Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager

The ladies are fond of having their Mulatto female slaves dressed almost as well as themselves in every respect, excepting jewels, in which they indulge themselves to the utmost extravagance. Paraguay tea, which they call Matte, as I mentioned before, is always drunk twice a-day: this is brought upon a large silver salver, with four legs raised upon it, to receive a little cup made out of a small calabash, or gourd, and tipped with silver. They put the herb first into this, and add what sugar they please, and a little orange juice; and then pour hot water on them, and drink it immediately, through the conveyance of a long silver tube, at the end of which there is a round strainer, to prevent the herb getting through. And here it is reckoned a piece of politeness for the lady to suck the tube two or three times first, and then give it the stranger to drink without wiping it.

They eat every thing so highly seasoned with red pepper, that those who are not used to it, upon the first mouthful would imagine their throats on fire for an hour afterwards; and it is a common custom here, though you have the greatest plenty at your own table, to have two or three Mulatto girls come in at the time you dine, bringing, in a little silver plate, some of these high-seasoned ragouts, with a compliment from Donna such-a-one, who desires you will eat a little bit of what she has sent you; which must be done before her Mulatto's face, or it would be deemed a great affront. Had this been the fashion at Chiloe, we should never have offended; but sometimes here we could have wished this ceremony omitted.

The president never asked any of us a second time to his table. He expected us once a fortnight to be at his levee, which we never failed; and he always received us very politely. He was a man of a very amiable character, and much respected by every body in Chili, and some time after we left that country, was appointed viceroy of Peru.

We had leave, whenever we asked it, to make an excursion into the country for ten or twelve days at a time; which we did sometimes to a very pleasant spot belonging to Don Joseph Dunose, a French gentleman, and a very sensible, well-bred man, who had married a very agreeable lady at St. Jago, with a very good fortune. We also sometimes had invitations from the Spaniards to their country-houses. We had a numerous acquaintance in the city, and in general received many civilities from the inhabitants. There are a great many people of fashion, and very good families from Old Spain settled here. A lady lived next door to us, whose name was Donna Francisca Giron; and as my name sounded something like it, she would have it that we were Parientes. She had a daughter, a very fine young woman, who both played and sung remarkably well: she was reckoned the finest voice in St. Jago. They saw a great deal of company, and we were welcome to her house whenever we pleased. We were a long time in this country, but we passed it very agreeably. The president alone goes with four horses to his coach; but the common vehicle here is a calash, or kind of vis-à-vis, drawn by one mule only. Bull-feasts are a common diversion here, and they far surpass anything of that kind I ever saw at Lisbon, or any where else. Indeed, it is amazing to see the activity and dexterity of those who attack the bulls. It is always done here by those only who follow it as a trade, for it is too dangerous to be practised as a diversion; as a proof of which, it is found that though some may hold out longer than others, there are few who constantly practice it, that die a natural death. The bulls are always the wildest that can be brought in from the mountains or forests, and have nothing on their horns to prevent their piercing a man the first stroke, as they have at Lisbon. I have seen a man, when the bull came at him with the utmost fury, spring directly over the beast's head, and perform this feat several times, and at last jump on his back, and there sit a considerable time, the bull the whole time attempting every means to throw him. But though this practitioner was successful, several accidents happened while I was there. The ladies, at these feasts, are always dressed as fine as possible; and, I imagine, go rather to be admired than to receive any amusement from a sight that one should think would give them pain. Another amusement for the ladies here, are the nights of their great processions, when they go out veiled; and as in that dress they cannot be known, they amuse themselves in talking to people much in the manner that is done at our masquerades. One night in Lent, as I was standing close to the houses as the procession went by, and having nothing but a thin waistcoat on under my cloak, and happening to have my arm out, a lady came by, and gave me a pinch with so good a will, that I thought she had taken the piece out; and, indeed, I carried the marks for a long time after. I durst not take the least notice of this at the time; for had I made any disturbance, I should have been knocked on the head. This kind lady immediately after mixed with the crowd, and I never could find out who had done me that favour. I have seen fifty or sixty penitents following these processions; they wear a long white garment with a long train to it, and high caps of the same, which fall down before, and cover all their faces, having only two small holes for their eyes; so that they are never known. Their backs are bare, and they lash themselves with a cat-o'-nine-tails till the long train behind is covered all over with blood. Others follow them with great heavy crosses upon their backs; so that they groan under the weight as they walk barefooted, and often faint away. The streets swarm with friars of all the different orders. The president has always a guard at his palace regularly clothed. The rest of their forces consists of militia, who are numerous.

All European goods are very dear. English cloth, of fourteen or fifteen shillings a yard, sells there for ten or eleven dollars; and every other article in proportion. We found many Spaniards here that had been taken by Commodore Anson, and had been for some time prisoners on board the Centurion. They all spoke in the highest terms of the kind treatment they had received; and it is natural to imagine, that it was chiefly owing to that laudable example of humanity, our reception here was so good. They had never had anything but privateers and buccaneers amongst them before, who handled their prisoners very roughly; so that the Spaniards in general, both of Peru and Chili, had the greatest dread of being taken by the English; but some of them told us, that they were so happy on board the Centurion, that they should not have been sorry if the Commodore had taken them with him to England. After we had been here some time, Mr. Campbell changed his religion, and of course left us. At the end of two years, the president sent for us, and informed us a French ship from Lima, bound to Spain, had put into Valparaiso, and that we should embark in her. After taking leave of our good friend Mr. Gedd, and all our acquaintance at St. Jago, we set out for Valparaiso, mules and a guide being provided for us. I had forgot to say before, that Captain Cheap had been allowed by the president six reals a day, and we had four for our maintenance the whole time we were at St. Jago, which money we took up as we wanted it. Our journey back was much pleasanter than we found it when we were first brought hither, as we had now no mules to drive. The first person I met, upon our entrance into Valparaiso, was the poor soldier whom I mentioned to have been so kind to us when we were imprisoned in the fort. I now made him a little present, which, as it came quite unexpected, made him very happy. We took lodgings till the ship was ready to sail, and diverted ourselves as we pleased, having the good fortune, at this time, to have nothing to do with the governor or his fort. The town is but a poor little place; there are, indeed, a good many storehouses built by the water side for the reception of goods from the shipping.

About the 20th of December, 1744, we embarked on board the Lys frigate, belonging to St. Malo. She was a ship of four hundred and twenty tons, sixteen guns, and sixty men. She had several passengers on board; and amongst the rest, Don George Juan, a man of very superior abilities, (and since that time well known in England) who, with Don Antonio Ulloa, had been several years in Peru, upon a design of measuring some degrees of the meridian near the equator. We were now bound to Conception, in order to join three other French ships that were likewise bound home. As this was a time of the year when the southerly winds prevail upon this coast, we stood off a long way to the westward, making the island of Juan Fernandez. We did not get into the bay of Conception till the 6th of January, 1745, where we anchored at Talcaguana, and there found the Louis Erasme, the Marquis d'Antin, and the Delivrance, the three French ships that we were to accompany. It is but sixty leagues from Valparaiso to Conception, though we had been so long making this passage; but there is no beating up, near the shore, against the southerly wind, which is the trade at this season, as you are sure to have a lee-current; so that the quickest way of making a passage is to stand off a hundred and twenty or thirty leagues from the land.

The bay of Conception is a large, fine bay; but there are several shoals in it, and only two good anchoring-places, though a ship may anchor within a quarter of a league of the town; but this only in the very fine months, as you lay much exposed. The best anchoring-place is Talcaguana, the southernmost neck of the bay, in five or six fathom water, good holding ground, and where you are sheltered from the northerly winds. The town has no other defence than a low battery, which only commands the anchoring-place before it. The country is extremely pleasant, and affords the greatest plenty of provisions of all kinds. In some excursions we made daily from Talcaguana, we saw great numbers of very large snakes; but we were told they were quite harmless. I have read some former accounts of Chili, by the jesuits, wherein they tell you that no venomous creature is to be found in it, and that they even made the experiment of bringing bugs here, which died immediately; but I never was in any place that swarmed with them so much as St. Jago; and they have a large spider there, whose bite is so venomous, that I have seen from it some of the most shocking sights I ever saw in my life; and it certainly proves mortal if proper remedies are not applied in time. I was once bit by one on the cheek, whilst asleep, and, presently after, all that part of my face turned as black as ink. I was cured by the application of a bluish kind of stone (the same, perhaps, they call the serpent-stone in the East Indies, and which is a composition). The stone stuck, for some time, of itself on my face, and dropping off, was put into milk till it had digested the poison it had extracted, and then applied again till the pain abated, and I was soon afterwards well. Whilst the ships remained at Conception, the people were employed in killing cattle and salting them for the voyage; and every ship took on board as many bullocks and sheep as their decks could well hold; and having completed their business here, they sailed the 27th of January; but about eight days after our ship sprung a very dangerous leak forward; but so low, that there was no possibility of stopping it without returning into port, and lightening her till they could come at it. Accordingly we separated from the other ships, and made the best of our way for Valparaiso, keeping all hands at the pump night and day, passengers and all. However, as it happened, this proved a lucky circumstance for the Lys, as the three other ships were taken; and this certainly would have been her fate likewise, had she kept company with the rest. As soon as we got into port, they lightened the ship forwards, and brought her by the stern till they came at the leak, which was soon stopped. They made all the dispatch possible in completing the water again. Whilst at Valparaiso, we had one of the most violent shocks of an earthquake that we had ever felt yet. On the first of March we put to sea again, the season being already far advanced for passing Cape Horn. The next day we went to an allowance of a quart of water a day for each man, which continued the whole passage. We were obliged to stand a long way to the westward; and went to the northward of Juan Fernandez above a degree, before we had a wind that we could make any southing with. On the 25th, in the latitude of 46 degrees, we met with a violent hard gale at west, which obliged us to lie to under a reefed mainsail for some days; and before we got round the Cape, we had many very hard gales, with a prodigious sea and constant thick snow; and after being so long in so delightful a climate as Chili, the cold was almost insupportable. After doubling the Cape, we got but slowly to the northward; and, indeed, at the best of times, the ship never went above six knots; for she was a heavy-going thing. On the 27th of May we crossed the line; when finding that our water was grown extremely short, and that it would be almost impossible to reach Europe without a supply, it was resolved to bear away for Martinico. On the 29th of June, in the morning, we made the Island of Tobago, and then shaped a course for Martinico; and on the first of July, by our reckonings, expected to see it, but were disappointed. This was imputed to the currents, which, whether they had set the ship to the eastward or westward, nobody could tell; but upon looking over the charts, it was imagined, if the current had driven her to the westward, it must have been among the Granadillos, which was thought impossible without seeing any of them, as they are so near together, and a most dangerous place for rocks. It was then concluded we were to the eastward, and accordingly we steered S.W. by W., but having run this course for above thirty leagues, and no land appearing, it was resolved to stand to the northward till we should gain the latitude of Porto Rico, and on the 4th in the evening we made that island; so that it was now certain the ship had been hustled through the Granadillos in the night, which was, without doubt, as extraordinary a passage as ever ship made. It was now resolved to go between the islands of Porto Rico and St. Domingo for Cape François, therefore we lay to that night. In the morning, we made sail along shore; and about ten o'clock, as I was walking the quarter-deck, Captain Cheap came out of the cabin, and told me he had just seen a beef-barrel go by the ship; that he was sure it had but lately been thrown overboard, and that he would venture any wager we saw an English cruizer before long. In about half an hour after we saw two sail to leeward, from off the quarter-deck; for they kept no look out from the mast-head, and we presently observed they were in chace of us. The French and Spaniards on board now began to grow a good deal alarmed, when it fell stark calm; but not before the ships had neared us so much, that we plainly discerned them to be English men of war; the one a two-decker, the other a twenty-gun ship. The French had now thoughts, when a breeze should spring up, of running the ship on shore upon Porto Rico, but when they came to consider what a set of banditti inhabited that island, and that in all probability they would have their throats cut for the sake of plundering the wreck, they were resolved to take their chance, and stand to the northward between the two islands. In the evening, a fresh breeze sprung up, and we shaped a course accordingly. The two ships had it presently afterwards, and neared us amazingly fast. Now every body on board gave themselves up; the officers were busy in their cabins, filling their pockets with what was most valuable; the men put on their best clothes, and many of them came to me with little lumps of gold, desiring I would take them, as they said they had much rather I should benefit by them, whom they were acquainted with, than those that chased them. I told them there was time enough, though I thought they were as surely taken as if the English had been already on board. A fine moonlight night came on, and we expected every moment to see the ships along-side of us; but we saw nothing of them in the night, and, to our great astonishment, in the morning no ships were to be seen even from the mast-head. Thus did these two cruizers lose one of the richest prizes, by not chasing an hour or two longer. There were near two millions of dollars on board, besides a valuable cargo. On the eighth, at six in the morning, we were off Cape La Grange; and, what is very remarkable, the French at Cape François told us afterwards that was the only day they ever remembered, since the war, that the Cape had been without one or two English privateers cruising off it; and but the evening before, two of them had taken two outward bound St. Domingo men, and had gone with them for Jamaica; so that this ship might be justly esteemed a most lucky one. In the afternoon we came to an anchor in Cape François harbour.

In this long run we had not buried a single man; nor do I remember that there was one sick the whole passage; but at this place many were taken ill, and three or four died; for there is no part of the West Indies more unhealthy than this; yet the country is beautiful, and extremely well cultivated. After being here some time, the governor ordered us to wait upon him, which we did; when he took no more notice of us than if we had been his slaves, never asking us even to sit down.

Towards the end of August, a French squadron of five men of war came in, commanded by Monsieur L'Etanducre, who were to convoy the trade to France. Neither he nor his officers ever took any kind of notice of Captain Cheap, though we met them every day ashore. One evening, as we were going aboard with the captain of our ship, a midshipman belonging to Monsieur L'Etanducre, jumped into our boat, and ordered the people to carry him on board the ship he belonged to, leaving us to wait upon the beach for two hours before the boat returned. On the sixth of September we put to sea, in company with the five men of war, and about fifty sail of merchant-men. On the eighth we made the Cayco Grande; and the next day a Jamaica privateer, a large fine sloop, hove in sight, keeping a little to windward of the convoy, resolving to pick up one or two of them in the night, if possible. This obliged Monsieur L'Etanducre to send a frigate to speak to all the convoy, and order them to keep close to him in the night; which they did, and in such a manner, that sometimes seven or eight of them were on board one another together; by which they received much damage; and to repair which, the whole squadron was obliged to lay to sometimes for a whole day. The privateer kept her station, jogging on with the fleet. At last, the commodore ordered two of his best-going ships to chase her. She appeared to take no notice of them till they were pretty near her, and then would make sail and be out of sight presently. The chasing ships no sooner returned, than the privateer was in company again. As by this every night some accident happened to some of the convoy by keeping so close together, a fine ship of thirty guns, belonging to Marseilles, hauled out a little to windward of the rest of the fleet; which L'Etanducre perceiving in the morning, ordered the frigate to bring the captain of her on board of him; and then making a signal for all the convoy to close to him, he fired a gun, and hoisted a red flag at the ensign staff; and immediately after the captain of the merchant-man was run up to the main-yard-arm, and from thence ducked three times. He was then sent on board his ship again, with orders to keep his colours flying the whole day, in order to distinguish him from the rest. We were then told, that the person who was treated in this cruel manner, was a young man of an exceeding good family in the south of France, and likewise a man of great spirit; and that he would not fail to call Monsieur L'Etanducre to account when an opportunity should offer; and the affair made much noise in France afterwards. One day, the ship we were in happened to be out of her station, by sailing so heavily, when the commodore made the signal to speak to our captain, who seemed frightened out of his wits. When we came near him, he began with the grossest abuse, threatening our captain, that if ever he was out of his station again, he would serve him as he had done the other. This rigid discipline, however, preserved the convoy; for though the privateer kept company a long time, she was not so fortunate as to meet with the reward of her perseverance.

On the 27th of October, in the evening, we made Cape Ortegal; and on the 31st, came to an anchor in Brest road. The Lys having so valuable a cargo on board, was towed into the harbour the next morning, and lashed alongside one of their men of war. The money was soon landed; and the officers and men, who had been so many years absent from their native country, were glad to get on shore. Nobody remained on board but a man or two to look after the ship, and we three English prisoners who had no leave to go ashore. The weather was extremely cold, and felt particularly so to us, who had been so long used to hot climates; and what made it still worse, we were very thinly clad. We had neither fire nor candle; for they were allowed on board of no ship in the harbour, for fear of accidents, being close to their magazines in the dock-yard. Some of the officers belonging to the ship were so kind to send us off victuals every day, or we might have starved; for Monsieur L'Intendant never sent us even a message; and though there was a very large squadron of men of war fitting out at that time, not one officer belonging to them ever came near Captain Cheap. From five in the evening we were obliged to sit in the dark; and if we chose to have any supper, it was necessary to place it very near us before that time, or we never could have found it. We had passed seven or eight days in this melancholy manner, when one morning a kind of row-galley came alongside, with a number of English prisoners belonging to two large privateers the French had taken. We were ordered into the same boat with them, and were carried four leagues up the river to Landernaw. At this town we were upon our parole; so took the best lodgings we could get, and lived very well for three months, when an order came from the court of Spain to allow us to return home by the first ship that offered. Upon this, hearing there was a Dutch ship at Morlaix ready to sail, we took horses and travelled to that town, where we were obliged to remain six weeks, before we had an opportunity of getting away. At last we agreed with the master of a Dutch dogger to land us at Dover, and paid him beforehand. When we had got down the river into the road, a French privateer that was almost ready to sail upon a cruize, hailed the Dutchman, and told him to come to an anchor; and that if he offered to sail before him, he would sink him. This he was forced to comply with, and lay three days in the road, cursing the Frenchman, who at the end of that time put to sea, and then we were at liberty to do the same. We had a long uncomfortable passage. About the ninth day, before sunset, we saw Dover, and reminded the Dutchman of his agreement to land us there. He said he would; but instead of that, in the morning we were off the coast of France. We complained loudly of this piece of villany, and insisted upon his returning to land us, when an English man of war appeared to windward, and presently bore down to us. She sent her boat on board with an officer, who informed us the ship he came from was the Squirrel, commanded by Captain Masterson. We went on board of her, and Captain Masterson immediately sent one of the cutters he had with him, to land us at Dover, where we arrived that afternoon, and directly set out for Canterbury upon post-horses; but Captain Cheap was so tired by the time he got there, that he could proceed no further that night. The next morning he still found himself so much fatigued, that he could ride no longer; therefore it was agreed that he and Mr. Hamilton should take a post-chaise, and that I should ride; but here an unlucky difficulty was started; for upon sharing the little money we had, it was found to be not sufficient to pay the charges to London; and my proportion fell so short, that it was, by calculation, barely enough to pay for horses, without a farthing for eating a bit upon the road, or even for the very turnpikes. Those I was obliged to defraud, by riding as hard as I could through them all, not paying the least regard to the men, who called out to stop me. The want of refreshment I bore as well as I could. When I got to the Borough, I took a coach and drove to Marlborough-street, where my friends had lived when I left England; but when I came there, I found the house shut up. Having been absent so many years, and in all that time never having heard a word from home, I knew not who was dead or who was living, or where to go next; or even how to pay the coachman. I recollected a linen-draper's shop, not far from thence, which our family had used. I therefore drove there next, and making myself known, they paid the coachman. I then enquired after our family, and was told my sister had married Lord Carlisle, and was at that time in Soho-square. I immediately walked to the house, and knocked at the door; but the porter not liking my figure, which was half French, half Spanish, with the addition of a large pair of boots covered with dirt, he was going to shut the door in my face; but I prevailed with him to let me come in.