It was sunset before we reached the boats that were to convey us to the ship; and we had some difficulty both in getting off and in going alongside of the frigate, owing to the great swell. The night, however, was fine, and the scene enlivened by the lights in the fishing boats, which, like those in the Mediterranean, are used to attract the fish. On shore, the lights of the ports and villa, and the fires of the charcoal burners shining from amidst the dark hanging forests of pine, and those of the limekilns in the direction of Laguna, appeared like a brilliant illumination; and there being not a cloud, the outline of the peak was well defined on the deep blue of the nocturnal sky.
27th August. To-day, some of our new friends, both Spanish and English, came on board; but the swell was so great, that only one escaped sea-sickness. Mrs. Galway was fearful of suffering, so did not come, but she sent me some of the beads found in the sepulchres of the Guanches: they are of hard baked clay. Mr. Humboldt, whose imagination was naturally full of South America, has conjectured that they might have been used for the same purpose as the Peruvian quipos, but they are inconveniently large for that use. They are not unlike the beads Belzoni found in the mummy pits in Egypt, and they closely resemble some of the many kinds of beads with which the Bramins have counted their muntras time immemorial. The Oriental custom of dropping a bead for every prayer having been adopted by the Christians of the west, and still continuing in Roman Catholic countries, appears, on that account, too common to deserve the notice of a philosophical traveller; and therefore the Guanche shepherds, or goatherd kings, are rather supposed, like the polished Peruvians, to have recorded the annals of their reigns with clay beads, than allowed to tell them with their orisons, like the Bramins of the Ganges, the shepherds of Mesopotamia, or the anchorets of Palestine and Egypt, because the modern monk does the same. The Guanche mummies are now of very rare occurrence. During the early times of the Spanish government of the island, their sepulchres were carefully concealed by the natives; now, intermarriage with their conquerors, and consequent change of religion and habits, have rendered them careless of them, and they are, generally speaking, really forgotten, and only discovered accidentally in planting a new vineyard, or ploughing a new field.
28th. This morning left the "still vext" bay of Oratava, and before sunset saw Palma and Gomera. The Canary Islands, supposed to be the Fortunate Islands of the ancients, were discovered accidentally in 1405. Betancour, a Frenchman, took possession of them for Spain; but the natives were brave, and it cost both the Spaniards and Portuguese, who possessed them by turns, much blood and treasure to conquer the country and exterminate the people, for their wars ended in nothing less. Purchas complains that he could not obtain the reading of some travels by an Englishman who had visited the Peak; the good pilgrim's curiosity had been strongly excited by the particulars he had learnt from books, and the journals of some of his friends who had travelled, which he has carefully related: they are such as to make me regret that he has not recorded more, and that I cannot see more. We brought with us from Oratava one of the finest goats I ever saw; I presume she was a descendant of the original flock which the supreme deity of the Guanches created to be the property of the kings alone: she is brown, with very long twisted horns, a very remarkable white beard, and the largest udder I ever saw.
29th. Passed the island of Hierro or Ferro, the old first meridian; which honour, I presume, it enjoyed from having been considered as the most western land in the world until the discovery of America. We were very close to it, and all agreed that we never saw so hard-looking and inaccessible a place. We saw some fine woods, a few scattered houses, and one village perched upon a hill, at least 1500 feet above us. The Peak of Teneriffe still visible above the clouds.
Sept. 1st. The flying-fish are become very numerous, and whole fleets of medusæ have passed us; some we have picked up, besides a very beautiful purple sea-snail. This fish has four horns, like a snail, the shell is very beautifully tinted with purple, and there is a spongy substance attached to the fish which I thought assisted it to swim: it is larger in bulk than the whole fish. One of them gave out fully a quarter of an ounce of purple fluid from the lower part of the fish. A fine yellow locust and a swallow flew on board; and as we believe ourselves to be four hundred miles from the nearest land, Cape Blanco, we cannot enough admire the structure of the wings that have borne them so far.
Our school for the ship's boys is now fairly established, and does Mr. Hyslop, our school-master, great credit; that for the midshipmen is going on very well, being kept in the fore-cabin under the captain's eye. The boys have his presence, not only as a check to idleness or noise, but as an encouragement to industry. He is most anxious to make them fit to be officers and seamen in their profession, and good men and gentlemen both at sea and on shore. Happily they are all promising; but if G—— should disappoint us, I never will believe in youthful talent, industry, or goodness more. Our days pass swiftly, because busily. The regular business of the ship, the school, astronomical observations, study of history and modern languages, and nothing permitted to pass without observation, fill our time completely.
Lord Bacon says, "It is a strange thing that in sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries; but in land travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it, as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation." However, for once, his lordship has only seen, or perhaps only spoken, in part. Sea and sky must be observed before we can know the laws by which their great changes or chances are regulated. Observations on the works of man, as cities, courts, &c. may be omitted, for we know their authors, and can have recourse to them, their motives, and their history, whenever we please; but the great operations of nature are so above us, that we must humbly mark them, and endeavour to make their history a part of our experience, in order that we pass safely through their vicissitudes. Hence it is, that the commonest details of the early navigators, their sunrise and sunset, their daily portionings of food and water, are read with a deeper interest than the liveliest tour through civilised countries and populous cities; that Byron's passage through Chiloe continues to excite the most profound sympathy; while Moore's lively view of society and manners in France or Italy, are now seldom or languidly read. The uncertainty, the mystery of nature, keep up a perpetual curiosity; but I suspect that if we knew the progress and dependance of her operations, as well as we do those of an architect or brick-layer, the history of the building of a theatre or a dwelling-house might vie in interest with that of a sea voyage.
The books we intend our boys to read are,—history, particularly that of Greece, Rome, England, and France; an outline of general history, voyages, and discoveries; some poetry, and general literature, in French and English; Delolme, with the concluding chapter of Blackstone on the history of the law and the constitution of England; and afterwards the first volume of Blackstone, Bacon's Essays, and Paley. We have only three years to work in; and as the business of their life is to learn their profession, including mathematics, algebra, nautical astronomy, theory and practice of seamanship, and duty as officers, with all the technicalities belonging to it,—this is all we dare propose.
5th. We have begun to look forward to that festival of the seamen, the crossing the line. I know not whence the custom is derived, but the Arabs observe it with ceremonies not very unlike those practised by our own sailors. To-day a letter, containing a sketch of the intended festival, with thanks for permission to keep it, was sent into the cabin. I shall copy it with its answer. I find that some captains have begun to give money at the next port, instead of permitting this day of misrule. Perhaps they may be right, and perhaps in time it may be forgotten; but will it be better that it should be so? It is the sailors' only festival; and I like a festival: it gives the heart room to play. The head in one class, and the limbs in another, work every day, and in divers, if not opposite directions; but on a festival, the hearts of all beat the same way: yet I would not have them too often, for
"If every day were playing holiday,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;"