Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis from 1840 to 1843. Bernard William Dallas

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СКАЧАТЬ that not only could there be no apprehension of the accident, but an almost impossibility of its recurrence. The accompanying woodcut will explain the improvement.

      The first thing now to be done was evidently to remove the broken iron plates, and to rivet in new ones in their place. In order to provide for additional strengthening of the vessel inside, the large timbers which had been purchased were made use of, as being exactly adapted for the purpose. Three of these were placed across the angle-irons against the side of the vessel, the longest and stoutest, which was twenty-three feet in length, one foot broad, and six inches thick, being placed highest up, about two to three feet below the deck. This was secured in its place by bolts, each a foot long, which were run through the ship's side, one at the centre of the space between each of the angle-irons. As there would, however, be a space left between the face of the beam and the side of the vessel, except at those points where it rested upon the angle-irons, this interval was filled up with well-seasoned red pine, which added very much to the solidity of the contrivance. To "make assurance doubly sure," two other beams, of the same depth and thickness, but not of the same length, and secured in a similar manner, were also employed. By this means, it is very evident that the ship was made a vast deal stronger than she ever was before, though not stronger than was proper for her size and shape. The whole length of the new plates put in the ship's sides was eight feet two inches; and so effectually was the work done that the whole of it remained perfect, stringers and all, at the end of two years and a half of severe and uninterrupted service.

      These contrivances added very little to the weight of the vessel, and gave it very great support in the weakest part, and just where it was most required, to enable her to carry coals on deck, &c.

      During her detention of twelve days, the Nemesis had been an object of great curiosity to the native Africans, as well as to the Portuguese settlers. The chiefs of some of the tribes were occasionally allowed to look at the vessel, and expressed the greatest possible astonishment at what they saw. It happened to be just the time of year when the king of one of the tribes most friendly to the Portuguese (probably, as it appeared, because they have large dealings together in slaves) usually came down from his own country, about thirty miles distant, to pay his annual visit to the Portuguese governor. On these occasions, there is a vast attempt on both sides to appear very friendly to each other, with precisely that degree of sincerity which, as a minimum, is indispensable to the advantageous barter of slaves and ivory for iron and spirits, or occasionally gold-dust for various trifling articles, which in the eyes of a savage possess inestimable value.

      There appears, in general, to be very little good feeling existing between the native tribes and the Portuguese. The former look upon the latter with some degree of dread, arising from the injuries which they have at various times received at their hands; and the latter regard the former merely as degraded savages, fit for little else than the speculations of the slave trade. On both sides there is a degree of mistrust, arising from the debasing tendency which such a traffic necessarily exercises upon all concerned in it. In Captain Owens narrative, an instance is related of the most savage cruelty, exercised by Portuguese Christians upon a few unarmed and oppressed natives who fell into their hands, which it is impossible to read without shuddering.

      On the present occasion, the native chief who came to do honour to the governor was a decrepit old man, nearly seventy years of age, attended by about seven hundred or eight hundred of his most doughty warriors, partially clothed in skins, and ornamented with ostrich-feathers stuck in their heads. He himself, as being a very great man, was clothed in a loose sort of dressing-gown, with a red nightcap on his head, a present from the governor himself. Every man had three spears of different sizes, probably to be thrown at different distances, together with a stout club and shield; and in the use of these weapons they exhibited great dexterity.

      The governor had invited Captain Hall and his officers to witness the performance of their war-dance, which was, in reality, as savage an exhibition as it was possible to conceive.

      As evening advanced, the attendants of the old chief were called upon to drink the governor's health, out of a large tub-full of rum; and, in order to ensure fair play, a corporal stood by with a stout cane in his hand, with which he most courageously belaboured all those who shewed an uncivilized disposition for helping themselves to more than their share. But the passions of the savage are not so easily to be subdued; and, if the mere sight and smell of the liquor had warmed them up into something like a quarrelsome mood, what was to be expected from the actual taste and fire of it? Words ran high, and all the threatening gestures of the excited savage promised even bloodshed; until, at length, the corporal's stick being insufficient to allay the disturbance, he very quietly upset the whole remaining contents of the tub, and soon dispersed the mighty men-of-war, in apparent reconciliation.

      The negro tribes of these parts adopt the practice of tattooing their faces, but not in that peculiarly neat and regular manner for which the New Zealanders are distinguished. It is here more like a rude system of notching the skin, as if done rather to shew how manfully they can endure pain, than as a mere ornamental art.

      A more sensible practice among some of the tribes about Delagoa Bay, is that of shaving a large portion of the thick wool off their heads, tending greatly to cleanliness in a tropical country. Occasionally it is trimmed into some fanciful shape, like the old yew-trees in some of our English villages, which stand forth as curious specimens of nature improved; while, again, the natives on some parts of the Madagascar coast, generally stout, athletic men, divide their hair into little tufts all over the head, each of which is frequently tied round the roots, and thus made to stand out on all sides in little knobs, giving a very singular appearance to the head, more particularly when they are seen working side by side, as I have often witnessed at the Mauritius, with close-shaved Indian or Chinese labourers.

      As the king above-mentioned and his followers had come from a considerable distance, and were reported to possess great influence among their neighbours, it was thought a good opportunity both to impress them with a knowledge of our power, and to conciliate them by a show of our good-nature. There was the more reason for this, in consequence of pretty certain evidence having been obtained that the crew of an American trading-vessel, which had been wrecked on the coast not long before, had been most barbarously treated by the tribe into whose hands they fell. As such a misfortune might again happen, it was thought a good opportunity to make an impression upon the native tribes, which was sure to be communicated from one to the other, by means of the old king and his adherents. Accordingly, the old man (who was called Appelli by the Portuguese) was one day invited to go on board the Nemesis, with one or two of his attendants. The vessel had by this time been got nearly ready for sea, and on this occasion, in order to produce greater effect upon all the lookers-on, was dressed out with her flags, and, being newly-painted, presented a very gay appearance. A Portuguese merchant accompanied the veteran chief to the ship as interpreter, and, rather unexpectedly, several women also came off with him, dressed in showy colours, and impelled, perhaps, as much by the flattering thought that they would quite astonish the white man, as by the mere feeling of curiosity.

      The moment the king put his foot upon the deck, the single fife and drum which was on board set up "God save the king!" and the old man appeared well pleased both with the tune and the attention. After this, a particularly ugly, repulsive-looking fellow, who turned out to be the king's fool, though as old as the king himself, set up a most discordant note of admiration upon three reeds which he held in his hand, something after the manner of pan-pipes. At intervals he treated you to a sort of explanatory text of his own, in the shape of a few uncouth words, yelled out in a manner particularly edifying to all except those in whose honour it is supposed they were especially poured forth. His appearance was rendered more uncouth by a large bag tied under his chin, for what purpose was not very evident, but probably to contain either his charms or his tobacco.

      The queen herself had also accompanied her lord upon this occasion, and exhibited no fear, and certainly no beauty. Picture to yourself a young sable queen, a capital caricature of one of the Egyptian statues in black marble, plump and shiny as her prototype, only less expressive. Then invest СКАЧАТЬ