242 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 38, : 



ghe gportwtan §mm$t 



A REMINISCENCE. 



How oft. in youth beside you crystal stream 

 That aJowJy ripples 'neat.ti tin? bireh-trctV shade, 

 The while tlu' chul birds in the foliage made 

 Their forest Bong? I ill all the place Uiil seem 

 Enchanted, I have lei m.V fancy rlreain 

 0i lieuii ami their ileeds, until afraid 

 As evening came ailown the forest ghulc, 

 Where nil was frill except the owl's shrill scream 

 From bower remote, and o'er the pathway, lined 

 With huge slianes that lose on either hand, 

 Not, dariuc in my dread to look behind, 

 I've sped until upon the road I'd Stand 

 And see the lamplight gleaming through the blind 

 To light the truant baclc from Faery Land. 

 Halifax. N. S.. April 10, 1^63. 



AMONG THE BONIN ISLANDS. 



ktOWEETLIPS" and 1 were having good times, and 

 IO were happy. Among points in which our tastes 

 :,, , ,| were great fondness 1'or fishing, mid ft considerable 

 disinclination for hard work, and to us hud heeii assigned 

 for our day's duty the supplying of our camp with fish, and 

 W.B were fishing." 



Our camp -was not in the Adirondacks, and wc tramping 

 down a mountain brook; nor on either of the islands which 

 dot. the great lakes and the St. Lawrence, and we sitting at 

 ease in arm chairs, lazily watching the outer ends of stiff 

 rods for the electric twitch which proclaims "a strike." 

 No dainty, deceiving fly, nor bewildering spoon farmed our 

 weapon, nor were we wasting lime and patience in searching 

 for good grounds. In the broadest sense — for we were 

 catching all sorls of fish, and in the narrowest sense, for 

 our gear was of the simplest— we were fishing. 



For once, at least, in our lives, wc had struck the right 

 place, al the right time, and wc were milking the most of it. 



We had but to lower our pork-baited cod hooks to such 

 depth as might suit us, and immediately haul in, perfectly 

 certain that if from near boltom our hook would bring with 

 with it a gorgeous-hued rocklish, almost, every lime of a 

 different species, and in size ranging from five to fifty 

 pounds; and if from mid depth some other Odd fish of less 

 brilliant, hues would be sure to detach himself from the 

 schools beneath us and pay us a visit. 



There was but one drawback. "Sweetlips" was very 

 lazy, and 1 very little, and there is hard work as well as 

 play involved in the bringing of lively fifty pound fish through 

 OS many feet of water, and into the boat. But this was hist 

 the kind of hard work we liked. 



Our anchor lay fully ten fathoms below us on a bed of 

 many colored coral, the surface of which was broken up into 

 crevices, grottoes and deep pools. But that we knew the 

 depth we should have judged it far less. The water was 

 wonderfully clear, and seemed to have the properties of a 

 magnifying lens, for every little fish or Starfish was as plainly 

 visible as were the monsters which lay idly sleeping, or with 

 hardly a fin quiver stole in and oul of the" openings in the 

 bank; and the vibrations of the tentacles of the aiienioues, 

 and the expansion and contraction of the polyps, thousands 

 of both of Which ornamented the coral were easily detected. 

 Couchs, cowries and many other shellfish were also abund- 

 ant. So plainly could we see everything that we had fre- 

 quently endeavored to capture some particular fish byloWer- 

 ing the bailed hook to bis nose, bill had as often failed, for 

 generally the selected fish was sluggish, and perhaps enjoy- 

 ing an after dinner nap, others, livelier and hungrier, would 

 rush in — and lie taken in — instead 



We were seated in a little dugout canoe fishing with 

 hand lines, and our locality was over a coral bank"which 

 forms one of the reefs near Coffin Island, one of the Bonin 

 Islands, a group lying just north of the Ladroncs. in the 

 Pacific Ocean, Int. 27 N. and long. 112 E. These islands 

 were discovered by dipt Nathaniel Coffin, of Nantucket, 

 while on a whaling voyage, and have for many years 

 been resorted to by whalers to renew supplies of fresh pro- 

 visions and water. The group consists of six or eight 

 islands, of which but I wo, namely, Bonin and Coffin, arc 

 inhabited; the former by a settlement of thirty or forty 

 people, mostly ex- American whalers, their wives brought 

 from some of the islands to the eastward, of which they 

 were natives, and their progeny; and the latter (at the time 

 of my visit) by two white men* three Raven Island women 

 and their children, one of the men indulging in two of the 

 wives. 



The settlement on Bonin Island called Port Lloyd had a 

 governor and common council, and the people seemed very 

 happy in their isolation, cultivating quantities of yams and 

 other vegetables, and furnishing these, wild pork, turtles 

 and goafs to the whalers in exchange for cloths, groceries, 

 etc. They had two or three good whale boats, and very 

 often killed whales, culling them in on the beach. 



Al, Collin Island the two male inhabitants supported 

 themselves in the same manner. One named Robinson, and 

 called Captain by the other, was a man of considerable edu- 

 cation. His ownership of sextants and other instruments of 

 navigation, and quite a library, made it probable that he bad 

 been" as claimed, a merchant-ship captain, and his isolated 

 mode of life indicated thai it was quite possible that our 

 sailors' views as to bis having been a pirate in his young 

 days were correct also. 



Although so far away, Coffin Island is a part of the 

 United States, and il became so iu tbis way: At the date of 

 our visit the Pacific Mail Steamship Line was being spoken 

 of as among the developments of the future; and it was con- 

 sidered that a coaling station somewhere between San Fran- 

 cisco and Hong Kong would be necessary — for Perry had 

 not yet made his treaty with Japan, and its rich resources in 

 coal were unknown 'to the outside world. Commodore 

 Perry, then in command of the East Indian Squadron, was 

 directed to cause surveys and explorations of certain groups 

 of islands (among whitii the Boninsweic included) to decide 

 upon their suitability for such a station. 



The sloop of war" Plymouth, Captain John Kelley, was 

 sent lo the. Bonins on this duty, and from her, lying al 

 Port Lloyd, an expedition, consisting of two lieutenants. 

 one midshipman, and thirty men, had in the launch and first 

 QUtter been sent to survey this, the most southern of the 

 group, some thirty miles away. 



Our surveying and exploring occupied us for over a week, 

 at the end of which time the Plymouth stood over to pick 



us up, and was anchored in a harbor we had selected and 

 charted. "Then with pomp and circumstance" we took 

 possession. A tall flagstaff was raised, under which was 

 buried a "casket" (iu this case a preserved meat tin-ease !, 

 containing coitis and papers, From the flagstaff at uoon, 

 saluted by twentj one guns, the American flag was floated, 

 and on the si tfj was fastened a copper plate, with date and 

 other suitable inscription, to show that on this, Ihe — day 

 of September, 1858, ourcaplain, iu the name of the United 

 States of America, took formal possession of the island. 

 Then, after appointing Captain Robinson to be U. S. Con- 

 sul, we sailed away for China; and I have never beard from 

 there since. I presume, though that a guess, that in 

 due time our Consul dug up the casket, appropriated the 

 coins, sold the flag to a whale ship, and used the halliards 

 to secure wild pigs, would not be far out. So, at least, I 

 guessed in 1*77, when, being then iu command of the Blue- 

 light, 1 met at Nantucket, lineal descendants of Captain 

 Cofliu, and referred to this incident in a letter to vour 

 paper. 



"Sweetlips" and I formed part of the surveyor's expedi- 

 tion, my duty being to watch fide gauges, and his to help 

 me. We were but boys of sixteen, and on one tide at least 

 rather neglected our duties, as 1 will show in good time. 

 "Swecllips'Vas not his real name, only a pet uatne given him 

 by the sailors on account of a personal peculiarity. He was 

 a'long, slab-sided, lean and lanky youth, with' skim-milk 

 and watery blue eyes, long yellow hair, a waxen face cov 

 ered with' fieekks, and a large pair of thick, protruding, 

 pulpy, crimson lips, hence his soubriquet, A very "Small- 

 bone's," always-in-trouble, never-to-be-found-when-wanted, 

 nO-USe-to-anybody lad, "in everybody's mess but nobody's 

 watch," but with nothing bad in his character. We were 

 the only boys iu the ship; I had been kind to him, refrain- 

 ing from reporting many little delinquencies; many a slice 

 of soft tack he had shared in mid-watches, and he was de- 

 voted lo me — hence our companionship ou this occasion. 

 His real name was Jordan, by which I shall call him iu fu- 

 ture. 



An hour or more of success had covered our dugout's bot- 

 tom with a solid, deep layer of fish, and ourselves as thor- 

 oughly with scales, blood and slime, when there came a 

 change. Almost .simultaneously an unusually heavy tug at 

 each Tine and sudden let up proclaimed danger, and oui 

 lines came in easily, for they were hookless, and after re 

 pairs this was repeated. 



The origin of our difficulty was but too apparent. Be- 

 tween us and the bottom, at varying depths, an immense 

 school of large sharks were gliding to aud fro, and all of 

 the lockfish had disappeared. Gradually the school worked 

 upward, and soou in all directions the great cocked-hat 

 shaped fins were seen cutting the surface. 



We were, very evidently, the attraction ; undoubtedly, if 

 they cau smell, they scented our blood-soaked garments. 

 They made of us a center, with their orbit not a wide one. 



It seemed as though they were considering how best to 

 utilize us. A great fellow, not less than twelve feet long, 

 came once toward He- canoe, until his nose nearly touching, 

 and his diabolical eyes glaring at us, he slowly sunk enough 

 to clear our bottom" and came up within two yards on the 

 other side, head toward us. This began to look like busi- 

 ness, ami it would evidently not be a great while before the 

 business might become very serious. 



Fortunately, the sharks did not know their own power, 

 for with one good blow from any one of a dozen big flukes 

 the} r could easily have provided themselves with rations; 

 and, as there were at no time less than three or four, and 

 sometimes a dozen surrounding us, the supply would have 

 been short, and very quickly disposed of. 



"Subsequent events (in the fishing line) interested us no 

 more," and wo were very thankful when, having cutaway 

 our anchor line — for we dared not attempt to weigh — wc 

 started for the cove, into the very foot of which, and even 

 into shoal water, some of our enemies pursued us. 



On the beach, to welcome and help us, care for the canoe 

 and fish, stood Caroline, and 1 must pause in my adventures 

 to introduce her. 1 wish I could do it in terms to sal isfy 

 myself, but it is very hard after so many years have been 

 steadily dulling my limited faculties in this line to do full 

 justice to so very early an experience. 



Caroline was "the daughter of Ctipt. Robinson, who was a 

 handsome, fair-skinued, brown-haired Englishman, and one 

 of his wives a fine-looking Raven Island native. 



"She is a rare combination of beauties inherited from both 

 parents; from her mother the erect straight figure, tall, lithe 

 and graceful, supple as a panther, and quick as a bird in 

 every movement; a bright olive complexion, through which 

 the florid tints of her father glow like a hidden light; great 

 black eyes, now mild and gentle as a. seal's, and in a moment 

 flashing with excitement. About twelve years, thus a child 

 in age, but already more than child, not quite a woman; 

 teeth perfect, features regular, and altogether as pretty a girl 

 as one could wish to see. " 



Please be sure and not omit the quotation marks. The 

 original of the above description I find in my log book, now 

 thirty years old, and it is evidently the work of a very young 

 and rather spoony writer, but I had to use it or else omit 

 a description, and as Caroline will soou turn out to be the 

 heroine of my yarn, I could not thus slight her. There is 

 more about her in the same faded blue ink, but I think it is 

 well to let. it slay where il; is. 



The first day of our arrival I had completely gained the 

 heart of this little maiden. I was the first and only boy 

 she had ever seen, and my brass buttons and silver anchors 

 were to her, as they (not mine) are to more sophisticated 

 maidens, even to 1 lie pit-sent day, irresistible. The mercury 

 in my artificial horizon, the mirrors of my sextant, my 

 Watch, and, above all, my stock of fish hooks, carefully dis- 

 played, had, step by step, overcome the timidity which at 

 first caused her to fear and shun us; and that evening when, 

 with the rum furnished by the natives (not by her father), 

 many of our sailors got. roaring drunk and raised Cain in 

 that litlle community — "put it in stays," as they call such 

 performances — and I rescued her from a brute who was 

 kissing her most lustily, she screaming with fright, my con- 

 quest was complete. She came to our tent, aud was made 

 much of and comforted by the lieutenants (now admirals) 

 aud myself. 



From this time out she was my coustant companion, play- 

 fellow and guide. In my rambles through the woods, no 

 well-broken pointer could" more quickly detect a bird; no 

 well-trained reed bird pusher more surely mark its fall, and 

 no retriever gather it more quickly; and "her delight when 

 I made a successful shot, was far beyond rav own. 



And at times she would take me in" her little canoe, warn- 

 ing me to keep very still, paddle me to reefs where beautiful 

 shells were to be" found, or to fiBhing places where, in 



shoaler water, we could soon get all we wished of smaller 

 fish, untroubled generally by the large ones. Once though, 

 a small shark, not over four feet long, took my hook, and I 

 brought him to the surface, and fearing to haul him into 

 the canoe was about to cut my line, when she stopped me, 

 and i caught a glimpse of the savage part of her composition. 

 She had a long, sharp, dirk -shaped knife, and with her eyes 

 blazing, watched for a quiet moment, and sunk the blade to 

 the middle in a spot she well knew, aud unerringly struck 

 just back of the head, severing the vertebra;, killingthe fish 

 almost instantly. I had seen bits of this savagery before, 

 when in the woods she chased, captured, and joyously killed 

 a wounded bird. 



In our woods' tramps we had lo be a little careful and not 

 get too far away, for in some localities there were great 

 droves of wild hogs, which would attack a person on Big I 

 these were the descendants of a few which, 1 was told, 

 were put, on shore many years ago by Capt. Howe, an 

 American whaler, and had increased and multiplied greatly. 

 The men, Capt. Robinson & Co., hunted them with Austra- 

 lian hounds, of which they owned several. They were 

 trained to seize the pig by the ears and hold it until it was 

 secured by ropes. Generally a sow, big with young, was 

 selected, transported to the" house, and then penned, At 

 the time of our visit there were about a dozen pigs, old and 

 young, in this pen, the stakes of which were fully ten feet 

 high; had they been not over six, I am sure the pigs could 

 have jumped them. They were very wild and savage, but 

 the pork was good. 



One incident of the first evening I shall never forget . The. 

 night was clear and brilliant; our tent occupied a bit of a 

 horseshoe surrounded by high mountains, and right over our 

 heads, over two thousand feet up, was thesummit of a preci- 

 pice, whose base was not a hundred yards from us. To this 

 clambered some of our rum-inspired Jacks, and about mid- 

 night 1 heard, for the first time, from this summit, "Way 

 Down on the Swannee River," sung by one of our forctop- 

 men, "Jimmy Keeuan." who was the owner of a most 

 melodious tenor voice. 



I must return to my fishing. Caroline, when told of our 

 trouble with the sharks, said: "Shark like pork very much; 

 not like crab, all other fish like crab belter." And in reply 

 to our query where we could get plenty of crabs, she volun- 

 teered to guide us to the spot. Jumping into the canoe, 

 under her guidance, and having paddled about two miles, 

 we came to a great cave bored out by the action of the sea 

 in the face of the rocks. I had passed it once when survey- 

 ing, but there was then a stiff breeze, and the wide black 

 cavernous mouth was belted by a line of foam and breakers, 

 aud the inrushing waves caused a tremendous roaring — alto- 

 gether it did not tempt one to enter. This day, however, 

 it was calm and smooth, and fortunately the tide was well 

 out; although, as we afterward found, rising. Except that 

 the entrance was wider, perhaps by six or eight feet, this 

 cave in many respects resembles the famed Blue Grotto at 

 Capri. 



Paddliug in until we could wade ashore, we sent Caroline 

 back with the canoe, to remain off the entrance and wait for 

 us; and, plunging in, we scrambled toward the crescent- 

 shaped beach of white pebbles which, after turning a slight 

 angle, fronted us. Hundreds of bats, some of them of 

 enormous size, flew' wildly about us, and from the beach 

 there scuttled away an army of crabs of all sizes ami deserip. 

 tion— from liny fiddlers to fellows as big as a diuner-plate, 

 all making for the crevices in the walls. The beach was 

 about fiftyl'ect from the entrance, and the height of the cave 

 from the low water surface about fifteen feet; but at Hie 

 entrance this was reduced to about eight feet. At the beach 

 the height was still less, and we had to stoop in chasing the 

 crabs to the rear, where we found some large crevices we 

 could enter. Among the pebbles were conchs, cowries, 

 harps and other rare shells, all dead and empty, and we 

 wasted precious time in gathering them, but soot) settled 

 down to our work, first doffing our shirts, which we trans- 

 formed into bags. Crab catching is not an easy matter; 

 they run fast and bite hard; but they were so abundant that 

 gradually we accumulated a good stock. Only a part of the 

 entrance was visible from the beach, and that only from one 

 side of it; this side, the lightest, the crabs avoided, aud our 

 chase led us further than we thought, we finding large 

 crevices, into which the crabs easily entered, and we, also, 

 after them. 



We took no note of time, and although after a while we 

 heard our little sentry calling on us to hurry, we failed to do 

 so, until with bags well filled we saw that our crescent beach 

 had waned considerably, and holding at arm's length our 

 snapping, crackling bundles, we began our exit, wading till 

 as we neared the curve the water deepened and forced swim- 

 ming, which, with our uuwieldy burdens, proved slow 

 work. As we neared theentrance we saw at once that il. was 

 full time we were out of that, and at the same moment a 

 wave came rolling in, lifting us nearly to the roof. 



Outsidewe could seeafreshsea breeze had sprung up, and 

 the cavern was fronted by aline of breakers, outside of which 

 Caroline had been compelled to take the canoe. Between 

 us and the breakers was a space of comparatively still 

 water. We saw al once that we were in for trouble. 

 Treading water long enough to untie our shirt .sleeves and 

 release the prisoners we started for a tussle. Jordan was 

 ahead and nearly to the exit when he slopped suddenly and 

 fairly sprang backward, with the shout, "My God, sir, look 

 there!" One look sent my heart down, for right in our 

 path in the still water there projected the dorsal of a shark, 

 which our morning's experience taught us was a large one. 



Wc lost no time in getting back to shoal water, and, 

 standing immersed to our arm pits, held council. For all 

 that we knew to the contrary, the cavern would, at. high 

 tide, be filled to the roof, hence to stay there was to drown, 

 and we dared not attempt to pass that, frightful sentinel. 

 There was but one course open to us, and that a hard one — 

 the sides of the cave were rough and uneven, inmany places 

 covered with limpets and other shellfish ; we must clamber 

 out by them. With Jordan leading we started on our 

 scramble. The task at first proved easier than we had 

 thought; we were both good climbers, and our chase after 

 the crabs had given us both valuable experience. 



As we neared the exit we could sec the girl, shouting and 

 jvidently in great anxiety. She did not see us, nor the 

 shark, for between us were the breakers. Presently Jor- 

 dan, reaching a tolerably safe foothold, cut a large mussel 

 from the rocks and threw it at the shark in hopes of searing 

 him away, The result was not promising. The splash did 

 attract his attention, but only to attract him as wed, and he 

 made for the spot. 



Caroline caught sight of us, and at once came as near as 

 she could to OUT assistance, but we had taken the largest of 

 the canoes, and her strength was not equal to her will; if 



