| Contents <-Chapter 14 Chapter 16-> |
IN January 1880 we were ordered on a round of visits, including Belize, in British Honduras, and Cuba. I embarked on this occasion General Gamble, his wife, and staff, who were on a tour of inspection ; also Bishop Tozer, an old friend of East African memory, and his chaplain : so my cabins were pretty full. Amongst the bishop's luggage was a long box, which I took for a fishing-rod box. I was not aware that his lordship was a sportsman, and he rose considerably in my estimation. I said I was so glad he had. brought his tackle, as I heard there were some good fish in the river at Belize. The bishop replied quite meekly, "That's not my salmon-rod, my dear captain; it's my pastoral staff ! " We made a quick run to Belize, where I landed my passengers and remained some weeks. The anchorage abounds with sharks of a most voracious and bloodthirsty description. We used to fish for them with a piece of pork in which was placed a disc of gun-cotton connected by wire with the ship. As soon as the shark pouched the tempting morsel we pressed the button and blew off his head. I had on board a beautiful Irish setter named Paddy, which 225 HAVANA was turned into a pointer in the West Indies on account of the heat. One day when Paddy and I were at a garden party at the Governor's, one of the guests observed to me, "That's a handsome dog, captain, but he is not thoroughbred !" "How's that?" said I. "He hasn't enough hair on his belly!" " Well, sir," said I, "if my coxswain had been clipping you all the morning, I don't think you would look thoroughbred!" and he didn't. From Belize we went to Havana, and arrived there in the nick of time; for our consul-general, Mr Crowe, had just been the victim of an outrage which very nearly terminated his existence. The Spanish authorities thought very naturally that we had come in consequence of this affair, and were profuse in their apologies,- the captain-general, on whom I waited, even offering to hang or shoot twenty or thirty ruffians he had in jail, but who had nothing whatever to do with this particular case. Mr Crowe, who had acted throughout with great pluck, and who was the object of much sympathy, especially from the ladies, declined this handsome offer, and the real perpetrators escaped. After visiting Matanzas and other places of interest in Cuba, we returned to Jamaica. During our stay at this place I heard a curious story, told by a man named Curry, of some hidden treasure which he claimed to have discovered in a cave in the island of Santa Catalina, off the Mosquito Coast. Like most stories of this description, it was on the face of it highly improbable; but many people believed in it, and Curry made a very good living by offering to share his gains, for which he received substantial assistance in advance. Curiously enough, I had  Druid -" Captain Overboard ! " 226 BRITISH HONDURAS AND HAYTI. already heard of this matter whilst crossing the Isthmus of Panama on my way home in 1879. At that time Mr Malet, our consul, said he had seen Curry, who showed him some old Spanish coins dated 1625, which he said he had discovered in the cave afore mentioned, and that having filled his pockets, he was driven off by the natives, but not before he had opened some jars and boxes containing doubloons, golden crucifixes, and precious stones, &c. Mr Malet said that however improbable the story was, he could not but believe there was some truth in it. I had quite forgotten the matter until the reappearance of Curry revived my interest, so I interviewed him. He swore steadily to the story, and even offered to go with me in the Druid and show me the place, notwithstanding that I told him I should certainly hang him if his story proved to be false. It was well known that Morgan, the celebrated buccaneer, had amassed enormous wealth in those seas, notably at the sacking of Panama, when he and his men brought over to Chagres 175 mule-loads of plunder. Several of Morgan's gang were subsequently hanged at Port Royal, Jamaica, and Captain Kidd is said to have offered his weight in gold on condition that his life should be spared. The offer was declined, and the secret died with him. In consequence of this information, and being anxious to test the truth of the story, I asked the commodore to let me visit the island in the Druid, but was flatly refused - the terms pirate, filibuster, and buccaneer being freely applied to my name ; and to prevent my surreptitiously visiting the spot on my next cruise, the Commodore forbade me to go to the westward of a certain latitude, and I went to Carthagena instead. 227 CAPTAIN OVERBOARD ! During this cruise, which was rather a monotonous one, being desirous of giving my crew a little diversion and test their smartness, I jumped overboard one evening and was very promptly picked up. The entry in the ship's log ran thus : " H.M.S. Druid. Carthagena to Jamaica, Sunday, March 25, 1880. Lat. 13� 38' N., long. 77� 51' W., 5.15 P.M.. Captain fell overboard. Up mainsail, squared main-yard, let go life-buoy, lowered cutter, picked captain up. Filled and proceeded." It was a pretty evolution, smartly done. Some years afterwards I happened to be in the Naval Exhibition looking around, when my eye caught a very sensational picture of a man overboard at sea, with the extract above reproduced, winding up with the remark that the man was picked up in two minutes, and that the boat was fitted " with Messrs Hill & Clarke's boat-lowering apparatus." It was just an advertisement. Seeing that I was interested in the picture, the gentleman presiding over the department came up and assured me that it was true. Whereupon I said that I was the man, so he gave me the picture; but as this was an exaggeration, I have done another which more truly describes the scene. That same evening we caught a big shark, a very hungry old lady with twelve little sharks inside her. As some sceptics may doubt this, seeing sharks generally lay eggs, I may explain that this one belonged to the ovo-viviparous species, which produce their young alive. To go back to the story of Curry and the treasure. In the year 1882 the Commodore at Jamaica was invalided, and I became acting Commodore pro tem. ; and on being superseded by the new Commodore 228 BRITISH HONDURAS AND HAYTI. from England, I induced him to let me go to Catalina. Curry offered to accompany me, but failed at the last moment, as I felt sure he would. However, we went without him, and after three days' pleasant sailing we sighted the island of Old Providence, and anchored off Santa Catalina, where we heard the true story of Curry and his ill-gotten gains. It seems he had been servant to some old curio-hunter, who had collected a lot of coins and precious stones, and at this man's death - it was currently reported he had been murdered by Curry - the rascal stole all his property and invented this plausible tale. The natives of the island were greatly interested in Curry's yarn, and in consequence searched the island all over, and one of them actually found a jar full of doubloons at the bottom of a well. The amount must have been considerable, as he was able to build a house and buy a schooner with the proceeds. I have no doubt there is plenty more buried amidst the ruins of the old fort, which had at one time been the stronghold of the buccaneers. A remarkable rock, called Morgan's Head, stands immediately abreast of the anchorage of Santa Catalina. After a few days spent here we left for the Bay Islands, touching at Swan Island en route. This place is so insignificant as to be scarcely visible on an ordinary chart, and we were surprised to find inhabitants living on it - three Americans collecting guano, who, having had no news from the outer world, were delighted to see us. We supplied them with tea, sugar, tobacco, flour, and the latest papers, and had a capital day's shooting, bagging over four hundred bald-pated pigeons, and obtained some 229 BRITISH HONDURAS turtles. From thence we visited the Bay Islands, and anchored off Bonacca. There are three islands in the group - Bonacca, Ruatan, and Utilla - which at one time belonged to Great Britain, but, in an evil day for them, were ceded to Honduras, since when the poor inhabitants have been brutally misused. They still claim to be British subjects, and speak English. The poor things complained bitterly of their treatment by the Honduranian Government, and welcomed our arrival, but we were powerless to help them. However, we were able to be of some use, and I remained over Sunday at their particular request. On that day the ship was thronged, and after divine service we had no less than seven weddings and twenty-four christenings on board, so anxious were they to have the ceremony performed under the British flag. With universal lamentations we bade adieu to these lovely islands and the simple inhabitants. In conversation with Mr Barlee, the Governor of British Honduras, he said to me, "In no part of her Majesty's dominions are British subjects so shamefully ill-treated as are the Bay Islanders ; but they have no one to help them, and even the captains of H.M. ships are told not to listen to their complaints! " During one of our annual visits to the West Indies, I was ordered to Hayti to show the British flag, interview the consul, and report generally on the condition of the island. My report, which is far too long to reproduce here, covered the agricultural, financial, political, and social state of the island as I found it. I received the thanks of the Foreign Office for it, with a notification that they did not recommend its being published,- which I can well 230 BRITISH HONDURAS AND HAYTI understand, seeing that it was a complete expos� of the iniquitous practices carried on under the cloak of religion by the name of "Vaudouism" or serpent-worship, and corroborating in every detail the reports of Sir Spencer St John and Mr Stewart, two of H.M. ministers who had been successively accredited to the republic. It would be useless, and indeed nauseous, to recapitulate the horrors in the form of cannibalism, secret poisoning, child-slaying, and other disgusting customs which undoubtedly existed at that time, and, for all I know, do still, in that black republic. When first apprised of its existence, I could scarcely believe such things possible in the nineteenth century in a country professing to be civilised ; but I soon found out that there was no exaggeration, and that things were, if possible, worse than what had been told to me. I obtained my information from undoubted sources - from those long resident in the island, both black and white - and there seems no doubt that the horrible customs of the black savages of the West African coast have been handed down to their descendants, the present population of Hayti, and that their civilisation is merely a veneer, and their religion, ostensibly Roman Catholic, a fraud. During the French occupation they appear to have been debarred from practising their orgies; but since the French evacuated the island, some one hundred years ago, they have indulged in them. Priests belonging to the order of vaudoux are to be found in every village, and temples for the practice of their diabolical rites and ceremonies are scattered over the country. At these places at regular times, corresponding with our Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, 231 VAUDOUISM the most disgusting orgies and sacrifices take place. Passing over details, I may mention that a clergyman of the Church of England residing in the island told me that Vaudouism interfered greatly with his work. He substantiated the horrible atrocities perpetrated all over the country, and said that a woman offered human flesh at his door, and that his wife was nearly buying it, believing it to be pork. It seems scandalous that such a beautiful island should be defiled by such wretches as these. Better had it been if Columbus had left the simple, harmless race who at that time inhabited the island, instead of brutally ill-using them and substituting such barbarians. Philanthropists may claim that the black man is intellectually equal to the white and capable of self-government. It is an insult to one's intelligence to suppose so. Before leaving the station I paid another visit to Hayti, and had the satisfaction of obtaining redress for some outrages perpetrated on foreigners by the Haytian authorities. On my return from a cruise round Jamaica, I found that alarming telegrams had come from our consul-general at Port-au-Prince, urgently requiring the presence of a man-of-war. Our Commodore, having only lately taken office, was new to the extraordinary proceedings of these folk, and seemed inclined to make light of the matter, so I asked him to send me without delay, which he did, and in a couple of hours we were steaming out of harbour. Our first visit was to Miragoane, a small port on the west coast of Hayti, where Mr Ahrendt, a German subject, but vice-consul for Great Britain, had been 232 BRITISH HONDURAS AND HAYTI. insulted and imprisoned, and a Mr Hadleigh, an American citizen, had been treated in the same way. Mr Bain, a Scotchman in business in Port-au-Prince, was also in prison awaiting his trial on frivolous charges. It was certainly time we came. Having released these gentlemen and embarked them, we proceeded to Port-au-Prince, to communicate with Mr Hunt, our energetic consul-general. Having saluted the Haytian flag with twenty-one guns, I went ashore and found a lively state of affairs. A French gentleman had been illegally imprisoned; two Englishmen, friends of the consul, were unable to leave house for fear of being seized and thrown into prison for no offence whatever. The consulate was shadowed by hired ruffians, ladies and gentlemen were insulted in the streets, and British subjects imprisoned without cause. In fact, the Haytian authorities seemed to be most impartial in their favours. Mr Hunt said he could obtain no redress or satisfaction of any kind, his protestations being treated with contempt. He therefore placed the matter in my hands. There was no time to be lost - one gentleman had been in prison for three weeks, and three weeks in a filthy Haytian jail with bad food and thermometer at 120� is no joke. I at once wrote to the President, a full-blooded negro named Salamon, demanding the immediate release of this gentleman, and that he and the others who had been unlawfully imprisoned should be awarded 100 dollars (�20) a-day as compensation for the period of their incarceration, and an apology be offered for the insult to their persons ; also that the officials who committed these outrages should be dismissed from their posts. The communication produced evasive 233 PRESIDENT SALAMON. replies, couched in very polite language, for the Haytians are a most polite nation, whatever may be said of their habits. As the object was clearly to gain time, the Druid was moored within convenient range of the principal fort, and preparations made to cut out a Haytian man-of-war lying in the harbour. Fortunately these persuasive measures succeeded; the authorities agreed to the terms, and the matter ended. Before leaving the port I landed to pay my respects to the President, who was really a fine old fellow, and hardly responsible for the high-handed acts of his subordinates. He received me with every honour, guard, and band; but it was difficult to keep one's countenance when his Excellency was announced, supported on either side by a gorgeous A.D.C., one dressed in scarlet, the other in green, like the bow-lights of a steamer looming through a fog, with the President's huge figure between them. I expressed to his Excellency my satisfaction at the peaceful termination of our correspondence, and so we parted. The foreign consuls and charge-d'affaires came to wish us good-bye, and were very grateful for our visit. Having seen the cash paid at the British consulate, we sailed for Jamaica, and soon afterwards returned to England to pay off. It was a source of great gratification to me to receive on my return home, not only their Lordships' approval, but a very handsome acknowledgment from the Foreign Office, for all our proceedings in Newfoundland, and also in Hayti. ^ back to top ^ |
