his sword, and engaging the chief whom he saw kill Cook soon despatched him. His guard in the mean time were all killed but two, and they had plunged into the water, and were swimming to the boats. He stood thus for some time the butt of all their force, and being as complete in the use of his sword as he was accomplished, his noble achievements struck the barbarians with awe; but being wounded, and growing faint from loss of blood and excessive action, he plunged into the sea with his sword in his hand, and swam to the boats; where, however, he was scarcely taken on board before somebody saw one of the marines, that had swum from the shore, lying flat upon the bottom. Phillips, hearing this, ran aft, threw himself in after him, and brought him up with him to the surface of the water, and both were taken in. The boats had hitherto kept up a very hot fire, and, lying off without the reach of any weapon but stones, had received no damage and, being fully at leisure to keep up an unremitted and uniform action, made great havoc among the Indians, particularly among the chiefs who stood foremost in the crowd and were most exposed; but whether it was from their bravery or ignorance of the real cause that deprived so many of them of life, that they made such a stand, may be questioned, since it is certain that they in general, if not universally, understood heretofore that it was the fire only of our arms that destroyed them. This opinion seems to be strengthened by the circumstance of the large, thick mats they were observed to wear, which were also constantly kept wet; and, furthermore, the Indian that Cook fired at with a blank discovered no fear, when he found his mat unburnt, saying in their language, when he showed it to the by-standers, that no fire had touched it. This may be supposed at least to have had some influence. It is, however, certain, whether from one or both these causes, that the numbers that fell made no apparent impression on those who survived; they were immediately taken off and had their places supplied in a constant succession. Lieutenant Gore who commanded as first lieutenant under Cook in the Resolution-which lay opposite the place where this attack was made— perceiving with his glass that the guard on shore was cut off and that Cook had fallen, immediately passed a spring upon one of the cables, and, bringing the ship's starboard guns to bear, fired two round-shot over the boats into the middle of the crowd; and both the thunder of the cannon and the effects of the shot operated so powerfully, that it produced a most precipitate retreat from the shore to the town. Our mast that was repairing at Kearakekua and our astronomical tents were protected only by a corporal and six marines, exclusive of the carpenters at work upon it, and demanded immediate protection. As soon, therefore, as the people were refreshed with some grog and reinforced, they were ordered thither. In the mean time the marine, who had been taken up by Mr. Phillips, discovered returning life and seemed in a way to recover, and we found Mr. Phillips's wound not dangerous, though very bad. We also observed at Kiverua that our dead were drawn off by the Indians, which was a mortifying sight; but after the boats were gone they did it in spite of our cannon, which were firing at them several minutes. They had no sooner effected this matter than they retired to the hills to avoid our shot. The expedition to Kiverua had taken up about an hour and a half, and we lost, besides Cook, a corporal and three marines. RUSSIA AND THE RUSSIANS A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. [Written at Yakutsk, Siberia, 1787-88.-The Life and Travels of John Ledyard. 1828.] ΜΑΝ ANY instances of longevity occur in this place. There is a man one hundred and ten years old, who is in perfect health, and labors daily. The images in the Russian houses, which I should take for a kind of household gods, are very expensive. The principal ones have a great deal of silver lavished on them. To furnish out a house properly with these Di Minores, would cost a large sum. When burnt out, as I have witnessed several times, the people have appeared more anxious for these, than for anything else. The images form almost the whole decoration of the churches, and those melted in one of them just burnt down, are estimated to have been worth at least thirty thousand roubles. The warm bath is used by the peasantry here early in life, from which it is common for them to plunge into the river, and if there happens to be new-fallen snow, they come naked from the bath and wallow therein. Dances are accompanied, or rather performed, by the same odd twisting and writhing of the hips, as at Otaheite. Dogs are here esteemed nearly in the same degree that horses are in England; for besides answering the same purpose in travelling, they aid the people in the chase, and, after toiling for them the whole day, become their safeguard at night. Indeed they command the greatest attention. There are dog farriers to attend them in sickness, who are no despicable rivals in art, at least in pretension, to the horse doctor of civilized Europe. Dogs also command a high price. What they call a leading dog of prime character, will sell for three or four hundred roubles. Everybody in Yakutsk has two kinds of windows, the one for summer and the other for winter. Those for the latter season are of many different forms and materials; but all are so covered with ice on the inside, that they are not transparent, and are so far useless. You can see nothing without, not even the body of the sun at noon. Ice is most commonly used for windows in winter, and talc in summer. These afford a gloomy kind of light within, that serves for ordinary purposes. The Russ dress in this region is Asiatic; long, loose, and of the mantle. kind, covering almost every part of the body. It is a dress not originally calculated for the latitude they inhabit. Within-doors the Russian is Asiatic; without, European. The Emperor gives three ranks to officers that come into Siberia and serve six years; two while out from Petersburg, and one on their return. It has two important effects, one to civilize Siberia, and the other to prostitute rank. I have before my eyes the most consummate scoundrels in the universe, of a rank that in any civilized country would be a signal of the best virtues of the heart and the head, or at least of common honesty and common decency. The succession of these characters is every six years. So strong is the propensity of the Russians to jealousy, that they are guilty of the lowest offences on that account. The observation may appear trivial, but the ordinary Russian will be displeased, if one even endeavors to gain the good-will of his dog. I affronted the Commandant of this town very highly, by permitting his dog to walk with me one afternoon. He expostulated with me very seriously about it. This is not the only instance. I live with a young Russian officer, with whom I came from Irkutsk. No circumstance has ever interrupted the harmony between us, but his dogs. They have done it twice. A pretty little puppy he has, came to me one day, and jumped upon my knee. I patted his head, and gave him some bread. The man flew at the dog in the utmost rage, and gave him a blow which broke his leg. The lesson I gave him on the occasion has almost cured him, for I bid him beware how he disturbed my peace a third time by this rascally passion. I have observed from Petersburg to this place, that the Russians in general have few moral virtues. The bulk of the people are almost without any. The laws of the country are mostly penal laws; but all laws of this kind are little else than negative instructors. They inform the people what they shall not do, and affix the penalty to the transgression; but they do not inform people what they ought to do, and affix the reward to virtue. Untaught in the sublime of morality, the Russian has not that glorious basis, on which to exalt his nature. This, in some countries, is made the business of religion; and, in others, of the civil laws. In this unfortunate country, it is the business of neither civil nor ecclesiastical concernment. A citizen here fulfils his duty to the laws, if, like a base Asiatic, he licks the feet of his superior in rank; and his duty to his God, if he fills his house with a set of ill-looking brass and silver saints, and worships them. It is for these reasons that the peasantry, in particular, are the most unprincipled in Christendom. THE TRAVELLER'S TRIBUTE TO WOMAN. [From the Same.] I HAVE observed among all nations that the women ornament themselves, more than the men; that, wherever found, they are the same kind, civil, obliging, humane, tender beings; that they are ever inclined to be gay and cheerful, timorous and modest. They do not hesitate, like man, to perform a hospitable or generous action; not haughty, nor arrogant, nor supercilious, but full of courtesy and fond of society; industrious, economical, ingenuous; more liable in general, to err, than man, but in general, also, more virtuous, and performing more good actions than he I never addressed myself, in the language of decency and friendship, to a woman, whether civilized or savage, without receiving a decent and friendly answer. With man it has often been otherwise. In wandering over the barren plains of inhospitable Denmark, through honest Sweden, frozen Lapland, rude and churlish Finland, unprincipled Russia, and the wide spread regions of the wandering Tartar, if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick, woman has ever been friendly to me, and uniformly so; and to add to this virtue, so worthy of the appellation of benevolence, these actions have been performed in so free and so kind a manner, that, if I was dry, I drank the sweet draught, and, if hungry, ate the coarse morsel, with a double relish. "The Hartford Wits." Leaders of the group thus designated were JOHN TRUMBULL, LEMUEL HOPKINS, DAVID HUMPHREYS, JOEL BARLOW, and RICHARD ALSOP, specimens of whose independent writings are given under their several names in this work. to FROM "THE ANARCHIAD." [The Anarchiad: A New England Poem.-A Series of Anonymous Contributions The New Haven Gazette," 1786-87. Written in concert by Hopkins, Humphreys, Barlow, and Trumbull.] FACTION. BEHOLD those veterans worn with want and care, Their sinews stiffened, silvered o'er their hair, Weak in their steps of age, they move forlorn, Go then, ye remnants of inglorious wars, Stand forth, ye traitors, at your country's bar, What countless mischiefs from their labors rise! Of bankrupt faith, annihilated laws, Of selfish systems, jealous, local schemes, Your names, expanding with your growing crime, And outraged nature vindicate the wrong. Yes, there are men, who, touched with heavenly fire, Beyond the confines of these climes aspire, Beyond the praises of a tyrant age, To live immortal in the patriot page; Who greatly dare, though warning worlds oppose, To pour just vengeance on their country's foes. Yet what the hope? the dreams of congress fade, The federal union sinks in endless shade, Each requisition wafts in fleeting air, And not one state regards the powerless prayer. Ye wanton states, by heaven's best blessings cursed, Long on the lap of fostering luxury nursed, What fickle frenzy raves, what visions strange, |