BURNING OF THE VESSEL—COMMENCEMENT OF JEWITT'S JOURNAL

Early on the morning of the 19th the ship was discovered to be on fire. This was owing to one of the savages having gone on board with a firebrand at night for the purpose of plunder, some sparks from which fell into the hold, and, communicating with some combustibles, soon enveloped the whole in flames. The natives regretted the loss of the ship the more as a great part of her cargo still remained on board. To my companion and myself it was a most melancholy sight, for with her disappeared from our eyes every trace of a civilised country; but the disappointment we experienced was still more severely felt, for we had calculated on having the provision to ourselves, which would have furnished us with a stock for years, as whatever is cured with salt, together with most of our other articles of food, are never eaten by these people. I had luckily saved all my tools, excepting the anvil and the bellows, which was attached to the forge, and from their weight had not been brought on shore. We had also the good fortune, in looking over what had been taken from the ship, to discover a box of chocolate and a case of port wine, which, as the Indians were not fond of it, proved a great comfort to us for some time; and from one of the natives I obtained a Nautical Almanack which had belonged to the captain, and which was of great use to me in determining the time.

About two days after, on examining their booty, the savages found a tierce of rum, with which they were highly delighted, as they have become very fond of spirituous liquors since their intercourse with the whites.[60] This was towards evening, and Maquina, having assembled all the men at his house, gave a feast, at which they drank so freely of the rum, that in a short time they became so extremely wild and frantic that Thompson and myself, apprehensive for our safety, thought it prudent to retire privately into the woods, where we continued till past midnight.

On our return we found the women gone, who are always very temperate, drinking nothing but water, having quitted the house and gone to the other huts to sleep, so terrified were they at the conduct of the men, who lay all stretched out on the floor in a state of complete intoxication. How easy in this situation would it have been for us to have dispatched or made ourselves masters of our enemies had there been any ship near to which we could have escaped, but as we were situated the attempt would have been madness. The wish of revenge was, however, less strongly impressed on my mind than what appeared to be so evident an interposition of Divine Providence in our favour. How little can man penetrate its designs, and how frequently is that intended as a blessing which he views as a curse. The burning of our ship, which we had lamented so much, as depriving us of so many comforts, now appeared to us in a very different light, for, had the savages got possession of the rum, of which there were nearly twenty puncheons on board,[61] we must inevitably have fallen a sacrifice to their fury in some of their moments of intoxication. This cask, fortunately, and a case of gin, was all the spirits they obtained from the ship. To prevent the recurrence of similar danger, I examined the cask, and, finding still a considerable quantity remaining, I bored a small hole in the bottom with a gimblet, which before morning, to my great joy, completely emptied it.

By this time the wound in my head began to be much better, so that I could enjoy some sleep, which I had been almost deprived of by the pain, and though I was still feeble from the loss of blood and my sufferings, I found myself sufficiently well to go to work at my trade, in making for the king and his wives bracelets and other small ornaments of copper or steel, and in repairing the arms, making use of a large square stone for the anvil, and heating my metal in a common wood fire. This was very gratifying to Maquina, and his women particularly, and secured me their goodwill.

In the meantime, great numbers from the other tribes kept continually flocking to Nootka, bringing with them, in exchange for the ship's plunder, such quantities of provision, that, notwithstanding the little success that Maquina met with in whaling this season, and their gluttonous waste, always eating to excess when they have it, regardless of the morrow, seldom did the natives experience any want of food during the summer. As to myself and companion, we fared as they did, never wanting for such provision as they had, though we were obliged to eat it cooked in their manner, and with train-oil as a sauce, a circumstance not a little unpleasant, both from their uncleanly mode of cooking and many of the articles of their food, which to a European are very disgusting; but, as the saying is, hunger will break through stone walls, and we found, at times, in the blubber of sea animals and the flesh of the dog-fish, loathsome as it generally was, a very acceptable repast.

But much oftener would poor Thompson, who was no favourite with them, have suffered from hunger had it not been for my furnishing him with provision. This I was enabled to do from my work, Maquina allowing me the privilege, when not employed for him, to work for myself in making bracelets and other ornaments of copper, fish-hooks, daggers, etc., either to sell to the tribes who visited us or for our own chiefs, who on these occasions, besides supplying me with as much as I wished to eat, and a sufficiency for Thompson, almost always made me a present of a European garment, taken from the ship, or some fathoms of cloth, which were made up by my comrade, and enabled us to go comfortably clad for some time; or small bundles of penknives, razors, scissors, etc., for one of which we could almost always procure from the natives two or three fresh salmon, cod, or halibut; or dried fish, clams, and herring spawn from the stranger tribes; and had we only been permitted to cook them after our own way, as we had pots and other utensils belonging to the ship, we should not have had much cause of complaint in this respect; but so tenacious are these people of their customs, particularly in the article of food and cooking, that the king always obliged me to give whatever provision I bought to the women to cook. And one day, finding Thompson and myself on the shore employed in boiling down sea-water into salt, on being told what it was he was very much displeased, and, taking the little we had procured, threw it into the sea. In one instance alone, as a particular favour, he allowed me to boil some salmon in my own way, when I invited him and his queen to eat with me; they tasted it, but did not like it, and made their meal of some of it that I had cooked in their country fashion.

In May the weather became uncommonly mild and pleasant, and so forward was vegetation, that I picked plenty of strawberries[62] by the middle of the month. Of this fruit there are great quantities on this coast, and I found them a most delicious treat.

My health now had become almost re-established, my wound being so far healed that it gave me no further trouble. I had never failed to wash it regularly once a day in sea water, and to dress it with a fresh leaf of tobacco, which I obtained from the natives, who had taken it from the ship, but made no use of it. This was all the dressing I gave it, except applying to it two or three times a little loaf sugar, which Maquina gave me, in order to remove some proud flesh, which prevented it from closing.

My cure would doubtless have been much sooner effected had I have been in a civilised country, where I could have had it dressed by a surgeon and properly attended to. But alas! I had no good Samaritan, with oil and wine, to bind up my wounds, and fortunate might I even esteem myself that I was permitted to dress it myself, for the utmost that I could expect from the natives was compassion for my misfortunes, which I indeed experienced from the women, particularly the queen, or favourite wife of Maquina, the mother of Sat-sat-sok-sis, who used frequently to point to my head, and manifest much kindness and solicitude for me. I must do Maquina the justice to acknowledge, that he always appeared desirous of sparing me any labour which he believed might be hurtful to me, frequently inquiring in an affectionate manner if my head pained me. As for the others, some of the chiefs excepted, they cared little what became of me, and probably would have been gratified with my death.

My health being at length re-established and my wound healed, Thompson became very importunate for me to begin my journal, and as I had no ink, proposed to cut his finger to supply me with blood for the purpose whenever I should want it. On the 1st of June I accordingly commenced a regular diary, but had no occasion to make use of the expedient suggested by my comrade, having found a much better substitute in the expressed juice of a certain plant, which furnished me with a bright green colour, and, after making a number of trials, I at length succeeded in obtaining a very tolerable ink, by boiling the juice of the blackberry with a mixture of finely powdered charcoal, and filtering it through a cloth. This I afterwards preserved in bottles, and found it answer very well, so true is it that "necessity is the mother of invention." As for quills, I found no difficulty in procuring them whenever I wanted, from the crows and ravens with which the beach was almost always covered, attracted by the offal of whales, seals, etc., and which were so tame that I could easily kill them with stones, while a large clam-shell furnished me with an inkstand.

The extreme solicitude of Thompson that I should begin my journal might be considered as singular in a man who neither knew how to read or write, a circumstance, by the way, very uncommon in an American, were we less acquainted with the force of habit, he having been for many years at sea, and accustomed to consider the keeping of a journal as a thing indispensable. This man was born in Philadelphia, and at eight years old ran away from his friends and entered as a cabin boy on board a ship bound to London. On his arrival there, finding himself in distress, he engaged as an apprentice to the captain of a collier, from whence he was impressed on board an English man-of-war, and continued in the British naval service about twenty-seven years, during which he was present at the engagement under Lord Howe with the French fleet in June 1794, and when peace was made between England and France, was discharged. He was a very strong and powerful man, an expert boxer, and perfectly fearless; indeed, so little was his dread of danger, that when irritated he was wholly regardless of his life. Of this the following will furnish a sufficient proof:—

One evening about the middle of April, as I was at the house of one of the chiefs, where I had been employed on some work for him, word was brought me that Maquina was going to kill Thompson. I immediately hurried home, where I found the king in the act of presenting a loaded musket at Thompson, who was standing before him with his breast bared and calling on him to fire. I instantly stepped up to Maquina, who was foaming with rage, and, addressing him in soothing words, begged him for my sake not to kill my father, and at length succeeded in taking the musket from him and persuading him to sit down.

On inquiring into the cause of his anger, I learned that, while Thompson was lighting the lamps in the king's room, Maquina having substituted ours for their pine torches, some of the boys began to tease him, running around him and pulling him by the trousers, among the most forward of whom was the young prince. This caused Thompson to spill the oil, which threw him into such a passion, that, without caring what he did, he struck the prince so violent a blow in his face with his fist as to knock him down. The sensation excited among the savages by an act which was considered as the highest indignity, and a profanation of the sacred person of majesty, may be easily conceived. The king was immediately acquainted with it, who, on coming in and seeing his son's face covered with blood, seized a musket and began to load it, determined to take instant revenge of the audacious offender, and had I arrived a few moments later than I did, my companion would certainly have paid with his life for his rash and violent conduct. I found the utmost difficulty in pacifying Maquina, who for a long time after could not forgive Thompson, but would repeatedly say, "John, you die—Thompson kill."

But to appease the king was not all that was necessary. In consequence of the insult offered to their prince, the whole tribe held a council, in which it was unanimously resolved that Thompson should be put to death in the most cruel manner. I however interceded so strenuously with Maquina for his life, telling him that if my father was killed, I was determined not to survive him, that he refused to deliver him up to the vengeance of his people, saying, that for John's sake they must consent to let him live. The prince, who, after I had succeeded in calming his father, gave me an account of what had happened, told me that it was wholly out of regard to me, as Thompson was my father, that his life had been spared, for that if any one of the tribe should dare to lift a hand against him in anger, he would most certainly be put to death.

Yet even this narrow escape produced not much effect on Thompson, or induced him to restrain the violence of his temper. For, not many weeks after, he was guilty of a similar indiscretion, in striking the eldest son of a chief, who was about eighteen years old, and, according to their custom, was considered as a Tyee, or chief, himself, in consequence of his having provoked him by calling him a white slave. This affair caused great commotion in the village, and the tribe was very clamorous for his death, but Maquina would not consent.

I used frequently to remonstrate with him on the imprudence of his conduct, and beg him to govern his temper better, telling him that it was our duty, since our lives were in the power of these savages, to do nothing to exasperate them. But all I could say on this point availed little, for so bitter was the hate he felt for them, which he was no way backward in manifesting both by his looks and actions, that he declared he never would submit to their insults, and that he had much rather be killed than be obliged to live among them; adding that he only wished he had a good vessel and some guns, and he would destroy the whole of the cursed race; for to a brave sailor like him, who had fought the French and Spaniards with glory, it was a punishment worse than death to be a slave to such a poor, ignorant, despicable set of beings.

As for myself, I thought very differently. After returning thanks to that merciful Being who had in so wonderful a manner softened the hearts of the savages in my favour, I had determined from the first of my capture to adopt a conciliating conduct towards them, and conform myself, as far as was in my power, to their customs and mode of thinking, trusting that the same divine goodness that had rescued me from death, would not always suffer me to languish in captivity among these heathens.

With this view, I sought to gain their goodwill by always endeavouring to assume a cheerful countenance, appearing pleased with their sports and buffoon tricks, making little ornaments for the wives and children of their chiefs, by which means I became quite a favourite with them, and fish-hooks, daggers, etc., for themselves.

As a further recommendation to their favour, and what might eventually prove of the utmost importance to us, I resolved to learn their language, which in the course of a few months' residence I so far succeeded in acquiring, as to be able in general to make myself well understood.

I likewise tried to persuade Thompson to learn it, as what might prove necessary to him. But he refused, saying that he hated both them and their cursed lingo, and would have nothing to do with it.

By pursuing this conciliatory plan, so far did I gain the goodwill of these savages, particularly the chiefs, that I scarcely ever failed experiencing kind treatment from them, and was received with a smile of welcome at their houses, where I was always sure of having something given me to eat, whenever they had it, and many a good meal have I had from them, when they themselves were short of provisions and suffering for the want of them.

And it was a common practice with me, when we had nothing to eat at home, which happened not unfrequently during my stay among them, to go around the village, and on noticing a smoke from any of the houses, which denoted that they were cooking, enter in without ceremony, and ask them for something, which I was never refused.

Few nations, indeed, are there so very rude and unfeeling, whom constant mild treatment, and an attention to please, will not mollify and obtain from some return of kind attention. This the treatment I received from these people may exemplify, for not numerous, even among those calling themselves civilised, are there instances to be found of persons depriving themselves of food to give it to a stranger, whatever may be his merits.

It may perhaps be as well in this place to give a description of Nootka; some accounts of the tribes who were accustomed to visit us; and the manners and customs of the people, as far as I hitherto had an opportunity of observing them.

[60] It was about this date that Long, an Indian trader, described rum as the unum necessarium for traffic with the savages. It is still eagerly asked for, though its sale or gift is illegal.