CHAPTER XXIV
I perceived with grief and consternation the miscarriage of all my
apparatus; yet I was not absolutely dejected: a great mind is never
known but in adversity. With permission of the Dutch governor the
chariot was properly laid up in a great storehouse, erected at the
water's edge, and the bulls received every refreshment possible after
so terrible a voyage. Well, you may be sure they deserved it, and
therefore every attendance was engaged for them, until I should
return.
As it was not possible to do anything more I took my passage in a
homeward-bound Indiaman, to return to London, and lay the matter
before the Privy Council.
We met with nothing particular until we arrived upon the coast of
Guinea, where, to our utter astonishment, we perceived a great hill,
seemingly of glass, advancing against us in the open sea; the rays of
the sun were reflected upon it with such splendour, that it was
extremely difficult to gaze at the phenomenon. I immediately knew it
to be an island of ice, and though in so very warm a latitude,
determined to make all possible sail from such horrible danger. We did
so, but all in vain, for about eleven o'clock at night, blowing a very
hard gale, and exceedingly dark, we struck upon the island. Nothing
could equal the distraction, the shrieks, and despair of the whole
crew, until I, knowing there was not a moment to be lost, cheered up
their spirits, and bade them not despond, but do as I should request
them. In a few minutes the vessel was half full of water, and the
enormous castle of ice that seemed to hem us in on every side, in some
places falling in hideous fragments upon the deck, killed one half of
the crew; upon which, getting upon the summit of the mast, I contrived
to make it fast to a great promontory of the ice, and calling to the
remainder of the crew to follow me, we all escaped from the wreck, and
got upon the summit of the island.
The rising sun soon gave us a dreadful prospect of our situation, and
the loss, or rather iceification, of the vessel; for being closed in
on every side with castles of ice during the night, she was absolutely
frozen over and buried in such a manner that we could behold her under
our feet, even in the central solidity of the island. Having debated
what was best to be done, we immediately cut down through the ice, and
got up some of the cables of the vessel, and the boats, which, making
fast to the island, we towed it with all our might, determined to
bring home island and all, or perish in the attempt. On the summit of
the island we placed what oakum and dregs of every kind of matter we
could get from the vessel, which, in the space of a very few hours, on
account of the liquefying of the ice, and the warmth of the sun, were
transformed into a very fine manure; and as I had some seeds of exotic
vegetables in my pocket, we shortly had a sufficiency of fruits and
roots growing upon the island to supply the whole crew, especially the
bread-fruit tree, a few plants of which had been in the vessel; and
another tree, which bore plum-puddings so very hot, and with such
exquisite proportion of sugar, fruit, &c., that we all acknowledged it
was not possible to taste anything of the kind more delicious in
England: in short, though the scurvy had made such dreadful progress
among the crew before our striking upon the ice, the supply of
vegetables, and especially the bread-fruit and pudding-fruit, put an
almost immediate stop to the distemper.
We had not proceeded thus many weeks, advancing with incredible
fatigue by continual towing, when we fell in with a fleet of Negro-
men, as they call them. These wretches, I must inform you, my dear
friends, had found means to make prizes of those vessels from some
Europeans upon the coast of Guinea, and tasting the sweets of luxury,
had formed colonies in several new discovered islands near the South
Pole, where they had a variety of plantations of such matters as would
only grow in the coldest climates. As the black inhabitants of Guinea
were unsuited to the climate and excessive cold of the country, they
formed the diabolical project of getting Christian slaves to work for
them. For this purpose they sent vessels every year to the coast of
Scotland, the northern parts of Ireland, and Wales, and were even
sometimes seen off the coast of Cornwall. And having purchased, or
entrapped by fraud or violence, a great number of men, women, and
children, they proceeded with their cargoes of human flesh to the
other end of the world, and sold them to their planters, where they
were flogged into obedience, and made to work like horses all the rest
of their lives.
My blood ran cold at the idea, while every one on the island also
expressed his horror that such an iniquitous traffic should be
suffered to exist. But, except by open violence, it was found
impossible to destroy the trade, on account of a barbarous prejudice,
entertained of late by the negroes, that the white people have no
souls! However, we were determined to attack them, and steering down
our island upon them, soon overwhelmed them: we saved as many of the
white people as possible, but pushed all the blacks into the water
again. The poor creatures we saved from slavery were so overjoyed,
that they wept aloud through gratitude, and we experienced every
delightful sensation to think what happiness we should shower upon
their parents, their brothers and sisters and children, by bringing
them home safe, redeemed from slavery, to the bosom of their native
country.
Having happily arrived in England, I immediately laid a statement of
my voyage, &c., before the Privy Council, and entreated an immediate
assistance to travel into Africa, and, if possible, refit my former
machine, and take it along with the rest. Everything was instantly
granted to my satisfaction, and I received orders to get myself ready
for departure as soon as possible.
As the Emperor of China had sent a most curious animal as a present to
Europe, which was kept in the Tower, and it being of an enormous
stature, and capable of performing the voyage with /éclat/, she was
ordered to attend me. She was called Sphinx, and was one of the most
tremendous though magnificent figures I ever beheld. She was harnessed
with superb trappings to a large flat-bottomed boat, in which was
placed an edifice of wood, exactly resembling Westminster Hall. Two
balloons were placed over it, tackled by a number of ropes to the
boat, to keep up a proper equilibrium, and prevent it from
overturning, or filling, from the prodigious weight of the fabric.
The interior of the edifice was decorated with seats, in the form of
an amphitheatre, and crammed as full as it could hold with ladies and
lords, as a council and retinue for your humble servant. Nearly in the
centre was a seat elegantly decorated for myself, and on either side
of me were placed the famous Gog and Magog in all their pomp.
The Lord Viscount Gosamer being our postillion, we floated gallantly
down the river, the noble Sphinx gambolling like the huge leviathan,
and towing after her the boat and balloons.
Thus we advanced, sailing gently, into the open sea; being calm
weather, we could scarcely feel the motion of the vehicle, and passed
our time in grand debate upon the glorious intention of our voyage,
and the discoveries that would result.
"I am of opinion," said my noble friend, Hilaro Frosticos, "that
Africa was originally inhabited for the greater part, or, I may say,
subjugated by lions which, next to man, seem to be the most dreaded of
all mortal tyrants. The country in general--at least, what we have
been hitherto able to discover, seems rather inimical to human life;
the intolerable dryness of the place, the burning sands that overwhelm
whole armies and cities in general ruin, and the hideous life many
roving hordes are compelled to lead, incline me to think, that if ever
we form any great settlements therein, it will become the grave of our
countrymen. Yet it is nearer to us than the East Indies, and I cannot
but imagine, that in many places every production of China, and of the
East and West Indies, would flourish, if properly attended to. And as
the country is so prodigiously extensive and unknown, what a source of
discovery must not it contain! In fact, we know less about the
interior of Africa than we do of the moon; for in this latter we
measure the very prominences, and observe the varieties and
inequalities of the surface through our glasses--
"Forests and mountains on her spotted orb.
"But we see nothing in the interior of Africa, but what some compilers
of maps or geographers are fanciful enough to imagine. What a happy
event, therefore, should we not expect from a voyage of discovery and
colonisation undertaken in so magnificent a style as the present! what
a pride--what an acquisition to philosophy!"
