PART III.
AJOURNEY TO INDIA, &c.
AJOURNEY TO INDIA, &c.
A
JOURNEY TO INDIA, &c.
After passing through an immense tract of country, distinguished by nothing that could serve even as a circumstance to mark and remember our daily journeys, but which I observed to grow manifestly worse, both in soil and climate, as we proceeded Southward, we came in sight of the famous city of Bagdad, on the seventh day from that on which we left Mosul, and on the eighteenth from that of my departure from Aleppo; in which eighteen days we had rode fourteen hundred miles, partly through a route which no European, I have reason to believe, ever took before.
On entering the city, I desired my guide to conduct me to the house of a Merchant, to whom I had got letters of credit and introduction. He took me accordingly through the windings of severalstreets, and at last stopped at the door of an Armenian Merchant, orCoja, where he made me alight, and come in. I was received with great politeness; and, on producing my letter, found that he was not the person to whom it was directed: I accordingly made a suitable apology, and was for retiring to find the house of the proper person, for which purpose the Armenian offered me a servant, when, to my great astonishment, my Tartar interfered; said that it was to this Merchant he brought all his goods, and that I must remain where I was; at the same time ordering the Armenian, in a peremptory tone, to take charge of me, and use me well. It was in vain that the Armenian endeavoured to explain to him the nature of the business, and that I insisted I must go to the other Merchant——Hassanwas peremptory, and declared that I should not. It was so extremelyoutréand ridiculous, that I could not be angry; and the good Armenian uniting his voice with that of the Tartar, and entreating me to favour him with my company, I acquiesced, and indeed remained in his house all the time I was at Bagdad. This was proof positive, if any other than I already had was wanting, that he considered me merely as a piece of merchandise, which he was bound (according to the language of Merchants) to deliver in good order and condition.
I had undertaken, before leaving Aleppo, to give the guide, if he acted conformably to my wishes, and behaved well, twenty pounds over and above the hundred provided by the agreement: Itherefore sent for him, to settle finally, and part. He had heard that I was a person different from what he had supposed me to be: but it did not alter his conduct, as might be expected, or make him stoop to cringing; he still spoke with the same honest, bold familiarity; and when I gave him the promised twenty pounds, he never hinted, cringed for, or even looked as if he expected more: but when we came to part, the feelings he disclosed, and those I myself felt, convinced me, that Man is not naturally that brute which prejudice has made him; and, when left to its own operations, the human heart would be uniformly kindly, affectionate, and sympathetic: the poor, rough, unpolished Turk, betrayed the strongest marks of sensibility, and I myself once more felt the uneasiness of parting.
I think this is the proper place to give you my opinion of the Turks, while the recollection of honestHassanis fresh in my mind; and I cannot do it better than by quoting the words of an excellent French Writer——-
“The Turks (says M. duLoir) are naturally a good people, which is not to be ascribed to the climate; for the Greeks born in the same climate have very different dispositions, and retain only the bad qualities of their ancestors, viz. roguery, treachery, and vanity. The Turks, on the contrary, priding themselves on their integrity and modesty, are distinguished in general by an open, ingenuous simplicity of manners; courtiers only excepted,who, to Turkey, as every where else, are the slaves of ambition and avarice.”
The name of Bagdad has been so renowned in Eastern story, and is the scene of so many of those bewitching tales which we find translated, or pretended to be translated, from the Arabic and Persian, that I felt great pleasure in seeing it, and conceived myself to be at the very fountain-head of marvellous adventure and romance. Fraught with this idea, I was impatient to go forth into the town; and notwithstanding the weather was beyond conception hot, I paraded a number of streets: but never did I, in the course of my life, see a place so calculated to bely the opinion one would form of it from the Eastern tales. It appeared to me to be among the most disagreeable cities of the world, and has no one circumstance that I could discover to recommend it: the heat is so great, that in the Summer-time the inhabitants are forced to keep their markets in the night, and to lie all night in the open air on the terraces of their houses.
The Armenian with whom I resided, did every thing in his power to render the place agreeable to me; and I shall always retain a lively sense of his goodness and hospitality: he was not only generous and polite, but well informed, and pleasing in conversation. I took occasion to express to him the disappointment I felt at finding Bagdad so very different from what I expected; and told him that I had, when a youth, learned to think highly of it,or rather romantically, from reading Eastern tales. This led to a conversation on the Arabian Nights Entertainments, a copy of which he had in the Arabic, and produced it: he then shewed me, with great triumph, a French translation of them, printed at Paris, which he had read, and declared that the translation was nothing at all in comparison with the original. I believe he was well qualified to judge, for he was a perfect master of the French language.
We talked of the Eastern tale of the Glass Man, who, in a reverie, increases his stock till he gets so rich as, in imagination, to marry the Cadi’s daughter, &c. &c. and in kicking his wife, kicks all his glasses about, and destroys the whole of his visionary fortune. I praised the humour of it much——“Sir,” said he, “there is nothing in it that may not be experienced frequently in actual life: those waking dreams are the usual concomitants of opium: a man who has accustomed himself to the pernicious practice of eating opium, is constantly subject to them. I have, in the course of my time, found a thousand of those dreamers holding forth in the plenitude of imaginary power. I have seen a common porter become Cadi, and order the bastinado. I have seen a wretched tailor raised by the effects of opium to the office of Aga of the Janissaries, deposing the Sultan, and ordering the bow-string to all about him. I have seen some indulging in the blandishments of love with Princesses, and others wallowing in the wealth of Golconda. But the most extraordinary visionary of this kind I ever met with, was onewho imagined himself translated to Paradise, co-equal to Mahomet, and sitting by the side of that prophet, arguing with him in defence of the use of wine and opium: he argued most ingeniously, listened in silence to the supposed arguments of his adversary, answered them, replied, rejoined, and still argued on——till, growing at last angry, he swore that he was as a good a prophet as him, did not care a fig for him, and called him fool and false prophet. A Turk who was present, in the fulness of his zeal, laid a stick very heavily across his shoulders, and put an end to the vision: and never did I see a wretch so abject, so forlorn, or so miserably desponding; he put his forehead to the ground, which he wet with his tears, crying, Mercy, Mahomet! mercy, holy Prophet! mercy, Alla!——nor could he find relief (such is the ruin of opium) till he got a fresh supply of it in his mouth, which soon gave him a temporary respite from the horrors of his situation.”
Unquestionably, Bagdad was once a great city, of flourishing commerce; but the SultanAmuraththe Fourth, when he made himself master of it, put the richest Merchants settled there to death; and it has ever since gradually declined. About two days journey from it, lie the ruins of the once famous city of Babylon. I was much disposed to go to see it, and thence drop down the Euphrates to Bassora: but my Armenian host told me there was nothing in it to recompense a person for half the trouble; for, of that magnificent city, which was sixty miles in circumference, which was encompassed with walls eighty-seven feet in thickness,and three hundred and fifty in height, nothing was to be seen but the bare foundations of some great edifices. The Tower of Belus, and the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, lie with the rest in undistinguished ruin. The greatest curiosities, then, were, in the first place, the ruins of a building said to be the famed Tower of Babel, which appeared to have been half a league in compass; and the remains of a vast bridge over the Euphrates, where it is half a league broad.
I was not more anxious to arrive at the city of Bagdad than I was to leave it; and having written letters, and put them in a way of being forwarded to Europe, I took leave of my friendly hospitable Armenian, and, with a thousand acknowledgments for his kindness, set out on horseback to a place on the Tigris, where I embarked in a boat, in order to proceed to Bassora. This river, known since the first records of human existence by Geographers, is remarkable for its rapidity, whence,Plinysays, it has the name of Tigris, (in the Median language, a dart); and for its extraordinary course, which is in many places under ground, rises in Armenia, sinks into the earth near mount Taurus, and runs under a mountain——then rising at the other side, follows its course through the lake Thespites——again sinks frequently under ground, and continues hid at one time for a space of twenty-five miles; where, once more emerging, it glides along with a very rapid stream, meets the Euphrates at a place called Korna, passes through Bassora, and falls into the Persian Gulph.
As the boat in which I took my passage had no convenience for excluding the violence of the sun, except an awning, I suffered extremely from the heat. The river itself was grand; but the banks, and contiguous country, contained nothing to attract notice——no object to diversify the dreary, deserted aspect of the scene——nothing to afford room for reflection, or give birth to a new idea. I do not remember to have ever passed through such a vast extent of country, so uniformly dull and uninteresting. The only thing that served to keep the mind alive, was the apprehension of robbers, who, in great numbers, hover over this river, and plunder passengers. We had taken care, on leaving Bagdad, to be well provided with fire-arms; and they did us yeomen’s service——for we were frequently attacked by robbers with a view to plunder, but found that a shot or two dispersed and sent them off in consternation. One night, however, in passing a creek, we perceived several boats issuing from it, in great order, and in a manner that evinced method and premeditation: we silently prepared for their reception, and were completely ready to meet them warmly, while they thought us quite unprepared, and unconscious of their approach: they first endeavoured to board us by surprise: wishing rather to frighten than to kill them, we began by firing over their heads; on which they set up the most horrible shouts, and rushed on with a tumultuous rapidity, making the most terrible noise, in order to intimidate us: they were by this time quite near us; we therefore took aim at them, and let fly,and immediately perceived them in great confusion, some of the boats losing their helm, and falling with the stream on the others: at last we saw them sheer off, and they gave us no farther trouble.
After eight or ten as disagreeable days as I remember to have spent in my life, weakened with incessant watching, harassed with bodily fatigue, and melted with the excessive heat of the sun, I arrived at the city of Bassora, where I was received with the utmost hospitality by Mr.Latouche, the Company’s Resident from Bombay, who did every thing possible for my accommodation, and procured me every instruction respecting my further progress.
This city, as well as Bagdad, is famous in marvellous story. The country about it is considered by the natives as the best spot in Asia, though the burning winds annoy and frequently destroy travellers, overwhelming them with mountains of hot sand, driven, like waves of the sea, before the tempest out of the neighbouring deserts. It carries on a great trade, and is inhabited by vast numbers of Christians and Jews. The English and Dutch have factories here, as well for the purpose of commerce,as the transit of dispatches, by way of Damascus and Aleppo, to Europe. The richest merchandise of India and Europe are brought here in caravans; and its opulence is greatly increased by the caravans of Pilgrims, who pass through it on their way to Mecca, and pay great duties, bartering for many rich commodities. The horses of this place are celebrated for their superior excellence: it is said that they will run thirty hours without meat or drink; I doubt the fact, and should be sorry to see so inhuman an experiment tried.
One comfortable circumstance attending Bassora is, that at night the streets may be walked with perfect safety at all hours. It is subject to an Arab Prince, who is tributary to the Turk, and whose revenue is very great, as well from the above-mentioned causes, as because he gives full liberty to all Nations to come and trade to his capital.
From Bassora I took my passage in a date-boat going to Muskat, expecting to get from thence a speedy passage to Bombay; but the boat sprung a leak at sea, and we were obliged to run into Busheer, where I was very hospitably received and entertained by Mr.Galley, the Company’s Resident.
There really seemed to be an unusual fatality attending me throughout the whole of my journey. You will recollect, in the first instance, I was prevented, by the war with France, from going by the direct route which I should otherwise have taken, and obliged to pass through the Low Countries and Germany——In thenext place, at Venice I was disappointed in obtaining a passage to Latachæa; and, immediately on the heels of that, lost my servant at Trieste, by sending him for letters to Venice——Afterwards, when I had gone to Alexandria with expectation of travelling through Egypt, and viewing that interesting part of the world, I found myself prevented by the unhappy circumstances of the country——the plague raging in Alexandria, and all the roads being blocked up by an incursion of the Arabs. Thus mortified and disappointed, I turned about, in order to make my way in another direction; and arriving at Cyprus, found, to my infinite surprise and regret, that an epidemic disease, little short of the plague, prevailed there, and swept off the inhabitants in great numbers: when, after surmounting all those obstacles, I arrived at Aleppo, the first information I got was, that the caravan was gone, and that it would be a long time before another would be ready; and my departure from Aleppo was attended with circumstances no less inauspicious than my entrance——At Mosul I experienced another disappointment, by the river’s being dried up, and rendered impracticable by boats——My passage from Bassora to Muskat was impeded by the vessel springing a leak——And now, when at last I hoped to get from Busheer to Bombay, I was stopped by the intelligence that the Gulph was blocked up by French privateers, insomuch as no vessel could hope to escape. I was therefore obliged to remain at Busheer, till a Company’s frigate, commanded by CaptainHardy, and soon expected,should afford me an opportunity of proceeding to Bombay. Time, however, brought that period about; and I took my passage, and arrived safe at Bombay, where I soon after embarked on board a Portuguese vessel, being the only conveyance that offered for me to proceed to Madras: she was first bound to Goa, and we arrived safely at that island, where I was received with great politeness, and treated with the most friendly attention, by Mr.Henshaw, the English Resident.
Goa belongs to the Portuguese: the Viceroy of that Nation lives there in great pomp. It was once the scene of the most abominable cruelties, exercised by that flagitious people on the natives, under pretended zeal for Christianity——I had read the AbbéRaynal’s glowing description of it; and as I trod the ground, my frame trembled at the thoughts of the massacres perpetrated there.
I was impatient to get from Goa, and yet I looked forward to my departure with a secret uneasiness, for which I was entirely unable to account——I wished to proceed, and yet some secret foreboding whispered to my heart that I was on the verge of calamity: so powerful was it, and so obstinate, that I could neither reason away its admonitions, nor resist its impressions; and something incessantly told me, in as plain language as if a human being spoke, that I should suffer a dreadful misfortune. As I had all my life been an enemy to superstition, I felt my spirit insulted, and my understanding degraded, by the involuntary victory which I allowed to this impression——I combated it with reason, with ridicule, with self-contempt——allin vain: in spite of me, I became the very slave of gloomy presentiment; and in order to get the succedaneous aid of a friend’s reason, as well as to be prepared, I communicated the state of my feelings to Mr.Henshaw. In vain he endeavoured to cheer me: all he could do was to give me his counsel; in consequence of which I actually settled all my affairs up to that day, made my will, left it with Mr.Henshaw, and, full of dreadful forebodings of shipwreck, went on board a Portuguese snow bound to Madras.
It was now the eighteenth day of May when we sailed from Goa. The hemisphere had been for some days overcast with clouds: some light showers of rain had fallen; and you may conclude that it did not tend to raise my spirits, or free me from my ominous apprehensions, to hear that those circumstances indicated an approaching gale of wind. I observed, moreover, that the vessel was much too deep in the water, being greatly overloaded——that she was in many respects defective, and, as the seamen say, ill-found, and in short very unfit to encounter a gale of wind of any violence. I scorned, however, to yield to those united impressions, and determined to proceed.
On the nineteenth, the sky was obscured by immense fleeces of clouds, surcharged with inflammable matter; and in the evening, the rain fell in torrents, the firmament darkened apace, sudden night came on, and the horrors of extreme darkness were rendered still more horrible by the peals of thunder which rent the air, and thefrequent flashes of lightning, which served only to shew us the horror of our situation, and leave us in increased darkness: mean-time the wind became more violent, blowing on the shore; and a heavy sea, raised by its force, united with it to make our state more formidable.
By day-light on the morning of the twentieth, the gale had increased to a furious tempest; and the sea, keeping pace with it, ran mountain-high; and as it kept invariably to the same point, the Captain and Officers became seriously alarmed, and almost persuaded that the South-west Monsoon had set in, which, if it were so, would render it absolutely impossible for us to weather the coast. All that day, however, we kept as close as the violence of the weather would allow us to the wind; but the sea canted her head so to leeward, that she made more lee than head-way; and the rigging was so strained with the work, that we had little hope of keeping off the shore, unless the wind changed, of which there was not now the smallest probability. During the night there was no intermission of thestormstorm: many of the sails flew into ribbons; some of the rigging was carried away; and such exertions were made, that, before morning, every stick that could possibly be struck was down upon the deck.
About seven o’clock on the morning of the twenty-first, I was alarmed by an unusual noise upon the deck, and, running up, perceived that every remaining sail in the vessel, the fore-sail alone excepted, was totally carried away. The sight was horrible; andthe whole vessel presented a spectacle as dreadful to the feelings as mortifying to human pride. Fear had produced, not only all the helplessness of despondency, but all the mischievous freaks of insanity. In one place stood the Captain, raving, stamping, and tearing his hair in handfuls from his head——here, some of the crew were cast upon their knees, clapping their hands, and praying, with all the extravagance of horror painted in their faces——there, others were flogging their images with all their might, calling upon them to allay the storm. One of our passengers, who was Purser of an English East-Indiaman, had got hold of a case-bottle of rum, and, with an air of distraction and deep despair imprinted in his face, was stalking about in his shirt. I perceived him to be on the point of serving it about, in large tumblers, to the few undismayed people; and well convinced, that, so far from alleviating, it would sharpen the horrors of their mind, I went forward, and with much difficulty prevented him.
Having accomplished this point, I applied myself to the Captain, and endeavoured to bring him back (if possible) to his recollection, and to a sense of what he owed to his duty as a commander, and to his dignity as a man: I exhorted him to encourage the sailors by his example; and strove to raise his spirits, by saying that the storm did not appear to me by any means so terrible as some I had before experienced.
While I was thus employed, we shipped a sea on the starboard side, which I really thought would have sent us down. The vesselseemed to sink beneath its weight, shivered, and remained motionless——it was a moment of critical suspense: fancy made me think I felt her gradually descending——I gave myself up as gone, and summoned all my fortitude to bear approaching death with becoming manhood.
Just at this crisis, the water, which rushed with incredible force through allpartspartsof the vessel, brought out floating, and nearly suffocated, another English passenger, who was endeavouring to take a little repose in a small cabin boarded off from the deck: he was a very stout young man, and full of true spirit. Finding that the vessel was not, as I had thought, going immediately down, he joined me in exhorting the Captain to his duty: we persuaded him to throw the guns overboard, as well as a number of trunks and packages with which the vessel was much encumbered; and, with some little exertion, we got the pumps set agoing.
Here I will stop, knowing the warm sensibility of myFrederick’smind; and, convinced that his sympathetic heart will go hand-in-hand with his Father’s sufferings, I will not overcharge it with grief by an immediate continuation of the business, but defer it to another Letter.
The name of the English passenger, whom I mentioned to you in my last Letter as assisting me in getting the Captain and Mariners to do their duty, wasHall. He was a young man of a most amiable disposition, and with it possessed all that manly spirit that gives presence of mind in exigences of danger. He and I having, with great difficulty, got some hands to stick to the pumps, stood at the wheel, at once to assist the men, and prevent them from quitting it; and, although hopeless, determined that no effort practicable on our parts should be wanting to the preservation of the vessel. The water, however, gained upon the pumps, notwithstanding every effort; and it evidently appeared that we could not keep her long above water.
At ten o’clock the wind seemed to increase, and amounted to a downright hurricane: the sky was so entirely obscured with black clouds, and the rain fell so thick, that objects were not discernible from the wheel to the ship’s head. Soon the pumps were choaked, and could no longer be worked: then dismay seized on all——nothing but unutterable despair, silent anguish, and horror, wrought up to frenzy, was to be seen; not a single soul was capableof an effort to be useful——all seemed more desirous to extinguish their calamities by embracing death, than willing, by a painful exertion, to avoid it.
At about eleven o’clock we could plainly distinguish a dreadful roaring noise, resembling that of waves rolling against rocks; but the darkness of the day, and the accompanying rains, prevented us from seeing any distance; and if they were rocks, we might be actually dashed to pieces on them before we could perceive them. At twelve o’clock, however, the weather cleared up a little, and both the wind and the sea seemed to have abated: the very expansion of the prospect round the ship was exhilerating; and as the weather grew better, and the sea less furious, the senses of the people returned, and the general stupefaction began to decrease.
The weather continuing to clear up, we in some time discovered breakers and large rocks without side of us; so that it appeared we must have passed quite close to them, and were now fairly hemmed in between them and the land.
In this very critical juncture, the Captain, entirely contrary to my opinion, adopted the dangerous resolution of letting go an anchor, to bring her up with her head to the sea: But, though no sea-man, my common sense told me that she could never ride it out, but must directly go down. The event nearly justified my judgment; for she had scarcely been at anchor before an enormous sea rolling over her, overwhelmed and filled her with water, andevery one on board concluded that she was certainly sinking——On the instant, a Lascar, with a presence of mind worthy an old English mariner, took an axe, ran forward, and cut the cable.
On finding herself free, the vessel again floated, and made an effort to right herself; but she was almost completely waterlogged, and heeled to larboard so much that the gunnel lay under water. We then endeavoured to steer as fast as we could for the land, which we knew could not be at any great distance, though, we were unable to discover it through the hazy weather: the foresail was loosened; by great efforts inbailingbailing, she righted a little, her gunnel was got above water, and we scudded as well as we could before the wind, which still blew hard on shore; and at about two o’clock the land appeared at a small distance a head.
The love of life countervails all other considerations in the mind of Man. The uncertainty we were under with regard to the shore before us, which we had reason to believe was part ofHyder Alli’sdominions, where we should meet with the most rigorous treatment, if not ultimate death, was forgotten in the joyful hope of saving life; and we scudded towards the shore in all the exulting transports of people just snatched from the jaws of death.
This gleam of happiness continued not long: a tremendous sea rolling after us, broke over our stern, tore every thing before it, stove in the steerage, carried away the rudder, shivered the wheel to pieces, and tore up the very ring-bolts of the deck——conveyedthe men who stood at the wheel forward, and swept them overboard. I was standing, at the time, near the wheel, and fortunately had hold of the taffarel, which enabled me to resist in part the weight of the wave. I was, however, swept off my feet, and dashed against the main-mast. The jerk from the taffarel, which I held very tenaciously, seemed as if it would have dislocated my arms: however, it broke the impetus of my motion, and in all probability saved me from being dashed to pieces against the mast.
I floundered about in the water at the foot of the mast, till at length I got on my feet, and seized a rope, which I held in a state of great embarrassment, dubious what I should do to extricate myself. At this instant I perceived that Mr.Hallhad got upon the capstern, and was waving his hand to me to follow his example: this I wished to do, though it was an enterprise of some risk and difficulty; for, if I lost the hold I had, a single motion of the vessel, or a full wave, would certainly carry me overboard. I made a bold push, however, and fortunately accomplished it. Having attained this station, I could the better survey the wreck, and saw that the water was nearly breast-high on the quarter-deck, (for the vessel was deep-waisted); and I perceived the unfortunate English Purser standing where the water was most shallow, as if watching with patient expectation its rising, and awaiting death: I called to him to come to us, but he shook his head in despair, and said, in a lamentable tone, “It is all over with us!Godhave mercy uponus!”——then seated himself with seeming composure on a chair, which happened to be rolling about in the wreck of the deck, and in a few minutes afterwards, was washed into the sea along with it, where he was speedily released from a state ten thousand times worse than death.
During this universal wreck of things, the horror I was in could not prevent me from observing a very curious circumstance, which at any other time would have excited laughter, though now it produced no other emotion than surprise——We happened to be in part laden with mangoes, of which the island of Goa is known to produce the finest in the world; some of them lay in baskets on the poop: a little black boy, in the moment of greatest danger, had got seated by them, devouring them voraciously, and crying all the time most bitterly at the horrors of his situation!
The vessel now got completely water-logged; and Mr.Halland I were employed in forming conjectural calculations how many minutes she could keep above water, and consoling one another on the unfortunate circumstances under which we met——lamenting that fate had thus brought us acquainted only to make us witnesses of each other’s misery, and then to see one another no more.
As the larboard side of the vessel was gradually going down, the deck, and of course the capstern, became too nearly perpendicular for us to continue on it: we therefore foresaw the necessity of quitting it, and got upon the starboard side, holding fast by the gunnel,and allowing our bodies and legs to yield to the sea as it broke over us. Thus we continued for some time: at length the severity of the labour so entirely exhausted our strength and spirits, that our best hope seemedto beto bea speedy conclusion to our painful death; and we began to have serious intentions of letting go our hold, and yielding ourselves up at once to the fury of the waves.
The vessel, which all this time drifted with the sea and wind, gradually approximated the shore, and at length struck the ground, which for an instant revived our almost departed hopes; but we soon found that it did not in the smallest degree better our situation——Again I began to yield to utter despair——again I thought of letting go my hold, and sinking at once: It is impossible, thought I, ever to escape——why, then, prolong, for a few minutes, a painful existence that must at last be given up? Yet, yet, the all-subduing love of life suggested, that many things apparently impossible had come to pass; and I said to myself, If life is to be lost, why not lose it in a glorious struggle? Should I survive it by accident, life will be rendered doubly sweet to me, and I still more worthy of it by persevering fortitude.
While I was employed in this train of reflection, I perceived some of the people collecting together, talking, and holding a consultation——It immediately occurred to me, that they were devising some plan for escaping from the wreck, and getting on shore: and, so natural is it for Man to cling to his fellow-creature for support in difficult or dangerous exigences, I proposed toMr.Hallto join them, and take a share in the execution of the plan——observing to him at the same time, that I was determined at all events to quit the vessel, and trust to the protection and guidance of a superintending Providence for the rest.
As prodigality of life is, in some cases, the excess of virtue and courage——so there are others in which it is vice, meanness and cowardice. True courage is, according to the circumstances under which it is to operate, as rigidly tenacious and vigilant of life in one case, as it is indifferent and regardless in another; and I think it is a very strange contradiction in the human heart (although it often happens), that a man who has the most unbounded courage, in seeking death even in the cannon’s mouth, shall yet want the necessary resolution to make exertions to save his life in cases of ordinary danger. The unfortunate English Purser could not collect courage sufficient to make an effort to save himself; and yet I think it probable that he would have faced a battery of artillery, or exposed himself to a pistol-shot, if occasion required, as soon as any other man. Thus it appears at first view: but may not this seeming incongruity be explained by saying, thatpersonal courage and fortitude are different qualities of the mind and body, and depend upon the exercise of entirely different functions?
Be that as it may, I argued with myself, in the height of my calamitous situation, upon the subject of fortitude and dejection, courage and cowardice; and, notwithstanding the serious aspect of affairs, found myself listening to the suggestions of pride: What a paltry thing to yield, while strength is left to struggle! Vanity herself had her hint, and whispered, “Should I escape by an effort of my own, what a glorious theme of exultation!” There were, I confess, transitory images in my mind, which, co-operating with the natural attachment to self-preservation, made me persevere, and resolve to do so, while one vestige of hope was left for the mind to dwell on.
Observing, as I told you before, the people consulting together, and resolving to join them, I made an effort to get to the lee shrouds, where they were standing, or rather clinging; but before I could accomplish it, I lost my hold, fell down the hatchway (the gratings having been carried away with the long-boat), and was for some minutes entangled there amongst a heap of packages, which the violent fluctuations of the water had collected on the lee side. As the vessel moved with the sea, and the water flowed in, the packages and I were rolled together——sometimes one, sometimes another, uppermost; so that I began to be apprehensive I should not be able to extricate myself: by the merest accident, however, I grasped something that lay in my way, made a vigorous spring, and gained the lee shrouds. Mr.Hall,who followed me, in seizing the shrouds, came thump against me with such violence that I could scarcely retain my hold of the rigging. Compelled by the perilous situation in which I stood, I called out to him forGod’ssake to keep off, for that I was rendered quite breathless and worn out: he generously endeavoured to make way for me, and, in doing so, unfortunately lost his hold, and went down under the ship’s side. Never, never shall I forget my sensations at this melancholy incident——I would have given millions of worlds that I could have recalled the words which made him move; my mind was wound up to the last pitch of anguish: I may truly say, that this was the most bitter of all the bitter moments of my life, compared with which the other circumstances of the shipwreck seemed lessened——for I had insensibly acquired an unusual esteem and warm attachment for him, and was doubtful whether, after being even the innocent occasion of his falling, I ought to take further pains to preserve my own life. All those sensations were passing with the rapidity of lightning through my thoughts, when, as much to my astonishment as to my joy, I saw him borne by a returning wave, and thrown among the very packages from which I had but just before, with such labour and difficulty, extricated myself——In the end he proved equally fortunate, but after a much longer and harder struggle, and after sustaining much more injury.
I once more changed my station, and made my way to the poop, where I found myself rather more sheltered——I earnestlywished Mr.Hallto be with me, whatever might be my ultimate fate——and beckoned to him to come to me; but he only answered by shaking his head, in a feeble, desponding manner——staring at the same time wildly about him: even his spirit was subdued; and despair, I perceived, had begun to take possession of his mind.
Being a little more at ease in my new station than I had been, before, I had more time to deliberate, and more power to judge. I recollected, that, according to the course of time, the day was far gone, and the night quickly approaching: I reflected, that for any enterprize whatsoever, day was much preferable to night; and above all I considered, that the vessel could not hold long together——I therefore thought, that the best mode I could adopt would be, to take to the water with the first boyant thing I could see; and, as the wind and water both seemed to run to the shore, to take my chance in that way of reaching it. In pursuance of this resolution, I tore off my shirt, having before that thrown off the other parts of my dress——I looked at my sleeve buttons, in which was set the hair of my departed children——and, by an involuntary act of the imagination, asked myself the question, “Shall I be happy enough to meet them where I am now about to go?——shall those dear last remains, too, become a prey to the devouring deep?”——In that instant, reason, suspended by the horrors of the scene, gave way to instinct; and I rolled my shirt up, and very carefully thrust it into a hole between decks, with the wild hopes that the sleeve buttons might yet escape untouched. Watching my opportunity,I saw a log of wood floating near the vessel, and, waving my hand to Mr.Hallas a last adieu, jumped after it. Here, again, I was doomed to aggravated hardships——I had scarcely touched the log when, a great sea snatched it from my hold: still as it came near me, I grasped at it ineffectually, till at last it was completely carried away, but not before it had cut and battered and bruised me in several places, and in a manner that at any other time I should have thought dreadful.
Death seemed inevitable; and all that occurred to me now to do, was to accelerate it, and get out of its pangs as speedily as possible; for, though I knew how to swim, the tremendous surf rendered swimming useless, and all hope from it would have been ridiculous. I therefore began to swallow as much water as possible; yet, still rising by the boyant principle of the waves to the surface, my former thoughts began to recur; and whether it was that, or natural instinct, which survived the temporary impressions of despair, I know not——but I endeavoured to swim, which I had not done long, when I again discovered the log of wood I had lost floating near me, and with some difficulty caught it: hardly had it been an instant in my hands, when, by the same unlucky means, I lost it again. I had often heard it said in Scotland, that if a man will throw himself flat on his back in the water, lie quite straight and stiff, and suffer himself to sink till the water gets into his ears, he will continue to float so for ever: this occurred to me now, and I determined to try the experiment;so I threw myself on my back in the manner I have described, and left myself to the disposal of Providence; nor wasititlong till I found the truth of the saying——for I floated with hardly an effort, and began for the first time to conceive something like hopes of preservation.
After lying in this manner, committed to the discretion of the tides, I soon saw the vessel——saw that it was at a considerable distance behind me. Liveliest hope began to play about my heart, and joy fluttered with a thousand gay fancies in my mind: I began to form the favourable conclusion, that the tide was carrying me rapidly to land from the vessel, and that I should soon once more touchterra firma.
This expectation was a cordial that revived my exhausted spirits: I took courage, and left myself still to the same all-directing Power that had hitherto preserved me, scarcely doubting that I should soon reach the land. Nor was I mistaken; for, in a short time more, without effort or exertion, and without once turning from off my back, I found myself strike against the sandy beach. Overjoyed, as you may well suppose, to the highest pitch of transport at my providential deliverance, I made a convulsive spring, and ran up a little distance on the shore; but was so weak and worn down by fatigue, and so unable to clear my stomach of the salt water with which it was loaded, that I suddenly grew deadly sick, and apprehended that I had only exchanged one death for another; and in a minute or two fainted away.
That admirable man, and sagacious penetrating philosopher, Dr.Franklin, has left us, among innumerable instructions for the conduct of human life, and for remedying many of the grievances of it, directions for going a voyage at sea, and has particularly enforced the folly of quitting ships hastily, and yielding, one’s self up to despair. I am convinced, that nine tenths of the people who perish by shipwreck, perish from the want of presence of mind, and sufficient fortitude to bear them out. The unhappy Purser, who sat deliberately in a chair, and suffered himself, without a struggle, to be carried overboard, is an instance in point. The feeble conduct of the Captain and Crew is another. Had he, instead of tearing his hair, raving, and acting the part of a bedlamite, encouraged his men, and taken vigorous measures in time; and had they, instead of whimpering prayers on their knees, and whipping their images, made all clear, and prepared for the worst; in short, had they, according to the moral of the old fable, put their shoulder to the wheel, instead of calling on Hercules, it is not impossible but the vessel might have been saved.
As for my part, the joy of escaping immediate death made me blind to the other miseries of my situation. Naked, moneyless and friendless, upon an unknown, and probably inhospitable coast, what reasonable cause had I to rejoice? Perhaps the reverse. But that remains to be seen.
How long I continued in the swoon into which I had fallen, it is impossible for me to tell; but, when I recovered, I found myself surrounded by a guard of armed soldiers, sepoys, and pikemen. I knew them immediately to be the troops ofHyder Alli, and almost wished myself back into the waves again. Looking round, I saw that the people and effects that had been saved from the wreck were collected all together along with me.
In this state we remained till it was dark. A Lascar[3]belonging to the vessel, perceiving that my nakedness gave me great concern, tore into two a piece of cloth which he had tied round his waist, and gave me one part of it, which afforded a short apron. This simple act of a poor, uninformed black man, whom Christian charity would call an idolater, methought had more of the true and essential spirit of charity in it, than half the ostentatious, parading newspaper public charities of London——the slough of purse-proud vanity, and unwieldy bloated wealth. Of all the acts of beneficence that I ever met with, it struck me the most forcibly: it had kindness, disinterestedness and delicacy for its basis; and I havenever since thought of it without wishing that I could meet the man, to reward him for his beneficence with a subsistence for life. The lower order of people of a certain Country, I know, would think a man in such circumstances as I was then in, a fitter object of pleasantry than pity.