The Diary of Christian Koch 1831-1836

Introduction

 

Our eighty-six year old Aunt Nettie cherished a withered little beech twig which is now one hundred and twenty years old. It belonged to her father, Christian Koch, who, having been apprenticed to a sea captain to learn navigation was on a ship as a cabin boy. While the ship was still within sight of his beloved Denmark he jumped overboard, swam ashore, plucked a twig from a beech tree and swam back to the ship. All his life he carried that twig to remind him of his native Land.

 

When, in later years, he prospered on his Mississippi farm, he tried to make of his garden a miniature Denmark. Homesick Danes found refuge there, and a good many of them found brides as well for Grandfather had many children. His descendants are scattered all over the United States. We hope they will enjoy this record of his life at sea. It was translated by his daughter-in-law, Lawrentze M. Koch.

 

Thomasine Lutken – 1947

 

Note– This little book, edited by our sister while recuperating from an operation, is dedicated to her memory.

 

P.K.L.

 

 

The Diary of Christian Koch

1831-1836

 

On May 23, 1831, I left the ship, "Betsy", and went aboard the American brig, Thetis, commanded by Capt. Lorenzen, and hailing from Middleton, Conn. I agreed to work for my passage. We stayed in St. Croix some days, and sailed from there May 31st. As soon as we were out I felt the difference between Danish and American vessels. I was very much impressed with the absence of cursing and scolding which is so common on Danish vessels. Still, here everything was carried on as well if not better.

 

All went well the first six days out, but on the evening of the 6th of June heavy clouds rose in the Northeast, and it commenced blowing fresh, so we reefed our sails. The breeze grew stronger and stronger and took one reef after another, till, in the morning, we did not have out a rag.

 

The storm raged, and there was a sea whose like I have never seen. the vessel was deeply laden with rum and molasses–we had seventy casks on deck. Toward noon the storm was at its worst. The ship was more under than above the water and it was a miracle no one was washed overboard. The seas kept growing, and the ship strained so we feared it would go to pieces, so the captain gave orders to cut the masts.

 

The second mate ran with an ax and cut the mast so it broke off close to the deck. I was cutting one of the ropes, when the rest snapped like sewing thread. The mast jumped out of the track in its fall, smashed eight casks of rum, knocked a great hole in the deck, and then fell over the bulwarks.

 

In the meantime the water poured through the hole, so we thought the ship would sink. We packed our bed-clothes and whatever else we could find into the hole and succeeded in stopping the flow from coming in so fast.

 

All this time the mast was hanging on the side bumping against the ship and threatening to break all to pieces. It was almost impossible to work in the terrible sea and it took us an hour to get it cleared away. The bowsprit was pulled off with the mast.

 

Now we had to think of the pumps, but we found the water too high in the bulks, so we resolved to throw our deck load overboard to ease the ship. We knocked the bottoms out of the rum casks. As soon as the rum began to flow, the sailors lay down and lapped it up and in a very short time we had only one or two sober men. The captain, who already had been half-drunk for sometime, stood helpless on the wheel deck and cried.

 

Two Irish passengers were aboard. One of them was so frightened he tried to jump overboard, so we simply shut both of them up in the cabin and got no help from them.

 

A big wave crippled the helmsman. The rum sprayed around and blinded us. Our arms were so tired we could scarcely wield the axes. We were in a pretty serious plight.

 

The second mate and I were the only sober ones left. We started throwing the casks overboard. We were about to heave one over, but it felt so heavy we looked inside. There curled up inside the cask, we found an old Swedish sailor, so drunk he could not stand.

 

Toward evening the storm calmed and at night we had beautiful weather again. We pumped out the ship and found no leak. All the water was taken in from the hole in the deck. In the morning we rigged up three small masts, so instead of a brig, we had a three-masted ship. We were fortunate to find a fair wind, and in five weeks we arrived at New York's quarantine station.

 

As I could speak little English, and had lent nearly all my money to the sailors, I thought it best to go with the ship to Middleton, where the sailors were to be paid off, so I could get my money back. We got a steamboat to tow us past New York through Hellgate. It was beautiful between New York and Hellgate – many gardens and villas, and ships without end. When we got through there we sailed up Long Island Sound until we came to the mouth of the Connecticut River.

 

Here our work began in earnest. The wind was against us, and we had no sails with which to tack, so we had to pull the ship up beside the bank of the river and wade in water up to our necks. When we could not wade for trees or when the water was too deep, we had to warp up. This had to be done for thirty miles before we arrived at the town, and although it was very beautiful up the river, I was so exhausted I could not enjoy it.

 

However, I could not help noticing the immense quantities of fire-flies which flew among the trees and filled the whole woods with light.

 

When we arrived at the town the sailors went ashore and got their pay, but they got drunk right away so I could not get back the money they had borrowed. I went out in a field and stretched out under a tree.

 

It looked exactly like Denmark, with fenced fields, and the same kind of grain growing, but now I was far, far from the dear old home. I had no friends or even acquaintances and I felt so unhappy that – child as I was – I cried. When I had had my cry out I went back to town to find the other sailors.

 

They were about to start for New York in a steamboat, and as I had not yet got my money, I thought it best to go with them. I went back to the ship to get my clothes. I could not take everything at once, so first I carried my working clothes and then went back for my chest. But when I came back the steamboat had gone, taking part of my clothes with it!

 

There I stood and I just did not know a soul! It happened to be the 4th of July, the day of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, a day that is highly celebrated in America. In Middleton, on several vessels in the river they were shooting fireworks, dancing and making merry.

 

As I stood wondering how I could get something to eat, for I was very hungry, a man came and said he would give me a dollar to take him out to one of the vessels. Then I was glad and I got the boat belonging to the brig, took him out and got my dollar.

 

Then I went into the town to try to find somewhere to lodge, and the first person I met was an old Scotchman who said I could stay with him for two dollars a week. He took me to his home – quite an elegant house – where he introduced me to his family. I told him what had happened and that I did not know where to get work as there were very few vessels in the place. He told me not to worry as he would get me something to do and he would write to New York and get my clothes back. This he did in a very few days. Next morning he got me work with a brick mason, who hired me to hand bricks for one dollar per day. I worked there several days. Then I had different jobs. I helped dig a cellar for a druggist – I raked hay. If work gave out, I went to the master of the brig, Mr. Alsop, and he always procured something for me – if nothing else, picking cherries.

 

I lived with nice people and I was very comfortable. Just outside my window were two cherry trees and I could eat all I wanted, both the first and the last I have tasted in America. Sundays I spent in the woods.  The others went to church and frowned at me for not going too, but I did not go, as I could not understand a word the preacher said. They were outwardly very religious.

 

I wondered at the little difference between the people. Rich and poor were as one class, associating with one another in perfect equality.

 

I was well fixed, and I guess it would have been better for me if I had stayed, but the foolish restlessness got hold of me again. I was tired of the quiet life on land and must needs go to sea again. Mr. Alsop wanted me as a second mate on his brig and would employ me in the meantime, but no, I must see other places. So I took hire on the schooner Waccaman for sixteen dollars a month. It was sailing with stoves for Old Point Comfort, a fort on the Chesapeake Bay. First we had to go up the river to a place called Haddam to load the stoves. So I went aboard and we started the same day. It was beautiful going up the river, past mountains and valleys, rain fields and farm houses and many of the same trees we have in Denmark.

 

Haddam itself is only a small village in the midst of woods, with several small ship yards. I went several times into the woods, which resemble Danish woods, only here the birds have more brilliant plumage. I saw my first squirrels here, and tried to catch them, but they were too quick.

 

When we were loaded, we went down the river and arrived without mishap at Chesapeake Bay. We anchored by a fort named "Risp Rasp", but we could not unload there so we sailed to another fort right opposite, built on a point of sand, and more than a mile in circumference.

 

The country here in Virginia is very flat and sandy and mostly covered with pine woods. One Sunday I walked to a little town called North Hampton, where I saw a beautiful apple orchard. It was only July, but the apples were already ripe. I wanted some, so I thought I would steal a few. I succeeded in this but, as I started to go out, an old black woman came out of the house with two large dogs. She sicced them on me. I ran till I was about to burst but was lucky enough to get over the fence and out on the road before they got me. On the way back, I found a tree of wild cherries, but I could not eat any because the mosquitoes were about to eat me up.

 

  When we had unloaded we were to go to Norfolk for a load of stoves. But, as cholera was raging there, none of the crew would go except the mate and myself. So we had to take the vessel there alone, but it was only five miles and the wind was good, so we got there all right.

 

Norfolk is a little irregular, unhealthy town surrounded by a swamp and pine woods. The cholera killed a lot of people while we were there. I thought one time I had it myself. For five days I had such a diarrhea, I could hardly stand on my feet.

 

From Norfolk runs a canal through the great Dismal Swamp to North Carolina. One of the U.S. Arsenals is also there. We stayed there only one week, got a new crew and went back to Falmouth, Mass., the vessel's home port. In about eight days we arrived at a little place called Elizabeth Island, where we had to be in quarantine, as we came from the cholera region. We had a good time fishing and walking around on the little island. It was quite pretty. Masses of wild grapes were growing everywhere. Strange, it seems to me, that grapes can grow there – it is so much colder in the winter than at home.

 

When we got out of quarantine, we sailed down to Falmouth. It is a very small place, and only a few vessels belong there. There are many apple and peach orchards. One day I wanted to taste an apple. I saw a boy shaking some down. I asked him to give me a couple but instead of answering, he set up a howl and ran away. I went in myself, picked up as many as I could carry, and got out again without being molested. On my way back, I passed a pond with a terrible lot of turtles but as soon as I came near, they dived.

 

When we had unloaded the captain left the vessel. The mate was in command. I did not like him, so I would not go with him. As there was no other vessel I could join at that place, I went as a passenger on a steamboat to New Bedford.

 

I did not intend to go to sea again immediately, but when I went up into the town I came by a house where they were selling books at auction, I went in and bought a lot of pleasure books. One was named 'P. Pickle", and I liked it so well that, instead of going to sea, I hired me a room so I could read all I wanted. I stayed there ten days and did nothing but read and pick blueberries.

 

I had a good deal of money, and wished to be saving, so I knew no better than to put it in the bank there. So I put sixteen dollars in and the next time I came forty dollars. But I did not get a receipt and I have never been there since, so God knows if I shall ever see my money again.

 

In the meantime I had read my books and began to think of going again. First I thought of hiring myself to a whaling vessel, but as they usually are gone for three years, I thought that would be too long. Therefore, I hired out to the schooner, "The Three Sisters", going to Baltimore, where we arrived after six days' sailing.

 

Baltimore is situated two hundred English miles up the Chesapeake on the river and is a large, handsome town. There are many splendid buildings, especially the U.S. Bank, in which no stone weighs less than two tons and Washington's monument, with his figure on top in colossal size. There is a most beautiful view from there.

 

There I got acquainted with an old ship's captain, Stevens, who took me home to his family. I liked them very much, especially one of the daughters. I was quite in love with her. They were Catholics and came near making me one, too. I went to Church with them every evening, dipped my finger in the holy water, and looked very pious at the priest bobbing about at the altar.

 

One time I came near getting in trouble. It was St. Patrick's day, a great feast day, and I went with the folks to church. I saw they all had prayer-books except myself, so I took "P. Pickle" which I happened to have in my pocket, and looked in it. But I had hardly opened it before the captain's old wife saw that it was not a prayer book. When we got home she gave me a severe lecture, especially when she found it was a novel. Such a book is, in their eyes, one of the greatest sins. Later I learned they were not so honest themselves, for a little tool I left there I never got back. Still I kept on visiting them whenever I was in Baltimore.

 

Boston is the prettiest town I have seen in America, but the surroundings are naked, as nearly all the forests are cut down. Here it was that the first battle of the Revolutionary War was fought. Later they raised a monument on Bunker hill, which I saw when I was last in Boston. I also heard much talk about a beautiful public garden but when I saw it, I was much disappointed, as it was only a large lawn with a few trees. On the way back from Boston, we landed at New Bedford, where I put the money in the bank I have already mentioned.

 

We were becalmed one day in the Chesapeake and were ordered to scrape the masts. I refused to do it with my own knife, as that would ruin it. So the captain got mad and he scolded me. The more he scolded, the madder he got. At last he grabbed a hand spike and started for me. So I grabbed the cook's ax and I told him if he dared come nearer, I would strike him in the head. He put down the hand spike and everything was all right again.

 

I told him, though, that I would leave him as soon as we got to Baltimore. So, when we arrived there, I asked him for my money. But he would not hear of my leaving and begged me to stay. But I was determined, so he had to pay me. I went to a lodging house, as I intended to remain there until after Christmas.

 

Americans do not keep Christmas nearly as holy as Sundays. I don't believe they even had church. It is only a day when people have to get drunk. I went to the theatre that night and saw "Hamlet", but it was played very poorly. But I saw a splendid museum of Natural History. Especially wonderful was the skeleton of a mammoth that had been found in Ohio. It was over twelve feet high. Its tusks stood out like an elephant's and were about eight feet long. There were paintings and wax figures of all kinds – some very beautiful.

 

I saw a menagerie, too, which I thought was fine. There were six lions – three in a cage, and their keepers would go in and play with them. There was a rhinoceros, too – probably the ugliest animal in the world.

 

Almost every night while I was yet in town, I went to a Methodist Prayer Meeting, and truly, I believe they were all crazy. All wanted to talk and pray at the same time, and they made such a racket it seemed terrible to me.

 

When I was tired of Baltimore, I shipped on the brig 'North" going to New York. I went aboard before the rest of the crew. When they came they were so drunk that, to keep them on board, we had to pull out into the stream. Next morning, when we should sail, they all had delirium tremens because they had so suddenly stopped drinking. They were perfectly desperate. We had to stay there two days until they were well enough to work.

 

We anchored a few days at Hampton Roads and went ashore to shoot birds. Among others, there were a great many cardinal birds, fiery red, and very beautiful. We saw men fishing with a net eight hundred feet long. They had to use many oxen to pull it ashore. There were also many nice oysters. In an hour's time we could rake up a boat full.

 

We arrived in New York all right, It is the largest town in America. It is very irregular, but now they are straightening it in a strange manner – they just simply move whole buildings by steam. I have seen not more than four men move a two-story brick house ten feet back. The town is built on the island of Manhattan, and the entrances are strongly fortified.

 

On the other side of the Sound, Brooklyn is situated, also a pretty large town. There are several pretty gardens, among others Castle Gardens, where I saw a balloon ascend. When it was about to go up, the basket, in which a man was riding, hit against a flag-pole and turned over. But the man hung on by his legs. To get free he had to get his knife out of his pocket to cut something loose, and in the meantime, he had to hang on by his teeth. The flag-pole broke. He managed to turn his basket and got into it and flew away. But he had to come down on the other side of the river for repairs.

 

I went to the theatre in New York and saw "Virginia". They had the most beautiful scenery. We came back all right to Baltimore and I felt like making a longer voyage so I hired out to the ship "Ann McKean" to go to Valparaiso. We sailed from Baltimore in the latter part of January.  The whole voyage was made in monotonous sailing, broken only now and then by a storm or a school of fish. The fins of a shark would be seen now and then. The sight of another ship is quite an event after such a long voyage. There were lots of flying fish and it was beautiful to see a flock of them when the sun shone on them. I have often seen dolphins pursue flying fish and it is wonderful how high they can jump after them. They almost always catch them, too.

 

The first land we sighted after two month's sail was Fire Island, north of Cape Horn. We steered so far south of the cape that we did not see it at all. We saw no more land until we arrived at Valparaiso. We anchored a half mile from the town, as we could not get ashore. The town lies at the end of a bay on a very steep rocky hill, and looks ugly and irregular. Scarcely a tree is to be seen – nothing but rocks. The people look ragged and treacherous like all the Spanish and Portuguese I have seen. They have lovely oranges and grapes. One hears nothing but church bells ringing and they burn fireworks night and day Outside the churches. We loaded with copper 333333and sailed in three weeks.

 

We arrived in Baltimore after a rare, fine voyage – only south of the Horn it was cold and stormy. The day after we were paid off, three of us hired to the schooner "Robert", starting on a trading trip to Colombia. We had just three days to be ashore and, as we had a good deal of money, we meant to have a good time and get rid of it.

 

We lived fast, hired cabs, went to the theatre, etc. On the last day we made engagements with four girls, the landlord's daughters, to make a trip to a little town called Ellicott Mills, about ten English miles from Baltimore. So very pretty, especially the gardens, which were the most beautiful I have seen in America. We had a very fine dinner.

 

In the meantime, one of the fellows had had too much to drink, for, coming home, he proposed to one of the girls that they should be married that night. The rest of us thought it would be fine to go to a wedding, so we urged it on him all we could.

 

I went after the license, which cost two dollars, and the other man went after the parson. While we were gone, the groom drank still more and could hardly stand up. But they were married while I stood and held him up. Then we bought some cakes and wine, got hold of a fiddler and danced merrily.

 

Thomas was now so drunk we had to put him to bed. The next morning at six o'clock a message came for us to go aboard. We went up to get Tom and found him still asleep. He could not recollect at all that he had been married. But nothing would do – he had to go, and he did not get home until two years later. I have since met him in Baltimore, and he is living very happily with the wife he got without knowing it.

 

We sailed away from the town, but anchored a few miles down the bay. We had got a taste of land now, and were not anxious to go to sea. Tom wanted to go home to his wife, so we determined we would steal away at night. But, as our boat was hoisted on deck, Tom, as soon as it got dark, was to swim over to another ship whose yawl was in the water and bring it to us. When he got there, he was discovered. The people called out to him and he had to give it up and swim back again.

 

The next morning we went to sea. The weather was bad, and the provisions were not as good as they should have been, so we were all pretty cross. And, with it all, we had a great ass of a cook, who never could get the meals on time, so we had to lose a great deal of our sleep on his account. One day I waited two hours on him and I commenced scolding him about it. He quarreled back, and it ended in a fight. I got him behind a chicken coop and began to beat him but then the mate came running and struck me in the face with a piece of wood. Then the rest of the crew came up and took the part of the mate, so we had quite a skirmish. We won the victory, and after that we made up and everything was all right.

 

We sailed now between the Bahaman Islands, a few very low islands overgrown with bushes. After eight days we sailed in between Cuba, St. Domingo and Jamaica, very irregular, mountainous islands, but they look very beautiful. Everywhere they are overgrown with green trees.

 

We steered now toward the Bluefields river, as there lived a lot of Indians and Negroes with whom the captain meant to trade. At the same time, through an Indian who traded for him, he hoped to get a chance to unload his tobacco and rum, which the Spanish Government did not permit to be imported.

 

On the morning of August 18 we saw Bluefields Bluff, but the wind was from the land and the current of the river so strong we could not enter. So we ran down the coast to St. John's River, where there lived an Englishman by the name of Shepherd, with whom we later had trouble.

 

This man was like a king on the coast. The Indians were fond of him, the Spaniards were afraid of him. He kept two armed vessels which smuggled right before their noses, which shows how weak the Colombian government is. He had almost all the trade to himself and, therefore, it was a thorn in his side that we came down there.

 

The country is very flat, and is almost inundated during the rainy season. The vegetation is strong, and the trees grow out in the sea. Especially plentiful are the mangrove trees, which grow everywhere in the water. These are curious trees, for one cannot tell where they begin or end, as the limbs take root and form new trees.

 

When I landed there I saw my first alligators. They lay in the mud sunning themselves, but when we came near them in the boat they jumped into the water. They also lay quiet and floated on the river, and then you could not tell them from a big log.

 

For a knife and a few biscuits, we bought a turtle from some Indians. It weighed 200 pounds. It had at least a peck of yellow eggs that looked like hen eggs, but tasted pretty dry. It was ugly work to kill it – it was so slow to die. The head kept gaping over an hour after it was cut off. We treated the meat like beef, and it tasted a lot like beef, but you soon tire of it. Soon we were getting so many turtles, I felt like crying when I saw one brought aboard. And the meat, besides, gave us such diarrhea before we got used to it, that we were nearly dead.

 

Here I saw the first Indians. They have the color of copper and are finely shaped, with long stiff hair. They were almost naked, with only a loin cloth, and looked very savage. They had their bows and arrows with them in the boat. The bow is made of tough black wood. The arrows are said to be poisoned. They also have a kind of spear which they use to catch fish. They have a line made fast to one end of it, and they can hit a fish deep under the water, which is very clear.

 

Shephard was not at home, so the captain could not see him. We went away the next morning. But when we came out it was so calm we had to warp the whole day to get away from land. At last came the land wind, and we sailed down the coast until we arrived at Bocas Del Toro, where a good many white folks live.

 

It rained the whole time – still they said it was the dry season. Nobody can understand rain like that without seeing it. In a few moments boats are full, and it pours so one can scarcely breathe. That same evening we came in among the islands around Bocas Del Toro and we anchored a few miles from the town.

 

That night we had the most fearful thunderstorm I have ever seen. The next morning was calm, so we went ashore to look at the Indians. Most of them on this island are mixed with Negroes. Their huts are made of palmettos on top of wooden poles. A few pots and pans are all their furniture. When they are not fishing or hunting, the men lie and swing in their hammocks all day long. The women do all the work in the house, and raise sweet potatoes and plantains. Fried plantain is a substitute for bread. When they are ripe, they taste very good raw.

 

Sweet potato is a running plant that looks like convolvulus and has the same kind of white flowers. Parrots and hummingbirds and other brilliant birds are there in great abundance. One especially beautiful bird is a white crane with red legs. Lemons and wild pineapples are plentiful.

 

In the day, we sailed in among the islands and at night came into the town. There were a few wooden houses – the rest were Indian tents. Here we met the captain's brother, who owned a schooner which he ran up and down the coast, selling wares brought from America. He bought some from us.

 

The next day we sailed to a little place called North Bluefields, where he had a little house, and a Spaniard who traded for him. North Bluefields lies in a bay surrounded by high cliffs, so no other huts are in sight.

 

As soon as we were anchored the captain's brother took a horn and blew a blast. In a little while Indians in their canoes came flocking from all directions. In an hour there was a whole fleet along our sides. Now began our trade with the Indians. They brought turtle shells, pigs, chickens, parrots and monkeys on board. For these they got knives, beads, mirrors and other little things, but especially tobacco and rum. He gave them the rum first, for when he got them drunk, he could cheat them better.

 

But he succeeded too well this time, for they made such a racket that we had to get the guns loaded with blank cartridges to shoot them in the head if they did not behave themselves. But even this did not help, so we had to put down our weapons and begin to throw Indians overboard – women, children, whoever first came to hand.

 

It was strange they did not try to fight. When we got a good many overboard, the rest quieted down, and we closed the trade with perfect contentment on both sides. This same performance was acted every time we came there. On the Mosquito Coast, further south, they were more sober. They also steal, like ravens, but in St. Blas you could leave everything open.

 

We hid all our tobacco and rum in a little hut in the woods, where it was almost impossible to find it, while we went to Portobello to get permission from the Spanish government to trade on the coast. We arrived there two days after. The harbor there is splendid. It is said to have been a booming town, but now the fort and nearly all the best buildings are nothing but ruins.

 

The streets are filthy – dead dogs and horses are lying in the midst of them. If it were not for the untold masses of buzzards running around, looking like turkeys, it would be impossible to live there at all.

 

But, anyway, here are the most beautiful girls I have ever seen, although they are a little brown. But their eyes and hair are splendid. It was Sunday, and they all had wreaths of flowers on their heads which looked beautiful on their black hair. On the men sat the ugliest, sneakiest faces one could wish to see. It is a town of the greatest immorality, like all Colombian towns.

 

The ruins are a good place for lizards. I saw them there two or three feet long and the most beautiful colors when the sun shone on them. I have later eaten them and they taste like chicken. They are called iguanas.

 

After having received our permit we sailed out at night with the wind from shore. The whole day it blows from the sea and changes at night. We were going to the Bluefields River, where we were not able to land before. On the way we stopped at North Bluefields and put a lot of our tobacco and rum aboard.

 

When we came to the river the sea wind was blowing hard, so we sailed in without any trouble. We anchored two miles from the town – as close as we could get, on account of shallow water. When we got there it rained and was so foggy we could not see the town at all. 

 

There was only one black boy on board who had been there before. So another man and I took him with us in a boat to show us the road to the town. We started after dinner intending to stay all night and come back the next morning.

 

We rowed and rowed until we thought we must have gone more than two miles, but our guide assured us we were not near there yet. So we rowed on until it began to be dark, and then we knew that we were lost. The mosquitoes and sand flies were about to eat us up. We were afraid to float down the river in the dark as the strong current could easily run us against a sunken log and upset the boat. Neither did we dare make fast to a tree, on account of the many alligators we saw swimming around. In the woods the monkeys kept up a steady screaming chorus. We thought it was jaguars, of which there also were many. While we were holding council about the best thing to do, we came to a log standing up in the water. So we tied to it and made up our minds to stay there till morning. Sleep was not to be thought of. The rain was pouring down, and the mosquitoes were well able to keep us awake. And the monkeys screamed so they scared us nearly to death.

 

We were all happy when dawn came. As soon as we could see we drifted down to the ship, where we arrived worn out and starved. When we had revived a little we had to set off again, but this time the captain went, too, and we got to the town all right in the evening. Here the captain owned a house built of lumber, where his trader lived. We stayed there all night, and next morning went out to see the town.

 

It looked like most other foreign towns. A few whites and many Negroes lived there. Mangrove trees filled the whole river bank, and where the limbs hung down in the water they were full of oysters. So I can say I have plucked oysters from a tree! We found out here that Shephard had advised the Mosquito King to ask toll from the American vessels which traded on the coast so we could not sell our wares as cheaply as his. Capt. Knapp was angry, and incautiously, in the peoples' hearing , began to revile the king. "If he comes aboard my vessel," the captain blustered, "I will take him to New Orleans and sell him as a slave."

 

After lying there a few days we sailed over to two small islands to take on some provisions. They are a pair of beautiful, fertile islands. Several whites live there. One of them wanted to buy the black boy we had ashore with us. He bid three hundred dollars for him, and (said) we should tell the captain he had run away from us. The boy stood and listened to this talk and howled like he was whipped. Of course the trade was not made, but Captain Knapp would not let him go ashore again with us alone.

 

When he had taken on all the hogs and poultry we needed we sailed down the Mosquito Coast again. We anchored in a place called Sandy Bay. We blew our horn, but nobody came. At last a single Indian came out in a canoe and told us that the king had found out what Knapp had said about him. He had forbidden them to trade with us, and had even threatened to set fire to the ship if he could get a chance.

 

Now the captain thought it would be best to make the king friendly again, so he resolved to send him some presents. So we sailed to Cape Gracioso Dips, the nearest place to the home of the king. To be prepared for the worst, we loaded the only cannon we had, and a few old muskets, and so we ran in and cast anchor. The king lived fifteen or twenty miles up the little river Wang. Now came the question who should go to him. The captain, being an old man, could not do without his mate, and I was the only one who could write, so the commission was put on me. The captain hired six Indians and a long canoe to row me up the river. (Here, also several pages are missing. He cut them out and burned them shortly before he died.)

 

The next day we ran on to Chagresca. It looks about like Portobello, only not so dilapidated. Here there is more inland trade as a little river is navigable ten miles inland. Through that goes all the trade from Panama. Before, the trade went overland to Portobello. We went up there with our boat, as we had to bring some flour and soap for Panama.

 

One always walks with his life in his hands, and has to be very careful not to offend the Spaniards. They do not mind to kill a man any more than a snake. They always have their long knives ready to stab you.

    

From Chagresca we sailed to St. Blas to get coconuts to bring home. St Blas is a lot of small islands overgrown with coconut trees. Some Indians live there in the dry season, but in the rainy season they live in the country, where they also have dwellings. These Indians are very stubborn, and the Spaniards have never been able to conquer them. They permit no one to gather coconuts off their island.  About a year before this they killed sixteen Spaniards who had come over to get nuts. Their skeletons are still lying bleaching on one of the islands.

 

They are not so handsome as the Mosquito Indians, but are much more cleanly (sic) and honest – they never steal. They are very jealous of their wives. But the wives have a better time than the Mosquito wives. They do nothing but the cooking. The rest of the time they sit with a mirror in one hand and paint their faces red and yellow. I was among them a great deal the next time I came and I never saw them engaged in any religious ceremonies.

 

One of them, John Bull, seemed to be the leader. He would sit for long hours and speak with astonishing rapidity. The rest would listen very devoutly. One of them who could speak English, and who later went with us to America, told us it was only about the coconuts they should gather before we came back that he was speaking.

 

They had no names other than the ones the sailors gave them. If you asked one his name he always answered "Pennigoa Baica" which means "Indian". The one we brought home, who later was baptized in Baltimore, said he had no other name than Peter.

 

We rowed up into the continent on a small river called "Luga" to get drinking water. Both sides were covered with plantain plantations. I never saw so many parrots and pepper birds. Here also were a great many doves with white heads and tails. When we got the water we commissioned John Bull to have ready for us a load of coconuts for the later (sic) part of September, when we should come for them.

 

Next we went to a small wooded island named St. Andrews. A good many Englishmen lived there, but it belongs to Columbia. We stayed there one day, and then proceeded to Old Province, a larger island to the west. All kinds of tropical fruits grow wild there in great abundance. We went ashore to pick some, I climbed up a tree of Alligator pears, but before I got any I discovered a large wasp's nest. Before I could get down one stung me on the hand. It hurt so badly that, to keep from being stung again, I let myself fall out of the tree. Fortunately I was not hurt, but got up and ran as fast as I could, but one more stung me before I got clear of them.

 

After selling a great deal of different goods we went again to the Mosquito Coast. Here we bought some turtle shells. We wanted more, so we went out to some small islands called Mosquito Keys about ten miles from the coast.

 

The Indians catch the turtles in this way; they lie in wait for them at night when they come on the sand to lay their eggs. They turn them on their backs so they cannot get away. They take only the outer shell, then let them go, as they cannot be eaten. In about three years the shell will grow again.

 

There is not a tree on the islands. They are so flat one cannot see them until one is right on them. We went ashore on one, and never have I seen so many sea birds. It was about impossible to set a foot down without stepping on a nest. It was impossible to throw a stone without hitting a bird. We broke some eggs, but they had young in them. We cleared off a place about six yards square, and went away. In a couple of hours we went back and gathered over two hundred newly laid eggs.

 

We sailed up and down the coast for about a month. We went into North Bluefields to have some copper plates put on the ship before we went home. From Corn Island we bought thirty hogs that the captain wanted to give to the Spaniards that traded for him, so he himself could get his hogs from there. They were put in a pen near the water, and every night an alligator came and took one of them. Fix the pen as we would, he would still gnaw through and take his pig. I think there were two alligators – one big and one little one. The little one came up too high on shore one day, and the Indians killed it. It was an ugly brute about eight feet long. Its teeth were an inch long and so far apart it could bite a rope in two.

 

The big alligator was often a target for us, but even if we hit him, it did not hurt his tough hide. We could get pretty near to him by imitating a pig's squeal. Still, a hog disappeared every night. Finally Capt. Knapp asked me to watch the next night and shoot it when it came up.

 

 I loaded an old musket with two balls, and sat in the door of the Spaniard's house which was close to the pig pen. I sat there a couple of hours and finally went to sleep. I was awakened by the squealing of the pigs, and saw the alligator about to dig itself in to get one. In my first scare I sprang into the house and slammed the door. When I ventured out it was gone, frightened by the noise of the door. I shot my gun off into the water, and brazenly told the next morning that I had killed it. I was almost ready to believe it myself, as we did not see it for four days, but on the fifth day it came back to my great humiliation.

 

After the ship was repaired and we had taken on our ballast we left the rest of the load with the Spaniard so he could trade with it while Knapp was in America. Then we went to St. Blas for coconuts, and from there to Baltimore.

 

On the way we caught the largest shark I have ever seen, in a net which we let fall over it. It was so large we could not hoist him on board, so we cut off his tail and let him go.

 

John Bull, at St. Blas, had coconuts enough to load us. He had kept a very correct account by notching a stick for every 10 X 10. None of them can count further than ten. The Indians brought the nuts on board, so we had nothing to do but spend our time on shore for two days. We amused ourselves trying to shoot fish, but seldom hit any.

 

There I tasted monkey meat, which is considered a great treat by the Indians. It was perfectly white and, when it was scalded and scraped like a pig, it looked exactly like a little child, but it tasted good.

 

I saw also two white Indians, a woman and child. They were milk white – white hair and eyelashes, and no color whatever in their cheeks. They were born white. In St. Croix I have also seen a white Negro and several spotted ones, but sickness was the cause of their condition.

 

I shot several parrots. They were here in amazing flocks, and they tasted fine. After five months on that coast we started from St. Blas in the middle of December. We intended to go south of Cuba to get the Gulf Stream with us. But when we reached it we had a north-easterly storm with a most fearful sea. We were driven far into the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel sprang a leak, so we resolved to put in at New Orleans instead of Baltimore.

 

The third day the weather calmed a little, so the captain and the boys took all the parrots and monkeys, of which we had many, on deck so their cages could be cleaned. We were all standing in the stern eating breakfast, for down in the cabin we could not go, as the water was high in the ship. We had been on deck since the storm began.

 

We thought the sea was calming, but we were sadly mistaken, for, as we stood merrily eating, a fearful sea came and threw the vessel over on one side so that everything on deck went overboard. We clung on, but when the ship was righted, we saw the poor monkeys and parrots swimming around in their cages.

 

Fortunately another sea did not come immediately or the ship would certainly have foundered. Prepared for the worst, we fastened an ax so we could, at a moment's notice, chop the masts overboard. To ease the ship the topsail mast had to be taken down. It fell to my lot to do this, and never have I had a harder piece of work. It was almost impossible to hold fast, and, as I had my shirt sleeves rolled up, there was hardly any skin left on my arms when I came down.

 

After the weather got better and we had patched the ship up a little we saw land one morning. We got a pilot on board and ran in and anchored by a little town lying at the mouth of the Mississippi.

 

The country here is very flat. The river has many mouths, and is difficult to navigate. It changes its channel often. In the spring the bottom is only soft mud.

 

The day after, a steamship came and towed us up to New Orleans in a day and a half against a five or six mile current. It is one hundred and seventy miles up the river. At the mouth of the river is about one and a half English miles and it keeps the same width up to St. Anthony's Falls.

 

The first fifty or sixty miles are very low, and nothing but marsh, but higher up there are many sugar plantations protected against the water by levees. Here grow many oak and cypress trees covered by a peculiar long gray moss which is called "Spanish Beard". It is used for mattresses instead of curly hair. It is often eight feet long and gives the trees a strange look.

 

As soon as we reached New Orleans we went ashore, and I was paid off – about one hundred dollars. New Orleans is a very irregular town protected from the river by great levees. It lies in the middle of a great morass which is covered by cypress trees. It is five English miles from Lake Ponchartrain, and has about eighty thousand inhabitants.

 

In the summer it is very unhealthy to live here, and most of the rich move up the river. It is very expensive to live here. In this season the cholera was raging and they paid grave-diggers fourteen dollars a day. It is a very immoral town and Sundays are very little respected. It was nothing strange, in the morning, to see murdered people lying in the streets. The inhabitants consist of all possible nationalities, though mostly French and Spanish. Here is also a French Theatre.

 

As I intended to go home in the spring as soon as I earned a little more money, I stayed only two days in New Orleans. Then I went down to Lake Ponchartrain on a railroad to hire to the steamboat "Watchman" that was hunting a crew.

 

That was the first time I rode on a railroad. The locomotive pulled twenty to thirty cars so fast you could scarcely see anything near by. They could go still faster, but, as the distance is only five and a half miles they have to begin to stop before they are fairly started. It is very dangerous to ride on, as the least obstacle on the track will overthrow the train. It is not seldom that someone gets hurt as they go so fast. They have a piece of wood fastened in front to throw things off the track, but it does not always help. I saw the train once run over a cow which could not get off the track fast enough. The locomotive, being heavy, did not turn over, but all the cars, as they struck the cow, toppled over one by one, and two people killed.

 

The whole road was running through cypress trees growing in the swamp. It was evening when I went out there, and such a serenade of frogs I have never heard. The bull-frog bellows as loud as an ox, and has often scared me when I walked along this road in the evenings. Later in the spring you can hear thousands of turtle doves cooing. They love to stay in the cypress trees.

 

I had brought only four dollars with me. The rest I left in my trunk which stood in my lodging house. When I came to the lake I took hire right away on the "Watchman" which took the mail to Mobile. It should make the trip in two days, for which it received two hundred dollars. But, if it went aground, or was delayed in any way, it had to pay one hundred dollars fine.

 

It was a handsome boat – the first steamboat I was on. But, although I was getting twenty-five dollars a month, I soon got tired of it. It steered so badly in shoals that when one stood his two hours at the helm he could hardly move his arms when at last relieved. After having delivered the mail at Mobile we started back, but did not reach the railroad till the third day, so had to pay the hundred dollar fine.

 

When I got there I received my pay and wanted to go up to New Orleans on the cars. But when I went to pay my fare, and put my hand in my pocket, my purse was gone. I had to give my watch as security, and later go and get it back.

 

But a still greater pleasure awaited me. When I went to my lodging I found my trunk open and fifty dollars gone. The rest was not touched. My host said it must be Tom, whose wedding we made up in Baltimore, who had taken it, for no one else knew I had the money. Tom was working on a steamboat towing vessels up the river, and, as it happened to be in town, I went down to the captain and asked him if Tom had given him any money to take care of. He answered yes, and among it a fifty dollar bill. I told him now that Tom had taken it from me and asked him not to let Tom have it ‘til I had spoken to him about it. I went to Tom, and he immediately confessed, and excused himself saying that as I had been away for three days, nobody knew where, he took it for granted somebody had murdered me, and thought he might as well have my money as let my host keep it.

 

I did not want to get him in trouble, so I just asked him to go with me to the captain and him to pay me the fifty dollars. He did that, and the captain promised to pay me the next time he came to town, as he did not have the money with him. He owed Tom three dollars and he did not have it, so I offered to pay it and he should then settle with me. He promised. To save Tom the humiliation of going to the boarding house, where everybody knew he had stolen, I paid his landlord and brought his clothes, and saw him hire on a ship directed to the Mediterranean.

 

I did not see him until after a year's time, when I often visited him in his home in Baltimore, but neither of us ever mentioned the money. I thought of course the money was safe, but when I again saw the captain and would have it he would not let it go without an order from Tom, which was impossible to get, as he had already gone. I entered suit against the captain, but, as I did not have time to stay in New Orleans to see it settled, I had to leave it with my landlord. He got the money all right, but, after the lawyer had his fee, there was not much left for me. I was advised to see him, but was afraid I would lose still more.

 

I had now taken hire on a little schooner of about thirty tons which sailed on Lake Ponchartrain to Pearlington, where it belonged. The owner ran it himself but he was no sailor, so we two men of the crew were soon leaders. Pearlington lies about seventy English miles from New Orleans, eight miles up Pearl river which flows into Lake Borgne and is connected with Ponchartrain by a small sound. As far up the river as Pearlington the banks are low, without woods, and overgrown with tall grass or reeds ten to twelve feet high. Lots of deer and cattle live here.

 

In the spring fire is put to the grass and it is a very beautiful sight in the night to see the dry marsh burn. The vegetation is so strong that in a few days' time it is again covered with young grass. Above the town the country is still very flat, but thickly grown with woods.

 

Strange about this river are the so-called "bayous", small streams with quiet waters which are connected with the river. They are no wider at the mouth than at the source; are often three or four miles long, and very deep. There are a great many of them, and it is a great pleasure to row up them and shoot squirrels. They run right up into the woods. In the spring when the water is high you can row around in the woods in many places.

 

Pearlington is a small, insignificant town. The only trade is in wood and cotton with New Orleans. There is no church so there is service only twice a year when a Methodist preacher comes from another town and holds services for three or four days. The town is situated on the north side of the river in the midst of a large pine forest owned mostly by the government. Although everybody can cut as much wood as he likes, still it is pretty expensive. Marriages are

always performed by the sheriff, who is the only officer in the place. The Negro children are never christened, and there is a big fine for teaching one of them to read. Some of them preach to others, but it is always some terrible nonsense.

 

After we arrived in Pearlington we lay there fourteen days before we began to take on wood. It was so cold nobody could remember so hard a winter. It froze for a whole week, so the sugar plantations suffered dreadfully. We had nothing to do. We slept on board at night and ate with the owner, for our cook had left us.

 

I had bought a gun, and I went hunting almost every day. Here is lots of game and you do not need to go far, especially if you have hounds with you. The owner had three, and, by feeding the other dogs from the town on board, we could get as many as we wanted by whistling for them. And they knew how to hunt. As soon as they started any game they would go running it till they got it up in a tree. Then they stood and barked, so we could soon find it.

 

Strangely enough with the exception of the deer, all the game, even the foxes will jump into a tree when hunted. The rabbits, which are much smaller than ours will jump for hollow trees. So you always bring an ax when hunting, to cut down the trees. The owner's son and I went hunting one day, and we heard the dogs barking. When we got there we saw the tree was hollow, so we knew it was either a rabbit or an opossum hiding there. We had no ax, so Alfred went home to get one, while I stayed on watch, that it should not run away. When he came back we cut a hole in the tree. I put my arm in and got hold of the leg of a rabbit. It was too big to pull through the hole, so both of us got a club so we could hit it when I let it go and it ran out by the root of the tree. Well we were ready and I let go, but it went so fast both of us hit behind it and it got away.

 

The opossum has to be hunted at night with torches made of pitch pine, which is so full of resin it burns like a candle. By the help of the light one can see them in the trees when the dogs have chased them up, and then shoot them or cut down the tree. When it has fallen down it does not move and you need just to let it twist its tail around your finger and you can carry it where you will. I have since seen one with eight young on her back. They twist their tails around the mother, and spit like cats if anyone comes near them.

 

Here are also raccoons and a few bears and panthers, but I have never seen the two latter. The soil in the woods is very poor, but higher up the river there are some cotton plantations. At last we got our load of wood and sailed again to New Orleans.

 

We had several Indians with us, who brought deer hides to town. They dressed in skin trousers and moccasins, and all had woolen blankets to wrap up in instead of shirts. The women and men dressed alike, only the women had long hair. They are not so handsome as the South American Indians, but look more intelligent and savage, but they never had any money until after they sold their skins, so they left their guns as security. They all had guns except the children who had bows and arrows.

 

We had no cook and Capt. Williams sent me to New Orleans to get one. I could not find one, so I went on board an English ship and asked one of the boys if he would not like to go with us as cook for twelve dollars a month. He agreed at once, and that night I stole him and his clothes and got him on board. But I was nicely paid for persuading him, for he was the worst boy I have ever seen, and he nearly plagued the life out of us.

 

When we got back to Pearlington Williams would not run the schooner himself any more, but got an Englishman named Bush to take charge of it. The first day he came on board he ordered us to warp the schooner up a bayou in the night. We were to load with wood, but the mosquitoes had begun to be bad, and stung us so badly we growled at him, but he only made work harder than ever, so we were not at all pleased with him.

 

At last he wanted us to work on Sunday, and that we flatly refused to do. He got mad and went to Williams and told him that we would have to quit, or he would. Williams came down to reason with us, but when we told him how it was, he let Bush go. He asked me, as I already knew the water pretty well, to take the schooner to New Orleans, and he would see about another skipper.

 

We made the trip very fast. and, when we came back, nothing was said about another captain. We got a man to help us and I kept on running the schooner as long as I was there. But only the last month were my wages raised to thirty dollars.

 

One day Bill and I went down the river with a barge which we should load with wood and tow to New Orleans. We had to go about four miles down the river, leave the barge, and walk through the woods. We started as soon as we had eaten breakfast, taking nothing with us but a small bottle of rum and a small pistol to shoot at the alligators.

 

We meant to get back in the evening, but the current was so slow we did not get there till nearly sundown. We hurried to get back, as we did not like to go through the woods in the dark, and, besides the mosquitoes were so bad at night they nearly ate us up.

 

We kept on going till almost dark, and then we knew we had gone wrong. Hearing a dog bark, we went toward the sound, and finally we did come to a house. When we got in nobody was there but some French people. We could not understand anything they said – only that we must go back the way we came.

 

We went back, but as soon as it got quite dark we lost the road, which was nothing but a trail, and now we knew not what to do or where to go. We stumbled on until we got out in a swamp. We were so tired we could hardly stand any more, and the mosquitoes had nearly ruined us. To give us a little peace from them we tried to make a fire by shooting the pistol. We tore our shirts into strips, raveled them out and put them in the pistol. We shot it out into the grass. But when we had to lie down and blow it into fire the mosquitoes stung us in the face so dreadfully we had to fight them with both hands, and the fire went out. We tried several times, but fire we did not get. Then we took a strong draft of rum, thinking we would go to sleep if we were half drunk, but it did not help any.

 

Next morning at daylight we tried to find the road, but in vain. We were getting more hungry, and the hungrier we got the crosser we got, and each blamed the other for having lost the way, and at last we were about to fight.

 

We saw now a drove of cattle, and thought we might shoot one of the calves with a pistol. After chasing them for an hour we had to give it up, and were more lost than ever. We had to spend another terrible night in the woods, but the next day we found the road. We must have gone round and round most of the time, for when we found the road we got to town in a couple of hours.

 

We got there in the evening, so hungry and tired, but still we could not eat much more than usual. Williams had been very uneasy about us and had sent some men to hunt us. They came in after us. The next day we went up the bayou to get wood.

 

Bill and I went hunting one day. The boy, in the meantime, took some fire ashore to cook dinner. When we came back the whole ground was afire. The boy ran around and howled like he was crazy, and we were pretty scared too, as the fire would soon reach ten or fifteen cords of wood that had just been cut.

 

We tried to beat it out with pine branches but as soon as we thought we had it out it would blaze up in another place, as it would smolder underneath and we could not see it. We saw at last that we could not save the wood, so we gave it up. The fire soon got hold of it and burned it, then went on to the dry marsh reeds, where it flew with such swiftness we could not have run from it. I think it must be burning yet.

 

There is a fifty dollar fine to make a fire in the woods, except during the three spring months, so we tried to get the boy to run away, but he would not. Luckily for us, there was a quarrel between two men over the wood. One claimed it had been cut on his land, while the other said it was on government land.

 

The fire finished the quarrel, and there was never any more said about it. We sailed several times to New Orleans without any happenings worthy of note.

 

It began to be Spring. The trees were already green at the close of February. Mosquitoes and sand flies flourished, and the alligators came out of their winter sleep. Flocks of crane and other birds came, and everything took on new life. There was one kind of crane that was of immense size. They surely were five feet high. They are black and white, and the first time I saw them I took them for a flock of sheep. It was next to impossible to get near them to shoot; hence I have never seen one shot.

 

The snakes also came forth in numberless masses. Where there was even the smallest pool of stagnant water you could see dozens of snakes basking in the sun. In the woods one had to be fearfully careful not to step on them. Most of them are poisonous. There are many rattlesnakes also, though I saw but one, and it was only three feet long and had only three rattles on its tail. With these rattles they make a small noise of warning, but not half so loud as I had imagined. One has to know the sound well not to mistake it for a grasshopper's song, as it is very much like it. The black snake, which here grows as long as eight feet, will chase you if it is teased. But when you stand still it will stand too. Alligators are here in terrible flocks, but they are not so savage as in South America. I have never heard of them attacking a man, except one old man who stretched his mosquito net close to the bank of the river and went to sleep. I have often been swimming when I have seen them catch a pig or calf that had ventured too close. 

 

When you row up the bayous they are jumping on all sides of the logs where they lie sunning themselves. You can kill them best on land. In the water you can shoot them only in the back and the ball will not enter the scaly hide, even if you are quite close. When you come near one it will lie perfectly still only striking the tail from side to side. One has to be careful to keep out of the way of that tail. The tail tastes good when the animal is not too large or old. In the night the alligators bellow like oxen. They make the sound by striking the jaws together. 

 

We hunted deer in the reeds one day on a little peninsular running out in the river. They set fire to the reeds and drove the deer out to where we were standing. Four were shot, but I did not get any. But the next day I was fortunate enough to kill one while I was rowing up the bayou to get to the schooner.     

 

Everything went well now for a while, and I was well pleased. Bill and I stayed on the schooner, but our helper changed sometimes. One time we got hold of one that came near getting me in trouble – he halfway persuaded me to help in making counterfeit dollars. I should procure what was needed, and he would give me half of what he made. He showed me some I could not tell them from real. I went so far as to give him a dollar to buy copper, but fortunately I changed my mind. He told me afterwards he had run away from his home to make the counterfeits. I did not feel inclined to have him around any longer, but bade him leave the vessel, which he did when we got back.

 

On the way home we had bad winds up the river, so we tied the schooner to the bank, as the water is deep close to land. Here I got into a quarrel with the boy I had persuaded to run away, and finally he got so impertinent I struck him. He got perfectly crazy and wanted to get to town right away to report me. To get there before us he jumped ashore and started to walk. But we were on the opposite side from Pearlington, so he had to cross the river somehow. In the meantime we got a good wind and sailed up the river to town, where we heard that Henry had not yet arrived. I began to be afraid he was lost in the swamp, as I knew he had to go through it to come over. I kept on watching the banks, and toward night he came and signaled the schooner. I rowed after him in a most miserable condition. His face and hands were so swollen from mosquito bites I scarcely knew him. He was very humble, and begged me just to take him over, and he would never be saucy any more.

 

Next time we went to New Orleans the harbor master came on board and spoke to me. As he could hear I was a foreigner he asked for my papers to prove I was a naturalized citizen, without which one cannot command a vessel. As I had none, he said it was his duty to seize the schooner, but he warned me not to come another time without my papers. When I got home of course, I told Williams and said it was best for him to get another captain, as I wanted to make a trip to Baltimore, where nearly all of my clothes were. He did not want to let me go, and said he would get my papers if only I would stay. But I wanted to look around the country, so I refused, but promised to come soon again. 

     

He paid me what he owed me, and I stayed with him another two weeks before I went away. I amused myself with hunting and fishing. One day Williams asked me to take some bees off. His son should help me. We had no sulfur, but we thought we could stun them by setting the hive over a hole in the ground and burning tarred rags. But the hive was so heavy we dropped it before we got to the hole. The bees flew out and stung Alfred, so he ran away and left me alone with them. I got them over the hole and set fire to the rags. It all went very fine without my getting a single sting. Alfred came back, and thought they must be stunned enough, so he lifted the hive. The bees flew out in swarms and nearly ruined us. We ran as hard as we could, but it was a long time before they left us. We waited till next morning when we got some sulfur that soon killed them, but when I took the first mouthful of honey I still got a sting on my tongue. 

     

After having stayed ashore for a fortnight I took leave of Mr. Williams. He was very kind to me, and I was sorry to leave him. I went to New Orleans in the beginning of July. I could not get a chance to go up the river at once, so I stayed there some days and used a shameful lot of money. The sticky season had already begun and the heat was about to kill me. Not a breeze moved. At noon it was difficult to breathe. I went around hunting shade like a dog, and drank every day about one dollar’s worth of lemonade. 

 

One evening I got into a gambling place where they were playing Roulette. I thought I thought I would try my fortune, and in less than ten minutes had lost twenty dollars. Luckily I had no more money, or I guess I would have kept on playing.

 

After four days I went aboard the steamer, “Scotland”, bound for Cincinnati and Louisville, about fifteen or seventeen hundred English miles up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. It cost only seven dollars in second cabin to either place. The country is cultivated on both sides with sugar plantations the first two hundred miles. All along are levees protecting the land. Higher Up is nothing but woods, only interrupted once in a while by a single cornfield or a woodcutters cabin, with many miles between. In the cornfields the larger trees are still standing dead, as they only kill them and let them stand until they fall themselves.

 

Twice a day we had to land to take in wood. We burned about twenty or thirty cords in twenty-four hours. We were two hundred passengers in second cabins, and twenty to thirty in first. The heat was so fearful, and so many people were packed together that, after we had been out only three days, cholera broke out aboard.

 

It was twelve very disagreeable days I had to spend on board. The passengers were mostly immigrant Germans and Irish and some Americans, who were the worst outlaws one could find anywhere. The sickness spread fast, and in twelve days I was on the vessel twenty-four died, mostly Germans. Most of the passengers had no more feeling than if it had been animals dying. When one was lying fighting death others would sit right by him playing cards and drinking. As soon as one was dead they stopped the ship, dug a shallow grave and threw him into it with out a coffin, covered him barely with sand, and were off again. I do not think cholera is contagious for I often rubbed men when they were taken with cramps. They suffered terribly and often screamed most awfully, but seldom it lasted more than half a day. An hour after the attack they were so changed one could hardly know them. Their eyes sank in their heads and their whole bodies shrank together. I rubbed their legs and arms with rum often, and I did not take it, so I do not think you can get it by contact. Very few recovered, and it was a long time before their strength came back. 

 

In ten days from New Orleans we arrived at the mouth of the Ohio, where we should go up to reach Louisville. The water in the Ohio is perfectly clear, while the Mississippi is muddy and thick, so one can see clear water on one side and muddy on the other over half a mile after the Ohio runs into the Mississippi. The scenery changes at once from the flat land as soon as one comes into the Ohio. The banks are high and mountainous with beautiful small valleys and creeks. It is more cultivated, also, and there are more houses and more towns. The water rises very high in the spring, but in the summer it is so low that only a small boat can navigate it. One can see the many river beds, which in the spring must be great rivers, now hardly have water enough to run a mill. I kept on ‘til we landed at Smithfield, a little town at the mouth of the Cumberland River, where the ship had to be lightened to be able to go higher up the river. Here I went ashore and took hire in a steamboat which should go up the Tennessee river. As I came on board I saw two Irishmen whipping an American whom I liked very well. We had eaten at the same table on the voyage up. I started to help him, and began to knock on one of them. But they let the American go and grabbed me. Two Irish women came to help them. The women were the worst. One of them hit me on the head with an ax. The other burnt me on the arm with a flatiron. I guess they would have killed me if the captain and the pilots had not come to my rescue. I could hardly see for a whole week, and I thought maybe they would not have me at all on the steamer I looked so terrible. But when they heard it was the Irishers that had whipped me it was all right.

 

It costs a great deal to run a steamship on the rivers. The steamer “Scotland”, of about two hundred tons, spent about one thousand and twenty dollars monthly. Now we went down the river again to get to the mouth of the Tennessee which runs sixty miles below the Cumberland. The ship was loaded with salt for Carolsville, two hundred and fifty miles from the mouth. The country is pretty flat. It is pretty to sail up a river as narrow as this, and, as the steamer keeps close to the side to escape the current, the trees often scrape against it.

 

About one hundred and fifty miles up one enters the state of Alabama, where the country on one side belongs to the Indians, so one never sees a house there. Often great flocks of squirrels swim across the river, and sometimes deer and raccoons. We caught a deer, but it was all we could do to row as fast as it could swim. 

 

When we arrived at Carolsville the captain wanted us to unload at night, but two of us would not do it, so we asked for our pay, which was three hundred dollars, and went ashore. We got lodgings and stayed there as long as our money lasted. In the meantime the water in the river fell so much we could not get down on a steamship. Our host advised us to stay with him and cut wood, which was the only work to be had in the place, or else go higher up the river to a place named Florentz, where could get work on a keel boat – a kind of flat boat that runs where the steamers cannot.

 

First we chose to cut wood, but when we tried it one day I found I was no good at it, so I took my gun on my shoulder, with a small satchel which I borrowed from the other man, left my clothes in Carolsville, and set out. The other man, who several times had taken the same trip, advised me what to do. I should keep to the river as much as possible and notice which way the current ran. I took some salt, and bread enough to last a few days. He showed me how I could broil on a stick what game I shot, and how to make fire with the gun.

 

So I started. As long as I could follow the road I was all right, but when it stopped I began to wish I had not started. Still, I kept on. The country began to be very hilly with beautiful woods, mostly walnut, oak, and beech. There were a great many squirrels and doves. Of the latter I shot four. In the evening I made camp at a little creek, gathered some dry twigs and made a fire. Then I picked my birds and roasted them, and, with a little salt, they were excellent. Although I knew there were no wild beasts which would attack a human being, I was pretty scared. To protect myself I kept such a roaring fire I was nearly roasted, and of course slept very little.

 

But, as I heard and saw nothing, I had more courage the next night, and slept fine. At last I slept too well, for my fire would go out and I would wake up freezing. I walked some twelve or fourteen days. I only walked slowly, and often went out of my way to shoot. Here I saw my first wild turkeys, two old ones with twelve or fifteen half-grown ones walking over a clearing. I did not know them at first. They were black, and much prettier than the tame ones. I crept as near as possible and shot after the old ones. I thought if I could get him I could run down the young ones. I did not get the old one, and when I shot, all the young ones flew away. Only one lit in a tree not far away. I went in under it and shot it, to my great joy. They are less dry than the tame turkey. I saw several deer, but, as I had enough to eat, I would not kill any. I saw only three houses, and one was empty. But at the others they were very hospitable. I ate with them and they would take no pay, and even gave me a loaf of bread when I left. They live a very lonely life, raise everything they eat. Only a couple of times a year they drive a load of corn to Waterloo, a little town by the river. After twelve to fourteen days wandering I arrived at Florentz, where I immediately took hire on a keel boat for one dollar per day and board. It went up the river about twenty miles for a load of cotton, and then down to Waterloo. We were twenty men who poled it up the river by setting the pole against the shoulder and walking on the thin boards along the side of the boat. It hurt the shoulder, and, as I was not used to it, my pole would slip and I would fall head first overboard. The current was so swift that the only way to get back on board was to swim ashore, run a piece above the boat and then drift down to it.

 

When we got loaded all the men left the boat except two men and myself who should let the boat drift down to Waterloo. We took no provisions, as they thought we might be there by morning, although it was over forty miles. Two of us went to sleep, and the third, who should have watched, did the same. When we awoke we were hard aground on an island in the river. We tried all sorts of tricks to get off, but the current was so strong we could only wade out knee deep or the water would throw us down. 

 

In the meantime we were well into the day, and we began to get very hungry. There was nothing to do but for one of us to go down to Waterloo for help. We had no boat, so we took one of the hatch covers and put it in the water. I sat down on this shaky raft and, by the help of a pole, I reached Waterloo in the evening. It was twenty miles and the current was so swift I was only three hours on the trip. I got help, and that night we brought the boat down.          

 

I had had enough of the keel boat, and as there was a steamboat in Waterloo, I took hire in it and went down the mouth of the river where Paducah is situated. Here I left it as I did not want to go up the Tennessee again. Here I met the man whom I left in Carolsville. As there was no steamboat which needed men we bought a little canoe to take us to the mouth of the Ohio, where we were sure to find ships. The mouth was about sixty miles from Paducah. My clothes, that I had left it Carolsville, we put in the bottom of the canoe. We started, each with a gun, but no provisions.

 

Here the current was slow, so we made not much progress. To protect us from the sun we made an awning of blankets. In the day we lay down under the awnings and let the boat drift. Toward evening we went ashore and shot squirrels and parrots enough to do us the next day. “After supper we lay down and went to sleep. There is only one kind of parrot in North America, much prettier than the common ones. They are yellow, green, and red, with long tails. It is a strange sight to see the immense lot of wood and trees lying on the banks, driven there by the rise of the water. Often logs are caught in the tops of trees, and if you did not know how high the flood could rise you would wonder how they ever got there.

 

We drifted down the stream for three days, and, as we thought we would reach the mouth on the fourth night, we lay down to sleep and let the canoe drift. When dawn came I woke, and noticed that we were drifting very fast by a log in the river. I woke Jim and when we could see where we were we noticed that we had passed the mouth and were out in the Mississippi where the current is very strong. Fortunately we did not hit a log, or the canoe would have turned over and I would have lost all my clothes and, likely, myself, too. We hurriedly paddled in toward shore, and it took us all day to get back to the Ohio. 

 

We found no steamboat, but were afraid to go into the woods to shoot anything, lest one might come and go again. We were terribly hungry. Together we had only twelve cents, for which we bought a large melon which lasted us ‘til next day. In the night the steamer “Jack Downing” came, and both of us were hired to go to Pittsburgh, which is situated at the beginning of the Ohio where the Allegheny and another river meet. On the way we visited Cincinnati and Louisville, which I later shall tell more about. 

 

In Pittsburgh I took hire in a small steamboat which sailed up the Allegheny to where a canal goes into Lake Erie. Here I paid a dollar for my passage on a canal boat, which is pulled by horses, and if I remember correctly has to go through nine locks. It must be extremely expensive to dig such a canal, and still it was a private party who had it made.

 

Lake Erie looks like the ocean. It is two hundred miles broad, and the sea can get very rough. In Buffalo are many schooners and other vessels, but navigation is very dangerous on account of many reefs and sand bars. There is a large lighthouse in Buffalo. When I got ashore I again shouldered my gun and started out to walk to the famous Niagara Falls. Between Buffalo and Niagara it is well settled, so I could find nothing to shoot, but just had to buy what I ate. I did not have too much money, and to save I slept in the woods at night, which was very comfortable as it was the month of August.

 

The country is very beautiful, hilly with thick woods. Most plants belonging in Denmark are also growing here. When I camped at night the second day I could already hear the roar of the waterfall, and it lulled me to sleep. It was only about twelve miles to the falls. It can be heard in buffalo when the wind is right – a distance of forty miles. I came to the waterfall in the evening and I have never seen, or expect to see, such a sight. I cannot describe my feelings – only I felt myself so utterly insignificant.

 

An immense mass of water comes tumbling down – all the superfluous water from the Great Lakes, which stretch about two thousand miles to the northwest, comes through here. The fall itself is half a mile wide and plunges perpendicularly one hundred and seventy feet. Close above the fall it is divided by a small island in the middle of the river but the water gathers again before it falls over the brink and forms a bow by the immense force behind it. So that one who had courage enough could go under the falls itself. But that is very dangerous, for the mist makes it hard to see and the rocks are very uneven. Here is a little town, mostly inns, as there are so many tourists. Right under the falls the water gets perfectly quiet again, although it has to fall more than one hundred feet in two miles or so on a slant. 

     

In the evening I saw it from above; next morning from below. What amazed me, and I would not have believed it if I had not talked with a man named Sam Patch sprang down the fall without getting hurt. He traveled around and made money by jumping over the greatest waterfalls of America. Finally he killed himself jumping. As a proof of the power of Niagara, I will tell a story I heard about it. Two Englishmen (officers) got permission to send three condemned workmen over the fall. Two went around on the island, but the third went over. Although a reward of twenty dollars was offered to anyone who could find a piece of him, none was ever found. The river Niagara which makes the falls runs twelve English miles from Lake Erie, and eighteen miles from the fall to Lake Ontario.

 

I stayed there one day, then went to Pittsburgh, where I took hire on the steamboat “Argus”, bound for St. Louis. In three days we ran out into the muddy Mississippi and went up the river. The banks are much higher here than they were lower down and more thickly settled. On the west side of the river are immense lead mines which furnish all America with lead. Anyone has permission to dig for the lead, and any vein he finds is his. I knew a man who found a vein and then sold it at once for three thousand dollars. I watched them make shot. The smelters are wooden houses built on the edge of a high cliff. It did not look safe to me. At the bottom is a cistern to receive the shot, which, falling from the long distance, are made round.

 

St. Louis lies sixty miles below where the Missouri River falls into the Mississippi, but still the muddy water of the Mississippi is not mixed with the clear water of the Missouri. St. Louis is a pretty big city and growing fast. Here we loaded with clothing and eatables at the expense of the government, to take up the river to St. Peters, where there is a fort with three hundred men to keep the Indians down.

 

The farther up the river you go the fewer houses you see, and at last none. Here it is beautiful. I have never seen such landscapes. Especially the color play of the trees was wonderful, for, though it was only September, it was quite cold, and the trees were dressed in their high colors, which makes Autumn in America so wonderful and beautiful. So far we had seen only woods with cultivated ground in between, but as we went higher up we saw immense, so called, prairies with high grass and flowers but not one tree. Sailing by one could see much wild game. We sometimes killed an elk, a kind of big deer almost as large as a horse and with immense antlers, so large I could not reach between the tips.

 

The Americans have here two forts, Bock and St. Peters. The first is built of wood, but the second is a strong stone fort. As we came higher up nobody lived there, and we had to stop every day and cut our wood. One day we landed, and I sprang ashore to make the ship fast and came within an inch of stepping on a rattlesnake. I have never been so frightened of anything, and came near forgetting to run away. The captain got his gun and shot it. It was the largest I have ever seen – six feet long, and had seven rings on the tail.

 

Ten days after leaving St. Louis we passed through Pipin Lake. The river runs through it. It is full of small islands. Swans, pelicans, and other water birds are here in great swarms. On the tenth day we landed at the fort. It lies at the mouth of St. Peters River. Steamships can go no further up, as eight miles is the waterfall, St. Anthony. Here live a lot of Indians, a tribe of the best looking ones I have seen in North America. In exchange for “fire water” one can buy nearly all they have. The women can work beautiful things with porcupine quills and bird feathers – moccasins, headresses and smoking pipes. Between the two forts I was shown a high rock where nearly a whole tribe of Indians had jumped off to their death rather than fall into enemy hands.

 

St. Peters fort is built up on a high hill, of a whitish stone, and looks very imposing. Several families live around the fort, mostly French. The country is mostly prairies with high grass and flowers, only here and there dotted with small groves of oak and poplar. The climate is very cold. Corn cannot grow here, and the few wheat and oat fields the thousands of birds made away with, so I think there was not much of a harvest. Wild rice grows in abundance along the banks of the river.

 

Two days after our arrival I went out one morning early to see St. Anthony waterfall. The road there is very beautiful, full of small hills with lots of flowers, and sometimes small woods. I think I have never seen a more beautiful landscape. When you begin to see the waterfall which is three or four miles before you get there, it looks much larger than it is. When you see it from below it only falls right down about thirty feet. In the middle of the fall is a little Island overgrown with pine trees. At the edge there is a big rock about one hundred yards long and five or six yards higher. Nearby, under a fall is another island bigger than the other, and covered with oak trees in which are many eagles’ nests. It gives a fine effect to the scene to see the eagles flying over the falls. 

 

Four Danish miles below St. Anthonys falls runs a little river which falls into the Mississippi and also forms a waterfall sixty feet high. It springs out with such power that I walked under it without even being sprinkled. The Mississippi river goes one thousand miles above St. Anthonys falls up to the lake where it has its source. Below it are two thousand miles, so the river is at least three thousand miles long. After four days we sailed down the river again, but the water had fallen so low that we often went aground, and made very little headway. At the first rapids, where the river falls thirty feet in about four English miles, we had to take everything out of the ship that could be moved, and all the crew except the captain and pilot had to go ashore to lighten the ship. It went over, but not without scraping several holes in the bottom, but we got them stopped so we could proceed. They rented a keel-boat to bring the other things down, and we went on.

 

When we came down to the Bock fort we got the famous Indian Chief, Black Hawk, on board, to go down with us to St. Louis. He was a chief who for a long time made war with the Americans, but at last was caught by a traitor and sent as prisoner to Washington. After a while they granted him freedom. He lives now on a plantation near the fort and has nothing more to do with war. The steamship, Warrior, that I later sailed in, was in the war with him. It was sent up the river to fight him, and the pilot house has yet something over three hundred bullet holes in it, as the Indians shot mostly at the pilot. Black Hawk was a well-built man with an intelligent, handsome face. He could not speak English, but had his own interpreter. His clothes had much likeness to the whites but still were Indian.

 

When we came down to St. Louis I took hire in the steamer “Warrior”, which was going up the Missouri River with the American Fur Company’s hunters.

This company usually sends a steamer twice a year up as far as it can go to the Yellowstone River twenty-two hundred miles above St. Louis. It carries these hunters, mostly Frenchmen, who hire themselves for three years, and for that length of time have to stay up above. I had a mind to go as hunter, but then I found out they went through many hardships – poor food, nothing but what game they could kill and that without salt, so I thought better let well enough alone and just go to see the country.

 

It is very fertile and cultivated about eight hundred miles from the mouth. Sailing is very dangerous on account of the many sunken logs which are fast anchored to the bottom, reaching above water with the loose ends, sometimes below, so one cannot sail at night at all. The water is muddy – still I have never tasted better water. At first we could buy wood, but higher up we had to get out and cut it ourselves. But the work was easy, and besides the ship’s crew there were eighty hunters.

 

The higher up we went the larger grew the prairies. Some were twenty miles long without bush, tree or hill. Some were covered with grass four to eight feet high; others had only a few inches, but there the ground was almost stone hard and had no loose mould like the hills. These prairies are literally covered with buffalo as far as the eye could reach, several thousands. They are generally shot from a horse, so we had on board for the purpose two horses belonging to the fur company. 

 

In the evening when we had tied up, which was always done at the edge of the prairie where there were woods, one or two went hunting to kill what we needed for next day. The one who had the horse had a short gun loaded with bullets.  He rode full gallop toward the buffaloes. As soon as they saw him they gathered together, stood a moment still, looking at him, and then were off as hard as they could go. But the horse was swifter and it was not long before the hunter was near enough to shoot. The horse is trained so that when the shot falls he will run to the opposite side, for if the buffalo could see the horse he would charge him; else he continues to run straight ahead until he falls. Then he is skinned and the hump and hams cut off. The rest is left for the wolves, who make short work of it. I have gone there an hour after a buffalo was killed, and every bit of the meat was gone. These wolves are not very large and are much afraid of men. They howl most awfully, and, together with the buffaloes, they make such a racket at night it is impossible to sleep until you get used to it. The first time I heard them was an evening I jumped ashore to make the ship fast. I got so frightened by the noise I dropped everything and jumped back on board again. By this time the ship had drifted down the river a long way.

 

It got colder and colder every day, and we had ice overnight. At last, after sailing six weeks, we arrived almost at the Yellowstone River. The country here is very rocky with great massive mountains as far as one can see.

Two miles below the river at a small factory the ship went aground, so all the hunters went ashore. We tried our best to get loose and go up, as we should load with the hides of buffaloes and beavers.  We did get over the first sand bank, but in the meanwhile the water fell so much that it was impossible to go down again. As there was no chance of the water rising until Spring it was resolved to leave eight men with the ship, and the rest, ten in all, were to go back to St. Louis in the boat.

 

I wanted to stay with the ship until Spring, but, as I was one of the best rowers, I was not allowed to. We put in a lot of grub and much ammunition and started to row the twenty-two hundred miles in an open boat. We rowed slowly,

but the current ran six or seven miles, so we got along pretty swiftly. Every night we tied up at the bank and made a big camp fire to sleep by, as it was very cold. We shot all the game we needed, mostly wild turkeys. We could not

get near enough to the buffaloes. Only two were shot on the voyage, both by the captain, who was a remarkably good shot. We saw several bears, but we got only two of them. One of them I shot one evening after we had landed. It sat in a

tree, and I came up close to it before I shot. The other was shot in a hollow tree. We could see by the udder that it must have little ones, so we cut down the tree and found one a little bigger than a cat. We had nothing for it to eat

except its mother, but she seemed to taste pretty good. In a short time it got tame, and was as playful as a cat. We saw many Indian teepees which they move wherever they go. They are nothing but some staves stuck in the ground, tied together at the top, and then covered by deer or buffalo hides. It looks like a sugar loaf and is called a wigwam. The door is so small you can scarcely crawl into it. Inside there is nothing but some skins and hollow gourds. The ones who live high up the river have no guns, but use bows and arrows.  Mostly Blackfoot Indians live up above and they are great enemies to the whites. Their burial place is staves set down like their huts, but without the robes. Inside is a platform where the corpse is laid wrapped in fur skins. I have never seen them near their towns. Other places they bury their dead in the ground.

 

At the mouth of the Osage River where we were camped one night we saw a beaver dam, but the beavers were all gone. Their houses looked like sugar loaves. They are built very neatly and securely, as smooth as the nicest wall. The dam was almost torn down. There was hardly enough left to show what hard work it must have been for these small animals. At last we arrived in St. Louis, having made the twenty-two hundred miles in forty-two days. It seems unreasonably fast, but the current ran over six miles and sometimes faster, so it was not so strange. As soon as we got there I was paid off. I resolved to go up the Ohio River to Pittsburgh, and then by land to Baltimore to get my clothes, and then to New Orleans. I stayed one week in the town, then took hire with the steamer "messenger" which was to go to Cincinnati. Just before I went aboard I had been to a smith to get two pistols he had fixed for me. I met a man I knew going to the ship, and for fun aimed one at him. While I stood thus, one came up back of me and grabbed the pistol. I turned and saw it was the sheriff, who very hardly commanded me to give him the other one, too. I did not feel inclined to give it up, and, as he put out his hand to take it from me, I hit him in the head with it so he fell on the street. I threw the pistol down and ran like furies were behind me down to the ship which was just about to sail. I jumped aboard, and have never been there since.

 

On the way we touched Louisville where we went through the canal, which is two miles long and has four locks, as the water falls in that distance two hundred feet. The canal is seldom used to go down the river, as ships can go down with the current. Between Louisville and Cincinnati we went by a so-called pigeon roost, a place where wild pigeons come every night by thousands. In the daytime you don't see a pigeon, only maybe one that is hurt in some way, but in the evening they come in flocks. They darken the air, and make a noise equal to Niagara Falls. They are smaller than our pigeons, but have very long tails. Cincinnati is a very beautiful town. A lot of trading is done, by river with New Orleans, and overland with Baltimore and Philadelphia.  From there I went as passenger to Wheeling about five hundred miles higher up, I intended to go by post chaise to Baltimore, three hundred miles further, but when I reached Wheeling I found it cost too much. So I resolved to walk, after sending my clothes with a pack wagon for six dollars.

 

I tried to get a flock of hogs to drive to Baltimore, but failed, although a lot are sent every year. So I followed the wagon that had my clothes, but, as the driver lived higher than I could afford, I resolved to leave him. I could walk as fast as he drove, for he seldom made more than sixteen miles daily, although it was the best macadam road one could wish to see. So I left him after two days. I thought if I went through the Allegheny Mountains I could kill enough game to live off. So, besides a few clothes, I took my gun and started.

It was a most beautiful road, grain fields, houses, woods, hills, land valleys blended together. In the distance were the Alleghenies visible though I was still far from them. The first day I walked twenty-three miles – the most I ever walked in a day. Although I was very tired when evening came, it was nothing compared to the following days. I went through many small towns whose names I cannot remember. Brownsville was one of the large towns with a very long bridge over a river. The farther I went the more tired I got. In the evening when I had walked the whole day my legs ached as if they would break, and when I sat down it was almost impossible to get up again, so exhausted I was. I could not sleep for the ache of my whole body, and my shoulder hurt so from carrying the gun. But, as I had only a little money, I had to go on whether or no.

For four days I walked, and had made about one hundred miles when I was overtaken by some people from Ohio. They were going to Westminster, twenty-seven miles from Baltimore, on horseback. One of them had two horses and offered me a ride on one of them. I refused, as I was afraid my money would not hold out if I went in company with others. I told them I was a sailor and did not know how to ride. But they insisted and finally I consented and got on. It eased my poor legs some. When the man offered to let me ride to Westminster with them for one dollar, I accepted because I thought we would get there so much faster and I would not spend so much at the inns. We rode about thirty miles a day, and that should take us to Baltimore in six days. It was not very comfortable riding, as the horse had neither saddle nor bridle, but only a rope around the neck. When they walked the horses all went pretty well, but going down hill they always trotted, and it nearly killed me. In the evenings when I got off I was as stiff-legged as when I walked.

 

The Alleghenies are overgrown with fir, spruce, and laurel trees. So many springs coming down the rocks make it beautiful although it was winter. The Laurel Hills, so called for their many laurel trees, were the highest I came over. It really seemed as though one were in the clouds, everything looked so little down below. Cumberland, a little town eight miles from the mountain, looked as if it lay right at the foot of it. I would have given much if I could have had with me one man I knew, to enjoy this splendid sight with me.

 

We rode together for four days and lived well, but by the fifth day my capital had melted down to twenty-five cents, and it was yet over fifty miles to Baltimore. We ate only twice a day. Breakfast I had paid for, but my supper would cost my whole sum and I could not get a bed. I was ashamed to tell my fellow travelers that I had no more money, so at noon I began to complain of a severe headache which got worse and worse before we stopped at the inn. I couldn't eat any supper, but asked for a bed, which took my half capital. I still had thirty miles left. Ten of them I rode the horse, but then they had to take another road, so we parted with all good will. I was rather glad to be alone again, and walked on as hungry as a dog. I bought a honey cake and a glass of beer for six cents, and kept on walking till dark. Then I lay down in a ditch for the night. I couldn't sleep, for it was the month of January and I froze nearly to death. Before day I was back on the road, bought again a honey cake and beer for my last six cents. At noon I happily reached Baltimore.

 

I went at once to the street where I had lived before. I found the old house after hunting it some, but heard to my great sorrow that my old host was dead, and they did not know where his wife had gone. Now I thought that all my clothes had gone to the dogs, and was about to go away when a young woman, whose husband's funeral I had attended when I last was in Baltimore, came by and knew me. She told me that my host's wife still was alive and that she had my clothes. I went right up to the old woman, who was delighted to see me. She had taken good care of my clothes – not a piece was missing. I heard moreover, that Lone had got back some weeks earlier, but that Inslew, a third man who left Baltimore with us, had not returned, so we thought he must be dead.

 

I was glad and happy as I could be to see my friends again. I waited five days for my other clothes to come with the pack-wagon. Then I hired out on the English brig "Billow" bound for Jamaica. The town had greatly changed in the little while I had been away. Washington's monument, which before was outside the town, was now in the middle of it. I saw here a place where people could get gas; and they became crazy from it. They had the gas in a bottle, and he who took it stood in a cage where everyone could look at him. When they had enough they began to roll their eyes and clinch their fists. Most of them wanted to fight and struck on the cage with all their might. But some were very happy, and laughed, sang, and danced. I tried it myself, but it had no effect on me whatever.

 

When we sailed from Baltimore it was very cold, but we had a good wind, and in six days it was much warmer than we wished it to be. We reached Jamaica after sailing for twenty days. It is a very beautiful, Mountainous island. In the higher places the climate is very healthy, but in Kingstown where we landed it is very unhealthy. Before we got to the town we sailed by Port Royal, the station for the English West Indian fleet. There were twelve warships, one very large steamship. Kingston looks like all the other West Indian towns I have seen. The houses are low, and the streets unutterably dirty.

 

Jamaica is one of the most fertile of the West Indian islands – at least it has the best fruit; even fine apples grow on the Mountains. In the English colonies the Negroes now are not slaves any more, wherefore they are so impudent and proud you can hardly do any thing with them I can never believe that it is well at once to give a people their freedom who their whole lives have been slaves. On the island of San Domingo one sees proof of this. It used to supply all of France with sugar, but, now that the Negroes are ruling themselves, they have to import their sugar from the other islands.

 

The sixth of February we sailed again from Kingston after receiving our load of various things. The trade-wind was very strong with a high sea between the islands and we had to tack continually, so it took twenty-one days to clear the passage between Cuba and St. Domingo; which we had made in a day and a half coming in. We kept on tacking to get out of Crooked Island Sound, by which we came so near the little island of Mayaguana, one of the Bahamas, that we could see a ship aground there hoisting signals of distress. We stood in as close as we dared, and found it to be an English bark. It had been fortunate enough to stand on the only possible place to save the people, as here was a small piece of sandy beach, and everywhere else around the island stretched a coral reef where the seas broke with such power they would immediately have crushed the ship. We came in as far as we could, and the captain went ashore. He came out again and told us the bark was laden with rum and sugar from Jamaica and was on the way to London. Its captain and eighteen of the crew asked to go with us to Baltimore, while the mate with three others would return to Jamaica in the longboat. Some of the crew came on board with their clothes and I went ashore with the captain.

 

It was a low sandy island overgrown with mangrove trees. The people had put up some tents where they had lived already a week without seeing a ship. The whole beach was full of rum barrels which had floated out of the ship. Nearly the whole crew were drunk, and the captain and the mate were not sober. We got only two barrels of water from them and two of rum. Ourselves had four barrels of water. We took some nails and new rope and started out again with nineteen extra people for whom we got only the two barrels of water. Two hogs, a pair that belonged to the ship, had swum ashore and escaped into the woods, so I guess in a few years the isle will be full of wild hogs.

 

We sailed for four days with a good wind, but as we passed Cape Hatteras we met a Northwest storm which took us away from land again. We got rations of water, and, as the storm continued, they got smaller everyday, till at last we had only one fourth a day. All our food was cooked with salt water, and we had no bread, only meal, our bread was also made with salt water. Luckily for us it was very cold so we did not get so thirsty. We were never dry. In the twenty days the storm lasted we suffered many hardships. If we had not been so many people we could never have ruled the ship, as everything was full of ice and frozen stiff.

 

At last the weather was good again and we came safely into Chesapeake Bay. All the people celebrated by drinking, and began to fight. When the two captains came to quiet them they came very near whipping both of them. So our captain took an ax and knocked the bottoms out of both the rum barrels. The pilot came aboard, and we ran up to Baltimore where the English consul took charge of the shipwrecked people and sent them home. I got my pay, and took hire right away in the brig "Niobe", which was bound for Pernambuco.

 

We had fine weather the whole voyage, but we lived and were fed very poorly, and we did not get along very well with each other. We caught a lot of jumping fishes, and as long as they lasted we got nothing else to eat. When we landed at Pernambuco we wrote the sailors' preacher in Baltimore to give our captain a severe rebuke when he returned, for poor treatment of his crew.

 

In thirty-nine days we arrived at Pernambuco, a very ugly, dirty, and neglected town. The harbor is made by a natural stone wall going all around it, leaving only a narrow channel to sail in. The country is very beautiful and fertile. I ate here the biggest, sweetest oranges I have ever tasted. One mile from Pernambuco is the old town of Olinda. Here you see monks everywhere, and the church bells ring continually. The churches are filled with pictures of saints. I heard nobody speak, but here and there a veiled woman was kneeling, praying. I saw three children baptized with about the same ceremonies as in America.

 

We could not sell our load, so after seven days waiting were off again for St. Salvador, a town lying south of Pernambuco in All Saint's Bay. It is a much larger and prettier town. Sailing in, it looked very beautiful surrounded by great mountains. The Brazilians have the greater part of their fleet here, but their maneuvers are a sorry sight, although they have many English officers and sailors. The greater part of the inhabitants are Indians and Negroes. Many Negroes are still imported from Africa. It is strange to see these men, all naked, and with the wool shaved off their heads, which gives them a very ugly look. They have fireworks all the time, especially on John the Baptist's birthday, with large processions. There were so many people I could not see much, but there were lots of monks with their black robes, and boys with white and red capes. The foreign consuls live outside of town with nearly all the nations' flags flying. But, alas, I did not see the Danish flag. The country here is hilly and rough, covered with trees and high grass. Here and there is an old-fashioned castle.

 

The Negroes rowed about in their boats selling parakeets. I bought one, but on the way home it fell overboard and drowned. We took on ballast to go to Pernambuco to get a load of sugar. We were made to do it on Sunday, which did not set good, and we put it behind our ears till we got home. Four days later we landed again at Pernambuco. Here I saw the first two Danish vessels since we left St. Croix, but as customs forbids going on board a ship before it is unloaded, I had to stay where I was. Some days after a boat from one of them came close by us. I called to them to find out where the ship came from. One of them was M. Smith, whom I knew. He knew me right away and called out, "Why, is it really you, Christian?" He was as glad as I was, but he was going ashore to get the captain, so there was no time to talk. I walked on needles till the day after, when we got to talk a little together. The next Sunday we went ashore together, and that was the happiest day I had since I left Denmark. I saw him once more before we left a few days later.

 

We arrived after twenty-eight days in Baltimore, having had a fine voyage, at the close of August. The first thing we did was to go to Rev. Tailor and tell him how we had to work on Sunday, and how poorly we were fed. Sure enough, the next Sunday he gave us a sermon about it, and even called the captain by name. The captain was present, but got up and went out. While I was in Baltimore I went down to Washington with the post wagon to see the capitol. That is the biggest and prettiest building I have seen. It is square and built on a hill. In the town it was remarkable because it was so quiet compared to other American towns. There is not much trading going on.

 

A little while after, I hired myself to the brig "Potapsco" going to Philadelphia and then to Boston. In four days we were there. It is one hundred and fifty miles from Cape May at the head of Delaware Bay, and it is the most beautiful town in America. All the streets cut each other in right angles. One way they are called by the letters and the other by the figures, so it is very easy to find your way in it. The Americans have their arsenal here. Among other vessels is the great "Pennsylvania", said to be the largest ship afloat. There was a shed built over it, and it looked like a large mountain. Everything on it is so immense I can hardly understand how it is possible to maneuver such a giant. It has one hundred and forty cannons, and five decks. Over the river Schuylkill, where Philadelphia is built, is a remarkable reservoir through which the town gets all its water.

   

After loading with wheat flour we proceeded to Boston without anything happening. Only I have never seen so many birds come from the land as on this journey. Many of the poor birds were so exhausted that they fell in the water before they reached the ship. The ones that did get there were so tired you could take them in your hand.

 

Boston was very much changed since I had last seen it. Many fine buildings had been put up. The new court house was especially fine, but not yet finished. There were some immense stone pillars, bigger than those on the capitol. I saw them haul one to the building with fifty-four yokes of oxen. From Boston we sailed to Baltimore and back again without anything special happening.

 

Here I left the ship, as it was getting cold, and took hire in the brig "Capt. Petersen" going to Wilmington and there to the West Indies. I was first eight days in Boston and in that time went to see comedies pretty often. There was a Mademoiselle Celeste who was a great favorite.

 

Going away on the ship at the close of October it was awfully cold. We were only the captain, mate, three sailors and the cook on board, so that my watch was shared by only one other man. We had a bad northwest storm and the forecastle leaked so badly we had to lie around on our sea chests and cover with blankets to keep the wet out. The mate was cross, and always scolded, and we were very tired of it. One night while we were tacking and it was hard to steer the ship he came and scolded me for not steering better. I answered him that I did the best I could but he kept on grumbling. At last I told him to steer it himself if I could not do it to suit him. He grabbed me and wanted to whip me, but I was not inclined to take it, so I let go the wheel and went at him. He yelled for the captain, who came running. I thought he was going to strike me too, so I was going to have the first lick, and handed him a big one. But just then the ship, which no one steered, turned broadside, and a big sea tumbled over us, took the captain's hat overboard, and washed us down the side. That cooled us somewhat. The captain took the wheel and told me to go forward and keep the lookout. Nothing was ever mentioned about the fight any more. I even believe they liked me better for it. 

 

We lay seven days outside the coast and could not get in for a heavy fog. At last it lifted, and we got a pilot on board who took us up to Wilmington, which lies up a river twelve or fourteen miles. The country here is even lower than in Virginia and it looks as if the sea were higher than the land. The land is not fertile. It is very sandy and is cultivated only by the rivers where there are some big rice plantations. It is hard work for the poor Negroes to work these plantations, as they have to work in water up to their knees all the time. The plantations can be flooded with water when necessary. Growing rice looks like oats. When it is threshed one can hardly tell it from barley. Wilmington is only a small town mostly built of tree houses. In the summer it is choking hot and very unhealthy. At the mouth of the river is a great fort called Johnson, but there is only a garrison of twenty people. Here we took on a load of lumber for Puerto Rico.

 

After a long voyage we arrived at Maria Guesta a small town on the island. Puerto Rico is a very pretty island and as a fine climate, but I will not describe it closer, as it looks like the other West Indian islands. We unloaded our lumber, but could get no return cargo, so we took on ballast and went to the capital, Port Au Prince, of St. Domingo, where we received a load of coffee. I believe this is the highest island in the West Indies. Here you get a good idea of what becomes of the Negroes when they all at once receive their freedom. The inhabitants are the laziest and most criminal I have ever seen. It is a funny sight to see the black soldiers drill. They all have guns, but many are without shirts or hats. I saw the president, who is a mulatto, drilling his soldiers one Sunday. He came riding with his whole staff, very elegant and grand. He had on a three-cornered hat, blue and gold embroidered coat, white trousers and short boots. But between the knee breeches and the boots there was a naked space, so his bare black legs stuck out. There are many monasteries and churches here from the time of the French.

 

We left St. Domingo in the beginning of December, and arrived at Wilmington on Christmas day. We all left the ship, but we had some trouble about our pay. The owners did not want to give us more than fifteen dollars a month, and the sailors wanted eighteen dollars. All who would not go for less than eighteen dollars walked about with a blue ribbon on their hat or in their buttonhole. After a good deal of trouble the owners were obliged to give up and pay the expected wages. Some of the sailors got into severe trouble. They went out to a ship whose captain had whipped some of his men. They tied a rope around his neck, pulled him out of the cabin, and then were crazy enough to pull him through the streets until the police came and nabbed them all. Well it was for me that I did not go as I had intended, for they all had to go to prison for three months.

 

I took again hire in the brig “Rising States”, which was going to Demerara. The captain made out that he was very holy, but when we got to sea he got bravely over it. It was an old, rotten ship, but, as it had just been repaired, I did not think it was so bad. But we found out mighty soon when we got out to sea that it was impossible to keep it pumped dry. Moreover the rats were so bad they gnawed holes everywhere. If the weather had been bad we would surely have gone to the bottom. We reached Demerara all right. The land is extremely flat and used to be very unhealthy. But now it is cut through with many canals and the climate is better and more healthy. It is very fertile. Everything looks fresh and green – not scorched like West Indian colonies. It used to belong to Holland, and there are many yet from that nation. Slavery is here done away with as in all the English colonies. But now they have, in a way, begun a slave trade with whites. They send agents to Germany, Ireland; and other places, to persuade poor people to go there, promising them gold in plenty. They have to sign a contract to stay five, six, or ten years.

 

Now when the poor deluded people come, they cannot stand the climate or the work on the sugar plantations, and they die like flies. The ship I was on brought eighty men from the Azores Islands; when we came back two and a half months after, only twenty-eight were left. Some of those still living who came on board our ship complained bitterly that they were not even allowed to write home. I suppose the agents are afraid they will scare other people from coming. Hardly will any of them see their native land again, as they are bound for six years. Several tried to desert, but were caught and punished on the treadmill.

 

Going up the Demerara River you see no homes. I don’t believe anybody lives on the island except at the mouth of the river. We could get no cargo to take back to the United States, so the captain would go to a German colony somewhat south of Demerara. But our contract was to go to Demerara and back to the States. We were afraid the ship could not pay our wages and we did not know who the owner was, so we refused to go, demanded our pay right now, and quit. The captain begged us to stay, as there was no crew to be had, and promised faithfully to pay us as soon as we arrived in the States. We consented, although we were very much afraid, as the ship was so poor it could it could not pay us even if we had seized it. 

 

So we went, of course, and after a long siege of tacking with head winds we came to Micaira River. At the mouth was a German fort with thirty men and two cannons to keep the Negroes from coming out of the river. One mile west of the mouth they were on English ground and then free. By land they could not escape through the bogs and morasses.

 

We should sail eight miles up the river to a sugar plantation to get out load of molasses. We drifted with the tide a piece, but had to anchor when the ebb flowed. Now we found at what a happy land we had arrived. Not a puff of wind – we were about to choke. The mosquitoes, which I thought were bad in New Orleans, were only a drop in the bucket compared to the swarms here that fell on us. It was impossible to escape. Sleep was out of the question. Many nights like that would have turned us into lunatics. We went very slowly, as the current went down eight hours and up for only four. When we anchored for the ebb we amused ourselves shooting birds, especially a flame-colored heron, of which there were thousands. The worst part was to get them out of the bushes after they were shot, as that would raise veritable clouds of mosquitoes.

 

One day we had been ashore, and the captain had bought a baby monkey. It howled and cried so that other monkeys came down from the woods into the trees near the ship, so we could stand on deck and shoot at them. We shot two in this manner – one was a mother with a young one holding fast to her. We got the baby on board, and, although it was quite young, we brought it alive to Boston. 

 

At last we reached our destination, which was a large sugar plantation worked by three hundred Negroes belonging to a Scotch doctor. The country here is as low as at Demerara, and all transportation goes through canals cut everywhere through the fields. We thought now the mosquitoes would be better, but as soon as the sun went down they were as bad as ever. We stood it for a few hours, but something had to be done, so we all left the ship and tried to get to the sugar-house which lay two miles further up. There was a little path between two canals, just wide enough to pass on, but it poured down rain and about twenty times I slipped into the canal over my head. We were about to die with fright. The banks were full of water snakes. I had lost both my shoes so I had to go bare-footed through the high grass in fear and trembling of stepping on them. But it was as bad to go back as forward, so we went on, and at last reached the much desired goal, the sugar house.

 

The sugar-cane grinding is done by steam. It was strange to see these black people, with their wild fierce faces lighted only by the fire from the boilers, carrying fuel to the tune of an African song. It is easy to recognize Negroes born in Africa by their fierce expressions and the hideous tattooing all over their breasts and faces here, as everywhere in the Holland Dutch colonies, they are treated most shamefully. Among the many that I saw here there was not a man who did not have scars of the whip so large that you could lay a finger in them. Besides, they have to work day and night – not even Sunday was free. For the least wrong-doing they get punished most severely. Thus I saw a young Negro, for a small offense, receive twenty-five cuts with the whip, and each time it cut out a piece of his flesh. They always have black slave-drivers, and they are said to be much more cruel than the whites. 

     

The next morning we began to take in molasses. At night we went up to the sugar house, but it was too far to walk, when we had worked hard all day. So another Dane and I got permission from an old black sheepherder to sleep with him at night, for the mosquitoes do not bother the sheep pens. It did not look very comfortable, for in the room where we should sleep was nothing but mud. Every morning there would be a couple of sheep stuck in the mud, and usually dead. But there was no choice – we lay down in the mud, which was stiff enough to hold us up, got a sheep for a pillow, and slept fine for not a mosquito came near us. It rained nearly every day, so with the mud being plastered together with molasses and sugar our clothes were stiff. I have never spent fourteen days in a more uncomfortable manner. 

 

It is really a pretty country. The woods are swarming with an unbelievable mass of beautiful birds, deer, and snakes. I saw some wild musk ducks, and some storks – the first I have seen since I left home. There are many Indians here, and they are very handsome. They go naked like the Negroes – the women’s aprons are beautifully embroidered with beads. It does not seem to hurt or shame the white ladies in the least to look at all these naked people. They have no kind of vehicle, so they use, instead, boats rowed by six or eight such naked Negroes. 

 

The Hollanders here are paying the Indians to find runaway Negroes, and they are very efficient at running them down. One slave ran away from the plantation where we were and they found him after two day’s search. They brought him on board the ship, for we were to take him to the fort to be punished. They had his hands tied behind his back, and a rope around his neck by which they pulled him along like a poor animal. When he came to the ship he begged them to loosen his hands a little, as they hurt so, but his master would not allow it. They threw him into a canoe and tied him hard and fast for fear he would jump in the water and drown himself. His punishment consisted of two hundred strokes with the terrible whip, which often caused death. But he got over it, came back, and while we were there with the ship, ran away the second time and without a doubt, reached the English boundary, for they had not found him yet when we left. (Poor devil!) 

 

While we were still lying here one day we had a Negro aboard to help us. Toward night lots of snakes always swam across the river to the side where were moored. The Negro saw a large bluish snake coming, and he went out in the water to meet it. He took it up in his hand, and the snake did not try in the least to go aside from him. Usually they run at the least alarm. Although it was a poisonous snake he let it crawl all over his naked body. He stuck his finger in its mouth and it didn’t bite him. At last he broke the poisonous fangs out with a nail, and let it go on the ship, as he said it would catch rats. We were so scared of it we didn’t dare go to sleep in our bunks, but we never saw it again. The snake was five or six feet long.

 

In the beginning of April, to out great joy we left Nicaya River. We had at first intended to run into Barbadoo to get some bread, but it was too far too the east, so we made St. Vincent instead. South of this island we got in a terrible sea. We could hardly keep the water out of the ship with both pumps. It creaked and groaned in the old hull so we thought she would go down every minute, but we reached the harbor at St. Vincent all right. But now we were determined to leave the ship, and we ordered it condemned. Still we were fools enough to let the captain persuade us to go with him again, and we left the next day.

 

St. Vincent is a very pretty island. It belongs to England, and has the strongest fort I have ever seen. We ran now with the trade winds in among the West Indian islands and arrived at last at St. Croix and St. Thomas. This was the first time I had seen them since I was on the steamer Betsy. We kept in a southerly direction so we soon could get in to land, in case we could not get the ship pumped out we could save our liver. 

     

On the fourth of May we reached Boston. We were so exhausted from pumping we went ashore right away, expecting to be paid off the next day according to the captain’s promise. But he wouldn’t do it, and after ten days we had him arrested. But now the rascal swore that he had made no such promise, so all we could do was to seize the ship. It was three weeks before it was sold, and it brought so little we got only half our pay. We were advised to summons the owner, but it would cost too much to go to New Providence where he lived, so we put the case in the hands of a lawyer, permitting him to keep any money he could get. I hope he got it, for we did not want the owner to enjoy our hard-earned money. 

 

In Boston I lived in a Methodist home, and once a week they had prayer, meeting. They tried with all their power to make a Methodist of me, and got me even so far that I went every time to their prayer-meetings and on Sundays went three times to Church! I had intended to take the journey home to Denmark right away, but I was kept in Boston so long about that miserable money, and had spent so much I gave it up and hired myself to the “Shepherd” which was going to Calcutta. But just as I was going up to the office to sign the contract I met an English captain who was in a great dilemma to get a man to go with him to Edinburgh. When he offered me good pay I decided to go with him to Edinburgh and then go to Denmark at once. He was first going to ST. Johns in New Brunswick to get a load of lumber, and then proceed to Edinburgh. 

 

After four day’s sailing we arrived at St. Johns. The country here is full of rocky mountains partly overgrown by fir and birch trees. The town lies by the mouth of St. Johns River on uneven, rocky ground. The inhabitants consist mostly of Irishmen. What struck me most was the terrible ebb and flood tides. Out in the bay the water rises and falls ninety feet, and the tide comes so swiftly that even a horse cannot outrun it. The river, which at high water is even with the sea, falls over a rock twenty feet at low water. Here I have seen big salmon jump over with one great leap. There is a considerable lumber trade with England, and an unbelievable number of great ships the whole summer long.

 

After Lying here a month we left. At the beginning we had very bad and stormy weather. On the Newfoundland Banks it was mighty cold on account of the many icebergs floating around. It is a very beautiful sight to look at these icebergs. Some are very large. They look like big cities with towers and church spires. All in all, I have never had it better than on this ship – we never even heard an oath spoken. Twice a day we had prayers and on Sunday three times. The captain would read a chapter in the Bible and we would all sing some hymns. If it did not do any other good it cured me, and some of the other sailors who had been in the habit of swearing, entirely, and we quit it altogether. So my opinion is, that even if people are forced to go to church, a lot of good will be derived from it.

 

 The first land we saw was Rockall, an immense rock lying in the middle of the sea. It is about four miles around, and stretches far under the water, so it is very dangerous for vessels. Around it no bottom can be found. It lies about four days’ sailing from the coast of England. So, at last, after five long years, I saw Europe again! We sailed now in through the straits between Orkney Islands and Scotland and arrived three days after safely in Edinburgh. 

 

The scenery is most beautiful, varied with mountains, woods and towns. About two miles from Leith is the harbor, which is built with locks so that there will be water for the ships even when the ebb is on. I have not seen any town more beautiful than Edinburgh. It is built on a high rocky hill, and way above the city stands out Edinburgh Castle. The city lies two miles from Leith, and every quarter hour post chaises start between the two towns. What makes the city so beautiful is the many gardens and flowers. The streets are wide, and the sidewalks are covered with concrete on the main streets, and with brick on the others. The stores and shops are the most elegant I have ever seen. All the houses, especially in the new part of town, are gray in color and all are five stories high. The streets are perfectly straight. The old town is parted from the new by a deep ravine. There the houses are often eight stories high, but there are also many very small ones.

 

The castle, which is situated on a very high rock, is a very strong fort which is manned entirely by Highlanders in their native kilts, and they give it a very romantic look. But I think it must be confounded cold to have to go the whole winter without breeches! Here is a most beautiful view. The whole town lies below and you can see far to all sides. I saw here a cannon, which they called “Old Charley”, with a mouth three feet in diameter. Over the ravine between the new and old towns is a long bridge. Under it there is a meat and vegetable market, and it amused me to see all the people as busy down below the bridge. 

 

From Leith I went as passenger on a German vessel sailing to somewhere in the Baltic Sea. The captain promised to let me off at Elsinore. We had a good wind across the North Sea, and it was with greatest joy I again saw Skagens light-house. But the wind was from the south and the captain was afraid to sail by the reef at Skagen. The ship was behaving badly in a hard sea, so we kept under the land where the water was more quiet. We must have advanced quicker than we thought, for in the night the ship went aground on the point of the reef. It refused to turn off, so there we sat. We were obliged to thrown off part of the load, which was coal, by which we soon got off the ground, as the wind was blowing from land. If it had been blowing landward it would have been impossible to save the ship. Next morning the wind was from the west, so we sailed around Skagens reef. We kept as close to Jutland as possible, but we got in too far, for in the night they called me up, and the vessel was grounded again!

 

They didn’t at all know where we were, but it was now calm so they hoped to get the ship loose by warping. An anchor was carried to the stern, but we were not able to move it. Some more coal was cast overboard, and at last it swung around. But now it began to blow hard, so the vessel was pounding hard. The captain cried and most of the sailors looked very downhearted. They got up their clothes to bring to the big yawl as soon as it was light enough to see. I realized that even if the worst happened we would all be able to save ourselves, and I tried to persuade the captain to stay on board and offered to stay with him if they would let the yawl stay beside the ship. But I could not do anything with him – he was quite desperate, and I could hardly keep him from cutting loose at once. They began to flock into the yawl, but then we saw boats coming out toward us, so they decided to stay until they came. One of the boats had a pilot on board who said he could get the ship out if it could be warped out into deeper waters. So the captain had to pay some of them from the boats to bring out a warp. In the meantime the pilot put sails on the ship where it lay and tried to clear it from the ground. He succeeded, and the warp was not used. We anchored in four fathoms of water and next morning, with the wind from the south we sailed out. After lying in the Kattegat a couple of days without getting anywhere we ran into a harbor in Sweden, where we stayed eight days. Then, with a good wind, we sailed down to Elsinore, and I went ashore after an absence of five years!