ATMOSPHERICAL PHENOMENON AT SEA.

Nothing important occurred during the voyage from Tenerife to Bahia; but one atmospherical phenomenon I think is worthy at a future day of further enquiry.

I remarked constantly, just at sunset, in these latitudes, that the eastern horizon was brilliantly illuminated with a kind of mock sunset. This in a short time disappeared, to be soon succeeded by another similar in character, but more faint. I observed at the same time, in the western horizon, the regular sunset, and then two appearances, like those seen in the east; perhaps this may be fully accounted for by a triple reflection, as in the common theory of the rainbow.

Land at Bahia.

August 17.

We came in sight of the coast of South America about noon, and dropped anchor in the harbour of Bahia at four P.M.; and about half an hour after I went on shore with Mr. Lushington, a person of the name of Wilson taking us in his boat: there was a slave in the boat, and, not knowing that he understood English, I asked Mr. Wilson several questions about slaves in general, and he gave me a good deal of information on this subject, mentioning among other things that the price of a good slave here varied from 90 to 100 pounds, he happened to state that the slaves were wretched in their own country, and that frequently large numbers were sacrificed to their gods. I never saw so fine a burst of natural indignation as the slave in the boat evinced at this statement; his lip curled up with scorn, his dark eye grew vividly bright, and his frame quivered as he made an impassioned reply in Portuguese; I could not understand all that he said, but caught enough to know the tenor of it, that “this was not the case; Englishmen or foreigners never visited his country, so how could they know.” It was not so much what he said but the scornful bitterness of his manner that made an impression on me, not easily to be effaced.

Night walk.

I took a night walk in the country this evening and experienced those wild and undescribable feelings which accompany the first entrance into a rich tropical country. I had arrived just towards the close of the rainy season, when everything was in full verdure, and new to me. The luxuriant foliage expanding in magnificent variety, the brightness of the stars above, the dazzling brilliancy of the fireflies around me, the breeze laden with balmy smells, and the busy hum of insect life making the deep woods vocal, at first oppress the senses with a feeling of novelty and strangeness till the mind appears to hover between the realms of truth and falsehood.

The town of Bahia.

The town of Bahia looks very beautiful from the sea; but on entering you find it dreadfully filthy. The stench of the lower town is horrible. Even the President’s palace is a dirty and wretched-looking building: his salary, I understand, is 600 pounds a year. By the last returns the population of the town was 120,000, 100,000 of whom were blacks. All the burdens here are carried by slaves as there are no carts and the breed of horses is small, being perfect ponies.

The exports are cotton and sugar the cotton chiefly to Liverpool, the sugar to all European countries but England. Their imports are English cotton goods and hardware, also various manufactured goods from Germany. The nuns are famed for the manufacture of artificial feathers and flowers.

The fruit here is excellent, the oranges are particularly fine.

The merchants in the town are principally English and German. There is no American house. Several have started but all who made the attempt have failed.

You cannot penetrate any great distance into the interior as there are no roads but only little pathways through the woods. The Indians are frequently seen very near the town.

State of society.

This part of Brazil offered the curious spectacle of a great evil, which has been long suffered to exist and is now advancing, gradually yet surely, to that state which must entail inevitable destruction on the existing Government of the country. I allude to the immense slave population which, owing to a short-sighted policy, has been allowed to increase so rapidly from the frequent and numerous importations that at the present moment they are in the ratio of 10 to 1 to the white population, to whom they are also, individually, immensely superior in physical strength; the Brazilians being the most insignificant and feeble race of men I have ever yet seen.

Dangers from slave population.

The blacks are perfectly aware of their own power, and about two years ago had arranged a plan for seizing the town and murdering all the whites with the exception of foreigners; which miscarried only by the affair being discovered a few hours before it broke out. This plan was however so wisely and boldly conceived, both as a whole and in detail, that it alone affords the most conclusive evidence that the slave population in this country are by no means deficient either in mental powers or personal courage.

The Brazilians themselves are aware of the danger which threatens them, and yet evince an extraordinary degree of supineness with regard to it. They have indeed framed certain regulations as to the slaves being all within their houses at an early hour of the evening, etc. etc., and these they deem sufficient for their protection; yet to an unprejudiced observer it would appear that, unless some much more effective measures are adopted, within a few years from the present time the whole of this fine country will be in the hands of the blacks: and indeed I think one would be justified in concluding that the moment which produces a person sufficiently intriguing again to stir up the slaves, and endowed with the firmness and talent necessary to conduct an émeute of this nature, will be the last of the Brazilian Empire.

Political condition of the state.

It is evident from what I have before stated that the only hope the white population can reasonably entertain of retaining their present position must be in the most perfect union and concord amongst themselves, and that, when a unity of design and action ceases to exist between the different provinces, their fate is sealed. Yet this circumstance never appears to enter into their calculations; and at this instant each state is plotting its separation from the Empire. The inhabitants here openly state their intention of revolting and declaring their independence, and Sunday next is even mentioned as the day for the commencement of the rising.

(Footnote. The revolt broke out on the 7th November 1837 but was suppressed the following month. Great alarm existed lest the Negro slaves should be induced to take their part likewise in the conflict between the contending factions. Annual Register for 1837.)

It is really strange to one who stands by, a calm unconcerned spectator, to observe men hurried on by the violence of faction to their own certain destruction, and to behold them so entirely blinded by party spirit as not to see that danger which stares them so openly in the face, that a child could scarcely fail to detect it.

The Slave Trade, though nominally abolished, is actively pursued here, eighty-three slaves having been landed just before my arrival, and another cargo during my stay.

The slaves are not only a very superior race of men in point of physical powers, but, as far as my experience of their habits went, I found them very moral and honest. Their notions of religion were however curious. Several were Christians nominally, but their Christianity consisted in wearing a string of beads round the neck; and they seriously assured me that those who wore beads went up to heaven after death, and that those who did not went down under the waters.

I talked to many of them about their own land. None had forgotten it, but they all expressed the most ardent desire to see it again. They call themselves captives, not slaves, and are very punctilious upon this point. They labour very hard here, generally in the town, paying their masters eighteen-pence a day, and keeping the rest of their earnings for themselves. The rate of labour must therefore be high; but they wear scarcely any clothes, and their subsistence, which is jerked beef and beans, costs but little. The slaves in the country are however all obliged to work on their owners’ plantations.

All the principal people in the town are concerned in the slave trade, and their chief wealth consists in the number of slaves they possess; therefore there is little chance of the trade being, for many years, totally abolished.

With regard to the execution of the laws this country is much in the same state as certain parts of Ireland. Homicide, and attempts at homicide, by shooting, are frequent; but it is difficult, if not impossible, to convict the offenders, for he who renders himself conspicuous in prosecuting parties concerned in a murder assuredly gets shot at in his turn.

Impressions and observations at sea. Remarks on voyage from Bahia to the Cape.

August 25.

Re-embarked in the Beagle and sailed for the Cape of Good Hope.

September 10.

We had yesterday and all last night a gale of wind, succeeded this day by a heavy fall of rain. The wind had raised a very high sea, but when the rain began to fall I heard the captain and several of the officers remark that the rain would lay the sea; for the result of their experience was, “that a fall of rain always beats the sea down.” What they had stated would occur took place in this instance within two or three hours. This shows forcibly what great results a slight force, continued for a long time, will produce.

September 15.

Whilst standing on the deck of the Beagle this evening we remarked large luminous spots in the water. They appeared to be about 12 inches in circumference, were very numerous, and perfectly stationary. The light they emitted was phosphorescent, but far brighter than I had ever before witnessed; it was so vivid as to be distinctly visible for nearly a quarter of a mile.

September 16.

We saw this morning an immense number of fin-backed whales, some of which were quite close to the vessel. In the course of half an hour I counted thirty of them. Could they have been feeding on the phosphorescent animals we saw last night?

We are today about 600 miles from the Cape, and there is a strange discordance amongst the elements. From the south-west comes a long and heavy swell; a strong breeze is blowing from the east, and threatening clouds spring upwards from the north. These omens have a meaning. Down to the southward, somewhere off Cape Horn, there blows a furious gale. The wind will draw round shortly to the northward. That is the interpretation and the reading.

A swell like this one can only witness off the Cape of Good Hope. It was to me a novel and magnificent sight. Uniform and lofty ridges of waves advancing in rapid succession, and yet with so regular and undisturbed a motion that one might easily fancy these great walls of water to be stationary: yet onward they moved in uniform and martial order; whilst as the ship rose upon their crests she seemed to hover for a moment over the ocean in mid air. And now the wind drew round to the northward and it blew almost a gale. The vessel felt its power and bent before it. It was beautiful to watch the process of hand-reefing topsails and making the vessel snug the ready obedience to the word of command and the noiseless discipline with which each duty was fulfilled. First had the men clustered on the rigging like bees; then at the word to lay out they fearlessly extended themselves along the yard-arm, and whilst they took in the reefs the ship pitched and rolled so heavily that one felt anxious for their safety: but there they swung securely between high heaven and the sea.

Sea-birds.

The sea-birds held their holiday in the stormy gale. The lordly and graceful Albatross, whose motion is a very melody, swept screaming by upon the blast. The smaller Cape pigeons followed us fast, passing and repassing across the vessel’s track. At last one of them spies a fragment on the waters, which has been thrown overboard: a moment it hovers above, then plunges down. But the other birds have seen it too; and all, pouncing on the spot, move their wings confusedly and seem to run along the waters with a rapid and eager motion. Now is there discord wild amongst them. A screaming and diving, swimming and running, mingled with a chattering noise. No sooner does one gain the morsel than another tears it from him. Who will be the victor here? The Albatross; for he sweeps triumphantly over all, swoops down, and with a scream scares off the timid little multitude; whilst high above his head he holds his arching wings; and now in pride and beauty he sits upon the waters and, drifting fast astern, gradually fades in the twilight.

What wonder that a sailor is superstitious! Separated in early youth from his home ere he has forgotten the ghost stories of childhood, and whilst the young and simple heart still loves to dwell upon the marvellous, he is placed in such scenes as these: in the dark night, amidst the din of waves and storms, he hears wild shrieks upon the air, and by him float huge forms, dim and mysterious, from which fancy is prone to build strange phantoms; and oft from aged sailors he gathers legends and wondrous tales suited to his calling; whilst the narrator’s mysterious tone and earnest voice and manner attest how firmly he himself believes the story.

Arrival at the Cape. Hire the Lynher.

September 21.

We came in sight of land yesterday evening, and spent the greater part of the day in beating up False Bay to Simonstown, where we arrived about half-past six P.M. I instantly landed in a shore-boat with Lieutenant Lushington and Mr. Walker; and, having first hurried to Admiral Sir P. Campbell with some letters I had to him, we forthwith started to ride to Cape Town. Finding that a vessel for our expedition could be procured here more readily and economically than at Swan River I determined on making this my point of departure, and after diligent enquiry I finally hired the Lynher, a schooner of about 140 tons, Henry Browse master, and subsequently found every reason to be satisfied, both with the little vessel and her commander.

Equipment and plans. Sail for Hanover bay.

My time was now wholly occupied in completing the preparations for our future proceedings. I increased my party by a few additional hands of good character, and thought myself fortunate in engaging amongst them Thomas Ruston, a seaman who had already served on the Australian coast under Captain King. On the 12th October I with great difficulty got my affairs at Cape Town so arranged as to be able to embark in the evening, and on the morning of the 13th we hove anchor and made sail.

The party now embarked consisted of:

Lieutenant Grey.
Lieutenant Lushington.
Mr. Walker, our Surgeon.
Mr. Powell, Surgeon.
Corporal R. Auger, Corporal John Coles, and Private Mustard of the Corps
of Sappers and Miners.
J.C. Cox, a Stock-Keeper.
Thomas Ruston, a Sailor who had been on the coast of Australia in the
Mermaid with Captain King.
Evan Edwards, a Sailor.
Henry Williams and R. Inglesby, Shoemakers.

There were besides on board a captain, a mate, seven men, and a boy.

The livestock I took from the Cape consisted altogether of thirty-one sheep, nineteen goats, and six dogs. The dogs were as follows: one greyhound; one dog bred between a greyhound and a foxhound; one between a greyhound and a sheepdog; a bull-terrier; a Cape wolf-dog; and a useful nondescript mongrel.

Re-embarkation for Hanover bay.

The plan that I had finally resolved on adopting was:

To proceed in the first instance to Hanover Bay, there to select a good spot on which to form a temporary encampment; and, having landed the stock, to despatch Lieutenant Lushington with Cox and Williams in the vessel to Timor for ponies.

Plans on landing.

I selected Cox and Williams for this service because the former was used to the management of horses on board vessels, and the latter understanding Dutch was well calculated to act as interpreter at Timor. During their absence I intended to practise the party in making short explorations in different directions.

Upon the return of the vessel I intended to move the whole party to some convenient spot to be chosen during their absence, then to advance, attended only by Coles, and to fix upon the next spot on our route which I designed to halt at. This plan I intended to adhere to as much as possible throughout the whole expedition, namely, never to move the party from one place of halt until I had chosen the next one. We bore with us tools and instruments of every description; so that we not only were fully capable of maintaining ourselves but could literally, if occasion had required it, have founded the nucleus of a colony.

Great then was my joy when all my preparations were completed and I felt the vessel gliding swiftly from Table Bay into that vast ocean at the other extremity of which lay the land I so longed to see, and to which I was now bound with the ardent hope of opening the way for the conversion of a barren wilderness into a fertile garden.

Part of my plan was not only to introduce all useful animals that I possibly could into this part of Australia, but also the most valuable plants of every description. For this purpose, a collection had been made at Tenerife by Mr. Walker, under my direction, and another in South America, including the seeds of the cotton plant. From the Cape and from England I had also procured other useful plants, and had planned that the vessel, on quitting Timor with the horses, should be filled in every vacant space with young cocoa-nut trees and other fruits, together with useful animals such as goats and sheep, in addition to the stock we conveyed from the Cape.

(Footnote. We had been able to introduce several useful plants into the Cape; amongst others the South American Yam, which, owing to the quality of the potatoes and their great fluctuations in price, will eventually be very serviceable to the colonists, more especially for the use of whalers.)