During this tedious passage, it was no bad entertainment, to observe the contrast between some newly-arrived Norwegians and us; those people sitting upon deck in [[390]]their shirts, and wiping off the perspiration, while we were strutting in great coats and fur caps, like so many Muscovites, to keep us from the cold.
Having at this time received a considerable present of refreshments, sent by the city of Amsterdam to the deliverers of their favourite colony, and being so near revisiting their old friends and acquaintances, all on board were in the highest flow of spirits, and exulting with gladness—excepting one!—from whose mind every happiness was banished.
I must here still relate the following singular circumstance: A man-of-war’s boat coming alongside the Hollandia, the officer and crew no sooner entered on board, than one of them, without speaking, ran up aloft, with a knife in his teeth, to cut down the pennant. At this time Lieutenant Colonel Seyburg, presenting a musquet, and swearing he would shoot him out of the rigging, the poor fellow came down by the back-stays like a shot, to our great entertainment; next, having explained to him that both vessels had been put in commission by the Prince of Orange, the amazed lieutenant made a handsome apology, and left the ship.
On the 3d of June, every thing being in readiness, the troops were put on board six lighters, appointed to transport them to Bois-le-Duc, in which town they were next to be compleated, and do the duty as part of the garrison. On leaving the vessels we were once more saluted [[391]]with nine guns from each; which having returned with three cheers, we set sail for the place above mentioned. As we passed in the lighters through the inland towns, such as Saardam, Haerlem, and Tergow, I thought them truly magnificent, particularly the glass painting in the great church of the latter; but their inhabitants, who crouded about us, from curiosity to see us, appeared but a disgusting assemblage of ill-formed and ill-dressed rabble, so much had my prejudices been changed by living among the Indians and blacks: their eyes seemed to resemble those of a pig; their complexions were like the colour of foul linen; they seemed to have no teeth, and to be covered over with rags and dirt. This prejudice, however, was not against these people only, but against all Europeans in general, when compared to the sparkling eyes, ivory teeth, shining skin, and remarkable cleanliness of those I had left behind me. But the most ludicrous circumstance was, that during all this we never once considered the truly extraordinary figure that we made ourselves, being so much sun-burnt and so pale, that we were nearly the colour of dried parchment, by heat and fatigue; and so thin, that we looked like moving skeletons; to which I may add, that having lived so long in the woods, we had perfectly the appearance of wild people; and I in particular, very deservedly, obtained the characteristic title of le Sauvage Anglois, or the English savage.
In this state we arrived, on the 9th, at the town [[392]]of Bois-le-Duc, where the troops were finally disembarked.
“Per varios casus, & tot discrimina rerum,
Pervenimus ad Latium.”———
———“Olim meminisse juvabit.”
Thus ended, perhaps, one of the most extraordinary expeditions that was ever undertaken by European troops; and to which only the exploits of the American Buccaneers have any, and even that a very distant, resemblance.
On our arrival I found that Lieutenant Colonel Westerlo, who went sick to Europe, in 1773, was not yet quite recovered. This gentleman now invited me, in company with some others, to dine with him at the public mess; where, while some Dutch officers complained that the soup was smoaky, and the beef was tough, we adventurers declared that we never had tasted a more delicious repast; and at the same time, while they praised the strawberries, cherries, and other European fruits, we thought them very indifferent, and greatly inferior to the avogado-pear, the water-melon, and the pine-apple, to which we had been lately accustomed—which shews that every thing in this world is only good or bad by comparison.