Travels, Adventures, and Experiences of Thomas Trotter.
CHAPTER VI.
Journey to Mount Ætna.—Mule travelling.—Neglected state of the country.—Melilla, the town of honey.—Narrow escape of the author.—Prospect of Ætna.—A Sicilian village and country-house described.—Comparison of Sicily with New England.
I left Syracuse in the morning, to pursue my journey toward Mount Ætna. There was no road for wheel-carriages, although the distance to the mountain is but about thirty miles, and the city of Catania, which is as large as Boston, stands directly at the foot of the mountain. If this island was inhabited by Americans, they would build a railroad between the two cities in a year’s time; and hundreds of people would be travelling upon it every day. But the Sicilians are so lazy, and so negligent of improving their country, that there is only a mule-path through the wood and along the sea-shore for the whole distance. I found a company of muleteers ready to set out for Catania, with about twenty mules laden with goods, and I hired one of their beasts for a couple of dollars. The mules travelled slowly, going at a very small trot or quick walk: they were stout, strong-backed creatures, and carried heavy loads on their backs. The path was rough and wild, full of ups and downs, and strewed with rocks; but the mules were very sure-footed, and trotted along, jumping like cats from rock to rock, and clambering up and down rough places as if they had hooks to their toes. I had heard before that a mule never slips nor stumbles, but I was astonished to see what rough and craggy spots they would get over without the least difficulty. A horse would have broken his neck and all his legs in attempting to go a quarter of a mile on such a road as we travelled.
We went along in a string, Indian file, as the phrase is. The head mules had bells on their saddles, which made a perpetual tinkling. These bells were very useful in many parts of the journey: sometimes the rear mules lagged behind, stretching out the train to a great length. When the course lay among woods, rocks, and bushes, the track was hardly discernible, and those in the rear would have strayed from the leaders but for the sound of the bells. It was the 27th of February, yet the weather was as mild as the latter part of May, in New England. The almond-trees were covered with blossoms, and the fig-trees were beginning to bud. An almond-tree is about the size of a peach-tree, and when in bloom, looks almost exactly like it. Fig-trees are of all sizes, up to that of a large apple-tree.
It is melancholy to see this fine country so neglected and deserted. We hardly saw a human being upon the road, or houses anywhere; for miles beyond Syracuse, the ground was strewed with ruins, all overgrown with grass, weeds, and prickly pears. Here and there we saw a vineyard, but this was not the season for grapes; the vines were bare, and propped up with cane-poles. A few olive-trees were scattered about: these trees are about the size of a willow, and their leaves are green all the year round. The olives were now nearly full-grown. About ten o’clock in the forenoon, we saw a little town called Melilla on the side of a mountain, about six miles off, but we passed by without entering it; and met with no inhabitants, except a peasant riding on an ass. Melilla produces the finest honey in the world, and this gave the town its name. All along the road in this neighborhood, we saw great abundance of wild thyme and other fragrant flowers, which furnish the busy bees with rich materials for their labors. In a wild part of the road further onward, we met a company of half a dozen men with guns advancing toward us. I asked the muleteers if they were not robbers, and was told that they were gens d’armes, whose business it was to guard the road from robbers. Travelling in Sicily was formerly very dangerous, but it is less so at present.
By-and-by we came to a very rocky place, where I saw a deep gully passing right across the road. I was about to dismount and lead my mule over it, not imagining he would think of passing it with a rider on his back,—when he gave a sudden leap and bounded over the chasm in an instant, alighting on his fore feet with such a shock that he pitched me completely over his head. Luckily one of my feet caught in the stirrup, and this hindered me from being thrown straight forward and dashed head first upon the rock, which would have killed me in an instant. But the catching of the stirrup gave me a whirl to the left, so that I fell against the low branches of a wild fig-tree, and escaped with only a slight bruise. The men behind jumped off their beasts and ran to pick me up, judging me to be dead, or my limbs broken at least; but I was on my feet before they had time to help me. On learning the cause of the accident, they advised me, in future, always to keep my seat, however difficult the road might appear, for they assured me a mule knew much more than a man about these matters. I ran after my beast, which, I found, had not gone far; he was standing stock-still, waiting for me, and doubtless understanding the whole affair perfectly well. I could not help thinking that he gave a roguish twinkle of the eye as I got on his back again; but this might be fancy.
We continued our course through this wild region for an hour or two longer, when we came to a pretty high ridge of hills. We clambered slowly up the ascent, and on reaching the top, a most magnificent view burst upon my sight. A wide bay stretched out its blue waters before us, beyond which rose, sublimely, the huge bulk of Mount Ætna, its towering summit clad in a sheet of snow, which glistened like silver in the bright sun. At the foot of the mountain I could just discern a cluster of white spots at the edge of the shore, which they informed me was the city of Catania. It was about twenty miles distant. The lower part of Ætna was almost black, but I could see no smoke rising from the crater; it was too far off for this, the distance being nearly fifty miles. Further off, over the sea, we saw the mountains of Calabria, capped with snow, and half hidden by the clouds.
As we descended the hills and approached the sea-shore, the road grew worse and worse. We climbed over broken rocks, gullies, and the beds of mountain torrents, and through wild thickets of bushes, where we could hardly squeeze our way. After a while, we came to a field where laborers were ploughing: this was the first instance of agricultural labor I had yet seen on the journey. The oxen were fine stout animals, with immensely long horns; the plough was of wood, and the clumsiest machine of the kind I ever saw. The rough, rocky chain of hills now sloped away into a fine champaign country, where the soil appeared very rich. As we proceeded, the color of Mount Ætna gradually changed; its black sides were now spotted with dark red patches, which proved to be small mountains that had burst out of the great one, in fiery eruptions. Presently, we could distinguish the smoke proceeding from the crater at the top; it streamed off like a white cloud horizontally, but with so slow a movement that it gave me some idea of its immense distance. It was one of the grandest sights I ever beheld.
About one o’clock the road wound through a thick wood of olive-trees, upon an eminence. Going down this steep descent, we found at the foot a little hamlet, consisting of four or five houses and an oil-mill. We stopped here to rest our mules, and I strolled round the place. The mill was a tall, square tower of stone; great numbers of oil-jars lay scattered about upon the ground: the sight of them made me think of the Forty Thieves. In one part of the mill, I found a large quantity of oranges packed in boxes for shipping; very probably they found their way to Boston in the course of the spring. The houses were rude stone edifices, of one story. I went into one of them for curiosity: the door stood wide open. In the kitchen, I found a great clumsy fireplace like a blacksmith’s forge, and two or three awkward wooden stools, but nothing like a table, except a sort of dresser, on which stood an earthen dish or two, and a few cups. Heaps of straw were lying about, and a few trumpery things, all at sixes and sevens. Pigeons were roosting overhead and flying about the room. It was the oddest looking kitchen I was ever in. Another room had a bed and a chair; and these were all the articles of furniture which the house contained.—Such is the description of an ordinary country-house in this part of the world. Could one of these Sicilian peasants be put in possession of the house of a New England farmer, and behold his chairs and tables, his silver spoons and crockery, his desks and bureaus, and other comfortable and ornamental furniture, he would think himself a rich man. But the Sicilian, although he dwells upon a soil three times as fertile as that of New England, and which is never encumbered with ice or snow, remains poor amidst all the bountiful gifts of nature. A mild climate makes him indolent, and he uses just strength enough to scratch the ground and throw the seed into it; the fertility of the soil does all the rest; and the most of his time is spent in doing nothing, or in unproductive amusement.
Two or three cows stood chewing their cud by the road; half a dozen ragged peasants lay on the ground, lazily basking in the sun, and two or three others were watching their donkeys, who were drinking out of a stone trough. A few half naked children were playing about the house; and everything presented a picture of shiftless poverty and indolent neglect. It struck me as very remarkable, that Providence should so impartially balance the good and evil distributed throughout this world. To one people are given a delicious climate, fertile soil, and the richest productions of nature; while they are denied the gifts of industry, enterprise, and perseverance, which are equally productive sources of wealth. To another people are given an unfriendly climate and hard soil; but these very things force them to labor and exert their faculties, causing in the end industrious and persevering habits, ingenuity and skill, which are more valuable than mines of gold. It is only by travelling and seeing other countries, that we can learn to be contented with our own.
CHAPTER VII.
Perilous adventure in crossing a river.—A Sicilian ferry-boat.—Enormous size of Ætna.—Inhabitants of the mountain.—Another accident with the mules.—Arrival at Catania.
Having rested our mules and munched a bit of dinner, we set out again, meaning to arrive at Catania before night. We passed by some beautiful green fields and groves of olives, but a short time afterward the track led us toward the sea, and we came to a bare, sandy plain. Here was a river in our way, with a wretched straw hut on the bank, inhabited by a man who kept a ferry-boat. We dismounted and crossed in the boat, but the mules were led up the stream to go over a ford at some distance. After passing this stream, we found the country wilder than ever: it consisted of sand-hills, overgrown here and there with low bushes and coarse grass, like the land at Cape Cod. Presently we came to another river, where there was no boat, nor house, nor human being, to be seen. One of the muleteers approached the stream with a long pole, to sound the depth of the water. It was not very deep, but the bottom was a quicksand, and the sounding-pole sunk into it till he found there was no firm bottom. He went up and down the bank, trying other places, but could not find a spot that was passable.
We were now in a great perplexity. I could not imagine any possible means of getting across; the muleteers held a noisy talk together about what was to be done, and at last led the way along the bank down stream. I asked where we were going, and was told that at the mouth of the river was a sand-bar, firm enough to allow us to cross upon it. In about a quarter of an hour, we came to the sea-shore. There was a smooth, sandy beach all along the coast, and the tide ran out of the river with a pretty rapid current. The bar was several feet under water, and the heaving of the sea, with the rapidity of the tide, made a great surf. I thought it a very dangerous thing to ride out into the ocean through the surf of a sand-bar, for the purpose of crossing a river, but there was no other way, and we pushed on. The head mule was frightened as he entered the sea, and seemed unwilling to proceed. One of the muleteers dismounted, and led him by the bridle into the surf, wading up to his middle in the water. By a good deal of coaxing and pulling, he made him advance. The mules are so accustomed to follow one another in a string, that the head one is sure to lead all the rest wherever he goes, so the whole file of them plunged in after him. When I had got a considerable distance out on the bar, my animal became frightened at the waves that were tumbling about his legs, and he sidled off into deep water. I expected hardly anything less than to be drowned, for, on finding the water rising up to his back, he grew so bewildered that he was unable to tell which way he was going, and would have carried me directly out to sea if I had not pulled in the reins with all my might, and brought him to a full stop. After allowing him to recover his breath a little, I drew his head round in the proper direction, and forced him onward; by repeated trials, I regained a shallower spot, where he grew more quiet, and finally got to land. All the others crossed the bar in safety.
The country after we passed the river was sandy and wild, abounding in marshes and lagoons, where we saw a great many wild ducks. Late in the afternoon we came to another stream, much broader and deeper than any of the others. There was a large ferryboat like a mud-scow, which carried us over, mules and all. The animals made a terrible uproar on board, kicking, pushing and biting each other at a furious rate. The boat had neither oars nor sail, but was moved by a rope stretched across the stream from shore to shore. The banks of the river were soft and clayey, and there was a clumsy sort of wharf for a landing-place, made of sticks and bushes tied together.
This river was anciently named Syn[oe]thus; at present it is called Giarretta. It is remarkable for containing amber, which is carried down to the sea in its waters, and afterwards thrown up on the beach by the waves, for many miles along the coast. A great many persons are constantly searching along the beach for this precious material. After my arrival at Catania, I saw a fisherman who had just picked up four or five highly valuable lumps. They were of a beautiful yellow color, and of the most transparent clearness I ever saw. It is well known that this article is made into beads and other ornamental work, but the nature of its origin has never been satisfactorily shown. From the masses being often found in the shape of tears or globules, like bulbs of turpentine or gum, it was formerly supposed to be some hardened vegetable matter; but no tree has ever been discovered exuding amber. Sometimes insects are imbedded in the lumps, and this has led many persons to imagine that the insects manufacture it, as the bees make wax. It is remarkable that it is never found originally on land, and nowhere except on the sea-beach. This part of the Sicilian coast, and the Prussian shore of the Baltic, produce the most of it. It is also found on the shores of the Adriatic and the coast of Maryland.
It was some time before we got ready to start from the ferry after crossing. The mules had become so antic from their squabble in the boat, that they continued to bite and kick and jostle one another, squealing and whirrying most terribly. Several of them threw off their loads in the hurly-burly, and we were forced to bang them lustily with sticks before they would be quiet. At last we mounted and set off again, and I was glad to hear that there were no more rivers to cross on the way to Catania. A little boy, who sat on one of the mules between two great packs, kept singing all the way. Some of the flat marshy spots were all overgrown with canes, such as we use for fishing rods: they were fifteen or twenty feet high. The country people make use of them to prop their vines, as we set up poles for beans. I saw many laborers in the vineyards along the road, setting the vine-props; these are taken down when the grapes are gathered, and the tops of the vine-stalks are cut and dried for fuel. During the winter, the vine looks like a dead and worthless stump, but it sprouts anew in the spring, and by midsummer shoots up to the top of the pole.
Every step of our journey brought us nearer to the great volcano, which more and more excited my wonder as I approached it. I could now plainly distinguish the numerous hills which stud its whole lower surface like warts. Many villages appeared scattered about in various parts of the mountain. I never before had any idea of its enormous magnitude. There are thousands of people who live at a great height upon this mountain, and have never been off it during their lives. Yet it is always smoking at the summit, and often bursts out in fiery eruptions, that lay waste whole towns and destroy many of the inhabitants.
Long after the sun had set to us, I continued to see the snowy top of Ætna brightened with his declining rays. As it grew dark, our road led us down to the sea-shore again, and we travelled many miles along the sandy beach. The mules were sadly tired with their long journey; every five minutes one of them fell from utter weariness and inability to sustain his load. The muleteers set them on their legs again, gave them a sound beating, and drove them onward. In the dark, I rode against the mule who was trotting before me: the beast, either being more vicious than the others, or rendered cross by fatigue, gave a kick, which was intended for my animal, but missed him, and struck me on the left leg. The pain of the blow was so great that I fell instantly from the saddle upon the ground, and should have been left there in the dark, if I had not bawled out loudly. The whole train was stopped when the accident was known. My first belief was that my leg was broken; upon feeling the bone, however, no fracture could be perceived; and, after a good deal of chafing, the pain somewhat abated, and I was helped again into the saddle. I jogged on slowly, keeping a sharp look-out for fear of another accident, having had adventures enough to satisfy me for one day. This affair delayed our progress so that we did not reach Catania till late in the evening, when it was much too dark to see anything of the city. I must therefore reserve my description of the place for the next chapter.
Balboa discovering the Pacific.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and History of the Indians of
America.
CHAPTER IV.
Discovery of the Pacific Ocean.—Plans of Columbus.—Avarice of the Spaniards.—Balboa.—Weighing the gold.—The young Indian’s speech.—Indian mode of fighting.—Balboa ascends the mountain.—First view of the Pacific.
Columbus had first seen land in the New World on the 12th of October, 1492. Six years after he surveyed the coast of the American continent by Paria and Cumana. Territory was the grand object with the noble mind of Columbus; he wished to colonize this great country by the settling of Europeans, and thus introduce Christianity and civilization among the Red Men. But the adventurers that followed him sought gold as their only object, and employed the sword as the only means of converting the natives.
The Spaniards who first landed on the continent, saw before them a magnificent country, vast forests, mighty rivers, long ranges of mountains—a dominion wide enough for the widest ambition of conquest, or the richest enjoyment of life; but no treasure. Still their avarice was kept in a perpetual fever by the Indian stories of gold in profusion farther to the west, and their fancy was excited by tales of a sea beyond, which they said stretched to the extremities of the globe.
The first European who set his eye on the Pacific Ocean, was Vasco Thenez De Balboa. His family was of the order of Spanish gentry. He was a man of great enterprise, personal strength, and of a daring courage. He had been disappointed in his expectations of obtaining wealth at Hayti, where he had settled, and an expedition sailing to Darien, he accompanied it. A colony was already established on the eastern side of the isthmus of Darien; but the savages in the vicinity had been found so warlike, that the settlers did not venture to explore the interior.
Indian rumors of the golden country continued to inflame the Spaniards. They heard of one king Dabaibe, who was said to be living in a city filled with treasure, and who worshipped an idol of solid gold. Balboa put himself at the head of his countrymen, and marched to conquer the rich city. But they had first to conquer the surrounding caciques, who would not permit the Spaniards to pass through their territories. At length, Balboa formed an alliance with Comogre, a mountain chieftain, who had three thousand warriors.
The son of Comogre brought a present to the Spanish troops of sixty slaves and four thousand pieces of gold. In distributing the gold, some difficulty occurred, as is usually the case where people are all selfish; the quarrel grew furious, and swords were drawn. The young Indian looked on, first with astonishment, then with scorn. Advancing to the scales in which they were weighing the gold, he threw them on the ground, exclaiming—“Is it for this trifle that you Spaniards quarrel? If you care for gold, go seek it where it grows. I can show you a land where you may gather it by handfuls.”
This speech brought all the Spaniards around him, and he proceeded to detail his knowledge. “A cacique, very rich in gold,” said he, “lives to the south, six suns off.” He pointed in that direction. “There,” said he, “you will find the sea. But there you will find ships as large as your own, with sails and oars. The men of these lands are so rich, that their common eating and drinking vessels are of gold.” This was to the Spaniards their first knowledge of Peru.
Balboa determined to search for this rich country. He collected a hundred and ninety Spanish soldiers, a thousand friendly Indians, and some bloodhounds, and began his march into the wilderness. The Indian tribes were instantly roused. The Spaniards had scarcely reached the foot of the Sierra, when they found the warriors, headed by their caciques, drawn up in a little army.
The Indians, like the ancient Greeks, first defied the enemy, by loud reproaches and expressions of scorn. They then commenced the engagement. Torecha, their king, stood forth in the front of his people, clothed in a regal mantle, and gave the word of attack. The Indians rushed on with shouts; but the Spanish crossbows and muskets were terrible weapons to their naked courage. The Indians were met by a shower of arrows and balls, which threw them into confusion. They were terrified, also, at the noise of the guns. They thought the Spaniards fought with thunder and lightning. Still, the Indians did not fly till their heroic king and six hundred of their warriors were left dead on the spot. Over their bleeding bodies, Balboa marched to the plunder of their city.
Balboa, with his army, now commenced the ascent of the mountains. It took them twenty days. After toiling through forests, and climbing mountains that seemed inaccessible, his Indian guide pointed out to him, among the misty summits of the hills that lay before him, the one from which the Pacific was visible. Balboa determined to have the glory of looking upon it first. He commanded his troops to halt at the foot of the hill. He ascended alone, with his sword drawn, and having reached the summit, cast his eyes around. The Pacific Ocean was spread out before him!
Balboa had invaded the Indian country in search of gold, and murdered the natives to obtain it; but at that time such conduct was not considered very wicked. The Indians were looked upon with horror, because they were savages, and Balboa believed himself a good Christian because he was a Catholic. He fell on his knees, and, weeping, offered his thanksgiving to Heaven, for the bounty that had suffered him to see this glorious sight. He doubtless thought God was well pleased with him.
His troops had watched his ascent of the mountain, with the eagerness of men who felt their fates bound up in his success. When they saw his gestures of delight and wonder, followed by his falling on his knees and prayer, they became incapable of all restraint. They rushed up the hill like wild deer. But when they saw the matchless prospect around them, they, too, shared the spirit of their leader; they fell on their knees and offered up their thanksgiving to God. Yet at the same time they doubtless contemplated plundering and destroying the Indians. They had not learned to do to others as they would have others do to them.
