A Narrative of the Shipwreck, Captivity and Sufferings of Horace Holden and Benj. H. Nute Part 2

In due time the work of putting together the materials commenced. We succeeded in laying a sort of keel, and at length contrived to erect a kind of frame, which, though it might not be regarded as a first-rate specimen of naval architecture, nevertheless looked somewhat like the beginning of a water-craft. But when we came to the more difficult part of the business, that of putting on the planks, we found that not only our skill, but that of the whole nation, was completely baffled. We were compelled to abandon the undertaking; and despaired of ever being able to succeed in building any thing of the kind.

During all this time the natives were sanguine in the belief that they should succeed, and repeatedly a.s.sured us that they could accomplish the work. Their sorrow and mortification, on being obliged to give it up, were great; for they seemed to realize, that now they must have fallen in our estimation, and thought that we should be anxious to avail ourselves of the a.s.sistance of their enemies, who, as they well knew, were extremely anxious to get us into their hands. The captain did not attempt to conceal his wish to go to the other part of the island. This greatly increased their dissatisfaction; and their murmurs became frequent and loud. After considerable expostulation, they proposed to make a _canoe_ sufficiently large to convey us away; and, having some confidence in the practicability of the plan, we consented to wait and a.s.sist them in their endeavors to supply us with this subst.i.tute for the more respectable craft we had contemplated building. After duly consulting the old prophetess, the princ.i.p.al chiefs were a.s.sembled, and having agreed to take for the purpose the largest bread-fruit tree on the island, the people were called upon to meet at the spot where it stood, and a.s.sist in cutting it down.

Matters of so great importance required deliberation in the operation of planning out the work,--but the accomplishment of an undertaking like that of felling so large a tree, with tools even less adapted to the business than the teeth of a beaver, was one that took several days. At length the herculean task was performed, and the tree fell! But judge of our feelings on finding that the trunk, which we had hoped to render so useful in conveying us to some place from which we could obtain a pa.s.sage to our native land, had, in falling, become so split as to be good for nothing! It seemed to us that a cruel fate had ordained, that no labor of our hands should prosper. Another tree was selected, and with that we were more successful. We then commenced digging it out, and bringing it to a proper shape. The old chisels were now put in requisition; and, in twenty-eight days from the time we began, we had succeeded in bringing that part of our labor to a close. Of the other tree we made two wide planks, which we fastened to the upper edges of the canoe, thereby adding very considerably to its capacity. Two months more were consumed in fitting up our canoe with sails, and getting it ready for sea.

Having proceeded thus far, it was deemed proper by the natives to have another festival; and, as our labors, in this instance, had been attended with better success, extraordinary preparations were made for a feast that should do honor to the occasion. An immense quant.i.ty of fish had been obtained; the females brought large quant.i.ties of bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and yams; and the toil of months was forgotten in the universal joy which then prevailed.

CHAPTER V.

The natives become anxious to aid the s.h.i.+p's company in leaving the island.--Terms on which they agreed to release them.--Departure from the Pelew islands.--Necessity of returning the same night.--Detention a month longer; and final departure.

By this time the natives had become nearly as anxious to part with us as we had ever been to leave them; and being mutually desirous to be rid of each other's company, we lost no time in preparing for our departure.

Our object now was to get into the open sea, with the hope of falling in with some vessel on its pa.s.sage to China or elsewhere, and thus be able, after a while, to find a conveyance to America. Provisions were furnished us by the natives; but we greatly needed a compa.s.s, and with much difficulty obtained one. Captain Wilson, who had been s.h.i.+pwrecked there many years before, left his compa.s.s with one of the chiefs, whom we finally succeeded in inducing to part with it. It had become much impaired by time and improper usage, but served as a tolerable guide.[3]

It is proper here to state the particulars of our agreement with the natives of this island. They had, as before related, furnished us with the means of subsistence, and with comfortable lodgings; and, for the purpose of enabling us to return home, had been at great expense in fitting up a craft, such as they thought would answer to convey us wherever we pleased to go. According to their notions, we were persons of sufficient consequence in the estimation of our countrymen, to fulfil any engagement we might make with them, and to the extent to which, in our necessity, we were compelled to go, in order to obtain the object which we had in view, should the government consider itself bound; and it would be no less an act of justice than of humanity, to secure the friends.h.i.+p and confidence of these islanders; so that, should others unfortunately fall into their hands, their lives and property might be respected. It is also important, that those who engage in commercial pursuits should have every protection extended to them. It would cost the government but a mere trifle to secure an amicable understanding with these islanders; and it is but reasonable to hope that no time will be lost in making the attempt.

Situated as we were, we did not feel ourselves at liberty to expostulate against the obvious unreasonableness of their demands. We were, in truth, indebted to them for our maintenance while among them, and for the a.s.sistance they rendered us in fitting up our craft; and, as a suitable requital for these favors, and to remunerate them for their hospitality, we solemnly a.s.sured them, that, should fortune so far prosper us, as to enable us once more to reach our native country, we would send to them two hundred muskets, ten casks of powder, with a corresponding quant.i.ty of b.a.l.l.s and flints. Besides this, we gave them a.s.surances of having several articles of ornament, such as beads, belts, combs, and trinkets of various kinds.

On the 27th of October, 1832, we set sail, having the boat in which we had escaped from the s.h.i.+p, and which we had repaired as well as we were able, and the canoe which had been constructed by the natives especially for our use. It was agreed, that three of our number, viz. Davis, Meder, and Alden, should remain on the island as hostages, and that three of the natives (two chiefs, and one of the common cla.s.s) should accompany us, to see that the agreement made with them should be faithfully executed. Fearing that the natives residing on the other part of the island might come upon us and prevent our going, we took our departure in the night. We soon found that our boats leaked so badly that it would be next to madness to proceed, and we returned in the course of the night. Our unexpected return gave great offence; but we insisted that to go to sea in that condition would be certain destruction. They at length consented to a.s.sist in repairing the canoe and boat, and to suffer us to remain long enough to complete our arrangements more to our mind.

We were detained by these operations about a month, and then again took our leave of the spot where we had remained so long against our will; though we would not conceal the fact, that the rude kindness of the natives had so entirely overbalanced their faults, that, on parting with them, we experienced emotions of regret, and were quite overpowered with a sense of our obligations to them for the many favors which they had bestowed upon us. They had regarded and treated us as beings of a higher order than themselves; and our conduct had inspired them with a veneration and confidence almost unbounded. As a proof of this, three of their number were committed to our care, and were entirely willing to place themselves at our disposal.

Seven of our number now took the canoe, viz., Bouket, Sedon, Andrews, Hulet, and the three natives. Captain Barnard, Rollins, Nute, and myself preferred the s.h.i.+p's boat. We were accompanied on our pa.s.sage the first day by a large number of the natives. At night, as we had then succeeded in getting beyond the reef, they left us, and we continued our course.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] The Englishman before mentioned, Charles Was.h.i.+ngton, told us that this compa.s.s was left there about _thirty_ years before, which was the time when captain _James_ Wilson, of the s.h.i.+p Duff, was there. But from circ.u.mstances it appeared that he was mistaken as to the time, and that it was one which had belonged to captain _Henry_ Wilson, who was s.h.i.+pwrecked there in the Antelope, in 1783, and of whose voyage and disasters a most interesting and well-known account was published by Mr.

Keate. Its preservation for about fifty years is certainly remarkable.--_Edit._

CHAPTER VI.

Regret at having undertaken the voyage in boats.--Storm, and damage in consequence of it.--Loss of the canoe and the provisions on board.--Danger of peris.h.i.+ng from famine.--On the fifteenth day, when nearly exhausted with fatigue and hunger, they discover a small island.--Approach of eighteen canoes filled with natives, who make prisoners of them all.--Cruelty of the natives; and return with their prisoners to the island.--Reception there.--The prisoners distributed among the captors.

We had not proceeded far before we had reasons for regretting, that we had entered upon the perilous undertaking of navigating the waters of that region in boats so poorly adapted to the purposes we had in view.

There came on a violent storm of rain, the wind blowing hard, and the waves threatening to swallow us each moment of the night. To our dismay, the rudder of the canoe, owing to the imperfect manner in which it had been constructed, was uns.h.i.+pped, and for a time the destruction of those on board seemed inevitable. Fortunately we continued to keep company.

By great exertion we made out to replace the rudder in the morning, and then proceeded. In the course of the day the rudder was again uns.h.i.+pped; but, with less difficulty than before, we succeeded in fastening it to its place with ropes, so that it answered tolerably well as a subst.i.tute for a better one. Happy would it have been for us, if this had been the worst of the disasters of our voyage. Our mast next went by the board; and during the whole of the next night, we lay drifting at the mercy of the winds and waves. In the mean time the canoe sprung a leak, and we found it impossible to bail out the water as fast as it came in. In this extremity we lost no time in s.h.i.+fting all our lading into one end of the canoe; and by tearing up our old clothes, and stuffing them into the crack, we at length stopped the leak. In this sad plight we continued on, meeting with no very serious accident till the fifth day from the time of leaving the island; when, just at the setting of the sun, owing to some mismanagement, a light puff of wind capsized the canoe!

Fortunately no one was drowned. All but three swam to our boat; those who remained continued through the night to cling to the canoe. With great difficulty we kept our boat from being stove in pieces by coming in contact with the canoe. During all this time it rained very hard, and never had we experienced a more dismal night. In the morning we tried to get the canoe right side up; but finding that impossible, we concluded to abandon it entirely. We took from it a few cocoa-nuts, and, as our last resort, all took refuge in the boat. We saved the compa.s.s, and did not so much regret the loss of the canoe, as it had cost us already an incalculable amount of anxiety, toil, and suffering.

But new difficulties now stared us in the face. Most of our provisions had been lost by the upsetting of the canoe, and we had but a very small quant.i.ty of water. It was therefore deemed expedient to divide among us the means of subsistence remaining. We had four cocoa-nuts for each person, and a few pieces over, which were distributed equally. At this time no objects were seen, except a few sea birds. We continued in this condition for nine days and nights, with actual starvation before us, as the most probable end of our anxieties and sufferings. We were about settling down into a state of confirmed despair, when, to our inexpressible joy, we discovered land apparently about ten miles off. We exerted all our remaining strength to reach it. When within six miles we saw, approaching us, a fleet of eighteen canoes, filled with the natives of the small island we were approaching.

At first the small canoes came near us, for the purpose of ascertaining who and what we were. The appearance of these natives was such as to excite at once our astonishment and disgust. Like the inhabitants of the island we had left, they were entirely naked; and, as our subsequent experience proved, they were infinitely more barbarous and cruel. Very soon the large canoes came up, when the wretches commenced their outrages. They attacked us with brutal ferocity, knocking us overboard with their clubs, in the mean time making the most frightful grimaces, and yelling like so many incarnate devils. They fell upon our boat and immediately destroyed it, breaking it into splinters, and taking the fragments into their canoes. While this was going on we were swimming from one canoe to another, entreating them by signs to spare our lives and permit us to get into their canoes. This they for a long time refused, beating us most unmercifully, whenever we caught hold of any thing to save ourselves from sinking.

After they had demolished our boat, and kept us in that condition for some time, they allowed us to get on board. They then compelled us to row towards the land. They stripped us of all our clothing immediately after we were taken in; and the reader may form some idea of our distress in this condition, under a burning sun, from the fact, that before night our shoulders were blistered, by being thus exposed to the heat.

On approaching land we discovered no habitation; but after going round a point of the island, we saw near the beach a row of small and badly constructed huts. We were compelled to jump from the canoes into the water and wade to the sh.o.r.e. By this time the beach was lined with women and children, who caused the air to resound with the most horrid yells and screams. Their gestures and violent contortions of countenance resembled the frantic ravings of Bedlamites.

The reception we met with on land was no more agreeable than that upon the water. Judging from the treatment we had received from the females of the island which we had left, it was hoped that the gentler s.e.x would extend to us some proof of their commiseration; but in this we were sadly disappointed. If possible, they were more cruel than their inhuman lords and masters. We were soon separated from each other, and dragged about from place to place; our brutal captors, in the mean time, contending with each other to see who should have us as his property.

Frequent contests of this kind occurred; in one of which, during the first day, I was knocked down. The question of owners.h.i.+p was at length settled, and we were retained by those into whose hands we had at first fallen. Some of us were taken to their house of wors.h.i.+p, called by them Verre-Yarris--literally, G.o.d's house, where they went through with some of their religious ceremonies, and we received a few mouthfuls of food, which was the first we had tasted through the day.

It was my good fortune to be retained by one who, compared with the other natives, was humane. His name was _Pahrahbooah_; the female head of the family was called Nahkit; and they had four children. I went by the name of _Tee'mit_; and Benjamin Nute by the name of _Rollo_. The captain was also fortunate in falling into the hands of a friend of my master, who treated him with comparative kindness. He was valued the more highly also on account of being a large, fleshy man--they judging of these things by the size and appearance.

CHAPTER VII.

The island, to which they were carried, proves to be Lord North's island, called by the natives _To'bee_.--Account of the island and its inhabitants.--Their manners and customs.

It may now be proper in this place to give some account of the place where our unhappy lot was cast, and of its rude and miserable inhabitants. It will be impossible to convey a correct idea of their ignorance, poverty, and degradation; but some conception may be formed, by imagining what the condition of beings must necessarily be, when wholly separated from the rest of their species, stripped of all the refinements of life, and deprived of all means and opportunities for improvement.

We were now upon the small piece of land called by the natives _To'bee_, but known to navigators by the name of _Lord North's Island_, situated between the third and fourth degrees of north lat.i.tude, and in longitude one hundred and thirty-one degrees twenty minutes east. It is also known by the name of _Nevil's Island_ and _Johnston's Island_; and it has been hitherto considered by navigators and others as uninhabited.

This is not surprising; as we were told by the natives, that no white man had ever visited the place; though it seemed, from the pieces of iron in their possession, and from other circ.u.mstances, that they had had some communication with the Spaniards and Portuguese in that quarter of the world.[4] Like many other islands in those seas, this is surrounded by a coral reef, which is from an eighth to one half of a mile wide; but outside of the reef the water is apparently fathomless, the water being as blue as it is in the middle of the ocean; and the largest vessels may in many places approach within a quarter of a mile of the beach. The whole island rises so little above the level of the sea, that the swell often rolls up to a considerable distance inland.

It is about three quarters of a mile in length, and not far from half a mile in width. There were upon it three villages, situated on the sh.o.r.es, and containing, in all, between three and four hundred souls, at the time when we were taken there; but the number was considerably diminished by famine and disease before we left.

The inhabitants are in a state of entire barbarism and ignorance. The men wear a sort of girdle or belt made of the bark of a tree. This is girded round the loins so as to leave one end to hang loose behind, the other is brought forward and fastened to the belt in front. This is their only clothing. The females, after arriving at the age of womanhood, wear an ap.r.o.n made of the leaves of a plant, by them called _kurremung_, split into fine strips and plaited. This extends from the loins nearly to the knees. Some few wear rings upon their wrists made of white sh.e.l.ls, and some had this kind of ornament made of turtle-sh.e.l.l.

In their ears, which are always bored, they sometimes wear a leaf; and round their necks a necklace made of the sh.e.l.l of the cocoa-nut, and a small white sh.e.l.l, called _keem_ sh.e.l.l. The children go entirely naked.

The complexion of these islanders is a light copper color; much lighter than the Malays, or the Pelew islanders; which last, however, they resemble in the breadth of their faces, high cheek bones, and broad flattened noses. They do not color their teeth, by chewing any thing, as many of those islanders do; but their teeth are so strong that they can husk a cocoa-nut with them instantly.

Their princ.i.p.al food is the cocoa-nut. They occasionally succeed in procuring fish, though the supply obtained during our residence there was exceedingly small. Their fish-hooks are made of turtle-sh.e.l.l, and not well contrived for the purpose; but we could not induce them to use our hooks, till they had heated them and altered their form so that they would not hold the fish. They did this, because they said that Yarris (G.o.d) would be angry with them, if they used our hooks without preparing them according to their fas.h.i.+on. Sometimes they are so fortunate as to obtain a sea-turtle; five only were taken during the two years we were there. The turtle, I may add, has something of a sacred character with them. They also raise small quant.i.ties of a vegetable somewhat resembling the yam; but while we were with them they were unsuccessful in cultivating it. These const.i.tute the slender means of their support; and they are thus barely kept from actual death by famine, but on the very verge of starvation. When any one of them begins to fail, for want of food, so that his death is pretty certain, they inhumanly turn him off from among them, to starve to death.

Their religion is such as might be expected among a people in their condition. Their place of wors.h.i.+p is a rudely constructed building, or hut, about fifty feet long and thirty wide. In the centre, suspended from the roof, is a sort of altar, into which they suppose their deity comes to hold converse with the priest. Rudely carved images are placed in different parts of the building, and are supposed to personate their divinity. As nearly as could be ascertained by us, they supposed that the object of their wors.h.i.+p was of like pa.s.sions with themselves, capricious and revengeful. During the time we were with them, they attributed to his displeasure their want of success in taking fish as they had done in former times, and the unfruitfulness of their bread-fruit and cocoa trees.

Their religious ceremonies are singular. In the commencement the priest walks round the altar and takes from it a mat devoted to the purpose, which is laid upon the ground. He then seats himself upon it, and begins to hoot, in the mean time throwing himself into a variety of att.i.tudes, for the purpose of calling down the divinity into the altar. At intervals the congregation sing, but immediately stop when the priest breaks out in his devotions. By the side of the altar is always placed a large bowl, and six cocoa-nuts. After the incantation is gone through, and the divinity is supposed to be present, the bowl is turned up, and four of the nuts are broken and put in it, two being reserved for the exclusive use of a priest by them called also "_yarris_." As soon as the nuts are broken, one of the company begins to shout, and, rus.h.i.+ng to the centre, seizes the bowl, and drinks of the milk of the nut, generally spilling a considerable part of it upon the ground. After this a few pieces are thrown to the images, and the remainder are eaten by the priests. This closes the ceremony; after which they indulge in any recreations that chance to please them best.

While we were on the island several earthquakes happened, and some of them pretty severe. On those occasions the natives were much terrified; they would not let their children speak a word; and they said among themselves--_zahbee'too Yarris_, _To'bee yettah'men_, that is, Yarris (G.o.d) is coming and To'bee (the name of the island) will sink. They were also very much alarmed at thunder and lightning; and used to say at such times, _Yarris tee'tree_, G.o.d is talking. I do not know how they would be affected by an eclipse, as none happened, that I noticed, while we remained there.

I will here mention some other things in respect to their customs and usages, as they now occur to me.

Their implements of war are spears and clubs; they have no bows and arrows. Their spears are made of the wood of the cocoa-nut trees; the points of them are set with rows of sharks' teeth; and, being at the same time very heavy and from ten to twenty feet long, are formidable weapons.

Their canoes are made of logs which drift to their island from other places, there being no trees on it large enough for that purpose; they are hollowed out with great labor, and are of very clumsy workmans.h.i.+p; to prevent their oversetting, they are fitted up with outriggers, like those of the Pelew islanders. A sketch of one is given in the accompanying engraving.

They kindle their fires, as they informed me, by rubbing two pieces of wood together, as is common in the islands of the Pacific ocean; and they cook their turtle or other meat, (when they are so fortunate as to have any,) as well as their vegetables, by covering them with heated stones. I should state, however, that during the whole time we staid among them, fire was always preserved in some part of the island, so that there was no necessity for kindling it in the manner here mentioned.

Like other savage people, they reckon time by moons; I could not learn that they ever reckoned by any other period, except, indeed, when speaking of two or three days.

They take pride in their hair, and are particularly careful about it, was.h.i.+ng and cleansing it almost every day. They do not color it, however, as the natives of some islands are said to do; but they moisten it with the juice pressed out from the cocoa-nut, which gives it a very glossy appearance; and it is frequently so long as to reach down to their waist.