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CHAPTER XXXIII.

"Come, let us dance and sing,

Whilst ALL Barbadoes' BELLS shall ring." *

I OBTAINED a passage to Barbadoes in a beautiful armed king's schooner, the Falcon, with an order to the agent for transports at that island, for a passage in a British transport. My anxiety to reach England, now presented a strong con trast to my late perfect indifference. The very idea had so improved my appearance, spirits, and activity, that I doubt whether, if I had again been summoned before the medical board, they would not have withdrawn their indulgence.

At Barbadoes I took up my quarters at Nancy Clarke's, where, in a kind of barrack-room containing twenty beds, consisting of a well filled bag of dried Indian-corn grass, a decent bolster, with a couple of sheets, either placed on a stretcher, or laid on the floor, I was content to pass my nights in company with the motley groups of army and navy officers, captains of ships and others, who, from choice or necessity, remained on shore. My company was varied every night; and there was such an influx and reflux, that it was with great difficulty I contrived to maintain my own corner undisturbed.

Although no longer indulged with the luxury of musquito curtains, these insidious tormentors passed over without bestowing a single sting upon me, while they flew in clouds to feast on the new blood of the unseasoned fresh men. Their whizzing noise (something like the singing of a tea-kettle half emptied of its fluid) proved as great an enemy to sleep, as the roarings and cursings of my tormented fellow-lodgers. For the accommodation of this shakedown bed, a scrambling kind of breakfast, but an excellent and abundant dinner, I paid three dollars per day, and generally found some neighbour to join me in the expense of a bottle of porter, and another of Madeira.

Miss Nancy Clarke was too great a woman in pride, in size, and in circumstances, to discompose herself by appearing in any other character than that of receiver-general of money, and of those compliments which custom had rendered necessa

*TAVERN bells, it is presumed, there being but ONE great bell in the island.

ry to ensure civility from her dark myrmidons. Her favourite at that time (for, like a certain northern empress of the last century, she was never without one,) was Captain My of the twenty. -th regiment, commonly called "handsome My;" but which flattering distinction was borne, with equal justice, by three of his brothers then in the West Indies, one an officer in the navy, and the others in the army—a coincidence which often created confusion, when the conversation turned on the favourite of the Caribbean Venus. They were in fact a family so gifted by nature with personal advantages, that of SEVEN Sons serving his Majesty at that period in the army, navy, and militia, from eighteen to thirty years of age, they were known in their respective circles by the envia ble cognomen of "The handsome My."

Although the gentleman alluded to was but a captain in the army, he was a field-marshal in the warm heart of the negro Nancy; and the slightest notice from "Massa Buckra" proved, to a stranger, a passport to the obsequious attentions of every slave in the establishment.

A son of the late Admiral Crosbie's, having been my chum at table for some days, he politely tendered his good offices to procure me a passage home in the same man-of-war in which he was to sail, having been invalided. We accordingly set off for his Majesty's ship where I experienced that kind and hospitable reception from the ward-room officers which I have never found wanting. They promised to afford me the best accommodation a crowded ship would allow, in the event of the captain's favouring me with a passage; but they thought it but candid to inform me, that the commander was strongly averse to receiving military officers on board-their careless and independent manners towards their superiors, when not on duty, tending in his opinion to set a bad example to the officers of his ship, whom he held at an immeasurable distance, and treated more like vassals than gallant gentlemen.

On this information I declined subjecting myself to the chance of a refusal, which might draw from me an unpleasant observation. Scorning to ask a favour were denial was probable, I left the ship, thankful for the hearty welcome and hospitable treatment bestowed on me by the ward-room mess, and not a little disgusted with the character of the splenetic commodore.

I next presented my credentials to the acting agent for transports, a commander in the navy, but one whom I cannot compliment, either for the suavity of his manners, or any particular zeal for the service. Indeed, the discourtesy with which he treated a dozen of us invalids who attended his levee was so marked, as to render our visit any thing but a pleasant one to all parties. Five of the officers in attendance were allotted for

berths on board the same ship with me, and we were shortly afterwards given to understand that there were already six officers on board, four of whom were in too weak a state to remove out of their cabins.

This was no pleasant hearing; a floating hospital not being, in our estimation, the most agreeable kind of transport. But it was in vain to remonstrate; there were but four transports to spare, and even these were sent home for repairs (after two years' wear and tear in that country,) rather than for any accommodation they afforded to the invalided. Altogether, they were reported to be very unfit for a winter voyage; but it was observed by one of our party, whose shattered frame appeared to hold out a slender prospect of surviving the voyage, that “he would PUT TO SEA IN A WASHING-TUB, rather than remain in that cursed climate."

We found our transport captain on shore, and learned, to our great dismay, that there were but four berths, all of which were already occupied; and that our mattresses, therefore, must, of necessity, be laid on the cabin sole or floor. On this, we again assailed the agent in a body for berths in a ship where the ordinary accommodation could be obtained; but the only favour we could obtain was an offer to have our names placed on the list for berths in the next division of transports ordered home

-an alternative which none of the party seemed inclined to embrace, the majority being much of the same opinion as our washing-tub navigator; so on board we determined to go for a reconnaissance.

We placed ourselves under the escort of the captain, a muddled little animal, who appeared to be in a half idiotic state, guided entirely by his mate, a tall rough-looking man, dressed as if he were on the Esquimaux coast, in order, as he expressed it, to keep out the heat of the sun!

The build of the boat gave me some idea to what kind of vessel she belonged; and I was not at all sruprised, when we pulled alongside, to see a tasteless-shaped hulk, with temporary bulwarks, which, light as she was in ballast, made her appear all hull above water. Her naked, unpaid seams, her bleached rigging, which hung slack and slovenly, all betrayed signs of hard service and neglect: and the general odour on board gave disgusting tokens of her having been an expeditionary troop-ship.

The unpromising appearance of the whole confirmed our worst anticipations; she was a brig-rigged South Shields collier, called "The Ellisson," full two hundred and sixty tons' burden, and only two years built. The smallest portion possible was appropriated for cabin room, and her stern cocked up like that of a Dutch galliot. The captain and mate both praised VOL. II.

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her as an excellent sea-boat; but a more uncomfortable receptacle for unfortunate invalids cannot possibly be contemplated: there was one redeeming advantage-there were to be no troops on board. A very few worn-out non-commissioned officers, with the widows and children of several others who had recently died in the islands, to the number altogether of about forty, were passengers between decks; where the accommodation was so ample, and so much more commodious than the miserable cabin, that on four or five of the late comers I levied a contribution of a few dollars, which, with my own subscription, enabled the second mate and carpenter to put up a bulk'head, so as to partition off sufficient room for six hammocks to swing. These arrangements made, my party returned on shore to make the necessary provision for the voyage.

We calculated on a supply for a two months' voyage, and on an expenditure of about twenty pounds each. The most experienced were named as purveyors, and in the course of a couple of days our store of wine, spirits, porter, groceries, &c. &c., were safely on board but with the exception of four dozen of turkeys, which we purchased from an American adventurer, whose vessel arrived the day previously to our departure from Barbadoes, we deferred the purchase of our live-stock until our arrival at St. Christopher's, at which island the fleet was to remain for two days, to collect the homeward-bound vessels of the season.

The American to which I allude being quite a curiosity in her way, deserves to be noticed as evincing the daring spirit of enterprise possessed by friend Jonathan.

It was a large ship-shape raft, formed internally of scarcely half-dressed timbers, but substantially planked, trenelled, and caulked; but little iron was to be seen, excepting here and there a huge spike-nail or a binder. It had a coating of tar and rosin, but not one touch of paint from stem to stern. Even the name, (a most appropriate one,) "THE ARK," was burnt in by a hot marking-iron.

In this vessel the adventurous master had contrived to stow away fifty large-sized oxen, twenty-five on each side, securely stalled and head-bound; and in a locker over each animal's manger the provender for the voyage was compactly stored. In the interval or passage left in the centre were a line of butts of fresh water, for the supply of the live cargo and crew. This might he called the freight of the lower deck or hold, into which the air was admitted by wind-sails, or, when the sea and weather allowed, by leaving open a portion of the main hatchway; which, when necessity required, was battened down, forming a kind of round-house, on each side of which a gangway, of about three feet in width, afforded the crew room to work the vessel.

Above-board, fore and aft, tiers of coops full of poultry of all sorts, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea and common fowls, loaded the deck; while baskets of hams and tongues were lashed over each quarter. This craft was schooner-rigged, but in the most simple manner, with only three sails, mainsail, foresail, and jib; the mast, sails, and cordage, being all of the rudest materials.

The immense profit on the sale of such a carge must certainly have been a temptation to the dangerous risk; some idea of which may be formed by stating that a turkey, a couple of which would have been reared on the American's farm at the expense of half a dollar, sold for three and oftener four dollars; while on shore it was, after a few days' rest and cramming with roasted Indian corn, retailed at eight or ten. The price of geese, ducks, and fowls in proportion; the hams of large

size were valued on shore at ten or twelve dollars. The bullocks went to the stores of the commissary-general, who paid his own price, and, of course, in those money-making days, made his own charge. The lean island bullocks were contracted for at two shillings and sixpence currency per pound; and as the Yankee, by selling his at less than that sum, would then realize a thousand or fifteen hundred per cent on his whole venture all parties were accommodated.

What was to become of Jonathan's ark after his Atlantic trip I did not learn, but imagine it was destined to be broken up and sold as lumber, which is in itself a good and profitable speculation-he himself finding his way back to his native continent enriched with the means of extending his farms a few miles farther into the interior.

Before I take my leave of Barbadoes I must notice three extraordinary characters, who were at that time in the habit of taking their daily stroll on the quay, and whose names were then of some notoriety.

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