Chapter IX.
Along the coast, from the Prinza-pulka river northward, as I have said, stretches a net-work of rivers and lagoons, for a distance of at least one hundred and fifty miles, terminating near Cape Gracias. These lagoons are broad and shallow, and bordered by extensive marshes. Wherever the dry ground does appear, strange to say, it is generally as a sandy savannah, undulating, and supporting few trees except the red, or long-leaved pine. These savannahs are only adapted for grazing, since the soil is too light and poor for cultivation, and fails to support any of the staple products, or any of the many esculent vegetables of the tropics, except the cassava. And although the few scattered inhabitantsof the Mosquito Shore, above the Prinza-pulka, live upon the borders of the lagoons, selecting generally the savannahs for their villages, it is because they are essentially fishers, and derive their principal support from the sea. The islands of the coast abound with turtle, and the rivers, creeks, and lagoons teem with fish of nearly every variety known under the tropics. The few vegetables which they require are obtained from the banks of the rivers in the back country, where the streams flow through their proper valleys, and before they are lost in the low grounds of the coast. The plantations on these rivers belong to the Indians proper, whose numbers increase toward the interior, and who supply the Sambos, or coast-men, not only with vegetables, but also with the various kinds of boats which are used by them, receiving in exchange a few cottons, axes, trinkets, and other articles which are brought by the foreign traders. The character and habits of these Indians are widely different from those of the coast-men. The latter are drunken, idle, and vicious, while the former are mild, industrious, and temperate. The differences which I have indicated between the Indian settlement on the Rio Grande and the Sambo village of Wasswatla, hold equally true throughout, except that the farther the traveler proceeds northward from Bluefields, the more debased and brutal the Sambos become.
LIFE AMONG THE LAGOONS.
LIFE AMONG THE LAGOONS.
LIFE AMONG THE LAGOONS.
In attempting to thread my way through the maze of waters before us, I kept the facts which Ihave recounted constantly in view, and sought rather to penetrate inland, than diverge toward the coast. So, whenever two or more channels presented themselves, I universally took the inside one. This frequently led us into the rivers flowing from the interior, but their current speedily enabled us to correct these mistakes.
No incident relieved the monotony of our first night, after leaving “Tapir Camp.” Toward morning we paddled into the first opening in the mangroves that held out promise of concealment. We had the usual difficulties to encounter—fallen trees, and overhanging limbs; but when the morning broke we had worked our way to a spot where the creek expanded into a kind of subordinate lagoon, very shallow, and full of sandy islets, partly covered with grass and water-plants. At one spot on the shore the ground was elevated a few feet, supporting a number of large and ancient trees, heavily draped with vines, under which we encamped.
After a very frugal meal, my hammock was suspended between the trees, and I went to sleep. About noon I awoke, and spent the rest of the day in watching the various forms of animal life which found support in these secluded wilds. It seemed to me as if all the aquatic birds of the world were congregated there, in harmonious conclave. Long-shanked herons, with their necks drawn in, and their yellow bills resting on their breasts, stood meditatively on a single leg; troops of the white and scarlet ibis trotted actively along the open sands;and round-tailed darters, with their snaky necks and quick eyes, alighted in the trees around us—the only birds of all that assemblage which seemed to notice our intrusion! Then there were cranes, and gaudy, awkward spoonbills (clownish millionaires!) and occasionally a little squadron of blue-winged teal paddled gracefully by.
Overhead, a few noisy macaws sheltered themselves from the noonday heats. Among these, I saw, for the first time, the green variety, a more modest, and, to my taste, a far more beautiful bird, than his gaudier cousin. The large trees to which I have alluded, were of the variety known as the ceiba, or silk-cotton tree. They were now in their bloom, and crowned with a profusion of flowers of rich and variegated colors, but chiefly a bright carnation. It was a novel spectacle to see a gigantic tree, five or six feet in diameter, and eighty or ninety feet high, sending out long and massive limbs, yet bearing flowers like a rose-bush—a sort of man-milliner! Viewed from beneath, the flowers were scarcely visible, but their fragrance was overpowering, and the ground was carpeted with their gay leaves and delicate petals. But seen from a little distance, the ceiba-tree in bloom is one of the most splendid productions of Nature—a gigantic bouquet, which requires a whole forest to supply the contrasting green! The flowers are rapidly succeeded by a multitude of pods, which grow to the size and shape of a goose-egg. When ripe, they burst open, revealing the interior filled with a verysoft, light cotton or silky fibre, attached as floats to diminutive seeds, which are thus wafted far and wide by the winds. This process is repeated three times a year. I am not aware that the cotton has ever been manufactured, or applied to any more useful purpose than that of stuffing pillows and mattresses.
The trunk of the ceiba, however, is invaluable to the natives. The wood is easily worked, and is, moreover, light and buoyant, and not liable to split by exposure to the sun. For these reasons, it is principally used fordories,pitpans, and the different varieties of boats required on the coast, although, for the smaller canoes, the cedar and mahogany are sometimes substituted. The mahogany boats, however, are rather heavy, while the cedar is liable to split in what is called “beaching.” I have seendorieshollowed from a single trunk of the ceiba, in which a tall man might comfortably lie at length across the bottom, and which were capable of carrying fifty persons.
But theceibasof our encampment supported, besides their own verdure, a mass oflianesor climbers, of many varieties, as also, numerous parasitic plants, and among them the wild-pine or rain-plant, which served us a most useful purpose. Several of these grew in the principal forks of the trees, to the height of from four to six feet. Their leaves are broad, and wrap round on themselves, like a roll, forming reservoirs, in which the rain and dew is collected and retained, safe from sun and wind.Each leaf will hold about a quart of water, which looks clear and tempting in its green, translucent goblet. Had it not been for the rain-plant, we would have suffered very often from thirst, among those brackish lagoons, where fresh water is obtained with difficulty.
With the night, we resumed our stealthy course to the northward, guided by the familiar north star, which here, however, circles so low in the horizon, as hardly to be visible above the trees. The long and narrow lagoon contracted more and more, until it presented a single channel, perhaps a hundred yards wide, closely lined with mangroves, which, rising like a wall on both sides, prevented us from making out the character of the back country. In passing through some of the numerous bends, I nevertheless caught star-light glimpses of distant hills, and high grounds in the direction of the interior. The channel soon began to trend to the north-east, and there was a considerable current in that direction. I was concerned lest, notwithstanding all my caution, I had lost the clew to the lagoons, and taken some one of the outlets into the sea. We nevertheless kept on, steadily and rapidly, discovering no signs of habitations on the banks, until near morning, when my suspicions were confirmed by a monotonous sound, which I had no difficulty in recognizing as the beating of the sea. I was therefore greatly relieved when the narrow channel, which we were traversing, expanded suddenly into a beautiful lagoon, which I subsequentlyascertained was called “Tongla Lagoon.” It is triangular in shape, extending off to the north-west.
I was weary of dodging the Sambos, and determined, as the wind was blowing fresh, to put up our sail, and standing boldly through the lagoon, take the risk of recognition and pursuit. There never was a brighter day on earth, and our little boat seemed emulous to outstrip the wind. Gathering confidence from our speed, I got out my fishing line, and, attaching a bit of cotton cloth to the hook, trailed it after the boat. It had hardly touched the water before it was caught by a kind of rock-fish, calledsnapperby the English residents, andcowatuckerby the Mosquitos. It is only from ten to twelve inches in length, but broad and heavy. Antonio recognized it as one of the best of the small fishes, and I continued the sport of catching them, until it would have been wanton waste to have taken more. I found them to be of two varieties, the red and black, of which the latter proved to be the most delicate. I also caught two fish of a larger kind, calledbaracouta, each about twenty inches in length, resembling our blue-fish. It is equally ravenous, and has a like firm and palatable flesh. I am not sure that it is not the true blue-fish, although I afterward caught some in the Bay of Honduras which were between three and four feet in length.
In order to get the full benefit of the land-breeze, we kept well over to the seaward or eastern sideof the lagoon. As the lagoon narrowed, our course gradually brought us close in shore. I had observed some palm-trees on the same side of the lagoon, but the ground seemed so low, and tangled with verdure, that I doubted if the trees indicated, as they usually do, a village at their feet. I nevertheless maintained a sharp look-out, and kept the boat as near to the wind as possible, so as to slip by without observation. It was not until we were abreast of the palms, that I saw signs of human habitations. But then I made out a large number of canoes drawn up in a little bay, and, through a narrow vista in the trees, saw distinctly a considerable collection of huts. There were also several of the inhabitants moving about among the canoes.
I observed also that our boat had attracted attention, and that a number of men were hurrying down to the shore. I was in hopes that they would be content with regarding us from a distance, and was not a little annoyed when I saw two large boats push from the landing. We did not stop to speculate upon their purposes, but shook out every thread of our little sail, and each taking a paddle, we fell to work with a determination of giving our pursuers as pretty a chase as ever came off on the Mosquito Shore. It was now three o’clock in the afternoon, and I felt confident that we could not be overtaken, if at all, before night, and then it would be comparatively easy to elude them.
THE CHASE ON TONGLA LAGOON.
THE CHASE ON TONGLA LAGOON.
THE CHASE ON TONGLA LAGOON.
Our pursuers had no sails, but their boats were larger, and numerously manned by men more usedto the paddle than either Antonio or myself. While the wind lasted, we rather increased our distance, but as the sun went down the breeze declined, and our sail became useless. So we were obliged to take it in, and trust to our paddles, alone. This gave our pursuers new courage, and I could hear their shouts echoed back from the shores. When night fell they had shortened their distance to less than half what it had been at the outset, and were so near that we could almost make out their words; for, during quiet nights, on these lagoons, voices can be distinguished at the distance of a mile. The lagoon narrowed more and more, and was evidently getting to be as contracted as the channel by which we had entered. This was against us; for, although we had almost lost sight of our pursuers in the gathering darkness, our safety depended entirely upon our slipping, unobserved, into some narrow creek. But we strained our eyes in vain, to discoversuch a retreat. The mangroves presented one dark, unbroken front.
The conviction was now forced upon me that, in spite of all our efforts to avoid it, we were to be involved in a second fight. I laid aside my paddle, and got out my gun. And now I experienced again the same ague-like sensations which I have described as preceding our struggle on the Prinza-pulka. It required the utmost effort to keep my teeth from chattering audibly. I had a singular and painful sensation of fullness about the heart. So decided were all these phenomena, that, notwithstanding our danger, I felt glad it was so dark that my companions could not see my weakness. But soon the veins in my temples began to swell with blood, pulsating with tense sharpness, like the vibration of a bow-string; and then the muscles became rigid, and firm as iron. I was ready for blood! Twice only have I experienced these terrible sensations, and God grant that they may never agonize my nerves again!
Our enemies were now so near that I was on the point of venturing a random long shot at them, when, with a suppressed exclamation of joy, Antonio suddenly turned our canoe into a narrow creek, where the mangroves separated, like walls, on either side. Where we entered, it was scarcely twenty feet wide, and soon contracted to ten or twelve. We glided in rapidly for perhaps two hundred yards, when Antonio stopped to listen. I heard nothing, and gave the word to proceed. But thecrafty Indian said “No;” and, carefully leaning over the edge of the boat, plunged his head in the water. He held it there a few seconds, then started up, exclaiming, “They are coming!” Again we bent to the paddles, and drove the boat up the narrow creek with incredible velocity.
I was so eager to get a shot at our pursuers that I scarcely comprehended what he meant, when, stopping suddenly, Antonio pressed his paddle in my hands, and, exchanging a few hurried words with the Poyer boy, each took a machete in his mouth, and leaped overboard. I felt a sudden suspicion that they had deserted me, and remained for the time motionless. A moment after, they called to me from the shore, “Paddle! paddle!” and, at the same instant, I heard the blows of their machetes ringing on the trunks of the mangroves. I at once comprehended that they were felling trees across the narrow creek, to obstruct the pursuit; and I threw aside the paddle, and took my gun again, determined to protect my devoted friends, at any hazard. I never forgave myself for my momentary but ungenerous distrust!
Our pursuers heard the sound of the blows, and, no doubt comprehending what was going on, raised loud shouts, and redoubled their speed.Kling! kling!rang the machetes on the hard wood! Oh, how I longed to hear the crash of the falling trees! Soon one of them began to crackle—another blow, and down it fell, the trunk splashing gloriously in the water! Another crackle, a rapid rustling ofbranches, and another splash in the water! It was our turn to shout now!
I gave Antonio and the Poyer boy each a hearty embrace, as, dripping with water, they clambered back into our little boat. We now pushed a few yards up the stream, stopped close to the slimy bank, and awaited our pursuers. “Come on, now,” I shouted, “and not one of you shall pass that rude barrier alive!”
The first boat ran boldly up to the fallen trees, but the discharge of a single barrel of my gun sent it back, precipitately, out of reach. We could distinguish a hurried conversation between the occupants of the first boat and of the second, when the latter came up. It did not last long, and when it stopped, Antonio, in a manner evincing more alarm than he had ever before exhibited, caught me by the arm, and explained hurriedly that the second boat was going back, and that the narrow creek, in which we were, no doubt communicated with the principal channel by a second mouth. While one boat was thus blockading us in front, the second was hastening to assail us in the rear! I comprehended the movement at once. Our deliberation was short, for our lives might depend upon an improvement of the minutes. Stealthily, scarce daring to breathe, yet with the utmost rapidity possible, we pushed up the creek. As Antonio had conjectured, it soon began to curve back toward the estuary. We had pursued our course perhaps ten or fifteen minutes—they seemed hours!—when we overheard the approach of the second boat.We at once drew ours close to the bank, in the gloomiest covert we could find. On came the boat, the paddlers, secure of the success of their device, straining themselves to the utmost. There was a moment of keen suspense, and, to our inexpressible relief, the boat passed by us. We now resumed our paddles, and hastened on our course. But before we entered the principal channel, my companions clambered into the overhanging mangroves, and in an incredibly short space of time had fallen other trees across the creek, so as completely to shut in the boat which had attempted to surprise us.
The device was successful; we soon emerged from the creek, and the sea-breeze having now set in, favorably to our course, we were able to put up our sail, and defy pursuit. We saw nothing afterward of our eager friends of Tongla Lagoon!
Some time past midnight we came to another and larger lagoon, called “Wava Lagoon,” and, weary and exhausted from nearly two days of wakefulness, hard labor, and excitement, we ran our boat ashore on a little island, which presented itself, and dragged it up into the bushes. We kindled a fire, cooked our fish, and then I lay down in the canoe, and went to sleep. I had entire confidence that we would not be pursued further, as we were now a long way from the coast, and in the country of the unmixed Indians, who, so far from recognizing the assumptions of the Sambos, hold an attitude so decidedly hostile toward them that the latter seldom venture into their territory.
I awoke near noon, but unrefreshed, with a dull pain in my head, a sensation of chilliness, great lassitude, and an entire absence of appetite. Had our encampment been more favorable, I should not have attempted to move; but the island was small, without water, and, moreover, too near the channel leading to Tongla Lagoon to be a desirable resting-place. So we embarked about midday, and stood across the lagoon for its western shore, where the ground appeared to rise rapidly, and high blue mountains appeared in the distance. The sun shone out clearly, and the day was sultry, but my chilliness increased momentarily, and, in less than an hour after leaving the island, I found myself lying in the bottom of the canoe, wrapped in my blanket, and for the first time in my life, suffering from the ague. The attack lasted for full two hours, and was followed by a bursting pain in my head, and a high fever. I had also dull pains in my back and limbs, which were more difficult to be borne than others more acute.
At four o’clock in the afternoon, Antonio put the boat in shore—for I was too ill to give directions—where a bluff point ran out into the lagoon, forming a small bay, with a smooth, sandy beach. A little savannah, similar to that which I have described at Tapir Camp, extended back from the bluff, near the centre of which, at its highest point, which commanded a beautiful view of the lagoon, rose a single clump of pines. Here my companionscarried me in my hammock, and here they hastily arranged our camp.
When the sun went down, my fever subsided, but was followed by a profuse and most debilitating sweat. Meantime Antonio had collected a few nuts of a kind which, I afterward ascertained, is called by the English of the West Indiesphysic-nut(jatropha), which grows on a low bush, on all parts of the coast. These he rapidly prepared, and administered them to me. They operated powerfully, both as an emetic and cathartic. When their effects had ceased, I fell asleep, and slept until morning, when I awoke weak, but free from pain, or any other symptom of illness. I congratulated myself and Antonio, but he dampened my spirits sensibly by explaining that, however well I might feel for that day, I would be pretty sure to have a recurrence of fever on the next. And to mitigate the severity of this, if not entirely to prevent it, he presented to me a calabash of reddish-looking liquid, which he calledcinchona, and told me to drink deeply. Heavens! I shall never forget the bitter draught, which he commended to my unwilling lips every two hours during that black day in my calendar! I know what it is now, for my Mosquito experiences have entailed upon me a sneaking fever and ague, which avails itself of every pretext to remind me that we are inseparable. Looking to my extensive consumption of quinine, I have marveled, since my return, that the price of the drug has not been doubled! Others may look at the stock quotations, but my principalinterest in the commercial department of the morning paper, is the “ruling rate” ofquinine! Not having, as yet, discovered any considerable advance, I begin to doubt the dogma of the economists, that “the price is regulated by the demand.”
Antonio was right. The next day came, and at precisely twelve o’clock came also the chill, the fever, the dull pains, and the perspiration, but all in a more subdued form. I escaped the physic-nuts, but the third day brought a new supply of the bitter liquid, which Antonio told me was decocted from bark taken from the roots of a species of mangrove-tree. I have never seen it mentioned that the cinchona is found in Central America, but, nevertheless, itisthere, or something so nearly like it, in taste and effects, as to be undistinguishable. Thin slips of the bark, put into a bottle of rum, made a sort of cordial or bitters, of which I took about a wine-glassful every morning and evening, during the remainder of my stay on the coast, with beneficial results.
I had three recurrences of the fever, but the sun passed the meridian on the sixth day without bringing with it an attack—thanks to the rude but effective “healing art” of my Indian companions. Experience had taught them about all, I think, that has ever been learned in the way of treatment of indigenous complaints. It is only exotic diseases, or sweeping epidemics, that carry death and desolation among the aborigines, whose ignorance of their nature and remedies invests them with a terror whichenhances the mortality. Not only was the treatment to which I was subjected thoroughly correct, but the dieting was perfect. The only food that was given to me consisted of the seeds of the okra (which is indigenous on the coast), flavored by being boiled with the legs and wings of quails, and small bits of dried manitee flesh. I only outraged the notions of my rude physicians in one respect,viz., in insisting on being allowed to wash myself. The Indians seem to think that the effect of water on the body, or any part of it, during the period of a fever, is little less than mortal—a singular notion, which may have some foundation in experience, if not in reason. The Spaniards, wisely or foolishly, entertain the same prejudice; and, furthermore, shut themselves up closely in dark rooms, when attacked by fever. At such times they scarcely commend themselves pleasantly to any of the senses.
From the open, airy elevation where our camp was established, as I have already said, we had an extensive and beautiful view of the lagoon. We saw canoes, at various times, skirting the western shore, and, from the smoke which rose at intervals, we were satisfied that there were there several Indian villages. As soon, therefore, as I thought myself recovered from my fever, which was precisely at one o’clock past meridian, on the sixth day (the fever due at noon not having “come to time”), I was ready to proceed to the Indian towns. But our departure was delayed for two days more by an unfortunate occurrence, which came near deprivingthe Poyer boy of his life, and me of a valuable assistant; for, while Antonio was supreme on land, the Poyer boy was the leader on the water. I always called him—Mosquito fashion—“admiral.”
It seems that, while engaged in gathering dry wood, he took hold of a fallen branch, under which was coiled a venomous snake, known as thetamagasa(called by the Englishtommy-goff, and the Mosquitospiuta-sura, or the poison snake). He had scarcely put down his hand when it struck him in the arm. He killed it, grasped it by the tail, and hurried to our camp. I was much alarmed, for his agitation was extreme, and his face and whole body of an ashy color. Antonio was not at hand, and I was at an utter loss what to do, beyond tying a ligature tightly around the arm. The Poyer, however, retained his presence of mind, and, unrolling a mysterious little bundle, which contained his scanty wardrobe, took out a nut of about the size and much the appearance of a horse-chestnut, which he hastily crushed, and, mixing it with water, drank it down. By this time Antonio had returned, and, learning the state of the case, seized his machete, and hastened away to the low grounds on the edge of the savannah, whence he came back, in the course of half an hour, with a quantity of some kind of root, of which I have forgotten the Indian name. It had a strong smell of musk, impossible to distinguish from that of the genuine civet. This he crushed, and formed into a kind of poultice, bound it on the wounded arm, and gave theboy to drink a strong infusion of the same. This done, he led him down to the beach, dug a hole in the moist sand, in which he buried his arm to the shoulder, pressing the sand closely around it. I thought this an emphatic kind of treatment, which might be good for Indians, but which would be pretty sure to kill white men. The boy remained with his arm buried during the entire night, but, next morning, barring being a little pale and weak from the effects of these powerful remedies, he was as well as ever, and resumed his usual occupations. A light blue scratch alone indicated the place where he had been bitten.
Thetamagasa(a specimen of which I subsequently obtained, and which now occupies a distinguished place among the reptiles in the Philadelphia Academy), is about two feet long. It is of the thickness of a man’s thumb, with a large, flat head, and a lump in the neck something like that of the cobra, and is marked with alternate black and dusky white rings. It is reputed one of the most venomous serpents under the tropics, ranking next to the beautiful, but deadlycorral.