A CHAPTER OF PREPARATIONS--DISCRIMINATION IN CHARACTER--A TIGHT FIT,
AND OTHER CONVENIENCES, WITH SOME JUDGMENT.
I shall pass lightly over the events of the succeeding month. During
this time, the whole party were transferred to England, a proper
ship had been bought and equipped, the family of strangers were put
in quiet possession of their cabins, and I had made all ray
arrangements for being absent from England for the next two years.
The vessel was a stout-built, comfortable ship of about three
hundred tons burden, and had been properly constructed to encounter
the dangers of the ice. Her accommodations were suitably arranged to
meet all the exigencies of both monikin and human wants, the
apartments of the ladies being very properly separated from those of
the gentlemen, and otherwise rendered decorous and commodious. The
Lady Chatterissa very pleasantly called their private room the
gynecee, which, as I afterwards ascertained, was a term for the
women's apartment, obtained from the Greek, the monikins being quite
as much addicted as we are ourselves, to showing their acquirements
by the introduction of words from foreign tongues.
Noah showed great care in the selection of the ship's company, the
service being known to be arduous, and the duties of a very
responsible character. For this purpose, he made a journey expressly
to Liverpool (the ship lying in the Greenland Dock at London), where
he was fortunate enough to engage five Yankees, as many Englishmen,
two Norwegians, and a Swede, all of whom had been accustomed to
cruising as near the poles as ordinary men ever succeeded in
reaching. He was also well suited in his cook and mates; but I
observed that he had great difficulty in finding a cabin-boy to his
mind. More than twenty applicants were rejected, some for the want
of one qualification, and some for the want of another. As I was
present at several examinations of different candidates for the
office, I got a little insight into his manner of ascertaining their
respective merits.
The invariable practice was, first, to place a bottle of rum and a
pitcher of water before the lad, and to order him to try his hand at
mixing a glass of grog. Four applicants were incontinently rejected
for manifesting a natural inaptitude at hitting the juste milieu, in
this important part of the duty of a cabin-boy. Most of the
candidates, however, were reasonably expert in the art; and the
captain soon came to the next requisite, which was, to say "Sir," in
a tone, as Noah expressed it, somewhere between the snap of a steel-
trap and the mendicant whine of a beggar. Fourteen were rejected for
deficiencies on this score, the captain remarking that most of them
"were the sa'ciest blackguards" he had ever fallen in with. When he
had, at length, found one who could mix a tumbler of grog, and
answer "Sir," to his liking, he proceeded to make experiments on
their abilities in carrying a soup-tureen over a slushed plank; in
wiping plates without a napkin, and without using their shirt-
sleeves; in snuffing candles with their fingers; in making a soft
bed with few materials besides boards; in mixing the various
compounds of burgoo, lobscouse, and dough, (which he affectedly
pronounced duff); in fattening pigs on beef-bones, and ducks on the
sweepings of the deck; in looking at molasses without licking his
lips; and in various other similar accomplishments, which he
maintained were as familiar to the children of Stunin'tun, as their
singing-books and the ten commandments. The nineteenth candidate, to
my uninstructed eyes, seemed perfect; but Noah rejected him for the
want of a quality that he declared was indispensable to the quiet of
the ship. It appeared that he was too bony about an essential part
of his anatomy, a peculiarity that was very dangerous to a captain,
as he himself was once so unfortunate as to put his great toe out of
joint, by kicking one of those ill-formed youngsters with
unpremeditated violence; a thing that was very apt to happen to a
man in a hurry. Luckily, No. twenty passed, and was immediately
promoted to the vacant berth. The very next day the ship put to sea,
in good condition, and with every prospect of a fortunate voyage.
I will here state that a general election occurred the week before
we sailed; and I ran down to Householder and got myself returned, in
order to protect the interests of those who had a natural right to
look up to me for that small favor.
We discharged the pilot when we had the Scilly Islands over the
taffrail, and Mr. Poke took command of the vessel in good earnest.
Coming down channel, he had done little more than rummage about in
the cabin, examine the lockers, and make his foot acquainted with
the anatomy of poor Bob, as the cabin-boy was called; who, judging
from the amount of the captain's practice, was admirably well suited
for his station, in the great requisite of a kickee. But, the last
hold of the land loosened by the departure of the pilot, our
navigator came forth in his true colors, and showed the stuff of
which he was really made. The first thing he did was to cause a pull
to be made on every halyard, bowline, and brace in the ship; he then
rattled off both mates, in order to show them (as he afterwards told
me in confidence) that he was captain of his own vessel; gave the
people to understand he did not like to speak twice on the same
subject and on the same occasion, which he said was a privilege he
very willingly left to Congressmen and women; and then he appeared
satisfied with himself and all around him.
A week after we had taken our departure, I ventured to ask Captain
Poke if it might not be well enough to take an observation, and to
resort to some means in order to know where the ship was. Noah
treated this idea with great disrespect. He could see no use in
wearing out quadrants without any necessity for it. Our course was
south, we knew, for we were bound to the south pole; all we had to
do was to keep America on the starboard, and Africa on the larboard
hand. To be sure, there was something to be said about the trades,
and a little allowance to be made for currents now and then; but he
and the ship would get to be better acquainted before a great while,
and then all would go on like clockwork. A few days after this
conversation, I was on deck just as day dawned, and to my surprise
Noah, who was in his berth, called out to the mate, through the
skylight, to let him know exactly how the land bore. No one had yet
seen any land; but at this summons we began to look about us, and
sure enough there was an island dimly visible on the eastern board!
Its position by compass was immediately communicated to the captain,
who seemed well satisfied with the result. Renewing his admonition
to the officer of the deck to take care and keep Africa on the
larboard hand, he turned over in his bed to resume his nap.
I afterwards understood from the mates, that we had made a very
capital fall upon the trades, and that we were getting on
wonderfully well, though it was quite as great a mystery to them as
it was to me, how the captain could know where the ship was; for he
had not touched his quadrant, except to wipe it with a silk
handkerchief, since we left England. About a fortnight after we had
passed the Cape de Verds, Noah came on deck in a great rage, and
began to storm at the mate and the man at the wheel for not keeping
the ship her course. To this the former answered with spirit, that
the only order he had received in a fortnight, was "to keep her
jogging south, allowing for variation," and that she was heading at
that moment according to orders. Hereupon, Noah gave Bob, who
happened to pass him just then, a smart application a posteriori,
and swore "that the compass was as big a fool as the mate; that the
ship was two points off her course; that south was hereaway, and not
thereaway; that he knew by the feel of the wind that it had no
northin' in it, and we had got it away on the quarter, whereas it
ought to be for'ard of the beam; that we were running for Rio
instead of Leaphigh, and that if we ever expected to get to the
latter country, we must haul up on a good taut bowline." The mate,
to my surprise, suddenly acquiesced, and immediately brought the
ship by the wind. He afterwards told me, in a half-whisper, that the
second mate having been sharpening some harpoons, had unwittingly
left them much too close to the binnacle; and that, in fact, the
magnet had been attracted by them, so as to deceive the man at the
wheel and himself, fully twenty degrees as to the real points of the
compass. I must say this little occurrence greatly encouraged me,
leaving no doubt about our eventual and safe arrival as far, at
least, as the boundary of ice which separates the human from the
monikin region. Profiting by this feeling of security, I now began
to revive the intercourse with the strangers, which had been
partially interrupted by the novel and disagreeable circumstances of
a sea life.
The Lady Chatterissa and her companion, as is much the case with
females at sea, rarely left the gynecee; but as we drew near the
equator, the philosopher and the young peer passed most of their
time on deck, or aloft. Dr. Reasono and I spent half of the mild
nights in discussing subjects connected with my future travels; and
as soon as we were well clear of the rain and the thunder and
lightning of the calm latitudes, Captain Poke, Robert, and myself
began to study the language of Leaphigh. The cabin-boy was included
in this arrangement, Noah intimating we should find it convenient to
take him on shore with us, since a wish to conceal my destination
had induced me to bring no servant along. Luckily for us, the
monikin ingenuity had greatly diminished the labor of the
acquisition. The whole language was spoken and written on a system
of decimals, which rendered it particularly easy, after the
elementary principles were once acquired. Thus, unlike most human
tongues, in which the rule usually forms the exception, no departure
from its laws was ever allowed, under the penalty of the pillory.
This provision, the captain protested, was the best rule of them
all, and saved a vast deal of trouble; for, as he knew by
experience, a man might be a perfect adept in the language of
Stunin'tun, and then be laughed at in New York for his pains. The
comprehensiveness of the tongue was also another great advantage;
though, like all other eminent advantages or excessive good, it was
the next-door neighbor to as great an evil. Thus, as my Lord
Chatterino obligingly explained, "we-witch-it-me-cum" means "Madam,
I love you from the crown of my head to the tip of my tail; and as I
love no other half as well, it would make me the happiest monikin on
earth, if you would consent to become my wife, that we might be
models of domestic propriety before all eyes, from this time
henceforth and forever." In short, it was the usual and most solemn
expression for asking in marriage; and, by the laws of the land, was
binding on the proposer until as formally declined by the other
party. But, unluckily, the word "we-switch-it-me-cum" means "Madam,
I love you from the crown of my head to the tip of my tail; and, if
I did not love another better, it would make me the happiest monikin
on earth, if you would consent to become my wife, that we might be
models of domestic propriety before all eyes, from this time
henceforth and forever." Now this distinction, subtle and
insignificant as it was to the eye and the ear, caused a vast deal
of heart-burning and disappointment among the young people of
Leaphigh. Several serious lawsuits had grown out of this cause, and
two great political parties had taken root in the unfortunate
mistake of a young monikin of quality, who happened to lisp, and who
used the fatal word indiscreetly. That feud, however, was now
happily appeased, having lasted only a century, but it would be
wise, as we were all three bachelors, to take note of the
distinction. Captain Poke said he thought, on the whole, he was
perfectly safe, as he was much accustomed to the use of the word
"switchel"; but he thought it might be very well to go before some
consul as soon as the ship anchored, and enter a formal protest of
our ignorance of all these niceties, lest some advantage should be
taken of us by the reptiles of lawyers; that he in particular was
not a bachelor, and that Miss Poke would be as furious as a
hurricane, if by accident, he should happen to forget himself. The
matter was deferred for future deliberation.
About this time, too, I had some more interesting communications
with Dr. Reasono, on the subject of the private histories of all the
party of which he was the principal member. It would seem that the
philosopher, though rich in learning, and the proprietor of one of
the best developed caudce in the entire monikin world, was poor in
the more vulgar attributes of monikin wealth. While he bestowed
freely, therefore, from the stores of his philosophy, and through
the medium of the academy of Leaphigh, on all his fellows, he was
obliged to seek an especial recipient for his surplus knowledge, in
the shape of a pupil, in order to provide for the small remains of
the animal that still lingered in his habits. Lord Chatterino, the
orphan heritor of one of the noblest and wealthiest, as well as one
of the most ancient houses of Leaphigh, had been put under his
instruction at a very tender age, as had my Lady Chatterissa under
that of Mrs. Lynx, with very much the same objects. This young and
accomplished pair had early distinguished each other, in monikin
society, for their unusual graces of person, general attainments,
mutual amiableness of disposition, harmony of thought, and soundness
of principles. Everything was propitious to the gentle flame which
was kindled in the vestal bosom of Chatterissa, and which was met by
a passion so ardent and so respectful, as that which glowed in the
heart of young No. 8 purple. The friends of the respective parties,
so soon as the budding sympathy between them was observed, in order
to prevent the blight of wishes so appropriate, had called in the
aid of the matrimonial surveyor-general of Leaphigh, an officer
especially appointed by the king in council, whose duty it is to
take cognizance of the proprieties of all engagements that are
likely to assume a character as grave and durable as that of
marriage. Dr. Reasono showed me the certificate issued from the
Marriage Department on this occasion, and which, in all his
wanderings, he had contrived to conceal within the lining of the
Spanish hat the Savoyards had compelled him to wear, and which he
still preserved as a document that was absolutely indispensable on
his return to Leaphigh; else he would never be permitted to travel
afoot in company with two young people of birth and of good estates,
who were of the different sexes. I translate the certificate, as
literally as the poverty of the English language will allow.
Extract from the Book of Fitness, Marriage Department, Leaphigh,
season of nuts, day of brightness.
Vol. 7243, p. 82.
Lord Chatterino: Domains; 126,952 3/4 acres of land; meadow, arable
and wood in just proportions.
Lady Chatterissa: Domains; 115,999 1/2 acres of land; mostly arable.
Decree, as of record; it is found that the lands of my Lady
Chatterissa possess in quality what they want in quantity.
Lord Chatterino: Birth; sixteen descents pure; one bastardy--four
descents pure--a suspicion--one descent pure--a certainty.
Lady Chatterissa: Birth; six descents pure--three bastardies--eleven
descents pure--a certainty--a suspicion--unknown.
Decree as of record; it is found that the advantage is on the side
of my Lord Chatterino, but the excellence of the estate on the other
side is believed to equalize the parties.
(Signed) No. 6 ermine. A true copy.
(Counter signed) No. 1,000,003 ink-color.
Ordered, that the parties make the Journey of Trial together, under
the charge of Socrates Reasono, Professor of Probabilities in the
University of Leaphigh, LL.D., F. U. D. G. E., and of Mrs. Vigilance
Lynx, licensed duenna.
The Journey of Trial is so peculiar to the monikin system, and it
might be so usefully introduced into our own, that it may be well to
explain it. Whenever it is found that a young couple are agreeable
(to use a peculiar anglicized anglicism), in all the more essential
requisites of matrimony, they are sent on the journey in question,
under the care of prudent and experienced mentors, with a view to
ascertain how far they may be able to support, in each other's
society, the ordinary vicissitudes of life. In the case of
candidates of the more vulgar classes, there are official overseers,
who usually drag them through a few mud-puddles, and then set them
to work at some hard labor that is especially profitable to the
public functionaries, who commonly get the greater part of their own
year's work done in this manner. But, as the moral provisions of all
laws are invented less for those who own 126,952 3/4 acres of land,
divided into meadow, arable and wood, in just proportions, than for
those whose virtues are more likely to yield to the fiery ordeal of
temptation, the rich and noble, after making a proper and useful
manifestation of their compliance with the usage, ordinarily retire
to their country seats, where they pass the period of probation as
agreeably as they can; taking care to cause to be inserted in the
Leaphigh gazette, however, occasional extracts from their letters
describing the pains and hardships they are compelled to endure for
the consolation and edification of those who have neither birth nor
country houses. In a good many instances the journey is actually
performed by proxy But the case of my Lord Chatterino and my Lady
Chatterissa formed an exception even to these exceptions. It was
thought by the authorities that the attachment of a pair so
illustrious offered a good occasion to distinguish the Leaphigh
impartiality; and on the well-known principle which induces us
sometimes to hang an earl in England, the young couple were
commanded actually to go forth with all useful eclat (secret orders
being given to their guardians to allow every possible indulgence,
at the same time), in order that the lieges might see and exult in
the sternness and integrity of their rulers.
Dr. Reasono had accordingly taken his departure from the capital for
the mountains, where he instructed his wards in a practical
commentary of the ups and downs of life, by exposing them on the
verges of precipices and in the delights of the most fertile valleys
(which, as he justly observed, was the greater danger of the two),
leading them over flinty paths, hungry and cold, in order to try
their tempers; and setting up establishments with the most awkward
peasants for servants, to ascertain the depth of Chatterissa's
philosophy; with a variety of similar ingenious devices, that will
readily suggest themselves to all who have any matrimonial
experience, whether they live in palaces or cottages. When this part
of the trial was successfully terminated (the result having shown
that the gentle Chatterissa was of proof, so far as mere temper was
concerned), the whole party were ordered off to the barrier of ice,
which divides the monikin from the human region, with a view to
ascertain whether the warmth of their attachment was of a nature
likely to resist the freezing collisions of the world. Here,
unfortunately, (for the truth must be said), an unlucky desire of
Dr. Reasono, who was already F. U. D. G. E., but who had a devouring
ambition to become also M. O. R. E., led him into the extreme
imprudence of pushing through an opening, where he had formerly
discovered an island, on an ancient expedition of the same sort; and
on which island he thought he saw a rock, that formed a stratum of
what he believed to be a portion of the forty thousand square miles
that were discomposed by the great eruption of the earth's boiler.
The philosopher foresaw a thousand interesting results that were
dependent on the ascertaining of this important fact; for all the
learning of Leaphigh having been exhausted, some five hundred years
before, in establishing the greatest distance to which any fragment
had been thrown on that memorable occasion, great attention had
latterly been given to the discovery of the least distance any
fragment had been hurled. Perhaps I ought to speak tenderly of the
consequences of a learned zeal, but it was entirely owing to this
indiscretion that the whole party fell into the hands of certain
mariners who were sealing on the northern shores of this very
island, (friends and neighbors, as it afterwards appeared, of
Captain Poke), who remorselessly seized upon the travellers, and
sold them to a homeward-bound India-man, which they afterwards fell
in with near the island of St. Helena--St. Helena! the tomb of him
who is a model to all posterity, for the moderation of his desires,
the simplicity of his character, a deep veneration for truth,
profound reverence for justice, unwavering faith, and a clear
appreciation of all the nobler virtues.
We came in sight of the island in question, just as Dr. Reasono
concluded his interesting narrative; and, turning to Captain Poke, I
solemnly asked that discerning and shrewd seaman,--
"If he did not think the future would fully avenge itself of the
past--if history would not do ample justice to the mighty dead--if
certain names would not be consigned to everlasting infamy for
chaining a hero to a rock; and whether HIS country, the land of
freemen, would ever have disgraced itself, by such an act of
barbarism and vengeance?"
The captain heard me very calmly; then deliberately helping himself
to some tobacco, he replied,--
"Harkee, Sir John. At Stunin'tun, when we catch a ferocious
critter', we always put it in a cage. I'm no great mathematician, as
I've often told you; if my dog bites me once, I kick him--twice, I
beat him--thrice, I chain him."
Alas! there are minds so unfortunately constituted, that they have
no sympathies with the sublime. All their tendencies are direct and
common-sense like. To such men, Napoleon appears little better than
one who lived among his fellows more in the character of a tiger
than in that of a man. They condemn him because he could not reduce
his own sense of the attributes of greatness to the level of their
home-bred morality. Among this number, it would now seem, was to be
classed Captain Noah Poke.
A wish to relate the manner in which Dr. Reasono and his companions
fell into human hands, has caused me to overlook one or two matters
of lighter moment, that should not, in justice to myself, however,
be entirely omitted.
When we had been at sea two days, a very agreeable surprise for the
monikin party was prepared and executed. I had caused a certain
number of jackets and trousers to be made of the skins of different
animals, such as dogs, cats, sheep, tigers, leopards, hogs, etc.,
etc., with the proper accompaniments of snouts, hoofs, and claws;
and, when the ladies came on deck, after breakfast, their eyes were
no longer offended by our rude innovations upon nature, but the
whole crew were flying about the rigging, like so many animals of
the different species named. Noah and myself appeared in the
characters of sea-lions, the former having intimated that he
understood the nature of that beast better than any other. Of
course, this delicate attention was properly appreciated, and
handsomely acknowledged.
I had taken the precaution to order imitation-skins to be made of
cotton, which were worn in the low latitudes; and, as we got near
the Falkland Islands, the real skins were resumed, with promptitude,
and I might add, with pleasure.
Noah had, at first, raised some strong objections to the scheme,
saying that he should not feel safe in a ship manned and officered
altogether by wild beasts; but, at last, he came to enjoy the thing
as a good joke, never failing to hail the men, not by their names as
formerly, but, as he expressed it himself, "by their natur's";
calling out "You cat, scratch this"; "You tiger, jump here"; "You
hog, out of that dirt"'; "You dog, scamper there"; "You horse, haul
away," and divers other similar conceits, that singularly tickled
his fancy. The men themselves took up the ball, which they kept
rolling, embellished with all sorts of nautical witticisms; their
surname--they had but one, viz. Smith--being entirely dropped for
the new appellations. Thus, the sounds of "Tom Dog," "Jack Cat,"
"Bill Tiger," "Sam Hog," and "Dick Horse," were flying about the
deck from morning to night.
Good humor is a great alleviator of bodily privation. From the time
the ship lost sight of Staten Land, we had heavy weather, with hard
gales from the southward and westward; and we had the utmost
difficulty in making our southing. Observations now became a very
difficult matter, the sun being invisible for a week at a time. The
marine instinct of Noah, at this crisis, was of the last importance
to all on board. He gave us the cheering assurance, however, from
time to time, that we were going south, although the mates declared
that they knew not where the ship was, or whither she was running;
neither sun, moon, nor star having now been seen for more than a
week.
We had been in this state of anxiety and doubt for about a
fortnight, when Captain Poke suddenly appeared on deck, and called
for the cabin-boy, in his usual stentorian and no-denial voice, by
the name of "You Bob Ape"; for the duty of Robert requiring that he
should be much about the persons of the monikins, I had given him a
dress of apes' skins, as a garb that would be more congenial to
their tastes than that of a pig, or a weasel. Bob Ape was soon
forthcoming, and, as he approached his master, he quietly turned his
face from him, receiving, as a matter of course, three or four smart
admonitory hints, by way of letting him know that he was to be
active in the performance of the duty on which he was about to be
sent. On this occasion I made an odd discovery. Bob had profited by
the dimensions of his lower garment, which had been cut for a much
larger boy (one of those who had broken down in essaying the true
Doric of "Sir"), by stuffing it with an old union-jack-a sort of
"sarvice," as he afterwards told me, that saved him a good deal of
wear and tear of skin. To return to passing events, however; when
Robert had been duly kicked, he turned about manfully, and demanded
the captain's pleasure. He was told to bring the largest and fairest
pumpkin he could find, from the private stores of Mr. Poke, that
navigator never going to sea without a store of articles that he
termed "Stunin'tun food." The captain took the pumpkin between his
legs, and carefully peeled off the whole of its greenish-yellow
coat, leaving it a globe of a whitish color. He then asked for the
tar-bucket, and, with his fingers, traced various marks, which were
pretty accurate outlines of the different continents and the larger
islands of the world. The region near the south pole, however, he
left untouched; intimating that it contained certain sealing
islands, which he considered pretty much as the private property of
the Stunin'tunners.
"Now, Doctor," he said, pointing to the pumpkin, "there is the
'arth, and here is the tar-pot--just mark down the position of your
island of Leaphigh, if you please, according to the best accounts
your academy has of the matter. Make a dab here and there, if you
happen to know of any rocks and shoals. After that, you can lay down
the island where you were captured, giving a general idee of its
headlands and of the trending of the coast."
Dr. Reasono took a fid, and with its end he traced all the desired
objects with great readiness and skill. Noah examined the work, and
seemed satisfied that he had fallen into the hands of a monikin who
had very correct notions of bearings and distances, one, in short,
on whose local knowledge it might do to run even in the night. He
then projected the position of Stunnin'tun, an occupation in which
he took great delight, actually designing the meeting-house and the
principal tavern; after which, the chart was laid aside.