A	»	B	»	C	»	D	»	E
F	»	G	»	H	»	I	»	J
K	»	L	»	M	»	N	»	O
P	»		R	»	S	»		T
U	»		V	»	W	»		Z

Gilbert Chesterton - "The Wild Knight and Other Poems"

J. Bayard Taylor - "Views a foot"

Various - "Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, May 21, 1919."

Edward Hutton - "Ravenna, A Study"

Layoffs at Random House, Simon & Schuster
Moreover Technologies - Premier purveyor of real-time news and RSS feeds from across the Web

Citigroup Cuts Estimates and Price Target on Amazon.com (AMZN) Due To Flat Online Retail Growth
Ad - Get Info for Book Publishing from 14 search engines in 1.

Farewell To Okada In PortHarcourt
'Yes, Virginia, book publishing is NOT recession proof,' said Patricia Schroeder, president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Publishers. 'It's sad day.' At Random House, the country's largest general trade publisher, the man who

The Crater by James Fenimore Cooper

J >> James Fenimore Cooper >> The Crater




Glad enough were the new-comers to land at a little settlement which had
been made on the island which lay abreast of the roads, and where,
indeed, there was a very convenient harbour, did vessels choose to use
it. The roads, however, had excellent anchorage, and were perfectly
protected against the prevailing winds of that region. Only once,
indeed, since the place was inhabited, had the wind been known to blow
_on_ shore at that point; and then only during a brief squall. In
general, the place was every way favourable for the arrival and
departure of shipping, the trades making a leading breeze both in going
and coming--as, indeed, they did all the way to and from the Reef. A
long-headed emigrant, of the name of Dunks, had foreseen the probable,
future, importance of this outer harbour, and had made such an
arrangement with the council, as to obtain leave for himself and three
or four of his connections to exchange the land they had drawn, against
an equal quantity in this part of the group. The arrangement was made,
and this little, out-lying colony had now been established an entire
season. As the spot was a good deal exposed to an invasion, a stone
dwelling had been erected, that was capable of accommodating the whole
party, and pickets were placed around it in such a way as to prove an
ample defence against any attempt to carry the work by assault. The
governor had lent them a field-piece, and it was thought the whole
disposition was favourable to the security of the colony, since no less
than eleven combatants could be mustered here to repel invasion.

The immigrants, as usual, found everything charming, when their feet
touched terra firma. The crops _did_ look well, and the island being
covered with mud, the sand had done wonders for the vegetation. It is
true that trees were wanting, though the pickets, or palisades, being of
willow, had all sprouted, and promised soon to enclose the dwelling in
a grove. Some fifty acres had been tilled, more or less thoroughly, and
timothy was already growing that was breast-high. Clover looked well,
too, as did everything else; the guano having lost none of its virtue
since the late arrivals.

The governor sent back the Anne, with instructions to prepare room for
the immigrants in the government dwelling, which, luckily, was large
enough to receive them all. He waited with the Rancocus, however, for
the Henlopen to come in and anchor. He then went on board this brig, and
took a look at the stock. Saunders, a discreet, sensible man, so well
understood the importance of adding to the physical force of the colony,
in the way of brutes, that he had even strained the point to bring as
many mares and cows as he could stow. He had put on board twenty-five of
the last, and twenty of the first; all purchased at Valparaiso. The
weather had been so mild, that no injury had happened to the beasts, but
the length of the passage had so far exhausted the supplies that not a
mouthful of food had the poor animals tasted for the twenty-four hours
before they got in. The water, too, was scarce, and anything but sweet.
For a month everything had been on short allowance, and the suffering
creatures must have been enchanted to smell the land. Smell it they
certainly did; for such a lowing, and neighing, and fretting did they
keep up, when the governor got alongside of the brig, that he could not
endure the sight of their misery, but determined at once to relieve it.

The brig was anchored within two hundred yards of a fine sandy beach, on
which there were several runs of delicious water, and which communicated
directly with a meadow of grass, as high as a man's breast. A bargain
was soon made with Dunks; and the two crews, that of the Rancocus, as
well as that of the brig, were set to work without delay to hoist out
every creature having a hoof, that was on board the Henlopen. As slings
were all ready, little delay was necessary, but a mare soon rose through
the hatchway, was swung over the vessel's side, and was lowered into the
water. A very simple contrivance released the creature from the slings,
and off it swam, making the best of its way towards the land. In three
minutes the poor thing was on the beach, though actually staggering
from weakness, and from long use to the motion of the vessel. The water
was its first aim. Dunks was there, however, to prevent it from drinking
too much, when it made its way up to the grass, which it began to eat
ravenously. All the rest went through the same process, and in a couple
of hours the poor things were relieved from their misery, and the brig,
which smelled like a stable, was well quit of them. Brooms and water
were set to work immediately, but it was a month before the Henlopen
lost the peculiar odour of the cattle.

Nor were the human beings much less rejoiced to go ashore than the
brutes. Dunks gave them all a hearty welcome, and though he had little
fruit to offer, he had plenty of vegetables, for which they were quite
as thankful. Melons, however, he could and did give them, and the human
part of the cargo had an ample feast on a sort of food to which they had
now so long been strangers. The horses and cows were left on Dunks's
Island, where they stayed until word was sent to the governor that they
had eaten down all his grass, and would soon be on allowance again,
unless taken away. Means, however, were soon found to relieve him of the
stock, though his meadows, or pastures rather, having been seldom cut in
that climate, were much improved by the visit paid them. As for the
animals, they were parcelled out among the different farms, thus giving
a little milk, and a little additional force to each neighbourhood.
Fowls and pigs had been distributed some time previously, so that not a
man in the group was without his breeding sow, and his brood of young
chickens. These were species of stock that increased so rapidly, that a
little care alone was wanting to make eggs and pork plenty. Corn, or
maize, grew just for the planting; though it was all the better,
certainly, for a little care.

After sufficient time had been allowed to make the necessary
preparations, the vessels sailed with the immigrants for the Reef. There
was many a glad meeting between friends and relatives. Those who had
just arrived had a great deal to tell those who had preceded then by
eighteen months, and those who now considered themselves old settlers,
entertained the new ones with the wonders of their novel situations.




Chapter XXIV.



"Welter upon the waters, mighty one--
And stretch thee in the ocean's trough of brine;
Turn thy wet scales up to the wind and sun,
And toss the billow from thy flashing fin;
Heave thy deep breathing to the ocean's din,
And bound upon its ridges in thy pride,
Or dive down to its lowest depths, and in
The caverns where its unknown monsters hide
Measure thy length beneath the gulf-stream's tide."

Brainard's _Sea-Serpent._


The colony had now reached a point when its policy must have an eye to
its future destinies. If it were intended to push it, like a new
settlement, a very different course ought to be pursued from the one
hitherto adopted. But the governor and council entertained more moderate
views. They understood their real position better. It was true that the
Peak, in one sense, or in that which related to soil and products, was
now in a condition to receive immigrants as fast as they could come; but
the Peak had its limits, and it could hold but a very circumscribed
number. As to the group, land had to be formed for the reception of the
husbandman, little more than the elements of soil existing over so much
of its surface. Then, in the way of trade, there could not be any very
great inducement for adventurers to come, since the sandal-wood was the
only article possessed which would command a price in a foreign market.
This sandal-wood, moreover, did not belong to the colony, but to a
people who might, at any moment, become hostile, and who already began
to complain that the article was getting to be very scarce. Under all
the circumstances therefore, it was not deemed desirable to add to the
population of the place faster than would now be done by natural means.

The cargoes of the two vessels just arrived were divided between the
state and the governor, by a very just process. The governor had
one-half the proceeds for his own private use, as owner of the Rancocus,
without which vessel nothing could have been done; while the state
received the other moiety, in virtue of the labour of its citizens as
well as in that of its right to impose duties on imports and exports. Of
the portion which went to the state, certain parts were equally divided
between the colonists, for immediate use, while other parts of the cargo
were placed in store, and held as a stock, to be drawn upon as occasion
might arise.

The voyage, like most adventures in sandal-wood, teas, &c., in that day,
had been exceedingly advantageous, and produced a most beneficent
influence on the fortunes and comforts of the settlement. A
well-selected cargo of the coarse, low-priced articles most needed in
such a colony, could easily have been purchased with far less than the
proceeds of the cargo of tea that had been obtained at Canton, in
exchange for the sandal-wood carried out; and Saunders, accordingly, had
filled the holds of both vessels with such articles, besides bringing
home with him a considerable amount in specie, half of which went into
the public coffers, and half into the private purse of governor
Woolston. Money had been in circulation in the colony for the last
twelve months; though a good deal of caution was used in suffering it to
pass from hand to hand. The disposition was to hoard; but this fresh
arrival of specie gave a certain degree of confidence, and the silver
circulated a great deal more freely after it was known that so
considerable an amount had been brought in.

It would scarcely be in our power to enumerate the articles that were
received by these arrivals; they included everything in common use among
civilized men, from a grind-stone to a cart. Groceries, too, had been
brought in reasonable quantities, including teas, sugars, &c.; though
these articles were not so much considered _necessaries_ in America
fifty years ago as they are to-day. The groceries of the state as well
as many other articles, were put into the hands of the merchants, who
either purchased them out and out, to dispose of at retail, or who took
them on commission with the same object. From this time, therefore,
regular shops existed, there being three on the Reef and one on the
Peak, where nearly everything in use could be bought, and that, too, at
prices that were far from being exorbitant. The absence of import duties
had a great influence on the cost of things, the state getting its
receipts in kind, directly through the labour of its citizens, instead
of looking to a customhouse in quest of its share for the general
prosperity.

At that time very little was written about the great fallacy of the
present day, Free Trade; which is an illusion about which men now talk,
and dispute, and almost fight, while no living mortal can tell what it
really is. It is wise for us in America, who never had anything but free
trade, according to modern doctrines, to look a little closely into the
sophisms that are getting to be so much in vogue; and which, whenever
they come from our illustrious ancestors in Great Britain, have some
such effect on the imaginations of a portion of our people, as purling
rills and wooded cascades are known to posses over those of certain
young ladies of fifteen.

Free trade, in its true signification, or in the only signification
which is not a fallacy, can only mean a commerce that is _totally
unfettered by duties, restrictions, prohibitions, and charges of all
sorts_. Except among savages, the world never yet saw such a state of
things, and probably never will. Even free trade ports have exactions
that, in a degree, counteract their pretended principle of liberty; and
no free port exists, that is anything more, in a strict interpretation
of its uses, than a sort of bonded warehouse. So long as your goods
remain there, on deposit and unappropriated, they are not taxed; but the
instant they are taken to the _consumer_, the customary impositions must
be paid.

_Freer_ trade--that is, a trade which is less encumbered than some
admitted state of things which previously existed--is easily enough
comprehended; but, instead of conveying to the mind any general theory,
it merely shows that a lack of wisdom may have prevailed in the
management of some particular interest; which lack of wisdom is now
being tardily repaired. Prohibitions, whether direct, or in the form of
impositions that the trade will not bear, may be removed without leaving
trade _free_. This or that article may be thrown open to the general
competition, without import duty or tax of any sort, and yet the great
bulk of the commerce of a country be so fettered as to put an effectual
check upon anything like liberal intercourse. Suppose, for instance,
that Virginia were an independent country. Its exports would be tobacco,
flour, and corn; the tobacco crop probably more than equalling in value
those portions of the other crops which are sent out of the country.
England is suffering for food, and she takes off everything like imposts
on the eatables, while she taxes tobacco to the amount of many hundred
per cent. Can that be called free trade?

There is another point of view in which we could wish to protest against
the shouts and fallacies of the hour. Trade, perhaps the most corrupt
and corrupting influence of life--or, if second to anything in evil,
second only to politics--is proclaimed to be the great means of
humanizing, enlightening, liberalizing, and improving the human race!
Now, against this monstrous mistake in morals, we would fain raise our
feeble voices in sober remonstrance. That the intercourse which is a
consequence of commerce may, in certain ways, liberalize a man's views,
we are willing to admit; though, at the same time, we shall insist that
there are better modes of attaining the same ends. But it strikes us as
profane to ascribe to this frail and mercenary influence a power which
there is every reason to believe the Almighty has bestowed on the
Christian church, and on that alone; a church which is opposed to most
of the practices of trade, which rebukes them in nearly every line of
its precepts, and which, carried out in its purity, can alone give the
world that liberty and happiness which a grasping spirit of cupidity is
so ready to impute to the desire to accumulate gold!

Fortunately, there was little occasion to dispute about the theories of
commerce at the Reef. The little trade that did exist was truly
unfettered; but no one supposed that any man was nearer to God on that
account, except as he was farther removed from temptations to do wrong.
Still, the governing principle was sound; not by canting about the
beneficent and holy influences of commerce, but by leaving to each man
his individuality, or restraining if only on those points which the
public good demanded. Instead of monopolizing the trade of the colony,
which his superior wealth and official power would have rendered very
easy, governor Woolston acted in the most liberal spirit to all around
him. With the exception of the Anne, which was built by the colony, the
council had decided, in some measure contrary to his wishes, though in
strict accordance with what was right, that all the vessels were the
private property of Mark. After this decision, the governor formally
conveyed the Mermaid and the Abraham to the state; the former to be
retained principally as a cruiser and a packet, while the last was in
daily use as a means of conveying articles and passengers, from one
island to the other. The Neshamony was presented, out and out, to Betts,
who turned many a penny with her, by keeping her running through the
different passages, with freight, &c.; going from plantation to
plantation, as these good people were in the practice of calling their
farms. Indeed, Bob did little else, until the governor, seeing his
propensity to stick by the water, and ascertaining that the intercourse
would justify such an investment, determined to build him a sloop, in
order that he might use her as a sort of packet and market-boat, united.
A vessel of about forty-five tons was laid down accordingly, and put
into the water at the end of six months, that was just the sort of craft
suited to Bob's wishes and wants. In the mean time, the honest fellow
had resigned his seat in the council, feeling that he was out of his
place in such a body, among men of more or less education, and of habits
so much superior and more refined than his own. Mark did not oppose this
step in his friend, but rather encouraged it; being persuaded nothing
was gained by forcing upon a man duties he was hardly fitted to
discharge. Self-made men, he well knew, were sometimes very useful; but
he also knew that they must be first _made_.

The name of this new sloop was the Martha, being thus called in
compliment to her owner's sober-minded, industrious and careful wife.
She (the sloop, and not Mrs. Betts) was nearly all cabin, having lockers
forward and aft, and was fitted with benches in her wings, steamboat
fashion. Her canvas was of light duck, there being very little heavy
weather in that climate; so that assisted by a boy and a Kannaka, honest
Bob could do anything he wished with his craft. He often went to the
Peak and Rancocus Island in her, always doing something useful; and he
even made several trips in her, within the first few months he had her
running, as far as Betto's group. On these last voyages, he carried over
Kannakas as passengers, as well as various small articles, such as
fish-hooks, old iron, hatchets even, and now and then a little tobacco.
These he exchanged for cocoa-nuts, which were yet scarce in the colony,
on account of the number of mouths to consume them; baskets, Indian
cloth, paddles which the islanders made very beautifully and with a
great deal of care; bread-fruit, and other plants that abounded more at
Betto's group than at the Reef, or even on the Peak.

But the greatest voyage Betts made that season was when he took a
freight of melons. This was a fruit which now abounded in the colony; so
much so as to be fed even to the hogs, while the natives knew nothing of
it beyond the art of eating it. They were extraordinarily fond of
melons, and Bob actually filled the cabin of the Martha with articles
obtained in exchange for his cargo. Among other things obtained on this
occasion, was a sufficiency of sandal-wood to purchase for the owner of
the sloop as many groceries as he could consume in his family for twelve
months; though groceries were high, as may well be supposed, in a place
like the Reef. Betts always admitted that the first great turn in his
fortune was the money made on this voyage, in which he embarked without
the least apprehension of Waally, and his never-ceasing wiles and
intrigues. Indeed, most of his sales were made to that subtle and active
chief, who dealt very fairly by him.

All this time the Rancocus was laid up for want of something to freight
her with. At one time the governor thought of sending her to pick up a
cargo where she could; but a suggestion by a seaman of the name of
Walker set him on a different track, and put on foot an adventure which
soon attracted the attention of most of the sea-faring portion of the
community.

It had been observed by the crew of the Rancocus, not only in her
original run through those seas, but in her two subsequent passages
from America, that the spermaceti whale abounded in all that part of the
ocean which lay to windward of the group. Now Walker had once been
second officer of a Nantucket craft, and was regularly brought up to the
business of taking whales. Among the colonists were half a dozen others
who had done more or less at the same business; and, at the suggestion
of Walker, who had gone out in the Rancocus as her first officer,
captain Saunders laid in a provision of such articles as were necessary
to set up the business. These consisted of cordage, harpoons, spades,
lances, and casks. Then no small part of the lower hold of the Henlopen
was stowed with shook casks; iron for hoops, &c., being also provided.

As the sandal-wood was now obtained in only small quantities, all idea
of sending the ship to Canton again, that year, was necessarily
abandoned. At first this seemed to be a great loss; but when the
governor came to reflect coolly on the subject, not only he, but the
council generally, came to the conclusion that Providence was dealing
more mercifully with them, by turning the people into this new channel
of commerce, than to leave them to pursue their original track.
Sandal-wood had a purely adventitious value, though it brought,
particularly in that age, a most enormous profit; one so large, indeed,
as to have a direct and quick tendency to demoralize those embarked in
the trade. The whaling business, on the other hand, while it made large
returns, demanded industry, courage, perseverance, and a fair amount of
capital. Of vessels, the colonists had all they wanted; the forethought
of Saunders and the suggestions of Walker furnished the particular
means; and of provisions there was now a superabundance in the group.

It was exceedingly fortunate that such an occupation offered to interest
and keep alive the spirit of the colonists. Man must have something to
do; some main object to live for; or he is apt to degenerate in his
ambition, and to fall off in his progress. No sooner was it announced
that whales were to be taken, however, than even the women became alive
to the results of the enterprise. This feeling was kept up by the
governor's letting it be officially known that each colonist should
have one share, or "lay," as it was termed, in the expected cargo; which
share, or "lay," was to be paid for in provisions. Those actually
engaged in the business had as many "lays" as it was thought they could
earn; the colony in its collected capacity had a certain number more, in
return for articles received from the public stores; and the governor,
as owner of the vessels employed, received one-fifth of the whole cargo,
or cargoes. This last was a very small return for the amount of capital
employed; and it was so understood by those who reaped the advantages of
the owner's liberality.

The Rancocus was not fitted out as a whaler, but was reserved as a
ware-house to receive the oil, to store it until a cargo was collected,
and then was to be used as a means to convey it to America. For this
purpose she was stripped, had her rigging thoroughly overhauled, was
cleaned out and smoked for rats, and otherwise was prepared for service.
While in this state, she lay alongside of the natural quay, near and
opposite to some extensive sheds which had been erected, as a protection
against the heats of the climate.

The Henlopen, a compact clump of a brig, that was roomy on deck, and had
stout masts and good rigging, was fitted out for the whaler; though the
Anne was sent to cruise in company. Five whale-boats, with the necessary
crews, were employed; two remaining with the Anne, and three in the
brig. The Kannakas were found to be indefatigable at the oar, and a good
number of them were used on this occasion. About twenty of the largest
boys belonging to the colony were also sent out, in order to accustom
them to the sea. These boys were between the ages of eight and sixteen,
and were made useful in a variety of ways.

Great was the interest awakened in the colony when the Henlopen and the
Anne sailed on this adventure. Many of the women, the wives, daughters,
sisters, or sweethearts of the whalers, would gladly have gone along;
and so intense did the feeling become, that the governor determined to
make a festival of the occasion, and to offer to take out himself, in
the Mermaid, as many of both sexes as might choose to make a trip of a
few days at sea, and be witnesses of the success of their friends in
this new undertaking. Betts also took a party in the Martha. The
Abraham, too, was in company; while the Neshamony was sent to leeward,
to keep a look-out in that quarter, lest the natives should take it into
their heads to visit the group, while so many of its fighting-men, fully
a hundred altogether, were absent. It is true, those who stayed at home
were fully able to beat off Waally and his followers; but the governor
thought it prudent to have a look-out. Such was the difference produced
by habit. When the whole force of the colony consisted of less than
twenty men, it was thought sufficient to protect itself, could it be
brought to act together; whereas, now, when ten times twenty were left
at home, unusual caution was deemed necessary, because the colony was
weakened by this expedition of so many of its members. But everything is
comparative with man.