a navy, and a court! This is not half, but it makes one dizzy to think
of it all at once: however, on due reflection, it is not quite so
complicated an affair after all! The government is simplified by two
bosom friends of the King--Mr. Robert Crichton Wyllie, Minister of
foreign relations; and Mr. G. P. Judd, Minister of finance. The former
is a very clever Scotch gentleman, somewhat inflated with the royal
trust reposed in him, and has, moreover, the _cathoethes scribendi_ to a
most melancholy and voluminous extent; yet he is an agreeable person,
and gives good dinners, and I have not the heart to say a syllable to
his disparagement, although I have not had the felicity of testing his
cuisine!

But Mr. Judd is the Magnus Apollo of the Island. Kamme, or the Lonely
One--as the word signifies--is his puppet, and most particularly lonely
he keeps him! The King is Punch, and Judd is Judy, and the Lonely One is
jumped about and thumped, and the wires are pulled unremittingly. Judd
is his prime counsellor, his parliament, father confessor and ghostly
adviser--his temperance lecturer, purse-bearer, and factotum generally.
There was a rumor, too, in courtly circles, that an order of nobility
was to be established, and then we shall have, probably, Baron Judd,
Peer of the Realm and Regent of the Kingdom. One would naturally suppose
that a staunch democrat from the Model Republic could not bear the
tainted air of a monarchical court in his republican nostrils, But it is
wonderful how soon we learn to estimate patriotism at so much per annum,
and with what suppleness we can kneel before a throne, if there be
dollars hidden beneath the dais. What boots it whether the chair be
filled with African or white? We want dollars!

The king was universally liked by the foreigners; for he has, indeed,
for a modernized savage, much bonhommie; is a good-hearted, well-meaning
person; rather given to conviviality, like all his race, and when
permitted to throw off the restraints of the court, he "allows his more
austere faculties to become pleasingly relaxed by a little gentle and
innocent indulgence." However, these backslidings are of rare
occurrence, and when under the argus eyes of his financial adviser, he
is never seen to exceed the limits of propriety--eschews ten-pins and
tobacco.--sips malt, and devotes his leisure to billiards.

We were to be presented at court! It occupied a number of days to
arrange certain punctilio, and finally, without any decided
misunderstanding, an hour was fixed for a royal audience.

One day, precisely as the clock tolled twelve, we sallied out into the
dusty streets--chapeau'd, sworded, belted, and laced up to the chin. The
weather was warm, too. A few minutes walk, guided by our obliging
cicerone, Mr. Wyllie, carried us to the Palace.

It is a large, square-built villa, spaciously piazzaed and windowed,
surrounded by pretty plantations of shrubbery and fruit-trees. At the
gateway a guard of Kanaka infantry presented arms, the royal standard
was unfurled from the flag-staff and floated to the breeze. Passing up a
broad, gravelled alley, we ascended a flight of steps to the piazza, and
were again saluted by a double line of officers, who were supposed to be
the black rods in waiting. Entering the villa, we found ourselves in a
wide hall traversing the centre of the building, with saloons to the
right and left. The King not having arrived, we had leisure to inspect
the reception room. It was a spacious apartment, with windows on three
sides, having green Venetian blinds opening to the piazzas, and two
doors leading to the hall. It was handsomely carpeted, and the furniture
consisted of a few plain mahogany chairs, with another of state,
surmounted by a crown. A round table stood in the centre, supporting
alabaster ornaments, volumes of Wilkes' Exploring Expedition, and a
richly-bound Bible in the native dialect, presented by that estimable
philanthropist, Elizabeth Fry. The walls were hung with portraits of the
Lonely One's family--dingy chiefs and their ladies, smiling intensely,
with round saucer eyes and thick lips--a painting of Blucher--two of the
Kings of Prussia--and facing the throne, in a gorgeously gilt and carved
frame, the King of the French; which two last, by a singular
coincidence, had lately been presented in great state and procession by
the respective consuls, on the very days their several majesties had
been dethroned!

Time was only allowed us to take a rapid glance around the saloon, when
the approach of majesty was announced, and we hurried back to the hall.

From the opposite side of the terrace appeared the regal
cortêge--brilliant in embroidery, gold lace, nodding plumes, and swords
at their sides: on they came, two abreast--foremost, the King with the
Minister of Finance--then a brace of Chamberlains, followed by the High
Chiefs and officers of state, and the procession closed by the two young
princes, Alexander and Lot.

In a few moments, his excellency the Minister of Foreign Relations
imparted the august intelligence of all being prepared for our
reception. Forming in line--the Admiral leading, under pilotage of Mr.
Wyllie--we entered the saloon, and approached the throne. The King was
standing, and the courtiers ranged on either side. Our Admiral backed
his topsails and let go an anchor on the Lonely One's port beam: we were
then telegraphed by name--shot ahead--hove to abreast His
Majesty--exchanged signals--filled away and took position by order of
sailing on the starboard bow!

His excellency the Minister of Finance--who, by the way, was not an
ill-looking nobleman--in full court costume, and a field-marshal's
chapeau tucked under his arm--announced to the Admiral that His Majesty
would deign to lend a willing ear to any observations upon religion,
war, politics, or any other topics most agreeable. Whereupon, the
Admiral having a few remarks all ready prepared in his pocket, proceeded
to dilate on the happiness he felt in being thus honored--spoke of the
extraordinary beauty of the Islands--touched upon usefulness of
missionaries, and ended by expressing solicitude for His Majesty's
welfare and dynasty.

This speech, was immediately translated by the courtly Judd, who, with
admirable foresight, had provided himself beforehand with a copy.
Thereupon he handed the King a reply, who began in much the same strain
as the Admiral, and concluded by hinting that he hoped his dynasty
_would_ last a long time!

The business being now happily arranged, His Majesty and the Admiral
became seated, and the rest of us were permitted to mingle freely with
the Kanaka court.

Kammehamma, and all his native attendants, had handsome, agreeable
faces, and were extremely well made. The Premier, John Young, a
half-breed, would be recognized for an elegant person in any part of the
world. Two were of just and colossal proportions--one, the High Chief
Parkee, the greatest Chamberlain probably in the world--for he weighs
nearly four hundred pounds: I forget the precise number of chairs he
crashes annually, but it is something enormous, and he is the terror of
all housekeepers.

The King, Premier and Judd, had broad red ribbons thrown baldric fashion
over breast and shoulders, of such extreme breadth as to give the idea
of the wearers having burst their jugular arteries.

Whilst intently occupied regarding this brilliant throng, I happened to
attract the attention of an intelligent copper youth, some twenty years
old, who spoke English perfectly well, and who in fact patronised me
with great politeness and suavity of demeanor; and well he might, for he
was Prince of the blood royal, and could afford it. There chanced to be
a fine engraving of Queen Victoria and infant family, in the hall.
"This," said His Highness, pointing with marked emphasis to the little
Prince of Wales, "this is the heir to the British throne!" Ah! thought
I, forgive me, but you occupy the same elevated position in the Hawaiian
dynasty! My conjecture was well founded.

By some means the succession of late had been changed. And, by the way,
it is a wise institution they have, of continuing the descent from the
female branch. The war-club, feathers, and other regalia, were to have
fallen upon the brows of one Prince Moses; but Moses was suspected of
being too pointed in his attentions to the Queen consort
herself--scandal perhaps--although there could be no question about the
sad havoc he committed in the hearts of the youthful _wyheenees_ of the
Royal Academy! Ah! wicked Moses! His excellency the Financial Minister,
fearing future inroads upon the peace of families, had the gay Lothario
banished to a remote and desolate district of the Island, and the
succession transferred to a brother--the youth who evinced so much
complaisance towards me.

We remained a full hour, and then made our adieus, "the interview having
passed," according to the Court Journal, "much to the satisfaction of
all parties."

For my own part I was excessively diverted with the rarce-show, and
thought it highly ridiculous. What greater folly can exist than aping
the forms and etiquette of an European court? If, as is contended, the
natives are not sufficiently advanced in civilization for free
government, it is by no means imperative to set up a tinsel puppet, to
dazzle the eyes of a few half-naked savages; for surely no intelligent
person can be so blind an owl as not to detect and despise the cheat.
These vain-glorious ceremonies and pretensions are also, in a certain
degree, the cause of embroiling the Hawaiian Government with other
nations, whose consuls or diplomatic agents complain of bad treatment;
but in all the bullying or advice volunteered, incident upon their
indiscretions, there has been none so sensible, and so plainly given, as
the letter of an English Admiral to the King, consequent upon outrages
committed upon a British subject in 1846. Outcries are raised, too, in
these cases, by individuals who have renounced their own country and
sworn allegiance to a new native master, about the oppression of
American citizens.

One may forgive the absurdity attending these proceedings in a
Scotchman, but it is inexcusable in a Yankee. Still many measures
emanating from these sagacious councillors are characterised by a
careful regard to the interests of the native population. But then there
are other laws, which have not the ground of expediency to uphold them,
wherein strangers are incapacitated from becoming owners of landed
property without swearing fealty to the Hawaiian King! As a consequence,
the greater portion of tillable ground is held by the chief, who has
neither the sense nor energy to direct the steps for a proper
development of the soil. The lower order are the occupants, who
themselves are not eligible to a free tenure, and at least one-half, or
two-thirds the benefits of their labor is taken in some way by the
proprietors. Thus, without an incentive to greater efforts the country
languishes under the same species of feudal tyranny and extortion, as in
the days of their cannibal forefathers! The islands are rich and
fertile; sugar, coffee, and tobacco flourish luxuriantly; and under any
other system than the present, there could be no bounds placed upon the
advantages and wealth that would follow. Yet, although this policy,
which destroys the energies and resources of the group, is in the
greatest degree narrow-minded and illiberal, still it is the only course
that will sustain the wise statesman who framed it; for their
Excellencies are much too shrewd not to perceive, with prophetic
vision, that the very moment the lands are thrown open to foreign
enterprise and competition, a preponderating influence will be acquired
by the wealth and intelligence of foreigners themselves, the lands will
slip like water through the hands of the chiefs; and not only will the
Lonely One be called upon to throw off the Imperial tappa, but the royal
ministers, also, will be required to resign the purse-strings and
portfolios, and betake themselves to the retirements of simple
citizenship.

It is blameable, too, to pamper these semi-tutored island potentates
with such highly-seasoned dainties, when in a few years, or may be
months, they may be obliged to descend to native life, and without the
interest attached to martyrs or Eastern princes we read of, be made a
laughing-stock to their former subjects. As things remain, the entire
institution of puppet-king, complex government, and scheming advisers,
is at best but an indifferent piece of charlatanism and deception.

Nevertheless we were distressed at the thoughts of leaving these lovely
islands, for we had become deeply imbued with the rage for realizing
rapid fortunes, in the culture of sugar and coffee. Indeed, some of our
party were so thoroughly bitten, as to enter into negociations with
prime ministers, and other great people, wherein special royal
ordinances were to grant certain titles, with many advantageous
exemptions; and we spoke seriously of importing machinery, Malays,
Chinese, and of other operations; until at last we began to fancy
ourselves doomed to pass the remainder of our lives among the kanakas.

CHAPTER XLV.

We were forty days at the Sandwich Islands, and on the 21st of September
weighed anchor, and sailed away from the fertile vales of Oahu. Passing
along the western shores of the group, we steered to the southward,
until the trade winds carried us within a few hundred miles of the
equator; where meeting, between the parallels of seven and ten, a strong
easterly current, reacting from the north-eastern trades, we were swept
three hundred miles to the eastward.

During this period we had light, variable winds, attended by a confused,
uneasy sea, and one continual series of rains. The like was never seen;
it poured in torrents for seventeen days; the tar of the standing
rigging appeared white-washed; sails wet, chafed, and torn; decks sodden
and spongy, and the heat below oppressive.

One night, as usual, the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain
came down, beyond all ancient similes. I was wet to the bones, and am
convinced they too were damp; the heavy canvas was slamming and beating
against the masts and tops, with a noise like the report of cannon,
whenever the ship gave a quick lurch, giving the idea, of flying out of
the bolt ropes; indeed I wished they would, for the yards had been
braced every way to woo the fitful breezes, which only for a moment
would fill the leaden sails, and then hop around to another quarter. The
night was black as Erebus! except when the lightning flashed out in a
blinding glare, with a pale, blueish dazzle, like to the flash of a gun,
or a burning blue light; illuminating the mazes of rigging, lofty spars,
and clusters of the watch, crouching under partial shelter of the
hammock-nettings;--then all was dark again. I was standing on the poop,
up to my ancles in water, although feeling as if swimming; a little old
quarter-master directing the helmsman was at my elbow--I could not see,
but I felt him,--he too was at times trying to feel the white feathery
dog vane, to know where the wind was! It was old Harry Greenfield! None
of your low-crowned, flowing-ribbon'd, wide-trouser'd dandy Jacks,
pricked all over with china-ink, like a savage; but a short, stout,
wholesome little "tar of all weathers," with a pleasant, rosy,
good-humored visage, bronzed and wilted to be sure, and rather mouldy
about the head, for he had "served his full time in a man-of-war
ship"--nearly half a century--and no doubt had taught many a sucking
reefer, and given excellent advice to lots of sapient lieutenants--I
know he has to me often; in a word, to complete his portrait, he was the
image of Durand's Santa Claus! "Well," said I, "old gentleman, how are
you to-night?" "Dry as dust, sir." "What! I thought you wet!" "Fat!"
said he, misunderstanding me, "what on--salt junk? You might carry a
lump of it from here to Jerusalem, and not get enough fat to grease the
pint of a sail-needle." "No! wet I say." "Ah! yes, sir! You're right, my
hands and feet are shrunk up like a washerwoman's thumb, but I meant
_inside_, sir." "Well, here's the key of the locker, go down and take a
glass of grog, but mind you allow for variation." "Aye, aye, sir--no
higher nor nor-west." Presently he came splashing back to his old stand.
"Mr. Blank, I don't see any shells, tappa, and them sorts of
curiosities stowed away in your state-room." "What of that?" "Presents
to your friends, sir?" "Oh, no, I heard of a witty lady, who had a
nautical lover constantly sending her navy trash, that she had it all
packed in the attic to prevent the drawing-rooms being taken for a
sailor boarding-house." "Sensible woman, that," chuckled old Harry; "you
may buy the same things for half the money in Water-street, besides
hubble hubbles made in Hamburgh." The rain came down with renewed
violence, if possible, and I became so completely saturated, and
water-logged, as to be on the point of requesting a couple of stout
top-men to take me by head and heels and wring me comparatively dry,
when our confab was interrupted by a sharp squall; but just as as the
frigate began to move lively through the water, the wind died quietly
away, the topsails flapped against the masts, and all became dark and
rainy as before. Could a saint help anathematising such weather? "It's
unpleasant business this going to sea," chimed in old Santa Claus,
deprecating my wrath against the unfeeling elements; "you ought to try a
smoker, I did once." "You did?" said I, incredulously. "Yes, sir, I was
paid off from a merchantman in Orleans, and took passage in one of them
smokers, bigger than a three-decker."

"But tell me, my old sea dog, why don't you leave the broad ocean, and
settle down quietly on shore?" "Why; sir, I can't afford it!" "No! well,
let me hear your ideas of life!" Moving close to my side, while the
light from the binnacle flashed upon his pleasant face and dripping
garments, he took a reflecting glance at the compass and then began:
"D'ye see, sir, I want a country seat--with a nice sail-boat. I'd get up
early, and take a good sniffler of brandy, with a dash of peppermint;
then I'd go somewhere or another and take breakfast--call for me horse,
and ride away eight or ten miles in the country--(he looked like a
horseman!)--when I'd get half slewed, and come to town and visit the
ladies--." Here he appeared palled. "Go on," I said "Then, sir, I'd take
a glass of old Madeira--with an egg in it--every half hour--until
bed-time, mind ye--when, with another sniffler"--

"Eight bells!" sung out the orderly at the cabin doors. The watch was
called to take their accustomed drenching, and I went below,
without-hearing the conclusion of old Greenfield's yarn.

This weather, caused probably by the Equinox, lasted until the 11th of
October, when the winds sprang from the South, blew away the wet clouds,
and carried the ship to a longitude of 128° in 5° North latitude, when
the breeze gradually veered to the Eastward, and we crossed the Equator.
On the morning of the 25th we discovered the easternmost Islands of the
Marquesas--passed Hood's Island, and the following day anchored in
Nukeheva--the Anna Maria bay of Mr. Gouch--Surveyor of the Daedalus, one
of Vancouver's squadron--who, in ignorance of the previous discovery by
the Spaniards under Alvaro de Mendaña, had named the group after his
commander, Hergest.

CHAPTER XLVI.

The bay and harbor of Anna Maria is scooped out of the Island in shape
of a horse-shoe; hemmed in on three sides by steep mountains, whose
sharp, well-defined acclivities spring boldly from the water--dense with
foliage--where the brightest verdure closely clasps and kisses the
perpendicular faces of the lofty barriers around.

At the head of the harbor, along a white, shelly beach, are multitudes
of cocoanuts, hibiscus, and bread-fruit trees, screening within
their leafy groves thatched huts and villages of the natives. To
the right is a rocky projection, frowning with a heavy battery
of cannon; while near by are the pretty villa and grounds of the
Governor--barracks--store-houses--buildings and plantations pertaining
to the French garrison.

I viewed this scene soon after daylight, as the first rays of morning
came glancing in horizontal gleams over the eastern heights, tinging the
opposite peaks with the rich, warm glow of sunlight, peering and prying
into many a green-clad precipice and grassy dell, step by step, until it
fairly illumined the dark alcove-like bay and shores below.

The anchors had hardly struck bottom before the frigate was surrounded
by canoes, of a rough, clumsy structure, filled with natives of the most
hideous and frightful descriptions. The men were nearly naked. Many had
large, frizzled wigs of human hair, thrown down the back of the neck,
and confined to the throat by cords or wire--a style of peruke not
intended to be used, but merely as a decoration. Others had fresh green
leaves entwined around the brows, with concave flaps in front, like
visors to caps--their ears perforated with misshapen holes, in which
were thrust carved ivory horns, or small bunches of flowers. The hair,
from constant bleachings in salt water, dews and tropical suns, had a
brown, sandy hue, or the color of tow--brushed straight back, somewhat
resembling the head costume of ladies of the court of Louis Quatorze!
But what rendered them preëminently hideous, was the tatooing. It,
indeed, bordered on the infernal! Not only were their bodies covered
with these dark stains, of every pattern, figure and device, but large
numbers had angular stripes, two inches broad, beginning at the temple,
crossing the eyelid, part of the nose, traversing the mouth and lips,
and then going out of sight around the face. I judged it to be a dim
idea of the facial angle. Others had the entire upper or lower part of
the visage stained like masques in domino. Isosceles triangles were
common, leaving the noses clear, and from a distance they appeared the
only feature of their faces. There was one demon who claimed a large
share of our attention: not a square inch of him, excepting the tongue
and eye-balls, was free from this hieroglyphical human "picture
printing," and he took immense delight in pointing out many high touches
of art, that might from their position have eluded our observation, and
dilated with, to us, unintelligible gibberish, upon certain other
indescribable arabesques. We thought him intended as a pattern card; an
ambulating advertisement, or sign board, sent abroad, as knowing tailors
send dandies at home, to give an idea of the higher and more correct
delineations of the tatoo: but this individual was altogether so very
interesting a specimen of goblin tapestry, that Champollion himself
might have studied him with much benefit and gusto.

They all looked like consummate rascals, and not in the physiognomony of
a single individual could we detect the slightest approach to
benevolence, or any of the milder virtues. On the contrary, they are
famed for cruelty, selfish apathy, and cunning, and are among the worst
of the Polynesian tribes. There have been two or three praiseworthy
attempts to reform them, by different missionary boards, but they
signally failed. The Nukehevans were found too vicious to even suffer,
without great privation and danger, their teachers to reside on the
islands, and they now remain in the same shocking state of barbarism as
before the discovery of the group, in sad contrast, so far as the
humanizing influences of Christianity and civilization extend, to the
benefits the pioneers of religion have shed upon the other islands of
these Indian Archipelagoes.

During the few years the French, in their rage for colonization in the
Pacific, have occupied Nukeheva, they have encountered great
difficulties in keeping these unruly natives within the bounds of
moderation. For a length of time they were continually on the _qui vive_
to guard against treachery and attack; of late, the islanders had been
quiet, understanding that the French, who held the harbor under what was
termed a forcible proprietorship, were shortly to depart; and, indeed,
as a preparatory step, some of the government buildings had already been
taken down and sent to Tahiti. Still there seems no reason why the
Marquesans should have evinced this bitter hostility, for it was
conceded that they have been treated with great lenience and
forbearance.

As a harbor of refuge, in time of war, Anna Maria is perfectly
safe--accessible and defensible; but from the natural indolence of the
natives, it is destitute of supplies in sufficient quantities to feed
even the few whale-ships touching here during the year.

The garrison was composed of two hundred and fifty _Infanterie de la
Marine_, maintained, no doubt, at considerable expense, and for what
present or perspective benefit it would be difficult to surmise. The
Governor was M. Fournier, the commander, also, of a fine corvette, the
Galathée, moored near the shore battery. He was all prepared to give us
a warm reception, in case our ship had worn the cross of St. George at
her peak, instead of a Yankee gridiron, for they were hourly
anticipating a rupture with England, consequent upon the French
revolution.

Going on shore, I made the acquaintance of a number of polite officers
belonging to the garrison, and had also the pleasure of meeting an old
friend, a handsome young Enseigne de Vaisseau. "Ah!" said he, "would you
believe, I've been here amid these beasts of savages eighteen months.
_Mon Dieu!_ Such a _monotone diablement horrible_! And do you remember
all France was talking of Du Petit Thours and this Paradise of
Polynesia, and I, like a fool, was dazzled, too! _Sacré!
Voila!_"--pointing to a group of copper-tinted and tatooed imps
reclining under a banana tree devouring raw fish, and sucking _poee_
with their filthy fingers--"and regard me in a flannel jacket, smoking
pipes, and reading, for the hundredth time, old Revues des deux Mondes!
perpetually sighing for those ravishing scenes we passed together--those
dinners in the Bois de Bologne--the races in the alleys by
moonlight--evenings at Ranelagh, when I used to dance the _cancan_ with
poor _Reine Pomarée_, and, behold, I've a lock of her hair," running to
an escrutoire; "and is it not droll we should meet again five thousand
leagues away, and so near the veritable dominions of the great Pomarée
herself!" My young friend had cause truly to be disgusted.

We took a long stroll around the beaches and valleys at the head of the
harbor, made a number of visits, then bathed in a shallow, discolored
stream of mineral water. The district is not populous, and, during our
sojourn, the king and many of the natives had gone to a high heathenish
festival in an adjacent valley, on the opposite side of the island.
Since the occupation by the French, perfect amity had existed between
the different clans of Nukeheva, where each petty chief and people are
independent sovereigns in their romantic and secluded valleys: not so
much for mutual friendship existing between them, as in hatred to their
white visitors. The French seldom wandered to any great distance from
their quarters, fearing, possibly, the "anthropopagian tastes of their
cannibalistic brethren."

The women were tall and well shaped, with very much brighter complexions
than the Hawaiians, and, with exceptions of young girls, were all more
or less disfigured by the indigo hues of tatoo; the faces escaping with
a few delicate blue lines, or dots, on lips or cheeks. They all seemed
complimented, and gave us every assistance in deciphering different
designs engraved upon their persons, and one buxom dame, who had a large
painting similar to the tail of a peacock spread upon her shoulders,
insisted upon doffing her drapery and preceding us, that we might study
its beauties with every facility possible!

Many were decorated with bracelets and necklaces of leaves or flowers,
and some with anklets of human hair, toe nails, and other valuable
relics. All were perfumed with cocoanut oil, and smeared with another
equally odoriferous ointment, which dyed arms and faces a deep
saffron--neither cosmetic was I able to acquire a taste for, after
repeated trials; and, indeed, I may admit, that I have never conquered a
disgust, perhaps engendered by too nice a sense of perfume.

From a number of unmistakable signs and expressions, I presumed the
_Franees_ were not entirely beloved, even by the women, although the men
deigned ludicrous attempts in mode of beard, moustache, shrug of
shoulders, and other little grimace, to copy French dress and manner.

After bathing, we reclined on the thwarts of an immense war-canoe that
was hauled upon the beach, capable of holding, at least, fifty paddles,
and amused ourselves watching a score of young girls swimming in the
bay: they swam like fishes, but, as there were no surf or rocks, I had
no means of determining what novel or extraordinary feats they were able
to perform: they were quite skilful little fisherwomen, and procured for
us a cocoanut-shell full of delicious oysters--no bigger than shilling
pieces--which served to pass the time until we adjourned to the king's
house.

It was rather a modern structure--of roughly-laid stones and
boards--built by the French, though falling to decay. There was but a
single apartment of tolerable size--floor and walls were strewn with
mats, stools, a couple of bedsteads, spyglasses, fowling-pieces covered
with rust, spears, nets, calibashes, rolls of _tappa_, war conches,
whales' teeth, circular crowns of cocks' feathers, besides an infinite
variety of serviceable and useless trumpery, scattered indiscriminately
around.

Coiled up on a low, beastly collection of mats and _tappa_, was a
repulsive object, half dead with some loathsome disease, and drunk with
_arva_--he was the chief's brother, and was expected to die shortly, or
be killed on the return of his sovereign--a custom strictly observed
with invalids and old, decrepid persons.

Within a stone's throw of this habitation, was another nearly completed,
in native design. The foundation was raised two feet by a platform of
large, round, smooth stones. The building itself was in shape of an
irregular inverted acute angle, or trapezoid, at the ends, with the legs
slightly inclined outwardly, and resting on the foundation. Large
upright shafts of polished red wood supported roof and sides, which were
nicely formed of frames of white poles, lashed securely and neatly
together by braids of parti-colored sennit, and thatched evenly and
tastefully over by the spear-shaped leaves of the pandannus, leaving the
front of the dwelling open for light and air. It presented a deal of
ingenuity and nice mechanism in the design and construction.

The French allow the king sixty dollars a-month, and I should say, from
the careless appearance of his household, that he made a bad use of
it--besides, he was addicted to _arva_, which my friend assured me was a
shade worse for the stomach than prussic acid. I returned to the frigate
in the evening, with a party planned to visit the Happar valley, whose
beauties we had heard much extolled, on the following day.

CHAPTER XLVII.

Early the next morning I went on shore, but duties of the garrison
prevented the officers from leaving until the morning was somewhat
advanced--too late to cross the dividing ridges to the adjacent glens,
and we accordingly changed the destination, for an excursion up the
valley at the head of the harbor.

A pair of native boys preceded us, with baskets. Walking briskly through
paths lined with thick, wild undergrowth of tobacco, arrow-root, ginger
and guavas, we mounted a number of acclivities, and then striking the
bed of a water-course, in two hours reached a comparatively level space,
which, my friend informed me, was _la cour de l'ancienne Noblesse_, and
the spot where high festivals of the Nukehevans were held. The court was
a parallelogram, paved with smooth, round stones, and on three sides
surrounded by native-built houses, unoccupied, but very large and
commodious, all in good repair, and ready for a perspective feast. At
the lower ends of the square coursed a little stream, and the place was
dark with shade of lofty cocoanuts, bread-fruit, iron-wood, maple and
gigantic hibiscus. All was silent, gloomy and deserted, the imperative
decrees of Taboo preserved it sacred from native footsteps, during the
intervals between their sacrifices and feasts--even our
_cumulees_--boys, made a wide circuit, with bowed heads and averted
faces.

Closely scrutinizing this field of heathenish revels, we continued on
up the ravine, and in a few minutes familiarly paid our respects to the
King's father, by unceremoniously bobbing through his doorway, and
slapping him smartly on the back.

The hut was large, in accordance with the position, rank and wealth of
the owner. A trickling rivulet in front filled a scooped-out bowl in the
rocks, some yards in diameter, and then flowed over a little natural
channel, worn at the side, like the gutter to a fountain. Around and
above, the cocoanuts were rustling in the sea-breeze.

We were cordially greeted by the host, who was seated on his hams and
heels, with no other apparel than a _maro_ wound around the loins, and a
necklace of straggling, snow-white hairs hanging on his meagre breast;
it was the honored beard of his ancestors, which was, I suppose,
retained merely to swear by, as it did not appear either valuable or
ornamental. He was a remarkable and venerable Goblin, and he informed us
that his existence comprised nine hundred moons. This would have made
him somewhere verging on eighty years; but he appeared as aged as
Saturn.

He was tatooed all over the body and limbs, face alone exempted. It must
have occupied as much time to delineate him as it did Rafael to fresco
the galleries of the Vatican! But his hide was so ancient and
worm-eaten, that many fine touches were almost illegible. Around his
knees were playing two little dusky imps, scarcely a year old! God knows
where they came from--may have been a present, as it is all the fashion
among the Marquesas. Nevertheless, he regarded them with the most
affectionate interest, and watched their every movement, even to sucking
his mouldering toes and pulling his grizzly top-knot, with the tenderest
solicitude. Presently they crawled in front of the dwelling, and
actually toddled into the pool. I instantly started up to fish them out,
but the old Goblin only chuckled, and the little elfs kept bobbing about
the surface of the water with the buoyancy of corks--like junk bottles
in a lea-way--crowing and smiling bravely. I never was more amazed, and
taking a dip myself afterwards, found the basin up to my neck.

Native attendants soon produced clusters of cocoanuts, with the crowns
of their heads knocked off, ready for consumption. We made cocoanut-milk
punch--every man his own punch-bowl; with a sprinkle of lime-juice, and
syrup of powdered sugar-cane--gently agitated within the milky
shells--which made as delicious a beverage as ever a regent brewed: it
is worth a trip to Polynesia alone to enjoy it. Then exploring the
resources of the baskets, we discovered a case of sardines, bread,
bananas, and oranges; made luncheon, and fed the children on the crumbs.

Pipes were filled, and a native boy quickly brought forth two sticks,
and cutting the hardest to a point, and holding the other firmly fixed
against a stone, began to wear a groove with the pointed stick in the
softest by a measured movement along the surface. Presently a fine dust
was deposited at the lower end; the white wood turned dark; quicker and
quicker, stronger and stronger traversed the pointed stick; the dust
began to smoke, some dry fibres and leaves were laid across, and in an
instant burst into a blaze. The operation lasted three or four minutes,
and was skilfully performed. I had plenty of lucifers in my pocket, but
not having witnessed the native process of striking fire, and thinking a
little wholesome exertion would not injure the young _Cumulee_, I did
not produce them.

Throwing ourselves at full length on the mats, we devoted the time to
conversation and tobacco. The old Goblin fascinated me, I could not
remove my gaze from his lineaments, but by and by I opined that there
was a singular odor pervading the habitation; and upon reflection, I
experienced something unpleasant upon first entering; but then there are
so many villanous compounds surrounding native dwellings, and being
moreover deeply engaged brewing punch, eating luncheon, smoking, and
surveying the Goblin, I forgot other matters for the time being, until a
pause in the conversation induced me to enquire the cause of the
annoyance. Ah! said a Frenchman, giving a few agonizing sniffs, and
looking around: _Ah! le voici!_ Casting my eyes upward, I beheld a long
object, enveloped in native cloth and tappa, hanging slantingly across a
beam, like a _fantoccino_, just before throwing a summerset on the
slack-wire! It was a near relative, lately deceased, who from an
elevated and unchristian notion of respect, had been suspended under the
paternal roof, until dry enough to be deposited in a raised native tomb
of stones and thatch. Dropping the pipe, I gained my feet, and bidding
our antique host a hasty farewell, rushed into the open air; where,
after swallowing a modicum of eau de vie neat, I swore a mental vow
never more to visit Nukehevan nobility!

Returning towards the harbor, we tarried to exchange a kind word with
the Catholic priest attached to the garrison. It is needless to add that
he had made no proselytes among the natives, and when, from idle
curiosity or merriment, they attended mass, and were under no
apprehensions from _Franee_ bayonets, they delighted themselves by
mimicking every word and gesture of the good father.

During the jaunt we encountered two or three American or English
vagabonds, residing permanently on the island, subsisting on _poee
poee_ and raw fish, lost to all the tastes and habits of civilized
society, making a livelihood by trading with ships touching at the
group, or idolized by the islanders for their skill in the distillation
of deleterious intoxicating drinks from the dragon-tree, kava, or
sugar-cane. They are a class of persons, who, if not naturally
unprincipled, are driven by harsh usage to desert from the whalers, and
the contrast of the indolent voluptuous life of the islands, with the
hardships and disease of shipboard, is more than sufficient to reconcile
them to the change.

The whaling interests of the United States have now attained so vast a
magnitude, that it is high time our government should take measures
exclusively for their protection in these seas. The enterprise of our
hardy fishermen has driven the ships of all other nations almost
entirely off the ground of competition. In the Pacific, and its
continental seas alone, we have a mighty fleet of more than five hundred
whale ships, manned in the aggregate by twenty thousand seamen. The
larger portion of these vessels are fitted for the right whale, and seek
their prey on the northern coasts of America or Asia, in high southern
latitudes, and latterly, with extraordinary success, on the shores of
Japan and sea of Okokts. The sperm fishermen cruise near the equator,
and not only are frequently surrounded by dangerous navigation, amidst
islands or reefs little known, but have also to guard against surprise,
and the treachery of savages of the uncounted groups of Polynesia;
unavailingly at times, for, in addition to the long catalogue of crimes
committed in this ocean, was that of the capture of the ship Triton, in
December of '47, by the natives of Sydenham Island--one of the King's
Mill cluster--a number of whose crew were inhumanly massacred.

It does not necessarily follow that the natives are always to
blame--gross outrages sometimes demand prompt vengeance;--but yet a
small squadron of double-decked corvettes, of light draught, and ample
stowage, constantly cruising, and touching among these groups, would
tend in a great degree to shield our whalers from harm, and the natives
themselves from the imposition and injustice so commonly practised upon
them.

Again, if there were stringent laws for the internal government of this
branch of our marine--were masters not allowed under any circumstances
to keep the sea beyond the usual period comprised in a fishing season,
before visiting port, and the scurvy considered a capital offense, we
should meet with fewer instances of desertions or mutiny, and fewer
diseased, vicious vagabonds drifting about these islands at the mercy of
the natives.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

On the 28th of September, the well-used chains and anchors were raised
from their beds, and with a light wind we drifted slowly from the lonely
bay of Anna Maria. The sun arose the next morning, and a dim blue haze
alone pointed to the spot on the ocean where lie the Marquesas.

The fifth day after sailing from Nukeheva, we approached the
north-western clusters of the Society group, and passed a number of low
coralline islands, appearing like a raft of upright spars adrift upon
the sea. One was Kruzenstein's--named by Kotzbue, in compliment to his
old commander.

At sunrise of the following day, we were before Tahiti. The land rises,
grand and imposing, to the elevation of seven thousand feet. One
core-like ridge runs along the summit, branching off into numberless
steep valleys and acclivities, down to the water's edge. The peaks
pierce the sky bold and strikingly--thrown up into the most fantastic
and grotesque shapes--while more singular than all, cradled between a
great gap of the heights, is the Diadem of Faatoar, having a dozen
pointed elevations circling around a crown, like the serrated teeth of a
saw. Nearer towards the bases of these ridges are low points jutting
into the ocean, crowded with cocoanut trees--then a narrow belt of
lagoon, and the whole girdled by a snow-white wreath of foam,
embroidered on the coral reefs.

The morning was cloudless. To the southward, rising clearly and bright,
tinged by the glorious sun, undraped by a single atom of mist or vapor,
was the Island of Aimeo, equally varied and novel in its strange
formations; and when at a later day we sailed around it, while the
different phases were brought in clear relief against the heavens--we
discovered battlements, embrasures, pyramids--ruined towers with
terraces and buttresses--a cathedral with domes and spire--all so
fantastically blended in one beautifully verdant picture, as to leave
the imagination in doubt as to its reality!

We hove to in sight of the harbor of Papeetee. The French ships of war,
with chequered rows of ports, were lying with drooping flags and not a
breath of air, whilst with us the loud trade-wind was tearing crests
from the waves, and the frigate trembling under her top-sails.

A gun, and jack at the fore, and shortly there came dancing over the
waves, in a whale-boat, an officer, Monsieur le Pilot! Two hours we
remained outside, awaiting the breeze to fill the Port--and then wearing
round, the ship leaped, replete with life and vigor--every seam of the
stout canvas straining--towards an entrance through a coral gateway. The
sea was light green on either side of the aperture, barely wide enough
to admit us, when, at the turning point, the helm was put down, and the
strong wind bore the huge hull through the blue channel into the smooth
water within. Sails were brailed up, and at the proper moment down fell
the ponderous anchor--splash--with its unfettered cable rumbling to the
coral beds of Papeetee! What if there chanced to be a group of mermaids,
parting their wet locks, in the emerald villas below? Nothing! Crashing
through the snowy groves and shelly mansions, goes the ruthless anchor,
alike indifferent to all!

We were locked in by the reef--no ungainly ledge of black, jagged
rocks--no frightful barrier to make tempest-tost mariners shudder--but a
smooth parapet of coral, just beneath the surface, with the outer face
like a bulwark of adamant, where the swelling billows vainly expend
their rage, and then bubble rippling over in a liquid fringe of creamy
foam.

Skirting along the semi-circular shores of the harbor, is the town of
Papeetee. Lines of houses and cottages half smothered in glossy green
foliage--pretty, square-built, veranda'd, straw-colored dwellings and
barracks of the French--and midway between reef and shore, a little
bouquet of an islet, teeming with cocoanut, banian, bread-fruit and the
iron-wood tree, with its filmy, feathery, delicate tissue of leaves and
branches--all drooping over a few cane-thatched sheds and a _demi-lune_
battery of open-mouthed cannon.

Night came, and the breeze was done. Not a sigh disturbed the tranquil
water--the towering ships were mirrored and reflected by the
moonlight--red fires were shedding twinkling glooms from fishing canoes,
through the moon's silver flame, athwart the sparkling phosphorescent
surf--the sharp peaks of Tahiti were hanging high above, with
Aimeo dimly visible in the distance! Presently bugles from the
ships of war rang out clear and shrill in the calm night--drums
rattled--tap--tap--tap--flash--flash--the nine o'clock guns, and as the
reverberating echoes from the reports went dying away from valley to
valley, there came the clash of cymbals from the shore, and then the
full crash of a brass band, pouring forth the most delightful melody
from Norma; whilst the low "shaling" roar on the reef beat time in a
deep musical base.

We thought Papeetee by far the loveliest spot that we had seen, not
excepting charming little Hilo!

Pomàree's flag and the French tricolor floated side by side. The queen
was handsomely pensioned, as were also the chiefs, the French having
kindly taken possession of their heritage, under a forcible
protectorate. People may prate an ocean of nonsense about the injustice
of the thing, but the fact is, France wished colonies in the
Pacific--Tahiti was one selected, and the English themselves afforded an
excellent pretext to make the acquisition. Suppose, for
example--Catholics had been first in the field, and, by their
instigation, Protestant or Puseyite missionaries had been kicked into
the sea, would John Bull in his lion's mantle have calmly beheld his
subjects maltreated for heresy, in striving to preach the Gospel among
the heathen? No! not without baring his claws, and making them felt in
the tawny hides of every savage in Polynesia! Ay! and, if need be, in
white skins, also, though they had been French!

Then what sickly sympathy it is to talk of the wrongs and aggressions,
or the rights and laws of European nations as having a bearing upon a
handful of barbarians, subjected to the savage sway of tyrannical native
masters, when contrasted with the benefits conferred upon the world at
large, by their being under the enlightened rule of a civilized
government!

The French experienced hard fighting and much difficulty in subduing
Tahiti; and, even after all the trouble, loss of blood and money, it
seems highly probable that they are dissatisfied with their conquest,
and may shortly resign it: at any rate, the expenditure attending the
occupation must be very great, and it appears a mistaken policy in
retaining so large a garrison. There were thirteen hundred troops,
exclusive of ships of war always in port, posted in Tahiti--far more
than needed to overawe the natives, and too few to withstand a land
attack from a foreign foe. Trade is a mere bagatelle--the French have no
commerce--and whale-ships have deserted Papeetee, since most of the
produce is consumed by the garrison. The population, as in all
Polynesia, are constitutionally opposed to labor--they cannot bend their
energies to any steady employment, and, when compelled to work, they
pine away like unhappy monkeys--thus the soil, though rich and tillable,
is only made to produce a small quantity of arrow root, sugar, and
cocoanut oil.

Fortifications were progressing rapidly, and the harbor is very
susceptible of defence. Two heavy batteries, _en cavalier_, which, when
completed, were to mount sixteen traversing guns, mostly eighty-pounder
shells, will rake the entrance through the reef, at point-blank range;
twelve more cannon on Pomàree's little islet of Motunata, cross the fire
from the shore battery, and sweep in every direction over the
reef-seaward. There are besides, four small block houses, perched on the
salient spurs of the mountains in rear of the town, with each a long gun
which can be brought to bear on the harbor. All the world bear witness
with what skill the French use artillery on land, and it must be an
intrepid commander who attempts a demonstration on the island by the
harbor of Papeetee.

The Governorship was placed in the hands of M. Lavaud, to whom, with the
officers of the garrison, and officers afloat of the fine frigate,
Syréne, and steamer, Gassendi, we were indebted for many acts of
courtesy. They were all extremely Republican, under their reversed
tricolor.

Since the occupation of the Society and Marquesas groups, Tahiti has
been made the See of a bishop. But although the Catholics have
prosecuted their labors with laudable and philanthropic zeal, yet,
strange as it may be, they have not met with the same success as their
fellow missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands. Nor have the Tahitians,
together with the inhabitants of many of these southern groups,
forgotten the early truths taught them by their kind Protestant
teachers, and they still lament the untimely fate of John Williams: a
man of the noblest piety, possessed of the undaunted resolution and
industry of the Apostles of old, who fell a martyr to his faith and
labors, among the very savages he went to reform.

There were two excellent gentlemen, stationed at Papeetee from the
London Board of Protestant Missions--Messrs. Howe and Thompson--who, if
sound sense, unbiassed by narrow-minded sectarian prejudice, combined
with great practical information, and knowledge of the native character,
can be of service in their mission, they have indeed the true elements
of success. From the opportunities we had of judging in Papeetee and the
vicinity, there certainly was exhibited a more modest and correct
deportment among the natives than we observed elsewhere; and although
morality, strictly speaking, is unknown, there was still less outward
licentiousness visible than was a matter of hourly occurrence in the
other groups.

     _Note._--In all the lighter sketches upon Polynesia, I cannot
     resist paying the faint tribute of my own individual admiration to
     Mr. Melville. Apart from the innate beauty and charming tone of his
     narratives, the delineations of Island life and scenery, from, my
     own personal observation, are most correctly and faithfully drawn.

     At Nukeheva and Tahiti I made inquiry about his former associates,
     and without in the least designing to sully the enchanting romance
     of his fair Typee love, I may mention having seen a "nut-brown"
     damsel, named Fayaway, from that valley, who apparently was maid of
     all work to a French Commissary of the garrison. She was attired in
     a gaudy yellow robe de chambre, ironing the Crapeau's trowsers!
     _Credat Judeus!_ There was also a diminutive young _oui oui_
     tumbling about the mats, so it is presumable she had become
     childish of late; yet the proof is not strong, for it is quite as
     much in vogue among these southern groups to change names and give
     away infants, as the fashion in the Sandwich Islands of knocking
     out a couple of front teeth to evince grief at the decease of near
     friends or relatives, and the nymph alluded to may not be the
     original Fayaway after all.

     Mr. Melville's friend, Dr. Johnstone, whom he has immortalized in
     Omoo, was excessive wroth, and refused to be pacified, resolving
     shortly to prosecute the English publishers for libel. He politely
     permitted me to transcribe some items from his dose book, declaring
     however, that the "embrocation" so relished by the Long Ghost, was
     a villanous preparation, having the least taste of gin in the
     world, and made up from laudanum, turpentine, and soap linament!
     Here is the memorandum:--

                       "Ship, Lucy Ann, Captain Vinton.
                   October 10th, 1842. Melvil Herman. Stocks.

                Embrocation                                    75
          19th.     Do                                         75
                                                             ----
                                                            $1 50"

     I felt no inclination to task it, since I found the Doctor's other
     prescriptions unexceptionable. The Ghost must have been seriously
     indisposed; he had a large quantity: was supposed at the period of
     our visit to be in Sydney, or after gold in California, but, with
     his ubiquitous propensities, may have been in both places. Captain
     Bob, of the Calaboosa, was "muckee-moi," so was Father Murphy, all
     under the sod. Charming Mrs. Bell had taken to hard drink, _before_
     Mr. Melville's rencontre, and may have been slightly elevated on
     that occasion. H. M. _ci-devant_ Consul, Mr. Wilson, was in the
     like vinous state, and occupied his leisure in the pursuit of
     shells at the Navigator Islands. Shorty was still devoting his
     talents to the culture of potatoes at Aimeo, and strongly suspected
     of shooting his neighbor's cattle.

CHAPTER XLIX.

The rain fell in torrents the day succeeding our arrival, and it was not
until Sunday that I had courage to set foot on shore: then I went solus,
and jumping on the beach, two minutes' walk found me in the Broom Road,
a broad lane running nearly the entire circuit of Tahiti, within a
stone's throw of the surf-locked lagoons, shaded like a bower by
magnificent trees and undergrowth, that hang their drooping, green arms
in grateful coolness, to shield the traveller from the heat of tropical
suns. Notwithstanding mud from recent rains, the roads and lateral paths
were thronged with natives: I was surprised to find them so much
superior in physical mould and beauty to those of other islands we had
visited. The men were well proportioned, and some with a noble bearing;
the women were very tall, scarcely one less than five feet eight; many
of the young girls were exquisitely shaped, with small hands and feet.
Moreover, they had borrowed a nicer taste in dress from the French, and
their gowns and bonnets were very becomingly worn.

I splashed and trudged about the Broom Road until evening, and then,
following the tide of population, entered the well laid out grounds of
the gubernatorial mansion. The lawns and alleys were crowded with
natives, officers and soldiers, listening to the evening music; this
over, I devoted the evening wandering from café to café, and wondering
if I were in France or Tahiti. Lights were gleaming from every little
auberge and cabaret of the town--the tables within covered with pipes
and bottles of red wine--soldiers were drinking and chanting favorite
songs of Beranger; and one inebriated sapper, meeting me in the road,
placed both hands on my shoulders, and roared out, with but an
indifferent appreciation of music:

     "J'ai connu Moreau--Victor--Argerau--
     Et Murat--Et Massen--a--a--
               Vash a fling a flong--tra a long, a long--!"

The streets were filled with groups of gaily-attired native girls, who,
with low, musically laughing voices, were chattering their soft, vowelly
dialect, unceasingly, interrupted occasionally by some gallant
Frenchman, who would perhaps give a stray damsel a chuck under the chin,
or a hasty clasp around the waist, and pass on, regardless of their
lively sallies. Then overgrown gend'armes would be perceptible in the
distance, by their white cotton aguillettes and clashing sabres, when
the nymphs would disappear like frightened partridges amid the adjacent
groves, and all were hushed in an instant, until the dreadful police had
passed by, when they would again emerge and occupy their former ground.
Then, too, the light yellowish tinge of plastered houses, so often seen
in France--the thatched cane huts of the natives--sentinels pacing the
ramparts--near by, a brass field-piece gazing up the road--and beneath
the spreading bread fruit, or under the stately trunk of a cocoanut, a
soldier in red breeches, resting on the shining barrel of his musket.
All this, with the profusion of tropical foliage, the grand scenery of
the island, and a thousand other novel scenes, so strangely contrasted
with _demi-bar-bare_ life, that I became quite bewildered, and was glad
to make the acquaintance of an agreeable French officer, who, with a
bottle of Bourdeaux, soon brought me to my senses.

I passed the night on shore, in the warehouse of an American merchant,
and should probably have slept well, in defiance of musquitoes, had not
a choice coterie of _sous-officers_, in an adjoining cabaret,
within-arm's length of my window, made vociferous music, by screaming
Republican airs until daylight, very much incited, no doubt, by
continual cries of _Encore du vin, mon cher_, and the usual ringing
accompaniment of bottles and glasses.

Rising betimes, I donned walking dress, and after breakfast, in company
with my friend Larry and an officer of the French Marine, who spoke the
Tahitian dialect perfectly well, we left Papeetee for an excursion up
the Broom Road towards Point Venus.

The rain had quenched the dust, and there was a grateful freshness
clinging around the lime and orange groves. The sun had not yet drank
the sparkling diamond-drops of dew trembling upon the guava thickets,
nor had the breeze shaken a leaf of the towering cocoanuts, nor vibrated
a single sphere of bread-fruit that hung like pendulums from amid the
glossy leaves. The air, too, was heavy with perfume of orange and
jessamine--and we went larking along the quiet road--kicking up our
heels and whooping joyously--pausing a moment to catch a gleaming view
of the slender peaks above us--the conspicuous Diadem of Faatoar--the
green savannahs sloping up the valleys, or the blue sea and reef as yet
undazzled by the rising sun.

We dallied frequently with young cocoanuts, and said _aroha_--love to
you--to any lithe _vahinees_ we encountered in our path. Once we tarried
for repose and beer at a French auberge, and then, without further
break to our voyage, we continued on along the curves of the reef-locked
shores for some miles, when a lane branched away to the left, and we
came to the new country house of Pomàrce at Papoa.

It stands on a narrow coralline embankment, within a bound of the
smooth, pebbly beach--surrounded by noble trees, and overhanging
clusters of the richest tropical foliage. The building is an oblong
oval, one hundred feet by thirty. Through the centre runs a range of
square, polished columns of light koa wood, eighteen feet high,
supporting a cross-sleeper the whole length of the roof: from this beam,
drooping down at an angle of about fifty degrees, were a great number of
white, glistening poles, radiating with perfect evenness and regularity
to within six feet of the ground, where they were notched and tied
securely with braids of variegated sennit to ridge-pieces fitted in
posts around the circuit of the building. The roof was thatched with the
long, dried, tapering leaves of pandannus, folded on slim wands, and
plaited in regular lines, down to the eaves, where, just within, fell a
few inches of plain fringed matting nicely stitched to the roof. Inside
this curtain, again, were the perpendicular sides of the dwelling,
constructed of the same white poles of hibiscus as those upholding the
roof, and all lashed by braid to cross sections between the
posts--leaving narrow spaces between each pole, and but two arches for
doorways on the side opposite the sea.

The house was quite new, and indeed hardly completed, but with the
breeze blowing through the open trellis-worked walls, and the great
lofty roof hanging lightly above, it presented the most airy, fanciful
structure conceivable, and was admirably adapted to the climate and
habits of the Islanders.

The floor was carpeted with dried grass and rushes, six inches deep;
mats were scattered around, groups of swarthy natives were lounging
listlessly on the grass, and bands of girls and women engaged weaving
mats, scraping cocoanut shells to transparent thinness, playing cards,
or sleeping on the laps of others.

The Queen was absent on a visit to the island of Aimeo. She was
described as a brave, temperate, fat old lady of about forty years, who
has never yet been able to overcome youthful prejudices against European
style of living--and although the French have built and furnished her a
pleasant residence in Papeetee, she is still happy to kick off
etiquette, with her shoes, and fly to native pleasures and kindred. She
was blessed with a large family, and six were being educated in Aimeo by
the English Mission, who with great liberality would voluntarily defray
the expenses of their education, as well as of the children of the high
chiefs; but the Governor very properly sets aside portions of their
pensions for that purpose, which is undoubtedly the best use the money
can be put to. As Pomàree detests the French, and cannot be persuaded to
assume, except for a moment, European manners and customs, she neither
assumes any of their virtues, but leads a rollicking, sportive life,
surrounded by gay troupes of frolicsome attendants--spending the
remainder of her five thousand dollar stipend in decking her dark-eyed
favorites with pretty dresses and trinkets.

Mr. Ellis has written an interesting poem, filled with virtuous
indignation in relation to the poor Queen's wrongs, and there is one
couplet which is unfortunately too true--

     "Who would believe that England would have left
     That _trusting_ Queen thus suffering and bereft?"

The fact is, the beautiful, princess Aimata that was, is now by her own
imprudence low in purse, and having acquired the habit of coquetting too
extensively with tradesmen and merchants of Papeetee, she finds
difficulty in getting trusted before her pension falls due. Still, with
all her foibles, she was universally acknowledged to be a woman of
strong sense and character, adored by her subjects, and respected by
foreigners.

After idling an hour with a few of the young ladies of the court, who
were making preparations for their sovereign's reception, we left the
Palace, and keeping along the shelly strand, passed through a sacred
grove of iron-wood, whose gauze-like branches waved over the tombs of
the ancient kings of Tahiti. There was naught to be seen, save heaps of
mouldering coral ruins--thence crossing a point of the reef, which
closed upon the beach, we reached one of many indentations of the
Island, Matavai bay, and shortly afterwards came upon a native
school-house. The building was large and dilapidated--the rush-laid
floor was occupied with forms for the scholars, who were seated about in
rows. Some of the girls had very pretty, attractive faces, and nearly
all of both sexes wore around the brow and hair, chaplets of braid
entwined with red and white flowers--orange or jessamine--having
tasteful tassels of fresh blossoms hanging down behind the ear. They
were not the most quiet school in the world, but applied to their tasks
with great spirit and quickness. The teacher was an odd fish in his
way--of the dwarf species--scarcely five feet in altitude--but from his
peculiar build, he looked to me growing larger and larger every instant.
The head was immense--hair white and cropped--the face expressed
firmness, benevolence and intelligence. His body and arms were those of
a giant, while the lower limbs tapered away to nothing, half shrouded in
blue tappa, and over all he wore a flowing, yellow shirt.

The roll was called, and I noticed a few urchins, who were tardy in
arriving, whimpering, from which I surmised they were at times indulged
with the bamboo. A hymn was sung in good time; and although the girls
had soft clear voices, there was little musical taste. In conclusion, an
extemporaneous prayer was made--all kneeling--by a venerable native, who
was afflicted, like many of his race, with _elephantiasis_. At the word
"Amen," the little pupils gave a joyous whoop, and leaped pell-mell
through the doorways.

Returning by the Broom Road, which is never beyond a few yards from the
sea, we paid a visit to another hencoop habitation, owning for its lord,
Arupeii, brother to the Queen's last husband, and his wife a cousin to
Pomàree herself. They were a fine-looking couple, and the chieftainess,
with her pretty baby, struck me as particularly handsome.

Dinner was preparing, and we passed the time pleasantly, lounging on
mats, and smoking pipes. The first preparation for the feast was made by
a plump girl, in an extremely brief petticoat, who ascended a tree above
our heads, and picked an armful of broad round leaves, which afterwards
were used for a tablecloth. They were carefully lapped one upon the
other in rows on the ground, and mats and low stools placed near them.
The girl, whom we christened Jack, from a peculiar roll in her gait,
assisted by two more attendants, ranged a close platoon of youthful
cocoanuts, with mouths open like lids, along the centre of the board; on
either side were laid transparent shell goblets--the dark filled with
sea-water and the light with fresh. Thus much for the table-service. Now
came in on a huge wooden platter a baked pig, his dear little trotters,
tail, and even to the extremity of his snout, crisped and browned most
invitingly. In a trice Jack twisted a brace of leaves around her
fingers, seized the tempting grunter, and hey! presto! no articulator of
anatomical celebrity, no, not even the professional carver mentioned by
Sir Walter, who dissected becaficos into such multitudes of morsels,
could have more cunningly divided the dish, giving each of the company
an equal share. Now came a stack of roasted bread-fruit. Jack, with
gloves of more fresh leaves on her hands, peeled, halved, tore out the
seeds, and tossed them from platter to table, with the dexterity of a
juggler at his tricks. Then there came piles of taro, and snow-white
yams; heaps of oranges, and golden pineapples, with bunches of bananas
in the offing.

We were six at table, seated, _à la Turque_, on mats. The servants first
handed shells of fresh water; and, by the way, every one knows who
invented steam-engines, playing-cards, and pin-making; yet in the
absence of positive information, I claim the finger-glass as of Tahitian
origin, and wish it to be generally understood. Then falling to, and
with a fragment of bread-fruit crushed within the hand, and a delicate
bit of crisped pig dipped in salt-water, by way of castors, we munched
and sucked our digits alternately, until the heavy edibles were well
nigh consumed; when laving again, dessert of fruits were distributed,
the goblets once more went round, we rinsed our throats with cocoanut
milk, and thus ended the feast. We had a _chasse_ of pipes and brandy;
but this last was purely an innovation on a native dinner.

Our comely hostess was treated with great deference and respect, none of
the attendants presuming to sit in her presence; indeed, we were
entertained by distinguished nobs of the true Tahitian nobility, and all
was _maitai_. Previous to the repast, we had dispatched a courier on
horseback to the Port for wine, and, before dark, he returned, with but
the breakage of a single bottle, and somewhat inebriated--so we judged
he had broken the vessel after tasting the contents; but the matter was
not satisfactorily proven; there was still abundance, and the cups
circulated freely.

The pretty chieftainess smiled, the baby took a sip and crowed like a
chicken. Arupeii facing me, cross-legged, laughed outright, and related
by signs, and a few words I could comprehend, many reminiscences of war
and battles--ships of war and their commanders, with unpronounceable
names--all of whom, I assured him, were my intimate friends and near
relations.

Later in the evening, we walked to a running stream hard by, and, with
the full moon above us, and while

               "Hesper, the star with amorous eye,
     Shot his fine sparkle from the deep blue sky,"

twinkling over the grotesque heights of Aimeo, the air laden with the
odor of orange and jessamine, we waded into the brook, and diverted
ourselves by plashing water upon a group of maids of honor who had
followed us.

Before we knew it, a heavy black cloud had stolen from the shade of the
high mountains, and we had barely time to snatch our garments from the
grass and scamper through the grove, before the rain was upon us: it
passed as quickly--the wine was exhausted--the chieftainess presented me
with a shell goblet, and bidding good night to our noble entertainers we
were escorted to the palace of Pomàree, where the chief in waiting had
large fine mats laid for couches, curtained by rolls of tappa, and with
the moonlight glancing on the foaming reef, visible through the
cage-built house, and the water rippling on the sandy shore, we betook
ourselves to rest. Our repose was shortly disturbed by a regiment of
juveniles who marched before the palace, chaunting, with great
vociferation, the Marseilles hymn, giving the word "battalion" in full
chorus; then, much to our astonishment, they struck up "Jim along,
Josey," and concluded the opera with "Dan Tucker," set to native words.
At this stage of the concert, our host, by request, made a few remarks,
and the performers vanished.

Fleas were excessively troublesome, and, during the night, to get rid of
the annoyance, we had several dips in the lagoon, which was an easy
matter, since the water was nearly at the foot of our couches. Once I
was on the point of shifting my bed of mats to the beach, under a clump
of cocoanuts, but our host would not hear of it--declaring it was _ita
maitai! ita maitai!_--impossible! not good! Indeed I afterwards found
the practice was never indulged in by the natives--for should one of
these heavy nuts--and they are very large--many containing a full quart
of milk, to say nothing of the weight of shell and husk--falling from an
elevation of nigh an hundred feet, chance to alight on the cocoanut of
the sleeper, it is reasonable to suppose it would damage his ideas or
slumber: besides, large rats ascend the trees, and sometimes detach the
fruit, while knawing into the tender nut: crabs, too, the sagacious
creatures, crawl up the trunks whose branches incline over the rocky
shores, cut the stem with their claws, and the concussion attending the
fall splits them wide open, or cracks them ready for eating. I never saw
them at these pranks, but have the information from reliable authority.
As the daylight guns from the Port of Papeetee came booming and echoing
among the mountains, we sprang to our feet, swallowed a cooling draught
of cocoanut milk, enjoyed another bathe in the stream, and then trudged
gaily back to town.

A few days later, we were visited by our hospitable friend, Arupeii! He
was shown every attention, and, at the usual hour, placed his heels
under the gun-room mahogany. He dispensed with forks, and ate
indiscriminately of viands, vegetables, and other dainties; occasionally
storing away bits of bread and ham in the flowing bosom of his shirt,
for, no doubt, a more convenient season. He never let a bottle pass him,
either of port, sherry, or malt, appreciating brandy most, and having a
fancy for drinking all from tumblers. With these little solecisms, he
got on famously, and, at the termination of the dinner, patted his
portly person and shouted _maitai_.

I do not know whether it be considered with the Tahitian aristocracy
complimentary to covet a neighbor's goods, but certainly my stout
chieftain was the most shameless beggar I ever remembered to have any
dealings with. He volunteered to accept hatbands, plugs of tobacco,
sealing wax, pistols, newspapers, anything and everything he saw, until,
at the end of the third glass of strong waters after dinner, he
requested, as a particular favor, the mess candlesticks, when, losing
all patience, I told him his boat was waiting, so he hitched up his
trousers, offered to rub noses, and with a present for his handsome wife
stowed in the capacious shirt, we shook hands, and away he paddled on
shore. This was the last we saw of Arupeii.

The frigate was always, Sundays excepted, surrounded by canoes filled
with the natives, and they must have made a golden harvest, to judge
from the immense quantities of fruits constantly coming over the
gangways--so great was the demand for cocoanuts, that they were rafted
off from the shore in strings, like water-casks. The canoes were
awkwardly hewn out of rough logs, with ill-arranged, misshapen
outriggers; quite unlike the buoyant, swift little water vehicles of the
Sandwich Islanders.

One day, attended by a tidy little reefer, we hired a clumsy, crazy
equipage, with a copper and indigo-colored monster in the stern to
paddle us about the reef and harbor. It was low water, and as our canoe
drew but an inch or two of water outside--she was half-full inside--we
were able to skim over the shallowest parts; and, by the by, there is a
strange anomaly in the tides of Papeetee, which are not in the least
influenced by the moon--there are many ways of accounting for it--I only
speak of the fact--we ever found a full sea at twelve, and low water at
six.

In many places, a few feet below the surface, we glided over what seemed
the most exquisite submarine flower-gardens, corals of all colors, and
of every imaginable shape--plant, sprig, and branching antlers--of
purple, blue, white, and yellow--variegated star and shell fish, and
narrow clear blue chasms and fissures of unfathomable depths between;
but what was equally beautiful to behold, schools of superbly-colored
fishes swimming and darting about in the high blue rollers as raising
their snowy crests just before breaking upon the outer wall of the reef,
the finny tribes were held in a transparent medium, like that seen
through a crystal vase.

A heavy shower interrupted our aquatic researches, and we sought shelter
on Pomàree's diminutive island of Motuuata. It hardly covers an acre,
but is a most charming retreat beneath the drooping foliage, and I did
not wonder at the jolly queen's taste. She never goes there now: the
_Franees_ were busy with pick and barrow on parapet and bastion;
blacksmiths and artizans were hammering away at the forges, and, beneath
the trees and sheds, soldiers and sailors were munching long rolls of
bread and drinking red wine. Who can wonder that the poor Queen has
forsaken her former haunts, when her cane-built villas are polluted by
foreign tread, and the weeping groves that sheltered her troops of
languishing revellers, the "cushions of whose palms" had clasped the
smooth trunks of all--where merriment, games, feast, and wassail went on
unceasingly, in all the native abandonment of island life and pleasure;
now to have those scenes so changed by red-breeched _Franees_--the
shelly shores tossed with stone and mortar into embankments for dreaded
cannon, and the grove resounding with stunning sound of hammer and
anvil. Alas! poor Pomàree! recall the bright days of your girlhood, and
curse the hour when you invited the stranger to your kingdom.

CHAPTER L.

Early one morning the Governor and myself left the ship at gunfire, for
a pic-nic among the mountains. We met with no more serious adventure in
our transit from the frigate to the beach, than the capsizing a barrel
of bread, by our stupid Italian valet, belonging to the baker's bumboat,
in which we had been kindly offered a passage to the shore. The loaves
went floating all about the harbor, and we were some minutes rescuing
the manna from Neptune's pocket. Without further mishap we went straight
to the domicile of an English gentleman, who had politely planned the
party. All was prepared, and we set off as the troops of the garrison
were filing into the parade ground for weekly review, and a very
creditable and soldierly appearance they presented.

We made quite a respectable battalion ourselves, so far as numerical
force went. In advance trotted a vigorous _taata_, with a couple of
large, native baskets slung by a pole over his shoulders, loaded with
bottles and provender; at his heels, our own unfortunate esquire,
Giacomo. The Governor, our English friend and myself, constituted the
main body, and the rear guard was composed of three laughter-loving
damsels--straight and tall--with an easy grace of motion, like willows.
One was housekeeper to our friend, and the most beautiful woman in face
and form we had seen in all the islands. Her figure was lithe and clear
as an antelope--hands and feet small, with arms that would have made
Canova start in his dreams. The face was full of sweetness and
expression--eyes soft, full and dark--the mouth and chin large and
rounded--with even, white teeth, and long, glossy-black tresses. Her
name was Teina, and it, had as pretty a sound as the euphonious _ita
ita_, the Tahitians pronounce so melodiously. The other maidens were
Teina's companions, who, having no engagements on hand, accompanied us
as volunteers, or light troops. We tramped blithely along the Broom
Road, whilst the delicious strains from the brass band went sailing up
hill and grove.

Between the radiating mountain-ridges of Tahiti, which diverge from the
longitudinal core of the summit, there are many frightful
precipices--awful splits in the bosom of the earth--narrow, gloomy and
deep, that hang frowningly over the sombre, turbulent torrents of waters
that spring from the misty faces of the upper heights. Our route led up
one of them. Turning up a broad valley, we followed the course of a
rapid stream, crossing and re-crossing where rocks of the adjacent
heights became too precipitous to admit a pathway; and to save time and
unnecessary trouble, we were either ferried over on the shoulders of our
_taata_ convoy, breasting the foaming surge, or once or twice I was
mounted on one of the native damsels--Miss Toanni--who kindly offered
her services. I blush for my want of gallantry, but trust it was in a
measure redeemed by holding her drapery from the water during the
several wadings. She wore for head-dress a broad straw hat with
fluttering ribbons--a figured gingham sac, plaited and buttoned to the
throat, fell loosely over a white under-tunic--and demi-pantaletts
reached below the knees, where the costume terminated by open-worked,
indigo stockings, that would bear washing--while her fingers were
covered with indelible blue rings, of the same material as the hose.

There is very little tatooing among the Tahitians--a few leggings--blue
devices about the neck--rings on fingers or toes, but never a mark on
the face. As civilization advances, they acquire a distaste for these
heathenish skin-paintings. However, I must not lose sight of Toanni. She
had a firm, well-knit frame--wide mouth, fine, brilliant teeth, intended
for service--such as cracking flinty ship-biscuits, or wrenching husks
from cocoanuts--large, mirthsome, dark eyes, with but one flaw to their
beauty, which she enjoyed alike with all the Pacific Islanders--the
whites of the eyes were yellow! Such was Toanni.

Occasionally, when resting within the close shade of the valley, if the
bright eyes of the girls detected the sunny bulbs of _papao_ gleaming
through the surrounding foliage, off they sprang for the fruit, or
climbed the _vai_ for apples, or pretty flowers clustering about the
lower branches, which were soon turned into wreaths or necklaces.

Advancing inland, the lateral valleys converged into one deep gorge,
closing perpendicularly on either hand; and further on, the stream
itself was cut off by a bold, transverse acclivity between the two
sides, like a wall of masonry, more than half way up the lofty shafts
that framed the gorge. From this shelf, more than a thousand feet above
us, there came leaping a thin thread of water--but long before reaching
the base of the grassy barrier, it was diffused in showers of spray, and
poured its sparkling tribute into the deep chasms of the valley.

Leaving the lower bed of the stream, we began mounting upward by a
zig-zag pathway, cut lately by the French on the flat, sheer face of the
mountain. It was at this point, where at an immense height above, the
Tahitians had poised vast masses of rocks, with levers ready pointed, to
hurl death and destruction on the adventurous soldiers who should dare
to attack their stronghold. The natives were posted at the head of the
pass, upon an acclivity, with no other approach from below than a
crumbling goat-path, where the road now leads. They were well provided
with arms and ammunition, cartridges charged at both ends, to prevent
mistakes, and kindly furnished, it is said, by foreign ships of war in
port at the time. Indeed, the French during the last year of the war,
were harrassed night and day. Alarm-fires were blazing on every hill,
feints were made upon the town, and the neighboring posts, until the
troops became worn out, and more than half ill in hospital. Nor were the
French so successful in their different engagements as the superior arms
and discipline of trained soldiers would imply; for in one affair at
Ta-a-a-a, they had fifty slain.

Thus the Tahitians, believing themselves invincible, after a thirteen
month's siege, were at last dislodged through the connivance of a
traitor, who guided their enemies up a narrow ravine, when, after
surmounting almost inaccessible precipices, by the aid of
scaling-ladders and ropes, they succeeded in attaining a foothold on a
sharp spur of the peaks above the pass, and then rushing down completely
surprised and captured the native camp. To the humanity of the French be
it said, every soul was spared. This was the last struggle: tired of
subsisting on roots and berries, enveloped in mists and rain, the
natives sighing once more for their smiling homes by the sea-side,
surrendered in December, 1846.

In the great losses sustained by the French in this warfare, it struck
us very forcibly that there must have been great ignorance and
inexperience in the knowledge of what we call bush-fighting. The
Tahitians do not compare with the North American Indian in either
courage, hardihood, or sagacity; and without any disparagement to French
valor or gallantry, in our innocence we sincerely believed that two
hundred of our back-woods men would have hunted every copper-colored
warrior into the ocean.

After a toilsome struggle we gained the lateral ridge that joined the
two acclivities, and entered an artificial aperture, cut through the
rocks, which was the portal to the native fortress.

The well-defined diadem of Fatoar rose in clear relief against the blue
sky above our heads, and looking around we were in the midst of a
multitude of gullies and ravines, with the bed of the same rivulet we
had left below rolling rapidly at our feet towards its fearful plunge in
a gap of the precipice. A number of wicker-basket osier-built huts for
soldiers were perched about the elevations; the vegetation was rich and
beautiful, wherever a foot of soil gave nourishment; and there were
little gardens, too, with many kinds of vegetables, irrigated by narrow
aqueducts, formed by gutters of canes or bamboos, and fed from adjacent
springs.

The scenery was quite Swiss, could we change tropical suns, running
streams, and unceasing verdure into frosts, glaciers, and avalanches.
But yet it was a romantic solitude, despite the remark of the French
officer in command, who assured me, with a most expressive gesture, that
it was _terriblement mauvais_.

We continued our walk some distance beyond the fort, and coming to a
shaded, smooth tier of rocks, where the stream was bubbling noisily
along, with little sleeping pools half hidden amid the crags, and
opposite a pointed slender peak like a fishing-rod--well nigh punching a
hole in the blue expanse of heaven--we spread our rural banquet on the
rocky table, plunged the bottles in the icy water, and then reclined
luxuriously around, with full resolve to do justice to the feast,
incited by our long tramp and fast.

     "Flow of wine, and flight of cork,
     Stroke of knife, and thrust of fork;
     But, where'er the board was spread,
     Grace, I ween, was never said."

Wings of chickens, slices of ham, roasted bananas, huge loaves of bread,
preserved fish, and cups of wine disappeared with marvellous rapidity.
We did all rational beings could be expected to perform under the
circumstances, but at last were obliged to cry _peccavi!_ Not so our
lady guests--the war of maids and viands had only begun; my friend,
Toanni, thought a trifle of taking five or six of these oily little
sardines at a mouthful, pushing them down with half a banana, and
violent thrust of bread. She devoured ham and fowls with great apparent
relish, wagging her lower jaw, to detach any stray masses of
unmasticated matter that chanced to have escaped the ivory hopper, and
fallen between her capacious cheeks; every few seconds giving her round
fingers a sharp suck, like popping a cork. Truely Toanni's head room was
enormous. Once or twice, when thinking her rage entirely appeased, she
relapsed again, and performed prodigies with rashers of baked pig. I
believe it was Voltaire who designated the illustrious Shakspeare as a
"sublime barbarian;" could he have seen these island maidens, he
certainly would have awarded the palm to Toanni; and I'll wager a flask
of bordeaux--a peculiar weakness of mine--that these Tahitian belles can
eat more, laugh longer, talk faster, all at once or separately, than any
others of their adorable sex the wide world over. I speak advisedly,
and am prepared by documentary evidence to prove it.

Rescuing a small cruse of cogniac from the melée, I reclined upon a
rocky bed, with my heels in the water, for a doze, induced by the
soothing fumes of a pipe! But, alas! hardly were my eyes closed, before
I was startled by the cries of our frolicksome light-hearted companions,
who with a lizard-like facility of grasp, were running up the
perpendicular surface of the peak, clinging and climbing by fibres and
roots, that crept and laced themselves about the crevices of the rocks.
Plucking a quantity of bright flowers, the girls bounded into the
stream, and then commenced weaving never-ending wreaths and chaplets.
This universal fondness for these spontaneous jewels of the earth, with
their love for bathing, are the most innocent and beautiful natural
tastes possessed by the savages of Polynesia.

We were three hours getting back to Papeetee, only pausing for a last
cooling swim in the lower stream.

The evening previous to our departure from Tahiti we attended the usual
soirée of the French Governor. Important despatches had just been
received from France, and the saloons were filled at an early hour with
officers of the ships and garrison, consuls, and merchants, with a
number of foreign ladies, all in _grand tenu_. It was a pleasant gay
little court, with écarté tables and conversation, vivacious punch
handed round at intervals, and maybe a little flirting and love-making,
with "music to fill up the pauses," from the regimental orchestras
stationed near the verandas, while the lawns and grounds were crowded by
laughing groups of natives, talking scandal, perhaps, of the
_oui-oui's_.

The next morning, before day had dawned, our frigate was crowded with
canvas, and assisted by a flotilla of boats from the French squadron, we
were quietly towed outside the coral reef, then taking the trade on the
quarter, we went off with a spanking breeze towards Aimeo.

CHAPTER LI.

With easterly winds we sailed away to the southward. In a fortnight the
sky became dull and gloomy--the rain fell, chill and cold--we tumbled
from our warm beds with a shock into the cold air, for we had been a
long time beneath the clear skies and warm suns of the tropics, and
rather magnified our hardships, in a thermometrical sense.

Still we were bound once more to the realms of civilization, which was
in itself consoling--we buttoned our jackets--declared it was fine
dumb-bell weather, and exercised those implements constantly. Doctor
Faustus, too, lighted his jovial lamp when the night closed around us,
and we blew the steam from a tumbler of _italia_ punch with much
thankfulness and gusto; and those of us who had watches, forthwith bent
our steps to the upper regions.

One cold November night, in a hard squall, whilst the topmen were
furling the lofty sails, two men were hurled from the main-top-gallant
yard, and falling through the lubber's hole of the top, were caught at
the junction of the futtock shrouds. One escaped with severe injuries,
but his unfortunate companion died in thirty minutes. He was a handsome,
active, young fellow, who made my acquaintance during the blockade of
Mazatlan, in old Jack's oyster-boat.

In speaking of the accident, the day after, to an old Swedish
quarter-gunner, called Borlan--"Vy, sir," said he, pulling aside his
huge whiskers and disclosing a broad, jagged seam, the whole length of
the face--"Vy, sir, see here! I vonce toombled vrom a brig's
mast-head--top-gallant yard and all--lying to in a gale of vind. Vell,
sir, I broke mine jaws and leg, but managed to get alongside again, and
was hauled on bort. Vell, sir--vat you dink?--the gott tarn skipper
vanted to lick me for not bringing der yard too!"

After making a latitude of 47° South, the East winds departed, and
taking a gale from the opposite direction, we flew before it for eleven
days at ten miles the hour towards the Chilian coast. Oh! what a
"melancholy main" is this wide expanse of the Pacific! There is, may be,
in the feeling of being near continents or islands in less illimitable
seas, something a little pleasurable; but to be pursuing the same
wearisome, liquid track, for weeks and weeks, with nothing to relieve
the monotony of sky and water, is desolate, indeed!

In the long night-watches, when strong gusts of hail or rain were
whistling by our ears--the top-sails reefed down, though quivering and
struggling, like great birds with cramped pinions, to burst from the
stout cordage and fly away in flakes of snow--the gallant ship would,
like a mettled charger feeling the whip and spur, at times run lightly
and swiftly on the back of a mighty wave, almost as silently, too, as if
gliding on a lake--when, the instant after, heeling from side to side,
she would dash down impetuously amid the tumult of waters, cleaving a
wide road before her!

Mutter your last _avé_, Jack! if you leave the strong ship in nights
like these! Think of the keen-sighted albatross that will pick your eyes
out next morning, if the keener-scented shark has not already rasped
and grated your bones into white splinters within his merciless jaws!
Keep close under shelter of the solid bulwarks, Jack! Cling to your
life-lines! Feel a rope twice aloft before you swing your full weight
upon it! but hold on, Jack! Hold on!

Think of it, ye rich traders, when your big ships come gallantly into
port. Think of the hands that have strained and grasped upon those lofty
spars that now so motionless lift their taper heads, like needle-points,
to the sky. Think of the cold sleet and chilling rain--but above all,
think of poor Jack--take pity on his faults, and extend the helping hand
in his distress.

There was my old marine oracle, Harry Greenfield, muffled in his
pea-coat, braced firmly against the fife-rail, over the wheel, every now
and then slowly twisting his rosy face around the stern, taking a glance
through half-closed eyelids at the angry scud flying overhead, or during
a rapid succession of heavy lurches, when the high masts appeared to
describe three-fourths of a circle against the gloomy sky, he would
pleasantly hint to the briny forecastle-man who grasped the steering
spokes, or the old quartermaster at the compass, "Steady, old Tom
Scofield! Not so much, boys! Touch her lightly, Charley! don't you see
she's flying off?"--and again relapse within the folds of his
pea-jacket.

"Well, old gentleman, what are you pondering on?" "Why, Mr. Blank, I'm
thinking how pleasant it must be to have a menagerie on board ship in a
breeze like this; in case the animals should break loose, the tigers,
bears, hyenas, and the elephant, and the monkeys flying around the decks
in heaps, yelling, howling, and fighting together! Ah! it must be a fine
sight on a dark night, with a lantern up the main rigging. I never
sailed with any of them chaps, 'cept once--he was a royal Bengal
tiger--ah! I made a good bit of money out of him--he had a difficulty
with the cook--." Here the old salt went into a series of chuckles, and
I was forced to beg him to proceed. Emptying his mouth of the grateful
weed, and wringing the sleet from his weather-beaten beard, he
continued: "You remember Jim Hughes, Mr. Blank, the captain of the old
ship's foretop." I nodded. "Well, I fell in with Jim one day in
Greenock; he was just from Orleans, with a pouch full of cash, for he
had been there in the height of the cholera season, and bagged twenty
dollars a day for driving the dead cart." Here old Harry chuckled again.
"Well, sir, Jim was Scotch, and among his people, and very decent they
were; they treated me all the same for being his shipmate. Well, after a
time a brig was ready for sea; Jim was taken as second mate, and me as
bo'sun. We were bound to Calcutta; off Java Head the first mate kicked
the bucket, was tossed overboard, Jim was promoted, for he had larnin',
and I stepped into his shoes." Another chuckle. "We staid in Calcutta
five months, taking in rice, cotton, indigo, and other products of them
countries, when, just before sailing, there came on board the tiger, a
present for the King of England! A noble beast he was: a big strong iron
front cage was built for him abaft the mainmast, and he never once
stopped licking his white tusks, gaping, walking, and lashing his rope
of a tail, for weeks and weeks after leaving the river. We all began to
take a fancy to him, and I believe he did for us, 'cept the cook, who
was a Nubian nigger, and black all the way down his throat. I never see
such an intense darkey! His royal tigership never could bear the sight
of him, probably because he had been trepanned by some of the nigger
race; and whenever 'Lamp Black,' that was his name, came near, his eyes
kindled like live coals, and he growled from the bottom of his belly.
We often cautioned cookey to be careful, and so he was. Well, we touched
at Saint Helena, and right glad old Bengal was, no doubt, for we had got
short of chickens--the only delicacies he seemed to relish--and he
couldn't be coaxed to touch salt junk. A few days after, the Nubian was
handing him his breakfast, with the galley tormentors, a pair of tongs
like, through the small trap door on top of the cage, and, like a fool,
he just took one little peep, to see how tenderly the tiger could suck
the last drop of blood from a chicken's body, when, by one rapid blow of
his paw, he sunk his sinewy claws into the darkey's neck, tore the head
from the trunk, and in a second was crunching the reeking mass between
his grinders. He scoffed bones, wool, and flesh, and there lay the
remains of poor 'Lamp Black' quivering on the rod decks. After this
little difficulty, he became quite civil and civilized, and never caused
us more trouble. By and by, we arrived in London docks, and as they were
a good while preparing a birth for him in the Zoological gardens, Jim
and me exhibited him from a ha'penny to half-a-crown, to men, women, and
children. So you see, sir, we made nigh forty pounds a piece, and had a
capital spree, I tell ye." Old Harry nearly choked, and did not
thoroughly recover until his throat had been cleared with a glass of
grog.

Thirty-six days from Tahiti, and we arrived in Valparaiso. Remaining in
port nearly a month, the anchor was again weighed, and our prow again
turned seaward. Passing the Point of Angels, the burnished keel bravely
ploughed the open ocean, the blue waves following in snowy crests, and,
in a few minutes, shores, town and hills had faded from sight.

CHAPTER LII.

The 28th of January, 1849, found us on the Peruvian coast, abreast the
Island of San Lorenzo, a mountain of sand, where not a blade of grass
can vegetate; and rounding Galera Cape, we were shortly moored in the
port of Callao.

The bay is a wide, sweeping indentation, with Lorenzo, Fronton, and a
narrow spit of land jutting from the main, serving to keep the harbor
smooth from prevailing southerly winds. To the north, the spurs of the
Andes approach layer upon layer to the brink of the coast, while nearer
the land trends away, towards the interior, nearly plain-like--green,
fertile, and pleasant to gaze upon--with the clustering towers, and
spires of Lima abutting on the distant hills.

There is no difference of opinion about Callao: for it is a filthy,
bustling little port, reeking in garlic and drunken mariners, alive with
fleas, miserable, dirty soldiers, and their yet more slovenly wives.

The place is thriving, for steam frequents it; and on the curving quay
are piled mountains of English coals, enormous heaps of wheat, great
stacks of _pisco_, and _italia_ jars, where Haserac, the celebrated
captain, might have concealed an army of thieves with impunity.
Merchandise moves backwards and forwards on railway trucks, and lazy
villains in pale yellow jackets, with iron chains and anklets attached
to the legs, are at work after a fashion of their own.

The houses of the port are mean and irregular, built anywhere and any
how, either of adobies, boards, and on the outskirts, pleasant cottage
residences, built of bullocks' hides and poles. Streets and lanes run
hither and thither, and glaring English signs stare you in the face,
such as the "Jibboom House," "The Lively Pig," "Jackknife Corner," and
"House of Blazes." Along the beach are ranges of wicker, reed, and
mat-made sheds for bathing, which are thronged during the season. But
the most prominent features of Callao that attract the eye, are the
round, flat turrets of the Castle, flanked on either side by long lines
of curtains, bastions, embrasures, and batteries. It covers a great
space, enclosing within its thick and massive case-mated walls, ranges
of barracks--now happily converted into warehouses for the
customs--magazines, and a large square, with a fountain in the centre.
The fortification, from the nature of its position, is somewhat
irregular, constructed partly on a ridge of sand, leading towards the
southern arm of the bay, where in former times was the site of old
Callao, before its destruction by the memorable earthquake of 1746.

There is a wide, deep moat, like to the bed of a river, encircling the
fortress, with narrow channels cut on either side to the sea. This is
now dry and partially filled in nearest the town. The redoubts and
detached outworks are also in ruins, but yet enough remains to make us
reflect, that what the old Spanish engineers left incomplete in this
work would hardly be worth attempting in our day.

It was here where the last stand of the Royalists was made in New
Spain--where the bloodiest foot-prints were left since the days of the
Incas and Pizarro--and it was in this same castle, where the brave
Rodil, with a handful of devoted followers, clung to the soil of their
royal master with a tenacity and determination amounting to
heroism--where horse meat sold for a gold ounce the pound, and a chicken
for its weight in the same precious metal: when, hemmed in on all sides,
by sea and land--surrounded but not dismayed--they still kept their
assailants at bay, until gaunt famine stalked before them, and they were
forced to furl the well-worn colors of their King![7] A score of Rodils,
and another century might have intervened before South American patriots
could have wrested the continent from the old Spaniards.

If tired of contemplating these bloody reminiscences--or bathing under
the sheds and awnings, where all resemble, in their saturated black
frocks and trowsers, watery nuns; or if your temper is destroyed by the
fleas, you can fly to the harbor, where are sturdy merchantmen reeking
in guano, smoking steamers, and heavy ships of war--and thick fogs at
night--or, what is more diverting, you may watch the motions of swarms
of gulls that frequent the Port. Our good surgeon, who professed to be
an ornithologist, called them platoon birds. They fly in regular
battalions and divisions, in strict military apportionments--led and
apparently commanded by their chieftains. The reviews generally began
with fishing. At some understood, feathery signal, while sailing over
the bay, they wheel like a flash, and strike the water simultaneously
like a shower of bullets, and not with the eyes of Argus is it possible
to detect the smallest irregularity in movement, nor a stray winged
soldier out of the ranks.

However, all these amusements are, at best, dull recreation, and it is
a great relief to get quit of Callao. Omnibii encumber the uttermost
ends of the earth--so we go to the office, when the smiling
administrador behind a railing exclaims, "_Ah! Capitan!_ you want
_ascientos_! Ah! you give me one Spanish dollar--ah! _buéno!_" "Any
thieves?" we timidly ask. "_Ah, si_, yes; but you give him gold
ounce--no kill you, ah!" "Charming fellows, certainly; but suppose we
give him an ounce of some other metal!" _Ah! cuidado amigo!_--have a
care, my friend!

With five horses ahead, crack! crack! goes the thong of the negro
Jehu--over the paved street, into the dusty road, where the plunging
steeds are brought up floundering, tugging and straining the heavy
vehicle axle, through the finely powdered soil--now firmly stalled, we
get out per force, curse the roads, and threaten to whip the
driver--then we come on harder ground, until imperceptibly there comes a
rocky strata--loose stones, remains of adobie walls and ditches--but all
equally execrable: then, for a mile or more, fine trees bend their
towering arms over the road, and shortly after, we rattle through a huge
gateway--have travelled eight miles, and we are in the city of
kings--Lima! "See it and die," said the old land pirates of the days of
its founder, Pizarro, and their descendants. Whatever it may have been
two centuries ago, in these days it requires no very strong effort of
will to survive the sight.

The city is compact and populous, the buildings are very low, and quite
resemble the old Moriscan towns along the northern shores of Africa,
with close overhanging _jalousies_ and balconies, finely railed and
latticed. The streets are wide and straight, paved with small
pebbles--dreadfully torturing to the pedestrian--the side-walks beneath
the portals or arcades of the plazas, and in the gateways and patios of
dwellings are figured in coarse mosaic, formed by the white
knuckle-bones of sheep and pebbles. Handsome shops fringe the
fashionable avenues, glittering with costly fabrics and toys; then again
packed side by side, in nooks, alcoves, and niches, are small merchants,
who from their numbers, one would suppose to be all sellers and no
buyers.

The little river Rimac flows noisily through the city, fed from far away
by the silvered pinnacles of snows and ice in the lofty Andes. It is
spanned by a substantial and lofty bridge, whose every stone has been
loosened by the earthquake. Lima might be made one of the cleanest
cities in the world; for through all the main arteries runs a narrow
rivulet diverted from the Rimac. Nevertheless, it is excessively filthy,
and the _gallianzos_, or vultures, tame, and pampered by a profusion of
nastiness and offal, take their morning's meal in the streets and
squares, and afterwards hobble to the house-tops, where, with blood-red
eyes, and gorged bodies, they calmly endure repletion.

The most striking features upon approaching the city are the vast
clusters of domes, towers, and spires, that arise in such thick
profusion from the convents and churches, as to favor the belief that
every house has something of the kind attached thereto. From the
neighboring valley of Almencaes I have counted sixty. In the distance
they present a solid, imposing aspect, but on a nearer view, they will
generally be found mere paper structures of reeds and plaster. Many of
the grand edifices, the cathedral, convents, and parochial churches, are
partly of bricks, stone, or the most enormous adobies, up to the
belfreys, but above, all are similar to the pasteboard decorations of
the theatre; and although it seems reasonable to suppose they would
topple down at the first summons of the _tremblor_, yet it is the only
style of lofty work that will bear the frequent shocks, totter like a
tree, and still stand erect. Externally these buildings are elaborately
carved, painted, and imaged, without any consistent order of
architecture; and within they are profusely decorated with rich
gildings, paintings, and statues; all, however, destitute of taste; and
only when brilliantly illuminated, with the myriads of silken
parti-colored streamers pendant and fluttering from the lofty aisles,
swinging censers, organs pealing, with all the pomp and imposing
ceremony of the Catholic church, is the effect worthy of admiration.

The best position for viewing Lima--Asmodeus-like--is from the high
tower of San Domingo, that is, if, after mounting above the bells, you
can reconcile the flimsy quaking fabric you stand upon to any extreme
ideas of personal safety. The devil on this pair of sticks could not
have chosen a more eligible spot for inspecting the arcana of people's
dwellings. The city is spread like a map at your feet; composed of long
lines of crumbling walls, miles of flat roofs, and little patios, the
former loosely tiled, and sprinkled over with dirt, where even dead
cats, and tattered rags quietly repose for ages. There is not in the
universe to be seen such a large area of mud walls, reed, and rush-built
houses, all appearing so unfinished and incomplete. But in a climate
where it never rains, where it never blows, where even the thick
coatings of dust are hardly absorbed by the _dry rain_ of winter fogs,
it is not surprising that all these masses of reeds and plaster are
preserved for centuries without perceptible decay. Still there can be no
scepticism on one point, that if ever there chance to fall a heavy
tropical shower, the city of Pizarro will be swept, a heap of mud and
sticks, into the ocean.

Allowing the eyes to wander around and beyond the city, the discolored
Rimac is seen hurrying from the melting bosom of its Alpine mother down
between the distant hills, diffusing its fertilizing freshness over the
sloping valley--the margins encircled by verdant fields of cane, like
bright patches of emeralds, and the banks fringed by weeping willows,
that dip their bending branches to kiss the rapid torrent. On it comes,
over the stony bed, dashing its strength in fierce anger against the
arches of the sturdy bridge, and then glancing by the flowering meads
and slopes of Almencaes, flies rapidly to the placid waves of the
Pacific.

FOOTNOTE:

[7] In February, 1826.

CHAPTER LIII.

Lima is fast losing its singular originality, although there is still
much to be seen, which, in these days of universal journeyings, has the
merit of being extremely novel.

There are interminable strings of mules and donkeys constantly passing
and repassing to the bubbling fountains of plazas or churches, each with
twin reservoirs of water-barrels balanced on the brute's shoulders;
others with huge milk jugs, baker's boxes of hides, and the drivers in
the midst. Again, matronly dames jog along astride their cattle,
commonly nursing infants; then gilded _volantes_ and _berlinas_ whirl
by, occupied by _damas_ in full dress, looking as if entombed within
crystal shades; then priests in "cope and stole" in processions--white
and black gowned ones--tottering bishops in lawn and mitre, and very
shaky on their swollen ancles, with beads vibrating like uneasy
pendulums; others in stove-pipe hats, sleek, fat, and slovenly--or meek
friars--not of eggs and bacon, from their meagre, famished
appearance--lank and dirty, with robes of coarse serge and girdles of
ropes--all darkening the side walks, with flickering torch and taper
flaring in the mid-day sun, and solemn chaunt, as they move unceasingly
towards church or convent.

Then, again, stupid, stunted native Indians strut along with bow legs
and parrot step; beside them, stout negresses, zambos, and cholos, with
brief frocks, and the most gossamer of flesh-colored silk stockings
encasing their ebony shins; there are _portales_ thronged with shops and
stalls--artizans in gold and silver embroidery carrying on their
avocations, regardless of noise and bustle. Equestrians, too, are
caracolling through streets and squares, clothed in bright ponchos, and
their small, spirited steeds decked in shining trappings, with heavy
Gothic-shaped spurs, half the weight of the riders.

It is a curious scene to contemplate all this motley crowd, as the first
sweet tone of the great bell of the cathedral--and the sweetest sound
from brass and silver ever heard--gives forth its prolonged and
melancholy cadence for _oracion_. As if touched by the wand of a
magician, the busy hum of life is hushed--mules and donkeys halt of
their own accord, and with drooping ears and bended necks, appear
absorbed in prayer. The man who is yelling _Fresquita_! with all his
might, stops miraculously short at the half-uttered word in the highest
note--venders and the disciples of Abraham cease barter--horsemen draw
bridle--these gay _berlinas_ pause, and their fair inmates with jewelled
fingers tell their beads, and rosy lips arrest the dimpling
smiles--lovers silence the soft whispers to blushing _amantes_--the
whirr of loom and spindle weaving the golden threads is checked--hats
and heads are borne low, and every vestige of animation is
suspended--all is beautifully impressive. A minute! The _avé_ is
uttered--the heavy bell sounds twice--thrice--then the deafening and
rejoicing peals ring from towers far and near. Crack! falls the cruel
lash on the devout donkey's hide--_arré!_ shouts the arrieros--_quita!_
screams the dulce-man--_Tres pesos el menor!_ wheedles the Jew--off
glide the gilded vehicles--away gallop capering barbs--the artisans
resume the mazy windings of the reel or shuttle--the lover and his
mistress again become smiling and pathetic--and again goes on the roar
and turmoil of a populous town.

On the right bank of the Rimac are two promenades, neither particularly
well shaded, but the Alemeda nearest the river is most frequented and
pleasant.

During feast days, or after the Sunday bull-fights in the arena near at
hand, it is customary for the élite of Lima to appear in full dress,
enshrined within the glass panels of their pretty _berlinas_, and take a
stand along the drive, beneath the drooping willows. Nor is it
considered indecorous, if you have friends or acquaintances among those
lovely dames, to doff your castor and touch the tips of their ungloved,
rosy fingers, and may be, hear the number of their _palco_ at the
evening opera--or, where the _tertulia_ is given, and what a charming
bouquet it was you sent--and other agreeable pleasantries. Have a care,
my gringo! button your coat tight, or you may lose your heart!

On these occasions, also, the stone benches on either side the promenade
are thronged with _sayas y mantas_--the most bewitching satin envelope
that ever woman, be she youthful or aged, was ever wrapped in. There is
no resisting the large, brilliant, languishing eye--laughing with all
its might--nor the round, white arm, that so pertinaciously keeps the
jealous folds of the _manta_ over the face. Exhaust the whole Castilian
vocabulary of compliments--and it is copious--beseeching and imploring
to be vouchsafed one little word! _Ah Señorita! haceme el favor de una
palabrita!_--do speak one little word. But no! never a syllable from the
silent veil, while the roguish eye twinkles and laughs like a planet!
They may know you--but the sharpest dueña that ever cheated or was
bribed by a lover could not detect her charge within these
closely-fitting dominoes--nor husband the wife, nor mother her
daughter--they are alike enshrouded in the same graceful but
impenetrable black masque. They are so cunning and coquettish, too!
Fancy you discover one. Strive to awaken her jealousy, or pique her
vanity by encomiums or scandal upon a sister or cousin--ten to one it
comes back to you in protean shapes from the one you least dreamed of.
Yet I cannot but think the institution was originally invented by ugly
women; and it appears, many of the fairest portions are of the same
opinion, being generally quite willing to exhibit their charms of face
as nature intended. Except on feast days, or in carnival, the dress is
now rarely worn; but in former years no woman appeared in street or mass
without the _saya y manta_. In those days, intrigue was so rife that a
prudent young bachelor was forced to keep a strict watch upon his
morals, or have his heart forcibly abducted by these warm-blooded
Liméneans--those were the times to hold wicked husbands in
consternation, and set watchful dueñas at defiance! For a wonder, French
taste and dress are rapidly reforming all.

Some distance up the Rimac, near the Alemeda, is to be found the
pleasantest place for bathing. Water is turned by narrow canals, and
pours through a long range of enclosed and covered tanks, nicely
cemented and tiled, sufficiently large for swimming. They are not very
private places at all hours of the day, but one's delicacy is seldom
shocked, for the swimmers are the politest people possible: as an
instance, whilst bathing one morning, two youths accidentally intruded
on my quarters, but recovering their equanimity, very civilly removed
their head-gear and made a polite bow to me, while in the water!

Drives there are none at all pleasurable for any extent around the
city; nor are the rides more so. The environs, in all directions, are
intersected by heavy and high mud walls, shutting out air and vision,
leaving only heat and stifling clouds of dust to repay one's trouble.

Lima itself should not be too narrowly criticised from the streets;
although without, naught is beheld save dingy, adobie walls, dusty
cobwebbed lattices and balconies, half decayed, yet once pass the wide
and lofty portals, and many of the best houses have noble suites of
apartments, furnished with great taste and even splendor; besides, that
which gives, in a certain degree, an air of elegance, is the elaborate
mazes of glass doors, gaily papered or frescoed walls, and a profusion
of gilding. Light is usually thrown from the roof, and the houses are
cool and properly ventilated.

After a few _tertulias_, and a pretty ball given by the American Chargé,
we had no other opportunities of mingling in Liménean society. There
were quite a number of pretty women, with very fair complexions and
winning manners, who danced like sylphs, as what Creole does not? Two
youthful Señoritas, of some sixteen and seventeen years, were pointed
out as little lumps of gold, of "purest ray serene," who were _fiancée_
to their uncles, fine old gentlemen of sixty! It was suggestive of a
post-chaise and bandboxes to any successful aspirant to the ownership of
a lovely pair of eyes. However, these out of the way alliances are quite
common in Lima, and perhaps the fair ones, at a later era, begin to
discover they have hearts of their own not to be sold to the highest
bidder, like bills of exchange at the mart! Very few of these deluded
damsels, it may be reasonably presumed, when fully aware of their
tender wrongs, can exclaim, in the words of the Spanish lady's ballad:

     "I will not falsify my vows for gold nor gain,
     Nor yet for all the _fondest swains_ that ever lived in Spain."

CHAPTER LIV.

The public edifices of Lima, which are so closely connected with the
History of the Conquest, and the bloody revolutionary struggles of Peru,
have no other attributes, either in architectural beauty or position to
recommend them.

The Cathedral occupies nearly one side of the grand plaza; the exterior
is painfully decorated, without taste or system; within is a solid
silver altar, paintings of archbishops, and their earthly remains also,
mummified in leather, and reposing in open coffins.

The Viceroy's Palace fills the northern face of the square--a low,
irregular collection of buildings--the lower parts, fronting the plaza
and streets, occupied by small shopmen, similar to the hosts of tinkers,
fringemen, hatters, and cooks beneath the opposite ranges of the
_portales_. Opening into the inner courtyard are the public offices and
the private residence of the President, General Castilla. He was a
soldier of fortune, had risen from the ranks, and passed through many
vicissitudes of life before being chosen the supreme governor of Peru;
not more surprising probably even to himself, than the extraordinary
anomaly, that he has held his position the four years since the
election, without a revolution having arisen to disturb his
tranquillity. This security he owed, in a measure, to his individual
bravery and soldiership displayed in times past, and the belief
generally entertained by dissatisfied persons of his upright character,
and his indifference to execute summary vengeance on whomsoever should
incur his displeasure, by again involving the country in the turmoils of
civil discord.

The General and staff visited our frigate at Callao, and were received
with manned yards and the usual artillery. In person he was about the
middle stature, with a frank, bronzed face, and agreeable address.

Many curious objects are pointed out within, or in the vicinity of the
palace, rich in reminiscences of the Pizarros, and the tragic drama
connected with the life and death of the Conqueror--the room wherein he
was assassinated, and the balcony from whence he was afterwards hurled
by the Almagros.

The main Patio was thronged with troops of eager and expectant
cormorants, who, my informant stated, were gentlemen in waiting upon the
treasury--officers and _empleados_ with large salaries in
perspective--but, strange to say, the vaults were invariably empty; or,
in case there should be a surplus on hand, it is a description of money
composed of so base a metal that it will not pass for one-fifth the
nominal value out of Lima.

A national museum has lately been established--a small enterprise thus
far,--containing a few Cacique antiquities, Island weapons and
ornaments, a coat worn by Salaverry when he was murdered--bedabbled with
mud and blood--and the walls are hung with portraits of the forty-seven
Viceroys of Peru, but placed in so bad a light that, with few
exceptions, the features and expression of the different rulers were
indistinctly visible. They begin with Francisco Pizarro,[8] and are all
miserably executed specimens of painting, without grace or harmony, and
it would seem that the artists, in their anxiety to have them of a
uniform length, in the absence of correct notions of drawing, have
jammed heads and heels close up or down to the frames, leaving the
intermediate portions of the person harsh and ungainly.

The theatre is a mean edifice, and the immense rafters that uphold the
flat roof are apt to keep a nervous person in the pit somewhat anxious
and uneasy, anticipating a shock of the _tremblor_. It is sufficiently
commodious, but badly ventilated, dimly lighted, and without decorations
or scenic display. The first representation we attended was mediocrily
performed by an Italian troupe--there were three prima donnas--who,
apart from being ugly, which, of course, was no fault of theirs, were
regardless of taste or execution, and all strove to outshout the other.
Indeed, a fifth-rate artiste, coming so far abroad in these climes,
deems it imperative to take a tip-top part; besides, I have remarked
among opera people, that there is always a cruel Empressario, who
tyrannically will have something to say in the management of his
theatre--very much to the disgust of the performers, and who is,
moreover, expected to pay handsomely, even when the troupe cannot half
fill the house.

On the occasion referred to there were myriads of fleas, and what with
Beatrice di Tenda--a donna in red--we were fain to quit the opera.
Subsequently the performances were very creditable, and living in the
same house with the Contralto and handsome Barrytone, we became enlisted
in their clique, and did battle against the unreasonable manager. One
evening, whilst assisting at Linda di Charmouni, between the acts I was
sitting behind the scenes, in a temporarily-constructed saloon,
condoling with the interesting Contralto, sympathising with her griefs,
and admiring her open-worked clocked stockings--for she was costumed as
a Swiss peasant--and when nearly wound up to a pitch of desperate
frenzy, against the barbarous Empressario, the lady's tire woman tripped
in. _Signorina_, said she, _la scéna_! The call-keeper's pipe chirped
musically. I flew to the front, and getting comfortably ensconced beside
a lovely Liménean, with a little mouth like a slit in a rose-leaf, up
flew the curtain. The scene was similar to one in Fra Diavolo, where
Antonio returns down the mountain-steep after an unsuccessful search for
the devil's brother; lots of peasants, flower-girls, and a horde of
attendants, had already ascended, together with the Contralto, and Linda
herself, who weighed fourteen stone. Tap! tap! led the orchestral baton.
Now began the _cavatina_. I was half entranced in melody, cigar-smoke,
and the smiles of her with the rose-leaf mouth, Doña Margarita, when, as
the sweet notes came trilling forth, in wreaths of exquisite
harmony--crash! scream! crash!--the platforms gave way! The prima donna
made a demi-volte, threw an involuntary summerset, and vanished
head-foremost through Mont Blanc, severely damaging the picturesque
village of Chamouni; our friend the Cantatrice, and the little slashed
trowsers and silk stockings, were seen plunging and struggling in an
Alpine torrent of pasteboard. All was tottering scenery, shrieking
supes, clouds of dust, terror, and confusion. Some villain had cut the
cords that upheld the mountain-pass. Our Contralto warbler escaped
without a blemish, but the unfortunate Prima was pulled out from beneath
the treacherous planks in hysterics, and borne off kicking violently in
the arms of stout peasants. Of course the play was ended: but there
nearly arose a revolution in Lima that night, for it was strongly urged
that the murderous Empressario had conspired against his troupe,
although, poor man, he swore until black in the visage, that he never
dreamed of so heinous a crime; and if he might be allowed a conjecture
he should say, that it had been a little ballet got up among the
_Cantatrici_ themselves, to get rid of performing for a week or two! but
no one believed him.

Our hotel was the _Fonda de los Baños_, the best in Lima--faint praise
this. It faces the cathedral in the plaza, and is a capital point of
view for strangers desirous of seeing the motley panorama of the city
from the balconies without mingling in the dust and fleas below. Our
host was an old, frowsy-wigged Frenchman, pleasant and conversible, who
made out the accounts with a crotchety style of caligraphy--fives and
nines hardly to be distinguished apart--although with never an error in
your favor in the arithmetical _calcule_ at bottom. The lady of the
mansion was a fine-looking, although _passée_ person, who presided at
table d'hôte in _grand tenu_, and served coffee and _italia_ for
_chasse_, with a little dessert of _monté_, if called for in the
evening, at a side-table. Underneath the Fonda were billiard saloons and
cafés, with warm baths adjoining. This establishment was cared for by a
vivacious gentleman, extremely popular with navy men, named Señor
Zuderel. I would advise all homeless wanderers journeying towards Lima
to seek lodgings at this Caravanserai. I was pleased myself, and shall
ever bear Monsieur and Madame Morin in agreeable recollection, for a
correct knowledge of the world, tolerably well-served dinners, expensive
wines, and a just appreciation of the _sous entendu_.

It was my intention to have made a hasty visit to Churillos, a small
fishing village on the sea coast, where, at certain seasons, all the
world resort for bathing and gaming--both amusements carried on day and
night without cessation; but finding the time approaching for our
departure, after spending eight days at Lima, one afternoon I buried my
shoulders within a glaring red poncho--and was warned by Zuderel "not to
carry much money, for fear of the ladrones," which I considered purely a
supererogatory piece of advice, as any economical person may convince
himself after a few days visit only!--_El que bebe de las pilas se queda
en Lima_--He who drinks of the fountains will never leave Lima, is a
favorite proverb. Inasmuch as I had only sparingly indulged in the
delicious waters of the city, save when mingled with Bordeaux and pure
blocks of ice brought from the Andes, I cannot be said to have entirely
destroyed the truth of the adage; so, trotting leisurely through plaza
and streets--invoking a blessing from Our Lady--I pursued my ride beyond
the gates, steering for Callao. It was thus I departed from the
"Paradise of women, the purgatory of men, and hell of jackasses!"

We sailed for Valparaiso.

FOOTNOTE:

[8] This is the same portrait from which the engraving in Prescott's
Peru is taken, but the latter bears but a faint resemblance to the
original.

CHAPTER LV.

We found Valparaiso very much improved since our first visit, more so,
in fact, than would be generally believed for a Creole town. Streets had
been newly paved and extended, whole squares of fine warehouses, and
long rows of dwellings completed; all tending, with a rapid increase of
population, to make the port most flourishing. As in the Islands and
Callao, the discovery of the El Dorado of California had thrown the
entire community into a state of feverish excitement, which was
augmented by every fresh arrival. Ships touching here, no matter whither
bound, or for what intent, were either bought before their anchors were
down, or chartered for passengers or freight. Day by day vessels sailed,
loaded high up the shrouds with any articles of merchandise that could
hastily be thrown on board. The city was drained of wares and goods of
every description; merchants, clerks, artisans and mechanics were
hurrying, as fast as sails could bear them, to the swamps and sands of
the Sacramento. Fortunes were made in a minute, and it only appeared
necessary to purchase a ship and cargo at any price, and the day or hour
after be offered twice the money for the bargain. One merchant actually
paid twenty thousand hard dollars for the information contained in a
letter from San Francisco--a more valuable missive was probably never
penned. The mania was equally violent throughout all classes of the
community--natives, foreigners, men, women, and children.

We mariners were merely lookers on, having neither cash nor commodities.
Some of us talked of deserting, and scratching a little fortune of gold