* *- ^ „■<•' '„■ |a '*■ >. l -. ~\ y-«L«d *> I "t-«aB8-Hk-^|j/ /;£/ SKETCHES OF FOREIGN TRAVEL AND LIFE AT SEA; INCLUDING A CRUISE ON BOARD A MAN-OF-WAR, AS ALSO A VISIT TO SPAIN, PORTUGAL, THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, ITALY, SICILY, MALTA, THE IONIAN ISLANDS, CONTINENTAL GREECE, LIBERIA, AND BRAZIL; AND A TREATISE ON THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. IiY THE Rev. CHARLES ROCKWELL, LATE OF THE UNITED STATES NAVV. "It is a strange thing that in sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries, but in land travel wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it ; as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation: let diaries therefore be brought into use." — Loud Bacon. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY TAPPAN AND DENNET. NEW YORK : — D. APPLETON & CO. AND WILEY & PUTNAM. PHILADELPHIA: — CAREY S'-» than I expected ; even the administration of High Mass, though performed by a Cardinal, fell far short of what 1 had antici- pated. There is a fidgeting about the whole ceremony, a per- petual dressing and undressing, which seems intended to make it more elaborate and complex, but which destroys the gran- deur and simplicity so appropriate to an act of solemn devotion. " In the churches which we visited," he adds, " very few persons seemed to attend the service, and these few were aged men and women. In Paris the churches are with few exceptions neglected and empty." His description of the Catholic church in France, previous to the Revolution, would apply, almost word for word, to the condition of the same church in Spain at the present hour. He says : " The system of the Gallic church had been thor- oughly undermined before its fall. Its constitution had been irretrievably shattered ; the whole head was sick, and the whole heart was faint. Doctrines of infidelity, everywhere general among the higher ranks, were professed by none with more publicity than by the superior orders of the clergy; and, respecting moral profligacy, it might be said of the church of France, as of Ilion, — ' Intra mcsnia peccatur et extra.' It is no wonder that, in a system so perverted, neither the real worth of many of the clergy, nor the enthusiastic zeal of others, was able to make a stand against the tide of popu- lar odium skilfully directed against the church and its minis- ters by the reigning demagogues. The superstitious doctrines of the church were also among the chief causes of her down- fall. The sarcasms and sneers justified, at least in our heret- ical eyes, by some part of the Catholic doctrines, opened the way for universal contempt of the Christian system. Infidel- ity, in attacking the absurd claims and extravagant doctrines of the church of Rome, had artfully availed herself of those abuses, as if they had been redly a part of the Christian religion ; and they, whose credulity could not digest the > grossest articles of the Papist creed, thought themselves en- titled to conclude in general against religion itself, from the abuses engrafted upon it by ignorance and priestcraft. Thus were they led to reject Christianity itself, along with the corruptions of the Romish church, and to become absolute infidels, instead of reformed Christians." The history thus given by Scott of the Catholic faith, as 24 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. the mother of infidelity in France, correctly represents the natural tendency of that gigantic system of absurdity and error wherever it exists. The influence of the church of Rome, where she has reigned in her might, has been most disastrous, in that she has not only brought down upon her- self the execrations of mankind, but has involved in unde- served reproach purer and more scriptural forms of faith and worship. When on our way from Marseilles to Naples, after our first visit to the former place, while passing between Corsica and Elba, we met with a violent gale, which during the night was attended with the most vivid lightning and terrific thun- der I had ever witnessed. Our rigging was strained by the violence of the wind, so as to excite some anxiety as to one of the masts. Once our sails were taken aback, placing us in momentary peril, and twice, within a short time, was our ship struck with lightning, which stunned some of the men, but passed off with a slight explosion, as it reached the water by way of the chain conductor suspended from the mainmast. It is not altogether pleasant to be enveloped in an atmosphere of vivid darting flame, while beneath you is a magazine of powder, liable at any moment to be ignited, and blow into a thousand atoms the ship in which you sail. Still, one becomes so familiar with such exposure, that it scarce detracts at all from those feelings of high-wrought and rapturous sublimity and awe, which fire and absorb the soul when witnessing a storm at sea. The lines which follow were written during the tempest described above : The dark-robed tempest, in its wrath, Now veils the evening sky, — Ploughs through the deep a foaming path, And rolls her waves on high. How vivid is the lightning's flash ! How loud the tempest's roar ! While boldly on the night-winds dash, And stormy torrents pour. The noble bark now proudly rides Along the heaving main, Anon she mounts the swelling tides, Then low descends again. Dash on, dash on, thou rolling sea, And higher toss thy waves; J love thy wild-toned melody, When loud the tempest raves. TOULON AND MARSEILLES. 25 Ay, brighter be the lightning's glow, More loud the thunder's peal, And fiercer let the night-winds blow, Till earth's firm pillars reel. For, rising on the tempest's wing, The spirit bold and free, Exults to hear the wild winds sing Their song of liberty. VOL. II. 26 FOREIGN TRAVEL. AND LIFE AT SEA. CHAPTER XVI. GENOA, LEGHORN, AND FLORENCE. History of Genoa. — Her Naval Power. — Population. — Walls. — Commerce. — Palaces. — Paintings. — Marquis di Negro. — Richard Cromwell. — Lord Byron. — Churches. — Relics. — University. — Libraries. — Public Schools and Academies. — Deaf and Dumb. — Hospitals. — City Government. — Convents. — Ladies of Genoa. — Poetry. — Leghorn. — Population. — Jews. — Lazaretto. — English Chapel, and Burying Ground. — Grave of Smollet. — Commerce. — Journey to Florence. — Vale of the Arno. — Industry and Thrift. — Situation of Florence. — Milton. — Vallombrosa. — Cathe- dral. — Conspiracy. — Campanile. — Baptistery. — Church of Santa Croce. — Monument of Michael Angelo ; of Dante; of Alfieri ; of Machiavelli ; of Galileo; of Boccacio. — Church of St. Lorenzo. — Savonarola. — The Jesuits. — The Inquisition; its Victims; its Suppression. It was early in the month of June that we came to an- chor in the harbour of Genoa. The mists of the morning were just rising from off the city, and, rolling slowly up the sides of the Apennines, disclosed to our view a scene of pe- culiar magnificence and beauty. "Genoa the Superb," — "The City of Palaces." lay before us, everywhere adorned with those splendid structures, the venerable and time- honored monuments of days of republican glory, when " her merchants were princes," and when, as empress of the sea, all the richly varied products of the eastern World were hers. Above, and around the city, in wild and romantic beauty, rose the Apennines, clothed with the richest verdure, their summits crowned with ramparts, and their sides adorned with terraces, sustaining numerous hanging gardens, in the midst of which were neatly whitewashed cottages, present- ing a striking and beautiful contrast to the deep green foliage of the orange and the vine, by which they were wellnigh concealed. And here I scarce need say, that the first view of a city, which, like Genoa, has of itself been a nation holding for centuries a conspicuous rank among those powers, which, by their commercial enterprise and their arms, have exerted an important influence on the destinies of mankind; — the first view of such a place recalls to the memory, and gives a local habitation and distinct identity, to a thousand historical facts GENOA, LEGHORN, AND FLORENCE. 27 and traditions, which before were loosely floating in the mind. Genoa, as a learned Archbishop claims, was founded more than seven centuries before Rome, was rebuilt in the time of Abraham, and again restored 1246 years before Christ. Hav- ing been destroyed by Mago, the Carthaginian General, the brother of Hannibal, in the year of Rome 524, it was rebuilt by order of the Roman Senate in 545. Favored, as Catho- lic tradition affirms, by the preaching of Peter, Paul, and Bar- nabas, Christianity was introduced there thirty-five years after the death of Christ, and continued to flourish until the de- cline and fall of the Roman Empire, when it was successive- ly overrun by the Burgundians under Pendebaud, the Goths, in the time of Theodoric the Great, and the Lombards under their Kings, Alboin in the sixth, and Rotharis in the seventh century, by the latter of whom it was entirely destroyed. Again was this devoted city rebuilt by Charlemagne, when he delivered Italy from the yoke of the Lombards, and continued to increase until, in the tenth century, it was sud- denly seized by the Saracens and almost entirely destroyed, while most of the inhabitants were absent from the city. Returning, however, they deeply avenged the wrongs they had suffered with the blood of their enemies, and the city, rising again like Phoenix from her ashes, became more pros- perous and flourishing than ever before. From this time forward, the history of Genoa was identified with that of Europe, and the East. Her hardy mariners, in connexion with those of the little republic of Pisa, wrested Sardinia and the Balearic isles from the dominion of the Saracens, and established colonies of their own there. At the close of the eleventh century, when the Crusades commenced. Venice, Genoa, and Pisa had more vessels on the Mediterranean than all Christendom besides, and the Genoese Admiral Embriaco, commanded the fleet which sailed for the conquest of Jeru- salem. Thus did each of these republics, by their zeal in this holy war, secure to themselves important possessions, 1 and great and lasting commercial advantages in the East. In a war between Genoa and Pisa in 12S4, although the Pisans, in different engagements, brought into action 30, > .""3 a * 3 60, and finally more than 100 galleys, yet they were con- stantly opposed by the Genoese with a superior fleet, and, in the last engagement, seven of the Pisan vessels were sunk, and twenty-eight taken ; 5,000 citizens perished in the bat- 28 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. tie, and 11,000 carried away captive to Genoa. Thus was the maritime power of Pisa ruined, and Genoa reigned su- preme on the seas which wash the western coast of Italy. In 1293, a terrible war of seven years' continuance broke out between Genoa and Venice, and, in a final engagement near the island of Corfu, in 1298, the Genoese burnt 66 of the Venetian galleys, took 18, together with 7,000 prison- ers and carried them to Genoa, suffering only twelve vessels to escape. In the beginning of the fourteenth century, Ge- noa had flourishing military and mercantile colonies at St. Jean d'Acre, on the coast of Syria, at Pera, opposite Con- stantinople, and at Caffa, on the Black Sea, besides possess- ing Chios and several other islands in the Archipelago. Caf- fa and Pera, almost equalled in wealth and magnificence Con- stantinople itself, and the Genoese, engaging in a quarrel with the emperor Cantacuzene, besieged his capital and burnt his fleet. After this, in 1352, an alliance was formed against Genoa, composed of the Greek Emperor, the Venetians, and Peter the Fourth, King of Aragon, in Spain. The allies, with seventy-eight galleys, met their enemy with only sixty- four, but night and a severe storm coming on during the battle, the Genoese were left masters of the field. In 1378, the Genoese having previously conquered the island of Cyprus, a war broke out between them and the Venetians, during which Venice was closely besieged and wellnigh taken. I will not dwell upon the glory of Genoa when she was the leading maritime power in the world; her frequent subsequent reverses and changes of fortune when successively conquered by the Germans, the Austrians, and the French, and the peculiar interest which we as Americans feel in the land where Columbus was born. Suffice it to say, then, in conclusion, that Genoa, after being conquered by Bonaparte, was known for a time as the Ligurian Republic, then was annexed to France, and finally became a part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, a condition in which it still exists. We should not in this case have lingered thus long among the records of by-gone ages, were it not that the natural scenery and the monuments of national glory which we meet with in ancient and time-honored lands, owe most of the* excitement which they awaken in the mind of the traveller, to the deep and hallowed interest which the history of the past casts over them. Genoa now contains about 90,000 inhabitants, and is sur- GENOA, LEGHORN, AND FLORENCE. 29 rounded by a double wall, or rampart. One of these encloses the town only, and is about six miles in circumference. The other extends along the summit of the hills which command the city, and its whole length is thirteen miles. The naval force of the kino- of Sardinia is small, but as his dominions on the continent are regarded as the key to the south of Italy, in case of any invasion from the north, it is therefore the policy of the Holy Alliance that he should have a power- ful army. The number of his troops at present, is 45,000. The commerce of Genoa has been greatly benefited by what is called the Port Franc, or free port, consisting of eight larce store houses near the water, in which merchants may put their goods and sell or reship them without paying any duty. But eight or ten vessels from the United States visit Genoa annually, and these are often from the East Indies, with pepper and other productions from that part of the world. The Genoese have much commerce with South America and other regions, and the Sardinian Consul-General at Gibraltar informed me, that 200 or 300 of his national vessels put in there annually. Near the Port Franc is the Custom-house, above which is the apartment where were formerly the treasures of the famous Bank of St. George. This edifice was built, in part, of stones which were taken from a castle, once belonging to the Vene- tians, at Constantinople, but presented by the Greek emperor to the Genoese, who destroyed it to avenge some insult which they had received from the Venetians, and transported a por- tion of the stones of which it was built, as a trophy, to Genoa. Over the principal door of the custom-house is a portion of a larire iron chain, with which the Pisans closed their port in 1290, but which was broken by the Genoese, and borne away by them in triumph, as a trophy. The most striking peculiarity of Genoa, however, are its splendid palaces, the monuments of an age when most of the noble families amassed for themselves vast fortunes by their extensive commercial transactions in the East. Of these there are forty or more, most of which are on the three prin- cipal streets of the city. They are from two to four stories high, in some cases adorned with fine terraces, covered with orange trees and other shrubbery, and presenting in their structure a great variety of rich and beautiful architecture. Taken in connexion with the hospitals and other magnificent public buildings which adorn the place, they have justly given 3* 30 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. to Genoa the title of the " City of Palaces," and very naturally suggested to Madame de Stael the remark, that the city seemed to have been built for a congress of kings. In several of these palaces are large collections of paintings, many of which are by the first painters of Italy and of other countries. In the Brignole palace, for example, there are 200 paint- ings, occupying 21 rooms. Of these 6 or 8 are landscapes, and most of the others are subjects taken from the Scriptures, from the history of the Catholic church, or from "Greek and Roman history, and poetry. And here I would remark, that while it is doubtless true that many religious subjects furnish the noblest excitements, and the finest fields of effort for the skill aiid genius of the painter, still, in examining extensively the works of art which are met with in Europe, one is often pained in witnessing the influence of the church of Rome, in limiting the noblest artists as to the choice of their subjects, as also in marring, by monkish conceits and childish super- stitions, the most splendid productions of art. As examples of this, we may refer to the Transfiguration, that master-piece of Raphael, the unity of which is wholly destroyed by a side group, introduced directly against his own will, by the direc- tion of some priestly advisers; as also to a painting of the same artist, now in the Escurial, in Spain, in which are re- presented Christ and the Virgin, with St. Jerome, in the dress of a cardinal, reading the Bible to them, while young Tobit is led forward by the angel Raphael to present a fish to them. And all this, though Tobit lived long before Christ, and Je- rome 400 years after our Saviour's death, and yet centuries previous to the existence of such a class of ecclesiastics as cardinals. The idea of clothing the worthy saint in such a dress, however, is by no means a peculiar one, for often, in Catholic paintings, are the apostles dressed like monks or friars, that thus the ignorant may be led to believe that they really belonged to these clerical orders. Of the palaces referred to above, one of the most interest- ing is that formerly occupied by Andrea Doria, where he entertained the Emperor Charles the Fifth, and where, too, in later times, Napoleon took up his quarters. This palace, which is GOO feet in length, is on the seashore, without the inner wall of the city, and directly at the base of the Apen- nines. In the pleasure-grounds, on the side of the mountain above the palace, is a colossal statue of Jupiter, with a long inscription in honor of a doer presented to Andrea Doria by the Emperor Charles the Fifth. GENOA, LEGHORN, AND FLORENCE. 31 The Serra palace has two rooms of great splendor, one of which has been styled the Palace of the Sun. This apart- ment, though not large, is said to have cost nearly $ 200,000, and is altogether unequalled in the richness of its tapestry, chandeliers, and other furniture. The walls are composed entirely of vast mirrors, multiplying a thousand times every object and person in the room, except where they are divided by a succession of fluted Corinthian columns, of Parian marble, embossed with solid gold. Nothing can be more picturesque and beautiful than the palace, garden, and pleasure-grounds of the Marquis di Negro, occupying a woody eminence of the Apennines, with a grotto and cascade, and an observatory, overlooking the city and har- bour. The owner of this delightful retreat has spent ten years of his life in foreign travel, and by thus being a stranger in strange lands, has learned by his own experience the value of that genuine politeness, and that kind attention to strangers, of which he himself is so striking and worthy a model. We had the pleasure of a friendly visit from him on board our ship, as well as of sharing his hospitality at his beautiful city residence on shore. " To the Memory of Washington," is the inscrip- tion on an arch in his pleasure-grounds, and he preserves with peculiar interest the autograph of our countryman, Irving, which was inscribed there during the absence of the owner. A learned French traveller, after describing the beautiful palace of the Marquis, and the genuine politeness of its lord, says, that it has been visited by the Pope, the Emperor of Austria, and the kings of Sardinia and Naples, being worthy of such honors, less from its delightful situation, its library, and its exotic plants, than from the talents and char- acter of its amiable possessor, who is a passionate devotee of the fine arts, a distinguished improvisateur, and the author of a religious poem which is held in high estimation. On the side of the Apennines is a yellow palace, which is said to have been built and occupied by Richard Cromwell, son of the Protector, after he left England. On the hill of Albano, by the wild and rocky banks of the Bisagno, is the Salizzi Palace, which, from its beautiful and romantic situa- tion, is commonly called " The Paradise." It was occupied by Lord Byron during the last nine months previous to his departure for Greece, and such was his attachment to it, that having been driven back again to Genoa by a storm, after first leaving, he went to visit the palace, in company with the 32 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. Count Gamba alone. " His conversation," says the Count, " took a melancholy turn. He dwelt much on his past life, and on the uncertainty of the future. ' Where,' said he, ' shall I be in one year?' That," adds his friend, " was a sad prediction ; for the same day of the same month of the follow- ing year, he descended the tomb of his ancestors." Of the forty churches in Genoa, there are several which have some pretensions to elegance and splendor in the style of their architecture, as also in their paintings, and other internal ornaments. The cathedral or church of St. Lorenzo, is about 3D0 feet long and 100 broad, with a mosaic pavement, and covered on the outside with alternate stripes of black and white marble. Amon white calcareous freestone, covered extensively with an arti- ficial soil, which is kept in its place by means of walled ter- races. This soil has been obtained in part from the valleys where it was formed from the decomposition of the rocks around, and in some cases, it has been imported from Sicily. The rock of the island, though so soft as to be easily cut into blocks for building, and carved at a small expense into a great 112 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. variety of beautiful urns, vases, and other ornamental articles for exportation, and, as it is claimed, imparting moisture to the plants which grow upon it, yet, on exposure to the air for a length of time, it becomes so hard as to form a valuable and durable building material. The terraces rise one above another, without any regular form, regard being had only to the direction of the declivities on which they are built, and to properly securing the soil from being washed away by vio- lent torrents of rain. In preparing it for cultivation, the upper and hardened surface of the rock is first removed, and the larger fragments being placed in a layer at the bottom, the smaller next above, and the finest at the top, as in the case of Macadamized roads, a bed of soil and manure about a foot in depth is spread over these stones, and then the whole is ready for planting. The products of the island are wheat, barley, cotton in considerable quantities, fine figs, and the delicious Sicily or blood orange, produced by engrafting the bud of the common orange upon the pomegranate tree. I also visited, in the centre of the island, a silk manufactory, enclos- ed in a fertile and delightful valley, watered by a copious fountain, and shaded by the rich and luxuriant foliage of overhanging trees. Malta was anciently called Melita, from a Greek word sig- nifying honey, which article it yielded in great abundance. Cicero speaks of it as superior to that of any other country, and others remark, that it equalled if it did not surpass that of Hybla. The interior of the island still abounds with honey, the hives being made, as in the East, horizontal, and often placed in ranges one above another. Malta was early used by the Phoenicians as a depot for their trade in the West, and the Tyrians built, near the centre of the island, the city now known as Civita Vecchia. From the Phoenicians, Malta came into the possession of Carthage; and the Arabic dialect, which is still spoken in the island, is said to retain many traces of its Phoenician ori- gin. In the first Punic war, it was plundered by the Ro- mans, and in the second taken by them. This change of masters causing its commerce to decline, it became a haunt of pirates. At length, falling into the hands of the Goths, it was taken from them by Belisarius, in the year 533. The Arabs subdued it in 870, and the Normans in 1090. It was given for a possession to the Knights of St. John, by the Em- peror Charles the Fifth, in 1530, from whom it was taken by MALTA. 113 the French under Bonaparte, when on their way to Egypt in 1798 ; and, two years afterwards, the British subdued and still hold it. There is much of romantic interest in the history of the Knights of St. John, or, as we commonly call them, the Knights of Malta, from the time when, in the eleventh cen- tury, they founded at Jerusalem a hospital for the care and relief of poor and weary pilgrims, and, by the fame of their noble and generous hospitality, secured the gift of immense riches and extensive domains in every part of Europe, as a means of increasing their charitable benefactions ; and from thence, onward, through a period of seven centuries, when, as a military order, girded with the panoply of war, residing at first at Jerusalem, then on the seacoast of Palestine, and afterwards on the islands of Rhodes and of Malta, they were, both by sea and land, the shield and the buckler of Chris- tendom, and the scourge and the terror of the Moslem power in the East. History scarce furnishes a parallel to the acts of heroic valor, of chivalrous daring, and self-sacrificing de- votion, which marked the numerous wars and sieges in which these Christian knights were engaged. For several centuries they were the main defence of the commerce of Southern and Western Europe, in the Mediterranean, protecting it alike from the corsairs of Barbary, and the aggressions of the Mos- lem powers of the East. They also did much, by their naval prowess, and their gallant achievements at sea, to prevent the subjection of the whole of Western Europe to the dominion of the Saracens. At present, however, we have to do with these men only in their connexion with that island which was their last perma- nent abode, and where, too, they have left such numerous and enduring traces of their power and wealth. When these soldier-monks, after having been driven forth by the over- whelming power of the Turks, from the fertile and delightful island of Rhodes, which for centuries had been their home, and having for seven years been pilgrim exiles in the south of Europe, came to fix their abode in Malta, their prospects were sad, indeed. Save a dilapidated fortress, manned by a single gun, there was not on this then wretched and sterile rock, a single edifice superior to a fisherman's hut. The thinly scattered soil was of so coarse and arid a kind, that grain would not vegetate in it ; there were no rivulets, and the only springs were in the interior, so that water for use 10* 114 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. could be preserved only in cisterns. The inhabitants were miserable and degraded, constantly subjected to the vio- lence of the corsairs of Barbary, who often carried away whole families into captivity; and so poor were they, as bare- ly to be able to supply themselves with the necessaries of life. The Knights, by encouraging agriculture, by protecting the inhabitants from foreign aggression, and by expending there the princely revenues which, as noblemen, they inherited, as also those which they derived from the vast possessions of ihe order in Europe, and the rich spoils obtained in their frequent engagements with the Turks and other Moslem foes, caused Malta, which before had been wellnigh a desert, to rejoice and blossom as the rose, and instead of a wretched popula- tion of 12,000 souls, it came to contain 150,000 active and enterprising inhabitants. Nothing can exceed in strength, durability, and effective defence, the various fortifications and military entrenchments, the successive lines of deep, broad ditches, hewn from the solid rock, each crossed with a draw- bridge, and rising above it a massive breastwork, manned with bristling cannon, all of which were erected by the Knights, for the defence of the more important points of the island, and which still exist as a lasting monument of the wealth and power of those who erected them. The easy cap- ture of Malta, by the French, in 1798, was owing to the treachery of some of the Knights; and as Bonaparte was passing through the formidable works which defended the landward side of the city, one of his suite remarked to him, " It is well, General, that there was some one within to open these gates to us. We should have had some trouble in en- tering if the place had been altogether empty." The castle of St. Elmo, on the extreme point of the penin- sula, on which La Valette is built, is strongly associated in the mind, with the scenes of daring valor and self-devotion which transpired there during the memorable siege of 1565, when, for four months, 700 Knights, and 8,500 soldiers, suc- cessfully defended themselves against a Turkish army of 30,000 men. The loss of the Knights was between 7,000 and S,000, and that of the Turks, 25,000. During this siege, after a desperate defence, the castle of St. Elmo was cut off by the Turks, from communication with the rest of the Chris- tian army. The Knights and soldiers there, on the night pre- ceding the final attack, all took the sacrament in the chapel of the fortress, and bidding each other a tender farewell, they MALTA. 115 repaired to their posts at daybreak, knowing that the Turks would soon enter the fort over their lifeless bodies. Those who from their wounds were unable to stand, were carried in chairs to the breach, choosing to die with arras in their hands, to being massacred by the enemy when the battle was over. After bearing, for several hours, a galling fire of mus- ketry, and with thirty-two cannon thundering against them, at length the breach was cleared, and the last Christian war- rior was cut down by the Turkish sabres. There perished in the defence of this single fortress, 300 knights, and 1,300 soldiers; and the Turks gained it by the loss of 8,000 men. Truly a lamentable and impressive example this, of the bloody horrors of war. Though the Knights of St. John were a religious order of high repute, in the Church of Rome, still, in the later days of their existence, at least, their morals were no better than those of other monks. Lord Charlemont, speaking of his visit to them, says, " It was happy for us that we had not much time to reside in Malta, since our constitutions, how- ever young and vigorous, could not long have withstood the continual riots of this Circean region, where there is no inter- mission to festivity of every sort, drinking not excepted. There is not, I suppose, in the world, a set of men so thoroughly debauched as these holy knights, these military monks, defenders of the faith against infidels. Obliged by their vows to celibacy, they make no scruple to take, without bounds, illicitly, that which is denied them in a lawful way. The town of Malta is one vast brothel. Every woman almost is a knight's mistress, and every mistress intrigues with other men. Hither flock, as to an established mart of beauty, the female votaries of Venus, from every distant region, Armeni- ans, Jewesses, Greeks, and Italians." Such is the testimony of a noble earl, who was entertained with great distinction by the knights, and who had no motive to say any thing but what was strictly true of those whose hospitality he shared. The city of La Valette, which is the largest in the island, and the capital, was founded immediately after the siege by the Turks, just referred to, and was named in honor of the Grand Master of the Knights, who commanded during that gallant defence. The streets which lead from the water side ascend by steps, cut in the solid rock. Many of the houses are lofty and spacious, with flat roofs, as is common in eastern countries, which are used as airy and pleasant promenades. 116 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. The principal church is that of St. John, in which each of the eight classes of knights, from the different nations of Eu- rope, had a distinct chapel. The pavement is composed of the sepulchral stones of the different knights buried below, in which their respective coats of arms are curiously wrought with precious stones of various sizes and colors. It is 240 feet long, and GO wide. We visited a Capuchin convent, beneath which was a neat and spacious apartment, with numerous niches, in which were placed, in a standing posture, the bodies of such friars as had died there for half a century or more. The bones of others were tastefully arranged in groups along the walls, as becoming ornaments to this abode of death. Peculiar feel- ings were excited by listening to the prior of the convent, who was with us, as, pointing out this and that individual, he spoke of one as his teacher in philosophy, and another as possessing high merit. It seemed as if we were in reality communing with the shades of the departed. The immense palace now occupied by the British governor of Malta, was formerly the residence of the Grand Master of the Knights. Among the paintings which adorn it, are por- traits, and Scripture and historical pieces by Guido, Espa- gnolet, Michael Angelo, and other distinguished artists. But what interested us most was the Armory, which oc- cupies a spacious and lofty hall in the rear of the palace. It contains 10,000 stands of muskets, and more than 20,000 car- bines and pistols. Besides these, there is a large collection of rifles, cutlasses, and boarding-pikes. These arms are placed there to be ready for use, should it be necessary, in case of an attack, to organize the inhabitants of the island as a militia. But what mainly arrested our attention, was several hundred suits of ancient armour, some of which, of the finest steel and shaded with gold, were truly magnificent. They were all neatly arranged, and many of them were on wooden statues, of the form and size of the original wearer, and thus arrayed with helmet and coat of mail, and armed with shield and spear, they made one feel as if in the presence of the stern and iron warriors of ages long gone by, such as before he had met with only in the pages of history, romance, and poetry. Some of these suits of armour weigh fifty or sixty* pounds, and thus not only is it evident, that those who wore them were men of giant strength, but we may also under- stand why knights when unhorsed so readily yielded to a foe, MALTA. 117 and why upon the field of battle they sometimes fainted, and fell beneath the weight of their armour. The breastplate of one of these suits had been slightly in- dented with several rifle balls, sportsmen having used it as a target. Besides the articles already noticed, there was a va- riety of antique and curious battle-axes, pikes, spears, bows of iron and steel, quivers tastefully formed, as also splendid Ori- ental guns, sabres, and other arms, taken from the Turks and preserved as trophies. The British officers stationed at Malta used formerly, at given times, to array themselves in the ancient armour of the Knights, and, equipped with coat of mail, with helmet, shield, and spear, engaged for amusement in the sports of the tour- nament. Several accidents occurring, however, such as the dislocation of joints, the fracture of limbs, and the like, the repetition of these exhibitions was forbidden. In addition to the garrison library, there is at Malta a val- uable government library of 60,000 volumes, formerly the property of the Knights, it having been a standing rule with them, that each member of the Order, let him die where he might, should leave his books to this library. The University of Malta, at La Valette, was formerly the college of the Jesuits, but when they were suppressed in 1773, the revenues of the college, amounting to $ 5,000 a year, were applied to the purposes of education. It is under the care of a council, or board of trustees, six in number, half of whom are the higher officers of government, and the rest Maltese nobles. It has at its head a rector, and there are twelve pro- fessors in the departments of divinity, law, natural and moral philosophy, mathematics, medicine, rhetoric, drawing, and painting. There are also four tutors who teach the English, Italian, Latin, and Arabic languages. There is a vacation during two months in summer, and a student, by paying a dollar monthly during term time, may attend the lectures of any of the teachers. The tuition of the poor is remitted. The number of students is usually from 300 to 400, most of whom are Maltese, a few only coming from Sicily and Greece. Degrees are conferred in divinity, medicine, and law, and students are required to attend lectures four years before they can receive diplomas. The professors in divinity are Catholic priests or monks, and when we were there, an amiable and excellent man, who had the charge of instruction in the Holy Scriptures, was 118 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. zealously engaged in teaching his pupils the original languages of the Bible, especially the Hebrew. In doing this, he had met with much opposition from the Catholic clergy, and the bishop of the island had gone so far as to oppose it from the pulpit. And here it may be well to remark, that there has always been much opposition in the Catholic church to having men of active and inquisitive minds study the original lan- guages of the Scriptures, and the terrors of the Inquisition have been aimed against such study. One reason of this is, that the authorized Catholic version of the Bible is such a gross and palpable perversion of the meaning of the original, especially with regard to penance and other usages of the Papists, that they fear to have honest and conscientious men know the whole truth in the case. In the instance just re- ferred to, persecution and opposition reduced the number of pupils to three, and the teacher, in the sadness of his heart, used to go for comfort and encouragement to a learned Pro- testant clergyman, from whom I had this narrative, and in dwelling on his troubles, would weep like a child. At length, by the superior ability of a thesis written by one of his pupils, the current was changed in his favor, and when we were there, he had a flourishing class of fifteen or twenty scholars. It was truly interesting to meet in this island, where Paul was shipwrecked, with a class of students zealously engaged in the study of that language of the patriarchs in which the Apostle so eloquently defended himself from the charges brought against him by his own nation in Jerusalem, and aided too in their studies by the Hebrew Grammar of Pro- fessor S., my former teacher, who belongs to a land, which, in the time of Paul, was wholly unknown to the learned world. At Civita Vecchia, there is a Seminary of Catholic priests, which does not confer degrees, and has a respectable income from the rents of lands belonging to it. The students, about 100 in number, live in commons, and pay two dollars and eighty cents a month. There is a Lancasterian school at La Valette, containing about 300 children, and another at Casal Zeitun, with 100 pupils. Before this last school was established, it was true, that in a population of 4,000, not more than twenty could read, and it was perhaps hardly an unfair datum from which to judge of the island generally. The population of Malta is about 00,000, which makes 670 inhabitants to every square mile, a number about five MALTA. 119 times as great as is found in the same space in Holland, which is the most populous country on the continent of Eu- rope. The privileges granted by the Knights to the Mal- tese, the employment given them in constructing roads, quays, and extensive fortifications, as also in building and manning the numerous ships and galleys engaged in commerce, and in constant wars with the Turks, together with the fact, that provision was made for the sick and the poor, and grain, free from daty, was by treaty supplied from Sicily, the Knights thus annually expending in the island, more than $1,500,000, derived from their rich possessions on the continent ; — all resulted in increasing the population to such a degree as greatly to exceed the means of support which the soil alone could furnish. Hence, the necessary consequence of a change of masters was early foreseen, and truly stated by the French officer who had command of the island after the expulsion of the Knights. He said, that " a great part of the inhabitants must be reduced to absolute beggary, and suffer extreme distress." The truth of this prediction has been fully proved by the result, and never have I seen elsewhere so much squalid wretchedness, beggary, and woe, as every- where meets one in Malta. Every night, one may see whole families, men, women, and children, sleeping on the pavement of the streets, and even the tabular monuments in the old English burying-ground have been broken in at one end, in order to furnish a nightly resting-place for these poor house- less vagabonds. To relieve in some degree, this suffering, a society of be- nevolent English ladies, resident in the island, has been formed, who, in addition to aiding poor families at their hous- es, as to paying rent and supplying them with food, clothing, and other necessaries, furnish soup several times in a week to some 1,500 poor beggars, during the colder months of the year. Lady Georgiana Wolff, the wife of the celebrated Jewish missionary, was the most active promoter of this charity when we were in Malta, being indefatigable in her efforts to collect funds, and also personally superintending and aiding in the distribution of the soup to the poor. The fa- vorable impression thus made upon my mind, as to the truly benevolent character of this excellent lady, was not lessened by the personal intercourse with her, with which I was after- wards favored. A hospital has been built by the English, for the poor who are sick, in which about 100 patients are well 120 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. provided for. There is also a foundling hospital, with the statistics of which I did not become acquainted. Just without the city of La Valette, is a House of Industry, where, in neat and convenient buildings, about 300 poor chil- dren and youth are employed, — the boys in making straw hats and mats, picking cotton, and other occupations, and the girls in braiding straw for bonnets, sewing, spinning, weaving, and working lace. The board of each inmate costs about twenty-seven dollars a year. In the same vicinity with this last institution, is another asylum for the poor, supported by public funds instead of private subscription. The number of inmates is 600, and all but the sick and the aged labor. Provision is also made there for thirty or forty insane patients. The English, when they took Malta, availed themselves of the religious prejudices of the priests, and the people against the French, (who then, as a nation, trampled on every form of Christianity,) -and promised to protect and cherish the Catholic faith and worship. This promise has since been fulfilled, not only to the gross and disgraceful neglect of the national system of religious worship of Great Britain, but also by honoring the religious festivals of the Catholics with salutes and other tokens of public respect, and by wantonly interfering with the peaceable and benevolent efforts of Prot- estants to elevate the poor, degraded islanders, by instructing them in the truths of the Bible. This, too, is that same Brit- ish Government, which in Ireland so cruelly grinds the face of the poor Catholics, compelling them to aid in the support of a system of faith which they disbelieve and hate. Truly, " consistency is a jewel." It is not strange, therefore, that in Malta, the inherent big- otry and spirit of persecution of the Catholic church should be acted out, as it has been, in wanton interruptions of Prot- estant worship by noisy clamor, and by breaking the win- dows of the house of God with stones, or that personal vio- lence should be offered to preachers of the Gospel. A very learned and worthy Protestant clergyman, formerly resident at La Valette, informed me, that, having once distributed tracts in a given quarter of the city, whenever he appeared there afterwards, the X)dious crv of freemason was raised against him, and he was stoned by the rabble. He bore this quietly for a time, but finding himself subjected to similar abuse when his wife was with him, he finally employed a MALTA. 121 friend of his, a hardy old seaman, who had been a boatswain in the British navy, and had the grip of a blacksmith's vice, to follow him at a distance and seize one of the villains when in the act of stoning him, that thus he might be brought to justice. At the time of trial, however, a Catholic priest tes- tified under oath, that the man, thus seized in the very act, was at that self same moment confessing his sins to him in a church in another part of the city, and several other Catho- lics swore, that soon after they saw this man come forth from the church referred to. Doubtless these witnesses received full and ready absolution for this pious perjury, as being ne- cessary, in order to defend their holy faith against Protestant heretics. Indeed, so well is it understood in Malta, that a Catholic, when brought to trial for a violation of the religious rights of the Protestants, will escape punishment, provided the perjury of the Catholic priests and their followers can effect it, that in some cases, where there has been no doubt of the guilt of the accused, the trial has been deferred from time to time, by an understanding between the judges and the prosecuting party, until the criminal had been confined long enough to punish him duly for his crime, and then he has been cleared by the false swearing of his spiritual guides and brethren in the faith. Such facts need no comment, and we can only say in view of them, that, from a system of faith which yields such fruit, may God, of his infinite mercy, deliver our own and every other land. The British have 4,000 or 5,000 troops stationed at Malta, and the debasement and vice consequent upon milita- ry life abound there. There is something exceedingly de- grading, as to its bearing on independence of character and moral principle, in placing before one the military code, as the only standard of duty which he is bound to regard, and at the same time subjecting him to the absolute and uncon- ditional control of superiors, whose views of right and duty, even as to matters of conscience, may be wholly opposed to his own. Not only does strict military discipline, as com- monly understood and practised, necessarily involve a viola- tion of the Sabbath, but in many other ways may a subaltern be compelled to do what is wholly inconsistent with Christian principle. It is likewise true, that the pride, passion, jeal- ousy, and ignorance of commanding officers, both by land vol. ii. 11 122 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. and sea, will often subject those under them to undeserved abuse, disgrace, and corporal punishment. We may further add, that a large proportion of those, who as soldiers and sailors subject themselves to military sway, would never have done so had they not previously, by intem- perance or some other vice, either failed of their common means of support, or so far sacrificed the respect of society, and perhaps their own, as to make the degradation to which they submit a necessary evil to them. Thus does a military force almost of course embody a large comparative amount of corruption and vice, which, from the evil tendencies of our nature, and the close contact into which men are thus thrown, but too often infuses the poison of moral contagion and disease throughout the whole mass. By listening to profane and licentious conversation, the less corrupt soon become familiar alike with the dialect and the vicious indul- gences of older and more hardened transgressors, and thus those vices, the very thought of which brings a blush upon the cheek of the virtuous, come to be shamelessly defended, and as shamelessly practised. Where moral restraint is thus swept away, and but little if any efficient religious instruction is enjoyed, men will be restrained from licentiousness only by a want of means and opportunities. In the French army none but the higher grades of officers are permitted to marry, and to the British, when on foreign stations, allowance is made to only six men in a company to have wives with them, and this not from any regard which the cruel and arbitrary laws of war have for the sacredness of the marriage relation, but merely that there may be women enough to do the washing and mending of the soldiers. The result of these causes is, that soldiers will, as a general fact, be licentious, and the only difference between them and sailors connected with ships of war will be, that with the former, vice will be more concealed and habitual, while with the latter, when released from bondage, it is like the reckless and desolating fury of a river, which, long pent up and restrained, at length overleaps all barriers, and rushes onward with a wild and resistless impetuosity. Those in command have it also in their power to prevent or arrest all efforts for the moral and religious improvement of those under them, as to efforts in favor of temperance and other plans of reform, and may throw constant obstacles in the way of compliance with such laws as require public MALTA. 123 religious worship in the army or navy. Thus, in our own navy, while no ship smaller than a frigate is allowed a chaplain, there has been more than one instance in which a chaplain has been on board a ship during a whole cruise of two or three years, and yet, in all that time, has been called upon by the captain to preach but a single sermon. The population of Gibraltar is not permitted to exceed given limits, because in case of a siege it is desirable, that there should be no unnecessary draught on the provisions of the place, and also because destructive diseases have some- times originated there from the too great density of the pop- ulation. There is, however, a law, that any officer above a given grade may introduce there a single individual, by be- coming responsible for the good behavior of the person thus introduced. A gentleman there informed me, that wishing to secure admission for a pious and worthy old seaman, who had long been a petty officer in the British navy, he applied to a friend of his, an officer in the army, to aid him in the case. The officer, on applying to the commanding officer of the town, was told, that the only object of the law in ques- tion was to enable officers in the army to introduce each one a mistress from Spain, and that, therefore, his request could not be granted. Such are some of the evils of military life, as they exist in time of peace. The result of this gen- eral licentiousness, at places like Gibraltar, where no pro- vision is made for foundlings, is the not unfrequent occur- rence of the crime of infanticide. These remarks, to which I have been led almost insensi- bly, are grounded on deep and honest, though painful con- viction, resulting from daily and habitual observation of military life, during a period of more than two years, and from free and familiar intercourse with military men of vari- ous grades, including several months spent in places where were large bodies of English, French, Italian, or Spanish soldiers. The.common vehicle for riding in Malta, is a close two- wheeled carriage, with a door at one side, and windows on both sides and in front. It is called a caleche, and is drawn by one horse ; the driver, with a red cap and sash, and his vest and small clothes ornamented with a multitude of gilt buttons, much in the style of a Spanish muleteer, runs along on foot, holding the whip and reins in his hands. Malta, as to the rock of which it is composed, the style of 124 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. cultivation, and the narrow rough roads, enclosed on either side by high walls, constantly reminded us of the island of Minorca. Both of them were likewise formerly the residence of the Moors, who have left, almost everywhere throughout Southern Europe, deep and abiding traces of their manners, features, and modes of dress. In this last respect, we have, in the Spanish mantilla, one variation of the veil worn by Eastern females, and another in the black silk scarf, with a piece of whalebone in the front hem, with which the Maltese ladies conceal all their faces but their eyes, when they walk the streets. There is often something peculiarly brilliant and fascinating in the dark Moorish style of beauty, which is met with in Spain, Malta, and elsewhere. The raven locks, the bright sparkling eyes, and the cheeks, glowing with the rich crimson hue of health, and the whole form instinct with languishing tenderness, or vivacity and grace, but too vividly remind one of the houris of a Mohammedan paradise. And yet, in a few short years, how great a change comes over them. What a sallow, leathern, smoky hue succeeds that bright brunette, and how are those once brilliant, sparkling eyes often lighted up with flashes of malignant passion, be- fore which the Furies themselves might shrink away aghast. The Great Hospital which formerly existed in Malta, had accommodations for 2,000 patients, who were attended by the Knights, the care of the poor and the sick being the object for which the Order was first instituted. The vessels used in the hospital service were of solid silver. In order to guard against famine, immense granaries cut out of the rock were stored with grain sufficient to maintain the garrison twenty years. They were hermetically closed, and the grain has been preserved in them so as to be fit for use at the end of 100 years. The fortifications are the strongest in the world. Five forts protect the most impor- tant points, and lines of vast strength form works of such ex- tent as to require 25,000 men to man them, and 100,000 completely to invest the place. La Valette is defended on three sides by the water, and on the fourth, by five lines of fortifications. The ditches are in some places 90 feet deep, hewn from the solid rock, and 1,000 cannon are mounted on the works. In travelling over the island, one of the most striking ob- jects met with, is a noble aqueduct erected by Vignacourt, a former Grand Master, from his own private funds, and com- MALTA. 125 pleted in 161G. It is about nine miles in length, and con- ducts an abundant supply of water, over a line of several thousand noble arches to a grand reservoir in the palace- square of the capital. From thence, it is distributed to every part of the city. In the interior of the island, we visited the gardens of St. Antonio, which are connected with a country house, formerly belonging to the Grand Masters. They are quite extensive, containing about 3,000 orange trees, besides pomegranates, citrons, figs, lemons, and other fruits of warm climates. The oranges produced there formerly, are said to have been sold for <{> 1,000 yearly. I noticed a large and flourishing tree of the kind from which caoutchouc or India rubber is obtain- ed, and beside an artificial pool, a quantity of papyrus was growing. This plant, from which paper was made by the an- cient Egyptians, is a green rush, growing to the height of eight or ten feet. On the summit of a hill near the centre of the island, is Civita Vecchia, first built by the Tyrians, and named Melita, which was changed by the Saracens to Medina. Its build- ings, during the time of the Romans, are said to have been grand, but the present appearance of the place is wretched indeed. One of the streets still bears the name of Publius, who was Governor of the island when Paul was shipwrecked there. The cathedral is said to have been built on the foun- dation of a palace formerly occupied by this same Governor. Adjoining the cathedral is the Grotto of St. Paul, a cave in which the Apostle is said to have been confined as a prisoner by the centurion, who had charge of him. One part of this cave contains a chapel, and another division of it has been excavated from a soft white stone of a coarse grain, which is easily reduced to powder, and is highly esteemed by Catho- lics, as a remedy for fevers and various other diseases. Its taste is like that of bad magnesia, and when taken in suffi- cient quantities, is said to produce copious perspiration. Considerable quantities of it are sent abroad, and yet it is claimed, that the amount of it in the cave is never diminish- ed. We were told, that a fragment of this stone was a sure safeguard against shipwrecks, and, having taken some of it with us on board, and escaped being cast away, its efficacy was of course fully proved. At least, the evidence was as conclusive as that on which Catholic miracles commonly rest. The Catacombs at Civita Vecchia are very extensive. 11* 12G FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. They are supposed to have been excavated here, and else- where, in the first place, to obtain stone for building ; they were then used as receptacles for the dead, tombs of various sizes uniformly lining the sides of the subterranean galleries, and finally, they are said to have been used as places of ref- uge in times of persecution, and of war. Attended by a guide, and provided with torches, we entered through a nar- row passage, these dark and gloomy abodes of the dead. Though much lower and less spacious than those of Naples, they are still said to be fifteen miles in extent, and certainly, I had much rather admit this to be the fact than attempt to disprove it by ferreting out the thousand devious labyrinths which open on every side. A visit to such places gives one a vivid and impressive idea of the belief of the ancients, as to Hades or Sheol, the subterranean abodes of departed spirits. A pleasant excursion to St. Paul's Bay was made in com- pany with the Rev. Mr. P , formerly a professor in Hamp- den-Sidney College, Virginia, and my excellent friend and fellow-traveller, the Rev. Mr. Jones, the learned author of " Sketches of Naval Life, and a Visit to Cairo, Jerusalem, and Damascus." This bay has its name from the fact, that it is supposed to have been the place where the Apostle was ship- wrecked. At the point where Paul and his companions are said to have been thrown on shore, is a small stone chapel containing pictures of the shipwreck, of the Apostle shaking the viper from his hand, and the healing of the father of Publius. During the last century, a new and singular idea was start- ed by De Rhoer, which has since been adopted by Bryant, Dr. Hales, Professor Anthon, and other learned men. It was this; — that St. Paul was wrecked, not upon Malta, but Meleda, a small island in the Adriatic sea, which, also, was formerly called Melita. Without noticing in detail the rea- sons urged in favor of this opinion, so directly opposed to the uniform testimony of history and tradition,. as well as to that furnished by the churches and other numerous monuments commemorative of the shipwreck, and residence of St. Paul there, I shall only briefly state a few facts, which served fully to confirm me in the prevailing belief on this subject. The violent winds so common in the Mediterranean, and now known by the name of Levanters, range between north- east and southeast, though usually blowing very nearly from MALTA. 127 the east. The direction from Crete, whence Paul sailed, to Malta, is west by north, which varies but a single point from east, while the direction from Crete to Meleda is almost north, so as to be entirely out of the range of these winds. The creek, or as it more properly should be translated bay, spoken of in the book of Acts, would agree well with St. Paul's Bay, which, opening to the northeast, would readily receive a ves- sel coming from the direction of Crete. There is also at the mouth of this bay, a high ledge of rock, so that a violent east wind driving in the sea on each side, would cause two seas to meet, which, by their onward current, would drive the ship aground. We read, indeed, in Acts, that the night previous to the shipwreck, the ship was driven up and down in Adria, that is in the Adriatic sea, but then we learn from Ptolemy, Stra- bo, and other early writers, that formerly the whole sea, from Greece to Sicily, was called Adria, so that of course it in- cluded Malta. The disease, also, called bloody flux, of which Paul healed the father of Publius, has ever been very com- mon in Malta, owing to the climate, and some of the produc- tions of the island. Many are suddenly cut off by it, and while we were there, it prevailed not only on shore, but also on board some of the ships in the harbour. Much may be learned of the character of a people, from the manner in which they treat the remains of the dead. When we read of the Caffres of South Africa, that they carry forth the aged and infirm from their huts, and leave them alone in the woods to die, and be consumed by beasts of prey, what further evidence do we need to show us, not only that they are sunk in the lowest depths of ignorance and moral degradation, but also that their religious creed attaches but little consequence to the immortal part of man, and sheds but a dim and feeble light on that mysterious land, which lies beyond the grave. The same remarks apply, in a limited degree, to those nations who bury their infant chil- dren alive, or leave them to be devoured by wild beasts, or monsters of the deep ; and to those, also, who, as a means of securing the fidelity of the wife, and of inducing her to use every effort to lengthen out the life of her husband, compel her, at his death, "either to ascend the funeral pile, and perish in the flames, or to drag out a life of want, infamy, and crime. Where such cruel customs prevail, we learn, without sur- prise, that, in a language spoken by millions of human beings, jog FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. there is but a single word to express the terms harlot and widow, so entirely synonymous are these two classes of per- sons regarded. I might here allude to the effect of sudden and frequent deaths, during times of pestilence, in hardening the heart, and breaking down the barriers of morality and law, as recorded by Thucydides, De Foe, and other writers, ancient and modern. From such facts it were easy to show the poli- cy of treating the dead with peculiar respect, from the effect thus produced upon the living, by leading them to feel the full force of those mysterious restraints, and those motives to duty, which result from a fear of death, and the scenes which lie beyond the grave. My present object, however, is to speak of those various modes of disposing of the dead, which have excited most interest in my own mind. And here it is obvious, that those who die in large cities, like Naples and Paris, cannot, as in the country towns in our own land, each one be laid in his own grave, where the earth, and the green sod which cover him, shall ever after be sacred from intrusion ; for then a single generation would occupy as much ground when dead, as sufficed for them when living, and but a few centuries would pass, before a widespread region of sepulchres would cover that surface, whose productions were needed for the support of the living. To obviate this evil, men have resorted to various expedients. One of the earliest of these, and one which is often referred to in the Bible, was that of burning the bodies of the dead. Their ashes were preserved in urns, and thus would occupy a smaller space than their bod- ies. The remains of the dead were thus freed from every thing offensive, and the earthen or metallic vessels in which they were placed, being richly ornamented, they might be often visited by friends, and continue the objects of that sad and tender interest, with which we cling to the slightest vestige of those whom we have dearly loved on earth. The tombs which were built by the Romans, some of which may be seen at the gates of Pompeii, while others are in the heart of Rome, or scattered over the Campana Ro- mana, were many of them, vast structures. That of Ce- cillia Metella, the wife of Crassus, the richest of the Romans, is sixty feet in diameter, and its height is the same. The tomb of the Scipios, in which most of that noble family were buried, is 100 feet in diameter, and the mausoleum of MALTA. jog Augustus is of the same size. The latter is now used as a circus, and a place for bull-baiting. The tomb of Hadrian, now the Castle of St. Angelo, is larger, and being lofty, a place of great strength, and mounted with cannon, it has, in the wars of the Popes and others, been taken and retaken hundreds of times. The upper part of it has, for some time past, been used as a prison. Many of these tombs contain the ashes, not only of an individual or a family, but also of the freedmen and clients of the family. In that of Augustus, 6,000 of his freedmen were placed. Another way of disposing of the dead was, to place them in catacombs or caves of the rocks. Some of these were natural, but most of them were excavated. Thus Ezekiel intimates, that the kings of the Jews were buried in tombs, dug under the mountain on which the temple stood. Where the rocks are soft, as they are in most Eastern countries, caves were often used as dwellings, in the earlier and ruder states of society. They were afterwards places of defence, in time of war, and Strabo says, that there were those in Arabia which would hold 4,000 men, and Vansleb speaks of one in Egypt, sufficient to draw up 100 horsemen in. With- out here stopping to describe such immense works of art as that of the temple on the island of Elephanta, or that on Salsetta, which has 300 galleries, and is computed to have employed 40,000 men 40 years, we turn to the catacombs of Southern Europe. These are of different degrees of extent, and some of them date back to a remote antiquity. In the island of Malta, they are six or seven feet high, and are said to extend several miles in a single direction. There are also numerous pathways branching off from the main ones, and along the sides of these are niches and tombs, for the burial of the dead. In one place there is a small temple, said to have been used in the pagan worship of early times, the pil- lars and altars of which are all parts of the solid rock. The catacombs of Rome, which one enters at the cave of St. Sebastian, like those at Malta, are low, and they derive a peculiar interest from the fact, that they furnished an asylum to the early Christians, when driven by persecution to deserts and mountains, to dens and caves of the earth. Near the entrance is a chapel, where, enclosed with solid rock, and shut out from the light of heaven, they used to worship God. Here, in narrow cells, they lived, and here, too, they were buried. The walls are full of niches, where the bodies of 130 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. families were placed side by side, and then sealed up. A great number of inscriptions are found in these caverns, and they are said to extend to the mouth of the Tiber, a distance of sixteen miles. The catacombs of Naples are at the foot of Capa di Monte, a short distance from the city. Guides and lights are required, in visiting these abodes of the dead, and, in passing along, large heaps of human skulls meet the eye. These excavations are lofty and regular, being two stories high, with arched roofs, Gothic pillars, and other ornaments, all hewn from the solid rock. Two broad avenues form the main entrance, and from these there are pathways, branching off in all directions. One of these extends to Puteoli, a distance of six or eight miles, while another leads to a village sixteen miles distant. The cells and niches in the walls, are larger than those at Rome ; and here, too, the early Christians, those men of whom the world was not wor- thy, chose to live and to die, rather than be deprived of the privilege of worshipping God. Far in from the entrance, a circular shaft has been opened to the surface above, in order to admit the air. Down this shaft, a band of robbers, who lived in the caverns below, used to throw the bodies of those whom they slew, when they sallied forth by night. When Murat was king of Naples, however, he hunted them out, and broke up the band. In the second story of these catacombs is the church, with its pulpit, altar, and images of the apostles, all hewn from the solid rock, and near it are the places where the priests dwelt. The dead have not been buried in these caverns for some years past. The Campo Santo, more than a mile from the city, is now used for that purpose, and the dead are borne out there in rude hearses, during the night. It con- sists of a number of acres, enclosed by a high wall, except that in front there is a large building, through an arched gateway, in which you enter. Within, are 365 pits, each sixteen feet square, and twenty-four feet deep, separated from each other by walls of stone. One of these is opened each day in the year, and into it all the bodies brought there the previous night are thrown, entirely naked. Lime is then cast upon them, to consume the flesh, the large flag-stone fitted to the mouth is replaced, and made fast with mortar, and thus is left for a year. Twenty or thirty are every day dis- posed of in this savage manner. When we were there, I counted fourteen infants and young children, which, mingled MALTA. 131 with the bodies of adults, were lying upon the dark heaps of bones which remained of those who were buried there in previous years. One child was wrapped up in a scarlet cloth, with a broad white ruffle round its neck, and looked as if quietly sleeping there. Here was a female, with her long dark hair wildly scattered over the white bodies of those around her, and there the shrunk and shrivelled face of old age, and there, — but I forbear, for the soul sickens at the horrid sio-ht, and this dark death-scene still haunts me like a ghost. 132 FOREIGN TRAVEL.. AND LIFE AT SEA. CHAPTER XX. GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. Scene of the Odyssey. — Description and History of Corfu, and its Inhabi- tants. — Venetian Oppression. — Government. — Sir Howard Douglas — Rev. Mr. Lowndes. — His Literary Labors. — Schools. — Greek Priests. — The Ionian University. — Lord Guilford. — Students. — Professors Bam- bas and Typaldos. — Platon's Divinity. — Fasts and Feasts. —Churches. — The Clergy. — Protestants. — Jews. — Corcyra. — The Citadel. — Epi- rus, or Lower Albania. — Dress of the Albanians. — Grecian Women. — Paxos. — Santa Maura. — Leucate. — Sappho. — Ithaca. — Homer. — Bat- tle of Actium : of Lepanto: of Navarino : of Missolonghi. — A Human Skull. — Milo. — Greek Pilots. — Hydra. — SpetsaR. — Lycaonia. — Napo- li : its History. — Fortress. — Grecian Horses. — National Character. — Prevalence of the Social Sympathies and Feelings. — Acropolis of Tiryns : the Town. — Dr. Clarke. In visiting and cruising along the shores of Italy and Sici- ly, and in going from thence to the Ionian islands, we passed in review the whole of the region in which the scene of the Odyssey is laid. True, we escaped the manifold dangers which befell Ulysses in his eventful wanderings ; we heard not, like him, the songs of the Syrens, nor did we meet with Circe, Polyphemus, or Calypso. Still, on approaching those islands, in the vicinity of which the companions of the Gre- cian hero, by their rash curiosity in examining too closely the gift received from yEolus, exposed themselves to the fury of a destructive tempest, we, too, were tossed up and down by a violent storm ; and though in far other plight than that of Ulys- ses, we reached the same island on which he was wrecked, yet was it owing, doubtless, to the difference between our good staunch ship and the bark in which he sailed, more than to any other cause, that we did not need such kind attentions as he received from the lovely Nausicaa and her maids. But, poetry aside, we reached Corfu, the ancient Corcyra, or, as Homer calls it, "Scheria's ever pleasing shore," after having been for two or three days, like Paul and his compan- ions, "driven up and down in Adria." This island was fa- mous in ancient times, as containing a rich and powerful col- ony from Corinth, which, by rebelling against the parent city, gave rise to the Peloponnesian war. The scene of the first naval battle recorded in history, was pointed out to us in the GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 133 vicinity of Corfu. Each party had 120 armed galleys, and the Corinthians were vanquished with the loss of most of their vessels. At a period earlier than this, Homer calls the in- habitants of Corfu, Phseacians, and describes with great accu- racy, the situation of the principal city, as well as the general beauty and productiveness of the island. Speaking of the harbour, and the narrow straits which divide the island from the shores of Epirus, he says, — "The jutting- land two ample bays divides; Full through the narrow mouths descend the tides ; The spacious basins arching rocks enclose, — A sure defence from every storm that blows." On this "jutting land" were both the ancient and modern cities built. Nothing can be more richly beautiful than the varied and romantic scenery with which the mountains, hillsides, and valleys of Corfu everywhere abound. More than a hundred villages rise among groves of dark green olive and the darker cypress, and though Homer wrote as long ago as the time of king Solomon, yet even now the graphic accuracy and rich- ness of his descriptions of the scenery there, forcibly arrest the mind. You still behold " The plain Where o'er the furrows waves the golden grain. The rising forest and the tufted trees, Which gently bend before the passing breeze ; Around the grove a mead with lively green, Falls by degrees, and forms a beauteous scene ; Here a rich juice the royal vineyard pours, And there the garden yields a waste of flowers ; Here the blue fig with luscious juice o'erflows, With deeper red the full pomegranate glows; The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear, And verdant olives flourish round the year. The balmy spirit of the Western gale, Eternal breathes on fruits untaught to fail. Beds of all various herbs, for ever green, In beauteous order terminate the scene." Olives are now, as they were in former times, the principal article of cultivation in the island ; and as the trees flourish for two centuries, requiring no other care than pruning and digging the ground around them, and withal sometimes yield at the rate of 1 ,000 pounds of oil to a single tree, thus not only is there a larger profit in proportion to the soil and labor re- quired for rearing them, than there is from any other product vol. 11. 12 134 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. of the earth, but, as a necessary result of the ease with which a livelihood may be obtained, idleness and its attendant vices have done much to enervate and debase the character of the people. Hence, though there are enough in the island whose poverty should excite them to effort, yet the household ser- vants, boatmen, and other hired laborers in Corfu, are most- ly Maltese, who, by the stern and rugged soil of their native rock, have been led to form those habits of industry and en- terprise, which are of far more profit to them than the pro- ducts of more fertile lands had been. At all hours of the day, and frequently of the night, may Greeks be seen lying on the ground beneath the shade-trees, which adorn the beau- tiful public square that lies between the city of Corfu and the sea. Thus, how true is it, that the decree of Heaven, that in the sweat of his face man shall eat his bread, has proved a blessing instead of a curse to him, and of many a fair and fertile land we may say, " In vain with lavish kindness The gifts of God are strown." And sad, indeed, must be our feelings, when, as philanthro- pists and Christians, we view those regions "Where every prospect pleases, And only man is vile." The inhabitants of Corfu, by long subjection to foreign op- pression, have lost that love of naval warfare, and that spirit of commercial enterprise, which so distinguished their ances- tors. Homer, speaking of the common people there, says, ''A race of rugged mariners are these ; Unpolished men, and boisterous as their seas ; These did the ruler of the deep ordain To build proud navies, and command the main: They the tall mast above the vessel rear, Or teach the fluttering sail to float in air. On canvass wings they cut the watery way, No bird so light, no thought so swift as they." This description agrees well with the gallant achievements of the Corcyrians in after times, as well as with the wealth and luxury which, resulting from commerce as well as from the natural fertility of the soil, led them, even in the days of Homer, to delight, as they now do, more in luxurious indo- lence, and corrupt and wanton sports and pleasures, than in those more vigorous and manly games and contests in which GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 135 the other Greeks so much excelled. Alcinous, the king, ad- dressing Ulysses, describes his subjects thus, — '•' Let other realms the deathful gauntlet wield, Or boast the glories of the athletic field ; We in the course unrivalled speed display, Or through cerulean billows plough the way ; To dress, to dance, to sing, our sole delight, The feast or bath by day, and love by night." I have dwelt thus at length upon this topic, because it is peculiarly delightful, in perusing the productions of an author unsurpassed in antiquity only by a few of the earliest writers of the sacred Scriptures, to meet with the descriptions of places so accurate, and with sketches of national character agreeing so fully with existing facts and the records of histo- ry, as justly to inspire us with confidence in the living truth and reality of all those vivid and beautiful pictures which he gives us of the social and domestic habits, the manners and customs, and the religious rites, ceremonies, opinions, and modes of worship which prevailed when, comparatively speak- ing, mankind were in the infancy of their existence. The oppressive and tyrannical sway of the proud and crafty republic of Venice, was for several centuries extended over Corfu. During that period, much was done to destroy the spirit of enterprise, and the independence of character of the lively, volatile, and inquisitive Greeks, by depriving them of the means of education, by substituting, in a great degree, the Italian for the Greek language, and by subjecting them to the iron despotism of the church of Rome. Thus were igno- rance, indolence, vice, and local and family feuds cherished and fostered among the people, that by thus degrading and dividing them, they might the more easily be held in the chains of civil and religious thraldom. An inferior order of nobility was created in the island, for the purpose of making the more wealthy and influential of the Greeks so subservient to the interests of Venice, as to aid in more deeply oppressing and degrading those below them. The sons of the wealthy, too, who were sent to Venice and Padua to be educated, were taught the lesson of servile subjection to the ruling state, and, as if to check every aspiration after literary eminence, they were permitted to purchase a diploma of doctor of arts, on passing a slight and superficial examination in their studies. The Venetians, from motives of policy, strongly fortified Corfu, inasmuch as by its permanent possession they secured 136 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. to themselves important facilities in their commerce with the East, while at the same time commanding, as it did in a great degree, the entrance of the Adriatic, they thus erected a for- midable barrier for the defence of their insular republic against the attacks of foreign foes. These fortifications have since been strengthened by the French and English, and Corfu is now one of the most important military and naval stations in the Mediterranean. The French, when in possession of Corfu, restored the Greek language to its ancient rank and standing, by substi- tuting it for Italian in public acts, and in conversation among the higher circles; the youth of the island had increased facil- ities for education placed within their reach, local dissensions were healed, the Greek church was freed from the oppres- sion and persecution of the church of Rome, and the way began to be opened for the Greek clergy to rise from that deep degradation and ignorance to which they had been sunk by having so long been deprived of the full benefit of the re- venues of their church, as well as of any institution for their professional education. Corfu and the other Ionian islands were first taken by the French in 1797. Two years afterwards, they were seized by ;he united forces of the Turks and Russians, and in 1802 were declared independent, under the title of" The Republic of the Seven Islands." In 1S07 they were again taken by the French, and having, in 1814, been in part conquered by the English, the Allied Powers, by the treaty of Paris in 1815, consigned them to the protection of Great Britain, under the title of "The United States of the Ionian Islands." The present form of government was organized in 1817, and has as its head a Lord High Commissioner, who is the represen- tative of the British sovereign. He resides at Corfu, and has under him, in each of the other islands, a local governor, known by the title of " Resident " There are also a Senate, a House of Representatives and Judges, in the nomination of candidates for which, the Lord High Commissioner has a voice, he presenting to the people a list of candidates for their representatives, and they electing from those thus presented such as they may like best. The Commissioner when we were there was Sir Howard Douglas, the author of an able treatise on gunnery, and of other works of historical and scientific merit. He was sin- cerely devoted to the best interests of the Greeks, and, by his GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 137 zealous and successful efforts in promoting works of public improvement, as also by his active and efficient patronage of the cause of education, morality, and religion, he has de- servedly acquired the esteem and affection of those over whom he is placed. Under his auspices, the press of the London Missionary Society has been removed from Malta to Corfu, where it is now actively employed, not only in greatly increas- ing and multiplying the means of common education and re- ligious instruction, but also in furnishing the modern Greeks with the necessary facilities for entering upon the higher walks of literature and science. This press is under the direction of the Rev. Mr. Lowndes, with whom, and his amiable and excellent lady, I had become acquainted at Malta, when they were making a visit there, and under whose hospitable roof at Corfu 1 spent many a delightful hour. To the refined social intercourse of this in- teresting family, and of that of the Rev. Mr. G., civil chap- lain, and professor in the Ionian University, I am indebted for many pleasant recollections connected with my visit to Corfu. Mr. Lowndes is the oldest missionary in the Mediterranean, having been in the field more than twenty years. His long familiarity with the modern Greek enables him not only to converse and to preach in it with the utmost facility, but he has also prepared and published grammars, dictionaries, and other elementary works in the language, and when we were there, he was compiling a grammar of the Hebrew language, in modern Greek, for the benefit of the theological students in the Ionian University. The dictionary, then in the press, and nearly completed, was the second which he had prepared, and contained 72,000 words, a number but little less than is found in Webster's large English Dictionary. He has also superintended the publication of versions of the New Testa- ment in the Albanian and Jewish-Spanish languages, that is, with Spanish words in Hebrew characters. Besides this, he has been associated with other learned men, both English and Greeks, in printing a version of the Old Testament in modern Greek, translated from the Septuagint. If to these and other literary efforts, and the constant superintendence of the press, we add the daily supervision of schools in Corfu and the neighbouring villages, containing several hundred youth of both sexes, as also the highly important and responsible duties of government superintendent of all the schools in the Ionian Islands, more than 100 in number, we have before us, in the 12* 13S FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. case of Mr. Lowndes, an example of active, devoted, and effi- cient benevolent effort, worthy of all imitation. When we contemplate the active beneficence of such a humble and self- denying missionary of the cross, who devotes his life to open- ing the fountains of knowledge and of Christian faith, to a rising nation, thus, in his onward course of light, leaving behind him an unending influence for good, what a striking contrast is thus presented to the dark and desolating career of the votary of unhallowed ambition ; of him who, regard- less of the tears of the widow and the orphan, elevates him- self at the expense of others, and " wades through slaughter to a throne." When we were in Corfu, Mr. Lowndes had just completed his official visit to the primary schools of the different islands. There were then in operation, or about to commence, 104 schools, on the plan of mutual instruction, averaging forty scholars each, thus making in all more than 4,000. The teachers receive five dollars a month from government, and an equal amount from the parents of their scholars. 1 no- ticed that the head teacher of a large school of girls in Corfu, was a Greek priest, and Mr. Lowndes, by employing this class of men where he could well do so, both in Sabbath and day schools, and by associating the more learned of them with him in his various literary labors, has thus not only se- cured important aid, but has so gained the affection and esteem of the priesthood as wholly to avoid that opposition to his efforts, which missionaries in other parts of Greece have encountered. In each of the Ionian islands is a classical school, contain- ing about 100 scholars, under the care of two or three teach- ers. The object of these schools is to fit young men for the University. The course of study extends through four years, embracing the ancient Greek, Latin, Italian, and English languages, with arithmetic, algebra, geography, geometry, and penmanship. The students devote about two thirds of their time to the study of the languages, this kind of knowledge being more important to them than any other, from the fact, that both as merchants and travellers, individuals of many differ- ent nations constantly crowd the Levant, thus making it necessary for those, who as commercial or literary men, or as officers of government, have intercourse with these foreign- ers, to be familiar with a variety of tongues. The Italian, however, is the common business language throughout the GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 139 Levant, and, except when in France, Spain, and Portugal, was the only foreign tongue I had occasion to use. The principals of the classical schools receive sixty dollars a month, and are required to make frequent reports of the condition of their institutions to a committee of public instruction. The Ionian University, at Corfu, was first commenced by the French, in 1807, though it did not assume any fixed and permanent form until 1823. At that time, Lord Guilford, having labored seven years to effect the object, secured the countenance of government, endowed the university, and was appointed its chancellor. He paid the salaries of several of the teachers, sent young Greeks to the English Universities to be educated for professors, supported poor scholars in the Ionian University, and collected the most complete library of modern Greek literature in the world. After his death, which occurred in 1827, the number of professors was re- duced from seventeen to nine. They are paid by the gov- ernment, and spend about two hours each day in delivering lectures to their respective classes. The students pay noth- ing for tuition, and receive instruction in the Greek, Latin, Italian, and English languages and literature, the mathemat- ics, the natural sciences, logic, metaphysics, theology, and law. Three years are devoted to these studies, with the ex- ception of theology and law, which form distinct departments. When we were in Corfu, the number of theological students in the University was forty-seven, and of those pursuing other branches, there were fifty-three, making 100 in all. The expense of board is about eight dollars a month. The government support thirty-nine students in theology, eight of whom must be from each of the three largest islands, six from S,anta Maura, and three from each of the three smaller islands. The requisites for admission as to age, health, character, and acquirements are fixed by law, as are also the dress, furniture, and habits of social intercourse of the students. They commonly spend five years in the semi- nary, at the end of which time they may receive orders in the church, and be employed as preachers, or become teach- ers in the public schools. When I saw near fifty of these students together, with their long black robes, faced with purple, and bound around them with a sash of crimson-col- ored silk, their long hair and beard of raven hue, resting in rich profusion on the neck and breast, and strongly con- trasted often with the pale and thoughtful air, which studious 140 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. confinement gives the face, I almost fancied myself, for the moment, in the midst of an ancient Roman Senate, or some other stern and grave assemblage of the olden time. Since Professor Bambas resigned his place as President of the Theological Seminary in the University, and lecturer on logic, metaphysics, and practical theology, he has been suc- ceeded by his former associate, Professor Typaldos. My in- tercourse with this learned and amiable man, and the infor- mation which he freely gave as to his course of instruction, left a favorable impression on my mind as to his modest worth, the extent of his acquirements, and his efficient and zealous devotion to the great work of elevating the standard of liter- ary and theological attainments among the clergy of the Greek church. Indeed, we can hardly doubt, that a highly beneficial influence will be exerted by those educated at this seminary, in enlightening and liberalizing the minds of their countrymen. The text-book in theology of the students in the seminary is a summary of Christian divinity, by Platon, formerly Arch- bishop of Moscow, and first published by him in 1765. It has since passed through many large editions in Russia, and is used in almost every place of education throughout that vast empire. Dr. Pinkerton translated it into English, and an edition of it was published in New York, in 1815. The learned Coray translated it into modem Greek, and printed it at Paris, and a reprint of that translation, at Corfu, by Professor Typaldos, with notes of his own, is now used as a text-book by the students under his care. This treatise dis- cusses, in a clear and concise manner, the leading topics of Christian theology, under the three following heads : 1st. The knowledge of God, as derived from nature. 2d. The Gospel. 3d. The Law. The views of the author are sus- tained by appropriate quotations from the Bible, and, as to the leading doctrines of Christianity, differ but little from those of the stricter sects of Protestants, except so far as they are modified by a defence of the worship of pictures, the invocation of saints, transubstantiation, and a leaning towards baptismal regeneration, and other exceptionable tenets of the Greek church. Still, though almost every im- portant Christian truth and duty may be urged upon the Greeks without necessarily clashing with any of the peculiar- ities of their national faith, yet the mass of the people, from their ignorance, and the tendency there is in the minds of GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 14 [ men to seize upon external forms and ceremonies, to the neglect of the pure and self-denyiug principles of thp Chris- tian faith, now know little else of religion than the regular observance of the fasts, feasts, penances, confessions, abso- lutions, and other rites enjoined upon them by their priests. There are about 200 days devoted to fasting each year, by the Greek church, besides fifty feast days, leaving but little more than one hundred days in which the people, as to diet and the manner of spending the time, are free from the domi- nation of the church. Meat is prohibited on every fast, and neither priest nor patriarch has power to grant a dispensa- tion. The great number of days held sacred by the Greek and Roman churches, not only tend greatly to the promotion of indoleuce and vice, but almost wholly prevent the young from acquiring any valuable and systematic education in the schools. Hence the Greek government have ordered, that the public offices and schools shall be closed only on twelve festivals during each year. In 1829, there were 233 priests, and 767 churches in Corfu. Many of these churches are small and in some re- tired place, being erected in honor of some saint and not intended as regular places of worship. In 1820, Corfu had nine or ten convents, fifty-five monks, and eighty-two novi- ciates. The government control the funds of the church. The archbishop of Corfu has 8 100 a month, — of Cepha- lonia, 8 180. The lower clergy receive from ten to eighteen dollars a year, besides fees for baptisms, marriages, and burials, and, as they are commonly married, they are com- pelled to labor for their support. The churches of Rome, England, and Greece, are allowed by law, and other sects are not disturbed. There are 3,000 Jews in Corfu, 1,500 in Zante,and 50 in Cephalonia. Corfu has 130 villages, and 60,000 inhabitants. The capital has a population of 17,000, and in all the islands there are 200,000 souls. The ancient city of Corcyra was some distance south of the present capital ; and near its site we visited the ruins of a Doric temple, which has been recently uncovered. It .is di- rectly on the seashore, and the columns, several of which are standing, are of the rudest, and most ancient style of Grecian architecture. The citadel of Corfu is built on two high rocks, which are separated from the island by a narrow creek, over which a bridge is thrown. They are called the Old Forts, and were doubtless fortified from the earliest period, 142 FOREIGJN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. forming the Acropolis of the ancient city. Virgil speaks of them, as the "terias Phasacum Arces," (" the lofty towers of the PhaBacians,") and the strong fortifications erected there by the Venetians, French, and English, have made Corfu one of the most defensible places in the world. The arrangement first made between the government of Great Britain and that of the Ionian Islands, was, that the latter should pay to the former the whole expense of the mili- tary force employed for their defence, as also of the public works constructed in the islands. On experiment, however, it was found that this expense would exceed the means of the Greeks, and a new arrangement was made, by which they annually pay to Great Britain the sum of =£35,000 sterling, which is much less than the actual expenditure. Thus here, as in the case of most of her foreign possessions, does the " Island Empress of the Sea" dead)' pay for her pride of em- pire and her lust of power. Directly opposite Corfu, and separated from it only by a narrow frith, are the wild and woody heights of the ancient Epirus, rising in successive ranges towards the North, until they terminate in the barren and snow-clad summit of the lofty Ceraunia. Such is the province now known as Lower Albania, and which, by the Pindus and its branches, is made, in the wild and rude magnificence of its mountain scenery, another Switzerland. Every night there may be seen on the sides of these mountains, the watchfires of the Albanian shep- herds, who are guarding their flocks ; and in walking the streets of Corfu, these brave and hardy, but cruel and unso- cial mountain warriors are often met with. Like other sav- age and warlike tribes of men, their chief delight and pride is in the showy splendor of their dress, and the glittering rich- ness of their arms. Their turbans, and often their whole dress, are of the purest white, but the favorite color for the vest is red or purple. This garment is often of velvet, em- broidered with gold, and richly interwoven with splendid ornaments. In front are two and sometimes four rows of gilt, silver, or gold buttons, of the shape and size of a hen's egg, hollow, and curiously wrought, and so near each other as to make a tinkling noise when the wearer walks. Their large full breeches are white, and tied below the knees with garters of scarlet silk. Their stockings, or leggins, are of wool, interwoven with red silk, which hangs down in tas- sels, while those of the rich are of crimson velvet, embroid- GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 143 ered with gold. The shoes of the rich are red or yellow, and the back and inside of the leg, half way from the instep to the knee, and sometimes the outside of the knee, are covered with thin plates of silver, attached to each other in such a way as to defend those parts when travelling in a rough and woody country. Thus Homer says of Agamemnon, — " And first he cased his manly legs around, With shining greaves with silver buckles bound." Hesiod speaks of greaves made of brass, and Homer, of tin. Those found in ancient tombs in various parts of Italy, are commonly of thin flexible bronze, reaching as high as the knee, or higher. The Albanians commonly carry a long gun, a pair of silver mounted pistols, with barrels about a foot and a half in length, a curved cutlass, and a dagger or knife. The pistols and knife are thrust under the sash. These arms are constantly worn for defence in war, and as ornaments in time of peace. In the winter, robes of ermine are worn by the richer class, while those of the poor are of sheep skin or goat skin, with the wool on the outside. I saw, at Corfu, a richly embroid- ered Albanian dress, the price of which was §300. The dress of the Greeks is vastly more becoming than that of the barelegged Highland Guards, with their kilts of Scottish plaid, such as one often meets with at the military stations of the British. The variety of national costumes and manners to be met with in the more eastern ports of the Mediterranean, are such as often to remind one of the graphic and accurate descrip- tion of such a scene, which is given in Childe Harold : "The wild Albanian, kirtled to his knee, With shawl-girt head and ornamented gun, And gold-embroidered garments, fair to see, The crimson scarfed men of Macedon ; The Delhi, with his cap of terror on, And crooked glaive ; the lively, supple Greek ; And swarthy Nubia's mutilated son ; The bearded Turk, that rarely deigns to speak, Are mixed conspicuous ; some recline in groups, Scanning the motley scene that varies round ; There some grave Moslem to devotion stoops ; And some that smoke, and some that play, are found ; Here the Albanian proudly treads the ground; Half whispering there, the Greek is heard to prate." In Greece, females are often seen laboring in the field; o 144 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. and in Corfu, one may frequently meet them bending beneath an immense bundle of long, coarse grass, which they have been abroad to collect. This is used as in our Saviour's time, and reminds one of his striking illustration of the kind providence of God, derived from the verdant beauty with which He clothes the grass which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven. Leaving Corfu on our way to the East, we passed the little island of Paxos, which is fruitful in oil and wine, and contains about 7,000 inhabitants, and then took our course along the shores of Santa Maura, the ancient Leucadia. This latter island is a mass of mountains, about thirty miles long and twelve broad, and separated from the continent only by a narrow channel which is said to have been cut by the Corin- thians at an early period. In the time of Homer it was a peninsula, and the water in the channel is so shallow that it can be forded in still weather. The remains of a bridge, built there by the Turks, may yet be seen. But what most attracted our attention, was the lofty prom- ontory of Leucate, from which the Grecian poetess Sappho, is said to have thrown herself into the sea below, as a cure for love, and hence, it is commonly called the Lover's Leap. It is a narrow slip of marble rocks, of the purest and most glittering white, projecting some distance into the sea, and terminating in a high perpendicular precipice, the base of which is washed by the deep clear waves below. Artemisia, queen of Caria, who is celebrated by Herodotus, is said to have perished in trying this remedy for love, as Sappho had done before her; and though such is the giddy height of the precipice, that it would seem enough to frighten Sam Patch himself to look down into the roaring sea below, still, Maces, of Bythrotum, is said to have performed this dreadful leap four times, and thus at last, got the better of his love. In- deed, it would seem that so sudden and peculiar an applica- tion of the cold bath, would have no slight influence, for the time, at least, in checking and cooling down the wild and feverish excitement of love. It is, however, the high poetic genius of Sappho, which has invested with such enduring interest, the place of her death. By far the most distinguished female who has ever entered the walks of poetry, she received from ancient Greece the flattering appellation of the Tenth Muse. Assembling around her a number of her own sex, she taught them, both GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 145 by precept and example, the arts of poetry and music, and though of the nine books of elegies and hymns which she composed, but two odes, and a few scattered fragments of verse have been preserved in the writings of Longinus, Plu- tarch, Aristotle, and others, still, those specimens strongly confirm the high estimate of her talents, formed by those who were familiar with all her works. Leaving Santa Maura behind us, we next passed the nar- row, rocky island of Ithaca, the kingdom of Ulysses, and the place where Homer has laid the scene of several books of the Odyssey. Its length is about seventeen miles, its great- est breadth less than four, and its circumference thirty -two miles. Some have supposed that Homer himself was a na- tive of Ithaca, while, in the common histories of his life, it is stated that during his travels he lost his eyesight there ; and surely, the delight with which his rich poetic fancy lingered amid the romantic scenery of this wild and rocky isle, would well comport with the idea, either that it was the home of his childhood or the last fair vision which greeted his eyes be- fore they were veiled in endless night. The poet has shown his knowledge of mankind, too, in selecting such a place as the object of the firm and unwavering attachment of his hero during all his long and weary wanderings, as also in making it the abode of social and domestic virtue, of faithful and de- voted affection, and lofty and commanding heroism. This is fully in accordance with the fact, that the inhabitants of rough and elevated regions are commonly far more hardy, virtuous, and enterprising, and more devotedly attached to the plac: which gave them birth, than are those who live in lower and more fertile lands. Homer is far from describing Ithaca as an earthy paradise, for when the king of Sparta offered three sprightly coursers as a present to the son of Ulysses, he thus replies : — " That gift, our barren rocks will render vain: Horrid with cliffs, our meagre land allows Thin herbage for the mountain goat to browse, But neither mead nor plain supplies, to feed The sprightly courser, or indulge his speed : To sea surrounded realms the gods assign Small tract of fertile lawn, the least to mine." It was probably in allusion to the steep, rocky hill, surmount- ed by the Acropolis, and on the sides of which the ancient cap- ital of the island was built, that Cicero exclaims, " Doth not VOL. II. 13 146 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. one's country delight him? Such, indeed, is the power of this attachment, that Ithaca itself, though placed like a nest upon the roughest rocks, was yet, by the wisest of men, prefer- red to immortality. 1 ' The summit of this hill still retains some of the ruins of the Acropolis, called by the common people, the Castle of St. Penelope, a name derived, doubtless, from the spouse of Ulysses. Her ladyship, notwithstanding her manifold virtues, could hardly have dreamed of ever attaining the honors of Christian saintship. Having left behind us, — " Leucadia's far projecting rock of woe, The last resort of fruitless love, And with it stern Albania's hills, Dark Suli's rocks, and Pindus' inland peak, We passed the barren spot Where sad Penelope o'erlooked the wave," and sailing onwards in our course along the western shores of Greece, there lay on our left, Actium, Missolonghi, Navarino, and Lepanto, where battles, by laud or by sea, have been fought, unsurpassed, perhaps, in the momentous results de- pending upon their issue, by any others to be met with in the records of history. The battle of Actium, in which 5,000 lives were lost, and 300 ships were taken, decided the question whether the vast empire of Rome should be ruled by the cruel, crafty, avari- cious, and hypocritical Augustus, the selfish and interested patron of literature and the arts, or the brave, generous, lux- urious, and profligate Anthony ; the lover of noise, revel, and debauchery, the companion of jesters and buffoons, and the humble and submissive slave of the licentious, beautiful, and voluptuous queen of Egypt. The marshalled hosts of Eu- rope and the East, there met each other in hostile array, and Anthony, at first by yielding to his royal mistress, as to meet- ing his enemy by sea, instead of on land, and then in follow- ing her in her flight from the field of conquest, instead of leading on his soldiers to victory, thus by his blind infatua- tion, lost the empire of the world. Well might the poet, when gazing upon the place where this battle was fought, exclaim, — " Behold, where once was lost A world for woman; lovely, harmless thing! In yonder rippling bay, their naval host Did many a Roman chief and Asian king To doubtful conflict, certain slaughter bring." GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 147 The battle of Lepanto, in 1571, was fought near Actium and Missolonghi, between the combined forces of Spain, Ven- ice, and the Pope on the one hand, and the Turks on the other. More than 500 ships, armed with the destructive en- gines of both ancient and modern warfare, and filled with men, roused to wild, fanatic rage and valor, by opposing systems of religious faith, met in furious contest. The rec- ords of history scarce present an example of a more reckless and desperate naval engagement than this, resulting as it did, in the sinking of eighty ships, during the battle, the abandonment and destruction of 130 more, the capture of an equal number, and the loss of more than 30,000 lives. " Fearful indeed, was it," says the historian, " to behold the sea discolored with blood, and shrouded with corpses, and piteous to mark the numberless wounded wretches, toss- ed about by the waves, and clinging to shattered pieces of wreck. Here might you observe Turks and Christians, mingled indiscriminately, imploring aid while they sank or swam; or wrestling for mastery, perhaps, on the very same plank. On all sides were heard shouts, or groans, or cries of misery; and as evening closed, and darkness began to spread over the waters, so much more was the spectacle in- creased in horror." Previous to the battle of Lepanto, the Turks, with their powerful armament, had carried every thing before them, even to the very confines of Italy, and had they swept from the sea the naval force which opposed them, there was noth- ing to prevent their laying waste the fertile regions of south- ern and western Europe. In view of these facts, an able historian, who was fully qualified to judge in the case, has well asked, — "What would have been the fate of Europe, if the infidels had conquered? What new barrier was Chris- tendom prepared to raise against the establishment, in her fairest portion, of the despotism of the Ottomans, — perhaps of the imposture of their prophet? " The battle of Navarino, which was fought in October, 1827, between the combined fleets of England, France, and Russia on the one side, and the Turks on the other, was in its results most fortunate to oppressed and suffering Greece. Though commenced by accident, and with but twenty-nine ships of the allies opposed to seventy of the Turks, aided by a whole line of land batteries, still the destruction of all but fifteen of the Turkish ships, and the loss of more than five 148 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. thousand men, so ruined their naval power, as to seal tlie deliverance of Greece from the bonds of Moslem oppression and tyranny. So reduced are now the resources of the Turkish Empire, that after this eventful contest, she could not, as in the year succeeding the battle of Lepanto, put forth to sea again with a force nearly equal to that she had so re- cently lost; and we may with truth apply to these two en- gagements the " witty and fit comparison," as the old historian calls it, which was made by one of the chief of the Turkish prisoners taken at Lepanto, when contrasting the result of that contest with the previous loss of the island of Cyprus, by the Christians. He said, that " the battell lost was unto Se- lymus" (the Turkish sultan) " as if a man should shave his bearde, which would grow out again ; but that the loss of Cyprus was unto the Venetians as the losse of an arm, which, once cut offe, could never be againe recovered." The battle of Navarino was indeed to the Turks " as the losse of an arm." Missolonghi, at the commencement of the Greek revolution, was merely a fishing town, containing 3,000 inhabitants, and enclosed with a low mud wall, and a ditch seven feet wide and four deep, which, in many places, was filled up with rubbish. The only cannon in the place were four old ship guns, and one dismounted thirty-six pounder, and though provisions were scarce, and there was not ammunition suffi- cient for a month's siege, still Mavrocordato, with less than 500 soldiers, made a stand there against a Turkish army of 14,000 men. At length, being reinforced by a body of 1200 men, the Greeks not only routed the enemy, taking their artillery, baggage, and a large quantity of provisions, but, closely pur- suing them, with the aid of other forces who joined them, they cut off great numbers, and, forcing them to cross the Acheron, which was swollen by rains, several hundred were drowned in the attempt. Thus, of the large Turkish army, which three months before had passed through western Greece in triumph, not more than half escaped. After this victory, Missolonghi was more strongly fortified by Lord Byron and others, and, as it furnished a place of refuge for those in the surrounding region, who were driven from their homes by the ravages of war, and was the main point of communication by sea with the eastern provinces of Greece, it thus became a most important fortress. Passing over the siege of 1823, which, like the former one, was broken GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 149 up by the valor of the Greeks, we may briefly notice that which commenced in 1825. The number of inhabitants had then increased to 12,000, of whom 4,000 were able to bear arms. They were vigorously besieged, both by land and sea, by a Turkish army of 14,000 men, who, at the end of seven months, were joined by an Egyptian army of 12,000, with such an addition to the number of ships, that the combined fleet consisted of more than one hundred sail. Thus were the Greeks cut off" from all hopes of the continuance of those supplies, which their ships had from time to time been able to throw into the place, as a means of relieving the extreme distress which prevailed there. I will not dwell upon the distressing details of this eventful siege. For more than a year its bloody horrors continued. Suffice it to say, that the houses in the town were almost en- tirely destroyed by bombs and shells, and their inmates forced to seek shelter in holes which they dug in the ground : the inhabitants were driven by hunger to eat all kinds of domestic animals, and the most offensive articles of food ; numbers were constantly perishing, in desperate sallies or in repelling the vigorous assaults from without, until finally, assembling to- gether, they partook of the sacrament at the hands of their bishop, ate the last food which remained to them, and then, such as were able, prepared to break through the lines of the besieging army by night, with the hopes of thus escaping, while the aged and infirm, and such of the women as chose to remain behind, shut themselves up in a mill to await their fate. The first division of 3,500, most of whom were men, gained the mountains, with the loss of only about 400, but, exhausted with hunger, 300 more died by the way during their two days' march to Salana, and when they reach- ed Corinth, only 2,500 remained. The second party, about equal in number to the first, and containing a large propor- tion of women and children, was driven back by the Turks, many of them were either killed upon the spot, or taken pris- oners and sold, while mothers with their children, to the number of 800, rushed into the sea and were drowned, that thus they might escape their cruel oppressors. As the Turks approached, a mine, containing thirty barrels of powder, was fired by an old soldier who had charge of it, and the bastion which was over it, as it fell, destroyed many of the enemy. When the Turks, in search of plunder, pressed eagerly around the mill in which were several hundred of the aged, 13* 150 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. infirm, and women, according to previous arrangement, those within set fire to a quantity of powder with which they were provided, and blew themselves and their besiegers together into the air. Thus did the conquerors gain little else than prostrate walls and fallen houses, streets drenched with blood, and strewn with the bodies of the slain. As I write this sketch, a human skull from this Golgotha, this field of death, is before me ; and often, as I have gazed upon it., deeply gashed as it is with the death-wound of him to whom it belonged, it has seemed no unapt emblem of the horrors of war, — a sad and impressive memorial of the reck- less passion and violence of man, recalling, as vivid realities, the scenes of Missolonghi, Navarino, Actium, and Lepanto, and carrying the mind onward to that day when the earth and the sea shall give up their dead, and from beneath those waters, and along that shore, myriads of blood-stained victims shall ascend to meet their murderers before the judgment- seat of God. On our way to the East, in accordance with the common custom in such cases, we repaired to the island of Milo, the ancient Melos, where each ship in our squadron took on board two skilful Greek pilots to conduct us safely through the difficult and dangerous sailing of the Grecian Archipelago. Milo was settled at a very early period by the Phoenicians, and afterwards by a colony from Lacedaemon, who, resisting for a time the attempts of the Athenians to subdue them, were finally conquered, the males were put to death, the women and children enslaved, and 500 colonists sent there to supply their place. In modem times the island has been subject to Turkish oppression, and to frequent incursions of pirates, from whose acts of robbery and violence it has suffered much. The present number of inhabitants is about 900, most of whom are collected in a single town, which is built on the sides of a steep conical hill, resembling in form the gigantic ant hills in Africa. The harbour is deep, and well protected from wind by the high ground which surrounds it. The island, like others around it, presents abundant evidence of volcanic action. It contains a number of hot springs, and while we were there, several shocks of an earthquake were sensibly felt by us on board our ship. On our way from Milo to the Gulf of Argos, we passed near the islands of Hydra and Spetsae. They are both mountainous and barren, the former containing about 13,000, GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. J51 and the latter 2,000 inhabitants. Having always been free from Turkish residents, and governing themselves, they ac- quired an independent spirit, and actively engaged in com- merce. The French Revolution threw into their hands an extensive and lucrative carrying trade from Egypt and the Black Sea to the Western part of the Mediterranean. Thus, not only did they become wealthy, but, by arming each of their vessels with from eight to thirty cannon, and manning them with from thirty-five to seventy men, as a defence against the Barbary pirates, it was found, at the commencement of the Greek revolution, that Hydra could meet the Turks with eighty, and Spetsas with sixty well-armed square-rigged ves- sels. In passing up the gulf of Argos, on our left was the pro- vince of Lycaonia, of which Sparta was the ancient capital. The lofty range of the Taygetus gives to this province a pe- culiarly wild and romantic appearance, while Mount St. Elias, with its snowy crest, rising to the height of 8,000 feet, overlooks the whole of the Peloponnesus. A Protestant mis- sion from the United States, has been recently established among the rude, hardy, and comparatively virtuous moun- taineers of this Grecian Switzerland ; and the kind manner in which the missionaries have been received and treated, furnishes a favorable omen of their future success. We came to anchor near the head of the gulf, with the Lake of Lerna, on our left, where Hercules is said to have destroyed the monster Hydra, while in front was the wide- spread and fertile plain of Argos, bounded by an amphithea- tre of lofty hills and rude and broken cliffs. On our right was Napoli di Romania, the ancient Nauplia, the port of Ar- gos, from which, more than 3.000 years ago, Agamemnon, with his hundred ships, sailed for the siege of Troy. The present town of Napoli is built upon a tongue of land which projects into the sea. Directly to the west, the land rises in a steep, rough precipice, about 1,000 feet in height, called the Palamede. Its summit is crowned with extensive fortifications, built by the Venetians. These are connected with the town below, by both a covered and an open zig-zag way, one of which is used in time of war, and the other in peace. The city was for several centuries in ruins, the in- habitants having been expelled by the Argives, on suspicion of having favored the interest of the Spartans. Napoli was the residence of the Pacha of the Morea, before the year 152 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. 1790, and was the Turkish as Argos was the Greek capital of the Peninsula. It was also the seat of government of Greece, during most of the Revolution ; and King Otho resided there for a time before removing to Athens. The present number of inhabitants is about 6,000 ; and the buildings of the city, owing to the fact that it was formerly occupied by the Vene- tians, have much more the appearance of those of western Europe, than is common so far to the East. The Turks were driven from Napoli by the Greeks, in 1822; and such is the strength of the fortress on the hill, styled the " Gibraltar of the Archipelago," that the Greeks did not take it until the enemy were reduced by famine to seven fighting men. In 1825, when, on the approach of the Turkish army un- der Ibrahim Pacha, the inhabitants of Tripolitza, to the num- ber of 30,000, and those of Argos, amounting to 12,000, fled for refuge to Napoli, leaving behind them the smoking ruins of their houses, not only was the city filled to overflowing with a dense mass of wretched and homeless human beings, but the gates being shut, thousands of poor wretches, pressed as closely as possible to the walls without, and there with no resting-place but the bare earth, and no covering but blankets hung upon poles, awaited the advance of an enemy whom they dreaded worse than death. The city was poorly fitted for defence, but a show of vigorous resistance on the part of the Greeks, and a fear lest the mountain passes which lead from the plains of Argos, should be occupied so as to cut off a retreat, induced the Turkish army to retire to Tripolitza. In our excursions from Napoli to Argos, Mycanae, and other places in the vicinity, we rode the small, but fleet and hardy horses of the country. Whenever a party of us issued from the landgate, a troop of wild-looking Greeks, whose ren- dezvous was about half a mile without the walls, would come rushing towards us, urging their horses at the top of their speed, and if we did not then make a speedy selection, we were surrounded by some twenty or thirty of these vagabonds, who, if they did not deafen us by the clamorous praise which each one gave his own steed, and his no less noisy abuse of the others, put one in serious danger of being run over by them, or of being so pulled to pieces as to need more than one horse to carry him. These Greeks, and others of the lower class, in seaport towns, who have had much to do with foreigners, are trickish and impudent cheats and sharpers ; GRECIAN ISLANDS AND NAPOLI. 153 but still, where one has occasion to threaten or chastise them for some act of barefaced villany, there is a ready self-defence and a resolute independence of character, which presents a favorable contrast to the quiet and cringing submission with which the knavish and supple Italians will receive a beating. It is, however, the height of injustice to judge of the character of a whole nation, from the porters, ostlers, and scullions one meets with, who, dependent for their living on small and uncertain gains, are strongly tempted to commit petty acts of fraud, and too often are made what they are, by the undue indulgence or the deception and abuse of those who employ them. As to the common feelings of sympathy with suffering, and those little acts of kindness and hospitali- ty which all may perform, their cheering, soothing influence may be felt by the traveller in every land. I have found them one and the same in the Canadian hamlet, the New England village, the log house of the emigrant, and the mansion of the Southern planter ; amid the widespread desolations of Spain and Portugal, in the cottages which hang among the loftiest peaks of the Apennines, in the hovel of the Grecian peasant, and the lowly hut of the native African, amid the luxuriant wildness of his native forest. Thus are these ties of social sympathy and kindness as extensive as the family of man, and thus, too, is it true, indeed, that, " as face answereth to face in water, so doth the heart of man to man." I do not, in making these remarks, deny the elevating influence of civ- ilization and Christianity on the social affections and sympa- thies, but would merely oppose the disposition so often in- dulged, of judging of large masses of men from a few unfa- vorable specimens, as also the common feeling, that those whom we regard as wrong in their religious and political creeds, must of course be destitute of all the generous and benevolent impulses of our nature. About two miles from Napoli, on the road to Argos, are the ruins of the Acropolis of the ancient Tiryns, or Tirynthus, said to have been founded about 1,400 years before Christ. The soldiers who went from thence to the Trojan war, are spoken of by Homer, as those " Whom strong Tirynthe's lofty walls surround." The Acropolis was built on a low rock, about thirty feet in height, and extending north and south to the distance of 244 yards. Its breadth is 54 yards, the walls are from 20 to 154 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. 25 feet thick, and their greatest present height is 43 feet. Pausanius, who visited the fortress in the second century, speaks of the stones as being so large, that a yoke of mules could not move the smallest of them, and some of them are more than ten feet long and four feet thick. These stones are rough, and piled together in huge masses, without ce- ment. There were gates at each end, one of which is fifteen feet wide, besides a postern in the western side. The for- tress, which is about one third of a mile in circumference, consisted of an upper and lower enclosure, with a platform between them. In the eastern and southern walls were gal- leries, which were probably intended for covered communi- cations, leading to towers or magazines of arms, at their fur- ther extremities. One of these places of arms still exists. The passage from the southern entrance into the lower di- vision of the fortress, was about twelve feet broad, and one of the galleries which still exists, is eighty-four feet long, and five broad. In the eastern wall are two parallel passages. To judge from the quantity of stones which have fallen to the ground, the walls were at first not less than sixty feet in height. The town of Tiryns probably occupied a plain 200 or 300 yards in width, which lies on the southwestern side of the Acropolis, and separates it from a marsh extending to the sea. It is claimed, that a colony from Egypt came to this part of Greece about 1,500 years before Christ; and Dr. Clarke, speaking of the massive ruins of Tiryns, says, that the sight of them seemed to place him amid the ruins of Memphis. These ruins have continued nearly in their pres- ent state for more than 3,000 years, and may still remain as long as the earth shall endure. ARGOS, MYCENyE, AND ATHENS. 155 a CHAPTER XXI. ARGOS, MYCENAE, AND ATHENS. History of Argos. — Harvest. — Threshing. — Bricks. — Houses. — The Acropolis. — Oracles. — Catholic Frauds. — Rev. Mr. Riggs. — Lake of Lerna. — The Mill. — Colonel Miller. — Mycenae ; its Walls and Gates. — Sophocles. — Ancient Excavations. — Massive Structures. — Reflec- tions. — Egina. — Temple of Jupiter. — Servius Sulpicius. — Salamis; its History. — The Piraeus. — Commerce. — Lions and Fountains. — Walls of the Piraeus and Athens. — Ancient Tombs. — Works on Athens. — Plains of Attica. — History of Athens. — The Cephissos and Ilissus. — Olive Trees. — Greek Revolution. — Modern Athens. — King Otho. — Ancient Ruins. — The Acropolis. — The Propylea. — The Parthenon. — The Emperors Constantine and Julian. — Change of National Faith. — The Venetians. — Temples on the Acropolis. — Catholic Churches. The plain of Argos lies in the form of a semicircle, or rather of a crescent, around the head of the gulf of the same name. From Napoli, at one extremity of this plain, to Ar- gos, at the other, is eight miles, and from the head of the gulf to the mountains which enclose the plain, is eight or ten miles. Argos is supposed to have been founded 1,856 years before Christ, and, enriched with the commerce of Assyria and Egypt, was for a long time the most flourishing city of Greece. At an early period, it became dependent on the neighbouring city of Mycenae, whose monarch was styled by Homer, " King of many islands and of all Argos." Aga- memnon, the ruler of this kingdom, was commander-in-chief of the Grecian forces, during the Trojan war. Argos, in ancient times, contained thirty temples, besides a spacious theatre, a stadium, a gymnasium, and other splen- did public edifices. In the fourteenth century, both Napoli and Argos belonged to a wealthy Venetian, by the name of Comaro, and Argos being taken and its walls destroyed by Bajazet, in 1397, it was for some time deserted, until, hav- ing been rebuilt by the Venetians, it was again taken by the Turks in 1463. In 1668, there were sixty villages in the plain of Argos. and early in this century the Turkish gov- ernor there had forty villages under his command. Before the late Revolution, Argos contained about 6,000 inhabitants, but, owing to the ravages of war in the sur- J56 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. rounding region, the population had increased, in 1825, to 12,000, all of whom fled to Napoli when the Turkish army approached, and from thence saw their city burned by the enemy. When we were there, the city had an air of active industry, and contained ahout 8,000 inhabitants, though whole squares, covered with the crumbling ruins of what had once been houses, presented truly melancholy evidence of the horrid ravages of war. It was then just at the close of the harvest, and the merry bands of reapers, followed by the widow and the orphan, gleaning the scanty pittance which was left to them, had relieved the widespread wheat fields of their yellow burden. The sheaves were piled in large heaps around the threshing-floors, on each of which six or eight horses tied in a row, and fastened to a stake in the middle, were driven round in a circle, and thus trod out the grain. The straw was then raked off, and the wheat separated from the chaff by first throwing it some distance with large shov- els, while the wind was blowing freshly, and then using a fan. Threshing-floors, throughout the south of Europe, are in the open air; and while in Spain they are paved with brick or stone, and enclosed by a wall a foot or more in height, in Greece they are a mere circular space, twenty or thirty feet in diameter, with a floor of clay or earth. The straw, beaten fine by being thus trodden under foot, is used, as in Egypt, in making large sunburnt bricks. It is freely mixed with the clay of which the bricks are made, and serves to bind them together, in the same way that the hair of animals does lime-mortar, which is used for plastering walls. Not only are the low houses of the common people built of these bricks, but handsome and commodious tene- ments, two stories high, are constructed of the same material. The walls are made about two feet thick, covered with lime- mortar, and whitewashed. A serious jar within, however, causes such a shaking of these walls as to remind one of the soft loose material of which they are formed. We visited the remains of the ancient theatre of Argos, having sixty-four rows of seats, each thirteen inches in height, and hewn from the solid rock of which the side of the moun- tain is formed. It differs from other theatres in Greece, in having two wings. When entire, it would probably accom- modate 20,000 persons. The Acropolis of Argos occupies a high rocky cliff above the city, and, with its walls and towers, is not only a place ARGOS, MYCENAE, AND ATHENS. 157 of peculiar strength, but presents an imposing appearance to one who views it from below. From its summit, the plain and gulf of Argos, with the mountains which enclose them, the town below, and Napoli, Tiryns, and Mycenae in the dis- tance, may all be seen. When the Turkish army, under Drami AH, entered the plain of Argos, in 1822, Ipselanti, the Grecian commander, with 300 men, threw himself into the Acropolis of Argos, and bid defiance to the hosts of the enemy until his supply, both of food and water, was exhausted, when, break- ing through the Turkish lines by night, he joined another division of the Greek army. Though this seizure of the Acropolis was a rash and dangerous act, still, it so delayed the operations of the Turks as to enable the Greek peasantry to collect in great numbers, and, by occupying the narrow mountain passes which lead to Corinth, entirely to rout the immense army of the enemy on their retreat, thus securing a large amount of booty, and leaving the bones of thousands of their fallen foes to whiten in the sun. Dr. Clarke, who was at Argos in 1801, discovered, near the foot of the hill of the Acropolis, one of the ancient shrines where oracles were delivered. In what had once been a heathen temple, the altar and inner end of which were hewn from the solid rock, there was on the right, as one entered, a small opening easily concealed, connected with a narrow passage, through which one might creep to a place directiy behind the altar. Stationed there, and concealed from the view of spectators, the crafty priest might deliver his responses, thus leading the credulous multitude to believe that the voice which came to them from behind the altar, was that of the God whom they worshipped. There were twenty-five of these shrines in Peloponnesus, and as many more in the province of Bceotia. There has been much dispute among learned men, as to whether the responses of these oracles were supernatural, or merely the result of human imposture. Tertullian, and most of the early fathers of the church, held that evil spirits ut- tered or inspired these oracles, and in this opinion they have been followed by the historian Rollin, Bishop Sherlock, and numerous other modern writers. The author last named thinks it impious to disbelieve the heathen oracles, and to deny them to have been given out by the devil. In opposi- tion to these views, it is urged that the oracles of both Egypt VOL. II. 14 15S FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. and Greece were often bribed by those who consulted them, a fact which was publicly proclaimed by Herodotus and Demosthenes. It is also stated by the learned historian Eu- sebius, bishop of Caesarea, that there were 600 writers among the heathen themselves, who had publicly written against the reality of these oracles. It has been claimed, that all the oracles ceased at the time of the birth of Christ. This, how- ever, is untrue, for Pausanias testifies to their existence at Argos in the second century, and there is other evidence to prove that they were consulted until the fourth century. The fact which follows, shows us that the agency of these oracles was early employed by a corrupt Christian priesthood, to favor that reverence for the relics of the saints which has since produced such widespread and debasing idolatry in the Catholic church. We are told, that when Julian the Apos- tate was at Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, to consult Apollo, the god, notwithstanding all the sacrifices offered to him, continued mute, until at last he gave, as the cause of his silence, the fact, that the bodies of certain Christian martyrs were interred in the neighbourhood. Similar tricks of the Catholic priesthood have been practised in all ages, and not only are books filled with the pretended revelations made by the numerous images of the saints in the churches, but during the French invasion of Italy under Bonaparte, and the present war in Spain, much use has been made of these impostures to sway and inflame the minds of the populace. In one of the convents in Madrid, for example, a cavity like that at Argos, was formed so that, greatly to the astonish- ment of the vulgar, the sound of the human voice seemed to issue from the solid wall, until this lying wonder was broken open by the public authorities. It was extremely gratifying to meet at Argos the Rev. Air. Riggs, American missionary there, and his excellent lady. Mr. R. had been a professional fellow-student of mine, arid the interest of my visit was increased by the fact, that the school of eighty Greek girls, taught in their house, was supported by a society of benevolent ladies belonging to a village in the United States, in which I had spent several of the pleasantest years of my life. Beyond Argos, and on the opposite side of the gulf from Napoli, is the marsh or Lake of Lerna, where Hercules is said to have destroyed the Hydra, a monster with a hundred heads. Whether by the heads of this monster be meant the ARGOS, MYCENjE, AND ATHENS. 159 numerous fountains which supplied the lake, or the various forms of disease caused by the noxious exhalations of the marsh, all of which were destroyed by draining it, is of little consequence to us. The latter theory is the favorite one with quack doctors, who are fond of heading the puffs of their cure-all nostrums with a picture of Hercules struggling with the Hydra. The marsh is still large, while the lake, or pond, is quite small, and almost concealed by rushes. The water which runs from it, turns a mill, and the flour ground there is usei" without bolting, as is common in Greece. We supplied 011 ship with this water and found it pure and good. When the Turkish army were overrunning this part of Greece in 1825, Ipselanti, with 200 Greeks, took possession of this mill, and waiting until the enemy had passed, sallied out and fired upon them. 2,000 Turks were then ordered to take possession of the mill, but met with so brisk a fire, that they fell back. At length, the enemy having broken through an out- er wall which enclosed the building, eleven men, led on by our countryman Miller, rushed out upon them, sword in hand, and repulsed them. In passing from Argos to Mycenae, a distance of six or eight miles, we crossed the ancient Inachus, now very prop- erly called the Xeros or dry river. There was no water in it, and its broad, shallow bed, covered with loose stones and gravel, resembled those of other rivers often met with in the south of Europe, which, though dry in summer, during the rainy season are filled with broad and rapid streams. This is owing to the fact, that the steep rocky mountains near the coast, absorb but little rain, and send it quickly into the val- leys below. Mycenae was built upon one of the rocky cliffs near the summit of the mountain range, which overlooks the plain of Argos. It was a place of great strength, as well from its natural position, as from the massive Cyclopean walls which enclosed it. The history of Mycenae extends back to the earliest records of remote antiquity, and at the lime of the Trojan war, it was honored as the capital of " the king of men, the far-reigning Agamemnon." It was destroyed by the Argives, 466 years before Christ, when more than half the inhabitants took refuge in Macedonia, and the remainder in Ceryneia, and Cleonae. The ruins remain in much the same state as when visited by Pausanias, in the second cen- tury, and bid fair to continue thus for centuries to come. 160 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. The walls of the city can still be traced in some places, while those of the Acropolis present the massive firmness and solidity of the Pyramids of Egypt. They are in some places 15 or 20 feet high, and enclose a space about 400 yards long, and 200 broad. The ground rises within the walls, and, at the highest point, are several subterranean cisterns, or granaries, walled with large stones and lined with plaster. The principal gate was at the northwest angle, and though now partly filled up with rubbish, was probably near twenty feet in height. It is nine and a half feet wide at the top, and widens from the top downwards. It is commonly call- ed the Gate of the Lions, from the fact that two Egyptian lions, with a column between them, are sculptured on a large slab of green marble directly over the gate. The lions stand upon their hind feet, and their fore feet are placed near the base of the column. This is supposed to be the oldest piece of sculpture in Europe; and, as the lion was the emblem of water in the sacred language of Egypt, and like every other animal was worshipped there, this tablet was probably like the images of the ancient heathen gods, and those of the Catholic saints, placed in the gates of cities, as an object of religious reverence. The same custom seems to have pre- vailed among the Jews, for we read in the sixth chapter of Ezekiel thus: "Likewise, the people of the land shall wor- ship at the door of the gate before the Lord." Allusion is made, repeatedly, to the same fact in the Psalms. The stone upon which these lions are represented is of a triangular form, and is twelve feet long, ten high, and two thick. The Gate of the Lions is approached by a passage fifty feet long, and thirty wide, enclosed on each side by a high wall. Sophocles, the Greek tragedian, has laid the opening scene of his Electra in this place, and through the whole play, he shows himself familiar with all the localities of My- cenae. In these open places, or paved courts at the entrance of cities, markets, courts of justice, and other convocations, were held in ancient times. It was at the gate of the city, that Abraham bought of the sons of Heth the cave of Mac- pelah, and the agreement was confirmed, and the money paid, in the presence of all that went in at the gate. By the law of Moses, certain criminals were to be brought for trial to the elders of the people in the gate of the city, and there too capital punishments were inflicted. We read, also, that on a certain occasion, the kings of Israel and Judah sat ARGOS, MYCENAE, AND ATHENS. 161 each on his throne, in a void place, in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. Just without the gates of Tangier, in the empire of Morocco, I have seen four or five turbaned Moors sitting on a bench with their legs drawn under them, prepared to attend to any breach of the laws which might come before them for trial. Some distance below the Acropolis, are three singular sub- terranean structures, which have excited in no small degree the curiosity of the learned. Two of these have been re- cently discovered, while the other has long been known. This latter has been successively styled the Heroum of Per- seus, the Brazen Treasury of Atreus, and the Tomb of Agamemnon. As its general form is the same with that of the others, though somewhat larger, a description of it will answer for all. It is of an oval form, shaped precisely like a beehive, and entirely covered with earth and turf, except at the summit, where a stone has been removed in order to ad- mit light below. The entrance is by a descent twenty feet in width, with a wall on each side, and the gate which is eight and a half feet at the top, widens towards the bottom. There still remain traces of columns, and of elegantly sculptured ornaments, about the gate. The main apartment within is about fifty feet in diameter, and of nearly an equal height. The stones are large, being hollowed on the inner surface, and laid in regular rows. A fire of dry furze, kindled by our guides, enabled us carefully to inspect the interior of the main structure, and also furnish a torch with which to exam- ine a side apartment, which opens into the larger one. A passage four and a half feet wide, and more than eight long, leads into an inner chamber which is twenty-three feet square. It is rudely hewn from the solid rock, and may once have been lined with stones. Over the door, both of the larger and smaller apartment, is a triangular window. The inner stone which supports the wall above the main gate, is twenty-seven feet long, seventeen wide, and four feet seven inches thick. Its weight is about 133 tons. As every- thing about Mycenae bears marks of Egyptian origin, from whence the early settlers of this region are said to have come, so do this, and other stones to be met with in the walls of the Acropolis and elsewhere, remind one of the vast col- umns and obelisks of Egyptian granite which are met with at Rome. Chardin asserts, that most of the stones of one of 14* 162 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. the temples at Persepolis, are between thirty and fifty feet in length, and from four to six in height. The columns of the temple of Cyzicum, in Mysia, of one piece, were fifty cubits in height. But the largest stone ever moved by man, was that which formed the temple of Latona, at Butos, in Egypt, which was a solid cube, sixty feet in diameter. Mar- gat says, that some of the stones of Balbec are sixty-two feet in leno-th, and twelve in height. Wood informs us, that in a wall at Balbec, three contiguous stones measure 190 feet in length, the longest being sixty-four feet. In gazing upon the plain of Argos, and the peaceful gulf, and the wild and picturesque mountains which, on either side, enclose it, a thousand feelings of high and varied interest were excited. There was the cradle of Grecian arts and arms, and there, too, in the massive ruins of Tiryns and My- cenae, may still be seen some of the most enduring monuments of human power and glory, bidding defiance to the ravages of time, and connecting, as with a chain of adamant, the un- seen future with the darkly shrouded scenes of remote and unrecorded antiquity. To one whose mind, when in youth, has often been fired with ardor by perusing the glowing strains of the orators, historians, and poets of early classic times, as with rapture they describe the beauties and the glo- ries of Greece, the varied richness of her mountain and her lowland scenery, the splendor of her temples, the wisdom of her sages, and the bravery and matchless renown of her he- roes, — to one who has been thus excited, there is, indeed, a peculiar pleasure in gazing on this fair and classic land, and in recalling in fancy, the scenes of those days when Aga- memnon, with his glittering hosts, came forth from the gates of Argos and Mycenae, and sailed in a hundred splendid gal- leys, to the siege of Troy, — when every stream and fountain, every hillock, glen, and cliff, was shaded by some sacred grove, or adorned with a gorgeous temple or a beauteous shrine, — when, as used by Virgil, Argos and Mycenae were but another name for Grecian power and glory, — and when, too, as the poet tells us, the hero, who had long abode in Ita- ly, pierced by a mortal wound, and lying prostrate amid the wild tumult of the battle-field, looked up to Heaven, and re- called to his dying vision the rich and varied beauties of his own beloved birthplace, " Sternitur infelix, alieno vulnere, coDlumque Aspicit, et dulces moriens rcminiscitur Argos." ARGOS, MYCENiE, AND ATHENS. 163 But such is not Argos now, and such is not Greece. The marshalled phalanx of Roman power, and the wild and reck- less hosts of Gothic and Turkish barbarians, have swept, as with the besom of destruction, the length and breadth of the land, leaving desolation and death behind them, and enslav- ing, oppressing, and trampling, as with a heel of iron, the godlike intellect of man in the dust. So recent, indeed, has been the last devastation of Greece, that even now the bones of the fallen whiten her battle-fields, the marks of the flames which consumed her ruined cities, are still fresh upon the crumbling walls of the houses, and one may almost fancy, that he sees before him the turbaned hosts of the Turks, with their long trains of camels and of horses, winding through the nar- row defiles of the mountains, or raising the war-cry of Allah, and rushing with wild and impetuous fury down upon the plains, spreading fire and bloodshed everywhere around them. When thus contrasting the present state of Greece with what she once was, well may we exclaim, with the poet, — " Clime of the unforgotten brave ! Whose land, from plain to mountain cave, Was Freedom's home, or Glory's grave. Shrine of the mighty ! can it be, That this is all remains of thee ? " On our way from the gulf of Argos to Athens, we passed near the fertile and beautiful island of Egina, and had a fair view of the splendid ruins of the temple of Jupiter Panhelle- nias. It had formerly thirty-six Doric columns, of which twenty-three are now standing, and is supposed to be the old- est temple in Greece, next to that of Corinth, having been erected about 600 vears before Christ. Being situated on the summit of a hill far from any human dwelling, surrounded with trees and shrubs, in all the wild luxuriance of nature, and commanding a view of some of the fairest portions of Greece, no Grecian ruin exceeds it in picturesque richness and beauty. Egina has acquired some wealth and importance in modern times, by its commercial connexion with Hydra, and in 1825 had a mixed population of 10,000 souls, who were driven there from other parts of Greece, by the ravages of war. The island is about twenty-one miles in circumfer- ence, and presents abundant traces of volcanic origin. As we sailed up the gulf of Egina, and gazed on the ruins of ancient magnificence and glory, which were scattered everywhere around us, it were not strange that we should in- 164 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. dulge in reveries like those of Servius Sulpitius, in the touch- ing and beautiful letter of condolence which he wrote to Cic- ero, upon the death of his daughter Tullia. " Returning from Asia," he says, " as I was sailing from Egina to Mega- ra, I began to contemplate the prospect of the countries around me. Egina was behind and Corinth before me ; Pi- raeus on the right, and Corinth on the left ; all of which, once most flourishing, are now overturned and buried in their ruins. Beholding this, I began thus to reflect with myself: How sadly do we poor mortals grieve, if any of our friends die or are slain, when, in a single view, the prostrate car- casses of so many cities lie before me." " Pronounce what sea, what shore is this ? The gulf, the rock of Salamis." Such, in substance, were the question and reply which passed among us, as, sailing along the southern shore of Salamis, we entered the ancient Piraeus, the port of Athens. The island of Salamis is a low, barren mass of rocks, about twenty-five miles in circumference, and celebrated in ancient times for the great naval battle fought near its shores, in which the Grecians, under Themistocles, with only 180 galleys, by tak- ing advantage of the wind, and meeting the enemy in a nar- row strait, where but few of their ships could be brought into action at a time, gained a decisive victory over the immense fleet of Xerxes, king of Persia, destroying 200 of his ships, and taking a large number more. Previous to this battle, the Athenians fled for safety to Sal- amis, leaving behind them only those who, on account of their extreme old age, could not be removed. Domestic ani- mals followed their masters to the shore, and by their cries expressed their sorrow at being severed from those to whom they were attached. Of these, a dog, that belonged to Xan- tippus, the father of Pericles, unwilling to be left behind, leaped into the sea, and swam by the side of the ship till it reached Salamis, where, exhausted with toil, it died immedi- ately. The place where the dog was buried, being the point nearest Athens, was named Kunos Sema, the Sepulchre of the Dog, which has since been changed to Cynosura. During the recent Revolution in Greece, though Salamis contained but 192 native inhabitants, yet repeatedly, when the Turks overran Attica, almost the whole population of the province, to the number of 100,000, took refuge on this bar- ARGOS, MYCENjE, AND ATHENS. 165 ren island. Thus has Salamis remained unconquered, and, both in ancient and in modern times, lias furnished a safe place of retreat for the wives and children of those who exposed their own lives in defending the liberties of their country. The entrance to the Piraeus is only sufficiently wide to ad- mit a single large ship at a time, and two of three divisions of the ancient harbour are so nearly changed to a marsh, that it would be in vain to think of anchoring there, as in former times, 300 even of the boat-like ships of the early Greeks. The water is from two to twenty fathoms deep, and though four or five frigates were at anchor there, yet so near were they to each other, as at times to create serious embarrass- ment when they swung around in their places. Little coast- ing vessels were constantly entering and leaving the harbour, laden with materials for building, or articles of commerce, and presenting a scene of bustling activity and enterprise, such as we had scarcely met with before since we entered the Mediterranean. Many fine houses, two or three stories in height, were either in progress or recently erected, and nu- merous rough temporary structures for shops and stores, such as are met with id our manufacturing and other villages, during their early and rapid growth, gave evidence of a degree of prosperity and increase, widely at variance with the dull and changeless monotony of most other portions of southern Europe. The commerce of Greece is rapidly reviving, and the residence of the court at Athens, and other local causes, have served to give a peculiar impulse to the growth and prosperity of the Piraeus. Should the reviving energy which is now beginning to be felt throughout this interesting: land as to commerce, education, and the arts, continue to increase, the time will soon come when it cannot with truth be said, " 'T is Greece, but living Greece no more." The port of the Piraeus has in modern times been named Porto Leone, from the marble statue of a lion in a sitting posture, which was found there, but has since been removed to Venice. This lion was ten feet high, and formed part of a fountain which gushed from its mouth. A similar colossal statue of the same animal may be seen near mount Hymettus, and others in various parts of Attica. As this province was first settled by a colony from Egypt, where, as Plutarch in- forms us, the lion was honored, and its figure placed in temples, because the Nile overflowed when the sun was in the 166 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SLA. sign of the lion in the zodiac, and as the lion was regarded as the guardian of fountains, it is hence probable that these statues, as also those over the gate of Mycenae, were connect- ed with the religious worship of the early Greeks. Thus, too, may we account for the fact, that the spouts upon Grecian temples are commonly lions' heads, as also for the prevalent custom, both of ancient and modern times, of causing the water of fountains to spout from the mouth of the same animal. The Piraeus was formerly enclosed by lofty walls, and these were connected by others with the walls of Athens, five miles distant. They were commenced by Themistocles, and com- pleted by Cimon and Pericles. They were sixty feet high, and so wide, that loaded carts could pass each other upon them. The towers which crowned them were occupied by families when the city became crowded with inhabitants. They were built of large blocks of hewn stone, the exterior ranges being held together with lead or iron. Their ruins may still be seen in many places. The space of ground be- tween the two walls which connected Athens with the Piraeus, was adorned in ancient times with numerous temples and other public edifices, which have since been supplanted by olive groves, vineyards, and gardens. It was at first intended to raise these walls to the height of 120 feet, but it was never done. We read in Xenophon of the town of Larissa, in Media, which was surrounded by a wall 25 feet thick and 100 high; and of another called Mespila, with walls 50 feet thick and 150 high. The walls of the Piraeus were destroyed by Lysander and the Thirty Tyrants, and afterwards rebuilt by Conon. The walls of Athens, together with those of the Piraeus, were 24| miles in length, those of the Piraeus being 7|, those of Athens the same, the north wall, connecting the two places, 5 miles, and the south 4|. Sylla, with great difficulty, reduced the Piraeus, and destroyed its walls and those of the city. The latter were not completely rebuilt until the reign of the Roman Emperor Valerian, about 400 years afterwards. After this they were again overthrown during the successive invasions of northern and eastern barbarians, and the city was wholly open to hostile incursions until 1780, when the modern walls were built, as a defence against the pirates and bands of Al- banian robbers, who used to pillage by night. They are 10 feet high, less than 2 thick, and nearly 3 miles in circum- ARGOS, MYCENjE, AND ATHENS. 107 ference, embracing not only the town and Acropolis, but also some open places for cattle. As blocks of marble from the surrounding ruins, the stones obtained by destroying the bridge of Hadrian over the Ilissus, and every other kind of material near was employed in constructing these walls, and the inhabitants were compelled to labor upon them day and night, they were completed, at a small expense, in seventy- five days. The modern walls have 7 gates, one of which is the arch of Hadrian, on one side of which was Theseiopolis, or the old city, and on the other was Hadrianopolis, or New Athens. The breadth of the open arch is 20 feet, and that of the whole structure is 44 feet. In some places, near the walls, may be seen the ancient Grecian roads, which are commonly about 13 feet wide, so that two carriages can easily pass each other upon them. The rocks over which these roads passed, like the pavement of the streets of Pompeii, are deeply marked with wheels. These tracts are 6 inches wide, and the space between them is 4 feet, corresponding of course to the breadth of the chariots and other vehicles of the ancient Greeks. Near the Pirceus is the Necropolis, or burying place of the ancient Greeks. The tombs are mostly concealed by weeds and bushes, but still they are so numerous as to be easily dis- covered. They are cut in the rock to the depth of four or five feet, and covered with a heavy flat stone. Modern tra- vellers have opened many of these tombs, by first breaking the cover with a large hammer, and then overturning it with a lever. Dodwell employed ten men, who, in nine hours, opened thirty tombs. Two men can commonly open four tombs in a day. The labor required in doing this reminds us of what we read of the women, who came to the place where our Saviour was buried bringing sweet spices, that they might anoint him, — " And they said among themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre 1 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away ; for it was very great." We are also told of the grave of Lazarus, that it was a cave, with a stone laid upon it. The remains in these Grecian tombs are covered with a deposit of earth about a foot in depth, which has gradually accumulated there. Beneath this, and above the human remains, are often found the bones of a sheep, a black sheep having been sacrificed at graves to the infernal deities. Articles of armour, or those for ornament or domestic use, 168 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. are found in many of these tombs, but the most touching memorials are the little toys and playthings found in the se- pulchres of children, which, having amused them when living, parental tenderness caused to be placed beside them when dead. Among these are little cups ana vases, and small earthen figures, with movable legs and arms, which were put in motion by means of a string, like the toys of children at the present day. In speaking of Athens, a few only of the multitude of in- teresting topics which present themselves to the mind can be noticed. Heliodorus employed fifteen books in describing the pictures, statues, and sculpture of the Acropolis alone : Polemo Perigetis devoted four volumes to the same subject, and Strabo says, that as many more would be required for the other portions of Athens and Attica. Of recent authors, to say nothing of Spon and Wheeler, and the large and splendid work of Stuart and Rivett, Chandler has devoted thirty-eight chapters to Athens alone, and Dodwell has 230, and Hob- house 100 quarto, and Dr. Clarke 80 octavo pages on the same city. From the Piraeus to Athens, a distance of five miles, the country is open and free from houses, being covered only with extensive groves of olives. The vineyards and gardens, which formerly abounded there, have mostly disappeared, and the region around presents abundant traces of the recent ravages of war. Indeed, from the earliest ages, the plains of Attica have often been used as a battle-field, where, in addition to the horrors of civil war, the opposing hosts of Greece, Persia, and Rome, and the hordes of Gothic and Turkish barbarians have met in deadly strife, moistening the soil with their blood, and leaving behind them enduring traces of the devastation and havoc which they made. And yet so splendid and mas- sive are the ruins of ancient magnificence which Athens even now presents, enriched as they are with the golden lustre which time has given them, that in gazing on their mellowed freshness and beauty, the traveller for the time forgets that the city in the midst of which he stands, had seen more than fifteen centuries, when our Saviour appeared upon earth. Though Athens at first occupied only the summit of the Acropolis, and afterwards, when she had risen to strength and fflory, was, at different times, laid waste by Xerxes, Mardo- nius.Lysander, and Sylla, yet she always rose again from her ashes with renewed splendor and power. Xenophon informs ARGOS, MYCEN/E, AND ATHENS. 1(}9 us, that when he wrote, the city contained more than 10,000 houses, which, allowing twelve persons to each house, would make 120,000 inhabitants. After Sylla and Nero had plun- dered Athens of numerous works of art, there, were still, in the time of Pliny, 3,000 statues there, and the city enlarged and improved by Hadrian, and still retaining unimpaired the magnificent edifices erected by Cimon and Pericles, was never so splendid as during the reign of the Antonines and their successors, until the time when, by the influence of Christianity, and the edicts of the later emperors, the ancient systems of philosophy and idolatry gradually declined, the temples were closed, sacrifices ceased to be offered, and at length Alaric, with his Gothic hordes, pillaged the city, burn- ed the libraries, and Athens was no longer the seat of science and the arts. The proves of olives between the Piraeus and Athens are watered by the Cephissus, which rises near the foot of mount Pentelikon, about six miles from the city, and is lost without reaching the sea about two miles from the Piraeus. Its source is deep and clear, the water flowing rapidly from it, but it soon becomes a small, muddy rivulet, and is nearly or quite dry in the summer. The Uissus rises some distance to the northeast of Athens, and is lost in the plain between the city and the sea. It is now only an occasional torrent, which is dry in summer, though in ancient times, when the neighbouring mountains were covered with forests, which retained the moisture and attracted the clouds, it is doubtless true, that all the rivers of Attica were much larger than at present. One of the earli- er of the modern writers on Greece, mentions an overflowing of the Ilissus, which destroyed many houses, and did injury to the amount of 8 100,000. The olive groves in the vicinity of Athens have been, both in ancient and modern times, the principal source of wealth to the city. They occupy both banks of the Cephissus, and are from one to three miles in width, and seven or eight in length. The quantity of water which each proprietor may draw from the stream, has been strictly defined by law. Be- fore the Revolution, 4,000 barrels of oil were usually exported in a year, and in very fruitful seasons a much larger quan- tity. In 1808 it exceeded twenty times that amount, and a Greek, who had given 2,000 piastres for 80 trees, the preced- ing year, received 2,500 piastres for a single crop. Besides vol. ii. 15 170 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIJE AT SEA. this large olive grove, there are others in the vicinity of sev- eral of the villages, and in addition to thirty-six olive presses at Athens, there were eight in other parts of Attica. During the period of 860 years, which intervened between the invasion of Xerxes and the irruption of Alaric into Greece, Athens changed masters twenty-three times; the city was twice burned by the Persians ; the second Philip of Macedon destroyed the suburbs, and every thing of value in the vicinity; Sylla nearly levelled with the ground the Pirae- us, and Athens and its suburbs, defacing its ornaments- and removing many works of art ; the Acropolis was plundered by Nero, ravaged by the Goths in the reign of Claudius, and, to complete the work of ruin, was stripped by Alaric of ev- ery object of curiosity which could be removed. From the reign of Justinian, onwards, for more than 600 years, history is almost entirely silent as to the condition of Athens. In the beginning of the thirteenth century, it was defended against a neighbouring prince by the Archbishop of the city, after which it was taken by the Marquis of Montserrat, and governed by a succession of Dukes. In 1303, Athens was taken by the Catalans, and from them the sovereignty was transferred to the house of Ara^on, and the Dukes were appointed by the Kings of Sicily. The Accaioli family, of Florence, were the last sovereigns there before the city was taken by the Turks in 1456. In 1637, Athens was taken by the Venetians, but was surrendered again to the Turks the following year. Before the recent Revolution, Athens was subject to a Turkish Governor, appointed by the Kislar Aga, the chief black eunuch of the Seraglio of the Grand Sultan, and paid an annual tribute of 30,000 or 40,000 crowns. The number of houses was from 1,200 to 1,300, and the popula- tion amounted to 12,000, of whom 2,000 were Turks. There were four public mosques, and eleven places of Mahometan worship in all. The Greeks had thirty-six churches, which were constantly open, and, including chapels of saints, they had nearly 200 consecrated buildings in the city. When the Greek Revolution first commenced in 1821, the inhabitants of Athens fled to the island of Salamis, though no direct collision had taken place between them and the Turks, and no act of violence had been committed. The fact, that on the one hand, the Greeks were by far the most numerous, while on the other, the Turks had possession of ARGOS, MYCENiE, AND ATHENS. 171 the citadel, and superior military power, caused a degree of restraint and of mutual respect fur each other's rights. The mild and delightful climate of Attica, is also claimed to have exerted a softening and humanizing influence on the cruel and bigoted Turks, and hence, something like sympathy and friendship existed between them and their Grecian subjects. After a short time, the Greeks crossed over from Salamis, and, gradually hemming in the Turks, assaulted the city at midnight, and drove their enemies to a fortress on the Acropo- lis. At length, a Turkish army approaching, the Greeks retir- ed again to Salamis. The Greeks had destroyed many of the houses of the Turks while their owners were shut up in the Acropolis, and now the Turks returned the compli- ment by destroying those of the Greeks. This army was guilty of the greatest atrocities, such as burning the villages, destroying the crops; and, scouring the country in parties of from fifty to a hundred men, mounted on fleet horses, they captured companies of the Greek peasants; when, giving them some distance ahead, they would amuse themselves by swiftly pursuing them, and trying their skill by shooting them with pistols, or cutting off" their heads with their sabres as they ran, in hopes to escape. When fatigued with this butchery, they would drive such as survived into the city, and there torture them to death for the amusement of the higher Turkish officers. It were enough to make one sick and ashamed of the name of man, to read of the horrid and more than fiendlike cruelty of holding the poor Greeks, with their faces to the ground, and then applying a sharp-pointed stake to the lower part of the body, driving it with a mallet along the spine, (just avoiding the vital organs,) until the point came out at the back of the neck, and then leave the suffering wretch to writhe and die upon the ground, or, planting the lower end of the stake in the earth, suspend him in the air, where, shrieking with agony, and gasping for thirst, he re- mained until death put an end to his misery. The Turkish army soon retired from Athens, however ; when the Greeks, sallying again from Salamis, drove the garrison which was left behind into the Acropolis, and closely block- aded them there. Owing to a want of water, the Turks, after waiting in vain for showers to descend, and being able to assuage their thirst only by licking off with their tongues, the moisture which collected at night on the marble ruins around them, at length capitulated on the 21st of June, 1822. 172 FOREIGN TRAVEL. AND LIFE AT SEA. They were eleven hundred in number, and, giving up their arms, were to be transported to Asia Minor. While waiting more than a month for the means of removing them, there were at Athens large numbers of rude, ungoverned soldiers, whose passions had been strongly excited by the recent cru- elties of the Turks, as also many refugees from the island of Scio, who had just escaped from the murderous fury of those who had burned their dwellings, enslaved or butchered their friends and relatives, and converted one of the loveliest spots on earth to a field of blood. At this crisis, a new impulse was given to the feelings of mingled grief and indignation which glowed in the bosoms of the Greeks, by hearing that a large army of Turks was rapidly advancing upon Athens. Thus lashed to fury by past suffering and present danger, they rushed upon their helpless prisoners, and four hundred of them were slain before the rage of the multitude could be stayed. Though we cannot but condemn such an act as this, still we cease to wonder at it, when we look for a mo- ment at the causes which led to its perpetration. "Op- pression," saith Solomon, " maketh the wise man mad;" and surely, if there be any sounds which might justly rouse the soul to vengeance, such must be the death-shrieks of one's murdered family ; or if any scene might fire the bosom with raging fury and remorseless hate, it were the flames of one's peaceful dwelling, casting their light on the mangled corpses of those whom he loved. About the middle of July, 1826, Athens was again besieg- ed by a large army of Turks. Most of the women and children, together with the sick and the helpless, had taken refuge in Salamis. The Acropolis was occupied by 800 men, while the lower town was defended by 1,000 more. On the 17th of August, however, by a vigorous attack of the Turks, all the Greeks in the city were driven into the Acropolis and closely blockaded there. The next day a severe engagement took place between the Turks and Greeks, in which the lat- ter were repulsed. On the night of the 23d of October, a chief named Grigiotti, with 450 men, forced the Turkish lines and entered the Acropolis, thus strongly reinforcing the garrison there. At two o'clock in the morning of the 12th of November, Colonel Favier, a foreign officer in the ser- vice of Greece, with 000 men, each carrying 28 pounds of powder, landed near Athens, chafed the Turkish line with bayonets, struck up martial music, and safely entered the ARGOS, MYCENAE, AND ATHENS. 173 Acropolis, thus furnishing the besieged with the needed means of defence. After other severe engagements between the Greeks and Turks, the garrison in the Acropolis was at length forced to capitulate, having lived for months in the midst of sickness and suffering, without houses, decent ap- parel, or the common comforts of life, and having eaten all the horses, asses, and other animals on which they could lay their hands. This treaty was signed the 5th of June, 1^27. After this surrender of the Acropolis by the Greeks, Athens and most other parts of continental Greece, were subject to the Turks, and thus became one widespread scene of desola- tion and death, or was distracted by the rival factions of the Greeks, who, in some cases, were driven by want to contend with each other for the scanty means of subsistence, which their country afforded. A friend and fellow-traveller of the author, who was at Athens in July, 1827, thus speaks of the city, as it then was : " The houses are nearly all in ruins, and deserted. A soldier here and there, and one or two men, with lemons, in the bazar, were all the living objects 1 met with. Our way was generally over heaps of rubbish, and no desolation can be more complete than that of this city, so dear both to the scholar and the artist. The inhabi- tants are now scattered over the islands, as in ancient times. They may return, but it will be long before Athens and its beautiful plain recover from the visit of those worse than Persian invaders." The treaty between Britain, France, and Russia, for the pacification and settlement of Greece was signed July 6th, 1827, and the battle of Navarino, on the 20th of the October following, by giving a deathblow to the naval power of Tur- key, secured in effect the freedom of Greece. On the 19th of January, 1828, Count Capo d'Istria, a native of Corfu, but afterwards Prime Minister of the Emperor of Russia, was inaugurated President of Greece. He was afterwards assassinated. Otho, the present king of Greece, was elected by the allied powers, who were parties to the treaty referred to above, and ascended the throne the 25th of January, 1833. He was a prince royal of Bavaria, and at the time of his election, being under age, a regency of three persons was appointed to direct the affairs of the kingdom. On the 1st of June, 1835, having reached the age of twenty-one years, he organized a cabinet, with whose aid he has since gov- erned the nation. He at first resided at Napoli, but after- 15* 174 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. wards fixed upon Athens as his capital. The removal of the court to that city has caused it to rise again from its ruins, and though the streets, like those of other eastern towns, are narrow and irregular, and most of the houses are low flat-roofed cottages of mud, still, many spacious dwellings in the modern style have been recently erected, presenting a striking contrast to the humble structures around them. The city now contains from 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, and the high price of rent shows that labor is in demand, and that capital may be well invested there. The climate is delight- ful, and the number of intelligent foreigners settled there, is such as to furnish one with the means of refined and elevated social intercourse. Having taken this brief and cursory view of the past his- tory and present condition of Athens, let us now turn to those splendid remains of classic antiquity, which still excite in the breast of the scholar, feelings of deeper and more lively interest, than any others on the face of the earth. For, though since the days when Greece was in her glory, centu- ries upon centuries have rolled away, and both Gothic and Turkish barbarism have visited, with oft-repeated devastation and havoc, the fair and fertile plains of Attica, and in her ruined temples, her fallen columns, and the mutilated statues of her heroes and her gods, have left but the wrecked and broken fragments of her former greatness, still Socrates, Plato, and Demosthenes, the Porch of the Stoics, the far-famed Parthenon, and the sacred groves of Academus, are and ever will be names of peculiar interest to the scholar, as connected alike with his youthful studies and the stronger and more manly feelings of his riper years. The first object which meets the eye of the traveller, on approaching Athens, is the Acropolis, with its splendid crown of marble ruins. This is a natural fortress, consist- ing of a vast rock, 200 or 300 feet high, and at its base a fourth of a mile long, and half as broad. It extends east and west, and the greatest length of the level area on its summit is 1,150 feet, and its breadth 500. The south side is wholly inaccessible, and the north is quite steep and diffi- cult of ascent. The walls are built at the extreme edge of the precipice, and are about 2,500 feet in circuit. The lower parts are ancient, while those above were built by the Vene- tians or Turks. The ancient ascent to the Acropolis was by a noble flight of steps at the western end, commencing near ARGOS, MYCENiE, AND ATHENS. 175 the foot of Mars Hill. The present entrance is by a wind- ing path, leading to a gate near the southwest angle of the fortress. It is commonly supposed, that the southern wall of the Acropolis was built by Cimon, the son of Miltiades, and the northern at an earlier period, by the Pelasgians. The entire area on the summit of the Acropolis was in ancient times covered with magnificent temples, a splendid and costly offering to the gods of heathen antiquity ; and, though more than two centuries have passed away since they were erected, yet so firm and massive was their structure, that though now to a great degree in ruins, they have still resisted, almost to a miracle, the ravages of time, and the wanton and reckless violence of both civilized and barbarian warfare. The Propylea, or vestibule of the Acropolis, as also the Parthenon, or temple of Minerva, the Odeum, and the tem- ple of Eleusis, the most splendid edifices, not in Athens alone, but in the whole world, were all erected by Pericles. During his administration of forty years, he directed the resources of the state to strengthening and adorning Athens and the surrounding region, and his long-continued populari- ty was owing not less to the employment and means of sup- port, which he furnished to a multitude of soldiers and sail- ors, and to artisans of every class, than to his commanding eloquence and high political talents. By thus employing the great mass of the people in obtaining and conveying, by sea or land, the immense quantity and variety of materials required for these public works, as also in shaping and pre- paring them for use, plenty was diffused throughout all classes of society, peaceful industry was promoted, and, by the spirited emulation excited among the different kinds of arti- sans, several edifices of surpassing splendor and elegance of design and execution, each of which would seem to have required the labor of an age, were, by the genius and energy of a single individual, completed in a few short years. We learn from Thucydides, that the Athenians had 9,700 talents in the public treasury in the time of Pericles, of which he used 3,700 in erecting public buildings. The Propylea was built 435 years before Christ, and was finished in five years, at an expense of 2,012 talents. It was of the Doric order, with walls and roof of immense blocks of white marble, and had five doors, or lofty and spacious passages, for the accommodation of the multitudes who thronged there to worship. The right wing was the temple 176 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. of Victory, the left was decorated with paintings hy Polytr- notus, and before each was an equestrian statue. The whole edifice was entire in the time of Pausanias. The Temple of Victory, which was formerly used by the Turks as a maga- zine for powder, was blown up in 1656. The roof was car- ried away, together with the house of the officer who com- manded the Acropolis, which was upon the roof, and his family perished. The left wing of the Propylea has still six entire columns of exquisite workmanship, with gateways between them. We ascended the walls of the Propylea, and from thence enjoyed a beautiful prospect of the surrounding region. The stones in the walls of the ancient temples were fas- tened together by cramps of lead or iron, and during sieges some of them have been removed, to obtain materials for bullets. When columns consisted of several blocks of mar- ble, they were united and kept in their places by pieces of wood accurately fitted to mortices, made in the centre of each block at their joints. These were either of cedar or olive, and, being entirely secured from the air, have been preserved for many centuries without injury. Allusion is made to the custom of uniting stones with wood in the 11th verse of the 2d chapter of Habakkuk, where it is said, For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the crossbeam of wood, (that is, the timber which unites the joints of the build- ing,) shall answer it. The middle or great gate of the Propylea, was twenty-six and a half feet high and fourteen wide. It seems to have had no steps, but was passed by an ascending plain, for the easier admission of the processions, and the triumphal ships and cars, which were drawn through it. The stone over this gate is 22| feet long, 4 thick, and 3 feet 3 inches broad. Its weight must be more than 22 tons. The two gates next this on each side are 20 feet high, and 9| broad, and the outer ones are 12± feet high, and 4 feet 8 inches broad. The ascent to these side gates is by 6 steps, more than a foot high each. Those of the Parthenon are nearly 2 feet in height, and those of the great temple at Psestum 2 feet 2J inches, regard being had, in these cases, rather to the size of the building, than to the convenience of those who were to ascend them. The Parthenon, or temple of Minerva, the chief glory of the Acropolis, is near the southern wall of the fortress, and ARGOS, MYCEN/E, AND ATHENS. 177 about 300 feet from the Propylea. It occupies the highest summit of the hill, its pavements being on a level with the capitals of the columns of the Propylea. Thus, in ancient times, did this magnificent edifice, like a glittering crown, rise above the splendid group of temples around, and, unsur- passed in richness and beauty, presented, on its summit, the colossal image of Minerva, the fabled guardian of the city and nation, and the joy and pride of every Grecian heart. Its claims are unquestioned, to the high merit of being the most unrivalled triumph of sculpture and architecture that the world ever saw. Like the interior of St. Peter's, at Rome, and other splendid and finished specimens of the arts, the de- licrht with which it is viewed, increases just in proportion as it is accurately surveyed. The Parthenon occupies the site of a former temple, 100 feet square, which was destroyed by the Persians. It was constructed entirely of vast blocks of Pentelic marble, and was 228 feet long, 102 broad, and 65 high. It was of the Doric order, with fluted columns, without bases, six feet and two inches in diameter, and forty-two feet high. There were eight columns at each end, and seventeen on each of the op- posite sides. The walls of the Parthenon, when they were entire, presented the finest specimens in the world, of sculp- ture, both in alto and basso relievo. The story of the birth of Minerva was carved in the front pediment, and in the back, her contest with Neptune, for the possession of the country. A representation of the splendid procession in honor of Mi- nerva, in which citizens of both sexes and of every rank, took part, was carried quite round the exterior of the temple, to the length of 520 feet. The whole edifice was adorned with the most exquisite sculpture, for an extent of 1,060 feet, the figures varying from three or four feet in height, up to a co- lossal size. The Parthenon, when entire, had two gates, of which that at the western end alone remains. Its breadth, at the base, is twelve feet eight inches, and its height about thirty feet. It is supposed that in ancient times, only that part of the tem- ple was covered which contained the statue of the goddess, and that the remaining parts of the roof were of modern con- struction. The beasts of burden which conveyed the materials for the Parthenon, were held sacred ; and one, which volunta- rily headed the train, was maintained for life, without labor, at public expense. The statue of Minerva, for this temple, by 178 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. Phidias, was in a standing posture, with robes reaching nearly to the feet, and thirty-nine feet high. It was made of ivory, and decked with pure gold, to the amount of forty-four talents, or more than half a million of dollars. This image was placed in the temple the year the Peloponnesian war began. The gold was stripped off and carried away, together with the golden shields and other sacred ornaments, by the tyrant Lachares, when he was driven from the city by Demetrius Poliorcetes, about 300 years before Christ. The partiality of Constantine the Great for Athens, saved the city from being purified from idolatry, and preserved to Minerva and the other heathen deities, their sacred portions and revenues, their temples and rites of worship. Julian, the Apostate, when in his twenty-fourth year, retiring from the intrigues of the Imperial Court at Milan, spent six months at Athens, in studying astrology and magic, and in intercourse with the greatest philosophers of the age. His previous dis- like to Christianity was thus cherished and increased, and he then became in heart an idolator, though he did not pub- licly avow the fact, until years afterwards. In a letter to the Senate and people of Athens, written when he was Emperor of the West, he reminds them, that when he was summoned by Constantius, the destroyer of his family, to a court filled with his enemies, he had left them reluctantly, weeping plen- tifully, as many of them could witness, stretching forth his hands towards the Acropolis, and supplicating Minerva to save and protect him ; and he affirms, that she did not aban- don or give up her servant, as had been manifest, but was always his guide, accompanying him with guardian angels, which she had taken from the sun and moon. His beard had been shaven, and the philosophic cloak relinquished at the command of Constantius ; but though a soldier and a courtier, he still retained his affection for Athens and Miner- va, to whom he sacrificed every morning in his closet. The orator Libanus assured him, that none of his exploits had been achieved without the aid of the goddess, and that she had been his counsellor and coadjutor. Under Valens and Valentinian, the successors of Julian. Minerva was still worshipped in the Parthenon, and the rites of heathenism prevailed in Athens until, at the close of the fourth century, the city was taken, and all the images de- stroyed, by Alaric and his Goths. The Parthenon, for many centuries after this, was used as a church of the Holy Virgin, ARGOS, MYCENiE, AND ATHENS. 179 who, in the idolatrous honors paid to her image, was but an- other Minerva. To the Greeks, the transition from one of these objects of worship to the other, was most easy and nat- ural, for Minerva was known, by way of distinction, as the Virgin goddess, and hence, the Parthenon derived its name from Parthenos, the Greek word for virgin. Thus, too, may we account for the fact, that the Virgin Mary>is regarded with such high and peculiar reverence by the Greeks, and is always called by them the Panagia, or All-Holy. The rank given to the Virgin Mary, at an early period in the Christian Church, greatly aided the efforts which were then made to conform Christianity to the rites of heathenism and the cherished opinions and prejudices of the worshippers of idols. Thus, in the Pantheon, at Rome, she succeeded to the place and the honors of Cybele, the mother of the gods, and in the Parthenon, to those of the Virgin goddess Miner- va. In this way were the votaries of a corrupt and adulter- ated Christianity freed from the absurdity to which they had previously resorted, of teaching that the Holy Ghost was of the feminine gender, that thus they might have a substitute for the female deities of the heathen world. After Athens was taken by the Turks, in 1453, the Par- thenon was converted into a mosque. During the siege of the Acropolis, by the Venetians, in 1687, a bomb destroyed the roof of the Parthenon, and, setting fire to some powder, did much injury to the building. The indentation in the pavement still shows where the bomb fell. The Venetians, at this time, plundered the Acropolis, and the Turks have since broken up many of the stones of the Parthenon, to build a new mosque, and repair the fortifications. There now remain of the Parthenon the wall at the west end and portions of the side walls adjoining it, together with some twenty or thirty columns, most of which are either at the ends, or on the southern side. The pavement has been but partly removed. It consists of large blocks of marble, nearly a foot in thickness, and commonly square. Within the tem- ple, all is desolation and ruin, yet such is the size of the stones, and so enormous the mass of marble, as to fill one with admiring wonder, in view of the combined efforts, both of labor and of genius, required to erect so gigantic and splendid a structure. It is painful to reflect, that an edifice of such unrivalled magnificence and beauty, and one, too, of such solid and massive construction as to bid defiance to the 180 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. ravages of time, should have fallen a victim to the ravages of war, and the ruthless plunder of a host of worse than Gothic barharians, misnamed the friends and patrons of the arts. To the north of the Parthenon, and 156 feet from it, are the united temples of Neptune Erectheus, Minerva Polias, and Pandrosos, the daughter of Cecrops, the founder of the city. Of these the joint temples of Neptune and Minerva are under the same roof, being divided by a partition wail only, and having opposite fronts. They are of white marble, of the Ionic order, and the ornaments upon them are of exquisite workmanship. The whole edifice was sixty-three feet long, thirty-six broad, and less than twenty high. This union of several deities in a common temple, was customary in ancient times, and has been extensively imitated by the Catholic church. As at Athens, there was the temple of Castor and Pollux, and at yEgion that of Apollo and Diana, so now, at Rome, there is the church of St. Ambrose and St. Charles, of St. Sergius and St. Bacchus, of the Twelve Apos- tles, of the Forty Saints, and last, but not least, the Pantheon, in ancient times the common temple of all the heathen dei- ties, with Cybele, the mother of the gods, at their head, — but now converted into the Church of All-Saints, with the Virgin Mary in the place of her heathen prototype. ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 181 CHAPTER XXII. ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. Temple of Pandrosos. — Turkish Burying-Ground. — Theatre of Bacchus. — Areopagus. — Trial of Paul ; his Defence. — Temple of Theseus; his His- tory. — The Pnyx. — Votive Offerings. — Monuments of Philopappos, Lysicrates, and Andronicus Chyrrestes. — The Lyceum. — The Stadium. — The Academy. — The Equestrian Hill. — Sophocles; his Trial. — Gar- den of Epicurus. — Temple of Jupiter Olympus. — Hymettus. — Penteli- kon. — Learning, Philosophy, and Schools of Athens. — Sylla. — Hadrian. — Professors. — Modes of Dress. — Rival Schools. — Decline of Pagan- ism. — Church of Athens and of Greece ; their Corruption and Decline. — The Greek Church in Modern Times. — Recent Authors. — Education. — The Press in Greece. — Colleges. — Rev. Dr. King; his Gymnasium. — American Episcopal Mission. — Schools at Syra. — Condition of Greece since the Revolution. — Capo d'Istrias. — King Otho. — Charges against the Government. — Population of Greece ; her Future Prospects. — Na- tional Bank. — Taxes. — Change of Plans. — Motives for returning Home by way of Liberia and Brazil. — Parting of the Squadron. — Poetry. — Farewell to Greece, Mahon, and Gibraltar. The little temple or chapel of Pandrosos, is a portico, built against the southern wall of the temple of Neptune and Mi- nerva. It was formerly sustained by six columns, in the form of female statues, of which four only now remain. Columns of this kind were called Caryatides, from the fol- lowing fact: the Greeks, victorious in the Persian war, destroyed Carya, a city of the Peloponnesus, which had favored the enemy, and, having slain all the men, took the women captive. To perpetuate the memory of this act, the architects of those times made statues or columns, represent- ing women with a burden on their heads, which they held with one hand, while the other hung by the side. The same device is also often met with in parlour tables, both of ancient and modern times. The modern city of Athens extends from the northern base of the Acropolis, along the sloping sides of Mount Hy- mettus, and has within its walls but few remains of antiquity. The slope at the western end of the Acropolis was used by the Turks as a buryirig-ground, the graves of males having over them an upright piece of marble, with such a turban carved at the top as showed the rank of the deceased. The VOL. II. 1G 182 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. tombs of the women terminated in a pyramidal point. The inscriptions were well cut, and sometimes gilt or painted, recording the name of the deceased, with a passage from the Koran, and some sentimental or moral effusion. This burying- ground has been laid waste by the ravages of war, but the monuments may still be met with, scattered here and there. The hill of the Acropolis, near its southeast angle, has traces of the seats of the ancient theatre of Bacchus, which were cut from the rock. It was very large, and adorned with statues of the tragic and comic poets. The drama and theatre were invented at Athens, and as the scaffolds of wood used at first by the actors, fell while a play of Eschylus was acting, a more solid and durable structure was pro- vided for the purpose. This theatre was afterwards used by the Romans, for the savage combats of gladiators. Most of the towns of Greece had a theatre, and Plato informs us, that one of those at Athens would contain 30,000 persons. Near the southwestern angle of the hill of the Acropolis are the remains of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, built on the site of the one previously erected by Pericles, the roof of which was constructed from the masts and yards of Per- sian ships, taken at the battle of Salamis. It was designed for musical contests, and had many rows of seats and mar- ble columns. Near the western end of the Acropolis is the Areopagus or Mars Hill, a gentle eminence in the midst of the ancient city, where, in the open air, a body of judges, composed of the most upright, virtuous, and venerable men in the com- munity, used, in ancient times, to assemble and examine and decide the most important questions, relating to the public welfare and the interests of morality and religion. Before this venerable body was Paul summoned to answer to the serious charge of being a setter forth or advocate of new or strange gods. For, though the gods of foreign countries were then often adopted by public authority, and had altars erected to them at Rome and at Athens, yet we learn from Cicero that it was a law of the Roman Empire, that no person should have any separate gods, nor should he privately wor- ship any strange or foreign gods, unless they were publicly allowed. Great care was taken, both among the Athenians and Romans, that no one should introduce any new religion. It was on this account, that Socrates was put to death, and for the same reason the Chaldeans and the Jews were ex- ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 193 pelled from Rome. On a similar charge, Paul and Silas had been seized at Philippi, dragged to the public market-place, severely scourged, and cast into prison, from whence they were released by the miraculous effects of an earthquake. Such were the circumstances in which Paul was called, alike to defend his character and proclaim the truths of Chris- tianity. There is reason to believe, that the indolent and inquisitive population of Athens had assembled in great num- bers to listen to what might be said ; for, aside from the interest which had been excited by the public discussions of Paul with the Epicureans and Stoics, in the market-place, we are told, that •' all the Athenians, and strangers who were there, spent their time in nothing else but to tell or to hear some new thing." Thus is it plainly implied, that the great mass of the population were assembled to hear an account of that new and strange religion, which the apostle preached. Then it was, that, standing in the midst or on the summit of Mars Hill, where all might see and hear him, and having in full view those splendid temples of pagan idolatry, in beholding which his spirit had been stirred within him, Paul, by en- throning the God of the Jews, the Creator of the universe, upon the altar erected to the unknown God, avoided the pen- alty of that law which forbade the preaching of any strange or foreign gods, which had not been acknowledged by the state, and at the same time opened the way for fully explain- ing alike the character and the claims of the only living and true God. By a brief but powerful and conclusive argument, he showed the folly and absurdity of idolatry, as opposed to those plain and obvious principles of reason and common sense which all must admit, and which even the Grecian poets themselves had uttered as undeniable truths. He then urged upon them the great duties which man owes to his Maker, and presented, as distinct and vivid realities, the scenes of the future state. Rarely if ever has there been an occa- sion, a subject, and a combination of circumstances better fitted to call forth the highest efforts of eloquence ; and, though some scoffed at and reviled the doctrine of the apostle, yet, one at least of his judges was converted to Christianity, and became, as history informs us, the first minister of the church of Athens. The Areopagus is now very uneven and craggy, termi- nating in two rocky eminences, on the lowest of which there was formerly a small chapel, dedicated to St. Dionysius 184 FOREIGN TRAVEL,. AND LIFE AT SEA. the Areopagite. Below the chape] is a cave, in which St. Paul is said to have taken refuge. There are now no traces of any ancient structure upon the hill, though the court of Areopagus is known to have existed as late as the reigns of Gratian and Theodosius, nearly four centuries after Christ. On a low knoll, a short distance north of the Areopagus, is the temple of Theseus. It was erected by Cimon, the son of Miltiades, 4G7 years before Christ, and, though it has stood twenty-four centuries, it is still the most perfect ancient edifice in the world. Excepting the roof, which is modern, and the sculpture on the porches, it has suffered but little from the ravages of time. It is of the Doric order, elevated on two instead of three steps, as is common in Grecian tem- ples, and is 110 feet long and 45 broad. It has 34 columns, 18 feet in height, and 9 in circumference, at the base. This temple is supposed to have furnished the model for the Par- thenon, as did the dome of the cathedral at Milan for that of the church of St. Peter, at Rome. It has escaped much in- jury from having long been held sacred as the church of St. George, and was hence opened only on the anniversary of the saint. Theseus was a renowned hero from Troezen. It was the common belief at Athens, that the Spectre of Theseus had been seen at the battle of Marathon, fighting against the Medes, a fiction similar to that of the Catholics in Spain, that in their battles with the Moors, St. James hovered over them, and led them on to victory. The Pythian oracle had directed to remove his relics to Athens, and to honor him as a hero. Cimon found his bones, with a brazen helmet, and a sword lying near them, and removed them about 800 years after his death. They were received with splendid proces- sions and sacrifices, sacred rites were instituted for him as a god, a monument was erected to his honor on the Equestrian hill, and the temple we have described in the city. This temple, like numerous similar structures in ancient times, as also St. Peter's, and many other Catholic churches, was a splendid mausoleum, or tomb, for the remains of the person worshipped there ; and how perfectly do the honors which were thus paid to the remains of this Grecian hero, cor- respond with those so often received by the relics of Cath- olic saints. As Theseus was reputed to have been very humane, his temple or tomb became an asylum where those who had been ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 135 guilty of crimes, and stood in need of clemency and compas- sion, took refuge. This right of asylum was very limited in ancient times, there being in Rome, during the period of the republic, but a single place of this kind, and even this was enclosed, so that it could not be approached when it was found to encourage crime. In modern Rome, however, as also in other large Catholic cities, there are hundreds of these places of refuge, and though in the early ages of Christianity murder, adultery, and theft were especially excepted from the benefit of asylum, yet now the vilest criminals find safety in the churches. In some cases, the privilege of asylum has been extended to thirty paces from the walls of churches. This has proved, in Catholic countries, a fruitful source of robberies, murders, and other acts of violence. At some distance to the west of the Acropolis, on the sloping side of mount Lycabettus, are the remains of the Pnyx, or place of public assemblies, where magistrates were chosen, and Demosthenes and the other ancient orators ha- rangued the people. Some of the seats, cut from the solid rock, may still be seen, as also the Bema, a level area or plat- form, elevated on three or four steps, and from which the orators used to address the multitude. The Pnyx is now called the Stairs of Demosthenes. On each side of the Bema are several small niches, for votive offerings to Jupiter, who seems to have had an image there. Many of these offerings have been found, and are now in the British Museum. They consist of small marble tablets, on which are sculptured in bass-relief those parts of the hu- man body which were supposed to have been healed by the aid of the god. Offerings of this kind abound in Catholic churches, being commonly made of wood or wax, or, as is often the case, are small paintings, representing the cure effected, or the shipwreck or other accident from which the saints have delivered their worshippers. These often become so numerous as to obstruct the view of some fine altar or column, and hence it is necessary to remove them. Livy informs us, that the same was done in the ancient heathen temples. The wax of which these images are made, is melted down by the priests for candles, just as, in the temple of Escu- lapius, the votive offerings of brass and other metals were a source of income to the priests. Southwest of the Acropolis, and nearly equal to it in height, is the hill of the museum, on the summit of which is 16* 186 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. the monument of Philopappos. It is of white marble, partly in ruins, about thirteen feet high, and ornamented with sculp- tured figures, among which are a person riding in a chariot, and others on foot, forming a procession. Philopappos lived in the time of Trajan, and is supposed to have been a descend- ant of the kings of Syria, who were settled in Rome by Pompey. There is an ancient manuscript in the Barbarini library in Rome, in which this monument is represented en- tire, and eighty feet in height. In the midst of the modern city is the monument of Lysi- crates, now called the Lantern of Demosthenes. It is a small circular structure, with six fluted Corinthian columns, and was erected 330 years before Christ. Its walls are adorned with sculptured figures in half relief, borrowed from a story of Bacchus, told by ancient writers, in which he is said to have hired some pirates to carry him to Naxos, but turn- ing their course towards Asia, where they intended selling him as a slave, he, to prevent this, changed the mast and oars into snakes, and filled the ship with ivy and the music of pipes ; while the pirates threw themselves into the sea and were changed into dolphins. The monument of Andronicus Chyrrestes, commonly called the Temple of the Winds, is also in the midst of the modern city. It is an octagon, with a roof in the form of a pyramid, and on the walls are sculptured figures, representing the eight winds. Its walls are quite black from age, and during the time of the Turks, it was used by the Howling Dervishes as a place for their frantic dances. Near this last structure is a Doric portico, with four fluted columns, of large proportions, which must once have formed the entrance to some grand and majestic edifice. Some sup- pose it to have belonged to the ancient Agora, or market- place, while others, from an inscription upon it, claim that it was part of a temple dedicated to Rome and Augustus. It is said to have been erected by the donations made to Minerva by Julius and Augustus Cresar. Augustus ascribed to Mi- nerva his victory over Anthony at Actium, and built her a temple, in which he placed the Egyptian spoils. The lower portion of some marble columns, and other ruins, on the bank of the llissus, opposite the city, are supposed to mark the site of the Lyceum. This was an enclosure sacred to Apollo Lyceus, adorned with fountains, gardens, and buildings. It was the place where the Athenian youth, who ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 197 were training for military life, practised gymnastic exercises, and was also the favorite walk of Aristotle and his followers, who received from thence the name of Peripatetics. On the same side of the Ilissus with the Lyceum, are the remains of the Stadium. It was erected by the orator Ly- curgus, in the time of Demosthenes, and was the place where public games were held and prizes awarded. It was rebuilt, enlarged, and covered with Pentelic marble, by Herodes At- ticus, and when the Emperor Hadrian was at Athens, he pre- sided there, and furnished a thousand wild beasts to be hunt- ed for the diversion of the people. The seats extended far up the side of the hill, forming a cavity in the shape of a horse- shoe. The size of the area cannot now be accurately ascer- tained, but it was about 630 feet long, and 135 broad. Near the southeastern extremity of the Stadium is a subterraneous passage, about 120 feet in length, cut through the solid rock to the opposite side of the hill. It is twelve feet broad and ten high, and one may easily pass through it on horseback. It was probably a private way, by which distinguished spec- tators entered, and the unsuccessful candidates retreated from the area ; and wild beasts may also have been introduced there when Hadrian exhibited at Athens those savage and bloody spectacles, with which Rome had so long been disgraced. This passage is now called the Cave of the Destinies, and is supposed to be possessed, in a high degree, of magic powers. The site of the Academy, which was about three fourths of a mile from the walls of the ancient city, is about two miles to the northwest of the modern town. It was a public garden or grove, on the banks of the Cephissus, and derived its name from Academus, who gave it to the people as a place for gymnastic exercises. It was surrounded with a wall, by Hip- parchus, and Cimon drained the low grounds near it. It was adorned with statues, temples, and the sepulchres of illustrious men, and the walks were shaded with olive and plane trees, and cooled by running water. The garden of Plato, where he taught his pupils, was within the enclosure cf the Academy. The graves of Pericles, Plato, and other distinguished men, who were buried near the Academy, were seen by Pausanias in the second century. When Sylla besieged Athens, he cut down the groves of the Academy and Lyceum in order to obtain materials for military machines. The site of the Aca- demy is now occupied by fields and olive groves. The Colonos Hippios, or Equestrian Hill, is beyond the 188 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. Academy, and was a mile and one fourth from the ancient walls. It was the birthplace of Sophocles, and the retreat of Meton, the astronomer, and Plato. Sophocles, the prince of the Grecian tragic poets, for more than sixty years fasci- nated his countrymen with the brilliant productions of his pen ; and when, in his old age, his sons, through jealousy of his affection for a grandchild, endeavoured to deprive him of the management of his property, on the ground of dotage and incapacity, his only refutation was to read to the judges his CEdipus, the finest tragedy of antiquity, and which he had then just composed. Such was its effect, that the judges, filled with admiration, dismissed the cause, and attended the aged poet to his house with every mark of honor and respect. The scene of the CEdipus is supposed to have been the Co- lonos Hippios, which must then have been truly beautiful ; for Antigone says of it, " This place, it seems, is sacred, for it is thickly planted with laurels, olives, and vines, and the nightingales sing sweetly within it." The summit of the hill is level, having been smoothed and flattened for the founda- tion of the ancient temple which was erected there. The Garden of Epicurus was within the ancient city, on the way to the Academy. We cannot now trace the ancient boundaries of Athens, though in many places there may still be seen the remains of the walls, and other data exist, which enable us to judge with some accuracy as to the general form and outlines of the city. On the plain without the modern city, and nearly east of the Acropolis, are the majestic ruins of the temple of Jupiter Olympus. It was commenced by Pisistratus, and continued by Antiochus Epiphanes, Augustus, and other distinguished monarchs, and finally completed by Hadrian, 700 years after it was first founded. It cost 7,038 talents, was 689 feet long, and half a mile in circumference, and was filled with splendid statues and other costly ornaments. It was open at the top, and had 124 columns, six feet in diameter and sixty feet high, arranged in double rows, besides twenty-six smaller ones with- in the temple. Aristotle compares it to the pyramids of Egypt, and surely nothing could surpass the majestic splen- dor and magnificence of this vast edifice when in the days of its glory. Sylla is said to have sent some of the columns of this tem- ple, (probably those within,) as also the brazen thresholds, to Rome, to adorn the Capitol, and Caligula removed the splen- ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 189 did image of Jupiter, made of ivory and gold, to the same place. There are only sixteen columns now standing, one having been prostrated during the last century by a Turkish Governor of Athens, who used the materials thus obtained, to construct a mosque in the city. It was undermined, and blown down by gunpowder, but four explosions were neces- sary to bring its massive strength to the ground. The Gov- ernor was fined 8,500 Turkish piastres for this Gothic act, and, as the Athenians claim, was finally poisoned, as a pun- ishment for his sacrilege. The columns are fluted and have all the rich and gorgeous luxuriance of ornament which be- longs to the Corinthian order. Mount Hymettus rises to the east of the modern city of Athens, its northern and southern sides having a gentle slope from the summit down, while the eastern and western ex- tremities are abrupt and rocky. It has but little soil, and is composed of brown, or yellow calcareous rocks, its sides be- inor furrowed by the winter torrents and its base divided into many small conical hills, on some of which, are remains of ancient buildings. The honey and the flowers of Hymet- tus were the theme of frequent eulogy among the ancient historians and poets, nor have they lost their reputation in modern times. The abundance of wild thyme and other aro- matic plants and flowers which grow there, sweetly perfume the air, and give to the honey which is made from them, a rich and delicious flavor. The prospect from the Acropolis, of the region around Athens, from " Sunium's marble height" on the south, to the vicinity of Marathon on the east, the citadel of Corinth on the north, and the gulf of Salamis, and the many isles of Greece to the south and west, is peculiarly delightful. But the view from the summit of mount Hymettus, is far more varied and extensive, embracing, besides a multitude of isl- ands, six of the most celebrated provinces of ancient Greece. Mount Pentelikon, from whence were obtained the vast masses of splendid marble of which the public edifices of Athens were built, lies to the north of mount Hymettus, their bases being divided by a plain about three miles in width. It is higher than Hymettus, and terminates in a pointed sum- mit. Its outline is richly varied, and most of it is covered with trees or shrubs. In modern times it has produced much more honey than Hymettus. The monastery there used, before the Revolution, to make an annual present of 9,000 ]90 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. pounds of honey to the Seraglio at Constantinople. The quarry from which the ancient marble was taken, is cut into perpendicular precipices, and the marks of tools may still be seen upon the rocks. Though Athens at an early period yielded to the power of Rome, she yet held the title of the University of the Roman Empire, for there alone could be found the highest acquire- ments, and the ablest teachers in the arts and sciences, as well as in poetry, eloquence, and philosophy. Thus, not only did the Greek language become the prevailing and classic tongue throughout the widespread Roman Empire, but Cice- ro and the leading men of Rome did not think their educa- tion complete, until years had been spent at Athens in avail- ing themselves of the superior advantages there furnished for obtaining the highest acquirements in their respective pro- fessions. Sylla, during his worse than barbarous invasion of Greece, greatly injured Athens by removing from thence to Rome the splendid public library, which had been founded by Pisis- tratus, greatly increased by the people, carried by Xerxes into Persia, and restored, long after, by Seleucus Nicanor. In consequence of this loss, learning greatly declined, and the Roman youth in the time of Tiberius were sent to Marseilles, instead of Athens, to acquire a finished education. The emperor Hadrian adorned Athens with a noble libra- ry, established a new Gymnasium, and restored its ancient glory as the seat of science and the arts. Lollianus, Atticus Herodes, and other learned men, taught and presided there ; and Antoninus, the philosopher, who had been a pupil of Herodes, increased the number of professors to thirteen. Of these, there were two Platonists, and the same number of Peripatetics, Stoics, Epicureans, rhetoricians, and civilians, as also a President, who was styled the Prsefect of the youth. The students engaged first in the study of philosophy; from this they passed to rhetoric, and completed their education under the care of the civilian. Each of the philosophical professors received a salary of GOO aurei, or $ 2,0S0, while that of the civilians was a talent. The professors were either appointed by the emperor, or elected by the magistrates, after a full examination as to their qualifications. The different teachers inscribed upon tablets of marble the names of their pupils, and the schools of Ath- ens were filled with students from every part of the Roman ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. JQJ empire. We learn from Lucian, that Athens at this time swarmed with cloaks, staves, and satchels ; there might everywhere be seen men with long beards, and a book in the left hand ; and the walks were filled with those who were en- gaged in discoursing and reasoning. The Tribonian cloak was worn by those of every class. The color was common- ly dark, but the Cynics wore white, and like the Stoics had the folds doubled. One shoulder was left bare, the hair hung loosely down, and the beard was unshaven. The Cynics, Stoics, and Pythagoreans were slovenly and negligent in their dress and habits, their cloaks were in tatters, their nails long, and their feet naked. The Cynics armed themselves with staves, as a defence from dogs or the rabble. The Sophists were robed in purple, and were commonly courtly and polish- ed, as well in dress and person as in manners and language. It became the professors to be handsomely dressed, neat, and comely, and above all to have a flowing beard, inspir- ing those who approached them with veneration and respect. Gregory Nazianzen, who was contemporary at Athens with Julian, the apostate emperor of Rome, and was afterwards archbishop of Constantinople, has described the manner in which the students were initiated on their arrival there. They were led in a procession to a public bath, where they were washed and clothed with the Tribonian cloak, the ex- penses of the ceremony, which were considerable, being de- frayed by those who, by being thus initiated, became entitled to assume the dress, as also to enjoy all the other rights and privileges of the great literary community assembled there. The young men of the different schools were almost mad with zeal for their respective teachers. They closely watch- ed all the roads and harbours of Attica, seizing the students as they arrived, and, confining them, forced them to join the schools to which they themselves belonged. When Libanius came from Antioch to Athens, though he had selected the teacher with whom he wished to study, he was seized by a press-gang belonging to another school, from whom he was > taken by another still, who confined him until they extorted from him an oath to join their school. He pleaded ill health as an excuse for not uniting in the noisy applause which they bestowed upon the efforts of their teacher, and did not en- gage in the contests with clubs, stones, and more dangerous weapons, which the rival bands waged in the streets, nor in their excursions to Sunium and the Piraeus, to seize those 192 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. newly arrived, or their journeys to the tribunal of Corinth, to be tried for their misdeeds. He was thus a captive for five years. Eunapius says, that when he himself came to Athens, at the age of sixteen, with a large number of other students, they came to anchor in the Piraeus at night; and, though suf- fering from a fever, as the captain was a friend of the Soph- ist Proaeresius, and knew that if they waited until morning, they would be seized by some of the other bands, Eunapius was borne on the shoulders of the others to the house of the Sophist, where they were gladly received. Julian, a distinguished Sophist, a native of Cappadocia, had as his principal rival Aspines, a Lacedaemonian, who was supported by a band of his hardy countrymen. The followers of these rival teachers came to blows in the streets, where the Lacedaemonians, besides roughly handling their op- ponents, charged them with the riot. The Roman governor ordered Julian and his followers to be arrested and brought in chains to Corinth, when Proaeresius, one of Julian's pupils, defended himself and his comrades so eloquently, that the proconsul started from his seat and loudly applauded. The cause was dismissed, the prisoners released, and the other party threatened with punishment. From the time that Paul, in the market-place of Athens, encountered the opposition and the scornful abuse of the Epicureans and Stoics, the Grecian philosophers, so long as heathenism existed there, cherished a deep and rooted hatred of Christianity, opposed as it was to the prominent systems of philosophy which then prevailed, as well as to the religious creed and customs of the nation, sanctioned and sustained as they had been, by the laws of the land, by public opinion, and by long, general, and almost unquestioned practice. Justin Martyr wore the Tribonian cloak in preaching, hav- ing, before his conversion, been admitted as a student at Athens, and some monks also, whom the heathen styled im- postors, did the same. When the Emperor Jovian command- ed the heathen temples to be shut, and prohibited sacrifices, the philosophers mostly laid aside their cloaks, and disap- peared ; but, as to their modes of dress, tenets, and rules of living, were succeeded by the different orders of Catholic monks and friars, which still abound in Southern Knrope. Dionysius, the Areopaffite, who was converted by the preaching of Paul, is supposed to have been the first pastor ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 193 of the church of Athens. Publius, who afterwards held the same office, suffered as a martyr, in the reign either of Tra- jan or Adrian. The church was raised from the decline and corruption which succeeded this event, by the zeal and effi- ciency of Quadratus: and Origen, in his work against Celsus, refers to the church of Athens as exemplifying by its good order, constancy, meekness, and quietness, the effect of Chris- tian principle on the minds of men, and as thus presenting a striking contrast to the factious and tumultuary character of the common political assembly of the city. When Adrian visited Athens, for the purpose of being in- itiated in the Eleusinian mysteries, Quadratus, as a means of checking the sanguinary persecution from which the Athen- ian church was then suffering, presented to the Emperor an apology for the Gospel, which produced, to some extent, the desired effect. From the fourth to the sixth century, there was a flourishing seminary at Athens, in which those who were able, completed their education; and Basil ofCresarea, and Gregory Nazianzen, were among the pupils who resorted there. In the latter part of the fourth century, there were twenty-six bishoprics in the Roman province of Achaia, which embraced the island of Euboea, the Peloponnesus, and the Morea. Besides these there were, in Epirus, twenty-six bish- oprics : in Thessaly, eleven; in Macedonia, seventeen; in Crete, eleven ; and in the ^-Egean islands an equal number. Our limits do not admit of noticing, in detail, the various causes by which the Grecian church became gradually cor- rupted and drawn away from the primitive purity and sim- plicity of Christian faith and worship. Among these we might refer to the mysterious and the subtile speculations of the Gnostics and Platonists, that "philosophy, falsely so called," and "those questions, which gender strifes," against which Paul so strongly cautioned the speculating, inquisitive, and disputatious Greeks. To this we might add, the adoption of heathen rites and modes of worship, with the festivals, and the splendid ritual and robes of idolatry ; the adoration of images and pictures; the opinion, that the moral corruption of man was owing to his being possessed by demons, and that baptism, by expelling these evil spirits, was a true and effi- cient means of regeneration ; the invocation of saints, and the belief in a kind of purgatory, widely different, indeed, from that of the Catholic Church, but which still opened the way for all that superstition and those numerous impositions VOL. II. 17 194 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. and abuses, of which a crafty priesthood have ever availed themselves, or put in practice, in connexion with masses and prayers for the dead. These, and various other causes, have exerted a most corrupt and debasing influence upon the faith and modes of worship of the Greek church. The long and bitter controversy for spiritual supremacy, be- tween the rival bishops of Rome and Constantinople, almost uniformly operated to the disadvantage of the latter ; and when, in 1438, John Palasologus, the Emperor of the East, and with him the Patriarch of Constantinople, and many of the Grecian bishops, driven to extremities by the Turks, ne- gotiated, as a means of national defence, a union with the Church of Rome, so revolting was this measure to the preju- dices of the Greeks, that they indignantly rejected it, and chose rather to submit to Mahometan power, which, in most stages of its history, has proved far less intolerant and blood- thirsty than the Catholic Church. In 1453, Constantinople was taken by the Turks, and in half a century from that time, thirteen patriarchs are said to have acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope. The refor- mation in Germany checked, in some degree, the growing power of Rome in the East, but down to the present time, the Catholic influence there has proved a mighty barrier to the increase of light and knowledge; and, during the recent Rev- olution in Greece, the adherents of the Pope in that ill-fated land were far from giving their sympathy and aid to their suffering and bleeding fellow-countrymen, in their desperate struggle for liberty and independence. About the middle of the sixteenth century, the German reformers made an effort to enlighten and reform the Greek church. A letter explaining the Protestant doctrines, was written by Melancthon to the patriarch Joseph, and with this was sent a copy of the Augsburg Confession of Faith, trans- lated into Greek. The patriarch, in return, sent his deacon to Wittemberg, to investigate more fully the creed of the Protestants. Between the years 1576 and 1581, the divines of Tubingen corresponded on the same subject, with the pa- triarch Jeremiah, presenting him, in addition to the Augsburg Confession, a Compend of Theology, composed by Heer- brand, and translated into Greek. No marked and perma- nent effects, however, resulted from these efforts. Early in the seventeenth century, Cyril Lucaris, who was patriarch, first of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, en- ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 195 gaged in efforts to reform the Greek church, by promoting the printing of the Modern Greek Testament, and preparing a creed, or confession of faith, in which he excluded saints and martyrs from the mediatorial office, acknowledged but two sacraments, and denied the papal doctrines of purgatory and transubstantiation. This brought down upon him the wrath of the Catholics, and at length the Jesuits, by means of false witnesses, effected his ruin. His printing establish- ment was destroyed, and he was strangled in his palace in 1638. A synod, held at Jerusalem, in 1672, condemned alike the doctrines of Lucaris, and those of the German re- formers, and affirmed, that the seven sacraments had a divine origin, and that the bread and wine used in the Lord's Sup- per are actually changed into the body and blood of Christ. Thus were the most absurd and pernicious superstitions of the Romish faith adopted by the Greek church. The religion of the Greek church prevails throughout the islands and the continental part of Greece, as also in Russia, in Western Asia, and Eastern Africa. The number of its members in Europe, is estimated at 50,000,000, and in Asia and Africa, at 20,000,000 more. The four patriarchs are those of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. The patriarchs of Antioch commonly reside at Damascus, and those of Jerusalem at Constantinople. The patriarchate of Alexandria, which is the oldest of the four, embraces in its nominal bounds Egypt, Abyssinia, Arabia, and India. The patriarch of Constantinople is elected by a portion of the bishops, and receives his institution from the Sultan, who re- ceives for this favor, a sum varying from S 10,000 to $30,000. This patriarch nominates the other three. This office of head of the church is constantly in market, owing, in part, to the ambition of those who seek it, as also to the fact, that the high price paid for it by each successive incumbent, induces the Sultan to make frequent changes. Hence, in the fifty- one years between 1620 and 1671, there were nineteen pa- triarchs of Constantinople. One of the first acts of the Turks, on the breaking out of the recent Revolution among the Greeks, was to murder their aged and venerable patriarch, and thus were the hostile feelings of the nation more powerfully excited than they could have been by almost any other cause. After the decline of philosophy, and the suppression of idolatry, at Athens, together with the pillaging of the city, and the burning of the public libraries, by Alaric, science 196 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. and the arts forsook their ancient seat, and the darkness of ignorance and moral desolation long brooded over the classic vales and mountains of Greece. To this thick darkness an- other shade was added by the conquest, and subsequent op- pression and tyranny, of the Turks. The clergy, ignorant themselves, were alike unable and unwilling to instruct the people who blindly followed them ; and if, at times, some en- terprising Grecian youth strayed as far as Italy, in search of medical or theological science, the limited acquirements which sufficed to place him above his more ignorant country- men, led him to return to his native land with the show rather than the substance of a useful education. During a century or two, however, a change for the better had been taking place in the literary character and prospects of the Greeks. Demetrius Procopius, of Moschopolis, in Macedonia, has given the names, character, and works of ninety-nine learned Greeks who lived during the century and a half preceding the year 1720. Most of these were either medical or theo- logical writers. Among the sketches given of them, there is one of Polases, Great Keeper of Vases in the High Church of Constantinople, who might well have been taken as a mod- el by no small proportion of those, who, as authors, have thought, by their works, greatly to edify and enlighten man- kind. '• He was a man," says Procopius, " who left no writ- ings behind him, but whose very silence is better and more precious than many writings." During the latter part of the eighteenth century, the exten- sion of commerce, and the establishment of Greek mercantile houses in Italy, Holland, Germany, and Russia, by enabling many of the youth to enjoy the advantages of the first univer- sities of Europe, gave a new and powerful impulse to Grecian literature. Leghorn, Venice, Vienna, and more especially Paris, abounded with young men from Constantinople, Smyrna, •Albania, and the Ionian Isles. In 1821, nearly 500 Greek young men abandoned their places of education in Italy, Russia, and Germany, and, repairing to their native land, formed themselves into a corps, called the " Sacred Band," inscribed upon their banners " Death or Freedom," and shortly afterwards were nearly all cut to pieces by the Turk- ish cavalry on the fields of Drogeschan. About the middle of the seventeenth century, one Nicholas Mataxo, a monk from Cephalonia, brought with him from London to Constantinople, a press and Greek types, but was ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. ]97 stopped at once in his plans by the Turkish government. There was a Greek press at Bucharest, from which were issued only theological works, and vulgar romances, and song books. There had been a similar press for a long time at Venice, subject to the supervision and control of a licenser, at which were published grammars and dictionaries, with translations of such works as were not judged dangerous by either the Greek or Catholic clergy. Thus was a slight addi- tion made to the catechisms and homilies, which were almost the only books within the reach of the Greeks, but no original work of any importance was, by means of this press, placed in their hands. Pogozi, an Armenian, had a press at Con- stantinople, in 1793, but it was not in operation long. The Patriot Riga prepared for the press, at Vienna, a translation of Anacharsis, but, just as it was about to be printed, he was delivered by the Emperor Joseph to the Turks, and, having failed in an attempt to destroy himself, was thrown into the Danube. Some years afterwards, a Journal in Modern Greek was established at Vienna, conducted by one Pouli. Besides his paper, he published a violent pamphlet against the Emperor Paul of Russia. The Sultan having made a requisition for him and eight other Greeks, they were all arrested by the Emperor of Austria, and though he was not, like the rest, delivered to the Turks and beheaded, still, his Greek types were destroyed, and an end was thus put to his literary labors. Such are a few of many examples which show how the liberty of the press is regarded by the crowned despots of Europe. Professor Coray, a native of Scio, but for a long time resi- dent at Paris, has done much for modern Greek literature by his translations of valuable works, and by publishing editions of the ancient classics, with copious notes and illustrations. Many of the wealthy Greek merchants in the various coun- tries of Europe liberally aided in printing useful books for their nation, and thus, it is said, that Greece soon saw the works of their ancient writers revisiting their native soil, ex- plained in its modern tongue, and accompanied by a crowd of modern works, original and translated, in almost all the sciences and in general literature. These efforts, in most cases, received the cordial and zealous support of the Greek clergy. Between the years 1800 and 1821, more than 3,000 new works, generally translations, were printed in modern Greek, and the prospectus of a new work was hardly an- 17* 198 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. nounced, when a sufficient number of subscribers was obtain- ed to carry it through the press. Their effect, however, has been mostly lost by the reckless and unsparing desolation of the recent revolution in Greece. Among the works translated into modern Greek, and published, were Goldsmith's History of Greece, Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, Montesquieu on the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Rollin's Ancient History, Telemachus, the Arabian Nights, and Robinson Crusoe. The number of valuable school and reading books in modern Greek has been greatly multiplied within a few years by the various mission presses from Eng- land and America, which have been established in various parts of the Mediterranean, and, by this agency, in connexion with that of missionary and government schools, much is now doing to enlighten and elevate the nation. A college was founded at Haivali, in 1803, and in 1818, it had 4 professors, 200 scholars, a library of 700 or 800 vol- umes, and many astronomical and other scientific instruments. There was also a college in the island of Scio, which in 1818, had between 500 and 600 students, and a library of 4,000 volumes. The number of teachers was fourteen, and the course of study embraced the Greek, Latin, French, and Turkish languages, theology, ancient history, logic, meta- physics, moral philosophy, rhetoric, arithmetic, algebra, geo- graphy, mechanics, optics, painting, experimental philosophy, and chemistry. The Greek school at Athens had a library of 700 or 800 volumes. There was likewise a college on the Bosphorus, which was provided by its founder with a library, philosophical apparatus, and professors in the sciences, and it was well filled with students. There were also distinguished literary institutions at Joannina, in Epirus, and Smyrna, the latter havincr, in 1819, 9 teachers and 300 scholars. It was closed for some time during the Greek Revolution, but was in operation in 1829, with 300 students, and a library of 200 or 300 volumes. There was an important high school at De- metsana, in the Morea, with a library of 1,000 volumes, about one half of which, together with the school-house, survive the war. The Greeks had also colleges in Jassy and Bucharest, classical schools in Odessa, Leghorn, Venice, Trieste, and Vienna, and printing presses in Jassy, Bucharest, Vienna, Venice, Scio, Haivali, and on the Bosphorus. Such were the means of education, and the literary enterprise of a nation, which for ages had been sunk beneath the burden of slavery ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. ]99 and oppression, and thus, by the light of knowledge, were they roused to a sense of their sufferings and their rights, and impelled by a love of freedom, and a generous emulation of the noble deeds of their ancestors, they burst the chains of bondage, and, with a reckless daring, a patient endurance of extreme suffering, and a sacrifice of human life, and a wreck of national and individual wealth, such as few nations have ever sustained and survived, they succeeded, at last, in their efforts to secure their liberties and their rights. Of the schools now in Greece, we have already noticed those of the Ionian Isles and at Argos. The Rev. Dr. King, American missionary at Athens, devoted himself to the cause of Greece several years since, and having married a Greek lady, and being familiar, not only with modern Greek, but with Arabic, and such other tongues as he has had occasion to use in his extensive travels in Europe and the East, he has, by his talents, his learning, and his unwearied efforts for the good of Greece, secured in a high degree the confidence and esteem of the nation. For several years he has been at the head of a High School, or Gymnasium, at Athens, assisted in part by the Rev. Mr. Riggs, and also by able native teachers. The pupils have been divided into classes, and the course of instruction has extended through four years. Thus have the best means of education which Greece could afford been en- joyed by from 150 to 200 young men, who now, as under se- cretaries of government, and public magistrates and officers, hold many of the most prominent and influential stations in Greece. Thus have the missionaries, by their enlightened and benevolent efforts, fully secured the sympathy and aid of these young men, and thus, too, have they been able to with- stand the violent opposition they have recently encountered from the more bigoted portion of the Greek priesthood, urged on as they have been by the influence of Russia, ever jealous and watchful of any increase of light'and knowledge, by which the cause of human freedom may be advanced, or the exist- ence of her own arbitrary and despotic form of government be endangered. The history of this school furnishes a striking illustration of the fact, that in our efforts to enlighten and reform man- kind, we must begin with rightly educating the young, for thus not only do we secure the immediate benefit which we do them, but at the same time we gain a more ready access to their parents and other friends than would be possible in any 200 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. other way. My visits to a number of missionary stations, in both Europe and Africa, and a knowledge of the efforts made and results secured, as obtained from free intercourse with those who for years have been engaged in this good work, have led me to regard with but little complacency, the sense- less clamor of those who would confine the missionary wholly to the work of the public preaching of the gospel. The American Episcopal mission at Athens, with the Rev. Mr. Hill at its head, aided by his amiable and excellent lady, and several other benevolent individuals from the United States, is doing much for the cause of education in Greece. In what they call the Large School, there are 700 pupils ; in the Infant School, 400 ; and in the School of Industry, 00. Besides these, there were, when we were at Athens, twenty- five young ladies, from different parts of Greece, living in the family of Mr. Hill, who were preparing to become teach- ers. Twelve of these, each from a different province, were supported by the Greek government, that, when fitted to teach, they might return to their friends, and thus might found schools, where they would be more contented and use- ful than strangers could be. There is also a well-conducted school on the island of Syra, known as the American School, from its having been founded by the Rev. Mr. Brewer, from the United States. It was for a time under the care of Dr. Korck, and is now taught by the Rev. Mr. Heildner, both of whom are Germans. The number of pupils is 500 or 600. The Rev. Dr. Robertson and lady, Episcopal missionaries from the United States, have also a large school at the same place. To these, we may add flourishing schools, under the care of American missionaries, in several of the other Grecian islands, and on the adjoining shores of Asia, which, in connexion with the various mission presses, are exerting a silent but powerful influence, in pro- moting the cause of science and enlightened Christianity in the East. The condition of Greece, at the close of the recent Revo- lution, was one of great moral and political interest. The country had long been scathed and blighted by the desolating curse of war. Those fair and fertile valleys which, in time of peace, had yielded their abundance to supply the wants of the inhabitants, were for years the encampments or the bat- tle-fields of contending armies, and thus remained untilled. The vine and the olive, with every variety of fruit or of for- ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. OQ1 est tree, which might be useful to the inhabitants as a means of sustenance, or for rebuilding their ruined houses, were rooted up or burned. Scarce a cottage or a barn was left standing. Commerce, which had been an important source of national wealth, and on which not less than 250,000 souls had depended for subsistence, was wholly annihilated. The armed force of the Greeks had amounted at times, during the war, to 50,000 men, whose labor was thus withdrawn from tilling the earth on the one hand, while on the other their support was a heavy draft on the capital of the nation. The shepherds became soldiers, and the flocks and herds were consumed by the army, leaving the country entirely destitute of those kinds of domestic animals which are used for food. From 1821 to 1832, there were imported into Greece the means of subsistence for her population, for sev- eral months of each year, for which she had nothing to offer in return, but for which she was indebted to English and French loans, and to the voluntary offerings of the benevolent in Europe and America. Though foreign grain and provisions, to the value of more than 8 3,500,000, were thus obtained, still, thousands of individuals in Greece have at times lived, for weeks together, without either meat or bread, subsisting wholly on grass and other herbs and roots. In some cases, different bands of Greeks, impelled by hun- ger, engaged in civil strife, that thus they might secure to themselves a portion of the fruits of the earth, or of those supplies which came to them from foreign lands. The in- habitants, during the war, either lingered amid the crumbling walls of their ruined towns and villages, or fled to the islands adjoining the main land, or were forced to seek refuge from slavery and from death amid the dens and the caves of their mountain fastnesses. Thus, by war, pestilence, and famine, were the inhabitants of continental Greece reduced to one third their original number, and, had it not been for foreign aid, they must all have perished, or, fleeing for refuge to some other land, have left their haughty oppressors to roam unmolested amid the desolate ruins of what once was Greece, but then were Greece no more. It were not strange, there- fore, that the lively sympathy of the civilized world, in be- half of a land from which science, literature, and the arts had gone forth to enlighten and to bless mankind, together with a respect for the spirit of noble daring, and the love of freedom and independence, which led the Greeks to brave 202 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. the hosts of their oppressors, and suffer an utter wreck of fortune, with the further peril of entire extinction, — it were not strange, in view of these facts, that the progress, termi- nation, and ultimate results of the recent Greek Revolution, should be matters of peculiar interest alike to the friends and the enemies of human rights. But a brief sketch, however, can here be given of the past and present condition of liber- ated Greece. In January, 1823, Count Capo d'Istrias, a Greek by birth, but who had been for some time the confidential minister of the Emperor of Russia, arrived in Greece, and assumed the direction of the government. He soon organized a Council of State, consisting of twenty-seven members, with himself as President at its head. To divisions of this body was assigned the care of the different branches of public service. An ecclesiastical commission was appointed, with a view to promote the interests of the Greek church ; a national bank was instituted ; a Congress, elected by the people, was con- vened ; Demogerontes, a class of magistrates which had long existed in Greece, were to be chosen at the rate of one to every 100 families, and, in every town and village, one of these officers was to be a justice of the peace ; a court of common pleas, consisting of three judges was organized in each province, and a court of final appeal, with a president, vice-president, seven judges, and a public attorney was also established. In civil cases, the Code Justinian was to be followed, and, in criminal, the Code Napoleon. The President expressed a lively interest in the subject of education, visited the schools, and encouraged the teachers, began to erect school-houses, and stated officially, that 300 and even 400 Lancasterian schools were needed, which might furnish the means of instruction to 75,000 or 100,000 chil- dren. In 1829, however, but twenty-five of these schools had been established, containing 3,000 pupils. In doing this, the government, owing to its poverty, had given but little as- sistance. Some subsequent movements showed a disposition on the part of government, so to control the studies and the management of the schools, as to interfere with their greatest energy and usefulness. Early in 1830, Prince Leopold, of Saxe Cobourg, was chosen by the Allied Powers sovereign of Greece, but, on learning the state of the country, and the feelings of the peo- ple as to his appointment, he declined. Thus, the power of ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. £03 Capo d'Istrias continued until he was assassinated. Durintr the first two years of his administration, though far from availing himself of all the means which were placed within his reach, of advancing the interests of the nation, still, the comparative order and quiet which prevailed, did much to- wards gaining public confidence, and promoting agricultural improvement. Near the close of his course, he arrayed his policy in direct opposition to the feelings of the nation, and thus, though regarded by the Greeks as a man of talents, he is still thought by them to have been at heart a Russian, and fully bent on sacrificing the freedom of Greece, by uniting it with the Russian empire, at the same time gratifying his high personal ambition by the permanent aggrandizement of himself and family. He is also accused of a want of system in his administration of public affairs, and of having been guided in his measures rather by impulse and caprice, than by any enlarged and connected views and efforts for the public good. In 1832, Otho, the present king of Greece, a member of the royal family of Bavaria, began his reign. The rival fac- tions among the Greeks, and the want of any man of their own nation of sufficient talents and influence to control the mass of the people, seemed to create a necessity, for the time at least, of receiving their rulers from abroad. The king, though on his arrival in Greece but eighteen years of age, yet, by his good sense, dignity, and kindness, soon acquired the respect and affection of his subjects, and still retains a high degree of personal popularity. As he was in his minority, a regency of three individuals, who came with the king from Germany, was appointed to govern the kingdom. As no member of this regency spoke the Greek language, or had any intimate acquaintance with the character and institutions of the people whom they were called to govern, it is not strange, that in their attempts to apply the old estab- lished maxims and routine of kingly government, to a coun- try and a people so peculiar in their character and condition, as were Greece and her inhabitants ; it is not strange, that ' in these circumstances, great and fundamental errors should have been committed. An early ground of discontent with the Greeks, was the introduction among them of a large body of Bavarian troops, infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers ; and though the funds necessary for their support were for the time provided by the Allied Powers, still, as their services were not needed, 204 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. as they helped to exhaust the scanty means of subsistence, of a land in which scarce a green thing or living animal, which could serve for food, had been left, and as these foreigners received higher pay than the native troops, and the officers of the former were promoted to the neglect of the latter, the Bavarian troops and the government thus became unpopular. Another great error was, to discontinue the office of Demogerontes, a class of magistrates, who, for many centuries, had been chosen by the people, and who, with the aid of the priest, and in difficult cases, by calling on all the heads of families to act as jurors, transacted, in the most public man- ner, the police, financial, and judicial business of the respec- tive towns and villages. Thus, had a high degree of union, public spirit, energy, and intelligence, been fostered among the Greeks ; and, by deciding their own quarrels among them- selves, they had escaped that oppression and wrong to which they would have been subjected, had they gone before the Turkish tribunals. The government are also accused of neglecting the inter- ests of education, by failing to complete the school-houses commenced by Capo d'Istrias, or using them as barracks, as also by not furnishing the necessary buildings, and meet- ing the expenses required for a university, which is much needed, and for which there is a full supply of able professors. No proper division has yet been made of unoccupied lands, or inducements held out to improve them, so that not only have many artisans and shepherds emigrated from liberated Greece, but as most of the masons, carpenters, and other workmen, who have been employed, during a few years past, at Athens and the Piraeus, though Greeks, were still Turkish subjects, it is computed that they have carried out of the country at least one half of the three and one third millions of dollars which have been expended in building at those places. The present number of inhabitants in liberated Greece, is about 650,000, while the whole number of Greeks in South- ern Europe and Western Asia is not far from 5,000,000. The fact, that this interesting people during their long and severe oppression, and all the changes of their lot, have been able for thousands of years to retain their language, their national existence, and identity of character, is one which seems to mark them out for some peculiar and impor- tant agency connected with the future history of nations, and we may well suppose that the result of the political experi- ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 205 merit which is now in progress in liberated Greece is to have an important influence on the coming destiny of the whole nation. The dissolution of the Turkish Empire, — an event which seems to be rapidly approaching, — and in connexion with this, the superior intelligence, activity, and enterprise of the millions of Greeks who are scattered throughout its whole extent, seem to point them out as destined to become leading and conspicuous actors in any system of political organiza- tion which may be adopted there. Perhaps the scattered fragments of the nation may yet be collected together on the native soil of their race; and there, with Athens for their cap- ital, form a united, powerful, and prosperous people, diffusing around them, as in ancient times, the light of science and the arts; or the city of Constantine may again become the capital of a Grecian empire in the East, or, as perchance it may be, of a Greek republic there. It is said that the terrible effects of the Greek Revolution, and the barbarous conduct of the Turkish government du- ring the war, has for the present, collected together all the Greeks of talents and influence, both clergy and laity, in liberated Greece. Hence their countrymen, who are scatter- ed throughout the Turkish empire, are watching with intense interest the movements of the Greek government, and the re- sults of the great experiment which is in progress there. The recent establishment of a national bank in Greece, fur- nishing a safe investment for capital, and the adoption of the system of trial by jury in criminal cases, have excited some hopes of brighter days ; while, on the other hand, these hopes are greatly lessened by the Utopian schemes of the govern- ment as to antiquarian researches, and the digging of canals across a country with ranges of mountains rising to the height of several thousand feet, and with rivers, which, in the rainy season, are raging torrents, and in the summer, nearly or entirely dry ; as also by their neglect to assemble together a body of representatives from the Greeks them- selves, who, by their talents, wisdom, and experience, might greatly aid in suggesting proper laws, and in forming such a system of government as would best promote the welfare of the nation. To these evils might be added, some attempts upon the liberty of the press, — the fact, that two thirds of the land is held by government, for which a nominal rent of twenty-five per cent, is claimed, but which, by the unjust manner in VOL. II. 18 206 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. which it is collected, amounts to fifty percent., — an utter disregard of the rights of private property where it has been wanted for public purposes, — the exclusion of all foreign capital from employment in Greek vessels, and of all foreign flags from the carrying trade of Greece, — the existence of an import duty of ten per cent., and export of six per cent., while those of Turkey are only three per cent., thus holding out a strong temptation to extensive smuggling, in a country, too, where it is perfectly practicable ; — and last, but not least, the fact, that in a country so greatly impoverished, reve- nue to the amount of £ 400,000 sterling is collected, which is about three dollars to each individual, or fifteen dollars to each family of five persons; a rate of taxation greater than that of Sweden, Naples, Spain, and Ireland, thus causing oppressed and devoted Greece to be at once the poorest and most heavily taxed country in Europe. The annual expend- iture of Greece has thus far amounted to about .£650,000 sterling, exceeding the revenue by about £250,000. Of this sum, £390,000 has been expended for the army alone, which is within £ 10,000 of the whole revenue of the coun- try. If it were necessary to burden Greece in her depressed and impoverished state, with the expenses of a kingly court and government, it were surely the dictate of common hu- manity to arrange that government on as economical a plan as possible, and not in time of peace to bring among them an army of foreigners, to be dependent for their support on the hard-earned pittance wrung from the hands of the wrong- ed and suffering poor. t Some recent movements of the Greek government, howev- er, such as the establishment of a national bank, and the dis- missal of a part of the Bavarian troops, discover an increas- ing knowledge of the condition and wants of the nation, and more regard to the true interests of Greece than had before been exhibited. And surely, the prayer of the scholar, the philanthropist, and the Christian must be, that this interesting but ill-fated land, long the home of science and the arts, and now so recently delivered from a worse than Egyptian bond- age, may rise from amid her desolate ruins, and again become the central point of learning, enterprise, and intelli- gence, from which the light and the blessings of civilization and Christianity may be widely diffused abroad. At Athens we met with another ship of the same class with our own, which had just arrived from home to take our ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 207 place in the squadron, and bringing orders for us to visit the American colonies of free people of color in Liberia, on the western coast of Africa, and to return from thence, by the way of South America to the United States. This event caus- ed no little excitement among us, some being quite anxious to return home, while others would have much preferred to continue with the squadron during the cruise to Egypt and Syria, on which it was then bound. My own plan, in view of such an occurrence as this, had been to leave the squadron entirely, and having prosecuted my travels and researches in Egypt, and the East, at my leis- ure, then cross the continent of Europe, and after spending some months in study and literary intercourse at Edinburgh, return to the United States. Such would have been my course, had our ship been ordered directly home; but my mind was much influenced by the fact, that the floating con- gregation with whom I had been so long connected, and in whom I felt so peculiar an interest, were yet, for six months or more, to be abroad upon the deep, and so exposed, withal, to the diseases of warm and sickly climes, that they might need more than ever before religious instruction, and kind Christian sympathy and counsel, to say nothing of the fre- quent call there might be, to perform over the remains of the dead those sadly solemn rites, to which the sailor attaches so high an importance as to feel, that without them he could scarce commit the body of his brother to the deep. As a matter of conscience, too, I had felt fir more easy in devot- ing some of the best years of my life to foreign travel, than I should have done, had I not been able to unite the pleasure of doing so with efforts for the good of others, while at the same time, the fine accommodations which I had, and the perfect- ly regular and systematic division of time on shipboard, ena- bled me to pursue both literary and professional studies, with less interruption than there would have been in connexion with almost any station of active duty on shore. Thus, too, might one avoid that dissipation of mind arising from the want of regular habits of study, as well as of suitable books, and the command of time, from which travellers so often suffer ; it being impossible for them so to secure either the results of their own observation, or the knowledge col- lected by others, while the impressions of what they have seen are fresh in their minds, as to prevent their losing the more important benefits to be derived from foreign travel. 208 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. As to visiting Liberia, in addition to the ordinary curiosity which travellers have to see distant portions of the globe, there was also a peculiar anxiety not only to witness the hab- its and modes of life of the various savage tribes of native Africans, but at the same time, to satisfy my own mind as to the real condition and prospects of the colonies of free peo- ple of color founded there, by means of a minute and care- ful examination of them, conducted upon the ground which they occupy. By doing thus, I might reasonably hope to re- lieve my own mind, and those of my friends from the per- plexity which has been connected with this subject, by means of the contradictory or widely conflicting statements so often made with regard to the character, condition, and .prospects of these colonies. In these times of high party and sectarian excitement, too, when there are so many who are unwilling to permit their neighbours to enjoy their fixed and cherished opinions in peace, it is truly delightful to be able, with regard to any agitating topic of the day, to say to these officious quacks in morality, that, having adopted such views as you have, from means of knowledge far superior to their own, they would greatly oblige you by leaving you in the quiet possession of your own opinions until their means of information shall have equalled yours. And yet, after all, there will be those so enslaved and debased, by the influence of passion and prejudice, as to believe the absurd fictions of any party drudge who favors their own views, though directly opposed to the plain and explicit statements of those who have en- joyed the best means of knowing the truth, and have no interest in stating what is false. It was a pleasant morning, late in August, when we left the Piraeus, alike the ancient and the modern port of Athens, and took our course amid those isles of Greece, which are so thickly scattered over the surface of the yEgean Sea. After sailing for several hours, we took a formal and official leave of the other ships of the squadron, and bent our course to- wards the setting sun, leaving behind us those who had so long wandered with us alike over the surface of the deep, and amid the crumbling ruins and fading memorials of clas- sic antiquity. This parting scene was to us one of peculiar impressiveness and interest, and it may not. be amiss briefly to notice the events connected with it. As our own ship was lying to, so as to be nearly or quite at rest, that of the Com- ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 209 modore swept proudly past our stern, and so near that we could easily distinguish the faces of our friends. At that moment, the shrouds of the other ship were manned by the crew, presenting a compact and lofty wall of human beings, who rent the heavens with their loud and hearty cheers. This salutation was returned in a similar manner by our own crew, some of whom were so rejoiced with the prospect of returning home, that they threw their hats into the sea, as an offering to old Neptune, or cast them upon the deck of the passing vessel, as a present to their brother tars. Then we fired a parting salute of thirteen guns, which was returned with a similar number from the flag ship. The same scene, with the exception of the salute, was repeated when the other ships of the squadron passed us. Their evolutions, borne onwards as they were by a rapid breeze, were performed with the utmost grace and beauty, and the whole scene was one of peculiar excitement. On the one hand, was the joy we felt in turning our faces homeward, and on the other, our deep regret at parting from those who had so long been fellow-wanderers with us amid so many scenes, rich with classic and high historic interest, knowing as we did the feelings of sadness excited within their breasts by beholding our departure for that land, where were the objects of their dearest affection, and from which they were yet for so long a time to be severed. The following lines were suggested by the scene described above : THE FAREWELL AT SEA. With gladsome breezes, fresh and free, The noble fleet was gliding Along the dark j*Egean sea, The crested waves dividing. Each bark, with canvass widely spread, And masts on high uprearing, Seemed like a spirit swiftly sped, With life and joy careering. But though beneath a radiant sky, With classic scenes surrounded, No joy lit up the wandering eye, No voice with mirth resounded. And o'er a thousand thousand souls, Unnumbered thoughts are stealing, While onward, like a torrent, rolls The deep, dark tide of feeling. 18* 210 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. For o'er the wide, wide rolling sea, One noble bark is going, And thoughts of parting, warm and free, In many a heart are glowing. And now the lofty shrouds are manned, Each soul with rapture firing, And loud and heartfelt cheers ascend, Both joy and grief inspiring. For some are bound where loved ones dwell, Their gladsome souls delighted, While other hearts with sorrow swell, By thoughts of home excited. And now the deep-toned cannon's peal, Along the wild waves rolling, Seems like those sounds we sadly feel, When friendship's knell is tolling. Then, gently yielding to the breeze, The noble fleet dividing, The lonely bark, o'er distant seas, Full soon is proudly riding. And such is life, a changing scene, To-day with friends united, Then wide, wide oceans roll between, And grief our souls hath blighted. Nothing could be more delightful than the mild and balmy air of Greece, during the time we spent at Athens. So pure and healthful was it, that it gave new life and vigor alike to the body and the mind, and imparted a sensation of delight, and a buoyancy of spirits so lively and peculiar, that we ceased to wonder that Greece should have been the home of the muses, and the birthplace of song. The atmosphere, which in other lands is so laden with moisture as to obstruct the vision, and cause corrosion and decay to the works of art, is there so transparent as to open before one an almost boundless landscape ; while, at the same time, its balmy breath, so far from soiling or corroding, serves but to compact and give a hue of bright and golden radiance, as well to the mas- sive temple and towering column, as to the humbler and less aspiring works of art. As we left this delightful climate be- hind us, and entered those seas, where the air is laden with heavy vapors, a deathlike stupor and oppression of spirits crept over us, and it seemed, for a time, as if, by Circean enchantment, the fire of intellect was extinguished, thus leaving us the form alone of men. ATHENS AND MODERN GREECE. 211 After visiting Mahon, and taking in the provisions re- quired for our voyage, we set sail for Gibraltar, on our way to the western coast of Africa. And here I freely confess, that notwithstanding the lively pleasure excited by the pros- pect of returning home, it was yet with feelings of peculiar regret that I bade a final farewell to old Mahon ; — its deep and quiet harbour, which had safely sheltered us from many a stormy gale ; the almost romantic beauty of the town, as viewed from the bay, which washes the base of the rocky cliffs, crowned with structures of the purest white ; the perfect neatness and quiet of the well-paved streets, resulting in part from the scarcity of domestic animals, the entire absence of wheel-carriages, and the eagerness with which every thing that can be used as manure is collected and car- ried away, as a means of increasing the scanty and artificial soil, with which so much of this island rock is covered ; the honest industry and frugality, and the kindness and primitive simplicity of character, so common among those of the in- habitants, whose morals and manners have not been injured by contact with foreigners, together with the many pleasant strolls I had taken, and the happy hours I had spent there, both in study and in social intercourse, — all these things united, caused emotions of sadness, on leaving Mahon, and led me, with feelings of lingering fondness and regret, to watch the summit of Mount Toro, as it faded away in the distance. On leaving Gibraltar, too, a similar struggle of feeling arose. For, aside from the wild and romantic grandeur of the place itself, and the high historic interest, with which the legends of classic antiquity, and modern deeds of noble and heroic daring, and brave and successful defence, had invested it, there were ties of a social kind, which strongly bound us there. During our repeated, and at times pro- tracted visits to Gibraltar, we had met in a foreign land with those who spoke a language common with ourselves, and the house of our amiable and excellent Consul had ever been, to us all, a home indeed, — a place where refinement, intelligence, and modest worth and loveliness of character, united with a warm and generous hospitality, unembarrassed with needless form and etiquette, gave such a charm to social intercourse, as to lead one for the time to forget, that a wide and far- reaching ocean severed him from the home of his love. Other friends, too, had been kind to us, and our intercourse with 212 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. the officers of the British army stationed there, was peculiarly pleasant. The kind access granted to the large and valuable libraries, both of the citizens and the garrison, had much increased our means of information, as to the numerous places we visited, and those objects of interest, with which, in our various wanderings, we were constantly meeting. Nor would I here forget the kind hospitality and fine social quali- ties of the Consul-General of Sardinia, — a gentleman who, by a long residence in Egypt, united with extensive study and careful observation, had made himself more familiar with the interesting antiquities of that country than any other in- dividual I have ever met with. Of my pleasant Christian intercourse with the Rev. Mr. Rule and his family, I have spoken already, and thus, during my different visits to Gib- raltar, was much added to my happiness. MALAGA. 213 CHAPTER XXIII. MALAGA. Malaga from the Sea. — Danger from the Carlists. — Great Panic. — United Slates Consul. — The Mole. — Fruit. — Culture of the Grape : Number of Species. — Vintage. — Income from Vineyards. — Raisins. — Manufacture of Wine. — Commerce of Malaga. — History of the City. — Mines. — An- cient Inscriptions. — Traces of the Moors. — Their Heroes and Learned Men. — Mahometans and Catholics. — Sufis, Monks and Nuns — Bishops of Malaga. — Climate and its Effects. — Visitations of Pestilence. — Earth- quakes. — Inundations. — Population. — Convents. — Monks and Friars. — The Catholic Church and the Theatre. —Lope de Vega. — Calderon de la Barca. — Religious Dramas. — Party Virulence : its Results. — Public Morals in Spain. — Spanish Preaching. — Exorcism. — Sale of Relics. — Making of Saints. — Francis di Posadas. — St. Januarius ; his Blood. — St. Catherine, of Sienna ; her Life and Miracles. — Revelations. — Wonders of God. — The Gothic and Roman Liturgies. — The Propaganda. In passing up and down the Mediterranean, we had often taken a passing view of Malaga, with her dense mass of houses, and her vast and lofty Cathedral, all overshadowed by the dark, rude heights which rise directly around, while further in the rear were the snow-capped mountains of Gra- nada, recalling to the mind a thousand wild and daring feats of Moorish and of Christian valor. Upon every height along the seacoast, too, might be seen those towers which were reared in former times to protect the land from the frequent and sudden incursions of the corsairs of Barbary, who repaid a portion of the bitter wrong which their fathers had suffered in Spain, by yearly carrying from thence, thousands of inhab- itants, and devoting them to a cruel and oppressive bondage, until a heavy sum was paid for their ransom. Feelings of deep and lively interest are excited by viewing, even from a distance, such a land as Spain, and the rude, rough outlines of her mountain coast have thus cast over them an air of softened and more harmonious grandeur and beauty. A bold and wide-extended landscape thus undergoes a change like that of martial music, which, in coming to us from afar, loses, indeed, something of its wild and spirit-stirring power, while, at the same time, it gains from the distance a rich and soft- ened melody of tone, less exciting, but more grateful and subduing to the soul than more distinct and louder notes. These remarks, however, apply only to what God has made, — to the hills and the mountains which he has spread 214 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. with such a bountiful broadcast, over the face of creation. The puny works of man, on the other hand, require a nearer and more minute inspection, if we would rightly understand and appreciate them. It was, therefore, with feelings of pe- culiar interest, that the monotony of waiting in the bay of Gibraltar, for a favorable wind, to pass through the Straits on our way to the western coast of Africa, was exchanged for a summons to repair to Malaga, in order to defend American property there, from the danger with which it was threatened by the near approach of the Carlist General Gomez, with sev- eral thousand followers. We found the city in a state of great excitement. Business was mostly suspended, the in- habitants were under arms in the public squares, hasty ram- parts were thrown up, many of the ladies of the first families had taken refuge on board the shipping in the harbour ; thou- sands had fled into the country for safety ; flying rumors of the near approach of the enemy were constantly agitating the public mind, and the whole city presented a striking illustra- tion of those evils which even anticipated war inflicts upon a people; for often is it true, that where its dark tempest-cloud floats over a land, the blighting, withering influence of its night-shade, in creating widespread panic, and giving a deathblow to industry, is wellnigh as injurious as the active visitations of its wrath, when it pours forth its treasures of evil to desolate the earth. It was singular to mark, in this case, the peculiar charac- ter of the Spanish ladies. Accustomed as they are, to strong excitement, and deeply skilled in human character, so far as the livelier and more absorbing passions and emotions of the soul are concerned, still, their want of education, of thorough mental training and habits of reflection, leaves them without that self-reliance, and that coolness and maturity of judg- ment, which are required in times of impending peril. True, woman has every thing to. fear from war, where not herself alone, but all she holds dear on earth, are exposed to peril, still there was a striking contrast between the wild and childish panic of the Spanish women and the coolness and self-possession of some ladies of our acquaintance from an- other land, whose training had been such as to lead them rightly to estimate their danger, and the means provided for their ultimate safety. A handsome practical compliment was paid to our flag by the Archbishop of Malaga, who, in the hour of peril, repaired MALAGA. 215 to the house of our Consul, as a place of greater security than any other in the city. This preeminence which we hold abroad, is owing to the fact that we do not meddle with Eu- ropean politics, and thus the nations there have none of those grudges against us for interference with their rights, which they indulge towards each other. Hence, too, it is that our ships of war are more visited, when abroad, and their officers treated with greater attention and hospitality than those of any European nation. But in the case of our Consul at Mal- aga, we may further state, that a knowledge of mankind, ac- quired by extensive travelling ; a peculiarly dignified and gentlemanly deportment and independence of character ; a lively sympathy with those in distress, and a readiness to re- lieve them; and a truly liberal, generous, and open-handed hospitality, had made him deservedly popular, alike with the citizens of Malaga, among whom he has so long resided, and with the numerous strangers who visit there. As Gomez had formerly held a military command in Malaga, our Consul designed, should he succeed in entering the city, to mount his horse, and, riding forth to meet him, ask of him a detach- ment of soldiers to protect his house ; but fortunately this was not necessary. On a near approach to Malaga, the objects which most at- tract the eye, are the Cathedral, the rude old castle called Gibralfaro, on the summit of the hill which overhangs the city, and the costly and massive Mole, which has been erect- ed in front of the city, in order to defend the shipping from the violent storms which at times prevail there. On landing at the wharves, we saw, everywhere around us, large piles of boxes containing raisins, and great numbers of large stone jars, filled with green grapes, packed in sawdust, all of which were rapidly passing, by means of boats, to the numerous ves- sels lying within the Mole. The grapes thus sent abroad are white, and of a coarse, fleshv kind, called Loja, from a place in Granada, whence the vines which produce them were ori- ginally derived. The oak sawdust in which they are packed is brought from England, and when thus preserved, they will keep until April or May. The soil about Malaga, from valley to hilltop, is all under cultivation, wherever the rocks will admit of it. Rugged masses of limestone, alternating with slaty schist, prevail ev- erywhere around, and the decomposed slate forms the soil of the vineyards. Manure is not used, because it is said only to 216 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. increase the size of the vines, without adding to the quantity of fruit. In planting the vines, holes are dug two feet square, twenty inches deep, and seven feet from each other. The vines are commonly about two feet high ; and each year all the branches are cut off, leaving only the bud nearest the stalk. Thus, jn the spring, from ten to twenty, or more, new shoots put forth from each stalk, and the bunches of grapes commonly rest upon the ground, the soil being so loose and dry as not to injure them. In the valleys, the shoots often o-row to the height of ten or twelve feet, while upon the hills they do not exceed as many inches ; still, the hills pro- duce the best quality of grapes, from the fact that the rays of the sun are there enjoyed in a greater degree than in the valleys. There are more than thirty species of grapes produced in the vicinity of Malaga. Of these, the most celebrated are the Pedro Ximines, so called from the man who first trans- planted the vines which bear them from Germany. They are white, sweet, and translucent; and, by being transferred from the banks of the Rhine to the mild and genial air of southern Spain, they have lost somewhat of their native roughness, and acquired a rich and delicate flavor unknown to them before. The Muscatel grapes, from which raisins of the same name are prepared, are large, sweet, of a bronze color, and grow only in the region of Malaga, extending about two leagues from the sea, and five or six leagues along the coast. The grapes first ripe are picked about the middle of Au- gust, and the same vines are again picked at intervals of a fortnight, for three or four times in succession, the vintage ending in October. An open space, free from weeds, is reserved in each vineyard, where the grapes intended for raisins are placed to dry. For this purpose, a spot is chosen where the soil is of the darkest color, as it would thus be most heated by the sun during the day, and retain the more heat by night. The bunches are placed so as not to touch each other, and at the end of fifteen days are ready for pack- ing, having, in the mean time, been turned over but once. The grapes lose two thirds of their weight in drying, and are worth twice as much for raisins as tliey are for wine. In some cases, four or five vines will yield raisins enough to fill a box containing twenty-five pounds ; but commonly, nine or ten vines are required to do this. A vineyard of Muscatel MALAGA. 217 vines is worth one hundred and sixty or seventy dollars an acre. An acre will produce about seventy boxes of raisins of twenty-five pounds each, and these will sell at from one dollar fifty cents to two dollars a box, which is equal to from one hundred and four to one hundred and forty dollars for the produce of an acre. From this sum, however, there should be deducted forty dollars or more for the expense of boxes and of cultivating the land. Labor is worth about seventeen and a half cents a day; and this, together with the food furnished by the employer, amounts to twenty-six cents a day. In some parts of Spain, I have known laborers work for much less than this; and, in times of scarcity, have seen them glad to get their daily food for their labor. If, in this connexion, we notice the fact, that the word translated penny in the English Bible, refers to the coin called by the Greeks drachma, and by the Romans denarion, which is equal in value to fourteen cents of our money, we may hence learn, from our Saviour's parable of the laborers in the vineyard, that the amount which each one received was about the same as is paid to the same class in Spain at the present day. Sun, or bloom raisins, are prepared in the same way with the Muscatel, but from a different kind of grapes, which are very long, and are called Uva Larga. These are put some- times in casks, but commonly in boxes, and as they keep better than other kinds, are sent to India and other distant regions. The Lexia raisins, which are packed in casks or grass mats, called frails, are of an inferior kind, and, before drying, the grapes are dipped in a lye made from ashes, with a slight mixture of oil. From 4,000 to 4,500 tons of raisins are exported from Malaga each year, of which, in 1830, nearly two thirds were shipped to the United States. In the middle of the last century, the vineyards near Mal- aga produced 20,000 pipes of wine annually, and more than 6,000 wine-presses were used in extracting it. These presses are large wooden vats, about eight feet square, and twelve or fourteen inches deep. A sufficient quantity of grapes is put in them at a time to make a pipe of wine, when men, with wooden shoes, with nails to prevent their slipping, jump vio- lently upon them until they are sufficiently bruised. They are then piled up in the centre of the pre?s, and confined by a broad flat band of woven grass, which is wound around them, when a screw from above is brought to bear upon them, and the must, or new wine, is caught in large earthen jars, VOL. II. 10 213 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. holding three or four pipes each. When these are filled, the wine is drawn oflf into sheepskins, in the same shape in which they were before taken from the animal, and these are con- veyed on the backs of asses to the cellars of merchants in the city, who prepare it for exportation. We learn from the Old Testament, that, from the earliest times, it was the cus- tom to tread the grapes in the wine-press with the feet; and we know, too, that the bottles which were then used were made of leather. Thus, the Arabs at the present day remove the skins of goats whole, as we do those of rabbits ; and by smearing them within with pitch, and using one of the legs for a neck or outlet to this bottle or sack, they make just such vessels as one meets with in every part of Spain and Portu- gal. When these bottles are old and dry, like all other leather, they crack and become rotten. Thus we see the force of David's comparison, where he says, " I am become like a bottle in the smoke"; as also the reason why our Saviour says, " Neither do men put new wine into old bot- tles ; else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish." Durino- the warm season, much use is made in Malaga of the unfermented juice of the grape, which we call must. It may be preserved, in bottles closely sealed, for years; and on being mixed with water makes a very pleasant drink. This is the only juice of the grape, or " fruit of the vine," which is entirely free from alcohol ; and may, therefore, be used with a clear conscience by those who are opposed to the use of wine on sacramental or other occasions. An article of this kind has been extensively known in the East, for, during the first half of the eighteenth century, three hundred camel-loads, that is, about three hundred thousand weight of grape juice, or honey of raisins, was annually sent from Hebron, in Palestine, to Egypt. In addition to the articles already mentioned, there are exported from Malaga annually, from 150 to 200 tons of almonds; from 350 to 400 tons of green grapes; from 12,000 to 15.000 cases of lemons; and from 500 to 800 cases of orannes (each case containing 1,000 lemons or oranges); and from 30 to 40 tons of figs. In the year 1833, the principal articles of export were as follows: oil to the value of $978,891; lead, 8 873,927; fruit, $739,800; wine, $634,381; soap, $169,000; copper, $29,709. Thus, the whole amount of exports, in the articles named above, was $ 3,425,707. MALAGA. 219 The number of ships which entered the port of Malaga in 1S33 was t upon their hams, with their feet under them, and often change their oars from one side to the other of the canoe, as a means of guiding it, or of re- lieving fatigue. As these canoes rest upon the water in the VOYAGE TO AFRICA. — LIBERIA. 259 middle only, the resistance with which they meet in their motion is so slight, that the rapidity with which they move onwards, or change their course, is truly astonishing. The first of these little harks which came alongside our ship, as we approached the coast, had, for its head-man, a fierce-looking little Krooman, without a shred of covering, except a military cocked hat, which was perched in a know- ing way upon his head. Such a ludicrous specimen of " brief authority," called forth a shout of laughter, and surely so comical a burlesque on military grandeur, could hardly be met with elsewhere. When these canoes upset and filled, as they often did by jostling each other, when crowding round the ship, their owners would hold on to each side, and darting them rapidly backwards and forwards a few times, would thus throw almost the whole of the water out at the ends of the canoe, and then, with great activity and adroitness, would leap again into their places without upsetting, though but a slight thing would do it. On coming to anchor in the harbour of Monrovia, we made an arrangement with one of the chiefs or captains of the Kroomen, by which we secured the services of about thirty of his tribe, to fill our ship with water from the neighbouring river, and to perform other boat service, by which the health of our own crew would have been exposed. They had ra- tions allowed them on board, and a part of them commonly slept there at night. As they had most of them either served for a time on board English men-of-war, or had had frequent intercourse with merchant ships of the same nation, or of our own, thev spoke a broken English, in which the pronoun me was almost the only one used. Sailors had also given them all sorts of ludicrous names, which, though not so long and scriptural as those assigned to Cromwell's time, were yet sufficiently odd and ludicrous. Instead of their native names, such as Namboe, Niaie, Blattoo, Yiepam, and Woorawa, they hid in the purser's books such titles as Peter Pitchem, Jim Nosegay, Tom Ropeyarn, Jack Fryingpan, Bill Centipede, Sam Marlingspike, and the like. Some of them were men of no little shrewdness and energy of character, and in visit- ing England, as at times they had done on board men-of-war, thev had gbne with their eves open, and gave most amusing accounts of what thev saw there. One of them told a long story of the severe manner in which he was treated by one Mr. FroM, and the numerous expedients he adopted to escape 260 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. from him, and, Yankees as his hearers were, and striking and accurate as was his description, yet it was not until after he himself gave the clue to the mystery, that any one saw that it was honest Jack Frost, alias cold weather, of which he was speaking. They were, also, very communicative as to their religious rites and customs, their dances at the burial of their friends, and other similar ceremonies. Sometimes, when the sailors were at leisure in the evening, they would collect the Kroomen on board together upon the forecastle, and get them to show off some of their native dances. These had not a little of the kick and shuffle pe- culiar to the negro dances with us. though at times there were violent motions, somewhat like those of the shaking Quakers and howling Dervishes. They kept time to a loud, harsh, monotonous kind of music, somewhat resembling that used by the Spanish peasants, in connexion with the fandango and other national dances. On these occasions, the dancers arrayed themselves in such clothes as had been given them on board. One would appear in a pair of sailor's trovvsers, another with only a jacket, another still with nothing but a shirt, while one of them, more lucky than the rest, wore an old uniform frockcoat, with bright yellow buttons and a standing collar, which the surgeon of the ship had given him. This last, with his coat buttoned up to his chin, in true dandy style, and his bare black legs appearing below, like those of a peacock under his plumes, made no contemptible figure, and many were the jokes which the sailors cracked upon him. These Kroomen go to the distance of hundreds of miles from their native region ; and, building little villages of huts made of twigs and clay, and covered with thatch, they stay a few years, until, having acquired some property, they return to their families, whom they always leave in their own coun- try, and are succeeded by others of their tribe. They are to Africa what the Gallegos are to Spain, or the Gibeonites of old were to the children of Israel, hewers of wood and draw- ers of water to those among whom they sojourned. It was on the Sabbath, late in the mouth of November, 183G, that we came to anchor in the harbour of Monrovia. As the day is there observed as strictly as in a Scottish or New England village, we saw nothing of the colonists until DO' 3 Monday, though they must have been anxious to know who we were, and what news we had brought them. During our VOYAGE TO AFRICA. — LIBERIA. 261 visits to the different settlements along the coast, our inter- course with the colonists was everywhere free and familiar, and apparently gratifying to both parties. Mr. Williams, who has for years been the acting Governor at Monrovia, took the lead in entertaining us and in doing the honors of the place. He was from Petersburg, Virginia, where, if I mistake not, he was once a slave. He has a peculiarly modest, sedate, gentlemanly deportment, and dur- ing his repeated visits to the United States has, by his intelli- gence and good sense, justly secured the esteem and confi- dence of those with whom he has had intercourse. He came to Africa as a clergyman of the Methodist church, and for a year or more was engaged in the self-denying labors of a missionary among the natives, at a distance of 150 miles in the interior. Under the title of Vice-Agent, he has for years been at the head of the colony ; and, as far as I could learn, has so discharged the duties of his- office as to secure the confidence alike of his fellow-citizens and of the society from which he received his appointment. The Secretary of the colony, who is also the editor of the Liberia Herald, was a native of Virginia, but was educated in part in Boston. He is a man of dignified and gentlemanly deportment, and an able, correct, and vigorous writer. He came to Africa at so early an age, that his manners are those of one who has known no superior, and who has never been trained to cringe and bow to those who, from having a skin whiter than his own, might have claimed the right of lording it over him. Such specimens of the colored race I have seen nowhere but in Africa; and surely, to those who take pleasure in beholding in man the image of his Maker, it were worth a voyage to that continent to witness so pleasing a spectacle. The different physicians in the colony, at the time of our visit, were also men of color ; and we met with individuals in other walks of life, whose intelligence, energy, and independence of character, would have done no discredit to any community. We were everywhere hospitably received, taking our seats with the colonists at their tables, uniting with them in a pub- lic dinner which they gave us on shore, and entertaining them and their ladies on board our ship. The houses of the wealthier class are two stories high, of a good size, and with drawinor. rooms furnished with sofas, sideboards, and other articles of luxury and ease. Most of the colonists, 262 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. however, live in houses of a story and a half high, framed and covered as in New England, and having, besides the chamber, small but convenient rooms on the lower floor, while the cooking is commonly done, as in the southern United States, in cabins distinct from the house, to avoid the annoyance of smoke and heat. In attending church at Monrovia, we met with an attentive and devout audience ; and among the females, it struck me that there was a larger proportion of silk dresses than is often to be met with in congregations with us. There is commonly preaching in all the churches three times upon the Sabbath, and once or more during the other days of the week. At a wedding party, which I attended, there was a degree of form and etiquette, such as to remind one of the remark made by a foreign traveller, that the colored people were the most polite class he met with in the United States. On the tables to which we were invited, were beef, obtained from a small breed of native cattle, which are very fat, together with mutton, ham, eggs, fowls, fine oysters and fresh fish, sweet potatoes, rice, oranges, bananas, and other tropical fruits, with excellent bread, pastry, and sweetmeats. The cooking was very good, having been done by those who had been trained in the first families in our southern States. Among our young officers, there were several who found in the colonies old family servants of their own, or of their near relatives and neighbours ; and the feelings of interest and attachment that were exhibited in such cases, and the liberal presents made on both sides, showed that the meeting was far from being an unpleasant one. And here it may not be amiss to give, somewhat in detail, a description of the soil, productions, and face of the country in Liberia, together with the appearance of the different set- tlements, and the present condition and future prospects of the colonies. Liberia is the name which has been given to the whole of that portion of Western Africa which is occupied by colonies of free people of color from the United States. On approach- ing the coast, one is struck with the dark green hue which the rank and luxuriant growth of forest and of field every- where presents. In this respect, it strongly resembles in appearance the dark forests of evergreens which line a por- tion of the coast of eastern Virginia. From Monrovia, on the north, to Cape Palmas, the settlement of the Maryland VOYAGE TO AFRICA. — LIBERIA. 263 colony, on the south, is about 250 miles, as measured along the coast; while 100 miles more, to the north of Monrovia, is owned by the colony, and might be advantageously occu- pied by new settlements. At different points there are capes or promontories, rising from thirty or forty to one or two hundred feet above the level of the sea ; while at other places the land, though somewhat uneven, has not, near the sea, any considerable hills. In some places, near the mouths of the rivers, are thickly-wooded marshes ; but, on entering the interior of the country, the ground gradually rises, the streams become rapid, and at the distance of twenty miles or more from the sea, hills, and beyond them mountains, are often met with. In the British possessions, indeed, the Gambia is navigated by brigs of war to the distance of 400 miles from its mouth, where there are English settlements ; but the rivers of Liberia cannot commonly be navigated more than twenty or thirty miles, and this only by light craft, except during the rainy season. This, however, will always furnish a ready and convenient communication with such towns as have been or may be founded on the banks of these rivers near the sea ; while, at the same time, as the native tribes upon the coast do not extend more than twenty-five miles inland, and are, in most places, separated from those in the interior by a forest of from a day and a half to two days' journey, constant intercourse with them may always be car- ried on by means of these same rivers. The soil of Liberia is various, being affected by its posi- tion, its degree of elevation, and other similar causes. Di- rectly on the ocean, and along the banks of rivers, a light, warm, sandy soil has, in some places, been thrown up by the water, which will yield sweet potatoes, beans, and cassada, but, without manure, the crops will be small. The next variety is bottom-land, of strong, light-colored clay, which is sometimes mingled with sand and dark loam. It is productive, but is exposed to injury from the extremes of dry and wet weather. A specimen of this kind of soil may be seen at New Georgia, the settlement of the recaptured Africans on the St. Paul's river, a few miles from its mouth. The richest soil, however, and that which is most preva- lent in connexion with the different settlements, is a deep, loose, black mould, of alluvial formation. It extends back from the banks of the rivers, and derives its strength from the wash of the fertile uplands above and beyond it. It is 264 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. sufficiently moist, is free from stories and gravel, and will give to any crop a rank and luxuriant growth. In higher positions than the last is a red, clayey soil, min- gled with rocks and gravel of the same hue, all of which derive their color from the oxyde of iron with which they abound. This soil is of a poor quality, but may be much improved by manuring. The last variety we shall notice is a strong, rich soil, found in connexion with the higher and more rocky uplands. It produces a rank, luxuriant growth of forest trees and plants, but will not produce well during the dry months of the year. Lands of this kind, however, are extremely favorable to the cultivation of coffee and other valuable plants and vegetables. The climate of Liberia, though warm and moist, is, as to temperature, exceedingly uniform. Its extreme limits are 72 and 86 degrees of Fahrenheit ; the thermometer, in the rainy season, standing during the day at about 77, and in the dry season at about 82 degrees. The heat by day seldom varies from that by night more than three or four degrees. Thus are both animal and vegetable life free from those checks and those sudden revulsions, which result from great and sudden changes of temperature. The seasons are divided into the wet and dry. The wet commences about the middle of May and continues to the end of June. July and August are dry, pleasant months, favorable for clearing the fields of weeds, and putting such crops in the ground as were neglected before the spring rains. The second, or long rainy season commences about the first of September, and continues until near the middle of No- vember. January, February, and March are the dryest months in the year, and March and April the hottest. The rainy seasons commence and end with frequent thun- der showers, and short and sudden tempests of wind from the land, which continue three or four weeks. During the wet season the rain falls in torrents, for a few hours early in the morning, and again in the evening, while the rest of the day the sky is commonly clear. In cultivating new lands, the trees and brush are usually cut down in December and January; in February and March they are burned, and the lands cleared ; in April and May they are fenced and planted ; in July and August the crops are dressed and weed- ed, and cotton, coffee, and other trees transplanted. , Owing to the copious rains, rice may be cultivated on any VOYAGE TO AFRICA. — LIBERIA. 0(35 of the uplands of Liberia, and, unlike our southern States, the marshes are but little used for this purpose. The upland crops are commonly sown in May ; those of the lowland dur- ing the rains of Autumn. The best lowland soils produce from forty to fifty bushels to the acre; the upland rarely more than thirty. Two bushels of seed are required for an acre, and, being covered with a hoe or harrow, it requires a careful weeding five or six weeks after planting, and sometimes an- other before it puts forth ears. The upland crop is gathered in September, and the lowland in March or April. The na- tives prefer the summer crop, but do not plant the same ground two years in succession. In order to do this success- fully, the land must be thoroughly ploughed, which the na- tives have not the means of doing. There are three kinds of rice raised on the Western coast of Africa : the red African rice, the round-grained, and the large, white Carolina rice, all of which produce well, but the last is considered the best, especially for exportation. It is wisely ordered in the Providence of God, that the most useful products, as well of the vegetable as of the min- eral kingdom, are the most abundant and the most widely scattered upon the face of the earth, while those which are less useful, are more rare and less widely diffused. Did wa- ter, salt, iron, and the various kinds of grain which we use for food, exist in small quantities only, upon earth, while the richest wines, the more precious metals, and the costliest spices, were given us in the greatest profusion, how sad would be the condition of our race, and how small the number of inhabitants which our globe would sustain. These remarks are here suggested by the fact, that the computation has been made by those well qualified to judge in the case, that the principal food of one third of the human race is rice. In support of this statement, we may rel'er as well to Central and to Western Africa, as to the millions of India and China. Six hundred tons of African rice are annually consumed at Sierra Leone alone ; while, for several centuries, the natives of Western Africa have raised enough of this grain not only to supply themselves, but have also furnished, each year, the immense quantities required for the support of from sixty or eighty to one hundred and fifty thousand slaves, during their passage from thence to the New World. The Rev. Mr. Wil- son, a missionary from the United States, stationed at Cape Palmas, though a native of the Southern States, and familiar vol. 11. 23 266 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AM) LIFE AT SEA. with the extensive rice plantations to be met with there, yet, in speaking of an excursion which he made to the Cavally river, a few miles from where he resides, says, "that on both sides of the river were large fields of rice, some of which were unsurpassed, or rather unequalled, by any that 1 ever saw before." Indian corn is commonly planted in May, and ripens early in September, though good crops are often obtained by plant- ing in July, and harvesting in November Or December. In Central Africa, two crops of corn a year from the same ground, are common, and several kinds are cultivated, of which that called Egyptian corn is considered the best. It is there extensively used by the natives, not only for food, but also for making strong beer and other drinks. Cassada is a most valuable article of culture, and its pro- duce is greater than that of any other known vegetable. It grows to the height of several feet, and may be propagated from the seed, the root, or the stem. It may be planted any month in the year, dry, sandy soils being the best for it, and a succession of crops may follow each other on the same ground. Portions of the stem are commonly buried at a dis- tance of three feet from each other, in trenches three or four inches deep, and four feet apart. As it grows, a thick hedge is formed, and, beinff hoed once in two months, it begins to be fit for use in six months, when it has reached half its growth, and will last from fifteen to eighteen months. Do- mestic animals may be fattened on the roots, and they are also easily converted into Tapioca, which is valuable, both as an article of commerce and for food. Yams have a large root, resembling the sweet potato in form, though their taste is more like that of the common po- tato. They grow spontaneously on some parts of the coast, but are much improved by culture. Portions of the root are planted in rows about a foot and a half apart, and poles are placed for the vines to run on. They need hoeing three times, and two crops may be raised in a year, from the same ground. Those which I ate were rather tough and tasteless, and bore much the same relation to an excellent sweet or common po- tato, as codfish or shark meat does to a well-dressed pike or trout. Sweet potatoes will grow every season of the year, and on almost every variety of soil. They may be reared from the seeds, roots, or vines. Though most easily and speedily pro- VOYAGE TO AFRICA. — LIBERIA. 267 duced from the vines, yet they are apt to degenerate where this course is pursued. I saw the colonists engaged in dig- ging a very large kind, called the yam potato, which yielded most plentifully. The fact that so nutritious a vegetable may, with proper care, be had fresh from the ground every day in the year, speaks well for the means of support which Liberia affords. They were brought to us by the colonists, in canoes, some of them coming twenty miles from the coast, and in such abundance were they offered us, that, though we sup- plied our crew of near five hundred men with them, yet many more were brought us than we could furnish a market for. Pumpkins, as also most garden vegetables to be met with in the United States, do well in Liberia, while many of them, which, with us, are killed by the frosts of winter, there con- tinue to flourish from year to year. I saw beans, for exam- ple, which, by such a continuous growth, instead of mere slender vines, had become strong and firm bushes. Of the plants and fruits peculiar to warm climates, to be met with in Liberia, we may notice the plaintain, banana, orange, lime, papaw, guava, pine-apple, cotton, sugar-cane, coffee, arrow-root, aloes, indigo, and ginger. Oranges, when ripe, are very large and almost entirely green, owing, per- haps, to the richness of the soil, and to the want of the rays of the sun, during the rainy season. Like plaintains and bananas, they may be propagated by slips, as currants are with us, and like them, too, will produce fruit every month in the year. Pine-apples, of a fine quality, I saw growing wild in abundance ; and they may be easily propagated by plant- ing the bud on the head of the ripe fruit, the suckers at the base of it, or the young shoots which spring from the roots. Cotton is raised and manufactured into cloth by the natives of almost every portion of Central and Western Africa. The African cotton tree, of which several kinds grow wild, is dif- ferent in some respects, from any of the varieties of the cotton plarit to be met with in the United States. The cotton is, however, of a good quality, and much the same modes of cul- ture and of preparing it for use, may be adopted as with us. It will grow well on light, upland soils, and comes to maturi- ty early in the dry season. It is raised from the seed in nur- series, until about three feet his' 1 , when it is transplanted, and placed in rows about six feet from each other. The around should be well hoed, and the trees pruned, and they will con- tinue to bear for a great number of years. 26S FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. The sugar-cane flourishes well on the rich lowland soils, and the crop may be several times renewed by cultivating the suckers which spring up from the old stocks, after the field has been cleared. It is said, that half an acre of cane will furnish an ample supply of sugar and vinegar for a family of seven persons. A missionary, now resident in Liberia, but who, from his youth, has been familiar with the culture of the sugar-cane in the West Indies, says, that the manufac- ture of sugar can be conducted far more profitably in Liberia than in the West Indies, owing to the great strength and pro- ductiveness of the soil. Coffee has for ages grown wild in the woods of Western Africa ; and large branches laden with the berries, were often brought on board our ship by the colonists. Both the tree and the berry are said to attain a size unknown elsewhere. It will grow on almost any soil, the dry upland producing the small-grained fine-flavored kernel, but the rich lowlands yield the greatest crop. The trees are transplanted during the rainy season, when about two feet high, and placed several feet apart. They are carefully pruned, and the ground is kept free from weeds. They will begin to bear in three years, and the trees should be renewed once in ten years. This may be done by one of the shoots from the old stock or root. The crop is sure, and a single tree often produces four pounds in a season, which is double the amount obtained in the West Indies. When we were, at Monrovia, a single col- onist there had a plantation of 20,000 trees. Indigo grows spontaneously in Western Africa, and is kept down with difficulty. It is commonly sown, however, one peck of seed being a large allowance for an acre ; and it yields the greatest profit of any crop requiring the same la- bor. It is cut six or eicrht times during the season, at inter- vals of six or seven weeks. Ginger grows spontaneously, but is commonly planted in hills, and hoed like potatoes. Where the soil is good, it will yield sixty for one. Camwood, which is valuable as a dye-stuff", is an important article of commerce at Liberia, large quantities of it being brought there for sale by the native tribes in the interior. Mr. Ashinun, the former able and efficient governor of Libe- ria, also states, that one third of the forest trees in the vicinity of the colonies are camwood. Its fragrant blossoms when they put forth, are said to impart a most delightful aroma to VOYAGE TO AFRICA. — LIBERIA. 269 the atmosphere, though when I saw it, there was nothing but its deep rich foliage to commend it to the eye. Mr. Ashmtin, in a paper addressed to the colonists in 1825, speaks thus of the region about Monrovia. "The upland of the Cape is not the best. The Creator has formed it for a town, and not for plantations. But the flat lands around you, and particularly, your farms, have as good a soil as can be met with in any country. They will produce two crops of corn, sweet potatoes, and several other vegetables in a year. They will yield a larger crop than the best soils in America; and they will produce a number of valuable articles, for which, in the United States, millions of money are every year paid away to foreigners. One acre of rich land well tilled, will produce you $300 worth of indigo. Half an acre may be made to grow half a ton of arrow root. Four acres laid out in coffee plants, will, after the third year, produce you a clear income of $ 200 or $ 300. Half an acre of cotton trees, will clothe your whole family ; and, except a little hoeing, your wife and children can perform the whole labor of crop- ping and manufacturing it. One acre of canes will make you independent of all the world for the sugar you use in your family. One acre set with fruit trees and well attended, will furnish you the year round with more plantains, bananas, oranges, limes, guavas, papaws, and pine-apples, than you will ever gather. Nine months in the year, you may grow fresh vegetables every month, and some of you, who have lowland plantations, may do so throughout the year. Soon all the vessels visiting the coast, will touch here for refresh- ments. You never will want a ready market for your fruits and vegetables. Your other crops being articles of export, will always command the cash, or something better. With these resources, (and nothing but industry and perseverance are necessary to realize them,) you cannot fail to have the means of living as comfortably, independently, and happily, as any people on earth. If you forfeit such prospects through indolence or folly, thank yourselves for it. No one else, I promise you, will condole with you." In confirmation of these remarks of Mr. Ashmun, as to the productiveness of Liberia, it may be well here .to add the statement of Dr. Hall, the recent governor of the Maryland colony at Cape Palmas, who says, that he has found, in repeated instances, that individuals, with only two acres of ground under culti- vation, had raised twice as much vegetable food as was need- 23* 270 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. ed for the support of a family of seven or eight persons. And here, it si ouid be remembered, that in Africa, owing to the nature of the climate, and the rich variety of tropical fruits, vegetable food furnishes a much larger proportion of the sustenance of the people, than in colder and less genial climes. To the means of sustaining life already noticed, we may add the small, fat native cattle, swine, sheep, goats, and the various kinds of domestic fowls, all of which have long been raised by the natives, and furnished to ships which visited the coast. There are also fine large oysters, and the sea and rivers furnish a variety of excellent fish. We are told of an old Scotch lady, that when her son, who was a sailor, return- ed from abroad, and, among other marvellous tales, said that he had sailed through a sea of milk, she could credit it all; but when he came to tell her of fish that could fly, then she would " nae believe" him. The same may be true of many, when told, that, on the coast of Africa, oysters grow on trees; yet such is indeed the fact, and I have seen bushels of the limbs on which they grew, lying in a heap upon the ground, with the oyster-shells still firmly attached to them. Here, gentle reader, is a traveller's story for you ; and shall I in a single word explain it ? Here, then, you have it. The long, limber branches of the, trees which grow by the water side, drop down until they are imbedded in the mud, when the oysters become firmly attached to them, just as barnacles and other shell-fish adhere to the bottom and sides of ships ; so that when these limbs are drawn from the water, they are often heavily laden with their shelly fruit. Nor is the story of sailino- through seas of milk, so much of a fiction as some might be inclined to suppose, — for the Gulf of Guinea, be- low Cape Palmas, is at times, for a great extent as white as milk. This is caused by myriads of small fish, and little crus- taceous animals, none of which are more than a quarter of an inch in length. One species, when examined with a micro- scope by candle light, hive in the brain a luminous spot, about the size of a large pin's head, resembling a most brilliant amethvst, from which, when it moves, it darts forth flashes of bright, silvery light. And here it may not be amiss to allude, for -a moment, to the brilliant phosphorescence which the sea so often presents. This is commonly attributed to one of the many species of lampyris, or other luminous insects, with which the ocean VOYAGE TO AFRICA. — LIBERIA. 271 abounds ; but there are those, who, from having examined highly phosphorescent water with a microscope, and being unable to discover in it any living thing which was luminous, have advanced the opinion, that the sea has phosphorus diffused through it, which, when a new surface is exposed, and it comes in contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere, they combine and burn with a slow and luminous combus- tion. Putrid fish is known to be so highly phosphorescent, that the light which it gives is sometimes used by the poor in their hovels, instead of candles, to guide thine in their eve- ning labors. Water in which fish are washed often becomes luminous; persons in bathing sometimes rise from the sea enveloped in a sheet of light, and those who have waded by night, in the ocean, have left behind them, as they came forth from the water, tracks of fire along the beach. In these cases, the water has been found to be mingled with a putrid slime, which, on being disturbed, was phosphorescent. The vast amount of decaying spawn which at times floats upon the ocean, together with the untold masses of putrid animal matter, which must rise from those widespread char- nel houses of the deep, where the myriads of its finny tribes rest in their watery graves, may do much to account for the brilliant phosphorescence of the sea. But be the cause of this phenomenon what it may, of its surpassing beauty and magnificence, no one who has ever witnessed it need be told. At times, a single shark, or dol- phin, moves quietly along beside the ship, enveloped in a sheet of light ; then a shoal of flying-fish, pursued by some of their numerous enemies, will leap from their native element, darting onwards like a winged cloud of flame, over the surface of the deep ; again a herd of porpoises will roll and flounder along, causing the sea where they move to look like a track of raging, boiling flame. Now you are gliding along in a state- ly barae, over the surface of a quiet harbour, and the long row of oars as they rise from the water, are streaming with liquid fire. Again you stand upon the deck of a stately ship, a- she 'I i^hcs onwards through the deep ; while the foam which rises round her bows, the waves which roll off from her sides, and the wake which she leaves behind, are all one brilliant mass of rolling, eddying, sparkling flame, as if some raging furnace of the deep were pouring forth its long-imprisoned fires. This is by no means the least of those " works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep," which are seen by those 272 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AJND LIFE AT SEA. " that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters. " Perhaps a kw additional facts, with regard to flying-fish, may as well be noticed here as elsewhere. When pursued by night, they are often attracted by the light on board ships, and thus leap upon their decks, or into the open ports of men-of-war. A boy who was hanging in his hammock on board an English frigate, was suddenly awakened from sleep by a flying-fish, which had leaped from the water into bed with him. The poor fish was doubtless no less frighten- ed than the boy, and besides this, being rather short-winded, he made quite an uneasy bedfellow. There are several spe- cies of flying-fish, but they are commonly about nine inches long, the back colored like a mackerel, the belly flat and white, the mouth without teeth, the head scaly, the lower di- vision of the tail longer than the upper ; the wings are two membranaceous fins, of a triangular form, about four inches long, with eleven strong ribs branching off" from a single point, and are attached to the shoulders of the fish between the gills. These wings have only a slight quivering motion, just after the fish rises from the water, and seem to be of no use in flying except to sustain the body for a time, at the elevation, which, in leaping from the water, it had previous- ly acquired. They cannot fly against the wind, but as they rise, they drop -quickly down again. When the wind strikes them obliquely, it gives them a circular course. They are a favorite dish with sailors, but are rarely met with out of the tropical latitudes, except it be in the Gulf Stream. As the forest trees of Central and Western Africa form an important item, as well of the natural history as of the pro- ductive resources of those regions, it may not be amiss briefly to describe some of them here. Of valuable timber for building ships and houses there is an abundant supply, and of a very large size. Of these, we may notice an evergreen oak, five or six feet in diameter, which grows from sixty to one hundred feet or more, before it puts forth a single limb ; a species of teak, similar to that in Brazil, being very solid and durable, and losing much less of its weight and bulk in seasoning than oak does; a species of poplar, of a reddish color, used for the inside work of houses ; and a brimstone wood, resembling mahogany, but of a lighter color. Cocoa- nut trees I saw growing only in gardens, where they flourish well. The gubberah, an immense tree found in the interior, VOYAGE TO AFRICA. — LIBF.RIA. 273 resembles the fig, but is without its fruit. The trunk often measures from thirty to forty feet in circumference, and the branches sometimes cover more than half an acre. The kuka is a large and majestic tree ; the trunk, which some- times measures twenty-five feet in circumference, is porous and spongy ; the leaves small, like those of the young ash ; the flowers large, like the white garden lily ; the fruit, which hangs by a long stalk, is brown, and larger than a cocoa-nut, with a hard shell, full of powdery matter of an agreeable taste, and which, when mingled with water, makes a pleasant drink. The leaves are dried, and when boiled with gravies and meat, form a kind of clammy jelly. They are also used as food for horses and camels. The goorjee tree resembles a stunted oak, has a dark-red flower like the tulip, which is used by the natives in giving a red tinge to the month and teeth, as also in seasoning their food. Mr. Wilson, missionary at Cape Palmas, in one of his excursions inland, met with a tree which, on measuring, he found to be between fifty and sixty feet in circumference, and of a corresponding height. The bamboo, a species of palm, has no trunk of any length, but sends forth a large number of reeds or stems, from fifty to one hundred feet in length, which gradually taper to the end, inclining towards the ground with a peculiarly graceful curve. It bears a nut or burr similar to that of white pine, which contains oil of a good quality, resembling palm oil. The baobab is an immense tree, and, like the banyan of India, drops its branches to the ground, which take root and spring up, thus extending itself over a wide space of ground. On the tables of the colonists we often met with a very pleasant kind of sweetmeat or preserves, prepared from a species of red cherry, which grows wild abundantly in the woods. There are two kinds of mangrove trees, the upland or rock manorove, and the lowland, which grows in marshes along the banks of the rivers. This latter species interested me much from the fact, that it shoots down long, straight, slender stems from its branches into the earth or water below, and these send up new trunks and trees, until the whole forest, thus interwoven and matted together, forms a fit retreat for crocodiles and other water reptiles. I have often seen these stems growing down from a height of forty feet or more from the water, of an uniform size, without leaves, and scarce an inch in diameter. They hang from the branches like so 274 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. many ropes ; and often, when half way down, or more, a stem will divide into four or five smaller ones, and these growing down side by side, each one becomes a separate tree. The roots of the parent tree, at the same time, as they grow, elevate its trunk into the air until it seems mounted on stilts, and being thus bound fast to the ground, both from above and below, it rests in its place as securely as a man with his neck and his feet in the stocks. To this list of forest trees others might be added, which I never saw or heard of except in Africa, and with regard to which I know of nothing peculiar, unless it be that, like every other product of vegetable life there, they grow to an immense size. We hasten, therefore, to the palm tree, of which there are several kinds. One of these is the pal- metto, which is very much like the cocoa-nut and the cabbage tree of the southern United States. But the more useful are those from which the palm oil and wine are produced, of which there are three varieties. Palm trees send up their smooth, round trunks to the height of from twenty or thirty to eighty and one hundred feet, their long feathery branches shooting forth with a graceful curve from the highest point, and thus, as they here and there tower above the other trees of the forest, they give a peculiarly wild and Oriental cast of beauty to the richly verdant landscape. Palm wine is drank extensively by the natives of Central and Western Africa, and has about the strength of common cider. The juice is obtained from the tree either by making a hole in the trunk, and inserting a portion of the leaf as a spout to conduct it off, much in the same way as the sap of the sugar-maple is collected in New England ; or, in other cases, the tree is cut down, the branches and leaves are removed, a trench is made in the upper surface as deep as the heart of the tree, and a slight fire being made upon this every morning, it will furnish from a quart to two gallons of sap daily for several successive weeks. Two or three gallons a day are obtained by the other process, the juice running mostly by night. It soon changes to the color of milk and water, and is a very sweet, pleasant drink ; bilt wifhin twenty- four hours it ferments so as to make palm wine, containing eight or ten per cent, of alcohol. If kept some time longer, and exposed to the air, it becomes sharp vinegar. This wine is commonly kept in earthen pots or jars, manu- factured by the natives, their tops being covered with plaited VOYAGE TO AFRICA.— LIBERIA. 275 leaves, to prevent the fermentation from going too far. When used by the natives, the master of the feast places the cup from which all are to drink between his feet, when a plate, containing a mixture of red pepper and salt, is passed around, of which each one puts a little on his tongue. The pot is then opened and the cup filled, when the woman from whose house the wine was brought takes the first draught, and the master of the feast the next, to relieve the minds of the com- pany from all fear of poison ; and for the same purpose the master of the feast is required to drink the dregs. Palm oil is obtained from the nuts which grow on the palm tree, by boiling, and then bruising them in a mortar, and pouring them into a vessel of cold water. The pulp is then agitated and squeezed by the hand until the oil is press- ed out, when it is skimmed off and put in jars. In this crude state it is used by the natives and colonists, its color being a deep yellow, approaching to red. When clarified, it is color- less as lard, and then, as used with food, is thought by many to be equal to the best olive oil. When slightly purified, it is said to be superior to whale oil for burning in lamps. Palm oil is an important article of commerce, and the demand for it is constantly increasing, since it is the basis of most of the refined and cosmetic soaps which are used so extensively both in Europe and America. Cape Palmas alone could furnish 150 puncheons of this oil annually, when we were there, and twenty-five cents a gallon were paid for it. From the river Bonny, some distance below Cape Palmas, fifteen or twenty ships, of five or six hundred tons each, are annually londed with palm oil ; and thus are eight or ten thousand tons of it shipped each year to Liverpool, Bristol, and other English ports, from this single river alone. The cost there is not more than eight or ten dollars a cask, though in England it is worth ten times as much. The health is much exposed in this trade, as the seamen have to go up the rivers some distance ; and such is the difficulty of obtaining crews, that they are commonly brought on board intoxicated, and hence know nothing of their destination until they are fairly at sea. This way of obtaining hands, however, is by no means confined to a single branch of trade, but is often resorted to in seaport towns. The male and female land- sharks, who live by plundering poor Jack, will get him drunk and sell him to the highest bidder as soon as his pockets are empty ; nor is it strange, that so long as by his drunkenness 276 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. he makes a beast of himself, there should be found those who will treat him like a brute. The shea, or butter tree, resembles the American oak in appearance, but is not larger than a common apple tree, and rarely measures more than two or three feet in circumference. I know not that it is found on the coast, but in the interior great numbers are met with. Like the tamarind, the nutta, and other valuable trees, it is there left standing when the forests are cleared ; and, like the palm tree on the coast, it furnishes a valuable substitute for butter, and a useful oil for lamps. The fruit, which is enclosed in a thin green rind, is shaped like a peach, but more pointed. The outer pulp is eaten, and the kernel or stone within is boiled, bruised, pour- ed into water, and the butter skimmed off, the same as in the case of palm oil. Park says of it, that it will keep the whole year without salt, and is whiter, firmer, and of a richer flavor than the richest butter from the milk of cows. To the east of the Niger it is used in a less pure state, not for food, but only for lamps. The fruit of the nutta, or doura tree, which is also found in the interior, is roasted like coffee, then bruised and allow- ed to ferment in water, after which it is washed and pounded to powder, which is made into cakes like chocolate, and forms an excellent sauce for food. The natives used to bring palm-nutsto us on board ship. The kernel is enclosed in a pleasant, oily pulp, of nearly the size and form of the common olive. It may be well here to notice the fact, that the timber of the houses in Liberia is not liable, as in many other parts of Africa, to be destroyed by ants. CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 277 CHAPTER XXV. CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. African Insects. Birds, and Quadrupeds. — Slavery. — Extent of Africa. — Mountains. — Inhabitants. — Polygamy. — Social Condition. — Trade of Africa. — Caravans. — Slave Trade and Wars. — Trade of the Colonists. — Provision for.New Settlers. — Foreign Commerce. — Trade of the Native Tribes. — Extent of Liberia. — Cape Mount. — New Settlements. — New- Georgia. — Caldwell. — Millsburg. — Health of Colonists. — Excursion up the St. Paul's. — Canoes. — Mangrove Trees. — Native Villages. — Colo- nial Protection. — A Funeral. — Music. — The Pastor. — Contentment. — Opposition. — Preaching. A brief notice of some of the numerous tribes of animals with which Africa abounds, may aid us in better understand- ing the resources for the support of human life, which are to be met with there, and at the same time enable us to ac- count for some striking peculiarities in the habits and modes of life of the inhabitants, arising from their exposure to dan- ger or annoyance from the hostile attacks of various kinds of animals. And here, beginning with reptiles and insects, as the lower orders of animated existence, we find that exten- sively, in Western Africa, the floors of the sleeping huts of the natives are elevated by means of stakes some two or three feet from the ground, as a protection from snakes, lizards, ants, and other uncomfortable companions. As a defence against the bite of insects, you may often see the naked bod- ies of the natives thickly besmeared with clay or other ad- hesive substances. The entrances to their huts, too, are commonly mere holes, into which they creep, that thus flies and other insects may, as far as possible, be excluded ; and for the same reason they have no windows, or other openings for the admission of light. It may be for a similar cause, that in Bornou, where the exposure from this cause is pecu- liarly great, the inhabitants, like the birds, close the day with the sun, and few indulge in the luxury of a lamp. Denham informs us, that when travelling in this same region, he and his companions made fires to the windward, to drive off the insects with the smoke, and that their singing was like the humming of birds. The necks and legs of their horses were vol. ii. 24 278 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. covered with blood, and they could scarcely stand from the state of irritation in which they had been kept for so many hours. Chickens were there often killed by flies and insects soon after they were hatched, and two children of one of the chiefs had been literally stung to death. Liberia, how- ever, is mostly exempt from such annoyances, and, during the days and nights which I spent on shore there, I was much less disturbed than at Athens, where the vexatious little gnats, from which it is almost impossible to defend one's self, were constantly buzzing around and biting me during the night. The Landers, in their travels, speak of having met with millions of butterflies, of the most brilliant colors, so thick as to darken the air; frogs in untold numbers, more hoarse and loud than were ever heard in Christendom, and slow- worms so luminous that one could almost see to read by their golden splendor. Bees abound in the forests of Southern and Western Africa, depositing their honey, as with us, in the cavities of decayed trees, from whence it is taken by the natives for food, while the wax has long been carried in large quantities to Catholic countries, to supply the numerous can- dles which are there burnt in the churches, and in funerals and other public processions. There is a species of cuckoo called the honey-guide, which is said by its notes to attract the attention of man, and then, fluttering on before, leads him to the hive of the wild bee, in hopes of partaking of the honey. The various species of ants occupy an important place among the insect tribes of Africa. Of these, the termes bellicosus, or large white ant, is noted for the high coni- cal nests of mud and clay, which it rears upon the sur- face of the earth. These we met with everywhere in Wes- tern Africa, and sometimes climbed up their sides to test the strength and solidity of their structure. They are commonly ten or twelve feet high, terminating in a point, with a base eight or ten feet in diameter, and in the interior divided by thin partitions into numerous cells and arched galleries. These galleries, winding around from the base to the summit, are said to be of immense length, and the ants, in order to protect themselves when they go abroad, construct covered passages in those directions whera^food or 'pleasure calls them. They are divided into sovereigns, soldiers, and labor- ers. Guards are stationed at important points, which, when any violence is done to their castle, instantly report the fact CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 279 at head-quarters, whereupon the soldiers rush out in great wrath, and scour the surrounding region in search of the enemy. Having done their duty, they retire to their bar- racks to repose upon their laurels, when the laborers come forth and speedily repair the breach. There is a species of black ants, which the colonists call drivers, from the fact, that when they turn out en masse, they drive every thing before them. I was told, that when one of the churches in Monrovia was new, and the floor was loosely laid, the congregation were suddenly startled one Sabbath by a company of rats, lizards, and other such like vagabonds, who took refuge among them. " As poor as a church mouse," is a proverb, and, as these wretches could not have dreamed of finding foo'd in such a place, a query arose as to what could so suddenly have given them such church-going propensities. The mystery was soon solved, however, by the appearance of an army of drivers, and the congregation were glad to retreat, resigning the church to the carnival orgies of these warlike intruders. If a rat comes within their reach they despatch him forthwith, and, dividing him up a la mode, they either consume him upon the spot, or, carrying him off, reserve him for a future feast, or put him down for a winter's stock. Unless these long-whiskered gentry sleep with one eye open, they must often find themselves in much the same predicament as the giant of old, when his loving wife, having shorn him of his locks, exclaimed, " the Philistines be upon thee, Samson ; " for these ravenous legions often make their noiseless forays under the cover of night. They move in a direct line, in widespread columns, and turn aside for nothing which comes in their way. The colonists like an occasional visit from them, inasmuch as their houses are thus entirely freed from every particle of decaying animal matter, as also from rats and other vermin. When at Millsburg, about twenty miles from the coast, I was awakened in the middle of the night by the alarm, that the drivers were in the house, while the scratching and hasty scampering of the rats along the ceiling around and above us, showed but too plainly that there was trouble in the camp. Our host, however, was a little too wise for them ; for, telling us to lie still, he ran to the fire, and having removed our bed from the wall, he quickly placed a cordon of hot ashes around the foot of each bedpost, and thus we remained secure in the midst of surrounding havoc. In less than an hour they had 280 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. swept every part of the house, and were pushing on to other conquests. The Kroomen who rowed our canoes, and who slept in the chamber over us, were unconscious in the morn- ing that we had met with such a visitation, though, at the time of it, I heard them rolling and kicking much like a horse in fly-time. Probably the ants had neither time nor teeth to waste on the hard, sun and weather tanned hides of our naked fellow-travellers. The ants in Africa do not seem to have become converts to the principles either of peace or of non-resistance ; for those of different species often engage in deadly wars, leaving thousands slain upon the field of battle. There is one kind of these animals, of a small size, which I saw busily engaged, the laborers marching rapidly backwards and forwards in a long straight line, while, on each side of their pathway, a dense line of soldiers was standing to protect their more active brethren. I was told, that when the sun is hot, these oppo- site rows of soldiers often rise up, and joining their fore-legs, form a covered way, under which the laborers pass. " Go to the ant, thou sluggard," said the wise man, "consider her ways, and be wise ; " and when reflecting on the fact, that a large and light-colored species of ants enslaves a smaller and darker kind, compelling them to furnish them food, and even to carry them about, while they themselves repose in luxurious indolence, or only go forth in warlike parties, to obtain a new supply of slaves, — when thus reflecting, I have sometimes wondered whether they are ever troubled with abolition riots, or have seriously discussed the question, Whether slavery, in all possible circumstances, is sinful. The Boa Constrictor is found in Western Africa, and at Cape Palmas I was told, that one had been discovered snugly ensconced under a bed, in the house of one of the colonists. At the same place, I saw a dog, which had been caught in the folds of one of these gigantic serpents, but had saved his life by making a tremendous outcry, which brought the neighbours to his relief. Crocodiles and alligators are met with extensively in Afri- ca, — the former being spoken of by recent naturalists as a comparatively harmless animal, and capable of being domes- ticated, while the alligator is % real landshark, seizing and devouring the natives, wherever they come within his reach. The young ones may often be seen sunning themselves on the banks of the river, but a full grown one I nowhere met with. CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 281 Of the larger species of birds, the ostrich ranks first as to size, speed, and strength, and is to be met with in open sandy plains, from the northern to the southern extremity of Africa. They can carry two men on their backs, and are fleeter than the swiftest race-horse. Their skins are articles of trade in Central Africa, and at Bornou are worth three dollars each. There is a gigantic species of stork, which, in the region of the Senegal, is called marabou. It is sometimes more than six feet high, and is protected by the natives on account of its services as a scavenger. Smeatham has given an account of one of these birds, which had been tamed, and used to stand behind its master's chair at table. Oil one occasion it swallowed a boiled fowl, and on another a cat, without even the ceremony of carving. Of eagles there are several species in Africa, and of hawks and vultures vast multitudes. The latter are so rapacious, that they pounce fearlessly into the midst of the natives when at their meals, and even pluck the meat from their fingers, thus reminding one, by the liberties which they take, of Virgil's fable of the Harpies. There is in Southern Africa a bird of the hawk or vulture kind, called the snake-eater, in the craw of one of which Vaillant found twenty-one young tortoises and eleven lizards, and, besides these, there was in the stomach a large ball, formed entirely of the scales of tortoises, the backbones of snakes and lizards, and the shells of winged bugs. If we turn to quadrupeds, we meet in Africa with many varieties, and immense numbers of the monkey tribe. The large, black orang-outang, or, as it was formerly called, "The Wild Man of the Woods," is a native of no other coun- try than Africa, though somewhat resembling the red orang- outang of Asia. It is found all along the western coast of Africa, where forests abound, and I was told at Millsburg, that its cries were frequently heard in the morning in the woods in the immediate vicinity of the town. One of the colonists informed me, that he had met one of these animals in the woods, a short time before, and such was its size and appearance, that lie was glad to retreat without seeking an intimate acquaintance. Of the habits of this animal, but lit- tle is known, as only a few of the young have been caught. They are said to avoid flesh, and to eat only the fruit and nuts which they find in the woods. Of monkeys, as a class, I have nothing good to say. Sail- 24 * 282 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. ors often make great pets of them for the sake of the fun and frolic which are caused by their mischievous pranks, and the slight relief which they thus gain from the tedious monotony of life at sea. We had with us, in the Mediterranean, a large grey Egyptian monkey, who, having made himself particular- ly obnoxious to the ladies of the Commodore's family, was, for this, and oiher misdemeanors, banished to our ship. He played his tricks in every direction, and if any one disturbed or insulted him, he would instantly attack him. His teeth had been filed off, so that he could not bite, but still he was no contemptible enemy. He would enter the state-rooms of the officers, through the air ports, carrying off oranges, or anything else that was eatable; and on one occasion, rinding an officer lying in his berth at a late hour in the morning, he seized his lamp, and turning it over, sprinkled the oil on every part of the coverlid. He was at length sentenced to be confined in chains, in the brig, or ship's prison, where he pined away until he died, and was thrown overboard for shark's meat, — a fate which he richly deserved. The common red deer is found in Africa, but not in large numbers. Of antelopes, however, there are about fifty spe- cies, most of which are peculiar to Africa. There is one kind of these animals on the plains of Southern and Central Africa, which migrate at given periods, in vast numbers, and, like locusts, destroy every green thing in their way. Those in front are fat, while those in the rear are extremely lean, until the monsoon changes, when, turning back in the direc- tion from whence they came, those before in the rear become the leaders, leaving the others to become poor, and to fall victims to lions and numerous other beasts of prey which follow in their train. It is said, that the lion has been seen to migrate with them, walking in the midst of the compressed phalanx, with only as much space between him and his vic- tims, as the fears of those immediately around could procure by pressing outwards. The giraffe, or camelopard. was for several ages unknown in Europe, though Ca?sar, the Dictator, had exhibited this animal at the Circaean games, and the Emperor Gordion had, afterwards, ten of them at a single show. As early as the sixteenth century, however, presents were made of them to the monarchs of Europe, by Asiatic and African princes. In their wild state they are peculiar to the plains of Southern and Central Africa, where they are met with in considerable CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 283 numbers. They are a timid, harmless animal, and though such is their height that they will clear from twelve to sixteen feet at a single step, yet, so much shorter are their hind legs than those before, that in moving rapidly, they can only go upon an awkward gallop, and hence may be easily overtaken by a fleet horse. As the result of great enterprise and much expense, a few of these animals have been recently taken in the wilds of Africa, and brought to the United States, being the first ever exhibited there. There are three kinds of zebra peculiar to Africa, all dis- tinguished by their beautiful stripes, their spirit and activity, and their obstinate and wayward capriciousness of disposition. They have rarely been tamed, so as to submit to labor, and though, by the length of their ears, and other marks, they show but too plainly their relation to the jackass tribe, still, they are entirely destitute of those meek and quiet virtues by which poor Jack is so eminently distinguished. It is said, that neither the ass nor the common horse are aboriginal inhabitants of Africa, though both of them are now numerous there. The ass is much used by the natives of Western Africa, at some distance from the coast, though not often met with east of the Niger. Its flesh is sometimes eaten by them as a medicine, being considered a valuable remedy, especially for coughs and colds. Horses of various kinds are very numerous in Central Africa, and some of the native kings can bring into the field several thousand mounted war- riors. The Shouaas, a tribe of Arab descent, to the south of the desert of Sahara, furnish three thousand horses annu- ally, from their herds, for use in Soudan, and a good horse will sell for from $ 100 to § 120. Horses have sometimes been brought from the interior to Liberia, but have been but little used there. They were probably introduced into Af- rica, at first by the Arabs, from the North and East, but are now found wild in some parts in the interior, and are hunted by the natives for the sake of their flesh. They are of va- rious sizes, from that of the Shetland pony upwards, and the horse-races in the region of the Niger are often conducted with much spirit and splendor. The ass may have been in- troduced into Africa at first by the French, Spanish, and Por- tuguese, from their settlements on the Western coast. The colonists of Liberia have suffered from the want of beasts of draught and burden, to aid them in removing timber for building, as also in ploughing their fields, and other neces- 284 FOREIGN TRAVEL. AND LIFE AT SEA. sary labor; and when we were at Monrovia, arrangements had just been made for obtaining twenty or thirty mules from the Cape de Verde islands. The Ethiopian hog is met with not only in the country from which it derives its name, but also roams wild throughout Cen- tral and Western Africa. They are fierce and savage, re- sembling the wild boar in their habits, but having a large pair of lobes, or wattles, under the eyes. The tusks of the upper jaw bend upwards towards the forehead, and, when at- tacked, they often make a furious aud fatal onset upon their opponents. They are large, and have heads larger, in pro- portion to their bodies, than common swine. They have no hair except on the tip of the tail, and an upright mane, which is always of a snuff-brown color. Owing to Mahometan pre- judices against these animals, their flesh is rarely used for food by the natives. Common swine are also abundant in Western Africa. Cattle on the coast are small and quite fat, but in the inte- rior are as large as with us, and have humps on their should- ers, as in Abyssinia and the East Indies. In some parts of Africa they are wild in considerable numbers. These humps weigh twelve or fifteen pounds each, and are said to be by far the best, part of the animal. In some places in the interior, the native kings exact them of the butchers as their portion of every animal killed. Bullocks are often used by the na- tives, as beasts of burden, a small saddle of plaited rushes being placed upon them, on which are laid sacks of goatskin filled with grain, or other articles. The owner mounts on these, guiding the animal by a leather thong, which passes through the nose. In 1827, Mr. Ashmun, then Governor of Liberia, wrote as follows: "This year we have cows from the interior, which were before prohibited. There are now fourteen in number, and milk is considerably plenty. We have also a butchery establishment, and from two to four or more bullocks are slaughtered weekly. There is an open path, 120 miles to the northeast of Monrovia, by which we can have as many bullocks as we choose to order. We have one team of small but good oxen in use, and several others breaking in." The statements here made refer to the town of Monrovia alone, but when we were in Africa, the colonists at the more recent settlements had both cows and working oxen, -which were in fine condition, and some of them of a good size. CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 285 A distinguished naturalist remarks, that the tiger is un- known to Africa, though I often heard them spoken of as existing in the vicinity of the colonies, and was told, that the natives had repeatedly brought in young ones, which they sold or presented to different individuals. These may, how- ever, have been confounded either with leopards or panthers, both of which abound there. The colonists have sometimes shot these animals from the doors of their houses ; and the Rev. Mr. Wilson, of Cape Palmas, says, that a leopard carried off a full-grown sheep from thence, leaping with it two fences, not less than eight feet high. The colonists at Millsburg told me, that these animals frequently came prowling around their houses at night, and that hence they found it necessary to confine their pigs, sheep, goats, and fowls in close pens. One man said, that he had a dog which, being unwilling to be con- fined in the house, he permitted to lie out of doors. One night he heard the low, angry growl of a leopard beside the house, then a long leap upon the doorstep, followed by a dis- mal yell of the dog, as his savage foe fixed his fangs upon him, and then a hasty retreat, and all was silent. The skin of a lion or leopard is often the favored seat of a native king. To kill a leopard, it is said, is esteemed by them an Hercu- lean feat; their teeth are regarded as almost a fortune; they wear them around the neck and legs, and no pearl would be more highly prized. The lions of different regions of Africa, vary somewhat as to their appearance, owing, perhaps, to the varieties of cli- mate to be met with there. In the southern parts, they have manes nearly black, while tho>e of Barbary are brown, the neck and shoulders of the male being covered with a very thick mane. Those of Western Africa, are more of a yellow hue, with thinner manes. Among the ancient Romans, Svlla fought together 100 male lions, which were sent to Rome by Bocchus, king of Mauritania, in Northern Africa, and Pom- pey exhibited 315. How and where they were able to obtain so many of these furious animals, it is difficult for us to imagine. The Hippopotamus, or river horse, is peculiar to Africa, and is found extensively in the rivers and lakes of that continent. Bruce speaks of them as more than twenty feet in length, but it is doubtful whether they are often met with so large as this. Their thick, tough hides, are formed into bucklers by many of the native tribes, but they are chiefly valuable for the 286 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. ivory of their tusks, which, being harder than those of ele- phants, and not so apt to turn yellow, are much used by dentists. Elephants are not found near the coast, on account of the width of the streams and the softness of the soil, but in the interior, are met with in great numbers. The hunters, five or six in a party, fire together at a single animal, which is thus rendered weak by the loss of blood, and the second vol- ley commonly kills him. The teeth are knocked out, part of the flesh is selected for eating, the skin is stretched on the ground with wooden pegs, and when dry, used for sandals. Parties thus hunt for months together, living on elephant's meat and wild honey. They sell their ivory to travelling merchants. Elephants are also killed, by watching at night in trees over the paths where they go, and throwing down poisoned harpoons upon them, attached to a heavy billet of wood to give them greater force. The African elephant has a rounder head, a more convex forehead, and much larger ears, and longer tusks than those of Asia. The tusks of the female are also as large as those of the male, while the Asia- atic female has very small tusks. The Carthaginians made great use of elephants in their wars ; but in modern times, owing to the use of firearms, they would be of little avail. Owing to the different condition and wants of the African tribes, from the nations of Asia, they do not now subdue the elephant and employ him as in Asia, as a beast of burden, or for hunting. Ivory forms an important article of trade in Liberia, being brought by the natives from the interior in considerable quantities. Much of it is what is called bro- ken ivory, the elephants often breaking out their tusks in vain attempts to tear up trees which are firmly imbedded in the ground when in quest of roots for food. In closing this sketch of a few of the numerous species of African animals, it may not be amiss briefly to allude to the camel, which, from the heavy burdens it bears, in its long and devious wanderings over that vast ocean of moving sand, the Sahara Bela-ma, or sea without water, has not unaptly been styled, "The Ship of the Desert." I have already spo- ken of these animals as existing in considerable numbers, on the farm of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, near the city of Pisa, and I met with them also in the vicinity of Athens, in Greece, In these places, owing to the abundance of herb- age, and the lightness of their labors, they are much more CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 287 sleek and comely than in Africa. Still, it is only as I have seen them in Barbary, lean and wayworn, moving along through the narrow streets of a Moorish city, attended by their wild Arab drivers, or reposing without the walls after their long and weary wanderings over the desert: it is thus only, that the camel appeared to me invested with all that peculiar interest, with which it has so often been presented to my mind, in those day-dreams of excited fancy, which the poetic descriptions of scenes of Oriental wildness, magnifi- cence, and beauty, have never failed to awaken within me. There are two species of camel. Of these, the Bac- trian or Asiatic species, has two humps, one on the rump and another above the shoulders, and is said still to roam wild in the desert of Shamo, on the frontier of China. This is the kind that is met with in Tuscany ; and also in Tar- tary, and Southern Russia, where it is harnessed to wheel- carriages, and even to the plough. The dromedary, or Ara- bian camel, has but a single hump, and has spread from Arabia, as well over Syria and Persia, as throughout the whole of Northern Africa, where it is an indispensable aid to the commerce which is carried on over those dry and des- ert regions. Camels are spoken of in the Bible as among the presents given by Pharaoh to Abram, and hence they must have existed in Egypt, from remote antiquity. The camel seems to have been made solely for the sandy deserts of the East, for his large, soft feet, which so well fit him for travelling over the yielding sand, are cut to pieces by the stones of high and rocky regions, while mud and melting snows, soften his feet and render him unfit for use. It has well been said that, "To the wild Arab of the desert, the camel is all that his necessities require. He feeds on the flesh, drinks the milk, makes clothes and tents of the hair ; belts, sandals, saddles, and buckets of the hide ; he conveys himself and family on his back, makes his pillow of his side, and his shelter of him ao-ainst the whirlwind of sand. Couched in a circle around him, his camels form a fence, and in battle, an intrenchment, behind which his family and property are obstinately and often successfully defended." The heirie erragnol, or desert camel, resembles the com- mon kind, but is more elegantly formed and incomparably fleeter. Of this species, there are three varieties ; the first being called tasayee, or the heirie of nine days, because it can perform nine days' journey in one; the second sabayee. 288 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. going, in one day, the usual distance of seven ; the third, tal- atayee, travelling three days' journey in one. They are guided by a leather thong, attached to a ring, which passes through the upper lip ; and the wild and hardy Arab, with his loins, ears, and breast bound round to prevent injury from the violent percussion of the air caused by the rapid motion of the animal, mounted on a Moorish saddle, with only a few dates, some ground barley, and a skin of water, flies with the speed of the wind over the desert, his camel being able for seven days together, to abstain from drinking, while he himself, can travel for three days without tasting food, or taking at most, only a handful of dates. The com- mon load of a camel, is 400 or 500 pounds, and they often lie down and sleep with this burden upon them. In the sketch already given of some of the products of the earth, as also of the animals to be met with in Africa, it has not been necessary, definitely to refer to, and describe, the va- rious natural and geographical divisions of that great conti- nent, or to speak of the origin, history, and present condi- tion and character of the different tribes and races of men, which inhabit it. If, however, we would rightly understand, either the resources for trade and commerce, of which our own colonies and those of the English, may avail themselves, or the benevolent agency which they may exert in suppress- ing the slave-trade, and in diffusing the light and blessings of civilization and Christianity throughout the dark and benighted regions of Africa, or the claims she may have upon us as philanthropists and Christians, to exert ourselves for these high objects, founded, as these claims are, on the cruel wrongs which, for ages, she has suffered at the hands of Christian nations, and also, on the deep moral degrada- tion, and the bitter oppression, which still rest so heavily upon her; rightly to understand these matters, it will be necessa- ry for us not only to point out some of those great natural divisions of Africa, which mark out the channels through which her internal trade and commerce must flow, but we must also notice, to some extent, the past history, national distinctions, and the social, moral, and religious habits and customs of her inhabitants. A further reason for this, also exists in the fact, that now, not only do many of the Africans taken from the slave-ships, and colonized upon the coast, come from beyond the Niger, far in the interior, thus show- ing how remote are the sources of that bitter stream of curses, CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 269 which, through the colonial influence of trade and treaties, should, as speedily as possible, be dried up ; but some of the caravans of travelling traders which visit the western coast, come from a distance of 1,500 miles inland : while from Tri- poli, Egypt, and Morocco, on the north, a trade is carried on extending throughout almost every portion of Central Afri- ca, and which, at different points, meets with and crosses that which flows towards the western coast. Thus, not only are Northern, Central, and Western Africa united together by a common interest arising from trade and commerce, but the recent researches of the Landers and others, the English set- tlement on the Gambia, hundreds of miles in the interior, and that projected more than a thousand miles up the Niger, where steamboats now penetrate, all open to the Christian a vast and most interesting field of benevolent effort. The great question of the continuance or cessation of slavery, and the time and manner of its end, is, at the present time, one of higher moral and political interest than almost any other. It is also a question, with regard to which there is not only much ignorance, but also a wide diversity of opin- ion, both as to the nature and extent of the evil, and the proper means to be adopted for its removal. There are those to be met with, who claim to be well-informed on the subject of slavery, and are very zealous for its removal, who, so far from being acquainted with the fact, that in Africa there are fifty millions of slaves, — that three fourths or four fifths of the inhabitants of the central and western parts of that conti- nent, are thus in bondage, and that in one large community there are thirty slaves to one freeman, — have not even known that domestic slavery exists there at all. They seem to think that when slavery shall have been removed from the West India Islands and the United States, the millennium will be near at hand, scarce conscious of the fact, that in Brazil, with a white population of only 850,000, there are as many slaves as in the United States, while, in direct violation of a solemn treaty, about 50,000 more are annually introduced there. We also meet, not unfrequently, with such amiable ebulli- tions of feeling and opinion as the following, which are put forth to the world by those, who claim to be the peculiar and exclusive friends of the slave: "Resolved, That the scheme of African colonization is unrighteous and unchristian in its principles, proscriptive and pernicious in its tendencies and results, futile and vain as a remedy for slavery and the slave- vol. ii. 25 290 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. trade, a hindrance rather than a help to the introduction of the Gospel into Africa, and unworthy the confidence or sup- port of any friend of God or man." With those who speak evil of things which they know not, I have no disposition to contend ; and should there be others, who sanction views like those just given, it might be well for them to recur to the fact, that when our Saviour was told by his disciples, of one with whom they met, casting out devils in his name, and they for- bade him, because he followed not them, Jesus said to them, "Forbid him not" There may, too, be yet another reason why we should not contend with some of those who thus speak evil of us; for we read, that when the archangel Michael contended with the devil, about the body of Moses, he durst not bring a railing accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke thee." He may have thought that the devil would be more than a match for him in such a game. The fact, that slavery exists to such an extent in Africa, and that such vast numbers are every year carried from thence to the New World, as well as the deep moral degrada- tion which prevails there, may justify a somewhat extended view of the present condition and future prospects of that ill- fated land. Africa is about 5,000 miles long by 4,500 broad, with an area of 13,430,000 square miles. As to its geology, it is mostly of secondary and alluvial formation, the mountains being generally calcareous, rising one above another, in ter- races, so that most of the rivers, instead of traversing long, deep valleys, descend, in a succession of cataracts, to the sea. The cataracts of the Nile, however, are far removed from its mouth; the Gambia is navigable for brigs of war some hun- dreds of miles, and the Niger is ascended by steamboats more than a thousand miles. The Atlas mountains, on the north, divide the Barbary States from the desert of Sahara, rising in some places to the height of 12,000 to 13,000 feet above the level of the sea, thus presenting peaks which are covered with perpetual snow. A rocky limestone wall also separates the desert from the val- ley of the Nile. In passing from Tripoli, south, by way of the eastern extremity of the desert, travellers cross the Sou- dah or Black Mountains, which rise to the height of 1,500 feet, extend about 100 miles in breadth, from north to south, and as far as the eye can reach from east to west. They are perfectly barren, and composed of trap rock, of the nature of basalt. CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 291 The Kong mountains, commencing near the sources of the Niger, in Western Africa, extend far to the east, where, it is said, they unite with the Mountains of the Moon. Some of the Kong Mountains rise to the height of 14,000 feet. Of the Mountains of the Moon we know but little. Those of Cameroon, on the seacoast of Benin, are said in some places to be 13,000 feet high. The Nieuweveld and Sneuwberg or Snow Mountains, are said to be the highest in Southern Af- rica, some of them rising 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. The western coast of Africa, opposite America, for a dis- tance of 3,000 miles, is backed by a fertile region, rich in valuable products, such as rice, cotton, sugar, drugs, dye stuffs, ivory, and gold dust. The coast of Guinea, which is about 1,500 miles in extent, has, for centuries, been desolat- ed by the slave-trade, so as to make it, in a great degree, a wilderness. It is computed that there are there 100,000,000 acres lying waste, which might be purchased for a small com- pensation. The region of Soudan, or Nigritia, embracing Bornou, Houssa, and other large and powerful kingdoms, lies directly to the east of the American colonies on the coast, extending in a belt across the continent, as far as Abyssinia, and from the sixteenth to the fifteenth parallel of north lati- tude, or about 600 miles in breadth. It is a fertile region, yielding, with little labor, all the productions of tropical countries. The desert region which lies to the north of this, is about 780 miles broad, from north to south, and extends across the continent, from the Atlantic to the borders of Nu- bia. The general basis of the desert seems to be secondary rocks, principally sandstone and limestone, though masses of granite often rise above the sand. The great prevalence of salt in the lakes and elsewhere there, have led many to sup- pose that those widespread sands were once washed by the waves of the ocean. To the south of Soudan lies the Great Table-land, or High Africa, extending south, to the region of the Cape of Good Hope. It seems to be enclosed by ranges of mountains, de- scending towards the Indian ocean on the east, the Atlantic on the west, Soudan on the north, and the Cape of Good Hope on the south. Of this region, with the exception of the settlements of the Portuguese on the eastern and western coasts, we know nothing. Thus is there a portion of Africa, 292 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. extending through thirty degrees of latitude, and twenty-five of longitude, and containing about 2,000,000 square miles, of which we are wholly ignorant. The inhabitants of Northern Africa are known in Europe under the general title of Moors, though they do not call themselves thus. They are a mixture of the ancient Mauri- tanians and Numidians ; the Vandals, the Saracens, the Turks, and the Brebers, the oldest inhabitants of this region, but who, having been driven back, now occupy the mountain- ous regions of the interior. The inhabitants of the Desert have different names, but had probably all the same Eastern origin. They pay tribute to the Moorish sovereigns when compelled to do so, dwell in movable villages of tents, ar- ranged in a circular form, with their cattle in the centre, and are governed by sheiks or emirs. Egypt is mostly inhabited by foreigners, the Copts being the only desendants of the an- cient Egyptians. The rest are a mixture of Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabians. The Abyssinians were of Arabic origin, and have many characteristics both of the Jews and of the region from whence they came. Central Africa, directly south of the Desert, has a mixture of the northern nations with the original Ethiopians, or Cushites, who, originating in Western Asia, have at length been driven into the regions of Central and Southern Africa. Further to the south, the in- habitants are wholly Ethiopians or negroes. The religion of the northern half of Africa is almost wholly Mahometan. In Abyssinia there is a corrupt Christianity, and there are some remains of the Catholic faith in those re- gions where the Portuguese and the French have had settle- ments. In other portions of Africa, low and degrading sys- tems of superstition prevail, coupled often with the offering of human sacrifices and idolatry, and containing, as a leading feature, an almost universal belief in charms and amulets, worn about the person as a defence against the numerous ills of life. Polygamy is universal, and though Mahometans may have but four wives at a time, yet, by frequently changing them, and making up the deficiency with concubines, they do not suffer for want of female society. Many of the native chiefs have several thousand wives, whom they treat as slaves, em- ploying them in labor, sending them with burdens to distant markets to trade on their account, and sometimes training them to arms, and using them as a body guard. CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 093 The Africans are what geographers call barbarians, that is, they are elevated above the savage state, inasmuch as they tame the domestic animals, and have a rude agriculture. Few of them are nomadic or wandering, for even those who for commerce or plunder roam over the desert, have a chosen home to which they return. Every town has a large domain, where all may pasture their cattle, and those who wish to do so, may enclose and cultivate a given tract, and this often de- scends to their children. The internal trade and commerce of Africa is carried on mostly by means of caravans, composed of large companies of merchants, travelling together for the sake of mutual aid and protection, and carrying their goods on the backs of camels and other beasts of burden, or on the heads of slaves. From Cairo in Egypt, three caravans go into the interior of Africa; one to Sennaar, and another to Darfur, once in two or three years, and a larger one to Mourzouk annually. From Fezzan, two great caravans go to the south, — one to Bornou, and the other to Cashna. The last and largest car- avan is that from Morocco, by way of Acca or Tatta to Tom- buctoo. The number of traders in these caravans varies from 200 or 300 to 2,000, and in this region camels are most- ly used for conveying burdens. The trade between the interior and the western coasts is carried on entirely by the use of slaves, as bearers of bur- dens, each one carrying on the head loads varying from sixty or seventy to 170 pounds. These caravans commonly con- sist of several hundred men, women, and children, there being often ten or twelve armed men to every fifty slaves, and sometimes a much larger proportion of soldiers, whose duty it is to keep the slaves in subjection, and also protect them from the attacks of enemies. Four or five such caravans, from far in the interior, used to visit Monrovia annually; but more recently, owing to wars instigated by slave-dealers, among the tribes whose country these caravans must cross, not more than two of them have visited the coast each year. It is a law of African warfare, that whoever is found on the territory of the hostile parties is to be regarded and treated by them as an enemy. Hence these caravans, when they visit the coast, require a guard of several hundred soldiers to protect them, and thus has the trade of the colo- nies, with the interior, been seriously affected. This state of affairs induced the colonists, some time since, 25* '294 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. to convene a council of the chiefs who were waging war, and thus was peace restored. Soon after this, however, the slave- dealers sent their agents to these same chiefs, and, by the fiendlike excitement of ardent spirits, as well as by exhibit- ing before them those showy bawbles and articles of dress, which so fascinate the mind of a savage, they were induced again to rush into war, as a means of enslaving their ene- mies, and exchanging them for these gaudy and captivating articles. Thus are the interests of the colonists directly opposed to those of the slave-dealers, and they need but a little more strength to enable them to sweep away every ves- tige of this accursed traffic, for hundreds of miles along the coast, and from far in the interior. Mr. Ashmun began upon the principle of regarding a slave-factory as a nest of pirates, and thus destroyed several, releasing a large number of slaves, who are now industrious and useful inhabitants of the colony. Had he not been checked in these efforts by opposition in our own country, he might have effected vastly more ; or, were there now at the head of the colony a man of his energy and courage, to carry out his principles on the subject, treating all engaged in the slave-trade as outlaws and pirates, a severer blow might be given to this traffic, in one year, than it has ever yet received. The trade of Monrovia has suffered more from these wars of the natives than that, of other places on the coast. Thus we find that the imports there, in 1832, were to the value of $80,000, and the exports amounted to $ 125,000; while, in 1836, the exports amounted to only $75,000; still, from the little town of Edina, at the mouth of the St. John's river, during the latter year, camwood and ivory to the value of $ 12,000 were exported, while Cape Palmas alone can now furnish annually 5,000 bushels of rice, and 150 puncheons of palm oil. These and other places of trade on the coast, have been opened within a few years, so that it would seem that, notwithstanding the decline of Monrovia, the trade of the colonies, taken as a whole, is still on the increase. Thus we find that, while in 1S32 the number of foreign trading ves- sels which \ isited the colonies was fifty-nine, in 183(5 there were seventy-five. Besides this, ten or twelve small coasting vessels have been built by the colonists, and fifteen or twenty such craft are owned and navigated by them. The exposure of these vessels to the piratical attacks of the numerous slave- ships which pass down the coast, should any thing be done by CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 295 the colonists forcibly to interfere with the slave-trade, prevents them from breaking up all the slave-factories within their reach. So soon, however, as they shall have an armed vessel for the defence of their commerce, there will be nothing to prevent their taking efficient measures for the forcible suppression of the traffic. The trading vessels which visit the coast furnish a market for the surplus vegetable produce of the colonists, as also for such of the domestic animals that are used for food as can be spared ; and, judging from the price of these articles when we were there, they must yield a good profit to those who sell them. Some idea of the resources of the colony may be formed from the fact, that, from particular inquiries which I made of the Governor of Liberia and others there, well qualified to judge correctly, I was satisfied that the colonists, in addition to the labor necessary to supply their own wants, could have sufficient ground cleared, and other preparations made, for the reception of 2,000 new emigrants annually. This number is equal to nearly half the present population of the colonies ; so that, if the same ratio of increase could be sustained, the result would be, that, when the number of colonists should be 20,000, there could be 10,000 received in a year, and so on ad infinitum. In the older settlements, colonists, on landing from the United States, are placed in large houses, containing, like a hospital, many apartments, where they are supported until they have passed through the seasoning fever, (if they have it,) and dwelling-houses are prepared for them. In the colo- nies more recently founded, however, the custom has been, to clear the town-lots of the expected emigrants, and erect comfortable houses upon them, covered with a thatch made of palm-leaves, one of which is occupied by each family, until they have erected for themselves larger and more per- manent dwellings. As many suffer but slightly, if at all, from the fever of the country, they are able to support them- selves from the fruit of their own labor very soon after their arrival in Africa. Some of the colonists, who a few years since came to Li- beria poor, are now reputed to be worth thousands of dollars ; and, judging from my own feelings, the manner in which the better class of colonists receive and entertain strangers at their tables, and in their well-furnished drawing-rooms, dwel- ling as they do in a land where there are none above them, 296 FOREIGN TRAVEL, A^D LIFE AT SEA. is better fitted to remove our cherished prejudices against the colored race, than any thing to be met with throughout the length and the breadth of our own boasted land of liberty. In the interior of Africa much trade is carried on by com- panies of travelling merchants, who visit the large market towns, carrying heavy burdens on their heads. Nine in ten of these traders are said to be women, and some of the na- tive kings have 2,000 or 3,000 wives, many of whom are constantly employed in this kind of traffic, as a means of supporting themselves, and enriching their sovereign lord and master. The expense of conveying burdens on the heads of slaves may be judged of, by the fact, that 100 pounds' weight of goods can be thus conveyed to a distance of from 100 to 150 miles from the coast for fifty cents. In Bornou, bullocks and asses are mostly used for conveying burdens. The articles of trade from Europe, by way of the settle- ments to the north of Liberia, are firearms, ammunition, ardent spirits, iron-ware, tobacco, cloths, mostly cotton, beads, amber, and woollen and cotton caps, which are ex- changed for gold-dust, ivory, beeswax, and hides. The traders from the interior sell to the natives on the coast, tree-butter, native iron, gums, and frankincense. In return, they receive salt, though much of this article is brought from the Great Desert by the Moors, and exchanged for corn, cot- ton cloth, and slaves. The Feloops, a wild, unsocial, gloomy, and revengeful people, near the Gambia, collect large quan- tities of wax, for trade. The honey, they chiefly use in mak- ing a strong intoxicating liquor, like mead or metheglin. The Foulahs, or Fellatahs, and the Serawoolahs, bring gold from the interior in large, rough rings, which they exchange for articles of dress, gunpowder, and other things which strike :heir fancy. The Mandingoes trade principally in rice and bullocks. The tribes on the coast are the merchants or factors of those in the interior, sellino- for them the slaves and other kinds of property, which they wish to dispose of, and receiving half the proiits. Their knowledge of foreign languages and the principles of trade, lead them to regard themselves as greatly superior to their inland neighbours ; and yet, so jealous and fearful are they of these very people, that most, of the towns on the coast are strongly barricaded, and a watch is con- stantly kept to prevent surprise. Great pains are taken by the people on the coast, to prevent intercourse between for- CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 297 eigners, and the tribes in the interior, that thus they may keep them from securing the profits of a direct trade with these inland tribes. The distance from Monrovia on the north, to Cape Pal- mas, the settlement of the Maryland colony on the south, as measured along the coast, is, as has already been stated, about 250 miles. To this, we may add, that in 1S32, the colonial agent purchased a tract of land at Grand Cape Mount, about 100 miles to the north of Monrovia, which has not yet been occupied by settlers. Thus, between the two extremes of the colonial possessions, is a line of coast about 350 miles in extent. This last purchase is at a place well fit- ted for trade, and where the exports are estimated at from $60,000 to §70,000 per annum. It extends along the bor- ders of a lake, at a short distance from the sea, which is twenty miles long, and into which flow several rivers, fur- nishing important facilities for commerce with the interior. The chiefs of the country granted a title to this land, as has also been done in other cases, on the sole condition that set- tlers should be placed upon it, and schools established for the benefit of the native children. The reason of these condi- tions is, that the vicinity of colonists defends the tribes in alliance with them, from the evils of the slave-trade, while to schools, and to the influence of Christianity, the natives justly ascribe the vast superiority of white men, to them- selves, as well in knowledge and power, as in the posses- sion of the wealth, comforts, and luxuries, of civilized life. Hence, the great eagerness of the more intelligent and re- flecting of the natives, to secure for their children the blessings of education, and of Christian instruction. The town of Monrovia is situated on Cape Mesurado, in latitude 6° 21' north, and longitude 10° 30' west. Its eleva- tion above the sea is seventy feet, and its distance from the extremity of the cape three fourths of a mile, the land at this latter point rising in an abrupt, rocky cliff, to the height of 150 or 200 feet, its sides and summit being covered, like all this portion of the coast of Africa, with large and lofty trees, clothed with foliage of the deepest green, and overshadowing a dense, rank growth of wild plants, vine, and bushes, laden with the richest and most luxuriant verdure. Winding around the back of the cape, and emptying beside it on the north, about one fourth of a mile below the town, is Mesurado river. It has a bar at its mouth, which is not a bad one, and we 293 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. crossed at all times in our ship's boats with perfect safety. The water on the bar in the deepest place, is commonly about nine feet, though during the rains it is much deeper. Inside of it, there are twelve or fifteen feet of water. The wharves and large warehouses of the colonists, both of stone, extend along the river below the town, and from them, the small sloops, schooners, and other coasting craft, are easily laden and unladen. Large merchant vessels find a good an- chorage just without the bar, beside the cape, and from thence, easily communicate with the shore by means of boats and canoes. After the ill-fated experiment at Sherbro, Monrovia was the first, and is still the largest settlement in Liberia, containing about 500 houses, five churches, and several schools, besides being the seat of the colonial government. Owing to the diminution of trade at Monrovia, caused, as already intima- ted, by native wars in the vicinity, together with the impres- sion of the comparative unhealthiness of the place, arising from the extensive marshes near, and also the fact that many of the most enterprising inhabitants have been withdrawn in order to found new settlements; from these causes, mainly, Monrovia, as compared with other places in the colonies, has an appearance of decline and decay. I mention this fact, because many who have visited no other point upon the coast, have received very incorrect impressions with regard to the actual condition of the colonies. When a new settlement is to be founded, one of the most intelligent and energetic of the colonists is selected, who, taking with him a company of twenty or thirty men, repairs to the° appointed place, and there they clear the land, and erect the necessary buildings for the reception of emigrants on their arrival from the United States. These colonists, finding new points of access to the native tribes at these new settlements, and facilities for trade superior to those en- joyed in the older towns, commonly remove their families to the new location, and thus one place is strengthened at the expense of another. The St. Paul's river empties into the ocean a short distance to the north of Monrovia, and is separated from the Mesur- ado river hy Bushrod island, which is seven miles long by three broad. The two rivers are connected by Stockton Creek, on which is New Georgia, a settlement of recaptured Africans, about four miles above Monrovia. The original CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 299 inhabitants were about 400 in number, of whom 250 were carried there from Florida, having been in the United States but four months, and 150 were taken by Mr. Ashmun from Spanish slave-factories on the coast, which he broke up, on the ground that the slave-dealers were, by the laws of na- tions, pirates, and also because they had seized some of the colonists, with a view to sell them, and in other ways had waged war upon the interests of the colony. These settlers are active and industrious farmers, and are fast acquiring a knowledge of the useful arts, and securing to themselves the blessings of civilization and Christianity. More than half of the whole number of inhabitants are now members of the Christian church, and though this result has been effected solely through the agency of colored preachers and teachers, belonging to the colony, still it would be difficult, in the whole history of missionary efforts, to meet with a case of similar success. But a few years since, and they were sunk in the beastly degradation of paganism, knowing nothing of the language in which they have since received all the edu- cation and religious instruction which they have enjoyed. Now they have a town regularly laid out, the streets and houses are extremely clean and neat, while all around them is an appearance of thrift, and of thorough and successful cultivation of the soil, which is truly surprising, if we con- sider how recently the inhabitants have emerged from the indolent and unsettled habits of savage and barbarous life. There appeared to be a truly Moravian kindness and simpli- city of character and feeling among them. In pointing one of them to the luxuriant crops around, by which an abun- dant supply was provided for their wants, he said, "Yes; me get belly full, but no get money." Thus, with every want supplied to overflowing from the teeming richness of the soil, they live in quiet simplicity and contentment. Surround- ed by lofty forest walls of deep and living green, and shut out from the wasting anxiety and care of the great money-making and money-losing world, they follow the pure and elevating precepts, and enjoy the rich and abundant consolations, of the Christian faith. About five miles above Monrovia, on the St. Paul's river, commences the town of Caldwell, which is seven miles in length, each farmer having a given width on the river, and. besides this town-lot, ten acres lying further back. The land is thoroughly cleared, and in a good state of cultivation, for 300 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. five or six miles in length, and from one fourth to half a mile in width. Both the clergyman and physician of the place were colored men, and we were received and enter- tained by them in a very polite and hospitable manner. Millsburg is on the north side of the St. Paul's river, twenty miles from its mouth. It was named in honor of the Rev. Messrs. Mills and Burgess, who first went from the United States to Africa, to explore the country and select a loca- tion for a colonial settlement. The situation of the town is peculiarly pleasant ; its principal street, like those of Monro- via and Caldwell, running parallel to the banks of the river, the rising grounds around being covered with lofty forest trees of the richest foliage ; while, at one extremity of the village, is one of the most beautiful grass-covered hillocks I have ever seen. It is just such a spot as, in olden times, a feudal lord would have selected on which to rear his proud baronial castle, where, in time of peace, he might look down upon his happy tenantry, gaining an easy livelihood from the teeming luxuriance of the fertile plains below; and where, too, receiving them when war was raging, he might defend them from the attacks of their enemies. Owing to the elevation of the surrounding region, as also to its dis- tance from the sea, Millsburg is said to be more healthy than the towns on the coast. The inhabitants are mostly hardy and industrious farmers, and, though reared in America, we were surprised to learn from them, that they enjoyed bet- ter health than they had done in the United States, and that they could endure more fatigue and hard labor, than the na- tive Africans around them. We were kindly received and entertained by the colonists, and were much interested in their stories of encounters with wild beasts, and of distant excursions which some of them had made among the native tribes in the interior. They have much of the love of hunt- ing, and the hardy enterprise of genuine backwoodsmen ; and the lively and spirited manner in which one young man re- lated his adventures among the natives, almost induced me to turn Robinson Crusoe, and, taking him for my man Fri- day, to shoulder knapsack and gun, and set forth in search of like adventures. As our excursion up the St. Paul's was not performed ex- actly in the style of an English railroad, a French diligence, or an American steamboat, it may not be amiss briefly to de- scribe it. The surgeon of our ship was my travelling com- CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 3Q I panion, and we set forth on our cruise in a truly African style. Instead of a boat, which we might have had, each of us chartered one of the long, slender canoes of the natives, but just wide enough in the middle to admit our bodies, and from thence tapering off to a point, and rising from the water at each end, so as to turn quickly upon its centre, or dart rapidly along as it was guided or propelled by the oars. We seated ourselves on the bottom of the canoes, with only a strip of board to lean against, behind us, and our umbrellas to defend us from an African sun, while, at the same time, no little care was necessary in order so to keep our balance as to prevent upsetting. The doctor had three young Kroomen for rowers, while I had but two. They squat down upon their hams, with their legs under them, and used short wooden paddles with broad flat blades, which they often changed from side to side, to prevent fatigue, or to guide the canoe. Their strokes were extremely rapid, and thus we darted along against the strong current of the river, at the rate of five or six miles an hour. Our appearance was not unlike that of the " Three Wise Men of Gotham," who went to sea in a bowl. Now we looked out with wonder upon the dense mangrove marshes on either side of us, the trees lifted by their roots from their native slime, while, from the lofty branches, a thousand long and slender stems were dropping down to the earth, there to take root and send up another forest like the first. It seemed as if the parent trunk, fearful in its upward growth of losing its hold of its mother earth, was sending down from above its numerous branches, that thus its cherished tenure of its na- tive soil might still remain secure. At another time, some opening vista would present before us a wide extent of deeply verdant forest, with the lofty palm towering here and there above the surrounding trees, and, with its long, feathery branches projecting with a graceful curve from the summit of its slender trunk, presenting no unapt resemblance to the waving plumes of a giant warrior, reared aloft upon his spear. Now reclining at length in our canoes, we gave ourselves up to dreamy musings on the future and the past, or listened to the rude music with which our rowers kept time with their oars, as it was echoed back from the deep fastnesses of the forest. Then rousing ourselves, we would excite our sable companions to try their speed in a rapid race along the sur- face of the stream ; or, landing at a town of the colonists, or vol. ii. 26 302 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. some one of the numerous native villages on the hanks of the river, we saw, in the one case, the comforts and industry of civilized life, and, in the other, the indolence, improvidence, nakedness, and beastly degradation of the untamed savage. In one instance, I met with a party of natives, armed with guns, and prepared alike for hunting or war, and as wild, savage-looking a band were they, as one would wish to meet with. The face of the leader, or chief, was horridly scarred or tattooed, and a look and eye of such savage and demoniac wildness, I have never met with elsewhere. Many of the na- tive Africans, instead of the tame and timid beings which they become when slavery has crushed their spirits, have, as met with in their own forest-land, much of the wild and noble bearing of the red men of our western wilds. Nor are they inferior to our Indians in concealing their real feelings and practising a deep dissimulation, when they have an object to gain by doing so. At one village, the only persons to be met with were an old man and his wife. By means of our rowers, who under- stood their language and could also talk broken English, we learned, that for some time there had been a quarrel between the chief of this village and one of his neighbours, and that, three days previous to our visit, this village had been sudden- ly attacked, and all the inhabitants carried off, with the ex- ception of these two aged people, who chanced to be absent at the time. On the opposite side of the river, the natives were under the protection of the colony, and were, therefore, secure from such attacks. All the natives who have made treaties with the colonists, amounting to one or two hundred thousand, are thus shielded from hostile incursions, the fear of the colonial arms restraining their enemies from doing them injury. On reaching Millsburg, the colonists were preparing to at- tend a funeral, and, as our host was to be the officiating cler- gyman, we went with him to the grave. The deceased, like many of his brethren who have sought a home in Africa, had realized, in the land of his fathers, those consolations of the Christian faith, to which, had he not gone thither, he might have remained for ever a stranger. In the waters of the peaceful river beside which we stood, he had received that outward seal which shadows forth the cleansing of the inner man, and now was he, with the rites of Christian burial, to have his final resting-place in that land from which, by the CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA. 303 hand of ruthless violence, his pagan ancestors had been cru- elly torn. It seemed like planting in the soil of Africa the precious seed of the Christian faith, as an earnest of that fu- ture harvest of light and knowledge, from the fruits of which her famishing millions shall receive the bread of eternal life. As the grass, during the rains, had grown to the height of five or six feet, an avenue had been mown through it, and around the grave an open place had been made by the same means. The procession which followed the corpse, gathered around it as it was lowered into its final resting-place, and then stood with uncovered heads as their pastor offered up a fervent and appropriate prayer. Then, while some were fill- ing up the grave, the rest united in successive songs of praise. The taste of the African race for music is proverbial, while the readiness with which they acquire it by the ear alone, and the peculiar spirit and melody with which they pour it forth, are such as those of a lighter skin might well envy them. In this case, too, they were the songs of the free; and, echoed back as they were, by the deep forests of the land of their fathers, — that land which both Nature and Nature's God have so plainly marked out as the home of their race, — they excited in my mind emotions of peculiar interest. In contrasting their condition with what it had been in the land of bondage from whence they came, it seemed as if their harps, which they had there hung upon the willows, as in sadness of heart they sat themselves down and wept, had again been resumed, and, no longer compelled to sing the songs of Zion in a strange land, they here, in the forest home of the free, poured forth the grateful melody of humble, heartfelt praise. There was that, too, in the appearance and history of the pastor, which excited peculiar interest. His fine manly form and features, together with his complexion, and the glossy blackness of his hair, showed that there was more of the In- dian than the negro about him. Nor had his life been wholly without incident. His early days he had spent in New Or- leans, until, at length, entering the service of a General in our army, he had, during the last war, travelled through most of the United States. He then entered the navy, and was steward on board Commodore McDonough's vessel, at the memorable battle on Lake Chnmplain. At length he visited Africa, and, being pleased with the home there offered him, had removed his family there. He thought, however, of soon removing to Sierra Leone, not, as he said, because he was 304 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. not pleased with Liberia, but, as his daughters were fashion- able dress-makers, and could find no employment where every one took care of themselves, they were, therefore, discontent- ed, and wished to try their luck elsewhere. I mention this case, because, after free and extensive inter- course with the colonists, it was the only instance I met with of an intention to leave the colony. There were among the early colonists, too, many gentlemen barbers, and those of other similar callings, who, however useful they might be as members of a large and luxurious community, needed some- thing more than razors and scissors with which to fell the strong oaks of the forest, and stronger frames and more sin- ewy limbs than they could show, to endure the hardships and perforin the labors of the pioneer settlers of a new country. That the abolition fever commenced in time to prevent the infliction of a heavier incubus of this kind, upon the infant colony, was indeed a blessing; and it is my full and decided conviction, that the growth of the settlements there has been nearly if not quite as rapid as was consistent with rectifying early errors, rightly profiting by past experience, and laying broad and deep the foundations of future and permanent pros- perity, and of safe, rapid, and almost unlimited increase. As we were to leave Millsburg in the morning, and the colonists were anxious to hear, from the lips of a passing stranger, the words of eternal life, we met, at the early hour of seven, convened by the sound of the church-going bell, and there, in that land of pagan darkness, we united in the cheer- ing and delightful rites of Christian worship. WESTERN AFRICA. 305 CHAPTER XXVI. WESTERN AFRICA. Mill-Seat. — St. Paul's. — Rapids. — Rowers. — Junk River. — Edina. — Bassa Cove. — Slave-Factory. — Massacre and Flight. — Self-Defence. — St. John's River; Bar at its Mouth. — Breakers. — Cruise on Shore. — Gov- ernor Buchannan. — An Accident. — Loss of a Boat. — Peril of our Ship- mates. — Contest with our Boat's Crew. — Efforts to save those among the Breakers. — Fires on the Beach. — The Saved and the Lost. — Kind Attentions on Shore. — Feelings Excited. — Public Worship. — Force of the Breakers. — A Trying Scene. — Poetry. — Baptist Mission. — Morals of the Natives. — Mississippi Colony. — Cavally River. — Rapids. — Cape Palmas. — Harper. — Latrobe. — Trade with the Natives. — Colonists. — Desire for Schools. — Colonial Laws. — Schools King Freeman. — King War. — Colonial Governor. — Trouble with the Natives. — Influence of Colonies. — Missions. — Slave-Trade. — Treaties. — Dress. — Houses. — King Baphro. — Intemperance. — Slaves. — Slave-Trade. On leaving Millsburg, we crossed the river, and entering a small creek, which empties into the St. Paul's, opposite the town, we visited a mill-seat, about 200 yards from the mouth of the creek. The stream, though then shallow, is fifty or sixty feet wide, with a bank of rock about twenty feet high on one side, while the other is favorable for excava- tion and use as a mill-race. A recent Governor of Liberia commenced operations for building a saw-mill there, but soon abandoned the project. The location is a favorable one, — both stones and timber for building are directly at hand, and the dense forest around would furnish any quantity of large trees, for lumber, which might easily be floated off at high water. A Yankee farmer, with a good carpenter to help him, in two months would have a mill in operation there, which would supply the whole colony with lumber. Above Millsburg, the St. Paul's is obstructed by a series of falls, extending, in all, some ten or twelve miles, in which space the water is said to fall perpendicularly in several places, from twenty to fifty feet. After passing these falls, the river is navigable far into the interior, and the slave-deal- ers used to transport their boats and goods around them, and thus penetrate to a distance of 150 miles or more from the sea. Our course down the river was much easier and more rapid than our ascent had been, and, after travelling in a 2G* 30G FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. style and visiting scenes so peculiarly African, we felt almost naturalized. One of my rowers was a rough-hewn, savage-looking fel- low, with a harsh, unpleasant voice, and though at times he had a vein of humor about him, still, I took no great fancy to him. The other was a finely-formed and handsome youth, some fifteen or sixteen years old, with a kind and amiable expression of countenance, such as I have rarely met with elsewhere. We formed quite an attachment for each other, and he was very anxious to go with me, " to big Merica, to learn Merica talk." I doubt not he would have made a most kind and devoted attache, but still it would have been almost cruel to have taken him to a land where, from his color alone, he would have been subjected to indignity and scorn, such as in Africa he might never meet with. The Junk river rises about four miles from the head waters of the Mesurado, and after running nearly fifty miles in a south-southwest direction, empties into the ocean about thirty-five miles south of Monrovia. It receives several streams from the east-southeast, and varies in width from 400 yards to a mile and one fourth. Its average depth, for the first thirty-five miles, is from two to four fathoms, and canoes can go to its source. The mouth, however, is so ob- structed by shoals, as not to admit vessels drawing more than five feet of water. The land on each side gradually rises to the height of 100 and 200 feet. At the mouth of this river is the town of Marshall, a recent settlement, but of which, as we did not visit it, I can say nothing from per- sonal observation. The first settlements we visited, after leaving Monrovia, were Edina and Bassa Cove, — the former on the north and the latter on the south side of the St. John's river, near its mouth. A valuable tract of country on this river, extending fifteen miles inland, and containing from 150 to 200 square miles of the best land, with two good mill-seats, and abound- ing in fine timber, was purchased by the colony in 1833, and, early the same year, 150 emigrants founded the town of Ediua. When we were there, the population of the place was 210, and camwood and ivory to the amount of § 12,000 had been shipped from it during the previous year. Bassa Cove is the settlement of the colonization societies of New York and Pennsylvania. Its territory was purchased of the natives in 1834, and, on the 0th of December of that WESTERN AFRICA. 307 year, the settlement was commenced by 126 emigrants, di- rectly from the United States. All the adults of the company signed the temperance pledge before leaving for Africa, and the entire exclusion of ardent spirits from the colony was adopted as a permanent and fundamental principle. The arts and the arms of war, also, were to have no place there, — a practical error, which had wellnigh proved fatal to the colony. This was owing to the fact, that the settlement, like the others on the coast, was at the mouth of a large river, which had formed an important outlet for the slave- trade of the surrounding region ; so that, during one month, immediately preceding the purchase of the territory, 500 slaves had been shipped from that single point. The slave- dealers, finding themselves thus successively cut off from their more important places of trade, have ever been hostile to the colonists, and have repeatedly done them serious injury. During the first six months, this settlement was very prosper- ous. The colonists had cleared forty acres of land, and be- sides erecting houses for themselves, and ten others for future emigrants, they had built a house for the family of the agent, and a substantial government house twenty feet by fifty, and two stories high, with a well-enclosed and fruitful garden of two acres annexed to it. The fields, too, gave bright prom- ise of luxuriant crops, and all was fair and flourishing, when a slaver arriving in the vicinity, appealed to the avarice of a neighbouring chief, and, by the use of ardent spirits, excited him to attack the unsuspecting and defenceless colonists by night, and thus were three men, four women, and thirteen children massacred. The remainder sought refuse in the older settlements, and thus for the time was this colony broken up. It was soon recommenced, however, in accord- -n ance with those principles of self-defence, and of resistance to lawless aggression, which, in a world like this, necessity, the law of nature, common sense, and the Bible, all unite to sustain and commend. Under this regimen, the colony has continued to flourish, furnishing a safe asylum alike for the emigrant and the missionary of the cross ; by its treaties with the natives, and by other means aiding to suppress the slave- trade, and by its schools and churches, and the arts and com- forts of civilization and Christianity, strongly commending, by the force of example, the religion of the Bible, with its train of attendant blessings, alike to the minds and the hearts of the pagan tribes around. 308 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. The bar at the mouth of the St. John's river, is a very bad one, especially after the rains, when the river, rising many feet above its ordinary level, and flowing for hundreds of miles through a rich alluvial forest, it deposits a vast mass of rub- bish at the point where it meets with the sand, which is rolled in by the waves of the ocean. Hence, when the wind is strong from the west, the billows from the Atlantic, as they pass this bar, rise to a fearful height, bearing rapidly onwards the boat which rides upon their summits, and, by the force which they give it, shoot it far along upon the quiet surface of the stream within. Thus we passed the bar in the morning, and the feelings excited while doing so, were wild and fearfully sublime. The day was pleasantly spent in visiting the settlements on each side of the river, and the natives near, and in free and cheerful intercourse with the colonists, the colonial officers, and the missionaries stationed there. An excellent collation was given us by one of the colonists at Edina in the morning, and towards evening we partook of a plentiful dinner at the government house in Bassa Cove, as guests of T. H. Buchan- nan, Esq., who was then at the head of the colony, and after- wards our shipmate from thence to the United States, — a gentleman who has done much for Africa, and who, by his amiable disposition, his energy of character, and high moral and intellectual culture, is well fitted both to advocate and advance the great interests of philanthropy and the rights of man. One of the Methodist missionaries whom we met at Edina, in crossing the bar in a boat some time previous, had been capsized, — a young man who was with him, though a good swimmer, was drowned, and he himself was saved only by seizing the handle of a large trunk which floated, and thus kept his head above water for several hours, when he was taken up by some Kroomen, he not knowing how to swim, and the ebbing tide having carried him some miles from the shore. A story like this was not fitted to lessen our anxiety as to meeting the high rolling breakers, on our way to the ship, and at dinner we conversed upon the subject, and often cast our eyes out upon the bar, to see whether the tide was like to be at such an elevation as, by lessening the height of the breakers, to favor our safely passing over them. At times there would be a treacherous and inviting smoothness, and WESTERN AFRICA. 309 then there would come a long, lofty, upright wall of water, black as Erebus, save where its upper edge, projecting over the mass below, showed a narrow line of white, and, rushing madly onwards, spent its raging fury far within the bar. After dinner, we took a pleasant stroll through the village, and, as our boats' crews were scattered around among the colonists, it was after sunset when, having collected them all together, we were ready to leave for the ship. Our whole party were peculiarly cheerful and happy when we collected by the water-side to return to the ship ; and as the boat which was to take the lead was much the faster of the two, as well as the better sea-boat, and was, withal, to be guided by the most skilful native pilot, all the officers who could find room to do so, crowded into it. One of the medical officers, however, failing in his efforts to secure a place there, reluctantly took passage with us in the other boat ; there being, besides, no other officer except the mid- shipman, who had charge of the boat. The bar may be half a mile from the point from which we started ; and as the other boat left first, and rowed much faster than ours, they were forty or fifty rods ahead of us when we first lost sight of them among the breakers. Though the shades of night in those tropical latitudes come on much more rapidly than with us, still we could perceive objects at a considerable distance. Our fears, therefore, were soon excited by failing to see the other boat rise above the successive breakers which came rolling fearfully on to- wards us. By rising, however, and straining our eyes in the direction in which we last saw her, our worst fears were soon realized. The boat had filled and sunk. Sixteen of our shipmates were thus left at the mercy of the waves, each mighty breaker, as it rolled over them, dashing them head- long to the bottom, and then, for a few brief moments, rising again to the surface. In helpless and almost hopeless agony, they struggled with their might, and shrieked aloud for aid, until another surging billow deeply overwhelmed them. As we had stopped for a moment in order to assure our- selves of the sad reality, our crew, ten or twelve in number, became frightened, as they saw the fate of our shipmates, and the fearful breakers before us, and refused to go forward, saying that we should certainly be lost if we did so. One of the men lay drunk in the bottom of the boat, and the others were in no condition to be reasoned with, nor was there time 310 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. for argument. Our shipmates were struggling with death, and a moment's delay might prove fatal to them. How, then, could we answer to their friends, to our own consciences, and to God, should we make no etfort to save them. I knew, too, that common seamen, with all their hoasted gen- erosity and valor, when degraded by vice, their self-respect destroyed, and the higher moral sympathies chilled and dead- ened, were selfish and recreant cowards, when, in time of danger, and without the impulse of a leader and a noisy crowd to urge them on, they are cast upon their own re- sources, with only the golden rule and the common feelings of humanity to urge them onwards to a brave and generous deed. Our boat, yielding to the unresisted force of the surges caused by the distant breakers, was swinging round so as to head towards the shore, and the crisis had come for deciding what its movements should be. In my hands was an iron knife, a foot or more in length, such as are made and used by the natives, and which had been presented to me as a curiosity on shore. It was broad and thick at the shaft, but gradually tapered to a point, so as to make a heavy and truly formidable weapon. Drawing it from its sheath of thick raw hide, and placing it at the breasts of the more noisy and fractious of the crew, I told them, with all the energy I could command, to go forward, and that instantly, or take the conse- quences. Seeing them begin to yield, however, and not wish- ing to proceed to extremities unless forced to do so, I quickly sheathed my knife, thus converting it into a kind of bludgeon, with which I dealt blows, thick and heavy, over their heads, and but for their stiff tarpaulins, which shielded them, might have laid them at my feet. The Doctor, too, performed a similar service with his umbrella, until, in the fray, he lost it overboard ; and thus, with the commands and efforts of the officer of the boat, the men were soon brought to terms, and rowed rapidly onwards. Thenceforward, they did their duty well, save that, when in the midst of the breakers, one of them threw his oar to a poor drowning wretch who was driven past us, in the vain hope of saving him, when we needed every oar so to guide our boat as to be secure our- selves and rescue others. For this, however, we could hardly ))lame him, so sudden and natural was the impulse- which '•ed him to do so. As we advanced, the Doctor hastily stripped off his clothes, WESTERN AFRICA. 3U thinking that we too might have to struggle for our lives ; and though viewing the matter as he did, I told him, that should our boat be lost, I would try my chance as I was. The Doctor took the helm, as it needed a clear head and a firm hand to guide us, while the officer of the boat directed the rowers, and I stood by to give warning of a coming breaker, to look out for those who were struggling around us, and lend them a helping hand. We shouted with our might, alike to encourage those who were struggling with the waves to per- severe, and to direct them towards our boat ; and as the accident was seen on shore, fires were quickly kindled at the nearest points, in hopes that some might be guided by them to a place of safety. As we advanced, we heard, ever and anon, as each mighty breaker rolled past, the agonizing death-shriek of those who rose from under it, — " the gurgling cry Of the strong swimmer in his agony," — the bitter wail of almost hopeless anguish breaking, in its wild and hasty utterance, through the waters which had filled the throat, and having in it more of utter and of un- mixed woe than any other sound which ever fell upon my ears. It was the death-knell of manly vio-or, and of brio-ht and joyous youthful hope. It told of blighted hopes and of bleeding hearts for those who were perishing. God grant that I may never hear its like again. Two or three who went past us, beyond our reach, were understood to urge us to go on and save the rest, as they could take care of themselves ; but, alas ! they were mis- taken, for we never saw them more ; and even then, there was one floating near them with only the top of his head above the water, — a lifeless corpse. They might have been saved had they swam, as others did, for our boat ; but we could only go directly onwards, for, had we inclined but slightly either way, the first breaker that came would have upset or sunk us, and most of those who needed our aid were still ahead of us. We had hoped that the other boat, and those who clung to it, would be drifted in towards us, and that thus we might rescue them ; but as we mounted a lofty breaker we saw the boat but a few feet from us, holding- fast where it was, and it was only by quickly rowing backwards, that we escaped being thrown upon it in such a way as would have exposed us to imminent peril of being lost. All 312 FOREIGN TRAVEL. AND LIFE AT SEA. we could do, then, was to yield to the force of each coming breaker, and, the moment it had passed, incline our boat quickly aside to rescue, if possible, some one who was near, and then again as quickly bring her head to the sea, before another breaker came, that thus we might not be overwhelm- ed. In this way were we, for about an hour, among those fearful breakers, their angry tossing and deafening roar min- gled now and then with the death-shrieks of the perishing, and with agonizing cries for aid ; while the shades of night were gathering thickly around us, illumined only by the fires on the beach, by the flashes of signal-guns of alarm from the distant ship, and the transient glare of rockets which soared aloft to warn us of the anxious fears of our shipmates for our safety, — all combining to form a scene of heart-rending anguish, of imminent peril, and of wild and fearful sublimity and awe. Of those who were saved, the purser of the ship, though an excellent swimmer and a peculiarly athletic man, was so exhausted after reaching us, that he could speak only in a slow and broken manner, and when we reached the shore, I supported him on my arm to the house of the Gover- nor. One young officer, when taken from the water, was laid across my lap, limber and almost lifeless, the water run- ning from his mouth, and half an hour elapsed before he revived so as to be conscious of his condition. The officer last referred to told me afterwards, that when rescued, he had given up all hope, and had just shaken hands, and bid a final adieu to a messmate of his, who was then floating near him, but who was not saved, each of them at the time, supposing that beneath the next rolling breaker, they would sink to rise no more. Another officer said to me, that just as he was expecting to sink for the last time, and having performed his devotions, commending his spirit to the hands of Him who gave it, at that moment the grating of the lost boat floated near him, when, with barely strength enough to throw himself upon it, the next breaker bore him rapidly onwards until he came within our reach. Thus, completely exhausted, and almost unconscious, was he saved, as it were, by a miracle, from a watery grave. After lingering among the breakers until the last hope of rescuing more was gone, and having hushed to a deathlike silence every sound on board, that thus, should there be any yet unburied by the waves, their cry of distress might reach us, and hearing only the wild roar of the breakers, surging WESTERN AFRICA. 313 fearfully around us, as if lashed to new fury from having been deprived of a portion of the living prey they had sought to devour, we then, with sad and aching hearts, returned to the shore. Four officers, and one of the crew, were saved by our boat, and two others of the crew were taken from the lost boat before it went to pieces, by some natives who came in a canoe from the shore. Two officers and seven of the crew were lost, and though strongly clad, yet, of the only two of them who the next day drifted on shore, a bare skeleton was all that remained, their flesh having furnished food for the monsters of the deep. How different was the sad and anxious group, which, land- ing from our boat, bore away, with hurried steps, their ex- hausted shipmates to some place of rest and comfort, from that happy throng, who, but an hour before, had left that very spot. Death had been busy in our midst, and in that short hour, nine of our shipmates, with but a moment's warning, and in circumstances the most fearful and trying, had enter- ed the eternal world. And yet, so intense had been the excitement of our efforts to rescue them, that it was not un- til we reached the shore, and there learned the full extent of our loss, that the pressure of grief came upon me, and I could not but weep like a broken-hearted child. The peculiarly amiable and correct deportment of the young officers we had lost, as exhibited during long and familiar intercourse with them on shipboard, — the uniform kindness with which they had listened to personal counsel and advice, and the regard they had shown for the public devotions of the Sab- bath, had strongly attached me to them, and led me to feel a deep and lively interest in their welfare. One of them, though but a midshipman, was so diligent and active in the discharge of his duties, that it was often remarked of him by the older officers, that his services on board were worth as much as those of a Lieutenant. He was, too, a great fa- vorite with the crew: for, though energetic and decided, he was yet kind and humane in his feelings, and such was his knowledge of his profession, that he did not, through ignor- ance, impose on others burdens too heavy to be borne, and then abuse them for not patiently submitting to them. He was expecting, on his return, not only to greet those friends from whom he had so long been severed, but also to pass that examination as to his acquirements, which was to decide Ins vol. n. 27 314 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. future rank in his profession, and none had fairer prospects than his of high and meritorious eminence. Another, who held a temporary appointment on board, was on his way to the United States, with a view there to associ- ate himself with a brother, who was already established in business in one of our large cities. He was the son of a gen- tleman, who, for many years, was our Consul for the island of Malta ; and though a foreigner, yet, by his devotion to the in- terests of our commerce, and his kind attentions and gener- ous hospitality to our citizens, whether merchants, travellers, or missionaries, who visited the island, or resided there, he highly honored the appointment which he held. This son who was lost, had for years been a Sabbath School scholar of the Rev. Mr. Temple, an American missionary formerly stationed at Malta, and the effect thus produced upon his character, had been lasting and highly salutary. He often spoke to me in terms of peculiar interest, of his excellent teacher, and a Catholic devotee could hardly feel for his pa- tron saint a higher veneration, or a stronger attachment, than he cherished for this worthy and pious man. Though this young man had been with us but part of our cruise, yet, such was his mildness and modesty, — his amiable and inoffensive manners, and his kind regard to the feelings and interests of others, that he had, in a peculiar degree, won our affection and esteem. It is with a melancholy pleasure, that I thus record the worth of those whom we lost, with feelings of sincere and heartfelt sympathy with the sorrows of those, who were thus bereaved of the objects of their strongest affection and their highest hopes. Nor would I here forget our other shipmates; for they, too, had their friends, and perchance, by their loss, some wife or sister, or aged mother, was deprived of that pit- tance, which helped to smooth their rugged pathway to the grave. Every attention was shown to us on shore, and the next morning, by going to a cove a mile or two below the mouth of the river, we were carried through the surf to our boats, by the natives, and thus safely reached the ship. The impres- sive sadness of this event, was long and deeply felt on board ; and when, on the following Sabbath, we convened for pub- lic worship, I had almost instinctively selected as the theme of our melancholy musings, those words of the sacred poet, where he says, " Thou turnest man to destruction ; and sayest, WESTERN AFRICA. 315 Return, ye children of men. Thou carriest them away as with a flood," or, as it may be translated, " Thou overwhelm- est them with a flood," referring, perhaps, to the fearful de- struction effected by the deluge, as an emblem of the manner in which death so often overtakes us, in a moment when we think not of it. And then he adds, "They are as a sleep; in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth." How apt and striking a de- scription this, both as to time and manner, of the scene through which we had so recently passed. Public worship on shipboard, with the aid of martial music, and so surround- ed with the wonders of the mighty deep as to lead us pecu- liarly to feel, that we were in the hands of that Being, who rides upon the whirlwind and directs the storm, — public wor- ship thus conducted, had always a high and exciting interest to me, but in this case, a feeling of deep and oppressive grief filled each breast, and every touch of the chord of sadness, met with a quick response in the ready sympathies of each sailor's heart. Our shipmates, who, for years had shared with us the perils of the sea, had now left us for ever ; and the deep sorrow of our own hearts was blended with sympathy for those friends of the lost, who were yet to learn the evil tidings which awaited them. There were with us, too, those who, rescued from a watery grave, had stood upon the nar- row line which severs time from eternity. Of them was it true, on that night of wild and terrific horror, that — " Between two worlds, life hovered like a star On the horizon's verge." It was not with us as the mere empty pageantry of grief, but the sad reality of heartfelt woe. The force of the breakers referred to, may be judged of from the fact, that, on the night after our accident, a coasting sloop of ten or twelve tons, ran aground on the bar, and the next morning, not a vestige of it was to be seen, it having gone to pieces and wholly disappeared during the night. I can hardly conceive of a death more awfully trying, than while vainly striving with such fearful breakers, to know that land is near, and help is nigh, and that yet all hope of aid is gone for ever. Nor could one with a feeling heart be more severely tried, than by witnessing the struq-6 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. mind by his visit to this country, at the same time expressing his strong and decided conviction, that colonization in Africa held out to the colored race in this land the brightest if not the only immediate hopes of relief from the manifold evils which they suffer here. In confirmation of the statements just made, it may not be amiss to refer to the testimony of the master of the ship James Perkins, who was in the colony for some time a few years since. He says, that he did not hear a discontented expression from any one, but found all with whom he con- versed apparently happy, and pleased both with the country and government. Lieutenant Page, of the United States Navy, who was in Liberia in 1832, in a letter to the Secre- tary of the Navy, wrote thus : " The inhabitants are gener- ally contented, the only exceptions being among characters who would be dissatisfied in any situation." Two intelligent free men of color, from Mississippi, who visited Liberia some years since, and spent three weeks in investigating the state of affairs there, on their return ex- pressed their entire satisfaction with what they saw, and gave it as their opinion, that the people of Liberia had already risen in their style of living and their happiness, as a com- munity, far above the most prosperous of their brethren in the United States. But why multiply testimony on a point with regard to which all candid and well-informed men, who have visited the colony, fully agree, while, at the same time, their statements are fully confirmed as well by those free men of color, who have gone out and examined the state of things for themselves, and have then returned and taken out their families with them, as by those of the colonists, who, prospering in their efforts to acquire wealth, return to the United States every year to purchase goods, or transact other business, and then gladly hasten back to the home of their adoption. As to the moral and religious condition of the colonists, it may be well here to state that, in the settlements founded by the New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland Societies, ardent spirits are wholly a prohibited article, and any one who is detected, either in introducing or using them, is liable to be banished from the colony. At Monrovia, also, I was in- formed by those in authority, that they intended raising the price of licenses for retailing so high, that no one would be able to purchase them. LIBERIA AND BRAZIL. 357 As to profanity, Dr. Hall, the late governor of the Mary- land colony states, that, during the two years he was in office, there were but three men who were reported to have used profane language on any occasion. Dr. Skinner, who was governor at Monrovia, says, that in twenty-two months he knew of but one case of profanity. Aside from the labors of the regular colored clergymen, there are, in most of the settlements, missionaries, who, in addition to their labors among the natives, devote a portion of their time to religious efforts among the colonists. Of the 2,301 emigrants, first sent out by the National Society, 700, or about one third, were professors of religion, and Dr. Hall states that, in the Maryland colony, five sixths of the adults are members of the Christian church. In addition to these facts, almost every arrival from Liberia brings us the cheer- ing news of those revivals of pure and undefiled religion, which result in the promotion of virtue, morality, and good order, by checking the wrong propensities of our nature, and developing whatsoever is lovely, excellent, and of good re- port, in the human character. Our limits forbid, that we should dwell at length upon the slave-trade, with all the nefarious means adopted to deprive men of their liberty, and consign them to hopeless bondage in foreign lands. Other and abler hands have done this, so that here we need not trace the cruel and heartless slaver, laden with worthless bawbles and trinkets, and more than all, with that prime instrument of Satan, rum, thus going forth to excite man to steal and enslave his fellow-man. Nor need we call up in review before us the dark array of war, the midnight yell of savage fury, the smoking ruins of desolated villages, the long array of captives laden with spoil, and bound with irons eating in to the very bones, while thousands of ravenous insects are feeding on the wounds thus made. We need not look on those enticed into slavery by robing one of their number in those trinkets, and those cloths of gaudy hues, which savages so much delight in, and then tell- ing them, that in a distant land they may all be thus arrayed. Nor need we follow the traveller, as he pursues the great slave-tracks across the desert from Central to Northern Afri- ca, now waked from a reverie by the crushing of bones be- neath his horse's feet, or by the human skull against which he had stumbled, as it rolls along in the path before him, while all his way is thickly strown with skeletons of slaves, who have fallen victims to fatigue, and thirst, and heat. ^68 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. My object in dwelling thus at length on this portion of my travels, has been, fo disabuse and rightly direct those honest and ingenuous minds, which have been led astray by false and prejudiced statements with regard to the character, condition, and prospects of the colonists at Liberia; and, at the same time, by describing the deep degradation and consequent wretchedness of the native tribes, to present to the philan- thropist and the Christian a strong practical appeal in behalf of Africa, — of injured, suffering, bleeding Africa; of that dark and devoted land, whose altars still smoke with the blood of human sacrifice, and where man still gluts and gorges his appetite with the flesh of his fellow-man ; where slavery and oppression, war, bloodshed, and crime prevail ; where the infant is torn from its mother to be offered as a bleeding victim of a dark and malignant superstition ; where the inmates of a peaceful village are waked from their mid- night slumbers by the yell of savage foes, and the morning light beholds them leaving behind them a heap of smoking ruins and the graves of their fathers, to return no more for ever. Chained and secured in the noisome hold of a slave- ship, from which, if pursued, they are often cast into the deep to perish ; or, if they survive, doomed to slavery in some foreign land, — what can be more sad and cheerless than their fate ? Such are the evils from which the poor devoted Africans suffer. Wretched and degraded in this life, and with no bright hopes of the future, every year is hurrying away vast multitudes of them to the judgment-seat on high. There, too, must we meet these oppressed and injured sons of Africa, to answer for any neglect of duty towards them of which we may have been guilty. Even now is Ethiopia stretching forth her hands with earnest and longing desires for the blessings of civilization and Christianity. A safe and efficient means of doing good is placed within our reach, and if we neglect it, may not the blood of those who thus perish, cry from the ground to God against us? Let us then give to dark and benighted Africa, that place in our sympa- thies, our charities, and our prayers, which we shall wish we had done when called to stand in judgment before that God, who has made of one blood all the nations of men, and who hath said, that " to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." To one trial of a personal nature connected with my visit to Africa, no allusion has yet been made. Owing to repeated LIBERIA AIMD BRAZIL. 369 exposure on shore, as well by night as by day, I was severely attacked with the African fever, which, with several successive relapses, brought me, in more than one instance, near to an ocean-grave. Two or three times, the crisis of the disease was in the form of decided and violent cholera, with those terrific heavings and wrenchings of the whole system, which, leaving the extremities cold, spared but just enough of the vital principle to be fanned with care into a weak and tremu- lous flame. The effects of this disease continued with great- er or less power for several months ; nor did my system begin in earnest to regain its wonted tone and energy until the chill wintry winds of my native land drove out the fever-demon from me. The fever came on at regular periods, preceded by a severe and oppressive aguan chill ; and, during the hot stages; I could compare the lightning-like rush of the blood through the system, and the hasty, spasmodic panting and heaving of the lungs, to nothing but the convulsive throes of expiring nature, when a man of might is suddenly cut down in the noonday vigor of his being. Add to this the heated and breathless air of the tropical regions, with a ver- tical sun above, the warm and impure water of the ship, which inflamed rather than cooled one's raging thirst, the necessary noise and confusion around, acting on nerves wrought by disease to tension so severe as of itself to be almost past endurance, without a mother's kindness or a sister's care to soothe the spirit or relieve one's wants ; and, withal, the prospect of an ocean-grave, where no friend might ever shed the mourner's tear. A trial such as this, were surely enough to fill one's heart with gratitude to Him who gave deliverance from it, and ever to excite a warm and ready sympathy with those exposed to danger, to disease, and death upon the mighty deep. Reader, hast thou ever felt within thee, that which could bear thee up amid such trials, giving to thy care-worn spirit that joyful confidence in God, which, taking from disease its power, and from death its sting, would leave thee without a single anxious, wasting thought or feeling, ready to depart or longer to continue here, just as the will of Him who made thee might direct? If not, seek it, I entreat thee, in the service of Him, who hath said, " Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." This visitation of disease, however, was not all unmingled darkness ; for, aside from the rainbow hues of hope, which 370 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. rested on the cloud that overhung the future, there were times when the mind itself, roused to action most intense, had a power of perception, thought, and feeling, such as it had never known before. The fiercely-raging fever, which con- sumed the vigor of the frame, seemed to remove the dark, oppressive veil which before had obscured the mental vision, and chilled and shrouded the heaven-born energies of the soul. Scenes and images of surpassing grandeur and mag- nificence rose up in thick array, and passed in vivid brilliancy before me. The mind, too, rising as on eagles', or rather as on angels' wings, widely ranged throughout a vast creation of its own, where all was gorgeous and sublime. No effort seemed too great for it ; and for hours together, whatever thoughts rushed through the mind, they all, as if by magic, instantly assumed the measured form and melody of verse and ryhme, and thus flowed off more rapidly than speech could well have uttered them. Such, at times, are the mysterious actings of disease upon the mind, crowding the fancy with " such stuff as dreams are made of." Then it is, that " Many strange and monstrous forms we see, That neither were, nor are, nor e'er can be. Sometimes forgotten things, long cast behind, Rush forward in the brain, and come to mind; The nurse's legends are for truths received, And the man dreams but what the boy believed." Hast thou, reader, ever had such visions pass before thy mind ? When disease has laid thee low, has excited fancy raised in bright array before thee scenes and pageants, with splendor far surpassing any thing thine eyes had ever seen ? Have there seemed to cross thy field of vision, long proces- sions of gigantic kings and nobles, robed in garments of the richest hues, resplendent as the light of day, with ornaments of gold and precious stones, with wide-floating standards sparkling like the starlit sky of evening, and mounted upon noble steeds with gorgeous trappings, and powerful and superb as those which, as fable tells us, drew the chariot of the sun ? Or hast thou, in the wild excitement of thy spirit, seen rising up before thee temples and palaces, adorned with lofty columns, graced with every ornament, and exceeding far in size and grandeur any structure thou hadst ever seen, or even dreamed of. And, as these have passed away, have others, LIBERIA AND BRAZIL. 37) more vast and brilliant still, in quick succession risen up be- fore thee, until thy power of vision, and thy conceptions of space, were so enlarged, that the earth itself, with its moun- tains, its continents, and widespread oceans, seemed as noth- ing, in comparison with those mighty fabrics which thus rose in majestic grandeur, and then fled for ever from thy view ? Or hast thou seemed to stand in the midst of some mighty ocean cave, where each rolling billow was of itself a sea, and all was lighted as if by a thousand suns, whose rays re- flected from walls and vaulted roofs of bright and sparkling gems, gave to the waves below, the hue of shining and trans- lucent flame, in which were untold myriads of monsters of the deep, to which Leviathan himself were as a thing of nought; — all instinct with life and motion, and showing off a thousand wild and playful gambols, and yet themselves transparent as the clearest crystal, so that thou couldst plain- ly see the blood, which, like mighty rivers, was swiftly flowing through their veins ? Or hast thou had a vision of that world where thought is motion, and desire the sure reality of bliss ; and there with rapture, gazed upon its gates of pearl, and walls of precious stones ; its golden pavements ; its flowing river, lined with richest verdure, and shaded by the wide- spread branches of the tree of life, with its blooming fra- grance and its richly varied fruit, lading the balmy breezes with celestial odors, while, ever floating round thee, were untold myriads of blissful spirits, who, with golden harps tuned to anthems of melodious praise, filled thy soul with ecstasy so great that language failed to tell a thousandth part of all thy glowing rapture, or, in the least degree, to shadow forth the glories of that deep and shoreless sea of bliss, in which thy soul was bathed? Or have the strange mysterious actings of disease ever seemed to give thy soul a threefold being, each distinct and vigorous, with its separate will, and power of choice and reason, all wrought up to energy the most intense, while yet there centered in thyself the joy of con- scious mental slrength, and all the rapturous delight of feel- ing and of passion, which sufficed to fill these varied avenues of bliss? Scenes and feelings of such wild excitement, though dearly bought at the expense of so much pain and weakness as violent disease brings with it, still give the mind an almost fearful consciousness of power in view of what its state may be, when, in the future world, the flesh shall no more impede its searching vision, nor fatigue, nor sleep, re- 372 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. tard its upward, onward flight : through all the boundless range of knowledge, and of ever growing bliss or woe. Of about thirty on board our ship, exposed to the fever by spending a night on shore, ten or twelve were severely sick, of whom about one half died. One of the latter, in a fit of derangement, leaped overboard and sunk to rise no more before we could reach him. This occurred on a quiet evening, precisely at the time we were crossing the equator, on our way to Brazil ; and, in connexion with the sickness on board, and the then recent loss of our shipmates on the bar at Bassa Cove, entirely checked all disposition to indulge in those rites of wild and wayward revelry and mischief which are common when, for the first time, a portion of a ship's company cross the equator. There are records of this custom of the " baptism of the line," as far back as the time of Louis the Fourteenth, in 1712, though then spoken of as practised by those of all na- tions. The common course is, for a company of sailors in a boat, dressed like Neptune and his court, to hail the ship and appoint a time for a visit. At the time of crossing the equa- tor, Neptune, with his wife Amphitrite, his son Triton, a bear-leader and two bears, and, in a large ship's company, some fifty or sixty attendants, fantastically dressed, present themselves, when all, who have never before crossed the line, are called up before old Neptune, mounted in his chariot, drawn by eight horses. Each one thus summoned, is then blindfolded and placed on a blanket over a tub of salt water, where he is lathered with a mixture of tar and tallow, the lathering brush being thrust into the mouth whenever it is opened to answer the questions that are put, and then, after shaving him with an iron hoop, the blanket is suddenly with- drawn, and he falls into the tub of water. Sometimes a lib- eral dose of salt water is poured down the throat. It has been thought, that this representation is allegorical, and that the two bears and their leader, refer to the immersion of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, and their guardian Arctophy- lax, beneath the horizon, which takes place in this latitude. This custom may have originated in that love of fun and frolic, for which sailors are so peculiar, and may have been devised with a view to relieve the tedium and monotony of a long sea voyage amid the calms which prevail in the region of the equator. But, be its origin what it may, little can be said in its favor, and it is, I believe, gradually falling into disuse. LIBERIA AND BRAZIL. 373 There is another similar custom, which it is also desirable should come to an end. I refer to what is called " Piping all hands to mischief." At a given sound of the boatswain's whistle, every one is for a time, without regard to discipline, permitted to play all manner of mischievous tricks upon such as come within his reach. There may be some fun and frolic in it, but then it is a low, rude kind of sport, and the duckings and other injuries inflicted, may give rise to serious quarrels or permanent ill-will. Still, I have known a com- mander of a squadron in our navy, order such a scene to be enacted on the Sabbath, with no other supposable motive than to injure the feelings of better men than himself, and thus gratify his own innate, highly cultivated, freely indulged, and fully developed moral depravity. The common sailors, however, had so much more regard for the Sabbath than their commander, that they did not engage in the scene with any spirit, and it was not repeated afterwards. Thus it is, that the devil sometimes employs such wretched fools in his ser- vice, that they defeat the very ends at which he aims, and, by their folly and stupidity, disgrace alike themselves and their master. Of our voyage from Africa to Brazil little need be said. Most of the way the trade-winds hurried us rapidly onwards, — the ocean, with its vastness and its grandeur, was every- where around us, while the starry vault above shone with unwonted brilliancy and beauty. Those constellations, on which we had been accustomed to gaze from infancy, sunk one after another beneath the waves of the ocean, as the winds bore us swiftly onwards, while, in the southern sky. new groups of stars arose, shedding their mild and radiant light on lands which we had never seen before, thus giving to our view, as we approached them, a new heavens and a new earth, — the one laden with the rich luxuriant growth of tropical climes, and the other brightly glowing with celes- tial beauty. Of the constellations, that which most attracts the eye is the southern cross, formed of four stars, so arranged that, in South America, the cross is seen perpendicular on the me- ridian at midnight. This cross was noticed by Amerigo Vespucci, from whom our continent derived its name ; the Portuguese traveller and poet Camoens, speaks of it as a new star, seen before by no other nation, and Dante speaks of them as — vol. 11. 32 374 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. " Four stars ne'er seen before save by tbe ken Of our first parents. Heaven of their light Seemed joyous. O, thou northern site, bereft Indeed and widowed, since of them deprived." The Magellan clouds, so often spoken of by navigators, are three fragments of light fleecy clouds, two of which are near each other, while the third is further south, all of them fixed like constellations in the heavens, and, like them, re- volving in their respective orbits. The entrance to the harbour of Rio Janeiro is narrow, being overhung on one side by a lofty conical hill, called the "Sugar Loaf," while a range of hills in the distance, whose summits form a rude outline of a human countenance, with a hooked nose and chin, are called Lord Hood's Face, from a resemblance to the phiz of an English nobleman of that name. After passing the entrance, however, the harbour expands, forming a magnificent basin, defended at its outer extremity by two strong fortresses, nearly a mile apart, one of which is on the Ilha da Lage, and the other on the oppo- site point of Santa Cruz. The city was on the left, as we entered the harbour, occupying a level place at the foot of the wild, romantic, and richly-wooded hills and mountains which rise around it. It is compactly built of granite taken from the adjacent hills ; the streets, from twenty to thirty feet in width, cross each other at right angles, and the houses are strong and high, resembling, in their form and general ap- pearance, those of the large cities of Southern Europe. The harbour extends some miles above the city, and, with its va- ried windings, its projecting points, and quiet, shady coves, and numerous islands, teeming with all the rank luxuriance and beauty of this fertile land, and flanked by gentle hills and lofty, towering cliffs, arrayed in the deep-green verdure, and graced with the thousand gorgeous plants and flowers of this sunny clime, — all combine to form a scene of ever- varying loveliness and grandeur, to which a parallel may not be found on earth. True, there is not the wide and graceful curve of the bay of Naples, with the black and flaming sum- mit and the vine-clad sides of Vesuvius in the background, while every point, and nook, and island, is rich with classic, poetic, and historic incident, and every passing breeze seems to whisper in the ear some tale of tender or of tragic interest, and the stars, in the radiant sky above, shed the light of other days around you. From the bay of Naples, the surrounding LIBERIA AND BRAZIL. 375 region verdant and beautiful, enclosed by the towering heights of Calabria, and the more distant summits of the widely- curving Apennines, presents a vast and splendid panorama, on which, as wrapped in the balmy air, and curtained by the soft and radiant sky of Italy, the eye must ever gaze with pleasure. The bay of Rio, on the other hand, instead of one vast and splendid panorama, which the eye takes in at a single sweep, consists rather of a succession of scenes of surpassing magnificence and beauty not to be compassed at a single view, but which, as seen from different points, resem- ble rather the fictions of eastern magic, or the rich and gor- geous creations of excited fancy, than any thing which this dull earth is wont to place before us. Of the mountains in the vicinity of Rio, one of the most prominent is the Corco- vado, a few miles from the city, rising to the height of more than 2,000 feet, its summit arresting the moisture of the pas- sing clouds, and pouring it down in numerous rills along its woody sides, until, collected in a vast natural reservoir on a lower height, it is conducted down from thence by a lofty and picturesque aqueduct, to supply the city. Further back are the Organ mountains, so called from the lofty granite spires which pierce the skies, bearing no unapt resemblance, as seen in the distance, to the slender, thickset pipes of an organ. Owing to a temporary suspension of fever, while we were at Rio, I was able to visit most places and objects of interest in the city and immediate vicinity ; nor shall I soon forget the peculiar kindness and hospitality of the merchants and others" from the United States resident there. My only re- gret is, that my situation did not admit of my accepting an invitation most kindly extended to me, of making my home for the time at a lovely mansion, on one of those " islands of the blest" with which the harbour abounds, where, in delightful intercourse with those familiar with the scenes of my earlier days, and, cheered by the kind and ready sympa- thy of warm and generous hearts, disease might have lost its power, and the fever-demon, feeling that such an Eden was no place for him, might have fled for ever from me. To one long absent from his native land, and confined to in- tercourse with those whose social and religious sympathies and habits, differ most widely from his own, few things are more delightful, than to meet in foreign climes with those from whence he came, with whom he freely may commune of scenes and friends, whom absence hath made doubly dear. 376 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. The city of Rio contains about 150,000 inhabitants, of whom two thirds or more are blacks. Of the whites, about 1,500 are French, and there are about half as many English. These are mostly merchants, or engaged in various trades. There are, also, several merchants and other residents from the United States, besides a fair allowance of Irish, Germans, and representatives of other nations of Europe. The city, though not wide, extends about four miles along the harbour. It has, at a distance from the water, a large square, around which are the Senate House and other public buildings. Had we not, in our previous wanderings, become familiar not only with almost every variety of natural scenery, but also with the widely different personal appearance and modes of dress of the various nations of the earth, there would have been much in Rio, with its motley population, and the coun- try around, to astonish and amuse us. As it was, however, the harbour, with its numerous ships of war and merchant vessels, and the city, with its massive structures, and the hills around crowned with churches and convents, strongly re- minded one of the large seaport towns of Southern Europe. Turning from these objects to the productions of the soil, rank and richly verdant, with the dark, green foliage of the dense and widespread forests, and, more than all, in listen- incr to the wild gibberish and seesaw music with which the numerous gangs of slaves cheered their weary labors, — one might almost fancy that he stood upon the shores of Western Africa. Still, the illusion would not be complete, for though the slaves of Rio are deeply marked with the tattoos by which the different tribes in Africa are known, and most of them, as in their native land, have no dress except a narrow strip of cloth about the loins; still, in Africa, save where the white man has been, no clanking chains are heard ; and the native African, in his own rude village, or freely roaming through the surrounding forests, or guiding his tiny bark along the rivers of his native land, has an air and manner far different from him who, torn from home and kindred, severely heaten, and with clanking chains around his neck, bearing on his head a burden that would almost crush an ox, driven like a brute to incessant daily toil, beneath a scorching sun, and, at night, with a herd of his companions in suffering, crowded in a place where a man of common sympathy would hardly leave his dogs. And yet, such is slavery, as one constantly meets with it in Rio. LIBERIA AA 7 D BRAZIL. 377 It is a truly horrid system of cold-blooded wholesale mur- der, in accordance with which many communities in the West Indies and South America, so overwork their slaves as to prevent their increase, and in a few years to destroy their lives, and then supply their places by new purchases from Africa, because this is less expensive than to rear them on the ground. It is easy for masters in Rio to obtain from the Intendant of the Police, an order for the infliction on a slave of as many stripes as they wish. They are then taken to the Calabouco, where two savage wretches, who are trained to the business, flog them most unmercifully. One of these men is right-handed and the other left, so that, both laying on the strokes at the same time, they are able to despatch business more rapidly. A friend of mine, of ardent feelings, as he stood and witnessed this inhuman flocrgincr laid his hand upon his dirk, and could scarce restrain himself from rushing upon and despatching these vile monsters. It is not strange that slaves, thus treated, should often commit suicide. This they do by drowning, stabbing, and other means. There are nine or ten different classes of slaves in Brazil, who belonged to as many different nations in Africa. Of these, the Gaboons are distinguished alike for their tall, athletic forms, and their extreme impatience in a state of slavery. So often do they destroy themselves by violent means, or sink under the pres- sure of their own feelings of despondency, that they sell for much less than they otherwise would. As the slaves obtain some privileges by being baptized, many of them receive this rite, but they still, for the most part, remain in all the debase- ment and ignorance of paganism. The native priests and conjurors retain much influence over the slaves, while then- kings and chiefs who have with themselves, been reduced to bondage, are still, to the last, treated with peculiar deference and respect, and are often resorted to as judges, by their for- mer subjects. In 1826, a formal agreement was entered into between Great Britain and Brazil, by which the slave-trade from Afri- ca to Brazil was to be wholly prohibited, and thenceforth to be regarded as piracy. The Brazilians were much opposed to this act of their rulers ; and, in anticipation of its execu- tion, a greatly increased number of slaves was brought from Africa in the years 1827-1829. Nor has the number im- ported diminished much, if any, since the treaty was to take effect. I was informed by an intelligent merchant in Rio, 32* 378 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. that it was probable that 50,000 slaves were brought from Africa to Brazil, in the year 1S3G. The fact, that vessels have entered the harbour of Rio, in ballast, and claimed to have come from the coast of Africa, has been reported to the Brazilian government by the British minister there, as evi- dence of their having brought slaves from Africa to some place in the vicinity ; but no notice is taken of such cases, so that vessels which escape the British cruisers off the coast, have nothing more to fear. The Brazilians say, that as long as their coffee, which is with them an important ar- ticle of commerce, is dropping from the trees and rotting on the ground, for want of hands to pick it, they will purchase slaves if they can get them. As the government also derives much revenue from the same source, and neither rulers nor ruled have any consciences or moral principle to trouble them, it may yet be long before the Brazilian slave-trade will cease. There is in Brazil a private company employed in induc- ing and aiding emigration from Europe, and agents are em- ployed in Portugal, Germany, and elsewhere, to advance this object. Those who remove repay what is advanced for their voyage, by their labor, after reaching Brazil; and, if industri- ous, they may do this in a year or less, when they are free to labor for themselves. Many of the Portuguese, both from the continent and the Cape de Verde and other islands, have thus been led to remove to Brazil ; but the Swiss and Ger- mans much prefer the United States, not only on account of our form of government, but also because there is, in the for- mer country, a land tax of ten per cent. Some years since, many Irish and Germans were induced to remove to Brazil, by favorable offers from government, which, owing to the strong prejudice of the natives against foreigners, were never fulfilled ; and thus, not only were they subjected to much suf- fering, but, by being compelled to act as soldiers, and in other ways, they were greatly wronged and oppressed. The knowl- edge of this fact has done much to prevent emigration from Germany to Brazil. Some time previous to our visit to Rio, a company of free people of color had engaged a vessel to carry them to Libe- ria ; but as nothing has since been heard of them, they were probably lost at sea, or else were sold by the captain in some foreign port for slaves. Of the state of public morals in Rio, we did not receive a LIBERIA AND BRAZIL. 379 very favorable impression. The national bank had been robbed of a large amount by those employed in it, some time before we were there, those who did it having committed ex- ternal violence on the building with a view of giving the impression, that it had been entered from without. A merchant from the United States, who had been many years in Rio, informed me, that cases in court were uni- formly decided through the influence of bribery, and that he himself had bribed judges to decide in his favor, and had aided others in doing so. He said, that the only secret in getting a case, was to deceive an opponent as to the amount given to the judge, that thus you might overbid him without his knowing it. One may meet in Brazil, with amalgamation of colors to his heart's content; and may see, too, those of almost every complexion, holding the various offices of church and state. The professors in the various public schools and colleges, are paid from government funds, and children of every rank and color are freely admitted to them, and may enjoy, without expense, the advantages of the military, naval, and medical academies, as also of the ecclesiastical seminaries, and the academy of fine arts. Hence, most of the offices, both of church and state, are filled by the children of the lower or- ders, those of the higher class being unwilling to place their sons in schools with those of a rank inferior to their own. The hospitals of Rio are clean and well regulated. That of the Misericordia, which was founded in 1582, by a fraternity of that name, will accommodate from 600 to 700, and is free to all of every color, not excepting slaves. Two physicians and three surgeons are in constant attendance, and in their visits are accompanied by the students of the large medical school connected with the hospital. On many of the houses in the city, the name Misericordia is seen, show- ing that they have been left as a legacy to the fraternity, the income from them to be employed for the support of the hos- pital. The same association have also, as a monopoly, the privilege of furnishing splendid coffins in which to carry the dead to their graves. Not that they are buried in them, but sjich a sum is charged for their use at funerals, as to add much to the income of the hospital. The National Museum, on the large public square, near the senate house, contains a collection of birds and quadrupeds, which is not very large : the gorgeous insects of the Torrid 360 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. Zone, however, which are preserved there, present a very striking appearance. The cabinet of minerals, which was purchased by the late king of Portugal, of the celebrated German mineralogist Werner, is a very fine one, and well arranged. My limits admit of only a passing notice of Rio, though materials are not wanting for a full account of the place and the region around. Before bidding farewell to Brazil, how- ever, I would briefly allude to one place, of peculiar religious interest, as connected with the early history of the country. In the harbour of Rio, there is a small island called Villega- gnon, on which there is a fort. It derived its name from a knight of Malta, who was a naval officer of high rank in the service of France. In the year 1558, he was sent by the French government to obtain territory in South America, and to this end to take possession of the harbour of Rio, and the region about, which was to be styled " Antarctic France." He therefore entered the bay and established himself on the island referred to. The plan was now formed of making this country an asylum for the Huguenots, and through the in- fluence of the celebrated Admiral Coligny, and other leaders of that party, it was carried into effect, the fortress on the island being named Coligny, in honor of the Admiral. The colony of Protestants sent out from France was placed un- der his protection; and, with a view to their being supplied with religious teachers, as well for the future as for the time being, two clergymen from Geneva, and fourteen students of divinity, accompanied them. Their first settlement was on the island, but Villegagnon, instead of protecting, persecuted them, and drove many of them away. At length, the Portu- guese, jealous of the colonists, attacked them, and, having driven them from the island, destroyed their fortress. They then took refuge on the continent, and being in alliance with the neighbouring Indians, commenced a new settlement near the mouth of the harbour, where, for the space of ten years, they received accessions to their numbers from Europe. In 1505, however, the Portuguese attacked them with a much larger force than before, and, after a war of two years, took and destroyed their forts, and completely extirpated the colo- ny. Thus were the hopes of Protestantism in the South blasted, and the blighting curse of the Catholic faith, from that time forward, shrouded, with unbroken darkness, the fair and fertile region of Brazil. LIBERIA AND BRAZIL. 381 Our voyage from Brazil to the United States, was not marked by any striking incidents. To the usual monotony of sea life, was added, in the case of several of us, repeated returns of the African fever after partial recovery, and though, in less than forty days, we passed from where the thermome- ter was at times as high as ninety-one degrees, to the snow and chilling winds of early March, in our own country, yet, even this, did not free some of our number from severe and repeated attacks of the fever after reaching home. And here, in closing, I remark, that where one has for years been absent from his native land, in regions where not only the works of nature and of art, but the language, reli- gion, manners and customs, all differ widely from those where his early days were spent, not only are his own char- acter and feelings peculiarly and permanently affected, but both men and things, with which he had been familiar, seem, on his return, most strangely changed. Though his native land may not, like portions of the Old World, be laden with massive ruins of temples and of palaces, and no snow-clad mountains or raging volcanos give a wild and varied grand- eur to its scenery, yet, when he looks around upon a young and growing empire, where wealth, talent, and enterprise are untrammeled, — where the road to rank and office is open to all, — where every one may worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and where, as a result of the freedom, virtue, and intelligence of the people, towns and villages, as if by magic, are springing up on every side, and the tide of population is ever rolling onwards, like the waves of the ocean, with wide and rapid sweep ; — when one con- trasts these things with the stagnation of commerce, the civil and religious bondage of the people, and those towns and vil- lages, where every structure looks as if the waters of the deluge had covered it, such as, in Southern Europe, one has everywhere around him; then it is, that he feels within him that strong and ardent love of home and country, to which absence has given new intensity and vigor; and, henceforth, he resolves ever to cherish the institutions, and devote him- self to the welfare, of the land which gave him birth. But, aside from the peculiar freshness and vigor of every thing in our own land, with which an immediate contrast with the fading glory of the Old World so deeply impresses the mind, there are other and real changes with which one everywhere meets, when returning, after an absence of years, 3S2 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. to the place 'of his birth. I refer to the inroads which dis- ease and death have made among those whom he knew and loved ; for though, with thrilling joy and rapture, one may tread again his native soil, yet does he almost fear to ask of the welfare of his friends, for fear the grave may be their dwelling-place. At all times is it true, that '« Men drop so fast, e'er life's mid stage we tread, Few know so many friends alive as dead ;" but when the changes and losses of years come all at once to our knowledge, and we find that many, whom we had hoped on our return to greet with gladness, are slumber- ing in the dust, then does grief succeed our rising joy, as, looking back upon the past, we may with truth exclaim, — " As clouds which rake the mountain summit, Or waves which know no curbing hand, How oft hath brother followed brother, From sunlight to the sunless land." NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 383 CHAPTER XXIX. NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. Intercourse with Seamen. — Our Navy, as compared with Others. — Boys on Shipboard. — Naval Apprentices. — Marines, their Duties and Character. — Common Seamen, their Character. — Classification of them. — Their Tri- als. — Superstition. — Wit and Humor. — Songs of Seamen. — Love of Reading. — Libraries for Seamen. — Their Vices. — Lying. — Stealing. — Selfishness. — Profane Swearing. — Influence of Officers. — Licentious- ness. — Low Standard of Morals. — Hypocrisy. — Naval Commanders. — Gambling. — Half-Pay Tickets. — Punishments. — Flogging: — Is it Ne- cessary ? — Its Effects. As the condition and character of our Navy, and the rep- utation and conduct of its officers and men abroad, are mat- ters of national interest and concern, it may not be amiss, in this connexion, briefly to allude to these and other kindred topics. To enter fully upon them, and give at length the results of years of free daily intercourse with seafaring men of all classes, as suggested by a close and constant observa- tion of their peculiar habits and modes of thought and feel- ing, and a sincere and heartfelt sympathy with them and their friends, under the severe and varied trials of their lot, — fully to present these points, would indeed require a volume. Al- most the whole of my professional life, of more than seven years, has been spent either among seamen on board ship, or, as at present, in laboring among a people where, in a population but little exceeding 2,000, there are more than 200 masters of vessels, many of whom are among the most worthy, energetic, and successful of this class of men ; and where, too, there is scarce a boy at school who does not ex- pect, at some future day, to walk the monarch of a vessel's deck. And here, with a view to aid us in forming a correct esti- mate of our navy, as also to furnish with important facts those illustrious orators, who are wont to speak of our ships of war as fully able to sweep the vessels of all other nations from the face of the ocean, it may be well to give the fol- lowing statement of the naval forces of the United States, 334 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. Great Britain, and France, as they were some two or three years since : IN COMMISSION. Ships of the Line. Frigates. Sloops of War. Steamers. Smaller Vessels. United States, 1 4 11 6 France, 6 16 39 4 59 Great Britain, 10 15 73 13 53 FORCE AFLOAT AND BUILDING. United States, 11 14 14 1 6 France, 57 64 S8 23 120 Great Britain, 122 128 96 26 166 $90,552,000 additional appropriation is required to give us our relative naval strength, compared with France and Great Britain. 85,500,000 per annum, required for ten years, to attain and keep afloat such a force. Thus, of ships and vessels of every class, including those in commission, as also those building and afloat, there were, belonging to the Navy of the United States, 6S ; to that of France, 486 ; to Great Britain, 702. With these facts before us, and knowing, as we do, that our main reliance must be on our navy, as well for the protection of our commerce in every part of the world, as for our defence against foreign aggres- sion, is it wise for us, in such a wicked, grasping, and oppres- sive world as this, to leave our navy as it is 1 In speaking of those who man our ships of war, I shall begin with such as are rated as boys. Of these, we had nearly thirty on board our ship, many of whom were taken from the House of Refuge, in New York, or were the sweep- ings of the streets of our large cities. Some were children of poor parents, who had been placed under the care of some sailor of their acquaintance, to take their first lesson in ship- craft, and, I may add, in devil-craft, too, on board a man-of- war; for surely, a boy must be a dull scholar, who, in such a place, would not learn fir more evil than good. These boys were from ten to sixteen or seventeen years of age, and some of them, from having been familiar, from their earliest years, with vice and crime, in almost every form, were among the most hardened, hopeless vagabonds in the world ; and yet, they had so much shrewdness and intelligence, and such per- fect self-possession in all circumstances, that one could not but feel a peculiar interest in them. There was one of these boys, who used to say to me, " I NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 335 came to sea on purpose to get rid of religion, but I have more of it here than I did on shore." Poor boy ! his conscience troubled him, and he could not leave it behind him. Aside from the Sabbath school, they were taught in a day school by some one of the better educated of the crew, under the supervision of the chaplain, and, though they made re- spectable progress in their studies, still, so injurious were the moral influences and examples which acted upon them, that, except in the single point of obedience to superior authority, little of good was learned, and there are kw situations in which I would not place a boy, sooner than on board a man- of-war. One of our boys has indeed received a midship- man's warrant, and may make a good officer, and several of our young men diligently employed their leisure hours in im- proving their minds, mainly with a view to qualify themselves to become officers of merchant vessels. I had some fifteen or twenty of these under my care studying navigation, and I have seen a midshipman go to one of them for instruction and aid. The Rev. Mr. Jones, of the Delaware, had a much larger class, who advanced so far as to work lunars, and be- come familiar with all the more difficult parts of practical navigation. I have had no means of judging, from personal observa- tion, of the results of the apprenticeship system in our navy, but should think its operation might be favorable, if our ships can be freed from the curse of ardent spirits, and the bo\s are retained on shore long enough before going to sea, to give them such an education as shall inspire with self-respect and a desire to rise in their profession, that shall place them above the influence of the more vicious and debased of the seamen among whom their lot will be cast. But, without thorough moral and religious training and restraint, their superior advantages, as to education, may make them a curse instead of a blessing, to the navy and the world. In turning from the boys to the men on board our ships of war, let us first notice the marines. These are soldiers who dress in uniform, are placed as sentries in different parts of the ship, and are not required to go aloft on sailor's duty, but aid in pulling the ropes on deck. They have their own offi- cers, distinct from those of the ship ; and, as they know but little of sea-life, and are placed on board as a restraint upon the sailors, the latter do not like them, are fond of playing tricks upon them, and especially of palming off upon them vol. 11. 33 386 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AXD LIFE At SEA. all sorts of improbable slories as true. Hence the common proverb, " Tell that to the marines," which is used when one listens to a doubtful or incredible story. We had on board our ship fifty-two marines, of whom twenty-two were foreigners ; thirteen of this number being Swiss. They had an efficient commander, and were under excellent discipline. On one occasion, when off the coast of Africa, some oranges and bananas, which hung where sentries had charge of them, were stolen, and hence some one of the six marines, who had been on duty there during the night, must have connived at the theft. But as all denied being guilty, they were all whipped, that thus the right one might be punished, and all collusion as to screening each other in future might be prevented. This was indeed summary jus- tice ; and yet, among men in whose word you cannot confide, you must either lump matters in this way, or crime will thrive and pass unpunished. As it was, no more fruit was stolen. Among the marines there are often men of education and intelligence, who, as merchants that have failed in business, or the profligate sons of respectable parents, or professional men, who have become dissipated, have seen better days ; but, having fallen from their former condition, have fled to a man-of-war as a place of refuge from trouble or disgrace. Not to dwell on other cases, we had with us a young man, who had come from a foreign country to obtain an education. While a senior at Yale College, he became involved in a fracas for which he was dismissed from the institution ; and thinking that he was not kindly treated by his guardian in this country, he enlisted as a marine. Such men like to dwell upon their brighter days ; and where they find one who will listen to and sympathize with them, they take a kind of melancholy pleasure in minutely describing the scenes of trial and disgrace through which they have passed. There are many such, as well among the seamen as the marines, on board a ship of war ; and often has my heart been deeply pained, when listening to the story of their woes. When in port, marines are stationed at every accessible entrance to the ship, to prevent men from deserting, and ardent spirits from being smuggled on board. Hence they should, if possible, be temperate men ; that thus they may not, through love of strong drink, be induced to permit the means of intoxication to be passed on board from the numer- ous boats which, in foreign ports, crowd around a ship, with NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 387 a view to speculate on the vices of seamen. In order to make marines efficient safeguards of the morals of our ships of war, care should be used in enlisting them ; and peculiar efforts should be made, as well in our navy-yards as at sea, to induce them to form habits of temperance and sobriety, and to be in every respect honest and faithful in the discharge of their important duties. I say important, because, next to the officers of the ship, the marines are the main reliance for quelling a mutiny, and sustaining rightful authority, on board our men-of-war. In a crew of from five hundred to a thousand men, as col- lected together on board our larger ships, one meets with seamen of every class and condition, and of almost every nation under heaven. Most common sailors are of no nation, but change from the employ of one to that of another, just as convenience, or caprice, or higher wages may induce them to do so. We have many English seamen on board our ships of war ; and it is said, that there are some thousand Ameri- can sailors in the English navy. That, by desertion or other- wise, men are constantly passing from one service to the other, is well known. As those who ship seamen often receive so much a head for all they furnish, no very close inquiries are made as to whether a seaman's protection, as it is called, that is, the legal paper which certifies to what nation he belongs, tells the truth about him or not ; for, aside from false swearing, at which k\v common sailors would hesitate, there are other ways in which seamen obtain new papers and a new name. For example, we had on board our ship a foreigner by the name of John Cole, — a Swede, or a Dane, if I mistake not. He spoke English in a very broken manner, and this led me to ask him, one day, how he came to have such a regular- built Yankee name. " I bought it of a landlord in Port- land," was his reply. " What did you give for it?" "Fifty cents," he said ; " but I 've got most sick of it, and shall change it for another before long." And thus it is often true, that sailor-landlords sell the papers of seamen who have died in their houses, or have gone to sea leaving them behind. Many of the seamen in our navy, ship by a new name almost every cruise. But few officers and men of the old school now remain in our navy. By this I mean, those who were trained amid scenes of war and carnage, and were more distinguished for 333 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. their rough and reckless manners and habits, and their noisy, dare-devil bravery, than for improvement of mind, or a desire so to shape their course as to please those around them. The fact, that many of the officers of our navy were formerly taken from the merchant service, with more regard to their energy of character and good seamanship than to their education and refinement of manners, together with the exciting influ- ence of war, and the demoniac power of ardent spirits, gave a far ruder and more turbulent cast to our navy in former days than now belongs to it. By raising the standard of edu- cation among our naval officers, by limiting their power of inflicting punishment, and by promoting temperance among the men, a tranquillizing, elevating influence has been exerted on board our ships of war ; so that now they deserve, far less than formerly, the appellation of " floating hells." Still, much remains to be done, as will be seen when I come to speak of the prevailing vices of seamen. An old man-of-war's man is a very different being from a merchant-sailor. From mingling with so large a mass, he has been able to select such associates as pleased him, and thus to retain and strengthen his own peculiar tastes, feel- ings, and habits. He has also been led to look well to his own rights, and to guard with jealous care against the en- croachments of others. From the rigid discipline to which seamen in our navy are subjected, as also from the fact, that they are closely pressed upon by the mass around them, they become peculiarly sensi- tive and selfish as to what they regard as their rights, and are greatly given to grumbling when they fancy themselves mis- used. As to seamanship, too, from being confined to a nar- row round of duties, such as handling the ropes and sails in a given part of the ship, as, for example, on the forecastle, or in one of the tops, they become very skilful in performing these duties, but know little of any thing else. Hence, a good merchant-sailor, who knows a little of every thing, and not much of any thing, about a ship, may not succeed well on board a man-of-war ; while, on the other hand, a good navy sailor may know but little of many things required to be done on board a merchant-vessel. Merchant-sailors, too, have to labor much harder, and bear more exposure to the weather, than seamen in our navy ; and they are apt, withal, to be much more filthy in their habits, and slovenly in their dress, than they would be permitted to be on board a man- NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 3QQ of-war. These remarks show, in one point of view, the im- portance of training men expressly for our naval service. There are several distinct classes of seamen to be met with on board our men-of-war. Of these, the first and most numerous are sailors by profession, who, from the poverty of their parents or some other cause, have early entered on a seafaring life, without such an education as would fit them to rise above the grade of common seamen, and in this condi- tion they remain for life. A few of these have families, and are frugal, honest, and trustworthy. By far the greater num- ber, however, are reckless, profligate, intemperate, and pro- fane. Cut off at an early age from all correct moral and religious influence, and exposed to temptation to vice in almost every form, they become the mere creatures of im- pulse, slaves to the will of despotic masters at sea, and the dupes of rapacious landlords and greedy harpies on shore. With no high and commanding motives to effort, in the hope of improving their condition, they yield themselves up to the pleasures of the moment, without regard to the future ; and though, from the dangers of the sea and exposure to corrod- ing vices, and in sickly climes, they are in daily peril of their lives, yet, drowning reflection with reckless gayety, with sen- sual pleasure, or the drunkard's cup of woe, they rush madly on in the way to death. " Let us eat and drink, for to-mor- row we die," seems to be their motto ; and full often do they die as they live, with no one to care for their souls, — to speak words of warning or of comfort in their dying hour, or commend their departing spirits to God. We had on board our ship an old sailor, who ran awav from his parents in Boston when nine years of age, and had heen to sea, almost without cessation, forty-five years. In the year 1800, he was on board the English frigate Austria, on the coast of Egypt, where he had the plague, of which 200 out of 250 on board died. He had been shipwrecked seven times. The year before he joined our ship, he was cast away on the Scylla rocks, and was in the water two hours and ;i half. He lost his wife and two children in the cholera in New York ; and though himself one of thirteen children, he lias now no near relative living. He was broken down with the rheumatism, and his lot was sad and cheerless indeed. Such is too often the condition of the few weather-beaten sailors, who are spared almost by a miracle to reach the peri- od of old age. With no friends to care for them, and no 33* 390 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. means of support, they float like a weed torn from its native rock, where wind and wave may bear them. Perhaps they rind a refuge in some naval hospital, or, cast forth on the cold charities of the world, they beg a humble pittance from door to door. Such men are truly to be pitied, and hardly the less so from the fact, that they are reaping the fruits of early recklessness and vice. Provision should be made for them from the hospital-fund in the United States, raised as it is from the hard earnings of the sailor. Another class of seamen are those who are ruined in char- acter or property, or both, by a course of vice, or by some single act of folly or of crime, but who have seen better days. Of many a commander of a man-of-war, as of King David when he gathered his bandit forces at. the cave of Adullam, may it be truly said, " And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discon- tented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became a cap- tain over them." Among these are merchants and others, who have failed in business, broken-down play-actors, and sometimes professional men, the wayward and profligate sons of wealthy and respectable parents, convicts from State pris- ons, who have been guilty of forgery, counterfeiting, house- breaking, or other gentlemanly crimes, with now and then a pirate, and one who has been engaged in the slave-trade, to say nothing of old sailors, who were pressed into the English service during the last war, and are as familiar with Dart- moor Prison and its usages, as with the district school in which they spent their boyhood. We had one, who had lived among the natives of one of the South Sea islands, and conformed, for many months, to their savage modes of life ; another, who had been with Major Ashley to the Rocky Mountains, and had many amusing stories of the Flathead and other tribes of Indians ; and another still, who had been in the service of the fur-traders in the region of Hudson's Bay, travelling hundreds of miles over the snow, with a heavy burden on his back. Seamen are perfectly accessible; and, from the free, social intercourse in which they indulge, will rarely refuse to answer a question of the most personal nature, if your manner is such as to gain their confidence. Indeed, they take peculiar pleasure in dwelling even on the darker portions of their past history, when they meet with one who will kindly listen to and sympathize with them. Many an hour have I spent, NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 39 1 during the night-watches, in listening to their singular narra- tions ; and often have I thought, in reviewing the sketches of these stories in my journal, that, were one to collect an ac- count of the most striking characters on board a man-of-war, as given by themselves, it would make a book of peculiar va- riety and effect. It is, indeed, true, that sailors are given to yarning, that is, to telling what is not true, with a view to make sport of others by duping and deceiving them ; still, one soon learns how to detect them in this, and when they are alone with one whom they respect, they do not attempt it. There was one man on board our ship, who had fled from domestic troubles, but whose mind was oppressed with a sad- ness which nothing could remove. He was the son of an elder of one of the first churches in the city of New York, and, having married a beautiful woman, whom he tenderly loved, and by whom he had several children, he removed to Illinois, where he purchased a farm of several hundred acres. For some time he had suspected the fidelity of his wife, when returning from hunting one night, sooner than he was ex- pected, he found her with her guilty paramour, a man of wealth, in the vicinity. Highly excited, he aimed his rifle at them, intending to shoot them both, when he was seized by his hired man, who thus prevented the fatal deed. Having obtained a divorce from his wife, she married again, and he, feeling wretched where he was, and fearing that, should he meet the ruthless destroyer of his happiness alone, he should, in a moment of excited wrath and anguish, be led to murder him, he leased his farm to one in whose care he left his chil- dren, and sought a refuge from his troubles on board a man- of-war. The most hopeless class of seamen, so far as moral refor- mation is concerned, are those, who, like the squatters and others on the outskirts of civilization on land, have broken away from virtuous society, because they have forfeited the protection of the laws, by their crimes, or could not brook the restraints of religion, morality, and law, or were unable, else- where than on board a man-of-war, to gratify their love of strong drink, or were conscious of being such helpless slaves of vice, as to be wholly unfit to take care of themselves, and have, therefore, placed themselves in "durance vile," just as some men on shore wish to be imprisoned for the same reason. There is another small class of seamen, sons of respectable 392 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. parents, who have become so from a love of adventure, an at- tachment to a sea-faring life, a strong desire to see foreign lands, or, with a view to improve their health, or a wish, on the part of their friends, to check, by means of the rigid dis- cipline of a ship, an unsubdued and refractory spirit. Young men of this class are commonly found among the midshipmen on board our men-of-war, though several of our seamen were from the Boston schools, and one had nearly fitted for col- lege. Two of these had received their early religious train- ing at the Old South Church, the one in the Sabbath school and the other in the Bible class under the care of the late Dr. Wisner. In treating of the peculiar characteristics of seamen, and the vices to which they are most addicted, I shall notice first, their weak and childish superstition. The old idea, that Sun- day is a lucky, and Friday an unlucky day, because on the one Christ was crucified and on the other he rose from the dead, has a strong hold on the minds of most seamen. There are commanders even in our navy, who would not sail from port on Friday, if they could avoid it, and who would make peculiar efforts to do so on the Sabbath. Thus, both in the navy and in the merchant service, is this holy day often need- lessly desecrated by the extra labor of getting under weigh. There are still many vessels, on the masts of which a horse- shoe is nailed, as a protection against the devil ; and ship- owners will rarely purchase a vessel which, by meeting with repeated accidents at sea, has proved to be unlucky. Sailors have a peculiar superstition with regard to cats, es- pecially black ones. Some years since, two men fell from the masthead on board one of the ships in our navy, in a single day, of whom one was killed, and the other had his arm bro- ken. Finding that one of the crew had killed a cat the night before, his shipmates regarded that as the cause of these ac- cidents, and could not be appeased until the man was severe- ly whipped ; and then, as no one would mess with him, it was necessary to send him on shore. Clergymen have, in times past, been regarded as bringing ill luck to a ship on board which they sail, on the ground that the devil owes them a spite, and, as prince of the power of the air, strives, by means of tempests, to destroy them. This superstition may, how- ever, have owed its origin to the story of Jonah, and the trou- bles which he brought upon his shipmates. There are those, who regard the playing of a death-march NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 393 as a sure sign, that some one on board is soon to die; and I have known a highly intelligent officer, who would punish a man for such an act, as soon as for a gross crime, on the ground, as he said, that he never knew it fail of being soon followed by a death. When lying in the bay of Gibraltar, during a violent storm, two of our massive anchors were broken, and we were driven rapidly out to sea. There was, at the time, on board, the body of one of the crew, lying in a coffin, with a view to his being buried on shore. Being com- pelled, however, to enclose him in his hammock, and bury him at sea, the carpenter was compelled to cut the coffin up into small pieces, and throw it overboard, because the men were superstitious and fearful as to its remaining on board. As connected with the facts just stated, and with a view to account for them, I remark, that man, when at all elevated in the scale of reflection and intelligence, is so far a religious being, that he must have some objects of faith, and some creed connected with the unseen and spiritual world, as also with the causes of the more mysterious events occurring around him. And just in proportion as through ignorance or a spirit of unbelief, men reject the pure and elevating truths of the Bible, in the same degree do they commonly become credu- lous and superstitious, as to ghosts, dreams, and omens of ill. Indeed, some of the most learned and philosophic unbe- lievers that have ever lived, have been degraded slaves of weak and childish fears. The credulity and superstition of seamen as to ghosts and apparitions, good and bad signs, lucky and unlucky days, and the like, are owing, in part, to the peculiarly dangerous and exciting mode of life which they lead, to the many marvellous stories that are told in order to astonish the young and inex- perienced, or to beguile the tedium of the night-watches; but, more than all, to their being, from an early age, cut off from religious instruction. The mind is thus led to gratify its love of the unseen and the marvellous, by dwelling upon idle tales and songs of ghosts, and signs, and omens, instead of fixing upon those noble and elevating views of the spiritual world which the Bible unfolds to us. Thus, instead of ra- tional and enlightened Christians, seamen too often become the weak and timid slaves of credulity and superstition; and, from this cause, are, at times, wholly unfitted to discharge pressing and important duties. There are seamen who most religiously believe that, when 394 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. a man has been hung from the fore-yardarm of a ship, two voices always reply when the man who is stationed there by night is hailed, one being that of him who has been hung; nor would the wealth of the world induce them to keep watch there. The most ludicrous story of an apparition on shipboard I have ever met with, was told me by one of our officers, who knew the leading actors in the scene. The officers and men of one of our ships of war were all struck aghast one night by beholding, far up aloft, a perfectly white object, of near the size of a man, and remaining fixed where there was no foothold on which to rest. All hurried down from the tops, and, overcome with fear, no one could be prevailed upon to go up and examine the fearful visitant. At length, one of the lieutenants, a man of uncommon courage, mounted the shrouds, but, as he came near the object of terror, a loud and sudden cry of baa brought his heart to his mouth, and, in his terror, he had wellnigh fallen to the deck. The ghost was none other than the captain's white goat, who had been qui- etly sleeping in a coil of rigging on deck, when the yard or sail aloft, to which it was attached, was dropped, and, as the rope ran rapidly upwards, it took two or three turns around poor Billy, and, carrying him far up from the deck, held him suspended there. That seamen have commonly much wit and humor, all know, who have had intercourse with them. They have a great number of pithy expressions at ready command, and are very quick at repartee. This is owing to the fact, that their mode of life is so peculiarly varied and exciting, that their minds act much more rapidly than those of most other men, as also to their being in such close and constant con- tact and collision with those around them, to which we may add the attention and applause secured by such as, by their ready wit, can aid in cheering the spirits of those around them, and thus relieve the monotony of a long and tedious voyage at sea. The craving for social excitement, on the part of seamen, leads them also to be very attentive hearers on the Sabbath, and few congregations on shore will follow a plain, but condensed and rapid logical argument with so full an understanding of it, as will a body of seamen on board our men-of-war. The wit and the songs of seamen are, for the most part, however, of a low, vulgar, and licentious cast. This is the NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 395 more to be regretted, as seamen are fond of the excitement of music, and, where a sailor has a fine voice, his songs are often called for, as well by officers as by the men. In such cases, much good might be done, were the words sung of a pure and elevated cast, and fitted to excite and cherish the higher moral, social, and religious feelings and sympathies of our nature. As many of the finest and purest specimens of song have been set to lively and exciting tunes of rich and varied melody, a seaman, who could sing them well, would be most popular on board a man-of-war, and might do much good, as well by exciting right thoughts and feelings, as bv diverting the minds of his shipmates from the low and licen- tious love-songs, and the execrable music so common on shipboard. Instead of the monotonous and long-drawn dit- ties, about Susan and her lovely Wil-li-am, and the like, in which, by shortening or drawing out the syllables, one tune is made to fit all metres, let good old English and Scottish ballads, lively and pathetic, and moral and religious hymns, bearing upon the duties and dangers, the hopes and fears of seamen, — let these be well sung to exciting and appropriate tunes, and much good might thus be done. These remarks have an important bearing upon the training of apprentices in our Navy, and, where they are detained for a length of time at our navy-yards, by providing them with good instruc- tion in music, much may be done, not only in elevating their characters and making them contented, but they may thus also become highly useful to others. Especially may good choirs of singers be provided, to aid in public worship on board our men-of-war. There was a good choir of singers on board the Delaware, when she was with us, and we micrht have had one, had it not been that those, who would have been leaders in the business, were such utter reprobates, that, they would have brought public worship into disrepute. Let a choir of well-trained boys sing with melodious voice the words of sacred song, and it would do more than almost any thing else to secure the interest and attention of a ship's com- pany to divine service at sea. Seamen are very fond of reading, though we found about forty, including boys, among our crew, who either could not read at all, or but poorly. A liberal gentleman in Boston offered to give §200 towards supplying our crew with a li- brary, provided they would raise an equal amount themselves. The men were ripe for it, but it was defeated by some of the 396 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. officers, owing to the difficulty of obtaining funds for the use of the ship. To remedy in some degree, this gross neglect, several of us obtained such books as we were able to get, and, at Gibraltar, we purchased for the crew, at their request and at their own expense, school-books, such as geographies, grammars, arithmetics, &c, to the value of $100. Thus, were many of them furnished with the means of improving their minds : and, so important is the influence of books in making seamen peaceful, contented, and happy, that it would be good policy, on the part of our government, to furnish every ship of war with a well selected and appropriate libra- ry for the use of the crew. Some of our larger ships have had libraries of several hundreds of volumes, purchased by the men on board, and great good has resulted from them ; but, from having no system on the subject, the books have been disposed of at auction, or by lot, at the end of a cruise, or left to mould and waste away at some naval depot, instead of being carefully preserved and transferred to some other ship, where they might be useful. There is, indeed, on board the ships in our navy, a library for the use of officers, consisting of an Encyclopaedia, a few standard works of national and natural history, a collection of voyages and travels, works on gunnery, naval tactics, and navigation, the state papers of the United States, &-c. But it has no large work on geography, like that of Make Brun, and is deficient in conchology, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, and other branches of natural science in which our naval offi- cers have the most abundant facilities for acquiring knowl- edge abroad, and collecting valuable specimens, for the ben- efit of science at home. Still, these books might be of but lit- tle use, so long as, from the want of a national institution, like that at West Point, the early literary and scientific training of our naval officers is so grossly neglected. In speaking of the vices of seamen, a prominent place should !>:• given to lying, by which I do not mean yarning, as it is called, that is, telling untrue stories for mere amusement, but I here speak of cool, deliberate falsehood, both in word and act. They are, for example, very fond of playing tricks on seamen's preachers on shore ; and I have heard a seaman amuse his shipmates by telling them how, when he was in Boston, he went and joined Father Taylor's Temperance So- ciety, and the next day had a good drunken spree to wash it down. One of the first tricks they try to play on a chaplain NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 397 when he conies on board, is, falsely to pretend that they do not drink, or are religiously inclined, with a view to secure some favor from hiin, that thus they may ridicule him with their messmates. If a chaplain is not warned of this fact, and fails to keep a bright lookout for such tricks, he may find his influence as nothing with the crew, merely because they think he is wanting in shrewdness and sagacity. If, on the other hand, they find him ready for them, and he sends them olT, as they say, with a flea in their ear, they soon learn to let him alone, and will treat him with uniform respect. As most seamen are, from an early age, cut off from kind parental restraint, and from moral and religious instruction, and exposed to the hardening and debasing influence of vice, it is not strange that, among other bad habits, they should form that of lying. Fear of punishment, too, leads them to resort to falsehood to conceal their guilt, when charged with it; nor dare they disclose the evil deeds of their shipmates, for fear of reproach and personal injury from them. Hence, most common sailors are inveterate liars, where their interest leads them to be so ; nor is their word or oath, in such cases, regarded as of much value by those who know them well. One of our ship's boats, with ten or twelve rowers, had been ashore at a port where we were lying at anchor, and the mid- shipman who had charge of it, as is often done, had given the men a bottle of ardent spirits to drink, with a view to gain favor with them. As the men came on board, the officer of the deck saw that they had been drinking, and charged them with it. They all, to a man, stoutly denied the charge, and persevered in doing so, even after the officer of the boat had admitted before them, that he had given them the spirits, and, in thus doing, had violated the rules of the ship. Events of this kind are of frequent occurrence on shipboard. It is, indeed, true, that we hear much of the noble frank- ness of seamen, in freely confessing their faults, just as if there was some merit in it. The amount of it is, however, that such is the standard of morals to which they have conformed themselves, that they feel no guilt as to those things of which they so freely speak, but rather take pride in them. Thus do they glory in their shame ; and this noble frankness, as it is called, so far from being meritorious, is the most conclusive evidence of their deep moral debasement and shameless profli- gacy and guilt. If, for example, a seaman admits the truth of the charge, that a sailor has a wife in every poit he visits, and vol. 11. 34 398 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. you hold up to him the criminality of such conduct, he will coolly justify it on the ground, that so unsettled and wander- ing is their mode of life, that they cannot well look after a family, and ought, therefore, to he freely indulged in this matter. Much of the apparent contrition and tenderness of feeling shown by seamen, when on shore, is the direct result of partial intoxication. We had, on board our ship, a nephew of one of the first divines in Boston, of the last generation, and he had been the playmate and schoolmate of a son of this same clergyman, who had become a notorious profligate. This man had received a strictly religious education, and, like many others, when nearly drunk, would come to me to talk of faith, repentance, and Christian duty ; but, when so- ber, was always peculiarly distant and reserved. This is but one of numerous cases of a similar kind. Thieves are in very ill odor on shipboard, mainly because every one is exposed to suffer from them. When detected and brought up for punishment, the boatswain's mate always whips them with a relish. Still, there is much thieving on board a man-of-war, and ho small article of value is safe if exposed where it may be taken. My first lesson as to this matter, was as follows : Before going on board to stay, I pur- chased a good mattrass, blankets, and other bedding, and as the capstan was in motion, and the hatches down, when I went off with it, the bundle was passed, for the time, into the library on deck. This was the last I ever saw of it; some sailor, as night came on, having, doubtless, appropriated it to his own use, to save him the expense of buying one of the purser. After this, a valuable gold chain, and numerous smaller articles, were stolen from me. Sailors commonly carry what money they have with them, in a small canvass bag, suspended from the neck, and placed next the skin. But they do not always feel safe with it there ; and hence, a number of them made me their banker, asking it, as an es- pecial favor, that I should take care of their money until they needed it. Another prominent vice of seamen, is selfishness. Many will doubtless be surprised at this statement. They have so often heard, in anniversary addresses and the like, that sea- men are the most liberal, noble-hearted, and generous men in the world, that they really believe it to be true. Thus has great and lasting injury been done to the cause of seamen by holding them up more as objects of envy than of charity, so NAVY OF THE UJNTTED STATES. 399 that many good people, instead of regarding the mass of com- mon sailors as poor, reckless, selfish, and degraded beings, calling loudly, by their moral and religious wants, for Chris- tian sympathy and aid, have come to view them much as the dwellers in Lystra did Paul and Barnabas, when they lifted up their voices and said, — " The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men." But let us look, for a moment, at facts in the case. Sea- men, on shipboard, are under such despotic rule, and are, in so many ways, checked and restrained, that they become pe- culiarly selfish and sensitive as to what they regard as their rights ; and, where they dare to be so, are noisy and obstinate in defending them. Hence, it is necessary, in most cases, for masters of vessels to have arms at hand to enforce obedi- ence, and protect themselves from injury. On board a man- of-war, such numbers of all classes and nations, and with no strong personal sympathy or attachment for each other, are so densely crowded together, that each one is forced closely to guard his rights ; and hence, when they fancy themselves encroached upon, they are the most unreasonably selfish and fault-finding race of beings I have ever met with. This self- ishness, too, festers and rankles in the heart so much the more, from the fact, that, owing to the restraints of discipline, it cannot be acted out, either in fighting with their mess- mates, or abusing their officers; nor can they, as on shore, allay their feelings by shunning those whom they hate. It is indeed true that seamen, from their mode of life, are subject to strong and sudden impulses of feeling, and, under their transient influence, perform acts of generosity ; but in most cases, it is impulse, merely, and not fixed principle that guides them. For example, a man falls overboard and is lost, and a subscription is started for his family ; if in this case the officers subscribe liberally, and a fair start is thus given it, one gives because another does, and a handsome sum is collected. There is, however, very little thought or feeling about it. On board one of the ships in our navy, some years since, two men fell from aloft, and were disabled near the same time. For one, his shipmates subscribed $ 1,500, and to the other, they did not give a cent. Much of the apparent liberality of seamen is shown, when, from the influence of ardent spirits, they are hardly moral agents. I have known a seaman on shore, in a for- eign port, buy a donkey with its load of fresh meat on the 400 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. way to market, and, taking out his jack-knife, he cut up the meat and divided it among the poor, who thronged around him, and then, turning the donkey adrift, he went on his way. He was so drunk, however, that he hardly knew what he was doing. Money, too, has not the same value to a sailor, who has no one to provide for but himself, that it has to others. When a seaman gives three or five dollars to a disabled ship- mate, the only difference it makes with him is, that he has three or five dollars less in $ 200 or $ 300 of which to be robbed, when drunk, or otherwise defrauded of, at the end of his cruise. Sailors are often tired of the land before they have spent all their money, and are anxious to ship again. They feel much more at home to sit down on the deck, cut up their victuals with a jack-knife, and drink their tea out of u quart cup, than to conform to table usages on shore. The same is true also of their clothes: while the unrighteous way in which they are fleeced by landlords and others, leads them to regard those around them as a set of landsharks, and to hasten on shipboard for safety. We had on board our ship, an old quarter-master, who had been to sea from childhood. He said that once, after a long cruise, he was seven days on shore before he spent all his money, and that when he went to the rendezvous to ship again, they scolded at him for having been gone so long. On one occasion he was paid off at Pensacola, and finding it difficult to get rid of his money, he hired a house for a month, with a man-servant, and a yellow girl for a house- keeper. Having stayed a few days, and paid all his bills, he had sixty-five dollars left, and not knowing how else to get rid of it, he had it all changed into silver half dollars, when, go- ing to a plantation near, he gave each negro one of these coins, and then went and shipped for another cruise. So much for the value of money to common sailors. I admit, that they often give more freely than landsmen would, in similar circumstances, but then they commonly do so from mere reckless impulse, without any deep-seated and abiding prin- ciple of benevolence. In other words, those acts which are often referred to as proving that seamen have almost angelic virtues, when rightly viewed, are often the most conclusive evidence of their utter recklessness, profligacy, and vice. That profane swearing, of the grossest and most blasphe- mous cast, is a common vice of seamen, is well known to all who have been familiar with them. This is owing to the NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 401 corrupting influence of custom and example, as also to the fact, that, from an early age, seamen are almost wholly remov- ed from the kind and wholesome restraints of the domestic circle, and of public and private religious instruction. In the navy, too, as well as on board merchant ships, the officers are much to blame for the existence of this, and other low and ungentlemanly vices and habits. I have known a mer- chant captain, who, though terribly profane himself, would flog his men severely for swearing, and pour forth a volley of oaths and curses at them when thus punishing them. I need not say, that far more hurt than good is done by such a course. And what benefit, we may ask, can result from hearing a first lieutenant, or other officer of a ship of war, who is intemperate, profane, or severely oppressive in his treatment of those under him, read before the ship's compa- ny, on the first Sabbath of each month, the laws of the navy, which say that, "Any officer, or other person in the navy, who shall be guilty of oppression, cruelty, fraud, profane swearing, drunkenness, or any other scandalous con- duct, tending to the destruction of good morals, shall, if an officer, be cashiered, or suffer such other punishment as a court-martial shall adjudge ; if a private, shall be put in irons, or flogged, at the discretion of the captain, not exceed- ing twelve lashes; but if the offence require severer punish- ment, he shall be tried by a court-martial, and suffer such punishment as said court shall inflict." How directly is such a course as this, fitted to bring all law and discipline on shipboard, into open disrespect and contempt. As to the duty of the officers of a ship, in connexion with profanity, in most cases, nothing more is necessary in order to suppress it, than that they should wholly abstain from it themselves, and give the crew to understand that they disapprove of it. Men who have been addicted to swearing, often wholly abstain from it on board merchant ships, where the captain discountenances it ; and for months together, I have hardly heard an oath on board our ship, in part from having preached on the subject, and distributed the tract, called the " Swearer's Prayer," among the crew, but more than all, from being in the habit of kindly checking profan- ity, and letting it be known, whenever I heard it, that it was peculiarly unpleasant to me. It is often claimed by officers, that seamen are so accus- tomed to profanity, that it is necessary to swear at them, to 34* 402 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. make them believe that you are in earnest with them. This, however, is far from being true, except in those cases in which officers have trained those under them to expect to be cursed and abused whenever they receive a command. No man, how degraded soever he may be, likes to be cursed; and of the two most successful disciplinarians I have known in our navy, one told me that, during the sixteen years that he had been an officer, he had been guilty of profanity but once, and I learned from the other, that though formerly very pro- fane, he had, since wholly abstaining from the habit, found it much easier to govern seamen, than it was before. These are but single specimens of much similar evidence, which might be given to show the effects of this low and vulgar vice. Licentiousness, of the lowest and most debasing character, is the habitual and easily-besetting sin of most common sea- men. That a sailor has a wife in every port he visits is an axiom in their creed and practice ; and, so far are they from being ashamed of this fact, that they will most resolutely argue in favor of this indulgence as right, on the ground that such is their course of life, that they cannot, like other men, well sustain the social and domestic relations, and perform the duties of the marriage connexion. And this unblushing advocacy of the grossest vice, must, forsooth, be regarded as a specimen of the noble frankness of the sailor, of which we hear so much. Allurements to licentiousness are among the surest and most common means of enticing seamen into those snares, which greedy and rapacious landlords so often spread for them. When the agent of these landsharks visits a ship just returning from a distant voyage, he excites the passions of his wretched dupes by offering his services as a guide to her, whose " house is the way to hell, leading down to the cham- bers of death." Thus lured, the degraded seaman, the ready slave of his own beastly appetites, " goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life." The records of our marine and naval hospitals, and the sick-list of our ships of war, soon after the crew have had liberty on shore, tell the rest of the disgusting tale. In times past, it has been customary with our naval com- manders, when in foreign ports, both of savage and of so- called civilized and Christian nations, to permit hundreds NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 403 of abandoned females to spend nights on board our national ships ; thus converting them into floating brothels, and deep- ly disgracing the land from whence they came. The experi- ment was tried on a limited scale, by a base and profligate commander, on board two ships belonging to the station where we cruised ; the one, just before our arrival, and the other, while we were lying in the same port. So decided, however, was the opposition of many of the officers to this vile profanation of our country's flag, that the evil was soon checked, and did not spread to the other vessels in the squad- ron. All are acquainted with the disgraceful scenes which have occurred in connexion with the visits of some of our ships of war to the distant islands of the Pacific, and know that con- verted heathen have defended Christian missionaries ao-ainst the violence of seamen of our navy, who were ready to destroy those who interposed a barrier to the gratification of their sensual desires. So gross and brutal are most common sea- men, in this respect, that the most serious difficulties which occur on board our national ships, arise from opposing their wishes for liberty to go on shore in foreign ports, mainly with a view to gratify their lower passions and appetites. The known corruption, in principle and practice, of many of the younger and some of the older officers in the navy, as to licentiousness, is a serious obstacle to efforts for the reformation of the common seamen. What good can be hoped for, in this respect, when the commander of a ship or a squadron, when wintering in a foreign port, openly hires a house, and keeps a mistress as an undisguised member of his household, inviting his youngest officers to his table, and sending home in a national ship the illegitimate offspring of a former cruise ? For an unmarried officer in our navy, from the youngest to the oldest, to be notoriously and habitually licentious, when abroad, is not considered seriously disrepu- table, or a matter to be concealed in common conversation ; and this because so few are without sin in that respect, that no correct public sentiment is embodied against this form of vice. Where young officers are first corrupted by low and gross conversation when at sea, and then with passions strong and reckless, and far removed from home and its virtuous and wholesome restraints, are exposed in foreign ports to the most seductive influences, and enticed along in the pathway to ruin by debased companions, who would reduce all around them to their own degraded level of infamy and vice, — 494 FORBJGM TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. young officers, thus placed, are almost sure to fall ; and should they afterwards chance to reform, the oppressive con- sciousness of their own past misdeeds, fully known as they are to those who associate with them, will commonly restrain them from any strong and decided efforts to check the onward flow of corruption and vice around them. From certain prudential considerations, as also for other reasons, it is commonly considered disreputable for married officers in our navy to indulge in licentious habits. This, however, has not always checked those of this class from habitual and degrading vice, ending, perhaps, in that disease with which licentiousness scourges her votaries. Virtue, morality, and especially religion, have at times been brought into disrepute in our navy by the forced and heartless respect exacted for them by commanders whose lives and daily conduct were a gross libel, not on virtue alone, but even on the common decencies of life. Where such men have, in their general orders, and in other ways, enjoined the encouragement and cultivation of principles of piety on ship- board, and then have vented their personal spite on chaplains and other pious officers on board, often thwarting them in their efforts to do good, much has thus been done to bring religious influence into disrepute. To see such an one, now desecra- ting the Sabbath by firing needless salutes, and omitting public worship on board, and then, a few days afterwards, visiting some missionary station, feigning a deep and lively interest in the religious efforts which he there witnesses, and treating the missionaries with marked attention and respect, merely to be noticed in the papers, and secure favor with the religious public at home, — to witness such mean and heart- less hypocrisy is trying indeed ; and the more so, when seen in one, who, from his rank, should be an example to others, but whose whole character is such, that even Slander herself, with her carrion appetite, would turn from it with loathing. I have sometimes thought, that when the pampered and cor- rupted form of such a libel on humanity should be laid in the grave, even the worms of the sepulchre would sicken and turn away from the polluted banquet, which thus, as if in insult, was offered to then!. In some cases, a chaplain meets with obstacles, in efforts for the good of a ship's company, from the officious inter- meddling of a weak, but well-meaning commander, who so far identifies himself with mora! and religious efforts on NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 405 board, that religion must needs bear the reproach of the weakness, the faults of temper, and the injudicious move- ments of her self-styled friends. Such men will sometimes resort to force and punishment, to check evils, or urge to duties, in connexion with which moral means alone should be used, and thus the chaplain may, in part, be made a scape- goat for the sins of the commander, and his well-meant efforts meet with distrust or open opposition. Gambling is a vice to which our naval officers are too much addicted when in foreign ports, and especially, when confined for the winter at such places as Mahon, where there is but little in the way of social intercourse, or of literary and in- tellectual amusements, to interest and attract them. In such places, sharpers assemble, and open their gambling-shops, with no other object than, by the thousand frauds and tricks of play, to fleece those wretched dupes who place themselves in their power. It is said, that when our ships of war win- tered some years since at Smyrna, Spanish gamblers repaired there, with their implements of trade, thus making a voyage of several hundred miles, rather than lose a golden harvest. As these gambling places are open to all, the young offi- cer visits them at first merely as a spectator. He wishes, he says, to study human nature, and see the world. He gazes upon the scene with lively interest. He watches the play of absorbing passions, as they glow in the faces of those around him, — the rapid succession of hope and despair, of deep depression and lively transport. In a moment, as if by some magic spell, the shining heaps of gold become the spoil of him who, but just before, was almost penniless. Alas, the temptation is too strong for him. He begins by staking a small amount, and thus the fever grows upon him. If, for a time, successful, he is injured by spending in reckless dissi- pation the wealth so easily acquired. If stripped of his own means, he is tempted to borrow all he can of others, that, by staking it, he may indulge his love of play, or feed the mo- mentary and delusive hope of regaining what he has lost. Unless, taught by sad experience, he early breaks away from this seductive course, the love of play becomes a desperate and en grossing passion, which absorbs the soul, and destroys his relisli for all minor excitements. Literary pursuits, and the purer and more elevated social pleasures, lose their relish, and he gives himself fully up to the influence of this feverish excitement. 406 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. Gambling, with an undue love of show in dress, and other more questionable tastes and gratifications, have often led our naval officers to be guilty of acts of swindling in foreign ports, much to the injury of their own character and that of the service and the country to which they belong. Orders from the Navy Department, given with a view to restrain the younger officers from such breach of duty, have, in some cases, lost much of their efficiency, by being placed for en- forcement in the hands of commanders, who were' known to be sinners above all other men in the respect referred to. Well do I rememher my feelings, when conversing with a foreign merchant of uncommon intelligence and worth, speak- ing of a commander who had left the place several thousand dollais in debt ; he said, that he came to him, just before he left for home, and begged him, with tears in his eyes, to become his security for a year, for $1,000, most solemnly pledging himself that he would pay the debt within that time, and that his bondman should suffer no inconvenience for it. Since that time, he had received several letters from the officer in question, in which he did not even allude to this debt, and the merchant had been compelled to pay it, though he knew not how to spare the funds for the purpose. He then asked me if such were the principles, and such the value of the word of honor, of the highest officers of our navy. Such acts of unprincipled swindling leave a stain of infamy on our na- tional flag, and their corrupting influence extends, in the way of example, from the higher to the lower grades of our naval officers. One form of imposition, from which seamen in our navy suffer, is connected with' their half-pay tickets. There is a rule, by which, when they go abroad, they can receive a cer- tificate, which entitles the holder of it to draw half his wages, as they become due, from the navy agent of the sta- tion at home, where it is given. Of these, sailors are often defrauded by landlords and other sharpers, but especially by their so-called wives. These women, who are often the low- est and most abandoned harpies in our large cities, manage to secure the confidence of the seamen of our navy, when they are on shore' for a spree, and thus secure to themselves the benefit of a half-pay ticket for years. It is said of one of them at New York, that the disbursing officer noticed that she came quite often for pay, and, on inquiry, he found that she had been married to two seamen, whose cruises com- NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 4/37 raenced and ended at different times, so that one was sure to be at sea, while the other was at home. By thus entertaining each of them a week or two, once in two or three years, she received full seamen's pay, equal, perhaps, to 8 150 a year. As the punishments inflicted on board our men-of-war, and especially that of flogging, are often matters of remark, in our public prints, it may not be amiss to give them a passing notice. One of the lighter punishments is to slop one's grog, — that is, to forbid him his allowance of whisky for a given time. This is often severely felt at first, — the longing thirst for it, at those hours when it is served out, and when its odor fills the ship, making those accustomed to it quite wretched. Some urge, as a reason why they do not give up the use of spirits altogether, that then they could not be punished by stopping their grog, but must be flogged for every light of- fence. To confine men under the charge of a sentry, or even to put them in irons, is not a very severe punishment, — for any infliction which is common, soon loses its disgrace in the eyes of a ship's crew ; and then there is no place for solitary confinement on board, by which a man might be removed from the sympathy and intercourse of his shipmates ; while, at the same time, the person confined is freed from toil and exposure on deck, which many would regard as a peculiar favor. The common implements for flogging are the colt and the cats, or cat-o'-nine-tails, as it is sometimes called. The colt is a cord, some three feet long, and about the size of a large whip-lash, one end of which is wound around the hand of the person using it, while the other is applied to the back of the person punished. This is commonly used by the order either of the first lieutenant, or of the officer having, for the time, charge of the deck. The cats are nine cords, about two feet lonij tied to the end of a stick of the same length. They can be used only by the order of the commander of a ship or squadron, and not more than twelve blows can be given for a single offence, except by a sentence of a court- martial. Some commanders, however, inflict two or three dozen at a time, for as many different offences. The cats are commonly used in the presence of the whole ship's com- pany, and, being applied to the naked back, each cord causes the blood to settle under the skin, or cuts to the flesh, ac- cording to the severity with which punishment is inflicted. 408 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. Flogging with the cats is an exceeding!)' severe punish- ment, though some suffer much more from it than others. During our cruise, two men were sentenced, by a court-mar- tial, to receive twenty-five lashes apiece, on board each of the four ships of the squadron, as an example and warning to all who might witness their sufferings. Having reached our ship, one of them received his twenty-five lashes, and passed on to the next to be punished there, while the other one was so much reduced, that, after receiving ten lashes, our surgeon gave orders to desist, as, in his opinion, the man's life would be endangered by inflicting more. And here the question will arise in every benevolent mind, — Cannot this cruel and degrading punishment be dispensed with in our navy ? Ought man, immortal man, created in the image of his Maker, to be bruised and beaten like a beast ? As the feeling which prompts these inquiries is most humane and commendable, and as scenes of this kind which I have witnessed, have forced me to think much and feel deeply on the point in question, a few suggestions connected with it, may not here be wholly improper or misplaced. The first remark I would make then, is this, that individu- als who have been accustomed to virtuous society alone, where religious restraints, a conscientious regard for human laws, and the refining and elevating influence of the female sex is felt ; where, too, there are few temptations to vice, and where those of conflicting tastes and feelings may shun excit- ing collision with each other; — individuals thus trained may greatly err in judging of the character and the means neces- sary to be adopted for the government of those, many of whom have, from infancy, been familiar with almost every form of vice, and who, cut off from the restraints of religion and of virtuous society, have not only learned to work all un- cleanness with greediness, but are thrown into close and con- stant collision with each other, with every variety of national character and prejudice to excite their angry passions. Men of this cast, many of whom know no principle but fear, need something severe and rigid in the way of restraint and pun- ishment to secure quiet and obedience among them. Another important remark in this connexion is, that, other things being equal, the ease with which any body of men can be governed, depends upon the number of which it consists. Most persons will conduct very differently, acting under the excitement of a crowd, and the impulse of a multitude around, NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 409 than when alone or in a small and quiet community. Many a hoy, who, in his own peaceful village was sedate and cor- rect in his conduct, when transferred to a large school or col- lege, or a crowded city, becomes shrewd and artful, or wild and impetuous, or reckless and daring in his character and conduct, and needs the eye of caution, and the hand of vig- orous firmness, and, it may be, of severity, to check and guide him. The greater the number of individuals you col- lect together, the more there will commonly be of those who will tempt each other to vice, and unite in opposing or evad- ing needful discipline and restraint. Where a teacher, or the officer of a ship, has but a few un- der his control, each one feels his personal influence, and is so far under his observation, as to be in a great degree re- strained from doing wrong, and from combining with others to evade or resist rightful authority. If, however, you add greatly to the number of those to be governed, you. in the same degree, divide and lessen the influence of him who gov- erns, as felt by each of those under him; and, at the same time, add to the number and increase the chance of conceal- ment of the reckless and the vicious. Add to this, that a public sentiment is thus often formed, strongly opposed to disclosing what is known of crime, and subjecting the inform- er to deep disgrace, and you may thus perceive the necessity of severe and summary punishment to restrain men in such circumstances ; and, also, that though a few bad men may be governed and restrained on board a merchant vessel, merely by the personal influence and close and constant inspection of the master and mates, yet the case may be far different where hundreds are collected together on board a man-of- war, and where, too, the safety of the ship often requires the united, exact, vigorous, and harmonious action of a great number of men ; and the order coining from the stripling midshipman must be as promptly and implicity obeyed, as that of the highest in command. A remissness in effort, or absence from the post of duty, on the part of a single individ- ual, may endanger the ship, and, with it, the lives of hun- dreds of human beings. In such circumstances, punishment for failure of duty, or refusal to perform it, should be prompt, certain, and severe; and sure I am, that I should be unwil- ling to risk myself on board a man-of-war, where the crew were not restrained from crime, and impelled to duty by the fear of corporal suffering. Such exigencies as at times exist vol. ii. 35 410 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. on board a man-of-war of the larger class, especially in those latitudes where unknown rocks and reefs abound, and where the hurricane and tornado, with scarce a moment's warning, sweep over the ocean, are not known on land; and common rules of judging cannot be applied to them, or the duties con- nected with them. I am, indeed, fully aware, that the use of ardent spirits on board our ships of war, causes much of the turbulence, con- tention, disobedience, and neglect of duty, which are pun- ished by flogging ; still, seamen must be greatly changed in their character and habits, before large bodies of them on ship- board can be entirely governed by moral suasion or an appeal to their sense of duty or fear of disgrace. The great difficulty is, that the standard of character and of morals among them is so low, that the officer has no correct public sentiment which he can bring to bear on those under him, in the way either of motive or example. There is much less danger of undue severity in punishment on board a man-of-war, where the kinder feelings and cooler judgment of the mass of the offi- cers restrains and tempers the heat and rashness of the pas- sionate, than in the merchant service, where the master reigns with despotic sway, and is, withal, sometimes a low-bred, jealous, and violent man. A single fact will show how little effect the fear of a flog- ging has on seamen, as also that they often do things that are wrong, taking fully into the account the whipping which they know they will receive for doing so. When provisions are served out on deck, it is the duty of the sailor who is, for the time, the cook of his mess, to be present, and take charge of what belongs to his messmates. When we were in a foreign port, our surgeon wished to obtain a fine piece of salt beef for a friend on shore, and promised one of the messes a lot of fresh meat in exchange for their weekly portion of salt beef. They therefore agreed, that the cook of the mess should absent himself when the provisions were given out, and then, having received a dozen lashes for his neglect of duty, he should go down into the hold and there select a better piece than he would otherwise have received, and thus secure a finer supply of fresh meat for the mess, — all of which was done. NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 4H CHAPTER XXX. NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. Intemperance, its Causes. — Strength of Appetite. — Smuggling. — Tem- perance Ships. — Reformed Drunkards. — Punishments. — Sickness. — Drunken Quarrel. — Disgrace abroad. — Laws of Congress. — Officers. — A Murder.— Execution. —Reflections.— Naval Schools. — Midshipmen. — Increase of Pay. — Religious Influence and Character. — System of Promotion ; its Evils. — Chaplains ; their Number, Duties, Character, and Qualifications. — Results of their Efforts. — Epitaphs at Mahon.— Case of Reformation. — Rev. Mr. Lord. — Claims of Naval Chaplains. — Aspersions of Peace and Non-Resistance Agents and Societies. — Con- clusion. Intemperance in the use of ardent spirits, is to the sea- man literally the mother of abominations, and the prolific source of most of his degradation and deep and bitter woe. This cup of cursing the sailor has exhausted to the very drecrs, and, in doino; so. has not only degraded himself well- nigh to a level with the brutes, but has also often inflicted deep and lasting disgrace on the flag under which he sailed, and the nation to which he belonged. Intemperance is pecu- liarly a social vice, and, as no class of men are thrown into closer contact, or, when on shore, are under higher social excitement than seamen, so none have yielded more entirely to the seductive influence of this deadly evil. The severe toil, and long and trying exposure to storms and tempests, as also the great and sudden alternations of climate, from which seamen often suffer, have, in times of past ignorance and error, led to the belief, that they, above all other men, needed the excitement of ardent spirits, to cheer and to strengthen them amid their arduous duties. Seamen, also, as a distinct and peculiar class of men, who are much of the time on the ocean, and removed from the influence of those means of light and reformation which act on society on shore, need strong and persevering efforts to reclaim them from degrading vice. It may not, therefore, be amiss, in this connexion, freely to give the result of years of close daily observation of this evil, and of efforts made to free seamen from this, their worst enemy and their bitterest curse. 412 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. Though before going to sea, I had heard much and seen something of the degrading and almost hopeless bondage, with which a thirst for ardent spirits holds its wretched vic- tims, I had yet but faintly realized the all-subduing power of this beastly appetite, until called to contend with it on shipboard, where, as the enemy of all righteousness, it with- stood, with deadly opposition, every effort which was made to elevate and improve those committed to my care. A few facts may aid in showing the strength of this appetite, and some of the evils resulting from its free indulgence. When our ship was taking in stores at the Navy-yard, be- fore leaving home, one of the crew managed to whitewash a barrel filled with whisky, and, thus passing it on board as a tar-barrel, he rolled it forward on deck, and at night, having broken in the head, and using an old shoe for a cup, all helped themselves, and twenty-eight were found drunk the next morning. We had on board a man who, in going out to the Mediter- ranean in one of our national ships a short time before, had become intoxicated, and, being confined for it and deprived of his grog, so strong was his thirst for ardent spirits, that he drank a quantity of paint in which whisky had been mixed, though he knew that it was rank poison. Having been seized with violent spasms, and expecting soon to die, he confessed to the chaplain what he had done, and, by power- ful medicines, was saved. On reaching Gibraltar, as the cholera panic was then at its height, one of the questions asked by the health officer was, if any of the sick on board had had spasms. To this the surgeon replied, that one man had, when, without waiting for any explanation, they were ordered forthwith to leave the port. At Mahon, it was only by a technical quibble that the ship was admitted, and at Naples they would have been forced to leave, had not an English physician, of influence in the city, interceded for them, and, by coming on board and returning with a favorable report, he obtained permission for the ship to remain. Thus, by the drunken folly of a single man, was the cruise of one of our national ships, involving an expense of hundreds of thousands of dollars, wellnigh broken up; and there are those who, in their wisdom, would place this cup of cursing and of woe in the hands of the seamen of our navy, be- cause, forsooth, a market is thus furnished for the whisky, into, which the staff of life is so wickedly converted in the NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 413 mighty West. Representatives in Congress are not ashamed to argue in favor of this evil, because their constituents are whisky-makers, though such an argument, in such a cause, should scorch the lips and burn the tongue of him who utters it. A common way of bringing ardent spirits on board, is in what are called snakes, — that is, in the skins of the intes- tines of animals, which sailors, who have been on shore, wind around their legs under their large trowsers. When they come on board, they are always examined by passing the hand over every part of their bodies. Boatmen who bring on board articles to sell, often manage to conceal ardent spir- its, and smuggle it on board, knowing, as they do, that a sailor will give almost any price for it. In one case, a man used to take bladder-skins, and putting them, when empty, into a large earthen jug, would fill them with spirits, and then, tying a string around the mouth, dropped them. Having thus filled the jug, he poured in a little milk among them, so that, when he came on board, he would open his jug, and show his milk, and was permitted to pass on, when by break- ing the jug, or piercing the skins, he came at the liquor, and sold it. At the island of Malta, ardent spirits are smuggled on board in cigar-boxes, lined with parchment, those who bring them having one box of cigars open, which they show, in passing, to the officer of the deck. The most singular means, however, I have ever known of obtaining ardent spirits, was the following : When we reached Mahon, most of the crew of the Delaware 74, were at the hospital on an island in the harbour, with the cholera among them. Some of the stronger ones were employed, from time »o time, to cover the walls of the hospital with a wash, made of Spanish white, olive oil, and whisky. The lieutenant in command, perceiving that, when he was absent, but little was done, concealed himself, and, unseen by the men, watched their movements. He found that they waited until the oil in their paint-tub had collected together on the top, with the whisky next below, and the Spanish white at the bottom, when, running a quill through the oil, they sucked out the whisky and drank it. As the officers of our navy are much of the time at sea, and are thus beyond the reach of most of the moral influence exerted on the subject of temperance, their own reformation, and their efficient agency in reforming others, could not be 35* 414 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. hoped for at so early a period as might otherwise have been expected. It was also often claimed, that, were not seamen intemperate, you could never induce them to go on board a man-of-war. Sailors have frequently said to me, that nothing but rum brought them there, and that, if seamen did not drink ardent spirits, you could never man a ship of war. Hence, officers used often to say to those under them, that a man who went on shore on liberty, and did not come off drunk, was no sailor. Thus, were all induced and encour- aged to indulge in intoxication. As the wages of seamen on board merchant-vessels are commonly higher than in the navy, it is often difficult to man our ships of war ; and hence, when one of our national ships returns from a foreign cruise, the more of them there are who squander away their money, or get drunk and have it stolen from them, the greater the number who are without the means of going to visit their friends, and must, therefore, immediately ship again. Hence it is, that thus far the inter- ests of the service are opposed to the moral welfare of seamen. These motives are often peculiarly strong where men finish their term of service when in some foreign port, and their aid is needed to pursue the cruise and bring the ship safely home. In such cases, not only do they receive their full pay to squander with reckless profusion, but something in advance is offered to induce them to ship again ; and thus are they able, for a longer time, to wallow in the mire of beastly sen- suality and vice. Many of our crew told me, that the great number of mer- chant-ships which sail on the temperance plan, led them to go on board a man-of-war, where they could have their grog. Their allowance was half a pint of whisky a day, which, on board our ship, was put in a large tub, and mingled freely with water, and served out to them three times a day. Thus, the time taken up in serving out this poison is nearly equal to that taken up by their meals, to say nothing of the space occupied by it on ship-board, which, in long voyages, is needed for water and provisions. Those who relinquish their allowance of spirits for any period of not less than three successive months, receive in the place of it one dollar and eighty cents a month. Of about five hundred on board our ship, less than one hundred had, at the end of the first year of our cruise, drawn their grog the whole time ; and by thus saving their money, they NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. were able to supply themselves with many little comforts in the way of provision and clothing, of which they must otherwise have been destitute. In one case, the whole crew of one of our sloops of war stopped their grog for two months, that thus they might have money with which to buy a sword to present to a favorite officer, and then returned to their old courses again. Such facts prove that ardent spirits are not needed for our seamen. Indeed, they are far more obedient, efficient, virtuous, and happy, when strictly temperate, than when they use small quantities only of the poison. There are many men, who, though they would never be intoxicated with their allowance in the navy, are yet made silly and stupid, or disobedient and reckless, or cross and irritable by it. I often found it true, that old and confirmed drinkers, who were with us, from a deep feeling of what they had suffered by this vice, were more ready to renounce it, and more firmly resisted temptation, than the young and the thoughtless. Many of those who, when we left home, held places of trust as petty officers, or in other subordinate stations, but who, on account of intemperance, lost their places, afterwards reform- ed, became sober and trustworthy, and were restored to their former places. These were, strictly speaking, reformed drunkards, raised from the lowest depths of that degrading vice, though thrice a day the ship was filled with the fumes of whisky, and their unreformed companions spared no efforts to lead them astray. There was one fine fellow, who was strongly attached to me, and, yielding to my personal entreaties, gave up his grog for three months. He said, that if there was no whisky on board, he should care nothing about it ; but to have the ship filled with the smell of it, and see his messmates rushing to the grog-tub, it was more than he could bear ; it gave him such a hankering for it, that he was constantly wretched. Such, in substance, would be the testimony of many seamen in our navy, who are corrupted and debased by the ardent spirits furnished them by law of Congress. We had on board an old man whose life, from his youth up, had been a truly eventful one. He had, among other things, been impressed into the English navy during the last war ; his papers, proving him an American citizen, had been torn to pieces before his face by a British officer ; he had escaped from his ship, and lived for some time among the natives in the East Indies; had for a Ions time been an 410 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. inmate of Dartmoor Prison, where, being one of the shrewd- est of the universal Yankee nation, he had carried on an active trade in selling beer. Having returned to Boston at the close of the war, after an absence of eight or nine years, some of his friends came a distance of forty miles to see him, furnished him with money with which to clothe himself and go home. This he spent in a spree, and shipped on board a man-of-war for a foreign cruise of four years, and sailed with- out seeing his wife and children. When with us, his chil- dren were respectable and prosperous, and would have pro- vided well for him at home, or he might at any time have had command of a vessel, if he would have consented to sign the temperance pledge. This, however, he had refused, and, during the early part of our cruise, his allowance of whisky so addled his brain, that he was almost an idiot, being stupid and silly in the extreme. Having been persuaded to give up his grog, he suffered severely by the change ; and such were the fears for the result, enfeebled as his constitution had been by long indulgence, that the surgeon, the captain, and other officers advised him to commence drinking again. He re- plied, that he had bound himself not to do so, and he would not, if he died. At length his health, strength, and vigor of mind returned, and, as a petty officer, he was one of the shrewdest and most diligent and useful men on board. The change seemed almost miraculous, and one could hardly believe him to be the same man as before. We found, almost uniformly, that when boats' crews or other classes of our men were exposed to temptation on shore, more of those who drank their whisky on board, by a pro- portion of four or five to one, would become intoxicated, than of those who did not. Quite as great as this was the balance of public punishments for intoxication and other crimes, against the whisky drinkers. We found from official reports, that in the case of one distinct class of our men, more than fifty in number, the balance of punishments against the drinkers was as seven to one. Had whisky been banished from our navy before the reform commenced in the merchant-service, it might for a time have been difficult to have obtained seamen for our men-of-war ; but I am fully of the opinion, that the time has now come for this step, and that, by taking it, good seamen may be had in the place of those drunken wretches, who enter the navy merely for the sake of whisky. NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 41 7 A sore evil connected with issuing spirit rations on board our men-of-war, is found in the fact, that seamen often lose their lives by neglecting to report themselves until disease has such a hold upon them, that they cannot be cured, and this, mere- ly because they cannot have their grog when they are on the sick-list. I had a shipmate, who, from this cause, suffered under a raging fever, without medical treatment, until within three days of his death, when he was past all hope. Another of our crew was sick for several months, during which time, his character seemed to have undergone a radical religious change. As he began to recover, and come on deck, the surgeon strictly charged him not to taste of ardent spirits, as, in the state he was, it would surely kill him. Led by the force of appetite, however, and the persuasions of his ship- mates, to take a drink of grog, he died a day or two after- wards. When we first reached Mahon, twenty-three men belonging to the Delaware had just died of the cholera. Commodore P told me, that not one of them would have been lost, had they obeyed orders as to reporting themselves early to the surgeon of the ship, and that the love of strong drink prevented them from doing so. In view of the results of intemperance, as seen on board our men-of-war, one cannot but feel, that all should exert themselves to suppress this destructive vice, for no class in society have escaped its deadly ravages. There was with us, in the squadron, a son of a learned professor in one of our first and oldest colleges. He had received a good education, had engaged with promise and success in the practice of his profession, and was connected with a Christian church. He fell, however, a victim to intemperance, and, to flee from dis- grace, went on board a man-of-war For a time, he partially reformed, and the chaplain of the ship wrote to his friends, that they might cheer him onwards. Soon after this, however, the cholera broke out, when, through fear, or from some oth- er cause, he had a drunken spree which lasted for some days, during which he rolled about upon the floor like a brute. Almost by a miracle he escaped death by the cholera, but soon after killed himself by taking morphine, several small papers containing this poison having been found in his stom- ach on dissection. Two men on board our ship, were one night engaged in a drunken quarrel, when in falling, one of them had his own knife thrust into his groin, by which the femoral artery was 418 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. severed so as soon to end his life. Both of these men had respectable connexions in the vicinity of Boston, and the one who was killed had been a merchant in that city. I overheard one of our men at breakfast, lamenting the degradation and ruin which intemperance had brought upon him, and with strong feeling, telling his messmates of the efforts which a pious father had made to reclaim him, and how he revered and loved the good old man, and how often he thought of him, though many years had passed since he had seen him. With burning shame, he compared his own wretched and degraded state with the high standing and success in life of his brothers, who were virtuous men. Soon after this, I went and pressed him with the folly of his course, and he saw and felt that it was worse than madness. At noon I saw him again, and oh, it was enough to break one's heart to see him. To drown the voice of conscience, he had drained the cup of woe. Confined, and in irons, he rolled about upon the deck, a drunken, raving maniac. He howled and prayed, and cursed and blasphemed the name of his God, all in a single breath. And oh, that unearthly howl ! it made my blood run cold as it rang through the ship, it seemed so like the voice of wailing from the pit of woe. It was no stupid, brutal cry: it had in it the soul of a man, and was filled with the anguish of a deathless spirit. It came, too, from one of warm heart, and fine feelings, who, but for this single curse, might have been a man indeed, wearing the image of his God. Then I thought, that could this man, sunken as he was, but be placed within the halls of Congress, where those who make our laws could see and hear him, it would do more than any human eloquence, to lead them, as one man, to rise up and refuse longer to furnish the poor sailor with this liquid fire. And I could wish that those who would not thus do, might ever hear this voice of wailing sounding in their ears with words of cursing and of woe. Why, oh why should we, by law, place this deadly poison before the poor tempest-tossed, weather-beaten sailor, who hath sorrow enough, God knoweth, without this cup of cursing. Shall the Christian and philanthropist be si- lent when he views such scenes; and sees, too, that the in- temperance of those belonging to our navy, makes us a by- word and reproach in foreign lands, and causes us to be looked upon with horror, or with pity and contempt, by the follower of Mahomet, and even by the poor degraded Pagan 1 .NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 4J-aored in active duty, but a little extra exposure to the weather, or over exertion, or undue indulgence of some of the animal appetites, brings them upon the sick-list, and the burden of their duties rests severely on others. In view of these facts, well may we ask, — Why should mere boys, unaccustomed to fatigue, be brought into the ser- vice, and why should not those who enter it as officers be examined as to their health, by a surgeon, as the common seamen are 1 and why, finally, ought we not to have a naval academy or college, for the early scientific training of our naval officers, admission to which, as in the case of other colleges, to be based on certificates of good moral character ? The late increase of pay, in our navy, has a tendency to encourage and enable the younger officers to appear and dress like gentlemen. Compel a young man to live on coarse fare and dress poorly, to use his sheets for a table-cloth, to bor- row clothes of his messmates and be meanly served, and you humble and degrade him, and greatly lessen his pride of char- acter and self-respect. A man's conduct and language are affected not a little by the dress and style of living of himself and those around him. An increase of pay furnishes the means of an earlier and better settlement in married life than could otherwise be hoped for ; and no one, who has not wit- nessed the fact referred to, can know how much is effected by a devoted and honorable attachment to a lovely and virtu- ous woman, in restraining from vice wild and reckless young men, when peculiarly exposed to temptation, and cut off from all moral and religious restraint. Peculiar prominence is here given to moral and religious influence, because the man who is morally corrupt and de- based by vice, can neither respect himself, nor secure the es- teem of others. He may exact respect for his talents, and may, through fear of consequences, compel those around him to observe towards him the outward forms of politeness, but, as to any sincere and heartfelt esteem, he fails of securing it. He may have the noisy, bullying, animal courage of the common sailor, and thus, acting in a crowd, may discharge his duty well in time of action, but he has nothing of that self-reliance and high moral courage, which sustains and ani- mates the upright and virtuous man. Can we safely rely upon a commander who is himself profane, licentious, a swindler, and it may be intemperate, to watch over and form 424 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. the moral character of the younger officers of the navy? and, should such an one attempt rigidly to enforce the laws of the navy against these vices, would not his character and con- duct render his efforts to this end worse than useless? If we would have, as officers in our navy, men whose influence in discipline will be wholesome and efficient, — men who will respect themselves and secure the esteem of others, — who can safely be trusted with the despotic and almost irresponsi- ble power, which is placed in the hands of our naval com- manders, and who, too, will be cool, collected, and brave in action, we must have upright and virtuous men, whose example will aid in sustaining their influence; and still better were it, if, like the late Commodore McDonough, they were devout and pious men, not ashamed to ask the blessing and the aid of God on the eve of battle, or to render him public and heart- felt thanks for victory and success. These remarks have been suggested and fully confirmed by carefully observing the superior reputation, efficiency, and success of the virtuous and pious officers of our navy, as compared with those of an opposite character, And here I am happy to state, that there is an increasing number of officers in our navy, who, by their virtues and their moral and religious worth, are a credit to the service, and would grace any circle in which they might be placed. There are others, however, and sorry am I that it is so, who, though wearing swords and epaulettes, and claiming to be gentlemen, are so in dress alone ; their con- duct and their language grossly belying their outward ap- pearance and their vaunted claims to gentility. Some of this class are so lost to all sense of decency, that their common conversation at the mess-table and elsewhere, is most loath- some and offensive to every virtuous mind, and such, withal, ts should for ever exclude them from all decent society. There are some prominent evils connected with the sys- tem of promotion to rank and office, existing in our navy. Where reference is had in promotion to the time one has been in the service alone, and not to merit, each one being ele- vated to a higher rank when his turn comes, it will of course happen that some and it may be many will reach the highest grade of office, who, by their want of self-control, of natural talent, of courage, of good morals or education, are wholly unfit for the station they occupy. It is often true, also, that the weakest and most worthless officers, have the most influ- ential friends and connexions to stand by them in the hour NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 425 of trouble, and shield them from their just deserts. A com- mander, convicted of theft and other base crimes, has been freed from the sentence of a court-martial, by the discovery, on the part of a learned friend, of a slight informality, in the proceedings of the court ; and the wretch, guilty, but un- harmed, has been sent back to his station, to tyrannize over those, by whose means he had been brought to trial. A weak and timid commander may not only disgrace his country in time of action, but, when sailing in warm and sickly latitudes, may fear to run near enough to the coast jto secure the benefit of the land breezes, or to avail himself, so far as it is prudent, to do so of the breath of the tornado to bear him onwards, instead of putting his ship directly before it, and permitting it to carry him in a direction opposite to that in which ne should go. Thus, may the cowardice of a single man endanger the lives of scores or hundreds, by de- taining them where the deadly breath of the pestilence reaches them. Such a man may, through natural weakness of character, be scarcely a moral agent, and the guilt and blame in the case must rest upon the government, which em- ploys such wretched tools. It has been said by one long familiar with our navy, that there are many intimacies, but few friendships among the officers. The reason of this, is found in the frequent collis- ions of feelings, arising from conflicting claims to rank and honor, and the jealousy with which officers of the lower grades, regard the standing and authority of those above them. The eager thirst for rank and promotion, attended as they are by higher authority, increased pay, and better fare and accommodations on shipboard or elsewhere, leads the younger officers to feel any thing but unmingled grief for the death of those above them ; nor is the chance of promotion connected with war, or the cruise of a ship or squadron in sickly climes, viewed without interest by the eager aspirants for rank and office. This, surely, is a gross perversion of the moral feelings and sympathies of our nature. Chaplains are allowed, in our navy, to most of the navy- yards, frigates of the first class, and all larger ships, com- monly called seventy-fours, but carrying in most cases 100 guns or more. Such, at least, is the law, but it is rarely the case that there are as many chaplains in the service as the law allows, owing to the neglect or refusal to appoint them. Men high in office are not always the most anxious to pro- 36* 4-26 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. mote the moral and religious welfare of those ander them, and such a thing has been known as a first clerk, in the Navy Department, who was a foreigner and a Catholic, who not only controlled his superior in office, but who used his power to give those of foreign origin in our navy the preeminence over native born citizens, as also to persecute and drive from the service such chaplains as would not become the subser- vient tools of himself and his partisans. I should not state these facts had they not been perfectly notorious, and mat- ters of free and frequent remark among the officers. It results, from the facts stated above, that about one half of the officers and men in active service in our navy, are cut off from all moral and religious instruction and influence, and are constantly exposed to the most corrupt and debasing allurements to vice. Hence, profanity and licentiousness abound; the Sabbath becomes a day of visiting and amuse- ment, and a time for receiving on board, in the ports of Catholic and heathen countries, kings, princes, and men of rank, in whose honor splendid entertainments are given, and noisy salutes are fired. Thus do commanders in our navy, instead of correctly representing, when abroad, the Protest- antism of our nation, warrant by their conduct the belief, that, like the Catholic nations of Europe, we regard the Sab- bath as a day to be mainly devoted to amusement and sin. The officers of our navy, too, when not in active service, are commonly so engaged in travelling for amusement, and in visiting their friends, as not to avail themselves of such reg- ular and efficient religious instruction, as would benefit them- selves and secure their respect and regard for the holy pre- cepts and wholesome restraints of Christianity. Hence, it is too often true, that, when they leave their native land, they cast off all serious regard for the Sabbath, and act on the sailor maxim, that there is no Sunday where there is more than five fathoms of water. Another flagrant evil bearing upon the moral condition of our navy, has been the character and conduct of the chap- lains formerly employed. Previous to the year 1826, it was not required by law, that our naval chaplains should be cler- gymen, and hence it often happened, that the commander of a ship or squadron would give the office to some graceless and abandoned profligate, whose presence would be no re- straint upon vice, and whose public performances would ex- pose religion and its votaries to ridicule and contempt. Men NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 427 habitually and grossly intemperate and profane, have thus been employed to read prayers and sermons on shipboard, and have been held up as representatives of the religion of Christ. I have it from those who were themselves eye and ear witnesses of what they state, that one of these chaplains, so called, the moment he closed public worship would turn to his servant, and, in the hearing of all, with a profane oath or curse, order him to bring him a glass of grog, — that another used to lie drunk on the deck every night, and that another, who went on shore with the officer who told me the fact, to bury a man, was so drunk when they landed, that the officer himself was compelled to read the funeral service, and leave the chaplain lying on the bottom of the boat. Since the order was given, that no one should receive the appointment of chaplain, who was not a regularly ordained clergyman of good standing in his own denomination, it has been difficult to secure permanently the services of able and well-educated men, owing to the fact that the salary of a chap- lain at sea, was, until the recent increase of pay, but about half as much as was given to those stationed at navy-yards, though the latter was by far the most desirable service, nor was it such as to enable one to support a family respectably. The result was, that the office was sought either by men who had little prospect of succeeding in their profession on shore, or by young men, of talents and energy it might be, whose lead- incr aim was to secure the advantages of a cruise or two at sea, with its facilities for foreign travel, and then resign. The present pay of a chaplain, however, is such as to hold out inducements to young men of talents and piety to look to the office as a permanent one. I would here give peculiar prominence to the education and talents of a chaplain, be- cause, among men who have but little regard either for piety or for the clerical office, he must secure not only the respect which belongs to high moral worth and purity of character, but that also which follows superior talents and attainments, or he will not be able to stem the current of adverse influ- ences which press heavily upon him. The law requires that divine service should be performed at stated times, " unless bad weather or other extraordinary circumstance prevent." When, therefore, an irreligious com- mander has, as a chaplain, one who has not the ability as a writer and a speaker, to interest the officers and crew, some "extraordinary circumstance" is sure often to occur, or to be 428 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. manufactured for the occasion, in order to prevent public worship. Thus has it occurred in repeated instances, that a chaplain has been on board one of our ships of war for two or three years, during the whole of which time, he has been called upon but once to perform the rites of public worship, the impression made by this effort being such as to prevent any further call for his services. And yet, a commander who has thus treated one chaplain, has, when another of more popular talents has been with him, exacted, with rigid punctu- ality, attendance upon the religious duties required by law. As the scientific knowledge necessary for promotion in the navy is much less than is commonly acquired in college, and as, in foreign cruises, questions connected with the natural sciences and ancient history often arise on shipboard, a well-educated chaplain, if not vain, forward, and obtrusive, may secure much respect for himself, his office, and his reli- gious efforts, by rightly using his superior attainments. He may also do much in wisely guiding the reading and person- al researches of the younger officers, and in leading them to well-directed efforts for collecting materials to enrich the museums of scientific institutions at home. By a knowl- edge of the leading modern languages, also, a chaplain may often make himself highly useful when abroad, and may thus secure, in a peculiar degree, the favor and respect of the offi- cers with whom he sails, by acting as an interpreter for them in their intercourse with foreigners, as also by translating of- ficial and other papers, in those languages, which are received on board. A chaplain should be peculiarly guarded in his language and conduct, that thus he may avoid giving any just cftuse of offence to men, who, as a class, are peculiarly sensitive as to their opinions and their rights. He should strictly observe the etiquette of the service as 1o the customary acts of respect to officers of different grades; and, while he respects the rights and feelings of others, he should not permit his own to be trifled with. He should call any one to an account who treats him in a disrespectful and ungentlemanly manner; and, if he is himself what he should be, he will be sustained by his fellow-officers in asserting and maintaining his rights, and, if necessary, in bringing the offender to trial and pun- ishment. On the other hand, if he permits himself to be trampled on with impunity, no one will defend him, and soon his character and influence will be hopelessly gone. NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 429 That a chaplain should be a man of self-possession and un- shaken fortitude, in view of impending danger, is obvious; for if he is filled with fear when peril threatens, not only does he thus dishearten those, who, at such times, look to him for hope and comfort, but he also brings reproach upon that reli- gion which he has commended as a sure support in the hour of darkness. It is said of a chaplain in our navy, that, some years since, when there were fears that the ship in which he was had sprung a leak, and he showed himself greatly fright- ened, in the presence of the crew, a lieutenant who was near seized him by the shoulders, and helped him, without cere- mony, down the ship's ladder to the deck below. In this, he served him right, for the chaplain of a ship of war should be above all suspicion of cowardice in any form. A chaplain should have free and familiar intercourse with all the seamen on board the ship in which he sails. Some officers are, I am aware, opposed to this, as, in their view, injuring the discipline of the service, by violating that strict regard to the distinctions of rank and office which, in gen- eral, I admit to be right and best. The chaplain, however, has not, like other officers, to command and govern. His duty is to instruct and persuade. He goes among the men as their personal friend and adviser ; and, if he rightly uses his influence, he may greatly aid in the discipline of the ship, not only by checking those vices which make men idle and turbulent, and promoting those virtues which lead them to be industrious and contented, but also by explaining many things to them, connected with their condition and treatment, which, when misunderstood, or harped upon by the evil-disposed among them, often cause much dissatisfaction and complaint. He may also have access to means of knowledge beyond the reach of other officers, which may enable him to expose and counteract base and malicious slanders originated by the crew, with a view to ruin the character of an unpopular offi- cer. Still, he should never act the part of an informer, or violate the confidence reposed in him by any individual. A chaplain, who is active and faithful, may in a few months learn enough of the character and habits of several hundred men, to convince them, individually, of his interest in their wel- fare, as also to enable him to give any one of them such ad- vice or personal reproof as he may need. Listen kindly to the sailor's tale of woe, and from that time forward you be- come his friend and may hope to do him good. 430 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. Above all, should a chaplain be peculiarly kind and atten- tive to the sick, whether officers or men. In sickness, the heart is open and tender, and there is that in sincere Christian sympathy and kindness, so distinct and so far above any thing of mere earthly growth, that he who exercises it gains a high vantage ground. Besides, I have always found that wicked men shrink away from each other, or have no solid comfort to impart, when in trouble ; and at such times, too, the suf- ferer craves religious truth and guidance. Acts of Christian kindness, also, bestowed on those who are far removed from kindred and friends, are doubly dear to such as are the ob- jects of them, and rarely fail to win the whole heart. There are times when all men of reflection, be their character what it may, are wiliing freely to converse on the truths connected with a coming world ; and the chaplain who is prudent and judicious in his religious intercourse, may gain access to all who sail with him, and cause his personal influence to be strongly felt by them. A chaplain should have a strong, clear voice, and should be a ready and fluent extempore speaker. The noise of the winds and waves, and the motion of a ship at sea, are often such, that no desk or written sermon can be used ; and the strongest voice must be severely taxed to make itself heard by the whole of a ship's company. And yet, a few im- pressive and appropriate words uttered, and a hasty prayer to God, amid the din of conflicting elements, when all are forced to feel their dependence upon him, will often sink deeper into the heart, and do more good, than the most labored and able services at other times. Chaplains have sometimes done much good by superin- tending and directing the instruction of the boys on board, as also by teaching the midshipmen mathematics. As to the latter duty, however, it must, if faithfully performed, often interfere with strictly professional claims of service ; and hence it is well, that mathematical teachers should be em- ployed as a distinct class in the navy. If due allowance be made for those vices of seamen which result from their peculiar temptations, their freedom from ju- dicious restraint, and their want of early religious instruction, I have thought that the permanent effects of a well-planned and prudent, and, at the same time, vigorous and systematic course of moral and religious effort with sailors on board a man-of-war, may be as clearly and decidedly beneficial in NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 43 1 repressing vice, and in promoting good order, contentment, morality, and Christian principle, as in the case of any com- munity of similar rank and intelligence on shore. The con- stant and exciting collision of mind with mind, on board a man-of-war, is indeed fitted quickly to dissipate serious re- flection ; but, at the same time, it gives increased activity and power alike to the intellect and the moral feelings ; and hence, seamen will follow an argument more closely, and their sym- pathies are more deeply and easily excited, than those of most other men, whose education has not been superior to theirs. Though seamen often meet with incidents which excite the feelings, far more than any thing which occurs on land would do, yet, they not unfrequently sacrifice, in a great de- gree, the religious benefit they might derive from impressive dispensations of the providence of God, by their unrestrained indulgence of wit and humor. Examples of this occur in the epitaphs which they compose for their deceased ship- mates. Of these, the following, copied from monuments in the graveyard where our seamen are buried, at Mahon, may serve as a specimen. Over the inscription which follows, the outlines of a cask are drawn. The epitaph reads thus : " In memory of William Mulloy, a native of Troy, State of New York, a cooper on board the United States ship Dela- ware 74. His adze becoming edgeless, his staves worm- eaten, his hoops consumed, his flags expended, and his bungs decayed, he yielded up his trade, with his life, on the 29th of April, 1829." The following explains itself: " Although his skin 's of dusky hue, His heart was pure, his friendship true : His glass upon this earth is run, He '11 rise again in kingdom come. His duty he performed with care, As captain's cook of Delaware." Another, — " The bark is waiting, I must be ready ; Charon put off, Steer small and steady." With all the trials and opposing influences with which a chaplain at sea must contend, however, there will still be some thino-s to encourage him. Here and there one will sympathize with him in his religious feelings, and he may do much to cheer and strengthen such in their onward course of 432 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AJND LIFE AT SEA. virtue and of piety, while, to the sick and the sorrowing, his counsels and his care may be as a soothing balm to the soul, or as life from the dead to their crushed and wounded spirits. When a seaman breaks away from the bondage of his corrupt and debasing vices and habits, and, under the in- fluence of deeply-seated religious principle, takes a stand as a virtuous and pious man, the mighty effort required in gain- ing this position, and the constant and deadly struggle he is forced to maintain against his long-cherished passions and appetites, and the opposition and enticements of former com- panions in iniquity, — these, and other causes, give a tone and depth, and vigor to the religious character of the truly pious seaman, such as is rarely met with in those of any other calling. The following case is quoted from my private journal. Sept. 22d, 1836. — This afternoon there died on board this ship a colored man, by the name of J. M. He was well-in- formed on religious subjects, and apparently a humble and devout Christian. He had for some time been conscious of his approaching end, but felt no anxiety as to the result. There was no enthusiasm in his feelings, but a cool and re- flecting state of mind, which, taken in connexion with his previous exemplary conduct, his uniform patience, during a long and trying illness, his devout habits, and his clear and intelligent views of religious truth and duty, have secured, in a high degree, the respect of his medical attendants, and left a very favorable impression on my own mind, as to the reality of his piety, and his consequent preparation for a bet- ter world. Since leaving the navy, I have followed, with interest, the history of such of my shipmates as, from time to time, I have been able to hear from ; and rarely do I meet with a tarpaulin, without looking under it, to see if I do not recognise the fa- miliar face of some old shipmate, and many and warm have been our mutual greetings. Often have I learned from them the melancholy end of some one, who was with us, who has fallen from aloft, or who perished, by shipwreck or disease, in some foreign land. Sometimes, however, more cheering news is heard, such as to lead me to feel, that the most har- dened and reckless are not beyond the reach of hope, and that no efforts should be spared to reclaim them. Not to notice other cases of an interesting character, there was, on board our ship, a youth, some sixteen or eighteen NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 433 years old, who was the coolest and most brazen-faced villain I have ever known. With vice in almost every form he was quite famiiiar, and yet, such a grave and serious air, and such perfect self-possession had he in all circumstances, and so readily and plausibly would he tell falsehoods, to advance his ends, that he could easily pass himself off for almost any thing he attempted. He told me, he had for some time been a teacher in a Sabbath school in the city of New York, and I little doubt that he played his part to perfection. He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and read with the utmost eagerness every book he could obtain. With the common infidel and Universalist arguments he was quite familiar, and, collecting the other boys around him, he would discourse to them about Sheol, and the Valley of Hinnom, aiun and aionios, with the gusto of an amateur in such matters. Under my teaching in the Sabbath school, the only way I could keep him in his place was, by threatening to turn him out of the class, by which means he would have been cut off from the use of the library books. I have never met with one whom I regarded as more plainly marked out for the gallows, such an adept was he in deception and vice. And yet, from his talents and acquirements, I could not but feel a peculiar in- terest in him. Thus I left him at the close of our cruise. I heard nothing more of him until, during the summer of 1841, I met my friend the Rev. Mr. Lord, the devoted and successful pastor of a seamen's church in Boston. He said, that a young man, who had been a shipmate of mine, had attended a prayer-meeting at his church a short time since. His attention had been arrested by reading a religious tract at sea, and, immediately on landing, he had sought out a place of instruction. So overpowering were his convictions of the guilt of his past life, that he besought in his behalf the prayers of the pious with such earnest entreaty as to sub- due all who heard him to tears. The next day his mind was relieved of its burden, by a humble reliance upon the merits of him who died to save us from our sins, and, during his stay in port, he gave good evidence of a radical change of character. He confessed his having been guilty of a course of vice and crime, such as almost surpassed belief, and ex- pressed his wonder, that he had not before that time ended his life upon the gallows. He stated, that he had opposed my efforts for his good, by plying me with infidel arguments, and in other ways. He was anxious to see me, and contem- vol. 11. 37 434 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. plated a journey of some sixty or eighty miles, for that pur- pose, but did not accomplish it. Thus much for my old friend G., and his case has done much to convince me, that the most reckless and abandoned seamen are not beyond the reach of hope. There has been a change for the better, great and strongly marked, in the general character and deportment of the offi- cers and men of our navy, within a few years past ; and, in repeated instances, chaplains have been cheered and encour- aged amid the peculiarly trying and self-denying labors of their office, by a general seriousness among those who sailed with them, and the commencement, on the part of many, of a sober, devout, and religious course of life. Some, who were formerly officers in the navy, are now able, pious, and suc- cessful preachers of the Gospel ; and there are others still, who are now connected with the naval service, whose educa- tion, talents, piety, and knowledge of the world are such as would fit them for peculiar usefulness in the clerical profes- sion. I have spoken thus at length of the character and trials of chaplains, to show their peculiar need of kind, Christian sym- pathy and encouragement in the discharge of their important duties, as also with a view to counteract the cruel and wicked aspersions of those ultra advocates of Peace and Non-Re- sistance, who, in their public addresses, and in formal reso- lutions, denounce all clergymen, who are connected with naval or other military service, as being guilty of directly aiding and abetting profanity, intemperance, licentiousness, and other forms of vice. The charges thus urged would seem the more singular and trying, were it not that our Saviour was accused, by those of his day, of being " a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners," be- cause, like our naval chaplains, he went among wicked men for their good. There are those, who, in their zealous hatred of war, seem to have brought themselves not only to hate all military men, but those also who are laboring to do these men good ; just as some have such a horror of slavery, that they would cut off slaves from the means of moral and religious improvement, and bitterly denounce those who are striving to enlighten and bless them. In closing this work, and sending it forth to the world, I feel as if parting from an old and familiar friend, long the CONCLUSION. 435 solace and companion of my lonely hours. It carries with it the results of distant travel, of high excitement, of delightful social intercourse, of visions of poetic grandeur and beauty, of hair-breadth escapes by land and sea, and the treasured thoughts and feelings of the brightest, happiest years of my past life. Often, when abroad upon the deep, or amid the quiet retirement of country life, have the silent hours of night stolen quickly away, when pleasantly employed in musing on past scenes and events of peculiar interest, in giving a per- manent form to the facts, thoughts, and feelings which ab- sorbed the mind, or in reading the history of other days, to each event of which a local habitation had been given by a recent visit to the places where they occurred. In thus send- ing forth this book to the world, to meet with many whose tender mercies are cruelty, it is with a lively sympathy for its fate, a feeling of depression at the loss of its companionship, and its stimulus to delightful and exciting effort, and, as I trust, with emotions of humble and heartfelt gratitude to God, for his kind protecting and preserving care during the varied and eventful scenes and incidents of that portion of my past life, a narrative of which has here been given. Nor would I, in recording the goodness of the great Crea- tor, forget those impressive lessons of his majesty and power, as contrasted with the weakness and frailty of man, so often suggested to the mind by viewing, in all their widely varied magnificence and grandeur, the wonders of the mighty deep, the shining beauties of the heavens when lighted by the stars of evening, or hung with the gorgeous clouds which grace the setting of the summer's sun ; or, more than all, in the wild commotion of the elements, when lashed to fury by the breath of the tempest. In recalling scenes like these, as in this work they have passed in review before us, or as more deeply and vividly impressed upon the minds of those who have witnessed them, and have felt their present and pervad- ing power, mi(jht I in verse express the feelings thus excited, its tenor would be as follows : All Nature tells us of a God, Who rules the nations by his nod ; — The jrranc'eur of the sable cloud, Which spreads majestic, — Nature's 6hroud : — The darting of the lightning's fire, Which makes man tremble at the ire Of Him who sits upon the throne, And reigns Almighty and alone: — 436 FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND LIFE AT SEA. The deep-toned thunder's awful voice, Which drives man from his sinful joys ; With soul-struck horror makes him quake, Lest God arise and vengeance take, And thus his soul with wrath be riven With deeds all dark and unf >rgiven ; — These all, with varied notes, proclaim The glories of his holy name, Who gives the Moon her gentle light, And spreads the beauties of the night; — Who bids each distant shining star Send forth its gladsome rays afar ; Hides with his clouds the King of day, Then drives with wind those clouds away ; Now bids the waves of ocean roll, A nd freely pass their wonted goal ; Then, at a word, those waves are still, Obedient to their Maker's will. See yon fair Moon ; — with robe of silver light The earth and sea she clothes with splendor bright, Her beauteous rays reflected, meet the eye, And the deep ocean seems another sky. Or, view this ocean heaving high its tide, And rolling onward with majestic pride, When, gently yielding to the Moon's fair reign, Its widespread waters seem one living plain ; — Or, when the tempest, moving in its wrath, Ploughs through the sea a dark and foaming path ; Or, when the whirlwind's wild and angry sweep Stirs up the fountains of the mighty deep : — Speak not such scenes, in Reason's gifted ear, Of power and grandeur ; such as make man fear, With voiceless eloquence the soul subdue, Or tears of rapture all the cheek bedew. The brilliant Sun lights up the evening sky, And casts o'er Nature hues of richest dye ; While the bright bow, uniting earth and heaven, Tells erring man of sin's dark guilt forgiven. The rising°mist, — a robe of living light, — The widespread sea now clothes with purest white ; The fair horizon, stretching far and wide, With richest purple now is deeply dyed : The gorgeous clouds, above the king of day, In brilliant masses proudly float away. Here shining amber o'er the sky is spread, There the bright scarlet or the deeper red : All Nature glows with fairest glory crowned, With joyous music all the waves resound. Then comes the twilight with its sweet repose, And fading splendor o'er the ocean throws ; Then starry eve in silent beauty reigns, And spreads her mantle o'er the watery plains. conclusion. 437 The midnight storm hath breathed its heaviest blast, Sublimely wild its fitful grandeur passed ; The vivid lightning o'er the dark-robed night No longer darts its rays of lurid li«ht ; The deep-toned thunder, whose terrific peal Made the firm pillars of the earth to reel, — • Its thousand echoes rolling far away In silence sink as comes the rising day ; — The dark clouds, driven from their ocean home, Float proudly oft" in other skies to roam. Now, view the glories of the morning sun, Like man of might, fresh clad his race to run, Decked like a bridegroom soon to meet his bride, In all the splendor of his richest pride ; While mists of morning wave before the eye, And sunlit billows seem a floating sky. Eternal God, — how vast thy wonders are ! The winds thy coursers, and the clouds thy car : — Thy word, which spoke all being into life, Now guides the storm, or calms the tempest's strife : The wild tornado is thine angry breath, Which whelms whole navies in the gulf of death ; The lofty mountains, in thy balance cast, Are like the dust, which flees before the blast; — Old Ocean's isles, deep-rooted where they stand, Are things of nought, suspended by thy hand. END OF VOL. II. > THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. 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