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Famous Voyagers and Explorers (1893) by Sarah Knowles Bolton.
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PREFACE.
In this volume, for the most part, those explorershave been chosen whose labors have been connected withNorth America. Columbus naturally comes first. Marco Polo's book doubtless influenced Columbus in hissearch for the route to India and Cathay. Magellanwas the first to circumnavigate the globe. Sir WalterRaleigh, believing in the future of America, tried invain to establish an English colony in the new world.Sir John Franklin, with many hardships, closed hispathetic and noble life in exploring our northern latitudes. The search for the North Pole has all theinterest of a romance in the experience of Kane,Hall, Greely, Lockwood, and others. David Livingstonereveals much of Africa, and furnishes an example oftrue manhood and heroic purpose. Perry opened Japanto the world. Suffering and privation were the lot ofmost of these men, but by their courage and perseverance they overcame great difficulties and accomplishedimportant results for the benefit of mankind.S. K. B.V
TABLE OF CONTENTS.PAGECHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 1MARCO POLO 73FERDINAND MAGELLAN 120SIR WALTER RALEIGH 154SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, DR. KANE, C. F. HALL, AND OTHERS 235DAVID LIVINGSTONE 336MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY 412GENERAL A. W. GREELY AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS, 442MAP OF ARCTIC REGIONS.vii
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.MORORE than four hundred years ago¹ was born inGenoa, Italy, a boy who was destined to becomefamous the world over. Monuments to his memoryare in very many of the great cities. Scores of bookshave been written about him, and now in 1893 thecountry which he discovered is doing him honor bythegreatest exposition the world has ever seen.―Dominico Colombo, a wool- comber, and his wifeSusannah Fontanarossa, the daughter of a wool-weaver,lived in a simple home in Genoa. They had five children, Christoforo; Giovanni, who died young; Bartolomeo, called later Bartholomew, who never married;Giacomo, called in Spain, Diego; and one sister, Bianchinetta, who married a cheesemonger, Bavarello, andhad one child.Susannah, the mother, appears to have had a little property, but Dominico was always unsuccessful, and diedpoor and in debt, his sons in his later years sendinghim as much money as they were able to spare.1 Authors differ as to the year in which Christopher was born. Washington Irving, in his delightful life of Columbus, thinks about the year 1435,and John Fiske, in his " Discovery of America, " and several other historians,agree with him; while Justin Winsor, in his life of Columbus, thinks with Harrisse, Muñoz, and others that he was probably born between March 15,1446, and March 20, 1447. Emilio Castelar in the Century for May-October,1892, puts the date of birth at 1433 or 1431.12 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.-The weavers had schools of their own in Genoa; andthe young Christopher learned at these the ordinarybranches, reading, writing, grammar, and arithmetic,with something of Latin and drawing. He seems to havebeen at the University of Pavia for a short time, wherehe studied geometry, geography, astronomy, and navigation, returning to his father's house to help the familyby wool-combing.The boy was eager for the sea, and at fourteen startedout upon his life of adventure on the Mediterranean,under a distant relative named Colombo. His firstvoyage of which we have an account, was in a navalexpedition fitted out in 1459 by John of Anjou, withthe aid of Genoa, against Naples, to recover it for hisfather, Duke René, Count of Provence.This warfare lasted four years, and was unsuccessful.Nearly forty years later Columbus wrote concerningthis struggle to the Spanish monarchs: " King René(whom God has taken to himself) sent me to Tunisto capture the galley Fernandina. Arriving at theisland of San Pedro in Sardinia, I learned that therewere two ships and a Caracca with the galley, which soalarmed the crew that they resolved to proceed no farther, but to go to Marseilles for another vessel and alarger crew, before which, being unable to force theirinclinations, I apparently yielded to their wish, and,having first changed the points of the compass, spreadall sail (for it was evening), and at daybreak we werewithin the Cape of Carthagena, when all believed fora certainty that we were nearing Marseilles. "If Columbus was born in 1435, he was at this timetwenty-four; a young man to be intrusted with such anenterprise.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 3These early years must have been full of danger andhardship. Piracy on the seas was common, and battlesbetween the Italian republics almost constant. Theyoung man learned to be fearless, to govern sailors well,and was full of the spirit of the age, that of exploration and conquest.-Like most other men who have come to renown,Columbus was an ardent seeker after knowledge. Heread everything obtainable about navigation, astronomy,and the discoveries which had been made at that time.Portugal was showing herself foremost in all maritime enterprises. This activity has been attributed,says Irving, to a romantic incident of the fourteenthcentury, in the discovery of the Madeira Islands.In the reign of Edward III. of England (1327-1378)Robert Machin¹ fell in love with a beautiful girl namedAnne Dorset. She was of a proud family, which refusedto allow her to marry Machin, who was arrested byorder of the king, and she was obliged to marry a nobleman, who took her to his estate near Bristol.Machin and his friends determined to rescue herfrom her hated wifehood. One of his companions became a groom in the nobleman's household, ascertainedthat she still loved Robert, and planned with her anescape with him to France.Riding out one day with the pretended groom, she wastaken to a boat, and conveyed to a vessel, in which thelovers put out to sea. They sailed along the coast pastCornwall, when a storm arose, and they were driven outof sight of land.For thirteen days they were tossed about on the ocean,1 Enc. Brit. says " Machim; " Winsor and Fiske and Major, “ Machin; "Irving, "Macham."4 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.and on the morning of the fourteenth day they cameupon a beautiful island . The young wife, overcome byfear and remorse, had already become alarmingly ill .Machin carried her to the island, where he constructeda bower for her under a great tree, and brought herfruits and flowers.The crew stayed on the vessel to guard it till theparty should return. A severe storm came up, and theship was driven off the coast and disappeared. Annenow reproached herself as being the cause of all thisdisaster; for three days she was speechless, dying without uttering a word.Machin was prostrated with grief and distress, that hehad brought her to a lonely island, away from home andfriends, to die. He died five days later, and at his ownrequest was buried by her side at the foot of a rusticaltar which he had erected under the great tree.His companions repaired the boat in which they hadcome to shore, and started upon the great ocean, hoping,almost in vain, to reach England. They were tossedabout by the winds, and finally dashed upon the rockson the coast of Morocco, where they were put in prisonby the Moors. Here they learned that their ship hadshared the same fate.HeThe English prisoners met in prison an experiencedpilot, Juan de Morales, a Spaniard of Seville.listened with the greatest interest to their story, andon his release communicated the circumstances to PrinceHenry of Portugal.This prince was the son of John the First, surnamedthe Avenger, and Philippa of Lancaster, sister of HenryIV. of England. After Prince Henry had helped hisfather in 1415 to conquer Ceuta opposite the rock ofCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 5Gibraltar, and to drive the Moors into the mountains, hedetermined to give up war and devote himself to discovery, even though on account of his bravery he was askedby the Pope, Henry V. of England, John II . of Castile,and the Emperor Sigismund, to lead their armies.He made his home on the lonely promontory of Sagres,in the south-western part of Portugal, built an astronomical observatory, invited to his home the most learnedmen of the time in naval matters, and lived the life ofa scholar. He spent all his fortune, and indeed becameinvolved in debt, in fitting out expeditions to the coastof Africa, hoping to find a southern passage to thewealth of the Indies, and to convert the barbarians toChristianity. His motto was, "Talent de bien faire ”(Desire to do well, or the talent to do well) .Prince Henry's first success was the rediscovery ofMadeira in 1418, where Robert Machin and Anne wereburied over seventy years before. The island of PortoSanto, near Madeira, of which we shall hear moreby and by, was discovered about this time by Bartholomew Perestrelo, who placed a rabbit with her little oneson the island. Years afterward these had so multipliedthat they had devoured nearly every green thing on theisland; so much so, says Mr. Fiske, that Prince Henry'senemies, angered that he spent so much money in expeditions, declared that " God had evidently created thoseislands for beasts alone, not for men! "Through the enterprise of Prince Henry, Cape Bojador, on the western coast of Africa, was doubled in 1434by Gil Eannes. Heretofore it had been believed thatif anybody ventured so near the torrid zone, he wouldnever come back alive, on account of the dreadful heatand boisterous waves at that point.6 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.The coast was soon explored from Cape Blanco to CapeVerde. In 1460 Diego Gomez discovered the Cape VerdeIslands, and two years later Piedro de Cintra reachedSierra Leone. In 1484 Diego Cam went as far as themouth of the Congo, and the following year a thousandmiles farther; and while the Portuguese took back hundreds of negro slaves to be sold, they sent missionariesto teach the blacks the true faith!Prince Henry had died Nov. 13, 1460, so that he did.not live to see Africa circumnavigated by BartholomewDiaz or Vasco da Gama.The then known world talked about these expeditionsof Portugal; therefore it was not strange that Columbus,thirty-five years old, should make his way to Lisbon,about the year 1470. His younger brother, Bartholomew, was already living in Lisbon, making maps andglobes with great skill . Columbus is described at thattime as tall and of exceedingly fine figure, suave, yetdignified in manners, with fair complexion, eyes blue andfull of expression, hair light, but at thirty white as snowHe had the air of one born to be a leader, while he wonfriends by his frankness and cordiality.In Lisbon, Columbus attended services at the chapelof the Convent of All Saints . One of the ladies of rank,who either boarded at the monastery, or had someofficial connection with it, was so pleased with the evident devotion of the young stranger, that she sought hisacquaintance, and married him in 1473. She was hissuperior in position though without much fortune, —the daughter of the Bartholomew Perestrelo who, havingdiscovered the island of Porto Santo, was made itsgovernor by Prince Henry. Perestrelo had died sixteenyears previously, leaving a widow, Isabella Moñiz, andCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 7an attractive daughter, Philippa, the bride of Columbus.Some historians think she was not a daughter, but a nearrelative.The newly wedded couple went to Porto Santo tolive with the mother, who naturally gave Columbusall the charts, maps, and journals of his father-in-law.These he carefully studied, becoming familiar with thevoyages made by the Portuguese. When he was notin service on the ocean, he earned money as before bymaking maps and charts, sending some funds to hisimpecunious father, and helping to educate his youngerbrother.His wife's sister had married Pedro Correo, a navigator of some prominence, and the two men must havetalked of possible discoveries with intense interest.Columbus, after much study, believed that there wasland to the westward of Spain and Portugal. If theearth were a globe or sphere, then somewhere betweenPortugal and Asia it was natural to suppose that therewas a large body of land. He had read in Aristotle,Seneca, and Pliny, that one might pass from Spain toIndia in a few days; he had also read of wood andother articles floating from the westward to the islands,near the known continent.Martin Vicenti, a pilot in the service of the King ofPortugal, had found a piece of carved wood four hundredand fifty leagues to the west of Cape St. Vincent. Theinhabitants of the Azores had seen trunks of pine-treescast upon their shores, and the bodies of two men unlike any known race.So deeply was Columbus impressed with the probability of a western world, or rather that the easterncoast of Asia stretched far towards the west, that he wrote8 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.a letter to the learned astronomer, Paolo del Pozzio deiToscanelli of Florence, in 1474, asking for his opinionupon the subject. The astronomer had already written aletter on the same matter to Alfonso V., King of Portugal, and copied this letter for Columbus, sending himalso a chart showing what he believed to be the positionof the Atlantic Ocean (called the Sea of Darkness) ,with Europe on the east, and Cathay (China) on thewest.Toscanelli had read Marco Polo's book, and he wroteto Columbus concerning the wonderful Cathay wherethe great Khan lived, and where there was much goldand silver and spices, and a splendid island, Cipango(Japan), where " they cover the temples and palaces withsolid gold. " To reach these one must sail steadily westward.Toscanelli estimated the circumference of the earthat about the correct figure, but thought the distance fromLisbon to Quinsay (Hang-chow, China), westward, tobe about six thousand five hundred miles, supposingthat Asia covered nearly the whole width of the PacificOcean.When Columbus had sailed about one-third of the way,thought Toscanelli, he would come to " Antilia," or theSeven Islands, where seven Spanish bishops, driven outof Spain when the Moors captured it, had built sevensplendid cities . Below these he placed on his map theisland of " St Brandon," where a Scotch priest of thatname had landed in the sixth century. None of thesefabled islands was ever found. Columbus took this chartof Toscanelli's with him when he sailed for the NewWorld. The aged astronomer had encouraged Columbus to persevere in a voyage " fraught with honor as itCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 9must be, and inestimable gain, and most lofty fame amongall Christian people. .. When that voyage shall beaccomplished, it will be a voyage to powerful kingdoms,and to cities and provinces most wealthy and noble,abounding in all things most desired by us." Howliterally has this come true, though Toscanelli saw onlyChina in the distance! He died in 1482, ten yearsbefore Columbus was able to make the long-desiredvoyage.Columbus, if he had not read it before, now obtainedthe book of Marco Polo, published in a Latin translationin 1485, a copy of which is now in the Biblioteca Colombina in Seville, with marginal notes believed to be inthe handwriting of Columbus. He also read carefully,as the margin is nearly covered with his notes, “ ImagoMundi, " published in 1410 by Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly,Bishop of Cambrai, or more generally known as PeterAlliacus. He copied largely from Roger Bacon, whohad collated the writings of ancient authors to provethat the distance from Spain to Asia could not be verygreat.Columbus believed that to reach Japan he would needto sail only about two thousand five hundred miles fromthe Canaries. Happy error! for where would he havefound men willing to undertake a journey of twelvethousand miles across an untried ocean? Columbus waseager to make the voyage, but he was poor, comparativelyunknown, and how could it be accomplished? It is saidthat he sought aid for his enterprise from his nativeland, Genoa, but it was not given. King Alfonso wasengaged in a war with Spain, and therefore too busy tothink of explorations.In 1481 John II. , then twenty-five years old, came to10 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.the throne of Portugal, and he had the same ambitionsas his grand-uncle, Prince Henry. He knew of MarcoPolo's account of Cathay, and he longed to make Portugal more famous by her discoveries. He called menof science to his aid, the celebrated Martin Behaim andothers, the latter having invented an improved astrolobeenabling seamen to find their distance from the equatorby the altitude of the sun.Behaim was a friend of Columbus; and, whetherthrough his influence or not, the latter was encouragedto lay his westward scheme before John II. The kinglistened with attention, but feared the expense of fittingout the ships, as the African expeditions had alreadycost so much. Columbus, having great faith in his discoveries, asked for his family titles and rewards that theking was as yet unwilling to grant. The latter, however,referred the proposition to two distinguished cosmographers, and to his confessor, the Bishop of Ceuta.The latter opposed the spending of more money invoyages, which he said " tended to distract the attention,drain the resources, and divide the power of the nation. "The war in which the king was engaged with the Moorsof Barbary was sufficient " employment for the activevalor of the nation," the bishop said. The bishop wasopposed by Don Pedro de Meneses, Count of Villa Real,who said that " although a soldier, he dared to prognosticate, with a voice and spirit as if from heaven, towhatever prince should achieve this enterprise, morehappy success and durable renown than had ever beenobtained by sovereign the most valorous and fortunate. "King John could not bear to give up the enterpriseentirely, as, if great achievements should be lost toPortugal, he would never forgive himself. An under-CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 11·handed measure was therefore adopted. The plans ofColumbus for this proposed voyage were laid before theking, and a caravel was privately sent over the route tosee if some islands could not be discovered that mightmake the westward passage to Cathay probable. Stormsarose, and the pilots, seeing only a broad and turbulentocean, came back and reported this scheme visionary andabsurd. Columbus soon learned of the deceit, andbetook himself to Spain in 1485, taking with him his littleson Diego, born in Porto Santo. He left him at Huelva,near Palos, with the youngest sister of his wife, who hadmarried a man named Muliar.Authorities differ about all the early incidents ofColumbus' life before he became noted; but this disposition of the son seems probable, and that he lived withher while his father for seven long years besought crownsin vain to aid him in his grand discoveries .Portugal lost forever the glory she might have won.Columbus wrote later: " I went to make my offer toPortugal, whose king was more versed in discovery thanany other. The Lord bound up his sight and all thesenses, so that in fourteen years I could not bring himto heed what I said. "His wife, with one child or perhaps two, was necessarilyleft behind in Portugal, where she died soon after. Somehistorians think he deserted her, but this is scarcely possible, as under such circumstances her sister would nothave been willing to keep the child of Columbus forseven years, neither would his wife's relations have remained his friends, coming to see him in Portugal justafter he had started on his fourth voyage, and probablymany times previously.Columbus departed secretly from Portugal, it is sup-12 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.posed much in debt through commercial or nautical transactions, as years later King John invited him to return,assuring him that he would not be arrested on any matters pending against him.For many months in Spain, Columbus probably supported himself by selling maps and printed books, whichHarrisse thinks contained calendars and astronomicalpredictions. Yet there was ever before him the one purpose ofthe westward voyage. He naturally made friends.among distinguished people on account of his intelligenceand charm of manner, and he used all these opportunitiesto further his one object.In January, 1486, he seems to have entered the serviceof Ferdinand and Isabella, as his journal shows. Aboutthis time he made the acquaintance of Alonso de Quintanilla, the comptroller of the finances of Castile, andwas a guest at his house at Cordova, and with AlexanderGeraldini, the tutor of the royal children, and his brotherAntonio, the papal nuncio. These friends, who becameinterested in the alert mind and far-reaching plans of thenavigator, led to an acquaintance with Pedro Gonzalesde Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo and Grand Cardinalof Spain. He, of course, had great influence with thesovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, and helped to preparetheir minds for a kindly reception of the projects of Columbus.These monarchs were too busy conquering the Moorsto give the plan much consideration; but Columbus wentbefore Ferdinand, and with the earnestness born of conviction, explained his wishes.Ferdinand and Isabella ruled jointly over Aragonand Castile, but while their names were stamped togetheron the public coins, they had separate councils, and wereCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 13often in separate parts of the country, governing theirrespective kingdoms.Ferdinand was of good physique, with chestnut-coloredhair, animated in countenance, quick of speech, and atireless worker.Irving says he was "cold, selfish, and artful. Hewas called the wise and prudent in Spain; in Italy, thepious; in France and England, the ambitious and perfidious. He certainly was one of the most subtle statesmen, but one of the most thorough egotists, that eversat upon a throne. "Winsor says "his smiles and remorseless coldness weremixed as few could mix them even in those days. ... .He was enterprising in his actions, as the Moors andheretics found out. He did not extort money, he onlyextorted agonized confessions. "Castelar says " he joined the strength of the lion.to the instincts of the fox. Perchance in all historythere has not been his equal in energy and craftiness .He was distrustful above all else; . . . he scrupled littleto resort to dissimulation, deceit, and, in case of necessity, crime." Isabella, Castelar, calls, "the foremostand most saintly queen of Christendom. "Irving thinks Isabella "one of the purest and mostbeautiful characters in the pages of history. She waswell formed, of the middle size, with great dignity andgracefulness of deportment, and a mingled gravity andsweetness of demeanor. Her complexion was fair; herhair auburn, inclining to red; her eyes were of a clearblue, with a benign expression, and there was a singularmodesty in her countenance, gracing, as it did, a wonderful firmness of purpose and earnestness of spirit.Though strongly attached to her husband, and studious14 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.of his fame, yet she always maintained her distinct rightsas an allied prince. She exceeded him in beauty, in personal dignity, in acuteness of genius, and in grandeur ofsoul. . . ."She strenuously opposed the expulsion of the Jewsand the establishment of the Inquisition, though, unfortunately for Spain, her repugnance was slowly vanquishedby her confessor. She was always an advocate for clemency to the Moors, although she was the soul of the waragainst Granada. She considered that war essential toprotect the Christian faith, and to relieve her subjects.from fierce and formidable enemies. While all her public thoughts and acts were princely and august, her privatehabits were simple, frugal, and unostentatious." In the intervals of state-business she assembled roundher the ablest men in literature and science, and directedherself by their councils, in promoting letters and arts .Through her patronage Salamanca rose to that heightwhich it assumed among the learned institutions of theage. "Isabella was not less brave in war than she wasstatesmanlike in peace. Several complete suits of armor,which she wore in her campaigns, are preserved in theroyal arsenal at Madrid.Ferdinand referred the proposed expedition of Columbus to Isabella's confessor, Fernando de Talavera, oneof the most learned men of Spain, who in turn laidit before a junto of distinguished men, some of themfrom the University of Salamanca.The meeting was held in the convent of St. Stephen,where Columbus was entertained during the examination.It must have been a time of the greatest anxiety, yetbrightened by hope. He stated the case with his usualdignity and firm belief.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 15To the majority of the junto such a plan seemed sacrilegious. Some quoted from the early theologicalwriters: " Is there any one so foolish as to believe thatthere are antipodes with their feet opposite to ours;people who walk with their heels upward, and their headshanging down? That there is a part of the world inwhich all things are topsy-turvy; where the trees growwith their branches downward, and where it rains, hails,and snows upward? "They opposed texts of Scripture to the earth being asphere, and showed from St. Augustine that if there werepeople on the other side of a globe, they could not bedescended from Adam, as the Bible stated, because theycould not have crossed the intervening ocean.Others said that if Columbus sailed, and reached India,he could never get back, for, the globe being round, thewaters would rise in a mountain, up which it would beimpossible to sail. Others, with more wisdom, said thatthe earth was so large that it would take three years tosail around it, and that provisions could not be taken forso long a voyage.Columbus maintained that the inspired writers were notspeaking as cosmographers, and that the early fatherswere not necessarily philosophers or scientists, and hequoted from the Bible verses which he believed pointedto the sublime discovery which he proposed. Diego deDeza, a learned friar, afterwards Archbishop of Seville,the second ecclesiastical dignitary of Spain, was won bythe arguments of Columbus, and became an earnestco-worker. Other conferences took place, but nothingdecisive was accomplished.When the monarchs were in some protracted siege forseveral months, like that at Malaga, Columbus would be16 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.summoned to a conference; but, for one reason or another,it would be postponed . " Often in these campaigns," saysan old chronicler, " Columbus was found fighting, givingproofs of the distinguished valor which accompanied hiswisdom and his lofty desires."Whenever Columbus was summoned to follow thecourt, he was attached to the royal suite, and his expenses provided for. During the intervals he supportedhimself as before by his maps and charts. He was constantly ridiculed as a dreamer, so that it is said the children in the streets made fun of him. "He went aboutso ill-clad, " says Castelar, " that he was named the' Stranger with the Threadbare Cloak. ' "In the midst of all these delays and bitterness ofsoul and exposures in war, Columbus, when he was notfar from fifty years old, fell in love with a beautifulyoung woman, Beatrix Enriquez Arana, of a noble family, but reduced in fortune. Her brother was the intimate friend of Columbus. In 1488, Aug. 15, a sonFerdinand was born to Beatrix and Columbus, whobecame in after years a noted student and book collector, the biographer of his father, and the owner of alibrary of over twenty thousand volumes, bought in allthe principal book marts of Europe. Ferdinand leftmoney to the Cathedral of Seville, for the care of thislibrary; but for some centuries it was neglected, evenchildren, it is said, being allowed to roam in the halls,and destroy the valuable treasures.Columbus seems to have been tenderly attached toBeatrix as long as he lived, and provided for her in hiswill, at his death, enjoining his son Diego to care forher. She survived Columbus many years, he dying in1506; and Mr. Winsor thinks she unquestionably sur-CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 17vived the making of Diego's will in 1523, seventeenyears after his father's death.Among the noted personages whom Columbus tried tointerest in his plans, either when he first came to Spain,as Irving and Castelar think, or some years later, according to Harrisse, Winsor, Fiske, and others, were therich and powerful dukes, Medina-Sidonia and MedinaCeli. These had great estates along the seacoast, andowned ships of their own. The former was at first interested, but finally refused to assist.The latter, Luis de la Cerda, made sovereign of theCanaries by Pope Clement VI. , with the title of Princeof Fortune, took Columbus to his own elegant castle andmade it his home for two years. He was a learned man,and he and Columbus studied the stars and navigationtogether. He was desirous of fitting out some vesselsfor the enterprise of Columbus; but fearing that themonarchs would oppose such a work by a private individual, he remained inactive. Finally Columbus determined to appeal to the King of France for aid- he hadalready sent Bartholomew, his brother, to Henry VII. ofEngland, to ask his help; but Bartholomew was capturedby pirates, and was not heard from for some years.Medina-Celi, fearing that some other country wouldwin the renown of a great discovery which he felt sureColumbus would make, wrote an urgent letter to themonarchs, offering to fit out two or three caravels forColumbus, and have a share in the profits of the voyage; but Isabella refused, saying that she had not decided about the matter.Columbus was growing heart-sick with his wearywaiting. The city of Baza, besieged for more than sixmonths, had surrendered Dec. 22, 1489, to Spain, Muley18 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.Boabdil, the elder of the two rival kings of Granada,giving up all his possessions, and Ferdinand and Isabellahad entered Seville in triumph in February of 1490 .Great rejoicing soon followed over the marriage of theirdaughter, Princess Isabella, with the heir to the throneof Portugal, Don Alonzo.As the summer passed Columbus heard that the monarchs were to proceed against the younger Moorish king.He had become impatient with this constant procrastination, and had pressed the sovereigns for a decision.He was fifty-five years old, and life was slipping by, withnothing accomplished. Talavera, who cared for littleexcept to see the Moors conquered, finally presented thematter before another junto, who decided that the planwas vain and impossible.But the sovereigns, not quite willing to let a possibleachievement slip from their grasp, sent word to Columbus that when the war was over they would gladly takeup the matter, and give it careful attention. Columbusdetermined to hear from their own lips that for which hehad waited nearly seven long years in useless hope, andrepaired at once to Seville. The reply was as before,and, poor, and growing old, he turned his back uponSpain to seek the assistance of France.He went to Huelva for his boy, Diego, possibly to leavehim with Beatrix and the child Ferdinand, then threeyears old; and when about half a league from Palos,stopped at the convent of La Rabida, dedicated to SantaMaria de Rabida. It belonged to the Franciscan friars,a lonely place on a height above the ocean.Columbus was walking- he had no money to pay fortravelling was leading his boy by the hand, and stoppedto ask for some bread and water for his child. The friar-CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 19of the convent, Juan Perez, happening to pass by, wasstruck by the appearance of the white- haired man, andentered into conversation with him. Juan Perez was aman of much information, had been confessor to thequeen, and was deeply interested in the plans of Columbus. He asked him to remain as his guest at the convent, and sent for his friend, Garcia Fernandez, aphysician of Palos, and a well-read man, and MartinAlonzo Pinzon, a wealthy navigator, to talk with thisstranger. Pinzon at once offered to help furnish moneyand to go in person on the hazardous voyage.Perez, loyal to Isabella, felt that France ought not towin such honor, when it lay at the very door of Spain.He proposed to write to Isabella at once; and Columbus, with probably but little hope at this late day, consented to remain until an answer was received from her.Sebastian Rodriguez, a pilot of Lepe, and a man ofsome note, was chosen to bear the precious letter. Hefound access to the queen, who wrote a letter to JuanPerez, thanking him for his timely message, and askingthat he come immediately to court.At the end of fourteen days Rodriguez returned, andthe little company at the convent rejoiced with renewedhopes. The good friar saddled his mule, and before midnight was on his way to Santa Fé, the military citywhere the queen was stationed while pressing the siegeof Granada.The letter of Medina- Celi had influenced her; and herbest friend and companion, the Marchioness Moya, awoman of superior ability, was urging her to aid Columbus and thus bring great renown to herself and to Spain.Juan Perez pressed his suit warmly, with the resultthat Isabella sent Columbus twenty thousand maravedis20 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.(Mr. Fiske says one thousand, one hundred and eightydollars of our money) to buy proper clothing to appearat court, and to provide himself with a mule for thejourney.Bidding good-by to the rejoicing company at La Rabida, Columbus, accompanied by Juan Perez, startedearly in December, 1491, on their mules, for the royalcamp at Santa Fé.Alonso de Quintanilla, his former friend, the accountant-general, received Columbus cordially, and providedfor his entertainment. The queen could not receive himjust then; for Boabdil, the last of the Moorish kings,was about to surrender Granada, which he did January2, 1492, giving up the keys of the gorgeous Alhambra tothe Spanish sovereigns.At the surrender Ferdinand was dressed in his royalrobes, his crimson mantle lined with ermine, and hisplumed cap radiant with jewels, while about him werebrilliantly clad officials on their richly caparisoned horses.Boabdil wore black, as befitting his sad defeat. He attemptedto dismount and kneel before Ferdinand; but thisthe latter would not permit, so he imprinted a kiss upon.Ferdinand's right arm.After having surrendered the two great keys of thecity, Boabdil said to the knight who was to rule overGranada, Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, taking from his own.finger a gold ring set with a precious jewel, and handingit to Mendoza, "With this signet has Granada beengoverned. Take it, that you may rule the land; andmay Allah prosper your power more than he hath prospered mine. "After this Boabdil met the queen in royal attire seatedupon her horse, her son, Prince Juan, in the richest gar-CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 21ments on horseback at her right, and the princess andladies of her court at her left. Here Boabdil knelt beforethe queen. His first-born had been kept by his enemies.as a hostage, and he was there returned to his father."Hitherto," says Castelar, " Boabdil had shed no tear,but now, on beholding again the son of Moraima, his beloved, he pressed his face against the face of the poorchild and wept passionately of the abundance of hisheart. "The time had come for Columbus to meet Isabella.When in her presence he stipulated that if the voyagewere undertaken, he should be made admiral and viceroyover the countries discovered, and receive the tenth partof the revenues from the lands, either by trade or conquest. The conditions were not harder than those ofsubsequent voyagers, but to the courtiers and to Talaverasuch demands made by a threadbare navigator seemedabsurd. Talavera represented to Isabella that it would bedegrading so to exalt an ordinary man and, as he thought,an adventurer.More moderate terms were offered Columbus, but hedeclined them; and, more sick at heart than ever, hemounted his mule, in the beginning of February, 1492,and turned back to Cordova and La Rabida, on his wayto France.Alonso de Quintanilla, and Luis de Santangel, receiverof the ecclesiastical revenues in Aragon, were distressedbeyond measure at this termination of the meeting.They rushed into the queen's presence and eloquentlybesought her to reconsider the matter, reminding herhow much she could do for the glory of God and the renown of Spain by some grand discoveries. The Marchioness Moya, Beatrix de Bobadilla, added all the fervor ofher nature to the request.22 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.Ferdinand looked coldly upon the project. The treasury of the country was exhausted by the late wars.Finally, with her woman's heart responsive to heroicdeeds, and a far-sightedness beyond that of the doubtingFerdinand, she said, " I undertake the enterprise formy own crown of Castile, and will pledge my jewels toraise the necessary funds. ""This," truly says Irving, " was the proudest momentin the life of Isabella; it stamped her renown foreveras the patroness of the discovery of the New World. "Isabella did not have to part with her jewels, as thefunds were raised by Santangel from his private revenues, and it is now generally believed that no help wasgiven by Ferdinand. It is quite probable that the queenpledged her jewels as security for the loan by Santangel.A courier was sent in all haste after Columbus, whowas found about six miles out of Granada, crossing thebridge of Pinos. When he was told that the queenwished to see him, he hesitated for a moment, lest theold disappointment should be in store for him; but whenit was asserted that she had given a positive promise toundertake the enterprise, he turned his mule towardSanta Fe, and hastened back joyfully to Isabella's presence.The queen received him with great benignity, andgranted all the concessions he had asked. He, at his ownsuggestion, by the assistance of the Pinzons of Palos,was to bear one-eighth of the expense, which he didlater. The papers were signed at Santa Fe April 17,1492, and on May 12 (his son Diego having been four dayspreviously appointed page to the prince-apparent) he setout joyfully for Palos to prepare for the long- hoped- forvoyage.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 23On arriving at Palos he went immediately to the convent of La Rabida, and he and Juan Perez rejoicedtogether. On the morning of May 23 the two proceededto the church of St. George in Palos, where many of theleading people had been notified to be present, and theregave the royal order by which two caravels or barks, withtheir crews, were to be ready for sea in ten days, Palos,for some misdemeanor, having been required to furnishtwo armed caravels to the crown for one year. A certificate of good conduct from Columbus was considered adischarge of obligation to the monarchs. To any personwilling to engage in the expedition, all criminal processes against them or their property were to be suspendedduring absence.When it was known that the vessels were to go on anuntried ocean, perhaps never to return, the men werefilled with terror and refused to obey the royal decree.Weeks passed and nothing was accomplished. Mobsgathered as men were pressed into the service.Finally, through the influence of the Pinzons, and moreroyal commands, the three vessels were made ready. Thelargest, which was decked, called the Santa Maria, belonged to Juan de la Cosa, who now commanded her,with Sancho Ruiz and Pedro Alonzo Niño for his pilots.She was ninety feet long by twenty feet broad, and wasthe Admiral's flag- ship.The other open vessels were the Pinta, commanded byMartin Alonzo Pinzon, with his brother, Francisco Martin Pinzon, as pilot, and the Niña (Baby) , commanded byanother brother, Vicente Yañez Pinzon. On board thethree ships were one hundred and twenty persons according to Irving, but according to Ferdinand, the son ofColumbus, and Las Casas, ninety persons .24 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.Isabella paid towards this equipment 1,140,000 maravedis, probably equal to about $67,500; while Columbusraised 500,000 maravedis, or $29,500.The vessels being ready for sea, Columbus, his officers,and crews partook of the sacrament, and made confessionto Friar Juan Perez, and on Friday - this was considereda lucky day, as Granada was taken on Friday, and thefirst crusade under Godfrey of Bouillon had taken Jerusalem on the same day -Aug. 3, 1492, half an hour beforesunrise, with many tears and lamentations, they sailedaway from Palos toward an unknown land. A deep gloomcame over the people of Palos, for they never expectedto see their loved ones again. For three hours Perez andhis friends watched the fading sails till they disappearedfrom sight.On the third day at sea the rudder of the Pinta wasfound to be broken, and Columbus surmised that it hadhappened purposely, as the owners of the boat, GomezRascon and Christoval Quintero, were on board, and having been pressed into service against their will, wereglad of any excuse to turn back.By care she was taken on Aug. 9 as far as the CanaryIslands, where Columbus hoped to replace her by anothervessel; but after three weeks, and no prospect of anothership, they were obliged to make a new rudder for thePinta and go forward.On the 6th of September, early in the morning, theysailed away from the island of Gomera, and were soonout of sight of land . The hearts of the seamen nowfailed them, and rugged sailors wept like children .The admiral tried to comfort them with the prospect ofgold and precious stones in India and Cathay, enough tomake them all rich.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 25-Seeing their terror as well as real sorrow at beingalone on the ocean, he deceived them as to the distancefrom their homes, by keeping two reckonings, one correct for himself, one false for them. The sailors wereconstantly anxious and distrustful. They were alarmedwhen they saw the peak of Teneriffe in the Canaries ineruption, and now the deflection of the compass- needleaway from the pole-star made them sure that the verylaws of nature were being changed on this wild andunknown waste of waters.On Sept. 16 they sailed into vast masses of seaweeds,abounding in fish and crabs. They were eight hundredmiles from the Canaries, in the Sargasso Sea, which wastwo thousand fathoms' or more than two miles in depth.They feared they should be stranded, and could beconvinced to the contrary only when their lines werethrown into the sea and failed to touch bottom.Almost daily they thought they saw land; now it wasa mirage at sunrise or sunset; now two pelicans came onboard, and these Columbus felt sure did not go overtwenty leagues from land; now they caught a bird withfeet like a sea-fowl, and were certain that it was a riverbird; now singing land birds, as they thought, hoveredabout the ship.They began to grow restless so often were they disappointed. They were borne westward by the tradewinds, and they feared that the wind would always prevail from the east, so that they would never get back toSpain.They finally began to murmur against Columbus, thathe was an Italian, and did not care for Spaniards; andthey talked among themselves of an easy way to be rid ofhim by the single thrust of a poniard. Columbus knew26 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.of their mutinous spirit, and sometimes soothed andsometimes threatened them with punishment.On Sept. 25 Martin Alonzo Pinzon thought he beheldland to the south-west, and, mounting on the stern of hisvessel, cried, " Land! Land! Señor, I claim my reward! " The sovereign had offered a prize of ten thousand maravedis to the one who should first discover land.Columbus threw himself upon his knees and gavethanks to God, and Martin repeated the Gloria in excelsis,in which all the crew joined. Morning put an end totheir vision of land, and they sailed on as before, everfarther from home and friends.So many times the crew thought they discerned landand gave a false alarm, afterwards growing more discontented, that Columbus declared that all such shouldforfeit their claim to the award, unless land were discovered in three days.On the morning of Oct. 7 the crew of the Niñawere sure they saw land, hoisted the flag at her masthead, and discharged a gun, the preconcerted signals, butthey soon found that they had deceived themselves.The crews now became dejected. They had come2,724 miles from the Canaries, and this was farther thanColumbus had supposed Cipango (Japan) to be. He determined therefore to sail west south-west, instead of duewest. If he had kept on his course he would havetouched Florida. Field birds came flying about theships, and a heron, a pelican, and a duck were seen; butthe sailors murmured more and more, and insisted uponhis turning homeward, and giving up a useless voyage.He endeavored to pacify at first, and then he toldthem, happen what might, he should press on to theIndies.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 27The next day the indications of land grew stronger;a green fish of a kind which lives on rocks was seen, abranch of hawthorn with berries on it, and a staff artificially carved. Not an eye was closed that night,Columbus having promised a doublet of velvet in addition to the prize offered by the sovereigns to the firstdiscoverer of land. As evening came on Columbus tookhis position on the foremost part of his vessel, andwatched intently. About ten o'clock he thought he sawa light in the distance, and called to Pedro Gutierrezchamberlain in the king's service, who confirmed it.He then called Rodrigo Sanchez, but by that time thelight had disappeared. Once or twice afterward theysaw it as though some person were carrying it on shoreor in a boat, tossed by waves.At two in the morning on Friday of Oct. 12 thePinta, which sailed faster than the other ships, descriedthe land two leagues away. Rodrigo de Triana of Seville first saw it; but the award was given to Columbus,as he had first seen the light.A thrill of joy and thanksgiving ran through everyheart. Columbus hastily threw his scarlet cloak abouthim, and with one hand grasping his sword and the otherthe cross, standing beneath the royal banner, gold embroidered with F. and Y. on either side, the initials ofFerdinand and Ysabel, surmounted by crowns, he andhis followers put out to shore in a little boat. As soonas he landed he knelt on the earth, kissed it, and gavethanks to God with tears, all joining him in the TeDeum.His men gathered about him, embraced him while theywept, begged his forgiveness for their mutinous spirit,and promised obedience in the future.28 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.The naked natives, filled with awe at these beings inarmor, whom they supposed had come from heaven, -alas that they should have been so pitifully deceived,- fled to the woods at first, but soon came close to theSpaniards, felt of their white beards, touched their whiteskin, so unlike their own, and were as gentle as children.When a sword was shown them, they innocently took itby the edge. They received eagerly the bells and redcaps which Columbus offered them, and gave cakes ofbread, called cassava, parrots, and cotton yarn in exchange.The island upon which Columbus probably landed wascalled by the natives Guanahani, now San Salvador,one of the Bahama group. It has never been fullysettled upon which of the group Columbus landed, manybelieving it to have been Watling's Island.Columbus was amazed at the canoes of the people, asingle tree trunk being hollowed out sufficiently to holdforty or forty-five men. He wrote in his journal:"Some brought us water; others things to eat; others,when they saw that I went not ashore, leaped into thesea, swimming, and came, and, as we supposed, asked usif we were come from heaven; and then came anold man into the boat, and all men and women, in aloud voice cried, ' Come and see the men who camefrom heaven; bring them food and drink.""The people had some bits of gold about them, in theirnoses and elsewhere; and as gold was ever the dream ofthe Spanish discoverer, they were eagerly questioned as towhere the precious metal was to be obtained. Columbusunderstood them to say farther south, so while he believed he had touched the Indies, he must go still fartherfor the wonderful Cipango.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 29He seized seven Indians and took them on board tolearn the Spanish language and become interpreters.Two of them soon escaped, as they naturally loved theirhomes and their people.Columbus has been severely censured for his coursetowards the Indians, then and later; but it is becomingin us Americans to deal leniently with the early discoverers, when we remember how a Christian nation hastreated the Indians through four centuries . The blamecannot be put entirely upon Indian agents; our peoplehave shown the same eager desires for their land as theSpaniards. We have forgotten to keep our promises,and these things have been permitted by those in exaltedofficial position.After having investigated the island upon which helanded, Columbus reached another island Oct. 15, whichhe called Santa Maria de la Conception, and on Oct.16 another, which he called Fernandina. The littlehouses of the people were neat. They used hamacsfor beds, nets hung from posts; hence our word hammocks. They had dogs which could not bark. Columbus named the next island which he found Isabella, andthen, Oct. 28, reached Cuba, where he hoped, from thehalf-understood natives, that gold would be obtainedin abundance. He found luxuriant vegetation, brilliantbirds and flowers, fish which rivalled the birds in color,a beautiful river, a country where " one could live forever," he said. " It is the most beautiful island thateyes ever beheld, full of excellent ports and profoundrivers." The tropical nights filled him with admiration .Nothing was wanting to the scene but the great KublaiKhan of Cathay with his enormous wealth describedby Marco Polo, and the gold for which the Spaniards30 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.agonized, as a proof to their sovereign that they hadfound the westward passage to Asia.Imagining that a great king must live in the centre ofthe island, Columbus sent two Spaniards, Rodrigo deJerez and Luis de Torres, a converted Jew who knewHebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic, with two Indians asguides to the supposed monarch. They took presentsto this king, and started on their will-o'-the-wisp journey.After going twelve leagues a village of a thousandpeople was found. The natives offered them fruits andvegetables, and kissed their hands and feet in token ofsubmission or adoration of such wonderful beings. TheSpaniards saw no gold and no monarch; and, on theirreturn, Columbus was obliged to give up some of hishopes about Cathay and gold- covered houses.-The natives were seen to roll a leaf, and, lighting oneend of it, put the other in their mouth and smoke it." The Spaniards, " says Irving, " were struck with astonishment at this singular and apparently nauseous indulgence. " The leaf was tobacco, they called it tobacos, —and the habit of barbarians has been easily copied bycivilized men. The natives said bohio, which meanshouse, and which they applied to a populous place likeHispaniola or Hayti; sometimes they said quisqueya,that is, the whole; and Columbus, thinking they meantthe Quinsay (Hangchow) of Marco Polo, once morestarted in his search for wealth, and on the evening ofDec. 6 entered a harbor at the western end of Hayti.The natives had fled in terror; so Columbus sent somearmed men to the interior, accompanied by Indian interpreters. They found a village of about a thousandhouses, whose inmates all fled , but were reassured bythe interpreters, who told them that these strangers wereCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 31descended from the skies, and went about making precious and beautiful presents. A naked young womanhad been seized by the Spaniards; but Columbus gave .her clothing and bells, and released her so as to win theothers to friendliness. Her husband now came to thenine armed men and thanked them for her safe returnand for the gifts.While Columbus was at Hayti a young chief visitedhim, borne by four men on a sort of litter, and attendedby two hundred subjects. The subjects remained outside of Columbus's cabin, while two old men entered withthe chief and sat at his feet. He spoke but little, butgave the admiral a curious belt and two pieces of gold,for which Columbus in return presented him with a pieceof cloth, several amber beads, colored shoes, and a flaskof orange-water. In the evening he was sent on shorewith great ceremony, and a salute fired in his honor.Later Columbus received a request from a greaterchief, Guacanagari, that he would come with his ships.to his part of the island; but as the wind then prevented,a small party of Spaniards visited him and were mosthospitably received.On the morning of Dec. 24 Columbus started to visit.this chief; and when they had come within a leagueof his residence, the sea being calm and the admiralhaving retired, his vessel, the Santa Maria, ran upon asandbank and quickly went to pieces. When the chiefheard of the shipwreck he shed tears, sent his people tounload the vessel and guard the contents, and his familyto cheer the admiral, assuring him that everything hepossessed was at the disposal of Columbus. All thecrew went on board the little Niña, and later were entertained by Guacanagari.32 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.He presented Columbus with a carved mask of wood,with the eyes and ears of gold; and perceiving that theeyes of the Spaniards glistened whenever they saw gold,he had all brought to them which could be obtained,even his own coronet of gold, for which they gave bells,nails, or any trifle, though sometimes cloth and shoes.Columbus wrote, " So loving, so tractable, so peaceableare these people, that I swear to your majesties there isnot in the world a better nation, nor a better land. Theylove their neighbors as themselves; and their discourseis ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile;and though it is true that they are naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy." The Pinta hadapparently deserted - Columbus and Pinzon had differedwith each other several times for she was nowhere tobe found; and with only the Niña, and winter comingon, he deemed it wise to return to Spain and make areport to his sovereigns.-The little vessel could not hold all the crew; and several begged to remain, as the warm climate and indolentlife suited them. A fort was therefore built from thetimbers of the wrecked Santa Maria, the Indians helping in the labor; and in ten days La Navidad, or theNativity, in memorial of the shipwreck on Christmas,was ready for the ammunition and stores, enough for ayear, and for the thirty-nine who were to remain. Thecommand was given to Diego de Arana of Cordova, acousin of Beatrix, the relatives of Beatrix, and themoney of the family, although not great in quantity, werealways at the service of Columbus.―Warning his comrades who were to be left behind notto stray beyond the friendly country of Guacanagari, totreat him with the greatest respect, and to gather a tonCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 33of gold in his absence if possible, Columbus, after asad parting, sailed homeward Jan. 4, 1493.After two days they came upon the lost Pinta, Pinzonexplaining his desertion by stress of weather. He wasvery glad to return with the admiral to Spain, althougha heavy storm coming up, they parted company, and didnot meet again till they were in their own country.On Feb. 12 a violent .storm placed Columbus in somuch danger in his open boat that, fearful lest allshould be lost, and no report of his discoveries reach.Spain, he wrote on parchment two accounts, wrappedeach in cloth, then in a cake of wax, and enclosed eachin a barrel. One was thrown into the sea, and the otherleft on board the Niña, to float in case she should sink.Onthe homeward journey they were obliged to put intothe Azores, where a party of five going to a little chapelof the Virgin to give thanks for their deliverance fromshipwreck were seized by order of the Portuguese governor of the island. They were finally released, as suchan act might make unpleasant complications with Spain.A little later a storm drove the Niña on the coast ofPortugal, and Columbus and his crew took refuge in theriver Tagus. The King of Portugal sent for him, receivedhim with much honor, but tried to show that he hadtrespassed upon undiscovered ground granted the king bythe Pope. After some parleying he was allowed to depart;and at noon, March 15, the Niña entered the harbor ofPalos, from which she had departed seven monthsbefore.All business was suspended. The bells were rung, andthe returned Admiral and his men were the heroes of thetime. The Pinta soon arrived, having been driven by astorm to Bayonne, from whence Pinzon wrote to the sov-34 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.―ereigns of his intended visit to court. He kept apartfrom Columbus, some historians say, from fear of arrestfor desertion, and died in his own house in Palos notmany days afterwards. The degree of nobility wasafterwards conferred upon the Pinzons by Charles V.Columbus repaired to Seville , after sending a letter tothe sovereigns, who were with their court at Barcelona.They replied at once, asking him to repair immediatelyto court, and to make plans for a second expedition tothe Indies.On his journey to Barcelona the people thronged outof the villages to meet the now famous discoverer. Theywere eager to see the six Indians whom he had brought,of the ten, one had died on the passage, and threewere ill at Palos.About the middle of April he arrived at Barcelona,where every preparation had been made to give him amagnificent reception. He was no longer the unknownItalian, begging at royal doors for seven years for aid toseek a new world; but he came now like a conqueror whohad helped to make Spain rich and honored by his greatdiscoveries.At Barcelona the streets were almost impassable fromthe multitude. First came the Indians with their warpaint, feathers, and ornaments of gold; then birds, animals, and plants from across the seas, and then Columbus on horseback surrounded by richly dressed Spanishcavaliers.The sovereigns on their thrones under a golden canopy,Prince Juan at their side, attended by all the dignitariesof court, waited to receive the Admiral. When Columbus approached the sovereigns they arose as if receivinga person of the highest rank. Bending before them,CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 35they raised him graciously, and bade him seat himself intheir presence, an unusual honor.At their request, he eloquently described the lands hehad found, with the great wealth that must finally cometo their throne. The sovereigns and all present fellupon their knees, while the choir of the royal chapelchanted the Te Deum laudamus. When Columbus leftthe royal presence all the court followed him, as well ascrowds of the people.He renewed within his own breast a vow previouslymade, that with the money obtained by these discoveries, he would equip a great army and secure the HolySepulchre at Jerusalem from the Turks.Columbus and his discoveries were everywhere talkedof. At the court of Henry VII. in England it was accounted a "thing more divine than human." Bartholomew Columbus had obtained the consent of Henry to fitout an expedition; but about this time Isabella decidedin its favor, so the renown of it was 1 st to England.While at Barcelona, Columbus was at all times admittedto the royal presence, and rode on horseback on one sideof the king, while Prince Juan rode on the other. Acourt of arms was assigned him. The Grand Cardinalof Spain, Mendoza, made a banquet for him, at which issaid to have occurred the incident of the egg. A courtier asked Columbus if he had not discovered the Indies,whether it was not probable some one else would havedone so. The Admiral took an egg and asked the company to made it stand on end. Each one attempted, butin vain, when Columbus struck it upon the table, breaking the end, so that it would stand upright, as much asto say, after he had shown the way to the Indies, otherscould easily follow.36 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.Columbus must have enjoyed this courtesy, " the onlyunalloyed days of happiness, " says Winsor, " freed ofanxiety, which he ever experienced. "Men and means were not wanting for the second voyage of Columbus. He did not need now to take criminals and debtors. Bishop Fonseca, archdeacon of Seville,was put in charge of Indian affairs. Money was raised.from the confiscated property of the banished Jews,and five million maravedis were loaned from MedinaSidonia. Artillery amassed during the Moorish wars wasquickly brought forward. Men of prominent stationand rich young Spaniards, anxious for adventure, wereeager to go in the ships, besides several priests, intendedfor the conversion of the savages.Seventeen vessels were soon in readiness. Horsesand other animals, seeds, agricultural implements, rice,and other things were provided . About fifteen hundredpersons, though many had been refused, were ready tosail. Among them were Diego, a brother of Columbus;the father and uncle of the noble historian, Las Casas;Juan Ponce de Leon, who later discovered Florida, andfour of the six Indians who went to Barcelona. Thelatter had been baptized, with the king and queen asgodfather and godmother.All was now ready for the second voyage. It couldnot of course be like the first. That, as Mr. Fiskewell says, is "a unique event in the history of manhood. Nothing like it was ever done before, and nothing like it can ever be done again. No worlds are leftfor a future Columbus to conquer.this great Italian mariner was the most illustrious representative has closed forever. "The era of whichThe vessels sailed on the morning of Sept. 25, 1493,CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 37from the bay of Cadiz, and after an uneventful voyagereached land Nov. 3, discovering several islands, Dominica, Marie-Galante, Guadaloupe, Antigua, and Porto Rico.The natives fled in terror from the Spaniards, even leaving their children behind them in their flight. Thesethe Spaniards soothed with bells and other trinkets.Their houses were made of trunks of trees interwovenwith reeds and thatched with palm-leaves. There weremany geese, like those of Europe, great parrots, and anabundance of pineapples. The natives were cannibalsand ate their prisoners. Their arrows were pointed withfish-bones, poisoned by the juice of an herb.On Nov. 22 the ships arrived off the eastern part ofHayti, or Hispaniola. As some of the mariners weregoing along the coast, they found on the banks of astream the bodies of a man and boy, the former witha cord of Spanish grass about his neck, and his arms extended and tied to a stake in the form of a cross. Theyat once feared that evil had befallen Arana and his garrison of thirty-nine men at La Navidad, whom they hadleft the previous Christmas, eleven months before.When they reached the fortress nothing was left ofit. Broken utensils and torn clothes were scattered inthe grass. They found the graves of the men, long sincedead, for the grass was growing over the mounds.Columbus soon heard the story of their ruin. Thethirty-nine men in the fortress began to quarrel amongthemselves after the departure of the Admiral, stole thewives and daughters of the Indians, and several of themwent into the interior of the island ruled by Caonabo,a renowned chief of the Caribs or Cannibals. TheseCaonabo at once put to death, and then marched againstthe fort, and in the dead of night destroyed all the in-38 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.mates. Guacanagari and his subjects fought for theirguests, those in the fortress having been intrusted to thecare of the Indian chief by Columbus, but were overpowered, the chief wounded, and his village burnt to theground. All this was disheartening to the young cavaliers who had come to find wealth and happiness .It soon became necessary to begin another town, asthe cattle, as well as men, were suffering from confinement on shipboard. Early in December streets werelaid out, a church, storehouse, and house for the Admiralbuilt of stone, and the town of Isabella was establishedon the northern shore of Hayti, in the new world.In a short time half the fifteen hundred persons whocame from Spain were ill. They were not used to labor;the country was malarious; they were disappointed andlonely, and this condition of mind wore upon theirbodies. They had all hoped for gold, and there wasnone at hand, nor any prospect of wealth.Columbus decided that, as he had heard there weregold mines in Cibao, even though it was in Caonabo'scountry, the place must be visited. He therefore sent adaring young cavalier, Alonso de Ojeda, with a wellarmed force, to investigate the matter. He returnedwith glowing accounts of gold-dust in the streams andwith a nugget of gold weighing nine ounces. Othersfound gold in other localities, and the hopes of theSpaniards were revived. It became so evident thatgold was what the discoverers desired that the nativescalled it " the Christians' God."Provisions began to grow scarce for so many persons;medicine, clothing, horses, workmen, and arms wereneeded; so twelve ships were sent back to Spain, withseveral men, women, and children from the cannibalCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 39Caribbee islands, who, while they were to be convertedto Christianity, were to be sold as slaves according tothe suggestion of Columbus, and the money used to buycattle. It seems strange that such a religious man asColumbus, who was looking forward to spending hiswealth to recover the Holy Sepulchre, should have suggested human slavery, or, rather, it would seem strange,had we not in America witnessed so many Christians,both North and South, upholding the slave-trade inthis enlightened nineteenth century. It behooves us tobe lenient toward the fifteenth century.Isabella, to her honor be it said, would not consent tothe cannibals being sold as slaves, but ordered that theyshould be converted like the rest of the Indians.After the fleet had sailed to Spain, many of the menleft behind became melancholy and discontented, and afaction determined to take some of the remaining shipsand return home. They were discovered and punished,but an ill-feeling was created towards Columbus whichwas never overcome.In March, 1494, leaving his brother Diego in chargeof the town, Columbus started with four hundred men,including miners and carpenters, horses and fire-arms,to the mountains of Cibao, as he could not much longerabstain from sending back to the monarchs the continually promised gold of Cathay. The men sallied forthwith much display, so as to impress the neighboringIndians.The way thither was steep and difficult, across riversand glens, till they reached the top of the mountains,about eighteen leagues from the settlement. Near by heerected a wooden fortress. At first the natives fled attheir approach, fearing especially the horses; but later40 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.―they came and brought food and gold-dust, and assuredhim that farther on somewhere were masses of oreas large as a child's head. The Admiral told them , asever, that anything would be given in exchange for gold.Columbus was surprised to find that the natives ofHayti had a religion of their own. They believed in onesupreme being, who was immortal and omnipotent, with amother, but no father. They employed inferior deities,called Zemes, as messengers to him. Each chief had ahouse in which was an image in wood or stone of hisZemi, and each family had a particular Zemi, or protector. Their bodies were often painted or tattoed withfigures of these gods. Besides the Zemes, each chiefhad three idols, which were held in great reverence.They believed that the sun and moon issued from acavern on their island, and that mankind issued fromanother cavern. For a long time there were no womenon the island; but seeing four among the branches oftrees, they endeavored to catch them, but found themslippery as eels. Some men with rough hands wereengaged to catch them, and succeeded.They had a singular idea about the Flood. A greatchief on the island slew his son for conspiring againsthim. He put the bones of his son into a gourd, and oneday when he opened the gourd many fishes leaped out.Four brothers heard of this gourd, and came and openedit secretly. They carelessly let it fall, when great whalessprang out and sharks, and a mighty flood covered.the earth, so that the islands are only the tops of themountains.When a chief was dying he was strangled, so thathe should not die like common people. Others werestretched in hammocks, with bread and water at theirheads, and abandoned to die.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 41When the new fortress, St. Thomas, was nearly built,Columbus left it in charge of Pedro Margarite, a Catalonian, and returned to Isabella. Here he found morediscontent and sickness than before. As food was growing scarce, and there was no method of grinding corn buta hand-mill, he began at once to erect a mill, and compelled the young hidalgos, or men of high blood, to work.This produced more bitterness than ever; for they hadnot come hither to a new country to labor, but to pick upgold at their leisure. Their pride was wounded; lack ofaccustomed food and unusual bodily labor soon told onluxurious idlers, and great numbers sank into their graves,cursing the day on which they set sail for the Indies.Years after, when the place was deserted, it was believedthat two rows of phantom hidalgos, richly apparelled,walked the solitary streets, and disappeared at the ap- .proach of the living.To quiet his own people and to overawe Caonabo, or anyother hostile chief, Columbus sent Ojeda to take chargeof St. Thomas, and about four hundred armed men tomarch into the interior under Pedro Margarite, who hadbeen left at St. Thomas. Margarite was charged to bejust to the natives, but if they refused to sell provisionsto compel them, but in as kindly a manner as possible.Caonabo and his brothers, because the former was fearedby the colonists, were to be surprised and secured if possible, notwithstanding that they were defending theirown country from intruders.Columbus having settled, as he hoped, his turbulentcomrades, made a voyage to Cuba early in April, 1494.Inquiring, as usual, of the people for gold, they alwayspointed to the south. Columbus sailed on, and finallydiscovered Jamaica. As they approached the land, as42 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.many as seventy canoes filled with Indians, painted andadorned with feathers, uttered loud cries and brandishedtheir pointed wooden lances. They were quieted by theIndian interpreters. At another time the Spaniardsfired upon them and let loose a cruel bloodhound.Not finding gold in Jamaica, as he had hoped, Columbusreturned to Cuba, and ran along its shore for three hundred and thirty-five leagues. He discovered many smallislands, a lovely country, more kindly natives than before, who told him that toward the west lay the province of Mangon -he was sure this was Marco Polo'sMangi, or Southern China — and would have gone fartherbut the crew insisted upon his return. So sure werethey all that this was Asia that all agreed under oaththat if any should hereafter contradict this opinion, heshould have his tongue cut out, and receive a hundredlashes if a sailor, and pay ten thousand maravedis if anofficer. And yet they could not help wondering whythey did not find the rich cities of Marco Polo. Columbus, worn with the fatigues and anxieties of five monthsof cruising, suddenly fell into a lethargy like death, andin this condition of insensibility he was borne into theharbor of Isabella, Sept. 29, 1494.On regaining consciousness, he found his brother Bartholomew at his bedside. After the return of the latterfrom Henry VII. of England, to whom he had gone foraid in behalf of Christopher, some years before, andbeen captured by pirates, he found that his brother.had discovered the Indies, and had gone on his secondvoyage. He repaired to the Spanish court, where he wascordially received, and fitted out by the sovereigns withthree ships filled with supplies for his brother.Columbus was overjoyed to see Bartholomew, a manCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 43of much decision and knowledge of the sea, and quitewell educated. He immediately made Bartholomewadelantado, an office equivalent to that of lieutenantgovernor.Meantime Pedro Margarite, who had been told to makea military tour of Hayti, was in serious trouble. Theisland was divided into five domains, each ruled by achief. It was thickly populated, some authorities saywith a million people.Instead of making a tour of the country, he and hisindolent followers lingered in the fertile regions nearby, and lived on the provisions furnished by the Indians,which they could ill afford to spare. The Spaniards tookthe wives and daughters of the inhabitants, and constant quarrels resulted.Margarite, being of an old family, spoke with contempt of Diego Columbus, left in charge at Isabella, andalso of the Admiral. Margarite drew to his side thosealready disaffected toward Columbus, and, seizing someships which were lying in the harbor, set sail for Spain.At court they represented that Hispaniola was a constant pecuniary drain upon the sovereigns, rather thana source of income, for Ferdinand was more anxiouseven than Columbus to secure gold for his coffers; andthey poisoned the mind of Fonseca, already somewhatat enmity with Columbus concerning the so- calledtyrannies of the Admiral. Perhaps the real trouble wasthat Columbus was not severe enough with this idleand sensual set, who wished to get rich without labor.The soldiers whom Margarite left behind him without aleader were more lawless than before. One of the chiefs,exasperated by their conduct, put to death ten of themwho had injured his people, and set fire to a house where44 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.forty-six Spaniards were lodged. The Indians were beginning to find out that these people had not come totheir country from heaven.Caonabo, an intelligent and able warrior, who fromthe first had felt that harm would come to his peopleunless these white men could be driven out, determinedto destroy St. Thomas, as La Navidad had been destroyed .But he had a very brave young officer to deal with,Alonso de Ojeda, who was a favorite of Medina- Celi, andhad fought in the Moorish wars. He always carried apicture of the Virgin with him, and believed that sheprotected him.Caonabo assembled ten thousand warriors, armed withbows and arrows, clubs and lances, and came out beforethe fortress, hoping to surprise the garrison; but Ojedawas ready to meet him. Caonabo then decided to starvethem by investing every pass. For thirty days the siegewas maintained, and famine stared the Spaniards in theface.Ojeda made many sorties from the fort, and killed.several of the foremost warriors, until Caonabo, weary ofthe siege, and admiring the bravery of Ojeda, retiredfrom the fort. The chief now determined to invite theother chiefs of the island to help despoil Isabella; but Guacanagari, the friendly chief, opposed th plan, and kept,at his own expense, one hundred of the suffering Spanishsoldiers. This incensed Caonabo and his brother-in-law,Behechio, who together killed one of Guacanagari's wives,carried another away captive, and invaded his territorywith their army. The friendly chief at once reportedthe plan to destroy Isabella to the Admiral.Ojeda offered to take Caonabo by stratagem and deliverhim alive into the hands of Columbus. Taking ten boldCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 45followers, he made his way through the forests to thehome of Caonabo, sixty leagues from St. Thomas. Ojedapaid great deference to the chief, and told him he hadbrought a valuable present from his Admiral.Caonabo received the young Spaniard with great courtesy. The latter asked the Indian chief to go to Isabellato make a treaty of peace, to which he consented, preparing to take a large body of men with him. To thisOjeda demurred, as useless, but the march began.Having halted on the journey, Ojeda showed the chiefa set of steel manacles resembling silver, and assuredhim that these came from heaven, were worn by themonarchs of Castile in solemn dances, and that they werea present to the chief. He proposed that the chiefshould bathe and then put on these ornaments, andmounting Ojeda's horse, thus equipped, surprise hissubjects.He was pleased with the idea of riding upon a horse,the animal which his countrymen so much feared wouldeat them. Mounting behind Ojeda on horseback, themanacles were adjusted, and Ojeda and the chief, withthe rest of the horsemen, rode before the Indians, toshow them how the steeds could prance. Then Ojedadashed into the woods, his followers closed around him,and at the point of the sword threatened Caonabo withinstant death if he made the least noise. He was boundwith cords to Ojeda so that he could not fall off, and,putting spurs to their horses, they started towards Isabella.They passed through the Indian towns at full gallop,and, tired and hungry, arrived after some days at theSpanish settlement.Columbus ordered that the haughty chieftain should46 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.be treated with kindness and respect, and kept him inchains in his own house. Caonabo always had admiration for Ojeda, and would rise to greet him, but neverfor Columbus, as he said the latter never dared to comepersonally to his house and seize him.Caonabo's subjects were much cast down at the loss oftheir chief, and one of his brothers raised an army ofseven thousand against St. Thomas. They were scattered by the dashing Ojeda, and the brother of Caonabowas taken prisoner.In the autumn of 1494 Antonio Torres arrived fromSpain with four ships filled with supplies, and kind lettersfrom the sovereigns to Columbus. The Admiral deemedit wise that these ships return as soon as possible, so asto counteract any reports made by Margarite and hisTo make up for the lack of gold the ship carried all he could possibly gather- he sent home, in opposition to the expressed wishes of Isabella, five hundredIndians to be sold as slaves in the markets of Seville.men. -It is true that both Spaniards and Portuguese madelarge profits from the African slave trade; that theMoors, men, women, and children, by the thousands, weresold into cruel bondage, and Columbus but followed thedreadful example of his age. He had held out such highhopes of gold from this probable Cathay, there was suchdiscontent already at his meagre returns, that he allowedhis conscience to be hardened, if, indeed, he had anyscruples about the matter.Not so Isabella. While, like others of her time, intolerant of heretics, she felt deeply interested in this gentleand hospitable new-found race. Five days after royalorders had been issued for their sale, the order was suspended through Isabella's influence, until the sovereignsCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 47could inquire why these Indians had been made prisoners, and to consult learned theologians as to whethertheir sale would be right in the sight of God. Muchdifference of opinion was expressed by the divines, whenIsabella took the matter into her own hands, gave ordersthat they should be returned to the island of Hayti, andthat all the islanders should be treated in the gentlestmanner.Another brother of Caonabo had raised a hostile army,said by some to have numbered one hundred thousand,aided by Anacaona, the favorite wife of Caonabo, andher brother Behechio, against the town of Isabella.lumbus at once prepared to meet them with all the menand arms at his command, and twenty fierce bloodhounds.CoA battle was fought in the latter part of March, 1495,when the Indians were completely routed, the bloodhounds seizing them by the throat, and tearing them inpieces, and the horses trampling them to the earth.-Columbus, still eager for wealth for Spain, now laida heavy tribute upon all the conquered Indians. Thosechiefs near the mines were required to furnish a hawk'sbill of gold-dust every three months, about fifteen dollars of our money, Irving thinks. Those distant fromthe mines were obliged to furnish twenty-five pounds ofcotton every three months. One of the chiefs , becausehe could not furnish the gold, offered to cultivate a largetract of land for Columbus, which offer was rejected,because gold alone would satisfy Spain. The Admiralfinally lowered the amount to half a hawk's-bill.To enforce these measures he built fortresses , and theIndians, unused to labor, soon found themselves slavesin their own land. They hunted the streams for gold,48 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.and obtained little. With pitiful simplicity they askedthe Spaniards when they were going to return to heaven!Finally they agreed among themselves to leave theirhomes and go into the mountains and hidden caverns,where they could subsist on roots, and let their hatedtask-masters toil for themselves. But the Spaniardspursued them and made them return to their labors.The friendly chief, Guacanagari, hated by his neighboring territories on account of his kindness to Columbus,blamed by his suffering and overworked subjects, unablehimself to pay the tribute, took refuge in the mountains,and died in want and obscurity.As matters were going on so badly in the Indies, thesovereign sent out Juan Aguado towards the last ofAugust, 1495, on a mission of inquiry. He took out fourships, well filled with supplies. Aguado, like manyothers, seems to have been unduly exalted with a littlepower conferred upon him, and when he arrived at Isabella, acted as though he were the governor. The disaffected sided with him, and even the Indians were gladof a change of power, hoping against hope for a betterment of their condition.When Aguado was ready to return to Spain, a fearfulstorm destroyed all his ships; but a new one was built,in which he returned, and Columbus at the same timewent back in the Niña to lay his own side of the casebefore the sovereigns. With them returned two hundred and twenty-five sick, idle, disappointed adventurers, besides thirty Indians including Caonabo. He died.on the voyage of a broken spirit.On this voyage the winds were against them, so thatwith the delay their food became so scarce that Irvingsays it was proposed to kill and eat the Indians, or throwCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 49them into the sea to make less mouths to feed. ThisColumbus sternly forbade. After three months, June11, 1496, they reached the harbor of Cadiz. They werenot the joyous adventurers who went out almost threeyears before. Columbus himself wore a robe girdledwith a cord of the Franciscans, so dejected was he inspirit.Columbus soon learned the state of feeling towardshimself in Spain, and felt more than ever that he mustmake the Indies of profit to the Spanish treasury. Herepaired to the court in July, and was treated withmuch courtesy and cordiality. The monarchs were toogreatly absorbed in preparations for the marriage ofJuana with Philip of Austria, and of Philip's sisterMargarita with Prince Juan, to do anything just thentoward fitting out a third expedition. An armada ofone hundred ships with twenty thousand persons onboard was sent to take out Juana to Flanders, andto bring back Margarita. Besides, the sovereigns weremaintaining a large army in Italy to help the king ofNaples in recovering his throne from Charles VIII.of France, and had many squadrons elsewhere.In the autumn six millions of maravedis were orderedto be given to Columbus, but just about that time PedroAlonzo Niño sent word to the court that he had arrivedwith a great amount of gold on his three ships fromHispaniola. Ferdinand was rejoiced to keep the sixmillion maravedis to repair a fortress, and ordered Niñoto pay the gold to Columbus. When Niño arrived atcourt it was found that his vaunted gold was anothercrowd of Indians brought over to be sold as slaves.When the spring came the wedding of Prince Juanwas celebrated with great splendor at Burgos, and then50 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.Isabella turned her interest toward Columbus, she alonebeing concerned, for the king began to look coldly onhim, and the royal counsellors were his enemies. Thequeen allowed him to entail his estates, so that theymight always descend with his titles of nobility. Shegranted him three hundred and thirty persons in royalpay, and he might increase the number to five hundred.He was also authorized to grant land to all such aswished to cultivate vineyards or sugar plantations oncondition that they should reside on the island for fouryears after such grant.It was fortunate for Columbus that Isabella was hisfriend, for he seemed to have few others, so easy is itfor the world to follow the successful, and to decry theunsuccessful. No person seemed to wish to go on thisthird voyage, or to furnish ships. Finally, at the suggestion of Columbus, criminals sentenced to the mines,or galleys, or banishment, were allowed to go to the NewWorld instead, and work without pay. A general pardon was offered to scoundrels; those who had committedcrimes worthy of death should remain two years; lightercrimes, one year. There could scarcely have been aworse plan.While matters dragged along, Isabella's only son,Prince Juan, died, overwhelming her with grief for theremainder of her days. Yet she still thought of Columbus, and out of her own funds set apart for her daughterIsabella, betrothed to Emanuel, King of Portugal, senttwo ships with supplies. The two sons of Columbuswho had been pages to the prince she took into her own service.So long was everything delayed that Columbus wouldhave given up any further discovery except for his feel-CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 51ings of gratitude to the queen and his desire to cheerher in her afflictions.Finally the six ships were ready, when in a momentof loss of self-control, Columbus allowed his temper towork great injury to him. He knocked down an insolent man who annoyed him, and kicked him after hewas down. He regretted it, but paid dearly for it, as doothers who fail to control their tempers. The sovereignsnaturally believed that some of the stories about hisseverity in the Indies were true; and Las Casas attributed the humiliating measures toward Columbus, whichsoon followed, to this one unmanly act.On May 30, 1498, Columbus set sail with six vesselsfrom San Lucar de Barrameda, on his third voyage.Three of these vessels he despatched directly to Haytiwith supplies, one being commanded by Pedro de Arana,the brother of Beatrix.With the other three he sailed to the Cape de Verdeislands, off the coast of Africa, and then as the heat ofthe tropics became almost unbearable, the tar in theseams of the ship melting and causing leakage, and themeat and wine becoming spoiled, he changed his coursedue west and finally reached an island off the coast ofSouth America, which he called Trinidad, in honor ofthe Trinity.He was surprised to find such verdure and fertility.While coasting the island, Columbus beheld toward theSouth, land intersected by the branches of the Orinoco,not dreaming that it was a continent.He tried to allure the natives on board by friendlysigns, a display of looking-glasses and the like; but finding these of no avail, though they looked on in wonderfor about two hours with their oars in their hands,52 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.Columbus tried the power of music, at which the Indians,thinking this an indication of hostility, discharged ashower of arrows. This was returned by the cross-bowsof the Spaniards, when they immediately fled.Columbus sailed into the Gulf of Paria, supposing itto be the open sea, and was surprised to find the waterfresh. The entrance between Trinidad and the mainland he called, from the fury of the water, the Serpent'sMouth, and the opposite pass the Dragon's Mouth.He soon discovered Margarita and Cubagua, afterwardsfamous for pearls. He procured about three pounds ofpearls for bells and broken pieces of plates -Valenciaware which pearls he sent to the sovereigns as specimens of the untold wealth of the new lands.—Columbus was now so afflicted by a disease in his eyesfrom constant watching and sleeplessness that he wasalmost blind, and he had also a very severe attack ofgout with intense suffering, which emaciated him greatly.His food supplies, too, were nearly exhausted, so it wasnecessary for him to reach San Domingo on the southerncoast of Hispaniola as soon as possible. He arrivedAug. 30, 1498.Sad things had happened during his absence of morethan two years. The people at Isabella were nearlystarving for lack of food . Some were ill, but most weretoo much opposed to labor to cultivate the fields. Warhad broken out afresh with the Indians, and there wasmutiny among the Spaniards.The three vessels which he had sent directly to Hispaniola, while he retained three for discovery, had beendeceived by Francisco Roldan, who had been made judgeof the island by the Admiral. Roldan told the captains ofthe three vessels, that he was in that part of the islandCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 53taking tribute, and helped himself to all he wished.Many of the men on board, being criminals forced intothe service, joined him in his mutiny. When the shipsarrived in port what remained of their provisions wasnearly spoiled.Columbus, seeing so much disaffection, issued a proclamation that all who wished could go to Spain in fivevessels about to return. The vessels lay in the harboreighteen days, while Columbus was negotiating with therebels. The Indian prisoners on board were sufferingfrom heat and hunger, and many died; some were suffoIcated with heat in the holds of the vessels. When theships returned Columbus wrote letters to the sovereignsabout the rebellion, and Roldan wrote letters also.After much writing and sending of messages - Columbus did not dare resort to arms as Roldan's party was sostrong- it was agreed that Roldan and his followersshould return to Spain. This they refused to do later,and would only make peace on condition that Roldanshould be again chief judge of the island, have largegrants of land made to him and his followers, and thatit should be proclaimed that everything charged againsthim and his party had been on false testimony. Tosuch humiliating concessions Columbus was obliged tosubmit.Roldan resumed his office of chief judge, and wasmore insolent than ever. He demanded much landand many Indian slaves. Columbus now granted to allcolonists who would remain, Indian slaves, and eachchief was required to furnish free Indians to help cultivate the lands. Thus the cruel system of repartimientos, or distribution of free Indians among the colonists,began, a measure which led to the most cruel overwork54 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.and suffering, and in the end annihilated the rightfulowners of the soil.Damaging reports of the condition of the colonistsand the inability of Columbus to control the mutinousset, had reached the crown. They therefore sent DonFrancisco de Bobadilla, an officer of the royal household,to investigate matters. He had orders to receive into hiskeeping, ships, houses, fortresses, and all royal property,provided it should be proved that Columbus had forfeited his claim to the control of such property. Aletter was sent to Columbus requiring his obedience toBobadilla. The latter sailed about the middle of July,1500, for San Domingo.When he arrived, Aug. 23, seeing the bodies of someSpaniards whom Columbus had recently executed for conspiracy against his life, he concluded that the reportsof the cruelty of the Admiral were true, and at onceordered Diego, the brother of Columbus, as the latterwas absent, to deliver up the malcontents to him. Heread his royal orders from the door of the church. AsDiego was at first unwilling to submit without the command of the Admiral, Bobadilla went at once to thefortress and released the conspirators.He threw Diego into prison, seized the gold, plate,horses, and manuscripts of Columbus, and took up hisresidence in the Admiral's house. Columbus was astonished beyond measure, nor would he believe, until he sawa letter signed by the sovereigns bidding him give obedience to Bobadilla. In answer to a summons to appearimmediately before the latter, he departed almost alonefor San Domingo, to meet Bobadilla. When the latterheard of his arrival, he gave orders to put Columbus inirons, and confine him in the fortress.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 55When the irons were brought all present shrank fromputting them on, such an outrage did it seem to one sodignified and almost always so lenient and considerate.Columbus bore it all in silence, showing no ill-willagainst any. Fearing that the more determined Bartholomew would rebel and try to rescue his brother,Bobadilla demanded that Columbus write to Bartholomew requesting him to come peaceably to San Domingo.This Columbus did, assuring his brother that all wouldbe made right when they arrived in Castile. On hisarrival he was also put in irons, and the three brotherswere not allowed to communicate with each other.Bobadilla did not visit them nor allow others to do so.All kinds of misrule were charged against Columbus.Even the worst amongthe motley crowd at San Domingoblew horns about the prison doors, glad of any changeand any hope of ease and lawlessness . Columbus beganto suspect that his life even would be taken. When thevessels were in readiness to carry their prisoners toSpain, Alonzo de Villejo, who was to conduct them,entered the fortress with the guard."Villejo," said the white-haired discoverer, " whitherare you taking me? ""To the ship, your Excellency, to embark," was hisreply."To embark! Villejo, do you speak the truth? ”"By the life of your Excellency, it is true! "The ships set sail in October, amidst the shouts ofthe rabble. Both Villejo and the master of the caravelwished to remove the chains; but Columbus said, " No;their majesties commanded me by letter to submit towhatever Bobadilla should order in their name; by theirauthority he has put upon me these chains; I will wear56 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.them until they shall order them to be taken off, and Iwill preserve them afterwards as relics and memorialsof the reward of my services. " " He requested," sayshis son Ferdinand, " that they might be buried withhim."When Columbus reached Cadiz in irons the wholepopulation was overwhelmed with astonishment andindignation. Those even who had been his enemies.were loud in condemnation of such treatment. Thesemurmurs of the people reached the ear of the court atGranada. During the voyage Columbus wrote a letterto Doña Juana de la Torre, former nurse of Prince Juan,a lady much beloved by Isabella. This was sent as soonas he arrived. In the letter he says, "The slanders ofworthless men have done me more injury than all myservices have profited me. Whatever errors I mayhave fallen into, they were not with an evil intention. "...When this letter was read to Isabella she realized thewrong that had been done to Columbus, ordered that heand his brothers be at once released, and wrote a " letterof gratitude and affection," inviting the Admiral tocourt, and sending two thousand ducats for his expenses.The heart of Columbus was cheered. He repaired toGranada Dec. 17, and was received with great distinction . Isabella wept; and when he saw his sovereignthus affected he fell upon his knees, sobbed aloud, andcould not speak for some time.The sovereigns raised him from the ground and encouraged him with most gracious words. They declaredthat Bobadilla had exceeded their instructions andshould be immediately dismissed; that the property ofColumbus and all his rights and privileges should berestored.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 57-The position of viceroy, however, was not restored tohim, probably because since several other discoverieshad been made, principally by those who had beenassistants of Columbus, Niño, who had been with theAdmiral to Cuba, had sailed to South America andbrought back pearls, and Vicente Yañez Pinzon had discovered the Amazon River and sailed to Cape St. Augustine, · Ferdinand no longer deemed it wise for so muchterritory to be under one person, and that person aforeigner.He assured Columbus that it was not wise for him toreturn for two years, since matters were in such confusion; so Don Nicholas de Ovando was chosen to supersede Bobadilla. He went out Feb. 13, 1502, with a fleetof thirty ships and twenty-five hundred persons. Inthe early part of the voyage the fleet was scattered bya storm, one vessel foundered with one hundred andtwenty passengers, and the others were obliged to throwoverboard everything on deck, so that the shores ofSpain were strewed with articles from the fleet. Soovercome were the sovereigns by this news, that theyshut themselves up for eight days, allowing no one tobe admitted to their presence. Most of the ships finallyreached San Domingo.Under Bobadilla matters had gone from bad to worse."Make the most of your time; there is no knowing howlong it will last, " was his oft-repeated , expression tothe slave-holders. The position of the Indians grewintolerable."Little used to labor, " says Irving, " feeble of constitution, and accustomed in their beautiful and luxuriantisland to a life of ease and freedom, they sank underthe toils imposed upon them and the severities by which58 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.they were enforced. . . . When the Spaniards travelled,instead of using the horses and mules with which theywere provided, they obliged the natives to transportthem upon their shoulders in litters, or hammocks, withothers attending to hold umbrellas of palm- leaves overtheir heads to keep off the sun, and fans of feathers tocool them; and Las Casas affirms that he has seen thebacks and shoulders of the unfortunate Indians whobore these litters raw and bleeding from the task. "Finally, in 1502, Columbus was to make his fourthand last voyage. He was now sixty- six, his body weakened by exposure and mental suffering. His squadronconsisted of four caravels and one hundred and fiftymen. His brother and his younger son, Ferdinand,sailed with him. He had assured the sovereigns thathe believed there was a strait (about where the Isthmusof Panama is situated) , and thought that he could passto the Indian Ocean, and reach Hindostan westward asVasco da Gama had recently reached it sailing eastward.Columbus and his party left Cadiz May 9 or 11, 1502,and one of his vessels having become unseaworthy, hestopped at Hispaniola in order to purchase another orexchange it in San Domingo. As Ovando was then incommand, Columbus had been told by the sovereigns tostop on his way homeward rather than in going out, asmatters were still so unsettled; but the condition ofthe ship demanding it, he thought he should not beblamed.In the harbor, about to start for Spain, were the vessels in which Ovando had sailed, ready to carry back Bobadilla and some of his adherents, Roldan, and others.Bobadilla had one immense nugget of gold, which hadbeen found by an Indian woman, and this he intendedCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 59to carry to the sovereigns, knowing that the finding ofgold was sure to cover up many sins. In one vessel werefour thousand pieces of gold, which had been set apartby the agent of Columbus as the rightful share of thelatter.Columbus sent word to Ovando of his arrival, andasked permission to remain in the harbor, as he apprehended a storm. This was refused. Then he sent wordagain that he felt sure the storm was approaching, andhoped that the fleet might not be returned to Spain justyet. Probably Ovando thought any suggestion aboutstorms was unwarranted, for no attention was paid to it,and the fleet set sail.The storm soon arose, the ship, having on board Bobadilla and his gold, with Roldan and an Indian chiefas prisoner, went down, and all the rest were wrecked orso badly damaged that none could proceed to Spainsave one, and that the one which carried the gold ofColumbus.The Admiral and his vessels seem to have been almostmiraculously preserved in the fearful storm, unshelteredas they were. He sailed on past the southern shore ofCuba, and soon reached the coast of Honduras.Here he was surprised to find quite a superior race ofIndians. Their hatchets for cutting wood were of copper instead of stone; they had sheets and mantles ofcotton, worked and dyed in various colors. The womenwore mantles like the women among the Moors at Granada, and the men had cotton cloth about the loins.Fearful storms prevailed for nearly two months. Theseams of the vessels opened, and the sails were torn topieces. Many times the sailors confessed their sins toeach other and prepared for death. " I have seen many60 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.tempests," says Columbus, " but none so violent or ofsuch long duration. " Much of the time he was ill, andworried over his son Ferdinand and his brother Bartholomew. "The distress of my son grieved me to thesoul," he says, "and the more when I considered histender age; for he was but thirteen years old , and heenduring so much toil for so long a time. ... . . . Mybrother was in the ship that was in the worst conditionand the most exposed to danger; and my grief on hisaccount was the greater that I brought him with meagainst his will. ”They sailed along what is now the Mosquito Coast andthe shore of Costa Rica (Rich Coast) , so called from thegold and silver mines found later in its mountains .Everywhere they heard reports of gold. They met tencanoes of Indians, most of whom had plates of goldabout their necks, which they refused to part with.Sometimes the Indians were hostile, and would rushinto the sea up to their waists, and splash the water atthe Spaniards in defiance; but, as a rule, they were soonpacified, and induced to give up their gold for a fewtrinkets.—a great massContinuing along the coast of Veragua, where theyheard that the most gold could be found, they saw forthe first time signs of solid architectureof stucco formed of stone and lime. Columbus wroteto the sovereigns later that the people - he had gatheredthis from the Indians in part, and also judged from whathe saw wore crowns, bracelets, and anklets of gold,and used it for domestic purposes, even to ornament theirseats and tables. Some Indians told him that the peoplewere mounted on horseback, and that great ships cameinto their ports armed with cannon. This, indeed, mustCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 61be the country of Kublai Khan, whom Marco Polo wroteabout.The coast abounded in maize, or Indian corn, pineapples, and other tropical fruits, and alligators sunnedthemselves along the banks of the rivers.Again storms came up, and the rain poured from theskies, says Columbus, like a second deluge. The menwere almost drowned in their open vessels. Sharksgathered round the ships, which the sailors regardedas a bad omen, as it was believed these could smell deadbodies at a distance, and always kept about a vessel soonto be wrecked. Their food had been spoiled by the heatand moisture of the climate, and their biscuits were sofilled with worms that they had to be eaten in the darkso as to prevent nausea.As soon as the sea was calm, Columbus determined toascertain the truth about gold mines. He sent Bartholomew into the interior with several men and three guideswhom the principal chief, Quibian, had furnished him.The guides took him, it is believed, into the territory ofan enemy, Quibian hoping thereby to save his own landfrom intrusion.Bartholomew set forth again with an armed band offifty-nine men, and found much to convince him thatgold was here in abundance. It was determined therefore to build a town here, which should be the great centre for gold-mining. Bartholomew should remain withthe men, while the Admiral sailed to Spain for more aid.Houses were at once started, built of wood and thatchedwith the leaves of palm-trees. True, they had almostno food, but there was maize and fruit in abundance.Many presents were made to Quibian to reconcile him tothis intrusion; but he was warlike, and soon gathered a62 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.force of a thousand men for the ostensible purpose ofmaking war upon a neighboring tribe.This Diego Mendez, the chief notary, did not believe.He volunteered therefore with another Spaniard to go tothe house of Quibian and see for themselves. The chiefwas confined to his house by an arrow wound in the leg.Mendez told the son - the latter struck him a fearfulblow as he arrived, but was finally pacified — thathe had come with some ointment to heal the father.could not gain access to the chief, but he learned invarious ways that Quibian intended to surprise the townat night and murder the people.HeBartholomew determined at once to march to Quibian'shouse and capture him and his warriors. Taking seventyfour armed men, he started on his errand. He led theway with five men, the others out of sight in the rear.As Bartholomew drew near the house Quibian sawhim and requested him to approach alone. TellingMendez that when he, Bartholomew, should take thechief by the arm, they should spring to his assistance,he advanced to meet Quibian, asked about his wound,and, under pretence of examining it, took hold of hisarm.Immediately the four rushed to his aid, the otherssurrounded the dwelling, and about fifty old and youngwere seized with all their gold, amounting to about threehundred ducats. The Indians offered any amount forthe release of Quibian, but even gold could not temptthe Spaniards in this case. The chief was taken onboard of one of the boats; but he managed to escape inthe night, and it was supposed that he had perished, asboth feet and hands were bound.However, he had not drowned, and when he realizedCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 63that he was bereft of wives and children, he determinedupon revenge. He assembled his warriors and camesecretly upon the settlement, wounding several, till thebloodhounds were let loose upon them, and they fled interror. Bartholomew was among the wounded.The Admiral meantime, unable to pass the bar, hadon board the captive warriors and family of Quibian.They were shut up at night in the forecastle, several ofthe crew sleeping upon the hatchway which was securedby a strong chain and padlock. In the night some ofthe Indians forced this open and sprang into the sea.Several were seized before they could escape, were forcedback into the forecastle, and the hatchway again fastened. In the morning all were found dead. They hadhanged or strangled themselves, so hateful was thisdominion of the white men.After a short time the Admiral, one of his caravelsbeing so worm-eaten that it went to pieces, and anotherworthless, abandoned the fort, leaving the unwelcomecoast of Veragua, and reached Jamaica. The other twocaravels were reduced to mere wrecks, and were readyto sink even in port.It was necessary to send to Ovando to ask for shipsin which to come to San Domingo. Diego Mendez withanother Spaniard, and six Indians, set out on the perilous journey in a canoe having a mast and sail. Oncethey were taken by Indians but escaped; again they weretaken prisoners, and Mendez again escaped and made hisway back alone in his canoe to Columbus, after fifteendays' absence.Mendez offered to try once more if a party could beprovided to go with him to the end of Jamaica, when hewould attempt to cross the gulf to Hayti. Bartholomew64 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.therefore, with an armed band on shore, followed besidethe two canoes on the water till they were at the end ofthe island, and then they pushed out into the broad sea.The voyage was a terrible one. The water gave out,and some of the rowers died of thirst and were throwninto the sea, while others lay gasping on the bottom ofthe canoes. Finally they reached a small island andfound rain-water in the crevices ofthe rocks. The Indians were frantic with delight, drank too much, andseveral died.At last they reached San Domingo, only to learn thatOvando was at Xaragua, fifty leagues distant, whitherMendez proceeded on foot through forests and overmountains. Ovando blandly expressed his sorrow, andpromised aid week after week and month after month,for a year, not allowing Mendez to leave San Domingo,under pretence that the ships would soon be ready.The days seemed long to wait for an answer fromOvando. The little band with Columbus began to murmur, and before he was aware of it a mutiny was athand. On Jan. 2, 1504, when he was a complete cripplein his bed from gout, Francisco de Porras, captain of oneof the caravels, appeared before him and in an insolentnmaner declared that Columbus did not intend to carrythe men back to Spain, and they had determined totake the matter into their own hands." Embark immediately," said Porras, " or remain inGod's name. For my part," turning his back on theAdmiral, “ I am for Castile! those who choose mayfollow me! "Shouts came from all sides of the vessel, " I will follow you! and I! and I! " while others brandished theirweapons and cried out, " To Castile! to Castile! " whileCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 65some even threatened the life of the Admiral. Bartholomew at once planted himself, lance in hand, before theturbulent crowd. Porras was told to go if he wished, sotaking ten canoes which the Admiral had purchasedfrom the Indians, about forty set sail for Hispaniola,taking with them some Indians to guide the canoes.When out to sea they were soon compelled to return,and finding that they were too heavily loaded in therough waves, they forced the Indians to leap into theocean. Although skilful swimmers, it was too far fromland for them to reach it, so they occasionally graspedthe boats to gain their breath. Upon this the Spaniardscut off their hands and stabbed them till eighteen sankbeneath the waves. Once more back upon the land, theywent from village to village, passing, as Irving says, " likea pestilence through the island."At length, after a year, two vessels arrived, one fitted.out by Mendez and the other by Ovando.Columbus and his men set sail, and arrived in SanDomingo Aug. 13, 1504. The Admiral was politelyreceived by Ovando, and lodged in his house. Whilehe professed great friendship for Columbus, he pardonedthe traitor Porras.Columbus found matters in a dreadful condition inSan Domingo. When Ovando came out to supersedeBobadilla, Isabella had made the Indians free, so amazedhad she been at the treatment received in their slaveryunder him. When Ovando saw that the Spaniards murmured and would not work, he wrote to the Queen thatthe Indians could only be kept from vices by labor, andthat they now kept aloof from the Spaniards, and therefore lost all Christian instruction.This influenced the Queen, and she gave permission66 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.for moderate labor if essential to their good, and regularwages. With this permission Ovando paid them themerest pittance, made them labor eight months out ofthe year, and allowed them to be lashed and starved.When the Spaniards at the mines were eating, the Indians, says Las Casas, would scramble under the tableto get the bones which were thrown to them, and, aftergnawing them, would pound them up to mix with theirbread.Those who worked in the fields never tasted flesh, butlived on cassava bread and roots. They were broughtsometimes eighty leagues away from their homes, andwhen three months of forced labor were over, theywould start homeward to their wives and children. Allthrough the journey they had nothing to sustain thembut bread, and not always that, so that they sank downbythe hundreds and died along the roadsides. Las Casas,the noble priest, says, " I have found many dead in theroad, others gasping under the trees, and others in thepangs of death, faintly crying, Hunger! hunger! "When they reached their homes the wives and childrenhad usually perished or wandered away, and the desolatehusbands sank down at the threshold and died . Manykilled themselves to end their sorrows, and motherskilled their own infants rather than that they should bethus treated by the white men.Whole provinces were wiped out by Ovando throughfire and sword. Behechio of Xaragua had died, andAnacaona, his sister, ruled in his place. She was called"The Golden Flower " for her beauty and ability; shecomposed most of their legendary ballads, and was admired, even by the Spaniards, for her grace and dignity.Her subjects often had quarrels with some dissoluteCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 67white men. Ovando resolved to put an end to Xaragua.At the head of three hundred foot-soldiers, besidesseventy horsemen and arms, he went professedly on avisit to Anacaona. She came out to meet him with allher leading chiefs, and a great train of women whowaved palm branches and sang their national songs.After a feast the Indians took part in games for thepleasure of their visitors.―In return all were invited to the public square, wherethe Spaniards were to entertain them. The chiefs wereall gathered in the house which Ovando had occupied.At a given signal from Ovando a finger placed on hisbreast on the image of God the Father - a massacrebegan; the horsemen trampled the Indians under foot,cleaving the ranks with their swords, set fire to the housewhere the chiefs were and burned them all, and took Anacaona prisoner, and later hanged her in the presence ofthe people she had so long befriended . In memoryof this great victory Ovando founded a town and calledit St. Mary of the True Peace!When Columbus reached Hispaniola he was filled withsorrow, and wrote to the Queen, " I am informed that sinceI left the island six parts out of seven of the natives aredead, all through ill-treatment and inhumanity: some bythe sword, others by blows and cruel usage, others throughhunger. The greater part have perished in the mountains and glens, whither they had fled from not beingable to support the labor imposed upon them. "Columbus must have remembered sadly that he wasthe one who first suggested repartimientos, or distributing the labor of the Indians to their taskmasters , thatmore gold might be sent to the crown, and the idle Spaniards provided with food by the labor of the red men inthe fields.68 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.Sad and old and ill, Columbus departed for Spain Sept.12, 1504, and, after a stormy passage, arrived Nov. 7.Isabella was on her death-bed. Among her last requests was one that Ovando should be removed fromoffice, which Ferdinand promised her (he was not removedtill four years later, since his grinding methods broughta good revenue to the monarch); and that Columbusshould be restored to his possessions in the Indies, andthe poor Indians be kindly treated. Isabella was brokenhearted with the death of her only son, Prince Juan, ofher beloved daughter, Isabella, of her grandson and pros.pective heir, Prince Miguel, and with the insanity of herdaughter, Juana, and her unhappy life with Philip ofAustria. She died Nov. 26, 1504, at Medina del Campo,in the fifty-fourth year of her age. She wished to beburied without any monument except a plain stone, andso directed in her will.To Columbus the death of Isabella was a fatal blow.He was now poor, and his rents uncollected in Hispaniola, probably through the connivance of Ovando. Hewrites to his son Diego at court: " I live by borrowing.Little have I profited by twenty years of service, withsuch toils and perils, since at present I do not own a roofin Spain. If I desire to eat or sleep, I have no resortbut an inn, and, for the most times, have not wherewithal to pay my bill. " Later he said, " I have servedtheir majesties with as much zeal and diligence as if ithad been to gain Paradise; and if I have failed in anything, it has been because my knowledge and powerswent no further. "As the winter passed away and spring came, Columbusbecame more and more anxious to visit court and lay hisneglects before Ferdinand. The use of mules havingCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 69been prohibited, since by their use the breeding of horseshad declined, Columbus on account of his age and infirmities obtained permission to ride upon one as he madethis journey to Segovia to see the king.-Ferdinand received him, as Irving says, with " cold,ineffectual smiles," he had never apparently any interest in Columbus, -promised that his claims shouldbe left to arbitration, though Las Casas believed that hewould have been glad "to have respected few or none ofthe privileges which he and the queen had conceded tothe Admiral, and which had been so justly merited. "Columbus was now upon his sick-bed, still sendingpetitions to the king that he would secure the viceroyship to his son Diego. Ferdinand asked him to takeinstead titles and estates in Castile the New Worldhad by this time become too valuable to Ferdinand toallow any man to be viceroy. This Columbus declinedto do.Finally the Admiral gave up the matter, saying, " Itappears that his majesty does not think fit to fulfil thatwhich he, with the Queen, who is now in glory, promisedme by word and seal. For one to contend for the contrary would be to contend with the wind. I have doneall that I could do. I leave the rest to God, whom Ihave ever found propitious to me in my necessities. "He died May 20, 1506, about seventy years of age,at Valladolid. His last words were " In manus tuas,Domine, commendo spiritum meum: Into thy hands, OLord, I commend my spirit. " He was buried in theconvent of St. Francisco at Valladolid, from whence hisbody was removed in 1513 to the monastery of LasCuevas at Seville, where the body of his son Diego,second Admiral and Viceroy of the Indies, was buried in70 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.1526. About ten years later the bodies of the two wereremoved to the cathedral of San Domingo at Hispaniola.At the close of a war between France and Spain in1795, the Spanish possessions in Hispaniola were cededto France. The Spaniards therefore requested that thebody of Columbus might be conveyed to Havana. Thiswas readily granted; and Dec. 20, 1795, in the presenceof an august gathering, a small vault was opened abovethe chancel, and the fragments of a leaden coffin andsome bones were found, which were put into a small boxof gilded lead, and this into a coffin covered with blackvelvet. The remains were conveyed with great reverence to the ship which was to bear them to Havana, Jan.15, 1796, where with distinguished military honors theywere buried.In 1877, in the course of some changes in the chancelof the cathedral at San Domingo, two other graves wereopened: one, that of the grandson, bearing an inscription, in Spanish, " El Almirante, D. Luis Colon, Duquede Veragua, Marques de -presumably -Jamaica." Onthe other casket were carved the letters C. C. A. , probably"Christoval Colon, Almirante. " Inside the cover wasan abbreviated inscription commonly translated, " Thecelebrated and extraordinary man, Don ChristopherColumbus."Within the casket was a small silver plate with thewords somewhat abbreviated, " The last remains of thefirst Admiral, Christopher Columbus, the Discoverer. "A corroded musket-ball was also found in the casket.As the Admiral wrote to the King while on his fourthvoyage that his wound had broken out afresh, it is conjectured that a ball was still in his body from someof his early warfare. The authorities at San DomingoCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 71believed that the body of the son Diego was removed toHavana, and not that of the Admiral. A German explorer, Rudolf Cronau, gave the matter careful study in1890, and felt convinced that the authorities at SanDomingo were correct in their belief. Dr. Charles Kendall Adams, in his life of Columbus, thinks "the beliefwill come to prevail that the remains of Columbus arenow at San Domingo, and not at Havana."After the death of Columbus his son Diego marriedMaria, the daughter of Fernando de Toledo, Grand commander of Leon, niece of the celebrated Duke of Alva,chief favorite of the King, and one of the proudestfamilies in Spain.Diego with his wife, called the vice-queen, his brotherFerdinand, who never married, his two uncles Bartholomew and Diego, and many noble cavaliers came to SanDomingo. Like his father, he had continual troublewith the colonists. He tried to do away with repartimientos, but was unable on account of the opposition ofthe Spaniards. Negro slaves had already been sent fromAfrica to fill the places of the exterminated Indians.The King did not give Diego his proper titles, but theywere granted after Ferdinand's death by his grandsonand successor, Charles V.Don Diego at his death, Feb. 23, 1526, left three sonsand four daughters. Don Luis, the eldest son, someyears later gave up all pretensions to the vice- royalty ofthe New World, and received instead the titles of Dukeof Veragua and Marquis of Jamaica. Having no legitimate son, he was succeeded by his nephew, Diego, sonof his brother Christoval, who died without children in1578. A lawsuit then arose and was continued for thirtyyears as to the titles and estates of the great discoverer,72 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.The case was finally decided Dec. 2, 1608, in favor ofthe grandson of Isabel, the daughter of Diego and Mariade Toledo, Don Nuño, or Nugno Gelves de Portugallo,who became Duke of Veragua. The male line becomingextinct, the titles reverted to the line of Francesca, sisterof Diego, who inherited the titles from Luis, her uncle.The value of the titles, Mr. Winsor says, is said to represent about eight to ten thousand dollars yearly, and ischargeable upon the revenues of Cuba and Porto Rico.Mr. Winsor thinks the career of Columbus " sadder,perhaps, notwithstanding its glory, than any othermortal presents in profane history."How would those last days at Valladolid have beencheered could he have looked forward through four centuries, and seen the New World which he discovered,honoring that discovery and the discoverer with the vastColumbian Exposition! How repaid for all his povertyand sorrow would he have been could he have guessedthat even the children in two hemispheres would betaught four hundred years later the story of his life, itsperseverance, its courage, and its faith! He made mistakes, as who does not? but the life of the young Italian wool- comber, studying in every moment of leisure ,and asking assistance year after year from crownedheads till he was fifty-six years old, to make his immortal discoveries, will ever be remarkable, and an inspiration for all time to come.MARCO POLO.MARCO POLO, born in 1254, was the eldest son ofa very rich nobleman of Venice, Nicolo Polo.Venice was at that time a great republic, and her merchants transacted business in almost all parts of the world.The uncle of Marco, named also Marco, had a mercantile house in Constantinople and at Soldaia, on thesouth-east coast of the Crimea. He and his brotherNicolo, in their trading ventures, went into the extremeEast, where no European, as far as is known, had beenbefore.When Marco was a lad of fifteen he was taken with hisfather and uncle on their journeys, and spent about twentysix years in Persia, China, Japan, India, and Russia.On the return of the travellers in 1295, Ramusio, whowrote in 1553, says that nobody would believe the threemen were really the Polos, they were so changed inlooks, and their garments were so unlike those worn bythe Venetians. The Polos therefore invited a large company to the mansion where they formerly lived."When the hour arrived for sitting down to table,"says Ramusio, " they came forth of their chamber allthree clothed in crimson satin, fashioned in long robesreaching to the ground, such as people in those dayswore within doors. And when water for the hands hadbeen served, and the guests were set, they took off those7374 MARCO POLO.robes and put on others of crimson damask, whilst thefirst suits were by their orders cut up and divided amongthe servants."Then, after partaking of some of the dishes, they wentout again and came back in robes of crimson velvet, andwhen they had again taken their seats, the second suitswere divided as before. When dinner was over, they didthe like with the robes of velvet, after they had put ondresses of the ordinary fashion worn by the rest of thecompany. These proceedings caused much wonder andamazement among the guests."But when the cloth had been drawn, and all the servants had been ordered to retire from the dining-hall,Messer Marco, as the gayest of the three, rose fromtable, and, going into another chamber, brought forth thethree shabby dresses of coarse stuff which they had wornwhen they first arrived. Straight way they took sharpknives and began to rip up some of the seams and welts,and to take out of them vast quantities of jewels of thegreatest value, such as rubies, sapphires, carbuncles,diamonds, and emeralds, which had all been stitched upin those dresses in so artful a fashion that nobody couldhave suspected the fact."For when they took leave of the Great Khan they hadchanged all the wealth that he had bestowed upon theminto this mass of rubies, emeralds, and other jewels,being well aware of the impossibility of carrying withthem so great an amount in gold over a journey of suchextreme length and difficulty. Now, this exhibition ofsuch a huge treasure of jewels and precious stones, alltumbled out upon the table, threw the guests into freshamazement, insomuch that they seemed quite bewilderedand dumbfounded. And now they recognized that inLitFrauenfelderPalermo"MARCVS POLVSVENETVS TOTIVS ORBIS ET INDIEPEREGRATOR PRIMVS."Copied bypermission fromaPainting bearing the aboveInscription intheGallery of MONSIGNORE BADIA at Rome.
MARCO POLO. 75spite of all former doubts these were in truth those honored and worthy gentlemen of the Ca Polo that theyclaimed to be; and so all paid them the greatest honorand reverence."Another singular story is told about the shabby garments which the Polos wore on their return from the farEast. The wife of one of them gave to a beggar a dirtyand patched coat, not knowing that it had jewels init. The owner at once went to the Bridge of the Rialto,and stood turning a wheel, and saying to those whocrowded round him, who supposed he was insane, “ He'llcome, if God pleases. " After two or three days thebeggar, as curious as the rest, came to see the man turning his wheel. At once Polo recognized his coat andrecovered his jewels. "Then, " says the narrative, " hewas judged to be quite the reverse of a madman! "The Polos were so rich that Marco was called MarcoMillioni, and his home, Corte de' Millioni.After Marco had been in Venice two or three years,the Genoese in 1298 fitted out a great fleet, under command of Lamba Doria, against the Venetians. Both republics had quarrelled in 1255 over an old church in Acre,Syria. Nearly twenty thousand men were killed on bothsides, and Acre itself was nearly destroyed. Ten enginesshot stones weighing fifteen hundred pounds into the city,demolishing the towers and forts. In 1294 the Venetians seized three Genoese vessels, and again the republics went to war, the Genoese gaining a great victory,capturing all but three of the Venetian galleys with theirrich cargoes.The bitterness increased till, in 1298, a severe battlewas fought off the island of Curzola. The Genoese hadseventy-eight galleys, and the Venetians ninety- four76 MARCO POLO.under Andrea Dandolo. The fight lasted through theday, Sunday, Sept. 7, the Genoese gaining a completevictory, capturing nearly all the galleys, including theflag-ship of Dandolo. In despair at his defeat, ratherthan be a captive in chains of the Genoese, he refusedfood, and finally killed himself by dashing his headagainst a bench. The Genoese gave him a ceremoniousburial, on the return of their victorious fleet.The Genoese lost heavily, among them the eldest sonof Lamba Doria, Octavian, who fell at the forecastle ofhis father's vessel, shot by an arrow in the breast. Hiscomrades mourned sadly, and the courage of the menweakened, when Lamba ran forward into the agitatedcompany, ordered that they cast his son's body into thesea, saying that the land could never have offered hisboy a nobler tomb, and fighting more fiercely than ever,though almost broken-hearted, he gained the victory.Seven thousand persons were taken prisoners, amongthem Marco Polo, who was the captain of one of the wargalleys.Colonel Henry Yule, C.B., who has edited the worksof Marco Polo, with extensive and valuable notes, saysthat these war galleys cost about thirty-five thousanddollars each. They had nearly or quite two hundredrowers apiece, the toil of rowing being almost unendurable, so that in more recent times it was performed byslaves under the most cruel driving. The musiciansplayed an important part, as it was considered essentialto have much noise of fifes , trumpets, kettle-drums, etc. ,to give courage to the crew, and to put fear into theheart of the enemy. A captured galley was taken intoport stern foremost, her colors dragging on the surface ofthe water.MARCO POLO. 77While Marco was in the Genoa prison he became acquainted with Rusticiano of Pisa, a man of considerableliterary reputation. The Pisans, Aug. 6, 1284, had beendefeated at Meloria, in front of Leghorn, by the Genoese under Uberto, the elder brother of Lamba Doria.Lamba with his six sons was in the fleet. Forty of thePisan galleys were taken or sunk, and upwards of ninethousand Pisans were made prisoners. Many nobleladies after this surrender came on foot to Genoa to seektheir kindred. The answer to them was, "Yesterdaythere died thirty of them, to-day there have been forty,all of whom we have cast into the sea: and so it isdaily."It is probable that Rusticiano persuaded Marco to puton paper an account of his wonderful travels, or, rather,to dictate it to his prison companion, for we owe to thePisan the very interesting record, of which Marco Polohimself says, "that since our Lord God did mould withhis hands our first father Adam, even until this day,never hath there been Christian, or Pagan, or Tartar, orIndian, or any man of any nation, who in his own personhath had so much knowledge and experience of the diversparts of the world and its wonders as hath had thisMesser Marco! "After Marco had been in prison nearly a year, peacewas secured between the two republics, and he, with theothers who were alive, were restored to their own country. A treaty of peace was soon after signed betweenGenoa and Pisa, and, of course, Rusticiano was freed.A few years after this release from prison, Marco married Donata Loredano, of a noble family, by whom hehad three daughters, Fantina, Bellela, and Moreta. Inthe early part of 1324, when Marco was seventy, finding78 MARCO POLO.himself " to grow daily feebler through bodily ailment,"he made his will, constituting his " beloved wife and deardaughters trustees, " and giving them most of his property. It is probable that he died that year, and wasburied in the church of San Lorenzo.He was urged while on his death-bed to retract someof the strange things he had written about the countriesvisited. He refused to do so, declaring that he had toldthe truth. It has taken several centuries to prove whatat that time seemed largely a fable.Marco Polo's book, Colonel Yule thinks, was written inFrench, and remained for over a century in manuscriptbefore printing was invented. Colonel Yule has foundabout seventy-five manuscripts in various languages. Ofcourse Marco Polo's book has been translated into a greatmany languages, and is now read all over the world.In 1260, when Marco was only six years old, his fatherand mother went as far East as Cathay (China) to the courtof the great Kublai Khan. So delighted was the latterwith these Venetians that he asked them some years laterto become his ambassadors to the Pope, and beg the prelate to send a hundred missionaries to his country. Theywere also to bring back " some oil from the lamp whichburns on the sepulchre of our Lord at Jerusalem . " ThePolos returned to Italy; but Clement IV. was dead, andwhen Gregory X. came to power, two years later, he couldsend only two Dominicans, and these soon lost courage,and gave up the long and wearisome journey.When the Polos returned to the Great Khan the ladMarco went with them. His mother had died, and hegreatly desired to be with his father. They were threeyears and a half on the journey. The Khan heard oftheir coming, and sent some officials forty days' journeyMARCO POLO. 79to meet them. All repaired to the summer palace atKaipingfu, about fifty miles north of the Great Wall,where they were received with much ceremony. TheKhan was greatly pleased with the holy oil.The boy Marco succeeded wonderfully in learning thelanguage and customs of the Tartars; in fact, he soonknew several languages, and four which were in characters such as the Chinese. The orders of the Great Khanwere written in six languages: Mongol, Nighur (a branchof Oriental Turkish) , Arabic, Persian, Tangutan (probably Tibetan) , and Chinese. Marco became such a favorite with Kublai Khan that he was sent on a mission toa country six months' distant from China. Usually whenambassadors returned they told the Khan only aboutbusiness, whereas the Khan said, " I had far lieverhearken about the strange things and the manners ofthe different countries you have seen than merely thebusiness you went upon. "Marco therefore made careful observations of the different people and countries, thus proving himself a wise.young man, and laying the foundation for his great fame.On his return from his first mission he told the Khanmany strange things, at which the Emperor was so much.pleased that he said, " If this young man live, he willassuredly come to be a person of great worth andability."For seventeen years Marco was the trusted official of theEmperor, attending to much of his private as well as public business. Finally Marco and his father and uncle became anxious to return to Venice, but the Khan refused tothink of their departure. At last, Arghun Khan of Persia, Kublai's great-nephew, having lost his favorite wife,Khatun Bulughán, in 1286, and mourning her sorely, sent80 MARCO POLO.three ambassadors to China to select a wife from her kin,as she had left a dying request that nobody should fillher place save one of her own family. Such messagesare sometimes forgotten, but Arghun Khan seems to haveremembered.The ambassadors presented their desires to Kublai,and choice was made of Kukáchin, a beautiful girl ofseventeen, of unusual ability and of fine family. As thejourney overland from Peking, China, to Tabreez in Persia, was long and dangerous on account of frequent wars,the ambassadors preferred to return by sea, and beggedthat the travellers, the Polos, might accompany them.-――Marco had just returned from a mission to India.Kublai reluctantly consented to their going, but providedhandsomely for the voyage, thirteen ships, each carrying as crews from two hundred and fifty to two hundredand sixty men, and sent friendly messages to thekings of England, France, and Spain . They sailed fromFokien, China, and after three months arrived at Java;it was more than two long years before they reachedPersia. Two of the ambassadors died on the passage,and of the six hundred persons on board, besides themariners, only eight survived.Arghun Khan had died March 12, 1291, even beforethe party left China, and his brother had succeeded him.This brother directed the Polos to bear the lady to theson of Arghun, Ghazan Khan, who was then in theprovince of Khorasan guarding the frontier with sixtythousand men. The party reached Ghazan the last of1293, or the first of 1294, and he, instead of his father,married Kukáchin, which was doubtless more appropriate, both as to age and character, for while Ghazanwas not as handsome as his father, he had many admir-MARCO POLO. 81able qualities as a statesman and a soldier. The youngbride from China lived only till June, 1296, a little overtwo years after her marriage. She had become tenderlyattached to the Polos, and wept when they left her inPersia and went on to Venice. They reached theirItalian home sometime in 1295.Marco Polo's travels, with Colonel Yule's notes , fillabout one thousand large pages, and will repay a reading. When it is possible, the record will be given inMarco's own words. He first describes Armenia, inAsia Minor, a country old long before Christ was born,probably of Phrygian origin, which took its name from.Aram, one of its noted kings, who lived about 1800 B. C.They consider themselves descended from Japhet, theson of Noah." In this country of Armenia," says Marco, " the arkof Noah exists on the top of a certain great mountain onthe summit of which snow is so constant that no onecan ascend; for the snow never melts, and is constantlyadded to by new falls. Below, however, the snow doesmelt, and runs down, producing such rich and abundantherbage that in summer cattle are sent to pasture froma long way round about, and it never fails them."People believed that Noah's ark still existed, and piecesof the pitch were used as amulets. Mount Ararat is16,953 feet high. It was first ascended by ProfessorParrot, in September, 1829.the ascent since that time.Several persons have madeTo the north of Armenia Marco found Georgiana(Georgia), which Alexander the Great could not passthrough, on account of the sea on one side and loftymountains on the other, so he built a high tower at theentrance of the defile , that the people beyond should82 MARCO POLO.not attack him. This, says Yule, is the Pass of Derbend,still called in Turkish the Iron Gate, with a wall thatruns from the Castle of Derbend along the ridges ofCaucasus. The wall is eight feet thick, and twenty-sixfeet high. The fortress was completed by Naoshirwan,A. D. 542, who, with his father, erected three hundredand sixty towers upon the Caucasian walls.The Georgians believed themselves descended fromKing David; therefore each king was called David.Marco found the people handsome the Georgianwomen have always been bought for wives by theTurks, on account of their great beauty.-Marco saw cloths of gold and silk made here in greatabundance, and such oil springs " that a hundred shiploads could be taken at one time. " These were probablythe immense petroleum wells of Baku, from which oil isshipped all over Europe. South-east of Armenia, Marcoentered Mansul ( Mosul) , where cloths of gold and silkwere made, called Mosolins, and where a people livedcalled Kurds, " an evil generation , whose delight it is toplunder merchants. ”Bandas (Bagdad) was found to be a great and wealthycity, the residence of the Saracen caliphs. The city,built about 765 by the second caliph of the Abbassidedynasty, soon became renowned as a commercial and intellectual metropolis. Haroun-al- Raschid, the fifth caliphof the Abbassides, a great warrior as well as patron ofletters, made it the centre of Arabic civilization .He led an army of 95,000 men against the Byzantineempire, ruled by Irene, and made her pay an annualtribute. When her son refused to pay the tribute,Haroun-al-Raschid, at the head of 135,000 men, proceededagainst him, and the Greek emperor lost 40,000 men, andMARCO POLO. 83acknowledged himself tributary. Again the tribute wasrefused, and again Haroun ravaged Asia Minor at thehead of 300,000 men. Bagdad itself was finally takenby Hulaku in 1258, which event Marco thus describes:--"The Lord of the Tartars of the Levant, whose namewas Alaü (Hulaku), brother to the Great Khan nowreigning, gathered a mighty host and came up againstBandas (Bagdad), and took it by storm . It was a greatenterprise, for in Bandas there were more than 100,000horse, besides foot soldiers. And when Alaü had takenthe place, he found therein a tower of the caliphs, whichwas full of gold and silver and other treasure; in fact,the greatest accumulation of treasure in one spot thatever was known.6"When he beheld that great heap of treasure, he wasastonished; and, summoning the caliph to his presence,he said to him: Caliph, tell me now why thou hastgathered such a huge treasure? What didst thou meanto do therewith? Knowest thou not that I was thineenemy, and that I was coming against thee with sogreat an host to cast thee forth of thine heritage?Wherefore didst thou not take of thy gear and employ it inpaying knights and soldiers to defend thee and thy city?'"The caliph wist not what to answer, and said nevera word. So the Prince continued: Now, then, Caliph,since I see what a love thou hast borne thy treasure, Iwill e'en give it thee to eat! ' So he shut the caliph upin the Treasure Tower, and bade that neither meat nordrink should be given him, saying, ' Now, Caliph, eat ofthy treasure as much as thou wilt, since thou art so fondof it; for never shalt thou have aught else to eat! ' Sothe Caliph lingered in the tower four days, and thendied like a dog. "84 MARCO POLO.The death of Mosta Sim Billah, the last of the Abbasside caliphs, is variously told. Some authorities saythat he was rolled in a carpet, as carpets are usuallyrolled, and his limbs crushed; others, that he was wraptin a carpet and trodden to death by horses.Longfellow has put this story into verse in his " Talesof a Wayside Inn," in the Spanish Jew's Tale of Kambalu."I said to the Kalif: ' Thou art old,Thou hast no need of so much gold.Thou shouldst not have heaped and hidden it here,Till the breath of battle was hot and near,But have sown through the land these useless hoardsTo spring into shining blades of swords,And keep thine honor sweet and clear.These grains of gold are not grains of wheat;These bars of silver thou canst not eat;These jewels and pearls and precious stonesCannot cure the aches in thy bones,Nor keep the feet of Death one hourFrom climbing the stairways of thy tower! 'Then into his dungeon I locked the drone,And left him to feed there all aloneIn the honey-cells of his golden hive:Never a prayer, nor a cry, nor a groanWas heard from those massive walls of stone,Nor again was the Kalif seen alive!When at last we unlocked the door,We found him dead upon the floor;The rings had dropped from his withered hands,His teeth were like bones in the desert sands:Still clutching his treasure he had died;And as he lay there, he appearedA statue of gold with a silver beard,His arms outstretched as if crucified."MARCO POLO. 85Marco also relates how one of the caliphs of Bagdad,hating the Christians, and desiring some pretext for persecuting them, told them that as they had declared thatif they had faith as a grain of mustard-seed they couldremove mountains, there must surely be that amount offaith among them; therefore if they did not remove amountain in the neighborhood, they would be put to death.The Christians bethought themselves of a very holyone-eyed cobbler who had put an awl into his other eye,because that organ had led him to think evil. He prayedin the presence of more than a hundred thousand Christians, and the mountain rose out of its place and movedto the spot designated by the caliph! This was probablytold to Marco, instead of his being an eye-witness ofthe miracle.From Tabreez, in the north of Persia, where there is aruin of a beautiful mosque of Ghazan Khan, and " wherethe city is all girt round with charming gardens," Marcowent to Savah, about fifty miles south-west of Teheran.Savah possessed one of the greatest libraries of the Eastuntil its destruction by the Mongols when they first invaded Persia. The three Magi, Jaspar, Melchior, andBalthazar, who went out to worship Christ, started fromthis city, and are said to be buried there in three largeand beautiful monuments side by side.Marco travelled extensively in Persia, finding thenomad tribes, then as now, cruel and murderous. ThePersian horses sold to India were very fine and of greatendurance. Yule tells of some that travelled nine hundred miles in eleven days, and of one that went elevenhundred miles in twelve days, including two days ofrest, making one hundred and ten miles per day. Suchhorses were sold for one thousand dollars each.86 MARCO POLO.At Kerman Marco saw famous steel cimeters andlances. The Turks paid great prices for them, the quality of a Kerman sabre being such that it would cleave aEuropean helmet without turning the edge.From Kerman Marco journeyed to Hormos (Ormuz) ,an island on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Persia.On the way thither, through central Persia, he saw singular birds and beasts. The francolin (black partridge)have a peculiar call which the peasants in Egypt think isArabic for "Sweet are the corn-ears! Praised be the Lord.""The oxen, " says Marco, " are very large and all overwhite as snow; the hair is very short and smooth, whichis owing to the heat of the country; the horns areshort and thick, not sharp in the point; and betweenthe shoulders they have a round hump, some two palmshigh. There are no handsomer creatures in the world,and when they have to be loaded, they kneel like a camel;once the load is adjusted, they rise. Their load is aheavy one, for they are very strong animals. Then thereare sheep here as big as asses; and their tails are solarge and fat that one tail will weigh some thirtypounds. They are fine fat beasts, and afford capitalmutton. "William Marsden, F. R. S. , in his translation of Marco,says that such sheep are found in various parts of Asiaand Africa. The tail is broad and large and often weighsfifty pounds. Where these sheep feed in the fields, theshepherds are obliged to fix a piece of thin board to theunder part of the tail to prevent its being torn bybushes, and sometimes small wheels are put under thisboard that the animal may have a sort of wagon inwhich to carry its tail easily. The fat of this tail isoften used by the natives instead of butter.MARCO POLO. 87At Ormuz, formerly one of the great commercialcentres of the East, Marco describes the hot winds,which in Italy are called Il Sirocco. The heat is sointolerable that during the hot months, from June toSeptember, it often kills both animals and vegetables.During great heat, usually from nine till twelve, thepeople often stay in water up to their necks.Various travellers have described this pestilentialwind, which the people of Beluchistan call julot or julo(the flame). Chardin says, " The most surprising effectof the wind is not the mere fact of its causing death,but its operation on the bodies of those who are killedby it. It seems as if they become decomposed withoutlosing shape, so that you would think them to be merelyasleep, when they are not merely dead, but in such a statethat if you take hold of any part of the body it comesaway in your hand, and the finger penetrates such a bodyas if it were so much dust. "Marco relates this incident which happened when hewas at Ormuz: "The Lord of Hormos not having paidhis tribute to the King of Kerman, the latter resolved toclaim it at the time when the people of Hormos wereresiding away from the city; so he caused a force ofsixteen hundred horse and five thousand foot to be gotready, and sent them by the route of Reobarles to takethe others by surprise."Now, it happened one day that, through the fault oftheir guide, they were not able to reach the place appointedfor the night's halt, and were obliged to bivouac in awilderness not far from Hormos. In the morning, asthey were starting on their march, they were caught bythat wind, and every man of them was suffocated, so thatnot one survived to carry the tidings to their lord. When88 MARCO POLO.the people of Hormos heard of this, they went forth tobury the bodies lest they should breed a pestilence. Butwhen they laid hold of them by the arms to drag themto the pits, the bodies proved to be so baked, as it were,by that tremendous heat, that the arms parted from thetrunks, and in the end the people had to dig graves hardby each where it lay, and so cast them in."Scattered through Persia, Marco observed the greatChinar, or plane-trees, which grow to an immense size ,and often stand alone, with no other tree within severalmiles. Marco calls it the Arbre Sec, Dry Tree, or ArbreSol, Tree of the Sun. Vows were made before theseancient trees, and pieces of cloth torn from the clothes ofthe votaries were hung upon the branches. Many of thesesacred trees bore the inscription, " If you pray, you willcertainly be heard. " It is generally believed that onewho injures or cuts down one of these grand trees willsoon die. Many of these Chinar trees are over a thousandyears old; some are said to date from the seventh century.Marco tells this story of the Old Man of the Mountain: -In the north of Persia, in the mountains, lived a sectcalled Ismaelites. Their headquarters were at Alamút(Eagle's Nest) . The Prince of the Assassins, as hisfollowers were called , Ala'uddin Mahomed, dwelt in averitable paradise, with beautiful gardens, palaces, musical instruments, and the like. His soldiers beguiled youngmen to enter his service when the latter were intoxicated by hashish, a preparation of hemp. They weretaken into this charming abode where was every pleasure.When the Prince wished to send any of his young menon a mission of murder, he was removed from Paradisewhile under the influence of hashish, and then told thatMARCO POLO. 89if he did the bidding of the Prince he should be returned,dead or alive, to enjoy it forever.The Assassins were pledged to the most perfect obedience. It is related that Henry, Count of Champagne(titular King of Jerusalem) , was on a visit to the OldMan of Syria, who was a leader of the Assassins beforethe time of Marco. One day as they walked together theysaw some lads sitting on the top of a high tower. TheOld Man asked the Count if he had any subjects as obedient as these; and before the Count had time to answer,at a sign from the Sheik, the two boys leaped from thetower, and were killed instantly.Alaü (Hulaku, the brother of Kublai Khan) determined to end this band of murderers, and sent a largeforce against them in 1254. They besieged the castlewhere the Old Man lived for three years, and it was surrendered only when food was exhausted. The fortresses,one hundred in number, surrendered, all but two.of these held out from fourteen to twenty years.OneRuknuddin Khursah, at whose instigation his father,Ala'uddin, had been killed that he might become Prince,was well treated by Hulaku, to whom he had surrendered .He was sent, however, to Mangu Khan, elder brother toKublai, who, hearing of his approach, asked why hispost-horses should be fagged to no purpose, and orderedthat he should be put to death on the road.Marco journeyed to Balkh, now in the north of Afghanistan, and found the ruins of palaces and other marblebuildings. This city was devastated by the Great Genghis Khan in 1221. Though it yielded without resistance, the whole population was marched by companies intothe plain, under the pretext of being counted, and thenmassacred. All buildings capable of defence were levelled90 MARCO POLO.to the ground, and the rest burned. Some authorities.say the city contained no less than twelve thousandmosques. Thus effectually did the Great Khan do hiswork of conquest.At Badakhshan, now in Afghanistan, the kings allclaimed direct descent from Roxana, the beautiful daughter of Darius, whom, it is said, her father in a dyinginterview with Alexander asked the latter to marry.The Balas rubies were found at Badakhshan. Marco says,"The stones are dug on the king's account, and no oneelse dares dig in that mountain on pain of forfeiture oflife as well as goods; nor may any one carry the stonesout of the kingdom. But the king amasses them all ,and sends them to other kings when he has tribute torender, or when he desires to offer a friendly present;and such only as he pleases he causes to be sold. Thushe acts in order to keep the Balas at a high value; forif he were to allow everybody to dig, they would extract so many that the world would be glutted withthem, and they would cease to be of any value. . .There is also in the same country another mountainin which azure is found; ' tis the finest in the world, andis got in a vein like silver. "The present monarch still holds the monopoly of thesemines, but they are not very productive now.Yule saysabout sixty years ago Murad Beg of Kunduz conqueredBadakhshan, and was so disgusted at the small productfrom the mines that he sold nearly the whole populationof the place into slavery!In Keshimur (Cashmere) Marco found sorcerers whocould bring on changes of weather and produce darkness.One of these hermits who could make rain and snowat pleasure, says one of the old chronicles, "scoldedMARCO POLO. 91those who made a noise, for, said he to me ( after I hadentered his cave and smoothed him down with a halfrupee, which I put in his hand with all humility) , ' noisehere raises furious storms. ' 'Cashmere was one of the centres of Buddhist teaching. In the first half of the seventh century therewere one hundred convents with about five thousandmonks.Marco found the women brunettes and very beautiful.Shawls are one of the chief articles of export, madefrom the short hair next the skin of the goat. Sometimes three men work for a whole year on a single shawl.Marco crossed the sandy desert of Gobi, "the lengthof which is so great that ' tis said it would take a yearor more to ride from one end of it to the other."Travellers in crossing hear strange sounds as of personstalking, or drums played. Several ancient cities are believed to be buried under the sands of Gobi . In Tangut(Tibet) Marco describes the manner of burying the dead ."When they are going to carry a body to the burning,the kinsfolk build a wooden house on the way to thespot and drape it with cloths of silk and gold. Whenthe body is going past this building they call a halt,and set before it wine and meat and other eatables.All the minstrelsy in the town goes playing before thebody; and when it reaches the burning-place , the kinsfolk are prepared with figures cut out of parchment andpaper in the shape of men and horses and camels, andalso with round pieces of paper, like gold coins, and allthese they burn along with the corpse. For they saythat in the other world the defunct will be providedwith slaves and cattle and money, just in proportion tothe amount of such pieces of paper that has been burnt92 MARCO POLO.along with him." It is probable that these paperfigures were symbols of the more ancient custom of sacrificing human beings and valuable possessions at thedeath of a person. Every day, as long as the body iskept in the house before burial, food is set before it,and it is believed that the soul comes and nourishesitself.At Kanchow, Tibet, Marco saw very large recumbentidols, covered with gold. They symbolize Buddha inthe state of nirvána. One in Burma is sixty-nine feetlong. One seen in the seventh century near Bamianwas said to be one thousand feet long.Mr. Thomas W. Knox, in his book on Marco Polo,mentions an idol in a temple at Bangkok, Siam, onehundred and sixty feet long; " the soles of the feet arethree and a half yards long and broad in proportion, andeach of them is inlaid with mother-of-pearl as delicatelyas though it were a brooch or finger-ring. The figuresrepresented by this inlaid work are entirely fruits andflowers, in accordance with the fable that fruits andflowers spring from the earth wherever Buddha plantedhis footsteps. It was constructed of brick and thenheavily gilded , so that one might easily suppose it to bemade of gold." There are about one thousand otheridols of various sizes in the temple at Bangkok.The men in this city were permitted thirty wives, ifthey could support them, the first wife being held inthe highest consideration. They endowed their wives.with cattle, slaves, and money. If a man disliked anywife, " he just turned her off and took another. "Marco visited Karakorum, the Mongol headquarterstill 1256, when Mangu Khan transferred the governmentto Kaipingfu, north of Peking. Karakorum is north ofMARCO POLO. 93the Gobi desert. It was founded in the eighth century,and is said to have been the residence of Prester John, ifthat mythical person ever existed. All Europe from theeleventh to the thirteenth century believed that a Christian king ruled over a vast area at the East, and calledhim Presbyter Johannes.---Marco Polo heard that the ruler of the Tartars, GenghisKhan, a man whom he thought to be of great worth,probably Marco had forgotten how many countries he hadlaid waste, desired to marry the daughter of PresterJohn, whereat the latter was very angry, and said to theenvoys who came for her, " What impudence is this, toask my daughter to wife! Wist he not well that he wasmy liegeman and serf? Goye back to him and tell himthat I had liever set my daughter in the fire than giveher in marriage to him, and that he deserves death atmy hands, rebel and traitor that he is!""such rage When Genghis Khan heard this message,seized him that his heart came nigh to bursting withinhim." He levied a great host, and proceeded againstPrester John as soon as possible. A dreadful battle followed with heavy losses, and Genghis Khan gained thevictory. Genghis Khan, according to some authorities,married the daughter of Prester John, and others sayhis niece. He had a dream in which he was divinelycommanded to give her away, and this he hastened todo the next morning.Genghis Khan died during his third expedition againstTibet in 1227, at the age of sixty-six. Some say that hewas killed by an arrow, and others that he was mortallyinjured by the beautiful queen of Tibet, Kurbeljin GoaKhatun, who then went and drowned herself in theHoang-Ho, which thereafter the Mongols called Khatun-94 MARCO POLO..gol, or lady's river. It is said that forty noble andbeautiful girls, as well as many superb horses, werekilled at his death so that they might serve him in theother world. He was borne to his grave on a twowheeled wagon, the whole host escorting it, and wailingas they went. One of his old comrades sang:"Whilom thou didst swoop like a falcon: a rumbling wagon nowtrundles thee off:O my king!Hast thou in truth then forsaken thy wife and thy children andthe Diet of thy people?O my king!Circling in pride like an eagle whilom thou didst lead us,O my king!But now thou hast stumbled and fallen, like an unbroken colt,O my king!This custom of killing persons to serve their superiorsin the other world was common among the Tartars.Marco says that when Mangu Khan died, in the heartof crowded China, all who were met on the road to theplace of burial were put to death in order that theymight serve him twenty thousand persons in all .The Tartar houses were circular, made of boards andcovered with felt. Whenever they wished to move tosome other town, these houses were put on wagonsdrawn by twenty or more oxen, ten oxen abreast. Thedistance between the wheel-tracks was often twentyfeet.Marco says that the women did all the buying andselling and whatever was necessary to provide for thefamily, " for the men lead the life of gentlemen, troubling themselves about nothing but hunting and hawk-MARCO POLO. 95ing and looking after their goshawks and falcons, unlessit be the practice of warlike exercises. "They ate all kinds of flesh, including that of horsesand dogs, and " Pharaoh's rats, " probably the gerboa ofArabia and north Africa. Their drink was mare's milk,which they put into vessels of horse-skin, and then adding some cows' milk which was sour, fermentation tookplace. It was also churned with a staff which stood inthe vessel. After three or four days the koumiss was readyto drink. This is the beverage of the Mongols at thepresent day, and is said to be a valuable tonic, especiallyuseful in consumption.They worshipped a God in heaven to whom theyprayed daily; and besides Him they had a god, a felt orcloth figure of whom was in every house, with images ofhis wife and children around him. When they ate theirmeals they greased the mouths of the god and his familywith the fat of their meat, and then believed that thesehad had their share of the dinner.The wealthy Tartars wore gold and silk stuffs, linedwith costly furs, such as sable and ermine.They were capable of enduring the greatest hardships."When they are going on a distant expedition," saysMarco, " they take no gear with them except two leatherbottles for milk, and a little earthenware pot to cooktheir meat in, and a little tent to shelter them from therain; and in case of great urgency, they will ride tendays on end without lighting a fire or taking a meal.On such an occasion they will sustain themselves on theblood of their horses, opening a vein and letting theblood jet into their mouths. "Their laws were severe against theft. For horse-stealing they cut a man in two. For a petty theft they beat96 MARCO POLO.him with sticks, from which beating the person not infrequently died. A manin whose possession some stolenanimal was found was obliged to restore to the ownernine of the same value; if he could not, his childrenwere seized as compensation; " if he have no children,he is slaughtered like a mutton," says Ibn-Battuta.These Tartars married dead people to each other. If aman had a daughter who died before marriage, andanother had a son who had also died before marriage,while the coffins were in the house. and these weresometimes kept for months -a wedding took place byregular contract, with the usual presents, music, andmuch ceremony. Then the papers of contract wereburned that the young people in the other world mightknow it, and look upon each other as legally married.The bodies were usually buried in the same grave. Theparents therefore felt that their families were related toeach other.The Ingushes of the Caucasas, says one historian,have a similar custom. "If a man's son dies, anotherwho has lost his daughter goes to the father and says,' Thy son will want a wife in the other world; I willgive him my daughter; pay me the price of the bride.'Such a demand is never refused, even though the purchase of the bride amount to thirty cows."Marco saw the Yak in Tibet, "wild cattle as big aselephants, splendid creatures, covered everywhere buton the back with shaggy hair a good four palms long.They are partly black, partly white, and really wonderfully fine creatures, and the hair or wool is extremelyfine and white, finer and whiter than silk. Messer Marcobrought some to Venice as a great curiosity, and so itwas reckoned by those who saw it. "MARCO POLO. 97won- Marco devotes many pages of his book to the "derful magnificence of the Great Khan now reigning, byname Kublai Khan, " the latter word signifying " TheGreat Lord of Lords. " Genghis Khan believed in thegenius of his young grandson, and said on his death-bed,"The words of the lad Kublai are well worth attention;see all of you that ye heed what he says! One day hewill sit in my seat and bring you good fortune such asyou have had in my day! "Kublai was born in August, 1216, the fourth son ofTuli, who was the youngest of Genghis's four sons by hisfavorite wife, Burte Fujin. His brothers disputed hisclaim to the throne, but he maintained his right by hissuperior ability. His cousin Nayan, not wishing to beunder Kublai, raised an army of four hundred thousandmen against him. Kublai also raised a large force, andwent himself to the place of battle, mounted on a greatwooden bartizan, borne by four well-trained elephants,his standard high aloft over him, so that all the armycould see it. His horsemen each had a foot-soldier, witha lance, sitting behind him. Before joining in battle allplayed and sang on a two-stringed instrument; and whenthe nakkaroh, or great kettle-drum, four feet in diameter, began to sound, then all rushed to arms, " with theirbows and their maces, with their lances and swords, andwith the arblasts of the footmen, that it was a wondroussight to see. Now might you behold such flights ofarrows from this side and from that, that the wholeheaven was canopied with them and they fell likerain."Two of the great nakkarohs were usually carried on anelephant, while a man sat astride the elephant and dealtstrong blows on each drum with his hands.98 MARCO POLO.There were not fewer than seven hundred and sixtythousand horsemen, not reckoning the footmen. Kublaiwas victorious, and Nayan was utterly routed, as no quarter was given. Nayan was made prisoner, and afterwards put to death by being tossed to and fro in acarpet, because, as he was of the Imperial line, it wouldnot do to spill his blood.Kublai, although he reigned long, never went in person to battle again, but sent his sons or his officials .Upon his successful warriors he bestowed titles, andgave them tablets of authority. All such persons, whenever they went abroad, had a golden umbrella carriedhigh on a spear over their heads, in token of their greatrank. Each dignitary always sat in a silver chair.Kublai was " of good stature, neither tall nor short; hiscomplexion red and white, and his eyes black and fine.”He had four superior wives, each of whom was attendedby about three hundred charming damsels, with pagesand other attendants of both sexes. Each of theseladies, says Marco, " had not less than ten thousand persons attached to her court."Of lesser wives Kublai had a great number, chosenfrom a tribe of Tartars called Nugrot, celebrated fortheir beauty. Besides beauty they were obliged to havesweet breath, and not snore in their sleep! Two ofKublai's wives, including the best-beloved Jamui Khatun,were from this tribe. Of Kublai's twenty-two sons bythe four principal wives , the eldest, Chinkin, died whenhe was forty-three, and Teimur, his third son, was namedas Kublai's successor. Chinkin's eldest son, Kambala,squinted, so not being perfect physically, was not eligible to the throne. The second son, Tarmah, was feeblein body.MARCO POLO. 99.Kublai Khan lived in a magnificent palace at Cambaluc ( Peking ) . "The hall of the palace, " says Marco," is so large that it could easily dine six thousand people. The outside of the roof is all covered with vermilion and yellow and blue and other hues, which are fixedwith a varnish so fine and exquisite that they shine likecrystal, and lend a resplendent lustre to the palace, asseen for a great way round."This palace was surrounded by a high wall, one milein length on each side. At each corner and midway between was a fine palace where the Emperor kept hiswar harness, his saddles, and everything needful for hisarmy; eight palaces in all. The great wall had fivegates, no one but the Emperor ever passing out of themiddle gate. Beyond his own palace were many otherpalaces for the women of the household. In the greatparks around his palace were white stags, fallow deer,gazelles, and squirrels of many kinds. Alarge lake overa mile long, abounding with fish, was in his park, and anartificial mound one hundred paces high, covered withevergreens. The mountain itself was also covered withsome kind of mineral, giving it a green appearance.Kublai's summer palace at Kaipingfu was also verybeautiful. A wall sixteen miles long was built aroundthe parks, lakes, and fountains. Here the Khan keptmore than two hundred gerfalcons. He also built a palace of cane, gilt inside and outside. The canes werethree palms in circumference and from ten to fifteenpaces high. The palace was stayed by more than twohundred cords of silk.The Khan kept more than ten thousand white horses,"all pure white, without a speck. " The milk of themares he and his family drank, no one else being100 MARCO POLO.allowed to use it, except one tribe, the Horiad, becausethey had helped Genghis Khan win a victory yearsbefore. Whenever these mares were passing across thecountry, no one must go before them, but wait till theyhad passed, as these animals were treated with thegreatest respect. White horses were presented to theKhan in homage on New Year's Day.Marco saw many marvellous feats performed by the sorcerers, the Bacsi. There are still thousands of jugglersin China and India, who do some wonderful things .Marco saw the Emperor's wine cups moved about tenpaces, seemingly without hands, and offered to the latterto drink. This was probably done by hidden machinery.Cambaluc (Peking) is of very ancient date. It wasthe capital of the kingdom of Yen 222 B. C. GenghisKhan captured it in 1215, under the name of Yenking.Kublai founded a new city a little north-east of oldYenking. The existing Tartar city of Peking standson the site of Kublai's city. The latter was eighteenmiles in circumference . Both cities together measureabout twenty-six miles. It is surrounded by walls aboutthirty feet high and twenty-five feet in width. At eachof the twelve gates in Marco's time there were a thousand armed men, as a guard of honor to the sovereign.He also kept a guard of twelve thousand horsemen.Three thousand of these guarded the palace for threedays and three nights, and these were then relieved byanother three thousand.At the feasts of ceremony the great Khan sat at anelevated table, with his chief wife on the left. On hisright were his sons and other kinsmen at tables, withtheir heads on a level with the Emperor's feet. Thehighest officials and other women sat at tables lower still,MARCO POLO. 101―so that the Khan could look out upon them all. Agreater part of the officers and soldiers sat on the carpetwhile they ate, and forty thousand persons were outsideon various errands many bringing gifts to the Emperor.The drinking-vessels were of gold, and beautifully carved.Those who waited upon the Khan were barons; andthese had their mouths covered with napkins of silkand gold, so that no breath should taint the dish orgoblet presented to the King. When he drank, all themusicians played, and the company dropped on theirknees and made obeisance to him.The Khan's greatest feasts were on his birthday andat New Year's. He then appeared in robes wroughtwith beaten gold, and his twelve thousand barons andknights wore the same color. Thirteen times a yearthe Khan presented suits of raiment to his retinue, sothat all might have the color which he wore.At the New Year's feast all wore white, because theythought white clothing was lucky. More than one hundred thousand white horses, richly caparisoned, werebrought as gifts to the Khan. It was customary topresent nine times nine articles, eighty-one horses, oreighty-one pieces of gold.Arminius Vámbéry says of the marriage price amongthe Uzbegs: "The question is always how many timesnine sheep, cows, camels, or horses, or how many timesnine ducats the father is to receive for giving up hisdaughter."The whole of the Khan's elephants, five thousand,covered with inlaid cloths representing beasts and birds,were exhibited, each carrying on his back two coffersfilled with plate required for the White Feast. Thesewere followed by a vast number of camels laden with102 MARCO POLO.things needful for the festivities. No wonder the people thought theirs a wonderful empire, and their Khan.the greatest monarch of the earth. Before the feast allthe officials came to the hall of the palace, and at agiven signal bowed their faces to the floor four times,before the Emperor " as if he were a god. Then all therich and costly presents are seen by the Emperor. Alion is also brought before the Khan, which lies downwith every indication of reverence. "Marco says the Emperor was a great hunter, and keptleopards and several lions to catch wild cattle, bears,and stags. Eagles, also, were trained to catch wolves,foxes, deer, and wild-goats.The Khan had two barons, Baian and Mingan," Keepers of the mastiff dogs, " who each had chargeof ten thousand men dressed alike, one body in red,the other in blue. When the Khan went hunting, hehad ten thousand men and five thousand dogs at hisright hand, and the same number at his left hand. Thetwo men in charge were obliged to furnish to the courtone thousand head of game daily, from October to theend of March.When the Emperor went hunting water-fowl, he tookwith him " ten thousand falconers and some five hundred gerfalcons, besides peregrines, sakers, and otherhawks in great numbers. ""The Emperor is carried," says Marco, " upon fourelephants, in a fine chamber made of timber, linedinside with plates of beaten gold, and outside withlions' skins, because he is troubled with gout.always keeps beside him a dozen of his choicest gerfalcons, and is attended by several of his barons whoride on horseback alongside."MARCO POLO. 103When the Emperor reached his hunting-ground hefound his tents pitched, ten thousand in all , and veryrich and fine. The tent in which he held court waslarge enough to accommodate a thousand persons. Eachof the audience tents had three poles of spice-wood.The tents were covered with lions' skins, and linedinside with ermine and sable, these two being thecostliest of furs. The Tartars call the sable " The kingof furs." The tent ropes were all of silk.From March to October nobody was allowed to huntthe hare, stag, buck, or roe, "so that even if a man wereto find one of those animals asleep by the roadside, hewould not touch it for the world! " This left an abundance for the Emperor and his courtiers and their families, from March to the middle of May.When the hunting season was over the Khan returnedto Peking for three days only, which were spent in courtfeasts, and then he retired to his summer palace untilthe 28th of August and then back again to Peking.Under Kublai was a leading official, Achmath, whohad obtained great power over the Emperor. Peoplewere afraid of him, because they knew that he wasunscrupulous; therefore he had acquired vast wealththrough bribes. At last the people, in the Khan'sabsence, laid a plot to kill him. They sent a message toAchmath that the Khan's son had arrived, and he must,of course, meet him. The moment Achmath reached thepalace his head was cut off with a sword.As soon as the Khan knew of it the three leadersconcerned in the murder were publicly executed. When,however, he learned from Marco Polo, Assessor of thePrivy Council, and others, Achmath's real character, howimmoral and dishonest he was, the Khan had him dug104 MARCO POLO.up, his head cut off and publicly exposed, and his bodygiven to the dogs. His sons were flayed alive, whileover seven hundred persons who had shared in hissins were punished. All his property reverted to theEmperor.-The Great Khan made his own paper money from theinner bark of the mulberry-tree. His orders were carried over the vast empire by means of messengers.Every twenty-five miles was a station, a large building,with beds in rich silk, and about four hundred horses.Between these stations, every three miles, were housesfor foot-runners, who, girt with a wide belt hung withbells, ran as fast as possible to the next station threemiles away. Other men at these stations were employedwhen there was great haste, and these went on horses.If the horse broke down, the rider was empowered totake any horse he found, and go on his journey.By the Emperor's orders rows of trees were plantedalong the routes of these messengers, even in the mostuninhabited places. His astrologers had told him a veryadmirable thing, that he who plants trees lives long, -so, whether true or not, the Khan rendered thereby agreat service to the generations after him.-Colonel Yule relates an incident of the tenth century,showing how fruit was sent more quickly even than byhorse-posts. Fatimite Khalif Aziz had a great desirefor some cherries from Balbek. The Wazir Yakub-benKilis caused six hundred pigeons to be despatched fromBalbek to Cairo, each of which carried attached to eitherleg a small silk bag containing a cherry.Kublai Khan, with all his great wealth and magnificent living, was extremely good to the poor of his realm.He caused great granaries to be stored with corn forMARCO POLO. 105them in time of dearth or famine. Every poor familycould have a large warm loaf daily by coming to thecourt, and about thirty thousand came each day fromyear to year. He laid a tax upon wool, silk, and hemp,and the artisans gave one day a week to make thesestuffs into clothes for the poor.The Tartars, before they were converted to Buddhism,never gave alms, says Marco. When a poor personbegged of them, they said, " Go with God's curse, for ifHe loved you as He loves me, He would have providedfor you! "To the five thousand astrologers and soothsayers inPeking the Khan gave food and clothing as to the poor.Coal seems to have been abundant and cheap; andthis was necessary, since the people " take a hot bath,"says Marco, "three times a week, and in winter, if possible, every day."Kublai was also just to the peasantry. One of hissons and a few others, having become separated from thearmy, stayed at a little village of Bishbaligh, where thepeople gave them a sheep and wine. The next year twoof the party went that way and demanded a sheep andwine. The people gave it, but went to the Khan andtold him they feared the thing would be done everyyear. He sharply rebuked his son, and paid the peoplefor the sheep and wine.Marco travelled for Kublai through Shan-si, stoppingat various cities. At one city the sovereign, called theGolden King, had in his service none but beautiful girls,who used to draw him in a carriage. Colonel Yule says," This precise custom was in our own day habituallyreported of the Tai-ping sovereign during his reign atNanking. None but women are allowed in the interior106 MARCO POLO.of the palace, and he is drawn to the audience-chamberin a gilded sacred dragon-car by the ladies."This Golden King was at war with Prester John, andcould not conquer him. Finally, seventeen of PresterJohn's court volunteered to bring him the Golden Kingalive. They therefore went to the country of the latter,and entered his service for two years, he, meantimebecoming greatly attached to them. One day, whenthey accompanied him on a pleasure party, when alonewith him, they told him that he was their prisoner andmust go to Prester John.He begged for their compassion, but they carried himaway. Prester John was greatly rejoiced, and set theGolden King to keep his cattle. At the end of two yearshe called the Golden King before him , gave him richrobes, and asked him, " Now, Sir King, art thou satisfiedthat thou wast in no way a man to stand against me? ”Then Prester John sent the Golden King back to hisown country with a goodly train, and the latter wasthereafter the friend of Prester John.Marco spent some time at Singanfoo, the capital ofShen-si, where the third son of Kublai, Mangalai, had agreat palace, the interior finished in beaten gold. Thiscity has been the capital of many ancient dynasties.One of the emperors had beautiful palaces, gardens, andparks here one hundred years before Christ. Here, inthe seventh century, were Christian churches built by theNestorians, as shown by a slab dug up a thousand yearsafterward by some workmen, in 1625. The slab wasabout seven feet by three, covered with Chinese inscriptions (surmounted by a cross) , telling of the missionariesand the Emperor's approval of building a church in theprincipal square of the city.MARCO POLO. 107Marco went from one province to another in China, describing the products of each and the habits of the people.In Yun-nan he saw great serpents ten paces long andten palms in girth, " with eyes bigger than a loaf ofbread, and mouth large enough to swallow a man whole. "The flesh was used for food, and gall from the inside ofthe animal was sold at a great price as a cure for thebite of mad dogs and other ailments. The creatureswere probably crocodiles.The natives had a barbarous custom of killing anynoted person who came among them, supposing that thegood name and ability of the murdered man would betransferred to the slayers. Kublai put a stop to this custom when he conquered the people. It is said that theancient Bulgarians of the Volga had the same superstition. If they found a man endowed with special intelligence, they said, " This man should serve our Lord God; "and straightway they put a noose around his neck andhanged him to a tree till his body fell to pieces.West of Yun-nan lived a people called " Gold- Teeth "(Persian, Zăr-dandán), because they covered the teeth,upper and under, with gold plate. The men went to warand hunted, while the women did the work. A motherwas obliged to go to work at once after her child wasborn, while the father took the infant and remained inbed or in the house with it for forty days, not once goingout-of-doors, the mother waiting upon him and doing allthe work, in-doors and out. Yule says this was the custom among some of the aborigines of the West Indies,Central and South America, and West Africa.Their money was gold, but for small change they usedshells. When they were ill, they sent for conjurers, whokept the idols , and who acted somewhat after the manner108 MARCO POLO.of the dancing dervishes, wallowing upon the ground andfoaming at the mouth, before the offended spirit, till theman recovered.Marco visited Burma, and Laos, and Anam, east ofBurma. The king of the latter made war against Kublaiin 1277. The Burmese king prepared two thousand elephants, with towers of timber, in each of which werefrom twelve to sixteen armed men. He had also sixtythousand soldiers. The Tartar captains gave orders thatevery man should tie his horse to a tree in the forest andshoot the elephants with their arrows. The elephants,wounded, soon fled into the woods, breaking the towerson their backs, and injuring their riders. Then the battle waged furiously with sword and mace, and Kublaiwas victorious. Over two hundred elephants were captured by the victors.Aformer king of Burma had erected two towers of stone,one covered with gold a finger in thickness, and the otherwith silver, with bells around the top of each, so thatthe wind would make them sound. These towers werebeside his tomb, which was also plated with gold andsilver. As these were erected for the good of his soul,Kublai would not allow them to be disturbed .In the capture of Manzi, or Southern China, by Kublai,one city, Siang-yangfu, held out for three years after therest of Manzi had surrendered. At the suggestion ofthe Polos, mangonels were made, - machines by whichstones of three hundred weight or more could be throwninto the city. The buildings were soon crushed and thepeople surrendered.Marco describes the great river Yang-tse-Kiang, morethan one hundred days' journey from one end to theother, in some places ten miles wide, " the greatest riverMARCO POLO. 109in the world." America, with its Mississippi and Amazon, had not then been discovered. Up the Yang-tseKiang there passed two hundred thousand vessels yearly.Marco saw fifteen thousand vessels on it at one time.On the rocky eminences along the river idol monasterieswere to be seen. One onthe " Golden Isle, " a little islandnot far from the mouth of the river, was surmounted bynumerous temples. The monastery had the most famousBuddhist library in China. The buildings were entirelydestroyed by the Tai-pings in 1860.Marco describes Ching-kian-foo, where two churches ofNestorian Christians were built in 1278. In the warbetween England and China, in 1842, the heroic Manchu,commandant, seated himself among his records, and thenset fire to the building, and perished in it, rather than fallinto the hands of the English.Travelling south-east one reaches Changchow, capturedby General Gordon in 1864. When Kublai conqueredSouthern China, a company of Alans, who called themselves Christians, were sent to take this city. Findingsome wine after they had entered the place, they all became dead drunk, and at night the people of the city fellupon them and slew them. This enraged Bayan, who hadcharge of the Great Khan's forces, so he sent a largerarmy and exterminated the whole population. Some historians say that he boiled the bodies. Genghis Khan, itis said, heated seventy caldrons after one of his victoriesand boiled his prisoners. Such was war in barbaroustimes.Marco greatly admired Quinsay, which means the Cityof Heaven, and which is now called Hangchow. Therewere twelve guilds of different crafts in the city, and eachguild had twelve thousand houses for its workmen. In-110 MARCO POLO.side the city was a lake thirty miles in circumference,around which the wealthy built palaces. There werealso spacious halls on two islands in the middle of thelake, where marriage feasts were held, and where sometimes a hundred entertainments were being enjoyed atthe same time. This provision was made by the Emperorfor the pleasure of his people.-At every bridge —and Marco says there were twelvethousand was stationed a guard of twelve men, whowith a piece of wood and a metal basin struck the hourof the night. In case of fire they beat the alarm, and theguards from all the bridges near hastened thither, withthe owners of the property. No others dared leave theirhouses at night, as persons were arrested if found on thestreet after a certain hour.The city of Quinsay, with sixteen hundred thousandhouses, had three thousand hot baths, each so large thatone hundred persons could bathe together. All our citieswould do well to copy in this matter the Chinese whoseven centuries ago were so wise in providing baths forthe people. A modern writer says, " Only the poorerclasses in Hangchow go to the public baths; the tradespeople and middle classes are generally supplied by the bath-houses with hot water at a moderate charge. " Thepeople bathe daily.In this city was the magnificent palace of the Emperorof Southern China. The walls enclosing the palace andits beautiful gardens and fountains were ten miles long.The palace contained twenty halls finished in gold,besides one thousand chambers beautifully painted invarious colors.In some of the pavilions the King used to entertainten thousand persons at a feast, which would last forMARCO POLO. 111ten or twelve days. A covered corridor, six paces inwidth, led to the lake. On either side were ten courtsin the form of oblong cloisters surrounded by colonnades,and in each cloister were fifty chambers with gardens toeach. In these chambers were one thousand young ladiesin the service of the King.At Quinsay there were ten large markets, held in thesquares of the city three times a week, frequented byforty or fifty thousand people. Here Marco saw allkinds of fruits, vegetables, and meats.The pearsweighed ten pounds apiece. Colonel Yule says he hasseen pears in Covent Garden market that must haveweighed seven or eight pounds apiece, which sold foreighteen guineas a dozen - over ninety dollars.Colonel Yule thinks this city of Quinsay was the greatest then existing in the world. Many other ancienttravellers confirm Marco's account of the number ofbridges (twelve thousand) , the great wealth and extentof the city one hundred miles in circumference —thehundreds of idol temples where from one to two thousand monks lived in each, the paved squares and streets,and the elegantly dressed people.-Marco Polo was sent by the Khan, after the latter hadconquered this city, to inspect the revenue and to seethat correct returns were made of sugar, salt, wine, etc.Marco says about fifty million dollars were paid yearlyto the Khan. Silk paid ten per cent. No wonder thatKublai could support twenty thousand men as keepersof his dogs, when one city yielded such revenue as this.Marco Polo next travelled to Cipango (Japan) wherehe found the people " white, civilized , and well-favored. "The palace of the king seemed to be of gold, with thefloors made in plates like slabs of stone, all seeming to be112 MARCO POLO.pure gold, and by many believed to be such.and rose-colored pearls were in abundance.son died, a pearl was placed in his mouth.Both whiteWhen a perKublai Khan was very eager to conquer such a richcountry, and sent a fleet with one hundred thousand menagainst it. The fleet was scattered by a storm, and theMongols were defeated, thirty thousand men put todeath, and seventy thousand Coreans and Chinese weremade slaves. It is stated that only three men werespared to be sent back to Kublai to tell him what hadbecome of his one hundred thousand. The Great Khanwished to send another fleet, but there was such opposition to the scheme that he abandoned it.Marco visited Cochin China, in Anam, which becamesubject to Kublai. The king had three hundred andtwenty-six children and fourteen thousand tame elephants.Sailing fifteen hundred miles south-east, Marco reachedthe island of Java, which he found to have surpassingwealth in spices. Kublai tried to conquer Java; but hisambassador, Mengki, was sent back to China with hisface branded like that of a thief. A great armamentstarted out from the ports of Fo-kien to avenge thisinsult, but they accomplished little . The death of Ku.blai prevented any further attempt at subjugation.In Java the Less (Sumatra) Marco found some tribesof Cannibals who always ate their prisoners. If thesorcerers told them that a sick man would die, theysmothered him, and ate him. Sometimes they exposedtheir dead in coffins upon rocks bythe sea. Many elephants, monkeys, and the so- called unicorns were seenin Sumatra. The Semangs of the Malay Peninsula aresaid to destroy the unicorn in this manner. His wholeMARCO POLO. 113body is often immersed in mud, with only a part ofhis head visible . When the dry weather comes andthe mud hardens, it is difficult for the animal to extricatehimself. The Semangs build an immense fire over him,and he is soon destroyed and ready to be eaten.The natives ate rice and drank wine from the Gomutipalm, which, when nine or ten years old, yields it fromany cut branch, three quarts a day for about two years.In Sumatra, where Marco with two thousand men inhis company stayed five months, detained by contrarywinds, he found camphor " worth its weight in gold, ”and sago, which he and his party made into bread andfound it excellent. Says a modern writer, “ The camphor tree attracts beyond all the traveller's observationby its straight columnar and colossal gray trunk and itsmighty crown of foliage, rising high above the canopyof the forest. It exceeds in dimensions the Rosamola,the loftiest tree of Java, and is probably the greatesttree of the Archipelago, if not of the world, reaching aheight of two hundred feet. . . . The camphor is foundin small quantities, one quarter to a pound, in fissure-likehollows in the stem. Many trees are cut down in vainor split up the side without finding camphor. "The sago is the pith of the tree, which is put into.tubs of water and stirred with a wooden spoon. Theflour sinks to the bottom, while the bran comes to thetop and is thrown away. One tree will sometimes yieldnearly a thousand pounds of sago, which will support aman a year.At the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal, Marcofound a tribe small in stature, "no better than wild beasts."They were black with woolly hair, ate men alive, werenaked, and murdered the crews of wrecked vessels.114 MARCO POLO.In Ceylon, Marco saw precious stones, among themsome large rubies. It is said that the Emperor of China,in the fourteenth century, purchased for his cap a carbuncle which weighed more than an ounce. When wornat a grand levee, the lustre filled the palace; hence itwas called the " Red Palace-illuminator. "In a high mountain in Ceylon the people believeAdam was buried, and make pilgrimages to the grave;but the Buddhists think it was Buddha. In Marco'stime Buddha had been worshipped about eighteen centuries. He was the son of a king, married at sixteen tothe beautiful Yasodhara, with forty thousand princessesin his harem. He had been kept in three elegant palaces away from the world, lest he should, if he onceknew the evil and sorrow in it, be led to become anascetic. Driving out one day in a chariot with fourwhite horses, he saw an old man, and learned forthe first time that old age was the portion of many.Later he saw a leper, and then a dead man, and learnedthat disease and death come to all. He left his wifeand infant son at the palace, and thereafter, till hisdeath at eighty, devoted himself to doing good to theworld through a life of self-sacrifice. Buddha's almspot in Ceylon has been revered for centuries . A poorman could fill it with a few flowers, but a rich man couldhardly be able with ten thousand bushels of rice. Itwas still at Ceylon a few years ago, though it had beencarried to other countries several times. A sacred toothis still in the island, and another at Foo- Choo.From Ceylon, Marco Polo visited India. He describesthe fishing for pearls. The fishers go out into the gulfin vessels, and then, after anchoring, get into small boatsand jump into the water where it is from four to twelveMARCO POLO. 115fathoms deep, remaining as long as they can hold theirbreath. They put the shells which contain the pearls ina net bag around the waist. The time for fishing is inMarch and April, just between the cessation of thenorth-east and commencement of the south-west monsoon.There are now, as then, shark-charmers, who are hiredto keep the sharks from harming the divers, receivingone-twentieth of all the pearls found for their supposedvaluable services.The natives of Eastern India were naked, save a scrapof cloth about the loins. The King wore a piece of finecloth about the middle of the body, and a necklace ofprecious stones, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. Fromhis neck he wore suspended on a silk thread one hundred and four large pearls and rubies, because he had tosay that number of prayers daily to his idols. His ancestors bequeathed the string of pearls to him for thatpurpose. He wore also three golden bracelets set withpearls, anklets on his legs, and rings on his toes.This King had five hundred wives. Colonel Yule saysthe necklace taken from the neck of the Hindu KingJaipál, captured by Mahmúd in 1001, was composed oflarge pearls and rubies, worth a half-million dollars!When any king died, several barons burnt themselvesin the fire which consumed his body, so as to be his companions in the other world. Until recent years womenburnt themselves at the death of their husbands.The criminals condemned to death were allowed bythe government to commit suicide as a sacrifice to afavorite god.The people washed the whole body twice every day.They fed their horses boiled meat and rice. Ghee, orboiled butter, is said to be given now by natives to all116 MARCO POLO.their horses. Some give a sheep's head occasionally tostrengthen the animals.St. Thomas was believed to be buried at Mailapúr,near Madras. Pilgrimages were made thither by bothChristians and Saracens, and earth from his tomb wasused for miraculous cures.Marco tells of some of the Hindu ascetics who livedon rice and milk, went naked because they were "thusborn into the world and desired to have nothing aboutthem that is of the world, " would not kill a fly or a fleabecause all have souls, slept on the ground without clothing over or under them, fasted every day in the year,and drank water only.For any supposed insults duels were fought before theKing. They could not use the point of the sword, asthis was prohibited. All the people flocked to see theduel, which was continued till one party was left for dead.At Coilum (Quilon) Marco saw much Brazil wood, -the natives plant the seeds at the birth of a daughter,and when the trees come to maturity in fourteen or fifteen years, their sale becomes her dowry,indigo.pepper, and"The indigo," says Marco, "is made of a certain herbwhich is gathered, and is put into great vessels uponwhich they pour water and then leave it till the wholeof the plant is decomposed. They then put this liquidin the sun, which is tremendously hot there, so that itboils and coagulates, and becomes such as we see it. ”Socotra, south of Arabia, was found to be inhabitedby baptized Christians, with an archbishop. Every vestige of Christianity had disappeared when P. Vincenzo,the Carmelite, visited it in the middle of the seventeenthcentury.MARCO POLO. 117From India, Marco is supposed to have gone to Madagascar, on the eastern coast of Africa, and is the firstEuropean or Asiatic writer, Colonel Yule thinks, whomentions the island by name. The ships from Indiareached Madagascar in twenty days. Among otherthings of interest in these far-off islands, below Madagascar and Zanzibar, was the Rukh, a bird so largethat it was reported to be able to seize elephants in itstalons, and carry them high into the air. Its featherswere said to be ninety spans long, while the quill partwas two palms in circumference! An egg in the British Museum of the Aepyornis, once in Madagascar, butnow extinct, requires two and one-half gallons to fill it,and is thirteen and one-fourth inches long.At Zanzibar, Marco thought " the women the ugliest inthe world, with their great mouths and big eyes andthick noses." The staple trade was elephants ' teeth.Their sheep were white with black heads.Abyssinia, Marco calls Middle India. He says thatthe Christians in baptism used a hot iron on the forehead, though some later authorities deny that this was areligious rite.About the beginning of the fourth century there landedon the coast of Abyssinia some explorers from Tyre.They were all murdered except two, Frumentius andAdesius. The former gathered all the Roman merchantstogether, started a Christian church, and became Bishop.of Axum, then the leading place for trade in Abyssinia.The people for some centuries were somewhat advancedin civilization, but they have sadly deteriorated.Marco describes Aden, in the south of Arabia, at thattime a great seaport; Es-shehr, three hundred and thirtymiles east of Aden, where the horses, oxen, and camels,118 MARCO POLO.year through,--as well as the people, live on dried fish the wholethe cattle eating the little fish alive, justtaken from the water, and Dhafár,where incense is gathered from small trees, and sold foruse in churches.as they wereMarco finishes his book with an account of Siberia, withits immense white bears and black foxes, and its sledgesdrawn by dogs, which Mr. Kennan says are half domesticated Arctic wolves. When the Tartars went far northto the Land of Darkness, as Polo calls it, they rode onhorses which had colts, leaving the latter behind. Whenthe Tartars had taken all the plunder they could get,they found their way home because the mothers byinstinct knew the way back to their colts.Finally Marco's twenty-six years of wandering andimportant missions for Kublai Khan were ended , and,rich and honored, he went back to live and die in Venice.He was the greatest traveller of his time.John Fiske calls Marco Polo's book " one of the mostfamous and important books of the Middle Ages. Itcontributed more new facts toward a knowledge of theearth's surface than any book that had ever been writtenbefore."Colonel Yule shows Polo's right to fame in that " Hewas the first to trace a route across the whole longitudeof Asia, the deserts of Persia, the flowering plateaus andwild gorges of Badakshan, the jade-bearing rivers ofKhotan, the Mongolian steppes; . . . the first traveller toreveal China in all its wealth and vastness; . . . to tell usof Tibet with its sordid devotees, of Burma, of Laos, ofSiam, of Cochin China, of Japan, the Eastern Thule,with its rosy pearls and golden-roofed palaces; the firstto speak of that museum of beauty and wonder, still soMARCO POLÓ. 119imperfectly ransacked, the Indian Archipelago; of Java,pearl of islands; Sumatra, Nicobar and Andaman;of Ceylon; of India the Great, not as a dreamland ofAlexandrian fables, but as a country seen and partiallyexplored; the first in mediæval times to give any distinctaccount of the secluded Christian empire of Abyssinia,and the semi-Christian island of Socotra; to speak ofZanzibar and the vast and distant Madagascar; •of Siberia and the Arctic Ocean; of dog-sledges, whitebears, and reindeer-riding Tunguses. "FERDINAND MAGELLAN.ABOUT the year 1480, at Sabrosa, in the province ofTraz-os-Montes, in Portugal, was born FerdinandMagellan. His family was of noble birth. His fatherdying early, the estates came to him, the eldest, insteadof to his brother Diego, or his sisters, Thereza, Isabel,and Ginebra.When a lad he left his wild mountain home and wasplaced at Court at Lisbon, that his education might beunder royal supervision. He became one of the pagesof the Queen, the widow of Dom João II. This monarchhad been a scholarly man, quite noted as a geographer,and called "the Perfect " from his, in many respects,admirable character.In 1495 Dom Manoel came to the throne, and Magellan, then fifteen, passed into his service. Columbus hadjust discovered the New World, and little was talked ofsave exploration. Ships were fitted out to travel the unknown waters and see what treasures might be found inthe far-off islands and in Asia, South America, and Africa.Vasco da Gama had undertaken his second voyage toIndia in 1502, and other explorers were starting forBrazil, which had been discovered by Pedro AlvarezCabral in 1500, and to Labrador, where Gaspar Corterealwent about the same time, and was never heard of120FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 121afterwards. His brother followed him and never returned.Young Magellan was eager to join this adventurouscompany, even though hardships were inevitable anddeath was often the result.In 1505 Dom Francisco d'Almeida was sent as firstviceroy to India, with a large armada. There were abouttwenty ships in all, which carried fifteen hundred menat-arms, two hundred bombardiers, and four hundredseamen, besides artisans of almost every kind.Magellan, then twenty-five, bade adieu to court-life,made his will, giving all his property to his sisterThereza, with instructions to say twelve masses yearlyin Sabrosa for his soul, and enlisted as a volunteer underAlmeida.Before the fleet sailed, in the great Cathedral, in thepresence of a large audience, Almeida, kneeling atthe feet of his King, received the standard of the viceroy, which had been blessed by the bishop, the royalflag of white damask, with a crimson satin cross, bordered with gold.-After the farewells were said, the King coming instate to witness the departure, the fleet left the mouthof the river Tagus, March 25, 1505, sailed along thecoast of Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope insevere storms, and landed at Sofala, on the eastern sideof Africa, where they built and garrisoned a fortress.They arrived at Quiloa on July 22; and, as the Africanking was not willing to be subject to Dom Manoel, Almeida promptly stormed the town. Next they reachedthe important city of Mombaza, where their shipswere fired upon. In a short time the city was stormedand the ten thousand Moors overcome. The defeated122 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.King agreed to pay a yearly tribute of ten thousandserafins, and presented the son of Almeida, Dom Lourenço, with a sword and collar of pearls worth thirtythousand cruzados. (A cruzado was forty- five cents. )Probably Almeida reasoned that Portuguese civilizationwas higher than African, and that the conquest of Africaand India was a beneficial thing for the inhabitants,an idea not obsolete even in this nineteenth century.From Mombaza the fleet crossed the Indian Ocean,burnt the ships and took the possessions of the Kingof Onor, who had sent Almeida an insolent message,reached Cananore, in India, Oct. 22, where they built afortress, and a few days later came to Cochin, whereAlmeida was to assume the rank of viceroy. KingNambeadora came in state on his elephant to meet theviceroy, who was clad in brilliant garb, a coat of redsatin, black buskins, and an open black damask cassockwhich formed a train. The King, whether at heart willing or unwilling, was publicly crowned by his newfriend, the viceroy.Once in power, Almeida sent back to Spain as manyships as he could spare, filled with pepper and spicesfrom the Cochin factories, and prepared himself for apeaceful and successful reign over the people of India.But the peace was of short duration. The Moorsrose against this new government, and collected a fleetof two hundred and nine vessels. Dom Lourenço, theson of Almeida, met them with eleven ships off Cananore,March 16, 1506, and a bloody battle ensued. The Portuguese were successful even against such odds, andthe Moors were driven out of their ships into the sea."God be praised! let us follow up our victory overthese dogs," said Dom Lourenço, and the fight wasFERDINAND MAGELLAN.6FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 123waged to the bitter end. The next day more thanthirty-six hundred bodies were washed ashore, ❝forming,as it were, a hedge. " Nearly eighty Portuguese werekilled and over two hundred wounded, among the latteryoung Magellan, who must by this time have had allthe adventure which he longed for.The Moors, finding themselves unable to cope withthe Portuguese, obtained the assistance of the Sultan ofEgypt. A severe battle was fought the last of December, 1507, in the river of Chaul, at which the Portuguese were defeated. Dom Lourenço's leg was shatteredby a cannon-ball, but he fought till his ship sank, andperished with his men.Two months later Almeida avenged the death of hisson in a great battle, when between three and four thousand Moors and Mamelukes were slain. The Portuguesewere victorious. Among the wounded we again findMagellan.Almeida, greatly to his disappointment, saw himselfsuperseded in office by Affonso d'Albuquerque, who hadhad great success on the northern shores of the IndianOcean over the Mussulmans. Almeida, therefore, startedfor Portugal, but was killed on the journey in a battlewith the Kafirs, in which the Portuguese lost eleven oftheir captains.In 1509 Magellan sailed with a fleet which had been.sent out to India from Lisbon to explore Malacca, agreat centre of trade. The advent of the Europeanscaused muchalarm; but the King affected to receive themin a friendly manner, and invited the leaders to a banquet. Fearing treachery, the Portuguese declined, butwere prevailed upon to send their boats ashore that theymight be filled with pepper and other goods.124 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.-After the sailors had gone in their boats , the Malayscrowded on board the ships. At agiven signal- a puff ofwhite smoke those on sea and land were to be slaughtered. One of the leaders, suspecting treachery, sentMagellan in the only remaining boat to the flagship towarn the captain-general. It was just in time to save hislife. The Malays on his ship were driven overboard andthe fleet escaped. The men on shore were murdered.Two years later this treachery was avenged in the fall ofMalacca through Albuquerque. Eight hundred Portuguese and six hundred Malabar archers defeated twentythousand men. Through Malacca passed all the commerceof the Moluccas, the Philippines, Japan, and China to theMediterranean; therefore its capture made the name ofAlbuquerque known far and wide.Magellan purposed in 1510 to return to Portugal, afteran absence of five years, and left Cochin about themiddle of January. The ship in which he sailed and oneother ran at night upon a shoal of the Great PaduaBank. It was decided to return to India, about one hundred miles distant; and there was contention as to whoshould go first, the crews being unwilling that the officersonly should go in the boats. Magellan, with a magnanimity which was characteristic of him, said that he wouldremain with the crews, if those about to return wouldpromise to send aid. This they did, and Magellan andthe crews were rescued later.After an expedition to Java, Celebes, and some otherislands, Magellan carried out his purpose of returning toPortugal, after a seven years' absence.He was nowabout thirty-two. He had shown himself a brave soldier,a skilful navigator, and a fearless traveller.He remained in his native land about a year, and thenFERDINAND MAGELLAN. 125joined a great armada of four hundred ships and eighteenthousand men-at-arms, against the Moors of Azamor inMorocco, who had rebelled against Dom Manoel. Theywere quickly subdued. In a skirmish a little later,Magellan was hit in the leg with a lance, and madeslightly lame for life.On April 12, 1514, the Moors attempted to retakeAzamor; and though they were routed, leaving two thousand of their men on the field, they pressed on towardsthe city, only to find the walls destroyed, and the countryround about laid waste. They were soon put to flight,over a thousand Moors made prisoners , and nearly asmany horses captured.Magellan and another captain were put in charge ofthe booty. They were accused, whether wrongly or not,of selling cattle to the Moors, and permitting them to becarried off at night. For this, or some other reason,Magellan left Africa, and returned to Lisbon.He sought Dom Manoel and asked for promotion and anincrease of pay -about twenty-five cents a month - forhis long-continued service. To his surprise he was toldthat he had left Africa without the permission of his superior officer, and ordered at once to go back to Azamor, toanswer the charges against him. He returned, woundedin spirit, as he felt that he had served his king long andfaithfully. At Azamor the authorities refused to proceed against him, and Magellan came back at once toPortugal, hoping that his king would send him to India, insome honorable position. Dom Manoel made a seriousmistake for himself and his country when he receivedthe young noble coolly, and would not listen to his entreaties. It is said by one of the old historians thatMagellan " demanded permission to go and live with126 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.some one who would reward his services. . . . The Kingsaid he might do what he pleased. Upon this Magellandesired to kiss his hand at parting, but the King wouldnot offer it to him."―It is probable that Magellan urged upon the King aproject he had long had in mind the passage to therich Moluccas, or Spice Islands, by sailing westwardaround Cape Horn, at the extremity of South America,rather than eastward around the Cape of Good Hope inAfrica. He had used all his spare time in studyingmaps and charts. He knew that navigators had sailedfar along the South American coast, and that VascoNuñez de Balboa had looked upon a great ocean (thePacific) from the mountains in the Isthmus of Darien,now Panama. Balboa fell upon his knees at the time ofhis discovery, Sept. 25, 1513, thanking God, and tookpossession of the whole seacoast in the name of Spain.Four years later, at the age of forty-two, he and fourfaithful friends were beheaded on the trunk of a tree, onthe unjust charge of treason, through petty jealousies ofhis superiors in office.Magellan's intimate friend, Francisco Serrão, wasthen living in the Moluccas. He had been wreckedsome time previously upon a deserted island, infestedby pirates. As soon as these latter saw the wreck theylanded, intending to capture the survivors. Serrão kepthis men hidden near the beach, and when the pirateshad left their vessel, the Spaniards took possession ofit.The thieves saw that they would be without food orwater, and begged for protection, which they received.after a promise that they would repair the Spaniards'wrecked vessel. All reached the Moluccas in safety,and Serrão remained there for life, writing to MagellanFERDINAND MAGELLAN. 127that " he had discovered yet another new world, largerand richer than that found by Vasco da Gama." Magellan wrote back that he would come thither, " if not byway of Portugal, then by way of Spain. "Dom Manoel was not wise enough to remember thatthere were other nations interested in navigation besidesPortugal, and that all power does not rest in any oneperson, however prominent. For Magellan to remainin Portugal under Dom Manoel was to see his hopesthwarted, and his life unsuccessful. He determined,therefore, to bid adieu forever to his own country andenter the service of the great Emperor of Spain, CharlesV. For this course he was always condemned by thePortuguese declared to be a monster, and a traitor tohis king, and one willing to sow discord between thetwo nations. Yet he did what Columbus and othersdid -when one king refused to aid, they sought anothercrowned head.Magellan reached Seville, in Spain, Oct. 20, 1517, notdiscouraged by the ingratitude of his own ruler, butanxious lest Charles V. should look upon a westwardpassage to the Spice Islands as visionary and futile.Magellan was received into the home of Diogo Barbosa, a Portuguese, alcaide of the arsenal, a relation,possibly a cousin, where he remained for three months.Barbosa had served Spain fourteen years, had been oneof the discoverers of the islands Ascension and St.Helena, and, like his son, Duarte Barbosa, was a skilled.navigator. With all Magellan's absorption in his plansto discover new worlds, he found time to fall in lovewith Beatrix Barbosa, the beautiful daughter of his host,and was married at the age of thirty-seven before hewent to court at Valladolid, probably taking his youngbride with him.128 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.-Magellan laid his plans first before the Casa de Contratacion; but as this Portuguese was only one of manywho had schemes to equip vessels for exploration, noattention was paid to the matter. Magellan learnedwhat everybody learns sooner or later, — that there is noeasy road to success; that he who is unwilling to overcome obstacles would better never undertake any matterof importance. One of the three chief officials of the Casade Contratacion, Juan de Aranda, was wiser than hisfellows, or perhaps more drawn to the slender and lamePortuguese, and had faith in the westward passage.Through him an opportunity was made of presentingthe matter not only to Sauvage, the Lord High Chancellor, Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht, Fonseca, Bishop ofBurgos, but to Charles V. himself, then only eighteen.Magellan and a scholarly friend, Ruy Faleiro, takingtheir globe with them, explained to the King their purpose, and asked that he would fit out the ships at hisown expense, rewarding the explorers as he thoughtbest; or wealthy friends would provide the ships forthem, if the King would give them the trade and ownership of the lands discovered by them.The King, not unmindful, perhaps, that his grandmother, Isabella, had aided Columbus, and thus broughteverlasting honor to herself, promised to provide anarmada of five ships, to be provisioned for two years,with two hundred and thirty-four officers and crews. Noother explorers should be sent to the Spice Islands forten years; the territory of the King of Portugal shouldnot be intruded upon; and Magellan and his friend Faleiroshould receive one-twentieth part of the profit of theirdiscoveries, and be governors of the islands —discovery,evidently, always meaning conquest.FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 129But the fitting-out of the armada was not to be aneasy thing after all. The Court at Portugal was greatlyincensed when they learned that Charles V. (whosesister Eleanor, twenty, was about to become the thirdwife of Dom Manoel, aged fifty) was to befriend a navigator whose cause they had refused to consider.They wrote earnest appeals to Charles; they sentmessengers to Magellan begging him not to persist inhis enterprise, and thus sin against God and his king;and when words did not avail, an effort was made toassassinate him, which proved unavailing.After much delay the armada was finally made ready:the San Antonio, one hundred and twenty tons; Trinidad, one hundred and ten tons; Concepcion, ninetytons; Victoria, eighty-five tons; Santiago, seventy-fivetons. Even when all was ready Magellan was mobbed,it was believed by some emissaries of the King ofPortugal.At last, nearly two years after he came to Spain, heheard mass in the church of Santa Maria de la Victoria in Seville, and sailed down the river with hisfleet, Aug. 10, 1519. Remaining at the Port St. Lucarde Barrameda for a month, he made his will, giving thelands he should discover to his little son Rodrigo, thensix months old, one-tenth of his income to three convents, and, in case of the death of his son, one-fourthto his wife, besides the return of the dowry which shebrought him at her marriage, six hundred thousandmaravedis. On the day of his burial three poor menwere to be clothed, and food given to them and totwelve others, " and a gold ducat as alms for the soulsin purgatory."On Sept. 20, 1519, the fleet sailed away, amid the130 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.booming of cannon from ships and shore, destined tomake the first voyage around the world.Magellan was in the Trinidad, as was also his brotherin-law, Duarte Barbosa. The ships carried nearly sixthousand pounds of powder, a thousand lances, twohundred pikes, three hundred and sixty dozen arrows,ninety-five dozen darts, many cannon, and much armorfor the men. Evidently while Magellan hoped to Christianize the peoples whom he should find , he had othermeasures in reserve besides persuasion.The ship carried many charts, compasses, and the like,and quantities of goods for barter: knives, over twothousand pounds of quicksilver, twenty thousand bells,ivory, velvets, and glass. Several scholars had joinedthe expedition, among them an Italian, Antonio Pigafetta, who kept a valuable journal and published it onhis return.The fleet sailed towards the Canary Islands, stoppingfor wood and water at Teneriffe, then along the Africancoast, past Cape Verde and Sierra Leone, suffering somewhat from heavy storms, and having rain for sixty days.while they were in the vicinity of the equator. Theircourse was so slow that the rations of the men werereduced to two quarts of water per day, and the breadto one pound and a half.Taking a westerly course, they crossed the Atlantic,arrived near Pernambuco in South America, Nov. 29,rounded Cape Frio, and entered the harbor at Rio deJaneiro.They found the natives friendly, willing to exchangeenough fish for ten men for a looking-glass, a largebasket of sweet potatoes for a bell, or one of their children or several fowls for a big knife. The people livedFERDINAND MAGELLAN. 131in long, low huts, ate the flesh of their captives, andwere nearly naked, wearing a sort of apron of parrots'feathers. Monkeys and birds of gorgeous plumageabounded.Mass was twice said on shore by the Spaniards, inwhich the natives joined, kneeling and raising theirhands to heaven, from whence they believed the palefaces had come, bringing rain with them, as it had notrained for two months previous to the arrival of theships.The fleet sailed away Dec. 26, following the coast, sothat no inlet or strait should be overlooked which mightfurnish a passage across the continent. Arriving at theRio de la Plata, they landed, and caught a quantity offish. One night an Indian, dressed in goat-skins, camein a canoe to the ship. Magellan gave him a cottonshirt and some other articles, hoping that he wouldreturn and bring his friends, but he never came back.When the Spaniards attempted to catch some of the shynatives, they proved too fleet for them .66 Going farther south, they found great numbers ofsea wolves, " probably seals, and killed many. Thewinter was coming on, and storms were very severe,carrying away parts of their ships. After weeks ofsuffering they anchored in Port St. Julian, March 31 .Food was scarce, and the diminished rations causedgreat complaining. The cold was intense, and somehad died from exposure. They begged of Magellan togo back to Spain, lest they all should perish, as evidentlyland stretched far away to the South Pole, and therewas no hope of entering the Pacific Ocean.Magellan censured them for their lack of courage,and said, for himself, he was determined to die rather132 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.than return. There were plenty of fish and birds inthe bay for food, and if they would push on, wealthand honor were before them.For a time the men were content, but cold and suffering brought again their natural results. The men declared they were not sailing towards the Moluccas, butto a land of ice; that as Magellan was a Portuguese,he did not care if crews of Spaniards perished. Fearingthe influence of such murmuring, the captain-generalarrested the complainers. But it was too late; a mutiny had already been arranged. At nightthe captainof the Concepcion, Gaspar Quesada, Juan de Cartagena,the second officer, and over thirty armed men boardedthe San Antonio, placed the captain, Alvaro de Mesquita, in irons, killed the master, and cleared the deckof the ship for action. The Victoria, with Louis deMendoza at its head, joined the insurgents.As soon as Magellan heard that three of his five shipshad turned against him, he resolved upon decisive measures. All seemed lost, no western passage discovered,and a return to Spain, if at all, in disgrace. Many aman would have quailed before such odds. Not soMagellan.A skiff with five men bearing concealed weapons wasdespatched to Mendoza, of the Victoria, summoning himto the Trinidad to meet Magellan. As he refused to go,he was instantly stabbed to death. Another boat withfifteen picked men under Duarte Barbosa, brother-in- lawof Magellan, appeared at once alongside the Victoria,boarded her, and compelled the surrender of her crew.Then the Trinidad, the Victoria, and the Santiagostationed themselves at the entrance of the port tointercept the San Antonio and the Concepcion. WhenFERDINANDMAGELLAN.theformercame insighttheTrinidadfiredupon her 133withlargebombards, andshe wasboarded by thecrewof theVictoria.Quesadaand hishelperswereseizedand put inirons;fortymenwerecondemned todeathfortreason, butwerepardoned.Quesada wasbeheaded,and hisbodyquartered, as wasthat ofMendoza,whileJuan deCartagenaand apriestwere leftamong thesavages,perhaps toshare anequallydreadfulfate.These measures seemed very severe; but if the insurgents had been permitted to put Magellan in an openboat, as was Henry Hudson among the icebergs of Hudson Bay, to die of hunger and cold, or had they killedtheir leader, as they intended,others might have foundthe westward passage, but not Magellan.9The Santiago,now that the mutiny was quelled, wassent ahead to examine the coast and look carefully forthe eagerly expected strait which should lead them intothe Pacific.She sailed to the Rio de Santa Cruz,sixtymiles away,where she found abundance of fish andseals, or seawolves,weighing five hundred pounds. Asudden and violent storm came on, and the ship wentto pieces.The crew,thirty-five in number,withoutprovisions, had to make their way as best they couldseventy miles through the wilderness to their comrades.When they reached the river Santa Cruz, it was decidedthat two only should cross on the little raft which theyhad made,while the rest encamped to wait for the ships .For eleven days the men madetheir solitary journey,fording marshes,cutting their way through forests, andliving on roots and leaves. At lengthey reached taMacallan dtwrades.risk hisn with fandworn,he sentstarving134 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.company. They could find no water, and were obligedto melt snow for drink. At last all were brought backin safety, but much broken in health by exposure.After remaining for weeks in Port St. Julian withoutseeing a single inhabitant, the sailors were astonishedone day by the coming of a gigantic Indian, so tall thatthe Spaniards came only " to the level of his waistbelt. "His face was painted red, his hair white, yellow circleswere around his eyes, and his covering was the skin ofthe guanaco. He was shown, among other things, alarge steel mirror, and, seeing himself in it, was soastonished that, springing backward, he knocked overfour of the Spaniards. Still, he was not displeased atknowing how he looked, for he accepted a mirror as apresent.After this other natives came, several women amongthem, leading small guanacos by a string as they woulddogs, with the purpose of enticing other animals of thesame kind, so that the men might shoot them with theirarrows.The Patagonians were found to be a strange people,eating rats without stopping to skin them, living mostlyon raw meat, thrusting arrows down their throats whenthey were ill, or cutting themselves across the foreheadwhen they had headache.Magellan, desirous of securing some of these savagesfor Charles V. , practised a deception, which seemed farfrom right. When some of the Indians came on boardthe Trinidad, he loaded them with presents, and thenshowed them how a pair of irons could be fitted to thelegs. These irons were at once riveted by a hammer,and the men were prisoners.When they found they had been deceived, they in-FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 135voked Setebos, their Great Spirit, and called in vain fortheir wives, as the Spaniards understood by their signs.Magellan sent two Indians bound to the shore in chargeof some armed Spaniards. One Indian escaped, thoughhe was wounded in the head. When they reached thehuts of the natives, the other Indian spoke a few wordsto the women, who, instead of going to the ship, immediately fled into the forest.After spending between three and four months in PortSt. Julian, the fleet sailed for the Santa Cruz River, wherethey obtained an abundance of fish and dried it.When October came Magellan found the weather somuch warmer, and the winter broken, that they againstarted in earnest for the westward passage. On Oct.21, 1520, they " saw an opening like unto a bay." Thefleet was ordered to enter, and the Concepcion and theSan Antonio were sent on in advance to see if it wereindeed a strait. A fearful storm came on, and it wasfeared for a time that the vessels were lost. Finallythey returned, their masts gay with flags, having foundthat the inlet, or bay, extended for a very great distance.Magellan now sailed farther on, well assured in hisown mind that the long-sought strait was found. Aftera month had gone by, on Nov. 21, he issued an orderdemanding of his captains and pilots their views aboutcontinuing the voyage. All were for going onwardexcept Estevão Gomes, the pilot of the San Antonio.He said now that they had found the strait, they mightall perish before the Molucca Islands were reached, asnobody knew the width of the Pacific.Magellan, who had evidently been testing their courage and perseverance, replied that "if they had to eatthe leather on the ships' yards, he would still go on and136 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.discover what he had promised the Emperor. " He declared that no one under pain of death should discussthe difficulties before them, knowing that discontentdoubles if we dwell upon our obstacles.They sailed onward and, Nov. 28, they emerged fromthe strait, afterward named Strait of Magellan in honorof its discoverer, and looked upon the great Pacific Ocean.So overjoyed were they that Magellan wept, as well ashis companions. Guns were fired, and thanks werereturned to God and the Virgin Mary.With this great joy came an unexpected sorrow.Gomes and the San Antonio, the largest of the ships,and carrying the larger part of the stores, had desertedand returned to Spain. He and his companions hadstabbed the faithful Captain Mesquita, and put him inirons, and then turned the vessel homeward. On May6, 1521, she reached the port of Seville. The Patagonianprisoner, one of the two whom Magellan had allowed tobe bound, died on the passage.The other Patagonian, who was on board the Trinidad,died about the time they reached the Pacific. "Whenhe felt himself gravely ill , of the malady from which heafterwards died," says Pigafetta, the Italian, " he embraced the cross and kissed it, and desired to become aChristian. We baptized him and gave him the name ofPaul. "The navigators were thirty-eight days passing throughthe strait. The land to the south having many fires ,they called it " Tierra del Fuego," land of fire, whichname it has always retained. The tempests were over,and for three months and twenty days they sailed on asmooth and apparently boundless ocean, without a singlestorm. No wonder Magellan named it the Pacific.FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 137After two months' sailing they came to an island, butit was uninhabited, and eleven days after another, butthey found neither food nor water. Their condition hadbecome distressing. The water on board was too offensive to touch, and their biscuits were full of worms.They did indeed eat the " leather on the ships' yards, "as Magellan had determined to do rather than turn back.They softened the leather by letting it hang overboardthree or four days, and then cooked it on the embers.Sawdust was used for food, and they ate rats with avidity.Scurvy broke out, and many died. Only three of thefive ships were left, and the number of sailors on thesewas daily lessened.The weeks wore on, until finally, March 6, land wassighted, and a number of praus, queer-looking boats,with palm-leaf sails, like lateen sails, came out to meetthem. The Spaniards had discovered the Marianne orLadrone Islands.Great was their rejoicing to find fresh fruit and vegetables. The natives were thievish, and greatly annoyedMagellan by taking the skiff under the stern of the flagship, and, indeed, whatever they could lay their hands on.Driving them off the ships, they sent back stones andburning torches. The next day Magellan burned one oftheir villages and several of their boats, killed seven oreight men, regained his own skiff, and took whateverprovisions he wished.The natives were unacquainted with the use of bowsand arrows, and when one of their number was wounded,he would draw the arrow out of his body and look at itwistfully, which touched the hearts of the explorers.The people had no clothing except aprons of bark.They lived in wood huts, thatched with fig-leaves; their138 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.food was for the most part figs, fish, and birds; theirweapons, long sticks with sharpened fish-bones at theends.The fleet left the Ladrones, and on March 16 reachedthe Philippines, and anchored on the little island ofSuluan. The natives were very friendly, bringing cocoanuts, oranges, bananas, fowls, and palm wine, in returnfor which they received red caps, looking-glasses, bells,and other things. Their chief came with them, wearinglarge gold ear-rings and rich gold bracelets.The sick sailors were put on shore in two large tents;and each day Magellan went to visit them, giving themcocoanut milk to drink with his own hands.After nine days the fleet sailed to Leyte Island, whereMagellan's slave, Enrique of Malacca, found that thepeople understood his Malay tongue. The shy nativeswould not at first come to the flagship, so Magellan putsome presents on a plank and pushed it towards them.A little later the King came, and brought fish and ricein person to the Admiral. In return Magellan gave hima Turkish red and yellow robe, with a red cap, and theybecame friends through the ceremony of blood- brotherhood; that is, each one tastes the blood of the other,drawn from the arm. The King was shown the armor ofthe men, their swords and guns, and the maps and chartswhich Magellan had studied so closely. After a dinnertogether, which the King seemed to enjoy, two Spaniardswent on shore, and the King entertained them.Pigafetta, who was one of them, thus describes thevisit: " The King took me by the hand, while one of hischiefs took my comrade's, and we were led in this manner under a canopy of canes, where there was a balangai,or canoe, like a galley, on the poop of which we sat, con-FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 139versing by signs, for we had no interpreter. The King'sfollowers remained standing, armed with swords, daggers, spears, and shields. A dish of pork with a largevessel full of wine was brought, and at each mouthfulwe drank a cup of wine. If, as rarely happened, anywas left in our cups, it was put into another vessel. TheKing's cup remained always covered, and no one drankfrom it but he and I. . ."Before the hour of supper I presented to the Kingthe many presents I had brought with ine. . . . Thencame supper-time. They brought two large china dishes,the one filled with rice, the other with pork in itsgravy. We ate our supper with the same ceremoniesand gestures as before. We then repaired to the palaceof the King, in shape like a sort of hay-loft or rick, covered with banana leaves, and supported on four largebeams, which raised it up from the ground, so that wehad to ascend to it by means of ladders. On our arrivalthe King made us sit upon a cane-mat with our legs crossedlike tailors on a bench, and after half an hour a dish offish was brought, cut in pieces and roasted, another offreshly gathered ginger, and some wine. The King'seldest son having entered, he was made to sit next me,and two more dishes were then brought, one of fish, withits sauce, and the other of rice, to eat with the prince."For candles they used the gum of a certain tree calledanime, wrapped up in leaves of the palm or banana. TheKing now made a sign to us that he desired to retire torest, and departed, leaving the prince with us, in whosecompany we slept on cane-mats with cushions stuffedwith leaves."In the morning the Spanish guests departed, the Kingand they kissing each other's hands.140 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.When Easter came, March 31, mass was said withmuch ceremony, the Indian King and his brother kissing the cross, and kneeling with joined hands as did theSpaniards. A cross and crown of thorns was set upon ahill that the Indians might thereafter see and adore it.Wishing to visit other islands for gold and spices , theKing offered to be their pilot; but from excessive eatingand drinking he slept all one day, and then they were delayed, as he had to gather his rice harvest. In this theSpaniards helped, and all being ready, the fleet departedApril 4, and entered the port of Sebu Sunday, April 7.They found a beautiful island, abounding in fruit,with birds of brilliant plumage, and quite large and busyvillages. Their customs were most interesting to theexplorers. Mr. George M. Towle, in his " Life of Magellan, " thus describes a Sebu funeral, the circumstancesgathered from the old chronicles:"The chief's corpse was laid in a chest in his house;around the chest was wound a cord, to which branchesand leaves were tied in a fantastic fashion, while onthe end of each branch a strip of cotton was fastened.The principal women of the island went to the house ofmourning and sat around the corpse, wrapped in whitecotton shrouds from head to foot; beside each womanstood a young girl, who wafted a palm-leaf fan beforeher face."Meanwhile, one of the women was engaged in cutting the hair from the dead man's head with a knife.His favorite wife all this time lay stretched upon hisbody, with her mouth, hands, and feet pressed close tohis. As the woman concluded her hair-cutting, she brokeinto a low, dismal, wailing song, which the others afterawhile caught up. The attendants on the mourners thenFERDINAND MAGELLAN. 141took porcelain vases with burning embers on them, uponwhich they kept sprinkling myrrh, benzoin, and otherperfumes, that formed a cloud of incense in the room."These ceremonies and mournings continued for several days; meanwhile, the body was anointed with oil ofcamphor to preserve it; and at the end of the mourningperiod it was solemnly deposited in a kind of tomb, madeof wooden logs, in the neighboring forest. "A treaty was made with the King of Sebu, by bloodbrotherhood, and then Magellan made them an addressthrough an interpreter. Anxious to win all the islands.of the sea, not only for Spain, but for the Roman Catholic faith, he urged their becoming Christians, not throughfear, nor the wish to please the Spaniards, but becauseit was right.The King soon expressed a wish to be a Christian,and on April 14, on a scaffolding in the centre of thetown, the ceremony of baptism took peace. Magellancame in state with forty men in armor, and the King andmore thanfifty others, dressed in white, and all were baptized. Magellan and the King sat in two velvet chairs,one red and the other violet.The Queen and forty of her ladies were baptized thesame day, she receiving the name of Joanna, afterthe mother of Charles V. , and the King, Carlos, after theEmperor. Pigafetta gave to the queen a carved figure ofthe Virgin and child, which she seemed greatly to prize.She was young and quite pretty, wearing a black andwhite robe, and a large hat made of palm leaves. Abouteight hundred persons were baptized the same day, andlater all the inhabitants of Sebu, and some on the neighboring islands, several thousand persons in all.They were told that they must burn all their idols, wood142 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.images, hollowed out behind, and arms and legs apart,with broad face and four teeth like those of a wildboar. Most of them were burned.The idols were retained, however, in the house of anephew of the King, a valiant warrior, who was very ill.Magellan informed the King that if the nephew were baptized, he would at once recover, and if this were not thecase, he would forfeit his head. A procession was arranged in the square where the cross had been set up, andsoon reached the sick man's house, where it was foundthat he could neither speak nor move. Magellan, notdoubting that his prayer for the man would be answered,baptized him, and asked how he felt. He replied much.better, and in five days rose from his bed recovered, andburned his idols.Magellan, overjoyed at such professions of Christianity, offered to protect the King from any disloyal subjectsor antagonistic rulers, a rash thing to do, but his enthusiasm in christianizing the people was as great as hisdesire to circumnavigate the globe, and find the westwardpassage to the Moluccas. He felt grateful to the Kingof Sebu, and a sense of honor seemed to impel him to thisunfortunate promise.One of the minor chiefs , Silapulapu, rebelling, Magellan sent an expedition against him, which burnt one of his villages, and erected a cross over the ashes. It isnot strange that their associations with the cross thereafter were not pleasant, and that they determined uponrevenge.Magellan was urged by his friends not to proceedfurther in the matter; but he resolved not only to punish them, but to conquer all for the newly convertedKing of Sebu.FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 143At midnight, April 26, 1521, Magellan with sixty menin three boats, and the King of Sebu with about onethousand men in twenty or more war canoes, started forthe little island of Mactan. Magellan preferred not toshed blood, and sent a message to Silapulapu that if hewould submit and pay tribute, all would be well, but ifnot, "he would learn how our lances wounded. "The Indians sent word back that "if the Spaniardshad lances so had they, albeit only reeds and stakeshardened by fire; that they were ready for them. "When morning came the king of Sebu begged to leadthe assault, with his thousand men; but Magellan, overconfident, and wishing to show the Indians how his men.could fight, ordered the King and his men to remain inthe canoes, while he and forty-eight Spaniards landed ,April 27, 1521, and attacked the rebels. The othertwelve of Magellan's men remained to guard the boats.The Spaniards were at once surrounded by from fifteenhundred to six thousand natives, who threw stones andjavelins at those portions of the body not covered byarmor.Some of the Spaniards set fire to the houses, whichmade the natives more furious than ever. They singledout Magellan, the leader, for their persistent attack.An arrow had pierced his right leg; and seeing that anadvance was impossible, he ordered a retreat, but it wastoo late. Most of the Spaniards fled from such unequalwarfare, only six or eight staying by their commander.Fighting hand to hand, they reached the shore. Magellan twice had his helmet torn off, and received a spearwound in the right arm. A bamboo spear was run intohis face also, and he in turn plunged his lance into the breast of his pursuer. The enemy, seeing that he could144 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.not draw out his sword on account of the wound in hisright arm, rushed upon him and struck a blow on theleft leg, which made him fall forward on his face. Theend had come. They ran him through and through withiron-pointed spears and cimeters. Eight of his men laydead beside him and four Christian Indians. "His obstinate resistance, " says Pigafetta, " had no other aim thanto give time for the retreat of his men. "It seemed pitiful to die in this manner after facing allthe perils of the sea, without reaching the Moluccas, orcircumnavigating the globe; but he had discovered thewestward passage, and had pointed out the way aroundthe world to all future travellers .When word was brought to the King of Sebu thatMagellan was killed, he wept like a child. He had lefthis canoes and gone to the aid of his pale-faced friend,but it was too late.The Spaniards sailed back to Sebu, well-nigh crushedthat their leader was gone. They offered any amountdesired for the body; but Silapulapu declared that itshould always be kept as a token of their victory, andthe bones of the great navigator never left Mactan. Amonument has been erected there to his memory.Thus perished the man of noble family, the fearless,indomitable, unselfish Magellan. " In the history ofgeographical discovery, " says Dr. F. H. N. Guillemard(late lecturer in geography at the University of Cambridge) , in his Life of Magellan, "there are two greatsuccesses, and two only, so much do they surpass allothers, the discovery of America and the circumnavigation of the globe. Columbus and Magellan are theonly possible competitors for the supremacy. " LordStanley of Alderley, in his " First Voyage round thẻFERDINAND MAGELLAN. 145World," calls Magellan " undoubtedly the greatest ofancient and modern navigators; " and Dr. Guillemard addsthat it is an opinion which a careful investigation.obliges us to accept. "Magellan's family soon followed him. The little sonRodrigo died six months after his father, September,1521, and his wife, Beatrice, broken-hearted for her childand her husband, a second child was dead at its birth,after Magellan's departure , died in less than a yearafter her husband, March, 1522.--The first work of the disheartened explorers was toselect a leader to guide the fleet towards the Moluccas,now that Magellan had fallen. Two were chosen ,Duarte Barbosa, the brother of Beatrice, and JoãoSerrão, his faithful friend and the brother of Francisco.Other troubles were before them. The King of Sebuhad found that the great Spaniards whom he had supposed came from heaven were mortal like himself. Thesuccessful Silapulapu had sent word that unless hebroke his alliance with the Spaniards and renouncedChristianity, he would invade his kingdom. The Malayslave interpreter, Enrique, becoming disaffected towardsBarbosa, told the King that his masters were going toattack the town and carry the King into captivity.Perhaps it was quite natural for the King to havesome doubts about his new-made friends; and while theyin turn did not entirely trust him, still they were unprepared for his treachery. He sent word that he had somejewels which he wished to give to the King of Spain,and invited Barbosa and several officials to dine withhim. Barbosa decided to accept the invitation, and tooktwenty-eight armed men with him.The King met them graciously, and they at last forgot146 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.their suspicions. Suddenlythe King sprang from hisseat and plunged a dagger into Barbosa's breast, and atthe same instant each Spaniard was slaughtered by anIndian. Only one escaped towards the boat, Serrão.Just as he came near, the savages caught and boundhim; but they offered to release him if those on theships would give two cannon and some merchandise. `Serrão begged for his shipmates to save him; but theypaid no attention to his cries, and sailed away as fast aspossible. Serrão was at once stabbed to death. Thecross on the hillside was torn down, and the nativesreturned to their idols.The fleet at this time was not half as large as whenthey left Seville, then over two hundred and seventy;now one hundred and fifteen . The Concepcion was sounseaworthy that she had to be burned. Only the Victoria and the Trinidad remained.These two ships sailed along the western coast ofMindanao, where they found the King friendly. Hedrew some blood from his left hand, putting it on hisface, breast, and tongue, and the Spaniards did the same.The King invited them to his long, low hut, where theyhad fish and rice; and they also visited the Queen, surrounded by her slaves. She was weaving a mat, andleft her work to play for the visitors on a sort of timbrel.She wore many gold rings and bracelets, and in the King'shouse several of the utensils were of solid gold.They next reached Palawan, and found to their delight, as they had only food enough for eight days,an abundance of pigs, goats, yams, cocoanuts, and rice.On June 21 they started for Borneo, and, after a time,entered its capital, Brunai, where they found abouttwenty-five thousand people -some of the old histori-FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 147ans say one hundred thousand -living in houses built.on piles in the water. The chiefs came out to meetthem in gayly painted boats, bringing presents of honey,eggs, wooden vessels filled with betel, which the nativeschewed, and arrack, a drink made from rice.The Spaniards sent handsome presents to the King, -a Turkish coat of green velvet, a chair of violet velvet,a glass vase, gilt goblet, etc. , with a pair of slippers andsilver case of pins for the Queen, besides presents forthe chief courtiers.Twelve natives, richly dressed, met the Spaniards withtwo great elephants, covered with silk, on whose backswere palanquins, on which the visitors were offeredseats. The natives carried porcelain vases covered withsilk napkins. These were to receive the presents intended for the King.The palace of the King was a large house, reached bya broad flight of steps. The walls were hung with brilliant silks. He was very rich, and many of his household articles were of pure gold. Three hundred of theKing's guard, with daggers drawn, their hilts of goldstudded with gems, their fingers covered with rings,were stationed in the hall leading to the royal apartment. This the Spaniards could not enter, but could seethe monarch, about forty years old, and his little son,surrounded by a number of wives. They were not allowed to speak to the King in person; but they couldgive their message to a chief, and he to another, and hein turn to the prime minister, who stood by the King'sside. They were obliged to join their hands above theirheads, raise first one foot and then the other, make threelow bows to the King, and then kiss their hands to him.After the presents were laid at his feet, some rich silk148 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.and brocade were sent to the Spaniards, and they wereoffered cloves and cinnamon to eat. After this a chiefentertained them with a repast of chickens, peacocks,veal, fish, rice, and arrack. The rice they ate with goldspoons. They were provided with wax candles, andeven with oil lamps.Astonished at what they had seen, the Spaniards remained for a month, and held traffic with the people.They rode in the King's barges, and the houses of thechiefs were offered for their use. The King never lefthis palace except for hunting, so he did not visit theships.The inhabitants were nearly naked, were followers ofMahomet, skilful in making porcelain and china, andrich in various products.After a month in Borneo, the ships sailed for theMoluccas. They were soon obliged to put in to a harbor for repairs. After this they sailed south-east, andNov. 8, 1521, saw the high peaks of Ternate and Tidor."The pilot, " says Pigafetta, " told us that they were theMoluccas, for the which we thanked God, and to comfortus we discharged all our artillery. Nor ought it to causeastonishment that we were so rejoiced, since we hadpassed twenty-seven months, less two days, always insearch of these Moluccas, wandering hither and thitherfor that purpose among innumerable islands. "They anchored in twenty fathoms, close to the shoreof Tidor. Almanzor, the King, received them most cordially. He was a stately monarch, never bowing hishead, so that in entering the cabin of the Trinidad, hewas obliged to do so from the upper deck, so as notto stoop. His servants carried golden vessels of water,betel, and other necessaries, and his son bore his sceptreFERDINAND MAGELLAN. 149before him. He had two hundred wives, each noblefamily being obliged to furnish one for the King. Thesewomen were carefully guarded, and any man found neartheir house was put to death. The King ate alone, orwith his Queen, a wife considered superior to the other two hundred.The friend of Magellan, Francisco Serrão, to whomhe wrote that " he should come to the Moluccas, if notby way of Portugal, then by Spain," was dead. Hewas poisoned, it was said, by the King of Tidor, becauseSerrão, who was captain-general of the King of Ternate,conquering the former, made him give his daughter tothe King of Ternate as his wife.One of the sons of the King of Ternate came withthe widow of Serrão and her two little children to thefleet.Trade was soon begun with the natives. Several ofthe kings made treaties, and sent presents to Charles V.One king desired to send over four thousand pounds ofcloves as his present; but the ships were already soladen with spices, that Espinosa, the captain of theTrinidad, did not dare take any more. Among the presentssent by this king were some skins of the bird of Paradise. The Mohammedans, who traded with the natives,had told them that this bird was born in Paradise, wherewere the souls of those who died. As so many wonderful things were in this abode of souls, they acceptedthe Mohammedan religion to be allowed to share inthese comforts.Dec. 18 the ships, filled to overflowing with spices,started homeward, sorry to leave the beautiful Moluccas. The Victoria started first, and the Trinidadattempted to follow her. A bad leak was discovered,150 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.and she was obliged to remain and unload her cargo.Sad farewells were said, and the Victoria went onalone.She sailed south-east to the island of Timor, and thenacross the Indian Ocean for the Cape of Good Hope.The ship was poor, and delay was occasioned by frequentrepairs. The meat on board spoiled for lack of salt, andthe sailors were reduced to living on rice. Scurvy cameto decimate their numbers. Nearly one-third of the Spaniards died, and nine of the thirteen natives. They hadscarcely enough men left to work the ship.At last, after three years lacking twelve days, Sept.8, 1522, they anchored once more at the port of SanLucar de Barrameda, and next day sailed up the river toSeville in Spain. The Victoria brought home twentysix tons of cloves, besides cinnamon, nutmegs, and otherspices. Crowds gathered to welcome the first circumnavigators of the globe; cannon were fired , and therewas great rejoicing, as it was supposed that all were lost.The next day they walked barefoot, carrying tapers, tothe churches of Santa Maria de la Victoria and SantaMaria de Antigua, and gave thanks for a safe return .The Emperor Charles V. sent for the little band ofexplorers to come to Valladolid, where he gave them apublic welcome. Each person received a handsome pension, and Juan Sebastian del Cano, the captain of theVictoria, five hundred ducats yearly and a coat- of- arms.This device consisted of two cinnamon sticks, three nutmegs, and twelve cloves with a globe, and the words"Primus circumdedisti me " (Thou first encompassedme. ) Two Malay kings supported the shield. The navigators were surprised that they had lost a day in theirreckoning. The Emperor submitted the matter to anFERDINAND MAGELLAN. 151astronomer, who showed that travelling with the sunfrom east to west, they lost time, and from west to east,they gained time.The Victoria made one more voyage to the West Indies. She was again sent to Cuba, and must have goneto pieces in some gale, as neither she nor her crew wasever heard of afterwards.After the Trinidad had been repaired at the island ofTidor, Espinosa decided to sail eastward across thePacific again, hoping to reach the Spanish settlementat Panama. After weeks of severe storms, he wasobliged to return to the Moluccas. Three-fifths of hismen had died from an epidemic on board, brought on bypoor food and exposure; only nineteen were left out offifty-four.On their return to Tidor they found that the Portuguese had come with seven vessels and three hundred men under Antonio de Brito and demanded of theKing why he had admitted Castilians, when the Portuguese had been there so long before. Espinosa wasobliged to surrender his men and ship to de Brito; yetas Spain and Portugal were apparently friendly, hehoped for fair treatment. The vessel soon went topieces in a storm, but the Portuguese saved her timbers.and used them in building a fortress.Antonio de Brito wrote to his King concerning theofficers of the Trinidad that he thought it would " bemore to your Highness's service to order their headsto be struck off than to send them to India. I keptthem in the Moluccas, because it is a most unhealthycountry, in order that they might die there, not likingto order their heads to be cut off, since I did notknow whether your Highness would be pleased or not. "152 FERDINAND MAGELLAN.This certainly did not look very promising for Espinosa and his men.They were obliged to go to work for the Portuguese,until the end of February, 1523, when, with the exception of two carpenters whom de Brito needed, they wereallowed to start homeward.They were first taken to Banda. Four were lost ingetting there. The others were detained in Banda forfour months, and then sent by way of Java to Molacca.Four died there. Five months later they were sent toCochin in India in two or more ships. The junk inwhich three sailed was never heard of. When the othersreached Cochin, the vessel which went back to Portugalonce a year had already gone. Disheartened, two ofthem hid themselves on board another ship bound forPortugal. At Mozambique, having been discovered, theywere put ashore with the intention of sending themback to India, but one died and the other secreted himself again on a ship, arrived at Lisbon, and was throwninto prison. He was finally released by order of theKing.Only three were left out of the Trinidad's company:Espinosa, the captain, Mafra, a seaman, and MasterHans, bombardier of the Victoria. The latter soon died,and Espinosa and Mafra were kept in prison for sevenmonths after their arrival in Portugal. Finally Espinosa was released and appeared before Charles, whomade him a noble, and gave him a life pension of threehundred ducats.The westward passage through the Strait of Magellanhad been discovered, and the way round the world ascertained, but only through fearful suffering and the loss ofover two hundred lives.FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 153John Fiske, in his delightful and scholarly " Discovery of America," calls this voyage of Magellan's "themost wonderful in history; . . . doubtless the greatestfeat of navigation that has ever been performed, andnothing can be imagined that would surpass it except ajourney to some other planet."
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SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
SIR WALTER RALEIGH, soldier, colonizer, statesman, poet, courtier, was born in 1552 at Hayes, inthe eastern corner of South Devon, England. He wasdescended from one of the noted families of the realm,who by reason of much forced contribution to royalty,and perhaps also through too costly manner of living,had become somewhat reduced in their estates.His mother, Catherine, " a woman of noble wit andof good and godly opinions," was a Roman Catholic inthe time of Queen Mary, but his father, Walter, was aProtestant.In the persecutions under this Queen, among the heretics shut up in jail previous to their being burned wasAgnes Prest, whom Mrs. Raleigh visited with the hope.of converting her. The fearless Agnes told the gentlewoman to seek the body of Christ in heaven and not onearth, and that the sacrament was only a remembranceof his death. "As they now use it, " she said, "it isbut an idol, and far wide from any remembrance ofChrist's body, which will not long continue, and so takeit, good mistress. "When Mrs. Raleigh came home she told her husbandthat she never heard a woman talk so simply, godly, andearnestly, " insomuch that if God were not with her, she154SIR WALTER RALEIGH .
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 155could not speak such things. I was not able to answerher: I who can read, and she cannot. " This probablywent far towards making Mrs. Raleigh a Protestant.Both parents are buried in Exeter Cathedral.The son Walter-he had an older brother, Carew,and a sister Margaret - entered Oriel College, Oxford,about 1568, when he was sixteen years old. Here hewas liked for his wit as well as his scholarship, becoming "the ornament of the Juniors and a proficient inoratory and philosophy. "He left college early to engage in the religious warsof the time. Queen Elizabeth, sympathizing with thepersecuted Protestants of France, permitted men andmoney to be sent to their aid. Young Raleigh, activeand full of courage, went in a troop of a hundred gentlemen volunteers, well mounted, led by his cousin, HenryChampernowne, with the motto, " Finem det mihi virtus "(Let valor decide the contest) .Mr. Edward Edwards, in his life of Raleigh, says thatalthough the men were sent to France by Queen Elizabeth and her ministers, each soldier wore on his breast ascroll with words explaining that if he were capturedand hanged, he had met his fate, " for having come,against the will of the Queen of England, to the help ofthe Huguenots! " Such duplicity seems to have been.common in those days.Little is known of Raleigh's part in these battles forfive or six years. He says, however, in his " History ofthe World," referring to these times, " I saw in thethird civil war of France certain caves in Languedocwhich had but one entrance, and that very narrow, cutout in the midway of high rocks which we knew nothow to enter by any ladder or engine, till at last, by156 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.certain bundles of straw let down by an iron chain, anda weighty stone in the midst, those that defended it[Catholics ] were so smothered as they surrendered themselves, with their plate, money, and other goods thereinhidden."As Raleigh was not killed at the dreadful massacre ofSt. Bartholomew, 1572, when one hundred thousandpeople were massacred by order of Charles IX. , at theinstigation of his mother, Catharine de' Medicis, it isprobable that he found refuge in the house of theEnglish ambassador, Walsingham, with young Sir PhilipSidney and others.Raleigh remained in France until after the death ofthe young King, Charles IX. , May 30, 1574, at the age oftwenty-four. Mr. William Oldys, in his life of Raleigh,1733, and Mr. Arthur Cayley, 1805, assert that Raleigh,on his return to England, took part in the wars of theNetherlands, especially at Rimenant, in August, 1578.Don John of Austria had been appointed governor ofthe Low Countries by his brother, the King of Spain.His tyranny became offensive to the people; and Elizabeth, fearful of Spanish increase of power, aided theNetherlands. The latter gathered an army near thevillage of Rimenant. Don John at the head of aboutthirty thousand men rushed upon them, when the lattermade believe that they were retreating. Don John,excited with the hope of this easy victory, pushed rapidly onward, and soon came upon their real camp withnineteen thousand soldiers. He was completely routed,and survived his defeat only two months.About this time - 1578 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert, halfbrother to Raleigh, the son of his mother by a formermarriage, was preparing to make explorations along theSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 157Atlantic coast. He was a graduate of Oxford, governorof the province of Munster, a refined and scholarly man,and had great influence over Raleigh.As Henry VII. had lost his opportunity of discoveringthe New World, Isabella of Castile having assisted Columbus just before his brother Bartholomew had gained thepromise of aid from Henry, the English naturally desiredsome share in the new-found lands. John Cabot sailedfrom Bristol, England, May, 1497, with two ships andthree hundred men, and after going seven hundredleagues found land, probably the island of Cape Breton,at the eastern extremity of Nova Scotia. He sailedalong the coast three hundred leagues to Florida. PeterMartyr says, "Cabot directed his course so far towardsthe North Pole that even in the month of July he foundmonstrous heaps of ice swimming on the sea, and inmanner continual daylight; yet saw he land in that tractfree from ice, which had been molten. Therefore hewas enforced to turn his sails and follow the west. . . .He sailed so far towards the west that he had the islandof Cuba on his left hand."It is probable that Sebastian Cabot, the son of John,was with him on this or a later voyage. In Winsor's"Narrative and Critical History of America " one findsa valuable account of the Cabots.England, from these discoveries, felt that she had aright equally with Spain to colonize the new country.Indeed, it is difficult to find the " right " of any nationto dispossess the Indians, except in the old adage that"might makes right. "In the autumn of 1578, Sept. 23 (according to Mr. J. A.Doyle's " English Colonies in America " ), Gilbert sailedfrom Dartmouth, England, for Newfoundland, with eleven158 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.ships and enough food for a year, with the hope offounding a colony. One of the ships leaked and had tobe left at home, and seven more soon deserted . Therewas a sea-fight with the Spaniards in which Raleigh tookpart, and Gilbert was finally obliged to return home, afterthe loss of one of his largest ships. That Raleigh wentto the West Indies before this is probable, as there wasa volume, now lost, entitled " Sir Walter Raleigh's Voyage to the West Indies."-In 1583, June 11, Gilbert sailed again to Newfoundland. He had lost so much by the previous unsuccessful voyage that he was obliged to sell a large part ofhis landed estate. Raleigh gave two thousand poundsto fit out a ship which bore his name, the Ark Raleigh.Two hundred and sixty men were enlisted masons, carpenters, miners, and those of other trades in this fleetof five ships. As Raleigh was already at court, and hadbecome a favorite with Elizabeth, she would not sparehim lest he be in another " dangerous sea-fight; " but shesent good words to Gilbert in departing, " wished as greatgoodhap and safety to his ship as if herself were there inperson," asked him to send her his picture by the hand ofher handsome young courtier, Raleigh, and gave him “ ananchor guided by a lady " to wear at his breast.Two days after starting from Plymouth, the ArkRaleigh, having a contagious fever on board, went backto shore. In the latter part of July the fleet reachedNewfoundland, and Gilbert took formal possession inthe Queen's name. Thirty-six ships of many nations.were in St. John's harbor trading in codfish and whaleoil , but these seem to have promised willing allegianceto the Queen. The arms of England engraved on leadwere fixed on a pillar of wood. Gilbert then grantedSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 159parcels of land to each person for a yearly rent, as they"found no inhabitants, which by all likelihood haveabandoned these coasts, the same being so much frequented by Christians," says an old Chronicle. Thesavages had by this time become well convinced thatthe "Christians " had not come from heaven to bringthem blessings, as they had at first supposed.Gilbert enacted three laws: the first that the Churchof England should be the recognized church; that if anything were attempted prejudicial to her Majesty's rightof those territories, the offender should be executed forhigh treason; and if anybody should utter words againsther Majesty, he should have his ears cut off and hisproperty confiscated.Many of the men soon became ill in the new countries;and several, tired of work as were the Spaniards underColumbus, deserted and went home on some fishingvessel. Gilbert finally sent home the sick on the shipSwallow, and with the rest of the fleet sailed southward for exploration.After seven days out the Delight, the only largeship of the fleet, with most of the provisions and clothing on board, struck a rock and went to pieces in sightof the other ships. Only sixteen men were saved fromthe wreck, and these were without food or water. Theyfound their way back to Newfoundland and later toEngland.The weather grew worse, food became scarce, and onAug. 31 Gilbert sailed homeward himself in the Squirrel, of ten tons' burden, the smallest of the fleet. Hewas urged to go in a better vessel, but he said he wouldnot forsake the little company with whom he had sharedso many perils. A severe storm overtook them Sept. 9.160 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.Gilbert sat abaft with a book in his hand, calling out tothe men on the Golden Hind, " Be of good heart, myfriends! We are as near to heaven by sea as by land. "At midnight his lights disappeared, and his ship sankbeneath the waves. Only one vessel, the Golden Hind,returned to Falmouth, the other ship having gone down.with the Squirrel.Raleigh meantime had been busy in the wars in Ireland. In the insurrection in Munster, under the Earl ofDesmond, Raleigh helped to subdue the Irish , believingthen, as was the usual belief at that time, " that the Irishwere like nettles, sure to make those smart who gentlyhandled them, and must be crushed to prevent stinging."Coming upon a party of rebels, and seeing one of themwith a great bundle of withes, Raleigh asked what theywere for. "To have hung up the English churls,"was the reply. " Well, " said Raleigh, " but they shallnow serve for an Irish kern," and immediately, saysOldys, commanded that the rebel " be tucked up in oneof his own neckbands. " The rest were put to death insome manner.These were times of little mercy on either side. Atthe siege of Fort del Ore in the bay of Smerwick inKerry, for three days Raleigh had the principal command, and on the fourth it was given to John Zouch,afterwards killed in a duel. On this day the Italians.who were aiding the Irish waved the white flag, andcried out, " Misericordia! Misericordia! " The garrisonbegged that their lives might be spared if they surrendered; but stern Lord Grey would give no quarter, andat least six hundred men were at once put to death bythe sword. Raleigh and Mackworth were ordered byGrey to enter and " fall straight to execution. " All theSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 161Irish, both men and women, were hanged. Two of"the best sort " had their arms and legs broken beforebeing hanged on a gallows on the wall of the fort.Raleigh was fearless and brave, and though severe, hewas only like most others of the time. Such severitybore its own bitter fruit in Ireland in the centuries whichfollowed.Raleigh gained much local fame by the rescue of afriend from a river into which his horse had thrown him.He and six companions while crossing a stream were tobe seized if possible by the rebels, who had a force twentytimes his own. Raleigh dashed through the rebel crowdand crossed the river, when the cries of his companionfor help made him turn back. Raleigh helped him up;but Moyle, his friend, in attempting to mount his horse,fell on the other side into deep mire, and had to be helpeda second time. Not one of Raleigh's men was securedby the rebels.-Raleigh for a short time was Governor of Munster andlater of Cork. While at the latter place he set out withninety men to capture Lord Roche at his castle, Ballyin-Harsh. Five hundred of the townspeople, learningof the approach of Raleigh, had hastened to the castleto defend the owner. The young soldier he was nowabout twenty-eight soon put them to flight. He entered the castle, took Lord and Lady Roche and theirattendants twenty miles to Cork in the darkness, over arocky and difficult passage, and did not lose a single manin the skirmish, only one dying from a fall in the darkjourney homeward. Lord Roche became a faithful subject of the Queen, and three of his sons died in herservice.After two years in Ireland, Raleigh was delighted to162 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.leave it for the court. When, some years later, the Earlof Desmond was beheaded (his brother, Sir John, washanged, his body fixed on the gates of Cork, and his headsent to London; his younger brother, Sir James, wasalso hanged, drawn, and quartered, and the fragments ofhis body hung in chains over the gates of Cork) , his landand that of his confederates, over five hundred and seventy thousand acres, passed to Elizabeth, who gave it tosome of her subjects, Raleigh receiving twelve thousandacres in the counties of Cork and Waterford. He finallysold it to Richard Boyle, afterward Earl of Cork.How young Raleigh became the favorite of the Queenat court, or was brought especially to her notice, is notcertainly known. Fuller, who was a schoolboy boy whenRaleigh died, in his " Worthies of England " tells thisstory. The Queen was at Greenwich: " Her Majestymeeting with a plashy place, made some scruples to goon; when Raleigh (dressed in the gay and genteel habitof those times) presently cast off and spread his newplush cloak on the ground, whereon the Queen trod gentlyover, rewarding him afterwards with many suits for hisso free and seasonable tender of so fair a foot-cloth. "After this he wrote with a diamond on a window-glass,where the Queen could see it, --" Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall. "She soon after wrote beneath it,-"If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all. "Perhaps a more probable reason of his being liked byher was his wit and manly bearing when summoned before the lords to answer in a dispute between himself andLord Grey. "He had much the better in telling of hisSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 163· •tale, " says Sir Robert Naunton, later Secretary of Stateunder James I., " and so much that the Queen and thelords took no small mark of the man and his parts.Raleigh had gotten the Queen's ear at a trice; and shebegan to be taken with his elocution, and loved to hearhis reasons to her demands, and, the truth is, she tookhim for a kind of oracle, which nettled them all. "Raleigh was a man of fine physique, six feet tall, darkhair, which very early became gray, a face unusuallybright and alert, with, as Naunton says, "a good presencein a handsome and well-compacted person; a strong natural wit, and a better judgment; with a bold and plausible tongue, whereby he could set out his parts to the bestadvantage. "HisHis clothes were of the richest material, and muchcovered with gems. A full-length portrait of him showsa white satin pinked vest, close-sleeved to the wrist, abrown doublet embroidered with pearls, a sword- belt alsoembroidered in the same manner, the dagger on his righthip enriched with jewels, the black feather of his hatwith a ruby and pearl, his fringed garters of white satin,and his buff- colored shoes tied with white ribbons.shoes were so bedecked with jewels that one author saysthey were worth " six thousand six hundred gold pieces. "His pearl hat-band and another jewelled article were oncestolen from him at Westminster; and these, says Mr.Gosse, were worth, in money at that time, one hundredand thirteen pounds. Doubtless much of this display wasto please the Queen, who, despite her learning and unquestioned ability, was extremely fond of dress, havingin later years, as Agnes Strickland says in her " Life ofElizabeth, " "three thousand gowns and eighty wigs ofdivers colored hair." Under her tutor in early life, Roger164 SIR WALTER RALEIGH....Ascham, she had become proficient in several languages."French and Italian she speaks like English, " he wrote;"Latin with fluency, propriety, and judgment. She alsospoke Greek with me frequently, willingly, and moderately well. . . . She read with me almost the whole ofCicero and a great part of Livy. . . . The beginning ofthe day was always devoted by her to the New Testament in Greek, after which she read select orations ofIsocrates and the tragedies of Sophocles, which I judgedbest adapted to supply her tongue with the purest diction, her mind with the most excellent precepts, and herexalted station with a defence against the utmost powerof fortune."He wrote later "that there were not four men in England, either in church or the state, who understood moreGreek than her Majesty. "Sir Robert Naunton said of Elizabeth: " She is ofpersonage tall; of hair and complexion, fair, and therewithal well- favored, but high-nosed; of limbs and feature,neat; of a stately and majestic comportment. " Baconspoke of her "great dignity of countenance, softenedwith sweetness." She knew that her white, slenderhands, with long fingers, were beautiful.At this time, 1582, Raleigh, the court favorite, wasabout thirty, and the Queen nearly fifty. The Earl ofLeicester (Robert Dudley) had long been the favorite, somuch so that it was supposed that she would marry him.Before her coronation, when she entered London on horseback, dressed in purple velvet, he rode beside her. Sheinvested him with the Order of the Garter, made himMaster of the Horse, constable of Windsor Castle andforest, and keeper of the great park during life . Hiswife, Amy Robsart, whom he had married with greatSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 165display in the reign of Edward VI. , the brother of Elizabeth, was not allowed at court, lest the Queen shouldnot bestow upon him so much attention. Her death atCumnor Hall, Berkshire, by falling down-stairs, was believed by many to have been caused by the earl. She mustat least have died broken-hearted . That Elizabeth likedLeicester there is no doubt; for she remarked to theFrench ambassador laughingly, " I cannot live withoutseeing him every day; he is like my lap-dog, so soon ashe is seen anywhere they say I am at hand; and wherever I am seen, it may be said that he is there also. "But she probably never seriously intended to marry himon account of his inferiority in rank to herself; for shesaid, " The aspirations towards honor and greatnesswhich are in me cannot suffer him as a companion anda husband." She had often declared that she would notmarry at all, and if she did, " not a subject, for she hadit in her power to wed a king if she pleased, or a powerful prince."It seemed as though every nation offered her its leaderas a husband; but she refused all, sometimes becauseshe thought England would not like a foreign prince,but more often because she could not like them herself.Leicester, probably in 1572, after Amy Robsart'sdeath, had married privately a high-born lady of thecourt, a cousin of the Queen, Douglas Howard, the youngwidow of Lord Sheffield. After she had borne him ason and a daughter, it is said that he attempted to poison her, that he might marry Lettice Knollys, alsoa cousin of the Queen, and wife of the Earl of Essex.Finally he divorced Douglas Howard and married Lettice Knollys after she became a widow. Her husband died in 1576, his death also attributed to poisonthrough the agents of Leicester.166 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.In July, 1575, Leicester gave to Elizabeth the wonderful entertainment which Sir Walter Scott has described in his novel " Kenilworth. " She with her ladies,forty earls, and seventy other principal lords were fêtedfor eighteen days at this beautiful palace. It is saidthat the Queen had bestowed this year upon Leicesterfifty thousand pounds, so that he felt obliged to makethe reception sumptuous.As she and her royal train entered the gate, a poetical porter made an address to her, calling her -"A peerless pearl!No worldly wight, I doubt -some sovereign goddess, sure!In face, in hand, in eye, in other features all ,Yea, beauty, grace, and cheer— yea, port and majesty,Show all some heavenly peer with virtues all beset . "When the Queen arrived on the bridge before the lakeon one side of the castle a lady with two nymphs cameup to her on a movable illuminated island, bright withtorches, and she also made a poetical address. On thegreat temporary bridge, twenty feet by seventy, in frontof the castle, were seven pairs of pillars with mythological deities standing beside them, offering the Queen allthe supposed " good things " of the realm. On the topsof the first pillars were cages of live bitterns and curlews; on the second, great silver bowls, full of apples,pears, cherries, and nuts; the third, wheat and othergrains; the fourth, red and white grapes; the fifth, silver bowls of wine, and so on. A poet in radiant costumeexplained all this to the queen.All the clocks were stopped at the instant of herarrival, so that none should take note of time while theroyal loved one remained. In the evening the fireworksSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 167were so profuse and grand that they were seen fortwenty miles away.Each day the Queen hunted or witnessed fightsbetween dogs and bears-"bear-baiting," when thedogs were let loose upon thirteen bears in a court,where, says Laneham in his " Kenilworth," " there wasplucking and tugging, scratching and biting, and suchan expense of blood and leather between them as amonth's licking, I ween, will not recover. "Sunday mornings the Queen attended church, and inthe afternoon witnessed theatrical plays, or pageants onthe lake. Happily, times have changed under Victoria!All this did not win a royal bride; for Elizabeth saidsoon after to a person who pleaded for Leicester, " ShallI so far forget myself as to prefer a poor servant of myown making to the first princes in Christendom? "Leicester did not like Raleigh, because the Queenshowed the latter much attention. She gave him control over the wine trade each vintner was obliged topay him twenty shillings a year for a license to sellwines whereby Raleigh received two thousand poundsa year, equivalent to about twelve thousand pounds atthe present time, says Mr. Gosse. She also gave himtwo estates and a grant to export woollen broadcloths, from which his yearly income, Mr. Gossethinks, was eighteen thousand pounds of Victorianmoney. In 1585 he was appointed lord warden of thestannaries, in which position he greatly lessened thehardships of the miners in the west of England. Thesame year he became lieutenant of the county of Cornwall, and soon afterwards vice-admiral of the counties ofCornwall and Devon. In 1587 he became captain of theQueen's guard.168 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.-Other rich estates were now given to Raleigh. Anthony Babington, descended from a family rich andnoble since the time of Edward I., was accused andconvicted conviction in those days did not alwaysmean proven guilty of an attempt to put Elizabeth offthe throne. He was beheaded and his estates confiscated. To Raleigh were given by the Queen three manorsin Lincolnshire, together with lands and tenements atWest Terrington and Harrick in the same county, themanor of Lee in Derbyshire, and several tenements; landsand tenements at Kingston and at Thrumpton, in Nottinghamshire; and his dwelling-house and land called Babington's Hall.Raleigh also leased of the Queen, for his city residence, Durham House, a vast fourteenth-century palace,where Elizabeth had lived while her brother, Edward VI.,was alive. She reserved a few rooms for herself.Besides all this wealth, he was now busy with thework of a statesman, having been sent to Parliament asone of the two members from the county of Devonshire.During all these years he was so much occupied thathe took only five hours each night for sleep, thoughhe would steal four hours for reading. He was a poet,writing much that was considered admirable in thatage. He was the intimate friend of Spenser, the authorof the " Faërie Queene, ” and obtained for him the favorof Elizabeth. The latter granted Spenser three thousandacres in Cork, out of the Earl of Desmond's estate, anda yearly pension of fifty pounds. He lost this estate inthe rebellion under the Earl of Tyrone, and died poor.Raleigh was so besought to use his influence withthe Queen for places of trust or power, that once, whenhe asked a favor, she replied, " When, Sir Walter, willSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 169you cease to be a beggar? " to which he, with quick witand courtesy, replied, " When your gracious Majestyceases to be a benefactor."All this time, while Raleigh was in favor with theQueen, and Leicester was jealous and revengeful in consequence, England was urging Elizabeth to marry, or toindicate who should be her successor, in case of her death.She usually answered the Commons in some non-committal fashion, saying that she thought marriage " best for aprivate woman, but as a prince, she endeavored to bendher mind to it; and as for the matter of the succession,she promised that they should have the benefit of herprayers! "His faceAt last, after much talk about her marriage withCharles IX. of France, and later, with his brotherHenry, and then with a still younger brother, Alençon,she seemed to be willing to wed the last one.was badly marked by the small- pox, but the Frenchambassador assured the Queen that, aside from this,"he was a paragon above all the other princes in theworld," and that a physician in London could cure anybody so pitted, and he would soon make Alençon “ beautiful and worthy of her favor. "He was twenty-two years younger than the Queen,small in stature, and exceedingly plain in looks, — alwaysa great objection to Elizabeth, who was a lover of beauty.However, he wrote ardent letters, and came in person topress his suit. Elizabeth called him her " poor frog,"and had made " one little flower of gold, with a frogthereon, and therein mounseer, his phisnomye, and alittle pearl pendant. " These words were written in oneof her wardrobe books.The Duke of Alençon, now become Francis, Duke of170 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.Anjou, was elected sovereign of the Low Countries. Sheassisted him with one hundred thousand crowns, andsent a splendid escort, to join that from France, toaccompany her boy- suitor to Antwerp. Raleigh wasone of the leaders in this stately assemblage. He remained some time at Antwerp, and brought back messages from William, Prince of Orange, to Elizabeth.― -The people of England were so incensed at this intended marriage, that the ladies of honor wept; thenoble Sir Philip Sidney wrote her against her marriage"with a Frenchman and a papist, in whom the very common people know this, that he is the son of the Jezebelof our age," - his mother was Catharine de' Medicis,and a book was written against it. The Queen had thehands of both the author, John Stubbs, and the publishercut off with a butcher's knife and mallet in the marketplace at Westminster. Stubbs was then confined in theTower, and, broken in health, he died in France soonafterwards.Still the Queen could not stand against the voice ofher subjects, and refused the Duke, who flung the ringwhich she had given him to the ground, exclaiming"that the women of England were as changeable andcapricious as their own climate or the waves that encircled their island. " After a troublous rule in theLow Countries, he fled to France and died at his Castleof Château Thierry, June 10, 1584.While Raleigh was aiding the Queen both in Parliament and at Court, he was following in the footsteps ofhis brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in his attempts.to colonize the New World for England. He obtainedfrom Elizabeth, in 1584, a grant to him and his heirslike that which had been given to Gilbert, " to discoverSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 171· •such remote heathen and barbarous lands, not actuallypossessed by any Christian prince, nor inhabited byChristian people, as to him or them shall seem good.They shall enjoy forever all the soil of such lands ortowns in the same, with the rights and royalties, as wellmarine as other . . . with full power to dispose thereofin fee simple . . . reserving always to Us, for all service,duties, and demands, the fifth part of all the ore of goldand silver there obtained after such discovery. "Raleigh fitted out two ships, some say at his own expense, to go to the New World and investigate the bestlocality for a colony. These ships, under the commandof Captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, sailedApril 27, 1584. To the latter we are indebted for anaccount of the enterprise preserved in Hakluyt's " Voyages." To the compiler of these voyages, Richard Hakluyt, both England and America owe a debt of gratitude.When at Westminster School, he visited his cousin,Richard Hakluyt, a scholar in cosmography and promoterof navigation. He then became so interested in suchstudies that while at Christ Church, Oxford, he read inseven languages all the discoveries he could find, and became so eminent that he was asked to give lectures onnavigation. He resided five years in France, making theacquaintance of noted sea-officers and merchants. Hecollected and published, in 1589, his first volume ofvoyages, and in 1599 and 1600 the work enlargedto three volumes. These books have been a treasurehouse for all later historians.The vessels reached the West Indies June 10, and,sailing south-easterly, by July 2 they " smelt so sweet andso strong a smell, as if we had been in the midst of somedelicate garden abounding with all kinds of odoriferous172 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.flowers, by which we were assured that the land couldnot be far distant." They soon came to the coast, andsailed along it for one hundred and twenty miles beforethey could find any entrance or river. They entered thefirst one that appeared, and took possession of the landin the name of the Queen.They supposed that it was the continent, but soonlearned that it was an island, about twenty miles longand six broad, called Roanoke. The land was "so fullof grapes, as the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed them, of which we found such plenty, as wellthere as in all places else, both on the sand and on thegreen soil, on the hills as in the plains, as well on everylittle shrub as also climbing toward the tops of highcedars, that I think in all the world the like abundanceis not to be found."The woods were full of deer, conies, and hare, " andthe highest and reddest cedars in the world. " Theywere three days on the island before they saw anynatives, and then one small boat having three personsin it. One of the men came on board the ship, and received a shirt and hat, ate meat, and drank wine. Assoon as he reached his own boat he began to fish, andin a half-hour it was " as deep as it could swim," whichload he brought to the ship in return for their courtesy.The next day the King's brother, Granganimeo, camewith forty or fifty men. The name of the King wasWingina, and the country Wingandacoa. Mr. WilliamWirt Henry, in Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History of America, " thinks that the natives did not understand when asked the name of the country, and that"Win-gan-da-coa " means " You wear fine clothes! "Granganimeo gave them cordial welcome, " striking onSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 173his head and breast, and afterwards on ours, to show wewere all one, smiling and making show the best he could.of all love and familiarity." They gave the Indiangifts, and soon after traded for chamois and deer skins,he choosing in exchange for twenty skins a tin dish,which he immediately hung about his neck, after makinga hole in the brim.Granganimeo soon brought his children to the boatwith his wife. She is thus described: " well- favored, ofmean stature, and very bashful; she had on her back along cloak of leather, with the fur-side next to her body,and before her a piece of the same; about her forehead,she had a band of white coral; in her ears she hadbracelets of pearls hanging down to her middle, andthose were of the bigness of good peas. " Whenevershe came to the ship she was attended by forty or fiftywomen.The King's brother sent every day deer, fruits, melons,pease, walnuts, cucumbers, beans, and other gifts. Barlowe and seven others landed at Roanoke, and the wife ofGranganimeo gave them a cordial reception. He wasnot at the village at the time. She commanded herpeople to draw the white men's boat on shore, and toldothers to carry these men on their backs to the dryground. "When we were come into the outward room,having five rooms in her house, she caused us to sitdown by a great fire, and after took off our clothes andwashed them, and dried them again; some of the womenplucked off our stockings and washed them, some washedour feet in warm water, and she herself took great painsto see all things ordered in the best manner she could,making great haste to dress some meat for us to eat. "She gave them boiled and roasted venison, boiled and174 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.roasted fish, melons, and the juice of the grape. Shebegged them to tarry all night; but, as they were few innumber, they were afraid. She therefore gave themtheir supper to take in earthen pots into the boat, somemats to cover them from the rain, and sent thirty womenbesides several men to sit all night on the bank besidethe boat. No wonder Barlowe wrote, " We found thepeople most gentle, loving, and faithful, void of all guileand treason, and such as live after the manner of thegolden age. "Raleigh laid before the Queen the report of this fertilecountry after the ships had returned in the autumn, andshe, because it was discovered under a virgin queen,named it Virginia. She also knighted Raleigh. Hergift of the control of the wine- selling of the country wasthat he might have funds to found an English colony inthe new lands of the virgin queen. Elizabeth was verycareful about bestowing titles, and during her reign, ofabout forty-four years, created but six earls and eightor nine barons.•Early in the following year, 1585, Raleigh sent out hisfirst colony of one hundred and eight settlers in a fleetof seven ships, under command of Sir Richard Grenville.After establishing the colony, it was to be left underRalph Lane as governor. Mr. Doyle calls the latter "awell-born adventurer. He had offered to raise anEnglish contingent for the Spanish King against theTurks. Failing that, he had offered to serve the King ofFez against the Spaniard. If he might not serve underthe banner of Rome or Islam, he was willing to fightfor the Protestant faith under the Prince of Orange.In scarcely a document does his name appear in whichhe is not an applicant for some office under the Crown.SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 175At one time he is an equerry at Court and a hanger-onto Leicester."They set sail April 9, 1585, and reached the coast ofFlorida June 20, anchoring for a time at Wococon, anisland near Roanoke, and July 11 crossed over to themainland. They exploredthe coast to Secotan, anIndian village some sixty miles south of Roanoke, andwere well received by the savages. On their way backa silver cup was stolen, and with needless severity tothe offenders, the English "burned and spoiled theircorn and town, all the people being fled. " It was selfevident that such a company would not long have peacewith the Indians .Asettlement was begun at the north-east corner of theisland of Roanoke. After a time the Indians and theywere no longer friends. Granganimeo was dead, and hisbrother Wingina, now called Pemissapan, was an enemy.The English had no seed corn, and perhaps were toomuch like the Spaniards, unwilling to do hard work."Because there were not to be found any English cities ,nor such fair houses, nor at their own wish any of theiraccustomed dainty food, nor any soft beds of down orfeathers, the country was to them miserable. "Lane made explorations, when the spring came, to thenorth and south of the settlement. His men had aquarrel with the Chowanoks, and took prisoner theirking, Menatonon, impotent in his limbs, but a " verygrave and wise man. "Learning from the Indians that there were pearlsnear the mouth of the river Moratoc ( Roanoke) , Lanedetermined to set sail up this river.Their food gaveout, and they killed their two mastiffs, boiling the fleshof the dogs with sassafras leaves.176 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.Pemissapan had laid his plans for the massacre of thesettlement. He had reckoned upon the aid of Skico, theson of Menatonon, as Lane had once condemned Skicoto death for attempting to escape, but he had afterwardsbeen kind, and Skico was faithful to the whites, anddivulged the plans of the red men. Pemissapan and hischief were in turn surprised by Lane. The latter ongiving the watchword to his followers, Christ our victory,shot the Indians or cut off their heads. " Thus," saysLane, "they had, by the mercy of God for our deliverance, that which they had purposed for us. "On June 8 Sir Francis Drake and a fleet of twenty-threesail, returning with spoils from San Domingo and Carthagena, touched at the new settlement. Lane asked himto leave a ship and some boats with provisions, and totake home the sick to England. The Francis, a vesselof seventy tons, was sent to Lane, but a storm drove herout to sea, and she was seen no more. Drake offered tosend the Bonner, of one hundred and seventy tons; butthe settlers, becoming discouraged, begged to be takenback to England. To this Drake consented. When theboats were taking the men out to the ships, the seabecame so rough that most of their goods, drawings,books, and writings were necessarily thrown overboard.They reached Plymouth, England, July 27, 1586.Soon a vessel of a hundred tons sent by Raleigh,well filled with supplies, arrived at Roanoke, but findingthe settlement deserted, returned to England. Threeweeks later Grenville came with three ship-loads of food,and unwilling to lose control of the country, left fifteenmen with supplies for two years. Lane's men in theships of Drake brought back tobacco, which soon cameinto general use. The legend has been often told ofSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 177Raleigh smoking in his study, when his servant came inwith a pot of ale, and seeing Raleigh, as he supposed,on fire, from the smoke coming out of his mouth, threwthe ale over him, and rushed down-stairs to the familyexclaiming that " his master was on fire, and beforethey could get up would be burnt to ashes. "Though the results of this second voyage and firstattempt to plant a colony were discouraging, Raleighsent out a second colony in May, 1587, consisting of onehundred and fifty householders, under Captain JohnWhite. Twelve men besides White were incorporatedas the " Governor and Assistants of the city of Raleigh. ”Seventeen of the company were women, of whom sevenwere unmarried. The fleet of three ships reached Hatteras July 22, when White took forty of his best menashore to search for the fifteen left by Sir Richard Grenville the previous year. They found only the bones ofone man.From the Indians they learned that the warriors ofPemissapan had determined to revenge his death. Twoof their chief men asked that two white men shouldcome to them unarmed, for a conference. They came,and one of the savages immediately struck one whiteman over the head with his wooden sword. The otherfled to his company, and all the whites gathered intoone house. This the Indians set fire to, and in the ensuing skirmish all the whites were killed, or fled, noone ever knew where. White and his men found alsothe fort which had been built by Lane razed to theground, and the " nether rooms of the houses, and alsothe fort, overgrown with melons of divers sorts, anddeer within them feeding on those melons. "The houses of the little settlement on Roanoke Island178 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.were soon rebuilt. Aug. 18 a child was born to Eleanor,the daughter of Governor White, and Ananias Dare, andbeing the first white child born in Virginia, she wascalled Virginia Dare.When his little granddaughter was nine days old,White returned to England to give a report of the colony and bring out supplies. This journey was muchagainst his wishes, as he preferred that some other person should go, but they would not consent. His goodby proved a final one.He found England on his return preparing every shipto meet the threatened invasion of the Spanish Armada.Finally April 22, 1588, Sir Walter sent out two smallpinnaces, the Brave and the Roe, with provisions andfifteen planters."These vessels," says Oldys, " minding more to makea gainful voyage than a safe one, ran in chase of prizes,till at last one of them was met with by a couple ofstrong men-of- war off Rochelle, about fifty leagues tothe north-east of Madeira, where, after a bloody fight,the English were beaten, boarded, and rifled. . . . In thismaimed, ransacked, and ragged condition the said ship.returned to England in a month's time; and about threeweeks after returned the other, having perhaps tasted ofthe same fare, at least, without performing the intended.voyage, to the distress of the planters abroad and displeasure of their patron at home."For a whole year no relief was sent, and when at lastGovernor White returned with three vessels the settlement had disappeared. Remnants of their goods werefound, and also the name " Croatoan," an island, carvedon a big tree, five feet from the ground, according to anagreement before White's departure, that if they went197SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 179away, they should indicate in what direction. The sorrows of that lonely year were never revealed. Long afterwards it was told that a company of white people werekept in slavery by the Indians, and finally massacred atthe instigation of Powhatan. Only seven - four men,two boys, and a young maid (perhaps Virginia Dare) -were preserved alive by a friendly chief. From thesewere descended the Hatteras Indians. They had grayeyes, found among no other tribes.---Fourteen years later Raleigh fitted out a ship at hisown expense, and placed over the crew Samuel Mace ofWeymouth, who had twice sailed to Virginia, to searchfor the lost colonists, but it was of no avail. Raleighgave up the attempt to colonize Virginia; but he said,"I shall yet live to see it an English nation, " and hisprophecy was realized. He had spent forty thousandpounds on his American enterprises, and, though misfortunes darkened his own pathway, his perseverance andhope lightened the way for others. Better than any oneof his time, he saw England's unlimited possibilities inthe New World, and tried to grasp them for his countryand his queen.England was now, 1588, absorbed in her preparationsto meet what the Spaniards called their " InvincibleArmada." Elizabeth believed that Philip II. , the husband of her sister Mary, had never felt friendly sinceher refusal of him after her sister's death, thirty yearsbefore. Philip II. asserted his claim to the Englishthrone through the Lancaster line.Among the bitterest opponents of Spain was Raleigh.He was one of the nine commissioners who met toconsider the best means of repelling the threatenedinvasion. He went at once to Cornwall and Devon to180 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.gather men for the contest. He helped fortify thecoast.On May 29, 1588, the Armada sailed out of Lisbon,with from one hundred and forty to one hundred andfifty ships, under the command of the Duke of MedinaSidonia, with over thirty thousand soldiers, betweeneight and nine thousand sailors, and over twenty-fourhundred cannon. The fleet was destined for the coastof Flanders, where Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma,was stationed with about thirty-five thousand men andboats. This force was to be landed on the Isle ofThanet, at the mouth of the Thames, under the protectionof the Armada.Leicester was sent with twenty-three thousand mento Tilbury to oppose the landing of Parma. Anotherarmy of thirty-two thousand foot and two thousandhorse was raised to defend the person of the queen. Sosure was Philip II . of victory, that he " gave greatcharge to Duke Medina and to all his captains thatthey should in no wise harm the person of the Queen,and that the Duke should, as speedily as he might,take order for the conveyance of her person to Rome,to the purpose that his holiness, the pope, should disposethereof in such sort as it should please him. "Meantime Elizabeth, without fear, was visiting hercamp at Tilbury, and making speeches to her soldiers."When she came upon the ground, " says Miss Strickland,"she was mounted on a stately charger, with a marshal'struncheon in her hand, and, forbidding any of her retinueto follow her, presented herself to her assembled troops,who were drawn up to receive their stout-hearted liegelady on the hill, near Tilbury church. She was attendedonly by the Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Ormond,SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 181who bore the sword of state before her; a page followedcarrying her white plumed regal helmet. She wore apolished steel corslet on her breast. "Riding bareheaded between the lines, she said, " Myloving people, we have been persuaded by some that arecareful of our safety to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes for fear of treachery; but, Ido assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust myfaithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear: I havealways so behaved myself, that under God I have placedmy chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal heartsand good-will of my subjects; and, therefore, I am comeamongst you, as you see at this time, not for any recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst andheat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all - to laydown for my God and for my kingdoms and for mypeople, my honor and my blood even in the dust. Iknow I have the body of a weak, feeble woman;rather than any dishonor should grow by me, I myselfwill take up arms -I myself will be your general,judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in thefield." They received her with acclamations of joy, andwere ready to die for her, as they all knew her courageand ability.-The Spanish Armada, in the form of a crescent, sevenmiles long, sailed up the channel. The English sufferedall the ships to pass by, and then attacked them in therear. Vessels of every kind had come from all parts ofEngland, so that nobles, merchants, and all classes withany sort of ship at their command were gathered to savethe flag. The English now had one hundred and eightysail under Admiral Howard.At the suggestion of the Queen, it is said, Lord How-182 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.ard took eight of his least seaworthy ships , smearedtheir rigging with pitch, filled them with gunpowder, setthem on fire, and in the darkness of midnight, Aug. 7,floated them out toward the Spanish fleet.The slaughter was dreadful. Some of the Spanishships caught fire, and the explosions were deafening. Astorm came up and drove many of the ships upon theFrench coast. The English followed swiftly, as theirvessels were lighter and more easily handled than theSpanish galleons. Four thousand men were killed bythe shot and shell in one day.Many Spanish ships fled towards the Norway coast,and the English followed till their ammunition gave.out. On the Irish coast seventeen ships and more thanfive thousand men perished. Fierce storms did the restof the devastating work. As Raleigh himself says, " Agreat part of them were crushed against the rocks; andthose others who landed were notwithstanding broken,slain, and taken, and so sent from village to village,coupled in halters to be shipped into England; whereher Majesty, of her princely and invincible disposition,disdaining to put them to death, and scorning either toretain or entertain them, they were all sent back againto their own country to witness and recount the worthyachievements of their invincible navy. " Only a littlemore than fifty of the ships reached Spain. There wasnot a famous or worthy family in all Spain," says Hakluyt, " which in this expedition lost not a son, a brother,or a kinsman! "66There was the greatest rejoicing all through Englandat the victory. In November her Majesty went in stateto St. Paul's to a public thanksgiving for the result andto listen to a sermon from the words, " Thou didst blowSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 183She was with thy winds and they were scattered . "seated in a triumphal car, like a throne, under a canopysupported by four pillars, drawn by milk-white horses.Close to her rode Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, Masterof the Horse. (His widowed mother had married. Leicester, who had died Sept. 4, 1588, on his way to Kenilworth, angered at his queen because she had notmade him Lord-Lieutenant of England and Ireland forhis services against the Armada. )Thousands of people witnessed the great procession.When the people cried " God save your Majesty! " shesaid, " God save you all, my good people! Ye may wellhave a greater prince, but ye shall never have a moreloving prince."-Many medals were struck in commemoration of thevictory. One was a fleet under full sail, with thewords, " Venit, vidit, fugit ” "It came, it saw, it fled. "Another bore the device of fire ships scattering theSpanish fleet, and the words, " Dux fœmina facti " -"It was done by a woman, " in remembrance of the suggestion of Elizabeth, which proved so valuable.Raleigh was praised and rewarded, not only for hisbrave fighting, but for his invaluable advice to LordHoward not to grapple and board the Spanish ships ashe was urged to do. He wrote later in his " History ofthe World," that the "Lord Charles Howard would havebeen lost in 1588 if he had not been better advised thana great many malignant fools were that found fault withhis demeanor. The Spaniards had an army aboard them,and he had none [ none well drilled for service ]; theyhad more ships than he had, and of higher building andcharging; so that had he entangled himself with thosegreat and powerful vessels, he had greatly endangered184 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.this kingdom of England. For twenty men upon thedefence are equal to a hundred that board and enter. "During the next few years after the destroying of theArmada, there were frequent captures of Spanish shipsas prizes on the seas. Sir Walter fitted out severalvessels which did great damage, enriched him, and madehim hated more than ever by Spain.Leicester during life had never felt friendly toRaleigh, and it is said had sent the young Essex, theson of his wife, to Court, with the hope of lesseningthe influence of Raleigh with the Queen. He was ahandsome, brilliant youth, but little past twenty, whilethe Queen was much over fifty. He was extravagant,being already twenty-three thousand pounds in debt, impulsive, generous, and fearless. When brought to Court,at the age of eleven, the Queen offered to kiss him,which he refused. When he was again at Court in official capacity, he seems quickly to have won her admiration, as some of the people about the Court said, " Whenshe is abroad, nobody is near her but my Lord of Essex;and at night, my Lord is at cards, or one game oranother with her till the birds sing in the morning."He, too, was opposed to Raleigh; being disturbed at somesupposed neglect by the Queen to his sister, he wrote toa friend that it was done to him, " only to please thatknave Raleigh, for whose sake I saw she would bothgrieve me and my love, and disgrace me in the eyes ofthe world."Elizabeth would not hear him speak a word againstRaleigh, although, he says, " I spoke, what of grief andcholer, as much against him as I could; and I think he,standing at the door, might very well hear the worst thatI spoke of himself. In the end, I saw she was resolvedSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 185to defend him, and to cross me. I told her ' I hadno joy to be in any place, but was loath to be near abouther, when I knew my affection so much thrown down,and such a wretch as Raleigh highly esteemed by her.'. . . The queen, that hath tried all other ways, now willsee whether she can, by these hard courses, drive me tobe friends with Raleigh, which rather shall drive meto many other extremities. "Both these men soon came under the royal displeasure. Essex had secretly married in 1591 Frances Walsingham, the widow of Sir Philip Sidney, the soldierwhom Essex had made his model, though the latterfell far short of the pattern. She was the onlydaughter of the celebrated statesman Sir Francis.Walsingham, who had been one of Elizabeth's truestcounsellors. The Queen on account of this marriagebanished Essex from her presence for several months,and would not let him be Chancellor of Oxford, whichso distressed him, and wounded his pride, that whileaway at war he wrote to a friend, " If I die in theassault, pity me not, for I should die with more pleasure than I live with; if I escape, comfort me not, forthe Queen's wrong and unkindness are too great. "The next year, 1592, her other favorite, Raleigh, committed a similar offence by a love affair with ElizabethThrogmorton, a maid of honor, the daughter of SirNicholas Throgmorton, who had served Elizabeth withmarked ability as her ambassador in France. He hadbeen banished by Queen Mary, and nearly lost his life.When Elizabeth came to the throne he was a trusted butbold adviser. Having differed with Throgmorton, shebecame angry, and said, " Villain, I will have thy head! "to which the statesman calmly replied, " You will do well,186 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.madam, to consider, in that case, how you will afterwards keep your own on your shoulders. "Raleigh and Elizabeth Throgmorton were at onceimprisoned in the Tower, and were privately married,whether before or after this time is not known. Forfour years Raleigh was under the displeasure of theQueen. If she could not marry Raleigh, a subject, sheevidently wished nobody else to marry him.Oldys thus describes the picture of the woman whowon Raleigh's heart, and who kept it to the end of life,making a true wife and devoted mother to their two children, Walter and Carew. It was painted about eightyears after their marriage. " It represents her a fair,handsome woman, turned perhaps of thirty. She has ona dark-colored hanging-sleeve robe, tufted on the arms;and under it a close-bodiced gown of white satin, flowered with black, with close sleeves down to her wrist.She has a rich ruby in her ear, bedropped with largepearls; a laced whisk rising above her shoulders; abosom uncovered, and a jewel hanging thereon, witha large chain of pearls round her neck, down to herwaist. "Raleigh, with his heretofore active life, chafed at hisimprisonment. Ambitious, successful, rich, and perhapswithal fond of the Queen, who had so honored him abovealmost all others in the realm, he constantly bewailedhis fate, saying that his heart would break if he couldnot see his sovereign, " whom I have followed so manyyears with so great love and desire in so many journeys."Before Raleigh was sent to the Tower, early in 1592,he planned an expedition to retaliate upon the Spaniardsby seizing their rich carracks from India, and attackingtheir pearl treasuries at Panama. He and his associatesSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 187furnished thirteen vessels at great expense, and theQueen added two ships of war. Sir Walter was madeAdmiral of the fleet. They were long delayed by storms,and the Queen, thinking herself unwise to spare so valuable a man for such a dangerous enterprise, sent ordersfor him to resign and return and let Sir Martin Frobisherhave his place. He, however, felt it impossible to turnback at first, as he had arranged the enterprise, but beingbadly damaged by a storm off Cape Finisterre, a part ofthe fleet went to the Azores to intercept the Spanish shipsfrom India, and a part to cruise near the coast of Spain.One of the largest " Indian Carracks," Madre de Dios,the "Mother of God," was taken by Raleigh's ship, TheRoebuck. Her cargo was estimated to be worth fivehundred thousand pounds, in carpets, silks, rubies, pearls,ivory, musk, spices, and other precious things fromIndia. She was the most famous plate-ship of the times,and carried sixteen hundred tons. Philip II. had toldhis men to sink her rather than let her fall into thehands of the English.She was plundered at every port, and the sailors hadhelped themselves to treasures; but when she enteredDartmouth, Sept. 7, she had over one hundred and fortythousand pounds' worth of valuables on board .The officers and men were indignant when they reachedEngland and found Raleigh in the Tower. The feelingwas so intense that he was released temporarily, andcame with his keeper to Dartmouth to superintend theunloading of the prize."His poor servants, to the number of one hundred andforty goodly men, and all the mariners," writes Sir RobertCecil, " came to him with such shouts and joy, as I neversaw a man more troubled to quiet them in my life. But188 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.his heart is broken; for he is extremely pensive longerthan he is busied, in which he can toil terribly. . . . Whensoever he is saluted with congratulations for liberty, hedoth answer ' No, I am still the Queen of England's poorcaptive. ' " When his half-brother, Sir John Gilbert,came to see him, Sir John wept.Raleigh received little or nothing in return for hisgreat expenditure save the increased hatred of Spain.But being, in a measure, forgiven by the Queen, he retired to his beautiful estate of Sherborne, where for twoyears he set out trees, orchards, gardens, and groves, andenjoyed the quiet of home life with the woman he reallyloved. It is believed that he was the first to bring orangetrees into England and the first to plant the potato inIreland, on his estates there. In 1594 their son Walterwas born at Sherborne.By this time it was known that Spain was growingrich out of the colonies planted in the New World. Thehopes of Columbus a century before were now havingfulfilment. The Spaniards, as ever, in search of gold,believed there was a city or country in the northern partof South America in Guiana called " El Dorado," or theGolden City. Some of their travellers reported seeingan Indian chief, on a solemn occasion, anoint his bodywith turpentine, and then cover himself with gold-dust.Others reported that many of the natives, before theirgreat feasts, covered themselves with white balsam , whichthey called Curcai, and powdered themselves with golddust till they looked like statues of gold.Francisco Lopez de Gomara wrote that in Manoa, thecapital of the empire of Guiana, in the house of Inga,the Emperor, " all the vessels were of gold and silver,both on the table and in the kitchen; that in his ward-SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 189robe were hollow statues of gold which seemed giants;and the figures, in proportion and bigness, of all thebeasts, birds, trees, and herbs that the earth brings forth,and of all the fishes that the sea or waters of his kingdom breeds. Finally, there was nothing in his countrywhereof he had not the counterfeit in gold."Many parties of Spaniards had lost their lives in thissearch for gold. Gonzalo Pizarro, the brother of. theconqueror of Peru, in 1540 set out with three hundredand forty Spaniards and about four thousand Indiansfrom Quito. They journeyed two thousand five hundredmiles, and finally returned disappointed. " They hadeaten their saddles on the road; their horses were longdead; their arms broken and rusted; the skins of wildbeasts hung loosely about their limbs; their matted locksstreamed down their shoulders; their faces had beenblackened by a tropical sun; their bodies wasted byfamine."Raleigh never feared hardship, but courted adventure.He, too, determined to find out if Guiana were really onegreat gold mine. In the year 1594 he sent out CaptainJacob Whiddon to explore the Orinoco River and itstributaries. He was hindered in his work by the SpanishGovernor of Trinidad, Antonio de Berreo, and returnedwith little accomplished.The next year, Feb. 6, 1595, Raleigh set sail with fiveships and one hundred officers and soldiers, besides thecrews, to make the search for himself. He arrivedMarch 22. Berreo had given orders that no Indianshould go on board of Raleigh's ships under penalty ofbeing hanged and quartered. However, the Spaniardhad been so brutal in his treatment of the natives, thatmany came to Raleigh and begged his protection . The190 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.latter attacked and took the town of Saint Joseph,-Berreo he made a prisoner, where he found bound toone chain, five Indian chiefs who had been cruelly tortured and were at the point of death. Berreo put broiling bacon on the bare limbs of his victims.Raleigh left his ships in the Gulf of Paria and proceeded in some small boats to explore Guiana. Berreoused all his blandishments to prevent him from going,as he had intended to go himself later. He told Raleighthat he possessed already ten images of fine gold, whichhe was to send to the King of Spain.On this exploring tour Raleigh and his men sufferedmuch, as he said in his report, now reprinted in Hakluyt's "Voyages, " " being all driven to lie in the rain andweather in the open air, in the burning sun, and uponthe hard boards, and to dress our meat, and to carry allmanner of furniture in them. Wherewith they were sopestered and unsavory, that what with victuals, beingmostly fish, with the wet clothes of so many men thrusttogether, and the heat of the sun , I will undertake therewas never a prison in England that could be found moreunsavory and loathsome."They were absent from their ships a month, in andout of the various branches that formed the great Orinoco, eleven hundred and twenty miles long, whichreceives four hundred and thirty-six rivers and twothousand smaller streams. They found the people, saysSir Walter, " goodly and very valiant, and have the mostmanly speech and most deliberate that ever I heard ofwhat nation soever. In the summer they have houseson the ground, as in other places. In the winter theydwell upon the trees, where they build very artificialtowns and villages. " " The river Orinoco rises thirtySIR WALTER RALEIGH. 191feet," says Sir Walter, " and covers the islands throughseveral months of the year.""The religion of the Epuremei is the same which theIngas, emperors of Peru, " says Raleigh, " used, which maybe read in Cieca, and other Spanish stories: how theybelieve the immortality of the soul, worship the sun, andbury with them alive their best-beloved wives and treasure, as they likewise do in Pegu in the East Indies, andother places."The Orono Koponi bury not their wives with them,but their jewels, hoping to enjoy them again. The Arwacas dry the bones of their lords, and their wives andfriends drink them in powder. In the graves of thePeruvians the Spaniards found their greatest abundanceof treasure; the like also is to be found among thesepeople in every province. ..."Their wives never eat with their husbands, noramong the men, but serve their husbands at meals, andafterward feed by themselves. "However, a woman of ability seems to have taken animportant position among them, as she does in any land.or time, as Raleigh speaks of the wife of a chief, who" did not stand in awe of her husband, but spoke anddiscoursed, and drank among the gentlemen and captains,and was very pleasant."Sometimes Raleigh's company were stranded on thesand; sometimes the high trees grew so close to theriver banks as to make the air stifling, and they werenearly famished, before they could find birds " of all colors, carnation, orange-tawny, purple, green, watchel, —and of all other sorts, " which they used for food. Theysaw many alligators, and a young negro who belongedto the company, having leaped out to swim, was devoured―192 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.before their eyes. Some canoes were captured full ofbread, the owners having disappeared in the woods, andthis food proved a great blessing.They saw hundreds of natives, men and women, andthe English gained their good- will, as Sir Walter allowedno stealing, and the penalty for an insult to the wife ordaughter of a savage was death.The Spaniards not only stole women, but trafficked inthem, buying from the cannibals girls of twelve or fourteen.for three or four hatchets apiece, and selling themin the West Indies for from fifty to a hundred crownseach .The Indians never forgot Raleigh, and inquired tenderlyabout him long years after he was in his grave.A chief, Topiawari, one hundred years old, told SirWalter much about the people, and gave his only son fora hostage to be sent to England, in proof of his friendliness and willingness to help them in the future, whenthey should come with more men to visit the great city ofManoa. Raleigh left in exchange for the Indian boy, HughGoodwin, who desired to learn the language. He couldnot have been devoured by a tiger, as some authoritiessay, as twenty-two years afterwards Raleigh met him,and he had almost forgotten English. Francis Sparryvolunteered to stay with the lad, Hugh, and returnedto England in 1602.In Sparry's account of his adventures south of the Orinoco, he records the purchase " of eight young women,the eldest whereof was but eighteen years of age, forone red-hafted knife, which in England had cost me ahalfpenny." He could not have made such a transactionunder Raleigh.Raleigh was charmed with the country: "The deerSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 193crossing in every path," he says, " the birds towards theevening singing on every tree with a thousand severaltunes, cranes and herons of white, crimson, and carnation, perching on the river's side, the air fresh with agentle, easterly wind. ”But the hardships, on the whole, discouragedthe men,and they were obliged to retrace their way to the ships,a severe storm nearly destroying them and their boats,without a sight of " El Dorado, " which Raleigh was sureexisted, but which has never been found.-On his return to England in the fall of 1595 he hopedto be received at Court for his exploration and glowingwords about his Queen to the Indians, he had " dilatedat large," he says, " on her greatness, her justice, hercharity to all oppressed nations, with as many of therest of her beauties and her virtues as either I couldexpress or they conceive," and her praise in a volumesoon published concerning this voyage, which was translated into Latin, German, and French. It was a graceful,glowing narrative, and Mr. Gosse says: " As it was thefirst excellent piece of sustained travellers' prose, so itremained long without a second in our literature. ”It is thought by some that Raleigh, on his return,brought into England the pineapple, so called because itresembles the cones of the pine-tree, concerning whichJames I. said, " It was a fruit too delicious for a subjectto taste of! "Elizabeth, however, had not forgotten Raleigh's lovefor Miss Throgmorton, and he was allowed to remain atSherborne with no word of approval from her. Sir Walter mourned, and knew "the like fortune was neveroffered to any Christian prince. " It was evident thatElizabeth did not wish to be secondary even in the heart194 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.of a subject. She could, in a measure, forgive Essex, ayouth of twenty, for marrying, but not Sir Walter, a manof forty.The next year, 1596, Raleigh sent Captain LaurenceKeymis, who had been with him the previous year, toGuiana, and he explored the coast from the north of theOrinoco to the Amazon. Before the year was passed hesent another ship under Captain Leonard Berry, wishingto keep alive his intercourse with the Indians, and hopingto interest his Queen later. He attempted to send thirteen vessels two years later, in 1598, under his halfbrother, Sir John Gilbert, but the plan was for somereason defeated.England was again busy in chastising Spain. As PhilipII. had made a vow " to avenge the destruction of theArmada on Elizabeth, if he were reduced to pawn thelast candlestick on his domestic altar," it seemed best tocripple his power once for all . June 1, 1596, a fleet ofninety-three English vessels and twenty-four Dutch, withnearly sixteen thousand men, set sail for Cadiz to attackSpain on her own ground. Essex and Admiral CharlesHoward commanded the ships, and Raleigh and LordThomas Howard joined in the council of war.The Admiral and Essex determined to land the soldiers and attack the town before they assaulted theSpanish fleet. When Raleigh arrived Essex was disembarking the men. There was a heavy sea, and some ofthe boats sunk. Raleigh at once came on board ofEssex's ship, and in the presence of the officers protestedagainst such a course as endangering the whole armies.He said, “ The most part could not but perish in the seaere they come to set foot on ground; and if any arrivedon shore, yet were they sure to have their boats cast onSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 195their heads, and that twenty men in so desperate adescent would have defeated them all. "The Earl of Essex yielded to Raleigh, and begged himto convince the Admiral. Raleigh at once went to him,and, gaining his consent, called out to Essex, Intramus,when the impulsive Essex cast his plumed hat into thesea for joy. The officers accepted Raleigh's plan ofattack, and it was decided that he should lead with hisship, the War Sprite.At the break of day the English vessels swept into theharbor. Before them lay seventeen galleys, the fortressof St. Philip and other forts, besides six great galleonsand ships, about fifty-seven in all.The fight lasted six hours, and was terrible. Twogreat Spanish ships, the St. Philip and St. Thomas, burnedthemselves rather than fall into the hands of the English. "They tumbled into the sea," says Sir Walter"heaps of soldiers, so thick as if coals had been pouredout of a sack in many parts at once, some drowned, andsome sticking in the mud. . . . Many drowned themselves; many, half-burnt, leaped into the water, verymany hanging by the ropes' ends by the ship's side underthe water, even to the lip; many swimming with grievous wounds stricken under water, and put out of theirpain."...Raleigh had an especial desire to be revenged on theSt. Philip, which had helped cause the death of his cousin,Sir Richard Grenville, who was formerly engaged withRaleigh in the expeditions to Virginia. Grenville hadgone to the Azores in a fleet in 1591 to help capturesome Spanish ships. The English were surprised by theSpaniards, and the Revenge, the ship of Grenville, withone hundred men, sustained for fifteen hours the guns of196 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.fifteen ships, and repulsed them all, one of the most remarkable battles in English naval history. The St. Philip,the great Spanish galleon, did the most damage. TheRevenge was cut down to the hull, her deck coveredwith shattered bodies. Grenville was moved against hiswill to a Spanish ship, and soon died, exclaiming in Spanish, “ Here die I , Richard Grenville, with a joyful andquiet mind, having ended my life like a true soldier thathas fought for his country, queen, religion, and honor. "Raleigh was so wounded in the leg during the sea-fightthat he could not help attack the town, but as he couldnot bear to be left behind, he was carried into Cadiz onthe shoulders of some of his men.-Cadiz at this time was a large and handsome city,the chief See of the bishop, and had a fine collegeEssex brought back the famous library of the Bishop ofAlgarve and gave it to Sir Thomas Bodley. It is now inthe Bodleian Library at Oxford. The city soon surrendered. The people had liberty to take with them whatever goods or clothes they could carry, which permission,says Oldys, "produced a remarkable example in a beautiful young Spanish lady, who, leaving all that wasprecious and valuable, bore away her old and decrepithusband upon her back, whom before she had hiddenfrom the danger of the enemy; herein imitating thepiety of the Bavarian women after the conquest of theircountry by the Emperor Conrad III. "The next morning Raleigh desired to follow the fleetof forty carracks, bound for the Indies, which lay inPuerto Real road, as they were said to be worth twelvemillions. In the confusion no answer was returned.In the afternoon the merchants of Cadiz and Sevilleoffered two millions if the fleet could be spared. Mean-SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 197time the Duke of Medina Sidonia set fire to the fleet,and all was destroyed.66Many who had captured rich Spanish prisoners weregiven large ransoms. Raleigh got nothing for his bravery, except, as he says, a lame leg and a deformed. Ihave not wanted good words, . . . but I have possessionof naught but poverty and pain."The Queen did not take him back to Court tillalmost a year after the successful battle of Cadiz, fromwhich Spain never rallied .It was soon learned that the King of Spain was tomake one more effort to invade England and Ireland .In the spring of 1597 he fitted out a fleet, which thestorms scattered as they did the Armada.Meantime Elizabeth resolved upon the so-called islands voyage, to intercept the Spanish plate-fleet at theAzores. She sent one hundred and twenty ships with sixthousand soldiers. Essex was commander- in-chief, andRaleigh rear-admiral. Fayal was to be taken by Essexand Raleigh, and other ports by various commanders.Essex sailed first, but Raleigh reached the harbor beforethe earl. The people at once began to leave the town,while the fort opened fire, and six companies of menopposed the landing of the English. Raleigh waitedtwo days for Essex to arrive, when his men became soimpatient for the attack, that he promised to lead themthe third day if Essex did not come.On the fourth day, with a party of two hundred andsixty men, Raleigh pushed his boats tothe landing- place.This was guarded by a mighty ledge of rocks, some fortypaces long into the sea, with a narrow lane between twowalls. The men stood back dismayed when they sawthe defile, and the shot poured upon them; but Raleigh198 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.rebuked them, as Oldys says, "Clambering over therocks, and wading through the water, he made his waypellmell through all their fire, with shot, pike, and swordup to the narrow entrance, where he so resolutely pursued his assault, that the enemy, after a short resistance,gave ground; and when they saw his forces press fasterand thicker upon them, suddenly retiring, they castaway their weapons, and betook themselves to the hillsand woods."―Then Raleigh led his forces into the town; and whensome of the new soldiers shrank from the contest, twohad their heads taken off by big shot, and many werewounded, Raleigh went to the very front, though hewas " shot through the breeches and doublet-sleeves intwo or three places. " When they had passed the fortsit was found that the inhabitants of the town, VillaDorta, had fled, leaving such things as could not beremoved suddenly. The town contained about five hundred stone houses and many choice gardens. Amongthose who fought bravely were Captain Laurence Keymis, who had been with Raleigh in the voyage toGuiana.The next morning Essex arrived, and was very angrybecause Raleigh had not waited for him, and had alreadywon all the glory. Peace was finally made between thetwo leaders, and the fleet returned to England with threegood prizes, laden with cochineal and other merchandise,and some ships from Brazil. The King of Spain lostthrough this expedition eighteen ships, including twoof his best galleons. Raleigh returned to his place inParliament, with his health much broken. He was soonmade governor of Jersey, with the gift of the manor ofSt. Germain on that island.SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 199For a year or more Raleigh and Essex had not beenfriends. The latter, impulsive, and with a temper notunder control, had lost the favor of the Queen, who hadalways petted him like a spoiled child. She had made.him general of her armies, when everybody knew he wastoo young and inexperienced. Whenever the Queenmade appointments which did not suit him, he feignedillness, and would not appear at Court.In a council meeting when the, as usual, disturbedcondition of Ireland was being discussed, the Earl ofEssex was so strenuous in his desires, that the Queen,forgetting her womanly dignity, boxed him on the ear,saying, " Go, and be hanged! "At once Essex grasped his sword-hilt, when the admiral, Charles Howard, stepped between them. TheEarl declared " that he would not have taken that blowfrom King Henry, her father, and that it was an indignity that he neither could nor would endure from anyone! " He was forgiven later, and returned to Court.Essex had at one time saved the life of the Queen,by discovering the plot of her physician, Lopez, who wasa Jew. Two confederates confessed that Lopez, throughthe Spanish court, was to poison the queen for fiftythousand crowns. Lopez died on the scaffold affirming"that he loved the Queen as well as he did Jesus Christ,"an assertion ill-received by the people who knew hisreligious faith.In March, 1599, Essex was appointed Lord-Lieutenantof Ireland. His enemies were pleased to get him awayfrom Court, so that they could have more influence withthe Queen; but he seems to have found the positionutterly distasteful, for he wrote Elizabeth: " From amind delighting in sorrow; from spirits wasted with200 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.-passion; from a heart torn in pieces with care, grief,and travail; from a man that hateth himself, and allthings else that keep him alive, what service can yourMajesty expect, since any service past deserves no morethan banishment and proscription to the cursedest ofislands."The Earl of Tyrone was in rebellion. Essex, witha desire to restore tranquillity to the distracted nation,had a conference with Tyrone, and sent his requeststo her Majesty. She, surrounded by advisers whohated Essex, and Ireland as well, could not say bitter things enough about such a pacific attempt. FinallyEssex determined to return and see the Queen in person.As soon as he had reached her at her palace at Nonsuch, in the early morning, he went directly to her apartments, (and knelt before her " covering her hands withkisses ." ) She received him with some marks of favor,though she was still displeased, especially that he shouldhave left Ireland without asking her leave. She orderedhim to consider himself a prisoner in his apartment tillhis conduct should be investigated. Through such pettyacts as this, England learned later that in the hands ofno one man or woman can any great amount of power betrusted. Tyrants are easily made.Essex was removed in a day or two to the lordkeeper's charge at York-house, and the Queen went toRichmond. Lady Walsingham went and made humblesuit that Essex might write to his wife (who was FrancesWalsingham), as she had just given birth to an infant,but the stern Queen refused. So much in anger was shethat she walked the floor, exclaiming, " I am no Queenthat man is above me! Who gave him command tocome here so soon? I did send him on other busi-SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 201ness!"When he became ill, she would not permit hisown physician to attend him; and yet if she everloved anybody, it was young Essex.On her birthday Essex wrote her: -Vouchsafe, dread Sovereign, to know there lives a man, though dead to the world and in himself exercised with continued torments of body and mind, that doth more true honor to your thriceblessed day [ anniversary of her accession to the throne ] than allthose that appear in your sight....For they that feel the comfortable influence of Your Majesty'sfavor, or stand in the bright beams of your presence, rejoice partlyfor Your Majesty's, but chiefly for their own happiness. Onlymiserable Essex, full of pain, full of sickness, full of sorrow,languishing in repentance for his offences past , hateful to himselfthat he is yet alive, and importunate on death, if your favor beirrevocable he joys only for Your Majesty's great happiness andhappy greatness; and were the rest of his days never so many,and sure to be as happy as they are like to be miserable, he wouldlose them all to have this happy seventeenth day many and manytimes renewed, with glory to Your Majesty and comfort of all yourfaithful subjects, of whom none is accursed butYour Majesty's humblest vassal,ESSEX.The wife of Essex finally came to beg for him, andbrought the queen a jewel; but it was returned, and thehaughty monarch sent back word " that she must attendher Majesty's pleasure by the lords of the council, andcome no more to Court. "Essex had now become very ill , so that his life wasdespaired of. Some of the privy council urged theQueen to forgive him, while others urged his being sentto the Tower, or beheaded. Twice a warrant was madeout for his removal to the Tower, but the Queen wouldnot sign it. She so far relented as to allow his wife to202 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.come daily to see him, and ordered her own physicianto take him some broth with the message "that if itwere not inconsistent with her honor, she would havecome to visit him herself. "The enemies of Essex were busy preparing pageantsof all kinds, that Elizabeth might forget the earl, andthat the people might also forget him, for he was popular because of his bravery and generosity. The Queenoutwardly seemed to enjoy them, but she was in privategreatly dejected.At last Essex, after a partial return to health, wastried before the commissioners for a whole day. Whenaccused of treason he protested, with his hand upon hisheart, "This hand shall pull out this heart when anydisloyal thought shall enter it. " He was pardoned, butforbidden to appear at Court. Afterwards he wroteurging that the license from wines -about fifty thousand pounds yearly -be renewed to him as he wasdeeply in debt; but this wish was not granted.Essex at last, humble and penitent though he hadbeen, began to murmur at the Queen. She certainly hadshown anything but a lovable nature to the man whomshe had seemingly idolized . " The Queen," he said,"has pushed me down into private life. I will not bea vile, obsequious slave. The dagger of my enemies.has struck me to the hilt. I will not be bound to theircar of triumph. "It was reported to the Queen that he said she was an"old woman, crooked both in body and mind. " His housebecame the centre of the disaffected . He wrote privateletters to the King of the Scots, afterwards James I.,to urge his being recognized as successor to the throne,a matter Elizabeth never wished to hear about.SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 203Whether with or without reason, he believed thatRaleigh was a bitter enemy. He had written to theQueen when he was in Ireland, deprecating the fact thatLord Cobham, Raleigh, and others " should have suchcredit and favor with Your Majesty when they wish theill success of Your Majesty's most important action,the decay of your greatest strength, and the destructionof your faithfullest servants."This, of course, was not true, however much he mighthave believed it, for Raleigh was always loyal to hissovereign. If Raleigh really thought it advisable thatthe earl should die, as would seem from a letter to SirRobert Cecil("If you take it for a good counsel to relent towardsthis tyrant, you will repent it when it shall be too late.. . The less you make of him, the less he shall be ableto harm you and yours; and if her Majesty's favor failhim, he will again decline to a common person . Losenot your advantage; if you do, I read your destiny. ")then Raleigh experienced the Bible words literally:"With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured toyou again." The letters of Essex to James I. embitteredthat monarch against Raleigh, he always thought thatCecil and Raleigh helped to bring " my martyr Essex "to the grave, and paved the way for his own sad fate.It had been planned at Essex House, the home of theearl, that a chosen few should go around to the palaceof the Queen, seize the gate, rush into her presence, andon their knees beg her to remove the adversaries ofEssex from her council. If she did not consent to this,Essex would call a parliament and demand justice.-―Feb. 7, 1601 , Essex received a summons to appear before the privy council, his actions having caused con-204 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.cern. He was advised by his friends to make his escape,but he determined to appeal to the people, knowing howmuch they loved him.On Sunday morning, Feb. 8, Essex had three hundredfollowers at his house. That very morning Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a cousin of Raleigh's, had been sent forby the latter to meet him at Durham House. Essexadvised that they meet on the Thames. They did so,when Raleigh urged Gorges to escape, as there wasa warrant out for his arrest. Sir Christopher Blount,who had married the mother of Essex after her secondhusband, Leicester, was dead, shot at Raleigh four timesas he was going back to his boat to Durham House, withthe desire either to kill or to capture him.About ten o'clock on this Sunday morning the lordchief-justice and a few others came to Essex House, andinquired why so many persons were gathered in thecourt. Essex then told his wrongs, and rushing out withhis followers down Fleet Street, cried, " England is soldto Spain by Cecil and Raleigh! Citizens of London,arm for England and the Queen! " Waving his sword,he shouted, " For the Queen! for the Queen! "The people did not rise, as he had foolishly expected.The streets were soon barricaded, and he was declared atraitor.The Queen was at dinner when told that Essex wastrying to arouse the city. Her attendants were greatlyalarmed; but she proposed going to oppose the insurgents,saying "that not one of them would dare to meet a single glance of her eye. They would flee at the verynotice of her approach."That night Essex and his men were arrested andlodged in Lambeth Palace, and the next day confined inthe Tower.SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 205After an all-day trial Essex was condemned to death.He said, " I am not a whit dismayed to receive this doom .Death is welcome to me as life . Let my poor quarters,which have done her Majesty true service in diversparts of the world, be sacrificed and disposed of at herpleasure. "The story of the ring which Elizabeth gave to Essexwith the promise " that if ever he forfeited her favor, ifhe sent it back to her, the sight of it would ensure herforgiveness, " has been disputed, though it was vouchedfor by the descendants of the Careys, closely related tothe Queen. Lady Elizabeth Spelman, a relative, thusrelates it: -"When Essex lay under sentence of death, he determined to try the virtue of the ring by sending it to theQueen, and claiming the benefit of her promise; butknowing he was surrounded by the creatures of thosewho were bent on taking his life, he was fearful of trusting it to any of his attendants . At length, looking outof his window, he saw, early one morning, a boy whosecountenance pleased him, and him he induced by a bribeto carry the ring, which he threw down to him fromabove, to the Lady Scroope, his cousin, who had taken.so friendly interest in his fate. The boy, by mistake,carried it to the Countess of Nottingham, the cruel sisterof the fair and gentle Scroope; and as both were ladies.of the royal bed- chamber, the mistake might easily occur.The countess carried the ring to her husband, the lordadmiral, who was the deadly foe of Essex, and told himthe message, but he bade her suppress both. "The Queen seems to have expected that Essex wouldsend some message; for it was long before she could beprevailed upon to sign the death-warrant, and even after206 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.she had done so she revoked it. Finally she orderedthe execution to proceed. He was beheaded Feb. 25,1601. Elizabeth told the Duke de Biron, who came overat the head of a state embassy from France, " that notwithstanding Essex's engaging in open rebellion, hemight still, by submission, have obtained her pardon,but that neither his friends nor relations could prevailon him to ask it. "What must have been the horror of Elizabeth when,two years later, the dying Countess of Nottingham,according to Lady Spelman, told her the true story ofthe ring, and said she could not die in peace till she hadcraved the pardon of the Queen! Elizabeth, in greatanger as well as grief, shook, or some say struck, thedying woman in her bed, exclaiming, " God may forgiveyou, but I never can! ”After the death of Essex, the people ceased to welcometheir Queen as rapturously as before, for he had beenthe popular idol. She herself became dejected after hewas beheaded. She told the Count de Beaumont fromFrance, "that she was aweary of life, " and. wept as shetalked of Essex. One of the Queen's household wrote," She sleepeth not so much by day as she used, neithertaketh rest by night. Her delight is to sit in the dark,and sometimes with shedding tears, to bewail Essex."In the spring of 1603 the great Queen was near theend of life. When Robert Carey, the Earl of Monmouth,her kinsman, came to see her, during the visit he says,"She fetched not so few as forty or fifty great sighs. Iwas grieved at the first to see her in this plight; for inall my lifetime before I never saw her fetch a sigh, butwhen the Queen of Scots was beheaded. " Towards theend she said, " I wish not to live any longer, but desireto die."SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 207After a long prayer by the Archbishop of Canterburyat her bedside, she fell asleep and never woke, dyingabout three o'clock on the morning of March 24, 1603.With the death of Elizabeth, Raleigh's power came toan end. As Captain of the Guard he had seen Essexdie, and at first stood near the scaffold hoping Essexwould speak to him, but as he did not he had retired tothe armory. Essex asked for him later, and Raleighalways regretted that he was not near to receive hismessage of peace. Christopher Blount, who had attempted to kill Raleigh, on the scaffold asked his forgiveness, saying, " Sir Walter Raleigh, I thank God thatyou are present. I had an infinite desire to speak withyou, to ask your forgiveness ere I died. Both for thewrong done you, and for my particular ill-intent towards you, I beseech you to forgive me; " and Raleighanswered, “ I most willingly forgive you, and I beseechGod to forgive you, and to give you his divine comfort. "James I., the son of Mary Queen of Scots, now cameto the throne. He had a difficult place to fill. TheRoman Catholics hoped for favors which they couldnever obtain under Elizabeth. The Protestants wereguarding every point, lest the Catholics gain the ascendancy. James, self-conceited, fancied himself the peacemaker of Europe. He did intend to keep the peace,which was perhaps the best thing in his weak nature.Mr. Samuel Rawson Gardiner, the historian, says ofhim: " James had too great confidence in his ownpowers, and too little sympathetic insight into the views.of others, to make a successful ruler, and his inabilityto control those whom he trusted with blind confidencemade his court a centre of corruption. "Fontenay, a French writer, says: " He speaks, eats,208 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.dresses, and plays like a boor, and he is no better in thecompany of women. He is never still for a moment,but walks perpetually up and down the room, and hisgait is sprawling and awkward; his voice is loud, andhis words sententious. He prefers hunting to all otheramusements, and will be six hours together on horseback. . . . His body is feeble, yet he is not delicate;in a word, he is an old young man. . . . He is prodigiously conceited and he underrates other princes. .He told me that, whatever he seemed, he was aware ofeverything of consequence that was going on. He couldafford to spend time hunting, for that when he attendedto business, he could do more in an hour than otherscould do in a day."James was prejudiced against Raleigh, partly throughthe unscrupulous Lord Henry Howard, the bitter enemyof Raleigh, and Essex before him, and partly becauseSir Walter was an uncompromising foe to Spain, whileJames desired to make peace with Spain, even planningto marry his son to the daughter of Philip III.When Raleigh came to court to ask James to continuehis commissions as Lieutenant of Cornwall and Wardenof the Stannaries, the King received him coldly, makinga coarse pun on his name, as he said, " On my soul, man,I have heard but rawly of thee." He soon told his secretary, Sir Thomas Lake, to prepare some permits forSir Walter, and added, " Let them be delivered speedily,that Raleigh may be gone again. " Raleigh was soondeprived of his position as Captain of the Guard, andDurham House was restored to the Bishop of Durham.Raleigh had spent two thousand pounds upon it.The next time he saw the King, Raleigh talked withhim about prosecuting the war with Spain,-- offered toSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 209raise two thousand men at his own expense, and toinvade Spain at their head. He could not have knownthat the King was always playing two parts, tryingto calm England, who liked the Scot none too well, andat the same time kneeling to Spain, whom most of theEnglish hated.Raleigh was still at Court, and on the morning of July17, 1603, was walking on the terrace at Windsor, waitingto ride with the King, who was about to hunt, when SirRobert Cecil, who had made himself a favorite withJames, came to Raleigh, and said he was wanted in theCouncil Chamber, to be questioned concerning some.matter.And this was the matter. The English Catholics hadtwo agents, or pretended agents, two priests, William Watson and Francis Clarke, who were to labor with the Kingfor increased toleration for their religion. While theypetitioned the King on one hand, Cecil was on the othersaying to James, " It would be a horror to my heart toimagine that they that are enemies to the gospel shouldbe held by you worthy to be friends to your fortune. " Tothe English, James talked of " Jesuits, seminary priests,and that rabble; " to the Pope, he spoke of concessionsand great good-will.Such duplicity, or lack of courage, in time brought itsnatural reward. Thousands were angered. Finally a plotwas arranged by Watson and Clarke, called " The Priests'Treason. " Several joined with them: George Brooke,a graduate of King's College, Cambridge, the dissolutebrother of Cecil's wife; Sir Griffin Markham, of a prominent family but himself a spendthrift; Lord ThomasGrey de Wilton, a young man under thirty, scholarly, aProtestant, and much beloved; and Anthony Copley, third210 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.son of Sir Thomas Copley. He was a fearless man, asTopliffe wrote to Queen Elizabeth, "The most desperateyouth that liveth. Copley did shoot a gentleman the lastsummer, and killed an ox with a musket, and in HorshamChurch drew his dagger at the parish priest."These men had planned that James I. should be seizedat Greenwich and carried to the Tower, where he shouldbe asked for three things: " 1. For their pardon; 2. Fortoleration of their religion; 3. For assurance thereof toprefer Catholics to places of credit, as Watson to beLord Keeper; Grey, Earl Marshal; Brooke, Lord Treasurer; and Markham, Secretary. " The King was to bekept in the Tower a year, till the changes were accomplished. Grey was opposed to Papists, but wanted theKing to subscribe to " Articles " which would limit hispower, and place the government more in the hands ofthe people. This plot was also called " The SurprisingTreason. "This plot was betrayed by John Gerard, a Jesuit, whobelieved that by submission to James all Catholic disabilities were soon to be removed without force. He hadbeen a Catholic missionary to England, and had beenimprisoned in the Tower for his ardent labors, but hadescaped by swinging along a rope over the Tower ditch.He evidently did not understand James's character.Copley was arrested towards the end of June, 1603,and told of all the others, who were at once takeninto custody. It soon came out that George Brooke,Grey, and others were in another plot, with Lord Cobham (Henry Brooke) , the brother of George. He hadmarried the widow of Henry, twelfth Earl of Kildare,and daughter of the Earl of Nottingham. It is said that,though wealthy, after Cobham's fall " she abandoned.SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 211him, and would not give him the crumbs that fell fromher table. "Lord Cobham was an enemy of Essex, and the latterhad coupled his name with Raleigh's when he wrote to winthe favor of James before the death of Elizabeth. Cobham had no liking for James, and knew James's illfeeling towards him.There was for a long time a desire on the part of manythat Lady Arabella Stuart should come to the throneinstead of James. She was his first cousin, the daughterof Charles Stuart, descended from Margaret, sister ofHenry VIII. Charles's brother had married Mary, Queenof Scots. Arabella stood, therefore, in the same relationto the throne as did James. Elizabeth had feared her,and James feared her even more, because he was analien, while she was born on English soil.At one time Cobham meditated seriously how Arabellacould succeed Elizabeth; but, after meeting her, he wroteto Cecil, " I resolved never to hazard my estate for her. "She was shamefully treated by James: put in prisonin 1609, on account of a rumor that she was to marrysomebody, and James feared a possible heir to the throne.Feb. 2, 1610, she became engaged to William Seymour,descended from Mary, sister of Henry VIII. Theywere brought before the council, and promised not tomarry without the consent of the King. Knowing thatthey would never receive this, they were privately married. Seymour was arrested and put into the Tower.Arabella escaped in man's clothing, but was taken andconfined in the Tower also, where she remained for fiveyears, till her death, Sept. 25, 1615.But if Cobham had given up the Arabella Stuart project, he had planned another with Charles, Count of212 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.Aremberg, Minister of the Archduke Albert, now sovereign of the Spanish Low Countries. This was to helpon the peace between Spain and England, by putting"good sums of money where they would have takengreat hold, " as Lord Cecil, Secretary of State, wrote toSir Thomas Parry, ambassador in France.Aremberg was to get five or six hundred thousandcrowns from Spain and a large amount from France; andthis was to be used among the discontented, to buy theirinfluence on the side of peace. He offered Raleigh tenthousand crowns; Grey was to have as much, and othersin like proportion.However degrading such a plan, it was no uncommonthing in those times. We find Count de Beaumontwriting to his King, Henry IV. of France, urging that hebe allowed to give " pensions " and gifts to English statesHe writes to his King: " The Spanish ambassador makes no scruple to bargain for the treaty openly,offering pensions and money to the grandees of this kingdom for the purpose of promoting it. "men."The great extent, " says Mr. Edwards, " to whichSpanish bribes were accepted has long been one of thefoulest scandals of a scandalous reign. Evidence of thecorruption of some of the statesmen who took a prominent part in the prosecutions of 1603 is old and trite.Recent researches in the archives at Simancas have established, beyond controversy, the fact that amongst thosewho lived and died as pensioners of Spain was the LordTreasurer, Salisbury. "That such methods are not entirely obsolete in thenineteenth century, it is only necessary to recall to mindthe Crédit Mobilier in America and the Panama Canalscheme in France.SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 213Raleigh and Cobham were intimate friends, and Raleighknew of the visits between Aremberg and Cobham, thoughprobably not the full plans. They were both arrested ona charge of treason, and accused of attempting to putArabella Stuart on the throne, and to use the money inraising an army to do away with the " King and hiscubbs " (which language George Brooke at first affirmed,but denied on the scaffold). It was asserted, but neverproved, that Arabella was to write separate letters to theArchduke of Austria, the King of Spain, and the Dukeof Savoy, promising if she obtained the crown to establish a firm peace between England and Spain, toleratethe Romanists, and be governed by the three powers incontracting marriage.The resulting trial was one of the most interestingever held in England, as well as one of the most unfair.One of the judges, Gawdy, said afterwards, on his deathbed, " The justice of England has never been so injuredand degraded as by the condemnation of Sir WalterRaleigh; " and this has been the verdict of the greatlawyers in the succeeding generations.Cobham denied that he had any such intent aboutArabella; and she, in the great trial at Winchester, inWolvesey Castle, the ancient Episcopal palace, protestedthrough the Earl of Nottingham, " upon her salvation,that she never dealt in any of these things. "When Raleigh was at first called before the council,and was asked about Cobham, he cleared him of all ,as he wrote Cobham by his faithful servant, CaptainKeymis. He further said to the council, "Whatevercorrespondence there was between Cobham and Aremberg, La Renzi [a merchant who was in attendance onCount Aremberg] might be better able to give account of214 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.it, therefore advised to the calling upon him," but addedthat "he knew of no intelligence between them, butsuch as might be warranted. " This also he wrote toCecil.When Cobham was examined he acknowledged thathe desired to go to Spain to raise the money, but had nothought of Arabella Stuart. It was to be used as "pensions," which was probably true, though it was believedby some that he intended also to use it to help the" Priests' Treason, " and so get the more liberal government which Lord Grey desired .When, for the purpose of entrapping him, the letterof Raleigh was shown him, altered, it is feared, to suitthe purpose of his enemies, he at once felt that he hadbeen betrayed by Raleigh, and accused the latter of instigating the plot, and of being the occasion of his wholediscontent.When they were both in the Tower, Raleigh wrote Cobham urging that he deny his unjust statement. Throughthe suggestion of the servant of Raleigh, Cotterell, Cobham left his window ajar at night, and the letter ofRaleigh, tied round an apple, was thrown into Cobham'sroom. In half an hour the following letter of retractionwas written and pushed by Cobham under his door andwas carried to Raleigh: -"Now that the arraignment draws near, not knowingwhich should be first, you or I, to clear my conscience,satisfy the world, and free myself from the cry of yourblood, I protest upon my soul, and before God and hisangels, I never had conference with you in any treason;nor was ever moved by you to the things I heretoforeaccused you of. And, for anything I know, you are asinnocent and as clear from any treasons against the KingSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 215as any subject living. . And so God deal with meand have mercy on my soul as this is true. "Again he accused Raleigh and again he retracted .Raleigh denied before his accusers, Nov. 17, 1603,every one of these indictments. " I was accused tobe a practiser with Spain - I never knew that myLord Cobham meant to go thither. I will ask no mercyat the King's hands, if he will affirm it. Secondly, Inever knew of the practices with Arabella. Finally,I never knew of my Lord Cobham's practice with Aremberg, nor of their surprising treason.' " He knew oftheir visits to each other, and had already told them so.He also said, "Lord Cobham offered me ten thousandcrowns of the money, for the furthering the peacebetween England and Spain; and he said that I shouldhave it within three days. I told him, ' When I seethe money, I will make you an answer.' For I thoughtit one of his ordinary idle conceits, and thereforemade no account of it. " If Cobham and Aremberghad talked of money for an army, which is doubtful,Raleigh evidently knew nothing of it. He asked tohave Cobham brought face to face before him, but thiswas denied him.The Attorney-General, Sir Edward Coke, was brutalin his treatment. He said to Raleigh, "Thou art amonster; thou hast an English face, but a Spanish.heart. I will prove thee the rankest traitor in allEngland. . . . Thou hast a Spanish heart, and thyselfart a spider of hell."...The whole trial was a barbaric farce. Raleigh pleadedeloquently, as it was for his life, but he was condemned.before the trial.Lord Chief justice Popham, in giving sentence of216 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.death, was as brutal as Coke, and both were hissed bythe people.The following was the sentence, brutality, or evencapital punishment, doing as little good to society inthose days as it ever has afterwards: " Since you havebeen found guilty of these horrible treasons, the judgment of this court is, that you shall be led from henceto the place whence you came, there to remain until theday of execution; and from thence you shall be drawnupon a hurdle through the open streets to the place ofexecution, there to be hanged and cut down alive; andyour body shall be opened, your heart and bowelsplucked out, and your private members cut off, andthrown into the fire before your eyes; then your headto be stricken off from your body, and your body shallbe divided into four quarters, to be disposed of at theKing's pleasure; and God have mercy upon your soul! "It is said that some of the jury were so "touchedin conscience as to demand of Raleigh pardon on theirknees."After the sentence, Raleigh asked the Commissioners torequest the King that " Cobham might die first," for hesaid, " Cobham is a false and cowardly accuser.He canface neither me nor death, without acknowledging hisfalsehood. " He also asked that his death " be honorableand not ignominious. " The two persons who brought thenews of the sentence to James were Roger Ashton anda Scotchman. " One, " says Sir Dudley Carleton, afterwards Viscount Dorchester, " affirmed that never anyman spoke so well in times past, nor would do in theworld to come; and the other said, that whereas whenhe saw him first, he was so led by the common hatred,that he would have gone a hundred miles to have seenSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 217him hanged; he would, ere he parted, have gone a thousand to have saved his life . "Nov. 29, Watson and Clarke, the priests, were executed. "They were bloodily handled," says Carleton,"for they were both cut down alive; and Clarke, towhom more favor was intended, had the worse luck; forhe both strove to help himself, and spoke after he wascut down. They died boldly both. . . . Their quarterswere set on Winchester gates, and their heads on thefirst tower of the castle." George Brooke was beheadedDec. 6, saying at the last, " There is somewhat yet hidden, which will one day appear for my justification. "Markham, Grey, and Cobham were to be beheaded Dec.10, and Raleigh, Dec. 13, as James could not bring himself to destroy the man against whom nothing wasproved till after Cobham had faced death.-Raleigh had before this, about July 20, after the sentence, attempted to commit suicide, not that he feared.death, but he could not bear to have his enemies triumphover him. Just before he wrote his wife a touching letter: -- •"That I can live never to see thee and my child more!I cannot. That I can live to think how you areboth left a spoil to my enemies, and that my name shallbe a dishonor to my child! —I cannot. . . . For myself, I am left of all men that have done good to many.All my good turns forgotten; . all my services, hazards, and expenses for my country -plantings, discoveries, fights, councils, and whatsoever else -malice hathnow covered over. I am now made an enemy and traitorby the word of an unworthy man. Woe, woe, woebe unto him by whose falsehood we are lost! He hathseparated us asunder. He hath slain my honor, my for-218 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.tune. He hath robbed thee of thy husband, thy childof his father, and me of you both. O God! thou dostknow my wrongs! . . ."I bless my poor child, and let him know his fatherwas no traitor. Be bold of my innocence, for God, towhom I offer life and soul, knows it. "He recovered from his wound; and when the timefor execution came, in December, again he wrote her inthe Tower a farewell letter: ―"Mylove I send you that you may keep it when I amdead, and my council, that you may remember it whenI am no more. And seeing it is not the will ofGod that ever I shall see you in this life, bear my destruction gently and with a heart like yourself." First, I send you all the thanks my heart can conceive, or my pen express, for your many troubles andcares taken for me [she had pleaded day and night forhis release] which, though they had not taken effect asyou wished, yet my debt is to you nevertheless; butpay it I never shall in this world."Secondly, I beseech you, for the love you bear meliving, that you do not hide yourself many days, but byyour travel seek to help your miserable fortunes, andthe right of your poor child. Your mourning cannotavail me that am but dust."Remember your poor child for his father's sake, thatcomforted you and loved you in his happiest times.Get those letters ( if it be possible) which I wrote tothe lords, wherein I sued for my life; but God knoweththat it was for you and yours that I desired it, but it istrue that I disdain myself for begging it. And know it,dear wife, that your son is the child of a true man."I cannot write much. God knows how hardly I stoleSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 219this time, when all sleep. . . . My true wife, farewell.Bless my poor boy; pray for me. My true God holdyou both in His arms.“ Written with the dying hand of sometime thy husband, but now (alas! ) overthrown." Yours that was, but now not my own,"W. RALEIGH."The time drew near for execution . Sir Griffin Markham was first brought to the scaffold about ten o'clockon the morning of Dec. 10. A napkin was offered himto cover his face, but he refused, saying, " I can lookupon death without blushing." Just as he had madehimself ready for the axe, James sent his page, JohnGibb, with a reprieve for two hours. He was led awayin amazement, and Lord Grey was brought to the scaffold.Grey knelt and prayed in the rain, andthen said hehad never plotted treason. He urged the King not tolet the brand of traitor rest on his name for the sake ofthe " unstained blood which we have spilled at the headof your ancestors' armies, and for that loyalty of fourhundred years, during which the House of Wilton wasuntouched." A reprieve also came for him at the lastmoment.Lord Cobham came next; and though he had shownfear and trembling at the trial, he was prepared to meetdeath calmly. He again accused Raleigh. The sheriffnow stayed the execution, and called back Markham andGrey, and told them that the King had decided to sparetheir lives. The people shouted their applause, and theprisoners were removed to the Tower. Raleigh, too, wentback to prison.Lord Grey died in the Tower, July 9, 1614, just ashe was entering the twelfth year of his imprisonment.220 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.Lord Cobham died poor and miserable, Jan. 24, 1619.He had been released from the Tower for a short timeon account of his health, and died of paralysis after ayear's helplessness. Markham was released and went toBrussels, where he was so poor that " he was constrainedto pluck out the inlaid silver of the hilts of his sword tobuy flour to make a hasty-pudding for his dinner, " saysOldys in his notes. He afterwards found service underthe Archduke Albert.For more than twelve long years Raleigh lived in theTower, and found happiness as best he could in books.For a man with his active life the confinement musthave been well-nigh unbearable. At first he gave muchtime to the study of chemistry and experiments in thatscience. He then began his great and learned " History of the World. " He was confined in what is now theBloody Tower, above the principal gate to the InnerWard. For a time Lady Raleigh and her son Walterwere permitted to remain in the Tower, but when theplague broke out in 1604 they were obliged to go awayfor safety.Lord Cecil tried in vain to keep some of Sir Walter'sproperty from confiscation. There were a dozen personswho eagerly tried to get possession of the beautifulSherborne estates. Lady Raleigh went to court in 1608,holding her boys bythe hand -Walter then fourteen, andlittle Carew, four, born in the Tower after his father wasin prison, and on her knees begged Sherborne for herchildren; but James brusquely replied, " I maun hae thelond; I maun hae it for Carr," who was a young favorite ofthe King, becoming afterwards Earl of Somerset.The King finally purchased Sherborne for his son,Prince Henry. Lady Raleigh was promised eight thou-SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 221sand pounds for her life interest in Sherborne; but theinterest was irregularly paid, and later the principal wasmostly lost in the expedition to Guiana. She had anannuity of four hundred pounds a year, which was frequently unpaid.Raleigh's health failed, and various efforts were madefor his release, but none succeeded . Finally there was arift in the cloud. Prince Henry, the broad-minded sonof a narrow-minded father, partly through pity andpartly from his appreciation of a fine intellect, had become fond of the imprisoned statesman. He was, in1610, sixteen years old, while Raleigh was fifty-eight.He often visited Raleigh, and conferred with him aboutpolitics, ship-building, and foreign policy. He consultedhim about his marriage with a Princess of Savoy, andwould not consent to it because Raleigh thought itunwise, as "the Dukes of Savoy were of the blood ofSpain, and to Spain those dukes have always been servants," said Raleigh. It was generally believed thatPrince Henry had received the Sherborne estates onlythat he might bestow them upon his friend. He said,"No man but my father would keep such a bird in a cage. ”At the coming Christmas, 1612, the prince had obtainedwith great difficulty from his father a promise of liberation for Raleigh. But six weeks before this, to the dismay and sadness of the whole of England, Nov. 6, thenoble youth died of typhoid-fever, at the age of eighteen.James I. gladly forgot his promise to his dead boy, andthe prison doors closed forever on Sir Walter Raleigh.No, they opened once more, but the path led to the block.All these years the conditions of Raleigh's prison lifegrew harder. His garden was taken away from him,where he had enjoyed the study of botany, his wife was222 SIR WALER RALEIGH.seldom allowed to see him, and his health yearly grewpoorer. Often he was for two hours, he wrote Cecil,now become Earl of Salisbury, " without feeling or motionof my hand and whole arm, " and, " every second orthird night in danger either of sudden death, or of theloss of my limbs or sense; " but Salisbury was no longera friend, and James I. was only hoping " that manRaleigh will die before I do. " The wife of James, Anneof Denmark, was always the friend of Raleigh, and triedto obtain his release; but she had no influence withJames, partly because she had become a Romanist, andpartly because he became tired of any affection after atime.It is thought that Raleigh began the " History ofthe World " in 1607, and seven years after, in 1614, hegave the first volume of 1,354 closely printed pages tothe public. This brought the world's history only down.to the conquest of Macedon by Rome. It was a marvelof diligence, showing that Raleigh could " toil terribly, "and would have filled, says Mr. Gosse, " thirty-five suchvolumes as are devised for an ordinary modern novel. "The next year, 1615, James commanded the suppression of the book, because it was "too saucy in censuringthe acts of kings. " Ninias, son of Queen Semiramis,who " had changed nature and condition with his mother,proved no less feminine than she was masculine; " andJames read between the lines, as he thought, or probablysome jealous person thought for him, that this was atrue picture of James I. and his mother, Mary, Queen ofScots.Raleigh then wrote " The Prerogative of Parliament,”an argument in favor of the King against his evil advisers; but anything from Raleigh's hand was unwelcome,SIR WALER RALEIGH. 223and he was forbidden to publish it. Ten years after hisdeath it appeared. His " Observations on Trade andCommerce," in favor of free trade, was suppressedbecause James was a protectionist.One can scarcely imagine the wearisomeness of theyears that saw manuscript after manuscript piled up, froma fertile and brilliant mind, with no power to bringthem before a world which it strove to influence.One of the best known of Sir Walter's several worksis his " Instructions to his Son and to Posterity. " Thefirst edition which Oldys saw was published fourteenyears after Raleigh's death, 1632. It went through several editions. In the chapter on " Choice of Friends,"he says: " If thy friends be of better quality than thyself, thou mayst be sure of two things: the first, thatthey will be more careful to keep thy counsel, becausethey have more to lose than thou hast; the second, theywill esteem thee for thyself, and not for that which thoudost possess. But if thou be subject to any great vanity or ill (from which I hope God will bless thee) , thentherein trust no man; for every man's folly ought to behis greatest secret."The next and greatest care ought to be in the choiceof a wife. And the only danger therein is beauty, bywhich all men in all ages, wise and foolish, have beenbetrayed. . . . If thou marry for beauty, thou bindestthyself all thy life for that which perchance will neverlast nor please thee one year; and when thou hast it, itwill be to thee of no price at all. " Raleigh thought thebest time for his son to marry was " toward thirty. Andthough thou canst not forbear to love, yet forbear tolink; after awhile thou shalt find an alteration in thyself, and see another far more pleasing than the first,224 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.second, or third love. " About talking, Sir Walter says"He that cannot refrain from much speaking is like acity without walls, and less pains in the world a mancannot take than to hold his tongue; therefore if thouobservest this rule in all assemblies, thou shalt seldomerr....Restrain thy choler, hearken much, and speak little; for the tongue is the instrument of the greatestgood and greatest evil that is done in the world. . .Never spend anything before thou have it: for borrowing is the canker and death of every man's estate. " Concerning wine-drinking, Sir Walter admonishes his son:"Take especial care that thou delight not in wine, forthere never was any man that came to honor or preferment that loved it; for it transformeth a man into abeast, decayeth health, poisoneth the breath, destroyethnatural heat, bringeth a man's stomach to an artificial heat,deformeth the face, rotteth the teeth, and, to conclude,maketh a man contemptible, soon old, and despised ofall wise and worthy men, hated in thy servants, in thyself and companions; for it is a bewitching and infectious vice. . ."Whosoever loveth wine shall not be trusted of anyman, for he cannot keep a secret. Wine maketh mannot only a beast, but a madman; and if thou love it, thyown wife, thy children, and thy friends will despisethee."Men in James's cabinet had died and others had takentheir places. Raleigh had never lost sight of Guiana,its gold mines yet to be found, and its shores to be colonized for his beloved England.At last he got the ear of Sir George Villiers, Duke ofBuckingham, the favorite at that time, and Secretary SirRalph Winwood. Mr. Edwards says Raleigh gave twoSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 225individuals fifteen hundred pounds, seven hundredand fifty apiece, a large sum in our money, — to influence the proper persons; besides he promised muchgold from Guiana, if he were only permitted to go thereand obtain it.James could never say " no " to the favorites then inpower; so that Raleigh, at their solicitations, was finallyreleased Jan. 30, 1616, - he had been in the Tower foralmost thirteen years, that he might, under a keeper,live in his own house, and prepare for a new expeditionto Guiana.For fourteen months, though much broken in health,he was busy with his pet scheme. His all was stakedupon it. Lady Raleigh sold some land which she ownedand gave her husband twenty-five hundred pounds.The eight thousand pounds from the Sherborne estatewere called in. Five thousand pounds were borrowed,and Raleigh's friends furnished fifteen thousand more.He built one large ship and called it the Destiny - afitting name. He collected other vessels and furnishedthem with ordnance. Meantime Spain, which knewRaleigh's hatred, was closely watching the expedition.The Spanish ambassador, Gondomar, had James wellunder his thumb. He flattered him, and wrote him ingratitude, " that a Spaniard should have been and shouldstill be a councillor, not merely in your Majesty's PrivyCouncil, but in your private Closet itself, doth not onlyexceed all possible merit of mine, but also exceedsall the services that I can possibly have been able torender to your Majesty." Meantime he wrote to hisfriends how inordinately vain and egotistical was theking of England!Gondomar hated Raleigh. He feared that Raleigh226 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.would capture a plate-fleet if opportunity offered, and hewas utterly opposed to his visiting Guiana at all, as theSpaniards were already there. He finally persuadedJames to give him a pledge that no harm should bedone to the Spaniards in Guiana, or Raleigh's life shouldpay the penalty. James allowed Gondomar to forwardto Madrid the proposed route of the Destiny and otherprivate matters.James must have known that in all human probabilitythe Spaniards would meet and contest the claim of theEnglish to even land in the country, saying nothing oftaking away their gold; but he loved money so well thata gold mine would have enabled him to be very independent with " our dear brother the King of Spain," ashe called him. That Raleigh did not return with goldprobably sealed his fate.James at the same time kept his friendship with his"dear brother," as Raleigh says, by sending word tohim "the very river by which I was to enter, to namemy ships, number, men, and my artillery; " and PhilipIII. at once wrote letters to all parts of the Indiesand to Guiana, to prepare for Raleigh. Duplicity couldnot go much farther than it went in James I. But hehad a marriage in mind of his son Charles with theinfanta of Spain: " You must demand with her," saidJames to his agents, " two million crowns, and you arenot to descend lower than so many crowns as may makethe sum of five hundred thousand pounds besides thejewels." The marriage was broken off by Spain, andCharles married Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV.of France.The fleet of seven vessels sailed for Guiana at thebeginning of April, 1617; young Walter Raleigh, the sonSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 227of Sir Walter, going as captain of the Destiny. Otherships were added at Plymouth. Storms very soon scattered the vessels. One was lost, and several were forcedto take refuge in Falmouth harbor for a time. Later onin the journey a sickness, like a plague, brokemany of the officers, as well as sailors, died.himself came very near death from a fever.14 the fleet anchored at the mouth of the Cayenne Riveron the eastern coast of South America.out, andRaleighOn Nov.The Indians remembered Raleigh's visit twenty yearsbefore. He wrote Lady Raleigh, Nov. 14: -" SWEET HEART, — I can yet write unto you with buta weak hand. . . . To tell you that I might be hereking of the Indians were a vanity; but my name hathstill lived among them. Here they feed me with freshmeat and all that the country yields: all offer to obeyme. Commend me to poor Carew, my son. 'Raleigh's own health preventing his going in person,he sent Captain Keymis, with five hundred men in fivesmaller ships, up the Orinoco River to search for themine. They were given instructions to do their bestto reach the mine without conflict with the Spaniards."When they returned they would find him dead oralive. If you find not my ships, you shall find theirashes. For I will fire, with the galleons, if it come toextremity; but run will I never. "The ascent of the Orinoco took twenty-three days.Despatches from Madrid, through Gondomar, had alreadybeen sent concerning their coming. The Spaniards firedfirst upon them as they attempted to land on the bankof the river, some distance from the supposed mine.The English returned the fire; and young Raleigh, onlytwenty-three, was killed at the head of his men.228 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.Wounded by a musket-shot, he pressed on, bleedingand using his sword, when he was felled to the ground.by the but-end of a musket in the hands of a Spaniard.His last words were: " Go on! May the Lord havemercy upon me, and prosper your enterprise! "The Spaniards were driven back into their town ofSan Thome, built about twenty miles from its sitetwenty years before, when Raleigh took Berrio, theSpanish governor, prisoner. The Spaniards were defeated, and several houses were burned. Young Raleighwas buried in the little church of San Thome, far awayfrom home and friends.-Young Raleigh was a brave youth, the idol of both.parents. He had been made to suffer for his father'sdownfall. He was engaged to an heir of Sir RobertBasset, descended from King Edward IV. This girlwas a ward of Raleigh, who managed her estate ofthree thousand pounds a year - about fifteen thousandof our money. After Sir Walter's disgrace she wastaken away from the son and married Henry Howard,the son of Lord Treasurer Suffolk. He died suddenlyat table, and she afterwards married William Cavendish.Duke of Newcastle. " He would never have weddedher," says an old writer, " if young Walter Raleigh hadbeen alive, conceiving her, before God, to be his wife,For they were married as much as children could be."Captain Keymis then pushed on towards the mine,but the Spaniards fired upon him from the woods,several men were killed, and, his force becoming disheartened, with the young Raleigh dead and the admiralSir Walter, likely to die, Keymis gave up the search forthe mine, and reluctantly returned to the ships.The meeting between Raleigh and Keymis, with theSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 229news of the death of his son, was a sad one. Raleighwrote his wife: " God knows I never knew what sorrowmeant till now. . . I shall sorrow the less because Ihave not long to sorrow, because not long to live. "When Keymis told the story of the failure to reachthe mine, Sir Walter, in bitterness of soul, replied,"that Keymis had undone him, and that his credit waslost forever. " Sir Walter knew only too well that goldalone would satisfy King James.Raleigh blamed the captain so much that the latterwas greatly cast down. Afterwards he came to Raleigh,saying that he had written an excuse to the Earl ofArundel, and begged Raleigh to allow of his apology.The latter refused, whereupon Keymis replied, " I knownot, then, sir, what course to take, " and went to hiscabin, where he at once killed himself by a pistol anda knife.Raleigh now determined to go in search of the minehimself, but his men mutinied and refused to go. Onthe journey homeward they were scattered again bysevere storms.When the Destiny, Sir Walter's ship, arrived in Plymouth, Lady Raleigh hastened to meet her heart-broken.husband. They started towards London; and when theyhad gone about twenty miles they were met by SirLewis Stukeley, a kinsman of Sir Walter's, who declared that he had come to arrest him and his ships ,and they all returned to Plymouth. Captain King, afaithful servant of Raleigh, begged him to escape toParis, and, overpersuaded, a bark was engaged andRaleigh entered it, but when a little way out he determined to return and take the consequences.Meantime Gondomar, hearing of the San Thome affair,230 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.hastened to the King, but was told that he was engaged.He sent a message that he might be allowed only oneword, and, permission being granted, rushed into theAudience Chamber, and cried out, " Piratas! Piratas!Piratas! "Raleigh stated the case of "Piracy " well, when hewrote his " Apology " to be laid before the King and thecountry. " If it be now thought to be a breach of peace, thetaking and burning of a Spanish town in the country, ifthe country be the King of Spain's, it had been no less abreach of peace to have wrought any mine of his, and tohave robbed him of his gold. If the country be theKing's, I have not offended; if it be not the King's, Imust have perished if I had but taken gold out of themines there." James I. allowed him to go to Guiana,and now James was to punish him for going.Raleigh arrived in London Aug. 7. He now bribed.Stukeley and a French physician who was with him tohelp him to escape to France. They accepted the bribe,rowed out towards the French ship, and then told himthat they had betrayed him. Stukeley was always calledSir Judas Stukeley after this. When Stukeley complained to the King that some one spoke ill of him,James replied, " Were I disposed to hang every man thatspeaks ill of thee, there would not be trees enough inall my kingdom to hang them on. " Later he fled thecountry for stealing, or clipping coin. He died a maniacin 1620, on the lonely Isle of Lundy.Raleigh passed through the form of an examination(James having proclaimed " an horrible invasion of thetown of San Thome, " . . . and " the malicious breakingof the peace which hath been so happily established ");but Philip III. , through Gondomar, had already demandedhis death.SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 231Raleigh again entered the Tower Aug. 10, 1618. Onthe 28th of October, at eight in the morning, he wasbrought hastily to Westminster, being commanded to risefrom his bed, where he was ill with the ague. A servantreminded him that the combing of his hair had been forgotten. "Let them kem it that are to have it," saidRaleigh with a smile.At the hearing at Westminster he was told by FrancisBacon, who was at enmity with him, that he was to beexecuted on the old charge of treason in 1603. (Baconthree years later was impeached for bribery and finedforty thousand pounds, besides losing his office . )Raleigh begged for a little delay, to finish some writing; but the King had ordered that all things be donequickly, and had gone away lest he be besought for pardon. Much of this time, says Edwards, when he was nothunting or horse-racing, James was writing " Meditationson the Lord's Prayer! "Later in the day, on this Thursday, the 28th, LadyRaleigh heard of the trial, and hastened to her husband.They talked together till midnight, he calming her heartbreak with his cheerfulness and resolution. He told herhe could not trust himself to speak of their dear littleCarew. Her last words to him were that she had obtainedpermission to have his precious body for burial. Hesmiled and said, " It is well, dear Bess, that thou mayestdispose of that dead which thou hadst not always thedisposing of when alive."He wrote on the fly-leaf of his Bible the night beforehis execution: -" E'en such is time! which takes in trustOur youth, our joys, and all we have;And pays us naught but age and dust,Which in the dark and silent grave,232 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.When we have wandered all our ways,Shuts up the story of our days.And from which grave, and earth, and dust,The Lord shall raise me up, I trust. "In the morning he passed cheerfully through the vastthrong of people to the block. Seeing an old man bareheaded, he took from his own head a night- cap of cutlace which he wore under his hat, and threw it to himwith the words, " You need this, my friend, more thanI do."" He was the most fearless of death that ever wasknown," said Dr. Townson, his spiritual adviser, " andthe most resolute and confident; yet with reverence andconscience. "On the scaffold he spoke eloquently for nearly a halfhour, showing his innocence and asserting that the worldwould yet be persuaded of it. Friends lingered long onthe scafford, loath to leave one of nature's noblemen andone of England's greatest and bravest. He gently dismissed them, saying, " I have a long journey to go,therefore I must take my leave of you."After he had prayed, he said, " I die in the faith professed by the Church of England. I hope to be saved,and to have my sins washed away by the precious bloodand merits of our Saviour, Christ. "The executioner was affected, and asked to be forgivenforwhat he was about to do. Raleigh placed both handson the man's shoulders, and assured him of his forgiveness.He then laid off his cloak, and asked to see the axe.The man hesitated. Raleigh again said, " I pritheelet me see it. Dost thou think that I am afraid ofit? "He touched the edge with his finger, and kissed theSIR WALTER RALEIGH. 233blade, saying, " It is a sharp medicine, but one that willcure me of all diseases. " Soon he added, " When I stretchforth my hands, despatch me. "The executioner then cast down his own cloak that SirWalter might kneel upon it. When asked which way hewould lay his head upon the block, he replied, “ So theheart be right, it matters not which way the head lies."Raleigh knelt, prayed for a moment, laid his head towardsthe east, and then stretched forth his hands. The executioner seemed benumbed. Raleigh stretched them forthagain, but no blow came.“What dost thou fear? " said Raleigh. "Strike, man,strike! " Two blows fell, but the first had done itsbloody work.The severed head was placed in a red bag and given toLady Raleigh. This she embalmed and kept with herwhile she lived, giving it to her son Carew when she died .It was probably buried with him at West Horsley, in Surrey, where he had an estate.The body of Sir Walter she interred in St. Margaret's,in which church, in 1882, after a lapse of two centuries,a beautiful memorial window was placed in memory ofthe man so unjustly beheaded, the man who helped tomake North America English instead of Spanish, as theforerunner of the Virginia colony; whose treatment ofthe Indians was above reproach, in an age of harshnessand immorality; one of the bravest of Englishmen, andone of the most remarkable of his time.Lady Raleigh lived till 1647, twenty-nine years afterthe death of Sir Walter. Though she did not see theunfortunate Charles I., the son of James, perish on thescaffold, Jan. 30, 1649, she saw the Stuarts overthrown.The vacillating and unrighteous policy of James I. boreits legitimate fruit.234 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.Carew Raleigh, the son, after graduating from WadhamCollege, Oxford, came to court, by favor of his kinsman,William, Earl of Pembroke. James disliked him, as he"appeared to him like the ghost of his father " nowonder that James's conscience troubled him. Afterthe King's death, a year later, Carew returned andbegged to have his estates restored to him. Charles I.instead gave him four hundred pounds a year, after thedeath of his mother, who had received that amount whileliving. He married Lady Philippa, the rich widow ofSir Anthony Ashley, and had two sons and three daughters. He was in Parliament during Cromwell's time.At the restoration of Charles II. his elder son, Walter,was knighted, but died soon after. Carew Raleigh diedin 1666, at the age of sixty-two.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, DR. KANE,C. F. HALL, AND OTHERS."N°officer could have been found in the marine ofany country who combined more admirable qualifications for the duties of an explorer," says Dr. ElishaKent Kane in his " United States Grinnell Expedition. ""To the resolute enterprise and powers of endurancewhich his former expeditions had tested so severely, SirJohn Franklin united many delightful traits of character.With an enthusiasm almost boyish, he had a spirit oflarge but fearless forecast and a sensitive kindnessof heart that commiserated every one but himself. Heis remembered to this day among the Indians of NorthAmerica as ' the great chief who would not kill a mosquito. " He is remembered, too, by all the world, asthe man for whom a heroic woman spent nearly her wholefortune and her whole life, moving two continents byher prayers and her appeals, to search for her husbandin the frozen regions of North America.In the little town of Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, England, April 16, 1786, was born John Franklin, theyoungest son in a family of ten children -four boys.and six girls.The father, Willingham Franklin, was engaged inmercantile pursuits, and seems to have had enoughmoney to educate his children well, though the family235236 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.lived simply, in a one-story house. One son, the second,Sir Willingham Franklin, educated at Oxford, becamea judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Madras,and died at the age of forty-five. Another son, MajorJames Franklin, became distinguished in the army, wasskilled in science, and a Fellow of the Royal Society,dying at the age of fifty-one.John was sent to a preparatory school at St. Ives, inHuntingdonshire, and at twelve to the Louth grammarschool, with the expectation of his good mother, Hannah,that he would become a clergyman.But the lad seems to have had other thoughts in hismind. At ten years of age, having a holiday, he anda companion went to the shore of the North Sea, aboutten miles from their home. The sublimity of the oceangreatly impressed John; and he then and there resolvedto be a sailor, as has many another boy before andsince, forgetful or unconscious of the hardships beforethem.Disappointed at his choice, but desiring to cure himof his wish to go to sea, as school had become distasteful to him, the parents sent him on board a merchantship to Lisbon and back. Charmed with the blue watersand pleased with the kindness of the captain, who likedand petted the cheerful, enthusiastic boy, he becamemore than ever infatuated with a sailor's life.His earnest entreaties were at last acceded to; andJohn obtained a place on His Majesty's ship, Polyphemus, March 9, 1800, as a first-class volunteer. He wasnow fourteen years old. A year later the Polyphemuswith eighteen line-of-battle ships and many other vessels, was engaged in the conflict off Copenhagen, whichLord Nelson declared "the greatest victory he everSIR JOHN FRANKLIN.
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 237gained . . . the most hard-fought battle and the mostcomplete victory that ever was fought and obtained bythe navy of this country. " The Polyphemus boardedand took possession of two ships, losing six killed andtwenty-four wounded. The boy who craved adventure.was having it to his heart's content.Soon after the battle young Franklin was appointedone of six midshipmen on the ship Investigator, boundfor exploration in the Southern Hemisphere. This position came through a relative, Captain Matthew Flinders,also from Lincolnshire, already somewhat known as anexplorer and scientific student.-The Investigator sailed from Spithead, July 18, 1801,and anchored in King George's Sound in Western Australia, Dec. 8. Then the ship sailed along the southshore, making surveys, and naming islands, bays, andinlets two islands of the St. Francis group werenamed in honor of the boy navigator, then fifteen years.of age, the Franklin Isles; another in Spencer Gulf,Spilsby Island, after his birthplace, while a large bightwas named Louth Bay, and two more islands LouthIslands, after the old grammar school, founded byEdward VI. in 1552, where the youth had studied bookswith his heart full of longing for the sea. Captain Flinders must have felt strangely drawn to the lad who wasso eager in his geographical studies and such an aptscholar for the work in hand.On their arrival in Sydney Cove an observatory wasset up on shore, where all the astronomical observationswere taken. Franklin was made assistant to Mr. SamuelFlinders, brother of the captain, and was called jokingly,though not inaptly, " Tycho Brahe," after the celebratedDanish astronomer.238 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.Later the east coast of Australia was carefully explored. After nearly two years, the ship's companyhaving become much reduced by sickness and severaldeaths, through scurvy from lack of fresh food andfrom much exposure, the old Investigator being abandoned as unseaworthy, Captain Flinders sailed for England in the Porpoise. Young Franklin was made master'smate July 21, 1803.Six days after the Porpoise had sailed from Australiashe was wrecked on the reefs. The crew were saved,with the charts and books of the expedition, thoughthe latter were damaged by the salt water. These chartswere spread out to dry upon the sand, and Franklin andothers thoughtlessly drove over them the sheep whichwere saved alive from the ship. The marks, it is said,are still to be seen upon them in the Royal ColonialInsitute in London.The shipwrecked men erected some tents on thebeach, and prepared to live as best they might till reliefshould possibly come. Captain Flinders and thirteenmen started in a six- oared boat, saved from the wreck,for Sydney, seven hundred and fifty miles away. Theycarried provisions for three weeks. It was doubtful ifthe little craft could ever weather the sea; but by skilful management she reached the desired port and obtained three vessels, one bound for China, and twogovernment schooners, which sailed to the wreck andpicked up the anxious and disabled company.Franklin was carried to China, while Captain Flinders,touching at Mauritius for water and provisions, was madea prisoner of war by the French Governor. He wasdetained for six years and a half. On his release hewrote the narrative of his expedition, and, worn by hisSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 239privations and unjust imprisonment, he died July 19,1814, on the very day that his book was published.Franklin sailed for England in a large squadron filledwith the merchandise of China and Japan. On thejourney they were attacked by a French squadron ofmen-of-war, but the latter were defeated by the merchant ships. After a little more than three years,Aug. 7, 1804, Franklin was once more in the one-storyhouse at Spilsby, and Hannah Franklin was listeningintently to the perils of her son, and rejoicing at hissafe return.In a few weeks he was on board the Bellerophon, helping to blockade the French fleet in the harbor of Brest.On the 21st of October, 1805, he was in the great battleof Trafalgar, the Bellerophon taking a leading part,losing in the conflict her captain, John Cooke, andtwenty-seven other men, while one hundred and twentyseven were wounded. Franklin evinced conspicuouszeal and activity as signal midshipman, and was oneof the few in the stern of the ship who escapedunhurt.From the Bellerophon, Franklin was transferred tothe Bedford, and was made an acting lieutenant Dec. 5,1807. She cruised for some weeks off Lisbon, andhelped to escort the royal family of Portugal from Lisbon to Brazil, to which country they fled for safety whenMarshal Junot invaded Portugal. For two years theywere stationed on the coast of South America, returning to England in August, 1810. Three months later,Nov. 27, 1810, Franklin's mother died at Spilsby, at the age of fifty-nine. She had seen her son at twentyfour respected and promoted. She could not know howthe lad born in the quiet home was to be talked of and240 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.mourned throughout the world. She had reared him inher own earnest faith; she could trust his future.During the next three years Franklin cruised in theWest Indies, and was engaged in the attack on NewOrleans in our war of 1812 with England. In clearingLake Borgne of the American gun-boats so that theEnglish could land their army, Franklin was wounded,and received a medal for his bravery. Later in the warhe showed great courage.In 1815, on his return to England, Franklin was transferred to the Forth, and made first lieutenant underCaptain Sir William Bolton. After peace was concludedthe navy was reduced, and Franklin, on half-pay, hadleisure to devote himself to scientific study.From early times there had been talk of a north-westpassage to Cathay (China) and India, by sailing fromEurope above North America in the Arctic Circle, andthus crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean; alsoa north-east passage above Russia. Tragedy had attendednearly every voyage. Sir Hugh Willoughby and his frozen crew met their fate in a Lapland harbor in trying to solve the north-east passage. William Barentz,the Dutch navigator, in his third voyage in 1596, perished off Icy Cape, Alaska. Henry Hudson, with hisorders to " go direct to the North Pole, " reached 80°30′ off the coast of Spitzbergen, naming the north-westpoint Hakluyt Headland. No other vessel went so farto the northward for one hundred and sixty years."From a commercial point of view," says CaptainAlbert Hastings Markham, R. N., in his life of Franklin, " Hudson's voyage must always be regarded as agreat success; for the report that he made of the numerous whales and walruses he had seen led to the estab-SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 241lishment of that lucrative and prosperous fishery whichhas, with varying success, been prosecuted to the presentday. The east coast of Greenland, discovered by Hudson, was not again visited by any known navigator forthe space of two hundred years. "On Hudson's third voyage, 1609, in search of thenorth-west passage, he discovered the river which bearshis name, and on his fourth voyage, 1610, sailed throughHudson's Straits and several hundred miles on the greatHudson Bay. He wintered on Southampton Island inthe northern part of the bay, and in the spring againstarted for the Pacific. But his men mutinied, andcruelly putting their commander with his only son andsix sailors, all ill , into an open boat, left them to perish amid the icebergs. Some of the mutineers reachedEngland in safety, six were killed by the Indians, andsome starved to death. At home they were despisedand died unlamented. Six years later, 1616, WilliamBaffin discovered Baffin's Bay.Largely through the influence of Sir John Barrow,Secretary of the Admiralty, England was again interested not only to try to discover the north-west passageand reach the North Pole, but to undertake these thingspartly in the interests of science, rather than the neverending chase for the gold of Cathay and the wealth ofthe Indies.Lieutenant John Ross and Lieutenant Edward Parrywere chosen to search for the north-west passage, andCommander David Buchan with Lieutenant John Franklin to reach, if possible, the North Pole.Buchan had already explored considerable of Newfoundland, and Franklin had had experience in Australia. Buchan commanded the Dorothea, of five hundred242 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.and seventy tons, and Franklin the Trent, of two hundredand fifty tons. Both ships carried provisions for twoyears and plenty of instruments for deep-sea soundingsand astronomical observations. They sailed out of theThames April 25, 1818. In just a month, May 24, theship sighted Bear, or Cherie Island, south of Spitzbergen, and proceeded, according to their directions fromthe Government, to seek the North Pole by sailingbetween Spitzbergen and Greenland.The ice soon became so thick on the ships that it wasnecessary to cut it away by axes from the bows, and theropes were much covered. June 3 they were in Magdalena Bay, on the north-west coast of Spitzbergen . Herethey surveyed the harbor, shot seals and walruses whichbasked in the sun on the huge broken pieces of ice, saw agreat glacier, believed to be a quarter of a mile in circumference, slide into the sea from a height of twohundred feet, its weight was computed to be over fourhundred thousand tons, - and then sailed around thenorthern shore of Spitsbergen, and near Red Bay werebeset in the great ice pack which stretched away to thenorth.-After several days the ice loosened and the shipsanchored in Fair Haven, a little to the west of Red Bay.They shot forty reindeer and several eider ducks, thusproviding fresh meat for the men.Early in July the ships again put to sea, and reachedeventually 80° 34′ north, but could go no farther on account of the impenetrable mass of ice. In an attempt togo westward the ships were caught in a gale of wind,and so battered by the ice floes, great broken pieces,- that Franklin determined to drive his ship into thepack to escape destruction. When she struck the pack,SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 243the men lost their footing, the masts bent, and thevessel staggered from side to side.66 "Literally tossed from piece to piece," wrote CaptainBeechey, then first lieutenant of the Trent,we hadnothing left but patiently to abide the issue, for wecould scarcely keep our feet, much less render anyassistance to the vessel. The motion was so great thatthe ship's bell, which in the heaviest gale of wind hadnever struck by itself, now tolled so continually that itwas ordered to be muffled, for the purpose of escapingthe unpleasant association it was calculated to produce. "On the following morning it was found that theDorothea was even more badly damaged than the Trent,the port side being driven in. Though Franklin desiredto press forward in the search for the Pole, CaptainBuchan did not dare to take his vessel to England, unaccompanied by another ship, therefore both returnedon Oct. 22, not having accomplished their desire, buthaving provided a useful experience for the yet to bedistinguished Arctic navigator, Franklin .The other expedition under Ross and Parry sailedthrough Davis Strait, up Baffin's Bay, and sixty milesinto Lancaster Sound; but the weather being bad, theyreturned to England in October of the same year. Rossthought there was land beyond, so that this water wasLancaster Bay, but Parry believed it to be a sound, thuscontinuing the north-west passage.Franklin and Parry were both eager to make anothervoyage of research, and accordingly in May, 1819, twoexpeditions started from England. Parry had two ships,the Hecla and Griper, the latter commanded by Lieutenant Liddon. In about a month they reached DavisStrait, passed through Baffin's Bay, andon Aug. 4,244 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.entered Lancaster Sound. Proceeding farther west,they came to a strait which they named Barrow Strait,after Sir John Barrow of the Admiralty. Here theirprogress was barred by solid ice, and they were obligedto sail south through Prince Regent Inlet, which leadsinto Boothia Gulf.Again stopped by ice, they retraced their course, andfound an open passage through Barrow Strait. On theirnorth side they discovered a channel which they namedWellington Channel, and on Sept. 3 they crossedthe 110th meridian of west longitude, which passesthrough Melville Island in Melville Sound. Here theice again stopped them, and cutting a channel in it fortwo miles, Parry took his ship through to winter quarterson the south side of Melville Island. This place hecalled Winter Harbor. The men were made happy bythe fact that they had earned the reward of fivethousand pounds offered by Parliament to any personor ship sailing far enough west to cross the 110thmeridian.Parry explored the country about him, using a lightcart dragged by men. Sir F. Leopold M'Clintock found.the marks of the wheels more than thirty years afterwards.The next summer, finding it impossible to pushthrough the ice, and not having provisions for anotherwinter, Parry returned to England, where he was promoted to the rank of commander, and made a Fellow ofthe Royal Society. He undertook a second voyage in1821, again sailing in the Hecla, with the ship Fury asescort, hoping to find the north-west passage throughHudson's Strait and Fox Channel; but they were unableto get beyond a strait which leads into Boothia Gulf,SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 245which he named Fury and Hecla Strait. There theywintered, and returned to England in the summer of1823.Meantime Franklin started from England, May 23,1819, to make his wonderful journey through the thenunknown North American lands . He was accompaniedby Dr. John Richardson, a scientific man, Mr. GeorgeBack, and Mr. Robert Hood, midshipmen and artistsboth, and John Hepburn, a sturdy sailor. They werecarried to Hudson Bay in one of the Hudson BayCompany's ships, Prince of Wales, and after being nearlyshipwrecked, reached York Factory on the south-westcoast of the Bay, Aug. 30, after a three months' voyage.Here they took one of the transports of the company,a light boat about forty feet long, requiring a crewof from nine to twelve men. When these boats cannotpass over the rapids in the rivers, they are carried round.the falls by the men.The party started from York Factory on the noon ofSept. 9, 1819. The first day they travelled twelvemiles, six by boat, and then they were obliged to dragit by hand, walking along a steep and slippery bank.They arose at five the next morning, all eager for themarch.Franklin notes in his journal the beauties of naturein this autumn month, on Steel River. "The light yellowof the fading poplars formed a fine contrast to the darkevergreen of the spruce, whilst the willows, of an intermediate hue, served to shade the two principal massesof color into each other. The scene was occasionallyenlivened by the bright purple tints of the dog-wood,blended with the browner shades of the dwarf birch,and frequently intermixed with the gay yellow flowers246 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.of the shrubby cinquefoil. With all these charmsthe sceneappeared desolate from the want of the human species."Later they found Indians on the verge of starvation,some having been reduced to eating members of theirown family.At the end of nearly two months, Oct. 23, the partyreached Cumberland House, on the Saskatchewan River,after a toilsome journey of seven hundred miles, overmarshes and across lakes, their clothes often wet allday long.Unable to obtain guides and hunters at this point, ashe had hoped, Franklin, with Back and Hepburn, pressedon towards Fort Chippewyan, on Lake Athabasca, wherehe hoped to find men to accompany him, leavingRichardson and Hood to winter at Cumberland House.This winter journey of eight hundred and fifty- sevenmiles with dogs and sledges was a cold and dreary one."The tea froze in the tin pots before we could drink it,and even a mixture of spirits and water became quitethick by congelation." The provisions became so scantythat the poor dogs had " only a little burnt leather. "The snow-shoes, made " of two light bars of wood,fastened together at the extremities, and projected intocurves by transverse bars, " were from four to six feetlong and about one foot and a half wide, weighing twopounds each. The feet become very sore and muchswollen after long travelling.Wolves abounded . Here and there the carcasses of deerwere found, the wolves driving the herd with hideousyells over a precipice, and then feeding on their mangledbodies at their leisure.Finding an Indian hut on the journey and a pile ofwood near by, they hoped it covered provisions. Remov-SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 247ing the upper pieces of wood, they found the dead bodyof a woman, clothed in leather, and beside her, " herformer garments, the materials for making a fire, a fishing-line, a hatchet, and a bark dish. " These she was supposed to need in the other world.Five families of the Chippewyan tribe were found ina destitute condition. " They had recently," says Franklin, " destroyed everything they possessed, as a token oftheir great grief for the loss of their relatives in the prevailing sickness. It appears that no article is spared bythese unhappy men when a near relative dies; theirclothes and tents are cut to pieces, their guns broken,and every other weapon rendered useless, if some persons do not remove these articles from their sight, whichis seldom done. Mr. Back sketched one of the children.This delighted the father very much, who charged theboy to be very good now, since his picture had beendrawn by a great chief. "The Chippeways think their first ancestor was a dog.The Chippeway widow, says Dr. Richardson, carries abundle of rags or a doll constantly in her arms, after thehusband dies, she calling this bundle her husband. Whenher relatives think she has mourned long enough, perhaps a year, she is at liberty to marry again.In this long journey Franklin thought one of thegreatest evils was that of " being constantly exposed towitness the wanton and unnecessary cruelty of the mento their dogs, who beat them unmercifully, and habituallyvent on them the most dreadful and disgusting imprecations. " Such treatment was all the more to be deprecated, because "these useful animals are a comfort tothem by the warmth they impart when lying by theirside or feet, as they usually do. "248 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.Lieutenant Greely, in his " Three Years of Arctic Service," tells what kindness will do for these dogs. Theybought at Godhaven, Greenland, " stout surly animals ofapparently incurable viciousness. " Some months laterhe says: "Our dogs would now never be recognized as thesame wolfish, snapping, untamed animals obtained at theGreenland ports. Good care, plenty of food, and kindtreatment had filled out their gaunt frames, put them ingood working condition, and made them as good-natured,appreciative, and trustful as though they had never beenpounded, half-starved, and generally abused from theirpuppyhood upward. Half-starved animals, who havenever been kindly spoken to, and who have been cruellybeaten on the slightest pretence, necessarily assume inself-defence a threatening and vicious attitude towardall comers." Greely's dogs were fed regularly once aday, and " we never found it necessary to maltreat themto insure fair behaviors at feeding-time. " LieutenantPeary in his Greenland exploration fed his dogs once aday, and, as seen at his lectures, they were gentle andkindly creatures.Hall says, in his " Arctic Research Expedition ,” thatthe Eskimos are usually kind to puppies, as they wishthem for future service. Sometimes they treat thembetter than their children . During one of his sledgejourneys he says, " I found that two puppies formed apart of our company. Their mother was an excellentsledge-dog of our team. The pups were carried in thelegs of a pair of fur breeches, and they rode on the sledgewhen travelling. Every time we made a stop they weretaken out of their warm quarters and given to the motherfor nursing. When we arrived at our encampment,Sharkey built up a small snow-hut for the parent dogand her offspring."SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 249These dogs assist in the hunts for seal, walrus, andbear. Barbekark, a most intelligent dog, belonging toHall, killed a reindeer, and by his jumping and peculiaractions finally forced the men to go to the spot, wherethey found the dead animal, and brought it to the company for food.When Hall was exhausted in a sledge journey Barbekark " would dance round me," he says, " kissing my face,placing himself by my side, where I could pillow myhead upon his warm body. . . . He would bound towardme, raise himself on his hind-legs , place his paws uponmy breast, and glance from me toward the vessel." Barbekark was brought home by Hall to the UnitedStates.The Eskimos use their dogs in summer as packanimals. " I have seen, " says Gilder, in " Schwatka'sSearch," a fine large dog that would carry two saddlesof reindeer meat, or the entire forequarters of two reindeer. His back would be bent low beneath the burdenhe bore, but still he would struggle along, panting thewhile, and regarding his master with a look of the deepest affection whenever he came near him, yet ever readyto fight any other dog that got in his way."Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood joined the party againin July, and all proceeded to Fort Providence, on thenorthern shore of Great Slave Lake. They now had withthem twenty-six men, principally Canadian half-breeds,three women to make the fur clothes, and as many children. Several Indians in their canoes also joined theparty to hunt and fish for them.After travelling five hundred and fifty-three miles, theywere obliged to settle for the winter, as the Indians wouldnot proceed farther, prophesying death from cold and250 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.starvation. The place where they erected their logbuildings they called Fort Enterprise.Very soon after their huts were built, the walls androofs plastered with clay, the reindeer disappeared fromthat locality, and fish began to fail them . These froze assoon as taken out of the nets; very soon the nets themselves were found empty. The Hudson Bay Company'sposts had not been able to furnish them the provisionsthey had promised.It became necessary for Back to return to Fort Chippewyan for supplies. He started Oct. 18, with three or fourpersons, and returned March 17, after a five months' journey of eleven hundred and four miles on snow-shoes,with no covering at night save one blanket and a deerskin,with the thermometer once at fifty-seven degrees belowzero, and sometimes without food for two and three daysat a time. The Indians who went with him were verygenerous, often not tasting a fish or bird which theycaught, but giving it to Back with the self- sacrificingwords, "We are accustomed to starvation, but you are not."The party lived largely on a weed or lichen gatheredfrom the rocks, called tripe de roche. One night whilethey were eating it, " I perceived, " says Mr. Back in hisjournal, " one of the women busily employed scraping anold skin, the contents of which her husband presented uswith. They consisted of pounded meat, fat, and a greaterproportion of Indian's and deer's hair than either; and,though such a mixture may not appear very alluring to anEnglish stomach, it was thought a great luxury after threedays' privation in these cheerless regions of America. "The feet of the dogs became raw with the jagged ice,and Back made shoes for them, which, however, came offfrequently in the deep snow.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 251At length, with what food Back had been able to procure, Franklin and his party left Fort Enterprise June14, 1821, with two large canoes and several sledges,crossing lakes and hills, and finally sailing on the Coppermine River to the sea. They arranged with an Indianchief, Akaitcho, to accumulate a large supply of provisions at Fort Enterprise, in case they should return therethe following winter.Their feet were torn by the ice and sharp-pointedstones, and the feet of the dogs left bloody marks; theywere tormented with swarms of mosquitoes, and their foodwas mouldy from being wet; but they pushed on hopefully through the three hundred and thirty-four miles, forthey were nearing the Arctic Ocean, which they had longedto reach. On July 21 they launched their canoes on theocean, for the journey eastward along the coast line.During the journey from Fort Enterprise they killedseveral musk-oxen. " These, ” said Franklin, " like thebuffalo, herd together in bands, and generally frequentthe barren grounds during the summer months, keepingnear to the banks of the river, but retire to the woods inwinter. . . . When two or three men get so near a herdas to fire at them from different points, these animals,instead of separating or running away, huddle closertogether, and several are generally killed; but if thewound is not mortal they become enraged, and dart inthe most furious manner at the hunters, who must bevery dexterous to evade them. They can defend themselves by their powerful horns against the wolves andbears, which, as the Indians say, they not unfreqentlykill."Dr. John Richardson says of hunting this animal: " Theshaggy patriarch [ the leader] advanced before the cows,252 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.which threw themselves into a circular group, and, lowering his shot-proof forehead so as to cover his body, cameslowly forward, stamping and pawing the ground with hisfore-feet, bellowing, and showing an evident disposition.for fight, while he tainted the atmosphere with the strongmusky odor of his body."When wounded by a ball, "he instantly faced about,roared, struck the ground forcibly with his fore-feet, andseemed to be hesitating whether to charge or not." Themen were glad when they saw him climb the snow- covered mountain, followed by the cows.Greely, in his " Three Years of Arctic Service, " tellsof the securing alive of four calves in a band of muskoxen, at Discovery Bay, in Robeson Channel, far north ofSmith Sound. "The calves were brought in from the topof the mountain, eighteen hundred feet above the sea, "says Greely. " Every effort was made to raise thecalves, which soon became tame and tractable. Theyate milk, corn-meal, and almost any food that was giventhem. . . . In a short time they became very fond ofLong and Frederik, who generally cared for them, andwould follow them around and put their noses into themen's pockets for food. I had intended to send them tothe United States by the visiting vessel of 1882. Whenthe long nights came it was impracticable to give themexercise, and probably from this cause, despite our care,they died. "Greely tried to save the calves by sending them toBellot Island, near by. When one was untied he diedimmediately. " The other was taken up into the ravine,following Long like a dog, but, despite all efforts , the menwere unable to leave him there; he ran after the sledgeand returned to the station. After arriving near theSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 253house he followed Long everywhere, and was finally carried to his old pen. He died the next day. "The Franklin party saw a few Eskimos who fled attheir approach, leaving an aged man who was too infirmto follow them. He was bent and white-haired. " Whenever Terragaunouck received a present," says Franklin,"he placed each article first on his right shoulder, thenon his left; and when he wished to express still highersatisfaction, he rubbed it over his head. He held hatchets and other iron instruments in the highest esteem.On seeing his countenance in a glass for the first time, heexclaimed, ' I shall never kill deer more,' and immediately put the mirror down. . . . These Eskimos strikefire with two stones, catching the sparks in the down ofthe catkins of a willow. . . Their cooking utensils aremade of pot-stone, and they form very neat dishes offur, the sides being made of thin deal bent into an ovalform, secured at the ends by seaming, and fitted so nicelyto the bottom as to be perfectly water-tight. They havealso large spoons made of the horns of the musk oxen. "Terregaunouck gave each person a piece of dried meat,which, though highly tainted, was at once eaten, as thiswas a token of peaceable intention.After reaching the Arctic Ocean, they explored thecoast for five hundred and fifty-five miles, and wouldgladly have gone farther, but meeting no Eskimos whocould provide them with food, and killing only somebears and two small deer, they turned back on the 22d ofAugust, at a point which Franklin named Point Turnagain, on Dease Strait, six and one- half degrees east fromthe mouth of the Coppermine River.It was a perilous journey in their light canoes, andmost of the Indians refused to take it, having no faith254 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.that such boats could live amid the blocks of ice and inthe storms.Soon after starting they landed on an island where theEskimos had stored up fishing implements and wintersledges, with dressed seal, musk ox, and deer- skins."We took from this deposit, " says Franklin, " four sealskins to repair our shoes, and left in exchange a copperkettle and some awls and beads."At several places where Eskimos had been encamped,leaving either sledges or skins till their return, Franklinleft presents of knives and beads, to show the friendshipof the white men. This was but in accordance with thenature of the man so universally beloved and so universally lamented.They explored a gulf and named it Coronation Gulf inhonor of George IV. , who had recently come to thethrone. Hood River was named after Franklin's youngcompanion. Some islands he called Porden, after MissEleanor Anne Porden, the daughter of an eminent architect, and a girl of much talent. When Buchan andFranklin made their first trip in the Dorothea and theTrent to the Arctic regions , she wrote a sonnet on theexpedition, which led to her acquaintance with Franklin,and a deeper interest in him and his journey. She soonafter wrote a poem, assuming the character of an Eskimo maiden, begging Franklin to return to the North.Perhaps he could read between the lines that his returnto England would be equally welcomed.On the departure for Fort Enterprise it was decidedto take the shortest route overland, one hundred andforty-nine miles in a straight line. The stores and bookswere to be left in boxes en cache; that is, covered up witha pile of stones away from the wolves, while each manSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 255bore on his shoulders about ninety pounds' weight inammunition, nets, hatchets, astronomical instruments,blankets, kettles, and two canoes.On the evening of the day on which they started theykilled a cow from a drove of musk oxen, but the menwere too heavily laden to carry more than a small portionof the flesh. This was unfortunate, as food soon becamescarce.Early in September snow fell three feet deep, andstorms were frequent. The last piece of pemican wasgone. This food was prepared, says Sir John Richardson, in his " Arctic Searching Expedition," " from beef ofthe best quality, cut into thin steaks, from which thefat and membranous parts were pared away, was driedin a malt kiln over an oak fire, until its moisture wasentirely dissipated, and the fibre of the meat became friable." After being ground in a mill, it was mixed withequal weight of beef-suet or lard. Sometimes Zantecurrants or sugar were added. The tents and bedclotheswere frozen, and all began to suffer from insufficient food.Franklin writes in his journal, " I was seized with afainting fit, in consequence of exhaustion and suddenexposure to the wind; but after eating a morsel of portable soup, I recovered so far as to be able to move on.I was unwilling at first to take this morsel of soup, whichwas diminishing the small and only remaining meal ofthe party; but several of the men urged me to it, withmuch kindness. "The larger of the two canoes became so broken throughthe falling of the man who carried it that it was valueless.They therefore used it to build a fire to cook the last oftheir soup and arrow- root, a scanty meal after three days'fasting. In the afternoon they gathered some tripe de256 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.roche from the rocks, and with half a partridge eachwhich had been shot during the day, they made a supper, cooked by a few willows dug from beneath the snow.They slept that night and all the succeeding nightsupon their shoes and socks, to prevent them from freezing.They forded rapid rivers, often up to their breasts inwater, and sometimes carried over one passenger at atime in their leaky canoe. One of the men walked allnight to hunt a herd of musk oxen which he had seen,but was enabled to bring back only four pounds of adeer, the rest of which had been devoured by wolves.Finally, in a herd of musk oxen, they killed a cowwhich was skinned and cut up at once. "The contentsof its stomach were devoured upon the spot, and theraw intestines," writes Franklin. "A few willowswhose tops were seen peeping through the snow in the.bottom of the valley were quickly grubbed, the tentspitched, and supper cooked and devoured with avidity.This was the sixth day since we had had a good meal,the tripe de roche (lichens) , even when we got enough,only serving to allay the pangs of hunger for a shorttime; " and he adds, " This unpalatable weed was nowquite nauseous to the whole party," and produced sickness among them.The men were growing so weak after three weeks onthe march that it became necessary to lighten the baggage by leaving the books and several of the instrumentson the way. Dr. Richardson was also obliged to leavehis specimens of plants and minerals .In crossing a river three hundred yards wide, the canoewas overturned in the middle of the rapid, and beingrighted and entered, she struck a rock and went down;but they were able to rescue her, though Franklin's port-SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 25.folio, with his journals, meteorological and astronomica.observations made during the descent of the CoppermineRiver and along the seacoast, were lost. One of themen, Belanger, was nearly drowned and dragged senselessthrough the rapid by a small cord belonging to one ofthe nets. When rescued he was rolled in blankets, andtwo men undressed themselves and went to bed withhim; but he did not recover warmth and sensation forseveral hours.On Sept. 15 a deer was killed, and this gave causefor thanksgiving. When this was gone they ate theskin. "We were now," writes Franklin, " almost exhausted by slender fare and travel, and our appetiteshad become ravenous. We looked, however, with humble confidence to the great Author and Giver of allgood, for a continuance of the support which hadhitherto been always supplied to us at our greatestneed." Evening prayers were read at the close of eachweary day.The sun had not shone for six days, and the helperswere becoming discouraged, and even threatened tothrow away their bundles. They did indeed throwaway the broken canoe, and could not be induced tocarry it again, and the officers had become too weak todo so after the refusal of the men. "The latter haltedamong some willows," says Franklin, "where they hadpicked up some pieces of skin and a few bones of deerthat had been devoured by the wolves last spring. Theyhad rendered the bones friable by burning, and eatenthem as well as the skin; and several of them hadadded their old shoes to the repast. " The officers also"refreshed themselves by eating their old shoes and afew scraps of leather. "258 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.After eight days of famine they killed five small deer,and " every heart was filled with gratitude." They thenprepared to make a raft of willows to cross the Coppermine River, forty miles from Fort Enterprise.The cold increased and the men became careless, andscattered in different directions for hunting. When theyshot partridges, they secreted them from the officers,fearing starvation. Finally the raft was completed, andDr. Richardson, after several fruitless attempts by themen to cross, attempted to swim with a line about hisbody. He soon became benumbed with the cold, hewas reduced to skin and bone for lack of food, and socould not bear the exposure, and sank before theireyes. They instantly pulled upon the line, and he wasdrawn in almost lifeless . He was restored; but, hiswhole left side being deprived of feeling, did not cometo its natural condition till the following summer.-Finally a kind of canoe was made out of the paintedcanvas in which they wrapped their bedding, and itwas covered with pitch gathered from the small pineswhich grew near. Meantime the men had found theputrid carcass of a deer which had perished in the cleft.of a rock in the spring, and it was devoured at once.Again they found " the antlers and back bone of a deerwhich had been killed in the summer. The wolves andbirds of prey had picked them clean, but there stillremained a quantity of the spinal marrow which theyhad not been able to extract. This, " writes Franklin,"although putrid, was esteemed a valuable prize, andthe spine being divided into portions, was distributedequally. After eating the marrow, which was so acridas to excoriate the lips, we rendered the bones friable byburning, and ate them also."SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 259The company had now become so weak that somewalked by the support of a stick . They could talk oflittle else but the dire need for food.They crossed the river in the little canoe, one at atime being drawn over; but at each passage it filled withwater, and their clothes and bedding were wet and frozen. They now ate the remains of their old shoes andwhatever scraps of leather they had, and pressed forward in the deep snow, some falling at almost everystep. At last some became benumbed and speechless,and their companions were unable to carry them. Deathstared the whole party in the face.Finally it was decided to leave Richardson and Hoodwith faithful John Hepburn to help them to gatherwhat tripe de roche they could, while Franklin andthe rest pushed on towards Fort Enterprise. After they"had united in thanksgiving and prayers to AlmightyGod," the forlorn party started with the hope of findingsuccor and relieving these three companions.Unable to carry the tent, they cut it up, and the nextnight crept close together, but could not keep warm inthe deepening snow. Perrault, one of the men, hadbecome so dizzy that he could not stand, and J. B.Belanger and Michel an Iroquois begged to return toRichardson and Hood, which was reluctantly permitted.About two miles farther on Fontano, an Italian, felldown utterly exhausted, and was allowed to find his wayback, if possible, to the other men.The Franklin party was now reduced to four menbesides himself, Adam, Peltier, Benoit, and Samandré.They collected some tripe de roche, and partook of theironly meal in four days. They saw a herd of reindeer, buttheir only hunter, Adam, was too feeble to pursue them.260 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.At length the starving company reached Fort Enterprise. What was their horror to find no deposit of provisions, as Akaitcho, the chief, had promised, and notrace of Indians. The whole party gave way to a floodof tears. They found a note from Mr. Back, who hadreached the place two days before with St. Germain, Solomon Belanger, and Beauparlant, that he had gone insearch of Indians.They learned afterward the reason why Akaitcho hadfailed to keep his word in leaving provisions. Thoughdisbelieving that the white men would come back alive, heentrusted the matter to his brother Humpy, who withhis men failed to get a supply of ammunition from FortProvidence, and were obliged to turn old axes into balls.Several of the leading hunters were drowned, and someactually starved. Some writing was left on a plank forFranklin showing these reasons; but as the house hadbecome opened and a home for wild beasts, the writinghad become destroyed.Franklin and his party then looked round at FortEnterprise for something to eat, and to their great joyfound some deer-skins which had been thrown away during their former residence. Some bones were also gathered from the ash heap. They pulled up the floors ofthe little house for a fire.Scarcely were they seated at the fire, when Belangercame, almost speechless and covered with ice, with anote from Back that he could find no trace of Indians.Franklin determined at once to search himself forIndians, as this was their only hope for life, and tookwith him Benoit, and Augustus who had strayed awayfrom the party and was now returned. They partedsadly from their companions, but Franklin says " ThereSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 261was far more calmness and resignation to the Divinewill evinced by every one than could have been expected." Franklin broke his snow-shoes, and wasobliged to return to the Fort while the men went on.Adam was ill, and Samandré too despairing and weakto help, both weeping all day long. Peltier gatheredthe wood, and Franklin cooked whatever skins he couldfind under the snow. Their strength declined, and whenonce seated they had to help each other to arise . Butall the time Franklin conversed cheerfully, and badethem hope for relief.A herd of reindeer passed, but nobody could fire a gunwithout resting it upon some support. They could nolonger cut wood, being unable to lift the hatchet. Atthis juncture Dr. Richardson and Hepburn entered.They had a sad story to relate. Mr. Hood, the artist,had been shot by Michel, the Iroquois, in the back ofthe head. Bickersteth's " Scripture Help " was lyingopen beside the body, and it is probable that the brilliant and warm- hearted young officer was reading it at thetime he was shot. It now became probable to Richardson that the Indian, Michel, had killed and eaten JeanBaptist Belanger and Perrault, and that the supposeddeer-meat which he brought to the tent was portions oftheir bodies. Michel became surly, threatened Hepburn,and would not obey orders. He said, " It is no usehunting, there are no animals; you had better kill and eat me." Fearing for their own lives, Dr. Richardsonshot him through the head. Crédit, Fontano, and Vaillant, three other helpers, were also dead on the way.Richardson became so exhausted on the journey to thefort that he fell frequently, and was saved only by thefaithful Hepburn. As soon as they arrived, the latter262 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.killed a partridge, and after holding it before the firefor a few minutes, it was divided equally to each man."It was the first flesh any of us had tasted, " says Franklin, " for thirty-one days. " . . . The doctor havingbrought his prayer-book and Testament, some prayersand portions of Scripture, appropriate to our situation,were read, and we retired to bed. "Peltier and Samandré soon died from exhaustion , andthe rest were unable to bury them. Adam was so lowthat Franklin remained constantly by his side, and sleptby him at night to keep some warmth in his emaciatedbody.Nov. 4 Franklin found but three bones, and returnedfatigued to the house. The doctor and Hepburn werenow unable to rise without each helping the other.They all uttered fretful expressions, which were nosooner spoken than atoned for. They still read the NewTestament, and prayed morning and evening, a pitifulcircle of worshippers in that cheerless hut, but it"always afforded us the greatest consolation," saysFranklin, " serving to reanimate our hopes in the mercyof the Omnipotent, who alone could save and deliverus."―Nov. 7 they heard the report of a gun, and then sawthree Indians close to the house. Dr. Richardson andFranklin " immediately addressed thanksgiving to thethrone of mercy for this deliverance. " Adam could notcomprehend it; he was so weak; he tried to rise, butsank down again.The Indians had been sent by Mr. Back from Akaitcho's encampment, which he had finally reached, andbrought dried deer-meat, some fat, and a few tongues.Deliverance had come at last, and they were saved fromSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 263starvation. One Indian returned to Akaitcho to tell abouttheir condition, while two, Crooked-Foot and the Rat,stayed to give the most watchful care to the white men,feeding them as if they were children.Meantime the journey of Back and his men had beenreplete with hardships. They lived on bones and skinsabandoned by the wolves on account of the severity ofthe weather. Poor Beauparlant fell and froze to deathon the journey. Their feet were cracked, their facesand fingers frozen, and they barely escaped death." TheWhen Franklin and his men were somewhat recovered, they moved on towards Fort Providence.Indians," he says, " treated us with the utmost tenderness, gave us their snow-shoes, and walked withoutthemselves, keeping by our sides, that they might liftus when we fell."Finally they reached the encampment of the chief,Akaitcho, where they were warmly welcomed, the chiefcooking for them with his own hands. They reachedFort Providence Dec. 11. Letters awaited them fromEngland. Franklin, Back, and Hood had been promoted, the former to be commander, the two latter tobe lieutenants . Alas, that Hood's had come too late!Adam, the interpreter, joined himself to the CopperIndians, and the rest of the party, with dogs and sledges,reached York Factory on the Hudson Bay, July 14, 1822,having made by land and water one of the most perilousjourneys on record, of five thousand five hundred andfifty miles. Franklin reached England after an absenceof about three years. He was immediately made a Fellow of the Royal Society for his valuable contributionsto science in the way of exploration and discovery, andwas honored throughout England for his bravery, his264 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.self-sacrifice, and heroic character. His book, publishedthe following year, modest, clear, and most interesting,was widely read.He was at this time, says one of his relatives, inexpression, "grave and mild, and very benignant; hisbuild, thoroughly that of a sailor; his stature, ratherbelow the middle height; his look, very kind, and hismanner very quiet, though not without a certain dignity,as of one accustomed to command others." He had alsogreat cheerfulness, and a self-reliance which marked himas a natural leader of men.-Commander Parry voiced the general feeling when hewrote him " Of the splendid achievements of yourselfand your brave companions in enterprise, I can hardlytrust myself to speak, for I am apprehensive of not conveying what, indeed, can never be conveyed adequatelyin words my unbounded admiration of what you have,under the blessing of God, been enabled to perform , andthe manner in which you have performed it. . . . In youand your party, my dear friend, we see so sublime aninstance of Christian confidence in the Almighty, of thesuperiority of moral and religious energy over merebrute strength of body, that it is impossible to contemplate your sufferings and preservation without a senseof reverential awe! . . . Your letter was put into myhand at Shetland, and I need not be ashamed to say thatI cried over it like a child. "Franklin had another reason for happiness and gratitude. He had won the heart and promise of marriageof the young poet, Eleanor Anne Porden. She hadpublished an epic poem in two volumes called " Cœur deLion," and a scientific poem called " The Veils," forwhich she was made a member of the Institute of Paris.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 265·She was highly esteemed, and drew about her a charming circle of intellectual men and women. Once whenat the Royal Institute in London she heard some oneremark, " that those ladies better be at home makingpuddings. " With a smile, she answered, turningtowards him, " We made those before we came out! "They were married Aug. 19, 1823. At this time shewas twenty-six years of age, and he eleven years hersenior, being thirty-seven. Before marriage she promised him never to deter him from accepting any positionof hardship, and she kept her word.The next year their only child was born , June 3, 1824,to. whom was given the name of her mother, Eleanor.Eight months afterwards Franklin was leaving the bedside of a dying wife, to make a second expedition overthe same starvation route which he had taken less thanthree years before. He carried with him a flag, a silkUnion Jack, wrought by her fragile hands in her illness,with strict injunctions that it should not be unfoldedtill he was in the Arctic Sea. She urged his going, butknew that the good-by was final.his departure.She died six days afterCaptain Parry was about to make his third voyage insearch of the North- west Passage, and Captain Franklinproposed another land expedition to the mouth of theMackenzie River, when one part of the company shouldcome eastward along the coast to the Coppermine River,and the other part should explore the coast to the westward. A third expedition, under Captain Beechey, wasto proceed to Kotzebue Inlet in Bering Strait, with theobject of meeting Franklin as he journeyed west fromthe mouth of the Mackenzie River, while Dr. Richardson, his former companion, came eastward.266 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.Franklin and his party left England Feb. 16, 1825,and after reaching New York, travelled through theStates and Canada, arriving at the Saskatchewan River,June 15. He had already heard of the death of hislovely young wife.The party reached Fort Resolution on Great SlaveLake, July 29. Here they met Humpey, the brother ofthe chief Akaitcho, and some other prominent Indians,who shook hands with Franklin, pressing his hand againsttheir hearts, and exclaiming, " How much we regretthat we cannot tell what we feel for you here! " OnAug. 2 they entered Mackenzie River, which was overtwo miles broad, and in five days reached Fort Norman.Lieutenant Back of the previous expedition, and Mr.Dease of the Hudson Bay Company, were commissionedto proceed to Great Bear Lake, east of the river, andbuild a house for the winter. Dr. Richardson was toexplore the northern shore of the lake. Franklin andMr. Kendall (who afterwards married Miss Kay, theniece of Mrs. Franklin) with an Eskimo interpreter,Augustus, of the former voyage, a native guide, and acrew of six Englishmen, sailed towards the mouth of theMackenzie.The sea was reached in six days. Here Franklin unfurled the silken flag of his beloved Eleanor. He wroteto her sister: "Here was first displayed the flag whichmy lamented Eleanor made, and you can imagine it waswith heartfelt emotion I first saw it unfurled; but in ashort time I derived great pleasure in looking at it."They returned to the winter quarters, which had beennamed in the absence of the commander Fort Franklin,and passed the season quite comfortably. They examined all the country round, and made scientific observa-SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 267...tions. Franklin wrote Sir R. J. Murchison: " We havegot Conybeare and Phillips, Phillips and Jameson onMineralogy, and Humboldt on the superposition ofrocks. . . . I have been delighted with Dante, and sohave my companions; but I must confess there is frequently a depth of thought and reasoning to which mymind can hardly reach — perhaps these parts will bebetter comprehended on re-perusal. It seems clearthat Milton, as well as other poets, have borrowed ideasfrom his comprehensive mind."Franklin established a school for the men and othersin camp, which the officers taught. The men built alarge boat in their leisure hours, which was called theReliance.In early summer the party made ready for travel.Late in May the white anemones blossomed abundantly.Mosquitoes became " vigorous and tormenting. " Fourteen men under Franklin and Back, in the boats Lionand Reliance, started westward on the seacoast July 7,1826. That very day about three hundred Eskimosin their little canoes, or kayaks, which hold oneperson each, gathered about them, and wished totrade. One of the kayaks was overturned and itsowner plunged headforemost into the mud; but he waskindly cared for by Augustus, the Eskimo interpreter,who wrapped him in his own great-coat. The man andthe great-coat disappeared later.The Eskimos now rushed into the Lion and Reliance,stealing all they could lay their hands upon, and handing the articles to the women, who hid them. Two orthree of the larger Eskimos grasped Franklin by thewrists and forced him to sit between them. "The thirdtook his station in front to catch my arm whenever I268 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.attempted to lift my gun," says Franklin, " or thebroad dagger which hung by my side. The whole wayto the shore they kept repeating the word ' teyma,' beating gently on my left breast with their hands, and pressing mine against their breasts. As we neared the beach,two omiaks [larger boats for women and children ] full ofwomen arrived, and the teymas and vociferations wereredoubled. "The Eskimos now became so importunate that thecrews beat them off with the large ends of their muskets, but Franklin had given orders previously that noblood should be shed. Finally they got away from thethieving crowd. " I am still of opinion that, mingled aswe were with them, " said the commander, " the firstblood we had shed would have been instantly revengedby the sacrifice of all our lives. " Both the crews, following the example of their leader, had shown the utmostcoolness as well as bravery.Later in the journey they met Eskimos who worepieces of bone or shells in their noses, and on each sideof the under lip circular pieces of ivory with a largeblue bead in the centre. When unable to procureivory, stones were substituted ."The dress of the women, " writes Franklin, " differedfrom that of the men only in their wearing wide trousersand in the size of their hoods, which do not fit close tothe head, but are made large for the purpose of receiving their children . These are ornamented with stripesof different colored skins, and round the top is fasteneda band of wolf's hair, made to stand erect . Their ownblack hair is very tastefully turned up from behindto the top of the head, and tied by strings of white andblue beads, or cords of white deer-skin. It is divided inSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 269front so as to form on each side a thick tail, to whichare appended strings of beads that reach to the waist.The women were from four feet and a half to four andthree-quarters high, and generally fat. " LieutenantBack sketched one of these women, and she testified herpleasure by smiles and jumps. The men were moresedate about their portraits, " but not less pleased thanthe women," says the journal of Franklin. The natives.call themselves Inuits -not Eskimos from the wordinuk, meaning a man.The weather was foggy; they were detained often byice, and finally, when about half-way to Icy Cape, whereCaptain Beechey was to meet them on his way up fromBering Strait, Franklin and his party, seeing that theycould not possibly reach Beechey before winter, whenall would probably perish, turned back, Aug. 18, callingthe place Return Reef. He had travelled along the coastthree hundred and seventy-four miles. Captain Beecheyreached Icy Cape the middle of August, one hundredand sixty miles from the point where Franklin turnedback.They reached Fort Franklin Sept. 21, having travelled2,048 miles since they started. They found that Dr.Richardson and his party had explored the coast from theMackenzie to the Coppermine Rivers, 863 miles, - 1,908miles in all, by land and water, the doctor naming abay which they discovered Franklin Bay, saying, as hebestowed the name, " After having served under CaptainFranklin for nearly seven years in two successive voyagesof discovery, I trust I may be allowed to say that, however high his brother officers may rate his courage andtalents, either in the ordinary line of his professionalduty, or in the field of discovery, the hold he acquires270 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.upon the affections of those under his command, by acontinual series of the most conciliatory attentions totheir feelings, and an uniform and unremitting regard totheir best interests, is not less conspicuous. " Dr. Richardson had gathered valuable geological data and naturalhistory collections with Mr. Drummond. The latter hadtravelled to the Rocky Mountains, and endured greathardships in the journey. In a solitary hut built byhimself on the mountains, he collected two hundredspecimens of birds and animals, and more than fifteen.hundred plants.Dr. Richardson made a careful study of the differenttribes which he met. "Among the Kutchin tribe thewomen," he says, " in winter do all the drudgery, such ascollecting the firewood, assisting the dogs in hauling thesledge, bringing in the snow to melt for water, and, infact, perform all the domestic duties except cooking,which is the man's office; and the wives do not eat tillthe husband is satisfied. In summer the women laborlittle, except in drying meat or fish for its preservation.The men alone paddle, while the women sit as passengers; and husbands will even carry their wives to theshore in their arms, that they may not wet their feet. "The Tinné tribe do not altogether preclude women fromeating with men, "though in times of scarcity the manwould expect to be first fed, as it is a maxim with themthat the woman who cooks can be well sustained by licking her fingers. "Yet, says Dr. Richardson, these women have influenceover the men, " and they seldom permit provisions orother articles to be disposed of without expressing theirthoughts on the matter with much earnestness and volubility."SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 271Some tribes have a unique method of courtship."Early in the morning," says Richardson, "the lovermakes his appearance at the abode of the father of theobject of his choice, and, without a word of explanation,begins to heat the bath-room, to bring in water, and to prepare food. Then he is asked who he is, and why he performs these offices. In reply he expresses his wish tohave the daughter for a wife; . . . he remains as aservant in the house a whole year. At the end of thattime he receives a reward for his services from thefather, and takes home his bride. "Among some of the Eskimos, as in North Greenland, Kane says, the bride is carried off by force. Thegirl betrothed to Jens was carried off three times, butshe managed to keep her troth. " In the result," saysKane, " Jens, as phlegmatic and stupid a half- breed as Iever met with, got the prettiest woman in all NorthGreenland."The whole Franklin party wintered again at Fort Franklin, the thermometer being sometimes at fifty- eight belowzero. Feb. 20, 1827, Franklin started homeward, reaching England Sept. 26, 1827, after an absence of more thantwo years and seven months.For scientific observations and exploration of over athousand miles of the unknown coast of North AmericaFranklin was presented with the gold medal of the ParisGeographical Society, valued at twelve hundred francs,for "the most important acquisition to geographicalknowledge " during the year. Two years later, April 29,1829, he was knighted, becoming Sir John Franklin, andin the following July received the honorary degree ofD.C.L. from the conservative University of Oxford. Later,in 1846, he was elected Correspondent of the Institute ofFrance in the Academy of Sciences.272 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.A little over a year after his return to England, Nov.5, 1828, Franklin, then forty-two years old, married JaneGriffin, thirty-six years of age, second daughter of JohnGriffin, Esq. , of Bedford Place, London, a lady of fineintellect, and of wealth, and a helper in all possible ways.She became a mother to the only child of Sir John, littleEleanor, four and a half years old.Meantime Parry, who was to act in concert with Franklin if they came near to each other, had sailed in theHecla and Fury on his third voyage from England, May19, 1824, some months before Franklin. They passedthrough Baffin's Bay, into Lancaster Sound; and the icepreventing his pushing forward, he was obliged to winter at Port Boven, on the east side of Prince Regent Inlet.This was his third winter in the Arctic regions. "All .is dreary monotonous whiteness, " he writes, " not merelyfor days or weeks, but for more than half a year together. Whichever way the eye is turned it meets apicture calculated to impress upon the mind an idea ofinanimate stillness, of that motionless torpor with whichour feelings have nothing congenial; of anything, inshort, but life. In the very silence there is a deadnesswith which a human spectator appears out of keeping.The presence of man seems an intrusion on the drearysolitude of this wintry desert, which even its native animals have for awhile forsaken. "The sun was absent from the view of Parry and his menfor one hundred and twenty-one days, and the thermometer was below zero for one hundred and thirty-one days.They did not break out of the ice till July 20, andvery soon after the Fury went to pieces on the shore.The place where she struck was called Fury Beach, onthe east side of Prince Regent Inlet; and her provisionsSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 273were left there, while her officers and crew went back toEngland on the Hecla.Unsuccessful in finding the North-west Passage, Parrysailed two years later, on his fourth voyage, with the hopeof reaching the North Pole. He left England April3, 1827, and reached Spitzbergen in May, when two boats,Enterprise and Endeavor, left the ship Hecla, and underParry and Lieutenant James C. Ross, went northward.After a toilsome journey of 978 geographical miles -1,127 statute miles over ice-floes and through deepsnow, travelling at night on account of snow- blindness,they reached latitude 82° 45' , a higher position than anyother navigator at that time had attained, and thenstarted homeward, arriving in England at nearly the sametime with Franklin from his American coast-line expedition in 1827.-Little more was done by the government for someyears in Arctic research. In 1829 the Victory, fitted outby Sir Felix Booth, was commanded by Sir John Rossand his nephew, James Ross, for the discovery of theNorth-west Passage. Sir Felix gave seventeen thousandpounds towards the enterprise, and Sir John Ross threethousand pounds.They sailed through Lancaster Sound and into PrinceRegent Inlet, where, after examining three hundredmiles of undiscovered coast, they went into winter quarters at Felix Harbor on the east coast of Boothia inBoothia Gulf. The next year they made several sledgejourneys, one to King William Island, which land hassince possessed a melancholy history. They named thenorthern point Cape Felix, and twenty miles to thesouth-west Victory Point, from which place they returnedto their ship. Six of their eight dogs were dead274 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.from exhaustion, and they themselves were nearlyfamished.After a second winter in the ship, James Ross discovered the position of the North Magnetic Pole on thewestern shore of Boothia, in latitude 70° 5' 17 " in thespring, and other journeys were made. The ship wasstill locked in the ice, and they spent a third winterupon her.They determined at last to abandon her, knowing thatthey could not survive much longer. Scurvy had brokenout, and some had died. They left the ship April 23,1832, and went northward through Prince Regent Inlet,hoping to be saved by some whaling- vessel, but none appearing they were obliged to return and winter as bestthey could at Fury Beach, and live on the provisions leftby Parry, when the Fury was wrecked in the summer of1825, seven years before.After the fourth winter " their situation, " writes Ross,"was becoming truly awful, since, if they were not liberated in the ensuing summer, little prospect appeared oftheir surviving another year. It was necessary to makea reduction in the allowance of preserved meats; breadwas somewhat deficient, and the stock of wine and spiritswas entirely exhausted. " As early in the summer aspossible they worked their way to Lancaster Sound,where they were finally picked up by the whaler, Isabella. Ross had some difficulty in making his story believed on board, as he had been reported dead two yearsbefore. Their arrival in England in the autumn of 1833was hailed with great joy.In the spring of the year in which they were rescued,1833, Captain George Back, who had served so heroicallyunder Franklin, undertook a search expedition for theSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 275missing navigator, Sir John Ross. The company crossedover from Hudson Bay, arriving at Fort Resolution, onGreat Slave Lake, Aug. 8. They suffered greatly fromsand-flies and mosquitoes. " It is in vain, " says Back inhis account of his journey, " to attempt to defend yourselfagainst these puny bloodsuckers: though you crush thousands of them, tens of thousands arise to avenge the deathof their companions, and you very soon discover that theconflict which you are waging is one in which you are sureto be defeated. So great at last are the pains and fatiguein buffeting away this attacking force, that in despairyou throw yourself, half-suffocated, in a blanket, withyour face upon the ground, and snatch a few minutes ofsleepless rest. . . . As we dived into the confined andsuffocating chasms, or waded through the close swamps,they rose in clouds, actually darkening the air. To seeor to speak was equally difficult, for they rushed atevery undefended part, and fixed their poisonous fangsin an instant. Our faces streamed with blood, as ifleeches had been applied. "Back and his company determined to reach the sea byone of the unexplored rivers, the existence of which wasknown, but nothing of its source or character. Theypassed the winter on Great Slave Lake, at Fort Reliance.Bands of starving Indians lingered about them, asthey could obtain nothing by hunting, and hoped forrelief from the white men. They would watch everymouthful taken by the men at their meals, but utter noword of complaint. It was impossible to give relief toall, but even small portions of mouldy pemican, whichhad been saved for the dogs, were gratefully received ."Famine with her gaunt and bony arm," says Back,"pursued them at every turn, withered their energies,276 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.and strewed them lifeless on the cold bosom of thesnow. . . . Often did I share my own plate with the children whose helpless state and piteous cries were peculiarly distressing. Compassion for the full-grown may,or may not, be felt, but that heart must be cased in steelwhich is insensible to the cry of a child for food. "The food of the white men finally became so reducedthat it is doubtful if they would have survived had itnot been for Akaitcho, the chief, who brought them somemeat. He said, " The great chief trusts in us, and it isbetter that ten Indians perish than that one white manshould perish through our negligence and breach of faith. ”Augustus, the Eskimo interpreter, hearing that Captain Back was again in the country, set out on footfrom Hudson Bay to join him; but either exhausted bythe journey, or starved, or frozen in the blinding storms,he never reached Back, for his bleached body was foundon the way afterwards. He was " a faithful, disinterested, kind-hearted creature, " said Back, " who had wonthe regard, not of myself only, but, I may add, of Sir J.Franklin and Dr. Richardson also. "The winter passed at Fort Reliance was cold in theextreme, the weather seventy degrees below zero, andeven lower. " With eight logs of dry wood on the fire,"says Back, " I could not get the thermometer higher thantwelve degrees below zero. Ink and paint froze. Theskin of the hands became dry, cracked, and opened intounsightly and smarting gashes, which we were obligedto anoint with grease. On one occasion, after washingmy face within three feet of the fire, my hair was clottedwith ice before I had time to dry it."Towards the end of April, as the company were preparing for the search, the welcome news came that RossSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 277and his men had been saved by the Isabella. Now thatthey were in the wilds of North America, they wereobliged, however, to push on their explorations.On July 8, with their boat-load of provisions and tenpersons, they proceeded to sail down the Great FishRiver, which they found abounding in rapids and bowlders, five large rapids in a distance of three miles, - ariver five hundred and thirty geographical miles inlength, broadening out into five large lakes, without asingle tree on the whole line of its banks.-On their return up the river they again wintered atFort Reliance, and returned to England Sept. 8, 1835,after an absence of two years and a half. Back wasknighted, becoming Sir George Back, and given thegold medal of the Royal Geographical Society for discovering the Great Fish River, which thereafter borehis name, and navigating it to the Arctic Sea. Back'sGreat Fish River has a mournful history in connectionwith Sir John Franklin, and will always be patheticallyassociated with King William Island.All this time Sir John Franklin was not idle . In1830, Aug. 23, he was appointed to the command ofthe twenty-six-gun frigate Rainbow, for service in theMediterranean. So well beloved was he by his men,that the ship was called the Celestial Rainbow, and thesailors named her Franklin's Paradise.As by the rules of the navy his wife could not be inthe ship with him, she travelled with friends in Syria,Palestine, and Egypt, rejoining him when he was stationed at any city. She had already travelled extensively in Europe with her father.Franklin exerted great influence in the troubled condition of Greece at this time. He was frequently called278 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.upon to help preserve order and to protect the inhabitants. For his services during the War of Liberationhe was made a Knight of the Redeemer of Greece, byKing Otho, and a Knight Commander of the GuelphicOrder of Hanover, by England ."To your calm and steady conduct may be attributedthe preservation of the town and inhabitants of Patras,"wrote Admiral Sir H. Hotham to Franklin, " the protection of commerce, and the advancement of the benevolent intentions of the Allied Sovereigns in favor of theGreek nation."After this he was offered the Lieutenant-Governorshipof Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, and acceptedwith permission to resign in case of war. He and LadyFranklin, with Eleanor, now thirteen years old, and afavorite niece of Lady Franklin, Miss Sophia Cracroft,sailed in the ship Fairlee, reaching Hobart Town inJanuary, 1837. No sooner was Franklin established inhis home than he began to devise projects for the good.of the people under his control. He begged the HomeGovernment for a charter for a large college. On therecommendation of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, Rev. J. P.Gell was sent out from England to organize such aninstitution. The Legislative Council voted £2,500 tobegin the matter, and the corner-stone was laid by SirJohn at Norfolk House, Nov. 7, 1840.Quarrels by different religious denominations andlocal jealousies, some wishing the college to be built atHobart Town, made the Imperial Government withdrawits support, and the college had to be given up. Mr.Gell, however, established an excellent school at HobartTown, to which Lady Franklin gave four hundred acresof land and Sir John contributed five hundred pounds.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 279Mr. Gell afterwards married Eleanor, the only child of SirJohn, who died in 1860, when her husband was vicar ofSt. John's, Notting Hill.Sir John founded a Scientific Society at Hobart Town,which is now the Royal Society of Tasmania. Its objectwas to treat of natural history, agriculture, and the like.The papers contributed by the members were publishedat his expense. He also built the Tasmania Museum, tocontain collections made in natural history. He raiseda monument in South Australia, in conjunction with thegovernment there, to his old friend Captain Flinders,with whom in his youth he had helped to explore theAustralian coast. It is a granite obelisk, placed on ahigh hill, and is a landmark for sailors. It was characteristic of Franklin that he never forgot a friend.Franklin gave much attention to surveys and explorations, and looked carefully after the welfare of theconvicts, there being a very large penal settlementnear Hobart Town. Lady Franklin also took the deepest interest in the convicts. She corresponded withElizabeth Fry, about the women. She bought largetracts of land, on which she established immigrants,paying all their first expenses, providing implementsfor work, charging a nominal rent for the land, andgiving the opportunity of purchase. At the end ofthree years many had paid all their indebtedness.-When the ships Erebus and Terror, in 1839, - - thesame ships in which Sir John sailed later in his lastexpedition to the Arctic Sea, were sent under SirJames Ross to the Antarctic continent for magnetic observations, Sir John rendered very valuable assistance,superintending the creation of the magnetic observatoryin Tasmania, and making many of the observations.280 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.The observatory was later put in charge of Franklin'snephew, Lieutenant Kay.The Erebus and Terror were absent from Englandfour years in the Antarctic seas, making valuable contributions to our knowledge of that still, for the most part,unknown world. The ship Terror was commanded bythe lamented Captain F. R. M. Crozier. Only a littletime before she had crossed the ocean under CaptainBack, still in search of the North-west Passage, hadreached Salisbury Island in Hudson's Strait, been frozenin off Cape Comfort in Fox Channel, and was driven.about from September to March, at the mercy of galesand ice floes, and finally went back in a sinking condition to England where she was thoroughly repaired.After being Governor in Tasmania for over six and ahalf years, Franklin returned to England on account ofjealousies of those under him, and consequent disaffection. Some officers had been removed for " obstinacy oftemper," and injustice in police matters, and this alsocaused ill feeling. The greatest crowd ever seen in thecolony, headed by the Bishop of Tasmania, followedhim and his family to the ship, and bade him atearful good-by. He was greatly beloved by the peopleof Hobart Town, who have erected a statue in his honor,and who gave £1,700 to Lady Franklin to help in thesearch for him after his last Arctic voyage.Nearly the whole northern line of seacoast in NorthAmerica had now been surveyed; and all that was wanting to complete the North-west Passage was a spacenorth and south of about three hundred miles betweenBarrow Strait, beyond Lancaster Sound, and Simpson'sStrait, at the southern extremity of King WilliamIsland. It was hoped that it was a channel navigableSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 281for ships, but nobody knew. Franklin used to point onthe map to Simpson's Strait and say, " If I can but getdown there, my work is done; thence it ' s plain sailingto the westward. "When the subject of another Arctic expedition wasagitated, Sir John asked to lead it, on the ground thathe was the senior Arctic officer alive who was free to takethe place, and had explored more in North America thanany other one person. Lord Haddington, First Lord ofthe Admiralty, remarked to Sir Edward Parry, the navigator, " Franklin is sixty years old. Ought we to lethim go? ""My lord," answered Parry, " he is the best man Iknow for the post; and if you don't let him go, he will,I am certain, die of disappointment."Afterward Lord Haddington said to Sir John, that ashe had already done so nobly for his country, he mightbe inclined to let a younger man take his place, as hewas now sixty years of age."No, my lord," was Franklin's ardent response; "youhave been misinformed — I am only fifty-nine! " -He said also, " No service is nearer to my heart than thecompletion of the survey of the north coast of Americaand the accomplishment of a north-west passage. "The ships Erebus and Terror were made ready for thevoyage, Franklin in command of the Erebus, and hissecond officer, Captain F. R. M. Crozier, in command of theTerror. Commander James Fitzjames was second inthe Erebus under Franklin. Dr. H. D. S. Goodsir, assistant surgeon, was an eminent naturalist on the Erebus.He succeeded his brother John (Professor of Anatomyin the Edinburgh University) in the curatorship of theRoyal College of Surgeons, and resigned to go in the282 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.Erebus for scientific investigation in the Arctic regions.His younger brother, Robert, twice visited the Polar seasin search of his brother, Dr. Goodsir, who perished withSir John.Captain Crozier, Fellow Royal Society, now forty-eight,had been with Parry in three polar voyages, with SirJames Ross, both in the Arctic and the Antarctic Seas,and was especially skilled in the science of terrestrialmagnetism. Rear- Admiral McClintock says his " nobleness of character and warmth of heart had ever won forhim universal esteem and affection. "Captain Fitzjames, " an able, popular, and accomplishedofficer," says Captain Markham, had distinguished himself in the Syrian campaign of 1840. In the Chinesehostilities of 1842 he was five times gazetted for braveconduct. He received four bullet wounds at the captureof Ching-Kiang- Foo, one bullet passing through his body.His sketches and his writings both showed him to bea man of marked talent.Commander Graham Gore, First Lieutenant of theErebus, was with Admiral Sir George Back in the Arcticvoyage of the Terror in 1836, and present at the captureof Aden in 1839. He was even in temper and of greatstability of character.Lieutenant John Irving of the Terror had spent severalyears in Australia, and had served in the navy for seventeen years. He was a talented draftsman .Lieutenant H. T. D. Le Vesconte, of the Erebus, servedwith distinction in the Chinese war, and was made lieutenant for his bravery.Lieutenant Charles F. des Voeux, mate of the Erebus,had served in the Syrian war of 1840, under Sir CharlesNapier. These have been mentioned among other ableSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 283officers because their names will appear again in the history of the voyage.The Erebus and Terror had on board twenty-threeofficers and one hundred and eleven men - in all onehundred and thirty- four persons. The ships carried provisions for three years.They left England May 19, 1845, all in good spirits.Fitzjames wrote home to the son of Sir John Barrow:" Sir John Franklin is delightful, active, and energetic,and evidently even now persevering . What he has beenwe all know. I think it will turn out that he is in noway altered. He is full of conversation and interestinganecdotes of his former voyages. I would not lose himfor the command of the expedition; for I have a realregard, I might say affection, for him, and believe this isfelt by all of us. "Again he wrote: " Of all men he is the most fittedfor the command of an enterprise requiring sound senseand great perseverance. I have learnt much from him,and consider myself most fortunate in being with such aman, and he is full of benevolence and kindness withal. "Later he wrote of Sir John's disbelief in an open PolarSea: " He also said he believed it to be possible toreach the pole over the ice, by wintering at Spitzbergen,and going in the spring before the ice broke up anddrifted to the south, as it did with Parry on it."-Captain Crozier wrote home, one of the last lettersever received from the expedition, when they hadreached the Whale Fish Islands, July 4, near the islandof Disco, on the west coast of Queenland: " All is getting on as well as I could wish. Officers full of youthand zeal, and, indeed, everything going on most smoothly.If we can do something worthy of the country which284 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.has so munificently fitted us out, I will only be toohappy; it will be an ample reward for all my anxieties,and believe me, Henry, there will be no lack of them."The ships sailed from the Whale Fish Islands on July10. On July 26 they were seen by Captain Dannet, ofthe Prince of Wales, a whaler from Hull, made fast tothe ice in Melville Bay, on the west coast of Greenland.This is the last date on which the ships were ever seen,so far as is known.They sailed on, as later years have shown by the discoveries, through Baffin's Bay into Lancaster Sound.Unable to go westward into Barrow Strait, probably atthat time on account of ice, they went northward upWellington Channel. After going one hundred and fiftymiles they were compelled to return through a newlydiscovered channel to the west, separating Cornwallisand Bathurst Islands, and leading into Barrow Strait.They spent the winter on Beechey Island, a little towardsthe east, at the entrance of Wellington Channel. Theyhad already explored three hundred miles of new coastline. Three of their men died that winter; and theirgraves, found five years afterwards, revealed the factthat they had wintered there. The next summer, 1846,they must have pushed their way down Peel Strait, between North Somerset and Prince of Wales Land, leading towards Simpson's Strait. They passed BoothiaFelix, and when within twelve miles of King WilliamIsland, Sept. 12, 1846, both ships were held fast in theice. They spent this winter not so happily as the previous one, and the summer of 1847 came; still the vessels remained hoplessly beset by the ice. This secondsummer must have been a sad and weary one.We now know that on Monday, May 24, 1847, twoSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 285officers, Gore and Des Voeux, with six men, left the shipsto explore the country, and probably went downthe westcoast of King William Island, towards Cape Herschel,where they would look upon Simpson's Strait, and knowthat the North-west Passage was found, though theirships could not yet sail through the ninety miles of iceto the strait.Sir John Franklin, the beloved leader, died this summer, June 11, 1847. Where he was buried we shallnever know; probably a hole was cut in the ice not farfrom the ships, and thither the mourning party bore him.Sickness and death began now to thin their ranks.They hoped that the sun this summer would certainlyfree the ships; but though it did not, the ice in which.they were packed began to move toward the south. Thiswas indeed comforting, when lo! as autumn came on, itceased to move, and they were ice-locked as before, perhaps not more than sixty miles from the desired havenof Simpson's Strait and the North-west Passage.The third long winter dragged by. Commander Goreand eight other officers died, and twelve men, twenty-onein all, so that there were one hundred and five left.When spring came they were sure that their only chancefor life was to abandon the ships, and perhaps reachsome post of the Hudson Bay Company.They left the ships April 22, 1848, and journeyedwith a couple of boats on sledges, Crozier and Fitzjamesat the head, to Point Victory, fifteen miles from theships. They were three days in taking this short journey,whether from the deep snow or on account of their ownweak bodies, will never be known. On April 26 theystarted across King William Island, for Back's Great286 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.Fish River. Only their bones, scattered all over thewestern and southern parts of the island and the adjacent mainland, tell the horrors of that dreadful march,one of the saddest stories to be found in history.After Franklin and his ships had been absent for twoyears, having left England May 19, 1845, people beganto be anxious about their safety. It was rememberedthat they had provisions for three years only, and itwould probably require a year for other ships to reachthem.In the summer of 1847 arrangements were made forthe Hudson Bay Company to send to their northernmost stations food for one hundred and twenty menfor seventy-five days, so that the crews, if they hadabandoned their ships, might receive it. Alas! that ithad not been pushed forward to where the men were stationed, too weak to come to the food.In 1849 the government offered a reward of twentythousand pounds to any one of any nation who shouldrescue the lost men; ten thousand pounds to any whoshould rescue a part of them; or ten thousand poundsto any who should ascertain their fate. Lady Franklinoffered three thousand pounds to anybody who should givereliable information concerning them, dead or alive.Already relief expeditions had been fitted out; June12, 1848, one under Sir James Clarke Ross, with theships Enterprise and Investigator, to search the northand west coasts of North Somerset and Boothia,north shore of Barrow Strait, and the shores of PrinceRegent Inlet. The first winter, at the juncture ofBarrow Strait, Lancaster Sound, Prince Regent Inlet,and Wellington Channel, they caught fifty white foxesin traps made of empty casks, and putting copperSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 287collars around their necks on which collars the positionof the relief ship was engraved, freed them, with thehope that some might be caught by the crews of theErebus and Terror. After excursions made all summer,without avail, — they were at one time but three hundredmiles from the point where the Erebus and Terror layabandoned, a house was built of the spare spars of bothships, twelve months' provisions with fuel were left behind, and a vessel large enough to convey Franklin'swhole party to some whaling-vessel.-The ships were now caught in the ice pack, and fromSept. 1 to 25 were floated through Lancaster Sound tothe western shore of Baffin's Bay, when the pack brokeup, and the men hastened to England, thankful for theirpreservation.Sir John Richardson, who had been with Franklin inboth his land expeditions, started in 1848 to search thecoasts of North America between the Mackenzie andCoppermine Rivers, and returned the following year,1849, after having left provisions at various pointsthough he heard nothing of the lost ships .On the return of the Enterprise and the Investigatorunder Sir James Ross, they were at once refitted andsent, under Captain Richard Collinson and CommanderRobert M'Clure (who had served with Back in the Terrorin 1836) , through Bering Strait to investigate Wollaston,Victoria and Banks' Lands, and Melville Island. Collinson passed within twenty miles of the Erebus andTerror in their ice prison. The Investigator, underM'Clure, sailed through Prince of Wales Strait, betweenBanks' Land and Prince Albert Land (wintering in theStrait in 1850) into Melville Sound, also round the westand north coasts of Banks' Land, through Banks' Strait288 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.into Melville Sound. They passed two winters frozeninto the ice in the Bay of God's Mercy on the northernshore of Banks' Land, when they were rescued by asledge party from the Resolute under Captain Austin.They abandoned the Investigator, and were taken toEngland, after a fourth winter in the Arctic regions, bythe ship Phoenix. They had thus made the north- westpassage from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean (asMelville Sound connects with Barrow Strait) . M'Clureand his crew received the ten thousand pounds offeredby the government for the discovery. It was afterwardsascertained that Franklin's men actually reached Simpson's Strait; therefore to Franklin has been awardedthe honor of first discovering the North- west Passage.The Resolute and Assistance, under Captains Austinand Ommaney, respectively, were sent to the shores ofWellington Channel and the coasts of Melville andParry Islands. The latter ship was abandoned; and theformer was picked up at sea by Captain James Buddington of New London, Conn. , brought to the United States,and presented to England by a joint resolution of Congress, Aug. 28, 1856. The gift was tendered to theQueen in person by Captain Hartstene, who afterwards.rescued Dr. Kane. The different searching parties,under Captain Austin, examined fifteen hundred milesof coast line, of which eight hundred and fifty had notbeen known before . One of the parties, under Lieutenant Brown, explored the western shore of Peel Strait,and was within one hundred and fifty miles of the placewhere the Erebus and Terror were abandoned; but they,of course, did not know that they were on the directroute followed by Franklin . It was most unfortunatethat no cairns - heaps of stones with letters underSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 289-- them had been placed along their route, else possiblytheir bodies, at least, might have been recovered.Several expeditions were fitted out at private expense.Admiral Sir John Ross, then in his seventy-fourth year,went out in the Felix, with his own yacht, the Mary, oftwelve tons, as tender, and searched a portion of Cornwallis Island, west of Wellington Channel.Lady Franklin equipped, largely at her own expense,the ninety-ton schooner Prince Albert, under Commander Forsyth, to explore the shores of Prince RegentInlet. They found the inlet blocked with ice, andexplored the coasts of Prince of Wales Island andNorth Somerset.In the autumn of 1850 no less than fifteen vessels ,besides land expeditions, were searching for Sir JohnFranklin . Interest and anxiety grew to fever heat.Lady Franklin, in the spring of the previous year,April 4, 1849, had written to President Taylor of theUnited States, asking the American people to join inthe search for her husband. " I address myself," shewrote, "to you as the head of a great nation, whosepower to help me I cannot doubt, and in whose disposition to do so I have a confidence which I trust you willnot deem presumptuous. . . I am not without hope thatyou will deem it not unworthy of a great and kindrednation to take up the cause of humanity which Iplead, in a national spirit, and thus generously make ityour own."The intense anxieties of a wife and a mother mayhave led me too press too earnestly on your notice thetrials under which we are suffering, yet not we only,but hundreds of others."The President and the American people as well were290 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.deeply interested in the noble Franklin. It took practical shape in the mind of a wealthy merchant in NewYork, Henry Grinnell, Esq. , at whose home LadyFranklin had visited when in America.He purchased and fitted out two vessels, the Advanceof one hundred and forty-four tons, and the Rescue ofninety-one tons; the former commanded by LieutenantEdward J. De Haven, who had been with LieutenantWilkes in the United States exploring expedition of 1838in the Antarctic Ocean, and the second under MasterSamuel P. Griffin, both of the United States Navy.The vessels for the " United States Grinnell expedition " sailed from New York May 22, 1850. Beforesailing, officers and men signed a bond not to claim,under any circumstances, the twenty thousand poundsoffered by the British Government for the finding ofthe Franklin expedition.Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, an accomplished naval officerand scholar of Philadelphia, at this time thirty years ofage, was appointed surgeon of the Advance, and on hisreturn wrote a most interesting book concerning thejourney. He had travelled extensively in China, Egypt,and various parts of Europe, had rendered valuablescientific aid in the United States Coast Survey, andwas admirably fitted to observe, and to describe what hesaw.After an imprisonment for twenty-one days in the icein Melville Bay, off the west coast of Greenland, where,says Kane, " Since the year 1819, from which we maydate the opening of Melville Bay, no less than twohundred and ten vessels have been destroyed in attempting its passage, " they crossed Baffin's Bay. Here Kanecounted two hundred and eight icebergs within theSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 291norizon - Sir John Ross had measured one in this baythree hundred and twenty-five feet high by twelve hundredfeet long. Kane pushed on into Lancaster Sound as faras Wellington Channel, and found on Cape Riley, Aug. 25,1850, two cairns. In one of these cairns was a letter,deposited the previous day, stating that Captain Ommaney of the Assistance (in company with CaptainGriffin of their own consort, the Rescue, according tothe official report of De Haven) had discovered tracesof an encampment on Cape Riley, and at BeecheyIsland, ten miles from Cape Riley. This was the firstknowledge obtained concerning the Franklin party, aftera constant search for three years.Dr. Kane carefully examined the indications of anencampment at Cape Riley. He found, he says, “ Fourcircular mounds, or heapings-up, of the crumbled limestone, aided by larger stones placed at the outer edge,as if to protect the leash of a tent. . . . In a line withthe four mounds was a larger enclosure, triangular inshape. Some bird bones and one rib of a seal were foundexactly in the centre of this triangle, as if a party hadsat around it eating; and the top of a preserved- meatcase, much rusted, was found in the same place. "Some twenty or thirty yards from this place " wereseveral pieces of pine wood about four inches long,painted green and white, and in one instance puttied;evidently parts of a boat, and apparently collected askindling wood. "Captain Penny of the ship Lady Franklin, who wasalso searching in Wellington Channel, and Dr. Goodsir,the brother of the Erebus surgeon, discovered scraps ofnewspaper, bearing date 1844; and two other fragments,each with the name of one of Franklin's officers in pencil;292 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.one name was " McDonald, " assistant surgeon of the Terror. Captain Penny's men also found a dredge, "as ifto fish up missing articles, " some footless stockings, tiedat the lower end to serve for socks, an officer's pocket,velvet-lined, torn from the garment, etc.Sir John Ross in the Felix now joined his party, andthey proposed to search the neighboring country. Whilethey were planning, one of Penny's men ran towardsthem exclaiming, " Graves, Captain Penny! graves!Franklin's winter quarters! "All hurried over the ice, and on Beechey Island foundthree graves. The mounds were coped with limestoneslabs, and there were headstones. They faced towardsCape Riley, distinctly visible across the cove. Inscriptions had been cut with a chisel: the first read:Sacredto theMemory ofW. BRAINE, R. M. ,H. M. S. Erebus.Died April 3d, 1846,Aged 32 years ." Choose ye this day whom ye will serve."The second was: -Sacredtothe memoryofJOSHUA, ch. xxiv. 15.JOHN HARTWELL, A. B. of H. M. S.Erebus,Aged 23 years.“ Thus saith the Lord, consider your ways. ”HAGGAI, i. 7.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 293The third was inscribed:Sacredtothe memoryofJOHN TORRINGTON,who departed this lifeJanuary 1st A. D. 1846,on board ofH. M. ship Terror,Aged 20 years.Near the graves was a piece of wood, more than a footin diameter, and two feet eight inches high, which hadevidently been used for an anvil-block. Near it was alarge blackened space, covered with coal cinders, ironnails, spikes, and the like, " clearly the remains of thearmorer's forge. "About four hundred yards from the graves, wereevidences of an observatory, with large stones fixed asif to support instruments; and a few hundred yardslower down the remnant of a garden, " still showing themosses and anemones that were transplanted by itsframers." A quarter of a mile from this point were morethan six hundred preserved-meat cans, arranged in orderand filled with limestone pebbles, perhaps to serve asballast on boating expeditions.These tins were labelled " Goldner's patent. " As anenormous quantity of such cans supplied to the navy wereafterwards found to contain putrid meat, it is probablethat many of these were useless, and thus the supply offood for the three years had been greatly reduced.Besides all these, fragments of canoes, rope, tarpaulins, casks, iron- work, " a blanket lined by long stitcheswith common cotton stuff, and made into a sort of rude294 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.coat," a pair of Cashmere gloves, " laid out to dry, withtwo small stones upon the palms to keep them fromblowing away," and other things were found. Thetracks of a sledge were also clearly defined, pointingtowards the eastern shores of Wellington Sound, alsotowards Cape Riley, as though several journeys hadbeen taken.It is probable that records telling of their journeywere deposited in the cairns, but none have ever beenfound.The ships of De Haven were caught fast in the ice offWellington Channel, and drifted out into Baffin's Bayduring the winter. They had already sighted and namedGrinnell Land, to the west of Greenland, which wasafterwards explored by Captain Nares of England in1876, and Greely in 1881-84. The Advance and Rescue.returned to New York in the fall of 1851.The whole world was now more than ever interestedto learn the fate of Franklin and his men. Dr. Kanecommanded a second Grinnell expedition in search ofFranklin, the money being provided from his own meansand the proceeds of his lectures, assisted with ship andmoney by Mr. Grinnell, and ten thousand dollars fromMr. George Peabody of London. The Advance left NewYork May 30, 1853, with seventeen persons on board.Aug. 7 Kane reached the headland of Smith's Sound,believing that an open polar sea was beyond, and thatthe Franklin party had gone to the far north up the Wellington Channel.Kane and his ship were frozen into the ice in Rensselaer Harbor, off the north-west coast of Greenland,where they remained for the winter. The thermometerwas as low as sixty-eight degrees below zero, and theSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 295whole ship's company suffered from scurvy. More thanfifty of Kane's valuable dogs died from brain disease.He says in his account of the second expedition, Feb. 21,"My dogs, that I had counted on so largely, the ninesplendid Newfoundlanders and thirty-five Eskimos ofsix months before, had perished; there were only six survivors of the whole pack, and one of these was unfit fordraught. "Kane wrote a month before in his journal: "Theinfluence of this long, intense darkness was most depressing. Even our dogs, although the greater part ofthem were natives of the Arctic circle, were unable towithstand it. "Going on deck in the early morning, and feeling hisway, he said, " Two of my Newfoundland dogs put theircold noses against my hand, and instantly commencedthe most exuberant antics of satisfaction. It then occurred to me how very dreary and forlorn must thesepoor animals be, living in darkness, howling at an accidental light, as if it reminded them of the moon, andwith nothing, either of instinct or sensation, to tell themof the passing hours, or to explain the long-lost daylight. They shall see the lanterns more frequently. "Five days later he wrote: "The mouse-colored dogs,the leaders of my Newfoundland team, have for thepast fortnight been nursed like babies. No one cantell how anxiously I watch them. They are keptbelow, tended, fed, cleansed, caressed, and doctored;to the infinite discomfort of all hands. To-day I giveup the last hope of saving them. Their diseaseis as clearly mental as in the case of any humanbeing. "Exploring expeditions were sent out from the ship.296 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.One of these parties nearly died from cold and exhaustion, and indeed two of the men, Peter Schubert and Jefferson Temple Baker died, after being rescued by Kane,and all except one suffered for a time from unbalancedminds.Kane came near losing his own life as well as his dogsin one of these various expeditions. The animals fellthrough the ice sixteen feet below him. " The roaringof the tide, " he says, " and the subdued wail of the dogs,made me fear for the worst. I had to walk through thebroken ice, which rose in toppling spires over my head,for nearly fifty yards before I found an opening to theice-face, by which I was able to climb down to them. Afew cuts of a sheath knife released them, although thecaresses of the dear brutes had like to have been fatalto me, for I had to straddle with one foot on the fast iceand the other on loose piled rubbish. "Three expeditions were made during early spring andsummer towards the north, reaching Cape Constitution inKennedy Channel.The killing of a bear by Hans, although necessary forfood for the men, afforded a touching illustration of thefondness of a mother for her cub. "The bear fled," saysDr. Kane, " but the little one being unable either tokeep ahead of the dogs or to keep pace with her, sheturned back, and, putting her head under its haunches,threw it some distance ahead. The cub safe for themoment, she would wheel round and face the dogs, soas to give it a chance to run away; but it always stoppedjust as it alighted, till she came up and threw it aheadagain; it seemed to expect her aid , and would not go onwithout it."After a mile and a half the little one was so tired thatSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 297the mother halted till the men came up to her. " Whenthe dogs came near her, she would sit upon her haunchesand take the little one between her hind legs, fightingthe dogs with her paws, and roaring so that she couldhave been heard a mile off. She would stretch her neckand snap at the nearest dog with her shining teeth,whirling her paws like the arms of a windmill. " ...Hans shot her, when "the cub jumped upon her bodyand reared up, for the first time growling hoarsely.The dogs seemed quite afraid of the little creature, shefought so actively and made so much noise. " The menwere obliged to shoot the cub at last, as she would notquit the body even when she was dying.Gilder, in " Schwatka's Search," tells of a bear carrying its cub on her back till, being shot, the cub " clung toher poor wounded body with touching tenacity. It washeart-rending to see him try to cover her body with hisown little form, and lick her face and wounds, occasionally rising upon his hind legs and growling a fiercewarning to his enemies. "66Charles F. Hall, the explorer, tells in his " SecondArctic Expedition " a bear story universally believedby the Eskimos about Hudson Bay: Many moonsago an Innuit woman obtained a polar bear cub but twoor three days old. Having long desired just such a pet,she gave it her closest attention, as though it were a son,nursing it, making for it a soft, warm bed alongside herown, and talking to it as a mother does to her child.She had no living relative, and she and the bear occupied the igloo alone."Koon-ik-jooa, as he grew up, proved that the womanhad not taught him in vain; for he early began to huntseals and salmon, bringing them to his mother before298 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.eating any himself, and receiving his share from herhands. She always watched from the hill-top for hisreturn; and if she saw that he had been unsuccessful, shebegged from her neighbors blubber for his food. Shelearned howthis was from her lookout; for if successful,he came back in the tracks made on going out, but ifunsuccessful, always by a different route ."Learning to excel the Innuits in hunting, he excitedtheir envy; and, after long years of faithful service, hisdeath was resolved upon. On hearing this, the oldwoman, overwhelmed with grief, offered to give up herown life if they would but spare him who had so longsupported her. Her offer was sternly refused . "She told the bear what the wicked men were to do,and begged him to go away, but not so far that she couldnot come to him for a seal or other meat which shewould need."Not long after this," says the story, "being in needof food, she walked out on the snow-ice to see if shecould not meet her son, and soon recognized him as oneof two bears who were lying down together. He ran toher, and she patted him on the head in her old familiarway, told him her wants, and begged him to hurry awayand get something for her. Away ran the bear, and ina few moments the woman looked upon a terrible fightgoing on between him and his late companion, which,however, to her great relief, was soon ended by her son'sdragging a lifeless body to her feet. With her pauna(long knife) she quickly skinned the dead bear, givingher son large slices of the blubber, and telling him thatshe would soon return for the meat which she could notat first carry to her igloo, and when her supply shouldagain fail she would come back for his help. This sheSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 299continued to do for a long, long time, the faithful bearalways serving her, and receiving the same unbroken.love of his youth. "It soon became evident that Kane must pass anotherweary winter frozen in Smith's Sound, in Rensselaer Harbor. " It is horrible," wrote Kane, - " yes, that is theword -to look forward to another year of disease anddarkness to be met without fresh food and without fuel.I should meet it with a more tempered sadness if I hadno comrades to think for and protect. "―Besides the disease and darkness they had anotherfoe. " If I was asked, " says Kane, " what, after darknessand cold and scurvy, are the three besetting curses of ourArctic sojourn, I should say, RATS, RATS, RATS. Amother-rat bit my finger to the bone last Friday, as Iwas intruding my hand into a bear-skin mitten whichshe had chosen as a homestead for her little family. Iwithdrew it, of course, with instinctive courtesy; butamong them they carried off the mitten before I couldsuck the finger."Last week I sent down Rhina, the most intelligent dogof our whole pack, to bivouac in their citadel forward; Ithought she might at least be able to defend herselfagainst them, for she had distinguished herself in thebear-hunt. She slept very well for a couple of hours ona bed she had chosen for herself on the top of some ironspikes. But the rats could not or would not forego thehorny skin about her paws; and they gnawed her feetand nails so ferociously that we drew her up yelping andvanquished. " Kane himself used the rats for food,and thus prevented frequent attacks of scurvy.As winter approached Kane erected a signal beacon,or cairn, on Observatory Island, near by, painting in big300 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.letters, on a cliff, the ship's name, Advance. In a hole.in a rock was placed a record of their journey up to thistime, enclosed in glass and sealed with melted lead, andclose by the graves of the two dead seamen.The record written Aug. 14, 1854, showed that ninehundred and sixty miles of coast-line had been delineated,with over two thousand miles of travel, " all of whichwas upon foot or by the aid of dogs. Greenland hasbeen traced to its northern face, whence it is connectedwith the farther north of the opposite coast of a greatglacier."Seven of the party now left the ship, including Dr.Hayes, the leader, with the hope of reaching Upernavik,on the west coast of Greenland, directly in the line of theBaffin's Bay whalers. After three months they returned,having journeyed three hundred and fifty miles with thethermometer at fifty degrees below zero, living for someweeks in an Eskimo hut in the crevice of a rock, almostwithout fire or light, often for weeks together with nothing to eat but moss gathered from the snow-covered rocks,and finally reached the Advance more dead than alive.The second winter on the Advance was a sad one forall . The dogs died. Jan. 3 Kane wrote:..." I am feeding up my few remaining dogs very carefully; but I have no meat for them except the carcassesof their dead companions. One of these poorcreatures has been a child's pet among the Eskimos.Last night I found her in nearly a dying state at themouth of our tossut, wistfully eying the crevices of thedoor as they emitted their forbidden treasure of lightand heat. She could not move, but, completely subdued,licked my hand. . . . I carried her in among theglories of the moderate paradise she aspired to. "SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 301The supply of food was nearly exhausted. Twice withthe greatest suffering and with five half-starved dogs"hardly able to drag themselves," they attempted toreach the nearest Eskimo settlement at Etah, ninetymiles away, to obtain meat, but failed. All the partywere ill save five men. " Our sick are worse," Kanewrites in his journal. " Hemorrhages are becoming common. My crew, I have no crew any longer, the tenants of my bunks, cannot bear me to leave them for asingle watch. "➖➖Two rabbits were killed by Kane and the EskimoHans Christian (a youth of nineteen who had embarkedwith Kane from Greenland). These rabbits were the firstmeat they had had in ten days, and were eaten raw. InFebruary a deer was caught, and thankfully devoured.March 6 Hans started for the Eskimo settlement,but found them in a starving condition, having killedand eaten all of their thirty dogs except four.This condition of things is not very infrequent, as theEskimos are improvident. Kane tells of an Eskimocamp found in 1830 by some boat- crews from a whaler.Everything seemed deserted. Looking into the huts,they found " grouped around an oilless lamp, in the attitudes of life, four or five human corpses with darkenedlips and sunken eyeballs, but all preserved in perennialice. The frozen dog lay beside his frozen master, andthe child, stark and stiff, in the reindeer hood which enveloped the frozen mother. "Hans with one of the Etah hunters killed a largewalrus, thus providing meat for them as well as for thestarving crew at Rensselaer Harbor. With the close ofApril, Kane made his last effort to explore KennedyChannel, and pushed up far enough to see the greatglacier, stretching towards the north and east.302 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.Towards the close of May, 1855, Kane and his mensaid good-by to the ship fast in ice, nine feet thick andwith two whale boats, Hope and Faith, each twenty- fourfeet long, drawn on sledges eighteen feet long, and onesmaller boat, they commenced their journey down thefrozen coast of Greenland. Four men were unable tomove. Dr. Kane drove the dog team, and twelve mendrove the sledges.Their condition was pitiable. Once they were on thepoint of killing two of their valuable dogs, to preservetheir lives. Christian Ohlsen, aged thirty-six, died onthe journey. One boat was necessarily used for fuel.After eighty-three days of a most perilous journey,they arrived at Upernavik, Greenland, and were takenonboard the Danish ship Mariane, which touched at Godhavn, prior to landing them at the Shetland Islands.-On the evening of July 11, the day on which theywere starting for Europe, a steamer drew near, and theyrecognized the beloved stars and stripes. The boat Faithwas lowered from the Mariane, Kane was carrying herhome to America as a precious token of their preservation, — and in her they went out to meet Captain Hartstene of the ships Release and Arctic, sent out by theUnited States from New York, May 31 , 1855, to rescueKane if yet alive. Hartstene had volunteered for theservice, and nobly wrote to the Secretary of our Navy:"To avoid further risk of human life in a search soextremely hazardous, I would suggest the impropriety ofmaking any efforts to relieve us if we should not return . "Hartstene had searched all summer for the missingparty, going within thirty miles of Rensselaer Harbor,and on their journey southward learned from the Eskimos at Etah that Kane was still alive.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 303Dr. Kane reached New York Oct. 11, 1855. Heprepared his narrative of the journey for the press, thesales of the book the first year reaching sixty-fivethousand copies. He wrote to his friend and publisher,George W. Childs: "The book, poor as it is, has been mycoffin. "another journey, but hisHis mother also opposedHe was urged to undertakebroken health was against it.it. He said, " Other persuasion I can resist, but thissettles the question. "He received many rewards from both Great Britain andAmerica. The queen's medal was struck for both theofficers and men of the Advance, and the British government presented Mr. Grinnell with a large and costlysilver vase. Kane received the medal of the LondonSociety from Admiral Beechey, R. N.; but that of theParis Society came too late, for he died at Havana, Cuba,Feb. 10, 1857, at the age of thirty-seven. His motherwas at his bedside and read to him the Bible, according to his often-made request, or repeated to him suchverses as "The Lord is my Shepherd," or "Let not yourheart be troubled . "He died as he had lived, in faith and hope, the wordshe had characteristically given to his boats. He saidin his Narrative: " I never lost my hope. . . . I neverdoubted for an instant that the same Providence whichhad guarded us through the long darkness of winter wasstill watching over us for good, and that it was yet inreserve for us - for some: I dared not hope for allto bear back the tidings of our rescue to a Christianland."Kane's body lay in state at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, and was buried with distinguished honors.304 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERSNow that it was known that Franklin had spentfirst winter on Beechey Island, and that three graves ofhis men had been found there, Lady Franklin could notrest until a further search was undertaken.As soon as the Prince Albert returned with the information, she was re-equipped by Lady Franklin and sentout in 1851, under command of Captain Kennedy, toexplore Prince Regent Inlet, as this inlet had been.blocked with ice when the Prince Albert attempted previously to explore it . Under Kennedy was LieutenantBellot of France, who volunteered for the service; but hewas drowned while leading a sledge party in WellingtonChannel, Aug. 17, 1853. Kennedy made the completecircuit of North Somerset.Lady Franklin fitted out the steamer Isabel, underCommander Inglefield, in the autumn of 1852, whichreturned after having sailed to the head of Baffin's Bay.Several other ships of search were sent out in the years1853-54.Dr. John Rae, under the Hudson Bay Company, had in1846-47 explored from Fort Churchill on the west coastof Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Boothia, and later, thecoasts of Wollaston and Victoria Lands. In 1853 he wassent around Committee Bay, at the lower part of BoothiaGulf and to the coasts of Boothia Isthmus.He wintered in Repulse Bay, south of Melville Peninsula and of Committee Bay, and in the spring of 1854commenced his explorations. On April 20, 1854, hemet some Eskimos in Pelly Bay, in the western part ofBoothia Gulf, from whom he obtained some articleswhich belonged to Franklin and his men. From themhe obtained the following information, as given in hisofficial report to the admiralty: "In the spring fourSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 305winters past (spring, 1850) [probably 1848] a party of' white men,' amounting to about forty, were seen travelling southward over the ice and dragging a boat withthem, by some Eskimos who were killing seals near thenorth shore of King William Land, which is a largeisland. None of the party could speak the Eskimolanguage intelligibly, but by signs the natives weremade to understand that their ship, or ships, had beencrushed by the ice, and that they were now going towhere they expected to find deer to shoot. Froin theappearance of the men, all of whom except one officerlooked thin, they were then supposed to be gettingshort of provisions, and purchased a small seal from thenatives."At a later date the same season, but previous to thebreaking-up of the ice, the bodies of some thirty persons were discovered on the continent, and five on anisland near it, about a long day's journey to the northwest of a large stream, which can be no other thanBack's Great Fish River. . . . Some of the bodies hadbeen buried (probably those of the first victims of thefamine), some were in a tent or tents, others underthe boat, which had been turned over to form a shelter,and several lay scattered about in different directions .Of those found on the island one was supposed to havebeen an officer, as he had a telescope strapped over hisshoulders, and his double- barrelled gun lay underneathhim."From the mutilated state of many of the corpsesand the contents of the kettles, it is evident that ourwretched countrymen had been driven to the lastresource as a means of prolongingexistence.cannibalism -306 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS."There appeared to have been an abundant stock ofammunition, as the powder was emptied in a heap onthe ground by the natives out of the kegs or cases containing it, and a quantity of ball and shot was foundbelow high-water mark, having probably been left on theice close to the beach. There must have been a numberof watches, compasses, telescopes, guns (several doublebarrelled) , etc., all of which appear to have been brokenup, as I saw pieces of those different articles with theEskimos, together with some silver spoons and forks. Ipurchased as many as I could get. . . ."None of the Eskimos with whom I conversed hadseen the ' whites,' nor had they ever been at the placewhere the bodies were found, but had their informationfrom those who had been there, and who had seen partof the party when travelling."The government award of £10,000 was given to Dr.Rae for his discovery, though Lady Franklin was notsatisfied, as nothing very definite was yet known concerning Franklin and the ships. The government nowceased its efforts, as by this time, says Mr. A. H. Beesly,in his life of Franklin, about £800,000 had been expended in ships, etc., for the Franklin search. About4,300 miles had been sledged. Lieutenant M'Clintockestimates the amount expended by England in theFranklin search as £982,000, while the United Statesspent a quarter of a million dollars.Lady Franklin had already sent out four ships largelyat her own expense; and now she sent out anotheralmost entirely at her own cost, the steam yacht Fox, of177 tons, paying £2,000 for her, Captain M'Clintockcommanding. Associated with him were LieutenantHobson, R. N., and Captain Allen Young, who not only― -SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 307offered his services gratuitously, but contributed largelyfrom his own private fortune towards the expenses ofthe expedition. Provisions were taken for two yearsand four months. Captain M'Clintock went withoutinstructions other than as Lady Franklin said, to recover, if possible, " some of the unspeakably preciousdocuments of the expedition, public and private, and thepersonal relics of my dear husband and his companions. ”Lady Franklin wrote M'Clintock:"It will be yours [the honor] as much if you fail(since you may fail in spite of every effort) as if yousucceed; and be assured that, under any and all circumstances whatever, such is my unbounded confidence inyou, you will possess and be entitled to the enduringgratitude of your sincere and attached friend,JANE FRANKLIN.Carl Petersen, the Eskimo interpreter for CaptainPenny and Dr. Kane, went with them.The Fox left Aberdeen July 1, 1857, and was frozenin the pack in Melville Bay off the coast of Greenlandby the middle of August. She was beset for 242 days,drifting southward, and carried 1,194 geographical miles,or 1,381 statute miles, before she was released from theice, April 25, 1858.In the beginning of winter, Dec. 4, occurred the firstburial from the ship. A hole had been cut in the ice,and the body was drawn on a sledge by the men. " Whata scene it was! I shall never forget it, " writes Sir F.Leopold M'Clintock in his "Voyage of the Fox: " "Thelonely Fox ' almost buried in snow, completely isolatedfrom the habitable world, her colors half-mast high, andbell mournfully tolling; our little procession slowly6308 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.marching over the rough surface of the frozen deepguided by lanterns and direction-posts, amid the drearydarkness of an Arctic winter; the death-like stillnessaround, the intense cold, and the threatening aspect ofa murky, overcast sky; and all this heightened by oneof those strange lunar phenomena which are but seldomseen even here, a complete halo encircling the moon,through which passed a horizontal band of pale lightthat encompassed the heavens; above the moon appearedthe segments of two other halos, and there were alsomock moons, or paraselenæ, to the number of six. . .Scarcely had the Burial Service been completed whenour poor dogs, discovering that the ship was deserted, setup a most dismal, unearthly moaning, and continued ittill we returned on board. "66 ...After her release from the ice the Fox sailed northward again through Melville Bay, and into Lancastersound to Beechey Island. Here M'Clure erected a marble monument which had been sent to the Polar regionsby Lady Franklin. Lieutenent Hartstene, when in hissearch for Kane, carried the monument, but he was prevented by the ice from reaching Beechey Island. Onthestone are the words:To the memory ofFRANKLIN,CROZIER, FITZJAMES,and all theirgallant brother officers and faithfulcompanions who have suffered and perishedin the cause of scienceand the service of their country.THIS TABLETis erected near the spot wherethey passed their first ArcticSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS 309winter, and whence they issuedforth to conquer difficulties orTO DIE.It commemorates the grief of theadmiring countrymen and friends,and the anguish, subdued by faith ,of her who has lost, in the heroicleader of the expedition , the most devoted and affectionate ofhusbands." And so He bringeth them into thehaven where they would be. "1855.Aug. 16, 1858, the Fox sailed from Beechey Islandup Prince Regent Inlet towards Bellot Strait namedafter the dead French officer, which separates northSomerset and Boothia. After being nearly shipwreckedthe party wintered in Port Kennedy, at the eastern endof the strait. During the winter they made ready forthe sledge journeys in various directions in the spring.On Feb. 17 M'Clintock set off toward the west ofBoothia with two men and two sledges drawn by fifteendogs.M'Clintock says of his dog-team: " They bit throughtheir traces, and hid away under the sledge, or leapedover one another's backs, so as to get into the middle ofthe team out of the way of my whip, while the tracesbecame plaited up, and the dogs were almost knottedtogether; the consequence was, I had to halt every fewminutes, pull off my mits, and, at the risk of frozenhands, disentangle the lines . . . . Their strength andendurance are astonishing. When an Eskimo dog feelsthe whip, he usually bites his neighbor; the bite ispassed along to the next, and a general fight and howling match ensues. "310 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.When a dog-sledge is stopped by the rough ice ordeep snow, "the dogs," said McClintock, " instead ofexciting themselves, lie down, looking perfectly delightedat the circumstance. "The cold was intense, 421° below zero. On March 1they reached the supposed position of the magnetic pole,and soon met four Eskimos returning home from aseal-hunt.One of the Eskimos wore a naval button, and whenasked where he obtained it, he said, " from some whitepeople who were starved upon an island where there aresalmon (that is, in a river); and that the iron of whichtheir knives were made came from the same place.One of these men said he had been to the island to obtainwood and iron, but none of them had seen the whitemen."The entire Eskimos village, about forty-five persons,near Cape Victoria, came out to see M'Clintock in themorning. The Englishmen purchased all the relics ofFranklin which they could find: six silver spoons andforks, the property of Sir John Franklin, LieutenantH. T. D. Le Vesconte, J. W. Fairholme, and LieutenantEdward Couch - supposed from the initial C. and crest,a lion's head; also a silver medal belonging to A.McDonald, assistant surgeon of the Terror, obtained as aprize at a medical examination in Edinburgh, April, 1838,part of a gold watch-chain, seven knives, and bows andarrows made by the natives out of materials obtainedfrom the ships, and several other things. A spear- staffmeasuring six feet and three inches, with head of steel,the natives said they got from a boat in the Great FishRiver.One of the Eskimos told Petersen, the interpreter,SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 311that "a ship having three masts had been crushed by theice out in the sea to the west of King William Island,but that all the people landed safely; he was not one ofthose who were eye-witnesses of it; the ship sank, sonothing was obtained by the natives from her."The Eskimos were eager to barter with M'Clintock, for knives, needles, scissors, and beads. One womantook a naked infant by the arm from the fur hoodwhere she carried it on her back, and holding it towardM'Clintock, with the thermometer at sixty degreesbelow freezing point, begged for a needle for her baby.M'Clintock says he gave her a needle " as expeditiouslyas possible." One of the natives offered LieutenantPeary, when in Greenland, his wife and two children for aknife, which generous proposition the officer was obligedto decline. M'Clintock returned to his ship, after twentyfive days, having made a sledge journey of four hundredand twenty English miles.Encouraged now with the hope of finding more relicsof Franklin, two sledge parties started out, one underCaptain M'Clintock, and the other under LieutenantHobson. The load for each man to drag was about twohundred pounds, and for each dog one hundred pounds.After several days journeying they met the same Eskimo whom they had seen before at Cape Victoria.They now heard from the natives that " two ships hadbeen seen off King William Island; one of them wasseen to sink in deep water, . . . but the other was forcedon shore by the ice, where they suppose she stillremains, but is much broken. Oot-loo-lik is the nameof the place where she grounded . . . [thirty or fortymiles south-west from Cape Herschel ] . . . . The body ofa man was found on board the ship; a very large man, and...312 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.had long teeth. In the fall of the year the boats weredestroyed -that is August or September — all the white -people went away to the ' large river, ' taking a boat, orboats, with them, and in the following winter their boneswere found there."At Cape Victoria the two leaders separated, M'Clintock taking the east coast of King William Island forsearch, and Hobson the west. On the east shore of theisland, near Cape Norton, M'Clintock met thirty or fortynatives from whom he purchased two tablespoons, withW. W. on one and W. G. on the other, with Franklin'screst upon them, and four other pieces of silver platebearing the initials or crests of Franklin, Crozier, Fairholme, and McDonald; also bows and arrows of Englishwoods, and uniform and other buttons. . . . The silverspoons and forks were readily sold for four needleseach. " The Eskimos offered them a heavy sledge,probably made from the ships, but this the white mencould not carry.The Eskimos said " There had been many books, butall have long ago been destroyed by the weather." Onewoman and boy had visited the wreck during the preceding winter, that is 1857-58. She said, " Many of thewhite men dropped by the way as they went to the GreatRiver."May 12 M'Clintock and his party encamped upon theice in the mouth of Back's Great Fish River, and a littlelater on Montreal Island, farther up the river. Herethey found " a piece of a preserved-meat tin, two piecesof iron hoop, some scraps of copper, and an iron hookbolt, " which had probably been brought there from theship. The thermometer was now at zero, and the land wascovered with snow. Here they shot a hare and a brace ofSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 313willow-grouse, showing that at this season of the yearthere was very little fresh meat to be obtained for food.They crossed over to the mainland, Adelaide Peninsula, and then back to King William Island, along thesouthern shore. They found a cairn nearly five feethigh, appearing to be of recent construction, but nothing within it. If there had been papers, they weredestroyed.Shortly after midnight of May 25, nine miles east ofCape Herschel, near the beach, which the winds keptpartially bare from snow, they found a human skeleton,the bare skull showing above the snow, with here andthere some fragments of clothing appearing through thesnow, the tie of a black silk neckerchief, pieces of a bluewaistcoat, silk-covered buttons of a blue cloth great- coat,clothes-brush, comb, and pocket-book. In the comb weresome light brown hairs.The bleached skeleton was lying upon its face towardsthe Great Fish River, " the limbs and smaller bones eitherdissevered or gnawed away by small animals. " Theman was slightly built. The pocket-book was opened,when it could be thawed, and found to contain eightletters or papers with Henry Peglar's name on several.One thing was now proved; viz. , that some of theFranklin party had reached the lower part of KingWilliam Island, and had seen for themselves the Northwest Passage, through Simpson's Strait.At Cape Herschel was a large cairn erected in 1839,but which, by the appearance of the stones, had recentlybeen partially torn down as if somebody had been seeking for things deposited therein. M'Clintock felt surethat some most valuable documents must have been lefthere by the retreating party.314 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.About twelve miles beyond Cape Herschel M'Clintock found a small cairn built by Hobson, and a notewithin it, stating that he had found the record, so longeagerly sought, at Point Victory, on the north-westcoast of King William Land. The cairn, which hadbeen five or six feet high, had partially fallen down,and the record in a tin cylinder was found on the groundamong some loose stones.This was the sad record: -"28th of May, 1847. H. M. ships Erebus and Terrorwintered in the ice in lat. 70° 05′ N., long. 98° 23′ W.Having wintered in 1846-47 [ they meant 1845-46 ] atBeechey Island, in lat. 74° 43′ 28″ N. Long. 91° 39′15" W., after having ascended Wellington channel tolat. 77°, and returned by the west side of CornwallisIsland.Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition.All well.Party consisting of 2 officers and 6 men left the shipon Monday, 24th May, 1847.GRA. GORE, Lieut.CHAS. F. DES VEUX, Mate."It is probable that they went to Cape Herschel to seefor themselves the North-west Passage.Nearly a year after this, around the margin of therecord, these words were faintly traced:"April 25, 1848: H. M. ships Terror and Erebus weredeserted on the 22d April, five leagues N. N. W. of this,having been beset since 12th September, 1846. Theofficers and crews, consisting of 105 souls, under the command of Captain F. R. M. Crozier, landed here in lat.69° 37′ 42″ N., long, 98° 41′ W. Sir John Franklin diedSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 315on the 11th of June, 1847; and the total loss by deathsin the expedition has been to this date 9 officers and 15men.F. R. M. Crozier,Captain and Senior officer,and start on to-morrow 26thfor Back's Fish River.JAMES FITZJAMES,Captain H. M. S. Erebus.The paper was written by Fitzjames, save the signatures, and the line stating where they were going. Sosad and so concise a record is seldom found: theirleader Sir John dead; the last hopeless winter takingaway twenty-one of their number, Graham Gore amongthem; and the remaining one hundred and five startingaway so early in the season on a journey which promisedlittle else save death by starvation.M'Clintock journeyed on up the west coast of KingWilliam Land, naming the extreme point Cape Crozier,and soon after saw a large boat, which had been seenalso by Hobson. It measured 28 feet long, and 7 feet 3inches wide, evidently intended for the Great FishRiver. It was mounted upon a sledge, the whole weighing about 1,400 pounds.Within the boat were portions of two skeletons, oneof a slight young person in the bow of the boat muchdevoured by wolves, perhaps, and the other of a large,strongly made, middle-aged man, lying across the boat inthe stern, enveloped with clothes and furs. Close besidethe latter were found five watches one watch bore thecrest of Lieutenant Couch and two double-barrelledguns, one barrel in each loaded and cocked, the other having for some reason been discharged standing muzzleupwards against the boat's side as if ready to shoot game.316 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.Quantities of clothing were found in the boat, besidesseven or eight pairs of boots of various kinds, severalsilk handkerchiefs, towels, brushes, needle and threadcases, several small books, all Scriptural, except the"Vicar of Wakefield, " a Bible much interlined, a prayerbook, forty pounds of chocolate, an empty pemican can ,which would hold twenty-two pounds (it was marked E. ,and probably belonged to the Erebus) , eleven large silverspoons, the same number of forks, and four teaspoons,all marked with the initials or crests of nine differentofficers .The boat was pointed towards the north-east, that is,towards the abandoned ships; so it seems probable that,unable to proceed towards the Fish River, some of themen, hoping against hope, determined to go back andtry to subsist till deliverance might come from somesource. These two were probably left till the restcould go back to the ship and then rescue them.The boat was about sixty-four miles from the ships,and seventy miles from the place where M'Clintockhad found the first skeleton.When M'Clintock reached Point Victory, he found agreat quantity of things which the crews had evidentlybeen unable to carry after the journey of fifteen miles:four sets of boats, cooking-stoves, shovels, a small caseof medicines, brass plate of a wooden gun-case, engravedC. H. Osmer, R. N. (the purser of the Erebus) , bar magnets, a small sextant marked Frederic Hornby, a mateof the Terror (presented in later years by his brother,Admiral Hornby, to Lieutenant Wyatt Rawson, who fellat the battle of Tel- el-Kebir) , and a huge pile of clothingand blankets four feet high. From this point M'Clintockreturned to his ship. Allen Young also made a perilousSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 317and most interesting sledge journey around Prince ofWales Land.Hobson spent thirty-one days on the desolate westshore of King William Island. Besides the record andclothing at Point Victory and the boat with skeletons,Hobson found clothes, three small tents, and otherthings at Cape Felix, the northern extremity of theisland. During the whole month he shot but one bearand four willow- grouse. One wolf and a few foxes wereseen. " One fox," says M'Clintock, 66 was either so desperately hungry, or so charmed with the rare sight ofanimated beings, that he played about the party until thedogs snatched him up, although in harness and draggingthe sledge at the time."M'Clintock says nothing can exceed the gloom anddesolation of the west coast of the island. Hobson wasso afflicted with scurvy that he was unable to stand whenhe reached the ship. The scarcity of fresh food attainable, and the fact that no preserved meat or vegetabletins were found about the cairns or along the march ofthe Franklin crew, " makes the inference," as M'Clintock says, " as plain as it is painful! " Scurvy and wantprobably did their fatal work quickly.The Fox and her brave and successful men reachedGodhavn, Greenland, Aug. 26, 1859. They parted withregret from the Eskimo guides, who said they hadbeen treated " all the same as brothers." The dogs theygave to those whom they felt would treat them kindly,but the poor creatures acted as though the ship was theirhome. 'They ran round the harbor to the point nearestthe ship," says M'Clintock, " and there, upon the rocks,spent the whole period of our stay. As we sailed slowlyout of the harbor they ran along the rocks abreast of the66318 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.ship to the outermost extreme, howling most piteously;even when far out at sea we could still hear their plaintive chorus."The ship reached England, Sept. 23, 1859. Government voted M'Clintock and his men five thousand pounds,and also voted two thousand pounds for a monument inWaterloo Place with the following inscription:FRANKLIN.To the great navigatorand his brave companionswho sacrificed their lives incompleting the discovery of the North-west PassageA. D. 1847-48.Erected by the unanimous vote of Parliament.―M'Clintock received the freedom of the city of Londonfor his discoveries, the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, honorary degrees from different universities,and knighthood from Queen Victoria.There were some persons who believed that a portionof the Franklin party might yet be alive, or, as KingWilliam Island had been searched when covered withsnow, more traces of the dead might be discovered whenthe land was bare.One person, toiling at his trade, that of engraver, inthe city of Cincinnati, O., for nine long years, from theday Lieutenant De Haven went out in the Advance,in 1850, to the return of Captain M'Clintock in the Fox,1859, was using every spare moment in the study of Arctic research, and thinking what could be done for therescue of Franklin.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 319Charles Francis Hall was without means; but he haduntiring perseverance and energy, faith in his mission,for he believed that he was called to the work, and anunfailing trust in Providence. Through obstacles almostinsurmountable, visiting and talking with prominentmen, explaining his plans to this and that learnedsociety, neglecting his business for the one purpose ofhis life, he finally obtained money to build a boat, onesledge, to procure twelve hundred pounds of pemican, afew instruments, and other stores.The firm of Williams & Haven of New London, Conn. ,offered to take him and his outfit, free of charge, in oneof their vessels, the George Henry, to the vicinity ofFrobisher Bay, north of Hudson's Strait, and from therewith his boat and the native helpers he intended to makehis way to King William Land and the adjoining country. He took with him from the United States, May 29,1860, an Eskimo interpreter, Kudlago, whom CaptainBudington of the George Henry had brought back on aprevious voyage.In crossing the Banks of Newfoundland Kudlago tooka severe cold, and failed rapidly. An eider-duck wasshot for him, but he could eat only a small portion, theheart and liver, both raw. He longed to get home, andasked frequently, " Teek-ko se-ko? teek-ko se-ko? " —Do you see ice? do you see ice? He died Sunday morning, near the coast of Greenland, about three hundredmiles from his home, asking pitifully at the last, " Doyou see ice? " He was buried at sea.When the ship reached her anchorage, and Kudlago'sfamily came to meet him, there was deep sorrow. Asthe wife " looked at us," says Hall, " and then at thechest where Kudlago had kept his things, and which320 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.Captain Budington now opened, the tears flowed fasterand faster, showing that nature is as much susceptibleof all the softer feelings among these children of theNorth as with us in the warmer South. But her griefcould hardly be controlled when the treasures Kudlagohad gathered in the States for her and his little girl wereexhibited. She sat herself down upon the chest, andpensively bent her head in deep, unfeigned sorrow."Hall lost his expedition boat on Frobisher Bay, whichloss was a severe blow. His original plans of going toKing William Island were therefore given up; but helived among the Eskimos for more than two years,studying their customs and language, making sledgejourneys, discovering relics of the expedition of Sir Martin Frobisher, three hundred years before, ever havingin mind the one purpose in the future to search forthe lost men of the Erebus and Terror.Hall ascertained that " Frobisher's Strait " was not astrait, but a bay. On his return to America, Sept. 13, 1862,he brought with him two valuable Eskimo helpersEbierbing (Joe) and Too-koo-litoo, his wife ( Hannah) ,who had lived twenty months in England, and spokeEnglish well.He at once began preparations for a second expedition, lecturing to earn money, putting forth almostsuperhuman energy to interest, the country in the enterprise. In his private note-books were found underscoredsuch sentences as these: " Our greatest glory consistsnot in falling, but in rising every time we fall . " "Thequestion is not the number of facts a man knows, buthow much of a fact he is himself. "Mr. Henry Grinnell had already given a hundred andfifty thousand dollars for Arctic research, and had metSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 321with losses. The nation was engaged in the Civil War,and money was not at hand for the enterprise. Halltherefore again accepted the courtesy of Mr. R. H.Chapell of the firm of Williams & Haven, New London,and took free passage for himself, his native helpers, andhis boat, twenty-eight feet long, in the whaler Monticello,July 1, 1864.The ship landed at Depot Island in the southernpart of Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome, north of Hudson's Bay, and here Hall began his five years of life amongthe Eskimos, living withthem in their Igloos, orsnow huts, eating their raw food, becoming their friendand confidant, and learning all he could of the Franklinparty.Now they shot a walrus weighing two thousand twohundred pounds, and now a seal, after watching wholenights near the seal-hole in the ice to spear it whenit came up to breathe. He heard from the Eskimos near Depot Island that two ships were lost someyears before, and the Kob-lu-nas (white men) werestarved or frozen, all but four, Captain Crozier and threeothers, who passed a winter with the tribe with whom.Hall was staying. " Crozier and the three men with himwere very hungry," the Eskimos told Hall, as Professor Nourse relates in Hall's " Second Arctic Expedition," published by the Senate of the United States in1879. "Crozier, though nearly starved and very thin,would not eat a bit of the Kob- lu-nas (the bodies ofwhite men); he waited till an Innuit who was with himand the three men caught a seal, and then Crozier onlyate one mouthful, one little bit first time. Next timeCrozier ate of the seal, he took a little larger piece,though that was a little bit too. One man of the whole322 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.number four died because he was sick. The others alllived and grew fat, and finally Crozier got one Innuitwith his kayak to accompany him and the two men intrying to get to the Kob-lu-nas country by travelling tothe southward. "The Eskimos said that Crozier and one of the menreached Chesterfield Inlet, on the west of Hudson's Bay,and visited the natives there, and were trying to reachFort Churchill or York Factory lower down on the bay.Before they reached the Great Fish River Franklin'smen had a fight with the Indians, not the Eskimos,and several Indians were killed, but no whites .-The Eskimos became good friends to Hall, loanedhim their dogs, and in every way tried to help thesearch. In the spring of 1866, after wintering at FortHope, where Dr. Rae's headquarters were, at the northeast corner of Repulse Bay, Hall started toward KingWilliam Island. About six miles above Cape Weynton,on Committee Bay, at the lower part of Boothia Gulf, hemet some Eskimos whose chief gave Hall two spoons,which he said were given him by Aglooka (Crozier); onone were the letters, F. R. M. C. The wife of the chiefhad a silver watch case. The natives told Hannah, theEskimos, that they had been alongside the ships; hadseen the great Eshemutta (Franklin ) . " This Eshemuttawas an old man with broad shoulders, gray hair, fullface, and bald head. He was always wearing somethingover his eyes " (spectacles, Hannah said). "He wasquite lame and sick when they last saw him. He wasalways very kind, wanted them to eat constantly, verycheerful and laughing; everybody liked him. . . . Theship was crushed by the ice. While it was sinking themen worked for their lives, but before they could get muchSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 323out from the vessel she sank. For this reason Aglooka(Crozier) died of starvation, for he could not get provisions to carry with him on his land journey."The Eskimos further said that for a long time theyfeared to go on the other ship. But on seeing one manalive on her, they went and took what they wanted;afterwards they found two boats with dead men in them.They saw a cairn and many papers, which had beengiven to the children or thrown away. One Eskimohad slept near the cairn, wrapping himself in blanketstaken from some banked-up clothing. A skeleton wasnear the pile. (We know there was such a pile near thePoint Victory cairn. )After further exploration Hall was obliged to winterat Repulse Bay, as the Eskimos were afraid of hostile.tribes. He was cheered this winter by a letter fromLady Franklin, expressing the deepest sympathy in hiswork.Hearing that some of Franklin's men were, or hadbeen, on the shores of Fury and Hecla Straits, havingprobably crossed Boothia Gulf, Hall went thither andpassed a season in exploring. The natives describedmen who wore caps on their heads and overcoats withhoods; footprints long and narrow, with deep places inthe heel, and the tread always outward. These had beenseen as late as 1864. Probably some white men hadbeen there, but it is not known who.Professor Nourse, in his " American Explorations inthe Ice Zones," repeats a story told by Captain WilliamAdams, of the Dundee Whaler Arctic (who took thePolaris party from the " Raven's Craig " to Dundee inhis ship from whence they went to New York) on hisreturn from a cruise as late as 1881. While his ship324 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.----was within fifteen miles of Fury and Hecla Straits anintelligent Eskimo told him that when he was a youngman in his father's hut, probably about thirty- fiveyears before, in 1848, three men came over the landtoward Repulse Bay. The great " Amigak, " or captain,died and the other two, who cried very much, lived sometime in the hut and finally died. The Eskimos showedCaptain Adams on the chart where they were buried.The Eskimos said years before two vessels had beenlost far to the westward, and that seventeen men cameover the country, but only three survived to reach hisfather's hut.In the spring of 1869 Hall started for King WilliamIsland with a party of natives, five men, three women,and two children and a baby in the hood of its mother.The load of one sled was twenty-eight hundred pounds;the other twenty-five hundred.At Sheppard's Bay, a little to the east of KingWilliam Island, they met Eskimos who said they hadseen Crozier, a telescope about his neck and a gun inhis hand, and about forty-five men, in July, 1848, a fewmiles above Cape Herschel, dragging two sleds. Crozierwas putting up a tent for the night. They gave himsome meat, as he and his party seemed very hungry.During the night the Eskimos stole away from them,fearful probably that they might be asked to share theirfood with the white men, and they had none to spare.The next spring they found the bodies of the white men,but did not see Crozier's, so they believed he had beensaved and gone back to his country. It will be remembered that they told Dr. Rae one of the bodies on theisland, perhaps Todd Island, had a telescope over itsshoulder and a double-barrelled gun lay under it.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 325Farther on Hall heard that one of the ships haddrifted to the shores of O'Reilly's Island, off the southwest coast of King William Island, and that somewhite men had passed the winter on her -possibly thosewho went back with the boat - and then abandoned her.Later the natives broke into the cabin and found onevery large man there - dead. The ship subsequentlywas so broken by the ice that she sank, but not till theyhad obtained a great deal of wood from the wreck.-The natives told him he would find five gravesor bodies on Todd Island, on the southern shore of KingWilliam Island . He went and found human bones inseveral places. On the mainland, Adelaide Peninsula, hefound an entire skeleton which was afterwards sentto England. It was identified as the body of Lieutenant Le Vesconte, by the filling in the teeth.The Eskimos further said that east of PfefferRiver, on the seashore, near Todd Island, two had diedand been buried; five miles eastward another; on thewest of Point Richardson, near by, had been found an awning-covered boat, with the remains of more than thirty;and on the western part of King William Island, alittle way inland from Terror Bay above Cape Herschel,a large tent was found whose floor was completely covered with bodies.-- -Hall brought away about one hundred and twenty- fivepounds' weight of relics, a boat, a mahogany writingdesk, many pieces of silver plate, about one hundredand fifty things in all, and only regretted he could notbring more, as he said the relics are possessed, " by natives all over the Arctic regions from Pond's Bay toMackenzie River. "Hall returned to America in the fall of 1869, and imme-326 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.diately began to prepare for another Arctic expedition,this time in search of the North Pole, having become satisfied that all of the Franklin party were dead.Hall sailed from New London July 3, 1871, in thesteamer Polaris, and stopped in Greenland for Eskimosand dogs (Hans Hendrick, the dog-driver, brought aboardhis wife, three children, boxes, bundles, and severalpuppies whose eyes could scarcely bear the light), andcarried his ship up Smith's Sound to a higher northernlatitude than had been reached by any other vessel, 82 °16' , two hundred miles north of Kane's highest point.Here she was beset by ice, but eventually went into winter quarters on the eastern side of the sound at a placewhich Hall named Thank God Harbor. A great icebergprotected them, four hundred and fifty feet long, and threehundred feet broad, and probably one hundred and eightyfeet deep. Hall called this Providence Berg.Near the middle of October, Hall started on a sledgejourney to prospect his route towards the Pole . Hesaw and named Robeson's Strait, after the Secretary oftheNavy; Newman Bay, after Rev. Dr. Newman; also Sumner Cape and Brevoort Cape. Immediately on his return,Oct. 24, expecting to start again in two days, he hadan apoplectic attack, and expired at 3.25, A.M., Nov. 8,1871. The crew were two days in digging a grave twentysix inches deep for the devoted and self-sacrificing explorer. The work was done by the light of lanterns, asthe daytime was all darkness there. At 11. A.M. the ship'sbell tolled , the coffin was placed on a sled, and two bytwo the officers and crew bore their precious burden.The sobs of Hannah mingled with the sound of the frozen earth falling upon the coffin ." Joe and his wife," says Rear Admiral C. H. Davis inSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 327his "Polaris Expedition," " were almost heart-broken.They had looked upon Hall as a father for nearly tenyears; they never could hope to find any one who wouldtake his place. They had been with him in many trialsand dangers; they had often saved his life; they feltalone in the world."Five years afterwards, May 13, 1876, Captain Stephenson, of the Sir George Nares English expedition, in thepresence of twenty-four officers hoisted the Americanflag over the grave of Captain Hall, and erected a brasstablet which had been prepared in England. On it werethese words:"Sacred tothe memory ofCaptain C. F. Hall,of the U. S. S. Polaris,who sacrificed his life in the advancement of Science, Nov. 8, 1871.This tablet has been erected by the British Polar expedition of 1875,who, following in his footsteps, have profited by his experience. "Such international courtesy was warmly appreciated bythe American people.The loss to the expedition through Hall's death wasirreparable. As the ship was much damaged by ice, andthe coal supply was inadequate, it was decided to returnhome in the following August without further attemptsto go North. After leaving Thank God Harbor the Polaris entered a pack, and was tied to a floe, driftingdown the channel into Baffin's Bay. She leaked badly.Oct. 15 the floe to which she was attached broke up in astorm; and it was decided to abandon her and try to savethe provisions, clothing, and boats by hastily throwingthem out on the ice. Suddenly, in the gloom of the night,the Polaris with fourteen men on board parted from thefloe, and left the bewildered company alone. The328 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.steward called out in the darkness, " Good-by Polaris! "On the floe, a hundred yards long and seventy- fivebroad, were Captain Tyson, the assistant navigator, ninemen belonging to the Polaris, besides nine Eskimos,including three women and a baby eight weeks old christened Charles Polaris. Several men were brought in byboat from the small pieces of ice broken from the floe.All huddled together in a blinding snowstorm under somemusk-ox skins. They built a house from materials thrownout from the ship, and they made some snow huts, andlived on food procured for them by Joe and Hans, theEskimos; they had some food also which had beenthrown out from the ship.In this perilous condition they drifted down Baffin'sBay and Davis Strait, the floe crumbling, the sea sometimes washing over it, and finally were obliged to taketo their one boat, the other having been used for fuel.After drifting fifteen hundred miles in one hundredand ninety-six days, the men were picked up off the coastof Labrador by the English ship Tigress. The journeywas one of the most remarkable and thrilling on record.All were saved, even the baby. The Polaris was drivenhelplessly on shore in Lifeboat Cove, Littleton Island, onthe east side of Smith Sound, where the Etah Eskimosprovided much food for the sufferers. During the winterthey built a house from the wreck of the ship; and theEskimos improved the opportunity to become permanent visitors to the number of one hundred men, women,and children, and one hundred and fifty dogs. The menbuilt two boats and embarked in them June 3, and werepicked up by the Dundee whaler, Ravenscraig, in Melville Bay.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 329The devoted Eskimos, Joe and Hannah, who savedthe lives of the Tyson party by their hunting and care,would not escape to their Greenland home when theyhad the opportunity, and when, as Professor J. E. Noursesays, "there were just grounds of fear within theirbreasts that, in the almost famishing condition of thewhite men, some of them might make the Eskimosthe first victims, if the direst necessity should come. "They settled at their home in Groton Conn. , purchasedfor them by " Father Hall, " as they called the explorer.Joe became a carpenter; and Hannah, with the aid ofher sewing-machine, made furs and other articles forthe people of New London and Groton.Their first child died in New York in 1863; the second,on King William Island in 1866; a third, adopted bythem, called Sylvia (Punna), who went to school inGroton, died in 1875, at the age of nine years. Whenever a child dies, the mother collects all its playthingsand puts them upon its grave. Hannah died of consumption Dec. 31, 1876, at the age of thirty-eight.Her last words were, " Come, Lord Jesus, and take thypoor creature home! "In 1878, when Professor Nourse visited Hannah'sgrave, Joe knelt beside it and carefully weeded out thelong grass. "Hannah gone! Punna gone! " he said;" me go now again to King William Land; if have tofight, me no care."Joe went with Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka in theFranklin search party, June 19, 1878, and did not returnto the United States.One more and perhaps final effort was made to discover for a certainty the fate of the Franklin expedition. In the summer of 1878 Schwatka, of the Third330 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.United States Cavalry, American by birth and Polishby descent, with William H. Gilder second in command,were taken out from New York in the whaler Eothen,and landed near Chesterfield Inlet, on the west of Hudson's Bay. Captain Barry of the Eothen had been toldby the Eskimos at Repulse Bay, as had CaptainAdams, of the coming among them of a " stranger inuniform, accompanied by other white men." The chiefhad collected a great quantity of papers, and left themin a cairn, where silver spoons and other things hadbeen found. The Eskimo at Marble Island below Chesterfield Inlet also said, looking at Barry's log- book, thatthe white chief used a similar book, and the Eskimos gave Barry a spoon engraved with the word" Franklin. " The spoon bore Franklin's crest, and undoubtedly belonged to him. It was sent to Miss SophiaCracroft, London, niece of Sir John Franklin.Schwatka wintered on the mainland, near DépôtIsland, at the top of Hudson Bay, and April 1, 1879,began his unequalled sledge journey of three thousandtwo hundred and fifty miles, accompanied by thirteenEskimos, men, women, and children. Forty-two dogsdrew the sleds with six months' food for seventeenpeople, about five thousand pounds. They depended formeat largely upon animals to be killed during thejourney.Crossing a branch of the Great Fish River, they namedit Hayes, after President Rutherford B. Hayes. On thisriver they met a party of Ook-joo-liks, whose chief toldthem of Franklin's men. His family comprised nearlyall the tribe which was left of that once occupying thewestern coast of Adelaide Peninsula and King WilliamLand. He told about the same story which Captain HallSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 331had heard. He had seen 66 a white man dead in a bunkof a big ship," when his son, about thirty-five, was a child.He saw tracks of white men on the mainland, at first thefootprints of four, afterwards only of three. His peopledid not know how to get inside of the stranded ship atfirst; but they finally cut a hole level with the ice, andlater the ship filled and sank. They saw sweepingsoutside the ship, which seemed to have been brushed offby the people living on board. They found some redcans of fresh meat, with tallow mixed. Many had beenopened, and four were unopened. They saw books onboard, and left them there; they took away manyknives, forks, spoons, and pans.The son-in-law of the chief, when about fourteen yearsold, saw "two boats come down Back's River; one hadeight men in it, and he did not count those in the otherboat. He had seen a cairn on Montreal Island, andfound therein a pocket-knife, a pair of scissors, and somefish-hooks."The Schwatka party pushed on to the west of Richardson Point, on Adelaide Peninsula, and there met theNeitchilles, a tribe of Eskimos usually hostile. An oldman told the party that he had seen a number of skeletons three or four miles west of there; had seenbooks and papers scattered along the shore and backfrom the beach; knives and forks, a boat broken up bythe natives to make wooden implements, and some goldand silver watches given to the children.Another man said he had picked up tin cans, pieces ofbottles, iron, etc. , only the last summer on an island offGrant Point, near O'Reilly's Island, where the natives.said a ship was sunk off the south-east coast of KingWilliam Island. A map being shown him, he pointed to332 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.a place eight miles west of Grant Point. All this tendedto prove the story that several men sailed on the shipdown to Simpson's Strait, thus making the north-westpassage before they abandoned her. It seems possiblethat this was the Terror, from a block found at WilmotBay with O R or 10 on it, with part of the R obliterated .Schwatka and his men visited the cove west of Richardson Point, where Hall had been told of the awningcovered boat and skeletons, since called StarvationCove. The natives said the boat was turned upsidedown, and the skeletons were beneath it. One skeletonwas found five miles farther inland. Later they learnedfrom an Eskimo that in this cove was " a tin caseabout two feet long and a foot square, which was fastened, and they broke it open. It was full of bookswritten and printed, the last precious records of thedespairing company. Among the books the Eskimossaw probably the needle of a compass, as the needle stuckfast to any iron which it touched. The boat was then rightside up, and the tin case in it. The books were taken homefor the children to play with, and finally torn and lost,or lay among the rocks till carried away by the wind, ordestroyed by the storms. There were also several pairsof gold spectacles and gold watches, doubtless belonging to officers . The Eskimos believed that the whitemen were driven to cannibalism to preserve life. Onewoman, about fifty-five, Ahlangyah, told them that onthe eastern coast of Washington Bay, on the south shoreof King William Island, years ago she saw ten mendragging a sledge with a boat on it. Five of the menput up a tent on the shore, and five remained in theboat on the ice. The Eskimos erected a tent also , andthey stayed together five days. They killed a numberSIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 333of seals and gave them to the white men, who were verythin, and their mouths dry, hard, and black. They hadno fur clothing on. One man's name was Aglooka (thiswas the name they always applied to Crozier); another,"Toolooah,❞ —it probably sounded like that to the Eskiwas bigger than any of the others and older.Doktook (Doctor) was a short man with a red beard. Allthree wore spectacles, not ice-goggles. All started forAdelaide Peninsula at night, because the ice would bethicker at that time.mos,She also saw a tent on the shore at the head of TerrorBay the next spring, probably 1849. (This was thesame tent described to Hall. ) There were dead bodiesinside, and outside some were covered with sand. Therewas no flesh on the bodies; the cords and sinews onlywere left. There were knives, forks, watches, clothing,and many books. There were one or two graves also.They were not the same party she saw going to Adelaide Peninsula. Tears filled her eyes as she recited thestory.The Eskimos went faster than the whites, and neversaw them again.The Schwatka party proceeded up the west coast ofKing William Island till they reached Cape Jane Franklin, near Victory Point, where they found the campingplace of the men after they abandoned the ships. Therewere cooking-stoves, kettles, and an open grave, witha quantity of blue cloth, which seemed to have been aheavy overcoat, wrapped about the body. A silver medalwas found, a mathematical prize from the Royal NavalCollege to John Irving, midsummer, 1830. Under thehead was a figured silk handkerchief neatly folded. Thegrave was identified as that of Lieutenant John Irving,334 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS.third officer of the Terror. The bones were gatheredup and brought home by Schwatka, and returned to hisgrateful relatives in Edinburgh, Scotland, where theywere buried with due honor.At several places on the western shore of King William Island they found human bones, that were buriedby them. At Terror Bay the sea evidently had washedaway all traces of the tent and its " floor covered withremains. " Some graves were also found which hadbeen opened by the Eskimos.The Schwatka party reached Dépôt Island, March 4,1880, after their sledge journey of more than elevenmonths. They suffered much from lack of food duringthe latter part of the journey, twenty-seven of theirdogs, or half the original number, dying from exhaustion or scarcity of provisions. From Dépôt Island theyreturned to the fort, bringing many relics of the Franklin expedition, among them two sledges seen by M'Clintock, which had at that time the boat upon them, withthe two skeletons.Schwatka received the Gold Medal of the GeographicalSociety of Paris. After the Franklin Search Expeditionhe explored the Yukon River in Alaska for the government, floating down the river on a raft for 1,305 miles.It was found to be navigable for 1,866 miles. In 1889 heexplored Old Mexico. He died in Portland, Oregon,Nov. 2, 1892, at the age of forty-three years. He wasburied at Salem, Oregon.Whether all the Franklin party died during the summer of 1848, or a few of them lingered for some yearsamong the Eskimos, is only conjecture. That the Eskimos saw more than one party is probable; but all at lastmet the same lonely death, in want of aid which cametoo late.SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS. 335Lady Franklin, the devoted wife, lived until 1875,twenty-eight years after her husband's death. One ofher last acts was the erection of a marble monument toSir John in Westminster Abbey, for which Tennyson,who married Franklin's niece, wrote the epitaph.66 Not here! The white North hath thy bones, and thou,Heroic Sailor Soul!Art passing on thy happier voyage nowTowards no earthly pole. "It was unveiled two weeks after her death. Thelate Dean Stanley added to the words on the monument,that it was " erected by his widow, who, after long waiting and sending many in search of him, herself departedto seek him in the realms of light, 18th July, 1875, agedeighty-three years."DAVID LIVINGSTONE.66AMORE perfect example of a downright simply honest life , whether in contact with queens orslave-boys, one may safely say is not on record on ourplanet." Such is the testimony of Thomas Hughes, thewell-known author of " School Days at Rugby," concerning the distinguished explorer, David Livingstone.Similar testimony is given by Henry M. Stanley, theheroic African traveller: " Four months and four daysI lived with him in the same house, or in the same boat,or in the same tent, and I never found a fault in him.I am a man of a quick temper, and often without sufficient cause, I dare say, have broken the ties of friendship; but with Livingstone I never had cause forresentment, but each day's life with him added to myadmiration for him."Again Stanley writes: " His religion is a constant,earnest, sincere practice. It is neither demonstrativenor loud, but manifests itself in a quiet, practical way,and is always at work. In him religion exhibits itsloveliest features; it governs his conduct not onlytowards his servants, but towards the natives, the bigoted Mahommedans, and all who come in contact with.him. "Florence Nightingale thought him " the greatest man336DAVID LIVINGSTONE.CDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 337of his generation; for Dr. Livingstone " said she, " stoodalone. There are few enough, but a few statesmen.There are few enough, but a fewgreat in medicine, or inart, or in poetry. There are a few great travellers. ButDr. Livingstone stood alone as the great Missionary Traveller, the bringer-in of civilization; or rather the pioneerof civilization he that cometh before to races lyingin darkness. "-Sir Bartle Frere, president of the Royal Geographical Society, said, " I never met his equal for energy andsagacity." Sir William Fergusson, eminent in medicine,wrote to the Lancet concerning this medical mission-"There has been among us, in modern times, one ofthe greatest men of the human race, David Livingary,stone. "Poor, a worker in a factory, and self-educated, he sleepsnow among kings and the noted of the earth in Westminster Abbey.On March 19, 1813, in a humble home in Blantyre,Scotland, on the banks of the Clyde, was born DavidLivingstone. He was the second son in a family of fivesons and two daughters.The father, Neil Livingstone, apprenticed to a tailorin his boyhood, disliked his trade, and became a retailtea-dealer. With this business, which seems never tohave been very profitable, he combined that of tractdistributing and the encouraging of reading books. Hewas ardently fond of good literature, especially alongthe theological line, and gathered into his home whatever his scanty money would permit him to buy. Hewas an earnest worker in the Sunday-school, and inmissionary societies, and a total abstainer from all whichintoxicates. He learned Gaelic that he might read theBible to his mother, who knew that language best.338 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.David's mother, Agnes Hunter, was a gentle, affectionate woman, the idol of her household, one who woreherself out to make a little go a great way in the poorman's home. David, when a lad, always swept andcleaned for her, " even under the door-mat," a thingwhich greatly pleased the neat, thrifty mother. Hewould say to her, remembering the eyes of the boys outside, " Mother, if you'll bar the door, I'll scrub the floorfor you," "a concession," says Thomas Hughes, "tothe male prejudices of Blantyre which he would nothave made in later life."Two sons died early, but the tea-trade would notsupport even those which were left; so at ten years ofage little David had to go into the cotton factory nearby as a piecer. From this time on he supported himself and helped his mother. The first half-crown heever earned he laid in her lap.His father's industry and his mother's cheer madethe home a place of happiness. After the hard work ofthe day was over, which lasted from six in the morning till eight at night, the evenings were spent in reading. It was the habit in this good Scotch family tolock the door at dusk; "by which time," says Dr. W. G.Blaikie in his life of Livingstone, " all the childrenwere expected to be in the house. One evening David.infringed this rule, and when he reached the door it wasbarred. He made no cry nor disturbance, but, havingprocured a piece of bread, sat down contentedly to passthe night on the doorstep. There, on looking out, hismother found him. It was an early application of therule which did him such service in later days, — to makethe best of the least pleasant situations. "-With a part of his first week's wages at the mill heDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 339purchased Ruddiman's " Rudiments of Latin." This andother books he studied in the evening school, whichlasted from eight to ten o'clock. "The dictionary part ofmy labors," he wrote later in his first book, " MissionaryTravels and Researches, " 66 was followed up till twelveo'clock, or later, if my mother did not interfere by jumping up and snatching the book out of my hands. .I read in this way many of the classical authors, andknew Virgil and Horace better at sixteen than I donow."David read everything which came within his reach,especially books of science and travels, though hisfather much preferred that he would confine himself toreligious books, such as the " Cloud of Witnesses," andBoston's " Fourfold State." His last whipping at thehands of his father came from a refusal to read Wilberforce's " Practical Christianity." The tract-distributercould not realize that the rod was not a promoter ofpiety. For years after this David disliked religious.reading of every kind.In every spare hour he scoured the country, searchingfor flowers, specimens of rocks or of animal life, hiseager mind always asking the reason of things. Withgreat delight he was gathering shells in the carboniferous limestone around Blantyre, when he asked aquarry-man (" who looked, " says Livingstone, " with thatpitying eye which the benevolent assume when viewingthe insane ") , " However did these shells come into theserocks? ""When God made the rocks, he made the shells inthem," was the sedate, but unconvincing reply."These excursions," says Livingstone, "often in company with brothers, one now in Canada, and the other at340 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.clergyman in the United States, gratified my intenselove of nature; and though we generally returned sounmercifully hungry and fatigued that the embryo parsonshed tears, yet we discovered, to us, so many new andinteresting things, that he was always as eager to join usnext time as he was the last."On one of these excursions they caught a salmon, — itwas against the law to catch salmon, and the fish wascarried home secreted in the trousers leg of the brotherCharlie. Though the boys were reproved by the goodcolporteur, the fish was eaten for supper.- After more than eight years of daily labor — therecould be little childhood about such a life the lad waspromoted to a " spinner's " position. Day after day heplaced his book on a portion of the spinning-jenny, " sothat I could," he says, "catch sentence after sentence asI passed at my work; I thus kept up a pretty constantstudy, undisturbed by the roar of the machinery. Tothis part of my education I owe my present power ofcompletely abstracting the mind from surrounding noises,so as to read and write with perfect comfort amid theplay of children, or near the dancing and songs of savages. The toil of cotton-spinning . was excessivelysevere on a slim, loose-jointed lad, but it was well paidfor...." Looking back now on that life of toil , I cannot butfeel thankful that it formed such a material part of myearly education; and, were it possible, I should like tobegin life over again in the same lowly style, and topass through the same hardy training. "Livingstone always retained his love for the poor, anda pride in his honest ancestry. When asked to change"and " to " but " in the last line of an epitaph which heDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 341put over the graves of his parents in Hamilton Cemetery,he refused."To showthe resting-place ofNeil Livingstoneand Agnes Hunter, his wife,and to express the thankfulness to Godof their childrenJohn, David, Janet, Charles, and Agnes,for poor and pious parents ."Some time during these toiling years the son of Christian parents turned towards Christian thought andreading. He found from Dr. Thomas Dick's works," The Philosophy of Religion " and " The Philosophy ofa Future State," " that religion and science were friendlyto one another. "He became so interested in missions, that he resolvedto give all he could earn beyond his barest needs forthe spread of the gospel. Finally a book, as a book hasdone before, changed the course of a life.Charles Gützlaff, a German medical missionary toChina, wrote an appeal to the churches of Great Britainand America for helpers. David, probably in his twentyfirst year, after reading this booklet, resolved to become a medical missionary.With what money he could earn, and a little given byhis parents and his elder brother, he went to Glasgow inthe winter of 1836-37, when he was twenty-three, walkingthe eight miles in the snow from Blantyre, accompaniedby his father.The lodgings were all too expensive for the slenderpurse of the young man. Finally, after searching all day,they found a room in Rotten Row at two shillings aweek.342 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.He engaged it, and the next day, after a tender farewell from his father, paid his fees of twelve pounds tothe various classes in Greek, chemistry, medicine, andlater in theology.He soon found that his tea and sugar disappeared, sohe obtained new lodgings in High Street, at half a crowna week.Young Livingstone became a warm friend of Mr. JamesYoung, the assistant of Dr. Graham, Professor of Chemistry; and in Young's room, where there was a benchturning-lathe, and other mechanical implements, learnedthe use of tools. This proved most valuable to him afterwards, when he built houses in Africa, and was, as hesaid, a " Jack-of-all- trades. "Dr. Young, F.R.S., became renowned later for hispurification of petroleum, and was called by Livingstone," Sir Paraffin."At the close of his term in April, Livingstone returnedto the mill and worked as hard as ever, saving moneyfor the second session. In 1838, having offered himselfto the London Missionary Society, he and a friend, Rev.Joseph Moore, afterwards missionary at Tahiti, were sentto spend some months with the Rev. Richard Cecil, whoresided at Chipping Ongar, in Essex. They studied theclassics and theology under him, and prepared sermons,which were to be committed to memory, and then delivered to the village congregations.Mr. Moore relates the following incident: " Livingstone prepared one; and one Sunday the minister ofStanford Rivers, where the celebrated Isaac Taylorresided, having fallen sick after the morning service,Livingstone was sent for to preach in the evening. Hetook his text, read it out very deliberately, and then --DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 343then -his sermon had fled! Midnight darkness cameupon him, and he abruptly said: Friends, I have forgotten all I had to say,' and, hurrying out of the pulpit,he left the chapel."One morning at three o'clock, while at Ongar, Livingstone started to walk twenty-seven miles to London, -there was no money to pay for rides, to do some business for his elder brother. After some hours in London,starting homeward, he found a lady by the roadside,stunned by falling from a gig. He took her into a housenear by, ascertained that no bones were broken, andrecommended that a doctor should be called. He soonlost his way; but, after regaining it, reached Ongar atmidnight, completely exhausted, and, says Moore, " whiteas a sheet, and so tired he could hardly utter a word. "The Missionary Society hesitated for some time as toaccepting Livingstone for their work. He did not seemsuccessful as a preacher; he was not fluent in extemporaneous prayer; but they finally decided to give himanother trial, and later accepted him.He hastened to London, and for nearly two yearsworked earnestly and with enthusiasm in the hospitals.Deeply interested in natural history, he gave as muchtime as he could spare to the study of comparative anatomy in the Hunterian Museum, under Professor Owen.Everywhere the young Scotchman won friends by reason of his gentleness and sympathy. " He was so kindand gentle in word and deed to all about him, that allloved him , " said one who was with him at Ongar. "Hehad always words of sympathy at command, and wasready to perform acts of sympathy for those who weresuffering." This gentleness he seems to have inherited.from his mother, to whom he was tenderly devotedthrough life.344 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.At the close of his medical studies he had a dangeroussickness from lung trouble, but recovered. He returnedto Glasgow to take his medical diploma, and spent anight with his family. David proposed to sit up allnight and talk, but his mother wisely objected. " I remember," says Livingstone's sister, " my father andhim talking over the prospects of Christian Missions.They agreed that the time would come when rich menand great men would think it an honor to support wholestations of missionaries, instead of spending their moneyon hounds and horses. On the morning of 17 Novemberwe got up at five o'clock. My mother made coffee.David read the One Hundred and Twenty-first and OneHundred and Thirty-fifth Psalms, and prayed. Myfather and he walked to Glasgow to catch the Liverpool steamer."They never met again. The father walked slowlyand sadly back to Blantyre. His son went out to winworld-wide renown.Sixteen years later Neil Livingstone, the father, layon his death-bed. His famous son was on his way backto England. " You wished so much to see David," saidhis daughter. " Ay, very much, very much; but thewill of the Lord be done. " Then he added, " But Ithink I'll know whatever is worth knowing about him.When you see him, tell him I think so. "When David was told these words, he wept, and gavethanks that night at family prayers " for the dead whohas died in the Lord."The opium war having closed China to David Livingstone, where he had first hoped to go, his mind wasturned toward Africa by Dr. Robert Moffat, the notedmissionary, then in London. Livingstone was ordainedDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 345Nov. 20, 1840, in Albion-street Chapel, London, andsailed December 8, in the ship George, to Cape Town,reaching it after three months.During the journey he learned to take astronomicalobservations under the captain's instructions. Hewrote to a friend: " The captain of our vessel was veryobliging to me, and gave me all the information respecting the use of the quadrant in his power, frequently sitting up till twelve at night for the purpose of takinglunar observations with me. "This knowledge proved invaluable in after years. "Inever knew a man," said Sir Thomas Maclear, the Astronomer Royal, " who, scarcely knowing anything of themethod of making geographical observations, or layingdown positions, become so soon an adept, that he couldtake the complete lunar observation, and altitudes fortime, within fifteen minutes. . . . To give an idea ofthe laboriousness of this branch of his work, on an average each lunar distance consists of five partial observations, and there are 148 sets of distances, being 740contacts; and there are two altitudes of each object before, and two after, which, together with altitudes fortime, amount to 21,812 partial observations. ... Whatthat man has done is unprecedented. . . . You could goto any point across the entire continent, along Livingstone's track, and feel certain of your position. " Maclearsaid Livingstone's observations of the course of theZambezi River were "the finest specimens of soundgeographical observations he ever met with. "From Algoa Bay, Livingstone started for Kuruman,Dr. Moffat's usual residence, seven hundred miles byox-wagon, arriving there July 31, 1841. Around theplace it was desert for the most part, but at the station346 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.the missionaries by irrigation and tree-planting hadmade it very attractive.Livingstone and one of their own missionaries who hadcome up from the Cape were warmly welcomed by thefiring of guns and the rush of men, women, and childrento clasp them by the hand.After a short stay at Kuruman he started north tofind a suitable place for a new station, as Dr. Moffat hadsuggested. From the first the natives were won by thekind manner and voice of Livingstone. He writes tohis sister Janet: " When about one hundred and fiftymiles from home we came to a large village. The chiefhad sore eyes: I doctored them, and he fed us prettywell, and sent a fine buck after me as a present. Whenwe got ten or twelve miles on the way, a little girleleven or twelve years old came up, and sat down undermy wagon, having run away with the purpose of comingwith us to Kuruman, where she had friends. She hadlived with a sister, lately dead. Another family tookpossession of her, for the purpose of selling her as soonas she was old enough for a wife; but not liking this,she determined to run away. With this intention shecame, and thought of walking all the way behind mywagon. I was pleased with the determination of thelittle creature, and gave her food; but before long heardher sobbing violently, as if her heart would break."On looking round I observed the cause. A man witha gun had been sent after her, and had just arrived. Idid not know well what to do, but was not in perplexitylong; for Pomare, a native convert who accompanied us,started up and defended her. He, being the son of achief, and possessed of some little authority, managedthe matter nicely. She had been loaded with beads, toDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 347render her more attractive, and fetch a higher price.These she stripped off and gave to the man. I afterwards took measures for hiding her, and if fifty menhad come they would not have got her. "For six months Livingstone remained at a place calledKolobeñ, where, away from all Europeans, he studiedthe habits and language ofthe Bakwains ( CrocodilePeople).One of the neighboring chiefs, Sekomi, came and satwith Livingstone in his hut, and, after being apparentlyin deep thought, said, " I wish you would change myheart. Give me medicine to change it, for it is proud,proud and angry, angry always. "Livingstone lifted up the New Testament, and wasabout to tell him how his heart might be changed throughthat book, when Sekomi interrupted him by saying,"Nay, I wish to have it changed by medicine, to drinkand have it changed at once, for it is always very proudand very uneasy, and continually angry with some one. "He then rose and went away.On Livingstone's return to Kuruman he had an immense medical practice. In a letter to his old tutor,Dr. Risdon Bennett, he says, " I have patients now undertreatment who have walked one hundred and thirty milesfor my advice; and when these go home, others willcome for the same purpose. This is the country for amedical man if he wants a large practice; but he mustleave fees out of the question! The Bechuanas have agreat deal more disease than I expected to find amongsta savage nation; but little else can be expected, for theyare nearly naked, and endure the scorching heat of theday and the chills of the night in that condition. Indigestion, rheumatism, and ophthalmia are the prevailing348 DAVID LIVINGSTONE....diseases. Sometimes, when travelling, my wagon wasquite besieged by their blind, halt, and lame. Theyare excellent patients, too, besides. There is no wincing.In any operation, even the women sit unmoved. "The only child of Sechéle, chief of the Bakwains,having been cured of an illness by Livingstone , hebecame thereafter one of the missionary's greatestfriends.When talked with about Christianity, Sechéle said,"Since it is true that all who die unforgiven are lost forever, why did your nation not come to tell us of it beforenow? My ancestors are all gone, and none of themheard anything of what you tell me. How is this? ""I thought immediately of the guilt of the church,"says Livingstone, " but did not confess. "Some time later Sechéle was converted, read his Bible,and sent home to their parents all his wives save one,giving each her clothes and all the goods which shehad in her hut belonging either to herself or her husband. This alienated all their relatives, and made manybitter enemies for Sechéle. The putting away of hiswives cost Sechéle a severe struggle. He often said toLivingstone, " Oh, I wish you had come to this countrybefore I became entangled in the meshes of our customs! "At first he proposed to increase converts in a peculiarmanner. He said to Livingstone, " Do you think youcan make my people believe by talking to them? I canmake them do nothing except by thrashing them; and ifyou like I shall call my head-man, and with our whipsof rhinoceros hide we will soon make them all believetogether. "He soon became more gentle, and began family wor-DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 349ship; but to his great regret no one attended save hisown family. " In former times," he said, " if a chiefwas fond of hunting, all his people got dogs and becamefond of hunting too. If he loved beer, they all rejoicedin strong drink. But now it is different. I love theword of God, but not one of my brethren will join me.”In one of these journeys, when the oxen became ill,and Livingstone was obliged to walk, he overheard someof his men saying, " He is not strong; he is quite slim,and only seems stout because he puts himself into thosebags (trousers); he will soon knock up. ""This made my Highland blood rise, " he says, " and Ikept them all at the top of their speed for days together, until I heard them express a favorable opinion ofmy pedestrian powers. "The journeys on the back of an ox were anything buteasy. He wrote Dr. Bennett: " It is rough travelling, asyou can conceive. The skin is so loose there is no getting one's great-coat, which has to serve both as saddleand blanket, to stick on; and then the long horns infront, with which he can give one a punch in the abdomen if he likes, makes us sit as bolt upright as dragoons. In this manner I travelled more than fourhundred miles. "It having been decided to form a mission station atMabotsa, about two hundred miles north-east of Kuruman, Livingstone went thither in 1843. Here he camenear being killed by a lion. These animals abounded inthe neighborhood, and ate the cows and sometimes thepeople. If one of a troop of lions is shot, the otherswill usually leave the country.When a herd of cows was attacked, Livingstonewent out with the men to try to kill the intruder. He350 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.me.shot at one lion about thirty yards off, and woundedhim. Loading his gun again, he heard a shout from theother men. 66 Starting," he says, " and looking halfround, I saw the lion just in the act of springing uponI was upon a little height; he caught my shoulderas he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook meas a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced astupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouseafter the first shake of a cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling ofterror, though quite conscious of all that was happening.""' Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, ashe had one paw on the back of my head, I saw hiseyes directed to Mebalwe, who was trying to shoothim at a distance of ten or fifteen yards.His gun,a flint one, missed fire in both barrels; the lion immediately left me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit histhigh. Another man, whose life I had saved before,after he had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spearthe lion while he was biting Mebalwe. He left Mebalweand caught this man by the shoulder; but at that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he felldown dead. The whole was the work of a few moments,and must have been his paroxysms of dying rage. . .Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleventeeth wounds on the upper part of my arm."This encounter left Livingstone lame for life in thatarm . A false joint formed in the arm, and by this markhis body was identified years after, when it was broughtback to England.During the year 1844 Dr. Moffat returned to KurumanDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 351from England with his family. The eldest daughterMary seems to have changed Livingstone's mind on thesubject of marriage. He had told the London Missionary Society when he came to Africa that he had nevermade proposal of marriage, nor indeed been in love.He would prefer to go out unmarried, that he might,like the great apostle, be without family cares, andgive himself entirely to the work.In 1844 he writes: " After nearly four years of Africanlife as a bachelor, I screwed up courage to put a question beneath one of the fruit- trees, the result of whichwas that I became united in marriage to Mr. Moffat'seldest daughter, Mary. Having been born in the country, and being expert in household matters, she was alwaysthe best spoke in the wheel at home; and, when I tookher on two occasions to Lake Ngami, and far beyond, sheendured more than some who have written large booksof travel."While engaged to her in the early part of 1844, hewrites to her about the house he is building for theirfuture home at Mabotsa: "The walls are nearly finished,although the dimensions are fifty-two feet by twentyoutside, or almost the same size as the house in whichyou now reside. I began with stone; but when it wasbreast-high I was obliged to desist from my purpose tobuild it entirely of that material by an accident which,slight as it was, put a stop to my operations in that line.A stone, falling, was stupidly, or rather instinctively,caught by me in its fall by the left hand, and it nearlybroke my arm over again."The walls will be finished long before you receivethis, and I suppose the roof too, but I have still thewood of the roof to seek. It is pretty hard work, ·352 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.and almost enough to drive love out of my head, but itis not situated there; it is in my heart, and won't comeout unless you behave so as to quench it."You must excuse soiled paper; my hands won't washclean after dabbling mud all day. And although theabove does not contain evidence of it, you are as dear tome as ever, and will be as long as our lives are spared."A few weeks later he writes: " While I give you thegood news that our work is making progress, and thetime of our separation becoming beautifully less , I amhappy in the hope that, by the messenger who now goes,I shall receive the good news that you are well andhappy, and remembering me with some of that affectionwhich we bear to each other. "He writes her that he has opened a school, and thatthough he had previously had a " great objection toschool-keeping," and once believed he could never haveany pleasure in it, "I find in that, as in almost everything else I set myself to as a matter of duty, I soon become enamoured of it. "After their marriage they resided for a year at Mabotsa. The other missionary at that place becomingdisaffected, rather than to live in any unpleasant feeling, Mr. and Mrs. Livingstone left the home whichthey had built, their school and garden, and movedforty miles north to Chonuane. His colleague regrettedthe outcome of the matter, and said that had he supposedLivingstone would go away he would never have spokena word against him.At Chonuane there was plenty of hard work. Hewrote: " Building, gardening, cobbling, doctoring, tinkering, carpentering, gun-mending, farriering, wagon-mending, preaching, schooling, lecturing on physics, accordingDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 353to my means, besides a chair in divinity to a class ofthree, fill up my time.""We made our own butter," he says in his first book,"a jar serving as a churn; and our candles by means ofmoulds; and soap was procured from the ashes of theplant Iolsola, or wood-ashes, which in Africa contain solittle alkaline matter, that the boiling of successive leyshas to be continued for a month or six weeks before thefat is saponified. . . . Married life is all the sweeterwhen so many comforts emanate directly from the thrifty,striving housewife's hands."At Chonuane their first child, Robert, was born,named after Mrs. Livingstone's father, Robert Moffat.After being brought up in England, having the restlessnature of his father, he was sent to Natal, Africa; butunable to reach Livingstone on the Zambesi, he foundhis way to America, where he enlisted at Boston in aNew Hampshire regiment, in the Northern army, underthe assumed name of Rupert Vincent, to avoid beingfound by his tutor. He was wounded in battle, havingshown great courage, and taken as a prisoner to a hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina. Dr. Livingstonelearned of this through a letter in which the youth expressed an intense desire to travel. The father, at thistime in England, begged the intercession of the AmericanMinister for his boy, but immediately after it was learnedthat he had died in the hospital at the age of nineteen.He was buried in the National Cemetery at Gettysburg,Pennsylvania. President Lincoln opened this cemeterywith a speech that made his name forever dear to Livingstone.Life was no holiday to either David or Mary Livingstone. The continued drought necessitated their mov-354 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.ing farther north to Kolobeng, Sechéle and his tribemoved with them, where he describes their daily life:"After family worship and breakfast between six andseven, we went to keep school for all who would attend,men, women, and children being all invited . Schoolover at eleven o'clock, while the missionary's wife wasoccupied in domestic matters, the missionary himselfhad some manual labor as a smith, carpenter, or gardener, according to whatever was needed for ourselvesor for the people. . . . After dinner and an hour's restthe wife attended her infant school, which the young,who were left by their parents to their own caprice,liked amazingly, and generally mustered a hundredstrong; or she varied with a sewing-school, havingclasses of girls to learn the art: this, too, was equallywell relished."After working till sunset, on three nights of the weekreligious services were held, varied by classes in secularinstruction, by pictures, specimens, etc. The rest of thetime was spent in caring for the wants of the poor andthe sick.Though busyyears, these spent at Kolobeng were happyones. More than twenty years later Livingstone wrote:"Not a single pang of regret arises in the view of myconduct, except that I did not feel it to be my duty,while spending all my energy in teaching the heathen,to devote a special portion of my time to play with mychildren. But generally I was so much exhausted withthe mental and manual labor of the day, that in theevening there was no fun left in me. I did not playwith my little ones while I had them; and they soonsprung up in my absences, and left me conscious that Ihad none to play with. "DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 355Having had much annoyance from the Boers, descendants of the Dutch, who lived to the east of Kolobeng,and who constantly threatened to enslave Sechèle andhis people, and having heard of a lake to the northward,where a country better watered might be found, Livingstone started June 1, 1849, to cross the Kalahari Desertto the north, taking with him twenty men, twentyhorses, and eighty oxen. They suffered greatly for lackof water during the journey, the oxen sometimes goingfour full days, ninety-six hours, without drinking.The inhabitants of the desert were Bushmen andBakalahari. The latter were a timid people, living farfrom water, with the hope that they would not be molested or enslaved. "When they wish to draw water foruse," says Livingstone, " the women come with twentyor thirty of their water-vessels in a bag or net on theirbacks. These water-vessels consist of ostrich egg-shells,with a hole in the end of each, such as would admitone's finger. The women tie a bunch of grass to oneend of a reed about two feet long, and insert it in ahole dug as deep as the arm will reach; then ram downthe wet sand firmly round it.66'Applyingthe mouth to the free end of the reed, theyform a vacuum in the grass beneath, in which the watercollects, and in a short time rises into the mouth. Anegg-shell is placed on the ground alongside the reed,some inches below the mouth of the sucker. A strawguides the water into the hole of the vessel, as shedraws mouthful after mouthful from below. The wateris made to pass along the outside, not through thestraw. . . The whole stock of water is thus passedthrough the woman's mouth as a pump, and, when takenhome, is carefully buried. "356 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.On Aug. 1 , 1849, Livingstone and his two Englishfriends, Oswell and Murray, looked upon Lake Ngami.They were doubtless the first Europeans who had everbeheld it. Livingstone guessed it to be about seventymiles in circumference. The word means " giraffe," perhaps from the shape of the lake. Many travellers hadtried to reach it, and had been unable to cross the desert.Livingstone also discovered the Zouga River, concerning which he wrote to his friend Watt: " It is a gloriousriver; you never saw anything so grand. The banksare extremely beautiful, lined with gigantic trees, manyquite new." There were two baobab-trees, one seventysix feet in girth. These trees are sometimes one hundred feet in circumference. One tree bore "a fruit afoot in length and three inches in diameter. "The Royal Geographical Society voted Livingstonetwenty-five guineas for the discovery of a " large inlandlake and a fine river. " No doubt the money was veryacceptable to a man who was supporting a wife and threechildren on one hundred pounds a year (five hundreddollars), and helping now and then, in a very limitedway, his relatives at home.His heart and hands were ever open. Some yearsbefore he had given his brother Charles five pounds tohelp him to go to America, where he might, perhaps,obtain admission to a college where he could supporthimself by manual labor and prepare for the ministry.On landing at New York, after selling his box and bed,Charles found himself possessed of two pounds, thirteenshillings, sixpence.Purchasing some bread and cheese, he started forOberlin College, Ohio, over five hundred miles away;Dr. Charles Finney was at that time the president. HeDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 357obtained his education, and was settled over a NewEngland Church till he joined his brother in Africa in1857. This is not the first nor the last time that Oberlin College has proved a blessing.Livingstone hoped to push on beyond Lake Ngami tothe Chief Sebituane, but was prevented by another chief,through jealousy. He therefore returned; and the following year, in April, 1850, he left Kolobeng a secondtime for Ngami, accompanied by his wife and children ,When near the lake, they found a party of Englishmen,one of whom, an artist, had died, and the others werenursed to health by Mrs. Livingstone.Fever attacked two of the children, and others ofthe party, and they were obliged to return to Kolobeng.Here a little daughter, Elizabeth, was born, who died insix weeks. It was a great blow to the parents, the firstdeath in their family.Livingstone wrote home to his father and mother: -"Our last child, a sweet little girl with blue eyes, wastaken from us to join the company of the redeemed,through the merits of Him of whom she never heard. Itis wonderful how soon the affections twine round a littlestranger. We felt her loss keenly. . . . She uttereda piercing shriek previous to expiring, and then wentaway to see the King in his beauty, and the land - theglorious land, and its inhabitants."Years afterward the father longed to visit the grave ofhis child, but did not deem it wise to enter the country,as the Boers then governed it.A third and at last successful attempt was made toreach Sebituane in April, 1851. The guide lost his wayin the desert, and for four days they were without water.Livingstone says in his " Missionary Travels: " "The358 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.supply of water in the wagons had been wasted by one ofour servants, and by the afternoon only a small portionremained for the children. This was a bitterly anxious.night; and next morning the less there was of water,the more thirsty the little rogues became. The idea oftheir perishing before our eyes was terrible: it wouldalmost have been a relief to me to have been reproachedwith being the entire cause of the catastrophe; but notone syllable of upbraiding was uttered by their mother,though the tearful eye told the agony within. In theafternoon of the fifth day, to our inexpressible relief,some of the men returned with a supply of that fluid ofwhich we had never before felt the true value."Livingstone said later: " My opinion is that themost severe labors and privations may be undergonewithout alcoholic stimulus, because those who have endured the most had nothing else but water, and notalways enough of that. "Sebituane received Livingstone most cordially; for ithad been the dream of his life to know white men, as hewas the " greatest man in all that country," the chief ofthe Makololo. He died two weeks later from inflammation of the lungs. " After sitting with him some time, "says Livingstone, " and commending him tothe mercy ofGod, I rose to depart, when the dying chieftain, raisinghimself up a little from his prone position, called a servant and said, ' Take Robert to Maunko (one of hiswives), and tell her to give him some milk.' Thesewere the last words of Sebituane."The next day he was buried in his cattle-pen, and allthe cattle driven for an hour or two around and over thegrave, so that it should be quite obliterated. His daughter, Ma-mochisane, reigned after him. When her brotherDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 359Sekeletu was eighteen years of age, she resigned in hisfavor. Three days were spent in public discussion overthe subject, when Ma-mochisane burst into tears, exclaiming, " I have been a chief only because my father wishedit! I always would have preferred to be married andhave a family like other women. You, Sekeletu, mustbe chief, and build up your father's house. "Another member of the family, Mpépe, tried to assassinate Sekeletu, who was saved by Livingstone. Mpépewas afterwards speared by order of the chief, Sekeletu.The latter, according to the custom of the Bechuanas,became the possessor of his father's wives, and adoptedtwo of them. The children by these wives are termedbrothers and sisters. There is always a head wife, orqueen. If she dies, a new wife is selected for the sameposition.Livingstone and Oswell, who was a sportsman andtraveller, continued in their explorations to the north, tofind a suitable and healthful place for the mission.Toward the end of June, 1851, they discovered theZambesi River, in the centre of the continent. ThePortuguese had always represented the river on theirmaps as rising far to the eastward. There was at thispoint a breadth of from three hundred to six hundredyards. The tribes were living among the swamps forthe protection afforded them by the deep, reedy rivers,and Livingstone felt that he could not settle his familythere. He decided, therefore, to send them to Englanduntil he should have explored the country farther, asthey could not be left at Kolobeng, at the mercy of theBoers.Livingstone took his family to the Cape; and Mrs.Livingstone, with her four children , Robert, Thomas;360 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.Agnes, and Oswell, an infant six months old, sailed forEngland, April 23, 1852. Mr. Oswell, who was a friendindeed, provided two hundred pounds for their outfit.It was a sad parting for all. It seemed best for thechildren to be reared in England, and for their motherto be with them . Livingstone felt that he was called toopen up the vast country about him. The chiefs werefriendly to him. He could help to arrest the terribleslave-trade going on before him. " Nothing," he wroteto the London Missionary Society, " but a strong conviction that the step will lead to the glory of Christwould make me orphanize my children. Even now mybowels yearn over them. They will forget me; but Ihope when the day of trial comes I shall not be founda more sorry soldier than those who serve an earthlysovereign. "After his family had gone, he wrote by every mail. Twoweeks after their departure he writes: " MY DEARESTMARY, — How I miss you now and the dear children!My heart yearns incessantly over you.How manythoughts of the past crowd into my mind! I feel as ifI would treat you all more tenderly and lovingly thanever. You have been a great blessing to me. Youattended to my comfort in many, many ways. May Godbless you for all your kindnesses! I see no face now tobe compared with that sunburnt one which has so oftengreeted me with its kind looks. . . . I never show allmy feelings; but I can say truly, my dearest, that Iloved you when I married you, and the longer I livedwith you, I loved you the better. ... . Take them all(the children) round you, and kiss them for me. Tellthem I have left them for the love of Jesus, and theymust love Him, too. "DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 361Two weeks later he writes to Agnes, his eldest daughter,then in her fifth year: " This is your own little letter.I shall not see you again for a long time, and Iam very sorry. I have no Nannie now. I have givenyou back to Jesus, your Friend -your Papa who is inheaven. He is above you, but He is always near you."While at Cape Town, Livingstone put himself underthe instructions of the astronomer-Royal, Sir ThomasMaclear. They became firm friends. The most strikingpromontory on Lake Nyassa, Dr. Livingstone namedCape Maclear, in honor of his distinguished friend."Livingstone acquired in astronomical observations, "says H. H. Johnston, F.R.G.S., in his valuable life ofthe explorer, " a skill and accuracy which few subsequenttravellers have possessed to a like degree. "Two months after his wife's departure for England,he left the Cape with ten poor oxen dragging his heavywagon. He was so delayed that he did not reach Kuruman till September. Here a wheel broke, and hestopped to repair it. This accident saved his life.While mending it a letter was brought to him byMasabele from her husband. It read as follows:"Friend of my heart's love, and all of the confidenceof my heart, I am Sechéle. I am undone by the Boers,who attacked me, though I have no guilt with them .They demanded that I should be in their kingdom, and Irefused. They demanded that I should prevent theEnglish and Griquas from passing. I replied , ' Theseare my friends, and I can prevent no one! ' They cameon Saturday, and I besought them not to fight on Sunday and they assented."They began on Monday morning at twilight, andfired with all their might, and burned the town with fire,362 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.and scattered us. They killed sixty of my people, andcaptured women and children and men. They took allthe cattle and all the goods of the Bakwains; and thehouse of Livingstone they plundered, taking away allhis goods."Sechele's wife had been saved by hiding herself in thecleft of a rock, over which the Boers were firing. Whenher infant cried, terrified lest the noise betray them, shetook off her armlets and gave to it for playthings.Livingstone writes to his wife of the dreadful outragecommitted by the Boers: "They gutted our house atKolobeng; they brought four wagons down and tookaway sofa, table, bed, all the crockery, your desk (I hopeit had nothing in it. Have you the letters?) , smashedthe wooden chairs, took away the iron ones, tore out theleaves of all the books, and scattered them in front ofthe house, smashed the bottles containing medicines,windows, oven-door, took away the smith-bellows, anvil,all the tools, in fact, everything worth taking: threecorn-mills, a bag of coffee for which I paid six pounds,and lots of coffee, tea, and sugar, which the gentlemenwho went to the North left. "All the corn belonging to three tribes was burned, andall the cattle taken. The Boers expressed regret thatthey could not get hold of Livingstone himself. What amercy that Mrs. Livingstone was out of the country!Sechéle wanted to go to England and tell his wrongsto the Queen. He went as far as the Cape, but nothaving the money to go farther, was obliged to return, athousand miles, to his own devastated country.Livingstone pushed on toward the interior of Africa,reaching Linyanti in the following year, in June, 1853.It was a toilsome journey. Sometimes they waded allDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 363day long through floods, bramble-bushes, and serratedgrass which cut the hands like a razor. Feb. 4 hewrites in his journal: " I am spared in health, whileall the company have been attacked by fever. If Godhas accepted my service, my life is charmed till mywork is done."To Dr. Moffat, his father-in-law, he writes: " I shallopen up a path to the interior or perish. I never havehad the shadow of a shade of doubt as to the proprietyof my course. "As ever, Livingstone was the closest observer innatural history and geology. He notes the habits ofthe great land tortoise which is used by the nativesfor food. "When about to deposit her eggs, she letsherself into the ground by throwing the earth up roundher shell, until only the top is visible; then covering uphe eggs, she leaves them until the rains begin to falland the fresh herbage appears; the young ones thencome out, their shell still quite soft, and, unattended bytheir dam, begin the world for themselves. "They saw several lions on the journey. " He seldomattacks full-grown animals," says Livingstone; " butfrequently, when a buffalo calf is caught by him, thecow rushes to the rescue, and a toss from her often killshim. . . . Lions never go near any elephants except thecalves, which, when quite young, are sometimes torn bythem; every living thing retires before the lordly elephant. "Serpents also abound. One python which they shotwas eleven feet and ten inches long, and as thick as aman's leg. The natives do not like to destroy these hugesnakes.Concerning the ostrich this close observer says:"The364 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.ostrich begins to lay her eggs before she has fixedon a spot for her nest, which is only a hollow a fewinches deep in the sand, and about a yard in diameter.Solitary eggs are thus found lying forsaken all over thecountry, and become a prey to the jackal. She seemsaverse to risking a spot for a nest, and often lays hereggs in that of another ostrich, so that as many as fortyfive have been found in one nest. ..."Both male and female assist in the incubations; butthe number of females being alway greatest, it is probable that cases occur in which the females have theentire charge. Several eggs lie out of the nest, and arethought to be intended as food for the first of the newlyhatched brood till the rest come out and enable thewhole to start in quest of food. . . .•"The organs of vision in this bird are placed so highthat he can detect an enemy at a great distance, but thelion sometimes kills him. It seeks safety inflight; but when pursued by dogs, it may be seen toturn upon them and inflict a kick, which is vigorouslyapplied, and sometimes breaks the dog's back."Mr. H. H. Johnston, Commissioner for Nyasaland,and Consul-General for Portuguese East Africa, says:"The Bushmen, as is well known, stalk the ostrich,and approach near enough to kill it, by disguising theupper part of their bodies with the cleverly stuffed skin.of a cock-ostrich. This disguise attracts both the malesand the females among the inquisitive birds to a closeinspection of the hunter, who, however, occasionally findshimself thwarted by his own cleverness, for he imitatesso closely the appearance, gait, and voice of a cockostrich, that before he has time to shoot his poisonedarrow, some furiously jealous male among the real os-DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 365triches rushes up and strikes his supposed rival to theearth with a stunning blow from his powerful two- toedfoot."Dr. Livingstone had no sympathy with those personswho hunt for mere sport, if there can be sport in killingliving things! " If, as has been practised by some,'says the explorer, " great numbers of animals arewounded and allowed to perish miserably, or are killedon the spot and left to be preyed on by vultures andhyenas, and all for the sole purpose of making a ‘ bag,'then I take it to be evident that such sportsmen arepretty far gone in the hunting form of insanity."Mr. Johnston says that unless measures are taken forthe protection of the zebras and buffaloes, they will soondisappear from Africa. " The main object," he says," of all the lusty young Englishmen to whom Africa isnow becoming fashionable, and who pour into the country to join pioneer forces or expeditions, is to slaughterthe game recklessly, right and left, uselessly, heedlessly."After spending a month at Linyanti, Livingstonestarted on his journey towards the west coast of Africa.The chief Sekeletu and about one hundred and sixtypersons accompanied him for a time. The journey toLoanda on the coast took them from Nov. 11, 1853, toMay 31, 1854, a little over six months. At first thecountry was flat, though there were many gigantic anthills. These mounds are the work of termites, or whiteants, which seem to make the earth fertile in the samemanner that worms do, as has been shown by Darwin."These heaps and mounds are so conspicuous thatthey may be seen for miles, " says Professor Henry Drummond in his "Tropical Africa," "and so numerous arethey and so useful as cover to the sportsman, that with-366 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.out them, in certain districts, hunting would be impossible." They are seen " now dotting the plain in groupslike a small cemetery, now rising into mounds, singly orin clusters, each thirty or forty feet in diameter and tenor fifteen feet in height."The termite, which is a small insect, " with a bloated,yellowish-white body," lives almost entirely upon wood."Furniture, tables, chairs, chests of drawers," saysProfessor Drummond, " everything made of wood, isinevitably attacked, and in a single night a strong trunkis often riddled through and through. . . . On the Tan.ganyika plateau I have camped on ground which was ashard as adamant, and as innocent of white ants apparentlyas the pavement of St. Paul's, and wakened next morningto find a stout wooden box almost gnawed to pieces.Leather portmanteaus share the same fate, and the onlysubstances which seem to defy the marauders are ironand tin. "The houses of the ants are divided into numerousapartments, the best reserved for the queen, a largecreature, two or three inches long, whom the tirelessworkers feed from their own mouths. She lays thousands of eggs in a single day, which are all carried bythe workers into nurseries to be hatched. There is seldom more than one queen in a colony.The country would be overrun by white ants were itnot that they are killed and used for food, or as slavesby the black ants. The latter are about half an inchlong, with a slight tinge of gray.leaders, who never do any work.on their marauding expeditions by a scent left on thepath by their leaders.They follow a fewThey seem to be guidedThe journey to Loanda, never undertaken before byDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 367a European, had its perils as well as intense interest.Livingstone had thirty-one attacks of fever during thejourney. Sometimes chiefs opposed his progress, thoughin the main they were friendly; but with great tactand wisdom, he always opened a way for himself andhis men. They sailed up the Zambesi in canoes. Theycarried their burdens around falls -Livingstone madetheir loads very light, so as not to discourage themhe rode on ox-back when they went across the country,and whenever it was possible he preached and reasonedwith the different tribes, hundreds often gathering tohear him.Where the slave-trade did not exist, Livingstonefound very little war. "Three brothers, Barolongs,"he says, "fought for the possession of a woman who wasconsidered worth a battle, and the tribe has remainedpermanently divided ever since. "Among the Balondas he found several chiefs whowere women. One named Nyamoána was the sister ofShinté, the greatest Balonda chief in that part of thecountry. The chief and her husband, the latter dressed.in a kilt of green and red baize, and armed with a spearand broadsword, sat on a raised circular platform withone hundred armed persons surrounding them, whenthey received the first white man in their country."We put down our arms," says Livingstone, “ aboutforty yards off, and I walked up to the centre of thecircular bench, and saluted him in the usual way byclapping the hands together in their fashion. He pointedto his wife, as much as to say the honor belongs to her.I saluted her in the same way, and a mat having beenbrought, I squatted down in front of her. "Livingstone explained his mission among the people,368 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.which words his interpreter gave to another, he repeating it to the husband, and he as the fourth speaker madeit known to the queen. The response came back in thesame manner. He showed the people his watch andcompass. His magic lantern was also a never-failingsource of pleasure to the people.The chief wished to send an escort to her brotherShinté, but insisted that they must go by land insteadof by water, as the cataract was difficult to pass, andthe Balobále tribe might kill them.Livingstone protested that he did not fear the tribe,having been so often threatened with death, and preferred the water route. He ordered his men to takethe baggage to the canoes; but Manenko, the daughterof Nyamoana, a girl about twenty and a chief herself,gave other orders to the men and seized the burdensherself. Laying her hand on Livingstone's shoulder,she said with a motherly look, "Now, mylittle man,just do as the rest have done. " " My feelings of annoyance of course vanished," says Livingstone.Manenko, accompanied by her husband and herdrummer, lead the company in a pouring rain. " Beingon ox-back," says the traveller, " I kept pretty close toour leader, and asked her why she did not clothe herself during the rain, and learned that it is not considered proper for a chief to appear effeminate. Mymen, in admiration of her pedestrian powers, every nowand then remarked, ' Manenko is a soldier; andthoroughly wet and cold, we were all glad when sheproposed a halt to prepare our night's lodging on thebanks of a stream."...The company suffered from want of food, and wouldhave had nothing save that Manenko begged maize forDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 369them, and ground it for the white man with her ownhands.When they stopped at a village over night, the peopletook off the tops of their huts and brought them toLivingstone, who, propping them up with stakes, thushad a comfortable shelter. Every one who came tosalute Manenko or himself rubbed the upper parts ofthe arms and chest with ashes; those who wished toshow profounder reverence put ashes on their faces.Shinté gave the explorer a grand reception. In theKotla, or place of audience, on a throne covered with aleopard's skin, dressed in a checked jacket with kilt ofscarlet baize edged with green, his neck hung withbeads, his limbs covered with iron and copper armletsand bracelets, a helmet crowned with goose feathers onhis head, surrounded by over a thousand of his people,Shinté made an imposing appearance. Behind him sata hundred women, the chief wife, Odena, in front witha curious red cap on her head. Nine speakers madeorations, musical instruments were played, and gunsdischarged. Livingstone and his men sat under a treeabout forty yards from the chief. Shinté had neverseen a white man before, and thought the traveller"had come from the gods. "Livingstone made Shinté a present of an ox; but whenManenko, his niece, heard of it, she said, "This whiteman belonged to her; she had brought him here, andtherefore the ox was hers, not Shinté's. " She therefore had the ox slaughtered, and gave Shinté a leg only.He made no complaint, her word seeming law here aselsewhere.Shinté offered Livingstone a slave girl ten years old,saying that he always presented his visitors with a370 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.child. Livingstone thanked him, but told him that hethought it wrong to take a child away from her parents;that he had four children, and should be very sad if achief took one and gave it away.On leaving the friendly chief, he hung a conical shellround the neck of Livingstone, saying, " There, now youhave a proof of my friendship. "Other chiefs were likewise courteous, giving himguides and food. Sometimes they shot one of their whitecows for him, which run wild like buffaloes. Livingstone gave them presents, as many as his limited meansallowed - cloth, beads, razors, and the like. One leadingman, Mozinkwa, gave him many things from his garden,and the missionary promised the wife some cloth whenhe returned. When he came back on his homewardjourney, the wife was dead, and according to theircustom, Mozinkwa had moved away, leaving garden,trees, and huts to ruin. If a man ever visits the placewhere his favorite wife dies, it is to pray to her, or tomake an offering.As ever, Livingstone took careful scientific observations as to the country, its formation, the rivers, fruits,flowers, and animals. "If we step on shore," he says,"a species of plover . . . follows you, flying overhead,and is most persevering in its attempts to give fairwarning to all the animals within hearing to flee from.the approaching danger."Another bird, by the name siksak, has a sharp spur onits shoulder, much like that on the heel of a cock, butscarcely half an inch in length. It is famed for itsfriendship with the crocodile of the Nile.In some of the almost impenetrable forests richly colored and peculiar birds abound. "The pretty whiteDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 371ardetta is seen in flocks settling on the backs of largeherds of buffaloes, and following them on the wing asthey run. "Mr. Johnston says, " When the buffalo is quietly grazing, the red-billed weaver-bird may be seen hopping onthe ground, snapping up insects and other food, or sittingon the buffalo's back, picking off the ticks with whichits skin is infested. The sight of this bird being moreacute than that of the buffalo, it is soon alarmed by theapproach of danger, and, by flying up, apprises the buffaloof its suspicions. When the big beast gallops away fromthe approach of the slinking lion or the human hunter,the little weaver-bird sits calmly on its back and isborne off to fresh fields and pastures new. "Another African bird is the companion of the fhinoceros. It is called " Kala " by the Bechuanos. Whenthey wish to speak of their dependence on each other,they say " my rhinoceros. " The satellites of a chief arethus called. The rhinoceros feeds by night, and thebird will utter its well-known call for its big companionin the morning. The rhinoceros has not keen sight butan acute ear, and is therefore warned of danger by itsbird-friend.Large herds of hippopotami are seen in the still, deepwater. They ascend the banks to graze at night. " Theyare guided back to the water by the scent; but a longcontinued pouring rain makes it impossible for them toperceive, by that means, in which direction the riverlies, and they are found bewildered on the land. Thehunters take advantage of their helplessness on theseoccasions to kill them."They lie hidden beneath the water, coming up everyfew minutes to breathe. The young lie on the necks of372 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.their mothers, who come frequently to the surface,knowing the needs of their little ones. "In the riversof Loanda," says Livingstone, " where they are much indanger of being shot, even the hippopotamus gains wit byexperience; for, while those in the Zambesi put up theirheads openly to blow, those referred to keep their nosesamong water-plants, and breathe so quietly that onewould not dream of their existence in the river exceptby footprints on the banks. "Large, yellow-spotted spiders abound. One kind isoften found inside the huts of the Makololo. It isspotted, brown in color, and half an inch in diameter." It is harmless, though an ugly neighbor," says Livingstone.There were many rivers to be forded, and swamps to bewaded through. In crossing one stream the men heldon to the tails of the oxen. Livingstone intended to dothis; but in the deep part, before he could dismount, hisox dashed off with his companions. About twenty ofthe men rushed to the aid of Livingstone, whom theysupposed would drown. Great was their joy when theyfound that he could swim like themselves.They laughed after this at the idea of being frightenedby rivers. "We can all swim. Who carried the whiteman across the river but himself?" " I felt proud oftheir praise," said Livingstone."Sinbad," Livingstone's ox, was not a very agreeableanimal. "He had a softer back," says Livingstone,"but a much more intractable temper. His horns werebent downward and hung loosely, so he could do noharm with them; but as we wended our way slowlyalong the narrow path, he would suddenly dartaside. . .DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 373"When Sinbad ran in below a climber stretched overthe path so low that I could not stoop under it, I wasdragged off, and came down on the crown of my head;and he never allowed an opportunity of the kind to passwithout trying to inflict a kick, as if I neither had nordeserved his love. "The animal would never allow Livingstone to hold anumbrella, so that he was very often drenched. He frequently put his watch under his arm-pit to keep it dry.The tribe of Chiboque gave him some trouble, insisting that he should give a man to be a slave, as pay fora passage through their country. One Chiboque made acharge at his head from behind; but Livingstone, whowas as brave as he was kind, brought the muzzle of hisgun to the mouth of the young man, when he quicklyretreated. The tribe had been accustomed to receive aslave from every slave-trader who passed by, but Livingstone informed them that his men were all free.Finally the chief said, " If you give us an ox, we willgive you whatever you wish, and then we shall befriends." Tothis Livingstone consented; and whenthe ox was slaughtered, the chief sent a bag of meal andtwo or three pounds of Livingstone's own ox!•The slave-trade, here as elsewhere, was always crueland despicable. It was the custom of one of the chiefsin this part of the country to take all the goods of aslave-trader, and then send out a party to some neighboring village, seize all the people, and sell them asslaves to pay for the goods. When Livingstone reasonedwith one of his head men as to the sin of such a course,he replied, " We do not go up to God, as you do; weare put into the ground."The obstacles became so great from swamps and374 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.exorbitant chiefs who demanded " a man or an ox or atusk," that some of his own men determined to turnback. Worn to a skeleton from fever, and his clothingragged, he informed them that he should go to the coastif he went alone, and sadly went into his tent to pray.His head man presently came in, and said, " Do notbe disheartened; we will never leave you. Whereveryou lead, we will follow. " They "knew no one butSekelétu and Livingstone, and would die for him. "When they reached the river Quango, one hundredand fifty yards broad, they were aided by a young Portuguese sergeant of militia; and Livingstone finally reachedLoanda in safety, May 31, with his twenty-seven followers. Here he was received most cordially by Mr.Edmund Gabriel, the British commissioner for the suppression of the slave-trade.His Makololo were astonished when they saw theocean. "We were marching along with our father,"they said, "believing what the ancients had told us wastrue, that the world had no end; but all at once theworld said to us, ' I am finished; there is no moreof me. "He was so prostrated that he was urged to go to England and see his family; but he steadfastly refused, forhe had promised his Makololo that he would bring themback to their own land. He sent his journals, maps,and observations by the mail-packet Forerunner, whichwas lost off Madeira with all her passengers but one.Had not Livingstone kept his promise to his coloredmen, he, too, doubtless would have perished.It was a tiresome work to rewrite, as far as possible,his journals and maps: " A feat," says Thomas Hughes,"equal to that of Carlyle in rewriting the volume of hisDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 375French Revolution, after its destruction by John StuartMill's housemaid."This long journey, never before made by a white man,produced great interest in England. The London Geographical Society, on motion of Sir Roderick Murchison,awarded Livingstone their gold medal - their highesthonor.On Sept. 20, 1854, he began his homeward journey.Among many presents for the chiefs he took a horse forSekelétu, which soon sickened and died. The Chiboquehead men were not much pleasanter than in the outwardjourney; but when Livingstone held a six-barrelled revolver before the face of the chief, the latter said, " Oh,I have only come to speak to you, and wish peace only."The chief feared to turn lest Livingstone should shoothim in the back."If I wanted to kill you I could shoot you in the faceas well," was the reply. And mounting his ox, to showthat he was not afraid of the chief's shooting him in theback, he rode away.Manenko sent her husband fifteen miles to meet andwelcome them, and cement their friendship by becoming"blood-relations. " The hands of the parties are joined;then a slight cut is made on the hands, on the stomach.of each, and on the right cheeks and foreheads. Asmall quantity of blood is taken from the wounds by astalk of grass, and put into pots of beer, when eachdrinks the blood of the other. After this rite they areperpetual friends. Presents are then exchanged.All along on the homeward route they were warmlywelcomed. Every village gave them an ox and sometimes two. At the Makololo villages they were receivedas people who had risen from the dead, as it was believed376 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.they would never return. They were kissed on thecheeks and hands by their friends, while the womendanced and sang " lulliloos ."Whenever it was possible to send a letter to the lovedones in England, Livingstone did so. He wrote to hiswife: " It occurs to me, my dearest Mary, that if I sendyou a note from different parts on the way through thiscolony, some of them will surely reach you; and if theycarry any of the affection I bear to you in their composition, they will not fail to comfort you. " Speaking ofLoanda, he says, after he had recovered from the fever," I remained a short time longer than that actuallyrequired to set me on my legs, in longing expectation ofa letter from you. None came. . . I hope a letter fromyou may be waiting for me at Zambesi. Love to all thechildren. Accept the assurance of unabated love. "Poor Sinbad, the ox, died on the way home, from thebite of the tsetse. This poisonous insect is no largerthan the common house-fly, and is brown like the honeybee, with three or four yellow bars on the hind part ofits body. Its peculiar buzz is well known by travellers,as it is certain death to the ox, horse, and dog. Thereare whole sections of African country where cattle haveperished by the thousands. Sebituane once lost nearlyall the cattle of his tribe. There is no cure yet knownfor the disease. Its bite is not poisonous to man nor tomost wild animals.Arriving at Linyanti, Livingstone spent eight weekswith Sekelétu, who showed him every kindness. Hepreached often, he studied the languages, and he wonthe hearts of the people by his noble life. " No one evergains much influence in this country," he said, " withoutpurity and uprightness. The acts of a stranger areDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 377keenly scrutinized by both young and old; and seldom isthe judgment pronounced, even by the heathen, unfair oruncharitable. I have heard women speaking in admiration of a white man because he was pure, and never wasguilty of any secret immorality."Sekelétu provided Livingstone with cows to furnish.him milk, slaughtered oxen for him, and when he departed, Nov. 3, 1855, for the eastern coast of Africa, tostudy the people and find suitable mission-fields, thechief and two hundred of his followers accompanied himfor a long distance, leaving at their departure one hundred and fourteen men, Sekwebu being the principalguide, twelve oxen, ― three for riding upon, and anabundance of fresh butter and honey.-Livingstone was deeply affected by this kind treatment. In a severe thunder-storm at night Sekelétucovered the traveller with his own blanket, and lay onthe ground uncovered for the night. " If such menmust perish by the advance of civilization, " says Livingstone, as certain races of animals do before others, itis a pity. God grant that ere this time comes they mayreceive that gospel which is a solace for the soul indeath!"66Mamire, the mother of Sekelétu, said to Livingstoneon his departure, " You are now going among peoplewho cannot be trusted, because we have used thembadly; but you go with a different message from anythey ever heard before, and Jesus will be with you andhelp you, though among enemies. "He had not gone very far along the Zambesi before hediscovered the celebrated falls, which he named afterhis sovereign, Victoria Falls. Mr. Johnston calls this" One of the wonders of the world. . . . The broad378 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.-Zambesi, flowing nearly due south, and nineteen hundred.yards wide, is cleft by a chasm a crack in its bedrunning athwart its course. The whole river plungesprecipitously down this chasm to a depth of about threehundred and sixty feet, or, counting the depth of thewater, say four hundred feet. The entire volume ofwater rolls clear over quite unbroken; but after a descent of four hundred feet the glassy cascade becomesa seething, bubbling, boiling froth, from which springupwards high into the air, immense columns of steamlike spray."This mass of vapor, forming from three to six columns,becomes condensed, and descends in a perpetual showerof rain. The natives call this mighty cataract Mosioatunya, "smoke sounds there." The verdure in thislocality is of great variety and beauty.Some of the chiefs whom he met were hostile . Theyhad never seen a white man before, and knew only thatsome other nations, as the Arabs, were slave-traders.Livingstone showed them his skin. They said, "Wenever saw skin so white as that. You must be one ofthe tribe that loves the black man, " and they allowedhim to go onward.One chief, Moyara, had fifty- four human skulls hungonthe points of stakes around his hamlet. When askedwhy his father, the chief before him, had killed thesepeople, some of whom were mere boys, he replied, “ Toshow his fierceness. "If a man wished to curry favor with a Batoka chief,whenever he met a stranger he cut off his head andbrought it back to adorn the fence of the ruler.The Batoka smoke the " mutokwane, " a weed whosenarcotic effects they like; and it produces a sort of frenzyDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 379in which they can make a more effective onslaught ontheir enemies. The hashish in use among the Turksis an extract of the same plant, the common hemp ofthe variety Indica.Much of the country through which they passed wasbeautiful in its flora. Of the many lilies Mr. Johnstonsays: "Crinum is the commonest lily genus, and hasspecies that are white, pink and white, and even scarletin their blooms. To see, as one may do towards theclose of the rainy season, fields near the river's bank orglades in the forest an almost uninterrupted sheet oflily blooms for several acres in extent, is a sight solovely that you pardon Africa all its sins on the spot. "There are also great fields of a flower like the crocus,purple, yellow, white, and mauve colors. After theflowers come bright red seed-pods, which contain the"grains of Paradise. " Livingstone studied carefullythe geology of the country and the beasts and birds.The elephants were a source of great interest, as wellas of use for food for his men. " The male and femaleelephants," he says, "are never seen in one herd. Theyoung males remain with their dams only until they arefull grown. " Their food consists of bulbs, roots, andbranches. They will break off trees as large as a man'sbody, that they may feed on the tender shoots at thetop.When attacked by the spears of the natives, themother elephant will place herself on the danger sideof her calf, and pass her proboscis over it again andagain, as if to assure it of safety.A bird called the red-beaked hornbill abounds. Themother-bird enters the nest made of her own feathers.The male then plasters up the hole in the tree in which380 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.the nest is built, leaving only a narrow slit through whichhe feeds her. She lays her eggs and hatches them,remaining two or three months till the birds are readyto fly. The male meantime becomes so thin that he notinfrequently dies from his over- work to feed them all.The birds called honey-guides, by their chirping, directmen to the places where wild bees store their honey.It is not known whether this is done out of friendlinessfor man, or for a share of the honey, which is alwaysgiven them.The men of some of the tribes were quite nude. Thewomen pierced the upper lip, gradually enlarging theorifice till they could insert a shell. " The deformed lipsof the women make them look very ugly," says Livingstone; "I never saw one smile." When asked why theydid this, they replied simply, "It is the fashion. " Whena chief died, often his servants were killed, that he mighthave them in the next world.Some tribes built their huts on high stages to protectthem from spotted hyenas, lions, and elephants. Thewives are usually purchased of the parents for so manycattle or goats. " If nothing is given, the family fromwhich she has come can claim the children as a part ofitself. The payment is made to sever this bond.""When a young man takes a liking for a girl of another village," says Livingstone, " and the parents haveno objection to the match, he is obliged to come and liveat their village. He has to perform certain services forthe mother-in-law, such as keeping her well suppliedwith firewood. . . . If he becomes tired of living in thisstate of vassalage, and wishes to return to his ownfamily, he is obliged to leave all his children behindthey belong to the wife."...DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 381On May 20, 1856, Livingstone reached Quilimane, onthe eastern coast of Africa. He met a cordial welcomefrom the Portuguese, who had felt sure that no Europeancould pass through the dangerous tribes. Two Scripture.texts were of especial comfort to him in all his journeys:"In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall directthy steps." "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust alsoin Him; and He shall bring it to pass. "After six weeks at Quilimane, Livingstone started forEngland to see his family, from whom he had not evenheard for three years, leaving his men with the promise"that nothing but death should prevent his return. "He sailed on the steamer Frolic, taking his guide,Sekwebu, with him at the earnest request of the latter."You will die if you go to a country so cold as mine,"Livingstone had said to him."That is nothing," he answered; "let me die at yourfeet."The passage was rough, and the poor man becamederanged. He leaped overboard; and though he couldswim well, he pulled himself down, hand under hand, bythe chain cable. They could not recover his body.The shaft of the engine broke on the passage homeward, but Livingstone finally reached England, Dec. 12,1856. Nearly five years had passed since he had seenhis wife and children. To her with her four children,away from husband and parents, Dr. and Mrs. Moffat,in a strange country, the separation was almost unbearable. Her health had broken under the strain.She had penned this simple but touching poem to givehim when he came, with the hope that they shouldnever be parted again. The final parting was not longin coming.382 DAVID LIVINGSTONE." A hundred thousand welcomes, and it's time for you to comeFrom the far land of the foreigner, to your country and yourhome.Oh, long as we were parted, ever since you went away,I never passed a dreamless night, or knew an easy day.• •Ahundred thousand welcomes! how my heart is gushing o'erWith the love and joy and wonder thus to see your face oncemore.How did I live without you these long, long years of woe?It seems as if ' twould kill me to be parted from you now.You'll never part me, darling, there's a promise in your eye;I may tend you while I'm living, you will watch me when Idie;And if death but kindly lead me to the blessed home on high,What a hundred thousand welcomes will await you in the sky!MARY. "Livingstone had been away from England sixteenyears. He was everywhere welcomed with ovations.The Royal Geographical Society held a special meetingto receive him. The London Missionary Society, withLord Shaftesbury in the chair, gave him cordial greeting.Agreat gathering assembled at the Mansion House to dohonor to the man who had travelled at that time overnot less than eleven thousand miles of Africa. He wasgiven the freedom of the city of London in a box valuedat fifty guineas, and of Hamilton, where his mother andthe rest of his family resided. Glasgow presented hima gold box with the freedom of the city, and a gift oftwo thousand pounds from the citizens.To the cotton- spinners of that city he said that toilbelonged to most of the human race, and to be poor wasno reproach. The Saviour occupied a humble position."My great object," he said, was to be like Him - to 66DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 383imitate him as far as He could be imitated. We havenot the power of working miracles, but we can do alittle in the way of healing the sick, and I sought amedical education in order that I might be like Him."Edinburgh and Dublin and Manchester followed theexample of Glasgow. Little Blantyre, where he hadworked in the mills, gave him a public reception. Oxford made him D.C.L., Glasgow an LL.D., and theRoyal Society made him a Fellow. At Cambridge, wherehe enjoyed the friendship of such men as Sedgwick,Whewell, and Selwyn, he practically formed the Universities Mission, which has wrought such a noble work inCentral Africa. He said to the students and the professors, "I know that in a few years I shall be cut off inthat country, which is now open. Do not let it be shutagain. I go back to Africa to make an open path forcommerce and Christianity. Do you carry out the workwhich I have begun. I leave it with you! "Concerning the work of the Universities Mission, Mr.Thomas Hughes says: " From the island centre atZanzibar the mission has now spread over one thousandmiles of the neighboring mainland. Its staff, includingthe bishop and three archdeacons, numbers ninety- seven,of whom two deacons and thirty-two teachers and readersare natives, and nineteen English ladies. Its incomefor 1887 exceeded fifteen thousand five hundred pounds.It has three stations on the island and ten on themainland." One station has a fine stone church, anda home for one hundred and fifteen boys. A sisterhood trains large classes of women.Livingstone took lodgings in Chelsea, just out ofLondon, and, surrounded by his family, wrote his first.book, " Missionary Journeys and Researches in South384 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.Africa." The work was irksome to the active man.When it was finished, he said, " I think I wouldrather cross the African continent again than undertaketo write another book. It is far easier to travel than towrite about it." The book had a large sale, the Londontrade alone requiring ten thousand copies. Livingstonehaving been appointed Her Majesty's Consul at Quilimane for the east coast of Africa as well as commander ofan expedition to explore Eastern and Central Africa,the Queen had granted him a most interesting private interview, he sailed from England with his wife andyoungest child, Oswell, March 10, 1858. It was a sadparting from the three children, Robert, Thomas, andAgnes, but he rejoiced that his wife was at last withhim. "Glad indeed am I that I am to be accompaniedby my guardian angel," he said.-On their arrival at Cape Town, in May, Mrs. Livingstone's health was so poor that although she had hopedto make the second Zambesi expedition with her husband, she, with Oswell, was obliged to remain with herparents, Dr. and Mrs. Moffat.Livingstone had brought out a steam-launch fromEngland named the Ma- Robert (the mother of Robert) ,the name by which his wife was called by the natives.In this he sailed up one branch of the Zambesi Delta.On reaching his Makololo, whom he had left behindwhen he went to England, he found that thirty haddied of small-pox, while six had been murdered by theblack Portuguese. They welcomed him with the greatestenthusiasm. The people had told them, " Your Englishman will never return; " but " We trusted you," saidthey, " and now we shall sleep. "The Ma-Robert did not prove a good launch; andDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 385the government sent out another called the Pioneer,for the navigation of the Zambesi and lower ShiréRiver.--He sailed up the Shiré for two hundred miles tosome cataracts, these extend seventy miles , — whichhe named Murchison in honor of Sir Roderick Murchison; he discovered Lake Shirwa, a salt lake, more thansixty miles long, in the midst of a fine country surrounded by mountains eight thousand feet high.Professor Henry Drummond visited Lake Shirwathirty years afterwards, when a very aged female chiefcame to see him, and spoke kindly of a white man whocame to her village long, long ago, and gave her apresent of cloth. This must have been David Livingstone. Though Shirwa is one of the smaller Africanlakes, Professor Drummond says it is probably largerthan all the lakes of Great Britain put together.On Sept. 16, 1859, Livingstone discovered LakeNyassa. " Instead of being one hundred and fifty mileslong," says Professor Drummond, " as first supposed,Lake Nyassa is now known to have a length of threehundred and fifty miles, and a breadth varying fromsixteen to sixty miles. It occupies a gigantic trough ofgranite and gneiss, the profoundly deep water standingat a level of sixteen hundred feet above the sea, withthe mountains rising all around it, and sometimes sheerabove it, to a height of one, two, three, and fourthousand feet."On this lake now plies the little steamer Ilala, sonamed from the place where Livingstone died . Shewas carried thither from England in seven hundredpieces, and bolted together on the shore. "The brightspot now on the lake is the Scotch Livingstonia Mission386 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.at Bandawé," says Professor Drummond. " I cherishno more sacred memory of my life than that of a communion service in the little Bandawé chapel, when thesacramental cup was handed to me by the bare blackarm of a native communicant," whose life, he says, testedafterwards on the Tanganyika plateau, " gave him perhaps a better right to be there than any of us. "In this lake region Livingstone beheld, though notfor the first time, the horrors of the slave-trade. Atthe village of the chief Mbame they met a slave partyon its way to Tete, on the Zambesi. The men, women,and children were all manacled. "The black drivers,"says Livingstone, " armed with muskets, and bedeckedwith various articles of finery, marched jauntily in thefront, middle, and rear of the line, some of them blowing exultant notes out of long tin horns."As soon as they saw the white men, they fled into theforest, knowing that the English Government was trying to put down slavery. The poor slaves, especiallythe women and children, were soon freed. " It was moredifficult to cut the men adrift, as each had his neckin the fork of a stout stick, six or seven feet long, andkept in by an iron rod which was riveted at both endsacross the throat. With a saw, one by one, the menwere sawed out into freedom."Many were children not more than five years ofage.One little boy said, " The others tied and starved us;you cut the ropes and tell us to eat. What sort of peopleare you? Where did you come from? ""Two of the women had been shot the day beforefor attempting to untie the thongs. This, the rest weretold, was to prevent them from attempting to escape.One woman had her infant's brains knocked out becauseDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 387she could not carry her load and it; and a man wasdespatched with an axe because he had broken downwith fatigue."The next day a gang of fifty slaves was freed. Theleader was the negro agent of one of the principalmerchants of Tete. Sometimes these slaves are takenin war; but generally their village is wantonly attacked,and those who cannot be enslaved are cruelly killed .At this time it was estimated by the British Consul atZanzibar that nineteen thousand slaves annually comefrom the Nyassa country through the custom- house atZanzibar, exclusive of those sent to Portuguese slaveports.At one of the hamlets where Mariano, the greatPortuguese slave-agent, had been, " Dead bodies," saysLivingstone, " floated past us daily, and in the morningsthe paddles had to be cleared of corpses caught by thefloats during the night. . . . The corpses we saw floating down the river were only a remnant of those thathad perished, whom their friends, from weakness, couldnot bury, nor the overgorged crocodiles devour. "Village after village had been burned. "Tingane hadbeen defeated; his people had been killed, kidnapped,and forced to flee from their villages. There were a fewwretched survivors in a village above the Ruo, but themajority of the population was dead. The sight andsmell of dead bodies was everywhere. Many skeletonslay beside the path, where in their weakness they hadfallen and expired. Ghastly living forms of boys andgirls, with dull dead eyes, were crouching beside some of the huts."Many had ended their misery under shady trees,others under projecting crags in the hills, while others388 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.lay in their huts with closed doors, which, when opened,disclosed the mouldering corpse with the poor ragsround the loins, the skull fallen off the pillow, the littleskeleton of the child that had perished first rolled upin a mat between two large skeletons. "Sometimes these slave-traders, both Arab and halfcaste Portuguese, told the Africans, to win their confidence at first before seizing them, that they were "thechildren " of Livingstone, and sometimes the missionary came near losing his life on account of the hostilitythus engendered.On May 15, 1860, Livingstone started westward withhis Makololo, to take them back to their own country.When they reached it, he found their chief, Sekelétu, slowly failing from leprosy. He did all for himthat was possible; but his health could not be restored,and he died in 1864. A civil war resulted, and theMakololo were driven from their homes. Livingstonereturned to Tete Nov. 21, having been absent sixmonths.After farther explorations, on Jan. 30, 1862, herMajesty's ship Gorgon arrived from Europe, bringingthe steamer Lady Nyassa, for which Livingstone hadasked so earnestly and waited so long. He wanted heron Lake Nyassa, as a preventive of the slave-trade, toaid in mission work, and to help open up trade.He wrote to Sir Roderick Murchison: " If government furnishes the means, all right; if not, I shallspend my book-money on it. I don't need to touch thechildren's fund, and mine could not be better spent.People who are born rich sometimes become miserablefrom a fear of becoming poor; but I have the advantage, you see, in not being afraid to die poor. If I live,DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 389I must succeed in what I have undertaken; death alonewill put a stop to my efforts."The government did not pay for the steamer, and shecost Livingstone about six thousand pounds, the greaterpart of his book profits.Mrs. Livingstone was also on the Gorgon. She hadgone back to Scotland after the birth of her last child,Anna Mary, Nov. 16, 1858, at her father's home inKuruman. Evidently she could not breast the fatiguesof African exploration, but she would make one moretrial.When the ship neared the coast, and Dr. James Stewart of the Free Church of Scotland saw Livingstone inthe distance, he said to Mrs. Livingstone, "There he isat last." " She looked brighter at this announcement,"he says, "than I had seen her do any day for sevenmonths before."" Malarial fever," sayssad certainty whichThe meeting was not for long.Professor Drummond, " is the oneevery African traveller must face. For months he mayescape; but its finger is upon him, and well for him if hehas a friend near when it finally overtakes him. ... Herises, if he does rise, a shadow, and slowly accumulatesstrength for the next attack, which he knows too wellwill not disappoint him. . . . The malaria spares noman the strong fall as the weak. No kind of care can domore than make the attacks less frequent. No predictioncan be made beforehand as to which regions are hauntedby it and which are safe."
The dread enemy came to Mrs. Livingstone onApril 21; on the 25th she became delirious with thefever; at sunset on Sunday, the 27th, she died at Shupanga, on the Zambesi. Dr. Stewart says of that last390 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.sad scene, " Livingstone was sitting by the side of a rudebed formed of boxes, but covered with a soft mattress,on which lay his dying wife. All consciousness hadnow departed, as she was in a state of deep coma, fromwhich all efforts to rouse her had been unavailing. . . .The man who had faced so many deaths, and braved somany dangers, was now utterly broken down, and weeping like a child."...A coffin was made during the night, and a grave wasdug next day under a baobab-tree sixty feet in circumference. " The men asked to be allowed to mountguard," says her husband, " till we had got the gravebuilt up, and we had it built with bricks dug from anold house. " A temporary paling and wooden cross wereplaced at the grave; and these were subsequently replaced by a stone cross and slab, with an iron railing.•Livingstone wrote in his journal: "It is the firstheavy stroke I have suffered, and quite takes away mystrength. I wept over her who well deserved manytears. God pity the poor children, who were alltenderly attached to her, and I am left alone in theworld by one whom I felt to be a part of myself. .Oh, my Mary, my Mary! how often we have longed fora quiet home, since you and I were cast adrift at Kolobeng! The prayer was found in her papers-'Accept me, Lord, as I am, and make me such as Thouwouldst have me to be.'"--He wrote later, May 11, Kongone: " My dear, dearMary has been this evening a fortnight in heaven absent from the body, present with the Lord. ' To-dayshalt thou be with me in Paradise.' For the firsttime in my life I feel willing to die."·Mrs. Livingstone had a strong presentiment of deathDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 391being near. She felt that she should never have a housein Africa.May 31, he writes in his journal: " The loss of myever dear Mary lies like a heavy weight on my heart.In our intercourse in private there was more than whatwould be thought by some a decorous amount of merriment and play. I said to her a few days before herfatal illness, 'We old bodies ought now to be moresober, and not play so much. ' — ' Oh, no, ' said she, ' youmust always be as playful as you have always been; Iwould not like you to be as grave as some folks I haveseen.' "To his daughter Agnes he wrote: " I feel alone inthe world now, and what will the poor dear baby dowithout her mamma? She often spoke of her, andsometimes burst into a flood of tears, just as I now doin taking up and arranging the things left by my belovedpartner of eighteen years."To Sir Roderick Murchison he wrote concerning hiswife, who, beside the care of her family, had taught sosuccessfully an infant and sewing school: " It was afine sight to see her day by day walking a quarter of amile to the town, no matter how broiling hot the sun, toimpart instruction to the Bakwains. Ma-Robert's namewas known through all the country and eighteen hundred miles beyond. A brave, good woman was she. "Later he wrote to Sir Roderick concerning the Zambesi as the great highway to Lake Nyassa: "It mayseem to some persons weak to feel a chord vibrating tothe dust of her who rests on the banks of the Zambesi,and to think that the path by that river is consecratedby her remains. ”To Sir Thomas Maclear he wrote: "I suppose that392 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.I shall die in these uplands, and somebody will carryout the plan I have longed to put into practice. . . . Iwork with as much vigor as I can, and mean to do sotill the change comes; but the prospect of a home is alldispelled. "April 27, 1863, his journal reads: " On this daytwelvemonths my beloved Mary Moffat was removedfrom me by death. "And then he quotes a verse from Tennyson's " MayQueen," beginning, -66' If I can, I'll come again, mother, from out my resting-place. "Livingstone was a great lover of the poets, and wasfamiliar with those of America as well as Europe. Manypoems of Longfellow and Whittier he knew by heart.Several poems were fastened inside the boards of hisjournals.The explorations now went on for some months, tillthe English government, in view of the deaths of manymissionaries who had come out, and the expense attending the expedition, recalled it .This was a sore trial to Livingstone, but he acquiesced,sending the Pioneer and her seamen home. He couldhave sold the Lady Nyassa to the Portuguese; but tothis he would never consent, as he knew she would beused in the slave-trade. He therefore took her toBombay, India, twenty-five hundred miles away, acrossthe Indian Ocean. He was captain and pilot, the sameself-dependent, fearless traveller that he had been in thewilds of Africa. He was forty-five days at sea; duringtwenty-five of these his ship was becalmed. He couldnot sell her at once, but did so later, receiving onlyDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 393twenty-three hundred pounds for that which had costhim six thousand pounds. This money he deposited inan Indian bank which failed, so that he lost the wholeof it. He simply remarked, " The whole of the moneyshe cost was dedicated to the great cause for which shewas built we are not responsible for results. "From India he sailed to England, arriving at CharingCross Station, July 23, 1864. As before, he was cordiallywelcomed. He attended receptions at Lady Palmerston's and the Duchess of Wellington's, and lunchedwith Baroness Burdett Coutts and Lady Franklin, thoughhe had little love for general society. He hastened tosee his mother and children at Hamilton, planted treeswhile on a visit to the Duke of Argyle, and then withhis daughter Agnes went to Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, where at the residence of his friend, Mr.William F. Webb, formerly the home of Lord Byron,he wrote his second work, " The Zambesi and its Tributaries." Here he remained for eight months, writinghis book in the Sussex Tower, working sometimes tilltwo o'clock in the morning.While at the Abbey, in June, he received the news ofhis mother's death, and hastened to the funeral. Herecords in his journal: " Seeing the end was near, sister Agnes said, ' The Saviour has come for you, mother;you can " lippen " yourself to Him!' She replied, ' Oh,yes.' Little Anna Mary was held up to her. She gaveher the last look, and said, ' Bonnie wee lassie,' gave afew long inspirations, and all was still. . . . Whengoing away in 1858, she said to me that she would haveliked one of her laddies to lay her head in the grave.It so happened that I was there to pay the last tributeto a dear good mother. "394 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.His last act in Scotland was to attend an examinationof his son Oswell's school, where prizes were given. Inmaking his address, he closed it with these words, -his last public words in Scotland, "FEAR GOD, andWORK HARD. "-Livingstone started on his third and last journey toAfrica, Aug. 19, 1865. The government and Geographical Society each furnished him five hundredpounds, and a friend, Mr. James Young of Glasgow,one thousand pounds. He was continued as consul,but without salary. He reached Zanzibar in January,1866, and began his journey with thirteen sepoys, tenJohanna mnen, nine Nassick boys, two Shupanga, -one ofthese was Susi, - and two Waiyau men, of whom one wasChuma. The latter was originally a slave, whom Livingstone had freed in the Shiré Highlands. They had sixcamels, three Indian buffaloes and a calf, two mules,four donkeys, and a poodle dog named Chitané.--The sepoys were almost useless, beat the poor camelswith sticks, overloaded and neglected to feed them, sothat in a month two camels and one buffalo were dead,one camel a skeleton from bad sores made from theirsticks, one buffalo exhausted, and one mule very ill .Though repeatedly reproved by Livingstone, they committed their brutalities when he was not in sight. Theykilled the last young buffalo calf and ate it, tellingLivingstone that they saw a tiger carry it away anddevour it before their eyes. Livingstone asked if theysaw the stripes, and they all declared that they did.This of course proved their falsehood, as there are notigers in Africa. Finally in July he sent them back tothe coast.In September the Johanna men deserted, and returnedDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 395to Zanzibar. They reported that Livingstone was dead,which was disproved by a search expedition sent outfrom England, under Mr. Edward Young, in May, 1867.The little poodle Chitané was drowned in swimmingacross the Chimbwe River, a mile wide, between LakesNyassa and Tanganyika. " He had more spunk in him,”said Livingstone, " than a hundred country dogs, tookcharge of the whole line of march, ran to see the firstman in the line, and then back to the last, and barkedto haul him up; and then, when he knew what hut Ioccupied, would not let a country cur come in sight ofit, and never stole himself. "From "Livingstone's Last Journals," compiled after hisdeath, we learn of those last tiresome but fruitful journeys. They marched along the banks of the RovumaRiver to Lake Nyassa, reaching it Aug. 8. He found,of the tribes along their route, that the Makondé knownothing of a Deity, but pray to their mothers when indistress or dying. The head man of the Manganjasconfided to Livingstone his afflictions, as did many ofthe people. A wife had run away. The traveller askedhim how many he had. When he said twenty in all,Livingstone told him he thought he had nineteen toomany. "But who would cook for strangers, if I hadbut one? " he naïvely asked.The chief Mponda wished to go away with Livingstone, and did not care if he were absent for ten years.Many of the people were tattooed, and had large slitsin the lobes of the ear. Their teeth were sharpened to apoint, and some of them had the two front teeth knockedout.The Livingstone party reached the river LoangwaDec. 16. About this time they suffered much from the396 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.lack of food. He says in his journal: "Simon gave mea little of his meal and went without himself. I tookmy belt up three holes to relieve hunger. "Often they waded through rivers and marshes up tothe thigh. Jan. 12 he writes: " Sitting down thismorning near a tree, my head was just one yard off agood-sized cobra, coiled up in the sprouts of its roots;but it was benumbed with cold. A very pretty littlepuff adder lay in the path also benumbed. "•Jan. 20 two Waiyaus deserted, one of them taking offLivingstone's invaluable medicine-chest. A boy, Baroha,had been carrying it most carefully, and he and theWaiyau had exchanged loads for a short time. " I feltas if I had now received the sentence of death," Livingstone wrote in his journal. .. " It is difficult to sayfrom the heart, ' Thy will be done; ' but I shall try."Yet, as ever, he has an excuse for the poor creatures.He adds: " These Waiyau had few advantages. Soldinto slavery in early life, they were in the worst possibleschool for learning to be honest and honorable; they behaved well for a long time; but having had hard andscanty fare in Lobisa, wet and misery in passing throughdripping forests, hungry nights, and fatiguing days, theirpatience must have been worn out. .. Yet the loss ofthis medicine-box gnaws at the heart terribly."Livingstone had the greatest possible tact with all thechiefs, always talking to them against slavery and war,and opening their minds as far as possible to good things.One chief, Moamba, said, " What do you wish to buy, ifnot slaves or ivory? "" I replied, " says Livingstone, " that the only thing Ihad seen worth buying was a fine fat chief like him, asa specimen."DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 397He and many of the others drank a kind of beer madefrom the grain of millet. To some this beer is almostfood; but the result is they have poor constitutions, andeasily succumb to a slight illness.On April 1, 1867, Livingstone reached Lake Tanganyika, over thirty miles broad and about four hundredand fifty miles in length. " After being a fortnight atthis lake," says Livingstone, " it still appears one ofsurpassing loveliness. . . . It lies in a deep basin whosesides are nearly perpendicular, but covered well withtrees; the rocks which appear are bright red argillaceousschist; the trees at present all green; down some ofthese rocks come beautiful cascades, and buffaloes, elephants, and antelopes wander and graze on the more levelspots, while lions roar by night."Here Livingstone had several fits of insensibility fromfever, and had no medicine with which to cure himself.He discovered Lake Moero, sixty miles long, on Nov.8, 1867. He met with a grand reception from Casembe,a chief who cut off his peoples' hands and ears for various offences. His principal wife, with light-browncomplexion, was carried about in a sort of palanquin, bya dozen men, while a number of men ran before her,brandishing swords and battle-axes, one man beating ahollow instrument to warn people to clear the way forthe queen. A bride or a chief is often carried on a man'sshoulders.In Casembe's country if a child cuts the upper frontteeth before the lower, it is killed , as unlucky. If a childis seen to turn from one side to the other in sleep, it iskilled. If Casembe dreams of any man twice or threetimes, he puts him to death, lest the man may practisesome secret art against the chief's life.398 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.Many of the tribes asked for " gun medicine, " so thatthey could shoot straight, and desired to " drink medicine," so as to understand how to learn to read.Jan. 1 , 1868, Livingstone writes in his journal: " Almighty Father, help me to be more profitable during this year. If I am to die this year, prepare me for it. "Several more of the explorer's men deserted him, buthe, as ever before, excused them. "I did not blamethem very severely in my own mind for absconding," hesaid; " they were tired of tramping, and so, verily, am I.”In early spring he saw marigolds in full bloom all overthe forests, and foxgloves also. In June he came to agrave in the forest, a little rounded mound, as if theoccupant sat in it in the usual native way. It had flourand large blue beads strewn over it. "This is the sortof grave I should prefer," Livingstone wrote: "to lie inthe still, still forest, and no hand ever disturb my bones.The graves at home always seem to me to be miserable,especially those in the cold, damp clay, and without elbow room; but I have nothing to do but wait till Hewho is over all decides where to lay me down and die.Poor Mary lies on Shupanga brae, ' and beeks fornentthe sun.'999July 18, 1868, Livingstone discovered Lake Bangweolo,one of the largest lakes of Central Africa. He sailedupon it in a canoe forty-five feet long and four feetbroad.When the New Year came he was so ill that he hadto be carried in a litter made of boughs. He reachedthe great Arab settlement at Ujiji, on the eastern shoreof Lake Tanganyika, March 14, 1869, only to find thatthe stores which he had ordered sent by caravans fromZanzibar had been plundered and scattered far and wide.DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 399Sixty-two out of eighty pieces of cloth, each piece containing twenty-four yards, had been disposed of. Thebuffaloes had all died on the way. Here he wrote someletters, and sent them by the Arabs to the coast, butthey were never delivered.been saddened" Slavery is awrites in hisAll through these last journeys he hadby the enormities of the slave-traders.great evil wherever I have seen it," hejournal. "A poor old woman and child are among thecaptives. The boy, about three years old, seems amother'spet; his feet are sore from walking in the sun.He wasoffered for two fathoms [ four yards of unbleached calico ] ,and his motherfor one fathom . He understood it all, andcried bitterly, clinging to his mother. She had, of course,no power to help him."Again he writes: "We passed a woman tied by theneck to a tree, and dead. The people of the countryexplained that she had been unable to keep up with theother slaves in a gang, and her master had determinedthat she should not become the property of any one elseif she recovered after resting for a time. " Others werelying in the path, shot or stabbed." One of our men wandered and found a number ofslaves with slave-sticks on [ these yokes weigh from thirtyto forty pounds], abandoned by their master for want offood. They were too weak to be able to speak, or saywhere they had come from; some were quite young. "The slave-gangs numbered several hundred in each.When far enough from their own country so as not torun away, the slave-sticks were usually removed. Greatnumbers of the slaves died from sobbing and " heartbreaking." They would talk of their wives and childrento the last, and sink down and die from no apparent400 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.disease. The slavers would express surprise that peopleshould die while they had plenty to eat and no work."Children for a time would keep up with wonderfulendurance; but it happened sometimes that the soundof dancing and the merry tinkle of the small drumswould fall on their ears, in passing near to a village;then the memory of home and happy days proved toomuch for them; they cried and sobbed, the ' brokenheart ' came on, and they rapidly sank."Since Livingstone's death the Arab slave-raids havebeen worse than ever. Professor Henry Drummond,in Scribner's Magazine for June, 1889, gives some details of this dreadful traffic . Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers, and Roman Catholic Primate ofAfrica, estimates that two millions of lives are destroyed yearly in Africa through the horrors of theslave-trade." The men who appear the strongest, " said CardinalLavigerie, in an address delivered in London, “ andwhose escape is to be feared, have their hands tied, andsometimes their feet, in such fashion that walking becomes a torture to them; and on their necks are placedyokes which attach several of them together. They marchall day; at night, when they stop to rest, a few handfuls.of raw sorgho ' are distributed among the captives. Thisis all their food. Next morning they must startagain. . ."The women and the aged are the first to halt. Then,in order to strike terror into this miserable mass ofhuman beings, their conductors, armed with a wooden.bar to economize powder, approach those who appear tobe the most exhausted, and deal them a terrible blow onthe nape of the neck. The unfortunate victims utterDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 401a cry, and fall to the ground in the convulsions ofdeath. . . ."If, goaded by their cruel sufferings, some attempt torebel or escape, their fierce masters cut them down withtheir swords, and leave them as they lie along the road,attached to one another by their yokes. Therefore ithas been truly said that, if a traveller lost the way leading from Equatorial Africa to the towns where slavesare sold, he could easily find it again by the skeletons ofthe negroes with which it is strewed. "Professor Drummond quotes from Stanley in his bookon the Congo. The latter tells of 118 villages withprobably 1,000 persons in each, and 43 tribal districtsdevastated by fire and sword, that 2,300 women andchildren might be captured by these Arab slavedealers." If each expedition has been as successful as this, theslave- traders have been enabled to obtain 5,000 womenand children safe to Nyangwe, Kirundu, and Vibondo,above the Stanley Falls. This 5,000 out of an annualmillion will be at the rate of a half per cent, or 5 slavesout of 1,000 people. This is poor profit out of suchlarge waste of life. ”This Scribner article by Professor Drummond, and amap of Central Africa showing what is possible for thesuppression of the slave-trade, may be obtained free byaddressing Mr. C. P. Huntington, 23 Broad Street, NewYork City, who has taken a deep interest in the subject.The present condition of the slave-trade and the success attending the efforts of several nations to suppressit, are shown in a valuable article by Stanley in Harper'sMagazine for March, 1893, on " Slavery and the Slavetrade in Africa. " The founding of the Congo Free402 DAVID LIVINGSTONEState, with its military stations and trade, has been awonderful check to the awful traffic. Missions havebeen another powerful factor. The Congo Railway, nowbuilding, with the steamers now plying on the largelakes, will form a police cordon, through which the Arabslave-traders will find it difficult to pass.Stanley urges stringent measures, and commends theGerman government for what it has done on the eastcoast of Africa. "No caravan is permitted to leavewithout search; gunpowder and arms are confiscated;slave-traders are tried and hanged after conviction (thechief judge on the German coast lately sentenced seventeen Arabs to be hanged at Linde) . The tradingdépôts of the African Lakes' Company are pre - eminentlysuccessful in subserving the anti-slavery cause by suppressing the odious trade in slaves. "Still the traffic goes on in all its horrors in manyportions of Africa; in the interior, and in some of thenorthen parts as well. " The importation of negroesfrom the Nigritien basin and South-western Soudan intothe public slave markets of Morocco, " says Stanley,"will continue until for very shame it will irritateEurope into taking more decided steps in the name ofhumanity to force the ever-maundering authorities todecre the abolition of the slave-trade. "Commerce and civilization must go hand in hand.Railways must be built, telegraphic lines established,and the nations of the world must unite to protect theAfrican from the greed and the cruelty of the slavemarket.Livingstone left Ujiji, July 12, improved in health, tostart northward into the Manyuema country to ascertain,if possible, whether the Lualaba River is the westernDAVID LIVINGSTONE. 403branch of the Nile or the eastern of the Congo.not live to ascertain that it is, indeed, the Congo.He didHe reached the banks of the river at Nyangwe, March 29,1871, more than a year after he started. He read the Biblethrough four times while in the Manyuema country, theland of cannibals. On his journey back to Ujiji, begun .July 20, 1871, he several times narrowly escaped death,as many Arabs were with him, and they were so hated bythe natives. Great trees were chopped down just as hepassed, and sometimes the spears just missed him; onegrazed his neck, flung by a man ten yards off. Duringthe last of the journey, " I felt as if dying on my feet,"he wrote. He reached Ujiji, Oct. 23, 1871, a livingskeleton. To his amazement and despair, a leadingArab, professing to believe Livingstone dead, had soldall his remaining goods. He had not a single yard ofcloth left out of his three thousand, nor a string of beadsout of seven hundred pounds. Sick in body and reallysick at heart, he had now to wait to see what thefuture might have in store.Five days later, Oct. 28, Susi came running towardhis master exclaiming excitedly, " An Englishman! Isee him! " Livingstone looked out and beheld a caravan with the American flag at the head."Bales of goods, baths of tin, huge kettles, cookingpots, tents, etc., made me think," he says, "this mustbe a luxurious traveller, and not at his wits ' end like me."The leader of the caravan, who had come just at theopportune moment, was Henry M. Stanley, sent thitherat an expense of over four thousand pounds by JamesGordon Bennett of the New York Herald, " to find Livingstone, dead or alive."For eleven long months the young journalist had404 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.faced disease and hostile tribes in the heart of an unknown country to find the great teacher, from whomnothing had been heard for three years. Once he waswell-nigh discouraged; but he wrote in his journal: " Noliving man shall stop me -only death can prevent me.But death not even this; I shall not die— I will notdie — I can not die! Something tells me I shall findhim and —write it larger FIND HIM, FIND HIM. Eventhe words are inspiring."-At last he had found him, and the two men stood faceto face. It was a supreme moment. They claspedhands warmly. " I thank God, Doctor, I have been permitted to see you," said Stanley with a full heart."I feel grateful that I am here to welcome you," wasthe response of the weary, white-haired man.• •For four happy months they talked and explored together, and each grew fond of the other. Stanley says,"I had gone over battle-fields, witnessed revolutions, civilwars, rebellions, émeutes, and massacres, . but neverhad I been called to record anything that moved me somuch as this man's woes and sufferings, his privations anddisappointments. . . . Livingstone was a character thatI venerated, that called forth all my enthusiasm, thatevoked nothing but sincerest admiration. " . . . AgainStanley says: " Livingstone's gentleness never forsakeshim; his hopefulness never deserts him. No harassinganxieties, distraction of mind, long separation fromhome and kindred, can make him complain. He thinks' all will come out right at last; ' he has such faith in thegoodness of Providence...."From being hated and thwarted in every possibleway by the Arabs and half-castes upon his arrival inUjiji [on account of his opposition to the slave-trade]DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 405he has, through uniform kindness and mild, pleasanttemper, won all hearts. I observed that universal respect was paid to him. Even the Mohammedans neverpassed his house without calling to pay their compliments, and to say ' The blessing of God rest on you. ' "Stanley begged Livingstone to go back with him, andhe would " carry him every foot of the way to the coast. ""No," replied the latter; " I should like to see myfamily very much indeed. My children's letters affectme intensely; but I must not go home, I must finish mytask. "―They went together on the homeward journey as faras Unyanyembi, Stanley bearing homeward Livingstone's journals in waterproof canvas, sealed with fiveseals , - and then the farewells were said."Good-by, Doctor, dear friend! ""Good-by. "66 Now, my men, home! Lift the flag. March! ”Through the distance Stanley waved his handkerchiefand Livingstone raised his cap. He never looked upona white man's face again . Six months afterwardsStanley said, " My eyes feel somewhat dimmed at therecollection of the parting."Livingstone wrote his daughter Agnes concerningStanley: " He laid all he had at my service, dividedhis clothes into two heaps, and pressed one heap uponme; then his medicine-chest; then his goods and everything he had, and, to coax my appetite, often cookeddainty dishes with his own hands." He came with the true American characteristic –generosity. The tears often started into my eyes onevery fresh proof of kindness. "Stanley had brought him letters and gifts from home.406 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.-Nothing pleased Livingstone more than four woollen shirts from Agnes now Mrs. Bruce and a letterfrom her which said, " Much as I wish you to comehome, I had rather that you finished your work to yourown satisfaction than return merely to gratify me."Livingstone says in his journal: " Rightly andnobly said, my darling Nannie; vanity whispers prettyloudly, ' She is a chip of the old block.' My blessing onher and all the rest."Livingstone waited at Unyanyembe till Stanley shouldsend back suitable porters from the coast, fifty-sevenmen and boys, and then the heroic man began againhis toilsome explorations through swamps and feverladen districts . It was gratifying that his governmenthad voted him one thousand pounds, as he had receivedno salary for the previous six years.Five days after Stanley's departure, on Livingstone'sbirthday, March 19, 1872, he writes in his journal:"Accept me, and grant, O gracious Father, that ere thisyear is gone I may finish my task."He wished to find the true sources of the Nile, andthen he would go home. Death came before he hadsettled the problem.On Aug. 25, 1872, Livingstone started on his lastjourney westward. He had written to his old collegefriend, James Young: " I rejoice to think it is nowyour portion, after working nobly, to play. May youhave a long spell of it! I am differently situated. Ishall never be able to play. During a large part ofthis journey I had a strong presentiment that I shouldnever live to finish it. . . . This presentiment did notinterfere with the performance of any duty; it onlymade me think a great deal more of the future state ofbeing."...DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 407On Oct. 14 they reached Lake Tanganyika, and thenstruggled on toward the eastern shore of Lake Bangweolo. It was the rainy season, and they forded riverafter river, nearly to their necks in water.Jan. 24, 1873, he writes in his journal: " Went onehour and three-quarters' journey to a large stream ,through drizzling rain, at least three hundred yards ofdeep water, among sedges and sponges of one hundredyards. One part was neck-deep for fifty yards, and thewater cold. We plunged in elephants' foot-prints onehour and a half, then came on one hour to a small rivulet ten feet broad, but waist-deep; bridge covered andbroken down."Carrying me across one of the broad, deep, sedgyrivers is really a very difficult task. One we crossedwas at least two thousand feet broad, or more than threehundred yards. The first part, the main stream, cameup to Susi's mouth, and wetted my seat and legs. Oneheld up my pistol behind, then one after another took aturn; and when he sank into an elephant's deep footprint, he required two to lift him, so as to gain a footingon a level, which was over waist-deep. Others went onand bent down the grass to insure some footing on theside of the elephant's path ."No wonder he wrote, " This trip has made my hairall gray." It was evident that his health was failing.He writes, March 19: "Thanks to the Almighty Preserver of men for sparing me thus far on the journey oflife! Can I hope for ultimate success? So many obstacles have arisen.""March 24. The loads are all soaked, and with thecold it is bitterly uncomfortable. ""March 25. Nothing earthly will make me give up408 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.my work in despair. I encourage myself in the Lordmy God, and go forward. "" April 10. I am pale, bloodless, and weak. ... Oh,how I long to be permitted by the Over Power to finishmy work! ""April 19. I am excessively weak, and but for thedonkey could not move a hundred yards. It is not allpleasure, this exploration. . . . I can scarcely hold apencil, and my stick is a burden. ""April 21. Tried to ride, but was forced to lie down,and they carried me back to vil [ village] exhausted. "His faithful followers, seeing that he was daily failing, had made a litter, covered it with grass, laid ablanket upon it, and carried Livingstone upon their shoulders.There were no entries now in his journals except thedate. Then the last words were written by the dyingman on the eleventh anniversary of his wife's death,April 27, 1873: "Knocked up quite, and remainSent to buy milch goats. We are on thebanks of the Molilamo. "recover -As best they could, they bore him forward to thevillage of the chief Chitambo, where they built hima hut.On April 30 Livingstone asked Susi to bring him hiswatch, that he, the servant, might hold it, while the keywas slowly turned by the enfeebled hands. At 11 P. M.Susi went to his master's bedside. The latter said,in Suaheli language, " Siku-ngapi kwenda Luapula? "(How many days is it to the Luapula?)Upon being told that it was about three days, he halfsighed, half said, " Oh, dear, dear! "After midnight Susi boiled some water for him,DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 409and held the candle near him while he selected somecalomel. Then Livingstone said in a low voice, " Allright; you can go now."At four o'clock, before light, Susi again entered, beingcalled bythe boy who slept just inside the hut. Livingstone was kneeling beside his bed, his head buried inhis hands upon the pillow. The 29,000 miles of travelin Africa were ended; he was dead, and the body almostcold. Susi and Chuma with Jacob Wainwright, whocould write, decided that the body must be carried toZanzibar, and from thence to England. Then they proceeded to embalm it the best they knew how. Removing the heart, lungs, etc. , these were placed in a tin boxand reverently buried at Ilala, where he died. Thenthe body was exposed to the sun for fourteen days,wrapped in calico, and enclosed in the bark of theMyonga tree, with tarred sail-cloth sewed over thecylindrical package.Then the homeward journey began, the precious burden being carried on their shoulders. Half of the menbecame ill , and some of the tribes were hostile. Whenthey reached Unyanyembe, Lieutenant Cameron wishedto have the body buried there, rather than make theperilous journey to the coast, but the men would notfor a moment consent.At one village opposition was shown to a dead bodypassing through it, so a bale of sticks was prepared likea body, and the people were given to understand thatthey would bury the corpse. Some of them went backwith the pretended body, while the real one was rewrapped like a bale of goods, and carried forward without suspicion.Through nine long months they made the journey of410 DAVID LIVINGSTONE.more than a thousand miles to the coast, bearing theirbeloved dead. "The story stands alone in history," saysThomas Hughes.Through the generosity of Livingstone's friend, JamesYoung, Susi and Chuma, two out of seven long-tried andfaithful servants, with Jacob Wainwright, who had beensent by Stanley from Zanzibar, were brought to Englandon the steamer, and assisted at the burial of their greatleader.On Saturday, April 18, 1874, Livingstone was buriednear the centre of the nave in Westminster Abbey. Thegrand old abbey was crowded in every part. Amongthe pall-bearers were Stanley and Jacob Wainwright.A black slab now marks the resting-place of himwhom Mr. Johnston well calls " The greatest and bestman who ever explored Africa. " On the slab are thesewords:"Brought by faithful handsover land and sea,here restsDAVID LIVINGSTONE,missionary, traveller, philanthropist,born March 19, 1813,at Blantyre, Lanarkshire.Died May 4 [probably May 1] , 1873.At Chitambo's village, Ilala.For thirty years his life was spent in an unweariedeffort to evangelize the native races, to explore theundiscovered secrets, and abolish the desolating slavetrade of Central Africa, where, with his last words,he wrote: -' All I can say in my solitude is, may Heaven's richblessing come down on every one— American, English,Turk - who will help to heal this open sore of theworld.'"DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 411These words concerning slavery were the last pennedin a letter which the missionary explorer wrote to theNew York Herald, after Stanley left him. The nationsare now trying to do that to which Livingstone's lifeand death were consecrated.MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.ITT is not often that five naval officers are found in onefamily, and two of these so famous as Matthew Calbraith Perry, who opened Japan to the world, and OliverHazard Perry, the hero of Lake Erie, in the war of 1812.Matthew, the fourth child in the family of a sturdysea-captain, Christopher Raymond Perry, was born atNewport, R. I., April 10, 1794. He was an active,earnest boy, showing in early life the energy and strengthof character which distinguished him in his manhood.Under the training of a self-reliant and noble mother,Matthew learned to be honest, devoted to country, andpersevering in every duty. Though gentle in her manners, she had great force of character, teaching her children obedience as one of the first virtues, and exhibitingthe same fearlessness and fortitude before them whichthey themselves showed in after life.Matthew was eager to enter the navy when a lad oftwelve, but his youth prevented. On Jan. 18, 1809,he became a midshipman, and soon went aboard theschooner Revenge, commanded by his brother Oliver.She was attached to the squadron under CommodoreJohn Rodgers, which guarded our coasts from theChesapeake to Passamaquoddy Bay, to prevent American sailors from being pressed into British service byBritish ships. 412DMATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.
MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 413On Oct. 12, 1810, the lad was transferred to thefrigate President, the flag-ship of Commodore Rodgers.The Revenge was wrecked off Watch Hill, R.I., threemonths later.On the President, June 22, young Perry, then seventeen, received his first wound in the first naval battle ofthe war of 1812. By the explosion of a gun the leg ofCommodore Rodgers was broken, several sailors werekilled, and others wounded; among the latter was youngPerry.After capturing seven British merchant vessels, Commodore Rodgers was obliged to return, his crew beingunfitted for duty by scurvy. On another trip Rodgerscaptured twelve British vessels, with two hundred andseventy-one prisoners. Young Perry was promoted toan acting lieutenantcy when he was eighteen, and wassoon transferred to the ship United States, under Commodore Decatur.On Christmas eve, 1814, the youth of twenty wasmarried to Miss Jane Slidell, then only seventeen yearsof age, the daughter of a rich New York merchant.Matthew probably seemed much older than he reallywas, from the experience he had already enjoyed in travel and naval warfare. From this happy union camea family of four sons and six daughters.Mr. Slidell, the father-in-law of Perry, offered the latterthe command of his merchant-vessel bound for Holland.Perry obtained a furlough, accepted the position , and remained in the commercial marine for nearly three years,when he re-entered the navy.In 1819, Perry, in the ship Cyane, visited the DarkContinent to convoy the first company of black coloniststo Africa. The ship captured some slavers, and helped414 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.the negroes in settling and house-building. Most ofthe colonists and crew suffered from the African fever,and the colony proved a failure. Another remedy hadto be found for the cure of slavery in America nearlya half-century later.After another voyage to Africa, during which Perrygave especial study to that dread disease scurvy, findingthat it resulted largely from salt diet, lack of vegetables, and want of ventilation and cleanliness, he gavesome time in his war-ship, the Shark, in helping to ridthe West Indian Archipelago of pirate crafts . Hestudied Spanish the more effectually to do his work,and became well versed in the standard literature in thatlanguage.After a rest of some months with his family in NewYork, Perry joined the North Carolina, one of our firstline-of-battle ships, and sailed in her to Malaga, May 19,1825. She with some other ships was commissionedto protect American commerce on the Mediterranean.Perry's next sea voyage was to Russia, in the Concord.While at Cronstadt the Tsar Nicholas came on board,and inspected her with apparent pleasure. Perry and afew other officers were received at the imperial palace.The Tsar asked many questions of the young Americanofficer, who answered with dignity and courtesy.Perry visited Copenhagen, Cowes in the Isle of Wight,Malta, and Alexandria. On the trip to Alexandria hehad Lady Franklin on board. She " was full of herhusband, " says the chaplain; " and, of course, at eachmeal, the whole company had to hear theories and successes and memories repeated on the one theme."At Alexandria the officers were invited to dine withMehemet, the Viceroy of Egypt, who presented theparty with thirteen swords.MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 415Later Perry was sent to Italy in command of theship Brandywine, and on his return, at his own request,was given the command of the recruiting station at NewYork.Here, for ten years, he enjoyed his family, and devoted himself to the welfare of the navy. He organizedthe Brooklyn Naval Lyceum, " to promote the diffusionof useful knowledge, to foster a spirit of harmony and acommunity of interests in the service, and to cement thelinks which unite us as professional brethren."A library was begun, pictures were given by wealthypatrons, and a bi- monthly magazine was started . TheLyceum is still doing its valuable work. Perry was always an advocate of reading and general culture for hismen. On ship-board he organized classes . He urged thesailors to give up liquor, and was instrumental in obtaining the prohibition of the spirit ration to all undertwenty-one, which rule was passed Aug. 29, 1842. Healso helped to abolish flogging with "the cat- of-ninetails," on the bare back.Perry was offered the command of the United StatesExploring Expedition to the Antarctic continent; but ashe declined, it was given to Lieutenant Charles Wilkes,whose subsequent publications are full of interest.Perry took the deepest interest in the use of steamfor the navy, and applied for the command of the Fulton, a floating battery for the defence of New York harbor, the first American steamer of war. He took herto Washington, and President Jackson and his cabinetenjoyed an inspection of her.Perry was the first to urge a training-school for navalengineers provided by the government. This was realized later at Annapolis. He made a special study of416 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.naval ordnance, and proposed the ram, " using a steameras a striking body."Perry with others made a careful study of the waterapproaches to New York. He went to Europe to studylighthouses, visited founderies and ship-yards, and metdistinguished scientists and rulers. He was invited byKing Louis Philippe to an informal supper, where hemet the royal family, the Queen pouring the tea.On his return to New York, Perry purchased one hundred and twenty acres near Tarrytown, on the Hudson,and built a stone cottage which he called " The Moorings." He rose early to care for his land, studied andwrote evenings, and became the close friend of Washington Irving, his neighbor.At the request of the government he conducted manyexperiments with projectiles and great guns.After another voyage to Africa, to help suppresspiracy and the slave-trade, he took an active and successful part in the Mexican War, in the surrender of VeraCruz, Tabasco, and other cities.All this varied experience was leading to the onecrowning act of his life the opening of Japan to theworld.—-For centuries this empire of Japan had been closed tothe ships and citizens of every land. The Dutch wereallowed a very few limited privileges. For more thanthree hundred years Portuguese, English, French,Russians, and Americans had tried in vain to hold commercial relations with her, to travel among her people,and to buy the delicate workmanship of her hands.Commodore Perry believed that with kindness and tact,backed by a force sufficient to impress the natives,entrance to Japan might be effected.MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 417He read all the available literature on the subject assoon as he knew that he was to take the lead of theexpedition. He notified the authorities at Washingtonof his intention to take with him, for the Japanese,specimens of our mechanical products, arms, and machinery, and asked manufacturers for samples of everydescription.The Norris Brothers of Philadelphia furnished alittle locomotive and rails to be laid down in Japan.A letter to the Emperor of Japan from the Presidentof the United States, Millard Fillmore, written by theHon. Edward Everett, the Secretary of State, was handsomely engrossed and enclosed in a box which cost athousand dollars.-After various delays and obstacles, Commodore Perrystarted in the ship Mississippi from Norfolk, Va. , Nov.24, 1852, several other vessels of the squadron soonfollowing him. " Until the great Civil War, only twofleets that is, collections of war vessels numbering atleast twelve- had assembled under the American flag.These were in the waters of Mexico and Japan. Bothwere commanded by Matthew C. Perry." Thus writesthe Rev. William Elliot Griffis in his life of Perry.―On the passage out they stopped at Madeira, wherethe Commodore made some official calls in the fashionable conveyance of Funchal, a sledge with a gayly decorated carriage body, drawn by a yoke of oxen. The ladiesof the town often rode on horseback, a groom keepingpace with the horse. At the island of St. Helena theofficers visited the lonely spot where Napoleon found ahome and a grave in 1821.At Cape Town, in the south of Africa, Perry sawsomething of the Hottentots, who lived in movable huts.418 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.made of boughs, which they conveyed from place toplace on the backs of oxen.At Mauritius the officers visited the supposed tombof Paul and Virginia, immortalized by the pen of Bernardin St. Pierre, who was then an officer of the garrisonof Mauritius. The French ship, St. Gévan, was wreckedon the north-east coast of the island on the night of Aug.18, 1744. On board the ship were two young ladiesMallet and Caillon, returning as passengers from France,whither they had been sent to be educated. MonsieurLongchamps de Montendre (Paul) and MadamoiselleCaillon (Virginia) were last seen on the top- gallantforecastle of the wrecked vessel. Montendre hadlowered himself down from the ship's side to throwhimself into the sea, earnestly begging the girl to attempt to save herself with him, but on her refusal, hereturned and would not again leave her. MademoiselleMallet was on the quarter-deck with Monsieur de Peramont, who never left her for a moment. Nearly all onboard perished.A short stay was made at Ceylon by the squadron." Of the productions of the island," says the narrative of the Perry expedition, compiled by Dr. Francis L.Hawks, "the cocoanut is probably the most valuable tothe natives. Everywhere in Ceylon, as far as the eyecan reach, extensive plantations of this tree are to beseen, and the numerous roads throughout the island arebordered with it. The weary and heated traveller findsnot only protection from the sun in its shade, but refreshment from the milk of the fruit, which is both agreeableto the taste and wholesome."The cocoanut palm has a great variety of uses.The green fruit, with its delicate albuminous meat andMATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 419its refreshing milk, is a favorite article of food . Whenripe, the kernel of the nut is dried, forming what thenatives term copperal, and an oil of great value is expressed from it, while the residuum forms an excellentoil cake for the fattening of animals. Even the huskof the nut is useful; its fibres are wrought into the coirrope, of which large quantities are annually exported,and the shells are manufactured into various domesticutensils. From the sap of the tree a drink is obtainedwhich is called ' toddy,' and made into arrack by distillation. The leaves afford a good material for thethatching of the native huts, and are, moreover, givenas food to elephants."The talipot is one of the wonders of the island. Asingle leaf of this tree will shade several persons. Whenthe leaf is softened by boiling, the natives use it as asubstitute for paper, and write upon it. The cinnamontree abounds with its beautiful white blossoms and redtipped leaves.After touching at Singapore, the squadron reachedHong Kong, April 6. Perry spent a few days at Macao,in which is the cave of Camoëns, where the celebratedPortuguese poet is supposed to have written a portion ofhis " Lusiad. " He first visited Macao when banishedfrom Portugal on account of his persistent courtship of alady of rank, whose parents were opposed to a poorgenius. He returned to Portugal, and died in a hospitalin poverty. Above the cave at Macao is a marble monument with a bronze bust of the poet.Shanghai was visited; and then the squadron, the Commodore having transferred his home from the Mississippito the Susquehanna, sailed from Napa, the principalport of the Great Liu Kiu Island, one of a group said tonumber thirty-six islands, a dependency of Japan.420 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.Bayard Taylor had joined the squadron at Shanghaiand thereafter kept most interesting journals of theexpedition.Two hours after the ships came to anchor two Japanese officials appeared on board, presenting with profound salutations a folded red card of Japanese papera yard long. One man wore a loose salmon-colored robeof grass cloth, while the other wore blue. Both had onoblong caps of bright yellow.―The Commodore declined to see these men, determinedto receive only the principal dignitaries. The next daythese officials came with presents, a bullock, severalpigs, fowls, and eggs; but these were declined till atreaty should be made, or some formal recognition takenof the American representatives.A few days later the regent of Liu Kiu, a venerableold man, arrived, and was received with much ceremonyby the Commodore, who repaid the visit at the royalpalace, June 6, evidently much against the will of theauthorities.The Commodore was borne in a sedan chair by eightChinese coolies, his marines, under arms, in line on eitherside, with two field-pieces and the artillerymen in front.The natives knelt as the procession passed. It wasevident that spies were on every side. The band played"Hail Columbia " as they reached the palace gate.The Commodore and his officers were received in thehall of audience, where smoking- boxes were distributedand twists of gingerbread. The queen dowager, and boyprince for whom the regent governed, did not maketheir appearance.After this formal reception the party was receivedat the home of the regent, where a bountiful repast wasMATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 421served. Many of the dishes were unfamiliar to Americans.Of those which they knew, " there were sliced boiledeggs, which had been dyed crimson, fish made into rollsand boiled in fat, pieces of cold baked fish, slices of hog'sliver, sugar candy, cucumbers, mustard, salted radishtops, and fragments of lean pork fried. Cups of teawere first handed round; these were followed by verysmall cups of sakè [ an intoxicating drink made fromrice], which had the taste of French liqueur. Smallbamboo sticks, sharpened at one end, and which someof the guests mistook for toothpicks, were furnished, tobe used as forks in taking balls of meat and dough fromthe soup, which made the first course. Soup constituted also the next seven courses of the twelve whereofthe repast consisted. The other four were gingerbread,salad made of bean sprouts and young onion tops, abasket of what appeared to be some dark-red fruit, butproved to be artificial balls composed of a thin doughrind covering a sugary pulp, and a delicious mixture.compounded of beaten eggs and a slender white root with.an aromatic taste. "As long as the squadron remained at Liu Kiu allmilitary and naval drills were regularly performed daily.Of the seventeen boats manned and equipped, five carriedtwelve and twenty-four pounders. These created greatinterest among the people of Liu Kiu.The inhabitants were found to be very neat, living inplain, unpainted houses, whose floors were covered withmats which were carefully preserved from dirt, thepeople stepping on them with bare feet or with stockingsonly. When they entered the house, they slipped offtheir loose straw sandals, and left them at the door.The crown of the head, to the extent of two or three422 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.inches, was shaved, and into the vacant space the hairwas drawn and plaited, fastened by two large hair-pins.The lower class usually wore brass or pewter pins,while the literati, or dignitaries, used gold or silver.On June 9, Bonin Islands, lying in the Japanese Sea,were visited; and a month later, on July 7, the fleetcame to anchor at Uraga, in the Bay of Yedo. Greatwas the astonishment of the Japanese. A number ofJapanese guard-boats were sent out to the ships, butthe Commodore would not allow the men to come onboard. They made several attempts to climb into theAmerican vessels, but were checked by the sight ofpistols and pikes.Finally an official appeared with an order for the shipsto depart instantly. He was told that the Commodore.bore a message from the President of the United Statesto the Emperor, and would confer with no one exceptthe highest in rank in Uraga.During that first night, when a foreign squadronanchored in the Bay of Yedo, beacon fires glimmered onthe hills, and the great bell tolled its danger signal.Companies of Japanese soldiers, in their scarlet uniforms, passed from garrison to garrison.Perry was finally informed that he must go to someother port to deliver his message to the Emperor; butthis he declined to do, saying that if the Japanesegovernment did not see fit to appoint a proper personto receive such a valuable letter, the Commodore, with asufficient force, would be obliged to deliver it in person,let the consequences be what they might.Boats with white flags, to show their peaceful intention, were sent out from the American ships to explorethe bay and harbor of Uraga; and when the JapaneseMATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 423demurred, saying that this was against their laws, theywere told that the American laws commanded theseexplorations, and American subjects must obey.Sunday, July 10, was carefully observed by religiousservices, and no communication was held with theJapanese on that day.On July 13, the governor of the Province arrived,bearing a letter of credence from the Emperor, wrappedin velvet, and enclosed in a box of sandal-wood. It wastreated with such reverence by the governor that no onewas allowed to touch it. The letter was addressed tohis highness, Toda, Prince of Idzu: " I send you toUraga to receive the letter of the President of theUnited States to me, which letter has recently beenbrought to Uraga by the Admiral, upon receiving whichyou will proceed to Yedo, and bring the same to me. "The Emperor's seal was at the bottom.A building was immediately constructed, trimmedwith flags and painted screens, wherein the Commodorewas to meet Toda, Prince of Idzu, and deliver the President's letter in the thousand-dollar gold case.When the time arrived the Commodore, surroundedby about three hundred of his men, all in uniform , theguns from his ships firing every now and then, repairedto the place of meeting. Two stalwart seamen bore theflag at the head of the procession, and two boys preceded the Commodore, carrying the golden box in acovering of scarlet cloth. The President's letter, andthe credentials of Perry, were written on vellum, andnot folded, but bound in blue silk velvet. Each seal,attached by cords of gold and silk, was encased ina circular box of pure gold. Each document was in arosewood box, with locks, hinges, and mountings of424 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.gold. Two tall negroes, armed, acted as Perry's bodyguard.The ships had meantime been cleared for action incase there should be hostile demonstrations on shoretowards the Americans.The Japanese officials were gorgeously attired in silksand gold lace. A hundred Japanese boats lined theshore, while thousands of the people flocked to witnessso strange a spectacle.The letter to the Emperor from the President urgedthe abrogation of the ancient Japanese laws which forbade foreign trade, desired to make a treaty useful aliketo both nations, whereby Japanese ports should beopened, and begged the acceptance, by the Emperor, ofsome gifts. The friendly letter of Millard Fillmore, tohis " Great and Good Friend," said, " May the Almightyhave your imperial majesty in His great and holy keeping! "Commodore Perry, " Commander-in-chief of all thenaval forces of the United States of America, stationedin the East Indies, China and Japan Seas," sent as aspecial ambassador by the President, also wrote a fullletter to the Emperor.After the giving of the letters, the Commodore explained that he would return to Japan the followingspring, to receive the answer of the Emperor to thePresident.Perry sailed back to Liu Kiu and China, where hestudied the people, and obtained much valuable information. All the land in Liu Kiu was held by thegovernment, and rented to large tenants, who in turnsub-let it to the direct cultivators of the soil. Rice wasfound to be the chief product, though wheat, tobacco,MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 425peanuts, onions, and radishes some three feet long andtwelve inches round, were seen in abundance. Theflowers were the camellia, which grows wild and bearsa pink blossom, the dahlia, morning-glory, marsh-mallow,etc. The bamboo was large, and of great value to thepeople."Great reverence is paid to the dead in Liu Kiu,"says the Perry narrative, " where they are put in coffinsin a sitting posture, and being followed by the friendsand relations, and a procession of women in long whiteveils which cover their heads and faces, are interred inwell-built stone vaults, or tombs constructed in the sidesof the hills. After the body has been interred for aperiod of seven years, and all the flesh is decayed, thebones are removed and deposited in stone vases, whichare placed upon shelves within the vaults. The poorpeople place the remains of their dead in earthen jars,and deposit them in the crevices of the rocks , wherethey are often to be seen, broken and disarranged.Periodical visits are paid by the surviving friends andrelations to the burial-places, where they deposit offerings upon the tombs. On the first interment of therich dead, roast pig and other articles of food are offered ,and after being allowed to remain for a short time, aredistributed among the poor. "The Commodore and his squadron returned to theBay of Yedo about the middle of February, 1854. TheJapanese Emperor had died during Perry's absence, andthe treaty, if concluded at all, would be made with hissuccessor.A treaty-house was built near Yokohama; and here theconferences took place, Perry coming thither with fivehundred men in twenty-seven boats. Twenty-one guns426 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.were fired in honor of the Emperor, and seventeen inhonor of his high commissioner, Hayashi Daigaku-noKami.The presents to the Emperor of Japan, and to hisofficials, filling several large boats, were delivered March13. These were swords, muskets, telegraph instruments,three life-boats, seven volumes of Audubon's " Birdsand Quadrupeds of America," potatoes, stoves, telescope,agricultural implements, etc. The mile of telegraph,when in working order, created intense interest. Thetiny locomotive was at once secured for a ride by a mandarin, on its roof. " It was a spectacle, not a littleludicrous," says Perry, " to behold a dignified mandarinwhirling around the circular road at the rate of twentymiles an hour, with his loose robes flying in the wind."Eleven days later, March 24, a large number of giftswere received for the government of the United Statesfrom the Emperor; gold lacquered writing-tables, desks,boxes, silks, pongees, crape, matting, porcelain, bamboostands, two hundred bundles of rice, each measuring fiveJapanese pecks, and three hundred chickens.Perry gave a feast to the Japanese officials. At theclose of the dinner, the guests gathered in long folds ofpaper all they could reach from the tables, and storedit away in their pockets, or in the capacious sleeves oftheir robes. This was the fashion of the country, andwhen they entertained the Americans, the Japaneseurged them to take to the ships all they could carryfrom the feasts.After many days spent in conference, a treaty withAmerica by which two ports were opened, Hakodatè inYesso, and Shimoda in Idzu, was finally concluded,Friday, March 31, 1854, whereupon Perry presentedMATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 427Prince Hagashi with an American flag, as the highestexpression of national courtesy and friendship which hecould offer. On a portion of the ground at Yokohamawhere the treaty was made, the first Protestant Church inJapan was organized by the Rev. Mr. Ballagh. The firstfive thousand dollars towards its erection were sent byChristian converts of the Hawaiian Islands.After remaining for some days in the Bay of Yedo,where the camellias on the shore grow to forty feet inheight, with magnificent red and white blossoms, andbeing entertained in the homes of some of the officials,where the rooms were covered with soft mats, and thewindows made of oiled paper, the Commodore sailed forShimoda on the island of Niphon. He found the housesas usual, divided into several compartments by meansof sliding panels, and destitute of tables, chairs, sofas,and what to us are essentials for comfort."Shimoda," says William Elliot Griffis, in his veryinteresting " Mikado's Empire," " before it fairly beganto be of much service, was visited by a terrific earthquakeand tidal wave, that hurled a Russian frigate to destruction, overwhelmed the town, sweeping back by its recession into the boiling ocean scores of houses and aboutone hundred human beings. The effluent wave ploughedthe harbor with such force that all the mud was scouredfrom the rocky bed. The anchors of ships could obtainno grip on the bare, slippery rock bottom; and Shimoda,being useless as a harbor, was abandoned. The ruin ofShimoda was the rise of Yokohama. "By a new treaty five years later, 1859, Kanagawa,three miles across the bay from Yokohama, and Nagasaki were made open ports.Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, in her " Jinrikisha Days in428 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.Japan," thus describes a Japanese house: " The area ofevery room is some multiple of three feet, becausethe soft tatami, or floor-mats, measure six feet in lengthby three in width. These are woven of common strawand rushes, faced with a closely wrought mat of ricestraw. It is to save these tatami and the polished floorsthat the shoes are left outside the house."The thick screens, ornamented with sketches orpoems, that separate one room from another, are thefusuma; the screens shutting off the veranda, pretty lattice frames covered with rice -paper that admit a peculiarly soft light to the rooms, are the shoji, and in theirmanagement is involved an elaborate etiquette.... . ."The Japanese bed is the floor, with a wooden boxunder the neck for a pillow and a futon for a covering.To the foreigner the Japanese landlord allows five orsix futons, or cotton-wadded comforters, and they makea tolerable mattress, although not springy, and ratherapt to be damp and musty. By day the futons areplaced in closets out of sight, or hung over the balconies to air, coming back damper than ever, if the servants forget to bring them in before sunset. "At Shimoda Commodore Perry found nine Buddhisttemples, one large Shinto temple, and a great number ofsmaller shrines. At the door of the main apartmentto the temples of Buddha there was a drum on the leftand a bell on the right, to awaken the attention of theidols when the devout come to pray.In connection with each Buddhist monastery was awell-kept graveyard, where statues of Buddha, somelife-size and some not larger than a foot high, weregenerously distributed . Fresh cut flowers were dailydeposited before the tombs and the idols.MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 429A broad avenue of fir and juniper trees led to thegreat Shinto temple, which was very plain both withoutand within. A subscription list, thirty feet long, hungon the walls of the temple, giving the names of thosewho provided for the expenses of the temple service.From the door hung a straw rope connected with a bell,that the deity worshipped might know when the religious call was made.At present the established religion of Japan, savewhere Christianity has been accepted, is Shintoism.The great divinity of the Shinto religion is the SunGoddess Amaterasu. From her, according to Japanesebelief, the Mikados are directly descended. The firstemperor, or Mikado, about whom there is any authentichistory, was Jimmu Tennô, the fifth in descent from theSun-Goddess. He reigned from 660 to 585 B.C. Hemarried Tatara, the most beautiful woman in Japan, thedaughter of one of his captains, and died at the age ofone hundred and twenty-seven.Isabella L. Bird, in her " Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,"written in 1880, says there are about 98,000 Shintotemples in Japan, which number includes all the wayside shrines and the shrines in the groves. Miss Scidmore says there are about twice this number. " Thecharacteristics of ' Pure Shinto,' " says Miss Bird (Mrs.Bishop), " are the absence of an ethical and doctrinalcode, of idol- worship, of priestcraft, and of any teachingsconcerning a future state, and the deification of heroes,emperors, and great men, together with the worship ofcertain forces and objects in nature. ”The Shinto temples are of unpainted wood. Withineach shrine is a circular steel mirror, a copy of the onegiven by the Sun-Goddess as an emblem of herself to430 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.Ninigi, when she sent him down to govern the world." In the pure Shinto temples," says Miss Bird, " whichdo not even display the mirror, there is a kind of receptacle concealed behind the closed doors of the actualshrine, which contains a case only exposed to view onthe day of the annual festival, and which is said to contain the spirit of the deity to whom the temple is dedicated, the ' august spirit substitute,' or ' God's seed. " "Shintoism was the ancient religion of Japan; butBuddhism, being introduced in the sixth century, maderapid progress, and was almost the only religion till therestoration of the Mikado to power in 1868, when Shintoism again became the State religion.Buddhist temples are still built by the faithful; andMiss Alice Mabel Bacon describes a great one, buildingat Kyoto, where the women, " wishing to have some partin the sacred work, cut off their abundant hair, a beautyperhaps more prized by the Japanese women than bythose of other countries, and from the material thusobtained they twisted immense cables, to be used indrawing the timbers from the mountains to the site ofthe temple. The great black cables hang in the unfinished temple to-day. ""This Higashi Hongwanji " (Eastern Temple), saysMiss Scidmore, " was eight years in building, and is thelargest temple in Japan. " Of the ropes of hair, shesays, "The largest rope is five inches in diameter andtwo hundred and fifty feet long, the hair, wound in adozen different strands around a slender core of hemp,having been given by three thousand five hundred of thepious maids and matrons of the province of Echizen.Here and there in this giant cable are pathetic threadsof white hair, the rest being deep black. "MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 431The services are very elaborate, and bear a strongresemblance to those of the Roman Catholic Church.In the country, more frequently than in the cities,is seen the Nagaré kanjo (flowing invocation) . Apiece of cotton cloth is suspended by four corners tostakes set in the ground near a brook. Resting on thecloth, or if in the city, in a pail of water, is a woodendipper. The passers-by offer a prayer with the aid ofthe rosary, dip a cup full of water, pour it on the cloth,and when it has strained through, move on. This act isto help a mother out of Hades in the Lake of Bloodwho has died at the birth of a child, on account of somesin committed in a previous state of existence. Whenthe cloth is so worn out that it no longer permits thewater to drain through it, the spirit of the mother arisesfrom Purgatory to live in a higher state of existence.It is said that the rich are able to procure at thetemples cloth that will soon wear out, while the poorare able to buy only the stoutest woven fabric, so thatunfortunately the poor mothers are kept longer inpunishment. The Japanese have a proverb that "thejudgments of Hades depend on money."The Japanese women pleased Perry with their gentleness and extreme courtesy. They marred their attractiveness by painting the teeth black, as soon as they weremarried, and shaving the eyebrows. This ugly fashionhas been done away by the Empress Haruko. Mosttravellers seem to agree with Sir Edwin Arnold in his"Japonica " and Henry Norman in his " Real Japan,"published in 1892, that " The Japanese woman is thecrown of the charm of Japan. In the noble lady andher frailest and most unfortunate sister alike, there isan indefinable something which is fascinating at first432 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.sight, and grows only more pleasing on acquaintance. •I think the charm lies chiefly . . . in an inborn gentlenessand tenderness and sympathy, the most womanly of allqualities, combined with what the Romans used to call ' acertain propriety ' of thought and demeanor, and used toadmire so much. " . . . The key to the character of theJapanese woman lies in the word obedience. Ages ago,her three great duties were religiously declared to beobedience: if a daughter, to her father; if a wife, to herhusband; if a widow, to her eldest son. Mr. Griffisbelieves this abject obedience and polygamy are thegreat hindrances to the elevation of women in Japan.Miss Alice Mabel Bacon says in her " Japanese Girls andWomen: " " In Japan, the idea of a wife's duty to herhusband includes no thought of companionship on termsof equality. The wife is simply the housekeeper, thehead of the establishment, to be honored by the servantsbecause she is the one who is nearest to the master, butnot for one moment to be regarded as the master'sequal. . . . She appears rarely with him in public, isexpected always to wait upon him, and save him steps,and must bear all things from him with smiling face andagreeable manners. . . In all things the husband goesfirst, the wife second. If the husband drops his fan or his handkerchief, the wife picks it up. The husband isserved first, the wife afterwards a good, considerate,careful body- servant....·"Upon the 11th day of Feb. 1889, the day on whichthe Emperor, by his own act in giving a constitution tothe people, limited his own power for the sake of putting his nation upon a level with the most civilizednations of the earth, he at the same time, and for thefirst time, publicly placed his wife upon his own level.MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 433"In an imperial progress made through the streets ofTokyo, the Emperor and Empress, for the first time inthe history of Japan, rode together in the imperialcoach. "After Commodore Perry had spent some time atShimoda, he visited the other open port, Hakodate,which means "box shop. " The town lies at the baseof a lofty promontory divided into three principal peaks.The houses were very neat, the streets sprinkled andswept, with wooden picket-fences and gates across theroad at short intervals. These were opened for the peopleto pass during the day, but closed at night.In some of the better houses there were exquisitewood carvings. The walls were usually hung with rollsof gayly-colored paper, on which were painted theirsacred bird, the stork, the winged tortoise, and theporpoise, or dolphin of the ancients.In the centre of the common sitting-room was asquare hole built in with tiles and gravel where a charcoal fire was kept burning, with a tea-kettle suspendedabove it. There was thus a constant supply of hotwater ready for tea, which is handed to every visitor onhis arrival.In one of the burial-places at Hakodate, Perry saw atall post in which an iron wheel was inserted on an axle.Every person who turned this wheel in passing was believed to obtain credit in the other world for one ormore prayers. "This praying by wheel and axle," hesaid, " would seem to be the very perfection of a ceremonious religion, as it reduces it to a system of mechanical laws, which, provided the apparatus is kept in order,a result easily obtained by a little oil, moderate use, andoccasional repairs, can be readily executed with the least434 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.possible expenditure of human labor, and with all thateconomy of time and thought which seems the greatpurpose of our material and mechanical age."While on the island of Yesso, though rarely in theneighborhood of Hakodate, Perry saw some of the indigenous races of Ainos. They are a little over fivefeet in height usually, and their bodies are coveredwith coarse black hair, for which reason they are calledHairy Kuriles."66Miss Bird travelled extensively among these people,so little known previously. She says they are stupid,gentle, good-natured, and submissive. Their huts areset on wooden stilts. They are made of reeds, tied upona wooden framework, and covered with thatch. Theirfood consists largely of stews made of " wild roots, greenbeans, and seaweed, and shred dried fish and venisonamong them, adding millet, water, and some strongsmelling fish-oil," cooked for three hours, and stirredoften with a wooden spoon.Miss Bird says the Ainos seem never to have heard ofwashing themselves, for when she bathed her hands andface, they thought she was performing an act of worship.The women do all the hard work, such as choppingwood, cultivating the soil, etc. The people are universally tattooed, the process of disfigurement beginningwhen they are five years old. They cut lines on theupper lip, and fill the wounds with soot, washing thescarred parts of the body with a decoction of the bark ofa tree to fix the pattern. The pattern on the lips isdeepened and broadened till marriage. This custom hasrecently been prohibited, much to the regret of thesesavages, who say " It is a part of our religion. "They are very fond of their children, though a boy isMATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 435prized more highly than a girl . The babies are carriedin a hood or net on the back of the mother or of anotherchild. This is common among the poor of Japan. Thechildren of the middle classes in Japan ride on the backsof nurses, while those of rich families and the nobilityare carried in the arms of an attendant. Imperial babiesare held day and night till they learn to walk.The Ainos worship the bear. They capture a cub,feed it in their house, their children play with it, tillwhen it is strong and well-grown, they have "the Festivalof the Bear," kill it, put its head upon a pole, worship it,and drink quantities of saké.At the death of her husband, an Aino woman remainssecluded for a period varying from six to twelve months;at the death of his wife, the man secludes himself forthirty days.They have a great dread of death. They dress acorpse in its best clothes, sew it with some ornaments ina mat, and carry it on poles to some lonely grave, whereit is laid in a recumbent position.Commodore Perry returned from his successful mission to Japan, January 12, 1855, having been absent overtwo years. He had shown remarkable firmness, tact,good sense, and ability. He at once hired a room inWashington, and aided by his secretaries, artists, and aJapanese lad as an attendant, he prepared for publication the three sumptuous volumes of his report of thegreat country heretofore closed to the civilized world.His own land did not forget the honors due him.The city of New York presented him with a set of silverplate. The merchants of Boston had a medal struck inhis honor. The citizens of Newport, his native city,tendered him a reception. Rhode Island, in the presence436 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRYof her legislature, and at the hands of her chief magistrate, gave him a solid silver salver weighing three hundred and nineteen ounces, suitably inscribed.When Perry's first volume was published, he sent acopy to Washington Irving, who wrote back: "Youhave gained for yourself a lasting name, and have won itwithout shedding a drop of blood, or inflicting miseryon a human being. What naval commander ever wonlaurels at such a rate? "Commodore Perry did not long survive his last important work. He wrote several papers on naval mattersand diplomacy. In February, 1858, he took a severe cold,and March 4th, a little past midnight, died of rheumatismof the heart, at his home in Thirty-second Street, NewYork city. He was buried with distinguished honorsfrom St. Mark's Church, the church bells tolling, andthe minute-guns booming from the ships in the harbor.He lies buried at Newport near his famous brother,Oliver, and the other members of his family. Hiswidow survived him twenty-one years, dying June 14,1879, at the age of 82."He had both the qualities, " says Mr. Griffis, " necessary for war and for peaceful victory. Though hisconquests in war and in peace, in science and in diplomacy, were great, the victory over himself was first,greatest, and most lasting. He always kept his word andspoke the truth . . . . He seemed never idle for onemoment of his life. ..."In the matter of pecuniary responsibility, Perry wasexcessively sensitive , with a hatred of debt bordering onthe morbid. . . . He believed a naval officer, as a servantof the United States Government, ought to be as chivalrous, as honest, as just and lovely in character, to a boot-MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 437black or a washerwoman as to a jewelled lady or a titlednobleman. "Perry once remarked to Rear-Admiral Almy, on avoyage home by way of the West Indies: " I have justfinished the Bible. I have read it through from Genesisto Revelation. I make it a point to read it throughevery cruise. It is certainly a remarkable book, a mostwonderful book."When, in 1842, the ships fitted out were supplied withBibles by the government, Perry said, " The mere costof these books, fifty cents each, is nothing to themoral effect which such an order will have in advancingthe character of the service. "Since Perry's time, a new nation has been born inJapan. Before he opened the ports, thinking men hadbecome dissatisfied with the condition of things. TheMikado, from being an active ruler as in former centuries, had become a mere figure-head. He never appeared in public. His subjects never saw his face."He sat on a throne of mats behind a curtain," saysMr. Griffis, " and his feet were never allowed to touchthe earth. When he went abroad in the city, he rode ina car closely curtained, and drawn by bullocks. "In 1868 a great revolution came. The Shogun, whowas the actual ruler, was dethroned; the daimios, orfeudal princes, gave up their great estates and theirthousands of " two-sworded " retainers, called the samurai, and retired to private life; and the present Mikado, Mitsu Hito, the one hundred and twenty-firstEmperor of his line, became the ruling monarch. He isnow a little over forty years of age, having been born inthe Kyoto palace, November 3, 1852. The Empress Haruko is the daughter of Ichijo Tokada, a court noble of438 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.the highest rank. She is said to be well educated, ofcharming manners, helpful to the women of her realm,and talented as well. Several of her poems have beenset to music.The Emperor and his court have all adopted Europeandress. Two among the foremost ladies at court aregraduates of Vassar College.In 1868 the Mikado declared that " intellect andlearning should be sought for throughout the world, " andthe promise has been faithfully kept. Japanese boyswere sent at once to foreign nations to learn the bestthat their schools afforded. Many came to America.A remarkable educational system was adopted in 1873.Upon the elementary schools alone, more than six million dollars are spent annually. Miss Bird says, " Theglory and pride of Japanese educational institutions isthe Imperial College of Engineering. . . in the opinionof many competent judges, the most complete and bestequipped engineering college in the world. " This institution at Tokyo, with the Imperial University, theMedical, Naval and Military Schools, are an honor to thenation, and the surprise and admiration of foreigners.The first short telegraph line was built in 1869; nowthey thread Japan in every direction. Bell telephoneshave been imported into the country. There are seventeen hundred miles of railroad, covering almost theentire length of the main island, one road running eastand west, says the new " Handbook for Travellers inJapan," just written by Basil Hall Chamberlain andW. B. Mason. The former has also just published"Things Japanese, " a mine of valuable information.The usual mode of travel is by the jinrikisha, invented in 1873, a small carriage with two high wheels,MATTHEW CALBRẢITH PERRY. 439and a pair of shafts, in which are one, two, or threemen as runners. A tolerably good runner, says MissBird, can trot forty miles a day, at the rate of aboutfour miles an hour. The runners do not live on anaverage over five years; and this unnatural method oflife, " making draught animals of themselves, " bringson heart and lung disease."The fleet of Japan, " says Mr. Henry Norman,"numbers some of the finest and fastest vessels afloat.She has at her command an army of fifty thousandhighly trained and perfectly equipped men in peace, andone hundred and fifty thousand in war. . . . The arsenalat Koishikawais simply Woolwich on a smaller scale, andits English machinery turns out one hundred rifles andthirty thousand cartridges (seventy thousand if necessary) per day. . . . The Military College and Academyare models of such institutions. ' One of the foremostof similar institutions which I have seen in the world,'I saw that General Grant had written in the visitors'book of one of them."The first newspaper, according to Miss Bird, wasstarted in 1871. Now there are thirty-five daily papersin Tokyo alone, a city of one million three hundred.and eighty-nine thousand people, most of them morningpapers.Christianity has made marked progress since theopening of Japan. The life of the noble Japanese,Joseph H. Neesima, by Prof. Arthur Sherburne Hardy,as fascinating as a novel, is an illustration of what oneeducated Christian can do for his native land.Seeing some Christian tracts in Chinese, in Tokio,Neesima determined to come to America and study.He managed to get on board a ship bound for this coun-440 MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.try, though if detected the punishment for leavingJapan was death. Neesima found a noble man of meansin Boston, the Hon. Alpheus Hardy, who educated himat his own expense. Later he accompanied Mr. Tanaka,the Japanese Minister of Education, to England, France,Sweden, Denmark, Russia, and Germany, to ascertainthe best methods for Japan in her schools and colleges,and then went back to his own people to found a greatUniversity in Kyoto, now having about six hundredpupils, and to preach the gospel. The Doshisha Schoolin Kyoto, established in 1875, has about twenty buildings,including thirteen dormitories , a gymnasium, a chapel,library, scientific department, etc.Among the last words of Mr. Neesima, who diedJan. 23, 1890, at the age of forty-seven, when told thathis friends would carry on the work at the college, were,"Sufficient, sufficient. " "And at twenty minutes pastfour, " says Mr. Hardy, " with the words, ' Peace, Joy,Heaven,' on his lips, entered into rest."The procession which followed him to the grave wasa mile and a half long, the bier hidden by flowers, whichthe people of "the flowery kingdom " love so well.Men like Joseph Neesina are to be the deliverance ofJapan from Shintoism and Buddhism.Japan sends us her silk and her tea to the amount ofmany million dollars annually. Her art has spread overthe world. Her lacquered ware, with its five coats ofvarnish, drawn like sap from the lacquer- tree, isuniversally admired.Her women must be educated and elevated till theideal wifehood is possible: " A companion in solitude ,a father in advice, a mother in all seasons of distress,a rest in passing through life's wilderness."MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. 441Women in Japan occupied a more prominent positionformally than now. Some of her greatest rulers havebeen women; and many of her classics are the work ofwomen, written about 1000 A.D. Jingu Kogo, 201-269A.D. , who conquered Corea, was a queen of great ability. She is still worshipped in many of the temples.Japan is now visited by thousands of foreigners annually. Her flowers, chrysanthemums, wistarias, camellias;her neat homes, as Sir Edwin Arnold in his " Japonica "says, “ cheap to build, beautiful in appearance, spotlesslypure, and with proper arrangements eminently salubrious; "her hundreds of public baths; her cheerful,active, progressive people, are all an interesting study.Perry opened a new land to America, and his name willnot be forgotten.GENERAL A. W. GREELY AND OTHERARCTIC EXPLORERS.SEVEVERAL Arctic voyages, since the sad one of SirJohn Franklin, have been most interesting andpathetic. Many explorers have striven to place theirflag at the North Pole.Captain Weyprecht of Austria, and Lieutenant JuliusPayer, in the Tegetthoff, sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany, June 13, 1872. The ship was beset by the ice offthe west coast of Nova Zembla, where the men remainedon her for two winters, and then abandoned her. Aug.31, 1873, they discovered to the far north, above Siberia,Franz Joseph Land. They made a sledge journey to82° 5', about one hundred and sixty miles beyond theirship, naming the country discovered, Crown PrinceRudolph Land. Here they planted the Austro- Hungarian flag. An appearance of land beyond 83° northlatitude, they called Petermann Land.May 29, 1875, Sir George S. Nares of England sailedin the Alert and Discovery through Smith Sound forthe North Pole. The Discovery was left in latitude 81°44' at the entrance of Lady Franklin Bay. On Sept. 1the Alert reached 82° 27', a higher latitude than anyother ship up to that time- the Polaris reached 82° 16'- when she was met by solid ice . Here she remainedfor eleven months.442ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 443From this point their sledging parties went out, thesledges drawn by men instead of dogs. Grinnell Landwas somewhat explored by Lt. Aldrich, the north- westcoast of Greenland by Lt. Beaumont, while one party,under Commodore Albert H. Markham, travelled northon the frozen sea, and reached a point four hundredmiles from the North Pole, latitude 83° 20′ 26″ , — thehighest point attained up to that date.Commodore Markham says in his journal, May 12,1876: "We had some severe walking, strugglingthrough snow up to our waists, over or through whichthe labor of dragging a sledge would be interminable,and occasionally almost disappearing through cracks andfissures, until twenty minutes to noon when a halt wascalled. •“ At noon we obtained a good altitude, and proclaimedour latitude to be 83° 20′ 26″ N., exactly 399½ miles fromthe North Pole. On this being duly announced, threecheers were given, with one more for Captain Nares:then the whole party, in the exuberance of their spiritsat having reached their turning-point, sang the ' UnionJack of Old England,' and the ' Grand PalæocrysticSledging Chorus,' winding up like loyal subjects with'God save the Queen.Several of Markham's men were disabled by scurvy.One died, and eleven of the original seventeen werebrought back to the ship on relief sledges.After a journey full of hardship, Captain Naresreturned to England in November, 1876.On July 4, 1878, Baron Nordenskiöld, the notedSwedish scientist, sailed from Gothenburg, Sweden, inthe Vega, Captain Palander commanding, hoping to makethe northeast passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific,444 GENERAL A. W. GREELYThe first attempt to make this passage ended in disaster. Sir Hugh Willoughby sailed from England withthree ships, the Bona Esperanza, in which was Sir Hugh,the Edward Bonaventure, and the Bona Confidentia, in1553. Sebastian Cabot, then an old man, superintendedthe preparations for the voyage.Two of the vessels, the Edward Bonaventure havingbeen separated from them by a storm, wintered on thecoast of Russian Lapland, it is probable at the mouth ofthe Varzina River. During the winter, Sir Hugh andhis sixty-two companions all perished, doubtless fromscurvy.A Russian fisherman found their bodies thefollowing year. From Sir Hugh's journal it was ascertained that most were alive in January, 1554. The twovessels and the body of the distinguished commanderwere sent to England in 1555. The Bona Esperanza wassoon after driven by a storm into the North Sea, andwas never heard from. The Edward Bonaventure, commanded by Richard Chancellor, returned to England in1554; in 1556 he went to the Dwina River with a Russianambassador, and suite of sixteen men, and goods valuedat 20,000 pounds. The vessel was wrecked in AberdourBay, and Chancellor, his wife, and seven Russians weredrowned.The Vega made a most interesting and successfulvoyage. At Goose Land, on the coast of Nova Zembla,they studied the habits of the great numbers of geeseand swans, from which the region takes its name. Thenests of the swans are so large that they can be seen onthe open plain for a great distance. They are built ofmoss, plucked up from about the nests. The femalehatches the four grayish-white eggs, while the maleremains near by. The geese build their nests on littleAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 445hillocks close to the small lakes which abound in GooseLand.The Samoyeds in European Russia proved an interesting study. They are small in stature, with unkempthair, and, like the Lapps, live largely by their reindeer.A rich Samoyed will own a thousand or more. Theycatch whales and walrus, and barter with the Russians.The Samoyeds sacrifice animals to their idols, eatingthe flesh of the animals which are offered, and making amound of their bones. At the sacrificial feasts theycover the mouths of the idols with blood and brandy.In their graves they deposit wooden arrows, an axe,knife, ornaments, and rolled up pieces of bark, whichthe occupant is supposed to need, probably to light firesin the other world.Among the Siberian natives, clothes were sometimesfound hanging on a bush beside the graves, and amongthe richer natives, some rouble notes with the food, thatthe dead might have ready money in the other world topurchase what they need.The Samoyed has one or more wives. "These areconsidered by the men," says Baron Nordenskiöld, "ashaving equal rights with themselves, and are treatedaccordingly, which is very remarkable. "In these Polar Seas, the voyagers found innumerableflocks of birds, especially near uninhabited regions.The eggs of the little auk, or rotge, were sometimesfound laid upon the ice. The eggs of the looms - eachbird lays but one are laid on the bare rock. The birdsoften quarrel for a place on the rock, when the egg isthus precipitated into the sea. The eider builds its nestson low islands, so that the surrounding water prevents themountain foxes from disturbing it. There are usually446 GENERAL A. W. GREELYfive or six eggs in a nest, and sometimes more, as theeider steals eggs from other birds. The nest is madeof soft, rich down, which is better than that obtainedfrom the dead birds. When the mother is drivenfrom the nest, she hastily scrapes the down over hereggs, so that they may not be visible. The nests areso close together that it is difficult to avoid stepping onthe eggs.፡፡The voyagers found Polar bears and walruses in abundance. "If an unarmed man falls in with a Polar bear,"says Nordenskiöld, some rapid movements and loudcries are generally sufficient to put him to flight, but ifthe man flies , he is certain to have the bear after him atfull speed. If the bear is wounded, he always takesto flight. He often lays snow upon the wound with hisfore-paws; sometimes in his death-struggles he scrapeswith his forefeet a hole in the snow, in which he burieshis head."Concerning the walrus, which is hunted for its skin,blubber, and oil, Nordenskiöld says: " When the walrusox gets very old, he swims about by himself as a solitaryindividual, but otherwise animals of the same age and sexkeep together in large herds. The young walrus long follows its mother, and is protected by her with evident fondness and very conspicuous maternal affection. Her firstcare when she is pursued is, accordingly, to save heryoung, even at the sacrifice of her own life. . . . However eagerly she may try by blows and cuffs to get heryoung under water, or lead her pursuers astray by divingwith it under her forepaw, she is generally overtakenand killed. Such a hunt is truly grim, but the walrus-hunter knows no mercy in following his occupation. "AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 447The mother is usually lost in the water after beingkilled. Sometimes the young is saved, but it does notlive long. "It is easily tamed," says Nordenskiöld, " andsoon regards its keeper with warm attachment. It seeksas best it can -poorly equipped as it is for movingabout on dry land to follow the seamen on the deck,and gives itself no rest if it be left alone. "-Lieutenant Greely says the full-grown walrus is fromtwelve to fifteen feet long, with a small, short head.The broad fore and hind paws are about two feet long,and the tusks of adults about a foot and a half long.The white whale is from twelve to eighteen feet inlength, and yields not far from a thousand pounds ofmeat and blubber. The skin, called " mattak " by theEskimos, is much valued as an anti-scorbutic.The narwhal, or unicorn, is of a yellowish-whitecolor, and has a long tusk projecting from the left sideof the upper jaw. This tusk is often about ten feetlong, equal to the length of the body of the animal. Itis probably used by the narwhal as a weapon.The Vega sailed through Kara Sea past the NewSiberian Islands. Here portions of the skeletons of theextinct mammoth (elephant) abound. In a previousjourney in 1876, Nordenskiöld found on the YeniseiRiver bones and some fragments of hide of a mammothnearly twenty-five millimeters (about an inch) thick,which had been imbedded " hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of years."In Siberia whole animals have been found frozen inthe earth, with " solidified blood, flesh, hide, and hair.”In 1799 one was found by the Tunguses who live eastof the Lena River. They waited five years for the groundto thaw so that the salable tusks could be uncovered.448 GENERAL A. W. GREELYMeantime some of the flesh was destroyed by dogs andother animals. In 1806 the skeleton, part of the hide,and a large quantity of the hair a foot and a half long,were taken away. Parts of the eye could still be clearlydistinguished.In 1839 a complete mammoth was uncovered by alandslip on the shore of a lake west of the Yenisei River.It was almost entire, even a black tongue hanging outof the mouth.Nordenskiöld believes that the climate of Siberia wasthen about the same as at present, from the leaves of thedwarf birch, northern willows, shells, and other thingsfound in the earth in which the mammoths were imbedded.The Vega finally found herself beset by the ice, and wentinto winter quarters in Bering's Strait, just beyondKoljutschin Bay, Nov. 25.They found the natives, the Tchuktches (or Chukches),very friendly, and glad to furnish them with bear andreindeer meat as far as they were able. "The vessel'stent-covered deck," says Nordenskiöld, " soon became averitable reception saloon for the whole population ofthe neighborhood . Dog-team after dog-team stood allday in rows, or, more correctly, lay snowed up before theice-built flight of steps to the deck of the Vega. "A native who had lost his way came on board in ablinding snowstorm, thermometer -36°, carrying his dog,frozen stiff. The dog was for hours rubbed and warmed,and finally, to the amazement of all , came to life again.In excursions among the Tchuktches, the Vega officersfound them a tall, hardy race, kind and peaceable, usuallywith one wife for each husband. "Within the familythe most remarkable unanimity prevails, so that we neverheard a hard word exchanged, either between man andAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 449wife, or parents and children;woman appears to be very great.• • the power of theIn making the moreimportant bargains, even about weapons and hunting implements, she is, as a rule, consulted, and her advice istaken. There is great affection in the families, and muchcaressing of children. ..."Criminal statistics have been rendered impossiblefor want of crimes, if we except acts of violence committed under the influence of liquor. " When brandy wasfirst offered to the Tchuktches by whites, the tastewas most obnoxious to them; but they soon learned tolike fire-water, and to suffer from its use.They are very different in their treatment of dogsfrom the Eskimos. These are of the same breed as thedogs in Danish Greenland, but smaller. " As watchdogs, " says Nordenskiöld, "they have not been required.in a country where theft or robbery appears never totake place. The power of barking they have thereforecompletely lost, or perhaps they never possessed it." Thenatives at first were much frightened by the bark of twoScotch collies on the Vega.When the Vega officials went to a reindeer camp topurchase some of the herd for fresh meat, they wererefused, even when tobacco, bread, rum, and even guns,were offered in exchange. The herd of fifty, led by anold reindeer with large horns, came in the early morningtomeet the master of the house, and rubbed his nose againstthe Tchuktches's hand. The herd all stood in order, whilethe man took each reindeer by the horns, the animal, inturn, rubbing his horns against the man's hands. At agiven sign the whole herd wheeled and went back to itspasturage on the hillside .Marco Polo, in his wonderful travels in the country of450 GENERAL A. W. GREELYKubla Khan, had learned somewhat of these interestingpeople.The breaking up of the ice enabled the Vega to pressforward on her journey, July 18, 1879. She passed downBering's Strait and anchored on St. Lawrence Island.The natives first saw a European, June 27, 1816, Ottovon Kotzebue, after whom Kotzebue Sound was named.When invited to their tents, he says, " a dirty skin wasspread on the floor, on which I had to sit; and then theycame in one after the other, embraced me, rubbed theirnoses hard against mine, and finished their caresses byspitting in their hands, and then stroking me severaltimes over the face."The next stopping-place was Bering Island, named, asalso the strait, for a Dane, Vitus Bering, who, after several successful voyages, died here of scurvy in December,1790. Most of his men fell victims to the same disease.The island was at that time inhabited by thousands offoxes, which were driven away by the men with stickswhile they were building a new vessel from the old onewhich had been stranded on the beach.The shore was covered with sea-otters, which had nofear of men, till hundreds of them were caught. GeorgeWilhelm Steller, the naturalist of the Bering expedition, says, " The male and female are much attached toeach other, embrace and kiss e ach other like men. Thefemale is also very fond of its young. When attacked,she never leaves it in the lurch; and when danger is notnear, she plays with it in a thousand ways, almost likea child-loving mother with her young ones, throws itsometimes up in the air, and catches it with her forefeet like a ball, swims about with it in her bosom,throws it away now and then to let it exercise itself inAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 451the art of swimming, but takes it to herself with kissesand caresses when it is tired. "The Vega arrived at Yokohama, Japan, Sept. 2,1879. Their journey homeward was one continued ovation to the skilful and brave navigators who were thefirst to make the brilliant northeast passage.On July 8, 1879, the Jeannette sailed from San Francisco, in the attempt to reach the North Pole by way ofBering's Strait. She was under command of LieutenantGeorge W. De Long, U.S.N. , and was bought and fittedout largely at the expense of Mr. James Gordon Bennett,of the New York Herald. She was formerly the shipPandora, under command of Captain Allen Young, R.N.The Jeannette sailed towards Wrangell Land and HeraldIsland, north of Siberia, and in a few weeks was fast inthe ice-pack. She drifted about in the pack helplesslyfor two years (lacking two months), and was crushedby the ice June 13, 1881, in latitude 77 N. longitude155 E.At eleven o'clock at night all that was possible wasremoved from the ship, and placed in three boats, whilethe thirty-three men who composed the ship's partyescaped on an ice-floe. The ship sunk, five hours later,at four o'clock on the morning of the thirteenth.They were three hundred and fifty miles from the Siberian Coast, and fifteen hundred miles from Yakutsk onthe Lena River. They hoped to reach the New SiberianIslands, and then go by boat to the Lena Delta.They made only a mile and one-half in the knee-deepsnow in the first three hours. One of the men fainted,and several were ill and unfit for duty. They gainedonly a mile or two a day, as the men had to go over theroad thirteen times to bring up supplies, six times --452 GENERAL A. W. GREELY- - empty-handed and seven times with loads, makingtwenty-six miles to advance two.Thaddeus Island, New Siberia, was reached Aug. 20,and Sept. 12 the Asiatic coast was in sight. Asevere storm came up, and the boats were separated .The boat under command of Engineer George W. Melville and Lieutenant J. W. Danenhower, after a perilousvoyage entered one of the eastern mouths of the LenaRiver, and Sept. 26, fourteen days after the boats.separated, reached a small village, where lived some Siberian exiles.The whole company were in a wretched condition." Our legs, " says Melville in his book, " In the LenaDelta," " presented a terribly swollen appearance, beingfrozen from the knees down; and those places wherethey had previously been so frozen and puffed as toburst such moccasins as were not already in tatters, orforce the seams into gaps corresponding to the cracks inour bleeding hands and feet, were now in a frightfulcondition. The blisters and sores had run together, andour flesh became as sodden and spongy to the touch asthough we were afflicted with the scurvy. "Two men at the little village started on the long journey to Bulun to tell the Russian authorities of the arrival of the Americans. On their way they met somenatives with their reindeer sleds, who were also going toBulun, with two men, Nindemann and Noros, who hadbeen in the boat with De Long. These two had left DeLong Oct. 9, in a starving condition, with the fainthope that they might reach Bulun, and bring relief before death came.As soon as word was brought to Melville, he startedNov. 5, with a dog-team to their aid. The two sea-AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 453men were too ill to return, but they described the routeback to De Long as best they could. Twenty-five dayshad passed since De Long's men were sent, and it wasthought probable that all were dead.Melville searched along the river for three weeks, indeep snow, with dogs and men exhausted, finding thelog-books under a cache, left by De Long, but learningnothing of the missing party, beyond a certain point,where the trail was lost. Most reluctantly he gave upthe search.In early spring, March 16, the search was renewed;and on the 23d the bodies of the missing men were discovered. Captain De Long, Surgeon Ambler, and Ah Sam,the Chinese cook, were found beside each other buried inthe snow. Four poles lashed together, projecting fromthe snow-drift a Remington rifle hung across the forksof the sticks, pointed to the place where the dead lay.By the side of De Long was his note-book, with hislast feebly-written words. His arm protruded above thesnow, as if he had thrown the book just before death,with the hope that it might be found by some person totell the pitiful story. " He lay on his right side, withhis right hand under his cheek, his head pointing north,and his face turned to the west."Dr. Ambler lay on his face, and had bitten into hishand in his agony, and the snow was stained with hisblood. "None of the three," says Melville, " had boots ormittens on, their legs and feet being covered with stripsof woollen blanket and pieces of the tent cloth, boundaround to the knees with bits of rope and the waistbelts of their comrades. "This record of De Long's showed that his party hadlanded in the Lena Delta, Sept. 17 about ninety-five454 GENERAL A. W. GREELYor more miles from the nearest settlement. The entrymade Sept. 19 read: "Opened our last can of pemmican, and so cut it that it must suffice for four days' food;then we are at the end of our provisions and must eatthe dog (the last of the forty) , unless Providence sendssomething in our way. When the dog is eaten -?Sept. 21 two reindeer were shot. Oct. 3 the dogwas shot for food. H. H. Erickson had now becomedelirious, and soon died. Oct. 6 the journal reads:"As to burying him, I cannot dig a grave; the groundis frozen, and I have nothing to dig with. There isnothing to do but to bury him in the river. Sewedhim up in the flags of the tent, and covered him withmy flag. Got tea ready, and with one-half ounce alcoholwe will try to make out to bury him. But we are all soweak that I do not see how we are going to move."Erickson was buried in the river at 12.40 P.M., theburial service read, and three volleys fired over him."Oct. 10, eat deerskin scraps. Nothing for supper except a spoonful of glycerine."Oct. 14, Friday. Breakfast, willow tea. Dinner,one-half teaspoonful sweet-oil and willow tea. Alexaishot one ptarmigan. Had soup." Oct. 15. Breakfast, willow tea and two old boots."Oct. 17. Alexai died, covered him with ensign ."Oct. 21, one hundred and thirty-first day (fromleaving ship). Kaack was found dead at midnight."Friday, Oct. 28, one hundred and thirty-eighth day.Iverson died during early morning."Saturday, Oct. 29, one hundred and thirty-ninth day.Dressler died during the night."Sunday, Oct 30, one hundred and fortieth day. Boydand Görtz died during the night. Mr. Collins dying. "AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 455This was the last entry. De Long probably died thatday or the next.The twelve were all dead several days before Melville started on the search, Nov. 5. The bodies wereinterred by Melville, and afterwards brought home tothe United States, a distance of twelve thousand onehundred and ninety-one miles. Everywhere along theroute, in Asia, Europe, and America, the bodies ofthe dead heroes were treated with the utmost honor.They were followed by a grand procession in New Yorkon Washington's birthday, 1884, and tenderly buried.The third boat party, under Lieutenant Charles W.Chipp, was never heard from; probably all on boardperished in the gale.Two years after De Long sailed in the Jeannette, anexpedition was sent out by the United States underLieutenant Adolphus W. Greely. Through LieutenantWeyprecht of the Austrian navy, the United Statespromised to unite with other nations in establishinginternational circumpolar stations in the interests ofscience. Magnetic and meteorological investigationswere to be made at fourteen different points by elevendifferent nations. It was decided to make one stationat Lady Franklin Bay, in latitude 81° 44′ N., Congressappropriating twenty-five thousand dollars for the workat this place.Lieutenant Greely of the 5th U. S. Cavalry waschosen to command the expedition.He was born in Newburyport, Mass. , March 27, 1844,and was therefore at the time of starting, 1881 , thirtyseven years of age. He was fitted for college at theHigh School in Newburyport, graduating in 1860, at ayounger age than any before him save one. When the456 GENERAL A. W. GREELYCivil War broke out, the lad of seventeen desired to jointhe 40th New York Volunteer Infantry, but was notreceived. On July 3, 1861, he was enrolled as a privatein Major Ben. Perley Poore's Rifle Battalion, of the 19thRegiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The sameyear he was made a corporal.He distinguished himself for brave and faithful service during our Civil War; served at Ball's Bluff, atthe siege of Yorktown, West Point, Fair Oaks, PeachOrchard; was wounded at White Oak Swamp, fought atMalvern Hill and Chantilly, twice wounded at Antietamand lay in the hospital for two months, and was appointed first sergeant at Fredericksburg.In February, 1863, he was made a second lieutenantunder the lamented Colonel Robert G. Shaw, in the 54thRegiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and laterserved in the 81st United States Colored Infantry. Hetook an active part in the siege of Port Hudson. Hewas made first lieutenant April 11, 1864, and captain,March 26, 1865, having been brevetted major UnitedStates Volunteers, March 13, 1865, " for faithful andmeritorious services during the war. " Two years later,March 7, 1867, Greely was appointed second lieutenant inthe 36th Regular Infantry, and served with his regiment at Fort Sanders, Fort Bridger, and at Salt LakeCity. In 1873 he determined a danger, or flood, line forthe Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers, which has made it possible to prevent, inlarge measure, damage from high waters.Two years later, in 1875, Greely constructed the Texasdivision of military telegraph lines, building, in elevenmonths, eleven hundred and fifty miles of line. In 1876he received a six months' relief from duty, which timeAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 457he spent in Europe, mostly in France. On his returnhe gave his time to constructing military telegraphlines in New Mexico, Arizona, Dakota, and Montana,and in examining the rivers of the Pacific coast for theestablishing of danger lines. He married, June 20,1878, when he was thirty-five, Henrietta HudsonNesmith, daughter of Thomas L. Nesmith of SanDiego, Cal. , formerly of New York City.Lieutenant Greely had now become an officer in theUnited States Artillery, and later in the 5th Cavalry,doing much scientific work in connection with the signal service. It was therefore fitting that he should bechosen by the President to superintend the establishingof a signal station at Lady Franklin Bay in 1881.The ship Proteus, of six hundred and nineteen tons,built at Dundee for the sealing business, was chosen totake Lieutenant Greely and his party of twenty-fivepersons in all to their home in the far north, with provisions for three years. At the end of a year a shipwas to be sent to them with supplies, and at the end ofthe second year a second relief ship with stores; and ifthese failed to reach Greely, he was not to remain in thePolar regions after Sept. 1, 1883, but go southward byboat until the relief vessel should meet him.On July 7, 1881, the Proteus sailed away with herprecious freight under the command of Captain RichardPike, who had had much experience in ice navigation inthe seal-fishing in Labrador.She took with her the hope and pride of many families, who bade a cheerful good-by, yet with achinghearts. Lieutenant F. F. Kislingbury had been in service for fifteen years, was a brave man of fine physiqueand mind, " and never spared himself," as Lieutenant458 GENERAL A. W. GREELYGreely said in his report, " any personal exertion whichwould add to the personal comfort or pleasure of others. "Lieutenant James B. Lockwood, the son of Gen.Henry H. Lockwood of Maryland, a young man oftwenty-nine, the idol of his family, had been eight yearsin service, always on the frontier in Arizona, Nebraska,or other Western States. He was well read, a goodSpanish scholar; quite skilled in music, and most activein mind and body, " a man, " as Greely said, " of unvarying truthfulness, good judgment, and Christian charity. "Sergeant Edward Israel, a graduate of Ann ArborUniversity, a young man of means and ability, was theastronomer of the expedition.Sergeant George W. Rice, a lawyer and professionalphotographer as well, was a young man of promise, andproved most valuable to the expedition. SergeantsJewell and Ralston had served long and faithfully asmeteorological observers. Sergeant David L. Brainardof the 2d Cavalry, twenty-five years old, had been twicewounded in Indian campaigns under General Miles, andwas a man of unusual force of character and honor.After a pleasant passage, the Proteus stopping atGodhavn, Greenland, to purchase twelve Eskimo dogsand food for them, and also at Ritenbenk and Upernavik for nineteen more dogs and Eskimo guides,the Greely party crossed Melville Bay without accident, reaching Lady Franklin Bay Aug. 12, 1881. TheProteus broke her way through nearly two miles ofheavy ice, some of it ten feet thick, to reach DiscoveryBay in the northern part of Lady Franklin Bay, whereGreely was to establish his quarters, the place wherethe English ship Discovery had wintered in 1875–76.A house sixty by seventeen feet was built at once, andAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 459the station named Fort Conger, in honor of Senator O.D. Conger, who had shown much interest in the expedition. Fourteen musk-oxen were soon killed, and theirflesh preserved for the winter's use. Greely wisely prevented the killing of more than was for their absoluteneed, having no sympathy with the shooting for merepleasure, a thing which seems scarcely possible to thosewho love animals.-Although the surrounding scenery was grand in manyrespects, yet far from home and friends the place.could not be other than desolate after a time. On theborders of open streams, grasses and buttercups weregrowing, and higher up on the glacier drift there werecountless yellow Arctic poppies in blossom. The largestplant there were no shrubs was the creeping Arcticwillow, about a foot long and an inch above the ground.The autumn days passed rapidly in their work..Observations were made on the pressure of the atmosphere, the direction and force of the wind, the kind andmovement of clouds, the aurora and weather. Somesledge journeys were made; but the sun disappeared fromsight Oct. 15, and they were left in darkness for onehundred and thirty-seven days, till Feb. 28. " At FortConger," says Greely, " stars were to be seen at localnoon seven days after the sun had gone for the winter,and so remained visible in a cloudless sky for over fourmonths. . . . The darkness of midday at Conger wassuch for nearly two months in midwinter, that the time.could not be told from a watch held up with its face tothe south. "From the long-continued darkness, their faces becamea yellowish-green color, and they were irritable in temper, gloomy, disinclined to eat, and indisposed to exer-460 GENERAL A. W. GREELYtion. Some of the men became mentally affected . Atri-weekly school was carried on by Greely throughoutthe winter, and Lieutenant Lockwood edited a semimonthly paper called the Arctic Moon. It died in twomonths from lack of interest.Lockwood wrote in his journal: " Another twentyfour hours of this interminable night nearly gone!Thank God! ... The days and weeks seem weeks andmonths in passing. "Much interest was taken in every new litter ofpuppies, as was but natural, removed as they were fromeverything living. Gypsy, their brightest dog, havinglost her own offspring, " improved every opportunity inthe absence of their own mothers, to suckle the youngin other litters. " One puppy, during the temporaryabsence of its mother, was placed with another litter,"but it was pushed away by the indignant parent, whodeclined any addition to her cares. "About the middle of December some of the six weeks'old puppies, running out into an atmosphere - 45°to collect bits of food thrown out, were actuallyfrozen to the ice, and had to be cut out with a hatchet!The favorite sleeping- place for the dogs was the ashbarrel, or where the ashes had been strewn. When adog would leave his place to attack a rival, he wouldlose his position by another taking it. "Sometimes,"says Greely, " failing to dislodge a comrade comfortablyensconced on the coveted barrel, a dog jumped on topof the first comer and curled himself up contentedly.The under dog knew by bitter experience that to quarrel was to lose his bed, and remained until worn out bythe weight of his rival. "The return of the sun was most heartily welcomed.AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 461March 1, Lockwood, with three men and a dog- sledge,started for Thank God Harbor, preparatory to his approaching journey towards the Pole. They visited thegrave of C. F. Hall, and also that of the two Englishmen,Hand and Paul, who died on the exploring trip underLieutenant Beaumont of the Nares expedition.Dr. Pavy, the surgeon of the party, went with othersto Cape Joseph Henry; and Greely, with Privates Biederbick, Connell, and Whisler, journeyed over two hundred and fifty miles in Grinnell Land. A puppy teamof eight, born at Fort Conger in November, hauled thefirst load of three hundred and fifty-five pounds.They explored the large Lake Hazen, 60 miles longby 6 wide, and covering 300 square miles; they namedafter Greely's wife, the Henrietta Nesmith Glacier,"a mass of sheer, solid ice, averaging about one hundredand seventy-five feet in height," of crescent shape, andabout five miles from hill to hill , and discovered mountains and rivers unseen before by man.Later in the season Greely again explored GrinnellLand, naming the highest mountain seen, Mount C. A.Arthur. He says in his " Three Years of Arctic Service: ""After two hours of steady climbing, I reached the summit of the mountain in a worn-out condition. The barometer stood at 25.35, indicating an ascent of overeighteen hundred feet, and an elevation above the seaof forty-five hundred feet."The travelling was of such an exhausting characterthat Sergeant Lynn was unable to follow me; and afterwading about a half mile in snow four feet deep, underlain with water two feet deep, he was so worn out that Isent him back to the junction of the brooks, where hewas ordered to await my return. In my tired condition,462 GENERAL A. W. GREELYI could never have reached the top except as a matter ofhonor and duty. Frequently I crawled on my hands andknees a long distance, at one time as far as a quarter ofa mile. At times I threw the glasses ahead of me, soas to make it certain I should proceed . . . ."When I was about a half mile from the top, fartherprogress seemed impossible. My strength failed me, mysight dimmed, and my throat became parched, and thirstintolerable, while perspiration poured off me profusely.I revived myself by rest, and by eating snow, a doubtfulexpedient even in summer. After that I could walkonly a hundred, and later fifty steps at a time, butfinally the summit was reached."As I had been travelling for over five hours with myboots filled with ice-water, kept at the lowest temperature by the snow, I found on reaching the summit of themountain, that my left foot had lost all sense of feeling,and that there was but little sensation in my right.Knowing the danger of perishing by freezing, I keptmoving steadily, as that was my only safety."On April 3 the expedition under Lockwood, destinedfor North Greenland, started from Fort Conger. Therewere thirteen men in the party, with five sledges.Lockwood had the sledge Antoinette, with a team ofeight dogs, Ritenbenk, the king, a large white dog;Howler, who was the king of the dogs till Ritenbenkusurped his position; two mother-dogs, Black Kooneyand White Kooney; and Ask-him, who was a puppywhen purchased in Greenland. Gypsy, Boss, and Majorcompleted the number. Ritenbenk, although mostuseful, was a thief whenever an opportunity offered toget food; but Howler always gave the alarm by unearthly barking. Howler was a faithful creature, whoAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 463never shirked in his work. Indeed, all the dogs havecontempt for an idler, and have been known to pounceupon one of their number who would not do his fullshare of pulling the load, and kill him.After travelling several days, and enduring much intense cold, with severe snow-storms, so unbearable thatthey sometimes lay in their fur sleeping-bags for fortyfive hours, several of the party became disabled, and wereobliged to return to camp. The bags were sometimes sofrozen that four men could scarcely open them. Thewind often blew over the tents, and once the dog-sledgewith its load of two hundred and fifty pounds was liftedbodily from the ground, and one of the men, Ralston,severely injured by the sledge knocking him severalyards. They dug holes in snow-banks, and burrowed inthem, when it was impossible to go forward. Oftenthey cut their way over the high, hummocky ice withaxes.May 29 Lockwood, Brainard, and the Eskimo Frederick Christiansen pushed on alone with the dogs.Brainard says in his journal: " The dogs not being accustomed to hauling such heavy weights, sit down assoon as the runners cut through the crust, and complacently watch us with a puzzled expression, until we liftthe sledge bodily and place it on the firm crust. "Later he writes: " After camping, the dogs were running about like ravenous wolves, gnawing at everything,and badly chewed and splintered the thermometer-boxbefore it could be secured. The ptarmigan lately shotwas placed on the ridge-pole for safety. A hasty rushof feet, and a heavy body striking violently against thetent, caused us to rush out to investigate this commotion. The ptarmigan was missing. A few feathers in464 GENERAL A. W. GREELYhis bloody jaws marked the king-dog, Ritenbenk, as thethief, notwithstanding his blank look of innocence. "At another time, " As I awoke," says Lockwood, " asmall piece of pemmican (our only remaining dog-food)was slowly but surely moving out of the tent. Thephenomenon astonished me; and rubbing my eyes, Ilooked more carefully, and saw Ritenbenk's head without his body, and found that his teeth fixed in onecorner of the sack, was the motive power. His eyeswere fixed steadily on me; but head, eyes, and teeth vanished as I looked. He had burrowed a hole through thesnow, and had inserted his head just far enough into thetent to lay hold of a corner of the sack. The wholepack are ravenous, and eat anything and everything,which means substantially nothing in this case. "The snow was now so deep, up to their thighs, andthe ice so rough, that the use of the axe was constant.In ten hours, however, they made sixteen miles.May 13, after a severe storm lasting for four days,they reached an island, which Greely afterwards appropriately named Lockwood Island, the highest point(thus far, 1893) ever reached by man. The land to therear towered up four thousand feet.Several snow buntings were flying about, and therewere traces of the hare, lemming, and fox. They ascendedthe summit of the cape on Lockwood Island, about twothousand six hundred to three thousand feet above thelevel of the sea."We reached the top, " says Lockwood, " at 3.45 P.M.,and unfurled the American flag [ Mrs. Greely had madeone for the expedition ] to the breeze in latitude 83° 24′ N.The summit is a small plateau, narrow but extendingback to the south to broken, snow-covered heights. •سيف
AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 465The horizon beyond, on the land side, was concealed bynumberless snow-covered mountains, one profile overlapping another, and all so merged together, on accountof their universal covering of snow, that it was impossible to detect the topography of the region. " A capeof land in the distance was called Cape Washington.For sixty miles they could look towards the Pole, withnot a trace of land in sight: the ice appeared to berubble. It is probable that there is much open waterbeyond, and, as Greely says, " its main ice moves theentire winter. ""The north polar land is, I believe, of limited extent,"says Greely, " and its shores, or the edges of its glaciers,are washed by a sea, which, from its size and consequenthigh temperature, its ceaseless tides and stray currents,can never be entirely ice-clad. Nordenskiöld believesin the open sea, convinced by the polar pack settingnorthward from Mussel Bay in 1872. Nares even wouldseem to be uncertain on this point, else he never wouldhave equipped Commander Markham with the heavyboats hauled by his party in 1876. ... That the Tegetthoff and Jeannette drifted northward winter as wellas summer is confirmatory evidence of an " open polarsea." Greely does not believe in a " navigable polarsea, " and thinks " the water-space to the northward canonly be entered in extremely favorable years by theSpitzbergen route. "On May 16 Lockwood and his party turned towardsConger, which they reached June 1, after an absence ofsixty days. They had travelled over a thousand and seventy statute miles, the outward rate two and one-tenthmiles per hour, and the homeward two and three-tenthsmiles per hour,466 GENERAL A. W. GREELY" This sledge-trip," says Greely, " must stand as oneof the greatest in Arctic history, considering not onlythe high latitude and the low temperature in which itwas made, but also the length of the journey, and theresults flowing therefrom. .. . His (Lockwood's) discoveries extended to a point ninety-five miles along theNorth Greenland coast beyond the farthest ever seen byhis predecessors, to which should be added about thirtymiles of coast-line between Capes May and Britannia notvisible to Lieutenant Beaumont [a point near Cape Maywas Beaumont's farthest when he was turned back bythe death of his men by scurvy] ." The results of Lockwood's journey, then, consist notin the mere honor of displaying the Stars and Stripesfour miles nearer the geographical pole than the flag ofany other nation, but in adding one hundred and twentyfive miles of coast-line (not including several hundredmiles of inland fjords) to Greenland, and in extendingthe mainland over a degree of latitude from Cape Maynorthward to Cape Washington. "Besides this honor to our flag and nation, an honorwhich England had held for nearly three centuries,young Lockwood traversed Grinnell Land from east towest, as well as the interior, and covered by his labors,as Greely says in his official report to the government,"from Cape Washington, 38° W. to Arthur Land, 83°W. above the eightieth parallel, one-eighth of the circleof the globe. . . . If his tragic fate awakened the sympathy of the world, none the less should his successfulwork receive recognition. He unfortunately did notreturn for merited promotion. ”Fearless of danger, persevering in the greatest difficulties, as modest as he was courageous, the name ofAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 467Lieutenant Lockwood will always be honored and loved.With him was associated the self-denying, manly Brainard, but for whose energy and aid the Greely expeditionmight have left only its starvation record.The summer of 1882 passed away, and the partylooked in vain for a relief ship to bring provisions andto cheer their hearts with messages from home. Arelief ship had been sent, but of course they did notknow it.In 1882 Congress appropriated thirty-three thousanddollars to send a ship to Greely. The Neptune waschartered, which was to reach Lady Franklin Bay ifpossible, and if not, to leave two caches, of two hundredand fifty rations each, at certain points. Besides theserations, the Neptune carried two thousand poundsof canned meats, two thousand five hundred pounds ofcanned fruits and vegetables, six tons of seal meat, threehundred pounds extract of coffee, and other provisions.Mr. William M. Beebe, private secretary of the chiefsignal officer, was sent in charge of provisions, andWilliam Sopp was the master of the ship. Six times theNeptune tried to pass through the ice in Kane Sea aboveSmith Sound, with the hope of reaching Greely, buteach time she was baffled by the ice. Finally the twocaches of rations were left at Cape Sabine, and at thenorth end of Littleton Island, and she returned to theUnited States.Commander W. S. Schley, in his rescue of Greely,pertinently says, "For some unaccountable reason, themiscellaneous provisions Beebe was ordered to bring backin the event of failing to reach Lady Franklin Bay, andwhich he actually did bring back, to be stored at St.Johns, from which place they were carried up next468 GENERAL A. W. GREELYsummer, to be sunk in the Proteus. They would havekept better in the ice upon the rocks at Sabine. "The acting signal officer, Lieutenant L. V. Caziarc, inthe absence of General Hazen, had given orders " Youwill return the vessel and the remainder of the stores toSaint Johns." Had they been left at Sabine, there wouldprobably have been no Greely tragedy to arouse thesympathies of the world.All summer long the men looked and waited for theship. Lockwood writes in his journal: " I find myselfconstantly reading over old letters brought with me, andreceived at St. Johns, though read before again andagain. The effect is depressing, bringing too stronglyinto view home and the dear ones there. I am oppressedwith ennui and low spirits, and can't shake off this feeling, partly induced by the cruel disappointment of noship. "Later he wrote: " Have been reading of Kane andhis travels. He is my beau idéal of an Arctic traveller.How pitiful that so bold a spirit was incased in so feeble a frame! Why is nature inconsistent? "Again he wrote: "The life we are now leading issomewhat similar to that of a prisoner in the Bastile:no amusements, no recreations, no event to wreck themonotony or dispel ennui. I take a long walk everyday along shore to North Valley with that view, studyFrench a little, or do some tailoring, now doubly necessary, as our supply of clothing is getting low. . . .must go on another sledge-journey to dispel this gloom. "The men amused themselves with their efforts to rearthe four young musk-oxen, which had been taken alivewhen the older ones were shot. Three of the dogs nearlykilled " John Henry," the youngest of the calves; andAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 469the others, though tame and most affectionate, beingunused to the new and strange conditions, soon died."Tame foxes and tame owls, " wrote Lockwood, " havealso been given up. The former bit their keepers, thelatter ate each other up.""The tame fox, Reuben, " wrote Greely in his journal," after running away, has amused himself for a longtime by catching supplies of extra meat. He was outonce near the dogs, and a one-month puppy coming up,the fox caught him by the nose and sent him awayyelping. He seemed lately to have but little fear ofthe dogs. "Greely finally gave up looking for the relief ship in1882, and wrote in his journal, Aug. 25: " Artificiallight will soon be needed. I have quite given up theship, as indeed have most of the men. I hope againsthope, and defer going on an allowance of our remaining stock of vegetables until Sept. 1. We have enoughof them, but in the matter of vegetables we must livemuch more simply than the past year."The second Arctic winter was not passed so happilyas the first. Lieutenant Greely interested the menby scientific and historical lectures, or talks regardingthe battles of the Civil War, while others spoke onastronomy or other matters with which they were mostfamiliar.The spring of 1883 was most welcome, though Greelynotes in his journal: "Perfect ease of mind cannotcome until a ship is again seen. "The dogs had been cared for as well as possible, asNorth Greenland was to be again explored, and the journey was long and hazardous. They were not fed as wellas Greely wished; for he had no food but " pork, beef,470 GENERAL A. W. GREELYand fish (all salt) . Their food, " he says, "has alwaysbeen thoroughly soaked and freshened, and, what I consider an important point, always fed to them in an unfrozen and generally warm condition. Hard bread hasbeen given to as many as would eat it, which includesthe puppies raised here, and one or two of the old dogs.Most of the Greenland dogs will not touch bread evenwhen hungry."Lockwood and others, with twenty dogs, started onanother Greenland journey, March 27, but returned in afew days, disappointed, as they were prevented fromgoing forward at Beach Horn Cliffs, by a great body ofopen water, several miles wide.Lockwood then started on his month's trip across Grinnell Land, discovering and naming Greely Fjord betweensixty and eighty miles long, and fifteen miles wide, andthe two bays at its head, after Greely's daughters,Adola and Antoinette. "No such word as ' failed ' towrite this time," says Lockwood, " I am thankful to say;but the happy reflection is mine that I accomplishedmore than any one expected, and more than I myselfdared hope the discovery of the western sea, andnence the western coast line of Grinnell Land. " Thejourney was laborious. Some of the dogs had to beshot to provide food for their co-workers. One dog,Disco King, drew his load till completely exhausted,and died with Fort Conger in sight, being unable tocrawl thither after being released from the harness.As the summer of 1883 waned, everybody lookedeagerly for the expected relief ship. There could belittle doubt, this time, as on the previous year. YetGreely wisely made provision for his retreat southward,in case the ship did not come.AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 471June, July, and August passed, and in vain they strainedtheir eyes for the coming ship. Now they thought theysaw the smoke of a vessel sailing up the icy passage, buthope always gave way to disappointment. It almostseemed as though America had forgotten her explorers.They could not know that the aid intended for themIwas in the bottom of the sea.Greely, with a foresight which seemed almost prophetic, had left explicit directions for the relief ships.If the vessels could not reach Fort Conger in DiscoveryBay, they were to land provisions for forty men forfifteen months at the farthest point possible on the eastcoast of Grinnell Land, and also at Littleton Island, and"establish a winter station at Polaris winter quarters,Lifeboat Cave, when their main duty would be to keeptheir telescopes on Cape Sabine, and to the land northward."Two vessels, the Proteus, under Lieutenant E. A. Garlington of the 7th U. S. Cavalry, the same vessel inwhich the Greely party had sailed in 1881, and theYantic under Commander Frank Wildes of the U. S.Navy, sailed from St. Johns, Newfoundland, June 21,1883, on their returning expedition. The Proteus had afair passage through the ice of Melville Bay, touched atsouth-east Cary Island, and examined the Nares cache of1800 rations, left a record at Pandora Harbor on theeast side of Smith Sound, and being met by the ice pack,anchored in Payer Harbor on the west coast of SmithSound. She remained at Cape Sabine four hours and ahalf, but did not leave provisions (which would havesaved so much starvation later on) through conflictingdirections from officials, an unsigned memorandumordering that provisions should be left on the way north,172 GENERAL A. W. GREELYand a verbal statement from the chief signal officer, thatthis memorandum " was no part of his orders. "Garlington was to examine caches, and replace anydamaged articles of food . He examined the Beebe cacheleft by the steamer Neptune, but not the Nares cacheon Stalknecht Island, a half mile away, which hesaid was " in a damaged condition, " and which, unfortunately, he did not replace.The next day, while near Cape Albert on the westcoast of Kane Sea, above Smith Sound, the Proteus wascrushed by ice seven feet thick, and went down on theevening of July 23. Some of the provisions were thrownoverboard; but in the hurry, a third of these were lostby falling too near the ship. The crew were uncontrollable, and pillaged for themselves.One of the whale-boats was loaded with provisions,estimated at five hundred rations, and taken by LieutenantColwell of the navy to a point four miles west of CapeSabine, known as the " Wreck-camp cache." Greelyfound only one hundred rations of meat when his menwere starving, and was greatly disappointed.The stores of the Proteus being lost, her men could notwinter at Lifeboat Cave, unless the Yantic, which wasa relieving boat to the Proteus, and not fitted for passingthrough the ice, could be reached, and food obtained.By a series of the most unfortunate misunderstandings, the two commanders, Garlington and Wildes, failedto reach each other, one always having left a certainspecified point agreed upon when the other arrived.If the Yantic reached Littleton Island, as she hadbeen instructed, Garlington would remain for the winterat Lifeboat Cave, close by. He thought she would notcome from the condition of the ice. She did come sixAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 473days after his departure, and not finding Garlington, herprovisions were not left, and she started to seek him andhis men. Had her provisions been cached at LittletonIsland, and a party of volunteers left with them, thehorrors of the next winter might have been avoided.As Garlington had with him in his boats forty days'rations for fifteen men, the provisions of the Yanticcould easily have been spared.Lieutenant Colwell, after a perilous boat journey acrossMelville Bay, reached Disko, eight hundred miles, withhis exhausted party. They as well as Garlington andthe crew were rescued by the Yantic, and brought to St.Johns, Newfoundland.The whole country was saddened at the failure to helpGreely. The question on every side was,"What canbe done for his relief? " Of fifty thousand rations takenup to or beyond Littleton Island by the steamers Neptune, Yantic, and Proteus, " only about one thousandwere left in that vicinity, the remainder being returnedto the United States, or sunk with the Proteus. "In the letter left by Garlington at Cape Sabine, forGreely, he had assured the latter that " everythingwithin the power ofIman will be done to rescue the bravemen at Fort Conger from their perilous position." However, when the Yantic returned about the middle of September, it was deemed inexpedient to send any otherrelief ship that fall . The result of that decision waspitiful in the extreme. Of course another vessel mightnot have reached the sufferers; though Greely, Melville,and some others, believed relief was practicable inthe fall of 1883. " Had a stout sealer," says Greely,"and there were many available · left St. Johns, undera competent officer, within ten days after the return of474 GENERAL A. W. GREELYthe Yantic, the entire Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, inmy opinion, would have returned. "Meantime, what had become of Lieutenant Greely andhis brave men, waiting two whole years for the promised ships? He well says in his "Three Years of Arctic Service ": " My journal shows that I looked forwardto privation, partial starvation, and possible death fora few of the weakest, but I expected no such thing asan abandonment to our fate."When the 8th of August came, and no ship had beenseen, the Greely party of twenty-five men, according toprevious instructions, started on their retreat towardthe south, in four boats, the steam yacht Lady Greely,the whale-boat Narwhal, English ice-boat Beaumont,the English boat, Valorous, with a small boat for specialuse.The poor dogs, to whom all were greatly attached, wereleft behind, as they could not well be killed; for if theparty should be obliged to return to Fort Conger, theirhelp would be needed. Several barrels of seal blubber,fresh beef, and bread, were opened , so that they could livefor some months before starvation came. A pitiful voyage lay before their masters - and probably a pitifuldeath for them.The journey from the first was a most dangerous one.Ice blocked their way, storms assailed them, and heavyfogs prevented their progress."As the midnight sun," says Greely, "struggledthrough the distorted masses of angry clouds, we turnedour prows into Kennedy Channel -to the southward,and, we hoped, to safety."And so we turned homeward, knowing we had thecourage to face the blinding gale, the heavy floes, theAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 475grinding pack, the countless other dangers which environthe Arctic navigator; and having also, though we knewit not, heart and courage to encounter uncomplainingly,on barren crags, the hardships and horrors of an Arcticwinter, with scant food, shelter, and clothing, with neitherfire, light, nor warmth, and to face undauntedly intensecold and bitter frost, disaster and slow starvation, insanity and death." Snow fell to the depth of several inchesin these early August days. Nowthe men cut their waywith axes through the solid ice. " Four hours' cutting,charging, rolling, etc., worked wonders, " says Greely inhis journal, " and, as the result of our exhaustive labors,the launch was got to open water."Nowthey passed through the middle of an immense iceberg, it having split so that there was a passage scarcelya dozen feet wide and a hundred yards long, while theice rose above them on either side fifty feet high.Sometimes the boats were caught between the greatmoving pack of ice, and the ice-foot, ten feet high, alongthe shore. At Cape Hawks they stopped to obtain thefood from the English cache. The bread, which was incasks, was covered with green, slimy mould, and wouldhave been thrown away except for the possible privationsin the future. The barrels and casks were broken up tobe used for steam on the launch, as they had little fuelleft.Aug. 26, the new ice having now become three inchesthick from the severity of the weather, the Lady Greelylaunch was held fast in the ice . After being besetfifteen days, during which time she drifted twentytwo miles to the southward, she was abandoned, and theGreely party started on the ice with their sledges.Greely and thirteeen others dragged the ice-boat Valor476 GENERAL A. W. GREELYous with six hundred pounds other weight, LieutenantKislingbury and five men another sledge, and seven hundred pounds, and Sergeant Jewell with three men,another. One sledge broke down and had to beabandoned.They camped on a floe in a severe snow- storm. Sometimes they fancied they saw smoke rising, or heard adog bark, but the faint hope soon died out. They hadjourneyed over four hundred miles, and the prospectswere not brightening. Darkness was coming on. Thefloe on which they were camping was drifting awayfrom the shore which they were endeavoring to reach.Between them and the distant shore the waves were sohigh that no small boats could live in them.The thoughts of the men turned towards home.Lockwood wrote in his journal: " I wonder what theyare doing at home. How often I think of the dear onesthere. The dangers and the uncertainties ahead of usare not alleviated by the thought of the concern felt onmy account by those at home. Most of us, I think,have given up the .idea of getting home this fall . Idread another winter in this country more than I doanything else. . . ."The outlook at present is rather gloomy. However,if there is help at Sabine, we are all right. Indeed, ifthere is help at Littleton Island, we ought not to despairof reaching it, working as we are for our lives. "Later he writes: " God knows what the end of allthis will be. I see nothing but starvation and death.The spirits of the party, however, are remarkably good. "Perhaps it was well that they did not then know thatthere was help neither at Sabine nor Littleton Island,but that it was being carried safely back to St. Johnsin the Yantic.AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 477Finally, Sept. 29, after five hundred miles of traveby boat and sledge, they reached a point a few miles.below Cape Sabine, which Greely called Eskimo Point,because in former years Eskimos had lived there.As it was impossible to cross Smith Sound to Littleton Island by reason of the high tide and thick ice, itwas decided to build winter huts of stone, the roofscovered with moss, and four inches of moss for the floor,which they gathered under the snow.Lockwood wrote in his journal: "We find it very severework building with these rocks. We are all weak, andthe rocks are granite, very heavy, and not easily obtainable. . . . We have now three chances for our lives:First, finding American cache sufficient at Sabine or atIsabella; second, of crossing the straits when our present rations are gone; third, of shooting sufficient sealand walrus near by here to last during the winter. Oursituation is certainly alarming in the extreme...miserable existence, only preferable to death. "AGreely wrote in his journal: " My hands are bruised ,bleeding, and swollen, joints stiff and sore, clothingbadly torn, hand and foot gear full of holes, and myback so lame I cannot stand erect. The work has taxedto the utmost limit my physical powers, already wornby mental anxiety and responsibility. All the officershave worked with the same assiduity and constancy. ""Oct. 7. Mrs. Greely's birthday; a sorry day forher, and a hard day for me, to reflect on the position ofmy wife and children should this expedition perish asdid Franklin's. However, I hope in faith that we shallsucceed in returning. We will at least place our recordswhere our work will live after us. "These were placed under a cairn on Stalknecht Island.478 GENERAL A W GREELYSergeant Rice and Eskimo Jens were sent to Sabine,and returned with the letter left there by Garlington,telling of the wreck of the Proteus, and the effortsthat would be made for the rescue of the party. Ricefound the three caches of provisions, the English, theBeebe of 1882 from the Neptune, and the wreck-cacheof the Proteus. As Greely could not move these fromSabine, he decided to cross thither by sledges and"await the promised help, " as he says."I am fully aware of the very dangerous situation weare now in," writes Greely in his journal, " and foreseea winter of starvation, suffering, and probably death forsome. The question is , did the Yantic reach LittletonIsland? if so, we are safe. Our fuel is so scanty thatwe are in danger of perishing for want of that alone. "The Yantic, as we now know, did reach LittletonIsland, but left no provisions for the starving party."We now had four boats," says Greely, " and, although the sun was about leaving us for the winter,we could yet travel southward, there being open watervisible at Cape Isabella. Had I been plainly told thatwe must now depend upon ourselves, that trouble andlack of discipline prevailed among the Proteus's crew,that the Yantic was a fair-weather ship, and that itscommander and lieutenant were acting independentlyof each other, I should certainly have turned my backto Cape Sabine and starvation, to face a possible deathon the perilous voyage along shore to the southward. "As most of the party felt sure that the Yantic musthave left provisions at Cape Isabella, Sergeant Rice andEskimo Jens were sent thither; but they returned disappointed, finding only the English cache of one hundredand forty pounds of meat.AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 479The party constructed winter quarters at Sabine, calling the place Camp Clay, after Henry Clay who wentwith them in 1881, and returned on the Proteus.The rock walls of the house were about two feet thickand three feet high, covered with the whale- boat turnedbottom side upward. " Under that boat," says Greely'sjournal, was the only place in which a man could evenget on his knees and hold himself erect.66Sitting on ourbags, the heads of the tall men reached the roof..The scarcity of rocks prevented our building higherwalls, and snow-blocks were at first insufficient to buildsnow-huts. "The caches were now to be examined. "God onlyknows," says Greely, " what we shall do if it (theEnglish cache) is spoiled; this hut will be our grave;but, until the worst comes, we shall never cease to hopefor the best. " Garlington had reported it damaged,though he did not visit it and make good the damagedfood.Greely hoped against hope, that the provisions wouldbe eatable. " On bringing it in, " he says, " the rum andalcohol were found to have entirely leaked away or evaporated, the groceries spoiled, and the four hundred andfifty pounds of bread and dog- biscuit all mouldy. Seventy-two pounds of the latter, only a mass of greenmould, was entirely unserviceable. Dr. Pavy emphatically declared that these slimy biscuits were not onlyvalueless as food, but that their use would be absolutelyinjurious to health, an opinion in which I fully concurred,and so ordered them thrown away. However, as I subsequently learned, the ravenous condition of some of theparty was such that, despite my positive order and earnest entreaties, they were all eaten. "480 GENERAL A. W. GREELYBrainard writes in his journal: "When this bread,thoroughly rotten and covered with a green mould, wasthrown on the ground, the half-famished men sprang toit as wild animals would. What, I wonder, will be ourcondition when we undergo a still greater reduction inour provisions? ""The canned meat brought in was good," says Greely,"but the bacon rancid, though all of it was eaten by uslater." But for these English caches, probably no one ofthe party would have been spared.In bringing in the Neptune cache, a mile away, several of the men had their feet frozen, Greely among thenumber.With scanty supplies, the men now settled down tothe long, dark winter's waiting. "We are now in ourhut," writes Lockwood in his journal, " but it is not yetfinished, and is cold and uncomfortable. Our constanttalk is about something to eat, and the different disheswe have enjoyed, or hope to enjoy on getting back tocivilization. How often my thoughts turn toward homeand the dear ones there. We all suppose that Garlington and party are at Littleton Island, but yet doubtswill arise as to it. We have found out some scraps ofnews from slips of newspaper wrapped around thelemons. Each man had a lemon to-night. We are allhungry all the time."Among some clothing cached at Sabine, a newspaperarticle was found written by Henry Clay, May 13, 1883,from which they inferred that the Jeannette was lost." Rice read the paper aloud this evening, " writes Lockwood, " and it has excited a great deal of remark. Weall think Clay's paper almost prophetic, except, ofcourse, our ' lying down under the quiet stars to die.'AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 481The article gives me pain in reflection of the great alarmand sorrow felt by my dear father and mother and sisterson my behalf. Should my ambitious hopes be disappointed, and these lines only meet the eyes of those sodear, may they not add to my many faults and failingsthat of ingratitude or want of affection in not more frequent allusions to them, and my thoughts concerningthem. "Oct. 26 was the last day of sunlight for one hundred and ten long days. "How to pass this comingArctic winter," writes Greely, " is a question I cannotanswer. When they read, " he says, " the wretchedEskimo lamp, with its faint glimmer of light, is heldclose to the reader. Some already begrudge the oil forthis purpose; but I look on it as more than well spent ingiving food for our minds, which, turned inward, thesecoming months would inevitably drive us all insane. "Storms increased; and although the hunters, especially Francis Long, sought daily for game, almost nonewas obtained. Lockwood writes: "This is miserable;we have insufficient supplies of everything. Even theblubber will support but one poor light, and that hardlyfor the winter. We must rely on the whale-boat andthe barrel- staves mostly for fuel, the alcohol beingalmost exhausted. Cold, dampness, darkness, and hunger are our portion every day and all day. Here in thehut one has to grope around in the darkness to findanything laid down. "Oct. 29 Lockwood writes, even before they had beenreduced to winter rations: " Occupied some time thismorning in scratching like a dog in the place where themouldy dog-biscuits were emptied . Found a few crumbsand small pieces, and ate mould and all. . . . Long482 GENERAL A. W. GREELYand Frederick [ Christiansen the Eskimo] went out tohunt to-day, but got nothing. . . . We now get aboutone-fourth what we could eat at a meal, and this limitedallowance is to be much farther reduced as soon as thesledging is done, which is about Nov. 1." Oct. 31. To-morrow our reduction of rations commences. Whether we can live on such a driblet of foodremains to be seen. We are now constantly hungry,and the constant thought and talk run on food, dishesof all kinds. . . . I have a constant longing for food.Anything to fill me up. God! what a life. A fewcrumbs of hard bread taste delicious. . . . The huntingparty have a slight increase of rations during theirabsence. I hope to God they have got something. Howoften my thoughts wander home, and I recall my dearfather, mother, and the family generally - then comesthe family dishes of all kinds. Numb fingers , and wantof light — I can write no more. . . . No sledging anymore, excepting Rice's trip, until spring, should we live.to see it."Thursday, Nov. 1. A white fox shot this morningby Schneider. We ate the entrails as well as everythingelse of the animal."Nov. 3. Breakfast this morning of a few mouthfulsof hard bread and a little piece of butter about as largeas one's finger. I had some mouldy potatoes.They are spoiled and mouldy all the way through, butanything that fills the stomach is grateful. "How one laments as he reads these pitiful words, thatthe Neptune and the Yantic should have come homeladen with stores, which would have saved these famished men!" Fingers and toes cold nearly all the time; temper-AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 483ature here in the house about freezing-point all the time.God! this miserable existence cannot be conceived ofby any one but ourselves. Constant thoughts of homeand dear ones there."Nov. 9. For dinner we had tea, a spoonful of English meat, and a handful of hard-bread. Breakfast waschocolate, a little piece of butter, and a little bread.One is more hungry when he gets through these mealsthan before. . . . Smoke at almost every meal insufferable. It is blinding, and hides everything. "Early in November it was decided to send Rice, Elison, Lynn, and Frederick to Cape Isabella for the onehundred and forty-four pounds of beef cached there byNares in 1875. They suffered on the way over fromcold, and on the way back Elison froze his hands andfeet. " At night their sleeping-bag," says Frederick inhis journal, 66 was no more nor less than a sheet of ice.I placed one of Elison's hands between my thighs andRice took the other, and in this way we drew the frostfrom his poor frozen limbs. The poor fellow cried allnight from pain. This was one of the worst nights I everspent in the Arctic. ”Elison was soon helpless, and had to be carried. Tosave his life the meat was abandoned; and after tenhours of struggling in the snow and over the hummockyice, they reached their old camp at Eskimo Point.Here, to thaw out his limbs, they cut up the Englishice-boat, which had been left intact for a possible journey southward. "When the poor fellow's face, feet,and hands commenced to thaw from the artificial heat,"says Frederick, " his sufferings were such that it wasenough to bring the strongest to tears. "Rice finally travelled back twenty-five miles to Camp484 GENERAL A. W. GREELYClay at Sabine, for assistance, and reached the placeexhausted, having eaten only a piece of frozen meat onthe way.Lockwood, Brainard, and others at once started totheir aid. When they reached Eskimo Point, the frozensleeping-bag, in which Frederick, Lynn, and Elison hadlain for eighteen hours, unable to move, had to be cutoff them with a hatchet. Elison was nearly dead, andwhen brought back to Camp Clay begged piteously fordeath.- -Greely regards this rescue journey of Lockwood "themost remarkable in the annals of Arctic sledging.""This half-starved party," he says in his official report,"made a round trip of about forty miles in total darkness, and over rough and heavy ice, in forty-four hours,with temperatures ranging from 19° to 34.5°. Theremarkable work done by this party appears the moreastonishing, in that this was their third winter withinthe Arctic circle, that they had been on short rations forover two months, and had been utterly inactive for theprevious ten days. In the most willing manner, withouta murmur, these men ventured their lives on the merepossibility of rescuing a comrade whom they expectedto find dead."Elison now received twice as much food as any otherman, with the hope that his life might be saved. Noone complained, for it was felt that Elison had crippledhimself in trying to bring meat for the party from CapeIsabella.The dreadful winter wore on. Lieutenant Greelyvaried the monotony as much as possible by a dailylecture on the physical geography of the United States,its resources, etc.; others read various books to the party,AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 485or gave personal reminiscences. Nov. 14 Lockwoodwrites in his journal: " Oh! the dear ones at home, howI long to see them. Brainard plants a pole on a neighboring rock to-day, to attract the attention of any partyfrom the other side. " They still had hopes that Garlington might be at Littleton Island, nearly opposite."Nov. 19. . . . Day overcast. Bread reduced now tosix ounces a day, and meat to four ounces.This is onaccount of increased rations issued Elison. Ate a lotof mouldy dog- biscuit to-day. . . . Feel ravenous, andcould eat anything now in the shape of food. Fill upwith tea leaves when any are left over.•“ Nov. 21. . . . American mineral products discoursedon by Lieutenant Greely. What an experienceis this I am going through. Such an experience isenough for one's life . How I long for the time to pass." Nov. 23. .. Remarks in the morning on the Stateof Maine, by Lieutenant Greely and others. Conversation during the day about dishes of all kinds, and desserts , soups, etc. We never seem to weary of thissubject. . . . Chewed up the foot of a fox this eveningraw. It was altogether bone and gristle. "Nov. 29 was set aside as a day of thanksgiving andpraise, " in order," says Greely, "that we might actin accord with those we have left behind. . . . Itseemed to me then that making this a great and happyday would so break in on our wretchedness and miseryas to give us new courage and determination. . Today we have been almost happy, and had almost enoughto eat. . . . It seemed to me that the Psalms of the daymade a deeper impression than I have ever beforenoted."The next day, Nov. 30, Lockwood wrote in his journal:486 GENERAL A. W. GREELY"How often I picture to myself the old, familiar scenes.of home! How I long to know that all are well, andtrust their anxiety for me is not too great. I picture tomyself where my sisters are living, and the familyscenes and conversation at the old roof-tree in theevening."Dec. 3. Breakfast this morning consisted of chocolate and one and one-half ounces butter -no bread, forI ate all my bread last night. Many of us eat all ourbread at night, and many try to save and manipulatetheir dole of food in a dozen ways to make the mite offood seem more filling. I have saved from yesterdaysome scraps of seal-skin; and after Long was through, Iput the can over the remnants of the fire for a fewminutes, and the scraps became quite soft. I ate thehair and all . The skin has little on it but the hair, theblubber and meat being cut off as clean as possible...."Dec. 19. We are all very weak, and I feel an apathyand cloudiness impossible to shake off. . . . I alwayseat my bread regretfully. If I eat it before tea, I regret that I did not keep it; and if I wait till tea comes,and then eat it, I drink my tea hastily and do not getthe satisfaction I otherwise would. What a miserablelife, when a few crumbs of bread weigh so on one'smind!"Brainard writes in his journal: "We are all more orless unreasonable, and I only wonder that we are not allinsane. . . . If we are not mad, it should be a matterof surprise. I wonder if we will survive the horrors ofthis ice-prison. "Still the poor starving men kept up hope. Theirspirits improved when the sun, after its farthest distancefrom them, began to return Dec. 21. "Thank God,"AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 48766 exclaims Lockwood in his journal, now the glorioussun commenced to return, and every day gets lighterand brings him nearer. It is an augury that we shallyet pull through all right. By a great effort I was ableto save an ounce of bread and two ounces of butter forChristmas. I shall make a vigorous effort to abstainfrom eating it before then. Put it in charge of Bierderbick as an additional safeguard. Brainard shot anotherfox last night, a blue one. This makes the twentiethfox killed. Louisiana spoken of to-day. I added to itby recounting my trip from Baltimore to Texas, andthen, on return, to New Orleans and up to Cincinnati. "On Christmas Day, the party were in good spirits.Brainard replaced the broken distress flag-staff facingthe Greenland coast, and predicted that LieutenantGarlington would visit them during the full moon inJanuary. Alas! that the prediction did not prove true.The fuel had now become so scanty that ropes wereburned, which made a dense smoke, irritating to the eyesand throat. One of Elison's feet had been taken off byDr. Pavy, the surgeon, but he did not know it .By Jan. 15 Lieutenant Lockwood had become so weakthat Greely, in whose sleeping-bag he slept also, wasobliged to help him to turn over, and support him whilehe ate his scanty breakfast.Greely offered him his ration of beef, four ounces,which he declined, saying that Greely's need was asgreat as his own. He urged Greely that when the timecame for crossing to Littleton Island , in the early spring,when it was light and the channel frozen, that he beleft behind, and be sent for later, but to this GreelyIwould not for a moment consent.Jan. 15 Lieutenant Greely writes: " In consequence488 GENERAL A. W. GREELYof the necessity of melting ice hereafter for all ourwater, I was obliged to reduce the quantity of tea, sothat hereafter we have but half allowance. It comesvery hard upon many of the men. I am able to standit myself, and have taken some pulverized ice in a rubber bag, which I have melted by the heat of my body tofurnish drinking-water for others. The party are somewhat depressed by the reduction of water. "The first death among the starving party occurred Jan.18, that of Sergeant William H. Cross. The body wassewed up in sacks and canvas by Brainard and Bierderbick; and after Lieutenant Greely had read the Episcopalburial service, and tried to cheer the men in their despondency, the corpse was covered by the American flag,and six weak men dragged it on the English sledge tothe summit of a hill near by, and buried it in a gravefifteen inches deep. Cross would have been forty on theday following. It was found that he had saved considerable bread and butter with which to celebrate hisbirthday.On Feb. 1 Lieutenant Lockwood was so weak thatLieutenant Greely issued to him daily an ounce eachof bread and meat, as extra food. Two days later, poorLockwood writes: "I am getting stronger very slowly.The slight increase in the rations will help me rapidly.... Jewell fainted to-night, just after coming in fromoutside."Feb. 5.... I got up myself to-day, and managedto get out of doors without the assistance of Frederick[Christiansen, the Eskimo] , but fell down in the alleywaycoming back, and also fell down on getting inside here. "On Feb. 2 Rice and Jens, the Eskimo, started to crossSmith Sound to Littleton Island, to bring whateverAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 489food might be there, and to see Garlington, althoughGreely had little belief that he was there. Much hopeand prayer went with the brave fellows as they startedon their journey. Brainard wrote in his journal: “ Atremulous God bless you! ' a hearty grasp of the hand,and we turned away in tears from those brave souls whowere daring and enduring so much for us.Whilewatching their progress I distinctly heard the hoarsegrinding of the pack not far away. Of this I said nothing to my companions, owing to the depressing effectsuch information would have on their minds."Four days later, to the surprise and bitter disappointment of all, Rice and Jens returned, having found openwater as far as the eye could reach, and no frozen passageas they had hoped. The only signs of game were someold bear-tracks.Lockwood wrote in his journal: " Of course we areall very much disappointed; the party takes a bold front,and are not wanting in spirit. If our fate is theworst, I do not think we shall disgrace the name ofAmericans and of soldiers. "To keep up the spirits of the men, Greely announcedthat it was more than probable Smith Sound wouldfreeze over by March 1. " In such an event," I argued, “ wecould afford to deny ourselves a little, and so I had decidedto cut down our bread a couple of ounces, so we wouldbe able to remain here until March 6. ..."I certainly do not deceive all the party, but perhaps Ido some. Perhaps my plans may succeed, and this widestrait freeze solid, but I cannot now believe it.Jewell froze his fingers to-day.•66 Our poor starved bodies have not enough blood andvital heat to resist this temperature of•27.5°. . . • I490 GENERAL A. W. GREELYhave been obliged to cut off, after to-day, LieutenantLockwood's extra ration."Feb. 8, Mercury again frozen, greatly to our delight,for a week of this weather would cement securely theice of Smith Sound."Feb. 12. . . . Notwithstanding the mercury is frozen,the water in the straits still remains open, probably inconsequence of spring tides. The roaring ice, a dismal,fateful sound to us, was heard nearly all day."The same day Lockwood writes: " Our situation isdeplorable. . . . It will be pitiable if this party afterfighting short rations, cold, etc. , all winter, is doomed todie in the spring. Poor Elison, I am afraid, will neversurvive. How often I think of the dear ones at home,the Sunday evening reunions, and all the bright andhappy pictures that present themselves. "Four days later: " I shall be glad when the end comes,whenever it is to be. .. We are all very dirty; myhands and face are actually black in color.All our•clothes are covered with grease and dirt. . . . I do little talking, finding it difficult to raise my voice. I findmyself pursued by ennui, aimlessness, apathy, and indifference, produced by hunger, cold, gloom, dirt, and allthe miseries of this existence. I see no chance ofthe straits being closed to the end of the month. Tomy mind we must find game here, or else receive helpfrom Littleton Island. It will soon be decided, thankGod." Feb. 18. . . . We are drawing nearer the end ofour rations. The prospect of getting more is rather dismal. We are all very hopeful, however. "March 1 , the day previously fixed by LieutenantGreely for crossing Smith Sound came, but he writes:AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 491"The straits are wide open, and if we only had sufficientstrength to remove the boat from the building, we couldnow attempt a passage partly by sledge, and partly byboat."Long and Christiansen travelled seventy miles to findgame, but returned unsuccessful. Greely sadly writes,March 13: " The fates seem to be against us -an openchannel, no game, no food, and apparently no hopesfrom Littleton Island. We have been lured here to ourdestruction. If we were now the strong, active men oflast autumn, we could cross Smith Sound where there ismuch open water; but we are a party of twenty- fourstarved men, of whom two cannot walk and a half-dozencannot haul a pound. We have done all we can to struggle on, but it drives me almost insane to face the future.It is not the end that affrights any one, but the road tobe travelled to reach that goal. To die is easy, veryeasy it is only hard to strive, to endure, to live."They could not get the boat, covered with snow, offthe roof of the hut; a little later, they had not thestrength to clean off the snow even when it commencedleaking through.March 14, three ptarmigans were killed, the first gamesince early in February. " Beaks, claws, and entrailswere eaten."One week later Greely writes: " It is surprising withwhat calmness we view death, which, strongly as wemay hope, now seems inevitable. Only game can saveus. We have talked over the matter calmly and quietly,and I have always exhorted the men to die as men, andnot as dogs."Lockwood writes in his journal on the same day,March 21: "The time draws near when our group comes492 GENERAL A. W. GREELYto an end. We look on it with equanimity, and thespirits of the party, with this prospect of a miserabledeath, is certainly wonderful. I am glad as each daydraws to an end. It puts us nearer the end of this life,whatever that end is to be. How often I think ofthose at home, and of what they are doing.That I could be with them for a few hours only. .The fuel, all except the boat, is about gone - ends withto-morrow."-Oh, God!...Lockwood's feet were badly swollen, and his mind.wandered much of the time, yet as late as March 25,he wrote: "We are all confident now of pulling through. "For the first time in five months a ray of sunlightentered the wretched hut.They had now given up all hope of crossing the Sound.Long and Brainard killed several dovekies, and theirhopes were strengthened. Long was especially happy ashe had promised for months to provide Greely with abirthday present of food on his fortieth birthday, March27, which promise he was thus enabled to keep.April 5 the second death occurred, that of FrederickChristiansen, to whom all were much attached. He wasburied beside Cross.April 6 Lynn became unconscious at one P.M. anddied at seven. He asked for water just before dying, butthey had none to give. He had never recovered fromthe disastrous trip to Isabella for the one hundred andforty pounds of meat.Near midnight of the same day, April 6, Sergeant Riceand Frederick started southwards towards Cape Isabella,to bring the meat which they had been obliged to abandon when Elison's hands and feet were frozen. Thedarkness had prevented their going much earlier, andAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 49%Greely feared the results of such a journey. Ricebegged to be allowed to go on the same rations as therest of the men were receiving, four ounces of meat, andfour ounces of bread daily. For a few hours previous totheir departure Rice slept in the same bag with thedead body of Lynn, so fully had they become used tothe presence of the destroyer.Through a blinding snow-storm these two men travelled, and reached the place where the meat was abandoned, about three o'clock in the afternoon of April 9.Not a trace of it was to be found. An hour later, ontheir return trip, Rice became too weak to stand. Hetalked of home and friends; Frederick took off his ownouter garment and wrapped up the feet of his dyingcomrade. In the driving snow, in his shirt sleeves onthe ice, he held Rice in his arms till eight o'clock, whenthe noble and self-denying young lawyer and photographer of the expedition passed away. Frederick buriedhis comrade in the snow and ice, and, more dead thanalive, returned to Camp Clay.•Meantime the affectionate and heroic Lockwood hadpenned the last words in his journal, April 7: ..."Jewell is much weaker to-day." On April 8 he fellfainting in the passage-way. For three days he had beenreceiving four ounces of raw dovekies daily, but it wasof no avail. April 9 his mind wandered, and he becameunconscious at four in the morning. At four twenty inthe afternoon he died peacefully.Brainard writes: "This will be a sad and unexpectedblow to his family, who evidently idolized him. Bierderbick and myself straightened his limbs and preparedhis remains for burial. It was the saddest duty that Ihave ever yet been called upon to perform. "494 GENERAL A. W. GREELY"He was a gallant officer, " writes Greely, " a brave,true and loyal man. Christian charity, manliness, andgentleness were the salient points of his character. Healways did his best; and that best will give him a namein Arctic history as long as courage, perseverance, andsuccess shall seem worthy of man's praise and ambition. "Jewell, to whom four ounces of extra food were givendaily, being fed by the hands of Greely, became unconscious in his arms, and died without a struggle,April 12. He and Lockwood were buried beside theothers on Cemetery Ridge.Greely was now so weak that his death was expected,and Lieutenant Kislingbury was to take his place inthat event.April 11 Brainard fell breathless in the passage-way,calling out, " A bear, a bear! " The animal was killedby Long and Jens, the Eskimo. He weighed fourhundred pounds. No words could express the joy of thestarving men. The following day Long shot a sealweighing sixty pounds.Brainard, before this, saved the lives of the party bygathering shrimps, which are so small that it takes1300 to make a gill. From April 8 to 30 he brought inno less than four hundred and fifty pounds. On May 3,however, the last bread was gone, and but nine days'meat remained.Poor Jens Edward, the Eskimo, was drowned by theoverturning of his kayak, April 29, while endeavoringto reach a seal. Their only reliable rifle was also lost inthis boat.It was hourly expected that Greely would pass away.Brainard writes: " This life is growing almost un-AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 495bearable — it is horrible! I am afraid that we will yetall go mad. In my case the thoughts of home, a brightfuture, the many enjoyments of life, and a feeling ofresponsibility for the poor fellows, who, to a certainextent, look to me to provide them with food, do moreto inspire me to work and to fight the end than anythingelse. "Thursday, May 1, Brainard says: " Lieutenant Kislingbury's mind is almost completely gone. Poor fellow! it is only a few days ago that he spoke so hopefullyof the future, and the happiness he anticipated in meeting his young son on his return. Yesterday I saw him.lying on the small sledge outside, weeping like a child;turning to me he said with a half-smothered groan, ' Itis hopeless; I cannot fight this starvation longer: I amdoomed to die here! " "buried; the first deathThe men were so weakMay 20 Private Ellis wasfrom starvation in six weeks.that they could scarcely drag the body to CemeteryRidge.Ralston died three days later, at one A.M. Greelyremained in the sleeping-bag, with the body, till aboutfive A.M., " chilled through by contact with the dead."As the hut had become unfit to live in from the melting snow, which wet the inmates constantly, the partymoved to a tent some three hundred yards away.Whisler died at noon, May 24.Sergeant Israel, the bright young astronomer fromAnn Arbor University, fed for several days by Greely,died May 27. He was beloved by all.Seal-skin thongs, which had been used in lashingtogether the sledge, now began to be used for stews. "Itis astonishing to me," says Greely in his journal, " howthe party holds out. ”496 GENERAL A. W. GREELY...The last day of May brought a heavy snow- stormwhich lasted twenty-four hours. " If," writes Brainard,"possessing the gift of divining the future, I should discover that I had yet another month of this terrible existence before me, I would at once end everything.In my daily journeyings across Cemetery Ridge, it wasbut natural at first that my reflections should be sad andgloomy. . . . The brass buttons on Lieutenant Lockwood's blouse, scoured bright by the flying gravel, protruded through the scanty covering of earth which ourdepleted strength barely enabled us to place over him. ...Later on our wretched condition served to counteractthese feelings; and I can now pass and repass the placewithout emotion, and almost with indifference. "Lieutenant Kislingbury died Sunday, June 1, 1884, atthree P.M. His last act was to sing the Doxology, in aweak, but clear voice: " Praise God from whom all blessings flow.""We had Corporal Salor died June 3, at three A.M.not strength enough to bury Salor, so he was put out ofsight in the ice- foot, " notes Greely in his journal.June 5 Greely crawled up the rocks, and gathered apint of tripe de roche.June 6 Private Henry was shot at two P.M. by orderof Greely, for stealing provisions, which meant deathto all if persisted in. Bender died at five forty-five P.M. ,and Dr. Pavy at six. The rest now lived on their sealskin gloves, boots, sleeping-bags, and lichens. The lastof the seal-skin was divided June 18.Gardiner died June 12, about five P.M. The doctorpredicted that he would die in April, but his intensedesire to see his wife and mother seemed to keep himalive. To the last (his skeleton fingers clutching theAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 497picture even after death) he held in his hands an ambrotype of his wife and mother, looking at it continually,and speaking to it. His last words were, " Mother!Wife! " "He was more religious, " says Greely, "thanperhaps any other one in the party: although allowedonly eight pounds of baggage on the retreat, he deniedhimself to bring with him his Bible, our only one, thoughI had a prayer-book."Schneider begged for opium pills with which to endhis sufferings on June 16, but nobody would give themto him. He died at six P.M., June 18. He was notburied.June 20 Greely's diary reads: "Six years ago to-dayI was married, and three years ago I left my wife forthis expedition. What a contrast! When will this lifein death end? "His journal ends the next day, June 21: " Connell'slegs paralyzed from knee down. Bierderbick sufferingterribly from rheumatism. Buchanan Strait open thisnoon a long way up the coast. "Brainard entered the last words in his journal onThursday, June 21: " Since day before yesterday Elison has transferred his food to his mouth by a spoonwhich is tied to the stump of his frozen arm."June 22, Sunday, all were exhausted. Greely tried toread a little from the prayer-book, but the high windand lack of food made it too exhausting. Connell wasscarcely conscious, and all had resigned themselves todespair. A storm had been raging, and the tent wasnearly blown down, pinning some of the men under it.The end was now only a question of a few hours atmost.Meantime another expedition had been fitted out by498 GENERAL A. W. GREELYthe United States for the rescue of Greely. Threevessels were sent, the Thetis, Bear, and Alert, -the lastthe flag-ship of Nares, the generous gift of the Englishgovernment tendered by the Queen to America, - underCommander Winfield J. Schley, a brave and experiencednaval officer. The ships were provisioned for one hundred and fifteen men for two years.-Late in April of 1884 the vessels steamed out of NewYork harbor, watched by anxious and sympathetichearts. Both the Thetis and Bear were Dundee whalers,built for forcing the ice, which they did through MelvilleBay, sometimes by a single blow splitting a pan of icetwo hundred yards across. The Alert was said to be thestrongest modern ship afloat.When Littleton Island was reached and searched, itwas evident that Greely had not been there.It wasdecided to run over to Cape Sabine, to see if any tracesof the party could be found. They sailed away Sunday,June 22, at three P.M. , the very day on which the Greelyparty seemed to have lost all hope. The ships were madefast to the ice just off Brevoort Island, two miles southof Sabine, and parties were sent in various directions.Soon cheers were heard, for some of the men had foundthe Greely records on Stalknecht Island. These papershad been left Oct. 21, eight months before, and theparty then had rations for forty days.It seemed certain that all had long ere this perished.With all possible haste the cutter started for CampClay. On the top of a ridge they saw the figure of aman. Greely had heard the whistle of the Thetis at midnight; and Brainard and Long had crawled out of thetent to see if any vessel was in sight, but they returneddisappointed . Long went out a second time to set upAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 499the distress flag which had blown down. The coxswain in the cutter waved a flag. The man on theridge had seen it, for he waved one in return. Then hecame slowly down the ridge, falling twice as he came.Lieutenant Colwell called out, " Who all are thereleft?""Seven left. ""Where are they?"""In the tent, over the hill- the tent is down. "" Is Mr. Greely alive? ""Yes, Greely's alive.""Any other officers? ""No.""Who are you?""Long.""He was a ghastly sight," says Commander Schley, inhis " Rescue of Greely." " His cheeks were hollow, hiseyes wild, his hair and beard long and matted . Hisarmy blouse, covering several thicknesses of shirts andjackets, was ragged and dirty: [They had not changedtheir clothing nor bathed for over eleven months. ] Hewore a little fur cap and rough moccasins of untannedleather tied around the leg. As he spoke, his utterancewas thick and mumbling. "Meanwhile one of the relief party, crying like a child,was trying to roll away the stones which held down theflapping tent cloth. Colwell cut a slit in the tent andlooked in."It was a sight of horror," says Schley. " On oneside, close to the opening, with his head towards the outside, lay what was apparently a dead man. His jaw haddropped, his eyes were open, but fixed and glassy, hislimbs were motionless. On the opposite side was a poor500 GENERAL A. W. GREELYfellow, alive to be sure, but without hands or feet, andwith a spoon tied to the stump of his right arm . Twoothers, seated on the ground, in the middle, had just gotdown a rubber bottle that hung on the tent-pole, andwere pouring from it into a tin can. Directly opposite,on his hands and knees, was a dark man with a longmatted beard, in a dirty and tattered dressing-gown, witha little red skull cap on his head, and brilliant, staringeyes. As Colwell appeared, he raised himself a little, andput on a pair of eye-glasses. ""Who are you? "" asked Colwell.The man made no answer, staring at him vacantly."Who are you? "" again.One of the men spoke up: " That's the Major - MajorGreely. "Colwell crawled in and took him by the hand, saying,"Greely, is this you? "-"Yes," said Greely in a faint, broken voice, hesitating and shuffling with his words; " Yes, seven of usleft here we are - dying -like men. Did what Icame to do. - beat the best record." Then he fell backexhausted.--He was speechHis body wasConnell had almost ceased to breathe.less, and his heart was barely beating.cold, and all sensation was gone. When they tried torevive him, he managed to speak, " Let me die inpeace. " Elison, with his hands and feet frozen off, hadlain helpless in his sleeping-bag for seven months, keptalive by the kindness of his fellows, who gladly allowedhim to have increased rations in his pitiable condition ."The faces of two of the men were so swollen," saysChief Engineer George W. Melville, " that they couldscarcely see." He cleansed the eyes of one in warm water,AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 501and bade him look over towards the mast-heads across therocks. Commander Schley said, " My man, don't you seethe ships' masts? Don't you see the flags? ""Please lift me up a little, " he urged huskily, " thatI may see." Then catching sight of the colors, he cried,"Hooray! There is the old flag again. " Tears of joyran down his cheeks, as he was supported in his sleeping-bag.Greely was near to death. He could not stand, andfor some time had not left his sleeping-bag. No foodhad passed the lips of any of them for forty- two hours,save a little water and a few square inches of soakedseal-skin.Colwell gave Greely and Elison a little of the biscuitwhich he had brought in his pocket. Then a can ofpemmican was opened, and a little scraped off with a knifewas fed to them slowly by turns. They could not stand,but had dropped on their knees, and begged piteouslyfor more. A fire was made of charred wood lying about,the remnants of the boat which covered the hut, and beefextract warmed, and given them every ten minutes.The survivors could scarcely realize that they weresaved. Their minds were enfeebled like their bodies." This seems so wonderful," said Greely; and whentold that pictures of his wife and children were onboard the Thetis, he added, " It is so kind and thoughtful. " The men were carried on board the boats onstretchers, as they were unable to walk, and then rowedout a hundred yards or so to the ships. Greely faintedafter being taken on board, but was revived by spirits ofammonia. His clothes were carefully cut off, and heavyflannels, which had been warmed, were put upon him.The bodies of the ten dead on the hill were dug up,502 GENERAL A. W. GREELYwrapped in blankets, and carried tenderly on board theships for a burial at their homes. The unburied bodiesof Schneider and Henry were also brought; but the fiveburied in the ice-foot, as well as the body of Jens, whowas drowned in his kayak, could not of course be recovered, as they were swept away by the currents. Withinthe tent near each sleeping-bag were found little packages done up and addressed to friends at home. Thesurvivors had also made a like preparation, knowingthat their turn would soon come. The packages wereall carefully preserved.At four o'clock, June 23, the vessels started homewardwith their precious freight. Elison died on the journey,at Godhavn, July 8, at three thirty A.M. The bodyof Frederick Christiansen of Upernavik was buried atGodhavn at the request of the Inspector of NorthGreenland.The ships reached St. Johns July 17, when telegramswere sent immediately to Hon. W. E. Chandler, Secretary of the Navy, by Commander Schley, and to Mrs.Greely by her husband. Throngs of people gathered onthe streets to welcome the heroic explorers, and all sharedin the feelings of Secretary Chandler, who telegraphed.Commander Schley: "The hearts of the Americanpeople go out with great affection to Lieutenant Greelyand the few survivors of his deadly peril. Care forthem unremittingly, and bid them be cheerful and hopeful on account of what life has in store for them."The six survivors, Greely, Brainard, Long, Bierderbick, Connell, Frederick - Elison had died on the passagehome soon gained strength and a return to health.Lieutenant Greely gained fifty pounds in six weeks.The relief ships received an ovation at PortsmouthAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 503Harbor, N.H. and then sailed for New York, where thebodies were formally delivered to General Hancock,representing the War Department. Two were taken tothe Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Henry and Schneider. The former was buried there, and the latter sentto friends in Germany.The remains of Lockwood were forwarded to Annapolis, and placed under a military guard in the church ofSt. Anne, where he had been baptized and confirmed .He was buried in the cemetery of the Naval Academy.A tablet was erected to his memory in the handsomearmy chapel at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, chiefly at theexpense of his old regiment. To one of the officers,General Lockwood presented a sword which had belongedto his son.Truly said his pastor in Georgetown, " Most fittinglydid his brother explorers give his name to this spot, thefarthest land north trod by human foot. LockwoodIsland shall stand as long as the earth endures, amid theample wastes and silence of these mysterious regions,as the monument of this brave young soldier. " He diedas he had lived, honored for his gentleness, his affectionate yet courageous heart, his unselfishness, and hisnobility of soul.Not less did Greely commend the heroic Brainardfor his " manhood, courage, and self-sacrifice, displayedon the Polar Sea and at Sabine. " His name will foreverbe associated with Lockwood in planting the flag, as yet,farthest north, and in his heroic devotion to the Greelyparty, which must have perished save for him and Francis Long.The valuable scientific reports , magnetic, meteorologic,botanic, and those in natural history, of this ArcticGENERAL A. W. GREELY 504expedition, have been transmitted by Lieutenant Greelyto the government, and published.They were broughton the long and perilous journey from Conger to Sabine,and are alasting monument to the ability and industryof the Greely party and its heroic leader.Concerning this dreadful life in the Arctic regions,Lieutenant Greely said at areception in New York:" Ipromised only that Iwould get to Sabine, and at Sabine I was found.In regard to the life that we spent-on that barren rockonly knows how forty days'provisions being made tolast for nine or ten months,with what scanty subsistence we could draw from the surrounding rocks, it wasa hell upon earth during all the five months of utter darkness.a lifewhich waseked out, God"The hut was so dark that for aweek at atime,although I lay in a bag with two men, so closely packedthat when one man turned over the others had to turnalso, I was not able to see the face of the man to theright or the left.The only light we had was awretchedrag dipped in tallow oil.The walls were so low thatwhen I sat in my sleeping-bag my head touched theroof.The bags froze to the ground.They were thatway for five months. If vacated for ten minutes,theyfroze stiff inside.For ten months we never knew whatit was to have our appetites satisfied .Yet all that time,with few exceptions, the men displayed such remarkableloyalty,such cheerfulness, and such a lawabiding spirit,that Ithink better of mankind for having lived withthose men through that trouble." For two or three months at atime we never knewwhat it was to have adrink of water,except such as wecould get by putting snow and ice in arubber bag andAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 505thawing it with the heat of our bodies. In that way wecould get eight or ten spoonfuls at a time. "The whole country rejoiced in the rescue of Greelyand the five others who were saved. The President sentgrateful words of thanks for himself and the nation; andQueen Victoria, who had given the ship Alert, also sentmessages of sympathy and inquiry.The Royal Geographical Society of London unanimously awarded to Greely their highest honor, theFounders' Gold Medal for 1886, " for having so considerably added to our knowledge of the shores of thePolar Sea and the interior of Grinnell Land; the first,throughthe exploration of the late Lieutenant Lockwoodalong the northern coast of Greenland, as far as 83° 23′ 8″N.W., being the nearest to the Pole ever attained, andthe second, by his own explorations into the interior ofGrinnell Land, together with the journey across it tothe Western Sea, by Lieutenant Lockwood; also for hisadmirable narrative of the expedition which he has justgiven to the world. "This medal, publicly received by the American minister, Mr. Phelps, was officially transmitted to Greelythrough the State and War Departments.The same year, 1886, Greely was awarded the Roquette Medal of Gold by the Geographical Society ofParis, forwarded through our minister to France.His native state, Massachusetts, also tendered himthrough her Senate and House of Representatives,"With just pride in his career and achievements, " herthanks, " as a tribute to his patriotism, courage, and loyalty as shown in his service as a volunteer soldier; tohis ability and zeal as a regular officer of the UnitedStates army, in dealing practically as well as theoreti-506 GENERAL A. W. GREELYcally, both here and in the High North, with the variedscientific questions arising in connection with the signal service; to his prudence, patience, and enterprise asan explorer in solving geographical problems involvingthe progress of mankind in science and civilization, andin thus advancing the name of America to the foremostrank in scientific Arctic research; and finally to hiscapacity and intrepidity as a commander in maintainingthe courage, discipline, and unity of his command undermost untoward, prolonged, and desperate circumstances. "Lieutenant Greely was promoted to be captain inthe 5th U. S. Cavalry, June 11, 1886; and in Decemberof the same year, during the illness of General W. B.Hazen, the duties of acting chief signal officer devolvedupon him by law as the senior assistant. He was formally promoted to be brigadier-general, and chief signalofficer of the army, March 3, 1887.General Greely has several times visited Europe,where he has received distinguished courtesies. He is anhonorary member of several geographical and scientificsocieties, and has just been (1893) elected one of thefaculty of the Columbian University in charge of theDepartment of Geography.General Greely has written extensively on scientificsubjects, the Isothermal Lines of the U. S. Geography ofthe Air, Rainfall of the Pacific Slope and Western Statesand Territories, American weather, with chapters onHot and Cold Waves, Blizzards, Hailstorms, etc., besidesvarious articles in the Century, Scribner's, North American Review, Forum, Science, and other magazines.General Greely is yet in middle life, under fifty,doing valuable work for the country, and enjoying thedevelopment in character of his four girls and two boys.AND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 507Whatever experiences are before him, he can never forget the dreadful months at Cape Sabine. His unselfishand brave record is before the world.Since General Greely's explorations, Dr. Nausen ofNorway made the first crossing of Greenland from eastto west. He was then a young man only twenty- seven,a graduate of the University of Christiania, and curatorof the museum at Bergen. He started in May, 1888, ina sailing-vessel, arriving at Reykiavik, the capital ofIceland . Here they took passage in a little steamer,landing on the shore ice of Greenland July 17. Theywere taken out to sea on an ice-floe, but finally returnedand crossed Greenland, reaching Godthaab Oct. 3. Forthree or four weeks they were more than nine thousandfeet above the level of the sea."Our day's marches were, " says Dr. Nausen, “ as arule, short, and varied between five and ten miles.The reason of this was the persistently heavy going.Had we come earlier in the season, say about midsummer time, we should have found an excellent hard andslippery surface, such as that we had during the firstday or two of our ascent. On such a surface both skiand sledges would have run well, and the crossing couldnot have taken us long. Now, however, the old, hardfrozen layer was covered with a loose coat of freshlyfallen snow, which was as fine and dry as dust, or elsepacked by the wind in drifts, on the cloth-like surfaceof which both ski and sledge runners are very hard tomove."When they came within sight of the western shore ofGreenland, he says: " We were just like children, as wesat and gazed and followed the lines of the valleysdownward in a vain search for a glimpse of the sea.It508 GENERAL A. W. GREELYwas a fine country that lay before us, wild and grand asthe western coast of Norway. Fresh snow lay sprinkledabout the mountain tops, between which were deep,black gorges. At the bottom of these were the fiords,which we could fancy but could not see."Words cannot describe what it is for us to have theearth and stones again beneath our feet, or the thrillthat went through us as we felt the elastic heather onwhich we trod, and smelled the fragrant scent of grassand moss. Behind us lay the inland ice,' its cold, grayslope sinking slowly toward the lake; before us lay thegenial land. Away down the valley we could see headland beyond headland, covering and overlapping eachother as far as the eye could reach . "The last noted exploring expedition to the Arcticregions was that under Civil Engineer Robert E. Peary,U.S. N., in 1891. On June 6, 1891, the ship Kite, underCaptain Richard Pike, who had taken the Greely partyin the Proteus in 1881 and the Garlington reliefparty in 1883, sailed for Greenland. On July 24 shereached McCormick Bay, where Peary establishedhis winter-quarters, calling his little house Red CliffeHouse, over which his young wife, Mrs. JosephineDiebitsch-Peary, presided, sharing with him its peril andits loneliness. Lieutenant Peary and his single companion, Edward Astrup, in this exploring trip of thirteenhundred miles, found Greenland to be an island, whosegeneral northern contours lie south of the eighty-thirdparallel. Besides the settlement of this mooted questionabout Greenland, says Prof. Angelo Heilprin, in Scribner's for Jan. 1893, the Peary expedition " has forever removed that tract from a consideration of complicity in the main workings of the Great Ice Age. TheAND OTHER ARCTIC EXPLORERS. 509inland ice-cap, which by many has been looked upon asthe lingering ice of the Glacial Period, stretching farinto the realm of the Pole itself, has been found to terminate throughout its entire extent at approximately theeighty- second parallel; beyond this line follows a regionof post glaciation - uncovered to-day, and supporting anabundance of plant and animal life, not different fromthat of the more favored regions southward. " Theyreached within one hundred miles of the farthest northpoint attained by Lockwood and Brainard, and went twohundred miles on the north-eastern coast farther thanany other human being ever attained. Most of thejourney was on ice eight thousand feet above the level.of the sea.The only unfortunate thing in connection with thisexpedition was the disappearance of the meteorologistand mineralogist of the North Greenland party, Mr.John T. Verhoeff. He was last seen on the morning ofAug. 11, 1892, when he stated his intention of visitingthe Eskimo settlement of Kukan, across McCormickBay. Not returning, a large party searched for him forseven days and nights. His footprints and some bitsof paper were discovered near a rifted glacier now calledthe Verhoeff glacier, and it is probable that he was lostin some crevasse. Some of his friends still hope thathe is alive.
ARCTIC REGIONS 1to 180110120SFranciscoASTATESaskowyColumbiaR.N
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Princeton University Library32101 05930022612+
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