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 "^RQAINIHtf^
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTKD BY JAMBS MOYBS, CASTLB STREET, 
 LEICESTER SQUARE.
 
 WARNER ARUNDELL 
 
 THE 
 
 ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 
 
 BY E. L. JOSEPH, 
 
 OF TRINIDAD. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 LONDON 
 SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET. 
 
 M.DCCC.XXXVIII.
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 501/?0 
 
 TO 
 THE RIGHT HONORABLE 
 
 LORD BARON GLENELG, 
 
 HER MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR 
 THE COLONIES. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 SHOULD your Lordship condescend to 
 honor these Volumes with a perusal,- their Author 
 flatters himself they will direct your attention to many 
 abuses in our West Indian Colonial System, which call 
 loudly for correction. The hope of bringing some of 
 them under your notice, has induced me to take the 
 liberty of inscribing this Work to your Lordship. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 MY LORD, 
 Your Lordship's humble Servant, 
 
 EDWARD L. JOSEPH. 
 PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD,
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 PREVIOUSLY to submitting the following nar- 
 rative to the reader, it is necessary to inform 
 him that it is taken from a very voluminous 
 manuscript, which partakes of the mixed 
 nature of memoirs, a journal, an autobio- 
 graphy, and a collection of letters and 
 essays. These bore, in their title-page, 
 the following inscription : " The Life, Ad- 
 ventures, and Opinions, of Warner Arundell, 
 Esquire." 
 
 The Editor of these volumes thinks it 
 his duty to inform the Public under what 
 circumstances he came into possession of 
 these papers of Mr. Arundell. In giving 
 this information, he prefers speaking of 
 himself in the first person singular, rather
 
 Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 than assuming the right of Editors and 
 Kings, viz. to talk of themselves in the 
 plural number. 
 
 Amongst a thousand and one literary 
 projects which I had formed, one was to 
 write a history of the war of the independ- 
 ence of Columbia, Mexico, Peru, Chili, and 
 Buenos Ayres. When I designed this Work, 
 I considered more what ought to be done 
 than what I was able to accomplish. The 
 paucity of materials for compiling a good 
 account of this most momentous occur- 
 rence, renders it necessary for him who 
 would undertake to become the historian 
 of this important revolution, to visit all the 
 principal cities on the great South American 
 continent ; in order to inspect such few scat- 
 tered records as were preserved during this 
 most sanguinary civil war, and to consult 
 with all the surviving chiefs who figured in 
 the contest, whether living in the New World 
 or in Europe. To do this required leisure
 
 INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 and a fortune, neither of which I possessed. 
 Hence, I was obliged to abandon my pro- 
 ject certainly for the present, probably for 
 ever. 
 
 During my various and generally fruit- 
 less attempts to obtain materials for my 
 projected history, a friend suggested that, 
 as Mr. Warner Arundell had spent some 
 years on the Main, during a most interest- 
 ing period of the wars of Columbia, he 
 might be able to give me some informa- 
 tion on the subject ; especially as it was 
 known that Mr. Arundell had of late com- 
 menced journalising. 
 
 My acquaintance with the Gentleman 
 who is the hero of these volumes, com- 
 menced twenty years since. I first met 
 him in London, in the house of Don 
 Louis Mendez. After this, I became his 
 companion during a remarkable voyage 
 across the Atlantic, recorded in the second 
 volume of this Work. We separated on our
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 arrival in Trinidad, and did not meet again 
 for some years : subsequently we both were 
 residents of this colony ; but, living far from 
 each other, we seldom met. 
 
 During this residence of Mr. Arundell 
 in Trinidad, he was the subject of a most 
 disgraceful persecution. He left the island, 
 but returned in a few months, possessed of 
 a very large fortune, and here married a 
 most amiable and lovely Spanish Creole. 
 
 But, notwithstanding our old acquaint- 
 ance, I applied to him for the information 
 I required with some reluctance ; for, al- 
 though I was one of those who refused to 
 join in the frantic and disgraceful hue-and- 
 cry against him, yet fortune had placed us 
 in very different situations. He was in the 
 possession of great wealth ; I, after many 
 years' residence here, was in an humble 
 situation. But I still took the resolution of 
 waiting on him. I sent my name to him : 
 he came to me. The instant I beheld him,
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 I perceived I had wronged him by my diffi- 
 dence. He did not receive me as some 
 rich men meet an old acquaintance, who 
 has been subject to harsh treatment from 
 fortune. No ; he took my hand as that of 
 an old friend, who had dared to defend him 
 when he was assailed by calumny. 
 
 In Mr. Warner Arundell I perceived a 
 man who had been proud in adversity, un- 
 bending when suffering under persecution, 
 but affable and amiable in prosperity ; one 
 who endeavoured to forget injuries, and 
 sincerely forgave insults, although he pos- 
 sessed " the memory of the heart," as gra- 
 titude has been beautifully denominated. 
 
 On making him acquainted with the 
 cause of my visit, he immediately offered 
 to put me in possession of that part of his 
 journal which related to his adventures in 
 the patriot camp : and he informed me, 
 that, by looking through his papers, amongst 
 a load of dross I might find some ore, from
 
 Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which useful metal might be extracted. 
 He, however, added, 
 
 " I fear you will not have the phlegm 
 to inspect all my papers." 
 
 " Never doubt that," was my reply ; 
 " I have had perseverance to read through 
 the whole of Abbe Raynal's historical ro- 
 mance." 
 
 " That," said my friend, " was rather a 
 trial on your credulity than on your pa- 
 tience : my voluminous manuscripts will 
 put your application to a much severer 
 test." 
 
 On my persisting to request that he 
 would allow me to read his manuscripts, 
 he took from a chest a mass of papers of 
 truly alarming bulk and weight. They 
 consisted of thirteen hundred and seventy- 
 eight sheets of foolscap, closely written ; to 
 compile which, he had employed the leisure 
 time of some years. 
 
 Lest the reader should wonder what
 
 INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 there was in the life of this worthy Gentle- 
 man that required so much time and paper 
 to record its incidents and reflections, I 
 must explain, that he possessed a most 
 powerful memory. Every thing he had 
 heard, seen, read, or thought, he seemed to 
 recollect, when compiling his voluminous 
 manuscripts. For example, he opens his 
 journal with an account of the first settle- 
 ment of his family in the West Indies. 
 This induces him to give a history of the 
 Bucaniers, and an immense number of 
 anecdotes of all the old families in the West 
 Indies ; with a vast variety of traditional 
 stories, which relate to the Arundells, and 
 the descendants of Sir Thomas Warner, 
 the first English governor of St. Christo- 
 pher's, who was his maternal ancestor. In 
 short, the part of the narrative which I 
 have abridged into the first short chapter 
 of the first volume, ta^es up so much space 
 in his manuscripts, that, if it were printed
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 verbatim, it would be equal in length to the 
 whole of that volume. 
 
 In the progress of his Work he gives 
 the whole history of the two Maroon wars 
 in Jamaica; an account of the rise, pro- 
 gress, and termination of the wars in the 
 West Indies consequent on the French 
 revolution : he carefully transcribes every 
 letter that he ever received or wrote, and 
 all remarkable conversations that he ever 
 heard : he gives Jiis thoughts on a vast va- 
 riety of subjects, and relieves the narrative 
 with all kinds of essays on various matters 
 which came within the scope of his observa- 
 tion ; such as, on the mode of education in 
 Caraccas ; on militia training ; on naval and 
 military affairs ; on medical education in 
 London ; on the practice of physic in the 
 West Indies, &c. In short, his voluminous 
 journal embraces a number of treatises, 
 which, however unfit they may be to publish 
 in" an autobiography, I may one day print,
 
 INTRODUCTION. . XV 
 
 under the title of the ' Arundell Papers ;' as 
 this Gentleman has given up his Work to 
 me for my own advantage. 
 
 But I anticipate. I kept the papers of 
 Mr. Arundell until I abandoned all idea of 
 writing my projected history. I then re- 
 turned them. At the same time I informed 
 the worthy autobiographer, that, if he would 
 take the trouble of extracting from his 
 MSS. that which might not be improperly 
 denominated the personal narrative, it would 
 form a moral, and, I believed, a not unin- 
 teresting production. 
 
 " Have you," said he, " any inclination 
 to make the abridgement yourself? it will 
 be an easier task than to write history, and, 
 during the present age of light reading, a 
 more direct road to fame." 
 
 I at first declined this proposition, saying 
 that he might get others to do more justice 
 to his papers. To this he replied, that I 
 was the only person he had met with in the
 
 XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 colonies who shewed a disposition to pur- 
 sue literature as a profession ; and that, if 
 he sent his manuscript to England, its bulk 
 would frighten any Publisher or Editor. 
 Perhaps a few scattered essays might 
 find their way into the periodicals of the 
 day, or a few stories would be trimmed and 
 dressed up by literary caterers for the 
 monthly appetites of readers of magazines ; 
 these same purveyors being so utterly 
 ignorant of West India manners, feeling, 
 and even climate, that the most egregious 
 blunders would bs introduced into every 
 paragraph. In short, Mr. Arundell pre- 
 vailed on me to undertake the task which 
 I had suggested to him. 
 
 I really believe that his motive for 
 urging me to become the Editor of his pro- 
 duction was, that he hoped its publication 
 would be productive of profit to me. This, 
 with a delicacy of feeling which has always 
 characterised him, he never mentioned.
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV11 
 
 One condition alone he attached to the leave 
 he gave me to publish a part of his journal : 
 it was, that whenever I wrote of living per- 
 sons, or of those recently dead, I should, 
 instead of real, use fictitious names or 
 initials. 
 
 The above statement will account, if not 
 apologise, for many defects in this produc- 
 tion. When the reader observes some 
 parts of these volumes too much abridged, 
 and others too much extended, he will 
 please to take into consideration the diffi- 
 culty one has to encounter who attempts to 
 condense into three small volumes the sub- 
 stance of a manuscript closely written on 
 more than three reams of foolscap. 
 
 Amongst the many errors in this Work, 
 I throw myself on the mercy of the reader 
 for one class in particular. Mr. Arundell's 
 papers are full of those peculiarities of lan- 
 guage which may not improperly be called 
 ' creolisms.' My wish has been to expunge
 
 XV111 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 these, and substitute English words ; or, if 
 the story required the creole words to be 
 retained, I have endeavoured to explain 
 them, either in the text or by notes. But, 
 having myself resided for nearly twenty 
 years in the colonies, it is very probable 
 that I have unwittingly copied into these 
 volumes many expressions which will be 
 scarcely understood on the other side of the 
 Atlantic, without having given the neces- 
 sary information. For this I entreat the 
 indulgence of the liberal. It is difficult to 
 live many years in a country without con- 
 tracting some of the peculiarities of its 
 dialect or idiom. 
 
 I have now a few words to address, 
 not to the English Public in general, but 
 to my fellow Colonists in particular. Not 
 having used the real name of a single person 
 now alive in these islands, should any one 
 on this side of the Atlantic perceive, amongst 
 the numerous pen-and-ink sketches con-
 
 INTRODUCTION. XIX 
 
 tained in this Work, any delineation which 
 should strike him as having an ugly re- 
 semblance to himself, let him not make me 
 accountable for caricaturing him. All I have 
 done has been to select a few out of many 
 of Mr. Arundell's sketches, reduce them to 
 a moderate size, erase the names they bore, 
 substitute other appellations, and fit them 
 for their frames. 
 
 After this declaration, I hope no one 
 will give himself the unnecessary trouble of 
 calling on me for satisfaction for any re- 
 marks contained in the following pages : 
 for, although I was once silly enough to 
 make a voyage to Lospatos, * to give a 
 young Gentleman, as the term goes, satis- 
 faction, that is to say, to stand up while 
 he twice fired at me, I have, thank Hea- 
 
 * A small island, situated in the Gulf of Paria, 
 between Trinidad and the Main, uhere duels used 
 frequently to take place. See the 7th chapter of the 
 second volume of this Work.
 
 XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ven, lived to see the folly and wickedness 
 of fighting duels to satisfy the caprice of 
 any one. I have now reached the age of 
 forty ; a time of life when a man's fighting 
 days, as well as his dancing days, ought to 
 be over unless he be a soldier or a 
 dancing-master.
 
 WARNER ARUNDELL: 
 
 THE 
 
 ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " England, with all thy faults, I love thee still." 
 
 COWPEB. 
 
 THE whole of the passengers of the Tickler re- 
 mained two days in Falmouth, to recruit after 
 our voyage, as well as to see the few lions of the 
 place, and to visit the surrounding country. The 
 greatest sights of Cornwall lie below its surface ; 
 but, being neither a geologist nor mineralogist, 
 the tin and lead mines were beneath my notice. 
 
 We hired two post-chaises, in which we went 
 to London. I found myself, during my journey, 
 in a new world : the climate ; the lofty houses, 
 with glass windows, and chimneys ; the immense 
 
 VOL. II. B
 
 2 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 population ; the total absence of black, coloured, 
 and Indian people; the rosy looks of the women, 
 so different from the languid and lily complexions 
 of my fair countrywomen ; the ruddy appearance 
 of the children; the masculine, and often corpu- 
 lent, figures of the gentlemen ; the clownish 
 aspect of the country people, with their srnock- 
 frocks, worsted stockings, and ponderous lace- 
 boots ; the immense size and fatness of the horned 
 cattle ; the noble figures of the horses ; the sheep, 
 clad in thick woolly coats, so different from the 
 light hairy jackets in which Nature has arrayed 
 the sheep of the Caribbean Islands ; the endless 
 variety of the costume of all the people I met, 
 so different from the eternal white jackets and 
 trousers of the Antilles ; the dissimilarity of the 
 feathered tribe ; the absence of the palms of a 
 tropical climate, and the total difference of all 
 vegetable nature for not a tree, shrub, fruit, 
 legume, leaf, flower, nor even blade of grass, was 
 exactly like aught I ever before beheld, all, all 
 I saw made me feel as though I was transported 
 into another planet. True, I had seen most 
 objects I looked on, delineated in wretched 
 pictures ; but these gave me about as good an 
 idea of what I was a spectator of, as the miserable 
 images we see on China cups give us of the 
 Celestial Empire : for, excepting a few portraits,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 3 
 
 I scarcely saw a good painting in the West Indies. 
 The only pictures popular in the Antilles, are 
 those of the King of Spain in profile, delineated 
 on an ounce of gold or silver, commonly called 
 doubloons and dollars. 
 
 The first part of our journey lay through the 
 sterile - looking hills and plains of Cornwall ; 
 afterwards, the appearance of the country ame- 
 liorated. Towns, villages, farms, and cottages, 
 sprang up before my eyes in endless variety. 
 True it is, that, in England, I looked in vain for 
 the noble mountains and deep valleys of the West 
 Indies, or the more stupendous scenery of South 
 America ; but, instead, I viewed a country ren- 
 dered pre-eminently beautiful by cultivation, 
 where every hut and rustic gate seemed to me to 
 be placed to increase the picturesque effect of the 
 landscape. Cowper has said, that 
 
 " God made the country, but man made the town." 
 
 After my long residence in Caraccas, I did not 
 think the poet's opinion was correct with regard 
 to England ; for, wherever I looked at the coun- 
 try through which I passed, I beheld the natural 
 beauty altered by the art of man. He who is 
 wishful of beholding the works of the Creator 
 in all their solemn magnificence, should visit the 
 mountains and savannahs of Columbia.
 
 4 WARNER ARUNDELL t 
 
 When we stopped at an inn to refresh, or 
 lodge for the night, the extreme neatness and 
 comfort of all that could render our stay 
 agreeable, were, to me, remarkable. The civility 
 of the host and hostess, the activity and intelli- 
 gence of the servants, delighted me : this at once 
 shewed that I was in a land of freedom, where 
 the exciting hope of gain stimulates men and 
 women to exertion ten times more arduous than 
 the fear of the scourge of slavery. In the West 
 Indies there are not many inns and taverns, and 
 fewer good ones : there, as well as in private 
 houses, the black and brown domestics move 
 about as little as they can help. Every trifling 
 office you want a West Indian servant to perform, 
 must be repeatedly, and often peremptorily or- 
 dered, before it is done if it ever be done : here, 
 the waiters, and well-called servants of all-work, 
 seemed to anticipate your wants, and, before you 
 can ask for a thing, it is at your command. In 
 the West Indies, a servant drawls about the 
 house as though locomotion is painful to him ; 
 while the English domestic talks, acts, and runs, 
 as though he were doing it for a wager against 
 time. The free servant of Great Britain works 
 five times as hard as the slave of the West Indies ; 
 for the energies of the latter are weighed down 
 by bondage. I am aware some will say that the
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 5 
 
 indolence of the slave is caused by the climate ; 
 yet, how is the following fact to be accounted 
 for viz. at a negro ball, the sable dancers use 
 thrice as much exertion, and continue thrice as 
 long, as any set of dancers in England? Notwith- 
 standing the oppressive heat of the climate, a 
 negro sportsman, when engaged in a pedestrian 
 hunt in Trinidad, uses violent efforts from which 
 an English fox-hunter would shrink. The fact 
 is, our bondsman, unless it is for himself, works 
 like a slave that is to say, most indolently: when 
 he diverts himself, he feels, for the moment, that 
 he is free. By looking at the very slave's walk, 
 one acquainted with them knows if they are walk- 
 ing on their master's business, or their own. 
 
 As the post-chaise drew near the capital, I 
 was confused at meeting an immense crowd of 
 vehicles of all descriptions, from the light tan- 
 dem, with its slender bloods, to the ponderous 
 waggon, with its long train of burly cattle; from 
 the splendid carriage of the nobleman, to the 
 high-piled cart of the farmer. As we entered 
 the town, I was absolutely rendered giddy by 
 the opulence and grandeur of the shops, the 
 thronging of the population, and the deafen- 
 ing noise ; while the smoky atmosphere, unlike 
 aught I ever before beheld, weighed down my 
 spirits.
 
 D WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 On entering London, I took leave of all my 
 fellow-passengers with mutual good wishes, save 
 Dr. Grey. He invited me to remain with him a 
 few days at the Tavistock Hotel, Covent Garden, 
 until, by the advice of himself, and such friends 
 as my letters of introduction could procure me, 
 I should resolve where to fix my residence during 
 the time I was obtaining my medical education. 
 
 The doctor had not been in London two days 
 before he met with an old fellow-student and 
 correspondent, named Molesworth, who was in 
 extensive practice as a physician in the west end 
 of the town. He had been the preceptor to several 
 medical students from the West Indies, and, 
 many years since, knew my father. After in- 
 troducing me to him, Dr. Grey proposed to 
 place me under the tutelage of his old fellow- 
 student; to which Dr. Molesworth made no 
 objection. We agreed that I should become a 
 resident in the doctor's house during the prose- 
 cution of my studies ; and I arranged to pay him 
 150/. per annum for my board and lodging. 
 He promised to assist me in my studies, to take 
 me with him occasionally when he visited his 
 patients, and allow me the use of his valuable 
 medical library. 
 
 The next day I removed from the Tavistock 
 Hotel to the doctor's house in Bedford Square : I
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 
 
 sent to the West India Docks and obtained my 
 luggage, and found myself comfortably located 
 with Dr. Molesworth, an excellent physician, 
 but an avaricious man. 
 
 After this, Dr. Grey set out to all the medical 
 springs and baths in England, to clear his inward 
 and outward man from the accumulated maladies 
 obtained during thirty years' residence between 
 the tropics, a usual practice with old retired 
 West Indians. At Cheltenham, the doctor fell 
 in love with, and married, one of the water- 
 nymphs of the place: she had long been looking 
 for a suitable match. The lady verified the old 
 proverb about the " gray mare," &c. This was 
 not to be wondered at : at the time when the 
 doctor wanted an old nurse he married a young 
 wife. A year after his marriage he died, and 
 she inherited his hard-accumulated property : 
 three months after, the lady married Ensign 
 O'Donnehoo, of some marching regiment. 
 
 As few or no West Indians have ever given 
 an account of England, I will, for the informa- 
 tion of such of my fellow-colonists as have never 
 crossed the Atlantic, subjoin my recollection of 
 the impressions which England in general, and 
 London in particular, made on me. I wish not 
 to alarm my Creole readers by heading the 
 following desultory paragraphs, ' The Domestic
 
 8 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 Manners of the English ; ' I would rather they 
 should consider it as 
 
 A CREOLE'S NOTIONS OF ' HOME.' 
 
 Amongst the first things which struck me in 
 England, was the brief speech and rapid pro- 
 nunciation of all orders of people, save those who 
 are, or affect to be, taught the haut-ton. It would 
 not please the Bond Street loungers, or the 
 dancers at Almack's, to be told that, when they 
 lengthen their words, and speak in that drawling 
 tone which is, or at least was, fashionable when I 
 was in London, they merely imitate the lower 
 orders of people in the Caribbean Islands ; yet 
 such is the fact. 
 
 Let two Creoles, of the humbler classes of 
 society, meet in the West Indies, and something 
 like the following dialogue ensues. Each word 
 is lengthened as though the parties spoke by 
 musical notes, and each syllable were a breve. 
 
 " How you do, my body?" 
 
 " Pretty well, thank you. old fellow ; how 
 yourself?" 
 
 " Well, thank you ; how your family do?" 
 
 " All quite well only Samuel, Daniel, Jona- 
 than, and Jacob, have the fever every night ; 
 but their health is good, for all that."
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 9 
 
 " Thank you ; but how is your negro boy, 
 that have maV cTestomac ? " 
 
 " He is dead, thank you, body." 
 
 And so they continue the conversation for 
 about twenty minutes. But in London, two per- 
 sons of the lower order of society meet : each 
 nods to the other when they are about eight 
 yards off; one says, " How do?" the other 
 does not reply, but says, " How do you do?" 
 By this time a few rapid steps brings them to- 
 gether (for all in London walk as though they 
 did it for a wager) : one says, " Fine weather;" 
 the other replies, " Yes ; only a little foggy, 
 rainy, and cold." By this time the parties have 
 passed each other, and each turns his head round, 
 so that his chin rests on his shoulder, to continue 
 the peripatetic discourse ; yet disdaining to lose 
 time by stopping like two vessels passing each 
 other on opposite tacks, and asking their respec- 
 tive longitudes, without heaving to. " Any 
 news?" says one; " Nothing strange," says the 
 other; " Good-bye," calls one; " Good-day," 
 replies the other. Both nod like Chinese man- 
 darins ; at the same time, they look one way and 
 walk the other, until each runs against another 
 passenger in the crowded street. 
 
 Should a West Indian ask his way to Corn- 
 hill of a passenger in London, he gets for answer, 
 
 B2
 
 10 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 " Turn to your right, and then take the second 
 to your left ; take the third to the left, and follow 
 your nose along Fleet Street, and any fool will 
 shew you the way." 
 
 This is said so quickly that the informant 
 leaves the stranger to doubt if he ought to turn at 
 first to the right or to the left. But let an Eng- 
 lishman ask his way in the West Indies, and the 
 following dialogue is likely to ensue. 
 
 " Can you tell me the way to Mr. Muscova- 
 doe's estate?" 
 
 " What, sir! don't you know the way to Mr. 
 Muscovadoe's ? " 
 
 " No; or I would not ask it." 
 
 " You must really be a stranger." 
 
 " I am a stranger ; but will you please to 
 direct me?" 
 
 " Why, let me see do you know the Dry 
 River?" t 
 
 " Yes, I do." 
 
 " Well, it's not there." After a pause, your 
 guide adds, " But you'll cross it, hearee (do you 
 hear) ? and when you get to Cane Garden, you'll 
 strike across the pasture, till you come chock 
 against the fence ; then keep up to windward,* 
 
 * Eastward and westward is called windward and leeward, on 
 account of the trade-winds. Creoles are remarkably fond of mari- 
 time phrases.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 1] 
 
 till you meet up with the bottom of the valley ; 
 you'll then cross the gully, and, when you get to 
 the cock-pit, any nigger will shew you Mr. Mus- 
 covadoe's estate." 
 
 The fact is, he first ascertains that you are a 
 stranger, and then gives you such directions as 
 none but a native can comprehend. 
 
 In the West Indies, most persons shew a 
 desire to know how their neighbours get on ; 
 in England, people are too much occupied with 
 their own business to think about that of another. 
 This may be attributed to the small communities 
 in the colonies, and the vast population of the 
 mother country : yet, with all allowance for these, 
 the coldness of Englishmen respecting the con- 
 cerns of their neighbours struck me as a remark- 
 ably general trait. A friend of mine, a retired 
 West Indian, who lived some years at the Hum- 
 mums, Covent Garden, told me an anecdote, 
 which strongly coincided with my conclusion. 
 It ran thus : 
 
 Two gentlemen were in the habit, for some 
 years, of dining in adjoining boxes at that tavern. 
 After three years, by dint of rubbing their elbows 
 against each other, they became so intimate as 
 to nod, as they passed to go into their respective 
 boxes. At the end of five years, they used to 
 exchange brief " how d'ye do's?" but, although
 
 12 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 they, every day for seven years, dined at the 
 same hour next to each other, they were never 
 known to dine together, nor were ever seen to 
 shake hands. How different is this from the 
 continual shaking of hands in the West Indies ! 
 
 The following fact I can speak of'from my 
 own knowledge. I once, in company with Dr. 
 Molesworth, visited an old gentleman who lived 
 in Bloomsbury Square : he sent for the doctor 
 to consult him, he being slightly indisposed. 
 The doctor, among other questions, asked how 
 he slept the preceding night. " Very badly," 
 was the reply. * " I was kept awake by a racket 
 in the next house. I don't know the cause of 
 this merry-making of my neighbour ; I never 
 knew the family to have any noisy party at their 
 house before." 
 
 Now, the fact was this : the old gentleman 
 had lived for thirty years beside his neighbour 
 without being intimate with him or bis family ; 
 and the merry-making which kept him awake 
 was caused by the marriage of his next-door 
 neighbour's only daughter. 
 
 In the West Indies, I often read of Old Eng- 
 lish hospitality : I suppose this term meant the 
 hospitality of England in days of old, for the 
 English of the .present time do not seem to un- 
 derstand the meaning of the word. I certainly
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 13 
 
 did meet with some hospitality in London, but 
 it was in the apartments of retired West Indians. 
 These were generally located in and about Sloane 
 Street; they generally live in pairs, unless the 
 parties have families. I always knew where to 
 find them by these signs: They generally have 
 a pair of green parrots hanging out of the parlour 
 window, and a monkey chained down the area ; 
 have, the doors and windows carefully lined with 
 list, and a black porter or lackey to open the 
 door. When introduced to them, I found in the 
 room of audience a sideboard, laid out in the 
 West Indian style, with much glass, and little 
 plate ; large glass candle-shades, a huge sangaree- 
 bowl, with an open bottle or two of madeira 
 for, in general, West Indians do not decant their 
 wine. One or both of the hosts lay swinging in 
 a cotton hammock, from which they scarcely 
 rose to receive their visitors, who were desired 
 to help themselves, or to call for what they 
 wanted. 
 
 If two persons in the West Indies live on 
 terms of intimacy, the parties never think of 
 giving each other an invitation to dinner, unless 
 the inviter entertains a party, as an invitation 
 would be thought too formal. A friend is ex- 
 pected to drop in at meal-times, and partake of
 
 14 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 what is going on ; to announce his intention of 
 taking coffee or soup with his friend, that is to 
 say, coming to breakfast or dinner with him : 
 this he does with as little ceremony as he asks 
 for a pinch of snuff. All this is necessarily dif- 
 ferent in England : none there thinks of inviting 
 himself to take coffee or soup with any one ; 
 and, as to an invitation, he who visits a friend 
 in England on the strength of one of them, will 
 find the party too formal to be hospitable. 
 
 One practice at dinner in England I must 
 protest against : an invited guest is not allowed 
 to do as he pleases. I felt this as a great annoy- 
 ance, after being used to the free-and-easy tables 
 of the Caribbean Islands. At every formal party 
 I was at in London, t was pestered beyond my 
 patience to partake of things which were my 
 aversion, after having satisfied my appetite with 
 viands that I liked. The worst of all this was, 
 that, while the host and his family were per- 
 secuting me, in order to make me cram as much 
 into my stomach as though it were a cotton-pack, 
 the parties absolutely conceived they were ex- 
 ercising politeness and hospitality. 
 
 Nothing astonished me in England more than 
 the frequency of the repasts. In the West In- 
 dies two meals in twenty-four hours is all we
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 15 
 
 think of; in England they consume four solid 
 repasts per day, and a good supper at night. 
 
 Notwithstanding our abundance of turtle ; the 
 endless variety and delicacy of fish ; the venison- 
 like taste of our lean, but delicious mutton ; the 
 abundance and good quality of poultry in the 
 colonies, yet the materiel of the kitchen in Eng- 
 land is infinitely superior to that of a West Indian 
 " cook-room :" but I think the cookery of the 
 West Indies much superior to that of England. 
 I have dined in houses that sported first-rate 
 French artists, but thought their compounds be- 
 yond comparison inferior to those of the black 
 and brown cooks of the West, whose culinary 
 system is a kind of composite order between the 
 solid Doric dishes of the British, and the Co- 
 rinthian cookery of their Gallic neighbours. 
 
 The few words employed in business in Eng- 
 land is astonishing. In London, two merchants 
 will negociate the sale of a West Indiaman, with 
 her whole cargo, in less time and with fewer 
 words than a storekeeper on our side of the 
 Atlantic would take to sell a demijean of rum. 
 This brevity is so remarkable, that mercantile 
 business is more rapidly transacted in England 
 than in any other country on earth. A mer- 
 chant in one of the Antilles wrote a most 
 elaborate and " lengthy" epistle to a London
 
 16 WARNER ARTJNDELL : 
 
 house, and received for answer a letter running 
 thus : 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " WRITE shorter letters, and draw for 
 your money. 
 
 " Your obedient," &c. 
 
 When a West Indian wishes to express that 
 any business is set about, he says it is on the 
 carpet; an Englishman says it is on the anvil. 
 The latter certainly uses all his energies to strike 
 while the iron is hot. 
 
 This brevity in transacting business is carried 
 into English courts of law. When a wigless 
 colonial lawyer is retained, it is expected, whether 
 the cause in which he is engaged will admit of a 
 speech or not, that he will make one, to shew 
 that he merits his fee, to gratify his client, and 
 to amuse the party-coloured auditors who al- 
 ways loiter about a West Indian court of law, 
 who are as fond of hearing suits determined as 
 were the Athenians of old. With the perriwig- 
 pated fellows of Westminster Hall the case is 
 different : when nothing need be said, or nothing 
 can be said, the English lawyer wisely holds his 
 tongue. Eloquence in Westminster Hall may be 
 used to support argument, but the judges there
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 17 
 
 would frown most awfully on any one who should 
 presume to use oratory for the mere purpose of 
 earning his fee, or of amusing the bystanders. 
 
 The apparent want of charity in the people 
 of England often shocked me. In the West 
 Indies, it rarely happens that any one complains 
 of hunger; when it does, the wants of the un- 
 fortunate are promptly supplied. If application 
 be made to the house of the opulent for succour, 
 the distressed man is sent into the kitchen, or a 
 small table is laid out for him in an out-house ; 
 if the party appealed to be of the humble order of 
 society, he is generally asked into the hall,* and 
 such provision as the house affords is given to 
 him. 
 
 Often have I witnessed acts of benevolence 
 from persons in the colonies, who have a mul- 
 titude of sins for their charity to cover. Many a 
 .wretched white man, when attacked at one and 
 the same time by poverty and the yellow fever, 
 has been succoured by poor mulatto women of 
 the most unfortunate and degraded description ; 
 many a houseless white has been nursed into 
 health by those women, or decently buried by 
 them, although the names even of the parties 
 
 * In the West Indies, the hall is the main room of the house ; 
 or, what is called in England, the parlour. In London, the word 
 is generally applied to the vestibule.
 
 18 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 in whose behalf their humanity has been exerted 
 were unknown to them. It is remarkable that 
 this has been the common practice of poor mu- 
 latto women since the earliest days of colonisa- 
 tion in this part of the world, as we learn from 
 the oldest Spanish historians of these islands. 
 In the Antilles, even the poor slave allows no 
 child of want to solicit in vain, while he has 
 the power of relieving him. Often have I seen 
 sailors who had lost their way up a West India 
 colony, or who had been turned adrift for 
 misconduct often have I seen such feeding out 
 of the calabash of the poor negroes. 
 
 When white men become incorrigibly bad, 
 and are deserted by all, they skulk about the 
 negro village of a plantation, and are maintained 
 by the slaves. 
 
 Having witnessed the above general bene- 
 volence of the Caribbean Islands, I was fre- 
 quently shocked in England at beholding the 
 indigent solicit in vain the cold hand of charity. 
 Much of this apparent hardness of heart is, 
 doubtless, owing to the poor-laws, and to the 
 number of impostors which a dense population 
 always possesses, who are ready to abuse and 
 deceive benevolence ; yet, amongst the many 
 fortunes that were wrecked during my too brief 
 sojourn in England, I never heard of one that
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 19 
 
 was ruined by charity. I know that political 
 economy condemns the giving of alms and reliev- 
 ing of wants, as injurious to society ; but, thank 
 God ! I am not a political economist. 
 
 I more than once witnessed a greasy well- 
 fed magistrate bully and abuse a parcel of house- 
 less wretches, who had violated the vagrant-law ; 
 in other words, had committed the sin of being 
 miserably poor. I felt as pleased with the well- 
 fed reprover of poverty as I suppose an English- 
 man would feel, on his first arrival in the colo- 
 nies, at beholding a negro-driver, with his cart- 
 whip, persuading a slave to work faster by 
 means of the argumentum a posteriori. 
 
 That the English are not wanting in public 
 charity appears by the fact of the existence of 
 an immense number of noble public institutions, 
 in which all kinds of calamities are relieved, 
 and to where the unfortunate of all descriptions 
 can retire. The hospitals of London bear glo- 
 rious testimony of national benevolence, and, 
 I hope, call down blessings on that " province 
 covered with houses." 
 
 Often, when viewing those magnificent re- 
 ceptacles for the maimed and worn-out defenders 
 of their country at Greenwich and Chelsea, I 
 felt the justness of the observation of a foreigner,
 
 20 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 who, alluding to the wretched-looking palace 
 at St. James's, and the splendour of the hos- 
 pitals for decayed seamen and soldiers, said, 
 that the English lodge their kings in a hospital, 
 and their beggars in palaces. 
 
 The women in England are, in general, beau- 
 tiful. The great advantages they possess over 
 the fair of the Antilles is in having countenances 
 more expressive and animated, and complexions 
 more beautifully variegated. Nothing can exceed 
 the transparent skin of the women of England ; 
 and the mingled white and red shewing through 
 it, like the delicate tints of well-painted por- 
 celain appearing through the glaze which art 
 gives it, while the blue veins being visible, ren- 
 der the whole so lovely, that it can be compared 
 to nothing so aptly as the fleecy pods of new- 
 opened cotton, wet with the sparkling dews of 
 morning. 
 
 The complexions of Creole ladies, of unmixed 
 European descent, are fair as lilies ; but the rose 
 is seldom reflected on their countenances. Their 
 lips are well formed, but want the ruby die of 
 fair Englishwomen. Their lack of expression and 
 animation is owing, doubtless, to their sedentary 
 habits and retired manners : that the climate 
 alone cannot account for. This is proved by
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 21 
 
 the fact, that no women on earth have more 
 animated and expressive visages than women 
 of colour. 
 
 The women of the Caribbean Isles do not. 
 in general, carry the folly of tight - lacing to 
 the pitch that it is enforced in England ; hence, 
 their tournure is often better, and consumptions 
 less common among them. I know, a waist 
 pinched in like an hour-glass is, in England, 
 thought a beauty ; so is a crippled foot in China, 
 a flattened forehead amongst the Cariabs, and 
 a tattooed face amongst most savages. 
 
 The Creator made women of the most lovely 
 form : what a mixture of folly and presumption 
 it is to attempt to alter that which came perfect 
 from His hands! 
 
 The eyes of the fair Creoles are fully as beau- 
 tiful as those of Englishwomen : the former are 
 languishing and indicative of benevolence ; the 
 latter, animated, lively, and expressive of every 
 emotion of their active minds. 
 
 The women of England and, from what 
 I have seen, those of France may learn one 
 thing of Creoles : that is, to walk. The French 
 ladies trip as though they walked on sharp pebbles; 
 the English fair marches with the long pace of 
 a light-infantry man ; the Creoles walk grace- 
 fully.
 
 22 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 From the pictures I had seen of John Bull, 
 1 was led to believe that all Englishmen had 
 that deformity of the abdomen called a corpo- 
 ration : this is not the case in general ; although I 
 think, if Englishmen were less stout, they would 
 look less clumsy. 
 
 One of the first things that struck me in 
 viewing the people "at home," was their extra- 
 ordinary cleanliness. This, in the houses of the 
 great, did not astonish me ; although the extreme 
 neatness of every article of furniture, every do- 
 mestic utensil, and all the servants, both in and 
 out of livery, enhanced considerably the luxury 
 by which I was surrounded, during a few visits 
 I paid to the great. The very stable of an 
 English gentleman, and the cow-house of an 
 English farmer, shew the peculiar neatness of 
 the people. But what most surprised and gra- 
 tified me, was the scrupulous regard to clean- 
 liness which the poor evinced. During my me- 
 dical studies, I visited the indigent sick ; and yet 
 I could have eat off the well-scoured floor, on 
 which lay a flock bed supporting the patient. 
 Often have I observed, with pleasure, a poor 
 woman with four children taking the air, on a 
 Sunday, in the Park : the dresses of the whole 
 were not worth half so much as a single massive 
 gold button, two pair of which a negress com-
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 23 
 
 monly wears in her sleeve ; and yet the patched 
 and repatched habiliments were as clean as wed- 
 ding garments. 
 
 I was much edified by attending public wor- 
 ship in various churches of the metropolis. The 
 unostentatious devotion of the congregations, and 
 the eloquence of the preachers, gratified me ; 
 but I felt as a drawback the wretched screeching 
 and hissing of 
 
 " Sternhold's creeping lays ;" 
 
 or the Psalms done into English by Tait and 
 Brady, which the parish-clerks call " singing to 
 the praise and glory of God." I would advise 
 some of the churches to send to Antigua for 
 negro Methodists, who would form a much better 
 choir than those they possess. 
 
 Being a stranger, I, of course, went to see 
 all the stone lions of the town. I am no judge 
 of architecture ; but most of the buildings in 
 London appeared to denote that their erectors 
 bestowed more labour than taste on their works. 
 From this censure I, of course, except Westmin- 
 ster Abbey, Somerset House ; the noble piles of 
 Wren, Inigo Jones, Gibbs ; and the glorious 
 bridges which span the noble Thames. The 
 English display more genius in constructing 
 bridges, docks, arsenals, hospitals, and ships-of-
 
 24 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 war, than in raising palaces, public offices, and 
 churches. 
 
 I shall not attempt to describe my emotion 
 the first time I saw a play in London. True it is, 
 I had witnessed a dramatic representation, or 
 misrepresentation, in the West Indies ; but these 
 were amateur performances. Some of the ama- 
 teurs possessed abilities ; but ridicule was thrown 
 on the whole attempt by the ladies' characters 
 being acted by young men. Let the reader, if 
 he can, conceive a tall youth of twenty, play- 
 ing Lady Randolph (' Douglas,' by the by, is a 
 favourite amongst amateurs) ! The young man 
 will not consent to lose his whiskers : he there- 
 fore endeavours to conceal them under the lap- 
 pets of his cap ; and, ever and anon, as he turns 
 his head, his " favourites" peep out. Conceive 
 a person so situated acting the part of Lady Ran- 
 dolph, and, with a full tenor voice, address Anna 
 (represented by a tall, dunning clerk), and saying 
 to the said Anna, 
 
 " I found myself 
 
 As women wish to be who love their lords." 
 
 or let the reader suppose he witnesses the exhi- 
 bition of Otway's ' Orphan,' the part of the tender 
 Monimia enacted by a short, squat lad, with a 
 woolly head, a mask of paint over his dark face,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 25 
 
 and a pair of large ear-rings suspended by thread 
 from his unbored ears; suppose such a youth, 
 wishing to be pathetic, exclaiming, with the voice 
 of a bull-calf, 
 
 " Why was I born with all my sex's softness ? " 
 
 Let the gentle or simple reader suppose all 
 this, and he will form a faint conception of a 
 West India dramatic exhibition, and have a 
 fainter idea what my feelings were at beholding 
 the supernatural or preternatural ' Macbeth ' of 
 Shakespeare, while Kemble and his still more 
 illustrious sister, played the principal characters. 
 
 Unused as I was to theatrical display, the 
 accuracy of the scenery, the shadowy way in 
 which the witches performed their incantations, 
 and the picturesque appearance of the plaided 
 warriors, delighted me. But when I heard 
 Macbeth deliver the immortal air-drawn dagger 
 soliloquy ; when I saw his daring lady tempting 
 him to blood, like an incarnate fiend ; when I 
 witnessed the confusion of the guilty pair after 
 the murder of their sovereign; and, above all, 
 when I beheld the conscience - haunted sleep- 
 walker, endeavouring to wash from her hands the 
 " damned spot," I quailed with horror, and yet, 
 at the same time, felt intense delight. This is a 
 
 VOL. II. C
 
 26 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 paradox which I shall not attempt to solve : the 
 pleasure resulting from beholding a sublime tra- 
 gedy, well acted, has often been attempted to be 
 explained, but without success. 
 
 I must add, that the after-piece appeared to 
 please " the million," better than the masterpiece 
 of Shakespeare, supported by the talent of Sid- 
 dons and Kemble ; for the latter was sustained 
 by greater performers, viz. a stud of horses. 
 
 I had read, both in the West Indies and in 
 England, of the open immorality practised in the 
 colonies. The censures, although a little* over- 
 drawn, were true in the main ; but, after 
 perusing them, in the simplicity of my heart 
 I conceived that the morals of England were 
 pure as the unsunned snow of the climate. This 
 error was removed on my entering the saloon of 
 a London theatre. I will venture to say, that 
 the profligacy I there beheld shocked me more 
 than any Englishman was ever shocked by con- 
 templating any scene of libertinism in our part 
 of the world. 
 
 Creoles in general are well pleased with 
 themselves, and consequently pleased with all 
 around them. If a calamity happen to him, he 
 persuades himself that it was caused by no fault 
 of his, and that another year will amend the mis- 
 fortune. The next year, in the West Indies, has
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 27 
 
 become proverbial ; the next year is to redress 
 all grievances, and to compensate for all losses : 
 but the " next year " of the Creole, like the " to- 
 morrow " of the debtor, never arrives. The fact 
 is, hope is the consolation of mankind in general, 
 but it is often the evil genius of the Creole. He 
 passively hopes for the best at the time he should 
 actively prepare for the worst. Such being the 
 failing of my compatriots, I could not but be 
 forcibly struck with the countless number of 
 croakers I met with in England. The Creole air- 
 castle builder is less prudent than the English 
 grumbler, but not a whit less wise. During every 
 war for the last two hundred years, our West 
 India colonies suffered cruelly. Provisions were, 
 at times, so dear in the colonies, that wheaten 
 loaves were often too expensive to be seen on the 
 tables of the most opulent ; and the mass of the 
 people were obliged to live on the crude vege- 
 tables of the islands. But the Creoles who suf- 
 fered such privations consoled each other by 
 saying, the times would change, and that flour 
 would be at two dollars a-barrel " next year;" 
 while, at the same time, if an English operative 
 was deprived of the slightest article of con- 
 sumption, which we in the colonies consider as 
 luxuries, he would be ready to rise in rebel- 
 lion at the call of the first " man of the people"
 
 28 WARNER ARUNDELL t 
 
 who should propose to attack the Tower or 
 plunder the Bank. 
 
 The disposition to grumbling is not confined 
 to the lower orders ; but the pleasure of the well- 
 educated croakers in England consists in pre- 
 tending to be miserable, and in the amiable 
 endeavour to make others as unhappy as they 
 wish to appear. When I first came to England, 
 the long wars afforded sufficient themes for croak- 
 ing : when I left it, the well-informed croakers 
 were predicting all sorts of misfortunes, because 
 many persons were using their best endeavours 
 to educate the lower classes of society. They pro- 
 phesied that national schools would become na- 
 tional evils ; that, as the humble ranks of society 
 became well-informed, they would become dis- 
 contented ; that all people would cease to obey 
 the laws when all could read them, and a revolu- 
 tion would be the consequence. I regretted to 
 hear this ; because I came from places where the 
 labouring classes are illiterate, and I have beheld 
 the evils resulting from the want of letters among 
 the cultivators of the soil, the hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water. 
 
 Those who fear that education will cause a 
 revolution, know nothing of history, or treat it 
 as an old almanack. Were the furious outbreak- 
 ings, during the middle ages in France, which
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 29 
 
 were called Jacqueries, caused by the diffusion of 
 useful knowledge ? Were the riots of Wat Tyler 
 and Jack Cade brought about by national schools, 
 or the want of them ? To come nearer our own 
 times was the frenzy of the Parisian mobs, 
 during the Reign of Terror, caused by its members 
 being too well instructed ? No, no ; the rising of 
 " the great unwashed" has often been occasioned 
 by want and oppression more often by their 
 ignorance, being misled by artful demagogues : 
 but never did men rise, never will men rise in 
 revolt because the schoolmaster is abroad : 
 rebellion, generally, is the child of ignorance. 
 The insidious harangue of the factious orator is 
 never more dangerous than when addressed to an 
 illiterate mob. 
 
 That venerable monarch, George III., wished 
 that every one of his subjects had a Bible, and 
 were able to read it : a more benevolent wish was 
 never expressed by any prince ; a wiser saying 
 was never recorded of any king since the days of 
 Solomon. 
 
 One of the many things which astonished me 
 in England, was the want of geographical inform- 
 ation that pervaded all ranks of society. Great 
 Britain rules one-fourth of the globe in all parts 
 of the world ; she possesses colonies ; her mer- 
 chandise and manufactories supply every mart ;
 
 30 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 her ships crowd every sea ; her travellers pene- 
 trate every inhabited and uninhabited country : 
 and yet the English, in general, know as much 
 of geography as a mole knows of longitude. 
 The ignorance I complain of was often taken 
 advantage of by the writers on both sides of the 
 controversy, during the long agitation of the ques- 
 tion of colonial slavery. 
 
 Some years since, a book was published, pur- 
 porting to be a description of the West Indies, 
 which placed Trinidad in the Gulf of Mexico. 
 This geographical blunder, and twenty others 
 equally gross, passed unobserved, although the 
 book was reviewed by most of the principal pe- 
 riodicals of the day. Repeatedly, in the House 
 of Commons, the most finished orators have 
 talked of " the Island of Demerara;" and I 
 myself heard a senator of some celebrity say, 
 " he hoped to see the day when the negroes in 
 the West Indies would peaceably enjoy their own 
 firesides!" Talk of a people enjoying their fire- 
 sides in a climate where, in the month of January, 
 the mercury stands at 92 in the shade ! there is 
 fever in the very thought. I could, if I chose, 
 write a whole volume on the subject of the ridi- 
 culous geographical blunders which I heard people 
 in England make. 
 
 Such are the impressions made on me by
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 31 
 
 English society : I describe them with some dif- 
 fidence, because I know from experience how 
 easily a stranger is led to make erroneous con- 
 clusions. I have often laughed at the ridiculous 
 mistakes that tourists have made in the West 
 Indies.
 
 32 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Oh ! woman, in our hours of ease, 
 Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, 
 
 * * * 
 
 When pain and anguish wring the hrow, 
 
 A ministering angel thou." 
 
 SCOTT. 
 
 " I at last their miseries viewed 
 In that vile garret, which I cannot paint." 
 
 CRABBE. 
 
 HAVING taken up much time to relate what I 
 thought in London, it is now time to tell what I 
 did. 
 
 On the sailing of the first West Indian packet 
 after my arrival, I wrote to my brother Rodney, 
 but received no answer by the return of the 
 packet. Months elapsed, and no reply arrived. 
 I wrote again and again, but no answer came. 
 At length I thought the family slighted me, and 
 I wrote no more. My letters were intercepted : 
 the reader shall be informed, in due time, how 
 this occurred.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 33 
 
 Every quarter I received a brief letter from 
 Messrs. Keen and Leech, enclosing a bill of ex- 
 change for 621. 10s. on Messrs. Sucker and Sons, 
 Fenchurch Street, at ninety days' sight, which was 
 duly honoured. 
 
 I became a pupil of Dr. Molesworth, attend- 
 ing with him whenever he had an extraordinary 
 case, and I could find time. Occasionally I took 
 instructions from his apothecary in the materia 
 medico. . I lost no time, but attended Brooks's, 
 Carpue's, and Bell's lectures : I walked the Mid- 
 dlesex Hospital, and became dresser to one of the 
 principal surgeons ; studied chemistry and botany ; 
 read every book on medicine which Dr. Moles- 
 worth recommended. My knowledge of Latin 
 and French served me much in this respect. In 
 short, I displayed assiduity to gain a knowledge 
 of my profession as a surgeon ; for the gentlemen 
 of Warwick Lane refuse to grant a diploma to 
 any one who has not washed his hands in the 
 Cam or Isis. However, I cared little about this, 
 because I intended to practise in the West Indies, 
 where the obsolete distinction between physician 
 and surgeon is little attended to : both branches 
 there, as they ought to be every where else, are, 
 practised by the same person. 
 
 As the progress I made in my medical studies 
 can have little interest to the general reader, I 
 
 c 2
 
 34 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 will pass over them, and merely state, that my 
 application was noticed and praised by all whose 
 lectures I attended. 
 
 Nothing worth relating occurred until Janu- 
 ary 1815; when, during one miserable foggy 
 and snowy day, which is peculiarly unpleasant 
 to a native of the torrid zone, I went into a hair- 
 dresser's shop in Warwick Street, Golden Square, 
 to get my hair trimmed. The operator and his 
 assistant were both employed ; I was, therefore, 
 obliged to wait until one of them was disengaged. 
 The barber observing, by my blowing my fingers, 
 that I was disagreeably affected by the cold, 
 asked me to go into his back room, where there 
 was a fire. I agreed to this proposition, and 
 went in, took a seat before the grate, and warmed 
 myself, until the hairdresser despatched his cus- 
 tomers. On looking round me, I saw on a side- 
 table a body of the most beautiful hair I ever 
 beheld. It was of a light-brown colour, most 
 elegantly curled, more than six feet in length, 
 and of the most silky texture I ever touched. 
 
 The man of the shop, having finished with his 
 other customers, came to me. He was a short 
 dapper man, with a deep pock-marked counte- 
 nance, which looked as though it had been 
 sculptured with a rough chisel out of a cask of 
 tallow : and yet his pale crumpet-looking features
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 35 
 
 had the traits of good-nature and intelligence so 
 plainly written on them, that, ungainly as they 
 were, they seemed any thing but disagreeable. 
 Real good-humour can throw a pleasant expres- 
 sion into an ugly visage. 
 
 " You seem, sir, to enjoy the fire; you don't 
 like cold," said he. 
 
 I replied, that a clear frosty day was tolerable, 
 because I could brace myself with exercise ; but 
 that I hated the foggy weather of his climate. 
 
 " Perceive, sir, you are a foreigner?" 
 
 " Not exactly : I am a West Indian." 
 
 " Bless me, sir ! you are a West Indian, and 
 yet you are as fair as any Englishman ! 1 
 thought you natives of the West Indies were 
 molotoes (mulattoes)." 
 
 I smiled at the man's mistake ; which, how- 
 ever, is common in England, where most per- 
 sons conceive mulattoes the pure descendants of 
 whites, rendered dark by being born in a torrid 
 climate. 
 
 " You would prefer, perhaps, that I should 
 cut your hair here, to sitting in the cold shop?" 
 
 I consented to this suggestion ; and, with 
 that despatch remarkable to the tradesmen of 
 London, he tied a napkin round my neck, and 
 commenced reducing my superfluous hair. 
 
 " You don't have your hair cut too close:
 
 36 WARNER ARUNDELL I 
 
 I would advise you against that, for one who 
 possesses so fine a head of flaxen locks." 
 
 I told him to operate as he chose. 
 
 " There, sir, you shew your good sense : leave 
 the matter to me, and I'll set off your head to 
 the best advantage. A young man's prospects 
 are often influenced by his hairdresser : nothing 
 conduces so much to improve the appearance of 
 a youth, as having his locks skilfully trimmed ; 
 it gives him a prepossessing appearance, which 
 often does him good service. A handsome look, 
 sir, is often more valuable to a young gentleman 
 than half a fortune. Having the head well trim- 
 med on the outside, does a youth sometimes 
 more service than having it well lined with 
 brains. I see, sir, you wince as the cold scissors 
 touch your neck : always know a man from a 
 warm country by that, sir. There, sir, I think 
 that will do. You look admirably, although I 
 say it that should not say it, inasmuch as I 
 contributed to your good looks with my own 
 hands and scissors." 
 
 I peeped into a small mirror, and expressed 
 myself satisfied, for the man had really performed 
 his operation well and quickly. I gave him a 
 shilling. 
 
 " Here, sir, is your change," said the man of 
 the scissors; and he teridered me sixpence.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 37 
 
 " Never mind the change," said I. 
 
 " Bless me! I would not mind it were you a 
 few years older ; but, sir, sixpence is my price, 
 and I could not think of taking more of a youth 
 than I charge a man." 
 
 Perceiving I still neglected the change, he 
 added, 
 
 " Well, sir, as you choose ; but I'll give you 
 a piece of advice which will, perhaps, be worth 
 more than sixpence. Never offer a tradesman 
 double what he asks, because he pays a compli- 
 ment to your appearance. Excuse me, sir, ha, 
 ha, ha!" 
 
 I thanked the man for his advice, which was 
 not bad, considering I paid for it. The loquacious 
 barber perceived I fixed my eyes on the hair I 
 have spoken of: he said, 
 
 " Fine hair, sir : I have been in the trade, 
 man and boy, thirty years, and never saw any 
 article so beautiful. It is the colour of your hair, 
 only half-a-dozen shades darker. It is lovely, 
 and it belonged to as lovely a young woman as 
 ever I saw. She is, like yourself, from foreign 
 parts, because she has a blackamoor woman as 
 her servant. Poor young lady! I gave her, last 
 week, twice as much as it was worth in trade, 
 because she appeared in distress : she took the 
 money with a tear in her eye, which she tried to
 
 38 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 conceal. I got anxious to find out who she was, 
 and sent my boy, Bill, a 'cute lad, sir, to follow 
 her : she went to a butcher and a baker, where she 
 bought some provision, which her tawny servant 
 carried. Bill then followed them to a back 
 alley in Swallow Street, where she lives. Bill 
 asked all about her, and found she is the wife of 
 a poor sick officer, and mother of three children. 
 The good creature sold her beautiful hair to satisfy 
 the hunger of her sick husband, and famishing 
 babes God 'bless her! Why, love you, sir, you 
 have a tear in your eye ! You need not hide 
 it : you should be ashamed of selfish tears, be- 
 cause they are unmanly ; but the tears that are 
 shed for the distress of another do us honour." 
 
 " Will you allow your boy," asked I, ff to 
 shew me where this lady lives?" 
 
 " That I will," replied the worthy trimmer of 
 hair; " and the more willingly because I believe 
 your visit will be one of benevolence." 
 
 He called his boy, and bid him shew me where 
 the distressed family resided. He took him aside 
 ere we left the shop, and I heard him say to the 
 boy in a whisper, 
 
 " Now, Bill, if he offers you any thing, don't 
 accept it, and I'll give you what he wants you to 
 take." 
 
 I took leave of the kind barber, and followed
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 39 
 
 his lad about four hundred yards : he took me up 
 a dark alley. 
 
 " This is the house," said the boy ; " you will 
 find the family in the garret." 
 
 Up I went; but, before I got to the first 
 landing-place, I paused to recollect what I was 
 about. Affected by the story told by the barber, 
 I resolved, in the first impulse of my feelings, to 
 relieve the distress of the family. I possessed the 
 means of doing this, having just returned from 
 the city with my quarter's allowance in my pocket. 
 But, would my visit be well taken? The husband 
 of the lady was an officer in the army, and might 
 resent that as an insult which I meant as an act 
 of kindness. I recollected that the husband was 
 sick, and I resolved to introduce myself as a 
 medical student, and to beg permission to pre- 
 scribe for the gentleman. Approving of this 
 thought, I ascended, and knocked at the door of 
 the garret. 
 
 " Come in," said a faint voice. 
 
 I lifted the latch, and a sight struck my eyes 
 which astonished me. 
 
 Tne garret had no covering but the tiles of 
 the house ; the light was admitted through a 
 single window, a leaden lattice, which held green 
 and knotted panes of glass, some broken, and 
 mended with paper. Through this window was
 
 40 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 seen a vast mass of roofs of houses, thickly covered 
 with the discoloured snow of London ; in a small 
 grate lingered the embers of a nearly extinct fire : 
 an ancient table, with two old-fashioned chairs, 
 were the only articles of furniture in the room. 
 Against one of the rafters hung a tarnished and 
 worn uniform of a lieutenant of infantry ; and 
 beside the wall was a letter-holder, full of those 
 vouchers of poverty, pawnbrokers' duplicates. 
 In one corner of the room crouched a mulattoe, 
 with a blanket over her : she seemed to try in 
 vain to keep herself warm. As I entered, she 
 rose, and I at once recognised her to be my old 
 friend, Lucy. On a flock-bed in a corner re- 
 posed my fellow -passenger, Rivers, with two 
 children by his side : the three were covered by 
 a military great coat. The father was so worn 
 by misery, that, had I not known Lucy, I should 
 not have recognised him ; beside his bed sat his 
 beautiful wife for beautiful she was, despite her 
 wretchedness. Although famine had thrown his 
 pallid hue over her cheek, she supported an in- 
 fant in her arms ; her dress bore marks of faded 
 gentility. Grim poverty seemed to pervade the 
 cold room. 
 
 " Massa Warner!" screamed Lucy; and, 
 after a second, the distressed couple both ex- 
 claimed, " Mr. Arundell!"
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 41 
 
 I knelt to embrace my old friend ; after 
 which I exclaimed, looking round me, " Good 
 God ! Captain Rivers " and checked myself. 
 
 " I understand you, Mr. Arundell you are 
 shocked at our wretchedness : and, truly, these 
 are not splendid apartments for the lieutenant 
 in his majesty's army the heir-presumptive of 
 a large estate ; nor is this furniture suitable to 
 the rank of the daughter of a colonel. But 
 what brought you here? I thought indigence 
 concealed me from all my acquaintance." 
 
 I stammered out something, not very coherent, 
 about my coming to visit a person I heard was 
 sick, in order to improve my medical studies. 
 
 " Arundell," said he, grasping my hand, 
 " you are a worthy young man; but be advised 
 by me never attempt a falsehood. Nay, I 
 meant no offence. Never attempt dissimulation ; 
 for, practise it as you will, your countenance is 
 too honest for you to become an adept in it. 
 So, Amelia, our young friend, who saved our 
 eldest boy, has paid us a visit to try his hand 
 at doctoring on me : like P. P. the parish clerk, 
 to bleed adventures he not, except on the poor. 
 But, whatever brought you here, I am happy 
 most happy to see you." 
 
 " Mr. Warner could have no other motives 
 in visiting us but those of kindness ; he is, there-
 
 42 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 fore, welcome," said the lady, extending her 
 hand ; which I took. " Here, Robert ; here is 
 your old acquaintance, who shot Jumbee. Nay, 
 don't cry so ; the gentleman is a friend." 
 
 But the poor child wept on ; and the other 
 two joined him, despite their mother's attempt 
 to quiet them. Their's was not the mere weep- 
 ing of infancy ; it was the wailing of famine. 
 Each cry reverberated in the hearts of the father 
 and mother. Most agonising to the ears of the 
 parents are the cries of the children for food, 
 when the latter cannot satisfy the cravings of 
 their offspring! 
 
 " How are you, Lucy?" said I. 
 
 " Pretty miserable, Massa Warner ; hope you 
 are the same." 
 
 " You seem weak, Lucy. I hope you are 
 not sick?" 
 
 " No, massa ; only a little weak and cold. 
 This coun.try cold for true ; and every body heart 
 cold like the country. I have no other sick 
 (sickness) but hunger." 
 
 " That is a disease I can easily remedy. 
 Rise, if you are able, and get something to eat 
 for yourself ; and order some coals up instantly 
 I am perishing with cold." 
 
 I put a guinea into her hand. She under- 
 stood my meaning, which was to send her for
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 43 
 
 something to satisfy the cravings of the starving 
 family, without offending the lieutenant or his 
 wife. 
 
 " Blessings on your good heart, Massa War- 
 ner ! I just tell missis, God Almighty go send 
 him angel to help us; and him send what is 
 more better than angel him send a kind young 
 man to relieve us, and feed the starving child- 
 ren," said poor Lucy, bursting into tears. 
 
 I hurried her out of the room, and, on the 
 landing, gave her directions what she should 
 procure for the immediate use of the hapless 
 family. 
 
 " Arundell, this is most kind," said Rivers, 
 grasping my hand with all the strength that 
 sickness left him his felt deadly cold; " but I 
 shall never be able to pay you. The poor half- 
 pay of a lieutenant scarcely supports us when 
 I am in health; and now disease has reduced 
 us to this state of misery. For the last week 
 I have been subsisting on my poor Amelia's hair ; 
 and, just before you came in, she talked of selling 
 her teeth to a dentist." 
 
 I endeavoured to divert the melancholy con- 
 versation by inquiring after his malady. This 
 I found to be an inveterate tertian fever. Under 
 pretence of getting some medicine, I stepped out 
 and purchased a bottle of port wine. On my
 
 44 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 return, I found that Lucy had been most ex- 
 peditious : she had procured ready-dressed pro- 
 visions and fuel. In no place can all these be 
 obtained so readily as in London for money; 
 but without it, a man stands a greater chance 
 of famishing in Fleet Market than on the rock 
 of Sombrero, or in the wilds of South America. 
 
 The children and Lucy ate so ravenously 
 that I was obliged to interpose. The lieutenant 
 and his lady ate more sparingly. I, however, 
 caused them to partake of a little wine ; and 
 Rivers explained the cause of his present mis- 
 fortune. 
 
 Previously to my acquaintance with him, he 
 had been captured by the French, and sent to 
 Cayenne. In the same prison with him was a 
 colonel and his daughter, his present wife, whom 
 he married ; a chaplain of an English regi- 
 ment, also a prisoner, performing the ceremony. 
 Shortly after this, Cayenne was taken by the 
 English. His father-in-law was sent home, and, 
 subsequently, to Ceylon. Rivers remained in the 
 West Indies, until ordered to England in 1812. 
 On his arrival, his father was mortally offended 
 at his marriage, because he maintained an old 
 grudge against the father of his wife : he would 
 not speak to him. 
 
 Rivers, having nothing to depend upon but
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 45 
 
 his sword and his ensign's commission, joined his 
 regiment in Spain ; his affectionate wife follow- 
 ing him ; and her old slave Lucy took service 
 in a West India family. Three years' hard fight- 
 ing, and two wounds, got him promoted to the 
 rank of a lieutenant. At the peace, in 1814, 
 he was put on half pay. His father now sent 
 for him, and made the following shameful pro- 
 posal: viz., as he was married in a French prison 
 by a clergyman now dead, without the necessary 
 formalities being observed, the father told him, 
 if he would take advantage of those circum- 
 stances, and deny the validity of his marriage, 
 he would give the lieutenant 10,OOOZ., and settle 
 an annuity on the lady. Rivers would not listen 
 for one moment to a proposition so infamous, 
 and upbraided his father in no measured terms. 
 The old man's wrath knew no bounds : he 
 bought up all his son's debts, and caused him 
 to be arrested and thrown into prison. His wife 
 sold all her little trinkets to free her husband ; 
 and even Lucy (who had rejoined them) added 
 her savings. He got out of gaol, but was attack- 
 ed by a tedious malady. The expenses occa- 
 sioned by this reduced them to their present 
 misery. 
 
 I remained with Rivers long after night set 
 in, and then trod my way through the snow, to
 
 46 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 my apartments at Dr. Moles worth's. The next 
 day, as I left my residence to visit Rivers, I 
 met the celebrated Dr. Baillie. He had re- 
 peatedly seen me with Dr. Molesworth, and was 
 condescending enough to pay me some attention. 
 
 " Have you," said he, " ever seen a case of 
 Chorea Sancti Viti ? " 
 
 I replied in the negative. 
 
 " If you have nothing better to do, step into 
 my carriage, and I '11 shew you a most extra- 
 ordinary case." 
 
 I told the doctor I had a patient of my own to 
 visit. 
 
 ' ' You a patient ! " said the doctor, good- 
 huinouredly. " What, not being duly qualified, 
 you are going to kill without a license ! This is 
 downright poaching upon our manor." 
 
 " I am," replied I, " acting under peculiar 
 circumstances." 
 
 " I have little time," rejoined the doctor, "to 
 listen to peculiar circumstances, in this cold wea- 
 ther, at the door of my carriage. I am going 
 towards St. James's Square ; if your patient lives 
 in that direction, take a ride with me." 
 
 I entered the carriage, and begged him to 
 take Swallow Street in his way. This he ordered 
 the coachman to do. 
 
 Seated in the coach, he asked me about my
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 47 
 
 patient. I, as briefly as I could, related how I 
 became acquainted with Rivers, and in what state 
 I found him and his family yesterday. The doctor 
 seemed interested in the story, and asked me how 
 I intended to treat the sick man. I said that I 
 had ordered him to take a dose of antimony, com- 
 bined with the submuriate of mercury; and that, 
 if the medicine operated well, I intended to ad- 
 minister alternate doses of solution of arsenic and 
 Peruvian bark. 
 
 " Not a bad method of treating a tertian," 
 said the doctor; " but will you suffer me to act 
 as your consulting doctor ?" 
 
 To this humane and condescending proposi- 
 tion of the physician of royalty, I, of course, 
 consented ; and, in a few minutes, we were at the 
 entrance of the alley in which lived the lieute- 
 nant : the doctor readily mounted to the garret 
 with me. 
 
 Rivers was surprised, and seemed rather 
 chagrined, at receiving a visit from Dr. Baillie, 
 whom, however, he did not know ; but the 
 doctor's kind inquiries soon dispelled the cloud 
 from his brow. His displeasure, doubtless, arose 
 from being seen under such indigent circum- 
 stances. After inquiring into the patient's symp- 
 toms, he gave me directions, in Latin, how I was 
 to treat him ; begged that I would visit him at
 
 48 WARNER ARUNDELL I 
 
 his house in the afternoon, and left me with 
 Rivers. 
 
 After the doctor went, I could not but observe 
 what an air of cheerfulness the trifling sum I had 
 given Lucy had diffused around the miserable 
 garret. Rivers inquired who the kind physician 
 was whom I had brought to see him? I told 
 him, and then went to a neighbouring apothe- 
 cary, where I got the medicines recommended by 
 the doctor. The lieutenant's disease, which had 
 never been well treated, soon gave way to the 
 remedies recommended by the great Baillie. 
 
 On visiting the doctor in the evening, he, 
 after inquiring how the lieutenant got on, ad- 
 dressed me thus : 
 
 " Look you, Mr. Arundell, just before I saw 
 you this morning, I visited a hypochondriacal 
 peer one of those who, for ever, 
 
 The doctor tease 
 
 To name the nameless, ever new disease.' 
 
 Vexed at being sent for to treat an imaginary 
 complaint, when I had more patients really sick 
 than I could attend, his lordship perceived rny 
 impatience, and was offended. I left him : he 
 sent his valet after me with a note, which in- 
 formed me that he would dispense with my 
 future visits; but it enclosed a check on his
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 49 
 
 banker for fifty pounds. As I dislike pocketing 
 fees from people who are not sick, I resolved to 
 give the money to some charity. Now, Mr. 
 Arundell, I will thank you to give or send to 
 your poor friend the fifty pounds, without letting 
 him know from whom it comes." 
 
 I consented to aid the doctor's act of bene- 
 volence, and sent the money by a man belonging 
 to Middlesex Infirmary. I enclosed it in a letter, 
 and made a fellow-student write the address, lest 
 Rivers should know my hand-writing. 
 
 The next day I visited my patient : he chal- 
 lenged me with having sent the money to him. 
 I pledged my honour that the money had never 
 been mine. He asked me if I would declare 
 that I did not know who sent it. I declined an- 
 swering. He rightly guessed whence it came. 
 He said he would not accept it ; but that he felt 
 himself so much better, that he would receive it as 
 a loan, being convinced that he should be able to 
 repay it in a short time. 
 
 In a week or two he was so far advanced in 
 convalescence, that he was enabled to employ 
 himself copying drawings for a picture-shop in 
 Rathbone Place. The emoluments he received 
 for his labour were but trifling ; but they helped 
 him to eke out the slender income of a half-pay 
 lieutenant. He removed to a more decent lodg- 
 
 VOL. II. D
 
 50 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 ing, whence poverty was banished : he had learnt 
 frugality from misfortune that stern teacher of 
 the use of money. 
 
 In a few weeks after this, the wholesale hu- 
 man butcher, Buonaparte, having escaped from 
 Elba, set Europe once more in a ferment. Rivers 
 readily joined his regiment, and behaved so well 
 at Waterloo that he was promoted to a company. 
 The last time I heard from him in Europe, he 
 was with the army of occupation in France, 
 where he lived comfortably with his family on 
 the full pay of a captain.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 51 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " Ah ! I am but a ball for Fortune's foot 
 To spurn where'er she lists." 
 
 The Two Citizens. 
 
 IN 1816 I studied hard, in order to pass exa- 
 mination as a surgeon ; and calculated that my 
 next quarter's allowance would pay all the fees 
 of my license, as well as purchase a small case of 
 instruments. One afternoon I heard the post- 
 man's peculiar knock at the door. This was opened 
 by the porter, and 1 heard the man of letters an- 
 nounce, " Mr. Warner Arundell, two shillings 
 and two-pence." I sent the money ; and, on look- 
 ing at the address, I recognised the well-known 
 writing of the head clerk of Keen and Leech. 
 The address was ominous ; having a Mr. before 
 my name, instead of an Esquire after it. It was 
 a single instead of a double letter ; consequently 
 contained no bill of exchange. The contents ran 
 thus : 
 
 " Basseterre, St. Christopher's, 
 " SIR, April 1st, 1816. 
 
 " Referring you to London prices cur- 
 rent for low quotations of muscovadoes, and at
 
 52 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 the same time to accounts current, hereto an- 
 nexed, exhibiting increased expenses and de- 
 creasing crops of your late father's estates ( Arun- 
 dell and Clarence) in this island and Antigua, 
 we beg leave to advise the foreclosure of our 
 mortgages on the same, so as to save any further 
 loss to our house. 
 
 " Under these circumstances, it will not be in 
 our power to continue the remittance (per your 
 order) of 250/. sterling per annum. We regret 
 that the kind feeling of our senior towards your 
 late respected father's memory should have induced 
 him to advance (per your order) the several sums 
 we have remitted since your departure for Eng- 
 land, with which your account now stands de- 
 bited in our books, and which, together with the 
 old balance, we trust you will speedily liquidate. 
 
 " Hoping to hear satisfactory accounts of you 
 (post-paid or franked), we beg leave to assure you 
 of our readiness to forward your views, whenever 
 you may be pleased to place us in funds. 
 
 " We are, Sir, 
 " Your obedient faithful Servants, 
 
 KEE;N AND LEECH." 
 
 " To MB. WARNER ARUNDELL, LQNDON. 
 (" Per Packet.")
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 53 
 
 The news contained in this rascally letter 
 came upon me unexpectedly, and threw a damp 
 upon my spirits. I was not much in debt ; but, 
 on the other side, I had little money. At no 
 period of my life was I a good manager in pe- 
 cuniary matters ; and all the money my aunt 
 gave, or rather paid me, together with my last 
 quarter's allowance, were nearly expended. While 
 I was reperusing the epistle of Keen and Leech, 
 Dr. Molesworth came in. He asked me what 
 news I had received from the West Indies. I 
 put the letter into his hand. He read it, and 
 said, 
 
 " Sad news this, Mr. Arundell ; more es- 
 pecially at the present, when you most want 
 money. But, at the same time, I cannot help 
 observing how admirably this letter is written. 
 What a business-like style!" 
 
 " D n their style !" said I. 
 
 "Hush!" said the doctor; "don't swear: 
 it is highly immoral. Learn to take matters phi- 
 losophically. Young men are apt to be violent. 
 Take pattern by me ; see how cool I am." 
 
 " Truly, doctor, you are as cool as Cooper, 
 amputating a limb, and upbraiding the patient 
 for groaning. But can you please to advise me 
 what 1 had better do in my present difficulty?" 
 
 " Why, in the first place, you are stopping
 
 54 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 with me at much expense, when you might live 
 at very trifling cost, at those cheap lodgings 
 kept by persons who, in the phraseology of the 
 bills they stick in their windows, ' take in young 
 men, and do for them.' " 
 
 " I will follow your advice to-morrow morn- 
 ing, as soon as I find any one who will take me 
 in and do for me, if you have no objection." 
 
 " None in the least ; because I expect two 
 pupils from the West Indies, and your chamber 
 will be wanted for the accommodation of one 
 of them. And then let us see what you had 
 better do. Were you licensed as a surgeon, I 
 could get you into an apothecary's shop. Your 
 pay would not be great at first; but, after a 
 time, it would be augmented ; and, if you behave 
 yourself, you might become a partner in the 
 shop." 
 
 "A partner in an apothecary's shop!" said 
 I, with some disdain ; for 1 had the ridiculous 
 prejudices of Creoles against shopkeepers. 
 
 "What!" said the doctor; "you think it 
 degrading to turn shopkeeper? We have, in 
 scorn, been called a nation of shopkeepers ; yet 
 he who so denominated us found us too power- 
 ful for the nation of cooks and dancingmasters, 
 that for a dozen years had cringed and fawned 
 to his tyranny, and a dozen years before that
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 55 
 
 talked of liberating the world. But, as you 
 object going into an apothecary's establishment, 
 would you like to go as surgeon on board a 
 South Sea whaler? I could, I think, get you 
 that appointment." 
 
 " That would be more acceptable, doctor." 
 
 "Or how would you like to go as surgeon on 
 board a vessel bound to Sidney with convicts ? " 
 
 " Or to go," added I, " as passenger on 
 board the same vessel at the charge of govern- 
 ment, with a letter of recommendation from the 
 Recorder of London, written in a business-like 
 style at the Old Bailey. But, on the whole, I 
 prefer going in a whaler." 
 
 " I'll see about it to-morrow. You can re- 
 main with me to-morrow, at all events, and I'll 
 make no charge for the day's expenses. Let me 
 see ; how does our account stand ? You owe me 
 a month's board this day. True it is you are 
 not quite of age ; therefore, in one respect, in- 
 capable of contracting debts; but then, you know, 
 I can demand by law from a minor any reason- 
 able expenses for his maintenance." 
 
 " Dr. MolesAvorth," said I, with a little 
 warmth, " I often heard you say that you knew 
 my father to be a gentleman in every sense of 
 that noble word : I have lived four years in your
 
 56 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 house, and trust you have not found me de- 
 generate." 
 
 " By no means," replied the doctor. 
 
 " Then why talk to me of a legal demand ? 
 I fairly owe you some twelve or thirteen pounds. 
 Gentlemen pay their just debts because they are 
 just, and wait not for the law to oblige them 
 to do an act of common honesty." 
 
 " Heyday! young man; I never before ob- 
 served you were proud." 
 
 " Because you never before knew me poor." 
 
 I was getting angry : I had received bad 
 tidings enough to ruffle the temper of most men, 
 and I thought the doctor's selfish remark was 
 ill-timed. Fortunately, the discussion was cut 
 short by the arrival of company. Wine was in- 
 troduced, of which I partook freely ; but it failed 
 to elevate my spirits. At an earlier hour than 
 usual I retired, taking leave of the doctor with 
 cool politeness. 
 
 Arrived in my chamber, I looked over the 
 state of my finances, which I found rather above 
 twenty pounds. I went to bed, but not to sleep. 
 After tossing and tumbling for three hours, I fell 
 into a doubtful slumber : but unpleasant dreams 
 tormented me. I thought I was in Antigua, 
 on the Clarence plantation, and my father stood
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 57 
 
 beside me ; that Keen, Leech, and their clerk, 
 Arnold, were in conversation with my parent. 
 The old gentleman, methought, upbraided them 
 with cheating me, when Leech threw an im- 
 mense ledger at my sire: it missed him, and 
 knocked me down. As I fell, I thought the 
 account-book lay on my mouth, so as to prevent 
 my breathing ; while, at the same time, Keen, 
 aided by his clerk, rolled a hogshead of mus- 
 covadoes upon me. In vain I attempted to roll 
 off the ponderous cask, and remove the heavy 
 ledger from my mouth. 1 could not respire, 
 while a ton-weight lay on my breast. I tried in 
 vain to shriek ; and, at last, did so : until, with 
 a start, I awoke, and the incubus vanished. I 
 found myself lying on my back ; the bedclothes 
 had lodged over my mouth and nose, so as to 
 impede my respiration. 
 
 I could not sleep after this attack of night- 
 mare, but patiently listened to the information 
 attempted to be given by the watchman : he, 
 
 every half-hour, called past o'clock ; what 
 
 the intermediate word was I could not catch, 
 but he always added, " a cloudy morning :" for 
 the watchmen in London* are paid for waking 
 people, to tell them the hour of the night and 
 the state of the weather. 
 
 * This was in 1816. 
 
 D2
 
 58 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 Day at length dawned ; and the watchman's 
 cry gave way to the sweep's wailing call, which 
 sounded like "Weep, weep!" To this succeeded 
 the dustman's annoying bell ; then followed the 
 milkman's call. A hundred voices formed what 
 is called the " Cries of London," mingled like 
 a Dutch medley, and proclaimed that the busy 
 metropolis was awake. 
 
 I arose, made my hasty toilet, sent the doc- 
 tor what I owed him, and set out to look for a 
 place where, according to cockney phraseology, 
 " young men are taken in and done for." After 
 walking about. for half an hour, I found myself 
 in the Haymarket ; when suddenly, passing Pan- 
 ton Street, I encountered my old friend, Captain 
 Trevallion. We warmly saluted each other ; 
 and he asked me to adjourn with him to his 
 lodgings in Jermyn Street. Arrived there, he 
 inquired about my prospects. I briefly explained 
 my situation, and shewed him the " business-like 
 letter" of Keen and Leech. 
 
 " Very concise and satisfactory," said Tre- 
 vallion ; " but I wonder, when they advised you 
 to pay postage of any letter to them, they did not 
 pay the postage of their letter to you. Well, 
 Master Arundell, what do you think of doing?" 
 
 " I have not made up my mind about that." 
 
 " Do you wish to make your fortune? I
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 59 
 
 suppose you do. I will tell how this can be done 
 hand over hand. You know what is going on in 
 South America : the whole continent is in a state 
 of war. An expedition is fitting out to assist the 
 patriots ; amongst the rest, I go, with a recom- 
 mendation from Don Mendez for the command 
 of a ship in their service. You ought to know 
 their country ; you have been there, and speak their 
 gibberish : that is the country for you. Bolivar is 
 carrying every thing before him. In a few months 
 after our arrival, the republicans will be in posses- 
 sion of Peru and Mexico, where gold and silver are 
 more plentiful than tin and lead in Cornwall." 
 
 " How am I to get there ?" asked I ; " I have 
 not the means of paying my passage." 
 
 " Take no thought about that. You are a 
 surgeon not licensed; but no matter, you are 
 able to set a broken limb, or, if necessary, to dock 
 one : that's all that is required. The Saucy Jack 
 sails in a few days from Portsmouth : the agree- 
 ment with the passengers is, that a doctor shall be 
 provided for the voyage. You are the man ; 
 you'll get your passage free. Take breakfast 
 with me, and then let us go together to Mr. 
 W : he will introduce you to old Don Men- 
 dez, who will give you a commission as surgeon 
 in the Columbian service ; and as to the owners 
 of the Saucy Jack, I warrant they'll give you a
 
 60 WARNER ARUNDELL: 
 
 passage if you will consent to act as doctor during 
 the voyage." 
 
 I took breakfast with Trevallion ; during which 
 repast, he seemed so enthusiastic about his future 
 prospects in South America, that I entered into 
 his views ere we swallowed our first cup of tea. 
 
 Half an hour's walk brought us to the house 
 of Mr. W , in a street leading out of Totten- 
 ham Court Road. I found him the very merchant 
 at whose house I took refuge during the night 
 after the earthquake at Caraccas. He did not 
 recognise me at first, but I made him recollect 
 me : he received me with great warmth, heard 
 Trevallion's account of me, and proposed in- 
 stantly to introduce me to Don Mendez. To this 
 we consented : the don lived close by, and I was 
 ushered into his presence. 
 
 He seemed a little elderly man, with a sallow 
 complexion and hawk's - eye, which was lively 
 enough to have belonged to a man thirty years 
 younger ; his room was crowded with solicitors 
 for the honour of bearing 'commissions in the 
 South American service. He gave a brief audience 
 to each candidate in his turn, and always granted 
 his recommendation of the applicant for a com- 
 mission ; which recommendation he addressed to 
 the different insurgent chiefs : none were rejected. 
 I never saw so many heroes in one room ac-
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 61 
 
 cording to their own account. Each had seen the 
 most extraordinary services, and had been in all 
 the battles that had been fought since their birth. 
 One sallow-looking, middle-aged man, who had 
 been in the East, and was dismissed the Com- 
 pany's service because he was too lucky at cards, 
 said that he, with a single company of sepoys, 
 had defeated the grand army of Raja JKoul 
 Jowler Rum Un. I am not sure that I am correct 
 in the orthography of that potentate's name, never 
 having seen it written ; but that was the way it 
 was pronounced by Captain Curri, late of the 
 East India Company's service. 
 
 There were several Frenchmen in the room, 
 who were not a whit behind the English candi- 
 dates for commissions in bravery : not a Johnny 
 Crap|aiu(of them but had been in all the scenes 
 of glory which were recorded on the Napoleon 
 column in Paris. They proposed to eat all the 
 Spaniards in South America ! Verily, they looked 
 hungry enough. 
 
 All, both English and French, had cultivated 
 most warlike whiskers, and some had extensive 
 mustachios. Perhaps, when they modestly pre- 
 tended to be heroes, they feared that they should 
 look barefaced ; and hence encouraged the growth 
 of hair on their countenances : or it might have 
 been done to conceal their blushes.
 
 62 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 Many of them said they had been majors who, 
 perhaps, had been serjeant-majors ; and one or 
 two shewed the marks of drunken broils as the 
 scars of honourable wounds. Old Mendez ap- 
 peared to believe all, and granted every one the 
 commission he required, provided he could pay 
 his passage on board certain vessels. The fact 
 was, this patriot was leagued with a set of scoun- 
 drels, who were speculating on the credulity of 
 certain persons, by fitting out ships for the purpose 
 of carrying passengers to South America, making 
 them pay enormously high for villanous accom- 
 modation ; hence, while the trumpeters of their 
 own exploits thought they were deceiving Mendez, 
 they were his dupes : this I afterwards discovered. 
 
 At length my time arrived to be presented to 
 
 the don. Mr. W introduced me as an old 
 
 friend, a graduate of the University of Caraccas, 
 and a pupil in surgery and medicine to some of 
 the first physicians of London : he added, that I 
 was solicitous to obtain the appointment of sur- 
 geon to the South American army, and willing to 
 officiate as medical man on board the Saucy Jack. 
 Finding that, unlike my fellow-candidates for 
 promotion, I did not blow my own trumpet, 
 
 Mr. W kindly consented to give a blast or two 
 
 of his own in my favour. The don spoke to me 
 in Spanish, and was pleased at finding I replied
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 63 
 
 in pure Castilian : he asked under whom I had 
 studied at Caraccas, and who were my preceptors 
 in London. Being well satisfied with my an- 
 swers, he said to W , in a low voice, 
 
 " This young gentleman will do well; he is 
 superior to the flock that apply for commissions, 
 although he does not sound his own praise." 
 
 He then wrote out my commission, with an 
 order on the Columbian government for pay, at 
 the rate of 150 dollars per month, to commence 
 from that day. He advised me to join the Saucy 
 Jack the evening of the following day, and he 
 would acquaint the owners that he had found a 
 surgeon ; he further told me, that all the passen- 
 gers were already on board, and they only would 
 wait until I arrived. I promised to obey his in- 
 structions, and took my leave. 
 
 I went to Dr. Molesvrorth's, took a cold fare- 
 well of him, removed my luggage to Trevallion's 
 lodgings, and commenced taking leave of a few 
 friends. My time was too short to allow my 
 taking out my license as a surgeon : in this, as 
 well as in all I did since I received the letter of 
 Keen and Leech, I acted precipitately, and shewed 
 little knowledge of the world. 
 
 In the afternoon, as I was walking along 
 Fleet Street, I received a hearty slap on my back. 
 Turning round to see who gave me this rough
 
 64 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 salute, I recognised Mr. Holywell, the late 
 supercargo of the Tickler. 
 
 " How are you, with your eye out?" said he. 
 
 This was his customary salute, for his lan- 
 guage was the same he used during our voyage 
 home. Four years' residence in London made 
 him appear more stout and rosy about the gills. 
 During the passage I often saw him naked, taking 
 a shower-bath, and used to admire his fine mus- 
 cular frame. He appeared to possess all the traits 
 of irresistible strength of the Farnese Hercules, 
 without the heaviness which characterises that 
 celebrated statue ; but now, being dressed in 
 what he called his " swell toggery," with his 
 enormous crop of cravats, huge bunch of seals, 
 red waistcoat, frock coat, and ill-cut duffle great 
 coat, he seemed a Hercules covered with the 
 skin of a new-slaiu bear. The people of London 
 seem to dress for three purposes: for warmth, 
 decency, and, lastly, to disfigure their forms. 
 
 " How are you, my trump? You look in 
 prime twig!" said Holywell. 
 
 We in vain tried to enter into conversation. 
 We were partly hindered by the number of cant 
 phrases with which Holywell interlined his dis- 
 course, but principally by the abominable noise 
 of a thousand vehicles, many of them carts loaded 
 with iron bars: these prevented, with their noise,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 65 
 
 our hearing each other. My companion seized me 
 by the arm, and led me up one of those retired 
 alleys which lead off from most of the noisy streets 
 of the city. We entered into one of those quiet, 
 cleanly, but dark houses of accommodation, some- 
 thing between a chop-house and a tavern. 
 
 " Waiter!" said Holy well. 
 
 " Sar /" replied a voice; and immediately, 
 out of a dark recess in the room, appeared a 
 smoke-dried-faced waiter. 
 
 " A bottle of blackstrap," said my friend. 
 
 " D'ractly, sar," replied the waiter, vanishing 
 into darkness, and immediately reappearing, as 
 if by magic, with a bottle, two glasses, and a 
 corkscrew. These he placed in a little box, un- 
 corked the wine, and once more left us. The 
 wine was superior to that Day and Martin-look- 
 ing composition which, I believe, is a mixture of 
 sloe-juice and gin, but which the inhabitants of 
 London swallow for port, " neat as imported!" 
 
 We entered into conversation. Holywell in- 
 formed me that, from having been the managing 
 clerk, and occasionally the supercargo of Sucker 
 and Sons, he for the last three years had been in 
 business for himself in Wood Street, and that he 
 was doing well. I, on my part, related all that 
 had occurred to me since we parted, up to the hour
 
 66 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 of my receiving the letter of Keen and Leech. 
 He read it, and said, 
 
 " They are out-and-out coves, and up to the 
 time of day : they got you away until they were 
 able to trump up a Flemish account against your 
 estates, and then bilked you out of them. But 
 you don't intend to put up with all this?" 
 
 " What can I do?" 
 
 " Get a license to use your lancet ; cross the 
 herring-pond to St. Kitt's ; live by physicking the 
 darkies ; in the meantime, appeal against the 
 foreclosure of the mortgage? and bring the matter 
 before the chancery beak." 
 
 " I have but one objection against following 
 your advice I have no money." 
 
 " It won't take much blunt to do what I re- 
 commend, and for that I give you tick, and you 
 may pay me when you are flush of skreens.* 
 I'll come down with the dust this moment. 
 Waiter ! pen and ink. I'll give you a flimsy 
 (check) on Ransom, Moreland, and Co. What 
 shall it be for? one hundred, or one hundred 
 and fifty? say the word." 
 
 The ready way that Holywell offered his assist- 
 ance astonished me ; I never could have supposed 
 
 * Bank of England notes, I believe.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 67 
 
 that one who used such vulgar language pos- 
 sessed so munificent a disposition. After thank- 
 ing him for his generous offer, I told him that I 
 could not accept it, explaining that I was under 
 engagements to Don Mendez. 
 
 " Cut the old cove, by all means," said Holy- 
 well, " or you'll be spiflicated. He's a knowing 
 blade. Lord love your West Indian simplicity ! 
 What a cake you are, not to see the rig ! He is 
 playing into the hands of a set of cross ship- 
 owners, who are fitting out vessels to carry pass- 
 engers (spoonies like yourself) across the Dolphin 
 River. The accommodations on board these craft 
 are on the cheap-and-nasty plan, and yet the 
 blunt for the passage is shamefully high. A set 
 of coves apply to him for commissions, telling the 
 old one long yarns about their service ; he seems 
 to swallow all their crammers, and grants them 
 whatever commissions they ask, captains, ma- 
 jors, colonels, all the same to Mendez, and all 
 the same to those who get those humbug com- 
 missions. They think that they humbug the old 
 codger, and he well knows that they are his gulls. 
 My Lord ! Warner, I did not think you were 
 such a Johnny Raw !" 
 
 I tried to combat his disparaging notions 
 of Mendez, and did this with greater warmth 
 because I suspected that they were true, and
 
 68 WARNER ARUXDELL : 
 
 that I had been duped. I, however, told him 
 that I paid nothing for my passage, because I 
 agreed to act as a surgeon on board the Saucy 
 Jack. 
 
 " So far," observed Holywell, " so good : 
 you'll lose nothing, perhaps, except your time, 
 and will gain what I suspect you want, that is, 
 experience. The patriots and royalists are fight- 
 ing like game-cocks : should the Spaniards floor 
 the Americans, you're done up ; but if the re- 
 publicans succeed, they'll give you a large tract 
 of ground, which will be like that of Teague, if 
 you have it for nothing, you can't make your own 
 money of it." 
 
 " There you are mistaken," said I ; " the 
 land in South America is very rich." 
 
 " So," replied he, " is the bottom of the sea : 
 but how we are to get the riches out of it, is a 
 question that would puzzle a horse to answer, 
 and he has a longer head than either of us. 
 Arundell, don't go!" 
 
 I was, however, obstinate, because I suspected 
 I was wrong. Finding I was resolved on going, 
 he ceased persuading me against it, but asked me 
 if I wanted any thing for the voyage to which he 
 could assist me? I replied in the negative. He 
 inquired if I had a set of surgical instruments : if 
 not, he could recommend me to a friend of his
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 69 
 
 who would supply me, to be paid for when I 
 could. I answered, that I certainly wished for 
 the instruments of my profession, but could not 
 afford to buy them ; neither would I take credit 
 for them, because I conceived it dishonourable to 
 run in debt without having any prospect of paying 
 for them. 
 
 After discussing a rump-steak, dressed in the 
 unrivalled London fashion, we separated with 
 mutual good wishes, but not until Holywell 
 asked me where my present lodgings were. We 
 parted about four o'clock. 
 
 The next morning, after I had breakfasted 
 with Trevallion, the servant of the house brought 
 in a large parcel. On opening it, I found it to 
 contain a complete set of surgical instruments, in 
 three cases, with my name engraved on each 
 case, and a letter, written in a disguised hand, 
 which stated that the instruments were the pre- 
 sent of a lady. 
 
 It was easy to see through Holywell's gene- 
 rous device : I was intimately acquainted with 
 no lady, and surgical instruments were not pre- 
 sents that women would think of making. If I 
 had the slightest doubt as to who, with such 
 despatch, sent me the cases, it was removed by 
 looking at the seal of the letter. It bore the im- 
 pression of a negro supporting a cup, designed
 
 70 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 to represent the cup presented to the boxer Crib, 
 after his defeating an American negro. I had 
 noticed this impression on one of the large seals 
 worn by Holy well, and a lady was not likely to 
 have a fac-simile of it. 
 
 My first resolution was to return the instru- 
 ments to my generous friend ; but, on reflection, I 
 thought it would be ungrateful . I recollected that I 
 possessed an old-fashioned and valuable gold watch 
 and appendages, which had belonged to my father, 
 and which had been in my possession ever since 
 my childhood : these I proposed to send to Holy- 
 well. As I looked at the last vestige of niy poor 
 father's property, I shed a tear at the thoughts of 
 parting with it, and kissed the toy, as though it 
 possessed feeling. I consoled myself with the 
 reflection, that, if my sire's spirit hovered about 
 me, he would not be displeased at my sacrificing 
 this relic to satisfy a proud sense of honour. 
 
 " Pardon me, dearest parent," apostrophised I; 
 " pardon your orphan son, for parting with this, 
 your last relic : but my motives for so doing are 
 such as you, were you beside me, would approve. 
 Your mournful prophecy, made during my in- 
 fancy, is being fulfilled ; but, though indigent, I 
 will never be despicable : oppression and mis- 
 fortune may weigh heavy on me, but they shall 
 never bow me down to dishonour or beggary."
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 71 
 
 I wrote a letter to my friend, in which I took 
 no notice of the instruments, but requested him 
 to keep the watch until I should return ; and, if 
 he never should see me more, to retain it for the 
 sake of our old friendship. I packed the watch 
 in a small case, directed it to Holywell, and or- 
 dered the landlord of the house to send it the 
 next day : this he promised to do, and kept his 
 word. That evening, with five pounds in my 
 pocket, I took my leave of London, and, accom- 
 panied by Trevallion, seated myself on the top of 
 the Portsmouth stage, to join the Saucy Jack. 
 As day dawned, the coach descended Postdown 
 Hill, and, after taking breakfast at the Blue Posts, 
 I went on board the Saucy Jack. The captain 
 said he was glad to see Trevallion'and myself, as 
 we were the only passengers he had to wait for. 
 In the afternoon the pilot carne on board, and, 
 with a light breeze, we worked out of Portsmouth 
 harbour.
 
 72 WARNER ARUNDELL 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " While I have time and space, 
 Before I further in my tale do pass, 
 It seemeth me accordant unto reason, 
 To tell unto you all the condition .-. 
 Of each of them. eo it seemad.-to ra,e.; 
 And who they were,' and of what degree." '' 
 
 _"* :' CHAUCER. 
 
 f . 
 
 " On, on the vessel flies the land is gone, 
 
 And wi^Hs are rude in Biscay's sleepless bay." 
 : '*> '.<, BYRON. 
 
 IT wa evening before w^/fairly got into the 
 British. Channel. During the night we passed 
 the coast of Devon, with a light but favourable 
 wind ; the next morning we were off Cornwall ; 
 and the third day of our voyage, the land of 
 Albion hi^ : vanished from our view. 
 
 It is now high time that I should say something 
 of the vessel I sailed in, and the captain and pass- 
 engers I sailed with. The first had been adver- 
 tised as " the celebrated fast-sailing American
 
 THE ADVENTURES OP A CREOLE. 73 
 
 schooner, Saucy Jack," which had been captured 
 during the late war, and had been fitted up with 
 superior accommodations for passengers to South 
 America : but, instead of being, as pretended, a 
 Baltimore clipper, she was built in the north of 
 England, and was as mere a tub at sailing as 
 ever fell behind a convoy. The accommodations" 
 were most incommodious, and the provisions 
 abundant, but execrable. She was about 100 
 tons burden ; had on iifoard*. a skipper, mate, 
 five seamen, two stewards, and a cook ; and 
 carried thirty-seven regular passengers, besides 
 twd females, one the wife of the captain, and 
 the other that of the cook. 
 
 . I will describe the captain, and some "of my 
 fellcrvv-passengers, as I did on a former occasion. 
 Firstly, there was Captain Canter. Never was a 
 man better named ; for he was a hypocrite and a 
 knave, with the fear of the Lord for ever in his 
 mouth, and the lowest scoundrelism in his heart : 
 he would have been atrocious, but wanted force 
 of character. He said he had been a master in the 
 navy : I hope, for the honour of the service, that 
 this was not the case. 
 
 He had a wife, not altogether deficient in 
 personal attractions; but she had a mouth 
 such a mouth as used to be painted on a sign- 
 board, ere John Bull learned French, when the 
 
 VOL. II. E
 
 74 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 Boulogne Mouth was represented by a bull, and a 
 human, or rather inhuman, mouth. As this poor 
 woman was not destitute of modesty, she confined 
 herself to her cabin, where her situation was most 
 pitiable; the other female was the cook's wife, 
 from the lowest order of Gosport. 
 
 The passengers were divided into two classes 
 those who were going to South America to enter 
 the navy, and those who intended to join the 
 army. I shall give the naval gentlemen the pre- 
 cedence. 
 
 Firstly, there was Lieutenant Jenkins. ^He was, 
 as he used to describe himself, " all as one as a 
 piece of the ship." His father was a purser ; he 
 had been born on shipboard, and had passed so 
 much of his time afloat, that he was ignorant of 
 the ways of the world to an incredible degree. If 
 ever the expression of a man's having sailed round 
 the world without going to it, was applicable to 
 any one, it was to Lieutenant Jenkins. I never 
 saw a landsman, who had not seen the sea, so 
 completely unacquainted with the names of dif- 
 ferent parts of the ship, as Jenkins was of the 
 different parts of a house. 
 
 Jenkins's personal appearance was remark- 
 able. He was six feet three inches in height, but 
 his limbs were out of all proportion short ; 
 hence, when he sat down, from the extraordinary
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 75 
 
 length of his body, he looked as tall as ordinary 
 men standing. He had a most indescribably comic 
 visage : the countenance of Liston, beside his, 
 would look awfully tragic. He generally smiled, 
 or, to speak more correctly, grinned ; but when 
 he tried to look serious, it seemed an effort 
 against nature, for it -was evident that his heart 
 was almost bursting with mirth. His laugh was 
 droll ; but his attempts at screwing up his features 
 to three sharps, in order to look grave, was 
 enougli to convulse with cachinnation a whole 
 Quakers' meeting. I have spoken of his ig- 
 norance of the ways of the world : this I will 
 illustrate by an anecdote. 
 
 One evening we were talking of the inhabit- 
 ants of London, when, unexpectedly, Jenkins 
 wedged in his opinion of the people of that 
 capital. He said that the Londoners were the 
 greatest set of cheats alive. Several persons dis- 
 puting his judgment, Jenkins was called on to 
 explain the cause of his sweeping censure. 
 
 " Because," said Jenkins, '* they took me 
 in." 
 
 " How were they cunning enough to do 
 that?" asked several of us. On which the lieu- 
 tenant told his story thus. 
 
 " You must know, when I was laying at 
 Yaarmouth (he pronounced the last word ore
 
 76 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 rotundo}, I heard two or three fellow -middies 
 say as how in a tragedie they always spoke the 
 best English. Now, you know, I don't speak the 
 best English, be cause why? I've been all my 
 life at sea : and so, said I, how can I hear a tra- 
 gedie? And so Jack Phillips, our master's-mate, 
 says, says he, ' You may hear and see a tragedie 
 in Lunnun.' Well, I axed liberty to go up to 
 Lunnun to see a tragedie. I took a quarter- 
 deck passage on board a stage-coach. We bowled 
 along, at the rate of eight knots an hour, until 
 we got to a large house in Lunnun, with a board 
 before the door, that had a picture of a large pig 
 with a long snout and a fort on its back." 
 
 " The Elephant and Castle," said several 
 voices. 
 
 " That's the name of the ship house, I 
 mean. I axed the way to a play-house. They 
 told me to keep before the wind for half a league, 
 and I'd meet with one, beside a stone bridge over 
 the Lunnun river." 
 
 " It was Astley's," said several voices. 
 
 " I dare say it was, "replied Jenkins. " Well, 
 I got there. They had lights all round the 
 house, bow, midships, and stern ; and I heard 
 the band sawing away at their fiddles inside. I 
 was going in, when a man, in a little box, called 
 to me, ' Pay here, sir.' ' How much,' said I, ' do
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 77 
 
 you ax to let me in ? ' ' Four shillings/ said he. 
 * Won't you take less ?' said I. ' We never make 
 any 'bateraent,' says he. But I axed him, sup- 
 pose I paid him four shillings, whether he would 
 shew me a tragedie? The man in the box looked 
 at me, and, with a purser's grin, said, ' To be 
 sure, we will shew you a tragedie, or any thing 
 else you like.' Well, I paid him a crown, and 
 would not take the change ; so much did I wish 
 to see a tragedie. In I went. Now, instead of a 
 tragedie, what do you think they shewed me ? " 
 
 " What ? " asked a dozen persons. 
 
 " A pony-race!" said Jenkins, striking the 
 table with his fist, so as to make all the glasses 
 on it rattle. " A'nt I right to call the Lunnuners 
 a set of scoundrels? I paid my money to see a 
 tragedie, and they shewed me a pony-race ! " 
 
 He was promoted, at the late peace, from 
 long services as a midshipman, to the rank of 
 lieutenant, and put on half-pay. This was hu- 
 manely done by the Admiralty to many a friend- 
 less midshipman, who otherwise would have been 
 turned loose on the world, without the means of 
 subsistence. 
 
 The second was Lieutenant Jack a hand- 
 some, dapper little fellow, who would have been 
 an agreeable companion, but for one monomania. 
 He took it into his head that he could sing with
 
 78 WARNER ARUKDELL : 
 
 an ear so accurate, that if he heard ' Tally high 
 O the grinder, ' played in slow time, he would 
 guess it to be the ' Dead March ' in Saul ; and a 
 voice as agreeable, though not so flexible, as that 
 of a turkey-cock. Lieutenant Jack imagined he 
 could sing. He had an astonishing memory, 
 insomuch that, I believe, he knew every song in 
 the English language, and sung them all to one 
 tune if tune it could be called that tune had 
 none. Not contented with torturing regular 
 songs by his manner of gabbling them, every fine 
 piece of poetry that struck him in Wolfe (the 
 ' Death of Moore' was his favourite), Byron, Moore, 
 Scott, Campbell, and Coleridge, he committed 
 to memory, to be sung by him. He even used to 
 attempt passages out of Milton's 'L' Allegro,' and 
 ' II Penseroso,' set to his own music ; and, while 
 he had the atrocity to mangle the most beautiful 
 poetry ever composed, he absolutely held our 
 taste in great contempt, because we did not ad- 
 mire his singing. 
 
 The third was a Lieutenant Britton a large, 
 raw-boned, hard-featured man; a native of 
 Shields, and what is called in the navy a north- 
 country Jock. Seldom have I seen a better 
 sailor, and, at the same time, never one less cal- 
 culated to make a good officer. He was repeatedly 
 turned back, as the term goes, when he wished
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 79 
 
 to be passed as a lieutenant ; and was at length 
 promoted on account of many acts of personal 
 bravery in boarding and cutting out. 
 
 Like Hamilton, Britton was " single-speech- 
 ed : " he seldom said more than two or three 
 words at a time, unless when any person or thing 
 provoked him. When the former was the case, 
 he clenched his bony hand, which formed a fist 
 that might have done honour to Front du Boeuf, 
 and address the offender thus : 
 
 " Look you, mate, if you do that again, I 
 won't box you no, I'll only give you one blow, 
 that shall make you smell hell ! and it shan't be 
 between the eyes neither." 
 
 Britton used -t^ sleep in a hammock, out of 
 choice ; and, if any one played him the stale 
 trick of cutting down his suspended bed in the 
 night, his roar would awake all of us. He would 
 exclaim, 
 
 " Look you, my hearties, if I lay my grip on 
 the mackerel-faced son of a marine as cut me 
 down, he had better have hold of the moon with 
 his fingers greased ! I'll not box him no, I'll only 
 give him one blow as shall make him smell hell ! 
 and I'll not bit him between the eyes, neither." 
 
 This threat of avenging himself by means of 
 one blow, which was not to be given between the 
 eyes, was used, with little variation, not only
 
 80 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 when persons annoyed him, but when things dis- 
 pleased him. If we found any part of the pro- 
 visions bad (no unusual thing) he'd exclaim, 
 
 " I wish I had the owner of this craft here ; 
 I'd not box him no, I'd give him only one 
 blow," &c. 
 
 The same threat was issued against the 
 maker or purchaser of every article that dis- 
 pleased him; he menaced to make them smell 
 the sulphureous regions by means of one blow, 
 which was not to fall between the eyes. 
 
 All on board became anxious to know where 
 Britton intended to aim this mysterious blow ; 
 but, he being a powerful man, no one wished to 
 ascertain it from personal experience : in fact, 
 the mystery of the threat awed all the turbulent 
 spirits on board the Saucy Jack. I, one day, 
 asked him in what part of the body he intended 
 to strike some one he was using his old threat 
 against. 
 
 " Why, doctor," he replied, " being, as I 
 believe, the strongest man on board this craft, 
 it would not be fair for me to attack any one ; 
 but I 'd advise no one to mislest (molest) me, or, 
 
 by , I'll not box him, because he couldn't 
 
 stand against me all I'd do would be to give 
 him one blow no more ; he should smell hell ; 
 but I 'd not hit between the eyes, neither."
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 81 
 
 I need not describe Captain Trevallion ; but 
 shall only state, that, when he found out the 
 deception practised on the passengers in passing 
 off the Saucy Jack as a Baltimore clipper, and 
 beheld the shameful want of accommodation 
 and badness of the provisions, he saw into the 
 scoundrelly tricks of old Mendez, and augured 
 badly of the expedition. This preyed on his 
 spirits. Hence, he took to the bottle : after the 
 first ten days of the voyage he was seldom sober. 
 
 The rest of the naval passengers were mid- 
 shipmen and masters '-mates, discharged at the 
 peace, and young students who were dismissed 
 the naval college. A wilder set of youths could 
 not be found. Be it recollected they had no one 
 to command them ; every one on board was as 
 good a man as another if he could box as well. 
 
 The Saucy Jack was a complete floating re- 
 public : the captain had no authority. Twice or 
 thrice Canter told them to behave better, for 
 fear of the Lord. He was laughed at. Once 
 he attempted to enforce order, by threatening to 
 put some riotous young men in irons ; but he 
 was frightened from his purpose by being threat- 
 ened to be cobbed. 
 
 Before I speak of the military gentlemen, I 
 must state, that we had a person on board, by 
 
 E2
 
 82 WARNER ARUNDELL t 
 
 the name of Price, a lieutenant of marines, who 
 said he intended to take service in either the 
 Columbian army or navy. In one respect, Lieu- 
 tenant Price had a stronger constitution than 
 most men I have met with : he could eat more 
 and sleep longer than any one I ever saw. 
 When not engaged at one or other of these 
 diversions, he used to amuse himself by prac- 
 tising, on a single-keyed flute, an air which 
 he intended for "God save the King" as he 
 kindly informed us. 
 
 The first in years and rank of the military 
 gentlemen was Major M'Donald Glenlyon. He 
 had seen much service in various parts of the 
 globe; but his fortune and prospects had been 
 ruined by a love of the bottle. His features, arid 
 especially his eyes, gave indications of his unfor- 
 tunate propensity. Yet they bore marks of 
 having been handsome. His fine brow, covered 
 with curled, but gray locks, and the whole con- 
 tour of his physiognomy, shewed the veteran of 
 twenty campaigns, and the toper of six bottles. 
 If the heathen deities existed, Bacchus would 
 have been propitious to the Saucy Jack. 
 
 We had two German gentlemen on board ; 
 soldiers of fortune that is to say, soldiers with- 
 out fortune. Both had titles in their own coun-
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 83 
 
 try, which they prudently dropped on board the 
 Saucy Jack. When not persecuted by the ruf- 
 fianly part of the passengers, I used to spend 
 my time teaching these gentlemen Spanish, and 
 taking instructions from them in German. 
 
 The next I shall notice was one who called 
 himself Dr. Beadle ; a delicate lad, and a warm- 
 hearted simpleton. He had been an apothe- 
 cary's shopman, in Islington, and solicited and 
 obtained the appointment of assistant-surgeon to 
 the Columbian forces at least, Mendez told 
 him so. 
 
 I will not weary the reader by describing 
 the rest of our motley collection of passengers. 
 Some had been officers in volunteer corps ; some 
 went to join the South American army, to avoid 
 going into the Fleet. Several were sent by their 
 friends to Columbia, in the hope of their getting 
 settled in that republic; and thus saving their 
 families the disgrace of hearing that they had died 
 of a sore throat, occasioned by their being kept 
 in a state of suspense while cooling their heels, 
 for an hour on the stretch, before the debtors' 
 door in Newgate, by the recommendation of the 
 Recorder. One had run away from a scolding 
 wife ; and one because, according to Serjeant 
 Kite, he had disobedient parents. Two or three 
 exceptions must be made to the above censures.
 
 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 Amongst those was Mr. , a person attached 
 
 to the belles lettres.* 
 
 Such, were the men who, early in the struggle 
 between Spain and her colonies, went out to take 
 service with the latter. Their behaviour, during 
 the protracted passage of the Saucy Jack, made 
 me disgusted with my species. 
 
 In the early part of the voyage, the military 
 part of the passengers were mostly sea-sick. In 
 mere joke, they were treated most inhumanely 
 by the naval people. When the sea-sickness 
 passed, the pipeclay aristocracy, as the soldiers 
 were called, prepared to retaliate ; and a serious 
 fracas was about to take place. This happened 
 near the Bay of Biscay ; when hostilities were 
 suspended by the occurrence of a most tre- 
 mendous storm, which blew with awful violence 
 for four days. At the commencement of this 
 " blow," it fortunately happened that Trevallion 
 was sober ; and the skipper, knowing the su- 
 perior skill of the Cornishman, gave him tem- 
 porary charge of the vessel. The event justified 
 the deference paid to Trevallion : we escaped as 
 violent a storm as ever was remembered, with 
 little or no damage. 
 
 When the weather moderated, a peace was 
 
 * The Editor of tbe present Memoirs.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 85 
 
 effected between the belligerent passengers ; and 
 a set of rules were drawn up for the maintenance 
 of good order. We all signed them ; but they 
 were broken before the subscriptions were well 
 dry. I have already stated, the captain had 
 no command over the ship, and the sailors re- 
 fused to interfere with the gentlemen : the whole 
 of the passengers used to drop their own disputes 
 to unite against the skipper when he dared to 
 interfere : in fact, we were in a complete state 
 of mutiny. 
 
 Practical jokes, of the roughest and most 
 dangerous kind, were continually being played 
 off. These brought on fights not duels, but 
 boxing encounters which generally terminated 
 in favour of the naval gentlemen ; because the 
 sailors had their sea legs, and the landsmen were 
 less steady on board of a little vessel like the 
 Saucy Jack, while under weigh. But it was not 
 an uncommon event to see a landsman beaten 
 during rough weather ; and, afterwards, the 
 vanquished would attack the victor in a calm, 
 and beat him in his turn. 
 
 I escaped these blackguard encounters until 
 we got beyond the latitude of Madeira, when I 
 was one day addressed by a youth of the name 
 of Purcell, a ringleader in most of the horse-play 
 on board. He was a stout-made man, with a
 
 86 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 ruddy complexion ; hair the colour of a gravel- 
 pit, and extensive whiskers to match. He asked 
 me to lend him a nameless implement out of the 
 medicine-chest, for the purpose of playing off 
 some abominable practical jokes. This I refused 
 to do. He called me a loblolly-boy : I took no 
 notice of the insult. My forbearance imboldened 
 him : he then said I was a coward : this my 
 Creole blood could not brook. As they say in 
 dinner-speeches, " Unaccustomed as I was to 
 public" boxing, " I rose with considerable reluct- 
 ance," but with great fury. I had made up my 
 mind to have the first blow at the first one who 
 should force me into an ungentlemanly combat. 
 J did not follow the intention of Britton in not 
 aiming between the eyes ; I precisely struck 
 Purcell in that part of the " index of his mind." 
 The blow was given with such force that it made 
 him, to use Britton's elegant phraseology, " smell 
 hell." Down he went, and rose again to come 
 to the scratch. His eyes had two black rims 
 round them, which contrasted strongly with his 
 arnotto-coloured eyebrows. He possessed science, 
 but I had superior strength, and fought with a 
 violence he could not resist in so confined a space 
 as below the decks of the Saucy Jack. I fairly 
 beat down his guard by main force : I then 
 adopted Creole tactics ; I caught hold of both his
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 87 
 
 flaming whiskers, stooped my head, and beat his 
 visage against it by drawing him towards and 
 pushing him from me alternately, until his features 
 became undistinguishable, being all mixed up to- 
 gether and run into each other, until his " human 
 face divine" was, as the Barbadians say, " mashed 
 up like a sour-sop."* I did not let him go until 
 he called for quarter. 
 
 Purcell did not recover the beating for three 
 weeks. This event gained me some respect : I 
 had overcome one of the best boxers on board. 
 
 As we advanced into warm latitudes, the jokes 
 became more frequent. We had two or three 
 pigs on board ; these the jesters would not allow 
 to be killed, as they aided their bestial frolics. 
 They were continually introduced into the berths 
 of the passengers ; and if the party in whose 
 dormitory the quadruped members of the swinish 
 multitude were placed complained of the nui- 
 sance, a dozen buckets of salt water were flung 
 into his berth, over bed and bedding, to cleanse 
 it. No one at night could venture on deck with- 
 out the certainty of getting a duck for his supper. 
 The mate and crew used to join in these " sky- 
 larkings." 
 
 * A sour-sop is a soft kind of fruit.
 
 88 WARNER ARUNDELL: 
 
 But it was when the naval part of the pass- 
 engers used to remain up at night to take a 
 lunar observation, that there was, to use their 
 own expressions, " the devil to pay, and no pitch 
 hot." For us to get sleep when a lunar was to 
 be taken, was a Lunatic hope. On those oc- 
 casions, the mirth and fury grew fast and 
 furious. Shark-hooks were affixed into the mat- 
 trasses of those who attempted to go to sleep, 
 and just as they were dropping into what Jenkins 
 called " the arms of Murphy" (Morpheus), by 
 means of a line and a block or two, the mattrass 
 was dragged from under the dozer, who was 
 thrown out of his berth ; and the next morning 
 a dozen mattrasses were found hanging high up 
 the masts or rigging. 
 
 Little Beadle, who considered me in the light 
 of a brother chip, had a berth right over mine. 
 We contrived to make our respective mattrasses 
 fast to each other's berths, and so to secure them 
 with small tacks that they could not be easily 
 dragged from under us. The next night a 
 " lunar" was to be taken (of the correctness of 
 these lunar observations, 1 shall have occasion 
 to speak anon), but by this time the word lunar 
 had become synonymous with a mad uproar ; in- 
 somuch that the two Germans, who knew little of
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 89 
 
 English, believed that the words " to take a 
 lunar," really meant to get intoxicated for the 
 purpose of committing outrages. 
 
 On this occasion, a shark-hook was let down 
 into little Beadle's berth ; but, in consequence of 
 our precaution, his mattrass could not be dragged 
 on deck. Down went one of the gentlemen 
 lunarians ; and, not daring to attack me, he 
 slipped a cord over the heel of poor little Beadle, 
 while we were asleep. At a given signal he was 
 inhumanly dragged out of his berth, had his 
 head severely cut during the execution of this 
 shameful plan, and was suspended down the 
 hatchway by the heel, like the infant Achilles 
 being dipped by Thetis into the Styx. I was 
 awoke by the cries of murder. I hastily rose ; 
 and, by the light of the full moon, perceived the 
 poor little apothecary hanging by one leg down 
 the hatchway, his other three limbs and his body 
 wriggling in all directions to relieve himself from 
 his torturing state of suspense. Blood was drop- 
 ping from his forehead ; and his shirt, from his 
 reversed situation, thrown over his head. 
 
 " Murder! murder!" vociferated Beadle; " I 
 am murdered ! you'll all be hanged if you don't 
 cut me down!" 
 
 I got the poor man relieved from his un-
 
 90 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 pleasant situation, dressed his wounded forehead, 
 and put him to bed. 
 
 After this I declared aloud, that, whoever was 
 the scoundrel who practised such an atrocious 
 act against so delicate a young man, he was un- 
 worthy being called a gentleman; nevertheless, 
 if he possessed the spirit of a man, I hoped he 
 would declare himself, and that I would meet 
 him with pistols as soon as we went ashore. If 
 he did not declare himself, in addition to his 
 being cruel he was cowardly ; and if I, at any 
 time, should discover who he was, I would pub- 
 licly horsewhip him. 
 
 This speech produced a buzz of applause from 
 those who were not lunar observers, and much 
 murmuring from those who were : no one, how- 
 ever, seemed inclined to accept my challenge. 
 During the preceding day, the German gentle- 
 men and myself had been practising at a mark 
 with duelling pistols, and my proficiency in the use 
 of those arms astonished all on board ; I having 
 hit a penny-piece fourteen times running, at ten 
 yards' distance, although the schooner was in 
 motion at the time I fired, which I did at the 
 word of command. 
 
 The apothecary sent for me, and said, " I 
 thank you, doctor : you are a genuine gentleman,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 91 
 
 without any adulteration or admixture ; but, 
 please God, I shall find out who the scoundrel 
 is, and then his heart's blood shall pay for this 
 night's frolic." 
 
 I thought this the mere ebullition of im- 
 potent, but excusable rage. I have subsequently 
 found that Beadle expressed his fixed determina- 
 tion : he was delicate and nervous, but not a 
 coward. I told him, however, to compose him- 
 self, and not to think of revenge. 
 
 The next morning I found him much better 
 than I expected, although I saw that he would 
 bear to the grave the scar of the wound he had 
 received on his forehead. 
 
 Several of the naval passengers declared to 
 me at dinner their determination of taking 
 another lunar observation, as their sextants were 
 adjusted, and the moon was within observing 
 distance. 
 
 " Look you, gentlemen lunar observers," said 
 Major Glenlyon, " I give you fair warning that 
 I have arms in my sleeping-place : therefore, if, 
 during your nocturnal rambles, you should pay a 
 visit to my berth, you'll meet your death and 
 there's a pun without intending it. But, seriously, 
 twice within this week has my mattrass been 
 dragged from under me ; and, if this stale trick 
 be again tried to be played off, he who makes the
 
 92 WARKER ARUNDELL : 
 
 attempt may expect an ounce of hot lead, or a foot 
 of cold steel, in his breast. I'll drill a hole through 
 the body of the first man who disturbs my rest." 
 
 Several of the lunarians got together after 
 this, and said they were determined to get the 
 major's mattrass on the top -gallant -mast -head 
 that night. I advised them not to attempt it ; I 
 bade them recollect the major was a veteran, and 
 not at all likely to make an idle threat. They 
 laughed at what I told them. The result proved 
 no laughing matter. 
 
 Glenlyon prepared to make good his word. 
 Price, the marine officer, was a kind of parasite 
 of the major; they slept in contiguous berths, in 
 a narrow passage opposite the bread-room. The 
 lieutenant offered that night to keep guard over 
 Glenlyon ; the latter took into his berth a loaded 
 pistol, a skean dhu, or Highland dirk, and a bottle 
 of whisky. The first part of the night he was 
 undisturbed. Finding his arms to be useless, he 
 applied his mouth to sip the mountain dew. In 
 a few minutes after tasting his darling beverage, 
 the whole of it was transferred to his stomach ; 
 and, shortly after, his nose gave intimation to the 
 lunar observers that he slept soundly. On this, 
 Britton descended the companion - ladder, and 
 made towards his bed, with a shark-hook in his 
 hand.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 93 
 
 " Who comes there?" called the vigilant 
 marine officer. 
 
 Britton stood aside ; on which, Price rose to 
 seize the man who, with a shark-hook, tried to 
 murder sleep. But, like most persons leaving 
 their beds in the dark, he knew not which way 
 to turn; and, groping about, he unfortunately 
 ran the index finger of his left hand into the 
 mouth of the snoring major. This partially 
 awoke the sleeper, who was dreaming of whisky 
 and shark-hooks. Being but half awakened by 
 the finger's entering his mouth, he was confused : 
 he, however, concluded that it must belong to 
 a hand that intended to bowse up his mattrass, and 
 his jaw closed on the finger with such force as to 
 bite it off at the second joint. The major then 
 struck out with his dirk : it passed through the 
 muscles of the upper arm of the unlucky marine, 
 and was stopped by one of his ribs, or the thrust 
 would have been mortal. This was not all. The 
 blood of the Glenlyons was roused : the half- 
 dreaming, but enraged and whisky-inspired ve- 
 teran fired his pistol in the dark, with a better 
 aim than he used his skean dhu : the ball passed 
 across the breast of Britton, and inflicted an ugly 
 flesh-wound. All this was done between sleeping 
 and waking, drunkenness and sobriety. So much
 
 94 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 for taking lunar observations, and bottles of whisky 
 to bed. 
 
 A bowl and a deep moan from Price were 
 the first sounds we heard of this affair. To these 
 succeeded a brief flash, and the report of a pistol ; 
 and the next moment, we heard an exclamation 
 in the dark, of 
 
 " Oh, I am shot, by ! If I find out the 
 
 man who fired at me, I'll give him only one blow, 
 that shall make him smell hell ; and I'll not hit 
 him between the eyes, neither." 
 
 This was enough to tell us that one of the 
 wounded parties was Britton : lights were called 
 for, and brought. Suspecting what had hap- 
 pened, I hurried to the narrow passage near the 
 bread-room. The first object which met my eye 
 was poor Price, seated on the companion-ladder. 
 He was, indeed, an object; his left hand was 
 minus a finger, and the arm fairly pinned to his 
 rib by the dirk, which was still in his flesh: I 
 hastily drew it out ; he moaned most ludicrously. 
 Against the bread-room stood Lieutenant Britton, 
 with a wound in his breast. The ball had passed 
 right across it, carrying the whole of the wadding. 
 and a piece of the waistcoat, into the flesh, for he 
 was only three feet from the muzzle of the pistol at 
 the time of its discharge : his shirt, when I looked
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 95 
 
 at him, was still on fire ; he stood, swearing to 
 finish the man who wounded him, with one blow, 
 which, as a matter of course, was not to be 
 aimed at between the eyes. 
 
 I caused the lantern to be brought to Glen- 
 lyon's berth, whence, I rightly guessed, all the 
 mischief proceeded. 
 
 " What the devil have I in my mouth?" 
 said the now fully awake and sober major. 
 
 I looked, and beheld it was the missing finger 
 of the poor marine officer, which the major bit off 
 at the commencement of the tragedie, as Jenkins 
 called it. 
 
 With as much despatch as I could I dressed 
 the wounded men. I was obliged to probe the 
 wound of Britton deeply, in order to get out the 
 wadding and piece of cloth carried into it. I, 
 however, got them to bed ; and, just as I was 
 putting up my instruments, a deputation, con- 
 sisting of Lieutenants Jenkins and Jack, and 
 about ten other naval passengers, came to me 
 to ask my opinion of the state of the wounded 
 men. 
 
 I told them I saw no immediate danger 
 from the wounds ; but unpleasant consequences 
 might result from locked -jaw: fever might 
 also be occasioned, by the circumstance of the 
 men being wounded during a transition from
 
 96 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 a cold to a warm climate. This indirect danger 
 
 O 
 
 might, in some measure, be obviated by their 
 being kept quiet, as any disturbance in the vessel 
 might bring on fatal consequences. 
 
 This I said in order to get a little peace on 
 board the Saucy Jack. I might as well have 
 preached peace to a hurricane. 
 
 Lieutenant Jack said, that they wished to 
 know if the parties wounded were likely to do 
 well ; in which case they would not 'peach the 
 major, but they intended to cob him. I protested 
 against such an indignity being put on a veteran 
 who had served his country honourably for 
 twenty-five years. They said they would cob 
 him, despite of me. 
 
 " We will see that," said I, taking out a pair 
 of loaded pistols. The Germans, who only par- 
 tially understood what was going on, asked me 
 about the matter : I briefly explained it to them. 
 In an instant they drew their sabres, and swore to 
 stand by me in protecting Glenlyon. Poor little 
 Beadle, wounded as he was, left his bed, took a 
 blunderbuss without a lock, and swore to stand 
 by me, whether I was right or wrong. The apo- 
 thecary did not know the occasion of the quarrel. 
 Others of the military passengers appeared armed : 
 the lunar observers also armed themselves. The 
 captain's wife shrieked in her cabin ; and the
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 97 
 
 skipper told us to keep the peace in the name of 
 the Lord. All was instantly confusion and up- 
 roar below the deck of the Saucy Jack. 
 
 At this juncture the major left his bed, with a 
 pistol in his hand, and called out for a parley in 
 a clear voice, which was heard above the loud 
 affray. There was something so marked and im- 
 passioned in his manner, that he instantly com- 
 manded attention. He spoke thus : 
 
 " Gentlemen, however I lament the acci- 
 dents of this night, I blame not myself. I 
 warned you against disturbing my rest ; you 
 disregarded my caution, and must take the con- 
 sequence. I deeply regret having, unintention- 
 ally, wounded Lieutenant Price, and am ready to 
 make him every reparation in my power, and to 
 offer him every apology an officer should de- 
 mand or a man of honour give. As for Lieu- 
 tenant Britton, I am not sorry for wounding 
 him ; my only regret is, that when I fired my 
 pistol in the dark, he did not receive the ball 
 in front, instead of in an oblique direction. If 
 he feel himself aggrieved, I will give him satis- 
 faction ; but my weapons are those of a soldier 
 and a gentleman. I fight not like a coster- 
 monger or a coal -porter: I am too old to 
 receive a box, even if it be not aimed ' between 
 
 VOL. II. F
 
 98 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 the eyes.' I will not submit to what you term 
 cobbed. Look here ! " said he, throwing back 
 his shirt, and exhibiting his almost naked frame. 
 Old as he was, it was evident that nature had 
 modelled him in perfect manly symmetry. His 
 skin was as white as alabaster ; but it bore 
 many a deep scar. He pointed to those marks, 
 and said, " Look here! This wound I got at 
 Alexandria, in the forty - second, when that 
 regiment annihilated the invincibles ; this was 
 given with a French musket - ball at Maida ; 
 these two in Spain; and this sabre -cut in 
 France. Think you, gentlemen, with these 
 vouchers for having done my duty, I will tamely 
 suffer insult and degradation ? No ; rather than 
 that shall take place, I'll send this schooner to 
 the devil! I am not in jest. Just below me are 
 eighteen barrels of powder, consigned by the 
 owners of this vessel to the patriots : on the first 
 assault on my person, I'll fire amongst the am- 
 munition, and up we'll all go together; thus 
 finishing the voyage with eclat, by paying a 
 flying visit to the upper regions." 
 
 He cocked his pistol and depressed its muzzle, 
 ready to make good his awful threat that instant. 
 If there was any doubt of his resolution, his ap- 
 pearance set this doubt at rest. His body was
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. U9 
 
 projected forward, so as to rest principally on the 
 right foot, while his left toe touched the floor ; 
 his right finger was on the trigger, just touching 
 it, without the slightest tremor ; the pistol was 
 pointed downwards towards the magazine ; his 
 left hand clenched ; his nostrils distended ; his 
 look directed, like the pistol, downward ; and the 
 spirit of the great, devil gleaming in his eye. I 
 never saw so complete a picture of calm despe- 
 ration. 
 
 " Major! for God's sake, major, 'twas a 
 joke!" shouted a dozen voices. 
 
 " Be it considered a joke," said he, letting 
 down the pistol to half-cock ; " but do not carry 
 the jest too far, if you do not wish to visit the 
 upper regions." 
 
 " Give up the pistol!" said several naval 
 passengers, advancing on him. 
 
 Instantly he recocked the pistol, held out his 
 left hand, and said, " Stand off!" with a voice 
 of thunder. 
 
 Again his looks became as stern as those of 
 Satan, and the lunar observers stood back over- 
 awed. I now interposed. 
 
 " I hope, Major Glenlyon, you do not suppose 
 that these German gentlemen and myself would 
 put an indignity on you, or voluntarily suffer 
 others to do it?"
 
 100 WARNER ARUNDELL: 
 
 " No, Dr. Arundell," said he ; " you, and 
 those German gentlemen, are men of honour." 
 
 " Then why play Guy Fawkes, and send us 
 up into the air? We, perhaps, have no wish to 
 go to the next world with the present respectable 
 company. I am sure you must be aware that we 
 have journeyed sufficiently long together on this 
 globe. Come, come, uncock that pistol, and 
 retire to your bed ; we will pledge our honours 
 to protect you." 
 
 Again he uncocked his pistol, took it in his 
 left hand, placed his right in mine, and said, 
 
 " Doctor, you are a gentleman : nothing bet- 
 ter can be said of the Prince Regent ; nothing 
 worse shall ever be said in my hearing of Warner 
 Arundell, while M' Donald Glenlyon can hold 
 a sword, or draw a trigger. Good night. I'll 
 carry this with me to bed, but will only use it 
 defensively." 
 
 Saying this, the major went to his berth, and 
 the rest of the passengers moved off, either to 
 rest or to talk over the events of the night. 
 
 As Jenkins went to his dormitory, he said, 
 " This looked more like a tragedie than a pony- 
 race." 
 
 I have related at length the above events, 
 because they were the most serious in their con- 
 sequences of any of the practical jokes played off
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 101 
 
 on board the Saucy Jack ; but, unless during a 
 storm, not a day, and seldom an hour, passed 
 without the occurrence of similar pieces of buf- 
 foonery.
 
 102 WARNER ARUNDELL I 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " And then we cotcbed the trade-winds, and over the line 
 
 we runs ; 
 
 When Neptune cummed on board, to shave his younger 
 sons." 
 
 Sailors' Song. 
 
 " Fue por luna y volvio trasquilado." 
 
 CERVANTES. 
 
 AT length we approached the tropic of Cancer. 
 It has been the custom for centuries to shave, 
 as it is termed, those who cross for the first 
 time the tropic, unless the vessel is to pass the 
 equator, in which case the shaving is deferred 
 until the equator be traversed. 
 
 This absurd custom originated with the buca- 
 niers. These men pretended that, when they 
 passed the tropics, they were no longer subjects 
 of any European power. Hence their proverb, 
 " No peace beyond the line." But the free- 
 booters called themselves the children of Nep- 
 tune : they had a ceremony, over which they 
 supposed that deity presided. One of the free-
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 103 
 
 booters came on board, dressed ludicrously as 
 Neptune, and baptised his children. I have seen 
 a manuscript, written in 1609, in possession of 
 the descendant of one of the bucaniers, which 
 describes this ridiculous and somewhat impious 
 ceremony in such a way as to leave no doubt that 
 the modern nautical saturnalia were derived from 
 the old bucaniers. The oath administered by 
 the freebooter, Neptune, not to eat biscuit while 
 the party swearing could get wheaten bread, 
 unless he preferred the biscuit ; of never kissing 
 the servant, when he could kiss the mistress, 
 unless he liked the servant better, &c. &c., were, 
 according to this manuscript, just the same as 
 the oath administered by the representers of 
 Neptune of the present day. During the last 
 century, the sailors have kept up this mummery ; 
 " Because," say those excellent geographers, 
 " while the ship is crossing the line the captain 
 has no command, it being in neither latitude nor 
 longitude." This idea reminds me of the prayer 
 of the Irish emigrant in Canada: " Lord have 
 mercy on me, a miserable sinner ! three thousand 
 miles from my own country, and seventy-five 
 miles from any where else !" 
 
 On the occasion of the Saucy Jack crossing 
 the tropic, much preparation was made ; but 
 these saturnalia were to differ from all others of the
 
 i<J4 WARMER ARUNDELL : 
 
 sort ; insomuch that, as it is usual for the parts of 
 Neptune, Amphitrite (or, as the old sailors call 
 her, Mrs. Neptune), the Tritons, or Neptune's 
 barber and barber's clerk, and other dramatis 
 personce of this salt-water mummery, to be played 
 by the foremast men on this occasion, it was 
 agreed that the roles should be filled by such of 
 the naval passengers as had crossed the line, and 
 that none who had not passed the tropic should 
 be allowed to escape shaving by paying a fine. 
 This displeased the common seamen, as it pre- 
 vented their getting some little perquisites from 
 the sons of Neptune. 
 
 The night before we expected to cross the 
 tropic, Beadle had stowed himself away in a 
 boat amidships, to avoid being pelted with pota- 
 toes, which happened to be the gentle diversion 
 of that evening. Under that boat the principal 
 actors of the forthcoming drama consulted how 
 to perform their parts. They agreed that, in ad- 
 dition to the usual rough frolics practised on 
 these occasions, the most revolting additions 
 should be made; and that the major, the two 
 Germans, and myself, were to be singled out to 
 be shaved with great severity. Beadle communi- 
 cated this to me, and I immediately set on foot a 
 counter-plot. The major and Germans I could 
 depend on to back me ; the rest of the military,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 105 
 
 and such of the naval passengers as had not 
 crossed the tropic, promised to aid me. Treval- 
 lion, who in most disputes stood neutral, now 
 took my side, so that I was well supported ; 
 while Neptune's party could muster but eleven 
 hands, including Britton, who was too recently 
 wouncled to be of any assistance to them. 
 
 By my advice, we all secretly sent trifling 
 presents that night to the seamen and stewards, 
 telling them $at certain passengers had taken 
 the shaving iftto their own hands, but that we 
 did not wish to deprive them of their accustomed 
 perquisites. The men were thankful ; and I, by 
 this manoeuvre, succeeded in gaining their neu- 
 trality, if not their friendship. 
 
 The next morning, at breakfast, I called the 
 attention of the whole of the passengers ; and said, 
 as it was customary that passengers should be 
 shaved when they first crossed the line, or pay a 
 forfeit, we preferred the latter. I said, for my 
 own part, I was born southward of the tropic 
 consequently, must have passed it ; nevertheless, 
 I was willing to pay the forfeit. 
 
 " No forfeits shall be accepted," said Purcell ; 
 you shall all be shaved, by G d !" 
 
 " We shall see that," said I. " He who lays 
 hands on me may meet with keener usage than 
 he expects. Once more I caution you against 
 
 F2
 
 106 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 molesting us, or you'll get lathered and shaved 
 yourselves." 
 
 My caution was laughed at ; and the captain 
 advised me to submit, for the sake of the Lord. 
 
 " Captain Canter," said Major Glenlyon, 
 " let me advise you, in the forthcoming affray, 
 to stand neutral, unless you wish to be made 
 accountable for the acts of these men. If you 
 interfere in the slightest degree, the moment 
 I get ashore, you must meet me as a man of 
 honour." 
 
 " And me, also," added I, "should the major 
 fall." 
 
 This threat had the effect of securing the 
 neutrality of Captain Canter. 
 
 Noon arrived ; and several of Neptune's party 
 stuck a hair across their spy-glasses, in* order 'v. 
 to make the lubbers who looked through them 
 
 . ^ ' \ 
 
 believe tbat the line was visibfe <on the horizon. 
 We were ordered below. This order it was not 
 our design to oppose. Down we went ; and the 
 farce commenced. 
 
 " Schooner, ahoy ! " said a voice in the main 
 chains. 
 
 " Ay, ay!" replied the skipper. 
 
 "What are you? whence come you? and 
 whither bound?" 
 
 " The Saucy Jack, from Portsmouth, bound
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 107 
 
 to South America, with passengers to liberate 
 Columbia." 
 
 " I took you," said Neptune, " for a trans- 
 port, going to Botany Bay with a cargo of con- 
 victs." 
 
 This sally of Neptune caused a laugh. It 
 was, however, a calumny on those 
 
 " Who left their country, for their country's good." 
 
 11 Rule Britannia" was now struck up by 
 two flutes; and his godship appeared on deck. 
 The flutes then played one of Dibdin's songs, 
 commencing " Daddy Neptune one day;" and 
 I recognised Lieutenant Jack's turkey-cock gab- 
 ble, trying to sing " The tight little island." I^Tep- 
 tune was rigged out with three sheep-skins, had 
 a. swal| over his head,- by way of a wig, and 
 looked sublimely ridiculous. This part was 
 played by that* most ludicrous- looking man, 
 Jenkins. The Tritons were dressed with equal 
 elegance. 
 
 "Can you give me something to drink?" 
 said his godship. 
 
 Canter gave him a square case bottle, which 
 held three pints of rum. Neptune held it to his 
 lips, and emptied a third of it at the first pull. 
 He drew a long breath, and then renewed his 
 draught. The Tritons now interfered, in order
 
 108 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 to get their share. Neptune resisted their claim : 
 in about two minutes he drank the whole. 
 
 The effects of this were instantly visible : he 
 squinted awfully ; looked, as we say, nine ways 
 for Sunday ; talked thick, and hiccupped every 
 third word. This act of inebriety afflicted him 
 for five days with delirium tremens. 
 
 " Have you (hiccup) any of my children on 
 board ?" said the staggering Neptune, in a fal- 
 setto voice. 
 
 11 Here is a list of them," said the captain, 
 handing him a paper. 
 
 " Let's have a squint at your list," said Nep- 
 tune. 
 
 In truth, he did squint at it. After a hiccup 
 or two, he said, in two voices one bass, the 
 other high falsetto " I see you have plenty of 
 (hiccup) cockneys on board. I don't like them 
 (hiccup), because they took me in. They made 
 me pay (hiccup) four shillings to see a (hiccup) 
 tragedie, and shewed me a pony -race. And 
 who have we here? one Dr. Arundell (hiccup). 
 Why, he's a Creole : one of those (hiccup) who 
 live by eating (hiccup) crabs ; and when they die, 
 the (hiccup) crabs eat them. Bring up the (hic- 
 cup) doctor, to begin with." 
 
 Down came three of the Tritons Purcell 
 was one and seized me.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 109 
 
 " Hands off, gentlemen," said I, "or you'll 
 repent it." 
 
 They were hurrying me towards the com- 
 panion ladder, when, at a signal agreed on, my 
 party rushed on them, overpowered them in- 
 stantly, forced them into three chairs, gagged, 
 and well bound them. Immediately, their hair 
 was cut close, and their heads lathered. We now 
 cautioned the Tritons not to stir, or the razors 
 would cut them. In the course of a few minutes 
 their heads were shaved so clean, that they 
 looked like gigantic billiard-halls. All this time 
 the hatchway was closed by our own party, to 
 prevent succour being afforded to the barber's 
 clerks. At a given signal, four buckets of water, 
 provided for the occasion, were, emptied 11 on the 
 Tritons ; and they were sent up* with our com- 
 pliments to Neptune arwj his party, and a mes- 
 sage to. the effect, that 'we had set up a new 
 shaving establishment, on our own account, 
 below ; arid if any one wished to descend, we 
 would give them a shave " free, gratis, and 
 for nothing." 
 
 Your amateurs of horseplay seldom like to 
 have their jokes turned on themselves. Purcell 
 and his companions, according to Sancho, went 
 abroad for wool, and returned shorn. I never 
 saw men so crest-fallen as they looked.
 
 I 
 
 ] 10 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 As soon as the hatchway was opened, Nep- 
 tune himself staggered down, and endeavoured 
 to seize the major. To overpower Jenkins was 
 no difficult matter, far gone as he was in liquor. 
 We forced him into a chair, but his head was 
 even then too elevated to be operated on, by 
 reason of his unnatural length of body : he was 
 laid on the floor, his body supported, and we 
 clipped his locks, not liking to shave him for 
 fear of accidents, he being too drunk to keep his 
 head steady. He struggled hard, and, at length, 
 lay exhausted on the floor, and I ordered his cravat 
 to be loosened. He was completely helpless. 
 
 Those on deck called on the crew of the 
 vessel to assist them ; but the latter refused, 
 finding that we were too numerous for them, and 
 not wishing to get their heads shorn. The rest 
 of Neptune's party desisted from their abortive 
 attempt ; and thus ended the shaving on board 
 the Saucy Jack. 
 
 I took advantage of this event, and organised 
 a society for the suppression of practical jokes, 
 called, " Tar and Feathers" We kept a bucket 
 of tar ready in terrorem, telling the admirers 
 of sky-larking that the first person who should 
 practise any improper jest should be tarred and 
 feathered. This kept them in awe for three 
 days; the fourth, Purcell stole some cowhage
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. Ill 
 
 out of the medicine-chest, and attempted to place 
 it in the berth of one of the Germans, which 
 would have tortured the foreigner at night. He 
 was caught in the fact, and told he would be 
 tarred and feathered. To avoid this, he carried 
 a loaded pistol about him. In the evening, as 
 he was descending the companion-ladder, three 
 buckets of water were thrown on him. He drew 
 his pistol ; but, being wet, it would not go off. 
 We now overcame him, stripped him naked, 
 painted his body with tar, and emptied a whole 
 pillow of feathers on him ; at the same time 
 informing the rest of the naval passengers, that 
 we would serve all in the same way who should 
 attempt any improper joke. 
 
 This act had the desired effect : it put a com- 
 plete stop to " taking'lunars." 
 
 A culinary proverb says, " Too many cooks 
 spoil the broth : " in our case, too many sailors 
 spoiled the voyage. At the beginning of the 
 passage, the naval gentlemen formed themselves 
 into watches, to assist in navigating the schooner ; 
 hence the crew had little to do that little they 
 neglected. The mate was as careless a young 
 man as ever skulked from his duty ; the captain 
 was generally locked up in his state-room with 
 his wife: hence, the schooner was managed, or 
 mismanaged, by the passengers. How we arrived 
 safely is wonderful, considering the way the Saucy
 
 112 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 Jack was navigated. Often, in the Western Ocean, 
 have I gone on deck in the night when not a 
 sailor was to be seen, the gentlemen kept watch 
 by caulking the deck (sleeping on the deck), 
 save the steersman, who, being drunk, was keep- 
 ing the schooner's head due north, at the time 
 when our course lay south-west ; in other words, 
 going to North America, when we wished to go 
 to the West Indies. The mate came to me one 
 morning, and asked if I had been on deck in 
 the night? I said I had. 
 
 " At what rate," inquired he, " was the 
 schooner going?" 
 
 I replied, I had no opportunity of knowing, 
 having had a bucket of water thrown on me, 
 which immediately obliged me to go below to 
 change my dress. He asked another, who said, 
 when he was on deck, he thought she was going 
 at the rate of six knots. 
 
 " I'll give her six all night," said the careful 
 mate . 
 
 The fact was, he had slept during his watch, 
 and, of course, never hove the log. 
 
 To those who live at home at ease, it may be 
 well that I inform them that the log is a small 
 piece of wood, by means of which, a knotted 
 line, and a minute or half-minute glass, the rate 
 of a ship's sailing is ascertained. At the begin- 
 ning of the voyage, the mate reported the schooner
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 1 13 
 
 to be going eight knots, or miles, an hour. Tre- 
 vallion looked at the sea with an experienced eye, 
 and declared his doubts of the vessel's going so 
 fast. He hove the log himself, and found eight 
 knots run out. Notwithstanding this, he per- 
 sisted that she was not going so fast, but said 
 the line must be too short, or the glass too long, 
 or both. He was right in the last surmise both 
 the line and the glass were defective. 
 
 A vessel navigated with such shameful negli- 
 gence as was the Saucy Jack could not be where 
 the dead reckoning made her, unless by wonder- 
 ful chance. Her latitude was easily to be found, 
 by means of a solar observation with the quad- 
 rant ; but, as we were without a chronometer, 
 her longitude was attempted to be taken by lunar 
 observations. Now, whether those who took the 
 lunars really understood observing the angular 
 distance between the moon and a fixed star, or 
 not for it is a nice operation; or, whether they 
 did not make the voluminous calculations neces- 
 sary, I cannot say. Perhaps they possessed the 
 requisite skill, but thought more of skylarking 
 than observing the planets, and of rum-drinking 
 than of consulting the Nautical Almanack. Cer- 
 tain I am, that their lunar observations gave the 
 same longitude to the vessel as the captain's 
 dead reckoning. He praised their skill, because it
 
 114 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 ^' 
 
 cpincided with his calculations; they compli- 
 mented his accuracy, because he agreed with their 
 lunar observations ; and all parties were two 
 hundred and eighty-seven leagues from the mark, 
 owing to bad steering, short log-lines, and long 
 minute-glasses. ' 
 
 Were these memoirs to be read by nautical 
 men as mere fiction, the above statements would 
 be pronounced too improbable for romance. All 
 I need say on the subject is, that there are alive, 
 at present, three persons in Trinidad who can 
 vouch for the accuracy of my statement. I should 
 have paused before I related these facts ; but, 
 lately, I was told that a vessel crossed the At- 
 lantic, with the intention of going to the West 
 Indies. She ran, passed the whole of the islands, 
 and never stopped until she crossed the. Gulf of 
 Mexico, and went to Louisiana ; but I suppose 
 she bacj. not any of the Saucy Jack's lunar ob- 
 servers 6n board. 
 
 On the seventy-seventh day of our voyage, 
 the dead-reckoning was -up, and our longitude 
 was run down, according to .1th e naval passen- 
 gers ; but alas for the credit of their, skill ! no 
 land appeared. We had certainly run more than 
 the distance between England and the West 
 Indies ; but we had not run the right way. All 
 day we sailed on, and in the evening land was
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 115 
 
 announced a-head. Trevallion, who happened 
 to be only half-tipsy, said, " That is such land as 
 you may shove your thumb through. It's ' Cape 
 Fly-away.'" The others remarked, that it must be 
 land, because it agreed with the dead-reckoning 
 and lunar observations. Night set in, and the 
 cautious captain hove the vessel to for fear of 
 running past the island in the night ; hence, we 
 lay to 800 miles to the eastward of land. Morn- 
 ing came, and the land of the preceding night 
 melted into thin air. 
 
 The schooner was again sped on her way. 
 We ran all day, and at night another cloud acted 
 the part of ' Cape Fly-away.' Again we lay to 
 for land, which vanished as morning dawned. A 
 third time was this most ridiculous farce repeated. 
 In the morning the land was not to be seen. The 
 lunar observers, and the skipper, looked crest- 
 fallen ; and the military passengers. asked them 
 if the^.moon was within observing distance. 
 
 In <the evening, tb|Jt marine Will-p'the-ffisp, 
 ' Cap* Fly-away,' pla"yed,^is pranks again: a 
 clerud was cfeclareet, " land a-head." We did not 
 heave to, because there was not a breath of air 
 stirring, "A sure sign," said the skipper*, 
 " that we were close to one of the islands, because 
 it was the land- calm." I said I never heard of 
 the land-calm before. The skipper employed
 
 116 WARNER ARUN DELL : 
 
 thorough English logic to convince rne he was 
 right he offered to lay a wager. So confident 
 were the naval passengers that they were but a 
 few miles from land, that they let down a boat. 
 Eight of them got in, taking a compass and, of 
 course, a quantity of grog ; but when they had 
 pulled about eight miles from the vessel, what 
 Captain Canter called the land-calm ceased, and 
 a violent succession of squalls blew. They were 
 glad to hurry on board the schooner, where they 
 arrived at midnight, worn out with fatigue. 
 
 The next day, we wished to speak several 
 vessels we saw ; but, conceiving, I suppose, the 
 Saucy Jack was a suspicious-looking craft, they 
 ran from us, and our schooner was too dull a 
 sailor to come up with them. The following 
 day, however, we spoke an American brig, who 
 gave us the right longitude ; although, I dare 
 swear, the ignorant Yankees had not one on 
 board capable of taking a lunar like the pas- 
 sengers of the Saucy Jack. Finally, on the 
 eighty-fourth day of our eventful voyage, we 
 passed the Angeda passage. 
 
 That night, with the Virgin Islands full in 
 view, the candidates for commissions in the Co- 
 lombian navy took several most beautiful lunar 
 observations ; and fairly demonstrated that the 
 rock of Sombrero was precisely in the same Ion-
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 117 
 
 gitude that it was at the time every chart on 
 board was engraved. At the end of our voyage 
 to St. Thomas's, the captain measured the log- 
 line, and, as Trevallion surmised, found it too 
 short. He compared the minute-glasses with his 
 watch, and found a great deal too little sand in 
 them. This precaution of measuring the line 
 and ascertaining the inaccuracy of the glasses, 
 after we were in sight of land, will be applauded 
 by nautical men. 
 
 The next day we entered the port of St. 
 Thomas, where old Mendez told us we should 
 meet with a Columbian agent.
 
 118 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " Repelled from port to port, they sue in vain, 
 And track, with slow unsteady sail, the main." 
 
 LEYDEX. 
 
 SCARCELY had we entered the harbour of St. 
 Thomas's before the harbour -master came on 
 board. He was a Dane ; but, like most well- 
 educated men of his nation, spoke English. He 
 informed us that the Columbian asrent had left 
 
 >~j 
 
 the island, and that the cause of the Republicans 
 was desperate ; insomuch that it would be mad- 
 ness for us to join them. This was heavy news 
 for us : most on board were destitute of the 
 means of returning to England. 
 
 The harbour-master, however, told us that 
 there was a resident of the island, although at 
 that moment absent, who was a Jew merchant : 
 he had lent considerable sums to the Columbians ; 
 he was momentarily expected to return ; and, 
 doubtless, would assist us, and give us counsel 
 how to proceed.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. ] 19 
 
 The Dane further informed us, that a brig, 
 with volunteers for South America, had arrived a 
 few weeks before us ; and the passengers, having 
 landed, behaved so badly, boxing, duelling, 
 rioting, drinking, and getting in debt, that the 
 governor would not allow us to land. In vain 
 we pleaded that St. Thomas's was a free port, 
 and that the Saucy Jack was under British 
 colours, from a British port, with British papers : 
 the harbour- master said, such were the im- 
 perative orders of the governor. He further 
 told the captain to anchor between Blackboard's 
 Fort and a large Danish frigate, the Minerva. 
 He told us our motions would be watched by 
 the frigate, and cautioned us against going 
 ashore, unless we wished to be fired at by the 
 man-of-war. 
 
 The captain said that, in consequence of the 
 length of the voyage, we were short of water. 
 The harbour-master wrote a note, and sent it by 
 his own boat on board the Minerva. In half- 
 an-hour, two boats, rowed by a set of stout, red- 
 haired Danes, came alongside, with six pun- 
 cheons of good water, which the captain caused 
 to be pumped into our own casks. 
 
 The captain of the frigate came on board, and 
 we, in vain, remonstrated with him about the 
 injustice of not allowing us to land. Our skipper
 
 120 WARNER A.RUNDELL : 
 
 said we were all well-behaved gentlemen, and 
 would act differently from our predecessors (God 
 forgive him for the assertion !) 
 
 Canter's anxiety to land us proceeded from a 
 desire to get rid of us, in order that he might 
 carry the schooner away and sell her, before she 
 had performed her engagement of landing us in 
 South America. This I afterwards learned. But 
 his lie was thrown away the Danes would not 
 allow us to go ashore. 
 
 The fact was, the authorities at St. Thomas's, 
 finding the cause of the Republicans desperate, 
 wished to propitiate the Royalists, by whom they 
 were, not without reason, suspected of favouring 
 the opposite party. 
 
 The harbour- master, having heard several 
 persons give me the title of doctor, inquired of 
 me if I was in the medical profession ? I an- 
 swered in the affirmative. He told me that the 
 yellow fever was raging ashore, and amongst the 
 neighbouring islands ; therefore, if I applied to 
 land, my application would be granted, as the 
 want of sufficient medical men was sorely felt 
 ashore, and that I should meet with great en- 
 couragement in St. Thomas's. All I had to do, 
 was to submit to a few questions from the medical 
 society ; and, if my answers were approved, they 
 would grant me a license to practise.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 121 
 
 I desired a few moments to think about his 
 proposition, and walked aside. 
 
 Purcell now stepped up to me, and said, 
 " You cannot go ashore, doctor." 
 
 " What is to hinder me ? " 
 
 " Honour, sir; that is, if you have any. You 
 have beaten me you have caused my head to be 
 shaved you got me tarred and feathered. Go 
 ashore on this island ; you know I cannot follow 
 you : go, and thus skulk from giving me the 
 satisfaction my injuries demand." 
 
 " Enough, sir," said I ; "I will continue 
 with the schooner until the end of the voyage, 
 although she should sail to the regions of the 
 damned." I immediately went to the harbour- 
 master, and told him I declined leaving the 
 vessel. 
 
 Many will blame me for my conduct ; I now 
 blame myself. I owed Purcell no satisfaction ; 
 he had behaved like a blackguard, and I merely 
 treated him as he deserved : but, to be accused 
 of skulking from a duel through fear, was not 
 to be borne by a man of my age, spirit, and edu- 
 cation. From my infancy I had been taught to 
 believe that none but poltroons feared duelling, 
 and that cowardice was more disgraceful even 
 than murder. The inculcation of such maxims 
 on my young mind was not to be wondered at ; 
 
 VOL. JI. G
 
 122 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 for, according to a tradition preserved in our 
 family, an Arundell was the first who brought 
 into fashion duelling with pistols. The tradition 
 alluded to ran thus. 
 
 Early in the seventeenth century, Andre de 
 Rossey, a French freebooter of dauntless courage, 
 used to associate with Dutch and English rovers, 
 for the purpose of plundering their mutual ene- 
 mies, the Spaniards ; but he seldom sailed long 
 in company with any of their vessels before he 
 contrived to quarrel with, and kill, some of his 
 associates. His practice was to challenge the 
 parties to meet him at the first place of landing, 
 leaving the choice of arms to the challenged ; 
 but, such was his dexterity in the use of all sorts 
 of steel weapons employed by the bucaniers, from 
 the long boarding-pike, to the short poniard ; 
 from the light rapier, to the common matcheti ; 
 from the French epee, to the Spanish espadron, 
 that, choose what arms his opponents would, De 
 Rossey always killed them. He slew, in single 
 combat, more than thirty men. My ancestor, 
 Christopher Arundell, having incurred the anger 
 of Andre, the latter challenged him to go on 
 shore at Tortuga, and decide their difference by 
 mortal combat, leaving the choice of weapons to 
 the Englishman. Arundell went on shore, and 
 brought, a pair of pistols, as the arms with which
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 123 
 
 he chose to decide the combat. The Frenchman 
 demurred at this innovation of the ordinary rules 
 of duelling; for, up to that period, fire-arms had 
 never been used on such occasions. Christopher 
 threatened De Rossey to put the greatest indignity 
 on him if he refused to fight with pistols. Finally, 
 pistols were employed. At the first discharge, 
 Arundell shot the terrible Frenchman through the 
 heart ; hence, in most private combats amongst 
 the freebooters, pistols were the arms afterwards 
 resorted to, as being less unfair than any other 
 weapons. Finally, this mode of settling affairs 
 of honour was adopted in most civilised and 
 Christian countries. I mention this family tra- 
 dition, because it influenced my determination of 
 meeting Purcell. 
 
 The harbour-master left us. As evening set 
 in, the moon rose, and shed her placid light on 
 the beautiful bay, crowded town, and sterile hills, 
 of St. Thomas's. How different was the scenery, 
 compared to the broad and monotonous face of 
 the ocean, which I had viewed for the last three 
 months! I enjoyed the change, as I walked the 
 deck. 
 
 I went to bed late ; and, notwithstanding my 
 bad prospects, slept soundly. In the morning 
 1 was awoke by a gun, fired from the Danish 
 frigate. Scarcely were my eyes opened, before
 
 124 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 I heard the cocks crowing on shore. I instantly 
 recollected where I was, and felt the bad tidings 
 of the previous day more deeply than before : 
 this sensation I have often experienced. When 
 calamity first comes on us, it stuns us like a 
 heavy blow ; it is after a night's sleep that we 
 feel the effects of evil news. 
 
 Early in the morning a boat left the shore, 
 and made towards our vessel ; she was intercepted 
 by one from the Danish frigate, and ordered 
 alongside, so narrowly were we watched. After 
 being detained by the Minerva, the boat ap- 
 proached us. A passenger was seen in her, who 
 was rightly conjectured to be the Jew merchant 
 spoken- of by the harbour-master. Half-a-dozen 
 spy-glasses were levelled at him to catch what 
 they called the cut of his jib. He was pro- 
 nounced a handsome, dark-eyed little man. As 
 he came within pistol-shot of the schooner, I 
 thought 1 knew the person. I was right : he 
 was my old fellow-passenger, Moses Fernandez. 
 Our astonishment and joy at this unexpected 
 meeting were mutual. 
 
 Fernandez gave us information that old Don 
 Mendez was not the recognised agent of the 
 Columbians, but, as he (Fernandez) suspected, 
 a mere adventurer, leagued with the owners of 
 the Saucy Jack and other vessels. But, he
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 125 
 
 added, if we went to the Main, our services would 
 be acceptable to the republicans ; and, although 
 Mendez had no right to grant commissions, yet, 
 in consequence of our shewing a willingness to 
 serve them, the insurgent chiefs would, doubtless, 
 give the appointments which Mendez had pro- 
 mised. 
 
 Fernandez seemed to think the cause of South 
 America by no means so bad as the harbour- 
 master described. The domination of Spain over 
 her colonies might linger on for a few months, 
 perhaps for a year or two ; but the great South 
 American continent must and would be free. At 
 the same time he candidly admitted, that hope 
 might somewhat influence his opinion, as he had 
 embarked his fortune in the cause. He counselled 
 our beating up to Trinidad, and obtaining the 
 beet advice and assistance we could from an 
 agent of the Columbians we should meet with 
 there; and whence we might easily get up the 
 Orinoco, the Garapichie, or down to the island 
 of Margarita, which were pointes d'appui of the 
 insurgents. 
 
 o 
 
 After having given this information to the 
 passengers in general, he took me aside and 
 asked me in what capacity I came. When I 
 told him, he seemed quite pleased ; because he 
 said the South Americans were more in want of
 
 126 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 surgeons than naval and military adventurers, 
 who came out to avoid a prison. He said this in 
 a low voice, for he seemed somehow to guess the 
 characters of my fellow-passengers. He gave me, 
 in detail, much the same account of the progress 
 of the revolution which he had given to the rest. 
 He added, 
 
 " I feel confident that the Lord of Hosts has 
 ordained that the sun of America shall rise, 
 while the blood-red star of persecuting Spain 
 is setting. Yea, the proud Castilians, once so 
 haughty that they would suffer none but them- 
 selves to navigate these seas, will, in a few years, 
 be here destitute of a harbour to shelter their 
 vessels from a storm. Brion, who, like me, is a 
 Jew of Curac,oa, has already driven their fleet 
 out of the Caribbean Sea. Spain, I say, will 
 sink : the curse of the Twelve Tribes weighs her 
 down. Arundell !" said the Israelite, in an im- 
 passioned tone, " I bear a Spanish name, and my 
 fathers possessed rich and broad lands in Grenada, 
 which bore the blessings of the earth, corn, 
 wine, and oil, until, instigated by the rancorous 
 priests, those preachers of humility, yet children 
 of pride ; those tongues of mercy, yet hands of 
 blood instigated by these bigots, she seized our 
 lands and drove my ancestors from her soil, in 
 the vain hopes of ending Judaism. Vain, vain
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 127 
 
 hopes! What, though in all her idolatrous 
 temples a list of martyred Jews is exhibited ? yet, 
 even in the days when the flames of the Auto 
 da Fe gleamed like the element of hell, could 
 a Jew travel from the south of Spain to its 
 northern extremity ; and in every town, village, 
 university, and even monastery, could he meet 
 with his persecuted brethren, who held fast in 
 the faith in w r hich his fathers, for four thousand 
 years, lived and died. Spain end the religion 
 of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets ! 
 No ! the children of Israel shall be gathered by 
 the Messiah into the land which Elohim gave to 
 their sires, and will give again to them ; and they 
 shall worship Him in the third temple, the splen- 
 dour of which shall surpass that of the first, 
 although built by the wisdom of Solomon. At a 
 time when the bears shall descend from the Pyre- 
 nees, and prowl in the deserted cities of Iberia, 
 and when wolves shall howl in the ruins of the 
 Escurial, Spain shall be what Tyre and Sidon 
 are ; when the Holy City shall rise into glory from 
 mournful ruins, and when the curse of barrenness 
 is removed from Judea! 
 
 " Yes," continued Fernandez, in an impas- 
 sioned tone his speech partook more of soliloquy 
 than dialogue, insomuch that he seemed scarcely 
 conscious that any one was listening to him, so
 
 128 WARNER ARUNDELL : i 
 
 far had his feelings abstracted his reason 
 " yes, '\ continued he, "thanks to the Lord of 
 justice, Spain is falling! Already she is like 
 a seeming goodly tree, whose heart is rotten. 
 She persecuted the children of the covenant ; 
 she drove the learned Moors from her soil; she 
 exterminated a whole race of God's creatures 
 in this western world. But she prospered not. 
 She brought gold into Europe, like as an ass carries 
 precious metal : the richer were her galleons, 
 the poorer became her children. She depopu- 
 lated her mountains and valleys, to send her 
 offspring to the New World ; and she imported 
 disease in return : and now her colonies turn 
 against her, like as the children of the wicked 
 rise against their parents ; while a bigot an em- 
 broiderer of petticoats sits on her throne, to 
 misdirect her energies during his life, and be- 
 queath to her the curse of civil war at his death." 
 
 After saying this, Fernandez walked the deck 
 hastily for some minutes, ere his emotion sub- 
 sided. At length, he said, 
 
 " Pardon me this abstraction, Mr. Arundell ; 
 but, since iny youth, hatred of Spain has been 
 my ruling passion. I have long plotted her 
 downfall in this hemisphere, and I now see a 
 prospect of my darling hopes being realised." 
 
 After this explanation he became calm. He
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 129 
 
 promised to send me, in the course of the day, 
 letters of introduction to all the insurgent chiefs ; 
 with the whole of whom he was in correspond- 
 ence. He then inquired into the state of my 
 finances. I told him these were low enough ; 
 all I had was about nine dollars, which I got 
 exchanged for a trifle at a shop of one of his 
 tribe, at Common Hard, Portsmouth. 
 
 " Well," replied Fernandez, " when I send 
 you off the letters, I will also remit you one 
 hundred dollars, by way of a loan. No words 
 of refusal or thanks ; you will be able to pay 
 me shortly, as I intend visiting the republican 
 army. Remember, it will be a loan ; although 
 I will not take a Shylock-like mortgage, or a 
 pound of your Christian flesh. One day or an- 
 other you will be able to pay me ; but, should 
 I die before that day arrive, give the sum to 
 the first poor despised Jew you meet, and tell 
 him to place it in one of the boxes kept in all 
 synagogues, to relieve the wretched Israelites who 
 still, like ghosts, haunt the ruins of Jerusalem. 
 Is there any thing else I can serve you in?" 
 
 I suggested that, from the length of our 
 voyage, a little fruit would be acceptable. He 
 made a note of it, and then took a formal leave 
 of my fellow-passengers, and a friendly one of 
 me, saying, 
 
 G2
 
 130 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 "The Lord bless and preserve thee ; the 
 Lord make his face shine on thee, and give thee 
 peace ! " 
 
 Three hours after this, his clerk arrived on 
 board with the promised letters, one hundred 
 dollars, a large box of oranges, limes, shaddocks, 
 and other kinds of citron, and a smaller box 
 of pine-apples and other West Indian fruit. As 
 this acceptable present was sufficient to last the 
 whole of the passengers until we should arrive 
 at Trinidad, I made a general distribution of 
 the fruit. After having lived for three months 
 on salt provisions, fruit is most luxurious : hence, 
 my sharing the two boxes among the passengers 
 got me into more favour with them than if I 
 had given them a thousand dollars. Even the 
 lunar observers said I was not a bad fellow after 
 all ; and I am told that Britton declared, " that 
 the first man who said I was not a gentleman, 
 he would give him one blow," &c. 
 
 After obtaining two more puncheons of water 
 from the frigate, we, that afternoon, left the, 
 to us, inhospitable island of St. Thomas's. We 
 came alongside of a small uninhabited island, 
 on which, we were told, the governor of St. 
 Thomas's kept hogs. Several passengers vo- 
 lunteered to go ashore and shoot some. The 
 schooner was hove to, a boat lowered, and pulled
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 131 
 
 to the island. In about an hour it returned, 
 loaded with swine. I was not concerned in this 
 robbery, but I partook of the pork ; soothing my 
 conscience with the reflection that my not eating 
 the stolen meat would not benefit the owner of 
 the pigs. I was a bad casuist, but I had a good 
 appetite. 
 
 We had a long dead beat from St. Thomas's 
 to Trinidad ; but the behaviour of the passengers, 
 in general, was comparatively orderly for three 
 reasons : first, the doubtful tidings we heard at 
 St. Thomas's threw a damp on their animal 
 spirits ; secondly, the existence of the tar-and- 
 feather club overawed the lunarians ; and lastly, 
 but not the least cause of tranquillity, the large 
 quantity of bad rum we had was finished ; so 
 that, of necessity, we had what is now called 
 a temperance society on board. 
 
 We were thirteen days beating up to Trini- 
 dad, so contrary was the wind, and so badly 
 the schooner sailed. This length of passage did 
 not displease those whose heads had been shaved, 
 as it allowed their hair to grow ; it being now 
 more than .five weeks since this operation was 
 performed. 
 
 As we came to anchor off 7 Port of Spain, a 
 person named Ilervey came on board. He had 
 come out on a similar errand to the one which
 
 132 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 brought us across the Atlantic, but had settled 
 in the island. He gave us far more gloomy ac- 
 counts than we heard at St. Thomas's. The 
 agent we expected to meet had left the island, 
 a ruined man. Angostura, up the Orinoco, 
 had fallen into the hands of the royalists, and 
 Margarita was now the only rallying point of 
 the insurgents. The governor of Trinidad (Sir 
 R. Woodford) sent us word that the cause of 
 the rebels, as he called the patriots, was so des- 
 perate, that he thought it his duty to dissuade 
 us from going to join them. And, if we promised 
 not to do this, all those of the passengers who 
 chose to remain in Trinidad, and were capable 
 of exercising any trade or profession by which 
 they might gain their living, should have all 
 his interest to get employment. Such as chose 
 to turn planters, he could easily obtain situations 
 for ; and for those who wished to return, he 
 would endeavour to get them cheap or free pass- 
 ages to England. In the mean time, the govern- 
 ment possessed a large unoccupied building, 
 called Cumberland House, which Sir Ralph 
 Woodford offered as a temporary dwelling. The 
 governor only kept his word so far as related 
 to Cumberland House. As soon as the mass 
 of the passengers came ashore to reside, the 
 governor took no further notice of them. But,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 133 
 
 in justice to his memory, I must here observe, 
 that the conduct of my fellow-passengers was 
 sufficient apology for the neglect of Woodford. 
 A daily repetition of such scenes as took place 
 on board the Saucy Jack occurred at Cumberland 
 House ; with this addition, the unfortunate in- 
 mates were often without food : hence, they com- 
 menced a system of marauding on the neighbours 
 for provisions. So many fowl robberies were 
 committed, that poultry became scarce in that 
 end of Port of Spain ; until yellow fever and 
 new rum thinned, most awfully, the passengers 
 of the Saucy Jack. 
 
 But I anticipate. The passengers, before they 
 would accept of the governor's proffered aid, 
 desired to consult on the subject. We held a 
 council of war on board the Saucy Jack. Gloom 
 presided over our consultation ; adversity seemed 
 to weigh down the spirits of the whole, but parti- 
 cularly those who, during the passage, had been 
 most turbulent : all looked and spoke with grav- 
 ity. This was not the gravity of wisdom, but of 
 disappointment and despair. Much was said, 
 but nothing resolved on, until Trevallion spoke 
 thus : 
 
 " As we have been duped by the owners of 
 the Saucy Jack, let us start with her to Mar- 
 garita, and there get a privateer's commission,
 
 134 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 and trade on our own account. There are plenty 
 of arms and ammunition on board : these were 
 intended as a speculation, but let us profit by 
 them. We have six bull-dogs (pieces of ord- 
 nance) in the hold : these will be sufficient to rig 
 out this schooner as a rover; and all the spare 
 small arms we'll sell to the people of Margarita 
 for provisions. We are enough of us to navigate 
 and fight the sloop ; and we are, thanks to old 
 Mendez, men of desperate fortunes. There are 
 enough of prizes to be found in this part of the 
 world : if not, away we start to the South Seas, 
 where we shall find plenty of Spanish ships, or 
 vessels which look like them. True, the Saucy 
 Jack is but a tub of a sailer; but the first better 
 ship we take we'll sink the schooner. There is 
 booty enough in the Pacific to make our fortunes 
 in six months. True, we run a small chance of 
 being taken ; but who would not rather risk 
 being shot, or strung up at a yard-arm, in ob- 
 taining a fortune, to remaining here as an object 
 of charity ? The yellow fever, or the yellow boys, 
 for me! Hurra for a hundred-weight of gold, or 
 an ounce of lead ! Who say a rover's life, hold 
 up their hands." 
 
 The address of Trevallion was suitable to the 
 desperate fortunes of most on board. All, even 
 the mate and regular crew of the vessel, held up
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 135 
 
 their hands, except myself. I begged to decline 
 going with them, not wishing to introduce a 
 gibbet into the escutcheon of the Arundells, by 
 way of bend sinister. True, the first of my race 
 that came into these seas was a rover ; but he 
 was so in different times, and with different men ; 
 for I foresaw that on board the Saucy Jack 
 there would be too many officers, who, with the 
 exception of courage, possessed not one quality 
 necessary for an enterprise such as Trevallion 
 proposed. 
 
 Having expressed my dissent, several persons 
 asked me if I wished to discover their enter- 
 prise to the governor of Trinidad. 
 
 Before I could reply, Trevallion said, " That 
 the doctor does not, or he wouldn't openly and 
 fairly express his determination not to join us ; 
 however, I am sure he is too honourable a man 
 to betray our secrets." 
 
 I pledged my word not to do this, and went on 
 deck, leaving them to settle the minor arrange- 
 ments of their wild undertaking. It was agreed 
 that Trevallion was to command, and Canter was 
 to be the first-lieutenant, if he chose to accept of 
 the post. A deputation went to his state-room 
 to consult with him, but he was not to be found. 
 In a few minutes after this, the collector of his 
 majesty's customs came on board with a picquet
 
 136 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 of soldiers, and informed us that the schooner 
 was seized for having arms on board contrary to 
 law. Her anchor was taken up, and she was 
 moored right under the guns of the old Spanish 
 fort, whence escape was hopeless. This, in a 
 moment, put an end to the notable scheme of 
 Trevallion, took away the enthusiasm from the 
 passengers, and restored their despondency. 
 
 The history of the seizure of the vessel was 
 this: Canter, as soon as he heard the proposal 
 of Trevallion to carry off the schooner, went 
 ashore unseen by us, and offered a custom-house 
 officer a small bribe to allow him to land certain 
 arms and ammunition he had on board the Saucy 
 Jack, confessing, in pretended confidence, that he 
 had no legal title to have them. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole said every man had his 
 price. The truth of this axiom was known to 
 Canter, for he knew all the weak points of human 
 nature ; he, therefore, was aware, that if you 
 offer a man much less than his price, he feels it 
 as an attack on his honour and dignity. Thus, 
 one who, for ten thousand pounds, would betray 
 his friend, would resent, as a deep insult, an 
 offer of one hundred pounds as the price of his 
 honour : hence, the commander of the Saucy 
 Jack promised a bribe to the custom-house officer 
 much less in amount than the said officer could
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 137 
 
 obtain as his share of the booty, were the 
 vessel seized. The result was, that the officer 
 promised Canter to wink at his landing the con- 
 traband arms ; but, a few minutes after, he caused 
 the schooner to be seized. He did his duty 
 because it coincided with his interest. 
 
 By the humanity of the collector, the passen- 
 gers of the vessel were allowed to go ashore with 
 their luggage. No sooner were we out of the 
 Saucy Jack, than, as if a sudden recollection had 
 occurred to Canter, he went into his cabin, and 
 produced the copy of an order in council, which 
 fully authorised the schooner to carry arms and 
 ammunition. The custom-house gentlemen scru- 
 tinised this paper, and were obliged to confess 
 that they had no right to put the broad arrow on 
 her. That mark was taken off, and the disap- 
 pointed collector missed his prey. The fact was, 
 the whole seizure was a manoeuvre of the captain 
 to get quit of the passengers, and prevent their 
 committing the villany of carrying her off, by 
 performing the meditated robbery himself. 
 
 He started with the vessel that evening, sold 
 her, together with her cargo, to the patriots, 
 pocketed the money, let the crew shift for them- 
 selves, and went to the United States 
 
 " To add one freeman more, America, to thee."
 
 138 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 Thus the owner took in the passengers, the 
 passengers wished to retaliate, but Captain Canter 
 was too keen for both parties. What became of 
 this respectable character in America I never 
 heard. Brother Jonathan is no advocate for 
 capital punishment, or I'd wager, that before 
 Captain Canter dies, he will be an exalted cha- 
 racter. Should he ever return to England, he 
 will not die in a horizontal position.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 139 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Read thou tbis challenge ; mark but tbe penning of it." 
 
 King Lear. 
 " Ducunt ad seria nugae." 
 
 HORACE. 
 
 ON going ashore, I found that my old friend 
 Dr. Lopez had left the colony. 
 
 Not wishing to join the assembly at Cum- 
 berland House, I took up my residence at a 
 tavern kept by Fanny Nibbs, in Port of Spain. 
 The first morning of my residence there, I had 
 a visit from Beadle. His request astonished me : 
 it was, that I should stand his friend in a duel 
 between himself and Lieutenant Jenkins, whom, 
 it appeared, little Beadle discovered to be the 
 person who was the principal in the disgraceful 
 transaction of dragging him out of his bed, and 
 suspending him by the heel, on board the 
 schooner. I thought this delicate youth, with 
 his girlish face, the last person who would have 
 recourse to fighting. Often, when practising 
 with a pistol during our passage, he used to quit
 
 140 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 the deck, declaring himself too nervous to hear 
 fire-arms go off without starting ; and, I believe, 
 up to this moment he had never exploded an ounce 
 of gunpowder in his life. But, notwithstanding 
 his feminine appearance and weak nerves, he was 
 not a coward, as the result proved. I informed 
 him that I would have been his second, but that, 
 from some expressions which fell from Purcell, 
 I myself momentarily expected a hostile message 
 from him. Beadle left me, to seek old Major 
 Glenlyon. 
 
 About two hours after this, as I expected, I 
 was waited on by Lieutenant Jack, who handed 
 me a written challenge from Purcell ; a postscript 
 of the letter containing the challenge, stated that 
 the lieutenant was to attend as his (Purcell's) 
 friend. 
 
 I asked Jack about the time and place of 
 meeting. He told me that the laws of Trinidad 
 were most severe against duelling ; but that, in 
 the Gulf of Paria, and about thirty miles from 
 the Port of Spain, lay an islet, called Lospatos, 
 which, being neither in this jurisdiction nor 
 owned by the Spaniards,- was commonly made a 
 place of hostile meeting by persons living on both 
 sides of the Gulf.* He proposed that the next 
 
 * It is now considered as part of the colony of Trinidad.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 141 
 
 morning we should go thither in a sailing-boat : 
 further, that Jenkins and Beadle, who also were 
 about to " turn out," should accompany us. Thus 
 we should form a hostile parti quarrt. To this 
 I agreed ; and, having appointed the place where 
 the boat was to start before daybreak next morn- 
 ing, the lieutenant left me. 
 
 I called on Trevallion, who consented to act 
 as my second. I had an excellent pair of Mor- 
 timer's pistols in my trunk, which we agreed 
 should be used on the occasion. Trevallion dined 
 with me ; and, after dinner, we walked out to- 
 gether. 
 
 Gloomy as were my prospects, I could not 
 but admire the noble scenery by which we were 
 surrounded, and the marked improvements which 
 had been effected in the appearance of the 
 country by the present governor. We walked 
 into the country until we came to the plantation 
 that, a few years since, was the property of Don 
 Thomaso and my uncle George. We were kind- 
 ly received by the present proprietor, who shewed 
 us all over the estate, telling us what a bad 
 planter his predecessor was, and what improve- 
 ments he had made ; above all, he tried to 
 impress us with a magnificent idea of what an 
 extraordinary crop he was going to make next 
 year. He did not know me, for, since the death
 
 142 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 of my uncle, the plantation had passed through a 
 dozen hands ; but every proprietor was ruined by 
 purchasing it, although every merchant that ne- 
 gociated its affairs got rich. 
 
 At a late hour in the evening we arrived at 
 Mrs. Nibbs's tavern. I persuaded Trevallion to 
 sleep in the same chamber with me, lest he 
 should be visited by an evil spirit, which often 
 haunts Europeans in the West Indies, called 
 tafia. As the name of this spirit is not to be 
 found in King James's book on demonology, 
 I must acquaint the English reader that it is 
 better known by the denomination of new rum. 
 
 A little before daylight next morning, we 
 were at the place appointed for embarking to 
 Lospatos. Early as we were, I found the com- 
 panions of my voyage waiting for me. These 
 were, Purcell and his second ; Beadle and his 
 friend, the major; Jenkins was attended by 
 Britton : finally, there were Trevallion and my- 
 self. We got into the boat hired for the occa- 
 sion, hoisted sail, and, with a light breeze, 
 steered towards Lospatos. We were a mile or 
 two from shore ere day opened. 
 
 During the first part of our little voyage Pur- 
 cell slept ; but sudden starts and mutterings ren- 
 dered it evident that he enjoyed not tranquil 
 slumber. From the relation in which I stood to
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 143 
 
 him, I could not appear to notice him minutely ; 
 yet, now and then, as I cast a glance at him, I 
 could not hut observe that his ruddy features 
 appeared flushed, and were quivering, as though 
 he suffered extreme mental or bodily pain ; 
 and now and then a deep sigh escaped the 
 sleeper. 
 
 Lieutenant Jack once shook him : he opened 
 his bloodshot eyes, and, with a bewildered stare, 
 looked around him. 
 
 " What is the matter with you?" said his 
 friend ; " have you been drinking?" 
 
 " Did you not see him?" said Purcell. 
 
 " Him! who?" 
 
 "Why, my father! How he shook those 
 gray locks at me, which I brought with sorrow 
 to the grave !" 
 
 " Lie down, my good fellow, and, if possible, 
 sleep off this ill-timed intoxication." 
 
 Again Purcell lay down on his back in the 
 bottom of the boat, and soon commenced snoring, 
 as though he were stifling. I whispered Tre- 
 vallion that it was necessary to untie his black 
 cravat, turn him over on his side, and raise his 
 head, as he lay in an uncomfortable position. 
 My advice was followed ; he ceased snoring, but 
 commenced muttering in his perturbed sleep.
 
 144 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 His murrnurings were, at first, inarticulate ; he 
 paused for about half a minute, and said plainly, 
 
 "That curse again! Is it not enough the 
 old man died cursing me, but he must come over 
 the great ocean, after he is dead, to repeat his 
 curse, now he knows I am about to die?" 
 
 He started violently, and opened his eyes. 
 After looking wildly around, he said, 
 
 "Is it not strange the old man won't let me 
 rest ? But both he and I never forgave " 
 
 Lieutenant Jack shook his head ; he appeared 
 under an impression that Purcell was the worse 
 for liquor. I perceived that he was under the 
 influence of fever, which caused a determination 
 of blood to the head, and consequently he was 
 delirious : in fact, he was attacked with that 
 disease which, for want of a better name, is 
 called yellow fever. He was just such a subject 
 as this demon would mark for his victim ; he 
 being plethoric, sanguine, and of intemperate 
 habits. Such were my speculations ; but I was 
 obliged to keep them to myself. 
 
 While I was looking intently at him, Lieu- 
 tenant Jack observed me, but misconstrued my 
 thoughts. 
 
 " I fear," said he, " that my friend will not 
 be in a fit state to meet you ; and therefore, to
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 145 
 
 prevent disappointing you, I shall be obliged to 
 take his place that is, if you have no objection 
 to me as his substitute." 
 
 I bowed courteously low. Gentlemen should 
 be extremely polite to each other when arranging 
 their amiable plans to blow each other's brains 
 out. 
 
 The sun had risen high in the heavens, and 
 was intensely hot, as we neared Lospatos. 
 Purcell slept, muttering continually : now and 
 then we caught a word or two of what he arti- 
 culated. His sleep seemed to be disturbed with 
 the recollections of his father's having cursed 
 him. As we were entering the little harbour of 
 the islet, he woke and called for drink. 
 
 " You seem to have had too much drink 
 already," said his friend, 
 
 " Give me water! " cried Purcell. " I don't 
 want your cursed grog, which tastes like a river 
 of hell ! Give me clear, cool, blessed water. 
 Oh, would to God my gullet were the channel 
 of the Thames ! " 
 
 A large calabash of water was given to him, 
 which he could not be sa i to drink : he swal- 
 lowed it with such avidity, that the glucking 
 noise caused by his throat sounded louder than 
 that of a thirsty horse. 
 
 The boat was run aground and secured : we 
 
 VOL. II. H
 
 146 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 went ashore. Purcell asked what we came here 
 for, but immediately replied to his own question, 
 
 " Yes, yes, I now recollect ; I came here to 
 be shot by that fellow, Arundell. I see now the 
 cause that made the old man appear three times 
 to me in the boat. However, you will allow me 
 to say my prayers before you shoot me, doctor : 
 no one kills a man without allowing him to 
 pray. Those who are run up at the yard-arms 
 are allowed to see the chaplain before they die." 
 
 Saying this, he walked, with an unsteady 
 step, until he got under a sand box-tree, where he 
 kneeled and repeated various snatches of suppli- 
 cation ; running one part of the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer into another. His friend watched 
 him intently. It was evident that he now saw 
 he was not drunk ; but the lieutenant believed 
 his principal insane. 
 
 While he was at his wild devotion, the 
 seconds proposed that the duel between Beadle 
 and Jenkins should be decided. Ten paces were 
 the distance agreed on. While this was being 
 measured, Jenkins commenced to draw the out- 
 lines of a ship on the sand, with a cane he held 
 in his hand. The pistols were loaded and placed 
 in the hands of the parties. Just before the 
 word " fire " was to be given, Beadle, as if sud- 
 denly recollecting himself, cried out,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 147 
 
 " Hold, for one minute !" 
 
 He then took out of his pocket a letter. 
 
 " Send this," said the young man ; " it is 
 addressed to my poor mother. Inclose it in a 
 letter of your own ; and I beg of you to say 
 that I am no more. But don't, for God's sake, 
 tell her the disgraceful death I am to die. Poor 
 old soul ! she will not long survive the news of 
 my death ! But don't break her heart suddenly, 
 letting her know that I died in a drunken broil. 
 I am her only, her darling son : she sold all her 
 trinkets to provide me with a passage ; and I 
 came on this accursed expedition because I hoped 
 to make a fortune, in order to render her old age 
 and widowhood comfortable. But God's will be 
 done or rather the devil's! for we are here on 
 an unblessed business. But no matter." 
 
 Tears were stealing down the poor little fel- 
 low's cheeks, when I interfered, and said, 
 
 " For the sake of Heaven, gentlemen, .proceed 
 no further in this business ! Lieutenant Jenkins, 
 I am sure, will make an apology for his bad 
 joke, which Mr. Beadle, for the sake of his 
 widowed mother, will accept; and" 
 
 Here Jenkins interrupted me. He was still 
 employed drawing his ship on the sand. He 
 looked up, and said,
 
 148 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 " None of your slack-jaw, doctor ; I did not 
 come here to make apologies." 
 
 " Nor I to receive them," firmly replied 
 Beadle. 
 
 It was agreed that Britton should give the word 
 to fire. I stood aside, to observe the appearance 
 of the parties. The ludicrous features of Jenkins 
 had a trait of doggedness, otherwise they were 
 of the same comic cast. I saw that those of 
 Beadle seemed pale, and I could even observe a 
 slight blue tinge on his lips ; but he seemed 
 firm and collected. He appeared conscious 
 that he stood on the brink of eternity; but he 
 still stood firmly. He exhibited a strong in- 
 stance of constitutional timidity conquered by 
 moral courage. Britton gave the word " fire!" 
 Both pistols were discharged the same instant ; 
 both pistols fell to the ground together ; and, at 
 one and the same moment, Beadle fell forward on 
 his face, and Jenkins sprang up high, and came 
 down on the sand : his ball had passed through 
 the temple of the apothecary, while the ball of 
 Beadle had passed through the aorta of the lieu- 
 tenant. A brief pang of agony, and Beadle was 
 no more : after a violent, but short tremor, the 
 heart of Jenkins ceased to beat. Scarcely an 
 ounce of blood stained the sand of Lospatos, on
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CEEOLE. 149 
 
 which lay the corpses of the late enemies, who 
 were both sent, at the same moment, to answer to 
 their Creator for their enmity. 
 
 Thus fatally ended a dispute originating in 
 a cruel joke. We all stood astounded at the 
 awful, unprecedented, and unexpected result 
 of this affair. It was known to us all that 
 Jenkins was one of the worst shots on board 
 the Saucy Jack ; and, for the little apothe- 
 cary, I believe the shot which sent his ad- 
 versary into eternity was the only one he ever 
 fired. 
 
 Lieutenant Jack, the major, Trevallion, and 
 Britton, stood paralysed at the dreadful result 
 of the duel. I staggered, and should have fallen, 
 if I had not caught hold of a mangrove-branch. 
 All visible objects the sun, the Gulf, the clouds, 
 the sands on which I stood, and the trees, seemed 
 to whirl rapidly round with me ; until I shut my 
 eyes, and felt a cold perspiration oozing out of 
 every pore of my frame, a deadly sickness of 
 stomach, a difficulty of breathing, and a dimness 
 of vision. 
 
 Gradually my senses returned, but I was 
 confused : a vain hope arose in my mind, viz. 
 that all I had witnessed for the last five minutes 
 was a horrible dream. I let go the branches of 
 the mangrove-tree, and passed my hand across my
 
 150 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 eyes to wipe the big sweat-drops that had fallen 
 on them from my brow. This done, the accursed 
 objects, the bodies of the slain men, who, but a 
 few moments before, were in life and health, 
 came on my vision. Oh, how I wished that I 
 had been drowned ere I reached the hated shores 
 of Lospatos ! 
 
 Long minutes fled, and we scarcely changed 
 our position. Now and then we gazed on the 
 two corpses, and then looked at each other and 
 shuddered. Suddenly we were aroused from our 
 lethargy by Purcell, who, with the looks of a 
 demoniac, rushed amongst us. 
 
 " Ha, ha!" said he, "both fallen! both at 
 the same time have finished their voyage, and 
 know in what latitude hell lies ! The old man 
 told me this would happen, the last time he 
 appeared in the boat. And look aloft, there ! 
 Do you not see that?" 
 
 He pointed above, and we cast our eyes up- 
 wards to the clouds to which his finger was di- 
 rected. 
 
 " Do you not see," said the delirious man, 
 " do you not see my old father's frowning fea- 
 tures, and his hand pointing upwards don't you 
 see it?" 
 
 We all remarked that one of the noon-tide 
 clouds of the tropics, which hung over Lospatos,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 151 
 
 had assumed the form of a gigantic profile of a 
 human face ; and, just above it, another fantastic 
 roll of vapour had curled itself into the delinea- 
 tion of a hand, with a finger pointing upwards. 
 Of course, imagination aided this vaporous for- 
 mation ; yet so remarkable was this cloudy por- 
 traiture, that it struck us all, at the same moment, 
 as bearing a striking resemblance to a human 
 visage and hand. 
 
 " See ! see how the old boy frowns on us all ! 
 and see, where his finger points aloft, to where, 
 in fiery letters, is written his curse ! I never 
 knew that a vindictive old father's curse would 
 be logged in the sky. Oh, that my poor mother 
 had not died before him ! Would she not, think 
 you, have dissuaded the old man from having 
 his malediction against her favourite child written 
 in heaven ? An enraged father knows not pity ; 
 but a poor mother will plead at the throne of 
 heaven, like an angel, for an erring child. Oh, 
 my poor mother! would that I could lay my 
 head on your bosom : a tear from your eye would 
 quench the hell-flames burning on my brow ! " 
 
 He pressed his hands to his burning temples, 
 as a flash of lightning rent the clouds which had 
 acted upon his imagination, and glared on the 
 dismal, ill-omened island. At the same instant a
 
 152 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 long peal of thunder roared over Lospatos, and 
 was echoed from the Gulf. 
 
 " Hark! " said the delirious man, " how the 
 old fellow howls at me! I'll hide myself in the 
 sea!" 
 
 He made two or three hurried steps towards 
 the water ; but, his strength failing him, he fell 
 on the sand. 
 
 We carried him into the boat, and covered 
 him with a sail, by way of awning. I moistened 
 his lips with a little water, and he became less 
 turbulent. He yet muttered about his father's 
 curse ; so terribly had it taken possession of his 
 imagination. I felt his pulse, and found he had 
 so violent a fever that its beating could not be 
 counted. 
 
 The appearance of several vultures, wing- 
 ing their gloomy way from Trinidad, and ap- 
 proaching to where the bodies were lying, called 
 our attention to them. Silently we drew near, 
 drove off the carrion birds, and turned the face 
 of the dead upwards. Both the countenances of 
 the slain men bore the marks of extreme agony : 
 their cadaverous looks were sickening to behold. 
 We cut a few mangrove sticks, with which we 
 made a deep hole in the sand, above high-water 
 mark, in which we placed the bodies of Jenkins
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 153 
 
 and Beadle, and covered them with the sand we 
 dug from out the grave. Now and then, a short 
 ejaculation, or brief supplication for mercy, broke 
 as it were involuntarily from us. Our prayers 
 were not for the dead : our devotion was selfish. 
 
 None of us had that day tasted food. Our 
 little store of provisions, laid in for this inauspi- 
 cious voyage, was now produced. Some of us ate 
 a little, but complained that the viands had no 
 taste ; they, however, drank less sparingly. I 
 could swallow nothing but water. Few words 
 were spoken, none wasted. We seemed, to use 
 the expression of Wordsworth, 
 
 " All silent, and all damned." 
 
 We rose to depart. Lieutenant Jack ad- 
 dressed me thus : 
 
 " From the unhappy state of my principal, 
 Mr. Arundell, custom might require that I should 
 stand in his place as his second ; but I hope the 
 awful termination of one duel " 
 
 He paused. 
 
 I replied, " Enough, sir ; there is sufficient 
 blood on our hands already." 
 
 " I hope," said the lieutenant, " that our 
 courage will not suffer in the opinion of the 
 world." 
 
 " Curses on the opinion of the world!" I re- 
 
 H 2
 
 154 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 plied ; " behold the result of the influence of that 
 opinion ! " pointing to the mound of sand that 
 lay over the grave of the duellists. 
 
 We launched the boat with some difficulty, 
 in consequence of Purcell being in it. The after- 
 noon breeze wafted us soon from the hated shores 
 of Lospatos ; and, from that time to the present, 
 I have never been able to look on its gloomy, un- 
 peopled shores, without shuddering. We arrived 
 in Port of Spain that night at nine o'clock : we 
 landed secretly. No one saw us depart for, and 
 none saw us return from, our unblessed voyage : 
 we quitted the island with the caution of fugi- 
 tives from justice ; we came to it as stealthily as 
 murderers. 
 
 Medical assistance was that night procured 
 for Purcell. We informed the physician of what 
 was the fact, that he was attacked with fever 
 while sailing on the Gulf. The doctor's look at 
 once bespoke despair: the disease had already 
 got beyond the management of science ; for that 
 mysterious forerunner of death, black vomit, had 
 made its appearance. Through the night, and 
 the next day, he raved about his father's curse ; 
 and the third morning after the attack com- 
 menced, he was borne to a hasty grave.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OP A CREOLE. 155 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Sent in this foul clime to languish, 
 
 Think what thousands fall in vain ; 
 Wasted with disease and anguish, 
 Not in glorious battle slain." 
 
 GLOVEU. 
 
 ABOUT this time, i.e. in 1817, the demon of civil 
 war was distracting South America ; and, as if 
 this curse were not a sufficient visitation, yellow 
 fever infected the air of the whole continent. 
 Soon the pestilence reached the West Indies. 
 Whence this disease came, or whether it be im- 
 portable, are questions that need not be mooted 
 in this work : sufficient it is to observe, that the 
 same kind of fever circulated round the entire 
 tropical parts of the globe. In most of the 
 southern, and some of the northern states of 
 America ; in many parts of India lying without 
 the tropics; and even in Europe, an epidemic 
 prevailed, which, if not what is here called the 
 yellow fever, was a malady very like it in its
 
 156 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 general character, but rendered less violent by a 
 more temperate climate. 
 
 Nothing could look more gloomy than the 
 capital of Trinidad, during the prevalence of this 
 malady. Business seemed to stagnate : many 
 fled into the country, vainly hoping to escape 
 the disease : nothing was heard but the tolling 
 of funeral-bells, and little seen but the long pro- 
 cessions of the showily arrayed Catholic priests, 
 and their red-habited choristers, acolytes, and 
 crucifers, going to administer extreme unction, or 
 singing funeral dirges, and carrying the scarcely 
 cold, yet already putrid, victim of the epidemic 
 to the house appointed for all. 
 
 The tolling of the funeral-bells became so 
 
 O 
 
 incessant and disheartening, that Sir R. Wood- 
 ford ordered their discontinuance. 
 
 A great misfortune in the colonies was, the 
 supply of Peruvian bark ran out ; insomuch, 
 that it was sold as high as forty or fifty dollars 
 the pound. This is disgraceful to the West 
 Indies, which possesses a soil and climate well 
 adapted for the culture of the tree which pro- 
 duces this bark : nor does it speak much in 
 favour of the botanical knowledge of the Trini- 
 dadian ; as in that magnificent island are to be 
 found, growing wild, substitutes for that valuable 
 drug, little, if at all, inferior to the best cinchona.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 157 
 
 Several persons were attacked with the disease 
 in question at the tavern at which I put up. On 
 one or two occasions I ventured to give my 
 opinion to the medical man in attendance : he 
 thought something of my skill, because my views 
 of the case coincided with his own. Most men 
 think highly of the judgment of those who judge 
 as they do. He inquired if I were a regular mem- 
 ber of the profession : I told him under what 
 circumstances I left England without a license : 
 he advised me to call on the governor, and ex- 
 plain this matter; and he would, doubtless, give 
 me a note of introduction to the medical board, 
 who would examine my qualifications, and if 
 these were found respectable, that body would 
 give me a license to practise. Pursuant to this 
 counsel, I waited on his excellency. 
 
 I went to Government House, and announced 
 my name : I was instantly admitted into the 
 presence of Sir R. Woodford, who, unlike most 
 governors, was neve'r absent from his post during 
 hours of business, and at all times and places 
 accessible. 
 
 I was struck with the majestic appearance of 
 the governor. He wore the Windsor uniform ; 
 his eye was penetrating, his brow capacious, 
 and all his features regular, handsome, and even 
 noble, but indicative of a haughty disposition.
 
 158 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 He was most unlike the portrait which, some 
 years subsequently, Sir Thomas Lawrence painted 
 for his excellency. The cause of this was, his 
 countenance had two distinct kinds of expression, 
 the most unlike each other that any set of features 
 ever could assume. The one might properly be 
 called his official face, which had, in an ex- 
 traordinary degree, an air of hauteur, mistrust, 
 and penetration : but his non-official countenance 
 was affable and amiable ; insomuch that, if Sir 
 Thomas wished to paint the beau-ideal of a finished 
 gentleman, he could scarcely have chosen a better 
 study than Sir Ralph Woodford while entertain- 
 ing his guests at St. Ann's. The painter copied 
 the features of the private gentleman ; and the 
 portrait, therefore, bore no resemblance to the 
 governor of Trinidad. 
 
 His excellency received me with a haughty 
 politeness ; but, in one sense, his manner was 
 not distant for he came so close to me that, at 
 one time, I thought he wished to salute me 
 in the New Zealand fashion, by joining noses. 
 The cause of this was, Sir Ralph possessed the 
 sense of smelling most acutely, and had a mortal 
 detestation to the odour of strong drink. No 
 priest ever hated toleration more intensely than 
 Woodford hated drunkenness. Hence it was his 
 custom, on receiving a visit from any one who
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 159 
 
 came to pay his respects to the governor, to 
 approach him sufficiently close to catch the 
 scent of the breath of the party. If the visitor 
 had drank the smallest quantity of spirits within 
 many hours of the visit, Sir Ralph would detect 
 it, and write him down in his powerful memory 
 as one accustomed to indulge in ardent spirits. 
 Few of those ever obtained favour from his ex- 
 cellency. 
 
 Having been submitted to this singular scru- 
 tiny, he retired a foot or two, and then deli- 
 berately viewed me from head to foot, when his 
 haughty features relaxed into a smile of con- 
 descension and approval. He asked my name. 
 1 told it. He at once said, 
 
 " Ah! Mr. Warner Arundell I recollect now. 
 You came out as surgeon to the Saucy Jack *. " 
 
 I bowed assent. 
 
 " I regret," continued his excellency, " that 
 a gentleman of your appearance should have 
 come hither on so fruitless an enterprise, and 
 am more sorry that your fellow-passengers should 
 have been persons so wild in their conduct. I 
 am told," said the governor, looking into my 
 eyes as though he were fencing with me, " I am 
 told that, not satisfied with the ravages created 
 by the present insalubrity of the climate, your 
 fellow-passengers are committing rapid suicide on
 
 160 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 their reason, and slow suicide on their health, 
 by continued intoxication. And I am further 
 informed, that already two of the inmates of 
 Cumberland House have disappeared in a mys- 
 terious manner. Now, sir, I have strong reason 
 to suspect " 
 
 Here the governor was interrupted, fortu- 
 nately for me, or he would have observed my 
 confusion. The interruption proceeded from a 
 Portuguese servant, who had followed Sir Ralph 
 from Madeira. The man spoke to the governor 
 in Portuguese, and announced that Dr. Chicano 
 waited on his excellency. 
 
 " Admit him," said the governor. 
 
 I was now about to retire, when Sir Ralph 
 motioned me to remain. 
 
 "He is only a Spanish lawyer that waits on 
 me. Our conference will be very brief," said his 
 excellency. 
 
 Dr. Chicano was admitted. He was a middle- 
 aged South American, with a form inclined to cor- 
 pulency, a bright twinkling eye, and a humorous 
 Cervantic cast of countenance. The governor 
 addressed him in Castilian, which, in common 
 with almost all European languages, Sir Ralph 
 spoke fluently. It was evident the governor, 
 supposing me a stranger, conceived I knew not 
 the language he spoke ; consequently, he ad-
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 161 
 
 dressed the lawyer as though he were holding a 
 private conversation with him. I, of course, did 
 not seem to notice what he said. 
 
 " I have sent for you," said Woodford, 
 " Doctor Chicano, to consult you as a lawyer: 
 the question I shall put to you will be brief, and 
 I know you too well to suppose you will give me 
 a complicated answer to a simple query. You 
 are aware that the illustrious board of cabildo* 
 has of late been shewing some signs of con- 
 tumacy to my will : in fact, it is trying to imitate 
 those petty but turbulent bodies in the old Eng- 
 lish colonies, called houses of assembly. Now, 
 my question is this : what power does the Span- 
 ish law allow me as governor and president of 
 the cabildo ; and what are the duties of the 
 rest of the members of this illustrious body?" 
 
 " Sir Ralph," replied Chicano, " I will define 
 your legal powers, and their duty, in a few words. 
 You have the power, by Spanish law, of ordering 
 the illustrious board to do whatever you please ; 
 and it is the duty of the rest of the members to 
 say, ' Si, senor.' " 
 
 Saying this, the doctor of laws bowed po- 
 litely low ; and the governor bowed still lower, 
 in approval of this short but significant advice. 
 
 * The cabildo is a kind of town. council.
 
 162 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 I had resolved not to seem to understand 
 what took place ; but the laconic, yet complete 
 definition of the authority which the Spanish law 
 gave to a governor took me by surprise, and I 
 smiled involuntarily. Sir Ralph's eye caught my 
 countenance, and his penetration instantly in- 
 formed him that he had erred in addressing 
 Chicano before me, under the presumption that I 
 did not understand the language spoken. 
 
 " You understand Spanish?" said he to me, 
 in that language. 
 
 " Si, senor," was my reply, bowing lower 
 than either. 
 
 A flash of displeasure passed over the brow of 
 the governor ; his lips curled, until, with his fine 
 teeth, he bit the under one. He drew up his 
 form, and addressed me with greater hauteur 
 than he had yet used. 
 
 " Pray, Mr. Arundell, to what cause am I 
 to attribute the honour of your visit?" 
 
 With as few words as I could condense my 
 sentiments into, I informed him of my motive 
 for waiting on him ; which was, to solicit a letter 
 of introduction from him to the medical board, 
 in order that I might be examined, and, if found 
 competent, licensed to practise as a medical man : 
 politely reminding him of his promise to aid any 
 one of the passengers of the Saucy Jack who
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 163 
 
 chose to remain in Trinidad, instead of joining the 
 insurgents on the Spanish Main. 
 
 " Have you, sir, any diploma or surgical 
 license?" said the governor. 
 
 I replied in the negative ; explained how I 
 hastily left England when on the point of being 
 examined; at the same time shewed him certifi- 
 cates of having attended lectures, walked hos- 
 pitals, and studied under eminent men, who all 
 wrote handsomely about my assiduity. In fact, I 
 possessed more vouchers of having received a 
 tolerable medical education, than did most of 
 those who practised the healing art in the West 
 Indies. 
 
 The governor looked over my papers care- 
 fully, but coolly. 
 
 " Humph!" said he, " as newspapers ob- 
 serve, very important if true" 
 
 He said this in a tone which made me under- 
 stand that he doubted the authenticity of my 
 papers. 
 
 He added, " I never knew any one who came 
 out to join the rebels on the Main, but could pro- 
 duce unexceptionable testimonials as to character, 
 as advertisements state." 
 
 I felt displeased at his remarks. From my 
 infancy I abhorred falsehood, and never could 
 tolerate any one's throwing a slur on my veracity.
 
 164 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 The governor continued, " I fear, sir, I can 
 be of little use to you in recommending you to 
 the medical board. It meets to-morrow. You 
 may apply to be examined, and it is in their 
 power to license you ; but, so far from recom- 
 mending you, I will caution them to examine you 
 with the greatest rigour, and, if you are not found 
 to possess knowledge which shall bear out these 
 fine certificates, I will advise them to reject you." 
 
 " And I presume," said I, " according to that 
 gentleman," pointing to Chicano, " you have the 
 power of ordering them to do just what you 
 choose, and it is their duty to say, ' Si, senor.' " 
 
 This ill-timed retort brought a frown on the 
 brow of his excellency : it made Dr. Chicano 
 smile ; which, when Sir Ralph observed, his face 
 grew red, insomuch that, passing his hand down 
 one of his cheeks for a moment, the white marks 
 of his fingers were visible. 
 
 " I have a duty to perform, sir," said the 
 governor, with warmth, *' in guarding his ma- 
 jesty's subjects from trusting their health to the 
 care of ignorant persons. If you have received 
 the education you pretend to, you need fear no 
 scrutiny of the medical board ; but, if it shall be 
 found that, like many who come to this part of 
 the world to turn doctor, you are merely from 
 the counter of an apothecary "
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 165 
 
 " To prevent such a discovery," interrupted 
 I; "to prevent the medical board's licensing a 
 mean, ignorant apothecary, I decline being ex- 
 amined." 
 
 I took my papers, bowed, and was taking my 
 leave, when he said, in a milder tone, 
 
 " Pardon me, young man I meant not to 
 offend you : you seem susceptible, and rather 
 proud." 
 
 " My pride, Sir Ralph, is defensive pride." 
 
 " All pride is sinful," said his excellency. 
 
 " Then what a sinner you must be!" thought I. 
 But I replied, " I cannot help my pride ; I am of 
 a proud race, who, until the last five minutes, 
 never suffered any one with impunity to question 
 their veracity." Saying this, I bowed again, and 
 left Government House. 
 
 During this interview I was much to blame, 
 nor was the governor's conduct very commend- 
 able ; he roused my anger, by more than hinting 
 his doubts of my veracity. I know I have a 
 reasonable stock of vices; but mendacity, I believe, 
 is not of their number. I hope I am not destitute 
 of virtues ; but in the brief catalogue of them 
 humility is not to be found. 
 
 Sir Ralph, as I was subsequently informed, 
 regretted his harsh treatment of me ; more espe- 
 cially when Dr. Chicano, who, it appeared, knew
 
 166 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 me, informed him that I was nephew to an old 
 and respectable colonist of this island. He made 
 inquiries about my character : these satisfied him, 
 and added to his regret of having offended me. 
 He proposed reconciling me at his supper-table 
 the following night ; and no man knew better to 
 gain the good-will of his guests than Sir Ralph 
 Woodford. But, just as his invitation arrived the 
 next day, I was on the wing for the island of 
 Margarita. 
 
 An independent schooner that afternoon ar- 
 rived from the Main, bringing news that Angos- 
 tura was recaptured by the independents ; that 
 Bolivar, assisted by M'Gregor, had given the 
 royalists a defeat; and, finally, the independent 
 cause was flourishing. The schooner was de- 
 spatched by Bryon to Trinidad, where, it was 
 supposed, many persons were waiting to join the 
 patriots. 
 
 I did not hesitate to embark on board the 
 schooner, which was going to Margarita. Glen- 
 lyon, the two Germans, Trevallion, Britton, Jack, 
 and several passengers of the Saucy Jack, went 
 with me. The rest were discouraged from pro- 
 ceeding, and found employment in the island, or 
 were provided for by new rum and yellow fever. 
 
 Just as I was embarking, the governor's Por- 
 tuguese servant put a note of invitation to supper
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 167 
 
 into my hands. I returned a pencilled answer, 
 politely declining the intended honour, as I, at that 
 moment, was embarking to pay a visit to General 
 Arismendi, the commandant of Margarita, and 
 the enemy of Sir Ralph Woodford . The governor 
 of Trinidad hated all the insurgent chiefs, and 
 their cause. 
 
 Our voyage was pleasant : the next day I 
 was in the populous, but arid island of Mar- 
 garita.
 
 168 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " Avansar, avansar, companeros ! 
 
 Con los armas al numbro avansar ; 
 Libertad pora sempre clamenos ; 
 Libertad, libertad, libertad ! " 
 
 Patriot Song. 
 
 THE island of Margarita, considering its size and 
 want of fertility, possesses a dense population, 
 which is, perhaps, the most industrious and ener- 
 getic of any people that speak the Spanish lan- 
 guage. The Margaritans were more devoted to 
 the cause of freedom than the inhabitants of any 
 part of the adjacent continent : hence, this island 
 was repeatedly the last stronghold of South Ame- 
 rican freedom, wherein the defeated, but undaunted, 
 patriots retreated, and whence they sallied forth 
 to liberate the New World. 
 
 There being as yet no history of the South 
 American revolution, the following brief sketch 
 of it may not be unacceptable to the reader of 
 these memoirs. It may serve to give him such an
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 169 
 
 idea of this strangely neglected, but most im- 
 portant event, as a rough map, drawn by a pen, 
 without scale or compass, may give a man of the 
 general outlines of a country. 
 
 In the present advanced state of knowledge, 
 it is, perhaps, superfluous to remind the reader, 
 that whenever a colony gets too strong for the 
 parent state, she will shake off her dependence : 
 for, let a colony be however well governed, it 
 will still contain some discontented spirits some 
 disappointed men, who are ready to magnify 
 every trifling, real, or imaginary grievance, into 
 tyranny on the part of the parent state, But, so 
 extraordinarily misruled were the Spanish de- 
 pendencies, that, had not the bulk of the colonists 
 been the most loyal people that ever breathed, 
 they would have revolted a century ago. Every 
 article imported into the New World was made a 
 monopoly. In short, the whole Spanish colonial 
 system was one of monopoly, and of that sort of 
 tyranny which is founded on the ignorance of 
 those whom it oppresses ; and is, consequently, 
 opposed to permitting any political knowledge to 
 the people. In English "colonies, lying about 
 the same distance from the metropolis as those of 
 Spain from the Peninsula, the produce and manu- 
 facture of the parent state may, in general, be 
 bought in the wholesale at the rate of from 25 
 
 VOL. II. I
 
 1 70 WARNER ARUNDELL ! 
 
 to 60 per cent above their first cost ; but in 
 the Spanish Main, from this practice of mo- 
 nopoly, few goods, unless smuggled, could be 
 bought for less than 500 per cent above their 
 European price, and often 5000 per cent profit 
 on certain articles was exacted by the purchaser 
 of the monopoly. This state of things caused 
 discontent, and, as a matter of course, a wish 
 for independence. 
 
 Again, Spain, by a degree of infatuation to 
 which history can scarcely find a parallel, en- 
 couraged the North Americans to throw off their 
 dependence on England, on account of a dispute 
 about a trifling duty on tea and stamps, while 
 she herself was exercising the most cruel system 
 of taxation on her colonies ever recorded. Had 
 Washington not succeeded, Bolivar had remained 
 a mere amiable, but indolent Creole; and Paez, 
 a wild tamer of scarcely more wild cattle. What- 
 ever were the grievances of the insurgents of 
 North America, the conduct of the Bourbons of 
 France and Spain, in assisting the rebellious sub- 
 jects of England, was as foolish as it was wicked; 
 aud their folly and wickedness recoiled on their 
 own heads. The spark which set France in a 
 state of conflagration, wherein Louis XVI. lost 
 his crown and life, was brought by his subjects 
 from America. The King of Spain sent partisans
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 171 
 
 to liberate North America ; and, amongst these, 
 Miranda, the father of South American liberty, 
 learned the art of war, which he used to free his 
 oppressed land. 
 
 But the greatest cause of the South American 
 revolution was the shameful partiality shewn by 
 Spain to her native population, in preference to 
 her transatlantic subjects. A Spaniard quitted his 
 country with a barren title of nobility, and in some 
 provinces of the Peninsula all are noble : he came 
 to the New World, made a large fortune, which 
 his descendant, born in America, might inherit ; 
 yet was the latter considered as an inferior to the 
 parvenu who came out yesterday a penniless and 
 illiterate adventurer. The Spaniard was con- 
 sidered noble because he was a Cachupin.* South 
 America had her native aristocracy; but Spain 
 looked on them as a race inferior to her native 
 plebeians : hence, the Marquis del Toro, the Mar- 
 quis de Berroteran, Count Xavier, and the Mar- 
 quis de Casa Leon, were refused offices which 
 were trusted to clerks of Cadiz. 
 
 Although Spain attempted to keep her co- 
 lonists in utter ignorance, yet occasionally know- 
 
 * This word was taken from the Mexicans, who called white 
 men Cachopines. The Spaniards applied the term to any one of their 
 countrymen who settled in the New World during the war of inde- 
 pendence. The word Cachupin was used to designate a Royalist.
 
 172 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 ledge would find its way into South America. 
 She could not prevent them from paying occa- 
 sional visits to North America, where they be- 
 held a people, who had thrown off their depend- 
 ence on the mother country, without having a 
 millionth part of the complaint against England 
 which the southern division of America had 
 against Spain. 
 
 These, although not all, were the principal 
 causes which rendered South America the soil of 
 independence ; but England has the honour or 
 disgrace of sowing the seeds of revolt in this soil. 
 Spain, at the end of the last century, found her- 
 self unwillingly obliged to join France in a war 
 against England. Great Britain cast her eyes on 
 the colonies of Spain ; these she could not spare 
 an army to conquer, but she supposed she could 
 easily revolutionise. To do this, Spain had set 
 her the example. The year after war was de- 
 clared, Trinidad was taken an island, from ifs 
 situation, of great importance to further the plan 
 of aiding a revolt in South America : hence, 
 Dundas sent to Governor Picton orders to pro- 
 mote an insurrection on the Main.* These orders 
 the governor executed with such zeal, that Don 
 Jose Autolin del Campo, notary-public to the 
 
 * See Pictou's Proclamation, June 26, 1797.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 173 
 
 government of Margarita, offered, by proclama- 
 tion, a reward of 20,000 dollars for the head of 
 Don Thomaso Picton. To this proclamation the 
 governor humorously replied, by offering a reward 
 of 20 dollars for the head of Don Jose Antolin 
 del Campo. Truly, the head of the hero of 
 Badajos was worth a thousand times as much as 
 that of a Spanish escribano. 
 
 The result of these efforts to revolutionise 
 South America was a conspiracy by Gual, and 
 two other state prisoners, who were shut up in 
 La Guayra. This conspiracy was detected and 
 suppressed by the Spaniards. 
 
 All the time England was at war with Spain, 
 she encouraged the insurgents ; but, when the 
 latter was overrun by the French, the relation 
 of Great Britain towards South America became 
 changed : she could not aid her to throw off the 
 yoke of the mother country, and at the same 
 time preserve her faith with the imprisoned Fer- 
 dinand, whose cause she had espoused. She 
 could not, in policy, assist the royalists in Co- 
 lumbia, because it seemed more than probable that 
 Napoleon might eventually succeed in establish- 
 ing his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain : 
 hence England preserved a kind of wavering neu- 
 trality. This was hard on the insurgents, who 
 continually looked to Great Britain for assistance.
 
 174 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 All was now confusion in South America : the 
 enlightened part of the Creole population wished 
 for independence ; the Cachupins wished to remain 
 loyal, but knew not to whom to be loyal. Joseph 
 Buonaparte commanded them to obey him as 
 king ; the junta of Seville, the regency of 
 Madrid, and the junta of the Asturias, sent their 
 respective commands to America ; and each or- 
 dered the colonies to submit to and acknowledge 
 their authorities, and deny the authorities of the 
 others : while each important city in South Ame- 
 rica set up a little junta of its own. All this 
 time, Miranda was making progress in rendering 
 his native land independent. 
 
 This patriot was a native of Caraccas. He 
 had served in North America, where he formed 
 the plan of liberating his country. In further- 
 ance of this design, he entered into the French 
 army during the early part of the revolution. 
 Disgusted with the atrocities of the Reign of 
 Terror, from which he narrowly escaped, he for 
 years wandered about Europe, soliciting by turns 
 each power to aid his design. In 1806, he sailed 
 from North America with a small private ex- 
 pedition, and came to Trinidad, where he got 
 many recruits ; for, since the conquest of that 
 island by the British, it always afforded an asy- 
 lum to the discontented on the Main : hence
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 175 
 
 Miranda found there many men of desperate 
 fortune, not altogether unacquainted with the 
 smell of powder, because in Trinidad almost 
 every man is obliged to be in the militia ; and , 
 since the government of Picton, Trinidad has 
 possessed the most respectable militia in the 
 West Indies. 
 
 There can be little doubt that Miranda would 
 have finally succeeded in his many and perse- 
 vering attempts to give liberty to his country, but 
 for the occurrence of the earthquake in 1812, 
 which I witnessed. This event happening on 
 Holy Thursday, and on the anniversary of the 
 declaration of independence, the priests, who by 
 the new constitution were deprived of many 
 privileges, persuaded the mass of the people to 
 believe that the awful convulsion of nature was 
 a Divine visitation for their having thrown off' 
 their allegiance to Ferdinand. Miranda suffered 
 now considerable reverses ; and, after labouring 
 for thirty years for the deliverance of his natal 
 soil, he surrendered to the Spaniards, under a 
 promise of amnesty. This was violated, and he 
 died in prison at Cadiz. 
 
 Yet was not all lost to the patriots : still they 
 made head, and fought for years. Santiago 
 Marino brought an expedition from Trinidad, and 
 joined the great Simon Bolivar, who liberated
 
 176 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 and armed his slaves for the deliverance of his 
 country. 
 
 Jn 1815, Morillo arrived in Columbia, with 
 a well-appointed army often thousand men. He 
 was joined by all the Cachupins, by the Islanos 
 (Canary Island men), and by many of the loyal 
 Creoles. The cause of the patriots now looked 
 desperate : they possessed many a bold partisan 
 chief, but no soldier whose knowledge of tactics 
 could compete with the new Spanish com- 
 mander. He, however, committed one error, 
 or, more properly speaking, crime, which ruined 
 his cause. After his arrival in America he in- 
 formed his king that the only way to conquer 
 Venezuela was to exterminate two-thirds of its 
 inhabitants. His acts corresponded with his 
 atrocious advice, or rather exceeded it in atrocity. 
 It soon became evident that his aim was to 
 exterminate or reduce to ruin every man, woman, 
 and child, born in Columbia. 
 
 When weak insurrections arise in a state, the 
 government may, in policy, treat all the in- 
 surgents as rebels : when a rebellion is dangerous 
 from its strength, the first object of the govern- 
 ment should be its suppression, and, when that is 
 accomplished, the punishment of its chiefs : but 
 when the insurrection is so general that it is 
 doubtful if the state can conquer it, policy die-
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 177 
 
 tates that the horrors of civil war should be 
 alleviated by treating prisoners captured from the 
 insurgents in the same way as ordinary prisoners 
 of war are treated by civilised nations. Every 
 execution of an insurgent, while the insurrection 
 is unsuppressed, calls for retaliation; each act of 
 inhumanity engenders another sanguinary mea- 
 sure, and lessens the chances of conquest on the 
 part of the government, by making the rebels 
 desperate 'as most men would prefer dying in 
 the excitement of battle, wherein they can sell 
 their lives dear, to perishing by the hands of the 
 executioner. An army, like that of Morillo, 
 which attempts the conquest of a country by the 
 indiscriminate massacre of its inhabitants, places 
 itself in an awful dilemma : if it be defeated in its 
 object, the vengeance of the country will anni- 
 hilate it; if it succeed, it gains a dear triumph 
 over a land of desolation. 
 
 Until repeated disasters had endangered the 
 existence of his army, Morillo wished to be a 
 second Pizarro, but he had not a set of naked 
 Peruvians to slaughter. The atrocities of the 
 Spanish general disgusted the Americans, and 
 called forth retaliations; until acts of inhumanity, 
 at the recital of which nature shudders, became 
 common in both camps. Soldiers in war are, in 
 general, pitiless beings, despite the severest dis- 
 
 i 2
 
 178 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 cipline ; but the discipline of Morillo, Boves, 
 and Morales, commanded the indiscriminate 
 slaughter of the aged, the infirm, the mother, 
 and infant at her breast. This naturally caused 
 abhorrence to the Spanish name. Spain warred 
 on old men and women ; the aged and females 
 of Columbia warred on the Spanish murderer 
 in self-defence. While the Creoles were partly 
 Royalists, the war was doubtful : when the whole 
 of the South Americans joined against Morillo, 
 his army melted away like ice, imported from 
 Europe, exposed to a tropical sun ; and the 
 remains of the people of Columbia, reduced to 
 a sixth of their number, became independent. 
 Such is the brief outlines of the South American 
 war of independence. 
 
 The Spaniards never possessed any party in 
 Margarita. On their landing they sacked As- 
 sumpcion, the capital of the island : the men 
 fought while they could, and then retired to the 
 mountains. The aged, infirm, the women and 
 children, took refuge in the churches and con- 
 vents : here they were slaughtered by the Royal- 
 ists. I saw the blood of the murdered near the 
 altar of one of their churches ; Arismendi, the 
 patriot commander of Margarita, would not allow 
 it to be washed out. 
 
 " Behold," said he, " men of Margarita, the
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 179 
 
 church of your God stained by the murderous 
 Spaniards with the blood of your fathers, wives, 
 sisters, and infants ! Swear on the altar of the 
 eternal God, which the slaves of Ferdinand have 
 strewn with the gray hairs of age, and the tresses 
 of the maidens of this island swear on it to 
 avenge this outrage ! " 
 
 And the Margaritans swore vengeance against 
 the Royalists : well, too well, were their oaths 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Repeatedly the Spaniards landed at Mar- 
 garita to exterminate the inhabitants of this last 
 fortress of independence ; but as often they re- 
 treated, baffled, from this island, leaving one half 
 of their numbers to feed the vultures. These 
 attempts were so often repeated, and so uniformly 
 defeated, that the inhabitants used to hail, with 
 stern joy, the arrival of the Royalists in the Bay 
 of Parnpatar. Men, women, and children, would 
 exclaim, " Hurra! the Cachupin dogs come!" 
 Uttering an untranslatable oath, they would 
 retreat to the mountain of Macanon ; which 
 being covered with prickly pears, they could not 
 be pursued with success. From this height they 
 continually rushed down on the invaders, who 
 were allowed no rest night nor day ; until, from 
 the incessant attacks of the Margaritans, the 
 Spaniards retreated from the island, baffled and
 
 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 disgraced. A people resolved to be free cannot 
 be conquered. Morillo, and his ten thousand 
 men, were insufficient to subdue an island which 
 contained a surface of but thirty square leagues, 
 although the islanders were obliged to oppose 
 stones and clubs to his muskets and artillery. 
 
 When I landed, I was introduced, by the 
 captain of the vessel I sailed in, to Colonel Aris- 
 mendi, a man of middle age, whose straight and 
 glossy hair indicated that he was a mestezo, i.e. 
 of mingled Spanish and Indian blood. He re- 
 ceived my fellow-passengers and myself cordially, 
 and advised Trevallion, Britton, and two others, 
 to join Brion's fleet, at that time in the Oronoco. 
 This they agreed to, and that evening we took 
 leave, and they went on board a sloop. Glen- 
 lyon, the two Germans, three other passengers, 
 and myself, he proposed to send in a launch to 
 Cumana, in order to join a small party that were 
 going to cross the Sierra de Bergantia to join 
 Bolivar, who was about to make an attempt for 
 the relief of Maturin, which was closely invested 
 by the Royalists. We consented to this arrange- 
 ment, and Arismendi invited us to dine with 
 him. 
 
 We went with the commandant to his dwell- 
 ing. Passing a sentinel at his own door, Aris- 
 mendi asked the soldier for his cigar : the latter
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 18J 
 
 thought he wished it to light his own, and gave it 
 to the colonel ; but, perceiving the commandant 
 coolly put it in his mouth, smoke it, and enter 
 at the door, the sentinel followed his officer, 
 exclaiming, " Caramba !* commandant, you are 
 not going to steal my cigar!" 
 
 He spoke in anger; the commandant swore 
 at him ; and he returned the compliment with 
 compound interest. Arismendi told him he would 
 send him four other cigars, and walked into the 
 house. This was the first scene of republicanism 
 I beheld : it gave me a poor opinion of the dis- 
 cipline of the army I was about to join. 
 
 Trifles often indicate great political changes. 
 For three centuries the parrots of South America 
 were taught to speak a rough couplet, indicative 
 of the hatred between the Spaniards and Portu- 
 guese. It ran thus: 
 
 " Lorita real 
 For 1'Espana, no por la Portugal." 
 
 The parrots of Margarita were now taught to 
 say, " Lorita patriota por I' America, no por VEs- 
 pana." The heads of all the poor birds that 
 persisted in uttering the old cry were mercilessly 
 wrung off. 
 
 * An exclamation equivalent to ' indeed !'
 
 182 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 I slept that night at the quarters of Aris- 
 mendi. The next morning, an Independent 
 privateer, commanded by one Captain Griffiths, 
 entered the Bay of Pampatar. She brought a 
 Spanish brig, which she had captured ; and a 
 lady, whose arrival excited universal joy. 
 
 Some months previous to this, the command- 
 ant's second wife, a most beautiful woman, while 
 bathing at night, was captured by a party of 
 Morillo's army. About the same time her hus- 
 band attacked an advanced post of the Spaniards, 
 which he cut to pieces, save one Colonel Monter, 
 and about one hundred and fifty men, whom he 
 made prisoners. This colonel was one of the 
 most merciless of those concerned in the mas- 
 sacre in the church. Morillo knew his worth, 
 and sent a messenger to Arismendi to say that, 
 if Colonel Monter was spared, he would restore 
 the lady; if not, she should be slain. This threat 
 would have placed an ordinary patriot in a trying 
 situation, for the commandant was tenderly at- 
 tached to his wife ; yet, the blood of his slaugh- 
 tered countrymen called out for vengeance on the 
 infamous Monter. But Arismendi possessed the 
 stern feelings of a Spartan : on receiving the 
 message, he caused his own son to sever the 
 head from the body of the blood-thirsty colonel
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 183 
 
 before the messenger of Morillo, and sent him 
 back with a threat that, if his wife were slain, he 
 would hang up the hundred and fifty prisoners 
 he had captured. Nothing could exceed the rage 
 of Morillo at this : he ordered Arismendi's wife 
 to be killed ; but several officers, fearing the ven- 
 geance of the patriot, interceded for her. A 
 solitary act of humanity was now performed by 
 Morillo: he sent the lady prisoner to Cadiz, 
 whence she escaped a few days after in man's 
 attire, and got on board a Spanish ship bound 
 for the Havana : this was captured by a privateer 
 off the Azores, and th lady was brought safely, 
 by Captain Griffiths, to the arms of her hus- 
 band. 
 
 A general joy pervaded the island of Mar- 
 garita on the debarking of the lady. Nothing 
 was heard but " Viva lapatria!" " long live our 
 noble commandant and his lady!" She landed 
 under a salute of artillery. All the inhabitants 
 were mustered on the beach to receive her. A 
 car was procured, in which she was placed the 
 men dragging and the women strewing flowers 
 in her way ; while the aged and children in- 
 voked blessings on the beautiful wife of the pa- 
 triotic Arismendi. The car was dragged to the 
 house of the commandant, more than a league
 
 184 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 up the country ; after which she walked, in 
 solemn procession, to the church, the floor of 
 which was stained with the blood of the Marga- 
 ritans. She knelt, and returned thanks to the 
 Supreme Disposer of events, for her happy de- 
 liverance, while the solemn edifice was filled 
 with people, who joined in her devotion.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 185 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " Along the banks of Oronoc, 
 
 The voice of freedom 's heard at length ; 
 Thy Sambos, Maturin, are woke 
 
 With dauntless hearts, and arms of strength. 1 ' 
 
 Columbian Song of Liberty. 
 
 THE next morning I took leave of Arismendi, 
 and went on board a Patriot launch, with the 
 two Germans, Major Glenlyon, and three other 
 of my fellow-passengers of the Saucy Jack. The 
 commandant told us to be sure and keep our 
 fire-arms loaded, as the coast between Marga- 
 rita and Cumana was infested with Royalist 
 launches. 
 
 This advice we, fortunately, did not neglect. 
 We (that is, the late passengers of the Saucy 
 Jack on board the launch) elected the major as 
 our commander; and the patron of the launch, 
 a gigantic Sambo,* a sullen man, but brave 
 
 * A man of mixed Indian and negro race.
 
 186 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 and cool took charge of the rowers, and eight 
 volunteers, of mixed Indian and European race, 
 who were going with us to join the Republican 
 army. We were half the day pulling over to the 
 Main ; we then wound round the various points 
 of land, in a westward direction, towards Cu- 
 mana, until evening, and then anchored all 
 night. 
 
 The next morning we took up our wooden 
 anchor, and proceeded on our voyage ; the Sambo 
 patron cautioning us to keep our arms loaded. 
 This caution was not needless. As we ap- 
 proached a point of land, we heard, on the other 
 side, a voice exclaim, in Spanish, " Pull away, 
 my boys \" and a great number of men replied, 
 " Viva el Rey Fernando!" 
 
 " To arms!" exclaimed our patron, in a low 
 voice. 
 
 Instantly every musket we had was cocked, 
 and all our loaded pistols were in our belts. We 
 had fourteen muskets and two blunderbusses in 
 the boat, besides a number of pistols : we also 
 had a swivel in the bows of the launch, which 
 was loaded with musket-balls. The exclamation 
 of the Royalists gave us warning of their ap- 
 proach, ere we could see each other, .being on 
 different sides of a projecting tongue of land. 
 This circumstance allowed us a precious minute
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 187 
 
 for preparation, which we failed not to improve. 
 We rowed to the point, and ran into the man- 
 grove-branches, which skirted the shore and 
 hung over into the sea. The rowers took in 
 their oars and seized their arms. This was not 
 done a moment before it was necessary, for a 
 large launch, having twice our numbers, shot 
 round the point ; and the first notice they re- 
 ceived from us was a discharge of great and 
 small arms. One of the Germans levelled and 
 fired the swivel with murderous precision, using 
 a spark from his meerschaum for the latter pur- 
 pose. 
 
 The great arms being discharged, we did 
 not remain to load again ; the Sambo ran us on 
 board ere they had time to recover from their 
 surprise or fire a single gun at us. Our pistols 
 completed the confusion : a shot from one of 
 mine laid low one of their rowers. Major Glen- 
 loyn reserved the fire of one of the blunderbusses, 
 which he now discharged at the Royalist patron, 
 a white man. He killed him, and wounded an- 
 other. Several of the Cachupins jumped into the 
 sea. We boarded a brief struggle took place 
 and the launch was ours. I regret to say, 
 that one of the Germans and Major Glenlyon 
 were killed in boarding. Besides these, we
 
 188 WARNER ARUN DELL : 
 
 had two rowers and three Margaritans badly 
 wounded. 
 
 I am sorry to say, that, after the capture of 
 the launch, our patron made his people fire on 
 the wretches whom we had driven overboard. 
 Few of these escaped. 
 
 The prize was valuable on account of its 
 freight, being loaded with arms and salt. She 
 had belonged to the patron, a European, who 
 had a plantation of indigo, near Barcelona ; and 
 the crew were his own negro slaves. This cap- 
 ture was mainly owing to their exclamation of 
 " Ramos muchachos ! Viva el Rey Fernando!" 
 which caused us to surprise them. 
 
 Four of the poor negroes were allowed 
 quarter, by the intercession of the passengers, on 
 condition that they would volunteer to join the 
 Patriots, and help to row the prize. All the 
 Margaritans lent their aid to do this ; and in 
 the evening we arrived, without accident, at 
 Cumana. Poor Major Glenlyon, after escaping 
 twenty glorious campaigns, was killed capturing 
 a miserable launch; and Miiller, the German, 
 who expected to die a Columbian general, was 
 slain before he reached the Patriot army. 
 
 As we entered the Gulf of Cariaco, we ad- 
 mired the magnificent scenery, the noble harbour,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OP A CREOLE. 189 
 
 the beach, on which vegetated gigantic specimens 
 of cocoa-trees. Date, and other palm-trees, raised 
 their elegant forms, and mingled their graceful 
 fronds amid the dark and thick foliage of the 
 tamarind. The tall flamingo flew about the coast, 
 while the winged jackals of the south, the gali- 
 nazo, vulture, or turkey-buzzard, hovered above 
 for prey. War, horrid war, had too well fed 
 these gloomy birds. 
 
 We landed, and were hailed with joy, in con- 
 sequence of our capture. Colonel Rocio was the 
 commandant ad interim, and he made us as wel- 
 come as his confined means would admit. Aris- 
 mendi had given me a note of introduction to 
 him, and this procured rne tolerable quarters. 
 The town of Cumana, before the revolution, had 
 20,000 inhabitants ; but scarcely 500 were now 
 in it. I slept in a cotton hammock ; and the 
 next day, after partaking of an early breakfast, 
 we set out on our journey across the country, to 
 the Guaripichi. We were eighteen in number, 
 including two guides : I had three mules, one to 
 carry myself, and two others formy baggage. It was 
 night before we reached the foot of the Brigenteen 
 mountains, which is a spur of the great range of 
 the Andes. Here we encamped under an ajoupa, 
 or hut of palm-leaves, erected by ourselves. We 
 all slept in hammocks carried for the occasion.
 
 190 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 The next day we commenced scaling the 
 Sierras Brigantia a task attended with both 
 difficulty and danger, owing to the abrupt and 
 stupendous rocks, dried channels of torrents, and 
 chasms rent by earthquakes. I never could have 
 supposed that laden animals could achieve the 
 passage across such gaps as our mules passed ; but 
 we arrived, without accident, on the banks of the 
 Guaripichi, five days after we set out, although 
 the actual distance, in a direct line, is scarcely 
 thirty leagues so laborious is the passage of the 
 Brigenteen mountain. 
 
 I arrived, in good health and spirits, at the 
 quarters of General Bolivar, who had joined the 
 division of the army intended for the relief or 
 recapture of Maturin. I sent to that celebrated 
 man the letter of introduction which Fernandez 
 gave me, and was immediately conducted by his 
 nephew, who was his secretary, into his pre- 
 sence. He received me with great joy, telling 
 me that his army was much in want of gentle- 
 men of my profession. He inquired if I had a 
 tolerable set of instruments ; I satisfied him in 
 this respect. He sent for them to inspect them, 
 and expressed himself well pleased ; insomuch 
 that he kept me in conversation half the night, 
 making me sling my hammock in his ajoupa 
 which, however, differed in no respect from that of
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 191 
 
 the poorest soldier until, worn out with fatigue, 
 I ceased to answer his questions, being hindered 
 from continuing the conversation by sleep. 
 
 I must now describe this great libratador. He 
 was a middle-sized spare man. with a fine aqui- 
 line set of features, and a capacious forehead. This, 
 much mental and corporeal labour had already 
 marked with furrows, and had commenced to 
 turn his raven locks gray, although, at this 
 period, he was scarcely thirty-two years of age. 
 His eye was at once mild and penetrating; his 
 voice was remarkably mellow ; he spoke English 
 fluently, although with a foreign accent ; but his 
 pronunciation of Castilian was perfect music. 
 He generally expressed himself in good language ; 
 but his discourse was rather too figurative for 
 ordinary conversation, save when he confined 
 himself to asking questions, which he would do 
 for hours together. 
 
 From what I heard and saw of this great 
 man, I believe his military genius was not of the 
 highest order. All the good he did as a warrior 
 was caused by his undaunted perseverance, his 
 indefatigable activity, and the confidence he in- 
 spired by his disinterested patriotism. By freeing 
 and arming his immense number of slaves, he 
 performed an act of real devotion to the cause of 
 freedom a parallel to which we may look for
 
 192 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 in vain in the history of the North American 
 war of independence. Before the revolution he 
 had a princely fortune. He, during years, com- 
 manded the armies, established the liberty, and 
 swayed the destiny, of his country ; and he died 
 poor, although he neither was extravagant nor 
 luxurious. These are facts which will be told of 
 him by History, which can shew no greater patriot 
 in her records than Simon Bolivar. 
 
 I next was introduced to the redoubtable Sir 
 Gregor M'Gregor. In England he is principally 
 known as the author of the Poyais scheme ; here, 
 he was spoken of as the hero of twenty battles. 
 He was a dark-haired powerful man ; and, with 
 the exception of Paez, one of the most terrible 
 men for acts of personal bravery in the Republi- 
 can service. He had two faults, which were the 
 cause of all his misery and degradation : the-first 
 was, an immoderate thirst ; and the second was, 
 an aversion to water. 
 
 Having mentioned Paez, I must say a word 
 or two of him. He is stated to be a mulatto, 
 but, judging from his appearance, I should pro- 
 nounce him of that mixed race of Spanish, In- 
 dian, and negro blood, which resembles the class 
 in South America called Peons. At the begin- 
 ning of the long war of independence, he was 
 a mere Llanaro (Anglice, man of the plains), a
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. J 93 
 
 keeper or hunter of wild cattle on the great 
 savannas. He is a man not of extraordinary 
 stature, but yet one of matchless strength and 
 activity. By a dexterity peculiar to South Ame- 
 ricans, he could throw down the fiercest bull that 
 ever bellowed on the plains ; his feats of horse- 
 manship would astonish an Arab ; he soon be- 
 came distinguished above his comrades for acts 
 of daring, insomuch that he was the terror of the 
 Spaniards. No man, since the days of Samson, 
 ever slew so many as Paez (always excepting 
 those who kill by patent medicine). Yet, with all, 
 this Paez was a mere savage ; he knew nothing 
 of the theory of war; all he could do was to 
 slaughter, and excite others to slay by mere 
 personal example. He would fight until he fell 
 from his horse in a state of exhaustion, and go 
 into a kind of hysteric, which was peculiar to 
 him ; when, his friends conceiving it dangerous 
 to touch him, he was left to foam and struggle 
 during the paroxysm. His accomplishments con- 
 sisted in being able to speak Spanish, with the 
 slight corruption which that language has suf- 
 fered in South America ; he could say, by rote, 
 the Paternoster, and utter a few oaths in broken 
 English. 
 
 Behold the effects of education ! An English 
 officer, on whom Paez doted, with that real friend- 
 
 VOL. II. K.
 
 194 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 ship which fears not to tell unpleasant truths, 
 informed Paoz that he was, with all his bravery, 
 a mere barbarian, and that he would remain one 
 until civilised by letters, when he would become 
 a truly great man. Amid the privations, toils, 
 and alarms, of a terrible war of extermination, 
 did Paez, under the direction of his English 
 friend, learn the alphabet. Middle-aged as he 
 was, he acquired knowledge with extraordinary 
 rapidity ; and he is now a man of respectable 
 attainments. He has been president of Colum- 
 bia; which situation he has filled with honour 
 to himself, and advantage to his country. He 
 writes his own despatches, but his secretary cor- 
 rects a word or two here and there ; he speaks 
 to the congress fluently, sensibly, and, at times, 
 eloquently. In short, Jose Antonio Paez, who, 
 but a few years ago, was a mere ferocious par- 
 tisan, is now a politician and an accomplished 
 statesman. Twice has his moderation and pa- 
 triotism saved Columbia from the horrors of a 
 civil war. 
 
 I also became acquainted with Santiago Ma- 
 rino, who was, perhaps, the best stratagist in 
 the Columbian service. His capture of Gueria 
 with a handful of men from Trinidad his de- 
 stroying a whole division of the Spanish army, 
 by manoeuvring to get to windward of them,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 195 
 
 and then setting fire to the savanna might do 
 honour to a better soldier than was supposed 
 to have been engaged in this war. But he was 
 haunted by a demon, which often besets the 
 South American Creole: that fiend is gaming. 
 We marched up the Guaripichi, along the 
 magnificent savanna which spreads from the 
 Oronoco to the Brigenteen mountains. Far as 
 the eye could reach, one immense and apparently 
 boundless plain extended until it was lost in the 
 horizon : all around, the verdure of pasture 
 melted into the circling ether, presenting to the 
 eye the vastness of the ocean, without its mono- 
 tony. Here and there a river wound through 
 this vast savanna, whose meanders might be 
 traced by the forests which flanked its banks ; 
 while in other places arose groves of the gigantic 
 trees of the tropics, which, in the distance, shew- 
 ed like green islands elevated out of the ocean 
 like pasture. Flocks of wild horses, although 
 thinned by the war, were yet visible, each troop 
 under the command of two or three noble stal- 
 lions. But the mares outnumbered the males, 
 by one hundred to one ; for the latter are so 
 vicious as to destroy all the rivals they can 
 master. Most of the females were followed by a 
 beautiful foal or two. All the flocks were of one 
 colour, a brown bay : they approached our out-
 
 196 WARNER A.RUNDELL : 
 
 posts, gazed wildly at us, sniffed the air; and, 
 at the neigh of one of their commanders, they set 
 off at full gallop, occasionally flinging their hind 
 heels in the air, as if in defiance of us. We also 
 met several immense herds of wild deer, sporting 
 over the glorious plains. Here was a beautiful 
 country! Providence intended it as a paradise 
 man made it a hell ! 
 
 We approached Maturin. The siege was 
 abandoned, and the garrison made an unsuccess- 
 ful sortie on the retreating Royalists. But, al- 
 though the people of Maturin were beaten back 
 into the town and half- dismantled fort, they 
 aided Bolivar ; and, but for this sally, the 
 Spaniards would -have effected their retreat in 
 good order, without coming to an engagement. 
 Finding they could not do this, they formed in 
 line as the patriots advanced, and a distant can- 
 nonading commenced as the two divisions ap- 
 proached. 
 
 I was on horseback on a little eminence, so 
 that I was enabled to command a view of the 
 affair. Both parties were formed in one line, 
 without having any reserve. We had eight small 
 pieces, the enemy seven ; but theirs were of 
 larger calibre. In this affair, as well as most of 
 the engagements that happened, until the last 
 year or two of the war, ammunition was scarce.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 197 
 
 We had the numerical advantage in cavalry ; but 
 the Spanish troops were rather better armed. 
 Both cavalries were mounted on native horses. 
 In general the Spanish troops used the sabre, and 
 the Creole the lance. 
 
 I saw the two lines flanked by their respective 
 cavalry, slowly advancing, cannonading each 
 other. Three of our pieces were well served by 
 English gunners, and they produced a visible 
 effect on the enemy's line ; the other four were 
 worked by Creoles, and their fire was a waste of 
 ammunition. The Spanish guns produced little 
 better effect on our line. As they advanced 
 within musket-shot of us, I could perceive a body 
 of Maturinans sally forth cautiously in their rear, 
 to take advantage of any disaster that might 
 happen to the Royalists. This obliged the latter 
 to despatch a part of their cavalry to keep them 
 in check, or they would have been attacked in 
 the rear. Both parties halted within about one 
 hundred and thirty yards of each other, as if by 
 mutual consent, and each line fired a volley of 
 musketry. I saw the flash, and clouds of smoke 
 of both lines, and perceived men fall on either 
 side. Before I heard the reports, they again 
 loaded, and, at double-quick time, advanced, 
 halted within twenty yards, and again each party 
 discharged an irregular, but well-directed volley.
 
 198 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 Before the smoke blew off, both lines rushed 
 together, both were broken and mingled, and all 
 were fighting with the naked steel ; the Spaniards 
 using the awkward bayonet,* the Creoles, the 
 less warlike, but more dexterous matcheti, having 
 flung away their muskets. The cavalry, on both 
 sides, engaged with mutual slaughter, but with- 
 out producing any decided effect. The infantry 
 displayed little discipline ; but no soldiers could 
 fight with more fury, or rather animosity. The 
 general rnelte of infantry lasted about ten minutes. 
 The Royalists gave way ; but, their cavalry coming 
 to their relief, the insurgents could not pursue 
 them, although they remained masters of the 
 field. Again, our troop charged the Spanish 
 horse with little success : however, this charge 
 enabled our line to re-form and re-arm itself with 
 the muskets which they had discarded while the 
 enemy retreated behind its cavalry ; and, by a 
 rather confused attempt at an echellon movement, 
 gained a wood a little to the left. The insurgents 
 had captured two guns. 
 
 Again the Patriots advanced, apparently to 
 dislodge the Royalists from the wood ; but, on 
 receiving and returning an irregular fire, they 
 
 * In the line the bayonet is a tremendous weapon ; but it is an 
 awkward instrument in a single combat, being purely offensive, 
 and very unwieldy.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 199 
 
 seemed to be thrown into confusion, and formed 
 behind their cavalry. The Royalist horse now 
 charged ours, and were repulsed ; when a cry of 
 " Viva la patria!" was heard in the woods, which 
 made the Spanish dragoons retreat in great dis- 
 order, followed by the insurgent cavalry. The 
 fact was, on the appearance of the partisans from 
 Maturin, the brave Paez, at the head of his 
 mounted guerillas, made a long detour, in order 
 to join them, unperceived by the enemy. This 
 junction he could not effect ; but he got into the 
 small wood, where he dismounted his troops, 
 until he perceived the Spaniards take up a posi- 
 tion at its entrance. He now mounted, and made 
 one of his furious charges on the enemy. The 
 Spaniards were taken by surprise ; and, before 
 their own cavalry could come to their relief, they 
 had fled in all directions. They were followed by 
 Paez, who cut down great numbers of them. 
 Some attempted to seek refuge in the town, 
 but the Maturinans formed beyond the suburbs, 
 and cut them to pieces. Five of the Spanish 
 guns were captured, and the greatest part of 
 the baggage fell into our hands. The Pa- 
 triots, headed by Paez, pursued the enemy until 
 night. 
 
 This affair decided the fate of Maturin. We 
 entered it as victors, or rather as deliverers. It
 
 200 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 had long been defended by its inhabitants, but 
 was on the point of yielding when Bolivar ar- 
 rived with relief. A body of women had fought 
 in one of the forts, hence called " Elfortizulo de 
 las doncellas the little fort of the maidens." 
 Amongst these Amazons there were many young 
 and beautiful, who fought to defend their virtue 
 and their lives ; for no mercy could be expected 
 by women from the Spaniards, had they taken 
 this patriotic town. 
 
 A circumstance occurred during this engage- 
 ment which made a strong impression on my 
 mind. I have already stated that I was on 
 a little eminence which commanded a view of 
 the engagement. Several women, whose homes 
 had been destroyed, and whose only resource was 
 to follow thec amp, stood beside me. When the 
 first discharge of musketry took place, I heard a 
 woman, of mixed European and Indian race, 
 called Mestija,* exclaim, 
 
 " He has fallen! Jose, my son, my first- 
 born, is down ! " 
 
 At the second discharge she shrieked 
 again, 
 
 " Oh, God! I am childless! My poor boy, 
 Francisco, is slain ! The curses of the widow on 
 
 * Feminine of Mestijo.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 201 
 
 the Cachupins ! My house is destroyed ; my 
 husband was murdered in his hammock; and 
 now, my two boys, whom I blessed, and bade 
 go forth and revenge their father's death, have 
 both fallen ! Holiest mother of Heaven, I am 
 now a friendless outcast !" 
 
 She wiped her eyes with her black and 
 dishevelled locks. When she again looked up, 
 and beheld the Spanish and Creole lines mixed, 
 she shouted as loud as though she wished to 
 be heard by her countrymen, 
 
 " Fight on, brave patriots! fight for ven- 
 geance ! fight to revenge Maria Gonzales, whom 
 the Spaniards have robbed of house, home, hus- 
 band, and children ! The execration of the 
 houseless wretch, the malediction of the widow 
 of a murdered man, the curse of the childless 
 mother, on the dastard who turns his back on 
 the bloodhound slaves of Ferdinand !" 
 
 How this woman could perceive her sons fall 
 (for fall they both did) is to me astonishing, con- 
 sidering the distance she was from the lines, and 
 the confusion and smoke which existed. I can- 
 not suppose she merely guessed these events ; 
 and yet it seems all but impossible that the 
 human vision, quickened as it was by the love of 
 a mother for her sons, could have discerned the 
 
 K2
 
 202 WARXER ARUNDELL : 
 
 fall of two particular men, at such a distance, 
 and under such circumstances. 
 
 At night, I was going over the field to render 
 what professional assistance I could to the 
 groaning wounded. The full moon had risen 
 over the little wood near the field of battle, on 
 the branches of which perched a thousand vul- 
 tures, in order to be ready for their hor- 
 rid breakfast the next day. Again I per- 
 ceived the wretched Maria Gonzales, crouching, 
 in a manner peculiar to people of the New 
 World, her thighs doubled, as it were, on the 
 calves of her legs, and the whole weight of her 
 frame supported on her heels. She held up the 
 body of one of her sons who was slain, while her 
 head drooped over the shoulder of the corpse. 
 
 Touched with this pitiable sight, I held a 
 lantern that I carried to see if there was yet 
 hopes of recovering him ; but he was dead. The 
 poor mother looked up, with utter despair, and 
 said, 
 
 " He is dead! My brave boys, my poor 
 children, must feed the vultures ! " 
 
 A groan near us startled the Mestija : she 
 shot a glance around, and, perceiving it carne 
 from a wounded Spaniard, she started on her 
 feet, exclaiming,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 203 
 
 " The curse of the widow on you and your 
 country ! " 
 
 She caught up a part of a broken musket, 
 and, with one vengeful blow, put the Spaniard 
 beyond his misery.
 
 204 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 % 
 
 " We are but warriors for a working-day : 
 Our gayness and our guilt are all besmerched 
 With rainy marching in the painful field. 
 * * * * 
 
 And time bath worn us into slovenry." 
 
 SHAKSHEARE. 
 
 I WAS now fairly embarked in the cause of South 
 America. I led a wandering life, generally seven 
 or eight hours a-day on horseback ; and the rest 
 of my time was chiefly employed in the arduous 
 duties of my profession. My quarters were in 
 the forests which border the Oronoco, in the 
 great plains of Guiana, the mountains which 
 branch off the main chain of the Andes, and 
 terminate on the shores of the Carribean Sea, or 
 on the rich savannas of Varennes ; watered by 
 the Apure, the Arauca, the Meta, and a hun- 
 dred other rivers, which, although noble streams, 
 are mere tributaries to the monarch - flood the 
 Oronoco. 
 
 Often, in the unrecorded skirmishes and
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 205 
 
 battles which took place in 1817 and 1818, 
 in Columbia, was I obliged to join in the fight 
 in self-defence : sometimes when the party to 
 which I was attached was attempted to be sur- 
 prised ; and often have I acted as a volunteer. 
 
 These affairs were too numerous, and had 
 too much sameness, and, I regret being obliged 
 to add, were marked by too many deeds of 
 horror, forme to relate. I cannot reflect on the 
 scenes through which I passed at this period of 
 my life with pleasure, nor can I describe them 
 without pain. I shall, therefore, spare the reader, 
 as well as myself, the misery of the recital; but 
 will merely give a slight sketch of the insurgent 
 army. 
 
 Nothing could be more picturesque than the 
 appearance of the Columbian troops; and, in one 
 sense, nothing less military. The men were 
 dressed in all the various habiliments of the 
 English, French, and Spanish armies ; and many 
 had the undress of the aboriginal Indians. One 
 would have a British artilleryman's coat, orna- 
 mented with French worsted epaulettes ; a Span- 
 ish sash, a cavalry helmet, and blue Pennistown 
 trousers, such as are worn by the negroes in the 
 West Indies. Another would wear a blue sur- 
 tout, minus collar and skirts ; an old staff cocked-
 
 206 WARNER ARUNDELL I 
 
 hat, which bore the marks of former splendour 
 the tarnished gilt lace seemed 
 
 " The poor remains of beauty once admired ; " 
 
 while his lower man bore no other habiliment 
 than the Indian guiacou* 
 
 Their arms were as various as their uniforms, 
 if uniforms they could be called that uniform 
 were not. We had muskets of all European 
 nations, musketoons, rifles, fowling-pieces, cara- 
 bines, and blunderbusses ; Indian bows and ar- 
 rows of all sizes, from the six-feet bow of the 
 Caraibe to the two-feet bow of the Choca Indian. 
 The latter generally was used to shoot poisoned 
 arrows, matchetis, and even hard wood. Indian 
 clubs were often resorted to ; and I have seen 
 men, armed with these sharp and heavy clubs, 
 do terrible execution in close encounters. The 
 colour of our soldiers included all complexions 
 and intermixture of European, Indian, and 
 African races. The most effective troops of the 
 Patriots were their cavalry, mounted on the hardy 
 horses of the Savanna. They were generally 
 furnished with matchetis, and sometimes with 
 
 * A piece of cloth or leather, of about four inches by seven 
 in extent, ornamented with beads, &c. The guiacou is the full 
 dress of the South American Indian.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A. CREOLE. 207 
 
 sabres. Pistols were often given to the troops, 
 but seldom carried, and seldomer used. Their 
 favourite weapon was a lance of about eight feet 
 in length : this was handled in various ways ; 
 sometimes with one hand, but often with both. 
 It was but rarely thrown.* Some had carabines, 
 but the South American cavalry preferred the 
 blunderbuss to all kinds of fire-arms. This they 
 used to load with slugs. 
 
 The dresses of the savanna cavalry were truly 
 of primitive cut, consisting in general of what 
 they called a poncho ; i.e. a blanket, with a hole 
 in the middle through which the head was ad- 
 mitted : this was tied round the middle with a 
 lazolian, or wild vine. Some of these ponchos 
 were more elegant, being made of coarse blue 
 cloth, and lined with red or yellow flannel, while 
 some of the chiefs indulged in the luxury of 
 drawers and check shirts. During the heat of 
 the day, these ponchos were taken off, and placed 
 between the saddle and the rider, and at night 
 they did duty for blankets. Their saddles were 
 of wood, made in the Spanish fashion, high be- 
 
 * Morillo was dangerously wounded with a lance, thrown at 
 him while he V\T,S in the centre of a hollow square. So dexterous 
 were the Patriots in the use of the lance, that the Spaniards 
 used to say, " Por una lanza una bala" (a lance can only be op- 
 posud by a ball.)
 
 208 WARNER ARUNDELL t 
 
 hind and before, such as we see in the old Cas- 
 tilian editions of * Don Quixote ; ' they were, 
 however, covered with the undressed hides of 
 the savanna cattle. Their reins were of the 
 same materials ; but they had bits of such power, 
 that, with ease, they could stop their half broke- 
 in horses amid their most furious career, and 
 throw the animals back on their haunches. A 
 chinchorin, or net- work hammock, made of the 
 bark of certain trees, and a parcel of tasajo 
 (smoked beef), were generally fastened behind 
 the saddle. Such was the appearance of these 
 Tartars of the savanna. As regular troops, they 
 could not have stood against European cavalry ; 
 but as partisans, the Spaniards, to their cost, found 
 them truly terrific. 
 
 Of the British auxiliaries of this period, 1 
 regret that, in general, I cannot speak favourably. 
 They were too much like the passengers of the 
 Saucy Jack, and were perpetually complaining of 
 the inconveniencies of their stations. Most were 
 professed gamblers ; and in no situation could that 
 interesting class of English (the gamblers) be 
 placed, in which they had greater scope to in- 
 dulge their amiable peculiarities, than in the 
 insurgent army. 
 
 Most of them had come to Columbia in full 
 expectation of finding it a land, not of milk and
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 209 
 
 honey, but of gold and silver; where there would 
 be little fighting, much pay, and immense plun- 
 der. They found hard fare, hard fighting, no 
 pay, and but little plunder. They seemed not 
 displeased at the continued recurrence of hard 
 blows ; on the contrary, as if the enemy did not 
 afford them enough, they were perpetually ex- 
 ercising their pugnacious propensities upon each 
 other. 
 
 Exceptions must be made to the above sweep- 
 ing censure. When, at a later period, so many 
 British joined the Patriots that they were en- 
 abled to act in a body, they shewed the Spaniards 
 the mettle of their pasture. When the British 
 legion was acting, not as mere partisans, but in 
 pitched battles, it was the terror of the Spaniards. 
 The division of Colonel Farrier, in 1821, at 
 Caribobo, retrieved the day, and fully proved 
 that they were of the same materials which 
 formed the squares of infantry at Waterloo, 
 against which the cavalry of France spent their 
 fury in vain. 
 
 But in 1817, many of the Patriots were so 
 annoyed by the reiterated complaints, and per- 
 petual duels of the British, that they used to say, 
 all the English were good for, was to fight 
 amongst themselves. However, Paez, no bad 
 judge of the qualities of warriors, was of an 
 opposite opinion. He became so attached to the
 
 210 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 British, that, for months together, the English 
 language was the only one which he would 
 condescend to curse and swear in. He would 
 shout, while leading on his Llanaros, " Avancar, 
 muchacos ! God dim my eye ! Mueron los Ca- 
 chupinos ; the bloody devils !" &c. &c. 
 
 When he uttered these and similar expres- 
 sions in battle, Heaven might have mercy on the 
 souls of the Spaniards which came within reach 
 of his lance or sabre, for Jose Antonio Paez had 
 none on their bodies. 
 
 The want of a commissariat was severely felt 
 by the insurgents. Owing to unnecessary waste 
 at one period, for weeks together we were con- 
 strained to live on smoked and fresh beef, without 
 a particle of salt, bread, or vegetable food. I 
 remember once, on the Upper Oronoco, &, mufe- 
 teer arrived in our camp with two anim^l^.loaded 
 with bags of salt : every handful re" this was 
 literally sold for an ounce of. gold, or a pound 
 weight of silver. A doubloon, or sixteen dollars, 
 was actually paid for the privilege of dipping tfoe 
 hand into one of the bags of salt and taking out 
 as much as the hand could contain. After the 
 rapid and advantageous sale of his condiment^ 
 the muleteer commenced drinking gurapo,* and 
 
 * A fermented liquor, often made of cane-juice and pine- 
 apples.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 21 1 
 
 gambling with some Sambos and negroes ; until, 
 heated with drink and gaming, the party fell to 
 quarrelling, and he was killed that night with a 
 poniard. There was no coroner's inquest held 
 on his body, nor any judicial inquiry made as to 
 what became of his doubloons and dollars. 
 
 After a time, we became somewhat reconciled 
 to our carnivorous mode of living ; but the priva- 
 tions of our army were often extreme. I recol- 
 lect once making a long march, in the height of 
 the dry season, across the savanna, near Tabasco. 
 We were dreadfully in want of water, until we 
 "ffpproaehed a clear spring of this necessary ele- 
 ment Impelled by thirst, we hurried towards 
 the water, when, to our vexation, we perceived a 
 party of the enemy making towards the spring in 
 an opposite direction. We had with us a number 
 of women and children ; but the passion for drink 
 (for appetite it was not) overcame the fear of 
 death. The women and children rushed before 
 us, while the men prepared for battle. The 
 former approached the spring, while the Span- 
 iards fired on those famishing and defenceless 
 creatures. We returned their compliment. After 
 a few random shots, by which several poor females 
 and two children fell, the ammunition of both 
 parties were expended : we mutually rushed for- 
 ward, and met at the spring. Here a deadly
 
 212 WARNER ARUNDELL I 
 
 struggle took place, in which I mixed, and was 
 fortunate enough to cut down the commanding 
 officer of the Spanish party: yet, while the men 
 fought, the children ran between their legs, and 
 took hasty draughts of water with their little 
 hands. I even observed that some of the Patriots 
 stooped, and, while with their right hands they 
 warded off the blows of the enemy, they employed 
 their left in dipping them in the stream^ and moist- 
 ening their parched lips. At length the enemy, 
 fewer in numbers than we, and, perhaps, less 
 under the influence of unsupportable thirst, were 
 beaten and driven from this Esek, or spring of 
 contention. I was now about to drink, but 
 turned from the water with loathing, on account 
 of its bearing the guilty colour of the late affray ; 
 but the women drank, exclaiming, " JEsta dulce 
 con la sangrc del enemigo"* I relate this anec- 
 dote not through a love of the horrible, but be- 
 cause it may give those who love to sit quietly, 
 surrounded by the comforts of happy peaceable 
 England, and read of battles, some idea of the 
 war of independence. The rancorous feelings of 
 the belligerents made it truly a guerra a muerta 
 war to the death. 
 
 Our stock of medicines was soon exhausted. 
 
 ' It is sweet with the blood of the enemy.'
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 213 
 
 This was of less consequence in South America 
 than, perhaps, it would have been in any other 
 country, on account of the abundance of vegetable 
 medicines which that country produces. But little 
 of my attention was taken up as a physician : 
 most of my professional labour was required for 
 the cure of the wounded. Contrary to the prac- 
 tice of most military surgeons, I found the num- 
 ber of gun-shot wounds bore no proportion to 
 those inflicted by steel. This could be accounted 
 for by the scarcity of ammunition to which I 
 before alluded, and which gave this war of exter- 
 mination a peculiar character. 
 
 On one occasion, while I was dressing the 
 wounded at the house of a desolated cocoa estate 
 at Curupano, 1 remarked that the few gun-shot 
 wounds I was treating turned out much worse 
 than I had reason, from their nature, to antici- 
 pate ; hence, I began to suspect that the bullets 
 with which those wounds were inflicted, were 
 poisoned. I told my suspicion to a Sambo co- 
 lonel, who was standing near me. He asked 
 me if I thought the poison used on this occasion 
 was the Indian bane. I replied, I supposed not, 
 because that poison caused death a few minutes 
 after it mingled with the blood ; while the poison 
 that I suspected was used, only aggravated the 
 wound, and rendered it more dangerous, although
 
 214 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 I could not say how much the effects of the 
 Indian poison might be modified by the heat 
 which the lead acquired in being discharged. 
 On the whole, judging from the appearance of 
 some bullets I had extracted, and wounds I dress- 
 ed, I judged that it was mineral poison which 
 the enemy used. 
 
 " Can you not poison our bullets, senor doc- 
 tor?" said the Sambo. 
 
 I replied, that it was my duty to heal, and not 
 to poison. 
 
 " And yet," replied the colonel, " I have 
 seen that you can kill as well as cure. You 
 possess the character of a troublesome fellow to 
 the Cachupins with your pistols. I myself saw 
 you bring down two in one day on the Apure." 
 
 " But, senor," I rejoined, " I acted, in the 
 excitement of battle, as a volunteer and a 
 soldier. I cannot abuse my art as- a surgeon 
 which is one of humanity by turning poisoner." 
 
 The Sambo could not understand my reason- 
 ing. He said, that he. thought it no worse to 
 destroy an enemy by poison than . by steel or 
 gunpowder, after the enemy had set us so bad 
 an example as to have recourse'to so dastardly a 
 
 ~' * 
 
 method. He declared his ^determinatioif&f steep 
 all' the balls used by the regiment in curari, or 
 Indian poison. I believe he kept his word.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 215 
 
 This Sambo was the famous, and, subsequent- 
 ly, the infamous Castillo, who, many years pos- 
 terior to this, attempted a counter-revolution 
 in Columbia. 
 
 The hatred evinced by the South Americans 
 to priests was surprising, considering' they are 
 so superstitious that they lately, in one province, 
 anathematised and excommunicated the mos- 
 quitoes; but it was easily accounted for, by re- 
 collecting that the priests were all determined 
 and, most of them, sanguinary Royalists. Many 
 of them, not satisfied with preaching against the 
 revolution, took up arms and furiously fought for 
 Ferdinand. Seldom were they known to shew 
 or entreat for mercy to a prisoner ; and, on the 
 other hand, when any of those warrior priests 
 fell into the hands of the insurgents, they wer 
 butchered without mercy. 
 
 An Andalusian Capuchin, called Padre Andres, 
 but better-" known by the no&L de guerre of Barba 
 Negro, or Black Betrcl, used to boast that he was 
 invulnerable to the balls;, of .the ins'urgents. He, 
 perhaps, believed this himself, and his many and 
 wonderful escapes from battle, and the way he 
 used to expose himself with impunity, impressed 
 many of the insurgents with a belief that he wore 
 a charmed life. He used to wrap his cloak 
 round his arm by way of shield, rush forward
 
 216 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 into the lines of the republicans, and, with his 
 heavy toledo espadin* deal death and terror 
 around him. Some thought him the devil ; the 
 Royalists thought him a saint. At length, Barba 
 Negro's career was cut short by Schmeder, my 
 German fellow-passenger. Having heard that the 
 priest was invulnerable, he resolved to try the 
 effects of his carabine on him. He sought him 
 long ; and, at length, discovered his black beard 
 streaming like a meteor on the troubled air. He 
 took a good aim, and shot the priest through the 
 head. 
 
 " The Capuchin," said Schmeder, " could not 
 resist a ball fired from the carabine of a heretic." 
 
 Those of the South Americans who heard 
 this, doubted not that he would be damned ; but, 
 at the same time, they admitted he was a good 
 shot. 
 
 * Spanish sword.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " Je cms que c'tois la vierge de dernieres amours, cette 
 vierge qu'on envoie au prisonnier de guerre pour enchanter sa 
 tombe; dans cette persuasion je lui dis, en balbutiant, et avec un 
 trouble qui, partant, no venoit pas de la crainte du bucher, 
 ' Vierge, vous etes digne des premieres amours, et vous n'etes 
 pas faite pour les dernieres.' " 
 
 Atala, par CHATEAUBRIAND. 
 
 FORTUNE now set in full tide against the repub- 
 licans. Morillo carried every thing before him. 
 Victory after victory crowned his efforts. He 
 had in Columbia alone nine thousand Spaniards, 
 and four thousand native troops, and a vast 
 number of Canary Island men, whose devotion 
 to Ferdinand was boundless. Morillo's rage for 
 extermination was without limit ; it increased 
 with his power to do mischief: while the in- 
 surgents were disputing and disagreeing amongst 
 themselves, dispirited by repeated disasters, un- 
 paid, badly armed, worse clad, and depending 
 entirely on the wild cattle of the savannas for 
 
 VOL. II. L
 
 218 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 food. They had lost all the strong fortresses on 
 the Caribbean Sea, and held possession of no- 
 thing but the natural fastnesses of the Oronoco, 
 and the unconquerable island of Margarita, 
 which should be as sacred in the eyes of the 
 South American patriot as Thermopylae was 
 to the Greeks. Despair alone held the bulk of 
 the army together; but it was the despair of 
 bravery, which preferred death on the battle- 
 field to death on the scaffold. The chiefs were 
 undaunted. The brave Libratador, the inde- 
 fatigable Paez, the Spartan Arismendi, the skil- 
 ful Marino, the daring Sublett, and the furious 
 Monagos, now broke up their regular army, and 
 commenced a system of guerilla warfare, which 
 allowed the Royalists no rest, and which, after 
 many months of hard fighting, ruined their 
 army. 
 
 My situation during this guerilla war was 
 any thing but agreeable. As a volunteer, and 
 as a surgeon, I had gained much approbation, 
 but little or no pay. My well-provided chests 
 were at first plundered, and then lost, together 
 with a part of my instruments : the dress I wore 
 was the only one I possessed, save one which 
 I had stripped from the body of a Spanish officer, 
 whom I killed in a skirmish at Rio Carribes. 
 One of these dresses I used occasionally to get
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 219 
 
 washed by some of the unhappy females who 
 followed the camp, for the poor protection it 
 afforded. Many of these had been educated as 
 ladies, reared in the lap of luxury, and had been 
 the belles of Venezuela ; for no fault of theirs 
 they were now doomed to be the wretched de- 
 pendants on our wild army. These poor women 
 willingly performed the most menial offices for 
 any one who would share with them such miser- 
 able rations as we obtained. Such was the con- 
 sequence of the crimes of Spain crimes, in this 
 respect, unlike those of the first ravagers of the 
 New World, for they were committed in vain. 
 
 One night, after a hard day's ride, I arrived 
 at a post far up the Oronoco, which was com- 
 manded by one Colonel Penango. Here was 
 a party destined to attack the enemy, who were 
 encamped at the mission of Alta Gracia ; but< 
 unfortunately, we had that day captured from the 
 enemy a quantity of fiery Spanish wine, which the 
 colonel injudiciously allowed his troops to drink. 
 The effects of this imprudence soon became 
 visible : several quarrels took place ; the colonel 
 interfered, and an Indian, of the tribe called 
 Yaruros, struck him. Had he slain the man on the 
 spot, or had him tried by such courts-martial as 
 were used in the insurgent camp, the matter would 
 have blown over ; but, unfortunately, Penango
 
 220 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 had seen the way in which the British auxiliaries 
 treated men guilty of insubordination, by appeal- 
 ing to their feelings with the aid of a cat-o'- 
 nine-tails, and was determined to introduce the 
 practice of flogging amongst his partisans ; with- 
 out recollecting that, the naked Indian being two 
 thousand years in civilisation behind the modern 
 English, the former could not appreciate the 
 beneficial effects of the said cat, with its un- 
 natural number of tails. We all know that in 
 the British army flogging is absolutely necessary 
 for the maintenance of its morality and dis- 
 cipline ; or, if we know it not, it is not for want 
 of being told ; but savages conceive that flog- 
 ging is fit only for dogs and slaves : * hence the 
 whole of the Yaruros in our camp vowed revenge 
 for the insult offered to one of their tribe. Pe- 
 naugo had marched to surprise Boves ; but, en- 
 camping during his march, Pore, the chief of the 
 Yaruros, sent a message to the Spaniards, in- 
 forming them of the expedition under Penango, 
 and advising them to attack the insurgents in the 
 night, when the Yaruros would rise on the Pa- 
 triots, and assist the Spaniards. In pursuance 
 
 * The last Maroon war in Jamaica, in 1795-6, which kept, 
 for eighteen months, that island in a state of alarm, and cost 
 one million sterling, arose from flogging two Maroons. Had 
 they been shot, their comrades would not have noticed it.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 221 
 
 of this advise, Boves despatched one Colonel 
 Borero, and one hundred and fifty men, to sur- 
 prise Penango. The Spaniards did not arrive 
 until half-past four in the morning, by which 
 time the Indian traitors had given over all hopes 
 of an attack that night, and were asleep, when 
 the Spaniards shot the sentinel and attacked the 
 Patriots. The Indians rose from their sleep ; but, 
 in the confusion and darkness, knew not one 
 person from another : they rushed on the Royal- 
 ists and insurgents, each fighting the first he 
 met. All was confusion ; and it so happened 
 that most of the Patriots effected their escape. 
 More of the Spaniards fell ; but of the treacher- 
 ous Yaruros scarcely one survived the night at- 
 tack ; for the Royalists, observing several of the 
 Indians fight against them, conceived they were 
 betrayed, and turned on the Yaruros, who ob- 
 tained the reward of their treason. The whole 
 affair was badly conducted by all parties. 
 
 But I must relate my share in this trans- 
 action. I had, the previous night, arrived in 
 Penango's camp, much fatigued, having that 
 day fairly knocked up two hardy horses, having 
 been three times attacked by skirmishers, and 
 having swam five wide streams, before I tasted 
 any other food than tasajo and some water. I 
 found in the camp plenty of provision, which
 
 222 WARNER ARUNDELL ! 
 
 had been taken from the Spaniards. I supped 
 very heartily, and drank much more strong wine 
 than I was accustomed to take ; but I stopped 
 short of intoxication. I tethered my weary horse 
 under a tree, and, with my hammock, ascended 
 its trunk. Having tied this to two branches, I 
 got in, but in vain essayed to sleep ; being hin- 
 dered therefrom either by excessive fatigue, or 
 by having taken too intemperate a meal, or by 
 both circumstances combined. I passed rather a 
 feverish night. At length I recollected having 
 about my person a small well-secured phial of 
 laudanum, which I was in the habit of carrying 
 with me, in order to drop a very small quantity 
 into the very bad water I was sometimes neces- 
 sitated to drink in the savannas. I applied to 
 this sonmiferic, and soon felt its effects : I fell 
 first into an uneasy state of confused dreams, and 
 finally into a heavy sleep ; hence, when the 
 camp below was attacked, I knew nothing of the 
 circumstance, although I recollect dreaming of 
 having been in a battle. 
 
 The Patriots having at length been driven 
 from the camp, day opened, and the Spaniards 
 were masters of the dear-bought field. One per- 
 ceived my suspended bed, and pointed me out to 
 his comrades. Instantly a volley of musket- 
 balls came rattling about my leafy chamber.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 223 
 
 None hit me, but one cut the cord of rny ham- 
 mock. Down I fell, fortunately feet foremost. 
 I plunged from branch to branch in a state of 
 insensibility, until I alighted on a bearded Span- 
 iard one of those who had sworn never to 
 shave until Ferdinand was restored to his do- 
 minions in Venezuela. This man's neck broke 
 my fall, but my fall broke his neck. 
 
 I was stunned with the tumble ; and, when I 
 came to my senses, I found myself tightly bound, 
 and in custody of two Catalonian soldiers. They 
 told me not to stir, for my life, until their colonel 
 came. This personage soon approached me : 
 he was a little dark Andalusian. He ordered 
 me to rise ; I did so. He looked sternly at me, 
 and asked what rank I held in the insurgent 
 army. I told him. 
 
 " I asked," said the Andalusian, " because, 
 ammunition being scarce, his excellency has or- 
 dered us to sabre every man below the rank of 
 captain. To those of or above that rank, we give 
 a musket-ball." 
 
 " A pretty dilemma I am in ! " thought I. 
 
 " But," continued the colonel, " General Mo- 
 rillo said nothing about barber-surgeons ; and I 
 know not what rank they hold. However, I 
 suppose I must compound matters with you, and
 
 224 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 give you a pistol-ball. What would you advise 
 us to do, senor doctor?" 
 
 " My advice to you," replied I, " is, that you 
 treat me as all civilised nations treat prisoners 
 of war." 
 
 " Modest and disinterested advice this, cama- 
 rade ; but what good should we get by follow- 
 ing it?" 
 
 " Why, colonel, General Bolivar might be 
 induced to treat one of your party, whom the 
 fortune of war may place in his power, after a 
 similar humane manner. Besides this good, you 
 might avoid some evil. I am a British subject ; 
 and, should you kill me in cold blood, it might 
 get to the ears of my nation, and induce them to 
 look with little favour on your cause." 
 
 " Ferdinand the Beloved cares not for your 
 nation, nor all the nations of the earth united. 
 God gave the New World to Spain, and we will 
 subdue its rebellious sons. Wo betide the king 
 who interferes to aid the rebels ! we will hurl 
 him from his throne, as we hurled Napoleon 
 from his usurped seat. But, I must say, I respect 
 the English : they rendered the victorious Span- 
 iards some service in one battle that I saw. This 
 took place at Salamanca." 
 
 All this was very modest, considering that at
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 226 
 
 Salamanca the loss of the Spaniards, in killed, 
 wounded, and missing, was four men, thought I. 
 The little colonel continued, 
 
 " But what right have you to claim con- 
 sideration as an Englishman, after being taken 
 in the camp of the rebels?" 
 
 " Where," added I, "I was exercising my 
 humane profession as a surgeon." 
 
 " He who assists insurgents with his skill in 
 medicine equally deserves death with him who 
 aids them in battle. What right had you to join 
 South American rebels, who wish to rob King- 
 Ferdinand of his colonies ? " 
 
 " About the same right that your country- 
 men had to assist North American rebels, who 
 wished to rob King George of his colonies. Your 
 nation, senor, aided the people of the United 
 States to throw off their dependence on Great 
 Britain. During the war in North America 
 many Spaniards were taken by the English, but 
 no one was slaughtered in cold blood." 
 
 " Ay," said the Spaniard ; <{ but our king 
 declared open war against yours, and, as always 
 was and ever will be the case, Spain triumphed 
 in war. We liberated the North Americans, and 
 now the ungrateful villains are selling arms and 
 ammunition to the rebels of Venezuela. The 
 North Americans were rebels, until our king 
 
 L 2
 
 226 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 pleased to proclaim them a nation. When that 
 was the case they were no longer insurgents, but 
 became a people, at war with England, and 
 Spain became their allies ; so that it was neces- 
 sary to treat all persons taken on both sides as 
 prisoners of war. But you do not join one 
 people at war with another ; you join a parcel 
 of Creole banditti, and must pay the forfeit of 
 your own act. I am sure you can have nothing 
 reasonable to urge against my arguments, be- 
 cause I know that I am right, and that you 
 are in the wrong ; so there need no more be 
 said about the matter. Here, Francisco, load 
 your pistol. Kneel, Englishman : take this hand- 
 kerchief as a bandage." 
 
 " I can look death in the face, senor, there- 
 fore want no bandage. Here are three doubloons 
 I have about me ; you may as well have them 
 as another. Will you be pleased to grant me 
 but five minutes for prayer, before I quit this 
 world?" 
 
 " The English heretics are always generous," 
 said the Andalusian, looking at the coins ; " but 
 I never knew that they prayed before. However, 
 ten minutes shall be yours." 
 
 I knelt to pray, and a cold perspiration ran 
 from my forehead. In a moment, all I ever did 
 of good or evil crowded on my memory. My
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 227 
 
 thoughts, despite myself, wandered from devo- 
 tion. At one time I looked at the noble scenery 
 by which I was surrounded, and recollected that 
 in a few minutes my mortal eyes would shut on 
 it for ever. I glanced at my own person, and 
 remembered that, in a few hours, it would be 
 festering in the equinoctial sun, the prey of tigers 
 and vultures. At length I ceased altogether to 
 
 ~ O 
 
 pray, on hearing the following dialogue : 
 
 " Colonel, for the love of the Holy Mother 
 of God, save that Englishman ! " 
 
 " Why so, Captain Raymond?" 
 
 " He saved my life." 
 
 " How did that happen?" 
 
 Captain Raymond, a Creole Royalist, now told 
 the Andalusian that, after a skirmish at Ba- 
 rancos, I found him on the field, wounded and 
 faint from loss of blood ; that I dressed his 
 wound, carried him to a copse which lies beside 
 the village of Barancos and the Oronoco, and 
 there supplied him with a small quantity of pro- 
 vision. After many days' hiding about, he at 
 length rejoined the Royalist army. 
 
 " You know," said Borero, " that it is our 
 general's orders to give no quarter; and, ac- 
 cording to the Priest Diego, it is a soldier's duty 
 to obey, should his general order him to commit 
 the seven deadly sins ; because, in that case, the
 
 228 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 soul of the general, and not that of his officer, 
 would have to pay for it in purgatory. Never- 
 theless, it is a pity to shoot so fine a young man, 
 especially after having saved your life. He is 
 as generous as his countrymen usually are : do 
 you know, the poor devil gave me three doub- 
 loons immediately after I ordered him to be shot ! 
 and what renders this act the more meritorious 
 is this, I never should have thought of having 
 him searched for money. He is not altogether 
 destitute of religion, because he just now asked 
 to be allowed to pray ; although he must know 
 that, being a heretic, die when he will he is 
 sure to go to perdition. However, all I can 
 venture to do is to conduct him to the head- 
 quarters of Boves, and leave him for that general's 
 consideration. He may be saved in this world, 
 although he is certain of being damned in the 
 next. You had better interest Padre Salomon 
 and Seiioritta Ximines in his behalf, as they are 
 always for saving prisoners. Captain Raymond, 
 I leave this prisoner in your charge, while I go 
 to give orders to Sergeant Perez to search the 
 dead rebels ; perhaps they may have doubloons 
 about them as well as this Englishman, and it 
 is necessary for the king's service that I take 
 possession of them."
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 229 
 
 Saying this, the Andalusian went to speak to 
 his sergeant. 
 
 I now rose and grasped the hand of the grate- 
 ful Raymond, for I fully felt the obligation I 
 owed him for his rescuing me from immediate 
 destruction. When maddened by the excitement 
 of battle, I feared death no more than one might 
 who was conscious he possessed a hundred lives, 
 but no soul ; yet, when I was no longer dazzled 
 by the false glory of war, but had calmly to look 
 on the king of terrors, I felt the awful truth, 
 namely, that I was unfit to die. Through life, 
 I had thought more of conducting myself as a 
 gentleman than as a Christian ; I meditated much 
 on the laws of honour, but little on the laws 
 of God. 
 
 Several of the Spaniards being wounded, I 
 volunteered to dress them. Both the colonel 
 and Raymond were pleased with my proposition ; 
 to aid which, my instruments were found and 
 brought me. Some refused to be dressed by an 
 insurgent, lest I should purposely treat them un- 
 skilfully ; but, when informed I was an English- 
 man, they all gladly submitted to my operations, 
 saying, the English were not assassins. 
 
 I was nearly two hours professionally em- 
 ployed, and the wounded were carried into three 
 canoes, to be rowc-d up the Oronoco.
 
 230 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 After partaking of a breakfast of aripa (Indian 
 corn bread) and smoked beef, we set out on our 
 inarch to Alta Gracia. A sergeant was about to 
 tie my hands, when Raymond again interfered, 
 and forbade this, saying he would be responsible 
 for my custody. The colonel said, if I would give 
 my honour not to escape, he would allow me to 
 ride a mule. I acceded to this, but said, that if 
 any attempt was made by the insurgents during 
 our march to rescue me, I would be merely 
 passive ; and, if they succeeded in the attempt, 
 and I got back safely to the army of Bolivar, 
 I would procure the liberation of some Royalist 
 prisoner of my own rank. 
 
 " I admire your candour," said the colonel ; 
 " but, should any attempt be made on us during 
 our march, I will order two of my men to blow 
 out your brains." 
 
 With this amicable understanding, we com- 
 menced our march. This was conducted in so 
 irregular a manner, that I half regretted giving 
 my honour not to escape ; for, even had I been 
 bound, it would have taken less talent than 
 Vidocq possessed to have given my conductors 
 the Slip ; but when I recollected that, by so doing, 
 I should compromise the grateful Raymond, I 
 thought it infamous to attempt to escape, even 
 had I not given my honour not to do this.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 231 
 
 I observed that the Royalist troops were less 
 ragged than the Patriots ; but those by which I 
 was surrounded might have served George 
 Cruikshank as studies for Falstaff's regiment, 
 save that they looked rather too outre. 
 
 After a hot march of three leagues, we came 
 to a halt. All the party, sentinels included, took 
 a regular siesta ; in a few minutes they were 
 ' all nodding,' and some snoring. Oh, how I 
 wished for a party to rescue me! but, I suppose, 
 the Patriots, about this hour, were also taking 
 their nap. 
 
 About five o'clock we again set out; and, 
 after marching about hulf-a-mile, we came to a 
 post of the Royalists. Here we crossed to the 
 right bank of the Oronoco in several large 
 canoes; and, after a short march, we arrived 
 at the head-quarters of General Boves, at a mis- 
 sion called Alta Gracia. I was instantly lodged 
 in a large thatched building, which was dignified 
 with the title of Casa del Rey (the king's house.) 
 
 I was w r ell secured, by having my right leg 
 and hand chained : these chains were fastened 
 to a thick iron bar, within a foot of the unfloored 
 ground ; 1, however, was able to stand, sit, or lie 
 down. Scarcely was I fastened before I heard 
 a gruff voice exclaim, "In with you, dog of a 
 Hollander ! " and two men dragged in a well-
 
 232 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 dressed little man, who, by the twilight, I dis- 
 covered to be my friend, Moses Fernandez. I was 
 about to utter an exclamation of surprise, when he 
 checked me, by placing his finger on his mouth. 
 I instantly comprehended his sign, and suppressed 
 all appearance of recognition. His looks bespoke 
 deep regret at our respective situations. They 
 placed the Curagoa man in a pair of stocks at 
 the other end of the hall : they then left us to 
 our meditations or conversation. Moses spoke 
 to me in English, lest we should be overheard. 
 
 " Our days," said he, " I fear, are numbered ; 
 but do not seem to know me." 
 
 He asked me how I came to be taken? I 
 briefly told him my late adventure. He, on his 
 part, informed me that he was captured in a 
 Patriot launch going up the Oronoco. 
 
 Our conversation was interrupted by another 
 companion in misfortune being put into the stocks. 
 He was a middle-sized, well-built Frenchman, 
 with a military mien. He had been despatched by 
 Paez with a flag of truce : his mission was to 
 ascertain if I was taken ; and, if that were the 
 case, to offer a Spanish major and subaltern in 
 exchange for me ; and, at the same time, to 
 threaten that, if any injury were done to me after 
 my capture, the said major and subaltern should 
 lose their heads the next morning, although
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 233 
 
 neither of theirs might exactly fit my shoulders. 
 The white rag which did duty for the flag of 
 truce had been purposely destroyed by some 
 Indians who waylaid the Frenchman ; and the 
 poor officer, instead of being received as an envoy, 
 was treated as a prisoner by an army which gave 
 no quarter. The Spaniards would have butchered 
 him on the spot, but several Creole Royalists 
 protested against it, and the Frenchman's fate 
 was referred to General Boves, who was mo- 
 mentarily expected. The fact was, the unfortunate 
 bearer of the flag of truce was a freemason, and 
 he met with several of his craft amongst the 
 Royalists : these were doing what they could in 
 order to get him released. 
 
 " Bon jour, camarades," said the Frenchman 
 to us. 
 
 We returned his salute. 
 
 " We are, I surmise, pretty near our last 
 gasp. I know not how you feel, gentlemen ; but, 
 for me, if they give me the death of a soldier, I 
 care not how soon it takes place : life I have not 
 found so happy as to make me dread falling into 
 annihilation. Yes ! let bigots, who believe in 
 childish stories of heaven and hell, fear death ; 
 we philosophers know it to be a cessation of life, 
 and nothing more. What priests call the soul, 
 my friends, is but the mechanical action of the
 
 234 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 brain: this thinking part of the human frame is 
 born with the body, is imbecile with the body 
 during infancy, strengthens with it, decays with 
 it, and, doubtless, perishes with it. Life after 
 death ! a pretty story for knavish priests to tell, 
 and credulous fools to believe. 1 would as lief 
 give credence to one who tells ine of the soul of 
 a steam-engine, which, after being broken to 
 pieces, will animate another and more perfect 
 steam-engine ! " 
 
 Little religion as I possessed, I was shocked 
 with this ill-timed, uncalled-for, and senseless 
 blasphemy. Fernandez seemed to feel as I did ; 
 but the present was no time for religious argu- 
 ment, and the Frenchman seemed neither to 
 expect nor desire controversy. He added, 
 
 " I forget, camarades, you may be of a dif- 
 ferent way of thinking : if so, I beg pardon ; 
 and, lest my opinion may disturb your devotion, 
 I will bid you good night for the present." 
 
 Saying this, he lay down, and in a few 
 minutes was asleep. 
 
 Before I could make any remarks on the 
 language of this atheist, we heard the guard 
 turn out to receive the general. He did not 
 enter the Casa del Rey, but stood at the door, in 
 conversation with Padre Salomon, a priest, who 
 had been humanely interceding to save us. The
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 235 
 
 stern Boves was not to be moved from his san- 
 guinary resolves. We could not see the speakers, 
 although we heard them. Every third word the 
 Spanish general uttered was an obscene oath, 
 with which I need not stain my paper. 
 
 " A pretty affair this!" said Boves : " Borero 
 takes the English barber-surgeon, a heretic, for- 
 sooth ; and yet you, a priest, beg mercy for him ! 
 Gomez captures a rascally Curagoa merchant, 
 who was going to supply the rebels with arms, 
 and brings him all the way here, instead of 
 allowing the alligators of the Oronoco to make 
 food of him ; and Jose Maria catches a French- 
 man, a pretended bearer of a flag of truce. In- 
 stead of settling these fellows at once, I must be 
 plagued to give orders to have them shot or 
 sabred : but their execution shall take place this 
 night, by the " 
 
 " Swear not!" interrupted the priest. " Would 
 you destroy their souls ? Will you allow me no 
 time to prepare them for a future state? Be it 
 so ; their sins be at your door ; and on your own 
 immortal soul be the offence of sending three 
 men before their Creator unconfessed!" 
 
 " Do you not know that two out of the three 
 are heretics, being a Dutchman and an English- 
 man?" responded Boves. "However, I will 
 not incur the censure of the church by cutting
 
 236 WARNER ARUNDKLL : 
 
 them off too suddenly : I'll defer their execution 
 until to-morrow noon. Are you satisfied ? Well, 
 satisfied or not, it shall be so. I will go and 
 give orders to Colonel Ximenes about this matter. 
 
 We heard the general depart, and the priest 
 tell the sentinel that he was going to confess a 
 dying man, but that, in half-an-hour, he would 
 return to attend to us. 
 
 Fernandez and myself exchanged a few me- 
 lancholy words, and then each commenced pray- 
 ing Fernandez using the Hebrew language. 
 
 " Do, good sentry, let me in," said a silvery 
 voice. 
 
 " It is against the general's orders, senoritta," 
 responded the sentinel ; " but he is never long 
 angry at any thing you do, for who could be 
 displeased with la angela de la misericordia (the 
 angel of mercy) ? Go in, con dios." 
 
 The door now opened, and I discovered a 
 female form, carrying a small silver lamp fed 
 with cocoa-nut oil : this threw a doubtful light 
 into the hall. She went to the stocks, and 
 there perceived the Frenchman asleep. She ex- 
 claimed, 
 
 " Holy Virgin ! to sleep at such a time !" 
 
 She then held the lamp so that it threw its 
 small but clear light on the Jew ; but he, ab- 
 sorbed by his devotion, paid no attention to her,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 237 
 
 and continued his prayer in a language to her 
 unknown. 
 
 " The saints aid you !" she said ; " but where 
 is the tall and handsome Englishman they told 
 me of?" 
 
 She held up the lamp ; and, perceiving where 
 I sat on the floor, crossed over to me, and lowered 
 the lamp in order to see me. By this means I 
 had a full view of her person ; and, heavens ! 
 what a divine vision I beheld ! She seemed 
 
 " In form a woman, but in years a child," 
 
 not being more than seventeen : and yet she was 
 taller than the generality of women ; while her 
 stature seemed increased in height by a part of 
 her long raven tresses being rolled into a mass, 
 and confined on her head by means of a very 
 large tortoise-shell comb, ornamented with gold 
 and Margarita pearls. These shewed like a 
 coronet, while a part of her glossy tresses hung 
 beside her small ears, and played on her deep 
 bosom. From her comb depended a rich black 
 veil ; her dress was of black velvet. She wore 
 a profusion of rich jewels ; these could scarcely 
 be said to set off her queenly form and noble 
 features, in which seemed to be united the Cas- 
 tilian traits of romance with the indications of 
 Creole benevolence. And I must here observe,
 
 238 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 that the feminine beauty of Spain, when trans- 
 planted into the New World, seems to flourish with 
 greater loveliness than that of any European 
 nation. Her large black eyebrows surmounted 
 a pair of eyes quicker in their expression than 
 any I ever beheld. Their darkness contrasted 
 strongly with the alabaster whiteness of her 
 pellucid skin ; and, when she spoke, she displayed 
 a set of pearly teeth, beautiful beyond any I had 
 ever seen. Her voice was rich and silvery, while 
 a natural and commanding grace accompanied all 
 her movements. 
 
 Such was the apparition which stood before 
 me, and which I contemplated by means of the 
 small lamp she held. On any occasion I should 
 have beheld with pleasure this Columbian flower 
 of feminine beauty ; but, after having for months 
 seen no other woman but such wo-begone females 
 as followed the insurgent camp to prevent their 
 being massacred, and partook of all the priva- 
 tions and sufferings of a civil war ; for me to be 
 visited, in my present situation, by aught so 
 lovely, was unlooked-for happiness. I for some 
 moments believed she was a being from the region 
 of the blessed, who had descended to console my 
 approaching death. Long I gazed at her before 
 I recollected that I was in a sitting posture. I 
 rose ; and, as my chains clanked, I gained my
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 239 
 
 feet. This divine creature still regarded me, at 
 first with deep curiosity, and then I perceived a 
 smile of pleasure steal over her features ; at 
 length she uttered the words, 
 
 " Poor fellow ! and you, too, must he butchered, 
 to add to the crimes of the sanguinary Boves ! " 
 
 Instantly her eyes became suffused with tears. 
 
 I must now inform the reader that, although 
 I had never before beheld this lovely female, 
 yet I had often heard of Maria Josefa Ximenes, 
 by her well-known appellation of la angela de la 
 ndsericordia. Her cousin, Colonel Ximenes, 
 having been captured by one of Bolivar's parties, 
 he was about to be put to death, in retaliation for 
 an insurgent colonel slain by Morales ; when 
 Maria Josefa, with a degree of praiseworthy 
 enthusiasm, clad in all her rich habiliments and 
 jewellery, left the Royalist army, and arrived at 
 the out-posts of the Republicans without acci- 
 dent for her beauty protected her from insult. 
 At her request, she was conducted to Bolivar, 
 before whom she pleaded so eloquently for the 
 life of her cousin, that the Liberator, who was 
 not stern by nature, but rendered so by circum- 
 stances, granted her prayer, on condition that she 
 would endeavour to obtain the liberation of one 
 Colonel Borroteran, a nephew of Bolivar, and 
 his secretary, who was at that moment a pri-
 
 240 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 soner in the Royalist camp. This she promised to 
 do, and well kept her word. The ferocious 
 Morales was not to be moved by her eloquence, 
 and the nephew of Bolivar was ordered to be 
 shot ; when a great number of Creoles in the 
 Royalist camp, thinking- themselves slighted, by 
 having their favourite's prayer rejected, began to 
 murmur aloud, and a dangerous mutiny was likely 
 to result from the sternness of Morales. He then 
 found that he had better yield with a good grace 
 than risk a disturbance in his camp ; for at this 
 period the cause of Ferdinand looked doubtful. 
 
 The colonel was sent to his uncle ; and, from 
 that time forth, Maria Josefa, being aware of 
 her influence amongst her compatriots, used it 
 for benevolent purposes. She fearlessly passed 
 between the belligerent camps, and was respected 
 by both parties as a sacred person, even when 
 a priest of eighty years of age would have 
 been molested. Many an unfortunate Royalist 
 and Patriot owed their lives to her intercession, 
 which some of the less sanguinary chiefs of both 
 armies chose to encourage ; while, in the Royalist 
 camp, the more cruel officers feared the influence 
 she possessed. She often alleviated the miseries of 
 the wretched women and children who were com- 
 pelled to follow both camps. 
 
 Her endeavours to soften the rigours of this
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 241 
 
 savage war were so incessant and successful, that 
 both parties called her the angel of mercy. She 
 even made a feminine "weakness which she pos- 
 sessed (viz. a love for splendid dress) subservient 
 to her benevolent exertion. As her jewellery 
 threw a dazzle around her person by which she 
 was recognised from afar, the wildest guerilla 
 of Paez knew Maria Josefa, and would as soon 
 think of plundering the gems of his patron 
 saint, as of taking one pearl from the necklace 
 of Senoritta Ximenes ; the roughest Llanaro, 
 whose dress was but an old blanket, and whose 
 looks were more savage than those of a naked 
 Indian, would crouch his lance and bow his head 
 with the courtesy of a knight-errant, when he 
 saw the well - designated angel of mercy ap- 
 proach ; while the most clownish Biscayan or 
 Catalonian of the Royalist camp would hail her 
 return from the insurgent lines with " Viva la 
 anyela fie la miser icordia ! " 
 
 " Poor fellow! and you, too, must be but- 
 chered, although you saved the life of my com- 
 padre, Raymond ! " said Maria Josefa. 
 
 " So says your general, beautiful senoritta." 
 
 " Are you a good Christian ?"-f- 
 
 ^* Gossip. This kind of relationship is more sacred amongst 
 the Spaniards than amongst us. 
 
 t Butiio Christiana, amongst Spaniards, means a Catholic. 
 VOL. II. M
 
 242 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 " I hope I am a Christian ; but fear I cannot 
 apply to myself the epithet, good. I resemble 
 you, fair lady, too little for that." 
 
 " Would you wish a priest to administer to 
 you the last consolation of religion?" 
 
 " I am a Lutheran Christian," replied I (for 
 by that designation the less intolerant Creoles 
 call Protestants, instead of the more obnoxious 
 word, heretic). I added, " Yet, I believe that 
 the prayers of a worthy priest will do no harm 
 to a doomed man, even should we diifer in our 
 modes of worship." 
 
 " That is well. We say the English are 
 heretics ; yet we know them to be generous, 
 honourable, and humane. If they are not, they 
 ought to be Christians. Padre Salomon will 
 shortly be here. He will attend you and your 
 two companions there ; although the one is 
 asleep, and the other seems to pray in a lan- 
 guage I never before heard. But would you 
 wish to write, before you die, to your father or 
 your poor mother ?" 
 
 Here her eyes became again filled with tears. 
 She continued, 
 
 " Ah, little did that mother think, when she 
 pillowed your head on her bosom, that the fair 
 locks JL of that head would be stained with your 
 
 J?_ Light hair is, in South America, considered most beautiful.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 243 
 
 life's gore ere the days of your youth were passed ! 
 But I wander. I can procure you pen, ink, and 
 paper, if you desire to write to your parents." 
 
 " I have none, sweet senora. My father 
 died in my infancy, and my poor mother left 
 this troublesome world the day I entered it." 
 
 " But you have brothers and sisters, cabal- 
 lero Inglese 1 " 
 
 " I have, fair Creole; but I would not wish 
 them to know the death that your stern general 
 has doomed me to die to-morrow." 
 
 " But have you not," said my interrogatress, 
 lowering her voice, " some lady that loves you, 
 or whom you love ? Yes, surely you have, for I 
 see you pause. Send her some love-token, before 
 you quit this world. You know not what to 
 send. Be advised : send her a lock of your fair 
 hair ; and, if she be worthy of your love, she 
 will never part with this simple, but natural, 
 dying gift. Here are my scissors. Tell me where 
 the lady of your love lives, and I will endeavour 
 to despatch it to her by the first safe opportunity 
 that I meet with ; and, in the mean time, I pro- 
 mise, on the honour of a descendant of a Castilian, 
 to wear the lock in my bosom for security." 
 
 " Cut the lock yourself, fair damsel," said I. 
 
 She did so ; and then said,
 
 24-1 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 " To whom am I to send it, senor ?" 
 
 " You promised to wear it in your bosom, 
 senora. Keep your word, and I shall die 
 happy." 
 
 " But to whom am I to send it? Who is the 
 lady of your heart?" 
 
 " Had I been asked the question but ten 
 minutes ago, I should have replied that I had 
 no lady of my heart ; but now I have one, the 
 print of whose feet on the earth I am not worthy 
 to kiss." 
 
 " What say you? Is it possible? I mean, 
 who is this person that, within a few minutes, 
 has conquered your affection?" 
 
 " She is called and rightly denominated 
 the angel of mercy." 
 
 A sudden blush overspread the beautiful fea- 
 tures of Maria Josefa. She looked at me with a 
 smile. This soon vanished ; and she said, 
 
 " I knew not, senor, you were a Frenchman." 
 
 " I am an English Creole, lovely demoiselle. 
 What made you suppose 1 was French?" 
 
 " Because we have been in each other's com- 
 pany but ten minutes, and yet you employ your 
 wit in trying to flatter me." 
 
 " Flattery, fair one, is the meanest species of 
 falsehood. I am English therefore, of a nation
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 245 
 
 nut remarkable for flattery. 1 am a gentleman,* 
 and therefore disdain falsehood. I am a Christ- 
 ian, and, consequently, would shudder at a lie, 
 standing as I do on the brink of eternity. But I 
 declare to you, as an Englishman, a gentleman, 
 and a Christian, that until I beheld you I knew 
 not love ; but, since my eyes were blessed with 
 your appearance, I am your unworthy but most 
 passionate lover. I have no object to gain by 
 my avowal, well knowing that the marine Mo- 
 rales -J- has doomed me to death to-morrow noon. 
 But keep your sweet promise : wear but the lock 
 of hair you have severed from my head in that 
 lovely bosom, and I will die contented ; while 
 my last breath shall be employed in invoking 
 blessings on you." 
 
 She again blushed, and smiled through her 
 tears. After a pause, she said, 
 
 " I am wrong to listen to an amorous de- 
 claration. No, no ; Maria Josefa has a more 
 sacred duty to perform than to listen to tales of 
 love. The soft passion accords with happy times. 
 Heaven has made me the instrument of good 
 to others, and I will faithfully fulfil my destiny." 
 
 * The word caballero, in Spanish America, is understood in a 
 sense exactly as wo understand the word gentleman in its noblest 
 signification. 
 
 t Morales was a marine sergeant at the battle of Trafalgar.
 
 246 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 She again paused ; and, pressing her hands 
 to her temples, said, in a tone of soliloquy, 
 
 " Is there no way to save him ?" 
 
 Her cogitation was disturbed by the noise 
 occasioned by the sentinel of the door presenting 
 arms ; and suddenly entered a handsome Creole, 
 in the dress of a Spanish colonel. He bore a 
 torch of resinous wood ; his face was ornamented 
 and disfigured by black whiskers and mustachios. 
 Yet, notwithstanding these, and a stern military 
 air which he had, his features were so strikingly 
 like those of the lovely Maria Josefa, that they 
 might have been taken for twins. He shot a 
 look of suspicion at me, and a glance of dis- 
 pleasure at his cousin, for such she was. 
 
 How keen-sighted is passion ! Colonel Xi- 
 menes loved Maria Josefa. One would have 
 thought there was nothing in our respective situ- 
 ationsto excite his jealousy; yet his features told 
 me that I caused it. At the same moment, I felt 
 a sudden degree of abhorrence for the handsome 
 Colonel Ximenes. I thought would I had my 
 good steed and trusty matcheti, and that you were 
 equally well armed and mounted, and we had a 
 clear stage and no favour ; I think I could give 
 these fine features of yours a slash, which should 
 injure their beauty. I believe we were not in 
 each other's company above two seconds, before
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 247 
 
 we hated each other as cordially as though we 
 had been friends for twenty years. 
 
 A conversation now took place between the 
 cousins, which I shall relate, omitting the says 
 he and says she ; to which I have an aversion. 
 
 " Maria Josefa here! How is this?" 
 
 " Does Colonel Ximenes ask why I am here, 
 when I have victims to snatch from cold-blooded 
 slaughter?" 
 
 " True, senoritta, you are called the angel of 
 mercy. To your active humanity I owe my life." 
 
 " And to my exertion shall this young gentle- 
 man I mean, these three people, owe their 
 lives." 
 
 " Impossible! Our general has sworn " 
 
 " To continue a butcher. I have heard of 
 his amiable vow. He calculates on exterminating 
 the race of Creoles ; but let Morillo, Boves, and 
 Morales, not be too elated with their success. 
 Bolivar is beaten, but not subdued ; Arismendi 
 has sworn vengeance, and he ever keeps his 
 oaths ; while Paez hovers about their army like 
 a fiend of destruction. Sick of this war of death, 
 I have long entreated that it might be conducted 
 with some slight degree of mercy. But I will 
 cease to entreat; I command that the lives of 
 these men be saved ! " 
 
 " Are you mad, Maria?"
 
 248 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 " No, I am sensible sensible of my power. 
 Let me but utter one word, and every Creole in 
 the Royalist camp, who now raises his traitorous 
 arms against his country, will join the Patriots, 
 strike for liberty, and Columbia will be free ! " 
 
 Here her sweet countenance assumed an air 
 of majesty, and she spoke with the boldness of an 
 inspired prophetess. 
 
 " Rash girl! are you weary of life? Speak 
 low, for the love of God!" 
 
 " No ; I will speak out! It is long since I 
 
 ceased to fear death. Call in the sentinels, and I 
 
 will tell them that Spain is tyrannical. Span- 
 
 1 iards are blood-hounds ; and Creoles who aid 
 
 them are traitors and fools!" 
 
 Every limb of Ximenes shook with emotion. 
 He caught his cousin's hands, fell upon his knees, 
 and then said, in a whisper, 
 
 " For the sake of Heaven, for the love of your 
 friends, for the sake of your country, be pacified, 
 Maria. You know not what you do. You will 
 involve us all in ruin. Be patient, and South 
 America shall be free. Your rashness will be- 
 tray the land of your birth." 
 
 Maria replied in a low voice, but which I 
 distinctly heard, being too interested in the con- 
 versation to lose a syllable, 
 
 " Be it so. I have long suspected this.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 249 
 
 May your plot succeed ! But, at all events, that 
 Englishman must be saved. Rather than he 
 should be sacrificed, I will, ere morning daAvns, 
 raise three thousand Creoles to his rescue. Nay, 
 nay, frown not on that youth. Antonio Ximeaes, 
 is this a time, when war is desolating your 
 native land, to think of love or jealousy ? Shame ! 
 shame ! " 
 
 " Maria, retire a minute or two. I will 
 think how to rescue this Englishman." 
 
 She now passed over to where Fernandez and 
 the Frenchman were confined, arid entered into 
 conversation with the former. Meanwhile, the 
 colonel was lost in meditation. The torch he 
 held threw a red glare on his fine features, and 
 enabled me to observe their appearance. They 
 seemed to be strongly agitated ; and once or 
 twice he put his hand on his forehead. At 
 length he said, 
 
 " No, no; she saved my life, and I will 
 rescue him, even if he be born to blast my hap- 
 piness." 
 
 He now advanced towards me, and held his 
 torch near my face. Suddenly, his stern look 
 relaxed into wonder : he exclaimed, 
 
 " Is it possible? My old friend! Do you 
 not recollect me?" 
 
 I answered in the negative. 
 
 M 2
 
 250 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 He said, " Do you not remember giving me 
 an orange when I was a prisoner?" 
 
 I now recollected that, when Ximenes was 
 taken, he was marched many miles, exposed to the 
 rays of a burning sun, until he was nearly perish- 
 ing with thirst. I happened to have an orange, 
 with which I moistened his parched lips, his own 
 hands being at that time bound. Little did I 
 think, at the moment I performed this act of 
 common humanity, that it would have conduced 
 so much to my advantage. Instantly the colonel's 
 behaviour totally changed. 
 
 " Give me your hand!" he cried; " I tender 
 mine in friendship." 
 
 " And I accept yours with the same feeling." 
 
 Maria Josefa beheld our salute with tears of 
 pleasure ; which, when Ximenes observed, his 
 features again became stern. He motioned her to 
 retire. She withdrew a few steps. 
 
 " I will," said the colonel, " endeavour to 
 effect your escape. Major Peiia wishes to save 
 yonder Frenchman, who, careless of his fate, 
 sleeps soundly. Peha and he belong to some 
 foolish secret society. I will consult with him ; 
 but, if I aid your flight, you must promise me, on 
 the well-known faith of your countrymen, to quit 
 South America, and not appear here for four 
 years."
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 251 
 
 I looked at Maria, and saw, by her counte- 
 nance, that she wished me to accede to her 
 cousin's proposition. I, therefore, agreed to the 
 proposal, provided that my friend Fernandez, and 
 the Frenchman, should be also allowed to escape. 
 To this stipulation he promised to conform, and 
 said, 
 
 " Now, let me seek Pena and padre Salomon. 
 Maria Josefa, we have not a minute to lose. Is 
 this a time for you to coquette with a man whose 
 life is at stake ? Away ! call hither to me the 
 Indian, Guiocolo : he can be trusted ; he shall 
 guide these three men to English Guiana. At 
 the same time, tell Pedro to procure something 
 for these people to eat and drink they have 
 need of it : away ! " 
 
 Maria Josefa did not move off so quickly as 
 her cousin wished. She read in my countenance 
 expressions of doubt, and said to me, 
 
 " Fear not, caballero : Colonel Ximenes is 
 passionate, but not dishonourable ; he acts from 
 sudden emotions, but those are never treacherous." 
 
 " I believe you," replied I ; "no one can be 
 dishonourable whose features resemble yours, fair 
 senora." 
 
 " Away!" said the colonel, and handed her 
 to the door. She went: he then said, 
 
 " I have much to prepare, and little time:
 
 252 WARMER ARUNDELL : 
 
 let me get you four swift horses, arid provisions 
 for your arduous journey." 
 
 Saying this, he quitted me. 
 
 The latter part of our conference was spoken 
 in suppressed voices ; but at one time the passion 
 of Maria Josefa so far got the better of her 
 discretion, that I wonder she was not overheard 
 by the sentinels who were ordered to watch the 
 Casa del Rey. But these people were busily em- 
 ployed, twenty yards from the building, drinking 
 guarapa, smoking rank Virginia cigars, and 
 playing at monte* for rials, with a small and 
 dirty pack of cards. 
 
 I was about to congratulate Fernandez on our 
 prospect of escape, when I heard the gambling 
 sentinels without shout, 
 
 " Welcome, padre Salomon; give us your 
 benediction, and we are all of us sure to win." 
 
 Shortly after, the priest entered, and a remark- 
 able scene took place. I, at that time, was not 
 aware what was going on, because I knew riot 
 the language used on the occasion ; but, subse- 
 quently, Fernandez recounted it to me. 
 
 As the priest (an old and venerable-looking 
 man) entered, Fernandez was repeating, in He- 
 brew, from Deuteronomy, chapter iv. verse 4, 
 
 * A game of chance.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 253 
 
 what the moJern Jews conceive to be the founda- 
 tion-stone of their faith. 
 
 " Hear, O Israel! Jehovah is our Lord; Je- 
 hovah is One." 
 
 When he saw the priest enter, he suddenly 
 stopped in his devotion, lest the padre should 
 discover his religion ; for, although he knew that 
 the learning of Spanish priests, in general, is con- 
 fined to being able to say mass by rote in Latin, 
 which they scarcely understand, yet some few of 
 them are very learned. This was the case with 
 Salomon ; he instantly perceived of what religion 
 Fernandez was, and a conversation took place, in 
 that mixed and corrupt Hebrew which is spoken 
 by Jews of the present day. 
 
 " What/' said the priest, " does a child of 
 Israel do in the camp of Christians?" 
 
 Fernandez made no answer, not wishing to 
 confess, although he well knew the priest had 
 discovered it. The latter continued, 
 
 " Proceed with your prayers: fear me not; 
 I will not betray you to the bigoted soldiers, or 
 they will tear you in pieces. I come to you with 
 tidings of mercy." 
 
 " When did not a priest of that religion 
 which pretends to believe in the Pentateuch, and 
 yet dares to alter Jehovah's commandments, by
 
 254 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 suppressing the second* when did not such a 
 one talk of mercy ; yet when did he ever practise 
 it towards the suffering race of Israel? You 
 know my language ; you know my creed. Go to 
 your savage general, tell him that I am the 
 Curaoa merchant whom Christians name Fer- 
 nandez, but who is called Masha Ben Simon 
 when summoned to the desk of the synagogue to 
 hear that Law read which Jehovah gave to his 
 chosen people." 
 
 " No," replied the priest, " I will not betray 
 you. I pity the errors of the children of Israel, 
 but I will never harm any of them. I am, my- 
 self, a descendant of one of the Twelve Tribes." 
 
 " Why wearest thou the dress of the Christian 
 priest?" 
 
 " Because I am one." 
 
 " I hate a Spaniard ; I doubly detest a Spanish 
 priest : but, for thee, I at once loathe and despise 
 thee, because thou art an apostate. Be thou cut 
 off, and thy name erased from the book of life ! " 
 
 As Fernandez said this, he spat on the ground, 
 to shew his contempt. 
 
 " I was prepared for all this, when I told thee 
 
 * Catholics omit the second commandment, and divide the 
 tenth into two parts.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 255 
 
 I was a servant of the Christian altar. I have 
 chosen my creed ; remain, if God wills it, by 
 thine. But we lose time. Leagued with Pena, 
 I come to aid your escape, and that of your com- 
 panions." 
 
 " I will not be indebted for my life to an 
 apostate." 
 
 " Then remain to be slaughtered, and have 
 thy body devoured by wild beasts and obscene 
 birds, instead of being interred in ground conse- 
 crated by an Israelitish rabbi. Hast thou no sons 
 nor daughters, whose descendants, thou vainly 
 hopest, will be the Messiah that thou expectest?" 
 
 " I have, like Jephthah, an only daughter, 
 for whose dear sake will I even thankfully 
 accept of life at the hands of one who has for- 
 saken the religion of his fathers." 
 
 "Be it so : I forgive your reproaches, and 
 go to aid your escape. Awake your sleeping 
 companion, if you wish to save him. I go to 
 assist Pena and Ximenes in preparing for your 
 flight." 
 
 At this instant Maria Josefa entered, follow- 
 ed by an Indian of the Chyma tribe, together 
 with a negro, who bore a small basket of pro- 
 visions for our repast, and a heavy bunch of 
 keys, the same which confined my chains. 
 
 I must inform the reader, that Ximenes had
 
 256 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 sent to the sentinels a quantity of rum, which 
 was part of the cargo taken in the launch with 
 Fernandez. What with the spirits and the pack 
 of cards, they neither knew nor cared for what 
 took place in the Casa del Rey. 
 
 Maria Josefa saw the priest, but doubted if he 
 was fully acquainted with the plot for effecting 
 our escape. She threw herself on her knees, 
 clasped his, and exclaimed, 
 
 " Father, for the love of all the saints, betray 
 me not ; but suffer me to deliver this dear, dear 
 English youth ! Oh, do not refuse my prayer ; 
 or you will break niy heart ! " 
 
 " Blessings on thee, dearest child!" said the 
 priest, laying his hands on her head ; " truly 
 hast thou been called the angel of mercy. Hi- 
 therto thou hast saved men for the love of 
 Heaven ; but now, poor child, thou urgest thy 
 humane prayer for the love of your handsome 
 Englishman ! Nay, blush not, nor droop thy 
 beautiful head : Heaven, in its own good time, 
 will reward thy virtue, and, perhaps, bless thee 
 with thy lover. I go to aid your cousin in his 
 preparations for the flight of these three men. 
 God be with thee !" 
 
 The priest now left us : and, while Fernan- 
 dez awoke the Frenchman, whose name was 
 D'Aubert, and acquainted him with our prospect
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 257 
 
 of escape, Maria hastily informed me of the 
 means of our flight. 
 
 o 
 
 We ate a hurried, but hearty supper, which 
 consisted of Indian corn bread, South American 
 cheese, and turtles' eggs. We drank, between 
 U8, a bottle of tolerable sack. All this time, 
 Guiocolo was busy unlocking my chains, and 
 loosing the stocks ; while he placed in the middle 
 of the hall a large quantity of palm-leaves, which 
 had been brought into the Casa del Rey to new 
 thatch it. This it was designed to set fire to, 
 in order to cover our retreat, and account for 
 our disappearance. While this preparation was 
 going forward, a more serious task devolved on 
 Pefia, Ximenes, and Raymond, who willingly 
 joined in the plot, in order to requite my having 
 saved him at Barancos. 
 
 Supper being finished, Guiocolo, after care- 
 fully reconnoitring, told us that, by passing a 
 back-door which he opened, we might evade an 
 encounter with the sentinels. We cautiously stole 
 out, accompanied by Maria, and led by the In- 
 dian ; but we left the faithful negro, named 
 Pedro, to kindle the fire amongst the palm-leaves, 
 about an hour after our flight : this he was 
 punctual in doing. 
 
 When we got about six hundred yards from 
 the Casa del Rey, we were challenged by a
 
 258 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 drowsy sentinel. We gave the pass-word, of 
 which we were informed, and were allowed to 
 proceed. Twice, after this, were we challenged 
 by sentinels, and with the same result. 
 
 Maria Josefa, enveloped in a cloak, leaned 
 on my arm, and accompanied us. As soon as we 
 passed the out-posts of the camp I conversed 
 with my fair preserver. 
 
 I will not repeat all that took place between 
 us : let it suffice that, encouraged by her admis- 
 sion that I was not so indifferent as others she 
 had rescued from the Spaniards, I had the cruelty 
 to propose that she should fly with me. 
 
 " No," she said ; " that would be disgraceful 
 in a daughter of the house of Ximenes, and dis- 
 honourable to my cousin Antonio, to whom I 
 have not plighted my faith, but yet I promised 
 never to give my hand to another, until the con- 
 clusion of this unhappy war. Here I remain, to 
 fulfil a sacred duty, to which I am vowed ; that 
 is, fearlessly to use all my best endeavours in 
 order to soften the rigour of this cruel civil war. 
 My cousin has stipulated that you return not in 
 less than four years. If Heaven at the end of 
 that time should preserve us, and if you really 
 love Maria Josefa Ximenes, you will, doubtless, 
 find her somewhere in Venezuela : if, however, 
 at the end of five years I hear nothing of you, I
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 259 
 
 go to Cuba, and become the bride of Heaven. 
 Take this ring, dear Englishman : it is of value ; 
 but part not with it, unless you should be pressed 
 by necessity." 
 
 " Much sooner will I part with my life!" 
 
 I kissed her long, slender hand, as she gave 
 me the ring ; when, with the frankness of pure 
 and holy innocence, she offered me her cheek. 
 I pressed the trembling girl to my bosom : she 
 wept, prayed for my deliverance, and asked my 
 name. I told it, but regretted that I had no 
 writing-materials whereon to inscribe it. 
 
 " Warner Arundell ! " said she. " 1 shall ever 
 remember it for it is written here. I am wrong, 
 perhaps, so far to encourage an utter stranger ; 
 but the Virgin will not, I am sure, suffer poor 
 Maria Josefa to love one unworthy of her affec- 
 tion ! No, no, dear heart ! your honest features 
 tell me that the Mother of Heaven has not suf- 
 fered such an affliction to fall on me. But, hold ! 
 I had nearly forgotten. Here is a belt in which 
 are sewn twenty-two doubloons : these may serve 
 you, dearest Warner Arundell ! But see, Guiocolo 
 and your companions are impatient, and wait ; 
 therefore let us part. God bless and restore you 
 to me in happier times ! " 
 
 We again embraced ; and then, by a violent
 
 260 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 effort, we separated. I felt as though my heai't 
 was torn from my bosom, as she left me and 
 hastily walked towards the camp : and if my 
 companions had not returned and hurried me on, 
 I should have remained for some time rooted to 
 the spot. 
 
 We walked forward, at a round pace, for 
 about a mile, when we joined a party of five, 
 consisting of the padre Salomon, Colonel Ximenes, 
 Captain Raymond, Major Pena, and my old 
 friend Colonel Borero, who had captured me 
 that morning ; but who, for a small douceur given 
 by Raymond, under pretence of a loan, assisted 
 our escape. Four noble horses, well caparisoned, 
 and partly loaded, but without their bridles, were 
 feeding on a quantity of Indian corn meal. 
 
 " Let the horses feed," said Ximenes ; " we 
 have still half-an-hour before us ere the Casa Real 
 will be fired by Pedro." 
 
 He addressed me apart, while the Frenchman 
 entered into conversation with Pena, and Fer- 
 nandez talked to the priest, to whom he seemed 
 reconciled. 
 
 Ximenes informed me that Guiocolo would, 
 by a circuitous route known to few, conduct me 
 across the immense plains, rivers, forests, and 
 mountains, which lay between us and the River
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 261 
 
 Essequibo ; and that he had made every prepara- 
 tion for the occasion which time and circum- 
 stances would admit of. He enumerated all the 
 articles he had supplied us with : these consisted 
 of three horse-pistols ; an English fowling-piece ; 
 four pounds of powder ; a proportionate quantity 
 of shot ; a small bladder full of salt ; a quan- 
 tity of tasajo ; and four hammocks. In a port- 
 manteau, attached to my saddle, he placed three 
 shirts ; he gave us two long knives and an axe ; 
 while Guiocolo was furnished with two Indian 
 bows, and a quantity of poisoned arrows. Each 
 horse carried a small bag of Indian corn. After 
 enumerating these, the colonel said, 
 
 " Depart, in God's name, senor Inglese ; but 
 I fear you carry away the heart of one who is 
 dearer to me than my own soul. Would that 
 Maria Josefa had never seen you ! However, I 
 have promised to aid your escape, and I have 
 kept my word. Have I acted the part of a gene- 
 rous rival?" 
 
 I expressed my satisfaction at his honourable 
 conduct. 
 
 " Remember," said he, " your promise not to 
 return during four years." 
 
 I told him I would not break my word. 
 
 We shook each other cordially by the hand ;
 
 262 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 and, the horses having made an end of their pro- 
 vender, the Indian bridled them. While he was 
 doing this, Colonel Borero stepped up to me, and 
 apologised for not having the three doubloons 
 which I gave him in the morning to return to 
 me, because, he said, he had lost them at monte. 
 He produced a dirty pack of cards, and offered 
 to cut double or quits for the money. How he 
 was to pay if he lost, he did not say; I, 
 however, humoured him, and lost, which I was 
 glad of. 
 
 We all took a cordial leave of our deliverers. 
 Even Fernandez said to the priest, 
 
 " The God of Israel bless you ! We have 
 chosen different roads ; but I hope we shall meet 
 in Paradise." 
 
 By this time the Casa Real was fired. Pedro 
 had managed affairs so well, that the house was 
 in full blaze before the fire was discovered. Its 
 combustible materials burned so readily, that we 
 were, as I afterwards learned, supposed to have 
 perished in the flames. The fire illuminated the 
 night-clouds, and the sparks flew in all directions. 
 The church-bell at Alta Gracia rang an alarm, 
 and the drums, fifes, and bugles, called in vain 
 for the soldiers to extinguish the flames. 
 
 We heard these notes of alarm ; it was our
 
 THE ADVENTURES OP A CREOLE. 263 
 
 signal to mount our well-laden and noble horses, 
 
 o 
 
 and commence our arduous journey Guiocolo, 
 the Indian, leading the way. Our animals carried 
 us at a tremendous rate. In a few minutes we 
 were out of hearing of the drums, bells, and 
 bugles, of the Royalist camp, and were on our 
 v.'ay to Essequibo.
 
 2fi4 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " To traverse o'er 
 
 Plain, forest, river, man nor brute, 
 By dint of hoof, nor print of foot, 
 Lay in that wild luxuriant soil ; 
 No signs of travel, none of toil." 
 
 BVHON. 
 
 ALL night our guide rode before us, at the full 
 speed of our horses, shaping his way by the stars, 
 for road or track over the country there was none. 
 Neither D'Aubert nor Fernandez were first-rate 
 horsemen ; but the fear of death is an excellent 
 riding-master. It was about midnight when we 
 started, and, as day opened, we were, as I calcu- 
 late, about fifty miles from Aha Gracia, when 
 Guiocolo drew up his horse : we did the same. 
 He advised us to dismount, as the animals were 
 completely blown. Down we got, leading the 
 horses, to cool them, but walking as fast as we 
 could on our journey. We walked about four 
 miles, when we came to a broad but not deep 
 \
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 265 
 
 stream. I saw the propriety of the Indian's 
 advice. The animals were now cooled, and could 
 cross the river without injury. Guiocolo told us 
 to allow them to drink: we did so. The stream 
 was not out of the horses' depth. On the other 
 side of the river the Indian gave them a greater 
 quantity of corn than I conceived was prudent ; 
 but he said the horses were heavily laden, and 
 could better carry corn in their bellies than on 
 their backs. I do not think the admirers of the 
 English turf will agree to this mode of feeding ; 
 but it occasioned no apparent inconvenience. 
 We drank some water while the horses fed, and 
 each ate a small piece of aripa. 
 
 Again we mounted. At first we walked ; we 
 then gradually increased our pace to a quick 
 gallop, which we continued till about noon, when 
 we came to a thick forest, the branches of which 
 hung too low to allow us to ride. We dis- 
 mounted, and walked for about half-an-hour, 
 when we came to a pool of not the clearest water. 
 Here we bathed, and fed ourselves and our 
 horses. About three p. M. we again set out, 
 riding across a steep range of hills, until about 
 eight at night, when we came to the borders of 
 savanna land, through which ran a stream. 
 Our careful Indian now tethered our horses with 
 lazoes ; and we suspended our hammocks to low 
 
 VOL. II. N
 
 266 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 savanna trees, and slept in open air. We took 
 the precaution of making a good fire to frighten 
 away tigers and pumas, as well as to keep the 
 horses near us, in case any of them got loose ; for 
 those animals will keep instinctively near the 
 fire. So fatigued were we, that we all slept 
 soundly ; but, every subsequent night of our 
 journey, one always watched while the others 
 slept. 
 
 We enjoyed undisturbed repose for about 
 eight hours ; and, as day opened, we were awoke 
 by the notes of the pouie, or South American 
 turkey. Again were our horses fed with grain, 
 and watered. While the animals were eating, 
 Guiocolo brought down with his bow a large 
 pouie : off this we made a hasty breakfast ; and, 
 notwithstanding that it was killed with a poi- 
 soned arrow, it tasted deliciously. We perceived 
 a very fine tiger; but, on our shouting, he de- 
 camped, running with surprising grace. The 
 symmetry and beauty of these animals are as- 
 tonishing. Those who only behold them pent up 
 in cages can form no conception of their elegance 
 of form and colour. However, as they are apt to 
 give travellers rather ugly scratches in the great 
 savannas, they, after all, are better seen in the 
 Zoological Gardens than met with in the plains 
 of South America.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 267 
 
 The Columbians say the jaguar, or tiger, 
 mixes with the puma (South American lion), and 
 produces an extremely ferocious mongrel. I doubt 
 this, but record it as a mere report, which, how- 
 ever, is currently believed. 
 
 We rode until about noon, when some cocoa- 
 nut trees, planted in rows, informed us that we 
 were approaching a hato, or breeding farm. The 
 Indian threw off all his light clothing, save a 
 guiacou, in order to look like one of the un- 
 reclaimed savages. This he did to approach the 
 hato and reconnoitre, lest we might meet with 
 enemies at the farm. He returned in a few 
 minutes, telling us we might safely approach, as 
 there were not people enough to attack us. The 
 war had left but three boys and one woman in 
 the place. 
 
 We walked our horses to the large unfinished 
 house of the hato. The poor woman who pos- 
 sessed it was much alarmed at our appearance. 
 We soon found means of quieting her fears : this 
 done, her joy and hospitality seemed to know no 
 bounds. She gave us an excellent meal, re- 
 plenished our supply of aripa, Indian corn, and 
 tasajo ; she gave our horses, what is very com- 
 mon on hatoes, a pail of milk each with aripa 
 broken up in it. This is an excellent mode of
 
 268 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 feeding cattle intended for a long journey ; but I 
 do not expect it will be practised in England. 
 
 The old woman pressed us to stay that day. 
 To this we consented, it beino- the last house we 
 
 9 O 
 
 expected to enter, save two days' journey on, 
 where was a mission under Padre Rodrig;o, an 
 
 O 7 
 
 Andalusian Capuchin. 
 
 What a beautiful place is a South American 
 hato ! with its flocks of wild dark -bay horses, 
 each squadron led by its captain ; its immense 
 droves of horned cattle ; its general appearance 
 of plenty, content, and, I had almost said, hap- 
 piness : but happiness is not merely the absence 
 of misery ; it is a positive, not a negative en- 
 joyment. Man was not made to live in the 
 wild seclusion of a South American hato ; the 
 inhabitant of which, having little to think of, 
 seemed to think of nothing. Che poor woman 
 who owned the place appeared scarcely able to 
 command sufficient words, in her native language, 
 to express her limited ideas. She, however, was 
 most kind to us. We offered her money, some of 
 which I possessed, thanks to the generosity of my 
 angel of mercy ; but the woman would accept of 
 none. She, however, was most thankful for five 
 or six charges of powder, which we gave her. 
 She thought herself overpaid .
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 269 
 
 The next day we set out rather overloaded 
 with presents, from the hato ; but, conceiving 
 ourselves beyond danger, we went on at leisure. 
 We journied a great part of the day across a 
 savanna, without coming to a drop of water for 
 the horses, and had nothing to drink ourselves 
 but guarapa, which we took from the hato. 
 Towards evening we came to a wood, which, 
 like most of those in South America, abounded 
 in the wild pines which adhere to branches of 
 trees. Each of these contain, in the driest sea- 
 son, a quantity of pure and cool water. With 
 some labour, we collected a sufficient quantity 
 for our horses, and crossed the wood. At the 
 edge of this, we erected an ajupa, lit a fire, and 
 slept in our hammocks during the night ; each 
 watching about two hours in his turn, while the 
 rest slept. D'Aubert had a pinchbeck watch, 
 which served us to divide the night. This kept 
 pretty regular time, as it only lost about a quarter 
 of an hour out of every twenty-four ; but we easily 
 regulated it. The Indian guessed the time, 
 pretty accurately, by the stars. 
 
 We started at daylight the next morning, for 
 our abundance of provisions obviated the necessity 
 of our looking out for game. After a somewhat 
 fatiguing ride, we, in the evening, came to a 
 mission of the Puriagotoe Indians, under the
 
 270 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 direction of the Capuchin before mentioned. On 
 stating what was truth, in one sense, that we 
 came from the camp of the Royalists, we were 
 kindly treated. The Indian alcalde, or chief 
 officer, received us in great state, and turned 
 out a whole regiment of naked Indians to escort 
 us to the Casa del Rey, a kind of caravansary. 
 They provided a tolerable repast for us and our 
 horses. The Indian magistrate behaved with 
 great state and munificence, because D'Aubert 
 gave him the brass seal which was attached to 
 his watch. Our horses were well fed, and we 
 slept soundly, after having paid our respects to 
 the padre. 
 
 The next morning we viewed the mission, 
 which seemed an earthly Paradise. It was situ- 
 ated on the banks of a beautiful stream, which 
 was flung from a rock about six hundred feet in 
 height. This cascade looked like a falling stream 
 of molten silver. The land about the mission 
 was extremely fertile ; the houses, although 
 formed of slight materials, were built with regu- 
 larity ; all the necessaries of life, and many of 
 its luxuries, were abundant. The old padre was 
 in his eighty - seventh year. Poor man, his 
 extraordinarily long sojourn amongst the Indians 
 had nearly extinguished his mental faculties. Al- 
 though he was still able to attend to the old
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 271 
 
 routine of his clerical duties, he was absolutely 
 ignorant of the war which was desolating a part 
 of the very province in which he lived. Some 
 of the Indians told him of this ; but he would not 
 believe that the people of South America could 
 ever be so impious as to talk seriously of warring 
 on the King of Spain. We, of course, did not 
 broach the subject : it was quite enough for him 
 to know that we were on our journey across 
 Spanish Guiana to Essequibo. He seemed not 
 to like to talk of the news of the day, but asked 
 us if it was true that the French had decapitated 
 Louis the Sixteenth ? On our answering in the 
 affirmative, he said, " Holy Virgin! what will 
 they do next ? " 
 
 It being one of the numerous fetes of the 
 Spanish calendar, the naked alcalde requested 
 that we would stop and spend the day at the 
 mission. We hesitated at this ; but, at the par- 
 ticular request of Fernandez, we remained. I 
 thought I observed that he seemed more devout 
 that day than any other. 
 
 We exchanged a few charges of powder and 
 shot for as many turtle-eggs, prepared in a mass, 
 smoked deer, dried fish, and cassada bread, as 
 we could conveniently take with us ; and the 
 alcalde ordered four Indians to carry a part of 
 our luggage over a mountain which we had to
 
 272 WARNER ARUN DELL: 
 
 cross, but which could not be ridden over. The 
 second morning after our arrival, we mounted 
 our horses and set forward at a walk, with four 
 Indians on foot. We did not halt until we 
 reached the foot of a steep and rocky mountain, 
 which the Pariagotoe Indians called Guiago. 
 After partaking of a temperate meal, and water- 
 ing our horses, we commenced climbing this steep 
 ascent on foot, the Indians leading our horses. 
 We were soon out of breath, and were forced to 
 pause and hold on by branches of dwarf trees, 
 which sent their roots into the crevices of the 
 rocks, and appeared to vegetate with very little 
 assistance from the earth. All the rest of the 
 day, and long after the sun had set, we continued 
 our toilsome ascent. About nine at night we 
 arrived at a place where the horses could stand 
 at ease," and where we found the remains of an 
 Indian hut. Here we slung our hammocks, and, 
 worn with fatigue, we slept soundly ; but, to- 
 wards morning, we found the weather so cold, 
 owing to our elevated situation, that we were 
 constrained to warm ourselves at the fire which, 
 as usual, was lighted to keep off tigers, as they 
 abounded in these mountains. 
 
 At daylight we commenced our descent. 
 This was less fatiguing, but far more dangerous, 
 than our ascent. Repeatedly we slung ourselves,
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 273 
 
 by branches of dwarf trees, down rocks and across 
 chasms. How the animals passed these obstacles 
 is astonishing, but they had the agility and security 
 of foot of goats. We crossed a small stream of 
 water, in which we bathed the horses ; and which, 
 we were told, became one of the many mighty 
 tributary rivers of the Oronoco. We rested on 
 the borders of this stream during the night, and 
 the next day came to a most magnificent sa- 
 vanna, but one that was only inhabited by pumas, 
 tigers, serpents, and wandering Indians, equally 
 wild. Here our pedestrian fellow-travellers pro- 
 posed to leave us, but Guiocolo entreated them to 
 proceed as far as a grove and stream which lay 
 about three leagues and a half further, where 
 we intended to encamp, as he much feared being 
 attacked by Caraibes. The Pariagotoes demurred 
 at this, until I offered them ten charges of powder 
 to come with us. This munificent offer they could 
 not resist. We mounted our horses, and the In- 
 dians bounded forward with such activity that they 
 kept our animals in a smart trot. Of course, we 
 soon arrived at this grove, but the horses would 
 not enter it : they all smelt the air, laid their 
 ears back, bounded in all directions, but no efforts 
 of ours could make them advance. 
 
 "There must be a tiger there," said Guiocolo. 
 
 Instantly the Indians threw off their guias, 
 
 N2
 
 274 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 and each fitted an arrow to his bow and ad- 
 vanced. I left my horse in charge of D'Aubert ; 
 and, having loaded my fowling-piece, proceeded 
 with them. As we entered the grove, a deep 
 growl told us we were near our quarry. A large 
 and lank tigress appeared, with a cub in her 
 mouth. One of the Indians shot his arrow and 
 wounded her ; two others missed ; and Guiocolo 
 struck her in the back with a poisoned arrow: 
 but still she was making off. I took aim, and 
 sent a bullet right into her brain : this finished 
 her career. On looking round, we found the cub 
 she carried, as a cat carries her kittens, and 
 another: these appeared scarcely two days old. 
 The fear of losing her young hindered her flight, 
 and cost her her life. The Indians said they 
 would endeavour to keep the little creatures 
 alive, and bring them to the mission as a present 
 to the padre. The tigress must have lately srfruck 
 down a deer, for the greater part of its carcass 
 we found near her. It had been killed within an 
 hour or two, so that we dressed and ate it. The 
 Indians preferred the tigress, which, they said, 
 was better food. Strange to say, they preferred 
 the flesh of the jaguar to beef or venison. It 
 grieved Fernandez to partake of food not slaugh- 
 tered after his own manner; however, he had but 
 the choice of eating it or starving.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 275 
 
 We made our ajupa that night in the grove : 
 the next morning we parted with the Pariagotoe 
 Indians. 
 
 We fed our horses well ; for a clear ride of one 
 hundred miles lay before us, through a country 
 inhabited by wild tribes. We started about seven 
 o'clock, according to D'Aubert's pinchbeck chro- 
 nometer. We rode all that day, and half the 
 night, ere we came to a place where we could 
 conveniently bait our horses. When we did 
 arrive, we had difficulty in keeping the animals 
 from drinking too much. 
 
 Unfortunately, we had no kind of instruments 
 with us, so as to enable our taking any kind of 
 observation : we had not even a compass. This 
 I regret the more, because the most fertile and 
 noble country lying between the Upper Orinoco 
 and the Essequibo is entirely a terra incognita. 
 Pretended maps of it exist, but, to my own know- 
 ledge, they are most inaccurate placing moun- 
 tains, rivers, and lakes, where plains only exist ; 
 and vice versa. 
 
 Our route was circuitous and wandering in the 
 extreme ; sometimes we went for two days with- 
 out advancing as many miles. This was occa- 
 sioned by some inaccessible mountain or other 
 obstacle lying across our path : hence, the actual 
 distance we went was very disproportionate to
 
 276 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 the progress we made in a direct line. Often we 
 took immense circuits in order to avoid hostile 
 arid savage Indians, of whom Guiocolo stood in 
 great dread ; for this man, although faithful to 
 his undertaking in an extraordinary degree, and 
 courageous when opposed to animals, was, I sus- 
 pect, cowardly when encountering men. His 
 timidity, I surmise, cost us many a day's journey. 
 The sixth day after we left the mission, our 
 Indian guide advised a halt, as our horses wanted 
 rest telling us, that about five leagues onward 
 lay a river, which he called the Matagatoe.* 
 Fernandez dissented from the opinion of Guiocolo ; 
 and said that, although our animals were weary, 
 we were not, and advised us to dismount and 
 lead our horses. I was astonished at this, because 
 Fernandez was the oldest of the party ; in fact, 
 he had long passed the prime of life. We, how- 
 ever, agreed to follow his advice; and, after a 
 long and tedious walk, we came to the banks of 
 a noble river. Here we rested, previous to our 
 crossing it. Scarcely had we time to repose, ere 
 the Indian regarded the stream with some alarm, 
 and said we must cross instantly, or we should 
 be detained for several days. The fact was, he 
 
 * Every Indian tribe calls rivers, mountains, &c. by a different 
 name.
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 277 
 
 noticed, by the visible rising of the river, that a 
 flood of rain must have fallen in the mountains, 
 and that the banks would be soon overflowed ; 
 in which case, we might be detained for weeks 
 before we could cross it for we now might daily 
 expect the rainy season. It was fortunate that we 
 had followed the advice of Fernandez in not halt- 
 ing, as the Indian proposed, although he did not 
 foresee the result of his good counsel. We crossed 
 the river, swimming our horses, and holding on 
 by their manes. So strong was the current setting 
 in, that we were carried down the stream nearly 
 half-a-league before we were able to cross it ; 
 and then, with great difficulty, we mounted the 
 steep bank. Almost all the rivers of South 
 America have a shallow bank on one side, and 
 an abrupt one on the other. 
 
 We erected our leafy tent on the banks of the 
 Matagatoe before sunset ; and the next day, men, 
 as well as horses, were so completely fatigued, 
 that we were constrained to halt. We could not 
 do this in a better situation. We had wood, water, 
 forage, fish, and venison, at our command ; and 
 such abundance of the terekay, or small river 
 turtle, and its delicious eggs, at our very feet, 
 that it would be worth while for a London alder- 
 man to take a journey to the river Matagatoe for 
 the purpose of enjoying it: but (shocking to
 
 278 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 relate ! ) we were obliged to broil all we ate, having 
 no cooking utensils. 
 
 The first evening after we passed the Mata- 
 gatoe, I observed that Fernandez became more 
 than usually devout. This I at first attributed to 
 his being thankful for having safely crossed the 
 river, as he could not swim ; but, although I 
 could not understand the language in which he 
 prayed, for this he always did audibly, yet I 
 thought I could distinguish the word Sabbath in 
 Hebrew. It now struck me that it was the eve 
 of the Jewish Sabbath. This at once accounted 
 for his anxiety to rest the last week at the mission, 
 and to push on this day, in order that he might 
 rest on the morrow. When he had finished his 
 devotion, I questioned him on this subject, and I 
 found my conjecture correct. 
 
 When I recollected that for months I had never 
 known one day from another since I joined the 
 insurgents, nor the days of the week, I stood 
 rebuked in the presence of the pious Jew. I told 
 him so, and praised him for recollecting, amid all 
 his toil and wanderings, the ordinances of his 
 religion. 
 
 " Why," said he, " Warner, should we forget 
 the service of God ? Has He forgotten us, when, 
 in six days, He created this globe ; the sun, that 
 animates all nature ; the moon, whose silvery
 
 THE ADVENTURES OP A CREOLE. 279 
 
 light now glitters on the swelling river ; the stars, 
 which gem yon blue vault ? When He had breathed 
 the breath of life into the nostrils of our first 
 parents, whom he created after his own image, 
 He rested the seventh day, and consecrated it. 
 The river Sabathjon, therefore, flows during 
 six days, and, on the seventh, its waters are 
 stationary ; the very damned in hell have rest 
 on the Sabbath. Why, amid this desert, the 
 dwelling-place of the tiger and the cannibal, 
 should we forget our Creator, seeing He abandons 
 us not? When I repose beneath our wretched 
 ajupa, I close my eyes in sleep with the full 
 assurance that the archangel Michael stands 
 at my right hand ; at my left watches Gabriel ; 
 Raphael and Uriel are stationed at my feet; 
 while, above me, hovers the spirit of the living 
 God. This yon poor atheist would call the dream 
 of enthusiasm ; but it is a dream I would not like 
 to be awoke from. Kneel, young man ; praise 
 the God you worship, for His having delivered 
 you. Kneel, Warner, and supplicate a blessing 
 on the head of one whose name 1 often hear you 
 murmur in your sleep ; implore a benediction on 
 Maria Josefa, the angel of mercy. I like not 
 the appellation of angel to be given to a mortal ; 
 but, if ever daughter of Eve deserves it, she does.
 
 280 WARNER ARUNDELL : 
 
 Doubt not, you will meet again in happy times, 
 when the maiden shall be as a crown unto you." 
 
 For the first time for some years I shed a 
 devout tear : I knelt, and prayed fervently. 
 D'Aubert knew not what Fernandez said to me ; 
 for he understood scarce a syllable of English, in 
 which language we conversed. It is singular, 
 that of four persons thus brought by chance to- 
 gether, one was a Jew ; the other, although bap- 
 tised, was a mere heathen ; another was, or pre- 
 tended to be, an atheist ; and, finally, I was an 
 unworthy Christian. 
 
 " Warner," said Fernandez to me the next 
 evening, " I think I shall convert you to Christ- 
 ianity, although a Jew myself. Be advised : let 
 us not proceed to-morrow, but keep your Sabbath. 
 We are here surrounded by rude abundance, and 
 the horses will be better for another day's rest. 
 Remain here to-morrow, and I will collect tor- 
 toises and eggs, and stand cook for the party." 
 
 I mentioned this to D'Aubert, and he con- 
 sented to remain. He cared not for religion, but 
 was too polite to ridicule it before Fernandez and 
 myself. He amused himself in shooting, and 
 singing little French songs. 
 
 Previous to this remarkable journey across 
 Guiana, Fernandez was a martyr to gout and
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 281 
 
 rheumatism : but the exertion he was obliged to 
 use, and to which he cheerfully submitted ; the 
 rude fare he was necessitated to partake of; the 
 frequent immersions he underwent; and his sleep- 
 ing continually with no other shelter than an 
 ajupa, which is merely a few leaves to keep off 
 the dew, all combined to cure him completely of 
 his chronic diseases. 
 
 Twenty-five days after we left Alta Gracia, we 
 came to an encampment of comparatively civilised 
 Caraibes, called Buck Indians : they spoke no 
 Spanish, but a little broken English. These con- 
 ducted us to a muddy-looking, partly natural and 
 partly artificial, canal, which leads to the Esse- 
 quibo. We agreed to give our pistols and the re- 
 mains of our powder to them, if they would convey 
 us to the British settlements. This they consented 
 to do; and we embarked in a large canoe, having 
 given our horses and fowling-piece to the faithful 
 guide, Guiocolo, who, I afterwards learnt, dis- 
 posed of the fine animals for a trifle, and returned 
 by himself to Alta Gracia. 
 
 During the journey I was by far the most 
 active of the party, not excepting the Indian; but 
 the confinement in a canoe for several days in a 
 cramped posture, together with the miasma from 
 the swamps of old Dutch (now British) Guiana,
 
 282 WARNE-R ARUNDELL : 
 
 conjoined to give rne a very bad intermittent 
 fever.' This increased in violence until we arrived 
 at Essequibo. I hailed with joy the appearance 
 of-the British flag. 
 
 A boat, with several officers, came alongside 
 of our canoe. These gentlemen were astonished 
 at our wild appearance. This was scarcely to be 
 wondered at. Our clothes hung together in 
 tatters ; our toes were peeping through our shoes 
 as though they were looking out for fresh lodg- 
 ings ; our hair had not had the benefit of a comb 
 for some weeks ; and we had each a month's 
 beard on our faces. On Fernandez informing the 
 officers that we had escaped from the Royalists, 
 and had journeyed from Alta Gracia, they be- 
 haved most humanely to us. These gentlemen had 
 come in a brig, on what is called a maroon party, 
 i. e. a party of pleasure. They sent for a boat, 
 and had us removed on board the brig. Each 
 underwent shaving from the hands of a military 
 barber. After this, the kind officers had a meet- 
 ing, and each agreed to furnish us with some 
 articles of clothing; hence, we were enabled to 
 enjoy the luxury of clean linen, and appear on 
 deck in decent attire. 
 
 A military surgeon being of the party, I re- 
 quested his advice as to my malady ; he immedi-
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A CREOLE. 283 
 
 ately ordered me into a berth, and gave me a 
 glass of hot sangaree. In short, we were most 
 kindly entertained by these gentlemen; and, the 
 next day, we safely landed in the town of St. 
 George's, Demerara. 
 
 END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY JAMES MOVES, CASTLE STREET, 
 
 LEICESTER SQUARE.
 
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