Page images
PDF
EPUB

highest and most distant places, in order to preserve ourselves from so imminent a danger. The horizon began to darken, and our anxieties redoubled. The noise of the volcano continually increases; the darkness augments; and we continue our flight for the preservation of our lives, removing further and further from an object so terrific. But notwithstanding the swiftness with which we run, we are overtaken in our disastrous flight by a heavy shower of huge stones; by the violence of which many unfortunate persons are in a moment deprived of life. This unforeseen and cruel circumstance obliges us to make a pause in our career, and to shelter ourselves under the houses; but flames and burnt stones fall from above, which in a short time reduce them to ashes.

In this dreadful situation, we called upon God, in such manner as we could, from the bottom of our afflicted and almost broken hearts, beseeching him for pardon and mercy. It became completely dark, and we remained enveloped and immersed in the most thick and palpable darkness, comparable only to that which in the time of Moses was witnessed in Egypt. From this moment reflection is at an end, advice is no longer given, and no person recognises another. The father abandons his children, the husband his wife, she remembers not her beloved spouse, and the children forget their parents. No one thinks that he can assist his fellows, because all believe that they are about to die.

But as man, even in the most critical and destitute situations,

endeavours by all possible methods to preserve life, each one of us, for this interesting object, makes use of all the means and expedients that can be resorted to, in the terrible condition to which we are reduced. Of what various and different methods did not we, who have escaped with life, avail ourselves, that we might not perish at that time? In the houses we now found no shelter. It was necessary to abandon them with all haste, in order not to perish with them. To go out uncovered, was to expose one's self to a danger not less imminent; because the stones that fell were of an enormous size, and fell as thick as rain itself. It is necessary, that we may not die in the one or the other manner, to cover ourselves and defend ourselves as well as we can. We do so. Some cover themselves with hides, others with tables and chairs, others with boards and tea-trays. Many take refuge in the trunks of trees, others among the canes and hedges, and some hide themselves in a cave, which the brow of the mountain offered them. Those only of us survive, who had the good fortune to protect ourselves by one or other of those methods; but those who were in the open air, with nothing at hand with which they could cover themselves, almost all perished or were wounded.

The horrid and frightful noise of the volcano increases to its ut. most; the shower of stones and thick sand augments; the burning stones and meteors continue to fall, and in a very short time reduce to ashes the most beautiful villages of the province of Ca marines. Would you have signs

more

more analogous to those that are to take place at the last judgment? The animals of the mountain descend precipitately to the villages, to seek in them a secure asylum. The domestic animals run terrified with the greatest disorder and affright, uttering cries that indicate their approaching end. Nothing interested us in those dreadful moments but the preservation of our own lives. But, alas! Divine justice has already marked and pointed out, with the finger of Omnipotence, a great number of victims, who are to perish in this day of wrath and fury, in every respect very similar to what we read in the holy Scriptures concerning the day of the last judgment.

At about ten in the forenoon it ceased to rain heavy stones, and each one endeavoured to remain in the situation he then was, waiting until the rain of thick sand which succeeded it should also cease, or until some new and unforeseen calamity should terminate the existence of us all.

We thus continued until halfpast one in the afternoon, at which hour the noise of the volcano began to diminish, and the horizon to clear a little, at sight of which there was revived in us the hope of life, which until then had been almost wholly extinguished. At about two in the afternoon it became entirely clear, and we began to perceive distinctly the lamentable and dreadful ravages that the darkness had hitherto concealed from us. We saw with terror the ground covered with dead bodies, part of whom had been killed by the stones, and the others consumed by the fire. Two hundred VOL. LVII.

of those perished in the church of Budiao; thirty-five in a single house in that village. The joy that all felt at having preserved life through such imminent dangers, was in many instantly converted into the extremity of sorrow at finding themselves deprived of their relations, friends, and acquaintances. There, a father finds his children dead; here a husband his wife, and a wife her husband; particularly in the village of Budiao, where there are very few who have not lost some of their nearest connexions. In another place, at every step one meets innumerable other unhappy wretches extended upon the ground, who, though not depriv ed of life, are wounded or bruised in a thousand ways. Some with their legs broken, some without arms, some with their sculls fractured, and others with their whole bodies full of wounds. Such were the mournful objects that presented themselves to us during the remainder of that afternoon, many of whom died immediately, and others on the following days; the rest remaining abandoned to the most melancholy fate, without physicians, without medicines, and in want even of necessary food.

The sad result of the misfortunes of that day has been the total ruin of five villages in the province of Camarines, and the principal part of Albay; the death of more than twelve hundred unfortunate persons, and many others severely wounded; the loss of every thing that the survivors possessed in the world, being left without houses, without clothing, without animals, without the pros

[blocks in formation]

pect of a harvest, and without a morsel fit to eat; the mournful and unhappy fate of many, who have been left orphans, abandoned to Divine Providence; others widows, with the loss of four, five, and even more children; the total destruction of their churches and parochial houses, with every thing that they contained; in consequence of which the sacraments could not be administered to such as died of their wounds the succeeding days, and who were buried without any pomp or ceremony; and the many infants who have since been born, have, from necessity, been baptized with com mon water, because the circumstances in which we were placed did not permit it to be otherwise. The present appearance of the volcano is most melancholy and terrific. Its side, which was formerly so cultivated, and which afforded a prospect the most picturesque, is now nothing but an arid and barren sand. The stones, sand, and ashes, which cover it, are so astonishing in quantity, that in some places they exceed the thickness of 10 and 12 yards; and in the very spot where lately stood the village of Budiao, there are places in which the cocoa-trees are almost covered. In the ruined villages, and almost through the whole extent of the eruption, the ground remains covered with sand to the depth of half a yard, and scarcely a single tree is left alive. The crater of the volcano has lowered, as I judge, more than twenty fathoms; and on the south side discovers a spacious and horrid mouth, which it is frightful to look at. Three new ones are opened at a considerable distance

from the principal crater, through which also smoke and ashes were incessantly emitted. In short, the most beautiful villages of Camarines and the principal part of that province are converted into a barren sand.

DESCENDANTS OF THE MUTINEERS

OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP BOUNTY. (From the Quarterly Review.)

It is well known that in the year 1789, his Majesty's armed vessel the Bounty, while employed in conveying the bread-fruit-tree from Otaheite to the West Indies, was run away with by her men, and the Captain and some of his officers put on board a boat, which, after a passage of 1,200 leagues, providentially arrived at a Dutch settlement on the island of Timor. The mutineers, 25 in number, were supposed, from some expressions which escaped them when the launch was turned adrift, to have made sail towards Otaheite. As soon as this circumstance was known to the Admiralty, Captain Edwards was ordered to proceed in the Pandora to that Island, and endeavour to discover and bring to England the Bounty, with such of the crew as he might be able to secure. On his arrival in March, 1791, at Matavai-bay, in Otaheite, four of the mutineers came voluntarily on board the Pandora to surrender themselves; and from information given by them, ten others (the whole number alive upon the island) were, in the course of a few days, taken; and with the exception of four, who perished in the wreck of the Pandora, near Endeavour Straight, conveyed to England for trial be

fore

fore a Court-martial, which adjudged six of them to suffer death, and acquitted the other four.

From the accounts given by these men, as well as from some documents that were preserved, it appeared that as soon as Lieutenant Bligh had been driven from the ship, the 25 mutineers proceeded with her to Toobouai, where they proposed to settle; but the place being found to hold out little encouragement, they returned to Otaheite, and having there laid in a large supply of stock, they once more took their departure for Toobouai, carrying with them eight men, nine women, and seven boys, natives of Otaheite. They commenced, on their second arrival, the building of a fort, but by divisions among themselves and quarrels with the natives, the design was abandoned. Christian, the leader, also very soon discovered that his authority over his accomplices was at an end; he therefore proposed that they should return to Otaheite; that as many as chose it should be put on shore at that island, and that the rest should proceed in the ship to any other place they might think proper. Accordingly they once more put to sea, and reached Matavai on the 20th September, 1789.

Here 16 of the 25 desired to be landed, 14 of whom, as already mentioned, were taken on board the Pandora; of the other two, as reported by Coleman (the first who surrendered himself to Captain Edwards), one had been made a chief, killed his companion, and was shortly afterwards murdered himself by the natives.

Christian, with the remaining eight of the mutineers, having

taken on board several of the natives of Otaheite, the greater part women, put to sea on the night between the 21st and 22d September, 1789; in the morning the ship was discovered from Point Venus, steering in a north-westerly direction; and here terminate the accounts given by the mutineers who were either taken or surrendered themselves at Matavai-bay. They stated, however, that Christian, on the night of his departure, was heard to declare, that he should seek for some uninhabited island, and having established his party, break up the ship; but all endeavours of Captain Edwards to gain intelligence either of the ship or her crew at any of the numerous islands visited by the Pandora, failed.

From this period, no information respecting Christian or-his companions reached England for 20 years; when, about the beginning of the year 1809, Sir Sidney Smith, then Commander-inChief on the Brazil station, transmitted to the Admiralty a paper, which he had received from Lieutenant Fitzmaurice, purporting to be an "Extract from the logbook of Captain Folger, of the American ship Topaz," and dated "Valparaiso, 10th Oct. 1808."

About the commencement of the present year, Rear Admiral Hotham, when cruising off New London, received a letter addressed to the Lords of the Admiralty, of which the following is a copy, together with the azimuth compass, to which it refers :

[blocks in formation]

Ocean will, I trust, plead my apology for addressing your Lordships at this time. In February, 1808, I touched at Pitcairn's Island, in lat. 25. 2. S. long. 130. W. from Greenwich. My principal object was to procure seal skins for the China market; and from the account given of the island, in Captain Carteret's voyage, I supposed that it was uninhabited; but, on approaching the shore in my boat, I was met by three young men in a double canoe, with a present, consisting of some fruit and a hog. They spoke to me in the English language, and informed me that they were born on the island, and their father was an Englishman, who had sailed with Captain Bligh.

"After discoursing with them for a short time, I landed with them, and found an Englishman of the name of Alexander Smith, who informed me, that he was one of the Bounty's crew, and that after putting Captain Bligh In the boat, with half the ship's company, they returned to Otaheite, where part of their crew chose to tarry, but Mr. Christian, with eight others, including himself, preferred going to a more remote place; and, after making a short stay at Otaheite, where they took wives and six men servants, they proceeded to Pitcairn's Island, where they destroyed the ship, after taking every thing out of her which they thought would be useful to them. About six years after they landed at this place, their servants attacked and killed all the English, excepting the informant, and he was severely wounded. The same night, the Otaheitan widows arose and murdered all their countrymen,

leaving Smith with the widow and children, where he had resided ever since without being resisted.

"I remained but a short time on the island, and on leaving it Smith presented me a time-piece and an azimuth compass, which he told me belonged to the Bounty. The time-keeper was taken from me by the Governor of the island of Juan Fernandez, after I had it in my possession about six weeks. The compass I put in repair on board my ship, and made use of it on my homeward-passage, since which a new card has been put to it by an instrument-maker, in Boston. I now forward it to your Lordships, thinking there will be a kind of satisfaction in receiving it, merely from the extraordinary circumstances attending it.

(Signed) MAYHEW FOLGER."

Nearly about the same time, a further account of these interesting people was received from Vice Admiral Dixon, in a letter addressed to him by Sir Thomas Staines, of his Majesty's ship Briton, of which the following is a copy:- "Briton, Valparaiso,

Oct. 18, 1814.

"Sir, I have the honour to inform you, that on my passage from the Marquesas Islands to this port, on the morning of the 17th September, I fell in with an island where none is laid down in the Admiralty or other charts according to the several chronometers of the Briton and Tagus. therefore hove-to, until day-light, and then closed to ascertain whether it was inhabited, which I soon discovered it to be, and, to my great astonishment, found that every individual on the Island (40 in number), spoke very good

English.

« PreviousContinue »