S NARRATIVE. as I have said, imitative, and of course soon learn to write well ; the chirography of Pomare, which has been shown in the United States, was ele- gant — such as a professor of penmanship might be proud of. The missionaries are. at least all that I have seen, satisfied with the quickness and assiduity of the natives, and also with their do- cility when they become impressed with the idea that they are receiving some benefit from instruc- tion, and that their teachers have no other object than to do them good. The missionaries should have nothing to do with trade ; that must be left to others ; for if these people once get the idea into their heads that the missi naries are labouring to gain wealth, that moment their influence is at an end, and their only protection will be a resort to arms. It is not from a sanguinary disposition that the natives make attacks on vessels that visit them, but from a desire to obtain what others have at the easiest rate. On the 10th of Jane we arrived at Cadiz. The harbour is a noble one ; the city is one of the finest in Spain, and. if properly garrisoned, must be capable of sustaining an obstinate defence. I make these observations, beg-yincr the reader to understand that I know, or think I do, which is perhaps of quite as much importance, a good deal about the subject of defence, from hear- ing an almost perpetual conversation about the capability of defence of one place or another in parts of the world where there were no guns or castles, as well as in those which were strongly fortified. In this bay rode the proud navies of Spain in every age of Spanish greatness, from the invincible armada to the time Villeneuve sailed to be beaten at the battle of Trafalgar. This was the rendezvous of the navies of the New World, MRS. morrell's narrative. 169 The Earl of Essex, the favourite of Queen Eliz- abeth, took this city in 1596 ; it has sustained several sieges, but was taken by the French in a late period of history. It is an old city, and no doubt is full of those things that interest a traveller whose views arc directed to objects less superficial than those which strike the eye of the common observer. Our tastes change with our experience : at first we look at whatever stands most prominent, such as great and magnificent buildings, or striking peculiarities of the people ; but we afterward direct our attention to more minute matters, which do not lie on the sur- face, and in all probability find more satisfaction in these researches than in gazing at what every- body sees, or has examined. But I was deprived of the pleasure of describing this city, as we were not permitted to stay there. This was at first surprising to me, for I could not conceive of any cause why I should not see the people of Cadiz ; and I grieved the more at it, as I had informed my female friends at Manilla that I was to visit Cadiz, and therefore was under various com- mands from them to some of their friends in the city. We were not permitted to stay in the port when it was known that we had come from Ma- nilla many months before, and that the cholera was there ; our journals, also, showed that two of our men had died of this disorder. The au- thorities were very peremptory on this point, and threatened to fire into us if we did not depart in- stantly. This was silly as it was timid and arbi- trary ; for after so many months, if the disease had been contagious we were free from any infection, and could not have communicated it to the people of Cadiz. When we bring matters home to us, ii 170 MRS. MORRELT/S NARRATIVE. how much better do we reason than when our remarks are general. I low ridiculous were these quarantine laws to us, who had been out of dan- ger over the distance of nearly fifteen thousand miles of ocean ! .Not having a single man sick of any contagious disease, nor of any other, ex- cept accidental indisposition, we were forced to leave this port without discharging a particle of cargo, and to direct our course to Bordeaux. The sickness called the cholera, it is true, had been on board of our vessel, and carried off two of the crew, but those who early made known their sickness to my husband and myself were cured ; these two were beyond assistance when we were informed of their sickness. This disease did not then appear in my eyes as it since has. I considered it entirely an Asiatic disorder, and one that would be confined to that country. It had passed from the Hoogly and the Ganges to Manilla, and was fatal among the lower classes of society, but was by no means confined to them; still the higher classes in Manilla thought so little of it. or rather, perhaps, said so little about it. that I did not think much of its deadliness. The mortality among our sailors was less than usual, and therefore their deaths by this disease made no very deep impression on my mind. It was only after we were denied the hospitalities of Christians that I began to reflect on the selfishness of people in their fear of an epidemic. I was aware that this sweeping disorder had entered Europe by way of Ast mean, and had been very deadly, but little did I think it would ever spread over my own dear country ; causing so great a panic that for nearly a mile in the prin- cipal street of New- York, at noonday, not half a mrs. morrell's NARRATIVE. 171 dozen people could be seen. Desolation had ex- tended over all my native city ; and while looking over my journal to prepare it for publication, every hour the house was rilled with bulletins of the pro- gress of this mighty scourge of mankind. Thedif- ferent symptoms and the different treatment were sullicient to distract every one. It was difficult to know what course to pursue when a person was attacked ; and until the disease was far advanced, it was almost impossible to tell whether the pa- tient was sick with it or not. The symptoms were almost as various as the patients ; cramps, diarrhoea, and occasional spasms are general pre- monitions of the disease ; no headache or dizzi- ness marks its coming on. but rather, like the apoplexy, its forerunner was a high state of animal spirits. I never left New-York during the whole time it was raging in the city, and had an opportunity of witnessing its disorganizing effects on society, as well as the sufferings of those whom it lias attacked. The deaths were numerous, and the disease came as a thief at night ; but the disease, and even the deaths, were nothing to the alarm. This spread through all circles, and seemed to be a disease of itself, more malignant than the cholera. The consti- tuted authorities did much, and the rich sub- scribed large sums of money, but if individ- uals in common life had not made exertions, personal and pecuniary, the sufferings would have been more intense than they were. Such sweep- ing calamities have a sad effect in many instances on the human mind ; they dry up ah the gene- rous currents of the heart, and destroy all the wholesome ceremonies of burial and funeral honours. Although there are frequently unne- h2 172 mrs. morrell's narrative. ccssary expenses attending a funeral, yet there is something dreadful in having a friend die in such a manner as to be hurried to the grave as a vile suicide who had no objects or wishes to live for. To have a being whom we love this hour well — sick the next — dead the next — and hurried to the grave before his ashes are cold — is too much for human nature. I believe if every one was obliged to live in the city during the rage of the sickness, that many evils would be avoided. The natural ties between the rich and the poor and the middle classes of society would not lie sundered ; one could give relief to others, and all, depending on Heaven, would go on as usual in most things. The great evils of this disease have sprung from alarms ; fear has slain more than disease itself. In future days the folly of flying from the cholera will be evident to all. and the great mass of the inhabitants of every city will come to the truth with the fact — " I ran from trouble, and trouble ran and overtook me." All the individual miseries which have flowed from the cholera will never be known. The tears and prayers of widows and orphans have had their influence with the God of mercies, and another scourge may not. perhaps, overtake them. This disease has touched the rich, but it has dwelt with the poor ; it does, indeed, sweep off vice, but it does not keep always with the vicious : the tem- perate, the abstemious, the cautious, and even the extremely scrupulous have fallen victims to its ravages. <; Be ye ready' is a maxim for all who live among men. MRS*, morrell's narrative, 173 CHAPTER IX. Arrival at Bordeaux — History and Description of the City — De- light at seeing the Flag of our Country — Literary and Scien- tific Institutions — Visit to the Tomb of Montesquieu — Com- parison between Montesquieu and one buried in Trinity Churchyard — Sketch of the Archbishop of Bordeaux — His Residence in America— His Popularity there — His Charities — His Return to France — His Popularity in his Native Land — Reception of a File of American Newspapers — The Pleas- ure they gave — American Books — Their Authors — Farewell to Bordeaux. On the 20th of June we arrived at Bordeaux, which lies in longitude 0° 34' west, and latitude 44° 50' 13" north, and is the chief city of the de- partment of the Gironde. It is built on the left bank of the River Garonne, that is. the left bank after military language, which I have dis- covered is different from naval usage. Military men speak as going down a river, and naval as sailing up. In consideration of the loyalty of this city, Louis XYIII. built a bridge across the river, which is seven hundred feet in length and is thrown into seventeen arches, and has a fine ap- pearance. This was the first time I ever had an opportunity of visiting what might be called an ancient city. Those I had seen did not exceed three hundred years in age ; this was founded so early that the precise age of it is not known. It was known to the Romans in the days of Caesar, and in the fifth century it was taken by the Goths in their sweeping march of destruction. It was destroyed after this by the Normans, but as it was 174 MRS. morrell's narrative. a convenient place for commerce it soon rose again from its desolation, and was considered as an im- portant city. It came into the hands of Louis VII. by his marriage with the daughter of the Dnke of Guienne. The king was soon divorced from his wife, and she reserved the city and country around ; but in 1152 she married the Duke of Xormandy, who afterward became King of England. The antiquarians here pretend to show the precise spot where the King of France, when he was made prisoner by the Black Prince, was confined for more than ten years. In a few years after the memorable feats of the Maid of Orleans, the city was restored to France : and in about a century after this, it was nearly destroyed by a rebellion of the people on account of some arbitrary taxa- tion upon salt, which article was much used there for preserving their provisions for vessels. It was a place of great consequence to France, and was protected in its commerce by the Bourbons, and in gratitude remained true to the royal cause during the revolution of 17S9, for which it was severely punished by the furious republicans of that day. They were the last to yield to the revolutionists. and the first to hail the restoration of the Bourbons, when they returned from their long exile. The city lias all the mark's of antiquity about it ; there are some pieces of masonry there that probably were laid before the Christian era. The number of inhabitants is probably not sweater than it was a thousand years ago — not exceeding one hundred thousand. To an American the walls give the place a heavy appearance. There are nineteen n-ates in these walls, and every tiling about it looks as though, in former days, the inhabitants were ca- pable of making a formidable resistance, particu- MRS. morrell's narrative. 175 larly before the invention of gunpowder. The suburbs of the city are delightful residences. The inhabitants arc nearly all Catholics, there being forty-six Catholic churches and but one Protestant. in the city : sonic of these edifices are noble build- ings, though they are not all in the best repair. Bonaparte built a palace here about the time of his Austrian alliance, perhaps rather to conciliate the people than with an intent of residing in it any considerable portion of his time. He wished to eradicate from the hearts of the people all affection for the Bourbons, and one way of effecting this was to display the munificence of the new govern- ment. This was not bad policy, but proved of no avail ; the attempts he made to benefit France, and they were not a few, were all destroyed by his Spanish and Russian wars, in which the elements fought against him as well as men. The harbour is well protected by forts, and looks much more lively with the shipping of all countries than the city "does ; and to me the most cheerful sight was that of the American flag flying more frequently than that of any other nation but that of France. To one long from home it sends a summer feeling: to the heart to see the flag of our country, long respected for the enterprise of our merchants, but now for the glory of our victories. I rejoiced that this flag had not only been consecrated by bravery, but commemorated by the muse ; and I could not refrain from repeating, as I saw it waving from the tall masts of some of our noble vessels, a few lines of one of the poets of my native city : " Flag of the seas ! On ocean's wave. Thy stars shall glitter o'er the brave, When death, careering on the gale, Sleeps dankly round the bellied sail. 176 MRS. morrell'.s narrative. And frighted waves rush wildly back Before the broadside's reeling rack. The dying wanderer of the sea Shall look, at once, to heaven and thee ; And smile to see thy splendours fly In triumph o'er his closing eye. Flag of the free heart's only home ! By angel hands to valour given, Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, And all thy lines were born in heaven ! For ever float that standard sheet ! Where breathes the foe that stands before us, With freedom's soil beneath our feet, And freedom's banner streaming o'er us !" This is part of an old ode written while the war fever was upon us : to have made it perfect the writer should have seen that flag made glorious in the bosom of peace, as it then floated before me. The whale-fishery is carried on here, but' the commanders of these whale-ships are mostly Americans, as in fact are the seamen. An Ameri- can whale-ship is a little empire, and generally one of the best regulated ones. Every one has a share in the profits, and his fortune and reputation are at stake. This works wonders ; no people are more hardy than these men, and none have been more prosperous in their business. I was sorry to hear that the sand was accumulating at the mouth of this harbour, but as human inge- nuity is now busy to find out some remedy for such evils on both sides of the water, I trust it will be one of no great continuance. The museum is large, but did not abound with as many curiosities as I expected from its age. The library of the Academy of Sciences was the largest I had ever seen. There were some splendid editions, but not many in comparison mrs. morrell's narrative. 177 with the whole number of volumes. The acad- emy of the deaf and dumb is in good repute, but I had no opportunity of seeing a display of the pupils. In every part of the city there is some- thing of the bustle of business, but more particu- larly at the gates opening towards the river ; but tbese places are not much visited by ladies. I went to the church of St. Bernard to see the tomb of Montesquieu, who was born in the neighbourhood of this city, and buried here. The French have a great reverence for his memory, and from the enthusiasm with which they speak of him, one would think he was some Lord Byron or Thomas Moore, who had written poetry until every lady : s head was turned with it. My companions could not inform me what he had written, but only that he was admired by every good Frenchman. At length I found his book on the Spirit of the Laws, in English ; and as far as I could judge, he deserved the repu- tation of a great man : but I still wonder how he came to be admired by the French ladies, except because it is a fashion among them to admire great men. I wish this was the fashion in our own country, but I fear that thousands of our New- York ladies pass by Trinity churchyard, in Broadway, without knowing that a greater man than Montesquieu has a monument there ; the monument of one of whom it might be said — " When on a rock which overhung the flood, And seemed to totter, commerce shivering stood ; When credit, building on a sandy shore, Saw the sea swell, and heard the tempest roar ; Heard death in every blast and in each wave, Or saw, or fancied that she saw, her grave ; When property, transferred from hand to hand, Weakened by change, crawled sickly through the land; h3 178 MRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE. When mutual confidence was at an end, .And man no longer could on man depend ; < )ppressed with debts of more than common weight, When all men feared a bankruptcy of state ; When, certain death to honour and to trade, A sponge was talked of as our only aid ; That to be saved we must be more undone, And pay off all our debts by paying none ; Our Country's better genius, born to bless And snatch cur sinking credit from distress, Didst thou step forth, and, without sail or our, Pilot the shattered vessel safe to shore." The present Archbishop of Bordeaux. John Cheverus, was for many years an inhabitant of the United States. During the reign of terror, in 1793, being then a young Catholic priest, lie lied to England, and from thence embarked for the city of Boston, in company with a very esti- mable man, much bus senior, the Rev. Dr. Mat- tignon. In Boston these priests built up a flock, and were in the way of doing much good. When a bishop of Boston was necessary for the Catholic church. Dr. Hattignon urged that his young friend should be appointed in preference to himself. As bishop he became the most popular man in that city among all denominations, lie was on good terms with every sect of Christians : lie was not only polite, affable, and kind, but was unceasing in doing, wherever he was called to labour, among the side or the poor ; nor were his exertions con- fined to these ; he was the confidant of many in the higher circles of life in all denominations ; probably no man ever lived in Boston more generally beloved. Alter twenty-seven years' la- bour in the United States, lie was appointed by Louis XYIil. Bishop of IMontauban, and requested to leave the t 'nited States as soon as possible. At first he declined the appointment, preferring to MRS. WORRELL'S NARRATIVE. 179 live ill his own humble way in Boston to changing it for the parade of a bishop's life in France, but the request being repeated, as it is said, by the king himself, and his health not being good, he came to the determination of leaving America for France. The separation from his old flock, and from his other friends, was painful indeed. When lie reached Montauban, the Protestants vied with the Catholics to do him honour. lie hailed them all his friends, and was ready to do them any service in his power. He had soon an opportunity to show some further traits in his character. There was a great freshet, which caused the rivers near Montauban to overflow their banks and endanger the lives of the farmers. He called all the active spirits of the city together, put himself into the smallest boat, and led the way to assist those in jeopardy. He brought hundreds of them to the city, opened his palace, and lodged and fed them until the waters had abated. Not content with this, he sent men to save the cattle and other property of the dismayed inhabitants, so that, through his firm and generous conduct, but little loss was sustained. The king, hearing of this, and knowing that his finances were not in a very flourishing condition, sent him a very considerable sum of money, of which, however, he did not retain a cent, but distributed the whole amount among those who had suffered the most by the flood and had the least left. His fame was so generally known, that when the old Arch- bishop of Bordeaux died he was appointed, as it were by universal acclamation, to fill his place. He was then made by Charles X. a peer of France. This office was not given to him because he wished it, but the king thought 180 mrs. morrell's narrative. he would bring a good share of influence into the chamber of peers. It was known that he was a well-read civilian, and watched the pro- gress of the institutions of the people of the United States with great care ; but I believe he never took an active part as a politician, for his whole soul was in his religious duties. It is seldom that an archbishop preaches, but he set the example to his higher clergy by preaching and exhorting often. While we were at Bor- deaux his liberal views in politics and religion were often spoken of ; not that he was ever sus- pected of a want of sincerity in his attachment to his religion, but he had charity for all mankind. Like Fenelon, he only wished to do good, having no desire to accumulate wealth. His charities to the poor were great, and he assisted in every improvement of the city. That he was not am- bitious was the opinion of all Bordeaux, for they said that he had refused to accept the office of tutor to the young Duke of Bordeaux, then heir- apparent to the throne. This was considered in France the highest honour that could be given to any subject — that of forming the mind of him who was to reign ; it was. as they think, in some measure reigning himself: but this he had no desire to do. It could be plainly seen when we were there, that there was a gloom on the face of the good bishop, for he could not be ignorant of the state of the public mind in Paris, and some symptoms of a revolution appeared even in the loyal city of Bordeaux. In a few days after our departure the revolution broke out in Paris which hurled Charles X. from the throne, and called in a citizen king. In this change of affairs the bishop lost his peerage, as did all mrs. morrell's narrative. 181 others made by Charles ; but this was no cause of grief to the good man ; it gave him an oppor- tunity to devote his whole time to his ecclesias- tical duties. It would have been fortunate for the young duke if he had had such a guardian and instructor as Bishop Cheverus. If Charles X. had been instructed by a wise, prudent teacher of the nature and feelings of man. he would not have lost his crown. France is a delightful country, and under a mild government would be a happy one. Every- body strives to be as happy as they can in France ; it is not always so with us ; among some of our people there is a disposition to look at things on the dark side. If we hear of the approach of a comet, it disturbs the peace of some who are not wanting in good sense in other things ; but the approach of a comet in France would only pro- duce a pleasant sensation, and they would draw no unfavourable auguries from it, but only envy the scientific the pleasure they would find in watching its progress through the heavens. There is such ease in the manners of the French, so much of habitual politeness, and such a desire to make you happy, that one is unwilling to leave the society to be found almost anywhere in France. The agriculture of the country, it is said, is in a prosperous state ; there is a neatness about some of their fields and vineyards that is delight- ful to one accustomed to ruder culture. The cultivators of the soil own much more of it than the same class of people did before the revolution. It seemed to me almost impossible that this could be the people that only a few years ago — a few in the age of a nation — had suffered so much by revo- lutionary fury; a people whose fathers, sons, and 182 MRS. MORRliLi/S NARRATIVE. brothers fell by the dagger of the assassin or under the bloody guillotine. There were no traces of misery now. — nothing to remind you that such scenes of horror had ever passed, except now and then the mark of a cannon-ball in some old house, and these ruins are not numerous. From reading all the agonizing details of the revolution, I expected to find many insane wretches, made so by these sufferings : but after all my inquiries — and I made them until they created a smile, — I could not find a single maniac whose madness could be traced to witnessing or sharing in these horrors. How soon a generation is forgotten ! — even that great wonder of men, Napoleon, whose name was on every tongue from one end of the earth to the other, was now seldom mentioned in the city, or anywhere in France. What a les- son to those who seek fame through fields of devastation and blood ! In Bordeaux I found a file of American news- papers. It was true that they contained nothing new or interesting to most readers : but to me tbey were dear as the light that visited my eyes. There were the little squabbles of editors : the complaints of some neglected actors, the purls required to vend patent medicines, or to call the attention to a sale of the last importation of bonnets or fans. All was delightful to me, for [ knew that the interesting Mr. A was to preach in street, on a particular evening, and that the learned Dr. M would give a lecture on such an evening on political economy, or on steam-engines, or internal improvements, or on the raising of hemp, or the last public sale of do- mestic manufactures. This medley was delight- ful. I could rejoice at the hymeneal register, and drop a tear over the obituary notices. The exile mrs. morrkll's narrative. 1S3 never kissed the ground on his return to his native land with more enthusiasm than I read these newspapers ; only some fifty days old. To me they seemed as thrown on the hreakfast-table all wet from the press. I read all the advertise- ments, as delicious morsels of information ; not a word was omitted. The speeches of politicians at dinners given for their political services were read with attention, in truth devoured. It made not a cent's difference on which side they spoke, for they were my countrymen, and they had a right to differ among themselves ; nor was I sure 1 wished them to agree if they found more pleas- ure in disputing ? I felt no disposition to set them right if I could have had the power given me, for I did not know who was right, but thought them all so. The number of new publications I saw advertised was such that it seemed as if all that my countrymen had been doing while I was absent had been to cultivate their minds ; and I was happy to find that they had enjoyed themselves in this way. I expected to find every one so improved that I should hardly dare to see my old friends. I learned the " whereabouts" of all the state and general government politicians, and what they had been saying and doing in my absence. I picked up a few American books in this city, of recent date, and these were greeted as old friends, and read with delight ; but I made no criticisms, for one long absent from home never complains of any thing from that quarter. I could wish that all who criticise their own people were obliged to wait before they commenced their review until they had got three or four thousand miles from home, and I really think we, should have much 184 MRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE. less vituperation. If any writer of distinction could see his works in distant countries, and know what ubiquity he possesses, he must be happy indeed if he is conscious that what he has written is not exceptionable on the score of principle. Irving, Cooper, Webster, and several of our poets are found at many places we visited ; and tbose and other American names were familiar in Asia and Africa as well as in Europe. I must say, however, that English vessels are more likely to bring out recent literary and scientific produc- tions than our own, but do not equal us in general in the extent of the useful library made up for the voyage. Hardly a single vessel thinks of putting to sea for a long voyage without taking several hundred volumes. Master mari- ners have found out that officers and men on a long voyage can do their duties, and have some time to improve their minds too. The selection is often not the best that might be made for this purpose, particularly of books relating to our own country, for there are but few who visit other countries that know much about our own. It would be doing a service, if some one acquainted with books were to make out a catalogue of such as should be collected for ordinary and for long voyages. All the approved naval journals and voyages are indispensable as guides for the purpose of obtaining the most information in the shortest time. Some good commercial dictiona- ries, and geographies, and gazetteers should be always at hand ; and works of taste should not be forgotten. An interesting work appears with double charms on shipboard. The mind is then concentrated, and cannot be dissipated by amuse- ments or trifles — it comes with all its force to a MRS. MORRELL's* NARRATIVE. 185 subject. Not only a matter of taste but a moral lesson sinks deeper in the mind when there is nothing to distract our attention. The great mathematician of our country, who is consid- ered greater in Europe than in America, gained most of his information during voyages at sea. His name and his commentaries on La Place's great mathematical work are familiar to all men of science in France. Dr. Bowditch per- formed many long voyages, as factor and master, from the United States to India ; always having with him good officers, he had leisure to go through those long and difficult calculations which have laid the foundation of his great fame, so valuable and so dear to his country. Every person at sea is constantly reminded of him, as his Navigator is on every officer's table. This book, I believe, has taken the place of all others among our mariners,and is highly esteemed bynavigators of other countries. It is said, also, that the nume- rous corrections made in tables by him were made at sea. I am surprised that tales or poetry are not often written at sea, for passengers surely have leisure when officers have no spare time. The inspiration is generally from the pure air, which, after all, is one of the best inspiring agents in nature. The dreams of Delphos were upon some divine afflatus, as the poets call it, which were probably nothing more than a sweet bracins; wind. I was delighted at the information I received here, that my countrymen were much respected in France, and that we were no longer considered an infant nation, but as one that bore a proud flag, that had reared and was rearing historians, poets, orators, and above all a class of profound statesmen to guide the vessel of state. I had not [S6 MRS. M0RRELLS NARRATIVE. thought much of these things when I left my native land, but now I was identified with all of them in some degree; certainly in feeling, if nothing more. I looked forward to the day when my own dear boy might be an active man among them, and the prospective view of that period, generally long to those who have children, did not seem to me at this moment half so long as I had been absent from my country and my child. Travellers, it is said, are mostly short lived, and I can easily conceive of the truth of the remark, for they suffer and enjoy so much that the human frame is exhausted by the various emotions of excitement — from anxiety, from grati- fying news, and all the changes that agitate their hearts. In the midst of these emotions I thought I should sit down in my own chamber, and enjoy, oh ! sweetly enjoy all my former domestic quiet; and yet I would not give up the memory of the things I have seen, suffered, and enjoyed, to be sure of the most protracted existence. Such con- tradictions we are, and such we shall always re- main. The distance from home now was a mere trifle ; only three thousand miles, and that the Atlantic, my own ocean, for it washed the shores of my native land, and I did not think that she would now be deceitful or unpropitious, since I had braved ;-o many dangers in the Southern Pacific. When the anchor was weighed for our departure, and our kind friends came to take leave of me, I thought only of a pleasant sail, as on a party of pleasure. The countenances of the hardy seamen, inured to all climates, and at home in all countries, seemed to me to glow with the thoughts of their native land, and they sprang to their duties as if they had turned their faces homeward. MRS. MORRELl's NARRATIVE. 187, CHAPTER X. Conchology— The Pearl-oyster— The Nautilus— The large Shell use;] for War Trumpets — ■ i'he Eyestone — Character of Sailors — Causes of their Ignorance — Their Errors on the Side of Vir- tue — The Neglect of their Education — United States' Ship Vincennes— -Manner in which Seamen should be treated — Character and Description of Sunday and Monday, two Na- tives brought Homy i:i the Antarctic On the voyage to New- York from Bordeaux, I took ati opportunity, in pleasant weather, to arrange the shells i had been collecting in the Southern Pacific. I was, when quite young, much pleased with the beauty of shells, and had received from sea-faring connexions a pretty collection. This taste I afterward gratified in gathering them on the beaches of the many islands at which we made a shorter or longer stay. My passion for conchology increased when I turned to writings on the subject, and found how long this branch of natural history had attracted the attention of man- kind, and how much had been done towards classi- fying and describing the great variety of shells. I had considered them the mere playthings of taste, nor once dreamed that such philosophers as those of Greece had paid attention to picking up and describing shells ; but I was happy to find that those things which gave me so much pleasure were really among matters of importance. More than two thousand years ago Aristotle made a treatise upon conchology for the benefit of his pupil 188 MRS. MORRELI/fe' NARRATIVE. Alexander the Great. At first it seemed strange to me that he who was deep in the mysteries of logic could stoop to examine the shell of a muscle, or that he who was grasping at universal empire could listen to a discourse on shells ; but 1 believe the more intelligent the age and nation are, the more these minute subjects are attended to, for during- all the night of darkness when the world was overrun with superstition, no attention was paid to natural history. Those who were discuss- ing absurd questions in theology were likely to neglect the works of God as displayed in his crea- tion and providence. A little more than half a century since, the science of conchology was re- vived and enlarged, and is now in a train to become extensively understood. The admirable construction of shells for the purposes for which they were intended, and the beautifully variegated colours with which many of them are adorned, afford additional proof to the observer of nature of the superintending hand of Providence ex- tended even to the minutest objects of creation. It is a beautiful sight to look along the shores of some of the islands near the equator and mark the endless variety of shells thrown up by the winds and waves — the houses of tenants long since dead ; but if we could rake the bottom of the sea near those islands and find the living shells, they would be much more beautiful. The shells the divers brought us with the in- habitant alive were in beauty of tints far more exquisite than those bleached by the sun and rains, and washed by ten thousand tides. The pearl-oyster, as the conch is called, which contains the pearl, is worthy of examination. MRS. morrell's narrative. 189 This oyster is about three or four times as large as the common oyster, and, as far as I could learn, a being of higher faculties ; he has the power of locomotion, and moves, if at no great distance, or with any considerable speed, backward and for- ward to find his food. The shell is sometimes called mother-of-pearl ; an expressive term, even if no pearls are found within the shell. The pearl was long supposed to be fixed to the shell, to assist in opening it, or for some other purpose, — Heaven only knows what ; the pearl, however, is not found adhering to the shell, but grows under the most fleshy parts of the oyster, or near his head, leaving a mark upon the shell. This creation, like that of the ambergris, has never been satisfactorily accounted for, and per- haps never will be. The great Author of nature intended.no doubt, that the beings he had endowed with reason should have perpetual enigmas to solve, so that they might be satisfied that they could never reach liim by attempting to fathom all the secrets of nature ; for he knows their ambition and their pride. The natives of the South Sea islands make these shells useful in the formation of instruments, such as hatchets, spears, fish-hooks, and knives ; and, if not equal to iron and steel, they are vastly superior to those which could be made of silver or gold. It is not a little singular to one living constantly on land that the ancients should have attributed to the sea so many of the loveliest of their mythological creations ; Venus rose from the foam of the ocean, and the Tritons sounded their shells at her birth. These fictions were unquestionably of Indian origin, for there the ocean is most lovely, and the shells the most beau-! tiful. The Greeks got their descriptions second-! 100 MRS. morrell's narrative. handed ; for the shores of the Mediterranean or those of the Red Sea produce no specimens of conchotomy to be compared with those of the islands near the equator. 1 had read that Cleopatra dissolved a most val- uable pearl in vinegar, and drank it. The vin- egar must have been stronger than that which we had, for I tried one of the almost impercepti- ble pearls, taken by thousands from these oysters, and could not dissolve it in a whole day. She. I think, must have mixed a little water with what- ever could dissolve a pearl, or have had a royal stomach indeed. The ancients must have far exceeded the moderns in knowledge, or the won- ders of early history must have been described with little regard to truth. If Egypt's queen did not drink the pearl, she taught her subjects how to find it. After her restoration by Csesar to the throne of the Ptolemies, she pursued the com- merce of her ancestors, and grew wealthy beyond all the Eastern monarchs of her age. Antony bestowed upon her Phenicia, Cyprus, some part of Arabia, Crete, and other commercial places. Her reign is a proof of the intimate connexion of letters with commerce. It would require a huge volume to & - ive any satisfactory account of even the small number of shells we collected, compared with the myr- iads on the shores of the islands in the Southern Pacific. The nautilus, of which we gathered a great variety, is quite a curiosity, and has held a high rank in conchology for many reasons. It is a vessel, and some of the ancient poets, and modern ones too, make it the prototype of ves- sels and of sailing. The various species o( the genus are found in most warm countries ; they MRS. MORRELL's NARRATIVE. 101 arc of all sizes, from that of your thumb-nail to upwards of eighteen inches from stem to stern,— as the sailors speak of them while sail- ins: along. The living and fleshy part of the nautilus does not weigh much more than an ounce, whereas the shell would hold a quart ; but this living part has the power of throwing all the water from the shell, and of sailing by projecting a membrane, which the sailors in their significant manner call a stern-sheet. The outside of the shell is white and smooth, and the inside is of a pearly cast. The natives make these their drink- ing-cups when polished and ornamented for use. These ornaments are often singular ; I have sev- eral of them bearing fancy sketches decidedly superior to such as often appear in Ackerman's Repository, for ladies' ornamental work, and the La Belle Assemblee, as patterns for the working of fashionable handkerchiefs or vandikes. And I believe some of the queens and princesses of these isles can arrange and wear a tuft of feathers quite as tastefully as any lady at Almack's at a fashionable ball. These shells are not used for any purpose that I know of among us, but they are certainly as handsome as any large shells we have in our cabinets. The large shell generally called by the common name of conch is found in these islands in great abundance. These shells are artificially perfor- ated near the top, and are used as the war-trumpet by the natives. They never sound it except as a general signal for muster. The power of it is vastly greater than that of the trumpet, and may be heard farther than any martial instru- ment in use among civilized men. There is 192 MRS. morrell's narrative. something extremely natural in all the seemingly monstrous fables of the ancients ; they made the Triton blow this shell as trumpeter to Neptune, even as far back as Deucalion's flood ; and at the sound the waters retired. The sound of this shell can be heard for many miles when blown by a strong-breathed sailor in the mood of amusing himself, without having any classical images in his head. The conch was brought to some parts of our country very early ; in fact. I have been informed that some of the original settlers intro- duced them when they first came here, and used them to call the distant workmen to their meals. History informs us that the Indians in the wars of King Philip were at one time frightened from their purpose by some accidental sound of the dinner-summoning conch : and at a much later period, it was used in the interior of our country to call the inmates of a college to dinner or to prayers. The ancients considered these shells as carrying within them a spirit of echo, and whoever puts one of them to his ear will discover from whence that impression arose. There is a sound of distant waters in his ear: the lashing of the billows upon the beach. What close ob- servers must have been these poetical examiners of nature ; and we might add, how many of these impressions remain on the minds of the present generation. Perhaps many of our commonly received notions would not stand the test of modern criticism in an age when nature is so severely scrutinized by philosophers. There is another little shell, commonly called the eyestone, of which I have seen no satisfac- tory account, though I do not mean to insinuate mrs. morrell's narrative. 193 that there is none extant. I do not know the classical term for it, and therefore must speak of it by its popular name. The former impression that we had upon this subject was, that the eye- stone was gifted with life, which slept in quiet until man wanted its services, when by plunging- it into vinegar it was revivified and ready for use. When by some misfortune a moat gets into our eye, the sleeping agent is roused to fitness for use by a powerful acid. That the eyestone discovered such signs of life as to make it sus- ceptible of motion in this acid no one will have the hardihood to deny, for most have seen and can bear testimony to it; and how natural the idea that vitality is connected with motion. The science of the present day, however, is not con- tent to receive any thing on trust : and the no- tion of the vitality of the eyestone, in common with other popular errors, is now exploded. A few lessons from our old friend Dr. Griscom, I think, would enable any one to conjecture that this stone is an alkali, and the acid being poured upon it gives it action and effervescence, which accounts for its motion round the vessel into which it is placed with the vinegar. Put into the eye, it moves around under the lid by the natural action of the parts with which it comes in contact, and being so smooth — for all its ex- crescences are destroyed by the acid — it gives no pain : and working under the lid, often pushes before it any speck or moat, and relieves the eye in a short time. While it is in the eye we forbear to rub the lid for fear that the stone will get out of its place : of course the eye lias a rest which in ordinary occasions of its smarting we should not be disposed to grant it. 194 mrs. morrell's NARRATIVE. Many of the phenomena of nature were known to the ancients only by their effects, and it was left to modern science to trace their origin to natural causes. The knowledge of the ancients, being confined almost wholly to the priesthood, offered a ready instrument in their hands to gov- ern the minds of men by superstitious terrors. The light of science, however, is no longer con- fined to the pagan temple or monkish cloister, and gradually developes in their natural forms many things which superstition and ignorance could only attribute to the supernatural. I have been astonished that an attempt to re- form seamen should have been left to so late a period as it has been. A current opinion has been afloat ever since commerce was introduced into the world, that those who went down to the sea in ships should be rough, bold, and uncivil ; and it has been left for moderns to discover that these characteristics are not necessary to make a good sailor. That they should be bold and fearless necessarily arises from their duties, their expo- sures, and their vicissitudes ; cowardice in them would lead to destruction, and they know it. Habit makes them often do an act the conse- quences of which they do not stop to calculate ; they are hardy, generally, from exercise and sea air, enjoy health and strength, and seldom grow indolent from indulging in too much sleep. Pro- fanity is with them rather a degrading habit than a blasphemous feeling or disposition : the officers too often indulge in the vice, and the sailors imitate them. They are superstitious because, they are ignorant ; constantly seeing remark- able tilings without being able, by any knowledge they have, of accounting for them, they have re- mrs. morrell's narrative. 195 course to their imaginations for causes, and this power of their minds is without cultivation or taste, and the greater the mystery the better ; but still their hearts seem to be right. Nineteen-twentieths of the sailors who double the Cape of Good Hope and go into the Eastern seas believe in the truth of the Flying Dutchman ; they have well-authenticated stories of honest seamen, who bore honest testimony to the fact ; and if it was the only way to establish the truth of a matter by the solemn testimony of witnesses, this would be as well supported as any event in history. Cotton Mather speaks of a phantom- ship which appeared near the harbour of Boston. A vessel had long been missing, and the friends of those on board her became distressed ; prayers were offered up for their safety, but when she was quite given over, a ship was distinctly seen by the people of Boston coining in under full sail. So distinctly was she seen, that men were visible on her decks ; she came on swimmingly for an hour or two, when in an instant she van- ished, and was never heard of or seen any more. It was considered by that pious and learned man, and of course by most others, that this was a kind vision from the Almighty to assure all those interested in the fate of the ship that she was lost, and all hands perished. Those who did not believe in this interference of Providence to shadow out such an event, did not know how to account for the phenomenon, and of course were silent upon it. For nearly two centuries this story was told, to the belief of many, and to the amusement of others, when an explanation was given by a similar appearance in the city of New- York. In the fall of 1826. the appearance of 12 196 MRS. morrell's narrative. several vessels was seen from the Battery upon the horizon, clearly and distinctly, when the ships whose images were reflected were not within sight. These images, by refraction, were thrown on a cloud beyond them by the rays of the sun ; and while many wondered the philosophers ex- plained, and a satisfactory solution of Cotton Mather's story was made out. Some ship from the north was sailing towards the south, and not wishing to enter the port of Boston, was so situ- ated as to be reflected on such a cloud ; and hence arose the appearance which was proved beyond a doubt, yet was not believed by the reasoning people of subsequent times. There can be no doubt of the fact that in these seas where the phenomenon of the Flying Dutch- man has been again and again seen, that this effect is reducible to the same cause. The sailors have a tradition that this Flying Dutchman and his crew were wicked enough to deny the Chris- tian religion, and to trample the cross under their feet for gain, with imprecations upon their heads if they did not despise it : such as a wish that if they were not sincere in their renunciation, they might never return again to their native land. For this unpardonable sin, this vessel and its crew were doomed to fly from place to place until the world should be destroyed. This very prejudice, however, was on the side of virtue, and has been made use of to keep sea- men from denying their faith, even in the midst of their blasphemy : and although it is known that the Mohammedans make strenuous efforts to induce a Christian to profess their faith, yet but few even of the most profligate of the sailors of Christian nations have been known to change MRS. MORRELtfS NARRATIVE. 197 their religion, even when the temptations held out were of the most captivating kind. The sailor is generous, bold, and faithful, with even prejudices that are on the side of virtue ; why, then, is he left in ignorance, and hardly reckoned a part of the intellectual or moral world 'I It has not been his fault half so much as the fault of those who had the control of him. Those who employed him, and could not do without his services, reasoned like the despot : — • '• My authority is at an end when they know any thing more than mere seamanship ; if they could navigate as well as I can, they would take my ship and go where they please with her." This reason- ing might be true if they were to be instructed in science without any attention to morals. This subject has now become of importance to our country, considering the great number of sailors we have. Taking the navy, and those engaged in foreign and domestic commerce and the fish- eries, there cannot be less than sixty thousand ; forty-three thousand of these are employed in commerce, and ten thousand in the navy. In- struction might be given to all these at an easy and cheap rate, and they might be made more respect- able citizens without injuring them as sailors. Merchants often say, if you enlighten these men, who are now only so many good machines to work or fight a ship, and make them understand their situation, you raise at once the price of wages, and commerce will not afford this. But can they not at the same time see that this could not be an evil of long continuance, for the wages are always incorporated with other expenses on a cargo, and the consumer, not the merchant, pays for it. But is the objection true 1 Would not the 198 MRS. morrell's narrative. regularity of the conduct of seamen lessen en- surance. and produce more despatch in voyages, and by these means make a balance in favour of the merchant in the end '} If sailors were prop- erly educated and kept sober, there would be less chance of their turning- pirates, and of commit- ting crimes at which all mankind shudder; and which are now becoming so prevalent that scarcely a paper is issued without some mention of the loss of lives and property by piracy. Humanity is appalled at some of these atrocities; the naval force is called upon to avenge the in- juries : but this moral discipline would do better, — it would, in most instances, prevent them. It is not a little extraordinary that all nations should so far forget themselves as to have no system of instruction or discipline for sailors, ex- cept such as is left by law in the discretion of masters of vessels. There is in the world at least a million of seamen, who are engaged in fighting their country's battles, or assisting in the sailing of vessels of merchandise, or in the seve- ral fisheries, and hardly a school among them all. No farmer hires a man who is not recom- mended to him as an able-bodied man, and one well acquainted with his duties ; yet a merchant waits, after he has fixed upon his voyage, selected his master, and got his vessel loaded and just lit for sea, and then drums up his crew on short notice, only inquiring if they be good seamen, without thinking of their moral characters at all, or making the slightest inquiry whether the man they ship is a pirate or an honest seaman. As long as this is the case, and there are so many bad men who resort to the seas, perhaps to escape the punishment due to their crimes, no wonder that MRS. morrell's narrative. 199 so many deeds of horror are perpetrated. Inquiry should be made into every man's character before lie ships, and then proper arrangements made to treat him well on the voyage as to food and instruction. I believe this good work has been begun in many of the seaport towns in this country. Provision has been made for mariners' churches, and with no doubt some fanaticism, much good has been done in many respects. In the navy there are now some chaplains who can both preach and pray. I would not have a ship a conventicle ; but much may be done without any cant or overstrained piety. Get such men thinking right, and you will soon find them acting well. Thus educated, instead of sowing the seeds of profligacy wherever they went, we should find them seeking to do good ; and opportunities often occurring, much might be effected by them in all parts of the world. Those with whom these men are connected on shore would be benefited by their example, and they would not only do good abroad, but in time the wave of their exer- tions would be rolled back to bless the land of their birth and the home of their affections. Ed- ucate sailors, and they would contract binding ties, which is not often the case now. We are, and ever shall be, a great commercial people ; of course a navy will be constantly kept up ; and is it not of vital importance that we should set about a school for reform '} Just before we arrived at Manilla, the United States' sloop-of-war Tincennes visited the place. She was. in all respects, a fine ship ; the people of Manilla spoke of her neatness, her order, and the decorum of her crew. There was no revelling in her, nor by her crew out of her ; the control over 200 MRS. M0*RRELL's NARRATIVE. them was perfect. This was owing to the honour- able agreement between the captain and the chap- lain ; they understood each other, and the crew understood both. All things were put in order by concert at head-quarters, and of course carried into effect ; both officers were men of sense, and expected no more than could be performed by men ; but they took every efficient measure to bring the minds of the crew to a just sense of reasoning ; and instruction was going on while duty was performed. This was as it should be ; and no ship ever yet went round the world with so much ease, with so little loss of human life, and with so much harmony, as the Yincennes. It was only an ordinary voyage to them, but ex- traordinary, in fact, to every looker-on. The dis- cipline of the crew was a source of wonder to the people of every place they visited. This is only a sample of what may be done : the allowance of whiskey should be cut off by fair contract, and something substituted in its place. Government should not save by any of these regulations, but should rather over than under-pay ; let good and wholesome meals be always provided, and good and wholesome instruction be constantly going on, and the seamen would be content, and the ship for ever secure. It has always been found that the true Christian will fight like a lion: it has never been found that principle has destroyed mental energy, but. on the contrary, has sustained it through every contest. Change the moral character of your seamen, and you make them invincible ; let the modes of instruction be simple and easy, not made as a task, but granted as a boon, and all will be right. It is my belief that a crew of men formed on these principles, and so MRS. morrell's narrative. 201 trained and treated, would not flinch from twice their number of such as are commonly found in what has been emphatically called " the floating hells of the sea. ; ' I am not one of those fanatics who think that all the world are to be made Chris- tians and devotees at once, and that all duty is to be absorbed in the forms of religion. No ; but from what I have seen, I believe that every ship's crew can be made a well-regulated family, in which decency and decorum may be found as well as on shore. That vice can be rooted out of the world entirely I am not so weak as to sup- pose ; but I do believe that where law is so sup- ported by principle, sailors can be made as good men as others, and governed as easily. If there was ever any meaning in the oft-repeated decla- ration of the good Bishop of Cloyne, that " Westward the star of empire takes its way," it was to rise in some moral, not natural relation. If man is here to rise to higher eminence as an intelligent being than he ever did in the old world, it is not from his capability of destroying, but from a disposition to benefit his species, — ■ still to protect himself. Man is mentally and corporally enfeebled by vice, and his energies and exploits are immediately connected with his health and his sanity of mind. The phrensy of inebriation may last for a few moments, but the calm determination of honest feelings and clear views is worth much more than all the fury of accidental excitement. I know that there are honest men who think these reasonings a species of fanaticism, and I do not doubt that some things said at the Bethels and mariners' i3 202 MRS. morrkll's narrative. churches may savour of fanaticism; but that is no argument against the attempts to make sailors rational, and moral, and religious beings : it never was, and never will be the case, that a re- form was conducted in all respects by the cool dictates of the understanding'. I would commence systematically. In the first place, I would introduce a few well-written epitomes of moral and religious duties, with some interesting anecdotes of Christian mariners. They should be without sectarianism, or any thing that had a bearing that way ; and. in addi- tion, a fair epitome of the best voyages now ex- tant should be made up for the use of the crew. Every thing should be fairly used to make the profession appear in its true and honourable light, without colouring or deceit ; every sailor should learn, as by this mirror, to see and respect him- self. By small treatises, he should he taught his duties in every way. If his duties as a seaman were clearly laid down, he would learn them in half the time he now does bv curses ami Hog- gings. He should then he carried to higher views of science and navigation, and should con- sider himself an intelligent bein«", engaged in an honest cause, and for a. proper end. This may seem chimerical to one who has several ships, and wishes to get them navigated as cheap as possible ; but the calculations and arguments of any one should yield to general interest and common understanding. When there were but three or four hanks in the United States, the stockholders, it is said, objected to having any more, as the mysteries of managing them were above the ordinary comprehension. The mys- tery of managing the moral and temporal con- MRS. morrell's narrative. 203 dition of sailors may be thought to be above the comprehension of a woman ; but, however, one thing is certain, that if my remarks are of no ser- vice, they are at least harmless. To ship a sailor, learn him to do his duty, and to bring him back safe after he has honestly and honourably dis- charged his duty, has no mystery in it, but a good deal of common sense. Our manufacturing establishments, it is said, will be exempt from many of the evils which are found in those of Europe, because in most of them provision is made that the young of both sexes shall not grow up in ignorance ; and why should not this principle be incorporated into our commercial establishments? Merchants have made and are making ample provision to pre- serve the morals and to enlighten the minds of their clerks, to prevent fraud and peculation ; and why should not equal attention be paid to the moral and intellectual improvement of mariners ?- To them, in fact, as much is intrusted, without the same ready means to bring them to a sense of justice. Provision should be made to instruct sailors when out of employment. A plan has lately been suggested by a patriotic and intelli- gent member of Congress to make the whole army of the United States one great seminary of instruction, and to dismiss all its idle and good- for-no thing drones, and introduce youthful am- bition in their place. The plan, I verily believe, will succeed when it is properly understood, the army will be made much more efficient than it now is, and thousands of good citizens will be added to the republic. If the contemplated im- provements in the condition of soldiers cannot all be realized with respect to seamen, still em 204 MRS. MORRELLs NARRATIVE. approximation can be made, and the sailor, should he be disabled or disinclined to follow his profes- sion, may be enabled to fill some station in society for which he is fitted : but according to the pres- ent system, when a sailor can no longer discharge his duties on ship-board, he is considered as an outcast from society, and must expire in some asylum of charity, or die by excited intemperance. This is wrong ; the moralists and philanthropists of the age should set about devising some remedy for these evils, and the sooner they engage in it the better. I had almost forgotten to state that while visit- ing those islands near the equator where we had some skirmishes with the natives, we took a prisoner, whom, from the day on which he was taken, we called Monday. He was picked up from the water : the canoe in which he was being de- stroyed by the cannon-shot, he took to the water, and being wounded, was taken in by our boat's crew sent for that purpose. He is apparently about twenty-two years of age, five feet eight inches high, stout made, and quick in his move- ments. He is rather sullen in his temper, but has never appeared vindictive to us. He is ingenious, and very imitative. At first he seemed to wish to remain in ignorance, but after a while came to a better disposition, and was desirous, in some measure, to oblige. His countenance is that of a savage in every respect : he lias the Indian high cheek-bones and the dark humours of the eye. He is not of a strong constitution, seeming rather inclined to consumption ; but how any being could have that complaint who was born and lived in the climate he did I cannot tell. Perhaps the thoughts of being a prisoner preyed MRS. morrell's narrative. 205 on his mind, and the sickness of his heart was taken for that of another kind. At times this savage would sit and look steadfastly upon the ocean towards, as he probably thought, the point from whence he came, for whole hours together. Every kindness was shown him ; he ate what he pleased, and when, and not a blow was ever given him by any one ; the sailors having strict orders not to disturb him nor his companion. He wan- dered about the deck, and showed at length some marks of interest in things around him. He soon became familiar to clothes, and fond of them. Sunday was a native of more importance ; from another island, taken shortly before Monday. He is a stout, well-made man, of five feet eleven inches in height, weighs about two hundred pounds, and is remarkably strong and active. He is without doubt a chief among his trite, for he led the attack upon us, and bore himself bravely. His corporeal strength is wonderful ; no one on board our vessel possessed equal muscular power. He is supposed to be about thirty-five years of age, and is very tractable. He soon learned many English words, and seemed anxious to know as much as he could. He is very good-natured, docile, and obliging ; and understands sufficient of our language to know that he has a promise from my husband that he shall return to his native land as soon as circumstances will permit. He has more of the African cast of features than the inhabitants of most of the islands we visited. He states that lie had three wives, to which number his rank entitled him, beinir the son of the king oi the group, who was an old man, and did not come out to battle. This is probable, for we never perceived the slightest disposition in him 206 MRS. morrell's narrative. to utter a falsehood. He seems to be open, gene- rous, and willing to do any thing he can for others : he is extremely anxious to return to his native island, and promises to make them all do right. I am far from the opinion that these people whom we call savages have the Avorst disposi- tions of any people on earth : on the contrary, I believe that if their hearts could first be reached by kindness, they could easily be brought to observe the rules and decencies of society. I state this for the encouragement of those who may hereafter be- come missionaries to these benighted parts of the earth. This very savage may. and I trust will. be an efficient instrument in opening a way for the labours of pious men who may be sent into these regions. Besides the good it will do, will it not be a source of happiness to those engaged in such a cause !■ Is there not a disposition in every enterprising mind to erect some memorial of his exertions which will endure beyond the time he may live !■ Do not these almost unknown regions afford an opportunity fir virtuous distinc- tion / To carry civilization and Christianity to such remote parts of the earth would have given joy to the apostles themselves ; and is it not a happy reflection to the zealous good man, that there is still awide held for him and his successors? 1 never saw happier beings than the missionaries in the island of New-Zealand, although so far from friends and country, and the g-ood of savage men their only reward. I have often thought of the sincerity of these people, who were not among the poor and destitute in their own country, but possessed of means to live and bear a respectable part in society. They labour from one year to an- other, with all the care of those who have the cure mrs*. morrell's narrative. 207 h' of souls, in truth and reality thinking of no recom- pense this side of heaven. How sincere the re- ligion — how warm the faith, that can support them in all this! It is almost equal to that ex- pressed by St. Paul, who could wish himself con- demned for Christ's sake. The spirit and zeal of him of Tarsus is abroad, united with souie- thing of the sweet affections of him whom Christ loved ; at least I thought so when I visited New- Zealand. 1 loved them for staying there, but I should not have dared to ask my heart if 1 could join them ; I should have feared a worldly answer from myself, but, thank Heaven, I can never be put to the test. 208 MRS. morrell's narrative. CHAPTER XL Observations on the Progress of Discovery — Remarks on the Marine of various Nations — Aurora Borealis — Anecdote of its Appearance early in the last Century. The glories of discovery are divided among the maritime nations of Europe with our own country. Those that were once famous on the ocean are not so now. Those who sailed from the Gulf of Finland, and spread terror through Europe, are not now known as having any navy, or vessels of commerce. The Por- tuguese are seldom found at this day in their own discovered countries ; and the Spaniards are hardly known in the countries over which the nation still holds sway. I do not know that either of these nations have, for many years, had a ship of discovery on the seas, on which they once were the masters and lords of every wave, and but very few pursuing the regular course of commerce. To a Spaniard who calls to mind the rank which his country once held among the nations, when the Indies and the greater part of Europe acknowledged her su- premacy, it must be a melancholy reflection, that empire has passed or is passing away from her. The galleons which once sailed from Ma- nilla to South America, and to Spain, arc now only reminiscences of history ; no such thing is seen in these seas, and it requires some degree of faith to believe they ever existed. If the MRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE. 209 Spanish ships are scarce, the Portuguese are scarcer; a vessel may sail the globe without meeting one of either nation. The Prussians and Austrians never put in any claim for the honour of discovery : and Denmark and Sweden can boast of but little more for these three cen- turies past. Venice, and Genoa, and Florence are now as if they had never been, in a commer- cial point of view. Most of the nations who once contended for fame as discoverers, do so no more. The only flags now to be met with are those of England, France, Russia, the United States, and now and then one of the kingdom of the Nether- lands. The commerce of Holland is reviving — she has long been in the background, but is cer- tainly rising in .enterprise and power. The autocrat of all the Russias has evinced a de- sire that his empire should be ranked among the commercial and naval nations of the world, and has been at some expense to support this assumption. If his share in the bloody "battle of Navarino has done him no honour, the voyage of Von Kotzebue has. Russia has too deep an interest in the Western Pacific not to have a respectable force on the North-west Coast. Russia is slowly, but surely, extending her com- merce and maritime power over every sea, and will make her way if she pursues her present policy. France has not extended her empire much since the battles of the Nile and Trafalgar, but is increasing her marine with no humble ob- jects in view. Her navy now falls but little short in point of numbers to that of Great Britain, and her colonies are next to the British in fertility and commerce. France has always in modern times, of which we are speaking, been ambitious to have 210 mrs. morrell's narrative. her share in exploring and in governing the world. She may be said to watch every point of inspec- tion along the deep ; but since her disasters in the great battles with England, with less than her former display, yet. I have no doubt, with all her former sagacity- The discoveries of England are made public by government at. once ; but the French discoveries are only partially given to tire world; since the days of La Perouse, they have not published any thing «5f conse- quence. If France is suffered to remain in peace, we may rely upon it she will have no humble views of her knowledge and her power. Her am- bition was always great, and as she lias gained in intelligence." she has lost nothing of her pride or her enterprise. Although there is no parade made about it, we find French ships everywhere. They pursue their course in silent duty, but not without gain- ing information. England, it is true, considers the ocean as her own, and sails it as if this superiority was never to be disputed. The im- posing appearance of her ships was well calcu- lated to impress the minds of the people in every distant region they visited with an idea of the power and importance of the empire, especially when contrasted with the smaller size and infe- rior equipment of those of other European na- tions. The natives possessed no other means of judging of the relative importance of the coun- tries which traded with them ; and it is to be presumed that no endeavour was spared by those who navigated the British vessels to increase this favourable impression. From this cause it has arisen that every expression of admira- tion and reverence that these aborigines have mrs. morrell's narrative. 211 at command has been exhausted on the British navy. This influence is fairly earned, however inimical it may be to the views of nations at this day, when all are strenuously contending for their rights. 1 know not how they can remedy the evil which is experienced by the superiority of England, except by emulating that country in their commercial exertions in every part of the world. The United States, if her commerce and marine increase as they have done for twenty years past, will be nearly, in twenty years to come, as much interested in the trade of the southern hemisphere as England. The visits of our vessels of war to the remote parts of the Western and Eastern Pacific have had a good effect on the minds of the Indians, ."Malays, and Chinese, who think nothing of justice, but only as it may be enforced by power. Some civilized nations must in time be masters of these remote islands, and it would be well for us to have a share in the influence that may be exercised in this new world abounding in articles of commerce. Settlements on some of the numerous islands lately discovered by American navigators would be acceptable to the whaling ships as well as to other vessels, and would create a new market for many of our articles of commerce. The field is as Avide for the philanthropist as for the merchant, and he would be as eager to occupy it. The maritime power of Russia is one of those that will increase, if not rapidly, yet surely. The spirit of Peter the Great is in existence in that government, and will not easily be driven out of it ; he said, in the pride of valour, " Nature has but one Russia, and it shall have no rival." At that time he hardly knew that an empire had been planted in this western world, which 212 MRS. morrell's narrative. now bids fair to share the honours of national influence with Russia. The opening of the Eux- ine will give Russia facilities for commerce and for increasing her navy, which she has never before possessed, and there can be no question but that she will avail herself of every advantage she gains. The naval character of the people of the United States may be said almost to be incorporated with, and form a part of their nature. Our forefathers began to navigate the ocean almost as soon as they had landed on these shores : more than a hun- dred years since, the colonies had a spirited little navy, that carried the provisions and troops in 1717 to Canada. In the war of 1745 the naval power of the country was respectable if not formi- dable. Vessels of considerable size were sent by the colonies to the siege of Louisburg. In the war of 1755, and onward to 1763, American sailors were distinguished for enterprise and bravery- In that of 1775 the colonies astonished the English by the number and spirit of their private armed vessels, and the Congress in 1 770 created a considerable marine, which was on the ocean in a very short time. The national and private armed ships, if our histories of that age be correct, took from the enemy fifteen hundred vessels. The history of that proud age has not as yet been fully written ; there are many heroes as yet to be celebrated by our biographers. I may be thought enthusiastic in all this, but the achievements of those who won for us the high station and proud name we boast. 1 confess, have taken deep hold of my mind, and I will make no more apology for talking about them. In 1798 the nation was awakened by the insult offered our flag by France ; mrs. morrell's narrative. 213 and a navy, a small, but spirited one, was in- stantly built, and commissioned to defend our commerce. Now it was that our country began to count the cost and realize the value of a navy. The orders under which our fleet sailed at first were so restricted, that not much was done ex- cepting by way of protection ; but when tbese orders were enlarged they captured many vessels, nearly a hundred, and recaptured many which the French cruisers had taken from the citizens of the United States. In this short war there were some fine specimens of naval character developed by our gallant officers. Captains Trux- ton, Little, and Shaw, and others, gained an im- perishable name by their bravery and skill. Our people had hoped that the little navy would be cherished ; but the policy of that day was against it, and all our ships were sold but a few frigates. This sacrifice in the end was of no im- portance, although a subject of great mortification to the merchants and the friends of the navy ; but the glory it had won was secured, whatever be- came of the vessels. We had satisfied ourselves that man had not degenerated in our country, that his muscle and nerve were as good as those of any other nation. The parsimonious were sat- isfied that we could build and maintain a navy at as little cost as any other nation ; and the timid began to think that we could fight in a good cause. Still our mother country regarded our power on the ocean as insignificant. They had fought France so easily, that they thought no honour was acquired by contending with them on equal terms. The fates were determined we should have no chance to grow rusty in our naval ex- perience, AU the piratical powers, whose rob- 214 MRS. morrell's narrative. beries and extortions had been borne so long by the nations of Europe, expected that the commerce of the new and feeble nation, as they thought us, would become an easy prey. The state of the times made it necessary for us, as a nation, to tamely purchase peace and immunity from Morocco and Algiers. This was galling to a free people, but policy required that we should suffer in silence : still we were not prepared to bear the yoke for ever. In 1800 the ship commissioned to carry tribute to the Dey of Algiers was sent by this savage on a mission to his master, the Grand Seignor at Constantinople. This indignity was submitted to in order to exempt our mariners from being taken as slaves, and suffering indignities worse than death. These pirates had long been the scourge of nations ; lor a thousand years they had held a piratical sway from the pillars of Her- cules all along the shores of the Mediterranean. To their everlasting Jisgrace, Spam, Portugal, France, and England, with Denmark and Swe- den, paid them tribute. At times some of the Christian nations had attempted to subdue these hordes of barbarians, and made great efforts for the purpose, but without success. In 1800, when the Bashaw of Tripoli demanded tribute of us in the most insulting maimer, the people of the United States called aloud to have these freeboot- ers and assassins punished. The Bey of Tunis raised his voice for tribute, and with the full belief that his exactions would be complied with. The Bashaw of Tripoli declared war with the United States, thinking to strike terror into the New World. Soon after this declaration of war, one of our oldest naval commanders was sent out with a squadron of observation, consisting of MRS. morrell's narrative. 215 three frigates and a schooner. His instructions were full of caution, he was not to fight if he could help it ; but this could not be avoided. On the Gth of August, 1801, Lieutenant Stewart in the Enterprise, of only 12 guns, took a Tripolitan ship of war, the first that ever was subdued by our prowess. The barbarian had more guns than the Enterprise. She had twenty killed, and thirty wounded in the action ; but there was not one American injured. Our naval tactics were now acknowledged to be of the first order. In the spring of 1S02 a squadron was sent out under the command of Captain R. V. Morris, who,, being charged with want of energy, was super- seded by Preble. It is said, however, that Morris showed no want of courage, but acted, as he thought, according to his instructions. Never was there a better commander than Preble. He was accompanied by Bainbridge, Decatur, Charles Morris, MacDonough, and others, since been made conspicuous by their deeds. The squad- ron blockaded Tripoli, and watched the move- ments of Algiers, Morocco, and Tunis, which, like tigers, were ready to start from their re- pose on their prey. The emperor of Morocco came to terms, and the Dey of Algiers was quiet, when Preble determined to chastise Tripoli with the force he had with him, consisting of a few Neapolitan gun-boats, which were but little better than so many mud-scows. On the 3d of Au- gust, 1S04, the American commander made the first attack. This was appalling to the barba- rian, and he lessened his demands of tribute and ransom ; but his terms were not admissible, and another attack was made on the 5th. On the 28th, Commodore Preble attacked them again, as 216 MRS. morrell's narrative. also on the 3d of September. Preble was now superseded, and left the Mediterranean. Peace was concluded the next summer between Tripoli and the United States on equitable terms. This event astounded all Europe ; that a new power, of no note or name, should have carried on a war with such slight means, and to so glorious a termination, was indeed surprising. The nations of Europe could hardly be con- vinced of the fact that the thing should have been attempted, but to find it achieved surpassed all wonder. His holiness believed it a miracle in favour of the Christian church, and said almost as much in his communications upon the subject; and it was indeed bordering on the miraculous, that a few ships of an infant country should in- stantly effect what powerful nations had attempted unsuccessfully for ages. The story was carried even to the harem of the sultan, and he stared at the account of our prowess. The wretches released from slavery sent the cry of joy abroad, and it was echoed by their friends throughout the world. Venice, Genoa, Naples, Portugal, Spain, and other powers had been foiled in their attempts on the smallest of these Barbary powers ; but we had taught them civilization in a short time. The corsair who formerly had sailed with the utmost insolence in these seas now fled from the first appearance of an American sloop-of-war, as if it were a vessel of the largest class. Their modes of warfare had been considered as most terrible ; but Preble taught the world that they were not so formidable, and might be attacked by any enter- prising foe. This war was one which not only showed the falsity of the general estimate of bar- barian power, but also of the power of civilized. mrs. morrell's narrative. 217 nations in comparison with them. These pirates were more terrific than powerful. From this war to that of 1812, our navy was not much increased, nor extensively employed. Many were apprehensive that its character would he lost in peace ; and already many statesmen began to think that the United States could do without a navy. The officers of the navy knew that they had to fight themselves into fame, and to conquer the prejudices of the world. A new field of glory offered itself to our brave mariners, in the war of 1812 ; and by them it was most nobly improved, {full opened the scene with great gallantry and success ; he was followed up by Jones, Lawrence, Perry, Chaun- cey, Stewart, Decatur, Blakeley, and by so many others who won fame by bravery and intelli- gence, that it is almost invidious to mention names. These brave men have already been, honoured by the American people, and will be mentioned in history; and their fame will help to increase the public favour towards a navy. It is said that we have fifty vessels of war, nearly half of which are in commission. The whole- are supported by less than three millions of dol- lars annually: so tbat for this proud defence the population is not taxed 1o the amount of twenty- five cents a head yearly. The French, which is supported at less cost than any other European navy, requires an expenditure four times as great as ours, and the British nine times as much. To keep the peace of the world at the present time, there are about 550 vessels of war in commis- sion. Oitr force in the different seas is about a twentieth part of this power, and yet we have a much larger proportion of the commerce, K 218 MRS. MORRELI/S NARRATIVE. of tlie world to protect than this amounts to. Eat why all these calculations? say my fair read- ers. I answer, that I have been for nearly two years almost constantly on the high seas, have reflected much upon this subject, and have some confidence in my own view of it. It is pleasant to pass from these calculations to contemplate the phenomena of nature, which are for ever giving - us variety and food for thought. One evening, on my homeward voy- age, I was called by my brother, who was de- voted to my happiness, to witness a brilliant au- rora borealis. I had hoped in the southern lati- tudes to have seen an aurora australis ; but perhaps we had not sailed sufficiently south for a fair sight of this phenomenon : but a northern light was now illumining the heavens. Jt was not a novelty, for I had been often called by my friends to observe its occurrence while a school- girl ; but it now appeared to me as something strange, probably because I had a better habit of observation. The sun had been down about an hour, when a dark cloud fringed the hori- zon, two or three degrees above it : this cloud was edged with white, sometimes changing to a brilliant fire colour : then arrows of light would dart from the cloud, and stream high in the heavens. Then the clouds would be seen above the light, and new lights would rise on the second band of darkness, converirjng to a point almost over our heads. The shapes of light were constantly changing: now resembling a volcano, and then pyramids, or burning cities, as the imagination fixed a resemblance on the forms of the instant, and it was only an instant that^they remained the same. {Sometimes the MRS. morrell's narrative. 219 fire would be seen streaming up on the left, and sometimes on the right. The sun, moon, vol- canoes, electricity, and other causes, are said to produce this illumination of the heavens ; whe- ther it is caused by one or all I know not, and perhaps it is not of any great importance to know, only as a gratification to the inquiring mind. This phenomenon was first seen in North Amer- ica in 1719, on the 17th of December ; but the causes which produced it then and now must have existed from the creation of the world ; and it is strange that it should not have been recorded in the annals of the New World before. The historian of the Jews makes mention of appearances which the men of those days considered as supernatural, such as armies fighting in the air, and pouring squadron upon squadron, until the heavens were one entire battle-field. These omens portended, as they thought, the destruction of the favoured city of the Most High. It is not surprising that before the progress of modern science such events should produce such impressions. It is the glory of the present age, that we have the opportunity of tracing many things to their causes, and at the same time reverence the Creator of them as much as those of former days. A good story is told of the influence of the aurora borealis on the minds of some unacquaint- ed with its natural causes in the early part of the last century, in our country. A marriage had been agreed upon between the son of a merchant and the daughter of a highly respectable land- holder. The first day of the year was named as the happy one. The company, as it was usual in those days to invite all the connexions and relations, however remote, was very numerous, k2 220 MRS. morrell's narrative. and in great glee ; the sun set, and a most beau- tiful aurora borealis appeared ; the streams of fire were thrown nearly to the zenith : all eyes were upon it, viewing the scene without fear, for they had heard that it passed away harmlessly when it appeared before. The good father of the young lady seemed distressed, and in the most solemn manner announced his determination to put on" the wedding for that evening. This threw the whole company into consternation. The young couple looked disappointed, but said nothing, for that was a period of parental severity. At length, the clergyman arrived : he had been delayed by making some notes upon the phenomenon then before their eyes. The determination of the old gentleman was communicated to him privately, of which he seemed to take no notice, but went on explaining to all present as much as was then known by philosophers on the sub- ject, and perhaps they knew about as much then as they now do. He expatiated upon the. benevolence of the Deity, and suggested that this was probably one way which he had ordered to keep the atmosphere in the frozen regions in a proper state for respiration by the inhabitants, who were now without a cheering ray of the blessed sun ; that many months would pass away before the luminary would rise upon them ; and that the electricity agitated in this manner was as harmless as heat-lightning, and assisted the poor Laplanders and other nations to procure their food. He went on to illustrate his position by showing that the eclipses of the sun and moon, which were once supposed to portend dis- asters, were now used by the astronomer to measure time with accuracy, and to correct the mrs. morrell's narrative. 221 chronology of past ages ; and, in fine, to support the truths of the great volume of inspiration. The old man listened to all that was said with great attention, and at length came forward and avowed his conviction of his error, in viewing the northern lights as a manifestation of Divine dis- pleasure. The marriage ceremony was per- formed, and all were happy. How much good a clergyman can do when he unites the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove. 222 MRS. morrell's narrative. CHAPTER XII. Reflections on drawing near my Native Land — The Dilficulties Women experience in gaining Information — The Value of Commerce — The Influence of Women — Love of the Ocean — Farewell to it — Sensations on arriving in the Harbour of New-York — Reaching Home — Public Attentions shown to my Husband and myself — Gratitude to Heaven for a safe Return. I now felt that I was drawing - near my native land, and began to question myself as to what purpose I had spent my time during this long and to me interesting voyage. Had I treasured up all the knowledge that I might have done? was a natural question. It is hard to satisfy one's self upon such an inquiry : but I had done something towards it. I was not prepared by education or habits to make the most of my situ- ation, but still the consoling reflection arose that I had never distrusted Providence ; had never repined : and. as far as I was able, cheered my hus- band in all his misfortunes — and they were not a few. I felt myself a much graver matron than when I embarked, and had more settled and. as I thought, more rational opinions for the govern- ment of life. I had suffered much, but enjoyed more ; I had laid up a stock to reflect and reason upon during my future days : I had left my child, a short time to him, a long one indeed to me. but I thought I had learned enough to balance the pain of this absence in the attainment of that dis- mrs. morrell's narrative. k 223 cretion which a mother should have in bringing up a child. It is by the kindness of Heaven that mothers do as well as they are found to do ; for most of them in the early part of their days can have only the philosophy of the heart to direct them, not that of the head. My adventurous course was not a source of pride to me, — it was not for any specific purpose that I became a voy- ager, but simply to be a companion of my hus- band : my feelings or reasonings were uncon- trolled, and the views I have taken of things, if not deep, are just as an unlearned mind would see them. Every thing was rare and strange to me, and necessarily excited my curiosity. If I had ever contemplated taking such a voyage, I think I should have been better prepared to bring home something more worthy of myself and my countrywomen ; but as it is, they must take my intention for my deeds. The great difficulty we women feel in collecting information, is the Avant of order and classification of our thoughts ; and we therefore labour much harder to arrive at true conclusions than tho.se who have a regular pigeon-hole in which to place all sorts of inform- ation. Perhaps those who cabinet whatever they think worth preserving, do not enjoy them so much as we who think only of amusing ourselves, without enlightening others. I doubt whether a scientific observer would have had more thoughts than passed through my teeming brain ; but he would have known how to arrange them, and have drawn conclusions tending to establish known truths, or elicit new ones ; while what- ever observations or conclusions I might make were liable to be dispersed for not knowing where to preserve them. The unstudied and unprac- 224 MRS. morrell's narrative. tised mind, however, observes many things that might escape the notice of the best educated. Every vessel we met I amused myself with considering as a messenger to bring us some tidings from the friends we left at our departure ; but they often passed ns at too great a distance to speak to them, and as it was a time of peace and the weather fair, we left each other with a plea- surable sensation, certain that each was well pro- vided with necessaries for the remainder of the voyage. These sights thickened as we came nearer our own shores, and afforded new proofs that commercial enterprise was the characteristic of our countrymen. On arriving so near the termination of my voyage, and taking a retrospective view of what had principally fixed my attention during its con- tinuance, 1 felt my mind drawn to the contem- plation of the regions we had visited in the South- ern Pacific. I hope to live to see the islands in this ocean inhabited by my countrymen, under the protection of my country. There is no ob- stacle in the way of this. That the Kings of Portugal or .Spain first erected their standard in those seas is nothing, or that the pope issued his bull in their favour is now nothing; but that they who discover should possess, if they choose, is the common sense law of nations. Settlements might be made on some of the islands we have discovered, with every prospect of securing the commerce of those seas, or at least with sharing it with other nations. We have existed at all only about two centuries, and as an independent and free nation, acknowledged and received into the great family about half a century ; and yet we are considered the third commercial people on the MRS', morrell's narrative. 225 globe. We were prosperous as carriers of the commodities of other nations ; and we shall be so in carrying our own. Agriculture and manu- factures have increased with commerce and added to our independence, and will serve to support it if we do not have too much of what is termed the protecting system. Differences will arise in the minds of men how far each should be carried, and legislative power should assist either when it can be done without prejudice to the others • but it is certain that where all are active, and indus- trious, and intelligent, these things will be kept nearly right, although a few may complain on both sides. It is a subject of great consideration, and should engage the attention of every thinking being, and each should do a part to assist in the great work of building up a nation. We have now some copy of every great and excellent insti- tution that time has produced, though many of them, as yet, are but outlines, and want filling up. The first step to be taken in order that all the benefits may be derived from the islands of the Pacific which they are capable of affording, must be to spread the light of the gospel and civiliza- tion among them, which can only be done through the medium of missionaries. For this purpose I hope I shall not call in vain on my countrywomen, who have contributed so largely in supporting mis- sionary establishments, and other works of charity, both at home and abroad ; I implore them to con- tinue their exertions, not onlyas matters of charity, but of knowledge also, and to assist all in their power to aid the great cause of true national glory. The rising generation are to be educated and directed, and the females of our country have much to do with this. That we possess the requi- k3 226 MRS. morrell's narrative. site capabilities. Hannah More, Miss Edgcworth, Mrs. Hemans. — and our own countrywomen. Mrs. Sigourney and Miss Sedgwick, — may be adduced ; and in those branches of which mathematics is the basis, Mrs. Somerville has transcended all who have attempted to instruct youth in these matters before. A hundred others, on both sides of the water, may be brought forward to prove what women are doing in the great work of ad- vancing the social and intellectual condition of mankind. This little enterprise of mine — little as it regards society- -has taught me what my sex can do if called to act in the business of life. I feel myself now wedded to the seas as much as the Chief of Venice was to the Adriatic. I love to contemplate its immensity, its sameness, its power as a medium of communication from one nation to another. The ocean has all the attri- butes of sublimity, immensity, and tearfulness ; all the properties of usefulness ; as affording food for man, and ten thousand pathways for the world. Description cannot reach all its characteristics: the poet who never surveyed the expanse of ocean, and saw only inland waters, has described it the best of all. Had he seen the Atlantic or the Pacific, in the bosom of their immensity, and felt a little more of that religion which declares that these oceans shall at the judgment give up their dead, he would have added to that descrip- tion which has never been surpassed in force and beauty : " Roll on, thou deep and dark bine ocean, roll ! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ; Man marks the earth with ruin— his control Stops with the shore, ("pon the watery plain MRS. morrell's narrative. 227 The wrecks arc all thy deed, nor doth remain A shadow of man's ravage, save his own, When, for a moment, like a drop of rain, He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan ; Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown. His steps are not upon thy paths ; thy fields Are not a spoil for him. Thou dost arise - And shake him from thee ; the vile strength he wields For earth's destruction, thou dost all despise, Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies, And send'st him, shivering in thy playful spray, And howling to his gods, where haply lies His petty hope in some near port or bay, And dashest him to earth again. There let him lay. The armaments which thunder-strike the walls Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake And monarchs tremble in their capitals — The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make Their clay creator the vain title take Of lord of thee, and arbiter of war : These are thy toys, and as the snowy flake They melt into thy vest of waves, which mar Alike the Armada's pride, or spoils of Trafalgar ! Thy shores are empires, changed in all, save thee, Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they 1 Thy waters wasted them while they were free, And many a tyrant since ; their shores obey The stranger, slave or savage ; their decay Has dried up realms of deserts : not so thou ; Unchangeable, save to thy wild waves' play, Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow ; Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now. Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Glasses itself in tempests ; in all time, Calm or convulsed, in breeze, or gale, or storm, Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime Hark heaving ; boundless, endless, and sublime ; The image of eternity ; the throne Of the Invisible ; even from out thy slime The monsters of the deep are made; each zone Obeys thee ; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone ! And I have loved thee, ocean !" 228 MRS. M0RRELLS NARRATIVE. On the 26th day of August we discovered land : it was my own. my native land, and we were making fair progress towards it. but my impa- tience was such that 1 could have scolded the Antarctic for being so sluggish, notwithstanding: I had. during the whole voyage, loved her as a dear little boat that had carried me safely ; and this affection increased as the time passed on. As we approached the harbour of New- York, I could not forbear comparing it with others I had seen. What city in the world is so advantageously placed? Surrounded by rivers, and washed by the sea, its water privileges are everywhere. Europe, nor Asia, nor Africa, nor South Amer- ica has any thing to compare with it. Its deep waters and its crowded mart of merchandise are unequalled in this country ; and when we add to this, the connexion of the great inland seas of the north, it has no rival anywhere. In less than fifty years its population has in- creased more than tenfold : in 1783 it contained 20,000 inhabitants ; it now numbers more than 200,000. Its wealth has increased with its popu- lation, and all seemed so busy and happy. A forest of masts appeared on either side of the city, closer together than the cedars of Lebanon in their native soil. The time is fast coming, thought 1. when this great city will be ten times greater than it now is, and rival all of ancient or modern times. And tins is indeed my home ! ■ — my native land. On the 27th of August I came on shore. As I left the little bark, 1 could not help exclaiming, Have 1 been almost two years in that schooner ! I had, and was as safe in her, 1 believe, as I should have been in a seventy-four, if not altogether so comfortable at all times. I now stepped upon the MRS. MORRELL'S NARRATIVE- 229 soil of my native city ; its spires, its steamboats, its bustle, all delighted me, for it was New- York as I had left it ; changed only by increase, and that not so much as to give it in any way a strange look. In a few moments I embraced my child — my mother — my sisters — and some of my friends — and was greeted as one indeed from a far distant country. But on looking around, I saw the emblems of bereavement ; my mother was again a widow — her husband, my worthy step-father, had died of a consumption during my absence. He was truly a good man ; he had been to me as an own lather, he was kind to my mother, and kind to her offspring, which she had brought at her marriage. A dear aunt, too, had in my absence paid the debt of nature. I mingled my tears with those of my surviving relatives, at our loss ; but who can expect to find home as it was left, after so long an absence ? My mother and my child were alive and well ; and I thanked kind Heaven for what had been preserved, while I sincerely mourned the departed. New cares were soon allotted me, for in nine days after my return I was the happy mother of another son, a fine child in form and strength. His mother's Journal may, in some future day, be read by him, and he may be stimulated to put some of my plans in a train of experiment : but all is in the hands of Heaven — the will of the Lord be done. The public soon caught some fragments of our adventures, and the seaman Leonard Shaw published his account of the massacre at the newly discovered islands ; our story was in every print, and the sympathies of the public were expressed in warm congratulations. Business soon took my husband to the south, and wishing me to accom- pany him I did so, and was received with kindness 230 MRS. morrell's narrative. and attention wherever we made any stop. So many questions were put to me, that I soon after determined to give my narrative to the public. I feel grateful to my countrymen and women for the courtesies I have received from them, but more so to that Being - who, in his infinite mercy, has pro- tected me in every peril, and brought me again to my native land, to praise him, and to enjoy all the blessings that land affords. I can sing aloud, with all my soul, this hymn of praise to him who con- trols the winds and seas : — " Though they through foreign lands should roam, And breathe the tainted air, In burning climates, far from home, Yet thou, their God, art there. Thy goodness sweetens every soil, Makes every country please : Thou on the snowy hills dost smile, And smooth'st the rugged seas ! When waves on waves, to heaven upreared, Defied the pilot's art ; When terror in eacli face appeared, And sorrow in each heart ; To thee I raised my humble prayer, To snatch me from the grave ! I found thine ear not slow to hear, Aor short thine arm to save ! Thou gavest the word — the winds did cease, The storm obeyed thy will ; The raging sea was hushed in peace, And every wave was still ! For this, my life, in every state, A life of praise shall be ; And death, when death shall be my fate, Shall join my soul to thee !" THE END. VALUABLE WORKS TUBLIKHED BV J. & J. HARPER, 82 CLIFF-ST., NEW-YORK, And for Sale by the principal Booksellers in the United Slates. HISTORY OF THE JEWS. By the Rev. H. H. Milman. In 3 vols. ISmo. Illustrated with origi- nal Maps and Woodcuts. "The narrative of the various and highly interesting events in that period flows on in a chaste style ; and a thorough knowledge of his sub- ject is evident in every page. The work is spirited, well arranged, and lull of information, and of a wise and well-cultivated spirit." — Athenxsvm. -Professor H. H. Milman is one of the most chaste and classical writers of the age. The History of the Jews embraced in the volumes before us. has already passed through three editions in England, and is highly and justly commended by many of the most respectable period- icals." — .V. Y. Journal of Commerce. "It is written in a very interesting manner — in a more philosophical spirit, and with more depth of reflection, than is generally found in his- tories of this nature. It is not wanting in historical condensation, and tha colouring of the style is lively and picturesque." — X Y. Evening Post LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. By J. G. Lockiiart, Esq. With copperplate Engrav- ings. In '2 vols. ISmo. " We anticipate a prodigious circulation for this attractive work. It is drawn tip with consummate ability. Indeed, we have seldom perused a work more uniformly interesting in its details." — Sun. '■ It is, unquestionably, in a brief and tangible form, the most popular History of Napoleon that has been yet produced." — JLllas. " This is a much better book than any other in English on the same subject." — AthcncBum. LIFE OF NELSON. By Robt. Southey, Esq. With a Portrait. ISmo. "This is the best work that ever came from the pen of the laureate, and it is an excellent specimen of biography " — Xac-Enir. Palladium. ■■ The merits of this work are so weil known that it is altogether un- necessary to recommend it to our readers."— .V. Y. Evening Post. " Soutliey's line and popular biography of Nelson was very much wanted, and is now to be had very cheap, iu a very neat and convenient form." — y. Y. Commercial Advertiser. 2 VALUABLE WORKS. LIFE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. By Kev. J. Williams. With a Map. ISmo. The style is good, and the narrative well conducted. A modern history of this famous warrior cannot fail to be, interesting."— X Y. Dai'y Adrtrtiser. "The work is instructing, and inherits a greater share of interest from the fact, that the history of this ancient Napoleon is disintegrated from the mass of general history, and presented by itself. The style is lucid and well studied." — .V. Y. Journal of Commerce. •' It is ably and eloquently written." — B. Journal. NATURAL HISTORY OF INSECTS, Illustrated by numerous Engravings. ISmo. "Of all studies, perhaps, there is none more captivating than that of animated nature The present volume i3 peculiarly useful and agree- able."— N. Y. Mirror. "The subject is full of interest and satisfaction, and is adapted to all classes of readers."— Albany Evening Journal "The information is minute, well arranged, and clearly imparted, and cannot but recommend the work to general perusal in families." — N. Y. Standard. " !t«eems to us that it will prove at once agreeable and instructive to persons of all classes, and occupy an appropriate place in the Family Library." — N. Y. Daily Advertiser. LIFE OF LORD BYRON. By John Galy, Esq. ISmo. "This volume has great merit, and is a valuable acquisition to litera- ture." — X. Y. Spectator. "The sprightly pen of the author has communicated uncommon inter- est to this work, and he appears to have done perfect justice to its in- spired subject.' 1 — Albany Daily Advertiser. "Mr. Gait is one of the most fascinating writers of the age." — Journal of Commerce. LIFE OF MOHAMMED, Founder of the Religion of Islam and of the Empire of the Saracens. By the Rev. George Bush, M.A. With a plate. 18mo. " It seems to us to be a good narrative of the life of the great Arabian impostor, written in a tine style.... We are not aware that any other work of the same size contains the same quantity of information relative to the matters treated of, in as agreeable a form." — Com. Advertiser. "Mr. Hush is a scholar of extensive acquirements, and well fitted for the task which he has undertaken in this volume."— .V. Y. Observer. "In the collection of materials, the author appears to have neglected no source from which valuable aid was to be expected. "—Philadelphia Daily Chronicle. " The history of the eminent impostor cannot but be a work of interest to CTery enlightened mind." — Penn. Inquirer. VALUABLE WORKS. 3 DEMONOLOGY AND WITCHCRAFT. By Walter Scott, Bart. With a Plate. 18mo. "The work is curious, interesting, and instructive." — Inquirer '' Tliis volume is most interesting, and will be read with great plea- sure by almost every class of readers." — (" S. Gazette. " It would be dillieult to select a more interesting uubject for the pen of a man of genius than that of popular superstitions. To say that Scott his made more of it than any other man could have done, is only to add another Kibute to his acknowledged pre-eminence."— Boston Statesman. " The subject is most alluring, and tile manner m which it is handled is magical." — Athenaeum. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. By Rev. G. R. Gi.eig. With a Map. In 2 vols. 18mo. '• The style of it is surpassed by no work with which we are ac- quainted Historical and biographical facts are well stated; the promi- nent difficulties that present themselves to the mind of an intelligent or skeptical reader of the Bible are boldly exhibited and ably explained ; the most plausible objections advanced by modern infidels are answered in a very philosophical, learned, and conclusive manner. The author has imbodied in it a vast deal of learning and research ; has discovered supe- rior ingenuity and force of intellect, and furnished, withal, a specimen of fine writing, which must secure a most favourable reception, as well anions persons of tasle as those who are fond of Biblical studies." — Albany Telegraph aad Register. POLAR SEAS AND REGIONS. By Pro- fessors Leslie and Jameson, and Hugh Murray, Esq. With Maps and Engravings. IStno. "A work from such hands on such a subject cannot fail to be both interesting and valuable." — .V. Y. Evening Post. "The three eminent men who have produced this compilation have rendered a great service to the cause of philosophy and knowledge." — N. Y. Commercial Advertiser. " The writers are gentlemen of first-rate standing in the scientific world, and the subject is one to which every curious mind is attached by a sort of involuntary impulse." — A'. Y. Journal of Commerce. LIFE AND TIMES OF GEORGE IV. With Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons. By the Rev George Croly. With a Portrait. 18mo. "Mr. Croly has acquitted himself very handsomely. His subject is one of much interest, and he has treated it with Unusual impartiality. The author's style is chaste, classical, and beautiful, and it may be taken as a model of line writing. It is worthy of his genius and his educa- tion." — Mercantile. Advertiser. " Mr. Croly is not merely a fine writer, but a very powerful one. ITis outline is as bold and broad as his colours are glowing. He writes like a man well acquainted with his subject." — Eclectic Review. 4 VALUABLE WORKS. DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE IN AFRICA. By Professor Jameson, James Wile ok, Esq., and Hugh Murray, Esq. With a Map and En- gravings. 18mo. "The names of the distinguished individuals by whom the volume has been prepared, offer a sufficient pledge for the faithful and accomplished execution of the work : and the field of their labours is one of almost un- rivalled attraction for whatever is new, strange, or mysterious in histo- rical narrative, or bold and perilous in adventurous exploit." — The Atlas. ''This work we believe will be interesting to every class of readers, especially to the philanthropist and Christian."— A*. Y. Evangelist. LIVES OF EMINENT PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS. By Allax Cunningham, Esq. With Portraits. In 3 vols. 18mo. " We advise all those of our readers who have any respect for our recommendation, to read these three volumes from beginning to end ; and arc confident of the thanks of such as shall be induced by our advice to procure for themselves so great an enjoyment." — A". Y. Sfirror. "This is one of the best written and most instructive books of the series to which It belongs." — X Y. American.. "The whole narrative is of a lively and alluring kind, flowing In its language, and enriched with ceaseless anecdote." — A'. Y. Atlas. HISTORY OF CHIVALRY AND THE CRUSADES. By G. P. R. James, Esq. With an Engraving. 18mo. "The present volume may safely be pronounced an ornament to the literature of the day, and Mr. James be esteemed a writer of great clear- ness and strength." — X. Y. Standard. " The author of this work has done the public a service, which we think •will be duly appreciated," — Christian Herald. " Mr. James js well known as an agreeable writer ; and the subjects of this volume are such as can scarcely fail to prove both amusing and interesting." — A. Y. Daily Advertiser. LIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS By H. G. Bell, Esq. With a Portrait. In 2 vols. 18mo. "It is decidedly the mo~t interesting account we have ever seen of that lovely and unfortunate being. We have a!ways/e<7 that Mary was inno- cent of flie great crimes charged agninst her by her furious and deadly enemies ; but our understanding was never before convinctd. It was with a feeling of eager joy, that we, for the first time in our lives, admit- ted the full conviction of her innocence. The book is written with much candour." — Massachusetts Journal. "The reader will be pleased to learn that the life of Mary has been written anew, by one who appears, both in temper and talent, extremely well qualified for the task."— X. Y. Atlas. VALUABLE WORKS. 6 ANCIENT AND MODERN EGYPT. By the Rev. M. Russell, LL.D. With a Map and En- gravings. 18mo. "All that is known of Egypt Is condensed into this history; and the renders of it will find themselves well repaid lor their labour and money." — New-Haven Advertiser. "The information respecting the present state of this interesting coun- try will bo found peculiarly valuable." — New-York Mirror. "The work is written in a very happy style, and presents a mass of knowledge of the moat useful and instructive character, collected together by great industry and research." — Baltimore Republican. HISTORY OF POLAND, from the earli- est Period to the present Time. By James Fletcher, Esq; With a Portrait of Kosciusko. 18mo. "This work recommends Itself to public notice by its elear, concise, and impartial history of a country and a people lor whom the feelings of every lover of freedom are deeply interested." — N. Y. Atlas. " Of the writer's fairness and research we have a very good opinion ; and his book is just the thing that is wanted at the present moment." — N. Y. American. " No work has for a long period been published here so deserving of praise and so replete with interest." — American Traveller. FESTIVALS, GAMES, AND AMUSE- MENTS, Ancient and Modern. By Horatio Smith, Esq. With Additions. By Samuel Woodworth, Esq., of New-York. With Engravings. 18mo. " The book contains a mine of information on the subjects embraced in its title, and should be placed in every family." — N. Y. Standard. " We can commend the book as both attractive and useful."— N. Y. American. "The book is highly amusing and interesting, as well as instructive." — Pennsylvania Inquirer. " The present work is characterized by great research and learning employed in illustrating a subject of much general interest." — Baltimore Republican. LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON. By David Brewster, LL.D. F.R.S. With a Portrait and Woodcuts. 18mo. " The present publication cannot fail to prove acceptable and useful." — TV. Y. Standard. " The biography of the greatest astronomer that ever lived cannot be fraught with else than interest." — 2V". Y. Mercantile Advertiser. " This is the most complete and authentic biography of this illustrious man that has yet appeared." — N. Y. Evening Journal. "An excellent biography, beautifully written, and comprising a largo amount of useful information." — New-Haven Chronicle. 6 VALUABLE WORK 8. PALESTINE, OR THE HOLY LAND. From the earliest Period to the present Time. By the Rev. Michael. Russell, LL.D. With a Map and nine Engravings. 18mo. " Vi interesting book."— Xno-Haren Adrrrtisrr. "The «hiii" work is imbued with a sacred engrossing interest." — Connecticut Mirror. '• It is written in a very popular and attractive style.''— -Y. V. Evening Journal. "The whole volume will amply repay perusal."— A". Y. American. '■ This work is the most desirable record of Palestine we have ever seen.'" — American 'Iravtller. MEMO IRS OF THE EMPRESS JOSE- PHINE. By John S. Memes, LL.D. With Portraits. "The langunge of the auihor is beautiful, and his powers of descrip- tion exceedingly fine." — A r . Y. Evening Journal. "A very entertaining book." — .V. Y. Commercial Adt-erliitr. "This is tire first complete biography which has ever appeared of that much admired woman." — A'. Y. Constellation. " This work will bo found to possess a beauty of language, a fascination of style, and a depth of interest which few works of this kind can ciann."— Boston Traveller. THE COURT AND CAMP OF BONA- PARTE. With a Portrait of Talleyrand. "This work is highly interesting." — V. S. Gazelle. "The volume will be read with interest and instruction." — Conn. Mirror. "The sketches arc entertaining and well written, and constitute a valuable compend for relcrence on all the more important subjects con- nected witli the career of this extraordinary dynasty." — Washington (O. C.) Globe. LIVES AND VOYAGES OF DRAKE, CAVENDISH, AND DAMPIER ; including an intro- ductory View of the earlier Discoveries in the South Sea, ami the History of the Pucaniers. With Portraits. " This is certainly one of the most interesting compilations which the press has sent forth for some years." — A". V. Evening Journal. " While in the present work the young will find delight, the aged and mature will discover matter of deep inlerest and useful reflectiou." — Baltimore Minerva. "These volumes will beget a love for appropriate and useful reading, ami cannot but be widely beneficial to individuals and communities." — Connecticut Mirror. VALUABLE WORKS. 7 DESCRIPTION of PITCAIRN'S ISLAND AND ITS INHABITANTS. With an authentic Ac- count, of the Mutiny of the Ship Bounty, and of tho sub- sequent Fortunes of the Mutineers. With Engravings. '• The realtor may here find in faithful history events of thrilling inter- est in the varied fortunes of seamen." — Southern Religious Telegraph. "There is hardly any reading more interesting than voyages, and tlte Recounts in this hook are among the most interesting we have ever perused." — Boston Statesman. •• A subject having more points of interest can scarcely bn imagine.!, and the abilities and opportunities of the author give an assurance that they have not been overlooked." — Atlas. "The story is exceedingly well told -it is true— and is embellished Willi particulars of which the public have not before been put in posses- sion."— CVmnfttfjcitt Mirror. SACRED HISTORY OF THE WORLD, as displayed in the Creation ami subsequent events to the Deluge. By Shakos Turner. " The volume contains a vast mass of interesting farts to illustrate the different departments of the natural world. It bears marks of great re- search, and is worthy of a careful perusal." — Con.ntct.icvt Observer. " We can most heartily recommend this work as eminently worthy of n place in every library." — ( hurchman. " It is a hook calculated lo be of great general utility; and will bo found particularly convenient lor bible-classes, who are studying the Mosaic History oi the Creation." — Commercial Advertiser. MEMOIRS OF CELEBRATED FEMALE SOVEREIGNS. By Mrs. Jamesos. In 2 vols. " A readable book, in which good u«e is made of a subject not the most promising The authoress tells a plain story with facility, and makes neat and appropriate comments with a happy freedom." — Churchman. "Many a more ambitious history has been executed with less talent and happy candour tnan these moral and picturesque sketches." — ISoston. ] haly Advocate. AN EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE THE COURSE AND TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. By Richard and John Landkr. In 2 vols. Maps, &c. " They (the Landers) tell a story of no small interest, and no few vicis- situdes, with manly honesty and simplicity, and considerable life and vigour. In description of local scenery they are often eminently happy; in narrative never tiresome : in sketches of character and manners, inter- esting and successful, because artless ana faithful. " — Churchman. "The incidents were many and interesting: while their discoveries tiave brought lo our knowledge scores of savage tribes and nations. Wo know of few works of this description which have added as much to our geographical knowledge, or depicted in such painfully interesting colours the ignorance and wild barbarism of unbaptized Africa."— .V. y. Obserutr 8 VALUABLE WORKS. INQUIRIES CONCERNING THE in- tellectual POWERS AND THE INVESTI- GATION OF TRUTH. By John Abercrombie, M.D. " It will not only feed, but form the public intellect. It cannot be dis- seminated too widely in a nation eager for knowledge, keen in inquiry to a proverb, and accustomed to think no matters too high for scrutiny, no authority too venerable for question." — Churchman. " It will be read, or rather studied with delight and prcf '"y those who wish to cultivate an acquaintance with the phenomena of the intellectual world. The author's illustrations are clear, and his reasoning sound."— Southern Religious Telegraph. THE LIVES OF CELEBRATED TRAV- ELLERS. By James A. St. John. In 3 vols. "The. work is well edited, and will unquestionably be perused with satisfaction and profit, especially by the younger class of the commu- nity." — Baptist Repository. " But few works have ever been published which comprise more gene- ral in formation in a brief form. ..It is a publication which will commend itself to all." — Albany Daily Advertiser. " The whole is an interesting publication, and may be properly con- sulted both by the adult and youthful student."— Albion. LIFE OF FREDERICK THE SECOND, KING OF PRUSSIA. By Lord Dover. In 2 vols. With a Portrait. •' Lord Dover has in these volumes, by rejecting all that is exceptionable or of slight interest, while he retained every thing essential, made up a comprehensive and very attractive book." — N. Y. American. " An agreeably written and highly interesting piece of biography The biograptier's own morality is of the soundest kind ; and his reflec- tions, in handling the infidel principles and correspondence of the royal skeptic, are such as they should be. The poison is not allowed to work by being passed over without comment." — N. Y. Commercial Advertiser. SKETCHES FROM VENETIAN HIS- TORY. In 2 vols. With Maps and Engravings on Steel and Wood. " A history of the Venetian republic, accessible to all classes and ages, prepared for popular use, has been much wanted for a long time, and this production is admirably calculated to supply it." — Baltimore American. "The work is written in a style of brilliant narrative from authentic materials, and deserves a place in every library." — Mobile Gazette. " The able manner in which the author has accomplished his task is above all praise." — Boston Statesman. " These ' Sketches' are gleaned from several very rare works, and brought within the reach of every person who is desirous of acquainting himself with the history of this ancient people; and no one, after reading these little volumes, will regret his expenditure of time uud money." — A". E. Review. VALUABLE WORKS. 9 INDIAN LIVES ; or, an Historical Account of those Individuals who have been distinguished among tne North American Natives as Orators, Warriors, States- men, &c. By 13. B. Thatcher, Esq. In 2 vols. "The author has spared no pains in making himself acquainted with the proper materials lor a work of this character ; and their arrangement reflects much credit on him." — N. E- Christian Herald. "We like these volumes well. They are written with a perspicuity and liveliness that recommend them to all. Mr. Thatcher has ably filled up a chasm in American literature. These two volumes blend the authen- ticity of history with the thrilling excitements of forest narratives, de- scriptive of the native energy and grandeur of the old free kings, who ruled the new-found America." — Badger's Weekly Messenger. HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE AC- COUNT OF BRITISH INDIA. From the most remote period to the present time. By several popular Authors. In 3 vols. With a Map, and many Engravings on Wood. "The history of British India is uncommonly interesting.... The whole work bears the impress of impartiality, fidelity, research, and accuracy." — Baptist Repository. " Such authentic and extensive information relating to this interesting portion of the globe has never before been so happily unbodied." — j*V. Y. Traveller. LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. Ad- dressed to Sir Walter Scott, Bart. By Sir David Brewster, K.H. LL.D, " The present work may be regarded as one of those results of modern research and study, by which society at large will be benefited; and the perusal of it would very profitably and pleasantly employ the hours now wasted upon books which leave not a single salutary impression upon the mind.'* — Presbyterian. "We know of no other work or treatise wheh has compressed, within the same compass, so much useful and various matter upon the many subjects falling within the range of the investigation." — Com. Advertiser. THE HISTORY OF IRELAND. By W. C. Taylor, Esq. With Additions, by William Sampson, Esq. In 2 vols. Plates. "This is a calm, clear, and a candid book — A sober and dispassion- ate book on this tender subject was much wanted — Mr. Taylor has per- formed his melancholy task with no ungentle spirit, and written the most consistent narrative of those events that we have yet seen The work abounds with pictures of warand desolation— of happiness and prosperity — of sudden elevations and sad overthrows ; if there is much violence and wrong, there is also much nobleness of mind, generosity of nature, and gentleness of heart "—T7i# Atlunanmi. HARPER'S FAMILY LIBRARY. Nos. 1,2, 3. Milman's History of the Jews. With plates 3 v. 4,5. Lockhart's Life of. Napo- leon Bonaparte, Plates.. 2 v. 6. Southey's Lite of Nelson 1 v. 7. Williams's Life of Alexan- der the Great. Plates 1 v. 8. Natural History of Insects 1 v. 'J. Gait's Life of Lord Byron 1 v. 10. Bush's Life of Mohammed 1 v. 11. Scott on Demonology and Witchcraft. Plate..' 1 v. 12. 13. Glcig's Bible History. . 2 v. 14. Discovery and Adventure in the l'olar Seas, Jcc , 1 y. 10. Croly's Life of George IV. 1 v. Hi. Discovery and Adventure in Africa. Engravings . . 1 v. 17, 18, 19. Cunningham's Lives of Painters, Sculptors, ,49. History of India 3 v. 50. Brewster's Letters on Nat- ural Magic. Engravings- 1 v. 51,52. History of Ireland 2 v. Several historical works in press. CLASSICAL SERIES. 1,2. Xer.ophon. (Anabasis and Cyropiedia.) Portrait.... 2v 3,4. Leland's Demosthenes.. 2v 5. Rose's Sallust. Portrait.. 1 v. DRAMATIC SERIES. 1, 2, 3. Massinger's Plays. ... 3 v. 4, 5. Ford's Plays 2 v Ocolofltcal 3Lit>*ar». 1. Life of Wiclif. By Rev. C I 2. Consistency of Revelation. W. Le Bas. Portrait . . By Rev. Dr. Stmttleworth I v. JJo»'s nWO Girl's JUbrarj?. 1. Lives of the Apostles, Ac 1 v. | 2,3. Swiss Family Robinson. . 2 v. StatttJartu histories. Gibbon's Rome. Maps 4 v. I History of Modern Europe. By Robertson's Works. Plates . . 3 v. | Russell and Jones. 3 7>Jl)vavP of Stlcrt Xoticls. 1 2 Cyril Thornton 2 v. I 17, is. The Smuggler 2 3 4 Dutchman's fireside.. 2 v. 19,20. Eugene Aram 2 s',6. The Young Duke .... 2v. 21,22. Evelina 2 7, 8. Annstasius 2 v. 23, 24. The Spy . . ... . . . . . . . . 2 9 10 Philip Augustus 2v. ■ 25.20. Westward Ho. By J. 11, 12. Caleb Williams 2 v. K. Paulding.- 13 14 The Club-Book 2 v. 27,28. Glauber Spa 15 10 DeVere 8 v. 29,30, Henry Masterton 2 v. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This hook is DIE on the last date stamped below. recd v: ' . 4 *9