FOOTNOTES:

INDIAN ENCAMPMENT NEAR THE LANDING-STAGE, ESQUIMAULT.INDIAN ENCAMPMENT NEAR THE LANDING-STAGE, ESQUIMAULT.

John Jewitt and the capture of the "Boston" in 1803.

But the most famous of all the piracies of the Western Indians is that of which an account is contained in John Jewitt's Narrative. The ostensible author of this work was a Hull blacksmith, the armourer of theBoston, an American ship which was seized while lying in Nootka Sound, and the entire crew massacred, with the exception of Jewitt, who was spared owing to his skill as a mechanic being valuable to the Indians, and John Thompson, the sail-maker, who, though left for dead, recovered, and was saved by the tact of Jewitt in representing him to be his father. This happened in March 1803, and from that date until the 20th of July 1805, these two men were kept in slavery to the chief Maquenna or Moqulla, when they were freed by the arrival of the brigLydiaof Boston, Samuel Hill master. During this servitude, Jewitt, who seems to have been a man of some education, kept a journal and acquired the Aht language, though the style in which his book is written shows that in preparing it for the press he had obtained the assistance of a more practised writer than himself. Still, his work is a valuable contribution to ethnology. For, omitting the brief but excellent accounts by Cook and Meares, it is the earliest, and, with the exception of Mr. Sproat's lecture, the fullest description of these Indians. It is indeed the only one treating specially on the Nootka people, with whom alone he had any minute acquaintance. Some of the habits he pictures are now obsolete, or greatly modified, butothers—it may be said the greater number—are exactly as he notes them to have been eighty-six years ago. Besides the internal evidences of its authenticity, the truth of the adventures described was vouched for at the time by Jewitt's companion in slavery; and though there is no absolute proof of its credibility, it may not be uninteresting to state that, thirty years ago, I conversed with an American sea captain, who, as a boy, distinctly remembered Jewitt working as a blacksmith in the town of Middleton in Connecticut. When the book was first published, in the year 1815, several editions appeared in America, and at least two reprints were called for in England, so that the Narrative enjoyed considerable popularity in the first two decades of the century. Writing in 1840, Robert Green Low, Librarian to the Department of State at Washington, characterises it as "a simple and unpretending narrative, which will, no doubt, in after centuries, be read with interest by the enlightened people of North-West America." Again, in 1845, the same industrious, though not always impartial, historian remarks that "this little book has been frequently reprinted, and, though seldom found in libraries, is much read by boys and seamen in the United States." As copies are now seldom met with, this is no longer the case, though on our cruise in 1863 it was one of the well-thumbed little library of the traders, one of whom had inherited it from William Edy Banfield, whose name has already been mentioned (p. 25). This trader, for many years a well-known man on the out-of-the-way parts of the coast, furnished a curious link between Jewitt's time and our own. For an old Indian told him that he had, as a boy, served inthe family of a chief of Nootka, called Klan-nin-itth, at the time when Jewitt and Thompson were in slavery; and that he often assisted Jewitt in making spears, arrows, and other weapons required for hostile expeditions. He said, further, that the white slave generally accompanied his owner on visits which he paid to the Ayhuttisaht, Ahousaht, and Klahoquaht chiefs. This old man especially remembered Jewitt, who was a good-humoured fellow, often reciting and singing in his own language for the amusement of the tribesmen. He was described as a tall, well-made youth, with a mirthful countenance, whose dress latterly consisted of nothing but a mantle of cedar bark. Mr. Sproat, who obtained his information from the same quarter that I did, adds that there was a long story of Jewitt's courting, and finally abducting, the daughter of Waughclagh, the Ahousaht chief. This incident in his career is not recorded by our author, who, however, was married to a daughter of Upquesta, an Ayhuttisaht Indian.

Apart, however, from Jewitt not caring to enlighten the decent-living puritans of Connecticut too minutely regarding his youthful escapades, it is not unlikely that Mr. Banfield's informant mixed up some half-forgotten legends regarding another white man, who, seventeen years before Jewitt's captivity, had voluntarily remained among these Nootka Indians. This was a scapegrace named John M'Kay,[27]an Irishman, who, after being in the East India Company's Service in some minor medical capacity, shipped in 1785 on board theCaptain Cookas surgeon's mate, and was left behind in Nootka Sound, in the hope that he would so ingratiate himself with the natives, as to induce them to refuse furs to any other traders except those with whom he was connected. This man seems to have been an ignorant, untruthful braggart, who contradicted himself in many important particulars. But entire credence may be given to his statement that in a short time he sank into barbarism, becoming as filthy as the dirtiest of his savage companions. For when Captain Hanna saw him in August 1786, the natives had stripped him of his clothes, and obliged him to adopt their dress and habits. He even refused to leave, declaring that he had begun to relish dried fish and whale oil—though, owing to a famine in the Sound, he got little of either—and was well satisfied to stay for another year. After making various excursions in the country about Nootka Sound, during which he came to the conclusion that it was not a part of the American continent, but a chain of detached islands, he gladly deserted his Indian wife, and left with Captain Berkeley in 1787. To "preach, fight, and mend a musket" seems to have been too much for this medical pluralist. His further history I am unable to trace, though, for the sake of historical roundness, it would have been interesting to believe that he was the same M'Kay who twenty-four years later ended his career so terribly by blowing up theTonquin, with whose son I was well acquainted.

In all of these transactions the head chief of Nootka, or at least of the Mooachahts, figures prominently. This was Maquenna or Moqulla (Jewitt's Maquina), who, with his relative Wikananish, ruled over most of the tribes from here to Nettinaht Inlet. He was a shifty savage,endowed with no small mental ability, and, though at times capable of acts which were almost generous, untrustworthy like most of his race, and when offended ready for any act of vindictiveness. Wikananish was on a visit to Maquenna when theDiscoveryandResolutionentered the Sound, and among the relics which Maquenna kept for many years were a brass mortar left by Cook, which in Meares's day was borne before the chief as a portion of his regalia, and three "pieces of a brassy metal formed like cricket bats," on which were the remains of the name and arms of Sir Joseph Banks, and the date 1775—Banks, it may be remembered, being the scientific companion of Cook. In every subsequent voyage Maquenna figures, and not a few of the outrages committed on that coast were due either to him or to his instigation. Some, like his attempt to seize Hanna's vessel in 1785, are known from extraneous sources, and others were boasted of by him to Jewitt. The last of his proceedings of which history has left any record, is the murder of the crew of theBostonand the enslavement of Thompson and Jewitt, and in the narrative of the latter we are afforded a final glimpse of this notorious "King."[28]

Changes since Jewitt's time.

When I visited Nootka Sound in 1863, fifty-eight years had passed since the captivity of the author of this book. In the intervalmany things had happened. But though the Indians had altered in some respects, they were perhaps less changed than almost any other savages in America since the whites came in contact with them. Eighty-five years had passed since Cook had careened his ships in Resolution Cove, and seventy since Vancouver entered the Sound on his almost more notable voyage. Yet the bricks from the blacksmith's forge, fresh and vitrified as if they had been in contact with the fire only yesterday, were at times dug up from among the rank herbage. The village in Friendly Cove—a spot which not a few mariners found to be very unfriendly—differed in no way from the picture in Cook'sVoyage; and though some curio-hunting captain had no doubt long ago carried off the mortar and emblazoned brasses, the natives still spoke traditionally of Cook and Vancouver, and were ready to point out the spots where in 1788 Meares built theNorth-West Americaand the white men had cultivated. Memories of Martinez and Quadra existed in the shape of many legends, of Indians with Iberian features, and of several old people who by tradition (though some of them were old enough to have remembered these navigators), could still repeat the Spanish numerals. And the head chief of the Mooachahts in Friendly Cove—vastly smaller though his tribe was, and much abridged his power—was a grandson of Maquenna, called by the same name, and had many of his worst characteristics. This fact I am likely to remember. For he had been accused of having murdered, in the previous January, Captain Stev of theTrader, and since that time no whites had ventured near him. He, however, assured us that the report was simply a scandal raised by theneighbouring tribes, who had long hated him and his people, and would like to see them punished by the arrival of a gunboat, and that in reality the vessel was wrecked, and the white men were drowned. At the same time, among the voices heard that night at the council held in Maquenna's great lodge, supported by the huge beams described by Jewitt, were some in favour of killing his latest visitors, on the principle that dead men tell no tales. But that the Noes had it, the present narrative is the best proof.

So far as their habits were concerned, they were in a condition as primitive as at almost any period since the whites had visited them. Many of the old people were covered only with a mantle of woven pine bark, and beyond a shirt, in most cases made out of a flour sack, a blanket was the sole garment of the majority of the tribesmen. At times when they wanted to receive any goods, they simply pulled off the blanket, wrapped up the articles in it, and went ashore stark naked, with the exception of a piece of skin round the loins. The women wore for the most part no other dress except the blanket and a curious apron made of a fringe of bark strings. All of them painted hideously, the women adding a streak of vermilion down the middle division of the hair, and on high occasions the glittering mica sand, spoken of by Jewitt, was called into requisition. Their customs—and I had plenty of opportunities to study them in the course of the years which followed—were in no way different from what they were in Cook's time. No missionary seemed ever to have visited them, and their religious observances were accordinglystill the most unadulterated of paganism. Jewitt's narrative is, however, as might have been expected, very vague on such matters; and, curiously enough, he makes no mention of their characteristic trait of compressing the foreheads of the children, the tribes in Koskeemo Sound squeezing it, while the bones are still cartilaginous, in a conical shape—though the brain is not thereby permanently injured: it is simply displaced.

Since that day, the tribesmen of the west coast of Vancouver Island have grown fewer and fewer. Some of the smaller septs have indeed become extinct, and others must be fast on the wane. They have, however, eaten of the tree of knowledge, and the gunboats have now little occasion to visit them for punitive purposes. Missionaries have even attempted to teach them better manners. The Alberni saw-mills have long been deserted, though other settlers have taken possession of the ground, and several have squatted in Koskeemo Sound, in the hope that the coal-seams there might induce the Pacific steamers to make that remote region their headquarters. Finally, an effort is being made to induce fishermen from the West of Scotland to settle on that coast. There is plenty of work for them, and the Indians nowadays are very little to be feared. Indeed, so far from the successors of Moqulla and Wikananish menacing Donald and Sandy, they will be ready to help them for a consideration; though a great deal of tact and forbearance will be necessary before people so conservative as the hot-tempered Celts work smoothly with a race quite as fiery and quite as wedded to old ways, as the Ahts among whom John Jewitt passed the early years of this century.

R. B.

FOOTNOTES:[1]Rubus Nutkanus.[2]Rubus spectabilis.[3]Gaultheria Shallon.[4]Vaccinium ovatum.[5]Pyrus rivularis.[6]Ribes sanguineum, now a common shrub in our ornamental grounds.[7]Echinopanax horridum.[8]Thuja gigantea, a tree which to the Indian is what the bamboo is to the Chinese.[9]Acer macrophyllum.[10]Cornus Nuttallii.[11]Arbutus Menziesii.[12]Selasphorus rufus.It is one of one hundred and fifty-three birds which I catalogued from Vancouver Island (Ibis, Nov. 1868).[13]Scenes and Studies of Savage Life(1868), by the Hon. G. M. Sproat, late Commissioner of Indian Affairs for British Columbia.[14]"Pachena" of the Indians.[15]Or, as they call themselves in their dialect of the Aht, "Dittinahts." Nettinaht is a white man's corruption.[16]A few years earlier they were estimated at a thousand.[17]"Klootis" of the Indians.[18]Known to them as "Etlo."[19]They were not permitted this privilege until the whites came to Alberni in August 1860.[20]Though the orthography of these names is often incorrect, and not even phonetically accurate, I have, in order to avoid the mischief of a confusion of nomenclature, kept to that of the Admiralty Chart.[21]This was the Banfield who acted as Indian agent in Barclay Sound. He was drowned by Kleetsak, a slave of Kleesheens, capsizing the canoe in which he was sailing, in revenge for a slight passed upon the chief. I went ashore at the Ohyaht village in the same canoe, and was asked whether I was not afraid, "for Banipe was killed in it." There was also a story that the capsize was an accident.[22]It may be proper to state in this place that the interior details of that chart are, with very few exceptions, from my explorations. But the map on which they were laid down by me has been so often copied by societies, governments, and private individuals without permission (and without acknowledgment), that the author of it has long ceased to claim a property so generally pillaged. The original, however, appeared, with a memoir on the interior—"Das Innere der Vancouver Insel"—which has not yet been translated, in Petermann'sGeographische Mittheilungen, 1869.[23]Or Berkeley—for the name is spelt both ways.[24]Destruction Island, in lat. 47° 35'. This was almost the same spot as that in which the Spaniards of Bodega's crew were massacred in 1775, and for this reason they named it Isla de Dolores—the "Island of Sorrows." It is in what is now the State of Washington, U.S.A.[25]Green Low will even blame Wikananish, who figures in Jewitt's narrative, as the instigator of the outrage.[26]The Nahwitti Indians. Compare the Tlā-tlī-sī—Kwela and Nekum-ke-līsla septs of the Kwakiool people. They now inhabit a village named Meloopa, on the south-east side of Hope Island. But their original hamlet was situated on a small rocky peninsula on the east side of Cape Commerell, which forms the north point of Vancouver Island. Here remains of old houses are still to be seen, at a place known to the Indians as Nahwitti. It was close to this place that theTonquinwas blown up.—Science, vol. ix. p. 341.[27]"Maccay" (Meares); "M'Key" (Dixon).[28]There is a portrait of him, apparently authentic, in Meares'sVoyages, vol. ii. (1791). That in the original edition of Jewitt's Narrative, like the plate of the capture of theBoston, appears to have been drawn from description, though there is a certain resemblance in it to Meares's sketch made fourteen or fifteen years earlier. But the scenery, the canoes, the people, and, above all, the palm trees in Nootka Sound, are purely imaginary.

[1]Rubus Nutkanus.

[2]Rubus spectabilis.

[3]Gaultheria Shallon.

[4]Vaccinium ovatum.

[5]Pyrus rivularis.

[6]Ribes sanguineum, now a common shrub in our ornamental grounds.

[7]Echinopanax horridum.

[8]Thuja gigantea, a tree which to the Indian is what the bamboo is to the Chinese.

[9]Acer macrophyllum.

[10]Cornus Nuttallii.

[11]Arbutus Menziesii.

[12]Selasphorus rufus.It is one of one hundred and fifty-three birds which I catalogued from Vancouver Island (Ibis, Nov. 1868).

[13]Scenes and Studies of Savage Life(1868), by the Hon. G. M. Sproat, late Commissioner of Indian Affairs for British Columbia.

[14]"Pachena" of the Indians.

[15]Or, as they call themselves in their dialect of the Aht, "Dittinahts." Nettinaht is a white man's corruption.

[16]A few years earlier they were estimated at a thousand.

[17]"Klootis" of the Indians.

[18]Known to them as "Etlo."

[19]They were not permitted this privilege until the whites came to Alberni in August 1860.

[20]Though the orthography of these names is often incorrect, and not even phonetically accurate, I have, in order to avoid the mischief of a confusion of nomenclature, kept to that of the Admiralty Chart.

[21]This was the Banfield who acted as Indian agent in Barclay Sound. He was drowned by Kleetsak, a slave of Kleesheens, capsizing the canoe in which he was sailing, in revenge for a slight passed upon the chief. I went ashore at the Ohyaht village in the same canoe, and was asked whether I was not afraid, "for Banipe was killed in it." There was also a story that the capsize was an accident.

[22]It may be proper to state in this place that the interior details of that chart are, with very few exceptions, from my explorations. But the map on which they were laid down by me has been so often copied by societies, governments, and private individuals without permission (and without acknowledgment), that the author of it has long ceased to claim a property so generally pillaged. The original, however, appeared, with a memoir on the interior—"Das Innere der Vancouver Insel"—which has not yet been translated, in Petermann'sGeographische Mittheilungen, 1869.

[23]Or Berkeley—for the name is spelt both ways.

[24]Destruction Island, in lat. 47° 35'. This was almost the same spot as that in which the Spaniards of Bodega's crew were massacred in 1775, and for this reason they named it Isla de Dolores—the "Island of Sorrows." It is in what is now the State of Washington, U.S.A.

[25]Green Low will even blame Wikananish, who figures in Jewitt's narrative, as the instigator of the outrage.

[26]The Nahwitti Indians. Compare the Tlā-tlī-sī—Kwela and Nekum-ke-līsla septs of the Kwakiool people. They now inhabit a village named Meloopa, on the south-east side of Hope Island. But their original hamlet was situated on a small rocky peninsula on the east side of Cape Commerell, which forms the north point of Vancouver Island. Here remains of old houses are still to be seen, at a place known to the Indians as Nahwitti. It was close to this place that theTonquinwas blown up.—Science, vol. ix. p. 341.

[27]"Maccay" (Meares); "M'Key" (Dixon).

[28]There is a portrait of him, apparently authentic, in Meares'sVoyages, vol. ii. (1791). That in the original edition of Jewitt's Narrative, like the plate of the capture of theBoston, appears to have been drawn from description, though there is a certain resemblance in it to Meares's sketch made fourteen or fifteen years earlier. But the scenery, the canoes, the people, and, above all, the palm trees in Nootka Sound, are purely imaginary.

BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE OF THE AUTHOR

I was born in Boston, a considerable borough town in Lincolnshire, in Great Britain, on the 21st of May, 1783. My father, Edward Jewitt, was by trade a blacksmith, and esteemed among the first in his line of business in that place. At the age of three years I had the misfortune to lose my mother, a most excellent woman, who died in childbed, leaving an infant daughter, who, with myself, and an elder brother by a former marriage of my father, constituted the whole of our family. My father, who considered a good education as the greatest blessing he could bestow on his children, was very particular in paying every attention to us in that respect, always exhorting us to behave well, and endeavouring to impress on our minds the principles of virtue and morality, and no expense in his power was spared to have us instructed in whatever might render us useful and respectable in society. My brother, who was four years older than myself and of a more hardy constitution, he destined for his own trade, but to me he hadresolved to give an education superior to that which is to be obtained in a common school, it being his intention that I should adopt one of the learned professions. Accordingly, at the age of twelve he took me from the school in which I had been taught the first rudiments of learning, and placed me under the care of Mr. Moses, a celebrated teacher of an academy at Donnington, about eleven miles from Boston, in order to be instructed in the Latin language, and in some of the higher branches of the mathematics. I there made considerable proficiency in writing, reading, and arithmetic, and obtained a pretty good knowledge of navigation and of surveying; but my progress in Latin was slow, not only owing to the little inclination I felt for learning that language, but to a natural impediment in my speech, which rendered it extremely difficult for me to pronounce it, so that in a short time, with my father's consent, I wholly relinquished the study.

The period of my stay at this place was the most happy of my life. My preceptor, Mr. Moses, was not only a learned, but a virtuous, benevolent, and amiable man, universally beloved by his pupils, who took delight in his instruction, and to whom he allowed every proper amusement that consisted with attention to their studies.

One of the principal pleasures I enjoyed was in attending the fair, which is regularly held twice a year at Donnington, in the spring and in the fall,[29]the second day being wholly devoted to selling horses, a prodigious number of which are brought thither for that purpose. As the scholars on these occasions were always indulged with a holiday, I cannot express with what eagerness of youthful expectation I used to anticipate these fairs, nor what delight I felt at the various shows, exhibitions of wild beasts, and other entertainments that they presented; I was frequently visited by my father, who always discovered much joy on seeing me, praised me for my acquirements, and usually left me a small sum for my pocket expenses.

Among the scholars at this academy, there was one named Charles Rice, with whom I formed a particular intimacy, which continued during the whole of my stay. He was my class and room mate, and as the town he came from, Ashby, was more than sixty miles off, instead of returning home, he used frequently during the vacation to go with me to Boston, where he always met with a cordial welcome from my father, who received me on these occasions with the greatest affection, apparently taking much pride in me. My friend in return used to take me with him to an uncle of his in Donnington, a very wealthy man, who, having no children of his own, was very fond of his nephew, and on his account I was always a welcome visitor at the house. I had a good voice, and an ear for music, to which I was always passionately attached, though my father endeavoured to discourage this propensity, considering it (as is too frequently the case) but an introduction to a life of idleness and dissipation; and, having been remarked for my singing at church, which was regularly attended on Sundays and festival days by the scholars, Mr. Morthrop, my friend Rice's uncle, used frequently to request me to sing; he was always pleasedwith my exhibitions of this kind, and it was no doubt one of the means that secured me so gracious a reception at his house. A number of other gentlemen in the place would sometimes send for me to sing at their houses, and as I was not a little vain of my vocal powers, I was much gratified on receiving these invitations, and accepted them with the greatest pleasure.

Thus passed away the two happiest years of my life, when my father, thinking that I had received a sufficient education for the profession he intended me for, took me from school at Donnington in order to apprentice me to Doctor Mason, a surgeon of eminence at Reasby, in the neighbourhood of the celebrated Sir Joseph Banks.[30]With regret did I part from my school acquaintance, particularly my friend Rice, and returned home with my father, on a short visit to my family, preparatory to my intended apprenticeship. The disinclination I ever had felt for the profession my father wished me to pursue, was still further increased on my return. When a child I was always fond of being in the shop, among the workmen, endeavouring to imitate what I saw them do; this disposition so far increased after my leaving the academy, that I could not bear to hear the least mention made of my being apprenticed to a surgeon, and I used so many entreaties with my father to persuade him to give up this plan and learn me his own trade, that he at last consented.

More fortunate would it probably have been for me, had I gratified the wishes of this affectionate parent, in adopting the profession he had chosen for me, than thus to have induced him to sacrifice them to mine. However it might have been, I was at length introduced into the shop, and my natural turn of mind corresponding with the employment, I became in a short time uncommonly expert at the work to which I was set. I now felt myself well contented, pleased with my occupation, and treated with much affection by my father, and kindness by my step-mother, my father having once more entered the state of matrimony, with a widow much younger than himself, who had been brought up in a superior manner, and was an amiable and sensible woman.

About a year after I had commenced this apprenticeship, my father, finding that he could carry on his business to more advantage in Hull, removed thither with his family. An event of no little importance to me, as it in a great measure influenced my future destiny. Hull being one of the best ports in England, and a place of great trade, my father had there full employment for his numerous workmen, particularly in vessel work. This naturally leading me to an acquaintance with the sailors on board some of the ships: the many remarkable stories they told me of their voyages and adventures, and of the manners and customs of the nations they had seen, excited a strong wish in me to visit foreign countries, which was increased by my reading the voyages of Captain Cook, and some other celebrated navigators.

Thus passed the four years that I lived at Hull, where my father was esteemed by all who knew him, as a worthy, industrious, and thriving man. At this period a circumstance occurred which afforded me the opportunityI had for some time wished, of gratifying my inclination of going abroad.

Among our principal customers at Hull were the Americans who frequented that port, and from whose conversation my father as well as myself formed the most favourable opinion of that country, as affording an excellent field for the exertions of industry, and a flattering prospect for the establishment of a young man in life. In the summer of the year 1802, during the peace between England and France, the shipBoston, belonging to Boston, in Massachusetts, and commanded by Captain John Salter, arrived at Hull, whither she came to take on board a cargo of such goods as were wanted for the trade with the Indians, on the North-West coast of America, from whence, after having taken in a lading of furs and skins, she was to proceed to China, and from thence home to America. The ship having occasion for many repairs and alterations, necessary for so long a voyage, the captain applied to my father to do the smith's work, which was very considerable. That gentleman, who was of a social turn, used often to call at my father's house, where he passed many of his evenings, with his chief and second mates, Mr. B. Delouisa and Mr. William Ingraham,[31]the latter a fine young man of about twenty, of a most amiable temper, and of such affable manners, as gained him the love and attachment of the whole crew. These gentlemen used occasionally to take me with them to the theatre, an amusement which I was very fond of, and which my father rather encouraged than objected to, as he thought it a good means of preventing young men, who are naturally inclined to seek for something to amuse them, from frequenting taverns, ale-houses, and places of bad resort, equally destructive of the health and morals, while the stage frequently furnishes excellent lessons of morality and good conduct.

In the evenings that he passed at my father's, Captain Salter, who had for a great number of years been at sea, and seen almost all parts of the world, used sometimes to speak of his voyages, and, observing me listen with much attention to his relations, he one day, when I had brought him some work, said to me in rather a jocose manner, "John, how should you like to go with me?" I answered, that it would give me great pleasure, that I had for a long time wished to visit foreign countries, particularly America, which I had been told so many fine stories of, and that if my father would give his consent, and he was willing to take me with him, I would go.

"I shall be very glad to do it," said he, "if your father can be prevailed on to let you go; and as I want an expert smith for an armourer, the one I have shipped for that purpose not being sufficiently master of his trade, I have no doubt that you will answer my turn well, as I perceive you are both active and ingenious, and on my return to America I shall probably be able to do something much better for you in Boston. I will take the first opportunity of speaking to your father about it, and try to persuade him to consent." Heaccordingly, the next evening that he called at our house, introduced the subject: my father at first would not listen to the proposal. That best of parents, though anxious for my advantageous establishment in life, could not bear to think of parting with me, but on Captain Salter's telling him of what benefit it would be to me to go the voyage with him, and that it was a pity to keep a promising and ingenious young fellow like myself confined to a small shop in England, when if I had tolerable success I might do so much better in America, where wages were much higher and living cheaper, he at length gave up his objections, and consented that I should ship on board theBostonas an armourer, at the rate of thirty dollars per month, with an agreement that the amount due to me, together with a certain sum of money, which my father gave Captain Salter for that purpose, should be laid out by him on the North-West coast in the purchase of furs for my account, to be disposed of in China for such goods as would yield a profit on the return of the ship; my father being solicitous to give me every advantage in his power of well establishing myself in my trade in Boston, or some other maritime town of America. Such were the flattering expectations which this good man indulged respecting me. Alas! the fatal disaster that befell us, not only blasted all these hopes, but involved me in extreme distress and wretchedness for a long period after.

The ship, having undergone a thorough repair and been well coppered, proceeded to take on board her cargo, which consisted of English cloths, Dutch blankets, looking-glasses, beads, knives, razors, etc., which werereceived from Holland, some sugar and molasses, about twenty hogsheads of rum, including stores for the ship, a great quantity of ammunition, cutlasses, pistols, and three thousand muskets and fowling-pieces. The ship being loaded and ready for sea, as I was preparing for my departure, my father came to me, and, taking me aside, said to me with much emotion, "John, I am now going to part with you, and Heaven only knows if we shall ever again meet. But in whatever part of the world you are, always bear it in mind, that on your own conduct will depend your success in life. Be honest, industrious, frugal, and temperate, and you will not fail, in whatsoever country it may be your lot to be placed, to gain yourself friends. Let the Bible be your guide, and your reliance in any fortune that may befall you, that Almighty Being, who knows how to bring forth good from evil, and who never deserts those who put their trust in Him." He repeated his exhortations to me to lead an honest and Christian life, and to recollect that I had a father, a mother, a brother, and sister, who could not but feel a strong interest in my welfare, enjoining me to write him by the first opportunity that should offer to England, from whatever part of the world I might be in, more particularly on my arrival in Boston. This I promised to do, but long unhappily was it before I was able to fulfil this promise. I then took an affectionate leave of my worthy parent, whose feelings would hardly permit him to speak, and, bidding an affectionate farewell to my brother, sister, and step-mother, who expressed the greatest solicitude for my future fortune, went on board the ship, which proceeded to the Downs, to be ready for the first favourablewind. I found myself well accommodated on board as regarded my work, an iron forge having been erected on deck; this my father had made for the ship on a new plan, for which he afterwards obtained a patent; while a corner of the steerage was appropriated to my vice-bench, so that in bad weather I could work below.

FOOTNOTES:[29]These fairs are still held, though the dates are now May 26th, September 4th, and October 27th.[30]The companion of Cook, and for many years President of the Royal Society.[31]This William Ingraham must not be confounded with Joseph Ingraham, who also visited Nootka Sound, and played a considerable part in the exploration of the North-West American coast.

[29]These fairs are still held, though the dates are now May 26th, September 4th, and October 27th.

[30]The companion of Cook, and for many years President of the Royal Society.

[31]This William Ingraham must not be confounded with Joseph Ingraham, who also visited Nootka Sound, and played a considerable part in the exploration of the North-West American coast.

VOYAGE TO NOOTKA SOUND

On the third day of September, 1802, we sailed from the Downs with a fair wind, in company with twenty-four sail of American vessels, most of which were bound home.

I was sea-sick for a few of the first days, but it was of short continuance, and on my recovery I found myself in uncommonly fine health and spirits, and went to work with alacrity at my forge, in putting in order some of the muskets, and making daggers, knives, and small hatchets for the Indian trade, while in wet and stormy weather I was occupied below in filing and polishing them. This was my employment, having but little to do with sailing the vessel, though I used occasionally to lend a hand in assisting the seamen in taking in and making sail.

As I had never before been out of sight of land, I cannot describe my sensations, after I had recovered from the distressing effects of sea-sickness, on viewing the mighty ocean by which I was surrounded, bound only by the sky, while its waves, rising in mountains, seemed every moment to threaten our ruin. Manifest as is the hand of Providence in preserving its creatures from destruction, in no instance is it more sothan on the great deep; for whether we consider in its tumultuary motions the watery deluge that each moment menaces to overwhelm us, the immense violence of its shocks, the little that interposes between us and death, a single plank forming our only security, which, should it unfortunately be loosened, would plunge us at once into the abyss, our gratitude ought strongly to be excited towards that superintending Deity who in so wonderful a manner sustains our lives amid the waves.

We had a pleasant and favourable passage of twenty-nine days to the Island of St. Catherine,[32]on the coast of Brazils, where the captain had determined to stop for a few days to wood and water. This place belongs to the Portuguese. On entering the harbour, we were saluted by the fort, which we returned. The next day the governor of the island came on board of us with his suite; Captain Salter received him with much respect, and invited him to dine with him, which he accepted. The ship remained at St. Catherine's four days, during which time we were busily employed in taking in wood, water, and fresh provisions, Captain Salter thinking it best to furnish himself here with a full supply for his voyage to the North-West coast, so as not to be obliged to stop at the Sandwich Islands. St. Catherine's is a very commodious place for vessels to stop at that are bound round Cape Horn, as it abounds with springs of fine water, with excellent oranges, plantains, and bananas.

Having completed our stores, we put to sea, and on the twenty-fifth of December, at length passed Cape Horn, which we had made no less than thirty-six days before, but were repeatedly forced back by contrary winds, experiencing very rough and tempestuous weather in doubling it.

Immediately after passing Cape Horn, all our dangers and difficulties seemed to be at an end; the weather became fine, and so little labour was necessary on board the ship, that the men soon recovered from their fatigue and were in excellent spirits. A few days after we fell in with an English South Sea whaling ship homeward bound,[33]which was the only vessel we spoke with on our voyage. We now took the trade wind or monsoon, during which we enjoyed the finest weather possible, so that for the space of a fortnight we were not obliged to reeve a topsail or to make a tack, and so light was the duty and easy the life of the sailors during this time, that they appeared the happiest of any people in the world.

Captain Salter, who had been for many years in the East India trade, was a most excellent seaman, and preserved the strictest order and discipline on board his ship, though he was a man of mild temper and conciliating manners, and disposed to allow every indulgence to his men, not inconsistent with their duty. We had on board a fine band of music, with which on Saturday nights, when the weather was pleasant, we were accustomed to be regaled, the captain ordering them to play for several hours for the amusement of the crew. This to me was most delightful, especially during the serene evenings we experienced in traversing the Southern Ocean. As for myself, during the day I was constantly occupied at my forge, in refitting or repairing some of the ironwork of the vessel, but principally in making tomahawks, daggers, etc., for the North-West coast.

During the first part of our voyage we saw scarcely any fish, excepting some whales, a few sharks, and flying fish; but after weathering Cape Horn we met with numerous shoals of sea porpoises, several of whom we caught, and as we had been for some time without fresh provisions, I found it not only a palatable, but really a very excellent food. To one who has never before seen them, a shoal of these fish[34]presents a very striking and singular appearance; beheld at a distance coming towards a vessel, they look not unlike a great number of small black waves rolling over one another in a confused manner, and approaching with great swiftness. As soon as a shoal is seen, all is bustle and activity on board the ship, the grains and the harpoons are immediately got ready, and those who are best skilled in throwing them take their stand at the bow and along the gunwale, anxiously awaiting the welcome troop as they come, gambolling and blowing around the vessel, in search of food. When pierced with the harpoon and drawn on board, unless the fish is instantly killed by the stroke, which rarely happens, it utters most pitiful cries, greatly resembling those of an infant. The flesh, cut into steaks and broiled, is not unlike very coarse beef, and the harslet in appearance and taste is so much like that of a hog, that it would be no easy matter to distinguish the onefrom the other; from this circumstance the sailors have given the name of the herring hog[35]to this fish. I was told by some of the crew, that if one of them happens to free itself from the grains or harpoons, when struck, all the others, attracted by the blood, immediately quit the ship and give chase to the wounded one, and as soon as they overtake it, immediately tear it in pieces. We also caught a large shark, which had followed the ship for several days, with a hook which I made for the purpose, and although the flesh was by no means equal to that of the herring hog, yet to those destitute as we were of anything fresh, I found it eat very well. After passing the Cape, when the sea had become calm, we saw great numbers of albatrosses, a large brown and white bird of the goose kind, one of which Captain Salter shot, whose wings measured from their extremities fifteen feet. One thing, however, I must not omit mentioning, as it struck me in a most singular and extraordinary manner. This was, that on passing Cape Horn in December, which was midsummer in that climate, the nights were so light, without any moon, that we found no difficulty whatever in reading small print, which we frequently did during our watches.

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