On the morning subsequent to mooring our ship, all hands were called at daylight, and we had an opportunity to discern the features and characteristics of the harbor. It proved to be a snug, but not a large bay, encased by mountains, whose caps were white with snow. The sides of these cliffs were covered with noble trees of various descriptions; principal among which is the famed iron-wood, remarkable for its weight and durability. Several species of pine are also to be found. Scarce any beach exists, the shores being covered with huge boulders of many tons weight, evidently displaced by some great revulsion of nature. Few shells of any beauty are found on the shore—the mutton fish, warrener, and limpet, being the only conchological varieties that I saw.
Whilst here, half-a-dozen of our men were in the forest cutting fire-wood, while others were engaged in procuring water. Nothing was required in the latter case but to scoop a hole in the pebbles on the beach, and allow the snow-water, as it descended from the mountains, to run into it; then bail out with buckets and fill casks. Neither was there any trouble in rafting or towing it; our contiguity to the shore being such that it was only necessary to run a small tow-line from the ship, attach it to the raft, and haul it alongside, hand over hand. We also broke out our meat and coopered it, and then our hard work was finished.
We experienced several continuous and heavy rain storms, accompanied by violent squalls; as these would pass over, the rainbow, by which they were always followed, reflecting on and illuminating the green sides and white caps of the hills, presented to our admiring eyes, a grand, imposing and beautiful sight. I know of nothing that I ever saw that more fully impressed my mind with the omnipotence of the Creator than did this splendid work; and I have found myself again and again aroused from my admiration to answer the self-imposed question, “Could any man, after gazing upon such an appearance, candidly feel himself an atheist;” and, after arguing the matter pro and con, could find no excuse for such unbelief.
It is usual in port, during the night, to stand what is called the “anchor watch,” consisting of two men; the members of the crew, fore and aft, participating in it. In this port, which was considered so out of the way as to present no inducements for desertion, to allow the officers the whole of the night undisturbed, the watches were all imposed upon the boat-steerers and foremast hands. On the night of the 22d, the watches were set as usual. Everything was quiet until morning, when the whole of us were aroused by the first officer awaking, and finding nobody on deck, and the starboard boat gone, which had been allowed to remain alongside. On mustering all hands, five of the foremast men were discovered to be amongst the missing. Their names were Joseph Riley, of Patterson, New Jersey; Charles W. Baylis, of Rochester, New York; Harvey W. Miller, of Weymark, Weymouth County, Pennsylvania; John Roberts, an Englishman, and David Jones, a Welshman. The three former had sailed from the United States with us; the two latter were British convicts—Roberts, whom we shipped in Vasse, and Jones, who had joined the ship at King George’s Sound. They had taken the boat, furnished with oars and sails, and all the other furniture belonging to her; also a tub of tow-line and the ship’s spyglass; and from the appearance of our bread and harness casks, had liberally supplied themselves with provisions. The absence of any officer on deck afforded them time to safely convey their clothes and bedding off; and so equipped, they left us, in an obscure bay, hundreds of miles from any settlement, on a stormy coast, in an open whale-boat. No one ever expected to hear aught of them afterwards; but as my narrative progresses, a recountal of their adventures will be elicited: for the present we will leave them and return to our barque. On discovering the loss of his men the captain stormed; but finding that the whole procedure had been carried on with the utmost secresy, and that few, if any, of those remaining, were cognizant of more than the mere desertion of the men, he allowed it to drop, and little was said about them thereafter, until circumstances obtruded them on his notice. It will be observed that Kedge Anchor has at length managed to get away, on this, his third attempt, having endeavored to get clear from us in Vasse, and Balli, and now, in the most unpromising place of all, has succeeded. He was the possessor of two or three English sovereigns; and this circumstance must have caused the others to enlist him in the enterprize, as they knew his uselessness too well to count on his being of service to them.
On the afternoon of the 23d, the barques Isabella and Lady Emma anchored in the bay, and, soon after, the schooner Otago—making, in all, five of us moored in this shelter. The Otago reported having spoken the James Allen. She had taken three hundred barrels of oil, including the whale we saw her capture, during the present month. The captain of the Otago also reported having fallen in with the lower mast of a vessel of about three hundred tons, evidently carried away in a gale from some ship. They managed to get it in tow, but the line parting, they took no further trouble with it. This circumstance elicited our fears of a terrible misfortune to one of the whalers on the ground, and whether American or English we were unable to surmise. We have never to this time been able to discover to whom it belonged, though it certainly had not belonged to any one of the whale-ships we had been in company with, as we saw them all afterward.
The Lady Emma, a few days since, put into Open Bay, where three of her men deserted. In the vicinity of this bay there is a settlement containing eight Mauriis. This is the only settlement on the coast, from Jacob’s River to Cook’s Straits—Milford Haven being no exception to the rule, as no white or civilized natives exist in its whereabouts. Some of the wild natives have been seen here. During a former voyage, part of the crew of the barque Runimede, whilst cutting wood, were driven to the beach by these savages.
The next day, being Sunday and so stormy that we could not enjoy ourselves ashore, a number of us spent it aboard the Eliza. We were the more easily induced to do this from the fact of her having a French cook, who left the Alexander at Stewart’s Island and joined the Eliza. He was discharged from the Alexander, and the oil belonging to him was rolled ashore. Here he professed to be very happy; and, as he was thoroughly master of his business, he was much esteemed by those whom he catered for. I was much surprised at the palatable, and even luxurious, taste of the salt-beef, after having been manipulated by him, compared to that which had undergone the same operation by the hands of our own cook. Although I may have been prejudiced, or the superiority of the viands had rendered my appetite fastidious on that particular day, yet certainly, the fare was such as not to have been laughed at, even at the table of a first-class hotel. There were wild ducks, wild pigeons, wood-hens, noble fish from the bay, excellent corned-beef, and, to crown all, a noble plum-duff; and we did good justice to the repast. At supper we drank, as a beverage, a decoction of a New Zealand plant, which is used throughout the island instead of tea. It possesses an aromatic taste, and the little I partook of enlisted me in its favor; but how a continued use of it would answer, I am at a loss to say. The Frenchman said that he had used it for several months, and preferred it, for his own consumption, to tea produced in China. As he was a Parisian, and a restaurateur into the bargain, I do not see that I could quote better individual authority.
On the 25th we lowered away two boats, and manned them with the starboard watch, bound up the river, or sound, as the Mauriis call it—bent on a day’s recreation. Guns, ammunition, and fishing-tackle, were provided—also a good stock of eatables. After ten miles’ pulling, we arrived at the head of the river, where we landed, and built a fire. Previous to our trip to this locality, our curiosity had been excited by the description of a falls, which, according to the account, rivalled Niagara in magnitude. The Mauriis stated, that it fell from a height of nine hundred feet, in an immense volume; and I fancied, previous to having seen it, that I should have to chronicle in my log-book the existence of the greatest falls in the world in this out-of-the-way corner. I went, and saw it. Its height was about three hundred feet—it first falling from the summit of a high mount into a basin about a hundred feet below, and then descending into the river. Its appearance was handsome; but, having been prepared from hearsay to see something momentous, I must confess that I was disappointed, and under the influence of chagrin did not appreciate it as fully as it deserved. On our way up the river we saw numerous minor falls, descending hundreds of feet from the summits of the cliffs. The river was alive with porpoises and cowfish; whilst ducks, gulls, and pigeons, skimmed over its surface. Those of the party who were provided with fire-arms penetrated into the bush. Soon the crack of their pieces announced their success in finding game. As the sun indicated the hour of noon, one by one they straggled in to the fire, more or less successful, according to their expertness in handling their guns. Their game comprised ducks, pigeons, and woodhens, besides several varieties we knew no name for. The ducks were about of the same size and appearance as the wild ducks of the Northern States. The pigeons were like our wild pigeons. The woodhens resemble in appearance a pullet of the common barnyard breed. They do not fly, but run with excessive swiftness, dodging here, there, and everywhere, in a manner to puzzle any one. They are attracted by fire, and a number of them came around ours. If not startled, they displayed little fear, approaching within a short distance of us with the utmost indifference. These birds can be easily domesticated; and aboard the schooner they had several running about in their hold, in company with other fowls. All the birds mentioned, when dressed and cooked, were palatable and appetizing.
Whilst on this island myself and another were left ashore, the rest having gone to the main with the boats. Through an oversight, they took the water-keg along with them, leaving us unprovided with water. We immediately searched for a spring, or some other depository of the priceless liquid, but it was in vain. As we had but a short time before been freely eating of salt junk, our thirst became intolerable, so that we even went so far as to drink of the water of the river, which was salt and brackish. After we had thus suffered for several hours, one of the boats returned, and supplied our want. Never before in my life did I taste so grateful and sweet a draught as I imbibed at that time from the most ordinary of boat-piggins. This was the nearest approach to deprivation of water for any length of time that I ever experienced. If any person should wish to be pestered with a gnawing, unquenched thirst, let him follow our example by eating about a pound of salt meat, and then sitting for hours on an island where no water is to be found, except such as will have a tendency to aggravate his thirst.
After the arrival of the English ships, our nights were passed in an excess of mirth. The rainy weather preventing any amount of work being performed during daytime, their listlessly lolling about the ship made the men feel prime for sport at night; and as none of our ship’s company, since the desertion of our men, were allowed to leave her after twilight, by common consent our barque became the rendezvous for all; so that, about half an hour after supper, whole boats’ crews would come aboard. One night I counted seventy men in our forecastle. Each vessel contributed its singers, and the choral performances were really a diverting medley. The cook of the schooner, being French, sang the Marseillaise for us; a German sang the Fatherland; a Portuguese, I know not what, but, like all the others, he was loudly applauded for his performance; the Mauriis, Sandwich and Navigators’ Islanders, all sang their respective songs; whilst English, Irish, Scotch, and Americans, also gave vent to their national melodies—Rule Britannia, Erin go Bragh, Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled, and the Star-spangled Banner, or Hail Columbia, followed each other—one song being as good as another, so that it had a tune to it. Amongst the Lady Emma’s crew were four excellent singers, who had practised together, and performed very creditably; so that we were not without good singers. Instead of spirituous drink, we indulged in a beverage, known as switchell, concocted of molasses, vinegar, and water, with the addition of a little ground ginger. At a late hour we separated, without being muddled, as is usual in many, in fact most, assemblages of the like character amongst people who profess more morality than the sailor. On these occasions all was mirth and jollification: discipline, for the time-being, was set aside, and the utmost good-feeling pervaded the company.