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THE ADVENTURES OF
JOHN SMITH IN MALAYA
1600 — 1605
T
THE ADVENTURES OF
JOHN SMITH IN MALAYA
1600—1605
BY
A. HALE.
Late E. J. BRILL
Publishers and Printers
LEYDEN 1900
A yer sa'gantang sa'lubok, Sa'dangkang yang ber-bimyi', Siaraang ber-jawat-jawat, Tompat ungka ber-dayu-dayu ; Batin yang ampunya-nya.
CHAPTER I.
In the beginning of the year 1600, James Neccy, a merchant and adventurer, whose house was famous in the city of Haarlem in Holland, obtained a charter from the States General which empowered him to trade in the Eastern seas, and at the same time to further Dutch interests and influence so far as layd in his power in that region. His charter also hinted that it would be well for him to go armed, as besides enemies of the State, there were sea robbers in those waters.
In pursuance of his charter he laded two galleons and a crompster (kromsteven) with assorted merchandise, and set sail.
It was his intention to get as quickly as possible to the Malay Peninsula, stopping only at certain ports for the purpose of taking in water and fresh provisions. If fortune favoured him, he intended loitering about in the Straits of Malacca and perhaps doing a little damage to the Portugals' trade there, either as a merchant, by legitimate sharp trading, or, seeing that he was armed, perhaps there might be some chance of a fight at sea with some of their ships, or better still, a richly laden galleon bringing home cloves from Amboyna, or gold from Ophir.
His charter might, as he was privately told by the cunning old Burgomaster of Haarlem, be very liberally interpreted ; indeed, as the Burgomaster had himself invested no incon- siderable sum in the venture he felt entitled to give advice, and did not hesitate to say that perhaps the most profitable
enterprise of all would be to gather pepper, and that the quickest harvest of that commodity would be found floating on the seas, under the Portuguese flag. This was not perhaps strictly moral advice, but the example set by England to the world in the West Indies, was fresh in men's minds; and Holland against Portugal in the East seemed an analogue of England against Spain in the West.
After leaving the vicinity of Malacca, Jamts Neccy proposed paying a visit to Johor, whose King had evinced a friendly disposition towards Hollanders; thence it was his intention to sail up the East Coast and visit Patani, another city said to be favourable to the Dutch trade; and perhaps he would get as far as the important kingdom of Siam itself. The times were dangerous, and because of that, as well as the fact that those who went down to the sea in ships, remem- bered that they took their lives into their own hands, by reason of their slight knowledge of far away seas, their currents and winds, and other horrors with which the super- stition of the times did not fail to describe them, it was customary for everybody on board, before they set sail, to make proper deposition of his property in the event of his death and the prognostications were so far favourable, that people expected one at least of the three ships that went away to return safely to port, and to come back deeply laden with gold ; for were they not going to that Golden Cher- sonesus of the Ancients, whence King Solomon got his gold to ornament the Temple? Did not peacocks also abound, and monkeys, and the far-famed bezoar stones the medical properties of which were greatly exercising the minds of philosophers at that period ? All these articles took up little space, so that one ship-load, if it got back safely, would be a very adequate return for the three ships, laden with the showy but inexpensive cargoes sent out.
Eggs were counted before they were hatched somewhat in this fashion. Three shiploads of cheap trade would sell for two cargoes of spices, and two cargoes of spices would go to purchase one of gold and precious ware ; especially when it was hoped that the Portugals — not only rival traders, but State enemies — might be persuaded to contribute a fair share of the profits.
It is this venture, or rather the adventures of one member of the company, which will be detailed in the following chapters.
John Smith, whose adventures are here recorded, at the time he sailed with James Neccy, was twenty-seven years of age, having been born — somewhat irregularly — in the year 1573, at the village of Tregony in Cornwall, to which place his mother had secretly retreated, when she found it the better policy to do so.
His mother was an actress of some notoriety. Her name does not matter for the purpose of this story, nor does that of his father, who also was a person of some note, being in fact a clergyman, whose preaching had caused some considerable stir in the world of divinity, but who died at the early age of forty-five, two years after John Smith was born, having arranged that after his death a sum of rive hundred pounds should be paid to a certain actress, named in his will, in token of his appreciation of her worth and good life.
It was a strange parentage and well calculated to produce an unorthodox child. Up to the time of the death of the mother, who was twenty-four years old when her son was born, and who lived for nearly fifty years after, it was not known that she had had a child before her marriage with a rich London merchant, when she was thirty years old. She had two other sons after her marriage, but she carried
the secret of her first-born to the grave with her, and even her husband, who died twenty years before her, had never learnt it.
But when she was buried in the church-yard of Saint Mary-le-Strand, followed to the grave by her two legitimate sons, both prosperous merchants of the city of London, there stood by the grave-side also a third gentleman, who wore a mourning knot of black ribbon on the guard of his sword, and who seemed — equally with her to sons — affected by the ceremony. Nobody knew the stranger, and when the brothers approached him when all was over and asked him why he wore mourning, he appointed to meet them at a later date, at a certain house near the village of Teddington. and there, a week later, he explained his relationship to them, producing such documentary evidence, in the shape of letters from his mother — who had always managed to keep in touch with her first child during his wanderings — that his half-brothers were convinced of the truth of his allegations, the more so perhaps when John Smith showed them his actual, authentic will, and desired them to take possession of and act on it, when they had proof of his death.
This will, if the schedule of the properties dealt with was true, greatly surprised the brothers, especially when John Smith explained that it did not deal with more than half of his property. The other moiety, he told them, he had already disposed of by gift, to certain connections of his own in the East, not however, mentioning what those connections were. Some very valuable items were mentioned in the will, amongst them being a tin mine in Cornwall, where was also an estate estimated to contain over one thousand acres, and besides these a very considerable sum of money was said to be deposited at a low rate of interest with a London
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house of well-known fame for honest deaHngs. John Smith promised to travel to Cornwall and introduce his half-brothers to his agents and men of business there, as well as to the head of the house which held his moneys in London.
All this he did in due course, when the staid City merchants were considerably astonished at beholding the evidences of such great wealth. It appeared that the money deposited in London was all profits made on the tin mine in Cornwall, wich was a very valuable business, worked somewhat dififerently from other mines in the vicinity. The Captain of the mine was a very bluff sailorlike old man, showing in his general bearing unbounded respect and affection for his master, who introduced his half-brothers to him as his heirs.
The estate John Smith explained, was of no very particular value at present, he had purchased it for sentimental reasons chiefly; and he pointed out to his half-brothers the cottage in which he was born, which was in the charge of a very old woman, who addressed him as her foster-son. He told them that all his life, whenever he returned to England from the East, he had always managed to meet his mother here. This explained to the brothers certain mysterious journeys of their mother, which they had noticed.
Their half-brother also told them that he had otherwise liberally provided for all his dependants in England; but he strongly advised them to keep the tin mine in work, with the same staff of men, and on the same system as at present. Moreover, the Captain of the mine, as well as his son, a darkskinned, strong-looking man about thirty years of age, when they understood the position, readily agreed to work for the two City men, as faithfully as they had done for their own master.
After spending three days in their company in Cornwall, John Smith took an affectionate farewell of his brothers.
whom he said he had often before seen, and of whom he had often spoken with his mother. He said that he was about to sail once more from the port of Bristol to the East, whence it was most probable he would never return ; but he promised to communicate with them as often as opportunity offered, and especially to let them have certain knowledge of his death, whenever it occurred.
Three years afterwards, the brothers heard of his death, and took possession of their inheritance, wich was richly augmented by a packet brought to them by a sea captain. This packet, which the captain said he knew was worth a king's ransom, was found to contain a bonanza, consisting of a very beautiful collection of emeralds, rubies and pearls, set in Eastern gold. It contained also a certificate of the death of John Smith, signed by the captains of two well-known merchantmen trading to the East, and sealed with the great seal of the Queen of Patani, under some Arabic writing, which, on translation, proved to be a panegyric, and a lamentation of the Great Queen of Patani on the death of her adopted son, John Smith.
The package also contained a last letter, written by John Smith to his half brothers, in which he said he was at that time aware of the fact that he was peaceably and quietly dying in the city of Patani. He had arranged for a certificate of his death to be delivered to them, and begged their acceptance, as a last souvenir, of the ornaments, which would be delivered to them, and which, he said, would give them some idea of the East. He sent them also an account of his life and travels, feeling sure that they would read with interest a true setting-forth of the wonders of the East, which, he said, had been to him a never-ending exposition of the wondrous GOD IN NATURE,
He declared that now, at the ending of his life, he was convinced that all creeds and systems of religion were narrow and the work of men. Some were more instinct with good than others, and nearly all of them were of use in leading the human race to conduct their lives in accordance with certain laws, wich were necessary for the well-being of the human animal. He professed to find good in the Koran of the Arabians, equally with the Bible of the Christians. He commended to his half-brothers the precepts of Lao-tsze and Confucius, equally with the doctrines of Zoroaster and the Buddha; "but before all", wrote he, "realize that the whole Universe is GOD; worship him not only as in Heaven, or as present when a congregation meets in a church, but consider rather that your own individual bodies and souls, equally with every particle of matter, animate or inanimate, every thought engendered in your brain, and every aspiration of every living thing, is GOD, and GOD is it; and then shall you find reason for worship, and the observance of moral and necessary laws and rules of life."
With these words John Smith concluded his last letter to his half-brothers. It is, however, from the leaves of his journals and writings, enclosed in the packet sent to them, that the following chapters have been taken.
It has been thought inexpedient to reproduce the old- fashioned phraseology of the journals and essays, and also it hat not seemed as if the tale could be so well told in the first person as in the original, for the same cogent reasons. It may also be said at once that the name John Smith, is not that which was signed at the bottom of the letter and mentioned in the certificate of death.
CHAPTER 11.
The trading expedition, commanded, and in a great measure owned, by James Neccy, sailed from the port of Haarlem in the Low Country, in February of the year 1600. It consisted of the two galleons, named respectively JoHANiS DE Hakluyt and Jacobus de Halle, with the crompster called Peter ASMODEUS, and was under the supreme command of James Neccy as Admiral.
The English East India Company had just been started, with the avowed intention of spoiling the Portuguese trade in the East, which had indeed been now absorbed to a great extent by the Spaniards, in consequence of the amalgamation of the two states about twenty years previously.
James Neccy had been urged to combine with other Dutch merchants and form a company, to rival the English one, but had not been persuaded, although he foresaw that such a combination would be necessary, if a share of the trade was to be retained by the Hollanders; but at that time he considered himself strong enough to hold his own, and was astute enough also to perceive that if he had a successful voyage this time, he would be in a much better position, after the lapse of two or three years, to join any company which might have been formed ; and in point of fact, the Dutch East India Company, when it was started in 1603, reserved a seat on the Directorate for him, and this he occupied on his return from the East.
The JOHANis DE Hakluyt carried the Admiral's house
lag, bearing his warlike crest — for James Neccy came of good blood and an adventurous race. His crest was a mailed arm and hand holding a cross-bow elevated. His motto was an English one, for he was of Saxon-English descent. It seemed to refer to a trading spirit amongst his ancestors, although it might have had to do with the prowess of some leader in a fight, whose mailed fist was found to be heavy, for it consisted of the two words "Good weight."
The JOHANIS carried a crew of one hundred men, under the immediate command of old Christian Lentholm, a Norwe- gian, who had all his life worked for the house of Neccy, gradually making his way upwards in the knowledge of seacraft, as well as in the confidence of the chiefs of the house, until he was considered not only the most expert sailing master in Holland, but almost the most travelled man of those parts. He was now making his third voyage to the East Indies. His crew, as well as the crews of the other ships, were carefully selected men, none under thirty years of age, and of many different nationalities. In the selection care was taken to procure those who had a good knowledge of the use of weapons of war, especially firearms; in fact a large majority of them had at one time or another served on ships of war, of the different European states.
The master gunner was a Frenchman, Lewes de Havre he was called. Twenty men of the crew of the JOHANIS were to be under his immediate command as gunners, if chance should require their services in a fight, and he was very eager to pick out the most likely men to work his guns, as soon as the crew was mustered before the start.
The other officer who shared the Admiral's saloon in the poop, was John Smith, the chief super-cargo of the venture. John Smith had already made one voyage to the East with old Christian Lentholm, reaching as far as Java, and touching
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at Pegu, Johor, and some ports in Sumatra and the islands. He had taken pains to acquire some knowledge of the Malayan language, the "lingua franca" of those seas, and of the trading customs of the natives. He had since his sixteenth year worked for the house of Neccy, where his mother had placed him; and as every man employed by that prosperous house, in whatever capacity, was paid according to the profits made, rather than a regular salary, he had already managed to get together a considerable sum, which he had loyally invested in the venture.
But besides this, his mother who had called him to England to see her before he started on this voyage, had put into his hands about a thousand pounds, telling him that it was his patrimony, and at the same time had explained to him the history of his birth. It appeared that his father, before he died, invested seven hundred pounds in his name, without stating the connection between them, and appointed his mother his guardian or trustee, with power to pay over the capital and profits to him at her own discretion, when she considered he would most require it.
This was a most delightful surprise to the young man, who unfolded to his mother a plan which he had been considering for some time, which was to leave the house of Neccy and travel about the East and trade on his own account. His affectionate mother, whilst deploring the long separation which this would entail, could not combat her son's resolution, which, considering his birth and up-rearing, was most evidently the best path in life for him.
With his mother's consent, he told his Master and Admiral what he wished to do. No objection was raised against his disire, on his agreeing not to leave the expedition, until the fleet had passed the end of the Malay Peninsula and sailed up the East coast. Then, he decided, he would leave the
m
II
ships at the most convenient port and start on his own
rticular venture, entrusting his share of the main enterprise o his Admiral.
John Smith was at this time a healthy young man, well educated in all the wiles of commercial dealings, but with a strain of romance in him, and also a great liking for philosophical studies. He had read much, especially the doctrines of ancient teachers of all countries, and was profoundly imbued with a spirit of moral analysis. He was, besides, an expert man-at-arms, very clever with the Spanish rapier and dagger, with which weapons he was almost invulnerable, having trained himself in combats against opponents armed with other and unusual weapons, such as javelins, halberts, clubs, axes and the -like. He had also a fair knowledge of the simple chemistry and surgery of the times. Thus equipped, it seemed as if he had a very fair chance to hold his own in an adventurous life with a savage people, and this — as has already been shown — well proved to be the case. As to his work for the house of Neccy, the present trust reposed in him showed the estimation in which he was held.
He was represented in each of the other ships of the expedition by an assistant supercargo, and he also had an assistant on the JoHANis, who, when he left the ship, was to take his place as chief supercargo.
The Jacobus was as nearly as possible a counterpart of the JOHANIS. She was commanded by a Fleming.
The crompster PETER ASMODEUS was equipped with a crew of seventy men, under the command of Paul Keyut, a true Dutchman of the sturdiest type, who had commenced life under the auspices of Neccy as a Northsea pilot. The Jacobus had twenty gunners and the PETER AsMODEUS fifteen, each company under the command of a master gunner. Lewes de Havre had been entrusted with the selection, not
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only of the officers but of the gunners as well; and he arranged that each company, with its commander, should spend a month on the JoHANIS, under his own instruction; for it was well understood by all concerned that the time had come when artillery would play the most important part in any future sea-fight.
The Peter Asmodeus indeed — which by reason of her lighter draught and superior sailing powers was destined to act as scout and tender to the heavier ships — carried amidships, elevated on a raised platform, a very unusual and expensive weapon, in the shape of long, bronze pivot gun, which would throw a ball, albeit of a small size, three times as far as an ordinary culverin. This gun had, after great persuasion on the part of Lewes de Havre, been only lately added to the armament of the house of Neccy and had been cast and carefully tested under the master gunner's own eyes, at great cost and after many spoilt castings. It was composed of an amalgam, very carefully mixed after many consultations between John Smith and Lewes, the former of whom had made a study of this branch of science. The gun was with much ceremony christened "Anna", after a youthful daughter of James Neccy, and amongst much fanciful ornamentation, the Neccy arms appeared on the breech of the gun, with a quaint legend just behind the touch-hole which might be freely translated into Enghsh as follows;
"Anna goes out to trade.
Her heavy cost is paid. Her shot "Good weight" are made.
Her foes shall all be laid".
This unique gun was the especial charge of a young Englishman, named Rupert Saville, who had won the approval
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of Lewes de Havre, as a good marksman and a reliable man. The crompster was banked for six great sweeps, or oars, a side. Besides the pivot gun, she carried eight eighteen-pounder culverins and two five-pounder sakers, the demi-culverins, which these ships usually carried amidships, being discarded in favour of the pivot gun. The two galleons each carried sixteen culverins, sixteen demi-culverins, and eight sakers
CHAPTER III.
John Smith's writings do not contain very full accounts of the voyage down the west coast of Africa, the only incident of which appears to have been a little fight with a Portuguese carrack, which was ultimately driven into the mouth of the Zaire river, badly damaged ; but which, before her collapse and escape to the protection of the fort, succeeded in so badly mauling the JOHANIS, that for some time it was seriously thought it would be necessary to abandon her, she having been hit several times below the water line. The lower holds filled so fast with water that the pumps could not keep it under, but ultimately the old Dutch boatswain, an expert diver, succeeded in partially stopping the leaks by caulking them from the outside with oakum, so that the shipwright and his carpenters could get at the damage from the inside. But it was evident to everybody that the repairs could only be considered as good enough to take them on for a week or two. The Admiral therefore decided that it would be necessary to seek the mouth of some other river with all speed, so that the ship could be properly careened and put into good fettle again.
The fight would have undoubtedly gone better for the Hollanders if the Peter Asmodeus had not been sent away two days previously on a scouting and exploring expedition down the coast, with instructions to await the other ships at the mouth of the Quanza, a well-known place of call for
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ships sailing south, and one where good water could be obtained.
The JOHANIS was thus badly damaged by the first discharge from the Portuguese carrack, a much larger ship and carrying many more guns. She had attacked the Dutch ships, evidently supposing them to be merchants of the usual type, which, whilst they were always armed, were not generally so well equipped as James Neccy had wisely decided his ships should be for this expedition. Without doubt the Portuguese captain thought to obtain an easy victory, especially as he was not far from the strongly fortified port at the mouth of the Zaire, whence he might hope for assistance in an emergency, and to which he could always make for refuge. He was, however, taught a severe lesson, as he barely escaped into harbour, and even then did not save his ship.
It was the better marksmanship of Lewes de Havre's gunners, and the excellent spirit of both crews under James Neccy's command, which assured to them the victory; and indeed the Admiral was vehemently urged by his ship's companies to allow the Portugals to be followed into harbour and finished off under the guns of the fort; but James Neccy said, "No! we are traders, not fighters. As this arrogant Portugal attacked me, I was obliged to fight; but now it behoves us to meet our consort with all speed, and find a convenient place where we may repair our damages."
This was so evidently the proper course to take, and it was also very apparent that more hard knocks than profit would be the result of following their enemy into port, under the guns of the fort, that it was at once adopted ; so sail was trimmed, and the two vessels made off as well as they were able on the course taken by the PETER ASMODEUS two days before.
Except for the damage done to the JOHANlS, they had
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suffered but very little loss, two men killed and ten more or less wounded on both ships. The Portugals had evidently suffered much more severely, for wen the JOHANIS and the Jacobus had succeeded in getting into place on either side of the great carrack, the superior training of Lewes' gunners got a chance, and nearly every discharge told, so that the upper deck of the carrack was seen to be crowded with dead and wounded. Moreover, the master gunner had ventured on an experiment, which he had long wished to try in warfare; he had fired some red-hot balls into the Portugal; and as they escaped, the result was seen to have been effective, for she burst into flames before she got into harbour. But the experiment was not quite successful, for after a cold shot had been rammed home in the first gun, and the gunner was pushing down the red-hot shot on the top of it, the charge ignited before the shot was rammed home, bursting the gun and wounding three men severely, one of whom died within an hour.
It was John Smith who surmised that some gunpowder had been left in the tube of the gun, and had ignited when the red-hot shot was introduced, thus setting fire to the charge prematurely; and it was he who showed that this might be obviated, if the charge of powder was secured by double wadding and the tube carefully cleaned out with a damp mop, before the cold and then the hot shot were introduced. He volunteered to load the next gun himself, and Lewes de Havre, not to be outdone, offered to assist him. The opperation was successfully carried out, and several red-hot shots were fired into the enemy, without further damage, except to the Portugals.
It was eight days before the PETER ASMODEUS was found anchored at the mouth of the Quanza river. Her Master had, on his first arrival, taken her some miles up the river and
found good water. He had also ascertained that there would be no difficulty about the larger vessels ascending as high, if not higher, than he had done. He had not seen any place fit to careen the JOHANIS so far as he had gone, but he had no doubt that such a place could be found if search was made for it. He had been obliged to return, because his men had been frightened by the strange and unearthly noises heard in the forest proceeding apparently from a group of small hills, about two miles from the riverbank. It seemed as if a party of giants were calling to one another, from hill-top to hill-top, although the roaring certainly might have proceded from a troupe of lions, which were known to inhabit these parts, or perhaps from some other wild beasts which had not yet been heard of in Europe; for as in the time of the Roman Emperors, strange and unheard of things still came out of Africa.
Old Paul Keyut was of opinion that the noises were of human agency, although so far nothing in the shape of a human being had been seen ; but when his crew understood that their commander held this opinion, they were only the more afraid and talked of giants, agreeing however, that as soon as the other ships arrived, they would willingly go and fight whatever was to be fought, were they giants or the very Sathanus himself, backed up with all his infernal hosts. This suited Master Paul very well, for he had made up his mind to do some trading with the natives, if they possessed anything worth having; and moreover he was obliged to move down the river again to meet his consorts, which, as has already been stated, he did.
It was quickly decided that all three vessels should move up the river with the tides, as far as possible, until a good place to careen had been found, and if circumstances seemed favourable, to overhaul all three ships, and in the meanwhile
to examine the country with a view to getting into touch with the natives, and trading with them if they had anything worth buying.
It took the Httle fleet four days to get far enough up the river, before a proper place to careen was discovered. They drifted up with the tide for the most part, for there was but little wind to assist them, and what there was, was to a very great extent, owing to the high forests and the eccentric turns of the river, not very favourable to them. But the delays were not wasted, as during the times they were riding at anchor, when the tide was flowing out, opportunity was taken to explore the country on either bank of the river. For the first three days they were passing through dense swampy forest, which was very difiicult to penetrate, and except on the second day, when they passed the point where the PETER ASMODEUS had stopped, no signs of humanity were met with. Here they heard the noises which had frightened their consort, but the Admiral would not allow them to go inland to investigate, wisely deciding that no delay must be risked until a careening place had been found, but promising that, when he had discovered how much damage had been sustained, he would allow a party to try and discover if there were any natives, and to endeavour to trade with them.
It took all hands more than a week to lighten the JOHANIS, by taking out her guns, top-masts, sails and other gear, before she could be dragged up onto a sandspit, which was covered by only a foot of water at low tide, but which was over six feet deep when the tide was in.
Advantage was taken of a full tide, and by the help of cables and blocks attached to the huge forest trees, she was hauled up as far as possible, and then shored up with props, which had been previously prepared from saplings cut in the forest.
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This having been accomplished, everybody waited patiently for the out-going tide, in order that an examination of her hurts might be made. It was found that two strakes of her sheathing were so damaged and splintered that there seemed no alternative but to replace them by new ones also, the forecastle was very much knocked about, and a shot had pierced the fore-mast close to its foot, so that this timber also hat to be replaced. In addition to this, general repairs were necessary all over the ship, as it was evident that she would not stand any very great strain of wind or sea.
When these serious damages were realised, considerable consternation was expressed, as it was quickly understood that some time must elapse before timbers could be obtained which were sufficiently well seasoned to use for the repairs necessary.
A general meeting of all the crews was called; for James Neccy, recognising, as he always did, that all were share- holders in the enterprise, considered that each individual should have a chance of expressing his opinion. There seemed to be four alternatives. First, for the two ships to proceed with the voyage, dividing the crew of the JOHANIS between them, and sacrificing the least valuable part of the cargo of the three ships to make room for the excess and the extra men, and leaving the JOHANis to her fate. Secondly, to patch up the JOHANiS sufficiently to take her back to Holland for repairs. Thirdly, to leave her crew where she lay, and for her crew to repair her properly there; the other two ships meanwhile to continue their voyage, and the JoHANiS to follow them, or return home, at their discretion when she was in good order. Or fourthly, for all the fleet to remain in the river until she was in order again, and then to proceed all together with the voyage. The last of these alternatives was adopted, with a very few dissentient
votes, and was approved of by the Admiral; for even if six months had to be spent in this river, there seemed no especial reason to regret it, as food, in the shape of fish and fowl at any rate, was abundant, good water was handy, and moreover the spirit of adventure was strong amongst the crews, who were anxious to explore the country and get into touch with the natives, anticipating strange discoveries and, perhaps, profitable trade.
John Smith was especially delighted with this decision, for he had read of enormous river-horses and wingless birds, giants and pigmies, anthropophagi, and wild, hairy men who lived in trees; he therefore hoped for much profitable explo- ration and a great fund of information to be acquired, to say nothing of a chance to verify or refute what he had read in books.
He was convinced that the noises heard down the river were due to human agency, and that somewhere in the forest near at hand there were not a few natives, because as he was exploring the country with Lewes de Havre, about a mile inland from the right bank of the river, in the direc- tion of the hills from which the noises proceeded, they had discovered what was evidently the remains of a large camping place in an open space. Here they had counted over a dozen heaps of ashes and charred brands, and had noticed some very large bones lying about, which they thought must have originally belonged to elephants; but it was evident that the camp had been deserted for some weeks, as already the coarse grass was springing up through the ashes a foot high. What was also very significant was the discovery of two human skulls. They told nobody except the Admiral of their discovery, and for fear of alarming the men, it was agreed to keep the matter secret; but James Neccy gave strict orders that no party of less than twenty men was to
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go into the forest out of sight of the ships, and that no straggHng was to be allowed, alleging as a reason the danger from wild animals.
The JOHANIS having been hauled up as high as she could be got, and strongly shored up, it was found possible for the shipwrights to work on her damaged side, and nothing was now wanted but timber properly seasoned. But first all hands were set to work to build a stockade and clear a space round it, for the better protection of the ships and also for a store-house for the material taken out of the JOHANIS. It took nearly all the available force of the three crews about a month to finish this to the satisfaction of the Admiral; but when it was completed the position was clearly a very strong one.
About one hundred acres were cleared round the fort and opposite the ships, which were moored as close to the shore as they could ride at anchor without touching bottom at low tide, the Peter Asmodeus lying about two hundred yards up stream from the sand-spit on which the JoHANiS was moored, and the JACOBUS about the same distance down stream. The fort was about one hundred yards inland from the JOHANIS, on a rising bank. The PETER ASMODEUS and the Jacobus were further protected in the river by booms constructed of very light timber about a foot in diameter, joined together by iron links and staples, and armed with rows of iron spikes. These booms would be very difficult for naked savages to surmount, nor could canoes get by them, because, being very buoyant, they rolled easily in the water, and as they rolled still presented a fresh row of sharp spikes to any one trying to climb over them. The fort was more properly speaking a stockade. It was constructed of strong palisadoes set in the ground and forming a square twenty yards each way, the fence standing twelve feet out
22
of the ground and being provided with a banquette all round the inside four feet high, on which were mounted the guns taken out of the JOHANIS. A garrison of twenty men under Lewes de Havre was to occupy this structure. For their accommodation and for the protection of the stores taken out of the JOHANIS, a warehouse roofed with palm leaves was built in the centre. Good water was supplied by a small stream running down the sloping ground close to the fort, and it was also found that water was easily obtainable by digging wells six feet deep near the edge of the river, and one was dug in the stockade itself.
During the time these preparations were being made, indeed as soon as it was discovered that good timber would be required for the repairs of the JOHANiS, a party, consisting of the chief shipwright and his assistant carpenters, with ten armed men as escort, had been organised under the command of John Smith, to search the forest for three or four miles inland for good and suitable trees, out of which the timber required could be cut. Every day different samples of timber v^ere brought in by this party, planks and baulks of suitable size being split out of the trees and adzed into suitable shape. These planks and baulks were carefully laid out where they would dry in the sun, so that they should be well seasoned; and the sorts which after careful examination proved to be the best for the purpose, were chosen for the work of repair. It was considered that no timber would be suitable until it had been drying for at least three months, either for the strakes required or for the masts.
This party had very soon discovered signs of humanity in the forest, they found recently-used camping places, and after the first fortnight they had caught glimpses of black savages flitting about amongst the trees, evidently watching the working party. As days went on, these shy watchers
23
became more numerous and less afraid of the new arrivals in their forest though John Smith's workmen, as the savages became more daring, got to be somewhat nervous, and it was only by placing his men in a cordon round the carpenters when they were engaged on a special tree, and carefully guarding them on their journeys to and from the ships, that they could be persuaded to continue the necessary work, for bows and arrows had been seen in the hands of the savages, and the woodcutters, having heard of poisoned darts, did not relish working with their backs to an unknown danger.
They did all they could, inviting and beckoning the savages in the most enticing way to come forward, but without avail, for the most they could ever see of them was a black head on a black torso, or perhaps a naked arm and hand grasping a bow elevated on high as the savage owner made his way trough the dense undergrowth of the forest in retreat, when they advanced in his direction.
At last, acting on the advice of James Neccy, they used to make a practice of leaving small articles, such as strips of brightcoloured cloth, glass beads or buttons, on the stump of any tree which had been felled during the day. Invariably these articles disappeared by the next morning, but no other notice was taken of the presents. As yet, by the Admiral's orders, no gun had been fired, as he considered it unad- visable to frighten the savages by any display of that sort, although it probably would be no new thing to them, as the Portugals, who had been for some time established on the coast, had certainly used firearms, and had probably even killed some of the natives, for they were wellknown to be cruel and unscrupulous in their dealings with them.
There had been no dearth of fresh food, for the rivers abounded in fine fish of many sorts, while some forest fruits had been carefully and gradually tasted and had been found
24
excellent eating. A palmnut especially, about the size of a small walnut with a very hard shell, was found to be full of oil and most useful in cooking.
During the night time the forest was alive with noises of wild beasts, but nothing was ever seen in the day, except crocodiles in the river and a few monkeys and birds in the high trees.
CHAPTER IV.
It was many weeks before John Smith was able to persuade the natives to come near him. It was considered better to let them have as much time as they wanted to make up their minds, and to show as Httle anxiety for intercourse with them as possible. This policy bore excellent fruit. The first intimation of a desire to come to closer relations on the part of the savages was the finding one morning of a large basket full of manioc root, placed on the tree stump where the evening before a string of bright-coloured beads had been left. The manioc was known to several of the men, ast they had eaten it before on the African coast, and they considered it a most excellent article of food. After this something was found on the tree stumps every morning, in exchange for the valueless but showy articles placed there.
John Smith hit on a plan to make this system of barter more useful, one evening he left an unusually large quantity of articles on the tree stump where his party had been working, and the next morning he found in exchange a much larger supply of fruit and vegetables. On that evening he left nothing, and the following morning nothing was left by the savages. It was thus proved that a trading spirit was rife amongst them, and after a few days he was able to improve on the system. He was certain that the working party was closely watched by the savages, who were now often seen flitting about amongst the trees and, from the fort, even on the edge of the large clearing.
26
One evening, after work was finished, he mounted the stump of the last tree cut down, and .turning to the four points of the compass, by gesticulation and shouting invited the attention of any savages who might be in the vicinity. He then held up in his hands a dead fowl, which he had brought from the ship for the purpose, and pretending he was very hungry, he went through a pantomime of plucking, cooking and eating the chicken in a great hurry; but suddenly he cut it short, as if he remenbered his mates who were also hungry on board the ships; so he called his men around him and they all at his suggestion made a great hubbub, at which John Smith showed them the fowl. They then shouted for joy, as if at the sight of food greatly longed for. After this he ostentatiously displayed a woodman's axe and a small hatchet, which he flourished over his head and then stuck into the tree stump and left them there ; the whole party thereafter marching home to the stockade, with the fowl borne before them in triumph on a pole.
Although during the whole of this little theatrical display not a single savage was seen to be on the watch, it was quite evident the next morning that it had not only been observed, but also well understood, as it had been intended, namely, to intimate that the white men would be glad of a change of diet, and could eat animal as well as vegetable food ; for on their arrival to start work, their larder was found to be well supplied, two large hogs of a most uncouth appearance, a fine ape and about a dozen birds, chiefly pigeons, being found deposited by the tree stump, — a very adequate return for the axe and hatchet.
After this, animal food was always abundantly provided, but at some of the strange beasts the men took exception. At first some were squeamish about eating monkey, but soon it was found to be most excellent. Nobody could, however,
27
be persuaded to eat the snakes and large lizard-like animals which were displayed sometimes as if they were more desirable than other animals. But absolute fright was the result of finding one morning the enormous head of what was recognised by John Smith as a river-horse or hippopo- tamus, set up on a tree stump with the mouth propped wide open and a human child's head, evidently freshly severed from the body, placed inside the enormous jaws.
The child's head they left on the tree stump, but that of the hippopotamus was carried back to the fort. The teeth were very large, and this was considered to be the first legitimate trading transaction with the people. They hoped, however, that now they would be able to induce them to bring in elephants' tusks.
The next evening, having had the teeth knocked out of the hippo's skull, John Smith exposed them from the top of a tree stump, and also a large drawing of an elephant with enormous tusks which he had prepared, and which he left behind with another axe and hatchet, but the next morning matters were forwarded in an unexpected way; for on arriving at the place, the axe, hatchet and drawing were still where they were left, and at first sight they thought the place had not been visited, but on searching the ground in the neighbourhood, at a distance of about twenty yards from the tree, the party was struck with astonishment at seeing two little black children, as they appeared to be, standing securely bound to stakes with cords made of twisted woody creepers. As soon as the sailors had gathered round these two strangelooking creatures and had discovered that they were actually a full-grown man and woman, although less than four feet in height, they heard a discordant shout from the edge of the clearing, and saw a naked savage gesticulating, and flourishing on high something which one
28
of the sailors recognised as a flask, which he had left behind the day before, nearly full of schnapps. The savage seeing •that he had drawn their attention to himself, proceeded to explain his wants after John Smith's own style; first he pretended to take a drink from the flask, then he grinned and rubbed his abdomen, and in this way expressed great satisfaction. He then took another drink, after which he fell to dancing and shouting; a third, and his actions portrayed an advanced stage of drunkenness by grotesque antics and staggering; a fourth, and he incontinently tumbled over and apparently slept the heavy sleep of drunken unconsciousness. But his unconscious fit did not last long; he had more playacting to do, and shewed himself an adept pupil of the white man; for after a few minutes he jumped up, rubbed his evidently sore head for a little while and then went on with his mummery. He pointed to the flask, then to the two poor creatures tied to the stakes, and turning to the stakes, and turning to the forest he shouted out what was apparently an order to somebody, for after a short interval another tall savage appeared, leading six little men and women similar to the two tied to the stakes. These were arranged in a line facing the white men. They were tied together by a long rope, with a loop round each neck. The playactor then went on to explain his desire: he elevated the flask, brought it down to opposite his breast, and then started off as is to take it to the forest, his companion in the meantime, detaching the first little man from the string, advanced a few paces and tied him up to a tree. Then the first savage returned from the forest, and exposing the flask as before, took it back to the forest, and his companion brought forward another slave. This pantomime was repeated, until all six of the dwarfs had been brought forward and tied to the stakes. Then the two tall savages untied them
29
all again, readjusted them to the long rope, and with them disappeared into the forest. There was no mistaking what was meant by this elaborate little comedy; the natives were indifferent to any form of trading, except that which would give them the especially good drink which they had acquired by accident; and this they were willing to buy at the rate of a slave for a flask. Slaves acquired at this rate would be cheap enough certainly, but it did not seem a very moral sort of trade to John Smith's sensitive conscience. The rest of the party had no compunction about it, and urged that six flasks of schnapps should be at once procured and deposited ; but there were many matters to be considered, and it was decided not to do anything until the Admiral and the other chiefs of the expedition had been consulted.
The two dwarfs were therefore first secured by a rope round each of their necks, the ends of which were held by two sailors, and were then released from the stakes to which they had been tied. They w^ere dreadfully frightened, and taking into consideration the incident of the child's head exposed in the jaws of the hippopotamus a few days before, John Smith thought perhaps they imagined they were going to be eaten by the white men, for he had heard that there were cannibals in Africa. He therefore did all he could to reassure them, by keeping all his company, except the two sailors who held them, at a distance, and by off"ering them water to drink and fruit and roasted manioc to eat, first drinking and eating of it himself, and by applying a soot- hing salve to their sores caused by the ropes which had bound them. He stroked and patted their naked backs, and ultimately succeeded in persuading them to eat and drink and stand on their feet, and at last to walk with him to the fort, where their arrival caused much amusement.
They were very ugly indeed, although as they were quite
30
naked it was apparent that they were very young, in fact in the hey-day of their youth and beauty, but it was a different sort of beauty to what the white men had been accustomed, consisting chiefly of dwarfish stature, dirty, dark, tan-coloured skins, very big abdomens, monkey faces and heads of hair Hke mops ; moreover, their bodies were greatly disfigured by scars and some wounds which were not yet healed, evidently signs that, young as they were, their lives had been passed in a severe struggle, perhaps against the natural enemies of mankind in the forest, perhaps against their own kind; in fact they did not seem very friendly the one with the other, as they walked out of the forest to the fort, hardly speaking to one another and when they did speak, if talking it was, frowning and snarling much like angry dogs. For the rest, they were naked and not ashamed, proving that it was their natural state, as indeed seemed to be the case with their masters, so far as could be judged by the two men who had shewn themselves that day.
The other savages seemed to be fine, tall men, quite naked also, and of the same dark, tan colour. They wore necklaces and girdles of what looked like teeth and claws of some wild animals, and their heads also appeared to be very elaborately ornamented, the hair being made to stand up in bunches or crests, moreover they were wearing some of the articles deposited by the traders, such as beads and buttons, and had strips of bright-coloured stuffs a yard long flying from their girdles like tails.
The two captive dwarfs were critically examined by the Admiral and his officers, who treated them kindly, offering them various things to eat and drink and shewing them their arms and clothes, but they were very much like animals and very suspicious, smelling each article of food before tasting it, and in their anxiety and suspicion of everything
3t
ofiered to them, apparently becoming a little more friendly with each other, for they began to talk more, and ultimately seemed to come to a mutual understanding as to their course of action with regard to eating and drinking the strange things offered to them.
The man first carefully smelled every article of food offered to them and then passed it over to the woman, who ate a little of it, apparently in great fear. After an interval, as she experienced no ill effects, the man ate also. It was thus seen that they were much afraid of poisons, and that they were not in the habit of trusting their fellow-men at all ; and the subservience of the female to the male was also most evident, for the woman was made poison-tester to her more powerful mate.
This kindness on the part of the Admiral and his officers seemed likely to have serious results to the savages, for after they had assured themselves that the food was not poisoned, there appeared to be no limit to their appetites, a stiff poorridge of barley meal, seasoned with small bits of salted pork especially finding favour with them. A wooden bowl containing about a quart was first given to them: the woman ate a little first, and after a due interval the man took the bowl from her and finished it, scooping it out with his hand and filling his mouth, at first slowly, but afterwards as fast he could, with the evident intention of leaving none for his mate. She was therefore supplied with a second bowl, but before she had half finished it, the man snatched it from her and ate it all up. The large porringer in which it was cooked was therefore ordered in, and the wooden bowls kept supplied as fast as they were emptied, until, as John Smith expressed it, in rather more forcible language than is quite advisable to use here, their abdomens were distended in a very remarkable manner, but obviously to their own
I
3^
great satisfaction and contentment. When this end had been attained it seemed well to stop the supply of food, but the Admiral with his own hands gave first the woman and then the man a very small modicum of schnapps, remarking that "the feast certainly required a doctor to assist its digestion."
The production of the flask of schnapps, similar to the one which had been acquired by the master savages the day before, gave unbounded delight to the dwarfs, who had apparently seen the effects produced on their masters by the drinking of its contents. They grinned and chattered and strained on their neck halters towards the Admiral until he gave them each their jorum. They sipped the spirit and held it in their mouths so as to enjoy it longer, rubbing their bellies and rolling their eyes in a very grotesque manner, waiting for the spirit to have the same effect on them as it had on their masters. But they were, to their great disappointment, only allowed a very small dose each, and were then led away to a corner of the chamber where the council was sitting, and there tied to a post in such a way that they could move a little, or lie down at their ease to recover from their large meal. Their guards were then dismissed, John Smith promising to watch them and frustrate any attempt on their part to escape or do damage.
They seemed, however, to be very well contented with their position. The man lay down flat on his back, and the woman fell to rubbing his belly, which was very much distended and apparently somewhat painful. In this way they appeared to become somewhat more friendly with one another, until, as John Smith writes, he thought it better to procure an old sail and hang it across the corner of the room, so that they might sleep in greater comfort and privacy, for one of them was a woman, and from the way in which the man dominated her, he believed that she was
t -
I
33
his wife, or at least likely to be, and their love-making would progress more satisfactorily in secret.
Having thus properly disposed of the captives, the Admiral and his officers proceeded to discuss the affairs of the expedition. A large quantity of timber of different sorts had been collected, roughly hewn to meet the requirements of the shipwrights, and arranged in the best manner possible for drying and seasoning; but it was evident that at least another two months must elapse before the material would be fit for use, and up to the present the only articles of trade procured were some hippopotamus teeth and two slaves. The slaves, both John Smith and old Christian Lentholm assured the Admiral, would command a very high price amongst the Malay kings in the Far East, or could be judiciously used as gifts to them, in order to secure favourable countenance; and all the officers agreed that it would be well to procure a few more of them, if it could be done at such a cheap rate as a flask of schnapps for each slave. Also, they might even be made of some use, if they were trained to service, and could perhaps be utilised to fill up gaps in the muster roll of the expedition, for men would certainly die and become disabled before it was over, a contingency which no one ever lost sight of.
But this was not the sort of commerce which the expedition had set out to engage in, and all the chief members of the council agreed that the time had now arrived to get into touch with the bigger race of savages who inhabited this region, and to start a trade of some description with them. They were evidently most willing to exchange slaves for flasks of schnapps, but only a few slaves could be accom- modated, and not many flasks of spirits might be spared. It was true, as John Smith pointed out, a still could easily be set up and some sort of spirit distilled from any grain
3
34
that might be found, or even from the manioc roots, which would probably please the savages as well as the schnapps made in Holland ; for it seemed evident that the enjoyment to be got out of it by the savages was that of the drunkard rather than of the connoisseur.
In furtherance of this, a clay furnace was at once built and a large ship's copper set in it. A wooden dome was made to fit it, and a worm with a water jacket was fixed into the top. The last, about which some difficulty was at first experienced, v/as ultimately supplied by nature, in the form of two stalks of bamboo, one about six inches in diameter for the water jacket, and another about two inches for the worm, the divisions at the joints being carefully cleaned out by the use of long-handled gouges, until two perfect tubes were made, the larger twelve feet and the smaller fourteen feet long. The smaller tube was then fitted into the centre of the larger one by caps, so that a foot of its length projected at either end. One end was next fitted with a wooden bend, so that it could be tightly fixed into the top of the dome, while the other was slightly depressed so that the condensed steam could run down the tube and escape as distilled spirit. The water jacket was supplied by a man continually pouring cold water into a hole at the top of the higher end, and letting it escape through a cavity at the bottom of the lower. When ultimately a supply of manioc was obtained, this apparatus answered the purpose excellently. It is true the spirit obtained did not taste good enough to induce the sailors to drink it: it was really very nasty, but it was much appreciated by the natives, whose palates did not require consideration, so long as they could get drunk on it. But the story of the spirit and its uses will be told hereafter. We left the chiefs of the expedition consulting as to the next move to take
35
towards trading for some useful commodity with the savages.
It was decided that the best poHcy would be to ignore them for a time, as it was evident that they wanted the wares which the traders possessed, and that probably if they were left alone for a little while their desire for these wares, especially the spirit schnapps, would make them more venturesome. In the meantime the two dwarfs were to be treated very kindly and to be kept well fed, and after a day or two to be shewn the power for doing damage which the white men possessed in firearms; for up to the present, by the Admiral's orders, not a shot had been fired, for fear of frightening away the savages, who without doubt were hiding in the vicinity and slyly watching everything which took place.
By this time also many of the men suffered considerably from calenture and a dangerous bloody flux, which weakened them very much, especially those who had been wounded in the fight with the Portuguese carrack. It was thought that if the Peter Asmodeus was sent down the river with the sick men, to lie off the mouth for a few days, the sea breezes would assist their recovery ; and it was also desirable to see if there were any ships near the mouth of te river, as their late adversary might have arranged for them to be pursued, and it was not advisable to be caught napping. Furthermore, if the savages saw the ship go away, they might become afraid that their visitors were leaving, and they would get no more of the fine drink which they craved; this desire and the risk of its non-fulfilment might perhaps tempt them to come forward. The sick men were therefore moved to the Peter Asmodeus, and she was unmoored and sent down the river.
The greater part of the ships' companies were set to work to strengthen the stockade, which as well as the
36
JOHANIS was further defended by rings of caltrops made of split bamboo, sharpened and hardened in the fire, after a fashion which Christian Lentholm had seen practised by the Malays in Johor. The shipwrights meanwhile attended to the drying of the timber, paying particular attention to those sorts which were the least damaged by insects, "w^ite emmets", according tho John Smith's notes, being especially destructive, timbers of the palisades and buildings often requiring to be renewed.
Our hero seems to have made a sort of herbarium and so have kept leaves, flowers and fruits of each description of timber and to have referred to them by numbers, recording some very interesting facts about the different species. As might have been expected, the "white emmet" comes in for much abuse and appears to have been a thorn in the side of everybody concerned, and some timbers by reason of the damage done by these pests were immediately rejected, so that at last only about five species were left, and a working party was sent out to get a further supply of these.
Lewes de Havre took the opportunity of this time of inaction to overhaul his artillery, to exercise his men in handHng their weapons, and to dry some gunpowder which had got damaged by the water during the fight. John Smith also set his men to arrange the trade cargo, putting up special articles in separate packages, for convenience of barter or for presents to chiefs.
He also took great pains to exercise picked men in the use of the Spanish rapier, arguing that, at close quarters, a few men wearing light defensive armour would do great damage and strike terror to the hearts of naked savages, by reason of the unusual mode of attack and the ease with which a good fencer evaded even longer weapons than his own.
Then one morning Lewes and John Smith, armed with matchlocks of heavy calibre, and accompanied by the pair of dwarfs, each guarded by a sailor, who led them by strong cords fastened to rings round their necks, went up the river bank, with the intention of showing the dwarfs the white man's power in offensive weapons. The savages had by this time become in some degree tame, though they had never been actually violent, seeming to accept their position as inevitable and as a natural consequence of life, probably being used to slavery and subjection to a superior race; but they were still very suspicious, always tasting their food carefully and waiting for the effects of possible poison before eventually eating it. John Smith, noticing this, won considerable influence over them by himself placing their food before them every day, and eating a little from each bowl, in order to show them that it was harmless; and by as often as he was able staying with them and letting them examine his clothes and weapons. He got the woman to wear a short sailor's petticoat, and the man to don a pair of thin breeches, to hide their nakedness. They were proud of these garments, although they evidently did not consider them essential from the same point of view as their master. The woman indeed, who had the habit of showing her affection after the manner of some apes and other animals, was very immodest, in spite of sundry slaps administered to her by her master for her naughtiness; but she apparently looked on her punishment in the light of a caress, and it was long before she could be broken of the habit. Both the man and the woman seemed more like half-domesticated animals than human beings, but as was shortly to be proved, the instincts of savagery were combined with a considerable modicum of intelligence, wich was also inherent in them.
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The party went upstream along the river bank until they came to the edge of the clearing, where they were not ill-pleased to see a few savages watching their advance. These, however, quickly disappeared in the forest. At this point a small stream joined the river. When the tide was out this stream dwindled down to a mere trickle of water over a wide expanse of sand, which was a favourite place for crocodiles to bask in the sun. Several of these beasts had been caught on baited hooks by the sailors, and John Smith had commenced to tan their skins with a liquor made from the bark of a tree, which seemed to be suffi- ciently astringent.
They were lucky enough to find three large crocodiles lying out in the sun fast asleep, with their mouths wide open. The two slaves were brought forward and shewn the crocodiles, at which they naturally did not evince much surprise, crocodiles being only common objects to them. John Smith then proceeded to explain to them by pantomime that he would kill them by means of the weapons which Lewes and he carried. The savages appeared to understand what he meant, for the man picked up two sticks, which he arranged in his hands like a bow with the arrow drawn back to the string; then letting the arrow go, he immediately fell down as if dead; but pointing to the gun he expressed his disbelief in its killing powers very emphatically, showing by his actions that the crocodiles would all run away to the river long before the hunters could get up close to them, thus proving that he knew nothing of the power of the weapon to do damage from a distance. John Smith however assured him that it would, and he and Lewes prepared their matchlocks, agreeing both of them to aim at one particularly large beast, in order to make sure of killing their quarry. They fired both together at a word of command
I
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given by one of the sailors, and werp gratified to see the great saurian roll over and die almost immediately, while the other two scampered down to the river.
But what they were not prepared for was a chorus of yells and a rush, as of hundreds of people tearing through the forest, proving that they were being watched by large numbers of the savages, and that it behoved them to be very careful how they exposed themselves, or went into the forest except in sufficiently large parties.
The effect on the captive dwarfs was also very extra- ordinary and somewhat amusing. At first they made a rush for the forest, and if they had not been securely held by the sailors would certainly have escaped. As it was, they soon realised that they only hurt their necks by straining against the collars which they wore, so they endeavoured to reach John Smith, but the sailors held them back, and perhaps rather rougly; at any rate the man dwarf at last turned on the sailor who held him and stuck a small thorn into the back of his hand, after which they both got quieter, and when John Smith went up to them they grovelled at his feet, embracing his legs and uttering piteous moans.
Nothing more was thought of the thorn at the time, the man merely pulling it out, and in fact not realising that the dwarf had intentionally stuck it into his hand, thinking that perhaps it had been picked up whilst struggling in the bushes. Some more men were called from the stockade, and the crocodile was skinned and cut up, the bullets being carefully extracted and shewn to the dwarfs, and the match- locks reloaded in their presence, while at the same time it was explained to them that the bullets out of the guns had killed the crocodiles. This they easily understood, although it seemed that they thought the guns were endowed with hfe and killed of their own volition. In the meantime the
40
sailor who had been pricked with the thorn began to feel shooting pains in his hand and all up his arm. He called John Smith's attention to it, and even as he was speaking the pain became so violent, his hand and arm swelling so rapidly and turning black, that another sailor had to take charge of the dwarf, who all the time stood by grinning with satisfaction. The man explained the apparent cause of it, mentioning that he now believed the dwarf had inten- tionally stuck the thorn into his hand.
However it was done, it seemed certain that the hand was badly poisoned and unless prompt and energetic measures were taken to stop the spread of the venom through the system, the man might die. John Smith therefore first bound a ligature tightly round his arm, as high above his elbow as possible, and then opened two or three veins in his arm, scratching the skin pretty deeply wherever it had turned black. The man was then carefully led back to the fort, with his wounded arm hanging down so that his blood could easily escape, and was there fomented with hot water, his arm being poulticed with some "soveraigne herbes", of which John Smith had a considerable stock; he was also liberally dosed with schnapps, in order to keep him from fainting.
It seemed advisable to the Admiral to determine if the dwarf was responsible for this, because if he was, extra precautions would have to be taken in guarding not only the slaves they already had, but any others afterwards acquired. The dwarfs were therefore brought into the room where the poor sailor was lying, apparently nearly moribund, on a bed place, and they endeavoured to elicit from them how the accident occurred. There was no difficulty about doing that, for the male dwarf immediately betrayed himself by his evident dehght at seeing the poor man in the state
41
he was. The black imp fell to capering and grinning, pointing to the sailor and intimating by his actions that he would soon be dead, and then to the disgust and horror of his audience, he commenced to smack his lips and rub his belly, with the evident desire to intimate that he would make a good meal.
This conduct so incensed the Admiral that he ordered him to be taken out and hung to the branch of a tree at once, as a warning to the other savages. But John Smith begged him off, not certainly from a merciful desire to save him from punishment, but he argued that if the savage could do so much damage by merely sticking a thorn into his enemy, it behoved them all to first investigate the matter with a view to their own protection in the future. As he said, it was well to find out if the critical state of the poor sailor was due to poison or witch-craft, and if they killed the person who inflicted the injury, they might never find out how he did it. The Admiral agreed with this view of the case and also suggested that the author of it should conduct the investigation.
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CHAPTER V.
The poor sailor had all this time been suffering great torture of burning pains all up his arm, but not beyond the ligature which had been applied ; nor did he lose cons- ciousness. He urged that they should cut his arm off at once, for he said that he was sure that it would never be of any more use to him, and he was strongly of the opinion that, not only by way of punishment for what he had already done, but in order to stop him doing any more harm, the dwarf should be burnt alive like any other wizard. But John Smith inclined more to the opinion that the mischief was caused by poison, and because of the present conduct and antics of the slave, he believed that he had used the thorn intentionally. The question which puzzled him however, was, how the thorn had chanced to be so handy and ready for use. If it grew on any plant in the vicinity, it was strange that not one of the working party had been wounded before, because they were continually getting their flesh pricked and torn, as they cut their way through the dense undergrowth of the forest. He therefore persuaded the man to be of good heart, promising to cure him, and at any rate to mete out such punishment to his assailant as he deserved, after the old fashion taught in the Bible, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or a life for a life.
He then proceeded to try and find out what he could
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from the dwarf; first as to whether he was the cause of the sailor's hurt. There was no doubc about the reply to this, the same antics expressive of satisfaction were gone through again, supplemented by the slave reproducing in pantomime the action of pressing something into the back of his left hand with the thumb of his right. The female slave also, by way of corroboration, pointed to her mate and nodded her head. Then he tried to elicit from the culprit what chance there was of recovery. The answer to this was also quite certain, for the black imp first pointed to the sun, which was just past the meridian; then with his finger traced its course down to the horizon, pointed to the wounded sailor, and then himself went through a pantomime of dying. He then jumped up off the ground where he had pretended to fall and die, and went through the action of eating the poor sailor with great gusto, pointing to the assembled white men as sharers in the feast, but carefully leaving out his savage mate, who, it seemed, was not worthy.
So far then the matter was proved beyond cavil; this black devil not only confessed his guilt, but gloried in it, and even seemed to demand commendation for having provided the material for a feast. It was true the white men, and especially the poor victim, did not see things in the same light, and John Smith was urged by everyone to make an end and have the culprit hanged right off as he deserved. But this was not what the investigator wished for. He wanted to find out more about the poisoned thorn, and this he could not do if he killed the user of it at once.
He spent some time trying to discover something, sending out men for several sorts of thorny plants, and shewing them to the dwarf; but he was only met with a sort of sullen defiance, although the woman seemed to urge the man to disclose what he knew. John Smith now thought it
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time to take more vigorous measures, and taking hold of the dwarfs left hand, he drew his own dagger and made a pretence of cutting it off, at the same distance above the elbow that the ligature bound the sailor's arm, as if by way of recompense for the ill inflicted, yet without producing any impression. Certainly when he proceeded to score a pretty deep ring round the black arm, and blood flowed, the savage uttered an exclamation and snarled at him in a vicious manner; but the woman said something in their uncouth language, and he lapsed into sullen silence.
He therefore sent for some ropes and a small cane which he had cut in the forest, intending to have him tied up and flogged, a punishment which he certainly deserved, even if the sailor recovered. When, however, the men returned with the ropes, and together with him advanced on the dwarf, with the intention of tying him up to a post of the house, he assumed a very threatening attitude, snarling and gnashing his teeth like a dog; and John Smith, chancing to look round at the girl who sat on the ground in charge of another sailor a little distance off, saw that she was striving to attract his attention by making a gesture as if to intimate secrecy, while with one hand she pretended to take something out of her mop of hair, at the same time pointing with her other hand to her mate's head. Unfortu- nately her meaning was not quite understood, and before the little savage could be overpowered, he succeeded in snatching another thorn out of his hair and in sticking it into our hero's cheek. Realising when too late that the girl had intended to warn him of this, he immediately searched the savage's head and discovered several more of these thorns hidden in his hair. These were also undoubtedly poisoned.
The girl was all this time struggling to get near the men.
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who had now succeeded in throwing her mate to the ground and in holding him so securely that he could not move. John Smith ordered the men who held the girl to let her go, as from her previous endeavour to assist, by pointing out where the thorns were hidden, he thought that she meant to betray her mate.
It was well that he did so, for she immediately ran up to the prostrate savage and pressing what looked like a small tumour or swelling on his right side, about opposite the nipple of his right breast, an object about as large as a hazel nut was squeezed out of a hole in his skin. Running to John Smith, she constrained him to sit down on the floor, and standing behind him she tried to squeeze the thorn out with her finger nails. Failing to do this, however, she applied her teeth to it, and actually bit a little piece of flesh out of his cheek, in which the thorn was embedded. The pain made our hero cry out, and the men were for holding back the girl, but he told them to refrain, as he believed that she was doing the right thing, and would most likely know best how to deal with the poison, which, as it was planted in a more dangerous place than in the case of the sailor, certainly required speedy action. This the girl also intimated as well as she was able. Being then allowed to have her own way, she applied her lips to the wound and sucked several mouthfuls of blood from it, which she spat out on the floor; then taking from her ear — where she had placed it for safety, during the time she had been engaged on John Smith's cheek — the object which had been apparently stolen from her mate's body, she carefully opened it by forcing ofl" a sort of lid with her thumb nail, and disclosed a sort of blackish salve with which it was filled. A little of this she rubbed into the wound with the tip of her finger, and giving him the box containing the
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remainder, she smiled at him in a very dehghted way, and by signs invited him to go away and sleep for a while. This he was very much inclined to do, the salve apparently having the property of a narcotic, as well as — at least he hoped so — that of an antidote to the poison.
The girl assured him, as well as she was able, that he would feel no ill effects; and he did not, even the pain of the wound made by the girl's teeth being allayed by the salve. So, contenting himself by ordering the male dwarf to be tied up and the girl to be allowed to go free, except that she was not to leave the stockade, he went away to sleep.
The girl in the meantime watched the process of securing her mate, apparently exulting over him, because of her release and his bonds. She waited until she found a favourable opportunity to steal the rest of the thorns, of which six more had been taken from the man's hair and laid aside.
Then when the sailors had left him securely tied to a post, she went out and fetched some water in a cup, as if to give him to drink. The sailors allowing her to do this, as it seemed impossible for her to release him without a knife to cut his bonds. But her intention was not so kind as it seemed to be for whilst she was pretending to give him the water to drink, she deftly planted all six of the thorns is his neck, without the men perceiving it; and then, leaving the place, she went and sat down on the floor beside the bench on which John Smith was sleeping.
The first knowledge the sailors had of what she had done, was about half an hour after she had left, when, one of them happening to glance round at the captive, saw that he was struggling in his bonds, and that his face was fright- fully contorted. The men crowded round him, and within five minutes his head fell forward and he was dead. The
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cause of his death was evident, for there were the thorns sticking in his neck, carefully planted in a line along a main artery. There seemed no reason to regret his death, for in every body's opinion he richly deserved to die. The bod> was then unbound and laid on a bench, to await John Smith's recovery and the Admiral's order for its disposal.
It was not thought safe, under the circumstances, to leave the girl at large; therefore her hands and feet were tied, so that she could do no damage. She submitted willingly to this discipline, but objected very much to being removed from the room where her patient was sleeping, and was therefore set down on the floor against the wall, from which position she could see his face. Lewes de Havre also stayed in the room in order to watch his friend and assist him v/hen he awoke.
The injured sailor, whose arm had been anointed with the salve, after the ligature had been taken off, was also sleeping comfortably by this time.
After having slept for about three hours, John Smith awoke of his own accord, feeling very little the worse, except that his cheek felt stiff and sore, and that he was very thirsty.
The girl seeing him awake, tried to release herself, and crawled over towards his bed. Lewes having explained why she was tied up, and all that had occurred, both he and our hero decided that it would be only fair to release her and let her go where she liked. The cords with which she was bound were therefore untied, when she immediately carefully examined John Smith's wound and seemed contented with its appearance. She then went out of the room to where her mate had been tied up, and seeing him dead, gave further vent to her satisfaction by making grimaces at him and slapping his face with her hand, after which she ran away into the forest, returning in a very short time with
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a bundle of fresh leaves, like those of a small dock. These she bruised between two stones and applied to the wound on her patient's cheek, tying them on with some wilted strips of fibre taken from the leaf stalk of a wild plantain. On being taken to see the wounded sailor, she also very wiUingly fetched some more leaves and doctored his arm in the same way. This treatment after about a week cured both of them very effectually, the wounds healing with marvellous rapidity, so that, except for a scar on his face which John Smith bore all his life, by way of a souvenir, and as his friends told him, as a mark of his sweetheart's affection, no harm was done. The sailor's arm was, however, stiff and benumbed for several months, probably because the application of the antidote to the poison was not made so quickly.
His hurt having been thus satisfactorily treated, our hero and Lewes made a careful examination of the body of the dwarf, the girl all the time watching them curiously, and evidently by her actions thinking that they intended to dress him for the table and eat him; for she was careful to point out that he should be first cut in half transversely, and the upper half thrown in the river, because it had already become somewhat high, due most likely to the action of the poison. The legs and lower half of the trunk she explained could be cut into joints and roasted, when it would be excellent eating. But this did -not quite meet the views of the white men, who were not anxious either to make a meal of their enemy or to try the flavour of black goat: they only wished to examine the curious scars on his body, and especially the pocket from which the poison medicine had been taken.
This was situated on the left side, about five inches below the armpit. It appeared like a fold of the skin, having at the top a narrow slit, into which the little finger could be
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pushed; and then, if pressed downwards, a small pocket about an inch deep was disclosed. It was a most extraordinary appendage to the human body — and these dwarfs were certainly human — and not only that, but to people used to going about without any clothes in which pockets could be arranged, it formed a most useful contrivance. The question was how it got there. Neither of our friends had ever seen a kangaroo, and so knew nothing about the useful pouch which she uses for a cradle for her babies, or they might have believed that kind Nature had also provided these wild people with pockets. A further examination of the body disclosed the fact that on the other side, in about the same position, there was another fold of the skin, which looked as if it had been intended for a pocket, but without success. On the chest, also, there were some long, raised scars and knobs of flesh, which were too regularly arranged to admit of the supposition that they were either the result of wounds received in fights, or of scratches from thorns in the forest. This led |them to the conclusion that the pocket, as well as the scars, ad been artificially made ; but although the scars could be easily accounted for, the little pockets remained a mystery, and our friends turned to the girl for an explanation of it. When she understood what they wanted to know, she tried to show them how the pocket was made, by picking up a little pebble as big as a pea and pinching up the skin of her own side round it; but seeing that they failed to follow her meaning, she illustrated it in quite an heroic manner the next day, when John Smith tried to find out more about it. Having provided herself with a rough bit of sandstone, pebble, some fibres from the withered leaf stalk of the wild plantain, which she deftly rolled into a strong thread on her naked thigh, and a long, sharp and»very strong thorn, all of which she had collected on the edge of the forest,
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she showed them to John Smith, and leading him to the small room in the fort where he generally slept, she made him sit down on the bed, and squatting down on the ground in front of him, she proceeded to give him a lesson in savage surgery. First she placed the smooth egg-shaped pebble against her body, midway between her breasts, then pressing the two mammae together, and enclosing the pebble between them, she carefully noted and marked the lines of impact, by painting them with a little of the salve which had been used on the poisoned wounds. Then with the sharp sandstone she abraded the skin until the blood flowed freely. When this was done to her satisfaction, and the two surfaces from which the skin had been rubbed off fitted together over the pebble, she took the long thorn — to which she had previously attached the thread — and anointing this needle and thread with the salve, she commenced to sew her breasts together over the pebble, piercing the skin just on the outside of the abraded parts, alternately of the right and left breasts, until, as John Smith writes, it looked as if she were lacing her stays. He attempted several times to stop her, thinking that she must be undergoing great torture ; but she would not be stopped, and pointing to the vessel of salve, made him understand that it did not hurt at all, and this from his own experience he could well believe, as the salve appeared to have the property of allaying pain.
Having thus completed the stitching, as far as was necessary for her purpose, she took John Smith's hands in her own, and placing them on either side of her breast, she made him press the two wounded surfaces together, whilst she drew the stitches tight and fastened the thread; then, anointing the wounded surfaces with the salve, she lifted triumphantly to his, and showed him that she had constructed a pocket, even better than her dead mates, as it would hold a much larger article.
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This, then, was how it was done, by rubbing the skin off two places on the body, and by approaching these two wounded surfaces and fastening them. After an interval they grew together. Probably this growth was assisted by the wonderful salve. The pebble was intended to give shape to the pocket whilst the seam was joining, after which it would be squeezed out to make room for some treasured possession. It seemed scarcely credible, but they were able to verify it afterwards; for when they got into communication with these dwarfs, they noticed that many of the women had their breasts fastened together, thus forming pockets in which small articles were kept. It was, however, significant that only old women were thus furnished, the operation apparently being only performed after they had passed the period of child-bearing, and when their breasts had become flaccid and pendulous. The reason of this was evident, even if the limitation was not expedient from an aesthetic point of view; for truly the human form divine was not improved by the application of this surgical corset, as was now plainly to be perceived in the present instance. Perhaps the girl thought so herself, for having understood that her master was satisfied with her performance, she proceeded to undress herself to the extent of taking off her stays, when, having applyed a little more of the salve, she seemed as well as ever she was.
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CHAPTER VI.
The adventurers were now very anxious to start some sort of trading with the natives. They were too near the Portuguese settlement of Loanda and of those along the coast, north and south of the Zaire River, to be altogether safe; and they were anxious to get on to the East Indies before the combination of merchants, which was being formed in Holland, equalized the commerce and probably mono- poHzed all the trade, a contingency the Admiral felt certain would be the result, as soon as ever they were strong enough to rival the Portuguese ventures subsidized by the King of Portugal, who, indeed, at that time sold licences to merchants for large sums of money, besides monopolizing the trade in pepper himself.
Moreover, the spirit of adventure was rife in England, where there were sea-captains who had inherited the spirit of the Drakes, Hawkins and Frobishers of a former generation, who were only too anxious to take pay from the merchants of the City of London or Bristol, and, if a strong enough expedition could be fitted out, to attack the trade of the Eastern empire in the Indian ocean which the Portuguese had succeeded in building up, and which, with Goa for its metropolis, was the ideal triumph of the great Albuquerque. But both Holland and England realised that the fight for mastery would ultimately lie between themselves; for it was evident that the Portugals had become effete and to the
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last degree corrupt. Honesty was a negligible quantity, and the worst vices of the Latin race had become intensified by habitual intercourse with the crafty and cruel Orientals. As with the Spanish in America, so with the Portugals in the East, the new race of mixed blood — resulting from their inter-marriage with native women, mostly of the lower class, the collective conscience of whom was held in the grip of the Roman priesthood — was lazy, cowardly, cruel, treacherous and dishonest to the last degree, and ripe to become subject to a strong master. It was to this mixed race the Portugals had to trust chiefly as agents, for the collection of merchandise from the native traders and the Arabian merchants.
Strong, if cruel, chiefs like Albuquerque, Vasco da Gama, Magalhaens, Estavao and Christavao da Gama, had been succeeded by men like Duarte and Henrique de Menezes, Garcia de Norhona and Martim Afonso de Sousa.
The preaching of the great missionary, Saint Francis Xavier, had also borne its fruits in a threatened crusade, not only against the Mohamadan inhabitants of India, but also against the followers of other faiths, while the mistake made by the earlier adventurers in considering the Hindus, Nairs and other cults of India, as merely uncultivated sects of Christianity had been rectified, and the councils of the Portuguese merchant princes and officials were too much influenced by the religious element to prosper as admini- strative parliaments.
The English East India Company had already been founded. They had received their charter a year ago, and might be expected to prove formidable rivals; but James Neccy hoped that they would confine their trading to India proper, and leave the Malay countries and the islands beyond the Bay of Bengal alone. He was therefore anxious to get on as fast as possible, and would willingly forego any chance
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traffic in Africa, if only his ship-wrights could get to work on his damaged flag-ship. But it was plainly inadvisable to put unseasoned timber into his wooden walls. He saw, therefore, that it was hopeless to think of starting for another two months, which would carry him on to about October of the year 1600 ; at which time of the year the hot and rainy season of the West coast of Africa, as he was well aware, commenced, when it would be very unhealthy. Up to the present the weather had been cool and fine, and his people had suffered very little from the climate.
The neighbourhood of the Portugals had made it a little unsafe, and there had been so far little chance of trade, owing to the shyness of the natives. It was therefore deter- mined to make an advance into the country, so soon as the Peter Asmodeus should come up river again, which she was expected to do, all being well, in a few days time.
In the meantime, in order that the natives should get used to the noise of firearms, John Smith and Lewes with a few men went up river each day and shot crocodiles on the edge of the clearing. The slave girl was always taken with them, and she, being now quite docile and allowed to go where she pleased, soon got over her fright when a gun was fired, although she could not quite understand how it occurred that crocodiles died from the effects of it.
In an honest endeavour to assist her new master, she took great pains to construct a small bow and some arrows, making the bow-string of a sinew taken from the tail of a large crocodile, and the barbed tips for her arrows from its teeth, which she laboriously ground to a point and the proper shape on a stone. She was, however, unable to dress the arrows with poison, and made John Smith understand that it could only be procured from her own people, a long way off in the forest.
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Now this poison and its antidote John Smith wished especially to acquire, and he tried all he knew to make the girl understand his wishes, offering her all sorts of articles if she would go into the forest and procure it; but either she did not understand him, or perhaps was afraid to go alone into the forest: at any rate he could not persuade her to do what he wished. Indeed she had become so attached to him, following him about like a dog and refusing to leave him, day or night, that at last she became quite a nuisance, and he was often constrained to tie her up to a post in the stockade, in order to have any personal liberty at all.
In due course the Peter Asmodeus came up the river, having seen no signs of the Portugals, her sick people being very much better for the change. Preparations were therefore hurried on for an expedition into the forest.
It was decided to penetrate as far as the hills which had been passed coming up stream, and from which the mysterious noises had been heard. The plan to be adopted was to take a band of fifty men, forty of whom would be fully armed with matchlocks and swords, while the remaining ten would act as woodcutters and carriers of water and provisions for the march, as well as a few packets of cloth and beads, so that the expedition might be prepared at any moment to disarm hostility by gifts. Some flasks of schnapps and medicines also were not forgotten.
The order of march was carefully arranged. First, two [men with hatchets would cut a slight path through the undergrowth; then John Smith with a small compass would [follow to direct the line, for a bearing had been taken to ithe highest hill from the clearing. Following close at his heels came the slave girl, who would not be left behind, and whose knowledge of the forest, besides her voluntary
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presence with the party, would probably be useful. After her came in single file three picked matchlock men, to protect the head of the column. With these walked Lewes de Havre, who was in command of the whole of the men- at-arms; and then three more men with axes and wood-knives cleared and improved the path for the main body of the soldiers, who marched three abreast. The carriers were in the centre of this body. The rear-guard was commanded by old Christian Lentholm ; while two of the assistant super- cargoes and three other officers marched with the column at intervals along its formation, to keep a sharp .look-out for enemies or anything of interest that might occur on the march.
The distance to be traversed was about twenty miles, and it was hoped that by changing the band of woodcutters every hour, and working eight hours each day, the hills would be reached and a good path cleared in about ten days, unless unforseen obstacles, such as rivers or morasses, were encoun- tered, and if the advance was not molested by hostile natives.
They started early in the morning, and after three days' work, in which no particular incident is recorded, and during which they reckoned they had cleared a path about seven miles long, they came to a swamp with deep mud and tangled creepers, which caused some delay, taking two whole days to bridge, even with an augmented force of wood- cutters, although it was only about half a mile across. They bridged this place by felling trees along the line of march, and by then making a platform of round logs cut from saplings, which they laid across the trees. Some very large bamboo which was found near by, also materially assisted the construction.
They had, up to this, seen no signs of natives, but two days after, on getting to the other side of the swamp, the
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slave girl pointed out to John Smith a slight track crossing their line of route, and set by the side of this track, a slight structure consisting of two small sticks planted in the ground, and each having a fork at the top, while resting in these forks was another straight stick with one end sharpened and pointing along the track. The girl picked this stick off its supports and shewed her master three notches out in it. What these notches meant he could not ascertain ; but the girl evidently knew, for she urged him to go along the track with her, but would not allow anyone to go with them. Against the advice of Lewes and the others he decided to go, feeling confidence in the girl's honesty, and contenting himself with taking a matchlock, and by warning Lewes to come to his assistance if he fired. The track was very much overgrown, and often they had to bend nearly double; indeed John Smith could not distin- guish that there was a path at all in some places, and found it very difficult to keep up with his guide. After struggling along for about two hundred yards the girl found another sign, the fruit of a tree about as big as a large orange on the point of a stick planted in the ground. Beside this was an irregular-shaped stone, about as large as a man's head, while lying on this stone was another sharpened stick pointing into the forest at right angles to the path. The fruit on being examined proved to be carved into the rude representation of a human face, with the mouth wide open and a slip cut from another fruit of the same descrip- tion inserted for a tongue. A small hole was bored through the tongue, and the face was turned in the same direction as the stick indicated. All these signs the girl pointed out to her master, and then turning to the direction indicated, she uttered a cry, first softly and then louder, which after an interval elicited a response from the forest. The girl then,
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beckoning her master to follow, left the path and went in the direction of the voice. They both had to crawl now in the best way they could, for there was no path, and it took them longer to travel the distance, about thirty yards, than it had done all the rest of the way. At the end of the thirty yards they found a great rock, standing apparently a hundred feet sheer out of the ground. Its sides were precipitous, and John Smith could follow it with his eye for about a bow-shot distance to the right and left. A small stream washed its base, and this, and the forest bordering it, was trampled in all directions, as if by a herd of beasts habitually coming there to drink, and from the enormous foot-prints it was evident to him that at last he had got within ken of elephants, perhaps too near them to be quite safe.
As soon as the girl and he got to the stream, the same cry that had directed them was uttered again from the forest close to them on the right, and on the girl answering it, a short conversation was carried on between her and her invisible friend. Then, signing to him to remain where he was, she ran a little way down stream and darted into the forest. Our hero, although he trusted her himself, thought it better to be prepared for every emergency, so crossed the stream, placed himself with his back to the rock, saw that the match of his gun was smouldering and in good order, and that his rapier was loose in its sheath, and then, as calmly as he could, awaited the next event.
He had not long to wait, for very soon the slave girl came towards him, leading by the hand what he at first took to be some sort of hideous ape, but which on drawing nearer he saw was an old woman. She was quite naked and very ugly. Her body was scarred with wounds in every direction, some recent and some looking as if they had been inflicted long before. Her forehead was ornamented with a
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series of long scars, radiating from the centre of each eye to the edge of the hair, as if meant for rays, while the two flaccid bags of her breast were sown together, forming a good-sized pocket. Beside her the young girl looked almost pretty. She was apparently in great spirits, and from her peculiar gestures and actions when bringing forward the old woman to introduce her to John Smith, the latter gathered that she was her mother. Certainly she was not a parent to be proud of, but apparently she was regarded by her daughter with considerable affection.
The old lady was shy, but not from modesty, for she was naked and dit not know it, while her daughter, when with her in the forest, had also discarded her petticoat, and now carried it in her hand ; perhaps she intended bestowing it on her mother, or perhaps she did not want to shame her by appearing in society better dressed than she was. At any rate they both came up to John Smith as naked as they were born, and it was probably fear that made the old lady hang back. He wished now to return to the rest of the party, but this did not suit the two ladies, and he was constrained to sit down on the ground by the girl, who, for her mother's edification, and with a great assump- tion of pride, caressed and fawned on him in her usual manner; and then the two of them squatted down in front of him, and the girl commenced to fish in her mother's pocket. First she brought out some teeth, which looked very like human ones, and which the old lady promptly snatched from her and held tight in her own hand; then two pebbles, which John Smith thought were amulets, but which when the girl put them into his hand he determined to keep, if he was allowed to do so, and there seemed no particular objection to it. He noticed that they looked like rough water-worn glass and that they were shaped
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somewhat like irregular cubes, about as large as beech mast. He had heard that this was the appearance of diamonds in the rough, and thought that these might be the precious stones; so without showing any undue elation, as he did not wish to make the women think them of any great importance, he put them away in his pouch.
The girl then produced six nuts which she showed by her smiles she considered of much greater value. She cracked one of them between two stones and offered it to her master ; but then, perhaps thinking that he would be afraid it was poisonous, she ate it herself and prepared another one for him, which he did not hesitate to eat, feeling every confidence in her honesty. The other four she signed to him to put away in his pouch, without any objection on the part of her mother.
The nut had a peculiar aromatic flavour, and at first John Smith did not perceive why the girl should exhibit so much joy at finding them, but after a short time he experienced a warm glow all over his body, and a sensation which was new to him. The girl also was exited to a very high degree, and when he involuntarily smiled at her, for she appeared to him almost pretty and very happy, it did not require the slight push which her mother administered, to make her sidle over to him and commence to caress him.
But our hero was not to be thus conquered, for he now understood that he had been given a powerful love philtre, and was offended thereat. He repulsed her amorous advances, and rose to his feet with the intention of going back to his friends at once, sternly signing to the girl to lead the way; but he was checked by the old woman, who said something quickly to her daughter, whose face suddenly expressed great fright, and who quickly made her master understand that there was danger. As he understood what
she meant to impart to him by her signs and gesticulations, there were vast numbers of the big race of savages all round them, waiting to attack when an opportunity occurred. But she reassured him by explaining that her own people would assist them, and that she was not afraid of the result. She also made him understand that they would bring in elephant tusks after the big savages had been fought and beaten.
She was now quite as anxious as he was to get back to their company, and after dismissing her mother, who carried off her petticoat with her — apparently to the girl's relief rather than otherwise — they went back to the edge of the swamp by the same path they had come, and there they found the others anxiously waiting for them.
John Smith had by this time managed to learn some few words of the dialect spoken by the dwarfs; and with this knowledge and the use of many signs and gestures, when they got back to the stockade, he questioned the girl more closely, and made out that her people were always at war with the bigger race of savages, who were in the habit of keeping them as slaves when they could catch them, and of eating all those whom they killed. She admitted also that her people ate their enemies, but that in neither tribe were the women allowed to indulge in this food. Her people were armed with small bows and poisoned arrows, the poison for which, as well as its antidote, was prepared by old men far away in the forest, and was carefully guarded as an important secret from the other race.
This other race was armed with throwing spears or javelins, having broad iron blades. Her people did not use spears; they were not physically strong enough. They tipped their arrows with ivory or fish bone, and carried little iron-headed axes. They had lately also taken to earring poisoned thorns
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in their hair, to use if they found an opportunity when they were taken prisoners.
Her mother had been lurking round the village of the big savages in the hopes of rescuing her, and had found out that it was their intention to attack the white men very soon, when all the young fighting men had returned to the village from the forest, and that they were confident of success. But the girl said that her people would help the white men to easily beat the others, and she made John Smith understand that she wanted to go into the forest and see her people, so as to tell them all about it. After the Admiral had been consulted, she was allowed to go, after having assured them that she would return the next morning.
CHAPTER VII.
The situation was now becoming serious. Neither James Neccy nor any of the other chiefs of the expedition were anxious to come to blows with the natives of either race; they would much prefer peaceful trading; but if the big savages resented their presence in the country and meant to do them injury, there was of course nothing else to do but fight, under which circumstances it would be weN to have the dwarfs as allies, because it seemed that there were a good many of the big savages, and considering the contempt in which human life was held by all such people, it might be that they would be able to overpower the white men by mere force of numbers. It was agreed, therefore, not to continue the cutting of the path the next morning, but to await the return of the girl, and then call a meeting of the whole expedition and deliberate as to what action to take next.
The next morning John Smith — who as well as Lewes de Havre had small rooms to themselves in the stockade — when he awoke was astonished beyond measure to see the girl and two dwarf men squatting close beside his bed, and staring intently at him. He sat up on his bed-place, and the girl, first going to his side, crouched down close to him, and taking his hand placed it on her head, and then moving down to his feet, commenced to lick them like a dog.
The men then came forward, and lying down on the bed.
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each his bow and six arrows, together with the cords which they wore round their waists, and which supported small axes or tomahawks, proceeded first one and then the other to take his hand, lay it on his head, and then to hck his feet. Then, apparenly at a suggestion from the girl, they took from pockets in their skin little cases like that containing the antidote which had been taken from the dead dwarf, and presented them to him. Having thus done homage, and as it seemed to John Smith made themselves his men, they retired a little way and squatted down on the ground whilst he dressed himself.
Having dressed, he went and roused Lewes de Havre, and together they saw all the sentries posted at the corners of the stockade. They were all on the alert, and declared that they had kept careful watch, and as it was bright moon- light it seemed very strange that the girl and her companions had managed to enter the stockade without being perceived ; but at any rate there they were to be dealt with, so John Smith and Lewes returned to the former's room, taking with them three large bowls of porridge, which the cook was just preparing for the morning's meal.
They found the dwarfs in the same position as they had left them in, so setting the bowls before them, they invited them to eat, and their hunger being satisfied, with the girl's assistance they started negotiations with them. They ascertained that the bigger race lived in a town in the hills, towards which the path was being cut, and that they meant to fight the white men and kill and eat all of them.
It was found impossible to ascertain for certain how many fighting men they had, for the dwarfs seemed to have a very rudimentary idea of expressing numbers, at least so far as could be understood, although probably from their own point of view they explained to their hearers correctly
65
how many men of both races would take part in the fight. Their method of counting consisted of opening and shutting their hands, and then at intervals drawing short lines in the dust of the floor, until at the end of their endeavours, to make the respective numbers of the three forces plain to their questioners, there appeared thirteen lines, headed by a long stick with the bark on, as opposed to eight lines headed by a short stick with the bark on, and two long and one short lines headed by a long peeled stick. To make their hosts understand that the two lines and a half with the peeled stick, meant the white men, the girl fetched a matchlock and laid it down beside that row, and she herself sat on the ground beside the short unpeeled stick, to emphasize that it meant the dwarf army.
This was all very plain so far as it went, and certainly was meant to express that the proportions were as thirteen to eight of the savage races, and that the white men were in much smaller numbers ; but whether the numbers thirteen and eight represented hundreds, or fifties, or scores, or dozens was a moot point. Both the white men were of the opinion that they meant hundreds, for the lines drawn for their party thus indicated their correct number, the expedition consisting of between two hundred and fifty and two hundred and sixty men all told. Moreover, it seemed reasonable to reckon that there were over a thousand of the big savages if there was a town in the vicinity, and also when the crocodile was shot, the noise made by the stampede of the savages was certainly caused by a great quantity of people, i. They were unable to find out from the dwarfs when the attack was to be made, or why the savages were angry with them. They could not, in fact, obtain any more infor- mation, for the two little men were evidently becoming uneasy, because the stockade was by this time beginning
66
to get busy, as the men had all had their breakfasts and were going about their usual avocations.
Lewes therefore went to fetch the Admiral and the Captains, to have a short consultation in John Smith's room, before the general conference of the adventurers, which was to be held that day; and after the position had been explained to the Admiral and Captains, the two dwarfs were cere- moniously given their weapons back again by the Admiral, and also a pair of breeches each and a coat, and were then taken round the stockade, where they were shown the armoury of matchlocks and the cannons mounted on their banquettes. These weapons they could not understand, so Lewes trained a demi-culverin next the river, aiming at a large crocodile which was floating down with the tide, and firing it he pointed out to them that he had certainly killed the beast, for it was floating on belly upwards, and was convulsively kicking, whilst the water was reddened by its blood. The noise made by the gun frightened all three of the dwarfs a good deal however, they soon got over it, and took a great interest in the reloading; but they were evidently very nervous and were therefore allowed to depart, the girl staying behind.
At the general conference which was held soon after, and which was attended by the whole of the expedition except the sentries on duty, it was decided to go on with the road-making as before, but at every interval of about four miles, small block-houses, capable of holding about ten matchlockmen, should be erected to guard the line of retreat, supposing that the working party should be attacked. These blockhouses were to be protected by clearing the under- growth all round them, so that the enemy could not come to close quarters without being for some time within range of the matchlocks; and it was ordered that as soon as the
67
working party heard firing at one of the blockhouses, it was immediately to come back as fast as possible to assist in beating off the savages, while a small force advanced at the same time from the fort to cover the retreat. John Smith was also quite sure that directly a fight began the dwarfs would come to their assistance, but of course this could not be depended on, for after all it might be that the dwarfs were in league with the other savages, and were only pretending to ally themselves with the white men in order to get a fair opportunity to attack them, when they could do so with the best chance of success.
The first thing to do was to erect a little fort on the edge of the morass nearest the river. This took them three days, during which time nothing was seen of the enemy; but each day two fresh dwarfs were brought into the fort by the slave girl, and what was very satisfactory about these visits was that each pair of them brought in a fine elephant's tusk, so that at last the Admiral was gratified by the prospect of trade. The girl now began to be very useful and to show that she had the interests of the white men at heart, for whereas the Admiral when the first tusk was brought in, out of sheer happiness that his wishes were at last being fulfilled, presented each of the dwarfs with a boy's coat and pair of breeches, when the next day two more men brought in another tusk, and were about to be given a suit each in exchange, she quietly took one suit away from the man who brought it in, and laid it aside, and then with her own hands dressed one dwarf in the coat and the other in the breeches, sending them off thus strangely attired, to the great amusement of the men in the stockade.
It also became a fashion directly the dwarfs arrived, to give each of them a large bowl of porridge with lumps of salted fat pork in it, which they seemed to enjoy very much.
6S
Things went on like this for another ten days, until the road had been cut for about ten miles trough the forest, and two small stockades built, so that some of the men began to think that the savages dit not mean to attack them at all. But this was only what they hoped for and the hope was very short-lived. The dwarf girl began to show signs of great excitement, often crawling into the thick forest in advance of the line of march, apparently with the intention of spying; and one morning when the usual pair of dwarfs came in with the elephant's tusk, she kept them, and insisted on them accompanying the working party, whose progress was now of course very slow, as they had to march ten miles to and from the end of the cleared path to the fort, so that it was seriously considered whether it would not be better to build a stockade and place in it permanently a force of about fifty men, so that so much time need not be wasted in travelling to and fro; and this would most likely have been done, only on the day on which it was to have been started a most important discovery was made, and that was the end of the forest, which they reached about midday. The timber had gradually got thinner, and ultimately merged into an immense field of coarse grass, gradually rising to the summit of a low range of hills, which again was crowned with trees. The dwarf girl explained that the town of the big savages was on the other side of the trees, in a big field like the one in front of them, but with short grass. This prairie seemed a much more dangerous bit of country to traverse, in the face of a savage foe, than the forest was, because in the latter the javelins could not be used with effect, whereas here the savages could evidently creep up without being seen to within throwing distance, and do much damage before they could be checked.
The obvious thing to do was to burn the grass, so that
69
there should be no cover left, but to do this was tantamount to declaring war, for it was not to be imagined that the big savages would view with equanimity a force of strangers advancing towards their town. They would be bound to consider such an action as hostile; and they on their side had not as yet done anything to provoke hostility; indeed, for many days, since the episode of the shooting of the crocodile, hardly anything had been seen of them, although it was certain that they were watching the advance, because they were often heard in the forest on both sides of the path, while occasionly they were seen to pop up and then hide again in the undergrowth. Moreover, the dwarf girl and her companions were very excited and anxious.
It was very difficult to know how to organise the advance, because they did not know how far off the town was from the edge of the prairie. This appeared to be about three miles across, and if it was so, and the town was near the other edge of it, or at any rate only a short distance trough the timber which they could see on the hill-top, it might be possible to reach it in one march from the fort in the morning and get back again at night; that was if they burnt the grass first and the savages did not resist them. If, on the other hand, they had to fight, there was very great uncertainty as to how it might turn out. It was possible, if they had good fortune, that they would be able to turn the savages out of the town, and take possession of it themselves so that they could rest the night of the fight in the stronghold of their vanquished enemies. This would be very satisfactory. Or if they could not do that, they might have to bivouac where they could, and protect themselves as well as possible under the circumstances, until the next day allowed them to resume the fight, or to retreat to the fort.
JO
The three leaders discussed their chances very anxiously, and ultimately decided that the first thing to do at any rate was to burn the grass, and then go back to the fort and submit the matter to the Admiral and the others for advice.
Now the grass was very dry. It consisted chiefly of a coarse species growing in tussocks, each with many stalks bearing splendid plumes of efidorescence, which made the whole plain appear like a waving sea of foam. Since the adventurers had been in the country, now nearly four months, there had been hardly any rain, and except the plants under the actual shade of the forest, everything was as dry as tinder.
It was summer in this region : the forest trees were all bearing ripening fruit, and the streams and rivulets crossed on the march were nearly dried up, so that it was quite a common occurrence now to hear, and even see, wild beasts, which had come down from the higher land in search of water. Often their nerves were shaken by what they supposed to be the roar of the lion, and the noise made by huge beasts crashing through the forest to avoid their approach. The slow matches on their guns were attentively looked to and kept glowing for the nervous ones of the party were afraid of the chances of the forest; but they had a much greater superstitious dread of its fabled monsters, and the witchcraft of the giants and dwarfs with which, in their imagination it was filled, than they had of the actual prowess of the savages. Lions and elephants, mighty river cows and great serpents, were known only to the majority of the adventurers as terrible beasts that were prone to attack and rend and trample from mere viciousness. Little was actually understood of their real habits, and what was known only tended to frighten the men from its very vagueness, which
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their sojourn of four months on the outskirts of the forest and immunity from attack had not as yet dispelled.
It was agreed that the quickest and safest way to get across the intervening prairie between the forest and the hill-tops would be to first clear it by burning, as they would then be enabled to at least see any attacking party for some distance before they came to close quarters. Accordingly fire was set to the edge of the grass, which soon began to blaze up ; and as the slight wind which prevailed was blowing towards the hills, it gradually spread wider and wider, until it was a living wall of flame, retreating like a brilliant army up the slope towards the hills, and leaving in its track blackened devastation, typical of the course of a conque- ring horde.
But it was doing something more, for its advance was at last disclosing plainly to the adventurers enemies and friends all at one time.
None too soon did Lewes de Havre form his troop into a column of threes, to retreat along the homeward path; for as the fire spread to right and left, hundreds of dark warriors sprang up out of the grass, rushed back to the forest, and closed in on the Httle band on either flank. And as they ran they flourished over their heads sheaves of four or five javelines, broadbladed and dangerous looking. But as the big savages rushed back to cover, it was seen that they were followed by an undulating line in the tall grass, and the slave girl clutched John Smith's arm as she pointed to this phenomenon with great glee, and made him understand that this waving of the grass, at some distance in the rear of the rushing savages, was caused by her smaller tribesmen, whose heads were not high enough to show above the feathery plumes of the prairie.
Then for the first time certainty of assistance from their
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ugly little allies was assured to the band of adventurers, and they were all of them greatly heartened by the knowledge, so that the retreat was begun in good spirits. It was led by old Christian Lentholm, while the rear was commanded by Lewes and John Smith. This was always the order of march of the column when returning to the fort, thus reversing the way it was led out to work in the forest each morning.
Each man knew what he was to do in case of an attack by the savages; under no circumstances was a piece to be fired at random, but promptly on seeing an enemy, or even sufficient movement in the forest to make it plain that an enemy was behind a bush, the outside file of the column was to halt and fire, and then to pass his matchlock back to the centre file of the column for reloading. This centre file consisted, all -along the line, of the men who had started out without matchlocks to do the cutting and clearing of the path, and the officers. All of these men, as well as the matchlockmen and the officers in command, besides their heavy weapons, carried pistols in their belts, so that the little force of about sixty men could deliver quickly over one hundred shots; and as they were ordered to fire indepen- dently and carefully, there seemed a reasonable hope that they could, as they marched along, keep a considerable crowd of savages, — who could not use their javelins very effectively in the dense forest, — at bay.
But it was, to say the least of it, dangerous work to thus march in a long attenuated column, for nearly ten miles through the forest, with a savage enemy on either flank who might at any moment make a rush and commnece stabbing with the broad-bladed spears.
For the first mile or two they were not interrupted, and they began to hope that they would get back without having
4
I
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to fight; but, before they got to the swamp and its bridge of round timbers, the fun began. The first shot fired was, appropriately enough, an arrow from the bow of one of the dwarfs, who proudly trotted along, one on either side of John Smith, and who, with the girl behind him, seemed as if they had constituted themselves his especial body-guard. Apparently one of the sharp-eyed little savages had detected a movement, or seen part of the body of a naked savage on the edge of the space, which had luckily been cleared of undergrowth for some distance back from the path, for suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks, and drawing back the arrow, which was carried adjusted to the string, to his ear, with a twang it flew across the comparatively clear space, and certainly hit its mark, for a big savage stumbled with a cry back into the cover, regardless of exposing himself.
It seemed as if this acted like a signal, for suddenly, with a great shout, a crowd of warriors, brandishing their weapons, appeared at the edge of the cleared ground, and poising their javelins, threw them at the little band of white men; but they did hardly any harm, as the distance was too great, so that not one in fifty reached the path, and those few which did were too spent to penetrate the strong leather jerkins of the matchlockmen, who were also well protected with morions, breast and back plates, as well as with great boots, which, hot as they were for marchmg, were willingly worn as a protection against the thorns and other dangers of the forest, and now proved their usefulness as defensive armour in a fight.
Not so easily did the savages escape from this first encounter, for the order to fire as soon as ever a savage became visible to a marksman, was very literally carried out. Within the space of two or three minutes, several hundreds of savages were all at once visible, and within point blank range; so,
74
promptly, between twenty and thirty guns spoke their message from either side of the long column, and with very deadly effect, for many of the enemy were seen to bite the dust, some quite dead, some only wounded, but all who fell were left by their tribesmen where they lay. Frightened by the noise of the guns, the survivors rushed with a cry of terror back to the shelter of the forest. Their attack had never met with such a response before, and their knowledge of the white mens strength in weapons was bought dearly. The little band stood still in its tracks until the weapons were reloaden ; then it marched on over the bridge, and picking up the garrison of the small blockhouse on its way, reached the fort without further incident.
Long before they got home, the two dwarfs had left the column, and they did not return again until some time during the night; for next morning, when John Smith awoke, he found both of them and the girl squatting in his room. As soon as they saw he was awake, the two men came forward and each commenced to unroll a package wrapped in many coverings of green plantain leaves, until they disclosed the contents, which were gruesome enough and not calculated to favourably impress a white man early in the morning; for each package contained a choice assortment, of what, at the first glance, were recognisable as parts of the human body. Internal members, as well as small joints and organs, like fingers and ears, were all represented in the bill of fare, which had been carefully prepared for the delectation of our hero. It was a friendly tribute, and one could under- stand that if offered to a chief of the tribe would have been properly appreciated ; but as it was, it failed to arouse the enthusiasm which was evidently, at least by the male dwarfs, expected of it. The recipient's first care, after he had dressed himself, was to have the morsels of poor humanity
I
I
75
buried outside the stockade. This seemed to answer the purpose, from the dwarf's point of view, equally as well as if they had been eaten : probably they considered that the burial was an offering made to the earth god, instead of to the belly god, although it must have seemed a little wasteful to them.
From the gesticulations of the dwarfs, and from the translation of their narrative made by the girl, he gathered that a great battle had been fought between the big savages and the dwarfs, and that the latter had the best of it. Both the men and the girl made him understand that the white men should now march on to the big savages' town, wit- hout further delay.
This advice seemed good to the Admiral and the others when they heard of it, the only question was, how was it to be done. It was certain that they could not march out nearly twenty miles, fight a battle, — for nobody thought for a moment that the town would be surrendered without a fight, — and then march back another twenty miles to the fort. If they waited to build another stockade on the edge of the forest to retreat to, it was certain that what was built during the day-time, would be destroyed by their enemies during the night, so that their labour would only be lost. Therefore the proper thing to be done seemed to be to make a dash for the town, take it, and stay there for the night, after driving the savages out of it; and the only question which remained, was whether they were strong enough to do this.
That it would be worth doing, nobody doubted; for not only did the slave girl make John Smith understand that the big savages had great quantities of ivory, but so far as she could be understood, he believed she tried to explain that there were great quantities of food, probably grain of some
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sort, in the town, as well as cows giving milk. If this were so, it would be a great God-send, as the salted beef and pork casks were beginning to get low, although vast quantities of fish had been caught and had latterly constituted a chief part of their diet. Fresh meat and a store of grain would compensate for much expense of labour in marching, and the prospective fight did not in the smallest degree discourage a single man, for they were quite prepared to risk their lives for gain, and the chance of sacking a town — even if it was only a savage one, and ivory and slaves the only booty besides good victuals — raised every ones spirits.
Further encouragement of this design, resulted from a small expedition made by John Smith at his faithful attendant's instigation. She led him into the forest for about half a mile along very slight track, until she heard a peculiar call, more bird-like than human, and on her answering it, four dwarf men came out of the forest and, squatting down on the ground, proceeded to unload from their backs each a small carrying basket made of split canes. On these being emptied on to the ground, a pile of human ears, freshly severed from the heads, was disclosed. These the girl counted out into heaps of ten pairs each, until she had got eight heaps and six over. It was easy to see that these ears originally belonged to the enemy, for they were quite a different shape to those growing on the heads of the dwarfs who had brought them in. If, therefore, eighty-six had been killed in the fight, it must have been continued in the forest by the dwarfs, who were probably numerous; and in answer to John Smith's enquiry, he was made to understand that only about thirty of the dwarfs had been killed. Probably the eighty-six included those killed and wounded by the match- lockmen in the first attack, but even then it proved that in the forest the dwarfs were as good fighters as the bigger
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race; but it might be different in the open, where the javelins and the more athletic men would have an advantage. Also, because of their numbers the white men might find them dangerous under these circumstances.
The girl then led her master along the new road until they got to the first block-house, and when within a few yards of it, she called out something in her own language, with the result that about twenty dwarfs, all armed with bows, filed out of the door and grouped themselves in front of the house for his inspection. So also on the return journey to the fort, in answer to her cries, at short intervals, small parties of from three to ten dwarfs were continually showing themselves along the route, both to the right and left of the path.
This was very satisfactory, for it evidently meant that instead of being watched by a cordon of hostile savages, the camp and the road were both guarded by the friendly dwarfs. Also it meant that there was a state of war between the two races, that the dwarfs were eager to go on with the fight, and that they claimed the white men as their allies.
When John Smith made his report to a general meeting the same evening, and told them all he had been shown, he volunteered the opinion that the big savages were most likely all driven out of the forest on the hither side of the grassy plain, which by this time was probably burned clear of cover. Everybody was most enthusiastically in favour of a dash for the hills the next day, before the enemy had time to prepare any systematic defence. It was decided to do this, and John Smith was instructed to let the dwarfs know of the intention at once. He therefore returned to his quarters and carefully explained to the slave girl what was intended, which was that a force of one hundred of the white men would start before sunrise the next morning and
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make straight for the town of their enemy, killing all of them that they could. He also explained that he expected the dwarfs to help fight. When the girl understood what was contemplated, she shewed her joy by embracing his knees and licking his boots, after which she led him once more to the edge of the clearing, where, having called some of her friends, she explained to them the situacion very care- fully, so that her master was satisfied that they understood all about it and would co-operate in the attack.
CHAPTER VIII.
As soon as John Smith got back to the stockade, the
force designed to attack the village was chosen by the
Admiral, and when all of the members were designated,
they were enjoined to go to rest at once, so that they might
be fresher for the start in the early morning, while those
who were to be left behind for the defence of the Fort and
ships, occupied themselves far into the night in preparing
the arms and two days' provisions for every man who was
going, as it was very uncertain what their luck might be.
Two hours before sunrise the next morning, the force was
mustered in the misty half light. It consisted of one hundred
men carefully picked out by Lewes de Havre, who was in
command of the expedition, and who was to be assisted by
John Smith as his lieutenant. Each man was armed with a
matchlock, a pistol and a sword, and carried in a bag at
his back two days' provisions, as well as his ammunition.
They all wore light steel morions and back and breast
^^ armour, as well as strong high boots, for it was wisely
I^Bdetermined that, even at the risk of tiring the men, it would
not be safe to go without this protection against the javelins
^^of the savages. The men, who had all had a good breakfast
^■of strong porridge before the muster, were in excellent
Bf spirits and knew exactly what they had to do. They would
march to the end of the forest and, if not interrupted, rest
for about an hour whilst they had another meal; then they
would advance across the burnt plain, and when they found
8o
the town, or whatever the trees on the other side concealed, attack it, and make good a settlement for the night. The following morning would determine their future action, word of which they promised to send back to the fort if possible by the dwarfs.
Exactly at four o'clock in the morning, James Neccy's trumpets sounded the advance, and the column, headed by Lewes de Havre and John Smith, the latter closely attended by the dwarf girl, started to cross the clearing for the end of the path leading into the forest; and as if the notes of the trumpets had also summoned them from the forest, the edge of the timber was seen to be lined with hundreds of the dwarfs, who stepped out into the open, and flourishing their bows over their heads, set up a queer little yell, which, starting from the end of the path, rippled off to the right and left far beyond the point of vision in the misty early morning. It was like the front rank of a regiment of soldiers numbering off their files. The dwarfs stood steady until the head of the column entered the gloom of the forest, and then, with a final flourish of their bows, they too, sprang into the damp and lowering darkness.
It was a good omen and raised everybody's spirits, for now all realised that the little band was to be supported in the enterprise by allies, who were especially well adapted to protect their flanks during the march through the forest, a part of the work which was the most trying to the temper and nerves of the men ; and as they gaily stepped out into the forest, they were cheered by the sight of three or four little black men keeping level with the head of the column on either side of the path through the cleared part of the forest, and doubted not but that the line was continued far out on either wing in the dense undergrowth, where it could not be seen.
8 1
Two hours' march brought them to the first stockade on the path, and promptly on their approach, the twenty dwarfs who had occupied it came out, and going down right and left of the column prepared to follow on in the rear. But first they indulged in a short rest, and then the march was continued until the second block-house and the swamp had been passed. At the second block-house another little band of dwarfs was found and duly tacked on to the rear of the column.
And now that they were approaching the end of the forest, some anxiety was felt by the leaders as to what might be the state of the plain, and whether they were to be allowed to cross it without interference. It was getting on towards mid-day and the time for a meal and a good rest before the attempt was made; so a halt was called. Haversacks were opened, and after two or three men had been posted fifty yards in advance, the whole party sat down on the ground for an hour's rest and a good repast. But John Smith's anxiety would not allow him to rest, so snatching a hasty mouthful, and getting the girl to call up ten of the dwarfs, he went cautiously forward over the intervening half mile to the edge of the forest to reconnoitre. He himself went very carefully, but he noticed that his escort took no particular precautions, chattering amongst themselves quite loudly; so he surmised that all the big savages were out of
I the forest, which indeed proved to be the case, for on his return to the troop, and when they finally advanced, nothing was seen of them until they had all got clear of the forest. When they were all out, the formation, from a column with three files marching abreast, as was necessary in the narrow path, was altered to that of a compact body having a front of twenty-five men, marching four deep, with the two commanders posted on either wing.
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As far as the eye could see, to right and left, and up to the trees on the other side of what was two days ago a waving sea of beautiful plumy grass, the whole ascending plain to the low timber-crowned hills was now a blackened field of ashes, with no cover for so much as a rabbit; and if the big savages were to attack them with anything like vigour and in their overwhalming numbers, both the leaders felt that their situation was desperate; but they made their arrangements for the best way to meet the danger, and, as the event proved, with success.
When they had got well out into the plain, the dwarfs began to appear at the edge of the forest, so the white men halted for them to come up, and to see what formation they intended to assume. First, John Smith called up the girl, who was apparently the only woman in the force, and who, not to be behindhand in the fight, had armed herself with a bow and a tomahawk like her tribesmen. At her master's request for information as to the direction of the town to be assaulted, she pointed to a break in the line of trees in front of them, and to this point the march was directed.
The dwarfs, to the number, as far as could be judged, of four or five hundred, had meanwhile all emerged and drawn up behind the matchlockmen, but without duplicating their ranks, so that they stretched out in a long thin line to right and left. In this formation the advance wa3 commenced, but it did not continue for long, for either the dwarfs were afraid to meet the bigger race in the open, or the present formation did not suit their war tactics. At any rate, for some reason, they gradually closed in, until they were all marching in a compact crowd behind the matchlockmen. Then, when they had advanced for about a mile into the open, they first caught sight of the enemy, about three
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miles off, as they were just emerging from the low place in the line of timber. Gradually their numbers increased, until it seemed to the leaders of the little band of white men that nearly a thousand must be in view; and these soon began to form into battle array. Slowly the mass took upon itself definite shape, and at last it assumed the appea- rance of a great compact triangle or wedge, with the apex directed to the exact centre of the band opposing it, and in this formation commenced to move deliberately down the hill.
A few seconds sufficed for the quick military intellect of Lewes de Havre to grasp the situation and devise the best means to meet it. It was evidently the intention of the savage enemy to advance deliberately, until within a short distance, and then with a rushing charge, to overwhelm them, probably without throwing a single javelin. It was a well-conceived idea, and under some circumstances might prove successful, if their enemies were foolish enough to stand still in a compact mass to be trodden under foot. But sharper intellects were at work, guided by a leader who had been trained in the open battle-fields of European warfare, and quickly John Smith understood his colleague's plan. None too soon did they commence to alter their formation, for the little dwarfs behind the rampart of white men were already beginning to show signs of fear. Perhaps they had before, when driven from their forests into the open, experienced the rush of such a wedge of athletic warriors, whose charge their feeble little arrows, however dangerous they might be ultimately by reason of the poison, could not stop; nor could they prove so effective within a short distance as the broad-bladed javelins; any more than their puny little tomahawks would be of any use to them at close quarters. Perhaps they meant to indicate this, when
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they started their advance behind the white men from the forest, in extended order.
At any rate, when they saw their leaders take up positions exactly in the center of the front rank, and deploy their men, so that they ultimately assumed a long array of a single rank, they quickly extended their own party, so as to even overlap the front rank at either end, and they looked very much happier after the change had been made.
All the time this change of formation was being made, the advance was not delayed, for it was held that any hesitation shewn would have a bad effect in encouraging the enemy, as well as in disheartening the dwarfs, so that, as the former still came on, the battle became every moment more imminent.
Still either side continued to advance, until only about half a mile separated the opposing armies, and it could be seen from the agitation and waving of spears, as well as by the excited shouts in the ranks of the wedge of big savages, that they were preparing for their rush. It could be "felt" also from behind, for there was an agitation and a murmur, as well as a half-nervous turn to the rear amongst the dwarfs, who began to double and treble their files behind the single line of white men. John Smith saw the flinching, and quickly turning round, he thrust the slave girl to the front, and adjusting her arrow to the bow-string, he left her two or three paces in advance of the line, from which position, as she continued to proudly advance, she shouted back some few words to her tribesmen that put heart into them; for they grasped their bows tightly, and flourishing them over their heads, answered her with the little cry, which rippled off to the right and left, by which they had once before expressed their readiness to fight with the white warriors.
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And now the critical moment approached nearer and nearer when the struggle of the few, backed by the feeble little men of the forest, but armed with the science of civilization and governed by quick brains trained to war, was to be decided with the strong savages fighting on their favourite battle-field of the open plain, and doubly armed in their utter disregard of life.
Suddenly a great savage springs ahead, a dozen paces before the apex of the wedge, and holding up his sheaf of javelins above his head, he shouts an order, which stops the phalanx dead in their tracks. Then he commences to slowly chant what is apparently a war song, beating time by raising his feet and stamping on the burnt ground, first with the right foot and then the left, all the time facing his own men and with his back to his enemies. Gradually the time of his chant increases and gradually, rank by rank, his followers join in the chorus, marking time in cadence with their chief, until at the end of five minutes or so there is a mighty roar of sound from the serried battle of naked, black, savage life, and a trembling of the earth, as, like one man, first their right feet and then their left fall with a thud to the ground.
They are fast working themselves into a frenzy of valour and madness, and their rush when it comes will surely be irresistible : and come it will, for suddenly the gr-eat chief, without losing the rhythm of his chant, and without for an instant missing his step, which is now fast and furious, turns to face his foes, and first uttering a great shout, he casts a javelin before him a full thirty fathoms, and then springing high into the air, he starts forward at a run, as if eager to embrace the unknown death which is awaiting him. And after him, with a mighty shout, dash his tribesmen in the headlong charge of fanatical enthusiasm or, may it be, the
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patriotic ardour of a strong people eager to defend their hearths and homes from the encroachment of an aHen and calculating race, bent only on the sordid accumulation of wealth, and eager only to gain possession of a new market, before the traders of another nation discover it, and by offering their goods at a lower rate, spoil the great profits to be made by the first arrivals. No matter to the merchant the expense of savage life, if his beads and his cheap linens will bring him ivory and gold and slaves; his is not the conscience that will flinch or fear retributive justice, provided he hnes his pockets with ducats.
In such a strain as this does John Smith, the sentimental dreamer, interpolate his description of the fight; and so, as a true historian of his adventures, it behoves me to follow his example. But it would be well to return to the battle, and describe how the headlong charge of the big savages was met.
Like the savages, Lewes de Havre and his men were marking time, but quietly, and with a fixed and definite purpose. First, the hne was deployed, until an interval of about three yards was left vacant between the white men all along the line, while religiously the little coloured men followed the movement, sidling out to right and left, until the whole front overlapped at either end the width of the base of the compact triangle of the foe. Then John Smith and Lewes, who were stationed side by side in the centre of the line, deliberately commenced a retrograde movement by stepping backwards, whilst the extreme ends of the line continued to advance, with the result that the two halves of the force, working on the twenty-sixth man in the centre of each half as a pivot, swung half forward, and the other half back ; and by the time the savages started on their rushing charge, there was prepared for them a
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funnel-shaped death-trap, exactly adapted to fit their wedge. And this owing to their frenzy, and to the fact that care had been taken that the movement was deliberately carried out, with every face turned to them, they had not perceived the full significance of, until the apex of their array had passed the widely-extended lips of the funnel; and then it was too late to stop, for the pressure from behind pushed forward the leading men, so that even if their commander wished to halt or to alter his formation, he could not do so. They were bound to go forward. Frantically their leader endeavoured to extend and open out the front of his regiment, and charge to the right and left to meet the two wings of his adversary; it was too late; and he was one of the first to fall, and to be trampled out of all semblance of humanity by his own people.
So soon as Lewes saw that the wedge had entered the funnel, he gave the signal by a shrill whistle for firing to commence, and as the onrushing foemen advanced opposite each pair of matchlockmen to the right and left, the latter fired into the head of the mass, deliberately and with precision, for they were the picked marksmen of the expedition, and few shots were wasted. Indeed many of the heavy bullets did more than their allotted share of the havoc, by disabling more than one foeman ; until the point of the wedge became blunted and altogether disorganised, which speedily had the effect of demoralising the whole force, for the bravest of the savages were in the van.
As the firing commenced, John Smith and Lewes clasped hands and said a last word of good-bye, for it was uncertain if they would come out of the fight alive, and then separating again, they commenced to open out the funnel by swinging back the wings, now on the extreme ends as pivots, for it was quite certain that the one round from the matchlocks
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would not stop the mad rush; nor even when the enemy, by reason of their advance, became more involved and at closer quarters, so that the pistols and the bows of the dwarfs could be effectively used, would they be able to stop. A way must be made for them to pass trough, and then the crux of the whole battle would be the moment when, having passed trough between the ranks of the invaders, they might re-form in time to charge back again before the white men were able to re-load.
It was a critical time, and there was some reason for the Captains to shake hands and commend one another to God's mercy, when they separated to swing their lines apart; for, if after the savages had passed, they turned back quickly and charged, before preparation could be made to receive them, the two leaders would be the first men to bear the brunt. But the savages were being badly stricken, for now the pistols were beginning to play on them, and the dwarfs, seeing the dire results of the matchlock fire on the head of the phalanx, where all the best men of their enemies were concentrated, had plucked up courage and begun to pour their little dart-like arrows into the closely-packed ranks, so that the white men got a little breathing space to reload, and as the pistols were handier and quicker to manipulate, most of the men first turned their attention to them. But it was difficult, for the big savages, understanding by this time what sort of a trap they had got into, began now to throw in their javelins, and many of the dwarfs, who were entirely unprotected, went down as well as two or three of the white men, who got hit on the unprotected part of the thighs and the face; and once or twice small parties of the savages got together and attempted to charge, but their hearts failed them, and they got nearer the line than twenty paces, from which position, after throwing a
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javelin each, they turned back, not being able to face the stinging little arrows which they knew meant death. Therefore the almost ridiculous — if it were not so tragic — sight was seen of men in the act of poising their javelins, suddenly stop, snatch a little arrow from their flesh, and grotesquely contort themselves in attempts to get at wounds which were more often than not situated in parts of their bodies to which they could not get their mouths to suck the poison. But when they were able to reach the spot, they bit out great gobbits of flesh, so as to allow the blood to flow freely, for they were evidently well aware of the danger. Probably they had never before met the dwarfs in the open plain under such circumstances as the present, when the little men had found courage enough to face them ; for it was evident that, it was only owing to the support given by the white men, and even then reluctantly, that the little men plucked up heart the fight in the open. But now, when they saw the damage done by the firearms, they were only too eager, and if they had not been restrained, would have rushed on to the enemy with their little tomahawks.
And now the base of the phalanx having passed the extremities of the lines of white men and dwarfs, these lines began to approach each other in the rear of the enemy, with the intention of forming a barrier between them and the road to the town. Slowly and deliberately the manoeuvre was carried out, the white men loading their pistols and firing independently as opportunity oflered, and the little savages, who intelligently followed every movement, raining in a flight of arrows whenever the enemy got together in groups with the intention of charging the line. It became at last almost a massacre, for the big men had no chance, the pistols and bows carried further than they could cast their javelins, and early in the fight all their chiefs and
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brave men had gone down, so that there was nobody to rally them and organise a decisive charge.
It was with no little relief that the two wings of the adventurers joined up again and formed a continuous line behind the first battle ground. John Smith and Lewes simultaneously stepped out to the front from their respective ends and quickly ran along the line to meet in the centre, ordering their men to charge their matchlocks as quickly as they could, for the cowed enemy were retiring out of range of the pistols and bows, and seemed to be gathering together for another charge, which would be serious if there was no musketry fire to meet it. The little men too had used nearly all their arrows.
Up to this point of the fight only two white men had been killed and six wounded, two seriously by javelins, one in the face and the other in the right; but many more of the dwarfs, who were unprotected by armour or clothes, had been killed and wounded ; but these little warriors were very jubilant, for certainly over a hundred of their enemies lay dead on the field, and many more were continually falling to the ground, as the poison of the arrows with which they were wounded had its effect. Moreover the enemy were evidently, and for the first time, showing fear of the dwarfs, or perhaps of their new allies. Before they were able to present a new front and prepare for a fresh charge all the matchlocks and pistols were reloaded, and the white leaders thought it better that they should commence the attack in their turn, and perhaps with one well-directed volley finish the rout of their foes, who were still within range of the matchlocks.
Lewes therefore gave the word for every other man to drop his matchlock to the present and fire, and then, after an interval of a minute or two, for the other half of the
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force to fire. The effect of these two volleys was disastrous for the enemy; they were fired right into their crowded array, and it may be safely said that every bullet, on the average, hit more than one man, so that the confusion in their ranks precluded any hopes of their being able to again rally for a charge. The word was then given for a counter charge, and the matchlocks were laid on the ground, as they would only encumber the men. The line moved steadily forward, with the intention of pouring in a volley from the pistols and bows as soon as they got within range, and then making a rush sword in hand, which could not fail to drive the remnant into the forest, even if they were not killed, every one of them.
But first there was a serious obstacle to overcome, for as soon as the advancing line reached the ground which was thickly strewn with the dead and wounded enemy, these latter justified their savage instincts by fighting to the last, even the dying striving to stab their foes as they passed.
It was cruel work killing these half-dead men, and the white men revolted from it: not so, however, their impish allies, for at a word from the girl, — who throughout the fight had acted intelligently as John Smith's lieutenant, and passed his orders on to her tribesmen, — about half the dwarfs sprang through the white men's line, and with their tomahawks pecked at the skulls of their wounded and dying enemies and enjoyed the sport, two or three of them dancing round a wounded man dodging his feeble efforts to use his javelin against them, and all the time taunting him, until a blow from behind finished him by splitting his skull.
It was horrible and sickening work, this massacring wounded men, but after all it was the kindest in the end, even if there was not the necessity to do it in self-defence; for the poor savages were wounded to the death by the poisoned
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arrows, and killing them was thus really only shortening their agony. Thus the advance progressed steadily until within twenty paces of the diminished army of hesitating and frightened savages, when a halt was called, and in reply to the few and badly-aimed javelins wich were cast at them, a last volley from every pistol, and a flight of arrows was poured in, and then, with a shout, swords were drawn, and the line rushed on. Few of the enemy except the wounded waited for the impact: they were fleeter of foot than the heavily-armed whites or their little allies, and perhaps a hundred, all that was left of the fine regiment, numbering nearly a thousand, that had started the fight only about two hours before, escaped into the forest, hotly pursued by the exultant dwarfs, who would hold them at a disadvantage and probably account for most of them before nightfall.
John Smith succeeded, with the girl's help, in restraining about one hundred of the dwarfs from joining in the pursuit, and writing a short note to James Neccy describing the fight, he sent six of them back to the fort to let him know how they had fared. He could not as yet say how or when they would return, for they knew not what awaited them on the other side of the open ground. And so once more they went back over the battle-field, the dwarfs insulting their dead foes, assuring themselves that every man was dead and carefully picking up the spent arrows as they passed, until they got back to the place where their matchlocks were left. Here they rested for half-an-hour, and then buried their three dead comrades, deep enough to save them from the beaks and talons of the vultures, which were already hovering over the slain, and from the teeth of wild beasts, which would without doubt congregate as soon as night fell.
It was by this time the middle of the afternoon, and the
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men were so tired that it seemed inadvisable to go on any- further that day. They knew not whether more fighting awaited them when they got to the town, or whether they would find it deserted. All things taken into consideration, it was thought best to move up to the further edge of the plain and there bivouac for the night, as where they were there was no wood to make fires, nor water to drink, and they made out from the girl that there was a stream under the trees. The project was explained to the dwarfs, with the girl's assistance, and seemed to tally with their wishes ; so the word was given march. But the dwarfs hung back, and the reason was soon explained: good food was lying out there on the plain waiting to be eaten, and already the vultures had commenced the feast. The white men had eaten once before the fight and had with them more foodto satisfy their craving appetites : why should not their allies follow their own custom and feast on their dead enemies, as they had always been in the habit of doing? The girl plainly explained this to her master, who, when he understood her argument, could not refute it; but when he signed to her to go with her own people, she refused, and expressed disgust at the thought of the contemplated feast of her tribesmen. And so the two races parted company, the whites marching on towards their bivouac under the trees, and the dwarfs back to their cannibal feast, only the girl followed like a dog close at the heels of her master, ^■b An hour's march brought them to the edge of the plain ^'before nightfall, and there they found a broad but shallow ^^stream, so that they were able to satisfy their thirst; and ^^Beeing no signs of an enemy, they decided to eat their meal ^■on its banks. ^B On the other side of the river the country appeared more
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short green grass, which the girl made them understand was the pasturage of the herds belonging to the big savages, whose town was not far off. They indulged in a refreshing wash in the clear water which made them ravenous for their food, and having dispatched this, they collected a quantity of firewood, which was plentiful enough, the prairie fire having scorched and dried up the trees on the edge of the plain. They carried the firewood back half a mile and prepared to bivouac in the open. It was their intention to start again before daylight, so dividing the night into three watches, one-third of the men kept guard whilst the remainder slept. They slept in their harness, with their matchlocks and pistols loaded for fear of a surprise, but they were undisturbed except by the dwarfs, who came up in groups of twenty to fifty at a time all through the night, those who had persued the enemy into the forest, as well as those who had remained with the white men, looking as if they were gorged to repletion as they passed the bivouac, to sleep beside the stream under the shadow of the trees.
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CHAPTER IX.
Before sunrise the next morning the white men had finished their meal of manioc cakes and dried fish, and were ready for a start. The army of dwarfs were also ready waiting for their allies beside the stream, and in the dim misty morning light they all splashed through the shallow water. They marched for about two miles, through beautiful park-like lands, over luxuriant grassy turf and amongst scattered clumps of beautiful trees, many of them bearing fruits which the dwarfs collected .and offered to their white friends; until at last they came within sight of what was evidently the savages' town — a large circular enclosure, roughly fenced with bushes and boughs of trees, probably between two or three miles in diameter. Over the fence could be seen the tops of the round, thatched huts of the natives, and in the centre what from the distance looked like a citadel, or perhaps the chief's house, enclosed with a higher fence of upright stakes and built on a little hill or mound.
It was uncertain what sort of a reception the conquering brce would receive at the hands of the inhabitants, and every precaution was taken to avoid an ambush or surprise. And thus they advanced up to within half a mile of the nclosure and opposite to what appeared to be the entrance, hen at last the inhabitants began to appear. Lewes halted is force to see what they meant to do, and every man had his gun ready and his match glowing. First an old
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man came out of the gate, fantastically decked out like a Jack o'the green with a cloak made of grasses stained in different colours, and wearing on his head a huge bonnet made of the heads of what looked like some big sort of corn, with beautiful golden-coloured tassels waving in the wind and slung across his breast and back, like a sword- belt, a string of human skulls the end of which dragged on the ground, representing all that remained of over twenty men or women. He was a hideous specimen of humanity, and the dwarf girl clung to John Smith shuddering when she saw him, in fact the whole company of dwarfs showed fear of him. He carried in his right hand a very long- handled spear, having a broad and long blade which glit- tered in the sun like gold.
This hideous chief, or king, was followed out of the enclo- sure by about a hundred stalwart warriors, armed each with three or four javelins. These men drew up in a double line behind him, facing the invaders. When they were in position the old man began to chant a lugubrious sort of song, walking backwards and forwards the length of his line, and stopping every two or three yards to point with his spear at the white man who was then opposite him. All the time this was going on the dwarfs were cowering behind the soldiers with fear and even the latter began to think about enchantments and witchcraft, and to urge their leaders to give the word to fire; but they restrained them, thinking that perhaps this was a preliminary to surrender. After he had finished his song, and pointed his spear at about half the white men in the whole length of the line, the old man returned to the centre of his own array, and two fine-looking girls came from behind the line of warriors, where they had been concealed, and delivered something into his hands, taking from him at the same time his spear
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and necklace of skulls. The old wizard then stepped forward to the middle of the space between the opposing forces, and commenced to wave his arms about, holding in either hand what looked like a long sword. As he waved, first slowly and then faster, a sort of rumbling noise came from him which gradually increased in intensity, until it became a roar of noise like angry bulls bellowing; and then the line of warriors advanced with a sort of hissing scream, which was too much for the dwarfs, who as soon as the old man began his antics had commenced to slink off further and further to the rear, showing every symptom of fright. The charge of the warriors was the signal for a head- long flight on their part, and the line of white men was left to bear the brunt of it. As soon as the savages got within range, Lewes gave the word to fire, and the threatened charge collapsed, only about ten of the fine line of men struggling forward, to be shot down by the pistols before they could cast a spear. The old wizard fell at the same time as if dead, which both of the leaders regretted, as they had ordered their men not to fire at him, hoping to take him alive. Then, after waiting to reload their pieces, the white men advanced again, and — for it seemed the kindest thing to do — passed their swords through those of the war- riors who were not yet dead, except the old man, who, on being examined, proved to be unhurt and as well as ever. He was a very hideous old creature, when he was divested of all his finery and stood up naked for inspection. His body was scored all over with raised scars, and he compa- red very badly with the clean-limbed and well-favoured girls, his attendants, one of whom had been killed outright. The
I other, who had only been wounded by a pistol ball through the fleshy part of her right arm, was now led forward by a matchlockman in all the statuesque beauty of her naked-
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ness, still clutching the long-handled spear the great blade of which John Smith at once pronounced to be of pure gold. The wands which the old man had flourished, proved to be peculiarly curved slats of a whitish wood, pierced with several holes and very elastic. These, together with the spear, were given in charge of a sailor, while others were told off to guard the old man and the girl.
When the dwarf girl — • who, true to her master, hat not run off with her tribesmen — saw that the wizard had been stripped and rendered powerless, she went up to him, timidly at first, but soon gaining confidence, and began to jeer at him, pinching him and insulting him in many ways until her master was obliged to restrain her and order her off to call up her fellows, who had not retreated far. These coming up, were struck with wonderment at seeing the slaughtered enemy and the old savage wizard alive and a prisoner, for they evidently thought that he was invincible and certainly more of a god than a man, for they were, even now that he was a captive, almost afraid to approach him. But they showed no hesitation about advancing on the town, and would have rushed on in front of the white men if they had not been restrained. But this was not thought advisable by the leaders, as they were likely, in their excited state, to spare neither women nor children, if, as it seemed probable, the place was now undefended; so they ordered them to be kept back. But it was of no avail, for as soon as ever the white men had got through the opening in the hedge and entered the town, the dwarfs crowded after them, and scattering right and left amongst the huts, commenced to kill all they met, irrespective of age or sex, tearing down the frail walls of the huts and tomahawking every one who appeared.
There were many young men, fine stalwart-looking fel-
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lows, amongst the women and children in the town, probably malingerers who had no stomach for fighting and sick men. At any rate there was no more resistance. The loss of their chiefs, and in fact all their soldiers, had completely cowed the rest, and before the white men had traversed half the distance up the open space between the gate of the town and the enclosure in the centre, more than a hundred women and children and a few men rushed up to them and im- plored their protection from the fury of the dwarfs. These fugitives were placed in the middle of the troop and the dwarfs driven back with as little force as possible, for they had been such good allies that no one wished to anger them.
But the white men saw that there was reason for their fury as soon as they got up to the fence of the inner enclosure, for there a horrible sight met their eyes. Right and left of there closed gate in the high palisade fence was a heap of butchered and fearfully mutilated bodies, all of the same race as the dwarfs. Festering in corruption, — at least the lower layers of the piles were — it looked as if for a month past two or three had been killed every day and cast on the heaps, for the bottom layers were almost unrecognisable as human beings. The flesh was rotting off the bones, whereas on the top of each heap lay bodies freshly killed and worst sight of all, on either side of the gate, securely tied to the palisades of the fence, appeared the bodies of two young dwarf girls, the trunks split open from the chin to below the navel, the viscerae dragged out and hanging down to the ground. Is was a horrible sight, and one well calculated to raise the worst passions of the dwarf army, which now, finding itself in the role of a con- quering force in a conquered town, could not be expected to cunduct itself with moderation in the hour of its triumph,
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and in the face of such evidence of the maltreatment of its kinsmen and kinswomen.
The chief fury of the Httle men seemed to be directed against the old wizard, now a captive; so at the instigation of the slave girl, and in order to divert their allies from a general slaughter of all the women and children in the place, as well as by way of meting out fair punishment to him for the cruelty which they did not doubt had been practised at his instigation, John Smith and Lewes decided to abandon him to the dwarfs and his fate. He was there- fore passed over to them, to their intense gratification, and whilst they were deliberating as to the best way to deal with him, in order to make his death as distasteful to him, and in consequence as gratifying to themselves, as possible, the white men turned their attention to the citadel. They did not anticipate any resistance, nor did they experience any. When they broke in, the reason for this was obvious : there were no men there, only women.
The enclosure was circular, having a diameter of about a thousand hundred yards, and was divided by concentric rings of strong fencing into three circles. The outermost of these was divided into roomy stalls, in each of which was a fine cow, some with young calves by their sides. The next was occupied by a large herd of she goats; while the third and innermost was divided into small enclosures. These were the homes of the ladies of the harem of the chief, or chiefs, of the tribe. Each little patch was carefully planted with vegetables, fruit trees and even flowers, and at the back of each was a little hut, occupied by a cowering and frightened girl, who seemed as if she thought that death was the least evil which she could expect.
The adventurers entered the enclosure as they had the tov/n itself, b)^ the eastern gate, and followed a wide road.
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which appeared to divide both the town and the citadel into two equal halves. Along the centre of this was led a fine canal of water, which gave off branches right and left, as well for the supply of the town as of the citadel. It was clean and limpid water until the centre of the citadel was reached, but thence it commenced to become contaminated, until it left the town as a sewer, carrying the filth from the place, which was not only inhabited by human beings, but was also crowded with cattle and goats.
The inner circle of women's huts enclosed an open space of some considerable size, with the stream running through the centre from east to west. The exact centre of the enclosure was occupied by a hideously-carved wooden figure, or idol, double-fronted, with one face looking to the north and one to the south. This figure was grotesque in the extreme and represented two men standing back to back, more than double life-size, each provided with a large and sharp bull's horn sticking out in front of him. These were evidently used as instruments of execution; for a woman of the tribe of the big savages was hanging impaled and dead on the north figure, when it was first discovered. This idol, or whatever it was, was enclosed by a fence made of many splendid elephants' tusks, planted points upwards in the ground, and having openings facing the four cardinal points of the compass, where the stream passed through from east to west under the double figure, which was erected over the water, and north and south, giving access to the idol, so that the first contamination of the stream should be caused by the decomposition of the victims immolated. The whole of this temple enclosure and the fence of elephants' tusks were covered in by a huge shed thatched with palm leaves: the ivory was not therefore damaged by the sun, and was of great value.
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Outside the enclosure, on the north and south sides facing the idol, were built large beehive-shaped huts, apparently the official residences of the chief of the tribe who was killed in the battle on the plain, and of the old wizard. These huts also contained many fine elephants' tusks, but nothing else of value. Nowhere could the adventurers find any gold, nor could John Smith, by questioning the dwarf girl, understand that any of it was used by the people, the blade of the spear and one other weapon being the only gold which they found.
The women in the huts, nearly a hundred of them in all, were found to be in the full vigour of their youth, some with young babies and some without, but all appearing to be in a very healthy and clean condition, with smooth skins, rounded limbs, and generally a well-fed look about them ; which was explained by the dwarf girl, who intimated that they lived on the milk of the cows and goats.
They were without exception as naked as they were born, without an ornament on their bodies of any sort, except that those living on the north side of the enclosure had two long horizontal scars on their foreheads, and those on the south side two vertical ones — seemingly the marks of the two different chiefs under whose protection they were living. It was afterwards found that every woman in the town bore either one or the other of these marks.
John Smith and Lewes came to the conclusion that the two chiefs of the tribe exercised between them some sort of "droit de seigneur"; and that their citadel with its garrison of women and cows and she-goats, and with its hideous idol in the midst, was actually a temple devoted to the worship of sex. This supposition was further confirmed by finding in sheds behind the chief's houses, four fine-looking bulls and as many hegoats. They found also graneries con-
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taining several sorts of grain and manioc roots, besides large stores of dried plantains.
It was by now midday, and the time had arrived to decide upon what the next proceeding was to be. There was a great store not only of cattle and corn, but also of slaves and ivory, all ready to their hands and indusputably theirs by right of conquest. The question now was how to get their newly acquired wealth, or a fair proportion of it, down to the ships. The dwarfs were also fairly entitled to a large share of the spoils, not only from the fact that they had fought well and earned it, but also in compen- sation for the oppression under which the stronger race had held them. It was greatly feared that they might be prompted to revenge themselves on the captive women and children for the wrongs they had suffered, to which the climax had been put by their not finding any of their friends alive in the town, but, instead, only bodies scattered about in all directions. Evidently, before the savage army had marched out to fight in the plain, all the slaves had been put to death, either to terrorise the dwarfs, or as a measure of safety. The women in the citadel, and in fact the whole of the people left in the town, were now submissive enough, for they seemed only to expect death at the hands of the conquerors, and therefore awaited their fate stoically. Life had few charms for them apparently; nor was it strange that it should be so, for death was so constantly before them that it must have seemed merely an incident to be endured. The dwarfs had, apparently, for the time glutted themselves with revenge, by ruthlessly killing many of the .unresisting inhabitants and, finally, the wizard chief, whom they had literally divided among them.
John Smith went with -a guard of fifty matchlockmen to walk through the town, leaving the remainder with Lewes
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to kill some cows and goats and cook a meal in the citadel. He first passed through a crowd of fugitive women and children, with not a few fine-looking, but unarmed, men amongst them, cowering at the gate. These great men he gathered from the slave girl were the "husbands" of the community. They were much finer-looking fellows than the soldiers: they were fed up and pampered, but not allowed to risk their lives fighting, for they were the aristocracy of the place and were, like all the women, marked on the forehead with either the horizontal or vertical lines; probably the two chiefs were chosen from their ranks.
Beyond the fugitives, he discovered the dwarfs very happily engaged round great fires in the broad eastern street, roasting large pieces of meat cut from several dead bullocks and goats, which they had slaughtered. They were apparently quite free from any sense of danger. As he passed by, they held up for his inspection small bits of bone which they wore tied round their necks, and which, he soon discovered, were all that remained of the wizard chief, who had been torn and worried to death, his flesh eaten by whoever could get at him to snatch a morsel, and his joints divided, the larger bones being cut into many short lengths, so that all should have a memento of the important victory.
John Smith and his company marched right round the town, keeping about equidistant between the citadel and the outer fences. He found a good many savages, mostly women and children, who wxre hiding in their huts.
The dwellings of the inhabitants were low beehive-shaped huts, thatched with grass or palm leaves, having low doorways through which it was necessary to crawl on hands and knees. All of them faced due east, and it was noticable that the eastern half of the town was much better looked after than the western, where the huts were smaller and more squalid.
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There, also, the inhabitants were older men and women, and their gardens were ill-kept. It therefore appeared as if the whole population was graded, from the young and vigorous men and women and cattle and goats, living in the east; to the worn out and useless people in the west who gradually crawled to the edge of the stream and died at its point of exit from the town, to be carried out of the way by its waters with the rest of the pollution of the city.
Our sentimental hero has recorded some interesting thoughts of his own on the subject. He seemed to think that the arrangement had something to do with the worship of the sun. His imagination led him on to quite a long treatise about it. He considers the sun as the type of life for these poor savages, rising young and vigorous in the morning in the east, and battling through his day of storm and shadow, or sailing serenely through a cloudless sky, only to sink at last, defeated and worn out, to disappear in the west, to go through a nightly rest and preparation for another life the next day — a course typical of the life of the poor savages, ignorant in everything else but the fact of living and rene- wing themselves.
He imagines the girl child born, and passing her young life in the darkness and obscurity of an unheeded childhood, amongst the gardens and byways of the town, to be taken at the dawn of her woman's career to the high place in the temple of sex, there to undergo preparation for her journey through life ; and thence one morning at sunrise, in the eastern gate of the city, full of hope and knowledge of herself, to be delivered into the hands of a husband, to fulfil with him her destiny in the scheme of the universe: then, after a period of active life, to drift with the sun slowly and surely to the west, where at last, like him, she dies and is lost, cast out of the City of Life to rottenness
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and corruption, until, in the fullness of time, from rottenness and corruption a new incarnation of life and energy rises like a Phoenix, and spreads its wings in another phase of vitality — disunited atoms from the waste heap of decom- position far in the west, which, after many cycles of change and travel, unite again in the east to evolve the newborn life of the babe, and like the Sun, again to rise to Life, and Light, and Power.
CHAPTER X.
They decided that it was better to spend another night in the town, as it was too late to make the return journey- to the fort, and the dwarfs certainly were not in a fit state to travel, for they had gorged themselves with meat, and were sleeping as happily in the midst of their foes, as if the latter were all dead. But there still remained more than a hundred of the great men, to say nothing of women, and these might well be expected to feel revengeful for the loss of most of the manhood of their tribe.
The adventurers were astonished beyond measure at the indifference to danger displayed by their allies, until on a closer examination they discovered that, although the bulk of the dwarfs were sleeping on the ground, in the middle of the broad east road of the town, there was a row of watchful sentries posted just off the road on either side in the gardens, and that every sleeper grasped in his hand his little bow and bundle of arrows, ready to spring at once to the alert if the alarm were given.
Their own men had eaten a hearty meal in the citadel, and had refreshed themselves with copious draughts of fresh and warm milk, they therefore proceeded to pick out about a hundred of the finest and strongest of the men, who, with the women, crowded round the gate of the citadel, and thrust them inside the gate by force, for they showed great reluctance to enter this, to them, apparently forbidden place.
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Having got them to the central open space around the sanctuary of the idol, they made them sit down in rows often, and tied them together to long cords by halters passed round their necks. A large supply of this cordage was found in the chiefs' hues: it had been used, most likely, by the big savages to secure their own slaves. They also tied each man's legs together at the ankles for better security, and then supplied them with the remains of their own meal of cow's meat and milk; but they took no trouble to secure the women of the citadel, who squatted about in their gardens, stupidly watching the proceedings.
They then selected fifty of the finest of the elephants' tusks, filled fifty mat bags with the Indian corn and other grain, and deposited either a tusk or a bag of corn beside each bound man, ready for an early start in the morning. They also intended to claim the assistance of the dwarfs to drive along a herd of cattle and goats, and if possible to make some of the strongest of the women carry loads with them down to the fort; for they saw no reason why they should not keep some of the men, at least, as slaves, as they would do excellently to work the oars of the Peter ASMODEUS, and each of the galleons could also take a few of them to do the dirty work of the ships.
Having thus made everything ready for an early start, they, as on the night before, divided their force into three groups, so that one-third should be on guard whilst the other two-thirds slept, in the open space between the centre and the eastern gate. They kept large fires alight all night, as much to overpower the horrible stench of the place and drive away the persistent and venomous gnats, as to shed light on the surroundings so that they might quickly detect any suspicious movement. And thus they rested in the citadel of their conquered foes until daybreak of the next day.
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In the early dawn the sentries observed the savage women creeping out of their huts, and at once informed Lewes, so that if any treachery was contemplated they might be prepared ; but as it did not look as if any harm was intended, the two leaders contented themselves with watching the proceedings, and ordering the whole force to be awakened to prepare a meal, by cooking the meat of two cows which had been slaughtered the night before.
They were much interested in watching the women's proceedings: first, they all assembled inside the elephants' tusk fence in two companies, facing the double-fronted idol, before which they performed a sort of slow-paced dance, not altogether modest. They then trooped down to the stream on the east side of the idol and washed their bodies carefully, which finished, they all returned to their huts, fetched each of them a large empty calabash, and going amongst the goats and cows, quickly milked them, and brought their calabashes back on their heads, each company to the front of either the war chief's or the wizard's hut respectively. They there arranged the vessels of milk in a semi-circle on the ground, facing the hut to which each company belonged, and standing behind their calabashes, they attentively watched for the rising of the sun, which, after about a quarter of an hour, commenced to show his disc over the horizon. At this signal the women began to chant what seemed to be a morning hymn, and continued the singing, which was quite melodious, until the sun was well above the horizon. The women then turned their faces to the doors of the huts and uttered a shrill shout, undoubtedly with the intention of awakening the two great chiefs.
Having thus finished their morning salutation, each woman 'sat down on the ground behind her calabash, apparently awaiting the appearance of the chiefs. But no chiefs came
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forth, for they had already received and answered a sterner summons, and gone down the stream towards the west and the setting sun, to add their measure to the grist for the ever-creating powers of Nature. Of this fact the women were only to surely aware, as they were also of the duty which devolved on them in such an emergency; for with one accord, as if by pre-conceived arrangement, they came in two bodies round to the east side of the elephants' tusk enclosure, where, as it chanced, John Smith and Lewes were standing to watch their proceedings, on either side of the stream, and by unmistakable gestures invited the white chiefs to pass on with them and enter the chiefs' houses. „To the victors the spoils." Thus were John Smith, the trader, and Lewes de Havre, the captain of the ordnance, proclaimed Priest, or Wizard, and Warchief respectively of this war-like tribe; albeit it was now depleted of its army and consisted mainly of women, and what they facetiously named the ^husbands" of the tribe. There was no doubt of the intention, nor did the white men for a moment think that the remnant of the tribe would fail to acknowledge their new chiefs; for even the dwarf slave girl acknowled- ged the fact in her own way, by grovelling at her masters feet and licking his boots, and then, as if recollecting that her own people had an interest in the instalment of the new chiefs, she ran to the gate of the citadel, and veheme- nently harangued her tribesmen, until they ceased from their occupation of devouring half-raw bullock meat, and at her invitation, crowded into the citadel, which before they had been afraid to enter. They arrived in front of the image just in time to see the last act of the installation and ele- vation of the two white captains to supreme power. Two thrones were brought out of the kings' houses by the women, these thrones were beautifully constructed of ivory
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cunningly carved and joined together. They were set in front of the two chiefs' huts, and the two white chiefs were induced to sit in them; the goldbladed spear was placed in John Smith's hands, and a staff with a knob of soHd gold, as big as a man's two fists, which was brought out of the warchief's hut by the women, in the hands of Lewes de Havre.
Behold, now, the two kings seated on their thrones be- fore the doors of their palaces and receiving the too affec- tionate homage of the ladies of their court! The sight raised the mirth of the stalwart matchlockmen, who could only see the amusing side of the matter; so they fell to congratulating their captains on their wholesale marriage. But John Smith excuses himself and his friend from the slur of being parties to such frivolity: albeit he admits that the ladies, except for their faces, which did not fulfil his ideal of beauty, were perfect as to form, with skins of satin, and limbs only comparable to those of the fabled Venus. He argues that by allowing themselves to be made chiefs of the tribe, they not only became heirs to the wealth of the former chiefs in ivory and cattle, to say nothing of the valuable insignia of royalty, represented by the ivory thrones and gold-headed spear and club, besides many other articles of value which they found in the huts; but they also inherited supreme power in the tribe, and it no longer mattered about making slaves of a few of them by force, because the whole tribe was at their mercy, absolutely, for
^^fe or death, to do with as they pleased.
^V The installation had taken but a very short time, and it only now remained for the new kings to be introduced to the tribe. This was soon done. Four stalwart girls lifted each throne shoulder high, and bore their masters to the »€astern gate of the citadel. Here all that were left of the
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tribe were called together by a peculiar shout from the women of the citadel; and when they were assembled, the two new kings were anointed with milk from the breasts of two of the ladies; the lady who anointed John Smith being chosen from the ranks of Lewes' entourage, and Lewes being in like manner anointed by a lady from the other side.
This interesting ceremony being finished, all the people of the tribe of big savages, and also the dwarfs, did homage by throwing themselves flat on the ground and grovelling with their faces in the dust, at the same time raising a chorus of salutation.
Now they were indeed kings, duly nominated by the ladies who were the custodians of the royal insignia and crown property, enthroned, presented to the people, anoin- ted and accepted by popular acclamation, not only by the tribe of their former enemies, but also by the dwarfs, who it appeared, acknowledged to some extent the sovereignty of their bigger neighbours, and whose late acts of hostility were therefore more in the nature of a rebellion, th^n a war between independent tribes.
The two white chiefs were conducted back to their respec- tive huts, and it was apparently expected that they would pass the rest of the day in some orthodox way proper to the occasion, perhaps by the sacrifice of victims, or by a feast, which would certainly be on the usual lines of all feasts of the anthropophagi.
But this was not their intention ; they had done all they wished to do in conquering the tribe ; the rest was quite outside the programme of their wishes. Even the honour of kingship which had been thrust upon them was irksome, and was considered by them a waste of time. They were only anxious to. get back to the ships as soon as possible
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and with as large a quantity of booty as they could manage to take; so their first act had the significance of clemency properly observable on such an occasion. They ordered the hundred or more „ husbands" of the tribe to be released from their bonds.
They then prepared for departure. First they loaded the ^husbands" each with a selected elephant's tusk or a bag of corn, and marched them out of the citadel, leaving them outside under charge of ten matchlockmen; then, collecting about another hundred men and half grown lads, they loaded them also, but with lighter tusks. They then called in the dwarfs and commenced to collect the cows and goats with the intention of driving them out of the citadel, but they found great trouble in accomplishing this, as neither the dwarfs nor the white men could manage them at all; but on a hint from the dwarf girl they at last got out of the difficulty by ordering the women of the citadel to move them. They found that each woman had a certain number under her charge, and that these followed her without any hesitation.
They had now a very considerable and valuable booty. The thrones, gold-headed spear and club and the other royal appurtenances were not, of course, left behind, but were given in charge of the proper custodians, and the march was then commenced.
First, half the matchlockmen went on under Lewes as an advance guard; then the ^husbands" and other carriers with the ivory and grain, followed by the women with the cattle and goats; and then a rear-guard of matchlockmen under John Smith. The dwarfs were divided into two bodies and marched on either side. It was quite nine o'clock in the morning before the start was made, and they did not arrive at their destination before nightfall, although the
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distance was certainly not over fifteen miles; but a great deal of delay was caused in getting the cattle and goats over the swamp.
The two gallant Captains were very much joked about their new dignity and their many wives, but the Admiral was very well pleased with the ivory, and immediately decided that he would keep about thirty of the "husbands" and train them to work the oars of the PETER ASMODEUS, as well as to do the dirty work of the two galleons. The cattle, goats, and corn were especially welcome, and it was immediately resolved to replenish all the salt meat casks so far as the stock of salt would allow, and also to dry a lot of the meat in the sun and over fires.
At a general conference held during the evening, they decided to make another excursion up to the town and bring down more cattle and ivory, but that the next day should be given up to rejoicing, feasting, and making much of their allies, the dwarfs, without whose assistance they (vould certainly not have succeded so well in the fight with the big savages.
CHAPTER XI.
The tribes made no difficulty at all in 'arranging their camps for the night. The women, as soon as they arrived in the open ground around the fort, immediatly started to milk the cows and goats, filling the calabashes they had brought with them, and in proper order advancing in two groups to present the milk to their newly-appointed chiefs, and then, when it had been divided amongst the seamen, to whom, as