Kidnapping in the Pacific: or, The Adventures of Boas Ringdon

“Savage as these people are, they can build canoes for themselves, sometimes of birch bark, and sometimes they hollow out the trunks of trees by fire. They make them in different parts, which they sew together with thongs of raw hide, so that when they wish to shift their quarters, they can carry their canoes overland.

“They have got some stones in their country which give out sparks, and they use a dry fungus as tinder, so that they can quickly make a fire.

“As to cooking, their only notion is to make a fire, heat some stones, and put their food in among them.

“They are about the dirtiest people I ever fell in with; and all the time we were among them we never saw any of them washing themselves.

“In summer, when they can get fish and seals, which they catch with their spears, they have plenty of food. In winter, they are often on short commons. We heard it said that when it has been blowing too hard for them to go on the water, and they can catch neither fish nor seals, they are given to eat their old women, who they say can be of no further use, instead of killing their dogs, which they know will be of service to them when the summer again comes round.

“While we were on their coast, a whale was stranded near the mouth of the harbour. The news spread, and canoes were seen coming from all directions. In a short time the canoes gathered round the body of the monster, and the little coppery-coloured chaps were soon hard at work cutting off the blubber with their shell knives. The water was shallow between where the whale lay and the shore, and when one of the little fellows had cut off a large piece of blubber, he made a hole in the middle, through which he put his head, and thus brought his cargo to land, generally munching a piece of the raw fat on his way.

“The most curious things we saw were masses of stuff growing on the beech trees, of a red colour, something like mushrooms. Though this stuff has no taste, the people were very fond of it, and, for my part, I preferred it to raw whale-blubber.

“Having replenished our stock of water and wood, we made our way westward, sailing only during the day, and keeping the lead going. We were glad, however, to get clear of those high rocky shores, and the snow-storms which frequently came down on us. We kept away from the land for some time, and made it again not far from the town of Callao on the coast of Peru.

“The captain’s manner didn’t improve during the passage. Half his time he was drunk, and he was never on deck but that he was cursing and swearing at the crew, rope-ending every one who came within his reach. I could not help wishing that I had followed Sambo’s advice and stuck to the navy; though there was flogging enough at times when men would get drunk, still there was something like justice. A man had only to be sober and keep a quiet tongue in his head, and he need have no fear of the cat. On board the ‘Seagull,’ a man had reason to think himself fortunate if he escaped without a cracked skull. It was easy to tell what the fate of the brig would be, and I resolved to run from her on the first opportunity.

“Though we made the land in the forenoon, we were still at a considerable distance from it when the sun went down. We, therefore, after standing on for some time, hove-to, hoping to enter the harbour of Callao the next day. When morning broke we could see the snow-capped tops of the Cordilleras rising up in the far distance, but still the lower land appeared a long way off.

“We had to wait till the sea breeze set in, and it was nearly nightfall before we came to an anchor off Callao.

“It is the chief port of Peru, a short distance from Lima, the capital. As the captain expected to get rid of a good part of his cargo, I knew that the brig would remain some time. I, however, didn’t wish to lose a moment in getting free of her. As soon as the anchor was dropped, I watched my opportunity for a run. I intended, if possible, to escape in a shore boat, when there would be less chance of being traced. That night, however, only the Custom House and health boats came off to us. I had to wait, therefore, the whole of the next day. I could not help fancying that the first mate suspected my intention, and was watching me. I showed myself, therefore, more active and attentive to the work I had to do than usual.

“A number of boats during the day came off to us with fresh provisions, especially all sorts of fruits. To throw the mate off his guard, while I saw that he was looking towards me, I bought some fruit; at the same time I tried to make the Chilian understand that if he would come again in the evening I would buy more of him. I then began eating some of the fruit and carried the rest below. After this the mate seemed to take no more pains to keep an eye on me.

“My friend returned just before sunset. I told him to hand me up some of the fruit, and paid him for it, letting him understand that if he would wait a little, and I liked what he had brought, I would take some more. It rapidly grew dark, and I returned on deck with a melon under my arm, which I pretended was rotten, and intended to have changed. Seeing the boat still alongside, holding the melon I slipped down into her, and was followed by the owner, who had been trying to sell more fruit on deck. Sitting by him, I began to talk in my fashion, and when no one was looking slipped a dollar into his hand and pointed to the shore. He at once nodded to show that he understood me. We waited, and I pretended to be bargaining about the melon while it grew darker and darker, and then when no one was looking over the side, lay down among the fruit baskets, pulling some of them over me. My friend continued to remain alongside, and I daresay if anyone had enquired for me, he would have handed me back, but as good luck would have it, I was not missed, and at last, he and his men shoved off and began to paddle towards the shore. Even then I did not feel safe, for I feared that the mate might miss me and send a boat to overhaul all the shore boats which had visited the brig, and I knew if I fell into the captain’s hands, he would clap me into irons and keep me there till we were at sea again.

“After we got some distance, the Peruvian crew began to pull faster. At length we reached the shore. The master, when we landed, shook my hand, to show that he intended to be my friend, and led me away to his house, which was at some distance from the shore. I made him understand that I did not wish to go back to the ship. He replied that it would be safer for me at once to go into the interior, where the captain would not think of looking for me. I saw the sense of this, and after I had had some supper we set out. I gave my friend another dollar, which pleased him mightily, and I told him by signs that I was ready to work in his garden, or anything of that sort on shore, not that I at any time had a fancy for digging.

“We travelled for some hours on muleback, till we reached a farm on the side of a mountain. I found that it belonged to my friend’s brother. After matters had been explained to him he received me very kindly, and I was soon at home in his house. I helped him about the place as I had promised, and had a tolerably easy life of it; for though I worked twice as hard as anyone else, that was not much, seeing that the Spaniards are not addicted to over-tire themselves. My host had a daughter, though I cannot say much for her beauty, for she had a dark skin, and was short and fat, but she took a fancy to me, and so thinking I could not do better, I offered to splice her. Her father, who was glad to get me to assist him, and wished to keep me, consented.

“Accordingly, we were married in the church they went to. The priest asked me if I was a Catholic, and I said I was ready to be anything he liked, on which he replied he would soon make me one. There was a grand festival, and a number of priests and people collected, and they took me in among them and made the sign of the cross upon me, and so I was turned into a Catholic. I suppose that I was a very good one, for I used to attend church with my wife and go to confession to the priest, though as I told him all my sins in English, not a word of which he understood, he could not have been much the wiser; but that, I suppose, didn’t matter, as he absolved me notwithstanding. I was thus looked upon with great respect by our neighbours, and got on very well with my wife.”

Chapter Two

“I had been a good many months in the place when my father-in-law, thinking I was securely moored, began to give me more and more work, which I didn’t like. However, I lived on pretty contentedly, but still I had a wish for a sniff of the sea air, and to feel myself once more on the moving ocean; not, to be sure, that I had not felt the ground move under me, for we had had two or three earthquakes, when not a few houses had been thrown down, and the ground tumbled and tossed, and here and there opened, as if ready to swallow us up.

“I took French leave of my wife, for I was afraid she would stop me; but when I reached Callao I sent word to her by her uncle that I hoped to be back soon, after I had collected no end of dollars to buy her a new dress, and keep the pot boiling.

“I hadn’t made up my mind what to do when I saw a whaler in the harbour. I thought if she was likely to remain in the Pacific for some time, and she wanted hands, I would make a trip in her, on condition that I was to be landed at Callao before she returned home.

“She was an American, only out a few months, and having lost several hands, the captain was very glad to get me. I hadn’t been long on board before I began to wish myself back with my wife. It was much harder work than I expected, especially when we got into the southern ocean among the icebergs. Those spermaceti whales, too, are savage monsters, and will often turn on a boat and try to capsize her.

“I was pretty well nigh losing my life on one of those occasions as several of my shipmates did theirs. We had chased a big bottle-nose right up to an iceberg, and had stuck two harpoons into his back when he sounded. He was making for the berg, we thought, and if he got under it we should have to cut the lines, and lose him and the harpoons. Presently the lines slackened, we hauled in upon them, when suddenly up he came not half a cable’s length from us, blowing away with all his might. We dashed on, when round he turned, and with open mouth came towards us.

”‘Back all,’ was the cry, but before we could get out of his way he struck the bow of the boat with his nose, sending it up in the air, and jerking several of us overboard. The next moment with his huge jaws he made a grab at the boat. Seizing a stretcher I sprang as far as I could out of his way, and struck out for my life. The shrieks of my shipmates and the cracking of the ribs and timbers of the boat sounded in my ears, but I had enough to do to take care of myself, even to turn my head for a moment. I swam on as fast as I could. Fortunately for me, the accident had been seen from the ship, and another boat was coming to our assistance. It’s a wonder the savage whale didn’t attack her, but probably he had had enough of it, while the harpoons in his back must have troubled him not a little. I was soon picked up, and two others were found floating, but the rest of the boat’s crew had either sunk or been crunched to death between the whale’s jaws. He had been watched from the ship, which made sail in the direction he had taken. In the evening a spout was seen in the distance, the boat shoved off, and before nightfall we had the very whale which had attacked us in the morning, fast alongside with tackles hooked on, and the blanket pieces, as we called the blubber, being hoisted on board.

“That trying-out is curious work to those who have never seen it. Along the decks were the huge tripods, with fires blazing under them, and the crew standing round begrimed with smoke and oil, putting in the blubber, while others, as soon as the oil was extracted, were filling the casks and stowing them below. All night long the work went on, and there was no stopping till the huge monster had been stripped of his warm coat, and we had bailed the oil out of its big head, which had meantime been made fast to the stern.

”‘Dollars are pleasant things to pick up, but I must find some pleasanter way for gathering them than this,’ I said to myself. However, for more than two years I hadn’t a chance of returning to Callao. When at last the whaler put in there and landed me, I found that an earthquake had occurred, and the ground opened and swallowed up my father-in-law, and my wife with all her family. My wife’s uncle, however, had escaped, and he received me very kindly, and more so that, as I had made a good voyage in the whaler, my pockets were full of dollars. They, however, went at last.

“One day I was thinking what I should do next, when he told me that several vessels were fitting out in the harbour, to make a cruise among the islands of the Pacific, just to pick up some labourers for the mines. ‘It’s pretty hard work up in the mountains there, and most of our native Peruvians who used to work in them have died out,’ he observed. ‘There’s a merchant in our city who is going to make a grand speculation, and as Englishmen have shares in most of the mines, of course he is assisted with English capital, which our country could not supply. Now if you like to ship on board one of these vessels, you will find the pay good, the voyage short, and but little risk.’

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