University of Virginia Library

20. CHAPTER XX.

The chief was as good as his word, and we were soon
plentifully supplied with fresh provision. We found the
tortoises as fine as we had ever seen, and the ducks surpassed
our best species of wild fowl, being exceedingly
tender, juicy, and well-flavoured. Besides these, the savages
brought us, upon our making them comprehend our
wishes, a vast quantity of brown celery and scurvy grass,
with a canoe-load of fresh fish and some dried. The
celery was a treat indeed, and the scurvy grass proved of
incalculable benefit in restoring those of our men who
had shown symptoms of disease. In a very short time
we had not a single person on the sick-list. We had
also plenty of other kinds of fresh provision, among which
may be mentioned a species of shellfish resembling the
muscle in shape, but with the taste of an oyster, Shrimps,
too, and prawns were abundant, and albatross and other
birds' eggs with dark shells. We took in, too, a plentiful

stock of the flesh of the hog which I have mentioned before.
Most of the men found it a palatable food, but I
thought it fishy and otherwise disagreeable. In return
for these good things we presented the natives with blue
beads, brass trinkets, nails, knives, and pieces of red
cloth, they being fully delighted in the exchange. We
established a regular market on shore, just under the guns
of the schooner, where our barterings were carried on
with every appearance of good faith, and a degree of order
which their conduct at the village of Klock-klock had
not led us to expect from the savages.

Matters went on thus very amicably for several days,
during which parties of the natives were frequently on
board the schooner, and parties of our men frequently on
shore, making long excursions into the interior, and receiving
no molestation whatever. Finding the ease with
which the vessel might be loaded with biche de mer, owing
to the friendly disposition of the islanders, and the readiness
with which they would render us assistance in collecting
it, Captain Guy resolved to enter into negotiation
with Too-wit for the erection of suitable houses in which
to cure the article, and for the services of himself and
tribe in gathering as much as possible, while he himself
took advantage of the fine weather to prosecute his voyage
to the southward. Upon mentioning this project to
the chief he seemed very willing to enter into an agreement.
A bargain was accordingly struck, perfectly satisfactory
to both parties, by which it was arranged that,
after making the necessary preparations, such as laying
off the proper grounds, erecting a portion of the buildings,
and doing some other work in which the whole of our
crew would be required, the schooner should proceed on
her route, leaving three of her men on the island to superintend
the fulfilment of the project, and instruct the
natives in drying the biche de mer. In regard to terms,
these were made to depend upon the exertions of the savages
in our absence. They were to receive a stipulated
quantity of blue beads, knives, red cloth, and so forth, for
every certain number of piculs of the biche de mer which
should be ready on our return.

A description of the nature of this important article of
commerce, and the method of preparing it, may prove of
some interest to my readers, and I can find no more suitable
place than this for introducing an account of it.
The following comprehensive notice of the substance is
taken from a modern history of a voyage to the South
Seas.

“It is that mollusca from the Indian Seas which is
known in commerce by the French name bouche de mer (a nice morsel from the sea). If I am not much mistaken,
the celebrated Cuvier calls it gasteropeda pulmonifera.
It is abundantly gathered in the coasts of the Pacific
Islands, and gathered especially for the Chinese
market, where it commands a great price, perhaps as
much as their much-talked of edible bird's nests, which
are probably made up of the gelatinous matter picked up
by a species of swallow from the body of these molluscæ.
They have no shell, no legs, nor any prominent part, except
an absorbing and an excretory, opposite organs; but,
by their elastic wings, like caterpillars or worms, they
creep in shallow waters, in which, when low, they can be
seen by a kind of swallow, the sharp bill of which, inserted
in the soft animal, draws a gummy and filamentous
substance, which, by drying, can be wrought into
the solid walls of their nest. Hence the name of gasteropeda
pulmonifera.

“This mollusca is oblong, and of different sizes, from
three to eighteen inches in length; and I have seen a
few that were not less than two feet long. They are
nearly round, a little flattish on one side, which lies next
the bottom of the sea; and they are from one to eight
inches thick. They crawl up into shallow water at particular
seasons of the year, probably for the purpose of
gendering, as we often find them in pairs. It is when
the sun has the most power on the water, rendering it
tepid, that they approach the shore; and they often go up
into places so shallow, that, on the tide's receding, they
are left dry, exposed to the heat of the sun. But they
do not bring forth their young in shallow water, as we
never see any of their progeny, and the full-grown ones

are always observed coming in from deep water. They
feed principally on that class of zoophytes which produce
the coral.

“The biche de mer is generally taken in three or four
feet water; after which they are brought on shore, and
split at one end with a knife, the incision being one inch
or more, according to the size of the mollusca. Through
this opening the entrails are forced out by pressure, and
they are much like those of any other small tenant of the
deep. The article is then washed, and afterward boiled
to a certain degree, which must not be too much or too
little. They are then buried in the ground for four hours,
then boiled again for a short time, after which they are
dried, either by the fire or the sun. Those cured by the
sun are worth the most; but where one picul (133⅓ lbs.)
can be cured that way, I can cure thirty piculs by the fire.
When once properly cured, they can be kept in a dry place
for two or three years without any risk; but they should
be examined once in every few months, say four times
a year, to see if any dampness is likely to affect them.

“The Chinese, as before stated, consider biche de mer a very great luxury, believing that it wonderfully strengthens
and nourishes the system, and renews the exhausted
system of the immoderate voluptuary. The first quality
commands a high price in Canton, being worth ninety
dollars a picul; the second quality seventy-five dollars;
the third fifty dollars; the fourth thirty dollars; the fifth
twenty dollars; the sixth twelve dollars; the seventh
eight dollars; and the eighth four dollars; small cargoes,
however, will often bring more in Manilla, Singapore, and
Batavia.”

An agreement having been thus entered into, we proceeded
immediately to land everything necessary for preparing
the buildings and clearing the ground. A large
flat space near the eastern shore of the bay was selected,
where there was plenty both of wood and water, and
within a convenient distance of the principal reefs on
which the biche de mer was to be procured. We now all
set to work in good earnest, and soon, to the great astonishment
of the savages, had felled a sufficient number

of trees for our purpose, getting them quickly in order
for the framework of the houses, which in two or three
days were so far under way that we could safely trust
the rest of the work to the three men whom we intended
to leave behind. These were John Carson, Alfred Harris,
and—Peterson (all natives of London, I believe),
who volunteered their services in this respect.

By the last of the month we had everything in readiness
for departure. We had agreed, however, to pay a
formal visit of leavestaking to the village, and Too-wit
insisted so pertinaciously upon our keeping the promise,
that we did not think it advisable to run the risk of offending
him by a final refusal. I believe that not one of us
had at this time the slightest suspicion of the good faith
of the savages. They had uniformly behaved with the
greatest decorum, aiding us with alacrity in our work,
offering us their commodities frequently without price,
and never, in any instance, pilfering a single article, although
the high value they set upon the goods we had
with us was evident by the extravagant demonstrations
of joy always manifested upon our making them a present.
The women especially were most obliging in
every respect, and, upon the whole, we should have been
the most suspicious of human beings had we entertained
a single thought of perfidy on the part of a people who
treated us so well. A very short while sufficed to prove
that this apparent kindness of disposition was only the result
of a deeply-laid plan for our destruction, and that the
islanders for whom we entertained such inordinate feelings
of esteem were among the most barbarous, subtle,
and bloodthirsty wretches that ever contaminated the face
of the globe.

It was on the first of February that we went on
shore for the purpose of visiting the village. Although,
as said before, we entertained not the slightest suspicion,
still no proper precaution was neglected. Six men were
left in the schooner with instructions to permit none of
the savages to approach the vessel during our absence,
under any pretence whatever, and to remain constantly
on deck. The boarding-nettings were up, the guns double-shotted

with grape and canister, and the swivels
loaded with canisters of musket-balls. She lay, with
her anchor apeak, about a mile from the shore, and no
canoe could approach her in any direction without being
distinctly seen and exposed to the full fire of our swivels
immediately.

The six men being left on board, our shore-party consisted
of thirty-two persons in all. We were armed to
the teeth, having with us muskets, pistols, and cutlasses,
besides each a long kind of seaman's knife, somewhat resembling
the Bowie knife now so much used throughout
our western and southern country. A hundred of the
black skin warriors met us at the landing for the purpose
of accompanying us on our way. We noticed, however,
with some surprise, that they were now entirely without
arms; and, upon questioning Too-wit in relation to this
circumstance, he merely answered that Mattee non we pa
pa si—meaning that there was no need of arms where
all were brothers. We took this in good part, and proceeded.

We had passed the spring and rivulet of which I before
spoke, and were now entering upon a narrow gorge
leading through the chain of soapstone hills among which
the village was situated. This gorge was very rocky
and uneven, so much so that it was with no little difficulty
we scrambled through it on our first visit to Klock-klock.
The whole length of the ravine might have been
a mile and a half, or probably two miles. It wound in
every possible direction through the hills (having apparently
formed, at some remote period, the bed of a torrent),
in no instance proceeding more than twenty yards
without an abrupt turn. The sides of this dell would
have averaged, I am sure, seventy or eighty feet in perpendicular
altitude throughout the whole of their extent,
and in some portions they arose to an astonishing height,
overshadowing the pass so completely that but little of
the light of day could penetrate. The general width
was about forty feet, and occasionally it diminished so
as not to allow the passage of more than five or six persons
abreast. In short, there could be no place in the

world better adapted for the consummation of an ambuscade,
and it was no more than natural that we should
look carefully to our arms as we entered upon it. When
I now think of our egregious folly, the chief subject of astonishment
seems to be, that we should have ever ventured,
under any circumstances, so completely into the
power of unknown savages as to permit them to march
both before and behind us in our progress through this ravine.
Yet such was the order we blindly took up, trusting
foolishly to the force of our party, the unarmed condition
of Too-wit and his men, the certain efficacy of our fire-arms
(whose effect was yet a secret to the natives), and,
more than all, to the long-sustained pretension of friendship
kept up by these infamous wretches. Five or six
of them went on before, as if to lead the way, ostentatiously
busying themselves in removing the larger stones
and rubbish from the path. Next came our own party.
We walked closely together, taking care only to prevent
separation. Behind followed the main body of the savages,
observing unusual order and decorum.

Dirk Peters, a man named Wilson Allen, and myself
were on the right of our companions, examining, as we
went along, the singular stratification of the precipice
which overhung us. A fissure in the soft rock attracted
our attention. It was about wide enough for one person
to enter without squeezing, and extended back into the
hill some eighteen or twenty feet in a straight course,
sloping afterward to the left. The height of the opening,
as far as we could see into it from the main gorge, was
perhaps sixty or seventy feet. There were one or two
stunted shrubs growing from the crevices, bearing a species
of filbert, which I felt some curiosity to examine,
and pushed in briskly for that purpose, gathering five or
six of the nuts at a grasp, and then hastily retreating.
As I turned, I found that Peters and Allen had followed
me. I desired them to go back, as there was not room
for two persons to pass, saying they should have some of
my nuts. They accordingly turned, and were scrambling
back, Allen being close to the mouth of the fissure,
when I was suddenly aware of a concussion resembling

nothing I had ever before experienced, and which impressed
me with a vague conception, if indeed I then
thought of anything, that the whole foundations of the
solid globe were suddenly rent asunder, and that the day
of universal dissolution was at hand.