A New Voyage Round the World, in the years 1823, 24, 25, and 26 Volume I Part 3

Very early, on a beautiful morning, we distributed our party in three large boats, and rowed, in two hours, to the destined point. We landed at the village of Pencu, which, like Portici upon Herculaneum, is built upon the ruins of the former town of Conception, and whose inhabitants live quietly and cheerfully over the graves of their unfortunate predecessors, and disturb themselves little with the thought, that the same fate may bury them one day in a living tomb.

About fifteen houses, surrounded by gardens, lie scattered here over a lovely plain, watered by the small river St. Peter. Nature here appears more luxuriant and productive than at Talcaguana. The mountains which encircle this valley rise gently to a moderate height, and delight the eye by the freshness of the shrubs with which they are covered.

While we gave chase to many kinds of birds and insects for the improvement of our collection, the sailors threw out a great net, and took a quant.i.ty of sh.e.l.l and other fish with which the sea abounds in this neighbourhood, and which make the chief subsistence of the poorer cla.s.ses of people. The environs of this village are considered the loveliest district round the bay, and infinitely surpa.s.sing Talcaguana in the beauty of its scenery. Few remains of the old town are visible.

The earth seems to have actually opened and swallowed it up, leaving scarcely a trace behind. Even the yawning gulph in which it sunk has filled again, so that it is only here and there upon the plain that some fragment of a former dwelling reminds one of the fearful catastrophe.

The inhabitants of Talcaguana and Conception make excursions to Pencu, to examine, as a curiosity, a water-mill established there by some foreigner. We found it so out of repair as to be unserviceable, and the owner complained that he could find no one capable of mending it. The wheat is here ground to flour by beating it in stone pots with heavy wooden clubs; which may serve to give some idea of the progress the Chilians have made in the useful arts.

Mendiburu possessed an estate near Pencu, where we partook of a pleasant meal under the shade of fruit-trees. After dinner the whole company went shooting, and in the course of a few hours had killed several hundred water-birds of various kinds. The flocks in which they fly are sometimes so numerous as to darken the air. During our absence such a one was descried from the ship; it appeared a solid ma.s.s of about ten fathoms broad, and its flight lasted full three hours.

The repairs of our ship had gone on quickly, and the time approached for our leaving Chili, when we perceived that the friendliness and civility we had hitherto experienced from the inhabitants was changing into reserve and evident distrust. Secret cabals were going on against us; and even the Government seemed inclined to act, if not with positive hostility, at least violently and arbitrarily towards us.

The attention of the unreflecting and easily excited Chilians had first been attracted by the mustachios worn by one of my companions. They took him for a disguised Spaniard, who had accompanied us to sow discontents, and gain back the hearts of the people to the old government. Other misrepresentations may also have been made against us; but we were neither able to discover them, nor the actual intentions entertained towards us.

When the ship was ready to sail, and I thought to quit Talcaguana in a few days, I returned to Conception to take leave of the President Freire. While on the road, being mounted on a spirited horse, I had got a little the start of my companions, and was stopping on a height to contemplate the beautiful landscape around me, when a well-dressed young man, coming from the direction of the town, suddenly met me, stood still, looking attentively at me for some moments, and then asked if I were the Captain of the Russian frigate. On my answering in the affirmative, after ascertaining that we were not observed, he said, "You are aware that the two parties in this country are differently disposed towards you. The day after to-morrow the officers of the regiment in Talcaguana will give you a farewell ball, when they intend to overpower the Russian officers, and take them prisoners. I have adopted this method of making you acquainted with the design; be on your guard." With these words he disappeared among the high shrubs. As soon as my companions came up, I took Mendiburu aside, and told him what I had just heard. Honourable and warm-hearted, my friend at first grew pale with astonishment and vexation; but, after a few moments' consideration, he felt convinced, and a.s.sured me, that the thing was impossible, and that my unknown monitor must be in error. At the same time we both determined, immediately on our arrival in Conception, to mention the circ.u.mstance to the President. Freire received me in a very friendly manner, and so confidently affirmed the project attributed to his officers, to be a mere "coinage of the brain" of my informant, that I trusted to his opinion, and thought no more of it, especially as our own ball had furnished a proof how easily the silliest and most groundless reports could gain credit.

After leaving the President, I pa.s.sed the remainder of the day, and slept, at the house of my friend Mendiburu. As I was preparing to go to bed, I heard a gentle knock at my room door; I opened it, and a servant of the house came timidly in. He told me that he was a Spaniard, and had been a sailor on board a frigate captured by the Chilians, and that his present master had taken him into his service, when a prisoner of war.

He then gave me, under the most earnest injunctions not to betray him, the same caution which I had before received, adding some curses on the Chilian Government and people, whom he declared to be altogether a set of vagabonds and thieves. This repeated warning was too striking not to excite some apprehension. I took all the circ.u.mstances into consideration; and though the motive for such a proceeding remained perfectly incomprehensible, I still resolved to take measures for my security, in case it should be really attempted. I pa.s.sed a sleepless night, and early in the morning bade adieu to my kind host, to whom I was unable to impart my new cause of anxiety, and hastened back to Talcaguana. On my arrival there, I found cards inviting myself and all my officers to a ball on the following evening: so far, therefore, the information I had received was correct. To avoid the appearance of suspicion, I accepted the invitation, and went to the ball accompanied by a few of my officers. The rest remained on board the ship, having placed her so as to bring her guns to bear upon the house in which the ball was given, and to command the respect of the neighbourhood. Thus Talcaguana was at our mercy; nor had we any thing to fear, either from the armed corvette, or the battery on sh.o.r.e; the former being so situated that it must needs have struck to our first broadside, and the latter mounting only six guns quite unfit for use, and resting upon broken carriages. We had also removed our observatory, and conveyed all our effects on board. These imposing preparations did not in all probability remain un.o.bserved; at all events, the ball pa.s.sed off quietly enough; but it was remarkable that very few of the officers who had given it were present; and instead of the gaiety which had reigned on the two former occasions, the greatest constraint was evident in the deportment of the company, who separated at an unusually early hour.

At daybreak we weighed anchor, to resume our voyage; but before we were in motion, my faithful friend Mendiburu, who had travelled in the night from Conception, came on board with the news that a Chilian frigate and a corvette, which had arrived two days before from Valparaiso with troops, now lay at anchor at the mouth of the bay, and had received orders to prevent our departure. He had no idea what could have induced his government, against which he was excessively indignant, to meditate such an outrage; but he felt a.s.sured that the ships were by no means in a condition to obey. When in full sail, I parted from Mendiburu, for the second time, with hearty thanks for his sympathy and a.s.sistance.

I now ordered the ship and guns to be prepared for battle, in case it should prove necessary to force our way out. We proceeded with a fresh and favouring breeze so rapidly, that in an hour's time we could distinguish the two vessels lying at anchor near the island of Quiquirino. As we approached, a gun was fired from the frigate, on which signal both ships got under sail, and took a direction that would enable them to oppose our progress. No longer doubting their hostile intentions, I lessened my sail to make the ship more manageable during the expected engagement. The matches were lighted, and every one stood at his post; but the Chilian frigate, a bad sailer, having run too far to leeward, could not come up to the a.s.sistance of the corvette which endeavoured to dispute our pa.s.sage; but clearly perceiving, when within gun-shot, that we were prepared to resist an attack, found it most prudent to sail peaceably on, contenting herself with calling something to us through a trumpet, which we could not understand. Pursuing our course in an opposite direction, we were soon at a considerable distance from the corvette, and then saw the frigate tacking to follow us; but having already greatly the advantage, and the mouth of the bay clear before us, we rehoisted our sails, and without waiting for further evidence of Chilian hostility, stood out to sea; thus escaping attempts upon our liberty, the real motive of which, perhaps, was a desire to employ our ships in the transport of troops to Chiloe. The two English whalers had already been taken possession of for this purpose, without the consent of their captains.

The result of our observations on land are as follows:

Lat.i.tude from Mendiburu's house in Talcaguana 36 42' 15"

West Longitude 73 8' 20"

Declination of the needle 14 East Inclination 80 4'

The tide is here quite imperceptible. During the whole time of our stay, Reaumur's thermometer stood between 15 and 17 degrees.

THE

DANGEROUS ARCHIPELAGO.

THE

DANGEROUS ARCHIPELAGO.

The many islands composing this Archipelago, and which the little coralline insects have built in the midst of the ocean, are so low, that they are invisible at a very trifling distance. From this cause they have often, in darkness or bad weather, proved dangerous to navigation, and have thence derived their name. It was my intention now, to ascertain exactly the geographical position of the islands which I had discovered on my former voyage. O Tahaiti was to serve as a point from which to determine the longitude, and at the same time to furnish us with provisions.

I directed my course to this Archipelago, between the parallels of 15 and 16 degrees of South lat.i.tude, because this is not the usual track of merchants' ships, nor has it been taken in voyages of discovery, so that I thought it not improbable that we might fall in with other unknown islands. In pursuance of this plan, we steered north-west, for the above mentioned parallel. An uninterrupted fresh south wind having carried us six hundred and sixty miles forwards in three days, brought us into the hot climate so suddenly, that we were much inconvenienced by it. The island of Juan Fernandez, whither the Spaniards, when masters in Chili, used to banish criminals and republicans, lay on our left, and the little uninhabited rocky islands of Felix and Ambrosia at a little distance on our right. After rapidly gaining the Southern Tropic, our voyage, though pleasant, was far more tranquil; the slightness of the motion between the Tropics, admits of employment on board a ship, for which a sailor has generally little opportunity; even drawings may be executed in the neatest manner.

On the 17th February we found ourselves under eighteen degrees of South lat.i.tude, and a hundred and five degrees longitude. The weather continued fine and serene, and our men expressed a wish to interrupt the uniformity of their lives, by getting up a play. The theatre was prepared, the play-bills given out, and the orchestra had even made the signal for the company to a.s.semble, when our merriment was suddenly changed into terror and distress; another sailor fell overboard. He had been keeping watch on the fore-mast, to provide for our safety against land and shallows, in this untried region, and having neglected to secure his own, fell a sacrifice to his thoughtlessness. Being injured by the fall, he immediately sunk, and all our efforts to save him proved fruitless. Separated as we had long been from our native country, the loss of a member of our little society, thus bound together through good or ill fortune, was sensibly felt; the poor fellow was, besides, one of our best sailors: in the most violent storms, he had often executed the most dangerous tasks at the mast-head with the greatest skill, and now in the finest weather, with the ship moving in a manner scarcely perceptible, was he destined to end, thus suddenly, his active and useful life.

Having sailed four thousand miles in three weeks, since we left Chili, we reached the neighbourhood of the dangerous Archipelago. By degrees we now lost, contrary to all rule in this climate, the south-east trade-wind, which had hitherto been so favourable to us, and contrary winds from the West and North brought us very bad weather. An opinion has been hitherto entertained, that the coral islands, from lying so low and in small ma.s.ses, could produce no change in the atmosphere, and that the trade-winds, to which they offered no obstruction, would continue to blow uninterruptedly in their neighbourhood. Repeated experience has, however, convinced me that this is an error, and that these little islands, at certain seasons, often cause variations from the ordinary tropical weather.

On the 26th of February, we entered 16 of lat.i.tude, and 129 of longitude. The wind blew from the West: black clouds labouring upwards, covered the sky; violent and sudden gusts expended their fury on us, and lightnings flashed from every corner of the horizon. The night was really dreadful, and the tempest continued to rage, through a darkness which, but for the lightning, would have been total, while torrents of rain swept our decks. Nor did the return of light bring us much relief; when about noon the heavens cleared for a short time, and allowed us a little respite; the storm set in again with renewed violence, and for four days and nights we were condemned to struggle with this tremendous weather. It is surprising how such tempests can arise at so great a distance from land. In the ship Rurik, in this same region, at the same season of year, I have before met with similar though scarcely such furious storms. On the 2nd of March the tropical wind returned, and brought with it clearer weather. It was indeed very hot, (Reaumur's thermometer did not fall even in the night below 24,) but the whole crew continued in good health. On this evening we calculated that we were in 15 15' lat.i.tude, and 139 40' longitude; and just as the sun was sinking, the man at the mast-head called out that land was in sight. The pleasure of making a new discovery set all our telescopes in motion, and before night set in we plainly distinguished a very low, thickly wooded island. Since no navigator, to my knowledge, had ever been here before, and the newest charts described nothing but empty s.p.a.ce, we conceived we had a right to consider ourselves the first discoverers, and named the island, after our ship, Predpriatie: we now tacked to stand out to sea for the night, and at break of day again made towards the island, under feelings of strong excitement. The many telescopes which our eager curiosity pointed towards its object, seemed each endued with the magical power of conveying different images to the sight. Some of us saw what others saw not, till these delusions of the imagination vanished before the conviction produced by rising columns of smoke visible to all, that the island was inhabited. We could soon afterwards, from the mast-head, perceive its entire extent. The dazzling whiteness of the coral sh.o.r.e fringed a bright green ground upon which rose a forest of palms; and we distinguished canoes moving upon a large lake in the centre of the island. By rapid degrees, we approached so near that every object became perceptible with the naked eye. A tall, strong, dark-coloured race of naked savages were a.s.sembling on the sh.o.r.e, gazing on the ship in great agitation, with gestures of astonishment. Some were arming with long spears and clubs, others kindling piles of wood, probably, that the smoke might be a signal to neighbouring islands of their requiring a.s.sistance against the unknown sea-monster. From pretty huts of plaited reeds, under the shade of bread-fruit trees, the women, some of them with children in their arms, were flying to conceal themselves in the forest. Such was the commotion our appearance occasioned in this little community. A few heroes summoned courage enough to advance, with threatening att.i.tudes, to the margin of the sh.o.r.e; but no single canoe, though many lay on the coast, ventured to approach us. Judging from their size and the good arrangement of their sails, these canoes seem intended for visits to other and even distant islands. We sailed quite round our new discovery without finding any haven by which we could effect a landing; and the sea being tempestuous, with a high and boisterous surf, we were compelled to renounce our desire of becoming more intimately acquainted with the Predpriatians.

The unclouded sky enabled us, nevertheless, to determine by observation the exact lat.i.tude and longitude of this little island, whose greatest extent is only four miles from E.N.E. to W.S.W. The lat.i.tude of its central point is 15 58' 18" South, and its longitude, 140 11' 30". The variation of the needle was 4 East.

When we had finished our observations, I steered a westerly course for the island of Araktschief, discovered in the year 1819 by the Russian Captain Bellingshausen, in order to convince myself that it was actually not the one we had just quitted.

At four o'clock in the afternoon we could already see this island from the mast-head, and we reached it before sunset. It bears, with respect to size and circ.u.mstances, so close a resemblance to that of Predpriatie, that they might easily be mistaken, if their relative situations were not exactly known.

From our observation, we found the lat.i.tude of the centre of the island of Araktschief 15 51' 20" South; and the longitude 140 50' 50".

According to Captain Bellingshausen's chart, the lat.i.tude is 15 51', the longitude 140 52'. Unable to discover any traces of inhabitants on this island, we should have supposed there were none, had not Captain Bellingshausen ascertained the contrary.

At night we retired to some distance from the island and lay-to, that we might not, in the darkness, strike on any unknown land. At break of day I steered a north-west course, to see the island of Romanzow, (which I had formerly discovered when with the ship Rurik,) and convince myself of the accuracy of the astronomical observations then made. At eight o'clock in the morning we could see the north point of the group of Wolchonsky Islands, recently discovered by Captain Bellingshausen. When they lay seven miles off us, to the South, we found the longitude, according to our chronometers, 142 2' 38". Bellingshausen considered it to be 142 7' 42".

From failure of wind, we could not make the island of Romanzow till the morning of the 8th of March. We then took advantage of the clearness of the heavens to ascertain, by the distance between the sun and moon, its exact longitude, which is 144 28'. According to the observations we had made in the ship Rurik, it was 144 24', consequently there was a difference of only four minutes.

We now steered due West, in order to learn whether the island which, on my voyage in the Rurik, I had named after Admiral Spiridow, was really a new discovery, or, as has been said, only the most southerly of the King George's Islands. A fresh wind favoured our course, and at six o'clock in the afternoon we could see this island, my discovery of which has been denied, lying before us at a distance of six miles westward.

At the same time, we could distinguish from the mast-head the southern part of another island, lying due North, with open water between the two. We were in 14 41' 36" South lat.i.tude, and 144 55' longitude.

During the night we were becalmed, but in the morning a fresh breeze sprang up directly in our teeth, and the current carried us so far to the South, that, even from the mast, we could no longer see land. Under these circ.u.mstances, to attempt to regain the Spiridow Island would have been attended by too great loss of time; so that we remained uncertain whether this and the other, which we saw in the North, were the two King George's Islands or not. I can only say, that if they really are so, their discoverer has given their geographical position very inaccurately.

The south-east trade-wind had ceased to befriend us, and shifting gusts from the north-west and south blew with such violence as frequently to tear our sails, accompanied by incessant rain and storm. The sea being at the same time remarkably calm, proved that we were surrounded by islands, and that, in consequence, the greatest caution was required in sailing, especially as the currents in this region are often very strong. We soon saw land directly before us; and as in the neighbourhood of all coral islands the depth of the sea cannot be sounded at a distance of fifty fathoms from the sh.o.r.e, we approached within a mile of it. This island stretches ten miles in length, from East to West, and is only four miles broad; it appeared to be a narrow strip of land, thickly overgrown with low bushes, surrounding a lake in the centre.

Sea-birds only, of which we saw a vast number, appeared to inhabit this waste. The lat.i.tude of the middle of this island we found to be 15 27', and its longitude 145 31' 12". According to the chart of Admiral Krusenstern, it may be the island called Carlshof, discovered in the year 1722, by Roggewin, the geographical position of which is given differently on almost every chart, and whose very existence has been disputed. We were now in the midst of the dangerous Archipelago, and consulted our safety by riding every night only in parts which we had surveyed during the day.

After reiterated nightly storms and rains, we shaped our course, with full sails, on the return of fine weather, due East, for the Palliser Islands discovered by Captain Cook, and reached them in a few hours. On board the Rurik, I had only seen their northern side, and I now wished, astronomically, to determine the southern. Cook mentions these islands very superficially, so that navigators have fallen into many errors concerning them. The group consists of a number of small islands connected by coral reefs, which form a circular chain, and enclose a large piece of water. When we had reached the southern point of the east Pallisers, we saw a ridge stretching ten miles westward to two small islands, and thence taking a northern direction to unite itself at a considerable distance with larger ones.

Cook, from his own account, did not approach near enough to see this ridge, and from a distance mistook the two little woody islands it embraces for the most southerly of a distinct cl.u.s.ter, which he calls the fourth group of Palliser Islands. I can maintain that there are only three such groups, as the map which accompanies this volume will show.

At noon we found our lat.i.tude to be 15 42' 19", and the longitude 146 21' 6".

The above-mentioned two small islands on the reef lay directly North, and the southern part of the first cl.u.s.ter of Pallisers was no longer visible. Viewed from this spot, the smaller ones might have been mistaken by us also for part of another group, if we had not previously ascertained that they were connected with the first by means of the reef. The second and third group could also be seen from this point; the former to the S.E. the latter S.W.

At six o'clock in the evening, we found ourselves near the eastern point of the third group, and saw from the mast-head the Greigh Islands, discovered by Captain Bellingshausen. We now steered between these two groups, in order to free ourselves from the Archipelago, and regain the open sea. Again the night was tempestuous; but a calm occurred in the course of it, which, had it lasted longer, would have been dangerous, as a strong current was carrying us towards the sh.o.r.e. The morning sun, as usual in the Torrid Zone, dispersed the clouds and restored the beautiful blue of the tropical sky. We soon lost sight of land, but a black cloud still lowered in that part of the horizon where it had disappeared; a proof how powerfully these ma.s.ses of coral attract thunder clouds. We now recovered the south-east wind, and favoured by it, took the shortest way to O Tahaiti. All the longitudes in the dangerous Archipelago which I have given, (without entering into the manner in which they were calculated,) are made out by means of the chronometer. This, on arriving at O Tahaiti, was found six minutes fifty seconds wrong; and the longitudes here given have been rectified accordingly.

The following is from our observations the situation of the Palliser Islands:--

South point of the first group. Lat. 15 34' 25"

Long. 146 6' 49"

The two small islands to the West of the first group Lat. 15 30' 15"

Long. 146 20' 50"

The Eastern point of the third group Lat. 15 44' 52"

Long. 146 28' 2".

Most of the islands of this Archipelago are inhabited, but hitherto little is known of the natives, who are shy, and endeavour to avoid any intercourse with navigators. Byron landed by force on one of these islands; in the struggle many of the inhabitants were killed, the rest put to flight, and the provision of cocoa-nuts found in their huts plundered. Tradition may perhaps have exaggerated this attack. Cook also permitted some of his crew to land, who indeed met with no resistance, but their presents were received with the greatest indifference, and stones were thrown after them on their departure. Captain Bellingshausen, in the year 1820, wished to land on one of these islands, but the natives opposed his intention so seriously that he relinquished it rather than use force. These people resemble the O Tahaitians, their neighbours and relatives, in appearance and language; and when the latter are farther advanced in civilization, it may be presumed that intercourse with them will effect a considerable amelioration in the condition of the other South Sea islanders.