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.’

“I thought to myself that I could not do better. I had served too long on board a slaver to think much of the work proposed. There was no difference that I could see between a black skin and a brown skin, and as I had assisted to carry some thousands of black men across to the east coast of America, I did not scruple to undertake to carry as many brown men as could be picked up to the west coast. To be sure, the natives of those bright and sunny islands, unaccustomed to work, might not find it very pleasant to be carried away to labour high up among the rocks and snows of the Andes, but that was no business of mine.

“I accordingly shipped on board one of several vessels fitted out by the enterprising merchant I spoke of. The ‘Andorinha’ carried thirty hands besides the captain and mate, and we had four guns and plenty of small arms. Our orders were to proceed direct to the nearest islands, and to carry off as many of the inhabitants as we could get on board, but we were to try stratagem first, and by every means in our power induce them to, visit the ship. As soon as we had collected as many as we were likely to entice on board, we were to put them below and shut down the hatches, and sail away with them.

“The plan was simple, and I thought it would succeed. Should they object to make the voyage and attempt to regain their liberty, we had our arms, and were to use them, but we were advised not to kill more people than we could help, as each was likely to fetch fifty or sixty dollars on shore.

“Before sailing, the merchant who had fitted out our vessel came on board with several friends, and the crew being called on deck, he addressed the captain and us, telling us that we were about to engage in an enterprise likely to prove of great value to Peru, but all was to be done by fair and honourable means. That we were to visit various islands, and to engage the industrious inhabitants to come and labour in our beautiful country for good wages, where they would also have the benefit of being instructed in the Christian faith and become good Catholics, to the great advantage of their souls. We were to treat them kindly and gently, and to give them the best of everything, so that they would not fail, by their gratitude, to show how highly they valued the service we should render them.

“I could not help grinning when I heard this, knowing the way that matters were really to be managed. The speech was made just to hoodwink the authorities, and for the benefit of the merchant’s friends, who, if they were not to profit by the adventure, might have found some fault with the way in which it was really to be carried on.

“The ‘Andorinha’ was a large vessel, and we calculated that we could stow away five or six hundred people on board her.

“Seven other vessels being fitted out, we sailed together in company, our first destination being Easter Island, which lies in latitude 27 degrees South and 109 degrees West, some distance from the coast of Chili.

“Light winds detained us, but at length we made the island, which is high and rocky and about thirty-six miles in circumference. The inhabitants, of the same race as the rest of the Eastern Pacific, and somewhat less savage than most of them, were living in villages, at peace among themselves.

“As soon as our fleet came to an anchor, the boats were lowered and manned, and a strong party of us landed. The inhabitants, not liking our appearance, hid themselves in their houses. We immediately marched to the nearest village, which we surrounded, and entering house after house, dragged off the people, and sent them, with their hands bound behind their backs, to the boats. They did not attempt to resist, for as we had firearms and they had none, it would have been of no use. As soon as the boats were loaded they took them off to the vessel, and then returned for more. We, meantime, kept watching the village, so that no one could escape. Having carried off all the inhabitants, men, women, and children – for even the youngest children were of some use to us – we proceeded to the next village. These we treated in the same way, leaving a few old men and women who were not worth carrying off.

“Before evening we had shipped nearly every human being we found on the island. None escaped us, for they had no mountains to fly to, and no caves or other places where they could hide themselves. We then collected all the pigs, poultry, and such other provisions as we could find, and sent them on board.

“Before returning to our vessels, we burned down a considerable number of the houses.

“We stowed away all our captives on board two of our larger vessels, which at once returned to land them on the coast of Chili, while we proceeded on our voyage.

“The first land we made was one of the Society Islands, to the north of Tahiti. We could not venture to that island itself, because the French were there, who might have objected to our carrying off the people. For the same reason we avoided the Hervey, and other islands to the south, where we knew a number of English missionaries were stationed, and they might have complained of our proceedings, and taken means to put a stop to them. Here, however, we hoped to make a good haul, and be away before we were discovered.

“The schooner did not bring up, but stood off and on the land under English colours, while a boat was sent on shore to invite the natives on board. I went in her. As soon as we landed, I, with another man, who pretended to be the supercargo, proceeded to the house of the principal chief. It was a large hut, the framework formed of slight poles placed at intervals, bending somewhat inwards, and joined with horizontal poles of the same thickness secured to them, the whole being covered with a neat thatch. We found the chief reclining at his ease on one of several mats which covered the floor, with his wife and other females of the family seated near him. He had thrown aside his robe of native cloth, and was dressed only in his maro or girdle round his waist. We told him that the vessel in the offing was an English trader, and had on board a quantity of goods which were likely to suit him and his people, and we invited him, and as many as he liked to bring with him, to come and inspect them, hinting that the captain was of a generous disposition, and would be glad, at all events, to make them presents to gain their good will. We were in no hurry, we said, for payment, and would call again for the cocoa-nut oil which he might agree to collect for us. He seemed mightily pleased with the proposal, and promised to come off the next morning. We then went to the house of other chiefs and principal people, telling them the same tale.

“In our rambles we saw a curious spectacle. Having reached another district governed by a different chief, we found him seated on a mat in front of his house, while a number of people were approaching bearing hogs, and fowls, and breadfruit, and other articles of food. Among them were three young women, whose bodies were swathed in a prodigious quantity of native cloth made out of the paper mulberry tree. This cloth and the food were being brought as presents to the chief, who had had, we understood, a child just born to him by one of his wives. How the girls could ever have got the cloth round them was a puzzle to me, but my companion, who had been on these islands and acted as interpreter, explained the matter. He said that the cloth being made ready, the girl lies down on the ground and rolls herself over and over, till the whole of the cloth is wound round her. She is then put on her feet, and taking the end over her shoulder, is able to proceed on her way.

“The food having been presented, one of the damsels was led forward, when she lay down before the chief, and began to unroll herself, while one of his attendants gathered up the cloth; and thus she kept turning round and round till the whole of the cloth was unwound, and she remained in her own somewhat scanty garments. The next girl went through the same process.

“We pretended to be delighted with the cloth, and told the chief that, if he would bring it on board, we would exchange it for all sorts of articles. The news of the rich cargo the vessel contained spread among the people, and large numbers promised to come off to us the following morning.

“Well content with the way we had managed matters, we returned on board.

“The following day we took care to stand in towards the shore in good time, when a number of canoes full of people were seen coming off to the ship. As they arrived alongside we invited them on board, taking care that they brought no arms with them. We had a few things spread out in the hold, and as the people collected on board, the captain asked them to step down below to see them. When there, the pretended supercargo kept them engaged bargaining for the goods while others were arriving. Having collected all who could be induced to come on board below, the supercargo slipped up by the fore hatchway, saying that he wished to consult the captain about the price of some of the articles. The vessel, meantime, had been edging off the land. Our guns were loaded, and we had all armed ourselves in case the natives might make any resistance. All being ready, we suddenly clapped the hatches down upon our visitors, and had them prisoners. The people in some of the canoes suspecting that their friends were in danger, attempted to climb up the sides to their assistance. We had, therefore, to sink the canoes by throwing cold shot into them. As several other large canoes were approaching which might prove troublesome, we fired our guns at them and knocked them to pieces. This done, we made all sail, and stood away from the island. When the natives below found themselves entrapped, they, as may be supposed, created a considerable uproar, shouting and shrieking, and demanding to be set at liberty. The hatches, however, being fast closed down, they could not force their way out, and as they were without food or water, and the air was pretty close, we knew that they must soon come to their senses, and therefore took no heed of their cries, though it was necessary, of course, to keep watch over them, lest by chance they might make their way out.

“When we had run the land out of sight, the fore hatch was partly lifted, and a few at a time were allowed to come on deck. They looked greatly astonished when gazing round to find that their native land was not to be seen. Our interpreter then told them that, if they behaved themselves, things would go well with them; but if not, they must expect rough treatment. The first which had come up had their hands lashed behind them, and were sent aft; and the rest, as they appeared on deck, were treated in the same manner. Two or three, from the hot air and the struggles they had made, had lost their lives; but that mattered little, considering the number we had secured.

“Having cleaned and fumigated the hold, they were again sent below, and we stood for another island.

“Of course the people complained of the way they had been treated; some were weeping, others abusing us, while some refused to take the food we offered them. They were told, however, that if they would not eat they should be flogged, for we were not going to allow them to starve themselves to death. In time we got them into pretty good order. As it would not do for them to give way to despair, they were assured that, after working two or three years in the country to which we were taking them, if they were industrious and behaved themselves, and consented to become good Catholics, they would be sent back to their native island much the richer and happier for the trip. I don’t know if they believed us; they might possibly have had doubts about the matter. These people had had missionaries among them, and most of them were Christians; but the French had sent the missionaries away, and they had become somewhat slack in their religion. Now, however, in their trouble they began to pray again, and it was curious to hear them singing, and praying, and repeating parts of the Bible which they had learned by heart. Our interpreter said it made him somewhat uncomfortable; but the captain laughed at him, and told him that he must not let such notions trouble him, and that at best they were only heretics, and would now have the chance of becoming real Christians.