ELECTIONS—EXECUTIONS—REFORMS—EXILES—“KNOW NOTHINGSâ€�—TESTIMONIALS—SPEAKING TRUMPETS—OCEAN STEAMERS—LIFE-BUOYS—AIR-BOATS—CONFIDENCE NECESSARY—FITTING A RAFT—A SUGGESTION.March, 1852.WhenI arrived at San Francisco, I found the authorities very busy altering the grades of the streets, and covering them with planks.As the rear of the town had been built on sand, at an elevation of some twenty feet above the new grade, the houses there had soon the appearance of being built on the edge of a dry ravine, into which most of them tumbled one by one. These house-slips would generally take place by night, but as the buildings were of the band-box style of architecture no harm was done when one of them rolled down the hill, further than an awful smashing of the domestic crockery. Those tenements that outlived this trying season, were seized with a panic, and changed their quarters.Some were raised bodily by means of lever screws,and being placed on rollers, were pushed and hauled into a position of safety, whilst the very small ones were removed down the ravine by the help of half-a-dozen yoke of oxen, and were planted somewhere else; but the appearance of these was so far marred by this operation, that they presented ever afterwards a crushed appearance, and the two front windows seemed to squint.The Americans are very clever at raising houses and removing them; I have often seen one prised from one side of the street to the other without injury, and a house that I have since inhabited in San Francisco, was raised bodily four feet, to correspond with the new grade, without in any way interfering with our internal arrangements. Brick houses have thus been raised and a new basement built under them; but one peculiarity is apparent after all is completed, that the doors and windows that have been left open cannot be afterwards shut, and those that have been shut cannot, by the same rule, be opened.I was present at more than one of the general elections at San Francisco, and in connection with this ceremony lies one of the greatest drawbacks of the country.Setting aside the means by which governors andlegislators are brought into office by a majority of votes, I will take the case alone of the elected judges of the state of California. Many who have barely a knowledge of common law, here come forward for the office of judge, and are elected—how, it matters not—but such men have been elevated to the bench, and once there, have detracted as much from its dignity as men well could. Murderers passed and re-passed before them unpunished, and this in part gave rise to the actions of the Vigilance Committee.It has been unfortunate for California that the elections have been long controlled by a dishonest class, the least likely to support such candidates as would place a check upon crime; however, the press of the country and the people, are fully alive to the existence of this evil,[27]and it is possible that before long, the Judiciary will be appointed by the governor and senate, when good men, of whom there are plenty, will come forward for office.It has been very difficult to get a jury to convict a murderer in this country; I am puzzled to say why, for self-interest would dictate an unusual degree of severity—still the fact stands, that in twelve hundred murders, but two men have been publicly executed.One man acting under jealousy, ill-founded as it appeared on trial, walked up behind his victim in the street, and then and there blew his brains out; yet the jury would not convict this man, and he was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment only.The judge should not have been bound by such a verdict, for either the man was guilty of cold-blooded murder, or was altogether innocent.The press,[28]which has vastly improved in California, has taken a firm stand in opposition to this evil, and before long I have no doubt that the criminal law will be wholesomely administered there. We must not expect perfection in a self-regulated colony of six years’ growth, particularly when we remember that law reform and integrity of election occupy attention in older countries.When once the seed of reform is implanted in California, it grows with great rapidity. It may be that the greatest sinners make the greatest saints, but certainly, the most carelessly dissipated community that ever was brought together, have already, in their new position, enacted laws for the complete overthrow of many of those so called “necessary evilsâ€� that are borne with in cities of older growth,and more self-assumed wisdom, and infinitely greater professions of sanctity.It is said that one surfeit of raspberry-tarts will produce, in the pastrycook’s boy, a permanent nausea for these luscious things; thus with Californians, they have seen vice and debauchery in so awful a shape, that in the reaction of feeling more good is being done to the country as regards sweeping reform, than would have happened in twenty times the time had the early colonists been at the first but ordinarily virtuous. The thorn is extracted at once, and there is an end of temporising and preaching, which lead to nothing at times, as any one may see who will visit some of our cathedral cities, and learn something of the statistics of the immorality which exists within them, and the number of divines who are there to raise their voices against it.One of the Irish convicts who had escaped by breaking his parole, arrived in San Francisco about this time, and was feasted and made much of by a certain class who are to be found in many parts of the United States, and are monomaniacs on the subject of America opening her arms and welcoming to her soil the political exiles of other countries.The free hospitality which America extends toexiles of all classes, is to be admired; what a pity, then, to detract from its dignity by a vulgar “émeute,â€� which, after all, is extended as much to a singer or fiddler, as to a (so-called) champion of liberty. But the exiles generally do not seem to improve on acquaintance, and the days of triumphal entry are passed for them, and no wonder; for they are not always grateful.Take the case of one who, being welcomed to the United States, at once devotes his energies to the production of a journal which will not only arouse political bitterness on the spot, but carefully keeps alive what remnant of bigotted hostility to England yet slumbers in the country. Now, as the man who sows discord between this country and America, is an enemy as much of the latter as of the former, is it not inconsistent that such a one should be be-speeched and be-dinnered on his arrival? However, a man may be bowed obsequiously into a house, only to be kicked on acquaintance ignominiously out of it, and I imagine that more than one political refugee in America will live to experience a similar reverse of fortune.The “Know Nothingsâ€� it would appear have set their faces against foreigners holding office in the United States. If this political sect would exert theirinfluence to prevent rabid runaway rebels, who land among them, from revenging themselves by exciting animosity against the country that has cast them off, they would do a great deal of good to the United States.And indeed, as regards the exclusion of naturalised subjects from office, the “Know Nothingsâ€� are, in my opinion, right to a certain extent; for if we divide those who swear allegiance to the United States into two classes, we have firstly the poor emigrants who leave an over-populated country to spread themselves, in obedience as it were to a law of nature, over the vast unpeopled forests and plains of a new continent, and secondly the educated class who can do well at home but cando betterby forsaking one flag to cling (as long as it suits them) to another. This class are known as “Whitewashed Yankees,â€� a term that may be complimentary, but does not sound like it. It is from this educated class of naturalised subjects that the aspirants for office step forward, and under all the circumstances, I am not surprised that a large sect of Americans now oppose them. For it appears to me, that a man who has felt so little patriotism for his native land as to abjure it formally from interested motives, is not likely to remain faithful to the new country he adopts, any longer than suits his purpose.His motives are at the best, based on self, and he is consequently not the best qualified either to hold office or to conduct the public press.[29]There is a disproportionate number of jewellers and goldsmiths in San Francisco, yet all drive a flourishing business. Two articles are in great demand, viz., gold watches, and silver speaking-trumpets. Nearly every one in California has a gold watch—every nigger has, I am sure, and very much dignity does a “coloured personâ€� exhibit whenever he draws out his ponderous gold turnip, the chain of which is nearly as large as the cable of a ten-gun brig.The speaking-trumpets, of which so many may be seen in the jewellers’ shop fronts, are accounted for by the habit the San Franciscans have of presenting a testimonial to the Captain of any ship who may have brought them safely into port. This testimonial is almost invariably a speaking-trumpet, which is tendered to the skipper, with a request that he will blow it, from the undersigned, &c., &c. This mania became so strong at one time, that if the captain of any Oregon schooner with a cargo of lumber arrived in safety with two passengers and a dog, there was no knowing what honours awaited him; at least a letterof thanks from the passengers and dog, but probably a speaking-trumpet; so that soon there was more ridicule than honour attached to these testimonials.When nearing San Francisco one day in a noble steam-ship, whereof the captain had done his duty by piloting the ship in safety and attending to the comforts of his passengers, a gentleman arose towards the close of our last dinner on board, and amidst profound silence, commenced eulogising our skipper. I sat next to this latter, and when the orator continued, “therefore gentlemen it has been moved and carried by a committee of the passengers, that to mark the high sense they entertain,â€� the poor skipper turned to me with anguish in his eyes, and whispered, “By G—d, they’re going to give me a speaking-trumpet.â€� He was right, too, and got a tremendous one; however, I whispered comfort to him, and showed him how, by putting a bottom to the large end of the trumpet, and a handle at the top, it would make a splendid claret jug, capable of holding a gallon at least, and then suggested I, “you might erase the inscription, and say you won it at a steeplechase.â€� Whether he followed this wholesome advice or not I never heard.I secured my passage on board the “Northerner,â€� and started on my way to England, in company withabout two hundred and fifty passengers. The weather was delightful, and the wharf was crowded with friends who had come down to see us off: the partings were not very heart-rending; in fact, the great joke seemed to consist in those who were on the wharf pelting us with oranges and cheap novels as we cast off.As we steamed out of the bay and lost sight of the busy city at last, we could not but think of the changes and reverses that all of us had been witness to, and most of us had shared. I for my part, as I recalled the noble courage with which misfortune had been borne with by the people, echoed the remark that Smith and Jones had made conjointly on the ruins of the first fire.Smith.It’s a great country!Jones.It’s nothing shorter!We were very comfortable on board, and arrived at Panama, so much pleased with the ship and the voyage, that it was lucky for the captain that there were no speaking-trumpets to be purchased at Panama; as it was, we did not let him off without a letter of thanks—and our thanks in one form or the other he certainly deserved; his name was Isham. Captains of ocean steamers do not always perform their duty, many are apt to forget that more devolves upon them than mere seamanship, some forget even this.In the great points, of cleanliness as regards the ship, attention to the real wants of the passengers, and a judicious arbitration of such little outbreaks as will occur in crowded vessels, the commanders of the Pacific Mail Steam Ship Line (to which the “Northernerâ€� belonged) deservedly enjoy a reputation. The ocean steamers on this line, as also on the opposition, which takes the Nicaragua route, are magnificent vessels. Many of them are over three thousand tons burden, and are very fast and beautifully found. Ventilated with open ports two feet square between each state-room, they are comfortable and wholesome even when carrying eight hundred passengers; and it is the want of ventilation that makes a crowded ship unbearable anywhere, and in the tropics unhealthy.A large proportion of ocean steamers are wretchedly off in this respect, and travellers in the East or West Indies are often limited when under hatches to such air as can penetrate through a scuttle hole about the size of a saucer.One American steam ship, the “George Law,â€� possesses what I have never met with in any other boat; she has not only life-boats[30]suspended from her davits on all sides, but she has two metal air-boats elevated on deck, that can be launchedimmediately under any circumstances. Besides these boats there are on board several hundred life-buoys, one of these being suspended to each bunk throughout the ship. These life-buoys are formed of cork and painted canvas, and have straps to fasten them under the arms. As I recall the fearful and unnecessary loss of life that has been recorded in the last two years, I have scarcely patience when I reflect how much of it might have been avoided had each passenger, as on board the “George Law,â€� been provided with ten shillings worth of cork and canvas. I was ten days on board the “George Law,â€� and each night as I went to bed, my eyes were arrested by my life-buoy. It said plainly to me, did this life-buoy, (not knowing that I was a sailor by profession) “Collisions will take place, spontaneous combustion will break out, and sunken wrecks and rocks and sand-banks will be run upon; should any of these occur, will you not quietly buckle me on, beingprepared by your daily contemplation of me for any such emergency, and will you not then calmly assist wherever you are wanted, in the full confidence that even if the ship sinks under you, you can float without exertion until you are picked up by the life-boats?â€� Certainly the contemplation of a life-buoy by one’s bed-side, will bring such thoughts to mind,and by keeping the danger before each man night and day, prepares him when the hour comes, to act coolly and reflectively. But we may look farther even than this; if the presence of life-buoys accustoms passengers to contemplate danger, and to meet it calmly when it comes, does it not stand to reason that the captain and crew of a sinking vessel are better able to exert themselves for the safety of the vessel, or otherwise the lowering andprovisioningof boats, when the passengers, confident in their cork and canvas, are calmly awaiting theorderto jump overboard, instead of at once plunging into the waves, only to struggle and call piteously for help, thus unmanning some and rendering others unable to assist them. How many boats have been successfully lowered from a sinking ship, but being overloaded too suddenly, have turned over and drowned all that could not swim: would this be so if all had life-buoys? How many boats have left a ship in the dark night but half full, fearing the impetuous rush which a panic-struck crowd would make at it if again it touched the ship’s sides? Yet the cost of such a buoy is but ten shillings, and that of a life-boat thirty pounds.It may be said that every passenger can carry his own life-preserver, and that most do so: this is nothing;it gives me no increased confidence to know that Muggins who sleeps next to me has an India-rubber bag that he can blow out each night before turning in. The advantage of disposing life-buoys throughout the ship, as in the “George Law,â€� is in the general confidence which their presence gives to all, and when the moment of danger comes, that ten shillings’ worth of cork and canvas will enable those who cannot swim to keep above water, and those who can swim to double their exertions to form a raft and save the helpless. There is not, to my knowledge, an ocean steamer that leaves England that is properly found in this respect, nor will there be until government inspectors are appointed to see that they are supplied with life-boats that can be lowered in all weather, and do not necessarily swamp if a “fallâ€� gives way, or bilge as they surge against the vessel’s side. And captains of vessels should be made to keep their boats clear, so far as this, that falls should be kept clear for running, and lashings and gripes so secured aseasily to be cast off, precautions which are seldom taken.Judging not only by the details we receive from the survivors of lost ships, but from what actually comes before our notice as we travel to and fro, it appears as a fact indisputable, that not only are steamboats ill supplied with the requisites for savinglife in case of shipwreck, but that what they have are seldom of use when wanted. With long boats on board that can only be hoisted out under favourable circumstances, cutters and gigs at the davits lashed and secured, and covered with tarpaulin, filled with hay perhaps, or vegetables, containing neither oars, compass, or tow-rope, is it a wonder that in nearly every case of shipwreck we find the loss of life aggravated by the confusion and mismanagement which accompanies the lowering of boats, or the attempted construction of a raft? A few hundred pounds would amply supply every ship with the requisites for preservation of life in addition to those they already possess, and of what account is this sum in the grand total of the cost of a steam-ship? Air-boats, or life-buoys, are by no means perishable or costly articles, but how much less sad would have been the history of sinking and burning troop-ships, had they been supplied with them?[31]Of what avail is the splendid discipline and admirable courage that is displayed by soldiers in burning and sinking ships, when each man has but to wait the hour when he must go overboard and drown helplessly. I would not only have each soldier in a troop-ship provided with a life-buoy, but I would also that each man, previous to sailing, should be made to go once into deep water with the life-buoy on, so that he might be convinced in smooth water that the cork would uphold his weight—a fact more difficult to believe when the trial has to take place in a hurricane, and from a sinking ship.Each vessel carries (or rather should carry) a sufficient number of spare spars to replace those that may be carried away; there is seldom a call for the largest of these in a well-managed ship, yet they form part of her furniture, and are generally lashed on deck or under the chains.By a little management these spare topmasts and yards might be so fitted, without impairing their utility, as to form a raft, in conjunction with casks, in a very short time. The crew might be practised shortly after leaving port at launching these spars and connecting them; the passengers would be instructed equally with the crew; and in emigrant and troop ships those who could swim might at once be sentoverboard (with their life-buoys) to assist in the construction of the raft.[32]To make this more plain, let us suppose a ship, whether carrying troops, emigrants or passengers, to be twenty-four hours out of port; an order is posted up that all hands are to muster on deck with their life-buoys at a given hour, when the fire-bell will be sounded. The ship or steamer is hove to, the spars are unlashed, launched, and the raft is put together, the boats are lowered, and the passengers then see at least that the means of safety are provided for them. Those that can swim can go overboard if they please and lend a hand. Hoist everything on board, and you have lost perhaps three hours of your passage time, but a vast deal has been accomplished towards saving life, if the ship that night should run upon a rock and perish. Everything would be in its place, and all that could be done would be done.I fear that there would be much opposition to such a plan on board passenger ships, for when danger is far off there is little disposition to submit to any arbitrary regulations, even though adopted for their own safety; but in emigrant and troop ships the practice might be enforced. I would have troops and emigrants mustered regularly with their life-buoys on,and the swimmers formed into a squad with a certain duty appointed for them. Each man should know his station in the hour of danger, and the fire-bell be sounded once a week for practice. A little ingenuity in the formation of buoys, adapted to the peculiarities of the frame of the raft, would so secure a large body of men in the frame that, even if they perished from exposure or starvation, they would still be found there floating, and although suspense might have made death more terrible to them, this would be preferable to their being washed off one by one, after vain attempts to cling to rolling casks, and spars, and hen-coops, lashed together, with no more system than the urgency of the moment suggested to the few who, under ordinary circumstances, are prepared, in case of shipwreck, to make a rational effort for the preservation of their lives; for the want of a lashing, or an axe, or a tow-rope for a boat at such times will peril the lives of all; but, when all is provided, confidence and courage are there also, and life may be saved.They say drowning men will catch at a straw; let us give our brave soldiers something to catch at, in the hour of emergency, that will serve to keep them at least a short time above water; and let our “Royal Mail linesâ€� take some precautions of this nature fortheir passengers, and charge for it extra, if they like, in the passage money.Shortly after the loss of the “Amazonâ€� I was taking a passage in one of the West India boats, and I observed that, in the ship’s fire bill, which was exposed, the crew and officers only had been stationed. I ventured to suggest to the captain that an extra clause might be inserted, to the effect that those passengers who chose to render assistance in case of fire should assemble with their blankets in some part of the ship specified, there to be placed under the charge of one of the ship’s officers; for it seemed to me that, daily perusing such a regulation, a hundred able-bodied passengers would be found, at the sound of the fire-bell, ready with their blankets, which, under the direction of an officer, they would proceed to wet if necessary. This plan, I thought, would not only render the passengers useful, but would keep them away from the boats, and, being prepared to act as a disciplined body in case of danger, the silence so necessary in these cases would be observed among them. The captain did not agree with me; but, as he did not inform me how I was in error, I was led to believe that captains of large boats get testy sometimes from serving in the Tropics, and object to passengers having any opinion in matters connected with their own safety.CHAPTER XXIII.“HERCULESâ€� FAILS—LAND CRABS—MR. BOBBINS—“RUSHINGâ€� THE SHIP—NEW YORK.May, 1852.Theweather being fine, the roads were in tolerable order when we arrived at Panama; we made light, therefore, of the journey, and, having arrived at Gorgona, we dismounted from our mules, and, taking boats, went swiftly down the rapid river, landing at the village of Barbacoes, to which point the railway was now completed.The station-house consisted of a large shed, in which hundreds of fowls and thousands of eggs were being cooked, eaten, and paid for with astonishing rapidity. I observed, among other things, that the coffee was just as weak and scalding hot at Barbacoes, as at Wolverhampton, or any other refreshment station.There was no time-table here at this period; but the line had this advantage over most others, that thetrain started at the time specified by the authorities; for they waited until it suited them, and then gave the order to “let her slide.â€�On this eventful day, however, we had not “slidâ€� above two miles when the train stopped. Returning Californians are of a vivacious temperament generally, and are seldom at their ease when sitting down inactive; therefore, the instant the train stopped, every man jumped out to see what was the matter. The cause was soon apparent; we were ascending an inclined plane, and the little engine—which, Hercules by name, was not Hercules by nature—had declined to proceed any further. In vain the sooty stoker emptied his oil-can into the fire to induce if possible more steam; the little engine, as it ineffectually tried a fresh start, looked piteous, and seemed to say, “How can you expect a little chap like me to pull nine hundred of these big fellows up a hill like this? Let ’em get out and shove me over.â€� This argument seemed to strike the conductor, for, without further preface, he said, “Now, lads, heave together,â€� and at once we all set our shoulders to the concern, and got more speed out of it than “Herculesâ€� had done from the start. There was but one line of rails laid down, and, although the authorities were not particular with regard to the time of starting, we hadthe comfort of knowing that a collision with the other train could not be very serious. I wonder what we should have done had we been met by an up-train; one of us would have had to retire, for “Herculesâ€� could not have taken us back, and it was not likely we were going to shove ourselves back to Barbacoes.The scene would have been splendid, for like the two goats that met on the narrow bridge, one train would have tried to force the other back, and in this contest of personal strength I think the nine hundred returning Californians would most probably have won the day, and entered Aspinwall in triumph.Having reached the top of the hill, we all got in, and Hercules making the most of the descent ran away with us for three miles, when we got out again, and so on. The road lay through a thick jungle of splendid teaks, and palms, and ferns of every variety; the rich epiphytes brushed against our carriage windows, and the air was suffused with that sweet fragrance which is alone known in a tropical forest after rain has fallen. Myriads of little land-crabs of a turquoise colour lined the banks, and as the time had now arrived when we might discharge our revolvers and put them away, the blue land-crabs had the advantage of several hundred bullets, and whilst Herculesrushed impetuously through the jungle, pop, pop, pop, went the “six-shooters,â€� and as the land crabs turned over on their blue backs to die, they presented to the astonished beholder yellow bellies and green eyes.In a pouring rain we arrived at Aspinwall, and this being the terminus, we proceeded at once on board the steamers that were waiting to convey us to New York. There happened to be an unusual number of opposition boats in the bay, so that fares were so reduced that the roughest fellow there could take a first-class berth. This was very unfair to those of us who had booked our places through at the office of the Mail Line in San Francisco, for we had paid a certain price for a certain degree of comfort and room, and this was denied to us so soon as the price of the saloon fare rendered it so overcrowded that the tables had to be laidtwelve timeseach day to accommodate the first-class passengers with first-class fare.Thus the saloon was continually occupied, and each moment it was, “Sound the gongâ€�—“Hurry up the soup,â€� and down rushed the “next lot,â€� as an auctioneer would say, leaving a hecatomb of Californian hats at the foot of the companion ladder. We had on board the junior partner of some English house, who was returning from a business visit he had made to some part of South America. He gave himselfgreat airs, and being dressed with the extreme taste which characterises your fast city man, he threw us all into the shade, for we as yet were not fashionably attired, nor had we put razors to our chins.One day at dinner this fellow, being affronted at some negligence on the part of the waiter, said, “Aw! do you take me for a returned Californian?â€�This remark being audible above the din of knives and forks produced a sudden silence, and, for a moment I thought that Mr. Bobbins’s ears would have been taken off with a carving knife. Fortunately, for him, however, each one was in high spirits at the thought of reaching home, and being very hungry continued his dinner without waiting to resent the impertinence.There was a man on board who had brought with him from the mines two young grizzly bear cubs, who were just getting large enough to be dangerous, and that evening, as Mr. Bobbins was dreamily enjoying a cigar on deck, he was aroused from the contemplation of his patent leather boots by moonlight with, “Sir, allow me to introduce to you two returned Californians.â€� Ursa major, thereupon, being held up, scratched Bobbins’s face, whilst ursa minor attacked the patent leathers, which he forcibly removed, together with a toe-nail or so, with his teeth.Whilst one miner held a screeching, biting, ring-tailed monkey over Mr. Bobbins’s head, another produced a savage bull-terrier, who, having done his duty at the mines dogfully, seemed very anxious indeed to make the acquaintance of Mr. Bobbins’s throat.It was some time before the “returned Californiansâ€� could tear themselves away from their new acquaintance, and when they did, they tore away more of his cross-barred trousers and cut-away coat than any tailor could repair.The next day we arrived at Havannah, and Mr.Bobbins was wise enough to leave the ship and await a passage in another vessel, and I only wish that every travelling “gentâ€� who, puffed out with conceit, causes his countrymen to blush for his ignorance and vulgarity, may get as durable a lesson as that which Mr. Bobbins received from the four-footed “returned Californians.â€�At Havannah we found that Americans were in bad odour, on account of the fillibustering expeditions which had but lately been repulsed. As we steamed out of the harbour, an intelligent miner observed to me, “I guess that place will soon belong to our people.â€�“Do you think Spain will sell it?â€� I asked.“Our people will take it,â€� he replied.“But,â€� said I, “suppose England and France should interfere.â€�“Whip them,â€� was the laconic reply, and he turned on his heel.I mention this, because a large portion of the people of the United States, remembering only the successful frigate actions in which, during the last war, they reaped laurels, are ignorant respecting the real strength of their navy at this moment.As our captain wished to arrive at New York before the opposition boats, all steam was carried that the boilers could bear, and a little more, Isuspect. In fact we were to “rush the ship,â€� and she so trembled fore and aft with the work, that it was almost impossible to read a book in any part of her. The bearings of the engines became so hot that they were pumped upon day and night.She was a beautiful boat, built for the most part of pine, I believe, and there was no difficulty in placing, under favourable circumstances, three hundred and fifty miles a day on her log board, independent of any favourable current.Soon, however, we were in the Gulf stream, and were met by signs of a south-easter; first it “clouded up,â€� as a miner remarked, and then it “breezed up considerable,â€� after which night came on and with it the gale. These south-easters have a way of chopping round when at their height, and by this eccentric conduct many vessels are lost. One of the officers informed me that a short time previously a brig called the John Hill, was taken aback in this way, and her cargo of molasses shifted and burst the decks, upon which, “John Hillâ€� became water-logged. Two days after the mate was taken off the wreck with two legs and an arm broken; and, concluded my informant, the captain was found two miles off “in good shapeâ€� floating on a hen-coop—the rest of the crew were lost. Fine weather succeeded the gale,doubly fine by contrast, and as we passed Sandy Hook, and steamed up New York Bay, the shores on either side, white with snow, shone brilliantly in the winter’s sun; and the leafless trees that grew in copses here and there in naked desolation, had more charm for us, being nearer home, than ever had the vivid green of the palms and ferns that ten days back we had seen at Panama.Thus is our appreciation of the beautiful ever dependant on association; and to me the white cliffs of my own country, whether I am casting the last glance on leaving them, or straining my eyes as I first catch a glimpse of them as I return, these ugly chalky cliffs have more actual charm for my eye than all that I have ever seen elsewhere of nature’s rarest gifts.* * * *There is nothing left for me to say of New York, others having recorded more than I could learn of it in a week’s sojourn there. Having visited many places of note, that have been already accurately described, I turned into Barnum’s Museum to see the woolly horse, but I could not find it; being disappointed in the natural history department, I stopped to witness the theatrical performance, and this so impressed me that I subjoin for the benefit of the reader a bill ofperformance, which I extracted from an American journal:—Just opened, with 100,000 Curiosities, and performance in Lecter-Room; among witch may be foundTWO LIVE BOAR CONSTRICTERS,Mail and Femail.ALSO!!A STRIPED ALGEBRA, STUFT.BESIDES!!A PAIR OF SHUTTLE COCKS AND ONE SHUTTLE HEN—alive!THE!SWORD WITCH GEN. WELLINGTON FIT WITH AT THEBATTEL OF WATERLOO! whom is six feet long andbroad in proportion.WITH!!!A ENORMOUS RATTLETAIL SNAKE—a regular wopper!AND!THE TUSHES OF A HIPPOTENUSE!Together with!A BENGALL TIGER: SPOTTED LEPROSY!——GREAT MORAL SPECTACLE OF ‘MOUNT VESUVIUS!’PART ONE.Seen opens. Distant Moon. View of Bey of Napels. A thin smoke rises.It is the Beginning of the Eruction!The Napels folks begin to travel. Yaller fire, follered by silent thunder. Awful consternation.Suthin rumbles!It is the Mounting preparin’ to Vomic! They call upon the Fire Department.It’s no use!Flight of stool-pidgeons. A cloud of impenetrable smoke hang over the fated city, through witch the Naplers are seen makin’ tracks. Awful explosion of bulbs, kurbs, forniquets, pin weels, serpentiles, and fourbillon spirals! The Moulting Laver begins to squash out!End of Part One.COMIC SONG.The Parochial BeedleMr. Mullet.LIVE INJUN ON THE SLACK WIRE.Live InjunMr. Mullet.OBLIGATIONS ON THE CORNUCOPIA, BY SIGNOR VERMICELLI.Signor VermicelliMr. Mullet.In the course of the evening will be an exhibishun of Exileratin’ Gas! upon a Laffin Highena!Laffin HighenaMr. Mullet.PART TWO.Bey of Napels ’luminated by Bendola Lites. The lava gushes down. Through the smoke is seen the city in a state of conflagration. The last family! “Whar is our parents?â€� A red hot stone of eleving tuns weight falls onto ’em. The bearheaded father falls scentless before the statoo of the Virgin!Denumong!!The hole to conclude with aGRAND SHAKSPEARING PYROLIGNEOUS DISPLAY OFFIREWURX!!Maroon Bulbs, changing to a spiral weel, witch changes to the Star of our Union: after, to butiful p’ints of red lites; to finish with busting into a Brilliant Perspiration!During the performance a No. of Popular Airs will be performed onthe Scotch Fiddle and Bag-pipes, by a real Highlander.Real HighlanderMr. Mullet.Any boy making a muss, will be injected to once’t.As the Museum is Temperance, no drinkin’ aloud, but anyone will find the best of lickers in the Sloon below.Could I have witnessed such an entertainment as this, together with the woolly horse, my chapter on New York would have been swelled both in size and importance.
ELECTIONS—EXECUTIONS—REFORMS—EXILES—“KNOW NOTHINGSâ€�—TESTIMONIALS—SPEAKING TRUMPETS—OCEAN STEAMERS—LIFE-BUOYS—AIR-BOATS—CONFIDENCE NECESSARY—FITTING A RAFT—A SUGGESTION.
ELECTIONS—EXECUTIONS—REFORMS—EXILES—“KNOW NOTHINGSâ€�—TESTIMONIALS—SPEAKING TRUMPETS—OCEAN STEAMERS—LIFE-BUOYS—AIR-BOATS—CONFIDENCE NECESSARY—FITTING A RAFT—A SUGGESTION.
March, 1852.
WhenI arrived at San Francisco, I found the authorities very busy altering the grades of the streets, and covering them with planks.
As the rear of the town had been built on sand, at an elevation of some twenty feet above the new grade, the houses there had soon the appearance of being built on the edge of a dry ravine, into which most of them tumbled one by one. These house-slips would generally take place by night, but as the buildings were of the band-box style of architecture no harm was done when one of them rolled down the hill, further than an awful smashing of the domestic crockery. Those tenements that outlived this trying season, were seized with a panic, and changed their quarters.
Some were raised bodily by means of lever screws,and being placed on rollers, were pushed and hauled into a position of safety, whilst the very small ones were removed down the ravine by the help of half-a-dozen yoke of oxen, and were planted somewhere else; but the appearance of these was so far marred by this operation, that they presented ever afterwards a crushed appearance, and the two front windows seemed to squint.
The Americans are very clever at raising houses and removing them; I have often seen one prised from one side of the street to the other without injury, and a house that I have since inhabited in San Francisco, was raised bodily four feet, to correspond with the new grade, without in any way interfering with our internal arrangements. Brick houses have thus been raised and a new basement built under them; but one peculiarity is apparent after all is completed, that the doors and windows that have been left open cannot be afterwards shut, and those that have been shut cannot, by the same rule, be opened.
I was present at more than one of the general elections at San Francisco, and in connection with this ceremony lies one of the greatest drawbacks of the country.
Setting aside the means by which governors andlegislators are brought into office by a majority of votes, I will take the case alone of the elected judges of the state of California. Many who have barely a knowledge of common law, here come forward for the office of judge, and are elected—how, it matters not—but such men have been elevated to the bench, and once there, have detracted as much from its dignity as men well could. Murderers passed and re-passed before them unpunished, and this in part gave rise to the actions of the Vigilance Committee.
It has been unfortunate for California that the elections have been long controlled by a dishonest class, the least likely to support such candidates as would place a check upon crime; however, the press of the country and the people, are fully alive to the existence of this evil,[27]and it is possible that before long, the Judiciary will be appointed by the governor and senate, when good men, of whom there are plenty, will come forward for office.
It has been very difficult to get a jury to convict a murderer in this country; I am puzzled to say why, for self-interest would dictate an unusual degree of severity—still the fact stands, that in twelve hundred murders, but two men have been publicly executed.One man acting under jealousy, ill-founded as it appeared on trial, walked up behind his victim in the street, and then and there blew his brains out; yet the jury would not convict this man, and he was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment only.
The judge should not have been bound by such a verdict, for either the man was guilty of cold-blooded murder, or was altogether innocent.
The press,[28]which has vastly improved in California, has taken a firm stand in opposition to this evil, and before long I have no doubt that the criminal law will be wholesomely administered there. We must not expect perfection in a self-regulated colony of six years’ growth, particularly when we remember that law reform and integrity of election occupy attention in older countries.
When once the seed of reform is implanted in California, it grows with great rapidity. It may be that the greatest sinners make the greatest saints, but certainly, the most carelessly dissipated community that ever was brought together, have already, in their new position, enacted laws for the complete overthrow of many of those so called “necessary evils� that are borne with in cities of older growth,and more self-assumed wisdom, and infinitely greater professions of sanctity.
It is said that one surfeit of raspberry-tarts will produce, in the pastrycook’s boy, a permanent nausea for these luscious things; thus with Californians, they have seen vice and debauchery in so awful a shape, that in the reaction of feeling more good is being done to the country as regards sweeping reform, than would have happened in twenty times the time had the early colonists been at the first but ordinarily virtuous. The thorn is extracted at once, and there is an end of temporising and preaching, which lead to nothing at times, as any one may see who will visit some of our cathedral cities, and learn something of the statistics of the immorality which exists within them, and the number of divines who are there to raise their voices against it.
One of the Irish convicts who had escaped by breaking his parole, arrived in San Francisco about this time, and was feasted and made much of by a certain class who are to be found in many parts of the United States, and are monomaniacs on the subject of America opening her arms and welcoming to her soil the political exiles of other countries.
The free hospitality which America extends toexiles of all classes, is to be admired; what a pity, then, to detract from its dignity by a vulgar “émeute,� which, after all, is extended as much to a singer or fiddler, as to a (so-called) champion of liberty. But the exiles generally do not seem to improve on acquaintance, and the days of triumphal entry are passed for them, and no wonder; for they are not always grateful.
Take the case of one who, being welcomed to the United States, at once devotes his energies to the production of a journal which will not only arouse political bitterness on the spot, but carefully keeps alive what remnant of bigotted hostility to England yet slumbers in the country. Now, as the man who sows discord between this country and America, is an enemy as much of the latter as of the former, is it not inconsistent that such a one should be be-speeched and be-dinnered on his arrival? However, a man may be bowed obsequiously into a house, only to be kicked on acquaintance ignominiously out of it, and I imagine that more than one political refugee in America will live to experience a similar reverse of fortune.
The “Know Nothings� it would appear have set their faces against foreigners holding office in the United States. If this political sect would exert theirinfluence to prevent rabid runaway rebels, who land among them, from revenging themselves by exciting animosity against the country that has cast them off, they would do a great deal of good to the United States.
And indeed, as regards the exclusion of naturalised subjects from office, the “Know Nothings� are, in my opinion, right to a certain extent; for if we divide those who swear allegiance to the United States into two classes, we have firstly the poor emigrants who leave an over-populated country to spread themselves, in obedience as it were to a law of nature, over the vast unpeopled forests and plains of a new continent, and secondly the educated class who can do well at home but cando betterby forsaking one flag to cling (as long as it suits them) to another. This class are known as “Whitewashed Yankees,� a term that may be complimentary, but does not sound like it. It is from this educated class of naturalised subjects that the aspirants for office step forward, and under all the circumstances, I am not surprised that a large sect of Americans now oppose them. For it appears to me, that a man who has felt so little patriotism for his native land as to abjure it formally from interested motives, is not likely to remain faithful to the new country he adopts, any longer than suits his purpose.His motives are at the best, based on self, and he is consequently not the best qualified either to hold office or to conduct the public press.[29]
There is a disproportionate number of jewellers and goldsmiths in San Francisco, yet all drive a flourishing business. Two articles are in great demand, viz., gold watches, and silver speaking-trumpets. Nearly every one in California has a gold watch—every nigger has, I am sure, and very much dignity does a “coloured personâ€� exhibit whenever he draws out his ponderous gold turnip, the chain of which is nearly as large as the cable of a ten-gun brig.
The speaking-trumpets, of which so many may be seen in the jewellers’ shop fronts, are accounted for by the habit the San Franciscans have of presenting a testimonial to the Captain of any ship who may have brought them safely into port. This testimonial is almost invariably a speaking-trumpet, which is tendered to the skipper, with a request that he will blow it, from the undersigned, &c., &c. This mania became so strong at one time, that if the captain of any Oregon schooner with a cargo of lumber arrived in safety with two passengers and a dog, there was no knowing what honours awaited him; at least a letterof thanks from the passengers and dog, but probably a speaking-trumpet; so that soon there was more ridicule than honour attached to these testimonials.
When nearing San Francisco one day in a noble steam-ship, whereof the captain had done his duty by piloting the ship in safety and attending to the comforts of his passengers, a gentleman arose towards the close of our last dinner on board, and amidst profound silence, commenced eulogising our skipper. I sat next to this latter, and when the orator continued, “therefore gentlemen it has been moved and carried by a committee of the passengers, that to mark the high sense they entertain,â€� the poor skipper turned to me with anguish in his eyes, and whispered, “By G—d, they’re going to give me a speaking-trumpet.â€� He was right, too, and got a tremendous one; however, I whispered comfort to him, and showed him how, by putting a bottom to the large end of the trumpet, and a handle at the top, it would make a splendid claret jug, capable of holding a gallon at least, and then suggested I, “you might erase the inscription, and say you won it at a steeplechase.â€� Whether he followed this wholesome advice or not I never heard.
I secured my passage on board the “Northerner,� and started on my way to England, in company withabout two hundred and fifty passengers. The weather was delightful, and the wharf was crowded with friends who had come down to see us off: the partings were not very heart-rending; in fact, the great joke seemed to consist in those who were on the wharf pelting us with oranges and cheap novels as we cast off.
As we steamed out of the bay and lost sight of the busy city at last, we could not but think of the changes and reverses that all of us had been witness to, and most of us had shared. I for my part, as I recalled the noble courage with which misfortune had been borne with by the people, echoed the remark that Smith and Jones had made conjointly on the ruins of the first fire.
Smith.It’s a great country!
Jones.It’s nothing shorter!
We were very comfortable on board, and arrived at Panama, so much pleased with the ship and the voyage, that it was lucky for the captain that there were no speaking-trumpets to be purchased at Panama; as it was, we did not let him off without a letter of thanks—and our thanks in one form or the other he certainly deserved; his name was Isham. Captains of ocean steamers do not always perform their duty, many are apt to forget that more devolves upon them than mere seamanship, some forget even this.
In the great points, of cleanliness as regards the ship, attention to the real wants of the passengers, and a judicious arbitration of such little outbreaks as will occur in crowded vessels, the commanders of the Pacific Mail Steam Ship Line (to which the “Northerner� belonged) deservedly enjoy a reputation. The ocean steamers on this line, as also on the opposition, which takes the Nicaragua route, are magnificent vessels. Many of them are over three thousand tons burden, and are very fast and beautifully found. Ventilated with open ports two feet square between each state-room, they are comfortable and wholesome even when carrying eight hundred passengers; and it is the want of ventilation that makes a crowded ship unbearable anywhere, and in the tropics unhealthy.
A large proportion of ocean steamers are wretchedly off in this respect, and travellers in the East or West Indies are often limited when under hatches to such air as can penetrate through a scuttle hole about the size of a saucer.
One American steam ship, the “George Law,� possesses what I have never met with in any other boat; she has not only life-boats[30]suspended from her davits on all sides, but she has two metal air-boats elevated on deck, that can be launchedimmediately under any circumstances. Besides these boats there are on board several hundred life-buoys, one of these being suspended to each bunk throughout the ship. These life-buoys are formed of cork and painted canvas, and have straps to fasten them under the arms. As I recall the fearful and unnecessary loss of life that has been recorded in the last two years, I have scarcely patience when I reflect how much of it might have been avoided had each passenger, as on board the “George Law,� been provided with ten shillings worth of cork and canvas. I was ten days on board the “George Law,� and each night as I went to bed, my eyes were arrested by my life-buoy. It said plainly to me, did this life-buoy, (not knowing that I was a sailor by profession) “Collisions will take place, spontaneous combustion will break out, and sunken wrecks and rocks and sand-banks will be run upon; should any of these occur, will you not quietly buckle me on, beingprepared by your daily contemplation of me for any such emergency, and will you not then calmly assist wherever you are wanted, in the full confidence that even if the ship sinks under you, you can float without exertion until you are picked up by the life-boats?� Certainly the contemplation of a life-buoy by one’s bed-side, will bring such thoughts to mind,and by keeping the danger before each man night and day, prepares him when the hour comes, to act coolly and reflectively. But we may look farther even than this; if the presence of life-buoys accustoms passengers to contemplate danger, and to meet it calmly when it comes, does it not stand to reason that the captain and crew of a sinking vessel are better able to exert themselves for the safety of the vessel, or otherwise the lowering andprovisioningof boats, when the passengers, confident in their cork and canvas, are calmly awaiting theorderto jump overboard, instead of at once plunging into the waves, only to struggle and call piteously for help, thus unmanning some and rendering others unable to assist them. How many boats have been successfully lowered from a sinking ship, but being overloaded too suddenly, have turned over and drowned all that could not swim: would this be so if all had life-buoys? How many boats have left a ship in the dark night but half full, fearing the impetuous rush which a panic-struck crowd would make at it if again it touched the ship’s sides? Yet the cost of such a buoy is but ten shillings, and that of a life-boat thirty pounds.
It may be said that every passenger can carry his own life-preserver, and that most do so: this is nothing;it gives me no increased confidence to know that Muggins who sleeps next to me has an India-rubber bag that he can blow out each night before turning in. The advantage of disposing life-buoys throughout the ship, as in the “George Law,� is in the general confidence which their presence gives to all, and when the moment of danger comes, that ten shillings’ worth of cork and canvas will enable those who cannot swim to keep above water, and those who can swim to double their exertions to form a raft and save the helpless. There is not, to my knowledge, an ocean steamer that leaves England that is properly found in this respect, nor will there be until government inspectors are appointed to see that they are supplied with life-boats that can be lowered in all weather, and do not necessarily swamp if a “fall� gives way, or bilge as they surge against the vessel’s side. And captains of vessels should be made to keep their boats clear, so far as this, that falls should be kept clear for running, and lashings and gripes so secured aseasily to be cast off, precautions which are seldom taken.
Judging not only by the details we receive from the survivors of lost ships, but from what actually comes before our notice as we travel to and fro, it appears as a fact indisputable, that not only are steamboats ill supplied with the requisites for savinglife in case of shipwreck, but that what they have are seldom of use when wanted. With long boats on board that can only be hoisted out under favourable circumstances, cutters and gigs at the davits lashed and secured, and covered with tarpaulin, filled with hay perhaps, or vegetables, containing neither oars, compass, or tow-rope, is it a wonder that in nearly every case of shipwreck we find the loss of life aggravated by the confusion and mismanagement which accompanies the lowering of boats, or the attempted construction of a raft? A few hundred pounds would amply supply every ship with the requisites for preservation of life in addition to those they already possess, and of what account is this sum in the grand total of the cost of a steam-ship? Air-boats, or life-buoys, are by no means perishable or costly articles, but how much less sad would have been the history of sinking and burning troop-ships, had they been supplied with them?[31]
Of what avail is the splendid discipline and admirable courage that is displayed by soldiers in burning and sinking ships, when each man has but to wait the hour when he must go overboard and drown helplessly. I would not only have each soldier in a troop-ship provided with a life-buoy, but I would also that each man, previous to sailing, should be made to go once into deep water with the life-buoy on, so that he might be convinced in smooth water that the cork would uphold his weight—a fact more difficult to believe when the trial has to take place in a hurricane, and from a sinking ship.
Each vessel carries (or rather should carry) a sufficient number of spare spars to replace those that may be carried away; there is seldom a call for the largest of these in a well-managed ship, yet they form part of her furniture, and are generally lashed on deck or under the chains.
By a little management these spare topmasts and yards might be so fitted, without impairing their utility, as to form a raft, in conjunction with casks, in a very short time. The crew might be practised shortly after leaving port at launching these spars and connecting them; the passengers would be instructed equally with the crew; and in emigrant and troop ships those who could swim might at once be sentoverboard (with their life-buoys) to assist in the construction of the raft.[32]
To make this more plain, let us suppose a ship, whether carrying troops, emigrants or passengers, to be twenty-four hours out of port; an order is posted up that all hands are to muster on deck with their life-buoys at a given hour, when the fire-bell will be sounded. The ship or steamer is hove to, the spars are unlashed, launched, and the raft is put together, the boats are lowered, and the passengers then see at least that the means of safety are provided for them. Those that can swim can go overboard if they please and lend a hand. Hoist everything on board, and you have lost perhaps three hours of your passage time, but a vast deal has been accomplished towards saving life, if the ship that night should run upon a rock and perish. Everything would be in its place, and all that could be done would be done.
I fear that there would be much opposition to such a plan on board passenger ships, for when danger is far off there is little disposition to submit to any arbitrary regulations, even though adopted for their own safety; but in emigrant and troop ships the practice might be enforced. I would have troops and emigrants mustered regularly with their life-buoys on,and the swimmers formed into a squad with a certain duty appointed for them. Each man should know his station in the hour of danger, and the fire-bell be sounded once a week for practice. A little ingenuity in the formation of buoys, adapted to the peculiarities of the frame of the raft, would so secure a large body of men in the frame that, even if they perished from exposure or starvation, they would still be found there floating, and although suspense might have made death more terrible to them, this would be preferable to their being washed off one by one, after vain attempts to cling to rolling casks, and spars, and hen-coops, lashed together, with no more system than the urgency of the moment suggested to the few who, under ordinary circumstances, are prepared, in case of shipwreck, to make a rational effort for the preservation of their lives; for the want of a lashing, or an axe, or a tow-rope for a boat at such times will peril the lives of all; but, when all is provided, confidence and courage are there also, and life may be saved.
They say drowning men will catch at a straw; let us give our brave soldiers something to catch at, in the hour of emergency, that will serve to keep them at least a short time above water; and let our “Royal Mail lines� take some precautions of this nature fortheir passengers, and charge for it extra, if they like, in the passage money.
Shortly after the loss of the “Amazon� I was taking a passage in one of the West India boats, and I observed that, in the ship’s fire bill, which was exposed, the crew and officers only had been stationed. I ventured to suggest to the captain that an extra clause might be inserted, to the effect that those passengers who chose to render assistance in case of fire should assemble with their blankets in some part of the ship specified, there to be placed under the charge of one of the ship’s officers; for it seemed to me that, daily perusing such a regulation, a hundred able-bodied passengers would be found, at the sound of the fire-bell, ready with their blankets, which, under the direction of an officer, they would proceed to wet if necessary. This plan, I thought, would not only render the passengers useful, but would keep them away from the boats, and, being prepared to act as a disciplined body in case of danger, the silence so necessary in these cases would be observed among them. The captain did not agree with me; but, as he did not inform me how I was in error, I was led to believe that captains of large boats get testy sometimes from serving in the Tropics, and object to passengers having any opinion in matters connected with their own safety.
“HERCULESâ€� FAILS—LAND CRABS—MR. BOBBINS—“RUSHINGâ€� THE SHIP—NEW YORK.
“HERCULESâ€� FAILS—LAND CRABS—MR. BOBBINS—“RUSHINGâ€� THE SHIP—NEW YORK.
May, 1852.
Theweather being fine, the roads were in tolerable order when we arrived at Panama; we made light, therefore, of the journey, and, having arrived at Gorgona, we dismounted from our mules, and, taking boats, went swiftly down the rapid river, landing at the village of Barbacoes, to which point the railway was now completed.
The station-house consisted of a large shed, in which hundreds of fowls and thousands of eggs were being cooked, eaten, and paid for with astonishing rapidity. I observed, among other things, that the coffee was just as weak and scalding hot at Barbacoes, as at Wolverhampton, or any other refreshment station.
There was no time-table here at this period; but the line had this advantage over most others, that the
train started at the time specified by the authorities; for they waited until it suited them, and then gave the order to “let her slide.�
On this eventful day, however, we had not “slidâ€� above two miles when the train stopped. Returning Californians are of a vivacious temperament generally, and are seldom at their ease when sitting down inactive; therefore, the instant the train stopped, every man jumped out to see what was the matter. The cause was soon apparent; we were ascending an inclined plane, and the little engine—which, Hercules by name, was not Hercules by nature—had declined to proceed any further. In vain the sooty stoker emptied his oil-can into the fire to induce if possible more steam; the little engine, as it ineffectually tried a fresh start, looked piteous, and seemed to say, “How can you expect a little chap like me to pull nine hundred of these big fellows up a hill like this? Let ’em get out and shove me over.â€� This argument seemed to strike the conductor, for, without further preface, he said, “Now, lads, heave together,â€� and at once we all set our shoulders to the concern, and got more speed out of it than “Herculesâ€� had done from the start. There was but one line of rails laid down, and, although the authorities were not particular with regard to the time of starting, we hadthe comfort of knowing that a collision with the other train could not be very serious. I wonder what we should have done had we been met by an up-train; one of us would have had to retire, for “Herculesâ€� could not have taken us back, and it was not likely we were going to shove ourselves back to Barbacoes.
The scene would have been splendid, for like the two goats that met on the narrow bridge, one train would have tried to force the other back, and in this contest of personal strength I think the nine hundred returning Californians would most probably have won the day, and entered Aspinwall in triumph.
Having reached the top of the hill, we all got in, and Hercules making the most of the descent ran away with us for three miles, when we got out again, and so on. The road lay through a thick jungle of splendid teaks, and palms, and ferns of every variety; the rich epiphytes brushed against our carriage windows, and the air was suffused with that sweet fragrance which is alone known in a tropical forest after rain has fallen. Myriads of little land-crabs of a turquoise colour lined the banks, and as the time had now arrived when we might discharge our revolvers and put them away, the blue land-crabs had the advantage of several hundred bullets, and whilst Herculesrushed impetuously through the jungle, pop, pop, pop, went the “six-shooters,� and as the land crabs turned over on their blue backs to die, they presented to the astonished beholder yellow bellies and green eyes.
In a pouring rain we arrived at Aspinwall, and this being the terminus, we proceeded at once on board the steamers that were waiting to convey us to New York. There happened to be an unusual number of opposition boats in the bay, so that fares were so reduced that the roughest fellow there could take a first-class berth. This was very unfair to those of us who had booked our places through at the office of the Mail Line in San Francisco, for we had paid a certain price for a certain degree of comfort and room, and this was denied to us so soon as the price of the saloon fare rendered it so overcrowded that the tables had to be laidtwelve timeseach day to accommodate the first-class passengers with first-class fare.
Thus the saloon was continually occupied, and each moment it was, “Sound the gongâ€�—“Hurry up the soup,â€� and down rushed the “next lot,â€� as an auctioneer would say, leaving a hecatomb of Californian hats at the foot of the companion ladder. We had on board the junior partner of some English house, who was returning from a business visit he had made to some part of South America. He gave himselfgreat airs, and being dressed with the extreme taste which characterises your fast city man, he threw us all into the shade, for we as yet were not fashionably attired, nor had we put razors to our chins.
One day at dinner this fellow, being affronted at some negligence on the part of the waiter, said, “Aw! do you take me for a returned Californian?�
This remark being audible above the din of knives and forks produced a sudden silence, and, for a moment I thought that Mr. Bobbins’s ears would have been taken off with a carving knife. Fortunately, for him, however, each one was in high spirits at the thought of reaching home, and being very hungry continued his dinner without waiting to resent the impertinence.
There was a man on board who had brought with him from the mines two young grizzly bear cubs, who were just getting large enough to be dangerous, and that evening, as Mr. Bobbins was dreamily enjoying a cigar on deck, he was aroused from the contemplation of his patent leather boots by moonlight with, “Sir, allow me to introduce to you two returned Californians.� Ursa major, thereupon, being held up, scratched Bobbins’s face, whilst ursa minor attacked the patent leathers, which he forcibly removed, together with a toe-nail or so, with his teeth.
Whilst one miner held a screeching, biting, ring-tailed monkey over Mr. Bobbins’s head, another produced a savage bull-terrier, who, having done his duty at the mines dogfully, seemed very anxious indeed to make the acquaintance of Mr. Bobbins’s throat.
It was some time before the “returned Californians� could tear themselves away from their new acquaintance, and when they did, they tore away more of his cross-barred trousers and cut-away coat than any tailor could repair.
The next day we arrived at Havannah, and Mr.Bobbins was wise enough to leave the ship and await a passage in another vessel, and I only wish that every travelling “gent� who, puffed out with conceit, causes his countrymen to blush for his ignorance and vulgarity, may get as durable a lesson as that which Mr. Bobbins received from the four-footed “returned Californians.�
At Havannah we found that Americans were in bad odour, on account of the fillibustering expeditions which had but lately been repulsed. As we steamed out of the harbour, an intelligent miner observed to me, “I guess that place will soon belong to our people.�
“Do you think Spain will sell it?� I asked.
“Our people will take it,� he replied.
“But,� said I, “suppose England and France should interfere.�
“Whip them,� was the laconic reply, and he turned on his heel.
I mention this, because a large portion of the people of the United States, remembering only the successful frigate actions in which, during the last war, they reaped laurels, are ignorant respecting the real strength of their navy at this moment.
As our captain wished to arrive at New York before the opposition boats, all steam was carried that the boilers could bear, and a little more, Isuspect. In fact we were to “rush the ship,� and she so trembled fore and aft with the work, that it was almost impossible to read a book in any part of her. The bearings of the engines became so hot that they were pumped upon day and night.
She was a beautiful boat, built for the most part of pine, I believe, and there was no difficulty in placing, under favourable circumstances, three hundred and fifty miles a day on her log board, independent of any favourable current.
Soon, however, we were in the Gulf stream, and were met by signs of a south-easter; first it “clouded up,â€� as a miner remarked, and then it “breezed up considerable,â€� after which night came on and with it the gale. These south-easters have a way of chopping round when at their height, and by this eccentric conduct many vessels are lost. One of the officers informed me that a short time previously a brig called the John Hill, was taken aback in this way, and her cargo of molasses shifted and burst the decks, upon which, “John Hillâ€� became water-logged. Two days after the mate was taken off the wreck with two legs and an arm broken; and, concluded my informant, the captain was found two miles off “in good shapeâ€� floating on a hen-coop—the rest of the crew were lost. Fine weather succeeded the gale,doubly fine by contrast, and as we passed Sandy Hook, and steamed up New York Bay, the shores on either side, white with snow, shone brilliantly in the winter’s sun; and the leafless trees that grew in copses here and there in naked desolation, had more charm for us, being nearer home, than ever had the vivid green of the palms and ferns that ten days back we had seen at Panama.
Thus is our appreciation of the beautiful ever dependant on association; and to me the white cliffs of my own country, whether I am casting the last glance on leaving them, or straining my eyes as I first catch a glimpse of them as I return, these ugly chalky cliffs have more actual charm for my eye than all that I have ever seen elsewhere of nature’s rarest gifts.
* * * *
There is nothing left for me to say of New York, others having recorded more than I could learn of it in a week’s sojourn there. Having visited many places of note, that have been already accurately described, I turned into Barnum’s Museum to see the woolly horse, but I could not find it; being disappointed in the natural history department, I stopped to witness the theatrical performance, and this so impressed me that I subjoin for the benefit of the reader a bill ofperformance, which I extracted from an American journal:—
Just opened, with 100,000 Curiosities, and performance in Lecter-Room; among witch may be foundTWO LIVE BOAR CONSTRICTERS,Mail and Femail.ALSO!!A STRIPED ALGEBRA, STUFT.BESIDES!!A PAIR OF SHUTTLE COCKS AND ONE SHUTTLE HEN—alive!THE!SWORD WITCH GEN. WELLINGTON FIT WITH AT THEBATTEL OF WATERLOO! whom is six feet long andbroad in proportion.WITH!!!A ENORMOUS RATTLETAIL SNAKE—a regular wopper!AND!THE TUSHES OF A HIPPOTENUSE!Together with!A BENGALL TIGER: SPOTTED LEPROSY!——GREAT MORAL SPECTACLE OF ‘MOUNT VESUVIUS!’PART ONE.Seen opens. Distant Moon. View of Bey of Napels. A thin smoke rises.It is the Beginning of the Eruction!The Napels folks begin to travel. Yaller fire, follered by silent thunder. Awful consternation.Suthin rumbles!It is the Mounting preparin’ to Vomic! They call upon the Fire Department.It’s no use!Flight of stool-pidgeons. A cloud of impenetrable smoke hang over the fated city, through witch the Naplers are seen makin’ tracks. Awful explosion of bulbs, kurbs, forniquets, pin weels, serpentiles, and fourbillon spirals! The Moulting Laver begins to squash out!End of Part One.COMIC SONG.The Parochial BeedleMr. Mullet.LIVE INJUN ON THE SLACK WIRE.Live InjunMr. Mullet.OBLIGATIONS ON THE CORNUCOPIA, BY SIGNOR VERMICELLI.Signor VermicelliMr. Mullet.In the course of the evening will be an exhibishun of Exileratin’ Gas! upon a Laffin Highena!Laffin HighenaMr. Mullet.PART TWO.Bey of Napels ’luminated by Bendola Lites. The lava gushes down. Through the smoke is seen the city in a state of conflagration. The last family! “Whar is our parents?â€� A red hot stone of eleving tuns weight falls onto ’em. The bearheaded father falls scentless before the statoo of the Virgin!Denumong!!The hole to conclude with aGRAND SHAKSPEARING PYROLIGNEOUS DISPLAY OFFIREWURX!!Maroon Bulbs, changing to a spiral weel, witch changes to the Star of our Union: after, to butiful p’ints of red lites; to finish with busting into a Brilliant Perspiration!During the performance a No. of Popular Airs will be performed onthe Scotch Fiddle and Bag-pipes, by a real Highlander.Real HighlanderMr. Mullet.Any boy making a muss, will be injected to once’t.As the Museum is Temperance, no drinkin’ aloud, but anyone will find the best of lickers in the Sloon below.
Just opened, with 100,000 Curiosities, and performance in Lecter-Room; among witch may be found
TWO LIVE BOAR CONSTRICTERS,Mail and Femail.ALSO!!A STRIPED ALGEBRA, STUFT.BESIDES!!A PAIR OF SHUTTLE COCKS AND ONE SHUTTLE HEN—alive!THE!SWORD WITCH GEN. WELLINGTON FIT WITH AT THEBATTEL OF WATERLOO! whom is six feet long andbroad in proportion.WITH!!!A ENORMOUS RATTLETAIL SNAKE—a regular wopper!AND!THE TUSHES OF A HIPPOTENUSE!Together with!A BENGALL TIGER: SPOTTED LEPROSY!
——
GREAT MORAL SPECTACLE OF ‘MOUNT VESUVIUS!’
PART ONE.
Seen opens. Distant Moon. View of Bey of Napels. A thin smoke rises.It is the Beginning of the Eruction!The Napels folks begin to travel. Yaller fire, follered by silent thunder. Awful consternation.Suthin rumbles!It is the Mounting preparin’ to Vomic! They call upon the Fire Department.It’s no use!Flight of stool-pidgeons. A cloud of impenetrable smoke hang over the fated city, through witch the Naplers are seen makin’ tracks. Awful explosion of bulbs, kurbs, forniquets, pin weels, serpentiles, and fourbillon spirals! The Moulting Laver begins to squash out!
End of Part One.
COMIC SONG.
PART TWO.
Bey of Napels ’luminated by Bendola Lites. The lava gushes down. Through the smoke is seen the city in a state of conflagration. The last family! “Whar is our parents?� A red hot stone of eleving tuns weight falls onto ’em. The bearheaded father falls scentless before the statoo of the Virgin!Denumong!!
The hole to conclude with aGRAND SHAKSPEARING PYROLIGNEOUS DISPLAY OFFIREWURX!!
Maroon Bulbs, changing to a spiral weel, witch changes to the Star of our Union: after, to butiful p’ints of red lites; to finish with busting into a Brilliant Perspiration!
Any boy making a muss, will be injected to once’t.
As the Museum is Temperance, no drinkin’ aloud, but anyone will find the best of lickers in the Sloon below.
Could I have witnessed such an entertainment as this, together with the woolly horse, my chapter on New York would have been swelled both in size and importance.