THE WHALEMAN ASHORE 109 



ing the middle years of the century was notorious for its vice 

 and degenerate forms of dissipation. The Orient welcomed 

 participation in its sophisticated and voluptuous sensuality, but 

 kept its higher life, characterized by age-old wisdom and a sub- 

 tle appreciation of beauty, scrupulously concealed from the 

 contaminating influence of the foreigner. And in many ports 

 of the East Indies and of Southeast Africa the danger from 

 the deadly coast fevers was further enhanced by drink, prosti- 

 tution, degrading indulgence, and a bestial lack of the first 

 rudiments of sanitation. Zanzibar was a prime illustration. 

 At that place the combination of the terrific heat, the exhala- 

 tions from the marshes, and the unsanitary filth was sufficient 

 to cause an unacclimated white man, unschooled in the neces- 

 sary precautions, to contract the fever in a single night. The 

 conditions in a certain fort, sometimes used for the imprison- 

 ment of whalemen, were so unspeakable that confinement there 

 for more than a few days was virtually equivalent to a death 

 sentence. ^^ 



The only places reached by the whalers which offered ready 

 opportunities for natural, wholesome recreation were the nu- 

 merous islands scattered about the South Pacific. But even 

 here, with cruel irony, the whalemen brought their habits of 

 vice and intemperance with them, and soon taught the natives, 

 usually innocent and friendly though often promiscuous, un- 

 ashamed, and weak-willed, to outdo their instructors in sen- 

 sual excesses. The South Seas became the scene of drunken 

 revels and bestial orgies of the most revolting and degrading 

 character. Venereal disease, theretofore virtually unknown 

 amongst the simple islanders, spread widely and took a heavy 

 toll of misery and of life. 



Going ashore for licentious purposes was a commonplace j 

 and where the natives showed signs of resentment parties often 

 went armed for the purpose. When the missionaries came and 

 attempted, with but little success, to interfere with these prac- 

 tices, they were often threatened and abused for their pains. 

 At Lahaina, one of the Sandwich Islands, armed parties of 



25 See Browne, J. R., "Etchings of a Whaling Cruise," pp. 371-378, for a 

 description of life and conditions at Zanzibar. The author spent several 

 months on the island after leaving a whaler there. 



