JOHN LEDYARD.
Born 1751.—Died 1780.
Born 1751.—Died 1780.
Born 1751.—Died 1780.
Thistraveller, who for enterprise and courage has seldom been surpassed, was born in the year 1751, at Groton, a small village on the river Thames, in Connecticut, in the United States. He had, at a very early age, the misfortune to be deprived of his father; and although his mother, a woman of remarkablepiety and benevolence, discharged with exemplary affection her duties towards him and her other children, notwithstanding a second marriage, this circumstance cut him off from all those advantages which the moral education received in a well-regulated family under the paternal roof confers. Owing in a great measure to the political condition of the country, but principally, perhaps, to the restlessness of his own character, his youthful studies were irregular and ill-directed. He frequently changed his inclinations in the choice of a profession. At one time the law, at another the career of a missionary among the Indians, captivated his fancy. When both these schemes of life had been, one after the other, abandoned, his imagination appears to have dwelt with complacency for a moment on the peaceful studies and noiseless, though important, avocations of a country clergyman.
The completion of the slender education which he received was effected at Dartmouth College, an institution established by the Rev. Dr. Wheelock, in the back woods, with the benevolent design of scattering the seeds of religion and civilization among the Indian nations. Here Ledyard, whose mind was as impatient of the salutary restraints of discipline as that of any savage upon earth, exhibited unequivocal tokens of those locomotive propensities which afterward goaded him into rather than directed him in his romantic but almost aimless wanderings over the greater part of the habitable world. For ordinary studies he had evidently no aptitude. He read, indeed, but it was such reading as beguiled away the time, and nourished the fantastic vagaries of his imagination, without much enlarging his mind, or knitting his character into firmness or consistency. In many respects he scarcely yielded to the knight of La Mancha. What does the reader think he carried with him to college, whither he was proceeding for the purpose of fitting himself for spreading thelight of Christianity, and with it the blessings of social life, among the Indians? Histories of former missions, from the failure or success of which he might derive light for his own guidance; or books which, by unfolding the genuine character of savages, might instruct him in the art of captivating their affections and moulding their passions into manageable forms? Nothing of the kind. But instead of these, he drove across the woods to college in a sulkey, containing a choice collection of plays, with calico curtains, and various other materials for scenic representations!
When he had been some time at Dartmouth, toiling at studies which were wholly incompatible with his tastes, he suddenly disappeared, and no one could conjecture whither he had betaken himself. He was absent upwards of a quarter of a year; and it afterward appeared that during all this time he was wandering among the savages, reconnoitring, as his American biographer conjectures, the strong places of ignorance and prejudice against which, as a missionary, his future attacks were to be directed. It is more probable, however, that the excursion was undertaken merely to escape from the discipline of the college, than which nothing, it is clear, could be more irksome to him. After roaming as far as the borders of Canada, picking up as he went along a knowledge of the character and language of the savages, which was of essential service to him in his subsequent wanderings, he returned to Dartmouth, and resumed his studies.
Nevertheless, a secret predilection, which operated like destiny, already began to shape his course towards its proper goal. An appetite for violent excitement gradually discovered itself in his character. Action of some kind or other became necessary. To satisfy this longing he climbed mountains in winter, and slept in the snow; but this sobering couch, which we are told brought St. Anthony toreason, failed to produce so favourable an effect upon Ledyard. He descended the mountain apparently pleased to have discovered that slight hardships, at least, would not kill him, and fully resolved, as soon as opportunity should present itself, to put the force of his constitution to still further trial. Accident not furnishing him with an occasion for exhibiting his prowess in this way, he took the matter into his own hands.
Robinson Crusoe was evidently Ledyard’sbeau idéalof a hero. To the young mind which makes companions of its own dream, solitude is sweet, as it favours their growth, and throws a gorgeous mantle over their deformities. Our young traveller seems to have early conceived the design of achieving a reputation, and in the mean while, until he should have made the first step, and acquired the right to exact some degree of consideration among mankind, the dim forest, or the lonely river, was a more agreeable associate in his mind than any of those two-legged animals with which a residence at college daily brought him into contact. He therefore at once resolved to put an end to so mawkish a way of life. Selecting from the majestic forest which clothed the margin of the Connecticut River a tree large enough to form a canoe, he contrived, with the aid of some of his fellow-students, to fell and convey it to the stream, which runs near the college. Here it was hollowed out, and fashioned in the requisite shape, and when completed measured fifty feet in length by three in breadth. His young college companions enabled him to lay in the necessary store of provisions. He had a bear-skin for a covering; a Greek Testament and Ovid to amuse him on the way; and thus equipped, he pushed off into the current, bade adieu to his youthful friends, turned his back upon Dartmouth, and floated leisurely down the stream. Hartford, the place of his destination, was one hundred and forty miles distant. Thecountry, during much of the way, was a wilderness, and the river, of the navigation of which he was totally ignorant, exhibited in many places dangerous falls and rapids. However, youth and ignorance are generally bold. He was, besides, too well pleased at escaping from the irksomeness of regular study, and, indeed, too much enamoured of danger itself to have been terrified, even had he fully understood the character of the river.
The canoe being carried along with sufficient rapidity by the force of the current, he had but little occasion for using his paddles, and filled up the intervals of reflection with reading. He was thus employed when the canoe approached Bellows Falls. The noise of the waters rushing with impetuous velocity through their narrow channel between the rocks, roused him to a sense of his danger, fortunately, in time to enable him by the strenuous use of his paddles to reach the shore. His canoe was dragged round the fall by the kindness of the good people of the neighbourhood, who were amazed at the boldness and novelty of his enterprise, and again safely launched upon the waters below. No further account is given of this singular voyage. He arrived safely at Hartford about daybreak one fine morning in spring, and astonished his friends by the strangeness of his appearance, and the no less strange relation of his adventures.
Whether or not any efforts were made on this occasion to induce Ledyard to resume his missionary studies is not known; but if there were it was without success. His inclinations, as I have already observed, had now taken another direction. He was desirous of becoming a regular clergyman, and exerted himself, unfit as he was, to obtain a preacher’s license. Inferior claims have sometimes been urged with effect; but Ledyard’s were rejected; and in that reckless state of mind produced by disappointment and disgust, which none but those whohave been buffeted by adverse fortune can properly conceive, he threw himself into the first gap which he saw open, and determined to combat with the ills of life in the humble condition of a common sailor. In this capacity he sailed for Gibraltar, in the ship of a Captain Deshon, who had been a friend of his father. Though this gentleman, we are told, regarded him more in the light of a companion than as one of his crew, Ledyard seems to have conceived no very favourable idea of a seafaring life from his voyage across the Atlantic, and on his landing at Gibraltar, determined to avoid a repetition of the experiment by enlisting in the army. By the solicitations of Captain Deshon, however, who at the same time strongly remonstrated with him on the impropriety of his conduct, he was released, and returned with his liberator to New-London. This voyage put to flight his romantic ideas respecting the life of a mariner; and he once more saw himself dependent on his friends, without profession or prospect.
From the conversation of some of the older members of his family, he had learned that in England he possessed many wealthy relations; and the idea now occurred to him, that could he but make himself known to these, he should be received with open arms, and lifted up at once to a respectable position in society. With him to resolve and to act were the same thing. He immediately proceeded to New-York, where, finding a vessel bound for England, he obtained a birth, probably on condition of his working as a sailor. On landing at Plymouth, he found himself penniless, and without a friend, in a strange country; but his courage, sustained by the golden hopes with which he amused his imagination, was proof against misfortune. His calamities, he flattered himself, were soon to have an end. He was now within a few days’ journey of his wealthy relations; and provided he kept, as the vulgar say,body and soul together, what did it signify how he passed the brief interval which separated him from his island of Barataria? Accordingly, relying upon that principle in our nature by which compassion is kindled, and the hand stretched forth to relieve, as often as real honest distress presents itself, he set out for London. On the way his good genius brought him acquainted with an Irishman, whose pockets were as guiltless of coin as his own; and as it is a comfort not to be “alone unhappy” in this “wide and universal theatre,” these two moneyless friends were a great consolation to each other. In fact, it is often among the poor and unfortunate that fellowship is most sweet. The sight of another’s sufferings excites our magnanimity. We scorn to sink under what we see by another man’s experience can be borne, perhaps, without repining. And thus two poor devils without a penny may be of use to each other, by reciprocally affording an example of fortitude and patience. Ledyard and his Hibernian companion begged by turns, and in this way reached London, where they separated, each to cherish his poverty in a different nook.
Hunger, which has a kind of predilection for great cities, seems to sharpen the sight as well as the wits of men; for, amid the vast throng of equipages which jostle and almost hide each other in the streets of London, Ledyard’s eye caught the family name upon a carriage; and he learned from the coachman the profession and address of the owner, who was a rich merchant. El Dorado was before him. He hastened to the house, and although the master himself was absent, he found the son, who, at all events, listened to his story. When he had heard him out, however, he very coolly informed our sanguine traveller that he wholly disbelieved his representations, never having heard of any relations in America; but that from the East Indies, he added, they expected a member of the family, whom Ledyardgreatly resembled; and that if in reality he was the person, he would be received with open arms.
This reception, so different from that which he had anticipated, yet so extremely natural under the circumstances of the case, was more than Ledyard’s philosophy, which had not yet been sufficiently disciplined by poverty, could digest; and he quitted the house of his cautious relative with avowed disgust. How he now continued to subsist is not known. It appears, however, that in spite of his distress he succeeded in making the acquaintance of several respectable individuals, to whom he related his story, and who, taking an interest in his fate, exerted themselves to effect a reconciliation between him and his wealthy friends, but without success; for distrust on the one part, and haughtiness on the other, intervened, and shipwrecked their good intentions.
While our traveller’s affairs were in this precarious or rather desperate state, an account of the preparations which were making for Captain Cook’s third voyage round the world reached him in his obscurity. Ambition, which for some time seems to have been almost stifled in his mind by his distresses, now again awoke. He longed to form a part of the glorious enterprise, and to behold, at least, if he could not share in the achievements of the illustrious navigator. As a preliminary step he enlisted in the marine service; and having procured an interview with Captain Cook, his energy and enthusiasm so strongly recommended him, that the great discoverer immediately took him into his service, and promoted him to be a corporal of marines.
The expedition sailed from England on the 12th of July, 1776. It consisted of two ships, the Resolution, commanded by Captain Cook, and the Discovery, by Captain Clerke. After touching at Teneriffe, and the Cape of Good Hope, where they laidin a large stock of provisions, and live animals, designed to be left at the various islands on which they did not exist, they sailed towards the southern extremity of New-Holland. In twenty-five days they arrived at Kerguelen’s Island, then recently discovered. It was barren, and totally without inhabitants. There was, however, a scanty supply of grass, and a species of wild cabbage, which they cut for their cattle. Fresh water was found in abundance; for it rained profusely, so that torrents came tumbling down from the hills, and enabled them to replenish their empty casks. Seals and sea-dogs covered the shore; and vast flocks of birds hovered around. Never having experienced in their lonely island the danger of approaching man, they did not fly from their visiters, but suffered themselves, and more particularly the penguin, to be knocked down with clubs. Here they celebrated Christmas, and then proceeded to Van Dieman’s Land.
Within less than two months after leaving the Cape of Good Hope they cast anchor in Adventure Bay, in this island, which was then supposed to form a part of New-Holland. At first no inhabitants appeared, though, in sailing along the coast, they had observed columns of smoke ascending between the trees; but in a few days the natives, men, women, and children, came down to the beach, exhibiting in their persons the extreme of human wretchedness. They were black, with negro features, and woolly hair, besmeared with red ochre and grease, and went completely naked. Bread and fish, which were given them, they threw away; but of the flesh of birds they appeared fond. Their only weapon was a rude stick about three feet long, and sharpened at one end. They had no canoes, no houses, and appeared to be, to a great degree, destitute of curiosity.
Having laid in a sufficient stock of wood and water, the expedition proceeded to New-Zealand,where they remained a whole month, employed in laying in provisions, and in making observations on the character of the country and its inhabitants. They found the New-Zealanders a race differing in many respects from the natives of all the surrounding islands. Cannibalism of the most revolting kind flourished here in all its glory. The first thought of a man on beholding the face of a fellow-creature, like Fontenelle’s on seeing a flock of sheep in a meadow, was what nice eating he would make; and if they abstained from devouring their neighbours as well as their enemies, it was merely from fear of reprisals. Yet, united with propensities which, if found to be ineradicable, would justify their extermination, these people are said to possess a vehement affection for their friends, constancy in their attachments, and a strong disposition to love. It is very possible that both their good and bad qualities may have been misrepresented. The views and feelings of savages are not easily comprehended, and it is seldom that those who enjoy opportunities of observing them possess the genius to divine, from a few flitting and often constrained manifestations of them, the secret temper of the soul.
During their stay at this island one of the mariners formed an attachment for a young female cannibal; and, in order to wind himself the more effectually into her affections, he secretly caused himself to be tattooed, resolving, when the ships should sail, to make his escape, and relapse into the savage state with his mistress. I say relapse, because from that state we rose, and, whenever we can slip through the artificial scaffolding upon which we have been placed by philosophy and civil government, to that state we inevitably return. These two lovers, though deprived of the aids which language affords in the communication of thought and sentiments, contrived thoroughly to understand each other. When the time for the departure of the ships arrived,the sailor, tattooed, and dressed like a savage, was suffered to escape among the crowds of natives who were hurrying on shore; but when the roll was called to ascertain whether all hands were on board, his absence was discovered. A guard of marines, despatched in search of him by the command of Cook, dragged him from the arms of his savage mistress, who exhibited every token of anguish and inconsolable grief, and leaving her in loneliness and bitter disappointment on the beach, hurried the culprit on board to take his trial for desertion. In consideration of the motive, however, the commander humanely remitted the punishment of the offence; but it is extremely probable that his vigilance defrauded a party of New-Zealanders of a feast, for as soon as the ships should have been out of sight, these honest people would no doubt have consigned the sailor to their subterranean ovens.
Though desirous of making direct forTahiti, or Otaheite, contrary winds and boisterous weather forced them out of their course, and as they now began to be in want of grass and water for the cattle, as well as fresh provisions for the men, it was judged advisable to sail away for the Friendly Islands. Many new islands were discovered during this voyage, upon one of which, named Watteeoo, they landed. Here, to his great astonishment, Omai, the native of Tahiti whom Cook had taken with him to England, found three of his countrymen, who, having been overtaken by a storm at sea, had been driven in their canoe to this island, a distance of more than fifteen hundred miles. During the thirteen days that they had been hurried before the gale, without water or provisions, most of their companions had perished of hunger, or, stung to phrensy by their sufferings, had jumped into the sea. The survivors were now settled at Watteeoo, and refused his invitation to revisit their native country, the sight of which could only renew their grief for the lossof their dearest friends. This fact suffices to explain how islands extremely distant from the great hives of mankind have been peopled, and exhibit in their population resemblances to races from which they would appear to be separated by insurmountable barriers.
From hence they sailed to Tongataboo, an island exceedingly fertile and covered with forests, where they remained twenty-six days collecting provisions. The natives, who, having ingrafted the vices of civilized nations upon their own, have since exhibited themselves under a different aspect, now appeared to be a simple and inoffensive race. Much of their leisure, of which they appeared to have but too-great plenty, was occupied in curious religious ceremonies, which, as among many civilized nations, were regarded something in the light of amusements. Their king, Poulaho, conducted himself with marked suavity and respect towards his strange guests. Few civilized individuals, indeed, coming suddenly into contact with a new race of men, could have shown more ease and self-possession than this savage chief. However, he declined Cook’s invitation to go on board the day after their arrival; but entertained Ledyard, whose duty it was to remain on shore that night, in a kind and hospitable manner.
“It was just dusk,” says our traveller, “when they parted, and as I had been present during a part of this first interview, and was detained on shore, I was glad he did not go off, and asked him to my tent; but Poulaho chose rather to have me go with him to his house, where we went and sat down together without the entrance. We had been here but a few minutes before one of the natives advanced through the grove to the skirts of the green, and there halted. Poulaho observed him, and told me he wanted him; upon which I beckoned to the Indian, and he came to us. When he approached Poulaho, he squatted down upon his hams, and put his forehead to the sole of Poulaho’s foot, and then received some directionsfrom him, and went away; and returned again very soon with some baked yams and fish rolled up in fresh plantain-leaves, and a large cocoanut-shell full of clean fresh water, and a smaller one of salt water. These he set down, and went and fetched a mess of the same kind, and set it down by me. Poulaho then desired I would eat; but preferring salt which I had in the tent to the sea-water which they used, I called one of the guard, and had some of that brought me to eat with my fish, which was really most delightfully dressed, and of which I ate very heartily.
“Their animal and vegetable food is dressed in the same manner here as at the southern and northern tropical islands throughout these seas, being all baked among hot stones laid in a hole, and covered over, first with leaves, and then with mould. Poulaho was fed by the chief who waited upon him, both with victuals and drink. After he had finished, the remains were carried away by the chief in waiting, who returned soon after with two large separate rolls of cloth and two little low wooden stools. The cloth was for a covering while asleep, and the stools to raise and rest the head on, as we do on a pillow. These were left within the house, or rather under the roof, one side being open. The floor within was composed of dry grass, leaves, and flowers, over which were spread large well-wrought mats. On this Poulaho and I removed and sat down, while the chief unrolled and spread out the cloth, after which he retired; and in a few minutes there appeared a fine young girl about seventeen years of age, who, approaching Poulaho, stooped and kissed his great toe, and then retired, and sat down in an opposite part of the house. It was now about nine o’clock, and a bright moonshine; the sky was serene, and the wind hushed. Suddenly I heard a number of their flutes, beginning nearly at the same time, burst from every quarter of the surrounding grove; and whether this was meant as an exhilarating serenade, or asoothing soporific to the great Poulaho, I cannot tell. Immediately on hearing the music he took me by the hand, intimating that he was going to sleep, and, showing me the other cloth, which was spread nearly beside him, and the pillow, invited me to use it.”
The manners of the people whom Ledyard had now an opportunity of contemplating indicated a character nearly the reverse of that of the New-Zealanders. In what circumstances those extraordinary differences originated it is foreign to the present purpose to inquire. To account for them, as some writers have done, by the influence of climate, is wilfully to sport with facts and experience. Within the same degrees of latitude, pursuing our researches round the globe, we have black men and white; cannibals, and races remarkable for humanity; men so gross in their intellects that they retain nothing of man but the shape, and others with a character and genius so admirably adapted to receive the impressions of laws and civilization, that they turn every natural or accidental advantage of their position to the greatest account, and run on in the career of improvement with gigantic strides. This was not Ledyard’s theory. He seemed everywhere to discover proofs of the vast influence of climate in rendering men what they are, morally as well as physically; though he could not be ignorant that while the climate of Greece and Italy remains what it was in old times, the physiognomy of the inhabitants has undergone an entire change, while their moral condition is, if possible, deteriorated still more than their features. The mind of man seems, in fact, after having borne an extraordinary crop of virtues, knowledge, and heroic deeds, to require, like the earth, to lie fallow for a season. It cannot be made to yield fruit beyond a certain point, upon which, when it has once touched, no power under heaven can prevent its relapsing into barrenness.
The population scattered over the innumerable islands of the Pacific have been in a remarkably peculiar position from the time in which they were discovered up to the present moment. Civilization has, in a manner, been forced upon them. Their idols have been thrown down; the bloody or absurd rites of their religion have, in many instances, been exchanged for the blessings and the light of Christianity; and although silly or affected persons may lament for the disappearance of what they term a “picturesque superstition,” every real friend of humanity will rejoice at seeing a church occupying the site of a morai; and men, who once delighted to feed upon the limbs of an enemy, employing themselves in deriving subsistence from their own industry and ingenuity.
The people of Tongataboo, at the period of Ledyard’s visit, though neither cruel nor ferocious, were partial to athletic exercises, and not averse to war. It seems to have yielded them great satisfaction to be allowed to display in the presence of their visiters their vigour and dexterity, which were by no means despicable. Their performances, which chiefly consisted of wrestling and boxing, always took place upon the greensward, in the open air; and in order to prevent what was only meant for amusement from degenerating into angry contests, a certain number of elderly men presided over and regulated the exercises; and when either of the combatants appeared to be fairly worsted, they mildly signified the fact, and this was considered a sufficient compliment to the victor. Like the boxers of antiquity, they wore upon the hand a kind of glove composed of cords or thongs, designed to prevent their grappling each other, and at the same time to preserve them from dislocations of the joints, particularly of that of the thumb. Sometimes, however, they engaged each other with clubs, in which cases the performances were highly dangerous. Our traveller witnessed oneof these contests, which, as the persons engaged were renowned for their superior skill, was protracted considerably, though they are in general of brief duration. At length, however, the affair was decided by a fortuitous blow on the head. The vanquished champion was carried off the ground by his friends, while the conqueror was greeted with enthusiastic shouts of praise from the spectators; and “when these shouts ended, the young women round the circle rose, and sang, and danced a short kind of interlude in celebration of the hero.”
With the brilliant exhibition of fireworks, which, in return for their hospitality and politeness, Cook got up for their amusement, both Poulaho and his people were greatly astonished and delighted. The animals, likewise, which were new to them, excited their wonder. Goats and sheep they regarded as a species of birds; but in the horse, the cow, the cat, and the rabbit they could perceive no analogy with the dog or the hog, the only animals with which they had till then been conversant.
The ideas of these people respecting property were either very vague, or very different from those of their visiters. Whatever they saw pleasing to the eye in the possession of the white men, without considering whether or not it was intended for them, they immediately appropriated to themselves; probably from the belief that these munificent strangers, who bestowed upon them so many wonderful things, were a kind of good genii, who, in their own case, stood in no need of such articles. Cook did not understand this simplicity. He attached the idea of a thief to every person who touched what did not belong to him, and punished these ignorant savages with the same rigid justice, if we may so apply the term, which he would have shown towards a hardened offender at the Old Bailey. In one instance even the justice of his conduct may be questioned. One of the chiefs stole some peacocks from the ships,and Cook arrested, not the offender, but the king, whom he kept in custody until the culprit came forward engaging to restore the birds. This was an absurd exercise of power, which could not fail considerably to abate the respect of the natives for the civilized portion of mankind.
From Tongataboo the expedition sailed to Tahiti, where they arrived on the 14th of August. Here Ledyard employed his leisure, which appears to have been considerable, in studying the character and manners of the inhabitants; and upon these points his opinions generally agree with the received notions respecting those people. In sailing northward from this group they discovered the Sandwich Islands, where they remained ten days; and then, steering still towards the north, arrived without accident in Nootka Sound, where they cast anchor in nearly five hundred fathoms of water. Ledyard was now on his native continent, and, though more than three thousand miles from the place of his birth, experienced on landing something like a feeling of home. The inhabitants he found to be of the same race with those on the shores of the Atlantic. In stature they are above the middle size, athletic in their make, and of a copper colour. Their long black hair they wear tied up in a roll on the top of the head, and, by way of ornament, smear it over with oil and paint, in which they stick a quantity of the down of birds. They paint their faces red, blue, and white, but refused to reveal the nature of their cosmetics, or the country whence they obtained them. Their clothing principally consists of skins, besides which, however, they have two other kinds of garments, of which one is manufactured from the inner bark of trees, and resembles our coarser cloths; the other made chiefly from the hair of white dogs, and wrought over with designs representing their mode of catching the whale, which our traveller considered the most ingenious piece of workmanship he anywheresaw executed by a savage. All their garments, like those of the Hindoos, are worn like mantles, and are invariably fringed, or ornamented in some fashion or another at the edges. This species of border ornament, denominatedwampumon the opposite side of the continent, was found, not only all along this coast, but also on the eastern shores of Asia. On the feet they wear no covering; and if they occasionally cover their heads, it is with a species of basket resembling that which is sometimes worn by the Chinese and Tartars. In character they were cunning, bold, ferocious, and, like the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, addicted to cannibalism.
From thence they sailed along the coast of America to Behring’s Straits, in passing through which they observed that both continents were visible at the same time. The expedition having in vain traversed the polar seas in search of a north-west passage, returned towards the south. Before issuing through the belt of the Aleeootskian Islands into the Pacific, Captain Cook remained some days at Onalaska, where Ledyard was engaged in an adventure highly characteristic of his intrepid and chivalrous disposition. Even on their first landing, many peculiarities in the appearance and costume, no less than in the moveable possessions of the people, strongly excited their curiosity; for it was at once perceived that there existed two races of men upon the island, of which one might be supposed to be aboriginal, while the other might be presumed to be adscititious; an offshoot, in all probability, from the great Asiatic stock. They were in possession of tobacco, and in many instances wore blue linen shirts and drawers. The circumstance, however, which excited most surprise was the appearance of a young chief, bearing with him a cake of rye-meal newly baked, and containing a piece of salmon seasoned with pepper and salt, as a present to Captain Cook. He informedthem, by signs, that there were white strangers in the country, who had come, like them, over the great waters in a large ship.
This information excited in Cook a desire to explore the island. It was difficult, however, to determine in what manner the object was to be effected. An armed body would proceed slowly, and might, perhaps, be cut off,—an irreparable loss to the expedition. The risk of a single individual would be imminent, but his movements would be more rapid; and if he should fall, the loss to the public would not be great. Yet, as the commander did not think himself justified in ordering any person to undertake so perilous an enterprise, a volunteer was sought for; and Ledyard presented himself. The great navigator was highly pleased with this example of intrepidity, for the brave always sympathize with the brave; and after giving the traveller instructions how to proceed, “he wished me well,” says Ledyard, “and desired I would not be longer absent than a week, if possible; at the expiration of which he should expect me to return. If I did not return by that time, he should wait another week for me, and no longer.”
The young chief who brought Cook the rye-cake and the salmon, with two persons who attended him, were to serve as guides on the occasion. Being furnished with a small quantity of bread and some brandy in bottles, intended for presents to the Indians, our traveller departed with his Indian guides, and during the first day advanced about fifteen miles into the interior. About nightfall they arrived at a small village consisting of about thirty huts, some of which were large and spacious, though not very lofty. These huts were composed of a slight frame erected over a square hole sunk about four feet into the ground. Below the frame was covered with turf, which served as a wall, and above it was thatched with grass. Though the whole village, men, women,and children, crowded to see him, it was not with the intense curiosity which their behaviour would have exhibited had they never before beheld a white man. Here they passed the night.
Their course had hitherto lain towards the north, but they next morning turned round towards the south-west. About three hours before night they reached the edge of a large bay, where the chief entered into a canoe, with all their baggage, and intimating to Ledyard that he was to follow his other companions, left him abruptly, and paddled across the bay. Although rendered somewhat uneasy at this movement, he proceeded along the shore with his guides, and in about two hours observed a canoe making towards them across the bay. Upon this they ran down to the water’s edge, and, by shouting and waving bushes to and fro in the air, attracted the attention of the savages in the canoe. “It was beginning to be dark,” says he, “when the canoe came to us. It was a skin canoe, after the Esquimaux plan, with two holes to accommodate two sitters. The Indians that came in the canoe talked a little with my two guides, and then came to me, and desired I would get into the canoe. This I did not very readily agree to, however, as there was no place for me but to be thrust into the space between the holes, extended at length upon my back, and wholly excluded from seeing the way I went, or the power of extricating myself upon an emergency. But as there was no alternative, I submitted thus to be stowed away in bulk, and went head foremost very swift through the water about an hour, when I felt the canoe strike a beach, and afterward lifted up and carried some distance, and then set down again; after which I was drawn out by the shoulders by three or four men; for it was now so dark that I could not tell who they were, though I was conscious I heard a language that was new. I was conducted by two of these persons, who appeared to be strangers,about forty rods, when I saw lights and a number of huts like those I left in the morning. As we approached one of them, a door opened and discovered a lamp, by which, to my great joy, I discovered that the two men who held me by each arm were Europeans, fair and comely, and concluded from their appearance they were Russians, which I soon after found to be true.”
By these Russians, who had established themselves in Onalaska for the purpose of collecting furs for the markets of Moscow and Petersburg, Ledyard was received and entertained in a most hospitable manner; and when he returned to the ships was accompanied by three of the principal persons among them, and several inferior attendants. “The satisfaction this discovery gave Cook,” says he, “and the honour that redounded to me, may be easily imagined; and the several conjectures respecting the appearance of a foreign intercourse were rectified and confirmed.”
From Onalaska the expedition sailed southward for the Sandwich Islands, and in two months arrived at Hawaii. On entering a commodious bay discovered on the southern coast of the island, they observed on each hand a town of considerable size, from which crowds of people, to whom the appearance offered by the ships was totally new, crowded down to the beach to receive the strangers. Their number was prodigious. No less than three thousand canoes, containing at least fifteen thousand men, women, and children, were crowded in the bay; and, besides these, numbers sustained themselves on floats, or swam about in the water. “The beach, the surrounding rocks, the tops of houses, the branches of trees, and the adjacent hills were all covered; and the shouts of joy and admiration proceeding from the sonorous voices of the men, confused with the shriller exclamations of the women, dancing and clapping their hands, the oversetting ofcanoes, cries of the children, goods afloat, and hogs that were brought to market squeaking, formed one of the most curious prospects that can be imagined.” Yet, amid all this vast multitude, no signs of hostility, no disposition to insult or annoy the strangers appeared. Both parties were very far at that moment from anticipating that tragical event which shortly afterward died their shores with blood, and rendered the name of Hawaii memorable in the history of discovery.
However, for the first few days extraordinary harmony prevailed. Visits were made and returned; fireworks were exhibited by the English; wrestling, boxing, and various other kinds of athletic exercises by the savages. During this continuance of good-humour Ledyard obtained permission to make a tour in the interior of the island, for the purpose of examining the nature of the country, and of ascending, if possible, the peak ofMouna Roa, which, though situated in an island not exceeding ninety miles in diameter, is regarded as one of the loftiest in the world. He was accompanied by the botanist and gunner of the Resolution, and by a number of natives, some as guides, others to carry the baggage. Admonished by the snows which glittered in dazzling pinnacles on the summit of Mouna Roa, they provided themselves with additional clothing to guard against the effects of a sudden transition from the heat of a tropical sun to intense cold. Their road during the first part of the journey lay through enclosed plantations of sweet potatoes, with a soil of lava, tilled in some places with difficulty. Here and there, in moist situations, were small patches of sugar-cane; and these, as they proceeded, were followed by open plantations of bread-fruit trees. The land now began to ascend abruptly, and was thickly covered with wild fern. About sunset they arrived on the skirts of the woods, which stretched round the mountain like a belt, at the uniform distance offour or five miles from the shore. Here they found an uninhabited hut, in which they passed the night.
Next morning, on entering the forests, they found there had been heavy rain during the night, though none of it had reached them at the distance of about two hundred yards. They traversed the woods by a compass, keeping in a direct line for the peak; and, finding a beaten track nearly in their course, were enabled on the second day to advance about fifteen miles. At night they rested under the shelter of a fallen tree, and early next morning recommenced their journey. It was soon discovered, however, that the difficulties they had hitherto encountered were ease itself compared with those against which they were now to contend. To persons unaccustomed as they were to walk, a journey of so great a length would, under any circumstances, have been a grievous task. But they were impeded in their movements by heavy burdens; their path was steep, broken, and rugged; and the farther they proceeded the more dense and impenetrable did the thickets become. At length, it became evident that the enterprise must be abandoned; and with those unpleasant feelings which accompany baffled ambition, they returned by the way they had gone to the ships.
In less than a fortnight after their arrival at Hawaii, the discoverers, by their impolitic, or rather insolent behaviour, had contrived to irritate the savage natives almost to desperation. They saw themselves and, what perhaps was more galling, their gods treated with silent contempt or open scorn; while their wives and daughters were contaminated by the brutal lusts of the sailors. How far these circumstances were within the control of Captain Cook, or, in other words, to what degree of blame he is liable for what took place, it is not our present business to inquire. But assuredly, unless we choose wholly to reject the testimony of Ledyard, our great navigatorseems, during the last few days of his life, to have been urged by a kind of fatality into the commission of actions highly despotic and unjustifiable in themselves, and, under the circumstances in which they were performed, little short of insane. The mere idea of converting the fence and idols of the morai—objects sacred to them, however contemptible in our eyes—into firewood, argues a reprehensible disregard of the feelings of the natives. His offer of two hatchets to the priest in payment reminds one of Captain Clapperton’s promise of a couple of guns, a few flasks of powder, and some rockets to Sultan Bello, as the price of hisputting downthe slave trade. But when the priest refused the proffered payment, not so much on account of its preposterous inadequacy,—of which, however, savage as he was, he must have been fully sensible,—because in his eyes no price was an equivalent for articles to destroy which would be sacrilege, to proceed with a strong hand in the work of destruction, profaning the spot which contained the ashes of their ancestors, and throwing down and bearing away the images of their gods;—this was an outrage which the tamest and most enslaved race would have found it difficult to endure.
However, force was triumphant; but from that moment the souls of the natives were on fire, and revenge was determined on. A relation of the various incidents and small events by which the tragic action moved onwards to its completion would be incompatible with my present design. Captain Cook, accompanied by an armed force, in which Ledyard was included, went on shore for the purpose of making the king a prisoner, and of keeping him in confinement on board, until certain articles stolen by his subjects should be restored. The savages, with a boldness worthy of admiration, opposed his designs, and compelled him to retreat towards his boats. Here, as the marines were endeavouring to embark,a contest took place; stones were thrown by the natives; the English flew to their firearms; and a chief, rushing on with an iron dagger in his hand, stabbed Cook through the body. His guards, likewise, were all cut off excepting two, who escaped by swimming. The cannon of the Resolution were now fired at the crowd, and this produced an almost instantaneous retreat; though the savages, mindful even in the midst of danger of the gratification of their appetite, took care to carry along with them the bodies of their fallen enemies, in order, by feasting upon them at their leisure, to derive some trifling comfort from their disaster.
The business now was to retire as quickly as possible from the island, which they did; and having again entered Behring’s Strait, and sailed about for some time among the ices of the Polar Sea, they returned by way of China and the Cape of Good Hope to England, after an absence of four years and three months.
In 1782 Ledyard sailed on board an English man-of-war for America, not with a design to serve against his country, but determined on seizing the first occasion of escape which should offer itself. An opportunity soon occurred. On arriving at Long Island, then in the possession of the English, he obtained permission of seven days’ absence from the ship, for the purpose of seeing his mother, who then kept a boarding-house at Southold, occupied chiefly by British officers. “He rode up to the door, alighted, went in, and asked if he could be accommodated in her house as a lodger. She replied that he could, and showed him a room into which his baggage was conveyed. After having adjusted his dress he came out, and took a seat by the fire, in company with several other officers, without making himself known to his mother, or entering into conversation with any person. She frequently passed and repassed through the room, and her eye was observed to beattracted towards him with more than usual attention. He still remained silent. At last, after looking at him steadily for some minutes, she deliberately put on her spectacles, approached nearer to him, begging his pardon for her rudeness, and telling him that he so much resembled a son of hers who had been absent eight years, that she could not resist her inclination to view him more closely. The scene that followed may be imagined, but not described; for Ledyard had a tender heart, and affection for his mother was among its deepest and most constant emotions.”
He now visited his old friends and many of the places which youthful recollections rendered dear to him. He was everywhere well received, and employed the leisure which he now enjoyed for several months in writing an account of his voyage round the world with Captain Cook. But when this was done, many motives, among which want of money was not the least, urged him to enter upon some new plan of life. His favourite project at this time, and indeed throughout the remainder of his life, was a voyage of commerce and discovery to the north-western coast of America; and during the remainder of his stay in his native country he made numerous efforts to obtain wealthy co-operators in his design. Being constantly disappointed, however, he once more turned his thoughts towards Europe, where the spirit of speculation was bolder and more liberal, and proceeded to France. Here his projects were eagerly patronised, and as easily abandoned; and during a long stay both at L’Orient and Paris he subsisted by shifts and expedients, associating by turns with every variety of character, from Jefferson down to Paul Jones.
How he existed at all, unless upon the bounty of his friends, is altogether inexplicable. He was now reduced to the character of a mere adventurer, and his life during this period affords no incidents worthyof being described. An Englishman, who had given him fifteen guineas at St. Germain, shortly afterward invited him to London, and procured him a passage in a ship bound for the Pacific Ocean, with a promise from the captain that he would set him on shore upon any point of the north-west coast which he might choose. He now once more appeared to be verging towards the accomplishment of his dearest wishes. He embarked; the vessel sailed down the Thames, and put out to sea; but before they were out of sight of land the ship was brought back by an order from the government, and the voyage was finally abandoned.
Ledyard’s enthusiasm, however, in the prosecution of his designs, though it is probable that few could perceive the advantages to be derived from their accomplishment, procured him many friends in London; and it is said that a subscription was set on foot by Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Hunter, Sir James Hall, and Colonel Smith. From the result of this measure we must inevitably infer one of two things,—either that the liberality of those gentlemen was exceedingly scanty, or that their opinion of Ledyard’s prudence was very low. From several circumstances which afterward took place the latter is the more probable inference. Be this as it may, we find him, on his arrival at Hamburgh, with no more than ten guineas in his pocket; and these, with reckless and unpardonable absurdity, he bestowed upon a Major Langhorn, an eccentric vagabond, who, after accepting his money and reducing him to beggary, coolly refused to bear him company on his journey to Petersburg, alleging as his excuse that he could travelin the way he didwith no man upon earth. What his mode of travelling was I have no means of ascertaining; but from his conduct in this transaction it may be inferred, without any great stretch of uncharitableness, that Ledyard was fortunate in getting rid of such a companion at the expense of all he wasworth in the world. The man who is insensible of a generous action could be no desirable companion in any circumstances of life; but to be linked with such an individual in traversing a foreign land would have been a curse which few who have not experienced a similar calamity can conceive.
Having at the same time bade adieu to his money and the graceless major, he began to experience the effects of his folly; for had he not, by singular good fortune, found a merchant who consented to accept a bill on a friend in London, and pay him the amount, his travels must have terminated where he was. This supply, however, enabled him to pursue his route.
On arriving at Stockholm, Ledyard found that the Gulf of Bothnia was neither sufficiently frozen to enable him to cross it upon the ice, nor yet free enough from ice to be navigable. Under these circumstances he formed the daring resolution of travelling round the gulf, a distance of twelve hundred miles, “over trackless snows, in regions thinly peopled, where the nights are long, and the cold intense,—and all this to gain no more than fifty miles.” Accordingly, he set out for Tornea, in the depth of winter, on foot, with little money in his pocket, and no friends to whom he could apply when his small stock should be exhausted. Of this part of his travels no account remains. Other travellers who have visited Tornea in winter, under the most favourable circumstances, describe in tremendous colours the horrors of the place. “The place,” says Maupertuis, “on our arrival on the 30th of December, had really a most frightful aspect. Its little houses were buried to the tops in snow, which, if there had been any daylight, must have effectually shut it out. But the snow continually falling, or ready to fall, for the most part hid the sun the few moments that he might have showed himself at midday. In the month of January the cold was increased to theextremity, that Reaumur’s mercurial thermometers, which in Paris, in the great frost of 1709, it was thought strange to see fall to fourteen degrees below the freezing point, were now down to thirty-seven. The spirit of wine in the others was frozen. If we opened the door of a warm room, the external air instantly converted all the air in it into snow, whirling it round in white vortices. If we went abroad, we felt as if the air were tearing our breasts to pieces.”
Such was the country through which Ledyard made his way to Petersburg, which he reached on the 20th of March, that is, within seven weeks from his leaving Stockholm, making the distance travelled over about two hundred miles per week upon an average. Here he was well received by Professor Pallas and other scientific men; and through the interest of Count Segur, the French ambassador, obtained the empress’s permission to traverse her vast dominions. As he was compelled to wait several months, however, for this indispensable document, and was destitute on his arrival at Petersburg of money, and almost of clothes, he drew a bill of twenty guineas on Sir Joseph Banks, which he was fortunate enough to get some one to discount. This enabled him to await the leisure of Catharine, who was too deeply plunged in her schemes of debauchery and ambition to afford a thought on a poor houseless wanderer like Ledyard. But at length the passport was granted; and a Dr. Brown happening at that moment to be proceeding with a quantity of stores to Yakutsk for the use of Mr. Billings, who was then employed by the empress in exploring the remoter parts of Siberia and Kamtschatka, our traveller obtained permission to accompany him.
They left Petersburg on the 1st of June, and in six days arrived at Moscow. Here they hired a kibitka, and proceeded at the same rapid rate towards Kazan, on the Volga, where they remained a week;and then set off on the full gallop for Tobolsk. It should be remarked, that Ledyard’s object in this journey was not to see the country, but to reach the north-west coast of America, where he hoped to make some useful discoveries, as quickly as possible; otherwise it would have been far wiser to have “made his legs his compasses,” at the risk of consuming years in the journey. In the vast plain which stretches from Moscow to the Ural Mountains there was, it is true, very little of the picturesque, and not much of the moral, to captivate the eye or interest the mind of a traveller; but there is no country the careful examination of which may not be made to yield both amusement and instruction. Ledyard, however, was not answerable for the rapidity of his movements; he accounted himself but too happy in being allowed to share Dr. Brown’s kibitka; and had it been in the empress’s power to have darted him across Siberia upon an iceberg, or astride upon a cloud, he would not have objected to the conveyance.
From Tobolsk they proceeded to Bernaoul, the capital of the province of Kolyvan, where Dr. Brown’s journey terminated. At this place Ledyard remained a whole week, and was entertained in a very hospitable manner by the treasurer of the mines. He observes, that the immense plain he had traversed in reaching this city was in many places dotted with large mounds of earth, which very much resembled those supposed monumental piles found among various tribes of North America, and the barrows or heroic tombs of ancient Europe. In the people the Tartar features began to appear before they reached Kazan. But there existed great variety in the population; the same village containing every variety of mankind, from those with fair skin, light hair, and white eyes, to those of olive complexion, and jet-black eyes and hair. Poverty, as may be supposed, was no stranger in these villages; for they had not,like the Chremylus of Aristophanes, discovered the secret of restoring sight to Plutus; but this did not discourage the fair moieties of the peasants from painting their faces, like a discontented English beauty, both with red and white. As these damsels are not niggardly of their kisses, it would be useless for them to adopt the custom which prevailed among the ancient Greek ladies, of painting the lips; but this, it would seem, is the sole consideration which opposes the introduction of the custom. “The Tartar, however situated,” says Ledyard, “is a voluptuary; and it is an original and striking trait in their character, from the grand seignior to him who pitches his tent on the wild frontiers of Russia and China, that they are more addicted to real sensual pleasure than any other people.” This is a judicious remark, and corroborates the testimony of the ancient historian, who tells us that the Scythian ladies were accustomed to put out the eyes of their male slaves, that they might be ignorant of the name and quality of the mistresses to whose wantonness they were made subservient.
From Barnaoul he proceeded with an imperial courier to Tomsk, discovering as he rode along marks of the tremendous winds which sometimes devastate Siberia. The trees of the forest were uprooted, and whole fields of grain were beaten into the earth. Hurrying onward in the same rapid manner, he crossed the Yeïusei at Krasnojarsk, and entered a rough mountainous country covered with thick forests, which continued all the way to Irkutsk, where he arrived in ten days after leaving Tomsk.
During his stay in this town he made an excursion, in company with a German colonel, to the Lake Baikal, which, in the Kalmuck language, signifies the “North Sea.” Arriving on the shores of the lake, they found a galliot, which in summer plies as a packet across the “North Sea.” In this galliot they went out with line and lead to take soundings;but having only fifty fathoms of line, which at one hundred feet from the shore was wholly taken up, they quickly abandoned their soundings, and returned through the rain in the galliot’s boat to Irkutsk.
On the 26th of August he quitted Irkutsk, and proceeded towards the point where he was to embark on the river Lena for Yakutsk. The country in this part was well cultivated, and therefore cheerful; but the forest trees had already begun to drop their foliage, and put on the garb of autumn. Having proceeded one hundred and fifty miles in his kibitka, he embarked with Lieutenant Laxman, a Swede, in a boat on the Lena, and commenced a voyage of fourteen hundred miles. Their boat was carried along at the rate of eighty or a hundred miles per day, “the river gradually increasing in size, and the mountain scenery putting on an infinite variety of forms, alternately sublime and picturesque, bold and fantastic, with craggy rocks and jutting headlands, bearing on their brows the verdure of pines, larches, and other evergreens, and alpine shrubs.” All the way to Yakutsk the river was studded with islands, which, recurring at short intervals, added to the romantic effect of the scenery; but the weather was growing cold, and heavy fogs hung over the river until a late hour in the morning. The mountains flanking the river were said to abound with wolves and bears; and there was an abundance of wild fowl, of which our travellers shot as many as they pleased. Salmon-trout was plentiful in the river; and the inhabitants fished with seines, and also with spears, like the natives of Tahiti, by torchlight.
On the 18th of September he arrived at Yakutsk, where he immediately waited on the commandant with his letters of recommendation, and explained his desire of proceeding with all possible celerity to Okotsk, before winter should shut in and cut off his progress. The commandant, however, had received secret orders to detain him; and under pretence thatthe season was already too far advanced, informed him that he must pass the winter at Yakutsk. Though nothing could exceed the rage and vexation of Ledyard at this unexpected disappointment, he was sensible that it was necessary to submit; the determination of the despots around him being as irresistible as destiny. He therefore bent his attention to the consideration of the objects within his reach; and in these compulsory studies awaited the return of spring.
Of the Russians in general Ledyard’s experience led him to think unfavourably; but “I have observed,” says he, “among all nations, that the women ornament themselves more than the men; that, wherever found, they are the same kind, civil, obliging, humane, tender beings; that they are ever inclined to be gay and cheerful, timorous and modest. They do not hesitate, like man, to perform a hospitable or generous action; not haughty, nor arrogant, nor supercilious, but full of courtesy, and fond of society; industrious, economical, ingenious; more liable in general to err than man, but in general also more virtuous, and performing more good actions than he. I never addressed myself in the language of decency and friendship to a woman, whether civilized or savage, without receiving a decent and friendly answer. With man it has often been otherwise. In wandering over the barren plains of inhospitable Denmark, through honest Sweden, frozen Lapland, rude and churlish Finland, unprincipled Russia, and the wide-spread regions of the wandering Tartar, if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick, woman has ever been friendly to me, and uniformly so; and to add to this virtue, so worthy of the appellation of benevolence, these actions have been performed in so free and so kind a manner, that if I was dry I drank the sweet draught, and if hungry ate the coarse morsel, with a double relish.” These remarks, to the correctness of which every man worthy ofthe name will bear testimony, do honour to the heart no less than to the ability of our traveller; for many who have been no less indebted, perhaps, than he to the inexhaustible benevolence of women have repaid the obligation with satire against the whole sex.
During the winter, Captain Billings, who had formerly been assistant-astronomer in Cook’s expedition, but was now in the Russian service, arrived at Yakutsk. He was surprised to meet Ledyard in the heart of Siberia; but having a disinclination to connect himself with any person not favoured by fortune, evinced no disposition to be of the least service to him. It has even been suspected, and not altogether without probability, that Billings had some share in bringing about the unfortunate catastrophe which terminated Ledyard’s travels in Siberia. However, previous to this event, he invited his old shipmate to accompany him to Irkutsk, whither they proceeded up the frozen Lena upon sledges. Here, soon after their arrival, Ledyard was arrested as a French spy, placed in a kibitka with two hussars, and hurried back with incredible speed to the frontiers of Poland, where he was dismissed, with the strictest injunctions never again to enter the dominions of Russia. It would now be idle to inquire into the motives which urged the old profligate she-despot into the commission of this act of flagrant injustice. She had no doubt been told (Dr. Clarke suspects by Billings) that his success might be some way or another detrimental to the interests of her commerce; and, without consideration or inquiry, perhaps in some furious fit of rage or drunkenness, she issued the order for his recall, which was executed with no less barbarity than it was issued.
How the poor victim found his way from Poland to London Heaven only knows. His sufferings, he says, were too great to be disclosed. However, he had scarcely reached London before a proposal wasmade to him to travel for the African Association, which, wretched as he was, he was but too happy to accept. The object of his mission, like that of many other brave and adventurous men who have perished in the same track, was to explore the centre of Africa from Sennaar westward, “in the latitude and supposed direction of the Niger.” For this purpose he proceeded to Egypt; but having ascended the Nile to Cairo, and made every necessary preparation for travelling with a caravan to Sennaar, he was suddenly attacked by a bilious disorder, and was poisoned by the vitriolic acid which he took as a remedy, in the month of November, 1788.
Mr. Beaufoy, secretary to the African Association, who had several opportunities of conversing with Ledyard while he was in London preparing for his travels in Africa, has drawn the following character of him, which, to those who consider the scantiness of his means and the boldness of his designs, will not appear exaggerated:—“To those who have never seen Mr. Ledyard, it may not, perhaps,” says he, “be uninteresting to know, that his person, though scarcely exceeding the middle size, was remarkably expressive of activity and strength; and that his manners, though unpolished, were neither uncivil nor unpleasing. Little attentive to difference of rank, he seemed to consider all men as his equals, and as such he respected them. His genius, though uncultivated and irregular, was original and comprehensive. Ardent in his wishes, yet calm in his deliberations; daring in his purposes, but guarded in his measures; impatient of control, yet capable of strong endurance; adventurous beyond the conception of ordinary men, yet wary, and considerate, and attentive to all precautions;—he appeared to be formed by nature for achievements of hardihood and peril.”