The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3 Read online

  CHAPTER 18

  January 18.--This morning {*4} we continued to the southward, with thesame pleasant weather as before. The sea was entirely smooth, the airtolerably warm and from the northeast, the temperature of the waterfifty-three. We now again got our sounding-gear in order, and, with ahundred and fifty fathoms of line, found the current setting towardthe pole at the rate of a mile an hour. This constant tendency tothe southward, both in the wind and current, caused some degree ofspeculation, and even of alarm, in different quarters of the schooner,and I saw distinctly that no little impression had been made upon themind of Captain Guy. He was exceedingly sensitive to ridicule, however,and I finally succeeded in laughing him out of his apprehensions. Thevariation was now very trivial. In the course of the day we saw severallarge whales of the right species, and innumerable flights of thealbatross passed over the vessel. We also picked up a bush, full ofred berries, like those of the hawthorn, and the carcass of asingular-looking land-animal. It was three feet in length, and but sixinches in height, with four very short legs, the feet armed with longclaws of a brilliant scarlet, and resembling coral in substance. Thebody was covered with a straight silky hair, perfectly white. The tailwas peaked like that of a rat, and about a foot and a half long. Thehead resembled a cat’s, with the exception of the ears--these wereflopped like the ears of a dog. The teeth were of the same brilliantscarlet as the claws.

  January 19.--To-day, being in latitude 83 degrees 20’, longitude 43degrees 5’ W. (the sea being of an extraordinarily dark colour), weagain saw land from the masthead, and, upon a closer scrutiny, found itto be one of a group of very large islands. The shore was precipitous,and the interior seemed to be well wooded, a circumstance whichoccasioned us great joy. In about four hours from our first discoveringthe land we came to anchor in ten fathoms, sandy bottom, a league fromthe coast, as a high surf, with strong ripples here and there, rendereda nearer approach of doubtful expediency. The two largest boats werenow ordered out, and a party, well armed (among whom were Peters andmyself), proceeded to look for an opening in the reef which appeared toencircle the island. After searching about for some time, we discoveredan inlet, which we were entering, when we saw four large canoes put offfrom the shore, filled with men who seemed to be well armed. We waitedfor them to come up, and, as they moved with great rapidity, they weresoon within hail. Captain Guy now held up a white handkerchief on theblade of an oar, when the strangers made a full stop, and commenceda loud jabbering all at once, intermingled with occasional shouts, inwhich we could distinguish the words Anamoo-moo! and Lama-Lama! Theycontinued this for at least half an hour, during which we had a goodopportunity of observing their appearance.

  In the four canoes, which might have been fifty feet long and fivebroad, there were a hundred and ten savages in all. They were about theordinary stature of Europeans, but of a more muscular and brawny frame.Their complexion a jet black, with thick and long woolly hair. They wereclothed in skins of an unknown black animal, shaggy and silky, and madeto fit the body with some degree of skill, the hair being inside,except where turned out about the neck, wrists, and ankles. Their armsconsisted principally of clubs, of a dark, and apparently very heavywood. Some spears, however, were observed among them, headed with flint,and a few slings. The bottoms of the canoes were full of black stonesabout the size of a large egg.

  When they had concluded their harangue (for it was clear they intendedtheir jabbering for such), one of them who seemed to be the chief stoodup in the prow of his canoe, and made signs for us to bring our boatsalongside of him. This hint we pretended not to understand, thinkingit the wiser plan to maintain, if possible, the interval between us, astheir number more than quadrupled our own. Finding this to be the case,the chief ordered the three other canoes to hold back, while he advancedtoward us with his own. As soon as he came up with us he leaped on boardthe largest of our boats, and seated himself by the side of CaptainGuy, pointing at the same time to the schooner, and repeating the wordAnamoo-moo! and Lama-Lama! We now put back to the vessel, the fourcanoes following at a little distance.

  Upon getting alongside, the chief evinced symptoms of extreme surpriseand delight, clapping his hands, slapping his thighs and breast, andlaughing obstreperously. His followers behind joined in his merriment,and for some minutes the din was so excessive as to be absolutelydeafening. Quiet being at length restored, Captain Guy ordered the boatsto be hoisted up, as a necessary precaution, and gave the chief (whosename we soon found to be Too-wit) to understand that we could admit nomore than twenty of his men on deck at one time. With this arrangementhe appeared perfectly satisfied, and gave some directions to the canoes,when one of them approached, the rest remaining about fifty yards off.Twenty of the savages now got on board, and proceeded to ramble overevery part of the deck, and scramble about among the rigging, makingthemselves much at home, and examining every article with greatinquisitiveness.

  It was quite evident that they had never before seen any of the whiterace--from whose complexion, indeed, they appeared to recoil. Theybelieved the Jane to be a living creature, and seemed to be afraid ofhurting it with the points of their spears, carefully turning them up.Our crew were much amused with the conduct of Too-wit in one instance.The cook was splitting some wood near the galley, and, by accident,struck his axe into the deck, making a gash of considerable depth.The chief immediately ran up, and pushing the cook on one side ratherroughly, commenced a half whine, half howl, strongly indicative ofsympathy in what he considered the sufferings of the schooner, pattingand smoothing the gash with his hand, and washing it from a bucket ofseawater which stood by. This was a degree of ignorance for which wewere not prepared, and for my part I could not help thinking some of itaffected.

  When the visitors had satisfied, as well as they could, their curiosityin regard to our upper works, they were admitted below, when theiramazement exceeded all bounds. Their astonishment now appeared to be fartoo deep for words, for they roamed about in silence, broken only by lowejaculations. The arms afforded them much food for speculation, and theywere suffered to handle and examine them at leisure. I do not believethat they had the least suspicion of their actual use, but rather tookthem for idols, seeing the care we had of them, and the attention withwhich we watched their movements while handling them. At the great gunstheir wonder was redoubled. They approached them with every mark of theprofoundest reverence and awe, but forbore to examine them minutely.There were two large mirrors in the cabin, and here was the acme oftheir amazement. Too-wit was the first to approach them, and he had gotin the middle of the cabin, with his face to one and his back to theother, before he fairly perceived them. Upon raising his eyes and seeinghis reflected self in the glass, I thought the savage would go mad;but, upon turning short round to make a retreat, and beholding himself asecond time in the opposite direction, I was afraid he would expire uponthe spot. No persuasion could prevail upon him to take another look;throwing himself upon the floor, with his face buried in his hands, heremained thus until we were obliged to drag him upon deck.

  The whole of the savages were admitted on board in this manner, twentyat a time, Too-wit being suffered to remain during the entire period.We saw no disposition to thievery among them, nor did we miss a singlearticle after their departure. Throughout the whole of their visit theyevinced the most friendly manner. There were, however, some points intheir demeanour which we found it impossible to understand; for example,we could not get them to approach several very harmless objects--suchas the schooner’s sails, an egg, an open book, or a pan of flour. Weendeavoured to ascertain if they had among them any articles which mightbe turned to account in the way of traffic, but found great difficultyin being comprehended. We made out, nevertheless, what greatlyastonished us, that the islands abounded in the large tortoise of theGallipagos, one of which we saw in the canoe of Too-wit. We saw alsosome biche de mer in the hands of one of the savages, who was greedilydevouring it in its natural state. These anomalies--for they were suchwhen considered in regard t
o the latitude--induced Captain Guy to wishfor a thorough investigation of the country, in the hope of making aprofitable speculation in his discovery. For my own part, anxious as Iwas to know something more of these islands, I was still more earnestlybent on prosecuting the voyage to the southward without delay. We hadnow fine weather, but there was no telling how long it would last; andbeing already in the eighty-fourth parallel, with an open sea before us,a current setting strongly to the southward, and the wind fair, I couldnot listen with any patience to a proposition of stopping longer thanwas absolutely necessary for the health of the crew and the taking onboard a proper supply of fuel and fresh provisions. I represented to thecaptain that we might easily make this group on our return, and winterhere in the event of being blocked up by the ice. He at length came intomy views (for in some way, hardly known to myself, I had acquired muchinfluence over him), and it was finally resolved that, even in the eventof our finding biche de mer, we should only stay here a week to recruit,and then push on to the southward while we might. Accordingly we madeevery necessary preparation, and, under the guidance of Too-wit, got theJane through the reef in safety, coming to anchor about a mile from theshore, in an excellent bay, completely landlocked, on the southeasterncoast of the main island, and in ten fathoms of water, black sandybottom. At the head of this bay there were three fine springs (we weretold) of good water, and we saw abundance of wood in the vicinity. Thefour canoes followed us in, keeping, however, at a respectful distance.Too-wit himself remained on board, and, upon our dropping anchor,invited us to accompany him on shore, and visit his village in theinterior. To this Captain Guy consented; and ten savages being left onboard as hostages, a party of us, twelve in all, got in readiness toattend the chief. We took care to be well armed, yet without evincingany distrust. The schooner had her guns run out, her boarding-nettingsup, and every other proper precaution was taken to guard againstsurprise. Directions were left with the chief mate to admit no personon board during our absence, and, in the event of our not appearing intwelve hours, to send the cutter, with a swivel, around the island insearch of us.

  At every step we took inland the conviction forced itself upon us thatwe were in a country differing essentially from any hitherto visitedby civilized men. We saw nothing with which we had been formerlyconversant. The trees resembled no growth of either the torrid, thetemperate, or the northern frigid zones, and were altogether unlikethose of the lower southern latitudes we had already traversed. The veryrocks were novel in their mass, their color, and their stratification;and the streams themselves, utterly incredible as it may appear, had solittle in common with those of other climates, that we were scrupulousof tasting them, and, indeed, had difficulty in bringing ourselves tobelieve that their qualities were purely those of nature. At a smallbrook which crossed our path (the first we had reached) Too-wit and hisattendants halted to drink. On account of the singular character of thewater, we refused to taste it, supposing it to be polluted; and it wasnot until some time afterward we came to understand that such was theappearance of the streams throughout the whole group. I am at a lossto give a distinct idea of the nature of this liquid, and cannot do sowithout many words. Although it flowed with rapidity in all declivitieswhere common water would do so, yet never, except when falling ina cascade, had it the customary appearance of limpidity. It was,nevertheless, in point of fact, as perfectly limpid as any limestonewater in existence, the difference being only in appearance. At firstsight, and especially in cases where little declivity was found, it boreresemblance, as regards consistency, to a thick infusion of gumarabic in common water. But this was only the least remarkable of itsextraordinary qualities. It was not colourless, nor was it of any oneuniform colour--presenting to the eye, as it flowed, every possibleshade of purple; like the hues of a changeable silk. This variation inshade was produced in a manner which excited as profound astonishmentin the minds of our party as the mirror had done in the case of Too-wit.Upon collecting a basinful, and allowing it to settle thoroughly, weperceived that the whole mass of liquid was made up of a number ofdistinct veins, each of a distinct hue; that these veins did notcommingle; and that their cohesion was perfect in regard to their ownparticles among themselves, and imperfect in regard to neighbouringveins. Upon passing the blade of a knife athwart the veins, the waterclosed over it immediately, as with us, and also, in withdrawing it,all traces of the passage of the knife were instantly obliterated. If,however, the blade was passed down accurately between the two veins,a perfect separation was effected, which the power of cohesion didnot immediately rectify. The phenomena of this water formed the firstdefinite link in that vast chain of apparent miracles with which I wasdestined to be at length encircled.